#I wanted to go to Seheron

[ambrosia-vinca]

If Veilguard wanted a freedom fighter-style faction as allies to fight both the Antaam and the Venatori, it shouldn't have been the Crows, but the Fog Warriors

[ghost-bard]

I hope in the next dragon age game theres 3 dwarf companions 3 qunari companions 1 elf and a human that dies early on like that one girl from the dao awakening dlc

[vaguely-concerned]

there are two wolves inside me. one wolf doesn't want to make dorian pavus archon because that's just a lot. of lotness for him to deal with and I love him and would like to spare him that at least, and also even posthumously it means sort of giving halward pavus a win. which galls, naturally. the other wolf thinks it would be very very funny for iron bull to have to deal with being married in all but law to the archon of tevinter.

[ayrennaranaaldmeri]

it's like i'm sorry even if you wanted to find a natural environment for them you can't honestly just go lmao arlathan just because it's fucking there bc even if you set aside the fact that these 12 were eggs that came from generations of griffons that were companions for people, griffons were said to originate from seheron?? arlathan forest isn't even the right environment lmaooooooo

[chialattea]

Well news fucking flash EA. Sten is now mine. Him and my warden are going on a road trip. Yes my Aeducan sacrificed herself but since we’re retconning things she got reincarnated into a golem. Because those exist, if you remember. How? Who cares. Shut up.

Btw we’re also taking control of Orzammar and establishing commerce routes to Par Vollen

[yavvana]

I can't get over how fucking awful Mythal actually was.

Don't read below this if you haven't finished Veilguard, lmao.

The fact that Solas wore her vallaslin, and somehow still saw her as a friend, and trusted and loved her enough to do everything she asked of him makes me so angry/sad. Friends don't make their friends wear slave markings on their faces. Him being called her lapdog by Elgar'nan makes so much more sense.

And then Solas goes and accepts the blame for decisions that she made, and then manipulated him into agreeing to, and she fucking accepts no fault! If you confront her about the Blight when you meet her in the Crossroads, she basically just says, "not my problem."

And he blames himself for her death because he couldn't convince her to walk away from the Evanuris! But really, sorry Mythal, that's her own fucking fault?! She saw herself as above Solas, so she refused to heed his warnings, and then Elgar'nan killed her because Elgar'nan's a bitch.

And then if you pick the good ending, and Solas sees her again, you cannot tell me that his reaction to her is not one of someone who has been abused being confronted by their abuser. The way he curls around the dagger...Mythal, when I get my hands on you, Mythal...And then she says, "I release you from my service." Bitch. I wanted my Lavellan to punch her ghost with her prosthetic hand so fucking bad, lmao.

Solas was a spirit of wisdom! And she corrupted him from his purpose. If he had stayed a spirit, he would have become a pride demon because of her manipulations.

Cole has a couple of lines in DAI that I can't stop fucking thinking about.

"He didn't want a body, but she asked him to come. He left a scar when he burned her off his face."

And, "He wants to give wisdom, not orders."

Solas gets to be himself in Inquisition. He gets to return to giving wisdom. Regardless of whether or not you're romancing him, if you're not a dick to him, he offers these beautiful stories about the Fade, and GDL does a fucking incredible job of making each of them sound poetic as fuck. And he's so kind to all the companions. Even Vivienne who has so much contempt for him, and he tries to offer her advice when he notices things about her magic that he finds...unsettling, lmao. Like their interaction about her staff's aura and him being like, "Are you sure that's the aura you want your staff to have, I can cleanse it for you?" And she's just like, "Yup." And he just lets it go.

When he leaves the Inquisition, Solas forces himself to be what Mythal made him. Which makes the line, "You are Mythal's creature now!" so distressingly ironic.

People talk about how he hates the Dalish elves, and Qunari, but that's just factually inaccurate. He's frustrated by the Dalish because he spent how many years fighting to free the elves from the influence of the Evanuris, only to wake from uthenera to find that he is the villain in all their tales, and the Evanuris are regarded as gods. And when he tried to tell a clan the truth, they tried to kill him! And he doesn't hate the Qunari, he hates the Qun. He hates that under the Qun, people do not get to make their own decisions.

Iron Bull's biggest fear is becoming a rabid Tal'Vashoth, and he expresses as much to Solas. And if you play as a Qunari, Solas points out in party banter that Inky isn't rabid.

If you have Iron Bull side with the Chargers, Solas checks in on Bull several times in party banter, assuring Bull he won't become like the Tal'Vashoth that he fought in Seheron. Because Bull has the Inquisition, and his friends, and Solas. And then they play mental chess, and if that's not friendship, idk what is.

And his interactions with Sera, who doesn't think she's elfy enough, so she makes fun of elfy things as a defence mechanism, are fucking hilarious. The way he gets her to talk about the Fade by asking her about the Breach, and what she sees when she looks at it, and you kinda see that Sera is a lot more elfy than she realizes. And then when she realizes it and gets mad, he basically tells her it's payback for her filling his bedroll with lizards. And she just fucking giggles and is like, "yeah, fair." (These two are my absolute favorite characters in DAI and I would die for either of them, lmao) But he kinda makes her connect with her heritage even though she doesn't want to, and I think that's good for her.

Solas also gets angry with Blackwall, not for lying about actually being Thom Rainier, but because Blackwall led his men into fights, and to their deaths in many instances, for nothing more than his greed. And then he APOLOGIZES for that interaction. And Blackwall tells him it's fine, that Solas was right, and he deserved it. And then Solas commends him for taking the first step towards redemption by owning his past and his mistakes.

