rest, my brother, and tell me all about the ocean

[extramural]

FORM: Sending crystal.
SENDER: The Outsider
RECIPIENT: everyone
WHAT: Poking the hornets nest.
WHEN: Nowish?
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: He creepy.

What a tumultuous time it is in this world. An empire at war, ancient protectors showing what many feel to be their true colors, strangers falling from the sky -- the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I am not of this world, though it bares similarities to my own -- namely a prominent disdain for the other and ridiculous class differences -- as much it it shows its differences. Empires rise and fall; I admittedly have little interest in wars that have played out hundreds of times in similar ways across hundreds of worlds.

However, I do want to know what you find interesting about this world, if you will share.

Comments

helping

[byblow]

The other what?

oh my god

[extramural]

I imagine that depends on the individual in question.

[byblow]

The other individual?

[rowancrowned]

[ thank you sweet eru he's been planning this melodrama for at least a month. ]

Nugs.

[extramural]

[ brofist ]

Nugs?

[ Guess who hasn't seen one yet!! ]

[rowancrowned]

They have [ pause. ] hands.

And the Men of this world think that if it has hands, it must pray.

[ thranduil you read one treatise on giants that had some lunatic suggesting as much- ]

[justice_is_blond]

[He sounds entirely out of it, like someone who really shouldn't have access to a crystal at all right now.]

There's a... a very great... other. Fearing other. Others. Fear is bad. Lives and fear...

[A pause while he tries to gather his thoughts. It's harder when there's only one set of scattered thoughts to collect, somehow.]

Does your world have cats? It should have cats.

[extramural]

[ popcorn.gif ]

Yet there is always fear and few attempts at understanding.

[ please sit down or something, Anders ]

Yes, there are cats. I imagine that if there were more of them, the plague in Dunwall would not have been as much of a problem. [ Beat. ] Or the rats would have been better fed.

[justice_is_blond]

[He's even lying down. But grief and headpain and suddenly not having a voice in your head make for a very difficult combination.]

Be-because fear is easy. Fear is easy. You can control people if they, if you teach them to fear others and trust you. They want easy. Many want easy. Understanding is work. And worth it. But work.

Cats are work and worth it too. You should have had more cats.

[theproperglove]

It would be easier to share what I do not find fascinating about the world, this one or otherwise.

Do you not think the same of the place you're from?

[extramural]

No.

People are predictable. The world has cycles -- growth and prosperity and betrayal and ruin. Only those that do the unexpected, that make choices I cannot predict, are interesting.

But this is a new world.

[theproperglove]

People are predictable, certainly. ( Her voice is laced with a tinge of amusement. She would be a poor diplomat if she was unable to read others. ) That does not necessarily mean they cannot be interesting.

Has anyone surprised you? Since you've been here in Thedas, that is.

[disgracedchampion]

I suspect when you say the other you mean those who are marginalized or different in some way?

[extramural]

Is there something else I might mean?

[disgracedchampion]

The inscrutable other, I suppose, not so much a person as an idea.

[motherfucking_ghost]

I think magic's pretty interesting, but that's because I come from a place that doesn't have magic. So. That's just me.

Dragons? Dragons are interesting in a 'fascinated by terrible giant predators that remind you of dinosaurs' way. I mean I wouldn't wanna meet one, but knowing they exist is...a thing.

Uhhhh oh! Also. I guess it's not really this world but something between worlds, but I gotta say, interdimensional hopping is a new one for me.

[extramural]

Magic can be interesting even to those who know it, depending on the type and what is done with it. Every once in a while, someone is more than a little creative.

I imagine that is new for a great deal of people. Do you remember the moments between? [ Because he sure doesn't. :| ]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Just...green. That weird Fade-y green. I don't know if there's anything about the Fade inherently that draws people through or just something fucked up because of the rifts...

[gatheringstorm]

Yeah, the othering does get old. Don't expect it to go away any time soon, but don't take shit from anyone who gives it, either. You've as much right to be here as any of us.

[Right, back to the topic at hand:]

How about the Grand Tourney? C'mon, fellow Marchers, back me up.

[extramural]

[ Oh. Well- he certainly wasn't expecting that, but it is- nice, to hear it.

There's a little more warmth in his voice for Korrin, now. ]

I am, at least, certainly good at finding keys. [ aw look it's a little joke ]

I imagine it's a tournament? What takes place there?

[gatheringstorm]

[That little joke gets a chuckle out of her before she continues.] Oh yeah, it's one of the Free Marches' most anticipated events. People from all over Thedas arrive to test their skill and valor--and to see who gets crowned the champion of the games. The victor gets a coronet of sage leaves and a trophy blade with the names of every champion since the first Tourney.

It's also one of the few times when there's any kind of Free Marcher spirit. The Free Marches don't have a central government and they tend to resent people lumping them all together when one city can be wildly different from another. But the tourney is the one common bond they all have, so pettiness and grudges can be set aside them.

[bookish_lioness]

I think it's both the similarities and the differences to my own world that make Thedas interesting. We regard dragons the same way, and until recently, we'd both been under siege by a "magister" who sought out god-like power. But we don't view magic in the same light, or even use it the same way, and we use different names for everything.

... there's all sorts of names for the Other, though, depending on to whom you're speaking. That's what makes them an Other, unfortunately. Most people liked me well enough, though for a long time, there was a group of magical elitists that called me a Mudblood, because I don't come from a magical family. I've come to accept that name and own it, despite the fact that most of my more decent friends consider it nothing less than an obscenity.

[extramural]

Magic is common and raised high in your world, then? It is even more different to my world than Thedas is, then; any suspected of magic are killed, in my own, should they be caught.

To accept your differences and wear them proudly is often difficult. It is the strong who do so. [ That's a compliment. ]

[foxsays]

Much the same as you I think. [Hello, remember the post-battle chit-chat?] I do find it strange that they have all this magic and yet they do not use it for sensible things such as freezing food to allow it to keep for longer. It's very stupid of them. That and the lack of electricity.

[What a girl would give for a pistol and a real lamp. Why is that so much to ask for?]

[extramural]

[ He does remember. Hello, Araceli. c: ]

One would think that their dislike for magic would have driven more technological advances, and yet it is as you say. Perhaps that is why they do not use magic for the sensible: they fear it will become too commonplace.

[ And, on an entirely different note: ] I met Korrin, in the Western Approach.