#Vivienne de fer

[cussundria-nerd-kneal]

I never have Viv in my party, I never knew Bull was ubber respectful towards her, haha. That "Yes, Ma'am. Sorry, Ma'am" is KILLING ME! 🤣🤣

In Memoriam of the 3 party member system😔, a curated selection of some of my favorite three-way dialogues.

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100% support the devs on doing what they need to to balance gameplay, and i'm excited to try the new combat system, but I'll miss the surprise additions to chatter.

[refrainee]

Thank you for giving us a place to call "home"

[abyssal-ilk]

hey. can i convince all of you of my one true belief of advisor!vivienne. take my hand let me show you my world 🖐

[mosswiind]

"We need an institution to protect and nurture magic. Maker knows, magic will find neither on its own."

What makes Vivienne de Fer’s perspective on the Circle interesting to me is that she seems to be one of the only characters in a position of power to realize that while revolution is necessary, change is imperative, and the situation is awful for a lot of people, there can’t be Nothing. 

"In my own experience, nothing is more deadly to a young mage than a lack of knowledge."

After growing up in a circle herself (specifically Ostwick), she has seen the great need for burgeoning mages to have someplace to go where they can’t, you know, kill their whole family by accident if they have a bad dream, which is how a lot of young mages find out they are, in fact, mages. 

"Magic is dangerous, just as fire is dangerous. Anyone who forgets this truth gets burned."

The reason her perspective tastes sour for a lot of people is because of the narrative role mages fill as the oppressed other. This has the same problem as the Xmen problem - actual, real life people who are oppressed for something beyond their control are not dangerous, and especially are not Going To Literally Explode By Accident. The metaphor gets muddy because instead of being an innocent “other,” mages can shoot lightning bolts out of their fingers by accident. 

The thing that makes her perspective interesting is that it is an extremely logical response to the worldbuilding put in place. In Thedas, mages are an objectively dangerous group of people, regardless of intention. If you were, for the sake of argument, a person who could unintentionally kill your whole family that you love, and there was a place you could go called You Can't Accidentally Kill Everyone You Love Tower, you would probably be like, hell yeah, that is a thing that should exist for me and people like me.

"I never worry, darling. A leash can be pulled from either end."

Vivienne has gotten to the level of skill and notoriety she has specifically because she was a Circle Mage. She had teachers, knowledgeable support, and a safe place to exist. While this was not universal (obviously), she had an overall positive experience, and as Grand Enchanter she was privy to hundreds of stories of people coming to Circles due to tragedy. 

Vivienne trained at the Ostwick Circle, ostensibly a well-run and relatively uncorrupted version of the Circles we see in game. The reason we don’t see well run circles is not because they don’t exist, but because there would be no demons to fight in this Combat Game we are all playing. Yes, roleplay is an important and central part of Dragon Age, but at the end of the day it is a game where you Fight Things. The story is not going to take us where there is nothing to fight/problem solve.

She does acknowledge that abuses of power are common - they are pretty undeniable. But a Dalish Inquisitor can suggest that more people use the Dalish method of magical control: a finite number of mages per clan (count ‘em, two), no templars required. Her counterargument is summed up in the character of Minaeve: a Dalish mage who developed her abilities after the slot of apprentice mage in her clan had been filled, and was left to find another clan. Not left to find another clan, was left. She was not successful, and was brought to a Circle before she starved alone in the woods due to the lack of available clan slots. 

ALSO, and this is important: she is pro-Circle, but pretty ambivalent on templars. Templars do not a Circle make. They are a pretty central pillar of the way Southern Circles are run, but I feel like if there was a way to neutralize magic safely without templar involvement, she would be able to get on board with that as an alternative. Like...her main things are education, and having a way to neutralize magical threats/accidents readily available.

The first people to be irreparably harmed by the charge of revolution will always be the most vulnerable. Vivienne believes that while the Circle needs overhauling, there needs to be Something. More people will be hurt by Nothing than Something. And as demonstrated by the clusterfuck the Mage Rebellion became, she was fucking right. 

In the context of the game, this is presented as a very right wing viewpoint - that mages are something to be controlled, muzzled, tied down. Characters like Lavellan (represented as a deer) are understandably horrified by this. 

Vivienne however, does not see herself or her peers as prey, and rightfully so. The games tell us over and over again that mages are objectively capable of incredible quantities of damage (she herself is a Knight Enchanter, a fuckshit powerful subclass of mage).

