#c: rion severan

[gwynbleiddyn]

Rion closes the gap between himself and his son, stood in the quiet, damp stones of the Cobbled Swan. He feels the echo of his cane against the floor, watches as the sound ripples away from him in tides of red, fading. A punch of vibrant orange slips through in the shape of a word he knows well.

"Dad..." Kerros says, "You should be at home. Resting." Safe, is what he means. Rion smiles. Ten years ago, would he not be saying the same thing to his son? His eyes flick down at the movement of Kerros' hands towards him, pleading. Setting aside his cane, years of observation as a father come to the forefront of Rion's mind as he catches Kerros' hands gently, and holds them both in his own - still larger, still stronger, for now.

"These held little wooden dragons, once. Carelessly. You dropped them more than you played," he laughs, and even without hearing, he knows the sound is ragged. The blight has strangled him into a whisper. It will render him silent soon. "Luckily for us, you held a blade with more intent."

Rion meets his son's eyes - like his own, and yet, not at all. A faint crease of laughter narrows them for a second before Kerros' brow furrows again, honing in on what Rion isn't saying.

"You can be angry about this, Kesi. I was angry about the Inquisition. I still am. I think I always will be. And there is nothing that will make it easier to swallow, because people weren't meant to hold the fate of an entire world in their hands," Rion explains as gently as he can, but gentleness never came easy to him. "I asked Varric to keep you safe when this all started. I knew he couldn't promise it, and neither can I. Not really. But in all this, I still have my part, and as long as I'm still standing... I can't and I won't let you carry the world alone."

It's as though Kerros was waiting for permission to breathe, the way his head sinks and his shoulders drop - a man freed from the noose, albeit temporarily. Rion feels a hairline fracture slip through his heart, sick and wounded, and doomed to die by a thousand cuts. It's his lot as a Warden. As Inquisitor. Perhaps even as a father. He wouldn't change it if he could.

He pulls Kerros in, embracing him, becoming his fortress for another day. It won't last. But for now, it will hold.

[gwynbleiddyn]

→ Kerros 'Rook' Severan-Laidir

"Varric, you're asking me if you can take my son on a wild goose chase for Solas, of all fucking people..."

"Look, I've tried talking to Kerros, you know I have -- I was there in Skyhold when he was all scraped knees and fairytales, you think I want to see him on the trail of the most dangerous man in Thedas? Shit, even I'm not sure I want to be on this trail right now. Point is, he's a grown man... grown, Rion. And he lives in this world too. I'm not asking you, Scars, your son is telling you. "

The nickname is pointed. A callback to a better time, when both of them had no idea where the Inquisition would lead. The snarl drops from Rion's lips, his face softening.

"I know."

And then Rion is silent for a moment longer than Varric would like. He can do nothing but watch and take note of the man he once called Inquisitor, and more importantly, the man he now calls an old friend. The carefully constructed fingers of Rion's left hand clamp tightly around the head of his walking stick, his weight growing too heavy for his own legs to bear. It's punctuated by the strain at the corner of his eyes, the tightness of his mouth. Pain seeps from him with every breath, shuddering, as though he was stood on the icy banks of the Emprise du Lion ten years ago, and not drowning in the evening sun on the shores of Rialto Bay.

"Can you keep him safe?" comes the inevitable question any reasonable father would ask.

"No." Varric shakes his head. Not a promise anybody can make, these days, least of all him. But he lifts his heavy hands, hesitating for a moment over Rion's own before they envelop the gloved construct over the top of his walking stick. It's jarringly cold and devoid of a pulse. Varric briefly recalls the feeling of the anchor pulling at reality, and his stomach begins to twist and churn in memory of something that no longer exists. "But I can promise I will try, with everything I have. You gotta let him fly, Rion, sooner or later."

Another pause, but this one seems less... reluctant. More considerate. Rion's gaze shifts downwards to Varric's hands, and a slow, sad smile crosses his face.

"What was it you always called him? For stealing your rings when you weren't looking..."

Varric smiles, eyes stinging. They both pretend it is the sunlight. "Rook."

[gwynbleiddyn]

making rion in veilguard was both a cathartic and deeply terrifying experience

he cut all his hair off at some point when maintaining it got too hard to do between surviving the anchor and also the blight and seeing him ragged and worn down with a buzzcut and the life actively leaving his wrecked body while he watches his only son wade into the horrifying dangers of a broken world he helped make is SOMETHING

[gwynbleiddyn]

rion, one arm lighter, slowly succumbing to the Calling, sipping a margarita on some tropical smuggler's paradise in rivain after getting married and absolving himself of the world's problems: im retired

da: veilguard: think again old man

[gwynbleiddyn]

So how does Rion feel about his Elgar'nan vallaslin after everything that happens in Veilguard? 👀 Or does it not matter to him?

OH MAN this is a question with needlepoint precision and i love it <3 i haven't fully uncovered Veilguard yet so this might be a bit thin on the detail for now but hooooo boy

i think it's a weird one, a weird mix of feelings there - some are more transient, more in the vein of vanity which is hardly an uncommon occurrence for Rion, and others are more insidious and hard to untangle.

to start with, being raised the way he was - a mix of andrastian and dalish and rivaini and everything in between - i don't think Rion had a particularly strong tie to the elven gods in the first place. which adds some context to the next part:

Clan Severan tend to get their vallaslin much later on in life than other Dalish clans grant theirs - usually as a coming of age ritual, iirc, i could be totally wrong tho. but in any case, to Clan Severan, vallaslin isn't a right of passage as much as it is a mark of survival, granted only when it is seen to be required or earned. almost like a protective ward. 'you have persevered' it says, 'may the gods grant you peace' and the unspoken truth that comes with it is knowing that the recipient has suffered for it. still a sacred mark, but perhaps for different reasons.

