#anaan

[anaan]

“El valor consiste en querer a otra persona más que a sí mismo.” Anaán anaan.wordpress.com #anaan #amor #poemasdeamor #poesiasdeamor #poemadeamor #poesiadeamor https://www.instagram.com/p/CpWKx5eqAPq/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[foonoodlesart]

Let him yap!!! He’s just a guy!!!!

[sirvinter]

finally back to inquisition in my most recent trilogy replay, here are some screenshots of Anaan-asala from my last go at it 🖤

[transmasc-tabris]

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[thevagueambition]

Hmm wondering which world state i should use first going into dav... Ishan is probably the inquisitor I have the most feelings about so probably him. But starting with a Solavellan world state would also be cool... hmm

[thenevarranaccord]

Exactly. He’s betraying you because you told him to. It’s not personal.

since i'm talking about bull today, i think its a bit of a mistep to say bull turning against the inquisitor in trespasser is an act of revenge for the death of the chargers. this isn't a result of the inquisitor betraying bull or hurting him. it is a result of the inquisitor reaffirming iron bull's place within the qun. it isn't something that the inquisitor "deserves" for killing a group of beloved soldiers. it is simply the consequence of choosing a political allegiance- the qun- and enforcing the idea that a small part can and should be sacraficed for the greater whole. the chargers can be sacrificed for the inquisiton, the inquisitor (and dorian, and vivienne, and sera, and anyone else bull befriended) can be sacrificed for the qun.

[thedinanshiral]

What's in a name? A (very) simple guide to find your Rook's name.

I’ve seen some people are wondering how some of us already have named Rooks, others have no idea how to get names or which names could be good, and since i kinda overdid it and have 11 Rooks already planned and named i thought i’d share some of my process and drop some ideas. This works for me, but maybe it can help others find their Rook’s name(s).

Keep in mind these are also fantasy names, they don’t have to make sense or have a specific meaning, you can literally make them up. I also take into consideration known naming conventions, for example in Elven we have Solas and Abelas’ names, with specific meanings (Pride, Sorrow) and judging by what Solas tells Abelas, it’d seem ancient elvhen would change their names according to roles or events in their life. Similarly in the Qun, we know their names aren’t names as we understand them but simply descriptors of the role that is assigned to them within the Qun.

It’s probably easier when it comes to human nations in Thedas: Orlesians are likely to have French names, Fereldans to have anglo names, Antivans to have Spanish and Italian names. Tevinter is a bit trickier because it’s based on the Roman empire and Latin is a pretty dead language, but they sure liked to make records so we have names there too.

Elvhen names:

I literally opened a tab with the Elven language DA wiki page and read everything -for the bazillionth time tbh-; DA elven language is a cipher, not a conlang, so feel free to make things up because we don’t have the full cipher -i’m not even sure BW does- .

For Elven names i check the wiki for words that i like the sound of, the meaning of, ideally both. If i feel something is “missing” i may add a letter or combine different words into a new one.

Here are some examples:

Athima, from athim, humility

Atisha, from Atish'an, atisha is peace

Sethena, from Sethen'a or Setheneran, land of waking dreams or where the veil is thin, aka the Fade.

Revaren, from Revas, freedom, and Renan, voice.

Alasan, from alas, earth/dirt, and suffix an, place.

Sulahni, from sulahn, sing.

Samahli, from samahl, laughter.

Vardanehn, lit. Our little joy.

Mir'as, Banal'ras is shadows, implying ras refers to light, Mir is mine. Lit. "my light".

Qunlat names:

Same process as elven, but trying to modify as less as possible, keeping in mind the Qunari are very rigid in their ways and can be very literal as well.

Anaan, victory

Asaarash, rivaini horsebreed used by the antaam.

Kaaras, navigator.

Asaara-kaaras, wind navigator, wind rider.

Saar, dangerous. Saar-asaara, dangerous wind. Saar-meraad, dangerous tide.

Sata-kasi, mauler.

Vattic-kos, vat is fire, tic is cold and kos refers to nature damage, all three words are in reference to damage done with a mage staff. So Vattic-kos could be elemental damage.

Shokra, shok is struggle or war, shokrakar is rebel.

Antivan names:

These were way easier as i’m Latina of Spanish and Italian descent which in this case feels a bit like cheating. I think any Spanish and Italian name could work, these are just some i like.

