TEST DRIVE MEME!

[faderifting]

What if there is no tomorrow?

Only more Hinterlands

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, the first days of the new year find 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.

STILL WITH ADDED SNOW AND NOW ALSO ADDED KINDNESS TO ANIMALS (MOSTLY).

1. IF I GET SCARED, YOU'RE ALWAYS AROUND

You have turned the wrong corner in the snow, forded the wrong stream in the snow, crested the wrong hill in the snow, entered the wrong cave in the snow. Maybe you are far from camp, in the snow. Maybe you are in camp, which is also snowy. Whatever has happened, wherever you are: you are being chased through the snow by bears. Did you throw a snowball at the bears? Are they huge and snow-dusted? Babies burrowing through the snow drifts and coming for your ankles? Fade-touched in addition to snow-touched? Controlled by cold mages who are hiding in the snow? Popping up out of the snow like a game of whack-a-mole? What are they chasing you away from in all of this snow? What are they chasing you into, other than more snow? What warm things do you plan to make out of their hide if you kill them in the snow? What do you think they'll craft out of your hide if they kill you in the snow? P.S. It's still snowy.

2. THEY SAY WE'RE YOUNG AND WE DON'T KNOW

The Inquisition has, possibly, been a little too good at dealing with the Hinterlands' bear problem, and a group of concerned citizens--including young burgeoning naturalists, farmers concerned about the effect an unchecked population of rams may have on their crops come spring, and at least one woman who claims to be directly descended from bears--has taken issue. Maybe they're blocking your character's attempt to enter a bear-infested area. Maybe they've doused your character in bear blood. Maybe the bears they have been working so hard to save have cornered them in the wilderness and they're changing their tunes.

3. WITH YOU I CAN'T GO WRONG

The Inquisition's (cough Leliana's) habit of communicating by raven works out fine, usually, but this particular raven has gone a little rogue. It's not the raven's fault! She's young, she's trying. But she has very important information tied to her leg, and instead of delivering it, she's joined a flock of identical wild ravens to hunt for food in the snow. Recover her, somehow, without hurting her and making any spymistresses angry.

4. BEFORE IT'S EARNED, OUR MONEY'S ALL BEEN SPENT

The tavern at Redcliffe remains as busy as ever, filled with locals, travelers, and Inquisition members. But this month in addition to the usual free-flowing ale and rowdy conversation there is also a contest going on. Bakers have come from across the Hinterlands bearing their very best in an effort to win a coveted ribbon and the title of Best Cake. They pack the tavern and spill out into the surrounding courtyard when the weather allows, cakes sold off tables, out of packs, small chunks given away to whoever is passing and not paying enough attention to refuse. The votes are carefully guarded by several serious looking fellows in the back corner of the tavern. In addition to traffic issues, the cake madness has also caused an infestation of large local rodents, who have appeared out of their holes to devour the many crumbs. Legend has it that if they can be humanely eradicated from the tavern before the final vote is cast, spring will come early. No one in living memory has succeeded, but you are strongly encouraged to try anyway.

5. AIN'T NO HILL OR MOUNTAIN WE CAN'T CLIMB

Hunt game so you can rescue it before other hunters get there, kill demons or maybe just try to hug it out?, dig under the snow for herbs or plant some of your own to replace what others have taken, track bandits through the snow and see if they need a hand, deal with someone charging extortionist coat prices now that it's snowing and convince them to do the right thing, fall off a deceptively tall rock into the snow and admit it was your own fault, 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 in the snow so that you can give it a decent burial, climb trees or abandoned towers covered in snow and be careful not to knock them down, rummage around in empty homes to get out of the snow but leave a nice apology note, run from a dragon in the snow and promise not to trespass on its territory again, definitely don't kill any fennec foxes, set up camp and chat around the fire about your feelings because it's snowy and cold, give yourself a pat on the back (figuratively, or even literally if that's more your speed)-- the Hinterlands are your playground.

Comments

[bookish_lioness]

Hearing that slavery was illegal was a good sign, though technically speaking, that didn't always mean it didn't happen. House-elves were slaves, no question about it, and yet the wizarding community thought it was the most natural thing in the world to have one around at your beck and call. Even Ron had thought as much, until he'd learned better.

