Ironsides Family/Armstrong/An Najaf Reminiscence

The Steward of An Najaf, Sir Hierarch Darkwind, requested heroes to come to An Najaf to tell stories about the glory of Fontan so the peasants would raise their trust and loyalty again. This was the story that the former Count of An Najaf, our Hero of Democracy, told.

Roleplay from Armstrong Ironsides

Great Sage Pafizi and Discovering Outer Peace

Early on in my reign as Count of An Najaf, I once spoke to a very old man who had lived in there for a great long time. The locals who introduced me to him said he had been alive for centuries, but he laughed whenever the children asked him about it. When I first met him, he was washing his feet after an afternoon of stepping on grapes in a big barrel.

After I introduced myself in my usual cavalier way he simply smiled and motioned for me to sit on a bench beside him. I did and waited for him to speak. He said nothing, so I thought to ask him a question. The first thing I asked was how long he had lived in An Najaf. He answered that he was born here and had never left his whole life. I was about to ask him how long that was, but assumed he would find that too typical.

He then asked me how long I lived here and I told him as long as I had been the region’s Count, so not very long. He then asked me what made me qualified to be the Count of An Najaf. My first response was that I was elected to command the region. He smiled, nodded and said “What else?” I thought for a moment, not exactly sure what he expected me to say. The next answer I gave was that as a noble I swore a duty to defend my realm and its subjects, and An Najaf was subject to Fontan. To be Count meant that I had to make its people my personal responsibility.

He smiled, nodded, and again asked what else. I asked him the question instead, what he thought made someone qualified to be a Count. He looked around, gazed at the beautiful sky, appreciated the smushed grapes in front of him, looked back at me and said, “Many people say home is where the heart is. In An Najaf we say that your heart is where your treasures lay. You must see this land as your treasure, and it will be your home. That is how one becomes qualified to be Count of An Najaf.”

I fell in love with the region and put everything I had into it. Usually people say that you should not look back to the things in your past, that you should always be moving forward. But though I have resigned from the Lordship of An Najaf, I still look back. Everyday I look back.

That’s my story for you Sir Hierarch. I know that it is not the loud victory tale you would have wanted. I have many of those about An Najaf too. But this is one particular one that you can share with the locals to remind them of me. That might help them warm to Fontan again.

Hero of Democracy,

Armstrong Ironsides (Lord)