#i like that they have limits set by the terms of 'this is someone Varric believed could help him save the world from Solas'

[butterflydm]

"You lost someone important. Guilt's part of that."

*goes off and stares into the sea for a thousand years*

I do kinda feel as if I bought two games in one, because Veilguard is such a different experience in the second playthrough (this is not a complaint).

Grief. Regret. An ocean of it. And how to move past it. How important it is to be able to move past it and not let yourself be trapped by all your pain.

[endgame spoilers below]

Varric "goes to sleep" after your first big talk with him and then you can't talk to him again until after you've meditated and reached Solas (who is never far away, though you don't realize it).

It is amazing how Solas is able to criticize himself so strongly (via the memory of Varric) and then keep on doing everything that he's doing. He truly is the ultimate master of the sunk-cost fallacy.

Wisdom twisted into Pride. It is so painful to think that the thing that made Solas so furious and heartsick in his personal quest in DAI -- watching a spirit of Wisdom get twisted into Pride because it was brought into the mortal world to be a weapon -- is exactly what Mythal asked of him. And the anger that he shows towards those mortal mages (who he can and will kill unless you stop him) is thus displaced anger that he doesn't feel like he's allowed to feel towards Mythal.

So... what's up with the Rings of Power tag? It's about Solas, of course.

You meet a guy who is a lone wanderer. A vagabond, who claims no particular importance but somehow seems to understand the powers that are key to the world's salvation. He helps you out for a while. He's pretty arrogant - prideful, you might say.

You find out that he's essentially a demigod who has been lying to everyone for... weeks, months, idk. And that he actually is the person who helped break the world and make it what it currently is today... and he wants to fix the world. Except... well, except that fixing the world involves a whole bunch of people dying and basically destroying the world as it currently exists in order to create the 'better' world that exists in his imagination/memory.

His intentions may be good but every time he goes forward with his plans, it destroys so much and hurts so many people. His methods suck and his imagined perfect world can never exist. And he lies, over and over and over. He betrays you, over and over.

God of lies.

The Great Deceiver.

I've only finished one playthrough of Dragon Age: The Veilguard so far. And, in it, I gave Solas a good ending. The happiest ending that he probably could get. In which he doesn't get any of the things that he was trying to get during the game, but he does get a chance to atone for the many, many people that he's hurt and what he's destroyed. He gets shown a different path and is convinced to take it. He has someone who loves him enough to walk that path with him. "Where I'm going is terrible," he tells his love. "It won't be terrible if you're with me," she tells him.

Solas makes the choice that (Second Age/Rings of Power) Sauron couldn't make -- he chooses to stop trying to break the world in order to fix it. To atone by doing what the people of the world would want from him, rather than forcing his own vision on them. He stops. That's what Sauron can't bring himself to do. He can't stop trying to fix the world.

So finishing up Veilguard after watching Rings of Power let me play out a little power fantasy of: what if you could get him to stop? What if you could get him to see that his attempts to 'fix' the world are only making things worse? What would that look like?

Solas is able to admit -- after a lot of work by the protagonist to get him there -- that the world doesn't need him to fix it. By contrast, Sauron is going to double-down on his attempts to 'heal' Middle-Earth.

But it's interesting to get a chance to create a situation where a character who does have quite a bit in common with Sauron is able to have a different kind of ending.

As is tradition when I play RPGs like this, my first playthrough is for discovering a character and letting myself be fully led by the story, and now my second playthrough is to poke at all the choices and the seams of the story to figure out what I like best. And then I usually do a version of my first character again but 'perfected' in taking the alternative choices that I liked better than my first time through. So this second run is going to be for going through all the rest of the options and romances to see if I like them better than what my heart instinctively led me towards (Lucanis).

So this is my game plan for my second run:

Flirt with everyone. Make sure I do all Treviso quests before I go to get Davrin. Choose to save Minrathous (this is why I made my second Rook a Shadow Dragon -- Treviso seems so vulnerable to me, so I really have to stack the deck to get my Rook to choose to go to Minrathous). Sadly mourn that I cannot romance my Lucanis in this runthrough (my second Rook recently did the quest to acquire him and I found myself instantly enchanted all over again by his introduction. Thank goodness saving Minrathous takes him off the table; I don't see how else I could resist him).

Keep flirting until I get to the 'commitment quest' for each of the characters, and play through everything else until that's about all I have left. Then do separate saves for each romance. So six separate 'endgame runs' for this second Rook, allowing me to try out a variety of endgame scenarios.

Then, armed with lots of information, I plan to run as a dwarven Rook for my third runthrough, and do a run-through that uses my favorite choices now that I know how they shake out, and take a new approach with Solas. Probably a rogue. I've tried out the gameplay for all three classes, and rogue was my favorite (this is not a shock. Rogue has been my favorite in literally every DA game).

And now a collection of images I like to call:

They assumed Rook knew Varric was dead when these conversations happened.

