Estinien Wyrmblood (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
coerthantorment) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
abraxaslogs2021-11-19 05:09 pm
coerthantorment) wrote in abraxaslogs2021-11-19 05:09 pm
Entry tags:
[CLOSED] lived a lot of different lives
WHO: Estinien Wyrmblood, Winnifred Bordeaux, and the Solvunn Council
WHAT: Estinien meets with the council in hopes of driving them towards action... or at least in hopes of finding out what Solvunn wants out of this conflict in the first place.
WHERE: Primary Settlement, Solvunn
WHEN: Mid to Late Novemberish
Six months prior, Estinien never could have imagined himself willingly subjecting himself to this. To playing the diplomat, to making appeals, to trying to gather favour... it was work left to better men, in his opinion. Yet, with an absence of those he had unknowingly relied on, he has few other options. From the sounds of things, this effort very well may be dependant on him.
Few others were willing to make a move, at least from all he had observed - and of those that were, not all of them were prepared. In his case, though, he was built to fight. Everything he saw, he saw through that lens.
And so, this is what he brought to the council's attention: that, at least to him, the situation with Thorne was something that needed to be fought against, and that he was prepared to do it in whatever way they thought best. They had the experience, he said, they had lived in this place for much longer than him. Yet, at the same time, his limited experience with their world made him think that time was of the essence.
"You have my thanks for seeing me today," he says. It's the sort of formality that chafes against him, but he bears it regardless. Despite how rebellious he became after taking on the mantle of Azure Dragoon, there had been a time when he needed to play along enough that he could be granted the position by the Holy See in the first place, even if his skill had done most of the speaking. He can do this if he must, he reminds himself.
"Since coming to Solvunn some months ago, it has ever been mine intent to take on the cause of your people. I would not shirk the responsibility placed on me by my presence here, whether it be through circumstances or fate... if the world of Abraxas has need of my kind to resolve the issue of the Singularity, then so be it. Yet, I find myself adrift, and with little idea of what Solvunn herself seeks to accomplish. I know that your people see the tamperings of the Free Cities and Thorne as dire threats to this world and all others, but I have found myself wondering, what they hope to do to stop it?
"Were it in my hands, I know that I would not tarry, knowing that Thorne may have what they need to meddle with the Singularity more effectively than they have before. Does the Council of Solvunn disagree? If so, I would benefit from hearing your reasoning for such delay. You are, after all, the ones with a history in this place, and with an understanding of what has come before. I cannot claim to be as knowledgeable, though 'tis not from disinterest. I've done what reading I can to learn Solvunn's intent, but I am still unclear on the way forward.
"You have a willing soldier in me, and I had hoped to show you as much with the information offered upon our first meeting. And now that you have had time to see my measure, I would simply ask that you make use of me. Tell me what Solvunn wants and what it needs, and how I might aid you and your people. If you see Thorne as a threat, I would ask what can be done to stop them. Pray, understand me. There is much I have left behind to be in this world. Dire causes I have been forced to abandon, and that's consequences are still unknown to me. It weighs heavily on me for my presence here to be put to waste, when all that I loved before has been put at risk in turn.
"...And I have seen that you have taken it upon yourself to bring more here alongside me. If circumstances are as dire as they seem, I understand your need. But, if you would follow in Thorne's footsteps, you must see some divine purpose for our presence here. 'Tis no longer a matter of refugees stumbling upon your doorsteps - we are being called upon."
Estinien bows his head slightly, signaling the end of his appeal.
"Pray, tell me how I might yet strike against your enemies."
WHAT: Estinien meets with the council in hopes of driving them towards action... or at least in hopes of finding out what Solvunn wants out of this conflict in the first place.
WHERE: Primary Settlement, Solvunn
WHEN: Mid to Late Novemberish
Six months prior, Estinien never could have imagined himself willingly subjecting himself to this. To playing the diplomat, to making appeals, to trying to gather favour... it was work left to better men, in his opinion. Yet, with an absence of those he had unknowingly relied on, he has few other options. From the sounds of things, this effort very well may be dependant on him.
