#(in save minrathous route)

[megaeratheefury]

obviously players are free to make whatever decisions they want in an rpg but i saw people on twitter talking about how there's NO reason to save minrathous which is crazy to me bc if you don't then the slavery abolitionists in the capital of the only country that still has legalized slavery literally get decimated and made violent examples of to intimidate their supporters. like is that not a reason to save minrathous??? 😵‍💫

[antivancathedral]

I can't stop thinking about when you find the Echo's well in the crossroads after you seal it in the Wetlands, and Spite remarks that it smells like Rook.

I'm haunted by the implications of this. This is an intelligent Despair demon that ruined an entire family by offering them hope and safety from the Blight and then snatching it away. It offered them salvation. For it to offer Rook to Spite, for Rook to be the best or even the only out that Spite can see...

Regardless of whether you romance Lucanis, and regardless of whether you believe Spite is or isn't a part of their relationship, this to me is yet more proof that Spite and Lucanis both love Rook very much. I haven't played a Minrathous route, so I can't speak on that much, but if you save Treviso it just seems so clear that Lucanis and Spite both come to depend heavily on Rook. For Rook to be the embodiment of hope for Spite and safety/comfort for Lucanis...

Idk. This is the stuff ships are made of or whatever the hell. I'm going crazy thinking about this tiny little interaction that's so easy to miss.

EDIT: GOD. "You opens doors, you don't close them" YEAH. OKAY.

[himluv]

Idk, man. Seems like a buckwild take to say that just because Lucanis can't heal with Neve the way he does with Rook makes him and Neve a bad pairing. Like, there's no one right person for anyone. One True Love™ isn't real and there are all kinds of relationships that work just fine. There's no one right way to deal with trauma. And love comes in so many shapes and sizes.

I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that Neve and Lucanis help each other get better together. It won't look the same as either does with Rook, because, well, they aren't with Rook (???).

But I firmly believe that both of them would hold their partner to a higher standard, demand that they accept more love than they think they deserve, because they want better for their partners. And while that might not lead to Lucanis unraveling his trauma à la Mind Prison, it doesn't mean Neve couldn't help him find another route through.

(I also think it's a bit unkind to think a 35-36 year old man who has already dealt with his childhood trauma (re: he "doesn't resent Caterina anymore", implying he once did and he worked through his shit) wouldn't eventually work through the Ossuary and Spite on his own. It would just be slower and look different and that's OKAY! Romance is not a prerequisite for dealing with trauma.)

Also, and I will die on this hill, it is not "bad writing" to have Lucanis be unromanceable by a Rook who chose to save Minrathous. Lucanis views that choice, as logical as it may be, as a betrayal. You've betrayed Treviso, the Crows, and him. And, he's someone who REQUIRES a close emotional attachment to feel attraction (demisexual, hello???). So, yeah. You let his city and people die a slow terrible death to the blight, he isn't going to fall in love with you. He literally can't. It makes complete sense and I thought it was a BRILLIANT choice by the writers. If you save Minrathous, you get a totally different Lucanis and I think that's incredible.

Neve doesn't lock you out if you save Treviso because she is a much more rational and logical thinker than Lucanis. Lucanis is called "soft-hearted" and "sentimental" multiple times across the game and tie-in media, where Neve is known for her icy exterior, wit and cleverness. It makes complete sense.

I am begging people to stop calling elements they personally dislike "bad writing".

[isaidyoulookshitty]

idk it is so upsetting to me that veilguard is the first dragon age game i won't be replaying. when i was 15 i played origins so many times (almost a dozen) it is one of the only games i have ever 100% finished. da2 was the same! and while i didn't make it through as many playthroughs of inquisition i put hundreds of hours into it and made an effort to get to the bottom of everything the game threw at me. until veilguard, i had bought every available dragon age dlc for all games, tried to play almost every route given in the story choices, and spent hours reading through codex entries to soak up as much lore as i could.

veilguard has rendered all of that completely null.

it feels almost spiteful at this point that this new frakenspliced bioware cared so little to honor the bones and meat of the first three games. 15 years i have spent loving and cherishing (and criticizing) this franchise and now i feel like a fucking idiot for it. my grey warden? canonically awol and never addressed again. hawke? irrelevant and, for some players, potentially stuck in the fade forever. inquisitor? stripped of any complexity or depth i had given her in favor of the most syrupy, out of character fairytale true love's kiss ending with a man that shattered her worldview and broke her heart. how do you take 10 years to craft an ending this dissatisfying and thoughtless?

and the world i spent a decade and a half fighting for, shaping with player choices, and calling home? gone. "overwhelmed by the blight." literally scorched earth for the next game to build on with whatever the writers pull out of their ass to make players forget all about the original dragon age. it's tragic! disrespectful to longtime fans at best, at worst it feels intentional and like i am being made the butt of a joke told by writers who in the promotional material sound like they could not even be assed to play the games they're attempting to draw from. veilguard is just a product to be sold, not a story worthy of The Dragon Age Setting.

and i haven't even touched on all my gripes with the game's writing, the sanitization of any canon conflict that could be uncomfortable or difficult to address, the stale and cutesy therapyspeak and lessons in basic morality that are baked into every in-game interaction (most of which are shallow and all the same anyways) compared to the dialogue trees from the other 3 games. it is so frustrating to see that the devs chose to cave to a decade of vitriolic fandom politics in favor of addressing the kettle they wrote themselves into.

instead of hand-waving racism toward elves, the panic over qunari, the isolation of the dwarves, the corruption of the chantry, the abuse in the circles of magi, and slavery in tevinter, we should have been given the chance to confront all of it. to put a real end to it. we will never get to do that now. in fact, in their failure to follow through, bioware has only succeeded in exacerbating all of these issues. they have made the elves, which they have openly ADMITTED were "inspired" by Jewish and indigenous peoples, their mouthpiece for white guilt and shame passed down from one's ancestors (while also gutting elves' religion, culture, history, social differences, etc. i could go on). they PERPETUATE the same stereotypes of barbarity, violence, and warmongering imposed on the qunari by the rest of thedas by continuing to make them an opposing enemy force with the exception being a couple of friends they have neatly packaged for us. the unsatisfying conclusion to the mage-templar schism in inquisition is inconsequential. who the player chose to HEAD THE SOUTHERN CHANTRY as divine is deliberately made irrelevant. the dwarves are still isolated and ignorant of their origins save for harding (assuming she doesn't end up killed) and a single closed-off group. and the slaves in tevinter (again, mostly elves)? conveniently kept out of sight and conversation when we finally get to minrathous. everything that happened to fenris to make him the character he is, arguably the most impactful and sympathetic out of all the da2 companions, is not even addressed, much less tackled. all of it is swept under the rug.

