#geldauran

The air cooled as the cover of night swept overhead, the sky dusted with glittering stars to guide the Sea Hawke further along her journey. Rook checked her compass, recorded the heavens with the sextant Isabela gave her to chart their whereabouts, meticulous in her calculations along the map. Should they turn to shore, they would have just passed Rialto.

   Rook shuddered as a chill came upon her. This region wasn’t always cold, especially not so close to the beginning of the month of Justinian when nights like this were usually humid. Though she was sure there was a perfectly rational explanation for this, perhaps it was her ever growing experience that harkened a sailor’s superstition to call out from her very bones that saw this as an omen of some kind. She rubbed her shoulders on instinct until she felt a coat cover her, gentle hands holding it still.

   “So concludes your first day as Captain,” Lucanis mused.

   He smiled over at the gathering of the crew enjoying the meal he had prepared around a collection of lanterns. Lambshank had started another round of Wicked Grace, and Yani Fabrizio was raising the stakes each time until he would lose a boot or another spoon of rice from his plate. Serena and Dimetri watched on, staring at Illario who subtly signalled to the other players what was in Lambshank’s hand. Morale seemed as even as the cruising speed the ship sailed along.

   Rook and Lucanis took a moment of bliss in this open sea, lit by worlds far beyond their own. The warmth of his body against her back welcomed as he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

   “You know, there is a famous novel that tells of a great love story between an Antivan noble and a Rivaini pirate,” he whispered.

   “I’m a Lord of Fortune, not a pirate.” She corrected him, nodding at Lambshanks practicing his thrusts with a scimitar. “I don’t think it’s clicked for the chevalier yet…”

   “He’ll learn.”

   He sighed into her hair, the rasp in his voice having the same effect as a purring cat. It soothed her.

   “You know, I didn’t think I’d be able to get the First Talon himself on my side for this trip.”

   “Oh?”

   “This all started off so simple; get the kid home safe. But every turn we take there are more variables mixed in. The artifact, the Carta, my— the Magister…” she trailed off, her mind sinking back into the chaos that invaded the Royal Palace, how close to death she was, saved by some chance that a dream was in fact a memory, one that brought more questions than she had the capacity to withstand an answer. It was too selfish of her to think about even now.

   “If I’d known your homeland was about to perform an Exalted March…”

   She felt Lucanis’s body stiffen at the mention of Antiva’s temporary merger with the Orlesian Chantry. It was a tough situation to be in, and she knew a Crow as sought after and dedicated to his craft would not leave something like that so readily. Instead of pulling back, he only tightened his embrace to reassure her.

   “You couldn’t have, and I’m to blame for that,” he said, “I never sent you letters.”

    She shook her head. “I never sent anything either.”

    “You earned your rest from me.”

    “Don’t.” she urged, placing a hand on his cheek to hold him there, thumb stroking his beard and gently pressing her head into his, “Awake or asleep, I’ll want you near. But I didn’t want to get in the way of your responsibilities. You’re a big deal now. You practically head Antiva’s only means of defence.”

    “And you are a hero.”

   Coming from his lips, she could almost believe herself deserving of the accolades, but Rook suppressed the soul-deep need to shudder at it. Gold and Glory, it was the motto she lived by since she was sixteen. But the Glory part started to weigh her down more than any treasure hoard could.

   Her gaze lifted from her map to the starboard bow where the boy held tight to the ratline, head tilted up to the stars with the breeze sweeping through his sandy brown mop. She watched as he adjusted himself on the ropes, hooking his leg into the links and extending his arm, like stretching out a wing. She could feel it through him; the open and yet full feeling of freedom against a sonata of the wind and sea.

   “Right now, I’m just an elf out at sea,” she said with a proud smile.

   Lucanis chuckled. “You’re more than that, Capitana~”

   She could hear the invitation in his voice as he said it, almost like a challenge, teasing her into dropping her instruments and taking a break.

   Rook turned around to hold his face, gazing into his eyes, the warmth replaced with a cool dusting of starlight that lit up her world. He smiled as they flitted down to her lips, his hands tracing up her back to bring her closer and resting his forehead against her. She closed her eyes, sighing deep in this moment of bliss, and surrendered a soft, loving kiss. 

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This familiarity may suggest that the entity related to this tomb and the massive ice conjured at the frozen gate of the citadel because the presence of Hakkon, may be connected.

Analogous to the one in Forbidden Oasis, this is an elvhenan tomb sealed with shards that can only be found when the Veil gets weakened. However, in Leather-Bound Hakkonite Journal, we learn that Hakkon allowed the ancient hakkonites to see the shards, making them able to open this tomb in the past [referred in the codex as “cave”] and learn the secrets of the winter, so they could open the Frozen Gates. This suggests that the Frozen Gates were made by Tevinter magic and not Hakkon’s presence itself [Hakkon was communicating with the hakkonites, so he was not bound to the mortal form yet]. When Hakkon was bound to a mortal form, he lost contact with the hakkonites, so they had to relay on Tevinter oculara to see these shards. This codex finishes saying that the hakkonites need to recover the “mystery of winter”

The tomb, as I said in the post of Razikale’s Reach, is almost the same [in symbols and details] than the one in the Forbidden Oasis: Solasan Temple: it requires shards to open, has a symbol of 5 rhomboids overlapped at the top, and a swirly arabesque pattern around the door.

Inside we see the typical ancient chamber of this elvhen design: fading circular flowers, and columns which lower and upper parts are decorated with a pile of squares. There is a sarcophagus with little more of interest in this place.

The only detail that highlights in this tomb is the inscription on the wall. At a simple glance it depicts a rhomboid or a square at 45º, which could be related to the main symbol we see in the door. This square is also part of the set of glyphs we already saw in the game. In the inside there is a circle, that, with the subtle shadow projected outside, allows us to think of the reiterative symbol of this game: the golden circle.

I tried to see if the letters could belong to some place easy to identify, but I had no luck. They look similar to the letters of the other magical glyphs, but not completely.  See with more details General glyphs and magical symbols

This glyph triggers a unique codex called Geldauran's Claim.  According to the name of the codex, these are the direct words of Geldauran, a forgotten one: they claim that there are not gods, only power relationships of slavery. This entity sounds like a rebel, denying the power of the Evanuris upon him, but waiting for the right time to seize it and use it on his benefit.

As a forgotten one, it is not clear if he follows ideas of freedom or dominance. 

As a curious detail, he mentions June associated with fire, which is something I would have expected from Sylaise.  And when he claims "I refuse those who would exert will upon me", he only names Andruil and June. I’m not saying they are the only tyrannic ones, but if they are the main ones in this enumeration, it could be because they are the most radical ones in doing so.  So, we can potentially consider that Andruil and June have been the ones more interested into applying dominance.

Looking into the sarcophagus is not too relevant. There is only an Accuser's Staff, which is a cold-damage weapon, reinforcing the idea that Geldauran and Hakkon are related like different sides of the same coin. Or maybe it’s just a confirmation of the codex implying that this tomb may have been open by the ancient Hakkonites centuries ago.

It’s description is very hard to interpret:

Andrastian mages once used staves like this one to exact justice against maleficarum. None have been made since the Towers Age.