sapphim

[sapphim]

I am not "yapping" I have valuable research to share

[sapphim]

#I would like to see a templar mage sibling duo in the same circle. I think it would be totally normal and nothing bad would happen.

ok so hear me out. I have a suggestion

I am of course thinking about my own OCs now (oh Trevelyans... the family that you are!) but once you've considered the propensity for noble families to pledge their youngest children to Chantry service as public proof of piety (and to preempt a significant amount of infighting over inheritance rights) as well as the prevalence of ~inconvenient~ noble-born mages we've encountered over the course of the series... one does start to wonder how many templar recruits were pledged to the service for the purpose of absolving their families of the private guilt and public embarrassment of having a mage child taken to the Circle

[sapphim]

there was definitely, in the part of Alden Trevelyan's brain dedicated to making bad decisions, the impulse to propose a lavender marriage to Josephine, like when her family got her engaged on her behalf? well you could always tell them I just proposed haha. it would get them off your back. AND mine haha. my family would love you. my mother would LOVE you. my dickhead father might start talking to me again. NOT that I care. haha jk. unless? haha jk. unless? nah jk tho. unl

[sapphim]

Trevelyan Family Drama story time? I've previously described the Evelyn matchmaking drama, here and briefly alluded to the Starkhaven drama iceberg, here. They are just always at it, constantly.

So anyway let's hear it for the Circle of Magi drama.

So August Trevelyan has two children by his first marriage (the heir and the spare) and four by his second marriage (useful pawns), the babiest of which is my Herald of Andraste, Alden.

The Trevelyan clan is an expansive but ultimately minor noble family. August, in line to become head of the family after his mother, has ambitious designs for the family's future prospects, but the family's reputation must be unimpeachable. And it would help if they didn't fight him tooth and nail the whole way.

Then the eldest child, Maxwell, realizes he's a mage.

Now, the first, late Mrs. August Trevelyan, Oswin, was a home grown Marcher. But Irena Castida is the daughter of a wealthy Antivan merchant family. Being, let's say, of "northern disposition" and having Rivaini seers not far removed in her family tree, she really doesn't truck with the Orlesian chantry's philosophy on mages. So when she finds out, it doesn't matter to her at all that Max is "only" her step-son. She's going to protect that boy and get him properly trained outside of the Circle, and she only needs to keep it a secret from the entire family and specifically his father to do so.

That uh! Doesn't pan out. So some extremely protracted drama later, Maxwell is in the Circle, Daniel has been promoted to new heir, and August is ready to wash his hands of the situation entirely and preferably never revisit any of this ever again.

Irena's not going to let him. She's the one who makes damn sure that Maxwell ends up at the nearest Circle. She writes letters and sends care packages. She's sniffing around inquiring about his well-being, about family visits, about scholarly outings, etc.

Alden and Ameline, as the youngest of six (by which I mean youngest of five, as Maxwell is now a non-entity), were going to end up pledged to the Chantry in any case. That's always how the pious Trevelyan family has operated. And they're twins! A matched set! Isn't that cute? But this does light a fire under that decision.

It was also clear from the start that they were never going to become priests. The pair are simply too rowdy in disposition. So templars they will become.

August, seeing his chance, throws down an ultimatum. It's Chantry policy that family members not be assigned to the same Circle, to avoid unnecessary family drama (something the Trevelyans, as noted, would know a lot about). They could probably put on a little pressure to have the twins serve together, as the policy is more lax where templars are concerned. But he's not going to stand idly by while Irena picks this fight, again, on Maxwell's behalf. Irena has to choose who's going to stay in Ostwick, Max or the twins. She can't have both.

Yeah. She chooses Max. The twins will be fine. As they get shipped off to another city state for training. And as we all know, as far they are concerned on the coast, inland Marchers may as well live on the moon.

So that's the broad strokes of the Circle drama! Or, the inauspicious start to it anyway. (It will quickly spiral out of control into the Starkhaven drama after Alden (but not Ameline) unceremoniously drops out of templar training. Which is a whole other kettle of fish. And that's not to mention what all goes down during the mage rebellion and mage-templar war 😬)

[sapphim]

sorry. sorry. I've spent the last decade bouncing wildly back and forth on potential romance options for alden trevelyan without any of them ever really clicking. it's just occurred to me that, thanks to his specific cocktail of childhood issues (cool significantly older brother taken away to the circle when he was very young, radically altering the course of his life forever) that if inquisition had a mage that was also like a daddy? it would be so over for him. like if dorian and blackwall were combined into the same character. like if vivienne were a bear. that's the missing piece he's secretly been yearning for this entire time. sorry.

[sapphim]

I think if you're in a situation like the Amells where you have five kids who are found to be mages, but then you also have one who isn't. I think they probably take that last kid anyway. I think at that point the seekers turn up on your doorstep or some shit. I think the chantry has some strongly worded "suggestions" for you at that point. I think some "volunteer opportunities" become available to you.

