crystal.

[levered]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Clarke
RECIPIENT: Everyone
WHAT: Do you even space, bros?
WHEN: Firstfall 2ish
NOTES: Please don't hold me accountable for actual astronomical knowledge.

I know you're all busy—

[ but not so busy they can't have a party that, from what she glimpsed before retreating, involved yarn whips and toilet seats, so she doesn't feel too bad about straying away from the subject of the war ]

—but can someone tell me if Thedas has any stories about people coming from the sky? What do people know about space?

Comments

[pyrazine]

It's cold and it can kill you. The moon is far and the stars are further. And.

You know what I realize that none of this is helpful because I'm not from Thedas.

[levered]

Still kind of comforting to think it's the same wherever you are from.

[pyrazine]

Brazil?

[levered]

Really? Is it—

[ a nuclear wasteland? no, never mind. ]

What's it like there?

[pyrazine]

Uh.

[She thinks about it.]

A tropical country blessed by God?

[Those are the lyrics to a song, but she shrugs.]

It's big. There are beaches and mountains and rainforests.

[levered]

And the people?

[pyrazine]

Varied. I mean. There are millions of us.

[aventuriere]

I can't recall any stories about people coming from the sky. Dragons, certainly.

[levered]

Not originating there, though.

[ Right? Yes? No? ]

[aventuriere]

There are many myths about the origins of dragons, I don't believe any could now say precisely how they came to be. But I think it unlikely.

[levered]

[ It's also unlikely that this is Earth, just more years later than originally intended, or some other planet Clarke was accidentally jettisoned onto alone, or anything except what everyone says it is. But the thought is too nice—comparatively—to just give up on it. ]

What about objects? You get shooting stars and everything here, right?

[aventuriere]

Yes, of course! If you are interested in the study of such things I recommend De Reineur's Celestial Movements. Not an inspiring title, I admit, but his work is thorough and thoughtful and his prose surprisingly elegant at times.

[staysail]

Don't know much of space--

[Space: what, where, in what form? The space above that itself is the sky, that's about as far as it goes--]

But stories, I know. If you're part of the Avvar--and I don't know how many of them are around, I've only ever seen one or two, and that was from a distance--you've got their Lady of the Skies. They cut apart their dead, complete dismemberment, and give the pieces over to the birds to carry up to her.

Or to eat. They're birds.

[provenforce]

Space is largely an unknown to the people of Thedas. I've mentioned a few times that I've flown in space and I'm usually met with questions and awe. Or skepticism. I'm not familiar with all of Thedas's stories but the ones I do know no one has mentioned people coming from the sky. Thedas isn't... it's not even the name of the planet we're on. No one seems to know that, I've asked.

[periastron]

Can't speak for Thedas, but I can ramble atcha about myths from home, if you like. Stars are a big deal.

[sclavus]

'Sides from the Avvar the other one mentioned, no. Not that I've heard. The stars we use for navigation at sea.

Why?