crystal | closed to circle mages

[galvanising]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Nell, Kostos
RECIPIENT: Former Circle Mages in the Gallows
WHAT: Phylactery update, discussing a labor strike, business as usual
WHEN: After everyone is back from the Sunless Lands
NOTES: There's no "Circle mage" filter for the crystals; they're having to read off the names of everyone they know who might be one. But if your character has been reasonably open with the Inquisition about being a mage from a Circle, you can assume they're included.

Skyhold has ordered that the phylacteries recovered from the Seekers in the Storm Coast be locked up here in the Gallows until they choose what to do with them. Since they seem to be struggling to come to a decision, we thought we should help them by making clear to them where the mages of the Inquisition stand on this issue. To begin with, Kostos and I are drafting a letter to the leadership urging them to destroy these phylacteries and any others that come into the Inquisition's possession in the future, and we would like to be able to tell the advisors that the affected mages here in Kirkwall are in unanimous agreement, or near enough.

We'll be getting in touch with the mages in Skyhold and the other bases separately, and may speak with others in the wider community if further support seems needed, but since former Circle mages are the only people actually affected by this decision, we are the ones who should be making it.

[ Kostos—quiet, due to both internal conflict, a habit of following Nell's lead, and a natural disinclination to talk to large groups of near-strangers—breaks his silence to add, ] In the meantime, if everyone could refrain from doing anything hideously stupid that would remind people why they're useful, that would be… [ Good. You know. ] And we do need to know how you feel, and how strongly. There is a fine line between making threats and explaining consequences, and we can do our best to stay on the right side of it.

But we need to know how many of you will be willing to follow through if it becomes necessary to demonstrate to the Inquisition just how much they need us.

Comments

[justice_is_blond]

[He is quiet for a long time. The sounds of people around him in the Clinic say he's still there, but he needs a while to think.]

I don't know. Probably, yes. But as I had a... challenging time of it from the day I arrived, I can't say with complete honesty.

[He stopped running while he had Karl.]

The point is that if people die who we could definitively have saved, everyone will have names they can reference as to why mages aren't trustworthy even on leashes. Yes, our enemies will use anything they can anyway, but having something we can point to in order to say that we're not sinking as low as them, could be invaluable.

[wythersake]

I didn’t. Have a challenging time, rather —

[ but the intricate hypocrisies of his moral code aren't what they’re discussing. the implication serves him better than the disappointing details: that the high ground doesn’t help. ]

This is an academic debate, Anders. They’re in an urban fortress, little’s going to happen. We have the choice to approach that knowledge from a position of strength or weakness.

While they have the phylacteries, we can’t count on security. Allow them the same.

[justice_is_blond]

I understand that it feels a weakness to take the higher road. It will never feel satisfying. But holding lives hostage is what they are doing, Isaac.

I have ended the lives of enough bystanders. And while we're discussing on an academic level, we can say that if it never comes up, if no one's life winds up in danger, they'll never have to know they had any security. I'll leave word only with a couple of trusted doctors.

[wythersake]

[ well this lightning rod is clearly defective, where is his receipt ]

It is, [ holding lives hostage. if it’s dryer now, that’s not really for anders’ sake. ] What we’ve already done.

If it’s to mean anything, if we aren’t to just return to that level of — [ 'literal hostage taking, there have been literal hostages'? ugh. why does vocabulary always fail him when it’s least convenient. ] — Bloodshed, then a small stand now is the price we pay.

There will be one, sooner or later; the more we delay it, the greater the cost.

Limit anyone you speak to, I’d not choose more than one. Anyone might spread this. Any one of us might have already spread this.

[justice_is_blond]

[Have you tried turning it off and--wait.]

We are still making a stand. It still holds meaning. We must try the means that do not put lives at risk first.

At the end of the day we cannot win our freedom with mages alone. We will need others to be willing to stand with us, and if we show that we will moderate ourselves a little we may slightly allay the fears of another Tevinter rising.

[wythersake]

And if this continues, a time? If you find the outcome unfavourable?

[justice_is_blond]

I spent seven years trying to help the mages of Kirkwall through every official channel there was. The channels failed. Every last official who supposedly cared, who was supposed to care, failed. Among the failures are three of the four leading in Skyhold. I do not expect them not to fail this time, but I am willing to give them this last chance to be better than they were.

If they cannot step up, then we will discuss further ramifications and what action is needed. They do not get years this time. But they should at least have an opening when lives are not at risk to do the right thing.

[wythersake]

I'll spare us the adage of repetition and insanity.

[justice_is_blond]

And I'll spare us talk about burning bridges before you know if you might need to use them again.

We want them to have faith in us. We can offer them a chance to show they're worthy of ours before putting lives at risk.