therookery

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04.

FORM: sending crystal
SENDER: Seneschal Salvio Pizzicagnolo
RECIPIENT: everyone and anyone, but especially anyone not in Tevinter
WHAT: two words: magical texting
WHEN: now!
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: read up on the The Emergent Compendium for more general info, or the ooc post for faderifty info!

Hello. This is-- Salvio Pizzicagnolo. Seneschal Pizzicagnolo. [And for once he's sounding almost normal. Dare we even say... excited?] Seneschal to the Inquisition's base in Kirkwall and Head of Base Operations.

Recently the Inquisition has come into the possession--or, well, we will come into the possession--of some texts. A result of the negotiations, with the-- [You know what, who cares, the less strikes and mages and rifters and the Chantry are brought into this, the better, all that would only sour the news, and so Salvio revises what he is saying midway through the sentence.] In cataloging and examining the list of texts that will be added to the Inquisition's library, I have discovered an extremely rare text: The Emergent Compendium.

It, um--the text, that is--the text is likely unknown, to most--I have only seen passing reference to it, in other works and--well, to quote Scholar Bodaliere, [and in a voice of one reading right from a page] "the volumes are automatos: new entries appear of their own accord, with no scrivener's quill in sight".

Yes. So. I, I wrote directly to request access to the Compendium, and-- and I have had it for some time now, and--by the Maker, it produces pictures that appear and then disappear, out of nowhere, accessing some--some vast, unseen library, or--ah, and text, it will produce lines of text, obscure in their--well, so, I would invite those who would wish to behold it to do so, but--please, within the office hours of Base Operations, and I would suggest that you wear gloves--

But, um, in addition to viewing the Compendium, I have-- I have taken the liberty of making some... some rudimentary copies of the Compendium. Imitations, I mean. What connects the original to its unseen library or author, I cannot say, so the copies, they-- they are connected to one another instead.

It was, um. Premature, perhaps, uh, presumptuous, but--they seem to be operational. I have tested them. You can write back and forth, as if sending a letter, but much, much quicker. Of course, they are but test copies. They are limited in that they will only function within the walls of the Gallows, once they are outside of the Gallows, the connection severs, and they become as plain writing-books, but--

Um. To those members of the Inquisition that remain in Kirkwall--I, that is, Base Operations, requests your current assistance in the testing of these books. Your assistance will be invaluable in refining this, um, this development in communication, streamlining the process of-- communication.

If you are interested, and are in Kirkwall. Please, the Base Operations office--I mean to say that I will be in the Base Operations office. Handing out these texts.

Yes. So. That will be-- uh. Thank you.

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Oh yes, I did! [ Aro's voice is bright with enthusiasm. ]

I mean, I should say I can't do it myself, you'd really want a wizard or a bard for that kind of thing. I'm a sorcerer, so my magic is a bit more – [ Chaotic, aggressive? Not really words he thinks will inspire Salvio. ] – er, raw, I suppose. But I've seen it done.

Sometimes they'll write a message out, and then the person it's for will hear it in their head. Or they'll make writing out of clouds in the sky. Or they'll write a message, and the person it's for will be able to read it, but it'll look like gibberish to anyone else.

[ Aro pauses, considering. ]

Actually, that last one's an idea, isn't it? Imagine if you could make it so that the Inquisition and its allies could read it, but no one else could. That'd frustrate Corypheus, I'm sure.

[wtf good would a bard do him right now he doesn't want a song but Salvio keeps his skeptical critique to himself, and instead offers a weak,]

Good. I see.

[He does not see; he's trying to imagine why anyone would want to write out words in clouds. They would blow away. Rifters are such a strange people. And a little terrifying.]

The last one is certainly-- an idea, yes. [He both does and doesn't mean that to sound critical, and the little bit that does mean it instantly regrets meaning it even one jot, and he hastily scrambles to rectify what was probably a wholly overlooked issue of tone--] Uh, that is--it is an idea, that would be of use. I think. Er, did they--was it--code?

