#alistairs art hours

[sleepys-sunny-garden]

the silly :]

[cozmic-ash]

Hey, guess who's just dropped several thousand dollars on my cat because she randomly stopped eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom 🥰

We have insurance for her, but I still have to pay for all of this up front and insurance doesn't cover 100%. And my hours at work just got DRASTICALLY cut 🥲 AND I'm still paying off the costs I put on my CareCredit card from my sickly cat Alistair 🥲🥲

I am super duper down to draw shit for you! I've got commissions listed on my ko-fi and I'm down to do other types not listed there with some discussion! I can also do commissions through paypal if you'd rather do it that way!

I also have:

venmo @ hm_jole

cashapp @ hmjole

any help is greatly appreciated 🥲 thank you

[quiescentdestiny]

Still feeling incredibly normal about the Lowe brothers.

[paunchsalazar]

heroes of ferelden

[smashingpigeons]

The family business

[slutauthority]

me: “if u want art of your fav character u have to practice drawing him”

me: *sobbing and biting* look at him I don’t even kno that guy help me help

[robynrileyart]

haha guess who just finished dragon age origins tonight. guess who romanced alistair. guess how im feeling

[echthr0s]

#VEILGUARD30 | vhenadahl

"So… Anansi… you ready? To… you know. See the Alienage?" Alistair's voice is tentative, shy about the sensitivity of the subject, but earnest. Always earnest, Alistair, even in his jesting. Anansi suppresses a chuckle, but before he can clarify what amused him -- before Alistair is wounded -- Morrigan is ready with a comeback.

"Yes, Anansi, are you ready? Being, you know…" She drops her voice to a quavering whisper. "One of those… surely you must--"

"Maker's sack, Morrigan, do you ever--" Alistair bites off the rest of his sentence, squeezing his eyes shut and appearing to struggle for composure. Morrigan smirks and settles back in her seat, having done her wicked deed for the hour.

"I will say, 'Maker's sack' is a good one. You've spent all the standard oaths on me many times over, I'm happy to see you getting creative."

Anansi has long since stopped trying to intercede between them. It is like ritual, now -- Alistair is clumsy but kind, Morrigan teases him for it, Alistair clearly wants to strangle her with her own scarf. Neither of them has ever cornered Anansi and begged to be kept away from the other. It is a dance -- not one Anansi would ever be able to follow the steps of with any grace, but both of them seemed to be doing just fine.

"Thank you for asking after my comfort, Alistair." Anansi tucks an errant strand of straw-blond hair behind Alistair's ear, tracing his stubbled jawline with gentle fingers as he brings his hand back down. Alistair's shoulders unbunch and he blushes. Anansi doesn't have to be facing Morrigan to know she's rolled her eyes, nor does he have to be clairvoyant to know she would later pointedly perform the same gesture on Anansi before grasping his chin and kissing him hard enough to bruise. Mockery is Morrigan's way, but there is flattery in it for the chosen few, if one has eyes to see. "I am anxious, to be sure. Anora has painted a grim picture. But I am well-accustomed to horror."

"Well, sure, but…"

"You think it is worse, that it happens to… 'my kin'?" Anansi tosses back his thick raven hair, revealing pointed ears, but these ears are adorned with bone charms, much like his neck and his wrists: a witch's fetishes. A Chasind witch's fetishes. "I am not elven, Ali, my love. I am of the Wilds."

"Barely," mutters Morrigan, who has never forgiven Anansi for being dragged off to the Circle.

"I know little of elven culture, city or Dalish. When I walk into that place, they will see pointed ears, yes. But they will not see kin."

Alistair nods, teeth worrying at the inside of his lip as he considers. "I am Fereldan, but… not. To me, I am Avvar. But people insist on seeing a Fereldan, when they look at me." He blinks, refocusing on Anansi. "But that's the opposite of what you're saying, isn't it. Sorry. May have misunderstood."

Anansi's smile is soft, appreciative. "I think you understand just fine."

