Dispatches from Winter in Himring

[letters-from-himring-hill]

A Sideblog For All Things Terrafell (And For My Friends)

Welcome to my sideblog! My main is @winterinhimring. This blog exists for two reasons:

So I can have long reblog chains with my friends without cluttering up peoples' dashes if they followed my main for fandom content.

So I can have extremely long reblog chains with @scleroticstatue and @exploding-the-wine-cellar about Terrafell. For those who do not know, Terrafell is Statue's WIP novel. exploding-the-wine-cellar and I are RPing as main characters to help her come up with a plot. Most of what you will find on this blog is Terrafell.

I do have a tag system on here, but it's somewhat arcane, due to exploding-the-wine-cellar and me not having met all the same people at the same time. As a result, the characters are all tagged by nickname instead of actual name.

Overarching category tags are:

#morwen's mission: posts related to my adventures in Terrafell

#bri's advenures: posts related to exploding-the-wine-cellar's adventures

#friend stuff: posts with my friends (may or may not be Terrafell related)

#a leaf on the reblog tree: this post is the end of its particular reblog chain (may exist on multiple variants of the same post; implementation still in progress at @awwyeah-rambles' suggestion)

#terrafell fic: fic I wrote about the Terrafell guys; may contain spoilers for my RP

#root post: an original post

#mission report: an update on how the RP is going

#terrafell meme: what it says on the tin

#terrafell game guide: lore that came up in conversation rather than RP

#excerpts of the insanity: quotes from the RP

Characters whose names are now known include:

#sock police: Gavrel, the mysterious Adventurer who lives by the Labyrinth in a spiky black fortress and frets over Morwen

#trauma baby: Atticus Girfwool, master of the Wizards' Guild and ridiculous teenager extraordinaire

#stable but not sane: Tarnik Vanced, master of the Adventurers' Guild and a delightful individual

#smol and angry: Kaera, Atticus' very irritable old flame

#gavrel's duckling: Dendar Lichtens, a junior Adventurer who is destined to become a Gavrel fanboy

#the mysterious a.t.: Amelios Thewella, master of the Innholders' Guild, possessor of a mysterious past and a concerningly high pain tolerance

#questionable life choice: Kharta Ghroldune, master of the Beggars' Guild (aka the crime guild) and an old flame of Amelios'; she is the reason for the concerningly high pain tolerance

Characters whose names remain a mystery (by technicality, at least) include:

#furniture man: a helpful telepath who is very baffled by Morwen and co. but thinks that it's better to be close to them so he can help direct the chaos they will unleash

#the doc: Furniture Man's adoptive son and the party medic

#wilfully psycho: a very trigger-happy ranged striker who deliberately plays up his psycho side

#paranoid idiot: a young woman whom Morwen and company rescue-napped from a dangerous situation; she trusts Wilfully Psycho and him only

[scleroticstatue]

I have two questions tonight; no pressure to answer them both at the same time! But I have to ask, what are the results of Amelios' mental microwaving of Morwen so far? I mean, she's deeply traumatised and that's probably the most obvious thing about her right now, but he's picked up some very choice pieces of information about her in general recently and also seen her under severe stress, which can tell you a lot about someone, so...what does he think?

I forgot to answer this.

He thinks she's easily manipulated, because she doesn't know how the world works. He thinks she's too trusting and isn't willing to wade into conflicts when they must be settled. He thinks she's very brave and incredibly strong and very smart and is going to kill herself trying to do everything instead of delegating and prioritizing. He thinks she's not used to war or politicking, both of which worry him, and that she hasn't figured how to balance duty with pleasure and between that, she's likely to break. He thinks she's tight-lipped, which has pros and cons, but that she's far too much like a Vanced to thrive like that, so she needs to learn to talk freely when she's among friends.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

No worries!

That is fair, though less the case than it was when she first arrived. At that point he, or anyone who managed to seem trustworthy to her, could have wrapped her around his finger easily as long as he’d played along with her visions. She is learning caution now.

I’m sure she is terrifyingly trusting from his perspective. Especially considering that he’s about to find out that she knows what Peles is and voluntarily hangs out with him (and hugs him!) anyway. I wonder where the ‘not willing to wade into conflicts’ part came from…maybe that’s part of her trauma response.

Morwen would think that was very sweet of him and possibly hug him for saying nice things about her! He is very correct that she is on a trajectory to kill herself by trying to fix all the things personally at the same time and mourning every death under her command as a personal failure (even if she rationally knows that that’s not true). He and Peles may be able to help rein her in, if they don’t kill each other first.

He is correct, she is not used to war and she has historically actively avoided politicking. This will have to change and she knows it, but right now if you put her in the room with a hostile politician it would End Badly.

She’s working on the work-life balance! Really! She’s trying! Things just keep Happening. Sigh.

