#oc: harwen lavellan

[invinciblerodent]

Masterlist

Twitch page 🎮 YouTube channel 📺

Fic:

AO3 page (as of jan 2024, mostly old Dragon Age and Mass Effect fics- this is to be updated)

Ficlet on immortal elven souls and vampiric immortality (BG3, Astarion/Iona)

"Prayer of an unknown cleric" (BG3, Gale/Arvid)

Warden Tristan of the Grey - OC backstory snippet (DA:TV)

Verbena of the Shadow Dragons - OC backstory snippet (DA:TV)

Selected love letters (DA:I, Dorian/Ray)

"Headcanon"-type posts:

Gale (NSFW) (BG3)

Gifts (BG3, Origin cast)

Breakfast in Bed (BG3, Origin cast)

Orzammar dwarves on the surface (DA)

Characters:

Baldur's Gate 3

Arvid Trygg (he/him, 54)

"Gold dwarf" cleric of Tempus

Soldier background

❤️: Gale Dekarios

Playlist 🎶

Summary:

Note written by Gemria Bozzahr, 1438 DR, found pinned to the swaddling of a corpse-blue, wailing infant boy: "If you've any care for the weak, please find one who may care for him. I cannot face my family as mother to a half-breed. May he find grace in the glory of your god, and let him bear the name 'Arvid', after the father he may never know."

A bastard son born from but one night shared by a trader's daughter and a handsome duergar soldier, Arvid was raised by clerics of Tempus in a small and insignificant monastery/fortress, in a small and insignificant town close to Neverwinter. Now, it was unusual for Tempurans to take in urchins like that, but the boy, while unusual in his appearance and meek in his nature, proved a quick study, and a rare talent at healing. Which, with his quiet, mellow (and soon, not even quite so anxious!) personality, made him a favored addition to the "mercenary" excursions of the warrior-priests: and so, hitting the ground running, Arvid learned to fight in the very melting pot of battle.

With body and spirit molded by the Foehammer's teaching, he took his Acolyte vows shortly after his 16th spring, and became a fully fledged cleric of the Faith much younger than most. And as time passed slowly (and with... only a regular amount of constant bloodshed), he made his way to the rank of Direhar (guardian-priest). It was at 53 that he was called to Baldur's Gate: partly to replace the sole healer of the city's monastery who had perished (naturally in battle), and partly at the urging of his Warlyon (high priest), as an opportunity for him to eventually, maybe, even head his own congregation.

Of course, the mind flayers had different plans.

After merely a year of trying to establish a foothold in the city with... middling-to-poor success, Arvid was yanked from the city streets while trying to usher as many of those fleeing into the protection of the temple as possible. Fat load of good playing the hero did for him. (But to be fair, that's... kind of his theme.)

Iona Raedir (she/her, 61)

High elf sorcerer (draconic ancestry, red)

Guild Artisan background (jeweler/trader)

❤️: Astarion Ancunín

Playlist 🎶

Summary:

"Don't ask, kitten, and I won't lie."

Once dutiful daughter, once devoted wife, always a secret sorceress. Iona lived most of her life in a settlement by the name of Puremount's Hollow, among the so-called 'Emissaries of the Immaculate': a radical offshoot of the Ilmaterian church, one that views all magic as the domain befitting solely the gods, and arcane casters, abhorrent thieves of divine power. So, with the magic of ancient dragons thrumming in her veins, that... was sort of a problem.

To her very good excuse, neither did she join of her own accord, nor did she know she commanded such powers at the time. She was only 11 years old, after all.

But, one of the things elves do best, is wait. So that's what she did, and she played her part expertly: she and her beloved father lived their life in accordance with human traditions, he took a second wife (we don't talk about the first, it's too painful), she married the first boy who asked her (Herric Birchlight- a nice boy, if rough around the edges), and kept her facade (though loveless and rote, minor issue) impeccable, while ignoring her magic as it grew and yearned to be used. For over 30 long years, she kept playing her part. But even the best liars must eventually slip- or be made to slip, more accurately.

Uncovered as an "abominable thief" of divine power, a "pretender", a "fucking witch" and "magespawn" (all Herric's lovely words about the woman he had once called "wife" and "love"), Iona was forced to flee the compound, and took the burning of bridges behind her quite literally, taking little more than the clothes on her back and that brand new scar on her face.

She was snatched less than a day after she had finally arrived to Baldur's Gate, penniless, exhausted, and alone- and for all intents and purposes, she can't quite shake the feeling that this really might have been a better outcome than many of the possible alternatives.

Petyr Wildbrook (he/him, 45)

Wood half-elf ranger/rogue

Outlander background

❤️: Shadowheart, Halsin Silverbough

Playlist 🎶

Summary:

Raised among druids of the Circle of the Shepherd, Petyr waited quite a bit longer than he should have had to for his magic to show itself. And, well, it... simply never did. Brother, cousins (gods, so many cousins), friends, all inducted into the druidic arts before he could as much as conjure a single goodberry.

So, partly at the urging of his mothers and partly out of spite, Petyr took to trying to learn all he could about the wild- on his own, through sheer trial and error if need be. At 20, he gathered what meager belongings he could call his own (and a big pack of gifts from his worried, but oddly relieved family), and set out to find his luck wherever it may guide him.

