faderift | player plot: we'll put on a show (part 1?)

WHO: Everyone (EVERYONE)
WHAT: interviews for the dramatic rendition of Riftwatch’s glorious tale
WHEN: late Wintermarch/early Guardian
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: A follow-up to this post. (big ups to Cass & Lana for helping me come up with questions)

On one auspicious day, in the very early morning, the first ferry brings to Riftwatch four tablet-and-charcoal bearing scribes in the unmistakably gaudy finery marking them as employees of Val Royeaux’s foremost playwright, André L’Euilled Ouebbre. They set about their task at once, leaving no stone unturned and no member of Riftwatch un-interviewed, even if this means following them into the baths, standing outside the lavatory, shouting at an office door, or trotting up many flights of stairs.

They can, of course, be forcibly removed under the right circumstances, but the repercussions of doing this may be undesirable. Who can say.

[While filling out the following questionnaire, please place an asterisk beside any answers on which you would like to elaborate further, in which case you will be assigned a scribe to tag out the resulting conversation.

In the subject line, you can either select one of the following or say ‘random’ to be assigned someone via RNG:

Jean Evain, a middle-aged Orlesian who carries snacks with him to entice his subjects to stop and chat longer; however, they will find that these snacks are way too spicy,

Eileen Marrow, a serious and hard-boiled war reporter who seems rather incongruously matched with this set, but is nonetheless here to get the facts at any cost,

Thibault Gérin, a straight-faced young fellow who takes copious notes in magnificent penmanship, who listens with rapt intent but somehow seems incapable of taking away the correct message,

and

Louis Boucher, a fast-talking and bright-eyed man with an avid interest in his subjects and a talent for twisting their words into whatever he finds more interesting in the moment.

All data will be taken into account, and there will be a follow-up post/announcement/plot sometime in the future after the play is written and the PR reckoning is at hand.

And now, without further ado, the questionnaire (please answer as though your character is being interviewed in person):

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ I asterisked so many and do not expect to cover them all. So clerk's choice.

Also, interview done entirely in Orlesian. ]

1. How long have you been with Riftwatch?

Since before the beginning. This was an Inquisition outpost when I arrived. Riftwatch sounds so much friendlier, doesn't it? Not that the Inquisition is not friendly. Please do not tell anyone at the Inquisition that I said they are not friendly.

2. What is the most dramatic thing that has ever happened to Riftwatch?

Oh, let me think. Nearly the entire company was lost in a forest once. That was dramatic. And mysterious, because I cannot tell you how we came to be there, unless you want the Scoutmaster to crash through the window this very moment to kill me in front of you. But there we were, however we got there, trapped, and we did not even know what forest we were in. It took nearly a month for us to figure it out and come back, and in the meantime we saw all kinds of interesting animals and nearly died in quicksand and that sort of thing. It was the worst I have ever smelled in my life.

3. What is Riftwatch's greatest triumph?

Not going mad?

No, hm. It might not translate well into dramatics, but I think existing at all is a triumph. There were times it would have seemed impossible. When the rifters first arrived they were considered demons, do you remember that? And now that idea is absurd, and they help to lead us, and sometimes they marry us, and they contribute all kinds of amazing ideas. Even the rest of us were not very fully welcome in Kirkwall when we first came here. Mages and foreigners. But now Kirkwall likes us just fine.

4. What should be the play’s genre?

Drama. Some light moments, of course, but we are at war, and even those of us who are incredibly funny — not me, other people — they take that seriously at the end of the day.

5. If you had to pick a protagonist, or main character, from Riftwatch’s ranks, who would it be? (You can nominate yourself, or someone who isn’t here anymore.) Why?

* See, that is hard. If you want to tell the story of how we become accepted and able to do our work, you might want to choose someone who that seemed most impossible for. One of the rifters? Madame Wysteria de Foncé, she is not so hard to understand as some of the other rifters we have had, and she has been here a long time and seen a lot. Married an Orlesian. She is making Thedas a home. Framing it as the story of how she arrives in this unfamiliar place and comes to love it and treat it as her own, I think that would be compelling, and you could have a lot of fun teasing Thedas for its own eccentricities in the meantime. You judge people for their ears? and so on. But if you want a different kind of story you will need a different kind of protagonist.

6. Who is the villain?

* Same problem. There is Corypheus, of course. But that story doesn't have an ending yet. And there is no single person who has been to blame for the skepticism about what we can do or anything like that. You might have to invent someone. A composite.

— although there was a man who infiltrated us and tried to kill us all at once with fire and poison and — I do not know how to fit him into a larger theme, exactly, but that did happen.

7. How about comic relief?

* Have you spoken to a single person among us who isn't funny? And don't say me. That's so cruel.

8. Any other notable characters among the people you know or have known?

* Ha. Name a person, and I will tell you why they are notable. That will be faster.

9. Have there been any great romances in Riftwatch?

* Absolutely. The ones best for the stage, I think — there is Madame de Foncé and her marriage, of course, if you take my advice about centering her. And then the Scoutmaster and Commander Flint? They are quiet about it, but you have two enigmatic figures with power — such as it is, you know — finding comfort with each other as they shoulder responsibility for the state of the entire world. I might swoon right now. Or if you want something very dramatic and a little scandalous, there is Monsieur Byerly Rutyer and the rifter Loki.

10. Great tragedies?

We have been very fortunate not to lose many people in battle. If you start with Riftwatch's birth you could start with one, though. I have heard a lot of people were lost at the Battle of Ghislain, before Riftwatch became Riftwatch at all.

Otherwise, of course it is a tragedy every time we lose a rifter. I believe they are working on ways to stop that from happening, but it is all a little over my head.

11. If an actor should portray you in the production, what is most important for them to get right?

I think if I have lines or a name in your production, you have missed a turn somewhere. But if you want to give a member of the chorus a mask with a great mustache, I will know it is me and be very touched.

12. If one person in Riftwatch were to have a cameo in the play who should it be?

It should be obvious, but I am not sure you can afford Florent Vascarelle's time. Maybe he would do it as a gift.

13. Do you have any great song ideas?

Of course. You can tell Monsieur l’Euilled Ouebbre that if he needs the help, I will take two percent.

14. How do you think the story should end?

[ Hum. ] With a reminder that the work goes on? Corypheus is out there, and the Veil is in danger — but we will handle it. And we will handle it faster if more people give us a hand. Or gold. From each according to their ability. [ (They should not have let him read books in the rifter world visits.) ]

15. Any other comments?

* No, not off the top of my head. But tell me, where are you from?

[ The pen has been moving with a meticulous sort of beauty, stopping here and there as more questions are asked, more answers received. Now it stops, and the lovely young man takes a breath, hooked like a fish. There is no Orlesian alive who could ever resist a scandal... and a dramatic romantic one? Thibault's credulous doe-like eyes shine with the light of poets and dreamers; those who are seeing an entirely different world than the one others inhabit. ]

What is it that has made their romance such a scandal?

What doesn't make it a scandal. There are so many different scandalous pieces. The first is that Monsieur Rutyer is married—and that is a scandal in itself, you know. The young lady's family was so concerned about his intentions that they tried to kidnap the bride from her wedding.

And what were his intentions?

player plot: we'll put on a show (part 1?)

Random!

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As Thibault Gérin, re: 9

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