#dont look at my mage inquisitor

[baekuras]

instead of going to chat gpt to sort presentation notes and stuff nor bothering my friends i have taken to doing the true programmers solution

talk to bath duck

[mistwood]

i wish the CC would have let us combine/layer multiple scar options.. im leaning towards being a lightning-focused mage and i love the lichtenberg figure scars so much. maybe with mods or something eventually

[grapecaseschoices]

[crows-of-buckets]

I really want to like. Flesh out my Adaar. However inquisiton has the problem with it's writing where everytime I think I have an idea of how I want selene's character to go, I don't have the flexibility to even sound remotely like her in game. Like her backstory is pretty interesting to me, or at least the one that I've concocted, but like. In game there's just so little there for me to cling to character wise. Like with Origins and 2, even before I started slamming a million headcanons onto my Warden and Hawke, I still had a grasp of their character. I didn't feel like I was doing ALL the work, yk? Like with Selene I've had to make an entirely different backstory from canon to give me investment into her.

And the thing is, I do really like the idea of her backstory! Shes a qunari who's parents were killed by humans. Those humans then took her in and raised her as an act of "charity". Her family was really religious, and expected her to also be so. The idea of a qunari Inquisitor who has the unique experience of being raised in a chantry surrounded by humans is soooo fascinating to me? And then her magic developed when she was 16 (very late bloomer lmao) so she ran away and became a mercenary. She briefly stayed with Valo-Kas, before her and another mercenary called Vashoth left for Selene to make her own group. Shes been leading this mercenary group for around eight years by the time inquisiton starts. And yet I can't have her act experienced on anything!! That, and by the time inquisiton starts she has an odd view of the Chantry and it's religion that I can only really akin to kinda being like Leliana's idea of The Maker (Leliana and her do get along pretty well because of this)

Like being able to explore what being a religious symbol would be like for a non human Inquisitor would have been so cool. But alas. I just idk. I'm procrastinating her playthrough because I don't feel like grinding and I don't wanna do plot so like. For some reason I always lose steam for inquisiton right before what pride has wrought. Like I have yet to actually beat inquisiton in one "sitting" (by that I mean not taking a 6+ month long break from the game)

[cy-cyborg]

I'm begging dragonage fans to do a tiny bit of research about arm amputees before loudly shouting their opinions on the inquisitor returning in the next game Please lol.

Apparently, it was confirmed that the inquisitor, your chatacter from the last game (who looses their arm in the final cutscene of the DLC), will return in Veilguard as a customisable character, similar to Hawke, and they will play an active roll in the story. This has caused a lot of people to start speculating on how they'll handle the inquisitor's missing hand, with most people agreeing they'll have to have a prosthetic to be an active part of the story. Which, while I do think this is the rought bioware will take, isn't true, and a part of me really hopes they leave the inquisitor without a prosthetic arm like in the end of Tresspasser

Partially because we already have a companion with a prosthetic (neve) and it would be nice to see some diversity in how amputation is depicted in such a mainstream game, but also because you dont need a prosthetic to fight as any of the main 3 classes from inquisition.

Mage:

mages just need a staff, the game shows them as 2 handed weapons but it's totally beleiveable that it would be usable 1-handed (Neve also uses a dagger-like weapon in the trailer, you can make a "staff" in inquisition that functions more like an energy sword, and the Mage in the chargers uses a staff resembling a bow, so I think it's more that they just need a focus, the shape doesn't matter as much). A knight enchanter may struggle more 1 handed, but I wouldn't write it off as an option with some modifications made to their main staff.

Warrior:

the easiest to justify, because there are several cases of arm amputees fighting with a sword and sheild in history, and while many did have prosthetics, most weren't functional (meaning they were mainly for aesthetic purposes and didn't actually aid the fighter in any way. There were exceptions, like Götz of the iron hand, who's prosthetic was functional, but most were not). The inquisitor looses their arm just above the wrist*, so they still have most of their forearm. Most sheilds strap to the forearm, so it wouldn't take much adjustment to make that work, and you can use the other hand for the weapon. Obviously, two-handed weapons will probably be off the table, though, lol.

*edit to say, as several people pointed out, i got that wrong, my bad 😅. The inquisitors arm is actually amputated through the elbow, the screenshots i was looking at just weren't very clear and it has been a while since i got to trespasser lol. It would still entirely possible to strap a shield to the upper arm though, with some pretty minor adjustments to the existing straps on standard (as in, those used by non-disabled warriors) tall shields, so the point still stands.

Rogue

this is the one people tend to be the loudest about and the one I understand the most. Obviously duel-weilding daggers won't work (unless you give them something like the hidden blades in assassin's creed on their stump side, I guess) but using a single dagger still would, and is a perfectly reasonable approach, given that's how most irl people used daggers. Archery, though, absolutely can work without a prosthetic, despite what people think. Dragonage has crossbows, not something like Bianca (rip) but a small, single-handed crossbow is an option. Even ignoring that though, amputee archery is a thing irl, and not every arm amputee uses prosthetics for it. The bows are modified to be held in one hand and drawn with the mouth using a kind of pully-system built into the bow that I could very easily see being modified into some dwarven-style contraption in game (some double arm amputees use their feet to draw regular bows, but I don't think that would be pheasable in combat).

