#i also love taash just. just going ‘Yep’

[a-drama-addict]

okay. harding you didn’t have to sound so horny when you said that

[riftsmagic]

I want to enjoy this game so bad bc I paid money for it and I’ve invested 70 hours of my life into it already. but I’ve gotten to a point where it’s SO hard not to get critical every time anything happens. im losing it

[dalishious]

Do you also feel a bit of frustration with the current discourse climate around Veilguard?

I mean, I do have my criticisms of the game (Taash's storyline, watered down politics + avoiding confronting anything even mildly controversial in their worldbuilding, roleplaying restrictions etc.) but whenever I see someone actually adressing it, it quickly devolves into "And this is why the game is the worst thing ever and a stain on the franchise!" either from them or the reactions from others.

It really makes me not want to engage with that side of discourse at all and just focus on the parts that I loved. Even getting knee-jerk defensive whenever I still see criticism. Which is a shame, cause I wish there were more places to discuss criticism of the game from a place of love for it.

This seemed easier in the Inquisition days, but right now the fandom is just completely fractured into opposite extremes with little room for nuance.

Yep. It's really hard to discuss criticism in a constructive manner when you're getting lumped in with people who hate it because they were always going to hate it. Or people who are, in my personal opinion, a little too harsh on minor details. Or the Solas Stans who claim it was a Solas smear campaign askdfljskfdjs...

But for what it's worth, I think this will change. It is very similar to what went down after the release of DA2. Everyone hated it at first and got really mad at the failings that largely came from such a rushed development and stupid corporate decisions from BioWare. But now years later, people think of it fondly overall.

[forsakenwitchery]

Rookanis swaps: a compilation of screenshots of newer yet to be giffed stuff.

Among smaller things I haven't mentioned are crow-themed pillows I love them!!, trying to make the hands/lips match and whatnot. Tried adding some crow textures to the sofa but it sucked, so I decided just purple and a hint of a texture no one but me will even see will do lmao

Girl's hairs which even if you put everything in one mode is still not enough customization. :\

Also caved in and changed my underwear texture to purple & red since it's one-color-fit-all as far as boxers go and Luca in Triss colors was just weird lmao. Preeeetty sure that at this point I could figure out a way to make them work seperately in Frosty, but like. Also pretty sure I'm the only one who cares so whatever. Knowing me, me saying that is all but saying 'yep yep give me 30 minutes and I'll go try doing that', but since I've already spent like 3 or 4 hours recording new sofa swaps and I'm not planning on redoing that, this time it's a no-go. xD

Still to record: Neve throwing stones scene if I figure out how to make her leg visible because her non-casual outfits turn any swapped outfit into one-legged outfit, Taash scene with mirror with Spite, aaaaand maybe redo those with better height adjustment and bloodied textures for ya now extra THE FEELS effect lmao idk

[taamlok]

taash podcast notes that i made while listening (spoilers under the cut)

she looks so fucking gorgeous in the thumbnail photo, her big green eyes and her ear cuff oh my god i'm in love i want to kiss her cheek mole

"art is beautiful, she and this place are not" first of all kill yourself

my anger issues wife yelling at nobles, muireann's soulmate fr fr

she's so funny what the hell "i was busy" MA'AM

her speaking qunlat hypnotized me i'll literally do anything she wants

"you ever seen a man just pop like that" "yep" TAASH ASDJHFGBAKDJHG

okay baddie queen getting the orlesian noble killed on purpose???

i hope we get to murder declan violently in the game

EXTREMELY interesting that she's plundering qunari sacred grounds and that the qunari soldiers called her a traitor, to me this reads that she's not part of the qun and the soldiers view her as a traitor to her race, but it's also possible that she's a recent defect

taash being escorted into a prison cell in chains and saying "yeah, yeah" my beloved

taash and nadia knowing each other is VERY interesting, taash having been in jail in dairsmuid is even more so

i LOVE that she's all action. i love a don't talk, just do character and i've written muireann to be the same so i'm looking forward to situations where their thoughts are just in synch without having to discuss it first

hurling a spear from an insane distance and hitting the dragon, stop flirting and fuck me already

"i think it's a qunari general a uh... kithshok!" okay she's definitely not from the qun if she had to take a second to remember the word, paired with her shamelessly pillaging a qunari sacred site it's definitely giving vashoth

"(scoffs) right. the qun" okay yeah (tal)vashoth taash confirmed

taash being so good at identifying dragons is so fun for me, the combined power of her, bellara, and muireann's nerdiness is going to be insane

"hate their politics, love their guns" taash same!! i'm so glad we can hate the qun together i was lowkey worried she'd be a sympathizer when i saw those curtains in her room

it once again being mentioned that taash doesn't like corpses hmmmm i think that's definitely relevant to her storyline

taash doing action one liners i love her so much, i want to put her and wyll ravengard in a room together

JUMPING ON THE DRAGON????? hot + muireann would do the same thing

[daremol]

Probably some info about my Rook

Heyooo, @midnightwind thank you for tagging everyone who read your post, I was one of them ahaha

Tags: Well, I don't have any DA moots, so dudes, anyone who wants to fill this out, consider me tagging you!

