{ CLOSED } To Red Lyrium project team

[aceso]

WHO: Red Lyrium Project team
WHAT: Christine has an announcement to make.
WHEN: As soon as everyone returns from the Sunless Lands.
WHERE: Christine's office, 7th floor of the central tower in the Gallows
NOTES: Sorry for the delay on this.

The wind and sleet beat against the tiny window of Christine's office, causing an ominous howling sound that doesn't set a pleasant mood. However, since Christine has gathered the whole group together, it's clear this isn't a meeting meant for pleasantries anyway. There aren't enough seats in the office for all those assemblied, so she'll keep things brief for the sake of their feet.

"Thank you for coming. I felt it important to have a discussion about some recently discovered things. Firstly, through use of her microscope, Cosima believes that lyrium is not a mineral after all. It behaves like a thing that is alive. Additional tests show that with different stimuli, it continues to respond the same way. Lyrium is a living thing."

She pauses to let that sink in. This changes so much about what they know of the world, that everyone needs time to process it all. And even if they don't care or have a vested interest, surely they must all be thinking along the same lines: If lyrium is alive, then what is infecting it to make it red?


[ ooc: one thread please. tag as often as you want to keep things rolling until we reach a good stopping point. christine has an additional report to bring up, and there should be discussion of darkspawn, the blight, and gathering samples before the thread is done. ]

Comments

[circleprodigy]

Inessa remains standing, gesturing for others to take a seat. She's been seated in her own office before the meeting was called, so remaining on her feet is preferable for now. Garahel is stretched out on the floor, drowsily watching as he's been told to keep quiet and keep playtime for later. Listening intently to Christine, the slight elven woman is silent for a moment after that proclamation, unable to deny the truth before them even as it leaves uncertain what to do with it.

"Lyrium as living matter...now that it's said aloud, hindsight has me wondering why I never considered it before." She then raises an eyebrow, naturally turning her thoughts to their shared project. "And the red lyrium; how differently did it respond?"

[unshadowing]

Carver's expression remains unmoved from his perch against the back wall, even though his mind's reeling. Templars drink that stuff. Mages use it to enhance their magic. Dwarves and Tranquil use it for runes and enchanting. Round and round Thedas this stuff goes. And it's alive. To call it horrifying hardly scratches the surface.

But he says nothing, for now. He decides to keep quiet and listen. Let the scholars suss it out more.

[limier]

They drink it indeed.

A thin line stretches where her expression might otherwise sit — and that’s not so unusual. Wren has never been known for her effusive good humour. She's certainly not about to be lauded of it now.

She waits for a gap in the questioning to ask:

"Is it altered when worked? Into runes, or similar material?"

Into flesh.

[youwonscience]

Cosima's seated, with a few notes in front of her -- her kingdom for an iPad, honestly -- but she shakes her head a little at the first few questions. "We're working on designing and carrying out experiments on the red lyrium now, but we don't have much conclusive yet. I think," she glances at Christine, "part of our hope with this meeting is to broaden the pool of what we think the most promising avenues for research are. The thing I can tell you for sure is that whatever's making it red doesn't kill it. I mean, I'd have been surprised, considering, but it still reacts to stimuli. It's just slow going with the equipment we have on hand."

A pause, then: "I also do have to point out that I'm working on my world's definition of 'alive,' which is kind of fuzzy at the edges to begin with; it's possible it's got its own class of properties. But I'm comfortable saying it's more alive than not, at this point."

[aceso]

"Yes," Christine adds after Cosima. "Obviously lyrium is not some intelligent being, but is a very basic form of life. Less than a plant." If only Thedas had extensive germ theory and wasn't still stuck on balancing the humors, Christine might be able to explain this better. Or even understand it better. As it is, she's doing what she can, but it's been a crash course in Earth science that she never expected.

"But I did not just call you in here for this. We have been trying for ages to figure out what red lyrium is in the hopes we can stop its spread or reverse the process. Having Samson's armor led to our major breakthrough of cleansing runes, but there is more we can do. We can figure out what affects this living thing to change it in this manner."

There's a brief pause before she turns to pick a report up off her desk. Though her eyes gaze over the words, she already has the contents memorized from multiple readings. She's merely collecting her thoughts for a moment. "This is a copy of a report given to the Scoutmaster and forwarded to me. It details a scouting party coming across a darkspawn camp destroyed by dwarves. They had burned the bodies long ago, but one thing remained among the ash and bone. Red lyrium, attached to the remaining darkspawn bones."

