#*tevinter (tevene is the language)

[witsserviceablesubstitute]

Hear me out: a fix-it fic where Emmrich is installing ghosties further south and stumbles onto Anders/Justice, he helps them heal and seperate, then they find new purpose in the Necropolis for a while.

[silent-words]

I imagine a scene during Dragon Age: Inquisition. Cullen Rutherford walks towards the small shrine to Andraste. Before he enters, though, he hears someone praying. He politely leaves that person alone but can't help listening. It's not in Trade language, and neither it is in elven, if Solas' words are any indication of it. He waits, practically enchanted by this prayer. Sometimes it seems he hears the word "Andraste", sometimes the Inquisitor's name.

When it stops, and the person comes out of the shrine, Cullen can't hide his surprise. Because he sees Dorian Pavus. The latter is also shocked, but recovers quickly.

'Are you here to listen to me confessing my sins?' he says with a smirk. 'Very wise of me to use Tevene then.'

'Confessing your sins?!' Cullen shakes his head. He still thinks this is all a weird dream.

Dorian laughs. 'Well, if you want the truth – I was praying. This text is from the Imperial Chant.'

'That blasphemous text?' Cullen says with disgust. 'How can you...' but then he relents. Of course, a person from Tevinter would pray as they were taught. 'I'm sorry. Andraste will listen to those with an open heart.'

'Thank you, Cullen,' Dorian walks past the Commander but then stops. 'Please, don't tell anyone about me praying. I have a reputation to maintain.'

[obibail]

my favorite personal headcanon is that most Tevinter citizens don’t actually speak Trade tongue as a main language, or if they do it’s strictly a public language and not a home language. instead the non-Altus citizenry (esp. grunt military/lower class civilian Soporati, Liberati, and new Laetan) especially in Minrathous and other large cities with trade connections to countries outside Tevinter and/or a history of Qunari occupation speak something closer to Romanian in the home/among themselves

the language still has obvious Tevene/Latin-vaguely Greek roots and is very much a modern/less formal evolution of Tevene but it's got a fair bit of Antivan/Spanish-Italian and Qunlat/Arabic-Turkic influence on top of that. the language has been evolving for centuries but more recent wide-spread public use partially started out as something of a more liberal-minded reclamation of Tevinter roots while not wanting to revert back to speaking like they’re leading the full Latin mass at all times

it’s not nationalism, exactly, but it’s still a love of country, or at least a desire to love your country and reclaim or reshape (rather than entirely reject, by doing something like only speaking Trade) a part of a contentious and problematic heritage and culture without taking a hard right into Venatori-style Tevinter nationalism that either ignores, excuses, or outright exalts all the worst parts of Tevinter history and wants to bring back the Empire at its worst

a lot of Altus/higher socially ranked Laetan/higher military ranked Soporati families (especially ones that skew more conservative) scorn or reject the use of modern Tevene because it’s such a distinct and noticeable move away from ancient Tevene (or at least the version of the language still used in religious, military, and magic practice, as well as debate in both houses of the Senate, probably), and feels - to them - like a rejection of Tevinter history and culture rather than an evolution of it, so it’s very much a Soporati and Liberati thing to speak modern Tevene

(in my mind slaves either know Tevene and Trade, like Fenris, or only know one (unless they knew it before they were enslaved). no one who willingly owns slaves would lower themself to ever speak, little lone teach, “bastardized”/modern Tevene, and probably come down hard on slaves that do know or learn it)

most Shadow Dragons use it pretty liberally in missives and when speaking to each other about business, especially with the Venatori being one of the major factions that detest it and thus don't know it, and is something that the Shadows leadership that comes from Altus/other higher socially ranked backgrounds have to learn

of the Shadows leadership we meet in Veilguard, Tarquin would probably be one of the only ones that speaks it fluently/has likely spoken it all his life and is comfortable speaking it. Neve would very likely be fluent as well, being from Dock Town and likely being new Laetan. Dorian and Mae might have known some before, but, considering his background, Ashur definitely knew next to none originally

this obviously doesn't change that they're doing good things and that they're making positive change but it would probably be a point of contention somewhere within the group hierarchy that regular Shadows can't easily communicate with their top leadership in a language they consider socially revolutionary/a symbol of a more liberal and modern Tevinter

