public channel, forward dated a smidge to the morning of d15

[kingsroads]

Months ago, during the Celebration, a few of us got together to talk about and compare the magic from our worlds. Well, it's been a while since then and we've certainly picked up more magicians, so why not revive that little discussion group?

[ he's phrasing it as a hypothetical but as Strange keeps barging on, there's nothing hypothetical about it: he is totally reviving that discussion group. ]

I've asked around and the smaller festival hall in the building closest to the carnival portal is available for our use. Anyone who's interested should meet there tonight, just after sundown, for an informal gathering to talk about magic. There will be space inside the festival hall and outside in the snow for anyone to demonstrate their techniques.

Likewise, anyone who wishes to learn about magic should come and visit as well. [ And there's a bit of a pause like Strange is trying his hardest to choose his words carefully. ] Magicians in the carnival have different types of magic drawing upon different techniques. While one school of thought might seem incomprehensible, another might seem as clear as day. This is a chance for those of us with magic to learn from each other and develop our skills and those of us who wish to learn magic to see what practice would best fit their needs.

[ There's a pause, because Strange has no idea how to end this. ] Sound off if you're coming, I suppose. Oh, and can someone bring snacks?

( ooc: this is an ic post about mage club, an idea floated around on the cr meme a while back. I'll put up a mingle log later in the week for the actual meeting itself. as for this post, feel free to threadjack around! )

Comments

[kingsroads]

The magic as well as other things. Entrances to other realms, for example.

[ The way that Strange is talking, he's just so in love with all of this. He adores magic and adores discoveries and that's apparent just from his voice. ]

Castles and bridges that I couldn't even guess how old they were! And roads that led you from place to place.

[atouts]

Likely not, but someone using magic to harm isn't liable to write to us complaining about it like someone's mother would.

[ He's by no means a naive man. If magic's returned for all of England, truly all of it, then he isn't going to exclude all the other shady bastards out there, ones far less well-meaning than himself. Something to deal with another time, however. ]

From only one source, you mean?

[dirthena]

And nothing is worse than a righteously angry mother. Or anyone, for that matter, but I believe mothers tend to have more at stake.

( but his question is one she can answer easily. )

With the exception of blood magic, yes. ( lavellan wonders if this borders on something best discussed during the meeting proposed by strange, but there's no harm in explaining it briefly. ) A mage is someone who can draw upon the energy of a place we call the Fade, and use it to reshape reality in some way. There are mages who specialize in using nature, others who focus in healing; but the still draw upon the same power.

[dirthena]

At least two thousand years. ( she muses, attempting to do the math. the chantry had been around for a thousand, and arlathan had fallen long before that. lavellan could ask solas for an exact dates, but there wasn't really any good way to bring that up with him. )

It has a name, you know. The Crossroads.

( not that she's surprised he doesn't know that -- it didn't seem to be something wildly known. )

[prazerbutterfly]

[Strange can't see him grinning but he definitely is.]

I don't know. I wouldn't want to impose. A good walk every now and then never killed anyone.

[kingsroads]

How interesting...we call it the king's roads in my time.

[ Strange just was refraining from using the term mostly because he's got no idea if Lavellan would know the term or not in the first place. ]

[dirthena]

The King's Roads? Does someone lay claim to them, as if they are his?

( there's a sizable part of her that is willing to start a fight if it's some shemlen king. no one else gets to lay claim to the history of the elves, especially not after they'd gotten it all wrong to begin with. )

[atouts]

[ Only he is that person. Is and isn't, all at the same time, or at least that's how it sounded. Unsurprising how bending reality makes such a mess of things like this, but he won't mention it. Strange has his own issues with Portland without him adding more doubts to that pile.

So, he just shrugs, even if he does sound just a little more bitter about it than he normally does anything else. ]

I suppose I could make a game of it. See how many absent fathers I can rack up during the rest of my contract.

[ It's an actual attempt at a joke, at least. That's a little better, right? ]

[kingsroads]

The man who built them lays claim to them: The Raven King. Stolen away to faerie as a child, he grew up, ruled there, then came back to England to rule it as well.

[ it's straight up some shemlen king. ]

[kingsroads]

And you'll have those good walks until I figure out the magic needed.

[kingsroads]

Better you racking up absent fathers than my game of trying to get the fae's attention.

[ It's said with a wry little smile, Strange trying to make a joke to match Childermass's joke. But that doesn't change the fact that this is still a matter of fundamental importance for Childermass and Strange honestly has no idea what to do about it.

Because of course there's something he can do about it. Strange thinks that there's something he can do about most things. ]

[atouts]

[ And because he's Childermass, it's already apparent he isn't going to ask for help figuring out what to do with it, even if he will at least discuss it. ]

Hm. [ Really, though. ] You're right, that is better. At least we can expect those to remain absent rather than freeze everything and snow us in.

[ Though now that he thinks of Frost, he really hopes they don't run into that one again, either! Childermass would prefer no Winter Fae in the court's immediate future, thanks. ]

[kingsroads]

[ One day these idiots will learn how to work together. Today isn't that day. ]

Or kidnap one's wife. Or enthrall me into attacking my friends. At least Frost was just a nuisance.

[ Still, Strange kind of hopes he doesn't run into any of the fae he's dealt with again. ]

[whattaprick]

Does it need to be whiskey?

[dirthena]

And is this Raven King the sort to lay claim to building that which he did not?

( she's absolutely going to fight the raven king. )

[atouts]

The first two, at least, should no longer be a problem for us.

[ One, he assumes, is extremely vanquished, the other unable to find Strange. If she can find the rest of them, well... It's not like he can do much about that part, but still. ]

[kingsroads]

The Raven King was the one who built them in the first place.

[ Strange is going to fight every elf. ]

[dirthena]

Then you do not know them as I do, for they were built by the People, not some shemlen stolen away.

( sorry buddy. )

[kingsroads]

I hope you're right.

[ Paranoid? Who's paranoid? Strange isn't paranoid, why would you think that. There's a pause before Strange swaps the conversation...right back to Childermass's odd soul, sorry buddy. ]

And I also hope you'll tell me if your soul undergoes any more, erm, 'oddities.' Norrell and I will be away from England for who knows how long. I want to know exactly what we might face.

[kingsroads]

Again with that word! What precisely is a shemlen?

[dirthena]

The literal translation is 'quick children', if it matters. But shemlen are humans.

[prazerbutterfly]

I'll look forward to it. See you at the hall later.

[kingsroads]

If you look down on humans than what are you in the first place?

[dirthena]

To look down on them would mean being above them in the first place. ( muttered, even though she is, a little. ) An elf, one of the People.

[kingsroads]

[ a paaaaaaaaaause. ]

Well, you're certainly not Spanish in that case. My world doesn't have elves.