faderift | seeking knowledge [open]

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seeking knowledge [open]

WHO: Sansa Stark
WHAT: Settling in
WHEN: 11 Harvestmere - the end of the month
WHERE: Around Skyhold
NOTES: Feel free to find her around in another place that her log text doesn't mention, just let me know. Some implied mention of abuse/sexual assault in the Tyrion-Sansa thread but nothing explicit.

Sansa has settled into this place, so much as one can settle into a place where she's dropped from the sky. It's not a terrible one, really, and once she'd been brought to the keep called Skyhold, she'd felt a little better about things. She spends quite a lot of time in the keep. There's great libraries full of books and papers and letters and all of them have information about the place she's landed herself in; Sansa spends most of her days educating herself on the place she's wound up and reads for hours and hours until her eyes are tired and the candles have burned low.

The nights are a bit different. She has stuck close to Lord Tyrion since he's the only person she knows from Westeros, and they have found lodging close to one another. It makes her feel a bit safer, all told, and she just wants to keep close to him for the time being. If he minds it, he hasn't said anything to her, and she's happy to go on as they have.

Currently, she's curled up in a chair in one corner of the keep, one of the journals in her hands. She's trying to learn all about the politics of this place but the names and places keep running together and she doesn't know if she'll ever keep them straight. She wants, desperately, to learn them so she feels like she has a purpose but she knows it won't happen in just a few weeks or even a few moons.

"You have to be patient, Sansa," she mutters, diving back into her work.

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Inessa doesn't take very long, as she's memorized where to best find what she needs long ago. Perhaps Dorian or the resident Tranquil researcher know the area better for that, but the Grey Warden mage wouldn't be far behind. Upon returning, she claims the next seat over and rolls out the map.

"The reverse seems curious to me, as well. This is the whole of Thedas, at least what has been explored thus far. Past the Donarks, the Korcari Wilds and the Sea of Ash, I can't say what lies beyond. Here is Ferelden, in the southeast corner. The Frostbacks make up the wester border and we are...here, I think." She points to a spot in the northern portionof the mountain range. "Skyhold's significance is a little too new for this map, I'm afraid, so I can only approximate a guess."

Sansa studies it, tries to make sense of it all. She thinks that Ferelden, then, must be rather like the North if it's in the southeast of this land.

"So does it get cold in Ferelden when the winter comes? Does the snow come thick and deep there? I'm just trying to get the measure of it, is all."

"Oh, it certainly can, especially the further south you go. It's the original reason why First Day, a holiday in our calendar, exists. In remote areas, this was once an annual check to ensure that everyone was alive and well. I never had to deal with many Fereldan winters, however. I was very young when taken to the Circle Tower -formally known as Kinloch Hold- to study magic--" To which she points, right by Lake Calenhad. "--and remained indoors until a few years ago. Thus I was spared the harshness of Fereldan winters, at least until my departure."

"How long do winters last here in Thedas?" Sansa asks. She's never experienced a winter in Westeros, having been too young, and she doesn't know if it will last for years or not. Likely it will, given the years of summer.

"Are they quite lengthy?"

Inessa looks up from the map, curious at that question since she hadn't though to speculate over the length of seasons before. "They can be. It varies, but typically, I would say perhaps five months. Snow will come to the lowlands sometime next month, and begin to melt around Drakonis, the third month of the year. Does that count as 'lengthy', or are you accustomed to longer?"

"Only five moons? Winters in Westeros can last years," Sansa says, a little shocked that a season could pass so quickly in Thedas. It seems it's a very different place from her homeland after all and she has quite a lot to learn.

"Has it always been like that? The seasons, I mean?"

"Years...." Inessa's eyebrows shoot up, stunned at the notion. She snaps out of it long enough to nod, however. "Yes, it has. The four seasons all occur within the span of a year, though the further north one goes, the less winter they experience until there is none at all. Conversely, in the mountains there is always snow.