i wanted dragon age: dreadwolf. i wanted a solid conclusion to a story almost 20 years in the making. a dragon age reboot might even have been a great idea somewhere down the line, but this was not the game to do it with. it was supposed to be a sequel and they couldn't even get that right. did i enjoy parts of it? of course! i finished it! but i won't be doing it again. the game clearly intends you to, considering a significant portion is locked away by decisions players are forced to make pretty early on, but i can't make myself do it. it makes me way too sad.

i could go on about how i, a queer and nonbinary adult fan, thought their handling of gender and LGBTQIA+ identities was heavy-handed, infantilizing, and felt so out of place within the setting it makes easy fodder for the "woke=broke" crowd that wouldn't have been receptive to queer rep anyway, but that would need to be another post in itself. not to mention the romance! unfortunate that i chose to romance lucanis not knowing his is now notorious for a lack of content, meaningful dialogue, pacing, and actual development. i won't even get to see the other romances in comparison because, as i have said, i will not be replaying.

[sternentreue]

Just here vibrating in my seat thinking about Rook having an absolute shit time throughout the last portion of the game if he's in a romance with Neve. She got injured when they barely knew each other - his decision, the scar on her forehead a reminder of that every time he looks at her. He was too late to save Dock Town, also his decision. He chose her to deactivate the wards and she got taken away, also his decision. I know we deal with all of this in the fade prison but Rook comes back and Neve is still gone and they don't know if she's alive or dead or worse. And now he has to make plans for Minrathous, he needs to be focused, be a leader for everyone, but all he can think of is Neve, the many times he let her down and if she's lost to him forever this time.

I know not everyone made the same decisions but it's a possible route and I put my poor wife through it all lol

[aquamonstra]

I saved Treviso for the first time in Veilguard last night and... Sorry Crows but I'm never fucking doing that again.

The Venatori taking over Minrathous and mass executing the Shadow Dragons and their associates? Are you fucking kidding me??

Like just to be clear we're talking about choosing between helping the faction of wealthy murderers for hire with a history of kidnapping and indoctrination whose leaders are completely fine after the dragon attack, the civilian casualties are minimal, and their HQ stays largely intact, VERSUS helping the UNDERGROUND ORGANIZATION OF SLAVERY ABOLITIONISTS WHOSE HQ GETS STORMED AND DESTROYED BY THE MAGICAL KKK WHO THEN SLAUGHTER ANY MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES THEY GET THEIR HANDS ON, THEIR MOST POWERFUL MEMBER GETS BLIGHTED, AND THE GOVERNMENT WAS ALSO SHOOTING AT CIVILIANS WHILE THE DRAGON WAS ATTACKING.

I'm not saying what happens in Treviso isn't bad but you cannot convince me it is the right choice to help them over Minrathous. Fucking hell. Like fucking how many decades did the fight to end slavery in Tevinter just get set back??? I chose this route because I've saved Minrathous twice before and only didnt this time to see the other side of the choice, and I am so tempted to go back to a previous save AGAIN bc I feel so fucking awful about this.

[lightan117]

Chains that Bind and Break Us

**So here is the next installment of Daisy's journey! A little bit on the darker side as this is more backstory into her life and her reflection on the choices she had to make between Treviso and Minrathous, as I felt it was a little lackluster on Rooks's part. My girl would have been devastated about what city to save (Treviso made the most sense, in my opinion, as they only had the fucking Antaam, while Minrathous has fucking cannons).**

Pairing: Lucanis X (F)Mourn Watch Rook

Warnings: Mentions of torture, kidnapping, blood, mutilation, angst, crying, Spite being noisy.

**Edit - Spite is in bold during the second half

Enjoy!

Daisy knew she was in a nightmare.

It's almost always the same, this night of hers. She couldn't drag herself from it, no matter how she tried to control her dreams. This nightmare of hers has haunted her, hunted her like a demon digging and dragging its claws inside her mind. Even at her weakest moments, Daisy feels this nightmare is a punishment for past failures, sins, and transgressions. She believed in the gods of the dead and spirits. So her dreams and nightmares must be tied to somebody, something in the fade.

Daisy's nightmare starts the same.

She's walking the streets of Nevarra on her way home from school. It's their yearly break, during which the students can visit their families. The sun is shining on a happy day. There's a blue sky above her, and a few civilians she passed greeted her with a kind hello. The city is quiet and peaceful, but Daisy notices the never-ending street. The route she always took on her way home passed a bakery with the most mouth-watering pastries. The dress shop next to the alleyway was run by a woman who helped Daisy fix her mourn watcher apprentice robes. The same people say hello to her, the same ring of a shop store, and the same bang of a crate being dropped in the alleyway. The beginning always lulls her in with a false sense of safety, like a thin vale drapped over her eyes to the truth.

Dark clouds then roll overhead. A tremendous, large boom shatters the peace.

Skeletal hands emerge from the ground. Their skin was plucked, and they clung to the bones beneath. Dirty, disgusting fingers wrapped around any part of Daisy they could take hold of, their nails digging into her skin. The smell of decay Daisy has smelt before is nothing compared to the scent that invades her nose. The hands grip her tight as they suddenly start to drag her down under the ground into a black abyss. Daisy screams, but no one helps her; only the sound of sadistic laughter echoes the heavens above her. No one ever comes to save her.

Daisy kneels before faceless mourn watchers, their gold jewelry gleaming on their green, purple cloaks. As always, she begs and pleads to be released and that what they were doing wasn't right. They smile, laugh, and jeer at her. Pathetic. You are always thinking of yourself and sucking up to the professors. No, that's a lie. She worked hard in her studies. Professors admired her hard work ethic due to her stern upbringing from her mother. You are nothing, worse than nothing. No, no, that's not true. You try so hard to be human, to be an elf, but you are nothing more than a mutt. A dog. A weed. No wonder you were left alone to die. Not a mutt. Not a weed. Just half of two different wholes.

