#in any case. would hate to be teia in the antiva case...

[v-arbellanaris]

yes! in both situations, the government (the tevinter magisterium and, in antiva's case, the monarchy) have no central power or authority, which creates a power vacuum for other existing forces to sweep in and occupy the existing political space. in essence, both nations are being ripped apart by a power struggle.

in tevinter's case: the magisterium has been infiltrated by the venatori. neve's personal quest before minrathous is attacked implies the venatori are already holding high positions in the magisterium and are politically untouchable - a far cry from their position 10 years ago during dai. there's some ambient dialogue noting that radonis - the reigning archon - was assassinated during the minrathous attack, and his successor is hiding in nevarra. ineffective succession planning usually results in a power vacuum, as is the case in minrathous. dorian is still part of the magisterium - a big deal imho considering he was an active part of the southern inquisition and actively against the venatori - which implies the magisterium was not entirely dissolved or replaced with venatori, meaning there is still a power struggle there. ideally, we would've gotten to see some more tensions between the shadow dragons - acting on behalf of the anti-venatori magisterium members - and the threads - claiming to be acting in the interests of "the people", to highlight the exact nature of the power vacuum that's developed in tevinter.

similarly, in antiva: fulgeno ii is still the king of antiva, but the antivan monarchy lacks the military power needed to have any real authority - i suspect this is entirely by design. my reasoning is:

historically, the monarchs of antiva and the pirates/mercenaries of rialto bay have always been in a power struggle, but there's not that much detail iirc about what this looked like or how it was settled.

but we do know that asha campagna came from a family of rich merchants who were elevated to nobility - again, not much information on alonzo campagna, but asha had already been marrying their children off to other nobles by the time he ascended the throne. to make moves to shift power back to the throne, rather than to the merchants, would be to undermine her own bargaining power -- and aligning herself with the other nobility in other countries, leaves her (and her family's) position rock solid for generations to come.

viago was given the choice, as the king's bastard son, to join the crows or be exiled from antiva - he was the only one of all his siblings who chose to join the crows, which specifically makes him dangerous because as fifth talon, he's able to command crows, giving him more military pull than his father. i do personally believe that viago, and caterina, are both taking advantage of the antaam's invasion of treviso to establish power, but for differing reasons/purposes. house de riva seems to be based in salle, rather than treviso, implying viago came to treviso - his statement of "the crows rule antiva, and treviso will be free", to me, are rooted less in the crows and more uhhh one specific crow - viago, of course. i... would not be surprised if he launched a coup d'etat after this. which i suspect caterina would support, because when she hears "the crows rule antiva" she intends for that to mean... the antivan crows. which, of course, the first talon (of house dellamorte) commands.

there's also the felicissima armada, which is supposed to be the biggest maritime force in antiva. in a beautiful world, the qunari dreadnoughts would be in direct conflict with the felicissima armada, which also poses the greatest threat to the antivan merchant princes (who usually prefer to pay the armada off rather than fight them off), which would pit the antaam, the merchant princes, the felicissima armada and the crows against each other in this power struggle. isabela (who is? still part of the armada??? in datv???) has apparently redirected some of them to attack the antaam, but the exact nature of this is unclear... but a guy (gender neutral) can dream...

but you know! ymmv

There's a parallel somewhere about criminal syndicate boss Makal Damas saying "Docktown's ours," in the conversation about freeing it from the venatori and fifth talon Viago de Riva repeatedly saying "the crows rule antiva, and treviso will be free" while local "corrupt" government pushes against the crows presence but I don't have the expertise to put it together.

