#one of my many aus for da2

[1ncend1ary]

i have this disease and it's called ALWAYS BEING RIGHT!!!! (making all my fave chars as warrior cats)

[tossawary]

I mentioned before that I think DA2 is perhaps the most appealing to me for a Time Travel AU. This is in part because Hawke as a protagonist doesn't have to worry about an impending apocalypse in the same way that the Warden and the Inquisitor do, so there's arguably more space for slow-moving character work, and I think it would be fun to explore Hawke's relationship to Kirkwall.

You can take Inquisition-era Hawke, sacrifice them in the Fade, and then handwavy magic happens there that sends Hawke back for a Time Travel Redo. (If it's irrelevant to the rest of the story, let's skip going into depth on the time travel method! It does not matter!) If you want to avoid time paradox concerns, given that time magic actually exists in this series, this can actually be a Dimension Travel AU as well, sending a Garrett Hawke back in time to another dimension where there's a Marian Hawke instead or something. Two Hawkes!

I prefer sending a mage Garrett Hawke "back" into this alternate dimension because he is absolutely going to look like his own father, Malcolm, to the young Hawke family trying to escape Lothering. And that's some delicious angst.

Another reason that I think Hawke in particular would be interesting is that I think it would be interesting to have a time-traveler (dimension-traveler) be upfront about what had happened to them. A tired Garrett Hawke reveals at least the basics of the "future" to his friends and family (all of whom are strangers to him and it hurts) because he wants to keep them safe, and then the butterfly effects of canon divergence ripple out from there.

There are so many time travel fics where the protagonist confides in no one or only does so very late in the story. There are often reasons for this. 1) They will not be believed. 2) They are surrounded by enemies. 3) They are focused on changing a very specific event and do not want things to change before that. 3.5) They are unwilling to share their knowledge and give up some measure of control over the future. (These control issues are often in-character!)

Sometimes, I am persuaded by these reasons and find them compelling and sympathetic. Sometimes, I find the protagonist's insistence on doing everything alone frustrating and even cruel.

I think that if Hawke had the chance to do a Time Travel Redo, it would be incredibly cruel if they did not at least TRY to share some of their knowledge with their companions. I don't think Hawke's companions would believe them immediately, of course, but they live in a world with strange magic. If Hawke was willing to be calm and vulnerable, they could at least give their future friends some potential leads in their individual quests (being open about the fact that this world may be different to their own).

Like, let's look at Fenris. Fenris would not trust some strange mage talking about fucking time magic, of course. But after knowing each other for a month or so, Hawke might be able to approach Fenris and say, "Hey, I have a really weird story to tell you." And then Hawke could share what they know about Fenris' past according to their own world, so that Fenris can maybe look into that and prepare himself. Because keeping that information away from Fenris is a dick move! Fenris deserves to be able to decide what to believe, what to investigate, and what to do for himself.

I also don't think I could suspend my disbelief if Hawke let Anders and Justice just... play out again over the course of years. I think most Hawkes wouldn't be able to resist confronting Anders in some way! Even Hawkes who end up saying, "I'm going to personally murder Meredith this time." Is a mage-friendly Hawke just going to let characters like Karl Thekla be made Tranquil and be killed again?

Do Merrill and Isabella and Varric and Aveline not deserve to try and avert some of the tragedies in their own lives?

Like, it is totally reasonable for Hawke to be focused purely on their own family or the companions they like, rather than try to save every person in the city. I think it's more than fine if there are tragedies a protagonist just doesn't care about averting. Hawke is not even going to remember everything.

And it is VERY normal for people not to want to give up some measure of control over their lives, especially someone as traumatized as Hawke. I do often find it realistic that a lot of time traveling characters in fanfiction are kind of "control freaks" who don't want to be vulnerable, even if it's "safe" to be. I'm imagining that this future-sharing from Hawke would stem in large part from 1) exhaustion, 2) loneliness, and 3) Hawke being used to celebrity, due to the "Tale of the Champion", and somewhat blasé by this point about all the fucking shit they've been through.

And I think that spilling everything (or even just the basics) would not necessarily go well for a Hawke. I think Varric would take even limited information about Bartrand's future very badly. As strangers to Hawke, I think all of the companions would be upset and disbelieving. (I'm currently imagining a mage Garrett Hawke who previously romanced Merrill, so that he and Past!Fenris were barely friends, because Fenris didn't like this mage Hawke hanging out with a blood mage and Hawke kind of thought Fenris might turn him in to the Templars someday. Past!Fenris was more Isabella's and Varric's friend.) I think these new companions might go on to make some BIG mistakes trying to avoid the future that Hawke has described, as much as they might avert tragedy.

I also imagine that Hawke's relationship with this new Hawke family might be very strange and awkward, even if both Carver and Bethany live. Garrett looks like Malcolm and everyone thinks it's weird; Leandra is probably the happiest and most practical about it, but Garrett can't forget how his own mother died horribly and also blamed him for his own Bethany's death. Neither Garrett nor Marian know what to do about each other; Marian doesn't like some new person waltzing in and taking control of situations. Garrett unconsciously treats this Carver as older and Carver loves it, but Marian doesn't like it. Bethany likes having a mage sibling, but Garrett is awkward because he's used to Bethany being the Hawke family's perfect dead sister. And Leandra's shitty brother is not fucking helping any of this!!! And what's that about Leandra maybe getting murdered by a serial killer in the future???

