#Black Emporium

[fashionablyfyrdraaca]

The Black Emporium as it appears in Dragon Age: inquisition

[lioncubofboone]

I dove headfirst into SoLavellan hell for @black-emporium-exchange and had an absolute blast. Check out my piece on AO3! Here's a snippet:

The King's Gambit- LettersandCoffee

He could not understand the urge to reach for Lavellan, but as all things did, this too would pass. Solas reminded himself that everytime they walked together, his knuckles white around his staff. This too would pass.

[exhausted-archivist]

DA2: Things I've Noticed Prt 1/?

I've been replaying Dragon Age 2 just to explore and also play through some routes I haven't done before. Got my first rogue Hawke and I'm planning on romancing Anders because I haven't romanced him yet.

But this is more of just cataloguing things I've noticed throughout my playthrough:

Bethany starts off with a staff that deals cold damage.

Worthy, the rune crafting dwarf has what appears to be a hunk of red lyrium on his crafting table in Act 1. Before you even go down into the Deep Roads. This is also found in the Black Emporium.

When you talk to the Expedition Hirelings next to Bartrand one of them mentions that the Expedition is planned to be 2 weeks long.

When entering the Chantry, Sister Lorena and Sister Samea will speak of Fereldan orphans in Darktown.

Sister Lorena: Those children! The orphaned Fereldans ran off again after we fed them. Sister Samea: I wish they'd let us help them. It'd be better than scraping by on the streets in Darktown.

This paired with dialogue from Sebastian paints the picture that not only does the Chantry go out of its way to "help" in some way, but if they do help you they fully expect you to become part of and work for the Chantry.

Sebastian: (In Darktown) Why do these people not come to the Chantry? The brothers and sisters would find a place for them.

Sebastian: (In Darktown) So many souls waiting to be brought to the light.

When you go to the Hanged Man, there is a "Talkative Man" who speaks of a conspiracy theory that there are more mages due to lyrium being put in the water. (Which is likely a joking reference but Mm. Opinions.)

In the Black Emporium, you find the Andraste in Nude Repose - Invisible codex. Where it speaks of how enchanters were tasked with extending what we know to be the veil, to hide Andraste's nude form. To tuck her away in a sense, into the Fade. Which implies some heavy veil muckery that might be on par with some old magic we’re vaguely aware of. Given it has lasted ages.

The eluvian used for the mirror of transformation is a reused asset of Merrill's eluvian but it has chunks of red lyrium coming out. This was redesigned in Inquisition to be a simplified and universal eluvian.

Aveline and Varric both acknowledge that most people in Lowtown or are crimnals/thieves can't read. Adding onto the fact established in Asunder that most of the common folk rely on pictures.

To add onto that, based on set building there are books in the kitchen which implies that at least a level of literacy might be had with at the very least the lead cooks. To follow recipes, inventory, ect.

There are peticoats, frocks, and other historical clothing referred to by Gamlen and Bethany when speaking of clothing.

Leandra doesn't have a single child who isn't self-loathing unless the player doesn't choose those options. Bethany seems to deal with more of the emotional dumping/guilt than Carver does. Which is... Yeah, I got thoughts.

When you first meet Anders, you have the first accusation that Merideth and her templars are abusing their power (If you haven't gone to the gallows yet, which at the time I hadn't.) The example is that they are turning over a dozen mages tranquil in 9:31, presumably this is happening in late summer/early autumn given Awakening considerations. So it's been almost a year, August at the earliest; and they've already exceeded more than one tranquil a month.

Anders has surgical tables with a slit to help with drainage and a gutter that empties into a vessel. Which is neat in consideration to what we know of their medical status.

[black-emporium-exchange]

HOW TO SIGN UP FOR BLACK EMPORIUM!

Yes sweet nuglets, it’s that time of year again: Time to sign up for Black Emporium!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN-UP!

↳ Helpful Links:

Rules & Assignment Requirements || Participation Walkthrough Guide || FAQ || Requests on Ao3 || Tagset || Nominations Spreadsheet || Request Database || Parent Collection (All Past Years) Signups end: July 13th @ 9 AM US Pacific / 12 PM US Eastern / 4 PM UTC+0 || Countdown

↳ Reminders

RULES & ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS: Please take the time to re-read our Rules and the requirements for assignments before signing up. RATINGS: If you are interested in receiving or creating Mature/Explicit level works (see Ao3 rating(s)), you must "opt in" by checking the "E" box for both offers and requests. Please note you must be 18+ to offer/request/create Mature or Explicit level gifts. For a more detailed explanation, click here. TREATS: If you are open to receiving treats, or a specific type of treat (single-recipient, multi-recipient, fanart, fanfic), you must "opt in" by saying so in the sign up description box. This field does not apply to your offers. For a more detailed explanation, click here.

