#David Kinloch

[pasdetrois]

David Kinloch, Greengown

[feeshies]

I've found it kind of interesting to distinguish Clarence from David, another one of my DA ocs who's also a teacher, but while Clarence was a professor at the university of Orlais while being a mage, David was more like a preschool teacher at Kinloch Hold.

David's whole deal was managing the emotions and energy of a bunch of magical children. But on top of that, he was more than aware of the tragedy of their situations. He has an entire drawer filled with drawings made by his old students who ultimately never passed their Harrowings. He knows he's the closest to a parental figure a lot of these children are ever going to have.

Meanwhile, Clarence not only had a literal kid to take care of, but most of his students were young adults privileged enough to attend this prestigious university. That said, he's not a stranger to tending to people's interpersonal conflicts. Whenever I see him deal with conflicts between companions in Datv, it reminds me of two students coming into a professor's office hours because they just can't work on this group project together. Unless there is something serious and personal going on (in which Clarence will naturally go into paternal mode), he tends to approach the situation more like a professor trying to hype up his research assistant team.

His heart did hurt when Emmrich told him that he was struggling to teach a class with ten students because that was too many. Almost wrote a strongly worded letter to the empress demanding to know why the university wasn't being funded in a way that could support such small classes.

[redowlkitchen]

Christmas Dulcimer 2022

Good morning!

I hope everyone celebrating Christmas yesterday had a pleasant time! Happy Boxing Day to all celebrating today!

Thanks to everyone who listened to my many Christmas videos yesterday! It was fun sharing so many in one day! Here are the links for anyone who missed them. Any doubles you see on this list are different arrangements.*

What Child is This- November 2020

The Holly and the Ivy- December 2020

In The Bleak Midwinter- December 2020

Once In Royal David’s City- December 2020

Sleeper’s Awake- January 2021

Christmas at Kinloch- December 2021

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring- December 2021

O Holy Night- December 2021

The First Noel- December 2022

We Three Kings- December 2022

The Holly and the Ivy- December 2022

O Come O Come Emmanuel- December 2022

Greensleeves- December 2022

Between now and the 31st, I’ll be sharing all the pieces I recorded in 2021. Stay tuned for those!

* The 2020 Holly and the Ivy is my own arrangement! As most people know, What Child Is This is an alternate title for Greensleeves. The “Greensleeves” arrangement I play is much more advanced than the “What Child Is This” arrangement, but they’re both equally lovely in their own ways!

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

Prime Video has released the official trailer and first look images of the UK Original The Rig which features the first look at Iain Glen (Game of Thrones), Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek) Owen Teale (Game of Thrones) Mark Bonnar (Guilt, Shetland) Martin Compston (Line of Duty) and Mark Addy (White House Farm, Game of Thrones, The Full Monty) in the highly anticipated upcoming thriller. Filmed at First Stage Studios, and at several exterior locations in Edinburgh.

Director: John Strickland (Bodyguard, Line Of Duty)

Writer: David Macpherson

Mark Bonnar, Martin Compston, Emily Hampshire, Calvin Demba, Rochenda Sandall, Emun Elliott, Iain Glen, Stuart McQuarrie, Owen Teale, Mark Addy.

Episodes: 6

Streaming platform: Amazon Studios

Filming Location: FirstStage Studios

Screen Scotland support: The Rig accessed funding from The National Lottery and Scottish Government through Screen Scotland’s Production Growth Fund to support this significant opportunity for Scotland’s film and tv industry. Enabling the production to base entirely in Scotland and maximise the economic impact to the sector and support industries. The production also undertook an extensive trainee programme through Screen Academy Scotland’s Screen NETs programme, providing invaluable opportunities for new entrants from across Scotland to take the first step in a career in film and tv in Scotland.

Synopsis

The drama will be set on the Kinloch Bravo oil rig, stationed off the Scottish coast in the dangerous waters of the North Sea. When the crew is due to return to the mainland, a mysterious and all-enveloping fog rolls through and they find themselves cut off from all communication with the shore and the outside world. As the rig is hit by massive tremors, the crew endeavour to discover what's driving the unknown force. But a major accident forces them to ask questions about who they can really trust.

