allthisshitisweird | Test Drive Meme!

No, Seriously, You're Never Getting Out Of Here

Maybe the Inquisition sent you, maybe you came seeking the Inquisition. Maybe you fell out of a rift into this world last week and are still just trying to find your feet. However it happened, early fall finds you in the Hinterlands. Tucked between Ferelden's massive Lake Calenhad and the icy Frostback Mountains, the Hinterlands are a hilly region covered in patchy forests and small farms trying to eke out a living between the boulders. Though somewhat remote, the area is rich with game and minerals and home to Redcliffe, a bustling town on a busy trade route.

Lately the Hinterlands have also been full of mages and templars and rifts, all threatening to turn once-peaceful countryside into a dangerous warzone. The Inquisition has set up several camps and sent personnel to try to restore order to the region, unwilling to let it slip into chaos. There's a lot to be done, some of it straightforward killing bad things, some of it weird and nebulous morale-building.

NOTE: We will not have an App Help/Enable Me meme this month, but anyone who has questions about OC concepts or AU adaptations is welcome to ask for assistance on the Mod Contact page.

1. WHERE THE SUN COMES UP ABOUT TEN IN THE MORNING

QUESTS COME AND GO BUT BEARS ARE ETERNAL: You have turned the wrong corner, forded the wrong stream, crested the wrong hill, entered the wrong cave. Maybe you are far from camp. Maybe you are in camp. Whatever has happened, wherever you are: you are being chased by bears. Did you provoke the bears? Are they huge? Babies? Fade-touched? Mage-controlled? What are they chasing you away from? What are they chasing you into? What do you plan to make out of their hide if you kill them? What do you think they'll craft out of your hide if they kill you?

2. THEY MOVED DOWN SOUTH OF REDCLIFFE

NICE PLACE FOR A SPOT OF CAMPING: If there were an inn, which there's not, there wouldn't be room for you in it. Traveling with the Inquisition means carrying your own bedrolls, putting up your own tents, and sleeping alongside whoever you've been told to share with--no matter how much you hate them or how loud they snore. If you really can't stand it, the alternative is sleeping outside. On the ground. With the bears.

3. AND THEY LAUGHED AND SANG A NEW SONG

Hey, there's a big, crazy light in the sky that craps out demons! Let's worship it!: Not everyone thinks the Breach was a bad thing. In the southeastern mountains, a burgeoning cult has taken up residence in Winterwatch Tower to wait patiently for the Maker to reach through the tears in the veil and gather the faithful to his bosom. They're a little kooky, maybe, but harmless, and they're happy enough to share their wine and lager with travelers in the area. The demon-spewing rift behind the Tower, on the other hand... Too bad the Herald didn't close that thing before she bit it. Watch your step.

4. NO ONE EVER KNEW THERE WAS LYRIUM IN THEM MOUNTAINS

TROUBLE IN THE DEEP: The Carta is everywhere, but it's here in force, occupying dwarven ruins in a chasm behind a waterfall. Inquisition forces have already cleared most of the smugglers out of the hold, but there's still a vault to break into, bodies to loot, and old texts to search through for anything worth adding to the Inquisition's growing archives. Also: darkspawn. Sorry.

5. AND THE SUN GOES DOWN ABOUT THREE IN THE DAY

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE: hunt game, kill demons, gather herbs, track bandits, haggle over the price of armor, fall off a deceptively tall rock, get lost circling the same hill ten times trying to find a way up to the weird glowing skull on a stick you can see is up there, climb trees or abandoned towers, rummage around in empty homes, run from a dragon, cry over how cute that fennec fox you just shot was, set up camp and chat around the fire, knock yourself out (figuratively, or even literally if that's more your speed)-- the Hinterlands are your ~~Frostback Mountain~~ oyster.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Always wary of other people's emotions and how they would react, Bruce notices the way the other man tenses. He doesn't exactly know the reason why, of course, but he knows better than to press.]

I'm sure she'll be a fine lady, then. [He says instead, letting the question drop. He looks at the cat and gives another small smile.] Befitting of a Champion.

She will.

[You know, in lack of the real one, wherever she may be. Anders has lost the trail long ago, but her face still haunted him sometimes.

So here he was with a cat carrying her name, like some desperate effigy.]

There's five of them. Kittens, I mean.

[Bruce quirks a smile at the response, and it widens at the mention of kittens, looking clearly pleased.]

Five? That's quite the number. [Bruce approves very much though, yes.] Hopefully they'll come out strong and ready to face the world.

[Any sort of life is always precious and important. Bruce could never deny anybody the right to live, especially when he himself could still be alive despite everything.]

They will.

[Thedas best healer is on the case.]

So... Inquisition. How is that going? I've heard far too many rumors.

[With a group like the Inquisition Bruce supposes there will be rumors. Not surprising, but Bruce isn't one for gossip. He's here to simply do his job.]

Everyone's doing their best to do their part to help. [He continues to smile.] It's nice knowing how despite all our differences, there are things we still equally care about above all else.

All our differences. Hm.

...and the mages? Are they back with their jailors, bound by the templars once more, now in the name of the Inquisition rather than the Chantry?

[Easy with the bitter there, Anders.]

[Bruce Slightly Disapproves.]

If they are, the mages that I work with certainly hasn't said anything.

[The Inquisition is nothing like that.]

That's usually part of the deal. Shush-shush, hide your bruises and all that.

[Do not anger him, Anders. You wouldn't like it when he's angry. Well, obviously. Contrary to popular belief he wasn't always looking for trouble.

That said, it wasn't like he was the most stable of men any more, either.]

I wouldn't have volunteered my services to help if I knew they didn't everyone a fair chance.

[Mages or Templars or anything else. Bruce has his own opinions about them, but all the same, everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves.]

The Inquisition isn't part of the Chantry. Whatever Templars that are there, they do not have the authority as they might have had within the Circles.

Little blessings, I suppose.

[He sighs, the need to snap and sneer hindered by his own exhaustion.]

[Bruce is not one to argue, so when the man stops pushing he lets the argument drop as well. He takes in a deep breath and let it out as a sigh, watching the cat near his feet curl up.]

I don't know what your own history with the Templars have been, but the Inquisition is a chance for everyone to start afresh. Everyone within, whoever or whatever they are, are here because we all want to stop Thedas from the threat that created the Breach and destroyed Haven.

[It's just as simple as that.]

It's after that I'm more concerned about. There's been too much blood spilled for them to find themselves in Circles again.

[The shaggy man eyes Bruce again. The guy spoke like he wasn't a mage himself, but if Justice said he was an abomination, then he had to be. Right?

Self-hatred was something Anders could definitely understand, though.]

[Bruce may be a mage but he has long disassociated himself from it - for when he is less than human does it even matter if he is a mage or not? His opinions no longer matter when it doesn't even count.]

What they do now - mage or Templar - will determine what happens after. There won't even be an after to be concerned about if Thedas is destroyed.

[He moves his hand over the fire, using his magic to bolster the dying flames once again.]

Strange, how hard it is to accept we're only people. Having to prove yourself at every step to be allowed to live as a free person? There's little difference between that and slavery.

People are always afraid of what they do not understand.

[Using forces that doesn't obey laws people generally know, connecting to the Fade, a realm of demons? Bruce can easily see why people would treat mages as such. And yes, he knows its not fair, but this is the reality of the situation.]

There is always a need for order within chaos. Mages and their magic - those are all chaotic forces.

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