#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

[bearloonz]

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

[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

[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.

[jespardon]

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

nighttime version under the cut

[sunlight-shunlight]

thinking about veilguard and bioware in general, i think we are reaching a point where people need to grapple with the inherent limits of what stories can be told in our Current Society and in AAA gaming companies.

on a labour level: mass layoffs, tons of developers leaving despite previously talking about how passionate and happy they were to be involved, not even paying severance, and crunching employees to the point of burnout. this is unfortunately pretty standard for AAA game companies.

on a cultural level: it is SO white and SO centrist-ly Canadian. i wrote up these asks outlining how. it is a repeated pattern of writing in which they go into tortured racial oppression allegories at best, while constantly peppering in a "but BOTH SIDES were wrong and made mistakes :( :( :(", in between their fictional atrocities that are clearly mirroring irl genocides and enslavement. or at worst, it's "the qunari are radical islamic borg" which has even less nuance. i personally thought, since dai came out in 2014, and a lot has changed since then about the world and in public awareness, that this would have filtered into the narrative and resulted in more satisfying and historically grounded writing. unfortunately not the case. it's shocking if you compare it to how sharp and aware and unflinching something like disco elysium is.

so what does this mean?

under these conditions, it is unavoidable that we get development by people who are rapidly cycled out of the company or demoralized into burnout. we get digestible, easy little soundbites of lore without much substance, because any complexity needs more time and coordination rather than the process of "quick, we have these assets, a lot of people involved in making them just got laid off, we need to make Something by next quarter to show the CEO". we get very little cohesion between games, despite the clear intent from dai to have so many plot points set up to follow through in a sequel, because the team and development are so chaotic that they can't hold onto a vision and complete it.

we also get this inherent caution and "conservatism" from the narrative, because on an ideological level, they're largely white people who want cops to be included in pride. so any major change to even a fictional society is Bad and Scary, and shouldn't be done without making sure that every character finger-wags appropriately at non-state violence. there is clearly not much ideological or even ethnic diversity within the leadership; or at least not enough that anyone there felt comfortable even speaking up on minor issues like the Incredibly Orientalist Isabela Outfit, let alone anything larger.

i don't personally think there's too much value in trying to analyze veilguard's plot or lore at this point. the final product is chaotically developed and does not seem to reflect the goals of the creators as set up in prior games, it's basically a ship of theseus in terms of the people and ideas involved in making it. this is sad for all of us, who were interested in the story, and attached to the characters, and were creatively fulfilled by engaging in the fandom. it's probably worse for the developers who have lost their jobs, burnt out, or feel unhappy with the game that they spent years of their life working on. it's certainly miserable as an indictment of The Industry, as well as the general societal climate of white Canadian centrism.

the solution is to create a society where people can develop games in peace and prosperity and stay on projects for longer, rather than constantly getting turfed out without severance pay. and to get some genuine leftists, poc, and indigenous people on staff who can weigh in and provide significant input, rather than a Council Of Liberal White Edmontonians every time.

in the meantime, at the very least, let's please stop preordering AAA games and supporting companies who notably abuse their employees.

[medicalunprofessional]

never change, man !

[gyroshrike]

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

[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.

[mythals-whore]

Here is why i find it strange that there are some people who seem to think Minrathous specifically is too sanitized:

*a specific gripe that doesn’t have that much to do with the overall post but frustrated me all the same

To be so clear with anyone reading this, i am telling you why I personally do not take issue with there not being *sigh* more slavery in this game.

You don’t see more slaves (other than the ones you explicitly free) because you’re in the poorest part of Minrathous and the slaves, presumably owned by all the altus families, would be living in slave quarters with the altus families in the nicer parts. (Read up on the depiction of slavery debt vs. chattel HERE if you care)

Now that’s the easiest answer. But for anyone making this complaint, that isn’t good enough because we want to see the horror or it Doesn’t Exist. So allow me to continue.

What we learn form Dorian in DAI is that he doesn’t think slavery is wrong because his family ‘always treated their slaves well’. To treat slaves poorly in Minrathous is seen as Bad. It’s a moral responsibility to treat slaves well. Obviously, not everyone abides by this (I’m looking at you, corpses outside if Zara’s bloodbath chamber) but it’s the party line, if you will.

So, no. There aren’t slaves being whipped in the streets. Or…whatever else you might want to see. Because everything that happens in Tevinter, happens behind closed doors. Even blood magic is ‘officially’ frowned upon. Tevinter prides itself on a public stance that often isn’t reflected in actual moral practice. And I could tell you that it feels more indicative of politics as they are in real world now to have the outward stance be very different than the actual beliefs and values/morals held. But this post is about the apparent lack of slavery/racism in Veilguard, so I digress.

