TEST DRIVE MEME!

[faderifting]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Maybe you’ve been around for a while, or maybe you’re new to the Inquisition. Maybe you’re new to Thedas, having recently fallen from a tear in reality and been collected by uniformed rescuers. Whoever you are, you’ve been sent to Kirkwall, to an outpost where many of the Inquisition’s members and allies work on some of the biggest mysteries and problems the organization must solve if it’d like to keep the world from ending, where “ending” means “falling under the power of an ancient powerful corrupted being who wants everyone to bow to him as a god.”

And just to be clear, it would like that. It would like that a lot.

I. THE GALLOWS: The Gallows is an island fortress in Kirkwall’s harbor. It’s been home to, in order: Tevinter slaves, a Circle of Magi, a lot of creepy red lyrium, and now the Inquisition, which has occupied the fortress with the provisional Viscount’s blessing. There are walls that still need rebuilding and corners that still need dusting, but for the most part the Inquisition has gotten down to business. There’s space in the stone-floored courtyards to train or spar; or, if your skills don’t lie in the realm of hitting things, there’s a large library and several offices supporting the Inquisition’s areas of research and diplomatic efforts. If you don’t know what to do with yourself, then by all means, ask; someone will definitely be able to put you to work.

II. KIRKWALL: A quick row across the harbor will take you to Kirkwall proper. The city is built into the cliffs, from exclusive and wealthy Hightown at the top to impoverished Darktown in the abandoned mining tunnels below. In the middle is Lowtown, home to taverns, merchants, and plenty of trouble to keep anyone looking for it happy. You’re welcome to spend your free time and your money here—but try not to annoy the locals too much, please, in case their welcome runs out. It’d be a shame to have to pack again so soon after arriving.

III. QUESTING: Barely had time to make yourself at home, did you, before you were sent away from Kirkwall again—but this time on a mission. There’s a rift outside of Markham, pouring demons into the fields, and the Inquisition has been asked to lend a hand. Maybe literally. If you have an anchor embedded in your palm, you’re needed to close the damn thing. If not, maybe you’re here to fight demons or guard against bandits on the road, or to gather samples and take notes on the rift’s location once its closed, or to speak to Markham’s nobility afterwards to make sure that they fully appreciate the Inquisition’s efforts. Regardless, it’s a long trip, so we hope you like campfire cooking and sharing a tent.

IV. SENDING CRYSTAL: Joining the Inquisition gets you access to the very latest in barely-understood magical communication devices—namely, a crystal, small enough to wear around your neck, that will allow you to communicate verbally with anyone else who has one. Or everyone else who has one. Say hello.

V. WILDCARD: The whole of Thedas is yours to explore, from coast to uncharted wilderness. Choose your own adventure!

Comments

Much appreciated, I'm just getting back into playing after a years-long hiatus \o/

[fireandsmoke]

The nobleman was comfortable with a girl gawking at him in silence for precisely 5 minutes longer than most would expect. In fact, he seemed, for all intents and purposes, completely content with downright ignoring the open stares and continuing about his business.

But then again, he is a man that prefers to conduct his business where no one else can discern what he is doing.

After a length of time elapses, his fist closes abruptly on his latest wisp-sentinel, and it explodes in a ball of blue flames. With the images extinguished, he bends his gaze back towards his books without so much as granting his visitor the courtesy of some eye contact.

"I hoped you would be bored by now," he says coldly. At least he's up-front about it. He does not look up. "What do you want?"

So delighted to see someone playing from this canon!

[youwonscience]

"I need to look at one of those books for a few minutes," she says, not evidently put off by the brusque tone. "You can have it back when I'm done, but I've got someone waiting on this report and I don't think she'll accept 'I took the rule about no talking in the library too seriously' as an excuse, so."

She's neither offended, nor placating; in fact, her demeanor suggests that they are both reasonable people and, as she's making a reasonable request, there's no reason he should make any particular fuss.

Ahhh! Someone who recognizes it!

[fireandsmoke]

The man's lip curls, and for a long moment, everything about his mien speaks utter refusal. But it is true that the Dragon was not a wholly unreasonable person despite his propensity for recalcitrance. He thrusts the book shut, flipped it around and pushed it towards the young woman on the opposite side of the table.

"Who wants it?" he wonders, without really caring if it is truly any of his business or not. "A commander? Some ranking person in the Inquisition?"

