Meme Tuesday

 by the Meme Team

Memorial Day 2026

 

The View from Valehaven would like to take a brief moment to remember and say thank you to the brave people who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. We will be back with our regularly scheduled View content tomorrow! 

Realmsle #33

 

                       

This custom Wordle-adjacent-puzzle features a 5-letter word that is particularly relevant to the Realms.

If the embedded page isn't working below you can click this link to get to the puzzle.

Like regular Wordle you can copy your result's (but only if you follow the link), so paste them or a screenshot onto social media to let us know how you did. But no spoilers!

Sir Edwyn Rainecourt Letters

On the 13th of May of the year 1026, Sir Edwyn Rainecourt addressed the following letter to the Realms:

To the Peoples of the Realms,

You call me monster. You are not wrong. I was once what many of you still pretend to be: a good

man in polished steel. I knew banners and vows. Shared laughter in cold keeps, and the warmth of a

hand that waited for me at dusk. I put duty and honor before everything else. And because I did, and

others did not, my wife died alone.

My commander gave the order. Hold the line. I held it. Because duty demanded it. On the day my

wife died, I stood where I had been ordered to stand. My Knight Commander gave the command,

and I obeyed. I did not run to her. I did not break formation. I did not choose personal well-being

over the greater good.

You worship choice as though it were sacred. You raise your children to prize it. You tell yourselves

that freedom is what makes life beautiful. Tell me, how beautiful was her death? How beautiful is

the freedom to abandon a friend? To betray a vow? To watch a stranger suffer and decide it is not

your concern?

A hundred small freedoms colliding like blades until all that remains is blood. You worship this

chaos and call it virtue, but it is not. It is the first and oldest cruelty. It is why the powerful betray

their people, why parents bury children, and why neighbors burn one another’s homes, and why

every promise made beneath the sun eventually withers into dust. Given freedom, mortals choose

selfishness. Given power, they choose tyranny. Given fear, they choose violence. And, given grief,

they choose vengeance.

Choice is not a gift. It is a weapon handed to every coward, every tyrant, and every selfish little soul

who wishes to excuse what they have done. And I have seen what lies beyond it.

My brothers and sisters march without doubt. They do not falter. They do not betray. They do not

leave one another to die because fear whispered louder than loyalty. They have no need for freedom,

because they have something better. They have peace.

Two of our beloved order have fallen to your hands. You think this delays me. It does not. It reminds

me why I must continue. I will tear the burden of choice from this world so that no lover will again

wait for a door that will never open, and no soldier will again be ordered to choose between duty

and love. There will be no more choices. There will only be peace.

Once, no one offered me a mercy. No one asked whether I wished to stay at my post. No one told me

I could put love before obedience. No one gave me the chance to choose differently, and I will

remember that. But I am not so cruel.

So hear me now, peoples of the Realms: I will give you what I was denied. A choice to stand aside.

Lay down your banners, your crowns, your petty little freedoms. Step willingly into the stillness I

offer, and the pain ends. No more fear. No more betrayal. No more impossible decisions made in

impossible moments. You will call this tyranny at first, but every chain feels cruel to the hand that

has only ever known flailing.

Or you can resist.

Cling to your freedom. Defend it with your trembling hands and righteous speeches. And when I

break you, when your bodies rise in my ranks and your minds obey, you will finally understand

what peace costs. But at least it will have been your decision. That is more mercy than was ever

shown to me.

Either way, you will serve the same end. I do not ask for your surrender, I offer you absolution.

Soon enough, each of you will face the same question I once did. Hold the line…or break it. Only

then will you learn who you truly are. When the hour comes, and it always comes, we shall see

whether you hold the line…or whether you join it.

Sir Edwyn Rainecourt Knight of the Aberrant Gate

Two days later, on the 15th of May, he received the following response:

Unto Sir Edwyn Rainecourt of the Corrupted Court of the Knights of the Aberrant Gate,

You have suffered a terrible loss to which no one should be subjected, and I would like to offer you

my most sincere condolences. But I will not justify my moral position to you whose conscience has

been suffocated under the crushing weight of that loss, and the lust for power it has brought forth in

you.

That tragedy, and the horrors it has fueled, have carried you to a most curious destination. For

should you succeed in your conquest, one individual alone would retain the power of choice:

You.

