mortalitasi-nevarra-lore

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Going to start a “Mortalitasi being fucked up and standing up a shadow magocracy” compilation

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"I swear, as a member of the Sacred Order of the Mourn Watch, to preserve the sanctity of the dead. To uphold the rites and ceremonies that sustain the reverence held for those that have departed this world. To always watch over the boundaries of death, and measure the dreaming sea. Above all, I will provide the use of my training in and knowledge of Necromantic arts to maintain order between this world and the fade. For as we were born out of the darkness thus we remain as children of the dark." 

EDIT: added in the one line that Emmrich mentions in his final conversation with Rook before facing Elgar'nan. Thanks to the discord server I've only been part of for less than 24 hours, I've written a Mourn Watch Oath. This is open to interpretation, adjustment, and suggestion. I hadn't seen anything solid yet, so I thought I'd start a discourse. (It's also based on my own fic.) Also thanks to @basic-x-witch and @ermagerdperpehs for letting me bounce ideas around with them.

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Oh man I just got a great idea. CONSIDER THIS!! Mourn Watch Rook that has a skeleton dog. At the end of their first meeting with Emmrich, both of them are equally delighted to see the other also has a skeleton companion. They immediately forget other people are around and start comparing notes.

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Stupid Mourn Watch headcanon that may or may not just be me projecting my own occupation into fandom lol.

Somewhere in the Grand Necropolis someone is running a less than accepted little tattoo shop.

Sure. They do their fellow Mortalitasi. But occasionally the risen dead come in. Warriors who miss bearing their battalion sigil. Lovers wanting the wedding bands they could never afford inscribed. That one mage just REALLY liked her face tattoos.

So with some fire magic, a set of fine steel nibs, and an assload of patience, tattoos are done in pyrography. The senior watchers and nobles find it distasteful, but who's going to argue with the higher dead? Prince Ashon was really proud of his family name. He gets his house crest emblazoned upon his sternum. Who the fuck is gonna tell someone from the royal crypts no? (Aside from Ingellvar amidst an uprising)

Of course not everyone gets one. The odd wisp can't just gerrymander the first skeleton it finds and ask for a truncated version of the Flame of the Last Steps tattooed down its humerus simply bc it saw it in an apprentice's textbook. No you can't ask for a ween on your scapula just to spite your mother from the beyond (unless the story why is just REALLY good). But they're not gonna stop you from getting a mustache tattooed below the nasal passage so people will stop misgendering you at the grave. You suffered that shit enough in life.

Some Watchers set up deals. When they die, they want their inks reapplied. They want their mansions redecorated. They want the details their grave gold alone can't portray. It's a lot of paperwork. They can't just barge in during your embalming after all.

I think about this a LOT as a professional Necromancer and bone artist. I would absolutely do it.

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Lichdom musing (CW: for death and gore)

Now this is me talking out my ass, but since Nevarra seems to ascribe to a mind-body dualism (I.e. the ghost is piloting the meat puppet) I wonder if the 'sifting of the soul' lich candidates go through is to prepare the soul for a temporary separation. In theory, after death, the soul fucks off on a trip through the Fade to Parts Unknown, while a lich has their soul reconnected to their (deceased) body. (And we're gonna put some of this Really gorey talk under a cut for the sake of civility, kay?)

Here's the thing though: Those bodies have been prepared. All of the 'legal' liches we see in game have been stripped of flesh, a process that several folks on Tumblr have pointed out is NOT a quick thing. In the real world you need several hundred dermestid beetles and a period between a few days and a few weeks to clean -A- skull. Boiling a skeleton free of its flesh also takes a couple days (again best case scenario) of slow cooking, and a few more of scrubbing, and soaking in degreasing and bleaching agents to get the clean bone we'd see in game. And that's with your Watcher helpers flaying a lot of the flesh away. I think for the sake of 'eternal' preservation, that corpse NEEDS to be cleaned properly so the human soul isn't being housed in a greasy, shambling heap susceptible to deterioration. I think that's A. Why a lich candidate's soul needs to be so robust. and B. Why Hezenkoss failed.

While all of this flaying, sous-viding, and cleaning is happening, the soul needs to be on standby. You can possibly start the process while the person's alive... but well... they're gonna fucking die at some point ala Saint Bartholomew (which I think is the case because Emmlich mentioned blood in a way that goes beyond a quick slice of the carotid).

So you're talking (best case scenario with magic) MANY MANY HOURS or DAYS of this soul enduring outside the body without heeding the call to the Other Side. That takes discipline and fortitude. Maybe there's a chamber or series of secret wards that keep the soul in a kind of stasis, but its natural inclination once severed from the body is going to be to 'move on'.

