congrekate | dragon age au!

dragon age au!

The rumor mill is still going on as to why Jonathan Strange fled the circle to become an apostate mage. Some say that it's as simple as an argument with his former tutor. Others say that the man never really recovered from his actions in the Mage-Templar War. The most likely answer is that something snapped after the death of his beloved. The one thing everyone can agree on is that it's really a shame someone with such potential threw it all away. He could have easily made his way up the social ladder, working at a court somewhere!

To which Strange would respond that he was doing perfectly fine right now, thank you very much, even if he was currently living in a shack that leaked when it rained, he had not even half of the books he was used to, and he heard people whisper behind his back, calling him the 'mad mage of the Dales'. So be it. His plan was probably a bit mad to begin with: Jonathan Strange planned to summon a god.

Not just any god, of course. He had gone through the various pantheons, trying to find the perfect one to grant him what he wanted (power, mostly, a way to take the tools and trade of necromancy and make it more solid, to raise the dead instead of raising spirits.) And eventually, Strange settled on Fen'Harel. He could draw upon the power of the location of the Dales as well as his status as an outsider himself to appeal to the god. The ritual itself was the most complex part, but modified necromancy bindings and a few of his own additions should suffice.

And so, Strange performs the magic. And poor Solas is probably just damn confused as to what he sees when he's forcibly woken up from his nap. The shack is small, covered head to toe with knick-knacks and trinkets, some of magical significance, others not. Dried herbs cover a table and books cover almost any other flat surface. Good luck trying to find where Strange sleeps as the bed has also become storage space. The mage himself looks wild: a middle aged human with scruff and hair that looks like it hasn't seen a brush in years, clothes ragged and dirty. And he just regards Solas with sheer confusion.

"I thought the wolf part was literal."

This is an elf. This isn't a dog. Did he make a mistake in the summoning? And if he didn't summon a god, then who the hell did he summon?

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"Even if it required a ritual of blood magic?" he asks, watching curiously.

If the man was willing to summon one people considered a god then he doubts that would be off-limits. Though perhaps if he pretended it had to involve the blood of children or innocent lambs the man might feel differently. Maybe.

There's a very tentative pause before Strange responds. "I suppose that all depends on who's blood is used in the ritual."

He doesn't want to sacrifice anybody else to save Arabella. She'd never forgive him for that. But if the ritual used some of his blood, if he could sacrifice some of his life to bring her back...well, he's already maimed himself to help save her. It wouldn't surprise Solas to hear that Strange would definitely consider it.

Solas watches Strange as if his gaze might pierce through the man at any moment. He was willing to go that far? So many in Thedas today felt the price of blood magic was too high to risk or engage with, but the way Strange agrees it's an option on the table so long as it only harms himself. That placed his morals above what he saw in Tevinter.

"That will depend entirely on what we find," he concedes. Solas didn't have some secret recipe for resurrection that he was only willing to pull out once they were journeying.

And Strange tries his hardest to match Solas's gaze, to give him a steely glare, showing just how damn determined he is in the first place.

Though his conceding is interesting--and a tad worrying. "What do you mean by that?" Strange remarks, with a frown. "You're a god, surely you already know what you need to find!"

The whole 'god' issue. He manages to stop himself from making a face at the word being applied to him. That was something he had tried very hard to not be considered and yet that was where remembrance had placed Fen'harel. So much had been lost in the placing of the Veil.

"How much stock do you put into the Dalish myths and legends?" he asks flatly. "Beyond what you believe out of desperation." If he simply thought him a god because the alternative was too unbearable then the man needed to reevaluate a lot about this moment.

Most of it is desperation. Still, he's trying to keep up that bluster, trying to keep up that smugness, trying to seem like of course he knows what he's doing, this isn't the last resort of a desperate man thrown together in the hopes it works.

"No matter how small, I've found that most legends have a kernel of truth. I don't know precisely what you are, Fen'harel, and that doesn't matter. What matters is you're powerful enough to help."

He hopes that he's powerful enough to help. Strange's greatest fear is that the Dalish myths and legends were just that: myths and legends, stories passed down to moralize and to entertain, with barely any truth to help him in his quest.