[my-dear-anonym]

Why do we not have more resources for the Tevene language. It upsets me. We have more Elvish than Tevene! And Elvish is supposed to be practically dead, even to the Elves! Tevene is a national language! (not ancient tevene--though i want more of that too.) Nevarran I understand not having much of I guess. We haven't done much with Nevarra or Rivain. BUT I NEED TO BE ABLE TO MAKE THE TEVINTER BABES SAY BAD OR SWEET THINGS IN THEIR NATIVE TONGUE OKAY HOW IS A FANFIC AUTHOR SUPPOSED TO FUNCTION ON THESE SCRAPS

[tactician]

A VERY DESCRIPTIVE PROFILE OF YOUR MUSE.  REPOST, DO NOT REBLOG, with the information of your muse,  including headcanons, etc.

name: cato mercar! he was just cato until he was around 22 years old, though. a former gladiator 'owned' by a tevinter noble, cato eventually won his freedom in minrathous' grand proving arena. his combat prowess caught the attention of the military-focused mercar family, and he was inducted into their house as a means of granting him some more social mobility. nicknames: rook is the only big one tbh! thank u varric. but cato never abandons his actual name. age: 33 as of 9:52 race: (city) elf gender: male (he/him) orientation: bisexual zodiac: whatever the leo equivalent is in thedas LMAO moral alignment: as chaotic good as they come class/subclass: a warrior with a slayer specialization! his mentor on the gladiatorial grounds was from rivain and began training him when he was really young. he has a very high constitution and can definitely tank hits for his teammates (& has the scars to prove it), but cato focuses on damage output more than survivability. he has a brutal battle style and tends to attract a lot of attention when he fights. years of taking part in provings engrained a certain flashiness in him; he can't quite shake it off. it’s great for rage generation though… lmfao interests/hobbies: cato enjoys working out and training, so he spends most of his free time on the training grounds or trying to get people to spar with him. he also really enjoys hiking - though his sense of direction is admittedly not the best, so he gets lost very, very often while on hikes dflgkdfh. unless it’s about battle tactics, he doesn't enjoy introspection all that much - so hobbies requiring study are lost on him. he does, however, have an absolute love of nugs. he seriously adores them. he thinks they're the cutest little beasts ever. he has a pet nug named ganni and he spoils her rotten. completely unrelated to nugs (I SWEAR), he’s also interested in learning how to cook but is really, really bad at it. spoken languages: common, some elvish (his accent is atrocious), and a surprising amount of tevene. profession: cato was initially a gladiator based in minrathous. shortly after attaining his freedom in 9:41, he became a combat trainer for the mercar military force and relocated to their lands in ventus (though he never became a full-fledged soldier due to laws against former slaves joining the military). when ventus fell to qunari forces in 9:44, cato returned to minrathous and poured everything he had into bettering tevinter, particularly through hunting down slavers. he joined the shadow dragons after they saved him from a thorny situation and has definitely found his place in the world with them – though he gets into trouble quite frequently for being too hot-headed and disobeying orders in favour of his own plans. and, ofc, by some strange, strange twist of fate, he’s also the leader of the veilguard. height: ~5'2" colors: sandy browns and golds; bold, bright shades of red and blue. fruits: the humble fig… (insert figgy pudding joke here) but he also really loves poison stings – the tevinter snack of orange peels covered in chocolate. generally speaking, i associate cato with Meat a lot more than fruits (or veggies, for that matter) drinks: plain black coffee…! the stronger the better, and not fancy at all. maybe even a little burnt. alcoholic beverages: a cinnamon-infused whiskey that warms you to your core.   smokes: he smokes recreationally with the other shadow dragons! those hookahs around their base are definitely not for show. he also has one in his room at the lighthouse. drugs: he isn’t opposed. (a certain tea comes to mind… ldfkdfg) drivers license: DO NOT LET THIS MAN OPERATE A CARRIAGE!!!! ever been arrested: yes. multiple times. never for a really long period, though. so many strings get pulled for him… so many bail-outs… 😔 he has a reputation. but he's proud of it. DFL;GKDFKH and, honestly, given how much he gets up to – both for the shadow dragons and while on his own conquests - he hasn’t been arrested all that often!

