[Open]

[obi_wanmanshow]

WHO: Character(s)
WHAT: Catch-All Log for pre-Orlais Solace
WHEN: Pre-Orlais, various
WHERE: Skyhold, various
NOTES: References this a lot.

I. a few of my favorite things
Skyhold is nothing like a ruin. Standing proud above the valley, it did nothing so undignified as hunch, precarious though its perch on the summit might have seemed-- Skyhold, is no vulture. Still, it has its scars, weak ankles, gaps where none should be, all healing, all being repaired, if slowly. Time heals all living things, and in the sunlight of summer, even the cold mountain air seemed healed of its frost, where it crossed the walls and dipped down into the courtyards and gardens.

It's a beautiful day for a picnic-- a teaparty, rather, and Obi-Wan has taken his tea outside, to meet a friend, and discuss the business of the week. Are you that friend? Yes? No? Would you like to be? Come, sit, bring your gripes, and your small joys. Have a cuppa, or pet the dog, a magnificently large white Mabari that seems to have cornered the local market on begging for scones. Settle in. All, are welcome here.

II.shadowland
In the shadow of Skyhold proper, pushed up under her like an errant kitten, half-forgotten, is the small camp of Grey Wardens. Obi-Wan does not come here often, but more often lately than he has before. More to the point, he's here now, walking with just the same calm intent one might use going down a perfectly clean and well-kept corridor, rather than the uncertain gaps between tents. In his sand-colored robes and not so much as a dagger at his belt, he might seem unarmed, if you had never seen him fight. But maybe that's what the mabari trotting at his heels is for?

He's looking for someone. Maybe you can help him find them, or at least find his way out of your business. Or maybe you are the someone he's looking for?

III. le festine
Obi-Wan steps into the local tavern not without trepidation, though he hides it well. There's always the moment of adjustment, between the cool sunset air of outside, and the warm, life- smelling atmosphere within. A likewise adjustment must be made between the tired, day's-end lives outside and the generally celebratory, or surly, or uninhibited minds within. Still, he endeavors to adapt swiftly, casting over the crowd-- he came here to meet more person than one, and there they are, all clustered in the place of their custom. He crosses the room and takes a seat, settling into the chair even as he drops the burden of a sheaf of paper on the table.

"What a day," he says, more to the ceiling, than to anyone in particular, before straightening up, "Excuse me, that was rude. Good evening."

IV. wildcard me

Comments

iii;

[arcaneadvisor]

Rarely does Morrigan drink, usually only late in the evening when she has company but she needs to escape from the silence of her chambers or her study while Kieran is off with friends before her own thoughts threaten to consume her the way they have of late. And to think she came to the Inquisition in the first place hoping for a place to work without interruption. If things with Leliana weren't-- well, if they weren't what they are then she might be able to laugh about it but with her dark red wine, tucked in a corner, all she can think about are her cold hands, how small she looks, those terrible marks on her throat.

"I quite understand," she murmurs in agreement to him because today has been a day in a succession of days, but there's a smile of sorts on her face. "The sort of day where I wish I had a chevalier I might set ablaze, tis an amusing sight as they decide what honour dictates they must do."

[obi_wanmanshow]

"I don't think I'd go that far," Obi-Wan replied, after a moment. Had he met any chevalier? Possibly not. But, honor? He thought he understood a little of that, "One wonders why the honor of Chevaliers specifically."

Ah, Morrigan, she of the dark affect and pale skin. He hasn't had occasion to be formally introduced, but Obi-Wan knows of her as well as anyone might who expects to work with the council of experts currently leading the Inquisition in lieu of a singular leader. But there is a story going around, about witches in the wild and heroic grey wardens; besides, it's always good to have more friends.

He smiles at her, "That sounds like a story. Why don't you go first?"

[arcaneadvisor]

"A chevalier has a code of honour that surpasses even their own life, though they are Orlesian and noble and thus, their ideas are rather warped, shall we say." Riding through alienages and butchering the elves, she would hardly call that honourable but then she's a Witch of the Wilds after all, raised in a swamp, what would she know of such things? "If you have ever spent time in the court you will realise what a trying breed they are."

Rifters are something of a side project; she has her eluvian, she wonders about where things might lead when they have fallen through rifts, when there are locked doors and mirrors gone dark, locked or cracked or corrupted, when the Crossroads is a world between worlds. To learn more of their worlds is still a shared project she and Leliana share after all. "Of the chevaliers or of my day? I was never able to set one ablaze, not encase a baroness in ice, even being Celene's Arcane Advisor had limits."

[obi_wanmanshow]

"A Jedi's code of honor is no less ironclad, I'm afraid," He does truly sound sorry-- or at least something that might be labeled sheepish, "Though likely less ah, self-aggrandizing, if what little I've heard of Chevalier's conduct is to be believed. Or Orlesian nobles."

Rumors and rumors and rumors, belief upon belief, until prejudice built a foundation for truth to stand on, and skewed all things its way. Obi-Wan wanted not to believe such things, but impartiality was no more thick on the ground than snow in a desert.

"If it's anything like the Republic Senate, however, I can imagine. Political games are the same, wherever you go."

