The Blog of Roon

Well, since the GM doesn’t seem to mind its being mentioned… the jaw-dropping plot twist I mentioned with regard to Passions of the Tide was a sudden marriage offer between Tamasi and the heir to the throne of Abyssia.

For all her training and her very real toughness, Tamasi panicked outright for a moment or two. Nothing in the sea she could possibly want less; she didn’t want to be where she is now, and she had had that forced on her in near-identical fashion.

A month has passed, game-time, and not a single further word has been heard. All of a sudden, though, the ostensible reason for the royal wedding seems to have been done away with—it was supposed to be a distraction from a political manoeuvre, but said manoeuvre is now about to take place in broad view of everyone. Perhaps Tamasi is off the hook. She’d certainly like to be.

The sudden political openness is owed to the same prince Tamasi was to marry, which leads me to wonder if he’s as unhappy about the idea as she is. She believed from the outset he hadn’t been consulted.

She wouldn’t find his distaste insulting, mind you. She’d do her best to put it to use. That would be an interesting talk, it would…

In the meantime, Tamasi is finally making a real friend. Lonely woman, Tamasi, and she has been so a considerable time. Not needy—Tamasi is quite self-sufficient—but unquestionably lonely. Convinced that no one in Abyssia could like her, an attitude that tends to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

She also embodies curious conflicts between stability and self-actualization, acceptance and rebellion, familiarity and challenge. Clearly the work she does is not sufficient to her considerable ability. She might indeed be better-occupied at court—but her instinct is to resist change with all her might. Not wholly without reason, I suppose; change hasn’t been good to her, and she’s had to work hard to make a place for herself. Nor is the social atmosphere of court congenial to her.

Still. We shall see, I daresay. Some people have to be pushed to their full potential.