#Trian Long Smith

[badmovieihave]

Bad movie I have The Darkness 2016

[atypicalacademic]

A Brief History of The Scions of House Aeducan- Aka Kani's Aeducan Lore Post

cw for a very brief mention of abuse

Of King Endrin's five children who survived past the age of fifteen, Trian Aeducan, born of the Queen Mother Hestia herself, was the heir apparent, poised to be endorsed by the King and ostensibly supported by the assembly as the next King.

Below Trian was the King's favoured daughter, Princess Vijaya (warrior- axe and shield), Prince Edheran (dual weilding rogue), his twin Princess Varshini (rogue-archer), and the youngest, Prince Bhelen.

At the time, the backing of House Aeducan was enough to practically secure Trian's future ascension to the throne. However, all this would change as soon as his sister Vijaya entered courtly life.

Even in training it was apparent that Vijaya was twice the warrior he was, and as a child, she sat in on her father's meetings, learning his dealings and forming her own views. Swarna, her formerly casteless mother, had whispered statecraft to Vijaya even from her deathbed, eager for her daughter to never relinquish the position she had won.

She mastered surface languages and offered her patronage to the best artisans of her time, improving the House's fortunes by negotiating trade deals with practiced ease by the time she was twenty. Over the resounding success of Vijaya's early life both in Court and on the battlefield, and the affection the King always held for her dutiful nature and undoubtable passion for Orzammar, it quickly became apparent that her popularity and competence had rivaled Trian's legitimacy in a very short amount of time.

That she was born not of the Queen but of a casteless noble hunter who was inducted into the House was only a technicality, though one that chafed at Trian a lot.

The resulting envy made him lash out against her, bitterly and violently, under the guise of his authority as her elder, and the threat of having the house fractured due to infighting, Vijaya kept quiet about these things, refusing to respond in any way that jeopardized her standing.

She chose instead to plot from the shadows until she could take his throne that by now she knew she deserved. She loved her father, but Trian was too uncritical of his policies, too weak of a lord to remain King until his death. And most of all, at a time when their city was falling to darkspawn by the thaig, he was not the ruler they needed.

Vijaya's ideas were radical- she wanted unity between Orzammar and Kal Sharok without either having to sacrifice their sovereignty, she wanted to do away with the debilitating and archaic caste system, she wanted better relations with the surface, demand help from the humans to beat back the darkspawn by holding their lyrium hostage.

But at this point, she played her cards close to her chest, reserving them out of political tact. But many houses- specifically the wealthiest of the merchant and Smith castes, and even those of the commoner castes, favoured her progressive views. The Deshyrs were easily taken in by her military strength and her charm, her vow to uphold Dwarven honor, her scholarship, her patriotism, her devotion to her father, and of course, the King's favor.

Once she acquired more power and allies, however, she was unafraid to put down enemies who stood in the way of Orzammars progress. Murder, torture, blackmail, deception- none of this was out of her cards, but everything was done so discreetly that the image of the House's honor remained intact.

Now, enter the siblings.

As soon as tensions began to rise, the younger siblings realized they either had to pick sides or exploit weaknesses to take the crown for themselves.

Edheran remained loyal to Trian, while Bhelen and Varshini favored Vijaya; Prince Edheran was an easy going kind of man, and didn't really think past the fact that Trian was the heir and the crown would likely go to him. However, Trian would not enjoy this loyalty for long. A little after his twenty-first birthday, Edheran fell desperately in love with a surface merchant, a young Dwarven man brought in for an audience with the King.

Varshini, being the good little sister and a good little spy that she is, went straight to Vijaya with this information. Now, if Vijaya takes this to the King, they would immediately kill Edheran for bringing dishonor to the House by planning to abandon the house with a surfacer.

However, she kept quiet, especially from Trian, waiting until Edheran did manage to elope with his sweetheart. This, because Trian had flaunted Edheran so much as his Second, his brother and champion, that his folly and failing would reflect poorly on Trian himself.

Vijaya saw the opportunity in that, and it worked. Endrin was extremely disappointed with Trian and he fell quite a bit from grace in the eyes of his father for neglecting his responsibility, especially as Vijaya made a whole show of throwing herself at his feet lamenting about the whole thing.

Edheran Aeducan, whether he made it to the surface or put down by a vengeful arrow to the throat, was never heard from again.

Varshini Aeducan was born of Vennela, one of the King's noble-caste mistresses- she was completely ill-fit for political intrigue, and frightened out of her wits by the prospect of being assassinated or worse, she clung to her sister for dear life.

Trian had a fairly paternalistic attitude towards her, thinking her stupid and pathetic, which Varshini resented, as well as his horrible abuse of Vijaya, which she felt powerless to stop. But her unassuming nature and her skill with a bow led her to become an excellent spy and assassin for Vijaya, who used this resource well- Varshini was her weapon that noone saw coming, her eyes and ears where noone suspected.

At the beginning of Origins, Varshini was betrothed to Lord Renvil Harrowmont, son of Pyral Harrowmont, to forge an alliance between the two most powerful houses of Orzammar.

The match was proposed by Vijaya and endorsed by King Endrin; the former so she can subdue the threat she identified in Harrowmont (getting him in the appearance of honor is a good way to put him down- he'd think twice before turning snake to his in laws). The latter because Endrin considered Harrowmont a friend and ally.

Varshini was not consulted in this decision, but she wasn't unhappy about it. She was a little resentful that her sister got to carry on an open-secret love affair with Adal Helmi while Varshini was essentially given away as alliance fodder, but Renvil was young and dashing, and the more she thought of the idea the better, or at least, the safer it felt. After all, Princess Varshini never really wanted a crown or a throne- she just wanted a home.

Young Prince Bhelen learnt from the best- his sister. He and Vijaya were born of the same mother, and were very close to each other growing up. He shared her interest in politics, her views on progress, and he had great admiration for her, he was furious for how Trian treated her, just as she had pride in him.

Even as that admiration grew to fear and paranoia at how quickly she amassed power and how easily she could turn against him; even as it became envy, and his own need for power overtook his loyalty, Vijaya adored her little brother, thought of him as a true partner. He was the one blind spot that Vijaya had, until he wasn't.

The next chain of events vary depending on worldstate, because I have two Aeducan siblings who could go on to be recruited as wardens.

Vijaya's Warden-state

Mostly as things are in canon; Vijaya makes One Mistake, an emotional slip up in the joy of being commander and so close to victory, where she lets her guard down for an instant. However, she doesn't kill Trian, but ends up getting framed for it anyway by Bhelen, gets exiled, gets recruited as a Grey Warden, falls in love with Morrigan and becomes Hero and Paragon.

She does crown Bhelen in Orzammar because Orzammar's progress is her greatest priority; her city is her first and greatest love, it comes before any ideas of her own revenge or justice. But after her stint as warden commander (a well-loved one at that), she practically runs the Merchants Guild as the Deshyr of Val Royeaux (where she lives with Morrigan and her son), and since Bhelen is far more open to Surfacer's than his predecessors were, she pulls a Lot of strings in his Court, both as Princess and Paragon, and plants her spies everywhere in Orzammar so he can never operate outside of her control.

In this verse, Varshini did end up marrying Renvil Harrowmont. Under Vijaya's demands, Bhelen reluctantly extends her a truce, stating that she can stay even as he runs House Harrowmont off, provided she cut off all ties with the man she married. Even Vijaya personally offered security from the surface, but Varshini decides she wants nothing to do with a city where her husband is not wanted. She leaves with him to find Kal-Sharok.

Paragon Vijaya, along with her wife and son, takes frequent trips to Orzammar to the delight of adoring crowds, and under her careful machinations and Bhelen's progressive policies, armies upon armies of allies pile into the deep roads to take back thaigs all the way to Bownammar.

During these visits, Kieran, or Kieran Aeducan, as he is styled, is still called Your Highness by the Palace staff, disregarding any and all of Morrigan's amused protests.

Varshini's Warden-State.

Surprisingly, of the two sisters who could end up wardens, she's the real kinslayer. In this verse, Bhelen did target his manipulations at Vijaya, only Vijaya clued into this way before, and she eliminated all his spies as oops battle sorry during the encounter in the Aeducan thaig, replacing them with her own allies.

But Varshini was bothered by Bhelens warning because she thought Bhelen was loyal to Vijaya and he sounded frantic with worry and Vijaya was taking it too coolly so she was scared. If Trian kills Vijaya what would happen to her?

So when Vijaya asks her to scout ahead, she does, and when she sees Trian standing there, ready for what looked like an ambush, she was so furious, so full of pent up fear and anger at everything he put her and Vijaya through, that she killed him from the shadows, turning the heir of House Aeducan into a pincushion.

