In a desperate attempt to draw back from political stuff that I'm so not ready to deal with until next summer....
This is the sort of friendly wrestling with interpretations I love, so I'm glad you're enjoying it too.
Oh, definitely, especially since fall is setting in. SADD sucks. Pushing my brain helps a lot.
Yes, it's unclear how they get accepted; Alistair mentions both noble and commoner children, but he was the only one who wasn't quite either, so if the nobles send their illegitimate children to the Chantry, they're ones who were raised solely by their commoner parent. I'm a little fuzzy on it, but I got the impression maybe Cullen's barrier was his parents' consent?
Good point on the author of that codex!
I have to admit I got the a lot noble 3rd or 4th child and bastard children as much from my discussions with my husband about Chantry vis a vi RCC. To quote: "It (The Church) was a great way for a father with a son he couldn't acknowledge to still do right by"
True, which to me makes it weirder to me that they defaulted to that. I'm not aware of any Protestant denominations that require celibacy, and it isn't common in the other religions I'm familiar with (I could be missing something obvious, of course.)
Judaism doesn't either. We've got a lot of funky rituals for the priest caste. If you belong to the kohanim there are a lot of restrictions on who you can marry and such but that's a small segment. Run into any Jewish person named Kohen or some variation there of, and they're most likely of the caste.
That being said rabbis aren't restricted in any type of way. I think that may be the same for Islam but I can't remember.
But yes, the implication seems to be Cullen's parents, though I get the sense it's more of worry for their son than any need for him at home. Though I may be reading into it. I just wish we knew more about them. I'd seen somewhere they died during the Blight but haven't been able to confirm.
Maybe I'll ask for WoT 1&2 for my birthday.
I haven't gotten that far in the ME series, too funny!
My husband's favorite line of the series.
I think that minimal level of organization for the Templars makes sense, actually. Most of the time, they're in relatively small detachments, the size of a company or half company, no more than 40 or 50 in any one place, I think? So 4 to 5 officers at most (they don't seem to have an equivalent to the enlisted or NCOs.) They probably had more in Val Royeaux of course with the organizational command and administrative core above the local commanders was, and the Gallows might have had more, but the situation was a bit different there with both a very large Circle plus the Cathedral in Kirkwall? The organizational structure of medieval armies was not usually as carefully defined as modern ones. Smaller armies, less specialization, more frequently made up of semi-independent forces working together (think all the nobles' forces at Ostagar with the regular Fereldan army.)
True. I think Kirkwall was as big as it was because each of the Free March states had their own Circle, even somewhere as small, relatively, as Ostwick so. I'm attributing this potentially to the fierce independent Marcher streak. They want their "own" Templars rather than have it be in a centralized place thus prestige to one city or another.
A lot of time I think the Templars would be working in even smaller size, what we'd call a squad or a fire team since marching through the woods looking for apostates et al with 50 men sounds both like overkill and a logistics nightmare. But I may be wrong.
You do make a good point about the organization. It makes me wonder if Tevinter in being a kind of Romanesque society has a military based around those lines.
The Seekers fit in rather oddly in all of it, and we're not given a lot of info either, other than the fact they are corrupted and essentially have been for quite a while. Of course, we're left at the end of everything with the implication that Cass is rebuilding the Seekers (and surviving Templars?) into something new, hopefully something that's more inclusive like they were originally and in a way that will be harder to erase the inclusion on non-humans and mages. And Cullen offers Templars an exit they didn't have before from lyrium addiction. Those two things together suggest some interesting possibilities for the future...
Agreed. If you take those choices of course, which I do. I just got the Viv as Divine ending (thus starting over because I am not having her as Divine, I don't care) and a lot of the Templars who follow Cullen enter into Cassandra's new Order, though I wonder if they still use the Vigil.
I think Cass is going to be death on anyone who tries to close ranks in the new Seekers. As long as there's a good deal of transparency, I think it'll be fine. I feel the same about the Inquisition. As long as they keep their purpose and charter obvious and inclusive, less chance of corruption setting in easily. The spy thing, well, thanks for telling us you're a threat, dear, because now we know which way to look.
I also find myself in weird position of wondering what would happen if Fenris would undergo the Vigil because I'm curious how the lyrium tattoos might play in. But that's the fic writer in me talking. In fact, I find myself wondering how he'd get long with the DAI cast in general (Dorian, Solas and Bull are huge examples).
Dunno if this has been posted, but since I played Trespasser once before...half asleep. I decided to run it again - being more awake.
Was reading Sera's journal and saw this:

I just hope no one recently polished whichever desk they choose to use. Otherwise my Quizzy will slide all the way to the Dales. 
Yet again, I find myself reminded not to read and drink at the same time. That's cute. Who was the new Jenny? Or is that just stuff? I had this image of Dagna joining...
Modifié par Ariella, 28 octobre 2015 - 01:42 .