#Aged Surfaces

[drsilasaslan]

Urban Decay Close-Up A close-up of a textured wall showing the beauty of decay with a mix of blue, red, and rusty tones. The peeling paint and cracks tell a story of time and impermanence. silasAslan.com

[ottosbigtop]

started playing in stars and time yesterday!! It’s really cute so far, I’m very excited to get deeper into the story :]

[fangsandfeels]

Playing Veilguard and making it everyone's problem

I am going to rant, and I will rant a lot, and there will be spoilers, so if you're not afraid of them and the game criticism, buckle up.

Elves and their gods

I am absolutely fucking livid about how Veilguard handles the Dalish and elves in general. The events of Trespasser made it clear that the elves started flocking over to Solas, including the elves working for the Inquisition:

After the events at the Winter Palace, elves left the Inquisition under mysterious circumstances, as did elven servants across Thedas. None could say where they went, but those who believed the Inquisitor's story about Fen'Harel wondered just how large the Dread Wolf's forces were... and what the ancient elven rebel had planned.

Solas had multiple spies working for him during Trespasser, and If I remember correctly, there was even a note, left by one of the elves - they were anticipating the great change and the return of the elven glory. Anyways, the established fact is that: elves learned that the stories about their gods were true and one of them now was going to restore the world as it used to be. At least, this is how they interpreted it (maybe, this is the version Solas didn't debunk) and so they started following him.

You might think, the Inquisitor and their allies are going to have a huge problem with breaking it to elves that their chosen leader isn't going to make things better and that their gods don't love them. Especially, if the Inquisitor is a human or anyone who isn't an elf. You'd imagine any attempts will end in failure because of course elves aren't going to listen to outsiders trying to explain their own culture and gods to them. You'd imagine that their trauma caused by centuries of oppression and discrimination will make it impossible for the Inquisitor and anyone else to make them see the truth.

You'd assume anyone who tries to find and stop Solas will be sabotaged every step of the way, feeling themselves horrible for having to clash with people desperate for a chance of a life without injustice - even if it means burning the rest of the world down.

You'd imagine that they will only change their mind if/when they see the harm done by Solas' actions and get to witness their gods true intentions by themselves - which would lead to a massive crisis of faith and schisms happening between elven tribes and groups.

You'd imagine will get all this incredible drama in the Veilguard, with elves initially resisting the group's attempts to stop Solas, then trying to pull themselves together after the revelation. You'd assume there will be zealous groups doubting Solas (because the Dreadwolf is a liar and a deceiver) and intending to use him to actually free the elven gods. You'd think this is how actually some of them get out.

But, NOPE. Not only Solas ends up working alone, with none of his followers throwing themselves at Rook and the party to buy him time, but also all elves now hate Solas because...Varric said so?

You meet a group of Veil Jumpers (elves devoted to exploring their ancient culture and history, learning more about their gods and reclaiming their heritage) and their leader instantly calls Solas an asshole. Based on WHAT?

I get it, Varric had met them before and told them that Solas was Fen'Harel...

(needless to say if you expect players to find and read other media in order to make sense of the events in the game, you are doing something wrong)

...but why were they so fucking calm about it, instantly eating up the "yep, he's bad" version? Even if the Dread Wolf is vilified in the Dalish mythology, wouldn't they be curious about what that means? Wouldn't they have gotten tempted or excited by the implication that other gods exist too? They weren't told the full story - why the fuck did they instantly accept the "Solas is an asshole" narrative? Especially when Solas comes with a promise of a world for the elves like it was meant to be?

WHY?

The Veilguard has no response for that. I guess, Dalish never cared about their history and traditions, and city elves were dandy about Alienages and oppression, so they easily believed some randos over a literal god promising a new, better world.

I don't even play Dalish, but I love their plotline and arcs - and I was bracing myself for some downright painful choices and conflicts during the next Dragon Age. But it felt like the writers couldn't be bothered with developing such a nuanced narrative, so they just waved it all down with "Nah, elves are chill now and they never really cared about their gods in the first place".