By saying all of this, I mean to make clear that I really don't think "communicating" would immediately fix every problem for a perfect "Time Travel Fix-It". I do think it would fix SOME problems. Emotional conversations and immediate canon divergence also appeals to me because I like reading those things.

What I mean to make clear is that I think it would be fun to write something that explores autonomy, authority, agency, and control. There are many issues in the world that stem from people unwilling to give up control of a situation for a variety of reasons, and other issues that stem from people believing they have the authority to dictate other people's lives.

What right would a new Garrett Hawke have to withhold information and try to manipulate all of their strangers' lives? Especially from people like Anders and Fenris, whose stories are so deeply concerned with freedom of choice? To conceal backstory information from someone with amnesia, like Fenris, is a choice, and I think it's a cruel one, even if Fenris might not like what he hears and might react badly. Can Garrett Hawke really claim that he "knows best"? What if he doesn't know what's going on with this version of the world? What do you do when freedom means standing back and allowing some of the people you like and love to make "bad" choices?

Some time travel fics seem to me to be incredibly lonely. The protagonist trusts in no one. The other characters can be written as predictably following a timeline to the point of being shallow caricatures of people. It's just not to my taste.

It could be nice to explore Hawke finding new sides of companions that they missed in their previous "run" (which was very much not perfect and full of strife). It could be nice to explore an exhausted Champion learning to trust in other people and have them step up to help solve these shifting problems. DA games are so much about making choices for everyone around you: on behalf of your companions, on behalf of entire kingdoms, on behalf of the entire world. It might be fun to explore an exhausted older Hawke giving up some control and being pleasantly surprised on some fronts as paths diverge.

[saturndigital]

Hi! Just found your Veil Falls AU, and like... My one of oldest loved titles and current one.... Count me intrigued and waiting for more. And like... Sorry, if it's too soon, but did you compose the timeline for the au already? I mean I saw that Ford (also really liked your work of making them dalish names!) missed events of dao-da2, but does it means that others didn't? Like where was their clan during Blight or did they even know there was one? Or did Stanley (I suppose he travelled all of Thedas) had troubles with Crows and stuff?

Really sorry for questions, but I really was into DA some years ago, and I'm really into GF now, and this AU is like the most delicious cake for my soul.

I am over the moon someone is so interested in this au that they have so many questions EEEKK never apologize I'm SO happy to answer!!

As of RIGHT NOW I have a very basic idea of the timeline:

Ford returning from the Fade happens before the events of the Inquisition, as to me Weirdmaggedon is the entirety of that game's plot (yes this means Bill had a part to play in it but that's story talk for later). So, the summer that the twins visit Stan happens between the events of DA2 ending and the Conclave's destruction (9:40 Dragon I believe would be the year?).

Yes, the others did experience it, though because many of the cast are so young or in Stan's case constantly all over the place, they weren't at the epicenters of those games' plots. Most of the cast experienced the consequences of the events and how that affected the world rather than being part of said events.

The clan did survive the blight and currently, their grandfather Shermie (still figuring out an elven name for him rn it's Shirem) is the Keeper of their clan. The clan resided in the Planasene Forest when Ford and Stan were young, but have since moved to the Brecilian Forest which is where they possibly were during the 5th blight. Dipper being Dipper he probably begged someone in the clan to tell him about the blight and darkspawn so they definitely do know.

This is where I am still workshopping ideas, as I am constantly going through the lore like "hmmm would this work? Maybe not hmmm" but there are a lot of things I have solidified, mainly character stuff.

Stanley I do not doubt got into heaps of trouble with possibly multiple groups, including Crows. He definitely has tales to tell that makes the twins go "Grunkle Stan WHAT??"

If you or anyone has ideas on either timeline or character stuff I am all ears! The fun thing to me about aus like this is that I don't know everything, but some do! And those people have cool ideas because of it! So if you've got smth in mind I am intently listening. I do already have certain character designs and backgrounds already figured out, but I will chew on anything tossed my way anyway LOL

Thank you for asking!!!

[wotzka]

WIP Folder Ask Game

rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous and tag as many people as you have WIPs. People send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then you post a snippet or tell them something about it!

tagged by @buttsonthebeach - thank you for getting me to actually open my WIP folder!

some of these are pretty old, but since i'm working on something new, i thought i'd throw the ancient texts in there three chapters from a new Emmrook Emma / Veilguard project, which i'll just call VS for now:

VS-1 VS-2 VS-3

and then a couple of older ones that i have not updated in a long ass time:

SenseNew - a DA2 / Sense & Sensibility crossover A Christmas Carol - Chapter 4 - @empresstress13 and my Solavellan / Christmas Carol crossover Collected Good Place Notes - a Hawke/Cullen Inquisition / Good Place crossover Meeting Note - i have no memory of this one, but i like what's here and it appears to be a UGR AU that i might use to stitch together the Emma project and the Persuasion project! RB Misc & Darlings - a UGR modern fake dating AU

not adding the Persuasion project on here yet because i want to line up some details in Emma first to make my world state make sense (to me, at least. i am realizing that i might be getting a little too meta / self-referential and that i should make Emma easier to read, buuut that's a bridge i will refuse to cross when i get to it!)

can ya tell i like crossovers??? 🙃

Tagging @cedarmoons @50cal-fullauto-astarion @smutnug @ellstersmash - no pressure at all, not sure if anyone's working on anything! 💕

[wylldebee]