And then there's him and Varric constantly joking about having to clean up messes made by humans, and "Why are an elven apostate and a dwarf here, again?" Their interactions are some of my favorites, and it's why I firmly believe that if there had been one more wolf statuette to find, it would have been his regret over Varric's death.

Solas deserved better than having Mythal as a "friend." She manipulated and corrupted him. And then let him take the fall for things that she did. She regrets NOTHING about what they did to the Titans. Meanwhile, it's one of his biggest regrets.

Anyway, I love the Egg, and I hate Mythal. That is all. I hope Solas and my Lavellan Inky get to have plenty of Fade-ordered therapy. They both fucking need it.

[vigilskept]

Saw your tags on the last few posts and hard agree! Between the ever present Fen'harel foreshadowing AND Sandal's prophecy AND Mythal's reckoning? It always seemed like the Veil coming down was that proper big bang finish that would rewrite all the rules in a satisfying and interesting way. One of my issues with Veilgaurd is I feel like it took the series' opportunity for a destinct ending away. Personally, I believe good stories end. I don't want 30 DA games in a MCU verse. And now, to have the series end they have to come up with a stopping point that makes more sense than the Veil. Or revisit the Veil. And what would be the point in that when they wasted all the foreshadowing?

yes, exactly!! i felt like i was going insane on my soapbox there, thank you!! it really feels like they ran up against the natural end point for the franchise and just decided to do a little shimmy around it. i just don't see what exactly that achieves except to set up a new, bigger bad which we have no real stake in.

was i curious about the executors prior to veilguard? yes! but i expected them to appear in this game since they clearly had an interest in solas' plans!! not for them to have 3 completely missable interactions followed by the worst idea of a post credit scene i've ever seen. whatever curiosity i had about what they were up to & how the kossith relate to what's across the sea is pretty much gone at this point.

a "shadowy cabal" who's secretly responsible for all of the evil enacted in this world by people in power is not a plot i care to see play out in bioware's hands. it's a stupid, elders of zion ass direction to take things and was not worth trashing over a decade of build up.

there is nowhere they could take that plot thread (already relying on the worst possible trope...) that would give dragon age a more satisfying conclusion than dropping the veil.

it would've resolved or set up a potential resolution for all of the major conflicts that have been established up to now!! (mages under the chantry, tevene class structure/slavery, oppression of elves, the blights, the waking titans, etc. etc. i could go on!)

and with the way veilguard ends... it looks to me like they wanted to somehow get the implied resolutions that would come out of dropping the veil without committing to it. that's why no matter what you do, dorian or mae will become archon and singlehandedly restructure tevinter society. the load bearing piece of "mageocracy can't function if everyone's a mage now" is gone, so we have to have a poorly executed sideplot to resolve this plot thread for us instead...

i'm sure people will feel differently, but i personally would've found it more satisfying if the veil fell and the franchise wrapped up there. for good or ill, it changes everything and we can all have the time of our lives speculating about the Implications thereafter.

if they really wanted to(/needed to promise EA they could) make more games in this setting — they could've gone backwards! there's lots of stories you could tell throughout thedas in the gap between the fifth blight and solas' ritual! there's lots of stories you could tell about the centuries between andraste's rebellion and the fifth blight! there's so much happening in the background here that they've hinted at through codices that if they really wanted more content in this setting, there is so much room to expand on those.

could they set up world shattering events like "tearing down the veil" again? no. but i think that was a very obvious one and done situation, and i don't think anyone came into this franchise expecting their dragon age games to have stakes that apocalyptic until trespasser! i think there absolutely would've absolutely been an audience for a game about the assassination of queen madrigal or the fog warriors' resistance on seheron if they hadn't fumbled this....

[bunabi]

I feel like I'm the odd man out but what i was actually most disappointed that Bioware has had every opportunity to bring back Sten as the Arishok but decided to put it in a codex instead. We get Varric for 3/4 games when he really doesn't need to be there but in the middle of all the very relevant Qunari drama you can't give us an Arishok Sten cameo? No? We're supposed to just read in a throw away codex that he got attacked off screen and is now serving with the Ben-Hassrath? Ok, guess I'll sit through tedious Solas monologue 987...thanks Bioware.

I wanted Sten very badly 🥲

Easily-thwarted villains and mindless mobs isn't the note I wanted to end on with the Qunari Invasion. It was one of my biggest disappointments too.

I makes me appreciate the DA2 presentation of the Qunari more. Is it perfect: no. But the Qunari being invaders doesn't detract from them being people with beliefs and thoughts worth investigating. They're 'problematic' but you look around Kirkwall and think damn what faction isn't in (Southern) Thedas. I liked that approach.

We get to know the Arishok's motivations and beliefs. We're introduced to the Tal-Vashoth and speak with one (Maraas). We learn about Seheron and the Fog Warriors through Fenris. We have a whole quest centered around a Saarebas where we learn how mages are treated under the Qun, how non-mages born from a mage-bearing womb are treated even. Ridiculous amount of depth. They didn't have to go that hard.

I finally read the Bioware portion of Blood Sweat And Pixels this morning after many years so I feel exceptionally out of my mind praising the hot hell that was DA2's development. But it really did hit all the right notes for storytelling. I hope it blows the tits clean off of new fans coming in from DAV.

