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.

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.]

[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.

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.

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.

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.

[nadasharillen]

[It's a good thing they haven't got Herian in charge of the Dalish relations project.]

I hope your personal code protects the Inquisition's interests as well as you believe it will. I look forward to being proved wrong.

In any event, my labor in regards to whatever is decided is yours. No matter my feelings, I don't cut corners and I don't shirk. You'll have my best.

[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.

[onlyhymns]

I see. What if I...

[For the briefest moment, he considers joining their committee, trying to have a voice in this. But what good would he do? What purpose would he serve, apart from reminding the people of Kirkwall of who failed to protect them and was absorbed into the Inquisition, who failed so hard he's not even part of the Templars anymore?
He'd be a laughingstock. And a disgrace.
Like he already is, but more publicly.]

...never mind. Thank you.

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.

[dashing]

If we wish to make Thedas a better place we must begin with ourselves. We cannot hope to advocate a better and less morally corrupt Chantry or improvements to any institution if we are ready to act in the very manner we could only claim to abhor.

I am glad of it. Do you have other input you would like to make regarding possibilities for the memorial? We can only make suggestions to the committee, but your craftsmanship in carving the statue is exemplary.

[dashing]

No, please. What came to mind?

[onlyhymns]

Sorry.

[A pause.]

I doubt I'd be... [a small, anxious laugh,] ...welcome on the committee.

[galvanising]

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

[nadasharillen]

[Mollified by the comment and by the subsequent realization that her work ethic is much like Herian's honour, her tone shifts to a slightly warmer civility]

I'd prefer not to gild her, if it can be helped. At least, not in her entirety. I give my word the statue will be sealed to the elements. I admit I know very little of how sh... humans honor their fallen, besides the burning, so I leave that input to those who do.

I would, if it pleases, extend my respect to the lost by keeping the area in order. Making sure offerings are rotated, keeping the foliage neat, other such things.

[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.

[dashing]

I cannot speak for them, Serah. If you wish to participate in the committee, though, then I can only recommend speaking with them. If you would sooner not, then I advise that we consider what suggestions we can make for the memorial that appeal to our project and to the committee.

[onlyhymns]

Right. Yes. Of course.

[Herian is assertive, and Cade is easily cowed. He has no more to say on the subject, at least presently.]

[dashing]

( LOOK SHE DID SUCH A GOOD JOB TRYING TO BE ENCOURAGING AND REALISTIC

YEAH GOLD STAR YEAH )

[galvanising]

So it is a committee the Viscount or someone assembled, not of your doing? Do they want the Inquisition involved at all? We might be best off at this point offering them money and manpower when they need it and otherwise keeping our noses out of it entirely. And making sure we're heard to do so.

[dashing]

Aye, that's so. The purpose of the Inquisition's involvement was, initially, to see to addressing the matter of the forest and smooth the hackles raised by it. It did not seem proper to simply drop the matter as no longer relevant or a matter of concern, when tempers are still rankled that the forest was there at all; there is still a wrong that must be righted.

I do not think you are incorrect, but I would sooner see to the thoughts of other project members before making a decision. Since there are Inquisition agents who have been involved in the forest and the statue of Andraste, I thought better to ease the transition. If there is more that we can offer than money and manpower, I think it is best to look to it.

( She pauses a moment, trying to figure out how to proceed, how to explain in a way that doesn't somehow sound harsh or condescending. )

The forest was able to grow because, even in all this time, a memorial had not been settled upon. Perhaps providing schematics for them to approve rather than leaving them mired in indecision, and then ensuring that it is efficiently acted upon will prevent further issue arising. Maker forbid someone should see fit to attempt to replace the forest, or something else, and the Inquisition be negative drawn back into the issue. I am, however, eager to hear the views of fellow project members, if you think this is unsound.

1/2

[galvanising]

True, since the forest was apparently the fault of Inquisition members, it should have been our responsibility to remove it. Since that's been done, maybe our first step should be to have the debris cleared? I assume there are stumps and ash remaining, at least, and that will have to go before anything can be put in its place.

[galvanising]

[ Herian adds to her message, and Nell considers for a little while before returning to it. ]

If indecision is their problem, maybe we could help by paying to commission design proposals from artists or architects or whoever does this sort of work? A few of them, so it's clear the choice is still theirs, but it could be a way to focus the decision.