#because some orlesians are just...like... that... @___@

[tethrras]

OK EVERYONE here is my CHESSA LORE so far

under the cut :)

her dad was a lowly goon in the cadash crime family hierarchy and he died shortly after she and her siblings were born in 9:11 Dragon - the cadashes decided they did not need to take care of 4 freeloaders and sent them on their way

their mom decided to go to ferelden, thinking they would need workers to help after the orlesian-ferelden war, but it turned out they did not :) so she started prostituting herself yayyyyyy!!! but this quickly turned into a series of unhealthy relationships with her patrons and yes this was happening with chessa and her siblings (they're triplets) on the other side of their shitty house in denerim

chessa started working in the market at a young age and learned how to charm people ;) but like genuinely LOL she got very good at sales and upselling and whatever. she's TECHNICALLY the oldest of the siblings (she was born on one side of midnight, her siblings were born on the other half) and so she felt like it was her responsibility to take care of them when their mom spiralled out of control

they were all adults by the time the fifth blight came around and swept through denerim, and by the time of awakening, they had gone to live in amaranthine; amaranthine was then also destroyed, so they moved up to highever, were chessa started working as a salesperson and her siblings did..... something IDK WHO CARES

she really liked highever but was starting to get bored, esp because her siblings were starting to get married and then checkra eventually had a couple of kids (carda would have them, but a bit later). she had some casual relationships with Sexy Human Guys but they all got boring eventually

when the inquisition started and she heard about inquisitor cadash, she totally thought it was a sign. so she joined up with the inquisition after skyhold where she met varric!!! who had become her favourite author!!!

inquisitor cadash is very much not a leader so chessa ended up giving her some advice and guidance (chessa is a few years older at this point). varric took interest in her bc she's gorg but also super smart and witty and could keep up w him in conversation

leliana eventually recruited her to be one of her spies - not a rough and tumble spy, more of an infiltration person. so chessa left and then her and varric started sending each other letters :) she was mostly like i'm gonna be bored and have no one else to write letters to... but she secretly loved the attention and just had a huge crush on him LOL

after inquisition leliana keeps chessa on as a spy and then eventually sends her overseas to kirkwall, where she hangs out with varric for a bit while working on a mission. they get close and kiss and have sex but they decide not to commit to anything

after trespasser, the inquisition is disbanded and leliana keeps chessa on as a spy DOUBLY for the solas stuff. chessa and varric decide to work together - she is henceforth inserted into the missing and any of the media where varric and harding are going on hunts for solas :)

they get really close and start an official relationship and are dating for a few years, but chessa brings up marriage and kids and varric is like Well what's the point. atp he has fully been to family gatherings in highever with checkra and carda's families (i actually hc they might've moved to kirkwall but more on that never). and so she's like :/ bc i love u and want a future w u? and he's like well with solas still out there there might not be a future? so she's like ok we're done then, i'll leave the solas hunting up to u and build a family with someone else

they don't talk for a year or two and then the solas investigation starts heating up again, so the 6 month period or whatever that rook is with varric and harding is actually chessa back with them helping the investigation, but they know a LOT more than before so she feels a lot more confident. her and varric reconcile and are together again for like 3 of the 6 months before veilguard takes place.

and then. well.

some fun facts!

chessa DID make her and varric get some of those forever-bracelets that ig influencers always promote i think that's suchhh a dragon age thing LOLLL, hers is silver and his is gold. she did also cut it off after they broke up. they get it fixed tho. lol.

absolutely a materialist and loves spending money but WILL NOT buy from a person who tries to upsell her

on that note she loves jewelry and has a bunch of chunky chains and bracelets and earrings. you can always tell she's coming bc she's clanking all over the place

her black lipstick is because she thinks it makes her look cool and hot 🫶

her and varric do eventually get in a spat bc he's like Stop buying me jewelry i can't wear it and you don't have enough money to be spending on it. then she sends all the jewelry she gave him to checkra and next time they visit he is DECKED THE FUCK OUT

she is a morning person and loves to wake up early to make sure she looks good for the day ahead :) starts getting sleepy super early and then pretends she is not tired. she has fallen asleep on varric's shoulder many times and sometimes she cannot be woken up when she's REALLY tired bc she's such a heavy sleeper

despite being the oldest of her siblings, she is the shortest (abt 3 inches shorter than varric). she never hears the end of it

and that's it so far :)

[vultures-and-scavengers]

how it starts vs how it ends (the fucking literal closest i can get to a rivalmance, bioware can you let me be even a little mean to him bc he kinda fucking deserves to be yelled at a bit over some of his comments and its not like he'd be thrilled about an orlesian noblewoman whos fairly anti-violence and a bit useless in a fight as herald)

[star--nymph]

Vivienne's fear being 'becoming irrelevant' isn't something that's linked explicitly to her pride, no matter what Solas says about her (and the irony of Mr.Pride himself saying that should not be lost on you), it reveals what and who Vivienne truly is.

She's a survivalist.

