#oc: matthas

[vancalox]

can you fucking imagine if instead of the mourn watch or lords of fortune factions we'd instead had an inquisition and agents of fen'harel faction . personally i have not stopped thinking about it once since finishing veilguard but maybe thats just me

[octoariadneeeeexoxo]

They said..

"Oh my god! You look just like Shanila!"

"No no, your Monï Mattha!"

"Actually, my name is Roxie.."

(Dw Guys this has nothing to do with my irl life, its my main ocs backstory!!)

[vancalox]

me and maia tethrras hunched over our screens typing out the most poignant oc x oc au pairing backstories youve ever heard bc we would rather do anything that have to engage critically with the Actual plot or canon companions of veilguard :/

[vancalox]

MATTHAS MERCAR | THE SHADOW DRAGON INQUISITION AGENT

[vancalox]

ive made my feelings on veilguard clear atp but i WILL say as a tragedy enjoyer act 3 really redeems sooooo much of it for me. esp having my rook-and-siblings worldstate bc let me tell u 3 rooks = 3 separate tragedies is DOING it for me rn. a bellaramancer a hardingmancer and a varricmancer walk into a bar. they all walk out single 😍

[vancalox]

19, 27, 39 for deia, evander and matthas???❤️

LOVE U NETT MWAH MWAH <3

19. What is Rook’s love language? What love languages do they respond best to?

deia's is answered here but for matthas and evander....... HM..... i think for matthas his would be acts of service :3 he struggles with the weight of his whole family being dependent on him, and it makes him stressed and irritable and difficult to relax with. i think someone helping to minimize those burdens and showing him they HE can be taken care of sometimes, and that he can let his guard down around you, would be really quite like profound to him lmao. it could even fix him dare i say.

and as for evander, thats a tough one. i think he'd say physical touch because he's a harlot but i think he's secretly a quality time guy like deia is. in fact id go so far as to say physical touch is not nearly half as important as he thinks it is for him, and all he really wants is someone to go on adventures with and stand by him for no other reason than that they care about him :)

27. When was the last time they cried?

for matthas, the last time he cried was after evander betrayed the inquisition (for solas lol) and subsequently got the entire trio kicked out. AND pissed off ashara, the ONE woman matthas has been in love with for 6 years LMAO. the betrayal of his brother doing that and destroying the one thing matthas had that he loved so much was just devastating.

for evander, i think he cried more recently, just before datv takes place. for several years he'd been estranged from the family, operating as an agent of fen'harel. and then (disclaimer: PURE hc, since veilguard does not address this at All 🙃) solas's instructions stop coming in, and all his agents are essentially left anchorless without his correspondence. evander feels especially abandoned by the man and the cause because he had quite literally thrown away EVERYTHING for this. and he blames himself, because its easier to blame himself than to concede that solas was maybe not the best person to place ones faith in lol

for deia, i don't think she cries too much honestly which may surprise some given how she looks like the biggest babiest crybaby on earth. but she tends to hold it together pretty well. i think she often cried alone in private after missions with the shadow dragons, missions which she completely successfully but completely alone, and so every victory left her feeling hollow and empty until she met up with varric. and speaking of varric - obviously getting into veilguard territory here - i do think after his 😐 injury 😐she would randomly wake up from dreams or even just daydreams to find she had been silently but steadily crying. and not really understanding why but getting this inexplicably urge to go talk to varric in the infirmary until the feeling went away. until act 3 happens and suddenly she very much understands lol.

finally doubling back to evander and matthas. during the events of veilguard they do cry as well and its because . well . imagine youre evander for example, a (former) agent of fen'harel and now a hardingmancer. youre brother is a bellaramancer. your sister is a varricmancer. and you just completed the ghilan'nain fight on tearstone island lol :) varrics dead, hardings dead, bellaras gone, your sister is gone. for weeks. yeah. they cried a LOT.

