Test Drive Meme!

[faderifting]

You'll Never Leave the Hinterlands Alive*

Welcome to Fade Rift's very first Test Drive Meme! Use one of the prompts below or make up your own, and tag around! Have fun, try out the setting, generate samples for your app, coerce your friends into joining you.

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.

1. In the Deep Dark Hills of Western Ferelden

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. There I Read on a Hillside Gravestone

The rebel mages and renegade templars have ravaged the Hinterlands, skirmishes breaking out all over. It looks like you've just missed one-- great spikes of ice melt slowly in the cool autumn sunlight and patches of grass and trees have been scorched away. Three bodies are scattered about, two templars and one mage judging by their clothing. You could bury them. Or search their pockets. Or track their friends. Or all of the above, if you're feeling industrious.

3. Won't You Walk With Me Out the Mouth of this Holler

Whatever task you were actually sent out here to do, you are going to be late. One-Eyed Jimmy asked so nicely for your help finding his prize ram, Lord Woolsley. It's been in the family for years, so smart for a ram, it's a good luck charm, their business has boomed with it around, and it's lived for so long, he just can't abide thinking of it getting eaten by some mangy apostate. And then he went and offered you money, too. How could you say no? Maybe you're still wandering, asking everyone you pass if they've seen a ram that looks like it's wearing an orangey-red sweater. Maybe you've found it and are chasing it around a lake or trying to lead it back to the village for your reward. Maybe you've gotten fed up and gotten out your sword to bring Jimmy a new sweater instead and discovered that lucky Lord Woolsley is a demon in sheep's clothing. Surprise!

4. Fill Your Cup With Whatever Bitter Brew You're Drinking

Just because the region's had a rough time lately doesn't mean the tavern at Redcliffe is any less crowded than usual. Bella behind the bar dishes out tankards to refugees and soldiers, scared villagers and angry farmers, merchants traveling through from Orzammar and Orlais and families fleeing the rifts in the foothills. It's packed, basically. The Inquisition has only recently extended its influence into the region, and while some have already seen the benefit-- demons killed, fighting broken up-- others are skeptical.

5. Spend Your Life Just Thinkin' of How to Get Away

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.

*Yeah, I had this stuck in my head. It's a good song!!

Comments

[stumbling]

Andrastian born and bred, that comment only serves to make him angrier.

"What do you know of the Chantry? Your people don't even worship the Maker."

Instead the Dalish chose to worship a multitude of false gods, and apparently criticise the Maker too. That part of their culture he hadn't been aware of, nor does he appreciate it.

[mythalenaste]

"Does your Chantry even teach of Shartan, who brought the forces of elven slaves to Andraste's cause? Do they eliminate altogether that Andraste herself gave us the Dales, or do they only speak of the glorious victories of the land-grabbing Orlesians who disagreed with her?"

[stumbling]

"Of course they do." Not much, granted, but it's not as though he's never heard of Shartan. "He's not in the Chant of Light, but if you prefer your stories told orally then that hardly seems like it matters."

Wait. He pauses as the latter part catches up to him, trying to remember if any of the sisters in his circle ever said anything about Andraste giving the elves the Dales, or any of the many books in the library.

"Andraste didn't give you the Dales. You must be mistaken."

[mythalenaste]

Pel sits back with the smuggest of looks and takes a sip from her cup.

"Point made," she says with satisfaction.

[stumbling]

Daylen continues to look confused.

"In what way?" he asks, brows creased. "You just told me something that blatantly isn't true."

[mythalenaste]

"I told you something the Chantry won't tell you, but the Dalish have kept through oral tradition. Why would the Chantry keep that embarrassing little detail of history? Andraste promising a free land to Shartan, and the long journey of our people from Tevinter. We built a city and named it Halamshiral, and we lived there in peace for a time. Then the Chantry leveraged your god as an excuse to take it from us. You think they would tell you such a thing while they hold our lands still, while we remain homeless?"

[stumbling]

"It's hardly my fault if you're homeless," he huffs, annoyed she seems to think that has anything to do with him. "You could share our lands if you wish. It's not as though elves are barred from living in cities. The Dalish choose to live outside those."

If she didn't like that life he couldn't blame her. He was new to not having a home and hated wandering himself, but to say it was the Chantry's fault? Preposterous. Not to mention incredibly inappropriate.

"One thing the Chantry has told me is to be careful about anything elves have to say. It looks as though they were right. Apocryphal indeed."

It's a rude remark and he knows it, but after the things she's come out with he can't help himself. At least the things he's saying make sense, not to mention actually hold truth.

[mythalenaste]

There's only so much surprise she can muster. This is what she always thought the shemlen would be like.

"Oh? They teach you lying is an inherited trait?"

[stumbling]

Lying? He looks surprised himself, as though it hadn't occurred it him his words could be taken like that. Which he hadn't really. His whole point was that elves didn't even know what was true anymore because of the way information was shared.

"Of course not. I didn't say anything about lying," he reassures her, hoping to clear up their misunderstanding before she gets cross with him for an issue that isn't even the point. "You've just been misled. Stories change over the years, or become more and more distorted as they're passed along. Memory can't be relied upon fully, and misinterpretation of the spoken word is common. As I said, oral tradition isn't exactly reliable."

Not that he expects her to be happy to have that repeated either, but it's still true whether she wants to accept it or not.

[mythalenaste]

He insults her and then pats her on the head. Excellent.

"I'm sorry, I think you're going to have to use smaller words. My oral tradition didn't teach me anything longer than the word pretentious."