Vittoria/Victoria

Chiara

Alessandro/a

Stefan

Dante

Aria

Tevinter names:

I literally googled for Latin names for this one, and also checked previous Tevinter characters’ names. Some of this could also work for an Antivan Rook.

Aelius

Amadis

Bastian

Caelus

Camilla

Dena

Dante

Desideria

Ella

Enora

Favian

Fausto, Faustino, Faustus

Gaius

Gloria

Grazia

Klaudia

Laurena

Lavinia

Liberia

Merit/Mérita/Mérito

Remus

Salena

Sarina

Sidonia

Sollemnia

Tatius

Terentius

Tiberius

Urbano, Urbanus

Valentio

Varinia

Viatrix

Virgilio, Virgil

Vitus

Xandros

I’m leaving out the numerals like Primo, Segundo, Quintus, Octavio... check Cesars' names, that could work too. I think you could just search the scientific name of any fauna (hello House Pavus) or flora and pick whatever sounds nice too. Also we recently got a new Magister’s name in the Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance trailer, Magister Andante. Y’know what “Andante” means? Walking. Magister Walking. Fear nothing and go wild with these names, seriously.

You could also check other cultures and native names, respectfully of course. Here are some guaraní and mapuche names i like, i didn’t modify these at all.

Kerana, guaraní “goddess of sleep”, or sleepy one.

Karai, guaraní, “respectable man”.

Luriel, guaraní, “lord of the wind”.

Amaru, guaraní, “rain”.

Anahí, guaraní, from a legend, the name of a young woman burned at the stake by the conquistadors, after which she is transformed into the flowering tree.

Newén, mapuche, "strength"

Nahuel, mapuche, “jaguar”

Ayelén, mapuche, “laughing”.

Tahiel, mapuche, “hombre libre”

For Dwarven names, i am deeply sorry i haven't decided on a Dwarf Rook yet so i haven't done my dwarven research, but the same process applies: check the canon dwarf names we got so far, if the lore says anything about dwarven naming conventions, if they're a commoner or noble, if there are caste-specific names too, and so on. And if you want to name your dwarf Rook Bob, that's fine too! ( if DUNE can have Paul and Jessica, why couldn't we have a dwarf named Bob?? like i said, go wild, name freely, be happy)

I understand some people don't want to or aren't sure about naming their Rooks until we learn what the different canon surnames will be, and i totally get that, i felt the same way. But i couldn't resist until we got that info so i overdid it, particularly with my Tevinter-Nevarran mage whose name i picked clearly inspired by Cassandra's full name, only for me to end up calling her by the first of her five names that i kinda struggle to remember. So far we've only seen one canon surname, "Thorne", and since surnames are defined by factions, Thorne seems to be the Grey Wardens' canon surname. The elf Grey Warden champion seen in the recent high-level combat gameplay is named Esha Thorne.

I think maybe surnames should depend on what they're now calling lineage (elven, qunari, human, dwarf) rather than on factions, or they could have offered options, one per lineage and one per faction, and let us decide which one to keep. An elf named Thorne sounds a bit odd to me, even if they're a Grey Warden. Will any of my chosen names match the canon surnames? Probably not, but at least i had fun while naming them. My only GW for now is Favian and Favian Thorne doesn't sound bad.

Anyway, I hope this helps those who are a bit lost to find names that works for you and your Rooks, have fun!

[felassan]

Hello, I tried to google it but didn't find anything: can you tell me what "queuen" means from the tag "victory is in the queuen" you use a lot? Thanks in advance ^^

hello! ◕‿◕ oh I'm so sorry haha, that's just me being silly. it's my queue tag, for posts from my queue. it's a play on words on a line from the Qun.

Shok ebasit hissra. Meraad astaarit, meraad itwasit, aban aqun. Maraas shokra. Anaan esaam Qun. (Struggle is an illusion. The tide rises, the tide falls, but the sea is changeless. There is nothing to struggle against. Victory is in the Qun.)

[cellarspider]

Qunlat 3/12: Phonaesthetics and Phonotactics

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“Shok ebasit hissra. Meraad astaarit, meraad itwasit, aban aqun. Maraas shokra. Anaan esaam Qun.”

Why does this feel different than English, or any other language you might know? phonaesthetics and orthography! The sound of a language and the way it’s written are your first introduction to it, so they’re logical places to start. Let’s dive in.