Because we don't spend as much time in the Free Marches or Orlesian circles, we don't get to experience what being a mage is in these cultures. In Ferelden and Kirkwall, a mage is a lesser being without freedom no matter what they do--but in the Free Marches and Orlais specifically, mages are commodities that are given freedom so long as they play an entertaining enough role. They can explore the world if they have a noble patron, if they catch the right person's eye. They are, in a way, two sides of the same coin--refusing mages agency and forcing them to relay on higher powers. Vivienne lucked out, as sad as it is, when Bastion fell in love with her; she found someone who was contrarian enough to recognize her as a full person and also someone with power that could help her rise through the ranks. This is not to say that Vivienne on her own wasn't an exceedingly talented and intelligent individual--by nineteen she was already the youngest full fledged mage in Circle history and she was skilled enough to make herself an enchanter. But, I can not emphasize this enough, none of that matters if she didn't also play the Game and impress enough people.

Vivienne could have been the most brilliant mage in the history of Thedas and it means nothing if she was overlooked by nobility.

So when Bastion made her his mistress, she gained not just a lover but also a means to an end. Now she can use her magic to protect herself. Now she can roam where she wants and not be question for it because she's Madame Vivienne. Now, she can walk into the Orlasian court and belong there.

And what happens? Celene notices her and makes her the Court Enchanter, a position that has always been the equivalent of a jester. Vivienne took that title, ignored that it was essentially a glorified insult to who she is, and made it a position of power. She made the Court Enchanter into an advisor, a political rank. She had done the impossible and made mages an actual political entity in the Orlasian Court, something that wasn't seen outside of Tervinter (not counting what players can do under very specific conditions if they made mages in DAO and DA2).

All that, however, only continues as long as the court recognizes her as something worth their attention. Vivienne needs to maintain her act as Madame De Fer, The Lady of Iron, the Court Enchanter, The Jewel of the High Court, because the second she just becomes Vivienne, it's over for her. The assassins coming raining in, her name gets devoured by rumors and gossip, and she'll be found dead at bottom of the stair case with a dagger in her back if she's lucky.

So of course when the Circles fall apart during the Rebellion, she clings to that Loyalist Mages to maintain that structure--of course she moves her pieces to the Inquisition, knowing that if the Circle DOES fall, she at least as another place for herself and mages latch onto--of course when she hears that Celene replaced her with a new Court Enchanter that appeared out of no where, she grows to resent Morrigan.

Like, Morrigan literally pops up out of thin air, makes herself invaluable to Celene, and then plants herself in the place Vivienne had to claw her way up to and create so she could survive. Would you not be resentful when your life's work is usurped by some random witch of the wilds because she happened to charm the Empress? Everything Vivienne strived for all whisked away because the court find a gem who glimmers ever so slightly more than Vivienne.

So yes, Vivienne fears becoming irrelevant because the world has made it so that irrelevance for an Orlesian mage means death.

[goatanarchy]

Part two for the character line up.~ I had to dress up Duncan at some point of course. 🥰 Commander of the Grey - I wanted to give him something lighter as he is a rogue. So its a long tabard over padded armor jacket with some elements from his original armour. :3 His casual look is what I imagine he would wear under the armour, just your typical puffy shirt with long boots since I feel like it would be very orlesian. And also because its a perfect outfit everyone deserves to wear, lol.

And then an expensive jacket with black boots and gloves(he is a goth in my heart) for some formal outing.

[elfcollector]

i made her in the cc yesterday just for fun. everyone say hiiii

playing awakening and thinking abt my orlesian warden...solene i lov u

[vigilskeep]

Do you ever wonder about Wardens that joined during the Blight? I dont mean Daveth or Jory, or even the PC, I mean Wardens from entire countries outside of Ferelden who like, joined in anticipation for when Ferelden was overrun by Darkspawn, preparing to die to keep the Darkspawn away from thier boarders, to go down swinging sticking it to the Archdemon, or at least die trying.

Only the fight never comes. These rookie chucklefucks somehow stop the Blight in under a year. An unprecidented ammount of time when previous Blights were considered short if they took decades to stop, nevermind the aftermath of the taint on the land, but somehow, just 2-3 novices manage to set the speedrun record of stopping the apocalypse at a year. And depending on your worldstate, they don't even have the decency to have died doing it like they were supposed to, either.

How robbed, do you think some Wardens felt? How many of them do you think felt absolutely rattled at the injustice of it all? You had this destiny, even if it was as one soldier against a hoarde, you were going to die a hero in a blaze of glory, even if it was just as a soldier keeping the hoardes away from the smallfolk. Only, no. That isn't what the Maker or Creators or Anscestors had in mind for you. You threw away your life, shortening it to 30 years from now, for nothing. Your blaze of glory is going to be in a deep dark tunnel miles from the surface overwhelmed by darkspawn or you become a ghoul.

How sick with jealousy, do you think some wardens are, after Origins?

(Sorry for the ramble, I was thinking about Last Flight and how it went in depth on that Blight and blacked out)

i think about this a lot actually when thinking about the orlesian warden-commander who replaces a dead HOF. the orlesian wardens didn’t come to help you in dao because they decided to cut their losses, let the darkspawn have ferelden, and prepare. for a year. weisshaupt must have been sent to. a continent full of wardens were mobilising and surely recruiting like mad. and then nothing. it was all for nothing, there is none of the fight you promised these new wardens in exchange for their lives, there is no reasonable answer for any of the powerful people you requisitioned resources from, and if the dark ritual was done, the warden who made it—someone with no training, who is nothing like you—didn’t even die! they didn’t even pay the price for the glory, and maker only knows how they gambled with the grey wardens’ duty to achieve that.

i think it was a missed opportunity not to get one of these people as a companion for awakening, actually. would’ve been really fun to have that resentment turn to respect as they realise you earned all you won

of course all the orlesian wardens who come after the blight die like suckers off-screen at the start of awakening so maybe it’s for the best the fight was never up to them

good thing to think about for grey warden rooks who are 40+

[baphometsss]

Starting to think that 'memories of a duet' might also be about a high approval Inquisitor.