Few others were willing to make a move, at least from all he had observed - and of those that were, not all of them were prepared. In his case, though, he was built to fight. Everything he saw, he saw through that lens.
And so, this is what he brought to the council's attention: that, at least to him, the situation with Thorne was something that needed to be fought against, and that he was prepared to do it in whatever way they thought best. They had the experience, he said, they had lived in this place for much longer than him. Yet, at the same time, his limited experience with their world made him think that time was of the essence.
"You have my thanks for seeing me today," he says. It's the sort of formality that chafes against him, but he bears it regardless. Despite how rebellious he became after taking on the mantle of Azure Dragoon, there had been a time when he needed to play along enough that he could be granted the position by the Holy See in the first place, even if his skill had done most of the speaking. He can do this if he must, he reminds himself.
"Since coming to Solvunn some months ago, it has ever been mine intent to take on the cause of your people. I would not shirk the responsibility placed on me by my presence here, whether it be through circumstances or fate... if the world of Abraxas has need of my kind to resolve the issue of the Singularity, then so be it. Yet, I find myself adrift, and with little idea of what Solvunn herself seeks to accomplish. I know that your people see the tamperings of the Free Cities and Thorne as dire threats to this world and all others, but I have found myself wondering, what they hope to do to stop it?
"Were it in my hands, I know that I would not tarry, knowing that Thorne may have what they need to meddle with the Singularity more effectively than they have before. Does the Council of Solvunn disagree? If so, I would benefit from hearing your reasoning for such delay. You are, after all, the ones with a history in this place, and with an understanding of what has come before. I cannot claim to be as knowledgeable, though 'tis not from disinterest. I've done what reading I can to learn Solvunn's intent, but I am still unclear on the way forward.
"You have a willing soldier in me, and I had hoped to show you as much with the information offered upon our first meeting. And now that you have had time to see my measure, I would simply ask that you make use of me. Tell me what Solvunn wants and what it needs, and how I might aid you and your people. If you see Thorne as a threat, I would ask what can be done to stop them. Pray, understand me. There is much I have left behind to be in this world. Dire causes I have been forced to abandon, and that's consequences are still unknown to me. It weighs heavily on me for my presence here to be put to waste, when all that I loved before has been put at risk in turn.
"...And I have seen that you have taken it upon yourself to bring more here alongside me. If circumstances are as dire as they seem, I understand your need. But, if you would follow in Thorne's footsteps, you must see some divine purpose for our presence here. 'Tis no longer a matter of refugees stumbling upon your doorsteps - we are being called upon."
Estinien bows his head slightly, signaling the end of his appeal.
"Pray, tell me how I might yet strike against your enemies."
no subject
Rowan sits and listens with a pensive expression his arms resting on the table in front of him, fingers laced. It isn't that Estinien isn't making a valid argument, and Solvunn could always use someone like that in their arsenal. The thing that weighs heaviest on his mind is the recent events that don't paint their home in the best of lights.
After Estinien speaks his peace, he remains quiet, mulling over the speech. Looking to his right, he makes eye contact with Winifred briefly before turning his attention back to the other man. Rowan sighs, heavy and low, fingers moving to stroke at his bearded chin.
"Not to put too fine a point to it, but I don't feel like we're in the best position to be puttin' you into such a mess. I'm not trying to spurn your offer," he raises his hand toward their charge in assurance, "we're pleased to hear it, Estinien. The incident during Eifstide wasn't intentional, but if we made a move so soon? They'd be callin' it an act of war."
no subject
It's not so much that he doesn't understand the immediate logic of it all. Yes, Eifstide put them in the role of the aggressor for the time being, whether wrought by ignorance or otherwise. It would be a terrible time to act if peace was their long-term goal. What he doesn't understand is how Solvunn means to both stop what they perceive as a looming apocalypse while also retaining peaceful relations with the people causing it.
To him, it would seem they cannot have both. Yet, he knows that is probably not what they want to hear. All the same...