"Please! I won't tell anyone!"

Wrong words to say when you are up against people who hold power over you.

"You can't do this?! What have I ever done to you?!"

Mutt-weed. If you want to be a human so bad. We can make you one.

Screams and cries. Pulling and tearing. Slicing and sawing. Burning and stinging. Daisy felt cold hands hold her down as she cried. She tried to kick and claw her way, but they held her firm. The laughter continued to echo, and it echoed so loudly. Then, the world went silent. Daisy remained where she was on the floor, quivering as, one by one, the figures above her disappeared until one remained. Broken, wretched thing you are. Mutt-weed. What would the righteous mourn watch want with you? Broken? Was she broken now? Daisy's hands covered her bleeding, stinging ears, eyes locked on the feet of the figure above her. You should have just stayed silent. Remained quiet as the grave. Dead and buried. Dead with your mother.

"Please...I want to go home."

The figure above her faded into the abyss around her, leaving her on the ground. Then, the jingle of chains and the click of a lock. Daisy would then find herself in an unfamiliar room. Iron chains infused with lyrium held her down to the wooden table under her. The smell, Maker the smell, would make anyone hurl if they walked in—the smell of burnt flesh, rotting meat, and dampness. It was a hopeless room with no light, life, or escape. Days turned to weeks to months to years in the blink of an eye, and yet only a few days would pass on the outside of the single iron door. Tears and cries for help did her no such luck where she was.

The one who controlled her fate had knives for fingers, cold and sharp. They dug, dug, pinched, pulled, saw, slashed, and hacked away at Daisy little by little. Squelching and squeaking of organs removed and replaced. She wasn't really there anymore, but she was there at one point. Laying on that table, numb to all the feelings around her, she shut everything away.

One little emotion remained; a tiny flame flickered secretly deep within her.  

Daisy watched for what felt like hours. This is how it usually ends, her nightmare—watching her being tortured, taunted, teased, and tempted to just give in. Allow the swirling voices to jump into her body. Accept the deals they offered in response to her pain. The one who held her down screamed at her to accept deals and offers made to her. Wanting to watch her transform into someone, something more significant. More powerful.

Daisy wouldn't. She couldn't.

Something was wrong with this nightmare. Someone else was in the room with her, watching, taking in her pain with a look of pure pity. He approached the table, hands behind his back as he looked down upon her. No, no, this was wrong. He was not here before and should not be here now. Why was he here?

"You're dreaming. This is a nightmare." The voice was muffled and faint. He removed one hand from his back, but before he could raise it any higher, a glowing hand shot out with a firm grip, eyes glowing in cerulean color.

"GET OUT."

The world was right again, and Daisy was awake. She panted and tried to control her breathing, but it was more challenging than usual. Each intake felt like someone was squeezing her lungs tightly. Daisy rolled off the chaise lounge couch in her room, the coldness of the floor grounding her slowly. She could still feel hands over her, wandering and roaming while the chain around her neck and wrists stilled any movement. There was no chain, of course, but she could still feel it; it was still here. Daisy got to her feet and staggered to the mirror beside her wardrobe. Green eyes reflected at her, slowly moving down her neck and chest.

A large linear mark sat around her neck. The faint impression of a chainlink could be made from it; however, it faded into a deep red color with time. Similar marks were on her wrists and ankles as well. Sweat dripped from her face as Daisy found that she couldn't breathe in her clothing. Stripping them off, she felt herself slowly becoming unconstricted. Once freed, the tears she was trying so hard to hold back broke. A pillow muffled her screams and cries as she released everything that she had been feeling the past few days.

Failure

Failure

Failure

"Quiet!" Daisy yelled at the voices around her, slamming her hands to the ground. Butterflies emerged from the release of magic, but they seemed shakey and erratic. The voices shattered into a quiet hum of the fade. The objects on the shelves rattled for a few seconds before becoming still.

The nightmare was punishment for not saving Minrathous. For not saving the Shadow Dragons. For not being there for Neve. For failing an entire city to die.

Daisy had never felt more like a failure when Davrin and her arrived in Minrathous to see that the city was burning from Venatori's control. Lucanis stayed behind in Treviso to help the Crows contain the fires raging in their city. Still, it was nothing compared to the damage caused by Minrathous's dragon. Blight raged rampantly, as did the Venatori cheering below them. Neve was angry at her and couldn't even look Daisy in the eye, but Tarquin wanted to take her head clean off. Of course, he made a snide comment that someone who spends so much time with the dead could hardly feel empathy for the living. Neve said nothing, and that hurt even worse. Only Viper spoke in her defense, and it was a shaky one.

Daisy made a choice. There was no going back now.

After her throat was sore from screaming and more than a dozen butterflies were floating around her room, Daisy had the energy to get up. Tossing on a simple dress in the mourn watch colors, she left the room searching for something to help her settle.

"You alright, kid?" Daisy turned to see Varric heading into the infirmary with a cup in his hand.

"I'm alright, Varric. Just...a nightmare." Daisy tried her best to smile at him, but it didn't quite reach her eyes as they usually do.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Maybe later. I'm just running to the kitchen for something."

"Well, alright then. You know where to find me if you need to talk." Varric gave her a smile and a wink. "You got this kid."

"Thank you, Varric. I will see you later. Pleasant dreams." Daisy passed by Varric, touching his shoulder before descending the steps with a soft pat. The walk to the kitchen felt like miles, each step as if she was sinking further into the mud. Her head felt like it was underwater, and her eyes hurt from the crying. Inside the kitchen, it was warm and inviting as always. The fire was still going; the fade continuously allowed it to burn. Off in the corner was the small nook where Lucanis and Bellara cooked for everyone. Daisy pitched in occasionally, but she mainly did the chore of making desserts for everyone. It was a calming, relaxing chore where she didn't have to worry about the gods trying to take control of Thedas. If it brought any small amount of joy to her team, she was grateful for it.