Ofc it will never be confirmed/denied, especially since it makes little sense to be there for a low approval inquisitor and it can also be read as being about Mythal and the early days of Solas living in a body, where she forged him into a weapon. But it's interesting to have it in a room which is otherwise a shrine to the Inquisition. There is beautiful sunlight pouring in through the windows, and it isn't the dull bluish light in the rest of the Lighthouse. He has repainted the frescos from Skyhold, to remember his time as Wisdom ('seeing wholly, and being wholly seen'), with those friends he loved and betrayed. There is a chair with an Inquisition mural on it facing the harpsichord, as if waiting for the Inquisitor to sit and watch him play. A ton of cheese, because they were in Ferelden. There is an Orlesian clock, a Astrarium, and basically 0 references to Mythal. It's odd, then, that the Duet codex would be about Mythal, in a room that is otherwise devoid of her presence. It is a sanctuary, the only part of the Lighthouse that truly lives up to its name for Solas.

You have to make the statues of Fen'harel and Mythal face each other to access it. As if it's only by facing his regrets and humbling himself that he will allow himself to indulge in his 'selfish' desires to be loved and seen for who he truly is, something that Mythal and even Felassan did not give him. The rest of the Lighthouse is filled with destroyed frescos of memories he wants to forget (mainly featuring Mythal), and there is a fragment of Mythal in the Crossroads that he never goes to see. He doesn't allow himself to be selfish or he'll be tempted off his path like he was when he was with the Inquisition, and the presence of Mythal in the Lighthouse is his way of reminding himself to stay true to his purpose. Yet still, he destroys references to her; he destroys the murals because they are too painful to witness, his Pride cannot handle it.

The truth is that since gaining a body, nothing about Solas's life has been about want. He never wanted to come through, but he was asked to by a friend who wanted his help and wisdom to fight a war they would likely die fighting in. He cannot resist appeals to his true nature. He didn't want to stay and seems to have returned to the Fade at some point (the second memory where Mythal shrugs him off to return to the Evanuris appears to take place in the Fade).

He hasn't had anything he wanted since he was a spirit in the Fade. A romanced Lavellan/high approval Inquisitor, and the bonds he formed in the Inquisition, made him reflect his true purpose, and it's through his time in the Inquisition that he begins to change. By his own admission, he came very close to breaking during the Crestwood moment with a romanced Inquisitor. However, the destruction of his orb by Corypheus, and the ritual to tear down the Veil already being underway, meant that he couldn't abandon his plans. He failed in his attempt to unlock the power of his Orb.

And that's kind of the crux of his change: Pride cannot handle failure, as failure requires humility, which is its opposite. Solas in DATV is Pride is trying to prove its purpose; Mythal is used a figurehead for all his regrets, but don't forget that he destroyed a fragment of Mythal in his pursuit of tearing down the Veil, to steal her power from her. It's no longer just about the debt he feels he owes to her for leaving her to fight the Evanuris alone (i.e. leaving her to die), it's the fact that his words of wisdom were not heeded, and as a manifestation of Pride, he cannot tolerate that. It's the fact that he left to start a rebellion, and it got Mythal killed because he wasn't there when she needed his help. His Pride has convinced him that it would've made a difference, when by all accounts he was outnumbered and not powerful enough to fight them all anyway. All of these mistakes and regrets are deeply humbling. So of course he's desperate. Pride will stop at nothing to prove its purpose, like Elgar'nan's Tyranny will not stop until he achieves godhood.

To a point though, it's kind of Mythal's fault that Solas/Fen'harel happened in the first place. She shouldn't have twisted him from his purpose and used him as a weapon, she shouldn't have kept him loyal to her so she could keep the fight against the Evanuris by manipulating and branding him as her lap-dog. She shouldn't have made him forge the Wolf's Fang to kill the Titans and start the Blight. But also--she was Benevolence, who became Retribution, and that meant that she also needed to prove her purpose. Solas/Fen'harel is the collateral damage of that.

It is only by appealing to his true purpose (Wisdom), that Solas has a chance to be redeemed. The Inquisitor is the one who brings the statuette to Rook's attention. The Inquisitor is one half of the key that brings humility to Pride, to make him see that there is Wisdom in humility too, that he still has that good in him, that he is loved and cared for despite everything. It is Mythal who is the other half of that key, as she is the one makes him understand that the shame isn't just his own, but a shared burden that he must accept a proportionate amount of blame for. Mythal is the release, and the Inquisitor is the guide for his new direction. They are foils. He says that the high approval Inquisitor is why he can see a better way forward, and a romanced Lavellan is there to remind him that he is loved, that he has a purpose beyond all he has known for thousands of years, that he is not alone in his struggle.