The above text is the first bit of Qunlat you ever hear, recited by Sten during his imprisonment in Lothering. It has a particular character to it: To an English-speaker, it feels like it can fit equally well with someone speaking forcefully, or gently. It also feels pretty pronounceable, coming from an English perspective. You might not know what to do with a word like “anaan”, but you can make a guess. The orthography, the way it’s written, seems relatively straightforward. And it gives you a sense of its phonaesthetics, the aesthetic qualities of how the language is spoken, including the phonology and phonotactics: what sounds are in the language, and what order you can put them in. These give a language its own identity, even when you don’t understand it.

For an English-speaker, Qunlat is an approachable constructed language. Maybe not as “pretty” as Elvhen, but it’s not giving you any tongue-twisters. I certainly liked it, when I first played DAO way back in the day. I liked it so much that I’m doing this, after all.

Outside of the fiction of the game, Qunlat essentially began as a written language, read aloud by pretty much just one dude: Mark Hildreth, the voice of Sten. These two sources set the template for the rest of the series, with caveats we’ll get to later. I’ll be starting with Qunlat as it’s presented to us in DAO and the main DA2 campaign (minus item names), because these two sources have the most agreement with each other. 

This took an ungodly amount of time to put together. I made the mistaken assumption that the wiki was comprehensive in its documentation of the two games, and that turned out to be wrong. I ended up having to dive into the Dragon Age Toolset to find more vocabulary, and I may still have missed some–I’m not particularly agile with that thing. And the more I found, the more inconsistencies I discovered, and the harder it became to structure this post. So this will only contain a relatively brief description of each source, which is backed up by a pile of data I’ve compiled here:

In DAO and DA2, spoken Qunlat never includes the letters C, F, J, X, Y or Z. The letter W only appears in the word itwa (“to fall”), and nowhere else. In DAO and DAI, Ps only appear at the start of a couple of set phrases: Panahedan (“goodbye”, “take refuge in safety”), and parshaara (“enough”, Sten’s favorite grumpy noise). Similarly in DAO and DAI, the letter U only appears in the name Koslun, and in the context of “QU”, except for one word that’s never been mentioned since DAO: Uukluk, which describes a Qunari architectural style the rest of the games seem to have turned away from. Unlike in English, Q doesn’t need to be accompanied by a U: Qabala and Qamek work just fine without it. 

Consonants follow certain phonotactic rules: This is the difference between “wing” and “ngiw”: one of them is permissible in English phonotactics, the other is not. Why? Because the start and end of a syllable are different roles that aren’t interchangeable. “Ngiw” is perfectly pronounceable, yet it would never arise within English as a result of the language’s internal rules. Vietnamese, though? Different phonotactics, and therefore that string of sounds is entirely possible. In fact, you might potentially use a word that sounds like that while describing the Qunari. Each language has its own phonotactics, and it’s a vital part of the language’s distinct feel.

When talking about individual syllables, we break them down into the onset, nucleus, and coda: the onset is the start of the syllable, the nucleus is its core, and the coda is anything that follows the nucleus. Because languages are hilarious, we have no good definition of what a syllable is, but generally you need a nucleus, and the onset and coda are optional. 

Qunlat in general is far more restrictive in its phonotactics than English is, and tends toward very simple syllables. most have one onset consonant, and one vowel: a “CV” syllable. “VC” is also allowed, but it’s rarer than “CV” or “CVC”. A very, very few are “CCVC” or “CVCC”, where two consonants sit together in the onset or coda. This theoretically means the maximum size of a Qunlat syllable is “CCVCC”, but there are currently no canon words that allow this.⁽¹⁾

Qunlat also has a number of dipthongs or vowel digraphs–Either two vowels placed next to each other, or two letters used to represent a single sound. It’s hard to tell what some of these are intended to be. These are AA, AH, AY, EE, EH, and OH. The dubious word Uukluuk contains UU, but it seems to be non-standard and never used again. The AA and EH vowels can appear anywhere in a word, while EE has only been used between two consonants, and the rest are only used if they’re at the end of a word: vah, toh, and say are valid and canonical words, while ahv, oht, and ays are not possible.

Unlike English, Qunlat isn’t fond of big consonant clusters. While English can give us words like “strengths”, which is a nine letter word spelled with eight consonants and pronounced with six, The most intense Qunlat gets in the first two games is “Ashkaari”: eight letters, four consonants, three consonant sounds.⁽²⁾ As a result, it may come across as less harsh and choppy than English does to many. The only valid consonant clusters that can stand on their own are ST (Sten, ast, etc.) and the rare BR (brak). No other consonant clusters can be placed at word boundaries.