It is thus my assertion that the act of choice, which you have framed as a burden upon us all, is in

fact a power you covet for yourself, and yourself alone. You claim that all mortals inevitably choose

selfishness and tyranny; violence and vengeance. And yet from where I sit as I pen this letter, the

one I see who has chosen these is you, Sir Edwyn. And as you have chosen these things, your ego

demands you claim that all others would make the same choice, if only given the chance. I

wholeheartedly reject this assertion on the grounds that your personal pride is insufficient evidence

upon which to indict all mortals of your own failings.

Despite the tarnish your legacy has suffered at the hands of your present actions, I concur that you

were once a good man. Perhaps I may even have once described you as a great hero. The order

whose name I carry was in part built on that legacy, and even now its weight is not lost on us.

Although the time of your service may be long past, I believe it has earned you an honorable and

dignified death befitting a true knight. And it is that death to which we shall deliver you, out of

respect for the man you once were.

Until we meet again,

Anthony Warder of Stonewood

High Priest of Arius

Squire to the Knights of the Sable Dragon

Squire to the Knights of the Aberrant Gate

Penned on behalf of the collective forces of the Realms

Shield Stories with Joseph Yang

  Organized by James "Tao" Murphy

Please physically describe your shield; style, Heraldry colors etc? 

It’s a medium sized, teardrop shield with the black and gold of Ashenmark as its colors.      

How long have you had your shield? 

I’ve had the shield since the start of this year

Is this your preferred shield style? 

While I’m not sure I prefer this style of shield over others - I do enjoy the amount of coverage it offers, especially towards the lower body as it makes defending that area significantly easier

Have you ever tried a different style of shield? 

Yes I primarily had a round/circle shield for the majority of my time in realms. Only recently did I switch to teardrops. Not sure if I can say if I have a preference for one over the other yet.

Who made it?

It was made by ANTON of Invictus and he also is the one to conduct repairs on it. In fact, it was entirely his idea to use 4mm corrugated plastic for the shield and all credit for its creation goes towards him

Have you ever had to fix/repair/refoam it since it's original creation?

Refoamed it once, was the first time I had to do it with a teardrop. Will probably need to make a new one soon though as this was ANTON’s prototype for 4mm plastic and it’s held up pretty well for the amount of abuse it takes

What is your favorite move with the shield?

I actually can’t do my favorite move with this particular shield because it’s a teardrop and not a circle/round shield - but that’s what practice is for! 

Do you have any interesting stories about the shield?

As for interesting stories, not much tbh. Only that during Sanctuary questing, due to the light weight nature of the shield - I can recall heavy winds blowing the shield in all sorts of directions and I had to handle it like a kite sometimes to keep it from blowing away

Why I Want To Go - The Wedding of Tirvanel and Margaret

Kenkilit is overwhelming.  The stolid mountainside with its structures carved in, the grandest of churches bustling with care, the sacred sky overhanging Voraniss, the marketplace and the busy streets, scents of freshly made food wafting throughout, alive with sounds of birds and music and the sweetest voices of all manner of people.  Humans, elves, animalkin, hybrids and more, all adorned in colorful raiment's, each with a kindly smile for a stranger.

Those here who serve Aurora have been especially kind, as I readjust to humanity, and life.  And I have been returning the kindness as best I can by aiding their supportive efforts.  But now, in these exciting weeks leading up to the wedding, we have been fully in the mode of preparation.

The hall is decorated, the cooks are arriving, attendants will make their way here soon, then I do hope that many of the wedding couple’s fellow adventurers will gather from far and wide to share in the festivities.

I’m told there will be forays into the craggy mountain forest for those who feel the need to battle small monstrous threats (for I have been told Kenkilit is well protected from the worst of enemies).  The food will be plentiful and lovingly served.  The ceremony itself should be a sight to behold, with all arrayed in wedding splendor.  Some court proceedings will occur to inform the masses of what we must know.  And as the moon rises high, the leaders of Voraniss itself will bring their light and wisdom to ceremonial fruition.

I eagerly anticipate being witness to every facet of this joyous occasion, but just as much, I am looking forward to meeting travelers from around the Realms, to learn of their lands, and of their travels.  Perhaps one of them will have heard of my home.  

-Rand of Firton

Meme Monday

 by the Meme Team