#maybe there will be better options with a watcher rook

[mabaris]

love to see emmrich try to start a debate over the nature of wisps and whether it is the soul returned to the body, when you consider that he knows audric. you know my man is studying him like a bug

[vaguely-concerned]

I will say that the mourn watch background makes so much sense of rook's occasional social awkwardness. this poor fucker had really barely ever been outside before when they were kicked out from home for shenanigans and varric adopted them like a puppy slash poor little meow meow because they reminded him so much of hawke when they were young ssssh that's my headcanon. what's more they were raised by a bunch of fifth house style freaks (affectionate) who also had never been outside before. as baby jesus was laid in a manger baby rook was laid in a coffin. as baby moses was found in the bullrushes, baby rook was found among the shin bones. they may have glimpsed normalcy before once on a sunny day, but only about three degrees removed and around a corner.

considering their circumstances and previous life experiences I think they're doing great at social interactions actually don't worry sweetie you're doing amazing, realizing most people get a bit nervous if you talk too much about skulls and bone saws around them is a great first step! a joke not landing with your audience here and there is detail work we can fine tune at another time let's get some of these fundamentals in place first <- me and varric encouraging them as they're stepping into this brand new world

[yes-these-obsessions-are-healthy]

Veilguard is a black hole where I have no inspiration. I feel nothing for these characters. I don’t even feel anything for my Solavellan, if you can believe it. Maybe I’m outgrowing it (been 6 years) or I’ve simply thought and daydreamed absolutely everything there is for this romance, or my added daily adult responsibilities and work schedule make creativity and such difficult to gather up and channel into whatever, but Veilguard was supposed to be the extra kerosene to keep it burning, but it’s turned into a blanket smothering it. I can’t believe this game made me distinctly, actively, and deliberately not care about this world anymore. I don’t care about these companions or their problems or their cutesy lil non-issues, I don’t care about Rook, I don’t care about Treviso, the Crows, Lords of Fortune, Isabela, Dorian, the Veil Jumpers, Mythal, the Evanuris, the Blight, the Crossroads, the Venatori, the dwarves, the Qunari, the Antaam, Rivain, the Mourn Watchers, the Shadow Dragons, and hell, I sort of scarcely care about Solas in this present iteration of him. I simply don’t care, because the game has given me nothing to care about, because what is there is so hackneyed and superficial and declawed and just… the height of mediocrity. A 57/100 Metacritic-worthy storyline. A genuine 5.7/10 IMDB.

Nothing here for me to chew on, because what I chewed on in games past were the deep philosophical and morally ambiguous arguments and debates which, while not always handled gracefully, still allowed for exploration and critique and analysis. Here there is nothing. Nothing is contentious, nothing is “problematic”, nothing is gray or dark gray. There is just Good Guys and Bad Guys. There is no doubt, no regret, no genuinely lingering feeling of being haunted by choices because no one holds your choices against you for long, no one interrogates you. Reactivity? What reactivity? How is it that S1 of Telltale’s The Walking Dead (2012) managed to nail this sort of character reactivity better than this fucking game made twelve years later.

If the Inquisitor was bland and the character reactivity brief to your choices a bit brief, then in Veilguard it might as well not exist, because none of the companions will ever protest to any great extent that makes you worried you’ve genuinely fucked up, because everyone talks out their feelings and all the dialogue options and banter can only point toward reconciliation and emotional intelligence that only my fellow overly-therapized critically online lefties and liberals could conjure up. There are no hard feelings. Everyone likes you no matter what. Everyone forgives you for letting their city get destroyed, everyone is like “Nah Rook you gotta keep going, you’re doing the right thing!” as you bring down travesty after travesty everywhere you go.

It’s all the beats of a superhero film without the heart, without the messiness and problematique ✨ elements that made us dissect and argue and postulate for years. “Not only is this game free of problematic elements like in prior games, but we’ll explain everything to you—repetitively and poorly c: “.

Ugh this game is such a black hole for inspiration. I can’t even think or know where to begin with it. Looking at other peoples’ fanfiction AU endings written before Veilguard dropped is honestly my safest bet because everything else people wrote is better than what we got.

