OPEN ↠ FALSE GODS, GREAT DEMONS (OPEN LOG 1)

[faderifting]

WHO: Living Residents of the Horrible Future
WHAT: Ah ha ha ha stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
WHEN: ALTERNATE FUTURE, 1-15 Cloudreach 9:48
WHERE: Anywhere, but especially Orzammar
NOTES: This is the first open log for False Gods, Great Demons. Anything that happened prior to Cloudreach 9:48 should go on the flashback meme. Most members of the TTT and their friends in Kirkwall will be arriving in Orzammar on approximately Cloudreach 7. In the meantime, feel free to make your own adventures. If you want to blow up an bridge, assassinate an NPC of your own invention, steal supplies, or anything else--it's all yours, go for it!

SOUTHERN THEDAS is a wasteland. The Blight crawling across the Orleian countryside and into Ferelden leaves nothing alive in its wake, scarring the land like an insatiable fire until no birds sing and the only things that grows is the Red Lyrium that speckles cliff sides and crawls up dying trees until they look like rows of jagged bloody teeth. And where it's still green, where people can still survive, the atmosphere is nearly as stifling. Every city and settlement is watched over by a Venatori or trustworthy collaborator. Those who don't keep their heads down and their dissent a whisper may vanish without warning. They may take their whole families with them. There are flashes of hope--an assassinated lordling here, a village rousing itself to brief and doomed rebellion there--but for every man the Imperium loses, they seem to find two to take his place.

NORTHERN THEDAS is at war. The worst of it doesn't reach west into Tevinter or the Anderfels; the line between the Qunari and the Imperium is drawn straight through Antiva, with Nevarra and Rivain on either side quiet and calm as only lands under martial law can be. The Free Marches vary between complacency and rebellion, but the rebellious ones risk ruin--there are murmurs it won't be long before a whole city is made an example. A steady stream of desperate refugees is fleeing north to the Qun, but plenty are picked off and punished as traitors before they can cross into Qunari-controlled territory. Your best best for a clean escape are the pirates who still hold Llomerynn free from both sides of the conflict.

ORZAMMAR is the only kingdom in Thedas that looks much the same--and Kal-Sharok, but they're not accepting outsiders. The heavy doors at Orzammar's entrance are sealed and guarded, as much against the steady flow of refugees asking for help as against the Venatori. The refugees are turned away. There's no way to know who can be trusted, and even if there were, there's not food enough for people who can't fight. Orzammar Thaig is still the dwarves' home--though with stealing shrinking numbers and poor prospects, King Bhelen has been amenable to allowing casteless surfacers some leeway--but the once-abandoned Ortan Thaig is the Inquisition's. Quietly. The only things stopping a full assault on Orzammar is the Venatori's need for dwarf-mined lyrium and the plausible deniability that the Inquisition's remaining rebel bands are using the Deep Roads with Bhelen's consent.

An hour's walk through caves and deepstalker swarms, Ortan is a city in its own right. A crammed city, one where cots and bunk beds crammed into shared housing are the norm no matter how important someone is and you occasionally have to protect your dinner from a restless, swooping griffon, but one where you can still find a pint of ale or a game of cards if you've time to waste on them. It's just that not many people do. There's the watch to keep; the tunnels that creep further into the deep teem with darkspawn who are held back at barricades, while the hidden, narrow tunnels that lead to the surface are watched at all hours so anyone coming or going can be identified. There are weapons to forge and sharpen. Plans to make. Bands to lead. Maybe you weren't a leader five years ago, but these days, there aren't that many people with more than five years' experience still alive to give orders. Fewer every week.

And so we burned. We raised nations, we waged wars,
We dreamed up false gods, great demons
Who could cross the Veil into the waking world,
Turned our devotion upon them, and forgot you.
Threnodies 1:8

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin doesn't visit the south much these days; living underground has even less appeal for the Vashoth mage, especially when there are Qunari to fight up north. And there are always Qunari, their dreadnoughts and soldiers seemingly neverending. Still, Orzammar is one of the few places that isn't under siege right now, and their high-quality wares often make the trip worth-while. So it is that she finds herself in the commons area, perusing bomb components, poisons, traps and anything else that will make the Qunari's invasion more difficult.

Mentally calculating what she needs and can afford, Korrin doesn't spot Kirk until she turns and nearly slams into him. "Ah, fuck, sorry--"

[universal_charm]

Kirk grunted when he hit the solid wall of a Qunari, a rare enough sight down here to be worth notice. He had fought against them in skirmishes he was hired for, or when they began to nip to closely at protected areas, but other than that he didn't tend to see many.

"Korrin?" he blinked after a moment of looking up at her, his face slowly, tentatively, splitting into a wide grin. "It is you, isn't it?"

[gatheringstorm]

Her smile doesn't come as quickly as it once did, or with the same strength, but it's still present when she recognizes an old friend. "None other. It's good to see you, Kirk. Maker, it's been ages!" Three years, more or less? Ever since Araceli disappeared to the world at large, and Korrin slipped away to seek her.

