#Karl Maddox

[aidansplaguewind]

Blackout (2008)

[rocketyoyo]

Aidan as Karl Maddox (Blackout)

[libartz]

NOOO THIS CHAR HAS DIED (sad) vs

NOOO THIS CHAR HAS DIED (there was so much potential)

[theserandomcharacters]

Playlist Masterpost

Fuck it, Spoofy playlist masterpost be upon ye! Some of them encompass more than one OC!

Atticus and Birdie - Old Lovebirds reuniting their fondness for each other.

The Stormfront - Coming like the Storm itself - tearing your world into disarray.

Suburb Kids - An axolotl, a frog and an alligator's outings to the skate park.

Mizz Riptide and the Undertow - Setlist for the Human-Fronted Monster Rock Band

Astrid - Women want her, Men also want her, fish fear her.

Cécé - That one macaw that loves EDM and hates shoes

Demetrius - Lynx Demon living as a summon in Nova Scotia

Ectibod - The Bug Demon. The Papa Roach, if you will

Einar - The Troll-Fae Hybrid Vagabond

Elijah - The Witch studying Fae

Flamma - World's Angriest Firecracker

Flint - World's Worrisome Pebble

Freya - Most Professional-Looking Shadow

Haniel - Tyrannical Seraph Hellbent on Victory

Ira - Vampire "Mommy" Beats to Suck Blood To

Izzy - Scene Game Dev that's a lil silly

Jenara - The Heralded Ice Skater Fairy devoted to the Moon

Juni - The By-The-Books Royal Fairy that cosplays as an office worker.

Karl - The absolute Mad Lad Incubus

Laivas - The Puppeted Witch with Mal

Lysander - Tiger Demon Bodyguard with a voice of gold

Narcissa - Hell's Sleepiest Girlie Slob

Niles - Disgraced Teacher-turned-Mad Scientist

Noxxy - The Shadow Being that "rawrs", ecksdee

Oliver - The Were-Rabbit Teacher-also-Inventor

Ophira - The Witch-Unicorn what will - if you ask - step on you

Paolo - The Wine-Making Goat and a chill dude

Quyen - Displaced Witch with a Possessed Hat and an owly companion.

Ramone - Love Witch Student, also a Prince fanatic

Tamisra - The Baddest Cambrion Bitch in the world (Her words not mine)

Tarmo - Battle-worn Fairy Looking to a Future

Techko - Angsty Lab Assistant and Gecko-Enthusiast

Thermuthis - DIY Crocodile and a Dadlike

Valerio - Reluctant Main Character, Wants a Quiet Life

Waryck - Vampiric Demon, the one LITERALLY raised by Bats

Wilbur - The Grandpa Cat who runs a Curiosity shop and doesn't run short on butterscotch sweets

Yalanda - Avid Baker, Chronic Romantic and Metalhead

Ysrael - Dragon Hitman Living Too Closely to the saying "Fuck Bitches, Get Money".

[dalishious]

Hi! Is there any information about how the Chantry and Templar Order treat Circle mages that become lovers? Do they oppose? I don't recall other Circle mage lovers than Anders and Karl.

Mages are generally discouraged from having any relationships at all. For example, that's the reason Maddox was made tranquil; because he was caught corresponding with a lover in Kirkwall. Another example would be this quote from Asunder, saying that relationships between mages must be kept secret: "Occasionally he came upon mages meeting for a romantic liaison instead. They secretly pressed flesh upon flesh, a desperate act of intimacy between people for whom such fleeting moments could only be stolen."

It is also the reason that Circle mages aren't allowed to keep their children, if they give birth. For example, Rhys was taken away from Wynne immediately after he was born and placed in a Chantry orphanage.

[harleystuff]

📷 Karl Urban by Ian Maddox 

[tranquilweek]

Known & Conditional Tranquil Characters

For the purposes of this event, your creative works must feature one of these characters or a Tranquil OC. This includes formerly Tranquil characters that have been cured, but it does not include conditional Tranquil characters if they are never made Tranquil.

If the character has a dedicated page on the Dragon Age Wiki, it is linked here!