[themarydragon]

I have not seen (or maybe I missed) any comments or thoughts you had about Veilguard. Anything you would share with us?

I've had 4 complete playthroughs and I'm sitting and thinking about exactly what I want to do for #5 before I do my deep-dive, note-taking, re-read the books, Gwen's worldstate (Pillars of Creation) playthrough.

I actually loved it. Prepare for giant block of text.

Was it without flaws? Absolutely not. Its Bioware. They'll be pallbearers at my funeral, ya know? But I try not to dwell on the negatives because I honestly never thought we would actually get this game and it's 1000% better than nothing.

But the high point for me are the things we always bitched about in the old games getting fixed. The different backstories MATTER in the dialog. Elves know things human don't, there's unique dialog choices for the origins that give you different relationships with the companions. Remember how much we bitched about Lavellan asking "who's Mithal?" Not this time! (Unless you, the player, don't know and need the option) Now we have a Watcher!Rook talking shop with Emmrich!! Is it perfect? Of course not! Satisfying? Fuck yeah! It also means it's the very first DA game I finished, immediately started over, finished, and immediately started over. And each playthru was different enough to keep me completely invested.

The 3 classes feel different. Rogue and warrior play completely different, even on story-mode difficulty. I had a learning curve, going from warrior to rogue, that I hadn't had in awhile.

All the classes have at least one mechanic that feels FUN. Shield bounce OP.

Skipping over the story bits I WILL be fixing (spoilers for Pillars but you know the Varric reveal is getting fixed, and where the fuck is Hawke), there were some really tasty lore bits. The connection between the Tevinter gods and the Evanuris was something a lot of us had guessed, but I didn't QUITE get right. The evanuris/elf origin gives me a lot to think about RE: force ghost Leliana, or Cole, or the saving Wisdom quest for Solas in DA3, or SANDAL, etc etc.

But the Blight. The Blight!

We knew it was connected to lyrium and the titans, and that did not disappoint. Making it Madness instead of evil? The Blight having been sealed away with the Evanuris before implies it is sealed away with Solas now (Blighted Lavellan as bioware canon?) and your captured companion getting healed gives HUGE implications for the titans and the Wardens.

Can the titans be healed? Is that what Lace and Valta did? Can a titan bond with a dwarf and have their madness healed? Since Lace can dream AND have titan powers, is she evidence one of the titans has been reconnected with their dreams? Is it the titan where her rage manifested? THAT heart is HER heart? Maybe! The fanfiction options are endless. If the Blight is titan madness, what does even one 'healed' titan mean for the wardens, for the Song? For the Calling? New flavor for why they are Called to the Deep Roads, and why embracing the Blight = extended life!!!!!!!

And the zones. Nevarra? Worth the price of admission. Running around Arlathen, also great. The titan/mountain in Lace's missions? Jaw dropping. I played on my too-old PC and then switched to XBox and my mom would sit on the couch and watch and I would take her on tours and I got to explain this whole world I've had living rent-free in my head, to my mother, and I CANNOT begin to tell you how great that feels.

The ending Battle setup was so good, honestly. I get a little choked up watching my allies fall in to fuck shit up with me. Everybody getting a little moment of badassery also super great. Vorgoth wrecking the juggernaut is just *chef's kiss*

I could keep going, believe me.

I've been kicking around posting my fav romances but I've got 2 left (the spouse has multiple playthroughs, too, and I got the benefit of watching his choices play out) and I can't choose between Neve and Bellara and I don't want to go too deep into detail without weighing in on my girls. I adore them all.

But the best? its Davrin, btw. Davrin is incredible. 10/10 no notes gonna smooch again. Emmrich also top-tier and Taash the surprise "oh shit I didn't think I flirted that hard but LETS FUCKEN GO" to round out the top-3. My whole first Rook was DESIGNED to smooch Lace and honestly it was not as satisfying as watching her with Taash. (Get there faster, Lace) Same argument with Lucanis, it just felt unrequited to me, esp with how hard he & Neve flirt (comparatively, too). YMMV of course, we all go for different things in love and life.

Anyways yeah I loved it. Finishing my ME fic(s) before I go asshole deep into my DA universe extensions.

