therookery | crystal || open

FORM: sending crystal
SENDER: the Baroness Freddie Durfort-Lacapalette & Val de Foncé
RECIPIENT: everyone with a sending crystal
WHAT: some Orlesians meet talking darkspawn in a Temple of Dumat
WHEN: backdated to a few days before the invasion of Minrathous
WHERE: the Silent Plains. underground. literally.
NOTES: we still love threadjacking should the opportunity arise and we’ll be threadjacking YOU. merci beaucoup. Val is this color and Freddie is this color

Inquisition. [Val: Orlesian accent, very serious. As always, this is of dire importance.] Darkspawn. They can talk.

Now, they say nothing of consequence. Indeed, they barely say at all. And yet, they speak. They wear clothing.

Nothing of consequence! Don't mislead them, Valentine, it--he?--the darkspawn, it was repeating a verse about Silence, and this must be a temple to Dumat! Darkspawn worshipping the Old Gods makes quite a bit of sense, one must admit, but reciting prayers! Extraordinary!

Well--yes. [A little annoyed at being corrected, but not very, as it is Freddie who did the correcting.] When it is put that way, of course it all becomes consequential. Perhaps that is the wrong word to use, to discuss such a-- do we call such a thing a feat?

I could hardly guess without more information. We can't eliminate the possibility that they have always been able to speak and have simply never bothered. Or perhaps this is something Corypheus has somehow done to them. It might also--oh look, Val! These scrolls look ancient!

Oh, shit. [But a wondering shit] Tevene, yes? Ancient Tevene, for ancient scrolls. We must take care, to preserve these, carry them back to Kirkwall, for-- Oh, but the research team. We were sent to join them, but alas: to a man, they are dead. Sacrificed, by our best guess, unless they chose to cut their own throats. I hope they were not beloved by anyone of the Inquisition, as they are quite past loving now. Yet in their death, they have led us--de Foncé and Durfort-Lacapalette--to such discovery. Ancient scrolls! A temple! Darkspawn that talk. The sacrifice of these lives has not been in vain. [Well.] Though veins were cut, in the sacrificing.

Sweet Maker, do not start punning. They were fellow seekers of knowledge even if they were Tevinters, we ought to show at least a pinch of respect. [ That to Val, this to their audience: ] Alas, they are quite gone, as Val has said, but this place is marvelous--in a dreadful macabre way, of course, but what a discovery! We may even find something here of interest in combating Corypheus. It's unlikely to be coincidence after all, all this darkspawn and Dumat just now.

Of course, without evidence, we cannot say for certain. Will there be evidence? Only careful excavation and exhaustive research of this ruin will tell.

[Oh, wait--]

And before anyone should be so pedantic as to make the claim that Corypheus is a talking darkspawn, I will disprove this easily and say on the record: that does not count. A corrupted magister may talk. A true darkspawn may not. Until now. Apparently.

Just so. A talking hurlock is an entirely different proposition.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And perhaps the darkspawn was educated at a college of Tevinter, and so could speak only adequately, and without any refinement.

Really, I would not protest the perhaps of a connection between these points. Perhaps there might, and perhaps it might yet be found.

Perhaps a Blighted magister taught them to speak. Perhaps he was lonely and wanted more company in the dark of the Deep Roads.

Well. Now it is just depressing. To create a partner for conversation and company, and the best that you can do is to teach a darkspawn a prayer. To Dumat. A recitation is no conversation at all.

Unless it simply chose to recite the prayer as it came upon enemies. It could have thought you beneath it. You don't follow Dumat, after all, and many Andrastians tend to consider those who don't follow the Chant to be beneath them.

To break from that line of speculation, however, remember that there are some Darkspawn that can use magic. Effectively, rather than simply setting everything and themselves on fire. That takes some level of intelligence. Darkspawn are not all as stupid as we would like, even without the guidance of an archdemon.

Consider them rightly beneath, I would say.

[Like Dumat, really? Come on.]

How much intelligence could it truly take? Might they not be only taught the words--if there are words, to this magic that you speak of--and repeat them dully? Recitation is a trick that even a parrot might manage.

[At last. Something that doesn't tread too close to Warden secrets. All the same...]

If Darkspawn simply flung around elements it would not take intelligence, much like one can swing around a sword so long as they've the strength to lift it. But that's not what they do. It's not a repetition of things heard or wild flinging about, it's actual spellcasting. I say this as a mage who has seen combat with and against other mages, experienced and not. Who has been around mages, experienced or not.

There is intelligence there in some of them. I'm not certain it would come as surprise to anyone who has fought many of them that eventually one would speak.