[ Don't knock a bard before you try one, Salvio. Songs can be very inspiring, and full of plot-relevant messages.

Anyway. ]

Code?

Erm, of a sort? But not one that you could decipher. If you were the person who the message was for, you'd be able to read it normally. Anyone else would just see a jumble. It's quite clever.

Oh. That is--

[Okay yes that is cool, Salvio's interest starts to coalesce.]

The, um. Compendium. That is the book, from which the design--or, well, the idea, for the design, of these books--that is where it came from. It, uh, writes in a kind of code. Or it is supposed, that it is a code. But a code that could reveal itself only to, to the desired recipient--

The Scoutmaster would be interested. At least. This is-- only told of? Not something that, uh, that can be do-- that you can do?

Do you think so?

[ Maybe he ought to tell Beleth. He likes her, and he's eager to do things that would be helpful to her.

Maybe. ]

I...no, I can't. I mean, maybe, some day! But not yet, and maybe not ever. I'm not always sure which way my magic will go.

[ He says that, and then realises Salvio's likely to hate that thought. He quickly adds: ]

Spell-wise, that is. I could talk to some of the others, though, and see if they know how.

[Salvio is confused enough that he's not quite sure if he should be nervous or apprehensive or disapproving or what. How does this magic work? Some haziness is to be expected, to begin with, but surely by now--

No, you know what, better he stop thinking about it.]

Ye... es. Yes. Uh. If you--have contacts, that might. Know. And of course, to speak to the Scoutmaster. It is only my opinion that she would find use for such--such a thing.

If it is possible for anyone here to-- [Learn? Know? What even] ----assist. Of course.

[ Aro considers that. ]

Erm. Well, maybe.

I mean, when you're working on your magic, Salvio, would you look up book and scrolls and that kind of thing, and find and spells and try to learn them like that?

[ It would be so much easier if he could say, do you learn them like a wizard, Salvio, but of course he can't say that because no one understands these things here. He'll just have to improvise.</small. ]

Uhh-- well, when I was-- I suppose, yes. In a fashion. The theoretical study of, of the Fade, and magic, and the-- all of it, yes. I preferred that, to the. The field.

[Quiet indoors, cool stone, a good hard bench to sit on, a new quill. And then there was mud and shouting and the templars posted around the edges of the grounds, with their armor winking in the sunshine.]

The study, it took direction. Firmly. And now I don't--have cause, to use, I mean, it isn't something that I am constantly--currently, that is, I don't-- I don't open a book and choose a new spell to be learned. I am, I have work. To do. So I would not say that I am 'working on my magic'.

[Probably about eighty parts nervous, fifteen parts stressed, and five parts something-like-curious, Salvio makes himself stop stumbling over all those words.]

It is-- different, I assume. As is for most, uh. Rifters.

I don't think it's different for everyone. That's how wizards and clerics learn, that sort of study.

[ He imagines that's the same for a lot of magic users. Rote learning, diligence, spending time in libraries or even in schools. ]

Sorcerers are different. Our magic doesn't come from a book, it just...well, it just sort of comes. [ Very helpful. He's good at this, isn't he, teaching people. ] Like, I'll be practicing, and I'll feel inspired to...to make a new gesture, or say a new word, and I realise I've found a new spell. So I couldn't just go to a book and look up how messages work, and try to learn that, you see?

[Salvio's surprise at the similarity quickly fades into blank confusion. Wh... at. He finds himself staring down at his hands, his brain working to imagine what it would be like if they were, essentially, magical and loaded crossbows, liable to pop off a deadly shot.

What. What.]

You... Then--it can happen by accident, this-- creation?

Finding a new spell? I wouldn't say by accident. [ Although, sometimes... ] It's more like inspiration, and it usually happens as you get better at using magic. It's like...

Like you've worked out how to access something that you couldn't before. It was always there, you just couldn't find the way. That's what magic's like for me.