[witsserviceablesubstitute]

Obsessed with the fact that if you play as a Dwarven Inquisitor Varric attempts to give up his seat on the merchants guild and gift (foist) his inheritance onto you. He wants out of Dwarven politics so bad. This is after you keep finding pieces of his writing strewn about heavily critiquing the merchants guild and its relationship to Orzammar and Lyrium smuggling.

Obsessed at the merchants guild's response basically being a long suffering, "No, Varric". I like to think this isn't the first time Varric has tried to bequeath his seat.

[heylittleriotact]

No wonder Emmrich.exe stopped working when Rook asks if the tea in the memorial garden at the end of their outing was set up to impress them.

Death-man brought Rook to this place to try and help them sort through some of the feelings they need to confront in order to healthily mourn the death of someone who presumably meant a great deal to them.

The “light refreshment” was waiting at the end as a deliberate part of Emmrich’s care as a death professional. When I was in funerals we had coffee, tea, and freshly baked cookies waiting for every family that came in for arrangements, visitations, services, or after-care meetings: they’re comforting little gestures that people tend to really lean into during a difficult time.

So yeah. Given the circumstances and the reason for the outing to begin with, it would be a lot like someone showing up at the funeral home to make arrangements for their mum, looking at my spread of coffee and cookies and being like “Ooooh… are you hitting on me? 👀”

I would have had the exact same reaction Emmrich did lmao

[heniareth]

I love writing Origins bc I love Morrigan being snarky and tone-deaf and so so lonely and Alistair wallowing in grief and insecurity and also loneliness and Sten being simultaneously done with life and deeply depressed and Leliana trying to cheer everybody up and making them all out to be grand heroes of the realms so that maybe she can feel good about herself and Zevran deflecting with humor and flirting left and right while being corroded by guilt and grief and Wynne being so infuriatingly preachy but also genuinely very sweet, and Oghren drowning his sorrows in alcohol and becoming the most distasteful person known to man- elven- qunari- and dwarvenkind... And my Warden is standing in the middle, burdened with the mission to try and save Ferelden and possibly all of Thedas, having to reckon with the fact that their life as they knew it is over and that their time has been cut short, solving everybody's problems, experiencing the unique blend of social injustice proper to their heritage, AND. having to wrangle the above group of misfits. Honestly, nobody does it like the Warden. I too would read like I aged twenty years during that one year trip. What on earth

[jespardon]

Hot summer visits in the (lack of ?) intimacy of the van

nighttime version under the cut

[beetlethebug]

consider,,,a lucanis who is in love with emmrich, a spite who is in love with rook, a rook in love with emmrich, and emmrich who is in love with all three but wants lucanis, spite, and rook to get together because he feels he is not the type of man any of them deserve...

bonus points for spite being the one to realize just what sort of love quadrilateral is going on and is the one to get them all together.

[medicalunprofessional]

never change, man !

[gyroshrike]

Did I really draw Husk laying on Angel's lap two times in a row?

[vaguely-concerned]

'my cousin is all stomach and no heart' is such a funny thing for illario to tell rook if he maybe is picking up on a little bit of a Vibe going on there. the 'LMAO. well good luck with that friend. better hotties than you have tried and failed and dashed themselves against the legendarily unamorous cliffs of my cousin's complete obliviousness and lack of interest to no avail. (optional 'may I suggest a more hah-hem *undoes another few buttons on his shirt that thing is open almost to his navel now it's borderline obscene* available dellamorte for your consideration. I mean if you're like in the market for one anyway' devious undertone as you see fit)' energy is off the charts.

(illario is above all a funny petty bitch and that's why I love him so indescribably. no no lucanis is right we need him around to drop shade like this he is in fact also an essential crow. we all contribute in our own ways)

[rosieofcorona]

okay my darlings, i've seen a lot of takes on the AMA and this answer in particular:

and after mulling it over for a few days, i have decided to offer a scalding hot take for which i need you not to execute me marie-antoinette style, please 🙏🏻 (under the cut for length).