Ahahaha, he doesn’t even know how deep her deepest secret runs yet. XD She is tight-lipped here, and it isn’t natural to her, but she has good reasons for it. I am not sure how that’s going to play out in the long run. She’s told a few people about parts of her real history, but I think Atticus and Peles are the only ones who’ve gotten any real details. And Casimir. They can all keep secrets. I am pleased to see that his earlier judgement about her talking too much in front of allies has been reversed. XD

[scleroticstatue]

It will be fascinating to retell the story where Morwen doesn't meet Gavrel first and talks to Atticus only. I think I will have the pair of them set out, and then have Amelios send Izzat and Bishop to get them back — which doesn't work — and then they use Bishop's comm stones to talk to Amelios, on occasion, but mostly Wilren, because Amelios is busy making the Tournament happen. Which will be a very interesting story, I think.

Her threat assessment level has been upgraded from "concerningly unsettling" to "cannot be trusted with a single person ever." I haven't the faintest where the lack of conflict came from. I'm certain it made sense at the time.

...I'm not sure if it would be a compliment. An assessment, surely, but a double-edged sword. Bravery is one part determination and one part stupidity. Being smart means you learn fast and are intellectually capable, as well as having a tendency to overestimate the capability of others. Etc. Which is why he needs to get her to delegate.

He does get that feeling. Some because she might stab them, but some because she might agree to something because she didn't realize what she did.

Well, she broke, so he hopes she can figure out how to come back from the break, somehow.

He still thinks she talks too much in front of allies, but he thinks he hasn't quite won her to him, that he doesn't count as an ally, and that is not what he means. She is too much like a Vanced and needs to talk about what her mind is doing to function, but she keeps quiet outside of her inner circle, which is causing more problems than it's helping right now.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

It really will be! Her outlook will be radically different. Gavrel actually provides a really good balance to Atticus in many ways. Sometimes they are both dumb in the same way, but frequently they are dumb in different ways and the difference is instructive. I think that MC will be more inclined to trust the Garden, at least initially, less inclined to trust Gavrel (naturally), and her perception of the genre she's in will be radically different without the knowledge that she is in a video game. Having Wilren in the mix will, of course, make everything worse. Amelios will at least balance Atticus' opinion about the Garden.

Tee hee. I mean, that's not quite fair of him, but I understand very much where he's coming from and why that's his conclusion. I can't wait for him to watch her actually notice when someone's trying to manipulate her and get mad about it.

Well, she's going to take it as one and she's going to hug him. He said nice things, he can't take them back now! Many qualities are double-edged swords, this is true, but without hers she wouldn't be able to do what she's doing. She would like to delegate. Very much. They will be quite in accord on that.

I think stabbing is more likely, or possibly throwing small household objects, but the latter is also possible and could be at least as dangerous.

In fairness to her, it wasn't her work-life balance that did that! She's...working on it. I think she will come back from it, though not unchanged. More paranoid, more determined, less willing to jump into a quest without preparation, but also constantly aware that anyone outside the group she's with now could be compromised by any number of forces. It'll make for an interesting person.

He has and has not won her over. He is an ally and she'd like him to be a friend. She would kill for him and she'd like to kill Kharta for him. She would throw herself between him and danger without hesitation and she wants to hug him. But she doesn't necessarily agree with his threat assessment or consider his judgement to be as reliable as he'd probably like her to. She talks a lot to him because he is not going to freak out about what she went through when she was enthralled. I'm surprised that he'd ever think that keeping quiet caused problems, though. XD

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Amelios normally:

Suave, extremely polite, always calls Morwen 'my lady', never swears even when he's been stabbed, 100% uses manners as a wall to keep people from getting too close, master of careful hints and circumlocution

Amelios when Morwen asks him to actually say what he means because he nearly drove her to tears earlier in the day because trying to make him say what he disagrees with you about is like trying to nail jello to a tree:

When I departed from the Garden — that is. When — bother. When [redacted things happened], I was very angry. Instead of taking my third set of vows when I turned 300, I smashed all of the statues of the gods I could get my hands on and disappeared in the night to work for Kharta in the Beggars. I became not simply a thief or a spy, but a very capable assassin, which I used to great — that is. I had ideas of changing the world for the better by killing those in power. 

I then spent a month in the closest Garden, where I was healed and hara— bugger. My healing was neglected and I was left in as poor condition as they could get away with without me dying in their care, which was likely fair given my exit but still ungodly nonetheless, until I was finally in a stable enough condition that I could barter my way home with a Merchant.

"Atticus's perspective is warped by his position. Everyone is overly accommodating — that is." He sighs dramatically. "He's a valuable resource and highly desirable for the purposes of breeding. They are doing whatever they can to keep in his good graces so they can convince him to join their ranks, or at least have him sire whiteborn elves. I have no doubt he would already be the father of half a dozen children had he been raised in the Garden, and likely — that is. He would have most likely been involved in the process before adulthood. He wouldn't believe it if you informed him, because they have been careful with how they treat him."