Like I said, I think bioware will probably go with a prosthetic, but i hope that they don't. Or at the very least, show them with it sometimes and without it other times (the same goes for Neve, no one wears their prosthetic 24/7, I'd love to see them both take them off around the home base, even just occasionally). A lot of arm amputees in particular prefer to go without one, and arm prosthetics in media are some of the worst offenders of the "perfect prosthetic"/"miracle cure prosthetic" tropes. It doesn't count as "diversity" or disability representation if it doesn't actually change anything other than the look of the chatacter, and im really, really desperate for some actually decent amputee representation in games.

[crownbeed]

Spoiler Free Veilguard Critique

Includes negatives and positives

I think my biggest issues are that the person u play as is not allowed to have any personality or opinions and if u do manage to say something ur companions don't like they don't...confront u about it. in other DA games if u pissed off a companion enough they would leave or you could kick them out.

>you don't get to choose ur companions in this game and other than flirting ur relationships aren't really...relevant to anyone else or to their stories.

>I've only played it once so far, but I dont remember there being much fallout from my decisions other than which city I choose and the final battle.

Honestly I feel like they should have replaced Rook with the Inquisitor - it would have made more sense and been more interesting. But its my understanding that the developers wanted to make the game accessible to new players...which is great. but there is already so many small references to the inquisition that is summarized for new players anyway so just...do it (I genuinely look forward to the fanfiction that make this happen)

other grievances i had:

>World building was inconsistent with previous games and there was absolutely no attempt to address it. sure we had mage wars, and race wars as a focus of previous games but its nbd in northern thedas? ok then.

>if a companion wants to speak to me at a specific location plz for the love of God don't make me have to go to them at the lighthouse to find out they want to speak and then make me go to a different country to speak to them. jfc dude.

>Everything was so specifically paced it got boring at times and I felt like I had no control over anything. they lock off areas you might want to explore unless u have a quest there and sometimes u can only go there during the quest. I may have hated the hinterlands but I enjoyed that I could find myself fighting for my life in bear country when my inquistor wasn't ready for it. Or stumble across a dragon 10 levels above me. God forbid u go anywhere in this game without permission.

>The most meaningful and rpg-style change my character could make was to their appearance. And they don't even have a bed.

on a positive note:

>Solas is still a fascinating character and he is delved into a fair bit in this game. i love that stupid bastard, he's such an idiotic asshole. Also he looks badass imo. A little mangy tho, iykyk.

>Some people found it wasn't very dark? I found it to be very very dark. maybe the fact that the Lighthouse was very unaffected by most things outside of the fade misled ppl? the horrors are many. the blight pustules are disgusting. Idk man I felt the dark fantasy of the whole thing and think it holds up to other games. (although admittedly its effect on characters could have been explored a bit more but I think that's typical of DA games lbr)

>I like the companions, I like the glimpses we get of their relationships with each other. I like the character annotated codex pages. Idk I think they're neat.

>I only played the once and I did it on easy but the skill tree seems pretty cool and expansive? I didnt get to explore it much as my brain can only handle figuring out so much at once. there's a lot of options.

>its goddamned beautiful. all the scenery is top notch. I wish I had a high end gaming pc so I could get the pinnacle of its beauty. but alas I am but a wee ps5 owner.

[v-arbellanaris]

PLEASE share about the Cullen Cult Arc

sighs. this is my second time writing this post ;~; literally why does the autosave option exist if tumblr doesnt actually bother to autosave anything, i dont fucking get it.

this is going to be much briefer than the original post i wrote because im still REELING over how tumblr just ate the entire fucking post. its fucking gone. and idk if i have the energy or mental capacity rn to rewrite the whole thing. basically, this arc - which is the arc i developed for him in vee verse - is the arc i think cullen should've had in dai.

firstly, i'm not retconning anything he said or did in dao or da2. this is because those things serve a narrative purpose. cullen is a good templar - that's the entire crux of the problem. he exists in these two games as a narrative tool; he represents the views of the chantry. as such, anything you do with his character arc cannot be divorced from the reality of the mage/templar conflicts, and the glaring issues of the chantry and must, actually, address and involve those things, because cullen is a product of his surroundings. i'm not saying this to minimise or give him excuses for anything he's said or done, but that is made true for him by his very positioning in the narrative as being the chantry's voice. for most of my playthroughs, which lean pro-mage, cullen is an antagonistic force - he has to say and do horrific things, and it would be stupid for me to retcon the horrible things he did.

secondly, my main issue comes from his writing in dai - probably to no one's surprise. i am not unopposed to having a redemption arc for him in dai - this is villain-fucking the blog, sorry not sorry - but the problem is that he does not have one. to have a redemption arc, the following two things needs to happen:

the realisation/acknowledgement/knowledge/whatever that he caused harm to people with his actions/inactions

addressing the False Belief that he has embraced that has previously justified his harmful actions/inactions in order to accept the Truth (this is just basic character narrative construction).