Looking forward to what other conversations may happen where Rook is having an entirely different conversation than the other characters are having.

A collection of images I like to call:

Foreshadowing

A collection of images I like to call:

Ouch ouch ouch

One particularly excellent choice that the game made, imo, is that only Neve and Harding knew Varric already (of the companions). The rest of the team is assembled by Rook, and most of the team does not know Varric and doesn't even realize that there's a hole in the team, because Rook is already filling the position that she believes that Varric is meant to have. She is Varric's hand-picked second-in-command, and he trusted her to be able to handle this job. He chose someone with that thought in mind.

He knew the risks, and planned accordingly. He knew there was a chance (an excellent chance) that Solas was not going to listen to him. He had to try anyway, but he knows -- he says in the beginning -- that if it comes down to a fight, they will not be able to defeat Solas. He knows that if he can't talk Solas down, then he's probably going to die. And he goes in there anyway, because Solas is his friend.

He made a choice. Several choices. He chose to talk to Solas, knowing that it might lead to his death. And he chose Rook as his second, believing that Rook could save the day if Varric failed.

That's how Varric saved the world -- by finding the right person to finish the job.

[omgkalyppso]

For the chara asks: Merrill, Fenris, Durge, Jaina

Thank you for the ask! (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

How I feel about this character

I only really love fanon Jaina after MoP, but otherwise all of these characters are well-loved by me.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Merrill: Hawke, Carver, Isabela; not at the same time.

Fenris: Hawke.

Durge: Extremely conditional.

Jaina: No one! I know people who played Warcraft 3 can passionately her with Thrall, and maybe I would too if I'd played that game. But how I know her from wow, there's no hints of anything, which means that if I was going to ship her with someone it would more likely be an oc, but I haven't done that (yet?).

My non-romantic OTP for this character

What happened to the term BroTP? fghdfg

Merrill: Hawke, Varric, Mahariel.

Fenris: Sebastian, Isabela.

Durge: Extremely conditional.

Jaina: Thrall, Khadgar, Anduin.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Idk what's a popular or unpopular opinion for the most part.

Merrill: There were almost no endings in DA2. Merrill should have achieved or invented something. Her arc feels incomplete.

Fenris: I like Anders well enough, but I see people say it's unrealistic that he and Fenris would still be on bad terms or w/e but like ... I get it.

Durge: Larian didn't need to think of everything in their game as a moral lesson. Durge killing and manipulating and revelling in the dark holy powers of their father shouldn't (only) have resulted in their loss of autonomy. Their evil endings being released so long after the base game speaks about game development culture. I at least think something dark and goofy and addams-family-esque was needed. They set a tone with Sceleritas Fel that doesn't quite make it to act 3; and I understand that a story becoming naturally darker as it goes on is a consistent narrative decision, but. Blah.

Jaina: She is absent from the Kirin Tor A LOT. With the role Khadgar had to play as peacekeeper between the Horde and Alliance in Legion, Jaina should have been an active member of this expansion with duties related to the Kirin Tor even if I had to put up with her raging about the Horde. There's so few female characters in wow, comparatively, stop putting them off-screen.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

Merrill: Different way to reconcile her act 3 personal quest to keep from having to kill clan Sabrae.

Fenris: I want to know if Blue Wraith is canon before I read it but I've read the complaints about Blue Wraith including but not limited to retconning what Fenris said in DA2 about having his intricate lyrium scars / tattoos carved into his body over many hours to instead putting him in a magical iron maiden that magicked them inside him, and him having little emotional attachment to the cast of da2. I do think he should get a game-canon homecoming regardless of if Blue Wraith is canon and I hope his experience is chalked up to "world state discrepancies."

Durge: Should have been a companion.

Jaina: The song Daughter of the Sea is very good "structurally" but I hate how the writers guided Jaina's motivations and characterizations in BfA. She would not feel sudden, instant and illogical regret for opposing her slaver father. (It can be argued it wasn't sudden but that's hardly the point.)

Body horror, skeletons, drowning, submersion, character death, extremely bad racism inspiration in wow lore / art (?) (orcs and trolls, and their usual black and native inspirations), and flashing images cw.

[himluv]

Love Marks

Well, this piece (for 14 Days of Dragon Age Lovers) took longer than anticipated and I still don’t super love it. I hope you all like it! 

Leliana knew before anyone else. Well, perhaps Varric knew before her; he was just as observant as she was and he was better with people, but if he suspected the Inquisitor and Solas were in a relationship, he kept it to himself.

So, Leliana told herself she was the first to know. It wasn’t hard to see, not if one knew what to look for. Love, true, mutual affection, left its mark on the participants. She’d seen it all before when she traveled with the Hero of Ferelden during the Fifth Blight.

Leliana had watched as Zevran went from the flamboyant man who talked incessantly but never said much, to a devoted partner, giving of himself in ways she was certain he had thought himself incapable of.

