#and he loved the idea of being a second son being on knightly adventures

[swordsandarms]

One obnoxiously wrong Stark fans opinion is how where you grew up is all you're worth and worthy of and contributes to "fandom wars" of who gets to rule the North based on small details. I get that within this society that's empowering for women and disabled people hence the wish for so called "success" but it's often forced.

I roll my eyes at all "Winterfell is important to these kids because they are the most connected and future kings/queens" shit because Bran, Arya, Sansa for one (Jon just didn't have a choice) dream of Winterfell because of trauma, not some fucking predestination. All these three for one dreamed to leave home behind and see the world, within various ways of seeing what that meant. And that was normal. Winterfell is a reper of safety and love for reasons that have nothing to do with Winterfell being oh so special and not replaceable but these kids being dropped in circumstances that were not normal to leaving one's childhood home to makes one's own independent life. And that's normal.

Part of it it's maybe that Westerosi timeline travel is more difficult and longer, but it's so fucking weird to see people getting so protective of being born and dying in the same small social circle. It sounds conservative.

[skysteelsun]

what is stephanivien's relationship like with his family?

send me a topic to write a meta about my muse on

In short, complicated. At length -

The Haillenarte family is large: Stephanivien has five siblings, of which he is the oldest, and both of his parents are still living. Unfortunately, only his relationship with his father, Count Baurendouin de Haillenarte, is explored in canon - the rest is all headcanon and development with fellow RPers.Stephanivien’s relationship with his father is… strained; as the heir to House Haillenarte, there are expectations placed on Stephanivien’s shoulders, and none of those expectations involve whiling away his days at the Skysteel Manufactory. While Baurendouin never outright forbids him from visiting the workshop, he makes his disapproval clear, and always has; Stephanivien does his best to never allow it to trouble him overmuch, believing always that he will someday persuade his father to see the value of his work. He has always assumed his father is ashamed of him: he isn’t the knight his sister or middle brother are, and isn’t invested enough in the politics and gossip of noble life to maneuver successfully through society - indeed, he prefers the company of lowborn engineers and artisans, and has very few friends among the nobility, which frustrates his father to no end. Luckily, this does change in time, as Stephanivien’s machinists begin to make a name for themselves.For himself, Baurendouin is actually quietly proud of his son’s stubborn loyalty to his work - it isn’t what he wants his eldest son to be doing, of course, and he despairs to imagine what the boy’s future (to say nothing of House Haillenarte’s future) is going to hold, but he cannot help but admire Stephanivien’s tenacity.Stephanivien’s mother is the lovely Countess Yvonne de Haillenarte (an OC of mine), once the daughter of a lesser noble house with ties to House Fortemps. In many ways, Stephanivien takes after his mother - he has her merry heart and welcoming personality, and her unshakable tendency to see only the best in everyone she meets. While he often laments that he cannot be the perfect son she would doubtless prefer, Stephanivien is nevertheless close to his mother - in fact, it was her gentle insistence that finally persuaded Baurendouin to allow Stephanivien to spend so much time at the manufactory as a child. Not that Steph himself knows or realizes it, of course; she keeps that her own secret.Second-oldest and Stephanivien’s partner in crime since before either of them can remember, Aurvael ( @diadembound ) is the goad to his mischievous streak. As children, among other pranks, the boys convinced as many people as possible that they were twins: an easy feat, as they were born almost dangerously close together (Yvonne wasn’t aware she could have another child so soon) and very closely resemble one another: there are still some people in Ishgard who believe it. They’re thick as thieves, and beware any time the two are together: if Aurvael has a ludicrous and dangerous idea, odds are, Stephanivien has a machine or a plan - or both - to make it happen. He designs and builds the airships that Aurvael takes on grand adventures to the mysterious and deadly Diadem, and most of Ishgard prays that’s the last of their collaborations.Stephanivien’s relationship with his brother