#“we'll never have a dragon age origins again”

[ashtnketchup]

why are dragon age fans so clapped. yall are just as bad as silent hill fans istg

[ndostairlyrium]

I'm curious

Which characters do you want to see a cameo of in Veilguard?

[vaguely-concerned]

the parallels between morrigan and the mage warden (especially one who snitched on jowan and so isn't automatically doomed if they stay in the circle) both being unceremoniously kicked out by their parental figures from the isolated nests they've been cooped up in all their lives and sent flailing out into the real world to test their wings. the love that you can read in between the lines there from irving, and even flemeth -- in both cases this is a cause of action taken partly to save their children (from the circle, from the blight, from the isolation and constriction they would be doomed to otherwise), and in both cases it also opens them up to a world of new dangers. (I wonder if irving knows how many grey warden recruits die right off the bat. from his general character I think he might take that chance even if he knew because otherwise the circle is all but inescapable, but from what he says to amell/surana at the time and how set duncan is to keep that particular detail on the down low I feel more on the side of him not being aware.)

irving at least is encouraging and explains the outlines of what he's thinking even in his hurry to get you out the door, flemeth takes the opportunity to get in a few more stabs of emotional abuse haha. but I think my amell looks at morrigan's shock and partial dismay to be sent away with them so abruptly (and despite everything, the sting of it being so easy to do on her mother's part, emotionally) and feels a sympathetic sinking in her stomach. because yeah she knows that feeling too

[imaginaryanon]

ohhh, da fandom, how i've not fucking missed you lmaooo the new game's release is still a month away but already i'm reminded exactly why i became convinced i'd never want anything to do with that franchise again. jesus christ. except this time im 30 and hopefully better at tailoring my online experience to not exhaust me & make me pissed and anxious (even if half of da tumblr is like. already laser-focused on making this a shit experience for everyone who stumbles upon their fuckass posts huh hfgjhjhjd)

anyway i'm listening & learning & blocking even MORE tags & not looking at SHIT until i play the game myself <3 For Real this time. "oh but surely it's just an innocent opinion and not a spoiler or anything--" that is the devil talking. all posts abt veilguard rn are full of shit, on account of The Game Isn't Fucking Out Yet How Are You Guys Already Having Novel-Length Opinions (TM)!!!! anyway i simply don't need that kind of energy in my life

i enjoy these games too much to be chased outta here by deranged drama i'm not even a part of again 😭 get fucked & god unbless

[roguerambles]

I understand the disappointment, I really do, but I think people might be blowing the whole world state thing a bit out of proportion. "This is SPITTING IN THE FACE of long-time fans" no it's not Steve, calm down.

The series has always had to compromise when it comes to the state of the world because so many of the choices (especially from the end of Origins) were so wildly different that trying to build a sequel from so many conflicting factors would be more or less impossible. It's why we've never seen the Architect again, because him being alive or dead has HUGE ripple effects that are damn near impossible to write around.

Heck, it was entirely possible for Anders to die at the end of Awakening, but the writers wrote around it by saying "oh no he actually faked his death" even though logically that made very little sense because at that point he'd have absolutely no reason to do that? But Anders was in the sequel so that had to come up with something.

Basically nothing from Dragon Age 2 was important in Inquisition - Hawke siding with Mages or Templars made no difference, Anders being alive or dead made no difference, whether Carver or Bethany were dead or Wardens or whatever made no difference. We got some flavour text and that was literally it, everything else played out exactly the same.

Hell, the Temple of Sacred Ashes gets blown to bits at the beginning of Inquisition, rendering everything to do with that quest from Origins basically moot. And we've never gone back to Orzammar, and everything we have heard from it has been kept super vague, because depending on who the King is and if Branka is still alive things would look WILDLY different. Crafting a new story there would be borderline impossible because the dozen different possible world states make the foundation shaky at best.

It's why I highly doubt we'll be able to side with Solas and help him tear down the Veil because that would result in basically a whole new world being created. Imagine them trying to make Dragon Age 5 and being like "okay 50% sided with Solas and tore the Veil down and 50% kept the Veil intact....wtf now what do we do--?"

Again, I understand the disappointment, but I just hope once the dust has settled and people calm down a bit they'll see that, realistically, very little has changed. Your saves are still there, your experiences and enjoyment of the games and the characters and the story are still there, but they were always gonna have to draw the line SOMEWHERE.

And that's not to say none of our previous choices will come back - if we get another game, or a spin off or something they'll probably do what they're doing with the Inquisitor now. They're just taking what's relevant to the story they are trying to tell, and leaving what they aren’t going to use presently ambiguous.

[felassan]

Some more snippets of interest and insight from Mark Darrah, from an older Mark Darrah on Games YouTube video where he was livestreaming playing Dragon Age: Origins some months ago -

"I imagine that the only way that broodmothers would remain in the game [DA:O] would be in a remaster. In a remake I'm sure they would make changes, I would be very surprised if they didn't. But in a remaster you can get away with a lot more. I think they would change their appearance. Also, there's been an effort to unify the look of the darkspawn a lot more, so." "You're never gonna see broodmothers, probably in any form, in the mainline games, definitely not in the form that they're in in DA:O. I don't think you'll ever see a broodmother again. I guarantee that you're not seeing broodmothers in any future Dragon Age thing. I would be very confident in that statement."

Chat commented "Male Desire demons on the other hand" and Mark replied that there is a concept art out there for male Desire demons.

Chat asked "If we won't get Broodmothers, do you think we'll get the original Archdemon design? The Tentacle Monster one?". Mark replied "Probably not the tentacle version for an Archdemon. I could see that being created as another monster or high level boss, but probably not as Archdemon because the, sort've, dragon as being part of an Archdemon is too intertwined in the lore at this point."

Chat commented "I just hope the Mythal death in DA:I was a fakeout". Mark said, "One thing with Mythal is that, Kate Mulgrew, as her stock has risen and fallen, her price has gone all over the place, so 'is Mythal gonna show up?' decisions will be partially based upon if she's priced herself out of the market or not. Though I think she actually was sad, based on the DA:I stuff, so maybe she'd be willing to do it on a little bit of a lower price. But I actually don't know, because is Orange Is the New Black still on the air? Her price may have come down again." "I mean definitely you can see, sometimes characters disappearing is because the voice actor became a pain to work with, or became expensive, those are definitely factors, no question."

Later on this topic chat asked "Would you say Laura Bailey is still in the affordable VA space? I know she's become a mega popular/busy thanks to CR, but she's always been VA first afaik." Mark replied "Depends, you can always sort've write less for them, if you can do it in one session you can kind've afford anybody, it's a question of how much they're gonna show up."