and dai fails to do both of these because the writing team in inquisition is physically incapable of admitting the chantry is wrong and has done wrong and will continue to do wrong. they are physically incapable of looking at fucked up power dynamics and clear cases of oppression and not going "but what if the oppressed people. wanted to be oppressed. NEEDED to be oppressed, even."

which leaves his character arc - whether you want to consider it redemptive or not - confusing. he's trying to shake a lyrium addiction? sure, okay. but why is he addicted to lyrium? why is being addicted to regular ol' lyrium bad? it's not blue lyrium that killed meredith, it's not blue lyrium that corypheus and samson are using.

you get confusing things like cullen's entire character arc being centered around lyrium addiction... but no one seems to give a shit if the inquisitor takes lyrium and becomes a templar, except cullen. you get confusing things like cullen's entire character arc being centered around recovering from lyrium addiction and the templar route in dai and you get to the scene where all the templars get their lyrium draughts. the ceremony and chanting and celebration around getting the lyrium, when barris takes his draught, which is frankly revolting. but it highlights the inconsistency - lyrium, this scene tells us, is good. because the templars are good, and they use it for good. yet cullen's entire arc is about overcoming his lyrium addiction, but don't worry!!!! templars are still good and lyrium is still good. its fucking INCOHERENT!!!!!!

he is addicted to lyrium because that is how the chantry maintains absolute control over its templars. it is a mind-altering substance that causes paranoia, which the chantry specifically takes advantage of and feeds with their all mages are inherently dangerous rhetoric, which is a false rhetoric, as i've pointed out before. but instead of acknowledging any of that, dai's writing goes "lyrium is Bad because [mumble mumble] and its So Important that he doesn't take it so that [mumble mumble]".

because the story is physically incapable of uttering anything even vaguely critical of the chantry.

so, this covers my main issue with his writing in dai. i would ideally try to fix it - without retconning anything he did in dao or in da2. this is what the cullen cult recovery arc is referring to.

i'm not going to go into it in too much detail but the templar order - inclusive of the seekers - fits a lot of the parameters of a cult. specifically, the BITE model, but also this checklist, and a whole bunch of other parameters i found when researching into cults for this specific reason. (which. makes sense. seeing how the orlesian chantry is was also technically a religious cult that becomes the main religion of the lands by actively slaughtering all the other sects)

but what's particularly interesting about it specifically is that, in-world, no one else seems to think it's a cult. for all of cullen's views, he is not the extreme end in da2 - alrik is. meredith is. what's particularly disturbing to me about cullen's point of view is that because he's a product of his environment, because he's a narrative tool representing the chantry's views, cullen's opinions and actions are actually a normality test. people in thedas don't find cullen's views repulsive because most average joes in thedas agree with him. i think it's easy to forget cullen isn't the outlier in-universe - we are.

but, canonically speaking, this is what happens: cullen, like most good antagonists getting a redemption set up, misses his chance to Embrace Change at the end of da2. he sides with meredith too late for it to matter or make a difference - mages (who you learn on the templar route, he's not exactly eager to kill) who he's supposed to protect are already dead. but what happens in kirkwall shakes him to his core and he looks to leave the order entirely - a good step.

the problem is that he leaves the order to join the inquisition. the inquisition, which is headed by the left and right hands of the divine. the right hand of the divine is a seeker herself. the inquisition is spearheaded and justified by the divine, who he has been trained for most his adult life to be subservient to. the divine who formed the inquisition to replace the templar order and hired him to essentially train and recreate the order.

worse, still. no one thinks he did anything wrong. kinloch was not his fault, it was the fault of greagoir and the older templars who were simply not vigilant enough, meredith told him. how he acted to keep order in the circle and the city after the viscount was executed is admirable, cassandra tells him. he was only following orders, leliana admits grudgingly, he stood up for what was right when meredith went too far. no one thinks he did anything wrong, because he is a good templar. because all the atrocities he committed were not committed against people - they were committed against mages, who are not people, not like you and me.

cullen hops from one cult to the next. the inquisition is the exact same thing he's always done and known, just repackaged - quite literally, considering the inquisition's symbol. but canonically, he thinks it's something different. he wants it to be different.

it's not, though.

so, the thought process behind my thoughts for him boils down to this: how does he get the language to describe exactly why this is wrong? how does he get the language to describe why it matters, why it's important, that he hurt real people? how does he get past the Lie that he believes - that he has to be a good templar, to stop anything like kinloch from happening again, since kinloch happened because they weren't vigilant enough, because they were too sympathetic to mages?

his arc shouldn't have just been about overcoming lyrium addiction. his arc should have been a story about recovering from being part of a hate group, a story about recovering from part of a cult.

there's several ways to go about it, i think. and if you want to specifically know how i'm going to do it, you guys should encourage me to write vee verse 😌

[ferniliciousness]

Weathered, dark brown journal, embellished with golden thread in the design of a hallas head. First page holds two words, Feora Lavellan.