"Kirkwall gave the world a reason to remember its fear of magic. A mage killed hundreds with a snap of their fingers. Across Thedas, a new tangible fear of magic grew. Commoners and nobles alike called out to the Chantry for protection. But the malcontents in the towers thought nothing of this."

Her perspective is ultimately one of harm reduction. A place for mages to learn to control their abilities, in a place where they can do the smallest amount of harm if someone says “I don’t care how big the room is, I cast fireball.”

It absolutely makes sense to buck at the idea of anyone being Controlled in this way, and the Circle definitely takes it way overboard. BUT. It also serves the purpose of keeping a lot of vulnerable people way safer than they would be in a different environment. 

Believing there must be Something instead of Nothing means that the smallest number of people will fall through the cracks. The most vulnerable people will not have to forage their own food, or go without medication, or mobility aids. Something instead of Nothing means that there is a safety net until things can become Different. 

That’s what Vivienne is fighting for. A safer world the only way she knows usually works.

[songofamazon]

No, thank you! This was a fun way to spend my evening, if non-linear.

This idea bit me from a "would you ship any of these crackships?" poll a while back, and it won't leave me alone.

Vivienne is going to have such strong opinions about everything Veilguard, and I can't wait.

Thanks for the encouragement!

A Circle Unbroken

This was inspired by a prompt from @thedissonantverses Challenge Weekend: "A Circle Unbroken." That was begging to be a later scene in "Iron and Ice," my new-ish Neve Gallus x Vivienne de Fer fic.

It will definitely be edited to reflect whatever happens between chapter 1 and this once I get there, but I had fun imagining this bit today.

(1612 words)

Vivienne gazed down from her balcony near the peak of the White Spire of Orlais. The imperial palace had fallen, and soon after the Grand Cathedral. Smoke, Blight, and chaos wreathed the streets below, but somehow, the Circle still stood.

Somehow?

No.

Vivienne knew exactly how. She had seen to it that the White Spire would hold against the torrents of terror and violence outside its walls.

Leveraging Divine Victoria’s influence and her own authority over the Circle’s mages and templars, Vivienne transformed the fortified tower as a place of refuge for all who wanted it and were willing to leave any conflict at the gates.

Now, hundreds of clerics and other chantry staff tended hundreds more refugees from all races and walks of life right alongside the Circle’s mages. Templars and mages from more remote loyalist Circles, and even some from the so-called College of Enchanters, joined to their numbers. Living quarters were cramped. Blankets and curtains made temporary living spaces in the dungeons for those who wanted more privacy.

Mages healed the sick and renewed the wards against the threats outside. Templars guarded the gates and more precious storerooms, now that their duty of collecting and tagging refugee weapons was complete. There would be no fighting in this tower. The Divine’s most trusted clerics worked alongside Vivienne’s most level-headed templars to insure that. Existing Spire staff as well as capable refugees saw to food, sanitation, and cleaning in the tight spaces. And a single Gray Warden who had been traveling through Val Royeaux when chaos struck offered her services in ensuring that no Blight found its way inside.

Their operation was carefully monitored and adjusted at each level, and, so far, it worked. Sealing the gates five days earlier had been both the most important and most soul-wrenching act under Vivienne’s command.

Could they have fit a few more? Perhaps.

Would allowing entry to more have reunited more families and brought more supplies? Also perhaps.

But it could have just as likely brought conflict and Blight into their midst.

Vivienne already had too many in her care. She owed those charges security and well-being. She could not risk it.

She gazed past the smoky haze to the east. There had been no reply to her missives to Halamshiral in too many days. Fair few of her messenger birds from anywhere returned. Could the awakened Blight snatch a raven out of the sky? She shuddered at the thought.

And to the north? The horrible red light of the weeks-long eclipse cast shadows of blood.

Only divine-like power could have moved the moon and held it in such perfect, obscuring orbit—divine like magic already demonstrated by the unleashed Evanuris.

Vivienne would not speak those suspicions aloud. She left interpretation of the signs to the sermons of the Divine and her clerics. It was better that way. Let people have hope in their Maker.

As for her?

The Maker and his Bride felt more distant now than ever, with the earthly presence of the two ancient elven gods claiming divinity, power, and dominion for themselves.

Even Solas’ awakened power far out-stripped her own.

While Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain took their seat of power in the North, it would not be long before they cast their blighted gazes South. Neve and her Veilguard would need all the power they could get to hold it back—without Vivienne.

Nothing good moved on that northern horizon. No messenger birds there, either. Only blood, fire, and death.