Obviously this massively backfired. Bhelen, disappointed and angry, tried to insist that Vijaya must have given the orders, but Varshini said she hadn't. Vijaya's witnesses said she hadn't, and Vijaya herself said she hadn't. No further defence was given, except Vijaya trying to lighten her sentence from execution to exile with a chance at finding grey wardens.

Witnessing Bhelen's enthusiasm to pin the blame on Vijaya, Endrin put two and two together, and it put him in worse stead in the old King's eyes.

Furious at his Grand Plan failing, Bhelens methods grew more desperate, and he tried one more time to get at Vijaya, in which he was caught red handed. Then he challenged his father, who wanted him to be tried for conspiracy, and was killed, leaving no other heir to the throne but Vijaya Aeducan herself.

Meanwhile Varshini had joined the Grey Wardens, and fallen in love with a certain other reluctant Prince.

By the time she returned to Orzammar however, there was a deadlock for the throne except this was caused by Harrowmont's meddling, insisting that Vijaya had something to do with King Endrin's death because Harrowmont was Frightened of the radical reforms she would bring. The Paragon's Crown was his last ditch attempt at consolidating power, and Varshini helps her sister retrieve it before Harrowmont's men find it (she doesn't do any of the Carta runs or the making nobles switch votes tho it's unnecessary if Vijaya's in charge).

Thus, Vijaya Aeducan is Crowned the Queen of Orzammar, the greatest and most beloved since the first Paragon Aeducan himself. Adal Helmi is elevated to the title of royal consort (with frequent, and open visits from a certain dark haired sorceress and her son, of course), and Rica Brosca's little boy, who she did end up having before Bhelen was killed, was prepped and named heir to the throne.

Varshini finds joy and love as a Warden. And when the topic arises that her lover Alistair May be of royal blood, she immediately puts up a fight to anyone aka Arl Eamon, who would inflict Royalty upon him against his will. (Who would ever want to be King?) When Vijaya tentatively suggests that the Hero of Ferelden be named Ambassador to Orzammar in the Court of Queen Anora, Varshini politely declines.

What happiness could she find in the Royal Palace that she couldn't find by her beloved's side at Vigil's Keep?

[wisteriawritings]

To Start Anew

Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins

Ship: F!Aeducan x Gorim

Warnings: None

Genre: Angst

WC: 1933

Blurb: After the ultimate betrayal, Terra Aeducan has been exiled to the deep roads. Through extraordinary circumstances, she fights her way to the surface and becomes Thedas’s last hope against the coming blight. However, during her journey she must deal with painful truths about her family, her life back in Orzammar, and what her future may be.

They had only just arrived in Denerim. Terra Aeducan, with Alistair, Morrigan, and an affectionate Mabari in tow, had come in search of Andraste’s ashes. The hunt for allies against the oncoming blight had hardly begun, yet they were all bone tired. It was the exhaustion that led her to believe that she was imagining things. That Gorim’s sweet, warm voice was only in her mind. Even so, the sound pulled her towards the center of town, like a chain wrapped around her middle was dragging her forwards.

“Are you alright?” Alistair asked, seeing the color had drained from her face.

“I just… I’m going to step away for a bit. I’ll meet you at the inn, yeah?”

Alistair nodded, though reluctantly. Alistair was tooth-rottingly sweet and Terra tried to summon the best smile she could to set him at ease and send him away. He was becoming a quick and dear friend to her, and she didn’t want him to see her in what seemed to be a lapse in sanity.

“Dwarven crafts!”

There it was again. Terra, her spine now stiff as stone, hurried away and through the bustling streets, following the voice. Dwarven crafts? It could be anyone though. Any number of low-born Orzammar men who left for the surface could be in town. It wasn’t uncommon, and neither was the accent. It probably wasn’t him, wouldn’t be him, couldn’t be him. She rounded the corner and in the square she saw him

Terra’s hands tremored. Words like “I missed you,” “I found you,” and “thank the fucking stone,” all caught in her throat. Her hands grasped at it desperately, trying to free them. Because there he was. Just a few yards away stood her best friend and the man she loved: Gorim.

She tried to call out his name, but only pitiful, strangled noises escaped her lips. But he saw her. His face – it was tanner now; it had finally seen the sun – lit up in shock, disbelief, joy. All the things she felt were reflected back to her. Her throat was still sealed shut, but her feet started moving. Suddenly she was running, running faster than she had ever run, straight into arms that opened wide at the sight of her. Solid, strong arms that knew the curve and the shape of her body so well. Arms that slid into their place so easily, it was like slipping on a pair of gloves. For the first time since she left Orzammar, her feet felt firmly planted on the ground. She was finally rooted to the earth the way she used to be, and the sky wasn’t threatening to swallow her whole anymore.

For a few blissful seconds, the Blight was far away, and Bhelen never betrayed her. With tearful eyes, Gorim studied her face with an intensity that felt like he was boring into her soul. He looked as if he were taking inventory of her features, ensuring that each one was accounted for and just as he remembered them. “I knew you would make it out. I never stopped believing,” he said softly. Suddenly his face changed, lighting up as if he were remembering something.

“I have something for you.” He bent down to a chest that lay under the table. After a few moments of rummaging, he produced a letter. “Before I left for the surface, King Endrin sent me with this. We both hoped against hope that I would find you up here.”

Terra’s heart, which was already pounding, somehow beat even harder at these words. “Father? How is he?” The thought of seeing her father again filled her with so much joy and longing she could hardly stand it. She felt like her heart was swelling so large it was pressing against her ribs.

“Oh, my lady…I’m so sorry,” Gorim said, in a voice so sad and soft it sent bolts of fear down Terra’s spine. But she knew what those words meant. The pressure in her chest deepened and sunk to reach down into her stomach too. She felt faint.

“If a man can die of a broken heart… King Endrin did.”

“But what happened to him?” She asked, trying to hold back the tears. Gorim hesitated, but Terra’s hard look of pain and determination gave him the permission he needed to part with the grisly details. “After Trian’s death-…no, murder, Endrin was stricken with too much grief and confusion to see that Bhelan had constructed it all. It didn’t take long for him to find his mind again, but by then it was already too late. You were already locked in the deep roads. That’s why it all happened so quickly. That bastard Bhelen knew he had to dispose of you before the shock of it all wore off.” Gorim looked at his feet and took a long, shaky breath before continuing. “It was like he just… wasted away. He couldn’t go on living, like he was a ghost.”

Terra squeezed his hand. She focused on that feeling; homed in on the way he callouses rubbed against the palm of her hand. It was the only tangible thing keeping her anchored to reality. Gorim looked at her for a reassurance that she wanted him to continue. She nodded grimly. She was sick to her stomach, but she had to know the whole story. It was her duty as a daughter and as an Aeducan.

“When he called me to him, just before I left… the room stank of decay. It was as if he had already been long dead. He was already a corpse, just waiting for his time to return to the stone. All he could talk about was you.” His other hand took hold of her shoulder, steadying her. She hadn’t even realized she was swaying. “Terra, he sent me with more than just a letter.”

Gorim fished in his pocket and took out a worn velvet purse. Among the coins glinted a chunk of golden metal. Terra blinked her tears away and saw that no, it wasn’t a nugget. It was the Aeducan signet ring. Trian’s ring.

He gently placed it in her hand and folded it into a fist.

“He loved you, Terra. That nug-fucker Bhelen, he’s not a real Aeducan. You’re the true last heir, and your father knew it. You deserve this, and no one else. He made that much clear.”

The ring felt heavy in her hand, like she held all of Orzammar in her palm. In a way, she supposed, she did. But she felt that she could bear it as long as Gorim held her other hand.

“I’m just so glad I found you. Thank the stone, thank the stone…” Terra drew herself closer to him, ready to step back into his embrace and find his lips. But a look she couldn’t quite decipher crossed his face, and he took a step back.

“My lady, there’s something else I should tell you. I’ve, well… I’ve found a life on the surface. A blacksmith’s daughter; we’re expecting our first. She’s… she’s lovely and…” Gorim trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

The world seemed to go still around her. Her heart, which had been thumping loudly in her ears just moments before, fell quiet. A few seconds passed, but they felt like centuries.

“I don’t understand…” Terra’s voice quivered, and she hated herself for it. “You said you’ve been waiting for me.”

Gorim’s face flushed red and he looked down at his feet. “I have been, of course. But… well…” Gorim stammered, his shoulders slumped. Terra thought that he looked almost like a scolded child caught stealing sweets before supper. She almost laughed at the absurdity of it. He had been in Denerim for how long? Two months now, maybe? And he still hasn’t come up with a good explanation as to how he tripped and fell into a smith’s girl, all while claiming to ‘know she had made it out’.

