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Emmrich Volkarin the kind of man who comes in drunk after a night out with friends, to find Rook (his spouse) in bed (snuggly warm) and when Rook invites him to bed he responds with (dignified) "you're very lovely, but I'm afraid I'm married", and lies down on the floor

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A quick Emmrich sketch🩶

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Look at him waiting patiently for his grave ritual partner ;w;

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Rook: Love? Emmrich: Yes, Darling? Rook: I think we need to be quieter from now on Emmrich: What do you mean? Rook: The neighbours just knocked on our door and they were like "Ehy, Rook, do you think you guys can maybe just keep the noise down?" Emmrich: Did they say why? Rook: They didn't have to. Rook: I never told them my name before... Emmrich: Emmrich: OH

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He's here O_O

As soon as i heard this guy doesn't like to sweat i said come with me sir we're doing rigorous activities.

Okay back to work lmao

Commissions always open ♥

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We did attempt to create a dagger to replace the one Solas took.

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Just a little Emmrich fic based on @timethehobo's beautiful art here. Had me feeling angsty. 😅

Vae pushed open the heavy oak door to Emmrich's study, the hinges creaking slightly in protest. The room was as she expected: cluttered yet strangely orderly, filled with the faint scent of parchment and pipe smoke. Shelves packed with ancient tomes, scrolls, and artifacts lined the walls, and to the right of it all stood his desk, a chaotic mosaic of notes, quills, and half-finished experiments.

"Emmrich?" She glanced around but found no sign of him. "He must have stepped out."

The old book in her hands felt heavy as she crossed the room and carefully placed it on the desk, smoothing her fingers over its cracked leather binding. It had caught her eye in Dock Town, and she immediately remembered Emmrich's passing mention of wanting to read it.

Satisfied, she turned to leave, but a sudden, eerie green light flared behind her.

"Well, well," a snide, feminine voice drawled, its tone dripping with venom. "If it isn't Volkarin's little paramour."

Vae froze, a feeling of nausea churning in her gut. Slowly, she turned back to face Johanna's skull. The cursed object sat atop its ornate pedestal, its hollow eye sockets somehow teeming with malice.

"Hezenkoss," Vae said flatly, unwilling to give her any more attention than necessary.

"How cold," The skull cackled, the sound sharp and grating. "I was just starting to enjoy the quiet, then in comes the professor's pet. What did you bring him, hmm? Chocolates? Cheese? Some other fatuous notion of romance?"

Ignoring her jab, Vae headed for the door. "Just a book he wanted. Goodbye, Hezenkoss."

"How amusing. I can assure you, he's already read it," she scoffed. "That absentminded fool could never keep track of what he's consumed. He'd open a book, read the first page, then suddenly realise he'd read it years ago."

Vae paused, her hand lingering over the door knob. Against her better judgement, she sighed and walked to the desk, leaning against it and facing the skull.

"What was he like when he was younger?" she asked.

There was a brief silence, as if Hezenkoss hadn't expected the question. Then, her voice took on a grudging edge. "An idealist. A bleeding heart. A coward."

Vae frowned. "You were friends for years. You must have admired something about him."

"His intelligence," the half-lich admitted, begrudgingly. "And his magical prowess, but that's all. Both became the reason I despise him—he never utilized either one, wasting his potential. We could have ruled Nevarra, brought every neighbouring kingdom to their knees, but he preferred to play nanny to wayward spirits and shortsighted students. Pah!"

Vae's eyes narrowed. "I don't believe you. You don't stay friends with someone for decades without seeing something worthwhile in them."

"As I just said. He was a useful duck to bounce ideas off of, but he never did appreciate my vision."

"Your vision?" Vae crossed her arms, her brow furrowing. "Your vision killed innocent people. Turned spirits into abominations."

"Sacrifices are necessary to achieve greatness," she spat. "I'm no hypocrite. As you can see, I made the ultimate sacrifice. Volkarin will do the same, should he pursue lichdom."

"It's different if it's yourself," Vae argued. "But not when you force it on others. That's not a 'sacrifice', it's just murder."

"No difference, same outcome."

Vae flinched, disgust welling in her eyes. "I can't imagine Emmrich ever being friends with someone like you," she said, her tone ruthless. "Which means, at some point, you must've changed. I just can't help but wonder if it was before you became a lich or after."