[clairescotcoutts]

So, about The Veilguard.

This post is:

Long.

Spoiler full.

Read at your peril.

So.

The fact that I devoured the game in virtually less than three days should speak for itself; I was worried about the playing style, I was unsure about the combo system, and having only two companions travel alongside the MC felt a little alien to me and also added to my anxiety. (Yes, I’ve played Mass Effect, yes, I’ve been in a fighting trio before, but never in Dragon Age.) I thought, “There’s only three of us?! We’re gonna die so much and so hard.”

Turns out I didn’t die so many times as I’d expected, so yay me.

I had refused to watch anything that had to do with the plot, with the exception of the trailers, because I wanted my experience to be fresh and untainted by expectations. Of course, I had hopes — but other than that, I dove in blind and without any sense of direction.

As you know, the depths of the ocean hold both horror and beauty, so here are mine; I shall start with the horrors so all the bad air is cleared out first.

My primary horror is that, save a few points, the game very clearly follows BioWare’s own canon, in which the Hero of Ferelden must have died to stop the Fifth Blight, and thus there is no Kieran. Morrigan plays a pivotal role yet again, but her presence implies that the decisions made in previous games are… well, your own, but not the world’s own. So, no Kieran, and it is heavily suggested that it was Morrigan who drank from the Vir’Abelasan. Even if she hadn’t, turns out she ends up with a piece of Mythal inside her anyway, granted by a regretful (and finally gone) Flemeth.

Story-telling wise, well, I don’t know if it was the best choice— I just know it bummed me out a bit to find some of my decisions discarded, not considered at all.

My second horror is the absence of either Hawke or Stroud. The events at Amaranthine are mentioned, but (unless I missed a codex entry) there’s no word on what happened to the brave soul left in the Fade to fight that giant monster demon. Since I always leave Stroud behind (because Alistair is and always will be a king to me), I can’t say I’m suffering to know his fate, but it would’ve been nice to confirm something. 

At the end of Inquisition, Morrigan narrates that should Hawke live, they go to Weisshaupt, but soon all news from there ends. What happened?! Am I missing something found only in the comics or books?

Also what happened to the rest of the companions? What about the woman made Divine in Inquisition? Whether it’s Leliana, Cassandra or Vivienne, you’d think the Divine would have something to say about two ancient elven gods turning the world tits up.

What about the Qunari who are not part of the Antaam? Are they in agreement with Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain? Is Seheron torn asunder like Minrathous?

Why is nobody remarking on the fact that the Crows buy (or used to buy) people?! I love the Antivan Crows, I do, but one cannot forget Zevran and all he told us about them.

Those are my particular points of horror. 

Now, to the rest.

Veilguard is a game that doesn’t hold back. It’s out to punch you in the guts and kick you in the feelings, and boy does it do it brilliantly. The sacrifices are real. The choices are heavy and carry weight on them that slumps you down (especially if you’re extra sensitive, like me) throughout the game. The dilemma and problems your companions face are heart wrenching, and you want them all to thrive. Yes, even the one who was hardened because you can’t bloody be in two places at once. These companions are well fleshed-out, they’re alive, they’re complex and they are so beautiful to live and travel with. The emotional moments they have, I felt them, I suffered with them, I cried. I /cried/, which had never happened to me with a videogame before. And not just because this companion is my favourite or that topic hits a bit close to home— not just that. It’s because they’re amazingly written and acted out. They feel so real.

The locations are gorgeous (I especially fell in love with Treviso), and I love how much you’re able to explore. I love that you can pet animals. I love that you can interact with the world in front of you. I /love/ that you don't miss dialogue even if you get into a fight because the companions re-start conversations now.

The NPCs? My children. Isabela is fire, as always; Antoine, Evka, Viago and Teia have my whole heart. The Mourn Watch is fascinating and the Shadow Dragons are bold, united and righteous. I really like that the Veil Jumpers don’t diss on the Dalish just because they know more— they understand that, as a people, they are one. And they’re accepting of everyone, not just elves!

I simply adore Rook as a protagonist. Not just because they give purple Hawke, and I love Hawke, but because again, they feel human and real. They know this is well above their paygrade, and they’re in way over their heads, but they still step up and lead because damn, someone has to. Iron Bull would be so proud. They are fun, they are caring, they are talkative and they know they’re drowning, but can’t afford to stop swimming.

Both in Origins and Inquisition it felt as though we were The Chosen One, even if in the latter one tried to swear it off and deny any possible divine intervention, but in DA: 2 and here, we are just people trying their best with the worst circumstances, and to me, that’s beautiful. Rook is a delightful protagonist.

The game allows you to choose who you’re going to be and /how/ you’re going to be thus. You can be cis, you can be trans, you can be neither and you can be both. No limits now.

Which leads me to another point I simply adored: how the questions of gender are treated. It’s really big to have an NB character go through their own acceptance process before our very eyes. While in Origins (and a bit in Inquisition too) you have the choice to be shocked that there are people who like their same gender, this game is Thedas saying “The world is big, the world is complex, and people everywhere are not defined by your expectations or rules. It’s not even an option. Deal with it.”

Regarding the magic, I’m not even mad it looks and feels different. After all, Dorian used to say that “the South is so charming and rustic”, and now I see that’s because what he saw in Ferelden and Orlais was not what he is used to. Even in Absolution we see that the way Tevinter used magic is distinctly unique and not how it is done south of Arlathan. I understand it. I like it. It’s not as if there had been no changes in the designs of demons and darkspawn before, and now that’s what they look like. It’s fine. Time has passed and people are allowed to make different creative choices.

