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

[justice_is_blond]

Anders stills at the touch. No matter how far he gets from his year of solitary, simple physical contact still means the world to him.

"They can use any help you'll give," he says after taking the moment to let the touch simply be. "I can use it too. They've little left save their pride, and some of them have lost even that, but they deserve it with how hard they work to stay alive. Patchwork, warmth, a dog nuzzling them or a cat headbutting them, it all makes a difference. But through it all, they deserve and need respect. They need to be seen as people, because so many treat them like they're not."

[circleprodigy]

That advice is met with a nod and a melancholy smile. "I know. I was quite little when my own situation was similar, but I remember enough to empathize." Her thoughts don't stray to Kinloch Hold; for all that they shared a Circle tower, her own experience was quite different. When she thinks of deprivation and a lack of respect, the Denerim alienage comes to mind. Her tone is matter-of-fact, though, not interested in pity but merely relaying the truth. It was what it was, and her life has improved markedly since then.

She smiles as Garahel heads over at mention of dog nuzzles, of course interested in seeing who wants some. "Garahel would be pleased to accompany, of course. He loves the attention and knows to be gentle when it's needed." And then he would get to see Purrelden even more than he does already, yay.

[justice_is_blond]

There are so many places where people are downtrodden and treated as lesser. At times, it seems like it's a key part of how people are, and it's discouraging. Why can't everyone be uplifted? Why do some groups have to be isolated and looked down on? It just doesn't make sense. Maybe the future can be better.

At least there are fuzzy distractions here, Purrelden trotting over at Garahel's heels and trying to get his tail that's a bit too far up for her.

"I'd appreciate that, though I certainly don't need dog attention right now, thank you, sir." He's all right with dogs, even fond of Lady, but Anders will never truly be a fan of them in general. "You should lick Inessa. She'd probably enjoy that."

[circleprodigy]

"But of course. I could never resist him." Inessa's too Fereldan to understand why anyone wouldn't like dogs, and mabari in particular. Anders' attitude will never not be a source of confusion, but that said she respects boundaries. Gesturing for Garahel to focus on her, she accepts his nuzzling and responds with some attention before gesturing to him to lay down. He won't just yet, though, noting Purrelden's efforts and wagging that tail just to be a tease.

"Move to the side, you two. Your mischief is not to disrupt our own efforts."