The Rig will air on Prime Video in early 2023

Still of Iain Glen in The Rig. Courtesy of Amazon Studios

The Rig on Prime Video stars Martin Compston as communications officer Fulmer Hamilton. (Image credit: Prime Video)

Mark Bonner as Alwyn Evans in Amazon Prime Video's The Rig. (Image credit: Amazon Prime Video

#The Rig

[artpictures]

Craigh_na_dun_tours_1 from David Rankin on Vimeo.

Craigh na Dun is set to play a major part in season 7 of Outlander. The question is - who touched the standing stones ?

Finding the exact location of Craigh na Dun is difficult to find but the site of filming is at Kinnloch Rannoch in Perthshire. On the south side of the Dunalastair Reservoir in Tay Forest Park under the gaze of the spectacular Schiehallion mountain, this is scenic Highlands at its best. You will recognise the trees and mound from the roadside and it’s just a short walk out to the site. Kinloch Rannoch was used in numerous other scenes , as it’s one of the most remote and beautiful areas in the country.

[multiprises]

The Rig, 1.06

John Strickland (D), David Macpherson (S), 06/01/23

Je doute qu'il y ait jamais une saison 2, et donc nous ne saurons probablement pas si Kacey s'en est sorti, ni où les survivants de Kinloch Bravo vont se retrouver, pas plus que ce qui va advenir de Baz. Ce n'est pas grave. L'important, toutes proportions gardées, est que ce croisement improbable entre Abyss et Anhilition ait existé, et merci à la BBC car ce n'est pas France Télévisions qui aurait donné son accord pour une telle série. Donc merci pour ces six épisodes frustrants et agaçants.

[tomorrowedblog]

Friday Releases for January 6

Friday is the busiest day of the week for new releases, so we've decided to collect them all in one place. Friday Releases for January 6 include The Pale Blue Eye, M3GAN, The Rig, and more.

The Pale Blue Eye

The Pale Blue Eye, the new movie from Scott Cooper, is out today.

West Point, 1830. A world-weary detective is hired to discreetly investigate the gruesome murder of a cadet. Stymied by the cadets’ code of silence, he enlists one of their own to help unravel the case — a young man the world would come to know as Edgar Allan Poe.

M3GAN

M3GAN, the new movie from Gerard Johnstone, is out today.

M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. Designed by brilliant toy-company roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams), M3GAN can listen and watch and learn as she becomes friend and teacher, playmate and protector, for the child she is bonded to.

When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), Gemma’s unsure and unprepared to be a parent. Under intense pressure at work, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve both problems—a decision that will have unimaginable consequences.

The Old Way

The Old Way, the new movie from Brett Donowho, is out today.

Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage stars in his first-ever Western as Colton Briggs, a cold-blooded gunslinger turned respectable family man. When an outlaw and his gang put Colton and his family in peril, Colton is forced to take up arms with an unlikely partner — his 12-year-old daughter (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) — in this action-filled film that builds toward its fateful showdown with pulse-pounding suspense.

Candy Land

Candy Land, the new movie from John Swab, is out today.

Remy, a seemingly naive and devout young woman, finds herself cast out from her religious cult. With no place to turn, she immerses herself into the underground world of truck stop sex workers, courtesy of her hosts. Under the watchful eye of their matriarch, and an enigmatic local lawman, Remy navigates between her strained belief system and the code to find her true calling in life.

The Rig

The Rig, the new TV series from David Macpherson, is out today.

When the crew of the Kinloch Bravo find themselves cut off from all communication with the Scottish mainland by a mysterious fog, they must fight to find a way home whilst managing environmental pressures, mounting paranoia and rising tensions. But as the threat facing them reveals itself to be something beyond their wildest imagination, the divided crew must form an alliance to ensure survival.

BMF S2

The second season of BMF, the TV series from Randy Huggins, is out today.

Y’all ready to pledge allegiance to the Black Mafia Family?

