#especially aeducans or broscas

[kinloch-warden]

Alistair: Here, look at this. Do you know what this is?

My Amell, who is trying very hard to relearn things like "plants" and "animals" after being locked inside for 14 years: Oh I know that one! Its a rose :D

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

I need to gush about Origins and discuss Duncan okay, listen- DAO is so good for a plethora of reasons but it’s the origins, the thing that it’s literally named after. Which origin you play is the important decision on the players part that has an impact on everything you do, especially if you go hard into the roleplaying of it all, it makes me want to scream. I adore it so much.

So Duncan, right? Great character, love that dude. I read The Calling and he's one of the best parts of that book. If you haven't read it, I recommend it just for Duncan alone.

I enjoy reading opinion pieces on Duncan, especially when the poster mentions which origin their warden is. I find it so interesting because your origin can change your entire perception of him.

Playing as Aeducan or Brosca? Duncan has great respect for dwarves just as the dwarves do for the wardens. Duncan’s your hero. He saved your life. You would’ve been executed or left to rot in the Deep Roads if not for him. And since the wardens are so respected, it’s honestly an honor to join them, no?

Playing a Cousland? You’ve lost everything. Duncan not only does what he can to keep your father alive long enough for you and your mother to find him, but he saves you and gives you a shot to avenge your family by becoming a warden.  

Playing as Amell or Surana? Your best friend lied to you about being a blood mage and chances are you tried to help him escape rather than turn him in, and now he’s gone and Greagoir demands you be punished. But here comes Duncan to conscript you, to take you away from the prison known as the Circle of Magi.

And I know this can vary depending on how you play or what kind of character you’ve created, but I believe you’re waaaay more likely to have a better opinion of Duncan in these origins… but if you play as Mahariel or Tabris?

Mahariel’s more obvious, here. You’re Dalish, and odds are, you and Tamlen are on the same page about humans. Duncan, a human, dragged your ass back to your clan after the eluvian gave you the blight, and sure, that was nice of him… except when you go looking for Tamlen and Duncan destroys the mirror, he’s so dismissive. He doesn’t care about Tamlen. There’s no point in going looking for him, he’s dead. Also you have the blight and Duncan’s taking you away from your family to make you a warden and no, you have no choice in the matter. He'll force his hand if he needs to. Say goodbye, forget about Tamlen, you’ll never see your family again, you’re a warden now. Hope you have fun involving yourself in all these human affairs while everyone points out how different you are!

First off, I think most Mahariel players would agree that they’re still not over Tamlen. How many of you had the thought, “If we look just a little longer, we could find Tamlen and make him a warden, too!” only for Duncan to ruin that? I don’t blame any Mahariel for throwing a fit when he and the Keeper agree you need to go, nor do I blame them for any ill feelings toward him.

And Tabris? This one is personal; my canon warden is a female Tabris, Rosalie, and Duncan really gets to me.

Rose's already being made to marry a man she's never met, some human nobles made their first attempt to crash the wedding, and now here’s this other human waltzing in. Duncan is such a little shit here, too. When you try asking him to leave, he actively tries to push your buttons just to see what you’ll do. But that’s nothing. When Rose and the other women are taken by Vaughan and his buddies, Soris and Nelaros go to Duncan who pulls his bullshit “wardens can’t get involved, they must remain neutral, best I can do is give you a sword and crossbow, good luck.”

Duncan KNOWS what will happen to those women but nope, can’t get involved. Wardens must remain neutral, can’t upset the nobles. I firmly believe that if Duncan had gone with them, Nelaros wouldn’t have been killed and maybe they could’ve made it to Shianni in time, and that infuriates me.

And yeah, in the end it’s Duncan who saves Rose from the guard, but you expect me to be okay with going with him? Alone? After everything that just happened?

It almost feels like Duncan was more interested in testing you, to see if you COULD get out of that situation or what you’d do when the guard showed up. That gives me a lot of complicated feelings about Duncan, and the way the Grey Wardens do things in general. Because let me tell you, Rose hurls that “Wardens must not involve themselves, they must remain neutral” out the fucking window, even post DAO after the blight is over and things return to “normal” for the wardens.  

