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ohhh we love a good “forced to torture your friend while undercover as a bad guy” don’t we

like. when you meet their eyes and you both know you have to do it and you have to do it well

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*between kisses to the top of my cat's tiny head* you are disgusting! You're despicable! You shouldn't exist! You're a monument to scientific hubris! You will be the downfall of humanity! I love you!

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Love undying

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Do you have the Libby library app?

If not, download it to your phone, and under "Add library card" select the button to search for a library and start typing in "queer"...

Sign up with an email, no actual address required, and you are good to go 🏳️‍🌈

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One of the things I genuinely loved about Veilguard was that the whole team was actively involved in the major quests. It wasn't just Rook and whichever two companions you selected.

Rook told the people who weren't going with them to help the other city when they had to choose between Treviso and Minrathous. You saw and talked to the people who weren't in your party at Weisshaupt, and when you went after Ghilan'nain's dragons, and when you rescued the Dalish from Elgar'nan and the Venatori. And that's not even mentioning the finale.

Looking back, it's something that Dragon Age has done well before at least when it came to the final battle. Origins had the memorable and lauded section when you controlled one of the companions you'd left behind to defend the gates. In Dragon Age 2, they're all there when you decide Anders' fate, and if you don't have high enough friendship/rivalry with some of them, you might end up fighting them based on the choice you made. Inquisition dropped the ball a bit in this regard, but I still enjoyed seeing Cullen, Leliana, and even Josephine in the field during the What Pride Had Wrought quest, and all of your companions show up right after you defeat Corypheus, too.

I thought Veilguard did a great job including every member of the team during big moments. It really made it feel like every single person on Rook's squad contributed to the fight.

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Thing I really enjoy about DA:TV - Rook

Full disclosure: I feel that the issues people have with Rook as a protagonist are very much a product of our time and culture, as well as the expectations created for the game in the past decade.

We live in a moment when all most heroes and protagonists are morally grey, unwilling, disillusioned, and detached. Being genuine, trying to do the right thing, and perhaps even being uncompromising about your values is seen as cringe.

So yeah, Veilguard came out at a point in my life when I felt like I was watching movies with the same main character and playing characters with the same sort of snarky attitude.

I’m genuinely so into a Rook who is just uncompromisingly a kind person—someone who asks how the characters are doing and helps people not just with fetch quests but with their personal lives. A lot of it is personal preference, but my favorite Veilguard moment was finding out Bellara is writing a book (and helping with it) and having drinks with Taash. Let me roleplay a hero that characters actually, genuinely like and want to spend time with. Show me the little things.

I guess the big payoff of Rook is the finale of the game. There are several lead-up conversations with Solas about leadership, and the contrast between the two is repeatedly emphasized. Solas thinks removing distractions from the team’s lives would help achieve a goal, but Rook genuinely cares. The companions willingly follow Rook out of respect and care, not out of necessity. The game wouldn’t work with a different protagonist but that’s a separate discussion.

Rook is my special little treat that I play in these tiring times.

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POV: You just got so thoroughly railed in a sarcophagus that you needed a nap and now Emmrich is watching you sleep.

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I see the posts asking what Rook brings to the squad. What is Rook good at when the rest of the Squad are experts in their fields? Rook isn't necessary to the rest.

A) Rook is probably the most skilled out of all the protagonists we've had. You can head canon things, but the truth is the HOF and Inquisitor were not masters in their fields before they got supremely unlucky and landed with a skill they didn't really want. Hawke really was just a person who developed over time. Rook starts as a hero who is very skilled in their craft. I'm going to speak on this from Crow Rook because that is who I know best, but this does apply to the others as well. Crow Rook took down 20 Antaam alone. That is not something the average Crow can do. That is skill enough to impress Varric and get the role to work with him.

B) Rook knows how to get themselves into and out of trouble. Yes, Rook does know how to get into trouble, but Rook also sees opportunities others miss. In the opening, Harding's plan is to fire on Solas. She doesn't consider other options beside the one she is most comfortable with. Neve tells Harding no, but she also doesn't give a better solution either. Rook is the one who looks around to find other solutions.

Additionally, I wish this was commented on more but other characters acknowledge this skill of finding opportunities. Varric says to an unromanced Inquisitor that Rook is very good at Wicked Grace, a game all about cheating and opportunities. If Rook de Riva abandons Treviso, Viago also comments on this skill, that Rook would have found a way to help their city. Rook sees opportunities others miss. This is a very important skill at seeing opportunities that the other companions don't really see. There is a phrase, to a hammer, everything looks like a nail and our companions do that. Our companions are supremely skilled at what they do, but that means they don't usually look outside of the solution that fits their skills best, ie: Harding is always looking for the shot, Lucanis's solutions usually involve daggers, etc.

