View From Valehaven
Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Blademaster
Tuesday, August 11, 2026
Queen of Hearts XXXI: Knave of Hearts - Tournament Results
War Maneuvers
Field Battle - Team Diamond and Team Club
Folkestone Challenge - Team Heart and Team Club
Bridge Battle - Team Spade and Team Club
Castle Battle - Team Spade and Team Heart
Wizard War - Team Spade and Team Diamond
Hadrian's Wall - Team Spade and Team Club
Monster Chess - Team Spade and Team Heart
Rock Assault - Team Spade and Team Diamond
Grand Teamwork - Team Heart and Team Diamond
Bridge Battle Limited - Team Heart and Team Club
Folkestone Challenge Limited - Team Heart and Team Diamond
Castle Battle Limited - Team Spade and Team Heart
Knave's War - Team Heart and Team Club
Weapon Styles Showcase
Single Short Individual - Jasper, representing Team Heart and Club
Single Short Squad - Azimuth, Daekara, and Veit, representing Team Spade and Diamond
Mixed Florentine Individual - Daekara, representing Team Spade and Diamond
Mixed Florentine Squad - Luke John, Jasper, and Torolf, representing Team Heart and Club
Sword and Shield Individual - Torolf, representing Team Heart and Club
Sword and Shield Squad - Jasper, Fern, and Luke John representing Team Heart and Club
Hand and a Half Individual - Luke John representing Team Heart and Club
Hand and a Half Squad - Fern, Corvus, and Jasper representing Team Heart and Club
Oops All Ranged Individual - Bogen representing Team Spade and Diamond
Oops All Ranged Squad - Grazen, Bogen, and Azimuth representing Team Spade and Diamond
Five on Five Tournaments
Five on Five Lines - Team Spade and Team Club
Five on Five Bear Pit - Team Spade and Team Club
Five on Five Jugging - Team Heart and Team Diamond
Arcane Artisan
Armament - Grazen representing Team Spade and Kalashai representing Team Heart
And the winner of Knave of Hearts was: Team Heart led by the Knave of Hearts, Johan!
Monday, August 10, 2026
A Gilded Invitation
Good People of the Realms,
It is my pleasure to invite you all once again to Ashen Bounty, our annual harvest feast this fall. This year is a special celebration. This year marked the fifteenth year since the founding of Ashenmark and this will be the thirteenth Ashen Bounty. For much of those fifteen years I have served as the Highlord of Ashenmark, but at this years feast I will have the privilege of stepping down, and abdicating my rule as this year we celebration the ascension of Dame Umbra and Sir Raynor Skyline to the throne of the nation.
I invite you to join us on Friday night, as I will hold my last court in Ashenmark, before stepping down. Saturday will see a day of feasting, competition, reverie, and camaraderie alongside the ascension of the new leadership as they hold their first court. We hope you will join us in this celebration as we transition to a new generation and era of leadership in Ashenmark.
Highlord Temorse Sorrowind of Ashenmark
OOC Note: Registration for this event will go live later this week, Sunday will also include the normal Sunday questing content.
Friday, August 7, 2026
Why I Want To Go - Queen of Hearts XXXI Knave of Hearts
By: Adrian Cronin
This year is my ten year anniversary in the realms. Queen of Hearts was my second event and by far the most intense crash course the realms has to offer. My friends and I found the game through a simple google search and decided to give it a shot. We had pvc weapons, no armor and got our asses handed to us all day long. There were four teams back then, rushing back and forth across the field with an intensity I could never have anticipated. My memory of that event is so vivid. We met the friends who would become my church, and my nation. I wrote a song on site and won the bardic tourney, only for my trophy to get handed to the wrong person and never be seen again. I got piked in the face. I got yelled at. It was legendary.
Coming back to the event over the years, it has faced multiple evolutions to survive the times while still managing to retain the same staples we all love and enjoy. Like jilted lovers, we complain to Sir Aeston and he takes it in stride. Managing to create something interesting for us all to enjoy. I have high hopes for this year.
With no predetermined teams, we have an opportunity for balance. We can take things down a notch in regards to the intensity. Make the game a bit more approachable, especially with such a large community of players with different desires and expectations regarding what we do.
Ten years ago, the Broken Spears just showed up. And now that’s all we’re asking you to do. Just show up, fight your ass off, call your shots, watch your blow strength and stay hydrated. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate humility, which is a core value of the Broken Spears Free Company than to compete on equal ground with all of you. That field has a lot of history. Plenty of ghosts and at least a few angels. The eyes of the warriors who came before us are upon us. Act accordingly, and do honor to yourself and to them.
When night falls, the most hyped night quest in quite some time will be taking place. So save a bit of steam.
I’ll be honest, I would have loved to have run my team this year. To celebrate Broken Spears on their tenth year and bring the hype of my team's progress to proper conclusion. However I am taking this extra year as an opportunity. To mend broken bonds and prepare the community for the greatest battle the realms has ever seen.
For next year, Cronin Barbaria will face off against Margaret August. Margaret and I are both committed to putting past strifes behind us and are holding our teams to the highest standards.
We’ve got a year. My sigil may be a bull but that doesn’t mean I can’t squash beef. Let it end.
Praise Vandor.
-Cronin Barbaria
Thursday, August 6, 2026
Rumors around the Realms August 1026
Rumors around the Realms August 1026
Around the borders of Neden
Merchants and foresters traveling the outskirts keep discovering corpses, mostly of unfortunates who had been traveling alone. The bodies are chopped to bits, but no parts have been taken. There’s a strange pallidness to the corpses, more than would be expected from blood loss alone.
Rhiassa
Thunderstorms with a strange ethereal glow from within the clouds are becoming a regular occurrence at night. Some people have reported hearing a reverberating heartbeat in the sound of the thunder.
The Wyvern College
One of the older professors in the natural history department at the Wyvern College has gone missing. Some of the students claim to have heard screams from the wyvern-filled woods at night. On the plus side, some promotions have occurred within the department!
On doors across the Realms
These business cards seem to be popping up everywhere in the realms, on taverns doors, in bathroom stalls, basically any where a public door is a business card is there. And it has a hand written note on the back.
Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Guess the Realmsie
Another in our continuing series! In the below picture there is a Realmsie-shaped black hole. Can you figure out who it is based only on the profile? Tell us on social media if you think you know who it is! The answer will be revealed later in the day.