Meredith as the Inquisition Antagonist AU

Yeah, you read that right. After watching Dragon Age: Absolution and finding out that somehow Palpatine Meredith is alive, my mind has been filled with what if's about Meredith being the antagonist of Inquisition. And honestly? I feel like Inquisition could've been better. Hear me out: —With Meredith we'd have a more direct connection to Dragon Age II instead of some villain from a DLC not everybody has played. Inquisition would've been a direct squeal from DA2, picking up more or less where it left off with the beginning of the Mage-Templar War. —More depth to Hawke's guilt and even more reason for them to help you because Meredith was their problem to fight against. Now the whole world is suffering from their mistake of not handling her better. —More depth to Varric joining the Inquisition. Now it's more personal. Maybe Varric will blame himself for not finding out what happened to Meredith's lyrium statue. First the red lyrium idol back in Kirkwall, now this. Shit. —The Chantry is divided more than ever. On the one hand, you have those who genuinely believe you are the Herald of Andraste, sent to save this world. On the other, you have those who believe Meredith is the true Herald, sent not only save the world but to also wipe it clean of magic. —Meredith wants her war and Inquisition would've been the perfect start that. The Mage-Templar War would've been perfect for that... if the bulk of it wasn't shoved into books/comics. So, I guess AU where the war actually happens in the game? —Meredith is fucking insane and her insanity being heightened by the red lyrium coursing through her veins paired with the powers she gets from both her templar abilities and the lyrium could be interesting to see. —Puts the Chantry on the spot because that one of their people. Meredith is theirs, and she's plunging Thedas into world-ending chaos. Paired this with the more religious Templars/Chantry people who see this as a way to get the mages uncontrolled, and the Chantry is scrambling as public opinion takes a sharp downward spiral. I have more ideas but I need time to put them all together in a tidier post. So many new ideas are forming, guys! But yeah. Meredith in Inquisition could've been something.

[andthekitchensinkao3]

People I Want to Know Better! December 11 2024

Thank you for the tag @thosegayoldmen and @silentxsymphony ! I’m real bad at these games, but that’s never stopped me before 😁🤗

Last song: Double Nature by Mustasch. If I ever write a rock star AU, Loki will totally be belting this one out. Mobius won't know what hit him.

Favorite color: I am partial to yellow, but it has to be a bright, sunshiny, not-poultry shade if I’m gonna be able to wear it. But I do love jewel tones, too.

Last read: Struuuuuggled my way through The Crucifix Killer by Chris Carter. If you want Bad Guys cackling evilly in the bushes, misogyny and a healthy sprinkling of racist-and-other stereotypes, read this book! 😇 The plot twist caught me by surprise in a meh sort of way, and just… No. Nope nope nope. But really, I’m CLEARLY not the target audience. Most of the time I don’t make the time to read anything outside of work. Too many fanfics to write, original work to write, movies and shows and games and and and… Maybe once I retire I’ll have time to read for a change.

Last movie: Since it’s December and Holiday season, I’m all about the over the top American/Canadian seasonal movies. You know, the Hallmark romances that pop up on every streaming service? Yeah. They’re so exotic and strangely charming! Started The Text Before Christmas I think it’s called? Last night. It’s kinda formulaic, but also charming, and I don’t need these types of movies to make too much sense. I’m in it for the seasonal decorations and American Notions of Christmas stuff, mostly.

Last TV show: Too many shows, too little tiiiiimmmmeeeeee aaaaarggghhhhh. I did watch all the Doctor Who specials with David Tennant a while back, AND the whole first season of Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor. Be still my heart. I so want to write a Lokius/Doctor Who crossover type thing, but like, who’s gonna read THAT 😅

Sweet / Spicy / Savory: I love baking, but I’m not much for sweet stuff. When it comes to most things foodstuffs, I love spice. All kinds of spice, not just chili peppers. It’s a Swedish thing. We use spices in EVERYTHING. For fic, I love it all, as long as it makes sense within the framework of the story. (AKA, no such thing as OOC if you make it make sense. 😘)

Relationship status: Single, can’t be bovvered.

Last thing I googled: “Heart of Corruption Veilguard” because I can’t fucking get past a fucking DOOOOORRRRRRR. Currently inaccessible, gimme a goddamn break.

Current obsession: Lokius all the way, my beloved dorks in love and peril and stuff. Also Dragon Age Veilguard, although I wouldn’t call it an obsession just yet. It’s nowhere near DA2 or Inquisition. Remember my tumblr post from a couple days ago, of me weeping nostalgic into an ice cream tub over The Dawn Will Come? Yeah.

Although, I have gotten chills on two or three occasions, and I did get all teary-eyed at this one scene today. Well done, Veilguard.

Looking forward to: Jul! Christmas! Julbord! Roast ham and Janssons frestelse and beetroot salad and pickled herring and and and…

No pressure tagging, and as always, I know I’ve forgotten to add people here. Consider yourself tagged if you see this! @distracteddream @blackbirdofasgard  @elodiah @lokimobius @natendo-art @ghoulehhh @kcscribbler @loki-is-my-kink-awakening @devilbearingtrouble @impulsemuppet @mirilyawrites @scifikimmi @boredintjqueen @rin-love-is-green  @stillwanderingflame 

[thewardenisonthecase]

Elizabeth Hawke ask -> we've chatted about an AU where Cousland and Alistair meet up earlier and fall in love...have you considered a similar concept for Elizabeth and Fenris? Are they that couple that falls in love in all scenarios?

oh my god wait i actually have to think for this one.