tagged by: the lovely @sangre ♡ THANK YOU SO MUCH BREE!!! tagging: limiting myself to 10 of my mutuals with dragon age ocs hehe!! no pressure though ofc! and if anyone else wants to yoink this lil meme + tag me, feel totally free - i’d LOOOVE to learn about your character(s) ♡

@mintflavoredwindows @killdragons @brewswain @famewolf @adaryc (cue line break bc tumblr breaks ALL my links if i keep yall in a group fsr)

@shapeknight @pavus @keeperesque @lilactiefling @hobblehurbie

[lazysload]

Venatrix Adaar

From vēnātor (“hunter”) +‎ -trīx; from vēnor (“hunt”) (from Tevene or Latin). She received this name while already in the Valo-Kas unit for her hunting of venatori's members. Since qunari, including tal-vashoth's, do not have proper names, Venatrix can also be defined as a title and spelled with a small letter. But she prefers to be called by Adaar (“weapon” from Qunlat).

Recognizes the effects of blood magic well, though she is afraid of it and does not use it herself. The role of Inquisitor only gives her more information and material resources to do what she have always done, pursue the radical magical sects of Tevinter.

Her knowledge of the world is scattered: she reads the trade language poorly and has little knowledge of etiquette, but is well versed in navigational sciences, astronomy, and medicine. Her education within the Inquisition is handled by the first enchantress, Vivienne, and the ambassador Josephine Montilyet.

She is reserved and generally friendly, but is still shy around people. She is also shy about her height and may begin to slouch in other people's presence. In high society, she can suddenly start talking nonsense, so she usually just keeps quiet.

In public, she plays Herald of Andraste, but those close to her know that Adaar herself doesn't believe in the role.

Follows the trope of Eliza Doolittle from Bernard Shaw's play. When the Inquisition is eventually disbanded, Adaar realizes that with her current background she can never go back to the life of a mercenary, but she'll never be the head of a major organization again either. For the rest of her life, she is stuck between two worlds: her qunari origins and her past as a human prophet.

[yappacadaver]

ok lore fans. I need a check.

can anyone tell me?? In previous entries in the DA series, wasn't "Tevene" used to describe the language and "Tevinter" used as an adjective to describe the people/culture?

Ex. "He's Tevinter. He speaks Tevene. Those are Tevinter texts that he's translating from Tevene."

[scarfacemarston]

Dragon Age Accents

So, I was curious, Are the character's accents meant to be the in-universe accents, or are they just the character's accents / voices? Ex: Gideon Emery spent a lot of time in South Africa, but he doesn't necessarily add that to his performance.....or does he? Fenris is always speaking in a second language because common trade is not his primary language, which wows me every time I think of it. What do you think is the closest to the real life accent if he existed? Tevene people like Danarius and Dorian sound completely different so one could HC just different parts of Tevinter. Plus, people sound different in the various race and classes. Perhaps a better example. Screw Greg Ellis - but Cullen is from Honnleath / very near it. It's a humble village/farming community. Someone once suggested midlands for Cullen. Realistically, he probably had that accent that he may have grown out of in favor for a different accent as he grew with the templars eventually speaking as we hear him in the games. What do you all hc? Some his original Honnleath accent coming out? I like the hc that it's sometimes there. As for the templars, they're from all over, but in a formal organization with education from a young age, that might have changed. I'm not sure. My accent changed over time. What IRL English equivalent would you give that? My other two examples: If I understand correctly, Alistair was raised by Arl Eamon until Isolde threw a fit and he was taken care of by some of the servants. Would he have a combination of a "higher class and working class" Ferelden? This would also potentially change over time with templar education. Not everyone is influenced by attending school away from home or training, but it's more likely as a child. Finally, Morrigan has hardly been around anyone except for Flemeth. She should sound extremely similar to Flemeth rather than her own dialect, right? Or does a person create their own over time?

