raoraito

[raoraito]

[ jaal, what did you really see in meridian? ]

—

i had a strange dream about a broken mirror, but not the usual dream about broken mirrors. this was a mirror i carried all the way across the world from one not-home to another. it was the mirror i look in to reassure myself that i am still myself - that i am still worthwhile. i had not realised, for months, that i had brought this mirror with me, but when i needed it most, there it was: materialised like magic above my bed. only this mirror was chipping, but not quite chipping. it was shedding shards of itself much like a snake would shed their old skin. and though i could still see myself well in it, i did not. i would not look; i was preoccupied with trying to put this mirror back together, with pushing the falling shards back into its surface with clumsy fingers. in the end, the whole glass surface of it fell apart. there were no shards on me, nor on the bed. i could just see my bookcase and the wall and the rest of the room, framed by the cast iron remains of what was once my mirror. i did not feel like i had broken something. i woke up baffled. but instead of feeling like something was lost, i felt like i was holding something that i’d found. i just don’t know what it is, yet.

so, i made a mini comic about mirrors while i ponder on it. this is meant to be a mirror (ha, see what i did there) to the infamously heartbreaking “they… are us” moment in the kett exaltation facility, and it’s based on some of my headcanons about the jardaan. i cannot link but if you search jardaan on my blog you will find the post.

commissions open.

[raoraito]

The Extranet has questions, and I have no answers.

[raoraito]

Dragon Age Glossary on Mages and Magic

Per anonymous request, here is a dictionary of in-universe terminology about mages and magic. I can completely understand how so many terms can get confusing when just starting to get into the lore, so I hope that these definitions are helpful. I did my best to make them as plainly put as possible, including example usage!

Keep reading

[raoraito]

“she’s going to raise one hell of a storm with those little wings.”

[raoraito]

January’s character illustration, featuring Fenris from Dragon Age 2. The subject of this piece was voted on by my patrons!

Prints are available here on my INPRNT.

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(Companion piece to:)

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[raoraito]

“That’s the only type of person who can save the galaxy.”

— Captain Anderson

“Humanity needs a hero. And Shepard’s the best we’ve got.”

Shepard:

[raoraito]

The man who delivers.

————

Some old sketches from Death Stranding. Mostly pen and ink on paper, with occasional pencil & marker.

[raoraito]

[raoraito]

HAPPY 10TH ANNIVERSARY DRAGON AGE 2

YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD OF A GAME

Hawke made it out of the Fade and with all business at Weisshaupt Fortress concluded, she’s free to return home.

Kirkwall’s celebration of the return of its Champion took place right in the middle of a nug infestation. Citizens don’t know if they should take this as an omen, but they make sure to not voice such concerns near the Vicount.

—

Return to Kirkwall Part 1/3

This is a epilogue-type mini series in which Hawke and co can finally take a break and settle down for good (DA4 events not considered of course).

For this month I made three illustrations and a few more are planned for the foreseeable future. I’ve been planning this series since September last year and working on the paintings since late December, it feels good to finally share them!

[raoraito]

Theory: Fenris’s vallaslin is unseen among Dalish elves because it is a pattern that was traditionally associated with Fen’Harel’s faction during the old Arlathan period, and so was not kept by the survivors of the fall out of deference like the other 8 patterns. This is why the main feature of the pattern is three points in the middle of the forehead:

As it is indicative of the main artistic motif Solas himself used/uses to denote the dread wolf in his portraiture- the wolf’s three eyes:

Of course, vallaslin were traditionally slave brands- so why would one be developed in association with the great liberator of the time?

Fenris’s markings are of course, not traditional vallaslin, granting him significant powers specifically geared toward leveling the playing field when battling mages, and while we do not know exactly where Danarius found the ritual for inscribing them, it is safe to assume that like all else in Tevinter, it was stolen from the Elven civilization the Imperium was built on. 

And who among the Ancient Elves would have the most vested interest in developing an elite anti-magic task force than the man who was pitting his inferior forces against an alliance of mages who possessed a power of such magnitude that they came to be deified, whose magic was such an obstacle to freedom that Solas felt forced to weave the Veil to disarm them?

I believe that the ritual conducted on Fenris was one devised by Solas’s side during the war, and that the retrograde amnesia was actually a desired side effect for the former slaves who participated in the procedure. As Elves were effectively immortal, perhaps some saw it as a rare opportunity for rebirth and unlearning the shedding of centuries, maybe even millennia of servitude and suffering under a broken system; which makes it all the more ironic that when it would be rediscovered ages later, it would be to make the target all the more pliable as a slave and desirable as an enforcer of tyranny. This could also explain why Fenris is named the Tevene word for ‘wolf’, as Danarius may have intended it as a mocking nod to the spell’s creator.

[raoraito]

“Shepard, Commander Shepard.”

“Never noticed how short you are, Shepard.”

“Only because you are standing on your toes, Vakarian.”

——

(Art by me, x-posted from Reddit & IG with minor edits. Shep heavily inspired by a Vanderloo photo)

[raoraito]

“does this unit have a soul?” 

Some Legion fanart I did last month for Patreon’s monthly piece, also posted a little process breakdown there ^^ 

Hope you enjoy it ✨💙✨

[raoraito]

“That’s what love does - turns a guy like me into a nervous wreck with something to lose and the aim to make sure he doesn’t. Nobody better hurt you, is all I’m saying.”

(+ Bonus animated version:)

[raoraito]

“Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding.

...

You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it.”

[raoraito]

Mass Effect Legendary Edition → ME1

Uncharted Worlds…