#Zara Recruitment
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mohntilyet · 3 days ago
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literally cannot remember if this is already a post you made but do u think about if illario was a companion character and lucanis wasnt (maybe still rescued from the ossuary, maybe not). would he even be a viable companion character. etc.
i think i've mentioned it in tags but god yeah i've been thinking about companion illario. through bias and visions i think he could have made a really great companion!!!! i just don’t think we had enough who lie to/betray you in veilguard and i was like illario would love to do this <3 or at least TRY to do this and find that he can’t, because the betrayal-according-to-approval mechanic would return in this concept. this assumes a lot of things that i consider to be canon, including that illario’s a genuinely good assassin (YMMV on this i think. i look upon him with rose tinted glasses) but we’re introduced to illario as the second-best option who accompanied lucanis on various mage-killing quests.
he’s recruited in minrathous and not treviso because he’s been killing venatori like a man crazed. i forget who made the post but the one about how veilguard recruitment quests feel forced because you are recruiting, when stumbling on the right people could have felt more organic and a lot less formulated. he’s been operating in minrathous as the ‘demon of vyrantium’, which he admits to rook that he’s not the original. the original was lucanis, who was captured and killed by the venatori, and in his grief, has been trying to kill the magister (zara) that killed his cousin. he’s actually very nice and fun for an assassin, but players get the feeling that the charm is practiced, and there are glimpses into the “something rotten” under the surface.
what the players also do not know is that his hatred for the venatori is definitely projecting his guilt, because even in this au, illario is the guy who originally betrayed his brother and his complexes (slash pos slash hot slash i often picture him on his knees) remain. anyways. plot breakdown under the cut because its so fucking long and please take with a grain of salt because this was workshopped on a call with fie, who ‘yes and’s everything i say, so it might not be the greatest plot ever. nor very coherent. however, this is my blog and i can say whatever i want
act one recruitment: hunting down and killing zara. there’s foreshadowing here or something where she definitely recognises him and the facial animation leans towards “betrayal”. like zara saying “you?” in a way that can be mistaken for fear, when it’s recognition and betrayal + illario killing her before she can reveal anything else. they find evidence that lucanis is still alive and you see how excited he is, but also very conflicted. illario finally returns to treviso, and you immediately see the favoritism when he informs caterina that lucanis could still be out there. caterina delights in the idea of her favorite weapon back in her possession, and illario swears to bring him back.
in between: there’s a venatori leak! the magisters send some back up to weisshaupt which makes things a lot harder for the veilguard (miniboss before ghil?), and it contributes to failing to strike at ghilanain. but who could it be? everyone is a bit wary of each other, and causes friction.
act two: the ossuary <3 inexplicably, illario has found where lucanis is. the veilguard fights their way in and out, escaping with lucanis and destroying the vial of blood. they also find out lucanis is possessed, and when they return to treviso, after the shock and relief leaves, there’s a gleam in caterina’s eyes. illario is moved up in line of succession because caterina can’t see an abomination becoming talon (canon not discussing that he’s fucking possessed pisses me off so bad btw), and she’s obviously envisioning a world where lucanis’ leash is passed onto the grandson she’d seen as lesser, but has recently proved himself better than she had previously judged. suddenly, illario has everything he’s ever wanted, but not in the way he’s wanted it. he’s never wanted to necessarily be greater than, and doesn’t want to lose him. illario is very uncomfortable about becoming a new caterina to lucanis, but can’t express himself or explain it because he’s deeply repressed and he’s trying to be happy because, isn’t this what he wants?
in between: illario’s acting super weird. a high approval illario is a lot more awkward and doesn’t seem to know what to say, which is a first for him. he’s obviously putting on a brave/pretty face on, and hesitates to say something— but finally just thanks rook for helping him get lucanis back. a low approval illario is actually much happier, smiling and laughing and delighted by the way things have gone, with rook/the player none the wiser about what’s happened. (kind of like… bull’s reaction to the chargers in the dreadnought quest being positive either way, but the repercussions come later)
if you are in a romance, a low approval illario will trigger a sex scene, a high approval illario does the dellamorte branded “lean in for a kiss but he can’t bring himself to actually follow through and leaves rook awkwardly”. the differences in reaction would ideally confuse and interest players :)
act three: hinges on approval rating. illario plotted to trade rook’s life for lucanis’. the venatori at weisshaupt was supposed to be their shot to kill them, but failed to do so, and now they’re forcing him to make good on his deal. there’s a cutscene where the party is led into a trap and a high ranking venatori magister— the one who actually experimented on lucanis (because zara is like a middle man. she wants the blood but isn’t the evil mage scientist who did all the experiments)— shows himself and reveals everything illario has done. he was the one behind lucanis’ initial ‘death’. how the venatori leak was him. illario is desperately trying to keep the venatori’s mouth shut, but the magister is tricking him with magic as he tries harder and harder to keep his cover. a fun, trippy kind of sequence where there are illusions and mindfucky magic as illario stabs at the magister and finds out he’s attacking air, and the party keeps getting attacked with magic that they can’t figure out is real or not until it hits them, in this hall of mirrors type freakshow. it splits into two different paths:
low approval: the deal to save lucanis over rook was made early on, and nothing they have done has made illario think differently. he’s scripted to be more defensive and try to stop the magister from speaking, ignoring the party and thinking only about how he can keep his secrets but failing to. he’s angry that his plans have fallen down around him, and attacks both the party and venatori, determined to keep his failures from reaching anyone else (god forbid it reach caterina). the party are forced to kill him when he turns on them, willing to work with the venatori to keep the power he has before it slips away from him again.
high approval: everything they have done has made illario think differently and he’s spent ages regretting and trying to find a way out of the deal (see: the distress he feels right after becoming first talon, interesting codexes, etc). he’s scripted to defend rook from magic, at cost to himself, physically protecting his friends/rook from the magister and getting in the way of spells. he admits what he’s done and pleads with them to help him, despite having no reason to trust him. after the party fights the magister off together, illario begs for forgiveness, explaining himself, how regret couldn’t make up for what he’s done but he’s still tried to change things, change himself. but how could you ignore the feeling that, as with everything else in his life, that this is another lie? you get the choice to trust him and forgive him, or kill him for betraying the veilguard. i think this can hit harder if he’s romanced and you forgive him. the image of him pleading literally on his knees is about to get me to black out, followed by a rook who gets down on the ground and lowers themselves to his level just to kiss him before pulling them both up onto their feet again…. its like a ‘i fear to stain your hands with blood’ moment <3
completed companion quest: faced with compassion that he’s basically never extended to anyone, illario is inspired. he admits this guilt to lucanis, wanting to make him talon and leave everything behind, and while lucanis initially is obviously both angry and distressed, he later seeks out illario by himself, and their reconciliation happens off screen. i’d love for rook to be there so i could this but i honestly do not think its their place like can we leave the dellamortes to do this by themselves. in private its just a very “you went through hell to get me back. i think i need to give you a chance” + a slow rebuilding of the trust they had. and also lucanis has not even gotten the same outside support system as illario has taken his place and i think it’s good to note that. well. illario is about the most positive his relationships get and the only other person he would potentially have is caterina, who is also a more intense and outwardly scheming in this au. so not to be like “lucanis has no choice” but he kinda has no choice LOL. the point is: lucanis decides to protect him, and says that this betrayal is something they have to keep secret together as long as it safeguards illario, which safeguards himself. like what would the crows think of 1) illario trying to usurp power using an outside source (infighting/betrayal is okay. bringing a third party into crow business is not), 2) illario losing the idgaf war and desperately bringing lucanis back, 3) lucanis being possessed, 4) lucanis forgiving illario despite it all because they’re so codependent they can’t even bring themselves to leave the other. house dellamorte so weak that they can’t snuff out the weakness in each other? oh fucking brother. they can’t let anyone know how dire this situation is, and need to present a united front. also the terrible fact that they love each other deeply remains. mentioned in banter probably? eg:
“So… what do the Crows think?” // “The Crows don’t know.” // “…What? But your brother, and you—“ // “Are keeping it to ourselves. We’ve discussed this. House Dellamorte can’t afford to look divided, not right now.” // “So, what, he just forgave you?! You’re moving on? From trying to kill him?” // “'Forgave' is such a strong word, but maybe someday, yes. And we’re not just family, we’re Antivan Crows. You should know by now that we’re odd like this.”