Kistenian (the incomparable @kistenian-haillenarte, whose OC is considered canon for this blog) is occasionally tempestuous, but no less loving for it; Stephanivien is quite certain he has his fashionable younger brother’s disdain, and tries not to impose on him overmuch these days even when he is home from the manufactory. The truth is quite the opposite; by all accounts Kist would love to see more of his scarce oldest brother, but convincing Stephanivien of that would involve him actually being home for once.As he failed to become a knight and indeed despised his knightly training, it should come as no surprise that Stephanivien’s relationship with his late brother Chlodebaimt - a renowned knight in spite of his youth - was also strained. It didn’t help that the serious, tight-laced Chlodebaimt was the frequent victim of Steph and Aurvael’s childhood pranks, and that it was common knowledge (and frequently remarked upon) that Baurendouin’s middle son would make a far better heir to House Haillenarte. While the pranks settled down significantly once Stephanivien found the manufactory and, through it, a better outlet for his creative energy, the divide between them was never fully mended before the fall of the Steel Vigil and Chlodebaimt’s untimely death. ( @chlodebamf writes a Chlodebaimt that survived the Vigil’s destruction, and is taken as canon for this blog.)The other knight in the family, Stephanivien’s sister Laniaitte ( @cloudtoprose ) had the fortune of being born late enough that she endured very little of her eldest brothers’ pranks and mischief (barring Stephanivien dismantling a music box of hers for parts). He sees her only seldom, only when visiting Camp Cloudtop to take a look at the constantly-grounded Protector, or during her own rare trips back to Ishgard - but he isn’t quite certain where he stands with her, as he isn’t often popular with knights, and is forever convinced that his family is ashamed of him and his work. Stephanivien himself is feverishly proud of his baby sister, and will loudly praise her to the heavens should anyone so much as mention her name in his hearing.The youngest of his siblings, Francel ( also found on @chlodebamf ) is the sibling whom Stephanivien understands the least - quiet and melancholy by nature, Francel is almost the complete opposite of his eldest brother, and Stephanivien has never quite been able to grasp how to get close to him. It often pains him to be around Francel for long, as his prospectometer insists his youngest sibling is capable of great things, but for the life of him, he cannot seem to find the way to draw those great things out of him. (There is another Francel at @aroseyetbloomed, though admittedly I’m not sure how active they are anymore. ; u; )Of note is Stephanivien’s long-term lover and childhood best friend Haurchefant (specifically @haurchefantgreystone ), who is as good as family - after saving Francel’s life on more than one occasion, Baurendouin himself considers Haurchefant as good as a son to him, and considers the young knight’s friendship to his family as a boon to House Haillenarte, bastard-born or no. Haurchefant is perhaps the only person allowed to see Stephanivien truly weak and heartbroken, even if only for a short time before he rallies his own spirit. Stephanivien considers Haurchefant his safe place (along with Skysteel itself), and the feeling is mutual. The only problem, really, is that Stephanivien is convinced Haurchefant is ashamed to be with him, and that this is the reason Haurchefant wished to keep their relationship a secret for so long - which couldn’t be further from the truth.And last but not least, Joye ( my own blog at @ninefaces ) - seemingly nothing more than a housemaid in the service of House Haillenarte, Joye is a quiet, anxious young woman who transforms into a gun-toting, hard-swearing harridan upon drawing her flintlock, and Stephanivien adores her. She keeps him in line: acting as a source of focus for his otherwise impulsive nature, Joye makes certain Stephanivien finishes the most important tasks first before indulging in his own pet projects - as well as making sure he eats and sleeps on occasion, and training new machinists in the use of firearms… and still maintaining her job at the Haillenarte manor. Stephanivien absolutely considers her a member of the family, and has long since recognized her as both indispensable and invaluable, and never misses the opportunity to let her shine her brightest.

[purplelizardman]

GM's Easy Creation Kit (G.E.C.K.) - World Creation Kit (make vivid worlds, quickly)

As a GM, one of the most fun and daunting tasks you can undertake is the creation of worlds.