She had watched Cerine transform from a hard, angry woman, cold and ruthless, to someone who wielded that frigidity to help others. She couldn’t count all the times Zevran had talked down her fury until it simmered into something useful.

Together they tempered one another into the best versions of themselves. Because Love always left its mark.

It was fitting that Riallan and Solas’ love was a subtle thing at first. To their companions it must have felt rushed. One moment they were hardly friends, and the next they were lovers, but to Leliana’s watchful eye it was a torturously slow spiral into romance. A hand that lingered too long, whispered words that summoned a blush, secret smiles and knowing glances, and conversations in elven.

It all added up to a relationship, long before anyone else even thought to notice it. Before long it was impossible not to see the affection between them.

The way her name fell from his lips reminded her of morning prayers in Valence. She had to research the term of endearment he called her; Leliana’s elven was painfully limited, but once she understood the meaning, the weight of his voice made sense.

For a time, she thought the relationship one-sided. Solas appeared to throw himself at Riallan’s feet, a supplicant, devoted and consumed, while Riallan smiled and laughed. The Inquisitor seemed to offer none of the same intensity, her affection superficial in comparison.

That was before Adamant.

Leliana had been in the courtyard when the bridge over the Abyss crumbled, when Riallan and her companions had plummeted into what should have been irrevocable darkness. She had felt grief, shock and fear at the loss of the Inquisitor. More so at the loss of Cassandra, her dear friend. But her emotions had been merely a ripple compared to the tidal wave of Solas’.

Again, it had been subtle, as so much with the apostate often was. There was no screaming, no sobbing, no meltdown. He watched the bridge fall with wide eyes, his mouth moving but no sound coming out.

She watched as he fell apart, as he watched his love plunge to her death, and it was such a silent grief that, in the turmoil, the shouting and crying, no one noticed. No one but her.

It was like watching a fracture grow in a beautiful porcelain mask until it fell to pieces bit by bit.

He blinked, rapidly, fighting back tears. That surprised Leliana, though she knew he cared, she somehow did not expect him to cry. Then his hands came to cover his eyes, as if blocking his view of the bridge would change the truth.

Of course, it did not. It merely left him alone with it.

Solas sank to his knees, head bowed, face in his hands, but he remained still. There was no outward sign that he cried, no shake of his shoulders nor heaving of breath. He froze and the world moved around him.

And then a rift had appeared and Riallan, impossibly, returned to them. She reminded Leliana of Cerine in those first few moments as she spoke against the Wardens. Though the Warden’s anger rarely burned so hot; she couldn’t remember a time she’d heard Cerine yell. Until then, she hadn’t heard Riallan yell, either, but yell she did.

Until she saw Solas. Something in the Inquisitor softened at the sight of him, her shoulders dropping and her frown easing up at the corners. She was angry still, she grieved for Alistair, and the haunted look in her eyes spoke to trauma that would follow her for weeks, but all of it was mitigated at the mere sight of her lover.

After that reunion, they were rarely apart. Where before Solas seemed the more devoted of the pair, suddenly Riallan’s whole world hinged on his presence. She was only at ease when she could see him, and late at night, when they thought they were alone in the rotunda, Leliana saw her love in every detail.

In the way they shared a bottle of wine, forgoing the glasses to simply pass the bottle back and forth. How Riallan built little snacks for him while he painted, stacking slices of cheese and meat on crackers. There was an intimacy, a newfound intensity to even the smallest, most mundane interactions. Watching them felt as if peering into another world, one meant only for them; she was merely a visitor.

After the Temple of Mythal, all of that changed. It was not subtle. It was not slow. They were sharp and cold and wounded as surely as if they had each been stabbed. Even Solas, usually so composed, so in control, wore his heartache like a cloak for all to see. It seemed so natural on him that Leliana wondered if the grief had always been there, stuffed down where she couldn’t see. Now it simply overflowed, beyond even his ability to conceal.

If Solas was the rain, Riallan was the lightning. She carried her pain like a weapon, coming in bright flashes of anger and grief. Where before they had been nearly inseparable, now Riallan took pains to avoid the rotunda.

And every single time Solas heard her voice upstairs, knowing she had gone the long way around just  to avoid him, he flinched.

When Solas left, Leliana expected more of Riallan’s storm, but his absence snuffed her anger instead. Without him there the Inquisitor set aside her rage and her hurt and took up his cloak, the loss soft and heavy on her shoulders.

It wasn’t until she saw Riallan like that, all quiet and controlled, the melancholy following her like a fine fragrance, that Leliana realized she had always thought they would get back together. That, once Corypheus was defeated, they would take and he would return to her.

So now she carried the burden of his loss twice over, along with all the unanswered questions and worry that came with his disappearance. And while it became easier over time, her smiles were harder to come by, her laughter subdued when compared to how she’d been with him.

And Leliana knew that somewhere, beyond even her considerable reach, Solas was diminished just the same.

Because Love always left its mark.

