[Bass]

Originally Posted by Fat alkinesthetase

i am now curious about what you study

Atmospheric Science, with a specialization in climate science / global warming. I was in the radar truck for part of a project in a weather radar elective course.

Anyway, by popular demand, here are the responses for the knight writing prompt. Enjoy!

dak

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As a loyal subject of my Lord and master, I shall keep silent for discretion is a part of my line of work. Kings are not expected to be true to their Queen, mistresses and bastards are a major part of how the Game is played.

The Queen would be all but a fool if she did at no point suspect that her King was solely devoted to one woman - that would be a great danger for the line of succession. After all, if someone murders both him and his true heirs, that would spell doom towards the House. Having a secret bastard or two are essential to make sure your house does not vanish if such a tragedy were to occur.

While it is unfortunate that I have a bad conscience due to the fact that I am close friends with my Queen, my loyalty is towards His Grace the King and second to that only the realm itself. It is no concern of mine to get involved in this, both honour and duty dictate my actions in this scenario to be nothing but silence.

Fishin

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italics are a sign of a questionable demeanour, so I must say that I would be quite miffled at this so-called mistress. If she has come to besmirch the honour of the lady of mine liege and gerrymander the heart of my lord, that would be hubris of the highest degree and something which a man of honour like mineself could not take sitting down or standing up, and therefore I would be honour-bound to scatter the tendons of this wanton strumpet like leaves carried by a tempestuous gust of winter wind like the kind we used to have back in the good old days.

Earthworm

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The one who I am loyal to is not my lord's wife, but my lord. It is my duty to serve my lord, and do what he commands, or failing that, what is in his best interest. If my lord asked me for my opinion or gave me an opportunity to give it, I may question his choice, but I would not go against his will or what I assume it would be. In this case, unless commanded otherwise, I would remain silent about my lord's unfaithfulness. Doing otherwise would go against my values and is therefore unacceptable. Screw Flanders.

Paperblade

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The loyalty is to the lord, and it's not my place to question him. That would be like the hand questioning the mind, and last I checked, if I wanted to tear out my heart (or whatever other body part you think best represents the wife), then the hand isn't going to argue. So I wouldn't say anything about it unless he specifically told me to. Personally, I think it's bullshit he would do something like that to such a kind and generous lady, but it's his decision and I must stand by that if it is what makes him happy.

kingofkongs

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I believe that in this case, the best thing to do is to tell my lord that I saw him with his mistress, and to ask him why he was cheating on his wife. If he truly is the most Honorable of lords, then he will be true to his wife with some encouragement. If he doesn't heed my advice however, I don't believe that going to another lord would be a wise decision, since they would be even less honorable than the lord I'm currently under. If this were the case, I would threaten the king to talk to his wife about it, otherwise I would leave. However, I doubt I would leave unless the lord's behavior has become disgusting, as he is the most honorable lord, therefore all the other lords are even worse in this regard. However, this isn't about the morality of cheating, it's about trust. If I know that my lord is abusing the trust of someone else (who he has no stated reason for) then what's to say that he wouldn't abuse the trust I have in him?

jumpluff

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Before my answer, I will discuss loyalty, the key factor. Then I will discuss honesty, and lastly, I will discuss fidelity.

I'm not terribly sure why I've been loyal to my lord all his life -- I'm assuming here that he did nothing to inspire great gratitude in me, though this is difficult for me to imagine as, while I am extremely loyal to my loved ones, I am never blindly loyal due to ties of employment, institutional affilitation, patriotism, etc. To secure my loyalty, one must inspire it in me. As such, I would probably be a bad knight, because if I did not see any reason to give my loyalty to my lord, I would not be inclined to serve them with my all.

Because of how highly I value my own loyalty -- I only give it to those I truly believe deserve it, and when I do, I give all of it --, I see loyalty as a very admirable character trait, and to be disloyal to those who deserve loyalty is generally dishonourable. It would fill me with great guilt and conflict to be in this situation, where I risk being disloyal to either side.

Honesty, however, is more important to me. The ultimate dishonour is to be dishonest; sometimes these ideals conflict, but honesty reigns supreme. I despise liars, particularly the unfaithful -- for personal reasons (my father was very unfaithful to my mother, and unfaithfulness is the #1 thing I cannot abide in a lover) and for moral reasons, because to cheat is both an act of disloyalty and usually accompanied by dishonesty. Additionally, I have two ties of loyalty in this situation: my lord's wife and my lord. My lord has committed one of the most abhorrent acts he can, and does not deserve my loyalty, for he has been both dishonest and disloyal, while the wife has done nothing to incur my disloyalty and deserves the truth.