New gods, myths, legends, artifacts, heroes, villains, history, kingdoms, cultures, religions… there’s infinite room for creativity and no shortage of fun to be had!

The problem is that there’s literally infinite room for creativity. 

Knowing where to start can be tough and when rushing in head-first it’s not uncommon to find that you’ve wrote yourself into a corner. When this happens it’s easy to lose enthusiasm for the world you’re creating.

It’s a problem I’ve encountered many times during my 7+ years of GMing. For each campaign I would create a new world and eventually I developed a set of methods that makes the world creation process fast and fun while producing vivid, consistent, and imaginative worlds.

It all begins with the first step:

Choose the Gameplay

Worlds in RPGs (both tabletop and otherwise) are not stand-alone constructs: they are meant to be played in.

The first step to creating a vivid and interesting world is to decide what type of game you want played in that world. 

Ask yourself the following questions:

What does the typical session look like?

Is it straight combat? Very little combat? A mix of puzzles, riddles, combat, and social encounters?

Are the players classical, good adventurers or are they mercenaries, space pirates, or planar pillagers, etc..?

Where do I see these encounters happening?

In dungeons? In cities? In spaceships? In temples built out of bones of decaying gods?

In locales that span a wide range of heavy metal album covers?

In all of the above?

How do I want to guide story progression?

Is the game entirely player driven or will NPCs and world events drive most of the plot?

Do the players exist within a command structure, fulfilling orders? If not, are they free agents on a mission, mercenaries for hire, or a rag-tag bunch of outcasts that gets into mischief?

Is the progression driven primarily by exploration, social encounters, or pre-determined events?

Choose Central Conflicts and Environments

Once you’ve answered the previous questions you should have an idea of how you see gameplay and plot unfolding in a typical session, in other words: the assumptions of your game. 

Now that you have a clearer idea of the assumptions you’re working with it’s time to build a world around them. 

Worlds are meant to be played in, so start with the environment: create a reason for the environment to be the way you envision. Give the players incentive to explore the environments that you’ve chosen.

This ties in closely with the central conflict or theme of your world: if it is a war time campaign, the environment should be blistered with the signs of battles, cities will be impoverished, nature will marred by weapons of war. If an eternal winter has spread across the continent, everything will be cold and harsh, but nature may yet struggle on.

If the primary method of story progression is exploration, define a few interesting locales with good backstories and a home base, for example:

The material plane has been shattered to thousands of pieces. The players begin on a shrinking shard of the plane (a single kingdom), drifting through a dark sea of stars, gradually breaking into smaller pieces. On their journey they will likely encounter the Volcanic Stronghold of the Fists of Hextor, the Sunken Kingdom of the Drowned God, The Impossible Tower of the Mad Mage, etc…

In 3 short sentences we have defined: a central conflict/theme (the material realm being shattered), provided the players motivation for exploring (their realm is literally falling to pieces), and formed an idea of 3 interesting places for the players to visit.

A second example:

The gods could never agree on how the world should be, so they made two worlds and separated them by a thin veil. Now the veil is weakening and new, bizarre cities, towns, and kingdoms are popping up everywhere along with dangerous monsters in unexpected places. If it’s not stopped the players will lose everything familiar to them and their entire world. The players will probably visit the Crag of the Crab King, the Industrious  Imperium of the Formic Hive, and the Brain Bakery run by Granny and Grandpa M’Flayer.

We’ve outlined a central conflict/theme (two worlds colliding), provided player motivation (anything they know and love could be destroyed or swapped with something at any moment), and 3 interesting places.

Entire articles can (and will be) written on how to flesh out interesting locales and encounters. Once you feel you have enough interesting locales and a strong enough central theme to create new environments throughout the campaign, it’s time for the next step.

Create NPCs and Flesh out the Backstory

The environment implies the backstory of your world as your descriptions of the environment reveal the world illuminated in the light of the central theme. Yet it is the NPCs who will ultimately become the face or even the very personification of your world, it’s backstory, and its central theme. 