[stumbling]

"You don't have to be offended," he tells her, a little put out despite expecting a negative response. "I was trying to make you feel better."

Something that evidently hasn't worked.

[mythalenaste]

"How is this: I already feel very good about myself. I like being Dalish. I'm proud of my heritage and proud of how hard I've worked to come as far as I have. I don't need a pampered shem who had everything handed to him telling me to keep my chin up."

[stumbling]

Okay, so it definitely hadn't worked. She seems to be even more offended if anything. He's never really spoken to a Dalish before, but they seem to be a touchy people. Not that he's especially happy with how she's speaking to him either after she started this whole argument.

"It was hardly handed to me," he says irritably, chest puffed out. "I had to study hard, practice everything. I had to pass my Harrowing, then once I passed set a good example to apprentices. Keep my eye out for any signs of blood magic... it's not a bad life, but we aren't just handed everything as you seem to think. And there are elves in the circles."

[mythalenaste]

"I had to do everything you just mentioned from the time I can remember. I also had to get up while it was still dark, gather food and herbs, fish, mend, wash, stoke the fires, cook, wash again, collect firewood, see to the needs of my clan, and help teach the children. Every day. Exactly what disadvantage do I have against you, exactly?"

[stumbling]

"You didn't have books." Which seems like a big disadvantage regardless of how many times she insists her oral tradition works just as well.

"Anyway, I wasn't trying to tell you I've had it harder than you. It just seems as though you don't realise circle life isn't all about being pampered. We have to work just as hard as anyone outside does even if things are a little different for us. They have to be, for the safety of others as much as our own."

[mythalenaste]

"In my opinion? You have had it harder than I have, and not because of how hard you work or don't work. Do you know how the Dalish survive without towers and templars, yet have mages in every clan? I'd wager the Chantry hasn't taught you any way of life but the one, and it's so terribly cruel that they've gotten you to believe it's actually very kind. I wouldn't trade hard work for pampering, if it came at such a cost."

[stumbling]

That? That has him bristling. It's something he's heard far too much of of late, and it's the belief that ultimately cost him his home. His life. The place that gave him every opportunity he's had and took care of him since he was a boy. Gone because so many other mages started to think they were better off without it.

"It's not cruel. Maybe the Circle isn't perfect, but it's better than any alternative. Can't you see what's happened to the world since they fell apart? I don't know how you manage, but we need our circles. That's obvious now more than ever."

[mythalenaste]

"Or maybe you need to learn a better way, and the answers aren't all in your Chantry. Maybe other people have a point of view you could use, and denying that only makes the problem worse."

[stumbling]

Learn a better way. From a Dalish elf who insists written information is less reliable than that passed on by word of mouth. If he weren't so upset by what she was saying he might be tempted to laugh.

"The Circle works. It's always worked. They've never been this chaotic, and just look at how things are now."

He's sure Thedas can't have been so awful before the mages started this blighted war even not having seen it until then.

[mythalenaste]

Not that it's less reliable, only that her own education is nothing to sniff at.

"When a Dalish child's magic manifests, they have other mages right there to help them. With your Circle, they're alone. Their parents are afraid and it takes big men with swords and armor marching them miles away before they can meet anyone who can help them. That's asking for trouble."

[stumbling]

"They were nice beneath the armour." At least his had been, miserable as he'd been when he'd travelled with them. "They carried me when I got tired, and one of them tried to help me with my seasickness. I know some mages are brought in badly, but most of them aren't, and if they are those templars should be dealt with. They're supposed to protect us, not hurt us.

"Besides, the feeling when you get to a tower... to be surrounded by so many mages. To get to grow up with children who share your abilities. Not just a few. Everyone. Except the templars, I suppose, but they're needed too. It's worth the delay before you start learning. I wish every mage could have that opportunity."

His tone is wistful. He misses his home more than every when he thinks about it, especially the good aspect. Things had been increasingly tense in the last few years, but it hadn't always been that way.

[mythalenaste]

The air goes quiet between them. She's thinking about libraries, about being encouraged to learn to her heart's content. How many resources were locked away in those towers, which could have helped her people? What could she have brought back, if she were allowed to leave? How much could she learn, without the need to break her back doing chores every day?

"I'd like it, if I could leave," she says quietly. "But don't you see that to submit to the Circles would be further erasure of our culture? Tevinter tried so hard to do that to us, and they almost succeeded. We can't let the tides wear us away anymore. We can't afford it. There are things they don't teach in your Circles and I wish we could all learn from each other, but it's never been possible before."

[stumbling]

The admission surprises him. He'd expected her to continue to defend her way of life over his, and while this isn't exactly praise it's not the criticism he's waiting for. He blinks, not quite sure how to respond in light of that.

"Then why do you isolate yourselves?" he asks, because the Dalish choose that. Even since leaving the Circle he's never seen one until now.

[mythalenaste]

He must not know.

"Because humans hate us. They think we're heathens who cause every ill that they can think to blame on us. If they know where we are, they organize bands to attack us. Whole clans have been wiped out that way. Some of the humans can be traded with, but we do it far away from our camp and never let them follow us back. Also, if templars know where we are, they'll take our Keepers. And our Firsts and Seconds, if they can identify them."

[stumbling]

"Well, of course you're heathens. That doesn't mean we hate you."

It troubles him she seems to think humans are so ready to attack them. Templars taking what are presumably their mages he can understand, but surely they wouldn't attack for no reason. Particularly if they were peaceable enough to be willing to trade with trade with them.

"Have you ever been attacked yourself?" he asks, because this has to be some sort of rumour she's heard. Or if not a bad experience that's marred her perception.