“Illario. How long do you think you can keep that secret?” // “Considering only us, Lucanis and I know about it, hopefully forever. He insists that no one else has to know. Or should I be afraid that you’re going to go tell on me?” // “No! It’s just… Lucanis doesn’t, I don’t know, want vengeance?” // “Ha! He is the vengeancey one. But no. No, he’s… between the two of us, he’s always been the good one.” // “Lucky you.”
i also picture a lot of post revelations blackwall type banters and maybe something like davrin going “I have to believe you can be better, that you’ve changed. Half the Wardens are like that.” and once again i have to grieve varric because if there’s anyone that would understand lying their ass off and having mixed feelings about their brother, IT’S HIM LOOLLL. i think harding would treat him quite harshly, and neve loses a lot of respect because why would you ever even think about working with the venatori. but there’s a recognition over how he’s changed for the better. i think bellara is the surprise sympathiser, with everything she feels about cyrian. (“For a second, listening to Anaris to be with my brother again was worth it. So… yeah. I get it.” // “You weren’t foolish enough to fall for it. I did.” // “But you’re fixing it, aren’t you?” // “I’m trying.” // “Cyrian tried too. And if I can still forgive him, I can forgive you too.” // “…Thank you.” )
i also think a serious talk about being talon happens, where lucanis doesn't think he should be talon (possessed so his self worth is at an all time low. and also he's always thought illario should be talon anyway) and asks illario to keep the title. which is... weird because suddenly illario realises he doesn't necessarily want to be talon anymore. sure he can, sure he finally has caterina's approval, but he's got a new chance in life and he's not sure he wants to spend his life running an organisation that doesn't even care about him, would betray him first chance they got and remind him of the way he used to be, or see who he is the way the veilguard/lucanis has. his bitterness towards caterina also trumps his envy of lucanis, and the idea of lucanis resenting him as much as he resents caterina is something he'd like to avoid, which is another reason he's uncomfortable with being expected to tug at the leash. indecisive, illario can't quite fully commit himself to the crows, but is nervous about what leaving them would mean.
endgame: he would take lucanis’ place as a magekiller in this ofc, so he’s the guy killing ghil, and (for now….) first talon leading the crows to fight in minrathous (illario: “one of us should probably say something. remind the crows in whose name this fight is to be fought. we are emotional beings after all, and rhetoric is the fuel that feeds the fire—“ viago: “maker’s sake just give your speech”) i’ve also implied romance throughout this ask while not discussing it properly (ask me about it later. i need time to think on the whole romance arc and beats i know it exists but i refuse to give out half baked illario thoughts.) and i think the endgame post-fade prison talk would be very sweet and so intensely genuine/sincere and illario’s half struggling with being this truthful but pushes through because he wants to say “i love you” and really mean it. almost losing rook has put his priorities in order, and rook is at the top of this order, which has made him reevaluate everything else in his life and realise, "i don't think i can live without you. please don't make me". it’s fun for me that lucanis’ romance is a first in many different ways, but for illario it would be the first time experiencing actual romantic feelings for someone that he’s not faking, so you can imagine the damage its wrecking on his crow-psyche. sometime here i think there’d also be a decision where he’d ask to leave the crows and be with rook, tho i also think if given the chance to develop he could actually find something he cares more about than being first talon. genuine affection might kill him, reciprocated affection would probably be the nail in that “fuck the crows actually i just found out i like life outside of treviso” coffin.
but this is kind of leaning towards “illario only leaves the crows if you romance him” which i don’t like the sound of. he should be able to do that without a romantic relationship. i think narratively the best way to end this arc is for illario to leave the crows after having found alternatives to what he believed his life should amount to (as i think lucanis should have in veilguard), but i also don’t exactly know how to end it. i do want house dellamorte to be defunct, like an ‘illario leaves, and so does lucanis’ thing, where even lucanis gets the chance to grow out of believing “death is his calling”. i also like the idea that illario, ever the extrovert, gets real friends and is like “LUCANIS. you gotta fucking experience this” LMFAO. i’m thinking maybe the companion you spend most time with illario in the party after his act 3 quest starts to suggest things, so neve being like “you made a pretty great demon of vyrantium. consider making venatori-killing your full time job, you were good at it, despite all the traitor stuff.” or taash going “you know, you wouldn’t be the first lord of fortune to make mind numbingly stupid mistakes. drop by sometime. you and isabela can bond over it.” and they’re half joking but it makes the cogs in illario’s mind turn where he’s like “whoa. i could just. stay with the people who like me!” and where he goes is mentioned in the epilogue. a romanced illario would potentially just join the faction rook is a part of, tho a de riva would probably be unique in choosing if they want to remain a crow.
HOWEVER. i honestly don’t know if this is in character. fie and i convinced ourselves it was but i’ve had some time to really chew on it and idk if he’d want to give his ambitions up?? if someone has managed to read on this far, feel free to suggest things if you like i am always stumped because i don’t actually want to crows to stop being an assassin house, and there’s ofc no way to really make them ‘softer’ without taking away the bite that makes them interesting to play with. but extricating the dellamorte cousins from this WHILE feeling true to dragon age writing is difficult lol. just let me think. i’ll be back with some results hopefully.
side note: if illario is killed, lucanis takes his place with some difficulty (spite getting in the way, and no relationship building as he would get in canon) especially because despite his incredibly complicated feelings about his cousin trying to kill him, all of his anger is directed at rook for actually killing him. it doesn’t matter if lucanis would/could have never forgiven him, or otherwise, rook has taken that chance of hashing it out with illario from him completely, and lucanis won’t forgive them for it.
anyways the potential endings and first talons:
lucanis defaults into first talon if illario is killed as the only remaining heir, and struggles in this role alone, though the fact he is an abomination helps keep the crows in control for a while #cycles #snakethateatsitsowntail #housedellamorteissocooked
illario can remain first talon if encouraged to stay during the endgame, or if romanced by a rook de riva that also chooses to stay with the crows. depending on how the crow missions were complete, his direction with the crows either hardens/softens the organisation.
teia becomes first talon if illario decides to leave the crows, and rook has made choices that lean towards ‘softening’ the crows, eg. sparing ivenci to humiliate him, helping the crow-venatori loves run away, being kind towards jacobus, etc. the crows gain a reputation for coercion and can once in a while be found targeting, killing or exposing corrupt officials.
viago becomes first talon if illario decides to leave the crows, and rook has made choices that lean towards ‘hardening’ the crows, eg. killing ivenci to humiliate him, turning in the crow-venatori lovers, being harsh with jacobus, etc. the crows gain a reputation for efficient, quick assassinations that tip the scales towards anyone who can pay for their services.
if missions were not complete, the antivan crows’ reputation falls as they get sloppier, unable to recover from their losses and struggling to keep ahold of their power. there’s a reshuffling of talons, but the crows are in such disarray that it takes a decade for them to recover and gain back the effeciency they used to be infamous for.
ANYWAYS. sorry for that it is actually getting away from me and i don’t know how much of this is clear and how much of it is just my wishful thinking. i think there’s enough good things here to publish as an answer tho i’m aware this plot is kind of dollar store zevran LOL. maybe the best way to describe it is that i’ve accidentally combined blackwall, bull, and zevran’s arcs into this. hope this is at least a bit compelling for you anon!!!!!
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mariacallous · 1 year ago
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On Boxing Day pro-Palestine demonstrators met customers at the Zara sale in the Westfield shopping centre, in Stratford, east London. They were not there to wish them the compliments of the season.
‘Bombs are dropping while you’re shopping,’ they chanted, as police stood by to make sure the protests did not turn violent. ‘Zara is enabling genocide,’ their placards read.
Quite what they wanted bargain hunters to do about the Israeli forces bombing the Gaza Strip, they never said. Lobby their MPs? Politicians are on their Christmas holidays. Join the Palestinian armed struggle?  It was unclear whether the shopping centre had a Hamas recruitment office.
But on one point the demonstrators were certain: no one should be buying from Zara. Even though the fashion chain has not encouraged Israel’s war against Hamas, earned income from it, or supported Israel in any material way, it was nevertheless “exploiting a genocide and commodifying Palestine's pain for profit”.
Zara, in short, has become the object of a paranoid fantasy: a QAnon conspiracy theory for the postcolonial left.
The Zara conspiracy is an entirely modern phenomenon. It has no original author. Antisemitic Russians sat down and wrote the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the early 20th century. There was an actual “Q” behind the QAnon conspiracy: a far-right activist who first appeared on 4chan message boards in 2017 to claim that a cabal of child abusers was conspiring against Donald Trump.
The Zara conspiracy was mass produced by social media users: an example of the madness of crowds rather than their supposed wisdom. The cause of the descent into hysteria was bizarre.
In early December Zara launched an advertising campaign featuring the model Kristen McMenamy wearing its latest collection in a sculptor’s studio. It clearly was a studio, by the way, and not a war zone in southern Israel or Gaza. McMenamy carried a mannequin wrapped in white fabric. The cry went up that the Spanish company was exploiting the suffering of Palestinians and that the mannequin was meant to represent a victim of Israeli aggression wrapped in a shroud.
The accusation was insane. No one in the photo shoot resembled a soldier or a casualty of war. Anyone who thought for 30 seconds before resorting to social media would have known that global brands plan their advertising campaigns months in advance.
Zara said the campaign presented “a series of images of unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio and was created with the sole purpose of showcasing craft-made garments in an artistic context”. The idea for the studio setting was conceived in July. The photo shoot was in September, weeks before the Hamas assault on Israel on 7 October.
No one cared. Melanie Elturk, the CEO of fashion brand Haute Hijab, said of the campaign, ‘this is sick. What kind of sick, twisted, and sadistic images am I looking at?’ #BoycottZara trended on Twitter, as users said that Zara was ‘utterly shameful and disgraceful”’.
To justify their condemnations, activists developed ever-weirder theories. A piece of cardboard in the photoshoot was meant to be a map of Israel/Palestine turned upside down. Because a Zara executive had once invited an extreme right-wing Israeli politician to a meeting, the whole company was damned.
