strap in, kids, this is gonna be a bumpy ride

[thunderproof]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Thranduil and Adalia
RECIPIENT: Errybody
WHAT: You don't get a phylactery! And you don't get a phylactery!!!
WHEN: Timey wimey
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: Outcomes modpost! Adalia's blue, Thranduil is black.

❰ the crystal feed opens up on a feminine voice clearing their throat. ❱

Good afternoon, goodladies and goodsirs of the Inquisition. We hope this message finds you well; we are Adalia and Provost Thranduil, recently returned from Skyhold bearing news of the phylactery negotiations on behalf of the party of ourselves, Cosima Niehaus, Araceli Bonaventura y Castell, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

To start with, Rifters may now rest easy on the question of mandatory phylacteries.

[ thranduil slides in. ]The only cases in which a Rifter will receive a phylactery on a permanent basis are much the same as those for which a mage would: support of Corypheus and his forces, committing a violent crime, or otherwise posing a sustained danger to the Inquisition.

❰ back to adalia. ❱

In addition, there is now the option for any Rifter concerned about their safety while on dangerous missions to have a phylactery made temporarily, so that should the worst come to pass, we may use the phylactery to locate them. This is voluntary, however, and not a requirement.

Happily, we have also made significant strides in our public perception — the Inquisition has agreed to support us as legal people, thereby using the weight of its power to fight for our access to the rights and privileges of all Thedosians. Moreover, the Chantry will make a public announcement in the coming weeks that Rifters are not demons, and we are free to convert as we please. The importance of these gains cannot be overstated, and we are very proud to have been able to deliver them to you.

In exchange for these gains, we have acquiesced to share with the Chantry our research into the nature of rifts and Rifters, as well as registers of those Rifters with magical abilities, and native magics considered unusual by the Chantry. Additionally, Rifters will henceforth be officially considered part and parcel with mages, and will share their fates when the question of Circles must be decided again. It is our desire that Rifters and mages may work together to abolish the Circles, and earn freedom for both groups.

Some of us, [ he says, ] especially the most recently arrived, may not have yet acclimated to the permanence of our situation. May this serve to remind you. Your comrades in the Inquisition are just that. Rifters have already died in the fight against Corypheus, and I am not so naive to think that there will not be more. We are here not until the end of this war but until the end of our lives, and it is time to recognize that although we have had the extraordinary privilege of the Inquisition's patronage, we owe more than just the closing of rifts to Thedas. This is now our home, and we must fight to protect it and its people as we would fight to protect where were born.

❰ slowly, somewhat nervously, as though she’s been surprised by something — ❱

These negotiations were hard-fought, and doggedly so, with steadfast dedication and an eye to the future of both the Inquisition and Rifters' collective wellbeing and successful integration into Thedas. Now, may we return our focus to Corypheus, and ending the threat he poses.

[ an afterthought: ] Those Rifters with questions and concerns are free to come to my office to discuss them.

Comments

Private to Adalia

[sorcerised]

I'm so glad you were there. You did well, Adalia, I hope you know it.

What happens now?

[thunderproof]

❰ adalia's shoulders sag with relief — aro's reaction was one of the ones she was most worried about, and he's taken this as well as she could have hoped. ❱

I did what I could. Not enough.

Now... I don't know. The registers will be compiled, I imagine. They wanted us to educate new Rifters in quarantine on the Chantry, a syllabus will have to be drafted. On our end... try not to give mages any reason to turn on us now that we need each other, I suppose.

[sorcerised]

[ Aro drops his head back against his wall. ]

We've always needed each other. This world already has too many factions, and I'm as much a mage as anything else.

[ So is she, in his opinion, though he doesn't say it. ]

I suppose education isn't a bad thing either. New rifters do need to learn what they're getting themselves into, but who'll be the teachers? Can we choose our own or does the Chantry want to get its claws all over that?

[thunderproof]

Honestly, I can't believe more people don't see how well the Chantry is playing all of us. Turn all of us against each other so we're a squabbling mess, when we'd be a formidable opponent if we were united. It's textbook, and we're all falling for it.

❰ adalia is not so proud as to not include herself in that, alright, she knows she's taking bait she shouldn't too. ❱

The Chantry Relations project gets to control that. I'm hoping it's more education than conversion attempts, but who knows, with Andrastians. They'll never be happy until everyone's as miserable and self-loathing as them.

[sorcerised]

Oh, brilliant.

[ Of course the Chantry gets to control that. It's still better than phylacteries, obviously, but the thought of sitting through what will probably just amount to Andrastian sermons does not appeal to him. ]

If it helps make them understand we aren't all their enemies, I suppose it's worth it. There are worse things than listen to them talk.

It's just there's a delicate balance, isn't there? I know what lines I'll never cross. I just want to stop us getting there, if we can.