Chat asked "Do you agree with the criticism some people have that DA lore focuses too much on elves?" Mark said "Yeah, kind've, I think it sort've, it's not on purposes, the elves, they just kind've end up sneaking into everything it seems like. I think there's a recognition of the elves kind've being too present." "I don't think elves are going to disappear, I just think that they don't necessarily need to, one of the things that sort've constantly happened is that the stories ended up presenting the elves as, they keep sort've having them make just the worst decisions. So I suspect there's a goal to maybe make them not do that and then that would allow them to sort've rebalance with everyone else. It's also harder to get, dwarves kind've require a, they're either harder to integrate in, because they're off [over there], they're not just in a forest, you gotta go into a hole to talk to them, so they kind've always are gonna be less present unless you're doing something in the Deep Roads or Orzammar."

"It's always hard to kill off the protagonist. Always gonna get people who are against that but y'know [shrug]. I can certainly see the argument for killing off the Inquisitor in Trespasser".

Chat asked "Would it be more likely that we would be able to get answers to the more deep-fan stuff like The Calling etc by assuming those would be in DLC and not the main game of DA:D?" Mark replied "I don't imagine that there's gonna be a ton of, it's possible that you're gonna see that sort've stuff in DLC but I don't know what the live service plan is gonna be for DA:D to be honest because that was definitely, has been in flux over the course of DA:D, that's for sure."

[source]

He also talked more generally about DA:O and the franchise and things in general. These bits are collected under a cut due to length -

[when party camp is ambushed by darkspawn] "That's one of the few times that we actually pay that off"

[during Leliana's party camp song] "Very impressive cinematic design. It shows off the age of the models in the close ups, but the long shots are really great." "They're desperately trying to get the lipsyncing to match and failing"

Chat asked "Any insight as to why class design was made so much stricter in DAII and DA:I? DA:O had dual wield warriors, rogues with swords, etc." Mark replied "In DAII and DA:I I think we were trying to make the roles more clear. DA:O is basically DnD with no clerics and the serial numbers filed off"

In later DA games they suppressed visual effects (like glowing auras from active skills) during conversations. "Probably for the best because I'm also having... weird glowing stuff coming off of me"

[when Dagna in Orzammar talks about a bunch of nerdy magic lore] Chat asked "When you made this part about dwarfs and lyrium, had you then made enough lore to know how it all worked? aka how the Descent in DA:I would play out? Not story, but lorewise." Mark replied "The lore, like the magic sources in DA:O are kind've a mess so there is, there's been an effort since DA:O to kind've draw them back together. There was an understanding of why dwarves didn't have magic in DA:O, so kind've." Chat followed up "'​Like theres four sources [of magic]: Fade, Blood, Lyrium, Blight?" and Mark said "Yeah, that's sort've the problem. You've got lyrium, you've got the Fade, you've got the Blight, you've got blood magic, you've also got some other, sort've genericized stuff where it's not explained. So from my perspective you kind've wanna collapse that down. You either want magic to just generally be from everything, which a lot of settings do, or you want it to have a somewhat unified source or sources, so you can see that there's like, things have been slowly drawn into a more common metaphysical explanation over the last two games."

Chat asked "​I'm not sure when you came on to the DA:O project, but do you know which of the origins was the last to be added? Were any kind of 'last minute afterthoughts'?" Mark said "The actual truth is we cut an origin. There was an origin for the Avvar as well that got cut, so there was supposed to be two elves, two dwarves, two humans and then mage, but we cut the Avvar for time." "I actually really like the idea of us having implemented at least one faction where you come up with the Treaties and they're like 'good to go, just let us get our stuff'. That could've been the Avvar, as well"

"I think that lyrium will eventually drive a dwarf mad. I think that's established canon." "I would say that just because lyrium drives you mad doesn't mean that dwarves would stop using it. It only slightly drives you mad. Certainly there are lots of examples in [irl] history of people continuing to use things that are very bad for them because they're convenient or cheap."

"I've always wondered about dwarves, I mean you're burning big fires in the middle of a cave, and everyone's living together, it does seem like you're gonna run out of breathable air pretty quickly"

Chat asked "Were you involved much in the class design aspect of the game?" and Mark said "With DA:O? Not too much. When I took over, the game was largely design-locked. There was content still being created but most of the game design was done well before I took over"

Mass Effect 1's combat was aspiring to be something it was failing to reach

Chat mentioned that Citadel was a fan service/love letter DLC. Mark said "Citadel in ME is definitely, you're absolutely right, it's definitely a 'please stop being mad at us' piece of DLC." "I don't even know if it hit its profitability goals"

"The asari in ME didn't succeed at being a parody of the 'green space babes' trope. ME races are like Star Trek races, they're all defined by a relatively small number of characteristics. If they're attempting to be parodies of those kinds of races in something like Star Trek they are not succeeding at doing that. It's hard to imagine that you're succeeding at making a commentary about it when you're basically just doing the same thing. If you're using the codexes to talk about how well executed they are then it's not coming through in the main game, if that's what's required."

[source]

(pls note that in places there is a bit of paraphrasing of the info, the best source is always the primary source with full quotes in their original context)

[thequeenofthedisneyverse]

WOAH ME SENDING AN ASK WHAT UH…Anyway for some stupid reason I didn’t see you tag me in the dragonoid post until a week later I AM SO SORRY???

Erm 🤓☝️ I would love to help with it, I love world building so much you don’t understand. And this au has a really cool start, any more lore or do you need like. Prompts or whatever 🌚

Girl I mostly need help with lore (and maybe design ideas, I don't mind prompts eigther) but here's some other stuff I got so far

For now, we'll call baby dragonoid's "Hatchlings". They stay with the name "hatchling" until they are about the equivalent of 10 years old.

I can't think of a dragon equivalent title to tween or teen so if you come up with anything. Edit (idea given to me by evostar): Tweens/teens are called Dweeps!

Diet mostly consists of fish (like regular dragons). I think fruit, other types of meat, and vegetables too?? I'm not sure.

Elders that are the equivalent of 40-50 years of age guard the edges in case any humans stumble upon the Encanto.

Also, dragonoid's that are Alma's age are deathly afraid of the outside world. So, the rule of never going beyond the barrier is HEAVILY MANDATORY.

DO NOT TOUCH THE EGGS!!! If you aren't a relative or close family friend, you will get a limb torn off.

Hatchlings are very curious and hardheaded; they only learn after the accident to not do it again (hopefully). Same for tweens and teens, but not to an extreme extent. Hatchlings also have a lot of energy.

Nests/Homes are always adorned with jewelry and anything shiny.

