driftfleet | tenth labyrinth

Entry tags:

tenth labyrinth

Who: Felix Harrowgate
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Starstruck, if you want
When: Today-ish

[While he's spent the last few months ignoring the fleet at large for his own interests, he's finally feeling in the mood to make an address - admittedly, again, for his own interests. Though, not entirely.

Sitting in his room on the Starstruck, Felix turns on the camera and greets it with a tiny wave of his free hand.]

I have two topics I'd like to bring up and I will try to be brief.

The first? Magic. [He lets the word hang, waiting for an invisible audience to take notice.] Many of us are not a stranger to such a thing, I know that for certain. Space seems an incongruous place for it, but at least some of the worlds we have been to have not been bereft of it entirely. The last planet seemed particularly strong in it's influence, but it seems to be that this system is the first where magic has such a strong academic presence. I'm not sure what that means, but the trend interests me.

My point is, I know there are more of you out there to whom this topic would interest. If you would like to talk...my door is open. What's more, if you have for some reason not found your way into the graces of the Spirit faction, I might be able to help you, or anyone else, procure any supplies unique to their establishments. I'd be willing to do so in exchange for a small fee or items better acquired in the other sections. Clothing, jewelry...[A pause, before he adds as a somewhat reluctant afterthought]...ship supplies.

Secondly, the library aboard the Iskaulit has not had any substantial donations for quite some time. Unfortunately I cannot curate the entire collection on my own, as much as I would like to [especially not if he keeps buying clothes and wine, but shhh]. There is plenty to occupy us here, but we all know the time drifting needs to spent elsewhere, and the library catalog is still rather limited.

If you would like to donate any books to the cause, you can find me here on the Starstruck, or you may leave them in the library. Please don't try to shelve them yourselves, I will take care of them as soon as I am able.

Thank you for your time. [A bright parting smile seems a good way to go]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes, but there are many similarities and ways that methods can be adapted to the rules of a given magical structure.

[He moves to the edge of his seat, nearly vibrating that he may have found at least a partial answer.]

What can you tell me? What happened? I understand it may have been frightening but anything you can tell me could be invaluable.

[He nods partially in acknowledgement of that answer, then pauses to frown in thought before he begins.]

I inadvertently invited in the ghost of another wizard. A Fressandran wizard I knew would have called it a fantôme. It named itself rachenant - a spirit of vengeance. Either way, it seemed to operate under the same rules. It could not possess me entirely unless I allowed it to do so.

I tried to ignore it, at first, but it was...persistent in it's attempts to sway me. I engaged it within a oneiromantic construct and thought that I had destroyed it, but it was apparently temporary. I used the same construct the second time to seal it away instead. It was still there, but was severely limited in the way it could interact with my mind.

Presumably I could have maintained that seal indefinitely but the way I rid myself of it came about as a matter of circumstance. The short of it was that there was a very old magic engine. I'm still not certain what it was meant to do, except that it was weapon. A weapon that was powered partially from life. Or rather...the sacrifice of lives. Which is as appalling as it sounds. I opened up myself to the fantôme and used it's pretense of serving me to force it to sacrifice itself to the engine.

The embodiment of death fed to something that used life created an antithesis that destroyed the spirit and the engine both.

[Some of those words are ones he doesn't know. Fressandran, fantôme, but he can guess that one is a nationality and the other some strange way of saying phantom. Oneiromantic he has no idea, but tries to follow anyway.

A ghost isn't the same as what he's looking for, but he listens regardless. He can't afford to reject anything at this point, but what Felix describes of his experience sounds less and less like anything he can use.]

So you talked it into sacrificing itself to a device, destroying both. Even with such a device, I'm not sure it would be possible in this case. For one, the spirit isn't a ghost. I know those words are used interchangeably on some worlds, but in Thedas a spirit is very specifically a separate being from what was once human. They never were. Second, while I do think the spirit would potentially be amiable to being separated from the host, I'm not sure he knows how to do it, least of all without hurting the person he's in.

[He can sense the slight withdrawl on Hawke's part and it sparks a touch of annoyance that his attempt at disclosure might come to nothing]

As I said, the definitions often differ. It might not have a mortal life in common, but surely spirits and ghosts share some traits?

In any case...if the spirit isn't hostile to the host, why try to remove it?

Because it could easily become so, and has in the past. Not just the host, but those around him. He may not know exactly what he's doing, or care, but being in a living mortal host can corrupt a spirit into thinking differently from its nature. This in turn may change its very nature into something less than pleasant. The spirit was once a spirit of Justice, but in being too close to anger and to things where the concept of justice is not so cut and dry, he's morphed into Vengeance. If that continues, he could easily turn into a Rage demon and take my l-

[He pauses, clears his throat.]

My friend with it. I know he doesn't want to become a demon, so as I said, while he's still of his own mind he could be talked into separation easily, it's just the how of it I don't know, and what would happen to him after. A spirit like that... he can't be left to float about the fleet and possibly possess someone else.

That would be less than ideal, yes...

[He hesitates, slightly, unsure if this might be yet more useless information, but it bears mentioning]

I...actually returned to my own world, briefly, and brought my spirit...my ghost...to the fleet with me. At the advice of someone I trust, I contacted Sam Winchester. We came to much the same conclusion. He could not destroy the ghost without a token from it's old life, so removing it and leaving it very loosely contained on the ship was our only remaining option and therefore an incredibly poor one.

Your spirit, however, may be a different story.

I...

[He pauses, was about to give another dismissal. They can't leave Vengeance free to possess someone else in the fleet. But they're not talking about free, they're talking about containment. Better than Vengeance in Anders. If they could find a non-sentient vessel, something safe. Not a fleeter but a... a robot or something else. He's not sure.]