[userwithnoname]

ive played skyrim before and liked it an a friend recommended dragon age but i dont know which one i should pick

Hm… this is still a little bit complicated, so I’m going to put another cut here just because it gets a little long.

tl;dr Your friend was probably talking about Inquisition, and while I recommend you start with Origins, Inquisition’s not a bad game to jump in with.

If Skyrim is your only basis for comparison, then I think your friend was recommending for you Dragon Age: Inquisition. I was in a very similar place when I started playing Dragon Age: had just beat Skyrim for the thousandth time, was getting bored and didn’t know how to mod my game, so I started looking at Steam recommendations. However, I had a bit of a buffer. Steam recommended me Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, which is a pretty good game, but not quite what I was looking for.

What Skyrim lacked to me was character involvement. That isn’t to say there aren’t good characters, but they are limited and of the companions you’re given, they have little to do with the actual story and almost no involvement other than one quest here or there. Kingdoms of Amalur is similar to Skyrim in terms of story and gameplay, and if you liked Skyrim’s open-world and hack’n’slash combat, you’ll like Kingdoms.

To that end, Dragon Age is a pretty logical leap from either of those. But I can see where it would get confusing. The games are both reliant upon each other, yet can contradict each other horribly. When most people talk about Dragon Age. they’re referring to Inquisition because it’s the newest game to come out in the series. But as I mentioned, there are three games in total, not counting Awakening or Heroes of Dragon Age.

There’s no easy way to do this, so I’ll do a brief description then a (personal) pros and cons to each game before talking about the flaws the series has on a whole.

(Disclaimer: I am not a games reviewer or expert in any sense, these are personal opinions so take them with a grain of salt.)

(Also: SPOILERS)

Dragon Age: Origins (DA:O):

The first game in the series, DA:O focuses on the Warden or Hero of Ferelden. Without getting too much into the story, it heavily focuses on the arc of your character and the story that unfolds, allowing you a range of choices and quests that help keep replaying the game from getting boring.

   Pros:

Personalized character backstory.

Character creation is interesting.

Pretty backgrounds (for the time).

Pausing combat doesn’t interrupt the flow of combat too much.

Gameplay is pretty straightforward and intuitive (at least on PC).

A lot of dialogue options.

Just enough side quests to pad out the story without distracting from the main quests.

Quest timing options.

Gifts to fix things if you mess up the dialogue options and can’t reload a save (they have diminishing returns, so be wary).

Companion options–don’t like someone? Kick them out of the party!

Weapon and armor options–spell casting doesn’t work well for this, but most weapons and armor aren’t class restricted.

DOG. PUPPY. WHO NEEDS ROMANCE, I HAVE A DOG.

   Cons:

Main character has no voice acting.

Clunky animations. Like… mages in particular just stand there and point a staff in the air and sometimes wave their hand.

Sometimes confusing leveling mechanics.

Too much Codex stuff too fast.

Focuses a little too much on Alistair romance (even if I love him) and not much on the other characters.

Dialogue options can be hard to understand–this was before Bioware got their choice menu properly sorted out.

Will probably never see the Warden/Hero ever again no matter what they accomplish.

No armor modifications, only giving runes to some weapons.

Repetitive environments.

Limited romance options.

Hats.

Dragon Age II (DA II):

As the name implies it is second in the series, focusing on Hawke, the eventual Champion of Kirkwall, and has only a little to do with Origins. Not a direct sequel, DA II is very disputed across the fandom, and could have been handled better in general. Bioware changed their story-telling rhythm in this, instead breaking it up into 3 acts rather than major quests you can pick and choose the order of.

   Pros:

New main quest each Act that focuses on Hawke as a person.

Varric.

Combat animation feels involved and fluid–you’ve upgraded from a person standing to actual fighting.

Hide hats option in menu.

Main character is voice acted now–yay!

Fixed the dialogue options so it’s not as confusing.

Dog is no longer a party member, so you have a back up you can summon if shit hits the fan.

Gives you a junk slot in your inventory so you know what you can sell.

Rival and Friendship system make it so you can hate someone you need and still keep them in your party.

Rival and Friendship system make it so you can romance someone even if you don’t particularly like them.

   Cons:

Rival and Friendship system also, unfortunately, can lead to weird things happening in the story unless you go all out one way or another.

Cannot have a set team you use all the time unless you’re willing to possibly lose a few companions *coughs*Isabela*coughs*. Characters must be rotated out on quests if you want to get Friendship/Rivalry where it needs to be.

Specific, limited gifts that are easy to miss.

Confusing leveling mechanics.

The fuck did they do to the elves in this one?

Almost no interaction from anything in DA:O.

The screen layout got worse.

Facial animations (specifically eyebrows and mouth) are sometimes horrifying.

Character relationships are harder to manage.

Spend more time thinking about who you want on what quest than you probably should.

Romances are weirdly broken up in this one.

Armor picked up can only be worn by Hawke.

Please. Just let me romance Varric.