Now, to Solas… Solas. Oh, Solas. I understand you so much better now.

Veilguard really helps put into perspective some bits of dialogue from previous games. Why does this 8-ball care so much about spirits and the Fade? Gods, because he /is/ them, and the Fade used to be his home. Every time he has to hear that spirits are monsters or unreal he takes it personally, and how could he not? People are saying he’s a monster, he’s not real, and nobody knows any better because they wouldn’t believe him anyway. Now I understand why he gets so worked up if you make Cole more human—you’re doing to him what Mythal did to Solas himself. You’re forcing him to be something else and Solas knows it hurts. (Also, Cole is happier as a spirit— “Thank you for helping me find this again. For believing in me. You don't know what it means”, he says, and now it hits so differently.)

I have to remark on some things I’ve read that have shocked me— first of all being the interpretation of Solas and Mythal’s relationship. Like Taash, you can assume “they were doing it”, however, I don’t think they ever loved each other like that. Their bond, to me, is that of a queen and her most loyal knight, a “king and lionheart” sort of situation if you will. Solas knows her better than anyone else, certainly, but the way I see it, that right there is his commander, inspiration and also, his heaviest shackle.

Their relationship merits another post altogether, I believe, as does Solas and Lavellan’s.

All in all, the good, to me, far outweights the bad.

Give the Veilguard a chance before you discard them, enjoy the appearance of some of the characters you love, enjoy getting to know the new heroes. Give yourself the option of having an informed opinion before you love or hate.

Also, petition for Solas to let his hair grow out again.

That's it, for now.

[thepalehorsevictoria]

WIP - The Internship

An EmmRook gift for @emmg who has told me in no uncertain terms that I needed to write this idea out. Behold. A Silicon Valley AU. ETA: I tacked on some more to this and made it chapter 1 on AO3.

“Good morning! Welcome to your first day at Volkoss Systems! We’re so honored to have you join us as a small step of what we are sure are very bright futures in tech. My name is Bellara Lutare and I started in the exact same place as you three years ago, so I’m happy to answer any and all questions you may have in your internship orientation.” 

She holds up her access badge, smiling just like her photo. “Please be sure you have your badge visible on you at all times for security purposes,” and the badge snaps back to the reel when she releases it. Her left arm is covered in an intricate full sleeve tattoo of circles and glyphs and rings, now waving the group of students down the hallway for the office tour.

Iris swirls her iced coffee in its plastic cup and takes a long sip. It is too early for her to be functional, and the orientation leader’s effervescence is too much to handle right now. All she wants to do is get assigned a space, get a laptop, take a branch, write some code, check it, merge and go back home to sleep. Even her new badge photo shows that she is not really keen on being here, the half-smile as the bare minimum. Fucking photographer telling her to smile and shit. She’s going to get a badge reel as soon as she can so that she doesn’t have to see her own face looking up at her from around her neck. 

But if she wants the cushy work from home developer jobs she’s been dreaming of so she can work from some sunny poolside in Cumberland or whatever, she has to do this, which is … fine. She’ll do it. 

It’s going to be a long twelve weeks of summer, though. 

/. /. /.

“Pah. Like rats in a maze. They won’t know what they’re in for,” she cackles while thumbing the chunky acrylic pieces of her ostentatious statement necklace. 

“If you’re quite finished looking down on our prospective employees, Johanna, we haven’t quite finished solving this problem.” Emmrich sighs and absentmindedly runs his hand over the stack of bracelets on his left arm. Staring at the equation on the frosted glass whiteboard isn’t helping them either. The algorithm needs updates to reduce its computational needs in order to work properly with the new advancements in Evanuris hardware. “Or, at least, if you insist on continuing, perhaps you could do so in the comfort of your office down the hall.”

Thank goodness the architect put the boardroom in between their offices. And well away from the main floor so the company can’t hear her spirited opinions on a daily basis.

“You’re wasting your time, Volkarin. Evanuris is on its way out and we all know it. They know it. We really should be courting the AI being worked on in Seheron.” 

“That would require a complete reorganization of Engineering and Operations.” 

“And it’s about time. We are more than your algorithm.” 

“That algorithm has sent all your children to very fine schools, Johanna. Like the ones that sent us the interns you’re fond of mocking and tormenting,” he shakes his head, getting up from his perch on the back of the couch. “It’s a wonder we were able to get any interns at all this year, no thanks to you.”

“They’re just cheap labor. Barely worth the time for much we have to explain things to them like they’re five.”

Emmrich bristles. “I’ll …” he sighs, “I’ll keep working on this. But meantime if you’ll please excuse me. I've asked Bellara to include my office as part of the tour so I may greet them.” He caps the dry erase marker and puts it on the bottom tray of the whiteboard while his partner scoffs and grumbles on her way out.

He can’t quite understand what he’s missing. His life’s work is laid out before him in the exquisite universal language of mathematics that he had been able to bend to his command for decades. But something seems to be missing. 

Three knocks shake him from his thought work, and Emmrich reminds himself that he asked for this interruption. Plus it’s not like he was being productive, anyway. “Please come in,” he idly twists at the filigreed ring on his thumb, and prepares a well-rehearsed smile. 