"Reasonable enough, my lady. I'm certain there will be a scandal we can use for our purposes." He nearly groans and rubs at his nose. "That is, when we have available time and a solid support base, we can drudge up some past failure and use it as a platform to reveal your Title."

Which is actually quite simple, my lady, given the Garden's age — that is. Drat. There are already such situations where living leadership is involved, but for the information to become public in a way that feels organic will take resour— it will require bribes and agreements with people who are as morally dubious as those we'll be implicating, and nothing can be done while everyone here is potentially a wanted criminal.

And finally, after Morwen let him go back to how he normally talks:

"Thank the gods," he breathes, which is strange for a man who has broken faith so violently to say.

(She let him stop because he was so visibly uncomfortable, even though she found it WAY easier to understand this version of him. And was rather entertained by all the grumbling.)

@scleroticstatue @exploding-the-wine-cellar @sunflowergardens-world @sweetcardamom @kanerallels

@accidental-spice @awwyeah-rambles

[scleroticstatue]

He is trying. He is going to beat his head against the wall. Why is it so hard???

[letters-from-himring-hill]

That's exactly how Morwen feels when she has to speak Politics! She sees and appreciates his efforts. Although she does think it's a little funny that he's struggling so hard to just. Say what he means.

[scleroticstatue]

It's like trying to do baby talk to explain nuclear fission! He thinks he's got it, and then he has to back up because toddlers don't understand gamma photons, but they don't even know what a photon is.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Except the nuclear fission is what he's actually saying and the baby talk is not talking around it (or minimising it or skipping straight past it). Fundamentally ridiculous man. He delights me.

[scleroticstatue]

"Yikes. Count Peles mentioned that, when we were discussing how much of the truth about me to tell the Garden, but he didn't mention that Kharta's family was involved. Maybe he didn't know." She scowls thoughtfully at the wall, still wondering what he's got under the curtains, but not asking. She is having a lot of Thoughts about the Garden. "I think it's a good thing he and Gavrel talked me out of listening to Atticus on that one." She turns the thoughtful scowl to him, softening it somewhat so she isn't outright glaring. "The more I hear about the Garden, the less I like of it. Revenge is a dangerous motive, though. Especially when it eclipses everything else. I'd much rather refuse to work with her entirely, for what she did to you if nothing else, but...argh. This world is a dumpster fire."

So...has Amelios picked up that Morwen is angry on his behalf and wants to protect him, and that part of why she went off to Have Feelings after their conversation is that Kharta was awful to him, or does he remain oblivious to the fact that he's gained a very loyal friend who's probably going to turn her house into an apothecary and improvised hospital for him and Gavrel once they get back to the Village, as long as they're not all immediately arrested?

His current theory is that Morwen is displeased with the Garden, who started Kharta on the path that he finished. He's fairly certain she'll be disgusted by his history the moment she actually learns what all he did — he was a Beggar for just under a century, but compared to the last 400ish years, it was the equivalent of millennia in activity — and that she'll only begrudgingly work with him from that point on.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

...sighs and goes off to smack head into the wall

He is very dense about people who care about him, isn't he? I mean, he's correct that Morwen IS unhappy with the Garden, but that's mostly because they left him unhealed for a month, which is awful. And he seems to have completely missed that she is angry with Kharta for his sake. Funny that the man who watched her stubbornly defend her friendship with Peles (Actual Monster) and devote herself to restoring Gavrel's reputation assumes that she'll drop him like a hot rock once she finds out what he did as an assassin. That was a long time ago! He's left that life behind and is trying to do better! (Well, she thinks that, anyway, and I don't think she's completely wrong, either.)

[scleroticstatue]

He thinks people care. He has carefully crafted a persona which people will care about. While Morwen may care about him currently, he fully thinks that any care is limited to his current persona, and when it breaks, she will not care. Of course, he also doesn't quite realize on his own end that his persona has... Basically become his actual personality. In his mind, he is still an assassin capable of bitter, brutal murder. Of course, he can still be that, but the whole time he'd internally complaining about it the whole time because he has paperwork waiting and the tea will be cold by the time he gets back, which kind of makes the whole cold-blooded assassin a little less cold-blooded.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Ah. I see. He is dense about the possibility of people valuing him regardless of which persona he is currently using. Which Morwen does, because she knows that he has more than one, so she is judging him not so much by what each persona is like as by what he uses each one for. So far, he has used his personas to (1) talk a stupid teenager out of being a racist twerp, (2) efficiently organise an anti-slavery raid because she asked him to, and (3) help her cope with massive trauma. I think he may have underestimated how much she's extrapolated from his past, too. She knows he's capable of cold-blooded murder and probably also torture and all sorts of crimes! He'd never have survived as Kharta's fixer if he wasn't. She is choosing to value what he has done with his life since then over what he did when he was young and angry and being abused.