[sapphim]

I am of course thinking about my own OCs now (oh Trevelyans... the family that you are!) but once you've considered the propensity for noble families to pledge their youngest children to Chantry service as public proof of piety (and to preempt a significant amount of infighting over inheritance rights) as well as the prevalence of ~inconvenient~ noble-born mages we've encountered over the course of the series... one does start to wonder how many templar recruits were pledged to the service for the purpose of absolving their families of the private guilt and public embarrassment of having a mage child taken to the Circle

[sapphim]

Leliana's cameo in DA2 is kind of funny actually bc first of all. she and Hawke lived in the same village and Hawke doesn't even recognize her until she gives her name (so like. what. did she get a new hair cut, or)

and then if she was killed or wasn't recruited Hawke is like "ohhhhh I know you. we assumed you like. died??" entirely possible that she DID die, actually, of murder, which is funny. on the OTHER HAND

if Leliana DID stick it out with the warden until the end of the blight, Hawke's reaction is "hang tf on you're THEE LELIANA???" so I guess they just straight up DIDN'T KNOW. like imagine you're in Kirkwall and you're hearing all these crazy rumors about the Blight and the Hero and about their now famous rag-tag assortment of companions like, to give a random example, this Orlesian bard, Leliana. and you're like "hey I knew a Leliana once, crazy coincidence. she probably died in the Blight RIP to a good one." and then six years later you meet her in the flesh and you're like "THE HOT NUN?????"

[sapphim]

I know the carver defense squad has some serious concerns about Malcolm's behavior as a parent based on the way Carver talks about him, but I feel like in this conversation in Legacy, Hawke says some fairly damning things as well

Carver: He can't have meant it. You and Bethany, you were his favorites. Weren't you?

--

Purple Hawke: [No we weren't. Grow up.] Only relative to his disappointment for you. Of course we weren't his favorites!

--

Red Hawke: [We should have been.] The amount of complaining you do, I wouldn't have blamed him.

Carver: It wasn't easy being outside your little guild, you know!

Carver: And no, inside was probably no better. But even if father didn't want you to have magic, you still had that connection.

Carver: I was always outside.

Purple Hawke: [You were free.] Right, outside with the dog. But you had no leash. Not like we did.

[sapphim]

#what is the tally on templar characters who are specifically known to have mage relatives anyway... #it's an easy pull for family conflict but once you've written it in enough times like what's going on. (via @gyrovagi)

by my count (including recruits and seekers)? at least this many:

Alistair - mother

Carver - father, sibling(s), cousins

Meredith - sister

Thrask - daughter

Cassandra - uncle

Reimas (Last Flight) - father

which is, uh? most of the main characters?

(plus technically Greagoir (son (with a mage (implied))) but the number of mage children raised in Chantry orphanages whose parents are, unbeknownst to them, templars is. another issue, to put it extremely mildly!!!)

my personal preference for headcanoning the contradictory alistair-templar-lyrium issue is to say that templar recruits do, relatively very late in their training—considering that most of their training is just swordplay and brainwashing—begin taking lyrium in small controlled quantities specifically to enable the practice of their magical abilities. alistair either did so as well, or he got fast-tracked for training with other fade-sensitive recruits who were able to begin this training without the aid of lyrium. either way, he obviously quit before completing his training and taking his vows, never experienced the effects of addiction and withdrawal, and then came away with the impression—being able to continue to use his abilities without lyrium consumption—that templar lyrium use is entirely a scam sold to templars by the chantry (I mean... he's right), and is thoroughly unaware of his own fade sensitivity or that it does make him somewhat unique in this regard.

[sapphim]

da2 is bad actually because every time it attempts to present a "moral" "quandary" it immediately undermines itself by foaming at the mouth ranting about how the real societal evil has been blood magic all along. dao is good actually because every time it attempts to present a "moral" "quandary" it immediately undermines itself by having morrigan shout "do it lol" from back of the group. they are NOT the same.

[sapphim]

remember when they were trying to brand the 00s as the noughties? despicable

[sapphim]

been browsing old forum threads from the oughts and I guess the greatest difference in prevailing attitude between then and now is that now anyone who's being a belligerent culture war cunt knows that they're being a belligerent culture war cunt about it, rather than falling back on the comfortable premise that everyone feels the same way

[sapphim]

Fenris: What are those? Some kind of dwarven war-beast? Isabela: Is it just me, or are those dwarves compensating for something…? Merrill: I do not want one of those as a pet! Sebastian: Maker's breath! I never knew the dwarves had tamed such monsters. Anders: I can't remember what beasts those are. I've seen them in the Deep Roads. Aveline: Whatever those are, I'm glad the Carta hasn't brought them into Kirkwall… Bethany: W-what are those things? How did the dwarves tame them? Carver: All right! How do you suppose I get my hands on one of those? Varric: (Grunts.) They're just brontos. Shapers created them a long time ago as beasts of burden. Most of them went feral.

Everyone: what the fuck is that. what the hell. what in the good goddamn is that tremendous beast. Varric: ...it's just a bronto? it's a draft animal, calm down Carver: *cracking knuckles* I'm gonna ride one

[sapphim]

”this file type is not supported” umm grow up?

[sapphim]

yeah I mean I'm always saying this (says the exact opposite of the thing you just said)

[sapphim]

prior to inquisition throwing in a handful of minor npcs, the only canonical reavers we encountered in game—aside from kolgrim, who teaches us the spec—were brogan dace in golems of amgarrak (a berserker/reaver), and that silent sister in the provings. like, what is UP with that. WHY were these high profile noble and warrior caste dwarves chugging dragon blood. bioware TELL ME ABOUT THE FUCKING DWARVEN REAVERS RIGHT NOW I SWEAR TO GOD.