10th of Solace 9: 44 - It hit me finally today. For the first time in... Well too many years, there is no plan, there is no set path forward. The inquisition is nothing more then a memory and I am once again just an elf with a tattooed face.

And gods have a missed it.

My feet are taking me back up to the free marches, to my clan. The words sound strange to say now. The people I called family for nearly 20 years feel even less like home now. Now that home is missing.

Elgara has been my only company these past weeks, making some burdens less tiresome to carry. Some days he is the only thing keeping me walking. But, all I can do right now is push that aside. I dont think I'm ready to unpack my heart yet.

19th of Solas 9: 44 - I know these woods. Soon enough we will pass by the city of my birth. I wonder if the ashes are still there, if the fields are still full of wheat and the well bucket still leaks. I wonder if they still hate elves and magic, or if this whole ordeal knocked a little sense into them. In any case I could just throw up the inquisitor card for the first time if they start trouble.

Imagine. The little elf mage they drove out in fear showing up 20 years later as the woman who saved the world. I would love to see the look on those damn templars faces.

I don't know.... Maybe I will go.... Elgara will be fine a day on his own..... And I don't think I'm ready to see my clan again after all....

22 of Solace 9: 44 - the plot was still empty. Even in a sea of new homes and streets I've never seen, where my home once stood is still an empty barren patch. So much had changed, yet so much was still the same. The chanty moved, the old building burnt and crumbling, probably a victim of the breach.

No one seemed surprised I was there. The usual disgusted glances from elders but elves and shem alike all just nodded my way. Maybe the arm gives me away, or I guess the giant eyeball sewed into my cloak...... Yeah probably that. No one seemed alarmed by my staff, and in fact I saw a few mages in the city all treated the same as me.

It's strange in a way. Seeing a place so familiar yet so foreign. So many memories coming fresh to my mind. All from smiles and laughter, to the grabbed ears and drunken curses.

I saw Calen. He's a circle mage now. Well, what's left of the circle anyway. Said he was helping to lead the younger mages. He said he was..... Sorry.... For what happened. I know it wasn't his fault but it still felt nice

[chipchopclipclop]

TELL ME ABOUT IT. I am so filled with Fear about Veilguard. DA has the potential to put me in such a chokehold and the last thing I want is these seemingly nice companions getting stuck in a shitty game. Or any other companions. Or my poor Inquisitor

I don't have high hopes lol (after all this production hell and firing of staff) and moreover i dont like how it looks still 😂 ppl saying it looks so diff to the cinematic one idk what ur seeing but (??) power to you.

i was telling a friend but everything in it looks very smooth and clean stylistically, which isn't what i really like about dragon age at all art direction wise anyway (even in inquisition which was hashtag #nextgen it still felt a little bit like eating grime everywhere u went) ik were in super epic mage city but everything is so clean, even the designs of the mages is really simple geometrically. It's to the point it all looks kind of boring to my eyes and very bland, which in turn makes me barely interested in the setting (which is crazy bc its tevinter) also idc abt solas like that but thats my personal issue with not giving a fuck abt the writing lol

everything we've seen in game as well weirdly looks like a pre-rendered cutscene or super cinematic, even regular conversations, in a way that feels stilted. I'm not saying it is ofc, i believe its gameplay but i don't like the direction of it at all lmao. this is all a shame bc alot of the companion concepts look very fun (necromancer old man literally is just my bg3 tav rofl) also i like running around big open world maps so them going YAYY LINEARITY isnt making me cheer !? ppl didnt like it in inquisition bc there was just fuck all to do in the maps 😂😂😂 it is going to be a mid as hell game basically. average dragon age experience though.

[danielnelsen]

answers to rook questions from @argentleif, thanks!!!!!!

brief backstory of my rook first, particularly to explain my answer to the first question: he was raised qunari and became saarebas. he was travelling somewhere in mainland thedas with his arvaarad and they got attacked (maybe by darkspawn, but it doesnt really matter). his arvaarad died, but he was rescued by a grey warden who was manning a largely inactive outpost alone. the warden helped him recover and also encouraged him to find his own path, and they were there together for a few years. eventually rook decided to become a warden himself. he still considers himself qunari but knows that it's not technically true

answers below the cut

2. How did Rook get the nickname? What do they think of it?

ok this is the one ive probably been doing the most thinking about and im kinda between two answers

so, first option: when he picks his new name (because he's now a grey warden, rather than saarebas), it's something that can get shortened to rook. im currently delving into qunlat, trying to get a grasp on the language, and seeing if i can come up with something. i dont know if this will work, but i do still plan to find him a qunlat name that works for being a warden, regardless

second option: in my current qunari research, i read 'the straight path', which is a qunari children's story that definitely contains the type of values he tries to adhere to. maybe he gets into chess with his warden pal and then talks about that story and following the straight path and the warden's like "oh like the rook!" idk. i think that's sweet

