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

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

[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.

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I know the feeling. Best not to risk it in this place. The chances don't favor revival, all things considered.

[He'll be all right, right? He seems very unconcerned about the revival business, is that part of his price?]

Er...have you noticed anything strange about yourself after waking up? We nearly always lose something on revival. A sense, a memory, something.

No? I have all my fingers and toes. I remember my days in this wretched place and before. My parents. My nannies. My tutors.

I feel fine. Better than before. I'm sure I'll be fine.

[Dorian smiles confidently.]

[Yeah, that "better than before" is a tip. The places one revives are not normally so conducive to thoughts of well-being.]

That-...not that it isn't a refreshing sight, to see someone so energized after their deaths, but, that might be what's wrong here. Please try to think of something that would concern or worry you. Does it still?

You mean like telling you that I enjoy talking to you and would be sad if anything were to befall you? No, I feel fine.

Ah-...that's flattering. And comforting to know.

[And he means it. But. Well... He has a feeling he knows what it is.]

...Is it your ability to control what you say? I've suffered that one, myself. It was a nuisance, but it had its usefulness, too.

I feel in control.

[A shrug.]

But who can really know since it seems we're turning into disinhibited killers every other week?

Let's see. I wish to speak of nugs. They have creepy little feet and they seem to be everywhere. They taste like some bizarre combination of rabbit and pork.

I'd say I have control over what I'm saying, to be tautologous.

Rabbit and- that does sound bizarre. I'm not sure my world has anything like that.

[He has no idea how to reconcile the two tastes, honestly. And, well, that's just distracting. What are nugs supposed to be? He knows rabbits and he knows swine, but he can't think of any animal that would taste like both (little pork as he's had, with how difficult to raise in desert climates pigs are). But then there are at least two landmasses he'd never get to without flight or long-term sailing he doesn't know the fauna of.]

The texture is more like rabbit. The flavor is more like pork. It's not terrible, merely... oddly distressing. I have wondered whether the dwarves brought the nugs with them.

[It's always a guessing game which species are invasive.]

What do they look like? I'm trying to discern whether they're something I know by a different name or not.

[Because he knows rabbits and pigs. Why wouldn't he know this?]

Rather like rabbits with cat legs. They have the long floppy ears of a rabbit, are of a roughly similar size. Typically they're tan or black. And they have the aforementioned creepy little feet. A snout more reminiscent of a horse's. Generally furless.

I- I can't think of anything quite like that. We have rabbits, cats, pigs, and horses in common, but either I have simply never seen one of these nugs or they don't exist where I'm from.

[Strange, with all the other animals in common...]

Do you have dwarves where you're from? If not, they may be from the same place. A number of creatures came to Thedas from other worlds. Including humans, as a matter of fact.

No? There are people born significantly shorter than others, but I don't think they're distinct from other people any other way. I'm fairly sure it's only us humans on Earth, so far as intelligent life made of flesh and bone is concerned.

We have dwarves, elves, and Qunari as well as humans. I'm not certain whether dragons count in this context but evidently some of those are intelligent as well. And darkspawn emissaries.

A delightful array of intelligent beings to compete in who is better at killing the others, it seems like some days.

Humans alone do so just as well, sometimes. Do they never try to cooperate?

Everyone pulls together to fight the Blight when one arises. But that's killing a dragon and his attendant darkspawn.

[Wait a minute...]

...You also said these darkspawn were intelligent? Or are they more akin to demons than people?

I prefer demons. Darkspawn emissaries have the wit to speak. All the rest seem to be operating on the level of hanging and biting anything that moves. The biting is infectious. At least I'll never become a demon. I may end up a darkspawn.

Can these emissaries command the less intelligent ones?

[Can there be peace, he asks, completely removed from the situation...]

Yes. Typically they come up with the strategies that enable their fellows, to burn and kill entire villages.

[Oh, that's not pleasant. But, if they're intelligent, surely...]

They can speak and are intelligent - can they be reasoned with?

As they pillage and burn their way across the land? Not really, no.

The one darkspawn I've encountered who could be said to be reasoned with was intent on destroying the world to bring back a non-existent golden age in his past. Spent quite a bit of time shouting about Dumat from what I hear. The Dragon of Silence had been dead for centuries by then.

At least they give the rest of you something in common to fear or hate, I suppose. Unfortunate that they can't be reasoned with.

Edited (not actually text, self) 2017-11-08 21:12 (UTC)

Nothing brings people together like a dragon the size of a castle with the ability to summon storms the size of mountain ranges, leading an army of beings willing to throw themselves into danger without a thought to self-preservation in pursuit of ending all other life.

...I would almost prefer demons, too.

[And he means his demons, too, the kind that don't need a big old beacon of magic to twist someone into a monstrosity.]

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