[revmeg]

...He told me to look inside. 'Look within.' Two words. So I think he meant into myself. I tried but found nothing. Their questions never stop. I feel my bones going off to preach on their own, each with a slightly different story. Some days I wear a red dress and sit with my alabaster jar to bring it back, even the sins...

from “Some Women (II), Mary Magdalene” in In Search of Dustie-Fute by David Kinloch 

[billherbert23]

The Gairfish Years (1/3)

Here, in a rudimentary attempt at cataloguing, are the front and, where informationative, back covers of Gairfish, the late 80s/early 90s Scottish literary magazine I edited with Richard Price.

I’ll present these over three posts, this first one covering the initial two issues, slim Oxford-based publications more or less reflecting my research into MacDiarmid and scant Scottish contacts, plus writers from that milieu (the same folk were publishing New Poetry from Oxford around that time).

Then there’s the first issue with Richard, whom I was introduced to by Robert Crawford, and who essentially reinvented it as a proper mag.

[anneapocalypse]

Dragon Age: Asunder

Crosspost. Originally posted on dreamwidth on 06/15/20.

A religion without ideals is tyranny.

–Divine Justinia V

"This is our power. We may unleash great destructive force, or we may control it. It is a choice we must make wisely, for this power can bring great suffering to others."

–Wynne

Asunder is the third novel in the Dragon Age universe, written by David Gaider and published in 2011. It takes place after Dragon Age II and before Inquisition. As a story, it deals with the growing tensions between mages and templars at the White Spire in Val Royeaux and across Thedas, and also explores some of the intricacies of magic in this universe, particularly with regard to Fade spirits.

At this time, following Anders' attack on the Kirkwall Chantry and the ensuing battle between the mages and the templars, the College of Magi has been dissolved. This means that the First Enchanters from the various Circles are no longer allowed to convene, effectively isolating the Circles from one another. At Val Royeaux's White Spire, a series of murders has drawn the attention of the Seekers, with Lord Seeker Lambert arriving to personally oversee an investigation.

Meanwhile, our old friend Wynne arrives at the White Spire about to embark on a mission to save a friend of hers from possession. She enlists the help of Enchanter Rhys and Knight-Captain Evangeline.

So yeah there's a lot going on in this story, and though it's not immediately clear how all the threads connect, they definitely do. There is also a plain old civil war in Orlais as well as the mage-templar conflict, with a lord looking to depose the Empress and take the throne. This is really only a vague backdrop in Asunder; we'll learn all about it in The Masked Empire.

Spoilers follow.

Rhys, Cole, and the Nature of Spirits

The arcs of these two characters are so deeply intertwined that I don't feel I can really separate them.

It turns out the main character, Rhys, is Wynne's son. This caught me by surprise as I'd totally forgotten that Wynne even had a son, but it's actually established in party dialogue in Origins. Rhys himself is a "spirit medium," and communicating with benevolent spirits is a particular talent of his and part of his research, though he has been forbidden from pursuing that research any further since the Kirkwall incident and the templars tightening restrictions.

Spirit healing is a particularly interesting specialization to me because if you read the Codex entries, you learn that this magic is specifically drawn from spirits perceived to be benevolent or at least nonthreatening—spirits of compassion, hope, faith, and so forth. Templars are wary of it, but it's not forbidden. Wynne held this specialization in Origins, as well as being the first character we meet who was bound (some might say possessed, though that's up for debate) by a benevolent spirit, which had saved her life in battle at Kinloch Hold.

I did not know Cole was in this book! I also did not know Cole was a SERIAL KILLER. Now I'm still early in Inquisition, so that information may be in there and I haven't gotten to it yet, but it was a surprise for me. This sure makes it interesting that he's a companion in the game, and also perhaps does not make a great case for benevolent spirits.

Cole calls into question what Rhys knows about spirits and about his own abilities. We ultimately aren't given a definite answer for why Rhys couldn't sense what Cole truly was, whether Cole was influencing his mind the whole time, or whether it was simply Cole's sincere belief that he was human that made him manifest as human to Rhys.

