How far would Radonis go to satisfy his scientific curiosity? How far does he think magical research should go? Has he ever been tempted by knowledge so much he risked jeopardizing his position? In which cases would that happen, if it could? How would he react to someone with a once-in-a-century-level genius going beyond what he is willing to allow?
How far would Radonis go to satisfy his scientific curiosity?
The question is framed implying a certain moral self-imposed limit here, and the thing is… Radonis is rather machiavellian in the most basic sense of the word, but the ends he wants to achieve are not strictly academical. Pure scientific curiosity is too up in the air and research for the sake of research doesn’t attract him. It needs to have some kind of more or less immediate repercussion/influence on people, and sure, you can argue that all results from science do have that one way or the other — but those results are general and not related to his scientific curiosity. Unless we’re talking about political science and such, but that’s less curiosity and more like his actual life calling, so you know. You just gotta remember that he is pragmatic, and that pragmatism motivates his approach to most things in life.
How far does he think magical research should go?
The Fade sky’s the limit? Well, no, actually this needs elaboration. Radonis allows some pretty damn despicable things to happen under his more or less direct orders, i.e. what the Siccari do in Seheron. The thing here isn’t ethics, the thing is that, whatever you do, it needs to have a point. And he isn’t the kind of man who believes in stuff done for the simple sake of it (not in research, not in art, not in anything). The ultimate aim, in his mind, is almost always socio-political. But I’ll have to work with examples to clarify this. So, take Avernus. Blood magic and experimenting on people and all that jazz — to cure the taint in Grey Wardens. Now, if the taint was a really widespread problem in Tevinter? He’d allow it. Go, Avernus, go do your thing. Now take, for example, Danarius. What he does to Fenris is, from the standpoint of magical research, outstanding, but absolutely horrifying from the point of view of simple human decency. Now, Radonis probably wouldn’t have it in him to do something like that personally, but if that lyrium crafting process didn’t cost a ridiculous amount of money and could feasibly be used to give power to volunteers? He’d probably grow at least interested. With things as they are it’s just… not his business. It’s Danarius’ private research. A tad extreme in costs and realisation, maybe. But not his business. Which leads me to Branka and golems. On a purely visceral level, what Branka did to find the Anvil might manage to twist Radonis’ stomach. But once there? Golems are incredibly useful allies and one golem, one soul, can achieve what would otherwise require many casualties. He is the kind of man who would ally with her against Caridin. The price, as far as he’s concerned, is affordable. Last example, Corypheus and his idea of getting into the Fade to become a god. Now, that’s a no. The stakes are too high, there is no guarantee of success, it’s so remarkably egotistic, and moreover it doesn’t really affect Tevinter positively in the long run. That could be read as something done simply for the sake of it (or for the sake of Power™) and that, to him, is bullshit.
Has he ever been tempted by knowledge so much he risked jeopardizing his position? In which cases would that happen, if it could?
Short answer: no. Long answer: …also no. It’s not one of his real weaknesses, so really that’s not where you gotta aim if you want to make him risk anything. Offer him to know anything ever and he’ll just be like, alright, when knowing anything ever will be a clear guarantee that we’ll win the war and survive this age unscathed and will grant me that we won’t be affected by the inevitable randomness of happenings and by the always changing human variant… then maybe we can talk about it.
How would he react to someone with a once-in-a-century-level genius going beyond what he is willing to allow?
See the Danarius example or the Branka example. Alright, maybe Danny is not a once-in-a-century-level genius, but he is a capable scientist, even if he’s… pretty shitty in the ways he uses his ability. But it counts also for an actual genius, like arguably Branka is. If their reserch is private and doesn’t affect the wider population negatively he might just make a face and look the other way. If it does affect the wider population negatively, it doesn’t matter if the person is a genius, they clearly aren’t a genius enough to realise that what they’re doing is a problem and they gotta stop. But there are variables. For example, what kind of problem is this research causing? What kind of benefit might it bring? What are the far-reaching consequences? Who is complaining about it? Can he really afford to ignore it, even if it might have some good effects in the future, is the cost too high? For how long is he willing to ignore his own nagging disapproval? Is it just a megalomaniac’s private fantasy or is it the research of a lucid and pragmatic mind who just has lower pseudo-ethical standards than his own? So you see. Variables.
