#Dorian Pavus Critical

[dgcatanisiri]

Considering my earlier thoughts at the end of my first run of Veilguard, where I said, in effect, so much as I care, Dorian is a casualty of the attack on Minrathous, in large part BECAUSE as presented, he is once again HANDED every success, all the way to the point of becoming Archon, the head of the damn nation, rather than being shown doing the actual work of setting about improving and being better...

Honestly, I'm gonna go a step further and ignore him being in this game entirely.

Oh, sure, the game tries to make him a mandatory figure and all, what with him showing up to bail out Rook from the First Warden, but... I mean, the way I play Inquisition, he doesn't even get to Skyhold, let alone Adamant. And in all seriousness, there is no reason I should believe that, as a result of that, a "Tevinter ambassador" would be allowed anywhere near the Exalted Council, considering how Ferelden, the obvious driving force of the Council, was invaded by what amounted to a Tevinter army during the Breach crisis - without having been actively involved in the Inquisition's activities, he's got a best case scenario of getting laughed in the face at the border. So as far as I play Inquisition, this character doesn't matter, and in the world of Thedas as I play it, that's going to be the case.

No, instead, it's Harding who brings up Adamant, and frankly, I think it's a detriment to her to not have her do this anyway, since it wouldn't just be adding a bit of flavor to events in that quest that wasn't there to begin with, what with the First Warden not being mentioned at all at that point in Inquisition. It would be displaying her abilities as a scout and how well she does her job, that she found this information. It's just as much of an ass pull as Dorian doing the same, sure, but it gives the companion character that little more to do and drawing on her involvement, rather than giving this to a character who actually CAN be left out of the event being referenced for the sake of a cameo.

*sigh* Look, on paper, I have respect for Dorian - first gay companion character, you can't get around his being gay and all, but... In practice, he's a waste of things, because literally, all he exists for is to tell a story that was old more than a decade before he was even written, try and frame the oldest story in the queer book as something new and exciting, when all it really had going for it was a hastily-slapped on Dragon Age decal. This, at the same time that you had a show like How To Get Away With Murder, which premiered the same year Inquisition dropped, took an old and tired queer storyline and flipped it, tried to take that to a new perspective, where an HIV diagnosis wasn't the end but the START of the character's life. Meanwhile, you had Dorian doing a literal beat-for-beat play of a 90s after school special, one that honestly WAS reducing him to a prop for the development of the side character of his father - the point there was "does Dorian's father deserve forgiveness?" and NOTHING to do with Dorian's own development.

And meanwhile, the character as presented was DEEPLY flawed, in ways that SHOULD have taken precedence in his storyline - WHY should we support him in "redeeming" Tevinter, when we are set against both Tevinter's past AND present in the course of Inquisition? What hope would that offer for Tevinter's future? All Dorian offers is "Tevinter cares," a statement that leads me to say "oh, you're serious? Let me laugh even harder!" because even his own STORY puts the lie to that. Or we could discuss his opinions of slavery, opinions that go only so far as "well, you have poverty in the south, so that's basically the same thing!" Opinions that subsequent portrayals of Dorian have ACTIVELY been written to acknowledge, because BioWare realized that it was kind of a problem to NOT actually do anything about this AFTER Inquisition released.

In theory, Dorian could have been great. In practice, he is an empty and hollow waste of potential, because he brings nothing to the table. For those out there who did get something out of his story, I am glad for you, but there are a number of sources out there that have done everything that Dorian did in Inquisition - and have done them BETTER - that I legitimately HATE this character and his portrayal because it is just such a waste of the chance he was for BioWare, and frustrated so much at how he's given such a pass BECAUSE of the novelty.

[gxldencity]

What made me so ambivalent towards dorian is the realization is that he's supposed to be south asian coded but is written by a white man who said that asians don't exist in thedas and when asked about it again on twitter said that No he didnt mean that he meant that ALL asians in dragon age came from a different continent (like how all Black people come from Rivain in thedas 🫠 which yes also came from this same writer lmao) and also he compared the Qun to an Islamic militant borg, u know the horned creatures that everyone in thedas hates 🫠🫠🫠🫠

[amourningcrow]

My artbook just arrived and what do you mean they could have looked like this?? Who looked at these designs and thought: No wait, I have a better idea :)

WHO WAS IT?? COME HERE I JUST WANNA TALK

[alijuan]

At first I liked the fact that Emmrich was mentoring Dorian, but the more I thought about it, the more questions I had.

Dorian: My family once took me to Nevarra, Cassandra. Cassandra: You undoubtedly saw more of it than I ever did. Dorian: I was young, and all I wanted to do was visit a necropolis. I was desperate. Cassandra: They're dark. And full of undead. And the smell of stale incense still makes me want to vomit. Dorian: Ah. There goes that childhood fantasy. ─────── Dorian: So tell me this: are Nevarran cities of the dead actually filled with undead? Cassandra: Of course. The Mortalitasi lure spirits to possess every corpse buried there. Dorian: And then what? Let them… wander around willy-nilly? Cassandra: Only in the abandoned areas. The rest are sealed up in their tombs, I suppose. Dorian: Forever? I almost feel bad for them. Cassandra: After a time, the moaning grates on the nerves. Trust me.