Though it wasn't easy, or painless, or even smart by any stretch of the imagination, he fell into the role of a ranger and forester, and made a living as a hunter of monsters and big game, and a silent keeper of his little patch of woods: a lone watcher, and reclusive woodsman. He had always enjoyed the company of those who expect no social niceties from him anyway.

Turns out, the exception to that particular rule is the silent, squirming passenger of a tadpole behind the eyeball. And, yeah, so maybe even a self-identified utter bitch of a man is capable of being a "hero", if you stretch the meaning of the word far enough.

"Mara" (she/her; ???)

Lolth-sworn drow monk

Dark Urge

❤️: Karlach Cliffgate

Playlist 🎶

Summary:

She is three days old, and all she knows is murder.

But she's... nice. No, I promise. Or at least, she's... she's trying her best.

Dragon Age

Aren Lorna "Arie" Aeducan (she/her, DAO: 25, DAI: 46)

Noble dwarf, sword and board warrior (Berserker)

❤️: Alistair Theirin (Warden)

Aesthetic

Summary: TBD

Raymond "Ray" Percival Trevelyan (he/him, DAI: 24, DATV: 34, BG3: 55)

Inquisitor-as-Tav AU

Human

DA: sword and board warrior (Reaver)

BG3: fighter/Oath of Devotion paladin (noble background)

❤️: DAI- Dorian Pavus, BG3- Wyll Ravengard

Playlist 🎶

Aesthetic

Summary:

There's one thing that is to be said / about him in the years to come: A hero seldom lives to see / past the ending of their tale.

This AU is set roughly 30 years after the events of DAI. After a tumultuous youth of adventuring, ostensibly saving the world (which earned him the moniker "Inquisitor of the Dales"), and the loss of his sword arm in the process, Raymond had retired from heroics young, at merely 25 years of age. Upon the peaceful passing of his father (a minor, but old-money Baldurian baron), he quickly took to managing the family estate (reconciling a tenuous love with his estranged mother- we don't talk about the past much on that one), and settled in for two joyous decades of blissful domesticity by the side of the love of his life, Dorian.

Except fate has a way of throwing its doomed chosen at increasingly bigger problems, until one finally manages to kill them.

A handful of years pass between the assassination of his husband over blasted politics and his own abduction by mind flayers, and Ray, both dreading and strangely anticipating the adventure, falls back into the role of a leader and a hero like he would into a bad habit, though he is barely a shadow of his once-gregarious, larger-than-life hero self.

Maybe this time, throwing himself at a nigh-immortal god-monster will finally wind up killing him for good. And then, maybe he can finally rest.

Or not. Who knows. At least if he's lucky, fate will take a fucking leg this time.

Adela Cadash (she/her, DAI: 37, DA:TV: 47)

Surface-born dwarf (Marcher, Tantervale)

Archer rogue (Tempest)

❤️: The Iron Bull

Summary: TBD

Harwen Lavellan (he/they, DAI: ~30, DATV: ~40)

Dalish hunter

Archer rogue (Assassin)

❤️: Josephine Montilyet

By Veilguard, no longer wears his clan name and is a father to one daughter by the name Valeria Montilyet.

Summary: TBD

Under construction:

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Verbena "Ver" Mercar (she/her, 32)

Human (Tevinter), Shadow Dragons

❤️: Davrin

Playlist 🎶 (WIP)

Summary:

TBD

Zenka "Tanner" Laidir (she/her, 30's)

Dwarf (Ferelden), Lords of Fortune

❤️: Lace Harding

Playlist 🎶 (WIP)

Summary:

TBD

Tristan Thorne (he/him, 41)

Human (Ferelden/Orlais), Grey Wardens

❤️: Emmrich Volkarin

Playlist 🎶 (WIP)

Summary:

TBD

Coris de Riva (she/her, 30's)

Dwarf (Antiva), Antivan Crows

❤️: Lucanis Dellamorte

Playlist 🎶 (WIP)

Summary: TBD

Syl Aldwir (she/her, 27)

Elf (Tevinter), Veil Jumpers

❤️: Neve Gallus

Playlist 🎶 (WIP)

Summary: TBD

[amarmeme]

Hello!

I’m amarmeme. You can call me amar, meme, Anne or hey you. I’m in my 30s, I like video games, fantasy and romance. Combine all three and I’m smitten.

Obsessed with mostly Dragon Age, BG3. Catch me on AO3 as amarmeme. I also post to X sometimesas @rootboundwitch.

Dragon Age

A sickness, Especially DAI. Multishipper heart. The rarer the better it seems. Main OCs:

Verita Lavellan (/Solas, then Michel deChevin (I know and do not need education))

Charlotte —Lotte — Trevelyan (/Cullen Rutherford

Marian Hawke (/Sebastian Vael)

Solona Amell (/Alistair)

Baldur’s Gate 3

Current obsession, been generating too many OCs since EA days. Main OCs include:

Luscinia Nightshade, Wood Elf Gloom Stalker, /Halsin

Tavriel Crystalwinds, Half Elf Wild Magic Sorcerer, /Gale

Ani Charnix, Tiefling Rogue, /Rolan

More OCs I will probably create for include:

Limosa, Tiefling Light Cleric of Mystra, /Dammon

Harwen of Elturel, Tiefling Oath of Devotion Paladin, /Lae'zel

Nathtana, Drow Barbarian Durge, /Gortash

Silky, Faerie ArchyFey Warlock, /any-none

Gossamie, Noble Human Paladin, Oath of Devotion, /Astarion

As you can see, I have a problem!!

