The Annulment at Dairsmuid

[foxsays]

WHO: Araceli Bonaventura, Korrin Ataash, Malcolm Reynolds, The Outsider, Aleron Darton, Kas, Anders, Malcolm Reed, James Norrington, Ellana Ashara, James Kirk; Rivaini npcs
WHAT: The Annulment at Dairsmuid; arriving at Rivain to meet with Araceli and her mage contacts that requested aid from Templars hunting them down. When Araceli goes to bring the group to her contacts, they're informed that the Templars have abducted the mages forcing the team to return to the Circle at Dairsmuid to rescue them and kill the Templars responsible
WHEN: 15th-20th Solace
WHERE: Rivain; Dairsmuid
NOTES: OOC posts here and here, sending crystal announcement; violence, discussions of annulment, probably going to need warnings for language; I'll edit as I go, if people can bring things to my attention, I would appreciate it
Starters will all be below, subjects in headers

We of the Dairsmuid Circle wait now, behind barricades. I have sent word to our brother and sister mages of this outrage. When they break through, we will not die alone.

—Final journal entry of First Enchanter Rivella, slain in Dairsmuid, 9:40 Dragon

Contents;
Arrival at Dairsmuid
Meeting the Mage Contacts
Team Dungeon Crashers
Team Templar Crushers
Aftermath of the Rescue
Timestamp; Dairsmuid Adventures
Epilogue

Comments

[justice_is_blond]

Vivienne trades others for her comfort. But Anders does not want an argument. He wants a discussion, which means he won't say what he thinks of her.

"Look to the Dalish. Who have mages with power and authority, involved in day to day affairs, training, living, and not overrunning their people with abominations. They treat their mages like everyone else, and so their mages act like everyone else. You want to talk about people who want whatever they can take?" He nods his head back in the direction that they came from. "Those Templars. The templars of Kirkwall, many Templars in Kinloch Hold. They didn't need magic. Simply authority given them to do as they pleased, because of that fear of mages."

Anders crosses his arms. "What mage has set fire to a child for stealing something? You put up a flimsy example because you're afraid. And it's all right to be afraid. But strength is found in overcoming that fear and working to find a better solution, rather than holding down an entire people group, Norrington. Every person I've known, except for one, who has gone abomination has done it out of fear, out of being backed into a corner, out of running out of options simply because they're a mage and people are trying to take them into custody or kill them. I've known one mage who wanted power, and... yes. He was twisted and evil. But the mages around him would have turned him in if not for the risk of being implicated and punished as well. That's how Uldred got to the position he was in - fear of the rest of us being hurt, accused of blood magic, beaten, thrown into solitary confinement, executed."

Another shake of his head. "If you believe in the Maker, then how can you believe magic can be put into the wrong hands? Laws against murder, against destruction of property, against all of the regular things, would suffice," a beat, a very wry twist of his voice, "most of the time."

For everything else, there's the Grey Wardens and Hawke.

"If they want to be kings or queens, what if that's the Maker's will? What if someone with a good, fair mind and a grasp of politics was born with magic? Why is that wrong? There are plenty of people who haven't had magic who have made awful rulers. There are plenty without magic who have seized thrones by cruel or unlawful means. Mages are people, which means there are the good as well as the bad. You cannot lock all weapons away from people who would harm with them, because there are also those who would do good and weapons are needed. Just the same, you should not lock away all mages because there are a few who are bad people, because imagine how much good we can do simply existing in the world. Again, look at Skyhold. Look at the health of the general population, the state of our soldiers, the way lives are improving."

"Take your fear. Apply compassion to it. Be done with cages and with Tranquility, and treat us as people as Skyhold does, and the world will change for the better."

[judgemewhole]

"I admire the Dalish a great deal, especially with how they deal with their mages without needing a templar." He arched an eyebrow, "But you know that they only keep so many mages in a clan, yes? That some mages are left out on in their own in the woods -- and those are usually children. I sincerely doubt you want us to leave a mage child out at the crossroads if there are already two mages in his village."

A deep sigh, "What those templars did was wrong - how they twisted our purpose to their own fears was wrong - I cannot and will not deny it. But I cannot say I do not think we have a purpose. If not your prison guards, then as warriors of the Maker who can take care of demons and abominations, and blood mages."

Another moment, before he looked up at Anders, "I am afraid. I have been afraid of mages since I was ten years old. That I have come this far should tell you something of the mages I have known, that I consider friends ... even brothers. Now I do not fear the individual, but yes, I have my fear still too. I ... cannot tell you I will ever let that go. But I will tell you this - for the one mage that you have known? I have known dozens, a hundred or more who were that corrupt, that evil. Are they rare? Yes. In the end mages are just human, and they want human things. To be loved, to be safe, to have food and shelter and a place in the world. I would give them that. But I would also ask them because they are special, to understand special circumstances."