He mustered the courage to meet her gaze again and flushed an even deeper red. He had always been able to tell what she was thinking, as if her very mind was binded to his own. She could feel his shame radiating off of him like a sickness. He knew he had done wrong. He knew that as a knight, he had acted shamefully. And she knew it too. Some dark corner of her soul felt gratified in this, gleeful in his self-loathing. She felt the anger rising.

“So let me make sure I understand,” she began, her words already dripping in venom. “You know, or hoped, or believed or what have you, that I was alive on the surface. And you, as my second, sworn to serve and protect me until death, fucked me and whispered sweet nothings to me in Orzammar. But when you’re separated from me for two months – oh, less than that actually, since she’s already knocked up – you decided to live it up with the first surfacer you see?”

Gorim’s eyes filled with tears. “It wasn’t like that,” he said firmly, but she could hear the tremble in his voice.

“Then what was it like?”

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too, but I didn’t jump in bed with a surfacer. I searched for you Gorim.”

“My lady… We never could have been together. You know that.”

All of a sudden she understood, and the tears she had been holding back came slipping across her face. It didn’t matter what happened, or what he believed. Gorim was an outcast, a surfacer. Je was stripped of his caste his family name. But Terra? To him, she was still Lady Aeducan, and she always would be. Even if they had stayed in Orzammar, if Bhelen had never betrayed them, he would still think himself beneath her. He might have loved her perhaps, but he would have walked away eventually. He could never see himself as more than her second.

She realized she had been squeezing the signet ring in her hand. She relaxed her fist and saw her house crest bored into her palm like a brand. Gorim watched her as she first tried it on her ring finger and then settled with slipping it on her thumb. Trian’s hands had been bigger than hers.

Gorim reached out to comfort her, but drew back, unsure of himself. “My lady, if I had known you were alive…”

Terra glanced back up at him scornfully. “Either you did, or you didn’t.”

He reared back as if he had been struck, but he knew he deserved it. She saw no trace of resentment in his eyes. She looked at him for a hard moment and her anger fizzled out, leaving her with nothing but a cold hollow in her stomach and the crushing weight of her loneliness. Gorim’s cheeks were wet from silent tears.

“I hope I’ll have time to meet her soon,” Terra said.

“I’d like that. My door is always open to you.”

“I love you, Gorim. I hope you’re happy,” she confessed. Her heart gave one last weak tug at what had been between them.

“The same for you.”

She immediately recognized that he had not confirmed his happiness, and Gorim saw it in her face. Before he could say anything else, she turned away to rejoin her group.

Terra glanced up at the sky, vast and unending above her. Her family crest rested upon her finger and its weight, though heavy, was a comfort to her. She had a blight to end, and she didn’t need Gorim to do it.  

[sinsbymanka]

For the DADWC: i forget how to breathe when i’m around you, with the pairing of your choice!

Sorry @contreparry! I’ve been holding onto this one for awhile. 

I present, for @dadrunkwriting...

Duran Aeducan and his Noble Hunter, Mardy Gilthur

The brand on her face meant she had no value, but Mardy knew that wasn’t quite true. They’d love her to think that, because if she did then all she’d be able to do was blink back tears from her pale lyrium-colored eyes and simper gratefully at their feet. 

But Mardy had what they wanted. She had what they needed. 

Her ma, stone take her, had six brats. Three girls, then two boys. The girls, of course, got thrown back to nursemaids in Dust Town, fed watered down nugs milk and gruel in the hope ma wouldn’t have another mouth to feed, but the boys... Oh, Mardy’s brothers were study young lads. Warrior caste, heirs to a proud and noble tradition. 

It all should have been hers. She’d seen her weak, milk-fat fed brothers. They were soft. They were fools. Someday, someone would take them for all they were worth. If the Ancestors were kind, Mardy would be there to laugh. Her sisters hadn’t thrived on starvation and adversity, their corpses abandoned in the deep roads when they drew their last breaths into fragile, tiny lungs.

Not Mardy. Mardy survived. And she would claw her way out of dust the same way her mother did. She would make herself even greater than her brothers. She, after all, had fertility just like ma had. 

That was all that mattered in Orzammar. As long as she claimed that, she had power dancing at her fingertips. 

“What about that one?” Teli swirled the thimble of fine, expensive liquor between her fingers, jerking her chin towards a bear of a man, hold enough to be their father twice over with broad callouses on his hands.

“Not even a warrior, merely a smith.” Mardy would not waste herself. She would wait. 

xx

At first, she did not know who he was. Perhaps, that was for the best. 

The plush, elegant lounge where the noble hunters gathered between seduction and rutting to produce the next generation of pompous deshyrs was crowded. Mardy felt sweat pooling at her neck when she excused herself, unwilling to let her expensive cosmetics run to sit and look pretty playing diamondback. 

Especially with nobody worthwhile impress. 

The cellar, stacked from top to bottom with barrels of the choicest ale to quench the most discerning palates, was cooler. Mardy never drank more than a taste, it was not to be wasted on her. Not when she had not a copper her name. Not when everything from the threadbare silk she wore to the gold-painted loops in her hair were borrowed on Beraht’s goodwill. 

But the stone was cool under her fingers. Here, in the silence, she swore she could hear it sing her name. As if it mattered not that she was branded. As if it welcomed her to it’s embrace regardless.

Her reverie was broken by raised voices. 

“Stone take you, you nug-brained...” 

“I will not allow you to speak to me as if-” 

“As if you’ve got nothing between your ears but dust?” 

A third voice chuckled, hard and bitter. There was the sound of a fist thudding against flesh, then a solid heft and crash of a body on the stone. Mardy froze, curiousity edging around a pyramid of barrels. 

“This is trea-” 

“Someday. Not today. Today, I’m giving you what you richly deserve.” 

Then a sound of a fist hitting something hard as bone. 

The man speaking had his back to her, his dark hair falling in shining waves. He dressed as a proving warrior, in chain mail and leathers even though he carried no blade. A second form crouched over the splayed form of a third on the ground, poking him gingerly. 

“Ancestors. You’ll be on loose sand when he wakes up.” The crouching figure said to the standing one. 

“Assuming he remembers. Drunk arse probably won’t. Get him up.” The figure ordered. 

“I didn’t knock him straight into the-”

“You’re his second, aren’t you?” The first asked, mocking. The third man sighed, picking the fallen one up and dragging him to a hidden tunnel exposed by some moved crates. The remaining dwarf stood and watched them go, rubbing at his face and beard. 

She was so engrossed, she didn’t realize her pinched, too-small shoes squeaked while she leaned closer. But the sound echoed in cellar and the man turned, spearing the barrels with his pointed gaze. 

“Who’s there? Come out.” He demanded, taking a step towards her. 

No brand. No gold in his beard, either. But the chainmail was well-made. Clearly, from a good warrior clan. Mardy stepped forward from behind the barrels. 

“You’re not to be here.” She affected her own steely command. “Stealing the good ale, I take it?” 

“Stealing the...” He repeated, dumbfounded. Then his lips broke into an amused grin. “You’re a brave thing, aren’t you? Why haven’t I seen you here?” 

“I don’t give my attention to fools.” She had higher goals. She had value, no matter what they said. “Especially fools indulging in fist fights for no good reason.” 

He was smiling even more. “I am sorry to offend. Particularly someone so lovely.” 

He was handsome. She’d give him that.

“Duran!” The third man shouted. “Bleeding... Trian just vomited on my soddin’ boots, the rat bastard.” 

Duran. Trian. 

Oh, ancestors. No wonder the lounge had been so crowded. Beraht would never allow anyone but his handpicked, those who paid or those whose families he owned, so close to the Aeducan princes. They must have been entertained upstairs, and she’d...

“DURAN!” The third bellowed, but he was still staring at her, taking in her branded cheek. The worn silk. The honey color of her thick, braided hair. Her cheap jewelry.

He bowed, far too deeply. “I’m sorry we’ve bothered you with our antics. Perhaps we’ll meet again.” 

xx

He asked for her. 

Beraht nearly choked on it, but who was he to say no? When he claimed there were no ladies in the lounge of her description, Duran Aeducan himself came down to search for her. 

And he plucked her right up, took her up the carved stone steps, and whisked her to a corner away from the sharp eyes of the youngest Aeducan. 

He liked her bold. He liked her cunning. He enjoyed her mimicry of Beraht when he turned his back. 

He came more frequently. Her name always on his lips. 

And then she was in his bed, and her name as a prayer to their ancestors. Like the stone song itself. 