[invinciblerodent]

relationship and courting ask: 26 for Ray, 29 for Harwen, and 20 for Adela?

(heyo I don’t even know how late this is but then again I often am late with stuff so really what else is new haha :’))

26.) ♥What do they love most about their significant other?

isn’t that a bit like telling me to summarize the phonebook tho i mean lbr

If I have to narrow it down to just one blanket term, I’d have to say his intensity. Dorian is, overall, an intense person. He talks and feels loudly, his presence has this way of filling not just a room, but a ballroom if needed, and he doesn’t half-ass anything- he whole-asses whatever he’s doing, and throws himself head-first into everything, much like Ray himself. If it’s worth his attention at all, it’s worth every ounce of it, at the same time.

Whether it’s passion for a cause, or passion for a field of study, or passion in love, Dorian sinks his teeth deep into whatever catches his eye, doesn’t let it go while it still has an ounce of life left in it, and Ray absolutely adores that about him.

… of course it’s worth mentioning his sense of humor, his intelligence, and his confidence as well, but if I had to list everything Ray loves about Dorian, I would have to sit here until spring comes. :)

(Fael’s snark, Elden’s earnestness, and Kaiden’s ability to not just keep up with-, but match and one-up him in wit also come to mind, but I meeeeeeeeeeannnnnnnn)

29.) ♥How do they express their love to their partner?

I guess it bears saying that Harwen is, overall, a quiet, introverted person, and he’s honestly not very tactile at all. So his most obvious expression of love for Josephine is probably just… the fact that he consciously relaxes around her. With her, he makes sure his body is loose, and his body language is open and inviting.

Having been a hunter his whole life, Harwen is like a coiled spring. He always has this underlying layer of alertness, of tension in him. His shoulders are generally stiff, his back is straight, his bubble of personal space is on the larger side, and at a moment’s notice, he’s ready to reach for a weapon. But with Josie, he almost makes a show out of letting his guard down. Slouching his shoulders, pulling his feet up underneath him, leaning back and letting his face be as soft and tender as he feels around her.

For instance, he’s prone to flinching away from friendly touches. But if they’re sitting together and she has to get up for something, he’ll catch her hand without hesitation, and coax her into a hug to nuzzle her hip, or lay his forehead on her stomach. (He did that way more while she was pregnant.) 

He’ll just go out of his way to nonverbally let her know, he trusts her and enjoys her company, even if he’s not being talkative (even though he talks a lot more around her than anyone else). He’ll let her play with his fingers, he’ll lay his cheek on top of her head if she’s resting against his chest, he’ll tell her jokes, he’ll pull her into his lap every now and then, kiss her shoulder, or hand, or temple, etc. Just stuff that she knows is much softer, gentler than the man he presents as, and is overall much closer to who he is as a person.

He’ll even trust her to shave the hair on the back of his head. (Which is intimate as heck, because not only is she holding a sharp object and messing around sensitive parts of his body, she’s also doing that out of his view. So that’s one heck of a show of trust.)

I guess the TL;DR is that he shows his love by not just letting, but inviting her into his shell. :)

20.) ♥How did their relationship start?

I like to stick close to the canon events, so… with a lot of very obvious flirting, and him showing up in her room to say “hey, I know you’re game so, jussoyaknow, if you’re down, I’m down”.

And at that point, she really wasn’t looking for anything more than that. She had recently come out of a 10+ year romantic relationship, she had already had her few-month rebound after that with a lovely elven vixen, it hadn’t occurred to her to think about getting into another serious relationship.

But, it wasn’t her first ride around the block, she was an experienced kinkster who knew full well what she was getting into and knew how to handle a D/s relationship, and yeah, maybe he was also the hottest thing on two legs she had laid eyes upon in a long time.

So she was like “#yolo”, and took on the offer. They were friends and coworkers, they fooled around, joked around, he hung her from the chandelier once, it was fun.

And then came the dragon’s tooth conversation, which I headcanon happening after a good, long, exhausting night of filthy sex.

As part of the aftercare, as he’s massaging her joints, I headcanon that Bull likes to make quiet, idle conversation- partly because asking seemingly random questions is a good way to make sure his partner’s mind is clear, and partly because his partners tend to find his voice soothing.

It was on a whim that she even asked, but his answer stuck in her mind like a pesky nail that sticks out on the bottom of a table- it doesn’t affect much at all, doesn’t even show, but she knows it’s there. And for some reason, she kept reaching for that thought every now and then, even though she knew all it would do was drive her mad.

It was when their first dragon, the Northern Hunter, cried its last roar that she remembered it, and, well… she essentially just bent down to take a tooth without thinking much of it.

She didn’t make a secret of it, but she didn’t parade it around as a trophy either- she just cleaned it off, wrapped it up in cloth, and stuck it in her pack. Stayed there for weeks before she would have decided, again, that “#yolo” is the way to go. :)

[invinciblerodent]

All your ocs + writing :)

Ooooooh!

Alright, so starting with the ones I would think are the most interesting in this case...

Vogar and Harwen are the uneducated ones. (Which means nothing with regards to their intelligence and way more with circumstance and the kind of opportunities their game-given backstories established, mind you.)