[breadedsinner]

I think Blackwall with a non human Inquisitor (especially Cadash but that's just my bias) is so compelling because it adds challenge to what's perceived as justice.

You can make the argument that regardless of method or intent, by freeing Thom Rainier, the Inquisitor has done a corrupt act. This seems fairly straightforward for a human, especially one of noble background like Trevelyan especially non-mage Trevelyan... but what about Cadash? They were already considered a criminal before this began, only "absolved" by the supposed grace of Andraste. Any chantry cleric will tell you, and some of them have, that dwarves are not of the Maker.

Now the absorption of their identity by becoming the Inquisitor does muddy the waters a bit here; by becoming Inquisitor they agree to abide by and act on behalf of various lords (that's why they can judge people in Skyhold, I always thought that was obvious?). Yet had this one thing not happened, Cadash would likely still be a criminal. And Thom, under the guise of Blackwall, would be quietly atoning until something finally came around and delivered the unceremonious death he thought he deserved. Would a dwarf think this justice? Or is this specifically human justice?

When a non-human Inquisitor is characterized as "well he lied to me and got some kids killed so to the Wardens it is / we're breaking up" it just feels like a missed opportunity. Shit, even a Lavellan you could explore that more, show me a Lavellan who thinks to the Emerald Graves and all the Orlesian estates built there. Where's the justice in THAT. Who are these people, building houses in sacred ground, to decide what is and isn't just?

Idk, something to chew on.

[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!

[dalishious]

Sorry but I wanted to ask your opinion on this thought: Vivienne is unable to understand not everyone is as privileged as she is in regards to leaving the circle at first. She honestly thinks it’s that easy to find a patron and be allowed out.

It’s one of those things I notice a lot in certain communities I’m part of: those who are better off sometimes cannot understand why it’s hard for others. People whose parents have money don’t get why other people with the same disabilities as them are struggling to hold down jobs. Vivienne lucked out in her own way by getting into a somewhat decent circle and then having Bastion fall for her, so Templars wouldn’t risk pissing off a noble man.

What are your thoughts on this?

"Every person within each tower had an experience of Circle life unique to themselves. Some people suffered, and some were content. Some were cruel, some compassionate, and some indifferent." —Vivienne, when asked about Circle life

Now, one could certainly argue that the above quote is a cop-out. I certainly think it's part of the larger thread of Inquisition's push to make the Circles seem like they weren't that bad, despite every bit of previous lore showing and telling otherwise. But regardless, here Vivienne does acknowledge that she is aware to some degree that there was suffering.

"Nobody "winds up" at court, my dear. It takes a great deal of effort to arrive there. I caught the eye of Duke Bastien de Ghislain, an advantageous connection that opened many doors. When the position of enchanter to the Imperial Court became vacant, I was able to secure it." —Vivienne, when asked how she became court enchanter

Here, Vivienne says that she had to work hard to get her position, and I believe it. While luck played a role in terms of her love life with Duke Bastien, rising in power and connections and playing The Game from the disadvantage of being a mage is a challenge she had to overcome.

Vivienne has shown to be a uniquely talented and well spoken player of The Game. But 9/10 mages aren't going to have that skill, and they shouldn't have to just to have the small freedoms Vivienne won. And I say small freedoms, because let us remember that as Duke Bastien's lover, as court enchanter, her freedom is still entirely reliant on others. She must maintain good graces with those higher up on the Orlesian privilege scale in order to be treated as a fellow person. She is not allowed to slip up, even once, or she risks everything. It's no wonder Vivienne constantly holds herself with such structure and high standards.

[anneapocalypse]

6 and 8 for Dragon Age! Choose violence!!!!

🔥 Choose Violence Ask Meme 🔥

6. which ship fans are the most annoying?

I'm gonna be perfectly honest: I have drawn my little circle of Dragon Age fandom such that I really don't find any shippers annoying. I also basically like all of the canon romances I've played on some level and there are none that I have a visceral Nope about, and as far as non-canon romances I cannot find it in myself to get bent out of shape about rare pairs, which is what most non-canon ships end up as, realistically.

My hot take is that in this fandom, anyone who leads with "X shippers are the WORST EVER--" is about to be far more annoying than any of the shippers I know.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts is a good quest.

In many ways, I think it's actually comparable to playing A Paragon of Her Kind as a non-dwarf. In both quests, people often complain about not having access to all the information about the candidates, by which they mean that the game does not hand them a piece of paper explaining to them why one candidate is the Good One and the other Bad, what's that noise oh it's me banging trash can lids together in your backyard and hollering THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BENEVOLENT MONARCHY, THERE IS NO GOOD MONARCH, POWER THAT CONCENTRATED CAN ONLY BE SUSTAINED WITH BLOOD, ALL YOU CAN DO IS DECIDE WHICH ONE IS GOING TO DO THE LEAST HARM AND/OR IS MOST EASILY MANIPULATED BY PARTIES YOU WISH TO SUPPORT.