“I forget how to breathe when I’m around you.” He confessed, his face between her splayed thighs, a prince on his knees before her. “I hate traveling to the lounge to see you. Let me bring you to the Diamond quarter.” 

She made a show of resisting. Claiming she wanted her independence until he coaxed both pleasure and a resounding yes from her throat.

She had value, and not just her fertility. She had the heart and ear of the diamond of Orzammar himself. 

She had everything she ever wished. She need only give him a son as well. 

[galahadiant]

The Warden- Paragon Luclin Aeducan

I actually wrote this immediately after finishing DAO last summer, but I just now went through and fixed it up. I have similar things drafted for my Hawke and Inquisitor. Luclin’s tarot card art is here- Ace of Swords.

01.

The second child of King Endrin is loud of voice and strong of arm and fierce-eyed, but all the deshyr and the noble sons of the high houses of Orzammar are in agreement that the child will never make a king.

Luclin is proud and strong just as they should be, but they say only what is true and do not seem to understand that no one in all of Orzammar does the same. They are kind and open and must be reminded- always- that they are a noble of a Paragon’s blood, not a common smith or infantryman to walk about the streets and greet everyone who passes by. It is not behavior fit for a king.

 It will get them killed, to be so honest and to feel so strongly, says battle-hard Trian, and Bhelen smiles, third-son of a king.

“Perhaps they will make us all honest,” says King Endrin. He laughs. Luclin arm-wrestles two guards at once in the corner of the throne room.

02.

In the weeks since they staggered out of the Deep Roads barefoot and bleeding, Luclin has been surrounded by nothing by blood and plague and cold iron. They have shaven off their beard, which shone like red-gold in the lava-light of Orzammar. Their armor is an ill-fitting patchwork- a chainmail shirt once worn by a human woman, pauldrons which are far too large and heavy and chafe their neck and shoulders, boots stolen from a dwarven corpse they found dead in the long dark of the Deep Roads.

Alistair gives them a rose. It is the first beautiful thing they have touched since their exile. They are standing in an alley behind a brothel and the air smells horribly of fish, and Luclin looks at the rose for what feels like a very long time before they take it from his hand.

Later, when they have pitched camp outside of Denerim, Luclin sits down in front of the fire and says, “Tell me about the Gray Wardens.”

03.

Luclin has not stopped shaking for two days. When they kneel in front of the crowd, their dark golden hair is still caked with the black blood of a god. They rise up the Hero of Ferelden and a Paragon- still dizzied, and with a split lip.

The crowd falls silent as the last of the nation’s Grey Wardens walks out among the people with the god’s blood on their axe and the smell of death on their armor. Someone reaches out to touch Luclin’s hair, and someone puts a hand on their arm, and then there is nothing but hands, reaching for the light.

Luclin stands and waits and thinks, things are strange on the surface. The people of Ferelden want a live hero to credit with the slaying of the Archdemon Urthemiel. In Orzammar, the deshyr would much prefer their heroes dead- ancestors long laid in stone cannot interfere with politics.  Someone asks what they will do next.

“I’m tired,” they say, rust-voiced. “I’m going home, for a while.”

04.

“You can have your own heraldry now, you know,” says Bhelen.  He is delighted to have a Paragon for a sibling. (Less delighted that his older sibling will still not speak to him unless pressed to do so.) “For your House.” His eyes crinkle in that light-hearted way that tricked all of Orzammar into thinking for years that he was nothing but a soft third-son of a king.

Luclin leans against one of the great stone arches and folds their arms, and the lantern-light plays on the dark honey-gold of their hair and the dark browns and reds of their blackened chainmail. They have let their hair grow long, and it is looped in heavy braids and ringed with silver bands. They look- they look like a warrior-Paragon, out of the old stories. One of the stories with the bittersweet ends.

“A rose,” they tell him. “Gold on blue.”

[non-toxicdragonageconfessions]

Songday Sunday Collection (SCC) for January

Alistair x male Warden My Heart will go on - Celine Dion

x Zevran The Sanctuary - Darling Violetta

Anders x Hawke Devil Side - Foxes

x male Hawke You matter to me - Sara Bareilles

x Fenris What’s left of me - Nick Lachey This is my idea - Swan Princess Listen to your Heart - Roxette Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann - Nena Deep Dreams 2 - KST Beats The Perfect Scene - Mercy Mercedes Worn - Tenth Avenue North My hearts beat like a drum - ATC Lift me up - Moby

Blackwall x Inquisitor The Middle - Maren Morris and Zedd

Cullen x Inquisitor Sunflower - Post Malone and Swae Lee Solstice - Marcus Warner

x male Inquisitor Baby - Justin Bieber

x female Adaar Sweet Surrender - Sarah McLean Sleep - Melissa Etheridge Boy in Luv - BTS Save me - BTS S&M - Rihanna Somewhere - Within Temptation Sonnenschein - Rapsoul Safe and Sound - Taylor Swift

x M!Amell/Surana Let me rest in peace - James Masters

x male Hawke I hate you - Simon Curtis

Dorian Innuendo - Queen

x  Inquisitor Trust - Justin Bieber

x The Iron Bull Take me to Church - Hozier  Regenbogenfarben - Kerstin Ott

Fenris x male Hawke The last night - Skillet

x Anders What’s left of me - Nick Lachey This is my idea - Swan Princess Listen to your Heart - Roxette Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann - Nena Deep Dreams 2 - KST Beats The Perfect Scene - Mercy Mercedes Worn - Tenth Avenue North My hearts beat like a drum - ATC Lift me up - Moby

Grey Warden male Tabris x Ser Gilmore It’s only love - Heather Nova

male Mahariel x Tamlen Spanish Sahara - Foals

male Warden x Alistair My Heart will go on - Celine Dion

male Warden x Zevran  Promises - Calvin Harris, Sam Smith

male Amell/Surana x Cullen Let me rest in peace - James Masters

Hawke New York New York - Frank Sinatra

friendship with Varric Gone, gone, gone - Phillip Phillips

x Anders Devil Side - Foxes

male Hawke x Anders You matter to me - Sara Bareilles

male Hawke x Sebastian Vael It’s a dream - Eastern Clubbers

male Hawke x Cullen I hate you - Simon Curtis

male Hawke x Fenris The last night - Skillet

Inquisition A Health To The Company - Sean Dagher

x Cullen Sunflower - Post Malone and Swae Lee Solstice - Marcus Warner

male Inquisitor x Cullen Baby - Justin Bieber

female Adaar x Cullen Sweet Surrender - Sarah McLean Sleep - Melissa Etheridge Boy in Luv - BTS Save me - BTS S&M - Rihanna Somewhere - Within Temptation Sonnenschein - Rapsoul Safe and Sound - Taylor Swift

x Blackwall The Middle - Maren Morris and Zedd

x  Dorian Trust - Justin Bieber

male Inquisitor x Iron Bull It is you I have loved - Dana Glover

Iron Bull x Dorian Take me to Church - Hozier  Regenbogenfarben - Kerstin Ott

x male Inquisitor

It is you I have loved - Dana Glover

Josephine friendship with Leliana You’re My Best Friend - Queen

Leliana friendship with Josephine You’re My Best Friend - Queen

Sebastian x male Hawke  It’s a dream - Eastern Clubbers

Varric friendship with Hawke Gone, gone, gone - Phillip Phillips

Zevran Long Haul - Black English

x Male Warden  Promises - Calvin Harris, Sam Smith

x Alistair The Sanctuary - Darling Violetta

Other Trian Aeducan Nont For Sale - Sudan Archives

[ourdawncomes-archive]

♢ -- Sylvi and Gorim

party banter meme | accepting

Sylvi: So you’re from Orzammar, right?Gorim: Originally. How’d you know?Sylvi: Oh, you just get a feel for these things after a while. I like to call it ‘Stone Sense,’ just because. ‘Saelac’ isn’t a smith’s name, though.Gorim: Let’s just say the Surface wasn’t kind to me in the first few months. If I tried to fight, I’d get myself killed.Sylvi: I’m sorry to hear that.Gorim: It’s been over a decade since I came to the Surface. It bothered me for a long time, what with my wife’s role as a Warden. I’ve made peace with it as best I can.

Gorim: I bet you’ve seen some real pieces of work over the years.Sylvi: You talking ‘bout dresses, or the customers?Gorim: I know what nobles are like around pretty skirts. Unless you’re saying it’s different on the Surface?Sylvi: Fuck no. I’ve heard some shit over the years. The worst is when they think they can explain my job to me, especially when they have bad taste. No matter how much I’d love to see them laughed out of a ball, it’d reflect badly on my business.Gorim: In Orzammar, it might have done worse. I remember Prince Trian wanting someone ruined for it until– well, he was talked out of it.