"Mayhap it would be," he says. It is not without weight. He fully understands the cost of war, having been fighting in one conflict or another since he was a child. "Yet, if it's merely a matter of timing, would it not be advised to lay plans while we still have the leisure to do so? With such a calamitous event on the Horizon, is open conflict with the other nations not an inevitability?"
no subject
"Council will hear the concerns of every community, brought forward in turn. But for now..."
She rises to her feet, gesturing for Josselyn to take her seat and continue chairing the meeting in her absence— because for now, she has something else to take care of. She gathers her heavy shawl around herself as if preparing for a little evening stroll, and with a brief pause to lay a hand on Rowan's shoulder she crosses the floor.
"Estinien. Walk with me."
no subject
...But that can wait, he decides. That they would seem so surprised, so worried by the notion, is information in of itself. Instead, he looks to Winifred, watching her discreetly as they go wherever they're going. He waits for her to speak first.
no subject
"Here. Some things are best discussed... privately. It cuts down on confusion. In serving this community I have learned many things... but perhaps none more important than this. It's important to hear many voices, but to speak with one. And I can tell you this now, Estinien. Solvunn will not be moved to war against Thorne."
She lifts a hand, preempting interruption.
"You are a soldier, are you not? Or at least, that is the path you have chosen. The course that makes the most sense to your mind will always be one of immediate violence, the way that to a man with a hammer all things look like nails. I don't blame you for this, and for the Gods to have brought you to us there may well come a time when we will need such a hammer. But it is not now."
no subject
He can't think of the last time that was justifiably an option, though. Last he recalls, the Scions were planning to go to Old Sharlayan to convince them of the need for intervention. The familiarity of the feeling is striking, but now it's his problem to deal with instead of Alphinaud's.
"I am," he says, but otherwise simply listens, whether or not he feels like he's being condescended to. His voice remains level. "And I am more than familiar with your position. This is why I ask for a sense of Solvunn's plans. If you would not defeat Thorne on the battlefield, then how do you intend to face the threat they represent?"
He has more he could say, but before anything else, he wants an answer to that.
no subject
"We have persisted here in the favor of the Gods for millennia, and Thorne has not raised a hand against us in all that time... because they know any attempt to attack us here in the sanctuary of our Commune would fail. The Gods are very real, Estinien, and as long as we move in concert with their will and remain here in their dominion, we are all of us under their divine protection. And should we stray from the path..."
She pauses, pulling her shawl tighter around her shoulders.
"We would have more pressing concerns than whatever foolishness Ambrose Rhett is playing with."
no subject
They say that Throne and the Free Cities' actions could be apocalyptic, and yet they are no threat? His brow furrows.
"Whatever 'foolishness' Ambrose Rhett is playing with is something you have sanctioned the replication of," he says. "Clearly, Solvunn is not so disinterested in his exploits. But I would not waste time debating wording, and would instead make my position clear: if we are to be pulled into the affairs of your world, I would require some direction regarding what it is you want to be done."
"I asked to know Solvunn's goals and to know how they would attempt to address the Singularity, and 'twas sincere in my intent. I do not make a practice of padding words."
no subject
"For a soldier, you are very used to being told why your orders are necessary, aren't you?" she muses. "And resenting it when you aren't given the answers you assume must exist and feel you are owed. Solvunn's goal is, as it always has been, to serve the Gods. And the Gods have not called for war with Thorne. That would be enough of an answer for any of our people, but you... perhaps with a little effort you can begin to understand our position. Tell me. Can Ambrose Rhett reach the Singularity?"
no subject
"Through the proxy of his 'recruits' he can... and to an extent we are yet unaware of. If your answer is to simply do nothing until circumstance causes you to react, you are welcome to make that your answer. Though, if that is the case, I would question why you have taken up summoning under the guise of such dire need."
no subject
"Don't misunderstand me, Estinien. We have no fondness for Thorne, and there might be one or two on the Council who would probably enjoy the opportunity to give Ambrose a bloody nose. But let's put the will of the Gods aside, as you weren't raised here and taught to find faith in it, and consider the threat Thorne might pose with a level head. Nothing more than logic.
