this is my first network post in this game oh god i hope i don't ruin it

[twelvelabours]

FORM: sending crystal
SENDER: Hercules Hansen
RECIPIENT: locked to Grey Wardens! Grey Wardens only club!!!
WHAT: Anders & what do with him: a Grey Warden opinions discussion
WHEN: late Guardian /mumbles vaguely - set after Anders turns himself into Herc, before Leliana deduces is identity
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES:
This is regarding the Anders reveal plot, as discussed in this ooc post and as a follow-on from this log thread.
Threadjacking and hopping around encouraged!
If you'd like a thread with Herc to turn to actionspam for characters in Skyhold, go for it.

Wardens. We’ve got something important to discuss. If you’re not someplace private, stop listening now, drop whatever it is you’re doing, and get somewhere suitable. This is strictly Warden business.

( This is not the happy and friendly Herc. This is tense and angry Herc, even with his temper very carefully kept in check.

He leaves a pause to allow them to either stop listening without him accidentally unveiling something, if they need to, takes a breath, and carries on. There might be the sound of wind whipping behind him as he stands on the ramparts - what you can’t hear is the sound of him trying to reduce Anders to ash with his gaze. )

A Grey Warden who left our numbers has handed himself in to answer for crimes committed. Not against the Grey Wardens, but against Kirkwall and the Chantry. Some of you already know this man. Some of you knew him by the adopted name ‘Detlef.’ Others will just know the crimes of the mage Anders.

( Considering how to continue, what to say next, Herc exhales a moment. What a day. )

Anders has turned himself into us of his own free will, ( which unfortunately denied Herc the chance to tackle-slam him face first into a wall, ho hum ) and confessed to blowing up the Kirkwall Chantry, an act he claims was for the sake of mage freedom.

( He pauses, there. )

I don’t have much of a personal stake in that. I’m not a man of the Chantry, and I’m not a mage. Far as I’m concerned, there’s mages and there’s mages. The likes of Bethany and Kaiden have saved my life more times than I can count. Others can be dangerous, and I reckon the same goes for Templars, same as any other person. You’ve got honourable ones, and you’ve got monstrosities.

Now, I don’t even know all about what was happening in Kirkwall, back then, but I can’t say I’m a fan of killing some innocent people for the sake of saving other innocent people, one way or the other.
( Sounds like a pile of crap to him, personally. ) And as Grey Wardens, our roles is to try and protect all of Thedas. From the Blight and darkspawn, usually, but I don’t think innocent lives being lost, no matter who they belong to, sits well with any of us.

( Still. )

But Nathaniel reminded me that we all know how much someone can change, and that we all come to the Wardens for different reasons. Atonement is one, but Anders’ fate isn’t something any one of us can decide. He’s one of our own, and he’s our responsibility. Speak up with your thoughts.

Whatever our decision is, we are telling the Inquisition. The Wardens integrity isn’t going to be compromised any further.

Comments

[pinprick]

[Testily:]

That is very much up for debate.

[twelvelabours]

Knock it off, you two, this isn't the time for taking cheap shots at each other.

Alistair, do you have anything to contribute, or are you here for glib remarks?

[unbrokenoath]

[ Kaisa bursts in with something to contribute, whether or not Alistair had anything to say. ]

You know that the Inquisition is going to try to steamroll us as soon as they find out, right? They know we're not in the strongest position right now. We need them, if we're going to help the rest of our Order. They know that.

They're going to decide he's their responsibility. They'll try to override our responsibility.

[ She sounds exactly 0% surprised about any of this, and like she's already thought a bit about it. ]

[twelvelabours]

Not necessarily. If we're prepared to take full responsibility for him, if we're prepared to fight for it, then we can get them to work with us, but we have to keep ahead of this. If they find out on their own, there's not a chance they'll listen to us.

Might mean bringing this down on the rest of our heads, of course, but he's one of us.

( Or he was. )

[unbrokenoath]

...You're right. If he stays here, it's only a matter of time. Then it'll be too late.

[ She doesn't sound happy about it, but it makes sense. ]

But I agree that we need to stand behind him. We're already fractured enough. I'm not going to throw another one of us to the dogs, not now. Anders has proven that he's here to help.