Vogar was raised in Dust Town and he had been a mercenary since he was about 15- I thought it reasonable to assume that education wouldn’t be on top of his list of priorities when he and his sister were struggling to stay alive and keep their mother alive as well. Rica of course learned because, well, I figured being dressed up in nice gowns is worth shit if you’re not a good conversational partner. Vogar was simply busy standing around and looking menacing to spend time enough with his sister to learn it at least from her. It was only on the surface that he learned how to read and write. His first few letters back to Rica were shaky and messy, but for how little time it took, he was very proud of the progress he made.

Harwen, his case I’ve talked about- his native language is... well, what I would call a creole that’s a mixture of Common and Elvhen, and it is only human writing systems in which he’s not literate. While the mages and the merchants of the clan who actually dealt with humans had to learn to communicate with them, Harwen had always been a hunter- he never participated in the trade, and he had always been more preoccupied with avoiding humans that could have proven to be a threat to his team than with establishing connection with them. So it was after joining the Inquisition, as a 30 year old man, that he needed to learn how to write.

He could always read, but only very slowly, and it tired his eyes out quickly. (His handwriting is very slow too, to this day, but it’s always been very pretty. Vogar’s always stayed a chicken scratch.)

Leena, Ray and Arie are well-educated. Two of them were raised noble (which again means nothing of their intelligence), and the third had been the Keeper’s First for a very long time, they’ve simply had more opportunities to learn. (Of the three of them, Leena is probably the smartest.)

Leena, being an academic, had always been a smart person- she writes like a scientist too, which is to say, it’s pretty much completely illegible. She just writes as fast as the thoughts are coming, as fast as she talks- making it a hot mess in the process. But, she knows what it says, and somehow Leliana can decipher it, and that’s all that matters.

Ray and Arie, being my canon heroes, both have a journal- which is their respective games’ codexes. Both are nowhere near neat or organized, both have every note and torn piece of paper and pressed leaves tucked away in them- the one difference is that Ray scribbles things down as they come up, while Arie sits down at camp every night, and calmly writes down the day’s events as she remembers them.

Which, I think, probably shows the difference in their personalities pretty well. XD

They’re also all familiar with their respective cultures’ literature- Leena has a book into which she wrote down the stories she remembered from her childhood and saved them for her son, Arie is familiar with classic dwarven literature and has a faded Antivan poetry book tucked into her pack, and Ray of course has his very worn copy of the Tale of the Champion and the headful of poems his tutors made him memorize. :) That’s not really writing, but, y’know, they were written down once. So it counts.

And last but not least, Adela is my wildcard. She never had much of an exposure to any sort of higher education, but she is regardless a very, very smart woman. At the risk of sounding like I’m borrowing from Varric (which I’m not, to be clear), I’m kind of thinking about giving her a knack for storytelling? Not as an author or a writer because that really would be too much like Varric, but as an entertaining speaker. A performer.

Like she could read for hours upon hours to a child, and they just would not fall asleep, simply because it’s too fun to listen to her.

I mean, she does have Sumalee Montano’s voice- it’s just very, very pleasant to listen to her talk, and with her colorful Carta past, her anecdotes are just a whole lot of fun. (Now I’m picturing her and Varric having a story-off by the campfire- I can think of more than just one companion who would have the time of their life listening to them.) (God, can you picture Cassandra trying to mask her engagement with those sparkling eyes, or Bull scaring up a nearby flock of birds with his laugh? Priceless.)

But never ask her to actually write it down, the charm really doesn’t come through well.

I’m sure I forgot someone because I’m a terrible mother but it’s midnight and I’ve been sleeping like garbage recently so my brain feels sponge dry I’m sorry

[invinciblerodent]

Ray + eating, Harwen + music? :)

Oh, honey. Remember this post, when I rambled a good 2k words about what I think happens to a Reaver’s body with the training? I think only mentioned this in passing, but not only does it completely fucks Ray’s impulse control- it also gives him the appetite of like.. three fully grown, adult men. Nay, qunari. Who spend their whole dang day doing manual labor.

Which is kind of true, the training burns a lot of calories, the mildly increased body temperature is a sign of his metabolism working overtime, and he DOES spend most of his time running around all sorts of countrysides in full plate armor. And yeah, he IS a big, 6′4″, young and physically active dude, of course he’s going to eat a lot.

BUT FRIENDS. YOU DON’T KNOW THE HALF OF IT.

I mean it. This boy just. Schnarfed it all right up. In that One Period I always mention when they were feeling out the whole training and notoriously overdosed him with dragon blood? He basically INHALED food. Hungry all the time. He even temporarily got back a bit of the squish he had going on into the Inquisitorial business. (The cooks were delighted. The others either entertained, or mildly intimidated.)

The worst part was that he hardly even realized it. Good thing that’s over with.

Harwen actually has a pretty good ear for rhythm! Despite never having been trained with any instrument, or really any sort of familiarity with anything other than his people’s folk songs, he’s been caught humming or whistling to himself many times.

After first hearing the song Maryden wrote for Sera, he had gotten many a pebble thrown at him by a specific elf for absently whistling it on the road.

.... also, you try to tell me Jon Curry’s voice as the American male Inquisitor isn’t just endlessly pleasant to the ear. I would be doing the world a disservice if Harwen couldn’t sing. At least elven lullabies to his daughter.

