006.

[dashing]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Herian
RECIPIENT: Everyone, part filtered to Chantry Relations
WHAT: the forest & Chantry Relations things
WHEN: once everyone is cured
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: There’s an OOC post regarding Chantry Relations and with a form to involved parties to fill in over here.

Members of the Inquisition, this is Knight Enchanter Amsel. I apologise for demanding your time once again, so soon after my last communication.

Now all are recovered from the sickness, there is an important matter to address. The Chantry Relations project was seeing to the matters regarding the forest grown over the Chantry ruin, and I have been engaging with local Chantry officials to determine its fate. Now it is almost gone in its entirety, we must take a different tact.

I well understand the attachment a number of Inquisition members had to the forest, especially in the wake of losing Dahlasanor, but this is a matter of some delicacy and importance to both locals and the Chantry, so I would beg your patience as we deal with the site and the few trees that remain.

( And for Chantry Relations Project Members only: )

Project members, I think it would be prudent to meet to refocus our efforts and consider what our areas of priority might be; though our particular political alignments and personal opinions differ, we are all of us bound to the Inquisition, and securing the favour of the Chantry will allow us to make use of an influential political ally, and leave our efforts unhampered by the repercussions of their poor opinions. With the sickness now passed, I think it best we press on with our duties.

If you would like to speak with me individually prior to our meeting as a group, that is entirely welcome. Gauging our respective talents and to what methods we are most suited is worth consideration, as well.

Before we get to that, however, I believe it is imperative that we address the matter of the forest that was growing in the ruins of the Chantry, and has since been burned down.

I— ( Where to start? This is a complex matter, contentious, by some counts, and incredibly straightforward for others. )

As stated before, with Knight-Lieutenant Coupe's approval I had taken initial steps to speaking with Chantry leaders in Kirkwall to see how the forest might be dealt with to best suit as a memorial, but now the forest has been largely destroyed we should move quickly before some other unexpected event come to pass. If this matter is of particular interest to you or you’ve suggestions on how we might work with the Chantry to create a fitting memorial and curry favour, I’d be glad of your time and insights.

Comments

private to Herian

[nadasharillen]

Apparently the citizenry has taken to the statue.

[That's a very level tone. Too level.]

I always intended to maintain it, and would be happy to tend to whatever memorial is decided on as well. My original hope was that it would be a simple quiet place to remember, but that may be less possible now.

[Beat.]

I imagine the Chantry might be less pleased to learn that a Dalish carved her rather than the statue growing miraculously from the ground. Recognition for my work isn't my concern, but if you let them think it is, we can use it as a bargaining chip.

permaprivate.

[dashing]

Something to be thankful for. If they approve of what remains of the forest, better chance of preserving it and incorporating it into the memorial to come.

It was never our place to choose what the memorial would be - the loss was that of Kirkwall's people, not the Inquisition. The forest was beautiful in its ideals, but in execution made a memorial site into a home of vagrants and opportunists.

( Her tone is polite, but perhaps just slips into being ever so slightly clipped. )

I have no desire to blackmail the Chantry. That will serve us little, and only create a sour precedent for ongoing relations.

[nadasharillen]

[A little light tooth clenching.]

You believe the Chantry doesn't use such machinations in their own power playing? It's always seemed to me that they're happy to run down anyone who doesn't have a backbone. Play nice and they'll be happy to use us until we step out of line, and then they take back what they gave, and we're heretical enemies of peace and goodwill again.

It isn't as if there's no historical precedent for such things.

[u know.]

In any case, I didn't mean blackmail. I meant offering it as a gift that has value to them and only perceived value to us.

[dashing]

You advised using that you are Dalish and the crafter of the statue to cause them concern and establish leverage. What is that but blackmail?

Perhaps it is common amongst the Dalish to stoop to the levels of those you must work against, but that is not how this project will operate. We proceed honourably, which demands that we act honestly and justly. Do not mistake honour for a lack of spine; it is the deficiency of both that go hand in hand.

fully unaware of Nari's contribution 8V

[onlyhymns]

The-- I'm sorry, I-- I've been assisting somewhat with the carved Andraste. If the people like her, I think it would be a mistake to remove her. Even if everything else is gone.

Sorry.


[There's a lot he wants to add to that, but for whatever reason, it seems wrong to out the artist and her intentions.]

perma8V

[dashing]

I see no call to remove the statue. I think it preferable that it remain, and the surviving trees that surround it.

( A pause. She sure did get a job in diplomacy and that demands speaking a lot when she, herself, is not that great at wrangling words. )

The site is not ours to claim, however, nor to dictate its shaping - though I will advocate it, and we can make suggestions, what the committee decide is what will be done, and what this project must support.

Re: perma8V

[onlyhymns]

[A pause, in which it's difficult to tell whether he's offended or just tired.]

is it... not? [That tracks, somehow, that he wouldn't be considered, despite having served half his life with the Kirkwall Order.]

This chantry was my place of worship for many years before it fell. I... it... matters a great deal to me.

[dashing]

( Her tone is a little gentler; ) Forgive me, I spoke... with a mind focused on the committee itself.