--

When Anansi walks into that place, that place with its structures sagging with disrepair and its peoples sagging with despair, that place with its defiant garlands and tapestries made with hands desperately trying to recall arts lost, that place lousy with plague -- not just sickness, but the crawling presence of the Tevinter Imperium -- he feels a queer sickness descend upon him like a smothering shroud. His vision doubles, trebles, then snaps back. He sways on his feet, and Alistair, used to this, steadies him with a hand.

"All right?" the other Warden asks, quietly.

"No," Anansi sighs, "but it matters not." He scans the landscape, his eyes continually catching on coughing beggars and wilting gardens and wailing children. "There must be a... a leader of sorts around. Let's--"

He'd stepped forward, intent on finding someone to question, but in an instant the alienage goes grey in his vision, and he knows he is gone. He rides the wave of vertigo, swallowing the rolling nausea, softening his eyes as colours and shapes shift and recede and expand. Acute and aching sensation of being stretched like soft candy as he is pulled up and out and sideways, away from his body, into the Archdemon's dream. Were the darkspawn here, too? Was this their plague? No… he senses Urthemiel's psychic intercedence has another cause.

Steadied in the Fade-shift, he looks up. The thick, gnarled tree at the center of the Alienage stands stark against the blackened sky, thrumming with energy, electric with it. < Burn. Burn. Burn! >

Urthemiel's capacity for eloquence is variable, and it seems today he is too riled to bother with clarity.

< Took our ichor. Grew tree from it. Grew in power. Hungry hearts, hungry elvhen hearts. >

Anansi looks upon the alienage's tree with new eyes. Yes. The power, though greatly dimmed with the passage of time and the ravages of neglect, is still there. Stolen, warped, reforged. He can feel the Archdemon's psyche surging, as if it is standing up, preparing to fly. A blast of heat at Anansi's back, dragon breath, dragon rancor. The tree is engulfed in flames, and Urthemiel sinks its great teeth into it, ripping, ripping. Nothing will ever quell Urthemiel's rage, nurtured over ages, but this… this would at least bring a savage pleasure.

"-- wouldn't smell all that great, either!" Anansi swallows against another heave of his stomach as he is wrenched back into his body, the tail end of whatever retort Alistair was delivering to Morrigan clanging like dented bells in his ears. Alistair, sensing Anansi's return, flinches guiltily and looks down at the head he is cradling in his lap. "Ah, love, you're back."

Anansi's gut aches, and he misses Sten and their delicately brewed root tea terribly. Maybe he would leave all this to the senior Warden and run off to the forest where the Qunari, misliking human cities, had gone on a personal investigation. Maybe he would leave it all. Take Sten and head south, to… the Wilds, the Wilds that were now overrun with darkspawn, the fens and marshes and swamps festering with Blight, and his people…

"Anansi?" Morrigan queries from behind her scarf, wrapped around her face against the sour smells of the alienage. "What ails you?"

He then feels the tears trickling unheeded from his eyes, and the weariness that weighs him down as he struggles to sit up. Some elves had crept close to them, wary but curious. He shakes off the malaise. "I'm just tired. Unfathomably. It matters not. We have a job to do."

Later, Morrigan would wreathe him in silk-soft magics and let him weep, let his exhaustion and his grief flow out of him like the Blight that would soon flow out of Urthemiel's ravaged body at his command. Later, Alistair would bring him sweets and some up-charged but admittedly amusing trinket from Wonders of Thedas and squeeze him tight against his big, warm body until the tension shudders out of him and is replaced with desire's sweet ache. Later still, Tevinter would be purged from Denerim's alienage and a tired but hardy Hahren Valendrian would offer Anansi a boon, and Anansi will ask only to visit with the tree -- the vhenadahl -- awhile. He is not elf. He is not dragon. And yet, he is. It is being elf and being dragon that have brought him here, to this place: core threads of the multiplicitous fabric of his existence. When he approaches the vhenadahl, he knows it to be kin.

