Fade Rift: Inbox

[keenly]

you know what to do

Comments

[keenly]

...Who's Shartan?

[sulahnan]

Are you—

[ Athessa struggles to right herself with some more flailing limbs, eventually pushing herself to sit cross-legged but still backwards on the deck chair. ]

—Are you serious? They don't even teach you about Shartan? The Liberator? He was burned at the stake alongside Andraste, and they don't even teach anybody about him?

[keenly]

Um.

[Colin looks very uncomfortable now.]

He might have got mentioned. But he also might not. They say all sorts about how all mages are equal in the Circle, but...no. Don't want any elves getting any ideas.

[sulahnan]

Ffffffucking Chantry fucks.

[ Where the heck is that joint? Wherever it is, she gets it and takes in a lungful before explaining. Way more calmly. Sorry, Col. ]

Shartan rose up and led a small army of elven slaves in rebellion against Tevinter, around the same time as Andraste. They joined forces and fought together, and Andraste named Shartan her champion. He and his army tried to save her when she was betrayed and tied to the stake, but they were all killed and he was burned with her.

[keenly]

...So an elf did the exact same thing as Andraste and suffered the exact same punishment. It's no wonder I'd never heard of him.

[sulahnan]

Yeah. Andraste promised the freed elven slaves the Dales as their new homeland, and her sons upheld the bargain, but then the Chantry started sending missionaries. Templars, too, when the missionaries were turned away.

[ She tosses her hands in the air, fed-up with this shit, the gesture says.]

[keenly]

And then the Exalted March. Which. Only the Orlesian chantries participated in that, but once it was part of history, the rest of the Chantry had to pretend it was holy instead of just...a land grab.

[sulahnan]

[ She compresses her lips into a straight line and nods. ]

And so the only good elves are city elves because they assimilated, and the ones who didn't surrender are the wild elves that eat children and hang people from the treetops by their ears.

[keenly]

Pretty much.

[Colin takes a sip of the wine he'd poured for them both.]

They always talked about how everyone is equal in the Circle. No class, plenty of elven First Enchanters, even the Grand Enchanter is an elf. But somehow, all the really bad things that happened never happened to people with important families. Just poor people and elves.

[sulahnan]

[ She makes an inarticulate noise of agreement and frustration at the state of things, and then simply lets the mutual distaste for the Chantry sit for a few moments.

Then, she starts giggling to herself, like a fool laughing at her own joke. ]

[keenly]

What?

[sulahnan]

I just thought — [ more snickering ] — I just thought about elves calling humans brother, and about you being my brother, but if anything I'd be Shartan, making you — [ hehehehehehe ] — making you Andraste.

[ add that to the list of potential Satinalia costumes ]

[keenly]

[A snort. A giggle. Then Colin is chuckling along with her.]

That would have made for a very different religion.

[sulahnan]

Very different. But I bet you could pull off the look.

[keenly]

On fire?

[sulahnan]

[ She full-on cackles, and snorts, and waves her hands in front of her face like they might ferry more air into her lungs that way. ]

No, the [ wheeze ] The crown and shit.

[keenly]

[More chuckling.]

No, it would mess up my hair. That's crown enough.

[sulahnan]

Naaah. She wears that...thing. The like...sheet. Over her head, right?

[keenly]

...That's not her hair?

[sulahnan]

Is it?? I thought it was one of those head cloths.

[keenly]

I thought it was her hair because she had no reason to wear one of those head cloths.

Well either way, not covering my hair. I have very nice hair. They said so when they shaved it off at the Circle.

[sulahnan]

Rude of them to shave it off if they thought it was so pretty.

[keenly]

They did it to a lot of apprentices who came in from poor families in case they had lice.

[sulahnan]

Ugh.

[ She looks at him, quite serious despite her stupor. ]

You do have beautiful hair, Colin. It's too powerful, they had to suppress it.

[ Aaand she's laughing again. ]

[keenly]

[And so is he, to the point of having little snorts as he inhales.]

The true source of my magic, [he giggles as he flips it luxuriously.]