I have seen a lot of people bring up up alienages, or the lack-there-of in Minrathous. Which is, in the south, an area where the elves live similiar to ghettos/slums. Alienages were set up by Divine Renata I after the Exalted March against the Dales. They are a direct result of elves being forced into one walled-off part of town and creating a subculture based in-part on Dalish influence/heritage (the tree of the people being an example).

Stay with me.

Tevinter doesn’t have alienages. But Minrathous has Dock Town, which we are told explicitly is the poorest part of Minrathous. And we see that it is the poorest part because there are beggars everywhere and literally shanty towns along the streets where people are living. We are told explicitly by Neve that no one cares about Docktown except her (and the Shadow Dragons). There are demons running rampant, murders, thievery and no one cares because it’s Dock Town. Presumably because the Templars/any other sort of police they may have are a) corrupt and b) who cares about the poors??? They don’t contribute anything to society anyway and we don’t care about them.

In Dock Town most of what we’re seeing are not slaves, you’re right. They’re likely Liberati, freed slave class. Who are graciously allowed to begin a trade or join a Circle. They are not, however, allowed to serve in the military, the government, hold any rank in the imperial chantry. Also in Dock Town: the poorest of the Soperati, who can own property and serve in the military but otherwise have no representation in government or any real rank in the imperial chantry, or in general the ability do any social climbing. So they can never move up, they always stay stagnant, always poor and weak and never ever able to do anything about it.

This is your alienage equivalent, if it’s not clear. You’re in it. No, it isn’t walled off. But it doesn’t need to be walled off or called an alienage to be that part of town.

And before you ask about the tree of life, Tevinter slaves (and therefore the liberati class) are not just elves. They’re humans, dwarves and Qunari also (this is from World of Thedas Vol. I). All of which have different backgrounds, traditions and would not come together to form such a cohesive culture based on their Dalish heritage for reasons i’m sure i don’t have to spell out.

On a final and a bit of a personal note: i live in the southeast US. Bible belt. I grew up in a majority white suburb, and yes, I’m white. So as I said, if you have a different take, you’re entitled to it and maybe my opinion means nothing. But I grew up constantly hearing about the part of town that we don’t go to. Don’t go to that shopping center, its too close to [part of town where the minorities live]. And i tell you this to say that i never heard any of the adults in my life use a slur, but it doesn’t mean they weren’t being racist. And in fact, a lot of then pride themselves on not being racist and fail to see their implicit biases and the systemic racism.

So yeah, i guess to me, the minorities and the poor people being relegated to the part of town no one cares about, where crime and corruption are rampant is racism/classism as i have witnessed it most commonly in real life. It seems odd to me that people missed it or that it seems to not be ‘enough’ for people when it’s the kind of racism that is the most rampant in the present times (at least where i am) even if it’s not as explicit.

Again, i could get into the 40 acres and a mule, post-civil war reconstruction failures that kept black people down (share cropping) and is still keeping them down now and all the ways that minorities having the ‘same rights’ somehow tricks some people into thinking that racism and bigotry doesn’t exist anymore (just because Dock Town isn’t walled off doesn’t mean the people who live there are reasonably free to live elsewhere). But maybe that’s for another post where we talk about how freeing slaves is good, but not nearly enough to actually help marginalized people. (Government reform, which you know…you get to choose the new archon but that is irrelevant and doesn’t mean anything)

*I’d also like to say that i saw a post which referenced Chantry teachings that say kissing elves is like kissing a dog. I don’t know about this. What I do know is that in The Masked Empire There is a scholar out of the university in Orlais who comes out (on the authority and encouragement of Gaspard) and says that to lie with an elf is to lie with an animal because they’re more like rabbits and follow their baser instincts. I can only assume this is to what that post is referring. You may correct me if i am wrong.

So #1 it didn’t come from the chantry, as i remember. And #2 the schism between the Northern and Southern chantries is widely known, so what applies to one may not apply to the other. Very big rift. So it’s not surprising to me that this doesn’t come up, is all I’m saying.

[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!

[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

[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!!)

[tinyevilgremlin]

there's just something about how, through wang qing's voice, cheng xiaoshi breathes life into his own feelings,

"just due to some difference, i've been judged, ignored, and bullied by everyone around me."

the bullying wang qing faced may have been for a different reason, but it's bullying nonetheless, it's these teenagers harming and holding power over another "just due to some difference", it's what happened to a young cheng xiaoshi after his parents left him, it's what continues to happen to so many children and teenagers all because they're perceived as "different", and others deem this difference as "wrong", as enough of a reason to justify their cruel behaviour.

these lines are universal in that sense, anyone who's been on the receiving end of such ostracization, of such hurt and humiliation, would relate to it, and this is why it's just so, so cathartic when he has this outburst — lc lays emphasis not only on his heartbreak at being abandoned, but also everything else he has had to endure because of said abandonment.

[lizzybeeee]

"No, unless you find a way to save us all from darkspawn and become a Paragon, we're pretty much on Beraht's leash for life."