No shoes. Their feet are as stuff as leather so there's no need to wear them.

Teeth are as sharp as knives, it's a miracle tongues aren't bitten by accident on the daily.

shops, vendors, and "restaurants" do exist in Encanto it just looks different a little different.

The fashion is well...raggy per say?

Examples:

They can make their clothes look close to human standards, but they simply don't want to conform to that for petty reasons. And I just love this kind of fashion, so I wanted to put it in here.

Odd patterns, random jewelry, embroidery, patches, etc. Plus, certain patches or scraps of fabric are passed down from generation to generation.

Madrigals!

I've decided, they do have gifts!

Alma wears a headpiece jewelry on her head that belonged to Pedro. She's rarely, if ever, seen with it off. Example:

Also, male dragonoid's where whatever they want. Earrings, necklaces, rings, etc.

Ceremonies still exist, but like in beach town au, the very fact that you are alive is very important. Especially to a dragonoid seeing as they were wiped out very easily.

All of them are close in this au, no pressure. Isabela is the very definition of wild and so are the other grandkids.

As hatchlings (baby - 4), they bit everything in sight for teething reasons. Even their parents but it doesn't hurt at all. But to a human, the pain would be like if a piranha latched onto you.

Mirabel doesn't have a gift (I'm sorry Miraboo butcha don't), and her wings are smaller than the others. So, she mostly has to walk, crawl, climb, and run wherever she needs to go.

Which isn't an issue really, her body is already equipped with the biology to do all four, but it does get tedious.

Pepa doesn't breathe fire, she blasts lightning out of her instead. Think toothless.

Also, I'm not sure what dragon type they should be related too. Each dragonoid is related to some type of dragon but I can't decide theirs'. (But I think the triplets should be a mix between Alma and Pedro, the yellow kids should be a mix of Pepa and Felix, same for the blue couple and their kids.)

One more thing, Dragonoids' are taller than the average humans but much smaller than original dragons (BUT it depends on the type of dragon). I hope that makes since.

I'll have to look up the different types of dragons from HTTYD for some more info.

Also, @evostar

srry, forgot to tag you @thefourchimes

[hellslayersomething]

thoughts on all the DA4 news this past week, from a tired old veteran who's been wandering the bloodied plains of the DA fandom since Origins' release:

I still don't believe that this game actually exists and won't until it's in my hand, in my PS5, I've clocked 50 hours, and I hit credits.

After the news came out that there were 7 companions, I told a friend I would need a solid 4/7 of them to be pre-existing characters in the canon. Harding, Neve, Lucanis, and Emmerich put it at exactly that number, so good show there.

The "Hero Shooter" character reveal trailer was a massive mistake. BioWare and the influencers they're paying had to spend the past two days doing frantic PR to convince people that the game doesn't actually look like that, it's not indicative of the game's tone, it definitely feels like Tevinter Nights and not Fortnite, and it's not a fee-to-pay live service game. They should have led with the gameplay video.

All of the people freaking out about Lucanis being labelled a "Mage Killer" just goes to show that DA discourse truly is a circle. (Also, read "The Wigmaker Job", it's so good.)

The dialogue suuuuucks. Wow, it's been a while since I've encountered a game that respects its audience's intelligence this little. [Earthquake] Harding: "The tremors are getting worse!" [demons show up] Neve: "And we've got demons!" Is BioWare expecting the core player base to consist of people who have never encountered media before? The extent to which the game over-exposits is quite actually mind boggling. I'm genuinely curious if there's anyone who watched this video who didn't come out of it feeling insulted by the game's lack of trust that you have basic cause-and-effect recognition skills. I know people like to bandy about "media literacy is dead", but surely it hasn't gotten so bad that players need to be told out loud "Watch out for lightning" when a boss shoots lightning at them. I'm hoping this was just included for the sake of the gameplay video, but several of these very bad lines seem pretty integral to what's happening on screen, so I guess we'll see.

The dialogue and voicing for the trash mobs is especially bad. I hate to say the word, but I truly think "cringe" is applicable here.

Nice FFXIV reference. (Listen, if this game is going to play follow-the-leader with any one other game, since apparently DA can't get away from that habit, FFXIV is the one I'd want them to chase. Certainly a better fit than Overwatch.)

The battle system seems fine. Reminds me of DA2's, which was perfectly cromulent. Sincerely, I don't expect deeply satisfying gameplay from DA, they've never delivered it before, no need to start now. Passable is fine.

Happy to see the DA2 dialogue wheel return too. Hope that means the invisible personality system comes along with it.

No rivalry system :( Again :(((((

Seriously though, the marketing for this game is a massive mess and their marketing lead should probably be out of the job. All of the news from this week has led to increased confusion about what the game is, what it's called, whether it is DA4 or not, whether it's a single player RPG or not, whether it's an effective franchise reboot or not--and they're all but shadow-dropping it (theoretically) after 10 full years of releasing no other Dragon Age games. This franchise has close to no momentum (many people considered it outright dead until this week), and now that they're ready to start actually talking about DA4, they've completely stumbled out of the gate and given themselves only 3-6 months to come up with a PR plan to correct for that. Embarrassing, frankly.

I guess that's it. The new gameplay video has returned my mood on DA4 from "absolutely the fuck not" after the character reveal video back to a resounding "I nothing this game", which is...actually maybe a worse place for me to be. The last time I went into game feeling a hollow nothing from the promotional materials, it was FFXVI, and we all know how that turned out for me. Anyway, in conclusion:

[51-queer-frogs]

Hi! Hello! Tell me about your OCs! Especially the cool multi-eyed fluffy creature with six eyes! I love multi eyed critters!

Oh boy

okay so! Spirit is an oc I created a longg time ago, who's story had changed a lot over the years. We're gonna do a history

wayyy back in about 2018 I did a shitty re-color of a drawing of wolf link. while both the original shitty re color is gone, I have re-found the original by Teddie4Ever01 on deviant art. that's where the earring comes from, and it's one of the few aspects that has stuck around. to quote myself from six years ago "this is my oc its a link wolf possed by a dragon ( it can grow wings ). " I was young and the dragon bit was gone in about two weeks, but it will come back later.

