[Closed]

[judgemewhole]

FORM: Sending Crystal, Private Messages
SENDER: James Norrington
RECIPIENT: Cullen Rutherford, Vivienne, Adelaide LeBlanc, and Cassandra Pentergast
WHAT: Basically ... they need to Talk.
WHEN: 3rd week of Guardian, post Mines and Montemps
WHERE: All over
NOTES: Soon after there will be a log thread following once he talks to everyone. Warnings for violence, possible cursing, Templars getting mad.

[The message is pin-pointed to specific people, and Norrington is well-versed enough in these crystals now that everyone on this message, knows who is getting this message.]

Current events are now forcing me to talk directly to all of you, about matters between the Templars and the Mages, future fallout and I am afraid, actions that will need to be taken per Templars, mages, and other individuals. I have held my tongue and tried to sort this out as civilly as possible but I am having the name of a brother besmirched and Templars raked across the coals without any true offenses, and it is certain mages doing it. I thought it best to speak to all of you first, together, before I bring my charges before the Mage Council, as a courtesy and a hope we can resolve this so I am not breaking my word.

Comments

Sending Crystal | Private

[madame_de_fer]

Of course, darling. What may I do for you?

Sending Crystal | Private

[judgemewhole]

Madame Vivienne, you know how much I trust your judgement, and more importantly your sanity. I have received a letter from one of the council accusing one of my own of stepping beyond his bounds. This letter is completely taken out of context of the situation - which, by the the by, was sanctioned and indeed asked for by the Rifter in question.

It was also five months ago.

Not to mention the disturbing events of Montemps, and I really feel I have to address a number of personal prejudices that are getting in the way of our alliances with the Inquisition, and the ones we, the few sane ones left, are trying to forge with one another.

Sending Crystal | Private

[madame_de_fer]

Ah that note. My dear, do understand the source of where that came. Korrin may be on the council, and a talented mage, but she's also a source of some stubborn and -dare I say- ignorant opinions. She is an apostate with no personal experience with Templars beyond her own opinions and those she's encountered here. Certainly if it's a matter of abuse, it's worth looking into, but I wouldn't let her nettle you beyond that.

As for the man in question, he did rather open himself up to censure with that recent unseemly outburst. But he is one man, and I certainly do not censure the Templars as a whole for the vulgarity of one member. I've nothing but the highest respect for you, and your men, and your service to all of Thedas. I'm quite certain that a great many people feel the same, and if they do not, refer them to me.

[Vivienne would eat people for dinner for daring speak ill of Norrington or his men. It's a promise and a threat all rolled into one.]

Perhaps it would be best for all involved if we find a way to keep these two apart from each other until they can agree to disagree on fundamentals and turn their attentions to more important matters.

[Seriously, can we just put the kids to bed without supper, or place them in time out with their noses in the corners?]

Re: Sending Crystal | Private

[judgemewhole]

Frankly, my dear Madame Vivienne, I feel this is a case of the apostates trying to undermine and destroy us from within the Inquisition by turning all of the advisers against the Templar Order. I will not say that we do not have our fair share of sins to answer for - and we will - but we can only do so if we have an opportunity to move on past the horrific mistakes of the past.

As the mages have asked for, time and time again, and been granted.

Alayre has been more than sober since the incident. A lapse of judgement, and faith, led him astray. Now he is working on making up for his past mistakes. I am not saying his outburst is to be forgiven - but to use that as a tool to destroy the rest of us? Men and women who have dedicated their lives to the faith, to see one of their leaders break down and then have him vilified?

Surely you can understand my passion, and the level of my disturbance.

I will gladly keep Alayre away from the other mages if the mage council will do the same for individuals who time and time again attack Templars without due cause. Instead of bringing these concerns directly to the New Order, where they belong.

[madame_de_fer]

Indeed I do understand. If only others had your clarity of thought and purity of intent.

[There's a sigh. A soft one. Vivienne never sighs unless she feels safe to do so. (Or is working for dramatic effect. This time it's safety.)]

Darling, I have no intention of letting even one person undermine either the Templars or the Inquisition as a whole. We've much greater problems to address without the incessant and petty bickering that seems to be rife in the ranks. Surely we are better than that.

I will do what I can within the Council to remind everyone of our greater responsibilities, but as we both know all too well, keeping control over a collection of mages can rather be like herding cats in the rain. Maker willing, we shall conclude this matter with Corypheus quickly and see the full restoration of the Circles and Templars as the he intended.

[There is the smallest lapse of silence. This so ties in to what Vivienne is attempting to do. She might not reveal her whole hand, but she would some of it.]

My dear, are you by yourself? I'd very much like to discuss this further with you.

[judgemewhole]

My intent is to protect the men and women who have put their trust in me to lead in these troubled times, who ask me to bend on one knee before the Inquisition leadership so we can continue to do the Maker's work. Clearly that work has changed, and clearly we must change with it.

[A sigh, that escapes on his end, is completely heartfelt as well.]

I pray it is to be so, Madame Vivienne, with new vigor and purpose for all, as well as understanding. The Maker is trying the faith of one and all in these dark times.