39. What is their room at The Lighthouse like?

oh this is SO CUTE ARE U KIDDING I HAVENT EVEN THOUGHT OF THISSSSSS im glad we're ending on a happier note after that last answer JKGJKFJGK

deia def stays in solas's meditation room. i think there's smth poignant about her connection to solas. he is the cause of her brothers' ultimate irreparable family breakdown but hes also their one chance at reconciling. and he reminds deia of them!!! theyre lost too !!!! :( so being close to solas makes her feel close to her brothers and vice versa. i think she'd try to respect his space as best as possible while also bringing it to life a bit more. if she found any of his obviously cherished keepsakes she would add her own to his. she color codes his books. she feeds his fish. LMAO.

evander would occupy the music room. he likes secret puzzle rooms bc he is a rogue first and a person second. its a good place to hide, and since he's a bit of a pariah at the start of the game he VALUES a place to hide his face when things get too heated out there. he'd also use it as an opportunity to learn more about solas, to reinforce his rose-tinted perspective on the guy. and hes a romantic at heart!! he definitely would terrorize that lute found on solas's bed and the natural light would help him wake up easier in the mornings.

that leaves matthas, who i think would occupy the top room in the lighthouse - solas's office. he would take it strategically in an attempt to "know the enemy" and would NOT be respectfully about the guys property lmao. i also think it helps that the room is so distant from everyone elses quarters. he feels alienated and out of place and especially being around evander again, he needs a place to come and just be himself for a few hours.

i think its funny that all the rooms are chosen for very solas specific reasons, but as the game progresses and they separating their own personhood from their feelings on the guy, the rooms start to feel more like Them :)

[vancalox]

19 22 and 29 for Deia Evander and Matthas in that order!!

19. What is Rook’s love language? What love languages do they respond best to?

hmmm so i think if you were to ask HER she would likely say quality time ! deia grew up in a big family of 8 people (5 siblings + her parents + herself) all in one cramped little house, so while it was not always the most calm or enjoyable of upbringings, she does associate it with never being lonely and always feeling love in the room she's occupying. i think ultimately having the family break down was really hard on her and she really isnt accustomed to being alone, and so having a loved one make time for her to just stay by her side, not leave, and enjoy her company a great deal :)

(i, personally, might argue that her True love language is gift giving. a downside of being a part of a big/poor family is not having a lot that you can call "yours". so receiving a gift made just for her would DELIGHT her for sure :))

22. Most embarrassing memory as a teenager:

haze im soooo sorry ik u said evander -> matthas but i think im going to answer this one for matthas just bc he is so deeply embarrassing just in general and so this really speaks to the crux of his character. and actually this question ties neatly into the mercar-trio's backstory so thats fun!!

during dai, matthas (18 at the time), evander (21) and deiadre (15) were all attacked by venatori while on the road to skyhold to set up a diplomatic alliance with the inquisition. fortunately they were saved by the inquisitior herself, ashara/solas/varric/cole returning back from some sidequests or whatever who even cares lol. anyway during that time leading them back to skyhold, evander bonded with solas and deia bonded with varric, but matthas "bonded" with ashara. as in she said maybe like 20 words to him over the course of 2 days and maybe smiled at him once and he fell absolutely horrendously humiliatingly in love with her. at least he believed it was love - in truth it was more loving the idea of her and drinking the herald of andraste koolaid, but he was absolutely insufferable to be around from that point onwards. teenager-in-their-first-twitter-fandom level insufferable LMAO. he had an almost uncanny ability to relate ANY conversation topic to Inquisitior Lavellan in one way or shape. he took up any cause of hers as if it was his own. they had come to work out a deal with josephine and that was it, but matthas actually ended up staying in skyhold with the inquisition and serving ashara for several years, pining after her like a puppy dog from the grand hall every time she walked by. whenever he returned home to minrathous for family holidays he would be bullied within an inch of his life by deia and evander. i wish i could say he grew out of this phase but honestly if ever he runs into ashara in person during veilguard he would lose the ability to speak commons entirely lol. if he had a personal quest, it would be rook helping him get over his sad down horrendous situationship :(

29. Any vices?

evander is a basically just 7000 little vices in a trenchcoat at this point. he's a hedonist through and through so its kind of a minor miracle he's also dead broke 90% of the time so he cant do anything too crazy. but yes, all the vices. enjoys drinking, sleeping around, thinks of kleptomania as an artform to be perfected, likes causing fights On Purpose and then bailing, and loves to lie and cheat <3

he's also deeply kind, gentle and selfless when he wants to be. but mainly the vices LMAO. i think if i was to point to anything specific i'd say he's a bit of a chronic graffiti artist. in fact he and deia bonded when she was a girl bc he essentially taught her parkour lmao, or at least navigating the shortcuts and rooftops of minrathous to find all the best places to tag in direct view whichever authority was upsetting him the most that week. he's a very creative man and likes to channel it in very aggravating ways. he and deia have that in common lmao !