There are four consonantal digraphs in DAO and DA2: DD, SH, SS, and TH. The double S appears to be a long S, while DD could be a geminate consonant, i.e. a doubled-up consonant sound (ex. English “midday”), though it isn’t often pronounced that way in the games. SH and TH sound the same as they do in English. DD is only found in the middle of words, TH and SS never found at the start of words, while SH can appear anywhere:

DD - Viddathari SH - Shok, ashkaari, ataash SS - Hissra, iss (see note) TH - Athlok, kith, dathrasi

note: there’s no words that end in -ss in DAO or DA2, only later material.

Then there are intervocalic consonant clusters, consonants that can sit together if they’re sandwiched between two vowels (ex. Ashkaari, hissra). There’s only a few of these attested in DAO and DA2, and a few more in later material.

The written language also features a favorite of many fantasy languages: hyphens. Hyphens are used to either stitch together words that are acting as a single unit, or to separate syllables that could produce ambiguous pronunciation. Tal-Vashoth has a hyphen because Tal (“true”) and Vashoth (“grey”) are forming a single conceptual unit, meaning one who’s left the Qun. The hyphen in “Asit tal-eb” helps make it clear to the reader that it’s tal and eb, not ta and leb.

To be honest, there’s no hard and fast rules on where to use these. DAO uses them sparingly, while DA2 uses them more often. It depends on whether you feel a word or phrase requires it, to match your intended reading or aesthetic.

Speaking of “no hard and fast rules”: speaking Qunlat.

As I intimated before, the voice actors appear to have been given very loose direction at best on how to pronounce Qunlat. Not everybody’s going to be getting the full Lord of the Rings or Avatar or Dune⁽³⁾ coaching. If they’re lucky, they get a written pronunciation guide, which may be entirely idiosyncratic to the writer. 

Mark Hildreth gave it a damn good try, but other voice actors like Rick Wasserman (the Arishok), Keith Ferguson (Arvaarad and various other qunari voices), and Felicia Day (Tallis) all give it their own damn good try. All of them have been native English-speakers, and so when confronted with an unfamiliar language, they… try to pronounce it like English.

This is a problem, because the English.

[A reading of The Chaos, a poem by the 19th century Dutch writer Gerard Nolst Trenité. Best listened to while reading a copy of the text, so you can really appreciate the level of understandable salt this man was working through over English.]

That’s why nobody can agree on how “Qunari” is pronounced. Is it with a hard K? A “kyu” sound? That’s supported by DAO as an intended pronunciation,⁽⁴⁾ but it’s not always followed. Sometimes it sounds like a “Kwu”, even. All of these are valid pronunciations in English, but English has a famously infuriating writing system that is composed of more exceptions than actual rules. 

Most languages actually aren’t like that. English-speaking kids have to spend years learning how to write, but Finnish kids just need to learn the alphabet. Once they’ve done that, they can pretty much write any word they want, because the alphabet is so consistent with how it’s actually spoken. Hangul not only has a similar one-to-one correlation, its letters even look like how you shape your mouth when you make the sound!

But hey, at least English isn’t Tibetan. My sincere condolences to those learning the language, you’ve got your work cut out for you.⁽⁵⁾

I have my own system worked out for pronouncing the language, which I’ll make explicit later. But with regards to canon: I’ll do my best to catalog things at a later date, but all pronunciations are going to be highly variable based on the source. My best advice on this is to listen to whichever performance you like best, and use that as your template. Canon is all over the place, and you can make of it what you want. 

Unfortunately, it becomes extremely all over the place in terms of spelling, as we get to everything outside of DAO and DA2’s dialog.

And my job becomes more complicated. So complicated, that I wrote an entire second post on this, then decided it was overkill. I can post it if desired, but the “Dictionary” and “Phonological Inventory” spreadsheet in the workbook of madness contains the raw facts of everything. It also provides notes on the weird differences between DA2’s spoken dialog and the item names.

Before we end this post–say you want to take what’s been presented here and run with it. You want to make new words for yourself. How would you do that?