Astonishingly, or maybe not so astonishingly to anyone who follows online manias, the fake accusations worked. Zara stores in Glasgow, Toronto. Hanover, Melbourne and Amsterdam were targeted.
What on earth could Zara do? PR specialists normally say that the worst type of apology is the non-apology apology, when a public figure or institution shows no remorse, but instead says that they are sorry that people are offended. Yet Zara had not sought to trivialize or profit from the war so what else could it do but offer a non-apology apology? The company duly said it was sorry that people were upset.
“Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created,” it said on 13 December, and pulled the advertising campaign
That was two-weeks ago and yet still the protests in Zara stores continue. On 23 December activists targeted Zara on Oxford Street chanting , 'Zara, Zara, you can't hide, stop supporting genocide', even though Zara was not, in fact,  supporting genocide. On Boxing Day, they were at the Stratford shopping centre.
Zara has apologised for an offence it did not commit. There is no way that any serious person can believe the charges against it. And yet believe them the protestors do. Or at the very least they pretend to believe for the sake of keeping in with their allies.
Maybe nothing will come of the protests. One could have argued in 2017, after all, that QAnon was essentially simple-minded people living out their fantasies online. Certainly, every sane American knew that there was no clique of paedophiles running the Democrat party, but where was the harm in the conspiracy theory?
Then QAnon supporters stormed the US capitol in January 2021. Will the same story play out from the Gaza protests? As far as I can tell, no one on the left is challenging the paranoia. I have yet to see the fact-checkers of the BBC and Channel 4 warning about the fake news on the left with anything like the gusto with which they treat its counterparts on the right.
To be fair, the scale of disinformation around the Gaza war is off the charts, and it is impossible to chase down every lie. But when fake news goes from online fantasies to real world protests, from 4chan to the Capitol, from Twitter to the Westfield shopping centre, it’s worth taking notice.
Sensible supporters of a Palestinian state ought to be the most concerned. No one apart from fascists, Islamists and far leftists believes that Israel should not defend itself. And yet the scale of its military action in Gaza is outraging world opinion. Mainstream politicians, who might one day put pressure on Israel, remain very wary about reflecting the anger on the streets.
They look at the insane conspiracy theories on the western left and see them as no different from the insane conspiracy theories that motivate Hamas, and they back away.
The Palestinians need many things: an end to the Netanyahu government, and an end to Hamas. But they could also use allies in the West who do not discredit their cause with dark, gibbering fantasies.
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absoluteditto · 15 days ago
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Lucanis Dellamorte is such an enigma. After a year of torture at the hands of Zara Renata, and upon learning of his grandmother's death, he says he needs to work. It is easier to bury your head in the sand and hide from the fact that you feel as though you've failed everyone who ever depended on you. And yet, as soon as he is out of the atmosphere created by such heavy grief, he begins to open up.
He has always cared far too deeply. His compassion is what angered Zara enough to act against him. Rather than stick to the contract against Ambrose Forfex, he insisted that the elves he tortured deserved justice. Retribution. He makes sure that the orchestrator of all of that misery pays for his crimes in the most painful way possible.
When Lucanis gets to the Lighthouse and realizes that his new compatriots aren't eating nearly well enough to fuel their bodies for the fights to come, he takes the initiative and begins preparing meals, alongside Bellara, who he finds refreshingly honest and surprisingly compassionate.
He buys mint for Harding to help with her dreams. He knows what it is like to be haunted by nightmares so frightening that you wake up screaming. He buys Bellara some fish for a Dalish recipe that she wants to cook. He knows how much food can connect you to your home, and help heal your heart when you feel so alone in the world. He buys fruit for Neve as she hardly eats anything more than fried fish. Except I feel that this one goes deeper. He sees so much of himself in her. She is what he could be if he opened up a bit more, perhaps if he offers something sweet it will build a bridge that allows him to come out of his shell more, to learn how to love and be loved simply for being who he is.
And, if you wait until you recruit the rest of the companions, he gets something for them as well. He gets a bone for Assan to chew on. Caterina would never let him have a pet as a child, and though he tries to act nonchalant about it, having an animal that is always so enthusiastic to be pet fills him with no small amount of joy. Of course he would want to spoil the good boy! For Taash he gets spices. They've learned so much about themselves since joining the Veilguard, and growing up multicultural introduced them to many foods. The easiest way for him to share his culture is through his cooking. And for dear Emmrich, he picks up wine glasses. Lucanis is a man who has enjoyed the fine things in life since birth, but he is far too trained in reading people to believe the same of Emmrich. The Professor enjoys the fine things in life because he worked hard to achieve them, and he respects that. So he brings a bit of his home's finery to the Lighthouse for Emmrich to enjoy. -= This next bit is about my Crow Rook & the wyvern tooth dagger =-
And once he's finally done with his shopping and ready to get back to work, Rook, the woman who broke into his prison and freed him, treated him like he was simply a man even when he felt like a monster, bought him something. A dagger. He is suddenly drawn back to many years ago, attempting to gift a dagger to the other young Crow who he was infatuated with, only to have it seen as a threat. Upon wrestling his thoughts back, he realizes it's a wyvern tooth dagger.
He meets her gaze, and she has a knowing smirk on her face. He feels a warmth in his chest as he admits that he was quite fascinated with wyverns as a child (he still is, but she doesn't need to know that) and that Caterina had never allowed him to have a dagger like this. Her smirk turns into a content smile as they head towards Café Pietra, and he begins talking to her about the different types of wyverns that you can find all across Thedas.
She doesn't interrupt him once, simply asks questions about particular habits, and inquires if his fascination with Wyverns also translates to an interest in dragons.
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lairofsentinel · 26 days ago
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Info compilation of Lucanis Dellamorte (part 2)
Warning: I’m using the incorrect lore that this game has since it is the one that they built the game upon. Inconsistent things such as “The Lighthouse is in the Fade” or “Mind imprisonment” nonsense are not dismissed during this compilation even though they are strongly questionable.
Unfortunately, Lucanis character has a lot of issues in his writing; sometimes conversations feel like they were written by three different persons and the game ends up with a frankenstein dialogue which can be barely followed, and one needs to fill in the gaps to keep it somehow cohesive and coherent. Besides, there are several times where he suffers narrative inconsistency: he says something that gets contradicted mid-game without being part of his “development”, if he has any.
Also, I apologise in advance for my bitterness that sometimes spills into the text like the Blight when it comes to the murder of the Lore that Veilguard has done to the DA world.
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The current post has the following sections [bold ones]:
Approvals and disapprovals
Body Language
Eyes
Why the pantry?
High focus, cool head, and professionalism
Food and cooking
Mage-killer specialisation and previous jobs
Death and Life
Crows and Family
Spite and Possession
Sleep and Coffee
Flirt and Romance
Lucanis’ Logbook
Others
Info compilation: Part 1 || Part 2
[this post will be likely updated briefly after I do a playthrough without saving Treviso in case additional information is shown, but probably won’t be much]
Spite and Possession
The possession process suffered by Lucanis meant to force him to eat something that had Spite in it as if it were a parasite. This process was inspired by the cult we saw in Cassandra’s personal quest [DAI] in which Seekers were forced to consume red lyrium despite their resistance to its effects [Banter Lucanis-Bellara].
The original intention of the experiment was to cultivate twisted spirits inside the body of mortals and let them erupt from the body as full demons like a “moth emerges from a cocoon” [what’s lore?]. We can see this in some codices along the Ossuary, where prisoners were used as incubators, from which demons emerged and were sent to Vyrantium or Marnas Pell, calling them “successes” [Recruiting mission]. Lucanis prevented this fate by doing a deal with Spite [Banter Lucanis-Bellara], so he was perceived by Zara as a failure [Recruiting mission and Inner Demon quest]. This deal is the one related in the scene where Rook can finally talk with Spite: “Break our chains, kill, escape, and live”. Since his self-acceptance as an abomination is a process that Lucanis has encapsulated in his mind, he is not aware that the prison still exists in his mind and forces Spite to remain there, somehow [what’s lore?]. This situation makes a constant violation of the deal that saved Lucanis’ life.
“Whatever else I am, I’m a professional” is one of the lines after failing the first attempt in killing Ghilan'nain that shows how much of a conflict his possessed condition interferes with his professional, cold side. He tries to process the trauma through work, doing exactly what he had been doing before, to a point in which he does not realise he has compartmentalised the Ossuary in his mind.
Lucanis’ vial of blood in the Ossuary is quite big, implying that he has been bleeding a lot during that year. The torture he experimented for a year was enough to make him forget how Caterina was like [Recruitment quest]
He survived the Ossuary by “shutting down completely, thinking nothing, feeling nothing, except what was needed to escape.” [Davrin-Lucanis banter]
He describes his possession state as something similar to “touching something vast and eternal. A well, deep inside”. He also confesses that the possession terrified him in the beginning, and shares with Harding the impression that their condition is just “the beginning” of something deep down, waiting. [Harding-Lucanis banter]
Even after Inner Demon is complete, he claims to be “a real monster” as an abomination, showing two potential things: 1) that his shame and fear for his possessed condition is not resolved despite all the hints that tell us so [Spite less noisy, Lucanis’ magic around him is more harmonic]. This is a reflection he does when he compares his return to life as a “real monster” with Bellara’s brother [Bellara-Lucanis banter]. 2) Narrative inconsistency [which plagues his character].
