#dao tips

[grapecaseschoices]

bouncing off the last anon: be aware that tabris origin has sexual assault themes in it. as a fem tabris you're one of the ones who gets kidnapped (i had to play it masc bc otherwise i wouldn't be able to do the origin)

also i think you should go with your original plan of elf mage. the mage origin is fantastic and jowan from redcliffe is one of the people in that origin (he was meant to be a full companion early in game development). i think mage is up there as one of the best origins with dwarves

i feel like i read this somewhere ... but thanks for the reminder bc i did not recall at all lol.

also which do you prefer elf mage or human mage? or does it not matter??

[sluttyquarantinetheory]

I find it really funny that the last two Dragon Age games have advisors to guide them through the game. Like the Hero of Fereldan got a brief introduction and a slap on the ass before being immediately placed in charge.

[sonik-kun]

"I think us JC antis are too nice. We should be a bit more insufferable 🥺🥺"

Honey, y'all literally steal fanfics, suibait JC fans, obsess over characters you supposedly hate, harrass JC artists/writers, relentlessly bully people off this app, and then act all holier than thou about it. Y'all are already insufferable xoxo.

[huntermorgan]

I just think he’s neat 😌

[phoenixcatch7]

Up next, the only model I have of one of my rare fandom OCs. I typically only make one per fandom, so this is mdzs!

This is Crow, a nameless and amnesiac raven. The animal reincarnation of an ancient demonic cultivator puppeting the skeleton of their previous life. Wwx named them upon meeting them when he mistook their species in the dark, and then found it funny enough he kept the name.

It's vanishingly rare these guys get lore, but this one does!

I typically keep to book or anime continuity, and crow is my nod to cql/the untamed. In this, crow is the only known member of a rare and unorthodox species - a yin skeleton.

To 'become' a yin skeleton, a few criteria must be met: a creature of sufficient power and resentment must die an unsettled death and yet refuse to become a resentful spirit. Their corpse must then be left, undisturbed and unburied in whatever state it was left in, in a location of immense resentful energy with full exposure to (the purifying yin of) the moon. After many years, once the flesh has rotted off the bones, the skeleton left will rise once more and mindlessly seek out its soul. Should it encounter the soul in their new body, and the soul accept the undead shell rather than fleeing or destroying it, the bond between mind and body will be forged anew, and the skeleton becomes a second body of the soul, allowing it to cultivate immense amounts of yin energy without damage to the current vessel.

Having no organs, it of course cannot talk or feel pain, though resentment puppets its limbs and allows it to see and hear just as well as any reanimated skeleton - better, even. Though it can carry out orders and operate from a significant distance, a yin skeleton will always be drawn back to its soul, seeking out what it can never again have.

Crow is the reincarnation of whoever created the burial mounds, the losing side. It's been so long since they first reincarnated, gained their yin skeleton, and cultivated to sapience that they no longer recall anything about their human life, including their old gender. Wwx theorises that they could be Xue Chonghai himself, or one of his disciples, but any clues are long since lost to time and they're not really interested in finding out. Nonetheless, they have 'lived' in the burial mounds undisturbed and undiscovered for centuries, learning and experimenting with yin energy with their decreasingly limited intelligence and total lack of resources or modern knowledge.

Wwx encounters them for the first time utilising corpses for a dance ritual to expose the sky above the thick smog. Think a rain dance, but in reverse. Though they're not a fighter (nothing to fight in the burial mounds if you're part of it) or good at using their words (nothing to talk to in the burial mounds period), they nonetheless possess a deep understanding of yin energy/resentment and its interactions with its cultivators that wwx reverse engineers and uses to reach even greater heights. Vaguely endeared and deeply interested in the most unusual thing to happen in the mounds in literal centuries, their raven body often leaves the mounds to scavenge for berries and the like for wwx to eat, because lord knows what he was eating in canon.

When wwx breaks out of the burial mounds, they intermittently visit him, acquiring a veiled hat and covering robes to avoid getting hunted down, pretending mutism and the bird being a talking service animal trained for translation. They could not look any more like a demonic cultivator if they tried, though, so results are mixed. They are often one crow among the many that follow wwx around being ominous and creepy, so it's no surprise he thought they were one too at first!

With a reason and desire to explore and socialise (with like, one person lol), Crow slowly grows to genuinely like wwx and shows initiative by spying for information. This works worryingly well, being just a bird and a super powered undead. When wwx brings the wens to the burial mounds, Crow is introduced to them all and in turn shows them the way to the old sect ruins, where they settle. They bond with wn, unsurprisingly, and are extremely fond of him and the small human who is soon unafraid to approach them. During the first siege of the burial mounds, wwx orders them to hide and guard a-yuan, and they do so, though they struggle to care for him as his fever climbs. When lwj comes and rescues a-yuan, they follow him in secret, often checking in on the pair in between general spying and stalking and trying to clean up the mounds.