"For all his meddling and grandiose speeches, has Ambrose shown he has any ability to affect the Singularity, in any way at all? Even by proxy? Did he set the Summoned any task that might indicate he knows how to use them to achieve his goals? And you... you have been to the Horizon yourself. Did going there give you any measure of power it didn't give to everyone else who crossed the border? Did you gain the strength to subjugate the Singularity, or any insight into how it might be controlled? Did you even learn if it can be?"
Winnifred peers at Estinien carefully, as if hoping to see some spark of understanding leap into life there. When she speaks again, her voice is softer, full of patience.
"Even if you had unlocked the secret to controlling the wild power of the Singularity itself. How willing would you be to give that power to me?"
no subject
Beyond that, he gathers that she means to imply that even if Thorne's recruits could control the Singularity at a greater level, they would not be so quick to pass it along to their masters. Yet, in his opinion, the comparison fails, in that the people that stuck around to serve Ambrose in the wake of all he'd done are a different breed entirely. There are more objections he could make, more points to discuss the finer points of, but none of that is worthwhile until one specific thing is clarified.
"Surely you must realize the contradiction at the heart of your assurances," he says. "If you would suggest to me that Solvunn is safe, that the High Mage is ineffectual, that there is no danger on the horizon to prepare for... then why has Solvunn begun to summon more of my kind, all while telling them that we are on the brink of disaster?"
There is no point in continuing if this issue will not be addressed, as it is the center of Estinien's discontent. If this had been a couple of months ago, Estinien could have understood Solvunn seeing no need for action in the immediate future - but it is their own words and deeds that have driven him to seek direction. They are the ones claiming that there is a threat. They are the ones instigating this by summoning people just like Thorne had.
It's no longer Solvunn simply taking on refugees of a mess started in another kingdom. They have made themselves part of it.
no subject
"Are you being deliberately difficult with me?"
She shakes her head.
"You know exactly why we have begun Summoning, Estinien. You and your companions are the ones who made it possible, even down to the details of how such magic might be accomplished! A clear sign from the Gods if there ever was one. You made it all very clear, when you told the Council of your experiences. The Summoned are our concern. Not Thorne, or even the Free Cities, who I have heard you speak very little about despite their desire to destroy the Singularity entirely. The Summoned. And they are where I would direct your attention, if you are honestly interested in steering a course away from calamity and not simply thirsty for the familiar comforts of war."
no subject
What staggers him, though, is what he considers to be an unnecessarily low blow, right at the end of her explanation. He could not expect anyone to know his history without being told, but it strikes differently when she has spoken to him thus far as if his heart and mind were hers to know.
"I assure you, lady Bordeaux, war is of no comfort to me," he says, with a subtle edge of trembling tension that could be clear to those inclined to read it. "I have lost everything to war... my parents... my little brother... my home, and all who lived in it. All years before I could be considered grown.
"We fought an insatiable enemy... one who waged a war of a thousand years to cause us suffering, and nothing more complicated than that. I trained my entire life to defeat that which spurred our war onward, and it was only when he had at last left our world that we achieved any semblance of peace.
"And our war was not the only one. In the days since then, I have seen people suffer at the hands of many would-be tyrants... some for power, some for wealth, and some because they saw themselves the arbiters of the way they world should be, at the expense of all others. The ones that would wield godlike powers to purge all that seems unworthy to them. This is a battle that plagues my world still... one that I have been forced to leave behind in order to partake in this world's conflicts."
This isn't just a speech he's giving to make a point. There's emotions behind it - the genuine strain that the last several months and a life of pain have brought upon him.
"I see the seeds of such evil so vividly within Thorne's actions. 'Tis because of this that I know their plans cannot be allowed to succeed... no mere man can be allowed to reshape the world in their image. For the Free Cities, I have no knowledge of what they even hope to attain in their quest, and I have no context with which to apply to judgment. 'Tis not merely errant obsession that directs my focus towards Thorne.
