#OC: Alessia de Riva

[wardenthornes]

Think Alessia is possibly the only woman in Treviso who can’t cook btw. And whenever it comes up she’s like oh I’m sorry I was busy getting multiple advanced degrees in magic from an elite university for mages in Antiva City and then learning how to run a Crow house from Viago while also raising a small child. Guess I should’ve been at home in an apron cooking some shitty goddamn soup like a good little woman 🙂‍↕️. Lucanis is fine with this but her explanation has him immediately like ah I see why you and Viago butt heads

[nightingaletrash]

I now know why cioccolata calda is Alessia's favourite drink 🙂🙃🙂🙃🙂🙃🙂

[wardenthornes]

Think maybe my Crow Rook had been a childhood friend of Illario who had previously only met Lucanis in passing. (Illario and Rook are not close now.) After she had her son, though, she did get a really nice, thoughtful gift on behalf of House Dellamorte that she initially assumed was from Illario or Caterina but was actually Lucanis’ pick. She realizes because he asks her about it soon after meeting him. Random details of the months before his capture are something he clings to in an attempt to ground himself during his torment in the underwater prison. He has really specific memories of shopping on behalf of House Dellamorte for a baby blanket in the market for Illario’s old friend & heir to another house, feeling all the fabrics and picking out the softest one he could find, and he’s dwelled on that a lot. Seemed random until that old friend was the same woman who showed up to save him.

[wardenthornes]

Actually think my solution to what Alessia does post-game about her desire to leave the Crows & force them to change + my solution to how Alessia and Lucanis resolve Alessia’s extreme distress over him becoming first talon when she wants to cut ties with the Crows is… Alessia becomes the new governor of Treviso in the wake of the governor’s treason and death. The Crows think this is a huge win for them — relatively young nepo baby Crow with mass popular appeal in charge — but she takes a fix your hearts or die approach to them. She sets out to build a social safety net and public infrastructure so the whole city isn’t reliant on the Crows. She makes it clear to the Crows in Treviso that they have to stop the worst aspects of their criminal empire (stop forcing children into indentured servitude; stop doing business with/laundering money for other Crow houses that engage in slave trade or sex trafficking, even if it’s apparently not done directly by the Crows in Treviso in Veilguard; etc) or she will ruin them financially and make it impossible for them to do business in Treviso. Nearly all the Crows see it as a betrayal, except for Lucanis, who formally embraces the changes as first talon of his own house. He vows to wipe out any house that harms their new governor, and tries to convince them that these changes are necessary for the Crows to survive as an organization. Despite resenting being ordered around by a traitorous ex-Crow governor and Lucanis, who everyone knows is in love with her, many of the changes Alessia demands are ones the younger leaders have considered, tried to enact, and/or privately agreed with for a long time. Her father and his house are one of the first agree, privately seething but publicly wanting to seem in control, and Viago follows suit (although he resents her insubordination for years over it). Facing both pressure within and without, the Crows in Treviso enter into an uneasy understanding with the new governor that results in significant positive social change in the city.

[wardenthornes]

also my Crow Rook gal might romance Lucanis but I sincerely think she might break up with him after seeing him become first talon. The idea of him getting in deeper with the Crows when she wants to get out, for her own sake and for her young son’s, is extremely distressing to her. The only way they stay together in the long term is if he agrees to find a replacement for him as first talon as soon as possible. Which normally I think he wouldn’t do, but I do think perhaps if he was really in love with her and saw her genuine fear for her son’s future if they stay with the Crows, he might go. I also think it’s one thing to have no self-awareness about himself and the way his family and the Crows have ruined his life, but it’s easier to see the problem when the woman he loves is telling him she wants better for her child than what he had. It’s harder to stand back and look at Caterina’s abuse in childhood, the way life in the Crows got his entire family but Illario and Caterina killed, the fact that Illario had him tortured for a year and nearly killed over Caterina’s favor and position in the Crows, and say yeah, this is a fine future for your toddler to look forward to.

