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anneapocalypse · 2 years ago

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Ilana Tabris

Dragon Age OC Masterpost

Tag | Fics

City elf rogue. Pickpocket. Scrappy, will stab.

Will not let anyone forget she is an Elf.

Bangs the assassin sent to kill her (and then catches feelings).

Dodges an arranged marriage and then maneuvers her friend into one.

Kinda selfish tbh.

Soft spot for kids and dogs.

Warden-Commander for life.

More than you ever wanted to know below the cut!

How it started:

Ilana looking unimpressed about the wedding she’s trying to weasel out of.

How it’s going:

Alistair might be big mad that she conscripted Loghain and is marrying him off to his daughter. Oops.

Ilana Facts!

Full name: Ilana Adaia Ineria Cyrion Tabris. They’re all family names.

Titles: Warden-Commander, Arl of Amaranthine, Hero of Ferelden, the Dark Wolf of Denerim

Origin: City Elf

Class: Rogue

Specializations: Assassin, Duelist, Shadow

Faith: Andrastian

Life motto: “Fuck it, right.”

Signature look: Ancient Elven Armor

Dog: Sorin

Romance: Zevran

Best friends: Leliana, Morrigan

MVP Party: Zevran, Sten, Morrigan

Major Decisions

Kills Vaughan. Stabs him real good. Like dogs, Shianni.

Accidentally gets her second favorite cousin thrown in prison with her big mouth and then fucks off to be a Grey Warden and literally forgets about it until she finds him in the Arl’s dungeon months later. Oops.

Spares Avernus. No more torture and blood sacrifices please. Also let her know anything new you find out.

Ends the werewolf curse (though she’s very sympathetic to Zathrian’s story).

Defends Redcliffe Village.

Saves the mages.

Saves Connor and Isolde.

Kills Father Kolgrim, does not defile the Ashes, shares them with the world.

Sides with Caridin, destroys the Anvil of the Void, supports Bhelan for King.

Wins the Landsmeet vote, duels Loghain herself, and conscripts him to the Grey Wardens.

Alistair and Anora marry and rule together.

Loghain performs Morrigan’s ritual; Ilana kills the archdemon and lives.

Saves the City of Amaranthine.

Spares the Architect.

In the Brecilian Ruins

Career Highlights

Ilana spends most of her wedding day refusing to put her fancy clothes on and trying to figure out how to weasel out of it. She’s proud of who she is and where she comes from but this is one tradition she’d like to toss straight into the river.

She truly never intends for Soris to wind up in prison. She knew they’d both been seen in the estate anyway, so she just blurts out “It was me and Soris” without thinking. She figures they’ll turn themselves in to avoid retribution against the whole alienage and they can figure out an escape plan later. She has no idea Duncan is about to recruit her as a Grey Warden and leave Soris behind. She doesn’t understand why Duncan wouldn’t recruit him until she sees Daveth die, and realizes that Duncan didn’t think Soris would survive the Joining.

Despite having little choice in the matter, Ilana embraces her new life as a Warden and takes it seriously. One of the first things she does is retake Soldier's Peak, where she chugs Avernus's blood magic potion after reading his notes for five minutes because fuck it, right.

It's probably fine.

Her skill with daggers comes from her mother; she picks up archery after she becomes a Warden, with some help from Leliana, and it's a skill she's particularly proud of.

All her life, Ilana has been curious about the Dalish elves, though never enough to leave her family and seek them out herself. So when her quest to stop the Blight brings her into contact with a Dalish clan, it's exciting. A part of her even hopes that she might find she belongs among them. She learns quickly that they do not welcome her just because she's an elf, and it's a bit of a rude awakening, though she grudgingly understands.

Her time among them teaches her that she is not Dalish and not meant to be. And that doesn't make her any less an elf. It's just not who she is. She does really enjoy exploring the Brecilian Ruins, doing mysterious ancient rituals, and wearing ancient armor she found in ruins, though!

Yeah, sure, she'll drink from this magic pool of water in an ancient ruin. Fuck it, right?