Because like, yes, to some extent, I think Fenris and Elizabeth *could* have fallen in love regardless but in my heart of hearts, I believe that no, they would have not. Like, Anneliese and Alistair? 100% doing the whole 'ill love you in any lifetime and in any timeline'

Elizabeth and Fenris tho? Something about their relationship, to me, is very much it only happened because it was the right place at the right time (even if that place is Kirkwall during DA2). The circumstances, despite shitty, were the right circumstances for their relationship to bloom and I don't know that it would have worked otherwise.

Because these two idiots have so many layers and they're so complicated that they did have to go through all that - even the 3 year breakup - for it to work. If Fenris and Elizabeth had met in prior circumstances, they would have not liked each other, but because they met when they did, things worked out.

(mainly because I don't think they would have trusted each other - Fenris would still be very early on his running away from tevinter and probably on even more of a high alert on mages (and especially on as powerful as elizabeth 'cause she's a dreamer) and Elizabeth, pre-lothering destruction, would be VERY suspicious of 'man who hates mages'

You know those tiktoks that are like "would you be friends with your sibling if they were not your sibling"? Its very much like that but I think there's also a certain beauty to it. Like things happened the way they did because otherwise, you wouldn't have been together. Its almost like destiny, like the circumstances HAD to be these.

[mrs-theirin]

quilllllll! hi, hello, i simply had to let you know that i've been slowly but surely re-re-rereading the road, the hidden truth, and you, and first of all, gorgeous, beautiful, touching, magnificent, imagine a rainstorm of chefs kisses raining down uponst you <3 but i got curious and had to ask...are there any cut scenes/fun facts/behind the scenes special features you might want to share with the class? 🥺 hehehe i just know /i/ always end up having a bunch of stuff like that once a project's done, and i'd LOVE to hear any juicy tidbits you've got!!! :P (either way, had to remind you how gorgeous this - AND ALL YOUR OTHER WRITING - is!)

we are somehow on the same wavelength as i was rereading it myself when i got this ask.....i'm onto you queenie......

all jokes aside THANK YOU i am always blown away when you compliment my writing, truthfully, it means the absolute world to me and i'm glad you enjoy what i put out. from the bottom of my heart, your support is greatly, greatly appreciated

that being said. well. as far as fun facts go. one fun fact is that this was barely my idea. that's well known at this point i think but you can thank @merrybandofmurderers for originally giving me the idea of a fake dating, roadtrip au. second fun fact is that i winged the HELL out of this fic. 19 years old staying up (apparently, since i checked the outline???) till 5 in the morning trying to get it done. winged the hell out of it. i had a broad idea, but i built the chapters based off of da2 quest names. so like. i had almost nothing planned. i took a da2 quest title i liked and built a modern au plot around it. great idea i think. poor execution LMFAO

no cut scenes or anything due to the rushed and unorganized nature of the original draft. there are things that i cut from the original in my rewrite, but that's because i felt like they weren't serving a real purpose. i also was super excited to change it so it was modern au but with elves and kirkwall and all that stuff. does it make sense orzammar is in new york? no. do i care? also no

i have been intending to write a follow up ever since the ORIGINAL story, but it just hasn't felt right yet. i know i want to do it. and i really hope i will do it. but for now it will stay in my drafts, lovingly titled "trthtay superbowl follow up". between that and the eden/varric wedding at skyhold fic, we could place a bet on which one gets finished first! (psst, it's probably the wedding fic. i've written more for that. unrelated but maybe expect that? soon? ish? don't hold me to that)

anyway, i'd say the biggest thing is that trthtay was my "i can do better" fic, truthfully. i was STUNNED when it got on a screenrant article (before it was even finished too?), i mean, i still have my section printed out in my dresser. it was exciting. but to see so many eyes on something i didn't think was of the quality i'd like it to be was stressful. i wanted to be great. i wanted the thing that so many people saw from me to be groundbreaking. and i really didn't feel like it hit that mark. i don't even think the rewrite hits that mark! there are things that i've written that i feel are better than both. but, there's a bright side to everything, and that's that even what i would consider one of my worse fics was loved. it was loved. it was enjoyed. not only by the author of that article (david caballero, there's nowhere i can message you on that site, but if you ever see this, thank you so so much) but by everyone who decided to click the link and give it a try. by YOU, one of my biggest inspirations and someone whose writing i aspire to match someday. i cannot thank you enough (you, personally, queenie, and you, plural, anyone who's read my writing) for giving me a chance and pushing me to be better

so. anyway. i'm sure you didn't expect your question to get an emotional response, but i think any conversation about trthtay comes back to that. to hope. to gratitude. it truthfully blows my mind that you love it the way you do. thank you thank you thank you. i'm glad i have you in my corner :)

[cmkren]

The Arishok and His Hero.

;Da2 Arishok x Fem!HoF

The Arishok and the HoF once had an intimate but complicated relationship from when he was a Sten. Tensions are rising in Kirkwall, and his mind subconsciously drifts to a simpler time. A time with her.

Unfortunately for him, there’s one thing he’s forgotten.

a/n: erm, whats up !! I remember struggling writing this because I always though the arishok had like … long hair. so when i figured out he didn’t i just made it a plot point to make things sadder. I am genuinely so sad we don’t get to romance sten in dao argh

also erm sorry got my lore wrong LMAO pretend this is an au where dao sten gets the arishok role immediately after returning

“Well looky you. You aged like fine wine, huh, Sten? Or— I suppose it’s the Arishok now.”

