#ao3 dragon age

[faded-mage]

New chapters of The Theory of Being over on AO3.

The Forgotten Ones weren't always... well, forgotten. The stories were likely partially true, the tales of cruelty and hiding in the darkness. They were everything they shouldn't have been - those who caused terror, pain, despair. The woman the world would eventually know as Inquisitor Lavellan was, in fact, a Forgotten One.

Somehow Isathe was not imprisoned by the Dread Wolf in the abyss with the rest of them. Whatever the reason, the former spirit of Curiosity coaxed into physical form was stuck in the aftermath of that event. She felt the moment the Veil was created and pulled her even farther from her home. Then she slept. Slept for thousands of years until she woke in a world where elves were no longer what they had been. She had to find a way to stay alive and adjust to the world that formed from the Betrayal so long ago.

Chapter 20: One Who Shares Their Wine

Chapter 21: One Who is Bound to Another

Full Story: The Theory of Being

[housederiva]

My housemate's cat came into my room while my dictation was on...

[adler-obsessed]

god. Vivienne really is just. that character. She is taken to the circle so young she does not remember what her parents even looked like and someone had to tell her. She wouldn’t even know if they were telling the truth. She is ruthless, the terror and nightmare of the Orlesian court. She almost weeps when you find the Tranquil skulls in Redcliffe. She hates drop waists. She is harrowed younger than any other mage in living memory. She teaches Bull the steps to the dance of the six candles. He likens her to a Qunari dreadnought that has half the enemies on the ground before he’s even reached the front line. Her accent’s not Orlesian. No Free Marcher can tell where she is from either. Is her original voice another part of herself she cut off? She enchanted a duke within one meeting and they scandalised even Orlesian society. She was good friends with his wife. They possibly fucked too. No can control her. She’s been owned since the moment she was first brought to the Circle. She belongs to no people. There are a dozen leashes around her neck claiming otherwise. She makes fun of an elven god for setting his coattails on fire.  She is on the verge of banishing Cole back to the Fade all the time. She can’t help but grow to care for him at the end despite her best efforts to pretend otherwise. She hates herself for it. She thinks caring makes you weak. During the first conversation you have with her unmasked as a Trevelyan, she begs to know if you also cared about her childhood friend, Lydia. She tries to import illegal fur into Skyhold. Did she kill everything soft within her soul herself or did the Chantry sisters do it for her? She is impossible to prank. Some might say she’s even better than Sera at pranking. She was pulled into the game by the time she was nineteen. She’d faced worse things since she could first remember her dreams. Life has never been fair. One merely needs to be hard enough to survive. The blade at her neck when she lay on the floor of the harrowing chamber was no different from the hunger in her belly as child, a necessary pain that only drove her forward. Maker, was there ever any chance that she did not see cruelty as simply another word for life? Is there any version of her that does not end up surrounded by moral filth? 

[albaharu]

Continuation of Rook!Oghren ; I was like "i need to do some solrook toxic enemies to lovers after the trapped-forever-together-with-someone-you-hate bad end. it has to be a dwarf and a grey warden so solas hates him extra... WAIT" anyways soghren otp 5ever

[punkaches]

And when you kiss me I am happy enough to die.

[ibahibut]

💀: Fewer wounds, more kisses from me.

🐦‍⬛: Contract's accepted, mi amor.

Music inspiration: A Little Death by The Neighbourhood

[fangbanger3000]

we need to talk about The Silence and The Song

[PLEASE READ] edit to add: i realise that this post has been reblogged far and wide and that there is not a lot i can do about it now, but this is me trying anyway.

posting examples from the fic about my issues with its repetitive structure was careless of me, and i apologise to those of you who read it and became insecure about your own writing style. as someone who has worked with ai in academic settings, it's incredibly difficult for me to explain to you how the tone and structure of ai-generated fiction works and how, after reading enough of it, you can simply just tell. i do also realise that this is an incredibly weak argument, which is why i didn't include it when i originally wrote this post.

