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. TOURNEY: Barely had time to make yourself at home, did you, before you were sent away from Kirkwall again—but for fun! Sort of. You've been sent to Wycome, the party capital of the Free Marches, for the Grand Tourney. It's a week of celebration and chillin', shopping at vendors' stalls or drinking and making new friends while fighters from across Thedas try their hands at friendly (or "friendly") competitions of skill and/or muscle, leading up to the prestigious Grand Melee. Your mission, which you've presumably already accepted, is to put on a good, respectable show for the rest of Thedas—particularly if you're someone like a rifter, or a mage, or an elf, or anyone at all who isn't an Andrastian human—so the Tourney's affluent visitors take only good gossip home to their countrymen. Which is to say: if you get involved in a drinking competition, you better win.

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

[tofindthesun]

Darkspawn do not sound very friendly. [it's a pretty ingenious way to name something, though. orc, by contrast, doesn't really carry the meaning of 'awful, evil, would kill and eat you' on its own. dragons, though. dragons he's more familiar with.] Do you have.. Balrogs? [this, he's a little more hesitant asking about.] Great, towering creatures wielding terror and death as easily as one would flame and stone.

[don't you mean flail and sword, legolas.]

It does, but I must say no more of him. I fear I may stoke his pride higher than a Woodland bonfire, and then I will never hear the end of it.

[dirth]

They are not. I hope you do not experience them in person. [ It's better to warn people as best he can, even with Grey Wardens around. ] I have not heard of a Balrog, no. I am sure there is some equivalent of them on Thedosian soil all the same. We are not so different from other worlds.

[ Worlds be like this. ]

We cannot have that, can we? He will no longer fit in his office.

[tofindthesun]

Nor I. Yet it seems the fingers of this war have caught onto us all, as it always does. We can only prepare ourselves for the inevitable. [...he'll do that after he finishes this fruit of course. he needs his vitamins.] That is.... good to hear, I think? Dragons are quite awful enough. Do they invade caves and steal treasure here as well?

[yeah. Yeah.]

There is one tall enough for him? He has been hunched over for far too long. I have seen his ears brush the ceilings several times! [he loves you, thranduil. he really does. he loves you lots.]

[dirth]

Not necessarily. They are rarer than that, and it is not common to see them wandering around Thedas. It depends on their nature, on their element, on their place in the world. [ He shakes his head and ignores the urge to tell him about the few dragons that are part of the Inquisition - it seems safer.

Much safer, considering what he knows of Thranduil's feelings. ]

It would be so if he did not have people to care for him. [ He's so glad he's witnessing this paternal shittalk. ] You should see his office. You may enjoy the sight.

[tofindthesun]

..The Darkspawn, or the dragons? I cannot think of either to have such a harmless nature. They are not creations of the Darkness, then? [he asks out of curiosity, and perhaps a tinge of doubt. his father has suffered a dragon once, he knows, and all dragons have but one origin in middle-earth; and the very name darkspawn brings up all sorts of dark thoughts. this is a very strange world he's come to.]

Ah, that is good, then! It is unhealthy to crouch for so long. [clearly that's the issue here.] I shall, if he permits me to do so. Or even if he does not. Perhaps I could run a close enough imitation of his mien to be let in. [unlikely. the only thing they share exactly is their hair (maybe) and their eyebrows (definitely).]

[dirth]

Both. I do not know if the 'Darkness' here is the same as what you know. The curse that has befallen the Darkspawn is called the 'Blight'. I am no expert in it. [ He knows things, of course, more than perhaps he is comfortable expressing. He bites his tongue more often than not.

Given the picture that Solas had painted of Legolas... He thinks that would be unlikely. ] I am sure he will allow you in at least once.

[tofindthesun]

That is.. strange to know. [he has no interest in the darkness, but if this 'blight' is not an inborn thing, but a curse... he would be interested in whether it could be lifted.] Our Darkness is in someways a poison, a curse. Perhaps not unlike this Blight. Yet in other ways it is an incorrigible Evil that may not be removed, only... destroyed.

[such is the nature of things. mirkwood, he hopes, will fare better.]

At least once. [he might get bored of it after one time.] I would not impose myself upon him much. Surely he is quite busy here, doing... Provost duties.

[not much different from back in mirkwood, really. less walking to find his dad though. mirkwood proper is big.]

[dirth]

It seems that the two may be similar - a reflection of one another, if not the same. That is true for many things you will see here, I am sure. [ The nature of Rifters... It seems they are more a reflection than Solas is able to admit, and it only adds to the weight of his frustration, feeling their lack of realness.

All the same, he hopes. For his sake, for Galadriel's sake. ]

He is very busy, yes. He does what he can for his people. [ For himself, for the other elves, for the People. Solas appreciates that. ] But he makes time, if you ask for it.