#Dalish Redux

[this-is-my-jaam]

Dalish Redux Update:

Hi guys! Just wanted to do a quick update on the redux project. I’m still working on it, I have just been having some issues regarding my mental health that have been sort of putting a stopper on my life, hence lack of updates. I’ll try to get the next set of outfits posted asap, but after that I will be on a bit of a hiatus while I get things back on track in my day to day.

Sorry for the radio silence, and thanks to anyone who has been following along so far!

[veliseraptor]

ok ok inspired by the recent success of the three sentence meme going to try my regular pre-flight 150 words meme. aka send me a number from the list of fics below and I will write 150 words in that fic

1. Pete sat down on the floor. Porsche, hovering, gave him a worried look. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” Pete said, then adjusted, “sitting.” 

“I can see that,” Porsche said. “Are you okay?”

Pete laughed. “No,” he said. He didn’t know when he was going to be okay again.

“Um,” Porsche said. After a couple seconds he sat down on the floor with Pete and put an awkward hand on his shoulder. “Do you, uh, want to talk about it?”

“No,” Pete said again. He didn’t know what he would even say, if there was anything to say. He was so tired and it felt like any minute now Vegas was going to die again, and he was just waiting for it to happen. (reduce, reuse, recycle)

2. “Can I ask you something?” Xiao Xingchen asked. Xue Yang glanced in his direction, fingers pausing on his keyboard.

“Sure,” he said. “Sounds ominous. Hit me.”

“It’s nothing bad,” Xiao Xingchen said. “I was just wondering if you remember what you said when we first met.” Xue Yang had said no before, in the hospital, but it’d clearly been a lie then. He was hoping maybe the answer would be different now. Xue Yang made some kind of face, but it was hard to read. 

That, Xiao Xingchen thought absently, was one of the things he was going to miss most: the ability to see Xue Yang’s face and read his expressions. Not just because he liked looking at him, but because it was going to get even harder to tell what he was thinking. (Redux)

3. Which brought him here, in a room with a dirty, scruffy boy of indeterminate age (a skinny fifteen, maybe), his hands tied behind his back and an expression of casual unconcern on his face. Unconcern, except for the dangerous glint in his eyes that Jin Guangyao was going to be careful not to forget.

“I didn’t say to restrain him,” he said to the disciples who’d brought him back. He hadn’t, to be precise, told them to bring him at all, but there was no point in saying so now.

“He tried to attack me,” said one of them. 

“After you got in my face,” the boy said. “You deserved it.” (jgy teaches xy to read)

4. Oh, no, Pete thought again, but with a little more despair this time.

“Take Pete,” Khun Kinn said.

Vegas’s gaze swept to Pete, flicked slowly over him from head to toe. “Isn’t he one of Tankhun’s?” he said. “He won’t be thrilled that you’re loaning out his bodyguard to me.”

“That’s not your problem.”

“Considering Tankhun,” Vegas said, “it actually might end up being my problem.” (the devil drives)

5. That slight hitch. A correction. The muscles between Fenris’s shoulders tensed and he thought abruptly, disjointedly, of a red-haired woman sitting at a table in the Hanged Man, the sudden realization…

“Anders,” he said. The mage barely glanced at him, seeming distracted.

“That big thing in the sky is scarier,” said the young girl. She, unlike her father, was looking at Fenris. “I heard it’s full of demons that’re trying to come out. What’re those lines on your skin, mister?” 

“They’re tattoos,” Fenris said. His limbs felt heavy. He glanced toward his sword, three paces away. “Meant to imitate Dalish vallaslin.” He hadn’t meant to say that. Something was wrong. “Anders,” he said again.

Anders was looking at his hands and frowning. “Bloody hell,” he said. “Where did you find magebane?” (the best all lack conviction)

6. Malkar meant it when he’d said he was going to demand a lot of me. He said if I wanted to be a hocus - wizard - nobody could know where I came from. “Do you think the Mirador will welcome a whore from Pharoahlight?” he asked me. “No one must ever know where you came from. They’d throw you out on the streets. Now tell me about the Curia again, and for god’s sake, mind your vowels.” 

And when I didn’t do well enough, fast enough, there were always consequences.

“This is how you learn, Felix,” Malkar said while I was shaking on hands and knees at his feet. He bent down and took my chin and tilted my head back so I was looking up at him, but he was gentle about it now. “It is for your own good.” (Pygmalion)

7. “Why are you so eager,” Song Lan asked. Xue Yang laughed, his smile turning sharper, a little less pleased.

“Why wouldn’t I be? A chance to help these poor people. Wouldn’t miss it.” Song Lan waited silently, and Xue Yang’s eyes cut away. “I’m curious, Song-daozhang,” he said. “Is there something wrong with that? Walking around with you and your judgmental glare gets boring. Give me a problem to chew on, a mystery to figure out, something.” (Walking Far From Home)

8. “Tell me...tell me how we met,” Xiao Xingchen said.

A brief pause that made Xiao Xingchen’s stomach swoop with sudden unease. “What,” his friend said lightly, “did you forget that, too?” 

“I’m…” Xiao Xingchen wasn’t sure if he should apologize or not. He tried to remember, even if thinking made his head hurt, searching through his jumbled thoughts. Something about the smell of blood? A fragment of thought: at least I might be able to fix this.  “You were hurt,” he said, half a question.

“Uh huh,” his friend said. “That’s good.”

“And I found you,” Xiao Xingchen said, a little more confidently. “Helped you.” (xiao xingchen + concussion)

[sundogsandrainbows]

STORY SUMMARY: Trust is a delicate flower that needs to get nurtured and time to grow. Even more so love. A tale of two disparate Wardens forced together, of finding a way to overcome the distrust, and their own painful past in the time of the Blight. Very in-depth, character-focused exploration of the Dalish origin/warden, of all DA:O companions, and their relationship dynamics during the Fifth Blight. Follows and expands on canon events; AU in some ways. Multiple POV's, origins, and pairings. Slow burn af.

CHAPTER SUMMARY -- CHASING ECHOES: Back on the road, Zevran has to find his own amusement to liven up the dreadful days of walking toward their new destination. But he gets more excitement than he'd bargained for when some ghosts of the not so distanced past start to appear in front of the Wardens, and a secret is revealed.

CHAPTER EXCERPT:

[...] The Wardens, of course, both stuck together at the front like glue, as they always did these days. Even when not talking they were in sync with their steps, despite the Dalish being more light-footed in the snow than the human stomping through it. Come to think of it, they’d been insufferably inseparable ever since he’d joined their merry band to escape the Crow’s retribution, actually. They were just not aware of such, back then. 

That strong bond between both Wardens was all the more apparent since their latest return from Orzammar and their private talk together that night. Ah to have been a fly at the proverbial wall there during it to understand what caused it, but alas. However, the dear Warden hadn’t realized that shift in her attitude toward Alistair yet, nor her feelings. Amusing, that. Unsurprisingly, Lenya also wasn’t at all receptive to his usual attempts of flirting or teasing, which probably was for the best as he already came too close to her flame. No reason to burn just because it was so bloody cold, no? 

Alas, this made the dear Warden not less interesting. Ah, to be able to gaze behind her prickly veneer and experience her fierce protectiveness instead of constantly being subjected to it when teasing Alistair would still be so worth it, indeed. He’d expect nothing more of her, always acting on the principle of reciprocation in interpersonal matters. Since there was nothing more loathsome than one person feeling entitled to another’s attention or time just because they shared the same vicinity or group. Progress with the dear Warden was glacial at best anyway, but there , so given enough time maybe – ah here he flew again too close, all too ready to burn, tsk . Zevran shook himself. Perhaps it would be better to fall back a little in their group instead to stare at her – admittedly very lovely and lean-muscular – back. Wearing lighter travel leather instead of her usual, more sturdy Warden armor,

Lenya would only leave Alistair’s side to periodically scout ahead with her mabari in tow. Either looking for impending danger, game to kill or a suitable place to camp the night, such as clearings or crevices of valleys in the hilly areas that started to come into view more often now. Before this it had been flat terrain only, leading along the last vestiges of that enormous mage lake that was curiously not frozen over. Still all in the same monochrome white, the snow as its pesky, sticky blanket. [...]