I am wheezing. The TEA will be COLD and he's BEHIND on his PAPERWORK because he has to go KILL someone. How inconvenient. That's not really cold-blooded assassin anymore. That's...grumpy murder uncle.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Amelios normally:

Suave, extremely polite, always calls Morwen 'my lady', never swears even when he's been stabbed, 100% uses manners as a wall to keep people from getting too close, master of careful hints and circumlocution

Amelios when Morwen asks him to actually say what he means because he nearly drove her to tears earlier in the day because trying to make him say what he disagrees with you about is like trying to nail jello to a tree:

When I departed from the Garden — that is. When — bother. When [redacted things happened], I was very angry. Instead of taking my third set of vows when I turned 300, I smashed all of the statues of the gods I could get my hands on and disappeared in the night to work for Kharta in the Beggars. I became not simply a thief or a spy, but a very capable assassin, which I used to great — that is. I had ideas of changing the world for the better by killing those in power. 

I then spent a month in the closest Garden, where I was healed and hara— bugger. My healing was neglected and I was left in as poor condition as they could get away with without me dying in their care, which was likely fair given my exit but still ungodly nonetheless, until I was finally in a stable enough condition that I could barter my way home with a Merchant.

"Atticus's perspective is warped by his position. Everyone is overly accommodating — that is." He sighs dramatically. "He's a valuable resource and highly desirable for the purposes of breeding. They are doing whatever they can to keep in his good graces so they can convince him to join their ranks, or at least have him sire whiteborn elves. I have no doubt he would already be the father of half a dozen children had he been raised in the Garden, and likely — that is. He would have most likely been involved in the process before adulthood. He wouldn't believe it if you informed him, because they have been careful with how they treat him."

"Reasonable enough, my lady. I'm certain there will be a scandal we can use for our purposes." He nearly groans and rubs at his nose. "That is, when we have available time and a solid support base, we can drudge up some past failure and use it as a platform to reveal your Title."

Which is actually quite simple, my lady, given the Garden's age — that is. Drat. There are already such situations where living leadership is involved, but for the information to become public in a way that feels organic will take resour— it will require bribes and agreements with people who are as morally dubious as those we'll be implicating, and nothing can be done while everyone here is potentially a wanted criminal.

And finally, after Morwen let him go back to how he normally talks:

"Thank the gods," he breathes, which is strange for a man who has broken faith so violently to say.

(She let him stop because he was so visibly uncomfortable, even though she found it WAY easier to understand this version of him. And was rather entertained by all the grumbling.)

@scleroticstatue @exploding-the-wine-cellar @sunflowergardens-world @sweetcardamom @kanerallels

@accidental-spice @awwyeah-rambles

[scleroticstatue]

He is trying. He is going to beat his head against the wall. Why is it so hard???

[letters-from-himring-hill]

That's exactly how Morwen feels when she has to speak Politics! She sees and appreciates his efforts. Although she does think it's a little funny that he's struggling so hard to just. Say what he means.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Amelios normally:

Suave, extremely polite, always calls Morwen 'my lady', never swears even when he's been stabbed, 100% uses manners as a wall to keep people from getting too close, master of careful hints and circumlocution

Amelios when Morwen asks him to actually say what he means because he nearly drove her to tears earlier in the day because trying to make him say what he disagrees with you about is like trying to nail jello to a tree:

When I departed from the Garden — that is. When — bother. When [redacted things happened], I was very angry. Instead of taking my third set of vows when I turned 300, I smashed all of the statues of the gods I could get my hands on and disappeared in the night to work for Kharta in the Beggars. I became not simply a thief or a spy, but a very capable assassin, which I used to great — that is. I had ideas of changing the world for the better by killing those in power. 

I then spent a month in the closest Garden, where I was healed and hara— bugger. My healing was neglected and I was left in as poor condition as they could get away with without me dying in their care, which was likely fair given my exit but still ungodly nonetheless, until I was finally in a stable enough condition that I could barter my way home with a Merchant.

"Atticus's perspective is warped by his position. Everyone is overly accommodating — that is." He sighs dramatically. "He's a valuable resource and highly desirable for the purposes of breeding. They are doing whatever they can to keep in his good graces so they can convince him to join their ranks, or at least have him sire whiteborn elves. I have no doubt he would already be the father of half a dozen children had he been raised in the Garden, and likely — that is. He would have most likely been involved in the process before adulthood. He wouldn't believe it if you informed him, because they have been careful with how they treat him."

"Reasonable enough, my lady. I'm certain there will be a scandal we can use for our purposes." He nearly groans and rubs at his nose. "That is, when we have available time and a solid support base, we can drudge up some past failure and use it as a platform to reveal your Title."

