[OPEN TO MAGES]

[deflocked]

WHO: Mages, mages, more mages. I guess non-mages can sneak in or be dragged along by friends, but they will be glowered fiercely at by Daylen if he knows.
WHAT: Mage meeting
WHEN: 3 Firstfall
WHERE: What would be Solas' room if Solas were there.
NOTES: Feel free to mingle/threadjack/and anything else you might think of! A top level comment will be made for the meeting itself with no particular order for commenting. There will probably be discussions of mage rights and such. I will edit if any warnings come up.

It's not exactly the biggest room, but on the plus side it's not in a terrible state of disrepair either. In case anyone isn't sure this is the right room there is a sign on the door indicating it is for the mage meeting. If that isn't enough, it is full of chairs. Arguably too many chairs for a room of this size. Especially since they are arranged in a circle for convenience of being able to talk rather than making the most of the space.

Hello, mages. Hope you're all ready to argue.

Comments

[deflocked]

You misunderstand the purpose of circles. They're about protection. Being around others like us. Plenty of circle mages have always been able to leave legitimately if that's what they wished.

Any circle that treated its mages like prisoners had lost its way. I don't think there are any of us who want that.

[gatheringstorm]

[Korrin flashes a smile at Dorian, respecting him the more he speaks. Trust an 'evil magister' to be the voice of reason, hm?]

Tch, you and your common sense. What will come next, a peaceable arrangement?

[She rolls her eyes at Daylen's comment, though, not impressed.]

'Protection', sure. Well, some of us don't need or want that sort. I thought we made that clear.

[deflocked]

[Her easy dismissal bothers him. He'd hoped with a few others speaking up they might not be so quick to judge the circles badly. At least accept they weren't all bad if not agree.]

You've also made it clear you don't understand what sort of protection it's supposed to be. With all respect, I don't think you have the experience to speak with such disgust of a place I spent most of my life.

I appreciate all of us have had poor experiences with the templars here, and I know many of the circles became something terrible before the end, but not all of them were. I grew up in Kinloch Hold and I couldn't have asked for a better home. It wasn't just the templars who protected us. It provided us with a place where mages can protect each other. And be together. How many places are there besides that where we're not in the minority?

You don't have to agree, but please at least listen and remember what you've seen isn't all there is to know.

[fleurdesel]

The final act of the college was to separate from the Chantry. Moreover the mages here are, as Dorian said, Heretic along with the rest of the Inquisition, I do not think we would wish to move forward by diving back into part of the larger problems that tight reign provided. However some of the guidelines of the Chantry law may be of use if not their beliefs. Perhaps it is possible to find a happy medium?

[ Adelaide tips her head in Daylen's direction. ]

My students and I came here from Andoral's Reach for protection. One provided by a sense of community and solidarity within the Inquisition, until the night of the wake we were not put in danger if only for our tendency to keep to ourselves. Something more concrete would be to our benefit.

[aceso]

[ Christine's eyes narrow at Daylen. ]

And I was never allowed to leave the Circle though I had passed my Harrowing and all I wished to do was be a healer. I've tired of hearing "Oh, well those Templars were doing it wrong and shouldn't be thought of as the norm." It was normal for me. Just as you had an easier time at Kinloch and I had an easier time at Montsimmard than those at Kirkwall does not mean the old system is infallible. Just as any mage can be a danger, any Templar can be too.

[ She stops, sighs, and shakes her head. It seems no matter what, they always are pulled back to discussing Templars as long as there are those among them who want something like the Circle back. ]

It is clear that some here wish to be under the Templars' protection again, but you will not force every mage in Skyhold to agree to be as well. But that part of the discussion will have to come another time. For now, we must agree on how best to serve the Inquisition, and the council with varied representation seems the best way.

[mythalenaste]

[A nod toward Christine.]

Agreed. And if councilors are elected, each group has their opinions represented and their values taken into account. Including the ones who felt safe in their Circles and want similar protection.

[gatheringstorm]

[Korrin frowns at Daylen, calmer than before but still not inclined to see the Circles as anything other than prisons. She smiles a little at Christine for her perspective, glad to hear from a Circle mage without the rose-colored lenses. That appeases her enough not to continue circular arguments, at least for now.]

I can live with that. As long as there's room for those who have no wish to be part of a Circle, that's all I want. We don't need to agree on everything, but we do need to work together...and not force one way of being a mage on everyone.

[deflocked]

I said that.

[That's muttered quietly, more to himself than Christine or anyone else. He's tired of his views on templars being all anyone seems to get from anything he says.

