crystal

[arcaneadvisor]

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Morrigan
RECIPIENT: All
WHAT: Let's talk about what god is aka so you found a troubling thing and need to address that one day
WHEN: Post-tourney
WHERE: Kirkwall/Kirkwall-adjacent
NOTES: If you want to push Morrigan on certain things you can certainly try but her finding Geldauran's Claim isn't public knowledge yet given the possibility for it to be highly inflammatory, especially with the rifter status and the Dalish in positions of power in the Inquisition

What do you believe gods are Inquisition? Do you indeed believe that there are gods? The Chantry that likes to press and to meddle might not be for all but there are many of those who will still have the name of the Maker upon their lips in a time of strife. The Dalish have the Creators. The Avvar have beliefs about spirits and gods, and the Chasind have gods of a fashion, men and women beloved of them.

Rifters need not be shy in answering, I ask about...what a god is. What it might be. If it is a thing indeed. Something far beyond the comprehension of any mortal being, shifting even beyond the Veil or Fade that we might never know what it truly is, or if it might something else. Something closer to flesh and blood fashioned long ago. Shaped in the way the world is shaped.

[That phrase turned over and over: There is only the subject and the object, the actor and the acted upon.]

Perhaps… [and well she might as well voice a possibility when they're in Kirkwall where the Veil was stretched so thin long ago] once 'twas possible to raise those of ambition and power as high as the magisters of old Tevinter, to leave terror and awe in their wake depending on the mood, the whim, the offering.

[Eventually...well eventually there will be a report, but until she can trust how to write it, can know what the reception might be when it dares to leave the small group that know even the truth of what lies deep in the Tirashan, she can't bring her hand to write it.]

Comments

[arcaneadvisor]

The Dalish name for her means woman of many years, and her tales paint her as consorting with spirits or demons. She sought vengeance for being wronged, becoming host to a spirit once making it to the Wilds where much later the Chasind learnt their magic from her. So their stories tell.

Yet even I know not the truth of what she is, she is no abomination if you have seen the like of those in Thedas. I am shapeshifter myself, taught by her, but to become a dragon? 'Tis far beyond me.

[coiledscales]

I've only read of abominations, never seen or encountered one.

[ He sounds thoughtful. ]

It's an interesting story. So I would like to ask your opinion. Do you believe your mother is truly that old? Or that she taught magic to the Chasind? You've more experience of her than I.

[arcaneadvisor]

Give it time.

[These days of war and death and fear? Rage and resentment bitter out on the roads or in the dark, a wonder so few within the walls turned outside the most dramatic incident.]

I believe that she is. All that she knows is not what could have been learnt from study. And she has a way to prolong her life that no other I have heard of does, at least not her particular method to account for much of it. [Seems that will never not stick in her throat.]

[coiledscales]

I know of those with particularly long lives where I hail from, but that is due to their nature. Elves, for example, live for hundreds of years. And dragons can be thousands upon thousands of years old. Here, however... most people seem to live a rather shorter lifespan.

[ He seems to consider this for a moment. ]

I know of ways to prolong life - or at least stave off death. But again, this is new territory to me in this world.

[arcaneadvisor]

The elves here have not known immortality for generations. [Spiders Zathrian, who lives in the woods and binds nature spirits should not be counted.] Dragons are mortal beings likewise. My mother...

[She breathes away from the crystal, better not to let it come shuddering out of her.]

My mother possesses her daughters, their bodies. That is how she lives on. I had and have no intention of allowing such a fate to befall me.

[coiledscales]

Ah.

[ That's a missing piece of the puzzle. And an interesting one. He's not all that horrified, but he is intrigued. ]

I admit, I would feel much the same were I in your shoes. I enjoy my body and being in control of it.

[arcaneadvisor]

I know not if any part of me would have remained, trapped behind glass to pound on it with my fists or if all would be lost to Flemeth. I have no intention of finding out.

[Let one of these others take her place. If they exist.]

Should you ever hear anyone foolish enough to wonder oh where is Flemeth when she aided the Hero and the Champion, perhaps remember that. [And that witches seldom do shit for free but Morrigan doubts someone like him needs to be told that, the rest of the rabble alas...]

[coiledscales]

Sensible. I'd not want to risk such, either. I put far too much value on being free in my own body.

[ Or, uh, someone else's, but he's quietly not mentioning that and it's mostly irrelevant to the discussion since it's beyond his powers here, anyway. ]

If I ever meet your mother, I'll be sure to remember that note of caution.