It’s finally time to talk about one more aspect of phonaesthetics: certain sounds and sound combinations are rarer or more common than others. For example, “birtend” seems like a plausible English word, partly because it contains common English letters. “Zuquxay” doesn’t seem English, even though it’s easily pronounceable by English-speakers, because it has a bunch of rare letters in it, strung together in rare ways. Changing how frequently sounds are used in a conlang will heavily impact its overall feel.

Because I am not entirely sane, I’ve constructed a frequency chart for Qunlat. Actually, several, depending on whether you want a count of consonant clusters or just distinct sounds, and whether you want content that fits with DAO and DA2, or if you want every word ever called Qunlat.

Turns out, up to a quarter of the entire language is just the letter A. 

Next time, depending on what people desire: an examination of how Qunlat begins to vary more outside of DAO and DA2’s dialog, or we move ahead to phonology. Either way, we will be properly introduced to the works of my nemesis: Philliam, a Bard!.

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Footnotes

(1) Some may wonder “but what about a word like Vashoth, where you could consider shoth as its own five-letter syllable?” Well, it’s five letters, but only three sounds. I get into that a little further down the main text, under the subject of “digraphs”. If you’re wondering about the word ashkost, though, good choice! I’m pretty sure the word is split as ash-kost though, so I’m still right. :P

(2) For anyone wondering why “strengths” and “ashkaari” contains fewer consonant sounds than consonant letters, it’s because “ng”, “th”, and “sh” are two-letter combinations that each produce a single sound: You don’t pronounce “sing” as “sin-g”, or “the” as “t-he”, or “shush” as “s-hus-h”. Or at least I don’t, you do you.

(3) Though I should of course note that while the actors in Dune received packets of information from linguist David J Peterson, he didn’t have any direct interaction with the actors. He also didn’t coach their pronunciation of Arabic stuff like Madhi or Lisan al-Gaib, and hooboy, some of those are wobbly.

(4) When you’re tracking down Sten’s sword, the man who looted it has a surprised response that’s phonetically written out: “We're looking for a qunari sword.” “Kyun-what? I'm sorry, I... ah... I don't know what that--”. That would seem fairly unambiguous, but when listening back through samples from the games, Sten and the Arishok pronounce the word /kunɔri/, and you’d hope both their actors were coached on this one. I’ve also heard /kʷu/ pronunciations, not just /kju/. In fact, the only place /kju/ seems to be the unambiguous pronunciation is for “Qun” as a standalone word. As a conlanger who likes unambiguous romanization schemes, this annoys me greatly. Side note, if any of this is unfamiliar, stick around for when I talk more about phonology! I promise, it’s fun! You get to listen to strange little mouth noises on wikipedia, including the funniest little “üü” sound I’ve ever heard in my life!

(5) While English spelling has been afflicted with the pronunciations that were most common several centuries ago, written Tibetan has been largely unchanged for eight hundred years. The spoken language, however, has continued changing. This has created some wide divergences between the written and spoken languages: while the name of one of the central Tibetan province might be pronounced something like “Ü-Tsang”, it’s written as དབུས་གཙང, which is more literally transcribed as “Dbus-Gtsang”. If you’re writing or reading Tibetan, you just have to know that ahead of time. 

But don’t worry! English might get like that one day too!

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[daitranscripts]

Trespasser Pt. 17

The Darvaarad

Trespasser Masterpost Previous (optional): Unknown Ruin Previous: The Qunari Plot

The PC heads into the crossroads to get to the Darvaarad.

Party comments:

Varric: Nightingale told us what happened with your hand.

Cole: Your hand hurts. It’s pulling you apart.

Vivienne: Leliana told us what happened with your hand.

Iron Bull: Red told us what happened with your hand.

Blackwall: Leliana told us what happened with your hand.

Dorian: Leliana told us about your little pyrotechnic display during your last chat.

Sera: So what’s this about your hand getting worse? It isn’t, though, right?

Cassandra: Leliana told us what happened with your hand.

Dialogue options:

Flirt: I love you, [Cassandra/Bull/Thom/Sera/Dorian]. [1]

General: I’m glad to have known you. [2]

General: C’mon, one last adventure! [3]

General: Focus on the mission. [4]

[Say nothing.] [4]

1 - Flirt: I love you, [Cassandra/Bull/Thom/Sera/Dorian]. PC: Whatever happens, I wouldn’t trade the years we’ve had together for anything. I love you.