[vigilskeep]

do you think orlesian is probably the primary language things like books and things are written in thedas (outside of tevinter and par vollen)? i've been thinking, and while irl reading/writing latin was considered the base for literacy afaik (though english and the like was still read and written, it wasnt the primary language of 'published' writings), with tevinter being 1. present and 2. considered bad overall, they would probably move away from it in a way the western world didnt, and orlesian is the language of the other largest colonial power in thedas. there are still obviously holdovers from tevinter, such as the names of the months used by scholars, but still. just a thought though!

(i wonder, if orlesian is considered "the" language, if there could feasibly be a movement in fereldan among ferelden nationalists (vs chantry loyalists) to write primarily in other languages, perhaps dwarven runes, given that ferelden most likely has the closest relationship to orzammar apart grom tevinter and common is based off dwarven (and likely written in a derivative of the dwarven alphabet), but truthfully this movement would likely be dependent on fereldan developing a chantry of its own, as you and v-arbellanaris proposed, which as of yet, they have not done, if only due to the precariousness of their position post blight, though i am very surprised anora and/or alistair didnt move to do so when they allied with the mage rebellion)

i would expect an orlesian language (in an au setup where languages behave normally in thedas) to take supremacy among the nobility in much of southern thedas, very much like what actually happened in england when conquered by a french ruler. and yes i would expect southern thedas to move away from tevene with more alacrity than europe from latin considering the difference between admiration and stigma, though it’s probably worth saying as an aside that french is a romance language descended from latin and considering the similar history i’d be very surprised if that didn’t hold true with tevene to orlesian

given the orlesian empire’s strangehold on the chantry, i also in my heart firmly believe the southern chant is in orlesian, and thus religious & maybe also magical texts

the common or trade tongue in dragon age is supposed to be derived from the dwarves but obviously this is nonsensical in comparison to the dwarven language we see if we accept the trade tongue as english, if you even take the english version of the games as “canon”, so i do just take that and run with “all dragon age dialogue is translated and is whatever language u believe it to be”. free real estate. like i believe trade tongue is a commonly used lingua franca sure but i don’t believe it sounds like what we’re getting “realistically”. as for dwarven runes there IS this bizarre lore that dwarven runes are used on signs even on the surface bc peasants can’t read their native language... but... why can the peasants read runes instead... it’s not like they’re pictorial or anything we’ve seen dwarven runes

[gxldencity]

5, 9, and 18 for Dolores and Lucanis <3

5. Do they have different cultural backgrounds (e.g. a Rook who was raised in Antiva with Harding who was raised in Ferelden)? If so, do they ever share parts of their culture with each other? If they're similar, how do they celebrate their culture together?

Not me having Best American Girl in their playlist alfmsd

Yes and No? Like Dolores is Trevisan born to a wealthy merchant prince family and spend the first 10 years of her life in the city. Her family's estate is actually just a few blocks away from Villa Dellamorte and Caterina and her Lola Josefina are besties 💔 (as in they're the only two people who tolerate each other after so many decades). In a better timeline where Dolores wasn't sent to the Circle, she and Lucanis would've been in the same social circle. (I have that AU brewing in my head where Dolores and Lucanis are closer in age and did grow up together hehe).

Dolores's family is Antivan-Seheronese so her the household she grew up in wasn't typically Antivan. For one their house doesn't have the common Antivan architecture, favouring styles from Seheron or a style that's common in Antivan cities that have a large diaspora Seheronese community (like in Treviso I suppose). They also don't have their meals in courses and in more than one occasion, eat with their hands on a banana leaf.

But also....Dolores hasn't stepped foot in Treviso since she was 10 and Antiva in general since she was 17. She's 28 now and has considered Minrathous her home for many years. It wasn't by choice at the beginning but she has grown to love Minrathous, warts and all :). She honestly sees herself more as a Minrathous citizen than an Antivan one and through her time in Minrathous, she has adapted to the culture well (beyond the accent ig). She prefers spiced tea over coffee and loves the occasional boiled coffee even as an energy booster. Dolores also is used to all the magi-tek going on in Minrathous that she forgets things like candlehops and bright neon lights that automatically turn on and off at the correct hour don't appear outside of Tevinter.