I kinda wish the development of Rhys and Cole's friendship had been shown in full and not just summarized, though I realize there probably wasn't room for it. Nevertheless, I though it was really interesting. Rhys is certain Cole is not a spirit—that if he has, Rhys would be able to sense him as such. But if you've met Cole in Inquisition, you already know that is in fact what he is, though as is revealed in the book's epilogue, there was a real Cole, a boy brought to the tower and forgotten in the dungeon where he died, alone save for the spirit of compassion who stayed with him and comforted him in his final hours. The Cole we meet is described as a young man, around twenty, so a bit older than I'd read him for in-game, and not a child.

Rhys also could not sense the spirit in Wynne. It seems that once a spirit has bonded to the soul of a mortal and they have become one, the spirit cannot be sensed in the same way. Presumably Rhys also would not have been able to sense Justice, had he met Anders. I am curious, then, whether Cole the spirit possesses any of Cole the human. It does not seem like he possessed his body, as Justice possessed Kristoff's, and I'm not sure that it's possible for a spirit to possess the soul of a mortal once they've died. It's very possible Cole is just a different case but it did make me wonder.

Hedge Magic

Cole is, or at least appears to be (and the human Cole probably was), what is called colloquially a "hedge mage" and formally "arcanist derangement." If a mage is left untrained and never learns to consciously channel their power through spells, their magic will express itself in involuntary and unpredictable ways—some of which may not even be immediately recognizable as magic.

Who is actually considered a hedge mage seems to depend on who you ask. The Chantry stance seems to encompass just about anyone trained outside the Circle&,mdash;the Chasind "witches," for example, or Avvar shamans. The wiki even lists Morrigan as a hedge mage, which to me seems frankly ridiculous. Morrigan possesses unusual abilities, most notably shapechanging, but based on the way Morrigan uses magic in Origins I think it is clear that she knows spells, and has great control over the magic she wields. Morrigan wasn't trained by the Circle, but she absolutely was trained. Morrigan and Cole aren't remotely in the same category to me.

Blood Magic

The story raises some interesting questions about the nature of blood magic, which I'd like to write more about later, but I'll cover it in brief here. Knight-Captain Evangeline, a templar at the White Spire, finds the use of phylacteries to track mages a little too close to blood magic for her tastes, "A bit of hypocrisy in the name of the great good" as she puts it. We actually see Evangeline use a phylactery in this game, by holding it and concentrating to "channel power" into it, causing it to glow brighter the closer it comes to the mage whose blood it holds. This definitely does seem like magic. I don't know what else it could be in the context of this universe. Templars are not mages but they are using magic which says some interesting things about the nature of magic and of lyrium specifically.

Similar questions have been raised in this series about the use of darkspawn blood by the Grey Wardens, and whether the Joining is a form of blood magic. My question is this: does anything involving both blood and magic fall into the category of Blood Magic? Or is Blood Magic specifically the practice of drawing mana from the life force contained in blood? Because see I would tend to say the latter, which would mean that neither the phylacteries nor probably the Joining qualify. But this does raise interesting questions about the nature of magic either way. One could also argue that demons are drawn to the spilling of blood in general, and so any spell or ritual involving blood will attract them, and this is what qualifies them as blood magic, not the act of drawing mana from the blood specifically.

The Circle and the Chantry

It turns out that Pharmond's research on the Rite of Tranquility was sanctioned by the Divine herself, who is actively looking for ways to change the Circle. This provides some useful context for Inquisition!

From Evangeline's point of view, we are told that "Once upon a time the Chantry had considered the idea of a mage rebellion unthinkable as well." I… highly doubt that this is true. That may well be the official stance, and Evangeline may well believe it, but I'm certain they've always been aware of the possibility. You don't create an order like the templars to maintain control of people without the awareness that they may resist that control.

It is pretty clear at this point that the Circle as it currently exists is not working. Asunder works well to highlight that even in the absence of the kind of egregious abuses we see in Kirkwall, locking up grown adults and treating them like children who can't control themselves does not foster safety. I've argued that some kind of checks on magical power are probably necessary to prevent abuses of that power and I still think that, but I also think that under the existing system, the templars have far too much power over other people, and that kind of power will lead to abuse.