Side note, I like to think that the wardens out at Weisshaupt or wherever contact Alistair at some point like "What the hell is Warden-Commander Tabris doing over there??? She's breaking every rule we have??" and Alistair's just shrugs like "My wife killed an archdemon to end the Blight and survived, she gets to do whatever she wants forever and honestly, I love that for her."

But anyway-- I get it, Duncan. The Grey Wardens were booted outta Fereldan once before and we don't want a repeat of that. Sure. Fine. Makes sense...but also Rose doesn't give a shit about that? She may come to understand it eventually but that doesn't mean she accepts or forgives it, or would ever be willing to adapt the same attitude.

And I'm not even going to get into everything with the Joining and Ser Jory, because oh my god.

Everything Duncan does influences Rose's views on the Grey Wardens and their duty, like if there was ever anything she and Alistair have straight up argued about, it's Duncan and the concept of "being a warden is an honor."

And I think that's neat. Duncan's a consistency in every origin and even though he dies so early on, his influence remains with the warden no matter who they are.

[vigilskeep]

jokes aside i’m playing into minerva’s lack of experience more this playthrough and it’s kind of crazy how terrifying the battle of ostagar is for mage warden especially. like brosca is the hardened criminal champion of the proving and aeducan is literally a war commander against darkspawn and tabris fought bloodsoaked through an arl’s entire guard and mahariel is a hunter who’s taken on darkspawn before and cousland is a noble heir of war heroes trained for battle and then surana/amell’s over here like a kid with no armour who cleared out a few giant spiders once and has used spells in real combat maybe twice

[dragonologist-phd]

Jumping in on the trend started by @mightymizora and doing self-promo for some of my favorite stuff I’ve written/worked on this year!

Midnight Black and Paris Green (BG3)

Shadowheart isn't accustomed to placing her trust in other people. Neither is Naia. But these are interesting times, and stranger things have happened.

(Tav/Shadowheart, 15.3k, ongoing)

“The way you write Shadowheart makes me oddly happy. It just feels... right in every way. Her internal musings and conflict, the dialogue, the longing, the banter, the prescence of her Shar worship and how its affecting her and Naia's little affair all just fits together so nicely. You're doing her such justice and I'm so charmed by Naia!! She's so lovely. Just a silly and whimsical girlie trying her best.”

The Weight of Silver Linings (BG3)

Wyll’s pact is broken, his father saved. All should be right with the world…but of course, things are never so simple as that. After a tense reunion with his father, Wyll and Naia find themselves contemplating the day’s events as they discuss forgiveness, family, and the twisting path into the future.

(Tav & Wyll, 2.4k, one-shot)

“That's really beautiful, and I love the snapshot of Wyll and Naia's friendship and the contrast in their perspectives”

Her Tongue So Mean (PWOTR)

Lilith is busy. Wenduag is bored. A battle of wills ensues.

(Commander/Wenduag, 1.4k, one-shot, smut)

“Oh, this was SO GOOD! I love the way you write Wenduag, and the back-and-forth she and Lilith have is so captivating to read ❤️”

“Incredibly hot AND a good character read”

Love & War (PWOTR)

Galfrey was a queen, a paladin, an icon for all that was righteous and just in the Crusades. Cleo was a barbarian, a tiefling, a personification of demonic chaos. By all rights and logic, the two should have been at each other's throats- and often, they were.

But somehow, through war and struggle and sacrifice, they ended up finding more in each other than either ever expected.

(Commander/Galfrey, 27.8k, ongoing)

“I absolutely love your characterization of Galfrey – her awareness that she’s no fun, but also her awareness why. Her doubts and hopes about this new Knight-Commander and her reaction to her insubordination. That hand kiss was so charged…I am also in love with how you describe Cleo. She totally comes to life already in this first chapter.”

“DRAMA!!!”

Of Diamonds And Dust (DA:O)

Marja Aeducan and Darvis Brosca lead lives as different as one could possibly imagine. Marja Aeducan, a member of the nobility and second in line for the throne, has spent her life maneuvering the dangerous political machinations of the Diamond Quarter. Meanwhile, Darvis Brosca, a Casteless dwarf rejected by society, does whatever it takes to survive on the streets of Dust Town.

When a Grey Warden arrives in Orzammar, the lives of Marja and Darvis are forever changed. Driven from the city by misfortune and betrayal, the two must join the ranks of the Wardens in order to save their own lives. But the surface has far greater dangers than they realize. The noble and the thief will need to stand together if they're going to fight against the oncoming Blight, the brewing civil war, and the strange surface malady called "sunburn".

