04 ❀

[princessia]

Who: Elize Lutus and YOU maybe?
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: FS Starlight, at the parks!
When: February 14-20ish?

[VIDEO]

[ The broadcast opens up to show a young girl with fluffy blonde hair, only about eleven or twelve years of age. She's sitting down, out in the park. She has a notebook, a stash of pens, her mage staff, and her doll next to her. ]

...I'm Elize Lutus. Hello. I've been here for about ten months now? I think. If anyone needs help with anything, let me know. I'll do my best.

[ That's mainly directed towards many of the newcomers to the fleet. Then there's an awkward pause. That's not the reason why she's making a video broadcast in the first place. For someone as shy as Elize, she normally dislikes recording herself for the entire public to see. ]

Um... so, I've been learning a lot about other worlds. And Jove has been teaching me how to write in the common tongue! She taught me some Elvish words too. Like falon. That means friend.

[ The reason she decided to record herself is to show off what she has been learning, her achievements, like a proud child. She opens up her notebook, holding it open to the screen. It's lines of sentences written in the common tongue, recognizable to those who come from Thedas. (It looks a bit like this.) Some lines are written in practiced repetition. They're extremely basic sentences like "my name is...", "how are you?", simple greetings, etc.

Everything is written in sparkly, pink gel pen ink that she bought from the station. It's written neatly too, with no smudging. She made sure the ink dried! ]

When I get better, I'm hoping to write a letter entirely in common tongue.

[ She flips the notebook over to look at her own writing. Her shoulders slump in disappointment and her proud expression begins to falter, like there's a moment of disbelief that the letter she writes might not reach. She then looks back up, putting on a brave smile even though her cheeks are red with embarrassment. She'll get this letter delivered, somehow. ]

If... anyone wants to hang out or something, I'm at the park. Or, we can just chat over the communicator. That's fine too.

[ACTION]

[ And as she mentioned in the broadcast, Elize will be in the park. She's laying down on her stomach, being diligent and practicing writing down sentences repeatedly in her notebook. ]

Comments

video

[bryces_pup]

I am. My name's Riona. I don't know how much you know about Thedas, but I come from a kingdom called Ferelden.

[She's curious as to how much Elize has learned about her world. From what Cole said, she wants to visit.]

Really? [Dramatic shudder.] I'd be loathe to learn that, then. Do you know how to write in ... Rieze Maxian as well?

video

[princessia]

Ferelden... I know there's a lake there?

[ It's where Cullen came from and there was a lake from his childhood there. Admittedly, she recognizes the name, but she doesn't know much else about it. Most of her knowledge of Thedas is about the spirits, people from the Inquisition, Skyhold, the animals...

And the mage circles... which she very much does not like the sound of. ]

Yes, I can write it easily. Wanna see?

video

[bryces_pup]

[Elize's tidbit earns a laugh from her. Out of all the things she expected Elize might know of Ferelden that had... not been one of them.]

Yes, there is. Lake Calenhad. It's a very, very big lake.

[Which is where the Fereldan Circle is and yes, Circles are poopy.]

Please, I'd love to!

video

[princessia]

Is there anything special in Lake Calenhad? Tadpoles?

[ She didn't realize that was funny, but she smiles anyway because she made Riona laugh. She's not sure if Lake Calenhad is the same lake Cullen spent his childhood at or if it's a different lake though. ]

I can probably write your name. Hold on.

[ She sets her notebook on the ground for a moment, jotting down Riona's name quickly based on how she heard her pronounce it. She noticeably makes a bunch of little small strokes though. Give her a moment to blow on the ink before finally holding it up to the camera to show what she wrote. ]

video

[bryces_pup]

I bet there are tadpoles in many parts of it, though I've never gotten the chance to look for any. But as for something special... Well, the town of Redcliffe sits near its shore, as well as the Fereldan Circle of Magi. There is a legend about King Calenhad and the lake, if you're interested in hearing it.

[When Elize shows her what's on her notepad, Riona smiles in delight.]

Oh that's beautiful! Thank you! [And it looks entirely indecipherabe to her.] But goodness, you weren't joking about the number of strokes.

video

[princessia]

You're welcome.

[ She smiles, then sets the notebook back down. She's not sure how she managed to learn such a complicated-looking language or who even taught her, but with how quickly her writing was, she's clearly skilled at it. ]

Circles... [ The look of discomfort she makes at the mention of them. Obviously she heard about them. Elize, herself, is a young mage. ] I want to hear about King Calenhad.

video

[bryces_pup]

[The unease is apparent, and Riona hesitates, as the story does involve the Circle, though it's nothing bad. Hopefully Elize will not mind it. She smiles before she begins:]

Ages ago, a man named Calenhad Theirin sought to unite all the tribes in the land we now know as Ferelden. In his quest to do so, he came to the Tower of Magi, situated on the lake. He stayed there for a year. Each and every day, he would go down to the lake and draw from it a single cup of water. He would walk all the way up to the top of the tower. It's said the mages used their magic to form a single ring of mail armor from that water he brought. He did this every day for an entire year, until finally he had a full set of armor. The magic in his armor was said to shield him from any sword or arrow, so long as he stood on Fereldan soil.