[arcaneadvisor]

"Orlesian nobles play their Games of intrigue, caring not at all for those they must sacrifice in the climb. Chevaliers are little more than gilded brutes, wielding their supposed honour as blunt instruments to bludgeon all in their path." One can imagine qhat sort of scene Morrigan caused in the Court but Jedi is more interesting, enough to make her turn to face him fully, head tilted to the side, finally smiling. "I did not learn of the Jedi the first time we spoke, I should very much like to. I have been learning of the rifters, where they come to. Tis almost an avenue of research, to see if it might overlap somewhere with anything we might already know."

After all, as the arcane advisor looking into things already considered to be odd, and she's enjoyed all that she's learned so far, particularly if dragons have been involved.

"The Game is rather...literal in Orlais. Do you have bards in this Republic Senate?"

[obi_wanmanshow]

"I'm beginning to think I should write the basics of the Order down, if only to save time; you're far from the first to ask," He replies, listening with only mild distraction as his drink arrives-- wine, if only because it can at least be trusted to taste like wine should. He doesn't particularly trust the water, anymore, "I'm not completely sure about Thedosian Bards, but I'm afraid that what bards tend to do as entertainment is largely fallen out of fashion, replaced by technology."

Why have a pair of listening ears in the room, when all you want is ambient music? Why have someone recite the news, when a holonet connection can fee information to you as quickly as you like, and keep it stored near-indefinitely, in perfect detail? Live musicians are a luxury, but one with the price of an even dearer luxury: privacy.

"But every people has spies and informants-- and most have assassins. I'm given to understand that there's a certain amount of overlap."

[arcaneadvisor]

"Would that be so terrible? I myself have made my own notes on aspects of the worlds rifters have come from where they might provide insight to myself or Leliana. A few areas where they could even overlap with my own research." There's a great deal about dragons that she finds positively fascinating, and it was discussion about sins and demons that prompted it all coming from Leliana but she pulls a face at that word. "Tech...nology?" For once, that isn't just Morrigan's naturally dramatic style of speech, that's a genuine question.

"Orlais has bards as a part of the Game, Antiva has the Antivan Crows who can be hired out by other lands. To call anyone else a bard would cause a great deal of confusion though Maryden, the one in the tavern, is the normal sort of bard, playing only songs. Orlesians and Antivans are where they are most entwined with the politics, the very fabric of their countries." Though Zevran might change much of that, since what little she knows of the Crows are more nightmarish than the bards, as a general rule.

[obi_wanmanshow]

"For me? No. For any Jedi who might come after me? Perhaps it wouldn't be so simple. We may not have bards, but assassins are something I've had to contend with all too often."

It wasn't about a legacy, it's about caring for the present well enough that when the future arrives, that which you most value will have survived it. Archeology is a powerful tool of rediscovery, but preservation better serves the living, in Obi-Wan's opinion.

"Technology," He repeats, at her prompting, leaving behind the question of bards, assassins, Antiva and Orlais, at least for the moment, "Anything invented, made, or designed is some form of technology. Simple forms seem obvious; how to make a sturdy wheel, or a wagon, or a building-- or how to make wine."

This with a tip of the glass and a grimacing sip to emphasize.

"As time passes, civilizations begin to encounter problems and limitations that their earlier technologies can't meet. My own civilization felt too keenly the limitations presented by ordinary record-keeping; paper is fragile, and easily destroyed. Now we use specially-built devices to hold all manner of information, from historical and medical texts to music. Professional musicians like Maryden can enter performances into these records, which are then played back almost as if you were there when she first played them."

[arcaneadvisor]

"There have been no moves of violence against the rifters as a whole, that is where you might face the most danger. Since you have come through the rifts same as demons and there are many in the world who are simple and narrow-minded, who would view you no differently to them. Abominations hiding, waiting to strike. Being Jedi here likely would matter very little unless an assassin of your own followed you through." Elves still face the worst of the violence, that she hears and sees all the time, and many mages too. The rifters - barring Seeker Pentaghast blundering like a riled bogfisher - have escaped much of what she saw ten years ago when she left the Wilds that has only gotten worse since then.

Violence is everywhere and there are rogue Templars likely to come after a rifter just as fast as an assassin after a Jedi, in her opinion.

"I cannot imagine much of that," she admits which isn't easy for her, being the proud creature that she is. "T'would make some of my work obsolete, if the past had not been lost so entirely the way it has been. Even stone is worn away over time when poorly maintained and left to fall to ruin. I imagine some things cannot compare to being there, to experiencing them firsthand however. There is nothing quite like the smell of an old book."

[obi_wanmanshow]

"Only a fool assumes no harm can come of deliberate carelessness," He replies, refilling his glass with little enough ceremony, "My world is so very different from this one. And the Rifts... there's no telling what will come through. Being a Jedi is part of who I am; as long as I am alive, it'll matter."

He thought about star-fields and spacecraft. He thought about deserts farther across than the distance from Morrigan's seat to the farthest tip of Antiva. He thought about women who were the undisputed leaders of lands that spanned a dozen worlds, and who bore the pressure of that rule with a stunning grace.

"There are always more questions about the past to be answered. My own people can travel to any star in the galaxy-- that doesn't mean we have all the answers. Your work will never be completely obsolete."