Rion got his at a young age, by Severan standards, not long before he left for Kinloch Hold. that in itself is not a nice thought. and Rion kind of went into the ceremony with the assumption that his vallaslin was granting him protection for the road ahead, but something was said to him in that ritual that forever changed his outlook on it.

"may the gods show you what you cannot hear"

a tiny drop in the ocean of that ritual which lasted hours, and of course probably said with good intent, but it set the first of many thorns in the proverbial lion's paw. elgar'nan's mark clawed its way onto Rion's face over agonizing hours - given because of the god's connection to the sun, a symbol deeply revered by Clan Severan and meant to show the love that Rion was regarded with - and all Rion could think was how much they pitied him. it upset him a lot, and it's not something he's really told anyone.

after that, he kind of just ascribed his own meaning to it. elgar'nan, god of vengeance. elgar'nan, "cause he was good at farming, or some shit." elgar'nan, whose light burned so brightly that the abyss couldn't contain it. all much nicer than, "the only god my clan thought could help me" when it comes to explaining to curious minds.

so between all its nebulous explanations it became meaningless, for a while. but i think as that bitterness kind of quelled and Rion matured into the eventual Grey Warden and Inquisitor we know him as, he began to see it more as a mark of survival - as intended - but in spite of the way people perceive him. he survives because he made sure of it, because he's sharp and horrifically stubborn, and not because some absent god deigns to pluck the strings of fate just enough to allow this broken elf to live another day -- out of pity.

so all this to say: i don't think Rion cares. his vallaslin has long been separated from elgar'nan. if anything, now it's even sweeter to wear the mark of the god who couldnt help you even if he wanted to, and know that you have done what he could not: survive.

[gwynbleiddyn]

i think rion's retirement is going poorly

[gwynbleiddyn]

i am so excited to gnaw at datv lore and context like a rabid dog discovering bone marrow for the first time but specifically because i am very interested in kerros' self-perception as a dalish elf

rion was (is... was.... somewhere in between) dalish if you look at it objectively, but he was also a ephemeral city dweller and wanderer, and a templar, and a warden, and everything and nothing much at all packed into a broken little body of an elf lacking identity outside of his titles

kerros grew up in that shadow, regardless of how much love and care it held - it still dampened his worldview prematurely, to a point where being dalish is not a facet of his character yet. so how will he react to the elven gods? he has memorized the shape of elgar'nan's branding on his father's face. it is a static thing, unchanging, even as time carves lines into skin. is he marked this way forever? beholden to a set of ideals that will now be turned on their head? kerros has no markings yet, in the tradition of clan severan who only claim their vallaslin after a significant event, and i wonder if he ever will after knowing what their intended use was and whatever else emerges from the elven pantheon's presence in veilguard. but like vallaslin is not what makes a dalish elf, right? what else is there? the language? the nomadic nature (or semi-nomadic, in the case of clan severan) forced upon them by orlais? is it the endless pursuit of a lost time, a lost culture, a lost power?

in his mind, kerros doesn't have those connections that inform his identity outside of 'son of the warden-inquisitor who also has pointy ears' and im just very excited to see how fucking damning it's going to be sitting in the cradle of the death of arlathan (tevinter) surrounded by reminders that his storied gods are real all while being pushed and pulled in the direction of the promised land where the dalish regain their history, when his heaven is already here and it looks like a floating city of ships in the glittering rialto bay

[gwynbleiddyn]

Kerros Severan-Laidir sounds suitably impressive and completely jarring

[gwynbleiddyn]

pov a rivaini pirate is about to ruin your day

[gwynbleiddyn]

i too, like bioware, enjoy beating the dead horse of dragon age by insisting my protag suffer through every single game instead of simply making a new one

rion was on the brain lately so i chanced a doodle and i don’t mega hate it so it’s allowed to be perceived 😔 i miss this messed up little guy

[gwynbleiddyn]

rion got a little christmas update because i finally got frosty to work and now he can be his most authentic grizzled self

[gwynbleiddyn]

will i ever play dai without taking 500 screenshots of rion??? no

[gwynbleiddyn]

i threw my problematic favourite to @elvenbeard once again and i am so in love with this ;-; thank you so much <3

rion’s life has been tumultuous at best and even now he finds himself facing uncertainty in each and every day, whether that’s regarding the inquisition’s future or his own - both of which hang in a precarious balance between time and inevitability - but he has never been in two minds about his own identity, and i really love that about him. he’s fearless in self-expression, and above all: unapologetic. we stan a bi king in this household thank u 

[gwynbleiddyn]

i’m vibing with this armour, the detail is [chef kiss] and it’s appropriately fancy for mr rion severan and all his political endeavours

[gwynbleiddyn]

guess who got his mod folder sorted >:D 

starting a fresh new playthrough with Rion for my yearly scheduled DA hyperfixation

[gwynbleiddyn]

this is just titled diplomacysucks.png and honestly that’s just a very Rion mood, at all times, always