Gorim: Are you going with the Inquisitor to the Winter Palace?Sylvi: I thought about it, but then I thought– hey, all the worst people are gonna be there, I’ll have Halamshiral to myself. So I’m just going to go on an adventure of my own.

[tiredwritersworld]

Concerning Dwarves

This is a very old story of mine, edited and cut into more manageable parts. It’s a Dragon Age Origins and The Hobbit crossover fic because DAO is my favourite game and The Hobbit is my favourite book/movie. I really hope you enjoy reading this part and leave a comment to let me know what you think! I am hoping to incorporate this into part of a request I had for Thorin however not sure how that will pan out just yet. - L

The grand hall of the Iron Hills echoed with the cries and argument of the Ironfoot dwarves. There had been a great feast that night to welcome the dwarves from the east and the food had been ate, the ale drunk and the songs of old sung. 

Talk now turned to more delicate subjects. That of the dwarves from the east’s exile and it had ruffled more than a few feathers and readied more than a few weapons. 

“And are we to trust the word of she who killed her own kin?” Lord Dain of the Iron Hills roared. The she in question sighed tiredly at his words. She tilted her head to her advisor, a tall and strong dwarf clad in leather armour with long and dark plaited hair, a long plait beard and green eyes that spoke of the danger lurking within. His name was Gorlin, a smith by trade these days but in the mountain they once called home he was of the warrior caste, protector and advisor to the Princess and also her very best friend. 

Gorlin’s blood rose to his face in his ire and he made to stand but she gripped his arm and pulled him back to his seat. 

After a moment to collect herself the Princess rose and unsheathed her blades, laying them upon the table. The hall fell silent but for the tankards clanging noisily as the dwarves drank. All eyes fell upon the swords. They weren’t very long, but sharp and glowed a deep red with the runes Gorlin had carved into them, a magic powerful and unyielding to it’s foes. The dwarves were the only race able to wield such power and control with magic and yet unable to cast themselves. She realised of course that it was an insult to withdraw her weapons in such a place but she had a point to make.  

“Lords and Ladies of the Iron Hills...” She called looking out over the hall and meeting their gaze. “These weapons you see before you have seen many a battle and taken many lives in their short years. They were forged in the fires beneath the earth, in the stone that I once called my home, at a time when I was ignorant of the politics of our people. I cared not for the rule of the mountain.” She swallowed deeply running her fingers across the hilt of one of her blades and took a deep breath before continuing. “I was naive and cared only to prove the weapons I wielded to be true. And I did just that.” Lifting one of the blades she held it up, running a hand down it’s curved surface. “It was my naivety that allowed my brother and heir to the throne to be killed. But these blades that you see before you did not know his blood. I lament the loss of Trian more than any of you here today, but I did not kill him.” She finished and sheathed her weapons once again. As she sat unable to meet their gazes Gorlin rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder. 

“Then who was it!” They heard a voice call from the back of the hall and the dwarves erupted in calls of agreement and question.

“Bhelen killed Prince Trian!” Gorlin suddenly roared standing from his seat, jolting the table forward as he did so. Shouts of disapproval and disbelief sounded out. 

“It’s true! I saw it with my own eyes!” Her guards yelled, they were only ones from the mountain they called home who  would follow her on such a journey. Their confirmation seemed to abate the other dwarves who settled back in their seats and simmered down somewhat.  

“Well Lady Aeducan, if this is true what has become of Prince Bhelen? We received word that Lord Harrowmount took rule of the mountain.” Lord Dain said turning his attention lazily back to the Princess.

“Bhelen is dead. He died by my hand, witnessed by the lords of the assembly. It was an honour killing.” She replied steeling her gaze toward him, the storm brewing in her eyes dared him to challenge or question her actions.  

“Aye indeed? Then it was done properly.” Lord Dain said seemingly satisfied by her answer. “I suppose King Harrowmount can confirm your version of events?” He asked and she gave a nod in response. “Then you are welcome to stay in the Iron Hills and your say in the affair of the companies quest will be counted.” He finished and she gave another nod standing to bow fully. 

“You have our thanks my Lord.” She replied softly before resuming her seat. Music and merriment ensued not long after and she leaned in close to Gorlin. “We will discuss this further at camp but I would not stay here a night if my life depended on it...” She said in hushed tones and he bowed his head in agreement.

The camp was bustling with dwarves, some sharpened their blades, others saw to the war hounds they had managed to secure on their journeys and the rest busied themselves preparing for their journey across middle earth. Word had already reached them of the discussion with the Ironfoot clan and so they prepared to leave before first light. 

“The nerve of him... He who doesn’t even own claim to a throne!” Gorlin growled once he was sure they would not be heard by any prying ears.

“It matters not Gorlin, there is something else that troubles me greatly.” The princess said as she ducked into the royal tent. Standing over the small makeshift table with a map of Middle Earth spread out over it, she ran a finger across it’s surface thoughtfully. 

“You fear for the company?” He asked.  

“Yes... I expected nothing less from Lord Dain but we may yet be able to offer them safe passage to the lonely mountain.” She replied and he leaned back against a wooden beam folding his arms over his chest.  

“And if this Oakenshield is anything like his cousin?” He asked, his brow quirked knowingly and she laughed softly shaking her head. 

“Then we will know that we did what was right.” She replied smiling up at him. “Gorlin we knew that this was never going to be easy. We are exiles now and we may never find a home but there is one thing, in that we may take some comfort.” She began and took long steps towards him, pulling his large and calloused hands into hers. “We did not betray our king, we acted with honour.” 

“Aye... You’re right my lady.” He said offering a small smile and squeezing her hands gently. “Do we know what route the company will take?” He asked and she turned back to the map. 

“Not entirely though I suspect they will want to reach the mountain as soon as they are able. I suppose they will take the quickest route through Mirkwood...” She traced the dotted path on the map with her finger. 

“If we travel as far as Rivendell we may meet them on the way. Or do you propose we wait for them at the lonely mountain?” Gorlin questioned as he poured over the map before them. 

“No, we mustn’t wait. They number only 13 Gorlin though I suppose the wizard makes that 14, I know not much of this place but it’s not safe to undertake such a quest with numbers like that. Dwarves or no.” She replied and he nodded his agreement. “I say we send a smaller party to Rohan.” She said tapping it with her finger and wrinkling her nose thoughtfully. 

“Aye, it would be better to cover all bases.” Gorlin agreed. “I’ll send two scouts ahead tonight to see what knowledge they can gleam of the company’s location.” He added. 

“Yes, and please tell the others to rest well. They’ll need it.” She said sighing deeply and rubbing her face. He smiled affectionately back at her before leaving the tent and seeking out the scouts in question.

Sleep came and went and the Princess lay awake in her bed roll listening to the men quietly dismantling the camp they had set up there. She knew she should get up and help but her muscles ached and cried out for a few more moments rest before the journey ahead and so she allowed herself that.

The men whispered advice and orders amongst amongst themselves and she smiled, somewhat sadly as she listened to them. 

In truth they were the finest of smiths, warriors, miners, nobles and merchants and even the finest dwarves she had ever known. When word had spread of her banishment they had exiled themselves and followed her into the deep roads to ensure her safety. They, all 87 of them, had been aware of Bhelen’s plot and when their pleas fell on death ears, they had agreed their place remained with her.

Despite her protests they insisted on treating her as the Princess she once was, bowing low whenever she passed and insisting upon the royal tent whenever they made camp. They had taken up ranks and despite their small numbers they were a Kingdom unto themselves and she their leader.

  Some of them whispered about the journey ahead. She’d heard mention of the line of Durin and murmur of approval and agreement that they should offer their aid, which encouraged her as she sat up and began stretching out her tired limbs.

Upon hearing her stir in the tent, Gorlin gave a quick nod to a dwarf packing away a large cauldron.  

“Fadic take her majesty some breakfast.” He said as he finished strapping his weapons belt across his chest, securing the axe sheath to his back. “Be sure to announce yourself before entering mind...” He added with a quiet chuckle and the older dwarf laughed gently back as he pulled out the plate he’d kept aside for the Princess. 

“Aye, I wouldn’t dream of it otherwise.” He replied and hobbled over to her tent. He was a short portly dwarf with a wisp of white hair and a long beard that made even Gorlin envious. It reached past his round stomach and was full and soft even when plaited. 

“My Lady Aeducan?” He called gently from the other side of the cloth.  

“Come in Fadic.” She called back quietly. 