"A kernal is all it has," he replies with no small amount of bitterness. "I will guide you." He manages to bite his tongue and not add but my People had no need for spells of resurrection.

That life was so fragile in Thedas now was still a marvel to him. Short and cut down far more easily than anything he had experienced. A side effect of losing connection with the Fade no doubt. With the way some of the Evanuris had been, he had suspicions that tampering with resurrection was within one of their interests--perhaps Falon'din?

The problem would be finding it, but he needed to find his way back to his focus. While he has no love for the man who's misguided efforts have trapped him, forcing him to read and research old elven texts would be a perfect distraction while Solas figured out what pathways still existed.

Strange can't help but frown a little, downright annoyed by Solas's bitterness and the fact that the damn elf seems to be so stubborn and refuse to actually tell him things.

"If you're so bitter about the legends, then tell me the truth." Because hoo boy is it obvious that Solas is bitter about whatever myths and legends have sprung up around Fen'harel. That much is obvious to anyone with eyes. "Who are you really?"

"You would listen to another?" he asks, feigning surprise. The man hadn't exactly presented himself as someone who wanted to learn unless it brought him closer to his goals.

There's a long moment where he studies Strange, not once slowing his pace as he does so. "I told you my true name. I was Solas long before I was Fen'harel."

"I've no idea how long we'll be walking," Strange points out, with a frown. "Conversation passes the time." Besides, Solas knew plenty about him already. It's only fair Strange learn a little about Solas. And a little part of him is just burning with curiosity to figure out just who precisely he summoned. After all, Solas was defying all his expectations.

As Solas starts talking, the peanut gallery can't help but interject a little. "That makes sense," he admits. After all, 'Dread Wolf'? The more he thinks about it, the more it sounds like a title.

It did pass the time and since Solas couldn't return to sleeping with his travels in the Fade serving as a distraction, he supposed this would serve as a replacement. For now.

"It was a title I was given for having fought against the other Evanuris. You have heard the stories of Fen'harel locking them into the Beyond?" It was a favorite of the Dalish, to blame him for why their 'gods' did not answer them.

"I have. Fen'harel sealed the other gods away, making it so they could never interact with the mortal world as in times of old. Of course, all the stories I've heard vary on why he betrayed the gods in the first place."

A truce, a weapon, out of spite, it seemed that every elf he talked to had a different opinion of why he did what he did. Which was interesting from a scholarly standpoint but rubbish if one wanted to find actual answers. Strange can't help but look at Solas with a bit more interest than before. Well, go on. Explain what really happened.

Part of that story is right and he's clearly staring at Strange, wondering how much he should tell him. It's not a story he ever planned on sharing, but the circumstances were different here. The man already knew who he was and who was he going to tell?

"I sealed them away," he confirms. "After their crimes against the People and the murder of Mythal." Another word he's unsure the man is familiar with.

He does recognize the word Mythal and Strange nods slightly in recognition. "The All-Mother. She's a goddess of justice and goodwill--the Dalish still invoke her when they desire protection."

Though, murder? That's unexpected. He frowns, racking his brain to try and see if he can come up with any stories or legends where she was murdered, only to come up with nothing.

"I thought she was sealed away with the rest of the gods. Not murdered."

He scowls at the thought. "She was killed for she realized the harm they brought to the People she loved so dearly." And so he had enacted his own brand of revenge. If only it hadn't caused Thedas to turn into what it had, but how could he have known the consequences of his actions so long ago?

"Of all of them, it was a fate she deserved the least."

None of this makes any sense. The more Strange listens to Solas talk, the more confused he gets. The harm they brought to the People? Killing someone for a simple realization? No, it had to be more than a realization, maybe she tried to stop them?

Strange is missing so much context here and it's intensely aggravating. For someone who tries his hardest to look capable and amazing, the fact that he can only slightly keep up with Solas's story is driving him even more mad than he normally is.

"What harm?"

No, the man wouldn't have the right context to understand any of this. It's part of why he had debated the merits of even attempting to. Strange had insisted and Solas thinks he can put it in terms that would make it plain to the man what had happened.