Spite can be heard by Emmrich when he is close to Lucanis. [Lucanis-Emmrich banter]
Lucanis claims that Spite is obviously present in his body when the wings are shown: “the wings are a giveaway” [Davrin-Lucanis banter]. The spread of wings is not a voluntary action either [Harding-Lucanis banter]. We assume this situation is like this up to Inner Demon, where he manages to harmonise with Spite to the point where both work together and become more blended. But we cannot know, since all this may be a consequence of narrative inconsistencies too.
Spite focuses on smells, and understands people based on that [Inner demons quest]. This may be a parallel to Lucanis’ year of imprisonment where he claimed that smells and tastes were the aspects that brought him more memories [Coffee with the Crows scene]. Lore-wise makes no sense for a spirit, in its spirit form, to smell anything [what’s lore?].
The Ossuary had a bad smell to the point that Lucanis claims that Kal-Sharok smells better. [The Waiting Stone quest]
It’s harder for Spite to take control of Lucanis’ body when he is awake. When Lucanis falls asleep, Spite takes control, and among other activities [such as sleepwalks] he likes to write cryptic sad poetry [Lucanis’ Logbook].
He spoke to Neve and Bellara about ways to control Spite, but avoids Emmrich since he is uncomfortable in the way he sees him, more like a thesis to study.
His sleepwalk stops once Lucanis and Spite are released from their mental prison, and this also allows Spite to start “understanding space”. This made them reach an equilibrium in which Spite is less noisy. Emmrich claims that thanks to this balance, “the magic around Lucanis has much finer etheric transfusion” [Emmrich-Lucanis banter]. Apparently, the deal made with Spite in Inner Demons implies “fighting enemies together and then having coffee afterwards” [Bellara-Lucanis banter]. This brings balance to both of them, allows Lucanis to have more control of Spite in his body, and implies that he recovers (a bit) his normal sleep patterns. We tend to see him drinking coffee after missions from this moment on [only in scenes after missions]. But then, he is drinking coffee right before the last mission, so… consistency problems again [we are not seeing the changes of his arc development truly sink in].
Spite is a source of shame. Every time he fails in his target, in his composure, in his professionalism, and in keeping control of Spite, he speaks looking down or aside, as shame washes him over. He feels he has let down Rook and Caterina for not being able to control this level of chaos he is holding inside him. For a character so focused on self-control, this situation puts him in a very shameful and vulnerable position.
Every time he is called an abomination there is a small remark on his part that shows he is not comfortable with it [who would?]. He avoids to call himself as such, and opts to use the word “possessed” and its variation.
He claims he never had magical abilities, so his possession is a rarity [not so much for the player if we remember DA2 where mages could force demons into Templars, read Tarohne, the Fell Grimoire, and Xebenkeck for details] but certainly his natural ability to perceive magic is more than strange: itch or pain in the back of his eyes [Bloodbath]. This symptom is triggered sometimes just by casting magic, other times by Fade presence, and it’s worse when blood magic is involved. In Tevinter Nights we learn he can even have deep headaches because of it. Lore-wise, this is a very, very, very questionable ability for a non-mage character and belongs to the big bag of messed up lore we started to see in the DA media after Gaider left Bioware.
Lucanis claims that Spite is impossible to reason with, he “listens to no one”. However, along the game, we discover that Spite truly listens to Rook mainly and Emmrich [Emrrich-Lucanis banter]. So… inconsistency? Or on purpose? Who knows.
In the Codex Questions On Demonic Possession we learn that Lucanis has been studying possession topics in the Lighthouse, finding that all the information that exists is focused on mages. “Every text says I should be dead or impossible”
Spite shows a high level of possessiveness: He claims Lucanis is his so no other spirit or demon would dare to claim him. He also is possessive of the revenges that Lucanis wants to collect: he breaks Lucanis’ awakened control when Illario kills Zara. And by the end of his personal quest, there is a degree of possessiveness with Treviso, claiming he will remove the Antaam from it.
By the end of Lucanis’ personal quest “Murder of Crows” there are two potential Veilguard skills that can be unlocked: Demon of Defiance or Demon of Rebellion, each of them associated with a particular legendary armour. Due to the description of each of them, we can assume that Spite enhances and accentuates his relentless,“spiteful” nature in Lucanis when Illario is imprisoned, while the description of the Demon of Rebellion, that implies that he learns the importance of saving a life over ending it, enhances the resistance aspect of Spite: an attitude of continuing and enduring “out of spite”.
If Miranthous is saved, Lucanis' goal at the end of the game is to find a way to undo his possession, even though the claims fears the loneliness that he will feel after that.
Sleep and Coffee
He liked the beverage before his possession, but now he abuses it to remain awake as much as possible. He claims that Spite can’t easily take control of him when he is awake, but he has no defences when sleeping [sleepwalk scene]. His sleepwalks frightened him [romanced scene], most likely because he fears to kill people he loves. He is a character too focused on keeping control of himself and his life, but Spite breaks this security.
He tries not to sleep much, even less in Treviso. During his wakefulness, he cleans his gear, does exercise, works on his Orlesian vocabulary, and knits strangling cords [Harding-Lucanis banter].
He seems to have a lot of dreams related to work and work failures or situations where the work gets more complicated because the situations are against him [Harding-Lucanis banter]
As part of the jokes around the theme of coffee, we find that Lucanis is offended by Neve’s coffee: prepared with boiled water and somehow ending up in something that is not liquid anymore.
After Inner Demons, he uses coffee as a reward to relax after a job, and it is part of the deal with Spite. However, this is not always shown properly in the rest of the game [narrative inconsistencies].
Flirt and Romance
He is good at noticing flirtation. It makes sense since he was raised among seductive Crows such as Illario and Teia who use flirting techniques among their strategies of attack. He is even more aware than the player when Teia is flirting with Rook, so we can assume that he chooses not to engage to Rook’s flirting due to professionalism or/and the shame he is carrying for being an abomination. It can also be interpreted as a consequence of his inexperience, so he doesn’t know how to answer a direct flirt aimed at him despite noticing it [Personal quest scenes].
When one of the first flirts [“you are a courageous man”] is detected [is that even a flirt?], he breaks eye contact, and diminishes the compliment [“a stubborn one, perhaps”], while at the same time, thanking it. This proves, more or less, that he recognizes the flirts, but does not engage them. But it’s not a pattern we can follow in each scene, so we can assume narrative inconsistencies.
He is confused by what people expect from him in terms of flirt or “charm”. So he asks for advice and executes the advice between a given context [Taash telling him to spread his wings in private with Rook, or Rook encouraging him to keep feeding Neve things she likes]
When other characters point out his soft or romantic side [Neve, Teia, Bellara, or Rook in scenes or banter] he does not shy away from recognising it. Teia would tease him claiming that he is showing a soft heart, to which he would not care to respond. Neve and Bellara make remarks about his romance [with Rook or Neve] that he takes without a hint of fluster, nervousness, or anything else but a “fact”. With a romanced Rook, Neve would easily make him confess that Rook is good for him without any coyness [Neve-Lucanis Banter, Taash-Lucanis banter, and Bellara-Lucanis banter]. He reinforces his confusion about what Rook sees in him, but he accepts it anyway and doesn’t shy away from openly claiming that Rook makes him happy. We can interpret that despite not being sure what to offer as flirting or charm to his Love Interest, he is not shy about it, and embraces his relationship openly.
Whenever he tries to imply any sense of seduction or flirting, he always adds a line “I hope”, or “I suppose”, reinforcing the concept that he has no idea what’s he is doing when it comes to seduction or flirt; hence why he picks any suggestion given by Rook or Taash. For example: he tried to compare the technique of killing mages to a dance or a seduction, but ended up not being sure about the latter.
Apparently, he has a romantic, sentimental side. He describes coffee blends like a goodbye kiss, bitter and sweet, while a first kiss is sweet like honey and intriguing like lavender cream. He also seems to understand that “on the matter of the heart one must be discerning”. When Rook questions what matters most for him, his answer is more sentimental than what we could expect: the people he cares about. [“You never thought about changing the course of your life? Change for the things that matter to you?” “Perhaps what matters is who I am with”]
He prefers to read romance [Harding-Lucanis banter] which fits with what was explained above.
Lucanis admits that Rook’s/Neve’s relationship is his first one, and he had an attempt to get romantic attention from Viago, but it was ignored [Emmerich-Lucanis banter]. He had given him a dagger as a present.
Recently, the writer confirmed him as panromantic and demisexual without experience in romance and sex.
Lucanis’ Logbook
From this series of codices, we can infer he really likes making and following schedules. He exercises, maintains his weapons, and prepares meals as a way to avoid falling asleep [all this is confirmed later via banter too]. He has regular meetings with other party members to talk about the mission they are working on [Bellara, Neve, Harding, and Emmrich] or about Crows [Taash]. He also spends part of his time “studying”. Even if the logbooks don’t say what he is particularly studying, we can infer in the codex Questions On Demonic Possession that he is searching for answers about his possessed condition.
