[OOC] The Sky is Falling!

[eolasemah]

Recently a rift opened in Skyhold itself. Although nobody saw it happen, it was rumored to have been opened by a mage native to Thedas and not one of the rifters.

There are damages to the courtyard from where buildings and vegetation have been singed and frozen and dented from the resulting demon battle. It looks a mess. This is a mess.

The purpose of this post is for general opinion gathering, rumormongering, and plotting for the fallout from this fiasco. If people can just open rifts wherever they want, what does this mean for the Inquisition? Can rifters do it, can regular mages do it? Why would someone within Skyhold and ostensibly part of the Inquisition do this in the first place? Why weren't snacks provided?

If you feel so inclined, reply with your character's reaction to the news (or the sight, or the battle) and what action they might want to take, if any. Plot, make CR, do the thing!

Comments

[stabsbooks]

As a rifter AND a mage, Martel is going to get a lot of Cassandra's attention (and not the good kind). She'll ask him a lot of sharp, unpleasant questions about his shard, his magical abilities, what magic he's been doing since he got to Thedas, and if he's ever experienced any signs or indication that he might be able to open a rift himself (accidentally or otherwise). She will be disinclined to let him out of her sight without Templar supervision.

:) hooray new cr

[ungovernable]

He'll definitely find it tiresome and be politely but bluntly disinclined to deal with Templars unless/until it's an official Inquisition stance, but he'll otherwise answer her questions frankly and straightforwardly!

No signs or indication of that nature; his magic is called sorcery and he prefers to be called a sorcerer as he has fundamentally almost nothing in common with their mages beyond "does magic", but doesn't mind the association and has definitely aligned himself with them since arriving. Sorcery is essentially a channeling of divine might that he can explain to her in greater detail if she wants (will give a brief overview of sorcery-as-religion, the necessity of learning through a patron god, the fact that it isn't an inherent quality someone is born with but a skill that can be taught - like music, you can be more or less talented but you aren't born with a lute appendage). He will note that demonic possession is a completely new concept to him introduced by Thedas!

He's done very little magic as he's noticed it expends more energy here than it did at home and why use magic if you can use something else, reserving it for when it's worth the hassle; e.g. casting that barrier because he didn't have the option of using a weapon instead, using a spell to become literate in their local common tongue because he needed to be able to study Thedas to assimilate and acclimatize.

[stabsbooks]

Official Inquisition stances are still pending the other advisors' input, but Cassandra will be pushing for it at this point, tbh.

She would definitely ask for and listen attentively to Sorcery 101, asking a Hermione Granger-esque number of questions as he explains. Overall nothing he says throws up any huge red flags, but she'll be keeping an eye on him.

[ungovernable]

The explanation is long, complicated and involves a lot of politics and religious context divorced from Thedas - he'll explain that properly trained Elene sorcerers are exclusively from the knighthoods, militant religious orders created for the protection of the Elene nations and faith, similar to Templars if instead of 'protect mages/protect from mages', they were considered the only men trustworthy enough to wield magic at all. And, you know, just men. The title equivalent of cardinals is literally 'Patriarch', REAL SUBTLE, CHYRELLOS. Their people have no system of magic of their own; they're taught by Styric sorcerers and sorceresses, and each of the four knighthoods has a patron god in alliance with the Elene church, a representative of whom acts as the tutor to the knights. Lady Sephrenia, from whom Martel learned, has been teaching Pandion knights for several hundred years. This is probably a clue as to why a man in his forties could still, with his hair coloured, pass for a solid ten years his own junior.

Somehow the official church stance is still that Styric gods aren't real. POLITICS.

The more they talk, the clearer it'll become he actually has no beef with the Templars (recognises their similarities and respects the concept and intent), he's just fiercely independent. If she presses the babysitter thing he'll give her his schedule and tell her to knock herself out, but that he has too much work to do to pander to it.

[stabsbooks]

CRUSH THE PATRIARCHY but no apart from that idiosyncrasy that all sounds...weirdly acceptable.

She'll probably push the templar thing at first but it won't last long once it becomes clear he's actually not a threat and they have bigger things to worry about (cough Galadriel).

[ungovernable]

one day his horrific past will come to light and she'll regret this but in the meantime

vindicated

[stabsbooks]

good we're all agreed then and



wait what

[apostasia]

nothing look he's hugging a child

[stabsbooks]

hmmmm

[apostasia]

handsome, trustworthy

[stabsbooks]

no one who is truly trustworthy needs to say so

[apostasia]

that's why he doesn't say so he just behaves accordingly

this isnt amateur hour!!!!

[apostasia]

when self-interest aligns with actually being a better person.

[ungovernable]

Also that in his experience, sorcery isn't something you can "lose control of"; he isn't capable of accidentally doing sorcery, he has to choose to perform a spell. Sorcerers who become monsters don't literally become monsters, they misuse their power because they're bastards.