Dorian has never been in a necropolis, he doesn't even know what it looks like, which is why he sounds disappointed after Cassandra's description, and he doesn't know what the Mortalitasi actually do, but in DATV it turned out that he was taught necromancy at the Grand Necropolis.

I'm fully aware that it was only made up to connect Emmrich with him and has no deep meaning but that’s the problem. Any new piece of lore should not contradict to established story. Dorian's story is well thought out, so the careless addition of details just for the sake of a new character is not a good thing, and in my opinion is even disrespectful.

It may seem unimportant, but it defines DATV. Let's add some facts that contradict the old character lore for the sake of a few cute moments.

[starkju0]

I miss them.

[simpforsolas]

So I've seen a some discussion of people both criticizing and defending the DATV companions for being nice to each other. And I think the arguments from both sides are being a little bit misconstrued, which is honestly understandable. I think that often when something bothers us in fiction, it's hard to put into words exactly what it is. So as we try our best to express ourselves, it may not end up getting to the point of what the issue actually is (this is also why it can be tough for writers to properly address criticism - the readers providing the criticism might not be accurately diagnosing the root of the problem, so their attempts to fix it are shallow and don't actually address the issue).

Now I obviously don't speak for everyone, but I do think that a good amount of the people saying they want the DATV crew to be meaner don't actually mean they literally just want people to be rude and insulting each other for no reason. I think it boils down to three things that the new crew was missing:

Inability to really feel how the companion's backstories form their unique worldview

Lack of conflict between companions

Limited relationship dynamics between Rook and the companions

Inability to feel how companion's backstories form their worldview

In previous Dragon Age games, the characters frequently discussed and argued topics of philosophy, faith, politics, and beliefs. They came from all different backgrounds. You had Morrigan, a hedge mage raised to believe in self-preservation, teaming up with an Andrastian circle mage and former templar. Their beliefs and worldviews are, at their core, at odds with each other. The game doesn't necessarily try to make you believe one way or another, it simply drops you into the world and allows you to interact with these character, see their interactions with each other, and draw your own conclusions. In Dragon Age Inquistion, you have Cole, a spirit of compassion, teaming up with Vivienne, who believes the circle teachings that spirits are demons and want to possess people, and Sera, who represents the perspective of the common people that are afraid of all things magical or fade-related. You have Solas, a staunch individualist who believes in freedom for all, Cassandra, a faithful Andrastian who follows her own inner compass even when at odds with the institution of the Chantry, and Iron Bull, a Ben-Hassrath agent who believes in the Qun not because he's a philosopher and has decided that's what works best, but because that's how he was raised and so far, the Qun has worked for him. So in previous Dragon Age titles, you have people whose worldviews and beliefs are fundamentally at odds with each other, and whose actions and dialogues are a direct result of those beliefs. Veilguard really downplayed the importance of religion in Thedas, which isn't necessarily a problem in and of itself. In DA2, the only companion with strong religious beliefs is Sebastian. However, you had Anders who believed strongly in mage liberation, Fenris, who believed strongly in the dangers of magic, and Isabela, whose lack of belief and lack of respect for religion/beliefs led to one of the game's biggest conflicts. Discussion of religion and philosophy was always a huge part of the Dragon Age games, so when they almost entirely removed that element and didn't replace it with other types of belief that could lead to meaningful differences of opinion, we were just left with nothing of substance to really talk about. This isn't saying that the companions don't have things they believe in, but it's just not the same as characters from previous games. In general, their backgrounds don't form a unique worldview that results in differences of opinions and interesting conflict. Which brings my to my next point:

Lack of conflict between companions

There's a huge spectrum between "everyone is friends and always gets along" and "everyone hates each other and is happy when their ally is sold into slavery." In fact, fans often get really into fictional relationships that have quite a bit of conflict. Speaking for myself, I love relationships where two people may fight or disagree, but they truly care for one another and would willingly put themselves in harm's way to protect one another. So I think when a lot of people say the companions get along too well, they don't necessarily mean that they want them to all hate each other (maybe some do). They mean that they just want there to be interesting interpersonal conflicts. (I personally would love for a companion pair to argue a lot, but when it comes down to it, they actually really care about each other) Why do we want this? Well first, conflict just makes things more interesting. But I think that it also ties into point 1. In this game, the companions simply don't seem passionate enough about what they believe to argue for it, or, if they are, there's not anyone who challenges their beliefs and forces them to defend their position. I would say that Emmrich is very passionate about his love for spirits and necromancy, two things which are seen as weird and dangerous by most people in Thedas. However, there's almost no chance for him to passionately argue for his worldview because no one challenges it. There is that one scene with Taash finding his passion for working with the dead creepy, but as soon as the issue comes up, it's resolved. Compare that to Solas, where a big part of his characterization is love for spirits and frustration with fear and ignorance leading people to discriminate against what they don't understand. Having to face opposition to his beliefs, both in the world and within the inquisitor's inner circle (and sometimes the inquisitor themself), gives the writers the opportunities to emphasize core parts of his characterization.