When wwx is forcibly brought back to life in a new body, his own skeleton wakes up and tries to find him. Crow takes care of it like an exasperated child minder, keeping it from running out in public or off cliffs in search of him, until they encounter him halfway up dafan mountain. A dark human shape looming in the shadows of the trees just off the path looking straight at him, following the narrative it'd be the first time the audience meets them lol. The very image of Bad News.

Crow leads wwx to a clearing, where there is the outline of a tall, broad figure standing just inside the shade cast by the trees. Red eyes, tumbling and tattered hair, flowing robes. It steps out into the moonlight, and wwx's skeleton is skinless and bare but for the cloak Crow has forced it into. Wwx reaches for the grasping bony hands with zero hesitation, and thus wwx gets his own yin skeleton - the first ever human to do so.

As a demonic hippie, essentially, Crow isn't really a fighter - preferring to cultivate through dance where wwx chooses music - though they aren't afraid to dish the pain. Like any other undead, the skeleton does all the work, fighting unarmed with immense brute strength, speed and endurance. Like wn, basically. When not covered from head to toe to participate in society they typically wear very loose, gaping clothing to allow Crow to climb around on the bones. They typically rest in the exposed ribcage like a birdcage, but when making a point they often climb into the skull to peer from an eye socket (which is why the design has a single red eye. All very goth. I was going to use a normal eye but it looks absolutely HORRIFYING on a skeleton XD).

Crow, being a bird in charge of a skeleton in a pit of death, cares very little for appearances, and their yin skeleton is clothed in repaired and stolen rags from the corpses. The only thing remaining of their past life is a weirdly indestructible cloak/outer robe embroidered with falling red leaves. Shoes are very hard to wear when you don't have any skin or muscles, and it's not like it can get scratches or sore feet anyway, so it's barefoot, only using wraps to give the illusion of shoes. The whole chest was supposed to be exposed so you could see the ribs! But there weren't any chest pieces like that so I had to settle. It does look SUPER cool though. The feathers on their chest are from the bird! It's hard to tell given the dark colours and the blood, but they're the same blue as the wings! The arm guards and wraps are basically just falconry gloves so Crow can land safely and not fall off the bones lol. The moon/yin bleaching has left the bones really white, unlike natural skeletons which are yellow. The bleaching white is for hygiene and aesthetic I think.

Due to the bird cultivating resentment, Crow successfully reached immortality in their flesh and blood body. Perhaps they could have been human by now had they stayed in the reincarnation cycle and led good lives, but they prefer the life they have. If they could speak eloquently enough they could revolutionise the study of yin, but wwx is the only one who really listened. Eventually, perhaps, if they form the undead trio with wn and sl (and a-qing, technically) and one of the two teaches them the modern writing system. Due to all the spying and exploring (breaking and entering) they do, they often struggle to have patience with surprise or denial. Crow may have bitten someone in frustration. Or five.

Luckily, lsh and jl regard them as the creepy but helpful uncle, and enjoy petting the raven as much as it enjoys being pet. The adults who know of them are mostly warily resigned to ominous eyeless staring and a bird randomly sharing personal details of their enemies. It's how they show their love.

Man but I'm SO happy with the design, it came out SO WELL!!

If you've read this far, yay! Tell me what you think ^u^

[atrxxxie]

Horses of Thedas pt. 1

Today i was replaying DAI and suddenly a thought came to my mind

✨HORSEYS✨

Horses in DAI are… weird so i’ve created some moodboards of how i imagine horses of Thedas to look like actually

1 - Orlesian Courser (based on English Thoroughbred)

2 - Imperial Warmblood (based on P.R.E. and P.S.L.)

3 - Asaarash (based on Marwari)

[underthevenadahl]

Ta da!!! Here she is!!

I felt like Desire Demon + a "pin-up" pose was just the perfect combo. I've had this idea in my head for a few months now, and I'm just so happy with how she turned out! 😆😆😆

Definitely my best drawing, for the moment at least. 😉

[ahb-writes]

"Simply having the right bloodline and the ability to seize other lands by force doesn't make someone an ideal ruler."

"Jade" (Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix by Julie C. Dao)

[endawn]

gnawing at my arm on how pax constantly saved and saved and saved but the one time he truly needed saving nobody came

[enderevynne]

hey folks, do any of you know of any mods that only replace Morrigan's and/or Leliana's hair and not their entire face in Origins? (oh, and Flemeth???)

I have managed to find one such mod for Wynne, that I am completely in love with, but for the other ladies there is always a headmorph with whatever hairstyle it is and so figured I'd ask the lovely people here :))

[ashhawkburning]

For anyone having trouble with the EA app who hasn't seen this:

Get Origin back here, and use the linked instructions to prevent re-migration:

Open C:\ProgramData\Origin\local.xml in notepad

Add new key there:

<Setting key="MigrationDisabled" type="1" value="true" />

If you can't find ProgramData, you probably have "Show hidden files, folders and drives" turned off. Either:

Change your folder options in explorer in View -> Options -> View -> Hidden files and folders, or

Open ProgramData directly by using Windows key + R to open the Run prompt, type in %programdata% and press enter.