“I have your breakfast my lady.” He said bowing low before handing her the plate and cutlery. “I’m afraid it will be quite cold now as we thought it better to put out the fire. Best not alert them to our plans just yet!” He said Jovially and she smiled up at him with a mouthful of scrambled eggs.  

“Good idea.” She replied between bites. 

“When you’re finished we’ll be taking yours down.” Fadic gestured to the cloth around them. “Then I think we’re about ready to get going.” He finished and she patted the seat next to her on the bedroll. 

“How are the men’s spirits today Fadic?” She questioned balancing the plate on her lap as she turned to face him. 

“Aye they are in good spirits. Glad to be helping our kin and glad to have full bellies I should imagine.” He replied with a warm smile, thinking on how she had done right by them the moment they’d left the mountain. Securing food and mounts with what little coin she had left. They had all of them laboured in the towns of men and elves on the journey to Middle Earth and no dwarf amongst them would forget how much work she had done to allow them the comforts they secured and enjoyed. For her part she had taken on quests from the city guards, parents of lost children and even worked in taverns serving ale in order to provide. They themselves had offered their smithing services and sold weapons, jewellery and all manner of things in the towns and had acquired a small wealth amongst them which would see them through for a while yet.  

“Well I am glad to hear it Fadic.” She said after she finished her meal. He took her plate and hobbled back out to clear it and store it away. 

When she emerged the dwarves made quick work of dismantling her tent and she made her way to Gorlin who had readied her mount for the day ahead.  

“Have we been seen yet?” She asked and he shook his head as she climbed atop the dark war hound she had affectionately named Gorim. “And the scouts?”

“No word yet. We leave on your command my lady.” He said upon noting the dwarves were packed up and awaiting their orders.

“Ok, we will meet the scout on the way. What of the men travelling south?” She enquired. 

“They know what to do, Derjun is leading them.” He replied and she gave a short nod in approval. 

“We leave now Gorlin.” She said.  

Atop his own war hound Gorlin raised a fist, the signal to march on and she gently patted Gorim who began a slow pace into the trees.  

[hotfps]

A surreal comedy about an office worker who has resigned himself to spending every waking hour tortured by the negative voice in head, until a concerned coworker decides to take action. SXSW 2020 Film Festival Official Selection Written and Directed by: Graham Parkes Staring: Lewis Pullman & Mat Wright With: Trian Long-Smith, Jacquie Barnbrook, Benmio McCrea, Arthur Keng, Tom Truax, Jeff Lewis Produced By: Brendan Garrett Cinematography By: Chris Ripley Production Design By: James Whelan Music By: Alex Belcher Featuring: "Walk Away" by Buzzy Lee Casting By: Dylan Jury Costumes By: Kimberly Sheree Mason Edited By: Kati Skelton & Graham Parkes Sound Design By: Jack Sobo Executive Producer: Adam Joseph Associate Producer: Minnie Schedeen

[whileiamdying]

A surreal comedy about an office worker who has resigned himself to spending every waking hour tortured by the negative voice in head, until a concerned coworker decides to take action. SXSW 2020 Film Festival Official Selection Written and Directed by: Graham Parkes Staring: Lewis Pullman & Mat Wright With: Trian Long-Smith, Jacquie Barnbrook, Benmio McCrea, Arthur Keng, Tom Truax, Jeff Lewis Produced By: Brendan Garrett Cinematography By: Chris Ripley Production Design By: James Whelan Music By: Alex Belcher Featuring: "Walk Away" by Buzzy Lee Casting By: Dylan Jury Costumes By: Kimberly Sheree Mason Edited By: Kati Skelton & Graham Parkes Sound Design By: Jack Sobo Executive Producer: Adam Joseph Associate Producer: Minnie Schedeen

[artwalktv]

A surreal comedy about an office worker who has resigned himself to spending every waking hour tortured by the negative voice in head, until a concerned coworker decides to take action. SXSW 2020 Film Festival Official Selection Written and Directed by: Graham Parkes Staring: Lewis Pullman & Mat Wright With: Trian Long-Smith, Jacquie Barnbrook, Benmio McCrea, Arthur Keng, Tom Truax, Jeff Lewis Produced By: Brendan Garrett Cinematography By: Chris Ripley Production Design By: James Whelan Music By: Alex Belcher Featuring: "Walk Away" by Buzzy Lee Casting By: Dylan Jury Costumes By: Kimberly Sheree Mason Edited By: Kati Skelton & Graham Parkes Sound Design By: Jack Sobo Executive Producer: Adam Joseph Associate Producer: Minnie Schedeen

[foryourart]

http://arts.ucla.edu/single/eve-ensler-anne-lamott/Stephanie Cheng Smith and Bana Haffar, courtesy of the artists. Image courtesy of MOCA. 

Thursday, October 26

DROP-IN AFTER-SCHOOL WORKSHOP: MINI ALTARS, Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach), 3:30–5pm.

Botany Bay Series: Plant Science for Gardeners and Citizen Scientists, The Huntington (San Marino), 4:30–5:30pm.

Paul Brach Lecture Series: Tala Madani, CalArts (Valencia), 5pm.

Fall Flavors: Cooking with Chef Martin Fernandez, Long Beach Museum of Art (Long Beach), 5–7pm. $20.

Special: Performance: Corazón del espantapájaros (Heart of the Scarecrow), LACMA (Miracle Mile), 5:30pm.

Artist and scholar walkthroughs: Jennifer Gonzalez, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 6pm.

LYNDA BENGLIS, Blum & Poe (Culver City), 6–8pm.

John Baldessari, Sprüth Magers Los Angeles (Miracle Mile), 6–8pm.

The Exploding-Pumpkin-Carving Laboratory, Craft and Folk Art Museum (Miracle Mile), 6–8pm. $30–35.

Lecture: Jesse Lerner, Laguna Art Museum (Laguna Beach), 6pm.

ArtWorks ADL: Justice, Advocacy & Art, private home (Beverly Hills), 6:30pm.

Mark Beyer book launch and exhibition, FAMILY (Fairfax), 7pm.

MOCA Music: Bana Haffar and Stephanie Cheng Smith, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (Downtown), 7pm.

at land's edge presents: Skid Row History Museum & Archive, Skid Row Museum & Archive (Downtown), 7pm.

Jon Peterson: Paintings, Long Beach City College Art Gallery (Long Beach), 7–8:30pm.

Excavations, Rio Hondo College Art Gallery (Whittier), 7–9pm. 

eXit pARTy > Tropicalia, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (San Diego), 7pm.

Writing Now Reading Series: Rikki Rucornet, CalArts (Valencia), 7–10pm.

Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber: We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 7:30pm.

Tonight at the Palace!: A Variedades Tribute, The Downtown Palace Theatre (Downtown), 7:30pm.

FeM Synth Lab, Women’s Center for Creative Work (Frogtown), 7:30–9:30pm. $3.

MARK BOAL: OFF THE RECORD with STEPHEN GALLOWAY, Beyond Baroque (Venice), 8pm.

THÉÂTRE DE LA VILLE – PARIS, CAP UCLA (Westwood), 8pm. Also October 27.

laub, PØST (Downtown), 8pm.

Sean Watkins, Angels Gate Cultural Center (San Pedro), 8pm.

Guillermo Calderón: Mateluna, REDCAT (Downtown), 8:30pm. Through October 28.

Friday, October 27

Matthew Rolston: Art People: The Pageant Portraits, Ralph Pucci (Hollywood), 9am–5pm.

Fall Plant Sale, The Huntington (San Marino), 10am–5pm. Through October 29.

CULTURE FIX: TRIAN NGUYEN ON DAOIST SCROLL PAINTINGS, Fowler Museum (Westwood), 12–1pm.

Jen Hong: Finding Autonomy and Connection through Contact Improv, Pieter (Lincoln Heights), 12–3pm.

DROP-IN AFTER-SCHOOL WORKSHOP: MIXED MEDIA PAN DE MUERTO, Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach), 3:30–5pm.

Art Buzz: Abigail DeVille & Sarah Cain, ICA LA (Downtown), 5:30–7pm.

The Life and Times of Rodeo Caldonia, California African American Museum (Downtown), 7pm.

Derek Paul Jack Boyle: Unease, SMART OBJECTS (Echo Park), 7–10pm. 

BUEN PROVECHO: DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS, Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach), 7–8:30pm.

WHAP! Lecture Series: Pattern Recognition c. 1947, West Hollywood Public Library (West Hollywood), 7:30pm.

The Little Shop of Horrors!, Bob Baker Marionette Theater (MacArthur Park), 8pm. 

Christine Tavolacci and Scott Worthington: muto infinitas, Automata (Chinatown), 8pm.

