#don't go out of the alienage at night. don't anger the shem | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

heniareth · 1 year ago

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It's interesting to note how the Tabris Origin, which involves a wedding, kidnapping and attempted sexual harassment, and fighting your way through an estate full of guards, is the Origin where gender plays a huge role in what story you experience. M!Tabris will always storm the castle coming to the rescue of his cousin and his betrothed, while F!Tabris will always have to fight her way out because the men in her life can't fully protect her (Nelaros dies, Soris literally hands her the sword, Cyrion is powerless to stop the abduction. Okay, this may be a little unfair to Soris who does fight side by side with Tabris and counsels caution the same way regardless of Tabris's gender). I'd go so far as to say that Tabris is the only Origin where the gender of your PC has a definite impact on the story.

TLDR to the rant in the tags: Tabris is constrained on all sides by being an elf, by their gender, in part by their family, and by society at large (both the Alienage and the wider city).

#bumble our guys are occupying my mind again. the origin defines their roles and experiences so #a lot has been said about the superficial equality of men and women in dragon age: they are equal from a legal point of view #both can become soldiers inherit or assume a position of political and social authority #but that's pretty much it #that experiment aside i think for the tabris story it's interesting. tabris is so contrained #don't go out of the alienage at night. don't anger the shem #don't carry weapons. don't insult them. live in squalor & misery with no hopes of social mobility. get married to a person you don't know #this happens to you because you are an elf. and this happens to you because you are playing as a man or a woman #the other origin where gendered violence might crop up is brosca and idk to what extent bc i haven't had much contact with f!brosca's story #but it would be just like beraht to make weird comments. aeducan gets a weird comment by trian too but that's it #but the alienage is a pressure cooker and the violence dealt unto its inhabitants has a perverse amount of nuance #unlike the circle which is another pressure cooker but a different one the alienage has a better life and more opportunities paraded in #*front of its inhabitants at every waking hour. the mages don't have that jarring contrast (they are reminded of how bad they have it in #*other ways but violence is much easier to normalize in closed communities. there is a reason uldred was able to stoke a rebellion after #*having been at ostagar. one taste of fresh air and that stuffy tower must've been hell awaiting. even wynne takes ger first chance to gtfo #the alienage however knows with striking clarity what it doesn't have. and that hurts. that stings. this ramble went way off track #but my main point is that tabris is constrained on all sides while at the same time having a better life dangled in front of their nose #*every single waking hour. no wonder their origin ends in massacre at their hands #the dam has broken loose. the water is finally cooking over and the pressure cooker explodes #tabris has a body count comparable to that of a seasoned criminal (brosca) and of a knight defending their invaded home (cousland)#which is freaking impressive if you ask me #dragon age #dao #dragon age origins #tabris #warden tabris #f!tabris #m!tabris #astala tabris

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