The Collected Journals of Sard Touraine, Marquis of Gull's Cliff
This collection of journals is disguised as an unremarkable series of books on modern astronomical practices. However, the contents reveal the life history of a prominent Touraine who fell victim to Valentin Komaru's bloody purges.
Possession of this tome is worth **** Research Points per session. If delivered to the Church, this tome is worth **** Prestige Points.
In this tome, I, Sard Touraine, Marquis of Gull's Cliff, do hereby record my investigations into the occulted arts. It is the 179th year since Paraceln's Dream, and the Crown Prince Valentin Komaru is in the fifth year of his reign. I am 25 years of age, and have been granted this blank diary as part of the estate I have inherited along with my appointment to the Marquisate of Gull's Cliff. It is my hope that, granted the privacy of this ancient and hoary fortress in the mist-shrouded coast, I will be able to greatly advance the state of the occulted arts. Thus begins my quest.
...
I have begun my quest as all true Touraine begin their quest for knowledge: I am investigating the nature of the Touraine family prophecy. As every Touraine knows as soon as they learn to speak, the prophecy states the following: "When the sea's daughter bears a child by the earth's son, the Komaru will fall." Most of my peers study this prophecy by investigating the Mer and their mysterious nature. After half a year at my remote estate and a chill and lonely winter, I have chosen to pursue this topic through an alternate route. I am investigating the Komaru to learn the means by which they might fall and to better understand what it would mean were the Komaru to fall. I have arranged an invitation at court with my cousin, and will take the opportunity to delve into the history of the Komaru family.
...
The court bustles with possibilities. I have made the acquaintances of a number of prominent Komaru, and have begun my investigations into the family's nature. Already, many things are clear to me. The Komaru are a passionate family, and it is certain that that passion would be their undoing. But to ride the wave of that passion is a sweet temptation. I will see what I can learn.
...
I am in love. The lady is most beautiful, but to write her name would betray the sacred trust between us. I have found my true love already. It is the most astonishing of miracles.
...
The Princess Consort has delivered another daughter to the Crown Prince. She has been named Calandra, and she favors her mother. Many of the court vie for the Princess's attention, and certainly her beauty is without peer in the court. However, Valentin is a jealous husband, and it is said he keeps her locked away at night so she may bestow her affection on none save him.
...
I am bereft. My Charity has abandoned me. I have seen her on her balcony with that cad Mordieux, her shoulders bare to the moonlight and the flush of lovemaking on her cheeks. She has abandoned me. A curse upon her and her gender, then, those betrayers of love. I will have my revenge for her betrayal!
...
Wantonness calls to wantonness, it seems. With my heart shattered, I find myself surrounded by those who ache for the same thing I too have lost. I shall record the names of those who shared my desolation.
Mona Sone, from whom I have learned much.
Delphine Yuasa, as we dallied to change from strolling dress to evening attire.
Adelaide Sone, after her horse threw a shoe during the hunt.
Chastity Touraine, as I bathed afterwards.
...
I fear I have lost track of the latest names. I will simply assume that those in attendance at last night's soiree were all ladies of noble character.
...
Patricia Komaru, in the Princess Consort's rose garden as the other ladies-in-waiting searched for her. She is a faithless girl, but as I left her, I chanced to see the Princess Consort upon her balcony, clad only in the thinnest of robes. Her pale skin shone in the moonlight, and her eyes were as bright as sapphires. As I hid, I heard the Crown Prince's voice call out to her, his voice thick with his desire for her. I understand now what the last year of my life has been for. I am destined to have her.
...
Oh, frustration. He guards her too well. But to have her will be the ultimate prize!
He does not deserve her: I have seen him in the night with his very sister Desiree Bellatrix! It is monstrous, and I would expose their affair if it would not mean my very life.
...
It seems my interest in the Princess Consort has been noticed. I am to be married in a month to the Viscountess Charity Touraine, who once I loved. This marks the end of my life.
...
It has been eleven years since I last handled this tome, and in rereading it I find myself tempted to tear the pages from it. In eleven years, I have put aside the frippery and debauchery of my youth and learned the finer arts of living. My wife Charity and I are partners and allies, and our daughter Purity is the light of my eye. It is her tenth birthday, and I have given her a dress the color of the sea and a book within which to keep her thoughts. It is the latter that made me think of this, my ancient diary. I believe I will pick it up again.
...
The Royal Heir has died.
In the capital, Andreas Komaru and his brother Dante have fought. The duel, held with no physician in the chambers of Clarissa Sone, ended in Prince Andreas' death at the edge of Dante's sword blade. It is said that the Royal Council, guided by Clarissa's infamous beauty, will appoint Dante the new Royal Heir. None would be surprised were she then chosen to be his wife.
...
The rumors were correct. Dante Komaru is now the Royal Heir, but if Clarissa Sone schemed to marry him, that scheme has failed. He has tossed her aside, becoming engaged instead to his cousin the Countess Romana Komaru of Raisende. I am reminded of my earlier desire to better understand the nature of the Komaru bloodline. The desire fills me again, but this time is rooted in a wish to crush whatever it is that makes our rulers betray and slay each other. In their madness and ambition I can only see the end of Komaru.
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It has been five years since Solenne Komaru has born her husband a child, yet he still keeps her locked away in her chambers. Yet he does not go lonely. I hold here an invitation to send the most beautiful peasant maiden in my lands to his court for special recognition.
It is abominable.
...
I have learned many interesting things in the past year of studying the Komaru. First, I have learned that they are aware of the curse upon their family. The purest of their bloodline call it the Blight, a disease that makes them mad like rabid animals. They trace it back to the days of Paraceln's Dream. I have learned that before the Dream, the Komaru ruled the kingdom as King and Queen, but in the wake of Paraceln's Dream a cadet line of the family usurped the throne, killing the last king and seizing his throne. At first, they called themselves Regents, guardians of Komaru until the true line returned. However, as the years passed they grew corrupt and power-mad, and took to styling themselves as the Crown Princes of the kingdom. Now, hundreds of years later, the descendents of that very line sit upon the throne of Komaru, ruling the land like kings.
Like, but not as, that is. There is a reason they do not take the crown again. I must find it.
...
I have found it.
There is a tome entitled The Book of Echoes, written by a man name Hitoshi Kage. It was written in the First Age, as the first Komaru seized the throne. It is prophecy. It says this:
And as the harbinger comes, so come the end times.
The sky will burn and the sun will die.
And as the end times fall, so falls Komaru.
Unless the anointed king turns the cycle again.
And as the king abandons his duty, so dies Komaru.
Yet if he claims his duty, he dies that Komaru may live.
I will do my best to comprehend this.
...
It seems I am not the only one seeking an understanding of the mysteries of the Book of Echoes. The Crown Prince himself has claimed Royal Entitlement to acquire several books I have arranged to purchase. How curious.