"How exactly did they abuse their power, then?" Hermione asked carefully, knowing it must have been dire if some of them had been "taken care of permanently". She didn't know why she asked questions to which she really didn't want the answer, but sometimes her drive to know everything about a given situation could be something of a curse.

[judgemewhole]

She would find the same with the tranquil, although the tranquil could be paid for their work. Norrington had always thought the tranquil paid, and were taken care of by the Templar Order as they were the ones that had created them. Recent events showed him that many Circles did this differently -- but always the Tranquil could make their own coin if they wished.

Another pause, "...they used blood magic, typically the blood of someone else, to use magic to control people's minds. To subject them to the most horrible tortures imaginable. Things of that nature."

[bookish_lioness]

... Tranquils would just open up a whole other can of worms that Hermione didn't need to worry about right this second. It was beginning to get to the point where the less she knew about this world, the better off she'd be.

She wrinkled her nose at his description. At least that sounded vaguely familiar, insofar as she could equate it to something she knew from home. "That sounds like the Imperius Curse. It isn't blood magic, but it's one of the three Unforgivable Curses, controlling someone's mind like that. Torture... well, that's something else." She was thinking of physical torture, which was something with which she was only all too familiar.

[judgemewhole]

"So there is fear on both sides -- and that can lead to abuses on both ends. We are trying to change that now ... but it is a slow battle." He sighed quietly, as he looked ahead. "Perhaps if mages were hidden, it would not be such an issue -- but who knows? It might be worse."

Ignorance did not always equal bliss, after all.

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione thought about that for a few moments, silent as she walked. Finally, she brought up, "It doesn't serve anyone to wonder about what things would be like if mages were hidden, since they're not. And attempting to pull off some sort of masquerade now to help them walk around unnoticed would be next to impossible. All you can do - all anyone here can do, that is - is accept the state of things as they are and resolve to improve upon them. Either way, I don't suspect that will be easy unless you have open communication and full cooperation from both sides."

Cracking a tiny smile, she added, "Seeing as how you didn't try to burn me at the stake upon finding out I was a witch, I'd wager that at least a few of you should be able to do that."

[judgemewhole]

He allowed her her silence, because she had given him quite a few things to think about as well. When she spoke again, he found himself un-surprised that her candor was so blunt, and right on the mark. "You are not incorrect -- and we are working on it, I assure you."

One corner of his mouth lifted up, "I believe a few of us can manage not to go on a mage burning spree. This week, at least."

[bookish_lioness]

"Then I suppose, along with making sure the mages don't hurt anyone out of fear or misunderstanding, that's the best we can hope for," Hermione returned. Whether she was pleased with Norrington's attitude or simply because she felt she'd maneuvered this relatively well, it didn't mater; she looked up at Norrington with a genuine smile this time.

"So... how much of this animosity towards mages am I going to have to worry about?"

[judgemewhole]

"We do what we can. When the war is over - we can build a true truce, and both sides will finally be able to be free to do their original purpose." At least, that was what Norrington strove for, every single day. He smiled back at her, before he shook his head.

"Very little. The Inquisition is pro-mage, and pro-templar. Definitely pro-Rifter ... as you are the only ones who can close the rifts."

[bookish_lioness]

While it was nice to know that there was at least one inclusive group in the vicinity and that she'd happened to find herself among one of their number, Hermione had to stop and wonder about that last bit he said. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked, as though she hadn't heard him correctly. "What do you mean, 'close the rifts'?"

[judgemewhole]

He looked over at her, before he pressed his lips together as he tried to explain it. "You have a shard in your hand - a remnant of the rift itself. With that, you can open one of the remaining rifts in Thedas, or in our hopes? Close them by gesturing at it with your hand. Again ... all I understand is the logistics."

[bookish_lioness]

Her frown only deepened at his response, and she looked down at her palm, outright scowling at the light he'd referred to as a piece of the Fade. "So not only is some of the magic stuck in my hand, but I can actually wield it?" she asked, not entirely sure how she felt forcibly being given command of a foreign magic. "Isn't that dangerous, having people who don't understand it being able to open or close these rifts at their leisure?"