Although the kitchen area wasn't as big as her home, finding the tea she was looking for still took her a second. The tea was held in a small wooden box, but it always moved around with the amount of coffee Lucanis would purchase. Perhaps it was the headache sitting behind her eyes, but her foot caught the leg of the side table, jostling it roughly that a cup was knocked to the floor, shattering. The cup Lucanis was currently favored to use almost every day. Daisy couldn't stop the tears from flowing as she fell to the floor, trying her best to find every piece. Maybe she could mend them with magic, but she lied.

"God's dammit," Daisy cursed at herself. It was another mistake—there were always more mistakes—and now Lucanis would see what a mess she was. She wiped the few stray tears that fell as she gathered the pieces she could see. "Fuck."

"Rook? Daisy?" Daisy refused to look at the voice that had called to her. She knew who it was and it was the last person she wanted to see at that moment. "Are you alright? I heard a noise."

"I'm sorry," Daisy said in a shaky voice, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him. "I caught the table and did not see the cup. It went flying, and I am so sorry."

"It's alright, Daisy, it's just a cup." Lucanis's knees came into view as he knelt next to her.

"It's your favorite cup that you always use. If that one is dirty, you use the one that's dark blue, but that one is Neve's." Daisy took a look at the pile in front of her. Minrathous looks just like the cup on the floor, in pieces.

"You know my favorite cup?" Lucanis tried to hide the surprise in his voice, but the tone had a slight hinge.

"Everyone has a favorite cup." Daisy sniffled. "Harding's the one with leaves; Neve's is the dark blue one with swirls. Davrin hasn't picked on yet, but I'm betting on the silver tankard one that no one uses. Bellara is the intricate one, but she secretly uses everyone else when no one is looking. Mine has a Nevarran beetle on it, and yours is this purple one with gold. Was this one." Daisy looked up for the first time at Lucanis; he was dressed in a simple pair of linen pants and a shirt. The dark circles under his eyes clearly show that he hasn't slept. If he woke up because of her...

Daisy gave a sad sign and cast her eyes back to the ground.

A hand came out to rest on hers, still cradling the shattered pieces in her hands. Daisy closed her eyes and stared at the floor until the hand removed the pieces. Lucanis gathered up the broken shards as Daisy remained where she was. The room was silent except for the movement that Lucanis made. It was deafening to Daisy, and she just wanted the fade to swallow her up. Inside Lucanis's head, Spite whispered that the woman on the floor smelled weak and pitiful. He also mentioned words of tears, fade, and honeysuckle, but he ignored those.

"Did I make the right decision, Lucanis?" Lucanis stilled his movements to listen to the whisper that was uttered. He wasn't sure if he had heard her, so he tilted his head toward her. "Leaving Minrathous to burn?"

"Do you regret saving Treviso?" Lucanis tried to keep his tone even, but inside, he wanted to question her—why she was questioning herself. She saved the city that he loved and the people within it. When he saw her in the courtyard, he was stunned that she was really there. Immediately, she asked about the situation and how she could help. Daisy didn't even look fearful in the face of the dragon when she was facing it down.

"If you want it, come and claim it!" Daisy shouted at Ghilan'nain when the blighted god demanded the dagger. The city would have been so much worse if she hadn't come.

Now...

Now, she looked so small.

"Of course not!" Daisy looked at him with a sad, stern expression. "Treviso has waterways that could spread across Antiva, affecting so much more. I thought-" Daisy clenched her hands into tight fists, "I thought that if any city had a better fighting chance, it would be Minrathous. They have magic cannons, for the Maker's sake! But...you weren't with us when we arrived, Lucanis."

"Harding told me some of what Bellara and her did."

"It was that and so much more. I could hear the screams from where I met with Neve. The Viper took a claw in the gut and is now infected with the blight. Neve was so angry with me that I abandoned her city. And Tarquin..." Daisy chuckled briefly, "Taquin wanted to take my head then and there. All but threatened that if I did more damage to the Shadow Dragons, the Venatori would be the least of my concerns. Neve didn't even step in when he all but shoved me to the ground to make a point. Some leader I am to get tossed like that."

"He attacked you?!" Lucanis felt the anger at her bubble up towards a new target now. He looked down at Daisy to see her smiling softly at him.

"Coming to my rescue? Little late for that." She shook her head. "No point now; what's done is done. Honestly, Tarquin was mainly upset that Viper was the one who got hurt. I always saw a certain fondness between them when we were there, so...if they are together, then I understand the anger. Seeing someone we love hurt or even beyond help. I would have done the same thing."

"You're not mad that he shoved you to the ground and all but blamed you for what's going on?"

"My actions did release the gods, Lucanis. I have to take some responsibility for it even if Solas is the core problem." Daisy shuffled and got to her feet. "I'm sorry if I woke you up, Lucanis. I was looking for some tea before trying to fall back asleep."

"You didn't wake me; I wasn't sleeping." Lucanis threw the shards away and put the kettle on the stove. "Please, sit. I'll make you something."

"Lucanis, you don't have to do that. I can take care of it myself." Daisy moved forward, but Lucanis held up his hand.

"Please, allow me. It's the least I can do to show how thankful I am for you coming to aid Treviso." Lucanis ignored Spite's words of how pathetic he sounded, but that didn't matter to him. When Daisy smiled at him, the warmth that bloomed in his chest was worth it. Lucanis got to work while Daisy took a seat at the table. It was strange seeing their leader dressed so simply. Usually her hair is neatly styled but it was in disarray. Her dress was simple and plain compared to her mourn watcher armor with gold accents. And her feet were bare. "Teia sends a thank you to you, by the way. She never got the chance back in Treviso before you took off."

"I couldn't have the Seventh Talon dying by falling balcony. That's too tragic. Viago would also be very upset." Daisy said. Lucanis remembered how Viago called out in agony as the balcony crashed upon Teia as they left the courtyard to return to the casino. He didn't even see Daisy move forward until it was too late. Lucanis had to pull the Fifth Talon before he could rush in to pull any rubble off. With how unstable the building next to them was, Lucanis didn't want anyone else getting trapped under it. Even if inside, he was praying that they were alright. Viago pulled at him, but before either of them could move forward, the rocks over the women suddenly were lifted and moved a foot away. Daisy was the first to emerge from the rubble, followed by Teia, and both of them were a little scuffed up but intact. Daisy gave Teia a once over before she quickly left, promising to return as soon as Minrathous was seen to.

