pirates are friends not foes

[ebeje]

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Max
RECIPIENT: Everybody (yeah)
WHAT: Introducing pirates: your latest problem courtesy of the Corypheus. The Venatori have sacked their island off the Tevinter coast, and Max consequently has a request.
WHEN: Nowish
WHERE: Kirkwall

[ The journey from Nascere to the Free Marches had been a difficult one, not just for the number of days it had spanned, but for the things each of them had left behind, still tethering them to its beaches. Hopes and dreams that, with each passing mile, they must watch unravel, and begin to accept may never be within their grasp again. Amid the bitter mire of blame that had welled up in its place, one thing had become clear to Max: if she wants to have any say in what comes next, she needs to be the face (or at least the voice) of Nascere, as surely here as she was on its shores.

And she needs to do it before anyone else does.

So it is, the very day the terms of their recruitment to the Inquisition and continued presence in Kirkwall is agreed upon, the sending crystals alight with a new voice. ]

Good afternoon, Inquisition. Some of you I have already had the pleasure to meet, but for those I have not, my name is Max.

[ It's a not unpleasant voice, as these things go. A smooth, melodic Orlesian of the sort one can imagine trading one's cares away to in exchange for gentle but firm reassurance. Today, it is mostly business, but artfully tinged here and there with a withheld sorrow. (Most of which may even be real.) ]

I have recently arrived from the island of Nascere, in the Colean Sea, under circumstances I believe concern us all. One week ago, after operating for some time under the guise of reinstating legitimate Tevinter governance, persons we believe to be agents of Corypheus ravaged our home and have killed or captured many of its people.

The situation in Orlais is no better, as you must know, but even as the Inquisition fights on that front, I would ask one small thing of all of you. While some of us were fortunate enough to make berth in Kirkwall, our sisters and brothers of Nascere have been scattered to the four winds. Some may be dead, others we fear enslaved, but there are still more whose escape we may simply not be aware, who may become allies to you as myself and my colleagues Captains Flint and Vane now are.

[ ‘Colleagues.’ As if they are partners. Perhaps friends. :> ]

I ask then, in the course of your travels to fulfill your duties to the Inquisition, if you should hear word in taverns or crossroads of refugees from Nascere, that you bring this news back to us as soon as you are able. And if you should have business with a man or woman of the account, that you pause but a moment where sense and safety allow, and ask if they are of Nascere. You may find a friend in place of an enemy, and one who would join our cause.

[ Or one of their causes, at any rate. Of those who once called Nascere home, a fair number are more likely to want her dead than reinstated. But there are some whose good opinion Max does not expect, who she would risk more than this to see alive again.

She draws herself up, forcing a gentler warmth into her tone. ]

And, as I am certain rumors abound, [ False ones, surely, ] I would be happy to answer any questions or concerns any of you may have about our island or its former residents as we join your ranks.

Comments

[limier]

You will wish to speak with Sra. Bonaventura, when you've settled.

[ wish, need. same difference. not the first pirates the inquisition’s had dealings with. inevitable, past a certain degree of north — half antiva must operate below the law, else wield it with impressive flexibility.

even so. a risk to harbor (to toss in with the other risks, the whole great heap of them) ]

Is there aught you require to do so?

[ refugees, ravaged home, a week ago. all that. ]

[ebeje]

I will, thank you.

[ At least this pirate is polite?? ]

Luckily we [ """we""" ] have a ship on which to quarter most of the survivors who have chosen to stay, but I intend to take a room in the Gallows if there is space.

[limier]

There is no shortage of it. The dockside apartments, are too, at your disposal.

[ in case anyone wanted to, say, clear out the ship and use it for their own purposes. js. ]

Have your companions previously traveled so far south?

[ max's own accent speaks for itself ]

[ebeje]

A few. Flint's quartermaster, Mr. Silver, has been to Kirkwall before, I believe.

[ Either that or he can lie convincingly about it, and what's the difference really. ]

They've some idea of the cultural differences, if that is what concerns you.

private;

[limier]

Quite.

You will forgive me, for stating that which I am certain you grasp — call it the indulgence of an old woman.

We are guests here, however entrenched; it serves the Viscount that we occupy the Gallows. That need not remain so. If there is trouble of your men, [ flint, silver, vane, who. max's made herself publicly responsible and wren can't think that wasn't a conscious choice ] The Inquisition will not brace itself as shield.

I am not without sympathy. [ to refugees, or to trying to keep a bunch of violent weirdos in line ] If a problem arises, I would ask you come to me of it.

[ and not the ambassador? HM ]

private ∞

[ebeje]

[ HM, INDEED.

She'll get back to the issue of at hand, to what reassurances she can offer, but first, careful— ]

Do you imagine your colleagues less sympathetic?

[limier]

I have never been given cause to doubt the Ambassador's honour,

[ getting herian to overlook things is still a work in progress ]

Or the Scoutmaster's affection for her people.

[ her people. the people she likes. this is a set of instructions. ]

[ebeje]

[ Ah. ]

Or your own dedication to the cause, I imagine.

[ Sympathy is not what she believes most people have for pirates, after all; pragmatism, on the other hand, she understands very well. The flexibility inherent to it, most especially. ]

The captains will keep their men in line. I will see to it that they remain inclined to.

[ That they maintain faith in this alliance, is the trick. It isn't only a cabin boy nicking an apple that will sink them. ]