(205k, longfic, ongoing)

“Ooooh! What a wonderful idea! The dwarf origins are my favorite and to have them both brought together in a single adventure honestly has me excited! And such a great writing flow you have here! The episodic parallels work so well to showcase the characters and how they grow into their own people! Love it!”

And So They Burned (DA:O)

The world was not a kind place to those touched by magic. Haunted by whispers of demons, fear of the Templars, and memories of the lives taken from them, three apprentices in Kinloch Hold turned to each other and made a world of their own.

(Amell/Surana/Jowan, 56k, ongoing)

“Everything from the characters to the writing is so good. I genuinely couldn't put my phone down and just binge read it. I especially love the whole poly aspect, I haven't really seen fics that explore that. Also wanted to add, the dynamic among all three of them is just so amazing, I want to put them in my pocket and run, they don't deserve this circle life. This story is amazing 😊”

[thedastrash]

OC Tag Game!

Ooo thanks for tagging me @kittynomsdeplume & @cleverblackcat!! This took a while to get to but it was very fun!

Favorite OC: Evil question to start. I can't possibly choose unless I set some limits for myself so I'm going to cheat and say my most popular OC. I have the most art of her by no fault of my own. Velaneth Surana is my canon HoF and Warden Commander. Vela is a very open person: never lies, has no body shame, and loves to learn about other people and where they’ve come from. She walks into every hostile situation with her best foot forward trying to make friends and allies.

Newest OC: I’m slowly congealing my ideas about Orlagh Trevelyan because I’ve been imagining what the different cultures of the Freemarches look like - especially on the coast where trade is frequent. She’s from Ostwick of course and trained as a Templar as a youth but spent summers at a monastery with her aunt in Wycome which I imagine a bit like Morocco. I’ve been staring at my Pinterest boards imagining her lonely days growing up and what it means for her to leave her walls behind and be thrust into this new organization with all these people and their differing ideals. I'm particularly interested in exploring her being a templar but having some latent magic that has been tied up in her templar abilities so long she didn't realize it was ever there.

Oldest OC: In DA my oldest OC is Topaz Brosca from my original run of origins. The one where my save got deleted right before the Landsmeet lol rip. I've recently revisited her and I'm falling in love with her again. She's a hot trans girl and stabby rogue and she falls in love with the surface world immediately. My oldest OC ever though... might be a self insert hobbit character I made for myself as a child before I knew what fandom or fanfiction was lol! I think her name was Charlie? my memory is BAD but I know that's a name I loved as a kid.

Meanest OC: Szadrine Aeducan is my final origin from DAO to get an OC and I'm slowly growing deeply obsessed. She’s involved in (literal) cutthroat Orzammar politics and ends up skipping the warden bit after the whole betrayal and exile thing. She simply deserts at Ostagar. I think she should end up kicking ass in Orlais because she would be so good at the Game.

Softest OC: Bearnard Cousland is a soft, sweet, bookish baby-gay who would rather bury himself in his research in a library than seek glory or fight battles or do politics. Bearn is the second son so he’s gotten away with avoiding some of that but of course he has to attend his lessons and participate in the tourneys. His scholarly work lends him some political savvy since he’s intimately familiar with Ferelden’s history, but he’s most interested in lost texts and translating ancient works. He never had good gay role models growing up and thinks of himself as homely and forgettable, so he never felt like that was an option for him, but Maker does he ever pine lol!

Most Aloof/Standoffish OC: Gotta be Irene Amell. She's a real bitch with resting murder face. Incredibly unapproachable, intimidating Domme energy. Tends to default dislike people and keep to herself, prefering to slink around and eavesdrop than talk to people for info. She’s very protective and loving toward her close friends and lovers, but it’s hard to get close in the first place.

Dumbest OC: Myrna Hawke is a smart woman, she's an accomplished mage, enjoys reading, quick witted, but she has zero self-awareness and has a very hard time even understanding how she feels, much less how other people feel about her. She’s absolutely clueless and fully blindsided by anyone’s interest & gets tongue tied and stupid when she’s horny. She’s also very impulsive and acts before she thinks things through which leads to getting into a lot of dumb shit.

