[The following below is a musing created in a book for the game.]
Stress will easily eat at your soul, consuming everything you once were, destroying who you might become. It’s a difficult time in the world; Everybody had their struggles. Some were Married struggling for a family, while others might be divorced trying to make sense of where their life has come and gone trying to understand what their direction is if not with their family. Some may have lost a loved one to some nefarious beast or demonic force, and now have to suffer with losing apart of themselves they may never see again.
It is the children who suffer the most; often scared and confused, lost in a world that doesn’t make sense to them. Asking questions like, "Where do I begin?", "Who do I look up to?". For these unfortunate few stress begins to deteriorate their self image, leaving them empty hollow husks vulnerable to attack. How does one inspire such youth? How does one protect them from these terrible thoughts? There is no easy answer. We must simply look to our strongest men and women and ask what drives them?
A hero might say a never ended sense of justice drives them, to compassionately approach all situations and ensure they are just. Is this a means of battling the injustice they themselves internally suffer? Their lives might seem one of privilege but they too suffer. One can not close a blind eye to the suffering of others, as the heart is such a tender thing. On the other hand if you ask the daring rogue what drives them they might tell you, "the coin", Rogues are very true to themselves surviving the only way they know how. Money after all makes the damn world go round. These men tend to suffer more externally than internally, as if their physical pain and degradation mask or nullify their internal pain. It makes one wonder if self sacrifice for personal gain isn’t worth more than it seems.
We all sacrifice in one way, shape or form. Some sacrifice for others, some for themselves. In the end is sacrifice in itself not self serving? it both cases it brings a sense of ease to the person sacrificing. It is selfish in nature, beneficial in none. There are men and women who whisper quiet tears in the middle of the night to avoid being heard or spoken to about it. These men and women survive knowing their sacrifice must serve them in some form. That is the Gods truth. Pain is why we are alive, to suffer is why we continue to move forward.
There is no rhyme or reason to any of it however. The most painful part is, happiness. You can’t make others happy, not even with themselves. They must choose to be happy upon their own accord and in turn not suffer the dark of night alone. Men try to make women happy in relationships but when you can’t change that, what must you do? There is nothing you can do. So you fall upon bruised and bended knee and beg some shinning momentary gesture to brighten your lives only to realize you bring more suffering upon yourself.
So in turn you can expect that stress to be an active part of your life. You can’t fight it. You can however, accept it and move on. Everybody you meet is fighting a secret battle you know nothing about. Might be best to keep that in mind when approaching others in our lives. This is how we cope and adjust. This is an answer to a worlds problem.
-signed and sealed Adair de Clare, First king of the post Britannian empire, Son of Edmund II, Count of Britian, Lord of the lands of the Lost Islands, Lieutenant first class in his majesties service