Party comments:

Cassandra: And I you. Always and forever, my love.

Iron Bull: Love you, too, kadan.

Blackwall: This isn’t over… but I love you, too.

Sera: Fucking words. We do, and we fight until… (Breathes.) I love you, and I get to keep something. You hear?

Dorian: I knew you would break my heart, you bloody bastard.

2 - General: I’m glad to have known you. PC: No matter what happens, it has been my honor to fight beside each of you. [5]

3 - General: C’mon, one last adventure! PC: We all knew this was probably our last time out together. Let’s make it a good one. [5]

4 - General: Focus on the mission./[Say nothing.] PC: All that matters now is stopping the Qunari. The rest, we worry about later. [5]

5 - Scene continues.

Party comments:

Varric: All right, Bianca. Let’s show all the tall people how it’s done, one last time.

Cole: We helped. All of us. I won’t forget.

Sera: Right. Last time to be legend. (Laughs.) Try to keep up.

Vivienne: Let us show all who would cross the Inquisition the price of their mistake.

Dorian: Enjoy me while you can. I expect you’ll all miss me terribly later.

Iron Bull: It’s been an honor to kick asses beside you all. Anaan.

Blackwall: One more fight, then. Let’s finish this.

Cassandra: Thank you… all of you.

They find the eluvian.

PC: The Darvaarad. All right, everyone. Get ready.

They pass through and emerge in a fortress.

PC: So this is the Darvaarad.

Party comments:

Iron Bull: Finally, a chance to get some answers and set this right. Thanks for bringing me along, boss.

Dorian: Look at this! It’s an eluvian graveyard.

Vivienne: We seem to be in a dumping ground for broken eluvians.

PC: Where did the Qunari get all these? How long have they been studying eluvians? The sooner we stop this invasion plan, the better.

They begin to fight their way forward.

The Anchor flares as they cross the bridge towards the main structure.

PC: (Cries out in pain.)

Party comments (romanced):

Cassandra: Are you all right?

Blackwall: Are you hurt? What just happened?

Sera: What? What happened?

Dorian: Are you all right?

Iron Bull: Kadan! You all right?

Varric: Oh, shit. That… can’t be good. You all right?

PC: We should hurry.

They continue.

Party comments:

Varric: So about this war… you know things didn’t end well for Kirkwall the last time the Qunari got angry. I really hope we settle this fast. I’ve seen all the burning cities I ever want to see.

Cassandra: Why are the Qunari calling this plan “Dragon’s Breath”? What do dragons have to do with assassinating heads of state? I don’t understand any of this.

Iron Bull (allied with Qunari): Whatever’s going on in here, I know we don’t have the full story. It can’t be as bad as it seems. My contacts would have said something. If an invasion were coming, I’d know about it.

Iron Bull (Tal-Vashoth): I wish I could say I’m surprised that Viddasala wants to murder everyone, but it makes sense. We tell stories about hoe corrupt the South is. Who wouldn’t want to kill the evil nobles and save the people?

They continue on, past some patrolling Qunari.

Party comments:

Iron Bull (allied with Qunari): They’ve got guards on watch. Not sure if we can sneak by.

Iron Bull (Tal-Vashoth): Watch the patrol. You want to take them out one at a time, fast, or we’ll have a mess on our hands.

Cassandra: Patrolling guards. We need to deal with them as quickly as possible.

Blackwall: Guards on patrol. If we take them out one at a time, we might avoid raising the alarm.

The PC enters a nearby research tower.

PC: Red lyrium… do the Qunari have any idea what they’re dealing with?

Party comments:

Sera: Of course. But they’re special and careful, and nothing bad will happen.

Varric: No. They might think they do, but they don’t.

Cole: the song is different, but the pieces fit together.

They drop into a room full or random magical artifacts.

PC: Is that… an astrarium? How did the Qunari move it here?

Party comments:

Vivienne: Do be careful not to touch the pyramid, darling.

Dorian: A word of advice: stay away from the glowing pyramid.

Iron Bull: And one of those weird keys you can only find with a Tranquil’s skull.

Cassandra: Perhaps we should keep our distance. Some of those artifacts are deadly.

Blackwall: Maker’s breath. Do they even know what half these things do?

They return to the main door, an elaborate vault with a puzzle lock.

PC: That’s quite the door.

They find the door to the controls is locked.

PC: Locked. One of the guards must have the key.