And no I won't go off about the things I hated because life is too short to focus on the bad. That's why I write... to fix the shit I didn't like. As always, Bioware gave me plenty of things to write about.

[phoenixspencer]

OC Info for Smutquisition Prompts

If you are inclined to take a shot at writing/drawing one of my prompts using one of OCs, I am very thankful and gracious! You are the bomb! If not, I can't wait to see what OCs of your own you use!

Lucanis/Male Qunari Rook - Seneca Mercar (they/he)

Seneca (masc nonbinary) is a spellblade mage Shadow Dragon raised a slave to a magister in Minrathous - they escaped from their master at the age 19, with the help of a Shadow Dragon agent and were smuggled into Antiva where they lived for a year before ultimately ignoring the risk of capture to return to Minrathous and join the Shadow Dragons' fight. They are passionate and loyal, and stubborn as hell. They can be reckless at times and often don't think once, much less twice before jumping head first into something. They adore Viago and Teia and are desperately in love with Lucanis (and Spite).

Female Lavellan/Solas - Shirana Lavellan (she/her)

Shirana (cis) is a knight enchanter mage. She worshipped the elven gods until the events of Inquisition (and Trespasser) made her start questioning her faith. She had Mythal's large vallaslin in white until Solas removed it for her, after she had drank from the Well. She is patient and prefers to consider every option before making a decision - often becoming frustrated and starts second-guessing herself if not given the time to talk through decisions with her team and get as many perspectives as possible. She's also a huge gossip - loving to sit with Varric or Josephine and Leliana and talk about the goings on of Skyhold (and her relationship with Solas).

Emmrich/Female Elf Rook - Telith Ingellvar (she/her)

Telith (cis) is a Death Caller mage and a Mourn Watcher. She was born completely blind - using a wisp as sort of an extremely advanced seeing eye dog - and was abandoned in the tombs of the Necropolis by parents that couldn't take care of her. She was raised by the Watchers in a group effort, but spent a lot of time with Vorgoth in particular - always intrigued by the cloaked mist man and all the other intriguing figures of the Necropolis, which is maybe why she encourages Emmrich to take the path she does - let's just say, she's a big fan of bones ;) She is a very "tell it like it is" kind of person, and doesn't often sugar coat things, unless the truth would be unnecessarily cruel. In those cases, she would rather abstain from sharing an opinion than lying over it.

Neve/Female Elf Rook - Nadua Mercar (she/her)

Nadua (cis) is an Evoker mage and a Shadow Dragon. She follows the given Shadow Dragon lore pretty well - orphaned as a toddler and found by a military family. She developed her magic in her early teens and was trained. Growing up, often mistaken as her families servant - or worse, their slave - made her painfully aware of the people in worse positions than her and as soon as she graduated from her Circle, she started seeking out those that were working to change Tevinter for the better - starting by reaching out to Magisters Tilani and Pavus. It wasn't long before she found the Shadow Dragons and joined. She's snarky and catty. Sometimes finds it hard to stay serious, and definitely doesn't know how to be quiet. Focus and turning her mind off are two things she struggles with the most.

Male Elf Rook/Solas - Re'vhen Aldwir (he/him)

Re'vhen (trans man) is a Veil Ranger rogue and a Veil Jumper. He's autistic and for as long as he can remember, his special interest has been Ancient Elven history - with a particular interest in the stories surrounding the Dread Wolf. He worked more as an archaeologist with the Veil Jumpers than an expert on the magic and tinkering with artifacts - finding and cataloguing them was his specialty and then he passed them to someone else to fix. When Varric came around, and asked him to help with their search for Solas, Re'vhen jumped at the opportunity to meet Fen'Harel in person - even on the other side of a nasty ritual. Earlier in the game, there's certainly some antagonism between the two of them - especially with Solas blaming everything on him, but after Re'vhen starts to learn more about Solas - he starts to quickly develop a crush on him. So there's potential for a hate sex plot more towards the beginning, or something more tender and unexpected later in the game. Or even an enemies to lovers plot over the course.