Which is actually quite simple, my lady, given the Garden's age — that is. Drat. There are already such situations where living leadership is involved, but for the information to become public in a way that feels organic will take resour— it will require bribes and agreements with people who are as morally dubious as those we'll be implicating, and nothing can be done while everyone here is potentially a wanted criminal.

And finally, after Morwen let him go back to how he normally talks:

"Thank the gods," he breathes, which is strange for a man who has broken faith so violently to say.

(She let him stop because he was so visibly uncomfortable, even though she found it WAY easier to understand this version of him. And was rather entertained by all the grumbling.)

@scleroticstatue @exploding-the-wine-cellar @sunflowergardens-world @sweetcardamom @kanerallels

@accidental-spice @awwyeah-rambles

[scleroticstatue]

"Yikes. Count Peles mentioned that, when we were discussing how much of the truth about me to tell the Garden, but he didn't mention that Kharta's family was involved. Maybe he didn't know." She scowls thoughtfully at the wall, still wondering what he's got under the curtains, but not asking. She is having a lot of Thoughts about the Garden. "I think it's a good thing he and Gavrel talked me out of listening to Atticus on that one." She turns the thoughtful scowl to him, softening it somewhat so she isn't outright glaring. "The more I hear about the Garden, the less I like of it. Revenge is a dangerous motive, though. Especially when it eclipses everything else. I'd much rather refuse to work with her entirely, for what she did to you if nothing else, but...argh. This world is a dumpster fire."

So...has Amelios picked up that Morwen is angry on his behalf and wants to protect him, and that part of why she went off to Have Feelings after their conversation is that Kharta was awful to him, or does he remain oblivious to the fact that he's gained a very loyal friend who's probably going to turn her house into an apothecary and improvised hospital for him and Gavrel once they get back to the Village, as long as they're not all immediately arrested?

His current theory is that Morwen is displeased with the Garden, who started Kharta on the path that he finished. He's fairly certain she'll be disgusted by his history the moment she actually learns what all he did — he was a Beggar for just under a century, but compared to the last 400ish years, it was the equivalent of millennia in activity — and that she'll only begrudgingly work with him from that point on.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

...sighs and goes off to smack head into the wall

He is very dense about people who care about him, isn't he? I mean, he's correct that Morwen IS unhappy with the Garden, but that's mostly because they left him unhealed for a month, which is awful. And he seems to have completely missed that she is angry with Kharta for his sake. Funny that the man who watched her stubbornly defend her friendship with Peles (Actual Monster) and devote herself to restoring Gavrel's reputation assumes that she'll drop him like a hot rock once she finds out what he did as an assassin. That was a long time ago! He's left that life behind and is trying to do better! (Well, she thinks that, anyway, and I don't think she's completely wrong, either.)

[scleroticstatue]

Upon rereading Shigechiro, I just realised that I misread your descriptions of the teapots and Morwen would have gotten one. So, at home, we should add a pale green teapot with a neat print and sufficient teacups for her party at that point to her kitchen. (What can I say, I'm invested in Morwen's fictional furnishings!)

Ha! Morwen's fictional furnishings are noted!

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Yay! I think she deserves a nice teapot. XD

[scleroticstatue]

When (some of) the backstory comes out, and it's like pulling teeth but it's like pulling teeth because the guy never learned how to talk straight not because it's hard for him to talk about.

[sweetcardamom]

You. You write the guys.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

She does write the guys! But he’s got a very strong character voice.

[scleroticstatue]

I am getting a good grade in writing speech. This is both normal to want and possible to achieve.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

You are! And it is. And Amelios has a very clear voice. He and Peles are the most distinctive, I think.

[scleroticstatue]

Peles is easy because I just imagine the accent and if I can't imagine the accent saying it, it doesn't come out of his mouth.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

I love his accent. He’s so ominous. I could hear it in his story of how he came to power as if he was sitting beside me!

[scleroticstatue]

Heh heh! Awesome! Does the story work, btw?

[letters-from-himring-hill]

I think it does! It made a good distraction for Morwen, strategically edited as it was, and it has a nice narrative symmetry with the story she unwittingly pried out of Amelios earlier.

[scleroticstatue]

Cool! And now she knows kind of sort of both of her advisors' histories, at least the skimmed tellings. And I find it so fascinatingly dichotomous that the man who was supposed to be all holy rejected everything and became basically the worst person a person could get (at least for a while) and the man who is, by birth, designed to be an embodiment of evil, spent his youth and earth adulthood trying to undo the evils of his family. It's so interesting that you managed to get them both.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

She does, it’s true, and it is good knowledge for her to have. They are a fascinating pair, both opposite and yet not opposite! Though Amelios seems always to have been devoted to something or someone outside himself, even at his worst, so I am not sure I’d agree that he fell as low as a person can. He was pretty awful, but he was even then trying to make the world better. It is very interesting that Morwen’s managed to recruit them both, and now she wants to smack both of them with a broom…okay, not really now, but she did in the morning!