Known Tranquil

Avexis

Caleth the Renegade

Ceridweth

Clemence

Eddin the Meek

Eiton

Elsa

Embri of Gwaren

Felim

Helena

Helisma Derington

Karl Thekla

Maddox

Molly Hesslan

Orana

Owain

Pether

Pharamond

Tranquil Mage (Ostagar)

Tranquil Merchant (The Gallows)

Tranquil Proprietor

Conditional Tranquil

The Anchoress

Erasthenes

Feynriel

Gereon Alexius

Livius Erimond

[v-arbellanaris]

on divine justinia (pt 3)

Justinia V will be remembered as one of the most progressive Divines in the history of the Chantry. Before her untimely death at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, she made strides to break down barriers for both mages and elves, as well as encouraging free thought among the Maker’s many children. For her views, she won as many enemies as she did supporters.

-- World of Thedas Vol 2.

PART THREE of a series, exploring Divine Justinia’s political stance. Was she really as progressive as people claimed?

Firstly, before we even dive into looking at Justinia as a character, we should define ‘progressive’. In the most base of definitions, it implies progress -- a gradual betterment. As a widely accepted definition, someone whose politics advocate for social reform. 

PART ONE - LELIANA'S SONG. / PART TWO - DRAGON AGE II. / PART THREE - THE MASKED EMPIRE.

The Masked Empire

As always, before we begin, here's some contextual factors to this story that are necessary to know/things I'm going to emphasise here out of relevance:

There are three weeks in-world between the events of TME and Asunder -- that means the Order is still bound to the Chantry, and the Circles are still very much in-tact.

One year after the events in Kirkwall, Fiona is elected as the new Grand Enchanter and immediately proposes to secede from the Chantry. In response, the Chantry disbands the College of Enchanters and stops them from meeting, despite the fact that this vote did not go through (in large part due to the urging of Wynne).

The War of the Lions hasn't yet started in earnest, though tensions between Gaspard and Celene are running high.

For the most part, I'm going to focus specifically on two scenes, both involving conversations between Celene and Leliana, who is acting as a representative for Divine Justinia.

Well! Let's dive right into it -- in this first scene, Leliana and Celene meet to discuss the growing mage-templar tensions, and what Justinia will do about it.

Celene: The templars have become even more restless since what happened in Kirkwall, as have the mages, for that matter. What does Dorothea intend to do? Leliana: The Divine does not wish to assume that what transpired in Kirkwall was anything more than the actions of a single mad mage driven to tragic action by overzealous templars. You know that in some Marcher city-states, mages face more restrictions than they do in Orlais.

"A single mad mage" is an obvious reference to Anders. Anders was not "mad" -- some strange writing decisions seemed to conflate his shared body with a spirit of Justice to having bipolar disorder. Even if you do interpret that as Anders also being bipolar, that wouldn't make him crazy. More than that, Anders protested Meredith's treatment of mages -- and he was right about all of it, in the end. Alrik really was making mages Tranquil to rape them -- and he really did propose a Tranquil solution to the Divine, who rejected it. (Unsurprising, considering the looming threat of the Qunari invasion in Act 2; I've written here about how the Circle functions primarily as a military resource and how the only time you see mages let out in Kirkwall properly is during the Qunari invasion when the templars instruct the Circle mages to defend the city). Meredith really was turning Harrowed mages Tranquil -- Karl Thekkla, for example, but she also turns Maddox Tranquil and can turn all of the surviving Starkhaven mages Tranquil as well -- against Chantry law. Most damningly, Meredith had already called for the Right of Annulment in Kirkwall long before Anders took any action at all -- she really was going to kill all of the mages and had taken the steps necessary to facilitate that action. Anders' actions were a direct response to Meredith asking the Divine for permission to slaughter the entire Circle. Cassandra interrogates Varric in 9:41, and it's unclear where that fits into this timeline, but Varric does say that he was brought to Haven after his interrogation. I'll give Leliana (and Justinia) the benefit of the doubt here and say that maybe they don't have the full story just yet.

But Leliana also says "overzealous templars" -- overzealous templars that Leliana and Justinia had plenty of opportunity to censure or bring to heel, and never did. Overzealous templars -- because of course, they're just very passionate when they're sending death squads to hunt down civilians accused of helping "apostates" and murdering nobility trying to organise an election of a new Viscount. They're just very passionate about their beliefs in the Maker when they make mages Tranquil to rape them, when they beat Tranquil mages over things they can't control, and making eleven year old children Tranquil. They're just very passionate about their beliefs in the Maker which is why they refused to investigate the actual serial killer using magic in Kirkwall, because they wanted to remain in favour with the nobility. And Justinia knows this because this was going on for three years, during which Justinia did nothing until the mages started to rebel.