[universal_charm]

It seemed no one's did these days, except for Iskandar's. But he had always been a unique exception to many rules. He's glad to see Korrin well, and he claps her shoulder in a hearty greeting.

"It really has!" he said, his laugh both joyous and relieved at seeing his old friend. "Damn, but it's good to see you again. I had worried all this time, never sure if..." If you were alive. "Anyways, did you just arrive? Let me buy you a drink."

[gatheringstorm]

"Oh, I get it. I'm still surprised I'm alive and kicking, myself." For now, anyway. Korrin's under no illusions about long-term survival while the Qunari are still a threat. But she won't dwell on that, glad to take a breather while she can. "And you said the magic words. Let's go...Tapster's Tavern, right?"

[universal_charm]

"That's pretty much the only place to go, so yes," he grinned, giving her a warm clap on the shoulder and turning to lead them through the pathways towards the tavern. He had grown accustomed to their beer and other ale offerings over the years, and thankfully said offerings had been expanding as more and more of them gathered form across Thedas.

"If you drink enough of the right stuff, you might even see stars again."

[gatheringstorm]

That gets a soft chuckle out of her. "I'll pass on making that happen. There's no time these days for a drinking spree and time for a hangover recovery in one. If I did that, who'd blow up Qunari? They're not considerate enough to do it themselves."

[universal_charm]

"I wouldn't lose hope on that just yet," he encouraged with a wry smile. "It could happen yet. They do say great discoveries are made by accident - we just have to hope the accident sets them back a few people with know-how."

[gatheringstorm]

"It's a long shot -they're the ones who invented gaatlok, after all- but I'll still take it." Korrin shrugs, not thinking it especially likely but it's a nice mental image. "How are things here? Aside from 'everything sucks', because that's just universal these days."

[universal_charm]

"And my people invented nuclear energy, and we still had accidents. Trust me, they happen," he encouraged and then realized he might need to explain nuclear energy. "Ah, nuclear energy in my world is a very powerful energy source, a type of controlled explosion more of less, but when the process goes wrong it's somewhat like setting off a volcano." A highly simplified explanation of that process, but close enough that he thought Korrin would understand the magnitude of it.

He gave a shrug and a wry little twist of a smile. "They've been fine. Had a successful raid, came home, got a bath for the first time in weeks. Nothing to complain about, honestly."

[gatheringstorm]

Simplified is fine, Korrin really doesn't want a lot of jargon thrown at her that she wouldn't understand. The description alone is enough to have her shaking her head, though any sense of horror is somewhat muted given all the other horrors inflicted in the past several years. "This world's enough of a shithole without adding that to it."

Her lips curve into a slight smile as she turns her mind to less dire thoughts. "Able to walk away from a mission and have a bath? Now that's living the life. I always thought that one of the best things about the south was being able to soak in Skyhold's hot springs. It was the only place in those blasted mountains that wasn't frigid as fuck. At least Orzammar is better in that respect. No fucking snow underground."

[universal_charm]

"Yes, I am very much hoping the Qunari are not the ones to discover that particular energy source, or even at all," he shuddered to think what they might do with their religious seal. His world knew their devastation, and he did not wish it upon this one.

He waggled his brows. "Bathed by the most handsome man in Thedas no less." The waggle quickly turned into a groan. "Don't remind me of the hot springs. God, I miss them so much. And I miss the sky. I'll trade being cold for a glimpse of the sky on a regular basis."

[gatheringstorm]

"If you miss warmth that badly, you could always come back north with me. I wouldn't mind the company, and there's plenty to do. You won't have any more time to be bored there than here." Korrin doesn't seriously expect him to take her up on the offer or he would have gone with when she did a few years ago. Still, she makes it anyway because friends seem to be dropping like flies these days, and she'd rather keep hers close.

[universal_charm]

"I appreciate the offer, but I'll have to decline. Iskandar and Waver are here, and I can't leave them," he shook his head. He left on missions, sure, but he always returned home to them, to their home here where there were no stars to light the sky. He would never be used to it, true, but he managed so long as he had Waver and Iskandar.

"You're welcome at our home any time you're here," he counter offered to her. "We usually have something brewing, which is always a nice change from travel food." He wrinkled his nose, rubbing at his jaw as he imagined having to eat more that dried meat and bread whose nutritional value was questionable at best.

[gatheringstorm]

"Ugh, don't remind me. I won't say no to that, at least for the brief time I'm here...but being in Orzammar long-term is just not possible. The Qunari are up north and I have to fight them. Besides, dwarven ale is awful, awful shit and nothing here is proportioned for someone my size. That gets old real fast, you know." Even more so than the irritation of having solid rock over her head instead of sky.

[universal_charm]

"I can't argue about the ale," he wrinkled his nose. He drank it if for no other reason than the water was not always reliable, though at least the underground sources were usually cleaner than the above. "And I miss the sky," he admitted. It was always a nice part about taking a mission - going out and seeing the sky again, seeing stars.

"Well, let's try and make this a nice visit at least," he said with a sympathetic pat on her arm. "I can't do much about the height of things though, sorry."