OPEN LOG: Establishing a Base in Kirkwall

[faderifting]

WHO: Many People
WHAT: Cleaning up Kirkwall
WHEN: Cloudreach 1-21
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: This log post is for characters who go early to Kirkwall to assist in preparing it for the rest of those assigned there. We strongly encourage IC discussion of things left to character discretion—someone should definitely do a crystal post to discuss what to do with the personal belongings left behind in the Gallows or what new form the statues should take!

Kirkwall once lived on the edge of the Tevinter Imperium and was home to nearly a million slaves. Stolen from elven lands or shipped from across the sea, all slaves fed the Imperium's unquenchable thirst for expansion. They worked in massive quarries and sweltering foundries that produced stone and steel for the Empire.

The city's complicated past is not easy to forget, history having earmarked many corners of the stone city. A ship approaching the harbor spots the city's namesake: an imposing black wall. It is visible for miles, and carved into the cliff side are a pantheon of vile guardians representing the Old Gods. Over the years, the Chantry has effaced many of these profane sentinels, but it will take many more years to erase them all.

Also carved into the cliff is a channel that permits ships into the city's interior. Flanking the channel are two massive bronze statues—the Twins of Kirkwall. The statues have a practical use. Kirkwall sits next to the narrowest point of the Waking Sea, and a massive chain net can be erected between the statues and the lighthouse, closing off the only narrow navigable lane. This stranglehold on sea traffic is jealously guarded by the ever-changing rulers of the city as the net trolls taxes, tolls, and extortions in from the sea.

—From In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of a Chantry Scholar, by Brother Genitivi

---

Establishing a presence in Kirkwall is a delicate matter. First, there's Provisional Viscount Bran Cavin—a man so used to batting back friendly offers of entirely harmless occupation of the battered city-state that his first three responses to the Inquisition's leadership appeared to be slightly personalized form letters. Proving that the Inquisition is here to work and not to conquer will be a process. The first step in that process is the second reason the move is delicate: the only building the Provisional Viscount is willing to part with is the Gallows, left quarantined and unoccupied since Knight-Commander Meredith Stannard's famous crystallization into red lyrium in the courtyard. The Gallows have since overgrown with red lyrium. If anyone is going to live and work there, there's a lot of work to do.

↠ Cloudreach 1-3: The Journey There
↠ Cloudreach 3-4: Arrival
↠ Cloudreach 4-14: Haunted
↠ Cloudreach 14-21: Spring Cleaning

Comments

[circleprodigy]

Garahel perks up and barks, a 'yes' if there ever was one. "He can certainly take notice when a vase moves on its own, of course. Aside from that, I think his heightened senses are of some aid there. That and he's spent most of his life with me, a mage, so he's accustomed to the places where the Veil is thin." Not usually this thin, though.

[poleaxe]

Oh, a mage. Ioane should have guessed, really-- the lady is holding a big staff-- but mages walking out and about in the open are still a novelty for her. It just hadn't registered.

More fool her.

She straightens up a little. "So you'll protect us all if demons pop out, right?" She's mostly joking, trying to be sly, trying to cover for how out of her depth she feels. A Grey Warden mage, talking to her...

[circleprodigy]

"I'm more adept at fighting darkspawn, but I think I can manage demons, depending on the strength and type." Inessa responds with a smile, her tone light though she's also entirely serious. "If you see or hear anything worse than floating food, please let me know. If we can pinpoint the strongest manifestations, that's a step in the right direction."

[poleaxe]

Ioane lets out a little nervous laugh. "You'll probably hear me screaming bloody murder, don't worry."

But that begs a new question-- with some hesitation (a notable thing for her), she asks, "what kind of demons are too strong for you?" For a Grey Warden?

[circleprodigy]

Inessa pauses, wondering how much she should reveal that won't make sense to (and not terrify) a non-mage. That isn't a balance she's excessively skilled at, but. "In direct confrontation? Probably a Pride demon, as they're among the strongest. That...would be a task for many, not just one; the Gallows seems more likely to attract demons of different vices, though." Despair and Fear come to mind, probably Rage as well. "With continued attention, the area might be sufficiently healed in time. I would like to think so." But she's not going to make promises she can't keep.

[poleaxe]

Ioane knows little of demons and the Fade; her first thought isn't fear as much as morbid curiosity. Pride demons, got it. She'll remember that.

"How'll I know a Pride demon from another kind? I heard they don't give out introductions much."

[circleprodigy]

"No, not usually." To mages, yes, but that's a different story and Ioane needn't worry about that. "They are far from subtle, though. Pride demons are quite large and rather spiky, in their true form, and have a guttural laugh. They also have an affinity for lightning, used in their attacks." Garahel grumbles a bit, having seen those demons and really not liking how hard they strike.