002.

[sangsues]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Etienne Guerinet Beaumanoir
RECIPIENT: everyone (sorry)
WHAT: whats all this
WHEN: post-proposal etc
WHERE: the walliest kirk
NOTES: Orlesians

( A quiet clearing of the throat; one can naturally assume it is a very beautiful clearing of the throat, done by a very beautiful man. )

This matter of the phylacteries for rifters… it seems sensible. If they are such a valuable resource to the Inquisition, the closing of rifts, and so on, being able to find said resource if a rival power were to try and overpower them and abscond with them makes sense, I think. For their own safety, for our own safety. If Corypheus and his forces were, for example, to make an attack on a party closing a rift and kidnap those rifters for nefarious purposes, it would be better for all if we were able to find them as quickly as possible. The phylacteries are an established way of doing just this, no?

By all means, if you wish to see the world end, protest. Even if this is not your world, though, I think we can all agree that you are currently in it. It’s fate is not entirely irrelevant to you.

Comments

[exequy]

What is your name?

[whiskeyandbrimstone]

Jane. What's yours?

after switching to private,

[exequy]

Kostos Averesch.

You are hurting your own cause and you need to stop.

Re: after switching to private,

[whiskeyandbrimstone]

Kostos Averesch. Nice to meet you.

Let me explain the situation as I understand it. Several groups of people met. One of which has just managed to free themselves from supernatural bondage, and another group, in responce and as a condition of the Mage's freedom, would propose placing all of the rifters under bondage.

I was not invited to this meeting, I was not told about it, and unless I'm mistaken, no rifters were present. Groups meeting to decide the fates of people and they don't even have the decency to allow the accused to speak for themselves.

History is strewn with the bodies of people who tried to make the best of a bad situation, who tried to keep their heads down, who tried to mitigate horrible actions by not fighting back.

Our Liberty is in peril. I will defend it with all my might.

[exequy]

[ Kostos is, unfortunately, not a very nice or patient person. He used up half of his available patience being relatively polite about switching to private and not swearing at her. He uses up the rest listening to that speech without interrupting to tell her (hypocritically) what a waste of time it is to lecture him.

So: ]

For Andraste's sake, shut up. I am not trying to argue with you about liberty. I am trying to warn you that every time you imply you have powers no one can understand or you are capable of inflicting great damage if you are crossed, publicly, for everyone to hear, you hand more leverage to the people who believe they need a way to be able to stop you from doing exactly that. So stop.

[whiskeyandbrimstone]

What do you suggest then, wait quietly for them to kick down my door and force this on me? Maybe wait and hope that if I act harmless they'll forget about this?

People are threating to make some kind of tracking kill switch, so yes. I am upset and perhaps not thinking cooly and calmly.

[exequy]

Then start. Or put your crystal aside and walk away until you can. That is less self-restraint than Thedas asks of twelve-year-old mages— [ apprentices, at that age, not yet mages properly, but he doesn't expect her to keep up with the terminology ] —so I will cautiously hope you can manage it as well.

[whiskeyandbrimstone]

I am just worried. This smells like something if we don't grab it by the throat it'll bite us in the ass. I am worried that they will either take calm deliberation as a signal that we don't mind, so do it, and if we have loud deliberation, they will use it as an excuse.

I'm a gambler, and this stinks of Find the Lady. Do you have Three-Card Monte here?

[exequy]

We do not.

[ Though Find the Lady sounds like something he could get on board with. Personally. ]

The Inquisition has housed and protected all of you from the rest of Thedas for nearly three years. Befriended you, in many cases. They are considering this now only to appease other parties who are afraid of you and require assurances. Deliberate all you want, but have the sense not to make threats. No one can tell the Chantry that you are well-intentioned and valuable allies while you shout that you are not.

[whiskeyandbrimstone]

Three Card Monte is a con. Three cards, one of which is a queen. You shuffle the cards around on the table, and then ask the mark to bet on which card is the lady. The trick is that the card isn't on the table. It's palmed by the dealer the whole time. The whole point of the con is convincing the mark that the assumed rules are being followed.

[exequy]

Fascinating.