[youwonscience]

Hey, male academic disdain, you also are not unfamiliar.

Unfazed, Cosima sits across from him. If he wants the book back faster, well, she won't make him wait for her to walk back and forth. She flips to the table of contents, looking for a helpful heading.

"Yeah, the official project leader on rift research. We're kind of skeptical that this book has much of use in particular, but it's cross-referenced in something else and we're trying to be thorough. You know. Especially those of us with the things stuck in our hands." She waves her anchor-sharded hand at him once, briefly, without looking up.

[fireandsmoke]

"You can't be too thorough," is his terse reply. Yes, the Dragon is intimately familiar with 'missing' something even in his most carefully studied and unusual texts, much to his chagrin. He hated being wrong far more than being thorough -- even if it were needlessly thorough.

The Dragon absently squeezes his own shard-embedded palm, a sharp ache serving as a reminder of his recent arrival. In the past several days alone, respective Inquisition authorities subjected him to all manner of information bombardment, and, of course, an offer that he could not refuse: to owe his skills to the Inquisition's cause to achieve peace in the realm in exchange for relative freedom and a clean bed.

"Is your ultimate aim to find a way close the rifts for good?" A grim pause. "Certainly gaining control over them isn't without risk."

There is a second question hidden within this one. His chances of return back through the correct rift, for instance. His chances of seeking the knowledge to control the rifts, if it is at all possible without impossible sacrifice.

[youwonscience]

"I think that's probably among the Inquisition's main aims, yeah, though I'm not high enough up to know 100% for sure," Cosima says, frankly, glancing back up at him. "Given that demons come out of them on the regular, not to mention people like us who don't actually belong here. Me personally, I'm interested in knowledge for knowledge's sake. We also have reason to believe having one of these shards could be dangerous in the long term, so, uh, I'd like to mitigate that."

She notices that he hasn't mentioned getting home right away, so she doesn't either. It's complicated for her; she assumes it might be for others, too.

[fireandsmoke]

"Certainly."

The Dragon grows cold and grim.

"I'll take a guess. Do the shards corrupt?" He presses his chin into his palm, bending over the table and watching her spew important information in her matter-of-fact tone. "I would very much not like to slowly transform into a demon, if that's the case." That would be just the cherry on top, after all he has been through warding off and defeating corruption from the Wood, and it would be no better than a death sentence.

[youwonscience]

"Corruption more like disease than like turning into demons. We've got something like that here too - it's called the Blight - but as far as I know the shards don't cause it. You have to get bit or bled on by a Darkspawn, I think, though there are definitely people in the Inquisition who know more about the Blight than I do."

That's not comforting at all, but he doesn't seem like a man looking to be comforted.

"As far as I know, we've also got some time before it's more than anything but that annoying ache in your hand. But since I don't know how much I figure better help people get on that. I prefer not dying."

[fireandsmoke]

Sarkan hesitates.

All of this sounds achingly familiar to him. A slow sickness borne from the shards isn't exactly the same as the Wood's corruption in Polnya, but it bears enough similarities that there is a small chance he already has something in his pocket that could stave it off. It is not something he can test on just anyone. The subject must be strong enough to withstand some hefty curative spells, and even then, there is no guarantee that it would work.

The least harmful, most logical test subject would be himself, if it is possible. But first.. He rubs his palms together, considering his next move.

"I may have something I can offer to that cause," he says at last, "But I need access to books, notes, whatever research you gathered so far. I imagine it will be wise of me to consult your project leaders about this first."

[youwonscience]

"Awesome," she says, laid-back but not insincere; she relaxes very slightly as it seems less and less likely he's going to dismiss he knowledge out of hand.

"Probably the best person to talk to is Valentine de Foncé." Val, she likes you, but she is not going to say all of the names in between every single time. "He's the overall head of the research division, which includes work on the rifts and the anchor shards. We're in the process of consolidating a lot of our research now, since the move here to Kirkwall, but if you're in earnest about helping I don't see why you shouldn't have access to what we've got. de Foncé comes off a bit glib at first, but he's smart and knows a lot of people."

[fireandsmoke]

"That's not a problem." A small, catlike grin pulls up the corner of his mouth despite himself. "It's the witlings I don't want to slog through."

Glib, Sarkan is apt to handle easily, particularly when it's paired with a smart individual. Much easier to speak with someone on equal, loose terms than it is to talk down to impossible idiots who think they possess more wit than they have.