Smartest OC: There are excellent contenders here: Bearn with his book smarts and Topaz with her street smarts, but I want to say Ithadhea Mahariel because even though they are incredibly dense when it comes to interpersonal relations, their wealth of traditional knowledge from their clan is incredible. They are not really a people person, usually quiet and solitary, but they took to hunting like they were born for it and eagerly learned everything in the realm of woodcraft and survival. They know all their clan's stories by heart and and know resources by seasons in a way that is part of their internal clock. I think this kind of generational knowledge probably outstrips the scope of any of my other OC's knowledge.

OC I’d Be Friends With: Edric Cadash is so laid back and friendly I think he’d be one of the easiest to make friends with. I want to have tea and gossip with him and have that turn into late night drinking and telling stories by the fire. Vela would be an instant friend as well; she wants to befriend everyone and she'd have an easy time with me!

no pressure tagging some of my DA OC enjoying friends: @sinquisition, @highwayphantoms, @lets-get-brave, @sandalinbohemia, @dismalzelenka and anyone else who wants to share! Feel free to @ me so I can see your post! <3

[crossdressingdeath]

thanks for your lovely alistair meta! it's especially insane that he wants all the power without the responsibilities and it makes him shoving command on my initially 17 year old surana even worse

The thing with Alistair is that we're supposed to see him as this sweet goofy best friend character, and the game doesn't want us arguing with that perspective even when we probably should. If he just didn't want to be in charge that would be fine, although it would still be incredibly selfish of him to dump the burden onto the Warden. But he then freaks out whenever they don't do what he wants... even though he specifically put them in charge (whether they wanted to be or not) and so they are in no way bound to obey him. He has no right to throw tantrums over the Warden not doing what he wants, because he put them in charge and so made his own wishes a secondary concern at best. He really doesn't seem to understand that relinquishing all control of the situation to someone else means that he doesn't get to have control of the situation. Alistair doesn't seem to grasp that his actions have consequences, and in this case the consequence is that what he wants is not the group's top priority.

And it's especially bad with Surana/Amell, because first off I'd argue they're implied to be the youngest of the potential Wardens as well as the one with the least life experience (Brosca and Aeducan may never have seen the surface, but at least they were allowed to have a life outside of one building) and second they're a Circle mage and Alistair is a former Templar. Sure, he says he doesn't agree with their teachings, but he still uses Templar abilities and shows some signs that he does still agree with their teachings; he still clearly distrusts apostates on general principle, for example. Surana/Amell has every reason to be scared of Alistair, especially when he dumps all the burden of leadership on them but still clearly expects them to do whatever he says, but the game doesn't acknowledge that. The dynamic created by the former Templar expecting the former Circle mage to do whatever he wants even when the mage is put in charge of him drives me insane but the game never really lets us get into that and it's so irritating.

[wyvernscales]

On becoming a Paragon:

Feja Aeducan relishes in it. There is little more she could have hoped for than becoming a living ancestor. She spent her entire life aspiring for greatness, and she finally got it. She lords her status over King Bhelen and despite her Grey Warden title, is one of the loudest voices in the Assembly. It has ruffled feathers both in Orzammar and in the Wardens. A politician at heart, she makes sure to balance her time between Orzammar and the Deep Roads to keep this tension at ease.

Talani Brosca doesn't particularly care about the appointment, but they don’t enjoy the effect it has on their life. She doesn’t particularly care for the games of the Orzammar nobility. And Talani doesn’t enjoy the feeling of having every single eye in the Thaig on them. In some ways, she misses being invisible. They especially feel that they can’t ever stroll the dirt roads in Dust Town ever again. There’s just two many feelings directed towards her. Talani appreciate that Feja went out of her way to ensure the assembly awarded both of them Paragon status, but they doesn’t feel empowered to do anything with the title. It just feels like another label to other her and she tends to avoid going home.

This is where the dwarves diverge

[undead-potatoes]

I wanna ask that question right back! Which of your OCs is most like you? I'm curious!

I thought about this question for like an hour while trying to sleep last night, and all I'll say is don't do deep self reflection exercises in the dark before bed kids

Also this got kinda long, ops 🙈

Much like you (and I'm sure everyone else) I put pieces of myself into all my OCs, intentionally or otherwise, and so they all have bits of me.

