[Network] @dorianpavus, Video Day 283 [Open]

[whiteknightnecromancer]

[Dorian has his tablet set up on a pew to show him sitting where he's leaning against the altar in the chapel. He smiles in a friendly way and gives the tablet a little wave. His appearance shows signs of grooming and he's grown a small beard since he arrived.]

Manaveris! How is everyone? I am more alive than previously anticipated.

I'm afraid I don't know this building or the surroundings but I'm sure that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

But enough about me. How are the rest of you? Is there anyone nearby? This place is rather lonely.

Comments

[whiteknightnecromancer]

Yes. Magic!

[Dorian brightens considerably.]

We have that. I'm a mage in case you couldn't tell. Not a blood mage, I assure you. I'm a necromancer.

[cahooted]

I couldn't tell – well, I wasn't sure – but it absolutely makes sense. I mean, it suits you. You're kind of... mage-y. In a good way? ... So I guess blood mages are the bad guys then?

[He did put them in line with slavery and brutal conquest, if it's any indication.]

Necromancer. You... raise the dead?

[whiteknightnecromancer]

Blood magic offers greater power but it's addictive. For best results, make sacrifices. Disgusting. It's magic for those too weak minded to come up with a better way.

[Dorian sneers in disgust at the thought, pushing it away with both hands before moving on to necromancy.]

I animate the dead. Typically for research purposes.

[cahooted]

I see.

[Flynn isn't sure if he finds necromancy all that more tasteful. Yes, they are already dead but maybe they want to stay that way? It's food for thought, definitely, and he's curious. A bit biased, too, as he had some very very bad experiences with people trying to dabble in necromancy.]

What exactly do you research when you ra– animate the dead?

[whiteknightnecromancer]

The interaction between the Fade and the physical plane, generally. Most necromancy doesn't require corpses at all. They make good containers for Spirits because of the mobility and flexibility. When they come through accidentally, Spirits and Demons will take anything from trees, to statues, to wild animals, to corpses.

The laboratory is a controlled environment where we can see what they're capable of and how they perceive and interact with their environment. We can compare that against how thick the Veil is in the area at the time and what's on the other side since that shifts about quite a bit.

The Fade being the non-physical plane of existence that is the source of magic where I'm from. It probably helps if I explain that. No one else seems to have anything similar.

[Dorian's enthusiasm is about the magic and learning about he nature of the world.]

[cahooted]

The Fade. [Flynn nods; he can work with that explanation, it being where magic comes from.] And I guess the Veil is what... separates the physical plane from the Fade?

[He doesn't know the words but the concepts make sense. When spirits come through they generally have to come through something, right?]

Do you only work with the ones that drop in unannounced or do you... bring them over? Do you help them to go back?

[whiteknightnecromancer]

Yes, it is. The ones that come through and get lost have a tendency to rapidly become angry and disoriented. The exceptions are frequently even more dangerous. Fighting them is more prudent than studying them.

Usually I bring them through and send them back. The ones I work with are less intelligent, they have no autonomy, no personality. I also send them back when I'm done.

[cahooted]

Hah! [He grins, pleased to have assumed correctly.]

That's very interesting. [And slightly terrifying, coming to think of it.] So what exactly are you studying? How they behave, what they can tell you about the afterlife? [How to control them to summon an army of ghosts and wreck havoc on Earth?

Just asking.]

[whiteknightnecromancer]

Afterlife? No, no, no. When we are dead our souls cross to the Maker's side. If we're good, we spend the rest of eternity basking in His presence.

[That wasn't science, that was religion. In his own way, Dorian was a devout Andrastian.]

Spirits and Demons aren't human and never were. Or elf or dwarf or Qunari, come to that. They are native to the Fade. Studying them can tell us about the Fade, about magic. About how it all works. Studying them allows us a greater understanding of ourselves and our interactions with the Fade.

[cahooted]

Your spirits aren't human? So the souls of the dead, they never get... trapped or return? That's what we usually call spirits in our world.