However, I have to think practically as well. While it seems I have other employment opportunities, to break my honour like this would disgrace me and possibly invalidate those, and I also don't want to be killed. If the lord is the type of man I could approach seriously about this and be treated with respect, I would probably approach him first, and implore him to mend relations with his wife, reminding him that I have loyalty to her as she is his lady and thus my superior, and that I wish to see neither of them unhappy. If not, I would go directly to the wife, tell her what I knew, and then, having dishonoured my relations with my lord, seek new employment. However, I would not tarnish his reputation by telling some of those lords what he had done; I would simply tell them that I believed I could no longer serve him with my full strength, and that as a knight I look for a lord I can most loyally devote myself to protecting, so it would be a further dishonour to remain in his employment.

I could simply not meddle in my lord's affairs, but that would be a betrayal to my personal integrity; I would lose so much respect for him that I would not be a good knight, and lose respect for myself for betraying my own ideals. I firmly believe that, unless there were other circumstances (I can't imagine what), this is the course of action I would take.

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billy says I don't need to send in anything else.

billymills

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Chances are if I am a loyal knight, this Lord would have to be pretty powerful or come from a very powerful family. There could be no question of leaving him, or I would have done it years ago. More likely than not I would turn a blind eye to it, as it is his business and as he's a lord in medieval times I'm surprised its not more than just one.

If, however, we were in some sort of dilemma: war, famine, political turmoil, then I would probably confront him about it and politely question his ability to deal with both keeping his affair silent and balance the current dilemma. I may maneuver the situation to get a preferable position in the political scene if I felt it was necessary.

If the discussion between the mistress and the lord involved killing the wife or others, I would probably consider enabling the targets' escape. There's no use for senseless killing, but it would be pointless to keep the lord near someone he was willing to kill at any time.

If the discussion involved myself in any way negatively, I would probably go to the wife first. I would probably explain the scenario and get the necessary proof if necessary. I would then recommend leaving immediately and seeking asylum at a rival or distant castle.

If there's any other scenario, I would probably act differently.

zorbees

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The question in its current state is unanswerable. There is not enough information to form a proper course of action. The question is one of loyalty to one person against loyalty to another, but without understanding the details of the relationships, it becomes hard to pick a side. If I were forced to pick a side, I'd probably pick the wife's side, simply because holding the secret would weigh on my conscience. However, I'd be willing to support the lord if I felt I was more loyal to him than to the wife. What I learned in boating school is...

Draycos7

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My first course of action would be to confront the lord which has employed me. I would ask him why he was cheating on his wife, who was, as you said, very kind and honorable. I would tell him that I felt that I wanted him to think about his actions, and his wife that so loves him. Or, perhaps I could persuade him that he should talk to his wife about it, if he feels strong enough, and motivated enough by my talk. I feel that, with proper reconciliation, he and his wife, both very kind people, could get over it, and leave his mistress behind.


(does this mean one of the captains are selling out oh noes

also inb4 mekkah sends you "penis" 100 times)

LightWolf

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I myself am the last to leave on a ship that is still has hope, while the first on a ship that will obv sink. Sharing this information with my king's wife would endanger our "ship", this I would never risk. But would our "ship" start going down, I'd share this information with the one I believe is the most easily fooled, by having him learn of it in a similar way I did, and have him to give the news to the queen.

Using this chaos, and the blame being put on the sad stupid squire, I'd support the queen gaining her trust, and through that gain everything she has access to, and join a side that has still hope. I'm loyal, but no fool.

Layell

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If per chance I were to find my lord socializing with a mistress, I would ask of myself some questions. How am I sure that this women is in fact a mistress, and what sort of business is it of mine to spread gossip I am a knight not a jittery jester that prances around making bad jokes and spreading rumours.

If my Lord has been so careless with such a supposed mistress I shall let fate itself to unravel in the ways it knows how. Others may involve themselves in this affair but my duties remain clear: protect this realm and chop of the heads of any barbarians that dare to cross it. I would rather not be known as a knight that undid his own Lord, I’m just lucky I have a job in this medieval job market. If this does undo my Lord’s realm I at least need to make sure I can keep him as a reference for my resume.