“And now I’d like to introduce you to one of the two halves of our founding, Dr. Emmrich Volkarin,” Bellara opens the door to his office and walks in backwards to shepherd a group of students. Their eyes widen at the wall of accolades, framed feature articles, and the iridescent crystal disc of his famed Order of the Nevarran Kingdom. It makes him stand just a little bit taller to watch them stunned. 

Goodness, they’re all so young, he observes.

“Hello, and welcome. I’m so glad you’re able to join us this summer, everyone,” Emmrich greets them. “Volkoss Systems is only made possible by the true collaborative spirit of science that has been the same foundation of your education, I’m certain, and we are honored to welcome your brilliant young minds and energy to our work.” Bellara is beaming at him, ever the biggest fan of his work, but the rest of the students look intimidated. 

He presses his hands together and gestures with them, bracelets jingling softly. “Please, I absolutely encourage you to share your whole selves with us, and bring your curiosity and questions. While I do unfortunately have some very busy days every once in a while, when I am not in those, my door is always open.”

“Right,” Bellara says, “We’ve got just a few more stops on this part of the tour and then we’ll get you to Hardware and Ergonomics for setup. Thanks for your time, Doctor Volkarin!” The gaggle of interns turn to leave, except one. 

They’re reading the whiteboard. “What’s this?”

Bellara sticks her head back through the door. “Oh! Sorry, Doctor, we’ll just be out of your hair.” 

Emmrich holds up a hand, intrigued by their curiosity. “It’s quite alright, Ms. Lutare,” and he watches the young intern walk up to the equation he had been working on. 

They’re such a young thing–they get younger every year, he thinks. They’re at least one if not two heads shorter than him, with pointed ears peeking out of jet black hair like his was once upon a time. Their eyes are darting around the whiteboard’s neat rows of his handwriting, but he can see that they’re a delightful, rare shade of light purple. And very attractive.

His eyes fall to the badge around her neck. IRIS INGELLVAR, she/her. 

A rattle of the cup of iced coffee in her hand shakes him out of his reverie.

“I’ve been working on updating a calculation so that it can be further compressed without loss of computational power.” 

“For Evanuris,” she says, still reading. 

“Why, yes.” He’s impressed. Iris has been reading up on the company. “Is this in your field of study, Ms. Ingellvar?” 

“Eh, for fun. I’m really just here for work experience so I can fish for a code monkey job to pay the bills.” 

From the doorframe, Bellara squeaks in secondhand embarrassment, but Emmrich finds her reply refreshingly honest, and smiles. 

“Well I am glad that we have the honor of your talents for the summer, then–” he gasps as Iris wipes out an entire row of his work. “Miss–” She picks up the marker from the tray, uncaps it, and a string of characters appear in a haphazard, jagged handwriting. 

“Fixed it,” she sips her coffee and puts down the marker.  Emmrich is speechless, mouth slightly open as he reads over her work, and reads it again.

She did.

Emmrich could kiss her.

Where did that feeling come from?

[shallow-between-stars]

So like... hear me out and feel free to tell me if I've been proven wrong already or my maths is off or anything and I have only had about three hours of sleep here (because my body responded to ALL THE SLEEP I've had the past three days by refusing to acknowledge the passage of time yesterday) but the more I play and the more I replay the more convinced I become that...

...Taash could possibly be Bull's child. (Hear me out!)

As evidence I provide the following three points. The first is...

The math checks out.

Look, okay, I've been bored. I don't do well with enforced idleness and I've been sick. So I sat down and did the math. I have recollection of Bull being 39 during Inquisition. I don't know where I got that number from but it is a number that feasibly works with his military history. So I'mma go with it. This math works out -anyway- with Bull just being 'late 30's, early 40's' in either direction so I'mma just gonna go with 39 for the sake of convenience.

Taash is said to be early 20's. This math does get a bit more iffy the closer to 20 they are and I think the sweet spot is if they're about 23. So that's the age I'm gonna use. Again, math still checks out if slightly older or slightly younger, but gets more dicey the closer you go to 20.

Let's take the timeline and play with it now.

Fact one: We have Taash at around 23, which puts them at around 13 around the time of base Inquisition.

Fact two: Bull spent 7 years in Seheron, plus a year or so with the re-educators, plus two years in Fisher's Bleeders, plus a couple with the Chargers before we meet him in Inquisition. So all up let's say... 11-12 years total since leaving Par Vollen for Seheron.

So it checks out that Bull is in Par Vollen being a baby Ben Hassrath (26, 27 years old) at the same time that Shathaan is an ashkaari in Par Vollen.

And look, Ashkaari are teachers, right? I had a look and it's not specified as to which part of the Triumvirate Ashkaari are part of, but logically you would need teachers for Ben Hassrath training. My own personal standing on how much I hate the "Hot for Teacher" trope aside, (comes with the territory of being a -responsible- teacher) it is fully possible that Bull... well... got Hot for Teacher.

Whether or not Bull was involved, Taash's conception happens some time around the time Bull is 22-25 years old. He's in Par Vollen, so is Shathaan. It's possible. (Par Vollen is a big place, but it's still possible.)

Physical similarities

Bull and Taash look similar in a lot of ways, and not just in a whole "All qunari look alike" (ew) kind of way. I give you that this is the weakest point on my list because a lot of these features Shathaan also shares, but onto the points.

All three qunari have green eyes. (Well, eye, as the case may be) All three greens are a pretty similar shade.