[CONTINUE READING] ||[READ FROM THE BEGINNING]

[kit-o-nine-tales]

List of DAO mods *I* have installed

 This is a giant list of mods I’ve got installed for Dragon Age origins, including links and my thoughts. Let me save you time when looking for things. It’s the least I can do for the fandom as someone who can’t contribute via creating mods, or fanart. (I write fanfic, but it doesn’t feel like much) This is also to help me achieve some degree of organization, as I am a mess and my memory is garbage.

General improvements (if you don’t wanna go ham (like I did lol), these are the basic essentials)

True colors REDUX - makes the vanilla tints less grey, very nice

Dragon Age Origins Unofficial Remaster - updates textures and makes things so much prettier (True Colors Redux is also included as part of this)

(Dalishious’ mods in general are great go look at them.)

Qwinn’s Ultimate DAO fixpack - this one. If you install nothing else, install this one. it fixes so many things that were left broken in the final release of the game.

Real Pigment - a skin tint fix - no more patchy skin, plus darker skin tones look so much better.

Universal dye kit - change your armor colors! it’s fun!

HQ Eyebrow stubble and scalp hair replacers

Boob patches be gone - removes those extra lines on the boobies of the standard mage robe, because they were silly looking

Neutral female armor - no more boob plate on the medium and heavy armor (also included in the unofficial remaster)

Goblet De-Gobbler - fixes common glitches with the Joining chalice

SJC’s vanilla face textures replacement - more detailed replacements for the default complexions (UOR has it’s own vanilla face texture replacers as well.)

Cosmetic mods - for all your chargen needs

Hairs

Look! Hair! - I’ve installed a ton of hairs from risibisi. Though not all of them (there are. so many. it’s awesome)

Tucked hair by tmp7704

Hairstyle day parts 1 & 2

DAO anto hairstyles

Elven hairstyles

Beautiful people hair ren (a chargen for it)

additional hairs for DA by boodrl

jenya’s random hairstyles (note, a few of these are bugged, check the posts tab)

Character creation expansion plus da2 eye tints

Miikocc hairs

AH00B Hairs

LOTC Hairstyles

Witcher 2 for DA

Raptures Witcher (just the aesthetics file, chargen here)

LHK’s mini hairpack

More hairstyles

Simpliciaty hairs

Hair tweaks and additions

elf hairs by dalishous

Anto Curls

Parisa Hair

KH blogspot

Fluffy bob for origin’s elves

Skins/face textures

Barnzi face textures

Ferelden models: KH textures + the face textures from face and eye textures (I am not using the eyes)

 Fairy face

Alice complexion

Rose complexion

FBD skins

Anna complexion

Another complexion

Pretty skins

Vitligo skins

Face textures

Blackmoon’s Human Female face textures (I renamed them to be additions, not replacements)

KH creator files (includes hair, skins, etc - but you’ll need to do some manual chargen file editing due to some incompatible quotation marks used within the provided chargen files. Overlaps with the FM files.) 

A new freckled skin texture for females

Warden complexions with eyebrows 

Lipstick - mole and freckles textures 

SJC’s skins

Dr. DJ’s bandit emporium - cool scars for your wardens (check the posts tab for how to extract the chargenmorph file)

New skins DAO by Vlissa 

Warpaint skins 

New textures by MissB 

Face texture beta 

Gizmodian faceworks

Dimitri skin texture

Jeane eyes_eyelashes and complexion

Chargen package - more cool scars in this one

Planes traveler appearance package

Tints

SJC’s skin tones

Dalishious Skin Tints

Pineappletree’s vibrant colors

Colorful hair

Colorful hair - highlighted

SJC’s hair colors

Big Brown Eyes

Bright Tattoo Tints

CC extra tints and tones

Simple hair spectrum

Lovely tints

Colorful makeup

SJC’s Lip Colours

Eyeshdow Collection

Lipstick collection

Blush collection

Sun’s Tints

Presets that add things (like longer eyelashes, or unique eye textures)

LOTC’s female eyelashes

Bidelle’s Cosmetics (though tbh, I haven’t actually used any of these ones in game yet)

Six presets with heterochromia - these are fun.

LOTC’s eye textures

PNangel eyes to headmorphs (pretty sure my Jean Grey Warden’s green eyes came from one of these ones)

NPC Morphs

DA2 Elves triple mix (with original skin tint Merrill) - makes the elves in DAO look more they do in DA2. Requires some files from elf update, but not all of them. the mod description tells you which ones.

Brown Merrill Continuity fix - puts Merrill in her DA2 robes and fixes the skin-tone contrast. requires loincloth fashion. Also offers another Merrill morph.

Isabella variation - means to make Isabella look like she does in DA2, but a few years younger (I might try to find an alternative tho, I feel like her skin tone is a bit too light)

Qunari update - makes the Qunari look more like they do in the later games

Ferelden racelift - adds some diversity to Ferelden (I don’t use all the morphs in here - it looks weird with elf update installed bc of how the elf eye texture size changes but the morphs from this mod don’t change to fit the larger eyes. But. Still a nice addition)

Ser Gilmore morph with light proportion tweaks - small changes that make him look a little less...off

Unique face textures for companions DAO edition - give them friends of yours some unique skin textures! they deserve them! (I use Alistair, Wynne, Oghren, Loghain (though I almost never recruit him) and Leliana)

Alkolnoix Morrigan - a nice Morrigan morph that gives her darker skin, befitting her implied Chasind parentage

Tranquil 2.0 - gives the tranquil the brand that the game says is supposed to be there

Sten of the Beresaad - for a more unique Sten look to go with Qunari update

Visibly elf-blooded - Ignore the “magic dna” bs that erases biracial elf-blooded characters, and give Alistair, Slim Couldry, Goldanna, some background npcs, and (optionally) Leliana some elven ears. Has a version that uses the unique companion face textures mod, which sealed the deal for me.

Window of the Soul - Eyes Replacement - the eye retexture I’m currently using. (Though there’s another one I’ve been eying. haha.)

Retcon armors/future game imports/retextures

Grey Wardens of Ferelden (w/ Dalishious’ retexture) - make them wardens wear their uniforms! We’re supposed to be an order! All official-like and stuff.

Duncan Outfit - a unique but still GWOF matchy look for Duncan.

Hooded enchanter mesh - replacement meshes for f!Human and f!Elf chasind and tevinter robes (I’m just using the chasind ones from this, skipping the UOR retextures.)

Improved mabari for DAO - a less weird looking dog mesh

Retcon light armor texture rehaul - make the light armors look like they do in the later games

I’m not using this anymore, since the retextures from the UOR accomplish what I wanted this mod for while blending in with DAO better: making the light armors more unisex.)

Loincloth fashion - adds armors from future games, added via console command

Keeper and Merrill outfit fixes - another DA2 Merrill outfit retexture (with skin-tinting) and the option to make Merrill’s robe appear on female characters who try to wear the male-exclusive “keeper’s robe” from Loincloth fashion.

Kirkwall exports - same as LCF, adds armors from future games. Some overlap between the two.

The guardians of Cadash Thaig - again, as above

Dalish armor replacement - makes the dalish armor look like it does in DA2 (no more bare midriff on women wearing dalish armor!!!)

Seamfix and high resolution textures - a DA2 dalish armor retexture

Robes of the wild - HD retexture of Morrigan’s robes with hood

I’m just using the hood from this, after manually removing the robe files. (It doesn’t perfectly match color-wise, but I’m satisfied. For now - if anyone wants to know which files to keep so you can have the hood on its own, just ask.)

Practical Morrigan robes - a really neat looking Morrigan robe retexture, and the one I’m using now.

Dwarves are not mages - get them mage robes off of King Endrin and Lord Harrrowmont

Crow Assassin’s Armor for Zevran - gives him unique armor based off of TWoT2 concept art

Apostate clothing file - three DA2 ports

Dalish Keeper Robes - redresses Marethari, Zathrian, Lanaya, and Velanna.

Gameplay altering stuff

Awakening in the OC + expanded integration - add stuff and spells and skills from DA:A to the base game

The Winter Forge - change how items look! rename them! change their stats, their item tier! copy stats from one item to another!

(I play with the cheatmode bc I am a dirty cheater and I am not ashamed of this. But you don’t have to do it that way.)

Open lock spells - let your mages bust open some treasure chests. you know they’re dying to.