all that to say: there is an enormous difference between "beginner's writing" and ai writing. being repetitive as a new writer (or a seasoned one who just likes using repetition) is so normal. as is flowery/purple language. i've read hundreds of books and fics and the difference between these traits in ai-text and actual works is starkly clear. please don't feel anxious over the examples i've used in this post.

again, i apologise for any distress i have caused.

as per my last post, i have received a lot of encouragement to go public with this, and the more disappointed people i have in my dms, the angrier i get. so i will.

the silence and the song is an ancient arlathan au DA fic on ao3 by luxannaslut, and it is partly, if not entirely, written by an ai. i have no wish to be involved in any kind of fandom drama or witch hunting or bullying, but as a writer myself there are few things that piss me off more than watching people steal the work of others because they can't be fucked to write. it's disrespectful to your fellow writers, it's disrespectful to your readers, and it's disrespectful to the authors of the works the ai is stealing from.

ai is a plague that has no business being in creative spaces and you must do better.

the writing pattern

there was something very odd and monotone about the sentence structure of tsats that i couldn't quite place, so i fed chatgpt a prompt along the lines of "two people in a fantasy novel hate each other, but they secretly desire one another, and they kiss", and the screenshots above are the results. the third one is an excerpt from chapter 40 of tsats. the writing pattern is identical and it doesn't seem like the "writer" has even bothered to pretend they wrote it. if you're going to use ai, at least be sneaky about it. you know, paraphrase a little.

nonsense descriptions

"her nimble fingers worked with quiet precision" (ct. 1), "his grip firm but tender" (ct. 33), "her gown pooling around her like embers" (ct. 1).

fingers don't make sound, so what does quiet precision mean? as opposed to what? her joints cracking with every movement? how is a grip firm but tender? what does that mean? since when do embers pool?

the entire fic is littered with these adjectives that contradict each other or just straight up do not make sense, because all an ai does is generate descriptive language with no understanding of what the words it's spitting out actually mean. i could spend hours picking out examples from the seven billion pages worth of text, but i quite frankly have better things to do and would simply challenge you to try getting through a chapter or two without noticing the pattern.

repetition at structure-level

all the scenes in this fic are described in pretty much the same way. they open with purple prose vomit of the surroundings; solas is standing somewhere looking "unreadable as ever"; ellana's fiery golden molten fire copper ember ginger red hair is flowing this and that way; there's some dialogue with whoever is present and it leaves ellana feeling different variations of "something she couldn't name". this is, once again, a blatantly obvious sign of ai. below is the result of me feeding chatgpt the line "write me a scene from a fantasy novel where a woman with red hair is sitting on the ground in a magical garden at night", and side by side with that is the opening scene of the fic. make your own judgement.

repetition at word-level

this one speaks for itself. we fucking get it. her dress is orange, her hair is red, mythal's presence is heavy in the room, solas looks unreadable, compassion is sitting on her head like a crown, solas' ears are betraying him and ellana's move with every thought she thinks. we get it. the issue here is that an ai remembers the info you feed it, but not necessarily the info it shits out. if it's being told to write scene after scene of an elven woman with a gown that looks like fire doing xyz, it's going to do so with no regard for how many times the reader has already been informed of these details.

lastly: the breakneck speed

359,6k words in four weeks by a person who allegedly is employed and married and hasn't pre-written anything? no. any writer will tell you that this simply isn't possible. it absolutely infuriates me to see how much praise this "writer" gets for posting up to three full chapters in a day without anyone calling bullshit. i am pulling out my hair, you guys.

why i'm not going to live and let live this one

perhaps i would be less angry if the fic was some silly bullshit court intrigue Y/A stuff, but this is a text that handles very heavy and triggering topics such as SA, coercion, domestic abuse, and other things of the same vein. to sit back and put your feet up while having a robot write these extremely sensitive and very real human experiences with words it has stolen from texts written by actual persons is fucking heinous. the "writer" should be deeply ashamed of themselves and i'm sick and tired of watching people eat up their bs.

and on that note: the amount of people in my dm's telling me that they feel stupid and naive for not clocking this has infuriated me more than anything else. you're not foolish for this. being fed ai-generated bullshit is not what is supposed to happen on any creative platform and much less a fandom-centred one, so of course no one approaches a fic through that lens. fandom and fic writing is supposed to be about passion and the only person in this situation who needs to do better and change their behaviour is luxannaslut. polluting our creative spaces, wasting the time of your readers, and minimising the effort of actual writers who are working hard to provide content for us all to share and enjoy is vile and so, so lazy. i beg of you: do better.