CalArts Halloween Party, CalArts (Valencia), 10pm–3am.

Paul Brach Lecture Series: Saya Woolfalk, CalArts (Valencia), TBD.

Saturday, October 28

Symposium: Seeing the Unseen: Spirits in Asian Popular Religious Traditions, Fowler Museum at UCLA (Westwood), 10am–4:30pm.

Last Call for Ports 0' Call Tour...One More Time, Angels Gate Cultural Center (San Pedro), 10am.

Pursuit of Flora and The Reformation: From the Word to the World, The Huntington (San Marino), 10am–5pm. 

A talk by Lisa Lapinski with musical performance by Tom Watson, Kristina Kite Gallery (Mid-City), 11am.

Drop in Woodworking, Side Street Projects (Pasadena), 11am–1pm.

Jen Hong: Finding Autonomy and Connection through Contact Improv, Pieter (Lincoln Heights), 12–3pm. $30.

Intro To Video Editing With Adobe Premiere, Women’s Center for Creative Work (Frogtown), 1–4pm. $48–60.

Talk: The Seven Treasures: The Renaissance, Collecting, Appreciation, and Understanding of Japanese Enamels in the 19th Century, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 2pm.

No Restraint Closing Reception, ARK (Altadena), 2–4pm. 

Derrick Adams: Repose, UTA Artist Space (Downtown), 3–6pm. 

A Conversation Below the Underground with Mariana Botey and Rubén Ortiz-Torres, Armory Center for the Arts (Pasadena), 3–5pm.

Lynda Benglis and In conversation with Helen Molesworth, Blum & Poe (Culver City), 4pm.

Arturo Molinar Avitia and Marlene Tafoya, Honor Fraser Gallery (Culver City), 4–6pm. 

Gerardo Monterrubio Artist Talk & Catalog Launch, Craft in America Center (Beverly Grove), 4–6pm.

Merion Estes: Dispatches from the Front Lines, CB1 Gallery (Downtown), 4–7pm.

Don Adler: Birth/Rebirth, Carol Kleinman: Reflections, Shelley Lazarus: Nouns, TAG Gallery (Santa Monica), 5–8pm.

Jack Goldstein: Selectric Works, Meliksetian | Briggs (Hollywood), 5–7pm.

Megan Plunkett: Live Rust, Not Right, Long As I Can See, Bad Reputation (MacArthur Park), 5–7pm. 

See What You Mean, Getty Center (Brentwood), 6–9pm.

Jeffrey Milstein: LANY, Kopeikin Galllery (Culver City), 6–8pm.

Daniel Joseph Martinez: I am Ulrike Meinhof or (someone once told me time is a flat circle), Roberts & Tilton (Culver City), 6–8pm.

Farrah Karapetian: BUILDING DWELLING THINKING and Lotte Jacobi: Photogenics, Von Lintel Gallery (Culver City), 6–8pm.

Erin Morrison: The Letdown and Tanya Brodsky: Mixed Feelings, OCHI Projects (Mid-City), 6–9pm.

LIBERATOR: George Nama & George A. Romero, Jack Rutberg Fine Arts (Fairfax), 6–9pm.

Dan Miller: Recent Paintings and (real evening buoyancy): Darren Goins, Ada Ihmels, Shiri Mordechay, Diane Rosenstein Gallery (Hollywood), 6–8pm.

Diamond Stingily Surveillance featuring work by Bri Williams, VENUS (Downtown), 6–8pm. 

Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre with Poe & Gorey, The Huntington (San Marino), 6:30–10pm.

15th Annual Scary Stories, Angels Gate Cultural Center (San Pedro), 6:30pm.

Screening: ‘Day Is Done’ by Mike Kelley, Hauser & Wirth (Downtown), 7pm.

HUSH, Jacky Tsai, Ian Francis, Corey Helford Gallery (Downtown), 7–11pm.

Rubbings, Skibum MacArthur (Frogtown), 7–10pm.

Memory Foam, Eastside International (ESXLA) (Lincoln Heights), 7–10pm.

NORMAL performance art dinner party, Collective Arts Incubator (Highland Park), 7–10pm.

SŌ PERCUSSION, Fowler Museum (Westwood), 8pm.

PHILIP GLASS ADAPTATION OF JEAN COCTEAU'S LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE, LA Opera (Downtown), 8pm.

KCRW Masquerade Ball, The MacArthur (MacArthur Park), 9pm.

Sunday, October 29

Day of the Dead/Día de los Muertos Free Community Event/Evento Comunitario Gratuito, Palm Springs Art Museum (Palm Springs), 10am–4pm.

Coraline, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 11am.

DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS FAMILY FESTIVAL, Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach), 11am–5pm.

The MOVEMENT movement Danz Workshop, Angels Gate Cultural Center (San Pedro), 11:15am.

KIDS IN THE COURTYARD: TEACHING WITH TITHU, Fowler Museum (Westwood), 1–4pm.

Film: Veterans in the Arts and Humanities Day: Celebration and Film Screening, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 1pm.

We Wear a Revolution: Radical Clothing Workshop, California African American Museum (Downtown), 1–4pm.

Dia de los Muertos, Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara), 1–4pm.

PERFORMANCE: THE ART OF CAPOEIRA, Fowler Museum (Westwood), 2–3pm.

Forced Sterilization: Then and Now, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 2pm.

Closing Poetry Event for Kimberly Brooks: Brazen, Zevitas Marcus (Culver City), 2pm.

Matinee Concert: Amy K. Bormet, Craft in America Center (Beverly Grove), 2pm.

Halloween Celebration, 356 Mission (Downtown), 2–6pm.

Teahouse Tour & Tea Experience, The Huntington (San Marino), 2pm.

The Power of Personality: Jan Brueghel the Elder, Getty Center (Brentwood), 3pm.

Merwin Belin: Frontages, as-is gallery (Pico Union), 3–6pm. 

Elias Hansen: Not Right Now, Team (bungalow) (Venice), 4–7pm.

Beethoven was a Lesbian: A Tribute to Pauline Oliveros, ONE Archives at the USC Libraries (Downtown), 4–7pm.

Laguna Art Museum: Wendt Award Dinner, Magic Castle (Hollywood), 5–9pm.

Ok Composer #19, CalArts (Valencia), 5–7pm.

Closing reception Bibi Davidson, Shoebox Projects (Lincoln Heights), 6–9pm.

EVE ENSLER & ANNE LAMOTT, CAP UCLA (Westwood), 7pm. 

Havana Motor Club – Film Screening and Q&A, Annenberg Space for Photography (Century City), 7–9pm.

An evening of film and video works by members of Mother Ditch, Monte Vista Projects (Downtown), 7pm.

Los Angeles Filmforum presents Dark Matter: Collective, Singular & Parodic Resistance, the Egyptian (Hollywood), 7:30pm. $6–10. 

SOUTHLAND ENSEMBLE, Automata (Chinatown), 8pm.

Monday, October 30

Talk & Book Signing - Calder: The Conquest of Time, The Huntington (San Marino), 7:30pm.

Tuesday, October 31

Film: Creature from the Black Lagoon, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 1pm.

Halloween Screening: Dawn of the Dead, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 7:30pm.

Wednesday, November 1

FOWLER OUT LOUD: MARIACHI DE UCLATLÁN, Fowler Museum (Westwood), 6pm.

SOUL FOOD JUNKIES, Fowler Museum (Westwood), 6pm.

Talk: Neural Exchange—A Research Lecture with John Gerrard, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 7pm.

SCREENINGS: Food Evolution, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 7:30pm.

Ridge Lecture - The Originality of Milton’s Paradise Lost, The Huntington (San Marino), 7:30pm.

FLOWER CROWN MAKING with Jennifer Galindo, Self Help Graphics (Downtown), 8pm. $45.

[thedealnewsroom]

Activists Forced These CEOs to Exit Top Companies This Year

The top executives at AIG, Arconic, CSX, Pandora, Perrigo and Buffalo Wild Wings all left after pressure from activist investors in 2017.

By Ron Orol

Corporations with a record of underperformance and a history of shareholder discontent can often find an activist investor at their gate. And when they do, one can expect insurgent managers to target chief executive officers for removal.

In 2017, CEOs at some of the biggest and most well-known U.S. companies resigned under pressure from activists, including at General Electric Co. (GE), American International Group Inc. (AIG), Arconic Inc. (ARNC), CSX Corp. (CSX), Pandora Media Inc. (P), Perrigo (PRGO) and Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD). All of these corporations experienced CEO ousters in the midst or shortly after coming under pressure from high-profile activist campaigns.