Taash's horns hit a middle-ground between Bull's massive rack and Shathaan's curly horns. This is less convincing than I want it to be because we know that qunari can and do manipulate their horns into growing a certain way but horns also do need a form to start from.

Taash is significantly taller than their mother. Bull is pretty freaking HUGE for a qunari. Yes, we do see other huge qunari, but both Bull and Taash stand head-and-shoulders above pretty much every other qunari out there, including Inquisitors and Rooks. Taash also has an incredibly muscular frame, which Bull shares. They stronk.

Taash and Bull share cheekbones and have similar underlying bone structure to their jaws and chin. Add in genetic variation from Shathann and...

Personality similarities

Yes, yes, this could just be "They both love dragons" but it's more than that. Taash and Bull are both extremely blunt tell-it-like-they-see-it people who are both significantly more intelligent than they appear at first glance. Taash doesn't like learning about qunari, but retains what they learn fairly well (despite their mother being, in my professional opinion, a shit teacher.) They're both able to find connections and alternate pathways to getting what they want, and both usually choose the path of least resistance. (Even though Taash absolutely fails their stealth check the first time you meet them, they still try to talk the Antaam down from trying to take the dragon before resorting to violence when this doesn't work.) Taash evades questions about themselves like the plague, similar to Bull when you first meet him ("You writing a book?") and both are incredibly loyal once they've decided where their loyalties lie.

Also, they both lack confidence in their identity and turn to others for help choosing who they want to be, and both struggle immensely within the structure of the qun and crave freedom. Both also are willing to repress this desire if told that it's better in the long run.

And, y'know, both love alcohol, dragons and fighting.

In conclusion

Look, I just wrote this for fun, okay? And also because I love fucked up family dynamics. I'm presenting this as a possibility and nothing more and am mostly doing it because I'm tired and sick and trying to make the most of my weekend. That said, I do believe there's a case for Taash being Bull's kid and it would absolutely make my fanfic heart delighted if it were more than just a pipedream

Yes, I know I wrote like 500 words just now but don't take it too seriously, it's mostly just for lols and 'what ifs'.

But yeah. In conclusion Bull is Taash's daddy and I will be taking no questions at this time. (Kidding, kidding, give me any questions you have, rebut me with grace and kindness if you want. Just don't be a jerk.)

[oopsallmabari]

like related to my last rb i dunno...the reason i (admittedly cynically) kind of hope that DA ends with this or gets a hard reboot is because i love the world and many of the characters in it and i don't want a game in the future that is made worse by trying to stick to lore and story it is no longer interested in engaging with, or a game that's struggling to maintain meaningful continuity given how long the series has been running for. i think that struggle is already there in vg. i think it had a tall task to begin with b/c it still had to end the story set up in inquisition/trespasser almost 10 years after its release, while also introducing you to parts of the world we had only heard abt before.

i am, admittedly, lore-hungry and would like to chew on as much information abt rivain and seheron and kal-sharok and nevarra etc etc etc as i can get. i would want to go back to the south, even, but i think that's hard to do without a hard reboot given that the south is presumably changed significantly after the blight that elgar+ghilly spread.

idk. i'd like to play through the games from start to finish to really get a feel for how they fit together, bc right now, for better or for worse, veilguard feels the most divorced from the other 3 to me and i can't imagine any other theoretical DA installments being more like the original trilogy, esp when prior writers have left.*

in my ideal world there would be more DA games and they would be narrower in scope but deeper in exploration of culture, characters, and politics. give me a game after vg set entirely in rivain. give me a game that is focused almost-exclusively on the thaigs and the deep roads. give me a game set during one of the previous ages! but that's also because i enjoy games and stories that feel like they have world-ending consequences without actually being a story about the world ending.

but i don't think i'm gonna get that from another DA game, and i didn't think i was gonna get that from DA before vg was released. so i'd rather it end while it's still fun, or be given such a major reboot that i'm not comparing it to what i've seen and loved previously.

(*-i don't think it's inherently a bad thing that prior writers have left, and i don't want ppl to take this as a wholesale endorsement of the prior games' writing. i have issues w them too, wish some things were retconned, and don't think that the things i dislike abt DA or vg specifically would be solved by bringing back all the old writers.)

[assblastergaster]

while i understand the complaints about the tone of DA:V (especially because the game suffers a lot from those EA/bioware writing team cullings and three different development cycles) , i think it’s a kind of “in-canon” acceptable explanation for a lack of things like elf/dwarf/qunari racism, slavery in tevinter, mage bigotry is just the rush the characters are in to solve this crisis. your team is simply not interacting enough with other people for long enough to get to know their complexities. it’s not the most satisfying explanation—but i think it explains a lot.

like the other games are on similar time frames (except DA2) BUT with the constant idea that no one really believes that the world is ending. however, after the events of inquisition, the entire world has been forced to deal with the ramifications of solas’ shit and the literal veil tear across the sky that was seen across the world. and the southern chantry (the only one with real power) has been gone for 10 years, meaning the EVERYDAY pressures to hate mages have gone, especially after people realized free mages don’t just randomly turn into demons all the time. the game literally starts with the Magisterium exploding half of the world’s largest city, the blight rising in the south, and the antaam invading the east (predicating on the fact that Seheron has fallen into chaos). like in origins, i think there’s an uneasy alliance between everyone right now regardless of magic or not.