He is a bit uncomfortable with the lack of cycle day-night in the Lighthouse, comparing it to the timeless sense of the Ossuary [Lucanis's Logbook, 1 ].
At times, the logbooks break the schedule, and we can read exactly where Lucanis fell asleep and Spite continued writing. Spite seems to cryptically refer to something which is “a piece cut from the whole” [using playful wording], a protection cage with golden stranded weaves. Spite also draws decagonal diagrams [Lucanis's Logbook, 2 ]. My personal interpretation is Spite’ call for help since he is still in the mental Ossuary, trapped in a cage that means some protection. The “piece cut from the whole” may have some reference about the fragmented state in which Spite and Lucanis are at this point, but also may have some potential interpretation of Spite being part of a “whole” previous to his torture at Zara’s hand. This second interpretation is linked with the second poetry that Spite writes in the Logbook 3.
As Lucanis said in the quest “Coffee with the Crows”, the smells and tastes are the things that bring the strongest memories, and we also find this aspect in Spite, who seems to smell something from the “beyond” and remembers with burning pain [grieves?] his time before being twisted and tortured [Lucanis's Logbook, 3 ]. He claims he was “infinity”, not a shade, not a claw in a gut [which may be how he sees himself in Lucanis’ body: a painful sharp claw hooked in his guts]. Basically, we read in a cryptic way how Spite mourns his own change due to torture, his twisted present, and even maybe his effect on his host. Spite is as hurt in this situation as Lucanis is with his possession.
In Lucanis's Logbook, 4 we can see that Lucanis finds more clarity in the presence of Rook [“It is an hour found. An hour more clear than any other”].
If Miranthous was saved, Lucanis focuses on studying ways to recover his city while reading about possession in a very intense way. Thanks to the unique scene we obtain in this path, we know that Lucanis is determined to find a way to separate Spite from his body [Lucanis's Logbook, 5 ] and by contrast with a Lucanis whose city was saved, we can infer that the mental Ossuary was never solved, and his body is a constant battlefield for control between himself and Spite.
If Treviso was saved [Lucanis's Logbook, 5 ], Lucanis does not read about possession, and instead, we find another poem by Spite who seems to appreciate Lucanis and the sensations of his body [the wiggling toes while drinking coffee], while at the same time, he uses 2 interesting words: a small shade, repeated from the previous poem, and a “wounded spirit”, which seems to imply Spite is seeing himself as such, and not entirely as a demon. However, the small shade was a description already used in his previous poem that seemed to imply Spite, so the wounded spirit is Lucanis? If we assume these writers are using the word “spirit” as synonymous of “soul” [it would not surprise me, considering how careless and messy they are with the lore in general] this wounded spirit could also be understood as Lucanis, since a possessed person always gets “wounded/scarred” and easy to possess later if they managed a solution [but all this is real DA lore that I doubt these writers truly considered]. In this poem Spite repeats the concept of Infinite, as this original source he mourns to not to belong to anymore, but instead of a Cage, he describes a Shelter now [Lucanis’ mind is now a shelter?], and then a Storm, which may have a cheap “foreshadowing” implication with the last chapter of the game. In any case, we can read here a calmer Spite, and this last logbook even leaves a bit open the interpretation that a path for Spite to become Determination again, or being a bit closer to it, is possible.
Others
He claims he only knows how to solve problems with knives. [Bellara-Lucanis banter] which explains how difficult it is for him to work around non-death related situations or romantic ones [after all, his interest in Viago was also “solved” with a knife].
Lucanis may divide people as three different kinds: Enemies, contracts, and family [Inner Demon]. It’s clear over time that family is a broad concept for him, since it would eventually include his love interest and the team.
He doesn’t seem to be fond of promises or do not trust them [Coffee with the Crows]. This may be related to his vision of life and death, since everything is destined to die and fade, same as promises.
He seems to have an atheist vision when it comes to religion [read details here]
He has never been in Ferelden despite the Crows taking contracts from all over Thedas. He explains that since the Fifth Blight they don’t work there anymore because of Loghain. He adds that House Arainai embarrassed themselves so much that the Crows buried six different Eight Talons—probably a soft reference to Zevran and his assassinations of the guildmasters that followed years later after the end of DAO—[Harding-Lucanis banter].
He has a snake pet [Tassh-Lucanis banter]. It’s not clear if this comment is a real fact, and he has a snake as a pet or he is referring to Illario, to whom he describes as a snake a couple of times after the discovery of his treason.
He liked wyverns as a boy. He was not aware that they could be kept as pets until Harding narrates a bit about what we played in DA2: Mark of the Assassin . He considers that keeping a wyvern cannot be worse than keeping Illario. He took contracts in Orlais but never in the countryside, so he laments not having taken a target and disposing of the body as bait to watch wyverns closer [Harding-Lucanis banter].
If the resolution of the quest that describes an affair between a Venatori and a Crow ends up killing the lovers, he will say “tragic end, but a Crow’s heart is pledged to Antiva”, which may justify why he is locked out of romance if Treviso is not saved [ironically, only for Rook, he has no problems with Neve; narrative inconsistency, I suppose].
During the extended version of Lucanis’ quest [shopping with Lucanis] we learn that he has expensive tastes. He acknowledges that he lived a very comfortable life before the Ossuary, which is quite clear once we see the Villa Dellamorte.
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visceralcoma · 30 days ago
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I compiled all the notes we find in the Ossuary Prison when we first recruit Lucanis.
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Query on Prison Staff Calivan, The other wardens don’t want to go near that Crow’s cell anymore. Can’t we get someone else to do it? Slaves, maybe
-Ovidius
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Inmate Scribbling I am Nyrys I was Nyrys I we were We are Nyrys
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Prison Warden’s Orders Ovidius No, we can’t get slaves to do it. We used them all as test subjects. We don’t have the budget for any more. Do you think slaves just grow on trees? Get the juniors to do their jobs.
-Calivan
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Felicia, What exactly does she expect me to do? Its been over three hundred days now. It was supposed to take a week, at most! If Zara’s brilliant process failed, how does she expect me to salvage it?
-Calivan
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Calivan, There’s been development, and now we need results as swiftly as possible. Push the subjects harder. Do anything you can to intensify their feelings of envy and frustration. I want every single demon you can produce, ready to fight for the glory of Tevinter reborn. Zara Renata
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Calivan, You know as well as I do how demanding Zara can be. Nothing less than perfection is ever acceptable. Of course she’s not going to accept that the Crow is a failure of her method. Just kill him. Perhaps the demon will manifest when he dies.
-Felicia Erimond
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Ossuary Records on Prisoner 20 Incubation: 18 days Emergence: Rapacity Sent to Vyrantium
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Ossuary Records on Prisoner 36 Incubation: 9 days Emergence: Misery Sent to Marnas Pell
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Ossuary Records on Prisoner 51 Incubation: 100 days Emergence: Passivity Declared a failure and destroyed
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Records from the Ossuary Numbered prisoner cells, each followed by a single word: Cell 1: Despair Cell 2: Shame Cell 3: Horror For page after page after page…
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transificationbeem · 26 days ago
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Headcanons/Dynamic stuff for rook and contentment:
Little bit of background on my Rook for context/those interested: My rook doesnt have a name other than "rook." He's veshothi, raised by two Tal-Vashoth in a mercenary company/commune that still used role-names, so his name before he came "Rook" was "Tamassran"; he was trained to be, and briefly was priest of an altered, Tal-Vashoth bastardization of the qun (affectionate) as well as the teacher of the groups children (so, yeah. Tamassran.) He's a mage, so healing rolled into that. When his gender (neither a man nor a woman) came to light, his parents demanded he either change roles or stay a woman. He ran off with a recent-to-the-company laborer Tal-Vashoth named Athlok, settling in the Anderfels not far off from Lavendal, though the village is gone by the time canon rolls around. Athlok and he have a kid named Sataia, he works as the village healer and tutors the local rural children (though it takes a bit to earn trust in a mostly human and elven settlement). The local mine gets overrun with darkspawn. Athlok dies. Rook is blighted. Recruited by the wardens. (Sataia is okay!) You get the picture.
◇ Rook was possessed by Contentment in a similar fashion to how Lucanis was by spite, only much late (post First Talon Lucanis). Ie: captured by the venatori, who thought doing to Lucanis' lover what was done to him (very likely to fail and kill him) would be perfect poetic revenge for Zara's death. Obviously this doesn't go well for them.
◇ Rook and Contentment don't start on good terms, to put it lightly. Rook is, frankly, petrified of contentment as an emotion and as a spirit (he can't afford to let down his guard, to get comfortable. He certainly can't afford to rest). It doesn't help that Contentment introduces itself by impersonating his dead husband.
