24 March 2024 @ 08:07 pm
SUBJECT: Halamshiral Visit
PARTICIPANTS: Bastien, Byerly, Alexandrie, Jayce, Lazar, Wysteria, Barrow, Julius, Petrana, Gwenaëlle, Strange, (Demon) Vanya, Evelyn
CLASSIFICATION: Public with some private additions (see below)
DATE FILED: Wintermarch
STATUS: Complete
SUMMARY: Riftwatch went to Halamshiral. The things that went wrong were mostly not their faults; some people made friends; and Research in particular earned a benefactor.

REPORT: Read more... )

NEXT STEPS: Various folks have various opportunities for follow-up, but none required!

NOTES & LINKS: OOC post, log post.
 
 
09 March 2024 @ 04:18 pm

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Loki
RECIPIENT: All of Riftwatch
NOTES: Sometimes you're bored, with poorly timed insomnia, but mostly it's that you're bored


Alright, I've... several questions, I suppose, and it's quiet, and dawn approaches in several hours, all of which are facts that I cannot stand at the moment. My suffering is your suffering, misery loves company, etcetera, yadda yadda, here we are. Stuff the crystal under a pillow if you like.

One. There's a tavern in the Gallows, now? Do Riftwatch members have to pay for their indulgences or do we have the merit of being able to extract coin from visitors alone?

Two. Say you found yourself in the company of a relatively well-behaved but still... wild creature. As in not domesticated by its own effort or, apparently, anyone else's. It has merely decided that you are its person now.

How does one go about training an adult wolf?

Related to my first query: how agitated do you presume either our fine librarian (Mobius) or his... assistant with arms (Abby, you see what I did there?) would be were someone to read their borrowed books in the tavern?
 
 
10 January 2024 @ 07:21 pm

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Cosima Niehaus
RECIPIENT: members of the Research Division
NOTES: Feel free to go either crystal or action here, or if you'd rather slide into Cosima's inbox, also fine.


OK everyone, here's the deal. I read a lot of reports as Tony's assistant and I've read a lot more in the last few weeks, and I've had time to make my own first pass. But if you're in Research, I want to check in with you. What are you working on, what's promising, what's stalled. You give me a private call by sending crystal or drop by the office, either's fine with me. I guess you could write a note, but I'll be honest, I'll probably just track you down to ask follow-up questions anyway, so you can save us both a step and take the meeting in the first place.

Next couple days, if you can. Or tell me you need more time, if you do. Thanks.
 
 
31 March 2022 @ 06:10 pm

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Alexandrie
RECIPIENT: Everyone
NOTES: none yet~


[ An Orlesian accented voice that has not been heard publicly in some time, rather soft and subdued: ]

Are there any of you who have taken injuries during the war— or before it, I suppose— that have made heavily relied upon abilities difficult or impossible? I should...

I should like to commiserate with any willing to speak upon their experiences. In private, of course.
 
 
24 March 2022 @ 04:08 pm

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Cosima
RECIPIENT: Anyone in Riftwatch near their crystal, though rifters especially wanted
NOTES: n/a


Hey, fellow rifters, just curious. If someone here asks how old you are, how do you count? Like, is it how old you were from when you arrived, plus a year each time you hit the anniversary of your arrival? Do you pick the nearest Thedas equivalent and count that as your birthday? I mean, there's a metaphysical argument to be made for only counting your time in Thedas, but there's no situation where someone asks me how old I am and "about five" is an answer that's useful to them, you know?

I know this isn't really important, just have cake if you want some cake, whatever. But I'm curious about how other people do it.
 
 
15 March 2022 @ 06:45 pm

FORM: crystal
SENDER: Loki
RECIPIENT: all of Riftwatch
NOTES: nada


Since dreams are a popular topic:

Where do they come from? The Fade, here, of course, but what else is at play?

For those that don't know and don't particularly care for the first question: are you a better person than the one in your dreams or a worse one?
 
 
14 March 2022 @ 06:38 pm

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Sylvie Laufeydottir
RECIPIENT: Everyone
NOTES: Talks of birth control, so whatever might come from that.


[ It's later in the afternoon when Sylvie reaches out, the sound of a teacup clinking on the saucer . ]

Two questions for the Rifters who have been here longer than I.

