crystal & medical questionnaire.

[portalling]

FORM: Sending crystal + blank questionnaire available at the infirmary
SENDER: Stephen Strange
RECIPIENT: Everyone
NOTES: The form is below! Submit your character’s response as a reply to that sub-thread, and this will also be linked from the Riftwatch orientation & infirmary wiki pages for posterity, so you can edit/submit a new one if details change. Your character does not have to take this super seriously. Strange might just come nag if they don’t.

What with the new faces recently, I’ve been working on the medical curriculum and refreshing the infirmary’s recordkeeping. It’s high time to establish some better-kept patient files.

To that end, we’ve provided a written questionnaire at the infirmary — thank you to Amsel for her neat penmanship — and I’d appreciate it if you could fill out a form for yourself and drop it off. The records will only be referenced by healers in the course of their duties, and otherwise locked away; your personal details will remain private. Having as much information as possible will only help the healers take care of you properly.

If you don’t read Trade or otherwise require assistance filling out the form, say as such and we can have someone sit with you. Any other questions, let me know.

— but also, fill it out.

Comments

[aberratic]

[ unfortunately, she has no answers for him—but she does laugh, because gods, she understands that tidal wave so well. ]

I find it fascinating too, I truly wish I had more answers for you. Unfortunately I've just told you everything I know on the subject. If we were in Faerûn I would know just who to ask to get you answers, but, alas.

Sad about no corpse-raising here, though. Necromancy is a perfectly acceptable school of magic when you're not being dramatic about it, I've always thought. How have you found the transition to Thedosian magic? Is it very difficult to adjust to, or has it mapped well onto what you could do before?

[portalling]

Both, if you can believe it. On the one hand, everything is… lesser, more difficult. Like wading through thick mud where I’m used to sprinting. Everything requires more effort and I tire more easily with magic than I used to.

But on the other hand, there are enough commonalities — enough theoretical overlap, thematic similarities, a similar use of runes, like languages sprung from the same root — that there is still a route to work with. Perhaps the path in the forest is overgrown and hard to walk, but there is still a path, and it should grow more passable in time.

At least, that’s my hope.

And if you’re interested in necromancy, I hear you should read up on the Mortalitasi in Nevarra; they’ve got their heads on straight about it. ( Heh. )

[aberratic]

Mm, [ she hums, thoughtful, turning that idea over in her mind—an overgrown path, ready for someone to wander it again, clearing overgrowth and debris from a path long-forgotten. a smile. ] You've a pioneer's curiosity and an autodidact's dedication, I imagine blazing that trail anew may be more satisfying to you than if the path was easy.

[ not that the difficulty wouldn't be frustrating, certainly, or troublesome, or that she doesn't think he's railed at his newfound constraints once or twice—but stephen strange has the air of a man who likes to earn his victories, in her limited view of him. it wouldn't be half so interesting if he'd come to thedas with no challenges to overcome. ]

I'm not interested in necromancy as a personal pursuit, [ to clarify, ] I simply see little reason to be afraid of it in itself. Resurrection magic is necromantic in nature, after all, and we all hope there will be someone to bring us back if we go before our time. It's the dose makes the poison; it's the use makes the magic malign or otherwise.

[portalling]

Precisely.

( And he thinks, then, of his mentor. The Ancient One tapping into the powers of the dark dimension. Wanda and her slippery slope. The way Stephen himself had reached into the Darkhold. Hypocrite. The other sorcerers often recoiled from his methods, but still, at the end of the day— )

I’ve always thought a scalpel is a scalpel is a scalpel. A hammer is a hammer, and can be used to smash down a wall or build one. There’s hardly any spell that can’t be bent towards good ends; in the end, the tool is what you use it for.

[aberratic]

Precisely.

[ it's so nice to talk to someone who understands. ]

Nothing is good or bad or evil or benign by nature, it all simply is. It's up to people to use our tools for good or ill, even necromancy.

[ and blood magic—though she's not about to say that out loud, not even to someone as sensible as stephen. ]

Am I correct in supposing that perspectives like that aren't so common here? There seems to be a... dearth of nuance, I suppose, in Thedas.

[portalling]

You’re correct, yes.

( There’s a brief pause, and Stephen can practically hear an imagined voice in the back of his head which sounds very much like Captain Gwenaëlle Baudin, words of reason and censure in his ear, )

I do feel bound to mention that their lack of nuance isn’t unfounded; this world has seen terrible things happen at the hands of magic and uncontrolled mages. They’re not unreasonable for being fearful. Which doesn’t change the fact that I wish they’d be more open-minded and nonjudgmental and my life would be much easier if they were,

but still. We should be careful who we say such things in front of. Riftwatch is used to these sentiments but the locals aren’t.

[aberratic]

I don't plan to condescend to the natives about the need for nuance in the way they talk about their lives, don't worry. I'm fairly invested in avoiding the kind of censure that would earn me.

[ which doesn't mean she doesn't believe it. just that she won't say it. ]

Well, I can promise you I at least would be thrilled to hear more about your magical escapades. They sound fascinating!

[ rip to mobius but she's different. ]