Then louder:]

I won't lie and pretend I wouldn't rather we had our own circle here, but we need unity. If compromise is what it takes to get that then I'll gladly settle for that.

We need somewhere we can stand together. We need each other. Not everyone is happy with our presence here, and honestly not all of us have given people reason to be.

I treated just as many non-mages as I did mages after the altercations after the funeral. Far too many of them victims of mages. I even had the misfortune to see a mage set a cook on fire. Provoked or not, we have be better than that. And if we can't be have something in place to see we answer for ourselves.

[A glare is fixed at said mage who is sat among his friends who were present when the cook had riled him enough to set her aflame. It can't be said he looks especially sorry for his actions.]

[fleurdesel]

If nothing else we need to establish some code of conduct today, something along the lines of 'don't poke the templars' and 'don't set people on fire.' I myself was caught in a scuffle between mages and templars that a group of drunken mages began.

[ She peers back to the mages that hold Daylen's glare, adding her own to the mix before picking out those involved in the incident she and Dorian happened upon that same night. Shameful behavior, really. ]

[mythalenaste]

[Pel smiles at Daylen. An actual smile. What a good kid. He's saying the right things--for her and for everyone. Her edges soften a bit.]

We do need that. We need to have consequences for using magic against non-mages, and non-magical alternatives to defending ourselves.

[gatheringstorm]

[Though Korrin didn't think Daylen would say anything else she'd want to hear, mention of compromise gets her interest and she almost smiles, much appeased by such words. She also finds herself nodding in agreement with his mention of the part the mages played during the brawls. The mage he mentions gets an added glare from her, just because.]

That kind of selfish behavior just makes everything worse for all of us, so I actually agree with you there. We can do better, even if it's just making sure that shit-stirring idiots know their actions aren't going to be unchecked. Regulating ourselves in that was is better than it being decided for us.

[aceso]

Exactly. Most of us have been in a position where we're been scared and afraid for our lives during this conflict, and some people are simply hot-headed and need to be taken to task. If any of you are the former, shooting harmful spells within Skyhold's walls will gain us nothing, only set us further back. We're here to help each other, and I can certainly teach any of you the force field spell if you don't know it. It does no harm to the person attacking, merely holds them in place so you can get away.

Another reason us uniting is a good idea. We all come from different backgrounds and we can share so much with each other to stay safe and prove the good we can do here. With a council, there should always be at least one person on it you feel you can turn to for support.

[mythalenaste]

[Pel gives Oran a nod.]

Maybe the Dalish have thought of something to help your dreams. You and I could speak on it.

[el_tybs]

[For a moment it felt like whatever progress they had been making was going to be tossed away, but quick tongues and wits from certain parties calmed the tides again. All the arguments sound valid; everyone has experienced similar and different things.

The man named Oran, his words hit him particular hard though, enough that Sam just allows himself to fade between the voices. That is a legitimate fear, and while the Templars were a way to handle it, it didn't necessarily mean that they needed them in order to govern themselves.

Sighing, Sam just waits for the meeting to die down, listening intently all the same.]

[ungovernable]

( throughout the discussion, benevenuta has been writing - skipping backwards a few times to add names as new faces speak up, pen hovering indecisively as one person speaks or interrupts or says something she doesn't feel needs to be written down; she is listening attentively, perhaps uncomfortably attentively in some moments when her wide eyes fix upon whoever's voice is the loudest with an expression that gives away little of her own opinions, but for the most part, she has said her piece and taken to her task.

still-- )

To defend ourselves without magic is an important skill. Perhaps, if nothing else, we might exhaust our hot-headed young ones with a bit of new physicality.

[liberalum]

I've been putting as many as will drop in through their paces in staves. Nothing formal.

[ Throughout all this talk of what Circles are and should be, Dorian has remained pointedly silent. Tevinter, as usual, does things differently, but the Circle of Magi began in Minrathous, so it is an instinct to correct and be elitist about things he has to stifle. He isn't here to champion a country that is fundamentally broken.

But this is better territory. ]

Dispelling magics should also be technically harmless to drill. As far as rulings and punishments go-- well. I vote naughty mages be fed to Cassandra.

[fleurdesel]

[ That earns a faint snort of laughter, quickly stifled. ]

They attempted to set a cook on fire, yes? Perhaps they ought to clean the hearth in the kitchens and mind it so that she will not be burnt where she works from the place where she would expect it. The brawlers- the training dummies are thrashed to bits quite often. Stuffing, restitching, mending- tedious work that needs doing but not many care to handle.

[deflocked]

[He nods approvingly at that suggestion, relieved to be on a topic where his thoughts don't seem to be unpopular ones.]

Fitting and practical. I like that.