SO

I am guessing, at least a little bit here, because six years ago but the original lore was as follows; There were 5 different colored magic space stones all of which had slightly different powers. Spirit had the purple one (of course) and I'm not sure what it's power was. ANother character, Shadow, (below spirit ref) had the blue and it made blue fire. I'm sure there was more, but I don't remember. at the time, Spirit looked something like this

which, y'know, it a good design if it wasn't stolen. note that I never drew the wings because I was lazy and also everything I drew at that point was traced in some way or another. (aka why I'm not showing the original drawings.)

now the next design stayed around for a bit, but I don't really have any writing on lore from that time. anyways the sheet I used to make it was by sm0shy on fur affinity, and it looked like this

Now finally we've settled on a design ! this was the sheet I used for almost every commission I made, including my old icon. from here on out we'll just be talking about lore. At this point, while I hadn't completely abandoned the magic elemental space rocks, I did add some new characters to the mix which is where we meet ember and moondrop, who use the same base

to quote me again "her name is Moondrop and she is actually social unlike shadow and spirit she loves everyone but Ember because of emotional trauma the flower can not leave her ear or she will be sick until it is returned" which, okay sure. BUT THEN for ember i said "a beta wolf who used to be in the same pack as moonshine . she was very strict especially towards moonshine at one point moonshine messed up a cache and and was very badly treated by Ember for ages." what! we're using fucking warrior dogs now! great! okay! yeah that didn't stick around. SO here's where written records are uh.. completely gone. yeah. no more of those. lore has died. I have old drawings, but I do remeber that shadow fell out of use, and Spirit, Ember and Moondrop became a trio the image below is the only one i have from before a real life time skip of like a year.

Alright, we have writing again, along with pictures! grabbed my old sketchbook for this.

The text (not in photo) reads Moondrop was born in 17839-F while her cause of death is unknown she currently lives because of the world tree, and is it's caretaker. She treats every leaf as it's own being, and the flower on her head is directly tied to the tree as well.

Ember was born in 1839-H her life was normal until her forest caught fire. The pack ran out, but one pup was trapped inside. she ran back in and threw the pup out, saving it's life. the last her pack saw of her was two days later, as she flew overhead on a brand new pair of flaming wings.

Okay. Alright. I remember (kind of) where we are now. At this point the lore went as follows. Moondrop and Ember were opposites with an unclear relationship (see I called it friends then but they were either siblings or dating, don't remember) Ember was a (possibly the) god of fire, And Moondrop was the god of nature. Spirit, on the other hand, (i think) was the god of death. The three of them were re-incarnated to find each other again and again, no matter the timeline, which is what those numerical codes are about. The rocks are completely gone at this point, good riddance. from here the three stagnate. For a good couple of years. They go on adventures. whatever. Exempt! and here come yet another side tangent!

GENDER CRISIS

So for years at this point I'd gone by spirit online. I was also old enough to know what non binary was, and was doing as people do and freaking out. This is the funny part, because since the start, spirit was she/her but all genderless. Hm. Maybe that meant something. So i'd done what any one would do when already having another name and wanting to transition, and I'd asked folks at school to call me spirit. Hey who wants to guess what my name is now. Yeah. yep. named myself after my furry oc. felt silly i guess. so. yeah where was i aganin. ohh.

life changed. and i forgot about spirit, moslty. Still doodled them but didn't post because devaint art had died. whatever. I get an in class assingment to draw a monster. this is what i drew.

side note; not transcriing that, no way in hell.

but nontheless the idea is here, which is where we FINALLY get to modern lore. (aka one more year later)

As of now Spirit is a time travelling archivist, stealing books and relics just before they would get lost, creating a sort of library/museum of babble. The multiple eyes thing is taken directly from Anasii, the spider god of stories. with this, they also are a trickters, specalizing in illusions, which they often used for nonsensical bullshit.. moondrop and ember are both also time travelers, but not as fleshed out. also also the current ref sucks and i'll make a new better one when i have time. That being said ive been here for two hours and i'll shut up now.

[melisusthewee]

Fanfic Writer Questions

I was tagged in this by both @dreadfutures and @blarrghe ! I did this once a few years ago, so it's interesting to see what's changed since then.

Tagging forward: @theluckywizard @greypetrel @darethshirl @natliecole @if-not-now-tell-me-when @madame-fear

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 35, though I believe 5 of them are artwork only for exchanges and not actually fics.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 87, 413 words

3. What fandoms do you write for? In my AO3 era: Hockey RPF; Dragon Age; La Sociedad de la Nieve/Society of the Snow Pre-AO3 (the ff.net/LJ era): Digimon Adventure, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, Beatles RPF, a little bit of DC/Marvel

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. The Tang of Liquor On His Tongue (Dragon Age) 2. The Dreamer Sets the Rules (Dragon Age) 3. mala suledin nadas (Dragon Age) 4. Smut Challenge 2: War Table Boogaloo (Dragon Age) 5. Mañana (LSDLN/SotS)

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes! Or at least I try to! There have been a couple of times where I've gotten overwhelmed or have been busy and fallen behind. But I try really hard to reply to every single comment I get.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? That's hard to pick. I think that a lot of my fic endings lean more towards catharsis than raw angst. Perhaps "Lathbora Viran" is the angstiest ending because it concludes a trilogy of fics about Solas' spirit friend Wisdom and ends with the implication that Wisdom became corrupted into the Regret demon that appears in Skyhold in "Tevinter Nights".

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Any of my romantic fics, I guess? If I had to pick one then I would probably say "Nothing Else Than What is Now" which was the extremely long one shot that led to all my Quinn Trevelyan/Horatio Morris nonsense. It originally wasn't supposed to have a happy ending, but about midway through writing it I changed my mind and even though OC / OC is extremely niche in just about any fandom, I'm still glad I did it.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not yet. We'll see if that changes now that I've mentioned I've written LSDLN fic.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yep. 2 out of my top 5 fics are smut, and 2 more out of the top 5 have implied sex. I suppose that says I must be good at it. I don't really know what kind of smut I write since every smutfic I've written has been either a challenge or a prompt fill or a gift. I think I'm an example of that meme of "the 2000 word blow job is an important piece of character development". I really lean into tricking you into having emotions and feelings and getting introspective inside characters' heads while they're naked and getting down dirty. Come for the smut, stay for the emotional feelings!

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I did when I was younger, but haven't really vibed with it much in recent years. In terms of published fic, maybe the Harry Potter/Beatles crossover drabble I wrote based on a piece of artwork that an old friend of mine had done. I still have the fic, but the artwork has sadly been lost to the ethers of the internet. But the idea was that the Beatles didn't really break up in 1970, they just took on a different career.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not to my knowledge. But I have taken to granting permission in my author's notes of new fics for anyone who might want to translate them into other languages.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, actually! Some of my very first fanfics were co-written with a friend of mine. We never published them, but it was just fun to write little stories together.

14. What's your all time favourite ship? Even though I've never written any fanfic for it, I am 100% pure unleaded Chrobin trash. They are my OTP and I am probably due for a replay of Fire Emblem Awakening for it again. "YOU ARE THE WIND AT MY BACK AND THE SWORD AT MY SIDE."