"Nay, what I speak of is no thirst for war. I have only seen inaction, time and time again, lead to greater evil than what would be caused by excising such violence at the root."
no subject
"If I may offer you some advice?"
She lifts a hand, much like she had to quieten the council chamber, and continues smoothly.
"When you come to a foreign land as a refugee, and are accepted and provided for by a generous people who are accepting a risk in taking responsibility for your care, and ask to speak at a council of their leadership, and at that meeting ask them how you might best strike against their enemies... it might serve you to listen to the answers you are given and respond accordingly. Otherwise, it might seem to those kind and generous people that your offer to assist them in whatever way they deem best is less than sincere, and more likely an attempt to coerce them into assisting you."
no subject
He is silent for a moment, composing himself before he speaks again.
"'Twas not mine intent to coerce Solvunn's council into aimless violence," he says, more levelly. "If you say that there is naught to be done in the material world as things are now, I can readily believe you - as when compelled to think on it, I cannot provide any alternatives. The reason for my persistence in finding purpose is this place is, in part, for the benefit of the newly summoned among us, and for their future relations with Solvunn.
"No matter how wise or just the cause, all that we can offer to them are words, in the face of what must feel like a great loss. They have all lost something by coming here, and despite the necessity of it, it will weigh heavily on their hearts. Despite the comfort I have found in Solvunn, I myself feel it still.
"In pain comes resentment, and I would sooner see them join hands with Solvunn's people as friends than as reluctant conscripts. If they are able to see the wisdom in Solvunn's path, all the more driven will they be to work on your behalf. I would give them something to look forward to, something to be inspired towards. I see Solvunn's path as the true course, and would hope to have it be well equipped for the days to come.
"And in turn, if Solvunn's path is in the hands of the gods, I would personally endeavour to better understand them and their will."
no subject
"The gods do not give us a burden we cannot carry, or ask for more than we can bear to give," she tells him. "You, and the others brought here to our community, haven't been here long enough to feel it, perhaps, but the blessing of the gods is a gift not given to many. In time, I hope all those chosen to join us come to recognize the privilege of their position, and the price asked by the gods well worth paying.
Do you believe in fate, Estinien? That no one is brought into the world or taken from it without reason?"
no subject
It's a complicated question to him, and the ambivalence of it shows on his face. Even regarding the staunch faith of his own nation he could be considered agnostic - unwilling to fully accept or reject the love of the goddess that supposedly watched over him. Blessed him, even, if you asked his countrymen during his ascent to the office of Azure Dragoon. On some level he wants to believe, but after so many unanswered calls for mercy...
(But were they unanswered, when he was spared the death he was so convinced he was owed?)
"...I don't know," he says, hesitantly looking up to her after a long moment of casting his gaze downward. "I... understand that matters may be different in my realm, though I have seen many things there that could be attributed to destiny. Still, I have always... felt that I must press on regardless. That each step is mine own, even if it comes to serve a greater purpose."
no subject
She shakes her head, pulling the fabric of her shawl tightly around her body.
"But you, and all the others brought here, are exactly where you are meant to be. Just as all in Solvunn, and the Free Cities, and even Thorne are. It may be difficult to see why things are as they are, but eventually all things come together as they must. Can you accept this answer for now, Estinien?"
no subject
She said 'for now' after all. Those two words make a world of difference. He is not a man who could sustain himself on faith alone indefinitely, but as they are? He's been wrong about things that seemed more insane when set against his conception of the world.
In some ways it would be nice for her to be right. He would like to be where he is supposed to be... wherever that is. If it truly were here as opposed to in Eorzea, maybe he would feel less like he's abandoned his loved ones to their deaths.
"I can," he says, and it's genuine. "What I wish... is for my world and this one to be spared. To flourish." He's worried about it all, anxious in his gut that it won't be enough to simply wait, but as he already said: he has no better answers. "If the gods can bring about our salvation... then I would seek their counsel first and foremost."
He pauses, and then adds:
"Or, what part of it I can comprehend."