Spell School Divine - some healing spells, some offensive spells, some companion buffing spells (I don’t use these spells often, but I do have them installed)

Arcane Warrior plus - more spells for your arcane warrior

Arcane Warrior weapons drawn casting - no more putting your sword down to cast 

(NOTE: this might have broken paralysis glyphs for me. Or maybe it was something else. I don’t use that spell too much though, so I haven’t bothered trying to fix it/figure out what did it)

Dragon Age Class and Specialization pack - adds a bunch of specializations, some weapon mastery skills, and two new magic classes: warlock and ritualist

I can’t remember what the game was like before I installed this one lol

Chantry Monk specialization 

Want your mage to be able to PUNCH PEOPLE? this is the place to go.

Half-Wraith specialization - now rogues can teleport. if you want.

Emerald Knight specialization - your warrior can summon a wolf!

Seeker of Truth specialization - your warrior can heal? (haven’t used this one too much) 

Wild Keeper specialization - your mage can turn enemies into squirrels!

Knight specialization - your warrior gets a bonus reduction to fatigue, and more companion buffs

Lich specialization - your mage can summon a fuckton of skeletons (from dead enemies) also, transform into an arcane horror

Beastmaster specialization - your mage can summon wolves and sylvans and stuff

Wild mage specialization - you ever wanna just... cast something and not know what’s going to happen? here ya go

Necromancer specialization - more skeleton raising antics

Paladin specialization - magical two-handed talents for warriors? (haven’t used this much yet)

Death Knight specialization - more magic talents for warriors (also haven’t used much yet)

Grenadier specialization -  bombs!!! no crafting needed!! (for rogues)

Extended dog talents - more talents for dog, your bestest buddy

Extra Dog slot - bring dog everywhere! without taking up a companion slot.

Full Combatant Dog - gives dog more talents

No Helmet Hack  - hide them ugly things

(Note: if you have a bunch of mod-companions, it can sometimes make your helmets disappear permanently. So... leave some companions’ helmets visible.)

Tower Guard Rogue + Tower of Ishal companion options - no longer must you suffer the indignities of leaving locked treasure chests behind in the tower of Ishal!

Higher Level Cap and More specialization slots - go up to level 70. You know you want to (if you have as many bonus dungeons installed as I do, anyway)

All shapeshifting from mouse - learn all the Fade shapeshifting skills when you talk to that first mouse (it makes Lost in Dreams less back-tracky, but without skipping it entirely)

Teleport - A spell that lets you teleport around (check the posts tab for install advice)

Ancient blood magic rewritten - more blood magic spells! (check posts tab for advice on how it works)

Qwinn no Wynne - leave Wynne behind during ABC without killing her! (I got bored of seeing her Fade nightmare every time)

Complete bi overhaul - idc what bioware says, Morrigan is not straight.

This conflicts with Qwinn’s, but if you install this as an override and Qwinn’s as a dazip, it doesn’t break anything (so far - haven’t finished a play-through with it yet myself)

Also looks like it might conflict with the epilogue slides from Karma’s Origins companions.

Polygamey - date everyone at once (Note: does not work on mod-created companions)

Reverse Blood sacrifice - steal the blood of your enemies, not your friends

Non-circle mage origins - Want to be a mage but tired of the magi origin? Here ya go. (Some conflicts with other dialogue altering mods (CBO, Qwinn’s... for example) - I’m only using it for a very specific play-through, then will be moving it to my back-up folder. Gave it load priority rather than deleting anything.)

New starting Robe for Dalish Mage - a nice companion to the above mod. Gives you several options to choose from , though you’ll need to download the mod that gives you the outfit you want separately.)

Story mods (mods that just add fluff, basically)

General

Clan Sabrae says Goodbye - a longer, heartrending farewell scene for the end of the Dalish origin

Be more elfy; Dalish dialogue overhaul - allows for a more knowledgeable Dalish warden, fixes the lethallan/lethallin mix up in the beginning, and also gives you bisexual Tamlen - be sure to give it load priority over CBO.)

Talk elfy to Me - gives you the ability to select a more dalish voice set using clips from DAI

Dance party - you and your companions can dance at camp (and at the Gnarled noble tavern)

CmessaZ7′s hugs - Human noble can hug mom or dad, F!mahariel can hug Tamlen

but this conflicts with Be more Elfy, so I’m not using it anymore for Tamlen, sadly. Even though I really want to give him a hug

The Human noble hugs conflict with the Cousland keepsakes mod further down this list

Hugs for Tabris - Tabris can hug their dad, Shianni, and Soris

The rescue at ishal - cutscene of dragon-Flemeth coming to rescue PC and Alistair

Non-transphobic sex-workers - bc transphobia isn’t cool, y’all

Lady Aeducan the non-warden - changes it so that the middle aeducan is a woman when talked about in Orzammar, if not chosen as the warden (instead of defaulting to being a man)

Satina in the sky - apparently, Thedas has two moons (according to extended canon.) this adds a second moon (will conflict with the unofficial remaster, either delete that moon, or make sure this one is alphabetically placed last for load priority)

More hairs for kids and diversified children - makes the kids less clone-y. Best applied to a fresh game. Some conflicts with DA2 elves triple mix morphs. (I think the UOR has this or something similar; I’m not using the morphs from the UOR)

The children’s closet - makes it so the kids aren’t all wearing the same two outfits. Requires this. (included in the UOR)

Daveth and Jory in the fade - puts them in the Warden’s fade dream instead of the randos. requires GWoF

Let Me Live - an NPC Rescue Mod - I haven’t played through with this yet, but it’s like a dream come true. I can finally save Nial! ❤️❤️❤️ And Nelaros!

Romance add-ons

General

Dahlialynn’s Sleep til dawn - cuddle with your LI in your tent! Compatible with karma’s and Ser Gilmore

Origin romances

Farewell, Ser Gilmore - give Ser Gilmore a hug or kiss goodbye

A flower from Tamlen - Tamlen (my beloved!) finds a flower and gives it to the Dalish warden (if romance flag active) 

Kissing Tamlen - allows a Dalish Warden to remember a past kiss with Tamlen, and you get a free ring!

Alistair

Alistair nights: Moonlit bath - E rated bathtime with Alistair

Alistair’s Magical kiss - a private kiss with Alistair

Alistair’s visible kiss - better camera angles for the regular kissing scene

Alistair’s funeral - if Alistair makes the sacrifice, a romanced warden can kiss him goodbye 

The Proposal - Alistair asks for PC’s hand in marriage if engaged

Dahlialynn’s Alistair epilogues: The royal wedding - marry Alistair!

Funeral kiss - if a PC romanced Alistair and made the ultimate sacrifice, he kisses her body at the funeral. 

Dahlialynn’s Alistair’s nightmare - A Sleep til dawn add-on 

Alistair Romance Eavesdropping - adds in-camp cutscenes for some of the Alistair-centric companion banters

Alistair Romance Appetite - a playful scene involving food

Alistair Romance attraction - even the wildlife adores him

Alistair romance: the steamy bits - another E-rated bath with Alistair mod

Alistair romance: hot water - you guessed it! another e-rated bath with Alistair (a popular theme. This one is the prettiest, imo)

Zevran

Intrigues of an Antivan Crow - adds a bunch of romance scenes, some e-rated

Leliana

Leliana stories - much like the above intrigues, adds additional romance scenes for Leliana. Made by the same person.

Companion mods (mods that add more recruit-able companions)

Ser Gilmore companion NPC - Ser Gilmore from the Human noble origin miraculously survives the fall of Cousland castle! And he wants to help you kill darkspawn and get revenge on Arl Howe.

Lealion - a mage who was at Ostagar can join you in Lothering (she has like, no dialogue, but hey, more mages)

Saarebas Qunari mage companion - a qunari mage can join you at lake Calenhad (requires Qunari update) he has a little more dialogue than Lealion, but still, nothing compared to Gilmore. But again; more mages!

MerAnne’s Dwarf Companions - adds a bunch of dwarves you can recruit (you can even choose their genders) more content than Lealion & Saarebas, but slightly less than Gilmore I think. Haven’t played the mod with a dwarf warden yet, I think they get more dialogue

Karma’s Origins Companions - the one, the only.

recruit (& heal) Tamlen (MY BELOVED), Jowan (poor lil meow meow), Soris, Leske, Gorim (Thank FUCK, Lady Aeducan no longer has to get dumped), Cullen (eww), and original characters Adela and Ox. make sure to check the readme.

There are some aspects of it I’m iffy about, but I’m just so grateful for Tamlen that it could literally punch me in the face every time I start the game and I’d just ignore it.