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? One of the very first fics I ever started writing for the Dragon Age fandom was an Alistair/Cousland piece that looked at the period of time between the Warden's disappearance and their (hopefully) eventual return. It was meant to be 10 chapters, with each chapter split between a section in the past that looked at their romance over time and a section that took place in the more immediate present as Alistair navigated the events of DAI. I still have the document sitting on my laptop as well as backed up in my google drive, but I only ever finished the first chapter and even though I go back to it sometimes and make notes, I've not worked on it with any serious attention in years (I started this fic not too long after the Trespasser DLC was released) and at this point I doubt it will ever be in a publishable state let alone finished.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm really good at dialogue! I'm very good at conveying personalities and speech patterns in written dialogue.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Blowjobs

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? For me, I think it depends on the amount of dialogue that is being spoken in another language and whether or not it's something the character whose POV is being written would understand.

With fantasy settings like Dragon Age, most of my fics are written from the POV of one of the game protagonists which are all human in my world state. So they wouldn't understand things like Qunlat or Elvhen, but also as those conlangs are incomplete languages, I will usually just refer to dialogue as being spoken in a language that the POV character doesn't understand. In a few fics where I've written from Solas' POV, I have used things like italics or sometimes <<special dialogue brackets>> to denote that this speech is being spoken between two characters in another language. Since the languages are fictional but the story is being told in English, it makes sense that the "author" translates in a similar logic to how Tolkien's books are "translated" for us to read.

With stories and settings that are more grounded in reality, I'll use other languages where appropriate. Usually this is in the form of nicknames or titles or expressions that I feel can't really convey the same tone or idea if they were translated into English. I've been very fortunate to find several new friends in the LSDLN fandom who have taught me a lot about monickers and nicknames and phrases in different regional dialects of Spanish.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Technically it was Digimon Adventure - baby's first Mary-Sue fic

20. Favourite fic you've written? It's a tie between "In the Long Hours of the Night" and "The Many Faces of Wisdom". With the former, this was the fic where I first felt like I finally got Quinn Trevelyan. It was the fic where he emerged as a more formed and complete character and I'm still proud of it. With the latter, it was an experimental idea that toyed with a rather ambiguously-defined relationship between Solas and the Inquisitor. It also was the first time I played around with writing Fade scenes and spirits and you can see a lot of the building blocks that I would eventually revisit and explore more as I fleshed out my own lore. It's also the one fic where I started with a very specific image in my mind and that I would really love to commission art for one day.

Blank Form Under the Cut

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5. Do you respond to comments?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

16. What are your writing strengths?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favorite fic you've written?

[ashenlavellan]

Appreciation Post - Dragon Age: Origins... Zevran Arainai

After my brief appreciation post towards Kaidan Alenko of the ME series, I thought to myself - why not make thorough appreciation posts of my favorite Bioware characters (mainly romances?)

So, we'll start off at the beginning with Dragon Age - DA: Origins, and we'll begin with our devilishly handsome elven rogue, Zevran Arainai. ^.^

[Trigger Warning: mentions of suicidal thoughts/ideation]

Pre-DA: Origins

He did not have an easy life; his father passed, presumably to disease, when he had actually been assassinated by the Antivan Crows all along. After his father's death, before his birth, his mother had passed away shortly after he was born and she'd been forced into prostitution to pay off his father's debts.

Zevran and other elven orphans were raised by sex workers in the brothel that his mother had worked in until he was seven years old - he had learned certain mannerisms and skills that caught the eye of one of the guildmasters within the Antivan Crows - which is how he became Zevran Arainai, since the guildmaster belonged to House of Arainai.

When digging up further information, out of all of the elven orphans purchased, we find out that him and Taliesen were the only ones to survive the excruciating trials that the Antivan Crows had put them through. With time, and with the introduction of another elven orphan, Rinna, they honed their skills and became a deadly trio.

Shortly before DA: Origins

During the third conversation that we have with Zevran, we talk about the most painful mission that he had been involved in - we discover that him, Rinna, and Taliesen were tasked with a mission together. To sum it up, Taliesen had purposely framed Rinna so that Zevran would kill her - he found out that she hadn't betrayed them and expressed her affection towards Zevran with her dying breath, to which he had initially mocked her and didn't believe her.

He had realized that not only had she not betrayed his trust, but that he also had fallen for her and it was too late since he had murdered her - all for the sake that he had grown "soft," in Taliesen's words.

Zevran had accepted the task to murder the Grey Warden [the player] as he knew that such a skilled fighter who was deemed a nuisance to a regent wouldn't go down so easily and that he would accept this as not only penance, but his way of death.

He willingly accepted the mission with the hope that he would be killed. Zevran was suicidal and knew that he would have no chance of escape - he subtly mentions that had he survived, he would take matters into his own hands.

Romancing Zevran

Now, I will personally admit that when I first started playing DA: Origins, I mainly romanced Alistair and only once, did I romance Leliana.

Although I highly recommend their romances because of their depth and backgrounds, I will admit that when I first played I was in the mid-to later half of my teenage years. (so, think 16 - 18 years old).

Now that I'm reaching my mid-20s, I've come to appreciate and love the depth, background, and the romance that your character experiences with Zevran.

We all witness the flirtatious tendencies and advances, however, when you turn him down - he will back off. With his line of work and likely stuff that he was forced to do, he's well aware when such advances are not wanted and he respects that.

He's nicknamed as the "Master of Seduction," but there are surely moments where he's tasked with pleasing a target and he's subjected to harsh/cruel treatment. He also witnessed such behavior since he was raised in a brothel as a child and was around men and women who were likely treated as lesser-beings only for the pleasure of those who paid.

Zevran is aware that everyone has boundaries and lines not to cross and when he realizes that he's drawn to close, he will quickly rectify and make sure to never cross it again.

However, when you are direct with him and reciprocate that his advances are wanted, then he'll keep playing up the persona of seduction. Also - with how his personality is and depending on how open-minded your character is, if he suggests something that's not wanted, then he won't bring up the idea again. (example: the mention of a threesome with warden/zevran/isabela, or even warden/zevran/leliana).

Now, a lot of people knock on him for the initial encounter and if you have him in your party shortly after - he can't pick locks. Not unless you branch out the skill for him.

However, the intention as to why he lied was clear to me from the get-go...

Survival.

Now, you may also be wondering is that if he was feeling so suicidal and accepted the idea of death at the Warden's hands... why would he lie to survive?

When you talk with him [if you didn't instantly kill him and woke him up], you insinuate that you have more pressing matters to deal with than a bastard who betrayed his king and a possible civil war... You have a 5th Blight to stop and they're merely an obstacle of achieving victory over a national threat that could become international.