On a final note for this section, it's just more interesting when different pairs of companions have unique relationships with each other. Solas and Cole's wholesome, mostly conflict-free friendship is made sweeter because you can compare it to Solas and Sera's relationship. It makes the relationships more meaningful when you can contrast it to how those same people click or don't click with other companions.

Limited relationship dynamics with Rook

The final issue I want to talk about is how all this ties into Rook. In previous games, you could learn a lot about a character's beliefs by seeing what they approved and didn't approve of. Anders approves of supporting mages, Fenris doesn't. Leliana approves of compassion for strangers, Morrigan doesn't because why should she help people who can't help themselves, and also it's a waste of time. Cole greatly approves of helping people, Solas slightly approves of you asking questions, Cassandra approves of expressing belief in the Maker, and so forth and so on. Then depending on the choices you make, your approval actually makes a difference in how these companions view you as their leader. But in Veilguard... well either the companions don't have strong feelings about things, or Rook isn't allowed to make decisions that oppose the beliefs they do have. Because of this, there's basically no conflict between Rook and the team. From my understanding, worst relationship you can get with the team is "distant boss whose employees don't invite them to their work parties," but that's not the same as Cassandra hating you so much she gets drunk or getting specific rival scenes like in DA2 where companions react entirely differently because Hawke consistently acted in opposition to their beliefs.

Final thoughts

So when people criticize the companions not getting along, I think it's less to do with the fact that people want them to hate each other, and more to do with the fact that we want companions who have a strong worldview shaped by their backstory, and for that worldview being challenged to lead to interesting conflict. Whether that challenge comes from other companions, the world, or Rook themself, I don't care - I just want interesting and meaningful conflict that is arises because the companions are strong characters who believe in something.

[drakorn]

Rewriting Veilguard Part 2 - The Shadow Dragons

Rewriting Veilguard Part 1 - The World State

Disclaimer: I don't hate the game, I actually think it's quite great given the development hell Bioware went through in those 10 years. This is more of a hypothetical universe where there was less of that behind the scenes drama. Just a fun writing exercise.

Writing an Origin Story Mission for the Shadow Dragons

Now that we have dealt with our World State, it’s time to pick Rook’s background. When I first learned that there would be six factions to choose from, I was honestly very ecstatic. You’re telling me we’re getting six different origin stories for Rook? Did BioWare finally listen to the fans’ wish to get one more game with DAO-style prologue missions before the big main plot begins? Then I learned that six of the companions you meet would represent one of those respective factions, and I was like “Amazing, so you will definitely have one party member with whom you can at least align interests and goals from the start.”

What we ended up getting was…sort of something in the middle. Your backstory is brought up and you get quite a lot of unique dialogue regarding your faction. If you’re a Shadow Dragon, there’s a lot of Minrathous dialogue tailored to you specifically. If you’re a Grey Warden, you’re having an absolute field day whenever the Blight is involved, which is…a huge chunk of the game.

But there was…something missing for me. You see, when we start the game, we’re immediately thrown into this epic mission where Rook, Varric, and Harding find Neve and race to stop Solas. It feels very much like we’re starting somewhere in the middle rather than at the beginning. And that, in my humble opinion, is due to the lack of a unique origin story that you can actually play through. So, here’s what the next few parts of this hypothetical rewrite of Veilguard will focus on: creating six unique playable origin stories that would very much be doable without the vampiric leech known as “development hell” hovering over you. This post will focus solely on the Shadow Dragon origin story, so stay tuned for the others. I’m aware of how long it might take between posts, but I want to make sure I do this the right way.

Creating Rook

We start the game, which immediately kicks off Varric’s opening narration. But instead of Varric talking about Solas immediately, we’re gonna set the stage for the general state of Northern Thedas: with the South experiencing a few years of relative peace, the North is a wholly different story: Tevinter and the Qunari have engaged in a bloody and brutal all-out war, the Grey Wardens are growing more reclusive, strange reality warping occurs in Arlathan Forest, a part of the Antaam broke off and is now occupying Antiva and Rivain, strange whispers arise from the Grand Necropolis, basically, everything is in chaos. But Varric is certain that one person is the key to all this. Cue the distant howling of a wolf and six red eyes. Cut to black.

Now we get to customise Rook and choose our faction. As the title of this post suggests, we’re taking the Shadow Dragon route. The backstory text, however, is going to be different to the one we get in DAV. You see, when reading through those backstories, I got the feeling that all of them sounded like outlines for what could have been the origin story quest. I am actually 100% confident that BioWare planned on including prologue missions at one point but had to scrap them due to development hell reasons. And all of the six summaries essentially boil down to “you upset some higher authority and now your faction wants you out of the spotlight.” All the choices regarding Rook’s personality have already been made for us. Playing this actual backstory allows us to roleplay in a roleplaying game, which…shocking, I know, but here me out. Instead, the origin text we get when we click on the Shadow Dragons is simply going to be:

“You are a Shadow Dragon. This underground resistance opposes corrupt rulers and slavery in Tevinter. Coming from all walks of life, they are determined to bring justice to the people. As a member of House Mercar, a renowned Soporati family renowned on the battlefield against the Antaam, you have much influence to bring, and much to lose.”