[scleroticstatue]

When (some of) the backstory comes out, and it's like pulling teeth but it's like pulling teeth because the guy never learned how to talk straight not because it's hard for him to talk about.

[sweetcardamom]

You. You write the guys.

[scleroticstatue]

AND IT'S HARD TO WRITE THE GUY NOT OBFUSCATING EVERY THIRD WORD WITH VEILED IMPLICATIONS!

[scleroticstatue]

Seriously. I had to write the beginning of his "normal person conversation" three times to make it both his voice and not actively hiding things.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

WHY IS HE LIKE THIS (affectionate)

[scleroticstatue]

Politician

[letters-from-himring-hill]

WHY HAVE YOU MADE ME LIKE A POLITICIAN

He wasn’t always one, though! Surely he wasn’t this circumlocutory when he was assassinating people!

[scleroticstatue]

Not all politicians are evil! Stay mad I guess.🤷

He was not. But that was c.500 years ago and a very different sort of person than he at least acts like.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Argh, fine, I suppose I must admit that not ALL politicians are evil. Especially since Morwen is quite set on befriending this one. XD

Well, fair enough, I suppose. 500 years is more than long enough to build a very enduring habit of speech. Morwen has absolutely no concept of how much time that is. I wonder if Amelios will figure out that she was originally human at some point, just because of her historical perspective…

[scleroticstatue]

That's not to say Amelios is good. He is amoral. He'd get along with Machiavelli, at least in theory.

Possibly. Though she is still on the young side for an Asterian and she doesn't have many long-lived friends, so they skew her perspective younger.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

He is, at least, on the side of life and existence against death and destruction, even if his methods are questionable. I think, in the circumstances, that is enough for Morwen.

True. “Only” 200 years old, and clearly socialised with humans…that would definitely lend itself to a short-term perspective. Though if Morwen had really been 200 years old, she’d have seen at least two if not three generations of humans come and go, and I think that there would be less immediacy to many of her actions. She’s not used to being able to plan on a scale of decades, let alone centuries!

[scleroticstatue]

He has thoughts about how society should be, because it makes for the most stability. I suppose that's his moral compass. And evil cannot coincide with it.

Her urgency has been chalked up to poor dream interpretation at the moment — that she expects them to be thinking in a sense of long-term choices but they don't and so she thinks everything is a right now scenario when it's just humans thinking they need it now.

Also, maybe I'm the weird human, but I started thinking in terms of decades when I was 25! Is this not the norm??

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Fascinating. That makes a lot of sense for him. There are worse moral compasses! Evil is inherently unstable over time, after all. Perhaps he will end up more good than evil by accident simply because that is, on an historical scale, what works.

Ah. That’s a very understandable conclusion to draw from the information he has, and it’s not even entirely incorrect. Although Morwen’s idea of long-term choices would be more like…six months to five years, for a direct divine command.

Hmm…I don’t know if you are weird or if I am, but I don’t usually plan in terms of decades. Think, yes, depending on the context — I’ve been known to reference WWII as if I personally knew the people involved — but generally speaking, any plans I make for the future tend to get upset by events, so I think more in terms of goals or trajectories, because I don’t have enough knowledge of how things are going to change to make a definitive plan, if that makes sense.

Actually! It has just occurred to me that we are both weird. So we are probably not the best sample for average human behaviour in anything. XD

[scleroticstatue]

Hmmmmm... I'm not sure if I agree with that. If it is true, it is eucatastrophic rather than linear.

Five years would be awfully quick, in his book, and he would probably be bashing his head against the wall if she said that was a realistic timeline for mass social change.

Fascinating. Basically as soon as I started massage, I put down my plans over the course of five decades, which I know will mean I won't be "done" until I'm 75, which sounds really ridiculous, but in actuality is reasonable for business development, even if I hope it moves faster. But, then again, it took me a decade of figuring out what I actually wanted before I settled into a Clearly Defined Goal, soooo who knows.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Well, good is not stable in the long run either. Hmm…I can see your disagreement with my phrasing, but there is something there that I will hold to. Perhaps it would be better to say that good builds and evil can only destroy, and by choosing to seek stability, Amelios is, in some fashion, aligning himself with goodness.

Morwen doesn’t really think that five years is a realistic timeframe for mass social change most of the time. However, Terrafell is a lot smaller than the world she’s used to thinking of, she has the mandate of the gods behind her, and at that point she was thinking of a different genre of story than she is actually in, perhaps.

Interesting! Perhaps we differ there because I don’t want to own my own business, so there’s an aspect of my employment that is very much out of my control. And I do want to get married, which is also very out of my control. But on the whole I have found that what I need to have change in my life occurs and occurs to me when I need it to, so I haven’t felt the necessity of laying out a long-term plan like that. Or maybe it’s just a personality thing!