For a how-to-guide of the whole exchange that includes all of the information in this post, please take a look at our Participation Walkthrough Guide and FAQ.

A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO SIGN-UPS BELOW THE CUT:

1. SIGN IN TO AO3

If you don’t have an Ao3 account, contact the mods for help!

2. GO TO THE BLACK EMPORIUM SIGNUP FIELD (LINK)

3. SCROLL TO THE “REQUESTS” FIELD

Once nominations are finished, you'll be able to sign up. In your sign-up, you'll specify the works you'd like to receive and the works you're willing to create. (They do not necessarily have to be the same!)

You must fill out at least three requests and three offers. You may only select each pairing once, but may give multiple ideas per pairing in your prompt.

If you are interested in receiving Mature- or Explicit-rated works, you must be at least 18 years old and opt-in by checking the appropriate box ("E"); this is not a guarantee you will receive a higher level.

You will have to fill out several fields on the sign-up form:

↳ Relationships

Here you can write in the relationships that you wish to request. As long as it is part of the tag set/eligible nominated pairings, it should be able to be selected here.

If your chosen relationship is in the tag-set but isn't auto-completing, this is unfortunately a bug on AO3's end that we cannot fix -- but if you copy and paste your relationship from the tag-set into this field, you should be able to submit. (Please contact moderators via email at blackemporiumexchange@gmail.com if you get an error and let us know what the error was.)

You may list between 1-3 pairings in the same Request field. That does not (necessarily) mean you want all three ships in the same fanwork. We allow multiple pairings in the same Request Field because it allows participants to request up to 30 unique pairings, rather than just 10. Some people group thematically, or by character.

Example of someone requesting three, non-connected pairings. The participant here loosely grouped their "platonic" ships together into one Request Field.

Example of someone requesting a pairing.

↳ Additional Tags

This field is to mark if you're open to receiving fanfiction, fanart, or both (check both boxes), for this request.

Example of someone requesting ONLY fanart for any pairings listed in this Request field.

↳ Ratings (Requests)

If you are open to receiving Mature- or Explicit-rated works, please check the box to indicate your interest. We use the AO3 ratings guide as far as judging what each rating entails.

Any participant under 18 should NOT indicate interest in M or E works, as those are intended for 18+ audiences only.

Please choose your ratings carefully! Indicating interest in receiving higher rating works does not mean you are guaranteed to receive them, just that other people will be allowed to gift them to you in this exchange. If you're not comfortable with that possibility, do not check this box.

This recipient did not check the "Explicit" box; they will not receive any Mature or Explicit level works.

↳ Letter

This is a place to put a link to a letter, if you have one. A letter generally is a completely optional, longer version of the description field, and might include more details you'd like your creator to know, or things like pictures that are hard to paste into the description box.

Letters are commonly hosted on Dreamwidth, Tumblr, Google docs, or other such freely accessible websites.

Please note that the moderators cannot enforce any DNWs you put only in your letter.

Completely optional field. Leave blank if you don't have a letter.

↳ Description

Please feel free to use this field to go into some detail about what you would like; this helps give the creator of your work some different ideas about what they could make for you.

If you are open to treats, please indicate interest. See "Treats" for more.

Examples of prompts or helpful information you could share with your recipient (reminder, your creator is not required to follow your prompts/likes):

General trope likes, e.g., Fluff, First Kiss, Dwarven lore, There Was Only One Bed, Enemies to Lovers, etc.

Stylistic likes, e.g., 2nd person writing, Tarot Card art, chat-fic, etc.

World state options you favor that are relevant to your prompt, e.g., Anora is Queen/Alistair is King, Canon Divergent - Multiple Wardens, Modern AUs, etc.

A sentence or two about why you like the pairing, e.g., "I love Cassandra being flustered around people she likes!"

"What If?" prompts, especially open ended ones, e.g., "What if Blackwall did the Joining ceremony with the Hero of Ferelden in DAO? Or met HoF in the Deep Roads during the Jaws of Hakkon DLC in DAI? Would they have similar perspectives, or different?"