[elvhendis]

I have been yelling about Viago and Teia in various discords but it's not enough, I have to start yelling on my tumblr too asdfgsjfk

(Context: They're trying to get information out of a fellow Crow and Viago suggested trying a serum he concocted that makes people pliable)

He admitted RELUCTANTLY

(Viago: Sit.

Me: SIR I'M SAT)

Mind you he's still wearing his gloves, man's not even touched her AND HE'S PUTTY IN HER HANDS

[conchcronch]

Salt, Sweat and Seawater

WC: 1792

Pairing: Lucanis x Fem!Rook

Summary: Lucanis is just trying to enjoy the view, but Spite just has to distract him.

A/N: should I be finishing my Kinktober? Yes. Do I have a new hyper fixation? Also yes.

It wasn’t unheard of for Lucanis to be outside of his room during the day, cup of coffee in hand, his back against the stonewall of the dining room/bedroom. His eyes never leave Rook.

He watched as she swung her sword with so much ease it was as though the weapon was an extension of her arm. Next to her stood Bellara, who held one of Rook’s older, smaller swords in her left hand, nodding as Rook tried to explain basic hand to hand combat. They weren’t close enough for Lucanis to hear what they were talking about but now that Rook’s back was to him he was able to look her up and down without needed to act nonchalant about it.

She stood taller than him, something he was not new to. Her auburn hair which was normally tied into a bun when out in the field was currently swaying past her shoulders, only her bangs were pulled back in a half up style. Despite the use of a sword, she hadn’t bothered to daun her equipment, opting to remain in her casual attire. The red sash that wrapped around her waist always drew Lucanis’ eyes down to it, her body looking delicate yet deadly. He couldn’t see the muscles in her arms, but he knew they were firm from years of training with a sword. Where he was fast and light on his feet, she was sturdy and powerful.

While she moved, demonstrating how one should stand while anticipating a counter, something that Bellara seemed interested in knowing but unlikely to use, he couldn;t help but watch her ass. Every time she shifted her weight from her non dominant foot to show a brace, her pants hugged the curve of her cheeks, her thighs almost straining against the fabric as she bent at the knees.

He feels the presence without needing to look at the figure standing next to him. He hoped that by refusing to acknowledge him, Spite would quickly grow bored and retreat back into him. The sound of the creature sniffing the air beside him made the Crow sigh. “smells of-“ The twisted version of his voice rang both in his ears and his head simultaneously. The demon stepped out into the sun, his form untouched by the light, almost swallowing it instead. Lucanis knew there was no use telling him not to, so he hoped by not doing anything it wouldn’t draw attention to himself, allowing him to watch longer. “Smells of blood, of sweat, hints of…of melon, in her hair.” Spite walked right up to Rook, stepping around her as he sniffed the air, leaning into her personal space, the way Lucanis so desperately wanted to.

Lucanis couldn’t help the grimace that befell his lips as Spite sullied his view of Rook, no longer could his eyes move over her tensed muscles, firm ass, her tapered in waist or her pillowy chest, Spite was always in frame.

“Smells of arousal” Lucanis’ eyes raised from the swirling dark liquid in his mug, now seeing Spite directly in front of Rook as she listened to Bellara’s hurried questions, the demon’s lips were parted, his tongue darting out over them as he almost began to drool. “Sex, she wants it, craves it, reeks of it.” his words were becoming frenzied, Lucanis could feel the demon’s power surge inside of him, but he forced himself to remain level, not wanting to alert the rest of his companions. “Let me take over, let me give her what she craves” He’s back in front of the crow in the blink of an eyes, his knees bent so even while Lucanis is looking down at his coffee he can still see the crazed purple eyes. “Want a taste, a taste of her, she reeks of it, reeks reek REEKS of sex” The crows’ jaw clenches and unclenches, moving to breath through his mouth, as Spite power courses through his body just one inhale through his nose he’d smell whatever the demon did. And that was a line he didn’t want to cross.