[scleroticstatue]

When (some of) the backstory comes out, and it's like pulling teeth but it's like pulling teeth because the guy never learned how to talk straight not because it's hard for him to talk about.

[sweetcardamom]

You. You write the guys.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

She does write the guys! But he’s got a very strong character voice.

[scleroticstatue]

I am getting a good grade in writing speech. This is both normal to want and possible to achieve.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

You are! And it is. And Amelios has a very clear voice. He and Peles are the most distinctive, I think.

[scleroticstatue]

Peles is easy because I just imagine the accent and if I can't imagine the accent saying it, it doesn't come out of his mouth.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

I love his accent. He’s so ominous. I could hear it in his story of how he came to power as if he was sitting beside me!

[scleroticstatue]

Heh heh! Awesome! Does the story work, btw?

[letters-from-himring-hill]

I think it does! It made a good distraction for Morwen, strategically edited as it was, and it has a nice narrative symmetry with the story she unwittingly pried out of Amelios earlier.

[scleroticstatue]

When (some of) the backstory comes out, and it's like pulling teeth but it's like pulling teeth because the guy never learned how to talk straight not because it's hard for him to talk about.

[sweetcardamom]

You. You write the guys.

[scleroticstatue]

AND IT'S HARD TO WRITE THE GUY NOT OBFUSCATING EVERY THIRD WORD WITH VEILED IMPLICATIONS!

[scleroticstatue]

Seriously. I had to write the beginning of his "normal person conversation" three times to make it both his voice and not actively hiding things.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

WHY IS HE LIKE THIS (affectionate)

[scleroticstatue]

Politician

[letters-from-himring-hill]

WHY HAVE YOU MADE ME LIKE A POLITICIAN

He wasn’t always one, though! Surely he wasn’t this circumlocutory when he was assassinating people!

[scleroticstatue]

Not all politicians are evil! Stay mad I guess.🤷

He was not. But that was c.500 years ago and a very different sort of person than he at least acts like.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Argh, fine, I suppose I must admit that not ALL politicians are evil. Especially since Morwen is quite set on befriending this one. XD

Well, fair enough, I suppose. 500 years is more than long enough to build a very enduring habit of speech. Morwen has absolutely no concept of how much time that is. I wonder if Amelios will figure out that she was originally human at some point, just because of her historical perspective…

[scleroticstatue]

That's not to say Amelios is good. He is amoral. He'd get along with Machiavelli, at least in theory.

Possibly. Though she is still on the young side for an Asterian and she doesn't have many long-lived friends, so they skew her perspective younger.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

He is, at least, on the side of life and existence against death and destruction, even if his methods are questionable. I think, in the circumstances, that is enough for Morwen.

True. “Only” 200 years old, and clearly socialised with humans…that would definitely lend itself to a short-term perspective. Though if Morwen had really been 200 years old, she’d have seen at least two if not three generations of humans come and go, and I think that there would be less immediacy to many of her actions. She’s not used to being able to plan on a scale of decades, let alone centuries!

[scleroticstatue]

He has thoughts about how society should be, because it makes for the most stability. I suppose that's his moral compass. And evil cannot coincide with it.

Her urgency has been chalked up to poor dream interpretation at the moment — that she expects them to be thinking in a sense of long-term choices but they don't and so she thinks everything is a right now scenario when it's just humans thinking they need it now.

Also, maybe I'm the weird human, but I started thinking in terms of decades when I was 25! Is this not the norm??

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Fascinating. That makes a lot of sense for him. There are worse moral compasses! Evil is inherently unstable over time, after all. Perhaps he will end up more good than evil by accident simply because that is, on an historical scale, what works.

Ah. That’s a very understandable conclusion to draw from the information he has, and it’s not even entirely incorrect. Although Morwen’s idea of long-term choices would be more like…six months to five years, for a direct divine command.

Hmm…I don’t know if you are weird or if I am, but I don’t usually plan in terms of decades. Think, yes, depending on the context — I’ve been known to reference WWII as if I personally knew the people involved — but generally speaking, any plans I make for the future tend to get upset by events, so I think more in terms of goals or trajectories, because I don’t have enough knowledge of how things are going to change to make a definitive plan, if that makes sense.

Actually! It has just occurred to me that we are both weird. So we are probably not the best sample for average human behaviour in anything. XD

[scleroticstatue]

When (some of) the backstory comes out, and it's like pulling teeth but it's like pulling teeth because the guy never learned how to talk straight not because it's hard for him to talk about.

[sweetcardamom]

You. You write the guys.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

She does write the guys! But he’s got a very strong character voice.

[scleroticstatue]

I am getting a good grade in writing speech. This is both normal to want and possible to achieve.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

You are! And it is. And Amelios has a very clear voice. He and Peles are the most distinctive, I think.