I don't know if it's because he's so fresh in my mind, or if it's because I didn't have too much of a plan going in so he just became a natural reflection of me, but Jay is really high up there on the list.

Loud, talkative, jovial, happiest when he's of help to others, solution oriented and takes most unforeseen problems in his stride. But he's also incredibly self-conscious, and terrified of taking up space or being a bother to someone else, often forgoing his own needs bc it's not THAT important, it's fine. Sorry for existing.

He naturally gravitates towards other people's problems and a wish to help them (whether that's welcome or not), but prefers to stick his head in the sand when it comes to dealing with his own shit. When things get bad emotionally he goes into himself, and can become borderline dissociative, just lost to the void.

He's extremely good at finding stuff other people need but can't find, feeding into this need to be helpful. He's bit of a control freak and perfectionist too, and has to stop himself and call it good enough or he'll go on forever (wow look how topical)

I could honestly keep going but this is long enough as it is 🙈 I have no idea how we ended up here but I guess he's my emotional support self-insert blorbo now, bye.

Still, he's his own character. He's much better with people than I am, especially children, and doesn't have Retsuko-levels of rage bubbling right under the surface at all times. He's more manipulative and mischievous, and small grievances bounce off him easier. I only ignore my problems until I have to deal with them, he actively runs away from his. He's more extroverted than me, and doesn't mind big crowds, while they're the bane of my existence. And so on and so forth.

ANYWAYS this somehow turned into the a Jay post, I'm sorry lmao. His character wasn't really planned at all, I just let him grow naturally from the way I played (kinda like with you and your Aeducan), and once I took a step back and looked at him I was like "hold on a minute, this is just me if I was cool and had extra trauma, what the fuck".

Honorable mentions of pillars of my own personality shoved into other characters go to;

Courier May (F3/NV) - So damn angry all the time about everything, much of it useless and a waste of energy, but it's really hard to turn it off.

Nimri Brosca DA:O) - This applied more to younger me, but I can get REALLY ride or die for someone, like to the point where it becomes a major character flaw.

Pomona Hawke (DA2) - Did you eat? Yes? Are you sure? Are you wearing enough layers? When did you last apply sunscreen? Did you remember to drink enough today? [The mother hen questions goes on for another 5 minutes]. Also everything is always my fault somehow.

Sam Jones (VtM:B) - Just absolutely insufferable about social justice, and the other half of my rage that's an answer to injustice. You've not seen me angry until I've had a whiff of something cruelly unfair.

And because I feel like I've been too negative here;

Ridley (Coral Island) - Hard-working and generous :)c

[odinspattern]

Rica and Endrin

Sixth illustration in my own fanart-tober! This time it is Rica Brosca with her son Endrin Aeducan. Dragon Age is one of the fandoms I have been in the longest, and I really dig dwarves. Their culture is really facinating, and the conflict of holding on in constant threat of annihilation is such a good set up.

Rica is one of my favorites of the minor characters. She goes from being a indebted sex worker to a crime boss to being married to a potential King of Orzammar. Bioware doesn’t always do great with subjects that need to be handled with care, but Rica’s story is handled alright. She makes it out of Dust Town and Bhelen really does love her (he calls her his Amber Rose!)

Usually fanart of her is with her sibling or Bhelen, but I don’t think I have seen her with her son. And with that in mind I also wanted her to have her hair loose because man, she can’t have her hair in that bun all the time, especially not if her kid decides to keep her up at night, lol.

[elfmagesurana]

so because they all exist in canon they just die, i have made OCs of the other origins in my main surana playthrough

amell is already a harrowed mage, around anders age, and he is primarily a primal mage like most circle mages. hes a massive dick tho, cos hes my 'evil' playthrough character of sorts. to the point that anders fights to not mention how horrible it was to know amell cos he's such an ass. he wants to go to tevinter for the mage freedom part, but refuses to 'lose' by becoming a blood mage, and the slavery part wouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker. dies during uldreds uprising. Would have romanced morrigan and recruited loghain and sent alistair away to be a drunk :(

mahariel was my take on a dalish elf scared and distrustful of humans cos she's seen them hurt her people so much. dies from the taint, but shes surrounded by her family and friends in her final moments and gets told about what happened to her parents. Would have romanced no one, she would have did the ultimate sacrifice and died cos while she didn't like being a warden or never being able to go home, she still respected them