If it's true or not, no one really knows for sure, but Calenhad did go on to succeed in uniting Ferelden. No one was ever able to best him in combat. His line still remains on the throne, even four hundred years later.

video

[princessia]

[ Elize pays close attention throughout the entire story. Nothing bad about mages or mages being treated badly in it. The mages were helping, doing good, it sounds like. Her attention is mostly brought to King Calenhad's actions. ]

Every day for an entire year? [ Her tone is in amazement and awe. That sounds like an amazing king, with a lot of patience. ] King Calenhad was really devoted to his goal!

video

[bryces_pup]

So the story goes! The armor earned him the name the Silver Knight, in fact.

[Riona's nods.] He was... quite bent on it, yes. But I suppose it was a necessary trait. One does not unite several disparate Alamarri tribes lightly.

[Calenhad was kind of a bad-ass, honestly, even if he made some questionable personal choices.]

video

[princessia]

[ She nods in agreement, believing a good king should have a lot of good traits. Devotion, being one of them. She hasn't had a good impression of the royalty or kings, not in Rieze Maxia. King Nachtigal and King Gaius scared her. ]

Was King Calenhad well-respected by his people?

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[bryces_pup]

I believe so. He certainly won their respect and allegiance. Many were not too happy about having some upstart try and unite all of the tribes, but the more came under his banner, the more I think they began to realize that he had it in him to succeed. But this was ages ago, so a lot has been muddied and distorted from the passage of time.

video

[princessia]

Do you know about the kings and queens that followed after him? Did they live up to his name?

[bryces_pup]

There are very many who followed Calenhad. Most were... decent, I would say, but I think part of that is due to the nobles of the land keeping the monarchy in check. In Ferelden, the nobility have more power than in most other kingdoms. The king or queen rules, of course, but they must answer to the Landsmeet - the gathering and legislative body of all the Fereldan nobility. If necessary, the Landsmeet can override the reigning monarch and even pressure them to concede the throne, though I am not sure if that's ever happened.

[princessia]

[ A pause. That's a lot of information for Elize to process all at once. Give her a moment to try to understand, watering it all down into more simpler terms.

She repeats, slowly... ]

The Landsmeet, the gathering and leh-jus-slay-tiff [ She stumbles over "legislative." She's not even sure what that means, but she assumes this means a very important group of nobility. ] body of Fereldan nobility, can make the current ruler step down from the throne?

[bryces_pup]

[Sorry, Elize. Riona's not used to talking to kids and having to break down information for them. At Elize's confusion, she backs up and starts over.]

Le-gis-la-tive. Fancy term for something that has to do with making laws. The Landsmeet refers to both the actual body and the annual meeting. All the nobles meet in Denerim, the capital, once a year, unless an emergency meeting is called at some other point.

And they can, essentially. It's not as easy as saying "You have to vacate the throne" but if the nobles work together, they can make the monarch's life pretty difficult and all but make them step down.

[princessia]

Le-... le-gis-la-tive.

[ She repeats it again, much slower and correctly this time around. Even when information and terms don't get broken down for her, Elize soaks up information like a sponge. She could probably parrot back a lot of Riona's saying for later. Similarly, she does the same with Cole's explanations. ]

The nobles sound more powerful than the monarch.

[bryces_pup]

They can be, to an extent. Fereldan royalty does have to pander to them in some ways. It's something they have had to do since the time of Calenhad. Part of the reason why he succeeded in uniting Ferelden is because he allowed the regional leaders he bested to maintain control of their lands, so long as they swore fealty to him.

[Riona's a bit surprised at how much she remembers of her history. Her old tutor would be proud.]

If a king or queen is very popular and well-liked, the nobility usually let them be and do not interfere terribly much. They will not risk the people's upset if they can avoid it.

[princessia]

Wow...

[ It sounds that either Elize is amazed by the amount of information she's trying to take in or how much Riona knows. Probably a bit of both. ]

You sure know a lot about your kingdom, Riona.

[bryces_pup]

[Riona has to fight back a laugh at that.]

Thank you. I come from a noble family and was brought up expected to participate in the Fereldan court. Learning about it was necessary.

[princessia]

Oh! You're a noble...

[ That makes sense. Now she's imagining all sorts of fancy things like what Driselle has in the Sharil Manor. And her role in society, of course. ]

Do you live in a big manor?

[bryces_pup]

I did. My family lived in Castle Cousland, our ancestral home in Highever.

[She misses her childhood home, though after what happened, even if she could go back now, she probably wouldn't. Nothing would be the same and it would never feel like home again.]

[princessia]

Did you have to stay in the castle for most of your life? I have a friend who also lives in a really big manor! She wasn't able to travel a lot.

[bryces_pup]

I did not necessarily have to stay. Sometimes I would spend a few months in a friend's home in Amaranthine or with some of our distant family in Ostwick.

[princessia]

...Do you have a lot of family members, Riona?

[bryces_pup]

[An innocent question, but it's a very hard one for Riona to answer. Her head bows as she looks away, giving herself a moment to try and come up with an answer without having to go into the awful details.]

I used to. Unfortunately, I only have an older brother now. And my husband. The rest are gone.