Combat animations are a little over the top and unrealistic.

Story makes it feel like your actions only effect Kirkwall, but actually end up effecting the whole world.

Race options–it forces you to play as a human.

Very repetitive environments.

Background is glanced over and explained away with no interaction.

Sibling death.

Dragon Age: Inquisition (DA:I):

The baby of the series, the most recent game and prettiest overall. DA:I has way more options in just about everything in comparison to the previous two games. You play as the Herald of Andraste, eventually becoming Inquisitor.

   Pros:

That character creation tho.

Armor and weapon creation and customization.

Fixed elves appearances–no longer aliens.

Races now have different body types.

Fixed the combat ratio of fluidity to excessive.

Open world.

Actually get a horse/hart/dracolisk/freakishly large nug to ride this time.

Voice options (only two, but that’s one more than DA II and two more than DA:O).

Way more companion options.

Can play as a qunari.

Interesting cameos from companions in DA:O and DA II.

Cool search mechanic.

Cole.

HUGE map.

More romance options.

DRAGON MASTER.

Don’t have to play Origins or II to get the story-type you want, just log in to Dragon’s Keep and fill out some stuff.

Screw attributes completely.

   Cons:

The hair. For everyone, but mostly qunari.

Undermines other choices in previous games.

Ooh… you might wanna get that hand looked at, buddy.

Hardens companion from DA:O regardless of actual choices in game.

Cut scene animation is a little weird sometimes.

Save files corrupt so quickly.

Sudden retconning of Dalish facts and changes the way mages are handled by the Dalish.

Main character disappearances.

Needs DLC in order to get the “real” ending.

Does not mod easily.

Bugs with animation and placement.

WHERE IS MY DOG, BIOWARE??????

THE MOUNT IS NOT A REPLACEMENT, IT CANNOT FIGHT OR FOLLOW YOU.

Doesn’t feel like a solid story ending, regardless of DLC.

You know those helpful numbers and bars we had to measure friendship in DA II and DA:O? Fuck ‘em. Don’t need ‘em. Oh, but likability is still being measured by the game, just not visibly.

Fuck gifts, too.

No more healing spells.

Oh, and let’s limit the number of healing items you can carry at once.

And we can’t make it too easy to make money, either.

Random loot is incredibly buggy.

Weapons/armor now class coded.

Gameplay takes some getting used to on the PC.

Screw attributes completely.

And that’s not including Awakening and Heroes of Dragon Age, which I am not discussing in this post.

Now, despite what you might think after that, I love these games.

They just… have their issues.

They pull a “Supernatural” on us, if you will. Each game, the enemy somehow gets bigger and badder. In the first one, you’re trying to stop the Blight and save your home, which is already a big feat. In the second one, you end up causing a civil war across multiple countries (even if it doesn’t feel so big at the time). In Inquisition, you have to save at least three countries at once, and in the fourth it looks like you’re going to have to save the world.

Each game focuses on a new protagonist, which is great in that it means a fresh new take on each challenge and new characters, but it really, really sucks in that it feels like you’re leaving a story unfinished. I mentioned we’ll probably never see the Warden in-game again and it’s been confirmed by Patrick Weekes, the lead writer for DA (I’d put a link here, but I can’t find it right now). This is mainly because the story has moved on from the Warden, but also because importing a Warden from DA:O to any new DA game would be almost impossible from a technical standpoint. While this is sad, it’s understandable from a story standpoint. But this method wasn’t what fans were expecting when DA II came out.

Which is probably the biggest reason for all the hatred towards DA II. It was marketed as a sequel to DA:O, and people kind of automatically thought of it as a direct sequel, mostly because the only other RPG series Bioware had running was Mass Effect and that’s what happened there. But it didn’t happen with DA II. Instead, we were given a new hero with new goals, no familiar companions and in a place DA:O didn’t even mention. Other than a few cameos, a couple characters, and a mention every now and then, there was nothing from DA:O in DA II.

And that’s really Dragon Age’s biggest problem. Playing DA II, it makes it feel like all those choices you made in Origins were insignificant (which on a scale they were). And Inquisition didn’t fix this. In fact, in some ways, it made it worse. It gave Hawke and the Warden more stories, which isn’t a bad thing, but it took your characters and tried to generalize your Warden and your Hawke into The Warden and The Hawke. Imagine you’d been given a choose-your-own-adventure book and the first two chapters are about one character, and then the next two about another, and so on and so forth. But in each of these chapters, you get glimpses of the previous characters doing other things in the same world. No interaction, no conclusiveness, just your character doing things that your character might not do. You have no control of the character whose choices are supposed to be yours after those two chapters are done.

Basically: for the story, with the way they’ve set it up, it forces you to bond to a character that you create but only briefly glimpse into their lives before someone else takes over. Yet instead of divorcing entirely from said character, the shorter timeline forces the heroes to interact in some capacity that we’ll never get to see. Varric is the perfect example of this. DA II is set up in a way that you know Varric will have to be involved in Inquisition. But after people started really liking him and the general backlash of DA II, Bioware couldn’t kill him off and couldn’t send him away. So they gave him a minor role in Inquisition and then retired him.