[rookinthecrownest]

2024 Writing Round-up

Was tagged by the lovely @soupandsorcery ~! Just took me awhile to get to it hehe.

words posted: 47, 168

additional words written: well, that's kind of it...haha. I don't have anything else written right now :')

grand total of words: 47, 168

fandoms: dragon age

highest kudos: Bedtime Stories for a Demon, with 43 :)

highest hit oneshot: I haven't posted any oneshots yet to AO3 but this post of mine (a WIP from The Day the World Disappeared) has like ... 400+ notes somehow ... does that count?

new things I tried: Does writing in general count? :')

fic I spent the most time on: Probably my Rook in Fade Jail fic, The Day The World Disappeared. Thinking through the regret prison and trying to put my own spin on it has been...a challenge for sure.

fic I spent the least time on: The first chapter of Bedtime Stories for a Demon. I wrote that shit in a few hours in one night and posted it and the rest is history LOL

favorite thing I wrote: Yeah, I'm pretty damn proud of that first chapter of Bedtime Stories for a Demon despite spending the least amount of time on it comparatively.

favorite thing(s) I read:

To Write Love on His Arm - by ScribbleScrabbles; Alistair/Trevelyan fic. Absolutely incredible. Based on the premise that Alistair and Trevelyan have been communicating through marks on their arms since he was 14. So good it made me cry. My comfort fic I reread endlessly.

Murder of Crows - by @nightingaletrash, About Alessia De Riva, a bastard of King Fulgeno and her life in the Crows under Viago's tutelage. Really hooked me on the first chapter and her story seems so interesting. Excited to read more!

First Light - by absoluteTomFoolery. Probably the best Gale x Tav story I've ever read. Tav has such a unique backstory that blends in SO well with Gale's it's actually insane. God-tier level writing and plot development. This is THE Gale/Tav fic must read for anyone who loves that ship

writing goals for 2025: Ahhhh hmmm... I would say maybe improve the quality of my writing in general. I always feel like it sounds repetitive/stilted. Maybe plot out my stories/fics a bit more so I don't get stuck and write myself into a corner? Write more in general?

new works: I only have my 2 fics up on AO3 so far bc I'm new :') They're linked in this post if you want to read them.

--------

I'll go ahead and tag @novarunestone @dell-amor-te @thewardenisonthecase @juneiper-art @lightan117& @hawkeish but as always consider yourself tagged if you see this and want to do it :') No pressure as always <3

[eclipian]

Random Dandy's World Headmate

pt: random dandy's world headmate

reminder beings will almost definitely not turn out exactly as described, and these can be edited and changed as needed.

divider credit

" Nobody's perfect they say... I'm the proof they're wrong! "

Name: Glisten , Quin , Dean , Alistair , Magnus , Marce , Marshall , Simon , Kingsley , Sebastian

Age: 20

Pronouns: He/Him , ⚜️/⚜️s + Mirror Pronouns

Gender: Male Rosboy , Twink , Mirrorlovess , Mirrormasc , Pocketmirrored , Mirrorsen , Compactmirrored , Mirrorlexic , Phosmirial , Clonegender , Femfashionstar , Prettyboycute , Bowavir , Sunpretty , Desertic , ⚜️emojic , Femprettyboy , Shinything , Pearlyaesic , Starboy , Prettygender , Lacelightic , Adoredfrilled , Ribbonfrilled , Etherealgender

Attraction: Veldian , Dipian , Clone4Clone , Infinmirrortum

Other IDs: Cat Alterproxy , Fictioperspesque , Cuteperspesque

Species: Humanoid Mirror

Role: Ego Holder , Sad Holder

Aesthetics: Royalcore , Golden Hour , Theater Academia , Art Deco

pt: name , age , pronouns , gender , attraction , other ids , species , role , aesthetics

artist credit @/afuntimepartyy + tags: @bahtive & @drowntowns

[sleepys-sunny-garden]

i have a new obsession so obviously i have to make art. will post the full page when im done but im proud of this so it gets its own post :]

[zombolouge]