Coughs. What I mean is, the frustrating lack of information given to you, an outsider, is kind of the point. No matter who you play as the Inquisitor, you are canonically not Orlesian and you do not know the Imperial Court intimately no matter how politically savvy your character may be. You are an outsider, and to many people a dangerous one. You are here as a guest; you were not invited with the intent of letting you choose the ruler of a sovereign nation, and people are not simply going to hand you information to that end. Even some of your advisors may have personal motivations for withholding information that you would have liked to know, perhaps because of their own involvement or complicity in certain events. You know. Perhaps.

So you have to do your own digging. You have to climb trellises and sneak into locked rooms. You might get lucky opening the right doors and finding something really useful, or you might not. You might say the right thing to the right person and get a valuable lead, or you might fumble it never knowing what you could have had.

We love to poke fun at the RPG tropes of every NPC immediately giving you their life story and asking you to solve all their problems. Isn't it kind of interesting when a game doesn't do that--when you have to take your own initiative if you want a specific outcome, when other characters aren't just dumping information on you and assuming that you'll act on it in a specific way?

I think one of the most interesting aspects of WEWH is that you can in fact choose to do nothing. Yes, you have to follow the basic outline of the quest, but at the critical moment you can just not intervene and allow Florianne to stab Celene and Gaspard to take the throne--effectively, letting things play out as they would have had the Inquisition done nothing. Gaspard of course winks and treats you as an ally because you assumes you're complicit, but you could in fact just have been indifferent. Game mechanics make it obvious you're making a choice, but in-universe it's simply that you have chosen not to act.

And if you do choose to act, you do not get a guaranteed Good Option. No, you don't get to flip the tables and completely overturn the social order of a sovereign nation of which, again, you are not even a citizen. You have to work with the situation you're in, and try to bend it to whatever advantage you see fit. You get no guarantees.

Sure, there a few places where I think WEWH fumbles the ball, but on the whole I think it's a brilliant union of storytelling and creative game mechanics.

[thechildofmythal]

DA:I Cullen Headcanons part 1: Dining

Some people enjoy cooking and dining so much that they say they live to eat. Cullen is not one of those people. He eats to live, and often forgets to eat if he is too engrossed in his work, which happens very often. 

He often feels nauseous in the mornings and thus has no appetite for breakfast. The lyrium withdrawal symptoms and recurring PTSD fits make him forget about his appetite too.

That’s why Cullen often eats a lot when he finally does eat. When he finally gets a dish of food in front of him, he suddenly realises he’s ravenous enough to eat a horse. He eats whatever is on offer in Skyhold dining room, and never complains. He finds he likes most kinds of food - honest Fereldan grub is of course the best - but is not a fan of things that are difficult to eat, like most seafood or whatever fancy unrecognisable flowery things the Orlesians have come up with this time.

He sometimes misses the ordered days at the Circle tower. He had set meal times several times a day, and routine gave him structure and comfort. Sure, his troops and subordinates in the Inquisition have routine and structure, too,  but more often than not the Commander finds himself doing one more task before going to the dining hall. And maybe just one more…

Because of his life as a Templar and then leading the Inquisition’s forces, Cullen never really learned to cook. He’s really good at chopping firewood - which he actually enjoys a lot - and making a fire, but he has relied on other people’s cooking all of his life. 

Despite that he has begun to dream of a different life. A life outside of institutions, armies, castles and towers. A simple life living in a cottage by a lake, perhaps. When he was a boy he used to go fishing, but he hasn’t fished in decades. He’d like to sit on a pier or in a rowing boat early in the morning with his fishing rod, enjoying the calm and quiet. He’d like to have a vegetable garden, he’d like to chop his own firewood for his own fireplace, he’d like to have a walking distance to the nearest village to trade. He’d like to learn how to make a good breakfast so he can cook for his wife in the mornings, in their little cottage by the lake. It’s a new dream, one that he has never had before, and he has never told it to anyone. It seems all too far fetched in the middle of long hectic days in Skyhold. 

[mllemaenad]

I mean ... sure. Why not?

Ugh. I don't know. Maybe I'm being unfair. I've got a lot of game ahead of me. It's just starting to feel like they're biting off more than they can chew, from a narrative perspective.

I really enjoyed the more grounded antagonists of the earlier games. Loghain's suspicion of Orlais and the Grey Wardens has some solid historical precedent behind it. This isn't apologia: he did some both terrible and stupid things, but up to a point you could understand why he had concerns in the first place. And there's an outcome where he can become a Grey Warden, and might (though I appreciate it is unlikely, given his age and the current timeline) still live to fight darkspawn to this day. Because however much he fucked up, having Ferelden overrun with Blight was not an acceptable outcome for him, any more than it was for anyone else.

Meredith may have been a more ... straightforwardly awful person, sure, but she was awful in a comprehensible way. She had a genuine tragedy in her childhood and she was able to use that to justify her own cruelty and ambition – both to others and to herself. It's not that she could ever reasonably be thought of as good, but rather that she always saw herself as in the right and justified in her actions. And, likewise, during the Qunari invasion she becomes your temporary ally, because she also does not want to see Kirkwall occupied by a foreign power.

Corypheus unfortunately came across as too ridiculous for me to really enjoy – which is a pity, because I was interested in what he had to say, as a solid primary source on ancient Tevinter and the First Blight. Inquisition leaned harder on its individual quests – the struggles of the mages and Templars, the tragedy of the Grey Wardens, the heartless stupidity of the Orlesian civil war.