It was hard enough to be so infatuated by the party’s leader, to look at her every chance he got, to invite her to Traviso under the gauze of dealing with Crow matters, but truly only wanting to get an evening alone with her, it was becoming difficult to handle. But to smell her, to really smell her, he knew he wouldn’t be able to control himself. He could already feel Spite’s frenzied arousal pulse in his crotch, having to shift his position to cross his legs as he leaned against the wall. “Smell her” He was back, where there should have been air from his words on his cheek there was nothing, as though there was no one standing a few inches from his ear and yet the words rang so loud. “Give in, smell her, taste her on the air” Spite huskily spoke into Lucanis’ ear, “Salt, seawater, sweat” salt…Lucanis recalled one of their first normal discussions over coffee after his cousin had left. She had mentioned salt in her drink, as they went back and forth over the taste of a first kiss.

Subconsciously he sucked in a breath through his nose as he recalled their banter. Her smell flooded his senses, breathing it in wasn’t enough. He swallowed a lung full of air, her taste on his tongue as though he were between her thighs. “Yes yes yes yes taste, smell, she needs us, craves us”

The sound of two swords clashing made his body tense, his head snapping up on instinct. Rook stood with her sword in front of her, slashing lightly at Bellara who was standing with decent blocking form, her sword crossed in front of her face with her palm firm against the side to give the weapon more support.

Normally pride would fill his chest to see his companions teaching each other, helping one another improve but his mind was so clouded by the taste of her on his tongue and the throb between his legs. His erection was now so obvious he had to excuse himself, kicking himself off the wall and turning on his heel as he tossed the rest of his now cold coffee back.

If he had looked over his shoulder he would have seen Rook glance in his direction, eyes hoping to land on the crow but seeing him step into his room instead. Her smile dropped. And he missed it, but Spite did not.

The door slammed, his cup placed on the long wooden table as he walked around it and towards his small back bedroom. He couldn’t remember the last time his cock pulsed like this, the taste gone from his tongue but not to be forgotten. Maybe it was Spite’s nagging but he vowed he would taste it again, when he was on his knees between her legs, he was determined.

He closed and locked his bedroom door, his hands working his pants open before he could even get to the bed. He hated to do this, it always made him feel so slimy, especially when the only person on his mind was his employer. When his hand wrapped around his cock the two of them moaned in unison.

Spite wasn’t material, but his voice and sounds were everywhere. “We need her” The crow tipped his head back against the stone wall, mouth falling open as his breathing quickened. “We need to fuck her, claim her as ours” Lucanis’ eyes felt heavy, allowing them to fall closed as he worked his cock with quick strokes, his thumb swiping over his flared head, wiping the bead of pre cum down.

Behind his closed eyes he imagined it. Imaging how she’d look underneath him, her hair splayed out on his lackluster bed. Her soft lips parted, waiting for him to press his lips to hers again. Her sounds could be like music to his ears, nothing like her battle cries. But maybe like her pained winches, he once heard her dressing a wound and since then he found himself replaying that sound as his hand tightened around his shaft.

“Get her” Spite’s words rang around him, his tone dripping in carnal lust. “Bring her in here” for the first time this afternoon Lucanis found words coming from his own mouth.

“No” Spite growled then hissed as Lucanis tightened his grip on his cock, his hips twitching up to fuck into his hand.

“We need her”

“No” even such a simple word was a struggle to push out through his bared teeth, his hand now moving so quickly the sound fills the room.

“I want to see her” Spite’s tone was insistent but also with an underlying whine, something that only happened in these private moments. “I like her, I want to fuck her, make her scream, make her beg for me, for us!” His words were frantic, moans echoing around the crow as he tried his best to focus on chasing his pleasure instead of imagining his employer.