She snarked, a grin on her face but it seemed there was something else behind it. Something deeper, more complex than just two companions reuniting after a long time. That’s all they were, and had been to the outside world. Companions. They didn’t notice the looks, the gentle touches, the desire when one passed the other. Back in the day, that was. Now look at them. Having withered slightly with age.

Mishka had streaks of gray in her hair, though still looking relatively young. Not to mention the barrage of scars on her body— more than when the Arishok knew her. When he had still just been Sten. He changed the most between the two, after all. He was now the leader of the Qunari militia. His hair double the length it was back then, some graying too of course. Wrinkles finally showing up more, more apparent. Long, beautiful horns that Sten lacked back then. Horns she wanted to grab.

“The Hero of Ferelden came to visit. How delightful.” He spoke dryly, making the elf snort and cross her arms. She looked more Dalish now, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Perhaps just a little amused, considering how she used to curse the Dalish as if they were Darkspawn themselves. Perhaps she made some amends with her past and moved on. That would be a first for Mishka. If she had many of those left. The Arishok certainly never expected to see her again, after their departure from one another. Especially after the final fight. Yet here she was.

He sat atop his throne, in the Qunari compound that they had to make due to the misfortune of being stuck in Kirkwall of all cities. Due to his mistake. The stress and tension that’d been building over the last few years, it felt like a pot was going to soon boil over. Being far from Par Vollen didn’t help either— because that meant no Tamassarans. So maybe… that’s why he didn’t call for the Stens around him to apprehend her as she sauntered towards the throne.

His stony stare digging holes into her, watching the familiar movement coming from a woman he used to hold quite close to his chest. Literally and figuratively. The Sten didn’t turn their heads. Maybe it was because he didn’t say anything, or it could have been another reason. He didn’t care. His eyes were only on her. The damned arrogant elf.

The Hero of Ferelden. Small enough for him to tower over, but not fragile that she’d shatter as soon as he put his hand on her waist and squeezed. Definitely not fragile, as she’s shown him dozens of times. That was just when she was starting to hone her skills too, he could only imagine what a decade of hard work and training could do for her. She who sat so languidly in his lap, calloused hand reaching up to caress his face. It made him jolt. That wasn’t the surprising bit. The surprising bit was the way he then keened, and leaned into her touch.

He took in her features. The gnarly burn mark that forever scarred the left side of her face, and travelling to her shoulder. A mark he took upon himself those years ago to heal until she no longer flinched and hissed when he traced his finger over the coarse skin.

Lips that whispered the filthiest things to him. That would spread into a grin when she finally started figuring out how to read him. How to tell what would rile him up and what would absolutely piss him off.

Her hand travelled higher until it tangled itself in his hair, her other hand on his chest. Eyes flitted half closed, looking up at him through long lashes. He who only leaned further down, hardly letting her be the one chasing after him. Instead, he was the one chasing after her. Her touch. Her words.

Her lips parted, putting on display the sharp points she called her teeth. Whenever she raked those across his skin, it felt like a dagger gliding along his body. Little daggers she had in her mouth. “You, Sten,” she breathed out, breath hot against own mouth. His lips parted just the slightest, as if he expected something. Anything.

“Are a useless fucking tool.”

Then there it was. Her hands fell limp. Her head knocked against his own, and the lively body that once sat perched on his lap became limp like a rag doll. The stench of death and charred flesh, the stench of something earthy and dank, the smell of Darkspawn blood.

The top of Fort Drakon. The Archdemon’s corpse on the ground. Next to it, the Hero of Ferelden. She was Grey Warden, to die killing the Archdemon was her purpose. He knew better than anyone— anyone that to stop her from fulfilling that purpose would have made him a hypocrite. So who was he, the man who followed the Qun to the T, who was he to deny her that privilege of purpose he devoted and spoke of? That’s why, while everyone rushed to her side to help fight the Archdemon, he stayed away. He wasn’t there when she drew her last breath. When she fulfilled her purpose.

What of his purpose?

As he stared at the Asala she returned to him. The weapon he killed for when he found out it was missing. For the first time in a while, after that fight. Her death. He questioned it. He questioned it all. The Qun. His life. His faiths. His purpose.

Suddenly, she appeared before him. The Archdemon looming from behind, its breath puffing out smoke with every breath it took. The sky a bewitching and venomous purple, Mishka’s lifeless eyes stared into his. “Tal-Vashoth. Your faith wavered. Your people should have thrown you out,” a storm brew above, “just like you did to me.”

A flash and a bang.

Then nothing.

When vision came to him once again, he was staring up at his tent. Surrounded by handmade, quality cushions all for the Arishok. His bed roll a mess, no doubt from him tossing and turning. His body slightly damp from sweat, as he pushed himself up and off the ground. Locks of hair falling in front of him, as he breathed in and out.

She was dead. She has been for ten years. That had been a figment of his imagination. Unbeknownst to him, it was the guilt that had been building up for a decade. Guess it finally spilled over during this time of high stress. He kneeled, quickly dressing himself and making himself look presentable. Anything to take his mind off of… that.

“Arishok. The diplomat from the Viscount has finally arrived.” Spoke a Sten outside his tent. The Arishok only grunted, right. He had visitors today. More to add to his migraine, he supposed. He slinked out of his tent, eyes squinting just the slightest as the sunlight hit his vision. His head throbbed. He could feel it, still feel her touch. The way she pulled on his hair, so close to the protruding horns adorned with gold bands.