"Well, finish your research and send me to him. I will wait."

It occurs to him that they have not even exchanged names. He fails to care.

[youwonscience]

She shrugs. "Okay. No guarantees he's free right now, but when I finish this I can show you the most likely places to find him." She's flipping through the index, comparing it against some notes. As she does, she says, "How long have you been here?"

Though it's friendly enough, it sounds more like she'd specifically like to know than small talk.

[fireandsmoke]

Sarkan feels compelled to laugh at that question, more self-deprecating and at the expense of his own twisted fortunes than anything to do with the woman.

"Maybe a week. Maybe less. Maybe a little more. I've lost track of the hours," he admits. Considering he spent most of his time awake and searching for more information as much as he could, it is no wonder he can't be certain how much time has passed. His lack of sleep and slowly draining energy is sure to catch up with him shortly, but for now, there is just too much to take in and too much to consider to slow down.

[youwonscience]

"Ah, library haze. I'm familiar. It took me a month or so to be totally sure I wasn't having an extended hallucination." She supposes you can never really be sure, but she's decided to proceed as if it's all real. She doesn't see another sensible option.

"It's a lot to adjust to. My world didn't have magic in it at all, to my knowledge, so that's been a bit of a learning curve."

[fireandsmoke]

"Your wizards might be discreet where you come from."

No magic at all? That is difficult for Sarkan to believe. Sounds like a barren place. But as unfathomable as he originally found it, he has heard of faraway nations that take less kindly to magic than his, most recently from another witch he met in the Gallows. Madame Petrana de Cedoux is what she called herself.

"This realm is more like a different nation than a different world, though I have come to admit that it isn't any nation I know in my lands." A pause. "Magic works differently, but still manageable. It doesn't make me any less capable of offering my strengths."

[youwonscience]

"Maybe." Hermione had opened the possibility that magic exists in Cosima's world, just underground; Cosima won't naysay it, but a world in which magic is totally hidden is functionally similar to a world without magic at all, in her experience.

"But hey, if you're already a mage or something like it, you'll have a leg up. At least people will understand what it is you do, which is more than I can say, like, 95% of the time."

[fireandsmoke]

"That's most certainly an invitation that I ask what it is you do, since it is not magic," Sarkan points out with a slow, wry grin. He cups his chin with a long, lean hand and can't help but look like a smug, slightly arrogant, somewhat mocking cat. "Unless you think it beyond my feeble understanding. If you're not convinced that I'm no imbecile by now, though, by all means, test me."

[youwonscience]

She smiles, wry, despite herself. "It doesn't have anything to do with someone being stupid. It has to do with context. If I had months, I could teach most of the people here the theory behind my research, even if I don't have the tools to practice it."

She sits back, though, giving up on the book for the moment. "At its most basic level, I study how the development of living things suggests information about how their ancestors evolved over time. Mostly in humans, though I have colleagues who focus on other organisms. There are a lot of traits that are inborn, lots that aren't, and lots more that are a blend of nature and environment. I'm trying to tease out which are which and how they work."

[fireandsmoke]

Huh. Sarkan could imagine lots of ways such a field of study could be useful, but he has to admit he does not know of anyone who currently studies ancestral inheritances in Polnya. Though there are bigger problems currently plaguing his nation than studying the nature of inborn human traits; the problem of a decimated royal family, for instance, and a vacant throne.

"That certainly isn't my area of expertise, but I can consider its usefulness. Identifying babes with innate magic before they start accidentally setting villages ablaze, for one."

He now gazes upon this woman with something resembling begrudging respect, which he does not hand out lightly. But this woman clearly has her head screwed on nice and snug to her body, and she seems to carry on some useful intellectual undertakings. This is a good connection for Sarkan to make.

"What's your name?"

[youwonscience]

She smiles a little, almost despite herself. "Cosima Niehaus. Formerly of a place called California, Thedas refugee for about a year by the local calendar."

[fireandsmoke]

He stares at her blankly. No recognition for the name of that place, Cally-fornya (does this involve fornication??), and he knits his brow with the smallest of frowns.

"The Dragon of Polnya," is his own simple introduction with a flourish of his palm. He says it with the distinct impression that it is meant to sound important. Likely, he was important, in his previous life. "Here a week, give or take, by my count." He lays his hand back on the table.

"I'll expect to work more with you in the coming days."