“Worrying about your allies?” the Divine observed as she approached.

Vivienne’s fingers went to the intricately worked though false gold and brocade collar necklace that Neve had bought off a hawker in Minrathous what seemed like an age ago. Vivienne had changed back into proper Orlesian fashion upon her return to the Spire weeks ago, but she couldn't seem to bring herself to put away the trinket.

Fine robes rustled at the doorway between her suite and the adjoining suite she had lent to the Divine.

“Always, your Radiance,” Vivienne admitted, “And my charges, the refugees, and the state of the world.”

“Vivienne! How often must I tell you? It’s Leliana in private,” she chided. “But as you say, it falls to all of us to worry, to pray, and to serve those who need us.”

“As we do here.” What did Leliana want from her today? Or rather, what need had the clerics—or her spies—identified within the Spire? Neither woman had the luxury of idle chatter these days.

Leliana smiled knowingly at her. “You express more than you think, Madame de Fer. And I was once an accomplished player of the Game.”

“But I think,” Leliana started impishly as she joined Vivienne at the balcony railing, “You are missing your lady love most of all.”

Vivienne jerked her hand away from the necklace. “I have uttered no such—“

“You never stopped, my dear.” Vivienne favored her with a weary smile.

“Just don’t tell my clerics. But you’re deflecting,” Leliana teased, then sobered, “But there is never anything wrong with worrying for those you love—or in loving at all.”

“My dear Leliana, you know as well as I do that women of our responsibility have naught the time nor the risk of vulnerability for love.”

“So you say,” Leliana hummed to herself. “Don’t fear. I hold secrets close. But, you haven’t heard from them recently?” She shifted subjects so quickly, Vivienne had not time to protest. Leliana had that infuriating knack, which she deployed so cheerfully.

“No,” Vivienne admitted with a sigh, her gaze tracing north again, in some desperate, frivolous hope of a messenger bird. “Not since the eclipse started. All of us—those of us mages with sufficient skill to sense it—are certain the power that wrenched the moon from its place came from the north. Likely Tevinter.”

“Where your Scout Harding and the rest of her team have been working,” Leliana nodded solemnly. “I have heard nothing from her or any of my people outside of Orlais either. I don’t think my birds can get past the miasma.”

Vivienne forced herself to turn away from the balcony edge. “And so we focus on what is here, and try to plan for a future past this ruin, do we not?”

“One day at a time,” Leliana agreed, then drifted back towards her suite’s door. She paused suddenly, half-way across the common room. “Vivienne? I believe your closet is knocking.”

“What?” Vivienne strode towards her, hearing the polite knocking of a hand against wood as well. The eluvian! Her fingers shook as she pulled the keys from her belt and rushed to the doors. Drawing them open, her heart sank.

A young woman with Dalish tattoos not unlike the Inquisitor had once worn stood silhouetted in the dreamy shimmer of the elven mirror. She wore the colorful, gilded leathers that Vivienne had come to recognize as one of the Veil Jumpers.

Looking only a little shaken, the Veil Jumper announced, “Correspondence for Grand Enchanter Vivienne de Fer.”

Masking a disappointment that she would not name, Vivienne replied coolly, “I am she.”

“Then this is for you,” she produced a folded letter addressed to Vivienne with a shaky, childish penmanship.

Rook.

Vivienne broke the seal and skimmed the note. There was no mention of Neve, but the child who called herself the leader of the Veilguard yet lived, and the ‘god’ Ghilan’nain was dead. There was hope.

“What is it?” Leliana asked, drawing nearer.

“A council of allies is being called to the Lighthouse in the crossroads,” Vivienne replied, “To plan a final assault on Elgar’nan’s seat of power, to which I have been invited, as Grand Enchanter of the southern Circles.”

“Do you wish to send a reply,” the Veil Jumper asked, adding an awkward, “My Lady.” This one had obviously only ever heard of court.

“You will go, obviously,” Leliana said.

“You assume much, your Radiance,” Vivienne countered, “My people need me, here.”

“Your allies up north are going to assault the throne of a god,” Leliana stepped closer. Her playful lilt had been replaced by the steel of a spymaster. “They need you! Maker, Thedas needs you! They need us, the whole White Spire.”

“But—“

“I will not be interrupted, Grand Enchanter,” Leliana’s hair fell freely around her face in the privacy of their rooms, but all the regality of the sunburst throne hung on her countenance. “Your system of care for the refugees here can practically run itself, and what cannot, I will see to. The mages, templars, and any others who would wish to fight this new world order deserve a chance to do so. Your eluvian crossroads and ‘council of allies’ provide the chance to do so. Would we not regret giving all we could to save this world we love—who we love—if our help could tip the balance from defeat to victory?”

