Truth or Dare: The Imperial Court

[madame_de_fer]

WHO: Select Orlesian and Fereldan Nobility and the Inquisition
WHAT: Josephine and Vivienne have orchestrated a good-will soiree in response to this dastardly rumor.
WHEN: Drakonis 15, Evening
WHERE: Skyhold Great Hall
NOTES:
- A list of nobles in attendance can be found here. The list was provided by the mods but there will be no npc support for them. Play away.
- A secondary outside party is being held in the valley in the tent town for anyone who couldn't/wouldn't attend and/or behave in the fancy pansty party.
- The goal of the evening is to clear up a spurious rumor about Cassandra and Leliana, with secondary goals of establishing the Inquisition as a respectable presence in Thedas (and fish for more money). Any major disruptions that would Game Over the court approval should probably be brought to the advisors and/or mods.



To say that Josphine has far outdone herself with this little soiree would be the understatement of the year. The Lady Ambassador has pulled out all the stops in providing a festive and yet elegant stage for this political intervention. Because sometimes gossip can be more deadly than a sword.

The Great Hall of Skyhold has been converted into a grand receiving hall, glittering with hundreds of lights around the room, in addition to the repairs accomplished to the original chandeliers. Of course, there has been artful placement arranged so there are a few shadowy corners for rendezvous of the more suggestive nature. Just in case. The majority of the floor has been cleared for dancing, and a fine troupe of musicians have been installed for the bulk of the evening's entertainments. Some members of the Inquisition have plans to entice attendees with their own artistic performances in addition to the group of mages performing illusory tricks to oohs and aahs.

For those who feel their energy flagging, there are chairs set against the walls, with a few tables interspersed between. Servers hired for the evening circulate the crowds with wine, fine Orlesian and Nevarran reds as well as crisp whites from Antiva. Refreshments are set out on buffet tables, tasteful and extravagant nibbles, including imported cheeses, spicy saucisson, dried fruits and nuts, and the highly sought after deep mushroom and anise petits fours that are all the rage in Orlais.

Comments

[tactical_alert]

"We are lacking a Herald to lead us into closing the tears in the Fade that bring forth the demons and also your own kind," Malcolm murmurs with an air of distaste. He hadn't known the Herald of Andraste personally, had never had a chance to meet them, but the loss so clearly impacts Cassandra and anyone that knew--but that would mean very little to someone who has no grasp on the intricacies of the situation.

"And what we lack is funding to continue to feed refugees, gather equipment for soldiers, ways to get into parts of countries the nobility would rather not see us enter. We lack backing from the Chantry, and to call it an important religious grouping would be a vast understatement. We lack leaders between the Seekers of Truth, the Templar Order, and the College of Magi who are not only willing to talk to each other but also listen to one another. Orlais is in the middle of a civil war; Fereldan refugees gather at our doorstep and in the area looking for any sanctuary; Tevinter has cultists working towards the goals of the enemy of all of Thedas for Andraste's sake; red lyrium grows out of control farther and farther with each day."

His eyes narrow, not in suspicion but in thought, wondering how much this man knows and how much he only thinks he knows. Though it cannot be easy to suddenly find themselves in a new land with new rules, it must be so easy for them to see the answers to all of Thedas' problems.

"The Inquisition must stand as a force, a united force across all nations and creeds if possible, against the darkness."

[obi_wanmanshow]

"No one can undo the past, or return the dead, however beloved, to life," Obi-Wan dropped his dry sarcasm, genuine sympathy coloring his voice, "I know it's not a joke, any more than this gathering is about enjoying ourselves."

He gestured at the party around them, the music soft but incongruously joyful, winding beneath the susurration of conversation, the whisper of silk and the tittering laughter of an Orlesian noblewoman. On the surface, all was well; underneath, everyone pursued their purposes like hunting hounds attempting to cut deer from the herd. It was true, he didn't know everything-- in all honesty, he only knew enough to see just how little he did understand. But you don't need to understand how an animal was injured to know that it's limping.

"If this Inquisition is going to achieve any of those goals, and deal with continuous influx of people from other worlds besides, we're all going to have to cooperate better, more meaningfully. You can't build the future on alliances of convenience," The Templars and Mages might exist peaceably enough, but he'd heard something of the perspective of mages, and the fear they held. Their counterparts among the templars, surely, could be no less uncertain. Where fear flourished, grief could so easily follow, "I, for one, wish to help with what little I can. To bring attention to what's forgotten, and to help keep the peace, if nothing else. That is a Jedi's work."

[tactical_alert]

Malcolm looks away, gazing over the sea of people, though never letting the Jedi Master out of his periphery. This will work, Maker willing, to line the Inquisition's bare pockets with much needed funding, but it's true: there are only a few nobles here who seem at all interested, outwardly, verbally, in what they're doing here. The others might only seem as though they are not interested...but having been in Orlais, he knows that it's just as likely that some are as airheaded and here to only make a statement back home and nothing else.

What else are they to do? Demand the Empress herself support the cause, before she gets poison in her wine or a dagger in her back? Get her and Ferelden's King in the same room to talk things out? Send Cassandra back to Nevarra to sway the royal line's favour? Of course it's about convenience. In the near future, hopefully they can work something out more permanently, but the idea of getting any support from all sources working together to close the rifts and keep them closed is a miracle he'll just have to see if the Maker grants. Getting all of the countries to earnestly work together to peace?

Maybe, maybe he might see the groundwork for that laid in his lifetime.

The Seeker raises his own glass of Antivan white, turning back to the Jedi. "Truly I welcome a man of such perspective and insistence to help those he doesn't know." If only all people held that thought. If even all shard-bearers did.

"They are afraid of you, you realize. You will find friends among the Inquisition, but the people of this world think you to be demons in the guise of man. Maybe even the root of the problem." Rest assured that Malcolm isn't completely convinced yet that none of these assertions are the case.