Now, he doesn't blatantly say so in the beginning other than the fact that he'd be acting upon the whim of a deadly sex god(dess), but we can read between the lines that this could be a means of redemption for him.

So yeah - Zevran Arainai is such a complex character pouring with depth, but some people simply write him off as a "flirtatious assassin," but that's simply because they don't bother to delve deeper into his background or, even his romance!

So yeah - this is expressing massive appreciation for Zevran Arainai as well as how meaningful his romance can be. I highly suggest that others give his romance a try, at least once! ^.^

[mtsuzuka]

talk about zevran

...do you really want to open that can of worms

Anyways yes I'll gladly talk about Zevran Arainai from the hit game Dragon Age Origins

Essentially he was born into a brothel, his mom died during childbirth (more on this later), and all the other women treated him like shit for legit no reason but uh yeah he was sold by those women to this assassins group called the crows and basically tortured into being someone who could withstand pain and kill indiscriminately and efficiently.

He fell in love with both of his closest friends (Rinna and Taliesen, I need to say their names just in case I bring them up again but yay poly rep) and Rinna ended up wanting to escape the life of the crows, and they made Zevran kill her for it even though he didn't want to. He hates the crows but it's the only life he really ever knew, they dictated his life and choices because it was "do this or you'll die, or we'll kill your friends!"

And then he finally gets his mark/target on the remaining grey wardens (main character/s) because he's been hired by the antagonist, and Zevran KNOWS he isn't good enough at assassinating to actually kill the wardens. He takes this job with the intent of getting himself killed because he wants to escape this life so badly. I guess I should mention now that Zevran isn't really skilled in actual killing and usually uses deceit like poisoning or charming people in order to kill them. Anywho

You have the choice to spare him after you beat his ass and his romance is really nice, he really has such a warped concept of love because he was never allowed to love really or make any of his own choices and he's absolutely terrified of any commitment bc of what happened when he last felt committed to someone. Oh did I mention he also uses horrible innuendos and flirts all the time in order to get people off his back. I'm yapping so much IM SORRY

But ok there's this woman named Wynne she's like a grandma and they have this banter where she inquires as to whether or not he feels guilty about his line of work and he immediately goes to flirting with her until she gives up and stops asking him questions it's just so. You are such a traumatized man and I love you so much.

Oh and also you have to end up killing the other man he loved bc he comes back to bring Zevran back to the crows and afterwards you can talk to him and he'll give you his earring 🥺 but if you ask him if it's a proposal he'll get mad 😭😭 then come back later and say "well. If you want it to be a proposal then sure it can be that."

MY FINAL NOTES: I love zevran so much because he is a character whose whole story is about rediscovering his autonomy and that yes, he too can choose his own life ❤️

And here's some obligatory zev images about his ending and jst other random shit he says

[evajellion]

List of Compile Heart and Idea Factory grievances to look out for

Since my post on Madou Monogatari 4/Fia picked up more steam than I thought, I figured as a former fan of their games, I should just make a post about the work from this studio and what to keep an eye out for when the new Madou Monogatari game releases.

Hopefully the new Madou game will be free of these issues, but… even with the original staff, writers, and D4 involved, it's hard to tell. So this will be a mild PSA of sorts.

Extremely tedious grinding and gameplay: Some of the Neptunia games and other titles required RNG/save state nonsense just to get the best ending. Yes, these games often had multiple endings, and you could lock yourself out of them very easily.

Very poorly made dungeon mechanics: Explained in a video about Spectral Tower, known as the worst RPG ever made.

Performance issues or crashing that will make you lose your progress: Most notable in their PS3 era of games, which may have been the fault of NIS America, but their Switch games do still lag quite prominently. I have had the unfortunate, repeated experience of losing progress due to these games being held together with duct tape.

Recycled assets: While it's normal for games such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest to use recolored enemy assets or maybe pixel tile sets, CH/IF take it to a whole other level by recycling… entire dungeon layouts with very little differences in color. If you've seen a few areas in one game, then that's the most you are getting for the rest of it. A game that's a sequel to another in a franchise will even use the same assets as its predecessor despite it looking terribly jarring.

Now uh, the rest of this I have to put a content warning for. None of these are gameplay related, but are strictly about the objectification of minors and LGBT+. I know a lot of the bottom half of this list is subjective and some people won't be bothered by it, but some other people are going to be bothered by the extremely outdated humor.

Sexual assault: CH/IF are totally okay with making jokes about SA or using it for shock. It's considered funny when Plutia or CFW Trick harass girls, or when accidental pervert moments happen. Assault also happens in the game Fairy Fencer F, and while the character responsible is a villain he's also just… forgiven by the end.

Predatory depictions of LGBT+: Quite a few characters are the stereotypical, predatory, yandere or gropey lesbian types and one Neptunia game is outright transphobic to a character that is depicted as a stalker of sorts, with the character wanting to be referred to as she/her but the game never does so.

Loli and underage: CH/IF have no issue sexualizing their blatantly implied underage characters in both Neptunia and Mugen Souls. No, being immortal doesn't make these any less creepy and weird. Especially when Nepgear is called a teen before being assaulted. Even Pupuru from Sorcery Saga, who is only 16-17, is lusted after by the ambiguously aged counterpart to Satan, who wants her to "step on him" and frequently nosebleeds.

Erasure of LGBT+: Despite blatantly fetishizing yuri and yaoi, their Otomate division adaptation of HameFura, well-known for its accidental bisexual reverse harem, removed all wlw-related interactions present from the anime. This is something that fans were rightly unhappy about.

Again, I hope that Madou 4 will be free of ALL of these known issues, since a handful of these games are almost over a decade old, it would be wise if CH/IF didn't do anything of their usual shenanigans. In fact, I would be more than elated if Madou 4 doesn't have any of their usual issues.

We'll just have to see.

Sexual assault: CH/IF are totally okay with making jokes about SA or using it for shock. It’s considered funny when Plutia or CFW Trick harass girls, or when accident pervert moments happen. Assault also happens in the game Fairy Fencer F, and while the character responsible is a villain he’s also just… forgiven by the end.

Predatory depictions of LGBT+: Quite a few characters are the stereotypical, predatory, yandere or gropey lesbian types and one Neptunia game is outright transphobic to a character that is depicted as a stalker of sorts, with the character wanting to be referred to as she/her but the game never does so.