[He pressed his lips together.] Currently I am considering getting a bottle of wine and hiding somewhere to vent in private. You are welcome to join me, as always.

Crystal --> Action

[madame_de_fer]

An invitation I'm delighted to accept. Darling, you are a treasure. I'll bring the wine. What the steward has at hand is little better than vinegar.



[In a matter of time, Vivienne shows up, bearing a bottle from her own personal reserves to share with Norrington and two goblets.]

Shall we?

Sending Crystal, Private

[perseverances]

What concerns you?

Sending Crystal, Private

[judgemewhole]

Five months ago, a Rifter came to Alayre and Baratheon, asking them to test to see if she had come under demonic influences from coming through the fade rift. A valid concern, considering all the demons that were coming out with the rifters themselves. Alayre and Baratheon fully warned her of what would occur, and she agreed to all of it. They were then able to verify that no, the Rifters carried no demonic possession with them. A good thing for all of us to know.

Now I am receiving a letter, again, five months after the fact, to the Mage Council, not to the Templars, that this is an abuse of templar power. This, Cullen, is on the heels of me finding an entire village slaughtered through blood magic for the sake of a party of five or ten Red Templars. Over fifty dead men, women and children -- and I have councilors yelling for the heads of my brothers and sisters when there are monsters like this running free.

No. Enough. I'll bring this charges to you, to the Seeker, and then lay them on the feet of whole council so they can taste some hypocrisy.

Except I gave you my word that I would bring peace -- but Rutherford, I cannot bring peace when all I am having tossed in my face are things like this.

[perseverances]

Maker preserve us.

[Cullen rubs his face with his hands. At this point, he is honestly at a loss with Mage/Templar relations.]

The Mage Council can yell for heads all they want, James. Unless there is a significant amount of evidence of Templar abuses, nothing will be done. They forget that this is the Inquisition, not a College of Enchanters. They do not run things around here. As for the blood mage - were you able to find any evidence of where it fled to? I'll contribute any soldiers you need to apprehend them.

[A pause.] I cannot expect you to uphold promises when there are extenuating circumstances. Do what you must do.

[judgemewhole]

The only Templar abuses are coming from one or two individuals who are being taken care of. I won't spare the lash on them, Cullen. They know better, and they'll answer for their crimes and mistakes with the full intent of making up for them.

Something, I will note, that a majority of the mages have not done.

[A deeper sigh, a more pained one.] No. I am working on a list of villagers that the mayor had, comparing them to the bodies that we found with ... whatever evidence we have. There is a trail, and it is cold, but I will warm it again. At that time, I will ask for the Inquisition for their help and support with the hunt.

Thank you, Rutherford. I will see this settled so we can focus on our next area to defeat Corypheus. Enough is enough. We need to put our powers where they matter, not at one another.

[perseverances]

The mages are set to police their own. There is always talk among the Inquisition leadership about how to properly... handle them and honestly, we're always at a standstill. We can never agree on how to handle things.

[He's sure he's quite clear that that never leaves this conversation.]

I am here should you require it. I am no longer a templar, but I have seen the pain of what blood magic causes.

[judgemewhole]

Hm. Well, as long as we don't find blood magic among them, then it still works. If there is, however, I trust you will all be of one mind.

[There will be exceptions - there are always exceptions - but a hard line should be drawn with the rest.]

Thank you, Cullen ... I appreciate your frankness.

[perseverances]

I can't promise we'll all be of one mind. Some of us are... a bit more vocal than others on certain things.

[He never knows how any of them are going to react.]

I'm always here if you need to talk, James. My door is always open.

Sending Crystal | Private

[fleurdesel]

I am afraid to ask what it is this time.

Re: Sending Crystal | Private

[judgemewhole]

Lady LeBlanc, you know I hold you in the highest of regards - as someone who has been in the White Spire I know you struggle to trust templars. I have tried, with all due respect to the council and the safety of the mages, to bring peace and unity by backing down many of our more strident members into silence of their absurd views of what used to be. I have stepped in for Alayre when I have no great wish to do so.

Therefore, please understand that I say this with the intent of putting my foot down, not to inspire fear but to put an end to the pettiness of these encounters. I received a copy of a letter from Madame Korrin about Alayre stepping past his bounds of power with a Rifter.

That Rifter, one Lenneth Valkyrie whom we both traveled with, is actually a strong supporter of the Templars, and willingly went under a standard test of possession by two highly trained Templar Knight Commanders, at her own behest and with full understanding of what it entailed. No one coerced, or tortured her. This is slander, something the Templars have not been doing to the Mages.

More importantly, outside of one or two of our outspoken members who are no longer with us anyways, we have asked nothing of the Mage Council in regards to punishments of your own people. Even with the overwhelming evidence at Montemps that blood mages are still a very real and dangerous threat.