racism and slavery are poorly addressed, regardless of an explanation, but semi-reasonably we can also conclude that this is because your rook/companions is not literally traveling through the world like the previous MCs were (given eluvian travel), and you spend little time in each area to interact with people who aren’t literally your contacts (who you know aren’t racist/magephobes) or your enemies (a given). now, a lack of all the previous conflicts between races mentioned even in passing, or between NPCs, and a complete lack of moral grayness of the companions regarding the issues magic/race, is just bad. but, of course, i think that this is a result of the writers’ working conditions. EA doesn’t want a game with complex, interwoven storylines that deal with horrible topics that you may or may not come to terms with—they want money. so the DA writing team doesn’t get the time they need to add these layers, and are instead made to focus solely on the complexities of the Evanuris and their history.

yes. this is copium—to the nth degree—but i refuse to be a pussy bitch who whines that this game shouldn’t be canon at all. that’s stupid, and be real. all of the games, even in the last DLC of origins, have been absolutely hated at first. no one likes the way the writers go with anything, because they have to choose a single path in the twisted, complex world we all have grown to know. there are parts of this game that i would rather just imagine didn’t happen (taash’s story being handled so amateurishly for one, the whitewashing of the crows, etc.), but the ultimate story is not bad—and it doesn’t “undo” nearly as much lore as many people have claimed it does. Solas either is made to, or chooses to, undo mistakes that set the modern Thedas into motion thousands of years ago. he rids the world of the artificial doomsday he created, to bring it back into a state it was before them (potentially bringing back titans in some way), for the next game to face the ancient evils that existed in their world BEFORE what we knew to be true.

the games have always been leading up to this. Mythal as flemeth is a classic example of—you think you know, but you do not. The evanuris didn’t know what ancient forces they were messing with and still were brought to their knees by themselves—which is literally the plot of Origins.

[daitranscripts]

Trespasser Pt. 20

Elven Ruins

Trespasser Masterpost Previous: Agent of Fen’Harel

The PC emerges in an overgrown path of some elven ruins.

Party comments:

Cassandra: The Viddasala cannot have gotten far.

Blackwall: The Viddasala can’t be far.

Iron Bull: Come on. The Viddasala can’t be far.

They see the Qunari running up ahead.

Sera: There! On them!

Varric: There, up ahead!

Cole: Up there!

The Anchor begins to flare and the PC falls. The mark creates a huge blast that knocks everyone back.

PC: It’s going to… everyone back! (Cries out in pain.)

Party comments:

Cassandra: If it keeps up like this, it will kill you. Solas must help, as he did at Haven.

Varric: We’ve gotta stop this before it kills you. Assuming we find him, maybe Chuckles can help.

Dorian: That can’t be healthy. Perhaps Solas can help.

Vivienne: We must hope Solas can reverse the Anchor's effects before it kills you.

Sera: Solas can stop it, right? He has to know something. He always did. The whole time.

Cole: It's louder, faster. Solas can help, heal the hurt.

Iron Bull: You all right, boss? That's… damn. Maybe Solas can help.

Blackwall: If it keeps up like this, it will kill you. Solas must help, as he did at Haven.

Party comments:

Cole: Solas doesn’t want to hurt people. He isn’t that kind of wolf. The Qunari don’t see.

Sera: Hated his “too-smart-for-you” pity before the whole agent-of-Fenny business. He better help. We’re owed.

Varric: Chuckles, who apparently works for Fen'Harel. It's always the quiet ones…

Vivienne: Solas, the agent of Fen'Harel. I suspected something was off with our unwashed apostate.

Cassandra: Solas… an agent of Fen'Harel. I should have suspected.

Blackwall: That'd be Solas, the agent of Fen'Harel. (Grunts.) Knew there was something off about him.

They continue to chase down the Qunari through an eluvian.

Iron Bull: Over there. that’s gotta be where Solas is.

Dorian: That must be where Solas is.

Vivienne: that must be where Solas is located.

They emerge in a gully, where the Viddasala stands on a high ledge.

Viddasala: Saarebas! Rethra! Shokra!

The party is attacked as she goes through the eluvian with her saarebas.

Sera: The big mage! He’s always with their leader-woman!

Varric: There's the big saarebas who's always with the Viddasala!

Cole: There! He can't be far from her, or it hurts him!

The PC heads through the next eluvian, fighting across a long bridge and into another eluvian, emerging at a shrine to the dread wolf.

Viddasala: Saarebas! Meravas adim kata!

The saarebas, Saarath, leaps down to fight.

Sera: Here he comes! Let's have you!

Varric: The big guy's headed our way!

Cole: He's coming to stop us!

Viddasala: Saarebas! Rethra! Shokra!

More Qunari join the fray.

Iron Bull: Is that all you've got? I went through Seheron, you little shits!

Cassandra: Be ready! They have reinforcements!

Blackwall: More coming!

Eventually Saaraths’s collar breaks, and he runs off.

Iron Bull: Damn! Looks like he's off the leash!

Dorian: It seems the saarebas is no longer following orders!

Vivienne: Their pet mage has gone mad!

Viddasala: Saarebas! Meravas! Meravas!

The PC makes their way forward.

Viddasala: You will not leave here, Inquisitor! Antaam, ebrashok adim!

They fight across another bridge, and end up in a room with multiple eluvians.

Cassandra: One of the mirrors must lead out of here!

Iron Bull: One of the damned mirrors has to lead out of here!

Blackwall: One of these blasted mirrors has to lead out of here!

They continue to fight Qunari as they make their way across the area.

Cassandra: We must hurry!