The PC finds the gatehouse key on one of the Qunari and begins to solve the puzzle.

Party comments:

Sera: That! Be tricksy with all of them, and we’re through!

Varric: That’s it! Get them all like that, and we’re in!

Cole: Yes! Do the thing to the other thing! Sorry. I’m not good with things that don’t have feelings.

The PC gets it open.

PC: It’s open! let’s go.

They head inside, fighting their way through more Qunari. After one of the fights, the Anchor flares.

PC: (Cry of pain.)

Party comments:

Varric: Hang in there. Someone back at the palace has to be able to help.

Blackwall: Cn you walk? We’d better move faster.

Cassandra: Stay with us!

Cole: It’s the Veil. It wants to be back, but it’s trapped on you. I don’t know how to help!

Dorian: That sounded bad. Hold on a little longer.

Iron Bull: Crap. Come one, we have to get you out of here.

Sera: Stop hurting! Please.

Vivienne: My dear, are you all right?

As they continue inside, they find a study with documents detailing the Dragon Breath plan.

This document appears to be written entirely in Qunlat, but contains a number of complicated diagrams, including detailed blueprints of Halamshiral and a number of other places and fortresses.

Dialogue options:

Arcane: They’re unlocking eluvians. PC: Morrigan said the key to an eluvian could be anything—including knowledge or power. So they’re stockpiling both. That’s how they got the keystone and opened so many of the eluvians we’ve seen. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

General: Studying it all, maybe? PC: This almost looks like research. Are they trying to uncover the secrets of elven magic? ㅤㅤ ㅤ

General: Looking for weapons? PC: Trying to find more things like eluvians. Anything to gain an advantage in their invasion, probably.

Party comments:

Iron Bull: Hopefully they don’t have any more ancient magic crap to throw at us. That dragon skull would make a wicked armchair, though. Maybe we could take it back to Skyhold after this?

Blackwall: So they could also have other artifacts? Magical traps or elven weapons?

Cassandra: They will have defenses in place. We must not stumble into anything blindly. Is that a copy of Swords and Shields?

PC: We need to put a stop to this, and fast.

Next: Ataashi

[anaan]

La esencia del alma

camina sobre un arcoíris nocturno

hacia la luna nueva,

donde nada sobrevive al final

y los recuerdos

se convierten en polvo.

Entre llegar y partir,

un destello de luz estelar

nos confunde y distrae

del presente efímero.

Sin darnos cuenta,

todo es pasado ya

y el futuro es de otros.

Anaán

anaan.wordpress.com

[thedaselcor]

Ok I cracked, chapter 1 is up.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/59574595/chapters/151940176

Asit tal-eb. The way things are meant to be. Ashkaari Koslun teaches us that the world and the self are one. That it is the choice of every individual whether to act according to their nature and the nature of the world, or oppose the proper order, and struggle against themselves and against the world. As a former slave, Sataareth Issqun knows that a choice made without freedom is nothing but illusion. That the old tools of Mastery, dependent on force and coercion, are corrupting the very soul of the Qun. In the tradition of questions started by the Great Ashkaari, and continued by the Arishok once known as Sten of the Beresaad, she will be the someone who asks how Mastery can be achieved, and listens for the answer. After the incident at the Divine Conclave, Sataareth finds the fate of all the world depends on her Mastery. Anaan esaam Qun--Victory is in The Qun

[sirvinter]

ty again @delavairess for showing interest!! <3

Anaan-asala Adaar is a warrior ex-commander who got fed up with the Qun in his youth and subsequently defected with the remainder of his unit during a mission outside Par Vollen. He's 52 y/o at the start of Inquisition :^)

Like many Tal-Vashoth, he did end up moving to mercenary work, but mostly because he knew fighting was something he liked and was good at and saw no reason to why he shouldn't capitalize on it. A few members of his former unit still worked under him until the Conclave.

Time has left him with a bitterness for the Qun and those who still live under it, causing him to clash with Bull a lot once they meet in-game. He's straight-forward in his words and clear with his opinions. His age and steadfast, protective nature in the Inquisition soon uplift him into a reliable but casual consultant-like role. Eventually, many -- including both inside the inner circle as well as people under the Inquisition's wing -- come to see him in a more fatherly* way. Intimidating at first, but cordial and well spoken once you exchange words with him. A firm but kind man who means well.