[pupkinpumpkin]

Compilation of fun facts about my Rook: Carlota De Riva

- She's a purple Rook

- Just like her mother, she's a fantastic singer

- While she specializes in making and using influencers/drugs when it comes to Crow contracts, she has a side hobby of making firebombs, lighting flasks, Molotov cocktails, bees in a jar, etc, because she likes the damage it does. She gets a lot more use out of them in Veilguard when she's fighting basic enemies

- She's actually a really good mixologist but not a lot of people give her a chance because she and Viago are specifically known for tampering with food and drink to kill contracts

- Viago and Carlota are half siblings on their fathers side, which neither knew about till Carlota joined the Crows, and even then, she learned about it much later than Viago did

- She hums or sings when she's nervous or trying to focus

- Viago makes her build up her resistance to poisons with him, which she understands, but it gets really annoying having nausea every morning

- He also forces her to appreciate art with him. She reluctantly does it because she knows it makes him happy

- In turn, she makes Viago go to operas with her

- They both come around to each other's interests eventually

- She really really likes Teia, even had a crush on her at one point, but once she realized Viago actually had a chance of getting with her, she started pushing them together as much as she could, and now she thinks of Teia as an older sister.

- Habitual snacker. Oh you think that's a knife she has in her pocket? Nope, it's those old people butterscotch candies and cranberries covered in dark chocolate. Massive sweet tooth, never had anything she deemed too sweet

- She has a special love for things that are bittersweet though. Dark chocolate, black cherries, cranberries, you name it, she loves it

- Massive coffee drinker, honestly to the point where she'll just drink it black. She does care about the taste, but sometimes a black coffee hits better than anything fancy at 3 AM

- She and Viago once had a long talk about their opinions on King Fulgeno II and the throne. They both hate the old man, but while Viago wants to take the throne, all Carlota wants to see is his insides being torn out by her own hand. She doesn't care about taking the crown or controlling Antiva, she just cares about the family she's made in the Crows, but she'd support Viago if he ever did try and take it for himself. She jokes that if Viago became king, he could make Teia his queen, which makes him a blushing mess

- She's fascinated by gaatlok and really wants to figure out the secret. She even started trying to learn Qunlat in case she found any notes around it. She later asks Taash to teach her when she meets them

- Honestly, where my Inquisitor was a rogue born in a mage's body, my Rook is a mage born in a rogue's body. She's fascinated by magic and loves to learn about it

- Very physically touchy. She'll of course ask you for your permission first, but she's not afraid of holding hands with a friend, kissing their cheek, or even sitting on their lap.

The Crows really try beating it out of her, but it never goes away

- Has two jewelry boxes. One for her jewelry, and one full of her mom's old jewelry. Carlota never wears her mother's, but she brings her old earrings or necklaces on adventures sometimes

- She's a pretty good cook, but, honestly, she prefers baking, and she usually sticks to it. It's why Lucanis is still terrified at all of them eating unhealthy when he joins the group despite Carlota being a good cook. She can't stop making macaroons

- Eventually when Bellara and Lucanis decide to be the main cooks, she joins in and makes actual healthy food, but she still bakes on the side and makes the gang little treats if they're feeling down

- In the Lighthouse, she swears she can sometimes hear her mother singing or smell the hazelnut torte she would make. She even occasionally finds her mother's old jewelry that she thought she lost

- Since Spite is set on having smells for everyone, I think Carlota would be dark chocolate and cherries, to reflect her personality and food preferences. She's very sweet and caring, but the girl is still a professional assassin. She's ruthless when she wants to be.

- She once told Viago that her mother would call her "little songbird" sometimes. Viago starts calling her this ONLY when he thinks she can't hear or that she won't remember, so usually when he thinks she's asleep or insanely drunk. She's managed to hear it once or twice, and it makes her smile every time

- Her favorite kill was a really obnoxious noble who beat his wife and mistresses. That wasn't the reason he had a contract on him, but still. Looked like Fulgeno. She dressed as a servant, took one of Viago's poisons, put it in his soup, then watched from afar as he started frothing and choking at the mouth as his wife did nothing to help him. The wife was shocked and confused at first, but just watched in awe as the man suffocated and even kicked him to make sure he was dead. Carlota still smiles remembering him try to scream

- Despite not having a father figure, Carlota really loves dad jokes. Her sarcasm definitely came from her mom, but she developed that kind of humor on her own. Viago groans at them, but her jokes have inspired some of his poison names on occasion

- After the 'Eight Little Talons' story, when Viago comes back, Carlota is more shocked that Viago actually got with Teia than 4 of the 8 Talons being murdered

- She becomes an official Crow at 26

- Relationships with the Veilguard gang:

Harding: Really good friend. She enjoys Harding's company and has some of her own plants in Harding's garden.

