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Dear Neville,
So today I had one of my 'incidents', as my colleagues in the Department like to call them, and found myself in one of the most unwholesome worlds yet. In appearance it is similar to our own, with human beings warring with each other over flat brown fields and deadly marshes and dangerous forests and shale covered beaches and across airy glens and up vicious peaks. It also possesses magical beings and monsters and magic, but all of this is far, far worse than anything we are used to, primarily because the main sort of monster spreads some sort of blood malediction, and that's the least of one's concerns if one encounters them. They are called 'darkspawn'. A wholly uncreative name, I know, but it does the job, conveys the threat, and we can't really boast of possessing names better than that. I have yet to encounter one, living or dead, but they are all people around here speak about, at least when they aren't speaking of things called 'templars' and 'mages'.
The magic here is not inherent in the world, but comes from outside it, from another dimension called 'The Fade' which one reaches through 'the Veil'. It is a dangerous, ugly place full of demons, or such is what I have managed to gather from listening to the conversation of the farmers I spied on from a series of bushes.
Memo to me: get on the animagus bandwagon. Why have I not learnt to transform into an animal yet? I would be the best at it. I would surely be able to choose what I transform into, as well as transform into many different forms.
This letter won't reach you till after I return home, but as you know, I like to treat letters to you from these other worlds as a form of diary and note taking experience.
Love, Hermione
🍄💙🍄
Dear Neville,
I have discovered what templars and mages are. Knight templars and mages. One would think it would be clear from the names, and indeed, I possessed an inkling as to what sort of entities the people of this world are obsessed with, simply from how they were speaking about them. It's the classic Cops vs Robbers, Cowboys vs Indians, Charmander vs Squirtle (Do you know what any of these analogies mean? Probably not, you pureblood, you.) The templars are these great big galumphing warriors in steel, and they possess a kind of magic-nullifying magic which allows them to keep mages under control. I mentioned in my last letter that the magic here is different to ours, and comes from somewhere very dangerous. Well, I wasn't aware just how dangerous. EXTREMELY dangerous. Apparently just possessing the ability to do magic in this world puts one at risk for being possessed. Literally possesed. One transforms into what is known as an 'abomination', and supposedly the mere sight of one can stop a man's heart, they are that frightening to behold. They easily tear through crowds, blowing up like miniature nuclear bombs (you don't know what that is either).
I hope I am not at risk for this. Allegedly mages experience 'temptations' and hear 'whispers' from beyond the Veil, offerings of power beyond their wildest dreams. The usual. I have yet to hear anything but my own thoughts and the various rural noises surrounding me. By the way, I have landed somewhere called 'Ferelden', which is very much like England. I would feel right at home amongst the green fields and mud and low bramble bushes, were it not for the monsters I keep hearing talk of. Darkspawn come in a variety of sizes and forms. Oh, and I don't think I mentioned that this world exists in something like a deformed variant of the Middle Ages, which I quite enjoy as the food is good and there are no CCTV cameras (Merlin's Beard, you don't know about them either. Remind me to explain the muggle world to you).
Now I just need to keep out of sight of these so-called templars.
Love, Hermione
🍄💙🍄
Dear Neville,
I have found my way to the capital city of Ferelden. I cannot call it a gem. It is no doubt what London looked like several hundred years ago, and it is what Birmingham looks like today. I don't think I need to paint a picture for you. Anyway, there is no mage tower here. Mage towers, or 'Circles' are where the templars (who are the military arm of the state religion) keep this world's version of witches and wizards. It is a golden cage, by the sounds of it. To be honest, I wouldn't mind being left to my studies, protected by an armed guard of men in uniform while so doing. No worries about money or living situation. Apparently mages use staves and staffs though, instead of wands, and that idea I'm not especially keen on. I've grown much attached to my wand over the years.
So I wandered around the slums, casting jinxes and hexes on anyone who bothered me. Demons and their whispers have yet to make a vile appearance though, so perhaps people in this world are simply doing it wrong. It wouldn't surprise me.
Love, Hermione
🍄💙🍄
Dear Neville,
I HAVE SEEN A DARKSPAWN. AND NEVER WISH TO SEE ANOTHER FOR AS LONG AS I SHALL LIVE.
I was making my way to the coast, there to take a ship across the sea (The 'Waking Sea'), to this pretty little city calling itself 'Kirkwall', when I ran across one of these foul creatures. Or a few, more like. The wilds beyond the farmlands around Denerim (the capital) and the local haunted forest are absolutely atrocious, and I was not best pleased to find myself trudging through a grey wasteland of dirt and rock, when I turned a barren, bouldery corner only to slam my poor ears slap bang into the worst sounds you've ever heard in your life. Growling and roaring and hissing and shrieking are woefully lacking in the force necessary to describe what it is I heard. The voices were not only guttural and full of phlegm, but also unnaturally resonant, and full of a sentient rage and hate and malice. The owners wanted to hurt me as bad as they could, should they see me. Luckily they did not see me, and once again my experience in avoiding Catchers during that extended camping trip with Harry and Ron, paid off. I hid behind a rock and watched a series of squat, muscular, grey skinned humanoids straggle past, moving like insane apes might, their arms long enough for their knuckles to drag through the ash and dirt.
Once I was sure they were out of not only eye shot, but ear and nose shot as well, I moved from my cowering rabbit position behind the rock and skulked on, towards the coast, where I had been told docks and ships awaited.
Love, Hermione
🍄💙🍄
Dear Neville,
Kirkwall is not so wonderous as I hoped. Rather, it is extremely wonderous, and just as evil. It is the very epitome of the 'whitened sepulchre'. Its outward shell of white marble hides wickedness of a degree to which you would not believe, and it may just be the origin of the darkspawn themselves. The tales say a group of elite mages broke through the Veil here, invading the Fade in their physical forms, and thus brought the darkspawn Taint to this world. I can believe it, from what I've seen of the towering ambitions present in this city.
But onto the most important news of all. I have found something you will love. It all began when a group of extremely short men ('dwarves', as in Tolkien...Oh no. You-) invited me to join them on an expedition to the Deep Roads, an underground kingdom of the dwarves before the darkspawn invaded. Naturally, they were impressed with my magical abilities and 'stealth stave' as they called my wand, and wanted me as muscle for their attempt to reclaim riches from the heinous invaders of their home. And naturally, I agreed. SO I packed my bags (I have accumulated a fair few samples) and trotted off, deep underground.
Where a wonderland awaited me. The number of historic discoveries down there more than made up for the extreme number of darkspawn also present. The dwarves of this world must be the leading race, just going by what they have produced while living deep under the earth, never seeing the light. I will have to pay someone to produce drawings of what I saw when I return.
But on to what I saw. Neville, I saw: LYRIUM. MUSHROOMS.
You know what mushrooms are, but I haven't explained to you what lyrium is. It's the mysterious mineral which enhances magical abilities in this world, and is therefore thing everyone wants all the time. It's shiny and blue and deadly to the touch of a mage. I decided that I didn't count as a 'mage' in this world when I touched it and didn't die. But even better than that, I found lyrium MUSHROOMS, Neville, which I just know you will give your eye teeth for. They come in two varieties: Blue, and red. I'll attempt to bring back some of each.
Bye for now.
Love, Hermione