Lucanis wanted to run after her. He wanted to go with her and watch her back, making sure that she would return. The feeling, the pulling, he felt never felt as strong as it did in that moment. Teia and Viago gave him a look, but he shook his head at them. Friends. Daisy and him were just...

Friends.

"I believe they have done nothing but sing your praises. It would be best to visit soon, or Teia might come looking for you. She's quite fond of you now," Lucanis said with a chuckle, the kettle whistling to indicate that the water was done.

"I promise I will go see them and check-in. Jacobus sent me a letter telling me he had something to show me. I think I've been adopted." Daisy giggled at the end, and Lucanis couldn't help but smile at the noise. He made her a cup of ginger-lemon tea and a plate of dried meat. When she gave him a look, Lucanis mentioned that she hadn't eaten dinner and that starving herself would be suitable for no one. Daisy sipped the tea, enjoying the spicy warmth that washed over her. They sat in relative silence for a few moments, enjoying the peace as they both picked from the plate. Lucanis then started to ask Daisy what being a mourn watcher was like; changing the subject to something more pleasant.

The woman told stories about her years in training, the lessons she learned, and the spirits she made friends with. Daisy talked about the memorial gardens she would always volunteer to tend to, enjoying the garden's quiet. She went into detail about how the plants are only native to the Necropolis and that people have tried to grow above them with no success. Daisy moved some hair behind her ear when she suddenly froze. Lucanis didn't understand until he saw it. It was quick, but before she covered her ear again with her hair, Lucanis caught her hand.

Her ears were cropped short.

Lucanis didn't honestly notice it until she went to cover one, but a large portion of her ears was missing. Perhaps it was the exhaustion getting to him, but now, without her ear cuff, he could see it. The ear he was staring at with intent was a little longer than a human ear, but it's been crudely cut away as if someone sliced it at one angle and then another to match. Elves took great pride in their ears. There was no reason why Daisy would crop them herself, being an elf. Being an elf herself, Teia would have killed anyone who attempted to do so.

"Daisy-"

"It was an accident a long time ago. It's why I wear earcuffs, so people don't get the wrong idea." Daisy took Lucanis's hand in her own, gently squeezing it. "I promise I'm alright."

That is a lie! She. Lies! Spite hissed, appearing next to Daisy. Spite walked around her, getting his face up close to hers. Tell her. To tell. The truth!

"Daisy, we both know that's not true." Daisy went to release her hand, but he found he could not allow her. Lucanis slightly tightened his hold on her hand, his thumb brushing over her knuckles. "When you are ready, I want to know the true story." Coward. Ask who hurt. Rook!

"Thank you, Lucanis." Daisy's eyes showed unshed tears, but her smile was warm. It didn't quite reach her eyes yet, but it was getting there. Lucanis hushed Spite, and the demon simmered back down. The two of them stayed like that, one hand clasped in the other as if it were routine. They tidied up once the food was eaten, and the tea was gone. "When I was studying to be a mourn watcher, I was a tad overeager student. I had something to prove." Lucanis looked at Daisy, who hadn't looked up from drying her cup.

"You see, I was found in the lower halls of the Necropolis next to the body of my mother, from what I've been told. A skeleton had found the nearest mourn watcher, my adoptive mother, and led her to me. She took me in, but not as her daughter but to be raised in her household as a servant. I was six when I started to show signs of magical talent, so she officially took me in as her daughter, much to her husband's displeasure." Daisy sneered. "Not the most pleasant father figure, but he died a few years later. I am a half-human, half-elf abandoned child to a household who could not bear children." Daisy turned towards Lucanis with a sour look. "You can only imagine the pressure put upon me."

"One can imagine how the others might look at you." He answered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I took to my studies hard and my spell casting even harder. I wanted people to see me as something, anything besides a...mutt." The words were bitter in her mouth. "A few noble houses saw me as a blemish to their children's learning, and that resentment brushed off on them. They took their anger out on me. There was this one boy who butted heads with me constantly. One too many arguments and he...snapped. He caught me on my way home during a break when I was sixteen. He wasn't alone; he had his friends with him, so they held me down while he...cut my ears. If you want to be a human, I can make you look like one."

Lucanis could feel the rage inside him, and Spite was right there. "Did you report him? Tell me you got justice." Find them. Kill them. Make them pay.

Daisy bitterly laughed. "Of course not. No one witnessed it, and even if I dared to speak at the time, I...I didn't want to bring any more shame to my mother. She knew, of course, but the boy's family was mostly the problem. No, we decided that it would be best to watch and wait. The fear that I would retaliate made him suffer in his studies anyway." Partially, that was the truth, but the whole story was not meant to be told that night. "I have the earcuffs to make up most of my ears now, and I hardly feel anything. Something that I live with."

"It's something you should never have had to go through." Lucanis stepped closer to her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Made me stronger and a bit little self-conscious about my looks. I don't want people to think I'm ashamed of my heritage. I never wanted to be human, but being raised by humans is tough to know who you are." Daisy placed a hand over one of his own.

"You are strong, Daisy," Lucanis said softly, and her bright smile returned. "You are leading a team to go up against gods, and one of us has a demon attached to himself. No one here will judge you on who you are." Lucanis moved some hair behind her ear. "If it helps, the cuffs suit you." Lucanis then cleared his throat and let her go, his face burning a bit with how close they had gotten. Daisy asked at the doorway if what was spoken would remain between them, to which Lucanis replied that he would.

"Daisy?" The woman turned around to face the crow. "Neve will come back once things are settled. Any advice I can give would be to keep looking forward. That helped me in the Ossuary. Looking to tomorrow."

A grand smile graced Daisy's face. "Thank you, Lucanis. Goodnight, you two." Lucanis watched as she walked away, not turning to return to his room until she was behind closed doors of the Lighthouse. He looked down at the hand that held hers and smiled, clenching at the ghost feeling of her touch.

A few days after the talk, Lucanis entered his room and saw a brand new coffee set with a note sitting beside his bed. Hopefully, I won't break any more cups of yours. Thank you for listening. At the very bottom was a simple drawing of a flower.

