Intro:

I'm putting this to paper as a record of the places I've been and the things I've done.
I dont have any expectation of forgiveness, empathy, or even understanding, but in the
spirit of knowledge I would be a hypocrite if I failed to add to the collective. There
will be gaps of time that I cant, or wont, commit to parchment because of the nature of
the events that happened or my own lack of memory but what I do write I hold to be true
and written with the intent to provide insight and an understanding of my personal song.

First Verse - Respect:

In the earliest times I lived a kept life. The only son of working class parents and an
older brother to a spoiled sister, I worked sparingly for what extras I wanted and needed
very little. I came into my own later than most, likely because of the lack of any
requirement to grow or test myself beyond my comforts. My parents were firm, if a bit
heavy handed around scholastic exercises, and kept my best interests in mind from what
I can recall. There was a quiet confidence in the two of them that I didnt appreciate
until much later in life and without them I hesitate to think what path I may have fallen
onto. I miss them dearly and do hope that whatever I've made of myself that they can see
beyond and understand the true depths.

Second Verse - Enlightenment:

I ventured out into the world on a whim and without any real sense of purpose or drive to
accomplish a great feat, it just felt like it was time to move on. I sought out libraries
and places of knowledge that would allow me to enter and leave at my leisure and read for
days and weeks at a time. I had no burning thirst for facts or stories, it just felt like
the best way to spend my days. I never realized how simple and free it could feel to just
read a book merely because it existed. I had and, depending on the source, still have a
poor grasp of the written word which made the next encounter all the more confusing and
intriguing.

At the time of our encounter, the young Prydaen that was inquiring about my work was a man
of no fame or fortune. He seemed careful enough with his words and content enough with his
place in life that any sort of motive or plotting was as far from a concern as I could
imagine. He offered me work as a scribe, a tutor, and a trusted associate in exchange for
access to a small arsenal of weapons and armor, a homestead to call my own, and discretion
in the business dealings that I'd be witness to. As opportunities come, this was one that
didnt stray from the life I had grown accustomed to in my youth so I eagerly accepted.

I learned and practiced the ways of Bardic Lores for a few short years while I worked for
the Prydaen. Through the clarity of their musics and their magics, my learning was allowed
to accelerate and my ability to consume knowledge was pushed even further. My employer
tasked me with research projects encompassing topics from all walks of life and death, any
number of which had I given them unbiased attention should have sent me running for the
town guards. Running to the guards wasnt his way, and in time, became a practice that I
adopted for myself. The desire for depth and clarity of knowledge was his way, though you
would have been pressed to believe it given his public persona over the years. Hiding in
plain sight was another life lesson that he taught well without ever trying, one that I'd
have to put to use a few short years later on my own. I had great respect for the Prydaen
and while we've passed eachother in cities and towns in the years since, our transaction
seems to have been paid in full and been left to history. He continues to teach even while
being a nameless face in the crowd.

Third Verse - Clarity:

I grew in the years of work and study, but not in the ways I had expected or anticipated. I
loved the puzzles that the Prydaen sent me to pick apart and the impossible obscurities that
were there hint after hint and time after time. I learned to seek out the threads of knowledge
that werent written in black and white, but as footnotes and margin notes in obscure tomes or
as wall carvings in some forgotten nook. I enjoyed the uncomfortable conversations with the
clergymen and the piercing gazes of the mages and scholars as they judged me from their ages
old lecterns. I began to wonder what this concert of lies and misdirection was supposed to be
protecting the world from? Was there some grand secret that was known but forced underground?
Why were there so many clues scattered about but no clarity to the information? Did they stop
caring? Were they stopped? Were they scared?

Recorded history has always been biased by the side that deems themselves the victor, and this
case was no different. Why were these Gods fearing men and women so vehemently denying me the
access that I had to all other aspects of knowledge in the past? What was so unnatural and
deadly that the weight of a lie in the faces of their Gods was of less consequence to them than
the state of their everlasting soul? I understand the ignorance of my youth a bit better now
but my disappointment with the Gods and their disciples can not be understated. Knowledge is
owned by no God, no Entity, and no Man. Fact cannot be owned or it loses its trust and its
inherent value and purity.

Fourth Verse - Purpose:

I found, in the inaction of those secret hoarders, just the mentor and teacher that they seemed
to be protecting me from. I asked the questions that none would address and they gave them
respect and clarity and a justified response. I asked for guidance and was shown a path. I was
made to learn for myself but without the hindrance of fear or jealousy from an insignificant
mind. There were secrets upon secrets upon secrets. Tome after tome of truths and stories and
accounts that if given the light of day would shake the very foundations of the societies that
I had begun my life in. I spent day after day, week after week, reading and learning and hunting
for the next repository of knowledge that would be made available now that I knew where to look.
In that knowledge I found something else. I found lies. I found fear and jealousy from an
insignificant mind that was as afraid of the truth I sought as the God fearing men were of my
initial discovery into this new life. I had so many questions that were still unanswered and a
gnawing at my psyche that someone out there knew more than they were letting on.

Then the sky was set ablaze and my eyes were finally opened.

Fifth Verse - Ardor:

I hesitated. I was standing at the gateway to infinite knowledge, unending life, and limitless
resource and still wondered if there was more that I should be aware of before I crossed the
threshold. Is this really the great mind that I've been hearing whispers about? Will I be able
to comprehend the things that are told to me should I deem myself worthy enough to ask? Could
the fire in the skies and the bodies strewn across the world really have all been sourced from
the thing behind these great gatekeepers? Find the footnotes, read into the margins, hide in
plain sight, grow your knowledge, ask the question, silent confidence. I repeated the mantra
over and over for what felt like an eternity of eternities and then all of a sudden there he
sat. The stories were all true and yet completely understated at every turn. There was an entity
behind those eyes that had seen a thousand years of history and I had managed to not only find
him but survive the encounter and come away better than before. The colors of the sun when I
finally made my way into the light pierced into me in a way that I had never experienced before.
The sensations of things that were somehow missing and very present tingled at the margins of my
being. My eyes had been closed so tightly for so long that the pain of enlightenment felt almost
blinding in comparison.

Outro - Storm:

I seek to share now but not in the traditional sense of splitting things so that all parties are
made to feel better about themselves. I seek to share the truth. I seek to publish the poem of
old names and dead Gods that will push the uncomfortable conversation into the limelight. I vow
to sow every possible seed of information and nurture its growth until what is right can be shown
without the bias of history and fear and jealousy. I seek to exercise the freedom of thought and
action that I have carved out for myself. I seek to stand defiant in the face of the Gods, and of
Man, and of the cowards that hide knowledge from the minds that seek it out. I seek to encourage
the questioning of social status, and normality, and birthright. I seek to find the face in the
crowd that can walk their own path, violently, while they hide in plain sight. I seek the scholar,
and the student, and the researcher that will step forward and find the truth in spite of the old
ways.

I seek the next verse to the Song.