"Lichdom doesn't change anyone's personality, morals, or thoughts. I'm the same person I always was," she asserted. "If you want the truth, the old man's too trusting. Too softhearted. He wants to befriend everyone, even if it means adjusting his own interests to suit their needs. I'm sure you've seen it."

Vae swallowed, thinking back to all the times Emmrich went out of his way to ensure his colleagues' comfort at the cost of his own. Hiding his skulls, refraining from discussing necromancy in front of Taash, choking down one of Harding's ham sandwiches, afraid he'd insult her if he didn't try it—and then all the times he fussed over Vae herself.

"He's kind," she countered, though she knew it was sometimes to a fault. "He said you were, too. Once."

"Pah! You mistake kindness for naivety. I was young, with no concept of reality." She groaned, as if cursing her former self. "I grew out of that. Volkarin didn't. Beneath his grey hair and wrinkled skin, he's still a child at heart, always seeing individuals over the collective."

Vae shook her head. "Do you feel any guilt at all for what you've done to him?"

The skull chuckled, a bitter, humourless sound. "Guilt? For what? He impeded my plans. I did nothing to him."

"You had him on a hit list."

"Yes, because I knew that bleeding heart would never stand for my glorious uprising. Better to crush him, and that ridiculous pile of bones he drags around, than risk his interference. It wasn't personal, you see? Just collateral."

Vae's jaw clenched, her hands balling into fists. "You have no idea how lucky you are to have that 'bleeding heart' in your life. The rest of the Mourn Watch wanted to seal your skull in a tomb, alone, for eternity. But he fought to become your caretaker, because he couldn't stand the thought of you rotting in solitude. Even after everything, he pitied you."

Silence fell over the study, save for the faint crackle of energy within the skull. Hezenkoss said nothing, but her glow dimmed slightly.

Vae huffed and rose to her feet. "He's taking your betrayal harder than he lets on. You should be grateful for his kindness."

The half-lich grumbled, a note of frustration in her voice. "I was never loyal to him. There was no betrayal.”

"Yes, there was," Vae's temper flared. "You could always go to him, always talk to him. You were friends. He cherished that, cherished you, but you threw it all away—and for what? A broken existence? Eternal imprisonment? Loss of all feeling? You'll never be able to walk again, smell again, enjoy someone's touch on your skin. You had it all, but now it's gone. Was it worth it?"

For a long while, Hezenkoss said nothing, Vae's eyes boring into her sockets. Then, with a soft, almost incredulous hiss, she said, "I will escape."

"Maybe," Vae nodded. "But if you do, know this: I will never let you hurt him again."

Hezenkoss' laughter rang out as Vae moved towards the door. "You won't have to worry about that, darling. The decrepit old fool probably only has a few years left anyway!"

Vae tensed but didn't look back. Gritting her teeth, she wrenched the door open—and froze. Emmrich stood in the hallway, his expression a mixture of shock and pain, the weight of the overheard conversation hanging heavy in the air.

"Emmrich," Vae whispered, stepping into the hall and closing the door behind her. "How long have you been—?"

"We were friends once," he whimpered, his eyes drifting to the floor, "...weren't we?"

Vae reached out, her fingers brushing against his cheek. He was so hurt, and it killed her to see. Without another word, she pulled him into a hug, her arms wrapping tightly around him. Almost immediately he melted in her embrace, burying his face in her shoulder, his hands trembling.

"I'm sorry," she murmured.

He didn't respond, but the way he clung to her spoke volumes.

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baby where'd your room go???

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I just want to put this out there: Emmrich, in my writing of him, is in his mid-fifties, as implied by Sylvia. I’m leaning toward the lower end of her range, so for me, Emmrich is approximately 55.

Now, what I really want to get off my chest: men in their fifties are not geriatrics. I am in a running club with many friends in their fifties, and a few in their early sixties. I genuinely struggle to keep up with them when running half marathons, and many of them even run full marathons or longer.

Simply being in his fifties doesn’t mean much. Emmrich is more than capable of keeping up with the others in the group and holding his own when needed.

To conclude, I’ll leave you with this scene:

That man will put me in a wheelchair.