I have to ask; how do you anticipate such lengthy winters? I imagine a great deal of preparation must take place, more than even what we manage." Garahel stretches and yawns, resting a little against Sansa though trying not to crush her.

"We spend all of the summer preparing for the long winter," Sansa agrees. "We store grain, we do what we can to ensure there will be enough food. In the south, it won't get cold enough to freeze over, so they will be all right. It is only in the north where it is dire that we must prepare."

The words of her house would always ring true: Winter is Coming.

That makes a great deal of sense and Inessa nods, still marveling at the thought of winters that could last so long. Even in Ferelden, that would be a challenge. "It seems much the same as in Thedas, then, only the time scale changes. Soon enough, most of our goods will becoming from what has been placed in storage or from the north." Glancing to the map again, she points north of Ferelden to the area just across from the Waking Sea.

"This area above is known as the Free Marches; it's a collection of city-states which all have their own traditions and methods of governing. They don't have a Marcher identity, as it were, save for invasions or the Grand Tourney. I haven't attended or visited that region beyond Kirkwall, but I've heard it's quite the spectacle."

"Grand Tourney? I haven't been to a tourney since I was a girl," Sansa says, curiosity mildly piqued. She's a different woman now than she'd been then but she still likes the idea of getting to see the joust or the melee. She wonders if tourneys are the same here in Thedas.

"What events are there in tourneys here in Thedas? Joust and archery and melee? That's what I'm used to."

Inessa can't help but smile as she nods, glad to turn the conversation away from more dire topics, at least for the time being. "Indeed, they are celebrations of martial skill, any kind. The victor is awarded a coronet of leaves and a trophy blade known as the Celebrant, which is inscribed with the names of every champion since the first Tourney."

There's a soft laugh after Inessa realizes she was quoting from a book, as she did so many times in the past. "For all that I've never seen it myself, much of my time in the Circle was spent among books. I read all I could, on any subject I could find. Lands beyond Ferelden intrigued me, even though I hadn't thought I would see any of them. The northeast--" She gestures to the portions of the map labeled Antiva and Rivain. "--I have not ventured, but whether through the Grey Wardens or the Inquisition, I can now claim passing familiarity with the other lands."

Sansa looks at the map and tries to familiarize herself with the names. Someday (soon, she hopes), she'll be familiar with them and they'll be common currency just as Highgarden and The Neck and the Twins are to her now.

"Such strange names to me now. One day, perhaps, they'll seem commonplace and my own home will be the one that seems strange. Is it like that for you, being away?"

That gets a sympathetic nod from Inessa. "A little, yes. When I first joined the Grey Wardens, it was at a time when just about everything outside was new and strange. It took some time to adjust, but I managed. I know the learning curve in your case is a bit steeper, but your willingness to change that will get you far."

Distracting Garahel with a treat from her pack, she looks to the map again, this time pointing to the country in the north central area. "Tevinter is...well, it has a contentious history with the rest of Thedas. Once, the Imperium stretched throughout its entirety after the fall of the elves. Now, most of those lands govern themselves while what's left of the Imperium wars with the Qunari in the north and answers to its own Divine. It alone is where mages truly rule, though it is not necessarily a safe haven as you might think. Corruption is rampant, and slavery is still entrenched, where it has been ended everywhere else." At least in name, though that's for another time. "Much of the Chantry's issues with mages and magic stem from the actions of magisters in ancient Tevinter. If Chantry lore is right -and I can't say for certain- then seven magisters caused the First Blight, which nearly destroyed Thedas. That and resentment about the Imperium's occupations of other lands has hardly helped."

"Slavery? How dare someone think to use another living creature as a slave," Sansa says, making a foul face at the very thought of it.

"What gives them the right? What makes them think it's all right to do such a thing?"

Inessa nods grimly, likewise disgusted though not surprised. Having grown up in Thedas, she's heard tales of Tevinter all her life, and recently seen the truth in some of them for herself.