[utilitycaster]

not as brief as intended second round thoughts:

had this discussion with others too but you know the Third Time Curse (not an official thing) with class-based TTRPG characters where the first time you do like, a self-insert, the second you do what you actually dream of, and the third time people often falter by trying to be neither and then they often find their footing with future games? I feel like with RPGs and their more directed and limited scope it's the second, of like, first time you do what feels right and interesting and natural to you, second time you explore other options, and after that you're like "actually, I like this." Like, I'm glad I saw the save Minrathous route, the Neve romance was a highlight, I'm glad I picked the other two options for leading the other team on Tearstone/wards and there are a bunch of things I didn't do my first time around that I'm glad I did (talking Mythal down is very rewarding; I did get every chest in the revisitable locations though I definitely missed a bunch in the quest-only locations; weird-ass circles; playing a mage) but this was definitely a "not my first choice" run at times. Which was the point!

With that said I still made some choices the same as prior (I switched up Taash, Davrin, Neve, and Lucanis's choices though obviously the latter two were due to the city choice) but I'm sorry I struggle to justify lichdom, and I can see a case for destroying the archive but I haven't yet played a character who'd do that. I would like to see Harding embrace compassion I guess as a future run, but. gonna be real. I'm doing my part to counteract the fact that the overwhelming majority of players chose compassion and not acknowledging anger and meeting it where it was. let's all be more confrontational in healthy ways. I have Thoughts about which choices hit best but a lot of those are subjective.

[person whose only previous game references were Myst and Logical Journey of the Zoombinis voice] (I did play other Edutainment (TM) titles as a child thanks very much. I can still sing the songs from Reader Rabbit second grade because one is a patter song and it made my younger siblings laugh) Taash is right FUCK puzzles. I'm going to make a poll of least favorite puzzle. But also at least in Myst you were not ATTACKED by VENATORI while DOING THE PUZZLE.

If you have been following me and wondering if you can play this if you have zero gaming ability but do have a platform for it: story mode is super forgiving to the point that I genuinely did not understand how primer/detonator worked. I actually really liked easy mode, which was rarely so challenging as to be deeply stressful (though not always) (FUCKING FORMLESS ONE. WORSE THAN ELGAR'NAN HIMSELF) but required a soupçon of strategy. I am still so fucking bad at parrying that I'm just not even looking at the rogue class, but I got in some parries, and when I did? it felt INCREDIBLE. I got off a parry against Elgar'nan just now and I'm still riding that high.

I really do intend to track all faction sidequests and come up with My Definitive Guide For When To Do Things because a very valid complaint is that it's not entirely clear. At worst this leads to Neve not knowing what the fuck to choose in The Soul of a City, which was very frustrating. At less bad this just leads to anticlimaxes (in my first run I did Partners in a Dangerous Crime after For the Love of Treviso unlocked which led to being locked out of the latter for a hot second and then going from the big Reclaiming Treviso quest chain to "hey, let's investigate this relatively minor thing"; I also left that minor mercenary quest until after Something's Coming, which really fits best as the last major one for the Wardens).

I am so sorry Rivain, I have gotten better at navigation but the pacing is MAD FUCKED. Like, literally 5 relatively low-stakes quests open up only after Taash's main final quest, which itself opens up after Blood of Arlathan, which is the last major quest before you trigger the endgame. so you are like. well. we must kill the gods, free Treviso, and I have 5 other people to level up (Harding's questline runs a little faster than most) BUT yeah sure let's follow the fucking spirit of adventure to some treasure chests on the beach I GUESS

it is good writing that in a much more antagonistic towards Solas run I'm still like. i feel like redeeming him just hits different. but man it was closer this time. I seriously considered tricking him; Taash being like "Harding would want you to kick his ass" almost got me to do it.

Yeah there really should have been like. one post-final battle scene. people moving out of the lighthouse or something. I also felt there was just...more unfinished business this run (Lucanis and Taash especially) that I would have liked to have had one more scene about.

[vaguely-concerned]

huh. so in the treviso saved route, inner demons would probably be the first time rook finds out that spite actually looks like lucanis, right. (lucanis and the player can see spite, but rook and the rest of the cast can't. I think in the minrathous route lucanis tells rook about this in the conversation where he informs you he's going to keep looking into a way to get them separated, once this is all over). interesting.

[goblinalchemist]

Friend is playing Veilguard with the "save Minrathous" route and I'm saying this with my whole chest - this is such a bad scenario for Lucanis in so many ways and it hurts to watch.

[thatapostateboy]

a ramble about my current planned Rook (and other Veilguard OCs) below the cut

(some spoilers for information released by Bioware thus far)

Evanura / Eva / Rook - elf, rogue, Shadow Dragon, romancing Davrin

city elf, taken from Denerim as a child during the Blight, along with her mother, and sold as a slave in Minrathous

spent years as a slave to a magister with only her ‘brother’ Ash as true company

she would take comfort in humming/singing songs from the Alienage, retelling the stories that her mother taught her to Ash. One day their master caught her singing, and she thought that she would be punished, but he became enamoured with her voice and would have her perform for him and guests

he saw potential in the young elf, and arranged for her to be trained to be used as a bodyguard and spy, in the ways of an Orlesian bard

after years of being enslaved; killing and spying on rival magisters just to survive, she had finally gained his trust enough to get his guard down was able to kill her master

in their attempt to escape, she and Ash were caught, and Ash took the full blame, stating that he had killed their master to protect her

she planned to help him escape prison before execution, but he was conscripted into the Grey Wardens

she used her newfound freedom to fight back against the corruption in Minrathous, eventually joining the Shadow Dragons

she looks for her mother everywhere she goes, not knowing what happened to her once they reached Minrathous

does not want to save the world, desperate to leave it to someone more qualified, until Varric convinces her otherwise

she and Solas are going to annoy tf out of each other, until they finally reach an understanding of two people who know what it is like to fight against a corrupt power system and be willing to do whatever they can to help people; peak unwilling dad/grumpy adopted daughter dynamic

aggressive/sarcastic toned to begin with but rediscovers her softness

is bad with animals, but manages to charm Assan almost instantly

thinks Davrin is honestly the most beautiful man she has ever seen, but she knows it probably will not be wise getting involved with a Grey Warden

huge fan of Lavellan (will use this to annoy Solas), has complicated feelings about the Hero of Ferelden (Tabris was a true hero, but damn, why couldn’t she have returned a few weeks earlier and saved more of their people?)