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Love Undying

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I’m thinking about Emmrich and his obvious compassion for the dead, and I’m wondering about how the Mourn Watch are trained. We know not all Mortalitasi share his empathy (see the mage in “The Dread Wolf Take You” from Tevinter Nights), so maybe the Mourn Watch undergo something that helps instill this reverence and respect for spirits and the departed.

It got me thinking: what if the Mourn Watch mages work with the dying before they work with the dead?

Perhaps as apprentices they complete a year of service as death doulas, to give them perspective on how death affects not only those dying but also their loved ones. They hold hands at bedsides, comfort parents and children and siblings and spouses, and give potions to help ease their patients across the Veil without pain, if that is their wish.

They then prepare their remains for mummification, treating these mortal shells with the same care they did before their soul departed. They lovingly wash their skin, anoint them with oils and resins, and wrap them in strips of linen with their precious earthly belongings tucked between the layers.

Then, now knowing the departed on a more intimate level than many who knew them in life, they begin to search the Fade for a being who will best embody the things they held important, imparting their legacy to live on through a benevolent spirit who can then experience the waking world through their form.

They don���t bind these spirits. They don’t need to, because they have come to know and understand the departed so thoroughly that they can then seek out one who will come willingly into their body.

Maybe this is why some Nevarran mages callously bind wisps to stir their wine, but Emmrich can see a wailing corpse and recognize the pain of lost love in its cries, or give a curious wandering soul the perfect postmortem position as his librarian.

Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is RIP to the rest of the Mortalitasi but the Mourn Watch is different.

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In my series of retro-esque Dragon Age travel posters, here's one for Nevarra / Necropolis!

One of my favourite locations in the game (not least because of a certain dashing necromancer gentleman), the scale and atmosphere of this place is so incredible!

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Got myself a lil sumthin sumthin for Christmas 💜💚 gotta keep hydrated whilst defending the dead

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Video Game) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Rook/Emmrich Volkarin, Rook & Emmrich Volkarin, Emmrich Volkarin/Original Character(s), Emmrich Volkarin/Original Female Character(s), Emmrich Volkarin/Reader Characters: Emmrich Volkarin, Rook (Dragon Age) Additional Tags: 5+1 Things, Idiots in Love, Falling In Love, Older Man/Younger Woman, Age Difference, Crushes, Love Confessions, Marriage Proposal, Emmrich “Overthinker” Volkarin, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers Summary:

Emmrich wants Rook to see herself the way he sees her.

The five times Emmrich sees Rook for the woman she is, and the one time she finally sees herself through his vision.

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You know, I made a different post about it before, but the way Solas talks about wanting to return the elves immortality in Veilguard really has me convinced now that Romanced!Solas is at least partially motivated to tear down the Veil BECAUSE he loves Lavellan, and if he leaves things as they are, even if he gives up everything to stay with her... She's going to die.

Her lifespan is such a tiny fraction of his, and I think if he had fallen in love with a human or a qunari (not sure how long OG dwarves bound to Titans lived) he could maybe come to terms with the fact that it was just natural and he had to accept it. But with Lavellan it is different because she's an elf. She is going to die because of something HE did. And if he gives up his duty, he's going to have to sit there and WATCH her die because of something he did.

And tbh that's such a tasty little complexity? He's got all these High and Righteous Big Picture reasons for fulfilling what he thinks is his duty to the elvhen people, but like...I wish that had come up somewhere. I wish that little scrap of selfish reasoning peeked through his armor at some point.

I mean...I wish we got the chance to talk through his reasoning IN GENERAL, for the choices he made, but that is a whole other kettle of fish.

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Daaaaamn

Solas pushing so hard for Cole to return to being more spirit than person hits so differently now.

He never wanted this body, this life , this solid thing that hurts and burns and aches and yearns. It was one of the worst things he endured & he did endure it , it was not a gift ,he only did it out of love.

Trying to give back to Cole, what he couldn’t have for himself , to save Cole the pain of being “human” , knowing that the other companions could have no idea the difficulties facing a spirit who *becomes*, his heart must have been breaking.

He was only ever trying to help, however misguided that help wound up being,all of his biggest regrets stem from just trying to help……Cole likes to help. I’d be mad too.