[wardenthornes]

Playing Veilguard after playing so many RPGs that make your female player character have teeny tiny hips… 🗣️ big! 🗣️ hips! 🗣️ big! 🗣️ hips! 🗣️ big! 🗣️ hips! 🗣️

[wardenthornes]

btw am thinking about my Crow Rook’s relationship with Viago. He doesn’t want to mentor the spoiled, over-educated mage brat daughter of another Talon, who’s probably never been told no in her life. She’s annoyingly inquisitive and has studied/lived outside of Treviso for long enough to question so many parts of Crow life he takes for granted, or that embarrass him, or that he wants to change but can’t admit to openly. He’s jealous of the effort her father is putting into making her his heir, and she doesn’t seem to enjoy it at all. She’s not good at taking criticism (see, spoiler brat status. And also always having been the smart girl in the room at university). She gets pregnant two months into his efforts to combat train her, hugely limiting what he can do with her for over a year. He needs to hone her into a real Crow who can run her father’s house when he retires, and who can stand up to all the threats that will come about once she’s in charge. He also recognized that she was physically vulnerable and struggling with even light training while pregnant, and didn’t push her beyond her limits or to the point where she was in danger, even though it’s what his trainers would have done. (Teia is also an influence on him in this — she encourages him to ease up because she doesn’t want to see Rook or her baby get hurt, and he realizes she’s right.) Rook understands this to some extent, but still doesn’t truly grasp how brutal Crow training can often be, or how relatively good she has it. He can still see that she’s trying to learn what he’s teaching her. He wants to be a better mentor to her than his mentor was to him. She realizes more and more every day that doesn’t really want to be a Crow at all, especially after she has her son. She doesn’t want her son’s life to be like Viago’s, or the Dellamorte men’s, or any other Crow’s. He can vaguely sense this from her but never addresses it because he doesn’t want to deal with what’s wrong with his upbringing or acknowledge the fact that she might bolt one day and leave him having wasted his time on her and angered her powerful fellow Talon father. They’re a dog and a human pulling on both ends of the leash at once, knowing they could really hurt the other or get hurt this way, but also knowing that neither will ever pull hard enough to do so.

[wardenthornes]

my young mom nepo baby Crow Rook has been anxious about her young son’s future if she stays in the Crows anyway, but I just know she sees Lucanis and Illario doing this

over Caterina’s favor and is like. I gotta get me and my kid out of the goddamn Crows

[wardenthornes]

New Rook to take a break from the Hawke + Rook family duo I’ve been feverishly writing fic about for the last two weeks lol

Her name is Alessia Belfiore, currently training under House de Riva. And she is in fact the diva from Antiva.

Her father heads another Crow house based in Treviso, as his father & grandfather did before him. Her mother was trained in Antivan law, and she handles business matters and legal disputes for the house. Alessia is their only child.

Despite being devout Andrastians (the irony of being religious and running a house of assassins is lost on her parents), when Alessia's magic developed as a child, they had her tutored in secret at home rather than sending their beloved daughter and only heir to the Circle.

After the mage rebellion, and as Alessia's power grew, word got out that she was a mage. She was sent to a magical university in Antiva City after completing her childhood studies in order to educate herself and refine her skills. Alessia may have been a mage, which earned skepticism and disapproval among the old guard in Antiva, but her family wanted to be able to show that she was educated, disciplined, and incredibly skilled. Her father wants her to take his position in the family when he retires, and they knew she'd have to do a lot of legwork to prove to make the other families respect her. The Crows may welcome mages as assassins on the street, but old prejudice and Chantry teachings make many in the Crow leadership resistant to seeing mages as their peers.