Rating restriction clarifications, e.g., interested in E rated smut, but not E rated violence

Be sure to list your Do Not Wants (DNWs) — if they're not listed in the Description box of your sign up, then the mods cannot enforce your DNWs. If your DNWs are poorly worded or go against exchange rules, they will also be considered unenforceable.

Example Description. This person has NOT opt into treats and cannot receive any. Please see here for more help formulating your DNWs.

4. CONTINUE TO THE “OFFERS” FIELD

The process to Offers is similar to Requests when it comes to pairings and denoting interest in creating fanart and/or fanfic. However, there are a couple differences one should make note of:

↳ Ratings (Offers)

If you are interested in creating Mature- or Explicit-rated works, please check the box to indicate your interest. We use the AO3 ratings guide as far as judging what each rating entails.

Any participant under 18 should NOT indicate in creating M or E works, as those are intended for 18+ audiences only.

Please choose your ratings carefully! You will be matched on this field; if you're not comfortable with receiving prompts that may include NSFW or "E" elements, do not check this box.

↳ "Notes to mods" Field

If you want, you can write notes to the mods, but this isn't required. Some things you might want to include:

If you are under 18 or do not want to receive any "E" requests/prompts from your recipient, please put a simple "No 'E' requests" or in your sign up. This will not disclose your age as we have adult participants who have asked this of mods over the years.

If you're attempting to avoid all spoilers related to Dragon Age: The Veilguard, including any details that may be included in a prompt sign-up, please write a note to alert mods.

The AO3 username of any individual(s) you don't want to be matched with. You don't have to provide a reason as to why you don't want to be matched with someone, but we will rely entirely on the name(s) you enter; if you ask not to be matched with FanficWriter69 but you meant FanficWriter96, we can't guarantee you won't get matched. For the sake of everyone's stress level, triple check any names and make sure you're giving us their AO3 username.

Please do not use this field to ask to be matched with a specific person.

↳ "Any Relationship" Box

If you would like, you can offer to create a work for "Any Relationship."

PLEASE ONLY CHECK THIS BOX IF YOU TRULY MEAN ANY RELATIONSHIP.

The only qualifications you can make are the category of pairings (i.e. F/F, F/M, M/M, Other, Gen, or Multi) or by DA game (i.e. DAO, DA2, DAI). You cannot differentiate by any other qualification or request.

An example of someone offering to draw fanart for any F/F pairing.

An example of someone offering to create fanart and/or fanfiction for the pairing "Fenris & Donnic Hendyr," but requesting not to be matched with a specific user.

5. A NOTE ON MATCHING

After sign-ups are completed, creators and recipients are matched based on their sign-ups. Matches are one-way; that is, while it is possible A may write for B and B may write for A, you are more likely to have A writing for B, and B writing for C, and C writing for A.

You will be assigned to someone who has at least one request that matches at least one of your offers for the below two fields: relationship pairing and type of fanwork.

You will be matched with someone who requested:

at least one of the pairings for which you offered to write or draw ("Relationship" field), and

at least one type of fanwork you offered ("Additional Tags" field aka fanfic, fanart, or both — if both, you can create an assignment in either format; you are not obligated to create two assignments), and

whether or not you've both indicated interest in Mature- or Explicit-rated content ("E" checkbox)

You are guaranteed to have a match by the end of the date listed under "Assignments" in the schedule. If you do not have a match by then, please contact the mods via email at blackemporiumexchange@gmail.com.

[lathbora-virann]

I know it's probably not going to end up meaning anything, but I just went and took all these flycam shots because I realised that Xenon the Antiquarian seems to be visually quite similar to what we know of Ghilan'nain with all his excess limbs, mask-like face, and incomprehensible grey body.

We know he made a deal with an Antivan Witch of the Wilds to attain eternal life (but forgot to ask for eternal youth), but we don't know what she got out of the deal. We also don't know what he did to acquire all the excess limbs given he was originally a regular human noble from Kirkwall...

I don't have any conclusions but it definitely made my brain go hmm

[sluttyquarantinetheory]

[antivan-beau]

Black Emporium 2023 Letter

Thanks so much for checking out my letter! I’m so excited to see whatever you’ll create. These notes are more geared toward fic than art, but hopefully will give you some good ideas regardless of your medium.

General notes.

I really love humor in fan works. Feel free to let the characters get into silly situations, be awkward and unsuave, and to flex your humorous narrative voice. I’m a DA fan, so you know I love banter.

Action/adventure stories are great. I’m down for some canon-typical violence.

