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

[universal_charm]

Kirk had heard of Roxana from time to time over the years, but as with Haphaestion, Kirk didn't press to much on those memories. They always struck him as intensely personal for Iskandar, and when the man was in the mood to share, he happily listened, glad to know that Iskandar had been so loved in a truer way than that of a soldier for their king. He often wished he could meet the two of them, but such was the nature of dreams.

"Then best hurry, the water is beginning to grow tepid," he pouted at his lover, arching his back in a stretch and languidly extending one leg towards the end of the tub, showing off his calves - which were still lovely and lean as ever (if he had to pick a favorite part of his body, it was always his calves).

[conqueredhearts]

"I think you simply find me far warmer." Very likely all things considered but he rinsed his lover over then went to help him out of the water, wrapping him up to dry him off and pulling him into his arms so he could kiss him again. "It truly is good to have you with me again. It always feels so good to have you in my arms like this."

Like he belonged there. Like it was what made this home for them.

[universal_charm]

"Ah, you've found me out," he didn't even try to deny it, laughing lazily as he was directed by Iskandar. The pampering felt nice, especially after so long on the road and the battles. Not having to think, to just enjoy the touch of his lover - it was definitely what he most looked forward to when coming home.

"There is no place I love being more," he happily wrapped himself up in the other's embrace, cuddling against him. He pressed his face hard against the broad chest, breathing him in, refreshing his memory. Even amidst so much hardship, Iskandar was a source of comfort and rest (well, loosely speaking - they were quite an active couple after all).

"You don't have to be anywhere tomorrow, do you?" he asked hopefully.

[conqueredhearts]

"No. I am all yours. We only need to make sure we are at least presentable when the boy shows up." With that he gave him a kiss so he could carry him to bed. They weren't going to be leaving there for awhile and how seemed a great time for another kind of spoiling.