The Seekers

If the Seekers of Truth are supposed to be overseeing the Templar Order, they seem to be doing a pretty abysmal job of it. Like where were the Seekers for the entire ten years before Anders' attack on the Chantry, when Kirkwall's troubled mages and templar abuses were known even outside Kirkwall? What were they doing all this time? Was Kirkwall a wake-up call that they hadn't been doing their jobs?

Lord Seeker Lambert reveals to us that he once served in Tevinter, where he was at one time sympathetic to mage freedom. What he saw there convinced him that mages will always take as much power as they can get by whatever means they deem necessary. Tevinter seems to have that effect on people. :P

Honestly, the Lord Seeker's case against Rhys—that he is under the influence of a demon who has caused him to forget what he's done—is so convincing I almost believe it. And it's almost true, but the stinger in the Epilogue is that it really was Cole alone, and not Rhys, who committed the murders, even though Rhys is still afraid he did it. This is made pretty clear when Cole kills Lord Seeker Lambert, proving that he did not need to possess a mage to carry out the murders.

It did not escape my attention that we have a different Lord Seeker in Inquisition than the one in this book, and because of that I predicted that Cole was going to kill Lambert before the end—and I was correct! Hilariously, it also took me most of the book to figure out that Lord Seeker Lamber is the guy on the cover. He's not really a main character, so I'm not sure why it was him. Rhys and Evangeline would have made more sense to me, or Rhys and Adrian, or even Wynne and Pharamond.

Tranquility

The twist on Wynne's possessed friend Pharamond is that he's Tranquil—and therefore shouldn't be able to be possessed at all.

The official word on the Rite of Tranquility is that it severs a mage's connection to the Fade, removing their desires and emotions so that they are no longer susceptible to demons and can no longer perform magic. Tranquil still possess free will and problem-solving abilities. Most Tranquil, if asked, will express contentment with their state.

However, we also have two canonical examples of Tranquility being reversed. In DA2, during the failed attempt to rescue Anders' former lover Karl, contact with Justice temporarily undoes Karl's Tranquility. Karl begs Anders to kill him rather than let him become Tranquil again.

Then here in Asunder, we have Pharamond.

Pharamond has been conducting research which has revealed to him what the Rite of Tranquility really is. The Tranquil are not immune to demons, merely undesirable to them, since without emotions and desires they cannot give a demon the experiences they crave. But a Tranquil can be possessed. They can even make contact with spirits under the right circumstances, and if a spirit touches the mind of a Tranquil, it seems their connection to the Fade may be restored.

This seems consistent with what happened with Karl and Justice; that it was only a temporary effect was probably related to Justice's unusual state, stuck in the physical world and bonded to a human.

Pharamond, as a result of his experiments, manages to reverse his own Tranquility. A restored Pharamond describes Tranquility as being like a dream, in which you know something is off but you cannot act other than the dream allows. This is certainly a chilling description. Pharamond, like Karl, ultimately would rather die than become Tranquil again. I think it's safe to say that regardless of how pleasant or unpleasant Tranquility is, it fundamentally changes a person, removing a vital part of who they are.

But despite how Pharamond describes Tranquility, we have the word of another Tranquil to consider. A Tranquil who chooses to aid the rebels later on remarks that "Obedience is prudent. To interpret it as a lack of free will would be an error."

Wynne

Wynne definitely feels like Wynne, but I'd agree with Rhys that she has changed, and I'm not surprised she has—it has, after all, been ten years, and the Wynne we met in Origins did not even expect to be alive ten years later. Seeing her through Rhys's somewhat distrusting eyes, I even wondered at some points if she was lying about their mission.

That Wynne acquired a taste for dwarven ale while in Orzammar delights me, as does her ongoing friendship with Shale, who also appears in this book!

As a sidenote, it took me reading this book to notice that Wynne in the game does not have a British accent like most Fereldans. Her voice actor is American.

It is noteworthy that Wynne is pro-Circle, in that she voted against the Circle breaking from the Chantry. It should also be noted that even pro-Circle mages do not tend to support templar abuses of their fellow mages. You might say they are reformists rather than total abolitionists. I bring this up because it is a contentious point in Inquisition concerning certain companions, and I think it is important to acknowledge that mages can be pro-Circle and pro-reform.