Through this all, Dolores manages to keep up with her Seheronese culture, more so in Tevinter actually bc of a bigger diaspora community from Seheron. Her guardian, Charon Aeneas Mercar is 2nd gen Tevene born Seheronese. His family fled from Seheron to Tevinter after Par Vollen retook it. In between learning how to be a proper Tevene citizen, Dolores learn about Seheronese culture from Aeneas and practice the language with him.

But man Dolores longs to return to Antiva. It may have chewed her up but that is still home.

With that being said, food is very important to both Dolores and Lucanis—their ideal date is just cooking together—and it is one of the ways they share their cultures with each other. Dolores has learned to make Lucanis's coffee just as he wants it and even got some recipes from Caterina to try out. Lucanis adapted some Seheronese Tevene dishes to make for Dolores (he makes paella with coconut milk, sticky rice and turmeric now hehe)

9. Does your Rook bring them out often? How are they like on the battlefield? Do they banter much?

Lucanis hasn't had a day's rest since Dolores picked him from the Ossuary. She brings him out all the time. Mostly bc she believes in his skills and they do synergize well lmao. Dolores is a Death Caller and all Lucanis has to do is to make a tiny little cut and Dolores will make all of the cells in their body explode.

Exhibit A:

But alfkldk at the beginning they didn't coordinate well. It's only after Dolores stopped bickering with him that they started working together well.

Their banter goes from Dolores one-sided bickering that sounds like she's yellning band Lucanis's one sided yearning to Lucanis making her laugh through his corny jokes to cheering each other on and being quite affectionate with each other.

18. When all is said and done, where would they like to retire together? Is marriage in the cards for them? Children? Pets?

Yes yes yes 🥺. Lucanis actually proposed to marry Dolores on the morning after the final battle. He didn't even have a ring but he didn't need one to ask for her hand in marriage 🥺. Dolores said yes ofc and Lucanis got her a nice ring a few months later. It's not his mother's opal ring bc that's just....she was wearing it when she died.

It would've happened the night of that final battle but they were uhhh busy. Liwanag was also conceived after the final battle 👀 and it's why Liwanag is more Fade sensitive than most, including mages.

Speaking of which, yes they'll have two mage daughters, Liwanag and Marielle. I made them both in the CC. As you know, Liwanag is more Fade sensitive than most people, like she can hear and talk to Spite. Meanwhile, Marielle is a dreamer.

The point of all of this is that Lucanis is surrounded by his mage wife, his mage daughters and Spite.

I still dont know where I want Dolores and Lucanis to settle. Otoh, it'd be nice to be in the Dellamorte House but otoh....retiring in Dolores's family estate in Seheron and raising chickens and pigs 🥺

[eluviansandevanuris]

Fashion of the Winter Palace: Dorian

When Josephine announces that they are to chose their own clothes for the ball at the Winter Palace Dorian retreats to his library corner to think.

For all his glib jokes, Dorian is intimately aware of how mages from the Imperium are perceived, it doesn’t matter that he’s not actually a magister. For the nobles of Halamshiral that is all they will ever see him as.

He could wear one of the uniforms that Josephine commissioned, but hiding who he is has never been one of Dorians’ strong suits. He will not hide, not here and not in Tevinter. 

He will never ‘play the part’

And so Dorian gets to work, he will treat this as any other soirée in the imperium, he will dazzle and intimidate, enthral and horrify. Orlesian fashion is oddly simpler than Tevene fashion. Yes more styles come and go every year, but it’s not like the secret language of Tevene fashion where every stitch speaks.

When Dorian is announced at the Winter Palace, a momentary hush falls over the ballroom and one Orlesian noble faints, Dorian looks majestic, he looks regal, he looks like a magister of old.

The outfit he wears in many layered and complex, with whisper thin inky black silk as an under-robe , the ends peaking out making it appear as if he’s walking on smoke. The over robes are rich and heavy with golden embroidery, glimmering in the light of the Winter palace.