31 Days of Dragon Age

October 1st: Introduce your Hero of Ferelden

Decided to do this little prompt list (original post here) because it sounded fun and I could spend HOURS talking about these things. :)

My Hero of Ferelden is Melody Cousland, a sweet bean of a rogue with copper hair. (You'll notice a theme in my girls before the month ends lmao)

(art by @peachcott)

She wasn't really thrilled about being signed up for the wardens, but was too numbed from the attack on her home to think it through or put up much of a fight. She's pretty resigned to her fate early on, but when things go unexpectedly bad she's compelled to try and help. She has a deep sense of duty to being kind and empathetic to other people, less so to organizations and systems, so throughout the blight she tried to rise to the challenges as best she could to protect and save as many individuals as possible. Everyone in DAO is so heartbreakingly young, and I tried to make that show in some of her optimism, as well as in the ways she gets traumatized by her experiences, but she grows into a very capable, wise, and kind leader. Her strong internal sense of justice landed her as a very anti-chantry, anti-templar advocate, which she is as vocal about as she can be in her line of work.

She's in an OT3 with both Alistair and Morrigan (because the dark ritual being a threesome SHOULD HAVE BEEN AN OPTION IN THE FIRST PLACE, BIOWARE) Ahem.

Eamon recognized her as the exact kind of person that should be put on the throne and so conspired to make sure she got there (without telling Melody and Alistair that was the plan lol). She now rules Ferelden at Alistair's side, but both of them are very committed to their longstanding mission to make sure Flemeth is taken out of the picture so that Morrigan feels safe enough to return to Ferelden with Kieran so they can be one big, unusual family.

She's featured in my DAO fic We Are Ferelden, if you want to read through her entire story (and cry about my OT3 with me).

[dellamortethelesser]

Caspian's Inquisition Mod List

For his transmasc Trevelyan

Not even gonna lie to you guys, I probably could handle more mods but my computer is a little old. He's trucking along though and I am so proud of him. I'm gonna include all of the mods I have downloaded for my Trevelyan playthrough (with a link) and a brief description of what they do/why I picked it. I'll try to update it because I usually end up adding more as I go.

Any Voice - Mod that allows you to choose any voice during character creation (male or female/British or American). I don't know how well this portion of the mod works because I opted for the optional file: Flipped Pronouns. This causes your character to be referred to by the opposite pronouns of the gender presentation you selected at character creation. (For me, this allows my male Trevelyan to be played on a feminine model). Player's Note: This does not apply to text in game. Missions, notes, and letters will still refer to the default gender for your selection.

Divine Armor for Lady Trevelyan - Mod that allows the Divine Armor (normally bestowed to a Divine Cassandra or Vivienne in the Trespasser DLC) to be acquired early and equipped on a female Trevelyan model.

War Table (No Waiting) - A classic. I'm an impatient little bastard when it comes to those missions.

More Banter - Make those companions talk a little more often! Guaranteed chatter about every fifteen minutes so they're not just silently following you around for hours on end.

Skills Revamped (Warrior) - I think Warrior is (sadly) one of the weakest classes in Inquisition. I chose to revamp the sword&board and the battlemaster lines, but there are files for all of them. The mod creator has also done a revamp for mages and rogues as well.

Party at the Winter Palace - Allows for ALL of your companions to join you at Halamshiral! Bit lengthy on the introductions, but I think it's worth it to interact with everyone and hear all of the dialogue. Optional file that I think is a MUST is one that cuts out the sexual harassment dialogue concerning Cullen.

Actually Alistair - Another must have. They butchered my boy in Inquisition. This doesn't restore him quite to his Origins glory, but it's much better...

Blackwall, Warden of the North - I just couldn't stand his beard. I'm sorry.

Lady Josephine's Outfit Retextures & Lady Josephine Complexion - I picked blush for the outfit and gold for the headband and jewelry under her complexion. It gives her soft brown eyes and a much more fun and romantic outfit detailing!

Dark Knight Cullen - The outfits are fun but I really appreciated the complexion retextures here! I liked it best with the scars and the DA2 beard.