When writing NPCs it is important to flesh out the backstory of your world. The central conflict of your world is going to have 3 main facets:

Cause – How did the conflict come to be? i.e. creation myths, political events, a wizard did it, etc…

Resolution – How is the conflict resolved (the ultimate goal)? Gather artifacts, dethrone a mad king, etc…

Factions – Who’s on what side of the conflict and why? Doomsday cultists, angry gods and their followers,  bellicose Kings, devious dragons, the merchant guild, a rogue sect of angels, etc…

Define the factions you’d like to see in the world and the cause for their conflicts, then create the NPCs that will be agents and eventually faces of the faction. 

Most important of all: make your NPCs interesting! Not every shopkeeper needs an important backstory or a quirk, but important NPCs do. Make the backstory related to the central conflict, but keep it personal so that your players will be motivated by it. 

Define a few NPCs for each faction that the players will interact with early on. At a minimum you should define a leader, a high-ranking officer, and one or two low ranking people.

You can get by with a short description of a name, personality/mannerism, and a sentence or two describing them and how they act.

For example:

Iara Tsun, the unusually tall dwarf who owes a life-debt to the King. She is never seen outside of her formal armor and never uses a word when a nod will suffice.

Zorc the Mad, a half-elf mage with a dragon facial tatoo, obsessed with the summoning of demons. He wears a cocky expression to match his attitude and truly believes that summoning a powerful demon may allow him to free his son’s soul from hell. 

Auren the Keeper of the Gate, an immortal former-human who is mostly made of glowing blue stone; his former knightly robes hang off him in tatters. He speaks in a loud booming voice that sounds like it comes from far away; he has guarded this portal for ages and will allow only the worthy to pass and receive the truth contained beyond.

Rog Horf the disgruntled half-orc cultist in charge of new recruits. He keeps his cultist robes pristine and is mindful of prejudice, choosing to annunciate each word carefully, but feels he is woefully underappreciated for his talent and intelligence.

The best part about using the short description method is that NPCs can be inserted into nearly any role we need on the fly: their role in the game is only set in stone once they make an appearance on the stage.

This saves prep time and makes the game flow smoother, giving you a pool of NPCs to work with for when your players do something unexpected.

After you’ve defined the key factions and some interesting NPCs, spend some time fleshing out the myths and lore: this will make your factions and NPCs more believable. 

CAUTION!!!

A lot of GMs fall into a trap at this point and end up developing extensive lore, legends, religion, etc. While this is fun, you should finish out the “party facing” aspects of your world first i.e. develop the starting local, it’s NPCs, factions, and environment. The PCs will definitely see this part of your world, but there’s a chance they will never delve deep enough into the lore to learn the deeper and more obscure parts of your world backstory.

Focus on the parts the players will see first then, if you have time, feel free to circle back around to lore and flesh it out even more.

Finishing Up

At this point, you’ve identified your assumptions about the game, you’ve defined a central conflict, a motivation for players, the environment with several interesting locales, NPCs, and the backstory of your world.

All that’s left is the quests, plot hooks, and encounters. 

By now these should flow very naturally, but if you’re having trouble just look back at your NPCs and factions and ask “How would they get the party to help them? What would they do that would harm/hinder the party?” For example:

Would Zorc the Mad use an alias to post a reward for the retrieval of a magical artifact from a dangerous dungeon?

Would Rog Horf send the PCs out on his personal errands where chance encounters will surely alter their fate?

Would Iara Tsun require the PCs to prove themselves against an encampment of orcs that suddenly appeared in the lower quarter of the city?

Start with at least 3 potential plot hooks and get a feel for which one you think will be most impactful to your group (which one they will like or at least remember best). 

At this point: you’re done!

You’ve made a consistent world built around a central conflict, interesting locales, memorable NPCs, and enough plot hooks to start the adventure. Add more interesting NPCs, locations, plothooks, and factions as needed.