Name? Laurent Thorne Most likely, he uses the "Rook" nickname more often than his real name

Gender? Male (He/Him)

Age? He's only 23 at the start, small guy

Are they more optimistic or pessimistic? He positions himself as an optimistic. His position is similar to “everything can definitely be fixed if you put in enough effort.” Perhaps this works against him at moments when in fact nothing can be fixed.

Are they introverted or extroverted? Absolutely extroverted and hyperactive I think he doesn't handle loneliness well in general

How do they display affection? Infodumping, spending time together, a lot of initiative in communication The same guy who remembers your preferences and desires, and then tries to make a gift you something that you should like he, being falling in love, will most likely spend tens of hours to understand the topics that interest his LI (Bellara, haii👋👋👋).

What is their greatest fear? Becoming helpless himself and not being able to help

Do they have siblings? Older or younger? He has no blood brothers or sisters, but I'm sure he sees Taash as a little sibling (even if they older than him, lmao)

Did they grow up nurtured or neglected? It's hard to say that he was surrounded by excessive attention, but he definitely received enough of it. He's not a Dalish, and neither are his parents. He grew up listening to his father's stories about the gray wardens, the Blights, and so on (nd when he got older, he discovered books by Varric) Inspired by stories about heroes, he decided to join the gray wardens at all costs in order to support the common cause. After joining the Gray Wardens, he regularly wrote letters to his parents, trying to keep in touch with them. At least he wrote until they died.

What is the worst thing they did to someone they loved? He allowed for a scenario in which Bellara was not only blighted, but also sacrificed herself at the end of the story. "It's all my fault"

Has anyone ever saved their life? I wouldn't be surprised if the companions had to pull him out of the water at Treviso more than once. For an elf who can't swim, he surprisingly rarely looks where he's going

Do they believe in love at first sight? Most likely yep. However, he understands that love, like anything else, requires time, trust and other things.

Are they in a relationship? It's… complicated Technically, he is single because Bellara died

Has your character ever been in love? Bellara is his first love experience. He may have had some teenage crushes before, but it wasn't that serious (I doubt he ever admitted it)

Are they most likely to fight with their fists or their tongue? He tries to the last to resolve the conflict diplomatically, if possible. Violence begets more violence and all that. However, despite subordination and his preference for talking over fighting, this did not stop him from hitting the First Warden in the Weisshaupt Arch (this was the last straw and Rook decided that talking would no longer help)

What is their choice of weapon? Mageknife and orb For a mage, it's surprisingly difficult for him to use a staff. He would rather just hit his opponent with it than be able to effectively cast spells with this “cane”. However, he can use magic in battle without third-party accessories quite actively

How many weapons they can use? Mageknife and orb/magic, he's actually pretty good with a sword (I think he pesters Davrin from time to time to practice some friendly sword fight)

If they could save one person, who would it be? "Ahaha- can I sacrifice myself to be able to save at least two person?..."

What is their greatest regret? Lots of things. No matter how much he says that need to let go of regrets, he blames himself for everything that happened. Starting with what happened at the interrupted ritual and continuing with everything that happened after that. “I don’t have time for regrets, I need to come up with something to correct the situation” and so on. I bet that at the end, as soon as he was left alone in the room and could finally breathe out after everything that had happened, he just cried for a while.

How do they respond to a threat? "Dude, what's wrong with you, why can't we work things out peacefully?" (only if the threat could potentially be resolved diplomatically, but practically - no) "HA, LETSGO" *starts the fight first* (In cases where the threat is agressive not a rational being, like darkspawns and others) Tbh, fighting is surprisingly good at helping him calm down ahaha

Sorry for my English, it's not my native language and sometimes I use a translator 😔🤘

silly grumpy guy time by time

[i-have-anxiety-and-i-write]

1. My headcanon is that my Rook joined the Inquisition as a stupid teenager who lied on their resume (like they were even checking) and did a lot of groundwork. Nothing super important, just work. He and his group found a tear in the Veil near a village and were sitting on it trying to keep people away when a mage fancied they could stabilize it and against everyone’s wishes, tried. The backlash and veil ripping caught Rook square in the face and he hasn’t had good, working eyes since.

2. Rook was always a sickly kid, but once between the cold and dust of the Grand Necropolis he came down with a chest infection that sent his mother into a panic. Luckily she took him to others who could help but the effects lingered for some years after and he’s more prone to respiratory problems.