And I’m not about to do that. I don’t like to give my kiddos singing as a talent, and it’s not like it is a talent with him, but he can probably hold a tune the best.

(send help, I just imagined Josie watching from the doorway as her husband is holding little sleeping Valeria and singing softly to her, I am weak)

[invinciblerodent]

Harwen + Ears | Ray + underclothes ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

How likely is it mine are the only elven OCs in this fandom who cannot move their ears independently? Because he absolutely cannot, for the life of him, and neither can Leena. XD

Harwen’s ears are completely stiff, and fixed in position, like a human’s- they don’t emote, they don’t move, really all they do is sit there, and prove a bit of an inconvenience in laying down. (they don’t sit completely flush against his skull and they point a bit past his nape, so laying on his side and folding them to his head, or laying on his back and pushing them forward, that kind of hurts, he can’t help it.)

He can’t even hear significantly better than average. What “superior” hearing he has, he got from having been trained as a hunter his whole life, and it’s more just pattern recognition than anything else. As in, he can’t really hear that much better, he just knows what to listen for, and recognizes faint noises easier. Like, there is a difference between the sound a pack of wolves, and the sound a herd of wandering halla makes? With training, it’s not that hard to tell them apart. That, to the untrained person, may make it seem like he has some sort of a sixth sense, or just completely inhuman abilities, but nah- he’s completely within the realm of human capabilities, he’s just very good at what he’s doing.

He wasn’t the huntmaster for nothing. ;)

Something that’s kind of “unique” to him... would be maybe that it is only post-game, after moving to Antiva, that he becomes conscious of how different he looks from humans, and how big a part his ears play in that. They’re on the large side even for an elf, after all, they really stand out, so they.... make him a bit self-conscious. For long years, he’s hyper-aware of the eyes that always go to his ears whenever he’s introduced to someone new, and once his daughter is born, he can’t deny a bit of an... awareness of, if not a shred of disappointment over the fact that her ears are small and smooth, like her mother’s. He knows it’s selfish, and it would only inconvenience Valeria later in her life if she looked more like her father, but hey, feelings can’t be controlled.

u nasty ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

i must admit that I like nasty m’self ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

so, underclothes you say? Well, I hope you know what kinda drawers people wore in that period

super hot ain’t it

this, ladies, gents, and everyone in-between, is the reason why I just completely disregard this element of historical accuracy, and substitute these intensely sexy items of clothing for their modern counterparts.

So, while Adela is the queen of naughty underdrawers, Ray’s appreciation for finely made items is nothing to sneeze at either. He was, after all, raised noble; he’s used to both quality and aesthetic pleasure. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

... on his partners. On himself, he’s very, very boring. I like to keep the period-appropriate lack of an elastic waistband and add ties instead, but other than that, he is very, very boring. ((one would have to be very convincing in his arguments to talk him into anything else, ‘sallimsayin’))

((wink wonk))

[invinciblerodent]

Harwen + nature?

SEND ME A CHARACTER + A WORD AND I’LL WRITE A 5 SENTENCE FIC FOR THEM

(with this one, I tried to go for a younger Harwen- the lanky, graceless boy who snuck out of camp pretty much every night to practice shooting. :) Not much has changed since then, I’d say.)

(THIS FIVE SENTENCE LIMIT IS SO HARD TO KEEP OH MY GOD.)

As if he was journeying into the imagination of someone with no other escape, the leaves of tall grass, like many glossy, waving hands, brushed welcoming against the boy’s knobbly, bony knees. The forest ate away at the clearing with each long, wading step, and slowly, but surely, it encapsulated him in the soft, gentle darkness- somewhere in the distance, a creature called for its mate, howling its solitude over the rushing of the nearby river.

Timber wolf, he guessed- after all, the hunters had shot down a male earlier that day; a big, burly, beautiful beast the pelt of which was to warm Ellana’s newborn, come winter.

No matter, the boy sighed to himself, and he set his flat, sad little bag down next to a tree with more holes in its bark than grooves.

Unslinging the bow from his torso, he fished a -now blunt- arrow out of his quiver, and notched it, his inexperienced hands trembling slightly, and pulled it back- exhale, and release.

[invinciblerodent]

Here's a question I ask all of my friends about their OCs when we get to brainstorming. If your characters were flavors of ice cream what would they be? For example my Cadash is coffee ice cream, he's sweet but not as sweet as some. Kind of strong. A touch bitter under his sweetness. For some an acquired taste, people who like him tend to really love him while others just never warm up to him.

welp time to research the crap out of some ice cream flavors then

that’s a very good question, actually! I might steal it, too :) It took me more thinking than I would care to admit, to find one that fits for each of them, but in the end, I think I did pretty well!

now prepare for unnecessarily flowery language and a lot of weird words to be associated with food ((that y’all are probably used to by now lbr))

For Vogar Brosca, I’m thinking rum and walnut. Not sure how popular a flavor that is elsewhere, but here in Hungary, it’s very common, sold pretty much at every stand. He’s a peculiar, decadent, very strong and slightly alcoholic flavor that, to me, invariably overpowers everything else. He stands out without trying, just by being himself, and even if forced to mix with something else, that bitter, earthy, astringent tang will never quite go away. (Plus, raisins. Lots of people don’t like raisins for some unfathomable reason, even though they’re fkin great and my 5′5″ ass will fight anyone for their honor. Yeah, they may be small and kinda unpleasant in large doses, but soak them in copious amounts of buttermilk and rum, and they turn real soft, and gentle, and I’m not even talking about raisins anymore am I) (( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))

For Harwen Lavellan, I’m thinking green tea. He’s mild and… well, generally just sweet and inoffensive in his presence, with a subtle grassy, and maybe a touch minty aftertaste. He’s a bit of an acquired taste, and if prepared -or in this case, approached- by a careless, unthinking hand, he can turn out terribly bitter- if that’s the only way one has tasted him, they will forever be turned off of him. But those who like him, or those who take the time to learn to like him, he’s a treat. (And, the color complements his eyes very nicely, too. :) That’s not exactly a selling point, but it’s pretty.)