    If you enjoyed this article you may also like Active Player Agency – A Crash Course or A GM’s Guide to Communication

GM’s Easy Creation Kit (G.E.C.K.) – World Creation Kit (make vivid worlds, quickly) was originally published on Friendly Neighborhood Lizard Man

[readbookywooks]

We were brought up together; there was not quite a year difference in our ages. I need not say that we were strangers to any species of disunion or dispute. Harmony was the soul of our companionship, and the diversity and contrast that subsisted in our characters drew us nearer together. Elizabeth was of a calmer and more concentrated disposition; but, with all my ardour, I was capable of a more intense application and was more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge. She busied herself with following the aerial creations of the poets; and in the majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our Swiss home - the sublime shapes of the mountains, the changes of the seasons, tempest and calm, the silence of winter, and the life and turbulence of our Alpine summers - she found ample scope for admiration and delight. While my companion contemplated with a serious and satisfied spirit the magnificent appearances of things, I delighted in investigating their causes. The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine. Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember. On the birth of a second son, my junior by seven years, my parents gave up entirely their wandering life and fixed themselves in their native country. We possessed a house in Geneva, and a campagne on Belrive, the eastern shore of the lake, at the distance of rather more than a league from the city. We resided principally in the latter, and the lives of my parents were passed in considerable seclusion. It was my temper to avoid a crowd and to attach myself fervently to a few. I was indifferent, therefore, to my school-fellows in general; but I united myself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one among them. Henry Clerval was the son of a merchant of Geneva. He was a boy of singular talent and fancy. He loved enterprise, hardship, and even danger for its own sake. He was deeply read in books of chivalry and romance. He composed heroic songs and began to write many a tale of enchantment and knightly adventure. He tried to make us act plays and to enter into masquerades, in which the characters were drawn from the heroes of Roncesvalles, of the Round Table of King Arthur, and the chivalrous train who shed their blood to redeem the holy sepulchre from the hands of the infidels. No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. We felt that they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to their caprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights which we enjoyed. When I mingled with other families I distinctly discerned how peculiarly fortunate my lot was, and gratitude assisted the development of filial love. My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits but to an eager desire to learn, and not to learn all things indiscriminately. I confess that neither the structure of languages, nor the code of governments, nor the politics of various states possessed attractions for me. It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in it highest sense, the physical secrets of the world. Meanwhile Clerval occupied himself, so to speak, with the moral relations of things. The busy stage of life, the virtues of heroes, and the actions of men were his theme; and his hope and his dream was to become one among those whose names are recorded in story as the gallant and adventurous benefactors of our species. The saintly soul of Elizabeth shone like a shrine-dedicated lamp in our peaceful home. Her sympathy was ours; her smile, her soft voice, the sweet glance of her celestial eyes, were ever there to bless and animate us. She was the living spirit of love to soften and attract; I might have become sullen in my study, through the ardour of my nature, but that she was there to subdue me to a semblance of her own gentleness. And Clerval - could aught ill entrench on the noble spirit of Clerval? Yet he might not have been so perfectly humane, so thoughtful in his generosity, so full of kindness and tenderness amidst his passion for adventurous exploit, had she not unfolded to him the real loveliness of beneficence and made the doing good the end and aim of his soaring ambition. I feel exquisite pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of childhood, before misfortune had tainted my mind and changed its bright visions of extensive usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections upon self. Besides, in drawing the picture of my early days, I also record those events which led, by insensible steps, to my after tale of misery, for when I would account to myself for the birth of that passion which afterwards ruled my destiny I find it arise, like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys. Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate; I desire, therefore, in this narration, to state those facts which led to my predilection for that science. When I was thirteen years of age we all went on a party of pleasure to the baths near Thonon; the inclemency of the weather obliged us to remain a day confined to the inn. In this house I chanced to find a volume of the works of Cornelius Agrippa. I opened it with apathy; the theory which he attempts to demonstrate and the wonderful facts which he relates soon changed this feeling into enthusiasm. A new light seemed to dawn upon my mind, and bounding with joy, I communicated my discovery to my father. My father looked carelessly at the title page of my book and said, "Ah! Cornelius Agrippa! My dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash." If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded and that a modern system of science had been introduced which possessed much greater powers than the ancient, because the powers of the latter were chimerical, while those of the former were real and practical, under such circumstances I should certainty have thrown Agrippa aside and have contented my imagination, warmed as it was, by returning with greater ardour to my former studies. It is even possible that the train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led to my ruin. But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by no means assured me that he was acquainted with its contents, and I continued to read with the greatest avidity. When I returned home my first care was to procure the whole works of this author, and afterwards of Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus. I read and studied the wild fancies of these writers with delight; they appeared to me treasures known to few besides myself. I have described myself as always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature. In spite of the intense labour and wonderful discoveries of modern philosophers, I always came from my studies discontented and unsatisfied. Sir Isaac Newton is said to have avowed that he felt like a child picking up shells beside the great and unexplored ocean of truth. Those of his successors in each branch of natural philosophy with whom I was acquainted appeared even to my boy's apprehensions as tyros engaged in the same pursuit. The untaught peasant beheld the elements around him and was acquainted with their practical uses. The most learned philosopher knew little more. He had partially unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortal lineaments were still a wonder and a mystery. He might dissect, anatomize, and give names; but, not to speak of a final cause, causes in their secondary and tertiary grades were utterly unknown to him. I had gazed upon the fortifications and impediments that seemed to keep human beings from entering the citadel of nature, and rashly and ignorantly I had repined. But here were books, and here were men who had penetrated deeper and knew more. I took their word for all that they averred, and I became their disciple. It may appear strange that such should arise in the eighteenth century; but while I followed the routine of education in the schools of Geneva, I was, to a great degree, self-taught with regard to my favourite studies. My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child's blindness, added to a student's thirst for knowledge. Under the guidance of my new preceptors I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life; but the latter soon obtained my undivided attention. Wealth was an inferior object, but what glory would attend the discovery if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death! Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was a promise liberally accorded by my favourite authors, the fulfillment of which I most eagerly sought; and if my incantations were always unsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience and mistake than to a want of skill or fidelity in my instructors. And thus for a time I was occupied by exploded systems, mingling, like an unadept, a thousand contradictory theories and floundering desperately in a very slough of multifarious knowledge, guided by an ardent imagination and childish reasoning, till an accident again changed the current of my ideas. When I was about fifteen years old we had retired to our house near Belrive, when we witnessed a most violent and terrible thunderstorm. It advanced from behind the mountains of Jura, and the thunder burst at once with frightful loudness from various quarters of the heavens. I remained, while the storm lasted, watching its progress with curiosity and delight. As I stood at the door, on a sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump. When we visited it the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed. Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of electricity. On this occasion a man of great research in natural philosophy was with us, and excited by this catastrophe, he entered on the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me. All that he said threw greatly into the shade Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of my imagination; but by some fatality the overthrow of these men disinclined me to pursue my accustomed studies. It seemed to me as if nothing would or could ever be known. All that had so long engaged my attention suddenly grew despicable. By one of those caprices of the mind which we are perhaps most subject to in early youth, I at once gave up my former occupations, set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creation, and entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science which could never even step within the threshold of real knowledge. In this mood of mind I betook myself to the mathematics and the branches of study appertaining to that science as being built upon secure foundations, and so worthy of my consideration. Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity or ruin. When I look back, it seems to me as if this almost miraculous change of inclination and will was the immediate suggestion of the guardian angel of my life - the last effort made by the spirit of preservation to avert the storm that was even then hanging in the stars and ready to envelop me. Her victory was announced by an unusual tranquillity and gladness of soul which followed the relinquishing of my ancient and latterly tormenting studies. It was thus that I was to be taught to associate evil with their prosecution, happiness with their disregard. It was a strong effort of the spirit of good, but it was ineffectual. Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.