That’s just the small little snippet we see when hovering over the option. But that’s all we’re gonna get for now. There is no mention yet of Rook’s personality as we’ll get to shape it ourselves a little bit. So, we customise our Rook, finalise our massive World State, and click on the play button at last.

Varric’s narration continues, just like in DAV, but this time, he’s going to give us our chosen faction’s backstory. We get a recap on how Dorian and Maevaris founded the Lucerni shortly after the war with Corypheus and how much of a ray of hope this group was in the twisted and corrupt society of the Tevinter Imperium. But then, some of the more powerful magisters began to heavily push against them, eventually leading to Maevaris being framed for treason and losing her seat in the Magisterium. She took all the blame on herself so that Dorian would be able to retain a spotless reputation and continue their work on the great political stage. Maevaris took the remaining Lucerni underground and formed the Shadow Dragons, continuing their work under a different name. Now unbound by political restrictions, the Shadow Dragons are free to take more radical measures in their fight against oppression and slavery. And Varric is confident that the perfect candidate to go against the bigger threat can be found in this group.

The Shadow Lair

Our story begins in Minrathous, in the underground base of the Shadow Dragons. And right off the bat, we’re making a change regarding said base’s location. In DAV, it stands in a random building somewhere in Dock Town that pretty much anyone could access. I get that they were probably going for the “hide in plain sight” approach, but let’s actually have some fun here.

In this rewrite, the Shadow Dragons are literally operating from the underground. Now, Minrathous’ underground system has two things that are very beneficial for a secretive rebellious organisation:

Vast catacombs. The catacombs of Minrathous are so massive that they can store food to survive years of siege. Minrathous, like so many cities and settlements in Tevinter, is built on the bones of Elvhenan. You can easily get lost in those catacombs.

Gigantic sewers. The sewers are arguably even more treacherous than the catacombs, because we have seen in Tevinter Nights what can lurk there. Imagine the sewers of the greatest city in the world, the greatest magical city in the world. Surely it comes with its own set of urban legends akin to the sewer gator. But in a city like Minrathous, those legends are probably true. Failed magical experiments, lyrium-infused mutations, abominations of former mages who failed some twisted blood magic experiment, possessed objects; all this can be found in Minrathous’ sewers. Dangerous for everyone, and therefore perfect for the Shadow Dragons.

The Shadow Dragons operate from a place called "The Shadow Lair”, a section of an underground district known simply as “The Undercity”. That’s where all the poor and forgotten retreat if they wish to disappear from the world, or criminals who flee the Imperium’s justice system. A dangerous but also perfect place.

NOTE: For the duration of the prologue, Rook will be referred to by the name of Mercar, as “Rook” is the name they give themselves after disappearing from the scene.

Depending on what race Mercar is, the stakes vary:

If Mercar is a human, they are the direct heir of House Mercar, destined to take over the family name one day. If Mercar is a human mage, they are currently in the process of getting their family appointed to Laetan status, which will give them more political power and influence.

If Mercar is a dwarf, they are an adopted scion of House Mercar.

If Mercar is an elf or a qunari, they are an official slave of House Mercar, but it’s made pretty clear in the beginning that House Mercar’s slaves are slaves in name only, while actually being more akin to paid servants. House Mercar simply refers to them as slaves to stay under the Magisterium’s radar and actually uses them to pass on information to the Shadow Dragons.

I was personally disappointed that DAV didn’t really touch on Tevinter’s slavery system. It felt a bit like I was treated with kid gloves and not given the trust to being able to handle dark topics. But Tevinter, as has been established in all DA media before DAV, is a pretty dark place for anyone who isn’t a human mage. And it’s important to depict that as it shows the stakes and just how rotten of a society the Imperium is. We need to see what the Shadow Dragons are actually fighting for. It’s not enough to just tell us how much a freedom fighter group we are, no, we need to see it.

Meeting the Leaders of the Shadow Dragons

For the sake of this playthrough, our Mercar is going to be a human mage, and thus not only the direct heir to the house but also one who can elevate it to Laetan status. We have a lot to lose, so we must be extra careful in this precarious situation.

So Mercar meets with the leaders of the Shadow Dragons, namely Maevaris and the Viper. From this conversation, we get the general gist of what’s about to happen and why we are here: House Mercar decided to get a bit more involved with the Shadow Dragons after both parties discovered a massive plot for something big involving Minrathous’ vast slave population. Whatever it is, it’s happening somewhere in Dock Town, and we are to rendezvous with Neve Gallus, a local and renowned detective, to get to the bottom of this.

Exploring the Shadow Lair

After the conversation, we get to have a quick look around the Shadow Lair, where we can instigate a small series of encounters:

We can talk to Maevaris some more and learn about her past and her motivation behind what used to be the Lucerni.

We can talk to the Viper and learn more about him, how he’s usually running operations and that he’s from an Altus house. But that’s about everything you can learn about him at this point in time.

We can meet Lorelei and learn about her being one of the city elves Loghain sold to Tevinter all the way back in DAO. She will give a few remarks on how the Hero of Ferelden dealt with the Alienage and how she and Alistair made it a more just place.

NOTE: For this rewrite’s hypothetical playthrough, the Hero of Ferelden is a Human Noble who romanced Alistair and became Queen of Ferelden. She is now searching for a cure for the Calling.