The report is held out for any who wish to read it for themselves.

"This... obviously brought a few theories to my mind, but I would like to hear from the Grey Wardens among us. I would imagine if you had heard of red lyrium-infected darkspawn before, you would have brought it to my attention. As you have not, I would like your opinions now on what this might mean."

[byblow]

"Wellllll," Alistair says. It's not a good kind of well. "There were some weird ones before, in the Anderfels, but that was, um."

Nebulous. One small strange thing in a long series of strange things, a very long time ago, back when informants were exploding in Hossberg and small Ander princes were being kidnapped. Reported to someone, somewhere, probably?

But Wardens are tight-lipped. Everyone knows how that is. Or if they don't, then they get to find out, right now, because he stops that sentence entirely and begins a new one.

"They've been trying to grow the stuff in everything. The ground, giants, kidnapped villagers..." That's not helpful. "But it only takes in Templars, doesn't it, because they're already half lyrium. I don't think darkspawn are." Probably. Store that under alarming thoughts for later. "We might learn more from a living one."

[circleprodigy]

Inessa recoils and grimaces at the thought of red lyrium-darkspawn, and it prompts a whine from Garahel. Glancing over to Alistair as he mentions the Anderfels, she remains silent on that matter. It's probably not relevant, anyway.

"...no, I cannot say I have seen infected darkspawn. Maker willing, the taint they already carry won't allow for it." But add that to the list of things that will keep her up at night. "I agree, a living one might be our best chance for a breakthrough."

[unshadowing]

Somehow, things always manage to exceed Carver's worst expectations. He looks over the report, just as disturbed as his other fellow Wardens. This doesn't bode well for anyone.

"I haven't either." Though it makes him wonder... "What are those ones called... emissaries? The magic ones? Could they have gotten their hands on it?" They're not using the lyrium to enhance magic suppressing abilities, at any rate.

Or at least he certainly hopes not.

[aceso]

"But would the Red Templars be trying to infect darkspawn? I would think they would be too unpredictable and hard to control. They have their own agenda, yes? To spread the Blight." Gesturing to the report, she adds, "There was no mention of red lyrium being sown in the ground or rocks. It was only present on the bones. And I have seen such before -- long ago. When we were stationed in the Fallow Mire, a group of us performed an autopsy on a body we pulled up from the water. It also had red lyrium growing on its bones, though there was none growing nearby from the ground. Not like in Emprise du Lion." Her lips press together in a firm line for a moment. "Is it possibly those bones were of emissaries consuming lyrium to perform magic?"

And if so, how did it go from blue to red? This seems like it could be an isolated incident, but what if it's a sign of things to come? Maker willing, the taint they already carry won't allow for it. But that isn't so. The red lyrium was there on those tainted bones, growing.

"It is possible," she begins slowly, trying to find the best way to say this, "That whatever red lyrium is has a resistance to the Blight. If so, it would serve your Order well to help us discover what that is. But... I cannot see how something as dangerous as red lyrium can be helpful in beating back the Blight. Red lyrium corrupts peoples' bodies and minds. It destroys them. It-- It is like the Blight in that way."

[youwonscience]

"Is it possible, and not so dangerous it's out of the question that way, to get something while the red lyrium is growing in it? Not a person, obviously, but like the ground or a rock or something. If it can grow in both organic and inorganic, um, living and nonliving things, I'd be interested to see if we can figure out how it's replicating itself."

Cosima's suggestion is uncharacteristically tentative, not because she's unsure it's worth making, but because even after a few years in Thedas, there's a lot of context she doesn't have. She knows less about darkspawn and the Blight than even most non-Wardens, for all she's been told the basics. If it's not possible, she'll take the word of people who know more about it.

[circleprodigy]

"Emissaries with red lyrium...now there's a nightmare." Inessa's lips form a thin line, trying to focus past her revulsion. "Darkspawn may be impossible to control, but if their goal is to spread chaos...it would be rather effective, nonetheless. It's...a possibility I suppose we can't quite dismiss, unfortunately." Not yet, anyway.

Pausing, she glances to Cosima. A curious though wary expression forms, and she glances over to Alistair to see what he thinks. "There might be some merit in that, should it be pursued with all due precaution. But I can't imagine anyone among use being casual about such matters." They've all see the threat that red lyrium poses, and they know to take it very seriously.