WELCOME TO THE INQUISTION : No Light In the Distance

[mostlyvoid]

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Cecil and Kevin
RECIPIENT: Everyone in the Inquisition
WHAT: Cecil's second Welcome to the Inquisition broadcast
WHEN: 14th of Guardian
WHERE: Who knows where he's broadcasting from
NOTES: No real content warnings save that Cecil is very weird and very biased about some things, feel free to yell at him. If you want to see the first broadcast, it is

[Hello everyone, it’s that time again. A deep, calming, smooth baritone voice starts to talk to all of you right out of your sending crystals. His voice is deep, and as he begins, sends an eerie chill through all who hear him. As it continues, though, that strange deep voice is actually rather… soothing.]

The night is dark, and full of terrors. Sleep, and fight off the night. Unless, of course, the worst terrors are the ones that come to you in your dreams.

Then even in sleep, you’ll never escape.

Welcome, to the Inquisition.

[He pauses, to hum an intro theme, tapping along to the beat with his foot. After he is finished, he continues:]

Listeners, as many of you are very aware, there has been a lot of excitement happening in Skyhold, and outside of it. Thanks to the brave and intrepid words of more than a few Inquisition Agents - [himself included, of course] - the Inquisition presence in Emprise du Lion has been greatly increased, and efforts to curb the red lyrium mining facilities of the Red Templars, as well as save the people’s enslaved there, are underway!

Felix Alexius, the hero who betrayed his father for the greater good, and helped us crush the Venatori’s - (Ugh, Tevinter)- plots in Redcliffe, has officially joined the Wardens. Well done, Felix! We look forward to your brave and courageous deeds and remember not to get mud on everything.

Also - we have word that Zevran Arainai and his rescues are finally on their way back to skyhold. Phew! Well that is a relief. I don’t know about you, but I was certainly worried about our resident assassin slash beautiful hair model! I hope they killed his kidnappers dead for daring to touch a single hair on his head!

However, listeners, not all news is good. Demons and Rifts have been spotted throughout Thedas, and the shards of the Herald’s mark are proving more dangerous that we originally thought. A rift was opened within skyhold itself, and reports have stated that the rift was caused by the power of one of the shards, embedded in the hand of a Dalish Elf. Listeners - I am incredibly worried, about this. Are not these shards meant to help us close the rifts?

If they can be used to open them, are any of us safe?

Luckily - I’m not the only ones who are worried. The mage council - who, though I have said before I am not entirely sure can be trusted, do make delicious cookies and seem to be on the whole fairly nice - had an emergency meeting in the wake of the event to discuss how to handle these issues. New training regulations and supervision for mages with shards have been discussed, but Listeners - is it enough? Shouldn’t everyone with a shard be under some sort of supervision?

Shouldn’t we all be under some sort of supervision?

An unsigned poster that I found in the lavatory on the third floor has said that there may be someone who can help us. An elf named Solas, who originally brought the Inquisition here, to Skyhold. Has anyone seen him? Does anyone know where he could be? If you have any information, please feel free to contact us via sending crystal, raven, writing out messages in the snow, or sobbing uncontrollably in a lonely hallway on the other side of the castle.

Listeners - as you well know, I cannot possibly tell you everything that is about to happen. Releasing specific information too early, even just to members of the Inquisition, could get word to our enemies before we even arrive! After all - who knows how many of your friends are spies?

How do you know that you are not a spy?

So it is with complete and utter vague words that I wish all the soldiers that are gearing up for a very important march to a very important fortress good luck with their endeavour. Do us proud, and come home safe.

For you,

The Weather. After the music plays, Cecil continues.]

A final piece of news, this time to do with my own little show! After my last broadcast, I’ve been working hard to be able to bring the news to you in a more effective, transparent manner - and to help out, I have a new apprentice! [He sounds very very excited about this.]

Everyone - is Kevin! Kevin, say hello to our listeners!

Hello, all you wonderful listeners. But, Cecil, let’s not focus on what’s old or new. It makes us think too much of a past. A past we can do nothing- absolutely nothing- for now. We are the present, Cecil. Even better, that means we are the future. A united. Future.

Yes - that’s very true, Kevin, but we must always remember Tradition! Tradition is important, tradition binds us together just as much as the future does! And that brings me to my main point, today.

Listeners - there has been a lot of talk throughout the Inquisition of late, about the place of Andraste and the Chantry in the Inquisition, and I feel like I need to remind you exactly why were are here and who we are here for! This entire endeavour was started by the highly esteemed and tragically late Divine Justinia, and it is through her wisdom and sacrifice that the Inquisition even exists!

We are here to fight a great evil, that threatens our very lives and ways of life - let us not lose those ways, just because of that threat! Keep your traditions! Keep your beliefs! They are safe, and sacred, and will guide you through the coming war! It doesn’t matter what you believe in. Unless it is the Black Divine, or the Qun, in which case, I urge you to turn yourself in to the nearest superior officer.