They do this again with the Inquisitor. The way DA:I ends left many fans to believe DA4 had to continue as the Inquisitor; after all it didn’t feel like the Inquisitor’s story was finished and the next Big Bad had been hinted at being kind-of their fault. But we’ve already been told that DA4 will not star the Inquisitor–instead, their story is supposedly done and the only chance we have of their involvement is probably a letter, a cameo, or as an advisor. That’s if Bioware doesn’t kill them.

Once again, they put away another character when it feels like they should still be involved, thus reducing the choices made in the previous games by an even smaller margin. Bioware takes a character you made, tells you their story is over when it feel like it’s just starting, then takes control of them.

The solution?

The Elder Scrolls series actually does a pretty good job at doing the same thing–by spreading the events out. I get that the whole name of the series is focused on a hundred year margin, but that’s still a hundred years for you to spread events out. Over the course of three games, only about 10-20 years have passed. DA:O takes place over the course of 1-2 years, maximum. DA II takes place over 7. And DA:I is about 2-5 (depending on if you count Trespasser), with a short gap between II and Inquisition.. That’s a lot of shit to happen over such a short time.

Give the games space. Let them breathe. Let the actions of the Warden fade as time passes, not lie ignored by NPCs just because it’s hard to account for all the choices. Let the stories have their own weight before you stack the other on, and maybe don’t rely to much on rapid storytelling.

And that really went off on a tangent, sorry.

Simply put, the games have their own flaws. If you have the money and prefer a newer-looking game and have the system to handle it, I recommend Dragon Age: Inquisition to start off. Being able to control the world through your choices in Dragon’s Keep gives you a good idea of previous stories without having to play them, while still preserving the themes from the series.

(But oh my god save frequently. Save every few minutes. And stagger save, too, don’t just save over old files because that shit corrupts EASY.)

[fyrapartnersearch]

Fandom Search (+ a Little Original)

A Little About Me:

I'm well over 18, and as such only play with people 18+. No exceptions.

I only write over email. No, you will not convince me to move to discord. I will chat ooc over discord, though.

I'm looking for a few posts a week that are substantial in length (3+ paragraphs, please). Anything less and I lose interest.

While I'm happy to double up it's not an absolute necessity if we're playing a canon/canon pair(s) or if you're willing to play a canon for my OC.

M/F, F/F, M/M -- I'm good with it all, including characters that fall out of the binary or gender norms.

I don't fade to black. Please be okay writing out smut. I wouldn't say I'm only looking for smutty threads, but I wouldn't turn them down either x: Please let me know how you want to balance plot + smut. Any underage characters would be aged up accordingly.

I'm down for AU plots if you have ideas, or if you have ideas in general. Let's make something we both enjoy!

I'm open to the idea of poly relationships, love triangles/polygons, etc.

I am not the partner for you if you only play bottoms/women/OCs. I genuinely do not understand people who claim they 'can't do it'.

Characters in bold are ones I want to play. If neither is bolded, I'm open to playing either! PLEASE NOTE that I won't just write a canon for your OC. We'll double up for canon/OC pairs or play a single canon/canon that we both want to play. I've only included lists of canons I'll play for your reference and ease.

If anything below is unclear or you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Dragon Age Tevinter Nights has dragged me back down into the depths of this fandom ;v; I'm familiar with all three games and their associated DLCs, all the novels, and all of the comics except for Blue Wraith. Please refer to the list below regarding characters I'm comfortable playing; you can certainly ask for someone else, but these are the characters I feel strongest writing. Please also note I will not write Cullen. Something in a current Thedas (i.e. post-Inquisition/Trespasser) would be greatly preferred.

Solas/f!Trevelyan Inquisitor

Strife/f!OC

Lucanis/f!OC

Viago/OC ??

Alistair/OC

Morrigan/OC

Zevran/OC

Anders/OC

Fenris/OC

Abelas/OC

Dorian/m!OC

Varric/OC

Fire Emblem: Three Houses I've finished the main three routes (Azure Moon, Verdant Wind, & Crimson Flower), but not Silver Snow, and I've also completed the Ashen Wolves DLC. I would honestly prefer not to double here unless you want to play multiple pairs from the list below. I'm more than happy to include side pairings, or at the very least entertain the idea of other canon/canon pairs if you have something in mind. That said, please don't be offended if I decline a pair you want to play.

Dimitri/f!Byleth

Sylvain/Felix

Hubert/Ferdinand

Claude/m!Byleth

Glenn/Miklan

Yuri/f!Byleth

Mr. Love: Queen's Choice I'm mostly caught up, though I think I still have a couple of chapters to get through; not being spoiled would be greatly appreciated. Canon/OC only, please.