As the story progresses, we find Wynne pushed further and further to the side of the rebel mages, in large part to save her son's life. But it is revealed that her aspirations may have been a bit more radical all along than they initially appeared: after learning of the results of Pharamond's research, Wynne sent Shale to notify the nearest Circle and had them send word to every Circle in Thedas. I don't think she was hoping to start a war, but to give the Circles vital knowledge and bargaining power. Alas, things did not go as peacefully as she'd hoped, yet Wynne still contributed to the fight in a meaningful way.

It was nice to see Wynne herself struggle against temptation, in her desperation to save her son. It's not clear what actually would have happened had Wynne been able to use the staff Evangeline destroyed, but given the way Wynne acted while wielding it, I suspect some kind of demonic influence. (While there is no canon to confirm this, I also suspect this might be the Malign Staff that can be looted from a Hurlock general during the Battle of Denerim, which fits the physical description. The Corrupted Magister's Staff would also fit, but the Malign Staff specifically reduces willpower, which would make the user more susceptible to demons.)

In the end, Wynne sacrifices herself to save Evangeline, the templar her son loves, feeling that she is fulfilling the purpose for which the spirit of faith kept her alive. It's a good end for Wynne, and in its own way her death also supports the mage rebellion. Rhys is asked to take his mother's place in the Aequitarian fraternity, and by casting his vote to fight for their for freedom, it is he tips the balance. I actually teared up a bit when Rhys gave his speech, which is not simply about fighting but about letting go of their past assumptions about magic and everything around it.

Fiona

So Fiona is already Grand Enchanter at this point, elected fairly recently, and her election was so controversial due to her staunch Libertarian leanings that the Chantry reacted by disbanding the College of Enchanters so that they could no longer convene.

Reading this book, I really wanted to know why and how Fiona ended up returning to the Circle, because last we saw Fiona, she was a Grey Warden who had all but sworn she would never return to the Circle. And granted, it's been thirty years, so I wasn't questioning that it could happen, only the why and how. All she says in the book is "I came to the Circle from the Grey Wardens because I saw something had to be done."

From a Doylist standpoint, it was hard not to see this as purely a move to make "Fuck the Divine" Fiona important in Inquisition, because, you know, people like to hear familiar names. (And given the role the Wardens play in Inquisition, I wasn't sure why Fiona couldn't have been just as relevant as a Grey Warden, especially since she is now immune to the Calling.) The logical in-universe conclusion seemed to be that Fiona returned to the Circle for the specific purpose of pushing the Circle to secede from the Chantry and start a revolution.

The book offers no answers to this question. I checked, the wiki, however, and it seems that dialogue with Fiona in Inquisition does offer an answer. Apparently after the events of The Calling Fiona was not only immune to the Calling but cured of the Taint altogether—she was in fact no longer a Grey Warden, and due to her unique immunity, she was unable to re-take the Joining. And so, expelled from the Wardens, she was sent back to the Circle, where she decided she could do more good. I find that a satisfactory answer, and it seems to show some real character growth on Fiona's part.

Divine Justinia V

With my Fiona questions answered, I have one major lingering question, and it's about Divine Justinia V, formerly known as Revered Mother Dorothea of the Lothering Chantry. (And we're not going to get into how this poor woman appears to have aged 40 years in 13, because this post is not about the games.)

Divine Justinia is sort of a peripheral presence in this story but nonetheless an important one. Nothing directly comes of the attack on her by a solo mage early in the book, but it's pointed out later that said mage could never even have gotten out of the tower, nevermind anywhere near the Divine, without some templars at the very least looking the other way—and more likely actively facilitating.

At this time, Divine Justinia is a fairly radical voice in the Chantry, to the extent that I'm curious how she came to be Divine in the first place. Her election is said to have been controversial. Though it is suggested in Dragon Age II that Justinia is considering an Exalted March on Kirkwall to restore order, in hindsight perhaps we cannot be sure she would not have favored the mages or at least sought a more equitable resolution. It turns out to be Justinia who sanctioned Pharamond's research in the first place, and everything we see from here on paints her as a radically pro-mage Divine.