Firstly: Is there anything you've found that works as well as hair bleach in this world, there's a particular look I prefer and it's starting to grow out.

Secondly: There has to be better birth control here than just this disgusting tea isn't there? I feel like someone has to have found and/or concocted up something else by now.
 
 
13 March 2022 @ 09:16 pm

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Byerly
RECIPIENT: Everyone
NOTES: None


[ This is sent at sometime in the early morning, shortly after sunrise. For anyone who knows Byerly: this is basically the middle of the night for him. Someone's having trouble sleeping. (Nightmares, man.) ]

Does anyone here have recurring dreams? And if so, what?

[ Byerly says, thoughtfully - ]

I have a dream rather often that I need to recite the Chant but it's a section I've never actually heard of before. And also I'm naked.
 
 
01 February 2022 @ 09:39 am

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Bastien
RECIPIENT: Everyone
NOTES: Nonsense. If your characters will not say anything but are obviously/observably involved with people, please feel even more encouraged than normal to "not here" reply with the deets for everyone's gossip-gathering purposes.


Bonjour, mes amis.

[ Faintly sing-song, but in a drawling and subdued way. It doesn't do to sound too chipper and excited about asking people semi-invasive questions. ]

I have been talking to the Seneschal, and we thought—well, it's possible we might need a fraternization policy. Or a record, at least, in case it becomes a problem later. And to decide whether that is necessary: information about fraternization.

[ It's obvious from his voice that he's pleased that that rhymes. ]

So who is together? Or involved, if together is a scary word.

Please feel very free to rat out your bashful friends.

[ As an afterthought, ]

If you have opinions about the policy or record part, I will take those, too.

 
 
20 January 2022 @ 04:35 pm

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Val & Wysteria
RECIPIENT: Riftwatch
NOTES: Val is in red. Wysteria is in blue. If you comment on this post, in any form, your character is automatically entered in the raffle to win Thedas' first medieval bike. The winner will be randomized at the end of the month.


[What's the one thing all but guaranteed to send a shiver up the spine? An ominous whiff of smoke on the air? The faint stirring of dread? The breath of a spirit across the back of the neck?

No! It's a familiar prim clearing of the throat followed by—]


Good afternoon, Riftwatch! This is Wysteria Poppe—er de Foncé speaking along with—Monsieur de Foncé as well.

[Poorly done. But onward!:]

We would like to announce a contest. And yes, before you ask, there is a prize.

To begin with: notoriety. This is good for a man’s name, and good for a man’s career--or a woman’s, of course! But one cannot subsist upon mere notoriety, even if it does facilitate the linings of one’s purse or pockets by furnishing future opportunities. And so for those materials of desire, we are pleased to say that there is something more, something physical that one will gain from participation in this contest. Something entirely unique. Think of it! You will be the envy of all society, the talk of all parties that you attend, the name whispered in drawing rooms and salons and parlors--notoriety!--and then the something! Further reward.

By now you cannot resist this temptation.


Yes! The prize is of an extremely physical nature. And happily, there is only a very modest requirement for entering this contest. One need only make an appearance in the main courtyard this afternoon and attempt to mount and ride the something. It is a prototype which requires testing, you see. And so the winner of the contest will be able to boast of having the first ever of this particular creation before it becomes wildly popular abroad in all the fine cities and various courts.

Valentine, you've ridden it. Tell them how pleasurable the experience is.


In a word: beyond. If you are suffering under the belief that you yourself have experienced the pleasure of a ride? You have not. Not until you have taken a turn upon the something. This experience is akin to nothing else. Smooth, easy, entirely lacking in the occasionally uncomfortable quivering one might experience during--ah, no, there are not words with which to describe it, not truly. One must simply experience.

Which is precisely why you—the general you; I am addressing you all in Riftwatch once more—really must come. Also because I would be very personally appreciative. But mostly on account of the prize. Once more, that is to the main courtyard this afternoon if you wish to have a chance to win the something.

[Her voice becomes tinny; Wysteria must have turned her face toward her accomplice and away from the crystal. 'It really does need a proper name. Maybe that should have been one of the prizes—']