I think Hezenkoss A. Didn't have the fortitude for this and B. Maybe didn't have sufficient outside help to prepare her body, so her process had to be aborted. Her soul had to get crammed back in her dead, partially decaying body or risk it shooting off to the Great Beyond. ANYWAYS, THAT'S JUST MY MUSING. (And maybe my Rook's too)

Enjoy your thoughts of your boyfriend/ goth bff being flayed alive and then stuck in an arcane slow cooker.

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The Mourn Watch wearing amber pieces with tiny preserved beetles.

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So I think the Watchers sleep in box beds...

Behold the box bed- it's a bed inna cabinet. They were popular in Western and Central Europe from the post-medieval period to the 19th century. In addition to looking neat as hell, they have a few advantages: - Thank fuck there's some privacy. Meaning if two apprentices wanted to bang, there'd be no disturbing the roommates. - Protects you from creepy crawlies or critters at night. - Insulation The Lore points to the Necropolis dormitories and apartments being partially underground (or at least part of the larger stone complex) which means it's gonna be COLD (numerous bits of lore point to this, too). Box beds would shield the sleeper from all that cold and damp radiating in from the stone (though I'm sure they have fireplaces and rooms that have been rendered with plaster to make them nice). You can also line or upholster the walls to make it extra cozy, you know, like a casket.

Added bonus:

You can double decker that shit and cram in more apprentices and novices. Because pre-modern ideas of bodily privacy means odds are, you don't get your own room.

Senior Watchers probably have their own berths, but probably aren't that spacious. Lore bonus: They look a bit like a burial vault. You could even decorate the doors with the hexagonal latticing you see in the Necropolis proper.

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Linguistics side of dragon age fandom. Are there any resources on what Nevarran language might be analogous to

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Non-mage members of the Mournwatch get a lot of the same education as the mages do, and the mages aren't taught just magic or even just anatomy stuff, it seems like they get general education. According to my dwarf Mournwatcher when she was talking to Emmrich she had to take more history classes to 'make up for' the magic classes that would've been useless to her, but she also said it was because she was a dwarf and dwarves can't do magic. So I wonder if non-dwarven rogues and warriors get classes to learn how to resist being possessed or something like that, since dwarves don't have to worry about it.

There's also a special option to try to offer help to one of the healers in the Anderfels after Weisshaupt falls if you're in the Mournwatch seemingly regardless of class, albeit Rook will mention there's a caveat that they mostly learned how to deal with dead bodies so that might hamper their usefulness. They uh, get turned down.

It seems like mage is the most popular class for the Mournwatch background so I dunno how commonly known this all is. Non-mage Mournwatchers aren't just rando security guards that work for the mages.

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It is my firm belief that mourn watchers/people in the necropolis are the freakiest fucking bunch in all of thedas they are in an echo chamber so enclosed they often forget necromancy is unsettling to everybody else they are surrounded by death and monuments that basically remind them to live while they can

These nerds are fucking in ways half of thedas couldn't even imagine

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You know how teachers are often gifted a lot of kitschy apple-themed things? I bet Mourn Watchers always get a ton of skull decor

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I bet Nevarran glasswork glows much in the same way uranium glass does under UV light. Except these vessels are not radioactive, and they only cast a soft glow when wisps or spirits are around.

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Do you think some jewlery wouldn't be popular choices for gravegold

Think about it earrings are nice but you don't have ears when you become a skeleton I think that goes for any piercing tbh Hair jewlery is probably out too

I think maybe these things do exist as grave gold but like it's not anyone's go to choice most people get something practical that'll actually stay on the body after decaying like bracelets and necklaces The people I see wearing such pieces are neverran's nobility they have so much money they don't need to think super carefully about what they're bringing into eternity so their choice in gravegold is alot more superfluous

Tdlr Grave gold earrings hair jewlery or any piece that's gonna fall off the body post decay are not the norm and are usually bought by those with money to throw around (and is also seen as extremely garish to people who are more practical)

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Imagining a Ingellvar who still on reflex does things like have their breakable things sufficiently anchored in case gravity changes and keeping important documents under things in case of blood rain and just having a whole bunch of quirks that they don't really think of as quirks just because they're things she grew up doing because she grew up in a place where reality's rules change and twists. The team tries to ask her why she does what she does. Her and Emmerich's explanations raise more questions than they answer.

Ingellvar having a bunch of weird little habits from growing up in the Necropolis that everyone just passes off as personal quirks until Emmrich shows up and does the same things and suddenly what everyone wrote off as weird quirks become a bit of a mystery. The team does ask about it but everyone's convinced that Ingellvar and Emmrich are fucking with them because what do you mean you always carry an umbrella around in case of blood rain??

At least everyone is convinced they're being messed with until they're accompanying Rook and Emmrich to the Necropolis and start to experience how fucking weird it is.

