Smile like you mean it
======================

“It’s the waiting that gets me” Koralo mutters, splicing apart the grass stem with her sweaty fingers, only half watching the figures out on the makeshift playing field.“As you’ve said before. As you’ve said a dozen times already.” Rava replies, throwing her own half-mangled bit of turf at the other woman’s back, her blunt nail picking at the grass-stains on her knee. She winces as a particularly bold tackle raises cheers from down the knoll.“Then we should do something - we shouldn’t fear to act-” Koralo sputters as another sheath of greenery scatters against her face.“-but be shamed by inaction” Rava laughs, smoothing down the blue linen of her tabard as she stands. Several half-formed grass bracelets tumble from her lap. “Again, at least two-score times” she smirks, only half-glancing at Koralo’s strained scowl. “I mean look-” she spreads a calloused palm towards the distant figures coursing back and forth across the fallow field below, “We’re not exactly up to nothing” her languid tone just makes Koralo’s bottom lip jut further.“Foot-the-ball is hardly seeking glory - it’s a distraction - it’s-” Koralo begins, working up clods of spring-ripe grass with her fingers, “It’s-” she pauses, attention drawn back down to the field as the ball careened from a stray kick, spinning askance of the two heaped up cloaks serving as goalposts.“The greatest threat to Pride is shame.” Rava smiles, the edge going out of her teasing. She bites her lip wryly and offers her hand down to her friend, watching as the agitation bleeds from Koralo’s posture.Koralo watches the hand for a moment, then walks her gaze up over the sunburst she had hand-stitched into Rava’s tabard, then beyond into her eye, still seeing both, despite the simple leather patch that covered half of her open expression.“And the greatest weapon against shame is Compassion.” Koralo responds solemnly with a laugh, grasping the outstretched hand and hauling herself up. “I make this far too easy for you.” she adds with a snort.The two stand under the sun for a moment longer in silence, watching another abortive goal, each wincing at the wet thump of leather on breeches.Rava breaks the silence: “C’mon - right now I think there’s glory to be won in showing Petro how to pass.”Another moment ticks by and Koralo releases Rava’s hand, thumping her playfully on the shoulder.“Alright - let’s show them how it’s done.”

Overview
--------

The Free Folk, former slaves from the Asavean Archipelago, have been living quiet lives in Dawn since being accepted into the nation. Currently they are yeofolk, but a number are treading the path of the knight-errant as they work to prove their glory. On hearing of the death, and recognition, of Lady Eleanor Novarion whose tireless work as Lady of the Proffered Hand they count as being a major factor in their current settled lives, a number of the Free Folk set off for Anvil hopefully to ensure that the new exemplar receives all the recognition they believe she is due.

Free Origins
------------

The Free Folk are a population of Dawnish citizens brought to the Empire in the wake of a failed rebellion Formerly enslaved, the Free Folk have their origins in Marracossa, an Asavean subject state They possess several distinct interpretations of the Way

The Free Folk are a population of former slaves who liberated themselves in the fires of the Marracossan civil war - where the nobility of the Asavean satrapy sought to seize independence. Emancipated in exchange for service in the rebel armies, the majority of these volunteer soldiers were recaptured when the Marracossan forces were overwhelmed by the combined might of the Nemorians, supported in part (and much to the dismay of the rebels) by Imperial Mercenaries.

In the closing days of the conflict, as the rebel stronghold of Maragladia fell, Sumaah and Imperial captains performed daring blockade runs to ferry Marracossan, slave and former slave alike to safety. Where the former plenum of Marracossa settled in the ruins of Trajadoz, with any of their household servants who chose to remain with them, all of the Free Folk chose instead to part ways with their former masters and travel the Empire.

These strangers in a strange land were supported by their faith: the Way had long taken root within the slave population of Marracossa, seeded by Imperial and Sumaah missionaries - and the involvement of these great powers had further cemented the Folk’s belief. However, generations of isolation from the orthodoxy of the twin Synods of Anvil and Timoj had shaped a belief system that had syncretised with the Free Folk’s own thinking and some of the Asavean religion that was impressed upon them while in bondage. To the Free Folk the Virtues are not abstract ideals - but collections of divine beings - human spirits that have transcended the Labyrinth and now act from beyond to aid the faithful. This ‘Divine Family’ of paragons are constant presences in their day to day lives - siblings in Virtue with whom they seek to develop a personal relationship through their faith.