4. Which faction did they join, and why? How long has it been?

they grey wardens for the reasons above. from the way his interactions have gone so far in-game, id say he hasnt been a warden for very long, maybe a few years. it's probably only been about 5 years since he met that warden; maybe 3 years staying with them, and then 2 as a proper warden himself

10. Does Rook know their history? Do they know of the HoF, Hawke, the Inquisitor?

prior to becoming a warden, he would have heard of hawke because the qunari invasion of kirkwall would have caused a huge stir, especially after it was disavowed by the arigena and ariqun. he probably didnt hear much, if anything, about the mage-templar war, though. he likes reading, so maybe he's read the tale of the champion since meeting varric

he would have learned about the hof as a grey warden. my hof also has an office or something at weisshaupt, so they've probably briefly met. similarly, he would have heard of the inquisitor in relation to the wardens and also the concerns about corypheus and a potential archdemon during all that. he was still saarebas during the events of inquisition, though, so he wouldnt have had any direct involvement

15. What’s the first thing people notice when Rook enters a room?

not to make absolutely everything about the fact that he's qunari, but... the fact that he's qunari lmao. it's pissing me off that nobody in-game reacts to it, especially given the qunari are one of the main antagonist factions

16. Got any tattoos? What’s the story behind them?

idk why im drawing a blank about whether i gave him any tattoos in cc..... but i didnt have his backstory planned then, so the proper answer is no, i think

17. How’d Rook get those scars?

he was a qunari living in seheron for a while (before becoming saarebas). even though he wasnt part of the antaam, he would have encountered plenty of hostility. i gave him the lightning tattoos because they looked cool, so i imagine he got into a fight with some tevinters. i feel his magic would have manifested in response to some sudden dangerous conflict, so maybe that's when it happened

i also gave him top surgery scars just because i could, but i dont think those would be canon for him. ive been constructing a whole qunari gender theory but it's still heavily in the works so im not going into that yet

28. Does Rook have any pets/animal companions?

nope :(

30. What is Rook’s class? Did they choose it?

he's a mage, so definitely didnt choose it! prior to gaining his magic, he wasnt a fighter, so he would never have become any other class otherwise

42. Something Rook regrets:

he doesnt tend to have regrets. he truly believes in the philosophy of the qun and finding stillness, which helps him make good decisions and also accept the decisions that he makes

he probably regrets not doing more to save his arvaarad because his life has been a bit of a mess since then, but he's trying to make the most of it

45. Who was Rook’s closest friend before joining the Veilguard?

that one warden, i guess. i havent thought about his friendships before becoming saarebas, and while he was saarebas he didnt really have friends, but he had a pretty peaceful relationship with his arvaarad, which is probably the closest he got. once he joined the wardens, he had a lot of trouble making friends because he was still trying to get the hang of human culture

[pondering-gales-left-orb]

Still having the best time playing dragon age inquisition!

So I wanna ramble on alittle bit about my playthrough so :

I went really hard fighting red templars untill 3 in the morning the other day that when i went to sleep i dreamt that i was personally ass deep in red templars killing them lol

Also i managed to get my Vivian approval with my inquisitor up enough that she doesn't insult her looks anymore (although i'll miss that it was my fav thing lol that low approval cut scene is so funny "Vivian why is my furniture being moved around? Cause i wanna piss you off ofc my dear inquisitor i hope you seethe when you can't find your shit at night hehe" I LOVE HER) my inquisitor is extremely pro mage freedom so it didn't go well with her at first but they both started to warm up to each other once my inquisitor started sitting for judgments

Vivian really likes the way Keres deals with things!

Speaking of Vivian imagine my surprise when i go online to see fan art of the most gorgeous woman i have ever seen only to be met with hate

People call her annoying and a bitch for being realistic when Wynn also did the same type of "questioning your choices and thier impact on the future" the only difference is that Wynn's wisdom was due to her age so she was kind and motherly but Vivian's wisdom is due to her experience with unforgiving harsh society ofc shes gonna be no bullshit to the point with you

Wynn's experience with other people is entirly based on taking care of young mages in her circle Vivian was first enchanter of the imperial fucking court she had to deal with extreme shit and stupid nobles and probably disgusting advances from people like!!!! Sigh i feel like No one gets viv like i do lmao

Anyway as for Keres who is a human rouge inquisitor up untill this point she allied with mages, saved the charges, killed alexis, sent the goat guy to tevinter, sent the mayor to fereldan, is besties with everyone but mostly Dorian and Sera, and is dating blackwell!

Well actually WE are dating blwckwell hehehe the other day while fighting darkspawn he said "are you alright love?" To keres And i just about died i was shaking screaming giggling dnsndnd ( i know the plot twist of his story dont worry)

We met Hawk but im kinda scared of doing that whole thing so instead i finshed up two areas and am dealing with empress de lione Region rn I claimed the last red templars keep and killed the hinterlands high dragon. I wanna kill another dragon but im literally so scared of them i cant even approach thier areas dhsksjdkd.

Anyway im having alot of fun as you can see!