More importantly, this is ... the direct opposite of what Leliana said in DA2. In DA2, Leliana explicitly states that they (both herself and the Divine, who she speaks on behalf of) attribute the unrest in Kirkwall to the Resolutionists -- an offshoot of the Libertarian Fraternity, who are interested in freeing mages from the Circle. Not that the unrest was a result of horrific abuses in the Circle, or even the untenable political situation in Kirkwall. There was certainly no indication that Justinia suspected or agreed that the templars overstepped their bounds -- there was no directive from Justinia, who would have overruled Elthina on the matter, forcing Meredith to back down. There was no statement ever claiming that the templars were wrong to act as they did. If anything, Justinia threatened an Exalted March to help the templars maintain their control of Kirkwall.

So why phrase it like this? I think the interesting thing to note here is actually Leliana's use of the phrase "the Divine does not wish to assume". This seems to indicate that at this time, Justinia is trying not to treat the situation as a mage rebellion - she is treating Kirkwall, not as the start of a mage rebellion, but rather an isolated incident involving a single crazy mage and some passionate templars. There is some indication here that she's reluctant to consider Kirkwall or the mages voting for secession as indicative of a wider problem but...

“I do,” Celene said, “and I also know that you have not answered my question. If Dorothea proposes to do nothing to unite the templars and the mages, she is following in the footsteps of Grand Cleric Elthina, who waited and prayed while Kirkwall tore itself apart.” She turned and faced Nightingale directly. The other woman had reacted again at the use of the Divine’s given name. “Justinia wishes to see this world made better, Your Radiance. We gain nothing by acting capriciously.” “Sometimes events do not allow us the time we wish, especially when magic is at play.” Celene looked at Nightingale, who sat as a proper lady, relaxed and poised in her simple robes, and made a guess. “I understand that during the last Blight, the Circle tower in Ferelden was nearly lost when one of their senior mages became an abomination. After killing the creatures, the Hero of Ferelden was forced to decide on the spot whether to kill every remaining mage in the tower.” Her barb struck home, as Nightingale blinked, then said with heat, “We are hardly in the thick of battle, Your Radiance.” “We are always in battle,” Celene said. “It is only that some of us do not always realize it."

Following on from the thread of the previous conversation, to me, Celene seems to be urging Leliana to tell the Divine to take more definitive action against the mages. She deliberately creates a parallel between Elthina insisting she had control of the situation and not taking direct action to Justinia insisting Kirkwall was a single isolated incident. She directly draws parallels between how Elthina's lack of action led to the situation in Kirkwall and how Justinia's lack of action could lead to a similar situation with the mages and templars.

More alarmingly, however, is Celene's next, far more subtle proposal. To me, I was always baffled by why Celene suddenly started to talk about Kinloch Hold, but after looking at this context, I actually think Celene is suggesting a much more permanent, direct resolution to the mage problem, similar to the kind of decision the HoF had to make - whether or not to annul the entire Circle.

To me, I think this reads as Celene proposing the Chantry goes to war on the mages. She chooses the specific example of Kinloch Hold because Leliana was there - so that Leliana will not misunderstand the kind of action she expects the Divine to take.

To Leliana's credit, she does retort that the conflict hasn't escalated to the point where that's necessary yet, and that the Divine does not wish to act "capriciously".

“Perhaps I might,” Celene said, and smiled before lowering her voice and continuing. “Divine Justinia must know this: I have nobles begging in private salons for the throne to take direct action in this matter.” At Leliana’s shocked look, she nodded. “There are men of Orlais who would sooner see us march upon our own people in the name of safety. I would despise that. Dorothea knows that I would. But I must offer them some alternative.” Leliana stood, frowning in thought. “You wish the Divine to make some overt show of ameliorating the situation.” Celene let out a breath. “In truth, any overt show will bring complaints that I have allowed the Chantry free rein to rule this empire for me,” she said, and Leliana nodded wordlessly. “But if Justinia can calm tempers before I am forced to turn the blade of the empire upon itself, then I will pay such a price willingly.” Leliana smiled. “You think less for yourself and more for Orlais than I had expected, Your Radiance. It is a fortunate quality in a ruler, and one I have not seen enough.” Celene stood as well, and for a moment her gown was bathed in the crimson light of the stained glass. “Tell me something. How large was the Archdemon?” Leliana laughed the delicate cultured laugh of a noblewoman or trained bard. The effect made her sister’s robes look like a poor disguise. “Large enough, Your Radiance, that after having seen it, most problems seem small by comparison.” Her face turned serious, and she added, “I will ask Justinia to consider acting directly. She will want your support, to head off accusations that she might be attempting to steal power for herself.” “Of course. Perhaps if she made a statement at a ball thrown in her honor?” Leliana considered it. “It is not the place where one would expect her to make such a pronouncement…” “Which is why you like the idea,” Celene said, smiling.

