therookery | Closed to Chantry Relations members

Entry tags:

Closed to Chantry Relations members | Crystals

WHO: Araceli, Coupe + Chantry Relations Members
WHAT: The candidates for Divine.
WHEN: Now-ish.
WHERE: Wherever u are.
NOTES:

Report

Assignment details.

We've submitted some info requests & encourage you to do your own/come up with plots!

Deliberations upon the next Divine continue.

Sister Leliana and Seeker Pentaghast have withdrawn themselves from consideration. That they were approached speaks favourably of the Inquisition’s present position. Provisional Chancellor Pascal was kind enough to host us for discussion, [ and rifling through papers, and listening at walls, and ] During which we gained the names of several likely candidates.

I stress that this decision does not belong to the Inquisition — but it is our duty to support all who work toward a better future.

We must keep an eye to the proceedings, and assist where we might. [ like: saboutage ] Sra. Bonaventura and I believe that three faces are worthy of particular note. We will make the value of our work known through action. I welcome your thoughts and ideas therein.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Grand Cleric Agathe of Cumberland seeks progress with an eye to unity. [ read: pragmatism ]

Though the Divine serves the Chantry, and not the state, a Nevarran may better ingratiate them to the South. She lacks allies in Val Royeaux, but an alliance with the Inquisition can forge others.

A force of vision is required to restore a broken whole. Certainty is an antidote to fear, and one does not become a Grand Cleric without commitment to the work of Andraste. I have confidence she would see it continued — for all Thedas’ people.

[ like, slowly. ]

Edited 2018-10-28 11:34 (UTC)

Grand Cleric Clorentine joined us personally. She is pleasant, [ faint praise ] And well-liked by the elite.

During our discussion of the latter, it occurred to me that one’s choice of Hands may reflect much of the Divine herself. I am certain that the Grand Cleric has several in mind; I would be interested to speak with them.

Edited 2018-10-28 11:35 (UTC)

Revered Mother Benedetta is genuine in her faith with no hate in her heart for any people of Thedas but instead a sincere desire to help them. She believes the Maker will return one day and so that the Chant of Light is to be followed by all if there is to be any hope of lasting peace. That the Circles should return with reform. [Skipping that the word is 'mild', we have to move along here.]

Revered Mother Benedetta is a young woman yet she is a candidate and a Revered Mother, had she the years the more venerable [read: old] candidates had then she might have as many connections yet here we are. The Inquisition that does much the same. Youthful as she is. Energetic. We could hope to be as charismatic on our best day as she is.

We are very fortunate to have Sister Leliana and Seeker Pentaghast's dedication. ( It'd be convenient for one of them to be Divine, certainly, but then what of the Inquisition? )

Thank you both for your hard work and efforts.

( Now, onto discussing this first candidate: ) Certainly the opportunity to strengthen our ties with Nevarra, and bring Orlesian and Nevarran relations into a more positive direction should not be overlooked. Supporting her would serve to ease our own relationship with Nevarra, who have long been concerned that we were too much influenced by Orlais, and held Orlesian interests closer to our hearts than any other. Supporting a Nevarran to become Divine will not cure all ills, but there is potential for improvements.

It would be a bold choice to support a Revered Mother rather than a Grand Cleric, even with so many higher ranking members of the Chantry lost at the conclave.

( There has been some time for rebuilding, for people to advance, but even so. )

Do you think her beliefs are worth the risk of a less experienced and connected candidate?

A full accounting may be found in the offices.

These five in your report are the candidates the Chancellor proposed to you, or those you've chosen from among some larger number of potentials you've learned of?

These were the five floated. It is possible we will have a dark horse, or that one has been kept from us — as it is possible that we have been misled of their relevance.

[ gonna pretend that's what this is about and not anyone's tendency to hide things like a chipmunk ]

But I do not think that fruitful to chase: Each presents competition that another would already need consider. To watch these is to see the work of others.

I will grant that the choice of an unordained Hand for Divine strikes unusual, perhaps you might seek word of more esoteric candidates.

Nevarra has kept her own traditions,

[ dead bodies. mages. ]

Like to be useful in rousing alarm. 'A Grand Necropolis in the Capitol', and such nonsense. To separate her from them entire is like to offend the North — but to placate the South, I suspect it need be managed to lesser degree.

There will be precedent, but given our missteps in the nation, I suggest coordination across projects.

How much willingness for reform is Thedas willing to stomach so soon do you think after all that's happened in so short a span of time? Especially if we're seen to be a part of it when there are a great many voices of the Inquisition who are far from the majority of most.

[A quiet sigh, then softer:]

She has youth. She has time to make connections that might be carefully provided which might, in turn, expand her horizons if done the proper way.

[Sometimes you have to be optimistic and she'll take it over Coupe's hammer.]

Aye, youth and time are in her favour. I suspect though, after so much upheaval... reform and a steady hand must be carefully balanced, to ensure that there truly can be change, rather than fracturing.