Lucien/f!OC

Victor/f!OC

Gavin/OC

Kiro/OC

Mystic Messenger I've played every route though not every dlc (notably the Rika back-story). I have No Desire to include Rika in any meaningful capacity; please do not ask. I would also prefer if there is no real 'MC' but rather our OCs. You miiight talk me into a canon/canon pair, though I will be incredibly picky. Canon/OC is more my interest for this particular fandom.

Jumin/f!OC

V/f!OC

Saeran/f!OC

Jaehee/OC

Yoosung/OC

Zen/OC

Seven/OC

Vanderwood/OC

Persona 5 (+ Royal) I've literally just beaten royal and my motivation is super high! Please also note that I'd be more than happy to write just about any of the Phantom Thieves or one of the confidants for your OC(s) in return for you writing one of the characters I've indicated below. I'm also down to talk canon/canon pairs if that is your preference, though please note I will not write Futaba, Yusuke, or Akechi (the only exception to Akechi is if he's paired with Akira).

Akira/Akechi (craving this the most right now tbh)

Akira/Maruki

Akira/Yusuke

Akechi/OC

Yusuke/OC

Akira/OC

Original I have a character that I'd really like to write in a quasi feudal Japanese setting. He's a commoner who befriended a noble boy in his youth, but their village is so far-removed from politics and war plaguing the country that neither find out about the other boy's nobility until his father dies and he's summoned to take up his rightful place. My character only gets to accompany him because the noble boy all-but-demands it. Personality-wise, my character is a very stoic, sacrificing man. He's politically sharp and adept at strategizing, and in time becomes the bodyguard of the noble lord. He's wholly devoted to his lord. I'm very open in terms of how you create your noble lord. I'd personally prefer someone a little more hotheaded and impatient, but it's certainly something we can talk about. M/M in case that wasn't clear. I will admit that my character falls a bit more to the submissive side of things, but I'm more than happy to switch as far as bedroom dynamics are concerned. Themes include: pining, (perceived) unrequited love, political machinations, war, sacrifice, and more. I'm also open to the idea of an A/B/O AU for this as well. BUT WAIT Before you send me that email, please make sure you're including a little information about yourself -- what you want to play, which pairs, your limits, etc. Thank you!

Contact me at: grimmsandhooks at gmail dot com

[skellyskoo]

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

read on ao3

Their journey comes to an unceremonious end- the vessel once named home docks, and the swelling crowd is dropped into the city to fend for themselves. Bethany finds a sense of calm amongst the maelstrom of activity, looking to her mother who holds herself like a noblewoman- something that she’s only seen glimpses of in passing in growing up. Bethany finds herself mimicking her mother’s posture as she follows to find a clearing. Carver’s hand is clammy in her own and so she squeezes it, sending her thoughts with it. ‘It’s going to be fine. We will be fine. Things will look up, things will change. It will be okay.’  He squeezes back and she closes her eyes and lets him lead for a moment. Deep breaths. Keep going.

She opens her eyes again and sees Garrett as he stands tall next to their mother, a reassuring presence. Unmoving. Marian is next to him, with Aveline in-between. They stand together as a unit for a moment before noticing that the flow of people seems to be stalled.

“They’re not letting anyone in.” Aveline notes, and just like that, all the hope seems to drop out of her, cold anxiety taking its place. “What? No, that can’t be.” Panic and suspicion creep into their mother’s voice, and Aveline points to the crowd gathering at the gates.

“It’s true,” she says, “Look at them all.” “Are we really surprised?” Carver pitches in and drops her hand as he moves forward, and she finds herself missing his presence at her side instantly. “Everyone’s fleeing the blight, just as we are.” “And they would throw us all back to the woods. Unbelieveable.” Aveline’s disgust is evident as she stands and watches the scene. Someone gets too close and a guard beats them down. “It’s totally believable,” Marian says, annoyed, and Garrett laughs with bitter humor. “I’m only surprised they let us dock, really,” he says as he too watches the scene unfold in front of him. Bethany feels herself lose composure and hates it. She should have expected this, the cruelty. She knows better.

Their mother makes a case for finding Gamlen, saying how their family has always been of nobility and high regard in Kirkwall, and suddenly Bethany isn’t sure if that’s a good thing anymore. What does it say about them, that they do so well in a city so cruel?

They family begins to move and she finds herself following.

Marian takes the lead as they approach the guard, full of indignation and a need to hit something before they are all stopped. “Get back to the crowd, you lot. Trying to bully your way into Kirkwall won’t get you in any faster,” they’re told, and before she can make any witty, scathing remarks Aveline stops her. “You do intend to let us in, then?” she challenges him and he laughs in their faces, taking away any assurances they had about getting in. “So you intend to hold us all here, like we’re in prison?” Marian calls him out.

“Well. It is called the gallows ,” says Garrett, and Marian fights a smile off her face despite herself.

The man grunts and informs them that, no, they will not be held like prisoners forever, and instead will be herded onto boats and sent back where they came from.