The Wolf - Darker Solas Retexture - Self-explanatory, and it's a gorgeous labor of love.

Refined Varric - He just looked a little too grungy for me. Sorry grungy Varric lovers, the vanilla complexions in this game are too oily.

Refined Vivienne - Fell in love with this mod the second I saw it; I love the makeup and contours it adds to her face, very striking and very VIV!

DA2 Cassandra - Very close to her default Inquisition complexion, I just wanted something a little more familiar.

C.A.R.P. Concept Art Sera Overhaul - New complexions and face textures + hairstyle that causes Sera to more closely resemble her concept art design.

Royal Retextures - Retextured outfits for Celene, Florianne, Gaspard, and Briala at the Winter Ball. (BTW if anyone can send me the link for the Briala mod that overhauls her whole design. Throw it my way)

New Outfits for Human Female - Wanted a mod that overhauls the default Skyhold PJs and found one that didn't make my poor Trevelyan stand around with his tits out or in lacy lingerie. Features some mixed armor between Vivienne and Cassandra and Flemeth's outfit.

LL Inquisition Faction - Mod that recolors all of the Inquisition heraldry into a green/black/gold scheme. Includes optional files for retextured furniture and Halamshiral finery.

Inquisition Branded Finery - I opted NOT to use the finery from the above mod and selected the white/emerald one here. There are other cute color options too!

Anto Hairstyles for DAI - I picked the Elena mesh for Veremund's hair. I will say this was the only mod that I could get to load (AND PLEASE READ THE REQUIRED MODS ON THIS ONE).

DAI Frosty Texture Glitch Fixes - Fixes a bunch of things that I broke :)

Sprint Key - Another must-have. Enables you to sprint at any time by holding down left shift.

Winter/Autumn in Thedas - I have only linked the winter one here as that's the one I'm using, but I LOVE both of these retextures! If you love autumn leaves or crisp snow, check these out. You do not need reshaders to play with these.

Winter Fog ReShade - But if you'd LIKE a reshade to complement the mod above, this is the one the creator recommends! I'm giving it a whirl, too.

Always Night in Skyhold - It's always night in Skyhold! I think it makes cutscenes more dramatic.

**Other recommendations:

Gender-Neutral Pronouns for the Inquisitor - Similar to the first mod I listed, except it removes any mention of "Lord/Lady" and strives to be an entirely neutral mod. (You can find the original tumblr post explaining the mod in more detail here).

Custom Body Models - Adds more variety to the Inquisitor's physical appearance. Only works on the Skyhold PJs and the various meshes you can find thereof.

As I said, I'll be adding more as I go! If you have any recommendations, please send them my way as well :)

[contrivedcoincidences6]

Cold, Cold, Cold

AlistairXWardenSurana

A little thing I could not get out of my head about Neria on the Deep Roads considering the traditional end for a Warden. No beta! Just had to get it out of my head!

****

"Come, or go, we belong together. Lying here forever, in the cold, cold, cold. Lay low, shake your limbs forever. Lying here together, in the cold, cold, cold." - The Family Crest, Cold, Cold, Cold

****

The Deep Roads were everything Neria had heard they would be. The air was oppressive, heavy with the scent of taint and rot. There had been a time, only months before though it felt like a lifetime, where she imagined herself growing old in the tower. Maybe she would have become First Enchanter someday, but she had not imagined much excitement in her life. There had been idle daydreams but until she met Duncan they had been farfetched. 

Yet now she stood staring her destiny in the face. Assuming she didn’t die by the Archdemon a day would come when she would enter the Deep Roads, never to return. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be alone when that day came. At that thought she turned to look at her fellow Warden who seemed to be on a similar train of thought. His brow creased, sword and shield in front of him bracing for whatever was to come. Seeming to feel her gaze upon him Alistair turned to look at her and shot her a crooked grin that didn’t quite cover the melancholy. 