C) Rook has the soft skills to lead. Soft skills are completely underrated in life. Some people just assume that the person with the best skills at something should be the leader. This is how we get really awful leaders who have no people skills and treat their teams like crap. Leadership takes skills and none of the companions have those skills at the start. Davrin and Neve end the game as leaders, but both start having the same issue of being lone wolves who struggle to trust others. They need to learn how to trust others. Harding would probably be the best of the rest, but she is dealing with her own internal struggles with her new stone powers and the anger the titans are feeling. Rook might have some issues with confidence as being a leader, but Rook has great soft skills that allow the team to open up to them and trust them with the team's issues. Rook's confidence goes away with time as they get used to the role, but the soft skills are so valuable.

Rook built the team. Remove Rook and the team would never have functioned as well as they did because of the work Rook did. Yes, they were able to accomplish a lot while Rook was in the Fade Prison, but that was because Rook had done their job. Rook had built a great team that knew what they had to do, were able to work together, and were able to do it until they could get Rook back. They trusted what Rook had done because they trusted Rook. I don't see them getting nearly as far without Rook and so Rook is absolutely essential for the squad.

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I'm never going to get over the creation of the lyrium dagger or the replica dagger

Both made to win a war And (if you romanced emmrich) both made out of devotion

The difference is Solas' devotion ruined a whole group of people's lives and created the blight, and Emmrich's saved thedas and Rook

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Actually I'm not done yelling about the trans rep in Dragon Age: The Veilguard yet.

As most Lucanismancers probably already know, one of the banters between Lucanis and Taash changes slightly depending on Rook's gender. Taash suggests that now that Rookanis is a thing, he and Spite should take Rook flying. Taash's reasoning? "Girls/guys/nonbinary people love flying", which honestly is 10/10 logic, no notes, Lucanis why have we not already gone flying? Why are you not literally always flying around the Lighthouse??

So yeah, if your Rook is a woman, "girls love flying"; Rook is a man, "guys love flying"; and nonbinary Rook, "nonbinary people love flying". Simple and easy, you love to see it. Except I just triggered that banter, and what did Taash say? Casual, easy as you please, "Everyone loves flying." Again 10/10, I certainly have no rebuttal.

But I'd never heard that in anyone else's game clips before. "Everyone loves flying." The entire line is different from the others, which have the same rhythm and emphasis across the gender board. Know why the line was different for my Rook?

Because my Rook is a trans man who uses they/them pronouns.

Like the devs or writers or whoever had Taash give at least four different lines dependent on Rook's identity, and one of them is clearly meant for a Rook whose identity and pronouns don't match in the expected ways. She/her women get "girls love flying", he/him men get "guys love flying", and they/them enbies get "nonbinary people love flying". It's just.

It's such a little thing, but they didn't have to do that. No one would have called them on it, but they did it anyway. Like so much of the gender stuff in Veilguard, I cannot overstate how much they didn't have to do all that. But they did, even for tiny little things like this.

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hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

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cáca (cake) vs caca (poo)

bríste (trousers) vs briste (broken)

éire (ireland) vs eire (burden)

léamh (reading) vs leamh (weak)

órla (name meaning "golden princess") vs orla (vomit)

seán (irish for jean/john) vs sean (old)

snámh (swim) vs snamh (dislike)

and that, friends, is why remembering the fada is extremely important in irish. you wouldn't want to go to the gaeltacht and order a caca instead of a cáca, would you?

bonus: séan with the fada on the e means "deny"

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I will always love Solas, but forever hate that stupid hat.

They immediately adjourned to a team meeting, where they guessed that this is why Solas wanted to end Thedas.

[Text reads: “Another Solas regret? Let’s see it.”

Second panel: “Fucking. YIKES.”]

I added part 2 here

Varric started yelling for Rook to come have a little chat in the infirmary after seeing this.

Why does the collar clip through his neck is my big question?

[Text reads: “Wait. Is it clipping THROUGH your face??”]

