--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TUK: Were the Magisters trying to accomplish anything in particular with what they were doing in Kirkwall, or was it just a convenient location?
DG: It was a convenient location. It wasn't like they created Kirkwall in order to do something sinister, it's that Kirkwall having A) a ready available of sacrifices anda very thin Veil, I mean why do they put the Circles of Magi wherever there's a thin Veil? It's really dangerous, but it's sort of a chicken-egg thing. Even if they did build a Circle where there wasn't a thin Veil eventually over time the Veil would thin anyhow. And it happens to be that these are the more magical places, the thinner the Veil is the more magic you have available. It's arguable, you could say 'Well if we want to control mages, maybe we should them in places where there isn't a lot of magic!
Just a convinient location? Let's see what the codex has to say about that.
It is as we thought. The quarries of Kirkwall were found after the city was sacked by the Imperium and after they started constructing the city. The Imperium found the mineral wealth, not the indigenous people. The histories give conflicting accounts on who lived here before the Imperium. Some say the Alamarri. Some say the Daefads. We do know it was a barbarian people who had little need of the metals in the hills.
So why did the Imperium come here in such force? It is hard to disprove Brother Mikhel's theory that the natural harbor would be important for their armies, but magisters ruled, not common men. What barrier would a simple sea pose to them? The wars with the Alamarri wouldn't start until centuries later.
So the Tevinters sought this location out, but not for the geographical convinience?
A maze of caves, sewers, and hidden passages! We found three Tevinter chambers already looted, but today (tonight?) we found one closed. It was a small cell containing a few trinkets and a common tome, but it symbolizes hope. The magisters had hundreds of mages deep below Kirkwall. They lived and researched here, far from the scrutiny of common men.
Many ancient cities specialized in arcane research, but why did Kirkwall hide its efforts here? Why go to such great pains to keep it out of sight? Were they a cabal of renegade magisters? Or was this a special project of the archon?
Why would the Tevinters hide what they were doing? In Tevinter they could do whatever crazy experiments they wanted. What made this so special?
A master mason made a comment that set my mind afire. She said that of all the cities she's worked in, Kirkwall was the most difficult, and that the city is almost literally a maze. Recollecting my first years in Kirkwall, I have to agree. Getting lost was commonplace. The city was a sprawling mess.
The mason showed me a plan of the city, and my heart skipped a beat. There were patterns in the intersections, back alleys, and boulevards. Some magisters believed in the power of symbols or shapes. In the oldest parts of the city, one can make out the outlines of glyphs in the very streets! What manner of magic is this?
What would the point of this be? Huge glyphs that form the very city itself?
The blood of countless slaves was spilled beneath the city in sacrifice. Whole buildings were built upon lakes of blood. The sewers have grooves where blood would flow, all leading down. The scale is hard to fathom.
A blood mage can channel great power from a simple cut. At least a thousand unfortunates died here every year for centuries. For what ungodly purpose would one need so much power?
Why would someone need so much power? Why build a city to form magical glyphs over lakes of blood? Is it some massive ritual?
It is well known that the Veil is thin in Kirkwall, small wonder given the suffering in the city. But we've discovered the magisters were deliberately thinning it even further. Beneath the city, demons can contact even normal men. Did they seek the Black City to compound the madness of their previous efforts? Or was it something else?
Now why would the magisters intentionally be thinning the veil? To enter the Golden City again? Or is that too obvious?
If that is real, then what of the Forgotten Ones? This journey has taken us to many strange places, and made us re-evaluate many former truths. Where will it end?
We went to the center of it all. F. is dead and I am alone and injured. I must go back and put an end to it. The maddening thing is there is still no answer. But the Forgotten One, or demon or whatever it is, must be destroyed. I fear one may already be unbound.
This is where things might start tying together. Why would a Forgotten One, an evil elven god, be mentioned here? Was it the center of everything that was going on? Were the Tevinters experimenting on a bound Forgotten One under Kirkwall and everything about the city was just an elaborate conspiracy to do something with it?
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I'm sorry, Mr. Gaider, but I just can't believe you. There were too many questionable things going on in Kirkwall and the BoT questions the notion that the Tevinters chose this place for the convinient location too many times.
Kirkwall was meant to be something greater. It was made for a very specific purpose by the Tevinters. And you know what? It still could live up to that. This plot need to be resolved. It is far too interesting to leave behind and pretend it meant little. That would not only be a huge disservice to the series' potential, but also to the fans who have put so much interest and thought into this story.
Kirkwall was a very boring city with very a fascinating past. Why waste the opportunity to give Kirkwall the dark character it was meant to have? Can we get a DLC, a resolution in the codex in future DA installments, or at least something that doesn't leave us hanging like this?
What was Kirkwall? The means to perform a giant ritual or spell? An experimental ground for... something? To leave this unaddressed and to wrongly regard it as something unimportant would be a huge black mark on this series for me that I wouldn't easily forget.
Modifié par Blacklash93, 14 février 2012 - 09:00 .
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