Loli and underage: CH/IF have no issue sexualizing their blatantly implied underage characters in both Neptunia and Mugen Souls. No, being immortal doesn’t make these any less creepy and weird. Especially when Nepgear is called a teen before being assaulted. Even Pupuru from Sorcery Saga, who is only 16-17, is lusted after by the ambiguously aged counterpart to Satan, who wants her to “step on him” and frequently nosebleeds.

Erasure of LGBT+: Despite blatantly fetishizing yuri and yaoi, their Otomate division adaptation of HameFura, well-known for its accidental bisexual reverse harem, removed all wlw-related interactions present from the anime. This is something that fans were rightly unhappy about.

[anneapocalypse]

They’re all pretty related, so in case you want to merge or skip some: I’m curious about 9, 20, 21, and 22 for 🔥 choose violence 🔥

For the 🔥choose violence 🔥 ask game!

Disclaimer: provocative name aside, I am not actually trying to be mean here, these are just my opinions offered for Entertainment Purposes™️, and I’m not mad at anyone who has a different opinion.

9. worst part of canon

The lack of forethought about representation when the series began. The first game was like, "Seven skin tints! The dark ones looks Bad in our engine! Your family is white no matter what! Brown people are from Over There somewhere! Asians????" Since then, I think the games have each improved on that situation, with increasingly better character creators, more diverse companions, and a more diverse world generally. But I think that there's still a lot lacking, and part of that is because the first installment laid a pretty weak foundation, so all subsequent canon is having to correct for better representation rather than building on a strong start. A few big things I would love to see in DA:D are a better variety of hair textures and styles, a better variety of Asian features in the CC, and more Asian (coded) characters in the world generally since that's an area where it's really been lacking. (Lighting that doesn't wash out medium skin tones to ghosts wouldn't hurt either 😉 but when it comes to video game lighting I assume that we'll just be trading one problem for another. I look forward to experiencing a New Problem.)

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

Inquisition's Too Many Collectibles. I don't mind collectibles, especially when there's an actual reward for collecting them, but Inquisition just has too many. Was it really necessary for us to discover landmarks and regions? Like, could those not have been the same thing? It's fun to treasure hunt and everything but did we need to hunt for astrariums and shards and mosaic tiles and bottles? None of those things are bad on their own, but there's such a thing as Too Much, and I think Inquisition crosses that line somewhere.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

Marrying Alistair to become Queen! Like, that's fine if that's the ending you want. Me, I've romanced Alistair multiple times and I've never felt like becoming Queen Cousland was like, the Ultimate Ending to that story. My first ever Warden, Jolene, was a Cousland who romanced Alistair, and while I'd watched Mr. Apocalypse play parts of the game, I was unspoiled for the romance, so I wasn't gunning for any particular ending, and because Alistair clearly didn't want to be king and because he seemed so uncertain of what would happen to their relationship (despite her being a perfectly valid candidate for queen), Jo ended up deciding to let Anora keep the throne and ride off into the sunset with Alistair. I wanted a happy ending for that first run and to me, that seemed the happiest for both of them.

Since then I've also done a tragic Alistair romance with an Aeducan, who starts out a real asshole and has kind of a redemption arc as a Warden, culminating in her giving Alistair the throne because she believes it's his destiny, and sacrificing herself to kill the archdemon because she knows she can never be his queen. I loved that one too! It was so juicy.

I'm not opposed to Queen Cousland or anything, I just remember a time when it was so venerated as the ending for Origins. Really, I just don't think of any outcome in an RPG that way. What I enjoy is exploring all the possibilities.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

Once again, consider "everyone" to be a bit hyperbolic, but I am really, really interested in the politics of the setting, something I think maybe a lot of fans consider to be boring or "not that deep." 😂 Dragon Age does not always handle its power and oppression narratives perfectly, for sure, but I also think a lot of the worldbuilding shows a level of understanding of structural power that it maybe doesn't always get credit for. When a group is marginalized in this setting we can identify actual systemic barriers to social advancement for that group, not just "people being mean" on an individual level like you sometimes see in lazier narratives. Orlais isn't just fancier and snootier than Ferelden; it actually has more barriers to upward mobility in place! Society is more stratified, and power is more concentrated, even though both nations are monarchies.

I love the fantasy politics--of people in day to day life, of factions, of nations, of religion. I love it because, at its best, Dragon Age does have some interesting things to say about the nature of power. It's easy to say "Chantry bad" or "nobility bad," but to me it's much more interesting to explore why these institutions function the way they do, the ways in which they concentrate power, and the means they employ to keep it. And controversial statement, maybe, but you can't effectively explore the politics of revolution and social change without understanding the structures you're trying to change. Sera's right about one thing: it's not as simple as just lopping off the top.

[calicohyde]

Happy STS! What is the best novel you've ever read? What did you like about it, from a storytelling perspective? Has it influenced or informed your own approach?

*instantly forgets every book i've ever read in my life*

in the name of. having an answer. i will pick The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. i don't remember it well enough after so long after having read it (and i've only read it the once) to pick out specific storytelling mechanics, but i do remember being impressed and thinking it was very well done in addition to having a lot of important things to say and being engaging and entertaining. i also remember i had borrowed it, and then texted the friend i'd borrowed it from to ask if he had the next book and if i could come pick it up right then. at 3AM.

one particular thing about the TGWTDT original trilogy (the only ones i personally count as "canon" lol) that really stuck out to me as unique and special to me personally and that i've wanted to see more of since - and am planning to be the change i want to see wrt - are its quote unquote "unlikeable" protagonists.

lisbeth is autistic and point blank refuses to mask, and in addition she's acerbic and angry and tends to reach violence as a much sooner resort than many, she's not exactly arrogant but she would never even dream of not taking credit and representing her skills accurately or god forbid using upspeak, she simply does not follow rules (or conventions or etiquette) she thinks are stupid and she's vocal and unapologetic about it, she's an actual genuine punk and fucks severely and without romance (until mikael), and as far as i remember she never once says sorry to anyone for anything no matter what. i love her with every fiber of my being.

mikael is a workaholic which is not unique, except that everyone hates his guts for being so single-minded and rigid and unavailable, which is, and which i really liked. of course people would not find him fun to be around. he also is arrogant, and a hypocrite, and can be unkind. and these two are the best good guys we've got! (this is also why i discount the opinion of anyone who claims mikael is a "romanticized" self-insert on larsson's part like bruhhh.... just cuz they have the same job? this bitch is not a romanticized version of anyone or anything he's a fucking rat bastard who happens to also be a good man smdh. i mean maybe he is a self-insert but not a fucking romanticized one! he sucks! i'm passionate about this.)

i also really liked the age range of the characters and the polyamory and the queers. additionally, larsson has a really unique and fascinating writing style (which critics have attributed to his writing career starting in investigative journalism before he ever did creative writing or fiction). i think it fits absolutely perfectly with the protagonists and the subject matter, and the way those things match up and meld together makes the series so much more absorbing.

but yeah i always liked a writing style and a narrative voice that was fitted to the characters/content, and i think larsson did it particularly well - even if it's a sort of chicken or egg situation with him. we'll never know since he died of those Natural Causes before he could write anything else and all. anyway! i would have done this regardless, because literally all of my favorite authors do it to some degree, which is why they are my favorite authors. (much of what people say are benefits you can "only" get from first person narration i feel you can get just as well from a limited third person, if you uh. try.) but yeah TGWTDT is a stand-out example!

i also can't necessarily give TGWTDT/larsson credit for my life long love affair with angry and contrarian good guys, but again it's a stand-out example and an aspiration in this.

thank you for the ask, nico!! <3

[thedinanshiral]

The time is nigh.