For Leena Lavellan, I’m thinking something for the curious, the adventurous- Apricot Noyaux. She’s the usual, fruity sweetness of apricots, but with the inner, white, almond-like interior of the seed lightly fried and ground up to add a new, artisanal twist to something old and well-known. She’s got the smooth familiarity of apricots, but the bitter-almond flavor and the texture of the noyaux adds a surprising newness, and just a touch of refinement. (I think this flavor is from… a Chicago shop, I believe? Not too sure, but I know it’s a very experimental flavor.)

For Raymond Trevelyan, absolutely Black Forest. He’s the old, well-known, well-loved, and entirely expected, predictable bittersweet dark chocolate, but with the playful, fruity sweetness of a sour cherry syrup swirl that you won’t even know of, right until you look past the surface and actually dare take a bite. He’s an intense, decadent flavor, kind of an assault of tastes that may be a bit overwhelming to some, but those who have a taste for the dramatic, swear by him. Since it’s usually served with chocolate shavings either on top or hidden inside, there is also a delightful crunchy roughness to him that melts at the heat of a tongue, and if that ain’t Ray, then I’m the queen of the Nile.

For Adela Cadash, black truffle. Against the basic, nondescript vanilla custard base that blends flawlessly with most everything, the heady, earthy sweetness of expensive, high quality, confectioner’s truffles really stand out. (Is it weird to describe a food as erotic? Because I think truffles are a very sexy food. Like, it’s an honest to god fuck-me food. Black Forest is a sexy flavor too, but yknow.) Can be served with a sticky-sweet caramel swirl, or whatever topping one might like- she’ll go well with most everything, and show a new face to everyone who tries her. A real indulgent, luxurious treat that won’t let herself be pinned down.

And finally, for Arie Aeducan, I have to say butterscotch. She’s very sweet and creamy; a rich, caramel delight with a flavor that still won’t let itself be overpowered. With a lot of brown sugar, and that smooth, buttery texture, she’s what I would call a diplomatic flavor- something that works extraordinarily well with some others, harmonizes with them, but without letting her voice blend into the background noise for one moment. (And I happen to know for a fact that strawberry cheesecake and butterscotch make for a very soft, but perfect combination of flavors, because that happens to be one of my favorites, and I think Origins!Leliana would do well as strawberry cheesecake. :)) (they’re both flavors that describe soft bi girls and I’m a soft bi girl, what did you expect honestly)

[invinciblerodent]

kurosmind replied to your post“please, for once, just let them have the disgustingly cute familial...”

please keep going, yes,

do you really want me to keep going because honey I can talk HOURS about the cute domestic bliss I plan for them

like I will always love the thought of Harwen ditching the storybook when his eyes get tired, and just making up nonsensical but fantastic stories for his daughter every night instead

or him carrying each of his girls to bed, one by one, because they’ve been in Josie’s office too long and they’ve already started nodding off

or him trying desperately to figure out how to re-braid his daughter’s pretty, wavy hair before mommy notices that she was playing on the tree again and he was too proud of her to tell her she shouldn’t do that

or him smugly and proudly smirking at the dignitaries who get all flustered when they learn that he’s not a servant but Lord Montilyet, the husband of the lovely and intelligent businesswoman with whom they want to trade ((that I especially like accompanied with them bending over backwards to appease the elf they asked for a drink not twenty minutes ago))

or him just looking at his girls, newborn daughter in his arms and wife resting her chin on his shoulder, and feeling so full of- and surrounded by nothing but love and acceptance and gentleness and UGH

just. I love Harwen Lavellan, the grumpy demisexual Dalish assassin, being the loving and loved, happy, and playful, and present father that he deserves to be to his baby bird because he’s 100% cheesy like that and he WILL call her that always

[invinciblerodent]

“please, for once, just let them have the disgustingly cute familial domesticity they deserve” I beg myself, as I cackle demonically, and write about nothing but his feelings of inadequacy and his struggle with giving up his culture in favor of giving his daughter the future he feels she deserves

((help I can’t stop thinking about Josie helping out shaving the hair off the back of Harwen’s head and neck, where he can’t see it))

((like a super peaceful morning of maintaining his shaved up ‘do after the Inquisition days))

((like something stupidly idyllic, with the Sun just rising over the Antivan hills, her still in her pastel pink embroidered nightgown, and him bent shirtless over the washbasin))

((watching her in the mirror with this fond smile))

((up to his little elfy ears in love and thinking about just how unbelievable it is that this woman didn’t just choose him, but chose to be his wife))

((help))

[invinciblerodent]

Since I mentioned that I love Harwen, for TMI Tuesday: Do you have any headcanons about Harwen and Josephine's sex life? Aaand, what is Harwen's biggest regret?

well, wouldn’t I have any. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

((well. not many, but some exist. :) I feel like I start to really get into a character only after I’ve finished the game with them at least once? So he’s gotten quite a boost since I finished his playthrough.))