[scleroticstatue]

Peles is easy because I just imagine the accent and if I can't imagine the accent saying it, it doesn't come out of his mouth.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

I love his accent. He’s so ominous. I could hear it in his story of how he came to power as if he was sitting beside me!

[scleroticstatue]

When (some of) the backstory comes out, and it's like pulling teeth but it's like pulling teeth because the guy never learned how to talk straight not because it's hard for him to talk about.

[sweetcardamom]

You. You write the guys.

[scleroticstatue]

AND IT'S HARD TO WRITE THE GUY NOT OBFUSCATING EVERY THIRD WORD WITH VEILED IMPLICATIONS!

[scleroticstatue]

Seriously. I had to write the beginning of his "normal person conversation" three times to make it both his voice and not actively hiding things.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

WHY IS HE LIKE THIS (affectionate)

[scleroticstatue]

Politician

[letters-from-himring-hill]

WHY HAVE YOU MADE ME LIKE A POLITICIAN

He wasn’t always one, though! Surely he wasn’t this circumlocutory when he was assassinating people!

[scleroticstatue]

Not all politicians are evil! Stay mad I guess.🤷

He was not. But that was c.500 years ago and a very different sort of person than he at least acts like.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Argh, fine, I suppose I must admit that not ALL politicians are evil. Especially since Morwen is quite set on befriending this one. XD

Well, fair enough, I suppose. 500 years is more than long enough to build a very enduring habit of speech. Morwen has absolutely no concept of how much time that is. I wonder if Amelios will figure out that she was originally human at some point, just because of her historical perspective…

[scleroticstatue]

That's not to say Amelios is good. He is amoral. He'd get along with Machiavelli, at least in theory.

Possibly. Though she is still on the young side for an Asterian and she doesn't have many long-lived friends, so they skew her perspective younger.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

He is, at least, on the side of life and existence against death and destruction, even if his methods are questionable. I think, in the circumstances, that is enough for Morwen.

True. “Only” 200 years old, and clearly socialised with humans…that would definitely lend itself to a short-term perspective. Though if Morwen had really been 200 years old, she’d have seen at least two if not three generations of humans come and go, and I think that there would be less immediacy to many of her actions. She’s not used to being able to plan on a scale of decades, let alone centuries!

[scleroticstatue]

When (some of) the backstory comes out, and it's like pulling teeth but it's like pulling teeth because the guy never learned how to talk straight not because it's hard for him to talk about.

[sweetcardamom]

You. You write the guys.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

She does write the guys! But he’s got a very strong character voice.

[scleroticstatue]

I am getting a good grade in writing speech. This is both normal to want and possible to achieve.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

You are! And it is. And Amelios has a very clear voice. He and Peles are the most distinctive, I think.

[scleroticstatue]

When (some of) the backstory comes out, and it's like pulling teeth but it's like pulling teeth because the guy never learned how to talk straight not because it's hard for him to talk about.

[sweetcardamom]

You. You write the guys.

[scleroticstatue]

AND IT'S HARD TO WRITE THE GUY NOT OBFUSCATING EVERY THIRD WORD WITH VEILED IMPLICATIONS!

[scleroticstatue]

Seriously. I had to write the beginning of his "normal person conversation" three times to make it both his voice and not actively hiding things.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

WHY IS HE LIKE THIS (affectionate)

[scleroticstatue]

Politician

[letters-from-himring-hill]

WHY HAVE YOU MADE ME LIKE A POLITICIAN

He wasn’t always one, though! Surely he wasn’t this circumlocutory when he was assassinating people!

[scleroticstatue]

Not all politicians are evil! Stay mad I guess.🤷

He was not. But that was c.500 years ago and a very different sort of person than he at least acts like.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Argh, fine, I suppose I must admit that not ALL politicians are evil. Especially since Morwen is quite set on befriending this one. XD

Well, fair enough, I suppose. 500 years is more than long enough to build a very enduring habit of speech. Morwen has absolutely no concept of how much time that is. I wonder if Amelios will figure out that she was originally human at some point, just because of her historical perspective…

[scleroticstatue]

When (some of) the backstory comes out, and it's like pulling teeth but it's like pulling teeth because the guy never learned how to talk straight not because it's hard for him to talk about.

[sweetcardamom]

You. You write the guys.

[scleroticstatue]

AND IT'S HARD TO WRITE THE GUY NOT OBFUSCATING EVERY THIRD WORD WITH VEILED IMPLICATIONS!

[scleroticstatue]

Seriously. I had to write the beginning of his "normal person conversation" three times to make it both his voice and not actively hiding things.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

WHY IS HE LIKE THIS (affectionate)

[scleroticstatue]

Politician

[letters-from-himring-hill]

WHY HAVE YOU MADE ME LIKE A POLITICIAN

He wasn’t always one, though! Surely he wasn’t this circumlocutory when he was assassinating people!