Quests and Legends - I haven’t actually played this one yet, but I will soon. It has a compatibility patch with Karma’s. I think it adds one new companion?

Return to the Korcari wilds - hilariously 2009 music choices, adds two companions. Karma has a compatibility patch for it. More content than Lealion, less than Ser Gilmore or Karma’s

Dark times - adds three companions, three specializations, and has a karma’s patch.

It’s... also not the best. really goes in on the elf-racism, among other things. ppl rave about it, but I wasn’t that impressed tbh. the megaupload download link in the comments is safe, at least, it was when I used it.

The bloodworks - adds one new companion (two actually, but you have to choose between the templars or the blood mages - I have literally never gone with the templars), not much dialogue. Also a bunch of quests, a spell line, a warrior talent line, and allows you to make an absurd amount of money. has a karma’s patch. Ties in with Dark times a little, along with Ser Gilmore

Bonus dungeons/quests

Pints and Quarts Tavern - a tavern near Redcliffe with a bunch of people who need help with things. some misogynistic story beats in the final quest. Not very lore-compliant either.

Hilltop under siege - a village under attack from darkspawn. a little silly, kind of non-lore compliant

King Calenhad’s tomb - freaky tomb emerges from Lake Calenhad. Not lore compliant, and the trap rooms are straight up maliciously designed

Ancient Elven ruins - somebody stole the family heirlooms of a dwarven house, they disappeared into this place. Not lore compliant, I think. Ties in with one of the P&Q quests

Spiders and Knives - adds a few balanced quests and rewards to Lothering, plus another party storage chest (warning, the rogue dagger reward is bugged and might remove the coup de grace skill when unequipped)

Alley of Murders - there’s an alley, and there have been murders. People praise this one a lot, but I’m eh about it. made by the same people as the Bloodworks

infested grounds - a nobleman has a dragon problem on his property (he deserves it, tbh) by the same person as P&Q

Swamp tower adventure - there’s a swamp, there’s a tower, and there are beasties. Also by the same person as P&Q

Inverness keep - apparently, some nobleman died and left his estate to the wardens. You can get skill books here, store stuff, get alcoholic gifts for Oghren, and actually do something with those silver goblets, silver bowls, and the vases you find. (plus silk carpets, and the painting gifts, if you’re not giving them to Sten)

Innodil’s Pocket Plane - god mode storage you can access from anywhere 

Tombs of the Undead - this is a good one. Three tombs, different difficulty levels, pretty lore compliant, the codex entries are well written. It almost feels like it could have been part of the game to begin with

Temple of Vulak - a temple full of demons. bit of a tough one.

Utilities - console command scripts and stuff

Enable console commands

Make console commands visible

Chargenmorph compiler - a must to make all those hairs and stuff play nice with each other

Change your hero hair and face anywhere - want to change what your warden looks like midway through the game? start a new game with the desired appearance (or use the toolset, idk how to yet though), then use this tool to switch it in

additem with console improved - add any items using their id codes

Console- add points - add talent,skill, specialization, and attribute points via console and use through the regular level up menu (for ppl who have played so many times that they no longer care about cheating lol)

item set descriptions - adds a codex entry that describes the base game item set stats

VFX weapons file - alters the visual effects on weapons to be a lil less dramatic (I think there are other mods that do this, I might try some of them out as well. Eventually)

Fade shroud unghost - makes fade shroud not turn your mage into a ghost (I actually don’t mind this vfx, but I wanted cleaner screenshots for my one Warden. I’ll probably remove it once that warden is done)

Madd gift guide - tells you who the gifts are for (I pm have it memorized at this point, but still.)

DAO- Modmanager - an alternative way to install mods (also capable of installing overrides)

DAmodder - another mod manager, dazip files only

Flycam - allows you to detach the camera from your character and look around. Great for screenshots, requires console commands.

Item mods - just adds items, armor, etc. Or alters the stats of existing items

(an important note about some of these: some have to be unchecked from the installed content menu if you want them to become available in a new game - they appear directly in player inventory after being checked on, but smthn about how the game handles inventory means they won’t appear in the inventory of a fresh file unless checked on after the game has started. I’ll mark these with a *)

*Adamantium battlemage regalia -  uses Legion of the dead armor design. Way overpowered armor and weapons for an arcane warrior

Improved companion items - gives the companion’s exclusive items better stats so you don’t feel like you have to replace them later in the game (I always felt bad for taking away their keepsake items) It also applies to the Warden’s oath (I actually use it now instead of throwing it storage!) and Sten’s sword Asala

Dirth’enna Ensalin armor set - an armor set for arcane warriors that you only receive if you send the tapped spirit to its final rest. Not as overpowered as the other one, overwrites one of the UDK tints

*Wings of Velvet - some pretty mage robes + a staff, and optional jewelry.

City elf ring - with stats - adds a stat boost to Tabris’ wedding ring item, so it can be worn for sentimental value and be useful

Improved ancient elven armor - increases the stats and tier of the ancient elven armor set

The Phoenix Armory for females - some pretty armor and weapons for women (i like sexy armor when it’s my choice to have it be that way; not when it’s the default)

instruments of the warden mage - some griffon-y weapons for mage wardens.

Mahariel’s heirloom - gives Mahariel’s heirloom amulet a unique icon and great stats, so they can sentimentally wear it through the entire game

Cousland family mementos - sentimental items for your Cousland

has a conflict with the Human noble hugs, for some reason.

Alistair’s mother’s amulet - makes his amulet into a wear-able item for him (requires console commands to spawn)

Jar of bees - HAHAHAHAHAHA I can throw bees at people

*Wing of Lilith - robes that use the desire demon skirt/sleeves. UDK compatible

*Warden commander armor - the Warden’s Keep DLC armor but with a helmet, shields, swords, and higher stats (I have it bc Dark Times changed the appearance of the DLC armor into something ugly and generic for some reason?)

RL’s swan song - adds a vendor to the Pearl who sells a ton of stuff (Don’t install all the items, it will probably bork your game. Just pick the ones you like)

RL’s Fashion Bazaar - no merchant for this one, just console commands.

Arcane armor and weapon sets - more stuff for Arcane warriors. Buy from Bodahn

Alistair’s rose (as reward) - adds a wear-able commemorative amulet to your inventory when Alistair gives you the rose

Inquisition Mage Armor - the one I use with the Dalish mage starting robes.

Hahahaha that’s all..... for now. When I add more things (or try out the stuff I haven’t used yet) I’ll reblog with updates.

[n7valiant]

This is probably not a revelation to anyone but me, BUT I was so so very pleasantly surprised to see this closing paragraph in the Letter from HOF codex in my DALISH SUPREMACY canon redux world state (currently underway).

This is some good shit, Bioware. I’m having emotions.

[mattressdemon]

Dragon Age: Origins - Recommended Mods & Guide

updated August 9th, 2022

Game Fixes

Qwinn’s Ultimate DAO Fixpack V3.52 This is a bugfix pack for dialogue, quests, scripting, plot, and item bugs in DAO.

Dain’s Fixes A big bugfix pack for DAO mechanics.

Game Add-ons

Auto Loot A mod that makes looting much faster. It also adds an “auto loot” skill, which makes your entire party loot all containers within an area. 

Extra Dog Slot Adds dog onto your party as a companion animal slot.

Skip the Fade I honestly think the Fade sequence is useless unless you enjoy the puzzles and other aspects. This mod skips the sequence and takes you straight to your companion’s dreams, and then the final boss.

Shortcut Through the Deep Roads I do NOT recommend this mod if this is your first time playing Dragon Age: Origins, as it skips several story related parts of the Deep Roads. However, if you have played many times and are tired of trudging through the deep roads again, this mod is great.

Aesthetic Mods

Dragon Age Redesigned I install three things from this mod: First, go into the folder “Dragon Age Origins”, then go to “Companion NPCs for Origin”, then “Oghren” and install Darkkami’s Oghren. Then I go to “Non-companion NPCs (contains Dracomies True Textures)”. Double click the .exe and first install Dracomies True Textures VI. When that finishes, install the setting you would prefer - I always installed the Enhanced Lore Edition.

Some Dalish Textures Fixes the low quality textures the Dalish had, importing some textures from Inquisition. 

Theta HD Adds high quality textures for the world of DAO.

Retexturing DAO Another mod that updates the world of DAO with high quality textures. I use this, Some Dalish Textures, Theta HD and Dragon Age Redesigned all together.