It remains that unless you join that committee, your particular views will not be the final deciding element. Certainly when we liaise with the committee we can reference the site's significance to you in years past, and the value of that chantry to you. When I say it is not our decision, however, I say that we represent the Inquisition, and your involvement in this is as a member of the Inquisition. It was not the Inquisition who lost people to those events, but the people of Kirkwall and its chantry. That is why it is their committee who must decide and we who must support that decision and conduct ourselves respectfully, not doing what we feel is the best thing to serve their grief.

private to chantry relations members

[galvanising]

I'm not convinced we shouldn't just leave well enough alone for a change, but if the Inquisition is determined to get involved again, then it should be immediately clear that this time it will be done properly and respectfully. Publicly consult with local Chantry leaders, the Viscount, and especially the families of the victims. Find out what they want done with the site, and then help make that happen instead of taking over something that has nothing to do with us.

permathat

[dashing]

I agree entirely, both in terms of respect, and the proposed method. I had begun to take such steps before the forest burned and the sickness struck.

I think our involvement is necessary, when the forest was raised by Inquisition hands. If nothing else, we must remedy that significant slight, but I think supporting the people of Kirkwall in how they choose to honour their dead will be a positive step in better placing the Inquisition in Kirkwall. We can do little to help Thedas if our closest neighbours are happy to see us falter.

[galvanising]

Agreed. I heard you mention a committee to someone else--is this something that's already been established? Who is part of it?

[dashing]

No Inquisition members participate in the committee, to the best of my knowledge. Local leadership, citizens of Kirkwall - those impacted by the events who are not sworn to the Chantry, as well as some Chantry members. Undoubtedly lacking in representation from Kirkwall's mages and less privileged quarters, but relevant parties all the same. They were, I believe, working to organise a memorial prior to the forest's growth.

chantry relations lock

[apologist]

Well! Fire is one way to solve a problem.

[ Thanks, fire. And no offense, Dalish, except for the offense inherent in thinking that your magic forest is scary and your opinions are irrelevant. ]

And perhaps we have all learned something, no? Any proposal must take into account how easy it would be for bandits and thugs to use the memorial to hide.

[tactical_alert]

I should think that would be on the city's guard, if they cannot fully do their job in a relatively small area of their city, and not our problem. We are not here to police the people, and thus cannot keep bandits and thugs from doing what they will.

Although I'm sure none will suggest an entire forest again.

[apologist]

I am not suggesting guarding the site, monsieur, only considering how many hiding places anything we propose, if we do in fact propose anything, would provide. Our design proposals could avoid caves, for example, or overly large statues, or, yes, entire forests.

[dashing]

Let us be mindful not to resort to fire whenever we are in need of a solution.

( Hello, gentlemen. )

Brother Jehan, Seeker Reed, what think you both of the possibility that Knight Enchanter Voss and I are discussing; that designs be drafted and set to the committee, that decisions might be made with some efficiency, and control be set in their hands, that the Inquisition can be as respectful as possible to their wishes in the aftermath of the present situation? We could have a hand in suggestions, but final control would be in their hands.

The more quickly a decision is made, the better we can ensure there be no window for another forest, or some other more challenging obstacle, to rise in the Chantry ruins. Indecision and lack of direction seems to have been the stumbling block in the past, before funding could even be looked to. Naturally the Inquisition will fund as much as possible, to better our relationship with the involved parties.

private to Chantry Relations;

[faithlikeaseed]

As a minor matter, I'll need some help relocating the beehive in the grove. It was well-enough hidden before now that no one tampered with it, but I'm afraid for what might happen if one of the pilgrims gets too close on a day I haven't had a chance to renew the spells.

[angry winter bees are not a joking matter, yikes]

[kecharitomene]

Hello, I will help.

( a new voice—she's been listening to the rest, but had little to say yet, watchful thing that she is. this, however, merits some enthusiasm. bees. hell yeah. )

[faithlikeaseed]

And I'll be glad of it-- [...he's heard her before but can't put a name to the voice. So:] --though I don't know we've been introduced before; I'm Myrobalan.

[kecharitomene]

Galatea! I am Galatea. I have a very light touch. This is what bees need, yes?

permafilter etc

[dashing]

Better if mourners are not set upon by bees.

( Things she did not expect to say, ever. )

Would you see them moved to the Gallows?

[faithlikeaseed]

That's my thought.

[myr's got a way of making people say things they never anticipated. or the bees do. it's the bees.]

Yes; there won't be enough forage here come spring for two hives but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

private to Chantry Relations; scooting into the lecture hall like no one's gonna notice

[foxsays]

With the forest gone, go back to the people of Kirkwall, ask them what they want as Enchanter Voss suggests. We've done enough to the people of Kirkwall to have them wary of us at best, and the Chantry forest was something they never asked for, nor did one of those who created it seem to give it much thought beyond her own desires from speaking with her.

Speak with the people of Kirkwall, go with what they suggest, let the memory of the damned forest fade away.

permafilter

[dashing]

I do not disagree that the forest was poorly executed, for all the good intent that lay behind it, and the potential that might have been part of it. Debating such now will not change that it was done.

( Gently, but firmly. There had been potential positive symbolism in the forest, but a magic forest, overnight? In Kirkwall? She was glad that Dahlasanor had passed before it was burned down. Getting caught on the problems inherent in the forest would not help them. )

We have been discussing the possibility of Inquisition funds covering the expense of several designs being drawn up, based on their desires, and allowing the committee to pick the design of their choosing. Does that proposal sit well with you?

[foxsays]

[If it had been anywhere else, if it hadn't been magic, if they'd bothered to ask or reach out but no. Things already made difficult made worse. At least people didn't freeze over the winter thanks to it.]

It seems the only thing that's good or right to do now. Is this what you meant, when we spoke before?

[That strange chat in the Hanged Man, phrased just so. An offer of an out, to say oh she's forgotten or some such.]