They walked for some time, the only noise that accompanied them was the rattle of their armor, Shale’s heavy footsteps, and the sound of distant Darkspawn. Through the tainted bond, she could feel them, far off for the moment. They’d been traveling for hours, encountering many groups of Darkspawn and other dangers along the way and she was exhausted, her mana all but gone. 

She’d replaced her staff with her greatsword hours before, only able to keep it aloft with her recent knowledge of the ancient arcane warrior arts, she’d spent many hours as they traveled to Orzammar training with Alistair and Sten, learning how to use her magic to lift the sword and their instruction on how to wield it. It was a useful talent, especially considering how many Darkspawn needed killing in the Deep Roads. 

Her sparring with her fellow Grey Warden had also produced a whole new set of pleasures. Many times their sparring sessions ended in passionate embraces that brought heat to her cheeks at the thought. Her mind wandered to the night before when they’d sparred in Orzammar in a training ring that had been put aside for the party’s use. It had been the most daring they’d ever been, making love on the dusty floor. Anyone could have entered which had made it even hotter. A sudden shiver went up her spine, and not the nice kind she’d gotten moments before, as a group of Darkspawn drew near. She shook the more pleasant thoughts from her mind to focus on what lay ahead.  “The Darkspawn have sensed us,” she whispered to her companions, covering their weapons in frost and taking a battle stance. 

The ensuing fight wasn’t a challenge, a handful of Genlocks fell to the party’s might in a matter of minutes. Despite the ease of victory, Neria was tired, and looking into her companion's faces she could see the same exhaustion.  “Time to make camp, Sten will give you your watch assignments. This rest will be short so take advantage of it,” she commanded and everyone was ready to comply. Except for Shale. 

“Why does it stop? Is it’s puny form tired already?” Shale questioned as Neria scouted the area for a good spot to put her tent. 

“Yes, don’t worry there will be much more squishing when we wake,” she responded tiredly. 

Shale grumbled at this but didn’t argue and began a slow patrol around the area. 

A strong pair of armored arms wrapped around her waist as she began to set up her tent. Their tent. 

“Sten put us on separate watches again,” Alistair complained into her neck. 

Neria chuckled and ran her fingers through his hair, grimy and sweaty much like her own but that was no different than usual. 

“It’s a sound strategy,” she reminded. 

Alistair let out an exaggerated sigh and laid light kisses up and down her neck. 

“Not even waiting for the tent are we?” Neria asked with a laugh as she laid her head back onto his plate armor. It wasn’t comfortable but it was the most contact she could get through their armor. She longed to take it all off but in the Deep Roads, they all agreed they needed to keep as much armor on as possible, even in sleep. 

“Ah, dinner and a show I see?” Asked a smooth voice with an Antivan accent. 

Alistair groaned in disappointment and let her go. He turned a glare on Zev who stood behind them looking quite pleased with himself. 

“No show tonight Zev,” Neria said lightly, ignoring her partner’s glare at the assassin. 

“What a shame, we could use some entertainment after today’s march,” Zev added wiggling his eyebrows. 

“Don’t you have a tent to set up?” Alistair ground out.

The Crow shrugged and replied, “Not much point in setting up a tent, no? There won’t be any rain in these cursed tunnels.” 

He was right of course but Neria continued to set up, wanting the couple hours of being in Alistair’s arms.  

She ignored the back and forth between Alistair and Zev as her fellow Warden tried to get the assassin to go away and Zev became more amused with Alistair’s consternation. Usually, she found such interactions fun to watch but her head was pounding and her body weak and all she wanted to do in the world was take what little armor she could and lay in her lover's arms, something she knew wouldn’t happen for some time to come. 

Wrapped up in her thoughts she didn’t notice Zev’s exit as she finished setting up the tent until Alistair laid a gloved hand on her shoulder. 

“Are you okay, my dear?” Alistair whispered, his breath a soft caress against her ear as he crouched next to her.

Neria sighed and let herself rest against his bulk for a moment before responding. 