He gives Anders a dry look, arching an eyebrow, before he states calmly, "Do you know there are no laws against blood magic? It is considered against Chantry law, true, but not everyone follows the Chantry. There is not a single country in all of Thedas that has a law against blood magic - it was assumed because the Circles would stand forever that we would never need one. But here we are - the mages have their freedom and they want to live amongst everyone else -- and there's no .... safety net. There's no order to it, and yes, Anders ... people are scared."

He shrugs his shoulders, "If they are born to be kings and queens, so be it. Blood made them noble and magical, so let them rule. But are you to protect the mages who would take a throne just like a bandit - or worst, like Loghain? And let's just flip that around - what if a mage does have the blood -- but now there are no laws in place to guarantee a mage that right? Just because he is a mage. What if some despot takes it into his head to use mages as weapons with a threat against their families? That was the purpose of Templars as well, Anders. The templars of Ostwick, of Tantervale, of so many other places - to protect mages not from themselves, but from people who could easily use them."

Now he is the one who is looking plaintively at Anders, "If you want mages to be safe, if you want them to live free, if you want to govern yourselves -- then it is you all who must decide how magic will be practiced. What the laws of magic will be. Before every scared peasant with a pitchfork and a copy of the Chant of Light comes to knock down some poor mage bastard's house. Freedom costs something, Anders, and that cost is laws to protect those who cannot protect themselves. The Free Marches is a patchwork of such agreements."

[justice_is_blond]

"And do you know why many clans kick out extra mages? So the Templars don't come after everyone. They live in fear because of you. And I hope you've considered the fact that the Circles use blood magic in your laws against it, speaking of fears due to Templars."

His look is equally as dry. "Phylacteries are, and always have been, blood magic. Templars were allowed to use it against mages, but Maker forbid a mage consider it. Don't get me wrong." He holds up a hand for a moment, in an attempt to forestall any lecture on blood magic he doesn't need to hear because he agrees with it. "I am against blood magic. I find its very usage troubling. But for the Templars to seek to forbid it completely is hypocritical in the extreme."

Even more hypocritical when he's fairly certain most know what Merrill is but don't care because she's Merrill.

"If you want Templars to continue to exist, then exist as this separate protection force. Serve in the Chantries, be called out for issues with law breaking done by mages or against mages. You'll still have jobs and your Order, you can still protect. And mages will still have freedom. Let them follow the laws of the land, and you hold everyone to it. Including if they try to steal a throne, or someone tries to steal it from them. If a law against blood magic comes to be, then you enforce that. If it does not, then you do not. But Templars should not have say in the laws governing mages when they've used so much against us, including blood magic."

"The laws and the Templars will protect those who cannot protect themselves. The Templars will not be jailers or slavers, they can simply be a Chantry force meant to serve all. The cost of freedom will be that the Templars will have authority in a trial, will have authority when it comes to breaking apart conflicts or hunting down criminals... but they will be actual criminals, and not simply people who have harmed no one who want a life of their own."

There's an earnestness in his voice, a hope that maybe Norrington hears what's being said and can agree. Blood magic is divisive, but what about the mages that don't use the blood of others? There's no denying that there's power in blood, and if the careful mages teach other mages, then there doesn't have to be a demon involved. Does that mitigate the issues? He doesn't know. He can't say.

[judgemewhole]

"Where they are taken in, fed, clothed, and educated." He sighed, before he rubbed his hands over his face, "You realize we are simply discussing the same crucial difference that we have been arguing ourselves for months and to Thedas for years. Mages are human, templars are human. None of us are perfect and none of us are all good or all evil. We live in fear of one another because of what the other side can do. That doesn't give the Templars the right to abuse the mages, and that does not give the mages to use their magic not to protect themselves but to kill. To murder."

He shook his head a little, "I am not speaking of that kind of blood magic - although I will not argue the irony. The Dalish are, again, a perfect example of how blood magic can be used safely and responsibly, and the Templars, the Chantry, and the Circle are not. But the kind of blood magic like I have seen done in that small village in Orlais? That we saw coming from the Venatori? The kind that killed my family - " He cut himself off, "That's dangerous, Anders. Mind control, calling demons, creating flesh golems ...if you don't want us having a say in your laws, fine, but we need to have at least one. One that states blood magic to be used against other people is wrong, and will not be tolerated. If you don't want us non-magical folk making them, then you have to start making them yourselves, and soon. While the Inquisition still has influence."

