001.

[dashing]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Hellion Damsel Herian Amsel
RECIPIENT: everyone with a crystal
WHAT: HONOUR!!!
WHEN: Backdated just a little, before the worst family vacation.
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Info post. Herian's background includes themes of violence, torture and death, as well as discrimination and PTSD. While she will not in general be vocal about some of her own prejudices (against anti-Circle apostates and Dalish and nobles as some examples) it is very likely to come up in narrative and could come up in dialogue depending on interactions. Here is an opt out post if you'd rather certain things be avoided, or if you'd like to opt out of interactions with her in general.

( The voice is a unique one; perfectly clear and precise without being loud, soft-spoken without being in danger of losing itself to a gust of wind. It is markedly Starkhaven, tone measured and even and ever-respectful. She does not sound tired, or weak, simply controlled, as if that control is an easy thing, comfortable and well-worn. )

People of the Inquisition.

I fear I have waited overlong in making introductions. I came newly arrived to the Inquisition some months past— I am Herian Amsel, Enchanter of the White Spire, presently I serve amongst your ranks as Knight-Enchanter and member of the Mage Council.

My query is a matter of personal interest - an indulgence, mayhaps.

What means "honour" to you? What significance does it hold? What role have you crafted for it in your life?

Pray forgive me if you deem this an overstep; I simply have a mind to better acquaint myself with those about me, and with whom I share a common cause.

Comments

[foxsays]

Where I am from, honour matters enough that you might find yourself fighting a duel if you feel yours has been slighted.

[That first bit is hopefully enough to clue Herian to the fact that this is Araceli rather than some other random.]

We are what we are seen to be in the eyes of other people. Honour has put steel in my spine and tried to draw blood from me. A person is always given a chance to regain their honour, at least in a duel, that's the whole point of the thing. Of course nobility had a far easier time of that than many of us.

[Which is why her pirate father had his duellist best friend teach his only daughter when her temper became apparent.]

[dashing]

( She recognises the voice, and the words reassure her deduction. ) Lady Bonaventura, I am glad to hear you well.

( Considering what's she's said for a moment before carrying on, Herian weighs the words, turning them over in her mind. )

A trait not unique to your home. Though— I am curious if you mean that nobility have some inherent cause in acting honourably, or simply that they are better placed to become able duellists than many others.

[foxsays]

Gracias for your gift, Señora Amsel, it was appreciated more than I can say.

Both. Better placed to become duellists; a blade is expensive, lessons moreso, and it takes hours of dedication that most do not have when they have to work to put food on the table and a roof over their head - all too often the choice is one or the other, not both. [Herian does not need to know what a pistol is, even still a touch rattled as she is she knows alarm bells when she hears them.] Nobles can sometimes take even a look in their direction as a slight upon their honour. Walking in their part of the city or the country can be taken as a challenge.

Too often, there is very little that is noble at all about nobles. [That is perhaps the most openly catty thing Araceli has said on the sending crystals, congratulations Herian.] I found myself saddened but unsurprised to see it repeated in Thedas.

[dashing]

You are most welcome.

( Listening and thinking, Herian has learned, oft do more than rushing with blade or tongue ready to strike. ) If people challenge others to duels based on such shallow slights, rather than any true wrong doing, I cannot believe that is honourable. They might seek to claim it as honour, but it is an indulgence of vanity. Nothing more.

[foxsays]

It doesn't always matter, what you believe. [At least not when it comes to something very sharp, though she does say it gently when she saw such scars on Herian.] When there is a blade pointed at you and you are not allowed to set the terms because you are the party that has offended another; I might duel as well as a rich man's daughter, but I am far from it, and they like to remind me of that.

Any man or woman might live or die by their reputation where I am from, that is what is is. And when you're common? Sometimes those who can fight them back must. So that they know they cannot walk over our backs.

[dashing]

Taunts and insults are not honourable, either. ( There is nothing for a moment; her tone is not disagreeable at all, simply offering an observation. ) Nobility in class is a rarely an inherent indicator of nobility of character.

( Though Araceli cannot see it, Herian nods her understanding. )

It sounds a necessary thing, Lady Bonaventura. You've no need to justify that to me. I know what it is to be downtrod.

[foxsays]

And yet they continue to believe it. Changing their minds is...a trial. [But not without satisfaction, if you can swallow the bitter with the sweet.] Worth it but sometimes you wonder how much steel is left in you, no?

As a mage within Thedas? [Herian is still human so...the phrasing is curious, even when her tone is light.]

[dashing]

From my experience, many prefer to believe and follow that which is easiest over that which is right. Bringing a mind to accept reality, reason and responsibility is not an easy feat. ( A moment of consideration. ) I have not the luxury of wondering. Matters must be seen to, there is no allowance for my lacking steel.

As a living creature from an alienage. As a half-breed in a home of elves, where humanity was akin to treachery. Some bemoan the state of mages as a tragedy, and aye, some have suffered keenly, but being a mage won me freedoms that never would have been afforded me otherwise. All who weep for the sake of mages universally are naive, and blinkered to reality.

[foxsays]

It isn't even reality to them though. Reality is…'you have always been hungry, why should I pay more for my luxuries that you might not be hungry' to them. What is the most maddening are the ones who know and can see, who might even wring their hands over it but will still wash them at the end of the day if they must give up too much. [Thedas is likely worse given that at least everyone is human at home, and trade does depend on the people going out and doing the hard jobs, often the dangerous jobs.] We are allowed allowed a moment to be human. [Ah, a moment to amend that for Thedas.] Or elven, elf-blooded, dwarven, variously associated to the Qun or not as it may be. To set the steel down for a moment and breathe and remember before we pick it back up again, sharpen the edges.

[Time to tread lightly, easier said than done at the moment when Herian comes out with that last part.] You're elf-blooded? [No judgement, just a repetition to check the facts because her head is still too full of nightmares than she would like.] I am sorry that this is a world where restrictions placed by others who think they are your betters are more keenly felt than elsewhere. If there is a thing that I would change, it would be that. That there would be a choice for those denied them, those sorely lacking in them. That they might make their voices heard without others putting words in them.