crystal or action

[magike]

FORM: crystal
SENDER: rowena macleod
RECIPIENT: all
NOTES: some conversations may lead to conversations about death. also action responders are free to assume a mini set-up conversation to have agreed to meet rowena somewhere for said drink!

I've spent much of the time since I was brought through a rift researching. The studies of magic, the manifestations of spirits, and the plants native to this world have been particular topics of interest. Surprisingly, it has been spirits that I've seen the most of since my arrival.

( rowena pauses, deciding for a moment how to continue )

I know some details regarding the Fade and of demons. I'd rather more like to hear your views on spirits, even the wisps that have appeared. If we die, do we become them as we are now here?

( it isn't her original question but she can't bring herself to ask the original question )

I wouldn't be opposed to this conversation over a drink instead.

( it feels appropriate )

Comments

[dirthsal]

Have you only talked to Andrasteans about this? They've got a certain view of spirits.

[magike]

Asked who?

( religion isn't her forte. and she'd not know on sight anyway. though rowena would have had to speak to people on this topic also. she hadn't )

[dirthsal]

Ah. Sorry, you did say you came through a rift.

The research you did, was a Maker mentioned? Was there a distinction between spirits and demons?

[magike]

Magic I've read the most on, spirits and demons I've seen. The texts I've read I've found questionable.

[dirthsal]

Smart.

[ a pause, as he considers how to proceed. this is a great responsibility to have, he wants to get this right, set this rifter on the right path. ]

I would start with the fact that spirits and demons are the same thing. They are all embodiments of emotions and ideals, some emotions are just more destructive than others. There is no practical difference between a Pride demon and a Wisdom spirit, and less difference between them and people than many would have you believe.

[magike]

( she hums thoughtfully. some of this is similar to what she knows already -- demons are formed from twisted souls, spirits are souls... )

When we die, our spirits travel to one afterlife or another. At least in my world.

[dirthsal]

For that, talk to the Nevarrans, we have no shortage.

[ it is not a belief talin shares, nor is it one he has an abundance of respect for—but it does mean the nevarrans treat spirits better than the rest of their andrastean kin, so he respects it more than all their other drivel, at least. ]

Spirits have nothing to do with the dead by most beliefs, mine included. The spirits that reside in the Beyond are their own creatures,

[ the sentence lingers in the air, unfinished. there's more he would say, on the relation of spirits and physical creatures, the relation of spirits and the people and what it means for rifters specifically... but that seems a bad conversation to have in earshot of the rest of riftwatch. ]

Maybe we should continue this over that drink you mentioned.

[magike]

Name a tavern, I'll find it.

[dirthsal]

The Loose Noose will do, [ the self-serve tavern in the gallows, which won't be empty, but it will be full of people more liberal in their acceptance than any tavern in kirkwall proper, ] I'll meet you there.

My name is Talin, I'm an elf with dark hair. There's not too many of us in Riftwatch, you'll probably be able to pick me out.

[mournwitch]

Nah, we’re different things. Spirits and demons can be influenced by us, but they’re independent of us.

( nevarran, reporting for duty. )

[magike]

Then what becomes of the dead?

[mournwitch]

Well, it depends who you ask. There’s a few schools of thought.

[magike]

Currently, I'm asking you.

[mournwitch]

I know that it’s something, and that’s enough for me. There’s a lot of people who can tell you what their faith tells them, and what they believe, but if you want to know what’s,

( audible air quotes )

‘the truth’ about it— anyone who tells you they can give you that is full of shit or selling you something.

[magike]

( ugh, she hates this vagueness. that's her routine.

especially considering rowena never puts stock in faith anyway. yet she knows for certainty that afterlives exist. she knew that well before she ever died )

So no physical afterlife, then? A place for your spirit? No becoming a demon?

[mournwitch]

Like I said — the answers to those questions are a matter of faith. I believe there is an answer. I imagine I’ll find out what it is when everyone else who went before me did.

( maybe there really is a physical afterlife! maybe some people are such cunts they become demons. certainly, something happens — volkarin’s power couldn’t exist if there’s nothing left, anywhere, of anyone. so a spirit must go somewhere. there will be an athénaïs after she is dead, able to discover the truth for herself. )

[magike]

( rowena would tell her about hell, but then she'd have to tell her far more to explain it. and she doesn't want to answer the quick part of i'm in it and dead )

You never did answer what you believe, even if you don't know.

( she feels like she's gotten very little so far )

[mournwitch]

Yeah, I did, ( is easy. ) I believe there’s something to find out. I believe we’ll all know, in time. And anything else,

( it’s like a verbal shrug. she probably shrugs, physically, somewhere at the other end of her crystal. ) Death rituals are for the living.

[armd]

(Honestly,) I don't know.

... Do you think rifters stay here if they die? Or they go back to where they came from? (wow, new existential crisis: unlocked)

[magike]

( welcome to her world. she was dead when she arrived, permanent existential crisis happening )

Perhaps within the Fade our spirits find a rift home, though we'd likely still be dead.

[armd]

(Abby makes a pbbpptfbt sound.)

Cool. (She hates it.) Guess I'll just have to — not die.

[portalling]

The Mortalitasi in Nevarra make a specialty of this study. Perhaps we can organise a visit to the Grand Necropolis for you, the next time our work calls us there.

I can’t speak from direct personal experience of local necromancy, but I get the impression it’s an ongoing debate. Are ghosts real, or are they spirits simply pretending to be the deceased, and using your own memories to feed you what you want to see and hear? There’s no way to know for sure.

( Stephen pays attention, however, and he’d listened to Rowena’s other conversations before chiming in himself. ‘When we die, our spirits travel to one afterlife or another. At least in my world.’ )

You sound remarkably confident about the state of things back in your own world.