He stopped, before he looked almost wistful. "... That is what I hoped the Templars could become. What I hoped mages would agree to. In time. Justice, not ... not this filthy mess we have to clean up after our brothers and sisters in the cloth. Something clean, and good, and right. Something where none of us are fettered to the past."

[justice_is_blond]

"For as long as our generation lives, there will be fetters to the past. Anchors and chains and scars, literal and figurative." There's regret in his voice now. "For every Vivienne who wishes to return to her cage because comforts were given there as well as pretenses of power, there are five who have nearly been broken, who hurt and don't know how to go on, and there is one me."

Anders looks up. "There is one who has crossed lines that are impossible to uncross, that there is no atonement for, because they lost all hope, lost all... everything. There are scars from this on mages and others alike, and there will be for another fifty years. But perhaps, perhaps after that..."

He exhales. "I believe all can agree that blood magic used against others is wrong, and blood magic that uses the blood of others is also wrong. I cannot see anyone I know disagreeing." Though he can't say that he saw this, either, talking with Norrington, discussing the future. All he'd thought would come from this was, at best, an agreement that denying what had gone wrong within the Templar order would be harmful for everyone. This is a surprise, and a welcome one.

"And if a new path can be set, the Templar order serving all rather than ruling over mages, hurtful blood magic outlawed, and the chains broken, we could find a future for the next generations that is not filled with pain and fear."

[judgemewhole]

"Then I suppose we can hope our grandchildren can live without fear, because we certainly won't." He gave Anders a long look, "Yet those one in five have the right to live like that if they want to, Anders. The freedom is the right to choose what they want, not what you want for them."

He paused, and then added quietly, "It's the right of the one tho look for atonement again. You can always seek forgiveness, if you really want it."

"I can." His voice is quiet, "I've seen it, far too many times. We have good people in the Inquisition, but there are plenty of blood mages out there. That is why I want the law." He held up his hand, "Just because I want it, doesn't mean you have to do it. I merely offer wisdom from experience."

A soft snort, "... I just have no idea how we get there."

[justice_is_blond]

He's quiet for a very long few moments before exhaling, and now there's sadness in his voice. "If anyone chooses a cage for themselves, they can have it. All I ask is that they not try to drag others with them. I fear she will. That's her powerbase, mages under her. And with so many afraid to hope for fear of it being taken from them again... They're vulnerable. They've lost everything before."

There's a lot his terrified of. Vivienne's angle is one of them, snatching mages' hopes away before they can even start to dream.

"And I fear you're wrong. I see it in the eyes even of those who are willing to work with me. There will not be forgiveness, and I've no right to seek it. I'll do as I can for what time I have left, but there will be nothing gained by it on my account." There are some things he must cling to for his own sanity's sake, that more were saved that night than died, that he helped free mages by it, but he cannot say it was the right thing to do. With Justice gone he has lost his certainty.

"I'll work on the future. I need to. I'll encourage mages, help them figure out how to stand on their own, what it means to be free, and I honestly believe that will cut down on the number of blood mages dramatically. I do believe that you've seen many who attacked. But I wonder how many of those acted out of fear and desperation, because of the armor you wore, rather than out of a desire for power or harm. When there are options rather than corners and cages, blood magic is no longer a last hope. The risk of using it becomes greater than the risk without it."

[judgemewhole]

Listen Anders, he'll take as much guff as you can give him, but you don't speak that way about Vivienne. "There is half as many who never wanted to leave the Circles to begin with. Vivienne is just letting them know that they can have the safety of the Circles, the protection of the Templars -- but without being trapped. We can all learn from our mistakes, and we can also choose the life we want to live and not have it ... thrust upon us."

He shook his head, "You weren't in the Ostwick Circle. We co-existed peacefully. Our mages were never mistreated, never harmed. We followed the lead of the First Enchanter on which mages should be watched more carefully, and she taught us - me - that we need not resort to violence when words would work twice as well. She was ... murdered by one of her own students. Her throat was slit right before my eyes. That woman will never find forgiveness in the eyes of the Maker, because she will never regret what she did for 'freedom'. You are at least trying to make up for your crimes and perhaps you won't find ready forgiveness here but ... in the Maker's eyes, in Andraste's eyes, you've already been forgiven."

He sighed softly, folding his hands together. "I shall as well. I will be bringing children into this world and I ... I do not want them to live in the same fear as I did growing up. I want them to treat mages and templars with equal due respect."