doesn't think the Champion of Kirkwall is a real person until she actually meets her

Ataashi / Ash - qunari, warrior, Grey Warden, undecided romance (possibly Harding or Lucanis)

remembers very little of his early childhood, believes he was taken from his father unwillingly (was in fact sold to slavers to pay off a gambling debt)

grew up as a slave in a Magister’s household, his naturally tall and strong form even from a young age making him an intimidating presence beside his master

despite being bigger than her, Eva became his older sister, protecting him from anyone’s ire, teaching him the stories and songs of her people, singing him to sleep with as many lullabies as she could remember

and when she was able to kill their master and give them a chance at freedom, he didn’t hesitate to take the blame and allow her to run

he was ready to face his death, knowing his sister was free, but fate stepped in when a passing Grey Warden had heard of his arrest and recruited him

he passed his Joining and found a new purpose among the Wardens, ready to stand and fight alongside his new found family, especially his friend Davrin

one day hopes to be worthy enough to have a griffon of his own

ndecided what route to take with romance as yet, will see who vibes with this wholesome himbo, possibly Harding or Lucanis

Beric / Bear / - dwarf, warrior, Lords of Fortune, romancing Emmrich

Not fully fleshed out his backstory yet, but some headcanons;

'Old gay dwarf seeking riches in local area'

Has been adventuring since he was big enough to swing a hammer

Has travelled most of the known world, and seen things beyond belief

Enjoys a good fight, a good drink and a good bed partner

Didn't expect to fall in love with a necromancing mage, but here we are - years later when they are settled and married, Emmrich will joke that Bear heard the 'rich' at the end of his name and fell instantly in love

[mocksfate]

choices, choices ... these are not definitive, as i do need to play the game with abrielle a second time to be sure, but here's what i have so far ! (spoilers under the cut)

she talked down the barkeeper. ( she's charming and often uses her charm. if there's a chance to talk rather than choosing violence, she will. )

agreed to let varric try to talk solas down.

asked harding to come & help her disrupt the ritual.

sassy -> sympathetic attitude given to solas almost until the end.

left the mayor to his fate. ( believer of karmic justice )

saved treviso ( no brainer. despite being born in orlais, antiva is her home )

reasoned with the first warden ( talking over violence as mentioned above )

helped with everyone's problems: - harding: stayed true to herself. - bellara: buried the secrets of the ancient elves ( after character development, abrie believes one's past shouldn't dictate one's future ) - lucanis: saved illario (?) ( i'm. so torn on this one bc luc and abrie both had/have a caterina, except the caterina is the one who betrayed abrie. yet she still loves her!! like she loves emil, right? so idk. idk im v torn ) - neve: became the hero minrathous/dock town needed ( highly suggested not to make her same mistakes ) - emmrich: unromanced - pursued lichdom ( it's her high risk & high reward mentality ) romanced - brought manfred back ( because she became mushy :\ ) - davrin: the griffons became arlathan's new guardians ( again, promoting new beginnings and second routes ) - taash: embraced their rivaini side.

bellara got caught by elgar'nan but survived in the end.

davrin lead the other team since she believed his expertise against darkspawn could have given them the upper hand. his death devastated her. davrin was the member of the veilguard whom got the 'fils/son' nickname. if abrie ever had a child, she'd want them to be like davrin. SO YOU CAN IMAGINE.

whilist devoided of hope at first, the fade prison is what gave abrie the push she needed to move forward. facing her regrets and coming to terms with herself, who she is, what she did and what she will do got her outta there.

had a feeling about varric in the back of her head, but always pushed that thought away because she didn't want to face the truth.

all factions helped & everyone else survived till the end.

okay. nora is a s0lavellan and nora wanted to see solas & lavellan be happy.............. but abrielle would choose the tricking him ending lmfaooooooo no regrets whatsoever. karma, baby!

[butterflydm]

DAV: emotional impact of second playthrough

I am finding it much harder not to take the damage in Treviso more personally and more of a failure for Rook - and I think that's because I saved Treviso in my first playthrough, so seeing the impact of it blighted now is emotionally devastating because I (the player) know these specific minor characters.

[endgame spoilers below]

And the game makes you personally need to kill them -- Heir, Fletcher, and Chance all die by your hand, because they've turned into darkspawn and need to be put down. In my first playthrough, I had no idea of the full extent of the consequences that would happen as a result of the Minrathous vs Treviso choice. I had no idea what I was losing by saving Treviso over Minrathous. In this playthrough, I know exactly what I'm losing.

Jacobus coughed the last time I talked to him in Treviso and now I am worried he will also turn into darkspawn. Every single time I stopped by Treviso in my first run, I always talked with Heir and Jacobus before I went out on whatever mission I was doing. Every single time. I wanted to keep track of him, and how he was doing after Dareth's death, and how he dealt with his pain and grief.

Looking at the blighted landscape of Treviso is so horrific because I played a whole game where Treviso stayed gorgeous -- with issues that needed to be fixed, of course, but such a beautiful city, full of vibrant life (I actually went over to my other save for a while just so that I could hang out in unblighted Treviso; sad but true).

My interactions with Lucanis have been breaking my heart. I think I read that the "Inner Demons" quest doesn't happen if you save Minrathous? So... so Lucanis will never leave the Ossuary, not in his head. He and Spite are gonna stay stuck in there together. Trapped.

(he's not even mad at you! he's just exhausted and resigned and somehow that is so much worse)

I have found that this choice really impacted the way that I'm playing my second Rook mechanically, which I did not expect -- she is much more aggressive in battles now (using the orb & dagger more often than the staff & I went the Deathcaller route instead of Spellblade as I'd originally planned), and in the scene with Solas after the dragon attacks, she was much more laden down with guilt (and lashed out at him a bit because of it). I think because she knows she chose Minrathous not for practical reasons but because it's her city, and so she feels like she made the selfish choice, especially seeing how destroyed Treviso has been as a result. It weighs on her.

