#andrastina de riva

[vigilskeep]

i love the crow content on your blog bc the comedy gold of teia, viago and crow rook is literally so enthralling to me. (Rook speaking to teia voice) you're in his dms, I'm pissing him off, I'm ruining his day

also there's interesting drama and daddy issues potential in rook and viago being half siblings but again the sitcom ass vibes of it are so funny. that little FREAK who goes >:3 at me all the time and who i secretly care about is actually my little sibling?!?!?! (NOT clickbait)

they’re so funny. i want my rook to be #1 teia fan and keep pestering viago about it.

“when will you get me that cool sister-in-law” “we’re not siblings” “we’re basically the de riva siblings” “no” “the dellamorte cousins wish they had what we have” “they do not”

“teia is like the talon i never had” “you had me” “[deep sigh] i’m aware”

rook as also-the-king’s-bastard is so funny but there are uh Significant Logistical Problems for non-human rooks so i very much doubt. we can tone down the soap opera-isms just a tiny bit

[vigilskeep]

the backstory description for crow rook immediately made me think of an overeager crow, how sweet would it be for crow rook to sort of admire lucanis (or like the concept of him..) and then thats just a guy you meet… rooooooooaaaaar that can go into awkward but also weird but also sad territory depending on what the game does

very fun and cute. tbh

my crow rook is very bitchy about anyone she sees as a higher-up and spent years saying ‘maker please take away my suffering and give it to lucanis dellamorte 🙏’ after any mild inconvenience. obviously she feels kind of bad now she sees that it worked

[vigilskeep]

to summarise!! i’m planning to play andrastina de riva, a surface dwarf antivan crow rogue. she’s good at being the charm, the face, the distraction; trained for a similar role to zevran or illario or teia. she’s charismatic and funny, very full of life and expressive, which leads people to the occasionally fatal assumption that she’s always genuine—or that she’s any less dangerous than her fellow assassins. she’s definitely a risk taker, super impulsive, and over-confident that whatever she gets herself into, she can talk her way out of it. which, to be fair, she usually can. she’s often snarky and defiant about the crows, especially their leadership (when out of their earshot), but she cares more than she lets slip and would do almost anything for them rather than lose antiva as her home

i like the look of all the rogue specs which is partly why i’m playing one but for andrastina i am eyeing saboteur. that looks very fun and also like something a dwarf should be doing. there may not always be a plan up her sleeve but there’s definitely at least one explosive

i’m not locking in a lot of hard backstory details i want to be flexible for whatever the game has to offer

[vigilskeep]

how do we feel about ana as short for andrastina. i think that’s the most fitting sounding nickname i’ve come up with

[vigilskeep]

omg are you using andrastina for your crow dwarf rook as in christina-christ?? HARKER UR MIND!!!!! religious guilt be upon ye! 🧂🧂

JGSHSJSSKKS yeah. i can’t take credit for the idea in general though, i’ve seen a few andraste namesake ocs running around thedas before mine. it simply called to me for a crow rook when i remembered how religious spanish and italian names often are. and both surface dwarf andrastianism and crow andrastianism are fascinating to me

not sure how i’ll end up shortening it though

[vigilskeep]

im making andrastina as short as the game will possibly let me. i WILL be the shortest character in thedas

[vigilskeep]

sooooo obsessed with ‘maker please take away my suffering and give it to lucanis dellamorte 🙏’ just made me laugh out loud.. i totally see your vision… i think 'maybe ill get to meet lucanis dellamorte one day 😊wait what😊😊' is my alternative to that

there are two types of crow

[vigilskeep]

the only kind of rook who could truly recognise the ridiculousness of this: playing house, with caterina dellamorte’s grandson, the one they call the demon. he makes you a coffee, like it’s nothing. you drink it, like it’s nothing, meeting his eyes because you both know how absurd it is, how foolish you’ve become, blindly drinking what another assassin gives you. is this trust? could it ever be, between people like you? the others chatter around you, oblivious. it’s good coffee. the only poison in it is this: it tastes like home

i said i would be less likely to romance lucanis while playing a fellow crow but now my brain is romanticising it

[vigilskeep]

xarius mercar and andrastina de riva have abandoned all civility and are going to war in my mind for rook supremacy for the final 48 hours. if they dont both get stabbed in the back by some late interloper

[vigilskeep]

Andrastina de Riva I've heard you speak of before but who is Xarius Mercar 👀

i explained xarius here!! he’s my shadow dragon elf warrior. sharp-eyed, no-nonsense strategist with killer eyeliner, a spirit warrior gimmick, and a bad habit of giving orders instead of requests. #1 minrathous hater

[vigilskeep]

do you have name ideas for your rook?

andrastina de riva is my dwarf crow rogue idea and xarius mercar is my shadow dragon elf warrior! :)

[vigilskeep]

[ID: reply from @heyitsmeyup saying “I think they gave all the rogues a healing ability? Surprisingly even Lucanis”]

my crow rook and lucanis after every fight flat out beaten up on the ground clinking our healing potions together with an extremely despondent “¡salud!” while davrin once again wonders where he lost us

the way im careening directly towards playing a rogue and romancing a rogue... in the game with a completely different combat style to get to grips with and where we can only bring two companions with us so if i want to bring the guy i’m obsessed with i have to pick between having a tank or having a healer... about to get torn to shreds out there lads its been real 🫡

[vigilskeep]

now that we can rook backstories, how does this influence your rook plans?

i was wavering on crow rook last night but i am now sold again. andrastina “rook” de riva my beloved

my only concern with the crows is that i’m fairly nervous about where we’re going with the qunari and that seems very closely linked. but hey it’s going to be part of the plot anyway

[vigilskeep]

“i was going to say that hiring a dellamorte onto the team is the stupidest thing we could ever do. however, he has a beard now so i’ve decided to take that back”

wonder if it will be realistic for a crow rook to have ever seen/met lucanis before so my dwarf crow rook can have the highly specific dwarf crow rook experience of him having a beard now and suddenly being hot in their eyes

[vigilskeep]

problem update: i tried out andrastina, and her letter from viago killed me which reminded me how much i want to be a de riva, BUT i do not sense veilguard rogue and i will be friends. and i can’t make myself believe in warrior de riva

solution: mage de riva???

problem with that thorne: not enough character (yet?). idk what to do with her

problem with xarius: maybe slightly too much character. the voice doesnt quite fit and neither do most of the dialogue options

problem with me: i need to go to sleep