What measure is a mage?

[watchesandlistens]

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Corvo
RECIPIENT: Everyone
WHAT: Corvo's not like the other girls mages
WHEN: Now
WHERE: Everywhere
NOTES: is a mage an animal, vegetable, or mineral?

[ The voice that speaks is low, gravelly. Not one often heard over the crystals, or around Skyhold in general. He's not the chattiest guy around. But he's curious. ]

I can use magic, but I would not consider myself a mage.

[ Pause. ]

Not that I have anything against mages. I simply...do not identify as one, particularly within the context of mages in this world.

[ Another pause, to let that sink in. Then he gets to the point. ]

How would you define a mage? Is everyone that's capable of magic truly to be considered one? Perhaps there should be a label for people who do not so easily fit into those categories--if one does not already exist.

Comments

[circleprodigy]

You would be asking the wrong person, in that case. I came into my magic when I was four years old; I scarcely remember a time without it. So, yes, it is as much a part of my life as my eyes or heart. Its presence has shaped everything. I was raised in a Circle, and if I hadn't, I would have lived as an apostate, on the run from Templars. The lack of it would have lead to a very different life.

It was...gifted to you? How do you mean?

[watchesandlistens]

That is...what I am trying to distinguish. Should people without such an intimate relationship with magic be defined by it?

--Well. I mean it exactly as I said it. One night, while I slept, someone [ Hi, Outsider. ] visited me in my dreams, and decided to give me the mark that allows me to do magic. Though, like the mages in Thedas, I didn't get to offer much of an opinion on the matter.

...Not that I don't appreciate it.

[circleprodigy]

I think you'll find that you will be definied by its presence, whether or not you wish it. Most Thedosiasns are still struggling with the idea of rifters being more than demons in disguise; they will not see someone with magic as 'not a mage'.

...a mark grants you your magic? Well, I suppose that makes the presence of a shard a little easier to deal with, as you've dealt with similar phenomena before. I'm curious to see this mark for myself, and what you can do with it.

[watchesandlistens]

I don't expect changes immediately, or just because I asked for them. But it's something to consider.

I'd be happy to show you the mark, and what it can do. I certainly appreciate having the magic, I just...don't hold it above everything else that I am.

[circleprodigy]

Thank you. I can provide demonstrations of Thedosian magic in turn, if you wish.

How would you define yourself, then?