tabris is a devout andrastian and was looking forward to her wedding day, but that's not to last ofc. She tries despite her hardships to find the good in people, or else her suffering made her worse. she gets executed by hanging, probably either in the alienage or they dump her body there, but either way those scumbag humans are dead that hurt her and her cousin. Would have romanced leliana and killed the archdemon herself w the dark ritual cos shes afraid of death

brosca gets caught in the proving and dies in a cell next to her friend, that's canon we See the dead body (bones?) but she cared for her sister and sometimes her mom, and leske and she was so gnc. doesn't regret what she did but hopes her sister makes it and is happy. Would have romanced zevran and refused the dark ritual and sacrifice alistair

aeducan is similar to trian and everything wrong w dwarven society so bhelen never felt bad about killing his brother. would have been a deadbeat dad to that kid he has too. dies fighting a hurlock in the deep roads ofc, and wouldn't have romanced anyone cos there aren't dwarf female companions in dao and done an ultimate sacrifice death

cousland is a rich snotty noble who im torn on making a man or woman, but either way they don't respect other people especially those below them and would have been another evil run and they r devout andrastian as well, but the shitty kind unlike tabris, so they're v much a 'rich waspy christian' stereotype and they also suck, and had a one night stand w that one guy in the prologue I forgor his name. incredibly selfish. would have tried romancing zevran as a side piece and leliana as a main course so to speak. becomes king and kills alistair cos he's a theirin :( oh I guess I made him a guy lol

[heniareth]

Oooo for npc opinions, how about some Aeducan-Brosca family dynamics?

Does Sulri have any opinions about Rica, and does Khêd have any about Bhelen? And though we never meet him in-game, do either of them have anything to say about their mutual nephew?

Ohohohohohoho, complex family dynamics, count me in!!! 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀 Bit of a disclaimer tho, I'm not so solid on Brosca and Aeducan canon and gameplay experiences, as I've never done a gameplay as either other than of their origins. If I got something wrong about the canon, that's why, and I apologize. But I can give a general anwer ^^

So, first, Khêd, because I know more about the guy. Khêd doesn't trust people. Khêd especially doesn't trust rich people. Khêd very so much expecially does not trust Bhelen, not as far as he can throw him (which is far. This scrawny dwarf packs a punch and gravity does the rest for him if he were to throw Bhelen over the ramparts of the diamond quarter). Khêd's heard Sulri's story by the point they hit the diamond quarter I think, and whatever his opinion of Sulri might be at that point, Bhelen's power grab is just... ugh. And this guy's got Rica. Khêd is telling Rica she can leave with him and live a good life if she wants to as soon as he sees her. It's good Khêd trusts his sister to handle her own problems, otherwise Bhelen might be in for a nasty surprise. His attitude towards the Casteless doesn't really help Bhelen; Khêd is neither an optimist nor a forgiving person, and Bhelen's idea to let the Casteless in on "normal" society after they've served a time in the Deep Roads sounds just like a ploy to get a personal army. No thanks. Unkindly fuck off (@Bhelen)

The nephew however is Rica's little boy, as far as Khêd's concerned. He knows a thing or two about shitty family, and it's not this boy's fault who his father is. Khêd's gonna love that little feller like he was his own son, because he does not trust nor want Bhelen to step up and play father. It's a bit difficult to be present in the boy's life, what with being a Grey Warden and all that. But he tries; every leave he gets, he visits Rica, and the offer to leave Orzammar and live at Amaranthine is never taken off the table. Khêd does hope he can at least be to the boy what the stories Rica told him of his father were to him: an example to look up to and a push to do better.

As for Sulri (and here we're veering into maybe headcanon territory as I've never done a playthrough as either Aeducan or Brosca): as she is wont to do, I think she wouldn't have paid much attention to Rica. Sure, Rica would command some respect from her from the first moment on for trying to catch Bhelen and managing it! Some of that is personal pride; it can't have been just any woman who was able to seduce an Aeducan. She does, however, severely underestimate Rica and continues to do so during the Orzammar questline. She's got a lot of prejudices and biases to work through, which is what allowed Bhelen to betray her in the first place. But as the years go by, Sulri has to acknowledge Rica's strength as she not only survives among the noble caste she wasn't born into, but thrives. I think Rica has a good head on her shoulder, and plenty of practice navigating big egos and bigger coin pouches to her advantage, so I really think she'd do very well for herself and her new noble house.

