010.

[dashing]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Herian Amsel
RECIPIENT: Division Heads (and/or their stand-ins) project leaders & assist leaders, Saoirse & Myrobalan.
WHAT: An idea to tackle the rifter phylactery discusssion.
WHEN: Current
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES:

I apologise for making contact with you all after so recently sharing an update on the Chantry Relations project with the network, however I think we can agree that the matter of the rifter phylacteries and the reaction to them is a disruption to our work, and causing divisions amongst our ranks.

Following the hard work of those who attended Skyhold to negotiate the matters of the phylacteries and were faced with considerable opposition from the Templars and Chantry, I think it is key that they come to understand it is not Skyhold and the Inquisition that pushed for this measure, but those other agents.

I also come to you to propose an idea to counter. Given that the Chantry and Templars pressed the matter of phylacteries for rifters, the most effective way to work against it is to diplomatically persuade them of the dangers and risks that come with said phylacteries, and diffuse the idea without further fracturing of our alliances and resources.

One matter that has been raised is that, as we have so recently seen, phylacteries could be used to harm the rifters should they fall into enemy hands. Furthermore, they could be used by the Venatori to target and abduct rifters. We do not know what they could do with them, but their shards are powerful and important to our efforts, even if we were to neglect what the Venatori might use them for in order to further their goals.

If you have insights or ideas on what other arguments could be used to present to the Chantry and the Templars, I appeal to you now to share them with me so we can present a strong and effective argument. This is not solely a matter of concern for rifters, though I can confess my bias; this is for the sake of our Inquisition, and more importantly, the sake of Thedas. Interruptions to our work jeopardise our cause.

Those who would be willing to attend a meeting with Chantry leadership with me, please make yourselves known.

Comments

[dashing]

Phylacteries have been sanctioned by Divines for hundreds of years. We would need something significant to convince them it is not worth the established exception. We could look to the Chant?

( Although that could backfire )

[faithlikeaseed]

[A quiet huff.] In a very literal sense, they're magic ruling over man, aren't they? And they can be turned against His children. It's a reading I've long held to but we'd need sympathetic help within the Chantry to win that argument, I think.

And there's no telling if anyone who might agree with that line of argument would also concede the rifters are men, or the Maker's children. But it's worth investigation.

[limier]

No ground was ceded, or will be, of the moral value of phylacteries.

[ shivana ]

Do not argue theology with a Grand Cleric.

[faithlikeaseed]

[oh shit mom heard him]

Nevertheless, ser, they are immoral. It may be a much longer game than we can afford to play, but it remains.

[limier]

And if you cannot hold your views in company, I suggest you do not accompany Amsel.

[faithlikeaseed]

[there's a note of unaccustomed frost to his tone,] Believe me that I can, ser.

private;

[limier]

Ought I? Believe you?

[ the danger in vedici's phylactery has been officially defanged. a useless point of leverage now, should anyone even seize upon it.

but there are other matters at play; the canticle comes first to mind does not mean it will be the last. ]

private;

[faithlikeaseed]

[He takes her meaning and is silent a long time.

Quietly,]

Perhaps you've reason not to.

I have no desire to be included in the delegation as it is.

perma

[limier]

[ there's a suspicion bloody well confirmed. she's too exhausted for fury, of late. ]

Empathy is to spirits as breathing. But it is a mindless breed — mimicry, without regard for that beyond their basest nature.

We own the capacity to shape our actions. To listen. To hold a conviction is not to know their absence from others, but to better understand how they form. Let us do better, no?

[faithlikeaseed]

How, ser?

[surprise! a burst of ill-suppressed anguish folded into one word.]

I'm accustomed enough to holding my tongue when it doesn't matter, [sometimes,] but how do I stand aside and not do or say what must be done or said? Or worse--do what I ought to hate and think it'll all come right in the end?

[limier]

[ she wrings the damp from her hair, eyes the empty doorframe as though it might bite. the audible drip of water on stone. ]

You decide: Are your beliefs strong enough to withstand question?

[faithlikeaseed]

I'd not still be here, else.

That's why-- [he's like this,] --but belief demands action.

[limier]

Patience is an act. Compassion is. Hold what you feel to be true, hear what others do — why they do.

I do not counsel you to lie down in the cart's path, but to consider others, who walk their own roads to the Maker. It is a poor guide who knows but single trail.

[faithlikeaseed]

[something about that prompts a grating laugh. he's careful to give it voice before keying his crystal again.]

If they're doing no harm in walking those roads, ser--I'll let them find their own ways home. [or try to be at peace with it, though he worries. the Void's no picnic spot even if he thinks it more temporary than the Chantry does. nothing is lost.] But so many of them seek real hurt to others, intended or no. How is it compassionate to stand aside, then?

[limier]

You do not hear me: If you wish others to seek a destination, you must lead them there. And you will have little luck by force alone.

Do you recall, in Nevarra, when the Provost asked me why I joined the Chantry?

[faithlikeaseed]

[if the rebuke stings, there must be something to it. he bites his tongue a moment.]

"Something had to be done," you said.

[limier]

Do you imagine it the same answer Ser Ashlock would give? Brother Jehan? The late Divine, the Lady Seeker, the sisters and mothers who set to these very negotiations?

My brother died in Harrowing. Not before — as I understand it — taking a man's hand. We've all our reasons to care; what unites us is that we do. There is strength in that.

There is opportunity.

[faithlikeaseed]

Maker's name--

[he'd died at seventeen. of course.

a span of silence follows. then:]

You'd have me bridle my tongue. Listen more to what others might say, what it is they're striving for, even if the means--aren't what I'd wish.

[easy to do--frighteningly easy to do--with the rebels, and yet he can't give up the matter of blood magic; when had he become so judgmental of his own side of this thing?]

See how that might be knit together into the ends we're all seeking. Without force.

[limier]

A friend is shifted more readily than an enemy.

[faithlikeaseed]

Then I'd do better to use my skills at making them.

i am definitely not responding to this just to wrangle one more point out of AC to cover my ass

[limier]

Take heart. You've more skill for it than most.