[vancalox]

deia and her brothers can communicate via obscure bird calls btw. if you even care

[vancalox]

.........also 30-33 for deia or all three of them if u want!!🥺🤲

30. What is Rook’s class? Did they choose it?

deia and evander are both rogues, matthas is a warrior!

31. What specialization does Rook pursue? What called them to it?

deia is an archer (veil jumper i fucking guess 🙄 just minus all the magic and flare lol) and evander is.... idk. a saboteur i guess but only insofar as it relates to dirty fighting. mostly hes a dual wielding daggers guy. evander taught deia everything she knows abt the rogue trade when she was a kid after years of begging to come with her brothers on missions, but INSISTED she never fight in close combat hence why she took up the bow. shes good at being sneaky and staying out of sight, because that was the only reason her brothers agreed to take her anywhere exciting lmao. as for evander. knives are fun, easily concealed, and make him look cool at parties.

for matthas, he really subscribes to the archetype of a protector so a sword and shield fit him naturally. i also think he really looked up to people like cassandra and cullen in skyhold, who likely taught him a great deal of what he knows now.

32. How would a desire demon tempt Rook?

honestly a desire demon IS tempting deia through the entirety of veilguard and his name is solas <3 DFGJKHGJFDK ik solas is pride but. yknow.

really it would look a lot like alistair's dream during the broken circle questline of origins; she wants her family back, whole and happy again. everything she does in veilguard is motivated by the singular wish that she could have that by the end of it.

evander wants his family also, but he dreams of a life of wealth, comfort and complete freedom for them and himself. a world without authority or rules. a world where he's in control of his own destiny and can actually bond with his family instead of feeling like they might only want him around for what he can provide.

matthas would desire being ashara's second in command, back with the inquisition, in power and respected and, most importantly, loved.

i genuinely think at the start of veilguard they would be corrupted so, SO easily by desire. like if u think getting duped 4 times in a row by solas was embarrassing i just know it wouldve been way worse if he was a desire demon lol. but by the end of it....... no i dont think so. by the end of veilguard all they want is to walk out alive, with each other.

33. What do fear demons look like to Rook?

hmmmm GOOD QUESTION. its kind of tricky for deia bc i cant rly say a person/creature/animal like i can for all my other protags. but i know if she was in presence of a fear demon it would absolutely utilize her fear of water. she nearly drowned the day she was saved by the inquisition and has had a fear of deep water ever since.

evander is claustrophic and scared of being restrained, stemming from very early memories of being enslaved. but im not sure if he neccesarily fears slavers, since he's gotten very good at killing them during his time with the shadow dragons lol. so i'll have to think on that one!

matthas..... hm. can i be real i think a part of him is scared of ashara LOL. her disappointment, her ire, the magnitude of what she means to him and how very little he unfortunately means to her. i do think he would maybe see her. but he would also see her as a desire demon! so thats fun! mark him down and scared AND horny!

i think he's also afraid of orlesian harlequins. just for something fun <3 JKJFGKJFGKJ

[vancalox]

49-50 for the whole little rook gang? :eyes:

THANK U OWEN <3 <3 <3

49. What will always make them laugh?

honestly at the end of the day its always each other 🥺 no matter how bad they hurt one another or fall out or drift apart, all it takes is forcing them in a room for long enough until one of them (almost always evander but possibly deia) makes the dumbest, most ill timed, inappropriate joke and the whole squad loses their minds. its the great equalizer in the trio. even matthas - who is at his core a hater and a no-fun-allowed kind of guy - ultimately WILL be forced to laugh at some mean comment evander makes about some loser magister and it will make him ANGRY bc he does not WANT to be laughing at his dumbass brother. but he WILL laugh. every time. unfortunately during datv while rebuilding their relationship i do think a lot of the jokes are all at the expense of each other but hey, what are siblings for (she says, as an only child)