That's--

[Mildly terrifying, full of chance, volatility, that there could be secret knowledge somehow buried, waiting to be unearthed, at any moment--and you wouldn't even know what it was, it could just manifest itself, no matter what you did to control it--]

--unpredictable.

[ There's that nervous tone he's come to know and love. He knew Salvio wouldn't like that thought. ]

A little. It feels very natural, though. It's all just part of me. Thankfully, since I don't think I'd be very good at rote learning from books.

[What is natural about the UNPREDICTABLE but Salvio does not bother to ask because, actually, there is everything unpredictable about nature. That is why he likes the indoors.]

Yes. Well. You-- You should try books. Sometime. They are not--so bad.

I know, it's just that it doesn't really work that way for me.

[ He thinks, anyway. His magic doesn't feel any different now that he's here, so he assumes it's all still the same. ]

I mean, libraries are all right. I can learn plenty of other things from them, just not magic.

Ah. That is--

[Not your fault is sort of what he wants to say, but when he goes to say it, Salvio finds that he can't. Not your fault goes directly against everything he was taught. Magic is always the fault of someone. Magic, expressed at random, this would be even more so.

And at the same time, he almost, sort of, likes Aro. Sort of. Very tentative, very uncertain. This new detail makes Salvio want to run the other direction, which he has done, in the past, with other mages, other people who tried to befriend him, with any sign of danger--]

--I see. Yes. You should, uh. [Stop, a command to Aro and to Salvio both, you should stop.] Take care. With it. With saying it.

I know.

[ He'd suspected as much, of Salvio personally but of people here more generally. He knows that even though there won't be phylacteries, there'll be interest in what rifters can do, that they'll have to tell people what they're capable of and that the Chantry will have access to that list.

How is he supposed to say that his powers could develop and get stronger, that he could learn a new spell at any time and not have any idea what it will be until it happens? ]

It's...well, you can see why I don't like the thought of Circles, probably. I'm not...not dangerous, though. I know exactly where my magic comes from, and demons have nothing to do with it.

Mmm.

[Kind of a nervy mmm, but also, agreement, with a hint of uncertainty still. How does anyone know exactly anything? It has been attested that Rifters aren't demons. What if they actually are? What if none of this is as true or as easy as it seems? The thought remains.]

I will say that-- well, Circles, they are not-- The, uh. Dislike. It is biased, in many ways. [Fairly, unfairly: who can say? Certainly not Salvio.] I-- I liked the Circle. For what it was. My, um. It was a good time, in my life. For what it is worth. If it is not--suitable, for-- for what it is that you do, that is, uh-- Still. It is not... terrible.

[Not quite a ringing endorsement but you know. Take what you can get.]

[ In fairness to Salvio, it's a better endorsement than anyone else has ever given Aro. That doesn't really surprise him, though. Salvio seems to find rules and constraints comforting, where Aro chafes against them. ]

I'm not sure a Circle would know what to do with me, but I can't imagine it'd be anything I'd like.

I'm glad you did, though. Do you miss it? I mean, would you want to go back, if that were an option.

Well, some of it--living in the Circle, that is--it is, as it is said, what you make of it. But, uh. Personally, yes, I would. Yes. Er--go back, that is, though of course, it would be much changed, from-- from what I knew it as, when I was there. But. Yes.

So much of life, it has--little order to it. It is nice, to have that reliability. Sense, and place, and-- and all of it.

I know it is unpopular. But there was order and I miss it. My, uh. There was a mage, who used to say that--that I would have been better served had I been made Tr-- [He's wincing as he says it, why is he saying this even.] --Tranquil, or made a, mm, "mouth-breathing brother of the Chantry", she said, but she was--the, mage, I mean-- she meant it to be hurtful. But I see the point she was making. The--order, implied.

I don't think she was treating you very well.

I can't...really understand, honestly, why you like order so much. It just sounds like control to me. Structure is one thing, confinement is another. But I can see that it was good for you. I just think it ought to be a choice, is all.

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