We can have a bit of a look at the Undercity and just see how much of a poor and dark place it is. This is the gutter, no, this is below the gutter. The people here wish to disappear. They are miserable, most of them have given up hope. The Shadow Dragons are the only ones who actually care about them.

Since the Undercity is below modern Minrathous, we can see traces of ancient elven architecture on display, including mosaics and frescoes.

An Old Friend

Just as we’re about to leave for Dock Town, a familiar face strides into the Shadow Lair: Varric Tethras. Yes, we actually get to see Rook’s first meeting with Varric here! Maevaris greets and introduces him to us (and we actually get to know that Varric and Maevaris are family, which DAV kind of glossed over, thank you very much). Mercar gets to have a first chat with Varric, where he assess our personality. This vibe check is what allows us to determine Rook’s general personality: are we diplomatic, humorous, or aggressive? I fully get that Varric wouldn’t pick an evil person to fight against Solas, but we should still have some kind of roleplay room regarding Rook’s way of thinking and speaking.

Varric’s purpose in these prologues is very similar to Duncan’s in DAO. He’s the one who recruits you into the larger fight and acts as a mentor figure for a while. I was actually fully expecting that to be the case in the actual game when we were told that Varric recruits Rook into the fight against Solas. Well, he did, but I would have liked to see it! Alas, we shall do so here!

Varric stays behind in the Shadow Lair while we go off and do our thing.

Entering Dock Town

Dock Town is pretty much right above the Undercity, the gutter above the actual gutter. The entrance to the Shadow Lair is quite hidden with enchantments, known only to Shadow Dragons and their associates.

Dock Town is going to stay pretty much exactly as we see it in the game. If there is one place in Minrathous where everyone could mingle without being necessarily immediately prosecuted, it’s that place (which is probably why that’s the only part of Minrathous we see in the game, but I digress). However, there will be one major change: slavery is still a thing.

Dock Town is…well…a place where ships dock. That includes ships of slave traders and prisoners of war. In this rewrite, Tevinter is still locked into a war with the Qunari, so there will be a lot of that reflected in the environment. As we walk through Dock Town, we see guards on high alert, slaves and prisoners being led away in chains. We’re doing some important environmental storytelling here that lets us know exactly why Tevinter is a place that needs to be liberated and changed so desperately.

Meeting Neve Gallus

We find Neve Gallus at the Cobbled Swan. Depending on dialogue choices, we might or might not have heard of her up to this point. I think it would be fun if Mercar could geek out about her because he read some sensationalist tabloid about one of her cases.

So Neve tells us that a huge part of Dock Town was closed off for a great event, a former small coliseum that hasn’t been used in decades. Coincidentally, several unpurchased slaves and prisoners of war are being dragged into that area.

Neve has a good lead to assume that the Venatori are somehow behind this because of course they are. Neve gives us a recap on what the Venatori are and how she had multiple run-ins with them already. She is to be absolutely certain that Mercar can be trusted as they will need to work together on this. In response, Mercar shares his side of the information, that his father, Charon Mercar, who is also a respected Legatus in this rewrite, oversaw a strange pattern in how many prisoners of war and masterless slaves, primarily from places like Ventus and Carastes, Qunari-conquered cities, have simply disappeared, and how surprisingly many military vessels have been transferred to Minrathous. Since Neve is a detective, it’s fun to make this part of the journey feel a bit like a crime mystery.

Once all information has been shared, Neve declares that it’s time to go.

Approaching the Coliseum

Neve takes us across Dock Town’s roofs towards the closed-off area of the coliseum. There, we see just how massively guarded it is. The official excuse for all this is a military training exercise. Horrifyingly, this is much closer to the truth than we realise. There are Imperial Templars and Legionnaires patrolling the outskirts, so we have to find our way in.

Neve directs us to a secret hiding spot, where we meet Tarquin, who is, as we know, an Imperial Templar working for the Shadow Dragons. Not even he knows exactly what’s happening, but something definitely big is going on.

There are two options before us: do we sneak in from above and observe from the shadows, or do we disguise ourselves as templars and participate in a more open manner? This right here gives us another choice regarding Mercar’s way of doing things. Are we feeling confident enough to just walk in and hide in plain sight? Or do we take the stealthy approach? While Neve is all for stealth, Tarquin prefers the closer look. So a first major choice presents itself:

Follow Neve and observe the proceedings from above, quietly gathering the information you need.

Follow Tarquin and disguise yourself as an attendant, getting a much closer look at the proceedings.

So I’m feeling a little brave right now. I think my Mercar would try to do the bold approach to get better results, even if it means a higher risk. For this playthrough, I’m choosing to follow Tarquin and let myself be disguised. Neve begrudgingly follows along.

Entering the Coliseum

A few minutes later, Mercar, Neve, and Tarquin approach the Coliseum gates in disguise. Tarquin wears his Templar armour, while Mercar and Neve are dressed as mages of the Legion.

Once we enter the arena, we have the chance to explore it for a little while. Doing so allows us to encounter the following:

We can have an early chat with Magister Zara Renata, who will, of course, be very relevant later, along with her lackeys Felicia and Calivan, all of whom are prominent members of the Venatori. Neve is able to make that connection due to Felicia’s brother Livius having so notoriously attempted to corrupt the Wardens at Adamant Fortress in DAI.