Had it been anyone else possessed in Redcliffe Castle, Ilana probably would have run them through and not thought twice about it, but she has a soft spot for kids and she’s willing to risk traveling to the Circle if it might save Connor.

I'm glad we decided to take this route. This is really the best option.

Finding the Urn of Sacred Ashes is a really profound experience for her, made especially meaningful by seeing Shartan represented in the Gauntlet. She might even shed a tear, though her friends are sworn to secrecy on that point.

"Tell me, pilgrim, did you fail Shianni?" "Yes, I should not have let her be taken in the first place."

She will always find it hard to describe to anyone who wasn’t there.

The Ilana who returns to Denerim both is and is not the sharp, scrappy girl who left the alienage. She is still herself, and she has not forgotten where she came from, and her experiences have only strengthened her elven pride. She feels the weight of her duty as a Grey Warden, and returns hardened by her trials, yet also in some ways softened by her experiences and by the friendships she's found. But above all else she is determined to succeed in stopping the Blight, and that means getting an ass on the throne and the nobles to play ball. Even as she's doing a crime wave across the city, she's formulating her plans for the Landsmeet, and she means to play to win.

Ilana enters the Landsmeet with Alistair, the heir to the throne; Leliana, a lay sister of the Chantry; and Wynne, a loyal Circle mage. She's very deliberate about the image they present to the Landsmeet. But she also deliberately sets herself apart, wearing the signature elven armor that makes her look just a bit otherworldly, and unsettles humans in a way she likes. She will let no one forget who she is. Even though a lot of people call her "my lady" now, Ilana is still uncomfortable being treated as a noble, especially in contexts where it seems that her elvenness is being overlooked rather than honored. She is an elf, and a Grey Warden, and that's what she wants people to see.

Victory brings her a whole new set of challenges and responsibilities: rebuilding the Wardens, ruling Amaranthine, dealing with noble politics and all the humans who now have to deal with the fact that their elven hero didn't have the grace to lie down and die and instead has power and influence and won't let them forget it. It's a lot, but Ilana remains as stubborn as ever and she's not about to back down now. (She could really use a nap, though. Maybe a vacation.)

In Amaranthine, Ilana is so focused on rebuilding the Wardens that she recruits (or conscripts) everyone she can get. While a few of them prove dedicated in the end, the disappearances of Velanna and Anders (the latter leaving more dead Wardens in his wake) convince her that maybe "take whoever you can get" isn't the best tactic.

While she is aware of the power that comes with the title of Arl, even in the provisional sense by which she holds it, Ilana ultimately prefers being the Warden-Commander, and she chooses to learn from the lesson of Sophia Dryden and continue most of her work out of the public eye—though she certainly doesn't hesitate to exercise her influence over the Crown behind the scenes.

Relationships

Family: Ilana was close to her mother, always took after her, and took well to her secret lessons on fighting. Her father worked long hours in those days and wasn’t home much, but spent as much time with Ilana as he could, and they bonded even more after Adaia’s death. Cyrion tries hard to walk the line between respecting Ilana’s “adventurous” spirit and keeping her safe; he tries hard to find her a match she’ll accept, without much success!

Ilana and Shianni are thick as thieves pretty much from the moment Cyrion brings her home. Soris has also lived with them and grown up with Ilana like a brother, as he was orphaned young, but he often feels like a bit of a third wheel after Shianni arrives and the two girls become joined at the hip. Still, the three of them get in plenty of trouble together. When she has to leave the alienage, Ilana misses Shianni more than anyone.

With Ilana conscripted, Soris is taken and thrown in the Arl’s dungeon, where he remains for months. Even after Ilana eventually rescues him, he never quite forgives her for it.

Cousin, you're amazing. Which I shouldn't say to your face, because it'll go to your head. But it's true.

Dog: Ilana names her mabari Sorin, after her cousin Soris. For some reason Soris is not amused by this.

Alistair: Ilana gets along with Alistair pretty well from the start; she thinks he’s funny, though her sense of humor tends to be a little too cutting for him. They bond as Grey Wardens and over the losses they’ve experienced, and become friends.