Celene makes it clear here that the Orlesian nobility is restless about the growing mage/templar situation which is quickly growing unstable. I specifically want to draw attention to Celene's phrasing here - "march upon our own people in the name of safety" - because I think the implication here that she considers the mages as "her own people" is an appeal to Leliana to get the Divine to act.

But how does she want Justinia to act? At a first glance, it seems reasonable here that Celene is asking for Justinia to try and talk to the mages and templars and settle things between them. Except, when Leliana specifically asks whether Justinia should "make some overt show or ameliorating the situation", Celene's response is that "any overt show will bring complaints" - which reads to me as a decline. She is declining that Justinia should try to reason with both parties.

On top of that, there's some more ambigious phrasing here. ".. if Justinia can calm tempers" - Celene makes no mention here of whose tempers she means. From a first glance perspective, or even from Leliana's perspective, it might seem like she's referring to the roused tempers of the templars and mages, following on from the actions in Kirkwall. But with the context of the previous paragraph in mind, where she very much points out that the nobility of Orlais are not happy with the state of the mage/templar situation, I think she's referring to Justinia doing something that will calm the tempers of the nobility of Orlais.

Later, she follows it up with the phrase "I will pay such a price willingly", referring to the public loss of opinion with the nobility if Justinia can calm these tempers. To Leliana, I imagine it reads as something magnanimous - indeed, Leliana even says that Celene thinks "more for Orlais" than herself, which was unexpected.

But to me, it reads as Celene promising Justinia that if the situation worsens, if Justinia calls for an Exalted March on the mages, Orlais will answer the call. Orlais is willing to march on the mages, if only Justinia calls for an Exalted March, and Orlais -- through it's Empress -- is willing to lose the small amount of public opinion - that people might whisper she's allowing the Chantry free reign of Orlais (and, presumably, all it's resources, for the purposes of this Exalted March, which is actually... an interesting perspective for Orlais to take. But I will not get sidetracked here) - if it accomplishes the greater goal of resolving the mage/templar tensions directly and definitively, because the lack of resolution is causing a negative reaction from the Orlesian nobles, which we know Gaspard is taking advantage of.

(Important to note: at this point, an Exalted March is still entirely feasible; the Order is still bound to the Chantry by the Nevarran Accord. Justinia has been considering an Exalted March since 9:37, though Leliana's dialogue suggests she's hesitant to go through with it. Historically, Orlais has contributed to the Exalted Marches and has been the sole contributor of at least one Exalted March.)

But Vee, I hear you say, this is absurd. Surely, this is a bad faith reading of the situation, no way Celene would propose something like this. No way Leliana or even Justinia would agree to this.

I have several counterarguments to this: firstly, the Grand Game of Orlais relies on complexity of word play and layered meanings. It relies on saying on thing and meaning, at the very minimum, three other things. It's entirely plausible for Celene to be appealing to Leliana's sense of empathy and justice, to seem to be proposing that Justinia soothe the tempers of the mages and templars to prevent something worse from happening, using the same words that she's actually proposing something entirely different - and more violent and direct - to Justinia with.

Secondly, by the time Justinia calls for the Conclave at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, she already has a writ for the creation of the Inquisition prepared and Leliana already has agents planted in the Hinterlands, only minutes away from Redcliffe, where the mage rebellion is seeking refuge. The Inquisition was planned and I am fairly sure that the Inquisition was created specifically to march on the mages. This is not a last minute thought - that writ is huge - this was planned. This was in the works already - why isn't it feasible that this is where it starts? Justinia was already considering an Exalted March on Kirkwall. Why is it so unfeasible that she'd consider more direct action to deal with the mages?

Thirdly, there's actually a follow-up conversation with Leliana about this that I think pretty much confirms that this is what Celene and Leliana (and as she's a proxy for Justinia, also the Divine) are discussing here.