If one looks closely many of the looping swirls of brocade hide glyphs of protection and resistance to poison. 

The black velvet surcoat is a thing of beauty, wide shouldered and high collared adding to Dorian’s daunting appearance.

The sleeves of the ensemble are eye catching and mesmerizing, the eyes of a dozen peacock feathers wink at the gathered masses.

Dorian leaves no part of himself unadorned, his eyes are lined with shimmering gold and curved around his ear is a golden serpent cuff.

As he walks through the halls of Halamshiral scandalized whispers bouncing off the marble walls, Dorian cannot help the small satisfied smile that curves along his lips.

[endawn]

throwing cyrodiil into da and i think they used to be a vassal to tevinter years and years ago. enough where there’s a lot of overlap in culture and language. cyrodilic using tevene as the root - fantasy latin - and both having ancient greek / roman aspects. enough to where pax, dorian and neve can communicate with each other outside of the trade / common language. enough for them to pick up when pax curses in cyrodilic because he doesn’t like people to know when he is cursing in the first place.

[kenwaysfolly]

language in thedas has always been poorly thought out because what do you mean ferelden and all the marcher states and most other human countries speak common which is a trade tongue originated by dwarves* when tevinter colonised southward. common should be tevene in origin and have developed specific dialects. also i know that zevran was out here saying mi amor in dao but this world is so unserious for having orlesians speak actual french while also having a conlang with enough recognisable patterns like qunlat. actually if they were gonna go that direction, their minor tevene slay for, yes, having direct latin loanwords or origins but also inventing other stuff that fits the vibe and doesn't resemble latin as heavily like fasta vass and vanhedan

[my-dear-anonym]

My-Dear-References: Dragon Age Resources

Spread the Wealth!

If you have any references you would like to see compiled here, let me know and I'll look into it.

Characters: Dialogue, Traits, References, and More

Character Conversations:

DAO: Companion on Companion Dialogue DA2: Companion on Companion Dialogue || PC on Companion Dialogue DAI: Companion on Companion Dialogue || PC on Companion Dialogue (Big Shout Out to @daitranscripts Veilguard: Companion on Companion || PC on Companion Solas' Voice and Dialogues

Character Ages:

A List for Companions

Character Heights:

Coming...Eventually

Stuff I've Gathered on...

Lucanis:

Armor Facts, History, Relationships, General, and Crow Related

Harding:

Family, History, General, Dwarf Magic, etc

Veilguard End Romance Flower Images

The Nations of Thedas:

Foods for Different Nations Names for different Cultures (shoutout to @schizcolephrenic) Cultural Views and Interactions with Spirits Across Thedas Rivaini and Qunari Fashions and Architectures (Plus a little tevinter)

Languages:

Ancient Tevene Qunlat Orzammar Dwarf Ancient Elvhen: Fan Compliations: 1, 2 || Canon Translations Antivan: I use Spanish, but there's also THIS Swearing in Common

Antivan Crows:

Here is the Wiki Here is everything you get out of Zevran through dialogue part 1 and part 2 (huge shout out to @eveninglakehomeworld)

Date of Events:

The dates of various installments of the series, placing the games and published content on the Dragon Age Calendar.

Wicked Grace:

Wonder how to play the game? Want to know just enough to implement into a fic? Here you go.

Herbalism and Plants

Random tidbits from Veilguard

I'll update this at my own fancy. (I've got all this shit bookmarked and tabbed out so we'll see)

Unsorted references I haven't had time to place yet but want to come back to later:

[pupkinpumpkin]

https://www.tumblr.com/thievinghippo/763052703781879808/31-days-of-dragon-age?source=share

Oct 21: Introduce your Inquisitor

*long inhale*

Nah I'm just kidding. Kinda

I've done like 3 different posts about her, so this one will be a bit of a combo of all of them

Marella Lavellan

Born to be in STEM, forced to be The First, aka woulda been a great artificer

She never believed in the Creators, was bisexual in a homophobic clan, and had large expectations put onto her the second she developed magic, which was when she was 8, so basically she's a gigantic mess who modifies her personality and beliefs so her clan will accept her and has heavy religious guilt and trauma.