[shoutydwarf]

people don’t call inquisition/da:d “elf simulator”/”elf age” because they hate elves and elvhen lore. Let Me Be Clear: 

- elves have the most special dialogue options. even more if you’re a f!mage. bioware accidentally forgot dalish elves know who mythal is for ONE dialogue wheel and people really used it to run with the idea that elves were somehow narratively shafted during inquisition; meanwhile dwarves in the descent dlc, you know, THE DWARF DLC where you get your Crumb Of Dwarf, you get next to no special dialogue options besides being told by valta that you’re not a Real Dwarf and you don’t have stone sense (which isn’t even true. stone sense comes back to all dwarves if they’re underground long enough. this is more of bioware trying to prove all the disgusting corrupt systems in place are Acthually Correct Trollol.. that or they just forgot bc they dont care.) 

- eluvians, the fade, fen’harel, everything that comes out of solas’s mouth, a chunk of WEWH, inquisitor ameridan being a dalish elf, etc is not at all narratively relevant to anyone but an elf inquisitor. spin all the stories you want to make eluvians and elvhen gods important to your non-elf OCs but off what we get in the games alone, without doing an ungodly amount of work to make it fit, what BIOWARE has established, it means nothing. you can argue that all of this is important to the inquisitor on principal of them Being inquisitor but... be fucking serious

- elves seeing the crossroads differently than other races. just another special elfy thing

- every single religion is being geared up to link back to the elves. i think we can all agree by now that andraste is flemythal and the maker is mythal (whether u think the theory is good or not is neither here nor there, bioware is so predictable at this point). and thank god she freed the dwarves from the titans, amirite! it’d really suck if the dwarves had something exclusive! (bioware if you try to paint the titans as slavers and mythal as the Dwarven Savior........................)

- you can make an argument for any of the origins in da:o fitting “the best” as canon. the dalish elf is as ignorant to the world outside of the forest as the player is. cousland is your classic betrayed hero thrust into saving the world tale. dwarves are intrinsically tied to the darkspawn/wardens. the mages are freed birds but the world outside their cage is corrupted and torn asunder. tabris/brosca is your saving the world that never fought for them back tale. they all equally mean something in unique, valuable ways to the main story and it shows through ample unique dialogue options and main quest relevance. 

- can you REALLLLYYYYY say the same for all of the non-elf da:i origins? what do we got, a mercenary vashoth. a carta dwarf. a human noble or mage. all random NPCs fr. but the dalish elf who unlocks the power of an elvhen orb which leads to a slew of world-shattering reveals about the lore they grew up with and believed in? meanwhile ur dwarf/human/qunari inquisitor didn’t even know there WAS a plot twist. they didnt even know there was a plot

- all of this extra elf stuff would be perfectly fine. the countless elvhen ruins, lore reveals etc. if it was even REMOTELY evenly distributed across all the races. BUT IT’S NOT. 

- it would also be fine if inquisition was a one-off elf-focused game but they used the opportunity to take from every other races’ lore and make it about elves, so now A. there’s no going back, B. the 4th game’s title is literally dreadwolf wow i wonder who the story is going to be written for, C. if i ever have to hear with my own two ears “i’ve been through shit that would make the deep roads look like a cake walk!” followed by the dwarf at the receiving end of this Dying From Being Pwned, i’m going to get violent

- the point is that it’s bioware’s fault, not the elves. “elf simulator” is poking fun at biowares pandering to solavellan twitter, not at elf players lmao

[breaking-circles]

[Image Description: Marian Churchland's Dragon Age OC template filled out with Isiik Lavellan, a dalish warrior Inquisitor. Isiik is shown from the waist up, looking warily to the side and crouching slightly. In his right hand, he holds his sword angled up and ready to attack. His left hand is braced out in front of him, the mark glowing a bright green. He is wearing a purple scarf draped over a dark purple jacket with puffy sleeves that end just past his elbows. The jacket tucks into high-waisted brown pants. Under the jacket he is wearing a pale yellow shirt. He has a shield on his back, the strap of which crosses his chest. He is wearing a glove missing its pointer and thumb fingers on his right hand. His dark reddish-brown hair is pulled back in a short ponytail except for two strands that hand on either side of his face. He has Dirthamen's vallaslin, which has smooth, flowing lines on his forehead, cheeks, chin, and along the length of his nose. He is frowning slightly and his brow is furrowed. His long elfin ears are nearly perpendicular to his head, causing him to appear slightly nervous or on edge. He has a pale scar that goes across his lips, reaching from the bottom of his chin to nearly reaching his nose and bisecting some of the vallaslin on his chin. He has heavy bags under his eyes. In the background, faint green lightning fans out from the mark. Next to his head are the words "wow this place is a freakshow. i dont respect literally any of you people." Below the quote is an attribution to "-Neopets User, 2017". Below the drawing, several traits are listed with a line between them to mark where the character falls between the two. Between cautious and reckless, Isiik is very cautious; between selfless and self-serving, he is more self-serving; between emotion-driven and logic-driven, he is more logic-driven; between forthright and dissembling, he is more dissembling; between friendly and unfriendly, he is more unfriendly; between devout and questioning he is extremely devout; and between trusting and suspicious he is very suspicious. Below the traits is a list of his main party: Cole, The Iron Bull, and Vivienne or Solas. Below that, there are a series of symbols that indicate which choices he made throughout the game. The first three indicate he is a sword-and-shield-wielding warrior, who chose the Champion specialization, and romanced no-one. The next row of five indicates he sided with free mages, left Hawke in the fade, preserved the Gray Warden order, gave the Orlesian throne to Gaspard with blackmail to benefit Briala, and drank from the Well himself. End of Image Description]