So how'd she get elected in the first place? This is really about more than Justinia herself; it points to a growing liberal streak within the Chantry leading to enough Grand Clerics willing to support a relatively young and pro-mage Divine who was not even a Grand Cleric herself.

The Doylist part of me says that Mother Dorothea ends up Divine because the writers really wanted Leliana to stay relevant enough to be in every single game, even when it meant overriding the player choice not to harden her in Origins (though you can always argue that if the Warden didn't harden her, some later experience did). But while I strongly suspect that's the case, I'd still like it to make sense in-universe, and maybe it does.

The wiki tells me that the previous Divine, Beatrix III, named Dorothea as her preferred successor, and though the Grand Clerics do have the power to overrule that appointment, traditionally they usually don't. Apparently, not enough of them found Justinia radical enough to veto, because she was elected Divine despite controversy. So why did Beatrix favor Mother Dorothea? I'm hoping to learn more about Beatrix in Dawn of the Seeker, the animated film about a conspiracy against the Divine which Cassandra helps to foil, and which I hope to watch soon!

Miscellaneous Lore

As our heroes trek across Orlais, coming in contact with common people along hte way, we are reminded that because most mages are taken to the Circle at a young age, your average person rarely has contact with a mage, and has little experience with them beyond what they're told.

Apparently the Black City is supposed to be the only constant in the Fade, visible on the horizon from any point in that realm. I will have to keep an eye out in the games from now on and see if it actually is.

This book (and The Masked Empire which follows it) makes a point of describing elves as having "strange alien eyes." It seems like the books are really leaning into DA2's redesign to make the elves look Different.

You're going to see the word "conclave" thrown around a lot toward the end of this book so I think it's important to note that we're not at any point here talking about the same Conclave at Haven that is destroyed at the beginning of Inquisition. A conclave in this context just refers to a gathering of mage leadership.

Final Thoughts

Asunder is a complicated story, but all of its threads really do come together in the end and I think it offers a great prelude to Inquisition as well as fascinating exploration of how magic and spirits work in this setting. Most important, I think, is the theme that Rhy's speech at the end highlights: there is so much the characters of this world do not yet understand about magic, spirits, the rites and rituals they have come to depend on, and the very nature of their world. Most of the major characters in this story have their beliefs called into question in one way or another, leading many of them to admit that they know far less than they thought they did.

It was a great read, and I really enjoyed it.

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Scottish actor Mark Bonnar born November 19th 1968 in Edinburgh.

Bonnar is a very versatile actor, and will be more well known to people of different ages and who enjoy differing genres.Starting with gamers Mark Bonnar provides the voice and motion capture of Edward “Blackbeard” Thatch in the 2013 video game Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and also Townsend in the 2016 game, Battlefield 1.

If it’s drama you like he has played in some of the top shows over the last decade and a half, Rebus, Wire in the Blood, Taggart (of course) and Casualty, The Bill, Dr Who, Silent Witness and as I mentioned Shetland to name a few. In comedy Phoneshop, the Porridge reboot, and one of my my fave comedies, Catastrophe.

Mark has been on our screens lately with the second series of Guilt and of course alongside his fellow birthday boy Dougie Henshall in Shetland. He has three projects on the go just the moment, WW2 Drama  Operation Mincemeat which co-stars Kelly MacDonald and Colin Firth,  The Rig, a drama series  set on the Kinloch Bravo oil rig, stationed off the Scottish coast in the dangerous waters of the North Sea Iain Glen and Martin Compston are also in the series, and  Litvinenko the true story about  the death of Alexander Litvinenko, David Tennant is among the co-stars. 

The bottom two pics are Mark with screen wife, fellow Scot, Ashley Jensen, and real wife Lucy Gaskell. The couple have been married for 14 years and have two children.

[pasdetrois]

David Kinloch, Greengown

[the-busy-ghost]

Favourite Hill and Adamson Photographs: 2/?

More favourite photographs from the pioneering Edinburgh studio of David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, taken between 1843 and 1847. 

Read more about Hill and Adamson here. There are hundreds more photographs from this collection on the National Galleries of Scotland website. Again, there are a lot of photographs of men in the collection too but I was particularly interested in the clothing of women and children (have to feel sorry for the latter- if you thought your parents dressed you in some natty stuff, the kids from 1840s Scotland would like a word).