As for her nephew, I don't know how fond Sulri is of children in general XD XD XD XD I can definitely see her running calculations in the back of her mind for when that kid is going to be a threat, only to then remember that she is no longer heir to house Aeducan. Old habits die hard. But I think the kid will grow on her as he... grows XD XD XD They never have as much of a relationship as he does with Khêd, but she makes absolutely sure this kid doesn't fall prey to any sort of power machinations like she did. He is her nephew, after all.

Thanks for the ask!!!This was a fun bit to think about, and I love these kinds of asks bc I get to develope both characters and take them for a spin through my brain. Fun times XD XD XD XD Hope you're having a lovely day!!

[nulfaga]

also slowly carding thru my da characters for which ones i actually want in my worldstate...i had a habit of making characters based on 1 throwaway thought/design hook and then they were just part of the pantheon but like...i feel no special desire to let some of them exist in my worldstate when they don't add anything narratively (and like outside of it being fun, my 4 hawkes and 6 wardens and 3 inquisitors don't have a personality between them except sumia and (partially) toni)

so what i think i'll do is have sumia (my babygirl. my everything) as the one inarguable truth of my worldstate. as in she is a surana, she lives, leliana lives, they're together by the time of dai, everything else is subject to revision. (i had a very complex reason at the time for killing off alistair but 1) i like him and 2) i don't think it was all that compelling outside of like. drama. so i'll see whether i want him to live)

i'm tending towards valentín as my canon hawke tm but all i ever said about him was that he was a depressed disaster of a blood mage so i need a narrative point b for him to get to...pending

and i can't really do otherwise for dai than to keep toni because i like the dynamic of sumia flitting in and out of skyhold to radicalize the inquisitor (a free marcher noble from a large templar family) re: freedoms for mages and elves and such while also engaging in loud and obnoxious pda with leliana wherever possible and giving toni the courage to approach sera. But then sumia & leliana try to put inquisition resources toward un-tranquilfying jowan (a blood mage) and the inquisitor never lets them off the hook for it and decides to appoint vivienne as divine rather than leliana. Like that just feels...textured. i would like to involve hawke in the drama somehow (especially if he is an unrepentant and kind of scary blood mage) but idk. as it stands he's kinda just There

As for the side characters i don't mind having them romp about if it's funny. solkr (amell) can stay because he's an agent of chaos and bc i'm keeping the tranquil jowan storyline and he's a large part of that. i have no strong feelings abt my aeducan or my (2) brosca(s) nor my mahariel. i have conflicted feelings about nyna (tabris). i think i have to relegate her to the alternate worldstate because her thing is Also being a warden and going thru the blight and making concrete choices that are different from sumia's...chamuel (cousland) runs into the same problem. leofric (andras) can stay, maybe, but i'm not that invested either way. it's him or mahariel idk.

then i see no reason for núnzia (cadash #1) to stick around but i don't mind gavril (cadash #2) rocking up to sumia's worldstate with his daughter & wooing dorian. sidonie (adaar) i might keep on if only because giving divine vivienne a milf qunari lover has at least some story potential. pyrrha (lavellan) has literally nothing to do in the narrative except wear heavy eyeshadow and be josephine's intense looking yet ultimately dorky love interest. ngl i'm inclined to keep her on for that reason alone. she has no social skills whatsoever. when uncomfortable she stands perfectly still and mean-mugs. everyone's like what could you possibly see in this offputting woman and josie's like ach. nae. i love her

[wardenamelll]

okay but when you wake up after the joining and Alistair is like “did you have some super fucked up dreams? I hated those when I joined”

I’m sitting here like “incredibly fucked up to subject brosca/aeducan to both the concept of ‘the Surface’ and ‘weather’ as well as ‘horrifying nightmare dreams beyond their comprehension’ when they have no concept of regular benign dreams even, and all in the same week or two??”