Breathless, Vivienne’s heart raced. She pushed away the memory of a Tevinter woman’s wry smile, those lips on hers.

“If that is what the Most Holy decrees,” Vivienne dipped her head in a bow. It was a show for their visitor, of course, but perhaps just the reminder she needed.

“It is.”

“Then,” Vivienne turned back to the messenger, “Please inform dear Rook that she can expect my presence as soon as I assess our resources and settle matters here.”

The Dalish woman gave a shaky smile of relief. “I will convey your reply.”

“And we will make ready.” Vivienne waited until the messenger retreated back into the Eluvian to lock it up again.

There was much to do, but—

I’m coming. Neve, I’m coming.

[evans-endeavors]

Dragon Age: Bi Panic

Call Jordan the 'Inquisitwhore' the way he's down bad for everyone.

[weenwem]

Vivienne the jewel of the high court of Orlais

[chanafehs]

The Milfs/Dilfs of Dragon Age (Veilguard edition)

I'm currently selling these as stickers and donating all earnings to Eman Abuhayya's gfm to help the remaining members of her family evacuate Gaza - or donate to her directly here!

[celestefox13]

.... Anyone else flashback to the banters between Solas and Bull in Inquisition where they played a mental chess game and Solas won because of a play with a pawn? And how he slowly inched that pawn across the board during those banters? (Like he positions Rook and helps slowly "inch" them across the "board" to checkmate the Gods?)

Or about the banters between Solas and Sera about the Friends of Red Jenny, and how he couldn't really wrap his mind around the group's entire goal just being help in small ways without any significant goal truly in mind? (Like how he couldn't wrap his mind around facing, accepting, and processing regrets the way Rook does to escape the Fade prison because he's always thinking too big picture and grand purposes)

Or, perhaps one of the most interesting, the banters between Solas and Varric about Orzammar and how it is in the current time of the games? (And how all the questions Solas asks echoes or points to both what happened to the Elvhen empire and what he intends to do to try to fix his mistake?)

Or the banter where Viv asks if Solas enjoys seeing himself as the villain? And their banters discussing the Circle, and Viv's political prowess, and how "in another age" she "would've ruled an empire?"

Or banters with Dorian about spirits and magic, and how they are used in Tevinter? And on slavery in general? (And how those conversations are a very big part of Dorian actually thinking about the slaves in Tevinter in a meaningful way)

Or with Cassandra about the burdens of leadership and how Cass stepped aside from leading/making decisions for the Inquisition as a whole cause she recognized/felt she wasn't the one to wield such power? Or the one where Cass wonders if the Archdemons are "pets" to beings who no longer exist?

Anyone else thinking about the banters that weren't with Cole about spirits and how to "ground" one's self in the real world, or with Blackwall about being men that have seen war and done cruel things and have had to live a lie until caught in the lie? But were more about the nuances of lives lived and currently being lived; and the status quo and how it was vs how it is vs how it maybe should be; and the very core of his being and true beliefs and how he could find some kind of echo of each with the members of the Inquisition, reflecting and foiling in turn?

Just me? Cool, cool, cool

[resvarie]

madam de fer

[percexe]

my favorite da:i party comp is what i like to call "mage gang" aka sitting back and letting these three argue over magic while i look for a tome or something

[classicteacup]

night in the skyhold

[animezinglife]

Mira [Trevelyan's] and Vivienne's relationship can best be described as either cordial or professional. They're not necessarily friends and definitely aren't close, but they get along and both sees value in the other.

They respect each other, but don't relate to each other at all.

Mira sided with the mages, but she would have preferred to recruit both mages and Templars to the Inquisition. She's more on the neutral side, and she sees both sides of the magic debate as a mage herself. She's glad Vivienne is part of the Inquisition and sees the value of having a high-ranking mage and master of the Game among them.

It's nothing personal against Viv. Mira doesn't let her guard down easily and never has. She likes her well enough, but she's also only ever going to be vague around her (just in case).

actually everyone tell me about their inquisitors' dynamic with vivienne rn. in my inbox or on this post is fine but im so nosy i wanna know

[charmedcleric]

DAI + text posts 3/???

Part 2

[tshortik]

Your best friends, the Inquisition gang! 🎈

[hejee]

wip posting again lol (i love my lavellan sm)