SJC’s Vanilla Eye Texture Replacement and Eyes I only use the eye texture replacement, not the unique eyes. A comparison picture of the new eye texture is the last photo on the photos page. It’s a much improved texture.

SJC’s Patchy Skin Fix Check out the screenshots for the differences. It helps a lot for that ugly patchy texture DAO’s skin has, especially on darker skinned  characters.

LOTC’s Female Eyelashes Replaces the default eyelashes.

Eyebrow Presets replaces the ugly original eyebrow presets in the game.

Vanilla Face Texture Replacer for Dragon Age: Origins This mod replaces some of the low quality face textures with updated high quality ones.

KH Blogspot Stuff - Part 3: Softer Hair and Beard for DA:O / DA2 Replaces the default hair texture with a higher quality, softer hair texture.

True Colors Redux This mod changes the default tints and textures to make them more realistic and give them more vibrancy.

Player Character Mods

45 Real Skin Colors Adds 45 realistic skintones.

SJC’s Tints and Textures Adds a variety of new tints and textures to the character creator.

KH Blogspot Stuff - Part 1: DAO Hairs Adds some nice hairs to the character creator.

Warden Complexions with Eyebrows This mod adds several complexions to the game for the player character to use.

Companion Mods

Unique Face Textures for Companions DAO Edition High quality unique face textures for the companions. I ignore Oghren’s and install everyone else. 

Zevran ASAP This mod bumps the Zevran Loghain scene up to be right after the scene between Bann Teagan and Loghain, and you will meet Zevran after your Darkspawn nightmare following Lothering.

Lyth's Updated Morrigan - How can I not recommend my own mods? I made them because of the specific way I view the characters! This is a custom Morrigan face morph with updated 4k DA:I textures. This mod has additional dependencies not listed in this mod guide, so check the required mods.

Lyth's Updated Zevran - A fittingly younger and better proportioned Zevran with updated 4k textures and (optionally) better hair. This mod has additional dependencies not listed in this mod guide, so check the required mods.

Installation

Place your downloads into your "...\Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\packages\core\override" folder. You can organize them into folders if you wish. None of the mods in this guide conflict unless otherwise stated. You may safely install all of them together. If you download additional mods, make sure you only have one .mor file for each character in the game, and always check for conflicts in the mod documentation.

For DAZip files, you must locate the updater.exe in your installation directory and use that to install them. You can typically find it here: "...\Steam\steamapps\common\Dragon Age Ultimate Edition\bin_ship"

Uninstallation: Delete the files from your override folder.

I’m done, now what?

Once you have everything downloaded you want to download, make sure to delete and clean out any chargenmorph files that came with your downloads. Instead of using those, use the new ChargenmorphCFG Generator. It finds everything in your downloads that belongs in the character creator and makes a clean, new chargenmorph file at the end. Just drag the .exe into the override folder first. Done!

[poetica-miscellanea]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Male Lavellan/Dorian Pavus, Male Inquisitor/Dorian Pavus, Cullen Rutherford/Original Male Character(s) Characters: Male Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Male Lavellan (Dragon Age), Dorian Pavus, Cullen Rutherford, Original Male Elf Character(s), Original Dalish Character(s) (Dragon Age), Dragon Age: Inquisition Advisors, Dragon Age: Inquisition Companions, Bog Unicorn (Dragon Age) Additional Tags: Character Study, Reluctant Inquisitor, Mental Health Issues, Complicated Relationships, Soul Bond, Magical Bond, Magical Accidents, Falling In Love, Self-Discovery, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Developing Relationship, Past Relationship(s), Past Lavellan/Cullen, no love triangles, A Tale of Two Lavellans, Past Lavellan/Lavellan, Explicit Sexual Content, Basically what if the inquisitor was a bit of a headcase?, And other troubles, Not Canon Compliant Series: Part 3 of Dum Spiro Spero Summary:

*Rewrite/overhaul of my own unfinished fics, Firebreather & Lionsong.

Dorian remembers the light– purple as it bruised the frigid air in the tent; wisps of his magic hovering over Felan’s prone form after Haven was consumed by fire & snow, both. He remembers the terribly odd, draining sensation that overcame him as he gave a piece of his very spirit to let another man continue giving the whole of himself unto Thedas. But he recalls, with utmost clarity, the gasp of life-returned that Felan took, and the heavy look of relief that swept over the commander’s grief-stricken face as they kneeled at their dear Herald’s bedside.

Dorian has no illusions that he is indeed a selfish man, but what price are he and the Inquisitor to pay for this act of self-interest? He can only hope to keep his burgeoning affections at bay as he sees all this through, playing the part he was so graciously born into. But when he looks to Inquisitor Lavellan, with his particularly endearing shades of ennui and despondency, Dorian surmises that perhaps no man is born into any set fate, they are only pushed and hammered into place by forces claiming sovereignty over a life not yet lived.

[gay-nidoking]

Dragon Age: Origins Mods

Under the cut is a list of all the DAO mods I’ve installed. I’m kinda dumb, so most of these mods do not require DAOModManager or any other similar mod manager. I’ll make a note of which mods do require such a tool.

Total Mods as 5/2/2020: 63

Dialogue Mods (5):

Talk Elfy to Me (female elf only)

ZDF Dialog Fix

Complete Bi Overhaul

No Ninjamancing (using link from CBO)

Anders Dialogue Tweaks

CC/Face Mods (19):

Big Brown Eyes

Bright Eyes (version 1)

Dwarf Proportions Fix

Elf Proportions Fix

Human Female Proportions Fix

Orsino’s Curly Hair for DAO

SJC’s Patch Skin Fix

SJC’s Custom Female Scars

SJC’s Custom Male Scars

SJC’s Skins

45 Real Skin Colours

True Colours Redux

Revised Tattoos

Chasind Face Paint

Look Hair! Inquisition Edition

Look Hair! Dreads and More (see this for how to install)

Blush Collection

Eyeshadow Collection

Origins Vallaslin Change

Equipment/Clothing Mods (8):

Boob Patches Be Gone

Dalish Armor Replacement (requires tmp777′s Unique Light Armor)

tmp777′s Unique Light Armor

Noble Dress Overhaul

Items Overhaul

Alistair’s Rose

Prison Clothes

Mahariel’s Heirloom

NPC Face Mods (10):

Non-transphobic Prostitutes

Elfy Ghost Boy

Elven Orphanage

Casteless Brand and Tattoo Restoration

Tranquil Brand 2.0

Dwarven Noble Origin Revisited

Alternative Goldanna

Unique Face Textures for Companions

Isabela with Curly Hair (requires SJC’s Skins and Orsino’s Curly Hair for DAO, for curly-haired variant)

Visibly Elf Blooded

NPC Equipment/Clothing Mods (10):

Crow Assassin’s Armor for Zevran (requires console commands to equip)

Leliana Item Pack (requires console commands to equip)

The Core of Her Heart (requires Look Hair! Inquisition Edition and Chasind Face Paint)

Better Asala (Silverite Version)

Better Mages Better Templars

Templar Armour Fixes

More Believable Fade Duncan

More Believable Fade Wardens

Better Fereldan Kids (requires Additional Clothing for Kids)

Additional Clothing for Kids

Fixes (2)

Lore-Friendly Epilogue Rewrite

Shale Talents Reworked (requires DAOModManager)

Misc. Mods (9):

CharGenMorph Compiler

DAOModManager

Natural Lighting for the Character Creator (uninstall after creating character, or your party selector will look strange)

Skip the Fade

Make Console Commands Visible

Some Dalish Textures

Madd Gift Guide

Gift Guide - Awakening

Extra Dog Slot (requires DAOModManager)

[ofxelvhen]

v: To rewrite history; TME redux [Elgara]

A verse that corresponds with a fanfic slowly in the works. After the play in Masked Empire, instead of burning Halamshiral, Celene turns around and declares the elves free and equal in Orlais. As such, she quickly loses the throne and assassins are sent after her. Instead of revoking the decree, she instead flees the palace, bringing as much of the elven staff with her as she can, telling the rest to go to the Winter Palace if they can with as much as they can carry, nd goes to Halamshiral, Michel and Briala at her back.

Once there, in the town square she promises revolution. Says she’s in the heart of the rebellious fire that was only just recently quelled. Promises those who help her will have honor and be given status to befit the new Orlais once they win. The Winter Palace turns into the rebellion’s base of operations, armories plundered, Michel teaching as many as possible how to fight well enough to not simply die. A council’s pulled together to discuss course of action and battle plans.