In her studies, Alessia learned about the cultures and history of Thedas, including several horrible moments in history she still doesn't know the Crows had a part in. She has a broader perspective than most Crows. She definitely returns to Treviso and gets treated like that one friend who's too woke

Upon graduating with a bachelor's and a masters in the arcane arts, she returns to Treviso. She's assigned to shadow Viago as his protégé, learning how to use all of her refined magical skills to become an assassin, and learning how to run a Crow house. Viago is... less than thrilled about having to train the spoiled, overeducated Belfiore brat. He's also definitely not jealous of the investment in time and attention her parents have put into her...

In the first few months after returning to Treviso, Alessia finds herself pregnant. Unhappy and lonely back amongst the Crows, she welcomes the new focus and new source of love in her life. Her parents are irritated that not only is she unmarried, and not only does she have no plans to marry, but she also won't disclose who the father is. Viago is annoyed because it was enough trouble to come up with a way to train a spoiled, whip smart apostate Crow princess when she wasn't pregnant. Nevertheless, her family comes around, and they spoil her son completely after he's born.

Spending time amongst the other Crows teaches Alessia how much easier her life has been than the brutal violence involved in most Crows' training, and the meaningless stream of violence and corruption the Crows dish out. The problem for Alessia, however, is that with her family's influence, as well as lingering prejudice against mages due to the deep Chantry influence in Antiva, she doesn't know what else she could do to support herself and her son if she crossed her father and the Crows. But as her baby boy becomes a toddler, and as she hears the people around her talking about training him up to be a Crow himself makes her sick. The idea of anyone treating him the way she knows most young Crows are treated, and the idea of him wasting his life in service to the Crows, makes her miserable. Something has to change. She just doesn't know how.

[nightingaletrash]

for the oc codex prompts - 5 for alessia please!!

5. letters between two of your OC’s companions about them

Two letters packaged together. One has a coffee stain from a mug, and seems to have been written earlier than the second

Neve,

Okay I'm writing this now because I am so excited, but I can't actually say anything yet but if I say nothing anywhere I WILL explode!

Ali and Lucanis are having a baby!!!!! Ali told me this morning and I've only just stopped bouncing - okay that's a lie, I'm still bouncing in between sentences but I'm just so EXCITED!!

Can you believe this? I remember when I first met them, Ali was wandering into a Fade bubble and Lucanis- well, I told you all about the Ossuary. Back then, all I could think about were the gods and the Blight and the end of the world. I still remember the moment it ended. Suddenly it was just over and I couldn't imagine where our lives were going to go. I was so scared that we would all just drift back to our lives and that would be the end of it. I didn't want everything to be over.

But I never imagined that it wouldn't be over, just different, and now with a little baby Dellamorte-de Riva on the way!!!! Oh I'm so impatient, I want to meet them now!

Anyways, I'll stop now before I actually end up sending this before I'm supposed to. I'm waiting for Ali to give me the all clear before I talk to anyone about it, which means I'm locking myself in the workshop until then.

Love Bellara

p.s. don't worry I packed provisions

--

Neve,

I've been given the all clear so I'm sending this now! AHHHHH!

Love Bellara

A letter smelling faintly of gingerwort. A few spots of oil dot the bottom of the page, as if the writer had been eating while writing.

Bel,

Lucanis told me the same day Rook told you, so you probably would have been fine to send the first letter, but good on you for staying quiet for so long. And for not telling Fred either. You know Emmrich would have come back from a lecture and wondered why his favourite student was running around shouting 'baby' over and over again. Apparently it's been nonstop since they were told, and he wants to go and pick out some bones for it in the Necropolis. Emmrich's going to have to give him the Talk before he does anything upsetting.

I'm not sure I believe it any more than you do. Part of me still thinks I'm still in the Upper City, all wrapped up in Blight and that Elgar'nan is just letting me believe we'd won. I know it's nonsense. He'd never humour a world where he wasn't front and centre, but I can't help it. The idea that we survived and are now living happy lives where some of us go off and get married and have children? Insanity.