I’ve got no preference between established relationships or first-time-meetings. In either case, I like relationships to have a combination of “attraction at first sight” and “people who grow to understand/love each other more over time.”

Love it when people seem very different but find out they have more in common than they expect.

Rivals-to-lovers Good, but only with a fun, competitive vibe, rather than a “we truly hate each other” vibe.

I’m down for the angst. Feel free to give me messy (not abusive) relationships, and imperfect people trying their best to do right by each other. People who *could* have a good relationship, but circumstances beyond their control make that relationship impossible. You’ve got permission to hurt my heart, basically.

If you’re creating an E-rated work for any prompts where I specified that that was okay, feel free to message me on anon if you have questions about specific preferences.

DA-specific notes.

I’m not a fan of AUs that are fundamentally different from canon (modern AUs, soulmate AUs, etc.) Canon divergence is a-okay (“What if Morrigan showed up in Kirkwall during the events of DA2?”) and will probably be necessary for a few of the more obscure ships I requested.

When my prompts include a Warden, Hawke, or Inquisitor, I don’t have a preference for their personality. Want to write about your OC? Feel free! Want to write somebody generic with a default name? Go for it. Want to write about one of my OCs? Be my guest, but there’s no obligation.

Likewise, please don’t feel like you have to stick to any particular worldstate or set of decisions. Whatever you feel serves your story best.

[redwingpilot]

A frame from Ballistic's Mech Emporium this time! yes, I am making memes for frames that aren't properly out yet

[sky--phantom]

he really just sent a letter of complaint to their boss 😂

[achlysfx]

A few more potential artbook SPOILERS below the cut.

(Don't spoil game story in comments, please. Most of us still haven't beaten the game.) 😅

[greeneldritchfurby]

A collection of Tinky gifs!

[fashionablyfyrdraaca]

The Black Emporium as it looks in Dragon Age 2 (2011)

[thebookworm0001]

fully expect the lighthouse to be littered with the various macguffins that solas has collected (and broken) in his goal to rip down the veil

[maintitle]

I can't stop thinking about the implications of the Black Emporium DLC in Inquisition.

Picture this: Kirkwall is a ruined mess. There's still occasional struggle in the streets on a large scale. Mages and Templars still fight a guerilla war. Law and order is fighting to keep control but it's a long uphill climb. Starkhaven might even be threatening a war with it. The famously veil-thin city now has to face the same horror the rest of Thedas has, the rifts in the veil. Kirkwall is still years away from stability.

Enter the Inquisitor. They've arrived. Maybe they're going to save us, one citizen says? But instead of going to the Viscount's Keep or bolstering a resistance, the Inquisitor looks a citizen in the eye and says; "Damn that sucks. Where is the best entrance to the sewers?"

And then they're never seen in the city again.

[black-emporium-exchange]

NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN!

Nominations for the Black Emporium are live until July 3rd! Reach out and tell someone (namely: us) about your favorite rare-pairs (namely: any pairing under 300 complete fics on Ao3). You have twenty nominations to use. Pairings can be twosomes / threesomes / moresomes / etc. We believe in sharing the love.

How do you, in fact, become a true Fereldan buckaroo by nominating a rare pair or 20?

Go to the Dragon Age Rare Pair Tag Set and click Nominate (you have to be signed into Ao3 for the button to appear). For inspiration or to check if someone had the same idea as you, we have a Searchable Nominations Spreadsheet that we manually update.

For more information on this stage of the exchange and how best to format your nominations, please see below the cut:

Full Participation Walkthrough Guide || FAQ

Important things to remember: 

Pairings/groups must be nominated in order to be requested during the next phase of the exchange, Sign-Ups.

Nominations require a set format — keep reading for more details

All nominations should be under Dragon Age - All Media Types.

Pairings/groups cannot have more than 300 completed works on AO3.

We allow original characters in this exchange as well as canon characters. 

Nominating a pairing/group is not “binding”; you do not need to request or offer the pairing later.

Nomination Formatting: 

All nominations should be nominated under the “Dragon Age - All Media Types” fandom. 

Nominations do not need to auto-complete to be accepted; if Ao3 does not complete your ideal nomination, just type it in manually. 

For romantic/sexual relationships, please nominate the characters you wish to nominate with a “/” between each character. For familial, platonic, or otherwise non-sexual requests, please use a “&.” e.g., “Meredith Stannard & Orsino” would not have any sexual or romantic undertones. “Meredith Stannard/Orsino” would be considered sexual and/or romantic, even if the fanwork itself didn’t include any sexual acts.