Neve: She's like a sister. They have similar attitudes, humor, (taste in men), so they get along really well. After Carlota chooses to save Treviso though, Neve puts some distance between them, which hurts, but she understands.

Bellara: Also like a sister. She loves hearing Bellara ramble and tries to pick up on some of the magic talk, though she often gets lost. She acts as Bellara's rubber duck when she's stuck on a problem. Bellara's also the one she's the most physically touchy with. Honestly, Carlota, Neve, and Bellara were very very tight before having to pick one of the two cities. They do get closer again after the Fire and Ice quest though

Lucanis: Friend turned partner. I think she had a thing for Lucanis when he started grocery shopping for the team. She just thought it was really sweet and wanted to get closer to him ever since. She flirts and teases, but she truly does enjoy his company and finds that she can learn a lot from him in cooking and murder

Davrin: Platonic co-parent. She loves Assan so much, that she ends up spending a lot of time with Davrin and they really grow close. He whittles while Carlota reads and Assan sleeps between the two. They spar, share stories, and love to take Assan on walks together.

(sidenote: She absolutely knew what the gingerwort tea would do to her, she just wanted to trip in a beautiful forest for awhile)

Emmrich: Ngl, she found that skull mask hot. He's too old for her though, so she keeps her appreciations to herself. Like Bellara, she loves listening to Emmrich talk, she adores Manfred to the moon and back, and she's very curious about Nevarran magic. Sure she finds the undead corpses a bit weird at the beginning, but she begins to appreciate the Necropolis and she loves the flora. Lots of great flowers to harvest poisons from

(she absolutely had a moment where she drunkenly said: "Does anyone else think Emmrich is super hot?" Only to be met with complete silence. Emmrich wasn't there though, so that made the whole thing a bit less awkward)

Taash: Taash is chill. Not exactly a sibling, not just a good friend. Like... A close cousin. She really likes them, is very supportive of their journey, and gets very giddy when she realizes Taash and Harding like each other. She's not entirely into dragons, but she knows Taash likes them, so she'll occasionally ask to explain the differences, how they hunt, hardest to fight, etc. As mentioned before, Carlota also asks for lessons in Qunlat, which Taash isn't a master of, but they help nonetheless

(On one occasion, Carlota asked if she could have some of Taash's spit to see if it was flammable or if she could make any bombs from it. I genuinely have no idea if they would agree or not)

- Has the handwriting of a doctor that can only be read by Neve and, once they get closer, Lucanis

- Carlota tries to teach Spite and Manfred to cook, deciding to start them off at peanut butter jelly sandwiches and go from there

- It still takes awhile for anything to turn out edible

- Makes the Dragon Age magic griffon equivalent of a puppachino for Assan

- Loves horror books, thrillers, and, on occasion, romance novels. Loves angst, 50/50 on happy endings

- Knows how to steer a gondola and finds the whole thing very peaceful

- Has had 3 (technically 4) relationships before Lucanis. One with a boy when she was 13-16. He was the son of two apothecaries, so she visited them often to get medicine for her mother. He was an apostate and ended up getting caught and taken to the circle.

One was when she was 20 with another fledgling while she was training. Lasted about 5 months. She ended up dying on a mission.

One was a baker when she was 23-25. He didn't know Carlota was a Crow, but after she started getting in some hot water with someone who wanted revenge for a contract she did, she decided to end it so he wouldn't get hurt. She occasionally checks up on him from afar

The last was just an on and off relationship with a Crow that she refuses to get into with the others because it was a bad time in her life. She tries to avoid Antiva City.

- Can't go to sleep without being in contact with some part of her partner's body. Doesn't matter if it's a shoulder, toe, finger, etc. She just needs to know they're safe

Ok, that's probably it for now