...possible. When I was here the first time, spirit healing affected my condition but couldn't fully cure it. But I also suspect that this time. [A short pause.] I have no real way to check for antibodies, scar tissue, evidence of my former illness. I'm not sure evidence of my prior illness would even be there, since I came back cured. [Did the original Cosima dream of being post-sick, or just restored to health? She's not sure her mind would have separated the concepts back home.]
It's an interesting idea. The risks inherent in cutting a rifter off from the Fade too completely are self-evident, of course, but that seems likely a problem of degree.
Are you hypothesizing, or is there a particular illness in play? To the extent it's not breaking a confidence.
A current patient brought it to mind. I can attest that the use of magebane does not result in,
[ herian. of course he's wondered whether a rifter might be so severed. there are things that you wonder, and don't speak. ]
Permanent effects. I've some ability to prod at scar, but I do mean prodding it. I couldn't tell you whether it's there or not without chancing its growth. Practically risky when you're now well.
It's always the problem with rifters: sample size. I don't know how much we could extrapolate from my case, when so few of us go and come back. Of that set, even fewer change from sick to cured when they do.
[If she thought it would help, the risk might not be a deal breaker. But she's uncertain it will tell them anything they can generalize.]
That said, we've had a few rifters through dealing with a variety of effects, physical illness among the rest. It'd be nice to have something we could do for them. Have you checked in with Strange?
No. It seemed prudent to gather the available information, before he downs it for a shot.
[ strange is more cautious than that. but he was on the list of poppell's volunteers, so not all that cautious.
(he's on the list of those to hear isaac's other ideas: anchors and magebane, the definition of a mage. all the best to viktor, but this current exploration is ancillary. isaac doesn't expect it to render useful aid.) ]
I'll run it by when I've collected a true proposal. There was your illness, this present one, and that lyrium plague. I've heard of bodily changes from complexion to the arrangement of limbs. Can you think of any I'm missing?
I don't know how much of Tav's condition filtered through the rumor mill [she assumes some, since keeping a rifter routinely under guard would be hard to hide and because he'd made some ill-advised comments by sending crystal], but his condition didn't really have a physical component as far as I'm aware. It was a magical effect. Still, you could talk to him if he's willing to discuss it with you. Tangentially related, maybe.
I don't think I know of any other ... Well, maybe a stretch, but I remember reading a copy of an Inquisition report from before my time. Reports of an artifact causing non-mages to see through the Veil to the Fade involuntarily. Scant on details, but I can earmark it for you if you think it's useful. Unfortunately, I don't think we're still in contact with anyone who experienced it, or at least not close contact.
And yeah, I guess Tav hasn't been especially secretive. Strange and I theorized that it was ... mind over matter sounds like shit when you boil it down that far. But given his nature as a rifter and the condition's origin in his home reality, we thought he might be able to sever the connection to that particular aspect in the Fade. We weren't in there with him, so I can't confirm it was that exactly, but it ties a little into what you're talking about, I think. Things about us rifters that are true, but kind of true in a different way than they would be for a Thedas native.
As a rifter, I don't know how much I want to encourage people outside the organization to think of our nature as fundamentally mutable. I think that's an oversimplification regardless. But I do think magebane isn't wild, as a hypothesis. I'm not sure if any of us have ever been Silenced either, though I couldn't sweat to it one way or another. I haven't personally, and I can't imagine a lot of volunteers for that one, under the circumstances. But I think it might pay to be flexible, in how we think about rifters and illness.
If you try it, I'd be interested to know what you learn.
It's my job. And hey, any question that's not an emergency in disguise [well, it sounds like it a little bit is, but not an urgent one at least] could be worse.
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crystals; whenever on timing
[ it probably isn't actually how many pushups she can do ]
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[Presumably rhetorical rather than a real bet, as she adds:] Go ahead.
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[ the teapot. of course. ]
Have you ever been subject to magebane? Or, mn — some other dampening effect.
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Not that I recall. Lyrium on a couple of occasions, but no magebane to my knowledge. Why do you ask?
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[ of which cosima has been hardly their only entry. ]
I'm curious whether the latter might be meddled with.
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It's an interesting idea. The risks inherent in cutting a rifter off from the Fade too completely are self-evident, of course, but that seems likely a problem of degree.
Are you hypothesizing, or is there a particular illness in play? To the extent it's not breaking a confidence.
no subject
[ herian. of course he's wondered whether a rifter might be so severed. there are things that you wonder, and don't speak. ]
Permanent effects. I've some ability to prod at scar, but I do mean prodding it. I couldn't tell you whether it's there or not without chancing its growth. Practically risky when you're now well.
no subject
[If she thought it would help, the risk might not be a deal breaker. But she's uncertain it will tell them anything they can generalize.]
That said, we've had a few rifters through dealing with a variety of effects, physical illness among the rest. It'd be nice to have something we could do for them. Have you checked in with Strange?
no subject
[ strange is more cautious than that. but he was on the list of poppell's volunteers, so not all that cautious.
(he's on the list of those to hear isaac's other ideas: anchors and magebane, the definition of a mage. all the best to viktor, but this current exploration is ancillary. isaac doesn't expect it to render useful aid.) ]
I'll run it by when I've collected a true proposal. There was your illness, this present one, and that lyrium plague. I've heard of bodily changes from complexion to the arrangement of limbs. Can you think of any I'm missing?
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I don't think I know of any other ... Well, maybe a stretch, but I remember reading a copy of an Inquisition report from before my time. Reports of an artifact causing non-mages to see through the Veil to the Fade involuntarily. Scant on details, but I can earmark it for you if you think it's useful. Unfortunately, I don't think we're still in contact with anyone who experienced it, or at least not close contact.
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[ and guards in the infirmary, of course isaac's asked — ]
But I'd be much obliged, if you've no trouble dredging that report.
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[And, a few days later, she will. For now:]
And yeah, I guess Tav hasn't been especially secretive. Strange and I theorized that it was ... mind over matter sounds like shit when you boil it down that far. But given his nature as a rifter and the condition's origin in his home reality, we thought he might be able to sever the connection to that particular aspect in the Fade. We weren't in there with him, so I can't confirm it was that exactly, but it ties a little into what you're talking about, I think. Things about us rifters that are true, but kind of true in a different way than they would be for a Thedas native.
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[ ha ha. ]
Even sparing detail, it's a marked achievement. If his condition represented something akin to a curse, as translated, perhaps –
[ viktor's condition remains the most visible in riftwatch, and it's difficult to trip about his particular expertise. ]
– Well, there's more than the mind to direct it. Runes shape lyrium. Hold a spell, beyond the limitation of mortal belief.
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As a rifter, I don't know how much I want to encourage people outside the organization to think of our nature as fundamentally mutable. I think that's an oversimplification regardless. But I do think magebane isn't wild, as a hypothesis. I'm not sure if any of us have ever been Silenced either, though I couldn't sweat to it one way or another. I haven't personally, and I can't imagine a lot of volunteers for that one, under the circumstances. But I think it might pay to be flexible, in how we think about rifters and illness.
If you try it, I'd be interested to know what you learn.
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I'll get you over that report.