"You are familiar with Empires." Or so Solas would hope. "The Empire of the elves extended across Thedas before its fall with magic at its fingertips. In some ways, we were not that different from Tevinter."

Instead of magisters, they had mage-kings and queens to start before they wanted to be treated as gods, slavery was commonplace. They at least did not seek to bind spirits to do their bidding though that felt only a small advantage when one could see the entire picture.

Tevinter? Well, that's certainly a pointed reference with very specific connotations in Strange's mind. "Did the elven Empire engage in some of Tevinter's practices that most Fereldens would consider...less than savory?"

Slavery, for one. Blood magic for another. There's a laundry list of things that Tevinter does that most people would look on a bit suspiciously. And if someone tried to stop something like slavery or blood magic, that might be an action worrying enough to put murder on the table in the first place.

"Yes, though part would be the difference in how magic was used. There were less limitations placed on it." The slavery however that was as unsavory then as it was now in Solas' opinion. Blood magic though was another matter entirely that Solas found less cut-and-dry.

Hence why his efforts had been placed against slavery. "By the time Tevinter stumbled upon Elvhenan, it was in a state of chaos and civil war." Which meant they only had to clean up and didn't learn much of what the empire was at its height though that was another story.

"Was Mythal's death the cause of the chaos or simply a symptom?" For all of Solas saying that they weren't gods, that doesn't change the fact that the elven pantheon must have been powerful enough to be thought of as a pantheon by future generations. And at least in Strange's eyes, the death of someone that powerful would be a logical point for chaos and civil war to spring from.

"A symptom of a spiral that had already begun and a great loss for the People," he says, a touch quieter. Mythal's loss was not one he had taken well at the time though now he knows the truth, that Mythal had managed to survive though it had taken thousands of years before she could manifest herself once more.

"Those underfoot can only remain there for so long before they desire more from their lives."

Strange can't help but frown. He pauses for a moment, partly to think of what to say next, partly because he needs to catch his breath. He's fine, he can still do this, but walking and talking at the same time is a bit harder than expected.

"Mythal realizes the rest of the pantheon are mistreating their subjects and confronts them on it. The rest of the pantheon decide to murder Mythal for it. You seal them away partly for her murder, partly for their treatment of the People. And while all this is happening, the elven empire is crumbling, falling to pieces through civil war while Tevinter waits in the wings to claim what's left."

It's all stated in a matter of fact tone, Strange trying to remember everything and put all the pieces in order. Though this does bring up another question... "But what happened between then and now? After all, your empire has been in shambles for ages." Rude, Strange.

So the man was intelligent. With what Strange wanted to do and how he had gone about it, Solas had been seriously doubting how sane the man appeared to be. The retelling is close enough that he nods in agreement. The details of what happened as the empire crumbled were irrelevant now, it had happened so long ago.

"You would have to ask the Tevinter Imperium, that began the enslavement of the People and stole what remained of their magic," he remarks dryly. "You awoke me from my sleep."

Because surprise, sealing away the rest of the pantheon and creating a barrier between physical and magical makes someone very tired. Several thousand years worth of tired.

His...sleep. Strange just pauses for a moment, blinking slightly as if that'll help him understand just what sleep has to do with anything. Oh, he's got plenty more questions about Solas and Mythal and how all of this is a very nice story but this doesn't change what Solas is bound to do, but that bit about his sleep is confusing so that's what Strange is going to focus on.

"You're speaking metaphorically, I assume?" He had to be. Because if not, then...by the Divine, that's a long time. Sleeping for thousands of years?! Modern elves couldn't even last a sliver of that time, how precisely could Solas do so? That sounded particularly godlike, no matter what the other man might say.

The man has summoned what he assumes to be a god and he's concerned with his sleep? Of course. Solas knows he shouldn't be surprised, from what he's see of humans and their priorities, and yet. He stares at Strange and shakes his head decisively. That had not been an error of words on his part.

"Have you heard of uthernera?" Instead of waiting for an answer, Solas continues, assuming that the answer is no. "It is a sleep the People enter when needed or they feel their time is finished. I entered it before the fall of Arlathan." For the former reason rather than the latter and guess who woke him up?

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