She also notices pretty quickly that Alistair is very sentimental about the Grey Wardens. He seems convinced that Duncan saved him out of the goodness of his heart, which just doesn’t line up with her own experience. She likes Duncan, but he said himself that conscription was not charity, when he refused to recruit Soris, leaving him to his fate. After Ostagar, Alistair seems more preoccupied with whether things will ever feel the same again than with the importance of rebuilding the order. Over time, this becomes a wedge between them. Things come to a head when Ilana convinces Alistair to marry Anora… then duels Loghain herself and conscripts him to the Grey Wardens, denying Alistair his vengeance and to his mind, justice. They have a knock-down drag-out fight about it back at Eamon’s estate and scare the servants away from the whole wing.

Loghain surviving the final battle doesn’t do much to repair their falling-out, and Alistair remains angry at Ilana for many years, though as King and Warden-Commander they have to behave civilly in public. Maybe they’ll get over it in a couple decades.

"At least the Hero of Ferelden is still here, and alive. That's something, right?" "Don't sound so disappointed.

Morrigan: Ilana takes an immediate liking to her, their senses of humor play well together, and while they disagree on some things and Morrigan finds Ilana a bit sentimental, over time they become close friends. Ilana convinces Loghain to perform the ritual with her, and will always be grateful to her friend for saving her life–and Alistair’s, though she never tells him about the ritual. When they meet up again, Ilana tries to persuade Morrigan she doesn’t have to go it alone. Morrigan still leaves, but one day perhaps they’ll meet again.

And… thank you. For helping me. No one has ever… thank you.

Leliana: Ilana is a little put off by her at first but it doesn’t take long for them to bond, once Leliana explains more about her vision and her beliefs; Ilana is intrigue by her unorthodox view of the Maker. She loves Leliana’s stories, and having a friend with whom she can indulge in some good old petty gossip. They kill Marjolaine and Ilana encourages Leliana to embrace her bard side. They remain in regular contact after the Blight.

Sten: He’s baffled by Ilana at first, of course, but over time they develop a deep respect for one another. When he tells he cannot go home, Ilana understands that in concept if not the details, and readily tells him he can stay with them, which cements their friendship. Ilana doesn’t hear from him after he goes back north, but she will always think of him as a friend. She hopes, as he does, that they never meet on the battlefield.

That one of the bas… a foreigner… would become known as kadan to me? Unthinkable. Yet here it is.

Oghren: He’s a great drinking buddy. Oghren is a friend Ilana can turn to when she doesn’t feel like talking about feelings. After her fight with Alistair, they sit and pass a jug of Oghren’s Special Brew back and forth and don’t talk about it.

Bottoms up.

She's genuinely really happy to see him again at Vigil's keep, and the feeling is mutual.

Wynne: Wynne likes to play the wise mentor to Ilana and Ilana likes to roll her eyes and play the rebellious teenager, but it’s an affectionate relationship.

Shale: They like to talk about girlish things, like crushing their enemies into a paste.

Loghain: Ilana spoke to him briefly at Ostagar and he addressed her with surprising respect when he didn't have to. It stays in the back of her mind, but is mostly overshadowed by the whole "trying to kill all the Wardens" thing. Ilana doesn't care a fig for a dead king, but she cares about stopping the Blight and Loghain is an obstacle that needs to be dealt with. It isn't until she discovers what's happening in the alienage that it gets personal. She duels him before the Landsmeet herself--while wearing her signature elven armor--in part to show him and everyone else present what the people he sold out are capable of.

She wouldn't shed any tears for him, but Ilana has worked hard to maneuver all her pieces into place for this moment--the alliance with Anora, winning the nobles' favor, Anora's marriage to Alistair so the nobs can have their precious Theirin bloodline and a competent ruler. She's politically-minded, deeply pragmatic, and most of all, stubborn to a fault. Loghain is of more use to her alive than dead. And a part of her wants the satisfaction of making him face the Blight he's been downplaying. When Riordan suggests conscription, he seems like he has good reasoning. Ilana has never seen conscription as an act of mercy; it seems like a fair sentence. He could very well die in the battle anyway, and when Riordan explains how they must kill the archdemon, it seems certain he will.