“Just tell me who I need to talk to,” she demands and the guard sighs and directs them to his captain.

Again they move, more stairs of course, and find themselves in a clearing. A man stands alone in front of a gate, behind it lies yet another flight of stairs and around him there are people who stalk the premise like cats. Lurking, waiting for their chance in.

Marian can’t quite find it in herself to blame them.

“What do you want? ” she hears the captain call to one of the lurkers, who looks up to face the guard in a challenge. He approaches with his band of merry fools and they begin to make demands to get in, it seems, and Marian finds that she might as well join in with the making of demands. “The city is full,” she hears him say, and she calls him out, saying how she seems to remember hearing a little birdy who said that those with business in the city were being let in. The rabble-rousers demand answers, and the guard turns to them, demanding coin before telling them that it’s the only way, as the city is too full of refugees. “We’ve got family here,” Bethany pitches in from the back, and the guard scoffs. “I’ve heard that plenty of times, believe me. We’ll find someone to take you back to Ferelden- until then you can all stay here.”

Marian glares and lifts her chin in a challenge at the man before Garrett steps in, “If you can find our uncle, Gamlen Amell, then you just might have,” he turns around to to a quick headcount, “six less refugees bothering you.” The guard looks surprised before taking a moment to consider their words. The thugs next to them watch the scene unfold on baited breath, “Gamlen… I know that name,” he says, and Carver mentions the family estate, how Gamlen is a noble. The guard laughs, “The only Gamlen Amell I know is a weasel who couldn’t squeeze two coppers together. If he comes back, I’ll bring him to you,” he concedes and the thugs shout in affront, “We’ve been here for four days! They just got here!” they draw their weapons and cry for blood, and Marian feels Carver tense from next to her as he goes to stand in front of Bethany like a human shield. “Oh, goody,” Marian thinks to herself, “I’ve been wanting to hit something!”

The fight ends relatively quickly, the group of them overpowering their opponents even without using their magic. Marian comes out of it with sore fists and bloody boots, and finds that she’s happy with the dull ache in her hands. A good fight is always nice. The guard thanks them for their aid and promises to help them in return by sending for Gamlen. It takes the old bastard a few days to show up, and when he finally does its with news of squandering their family fortune, claiming he sold the estate to settle old debts and that Grandfather wasn’t happy with their mother’s choices, leaving her nothing in the will. He tells them that he’s found them a way in, however, and it’s through indentured servantry. Either smugglers or thugs, it’s their pick.

Marian and Garrett look between themselves and upon their younger siblings. “What do you think?” they ask, and Carver tells them he doesn’t care (he does) while Bethany sighs and says she’d prefer the smuggling to the band of mercs. Aveline tells them she’s stuck either way.

They consider their options, find they’ve nothing against smuggling, and decide to go to Athenril to join her smuggling crew. “We’re not killers or slavers,” she tells them, “anything short of that, however, is fair game,”

She sends them on a quick job to collect from a merchant who cheats people out of money. Aveline causes him to piss himself, they collect that which is due, and begin their year-long adventure in indentured servitude.

In the end, Athenril attempts cheat them into more time than they owe her. They’re her best workers, after all, and what’s better than excellent hands which you don’t have to pay? Athenril’s always known a good deal when she sees it, and so she does her best to ensure her odds and sets her trap. It’s discovered, and the three of them part ways on rocky terms, Garrett and Marian unhappy with being taken advantage of.

Aveline goes on to join Kirkwall’s guard. The family goes on to live in a cramped hovel, belonging to Gamlen, because that’s just how life always seems to go for them.

Trouble comes knocking, as it always does for the Hawkes, however this time it’s in the form of templars coming and taking a neighbor’s child in the night. The child, barely five, resists, and cries, and suffers their cruelty. Her mother screams, throwing herself at them begging for them to stop, to please please give her back her baby girl please, she’s just a child, a child , you can’t!

The child is killed when her magic explodes from her in a flurry, and the mother lies in the street, crying for her child. The citizens of Kirkwall pay her no mind, and continue with their lives. No aid comes for her. Garrett mourns the loss, and as quickly as it left them the realization that they are no longer secure and hidden from the watchful eyes of the Knight-Commander returns. The security that came with working for Athenril is gone.

They need money, they need influence, they need connections, if they wish to avoid their bitter ends in the prison of Kirkwall’s Gallows.

How does it end?

It ends as most things do; something gets destroyed, or a murder occurs. A friend betrayed, a city rent to pieces. Siblings lost, a family found. A long trek into anonymity.

All things you would think to be kept forever someday fall from your grasp. Twins walk different paths, contact kept by loose threads, those that tie them together adamant. They meet again someday, the future, far off. A place where they learn their limits, where the land meets the sky, and where they learn to take a step back, take a breath, and let the world take the reigns.

But that’s a long time away, and for now it ends with a meeting, a mugging, and a simple,

“Varric Tethras, at your service.”