@ the wardens I have some critiques of your on-boarding process especially wrt recruiting non humans and some of the things you might want to warn them about—

[sapphim]

tell me your favorite things about your ocs? 👉👈 if you're feeling it of course

hi anon thank you I love you. I think my favorite thing about my ocs is that they're (almost) all such little polyamorous sluts and by favorite I mean "why am I like this" (I am like this because I like all the npcs and don't like to pick and choose between them)

I will always be deeply overly attached to the ocs from my first playthrough of a game (sulina mahariel, tabitha hawke, shirae lavellan, roxene shepard, casper ryder) and I think they end up with a special kind of nuance that comes from their character evolving as the story unfolds around them? it's an energy that's hard to recapture when I revisit the game's storyline later with additional ocs

I think (aside from sulina who is my one and only beloved sweetheart) my favorite ocs are juniper hawke and ellaran and it's literally just bc they are such fucking disasters. they're awful and that's their best quality. junie was NOT supposed to be my canon hawke she was just supposed to look pretty while I playtested some mods but she's SO mean and funny I can't deny her anything.

when it comes to the characters I've elected to be my primary canon protags (sulina, juniper, kataara adaar, roxene, casper) I think universally one of their best character traits, and one I admire a lot, is that they're all very active and driven personalities. sulina and roxene in particular deal with mental health struggles as well (partly sublimated from my own) so that they work through it to still kick ass? v. cool of them. and then they get therapy! neato!

hmmm. let's see who else.

gwendolen cousland is just so fucking gender. nonbinary lesbian king of ferelden and of my heart (and the hearts of fereldens everywhere. they adore him)

rozi brosca and eydis aeducan my favorite thing actually is how well they play off of each other once I dropped them both in the same timeline. I wasn't expecting it! especially I think because rozi brosca is so driven by concern for other individuals and eydis is so driven by pure selfishness. they really conflict a lot and both grow a lot from the experience. sisters <3

rafael tabris I think it is very cool that he is so short and his boyfriends are so tall. lmfao no idk I just think he is such a funky lil dude. he's probably my favorite to explore in different au situations. why? who knows. no matter the situation he keeps ending up with a kid. I don't plan it and neither does he. kids just happen in his presence. cryptid energy tbh

tabitha hawke and alden trevelyan are just sooooooo gay and stupid. love that for them.

[dragonologist-phd]

oh also! 30 for the writer asks (out of your Pillars of Eterniry/Dragon Age fics specifically, if you can?)

Aah thank you! I’ll take any chance to ramble about my fics lol

30. share a fic you’re especially proud of

For Dragon Age, it has to be my longfic of DAO detailing the story of Marja Aeducan and Darvis Brosca, aka Of Diamonds And Dust!

The main thing I’m proud of is that I’ve gotten this far with it! It’s way too long and there’s still a ton more to go, but I have so much fun with this kind of thing and I’m very fond of this monster of a fic. Plus we need more Brosca and Aeducan appreciation and I’m being the change I want to see in the world!

It’s also part of a whole series now (because I think too much about all my Origin characters)!

For Pillars of Eternity, I’m cheating and putting two! (But they’re both short one-shots, so it’s fine)

With Grace In Your Heart: I’m proud of this one because it was the first really OC-centric thing I ever posted! I just had so many Thoughts about Desta and her journey that I had to put them somewhere, and I loved it so much that it kicked off a whole writing obsession!

If The Heavens Ever Did Speak: this one’s a little different, which is why I like it so much! It was born of the question of what Nona, my ttrpg Leaden Key character, would be like if she were the Watcher. The answer is that she’d still very much be Nona and she’d still be a devoted Woedican priestess, which ended up being a very interesting perspective! (Also, a surprising amount of that dialogue is lifted straight from Deadfire. The dynamic between Woedica and her priests is Something, y’all)

[crossdressingdeath]

I've seen you mention the implied ages of the warden a few times, and I definitely agree that Surana/Amell is the "youngest", what are your other approximate age ranges for the other wardens, or just a ranking of them age wise? Obviously it's up to the player but I think it's, from youngest to oldest: Surana/Amell, Tabris, mahariel/brosca, Coupland, aeducan

I'll be honest, as a Surana bitch to my core I've never put that much thought into the others. But that ranking feels about right to me. I'd say it's a little easier to age Brosca, Cousland and Aeducan what with them having siblings, and especially Aeducan since they have an older and younger sibling, but I don't think Rica, Fergus, Bhelen or Trian have set ages either... But I would say the "canon" range for the Warden is late teens to mid-twenties, with Surana/Amell at the youngest end and Cousland and Aeducan at the oldest.