individually though - evander is VERY slapstick. LOVES openly laughing at people get hurt especially if theyre figures of authority. but anyone's fair game tbh. very mortifying to deal with him in public lol. matthas has an open love for deadpan/roast humour but a secret more passionate love for puns and dad jokes. he would probably love minion memes also i fear. deia on the other hand gets theatrical. loves pranks a la sera. loves doing silly little characters and bits. she WILL commit to a bit until its dead in the ground and everyone else is uncomfortable but thankfully evander shares this same obnoxious quality albiet to a lesser extent so they can and will get stuck into a good bit of banter for hours if you let them.

essentially these three are very dangerous in a room together under the correct silliness conditions.

50. Are they a mystery, or an open book?

ok kind of went on a yap-fest for this one but the short answer is: i think they are all mysteries to themselves and to each other, while also accusing one another of being shallow and surface-level.

on the surface, evander is an arrogant, impulsive, self-centered, traitorous punk who destroyed his family and ran off, leaving them to pick up the pieces. big solas fan and it shows lol. and i think even HE would agree with that assessment and would not want to (let alone try to) dig any deeper than that to figure out why he is the way he is. but there are reasons. he was the first adopted son of the family, an elven ex-slave who actually remembers those first few childhood years under those conditions. as an elf he doesnt have matthas's privilege of going through life diplomatically and cleanly. he struggled to BE the oldest sibling that his family needed him to be because socially he could barely advocate for his own rights, let alone the rights of his family. and so that fell to matthas. who resented him for it.

and matthas on the other hand, is frequently grim, uncharismatic, obsessive and a bit of a suck-up to anyone he views (and respects) as a superior (this doesnt apply to systemic powers like the magisterium obviously, hes firmly against them). and all of these are true!!! this is OUTWARDLY the exact type of person you would ascribe him to be if you spent 5 minutes in a room with him lol. seeing the reasons why is harder. the constant anxiety of being one-big-brother-down and having to fill that vacancy by assuming the position of eldest. still being stuck in his shadow even so. losing whatever autonomy he'd had by attempting to pick up the slack and lastly (and most importantly), feeling so devoid of purpose because of having to revolve your life around Family that you pick up the first cause that makes you feel Strong and Independent - ie zealously serving the inquisition. i dont think either brothers would pick up on those reasons when arguing with one another. at least not until the events of veilguard anyway.

as for deia, the middle-child-forced-to-be-eldest (they all have three younger siblings who are not fighters and arent involved in the story lol) she's probably the most mysterious of the 3. she adopted the best qualities of both her brothers growing up - evanders passion and good humor and boldness, matthas's selflessness, his responsibility and dedication - but ultimately her personality is hard for an outsider to pin down because its hard for HERSELF to pin down. how does one begin to seperate Rook from The Rookery. engaging with her kind of feels like shes perpetually trying to make up for her OWN absence of personality. or maybe its better described as her trying to force her own personality to submit as she struggles to adjust to the roles shes been forced into. she knows evander and matthas are capable of great and terrible things, so why not be THEM instead of being the riskier and far less capable Her? it makes her into a pushover, kind to the point of complacency. someone who capitulates to the people around her to avoid conflict. none of those things she WANTS to be, but by datv shes essentially the point in which the two mirrors of her brother meet. theres too much going on to seperate the yolk from the white yknow.

[vancalox]

this game is literally SO much fun when you're actively hallucinating like 73% of it

[vancalox]

hi tay!! for matthas for the rook asks, if youre still intnerested: 27, 19, 15, 7

i am absolutely always interested in talking abt him so thank u !!!! ❤️

27: What was their life like before the events of Veilguard?