3. A fellow Mourn Watcher that Rook had a crush on but who only saw Rook as some casual fun and a funny story given Rook is a trans foundling raised by a skeleton. “You could barely notice if you did it from behind.” Needless to say getting sent away was a 50/50 split between relief and missing his mother.

4. For Rook? That’s a tough one. His biggest fear is losing his sight as a most realistic fear but there’s also being alone though he’s pretty self sabotaging there.

5. Definitely the injury to his eyes. It was suddenly a lot more real and a lot less fantasy when the Veil slaps you in the face. He left the Inquisition after that. He went home to the Grand Necropolis and for a while hoped he would never see the sky again. His mother helped nudge him more into the Mourn Watch but it was a rough few years.

6. Yep, see their first love. Mostly he didn’t want to see the red flags or listen to his friend remind him that this guy was bad news. He was just happy someone seemed to be accepting him, until he knew otherwise.

7. Physically Rook can take as much pain as they’re able to compartmentalize. If he can keep it away from his thoughts, he should be okay, until someone mentions it. Then it’s all right there. Granted certain injuries that remind him of his eyes or lungs are harder to ignore. Mentally, he isn’t great though. Again, ignore it, but it cycles more often than not. He’s frightened and anxious, but tries to keep that behind his name. Da’Elgar is frightened, not Rook.

8. A demon of hopelessness

9. Being a rabbit running from a veil tear, trying to dodge everything like a frightened cat with no grace, running on empty but if you slip or slow it will catch you, so run rabbit, run.

10. Oh their Mum. Everytime they visit the Necropolis he has flowers and ties them into her ribcage.

11. Again, sight. He hasn’t done much work towards accepting it and really, he works really hard on everything else to avoid thinking about it.

12. Just about everything. They were dropped in the Necropolis as an infant. They love their mother but I doubt other kids were kind about it. Their first love was an ass. Their work in the Mourn Watch got them sent away. Then stopping Solas’ ritual released two gods. …This isn’t going well.

13. On themselves, eye injury. On others? Anything life threatening.

14. I would say he could choose but if it came down to it, his Mum would choose for him. So, it would be Emmrich which would work out in the end. And he would keep her remains regardless.

15. Losing everyone. The Fade Prison could do it. Cut off with only his own thoughts would drag him under. Make him stop running and let himself be overtaken.

16. Not sure but any demon that could promise to protect his loved ones better than he could.

17. Always.

18. Honestly, prove them right. Prove to them that they’re insignificant, remind them their mother is in the Necropolis sweeping and waiting for a man-child that might not return, tell them everything they did will amount to dust and that’s all the resistance they can muster. Prove them right.

19. Emmrich, Bellara, their Mum, Manfred, Taash, Lucanis… Anyone, it’s the same. Make sure it can’t happen again. Make sure that person, enemy, or group can’t get to them again. There may be a stint where Rook doesn’t even want that person out on the ground anymore, but he can’t reasonably lock them up so he hovers, goes with them, does what he can to keep them safe so he can’t fail again.

20. No. He’d have been ready to stop running. Stop running, let it all catch up because in a way that’s a relief. You failed, it’s time to rest now. But Varric, or his memory of Varric, was there. Then his whole found family team was there. And he didn’t have to keep running but that time it was because others could run for or with him.

21. I don’t think he’d have any, but if he did, probably, “About time.”

Put your Rook Through The Horrors™

Feel free to answer some of these for pre-game as well! :)

What is the worst they've ever been injured?

What is the worst they've ever been sick?

What is the worst heartbreak they've ever experienced?

What would fearlings look like to them?

What event brought them to their lowest, mentally? How did they act during this time?

Have they ever been in any unhealthy relationships? This doesn't necessarily have to be romantic.

How high is their physical pain tolerance? Do they ever show if they're in pain? What about their mental pain tolerance? How easy would it be to break them down?

What kind of demon would emerge from them had they been subject to Zara's experiments?

What would a nightmare tailored to their worst fears look like?

Who do they miss the most?

Which one of their senses would they fear losing the most?

What do they doubt most about themselves? Why? Where did this come from?

What kind of injury scares them the most?

Think of the two people they are closest to. They can only save one. Who are they choosing?

What is the one thing that would make them lose all hope?

What kind of demon would be most successful in tempting them? What offer would it have given them?

Have they ever felt insignificant? To the world? To their faction? To their loved ones?

Which one of their insecurities would be the easiest to take advantage of?

One of their loved ones just got grievously injured by their enemies. Who was it? How do they react?

Deep down, did they truly believe they'd be able to get out when they were trapped in the Fade?

What would their last words be?