"They would say it's always been that way and a dozen other justifications for it, when they bother to justify it at all. The first Exalted March was against Tevinter, the prophet Andraste allying with the former elven slave Shartan so that he could lead his people to freedom. He succeeded, but that only broke the hold Tevinter had over other lands, not their own."

"Well, it's an evil practice, I think, to imprison someone against their own free will," Sansa says. "For a crime, yes, but not simply to...use them."

She's had enough of that in her own short life and she's not like to take sides with anyone who does it in another world.

"I agree wholeheartedly, particularly since it's not uncommon to use slaves for blood magic rites. That is but one reason blood magic is detested, but in my opinion, a rather potent one." Inessa sighs and moves her finger away from that portion of the map. "This isn't to say that all of Tevinter is irredeemable, but it's glaring issues are often used as the reason for the way the Chantry has shaped southern Thedas. They will do anything not to create another Tevinter, even when rushing to the other extreme."

"Blood magic," Sansa says, letting the words fall off her lips. "I read about that, I think, but I didn't quite understand it all. It means sacrificing a life for magic, doesn't it? Possibly? I'm no mage."

That much, at least, is perfectly obvious.

"Blood can be given voluntarily, or in amounts not to endanger someone's life...but the more used, the more power available. So you can see how it can corrupt, how easy it could be to head down that slippery slope if you had thirst for power that overrode your morals. Lyrium can fuel such spells as well, which rather negates that necessity. And yet, such rituals persist. Blood magic is also feared because it can be used to control minds, making people slaves in another sense. I've never seen any good come out of blood magic or a reason to recommend it."

Inessa's lips form a thin line, her darkened eyes and tone indication enough of the exposure she's had to it. Even though the Grey Wardens tend to do whatever it takes to win a Blight, she's never going to feel comfortable with those who would support its use.

"I am glad that it is banned, then," Sansa says, shuddering a bit at the thought of it. Who could do such a thing to another person against their will? She asks this, of course, knowing full well just what one person can do to another.

"So, when one has the propensity to do magic...that happens at birth, doesn't it? It's not learned later?"

"The gift of magic is an inborn trait, yes, though it tends not to surface until around puberty for most. I was a bit different there, as I was four years old when I came into my magic. What one learns later is how to refine that gift, channel it towards different effects, according to the various schools of magic that exist. Primal, for the elements used in various battle magic, Creation for healing and the like, and so on. Many have an affinity for one type of magic, though that doesn't stop them from learning others."

"I wish I had something like that. I haven't ever been able to fight," Sansa says, giving Inessa a rueful little smile. It might have been useful if she had, in some ways.

"Only with words, see, and listening and politics. Never with magic or with my fists or weapons."

"Much can be done with words, listening and politics. I would suggest a meeting with Ambassador Montilyet, who always seems to be in need of people with such talents. And magic...does not solve everything. In fact, it can sometimes create issues instead." Inessa smiles wryly, stroking Garahel.

"Mages are a beacon to demons, who crave our power and our presence on the other side of the Veil. They always seek to tempt us, and though Circle mages are trained to resist them, all it takes is one moment of weakness. When that happens, when a demon possesses a mage, they become an abomination and lose their sense of self, lashing out at all. Villages have fallen to just one of these creatures. I have seen them personally, and it's a horror I would wish on no one."

She sighs, tucking back a stray strand of hair. "This isn't to say that the response to mages is often disproportionate to the threat. Stories abound in Skyhold, you have only to ask the rebel mages of what they have endured. But I think it fair to say that magic is dangerous just as fire is dangerous. Anyone who forgets that truth gets burned. Mages need education, to learn to control their gift and resist what is drawn to us, though I hesitate to say that all should return to what it once was. The Circles as they were before the war with the Templars failed many. Not myself, but I cannot ignore their perspective and only favor my own."

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seeking knowledge [open]

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