Take the next excerpt:

Celene shut her eyes. “And what does the Divine think about this?” Leliana smiled. “The Divine has never had a very high opinion of the theater, Your Radiance.” At Celene’s silence, the Divine’s representative sighed. “The elves are the children of the Maker, just as we are, and just as deserving of His grace.” “But the Divine will not say that,” Celene guessed. Leliana looked away. She had been trained as a bard, so every movement she made was likely deliberate, but Celene thought that her discomfort was genuine. “I have … been comrade-in-arms with elves. I would not see them harmed. But you did not ask for her support in that matter.” She looked back at Celene. “You asked for her support calming the templars and the mages.” “Indeed.” Celene nodded. “And will she give that support?” Leliana let out a breath. “She will,” she said, nodding slowly, “but in return, she needs to know that this matter with the elves is under control.” Celene felt her heart break inside her, for all that she had known within moments how the conversation would go. She breathed a tiny sigh, and then said, “Of course. I could hardly ask the Divine to keep her affairs in order were I not willing to do the same myself. I hope you enjoy the coming ball in Justinia’s honor. I fear I will not be able to attend in person.” “The Divine understands,” Leliana said, and in a soft, sad voice, added, “Walk with the Maker’s blessing.”

I've written a little bit before on how Justinia doesn't seem to care very much about the methods that Celene uses to resolve the situation with the elves -- it's Leliana who hopes for a peaceful resolution. It's Leliana who believes elves are children of the Maker.

But I actually think what's happening in this scene is more horrifying than I initially thought. This is the second interaction between the two -- and with the context of the first scene, it feels like this is Leliana saying the Divine has agreed to more drastic measures for the mage rebellion if Celene will also deal with the elven rebellion. That the Divine will accept Orlais' support and march on the mages if Celene can deal with the elven rebellion quickly.

This is Leliana passing on Divine Justinia's agreement to a more permanent solution to the mage rebellion. This is Divine Justinia agreeing to an Exalted March on the mage rebellion, and agreeing to support Celene if Celene will support her. Justinia's support here is conditional on Celene maintaining control - and Celene's support is conditional on Justinia maintaining control.

That's...horrifying. But why else would Leliana sound sad, unless she knew exactly what Celene was going to do? What the Divine was allowing Celene to do? What the Divine was telling Celene to do in exchange for the solution Celene proposed? Celene herself explicitly states that she cannot ask the Divine to take action without also being willing to take kind of action herself.

And as we know, the direct action Celene takes to deal with the rumours in Orlais of her sympathising with elves, to solidify her political position, is to slaughter all the elves in the Halamshiral alienage. That is the clearest indication to me that what Celene was proposing was an Exalted March on the mages - and the Divine agreed.

i want you to keep in mind that, at this stage, the College of Enchanters has been dissolved. Fiona has proposed seceding from the Chantry but the vote did not pass. For the most part, there is no mage rebellion currently; they've been cut off from each other, their right of assembly has been revoked, and the templars are still very much aligned with the Chantry. What Justinia is agreeing to here is if the situation gets worse, she will take action, and Orlais will back her up on it.

This sets up the background for Asunder; the Divine's last ditch attempt at resolving the situation before she takes definitive action against the mages.

Could they be with Gaspard, countering Celene’s plan? Unlikely. Ser Michel would never have turned traitor, and while Melcendre had lured him out with blackmail once, he was still too ashamed to allow such a ruse to work twice. They had come from Celene. Had Gaspard done something to force the empress’s hand? Had the Divine made a new demand? What had changed Celene’s mind? Then, as she came past the torches, Briala saw the night sky, glowing a sooty red. She smelled the smoke of Halamshiral’s slums burning. After that, Briala stopped thinking.

[prettyqueerwitch]

My Spiritual Book TBR's

This is mainly for me to have a comprehensive list but also might help others in finding books to read!