[Maybe just an issue of terminology? The again, it would be naive to assume that all magic in all the realms – universes – whatever you wanted to call it were the same.]

I am familiar with elves and dwarves, uh, what exactly are Qunari?

[whiteknightnecromancer]

Erm, no. Not that we've ever verified. There have been cases of some misguided spirit or demon latching on to the memories of someone going through a period of strong emotion but no verification that such a person has themselves lingered in the Fade. Our ghosts are imprints in time, again linked with strong emotion and the Fade.

[Dorian perks up on the subject of Qunari.]

Eight feet tall, muscular, horns on their heads. Well, the race of people known as Qunari are such. The Qun is a religion and all its followers are known as Qunari. Not all of the muscular, horned people are followers of the Qun.

[Dorian makes an ambivalent gesture.]

I've spent a great deal of time around Vashoth, those who have abandoned the Qun. Less time around Qunari proper due to their habit of trying to kill Vints like myself. Something about the war we've had on for the last three hundred years.

[cahooted]

I see.

[He's trying to keep up but these are a lot of new words Dorian is throwing at him.]

So Vint, I assume that's the people from Tevinter? And you're at war with the Qunari. Not too sure I got the thing about the Vashoth, are those... non-religious Qunari?

[whiteknightnecromancer]

Right on both counts. Tevene may be more formally accurate but Vint is used more commonly. And I like the way it sounds. Vint. Vintage.

Vashoth is... those who left the Qun in a more literal sense but colloquially means the Qunari who aren't religiously of the Qun.

[cahooted]

That does have a nice ring to it.

[He frowns.] More literal sense? You mean like outcasts? Did they start their own... clan?

[whiteknightnecromancer]

Vintner.

Nothing so organized. They simply left. As simple as it can be to run form a murderous religion that breaks the minds of followers who dissent. Many of them have little idea how to live in places where people aren't raised wholly in dormitories and don't live lives so regimented that an extra pinch of sugar in the bread is a rebellion.

At least to begin with. Many become people like any other group. But it is difficult to build much group unity when everyone left for their own reasons and stays away from their Qun for their own reasons.

[cahooted]

Vintner. [He mimicks Dorian's emphasis, grinning.]

Do you take them in? The Vashoth. I mean there's you and this clan with their horrible religious suppression, left out the horrible suppression bit by the way, and then these guys, do you... take them in?

[whiteknightnecromancer]

We... No, not generally. They typically find work as mercenaries or other for hire work.

[He sighs.]

Truthfully, we have many problems of our own and I am aware that anyone who is not us has a different opinion on how we handle them.

[He's trying to be diplomatic on the slavery front. He doesn't think it's possible to simply hit the Undo button on that nor has he seen a system he thinks is better but he also doesn't actually think people selling themselves into slavery is a good thing and has no real desire to argue about it.]

[cahooted]

I see.

[He frowns, thinking some more, fingers drumming against his chin.] And this war of yours, has it been going on for long?

[whiteknightnecromancer]

Three hundred years! They took some of our islands on landing. Clearly we're doing an excellent job of getting Par Vollen back.

[That's very sarcastic.]

[cahooted]

Three hundred years?

[He just gapes there for a second.]

I'm impressed you even remember what started it at that point.

CW: body horror

[whiteknightnecromancer]

Yes, well, one tends to remember the arrival of an enemy who wants to sew one's mouth shut and destroy one's way of life while claiming they're doing everyone involved a favor.

[cahooted]

Well.

When you put it that way.

[whiteknightnecromancer]

Mm, yes. The south doesn't truly appreciate the threat they pose because we're between them and they hate us too.

[Of all the reasons he wants to handle his planned political revolution carefully, this is the one that tops the list.]

So it remains fresh in our minds.

[cahooted]

Between them? So you're the buffer zone, geographically speaking?

[whiteknightnecromancer]

Yes, precisely. The southern portion of the continent used to be part of the Imperium before they revolted. Now we occupy the north, physically between them and Par Vollen.