◇ Rook was already on very good terms with Spite. He's spent the whole game trying to get Lucanis and Spite to see eye to eye. By the point contentment comes into play, Lucanis and Rook are an Item with a capital I (mechanically, they were locked in), and Rook was trying to figure out how to broach the subject of making this into Thedas' second Polycule-That-Includes-A-Possession (DA2 Anders and Justice I love you)
◇ Contentment is a LOT older than spite, though not necessarily more powerful, and generally treats mortals as playthings or meal tickets, usually both. They're a bit of a busy body, possessive, and generally unconcerned with anything that isn't making the object of their fascination as relaxed and/or blissed out as possible. They can come off as lazy and selfish given these are traits they like to try and encourage in their mortals, but that's not exactly the truth of the situation. They covet beauty, kindness, and acts of devotion.
◇ Contentment (pronouns are they/it) is already head over heels for Rook. They like puzzles, and a challenge, and Rook is so wound tight that getting him Unwound is both.
◇ Contentment is mildly curious about Lucanis. Right now it enjoys Lucanis' company because Lucanis makes Rook content, which makes him Useful. Right now they see him as a mortal worth "keeping"; they're very invested in Lucanis treating Rook right, which they don't really have to worry about (Rook, however, is VERY worried about the pressure contentment is putting on Lucanis, and is having none of this).
◇ Contentment and Spite HATE each other.
◇Spite finds Contentment arrogant, lazy, and selfish. Not only is Rook THEIRS, but Rook is far from happy with the current situation, and given Rook is one of very few people that really enjoys Spite's company, that's a big problem. It doesn't help that Spite is also pretty possessive, and that Contentment is far from nice to him.
◇ Contentment thinks Spite is immature, brash, and hates that he keeps calling them out when they try to manipulate the current situation in their favor. They're only doing what spirits of contentment DO; besides, all of this is in Rook's best interest (Rook very much begs to differ!).
◇ Spite keeps calling Contentment Desire, (with some pretty colorful adjectives attatched) which pisses them off to no end.
◇ Lucanis, by this point, is juuust starting to see eye to eye with Spite. They still aggravate each other, they'll probably never stop bickering, but he's softened on him a bit. Begrudgingly. Contentment is one of the things they really don't agree on, but warming up to Spite has left him a little more open minded about the whole thing.
◇ While Lucanis is wary of it, worried they'll take things to far, he could think of worse things than a demon trying to make sure his lover with a savior complex and "I'll rest when I'm dead" attitude remembers to eat, sleep, and relax once and a while. He's keeping a close eye to make sure Contentment never gets out of hand—just as Rook has been keeping an eye on Spite in the event Lucanis has gotten thrown into the back seat, so to speak—but he's not hostile. He's not unlikely to develop a crush, but right now Rook is too freaked out—and Contentment too unconcerned with that— for that to be paleatable to him.
◇ Eventually this is going to settle into a really weird polycule. I don't make the rules.
◇ Everyone else on the team is mildly horrified and also eventually amused. Lucanis and Rook initially try to sleep almost in shifts (and it isn't like Rook wasn't already doing that for Lucanis before this when he could) but sometimes they nod off at the same time and suddenly everyone else is dealing with Contentment and Spite having the arguement of the century
◇ The possession and the unusual way it came about has the unintended effect of Lucanis and Rook being able to see each other's demons when they want to be seen, as well as hear them and feel their touch. This has interesting results. Namely Spite and Contentment bickering in the background until Rook and Lucanis both tell them to shut up. Outloud. In front of everyone else. Who can't see or hear them.
◇ Spite is taking FULL advantage of being able talk to Rook and he is being insufferable out it.
◇ Contentment keeps getting into Lucanis' personal space in ways that are generally annoying. Also making a lot of wildly innappropriate comments.
@ab121500
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lukeskqwalker · 23 days ago
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ok, so. lucanis's recruitment quest doesn't make a whole lot of sense at first glance, so this is my attempt of putting together what the fuck you walked into and what daily life there was like.
to start, i don't believe the room you meet lucanis in is his cell at all. i think lucanis had succeeded in 85% of his breakout when you recruit him. the cells that were shown were much smaller and more sparse, I believe he was not given special treatment. I believe he managed to kill the guard bringing his meal, broke out, got his gear back (armor, sweater, knives, etc), and killed MOST of the guards. the sheer number of guards caught up to him, and some mages managed to encase him in ice and lock the door with red lyrium while waiting for someone else to bring his blood so that they could transfer him back to his cell.
I can't decide how much, if at all, spite showed himself in the ossuary before his attempted breakout. part of me wants to say that he spent the entire time as spite (lucanis's quote about how he survived by shutting down completely, be nothing, feel nothing, etc. makes me think that he genuinely just gave spite the reins), and the other part of me wonders what lucanis meant when he said that they were waiting for spite to burst from him like a cocoon. Like, the physical demon of spite, killing lucanis in the process? or the symbiotic relationship they have now, just manifesting physically like when he has the wings/is in control? I'm leaning towards the first one, though the feel nothing/be nothing quote could still apply if spite never showed himself.
as for the blood, i'm sure they used it often to walk him to the torture/experiment room and for, well, general human needs. that's why he knows its there.
side note. lucanis knew who a LOT of zaras people were, and mentions their role in the bloodbath quest. (helpfully named, as its the one with the bath. of blood.) when you kill one of zaras people, he mentions how this one used to come to the ossuary to read bones. why is he there for this? how long would he be kept on a torture table to know these things? how many times has he attempted to escape and gotten part of the way through before being stopped?
I DO wonder if spite could sense the red lyrium cage breaking and That be why he decided to break out of the ice right in that moment.
going back to the gear, its... well. a hilarious detail thats fitting to his character. its so tidy! he wears a little bolo tie! his shirt is completely laced to the top! hes got that HOMEMADE SWEATERRRRRRRR. all while attempting a prison break. I think it was supposed to add to the fear factor and thus go back to the crow training related to throwing the target off guard. also, probably helped with feeling more human instead of an experiment.
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arookinthelighthouse · 24 days ago
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I can't stop thinking about one of the banters I got not long after recruiting Lucanis. It's specifically between him and Bellara when they talk about how Spite was put inside him. Lucanis says "they fed me something. Like he was a parasite in uncooked meat. [...] Zara said she got the idea from some cult in Orlais. They used it on Seekers. Who are immune to demons," which immediately made me think back to Cassandra's personal quest in Inquisition. We saw firsthand what can happen to someone who is fed a demon like that, and for me it was one of the more horrifying moments of the game. However, it has also left me with thoughts that I hope will be addressed the later I get in the game but likely never will because they're not going to be that generous lmao (I've currently just gotten the Part 9 achievement, so somewhere near the start of Act 3 I think?).
My thought is that I wonder if this is a plot point that could have more significance in the next game - assuming we get another Dragon Age game, of course. I wonder if we will see this practice of force feeding someone parts of demons/spirits to possess them in that way evolve into something even more horrifying. Will one of the villains in the next game or perhaps even the Big Bad Evil Guy use this method to enslave people and build up some sort of demonic, abominated army? Will it be used as a form of torture? It would also be interesting to consider if something like that could be used as part of the next protagonist's origin story if we get a new protagonist. What sort of new combat and game mechanics would we get with a protagonist who is also an abomination that was created by the BBEG of the next game and decides to take down said BBEG and their abominated army.
Anyway, I'm sure this is something that has already been talked about at length by other blogs on here, it's just something I've been thinking about a lot since getting that banter earlier on in the game.
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niofo · 4 months ago
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there's half a mention in eight little talons about teia having a tattoo of house cantori and i just keep thinking about those tattoos. do all crows have them? if so they can't be a common knowledge, or else they couldn't go undercover as someone's lover or they would be discovered the moment they undress. are the tattoos in the same places, too? teia's one was on the back, so visible even in some of her dresses. would the placement of the tattoos dependent on the house? are they having some sort of an ownership meaning (considering a lot of crows were bought as children, not recruited), or maybe they're more a symbol of camaraderie? i guess both is possible depending on one's particular relationship to the crows.
i wonder about zevran's tattoo in context of romanced warden - if he maybe dismissed it to his lover as just a regular tattoo and only later disclosed its meaning? would he want to cover it with sth else now that he's not part of the crows? (i don't think the tattoo on his face is the house arainai symbol, bcos again, i would assume that you want it in a place where it's at least possible to conceal it for undercover contracts). i wonder if in dav rook will be given a tattoo of the house they're from in the crows origin. would lucanis have one as well and if so, what would be the circumstances of him showing it to rook? or if the theory about zara renata capturing and putting a demon into him is correct, wouldn't she want to destroy any symbol of house dellamorte as well?
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violet-hijinkx · 4 months ago
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I’ve been working on this OC for literal weeks and FINALLY decided on a design I liked last night. Her name is Zara Fuli and the animal I based her off of is a king cheetah (I didn’t even know king cheetahs existed until it came up while I was doing research for this character) she is twisted from the character Fuli (a queen cheetah) from the lion guard animated series.