“You know, you’d look absolutely dashing with long hair. I’ve always loved that look on men. Especially you.”

Spoken to him, by her during a drunken night. Oghren convinced her to drink with him, and that made her ten times the more honest than she usually was. Which was honestly a feat. There was certainly more to that memory, but he’d rather leave it untouched. The Arishok looked back to his tent. He supposed a change in his appearance wasn’t criminal.

•••

“What should I say, hm? Fenris, you know a bit of Qun right? C’mon, give me some phrases!”

“I’m afraid learning them right here right now when we’ve already entered the compound would be a bit of poor taste, Hawke. Should have asked me before we came.”

“D’awh, s’okay Hawke! Sure elfy there will gladly aid you in translating some of our delightful conversation topics of the day.”

“Careful— The elf might just end up with us gutted. You know how he is.”

Four pairs of eyes landed on him when he finally walked out. A blonde mage, a white haired elf, a dwarf with a cross bow, and a human. A human with..

“Speak. Now.” His voice came out as a rumble, perhaps with a little more animosity than needed. Yet he could not help it. He sliced off his hair moments before coming out so he wouldn’t have to have a constant reminder of that woman— and here another one was. With similar hair colour and skin, not to mention facial markings as well. And an arrogant little smirk on her face.

Even in death she found ways to piss him off.

[nirikeehan]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love ❤️

HI and thank you to @warpedlegacy for also sending me this ask......... however many months ago......

Always always A Little Grace, and Some Elegance. Dragon Age. Trevelyan/Cullen. Cullen nearly dies of a lyrium overdose and then recalls how he and Samson had a falling out after DA2.

Through a Glass, Darkly. Dragon Age: Inquisition dark AU set in the nightmare world after the Inquisition loses. Inquisitor/Cullen mainly but featuring Samson as a campy villain becoming more and more obsessed with Thalia as his grip on sanity becomes more tenuous. Probably a forever WIP but hey I just updated this month so that's something!

Kingdom Come. Dragon Age. Post-Trespasser AU second chance romance between Thalia Trevelyan/Thom Rainier after she is widowed. Maybe I'll actually finish this one soon??? Who knows!

A Small Victorious War. Road 96. I played this game this summer and then went insane for a week and a half writing this about the backstory and choices of its main antagonist, Jarod. Probably the best prose I've produced in recent memory.

The Force's Will. Star Wars sequel trilogy. My probably forever WIP Reylo magnum opus. The Star Wars EU trilogy I always wanted to write. Maybe one day I'll come back to it; stranger things have happened! But man I was swinging for the fences with this one and got to 100k and you know what, I'm proud of that. But you can SO PAINFULLY tell I was in grad school at the time; there's a lot of IR/poli sci wonky language in here.

[exceedinglygayotter]

I remember reading an Elder Scrolls/ Dragon Age crossover AU fic that reimagined a few DA characters in Tamriel, and since ideas about crossovers between these two franchises have been swirling in my head for a while I thought I'd come up with more TES counterparts to DA characters.

Disclaimer that I've never actually played any Dragon Age game and got most of my info from places like the wiki. Sorry if I miss something important.

Obviously there are a bunch that can almost translate directly; I think Aveline would fit anywhere that had the position of "guard captain" as a job, Leliana would make sense anywhere that had both spies and religion, and so on. Their backstories are relatively setting-agnostic, so I'll just talk about some random companions I think are more interesting to talk about in this context.

Fenris is super easy, since there's already a culture of amoral, slave-owning mage-lords on Tamriel: Great House Telvanni. Just take Fenris's backstory and replace Tevinter with Telvanni and you're basically done. Lyrium doesn't exist on Tamriel so his tattoos would be something else, but I'm sure there are plenty of similar unethical procedures he could be subjected to.

Obviously it wouldn't be a perfect translation of Fenris's character since his prejudice against mages doesn't really make sense in Tamriel - magic in TES is just a skill that anyone can learn and "mage" is just a job. Granted it's not like prejudice is ever really rational, but he probably wouldn't be as vitriolic about it at the very least.

Speaking of DA2 elven companions, Merril! Again a relatively easy one. Just make her an Argonian. If you don't know, ESO introduced lore that said the Argonians used to have big, permanent cities ruled by despotic priest-kings who practiced mass blood sacrifice, until they apparently just collectively decided to stop doing that and abandoned their cities to go live in mud huts and now shun that part of their history. This came in part due to a general societal shift that acknowledges and accepts the inherent impermanence of everything and focuses on the present, viewing obsession with the past or future as being foolish at best.

Given that Merrill's main things are blood magic and studying her people’s lost history (and being shunned by her clan for both of those things), this is a great fit for her. If we make Fenris also an Argonian (as most slaves in Morrowind are) we can fit in the dynamic between them in the game where she tries to commiserate with him over both being the same race with him not returning the sentiment in the slightest. The "dealing with demons" thing can just be replaced by dealing with daedra; likely Hermaeus Mora given her interest in lost knowledge.