Harding is tagging along behind Rook and Emmrich and suddenly Emmrich vanishes out of thin air and Harding starts freaking out while Rook's all like "chill, it's just a Chronological Incontinence Incident. Emmrich will be fine" and Harding's like "What does that even mean???" and Rook starts to explain going full Watcher mode and by the time she's almost done Emmrich is back and it's all good though he does disagree with Rook's preferred theory behind the phenomena and they end up having a rather spirited debate on the subject while Harding is slowly losing her mind and also takes note that Rook really does talk different in the Necropolis.

Neve's helping Rook and Emmrich clear out some more Venatori that have snuck into the Necropolis and suddenly the gravity turns off and everyone starts floating. Rook and Emmrich barely pause in their spell slinging while everyone else is freaking out. Neve too is freaking out but does an admirable job of composing herself after she falls on her ass when she hits the ground while Rook and Emmrich nimbly land on their feet.

Davrin's trying to keep Assan from turning the bones lying around into chew toys when suddenly the room is submerged in total darkness and he suddenly gets an armful of freaked out baby griffin as Assan tries to climb his way up Davrin in a panic at being suddenly blinded. Or alternately Assan ends up going right to sleep like a bird, I'm not sure whether the bird side or the cat side would win out here. Either way while Davrin's wondering what the fuck is going on, Rook and Emmrich are being super chill about the whole experience because sudden unexplained darkness is not that uncommon in the Necropolis.

Lucanis is the lucky one who gets blood rained on. It starts out like little droplets of water which is strange enough because they're inside but the smell of iron is unmistakable and the red color is pretty unmistakably blood like and Lucanis barely gets out a very emphatic "what the fuck" before it suddenly starts pouring blood rain. Luckily Rook and Emmrich always carry an umbrella around so Lucanis gets to share with Rook. Bonus points for this being pretty early in their romance and Rook is swooning over how romantic it is to have a nice walk through the blood rain sharing an umbrella while Lucanis is Going Through It and experiencing the horrors of Necropolis. The fact that Rook and Emmrich are so unfazed about the fact that it is literally raining blood almost makes the situation worse.

Bellara is the one that handles the weirdness of the Necropolis the best because Arlathan Forest gets pretty freaky too. Remember the story about the guy stuck in the clouds? So while the Necropolis' shenanigans are generally creepier, she takes the weird shit in stride and is actually very interested on the why and how of why all the statues in the room suddenly started crying blood.

Taash is the only one to escape the madness because they nope the fuck out of ever going to the Necropolis once everyone starts mentioning the weird stuff that goes on there. Necromancy is already bad enough but they are not going to haunted super cemetery.

Because I am a fan of semi-sentient locations, the reason the Necropolis keeps acting up like this is because it's excited it's Crypt Baby is back and that excitement is manifesting in weird unexplained phenomena.

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Mourn Watch Headcanon - Death Compasses

So I maybe spent too much time thinking about this, and it has yet become relevant in my fic, but I want to put it down somewhere because I think it's fun!

So I sort of headcanon that Watchers need a means of navigation in the Necropolis (because as Emmrich comments, not everyone can simply ask the dead). I think wisps help out a bit, but Watchers need something to help them navigate even as the rooms shuffle around. Enter, death compasses.

I sort of envision that these are given to Watchers as part of their initiation ceremony, but these compasses don't point north! Instead, they point to a fixed spot within the Necropolis set by the Watcher themselves. Part of the ceremony and ritual of the whole thing is setting the location of your compass which would entail knowing a place within the Necropolis well enough that having your compass always point there would help you navigate around.

I think this works well with the Watchers for a few reasons: 1. It's very steeped in tradition and yet still focused on the Watcher themselves having to do the work to navigate around. 2. Unless you know where the compass points and how to orient yourself around it, it's useless. Even if you steal a Watcher compass, it's useless unless you know where it points. Maintains secrecy! 3. It gives these gold-loving folks the chance to have a piece that is not purely decorative! These compasses are probably quite simple, but as Watchers move up the ranks, they take their compasses in for adjustment and additions. It's an easy way to gauge rank/money (also! it would open up the need for Watcher artisans!). And finally, 4. It just fits the vibe.

I've spent a normal amount of time thinking about the Mourn Watch.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

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I believe that Nevarran custom would follow the same wedding tradition as the Schrutes from The Office and get married while standing in their own graves, except with the Necropolis as the setting rather than a farm.

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I still think it's metal and a bit dark that in neverra the bodies of trespassers in the grand necropolis fall under their ownership

Like what other rules of corpse ownership are there

I assume mortalitasi are probably restricted from bringing back bodies from other kingdoms (unless the person was like "yo take me with you" or something) like do you think there's disputes and shit over that maybe since the mournwatch deals with abuses of necromancy seeing to those cases falls under their jurisdiction

Maybe another job corspe whispers get called up on is asking the body of a dead foreigner if they were willingly brought over or if they should send them back to Treviso