Jim Rossman, managing director and head of Lazard's shareholder Advisory team, suggests that the trend of companies pushing out CEOs in the wake of activist campaigns can be tied to a shift in boardroom culture in recent years. He argues that corporate executives have to contend with directors that are more independent and have greater industry expertise than their predecessors.

"Boards are becoming more independent and knowledgeable about activism and therefore less tolerant and more demanding of management teams," said Rossman.

We take a closer look here at why activists were successful in seven big campaigns.

GE's Jeff Immelt Leaves as Trian's Peltz Hovers

Probably the most high-profile activist-driven CEO departure of the year involved Trian Fund Management's Nelson Peltz and his ultimately successful behind-the-scenes effort to push GE CEO Jeff Immelt (pictured) out. Immelt resigned in June. However, he was already in the hot seat with Peltz in March when the fund manager suggested privately that he had been missing earnings targets and hadn't cut expenses enough. The expectation was that Peltz might try to push Immelt out if he couldn't meet financial goals.

Flash forward a couple months. By May 15, GE shares hit a 52-week intraday low, amidst cash flow issues, and a Deutsche Bank note suggested that the company would have to cut its dividends in the next couple years. Later also in May, Immelt wavered on whether GE was likely to meet guidance of $2 a share for 2017 earnings. All of this came after Peltz in 2015 issued an 85-page white paper laying out a strategy and share price goal for the industrial giant that largely wasn't met.

Arconic CEO Kleinfeld's Fall Not Enough for Singer

Activist investor Elliott Management's Paul Singer scored a major victory when the CEO of Arconic Inc. (ARNC), Klaus Kleinfeld, resigned in April from the aerospace part company's board. The removal of Kleinfeld from Arconic was a core goal for a months-long private and later public Elliott Management campaign - the insurgent fund had argued that he was a key impediment to driving share price improvement.

The ouster also followed an unusual unauthorized letter Kleinfeld had sent to Singer. The board said that Kleinfeld had shown poor judgment with the letter, while Elliott Management said in a statement that the letter read as "a threat to intimidate or extort a senior official of Elliott Management based on completely false insinuations." Soon after that Kleinfeld was out. However, his ouster wasn't enough for Elliott Management, which later succeeded at installing three dissident directors to the company's board.

Singer's team is likely involved in the CEO search process, but the company's share price has been on a downward trajectory in the wake of London's Grenfell Tower fire, where at least 79 people were killed. Arconic, which supplied aluminum composite panels to a distributor for the refurbishment of the tower in 2015, said last month it was discontinuing sales of its Reynobond PE for use in high-rise applications.

CSX CEO Michael Ward Out as Mantle Ridge Brings in Railroad Guru Harrison

CSX CEO Michael Ward had initially planned to retire in 2019, but an activist investor campaign launched by Mantle Ridge's Paul Hilal expedited his plan. Reading the writing on the wall, Ward in February announced his plans to depart the large railroad. One month later, the insurgent investor reached a deal that installed Hilal's partner, railroad veteran, and ex-Canadian Pacific (CP) chief executive Hunter Harrison as CEO. And last month, in a move that cemented Harrison's position, shareholders voted to support an unusual and controversial one-time $84 million payment related to his installation as CEO. Harrison was brought in to focus on an approach he pioneered - and is famous for -- known as precision railroading, an operating strategy that allows the railroad company to schedule shipments in a precise way by knowing how trains move between customers and interchanges. CSX shares spiked upwards once Harrison and Hilal launched their campaign in January, and they were on an upward trajectory ever since. However, there are health concerns that continue to plague Harrison. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Harrison has an undisclosed medical condition that requires he use oxygen occasionally and demands that he works from home several days a week.

AIG Chief Exits Amid Pressure From Icahn

Billionaire corporate-raider-turned activist Carl Icahn reached a settlement with AIG, a top contributor to the 2008 financial crisis, in 2016 to install two dissident directors including hedge fund mogul John Paulson. However, Icahn didn't succeed in convincing AIG to break itself into three parts, as he had hoped. Even so, with no break up pending, and AIG's share price stagnating, the insurer's board decided in March to remove CEO Peter Hancock so it could avoid yet another proxy war with Icahn. Hancock announced his departure, citing a lack of support from stockholders. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if Hancock's successor, Brian Duperreault, will have more success with Icahn. The recently installed CEO told consumer insurance investors at a meeting in May that he didn't come to AIG to break it up.

After Pressure from Corvex, Pandora Media's Founder Leaves

Tim Westergren, a musician and Stanford University graduate who co-founded Pandora Media using an algorithm to organize music, left the money-losing radio service in June amidst an executive shakeout, 15 months after returning as CEO. Westergren's departure came less than three weeks after Pandora secured a much-needed cash infusion from Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (SIRI), which agreed to buy a 19% Pandora stake for $480 million. With a Sirius XM deal in place, Pandora cancelled a $150 million private placement set up by private equity firm KKR & Co. (KKR) The move to bring in first KKR and then later Sirius XM brought to an end - for now - an activist campaign launched by investor Keith Meister and his Corvex Management. Meister had been agitating to have Pandora sold, and there were numerous indications that he was planning to nominate directors to the company's board this year had the web-radio company not reached a deal with KKR and then later Sirius XM.

 Perrigo CEO is Out Soon After Starboard Gets Seats

In February, activist investor Jeff Smith of Starboard Value succeeded in gaining five director seats onto Perrigo's board, including one for himself. The Dublin-based manufacturer of over-the-counter drugs later that same month moved to divest its royalty stream for multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri, a move that likely pleased the activist and other shareholders. However, by June, Perrigo announced that its CEO, John Hendrickson planned to retire, a little more than a year after taking the chief executive job. Hendrickson, who joined Perrigo in 1989, became CEO in April 2016 after the previous top executive, Joseph Papa left to join and help revive Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX).

Marcato Eats Buffalo Wild Wings’ Lunch, Sally Smith Exits

Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) announced June 2 that CEO Sally Smith will retire from the wing and beer restaurant company before the end of the year, a significant win for activist Marcato Capital Management LLC's Mick McGuire who had called for her resignation. McGuire, on the same day, also succeeded at installing three of four dissident director candidates to the company's board in a bitterly fought battle that was almost a year in the making. Nevertheless, since Marcato's June 2 victory the restaurant chain's shares are down about 16%, suggesting that Marcato has a long way to go still.

— Leon Lazaroff and James Langford contributed to this report

[erikacousland]

"So, you are a commander now. In name at least. Wait--what's that you're wearing? That dagger?" A gift, made for me by a loyal subject. "I told that man not to presume to bribe House Aeducan. If your favor is bought so cheaply, it is your own shame. You should be attending our father at today's feast, not gossiping with second-rate smiths!"

(lol) His face is priceless, truly.

Bhelen, how was your day? "Interesting. I would have been at the feast, but Trian had need of me..." "The world does not stop and start with your meager achievements. Not even tonight. Now, do you have some purpose in bothering us?" Father wants you. "Of course he does. We must discuss strategy before tomorrow's battle. Bhelen, stay here and stroke the new commander's conceit if you like, but then get to bed."

"I honestly don't know how you put up with him." Smile, nod, do my duty. "I wish that sense of duty and family loyalty was shared by our elder brother." You sound serious, Bhelen. "Unfortunately, I am. Trian has begun to move against you. I never thought his much-proclaimed honor would allow him to actually act on his jealousy. Big brother, Trian is going to try to kill you."

How am I a threat to Trian? "He fears what you are becoming, in the eyes of the people and the Assembly. Trian's the named prince, but only the Assembly can proclaim a king. It would be unusual for the Assembly to ignore the king's choice, but it does happen." "The founder of House Bemot became a Paragon and king in one move from the Assembly, and he was a commoner." "The first Aeducan king wasn't even part of the house's leading family. That was an extraordinary case. But at least a half-dozen times, the Assembly named a lesser family member--or even someone from another house--as king. Usually it's the popular younger brother of an undesirable prince."

What's your angle in this? "It seems Trian has shown that brothers can't always be trusted. I am next in line. If Trian succeeds in his plot against you, how long do you think I'll live?" Gorim, what do you say? "Permission to speak freely?" Of course, my friend. "Trian would be a terrible king, but no one wants to say it. He has just enough backing in the Assembly to make it ugly when your father dies, but not enough to become king. Killing him now makes your house stronger now and saves a great deal of bloodshed later." No. I won't fight a brother. "You're my elder. I'll respect any decision you make, but please, be careful. I don't want to lose the brother I actually like." I am glad for your concern, Bhelen. Thank you.

Dragon Age: Origins Screenshots 1920×2160

Dwarf Noble Origin Part 5: "Big brother, Trian is going to try to kill you."