There are also several that would be much harder to translate over. Anders and Vivienne are both defined by their being mages and how they each respond to the structures of the Circle; Vivienne by working within it to her own benefit to gain influence despite her status and Anders railing against the unjust nature of the system. As I said while talking about Fenris, this doesn't really transfer over to a setting where "mage" is just a job. There's nothing in Tamriel that hits the same beats. The only groups in Tamriel that are faced with the same degree of horrible oppression as mages on Thedas are slaves, but that would kind of just be rehashing Fenris's whole deal and misses many of the other important components of the dynamic such as mages partly being discriminated against out of fear of their very real magical power and the fact that anyone could just happen to be born a mage regardless of who their parents are.

The Qunari characters, Sten and The Iron Bull, would also not really be able to translate over because they're defined by the Qun, which is a very specific philosophy with no real equivalent in Tamriel. Cole and Justice (and by extension Anders again) would also not really work because nothing on Tamriel works the way that Fade Spirits work. Daedra aren't really anything alike, and while nature spirits are probably close they're still not really comparable.

You could have characters in TES with similar personalities to these characters, but much of their motivations and circumstances would be totally different. Vivienne for example could be a high-ranking member of the Synod, one of the successor groups to the Mages' Guild which formed in the wake of its collapse following the events of Oblivion. The Synod is stated to be more interested in politics than in magical research, and is more restrictive on magic than their rival mage organization, the College of Whispers, refusing to teach necromancy or conjuration magic.

This broadly fits Vivienne's vibe, but misses a lot of important aspects to her character. Canon Vivienne is someone who clawed her way from a politically powerless member of the Circle to being a contender for the position of Divine, paradoxically an influential player of the Game and yet entirely dependent on the patronage of others because as a mage she isn't allowed to have much political power of her own. The entire reason she was able to gain as much influence as she did was by winning the heart (and support) of Duke Bastien, one of the most powerful noblemen in Orlais, and is implied to try and get close to the Inquisitor at least partly because she wants their support after Bastien falls ill and she becomes at risk of losing all of her power.

This hypothetical TES Vivienne would have none of that. She wouldn't have any less political power than any other powerful mage, and there would be nothing stopping her from gaining land or marrying nobility. Perhaps you could do something with the Altmer? They have a kind of "casteless" group called the Hulkynd, altmeri children abandoned by their parents for percieved deformity (typically something physical like an ugly birthmark or scar). These outcasts are almost viewed as invisible by most of mainstream altmeri society, often making a living at the fringes or departing altmeri lands entirely to make their way in places where they won't face as much discrimination.

An altmeri noble taking a Hulkynd as a mistress would probably be even more scandalous than a Orlesian nobleman doing the same with a mage, but it's probably the closest thing we'll get. We're not given much information on Hulkynds (we meet two in ESO and that's it), but given that they're stated to be "unrecognized as a member of [Altmeri] society" they probably can't hold any actual personal power and would require patronage just like Vivienne does. Obviously it's still not a perfect fit as her being good at magic wouldn't really matter in this context when basically all altmer are good at magic, but it's a much better translation of her political situation.

Okay I can't think of interesting things to say about anyone else so I guess this post is done now.

[kiastirling-fanfic]

wip folder game

thank you @inquisimer for the tag!! Just gonna open some unpublished WIPs (my one-shot file on scrivener) and see what's around. I've got multiple fandoms kicking around in there despite how I almost exclusively actually write DA these days, so most of them include the fandom in the name lol

rules: make a new post will the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous and tag as many people as you have WIPs. People send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then you post a snippet or tell them something about it!

Westalis is Burning (Spy x Family)

Reinventing Jessica Stanley (Twi-Isekai)

Doom Upon All the World (DAI)

Kitchen Disaster - Robin Cooks (DAO)

A Prideful Place (DAI)

Slave Hawke AU (DA2)

Touch - Loid Breaches the Subject (Spy x Family)

Spy x Family 5 x 1

No Rest Could They Find (DAI) (also not in the one shots section but w/e)

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh tagging gives me anxiety but here we go (though I'm sure you've all been tagged by now) @skinwalkingxana | @crabs-with-sticks | @rosella-writes | @plisuu | @theluckywizard

@exalted-dawn-drabbles | @truebluedreamer | @bluewren | and whoever else sees this and wants to lay bare their shame ambitions

[vands38]

intro post

fanfic on AO3

filk (fan music) tag

ko-fi

FIC TAGS:

The Witcher oxenfurt verse (the witcher) | lavender (the witcher) | julian (the witcher) | F1 AU (the witcher) | rumours series (the witcher)

Everything Else patience (BG3) | baldur's brew [the yet untitled modern AU] (BG3) | courting the crow (dragon age - the veilguard) | misc fics

WIPS WIP: rebelcaptain angst (star wars: rogue one) WIP: a balanced party (dragon age - da2)

fic writing in general

asks | fills

about me:

call me vands. british, 30s, white, queer, chronically ill and chronically grumpy about it, genderqueer (pronouns: they/them), married to a wonderful human and living with two troublesome cats.

FAQ:

my username used to be vands88 and I've been active in fandom for many years now on FFN, livejournal, discord, and various forums. My old fic is routinely orphaned so if you're curious if I wrote a thing or was in a fandom, send an ask.

I give blanket permission for all fannish adaptions (podfic, translations, fanart etc) of my works on AO3, but please let me know about them so I can squee with you & link/promote them!

if you wanna ask me a thing away from tumblr then hit me up at discord (vands38) or email thevands38[at]gmail[dot]com

[faejilly]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💕

With the obvious caveat that I would assuredly pick five different fics tomorrow, here you go nonny, in no particular order, and attempting to NOT list just half a dozen Malec things just because they are my Hotel California fandom apparently... But I do have to have at least one for them! #BecauseMalec

out of some dreaming tree: Malec Fairy Tale Quest! A Forest That Eats "People" (and other Things)! Weird eldritch and magical lore!