SUCH a fun question for matthas thank u sooooo much bc this is always very indulgent to talk about. the tldr of his lore is that he/deia/evander were saved by the inquisition during the events of dai. specific party comp was ashara/solas/varric/cole which is inportant bc — deia bonded with varric, evander bonded w solas, and matthas natutally bonded w ashara. from then on the siblings joined the inquisition, but matthas took it the most seriously and actually remained at skyhold while the other two journeyed back home to further the organizations goals in the north. for about 6 years matthas served the inquisition with singular devotion, and actually rised quite high in the ranks due to his proficiency as a warrior, a tactician and leader. LOTS of skirmishes with venatori, spirits from fade tears, and the remnants of red templars and freemen of the dales.

unfortunately in the years following trespasser, evander (solas fan #1) wound up joining the agents of fen'harel and was caught sabotaging inquisition operations and arrested. deia broke him out in an act of love, and so subsequently the inquisition kicked all three of them out — including matthas, whom they suspected was acting as a co-conspirator. this was devastating to him, since he's based his whole life and identity around the inquisition and believed so wholeheartedly in the herald of andraste and the cause. he kind of crashed out and ghosted after that, cutting ties w his family for the remaining 4 years before veilguard. during that time he moved from place to place a lot, attempting to track down and kill solas. he had hoped finding and neutralizing fen'harel might win back the inquisitor's favour, and help restore some purpose back in his life. obv he never really got close until he catches onto the same lead that varric does in the prologue. what his life looked like from a day-to-day perspective during that time — well. lots of work on ships and docks, moving from town to town, small time folk hero stuff :)

19: How do you think they'll meet their end?

if he was an actual companion in the game w all the quest variation that comes w that, i would say this — if he and evander never end up resolving their issues during the events of veilguard, they WILL both end up killing each other as a result. cain and abel style lmao. however in my canon they DO reconcile and matthas ends up rejoining the family and redevoting himself to his loved ones as opposed to an organization like the inquisition (though he is welcomed back into the ranks. but hes a bit less zealous abt the whole thing lol). so im thinking it goes either one of two ways — he dies in his forties while saving a group of people, big hero style. or he dies age 92 in bed surrounded by children and grandchildren :)

15: What NPCs do they like? Which one's do they dislike?

matthas has a GREAT deal of respect for the grey wardens, and loves antoine and evka. he has a wary respect for myra and vorgoth of the mourn watch too, and as a bellaramamcer he's cordial with the veil jumpers despite being a bit unnerved by a lot of it (and also jealous of bellara's former situationship w irelin fndjdmsm). the others tho.... lol. hes a hater at heart. he dislikes the crows on principle, is suspicious of the lords of fortune for their imagined lack of honor,  and actually has super one sided beef w the shadow dragons. not because he disagrees w their values, but because evander was also formerly a shadow dragon, and so its sort of tarnished the entire organization in his eyes lmaoooooo

he'll get over it eventually ❤️

7: Romantically close with?

in canon matthas is a bellaramancer ! they have a few fun parellels esp relating to having unhinged solas-mirroring brothers, but it's more them both coming from completely seperate worlds and how fun that is to play around with. alas, bc my canon worldstate is a tragic one, she does die in act 3 so 😐 FKDMFMFM

but on a happier note, i do also have a much more well established and happier au w maia @tethrras 's oc manon !!! they have been a source of much insanity the last few weeks and im happy to say she actually does survive the game and they have a happy run-off-into the sunset moment which makes me feel better :3

[vancalox]

wouldve been soooooo fucking crazy if they'd used the Truth of the gods being back as another opportunity to relate rook to solas the way theyd apparently intended. like im sorry but SO few people are going to believe u when u say "the evanuris are back and also evil and also controlling the blight oh and btw there are two blights now". it shouldnt have worked bc it WOULDNT have worked. you know what would have worked??? fucking lying about it lol. keeping people in the dark. only telling factions exactly what they need to know. to lie and keep them safe/expedite the process of saving the world vs telling the truth and having everyone on the same page, but risking their lives further and potentially stalling the process/losing allies.......... im soooo intrigued by the morality that we couldve gotten stuck into.................... instead of what we ended up getting lol

[vancalox]

spent way to much time on matching deia's hair w solas's out of sheer commitment to the "people say we're alike / they say we've got the same hair" bit but actually it has not been funny the entire duration of Actual gameplay its literally only EVER been depressing

[vancalox]

god's favorite sacrificial lamb <3

[vancalox]

it really cant be understated how profoundly important original characters are to fandom spaces and the inherent transformative power they possess. nothing gives me more joy than knowing we all collectively have a fun party trick in our brains with the capacity to redeem almost any lacklustre soulless cashgrab piece of media