Iron Bull: We gotta move, boss!

Blackwall: We need to keep moving!

Solas: Come on!

Varric: We need to hurry!

Cole: Quick, we're almost there!

They finally find the eluvian that takes them forward.

Romanced companion in party

Cassandra: Finish this, my love!

Iron Bull: All right, kadan! Take him down!

Blackwall: Let's end this, love!

Sera (married): Whatever happens, wifey—I’m wearing your underpants! (Laughs.)

Sera (not married): End them, [Shiny/’Teetness/Tadwinks/Buckles/Honey Tongue/Inky]! (Laughs.)

Dorian: Finish them off, amatus!

No romanced companion in party

Cassandra: Let us finish this!

Iron Bull: All right! Meravas katara!

Blackwall: Time to finish this!

Viddasala: You are dead, Inquisitor! Your soul is dust!

The Viddasala goes through the Eluvian, leaving Saarath to fight the party. He summons demons as the fight drags on, and Saarath begins to get overwhelmed with magic.

Cassandra: We cannot hurt him! Use your mark!

Iron Bull: We can't touch this guy! Use your mark!

Blackwall: Use your mark!

Sera: He's all magicky! Use your hand!

Varric: Nothing's hurting him! Use your mark!

Cole: You can't hurt him, but the Fade can! Use your mark!

Dorian: He's invulnerable! Use your mark!

Vivienne: You must use your mark!

Saareth is defeated, and the PC heads into the eluvian.

Next: The Dread Wolf

[storybookhawke]

Fic Rec Friday - Adoribull Edition

I've just been reading and re-reading a lot of adoribull recently! They are such a great and interesting canon x canon ship and I enjoy all the things the fandom has created so lovingly for them~

★

Drapetomania by ToPerceiveIsToBePerceptive

Rated E / major tags: slow burn, violence, AU, bondage, hurt/comfort, suicidal thoughts/attempt, racism, misgendering, slavery

Summary:

Pre-Game AU. Dorian is captured by slavers while trying to escape Tevinter. He's not the only one. Based very VERY loosely on the basic concept of "The Defiant Ones".

★

Miles to Go by desiredemon

Rated E / major tags: canon divergence, slavery, trauma, hurt dorian, captivity, Seheron, hurt/comfort, rape recovery, whipping, torture

Summary:

When Dorian refuses to be the heir his parents want, they send him away to Seheron. As if the war-torn island isn't enough of a nightmare on its own, Dorian's fellow legionaries take exception to his presence, and nearly break him even before the Qunari get their hands on him. Unexpectedly, one of those Qunari ends up being the one to help Dorian come back from the brink.

★

The Caro-Kann Defense by LuckyPanda13

Rated E / major tags: arranged/forced marriage, slow burn, canon divergence, enemies to lovers, emotional hurt/comfort, caretaking, trauma, grief, angst, fluff, happy ending

Summary:

12 Guardian 9:37 Dragon In the wake of the Qunari invasion of Kirkwall, they have renewed negotiations with the Tevinter Imperium, hoping to create a peace treaty to end the centuries-long conflict. Such treaties are traditionally sealed with a marriage. No self-respecting Tevinter magister would agree to marry a barbaric Qunari. No Qunari in their right mind would even consider marriage to be viable, let alone tie themselves to a bas-saarebas. Being volunteered to marry and be kept "safe" at some obscure, crumbling keep in the south isn't exactly where Dorian expected his life to end up. He'll do it, because it's better than the alternative. Likewise, The Iron Bull has been busy running his mercenary band, and being rerouted for some foolish peace treaty that won't last longer than a half-second isn't worth his time. He'll do it, because it's his job.

[angelic-salad]

I know many people immediately hate Varania for betraying Fenris, but I think in her eyes, it was the best she could do for him.

When Fenris kills Hadriana, he says that Danarius must know that Fenris knows about his sister. Could there even be a world in which Danarius is monitoring Varania constantly? Checking through all the messages she got, having her followed, reading the messages she sends to Fenris, using his influence as a magister to make sure Varania’s work was never quite successful- keeping her desperate for a way to have a decent quality of life. Like if she straight up said no to his proposition he could literally just have her blacklisted from whatever line of work she wanted to be in, so she’d be forced to come back to him, groveling. “””Best””” case scenario is Varania gets to Kirkwall, hangs out with Fenris for a few days, Danarius captures Varania and tells Fenris that if he doesn’t come back, he’s gonna torture Varania. With this in mind, Varania’s best play is to go along with Danarius from the get go. And the sad part is, that’s also the best for Fenris in Varania’s mind. If Fenris returns to slavery with his sister as his masters apprentice, she would be in a position of authority- one she could use to help him, ease his struggles. And think about the way Varania reacts to seeing her brother again. She isn’t cackling maniacally and twirling her stick-on curly mustache- she sounds devastated he actually showed up. This, to me, doesn’t read like she was power seeking. It feels like she genuinely cared for her brother despite the resentment she felt toward him due to her struggles of being a free elf in a slave society.

Now, do I believe that Danarius would hold up his end of the bargain? Absolutely not. I think he’d plot to have to disposed of the second the three of them landed on Seheron to replace her with a respectable (read:human) apprentice. At that point, it’d be far harder to Fenris to escape.

I truly don’t believe Varania ever had a real moment of agency in the situation. She, like many of those whose misfortune lands them in Kirkwall, is a tragic character. I hope she was able to find work in the Free Marshes.