What have they been doing?
--------------------------

Since Spring 386YE the Free Folk have been settled into new homes in the vicinity of Caer Faucon, in Astolat

Over the years since their arrival in the Empire, the Free Folk have stirred debate about the nature of idolatry and the idea of paragon intervention. Through all this the Free Folk have been unabashed in their beliefs and passionate supporters of the Way as they sought to join the Empire and turn their freedom to further the aims of ‘the faith that made them free’. In return the Free Folk were embraced and guided in their new lives, supported by Highguard and Dawn in particular in their education in the Way and establishing new lives. The question of the Free Folk’s faith was seemingly settled by the recognition of one of the Folk’s most prominent Divinities - 'The Speaker for the Dead' - as an Exemplar of Pride.

Upon their arrival in the Empire, the Free Folk were brought to the House of the Proffered Hand in Astolat. It was with the support of the then Lady of the Proffered Hand, Eleanor Novarion, that the Free Folk were able to reclaim their Pride and experience the rewards of their own Prosperity as free people. It was from Astolat that the Free Folk spread, bringing their experience and love of hard work to the farms and businesses of Dawn. Without the compassionate foundations that the House of the Proffered hand offered to these people without a home, the Free Folk would have surely departed and drifted away from the land they so passionately sought to embrace.

We recognise Eleanor Novarion, the Lady of the Proffered Hand, as an Exemplar of Pride. Once a slave, she dedicated her life following her freedom and recovery to helping others who had suffered the same, demonstrating her Benevolence. Her work served as Inspiration to others, resulting in the creation of the Proffered Hand Network across the Empire. She was pivotal in securing the Salvation of the Free Folk of Asavea, reconciling their beliefs with the Way, an event marked by a miraculous aura of Pride. In her final months, she undertook Pilgrimage to Bastion, where she summarised her life with these words, a lesson to be shared across the Empire: "The greatest threat to Pride is shame. The greatest weapon against shame is Compassion."Edward Watcher, General Assembly, Spring Equinox 387YE, Vote: 1126-416

A New Exemplar
--------------

The Pride and General assemblies have recognised Lady Eleanor Novarion as an exemplar of Pride

With the recognition of Lady Eleanor Novarion as an exemplar of Pride, the Free Folk - now settled and thriving across the lands of Dawn and the Marches - have been gripped by a passionate outpouring of adoration and respect for their former benefactor. As an exemplar, Lady Eleanor is seen as a beacon of Virtue who will lead the spirits of the faithful through the Labyrinth when their time comes and, as people who had known her in life, the Free Folk believe they should seek to spread her example far and wide. In the past season the Folk have returned from across the Empire to Astolat to pay their respects, erecting effigies to the ‘Lady of Compassion’, as the exemplar has been dubbed, and discussing among themselves and the citizens there what they as a people can do to express their gratitude and celebrate this recognition.

Three potential avenues have won out over others, splitting the Free Folk’s opinions three ways:

### The Army of Love

The Free Folk might be encouraged to support the Lions of Adelmar in its pursuit of glory The Free Folk would flock to its banner, turning their Prosperity to supporting it however they can
One cannot simply love and do nothing: it's what we do for those we love that matters. Compassion must be a shield for the helpless held ready for those in need.Johano de la Floroj

The Knight-errant, Johano de la Floroj de Fiereco, proposes that the Free Folk embrace the newly founded Lions of Adelmar. He asserts that the army embodies the compassion that Lady Eleanor taught was the foundation of Pride - and that through it Dawn might bring about the rebirth into Virtue of others that the Proffered hand allowed for him and his loved ones. Johano asserts that the Free Folk should do whatever they can to support the Lions and bring them to further glory in spreading the Way: be it by once again taking up arms and joining the army themselves, sharing their Prosperity in its support or volunteering to aid in its supply and maintenance. Johano is passionate in his belief that the Free Folk’s hard work can make a difference.

Love its powerful - love is fierce. Let love be the sword that protects those to who we are Loyal and smites those who would do them harm.Florence d'Astolat

The Troubadour Florence d’Astolat, a Proud Gryphon has spoken out against this suggestion, noting that the Free Folk already speak so