#basically cousland was BESOTTED with anora and basically proposed to her on the spot at the landsmeet bc political marriage

[ziskandra]

hello! for the questions for fic writers meme, a few questions for you:

Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

Great minds must think alike, because I've answered 12 and 17 here! (Short answers: omegaverse and train controller AU, respectively) 7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of? As I mostly write shorter fics, worldbuilding doesn't crop up too often in my works (and consequently, it's not one of my strengths, either). That being said, the times I have stretched my legs with slightly longer stories, I have had fun with some of the worldbuilding elements! There are two fics I'd like to highlight in particular. Firstly, a rare Original Work: Aulia & Haidrul's Enchanted Weapons and Wares. Given I struggle with worldbuilding at the best of times, I was completely astonished to find myself writing a 10k origfic within the span of four days 😅 But I was on holiday when someone who's writing I admire came up as a last-minute pinch hit for an exchange, and the character types they requested fit in perfectly with this fictional world I'd kind of been building in the back of my head for years?

Which might sound a bit strange (then again, do I know how these things work? not really), but basically, it's low fantasy set in an Indonesian-inspired post-apocalyptic world, where magic is a known quantity but is dying out due to a rejection of tradition and a declining population. The story is basically framed as two elderly store proprietors telling stories about their Youth to a passing traveller who's going east to fight in the war (there's a dragon problem, but that's not the focus of this particular fic...), and how they built a happy life for themselves despite not living up to the expectations people had for them. Honestly, I'd love to write more in this world and expand on the universe more, but I have a certain impostor syndrome when it comes to stories inspired by my own culture: as a mixed-race person, I never really feel like I can lay claim to anything when it comes to race and ethnicity and that's something I'm still working through and unpacking for myself. Writing this fic was definitely a step in the right direction though and helped me let me overcome that fear a tiny bit for myself. Secondly, my longest Dragon Age fic, To Find A Cure, which is mostly told through a series of letters told between Anora and her wife, Warden-Commander Cousland, during the Inquisition-era while Cousland is off on her quest to, uh, find a cure for the Calling! I ended up knee-deep in Fereldan Politics Lore for this one, oops, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I also ended up with something of a sequel outlined with a bunch of OCs where Elethea Cousland (who's introduced in To Find A Cure: she's Fergus's daughter and was sent to Denerim as a child to be raised as heir to the throne), Rowan Guerrin the II (pours one out for Connor...), and a maternal cousin of Anora's run off to try and reunite Anora and Elissa when Anora is on her deathbed (Anora is of course, extremely displeased that her heir has disappeared when she is actively dying, but Elethea's a bit of a romantic...) It's basically inspired by The Stolen Throne but these three are aware of Ferelden's proud history of polyamory so, less tragic in the end.

Questions For Fic Writers