Felassan comes and offers to introduce Briala to some Dalish tribes to see if they’re willing to join the fight (among these tribes are my canon Lavellan and Inawhen along with Virnehn, the former two joining the fight.) The eluvians are obtained differently than in canon and are used for the rebellion, despite Briala and Celene’s relationship currently being on a break as Celene admitted to her role in the deaths of Briala’s parents before she left to recruit the Dalish.

Elgara joins the rebellion by warning them of an incoming raid by Gaspard and thus saving many lives and earning her a spot on the council. She accompanies Briala in recruiting the Dalish and they grow closer in that time, offering what advice she can about Celene. After the mages rebel they are also welcomed into the rebellion should they be willing to adhere to the rules and plans already in place as well.

At the time of the Conclave, Elgara is sent to represent the Orlesian rebellion and finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time and picking up the wrong orb. Soon she has enough power to truly help the Rebellion but also has to focus on saving the world so there’s still an Orlais to rebuild.

NOTE: WEWH functions differently in this AU in that the options are Celene dying, Gaspard dying, them both dying, or them both surviving. Elgara is the only canon Inquisitor for this verse and as such, Gaspard dies and Celene, being next in line whether Orlais likes it or not, gets the throne. From there on it’s keeping her there and secure. After the Inquisition, Elgara joins Celene’s security detail.

NOTE II: The canon for this verse is Celene/Briala/Elgara thus neither of the girls are open for shipping but any of my muses are available for interaction within this verse.

[aglaecan]

📜 sending it seems superfluous but...

send 📜 get plots

I mean, yeah probably, buuuuut……… let’s see……

Gereon and Dorian:  Gereon finding Dorian in the slums? The early years of their mentor-apprentice relationship? Maybe something later, when they fall out, or when Gereon tries to recruit Dorian for the Venatori?

Gereon and Cory: recruiting him, working with him on the elven shards and oculara, etc…

Archie and Cory: Plotting to enter the Golden (Black) City? Some nice political turmoil previous to that, sort of setting up the entire situation we’re told is occurring at that time? A meeting of the two of them in Darkspawn form (before Cory gets captured by the Wardens, clearly) but them not really remembering each other?

Clari and Felixity: I vastly hesitate to make them sisters because I think they might actually kill each other but also that could be… interesting….??

Clari and Mar: there are some DA2 interactions with Wardens that we could expand on somehow. Nate’s trip north to find the Primeval Thaig being just one of them that could work, or something to do with Anders having left the order, orrrrr that thing with Avernus’s research and the dead-drop.

Thrask and Mar: definitely not something with them in the Fade together in Inquisition, my heart couldn’t take a redux of that. Otherwise… maybe trying to find a way to work together in the time period between DA2 and Inquisition, when canon tells us she’s helping the mages as the Towers begin to rebel and/or fall? As a fairly rebellious Templar he’d be suited for that work.

Feynriel and Mar: We already have them together in Tevinter post-game, but maybe something set while he’s with the Dalish and before Night Terrors? Hawke up on Sundermount for something else and they end up working together on something? 

Zathrian and Caranthir: consider the ancient elves meeting. There are werewolves. There are oaths. There is ancient undying vengeance. There are talking trees. Dun dun dunnnnnn.

Pietrus and Dorian: Actually developing out the details of the bodyguard verse beyond what we’ve done in Discord, I’d say, lol. We can have them embroiled in something to do with the Lucerni, or hunting down the remains of the Venatori, orrrrr something connected to the comics’ events with the impending Qunari attack on Qarinus and the continued hunt for Red Lyrium with Pietru’s Carta contacts coming into play there.

Pietrus and Mar: Teaming up together in Kirkwall for something Carta-related, maybe… working to figure out who’s behind the attacks on her and Beth that lead to Legacy’s events? I know it’s Varric in-game and he could be involved too but when you have your own personal Carta member…

Pietrus and Kaz: Kaz in DA would be an Antivan gang member of some sort and given that the Carta is a Thedas-wide organization they might have reason to interact, making deals on smuggling into (or out of) Antiva City, or thievery of some kind. Kaz is a master lockpick and a brilliant mastermind when it comes to plotting things so if they needed someone local for a job they might look to him and his, or they might encounter each other while on the same mission and have to work together temporarily etc.

Fabien and Colombe: might be kind of fun to actually thread some of the Last Court events. Pick some of the plotlines there and work on them, fleshing them out. The town’s continued and rising discontent, the bandit depredations, the Weird Shit in the Woods, etc…..

Fabien and Gentian: given Serault’s reputation for the weird and wild, Gentian might well head that way out of curiosity and find himself caught up in some old, strange magic in an old, strange place. Also two pretty blond men flirting is always good.

Marion and Mar: I mean, twinverse is always a possibility but I don’t know as much specifically about Marion as compared to like, your Gareth etc? So idk if it would work out at all but.

Rhyne and Felixity: We could do that AU where Rhyne ends up the Cousland mage pre-Origins? Or more with the dual-warden verse. Maybe post-Awakening stuff with the search for the cure, or whatever else is going on then?

Millie and Inquiz Beru: working together on something in the post-Inquisition verse. Maybe she asks him about red lyrium, or brings some of the weird magic she’s seen to his expertise – something like Hakkon, maybe, or the Avvar gods generally and how they’re basically spirits. Orrrr the Crossroads, that sort of thing. It’s not entirely his field but also it kind of is, given the spirits and demons encountered in all of it.

[dalishious]

Elves with Human Skin for DA:2 REDUX Mod

I have completely revised this mod! Vastly improved the past version's structure, and added some new changes.

In both DA:O and DA:I, all characters (save for qunari) use the same skin tints, but in DA:2, all the races have a different set of skin tints... and the elven ones are weirdly blue and green.

WHAT THIS MOD DOES:

All elven characters now use human skin tints

Fixes BioWare's mistake of not giving over half the Dalish elves tints for their vallaslin, causing them to be so faint

Returning characters of the Sabrae clan now look more like they originally appeared in DA:O - a few others were uniquely redesigned as well (See mod page for details)

All files are no longer kept in a package, meaning they can be deleted per need (i.e. if you have an alternate Zevran morph you prefer, just delete the Zevran file included in this mod)

Please note this mod is very lightweight and should not put strain on your computer :)

DOWNLOAD IT HERE! And I’d very much appreciate a reblog if you do. :)

[this-is-my-jaam]

I've been doing some light research on historical Chinese clothing for my version of Clan Lavellan based on my own heritage, and one thing that I noticed and love is the amount and variety of colors and patterns used. It feels very 'alive' for a lack of better words, it has a lot of character.

Another Tumblr post I came across recently brought up the current trend of color disappearing from the world. Our color pallets have become much narrower and dull. (Maybe that's why I like tie-dye so much XD)

A lot of the time, you can look at traditional clothing and name which region it hales from. With modern fashion, that's not the case a lot of the time, with it feeling rather homogenous.

Link to said post: https://www.tumblr.com/coldmaxine/692852331579047936?source=share

That is a major factor that drew me to your Dalish Redux series, but I didn't connect the dots until recently. The Dalish clans wouldn't feel homogenous, Clan Lavellan wouldn't be a straight copy of Clan Sabre, etc. So much can be told just by looking at them.

I feel the lack of color is something that plagues a lot of modern fantasy, the lack of color creates a lack of diversity. A lot of information can be gathered by appearance, and when everyone shares color pallets, a lot of subtle world-building is lost.

Like if we were to take the designs of Dalish Elves vs City Elves in DAO and II, they have some attire differences, but if you were to remove the Vallaslin, it would be rather hard to tell them apart.

This isn't to say the City Elves should have drab fashion, but their vanilla appearance is so boring.

Absolutely agree! Color and pattern are both instrumental to the development of textiles and arts and a fantastic resource in historical study. I mentioned before that patterns tend to be designed with some meaning at hand, That is something that I try to keep in consideration when making patterns for the Dalish. The base design that the og concept artists were going for seem to be aligned with the art deco movement as well as natural themes. In that sense, I decided to create abstract patterns to represent some of the in game plants that have been given Dalish names and/or have been said to have significance to the Dalish. We also already have the Vallaslin, which I use very often for reference since it is an already canon resource with significant symbolism.

