4th, Fall, 518 AV
After examining the strange artifact found by Shinya and Constellations yesterday, Mauriel was headed for The Basilika to hear some scholars debating its properties. She was directed to the Dawn Tower by some strangers who she thanked for their kindness, and she figured there'd be a substantial enough crowd to follow when she got there. The Akvatari was praying that they would allow her to fly in the building itself, but judging by the experience from The Bharani Library, if there's anything worthwhile in the building at all, and there was bound to be, she'll just have to drag herself around.
As she flew to the Tenten peak, the Dawn tower could hardly be missed, its shimmering stony structure overlooking the rest of the buildings, it was like a lighthouse for those looking for anything in its vicinity. She wondered what such a grand building was dedicated to, as she had not yet learned too much about Lhavit.
Sure enough, as she approached she could spot a crowd, and weighing in the impoliteness with the trouble of going up the stairs, she skipped most of the line, flying to the entrance itself. She was shown in and she started painstakingly following the people to the booth where one of the debates was to be held. This whole event caused a lot of commotion, and a lot of people were holding speeches and debates in their own booths, but according to what she's heard, this one would be noteworthy because of its participants.
They gave some more time to the crowd to gather, somebody else saying something she didn't find of interest in the meantime, but when the crowd was quite sizable, two scholars took their places and the audience seemingly held their breaths. They even had a moderator!
"Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Just briefly, for the sake of time, I will be timing this debate. Each will have three chimes for their opening statements, then they'll be able to retort for ten chimes each, we'll take some questions from you, and I'll let them both close. This side is for the motion that the artifact recently found by Shinya and the Constellation was the cause of Summer's fog, while this side is against it. The first motion will be defended first."
The elderly man stepped forward to give his argument. "Today, I hope to convince you all that the artifact we've found is not only the cause to the disturbances we've all experienced last season, but is also otherwise dangerous and should be destroyed as soon as possible. While I don't have definite proof of this, I believe we should act as if it were complete and indisputable true until proven otherwise, just as a precaution. For would you..."
Mauriel's mind was already drifting. What could the artifact be? If it had indeed been the cause of the weather shifts, it had to be a very powerful thing. Why would somebody leave such a thing lying around? Could it belong to a God? But why would a God displace something like that? So would that mean that it's a curse brought about by a malicious or unskilled mage?
The other motion was already being defended by the time she was back from her daydream, a young woman this time, perhaps around the age which Mauriel appeared to be. "I do not think we have any reason to believe that the artifact holds any sort of dangerous power. At least dozens, if not hundreds of people have examined it by now, and there's no observable consequences to speak of. On top of that, what sort of an artifact could even cause the mist? Nothing short of Gods or perhaps their children would have the power to throw an entire city in fog for a duration of a season. I would not go as far as to say it is untrue, but I have not yet seen any convincing proof of this artifact holding such power, much less of it being so dangerous that we should not let the public near it. Lhavit is known for its many scholars and mages, who should have the opportunity to study whatever this is and come to their own conclusions, especially if it's going to be destroyed."
The debate continued in similar manner. The defendant of the motion that the artifact was the cause of the fog was appealing to the authority of Shinya and Constellations who deem it necessary to destroy it, as well as to the fact that we should regard a magical artifact as the most dangerous thing it would possibly be out of pragmatic reasons, regardless of the objective truth of the matter. The young woman was mostly just expressing her skepticism and lack of a rational reason to believe what he was saying.
After some back and forth, they finally opened the floor for the questions from the audience. A bit disappointed, Mauriel had nothing to ask the two, since she could already predict the answer, and she wasn't interested in bragging rights. Perhaps it was unlike her to be interested in debates this formal, she wouldn't lay the fact that she was unimpressed solely at the feet of the participants, but she mainly came for news, which she hadn't received.
As she flew to the Tenten peak, the Dawn tower could hardly be missed, its shimmering stony structure overlooking the rest of the buildings, it was like a lighthouse for those looking for anything in its vicinity. She wondered what such a grand building was dedicated to, as she had not yet learned too much about Lhavit.
Sure enough, as she approached she could spot a crowd, and weighing in the impoliteness with the trouble of going up the stairs, she skipped most of the line, flying to the entrance itself. She was shown in and she started painstakingly following the people to the booth where one of the debates was to be held. This whole event caused a lot of commotion, and a lot of people were holding speeches and debates in their own booths, but according to what she's heard, this one would be noteworthy because of its participants.
They gave some more time to the crowd to gather, somebody else saying something she didn't find of interest in the meantime, but when the crowd was quite sizable, two scholars took their places and the audience seemingly held their breaths. They even had a moderator!
"Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Just briefly, for the sake of time, I will be timing this debate. Each will have three chimes for their opening statements, then they'll be able to retort for ten chimes each, we'll take some questions from you, and I'll let them both close. This side is for the motion that the artifact recently found by Shinya and the Constellation was the cause of Summer's fog, while this side is against it. The first motion will be defended first."
The elderly man stepped forward to give his argument. "Today, I hope to convince you all that the artifact we've found is not only the cause to the disturbances we've all experienced last season, but is also otherwise dangerous and should be destroyed as soon as possible. While I don't have definite proof of this, I believe we should act as if it were complete and indisputable true until proven otherwise, just as a precaution. For would you..."
Mauriel's mind was already drifting. What could the artifact be? If it had indeed been the cause of the weather shifts, it had to be a very powerful thing. Why would somebody leave such a thing lying around? Could it belong to a God? But why would a God displace something like that? So would that mean that it's a curse brought about by a malicious or unskilled mage?
The other motion was already being defended by the time she was back from her daydream, a young woman this time, perhaps around the age which Mauriel appeared to be. "I do not think we have any reason to believe that the artifact holds any sort of dangerous power. At least dozens, if not hundreds of people have examined it by now, and there's no observable consequences to speak of. On top of that, what sort of an artifact could even cause the mist? Nothing short of Gods or perhaps their children would have the power to throw an entire city in fog for a duration of a season. I would not go as far as to say it is untrue, but I have not yet seen any convincing proof of this artifact holding such power, much less of it being so dangerous that we should not let the public near it. Lhavit is known for its many scholars and mages, who should have the opportunity to study whatever this is and come to their own conclusions, especially if it's going to be destroyed."
The debate continued in similar manner. The defendant of the motion that the artifact was the cause of the fog was appealing to the authority of Shinya and Constellations who deem it necessary to destroy it, as well as to the fact that we should regard a magical artifact as the most dangerous thing it would possibly be out of pragmatic reasons, regardless of the objective truth of the matter. The young woman was mostly just expressing her skepticism and lack of a rational reason to believe what he was saying.
After some back and forth, they finally opened the floor for the questions from the audience. A bit disappointed, Mauriel had nothing to ask the two, since she could already predict the answer, and she wasn't interested in bragging rights. Perhaps it was unlike her to be interested in debates this formal, she wouldn't lay the fact that she was unimpressed solely at the feet of the participants, but she mainly came for news, which she hadn't received.