My first Rook (elven Gray Warden rogue) chose to save Treviso for reasons that weren't particularly personal (since it was my first run, I didn't know, as a player, that choosing Minrathous would cut off Lucanis's romance path, so that wasn't a factor in their decision) -- they made the calculation of "vulnerable merchant city" vs "magitech powerhouse city" and figured that Minrathous had a better chance of defending itself. So while they deeply regretted that they couldn't help both cities personally, they felt like they made the best choice they could with the information that they had. This Rook (human Shadow Dragon mage) worries that she made a choice with her heart and that Minrathous would have been fine without her, and that she doomed Treviso by choosing to save her home. Needing to personally kill blighted Crows has not helped with her guilt.

otoh, I now get to learn what I gain by saving Minrathous. And Minrathous really does suffer more frequently than any other city in this game, in the sense of being ground-zero for attacks three different times -- at the start of the game, then during the Minrathous vs Tresviso choice, and again at the end of the game.

And I do love getting to talk more with the characters in Minrathous. I just went back and was able to talk to Maevaris and Tarquin. Very good conversations, especially with a Shadow Dragon Rook. I learned my character's backstory! That was exciting!

I also learned that Neve and Davrin have met before - that came out during a conversation between the two of them at the Lighthouse before Lucanis returned to us, so I'm guessing that's why I never heard that banter before. Their respective jobs intersected! That's so cool!

But, yeah, the second playthrough is rough because you know more of the consequences. I imagine that the Harding vs Davrin choice way down the line will be the same. I didn't know the distraction team leader would die in my first run, and I was playing a Gray Warden Rook, so of course I picked Davrin to run the second team! I trusted him more than anyone except my love interest (Lucanis). But now I know the distraction team leader is going to die, so that choice is more weighted now, for me as a player.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, this is my 'testing all the options' run, and I have a tentative plan in place. There are also a couple of things that I missed in my first run that I definitely want to make sure that I get to experience at some point here (Lucanis & Neve get together if you aren't romancing either of them, I believe, which obviously I didn't get to see in my first run, since Lucanis was my LI; and apparently Strife and Emmrich can get together if you have Emmrich stay mortal, so I want to check both of those out. Taash & Harding were so sweet together and I loved seeing their courtship, so I'm very interested in seeing Lucanis/Neve & Strife/Emmrich).

This little sidequest really got to me this time around. Because of Varric reasons:

[rookinthecrownest]

I'd love to see the Hermit, the Wheel of Fortune, and the Devil for Madeleina!!

Thanks for the ask <3

The Hermit: When Rook is alone with their thoughts, what do they think about? Is solitude a blessing or a curse for them?

I think solitude is most definitely a curse for her. Madeleina wants friends and to be surrounded by those she loves. She idolized her parent's marriage and has always dreamed of a similar kind of love. She grew up an only child but desperate for a sibling to play with. When she was in the Minrathous Circle she tried making friends, but so many of the Altus-class mages looked down on Laetan mages and didn't really care to be friends with her/found her extroverted and bubbly/jokey personality quite annoying so she just ended up doing her own thing until she joined the Shadow Dragons.

I think when she's alone, assuming she doesn't have her nose buried in a book, she's reminiscing on the good parts of her childhood (while trying very hard not to examine/ignore the trauma that came from losing her parents and her village at a young age), or worrying over her friends and how they're doing. I think the way the quests are set up in Veilguard, where you have to spend a lot of time getting to know the companions and going through their personal quests, is very much how she'd behave even if the game wasn't set up like that. Mads would definitely be like 'okay y and z is going on with X i need to FIX it like NOW' and go insane unless she does. Selfishly, it's also a way she distracts herself from dealing with her own problems and trauma.

The Wheel of Fortune: Describe an interesting character moment for your Rook. What made this moment stand out to you?

I think an interesting character moment for her is actually suggesting Lucanis go the 'Forgive Illario' route. She was suspicious/wary of Illario from the start (in my mind at least), and when she finally puts it together that he's the one who betrayed Lucanis, I think she's rightly quite angry and will probably never trust him again. I don't think she could forgive Illario for what he did, but she realizes that that's not really up to her - it's up to Lucanis. And as someone who knows what it's like to have your family decimated, I think a small part of her recognizes the importance of treasuring what's left, even if it's different/permanently changed.

It's something she wants Lucanis to figure out for himself, but thinks he should give himself the option to, no matter what her personal feelings are about Illario.

With how protective she is over Lucanis, I definitely expected her to want to punish the guy. But sometimes your own characters surprise you the most.

The Devil: What type of demon is most likely to target Rook? Why?

Funnily enough, she was almost possessed by a Despair demon in her childhood. After her village is destroyed, she finds her parents dead in their family home... uhh...practically mutilated (by other demons) beyond recognition. She was only saved because she'd gone into the forest to pick berries so her mom could make a dye for her old dress she planned to gift to Madeleina. She sank into despair at losing her family, which she was very close to, and thought she'd lost everything (because to her, her family was everything, and that small farming village was her entire world). Sometimes I think that Despair demon never truly went away, it just lurks around her dreams when things get bad and whispers in her ear :')

She's gone through a lot, although she desperately tries to hide it and doesn't really open up to anyone about it except for Lucanis. She wants to maintain the image of a leader so badly she'll put herself on the backburner for however long it takes to make sure everyone else is taken care of first, burnout be damned.

I made some fanart of it here

[rhunae]

Veilguard Spoilers

For my HoF playthrough, I'm not going to romance Lucanis this time, so to be sure he and Neve hook up, I brought her along to save him. Already some flirting from her before we left the Ossuary.

I'm also going to save Minrathous instead. I don't think that's the "better" route, because a city full of mages should save themselves. In my first play through, Lucanis was far more convincing, mostly because it will directly impact their water table. But I need to see the flip side. *sigh* It will also force me to not romance my birb boyfriend.

The plan is to romance the old man, and save our skelli son (letting him go lich in the 1st play through was all sorts of wrong lol).

[kirkwallguy]

Did you save Minrathous? If you saved Minrathous over Treviso you don't get Lucanis's Fade quest nor do you get to decide things in his questline, he makes all his choices himself. For once a Bioware companion gets to choose, huzzah?

OH lol that explains it, i guess i can't complain since i did say i wanted more consequences for choices but 😑 i wish it was more of a rivalry route rather than a locking you out of content route since lucanis is already thin on that... i miss da2