For DAI, I've seen some people have to restore the settings file that contains the keybinds and DLC listings, because the Origin restoration may overwrite that to show no DLC. So keep a backup of that file! You may also need to add the DAI exe to your firewall.

[grapecaseschoices]

U r honestly making me want to replay dao. I would love to know more about haldi if you ever feel comfortable with sharing. ❤️

Aeducan and Brosca are my favorite origins from dao. They're both really good in my opinion, especially aeducan. For elf, I also recomend female elf tabris origin, its really good, my third favorite origin. Cousland (human noble) is fine imo, but I liked Aeducan (noble dwarf) a lot more. Orzammar politics is just so intriguing and the family dynamics too! I know people love elven lore more, but dwarven dragon age lore to me is honestly so fascinating to me.

hehe. power to you bc it's getting better now, but i feel one must REALLY love the games to deal with the constant crashing. please share if you do!

ooo ty ima saved this bc i will forget! i def wanna do brosca and was pondering doing an elf but a mage elf, so i'll pause that and maybe do tabris after. is there a particular reason why female? and roflmao that's my feelings re: cousland tbqh, especially male cousland-- even tho i wanna give anora a go but it's like why couldnt i romance her with a male dwarf noble???

i man it is to me too tho i havent read through the codexes yet! but every tid bit i leearn from friends and fandom and the game is so intriguing.

oh man i do want to desscribe haldi but im so tired rn. i had this ask in my head and was like GONNA DO IT and got hit with a wave of tired.

i guess to keep it simple [though i may go into it at another date] is i want to keep a balance of the noble [as in n manner]/honor focused, with the kindness and compassionate, and the cunning balanced. i'm just stuck on how much. i feel i cant let her be TOO naive bc how else would she not only have made it alive for so long but how did she become second? [but that def could be part why bhelen betrayed her. trian was a tyrant but his baby sister was too kind!] i think people dont give her credit bc of those things for being as pratical as she is. like she leans more giving and feeling bad but she isn't without sense [most of the time lmao], she just wants to give people a chance. she cant help it i feel sometimes [how DID she survive. ima blame her mom. but i kinda like the idea of bhelen protecting that to his own expense until it's like what have i let grow?]

i feel like her practicality leads to her cunning. bc i feel she's cunning in the sense that she's astute and picks up on things rather quickly, she's not overly curious but she can ask question and wants to understand before acting [most of the time]. and i feel that's what lead her to the commander appointment. why she wouldve been a good one and is a good warrior -- not just her strong focus on pride and acting chivalrous or wte.

my other issue is figuriing how much she's changed and how much she shows. i dont want her like kendis [i feel i have too many conceal dont feel chars]. i feel she just doesnt see it lmao. how much it HURTS. bc it makes sense to her, this is how things are done. it makes sense bhelen saw a weakness in her and she lost, so she should die a warrior death [gorim got that out her head.] she lied to morrigan bc morrigan lied first [and not as a way to get back at her bc she is mad at herself and at morrigan for falling for it]. wynne is staying in camp so she doesnt exert herself [not for any strong reasons]. she isnt hurt her father didnt fight for her, she isnt angry about what bhelen di d [the reason she mentioned it to the gray wardens was SOLELY so they know where she stands/what happened. ]

so it's less 'wow i see this and ima hide it/pretend i dont see it' and more like 'what is this? this is useless *chucks it away* .... hey why does this keep coming back?' less suppression and dismissal and more obliviousness and dismissal.

this got so long lmao

[shanaraharlyah]

Holy hours of Neverwinter and Inquisition, Batman. I would have guessed 400 on DAI with four completions, but wow.

[askniehuaisang]

Why are you so pretty? Did you sell your soul or something? Like, it should be illegal to be so cute.

I don't know...

* hides behind fan *

I bathe in the blood of my enemies!

I jest... I actually use goji and mung bean on my face to keep that youthful glow and I flush my body with herbal tea after drinking too much baijiu the night before!

The rest is just good breeding and fantastically fashionable clothes!

[dal23journal-blog]

How Writers Can Earn in Web 3.0: Your Blueprint to Monetization

Leon Basin The revolution has begun. Web 3.0 is changing the game for writers, offering new ways to own your work, connect with your audience, and, most importantly, earn a living. In my previous post, Web 3.0 vs. Web 2.0: A Writing Revolution, we explored how Web 3.0 is dismantling the old internet’s exploitative model and empowering creators. Now, it’s time to get practical. This isn’t…

[stealingpotatoes]

wanted to draw/design my dao gang all together (then i got slightly carried away and did camp outfits too)

(commission info // tip jar!)