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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mathew_Freeman" data-source="post: 4571732" data-attributes="member: 1846">A day in the life of Zlatan, Cleric of Moradin and apprentice to the Adversary:Rising early, he eats a small, sparse breakfast in the privacy of his own room - one of the minor perks of being an apprentice for such a respected figure as the Adversary. With food production only managable at a stable level, it is vitally important that each Dwarf and Citizen of Naedur controls their intake, and this normally means communal eating for greatest efficiency. However, Zlatan has a small platter delivered to him.After eating, he checks the tools of his work - meaning he hones his mind working through several mental exercises, loosens his voice and spends five minutes in prayer to Moradin, asking for assistance in his work today. Zlatan also takes a moment every few days to pray for his family, who are miners and work in a dangerous area of nearby tunnels on the fringes of the city, trying to locate new sources of ore.The morning is spent researching in the Adversary's library. Currently, Zlatan is looking into the words of Piotr Shieldbreaker, a notable Adversary from around 100 years ago, who was one of the first to speak for rejoining the surface world through a small trade delegation. The work is hard and boring, reading through scrolls and texts for useful information, but potentially vital.At lunch-time Zlatan leaves the library and goes to a nearby small community foodstore for lunch. The cook there, a female Dwarf named Karla Stouthaft, has become a friend. She is a quiet radical, despite her elder years, and approves of Zlatan's work. As such, she makes a space for him every day to preach and speak about reintegration - so long as he remembers to bless the food for her!Finishing his lunch, Zlatan composes himself and climbs onto the table to begin speaking about reintegration and the reasons for it. It's a familiar theme, one that he comes back to every few days when he's learnt something new about the past, and most of the regulars participate only fitfully. However, the young noble Mikkal Goldhelm is in attendance, and his own powerful voice rings out in counter-argument. The Goldhelms are a rich and traditional family, and Mikkal seems to have taken it upon himself to make Zlatan's life a misery - he shows up every time Zlatan speaks to oppose him, seemingly on principle sometimes. The two have the tiniest flicker of grudging respect for each other, but only the knowledge that attacking Mikkal would bring shame upon both the Adversary and himself (in that order) has prevented Zlatan from launching himself at the arrogant young braggart on occasion.The afternoon is again spent in research, apart from a short break towards the end. Zlatan bows to the Adversary as he is visited in the library, and the two converse. As is his habit, the Adversary leads the conversation, asking many difficult questions of Zlatan regarding his research - the abruptly shifting to an antagonistic mode and trying to provoke an angry or emotional response in him. Zlatan, on this day, keeps his cool and argues back skillfully, earning a small grunt of congratulations. It's not always the case, and it means that some nights Zlatan goes to sleep hungry.Today the Adversary is pleased, and Zlatan exits his work-place in the early evening with a few coins in a pouch. He heads to a nearby tavern, the Troll's Head, and keeps a low profile, listening to the views of other Dwarves around him and dropping in a few small comments here and there. Unnusually, the conversation is a little muted - apparently there was another postponement to the Wordstriving* between the Adversary and the Council on the subject of Reintegration, and the tension is slowly, but surely, starting to rise.*Wordstriving - in Guy Gavriel Kay's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fionavar_Tapestry" target="_blank">The Fionavar Tapestry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</a> books, the Dwarves settle matters by this method. In it, each Dwarf speaks not to the Council, but to the assembled Dwarves who are committed to silence as they listen. The Council then reads that silence and uses it to come to their conclusion. I would like to introduce this, or some variant on it, to the game as it's very dramatic. It's also two (or more) long monologues which is good for pbp play!</blockquote>

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