fake it til you make it | Closed to Hostile Powers

[hassaran]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Yseult
RECIPIENT: All characters signed up for the Hostile Powers project
WHAT: Some training ideas
WHEN: Now
WHERE: In your ears
NOTES: n/a.

Hello [ a woman's voice, low, with a mostly-Marcher accent. ] My name is Yseult and I will be assisting with leadership of the Hostile Powers project.

Many of you will be tasked with heading into hostile territory in the near future to carry out the Inquisition's work. To assist you in achieving your goals, the leadership and I thought it wise to offer all of you some additional training in skills that may prove useful in fieldwork. The first is construction of a cover identity that you can assume when operating covertly. We would like each of you to construct a cover identity and answer the following questions about it. We can then help you to refine it.

There will be missions that require very particular covers, but many will not, and it is helpful to have a default cover that works in many situations and which you are comfortable with and can fall back on if needed suddenly. Assume in this case that you will be sent on a simple mission to gather general intelligence from a city in Tevinter.

Here are the basic questions you must be prepared to answer if confronted by an enemy patrol or similar:


Your name and where you are from. Choose a nation you are familiar with and can answer basic questions about, and whose accent you can manage. If you speak their language, all the better. Claiming to be from Tevinter or the Anderfels may be most useful, but only if you can manage it credibly. For a specific place of origin you will likely want to choose a large city, so that even if you are unlucky enough to be challenged by someone from the same place, it will not be surprising that you have never met.

Your occupation. Again, be sure to choose something that you can convincingly portray based on your knowledge and experience. Details are important: don't claim to be a farmer if you have a lady's soft hands, or the reverse, and think about how a person in that profession would dress and carry themselves, what they might have with them. Most importantly, consider whether it gives you an excuse to be traveling through Tevinter.

Your reason for being in Tevinter. This may vary based on the mission, but it is most useful to construct a cover that is versatile and can explain your presence in many different places, and allow you to talk to a variety of people. It does not have to be linked to your profession, but that is often easiest.

That's all to start. Kostos or I will speak with each of you about your proposed covers, but you should feel free to discuss among yourselves as well, particularly if one of you is familiar with the place another is pretending to be from--natives can provide valuable detail about things like accents, slang, local landmarks that can help flesh out a fake identity and make it much more convincing.

If you could also quickly provide a list of accents you can fake, and whether you have any experience with this sort of work, that would be helpful.

Comments

[wythersake]

How far from the truth do you recommend?

[hassaran]

That depends on the truth. But for our purposes, generally the nearer the better.

[divineshadow]

This is lying. [That's not a question and it does not sound pleased, either.]

[hassaran]

Yes. [ No particular tone beyond confirmation. ]

private.

[eruit]

I do not think I could be convincing as anything but Tevinter and my face might be recognisable.

[ But all the same - ]

I have passed for a Soporati before. I could choose another name.

[ And he's an assassin. He's had a few names. ]

[hassaran]

There are people of Tevinter ancestry elsewhere [ she points out. ] Nevarra, Antiva, Hasmal, in particular.

Who do you pretend to be when you have passed for Soporati in the past?

[rathercommon]

How about, to start with -

[ A thoughtful breath. ]

Alice Smithers, of Kirkwall. Work for a silversmith. Headed up north to buy semiprecious stones for setting into jewelry.

[hassaran]

[ She recognizes Kitty's voice, of course. Hard(er) mode, for her. ]

He must not have much care for your welfare or his business, to send one young woman alone all that way to carry semi-precious cargo and the coin to purchase it.

[gatheringstorm]

A qunari justifying themselves in Tevinter of all places is going to be a hard sell no matter what. That said, I could try to pass as hired muscle; it's not as though I hadn't been doing that all my life before the Inquisition anyway.

Nationality-wise, I can manage Rivain. There are a shit-ton of qunari from there anyway, so it's not implausible.

[hassaran]

A mercenary from Rivain or a captured slave, [ she agrees. ] Either way you are likely to draw attention and be challenged more often, so you will need to build a more comprehensive cover than most.

[connorrk800]

Connor reflects on this, concludes that staying as close to the truth as possible would be the best course.

"Patrick Wright, a domestic servant from Kirkwall--" the only city he has known, besides Detroit. "Formerly a batman, now looking for work and drawn to Tevinter by the promise of steady employment. I can pass as a slave; I have done that kind of work before. I can manage to impersonate any accent, given a native speaker to study for a brief period."

[hassaran]

"Useful skills. And a servant is always a good cover, but people may find it strange that you couldn't find employment any closer to home," Yseult replies. "You may need another layer to the story to explain it if pressed. Perhaps you have a distant relative who promised to help you find work, or you served a merchant who brought you to Tevinter with him, but died--or sacked you--and now you find yourself stranded."

[altusimperius]

I--

...pretended to be a Chantry brother. On the way down from Minrathous. [He sounds a little uncertain.]

[hassaran]

I was there. And how do you think you would have fared had we met a patrol that challenged that story?

[misdirection_hex]

A cook in the kitchen of a wealthy Wildervale merchant family, seeking black-market ingredients that can't be found as easily in the Marches, if I need to pose as a non-mage.

I don't speak enough modern Tevene to pass myself off as a native, but I could do a freed slave from across the border with as much detail as necessary. In that case, perhaps downgrade the prominence of the family I cook for so that it's less suspicious if my interrogator hasn't heard of them.

[hassaran]

What sort of black market ingredients?

[justice_is_blond]

I... should probably attempt to pass as Fereldan. I can speak Anders and sound Anders, but once I switch to Trade my accent is very Fereldan.

[There's some emotion in his voice that he's trying to cover up; he's mostly successful.]

Farmer or herbalist, and I'm familiar enough with Amaranthine to pass any questioning. I can say I'm looking for more information on herbs and their uses in potions and salves in Tevinter. As far as picking names go... I'm not particularly good at that.

[hassaran]

An herbalist traveling for study is a good choice. A farmer wouldn't leave his farm to travel so far. And choosing a name needn't be complicated. Just pick a name that's common in Amaranthine, or in Ferelden generally.

[mousquetaire]

I used one during our recent trip to Tevinter. Is it safe to continue with that, or should I make something new?

[hassaran]

What was it?

[champions]

Yseult, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.

I hail from Antiva, am very well acquainted with Nevarra, and have been trying to further my Tevene. The accent... may require practice, but I can see to it.

[hassaran]

Perhaps the natives and fluent speakers in the project should pair with those learning, to provide a chance to practice. But Antiva and Nevarra are very useful; Antivans are welcomed everywhere.

Which would you choose for a cover?

[ebeje]

A buyer, I think, for a liquor merchant out of Vyrantium. I can manage a Tevene accent.

[ If she must. ]

My experience is not so much with the details, like this, but I know how to gain trust a man's trust, to learn what there is to learn.

[hassaran]

An accent may not be required, for a merchant background, but it is a valuable skill. And a liquor merchant is a good choice, someone almost everyone will wish to be friendly with.

What sort of work did you do before the Inquisition?

[exequy]

My Antivan would only fool people who are not from Antiva, but I can manage northern Orlais if the alternative truly is dying.

[ He's participating!! And he can smooth the Orlesian influence out of his Nevarran accent, too, if he thinks about it, and at the moment he is. ]

During our war, if people asked, I was usually a merchant's son from Cumberland who had come into money at the card tables, spent it all traveling, and wound up stranded. [ It also helped explain his mood. He's not an actor. ] But that may not be enough to justify being in Tevinter.