“No, I feel like this place is sucking the life out of me,” she turned in his arms and laid her head on his armor, imagining the heartbeat and warmth that lay beneath, “I can’t stop thinking, assuming we survive the Blight, I’ll die here. Driven mad, under a pile of Darkspawn.” 

His arms tightened around her and he said, “Yeah it’s been on my mind a bit as well,” he let out a short humorless laugh, “It’s hard not to think about it here.”

“When the time comes-” she stopped short feeling suddenly insecure. 

“When the time comes?” Alistair prompted and rubbed her back with his gauntleted hand. 

The Mage sighed and continued her thought, not looking up into his face even though she could feel his eyes on her, “Can we go together?” 

Cold metal lifted her chin until she met his lovely hazel eyes. His lips met hers before she could take back the question and it stole the breath from her lungs. Outside of their tent, Alistair’s kisses were generally sweet and warm but this was passionate and felt like a promise of its own. 

After many long moments, they pulled away gasping for air and he laid another small kiss on her cheek before saying, “Of course we will, we belong together.” 

Swiftly she pulled him back down for another fierce kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck as best she could in his heavy armor. 

The sound of a whistle from across the makeshift camp broke them apart. Neria shot off a rude gesture in the direction of the whistle, took Alistair’s hand, and pulled him into their tent for just a couple hours of peace amongst the horror. 

[felassan]

A few more snippets of interest and insight from Mark Darrah, from an older Mark Darrah on Games YouTube video where he was livestreaming playing Dragon Age: Origins some months ago -

Chat asked "What characters do you hope to see return in future stories?". Mark replied, "I don't know about characters I wanna see coming back. I know too much about DA:D to really get into that conversation."

Alistair is "super quantum".

[source]

He also talked more generally about DA:O and the franchise and things in general. These bits are collected under a cut due to length -

"I feel like it would be a little bit more plausible in DA:O if one of the factions you recruit was like 'oh you got the Treaties? Okay, great, here we go'. We could've maybe added another one who could have just come to your aid without you having to fix their problems for them. The Avvar would have been a great choice because that would have let us get the [cut] Avvar content back there a little bit. They could've just been like 'yep, we're ready, let's go' and it would have been a little half hour plot. Maybe you could even have put in a little level that was repurposed from the Korcari Wilds. Oh well, my time machine is broken"

"The problem with the crashing [in DA:O] is that it's a 32-bit game so it can only use 2 gig of memory and at the higher resolutions and settings it uses more and then it slowly leaks enough memory to crash, but there's a mod that pushes it outside of the 2 gig"

Chat asked "Is there a voice actor who is great to work with?". Mark said "Freddie Prinze Jr. was probably the best, he was very active in talking about the game and he was really good to work with. Obviously a bit more expensive than other VAs"

"The problem with the art style for DA:O is, not that it's bad, I mean there's graphical problems, it's more that it doesn't have much of a distinctive look, so it just blends into everything from the same time period. If you look at The Witcher at the same time it pretty much looks exactly the same. So DAII is trying to look like something. DA:I both looks like something like DAII but also has the graphical horsepower to look good, as opposed to DAII which looks like something but the engine is kind've letting it down"

"We've never really managed to get it so that you can hold a space [in combat] very well, DA:I is probably the one we did that the best in and even still..." "The Battle for Redcliffe encounter is so hard basically because you don't have control of the space"

"The problem with healing in DA:O is basically every single combat encounter needs to be a deadly challenge on its own because you're at full health after every single combat, so yeah, there is too much healing in this game"

"The fact that you never get to play with Skyhold is definitely a miss in DA:I, there's no denying that"

"DA:O is definitely balanced very hard"

"When Mike [Laidlaw] and I came onto the DA franchise we were working on DAII and a lot of that original stuff is a lot more like DA:I than it is like DAII for sure. But it was more ambitious than was possible in the time that was available"

Chat asked "Was there any thought on letting the player choose which sibling would survive in DAII?" Mark said "No, in DAII the intention was always that 1 mage survive"