“Rooook” Lucanis’ own voice surprises himself, his free hand shooting up to cover his mouth, unsure whether the word came from his own pleasure or if Spite was the cause, but he didn’t want to take the risk.

“Louder”

“No” Lucanis breathed, muffled by the hand gripping the bottom half of his face.

“Loud enough she comes running” the crow tries to ignore the demon, he feels like he’s teetering on the edge of orgasm. “Give me control, I can ta-“ The rush of pleasure must have come as a surprise to the demon, his sentence ended prematurely by a moan perfectly echoing Lucanis’ own as he spilled his seed.

“Maker” the crow breathed, when the shocks of climax had died down, staring at his hand which now had ropes of drying cum on it. He knew he should get up, to start cleaning the few drops of cum that had landed on his pants and his vest before they left a crusty stain, but he just couldn’t force himself to move quite yet.

He couldn’t remember the last time he slept, exhaustion settling into his limbs quicker then he could fight it off. But the sound of knuckles on his closed door jolted his eyes open. “Lucanis” her voice was soft, a hint of concern underlying his name. He remained silent as he forced his softening cock back into his pants, grimacing as he wiped his hand on his blanket and hoping she would call his name again as he rested his head against his barely used pillow, sleep tugging at his eyelids. Spite was appeased, for now.

[woundedsoul12]

What it's like being a fanfic writer

Low engagement. Barely anyone kudos on AO3. Even less comment. Debating on just letting my blurbos live rent free in my head

That one unhinged mfer in the comments: "I love you. I love this. Please don't ever give up!"

May I be that one unhinged person for someone every day

[faded-mage]

Newest chapter is up. I went back and did some formatting changes for chapter names (burnt myself out at the previous naming convention), and the chapters themselves. Cleanup of some grammar or spelling primarily. Some fun images to make everything pretty (very important, you know). And I did a big re-write of the sex scene in chapter 21 "Bound to Another".

Chapter 32: Words He's Afraid to Say

Full Story: The Theory of Being

[thatwavephenomenon]

What do you mean Neve x Bellara isn't a thing in Veilguard. There is a jagged detective who keeps fighting against corruption to protect the neighboorhoud she cares so much about. There is this brillant engineer who works with the lost technology of her people to make sure it doesn't hurt anyone and to help their culture. Neve Gallus' cases are so famous that there are multiple fictions inspired from them, of which Bellara is a great fan of. When they met Bellara totally has a hero crush on Neve, one she must get past because Neve is indulgent and think it's cute, but she is also uncomfortable with how famous her and her cases are and they will work together. Still, Neve keep spending some of her no doubt precious time chasing the serials that Bellara loves so much just to see her happy. Neve paints herself as a cynic and says that after all she had seen the only conclusion is that all her work never seems to matter in the long run, yet she can't help but care and have hope that even the tiniest gesture of kindness could help someone. Bellara appears optimistic and is adamant on believing on happy endings to the point that one could consider her naive, yet she is that way because inwardly she is so, so full of guilt and devoured by the anxiety that things will go wrong and people will die if she doesn't do everything just right. They are both brillant women who have so many things in their heads that they must think about, because they both find meaning in resolving things. They both struggle to think clearly from time to time, struggle to sleep because of it even. Bellara ends up writing her own fictions (or fanfictions?) and I can see her struggling to decide whether it's fair to Neve to be inspired by her because 'oh no she doesn't like it but she is so courageous and intelligent and strong and beautiful...' Also. Neve has a horrible diet and one of the first thing Bellara does to get to know her better is to cook one of her favourite food.

[crows-rook]

The students of theoretical metaphysics are thrilled to finally have their professor back from his year-long sabbatical. They’d heard some pretty interesting rumors about Proefssor Emmrick "by the book" Volkarin having left Nevarra to help save the world but there's no way that's true. The gossip mill is rife in the Necropolis but there is no way that a man as uptight as him fought blighted gods, venatori, darkspawn and antaam all over northern Thedas.