( sweet sweet black robes, that moody aesthetic

She thinks, rather uncharitably, that she'd rather prefer some of the Orlesian nobility if they were populating a Necropolis rather than a living city, and has the good sense not to voice the thought, and the good conscience to feel bad about it. )

Who best pleases you, Commander?

And here I thought I had spoken too plainly.

[ if it's dry, it's not meant at herian's expense. 'harsh and nakedly ambitious' — no, she's not blind to agathe's personal appeal. ]

Do you recall our conversation, before Minrathous?

[ armies pushing outward. expansion, to quell unrest. ]

Which is what concerns me with some voices: their friendships, their age, their manner. If someone is, forgive me, lacking in swaying others or managing dashing their views then we could find ourselves in an uncomfortable position. And not simply us, all of us.

[thoughtfully,] Historical precedent after an upheaval as large as a Blight is often a return to orthodoxy--a purifying of the faith as people turn back to the Maker's own for succor. Though things had a way of lurching forward during gaps in power, even so.

Though one can't make much of the Nevarran Accord as reform when the Chantry had scarcely existed before it came into being.

Regardless, she's older than Divine Rosamund was to start and one could hardly ask for a better comparison, should we be looking to a Divine with compassion for Thedas' weakest and broken. Sincere faith, charisma, and a commitment to restoring the Circles, [as badly as that might go and as loud as some would screech,] would answer those needs neatly.

It strikes me that experience and connections may be resources easier for us to foster than certain traits of personality or a desirable attitude toward the Inquisition. If, of course, we've time.

So we've two--or three, depending on what might come of Aysleigh--who may help the Inquisition more than harm, though I take your caution on the Revered Mother.

What would you recommend be done with the others? If these are, [a nod Nell's question,] all we truly ought concern ourselves with.

So many of us are bound to the Circles in some way now when the Inquisition comes to an end [Mages, rifters, even Templars who had postings or might in the future] that someone who'd restore them well--

It's preferable to what else we might have. What might be challenged or howled down. As you say, it's easier to help her along with what she needs and depending on those she could come to be alongside, who knows how that might broaden her horizons.

[quietly,] Yes. Though as Ser Coupe's observed--we're fewer and in many ways better off now than those who'd be most comforted by our return to them.

And--by comparison, when they are run well--a Circle is not so bad a life, [if one gets used to the ever-present threat of the sword, or so his tone seems to say.

Something had to be done, echoes in his ears.]

Which does not mean we should be resigned to their return as they were, nor that we make the choice for those who follow that an unwilling few are a fair price to pay for safety. It can--and should--be better than it was.

[A small pause.] Yes. I know conspicuously positioning our people to aid her would bring questions of bias and influence. How might it best be done to avoid the worst of those?

Be polite as you would to any if there's reason for them to speak to you or you to speak to them: there were promises made with the negotiations, better to keep as friendly terms with them as possible.

I'd keep them in mind and learn what we can about them, especially if the opportunity presents itself to meet any in person to get a better measure of them but honestly? The three we spoke of separately are the ones to be kept to the forefront.

[Easy enough, he doesn't say, because you don't make light of this kind of thing even if you're still finding your feet and that insouciance is a cover for unease.] Understood.

[Breath in, breath out.] Was it defined, with the negotiations, who'd be ensuring our branch of the Inquisition kept up those promises?

I presume, absent any other orders, it falls to this project.

Edited 2018-10-30 22:28 (UTC)

It's not only mages subject to Circles after the ending of the Inquisition. [A reminder that Araceli was one of the four there at the table in Skyhold who agreed on it.

That she'd cut her arm off, that she'd keep cutting until all that remains is her, Korrin, something they might sail in and freedom far from anyone else won't be repeated in public.]

No one who has never been to a Circle is going to be happy. There are those out of them who I imagine will realise how different they are having been out of them to who they were before which is why I suggest someone young, someone who is not, forgive me, a hammer.

[Coupe she is fond of you but there are times she would drag you screaming through an etiquette class or dozen.]

You can aid people inconspicuously Mage Shivana with but the suggestion you were the one aiding them that both sets of hands might be kept very clean. [Sometimes she's just-- she's just tired. Voice utterly flat in saying it. (Packing to go off to make nice with other allies in waiting.)]

Chantry Relations reports to Diplomacy and we've the benefit of Herian previously having been leader of this project for a time as well as being a Knight-Enchanter with reputation beyond reproach.

[It'd be rude to laugh at the idea of leaving it to one project and just diplomats attached but they need the actual Division. And you know. Others with relevant experience they might rope in.]

I’ve not forgotten that. [His voice is quiet.] I couldn’t; but I understand where my “we” might be taken most narrowly. I’ll speak more carefully in the future.

If the Circles can’t be done correctly they aren’t worth doing, [so they’re clear on where he stands on the matter,] and that includes for rifters. Doing less would be to offend the Maker anew.

But even all together, we are few and the south already made the choice that a few might be given up to suffer so the many wouldn’t. It’s a choice they made anew every time someone’s child had to be sent off with the templars, one they smoothed over with “it’s not so bad a life, better than what they’d have without”. I’m mindful it’s one they’ll make again, whatever my naive hopes that they’d act better with full knowledge of what a Circle meant. Youth might not be a point toward the Revered Mother’s willingness to understand that; zeal for the greater part of her people may override it.

