MOSTLY CLOSED: Weisshaupt Fortress

[visus]

WHO: Anders, Herc, Ingrid, Kaisa, Mal Reynolds, Merrick, Merrill, Nathaniel, Samwise, Sera, Teren, Varric
WHAT: A friendly visit to Weisshaupt Fortress that will go very smoothly and involve zero bloodshed.
WHEN: Bloomingtide 29-30 for the closed portion, with travel time on either side.
WHERE: Weisshaupt Fortress, the Anderfels.
NOTES: This plot is 90% closed to the above-named characters, but there are open comments for before and after the main quest that are open to any characters who might travel to the Anderfels to serve as back-up without going to Weisshaupt.

No one has ever claimed that 'the Anderfels' is a particularly pretty name for a place, but it is somehow still too nice for the land itself. Bone-dry and blasted by hot, dusty winds for most of the year, the steppeland of the Anderfels has been harsh and unforgiving country since long before the Blights began. It is barren in every sense of the word: all greys and browns and blood-rust reds, the monotony broken more often by black outcroppings of rock than by greenery, with settlements few and far between. Even where blight has not turned the ground dark and toxic, it feels like a place people are not meant to live. Not anymore.

↠ The Walk There (Open, Mingle)
↠ Arrival at Weisshaupt (Closed, GMed)
↠ R&R&Demons (Closed, Mingle)
↠ Everything Goes To Shit (Closed, GMed)
↠ The Sprint Back (Open)

Comments

[justice_is_blond]

His voice is mild when he speaks, despite her hitting the nail on the head about him trying to provoke her. She's a Templar. By now most of them would be furious.

"There is no need for Circles. You would not lock up every person with a sword, or a dagger, or a bow and arrows. There is a need for training, but the Circles are beyond imperfect tools. They are cages. If mages are spread out, making lives for themselves, part of the general population, then there will always be people who can train them available. Leave the Templars at the Chantry. If a mage needs extra help, they will know where to find Templars, and they'll know they won't find abusers there at last. But Circles are barbaric and cruel, and must be a thing of the past."

[ingrid_kief]

"They already are. The Circles were dissolved, and the Order is divided. I do not know what will come next. I hope whoever makes the decision takes time to examine the faults of what went wrong and use that wisdom to create something better. There are no ideal solutions, but with luck, this history will not repeat itself," she said, shaking her head.

[justice_is_blond]

"They currently are. There are some who want them back, and I don't know what is to come either. We need a system that is not fear-based, that does not treat people as lesser. If that can be done, then we can perhaps have a system that works." Equality is the thing Thedas needs the most. ...Equality, and the end of Corypheus. Equality, the end of anything blighted. There they go.

[ingrid_kief]

"That will be very hard to undo. Mages and Templars alike have their reputations for reasons. Magic needs caution, but not smothering."

She shakes her head.
"I fear sensibility is in short supply. As are those willing to work hard for things to be better."

[justice_is_blond]

"I think with a little hope, those who are sensible will come out of the woodwork. Right now, there's hardly cause for it. The Inquisition is only a temporary state of affairs. When Corypheus is gone, what comes next? Hope is dangerous, and when lost it hurts more than anything else. Most mages don't dare try it yet."

She's being surprisingly communicative. She's talking with him rather than at, and despite Alayre's civility, this isn't something he's used to.

"Most mages fear having something and having it be taken away yet again, because there's precedent. It feels good to be treated like a person like any other. Imagine how it feels to lose that."

[ingrid_kief]

"They have. But extreme voices often speak louder. In words and deeds. May they continue to speak after the loud ones fade out. We are all equal in the eyes of the Maker. I pray that truth is not forgotten."

Ingrid shakes her head, ardently fingering the Joining pendant around her neck.
"I understand loss. I know about being treated differently. And loss has shaken all the faithful. At first, all were united in it. But already I think people forget, letting anger rule over compassion."

[justice_is_blond]

For several moments he's quiet. Part of what she's saying rubs him very much the wrong way. Since when were all united after loss? Any loss? It always had been blamed on the mages. No one would have cared if yet another Circle had been annulled. Like no one cared that Rivain had been.

On the other hand, they're all on a mission together here. She cannot possibly understand what it is to be a mage; that doesn't mean that saying so will help anything.

"May the truth that all should be treated equally not be forgotten." It's relatively neutral. "I'm certain we'll speak later."