[pinprick]

If we hadn't failed him first, he wouldn't have committed the crime. It's already on our heads.

[twelvelabours]

We failed him first, I agree. But I don't believe that absolves Anders of his responsibility. He made the decision to blow up the Chantry. He acted on that decision.

( But, Herc sighs. )

If we take responsibility for him and he acts out, tries anything like that again, he'll discredit all of us. We'll lose any shot with the Inquisition

[unbrokenoath]

I don't think he'd do it again. He wanted freedom for the mages. They're free now.

[twelvelabours]

There's still Templars and pro-Circle Inquisition members, and plenty beyond who aren't so happy about the state of mages being free.

[failedfirst]

How many lives has he truly taken? By his own hand, not those of the ensuing rebellion. From how I understand it, your Circles were just waiting to implode upon themselves, Anders hardly needs take responsibility for that.

He may have done a spectacularly stupid thing, but there are things far more evil creeping in this world.

[twelvelabours]

Dozens in the Chantry explosion itself, hundreds in the immediate battle in Kirkwall that it sparked. Even if we aren't counting that, dozens of lives aren't something to turn away from. One innocent life wouldn't be something to disregard.

I'm not going to argue we've got other evils to worry about, but I don't agree that he's not a potential risk that we should just leave be.

[byblow]

We've been letting Loghain out without a leash all this time.

[ Some salt for your potatoes, ser. There were thousands on the field at Ostagar.

But blah blah pre-Joining blah. ]

[unbrokenoath]

Did you know Loghain sold some of my family members into slavery? Fun fact.

[ Okay, family is slightly loose, but hey. ]

But I don't recall him causing quite this much of a stir. But what do I know.

[twelvelabours]

By decree of a friend of yours, I believe. Different time, different people calling the shots. Ostagar is a separate issue, and you aren't the only one who lost friends there.

Now, you got something you wanna get outta your system, or are you going to act like a senior warden and deal with the matter at hand?

[paperwing]

Not only them. The Council of Magi will want a say in this. He may be a Warden, but his crimes are against them. [Us, she wants to say.

But she is a Warden first.] They will ask.

[twelvelabours]

You aren't wrong.

( he frowns to himself, pause dragging, as he tries to remember what Benuta said. The Abhorsen was a member of the council, as well, wasn't she? )

But people commit crimes against all sorts and join the Wardens for atonement. What do you reckon the Council of Magi will make of that?

[paperwing]

[Sabriel takes a few long seconds to think about that. Some might see him as a hero, a just-reward for a system that they had rallied against, that was always at the center of what they did. No Circles, some said. Others wanted them, missed them. But there was so much they needed to figure out because of the lack of them, to realise that the foundations had not always been without cause.]

If that were suggested- [it would take a while to get to it, she's quite sure] -they might see it as only an excuse. He was already a Warden when those crimes were committed. At best, they would lose faith in us if we were to shield him. At worst...

[pinprick]

The Council has no authority to judge him, and neither does the Inquisition. His judgment and sentence were already carried out, legally, by the Champion of Kirkwall. The Council can't decide differently just because they didn't like the decision.

[bunko]

But-- they can, can't they? Any judge can decide any thing. I have stood before judges. Some judges, you find that you are standing before a kind judge, and some days you do not. Man to man, city to city, some let the justice be soft and some would put you in a little cell with only the plain bread for food.

If it is a question of authority, then Councils, Inquisitions, these will question that authority.

[byblow]

[ On his end, there is a long, telling silence--the kind where he would normally be looking at someone and trying to discern whether or not that was a rhetorical question. Or a trick one.

But there's Kaisa, saving his ass. Nice. ]

[twelvelabours]

( don't be so sure B| )

[byblow]

[ ;-* ]

[twelvelabours]

(

HE JUST WANTED TO EAT HIS POTATOES IN PEACE ALISTAIR )

[doneisdone]

A grave crime, and one that shook Thedas to its core indeed, but I for one am interested to hear what the lad has to say for himself before we toss him to the greater authorities.

[unbrokenoath]

[ Bro fist :> ]