[ A long moment of silence as he processes her words, her tone.] You’re an ally I can’t afford to offend with foolishness, señora. I am sorry if I have.

[It had followed to him; the scope of the agreements as they applied to internal Inquisition policy seemed narrow enough to be under one project’s purview—

But, ah, the bits about managing who might do what on what field mission with whom required rather broader powers, didn’t it.

Gracefully,] A foolish question on my part, then, but an answer I’m glad of all the same. Thank you.

For some, perhaps. I think it better to be certain, now.

( Rather than making assumptions, she means. Doing that has not served her well, these past years. That isn't to say that the habit is dying easily. )

We have had a great many conversations, Commander, ( is that teasing or contrariness? you will never know. ) though I do recall talk of... pushes that are too severe, changes that are too great, becoming a breeding ground for retaliation rather than peaceful transition. Or do you mean something other?

Should I take that as sentiment against or for the Revered Mother, then?

You may take it whatever way you wish but I find it difficult to picture someone so blunt leading skilled players of the Game who will learn to move about and likely against her in the future should she not prove to their tastes.

It's not your tongue I'm concerned about in truth. [Myr is considered at least, he doesn't shout, he doesn't go off on wild tangents of speculation that she's heard at least not loudly or in public. No, there are other mouths possessing other tongues that are more troublesome.]

I haven't lived here a whole life but I've met many mages, I spoke to as many as I could in Skyhold too from whatever Circles and Fraternities as would speak to me and if I've learnt anything it's that none of you are ever going to agree to the right way to do a Circle, none of you are ever going to agree if you should even salvage a single piece of them at all or throw it all into the fire and be done with it. That the Chantry wouldn't have, no yet, not after a war where their Templars left them too. Not after a whole group of people show up from through rifts claiming all sorts and it takes near three years to grant them personhood and some form of rights.

[Of course Araceli probably shouldn't know what she knows about Vivienne either but that's for another day.]

Rifters would be just as well to throw everything upon the pyre, some of them would throw themselves too just to make a point.

[Which isn't exactly the point Myr is making but she's heard it. She understands. He could probably have a list of names if he had the mind to (maybe not, maybe there's not as much salt in him as there is Araceli) of potential candidates for that. Who'd do something similar but different. Make their point with fire which is the Chantry way and not understand it.

(Unfortunate, perhaps, this is coming off the back of everything with Lakshmi where youth stings more than it would and Myr is the soul in the place to take the sting of her temper for now, misplaced since she's unstuck, unwired her jaw from where it was forced tight shut.]

We're short of allies, we're short of-- too many things and we're all trying to pull ourselves in as many directions as once without realising what it might do. [How many circles does anyone want to spin in after all?]

I know, [and there is a thread of frustration there that he can't squelch; she knows enough of his heart and what he truly believes he can trust her with unvarnished feelings, too,] too well. And somewhere we'll all have to give on getting precisely what we want and make some kind of accommodation for those who couldn't bear whatever solution we come up with or risk it all tearing apart again. Maker, [a sigh,] it doesn't even have to be Circles as they were so long as the Resolutionists concede we need something other than our own innate righteousness as mages keeping us from harming anyone. [There's the salt, heaped up around a certain someone's ideas of the "freedom" mages were owed.]

And even for all that I know some of them won't ever be satisfied, [Adalia,] and-- How the Chantry would deal with that problem, had she the Order as her sword again. I won't believe it's the only way but I see damn few alternatives at this point. Just--to act in hope that whatever the Maker's thought in all of this, it shows through. Soon, before we all go off and ruin things again.

[He is silent a long moment as he thinks, carefully, over what she's said last. Short of too many things. Time, too. Space. But not problems to solve.] How do we all pull together, if even Corypheus isn't enough of a threat we'd leave off-- [there is a sound, as he gestures with both hands, unable to find a better word to encompass all of it,] --to fight him?

[Another pause; he is guilty of this, he realizes--realizes again; it is what Ser Coupe had chided him for it and had bogged down any point he'd tried to make on the phylacteries to the point of uselessness. If this can only be won by traveling all together, they're held hostage by the most stubborn in the Inquisition, at the advantage of the least-tractable.]

--Pull with the ones who've something in reach, [he tests the thought, slow and frowning audibly.]

Yes. Taken too, with the Imperium's push into the South. Of seeking enemies without, to unite those within. Perhaps I speak from,

[ no she's not going to ever call herself paranoid ]

Caution. There is more than one way this could fall to blood.

Edited 2018-11-12 12:03 (UTC)

[ 'reputation beyond reproach' hoo boy the things we don't say ]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Closed to Chantry Relations members | Crystals

Grand Cleric Agathe of Cumberland

Grand Cleric Clorentine of Montsimmard

Revered Mother Benedetta of Rialto

no subject

no subject

OTHERS

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

private / coupe only.

infinity

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

private;

no subject

private;

no subject

no subject

no subject

private ∞

∞

no subject

no subject

no subject