Ok! Last but not least here's Isiik (pronounced iz-ick), my Inquisitor! He has probably had the MOST change since my first playthrough. He is now an extremely jaded guy who is very much here against his will and refuses to let anyone forget that. His number one goal is getting shit fixed so he can go home and be left alone. The only person he gets along with is Cole and, at times, The Iron Bull. Nearly everyone else has said something to upset him and he holds grudges like a true champion. Basically, I'm living out my 'let me be a hater' feelings through him.

Currently, I'm designing him to be Intersex and Hard of Hearing. I am not part of either of these communities myself so I'm doing my best to research and portray these parts of him as best as possible since I really want to get this right. If anyone has any good suggestions for designing a character with these traits, please know advice, feedback, and critiques are always appreciated :]

Flat versions under the cut, since this post is already too long~

[Image Description: The same drawing as in the first image, though this time without the background or shading, making the colors easier to pick out. In the first of the two drawings, the glowing green mark remains, in addition to a glare on his sword. In the second image, both of those are removed, though a white gash remains where the mark is located. End Description.]

As always, relevant stuff will be in the replies. Thank you for the kind words and such, folks :]

[pinayelf-archive]

So now that i dont feel as crispy anymore (Tylenol my beloved) here are my thoughts on absolution! All spoilers under the cut but I will be tagging it too just in caseAll in all I really enjoyed it! As always it’s not perfect and there’s some crit to be made, but others have done that. I wanna ramble about theories and just observations in general

First off my faves are Roland and Qwydion. Just really loved their personalities and I hope we get more stuff with them in it

Vjfjfjfj I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Roland x lacklon. Lacklon 100% fell in love w Roland at first sight (me too tbh) and him giving him the in case we die kiss is peak romance 🤌🏽

the background art in the series literally made me weep…..so so good

now idk if this was in the codex because I just don’t read them 💀 but I didn’t know a mage could levitate themself with magic. We’ve seen magic energy used to lift heavy objects, but never a person. I need this in DA4 lmaooo. I wanna fly 😭

When rezaren pulled Miriam into that fade dream, he needed blood magic to do it. That’s interesting because when solas takes the inquisitor into a fade dream he doesn’t need to do it. I’m wondering if it’s because solas is a god and he has very strong magic or if because he specializes in fade magic? Maybe both?

the thing w qwydion and the dragon - I’ve seen theories about it. This is mine. I think about that conversation with bull and how he says that qunari have dragon blood in them. Granted he was talking about it like it was a folktale, but maybe it’s true? Rezaren was using blood magic to control it, but it took one look into qwydion’s eyes and just let her go. So….

Jumping off last point I wonder if there’s such a thing as a dragon tamer…I wish we could be given the option to take dragons in-game as an alternative to just killing them. That would be cool

honestly the Meredith thing just made me laugh 😭 I was wondering how hira got in contact with her, then I realized she joined the inquisition and had access to the black emporium. But if it’s not her who took her back to Kirkwall the idea of someone going there to take her back is so funny to me

pouring one out for Fairbanks Stans 😔 he was a sexy socialist smh

I want Miriam x qwydion…..pls I want them to kiss

thats all ✌🏽

[decadent-hag]

alisia I need some inspiration for my inquisition character please feel free to talk about runa or any other blorbos you have on the brain!!!

aaaahhhhh ok!!!

Runa is a Dalish elf. She's a sword and shield warrior basically because Im mid at gaming and am a button smasher. This seems to be pretty rare in what ive seen of dalish ocs who are usually all rogues or mages so I kind of like that about her. The idea of this petite elven woman being a tank. She's got silver hair in a shoulder length bob that she braids to keep out of her way when fighting, violet eyes, and a beige skin tone with a complexion that shows she's grown up living outside. She has the simplified version of Mythal's vallaslin. And a scar that runs from the right of her top lip diagonally down her chin.

As far as her personality goes I haven't figured out much beyond the way I played her. She's distrusting of humans and doesn't like that she's become their Herald but she's not SUPER outspoken about it. Outwardly she tries to keep to herself and be very fair-minded (self-preservation) but internally she's definitely frustrated about her position. I think after she is made inquisitor she figures out what kind of leader she is and is more confident in the role. She takes to heart Mother Giselle's advice about it not really mattering where her power came from. She has it, and she has to use it to lead, so thats what she does. If people think she's the herald of andraste then so be it. I got her to be friends with everyone except Vivienne (she was so mean and intimidating i had no idea who to interact with her lmao). Against her better judgement she becomes very close with Dorian, Cullen, and Cassandra and I think their friendships really help her come to terms with working with humans. She's also close with Sera and looks on her as a younger sister. She has chronic I Can Fix Him Disease and simps for that bitch of an egg Solas. Even after he dumps her. She really loves coming up with creative punishments for judgements and would rather use her prisoners to her advantage than have them exiled or executed (iirc she only executed someone once). She's very much a "people against the ruling class" type of person and doesn't hide it.