But then Morrigan makes her offer. And Ilana's well aware that you can't predict the tides of battle. It could very well end up being her, forced to take that final blow herself, and she really would rather not die. And despite their falling-out, it's not as though she wants Alistair to die either. The choice seems obvious. She convinces Loghain to undertake the ritual, and thanks Morrigan for her help.

I should never underestimate your capacity to do the unexpected, but this seems a stretch even for you.

And that's how Loghain ends up a Grey Warden and survives the final battle.

Ilana loses a friend for it, but she refuses to back down. She gains another Grey Warden, and the gratitude of Ferelden's queen besides. The gratitude of Ferelden's queen earns her a boon, and Shianni becomes the new Bann of the Denerim Alienage.

Ilana doesn't exactly forgive Loghain for his crimes against her people, but at the same time she can't help seeing a bit of herself in him, the stone-cold ruthlessness to get the job done at any cost. They develop a working respect for one another, and she doesn't regret her decision.

I see you are back among the Grey Wardens. Leadership looks good on you, I think.

Morrigan's ritual saves Loghain's life, and after serving the Wardens faithfully for a decade, one day he will save another.

Romance

The flirting starts like, minutes after the ambush. Ilana’s friends cannot believe they are witnessing this.

It takes stupidly little time for Ilana and Zevran to jump in bed with each other and if either of them were actually trying to kill the other at that point they would be dead. Ilana and Zevran just can’t help hitting it off instantly: they’re both city elves, both rogues, both here through circumstances beyond their control. They spend the first night in camp and many more talking and laughing and flirting around the campfire and trading stories.

I fancy many things. I fancy things that are beautiful and things that are strong. I fancy things that are dangerous and exciting. Would you be offended if I said I fancied you?

It goes from talking around the campfire to casual fuckbuddies in about the time it takes for them to travel around Lake Calenhad from Redcliffe Village to the Circle docks. They’re also very much the obnoxious couple who grossly underestimate how loud they’re being in their tent and annoy the crap out of everyone else in camp with their carrying-on.

O-ho! Why, aren't you the saucy little minx, then? I've been used, and I wasn't even aware of it. A masterpiece!

Again? What must the others think?

Well! That was bracing! There's nothing like a good racking, is there?

Despite how close they've grown in their travels, it’s not until they’re in Denerim for the Landsmeet that both of them really admit to themselves that they’ve caught feelings. Zevran gives Ilana his earring while they’re in the Arl of Denerim’s basement, covered in blood. It’s the most romantic thing that’s ever happened to her.

Back at Eamon’s estate, Zev’s the first to admit his feelings, but Ilana readily fesses up that she feels the same. They make no promises or demands on each other; knowing they feel the same is enough.

After the Blight, they remain in an open relationship, never marrying considering each other life companions. After saying her final goodbyes to Morrigan, Ilana meets Zevran in Antiva City where they have a happy reunion, start some wild rumors, and then spend some time traveling together, including a visit to Weisshaupt, before returning to Ferelden.

Naturally. You caught me and now you're stuck with me, I'm afraid. Sad, I know, but we'll manage somehow.

While Ilana maintains command of the Ferelden Wardens, Zevran with the help of the Drydens heads up a side order called the Friends of the Grey, based at Soldier’s Peak. The Friends of the Grey do not take the Joining (as Ilana is more reserved with recruitment now, and doesn’t wantto waste lives in peacetime), instead maintaining a standing force and supporting the Wardens’ efforts in other ways.

No matter where their travels take them, they always find their way back to each other.

#oc masterpost #ilana tabris #world state: elf lovers #this is so long and the height of self indulgence no one needs to read this lol #here she is my darling child #i love all my wardens equally and i do not have favorites #but also ilana is my favorite #don't tell the others #dragon age stuff

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