I made her a king cheetah to compliment the character she’s based off of and, like Fuli, she is second in command of the sunset warriors and she shares a birthday with the animated series as well (just for some added lore she also has beef with Leona since he “forgot” to attend the last few Cloud Calling Festivals leaving her to deal with training the new recruits with Neji💀😭 I also liked the idea of some beast folk being more animal than human so that’s what I did with her🥰 since she’s also pretty athletic I also tried too give her a more muscular build as well as mimicking the body type of a cheetah. I like to imagine that her and Jack are athletic rivals😊🤭
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mohntilyet · 11 days ago
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i’m having illario dellamorte thoughts. what if instead of knowingly betraying lucanis he did it like, unknowingly. idk how this would work but i’m intrigued by what it gives us. illario ‘i accidentally caused my cousin’s death & can never tell anyone’ dellamorte. genuinely grieving. blaming himself. does he take advantage of the year before lucanis comes back?? does caterina still ignore him the whole time?? how different is the canon plotline once rook shows up with lucanis post-rescue…..
anyways i would love your thoughts!!
95% of what i do with illario operates on the idea that he is frighteningly competent so you can see why the way the crows plotline plays out in the game might frustrate me. it’s also this reason why i don’t actually think too much about “illario got lucanis killed, but didn’t mean to do it”, because i like the idea that everything illario does in his life is planned to the second and that he’s too well trained to mess up this badly, if that makes sense. with that being said. 5% of my brain power does sometimes go towards “and what if he just sucked actually” and it was a theory i enjoyed before the game even released. so i have in fact been thinking about this anyway LOL . maybe he tries to honeypot zara, accidentally actually reveals lucanis’ next assassination job, and zara gets rid of him as a ‘gift’. illario is horrified and that gets even worse when lucanis’ body shows up, and he assumes this must be because he spurned zara by leaving her and not having the guts to seize power.
i think we could make his inferiority complex worse. illario’s worst fear confirmed: he is as worthless as his grandmother believes he is, botching something so badly that he accidentally sentences his cousin to death when what he wanted was lucanis just… out of the way for a bit (maybe while he kills caterina. LOL. i still think his resentment of caterina trumps his jealousy for lucanis though those two things are very intertwined its hard for him to differentiate them). so incapable that he got the only person who actually supports him killed, and now he’s dreading the idea of becoming first talon. he doesn’t want first talon without lucanis backing him, and now the only person left is caterina which is suffocating and makes him even unhappier. at least he hadn’t lived through her alone, and now through consequences of his own decisions, illario has no choice but to.
i think that would affect his plans for talon because of how horribly he’d fucked up, and tries to mask it because if he suddenly actually doesn’t want to be talon that would be a red flag for everyone. lucanis coming back would delight him (talon is within his sights again if lucanis comes back!) and freak him out. i think the plotline would actually be pretty similar because of this freak out, so he still shows up to zara’s fight to cover his tracks. lucanis can never know, caterina can never know, because what little faith they have in him will be lost. like he committed fratricide and didn’t even MEAN to😭 ...corpse whispering still happens, and zara is like “ohhh that coward. he can never finish what he started, can he?” + “elaborate.” + “i gave him what he most wanted in the world and instead of being grateful, he ran away.” so lucanis finds out about what happened but feels a mix of “illario, you idiot” + pity because turns out he didn’t even mean for it to happen, and keeps his secret for now, otherwise he’d probably have to kill him.
i also think not meaning to kill lucanis would sour his feelings towards the venatori, who are a reminder of how badly he failed, so the alliance wouldn’t happen. this does mean if the story goes on as it does in canon, he has to take desperate measures another way and kidnap caterina for some other reason but i can’t think of why….. maybe a thing where illario is like “ok. lucanis is distracted by the elven gods. this time i just have to kill nonna for real and then nothing is in my way” and recruits disgraced houses or houses that don’t like caterina to do so? not sure tbh but i don’t believe caterina made it so far without making enemies lol. this would happen post bloodbath + corpse whispering— lucanis leaves his cousin unchecked because while he knows illario didn’t mean for him to die, he has no idea how far he would go to have caterina dead. teia could find out about this and send word to foil the kidnapping and assassination attempt
so ‘murder of crows’ is still about saving caterina, the illario-lucanis fight still happens, but it’s a little more hesitant and lots of “why won’t you just let me kill her? i’m doing this for the both of us”. he’s had to live with being the un-favorite, but never would have thought lucanis would actually pick caterina if it came down to it. with all of his missteps here, i think the final decision (and i think it should be like this in canon anyway) would be to imprison illario or kill him. imprisoning him is just a lot of “i can’t kill illario as much as he couldn’t kill me”, vs killing him as is expected from him as talon, and what he knew he would have to do after finding out about illario's failures. unlike canon, where illario is actually meaning to kill him and can be seen as a 'good crow' despite the sloppiness, here he's like. just bad at everything. the allied traitor houses that went against caterina would also have to be imprisoned or killed. no happy ending at all here, and lucanis still becomes first talon. now that i’ve written it out this is actually probably the worst ending LOL
the above sticks a lot to what is canon to the game (plot points, choices, etc) and i didn’t go very far away from it so it's like canon 3 inches to the left. tho my thoughts on this are not fleshed out* because i think illario works better as an antagonist character that sets things in motion !! not necessarily the villain in a cain-abel story, but a character who opposes lucanis while still not wanting to hurt him. that kind of discipline where he finds a way to get what he wants (first talon) without compromising what he also cares for (family) is so much more fun for me than a man who apparently just loses it and decides to enact a bad plan to get rid of his cousin. if he waited 20+ years to become talon i think he’d be more careful when it came down to it. if i had my way illario would be playing insane 5d chess to rival solas (insert black sails “i once thought that to lead, to be liked was just as good as feared. and that may very well be true. but to be both liked and feared all at once, is an entirely different state of being.”)
#*my thoughts are ‘not fleshed out’ but i still wrote all this. LOL#i nearly answered this ask with the companion-illario au from my mind because i think vg needed a companion that lies to you LOL#but thats less 'illario didnt mean to do it' and more 'oh illario did it and just feels so guilty he goes on a one man crusade#against the venatori because he needs an outlet and both of them are known as magekillers'#he would have lied for most of the game about how lucanis got kidnapped/'killed' and resolves it by saving lucanis + confessing his guilt#this au had elements of 'it was an accident' but i kept flip flopping between if i wanted that or not lol#because . idk. i like when he purposefully does all this and then regrets it. my walking contradiction (slash i want him)#illario guilt inferiority and jealousy you all mean so much to me#but yeah. last point relates to the envyllario rewrite also from my mind#the idea of like. that caution vanishing because of the envy demon is quite fun for me#so spite makes lucanis a victim to his own anger and sense of justice#while envy refuses to let illario maintain his veneer of charm and forces him to act rashly despite his planning#ok. i have to stop talking. thank u anon for this because i am always looking for an excuse to chat shit#prompt me at any point to speak about illario and i honest to god will just be sat here thinking#actually it was pretty bad a few days ago when i was thinking about ways it could go for him in my aus and drawing a blank#and had the very clear thought 'i NEED to put my thinking cap on' which was . a bit humiliating#illario dellamorte#long post#answered#anonymous
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insanefan · 3 days ago
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WIP Whenever
Thanks for the tag @serrantalot :> Tagging @dude-wheres-my-ankheg @hydropyro @redroomroaving
I may or may not be writing on a fun little AU with Rook!Val'dran and Lucanis... 👀
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“What’s on your mind?” Lucanis asks. He sounds like Rook remembers him, except�� there’s a hesitance now. A caution more reminiscent of their misunderstandings and disagreements at the start of their married life.
“Too many things,” he answers truthfully. “Can I—would you—an embrace? Please?”
Lucanis stares at him for a long moment, then gives a short nod. For another moment, neither of them moves, and then Rook steps forward and pulls Lucanis close. He’s warm. Alive. And somehow that—
“Are you crying?” Lucanis asks softly, stroking a hand along his back.
“Yeah. Sorry,” Rook manages, trying not to sniffle as tears simply cascade over his cheek. The fabric of Lucanis’ vest crumples in his grip, and his fight with emotions really isn’t going his way, because it’s all just a lot.
“The first thing Viago said to me was ‘Lucanis was killed a year ago’,” he explains, voice shaking. “And I was so very angry that he hadn’t even informed me. But then—Caterina explained that it was a ruse. And maybe it’s good I didn’t grieve you a year ago. But if I had known sooner—”
Lucanis sighs. “What could you have done? You had your contract with Varric.”
“I could still have… there could’ve been something. Anything,” Rook says miserably.
“Ombra. You rescued me now,” Lucanis points out. “If you hadn’t, I would still be at the Ossuary.”
“It doesn’t feel like enough,” Rook admits. “I essentially abandoned you. If I were there…”
“Then you would have been killed,” Lucanis replies. “Zara wanted only me. Cease thinking such things, Ombra. They will only make you miserable. I am here now, and I will recover. I merely need time. Your presence… helps.”
Rook sniffles pitifully, and Lucanis cups his cheek with a hand, his expression soft. “I have missed you,” he admits.
“I have missed you as well,” Rook mumbles. “I’m—so glad you’re alive. If too thin. Would you… like to make dinner with me?”
Lucanis smiles. “Of course,” he agrees. “Though we shall need to make a list of groceries going forward, or I suspect none of you will eat anything sensible at all. It is a good thing you recruited me for this group of yours.”
Rook laughs wetly, ducking his head into Lucanis’ neck. Warm. Alive.