My best advice on subtle worldbuilding, particularly in textile as that what I’m studied in, is natural resources. China is famed for its silk, Egypt for its linen, and Peru for its alpaca wool, etcetera etcetera. Not only that, by the richness of resources and availability play a significant role in how clothing develops.

As an example, the Ancient Egyptians loved color, but weren’t technologically advanced enough to be able to strip their linen of the fibrous outer layer, which made it extremely difficult to dye. As a result, there was a lot of white clothing supplemented with opaque stones, the most popular being carnelian, jade, and lapis lazuli. Those gems aren’t native to Egypt, but because we know where they can be found, we know who the Egyptians traded with and what was being swapped between cultures. We even know where dye moves around from based on what is and is not native to the regions using said dye. For example, there is a rare, tiny purple species of mollusk know as Murex snails. The dye was so rare and popular that only royalty was allowed to purchase it, and thus Royal Purple was born. 

Basically, try and think of cultural costume design as the natural cause and effect of resources being introduced to a society. What do the Dalish have from before the fall of Arlathan? What resources are available in the area that a specific clan is from? Based on the reclusiveness of the clan, would they have more resources from an established trade with other clans/merchants? Obviously you don’t need to go nuts with specifics, but limiting resources is a great way to give a culture character and thoughtful design.

There have been more recent attempts to really flesh out fantasy designs in more modern properties (for better or worse), but overall, clothing tends to fall back on more traditional,  western Europe aesthetics. Part of the issue is that costumes are designed with silhouette and flat color in mind rather than pattern, which would come later when the costume department actually gathers the fabrics.

City elves should definitely have developed their own unique styles based on where their alienage is (if they belong to one) and access to materials. A city elf likely wouldn’t have the time to be making their own clothing and gathering their own resources, so what would they be able to afford based on where they live? 

I will admit to being somewhat guilty of the lack of color in the modern world, but in my defense, Dark Academia is a look and half of my closet is rainbow brite colorful but I have no where to wear those outfits because I have no where to go and I live on my computer :,D Thanks for the ask!

[selenelavellan]

cute thought - fear and deceit bringing selene shiny things like real ravens do?

HWRC Redux AU

Deceit, Fear, and Dirthamen are @feynites

It starts with a bead.

Selene smiles and thanks the bird forthe gift, tucking it into the pocket of her jeans before heading backinto the Haven Wildlife Rehabilitation Center to help out her friend.

The next time, it is a coin. Given toher just as she is scrounging her pockets for fare for the bus backhome. She would almost think it were on purpose, but of course thisis just a bird and that would be ridiculous.

It is two weeks later when she hears atap tap tapping on herwindow. There on her sill are two large black, familiar ravens, eachholding a key in its beak.

Sheopens the window, and they drop their keys in a synchronized mannerand flutter into her home. Making themselves perfectly at home, asthough they had not last encountered her in the middle of nowherewith severe injuries.

Asthough they were pets,almost.

Shewatches as their talons click against her kitchen counters,inspecting her cereal selections with curious blinks and jerking headtilts.

Shesupposes, if she just leaves the window open so that they canleave, this might not be so terrible.

–

Thenext day she wakes up to a small pile of polished rocks on herbedside table. They were not there the night before, and she's notentirely certain where they could have found obsidian in this regioneither.

Butthey are very lovely, and she thanks them with several sure strokesthrough their feathers as she stands to get ready for work.

–

Thefollowing day there is a bracelet, the next there are two earrings that do notmatch, and then a pair of earbuds covered in plastic glued on'bling'.

Noneof these particularly raise her alerts; its not uncommon for corvidsto remember those who helped them, or to return with small gifts.

Butthen one of them brings her a pocketknife.

It isa very nice pocket knife, with an ironbark handle that tells her theydefinitely stole itfrom a dalish clan somewhere.

Butshe knows for a fact there aren't any around here. Had made verysure, before she settled down, that she would not accidentallyencounter anyone she might've known...before.

“Thisis a very dangerous object,” She informs the slightly smaller ofthe two, their beak somehow sharper than the others. “You couldhave been hurt. Please do not bring anymore knives.”

Shecould swear they nod in return.

–

She iswatching The Princess Bride for the fifth time this weekend, sprawledout in her pajamas on the couch when the larger, cuddlier birdreturns, landing on the armrest that had been doubling as her pillow.

Thereis a ring in its mouth.

“Finallydecided to propose, have you?” She teases.

Theraven makes a soft, purr like sound and drops the ring into her handall the same.

Sheplaces it down on the table beside her, and goes back to watching themovie.

Theother bird perks from where it had been settled on the top of hercouch against the wall, eyeing the ring curiously. The first picks itup, and presents it to Selene again.

Shetakes it, again, and stares at them.

Theynudge their head against her hand pointedly, and it clicks.

“Oh.Alright, well, I suppose it would be rude to say no, hm?” Sheslides the ring onto her finger, and rubs at their head in thanks “Wealready live together, it seems. I suppose this was always the nextstep. Not like it'll change much around here.”

–

Afterthat, the items they bring seem to be...a higher quality.

A fewof the pieces she wonders about donating to a museum if only shecould find one the Chantry did not have their fingers in. They arevery old, a few still thrumming with ancient magics, but beautifullycarved. Designs so intricate she almost thinks they must be changingwhen she isn't looking. Necklaces made of stones and metals shedoesn't recognize, that do not feel heavy against her neck and almostseem to improve her luck throughout the day.

It isa nice sort of monotony they settle into. Albeit, a short lived one.

Selenewakes one winter morning, to find another body wrapped around herown.

Shescreams, but when she tries to pull away they only pull her tighter.Arms wrapped around her middle, a face pressed against the back ofher neck.

“Youare being unusually loud for so early in the day,” They mumble.

“Whothe fuck do youthink you are?” She screams back in retaliation.

“Deceit,”they mumble again. “And again, you are being very loud.”

“Howexactly did you think I would react to finding a stranger in my bed?”She asks with an intense whisper as she tries to wriggle free oftheir grasp.

“I'mnot a stranger. We've been living together for weeks.”

“No,we haven't.”

Deceithands drift down her arms, landing on the ring she is still wearingon her finger and taps it lightly. “Mm-hm. I gave you this,remember? You rubbed my head for it. Fear witnessed and everything.”

“Whois Fear?”

One ofher birds finally rustles, feathers shifting from where it had beenresting near her feet.

“That'sFear,” Deceit informs her, nuzzling his head against the back ofher neck with a soft sigh. “And I'm sorry I did not ask properlyfirst. But it was very cold, and you were very warm. I didn't thinkyou would mind.”

“Youshould have listened,” Fear speaks from their place on the bed. “Iwarned you she would not take well to our shifting.”

Seleneblinks, staring down at the raven.

Theone that just spoke in perfect common.

To thestrange elf in her bed.

“Isthis a dream?” She tries. “Am I still asleep, maybe?”

“Iwould like to be,” Deceit  grumbles. “It is still very early; weshould all go back to sleep.”

“Sleepwould not be unwarranted,” Fear agrees. “The Great Aspect willnot be here for a few more hours; you should rest in the meantime.”

Selenenods.“Great Aspect. Right. I think we're all agreed on sleepthen. I'll see you all when I've...stopped hallucinating. No moremarshmallow cereals before bed, I think.”

Deceitjust settles against her back in agreement, sliding one of their legsbetween her own as their breathing evens out.

Seleneis still trying to convince herself she is already dreaming when herdoorbell rings.

[sundogsandrainbows]

STORY SUMMARY: Trust is a delicate flower that needs to get nurtured and time to grow. Even more so love. A tale of two disparate Wardens forced together, of finding a way to overcome the distrust, and their own painful past in the time of the Blight. Very in-depth, character-focused exploration of the Dalish origin/warden, of all DA:O companions, and their relationship dynamics during the Fifth Blight. Follows and expands on canon events; AU in some ways. Multiple POV's, origins, and pairings. Slow burn af.

CHAPTER 52 SUMMARY -- SOUNDS OF YESTERDAY, PART I: In order to find the key for the chest left behind by Cailan in Ostagar, the Wardens and companions make a very reluctant detour to Lothering. Or rather what little is left of it, with it being now a destroyed, corrupted husk of a village.