Let's just hope those two lock up all the knives and make sure that Uncle Viago doesn't leave any loose bottles lying about. Not that I think he's the sort to be sloppy, but babies love getting into things they shouldn't. It's like they have a death wish or something. And the Lighthouse won't make it any easier. How do you babyproof a place like this? We can't stick up guardrails all over the place - the parents are Crows, it'll just climb over them.

Glad I'm not the one who has to figure all of this out.

Love Neve

p.s. we should all go out for a drink to celebrate when we get the time. Rook will survive with something non-alcoholic.

[wardenthornes]

Thinking about them still. Imagine you’re a mage who goes to rescue your childhood friend’s infamous assassin older cousin who specializes in hunting mages. You met him briefly as a child but think there’s no way he remembers you. It turns out he’s been tortured in prison for a year. You introduce yourself. He remembers you, you’re Illario’s friend who had a baby last year. He wants to know if your son liked the blanket he handpicked for him in the marketplace. You tell him he did. It’s the nicest swaddle blanket you own. It helped your son sleep as a newborn. This seems to bring Lucanis some small comfort.

Think maybe my Crow Rook had been a childhood friend of Illario who had previously only met Lucanis in passing. (Illario and Rook are not close now.) After she had her son, though, she did get a really nice, thoughtful gift on behalf of House Dellamorte that she initially assumed was from Illario or Caterina but was actually Lucanis’ pick. She realizes because he asks her about it soon after meeting him. Random details of the months before his capture are something he clings to in an attempt to ground himself during his torment in the underwater prison. He has really specific memories of shopping on behalf of House Dellamorte for a baby blanket in the market for Illario’s old friend & heir to another house, feeling all the fabrics and picking out the softest one he could find, and he’s dwelled on that a lot. Seemed random until that old friend was the same woman who showed up to save him.

[wardenthornes]

Btw thinking about governor Rook again and actually so funny to me to consider Treviso getting major social positive reforms from a woman who is still at heart a bratty mafia princess. People who oppose her hear about her efforts to abolish the worst of the Crows’ practices & ease their chokehold over the city by creating a real social safety net so they can’t exploit people’s lack of resources. And they’re like “oh you wanna change how we run this city? You and what army?” and she’s like “me myself and I bitch” (<- woman who was raised to run a Crow house of her own and just beat three elven gods at their own game). She personally whacks one Crow dude who was threatening her and that’s enough to make people fall in line. Plus it reminds everyone that you can take the governor out of the Crows but you can’t take the Crow out of the governor.

Actually think my solution to what Alessia does post-game about her desire to leave the Crows & force them to change + my solution to how Alessia and Lucanis resolve Alessia’s extreme distress over him becoming first talon when she wants to cut ties with the Crows is… Alessia becomes the new governor of Treviso in the wake of the governor’s treason and death. The Crows think this is a huge win for them — relatively young nepo baby Crow with mass popular appeal in charge — but she takes a fix your hearts or die approach to them. She sets out to build a social safety net and public infrastructure so the whole city isn’t reliant on the Crows. She makes it clear to the Crows in Treviso that they have to stop the worst aspects of their criminal empire (stop forcing children into indentured servitude; stop doing business with/laundering money for other Crow houses that engage in slave trade or sex trafficking, even if it’s apparently not done directly by the Crows in Treviso in Veilguard; etc) or she will ruin them financially and make it impossible for them to do business in Treviso. Nearly all the Crows see it as a betrayal, except for Lucanis, who formally embraces the changes as first talon of his own house. He vows to wipe out any house that harms their new governor, and tries to convince them that these changes are necessary for the Crows to survive as an organization. Despite resenting being ordered around by a traitorous ex-Crow governor and Lucanis, who everyone knows is in love with her, many of the changes Alessia demands are ones the younger leaders have considered, tried to enact, and/or privately agreed with for a long time. Her father and his house are one of the first agree, privately seething but publicly wanting to seem in control, and Viago follows suit (although he resents her insubordination for years over it). Facing both pressure within and without, the Crows in Treviso enter into an uneasy understanding with the new governor that results in significant positive social change in the city.