[mamamittens]

Additional thoughts for the Veilguard AU Nikia fic

(why yes, I am recycling my precious bby girl self insert for this. I suspect I have a thing for tangentially Italian men with facial hair and big old puppy dog eyes, but only time will tell if the trend continues)

So, despite Nikia being mostly a self insert at her core, I do like to sort of... Focus a character like a magnifying glass on particular traits and struggles.

Makes the story more interesting.

This version I believe will mostly struggle with masking, apathy, suicidal ideation, and a deeply ingrained desire to be kind. It goes nicely with what seems to be the intended attitude of Rook.

That is, being very optimistic even if they aren't quite ready to be a leader.

Still working on her specific backstory for this one tbh

Anyway, I thought it would be nice if there was the occasional, almost muscle memory moment of the actual, original Rook. Like, when the Minrathus or Treviso pops up, despite already having a plan (Neve and Lucanis are kinda having a "Oh shit, she REALLY WASNT LYING ABOUT KNOWING THE FUTURE" moment and panic) she immediately responds

"We're going to Treviso." But it wasn't her. It was the real Rook. That is, if I decide to keep the ✨spicy✨ option of having this Rook be a Crow. It would be very interesting, Mourn Watcher is just easier cause they'd be less "is it a demon???!?!?" About her predicament. But Crow is really growing on me.

Also, totally forgot to explain in the last ramble post, but the strange god that made this possible is a Really Fucked Up Future Lavellan who decided to rearrange time after gaining fucked up godhood to save the world (again). Her goal was to save Solas from himself but the original Rook didn't quite have the temperament for the best ending.

Maybe this version Varric is actually alive lol

But OG Rook is more... Less friendly and trusting? Would make sense as a crow honestly. But they're not very supportive or good with people which, if you want the best ending, is... Super necessary. Quick to murder people at the very least if they get in the way. Not a good person. But not terrible? They try, but most of the Veilguard died in their original timeline. And once they saw the consequences they immediately agreed to the deal but knew they wouldn't be able to beat their instinctive reactions to stuff. Maybe with more time, they'd grow as a person enough to be the leader they all need, but right out the gate and under stress???? No. Absolutely not.

Which is why Nikia was pulled in. She already knows what she has to do and is from a world (and situation) where overt violence is a last resort. Does mean she sucks in a fight tho, but that's where her companions come in. At least until she trains up a bit with magic.

Wanted her to discover she can actually use it through dance? Sort of? Like, it's more akin to bending for her like this cause her connection to the fade is fucky. She was dragged spiritually through it and it had... Interesting effects. But she's unexpectedly physical for a mage, even for Veilguard mages.

And I like the idea that Neve and Harding think it's a bad idea to run through the events immediately cause it's easy to lose track. But also they don't quite believe her. So she writes letter for events and has them sealed until they need to be opened, giving her more credibility with time. Harding and Neve don't need too much convincing because she accurately knows who they're going to recommend for their team. Which given how hard they had to dig for some of it is... Interesting.

If Rook was a crow, Viago immediately knows something is up and Nikia is... So awkward and apologetic. He demands answers or he kills her and maybe she ends up having God!Lavellan pop out for a minute like "would u stop that, I worked hard to bring her here to fix this shit".

In the end, he stands down and is like "You better keep Rook's body in good condition or I will personally find a way to kill you, and you alone".

"I have zero intention of dying or causing permanent damage but considering what's coming... I'll try???"

Eventually Neve asks why she even revealed herself.

"It takes a special kind of person to pretend to be someone else. I absolutely could NOT pretend to be a complete stranger. All the time. I just... Don't have the energy for that. And I don't think you would forgive me for hiding what's coming from you, if nothing else."

"And my opinion matters to you?"

"Of course. I spent hours researching how to make everyone happy. More or less. You all deserve a happy ending. And to be free of all this as painlessly as possible."

Idk, I like the "time loop" trope but I almost never see one where they admit to knowing shit and also rarely see possession ones where they admit to not being who they appear. So I'm smashing them all together with the intention of making everyone upset with a slow burn yearning fic.

It's a good thing she reveals herself early because at least two companions should, in theory, notice something is odd about her. Mainly Emmrich and probably Bellara or Lucanis for magic reasons and personal possession himself respectfully. The future bit is a slightly harder sell, but considering the dramatic shit they deal with, it's not as hard as it could be.