CHAPTER EXCERPT:

[...] Smoke billows cloyed the firmament, obscuring what little daylight was left. Alistair had the infinite wisdom to take a torch with him, lest he’d stumble blindly through the torn down ruins of this village. What made it hard to breathe and watered his eyes wasn’t just the plumes of smoke from the fires still burning. It was the corruption here, like a leaden cobweb it wrapped itself all around them, stealing all life and oxygen. No wonder the man they’d met had contracted the taint sickness for entering here, for it was absolutely and entirely darkspawn territory now. Dead land, rotten and destroyed to what seemed its core. Unthinkable that it could ever recover from it, not with how thick the stench of death permeated the air.

“Ugh, lovely.” Lenya kicked at a stone in frustration. He illuminated the ground for a closer look at it, which was a baaaad idea in hindsight. Since it wasn’t a stone after all… but a small skull, long since picked clean. Maker, if that wasn’t belonging to an animal then… no. Nope. Nope . Refusal to complete this thought was the best course of action here, and the only valid one. “It is even worse than I expected it to be here.”

“Yeah.” Hard to imagine now that they were walking through this then-intact village almost half a year ago. Fresh-faced and thrown together after the tragedy that was Ostagar and their near death experience, in the search for information and equipment for their larger than life quest. It always had held the air of despair, filled to the brim with refugees as it were, but this here… was a completely disparate world. Theirs , to be exact. And every place would look like this, whole cities turned graveyards, should they fail. So many more people would die, futures and hopes crushed underfoot by incessant floods of darkspawn hordes. It was all the pressure, all the burden now visualized in this forsaken place; of what was at stake and expected of them both –just the two of them– that robbed him of all oxygen. How could he ever— The ground began to spin around him and with the torch still in hand, Alistair stumbled to a house's ruin at the side, to empty out his stomach into the snow-covered, decayed soil in front of it. The torch cluttered to the ground as he doubled over to heave. [...]

[CONTINUE READING] ||[READ FROM THE BEGINNING]

[sundogsandrainbows]

Yes, after three years I'm finally back to writing this story and have been done so several weeks already, actually :D But since my tumblr got erroneously terminated for over a week or more, I only now can post about it, sigh. Anyway, yay for another update?

STORY SUMMARY: Trust is a delicate flower that needs to get nurtured and time to grow. Even more so love. A tale of two disparate Wardens forced together, of finding a way to overcome the distrust, and their own painful past in the time of the Blight. Very in-depth, character-focused exploration of the Dalish origin/warden, of all DA:O companions, and their relationship dynamics during the Fifth Blight. Follows and expands on canon events; AU in some ways. Multiple POV's and pairings. Slow burn af.

CHAPTER SUMMARY/ All The Way/ 4U, Part III: While Lenya is deep in her cups, having a good time for once, Alistair is deep in his feelings, struggling to find his footing after his confession and how to handle this (perceived) one-sided love going forward. But maybe things aren't as black and white as thought? Note: This is part three of a three part act. Catch up on the previous three chapters I have posted after its long loooong hiatus here, here and here, respectively, before reading this one.

CHAPTER EXCERPT:

[...] If nothing else, Alistair could be at her side, support and protect her, whenever possible. Take the fall for her, if needed. This was what love was about, wasn’t it? Selfless and selfish, all in one. It could be a source of strength instead of weakness as Morrigan had disparagingly called it. And in the way Lenya could easily shatter him with a few words but put him back together and make whole as quickly showed it was strength and weakness, both. Not black or white but the in-betweens of it, more like. Complicated too, especially as a Warden in the time of a Blight to reconcile it with the duty he was bound to. But nothing of it had been planned, these feelings for her just happened . And now his life would be so much poorer without her in it. He didn't want that, not anymore. 

Her hand bunched in the sturdy fabric of his gambeson, asking him wordlessly to stay. Alistair did, how could he not? “I’m not leaving, don’t worry.” Lenya relaxed, closed her eyes with a long, stuttering exhale.

I love you.  

There was a clarity to that thought now, to these three words. No longer pushed away but embraced as immovable fact as it was by now. One day Alistair would have to let go of it, set it free, and her . He couldn't remain the hopeless fool forever. But for now it was a sense of purpose in a directionless world gone mad, a reason to fight beyond that lofty, nebulous goal of his duty of slaying an archdemon, to end this Blight. 

Her breath had slowed to an even rhythm, but she was still holding onto him. Alistair took her hand, hesitated as she stirred but she only settled down even closer to him, seeking him out as if by instinct. He very likely was just fooling himself here, yet his stomach was aflutter at the slightest possibility of it being real, and the cold no longer an issue for him. 

Cusping her hand into his in a gentle grasp, he marveled at the difference in size for a moment. So small in comparison, yet so powerful. Alistair bent down his head to kiss its backside, just a whisper of lips, as thankful for the comfort of her presence as she was for his. 

He waited until she was calm and asleep before leaving the tent again. [...]

[CONTINUE READING] || [READ FROM THE BEGINNING]

[sundogsandrainbows]

STORY SUMMARY: Trust is a delicate flower that needs to get nurtured and time to grow. Even more so love. A tale of two disparate Wardens forced together, of finding a way to overcome the distrust, and their own painful past in the time of the Blight. Very in-depth, character-focused exploration of the Dalish origin/warden, of all DA:O companions, and their relationship dynamics during the Fifth Blight. Follows and expands on canon events; AU in some ways. Multiple POV's, origins, and pairings. Slow burn af.

CHAPTER SUMMARY -- BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN : Next morning in camp, Lenya is hungover and Alistair sleep-deprived. But together they navigate their companions and (partly unaware) feelings for each other as they get ready to get back on the roads toward the wilds.

CHAPTER EXCERPT:

[...] With a smile toward her, Alistair picked up his prior abandoned bowl to help himself to a second portion. Oh no, the coin. Lenya winced with every scoop of the ladle in the pot. What if he ate his coin by accident and choked? Shit, would she end up killing her own and only fellow Warden?

“Um–”

“... because you are a good person.” Alas he was too caught up in scraping out what was left of the stew and his words to notice her distress. “And fiercely loyal to the people you care about, ready to help them in every way possible.” 

Yes, yes, wonderful. He knew her too well by now that her whole keeping-others-at-arm’s length-through-hostility -act wasn’t working any longer, nor was needed with him. But damn the stew – “You don’t wanna eat that, lethallin!”

Sitting down with the bowl in his armored hands, he frowned up at her. “Why? I know Zevran cooked it, but it is perfectly fine and–” Taking a spoonful of the stew, something distinctively round and metal had landed on it. Wow, lucky. Guess the token wanted to quickly return to its owner, thankfully now where it was noticed in time in a less chokey way. “Why is there a coin in my stew?” 

“...Surprise?” Lenya offered, but as expected Alistair wasn’t convinced… and very confused on top of that. “Well you startled me and I dropped it in there.”

“I… um, see?” Removing one gauntlet, he used his bare hand to fish it out of his bowl and shook it clean from the reddish stew. “Wait…this is mine. I’ve searched for it, thought I have lost my token… but here it is, in the stew, no less.”

“Sorry?” She shifted from one foot to the other. No point in sitting down again anymore. She needed to get ready for the road, pack her things and all that. Ugh. “I’ve found it on your bedroll and I have had it ever since. I meant to return it to you but well you startled me and–” 

“It’s all good.” Alistair brushed it clean with a bit of snow and instinctively flicked it in between his fingers. “I did find it after my first skirmish with a few darkspawn, right after my Joining.” Rubbing a thumb over its surface, he chuckled at the memory. “Must have shrieked like a little girl upon encountering them too, ah good old times.” Given he was only a Warden for half a year longer than her that remark was a bit weird yet so very relatable at the same time. Ostagar already felt a lifetime ago, not to mention regarding any sense of normalcy in their lives. Now fighting and killing was their everyday, as easy as breathing, and a darkspawn encounter was more of an afterthought and inconvenience than horrific. “One of the genlocks Duncan felled had the token on it and… I liked the runes on it. So I kept it ever since as a sort of lucky charm.”

“Right. With all the shit that happened, it doesn’t seem like your lucky charm is working, though.”

“Oh?” Tilting his head a little, Alistair’s mouth formed a warm smile that definitely reached and matched his earthen hazel eyes. “But I have met you, Nel. So I’m thinking I’m plenty lucky, actually.” 

More than that, the warmth of his lingering gaze had been kinda transmitted into her cheeks, as heated as they were right now. Gosh, this human and his damn honesty. [...]

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