>>@SUBUBI | @ALL

[excelsus]

I may be completely alone in this, but is anyone else disturbed by the alarming dearth of rebel archivests?

Fortunately it seems that the number of books outnumber the actual people who wish to burn them which is rather fortunate because some of these things I can actually read. The Malleus Maleficarum is actually quite a facinating read if you're interested in the true barbarism of this world.

Malleus refers to a hammer and Maleficarum is the plural of Maleficar which refers to one who is wicked or depraved. In this sense it seems to loosely translate as Hammer of Witches...I laughed admittedly.

I'm certain it would be Hammer of Mages where I come from, but that is completely apart from the point.

Apparently these people believed that magic was some sort of delusion of the mind precipitated by demonic seduction through visions and dreams. They blamed the most rudimentary of problems on people, captured them, tortured them into fraudulent admissions, and then killed them.

The magic and spells they discuss are not even real magic, not as I know it anyway...unless one considers mathematics, philosophy, and general enlightenment magical.

I suppose I would define magic as the ability to expend mana...or putting it more simply, the ability to burn my accuser's face off by willing primal fire into being.

And here I thought the Southern Circles were bestial. Flaying someone alive for anomalous intelligengence, very dyed-in-the-wool dedication to the extermination of magic...and that there could be a book devoted to the finding and killing these so-called magic users.

It's certainly telling, not completely unfamiliar either. I'm certain the Southern Chantry has their own step-by-step process for teasing out mages and spiriting them away to the Circles.

Comments

[chariotry]

[ Achilles regards the orb with a look that almost appears apathetic. Taking it within his hand, he lets it roll back and forth from his palm, to the tips of his fingers. He's never been that interested in magic and his own magic isn't that potent. From what he can tell, though, this orb can only be as useful as its user.

Honestly, he would have been more interested in the story of the skull and how he acquired it, if it'd been through the means of violence. But if he had just gotten it from a shop, then it isn't a compelling story at all. ]

Your way of magecraft seems old-fashioned. [ He rudely tosses the orb from one hand to the other, like he's idly playing around with a baseball. ] Not that I have much knowledge about this stuff to begin with... I'm no mage, after all.

[excelsus]

If you have no knowledge about this stuff, then how do you know it's old fashioned? [Dorian wasn't perturbed, but he wasn't the easiest man to get a read on given the pleasant expression he always wore. He did, however, draw the orb back to his own hand, not by any physical means, but by means of magic it seemed drawn to his hand by some magnetic force.

As for the staff, Dorian didn't acquire it from a shop, but from the Still Ruins of the Western Approach. Shops did not usually carry such rare artifacts. The details of that quest didn't matter all that much, however, what did any of that mean here?] It's enough to topple dragons, darkspawn, and demons. It's enough to carry me short distances without moving, it's enough for me to slow things down or speed them up. It's enough to defeat my enemies with terror alone or to be able to kill them by passing through their bodies. The utility of magic vastly outweighs whether or not it's dated.

[Dorian explained this while attentively replacing the rune.] So why are we here?

[At least there's wine now, finally. The mage is predicting a very brief conversation given his companion's lack of interest. Being a mage was a huge part of Dorian's identity after all.]