On stat allocation in DA:I: "It's not so much about building overpowered builds, because you can certainly do that in DA:I if you engage in crafting, you can build a rogue with guard-generating daggers and basically be completely indestructible. It's more the opposite, it's more about putting things into places where they're unbeneficial. I don't know that it was the right call. I think given how opaque the crafting system was the nod to ease of use of getting rid of stat allocation, those two things don't really mesh, doesn't make a ton of sense that we have one of the most hard to understand crafting systems and no stat allocations. Should have really picked a lane on that I'd say"

[source]

(pls note that in places there is a bit of paraphrasing of the info, the best source is always the primary source with full quotes in their original context)

[thewitchesworkshop]

Hello there everyone- I’ve said this before but My name is Alistair.

My name is Alistair… and I need help.

I’m a survivor of domestic abuse and discrimination. May 2024 I had to leave my mother’s house out of both psychological and physical safety. I tried to stay with my father for about 2 months but i’m gonna be honest the guy is batshit crazy and doesn’t want me living with him anyhow. (I’d be honest some people may say that I just poked the crazy bear with a stick if I ever tell anymore about it but to be fair the bear had already charged at me from 50ft away and tried to eat my face off) so. I’m living on my own now- i’m trying to get through college while living on my own with multiple disabilities. And so… i’m gonna need help.

But also i’m not gonna just ask for money and hope people are kind enough to donate. I want my little song and dance to be worthwhile for you. And i’m both an artist and writer. I have this world i’ve been working on for… years atp and I think i’m ready to begin to tell it’s story. So! I’m gonna start telling you this story, and i’m gonna give some options to people in the story! Not everything of course (gotta maintain a sensible plotline) but! Newcomers could potentially and drastically change the story at hand all with a simple vote.

So; if you sit and listen to my story, i’ll give you a thrilling script of an intricate world and life and if you want to you can potentially change the story, see some cool art and writing, and if you want give a few bucks my way?

If you like sound of that… then I suppose you get cozy as I begin!

*Ahem*

————————————————

Today was the day. The final day they were there.

Xey had set their alarm for an hour earlier than usual that morning. And now the soft golden dawn began to fill up the room. Their head swam with the dream of the might before whilst xey reached out to pick up the fingerpad next to their head.

Pressing a button finally turned off the ringing alarm of digital nonsense that was sounding out and had woken Key in the first place. Stiff joints worked to turn the hologram of the device on so its owner could view any messages, mail, etc that wasn’t seen the night before.

Though not before out of the corner of xeir eyes- Key noticed something shift across the room. A small groan or perhaps snore came from the same offender, and xey looked over to the bed on the other side of the room. Key’s little sister was still asleep despite the alarm going off. Her river of garnet hair only broken up by the blanket and her slowly growing white wings. Key themself couldn’t say anything about how she practically looked buried in her own hair. Xeir own scarlet cloudlike curls usually was covered their face at the time of waking up.

But back to the matter at hand- it was 5am according to the time on the hologram. Dawn had barely even broken- which meant it was the perfect time to pack xeir car and leave. Why exactly were they even leaving?? Well… it was a long story, but Key had gotten into a university and hadn’t told a soul about it. Xey already knew their parents would be angry and would want them to work where they were living in their hilly green town of absolutely nowhere’sville and help support their siblings. It would be something that the high school graduate would’ve considered… if it weren’t for their stepfather.

Key called him Dad- that was true… but the man acted nothing like a father to them. Compared to xeir half Etherian half siblings; he didn’t seem to really like his Angeical stepchild very much. Along with that- he made it clear about the fact that he didn’t like Key. And their mom was no help. Xey were… frankly tired of it. They needed an out. Getting into an Ivy League University was that out.

And so- in secrecy from parents… they needed to get up and pack their car with xeir things. Though- before that… xey felt like they needed to at least tell their siblings and perhaps get a little help from them. Telling Ruby was a cause of concern though… xey weren’t sure if she’d understand why Key was leaving since she was so young. Xey sat up in bed and stared at the little girl asleep on the other side of the other room.

What do you think xey should do?

Pt 2