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Annie is on her trike on her way to school.
This van labeled HAZARDOUS MATERIALS is also on its way to school.
The van hits a patch of black ice. It goes spinning, it turns over, it slices itself open on a wrought-iron fence with spikes, and it disgorges boxes which smash open on the pavement. Some of them skitter clear into the slush.
Some of them - along with most of the van - land on Annie.
There is a whirl of bewildering pain and confusion -
- and she falls to the ground, injured and in more kinds of discomfort beyond that and moaning.
She slowly starts to heal before the eyes of her sole witness.
six artifact pileup annie in thedas
keep_busy
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"On the whole it's very nice, although I'm not sure I'll ever get used to eating mushrooms every day."
Bhelen nods. "We try to break it up with imports from the surface, but... There's only so many things we can import, and they only go to the higher castes."
He sounds annoyed with this. (He is annoyed with this.)
He sounds annoyed with this. (He is annoyed with this.)
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"I've been speculating that the reason plants won't grow under rune lights has something to do with the kind of light. When I've learned more I'm going to try to make a full spectrum rune light, and that might help. It'd be another thing entirely to get the infrastructure to mill wheat or make enough lights to satisfy an orchard, but it'd work for potatoes and squash and strawberries and things like that."
... Blink.
"That," he says, "sounds like a fantastic idea. But who do you plan to have work the fields?"
"That," he says, "sounds like a fantastic idea. But who do you plan to have work the fields?"
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"I don't know. I don't really understand the caste system; if this were my world I could just sell the rune lights and explain what they did and anyone who felt like taking up farming could get one, but I get the impression that new careers don't come up very often and aren't that easy to break into here."
... Bhelen's pregnant girlfriend says, soft and shy, "Do you think that, um, the. The casteless could take up farming? If you're, willing to have them work for you, my lady."
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"Is that a thing? Then yeah, I guess that's the obvious solution, if there's a bunch of people without a caste-approved job lined up for them already. I don't have a strong desire to personally manage a farming corporation, I could just let them have the lights and some seeds strictly so I feel less indulgent eating bread for breakfast."
Bhelen frowns, which means he thinks it's an excellent idea but is trying to figure out how to implement it.
"... You don't know about the casteless?" asks Rica, surprised.
"... You don't know about the casteless?" asks Rica, surprised.
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"There might have been an offhand mention in a history book that I didn't have any context for... but not really? I'm from literally not this world. And my understanding is the caste system doesn't apply to me because I'm a human so it didn't seem urgent."
first-and-final
"I swear I've mentioned them but I might not have explained - I did tell you about my mother, but I might not have gone into detail about the underlying social structures. Congratulations, by the way," he adds in Rica's direction.
"Ah, thank you," says Rica, shy.
"Having the casteless farm is an elegant solution, but I suspect many would turn up their nose at buying food from them," mutters Bhelen, sort of mostly to himself. "But I think the lower castes that don't get imports from the surface wouldn't, and that could open the doorway to more - we'd have to be careful about keeping a monopoly on the market, because otherwise some merchant would snatch the chance and the castless would be back to being trapped in Dust Town..."
Rica squeezes his hand.
"Having the casteless farm is an elegant solution, but I suspect many would turn up their nose at buying food from them," mutters Bhelen, sort of mostly to himself. "But I think the lower castes that don't get imports from the surface wouldn't, and that could open the doorway to more - we'd have to be careful about keeping a monopoly on the market, because otherwise some merchant would snatch the chance and the castless would be back to being trapped in Dust Town..."
Rica squeezes his hand.
... Bhelen seems to be sort of unwilling to explain it; he glances at Rica.
Rica clears her throat. "The, casteless are considered - dirty, unclean. Unfit to work in, most legal jobs." Her voice wobbles a bit, and it's Bhelen's turn to squeeze her hand. She smiles at him, a little. "Most turn to begging or, stealing or working for the Carta as - thugs, or smugglers, or. Other things. The lucky ones can become noble hunters, or, get paid coppers working long hours for a merchant."
Rica clears her throat. "The, casteless are considered - dirty, unclean. Unfit to work in, most legal jobs." Her voice wobbles a bit, and it's Bhelen's turn to squeeze her hand. She smiles at him, a little. "Most turn to begging or, stealing or working for the Carta as - thugs, or smugglers, or. Other things. The lucky ones can become noble hunters, or, get paid coppers working long hours for a merchant."
first-and-final
"Remember when I said, you don't get rich while casteless unless you're some flavour of criminal? The Carta is the banquet," says Stalas. "Oh, speaking of productive occupations for the casteless - Bhelen, what do you want to bet we can get the Assembly to agree to let them into the army? And then separately send Annie around to give darkspawn disintegration powers to any soldier who wants them."
"One society-changing venture at a time," says Bhelen, amused. "We can plot how to bully the Assembly into doing something intelligent in an hour after we're done trying to figure out how to bully dwarven society to accept farming."
first-and-final
"Sorry," says Stalas. "Getting the casteless into the army will probably ultimately contribute to people's willingness to buy food from them, which is why I thought of it, but go on, I can hang onto my brilliant suggestion until we're done with Rica's."
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"...Is it in fact legal to buy things from the casteless at all or does it all go through the organized crime? If I give them runelights are they going to wind up subsistence farmers with no ability to sell the stuff except via the Carta? Because I can't see an obvious reason for the Carta to exist if the same transactions can happen legally. Should I, while on the surface, go around yelling WHO WANTS TO PROFIT FROM DWARVEN CLASSISM and get some humans et cetera to run back and forth as food purchasing intermediaries?"
"It's illegal to buy things directly from the casteless," explains Bhelen. "And separately, there is the problem of people finding getting food from the casteless distateful. The... humans idea has some merit, but I'm concerned about Orzammar becoming too reliant on humans for a societal problem we really ought to solve ourselves."
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"I invite you to solve the part of the problem that calls for humans yourself by making it legal to buy things directly from the casteless," says Annie, and then she looks (well, "looks") at Bhelen expectantly.
Bhelen frowns.
"Easier said than done. ... If you did get human intermediaries that could give me an in, once the Assembly saw the lyrium mine they're sitting on. 'Do you want humans to keep doing this or would you rather buy from dwarves'..."
"Easier said than done. ... If you did get human intermediaries that could give me an in, once the Assembly saw the lyrium mine they're sitting on. 'Do you want humans to keep doing this or would you rather buy from dwarves'..."
first-and-final
"And - sorry - if we're also getting the casteless into the army, that's multiple angles on integration," says Stalas. "And precedent for the Assembly to start granting them more rights."