Inquisition has been my least favourite, because it already had too much going on to do it all justice. It was packed with interesting ideas, but I didn't always like the corners they had to cut to squish it all into a single narrative. But, in fairness, it was still packed with interesting ideas.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe in a while I'll look back on this post and laugh, because it all came together really nicely. But at the moment I'm seeing Venatori! And Qunari! And darkspawn! Oh my! And they all serve the obviously Blighted gods.

I'm not saying you couldn't make this work. I'm saying ... I'm not confident they're going to right now.

I mean ... the First Blight was functionally what destroyed the old Tevinter empire. You'd think they'd have some feelings about darkspawn, and I don't know, maybe the conclusive evidence that they didn't create the Blight? And I get that the government of Par Vollen seems to have fallen (or is at least in disarray), but that sounds like a whole story in itself ... and well, the Qunari do not typically have gods, let alone Blighted mages as gods, so ...

Ah, well. Guess I'll see.

[plasticfreckles]

🪶 Amatus rookanis bc my mind is on overdrive enjoy 🪶

"I'm so sorry, Lucanis. I promise I won't leave you to deal with this by yourself-"

"This isn't your problem, Rook." Even if he tried to pull his hand away from where she clasped it between both of hers, her grip is too tight for that.

And, if he stops to admit it to himself, a little too wanted, as well.

"It doesn't have to be yours alone, either. I just need to ask Neve something really quick, before I forget it happened."

Lucanis sets down his cup.

"Which part of it? The Venatori witch bathing in an ocean of blood or where she started to turn old the minute we pulled her out of it?"

"No, no, what she said - I'll be right back, I promise. Keep the coffee warm for me?" She forces a smile onto her face as his hand drops uselessly to his knee.

Then she trips over the edge of the rug and pulls down a chair as she all but flies out of the room and into - well, the courtyard, such as it is. Their plates still sit by the stove, cold and untouched. He'd made the gratin because of her off-handed comment that she misses it. Thought it turned out good, too, when he tasted it.

And now, because of him, she goes hungry and the dish cold.

Lucanis doesn't follow. If she wanted him to know, or thought he needs to, she would haven taken him along. He brews up another coffee, instead.

Spite threatens to split them down the middle by his legs for the inaction. So Lucanis makes the coffee a little stronger, chops up some extra dill for Rook's plate.

-

"Dulzura, what's wrong?" He finally asks, after the third of her sighs, each louder than the other, each sounding troubled like a cat that needs to get up and walk three steps for food.

"Oh, nothing," but her fingers grip tighter around her cup. "Don't worry about me."

"You worry about me all the time. Let me help."

Another heavy sigh, but the one that means she's worn down. He feels a little bad for pushing her.

She puts down her cup and picks up one of the Orlesian pralinés the Inquisitor had sent with the last missive from the South. Instead of eating it, she rolls it around between her fingers and gets chocolate crumbs all over the palm.

"It's about Illario. Well, Zara and Illario. I- have a theory. If you'd rather not talk about it-"

"Tell me." Rook lifts her head for just a second, considering how serious he truly is about the request. When she replies, she goes back to considering the praliné.

"I have reason to believe they were lovers."

Beside him, Spite screams so loud it makes his ears ring.

"Lucanis?" When he looks back at her, the worry in her eyes makes him feel sick.

"Explain."

"What she called him. Amatus. Before he killed her, and when - when Emmrich made her speak." Her tongue darts out, wets her lips, takes off what little glitter the day had left on them. "I asked Neve what it meant, and- she said it's a term of endearment."

No.

"No. We- we found the lovers. We killed her."

"Seems those two weren't the only ones."

Spite's tantrum feels loud enough to make her ears ring, also, even if she can't hear him right now. She can see the candleflame move with the rage.

"I don't know which is worse - that she helped him get rid of me because they were lovers, or that they teamed up and became lovers along the way. That they fell in love because of what I do to those around me."

The saucer cracks with how hastily she puts down her cup. Puts the hand not covered in chocolate on his knee. It does not still the bouncing.

"One does not have to be worse than the other. Sometimes things just suck. It's not because of what you do to those around you, or Spite. You care too much. I know you do." The words don't comfort him, and she can tell.

"Or maybe she dangled the prospect of affection in front of him to get him to do her bidding," she offers, eventually, poorly.

"You believe that as much as I do."

"I'm sorry, Lucanis. If there's anything I can-"

He leans back into his chair. His heart hammers in his chest, in his throat. He thinks he might cry.

"No, no. I- thank you, for telling me. I'll let you know as soon as Teia and Viago send word. Excuse me. I'd like to be alone for a moment."

"Of course," she squeezes his knee, pushes the plate of pralinés closer to him before he stands. "You're welcome to the pralinés, if you like. Chocolate always helps me calm down," she waves her dirty hand and pats the other on her belly with a small smile. "If you want to - not be alone, I'll be there."

Lucanis tries one praliné, but nausea makes him gurge it right back up.