Uuh thats all i can think of for now!! I dont really have a back story for her yet but I am working on it. As well as some post-Trespasser ideas.

[v41entine]

ok my thoughts on the veilguard character creator ✨

I TOOK NOTES, i only focused on creating my pride n joy Onan, I haven't fully fully explored the CC but i still clocked in just over 2 hours LMAO (i also didnt rly take in progress screenshots so sry </3 i foolishly wrote my notes by hand n now im typing them up bc i wanna talk abt it lol)

In order of discovery:

✨Pronouns being separate from GENDER + nonbinary options (i think i already knew this but still !!! :)))

Adjustable Height - YAY but I wish there was some visible comparison in game since it scales by percentage, like i want a tall elf/dwarf but how tall r we talking in game yk?? or a short qunari? can i get a scale for height comparison if u dont wanna give numbers for in game heights at least orz

CURLY HAIR with decent physics MWAH (wish these were organized by length or smth lol)

lighting options 👍 (finally)

INTERESTING TAKE on the skintone/complexion system, I rly liked it!! would be nice to see other devs emulate!

acne :) i'll hav to explore the complexion options a bit more but having acne options is nice!! i like when characters can look normal idk <3

(are there vitiligo options i haven't found them yet??? or is it just that one slider)

the option to remove the hair while adjusting the face/head features is GENUINELY GALAXY BRAINED !!!!!!! would be nice if utilized for adjusting the complexion too just bc after i made that mf bald i noticed a bunch of random freckles i hadnt before so :T

(what does the chin bump do, idle animations can make it hard to distinguish if anything is changing, why do some of these idle animations look like they r grimacing lol, A LOT OF SUBTLE CHANGES, not as exaggerated as I was maybe expecting tbh?)

undergarment style 👍

body proportion sliders, nice but nothing dramatic

eye height asymmetry ! lots of asymmetry options !!

hooded eyelids specifically UM, there's a slider, i wasn't super impressed w/ it but maybe it was just the preset i chose?? i was worried about like, v hooded/monolidded eye shapes not being an option but the inquisitor preset i played around with looked decent so?? maybe i need to explore it more

Heterochromia, eyebrows and eyelash options are all 👍:)

FUN COLOR SYSTEM (this note was specifically abt the hair, but its the same for p much all coloring options)

is there no way to actually adjust the lip shape/cupid's bow?? 😔

CUSTOMIZABLE VALLASLIN IS COOL (was personally hoping for dao's tats to be an option but that's for my own specific machinations lol i think regional vallaslin/different takes is rly cool !!! like the way dialect changes over generations/locations YK???)

body tats r also cool, i think they could have included some vallaslin specific ones??? esp since theyre confirmed slave markings and we see how detailed fenris' are it stands to reason traditional vallaslin would follow the same pattern but OH WELL

scar options and customization !! being able to adjust the color and intensity is a nice touch

✨✨✨TOP SURGERY SCARS :)))) only the one option but 1) it's there and 2) it is specifically titled Top Surgery scars <333 (i feel like volition was SO CLOSE with the "surgical scars" in SR22 but they were just too scared to fully commit and left it vague, so for bioware to pull the trigger ITS NICE a step in the right direction 🥰)

OUTFIT PREVIEWS WHEN CHOOSING CLASS AND THEM CHANGING BASED ON FACTIONS IS SICK!!!!! (also seeing the differences between Aspirational Armor, Casual, and Starting Armor is sooo smart tbh)

love the previews when choosing a class!!! combat looks v fun!!! idk how i feel abt the warriors lmaooo they seem sooo. anime-y? Also Death Caller (drain life from enemies? ok) aka socially acceptable blood mage ig ??? 😒 bring back problematic mages !😑) all the rogue subclasses looked cool bc its the best class next question😌

backstories and factions seem really fun and cool, the faction passives are sick but EYE PERSONALLY still dont think i would compare it to origins. maybe my opinion will change once i play !

Voices. 😐 crawling-in-my-skin.mp3. I am NOT a fan of voiced player characters and i wish it could have been an option to just. not be voiced! (like WHYYY am i an antivan crow without an antivan accent UGHHGHGUGH🤮 GET AWAY FROM ME) u can make the voices slightly deeper ig. 😒

no tapestry !! no offense it was a cool system but soooo tedious! i appreciate inquisition's history being streamlined like this (which means fuck u to dao/da2 ig?? LMAO NEWAY im guessing no kieran?? n no after effects from the well of sorrows??? 🤔🤔🤔)

Inquisitor prosthetic 👍

oh my god i cant find any of the screenshots i took of my son fuck my entire stupid gayass life bye.