Walrein

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My night actions (if any) will come at a later time.

My primary course of action would be to confront the lord about his cheating at a time when neither his wife nor his mistress is present. I would talk to the lord about how it is wrong to cheat on his wife, especially one as kind and honorable as his. I would ask that he break off this secondary engagement as soon as possible, and warn him that if it were to continue I would be forced to inform his wife. If I were to discover that he ignored my advice and continues to see this mistress, I would follow up on my threat and inform my wife of my lord’s cheating.

Answer wordcount: 112

Pidge

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I would wait until I had more information before making a rash decision. The overheard conversation could have been a huge misunderstanding on my part, and is not sufficient enough to allow me to do anything. I would wait for more clues on whether this affair was real. If it in fact was real, I would attempt to counsel the king to be more honorable and to end his crooked ways. If he refused to change his ways, I would have no choice but to leave him for a more honorable king. I would not make my intention to leave clear, so there would be no attempts on my assassination, until I was far away. It is not dishonorable to leave without notice, as the king himself is dishonorable, and the reason of quitting in the first place.

askaninjask

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At this point, the only reasonable course of action left to this knight is to start a military coup. The king is clearly unfit to rule, seeing as he cannot even keep his promises to those closest to him, never mind the realm, and has fooled me into believing that he was a great man. The other lords who wanted me on their side are obviously total wusses, as even I could tell that they were less deserving of my service than the current king is, and as we know, the current king is unworthy to rule. Surely the lord's wife, the lady, is nice and honorable, but are nice and honorable good qualities for the leader of a lordship? No. There is only one person left in this picture who is worthy of ruling this lordship, and it is I, askaninjask.

Gun6

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Given the lack of background information in the prompt, I will assume that I am a traditional European knight in the Middle Ages or Renaissance era. Also given that the nature of the conversation is more than likely trivial due to a lack of embellishment of the subject matter, it is more than likely a casual conversation and not a plot to assassinate the current queen. The nature of the relationship between the monarchs cannot be determined from the prompt, so regardless of the queen's virtue I will assume that she has a chaste, yet frigid relationship with her husband. Given the lack of emotional investment in the relationship, the damage caused by the presence of a mistress is relatively minimal and it’s a nonissue.

As a result, I would proceed to do nothing, as marriages were not much more than tools of power among royalty, and historically to have mistresses were even expected of a king (or any ruler, really.) Though, I might sneak a peek around the corner just to see what the king’s tapping, for curiosity’s sake.

Fatecrashers

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I would not betray my loyalty to my Lord, for that is a foolish thing to do. Once I have broken my bond to my first Lord, what's to stop me from doing it again? And again? How can any of the other Lords trust me if that aspect of my character is forever tarnished by my action here? Besides, as a knight, what business is it of mine where my Lord chooses to stick it? So what if my Lord has a mistress on the side? He's surely entitled to it. This isn't the 21st century you know. Also, does the Good Book not teach us 'Bros before Hos'? I see no reason why I should place my Lord's wife before my Lord, the one who I originally pledged my loyalty to. For all these reasons and a shitload more, I would not change my allegiance to another Lord.

theangryscientist

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I would attempt to discover the identity of the mistress that my lord happened to be speaking to when I overheard them. After doing so, I would speak with my lord and attempt to persuade him to be faithful to his wife and leave his mistress, and hope that my years of loyal service will give me enough influence for him to listen to my counsel. If he does not do as I request of him, then I would then simply wash my hands of the entire affair and put it behind me, since my lord has clearly shown himself too hardheaded and stubborn to listen to me and deserves whatever he gets when his wife inevitably discovers that he is cheating on her.

Da Letter El

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The indiscretions of my lord in his bedroom would not suddenly change the reasons why I was so loyal to said lord in the first place. How could I claim to be a loyal soldier if I were to abandon him at this juncture? Certainly this implies some sort of character flaw with my lord, but he is an honorable man. To suddenly revolt against him for having a mistress seems incredibly rash. However, the fact remains that I have a duty to remain honorable. Hiding secrets is certainly not an action becoming of honor. If his wife were to ask me about this mistress, I would tell her everything that I know. If my lord found out that someone told his wife about the mistress, I would own up to it and accept what comes.

Also, it is possible that you have recieved the secret prize as of this post, or at least parts of it.