Marked ♡ means I own the book

Read

• Witchery by Juliet Diaz

• The Green Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

• Witch, Please by Victoria Maxwell

Currently Reading

To Be Read

♡ The Altar Within by Juliet Diaz

♡ Plant Witchery by Juliet Diaz

♡ Encyclopedia of Spirits by Judika Illes

• Encyclopedia of Witchcraft by Judika Illes

• Encyclopedia of Mystics, Saints, & Sages by Judika Illes

• Moon Magic by Diane Ahlquist

♡ The Moon Book by Sarah Faith Gottesdiener

♡ Magical Healing by Hexe Claire

• The Long Lost Friend by John George Hohman

• Hex and Spellwork by Karl Herr

♡ Witchcraft Medicine by Claudia Müller-Ebeling, Christian Rätsch, and Wolf-Dieter Storl

• How to Study Magic by Sarah Lyons

• Love is In The Earth by Melody

• Radical Remedies by Brittany Ducham

♡ Spiritual Ecology by Multiple People (Llewellyn)

♡ A Witch's Shadow Magic Compendium by Raven Digitalis

• The Witch at The Forests Edge by Christine Grace

• Six Ways by Aidan Wachter

♡ Honoring Your Ancestors by Mallorie Vaudoise

• Year of The Witch by Temperance Alden

♡ Weave The Liminal by Laura Tempest Zakroff

♡ The Book of Candle Magic by Madame Pamita and Judika Illes

• The Triumph of the Moon by Ronald Hutton

♡ Folk Witchcraft by Roger J. Horne

♡ Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer

♡ The Spiral Dance by Starhawk

• Spells for Change by Frankie Castanea

• Utterly Wicked by Dorothy Morrison

♡ Of Blood and Bones by Kate Freuler

♡ The Little Work by Durgadas Allon Duriel

• Entering Hekates Garden by Cyndi Brannen

• Entering Hekates Cave by Cyndi Brannen

• Nordic Runes by Paul Rhys Mountfort

• The Book of Spells by Ella Harrison

• Plants of the Devil by Corinne Boyer

♡ Besom, Stang, and Sword by Christopher Orapello, Tara-Love Maguire

♡ Inner Witch by Gabriela Herstik

♡ Psychic Witch by Mat Auryn

♡ The Black Arts by Richard Cavendish

• Blackthorn's Botanical Magic by Amy Blackthorn

• Astrology for Real Life by Theresa Reed

♡ Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom

• The Trotula by Monica H. Green

• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

• Bringing Race to the Table: Exploring Racism in the Pagan Community by Crystal Blanton, Taylor Ellwood, and Brandy Williams

• God Against the Gods by Jonathan Kirsch

• Pure Magic by Judika Illes

• Folk Magic by Mari Silva

• Witches Herbal Primer by Amy Cesari

♡ New World Witchery by Cory Thomas Hutcherson

•Magical Folk Healing by DJ Conway

• The Pagan Book of Days by Nigel Pennick

♡ Lady of The Night by Edain McCoy

♡ Spellcraft for a Magical Year by Sarah Bartlett

♡ The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook by Catlín Matthews

♡ Natural Magic by Pamela Ball

♡ Rebel Witch by Kelly-Ann Maddox

♡ The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need by Joanna Martine Woolfolk

♡ Mastering Magick by Mat Auryn

♡ In-focus Crystals by Bernice Cockram

♡ The Complete Grimoire by Lidia Pradas

• The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells by Judika Illes

And that took a while but we're done! Will probably update this as I go <3

[mabaris]

Ultimate Meow Meow Poll

However you define your poor little meow-meows, the Dragon Age series has plenty to choose from. But who is the saddest, wettest, cringefailiest, morally ambigu-est, crimes-against-godliest?

Preliminary voting will run for one week, and the top 2 from each poll will advance to the bracket. Once the tournament begins, each round will last for 24 hours.

Pick up your faves by the scruff of the neck and cast your votes!

Cole/Connor/Fenris/Keran/Jowan/Tamlen

Anders/Cullen/Carver/Maric/Nathaniel/Velanna

Alain/Bethany/Blackwall/Feynriel/Merrill/Mhairi

Ariane/Calpernia/Daveth/Fiona/Isabela/Zevran

Leandra/Leliana/Maferath/Sera/Tallis/Teagan

Bartrand/Florianne/Gamlen/Oghren/Threnn/Worthy

Bianca/Cauthrien/Leske/Shale/Taliesen/Zathrian

Evelina/Imshael/Javaris/Minaeve/Pol/Sandal

Fairbanks/Karl/Ketojan/Mouse/Soris/Saemus

Corypheus/Jarvia/the Mother/Petrice/Uldred/Viddasala

Andraste/Clarel/Orsino/Solas/Swiftrunner/Varania

The Architect/Branka/Maddox/Morrigan/Samson/Stroud

Dagna/Finn/Krem/Renn/Shianni/Varric

Alistair/Dorian/Duncan/Sebastian/Sigrun/Xenon

Alexius/Briala/Gaspard/Loghain/Meredith/Lady of the Forest

Anora/Genitivi/Iron Bull/Malcolm/Valta/Vivienne

The tournament will be under the tag #meow meow poll if you want to follow it!