Also she has pyrophobia because when she was 20, her secret girlfriend was pushed into a fire by some rogue Templars and then died.

Basically throughout the Inquisition she slowly learns to stop being people pleasey, accept herself as she is, and grows some self confidence

She gets with Cullen, and I personally really like this since they both have had very negative experiences with the opposite faction and instead of fixing each other, they learn to fix themselves but act as a rock and a person to lean on for the other. Cullen would have gotten off lyrium without her and she would have learned to become her own person without him, but their relationship gives them someone to depend on during the worst moments of their journey to self betterment.

And, personally, she would've given him a lot more pushback on the idea of the 'danger' of free mages than is allowed in-game

Her best friends include Cole, Cassandra, Josephine, and Dorian, with Solas and Sera being close seconds. Dorian specifically really helps Lavellan gain the confidence to be herself, specifically after his personal quest.

I think even with the insane amount of pressure she was put under in her clan and the way she never really felt she could be herself in it, she is still proudly Dalish and would never turn her back on her culture and heritage. She just learns that her version of what it is to be Dalish is different from the one her clan believes in

Fun facts include:

- She's trilingual! Knows Elvhen, the Common Language, and Tevene due to a family friend of the clan being an ex slave from Tevinter. Dorian teaches her more as they become friends

- At first, she's a little uncomfortable with Cole because he can feel all the hurt she's always trying to hide, but she really grows fond of him and sees him as a little brother in the end, helping him help others in her free time

- She has a panic attack in Wicked Hearts Wicked Minds!

- She would genuinely be a top player of The Game if the whole thing didn't stress her out so much

- Right after becoming Inquisitor, she asks Josephine and Vivienne to teach her about Thedosian politics

- Her ears move in accordance to her emotions

- She had a big crush on Cassandra at one point

- She and Dorian hit it off so well in the beginning and hung out with each other so much, that people thought they were together in the early days of the Inquisition

- Her sister, Ehlyena, also never believed in the Creators, but unlike her, Ehlyena ran away from the clan at 14 and converted to Andrastianism. I like to think that she visits Lavellan after In Your Heart Shall Burn, so its a nice family reunion, but it's also really weird. Imagine finding out your little sister is God's special little boi but also your sister doesn't believe in God

Anyway ya that's mostly it

[platoniccereal]

language thoughts!!

orlesian certainly influenced fereldan variant of the trade tongue, kinda like the real french language influenced english during the invasion. it's kinda canon. i wrote about this before, but it's a nice save for bioware, because they recreated at least two languages that influenced english back in the day. also, kinda a cool choice to name the chantry, i.e. a word of french origin, iirc, that way, since most of religious terms regarding christianity came to english from latin, but in thedas the chantry is an orlesian organisation. but since some latin/tevene religious (and other) terms still exist in common, it has an interesting correlation with the way tevinter influenced the entire continent. so, some words that the orlesian chantry uses are of tevene origin.

also, i believe, the language of elves might have lots of borrowings from tevene due to their history as well. i guess many languages may influence the language dalish elves use daily in modern thedas, which is cool, but i believe the borrowings from tevene would be most numerous ones, and there may be lots of cognates??

also, since the trade tongue came from dwarves, it'd be cool if the dwarven language itself left some traces in it? from what's written in the lore, it seems that some words from dwarven are used among dwarves themselves, but it would be reasonable if peoples from the surface used them, too? and could understood these words when they're speaking to dwarves??

same with qunlat and rivaini, and somewhat with other regions qunari were able to conquer. it would be interesting to see words that stayed in their languages even when the active influence of qunari was gone from these regions. especially since the way of life of qunari is so different from that on the continent, and there would be so many new concepts.

it would be even more interesting to suddenly hear a tevene word in the speech of an elf, or read some letter from rivain using some of the qunari terms – in the canon itself. it'd be cool if bioware showed such dedication systematically, it would connect thedas even closer together.