I’m gonna preface this by mentioning that Harwen is on the ace spectrum. I play and write him as a demisexual man who is content with who he is, and was never pressured to be anything other than who he is. So sexuality doesn’t factor into his story as heavily as it does for, for instance, Arie (whose struggle with coming to terms with her bisexuality is a focal point of her story) or Ray (to whom his homosexuality was one of the parts of him he was forced to hide growing up). Harwen’s story is more focused on culture shock, and he may not have had a word for what he felt about it all, but he was always happy with the person he was, as he was. :)

Their sex life, in general, is... I guess the way I could describe it in just one word would be by saying that it’s soft. All around it’s very soft, and gentle, and exploratory, and... generally pretty basic, honestly. Probably my most... significant sexy headcanon about them is that the first time they even attempted to have sex, it just... completely died down in giggles. And not the embarrassed kind, but full-on laughter from the both of them. :)

I mean, it was kind of funny. With their fumbling in the darkness and the fact that elves’ eyes glow in the dark, it ended with the two of them just... naked-cuddling, and talking through the evening. It was awkward, and the romantic atmosphere was ruined the second he accidentally elbowed her in the ribs, but it was nevertheless a bonding experience they remember fondly, now that they’re more experienced lovers.

Buuuuuut, the part of their relationship that’s most intriguing to me is that with how much time they spend apart, letters have to be frequent. And, as a Dalish hunter (whose education therefore focused a lot more on technique than on theory), Harwen is... not really literate in human writing systems. Or he’s literate, but not nearly as educated as he would like to be. He can read, sure, but only slowly, long text or small letters really tire his eyes out, the pen sits awkward in his hand, and he has spent many a night just... sitting over a length of parchment, in the ass-end of Thedas, wracking his brains over how to match Josie’s passionate words.

Because she? Now she is a master of dirty letters. Lady Josephine Cherette Montilyet, a well-read woman with an abundant vocabulary and a delicate hand, writes the best naughty letters humanly imaginable, and there is nothing anyone could say to convince me otherwise. She writes long, and beautiful, and later on steaming hot letters; the kind that her poor boyfriend has to strain his eyes to read (because her handwriting is super tiny and the lines are super tight), but they have him blushing well into the next day.

Yes, even though they are absolutely adorable. Like there are even little hearts on the corners. And smiley faces. And the paper is spritzed with her perfume too, so every time it’s unrolled, that sweet lavender scent fills the tent. Way to condition your boyfriend to get a little riled up every time he opens a wardrobe.

He’s trying really, really hard, you guys. He’s trying to learn, and he’s trying to woo her the way he thinks she wants to be (no matter how many times she tells him she loves him the way he is), and he’s doing his best, but... yeah, he’s way better with spoken words. And while his letters may be curt and awkward, he more than makes up for it in person. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

(His voice actor is Jon Curry. He’s a tall, scrawny elf with garlic cloves for an ass, and a stupidly deep, sexy voice. Even if what he’s saying makes little sense, it’ll be sexy.)

.... and one more thing, since it just occurred to me that they do need to worry about that, I have not a clue on how contraception works in the whole 17th century setting. With my borderline encyclopedic knowledge about sex in that era, one would think I know, huh. But nah, all I know is that the condoms were mostly made from animal bladders and such. That wouldn’t really sound good in fic, now would it. (That’s why I always write the others barebacking, because I don’t want to explain where the condom could have come from. XD)

Maybe he’s just the... pulling out kind of guy. Or someone hooks them up with some sort of a potion that, uh... empties his quiver for the time being. Dunno yet. I’ll need to do some more research into it. :)

As for his biggest regret, I’m thinking it would be... trespassing in the Catacombs in the Temple of Mythal. He wasn’t thinking straight at the time, he was just scared out of his mind, thinking that unless he acts as quickly as possible, the fighting is going to reach the camps, and the Empress, and most importantly, Josephine.

Later, he can’t help but think that it was more or less a betrayal of his heritage, his people. It’s not that he regrets worrying about her, or that he would change anything if he had the opportunity for a do-over, but he can’t escape the thought that he is responsible for the loss of something that cannot be gotten back. Which is true, he can’t bring Abelas or the Sentinels back to life.

He doesn’t regret drinking from the Well though. It’s unnerving, and he knows that it may end up hurting him, but there was no way he was going to let Morrigan “take” that from his people.

.... now on that, I think he might change his mind the second he first holds his daughter in his arm(s). ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[invinciblerodent]

I love Ray of course, but I've got a soft spot for Harwen too. Not sure why even, I guess partly it's because male Lavellan with Josephine is pretty rare to see, and they seem so lovely together. And his personality (the calm pragmatic introvert) is one I have a hopeless weakness for as well. And then there's Arie, who I don't know as much about as I'd like, but Aeducans are pretty awesome in general. Honestly all your characters seem realistic and grounded to me, in the best of ways of course.

