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Welcome to the first Final Haven Weekly Raffle!
This weeks question is inspired by Valentine's Day...

Does your character believe there is anything more important than love? What and why?

“I decline to answer this question.”

The old druid’s wizened face fills with a silent sadness. He reaches into his leather satchel and holds onto something tightly. He looks off into the distance; to the trees and then to the setting sun… pondering a love that was never meant to be.

“Love? Those that I have loved have been taken from me in the past and my heart has yet to heal from those wounds. The memories of these loved ones lost have cut deep into my heart and left scars that I am afraid will never heal. I surmise, at least for now, the only thing more important than love would be retribution; to avenge those that were so ruthlessly taken from me… and this world. But will I ever love again? I have not yet seen this part of my future. The fate of star-crossed lovers is beyond my ken. My gift of sight beyond sight has not revealed to me to whom my heart belongs… even though my instincts say otherwise. Until that day, avenging those who have perished in my past and protecting all children of the An’Irri are of the utmost importance.”

Marcus leans back and crosses his arms.

More important than love? Hmm...that's a pretty complicated one, as there are a number of types of love. Some are pretty selfish, others not so much.

There certainly aren't a whole lot of things more powerful than love, I know that for sure. Love, either for someone or from someone, can make you go farther, work and fight harder, and can keep you going a lot longer when you might otherwise fall if you were going it alone. I know firsthand that there aren't a lot of things in this world, if anything at all, that can motivate me harder than remembering when I run into the breach that at the end of it all I want to get safely back to my wife and child in Haven. The two of us have stood together -and once even thought we died together- for love.

I have seen some powerful and terrible things done in the name of love. I've stood with allies in the way of the death and destruction wrought by a single person across the entire Witchwood by the selfish need for it. I've followed a stranger into the depths of the earth against the Depraved, driven by his compassion for his beloved. Sadly, I've also seen love for the common good make people unable to feel the plight of a single person, and I've seen love for a single person make it impossible to feel the needs of anyone else.

But...maybe I think there's some things nearly as important as love. I would say that Clarity of Thought, maybe, if that can be called a thing, can be as important sometimes. I think for those people it would have been just important as love that for a person to know what is making them act, and why. Sometimes you might be doing something because you think your reason is just, and if somehow you could step back with a clear head you'd see otherwise. But at the same time, sometimes if you can step back and see the big picture, you can see exactly the reason you should be doing something, and that can be exactly what you need to go all the way. But then again, I've seen that a lot of the time, love drove it all- for good or ill.

I guess that at the end of the day, I think that deep down for me personally love is the reason why I strive to live most by the Second of all of my Five Oaths:

"Compassion will be my face to those truly in need, as a light illuminates a dark path."

"Oh good gosh, you certainly have a talent for asking difficult questions," Gondowon says, chuckling nervously. "Um... well, I assume you mean romantic love... or... maybe you don't? Either way, I would think that the importance of something is different from person to person... oh, right, that should've been obvious..."

The sage starts scratching his head as he realizes that he has no idea how to answer the question. He begins muttering out loud about the various things that could potentially be more important than love, and the conditions at which they would apply.

"I mean, for a savage man, love is of no importance at all. All that matters is food, shelter, and sex. Love doesn't factor into the relationship between a savage man's mate and himself, just the continuation of the species. Then again, if we look at all the various types of love, perhaps it is the love of life that keeps him going, rather than the romantic love I'm assuming you're talking about. Then we get into fraternal love, platonic love, the love for one's children... damnation, there are so many versions of this emotion! I have no idea how Alina keeps track of all of them... Well anyway, if I were to look at it like that, then it's just an emotion like any other, at which point you'd essentially be asking me if an emotion is the most important thing in existence or not, at which point I'd say 'no', for there are so many other nuances to the world besides love... then again, love is so nuanced it's hard to see how it doesn't apply to..."

Gondowon grumbles and covers his face with his hand, frustrated with the question and the fact that he's gotten nowhere with it. He leans his head back and lets out a long, exasperated sigh. "I think at this point I can say with certainty that I have absolutely no idea what love is. There are simply too many variables for me to take into account, and as such I can't pinpoint its value at all."

Gondowon shakes his head, clearly disappointed with himself, and takes a swig of the drink in front of him. He turns his head toward the window, as if he hoped the answer would be outside somewhere. As he stares into the distance, his hand slowly wanders to his fourth finger and he begins to twist his skin as if there were an invisible ring there. He looks down at his empty digit for a few seconds before looking back up.

"Sorry. I had to take a moment to stop thinking. I have a tendency to do that too much, and I think it's getting in the way of a proper response. In the end, I cannot give you an empirical answer to your question... but from the bottom of my heart, which I neglect all too often, I have my answer."

He turns back to the window, looking longingly at the blank white snow outside. His expression betrays desperation, or perhaps loss, and his answer is barely above a whisper. "Nothing in the world is more important than love."

Yes. (PM sent)

Zandron grits his teeth, then rolls his eyes. He squeezes blue eyes shut, closing out the world for a moment.

Suddenly, he erupts like a tamped volcano, articulating clearly past his typical accent: "Listen next time. I already told you."

He turns his mug upside-down, pushes away from the bar, and flicks the upturned mug with one finger to knock it askew before staggering away.

Answering in PM

The young Gavin, takes a moment to think about the question at hand.

He turns to his partner, Elowyn... the answer is clear to him.

He confidently answers: "Without love, life can have no meaning."

Congratulations FINN!

• the Winner of the Final Haven Raffle Feb. 12th-18th!

With just over 20 participants, FINN has won 50 NP!
The next raffle question will be posted tomorrow centered on the subject of death, so stay sharp!

but.. it's not the 19th yet!

True, but the raffles run Friday to Wednesday. This is to give me (who is notoriously slow on social media of any type) all of Thursday time to figure out a winner and get the next question in order.

I did notice that the date was incorrect on the post, but unfortunately I cannot edit the post titles (though there may be some trickery that I haven't figured out yet) As it is my mistake, anyone who did NOT post in this past week's question may still answer and get tickets into this week's raffle! That means if you answer both questions, you will be able to earn double the tickets you normally would! Again, I apologize for the mistake.

Burn the witch!! burn him!!!

...but I have cookies! ...and tasty Reward Points! (Which I have been informed is their REAL name...)

Oh wait, its just Brian, never mind.

But to be honest, I'm good to put anyone into the raffle until I actually draw the tickets. I just say end of the day Wednesday so people actually post in a reasonable time.

only Mike calls them that....they were my suggestion so I get to name them.... :p