Dear Miss A,

Thank you for taking the time to thoroughly fill out the survey and return it. I thoroughly appreciate the attentiveness with which you treated the contents; would that everyone was half so responsible and reasonable as yourself.

Due to the completeness of your responses, I have no follow up questions. However, I am happy to address the ones which you yourself raised. I have reproduced them here for reference, should you have forgotten their exact wording.

5𝘉) 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺. I have assumed that this was meant as a question. In which case, yes. This is quite typical and nothing at all to be concerned with. You should be aware that should you spent long periods away from other anchor bearers that you may begin to develop some discomfort. This is also perfectly usual, albeit a sign one should arrange to return to the Gallows (or find company with other anchors) sooner rather than later. The onset of this discomfort is typically slow and should not prohibit you from travelling from the Gallows in the course of Riftwatch's work.

6𝘉) 𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵? Copies of this survey were written prior to their distribution. Future copies will not reproduce the struck questions. It would be a waste of perfectly good paper to do away with these copies as is.

8𝘉 𝘪𝘪) [...]𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 [the anchor] 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦? 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦?? 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵[...] Yes, it is believed that the only way to remove the anchor is to sever the limb (or body part) to which it is attached. I have never seen such drastic measures taken myself, but over time the anchor will eventually entrench itself more deeply into the body and thus cause negative effects. There are reports of an eleven woman whose anchor was in her chest, which ultimately caused sickness and death. But that is happily a very rare case, and there are many rifters and non-rifters (myself included) who have had their anchor shards for many years without any incident.

No. Madness is not a side effect typical to the possession of an anchor. While it is true that a great percentage of Riftwatch's population seems to suffer from some measure of instability of character, I do not believe this has anything to do with their proximity to anchors.

With respect to your comments—

There are non-rifters with anchors. See: Madame Baudin (who is unlikely to recieve direct inquiries politely), Miss Smythe (the alchemist, not her battlemage sister), Miss Bearhold (I cannot recommend her brother, however the young lady herself is perfectly decent companionship), and Enchanter Black (the acting Seneschal; I will not comment on his demeanor). To my knowledge, the "catching" of an anchor by a Thedosian native involves being in close proximity to a Rift, but is not guaranteed. There have been a great many members of Riftwatch or others abroad who have been close to a rift without receiving an anchor; however, I have never met a Rifter without one. I believe the anchor is therefore a remnant of our passage through the fade, and that indeed it may be part of what ties us to this place. The woman whom I referenced above who died from the side effects of her anchor was, I believe, native to this world.

I hope that I have covered all your questions in their totality, however should I have missed anything (or if more have arisen in their shadow), you are naturally most welcome to contact me at your leisure. Otherwise, welcome once more to Riftwatch. I look forward to working with you further in the future.

Warm Regards,
Wysteria de Foncé
Research Division
Project Felandaris