therookery | (no subject)

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Adalia (

thunderproof
RECIPIENT: Errybody with a sending crystal
WHAT: What's up with your mages, guys?
WHEN: Drakonis 12
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: N/A

I have a question for the native mages among us, if you all don't mind!

❰ adalia sounds inquisitive, curious, sort of sing-songy — she's been pondering this for a while, both in general and today specifically. ❱

Would you consider magic something you are, something you have, or something you do? A combination of those? All three? Something I haven't yet considered?

❰ a sound of shifting fabric as she sits up on her bed. ❱

See, I would consider myself magic, innately. I'm a sorcerer where I'm from — we have magic in our blood. I would be considered a mage by Thedosian standards, but to me "mage" is a very broad word. Anyone who does magic could be considered a mage where I'm from, and then there are breakdowns within the broader "mage" classification — there are sorcerers, who are magic innately; wizards, who learn magic through study; warlocks, who are granted power by others — not to mention bards, and those who are given access to divine magics for worshiping their deities.

All of these different classes of mage approach magic in a different way. What is your relationship to magic? Is it part of you, or is it merely a tool? I'm curious.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Comparatively, ( with the wryness of someone aware of just how awful the thing is that she's about to say in its implications about both places— ) Thedas has been a wonderful experience for me. The access to magical academia, to its history here—

Certainly, we are privileged by being considered rifters first, and I do not take for granted that the freedoms presently enjoyed may yet prove transient, ( because "ceasefire" is different to "peaceful resolution", and much hinges on the next divine, ) but the opportunities aren't to be ignored.

( which is an interesting way for someone in a high level diplomatic position to be talking. petrana has strong feelings about mage freedom. )

❰ just give adalia a moment for that horror to settle in, then — ❱

When we work all this out, I'd like to take you to Toril, if you'd be willing to come. All the fun of Thedas without any of the racism or the anti-magic sentiment.

❰ a pause, and then, because to leave it there would be inaccurate — ❱

I mean, some people are still afraid of magic, but we don't have Circles and no one has ever been made Tranquil. And from the sounds of it you'd love Candlekeep.

You must tell me more about it in the meanwhile, ( feels like the most diplomatic answer, when petrana doesn't quite have the heart

(or the stomach)

to right now open the can of worms that is her doubts there's ever going to be any leaving thedas, or how exhausting the thought is of working so hard to build something here only to discard it as carelessly as the natives must fear them capable of doing—

that is a conversation that doesn't need to be had with a sweet girl alone in a strange place who wishes to talk about magic. )

My lord husband intended to make of our world a better one, and I can only hope that he shall.

( but if she never sees it,

... that's all right. )

Candlekeep? Oh, well, it's where I was raised! It's a library — the library — in Toril. We keep... gods, all the books there. I mean, I know there must be books in the world which haven't made it to Candlekeep, but there aren't many.

❰ much as adalia wishes she'd had a real family and a real home, she is still proud of where she came from. she truly loves candlekeep and what it represents — her voice is brimming with pride and fondness over the crystal. ❱

There's hundreds of tomes on magic, and history, and magical history... That's why I think you'd love it. It may not be your world's history, but you might enjoy the learning all the same.

❰ but uuuuuh say what ❱

Your husband?

❰ you sound so young the fuck ❱

Oh, certainly; Thedas is not my history, but it is the world I am in now, and I've found it utterly fascinating. For my work, obviously, it is a necessity to know—but I would have been content to do nothing but learn it, had I the option.

And; yes. Marius.

( how she's spoken about him in private and how she speaks about him in public are two very, very different things. )

He taught me magic.

Now I feel sort of bad, I am doing nothing but learn for the fun of it... Does that take the enjoyment out, having to do it?

❰ adalia's never really had to learn anything, she just follows her own whims. the idea of being constrained by a job is... distasteful. ❱

— right! Right. Good at innovation. Right.

❰ the detail was totally uninteresting up until about two seconds ago. ❱

How is he trying to make the world better...?

( by conquering it.

but petrana has years of experience in making marius's warlord tendencies more palatable— )

He doesn't believe that magic ought to be an offense punishable by death, ( though he'll certainly exploit the fact that it is ) and so when he is the man who makes such decisions, he will choose differently.

As for study—well, I think you sell yourself short to say that what you learn is of no other benefit, don't you? To better oneself is not a frivolous occupation, nor a thing happening in a vacuum.

❰ i mean, sounds fair to adalia, though there is the question of how he is going to become the man who makes such decisions. it's not really relevent at the moment, though, and also, adalia doesn't care that much. ❱

I agree completely! I was raised to always be seeking to better myself by seeking out new knowledge. I can't see myself ever being content with what I know, I always want to find more.

You're a very insightful person. I like you.

❰ congrats, petra, you are the first mom adalia has adopted. ❱