I ask, sincerely, that you speak with the other members of the council and the other mages themselves and let them know that the Templars are still willing to be courteous if that is met in kind, and that certain mages are kept away from certain templars, and I shall do the same on our end.

private

[fleurdesel]

I do not believe any implications were made regarding Lenneth being coerced, merely that it assumed authority that the templars did not have at the time to the best of Councilor Atassh's understanding. On the bounds of that you may rest easy. No one means to imply that they did or have or will coerce anyone into anything against their will, save perhaps Stannis ordering his own men to assist the mages as punishment for fighting on the night of the Herald's wake as was his due.

The question here is one of Rifter safety and Templar Authority; as the most recent incident in Skyhold has caused a fair deal of concern. The rifters are not exalted but neither are they held in quite so obvious contempt until now, even though they had nothing to do with the incident save for fighting the demons in the courtyard and sealing the rift. With the incident of Lenneth's voluntary submission to templar skills to prove she is not a demon- I cannot speak to my personal thoughts of the matter. Councilor Atassh's fear that such things may become more common in light of that incident with the precedent set by Lenneth is not entirely unwarranted. Calls have been made to separate them from the rest of the Inquisition, they're being scrutinized all the more for things they cannot help. Truthfully a neat parallel might be drawn between their lives and mage lives. Perhaps it is from there that it resonates with her quite so strongly and bids her speak.

The long and short of it is that the note was a call to action or at the very least awareness on the part of the Council to ensure the safety of the rifters. I do not know what you have heard but the letter I read included no mentions of coercion or torture or any other slander. If you have heard or seen something else; please correct me. No mention was made of punishments for such an act, merely concern that the act had occurred. As there have been no repeats of this course of action with Knight Commander Baratheon's satisfaction that they are not demons it is not something that I feel we have much to fear.

private

[judgemewhole]

[There is a sigh there, a sigh of relief.] Good. As for Stannis ... I have heard a great deal of a man who has, for all intents and purposes made my job ever the harder. And he is not the only one.

[Another sigh, this one clearly irritated but not in Adelaide's direction.] So to wit, the problem is that it is believed that we are going to use our power to enforce restrictions on the rifters because of what they can do to a thing that very few of us understand. I believe I speak for all the templars when I say, as long as they keep closing them, we have no issues with them whatsoever. Frankly the concern I have heard most is the fact that there were more demons within our walls and we were not around to stop them. We are the ones who are trained to handle such creatures -- and we would happily volunteer our services for the safety of Skyhold. But I will not, not without direct orders from Cullen or Cassandra, force the rifters to do anything they do not wish to do.

[There is a 'hmmm' here and another sigh, but this one is more pensive than anything else.] Perhaps I am simply reading between the lines, or perhaps Alayre's previous foolish actions have left a sour taste in my mouth. I am but one man against a tide of madness, and the actions of the few are being weighed against the many - my people, Alayre's people, the scores of templars who joined us from Therinfold Redoubt ... they want to do nothing more than serve. They have committed no crimes, done no sins. They deserve better.

private

[fleurdesel]

That is her concern. It is also one I mean to address as I weary of her biased views making things more difficult for both mages and templars. I had thought asking her to keep her distance and assuring her that she personally need not associate with any would be enough; and while this concern is not without merit it is not a concern I share. Advocating for rifter rights in general ought to be the concern here. Not their rights regarding templars specifically.

That said- I ask this as a friend, not a councilor. How are you faring?

private

[judgemewhole]

I understand why it is a concern, and I respect the concern. I will say that I do not have the authority - no Templar has the authority - to make the rifters accept our assistance or be forced to be guarded by us. We simply are not that organization anymore, Lady LeBlanc. We answer to the Inquisition, and the Left and Right Hands of the Divine, and Maker be willing, our own damn consciences and souls.

[There is a moment of silence, before there is the sound of his hand rubbing down his face as he speaks bluntly.]

Exhausted. Right down to the bone. And frankly? Frightened.

private

[fleurdesel]

None do, and none would claim it. I will speak with her.

[ If anything might come of it- well. Who can say. ]

I wish I could say that things become easier with time.

Private

[stabsbooks]

Speak plainly. What is the matter?

Private

[judgemewhole]

[Right, the Seeker was not one for minced words.]

The mage Korrin sent in another complaint to the Mage Council about a Templar instead of coming to the New Order. I am frustrated, Seeker. We Templars are striving to keep the peace, but there is very little reciprocation from the Mages.

What would you advise?

[stabsbooks]

What would I advise?

[ She is honestly baffled as to why he is even bringing this matter to her, and it takes her a moment before she manages to actually answer the question. ]

The mages have created their Council so they may govern themselves in the absence of the Circles. The Councilors act on behalf of the mages; it is their duty to preside over them, and it is their job to hear the mages' concerns.

[ How effective Cassandra believes the Council is in their efforts is another question, and one she does not address. ]

Would you have every mage in Skyhold approach you directly? Would it be preferable to address their every complaint yourself?

I have no time for this, Knight-Commander. If you are wanting for pursuits to fill your time, I can assure you that there is no lack of work in Skyhold.

[ the privies always need shoveling out ]

[judgemewhole]

[Well. That answered his question in more ways than one.]

Thank you for your time, Seeker.