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Nosy ass plant

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putting out into the ether for the zillionth time that i really love veilguard. i love to chew on its lore. i love thinking about the devouring storm, the executors, and all the clues we *haven't* found/discussed yet. i love the companions and how they act as put-together as professionals in their 30s often act (and that taash acts so believably how a nonbinary, maybe-autistic person discovering themselves in their early 20s acts. ask me how i know). i love the romances and how much life there is in each one, yet how much room exists for headcanoning as well. i love veilguard's portrayal of solas, and i love how rook mirrors him so well, so devastatingly.

wishing there was a way to shine a bat-signal at the folks at bioware without directly addressing/tagging them directly (and implying they should reply, like on bsky). wishing i could give them all head pats from afar.

i really like veilguard. i hope they know how loved it is.

because it's damned good art.

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I really don’t understand the criticism that Veilguard doesn’t include enough open, devout Andrastianism. Like, it just perplexes me?

Unlike the first three games, which take place in Southern Thedas (the purview of the Orlesian Chantry, the Sunburst throne), Veilguard takes place almost entirely in Northern Thedas. And it’s clear the Chantry’s role there is very different than in the South.

In Southern Thedas, the Chantry is a power unto itself. The Southern Divine, holder of the Sunburst Throne, occupies a place of real significance and power. She has her own militarized forces (the Templar and Seeker Orders). She politically has to interface with the rulers of the various places in Southern Thedas (Orlais, Ferelden, the Free Marches, etc.), but is not formally associated with or dependent on them. The South is comparatively poorer than the North, and we see a majority of services (taking care of orphans, medical care, the Circles, and very significantly education) being taken care of by the Chantry without necessarily much assistance from the relevant countries.

The Southern Chantry is an ever present figure in Southern Thedas, even for those that aren’t devout. And that is reflected in those stories and the cultures we learn about there.

The Tevinter Imperium is not like that. And that’s not terribly surprising. First, the Imperium pre-dates Andrastianism. They have another, older religion that helped form some of their cultural touchpoints. The Imperium did adopt Andrastianism, but did so as a consolidation of empire (which tracks with the Imperium being, in no small part, a reflection of the real life Roman Empire). As such, the Chantry is folded into and subordinate to the Imperium’s government. The real power in Tevinter, and control over the incidents of daily life that we see the Southern Chantry involved in, is the Magisterium and the Archon.

The Imperial Divine doesn’t control the Templars, the Magisterium and Archon do. He doesn’t control the Circles/education. That’s the Magisterium and Archon again. He is, in practical terms, less powerful than Dorian. He can’t make any real change as the Imperial Divine, so he dons a mask and runs a vigilante group to free slaves and make change that way.

The Northern Chantry simply isn’t as omnipresent as the Southern Chantry in the areas it exists, and it competes with a preexisting cultural backbone in a way the Southern Chantry doesn’t (because it largely stamped that out, though some of the Avvar and Chasind are still around).

I think a lot of people are comparing the impact of Andrastianism in Veilguard to that in Inquisition, because it’s the most recent, and the criticism spawns from that. But that…doesn’t make sense. The Inquisitor is leading a religious organization, ultimately affiliated with the Southern Chantry itself and founded by the left and right hands of the former Divine. It claims its legitimacy from Andraste herself (even if the Inquisitor doesn’t believe a single bit of it). The people who join the Inquisition are all okay enough with Andrastianism to affiliate themselves openly with it (Solas aside, but of course he has other reasons), and many are devout.

The Veilguard are just…random people. Skilled, powerful, talented people, but not people with any real affiliation with any Chantry. Davrin and Bellara have complicated relationships with the Dalish religion they grew up with, for obvious reasons, but they weren’t raised in Andrastianism or an Andrastian culture. Neve, per her, “barely keeps the holidays.” Her relationship to Andrastianism seems closer to the average non-church-attending American who celebrates Christmas and Easter, but isn’t particularly Christian beyond that. Lucanis does seem open to belief in the Maker and Andraste, but is kind of ambivalent to it. More agnostic than anything else. Taash wasn’t raised Andrastian, their mom largely still embraces much of the Qun even if she left, and Rivain was always kind of religiously funky anyway. Only Emmrich and Harding are particularly Andrastian, and even then Emmrich is from Nevarra which although deeply Andrastian is unique. Harding is the only companion whose Andrastianism we’d recognize from the prior games.

So in a game set in a region where Andrastianism is culturally less of an influence, where the Chantry holds far less power, and that has companions that aren’t devout Andrastians…how is it a failure of the game that it isn’t brought up more. That makes sense. It’s consistent with the world building that came before it and the continued reveal of that world in game.

I don’t get it.