The Warning of Miroslav

[Caiaphas Redfern]

((As per Lady Leverson's (or any elder's) Established status trait, anyone who publicly insults her so horrifies the collective kindred community that the perpetrator should automatically get the Warned status trait, not even requiring a harpy decision or anything. Unless, of course, most people just pretend it didn't happen. The following is the tenor of Caiaphas' open feelings in the nights following the Elysium as an IC reflection of his being one lambent element of this judgmental consensus. Apologies if it's a little mean, and thanks so much to John for playing such a cool NPC that's evoked so much passion! Feel free to respond in agreement or disagreement. :]))

"I am amazed - truly amazed - that my honourable peer Lord Miroslav seated us all in what promised to be a pleasant Elysial gathering, elder and neonate and all ranks in between, simply to air his laundry before our noses. The matter of the childe he claims to have misplaced should by imperium of the Third Tradition be between Lord Miroslav, any other interested parties, and His Majesty. I feel sullied by exposure to it and the suggestion that our collective trawling of the issue had any relevance, as if our exalted sect were some manner of republic.

"But we might have been grateful if that had been the end of it; this was, after all, a mere discourtesy borne of the passion a sire might have for his childe, and might fairly have been forgiven in time. Yet what ensued in the course of it was even worse! All witnessed his casting an accusation of 'typically reducing everything to brutality' at Lady Leverson's hitherto invariably gracious and impeccable person. Which, when I questioned him on it, he repeated the same in only slightly different but otherwise congruent words.

"It is the nature of them that is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of it all. Rather than some witty barb, some knife-edge aspersion that I would have expected of one of his subtlety and wit, they instead proved only to be the very mantra of the terminally unimaginative - yes, that tired old saw oft flung against those of Lady Leverson's blood to impugn the proverbial and noble passion of that fine line of scholars. Such broad and common slander is something which we must consider especially grievous because it's fundamental to the divisive clannish rhetoric that now threatens the stability of the Ivory Tower in the south, leaves us exposed to danger from the west, and has even lead us to consider the calling of a conclave or something near to one in response.

"The capstone on this ugly edifice, as my peers will recall, is that after some vacillating and making of excuses, elder Miroslav admitted that the insult had been thrown and sought to offer a boon for the Lady to overlook it, as is fair, but made the wording of his apology with such blindingly obvious ill-faith and lack of sincerity that the Lady could not have honourably accepted, and indeed did not.

"I don't know what impelled my noble peer to such a very public display of social self-murder but it can hardly be undone and I weep blood for it. The weight of censure necessarily falls on those who disregard the weight of status and the public decency to which we are thereby held, so we must consider him solemnly Warned and let him be grateful if indeed the Guardians of our customs and Elysia choose not to Disgrace him as well."