[Since he can't exactly talk about where it falls on the not-a-surprise scale personally.]

[Of course it goes without saying that Freddie is getting the benefit of this private information as well, and Jeannot, too (though he will hear it later).

Which is to say that on his end, Val first shares this information with Freddie, with some incredulity--incredulity that has not yet faded when he answers.]

A moment, my friend. Might a child, with magic--before the lessons of a Circle or some other instruction--might he not perform a spell inadvertently, without having studied spell casting? I have been led to believe that is quite common.

And might that same child not even continue to perform that spell, in times of great distress, without knowing truly what he does?

[He expects that level of sharing. It's the fear the words might inspire among others that he's trying to prevent.]

One spell, yes. Maybe they could continue with two spells, even. But you're not going to find another child casting that same spell villages over in the same way without any studying. It's simply not going to match up.

The darkspawn mages cast from the same set of spells the same way, and it's more than one or two spells, far more. They match up. Gestures, the force of it, the pure look of it...

[He pauses, trying to find an easy comparison.]

Look. If you'd myself, Julius, Colin, and Audra each cast a firebolt it would look virtually identical. We're from the same Circle. If you'd four panicked children casting a firebolt, you'd see a great deal of variation.

The Darkspawn mages, many of them, cast in similar ways. There's little variation. It's not merely instinct.

Edited 2018-08-27 23:57 (UTC)

How cute. Matchy-matchy, I think is the phrase. Yes?

[Mages, casting identical firebolts. Terrifying, but also! Matchy matchy.]

Though it could be a lack of talent. There is something controlled in the way that a mage, taught in the same Circle, would throw this firebolt. He would, mm-- [unseen, he's tracing in the air, a jagged shape, and then a quiet explosion sound under his breath] --pchew. And his dormitory mate the same, and the next dormitory mate the same, and so on and so on. A refinement that comes of strict practice. But a darkspawn is more raw, I think. A rudimentary crudeness. It is not as if there is a Circle of darkspawn all raised and taught with the same precision.

[Wait.]

Unless that is the theory. Is that the theory?

[A SECRET WARDEN THEORY.]

A circle of--no! No. Maker no.

[That would be horrifying. Except that's a little what it sounds like he'd been saying, and on second thought how would the spells line up like that otherwise? But no. That would be ridiculous. He hopes.]

I'm suggesting instead they've the intelligence to share spells with each other, to learn from and teach each other. I'm suggesting that the thought of a talking Darkspawn shouldn't be too much of a surprise when you've observed many different ones. Some hurlocks even have ta--shit. No, that can't be a secret. Um. It's observable that some have tattoos which would imply some sort of meaning to them and an actual thought process behind wanting to have a permanent reminder of something.

Outside of a Blight I can't think that they'd have an organized gathering-to-train place... but with Corypheus all bets may be off.

[And they were pretty darn well organized around the Architect too. And there may be five other blighted magisters running around. There's a short beat, and then in a much lighter tone:]

And yes, I think matchy-matchy is the phrase. I've always enjoyed coordinating spells.

Tattoos.

[Eyebrows raised, making diligent notes, Val looks over toward the dead darkspawn to see if he can find any observable tattoos on it.]

It will require closer investigation, I think, to determine the ink spent on this darkspawn. What an interesting secret! And an interesting theory. Has any warden made particular study of this suggestion of yours? Or is it so fresh as to have gone unstudied?

[Also important:] Do you have any?

I don't know of any formal studies, but there was a Fereldan warden at Vigil's Keep, Alcott...

[He trails off for a moment. It's been a while.]

Alcott Withyspun, I think. He didn't study them, but he'd a notebook where he copied down the ones he came across and he'd a good eye for details. I've no idea where he is now, if he's still alive or not, but there may be a chance his notebook is still in the Keep somewhere if it's of interest to you.

Oh, yes! I should very much like to see that. "Withyspun"-- W-I-T-H-Y-S-P-O-N? What a ridiculous name.

[--says Valentine Nicasius Maxence Mérovée Olivier de Foncé.]

If the notebook is available, it could prove useful. I do not know how interested I am in making a very personal study of the darkspawn. It is distasteful, when I think of it, and not even in a fun way

But do you have any? Tattoos?

[He snorts at the name being called ridiculous. It is. But he's also heard a couple of Valentine's names and so he's deciding to make no comment.]

A U, not an O, if I remember right. I'll see if I can find someone in the area who doesn't mind checking for the notebook. And... yes. They're not Grey Warden or Darkspawn related, though. Why?

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