You know, all joking aside, I’m super happy that you would say that. :)

Harwen, while a very important character to me, I thought multiple times about giving up on. Mostly because… well, on one hand he didn’t garner a lot of feedback and if there is more interest in someone else I’d rather try that, but on another, most of the little feedback I got on him was just… not really on him. In fact, it mostly consisted of people assuming that he’s with Dorian, which, y’know, isn’t a very pleasant feeling. (I’m afraid I’ll always remember that time his face, just his face, was tagged “Pavellan”, even though it had nothing to do with Dorian. That shouldn’t have wounded me as deep as it did, but… what can I say, I’m a super-sensitive potato.)

He’s a very personal character to me, in the way that he too struggles a lot with fitting into a society that’s very different from the one in which he was raised; the one with which he is familiar. That part of him was shamelessly inspired by what I’ve noticed on myself, and how I, someone of an Eastern European background, fit into a largely Western environment. That’s sort of what I was trying to grasp, in an exaggerated, slightly tongue-in-cheek kind of way of course; I do the same with the Orzammar dwarves, in maybe a way that’s a little more distant from me, a little more satirical.

More or less all throughout his story, Harwen is in a near-constant state of culture shock, and he adjusts by giving up something that, to him, was precious… in order to gain something new that ends up becoming just as precious, but in a different way. That’s sort of analogous with what I’m thinking about doing by planning to move across the ocean in… maybe a couple years.

So any and all feedback on him that’s from people who like him, or enjoy what I do with him, it’s very important to me, and it really makes me very, very happy. The others as well, but he has a special little place in my heart as well. :)

And you’re right, the last time I checked the statistics, mLavellan was by a longshot the least popular pairing for Josephine, with a measly five works on AO3; one of which I wrote myself, so it’s definitely something I really, really would like to see more of myself! Might as well try to do my part, right? :)

… oh, and thank you so much for the second half, and that last sentence as well. lot more. :)

I don’t know why it took me so long to let her out of the closet, honestly. Alistair is a lovely character, but he’s just not the right fit for her.

[invinciblerodent]

★ for Harwen or Adela :D

FOR EVERY “★” I GET, I WILL POST A FACT ABOUT MY CHARACTERS.

well how about both

★ Harwen is terrified of horses. He’s beyond fine with every other animal- spiders, cockroaches, snakes, everything that’s usually regarded as gross, he’s a-okay, but growing up in the clan, he was just... never really exposed to horses, only when they came with humans. And more often than not, that meant that he wasn’t allowed (and as an adult, didn’t want) to go near them.

Aside from the merchants who sometimes came to trade with them, horses always meant potential danger, hunters, soldiers nearby- after 30 years, it’s hard for him to not tense up and get nervous around horses. Which they can in turn feel, so they don’t much like him either. He’s fine riding a hart when necessary, thank you.

In the Fade, to him, the Fearlings appeared as... well, more of less the Bog Unicorn, sans sword-horn.

★ Okay so I think I have mentioned this before, to a degree, but I don’t think I’ve ever said it outside of tags, so... the main peculiarity in Adela’s speech is that she hardly ever calls people by their names. Sometimes it’s just something like “friend” or “buddy”, but she also makes up one-time use monikers as needed.

It works both as an endearment (like when she refers to Varric as “Shifty Dwarf”, it’s absolutely from a place of affection- after all, she has known a few shifty dwarves in her time and is one herself), but it also masks it if she just doesn’t know (has forgotten, didn’t bother to learn, etc.) someone’s name.

Which, yknow, happens. Occasionally. She’s a busy lady, buddy. Got things to remember.

[invinciblerodent]

nahashnesher replied to your photoset

Very nice! Are you going to go on and finish Trespasser with him?

I don’t know if I will. :) On one hand he’s too handsome to leave in Skyhold, but on another... it feels super weird to hear people refer to him as the Inquisitor? I mean, I’ve played my canon so many times that at this point, Ray’s face and Harry Hadden-Paton’s voice are so tied to the word “Inquisitor” in my mind that I have a hard time playing other characters without feeling like something is just... ever so slightly off.

... And as lovely as the voicework of Jon Curry is, it’s generally kind of hilarious to hear that deep, rumbly voice coming out of THIS elf. I mean, LOOK at him.

He’s so tiny. So small. A small, grumpy boy.

Plus his worldstate... kind of sucks? I did very few sidequests, I conscripted the mages (yikes™), Alistair is dead in the Fade (yikes™²), he drank from the Well (yikes™³), Leliana is unromanced and hardened while Vivienne is Divine (yikes™ⁿ)... he was sort of my lowkey-asshole playthrough, so I don’t know if I want to even save this playthrough for any reason beyond the character being cute and Josie deserving a cute romance. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[invinciblerodent]

the saga of the Elf That’s Too Pretty to Be Played™ continues

[invinciblerodent]

Your lavellans are so beautiful and and l'm glad your male lavellan romanced Josephine . Almost all male lavellans I see on tumbler have romanced either Dorian or Bull, so it's fresh to see heterosexual male lavellan.

Aw, thank you! I’m really glad you like him! :)

Oh, but, actually, I played Harwen as demisexual- though I admit, I don’t talk about that (or him in general for that matter) very often. My mTrev is generally the star here, so the others often sink a little bit into nonexistence. :)

But, if you’re interested in more, I have his bio on my character page which I shamelessly plug to anyone who’ll listen because I worked hard on it and I’m an actual toddler when it comes to things I made!