We may encounter Magister Bataris, alongside his son Albin and get early hints of just how far the Venatori corruption runs.

If we make a good enough persuasion attempt at the Templar Captain guarding the entrance to a basement, we shall enter it and discover the prisoners and slaves intended for some heinous affair. Here, and only here, if we perform this correct dialogue choice, and being a human mage, unfortunately, certainly helps here, we get to see that our father, Charon Mercar, is among the imprisoned. And the worst of it all? He doesn’t even recognise you. Actually none of the slaves and prisoners react in any way, as all of them seem to be under some sort of spell. As we look closer, we can see that all of them have strange spiked collars around their necks, filled with blood. This is blood magic that keeps them entranced. If we want to risk it, we have time to break our father’s collar and ensure that perhaps, he can escape. So we do just that.

The Imperator

Following our exploration of the Coliseum, we get streamed into a crowd of onlookers as the Imperator of Tevinter’s legions, the Supreme Legatus himself, Magister Aemilianus Laskaris, enters the centre of the arena.

We know from DAV that Tevinter has an Imperator, and the Imperator is not the same as the Archon in this context. While the Archon is the overall ruler, the Imperator is the highest military commander. Think of this guy as Tevinter’s version of Loghain. Laskaris also happens to be one of the loudest voices responsible for forcing the Lucerni out of the Magisterium.

Laskaris delivers a speech in which he proclaims just how bad Tevinter is faring against the Antaam. Here we get some early insight into the fact that a large chunk of the Qunari army broke off and is now bearing down on Antiva and Rivain. However, a large part of it remained and is following the Arishok into battle against the Imperium. And even against this broken Antaam, the Legions are starting to fail.

Laskaris cites lost cities such as Ventus, Carastes, and Neromenian as evidence for the desperate situation Tevinter is now facing. Therefore, something must be done. Something drastic. He presents, to the gathered onlookers, the Salvatio Initiative. Basically, all unpurchased slaves and prisoners of war are to be given to Tevinter’s legions, where Laskaris and the Legates serving under him will perform blood magic rituals to turn them into mindless but ravaging soldiers against the Antaam. Dangerous cannon fodder essentially. He will use tonight’s demonstration to convince the gathered members of the Magisterium to pass a law that will officially permit Tevinter’s legions to use blood magic. Well, we know, Tevinter has always used blood magic behind closed doors, but this will mean that all safety measures are off, all precautions, all careful attempts at hiding it. And the worst part is: since slaves are considered nothing but tools, it won’t even be seen as unethical by the large portion of conservative Senate members. And prisoners of war? Qunari? Who cares about them anyway, right? This is the darkness and true corruption permeating Tevinter. This is exactly why the Shadow Dragons exist to bring back the light.

Several doors open and Laskaris directs all slaves and prisoners to be brought forth.  They are all wearing the blood collars. Upon the Imperator’s command, him and several blood mages under his leadership, activate the blood collars and turn the slaves and prisoners into an absolute frenzy. A battle erupts in which the sheer destructive power of the now-mindless fighters is demonstrated.

Mercar now has a choice to make, and it is the biggest one there is in the prologue:

Do we stealthily fight the blood mages and try to rescue the innocent mind-controlled people without blowing our cover? You do, however, risk your father dying.

Do we rush in headfirst and fight Laskaris head-on, saving your father but maybe dooming more innocents and risking exposure?

Do we put our personal emotional interest above the greater good or vice versa? Well, because we broke our father’s collar earlier, we can at least assume that he’s going to be able to fight for himself with a clear head, so let’s focus on the blood mages in a stealthy manner.

Neve and Tarquin quickly take us behind the scenes as the crowd watchers in apt interest. There are five blood mages, including Laskaris, who need to be dealt with. Neve takes one half, Tarquin the other, while you have a go at Laskaris himself. You are masked so he won’t know it’s you.

While Neve and Tarquin successfully dismantle two blood mages each, we sneak right up to Laskaris and try to either knock him out or backstab him altogether. This results in the same outcome but tells a lot about Mercar’s personality. Do we kill this guy and end it now? Or do we try and incapacitate him so that he can still be of use for the future?

Regardless, Laskaris sees it coming and engages in a boss battle against us. It’s a tough battle, one that we are logically meant to lose. If we get Laskaris down to 0HP, miraculously so unless we play on Storyteller mode, the cutscene will slightly change but the outcome remains largely the same.

Laskaris lashes out and wounds us, causing us to fall down, bleeding, losing our mask, exposing ourselves to Laskaris, while the slaves and prisoners stage a mad revolt around us, forcing the gathered magisters to flee the scene. But because we freed our father from his collar, he comes rushing in to save us, engaging Laskaris in a one-on-one duel. Despite “only” being Soporati, he puts up quite a fight with his huge two-hander. We want to help him, desperately so, but we are just too weak. Laskaris is impressed by Charon’s strength, but ultimately, deals him a mortal wound. Just before Laskaris turns to finish us off, he is struck in the shoulder by…Bianca!