[littlelostmabari]

🌤 name the hardest thing you've had to do for writing

Thank you for the ask!!

There's a silly answer and a serious answer to this. Silly answer is pulling myself out of the games long enough to write. I'm at ~600 hours in BG3 and >1000 in DAI and I definitely am drawn back super easily. 😭

Serious answer is also seriously hard to answer: writing about abuse (here's your CW, friends).

I hated writing about Tranquility for One of the Good Ones. I started in Dragon Age with Inquisition, because it came packaged with the first console I ever owned (we aren't counting my Game Boy Color which I was only allowed to play Pokemon on). If you don't play DA2 first, you don't get the scene with Anders and Karl. DAI doesn't shove Tranquility in your face the same way, and it means you can pass by Clemence and Helisma and even Maddox without understanding. It's easy to miss the Tranquil skulls in Redcliffe too. It meant the whiplash the DAI game after I played DA2 was reallllly bad.

I added this in the notes of Chapter 7, and I think it applies well:

I personally believe that the Tranquil are still people, and should be treated as such, but that's not a view that Saoirse holds. She grew up in a place where souls are very real things and gods do not grant rest to those without souls --- something like Tranquility is literally cutting someone off from the afterlife, which means they are effectively the same as undead thralls.

It was extremely difficult to write about Tranquility with the gravity that it deserved, especially because we know from DA2 and the interaction with Karl that their minds are still intact. The idea that being made prisoner in your own mind is used for something as simple as loving the wrong person??? Ugh ok I'm going to stop now before I get more upset.

~~~

Writing about Mystra in Touch of Darkness was a little easier, mostly because the entire story started with how I wanted the conversation with Elminster to go. In the game, I think its appropriate that Gale steers the reaction to his death sentence because he is the one being harmed. Its the same vibes as not giving Astarion a hug at the end of his quest --- that it's not what he needs in that moment as a victim of abuse. Gale needs a level head because his head is a whirligig of emotion and betrayal, and Tav provides him that whether we, the player, want it or not.

But I couldn't leave it there, I was so invested in this pixel man that I wanted to scream and rage and throw Elminster off the nearest cliff. I needed to give Irradessa a reason to be just as upset (read: just as traumatized), which meant giving her a history with Mystra and more than a passing investment in Gale's continued existence. It was hard to capture in words the roiling emotion of the scene inside my head, and it left me emotionally exhausted.

So that was a fun ask! 😂 JK it was really good to get some of these thoughts down into words, so thank you for that @alpydk 😊

[rocketyoyo]

Hello Handsome 😍🔥

[andrewknightley]

i read the short story of samson and now im even sadder about maddox and also im here like samson i also wanna destroy the chantry you are so right. come be my military advisor

[tea42]

Ring of Fire

Inquisitor Anders learns about the cure for Tranquility before they find Maddox.

Maddox / Samson, Maddox & Samson, Anders/Sebastian, past Anders/Karl

I’m starting a series in the middle because why not?

Chapter 1 of 2 up

“Hello Inquisitor”, the man said from the floor without lifting his eyes.

‘A Tranquil Mage? Why?’ Anders’ zeal from battle turned to acute discomfort as he stared at the ring of fire on the man’s forehead. He could not look into a Tranquil’s face without seeing Karl as well. 

“You know me?”, Anders asked, his heart beating like the wings of a trapped bird.

“It’s Maddox. Samson’s Tranquil,” Cullen said.  Anders thought the Templar had started to come around, but then he gave this casual assertion of ownership, an echo of so many he had heard through his life. It had Anders whirl around. The brown of Cullen's wide eyes were made blue by the light of Justice.

“He does not belong to anyone”,  Anders and Justice said as one.

“I-, yes. Yes, of course. I apologize”, Cullen stammered but his eyes shifted behind Anders.

Before Anders turned he knew what he would see. Maddox’s once placid face was awash with emotions.

continued on ao3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/47293663/chapters/119169082