The first day of class is pretty boring, they go through the motions of talking about what will be taught this term, what texts are best to understand this year's material and extra credit options they can undertake for their end of year scores. At the end of the lesson, one of the students raises a hand and asks about the professor's so-called connection with the veilguard and with Rook.

Every person alive now knows the story of Rook, Slayer of Gods and Hero of the Veilguard. They chat and brag about what stories they'd heard about them or even boast if they'd gotten a rare look at them out and about with their companions. It's great hearing the rumor that the Hero of Thedas is a Mourn Watcher, but without knowing who they actually are, all the young students can do is guess. It's become a game at this point.

The professor is about to answer when the door bursts open and Manfred comes bustling in dragging Ingellvar with him. Now everyone knows about that watcher, kicked out of the Mourn Watch for their role in the War of the Banners, only to be allowed back nearly two years later. What surprises them is the fact that they are not alone. There are two others with them, Neve Gallus and a warden called Davrin, both members of the veilguard.

With Manfred running around the room hissing Rook's home, Rook's home, it quickly becomes pretty clear to the students of Professor Volkarin's Theoretical Metaphysics class that their stick-in-the-mud teacher did spend his sabbatical fighting ancient gods and darkspawn. But there's no way it means the rest of the rumors are true right?

Least not until they see Thedas's hottest new hero practically examines the man's tonsils with a kiss that is not appropriate for the classroom.

When they leave, the flustered man looks at the class and asks; "Are there any more questions, or do you mind if I go home to my spouse?"

[brunopelle]

The only accurate way to know who's the most popular romances

[housederiva]

Is it just me or is there way less fanart being made for this game than the previous ones? Kind of makes me sad, I remember with dai I could check the tags every few hours and find something new weeks after launch, now I only can get away with only looking a few times and week and miss nothing.

I don't think that's Veilguard exclusive.

Things I and my mutuals draw now are getting less notes/reblogs than they did even one year ago, regardless of the fandom. Fanfiction is getting less comments and kudos on ao3 too (not that they were getting many comments in the first place) Less gifs are being made because gif makers weren't getting reblogs. Hell, most of the post I make have a huge discrepancy between likes and reblogs and add polls into that? A thousand people voted on something and only a dozen people reblog it. It's a hollowing feeling when you realise you're calling out to an empty void, I don't blame people for creating less art because of that.

I don't see a vast majority of the people who follow me in my notes because I have likes disabled. Multiple times someone has sent me an ask apologizing for spamming me with likes and I don't understand it? That is not a bad thing And unless you reblogged anything along the way, I didn't even realise you were doing it in the first place. And the people whose notes I do see are not annoying in the slightest, I love the tags you add and I'm sure the original poster does even more so

I'm not trying to shame anyone Into interacting with the fandom spaces they're in but the whole point of Tumblr and what makes it a blogging platform and not social media is that this is a show and tell website. You're supposed to look at something you think is cool and then wave it around for your followers to see and then they pick it up and do the same regardless of how old it is

When you reblog an ask game from someone it used to be common courtesy to send that person one of the asks from it. Folks used to leave comments analysing paragraphs from stories people wrote and theorising about what would happen next on every chapter. We used to send each other asks just asking about our ocs unprompted

If there's no interaction or community when you create something, then what's the point of creating it? It sucks that fandom is morphing into something to be consumed and thrown away the second it's more than a week old unless you're one of a handful of blogs that got lucky and picked up traction at just the right moment

I'm sorry for the rant but I get emotional when I think about the decay of fandom spaces for too long. And this goes without saying, but you guys can reblog anything on my dash if the button isn't disabled on it

[ao3-anonymous]

Fastest Growing Fandoms on AO3 This Week (11/18/2024)

Every week I pull data on how many fics are in each fandom and compare to the previous week, then calculate the percentage increase to determine fastest growing fandoms.  Since this naturally skews towards smaller fandoms, I have included the same data filtered to Over 1k, 5k, & 10k fics.

Overall:

Over 1,000 Fics:

Over 5,000 Fics:

Over 10,000 Fics:

Source: AO3 Fandom Dashboard