#Tevinter slave

[niofo]

i just love lucanis' introduction so much, it's one of my favorite things. we first hear about him from some scared shitless venatori, he's killing off magisters all over tevinter, he's the grandson of first talon herself, rumored to be her successor. and then in person he is this very composed, logical and practical person especially contrasted to illario's chaos and chatter, he's pragmatic where illario is ornamental. but then when they actually infiltrate the party it's illario, not lucanis, who doesn't want to leave witnesses, it's illario who want to assassinate their mark quietly and gtfo long before anyone notices, and it's illario who doesn't want to deal with the slaves. and it's lucanis who decides to send a horde of vengeance demons after his target instead and then yeet himself into an abomination with just a sword. he's an entirely, completely bullshit man and i love it. he would be great pals with justice, which is the highest honor i can bestow on a dragon age character.

[andrewknightley]

Have your game in tevinter aka Elf Slave Country Where Human Mages Rules and then have the only relevant tevinter characters be Good human mages or Evil human mages was a choice for sure

[ghost-bard]

Finally at the landsmeet, hope i can finally find out what makes ppl defend Loghain as a character, beyond what ive seen in cutscenes and Anora talking about him.

He’s interesting, i sort of get why he’s compelling story wise. But. Why do people defend him. I am curious.

Apologies if im just bringing up old fandom talking points im playing the game for the first time 🙏

[pinkfey]

i don’t know if this is a lord of fortune rook-specific thing or an elf-specific thing but that random lore drop that rook was a tevinter slave was uhhhhh upsetting and disgusting

[tench]

Ok, but what if I don't want to choose a city ruled by mafia and under ex-qunari occupation over the capital of Tevinter with shitton of powerful mages and potential Venatori coup And get Rook an assassin boyfriend?

This game is very bad at politics and I'm losing every time I try to roleplay. I wish I knew beforehand though.

[alstroermeria]

The DA fandom is so back because what does it mean that you're disappointed that your character isn't called with a fantasy slur😭??

[kirkwallguy]

kinda crazy the way people hate vivienne but fenris is a fan favourite. i just saw the party banter between bethany and fenris and. if i was living in a survival horror mode where there's catholic cops everywhere wanting to stuck me into a prison tower and some twink tells me "it's good for everyone and to yourself too" then ends it with "we don't sign up to our fate" I'd be taking a dump in their mouth right away. what the hell are you saying 💀

vivienne isn't even supportive of templars, she knows they're not a solution 😭 she's just highly political in her language, that's where the nuance and lies/covertly said thoughts kicks in. when she's divine it is noted that mages had seen rights they never had. its just ao crazy all it takes for people is a handsome *man* with a tragic backstory

hmm idk i think it's more complicated than that tbh. the hatred of vivienne is definitely due to antiblackness and misogyny, people's lack of empathy for vivienne in general is due to her being a black woman and if she was a white man she'd probably be one of the most popular dai companions. buut it's kind of hard to compare her to fenris when there's such a dramatic disparity in how well companion stories are conveyed in both games lol - fenris gets tons of cutscenes about his trauma, multiple companion quests including one where you meet his former slave master. meanwhile vivienne gets one quest that only vaguely implies what she's been through, and everything else has to be inferred banter that never triggers or deep in dialogue trees that lots of people won't exhaust because inquisition is like 100+ hours long.

comparing her treatment to characters like cullen or dorian (both flawed and you have to squint at them to extract the nuance) definitely does show how shit the fandom is tho. dorian defends slavery because he feels guilty about benefitting from it but viv isn't allowed to speak carefully about the system that oppresses her?

[vilnan]

"he has let one bad experience color his whole world" ok anders

[resol-nare]

Caena Mercar is an elf who's been adopted by a human family after being freed from slavery, and raised into rank and status that would otherwise be unattainable to her. This doesn't curb the suspicion and prejudice from many of her peers, however, so she has to prove herself. Prove that she can keep up with the best of them, even surpass them. Prove that she belongs there.

To some degree, it works. She's challenged less and less by her peers, though the grumbling never really stops. She feels alienated by most everyone, save the closest members of her family. It's hard to relate to other elves, so she feels cut off from her people.

It's necessary in order to survive in this world, she tells herself, and buries the built up feelings and latent trauma that comes with growing up an elf in Minrathous.

When she meets Bellara, she quietly assumes that it will be the same. She isn't prepared for the Dalish elf to embrace her, to want to talk about being elves with her, to be excited that she's there. Caena, or Rook now, doesn't know how to react, except by listening when Bellara inevitably needs to infodump about some cool, new, elven thing she found.

As she learns more from Bellara, Rook becomes ever more curious. She finds herself asking more questions, and being drawn into long conversations that eventually become the highlight of her day. As their conversations shift from the ancient elves to just about anything else they can think of.

They're both enamored with the stories of each of their adventures. Bellara is taken by Rook's courage and selflessness during her work as a Shadow Dragon, and Rook admires Bellara's kind heart and craftiness when working with ancient traps and artifacts.

The rest of the Veilguard sees their connection before they do, naturally. It takes both of them accidentally falling asleep in each other's arms one night and waking up the next morning utterly perplexed to realize it's the company they seek and not just the conversation.

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

he could've said if it bothered him it's fine!

[halliserres]

brb gotta shove every inch of tevinter lore into my brain so i can write my rook

[stayatsam]

wait, what did david gaider do that was ableist?

oh, not david gaider! Anders was written by Jennifer Hepler who based him off her ex-boyfriend.

and the ableism is specifically how anders is written, specifically that romancing/loving anders is a burden (because he is written as mentally ill)

EDIT: she actually received a lot of pretty dirty harassment over it, and i obviously don't condone that at all. the game came out 10 years ago so she might've changed how she views bipolar people but anders is still a very "yikes" experience for me to play in a game as a bipolar person

[slugandthorn]

Just remembering how actual real world hate groups in the US started using BioShock infinite concept art for their campaigns and like. First of hope they got sued to shit. Second of all it's why I don't really mind Dragon Age abandoning it's darker themes because the AAA profit first corporation is never going to make effective political commentary

[scionshtola]

it is a little funny to me to play an elven rook who with no input from me repeatedly refers to the antagonists as “our gods” and then reach a choice where i can be like actually i’ve been andrastian this whole time

[fatewoven]

Venatori Architect. Gortash rose to renown for his engineering achievements within Tevinter, mainly inventing tools to amplify magic by utilizing red lyrium. His grandest accomplishment was the finalization of the Blood Forge units, though most of the credit went to the Magister that commissioned the constructs. (A magister who died under mysterious circumstances not long after.) All this is to say, no matter how clever and accomplished he is, Gortash is still a second-rate class citizen amidst a society governed by mages. It's an injustice he seeks to correct by becoming the first Soporati Magister, and he will do this by any means necessary. Cutting deals with cultists, demons, and gods are a trifle matter. And during the events of VG, he will pose as an informant working against the Venatori in various factions, selling half-truths only to betray them later. Beyond that, he gathers support among the lower class citizens of Minrathos, often holding forums and meetings to discuss the unfairness of the status-quo while promising to remake their Empire. In his opinion, the South was at least correct in leashing their mages, though he seeks to further 'improve' that by enslaving them to truly innovate the times.

[thebookworm0001]

Hmmm feeling like my first rook will end up being my canon one just I have a way to connect her with Ellana based off some plans I had for a long fic that feels narratively satisfying

Guess that means I gotta get a handle on both her and Neve’s characters for potential fic writing purposes