He's a man with few hobbies; he likes people watching, enjoys a good conversation, or a nap in the evening sun.

He ends up romancing Blackwall :^)

[transmasc-tabris]

Huh

[velnat004]

more on my "Qunari's are Turkish-coded because i said so" bullshit aside from the ' anaan means your mum in Turkish' jazz, i can see some similarities with Qun-lat and Turkish the way both of them are pronounced as they're written and accent sounds similar too? i'd love to see other Tal-vashoths in the next game other than our little adaar :3 that being said, yes my corelation to Qunaris in DA to Turkish culture is self-indulgent and yes i'm gonna be loud about it, both about the Qunari AND the Turkish stuff.

[ladydarksbane]

Adaar Loves Horn Rubs

Inquisitor Anaan Adaar forged a strong bond with his comrade, Iron Bull, throughout their time together in the Inquisition. They had fought side by side, facing countless dangers and emerging victorious against challenging foes. Dragons, demons, vints, Avvar, it didn’t matter… the bigger the better.  Amidst the chaos and uncertainty of their missions, they found solace in their camaraderie and shared experiences.

One day, as they set up camp after a particularly grueling battle, Adaar found himself leaning against a tree, lost in his thoughts. Iron Bull noticed his kadan's pensive expression and approached him with a friendly grin.

"Hey, boss. Something on your mind?" Iron Bull asked, his deep voice filled with genuine concern.

Adaar looked up, meeting Iron Bull's gaze. "Just reflecting on everything we've been through, Bull. Sometimes it's hard to believe we've made it this far."

Iron Bull nodded, his expression reflecting the weight of their shared experiences. "Yeah, it's been a hell of a ride. But we're still standing, and we've got each other's backs."

A brief silence hung in the air, both warriors lost in their thoughts. Then, Iron Bull's face broke into a mischievous smile.

"You know, kadan," he said, a playful glint in his eye, "there's one thing I've noticed about you. You seem to enjoy it when I rub your horns."

Adaar's eyes widened in surprise, and a faint blush colored his cheeks. He hadn't expected Iron Bull to bring up such a personal and intimate detail, but he couldn't deny the truth in his words. There was an undeniable pleasure in the sensation of his horns being rubbed.

With a smirk, Adaar responded, "Well, I must admit, Bull, there's something oddly soothing about it. It's like a massage for the soul."

Iron Bull chuckled deeply. "I knew it! You're not the only one, kadan. Many Qunari find it relaxing. It's like scratching an itch you never knew you had."

Curiosity piqued, Adaar asked, "Is it a common practice among the Qunari?"

Iron Bull shrugged. "Can't speak for all of them, but I've met a fair number who enjoy it. Maybe it's something about the horns being a part of our identity and having them tended to... It just feels good."

A playful grin tugged at the corners of Adaar's lips. "Well, then, Bull, I suppose you've discovered my secret weakness. Are you offering to give me a horn rub?"

Iron Bull's eyes sparkled with mirth. "Of course, kadan. I'm always here to provide a quality horn-rubbing service. Just let me know when you're in need."

They shared a hearty laugh, the weight of their battles momentarily forgotten. In that lighthearted moment, Adaar realized that it wasn't just the physical act of rubbing his horns that brought him joy; it was the connection he shared with Iron Bull, the trust and companionship that had developed between them.

A few days later, Iron Bull surprised Adaar with a small jar of horn balm. He had crafted it himself, a blend of soothing oils and herbs specifically designed for the care of Qunari horns.

"Thought you might appreciate this, boss," Iron Bull said, handing the jar to Adaar. "It'll keep your horns healthy and make the rubbing even more enjoyable."

Adaar examined the jar, a mixture of gratitude and amusement on his face. "You truly think of everything, Bull. Thank you."

As the nights grew colder and their adventures continued, Adaar would occasionally retrieve the jar of horn balm and indulge in the sensation of rubbing it onto his horns. The fragrant oils would soothe his senses, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of comfort and contentment.

In those moments, Adaar realized that it wasn't just about the physical pleasure of having his horns rubbed or the practicality of the horn balm. It was about the bond he shared with Iron Bull, the understanding and care that transcended words.

Through the simple act of tending to Adaar's horns, Iron Bull exhibited a great deal of love, nurturing a connection that went deeper than battles and war. And in those shared moments, Adaar found solace and a reminder that even in the harshest of worlds, there was room for gentleness and compassion.