Oh, Cecil. You charming little joker. You. One of our dearly lost Herald’s most inner circle, the dashing Iron Bull himself, stands as a pillar of this Inquisition. Thanks to the strength, the inner peace, and certainty, he draws from the Qun. We must be careful not to let silly old prejudice from the past sneak in to darken our bright and glorious future. We really, really. Must.

[Cecil makes an awkward sound as if he’s very sure that he would quite like to keep his prejudice, thank you, but eventually says:] Yes. Of course, that’s true. The Iron Bull has been a great asset, from the beginning.

Still. You might want to let someone know.

The important thing, Listeners, is that we believe in the Inquisition. We believe in the Right and the Left hand of the divine, we believe in the need to do what is right, when no one else will.

We all have so much to lose. We all have so much at stake. But Kevin is right - we all have a great future, ahead, too. If we are brave enough to reach out, and secure it.

Be brave, Listeners. Be brave, and keep fighting back the night.

Goodnight, Inquisition.
Goodnight.

Comments

[foxsays]

Some of us have those shards, and the Dalish mage is a friend of some of us too. Maybe be a bit more sensitive before you open your mouth.

[Punching a sending crystal will do absolutely nothing but it's honestly tempting.]

Putting people under supervision is unnecessary if you base it on what might happen - you might choke on your dinner tonight, that doesn't mean you should never eat again.

[justdesert]

But if the food makes you sick, surely you'll think twice before taking a bite again.

We are simply looking at the facts, my lady. Sadly, we cannot control what they are.

[foxsays]

Yet some are faced with the choice: starvation, or eating, even if it makes them sick. Others of us brought here - against our will, with no chance to say no, with no choice - have shown we can close rifts. It isn’t wise to alienate the only people who can actually help you.

[And though she isn’t one of them using her mark, it’s tempting to see if she can open new holes in faces right about now.]

Don’t call me ‘my lady’, you don’t know me. It’s a fact that inaction can kill, that a single word can kill. Life is not a thing that can be controlled, the world moves, we move with it, you accept the risk or you might as well not be living at all.

[justdesert]

What a portrait of chaos you paint, stranger.

[foxsays]

If the seas stayed calm none would eat, none would sail. We would never find new lands or new friends. Everywhere needs chaos to live in the first place.

[justdesert]

Fascinating choice of words. The seas are only chaotic from a limited perspective. The tide rises, the tide falls, but the sea is changeless.

But, it is all a bit off topic, hm? The Inquisition is a an instrument of order. You must know that.

[foxsays]

My people came from the sea. We had an empire beneath it and we came up onto the land. The sea is always changing because it's water and it's the blood in our veins, so as one changes, so does the other through every person that has ever and will ever live.

Order is different things to different people, and the Inquisition is not an instrument or a tool. There are people that make it. People live, they breathe, they think.

[mostlyvoid]

Well, of course, but that's why we eat together! So that if anyone chokes, we can attempt to save them from a grisley, blue-faced death.

The shards are - unfortunately - something we know little to nothing about, and have proven to be dangerous to the bearer, as well as to everyone else. I understand that it is a difficult truth to come to terms with, but it is the truth.

[foxsays]

So why are you turning around and saying we should be watched? That mages should be watched? We have done nothing wrong. Accidents happen. Accept it and move on, this world has its collective head rammed up its arse crying about what was - life moves forward, not backwards.

Are you an expert on the shards? No. You cannot speak of truth when what we collectively know would not even fill a bucket. The Herald is not us, we are not the Herald, and most of us come from worlds you couldn’t even imagine; as much as you like to talk, you cannot speak for a single one of us.

[mostlyvoid]

Everyone should be watched! We should all be watching each other!

Accidents happen, but if I fall with a sword I only hurt myself. Stumbling, opening a rift and having demons poor out is a little more than your usual 'accident'. This has been true of mages for centuries - of course we need to keep a better eye on them! That's what's best for everyone, including them.

I don't need to be an expert to know the danger they possess. And I'm not sure that people from other worlds should be able to wield such terrible power in ours.

[foxsays]

[There’s a long silence on Araceli’s end, only broken by a very soft, but very sincere whisper of what the fuck.]

That isn’t normal, to watch people, how can you say that we should all be watching each other? Should we be reporting too? Telling on each other until everyone is locked up and it all falls to ruins?

Yes, because emotions and magic aren’t in any way linked at all. Because making people more afraid, more upset, more paranoid isn’t going to make this worse.

None of us asked for this, to be dragged through to this world where you treat each other terribly and your very sky is torn open, cracked like an egg. My world hasn’t a single war in generations yet your world can’t seem to go five minutes without falling apart at the seams. We’re here now, we are trying which is more than can be said for plenty, including your Chantry.