From top to bottom:

- Harriet Farnie and Miss Farnie

- Unknown Group 13

- Mrs Kinloch of Park, nee Napier

- Miss Robertson

- Miss McNeill

- Miss Grierson

- Miss Mary McCandlish

- Sandy (or James) Linton, his boat and bairns, in Newhaven.

- A Mr Laing or Laine, in a sporting attitude

- Mrs Shanker

[sidhelives]

Ignorance and Sensuality

Prompt - Massage

“From exertion come wisdom and purity; from sloth ignorance and sensuality.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Hypetia is anxious about returning to Kinloch Hold.

Zevran has something that might help.

Zevran pushed away from the wall and swaggered into the room with the confidence he always carried with him and waited until Hypetia closed the door before speaking. "I mentioned that I grew up in an Antivan whorehouse, yes? I acquired a great many skills during my time there, one of them being quite a knack for massage. I think it could be just the thing for an overwrought beauty like yourself."

Hypetia leaned back on the door and crossed her arms. "I know innuendo is your native language, but we are alone. You can just say what you mean."

Putting one hand to his heart, Zevran's lips fell open in mock incense. "You wound me."

Hypetia laughed and his poor play acting and Zevran cracked a wide smile. "I will not say that you are entirely incorrect, but this evening I mean what I have said."

"A massage? Just a massage?" Hypetia clarified. "No funny stuff?"

He chuckled. "To be perfectly frank, I do not think funny stuff is what you need in this moment."

Her brow furrowed. He was right. While a little over-the-clothes entertainment would be distracting, a distraction would only put off the inevitable breakdown. "And how would a massage help?"

"You are very tightly coiled," Zevran explained thoughtfully. "Nothing but walking and fighting for ages and ages. It wears on both the body and the mind. The body I can assist with. With luck, the mind will follow, yes?'

Hypetia chewed her lip as she considered. There was logic to his reasoning, and more importantly, his presence was proof her current strategy of ignoring her problems was not working as well on her comrades as she had hoped. The worst-case scenario was that it did nothing to help and she could go back to her own methods. "Alright," she sighed. "I suppose I have no objections."

"Excellent!" Zevran clapped his hands. "Now, take off your clothes."

[redowlkitchen]

Good morning!

I hope everyone celebrating Christmas yesterday had a pleasant time! Happy Boxing Day to all celebrating today!

Thanks to everyone who listened to my many Christmas videos yesterday! It was fun sharing so many in one day! Here are the links for anyone who missed them:

What Child is This- November 2020

Christmas at Kinloch- November 2020

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring- December 2020

The Holy and the Ivy- December 2020

O Come O Come Emmanuel- December 2020

O Come O Come Emmanuel (rerecord w/ new camera and mic)- December 2020

In The Bleak Midwinter- December 2020

Once In Royal David’s City- December 2020

Sleeper’s Awake- January 2021

Christmas at Kinloch- December 2021

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring- December 2021

Greensleeves- December 2021

O Holy Night- December 2021

Between now and the 31st, I’ll be sharing all the pieces I recorded in 2021. Stay tuned for those!

[microcosme11]

At the upper end of the room is a picture of Bonaparte, when first consul, by his favourite painter, David, in which, though I have heard it much commended, I could see but very little merit. He is represented as on horseback, at the moment of passing the St. Bernard. But no horse could possibly gallop in such a place, nor could any man keep his seat in such a position. ... I would have made him smile with complacency, for I am told he has been seen to smile, and I would have rendered the whole picture as pleasing a representation as possible of the most brilliant event in the life of this singular man. But David has given him a dark and gloomy air; and, were it not for the insignia of command, one would suppose it the portrait of some individual of a troop of Spanish Banditti, who, after assassinating a traveller, was endeavouring to escape, at the risk of his neck, from the pursuit of the holy brotherhood.

Letters from Geneva and France, written during a residence of between two and three years, in different parts of those countries, and addressed to a lady in Virginia, v2 p.68. Francis Kinloch (1819)