We´re nearly there. we got news this week.

Say goodbye to "Dreadwolf"

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is now Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and while the name change isn't horrible, insiders poking at it merely hours before BW got to reveal it was particularly annoying. Insiders are good to expose issues, harrassment and other bad practices in the industry, not spoiling game details barely a moment before official news! While we were all waiting for the Summer Games Fest on Friday, "insiders" spoiled the game would have a name change. Soon after BioWare confirmed this with a blog post, but i'll take a moment here to say this is a game many of us have been painfully waiting for ages, there's unimaginable anxiety and expectations involved on all sides and just when we're right around the corner some people popped up to stir a pot that doesn't need any more stirring, considering the dev history of this game i'm sure many people read these insiders' "i know something you don't tee hee" posts and streams and feared the worst, again. Completely unnecessary. Fortunately the news were rather inocuous but what insiders did at such a last moment was still annoying. They did the equivalent of telling an excited kid at Christmas that they got socks right before they got a chance to open their present, at least it feels like that.

Moving from that, many people feel the name could drop that "the" and be just Dragon Age: Veilguard. It'd follow the pattern of DA games having three-words titles (Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition), and personally i think it rolls off the tongue way better without "the" in the middle too. This name change brought with it the acronym issue, and a sad goodbye to all the DA:D jokes. Now people are deciding if it should be DA:V, DAtV, DAVG. Former DA dev and writer David Gaider has already expressed his wish we all just don't go for DAVG, one presumes because it's too close to his own name. DAD jokes are quickly being replaced by Dragon Age TV and Dave ones, and others about DAD going to get cigarrettes and never coming back. I'm already fond of DAV or simply Veilguard.

The name change is already applied to platforms like Stream and console stores, where it's been possible to add the unreleased game to the wishlist since the latest trailer from last year. This one is from the PS5 store:

As BW explains in their blog post, the name change follows a need to change the focus due to this story's particulars. Yes, Solas is an antagonist, a big bad wolf, he's the Dread Wolf! BUT he's not the only threat we'll face this time, there are others, possibly bigger and more urgent matters to deal with. The Veil is quite the protagonist in this game, seems it's the last barrier between Thedas and utter annihilation, and as BW says, "the Veil needs guarding". DAO had the Grey Wardens, DA2 had Hawke & friends, DAI had the Inquisition, and now DAV has the Veilguard, a group of individuals from various backgrounds tasked with guarding the Veil. Pretty straightforward.

Gameplay details

BW has so far revealed we'll meet 7 new companions from a variety of factions and backgrounds, that we could romance any of them and that got everyone excited.. but we can only take 2 at a time to join the party, and combat will include a wheel menu to pause and strategize. This detail has people anticipating combat this time around will be much more like Mass Effect, with only MC and two party members the player might not control but send commands to instead, while some think BG3 and its success may have influenced some decisions as well.

This comparison reminded me of Mass Effect Andromeda, a highly criticized game many threw under a bus quickly and undeservedly (yes, undeservedly) . While it had its flaws it was a good game and its combat was possibly the best ME combat to date, and i think BW may have taken that for DAV. The one redeeiming grace from their last released game before DAV could have very well served as a base for it.

As for the different factions our companions may come from, it has all been teased before in concept art and side media, namely the Tevinter Nights anthology where we were introduced to entirely new factions as well as shown old ones more in depth. Antivan Crows, Mortalitasi, Lords of Fortune to name possibly the most anticipated ones. And we know the action this time will move all over Thedas, exciting new locales like Antiva, Rivain, Tevinter, the Anderfells, Arlathan Forest..

Lore trove!

On top of all these exciting news, just think of the lore, THE LORE. If Solas is not the main threat, if as BW says there are other gods we'll have to deal with as the Veilguard, who are they? Are we finally getting a double Blight? Are those other gods the last two remaining Old Gods OR is it the remaining Evanuris pushing from the other side of the Veil? Just how many fronts will our party be fighting on to save the world? And what ancient mysteries will come to light as we explore northern Thedas? In The Missing comics we learned there are areas of Arlathan forest that are twisted in time and space, paths too dangerous to traverse where spirits may take control of you, and gods know what else is there, what long forgotten horrors are waiting in the shadows of a history very few may remember. Could one of our new companions be an ancient elf? Many questions and the imagination is flying so high and far ..

But i'd like to focus on a small detail. Remember this? The little red book. It's where my avatar comes from! Here's a bit more on that. I remember back then i quickly edited it trying to get a clearer image

The tower on the cover first reminded me back then of the figurines seen on the map in Inquisition, then the protagonist of what we now know is Veilguard was said to be named Rook (possibly a codename), so there it is. The Warden, Hawke, the Inquisitor and now (the) Rook. A chess piece in the Dread Wolf's board. I think that's what the mystery red book's cover is hinting at. So when i read we'll be getting 7 companions my mind went straight to chess. This game will be about strategy, moving the right pieces the right way, specially if we'll be fighting on multiple fronts. The protagonist Rook and 7 companions.

Also reminded me of Solas' banter with the Iron Bull where they were playing a chess match mentally on the go. Here's a great recap of it. I don't understand chess, never really got to fully learn it, but i appreciate its symbolic value and of course, this will be a race of wits.

Solas, the other gods, the politics, the manipulations and revelations, everything Thedas has to offer is getting closer by the minute. Today it's the Xbox Showcase, in a couple of hours, we're all counting on some kind of reveal after the SGF gave us nothing. I hope for a cinematic trailer and introduction of companions, maybe if i could be so greedy even a release date or the possibility to pre-order, or a date for it. If not, we still have Tuesday 11th for a confirmed and announced by BW 15 minutes long gameplay reveal.

A gameplay reveal, fiften minutes!! It's real, it's happening, we're going home.