🪶

🤷‍♀️ send tweet

[~rina]

[linka-from-captain-planet]

don't have the spare brain cells to actually write for Kinktober this year, but I am a fan of brainstorming elaborate kink scenarios for niche ships, and thus here is my informal offering of

11 Dragon Age F/F Kinktober Rarepair/Crackship Concepts

*not smut writing - just a listing of kinks matched with a ship and a basic scenario

Drugs/high sex, armpit kink - Briala/Celene. Coming in hot with a concept which spake itself to me once the factoid that Celene is apparently a fan of the wyvern drug mentioned in that DA2 DLC entered my psyche and promptly combined with the scene from Portrait Of A Lady On Fire in which that pair of blonde-brunette French lesbians sensually rub drugs into each other's armpits, which rules. Blah blah freedom, flying, seizing liberation where they could find it in this narrow world, impending heterosexual marriage, lesbo-eroticism, etc. Celene is the one more into the armpit part (obviously?), perhaps this is the first time she dares to breach it, and Briala is happily along for the ride. A fun romp as they do deserve a break from the drama and angst sometimes.

All manner of titty play/worship, against a wall/standing, size difference - Neve/Harding. IDGAF what the companion romances turn out to be, their tension is simmering based on the early clips and Harding just so happens to be boob height to Neve. They may never agree on anything except that beating people up is cool, but they can find some common ground when frustration comes to a head and Harding detects Neve's lack of bra and Neve scouts out whether Harding is strong enough to hold her up (she is). If this occurs early enough in Veilguard, then I think Harding would be the bruised-up one, so Neve could look down tenderly and caress her bruised cheek in a moment of sincere connection that she would then reject because she's not open to vulnerability yet and makes it weird (this is also kink).

First time, instruction/talking through it - Bethany/Merrill. Bethany's curiosity about sex with women is frankly cute and hot and I think Merrill would be both an extremely funny and extremely sweet person to share a first time with. Perhaps they're both left out of the Deep Roads expedition and, resenting that the others treat them like kid sisters, they hang out and one thing leads to another. This would also be part of my Merrill Fucks A Relatively Average Amount But Just Doesn't Know Human Social Norms/Slang agenda. Also Merrill's accent is hot and should be recognized for this.

Mutual masturbation, comfort sex - Josephine/Minaeve. This ship lives in my head rent-free for no other reason that Haven is so cold and that little office they shared is so warm, eventually, when they let each other in a little bit. However they don't get very far before the attack on Haven. Rattled, they find each other in Skyhold and find that warmth and comfort in each other again, even if neither of them feels quite ready to touch/be touched by the other. Romantic!

Furs, lingerie/stockings, hand/finger kink - Svarah Sun-Hair/Celene. What if those Avvar furs ARE the shit and Orlesians DO want them? And perhaps there's a demonstration in order? This encounter would in the Frostbacks for a flimsy reason because it would be too cold for Celene's anemic bones. Thus Svarah has no choice but to drape her in sexy furs and perhaps take a tour of her delicates while she's at it (they are beautiful but foolhardy), and her tough calluses would honestly put so many runs in Celene's dainty stockings, but she probably wouldn't mind too much because she's very into hands and Svarah's are so big and strong.

Rough sex, hair-pulling - Briala/Athenril. The main kink here is actually Briala trying to rebound after dumping Celene and finding out what it's like to fuck with someone who's not delusionally obsessed with her. But also I think she deserves the opportunity to get just totally railed by someone who'd be willing to at least slap her ass in public. Hair-pulling is important specifically because Celene loved tenderly stroking her hair. It would be a mixed bag of a semi-transactional situationship with a scumbag kind of like fucking your dealer (this too is kink) but at any rate, she's getting some quality D AND low-cost fenced supplies for her alienage relief project, so it's a win for Briala overall.

Restraints, seduction, flip-flopping power dynamics - Isabela/Cassandra. So what if Seeker Pentaghast caught up with another/different friend of Hawke, who is less cooperative than Varric and thus needed to be cuffed, but that wouldn't stop her from turning that situation around. Isabela won't betray Hawke this time by yapping, but she can deploy her mouth in other ways to distract the Seeker. This is certainly not what Cassandra had in mind, but it's perhaps too appealing of a flimsy porn scenario like in her books for her to resist too much.

Anal play/butt plug, accidental stimulation - Celene/Morrigan. Allegedly butt plugs were touted as a treatment for anxiety/depression in days of yore, and Celene loves woo-woo nonsense, and the civil war/getting dumped is hard on her, and Morrigan probably has an entire grimoire about the magical-medicinal applications of butt stuff. The narrative of this would be that it starts played completely straight (it's not sexual, it's medical care obviously) but it gradually becomes undeniably erotic but neither of them are willing to acknowledge it because Morrigan thinks she's straight and Celene is clinging to a shred of dignity despite the crystal plug in her ass. They leave this encounter feeling weird and unsatisfied, which imo is essential for at least 1 entry in any kinktober collection.

Spanking, "good girl", praise kink - Leliana/Josephine. Leliana NEEDS to be some woman's goodest girl in the world, and in the Inquisition, there's nobody she could trust but her good friend Josie to help fulfill this need. An encounter of vulnerability for them both as this also isn't Josie's comfort zone, but something to learn and explore together. Actually pretty romantic imo.

Period sex - Merrill/Aveline. Take the most and least squeamish women on Hawke's team, shake em up, add in some vague justification like Merrill trying to help Aveline with cramps in accordance with Dalish conventional wisdom (but also Merrill has always wanted to climb that and takes the opportunity).