Nominations should be spelled correctly. e.g., “Merrill”, not “Meril”

Nominations should ideally be in alphabetical order, by last name. If a character does not have a last name, use the first name instead. e.g., “Zevran Arainai/The Iron Bull/Solas”

If a character has multiple names or aliases, go by their “main” name. e.g., “Blackwall”, not “Thomas ‘Thom’ Rainier”

For Dragon Age player-characters (such as the Warden, Hawke, and Inquisitor, etc.), we treat different surnames and gender as different characters. Female Surana will be evaluated differently from Female Brosca, Male Surana, etc.

Nominating Dragon Age “Player Characters”

For the purposes of this challenge, the Dragon Age protagonists will be considered different characters based on their gender and surname. The three genders we utilize for this exchange are: Male, Female, and Nonbinary. 

When nominating characters, please format as such: 

Male [Warden Surname / Hawke / Inquisitor Surname]  (e.g., Male Trevelyan)

Female [Warden Surname / Hawke / Inquisitor Surname]  (e.g., Female Hawke)

Nonbinary [Warden Surname / Hawke / Inquisitor Surname]  (e.g., Nonbinary Brosca)

So, for example: “Male Trevelyan/Male Cousland” will be accepted as a nomination; “Inquisitor/Warden” will not.

You can nominate pairings where one version of the pairing is over the limit as long as the version you nominate qualifies. For example, you can request “Male Lavellan/Solas” or “Nonbinary Lavellan/Solas,” even if “Female Lavellan/Solas” is over the limit. 

Customized or individualized Wardens/Hawkes/Inquisitors are not valid nominations. For example, “Mary Trevelyan/Vivienne” would be ineligible; the requester would need to use “Female Trevelyan/Vivienne,” “Male Trevelyan/Vivienne” or “Nonbinary Trevelyan/Vivienne.”

In your prompts in your sign-up, you can request preferred details (such as specific OCs, a first name, looks, personality traits, class, background, etc.), and creators may choose to incorporate those elements into their gift for you. However, creators are not required to incorporate those preferred details, and works will not be checked for that by moderators.

Nominating "Dragon Age: The Veilguard" Characters

Yes, DATV characters are eligible for nominations!

For nominating "Rook," reports show that Rook's surname will be decided by faction, though the surname options haven't yet been revealed at the time of updating the Walkthrough/FAQ. Therefore, to make it easier for future tag-wrangling, please nominate Rook by gender (Female, Male, Nonbinary) and faction (as we currently know them):

Grey Wardens

Veil Jumpers

Shadow Dragons

Lords of Fortune

Mourn Watch

Antivan Crows

Eligible nominations could include: "Female Shadow Dragon Rook" or "Nonbinary Antivan Crow Rook" or "Male Mourn Watch Rook."

Nominating Characters from Other Canons (i.e. Crossovers)

We allow crossovers from other series so long as they are interacting with at least one canonical character. However, when nominating a character from another specific series, please put the name of the fandom the character is from in parenthesis after the name, for example: “The Iron Bull & James Vega (Mass Effect)”

For crossovers that are from different media within the Dragon Age fandom, no specification is needed, e.g., “Merrill/Solas.” 

Nominating Other Original Characters

Original Characters who are not Wardens/Hawkes/Inquisitors are also allowed to be nominated, provided they follow the following guidelines:

The OC is listed in such a way as to give someone freedom in how to write them. 

OCs should be generalized or archetypal. e.g., “my OC Gerald D’Vivir” is too individualized and customized, but “Male Orlesian Noble” is eligible

A good rule of thumb here is whether the character idea can be summed up in 3 or less words; if you can, it is probably a good option. If you cannot, it probably is too complex for this kind of exchange. e.g., "Tal-Vashoth Mercenary" or "Original Templar Character" is eligible; but "Older Blonde Warrior Dwarven Warden Widower” is not

If the gender of an OC is considered important to your request, please include it. If you are fine with any gender option, gender does not need to be added, and the creator of the work can choose their choice of gender options for the character. e.g., "Orlesian Noble" or "Female Orlesian Noble”

The OC is not listed in such a way that would, essentially, reflect the spirit of a canon character that is otherwise not permitted in a relationship. 

As an example, while it is possible to have an Original Female Elf Inquisitor who is not Lavellan, it is so close to canon based on that description that it would essentially function as the same character.

Lastly...

What are you waiting for? GET YE TO THE NOMINATING!

[dalish-rogue]

BELOVEDS ✨