Varric steps into the fray and fires off a row of bolts against the Imperator, allowing Neve and Tarquin to take us away as we pass out. As they do so, the Viper appears and casts a spell that shrouds the whole arena in fog.

Back at the Shadow Lair

We awaken in the Shadow Lair and are greeted by Varric. It turns out that he was using this whole mission to assess us from the background, to determine if we are the one he’s looking for. And he decides that, yes, we are. Laskaris, the Venatori, all of this is just one puzzle piece of something much greater. We can press Varric on what this could possibly be, but he won't tell us just yet. Instead, he tells us that we should disappear. And he might just be able to help with that. We can be incredibly outrageous about this. I just discovered the biggest plot to endanger slaves ever since the Magister Sidereal tore open the Veil to reach the Golden City! I can’t just leave right now to pursue something I don't even know about!

At this point, Maevaris joins us and agrees that Mercar has to disappear for a while, now that Laskaris knows who we are. We can’t be seen with the Shadow Dragons for the time being. Doing so would just endanger the whole cause.

Reluctantly or readily, that depends on our personality, we concede that there is sense in Varric’s words. Varric advises us to adopt a codename as well, like so many agents of the Inquisition did back in the day. Mercar thinks for a moment, reflects on the most recent events, and decides on “Rook”. Varric approves. “The strongest piece on the chessboard, I like it.”

Afterwards we get a final chance to talk to the members of the Shadow Dragons before we depart, and get a last look at the Undercity. Neve returns to Dock Town to keep an eye on Laskaris and the slave rings, as well as search for any Venatori ties.

What follows is a cutscene where Rook and Varric depart the Shadow Lair and leave Minrathous altogether. One last time, Rook looks at the city he swore to fight for, then turns around and follows Varric into the unknown.

And that’s as far as we’ll go today! I hope you enjoyed my little hypothetical take on a potential Shadow Dragon origin mission. Of course, not everything is refined and perfect, but I hope you still got the overall gist of what I was going for! Next time, we shall focus on a potential prologue for the Grey Wardens! Stay tuned!

Rewriting Veilguard Part 3 - The Grey Wardens

[best-character-named-x-poll]

have you done your daily click

[abyssal-ilk]

getting all of the banter dialogue for dorian and bull so they can be a couple in dai is so... ugh. there is some genuinely wonderful stuff to explore in their dynamic, with iron bull abandoning the qun and dorian leaving tevinter and what it means to have done that and finding themselves as people, but. christ. the fetishization and oversexualization of the qunari in da is fucking hair tearingly painful, and it is at its most obvious with iron bull and dorian. really hoping that something changes for the taash romance, but i am,, kind of doubtful.

[silent-words]

I know that l'm not a politically astute Dragon Age player. When I was presented with a chance to make my (Inquisitor's) boyfriend a leader of the country, I took it. I was giggling and kicking my legs, I was so happy that I can do it. Screw all the narrative that says "oh bad Dorian wants to manipulate and kill someone". I wanted my charming mage to be the Archon.

Pretty much the same reasons I had when I made Alistair the King of Ferelden. Because he was my (Warden's) boyfriend, and I could make him king. In DAO, though, no one was saying "he will be a bad king". The game wasn't implying it.

"I want my little cinnamon roll to rule the country" should be a valid reason for an in-game choice.

[dgcatanisiri]

Considering I'm me and I'm allowed to be petty, I do want to grouse about something in a place that is purely mine and won't be part of the greater commentary I might make, but I want to shake out my personal irritation that I know very few other people share, and so is just here for me to complain about.

One - THIS was the place in the story that they let Dorian's romance be shot in the foot for? A pair of brief cameos that could be excised entirely without too much damage to the plot?

I mean, sure, I know, Veilguard went through a handful of total plot rewrites and all, but... The fact that Dorian and the Magisterium play so NOTHING of a role in things, when his romance was strangled in the course of Trespasser to effectively facilitate him playing a role in this game?

Like yeah, that was just the nail in the coffin for me, I don't find his character worth engaging with in general and the fact that his romance was reduced to "leaving forever, here's my medieval Skype number, BYYYYYYYYYE!~" only made things the worse... And to see it play out like this, where he doesn't even MATTER?

I mean, maybe he does more in a "go to Minrathous in Act I" run, but... Yeah, this just compounded a problem.

Two - Okay, now's the part where I REALLY get petty. Dude does nothing but be there in the final battle and ends up becoming the Archon? So he LUCKS IN to a place where he can do whatever they want with him in the future?

THIS is where I get so frustrated with what they did with Dorian, from Inquisition to here. We never have to SEE this character wrestle with and reckon with his biases and privilege. He dismisses slavery and poverty as basically being the same thing, and that's all the focus that Inquisition wanted to give him on the subject of how he wants to "redeem" Tevinter. He gives no indication of understanding what makes Tevinter so repulsive to the other nations of Thedas, brushing it all off.

Like I commonly call bullshit on him being all "It's ALTUS, not MAGISTER, and using the terms interchangeably just makes you southerners seem like barbarians," when this is the guy who ends up dismissing slavery done by his countrymen. Hell, his quest for the War Table, about finding the true name of Corypheus stinks - REEKS - of shouting "#NotAllMagisters!" into a megaphone, trying to distance modern Tevinter from its historical crimes, while the face of those crimes is our actual enemy, backed by his present day countrymen. Faced with both the evil of Tevinter's past AND present, what effort does he make to say Tevinter's future is going to be different? NOTHING.