Sex pollen, grinding/dry humping, not quite hatesex (resentsex?) - Neve/Rana Savas. Back on this ship agenda, the most important question for any ship defined by unresolved sexual tension is, under what circumstance could they have fucked before but STILL have unresolved sexual tension? The answer is obviously that Neve led Rana into some bullshit and they got sex pollen'd. "Fine, but I'm gonna complain about it the whole time" type of encounter where they're so done with each other but they gotta grind it out regardless because the pollen demands body contact even if they keep it above clothes because it's business, not pleasure. But then a hint of caught feelings seeps in after because it's hard to sustain high resentment for a sexy woman once you've smelled her post-sex pheromones and maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if they'd actually touched each other after all. Maybe they scratched that immediate itch but now they're under each other's skin for real... but that's a problem for later.

[moghedien]

the timeline of Leliana’s Song vs things said in the city elf origin leave wiggle room for interpretation of exactly when Adaia died and there’s no clear answer for that which I love because I go feral for the potential there

like I’m obsessed with the idea that maybe Adaia did escape the dungeons and maybe she did tell her teenage child that there was a good human that saved her. And that child got their mother back for a little while and was old enough to consider that maybe their mother wasn’t lying and there might be a few decent humans. And then more humans caused trouble and Adaia was killed and there was no “good” human around to save her this time.

And the idea of this random good human becomes like a bitter thing in her child’s mind because the child has seen no evidence of this. They’ve only seen the evil humans can commit in them. They took Adaia twice. But that doesn’t change the fact that a human DID save Adaia from being tortured and killed in a dungeon. They got Adaia back for a little while because of a good human and it becomes a sort of nagging bitter feeling they feel conflicted about.

And then that child grows up and has a wedding that humans use as an excuse to hurt them and their family. They’ve never met a good human. Maybe some (like the priests) will tolerate them enough to perform chantry rituals for them. Duncan may have only helped them because he wanted to conscript them into the Wardens and take them from their family when they’re needed the most.

So Adaia’s child is taken from their home because they’re useful to humans. They end up getting burdened with responsibilities because they’re useful and because of the skills Adaia taught them. They end up traveling with a number of humans. They get exposed to the world outside of the alienage for the first time. Things probably change slowly for them, as they’re getting closer to people and experiencing more. Some humans will like them because they’re needed to save the day. Some humans might just be nice to them for no reason. Then again, a lot won’t and will resent them regardless. Some will just pretend not to notice that a knife ears is leading the Wardens, but it’s clear they do. It’s both validating and complicating their worldview. Maybe their mother wasn’t lying about a human saving her because they were just good. Then again, maybe the human just saved a random elf by happenstance and not from goodness.

They probably get close to number of their human companions in a variety of ways. The fact that the humans are all different and get along to varying degrees is probably complicating their worldview. The fact that they might try to get closer to an elf for no obvious reason instead of sticking together probably complicates it more. Everything is probably very confusing for a very long time.

Maybe Adaia’s child recruits a strange Chantry sister from Lothering, another human. Maybe they find themselves getting closer to her in ways they never expected possible with a human (or with another woman even). And then they find Leliana more and more complicated the more they get closer to her. She’s Orlesian and Ferelden. She’s a spy and a killer, but a Chantry sister and the most earnestly devout person they’ve probably ever met. She’s says offensive things about elves to their face and then actually apologizes to them and thanks them for showing her it was offensive. She will talk big about her seduction skills and then stumble every step of the way as she’s trying to flirt with them. Information about her history and her life trickles in slowly as she gets closer to them and is willing to reveal more.

By the time they’ve learned much about Leliana, Adaia’s child probably realizes how complicated the world actually is for everyone. Maybe they’ve met the dalish and found themselves being looked down on and treated either as human would be or as a child. Maybe they’ve gone to Ozrzammar and realized that oppression can exist outside of human and elves and the Chantry. Maybe they’ve returned home. Maybe they’ve tried to return home and found they weren’t allowed in, to protect them from the rioting elves within. Maybe they’ve saved the queen. Maybe they’ve killed Logain. Maybe they’ve slayed the archdemon and saved the whole damned world by the time it comes. It could be never or after these or anywhere in between when it happens.

But imagine Adaia’s child who is not an adult with a very complicated and shifting worldview, who used to only have the concept of there being at least one good human to complicate their world. One good human that gave them their mother back for a little while at least. And now they’re close to a human. They’re in love with a human who is extremely complicated and who won’t tell them honest truths about her past until they’re very close and much time has passed. Time in which their worldview has probably shifted a great deal and got much more complicated.

Imagine how it would go for Adaia’s child in this circumstance when the details of Leliana’s past finally come out and she’s willing to talk about them. When they find out that the same estate where she was betrayed and tortured was the estate they rampaged through, slaughtering humans to save their family and themself.

And it isn’t even pride that makes her reveal it. She isn’t bragging. She didnt feel like she was a good person in the moment. She struggles to feel like she’s a person now, even when she knows her actions are for the greater good. So imagine Adaia’s child when Leliana almost offhandedly mentions saving other prisoners from the dungeon. Including an elven woman who said she’d tell her child about Leliana and the fact that there are good humans like her.