How did he suggest keeping your ghost contained?

[He sucks in a breath] A ring of salt, apparently. But he assures me it works. On a moving ship, however, it would be less than stable. One sharp turn...

[And hello free ghost.]

You would have to come up with something less diffuse as an anchor. Work salt into something solid, or work a channel into the floor itself, perhaps...

[He hums] Alternatively...have you considered sealing the spirit another way? Cutting off it's influence of it's host but keeping it where it is?

Edited 2016-09-15 20:06 (UTC)

It would have to be another way, I'm certain salt doesn't work on spirits that aren't ghosts.

[Otherwise the amount of salt Anders puts in his breakfast would have been enough to banish Justice away altogether.]

Trapping him there is... a thought, but it seems inhumane. The spirit in question is still alive, has a will and all that. He's friends with his host. I don't think that's something he'd be happy with.

Perhaps not. There might be something in your own world or stories that might strongly repel or attract a spirit.

[He taps his finger on whatever surface is out of frame]

It need not be as severe as you're imagining. The manner I sealed off the fantôme didn't entirely cut off my contact with it, merely it's ability to influence me in other ways. I would be willing to try to teach your friend some oneiromantic techniques to attempt such a thing, if that's an avenue you wanted to pursue.

Oneiro-- Dreamwalking?

[His Tevene is hardly good, but that word he knows. It was in his father's notes, and Solas had used it towards him while traveling, in that smug way he talks down to everyone, trying to trip him up. There are a lot of things that frustrate Wolfe and other mages looking down on him instead of seeing how they need to band together is very high on that list.

At least Felix doesn't seem like he's doing that. He's the type to use big words as a matter of course, not a matter of one-upmanship. And he's offering to help, which puts him leagues above most formally trained mages he's talked to.]

I'll ask him. I think it would be a start, at least, until we can find something more permanent.

[He pauses a moment, then smiles a bit.]

Thank you. I know you don't know me from anyone else, but I appreciate you being so generous with your help.

That's one word for it, yes. At the root it's not really magic at all, but in the hands of a magic user...it can be much more. I've found it...very useful.

[Felix smiles back, matching Hawke's own, afraid that a wider smile will spoil the serious tone of the conversation. And he is, after all, completely serious.]

You're quite welcome. I've found that hoarding knowledge hurts ourselves as much as it can hurt the ones we keep in ignorance. There is a lot we all can learn from each other.

[And, in truth, he loves teaching. He'd fallen into it by chance and continued it in Corambis, and little else had felt so natural to him. Seeing the kind of progress the people of Corambis had made, the importance of intellectual openness was even more clear.]

I didn't get the chance to learn in any sort of formal environment, since schools for magic where I'm from are hardly more than glorified prisons, but I do agree with that philosophy.

[He shifts, getting a bit more comfortable, or rather even showing Felix that he is more comfortable overall. Even eager. This solution to the problem sounds very promising.]

Dreamwalking is something really only mages can do in Thedas, and only specially talented ones at that, but if Anders could learn to do that even without the Fade being directly accessible he might be able to help Vengeance so they don't influence each other so much, or maybe even figure out a way to transfer him to another host. Something with a mind that's too simple to influence, or no mind at all, like a toaster. Or one of those slugs or something.

[Can a spirit inhabit a toaster? He's so lost in that weird train of thought that he doesn't even realize he's dropped Anders' name.]

[He's not sure how he feels about those options, and there's a trace of uncertainty on his face at the mention. But Hawke's receptiveness to searching for solutions pleases him enough to let it slide into humor]

I'm all for theorizing, but better to deal with the final step once we can be sure the first one is successful. From what little I understand, we I doubt we could access the Fade itself, as it exists in another plane entirely. It shouldn't be required to interact with this spirit of yours, however. The kind of dreamwalking I am talking about is far more general.

[He had, indeed, caught the slip of Hawke's tongue, but he keeps his own. For now, it's not relevant, given his vow of silence on the matter.]

I've only managed to learn a little about magic in your world. Fenris, as you can imagine, isn't very forthcoming on the subject.

It's complicated, but no, I don't think so. When we've been dreaming here, we sort of stay in our own heads. It's surreal, honestly. Usually in dreaming the spirit takes over his consciousness even in the unconscious, but I don't know if that still happens while not being connected to the Fade.

[At the mention of Fenris though, he huffs a little. Hawke looks sympathetic, but this is one arena where he and the elf will never see eye to eye.]

Fenris has his own personal hangups about magic, and while valid, they color his perception of it and literally everyone who uses it, instead of evaluating individuals.

I realize. I was...hm...friends [the word comes out a little like a question, but he doesn't dwell on the ambiguity] with him once. But only because I did not tell him I was a wizard at first. But that, too, is complicated. It was a different world than this, and he doesn't remember any of it.

I didn't mean to dwell on his prejudice. I meant that...it would be nice to hear about the subject from another viewpoint. [Granted, Fenris was always of interest to him for other reasons, but when it came to a native source for education, he can't hide the quietly hopeful tone to the line]

In any case...do let your friend know what I suggested. If he has any further inquires, I'd be happy to field them.

No, I understand. Even so, it's difficult to talk about him without that when that's a prime motivation for him.

[Adalwolfe shrugs, as if that doesn't bother him, as if he doesn't wrestle with what that lead them to in his version of Thedas.]

I'll certainly let him know, thank you. And... thank you, again, for being so candid.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

tenth labyrinth

private video

private video

private video

private video

private video

private video

private video

private video

private video

private video

private video

private video

private video

private video

private video

private video

private video