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canipleasegetthenumber15 · 9 days ago
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Some redesigns of OCs I made as a teen. :) I made this short-lived, unfinished story about a group of mythical creatures/people that were gathered from different realms by an unseen/secretive guardian oligarchy to build an army against enemies threatening the realms. First we have the Chimera triplets (Chimera is their surname). Though they're based on the Greek mythology of the Chimera, they're three distinct persons who share one body (as oppose to one creature with multiple heads, as often described in mythology). Kiara is known as The Charmer (high in charisma, bit of a flirt), Leodora is known as The Negotiator (high in both wisdom and intelligence, sort of the "mom friend"), and Zara is known as The Intimidator or The Brawler (high in strength and speed, also always ready to pick a fight). They're roughly in their 30s and about 6'7" tall.
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Next are some concepts for Sachiko and Yuudai, who are recruited to the same group the Chimera sisters are recruited to. Sachiko somehow found herself in the wrong realm (our world) and was being hunted for her rare ruby scales when Yuudai stumbled upon her and saved her, though he has no idea what he's doing. He starts hiding her in his apartment until the a scout from the trans-dimensional oligarchy finds them and forces them to join the army. Yuudai is the only human in their ranks and probably shouldn't be there, except that Sachiko has an peculiar bond with him.
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stvphenwrites · 21 days ago
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Wolf Bites
Relation: Wolf/Samantha (Platonic but not really platonic, more like where Axel tries to kiss Sam but Sam pulls away, I don’t know honestly 🤷🏼‍♀️)
Summary: Sensei Wolf tries to convince Samantha to join The Iron Dragons and leave Miyagi-Do behind.
Characters: Sensei Wolf, Samantha LaRusso
Warnings: Small manipulation (doesn’t work), one kiss but its more like to distract Wolf
(A/n: First time writing a Cobra Kai story, might suck a little, but oh well.)
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parts: 1/2
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The Iron Dragons, a Dojo based in Hong Kong, not all of the members were natives and usually recruited from other countries. Even the teams own captains, Zara and Axel.
One student had Sensei Wolf’s interest, someone from another dojo, Miyagi-Do to be exact. Samantha LaRusso who was the daughter of Daniel LaRusso, he knew damn well she’d never join the Iron Dragons, but he could without a doubt try.
Samantha was down by the beach in Barcelona, taking a small stroll to clear her head until she heard a voice behind her.
“Need some company?” Wolf’s voice came behind her as LaRusso whipped around and looked at Sensei Wolf with furrowed brows.
“What do you want?” Samantha replied, already knowing what he was going to say.
“Just asking if I could walk with you, that’s all?” Wolf says, feigning innocence, though she rolled her eyes already not believing it.
The two walked in silence for a few minutes, the only sound was the sound of the waves hitting the beach, the seagulls perched and flying around the beach and some kids playing in the sand with their parents as well as the shops that were being set up after hours of the beach officially being closed.
Wolf glanced over at Samantha, looking down at her face that he could only read as irritated. “You seem frustrated.” He commented with his hands in his pockets.
“Gee..great observation.” Samantha retorted bitterly, side eyeing the man next to her, it was easy to get under her skin, and she didn’t really care for it.
Her mind wasn’t on the situation, thinking about the many things that have been going on in her head, not one being good.
Wolf chuckled, a sly grin plastering on his face, already finding the girl next to him amusing. “So what’s got you so troubled?” He asked, keeping his gaze in her, knowing it would annoy her more.
“Why do you even care?” She raised an eyebrow, not even looking at him as she continued to walk, he was just another annoying person she had to deal with in her life.
“I’m not allowed to care or even ask?” He questioned, looking at her directly, watching as she avoided his gaze, though his shit-eating smirk continued to stay on his face, he knew the answer to his own question.
“Leave Miyagi-Do. Join The Iron Dragon.” he suddenly proposed, now standing in front of her, forcing her to a halt.
LaRusso was in complete shock, not expecting that proposition, it was completely sudden. “Are you insane!? No!” She exclaimed, taking a step back.
“I will never join a corrupted dojo like that.” She continued, glaring up at the 6’2 man standing in front of her.
“Corrupted?” He echoed with a scoff, a grin still on his face, he tilted her head at her, his hands now out of his pockets. “I’m offended you’d say that. We’re far from corrupted.” He replied back.
He took a step closer, now towering over her, his form close to hers. “You’re wasting your potential, staying at that Dojo.” He stated with a serious tone, suddenly, he pulled Sam close to his chest, arm wrapped around her neck in a tight headlock, his other hand bending at her right arm.
Sam struggled in his grip, her arms flailing at his sides, trying to free herself from his grasp. “Get off of me!” She exclaimed, her head turning in different angles, trying to break free.
He ignored her demands, not budging his hold on her. “You’ll only get hurt more staying at Miyagi-Do. Being In The Iron Dragons, you wouldn’t have to worry. You’d be untouchable. You’d be strong. All you have to do….is leave that lousy dojo.” He told her, keeping her in his tight hold.
She continued to try and break free, she let out a small whimper, which was of annoyance and pain, his grip being too strong and too tight for her to move. “I said no…!” Sam struggled to yell, looking up at him with angered eyes, struggling in vain, her body stilling for a moment.
Wolf only chuckled at her annoyed expression, “You’re too pretty to be getting yourself hurt. A pretty face like yours, I’d personally make sure you’d be well protected.”
“You just need to leave them, come to where you belong. If not I will force you.” He threatened, making sure she knew it wasn’t just a threat but a statement.
The brunette continued to struggle in his grip, clawing at his arms and trying to break free but all of it, every single thing only failed. So she did the last thing she’d thought she’d do.
Sam tilted her head up and pressed her lips right to Wolf’s. Shocker.
The older’s eyes widened when her lips touched his, they were soft, supple, and sweet when they collided. He was surprised, for the first time, he was surprised. He did not see this coming at all.
A grunt had escaped him when he felt Sam get out of his grasp and pin him down to the sand of the beach, pressing her foot right to his throat.
Wolf looked up at her in disbelief, his heart beating rapidly against his chest, he didn’t think she’d ever do something like that.
“Quite the move.” He muttered with a cocky tone, a small smirk returned to his face, his eyes never leaving her’s.
She kept her foot to his throat, her expression still of annoyance. “Don’t try that again or I’ll crush your windpipe the next time.” She warned, a low growl in her tone.
He chuckled weakly from being pinned and having a foot to his throat, he slowly sat up, his hand catching her ankle and pulling her forward.
“You’re quick, I’ll give you that. Pretty and a hot temper.” He commented with a chuckle, “But not quick enough.”
Samantha huffed, glaring at him, she didn’t budge as he sat up and held onto her leg. “Let go.” She growled.
Wolf continued to hold onto her, his grip keeping her from moving. “Or what? You’re gonna kiss me again?” He teased. “I thought Miyagi-Do only uses defense.”
“You have no idea how much I want to kick your teeth out.” Sam threatened once again, her tone serious, still glaring down at him.
Wolf chuckled again, shaking his head but he was serious with his words. “Try me.”
Sam’s expression darkened, “You’re an idiot you know that?” She asked, her hands clenching into fists, she let out a breath and bent down, kneeing him in the gut with such force Wolf was sure he’d have a bruise.
Wolf groaned feeling her knee to his gut, he was definitely sure he was gonna feel a bruise, he grunted and he let go of her after that.
He panted and held his stomach. “I’ll..give you that…“ he grunted, looking up at her as she continued to stand over him.
He rubbed at his gut, watching as Sam took a step back and glared down at Wolf, “I’ll never join your shitty dojo.”
The girl turned around and left Wolf alone on the beach, having to give her arm he twisted a small rub the way back.
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st-just · 25 days ago
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Okay, to avoid accidentally spoiling myself on Arcane, have spent the day playing Veilguard - I *think* I've finished Lucanis' personal questine? Though he's not 'Hero of the Veilguard' yet so there's aybe one thing left at some point (or possibly I fucked up somewhere or hardening him just makes it impossible).
In any event
god so much wasted potential. Just incredible amounts.
Whhyyyy would you spend a whole recruitment mission building up Zara as this mad scientist/demon-binding wizard villain with some actual presence and flair just to kill her off in the next mission and make the most obvious 'surprise traitor!' evil cousin in the entire universe the real boss fight instead.
It's even a worse boss fight!
Crows have fallen pretty damn far from the days of 'if you fuck up a contract you're dead to us and very shortly to everyone else too' huh - even launching a coup doesn't get you executed anymore
I can't help but note that this entire plotline has functionally nothing to do with the whole 'is an abomination' thing that was introduced as Lucanis' core driving conflict
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msfbgraves · 27 days ago
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If someone said that Axel was Terry’s son, I would totally believe it, haha. He gives off Twig vibes with the social awkwardness and the shyness. And of course the interest in a cute LaRusso. But the height, the brown hair, the skill could pass. I even think he has blue eyes!
Zara is a tiny hot olive skinned complete menace and Axel looks like Terry if he had not gone to Nam.
Why do you think Terry recruited them? Also, finally someone who could really do a good kick justice! You can't teach kids things they're not physically built for, but Axel could take Terry's experience to the next level.
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