And then, just like how Veilguard gives him the position of Archon, he gets lucked in to the role of being in the Magisterium, when his father dies. BioWare basically tried to patch the failure of Inquisition to actually develop him by talking up in extended media how "oh, now I have paid servants, not slaves!" but... This is development that SHOULD have been at the heart of his character arc in Inquisition, because if he actually wanted to be "the Redeemer of Tevinter," he needed to FACE the ills of Tevinter and understand what and why and how Tevinter - INCLUDING. HIM. - need to change.

And instead, BioWare just completely hands Dorian EVERYTHING he needs for such "changes." Changing everything about society doesn't involve YOU changing anything, it's you getting LUCKY ENOUGH to end up when you can just snap your fingers and MAKE that change.

Lazy, lazy, LAZY character writing. Honestly, I'm content just saying that Dorian Pavus died in Elgar'nan's siege of Minrathous. And nothing of value is lost, because Dorian DOES nothing of value.

[lunian]

Maevaris is literally judging Dorian that he learned the ways of politics from Cullen and Leliana and Josephine and its the most teasing reference I witnessed so far lmao

but it's blatant weird to hear since Tevinter politics are DEFINITELY no better or no more fair than Orlesian ones

additionally, those "devious means" specifically supported Maevaris 10 years ago when Dorian asked Inquisitor's help so :/

[childofthestone]

veilguard is what happens when you take "this could have been an email" and you apply it to things that most certainly should not have been an email

[sky-scribbles]

I deeply enjoy the Gale/Anders/Caleb Widogast comparisons and memes going around with my whole entire heart. But you know which wizards from those particular fictional universes I really think Gale has most in common with? The wizards I'd most like to see him interact with? Dorian Pavus and Essek Thelyss.

Something something Gale and Dorian having genuine confidence in their abilities but being convinced they'll never be truly loved, they can't be. Outward cheer and charm and wit that isn't feigned but is a shield, hiding a deeper hurt. A polished image of flaunting your intelligence like you think the world of yourself, while quietly expecting rejection. A mentor and surrogate father figure who wasn't there for you when you needed him. A homeland you love and desperately miss. The overwhelming surprise of being accepted and wanted and loved. (Also they hang out with a big horned person who loves hitting things.)

Something something Gale and Essek and a magic that's inseperable from a divinity, so entwined that you can't love your magic without that divinity being an influence in your life. Being the prodigy who finds self-worth in achievement and talent, but leaves meaningful connections with others behind somewhere on that road. Acting with intentions you told yourself were important, and nearly bringing doom upon the world and on yourself. Blasphemy and hubris. Falling into self-hatred in the aftermath, eaten by regret, unable to be kind enough to yourself to consider what circumstances helped lead you to that point. A tower that's your sanctuary but also the place you retreated into, closing the doors on the world. The overwhelming surprise of being accepted and wanted and loved. (Also they hang out with a bunch of stronk women and a tol nature guy.)

Something something purple charming wizards my beloveds.

[kaija-rayne-author]

I'm not sure if I would've ever bothered with Veilguard if I'd seen what they did to Dorian beforehand.

Solas was bad enough.

Those two are my romance choices whenever I play. And we didn’t even get a Dorian & Inky scene for a romanced Dorian.

That game wasn't worth 20$, much less the 70 or 80 it was here.

[hallabun]

this game. infuriates me. oh my gosh.

okay, so. i make mods and know my way around frosty editor well enough. and i was digging around the files to see if i could fix a bug someone noticed. it was assumed a dorian romanced inquisitor would mention being busy when asked about spies (implying he was up north often enough to be considered one), compared to a non dorian romanced inquisitor who would say they only had harding, morrigan, and dorian as spies.

so what was the bug? well, it seemed this line didn't play for a dorian romanced inquisitor cadash. he had the same line about only having harding, morrigan, and dorian as eyes for the inquisition.

so i dug around - and you will never believe it. it was never a line tied to the dorian romance. it was tied, specifically, to the british male voice actor. just. inexplicably. no reason for the difference whatsoever.

the reason why it never popped up for cadash was because most people playing as an inquisitor cadash used the american male voice actor. the "sorry i'm needed elsewhere" line does appear for cadash if he's given a british accent.

i also tried a male british inquisitor romancing cassandra, and also got the "sorry i'm needed elsewhere". i guess having a british accent just really makes you love sitting around in minrathous and being the sole source of information for the inquisition. because reasons???????

now, i used a save editor for the male british inquisitor romancing cassandra, so i'm really hoping i goofed up somewhere along the way, but from what i saw in the editor, and in the game in general. i think replaying the game from the beginning, ALLLL THE WAY to recruiting emmrich & taash all over again just to make sure would make me actually insane. so if anyone with a male british inky who isn't romancing dorian can confirm he says "sorry i'm needed elsewhere". i would love you forever. or be sad. also i want to be proven wrong so badly and i will delete this rant and say sorry to bioware if i am wrong. lmao.