when epler said solas realized he doesn't have any "real regard" about the lives and goals of the elves, i didn't take it to mean that he is apathetic. i took it to mean the exact opposite, really. here's why. solas loves his people. incontrovertibly. he cares very deeply about their freedoms, about their existence, about what he's done to hurt them, intentionally or not. truth be told, it's kind of his whole thing. but their motivations are, as epler said, likely to be very different. solas always has very big picture goals. he wanted to free an entire people in arlathan. he wants to restore an entire people in thedas. and his followers, for their part, might agree with those larger goals. but their personal goals are likely not so large-scale. an elf or a spirit in arlathan might wish for simpler things for themselves. the freedom to choose their own path, their own fate, their own purpose. to keep themselves safe, to live in peace. to not serve all their lives under tyrants. an elf in modern thedas might want the same. to live without circles, or alienages, or clans. to not be derided or scorned or punished in societies that were built up around them, sometimes by their own labor. and solas wants to get them there, because he loves them. he does. but he cannot love them all as individuals (or as epler said, via "formal connections,") because it would be impossible. to save The People™ requires sacrifice, and solas knows this. all revolutions have martyrs, and solas knows this. individual goals, always, are dwarfed by the good of the cause, and solas knows this. and this, i think, is where he realizes that he would be doing them a disservice by using them as tools, even willing tools. that he would be robbing them of their lives and their own motivations by allowing them to continue in his service. when epler said that solas' rebellion turned him from being a leader, I took that to mean that solas learned from what happened in arlathan, with the spirits that he and felassan brought into battle. he loved them, too, and they died for him, and for his greater good. it was never malice or apathy against the individuals. it was what had to be done to accomplish his goals on a much grander scale. i think solas realized, near the end of his plans, that he could not continue to consider the elves as The People™, but as people- as full and separate lives, each with goals and needs and loves and purposes of their own. and yes, they chose to follow him, and yes, they may be sympathetic to said greater good. but he knows how many individuals have died in his name, even if they believed in what they were doing. solas has been through all this before. he knows the costs firsthand, where these people likely do not, not truly. he's seen the loss and the grief that comes after revolution, and he doesn't want that for them. because he loves them, both as his People and as his people. he doesn't want their lives reduced to his purpose, which will override their own unless he gives up his power. it's an act of love, to me, that he realizes this. an act of love to let them go, which the evanuris could never do.

[biancadavri]

Oh don't get me wrong I'm sad we've been getting so little about the dwarven kingdoms as much as the next orzammar fan but hey! If you get really into surface dwarves and their lore you can get fuck-all about them too!

[bestjeanistmonster]

Dc au- the bestest friends ever

Their dynamic means so much to me, this introverted kid from the sea that hasn’t been on land before being partnered with this walking traffic light who’s always pumped for a new adventure and never does what he’s told

Tails thinks he’s the coolest guy ever and wants to be his friend while Kit tries in vain to evade the power of friendship and wants to be professional cuz he’s too awkward to make friends and thinks Tails is annoying (at first)

I imagine during an attack on Gotham, Black manta this time, and Kit was pursuing him, damaging a lot of buildings in the process (caring about property damage is for losers) so Tails and Batman were trying to arrest them both until Tails (on his own) manages to get an answer out of him about the situation with black manta (cuz Kit frankly thought it was none of the land dwellers business)

So Tails insists on helping him despite Kit’s protests and together they mange to solve the mystery and arrest black manta

Kit recognises that Tails def has some cool skills Tails is like:

“Who knows, maybe next time your on land you could stop by Gotham and we can team up again!”

“…maybe.”

Tails has been upgraded to ‘potential ally’!

(As soon as Kit and Tails become officially friends, Kit lowkey becomes attached to him at the hip, usually standing next to him, going where he goes when their on a mission together like a silent shadow. They’re a package deal!!)

[thetorturedlovergirl]

Something I´d love to discuss more about is how traveling in the TARDIS probably changes a companion´s body.

I’m not saying eldritch horror stuff but they’re doing something their body is not used to, and will probably have to adapt to. You´re telling me they can´t see things better or be more sensitive to the passage of time? That their perception about the things around them hasn’t improved?

Like if River being conceived in the TARDIS makes her half time lord, then what happens to those who travel for years? They too must change, even if to a small extent. But still, subtle changes. Things that make them no longer like the rest of humans, even though they still look like one.

[grungusdollar]

I hear we're all being very normal about necromancer hands.

He strikes me as the sort to enjoy nursing a bourbon now and again