This AU requires absolutely NO CANON KNOWLEDGE and I keep hoping some of the people who occasionally just read my fic for shits & giggles will try it even though they're not Shadowhunters people. But also more Shadowhunters people should also read it, I had such a great time writing it. 🤣

Vindication: M!Shepard/Jack. Did I mention I have a thing for fairy tales? AND ALSO JACK FROM MASS EFFECT? (I'm love her, your honors)

So it's almost more a series of post-game scenes than my usual prose story style (because Jack POV and that's how she wanted to tell it) and Jack's trying to learn the context of kids' stories, and take care of Shepard who is being kind of a dumb ass but mostly just, yk, trying to recover, and Miranda is Brilliant (even Jack is willing to admit it) and I am very fond of it.

souver'inan isala hamin (weary eyes need resting): DAI, Varric & a Dalish Inquisitor, friends vs family vs love... or something like that.

Having Varric be in your party again, having Hawke's shadow from the previous game spilling over your Inquisitor, was fascinating to me. (Especially as Varric & my Adelaide were family but not ever really friends, and family is a fraught sort of thing for a Tethras and a Hawke/Amell.) Romancing Blackwall and trying to be friends with Dorian, being Dalish and Inquisitor, it was just... prickly all the way through. (In a good way, imo.) My Inquisitor was also noticeably older than my Wardens or Hawkes had been, much more self-aware and dangerous in a way that the narrative of DAI seldom let me illustrate or articulate, and while I'm not sure how much of that is clear in the fic, I can still feel what it was like for Erana to despise the world she's going to save because she loves too many of the people in it to do anything else, and I enjoy wallowing in that sometimes.

Solace: DA2, Adelaide Hawke/Sebastian Vael, my darlings, my beloveds

While not the first thing I wrote for them, it was the story of their first meeting, and it meant a lot a lot a lot to me when I finally did manage to let it happen outside of my head. Also Sebastian recognizing the Adelaide/Bethany/Carver/Daryn joke made my day when I wrote it and still makes me smile.

Fine Feathers: Yuletide fic! Book!fic, which I don't do terribly often! M/F Regency Romance

An epilogue for The Quiet Gentleman which is, if you are unaware, a novel by The Lady Who Made Regency a Viable Modern Genre almost 100 years ago, which means it has a Very Specific Style and I was very pleased I managed to capture it. (Also it's both one of my favorites of Georgette Heyer's books but also one of the most frustrating, because the lead couple has like ONE HALF OF A SCENE TOGETHER so I wrote them together more and honestly now I like the original book better, which is some hellishly ridiculous hubris but I don't care.)

[thiefbird]

H j t for the ask game :)

H: How would you describe your writing style?

Hm... I'm going to answer both ways this question can be read, I think!

So in terms of how I tackle writing, I'd say I'm both incredibly straight forwards, and incredibly chaotic. For the most part, when I'm writing fanfic or original works(and even to some extent non-creative writing like analytical/argumentative essays or research papers), I come up with the basic idea of What Will Happen, and then I start at the beginning and write each chapter, from beginning to end, without planning it. This is widely considered to be A Bad Idea, for good reasons. I'm currently trying to teach myself to at least plan out the scene by writing it as a weird first draft of a screen play, with general action cues and dialogue but no description, and it is going relatively well, so far, but we shall see if it sticks! [I also write all my fanfic by hand and then either use my reMarkable to convert it into text, or copy it over by hand because I am Not A Reasonable Person]

In terms of how my writing, like, sounds, on the other hand, I am told I have a really good skill at aping other authors' styles, so I think perhaps my writing style is Chameleon? I am a heavily masking sort of person, entirely subconsciously, and said mask adapts very quickly to what I'm around to the point that it only takes about half an hour, these days, of exposure to have an undetectably false British or Irish accent - not always even the accent I'm surrounded by, but a slightly posh central English accent, and a blend of a Dublin and Galways Irish accent, because Oxford&Coventry and Galway&Dublin are the places I've spent the most time - and this happens in my writing! Whatever I'm absorbing the most of at that time will reflect itself in my word choices, and the cadence and rhythm of my sentences.

J: What’s your favorite fanfic trope? Have you written it?

I think my favourite when it's done well is soulmate AUs, because there are so many concepts to play with in them: how does it effect the culture of the world you're writing in? What happens if you fall in love with someone who isn't your soulmate? What if you have multiple soulmates? What if you just straight up don't have a soulmate?

I haven't written soulmate AU yet, but I have an idea for one both for the Aubreyad, and a DA:Awakening into DA2 idea that I may explore at some point - the DA one next time my brain circles back to Thedas in terms of special interest du jour; the Aubreyad idea is sitting on the back burner until I either run out of ideas for So long lives this, or need to take a break from it.

Also, honorable shout-out to HMD/daemon AUs. Love those things so much. I love giving characters A Little Guy and thinking about how they as a person would sublimate part of their soul out of their body, what animal it would be, and how they would interact with it. I have a very slightly started Hannigram HMD AU(a True HDM AU taking place in Lyra's World, even, though in North America not Oxford ofc), and a partially thought out Aubreyad daemon AU(I don't know enough about the history of Lyra's world to write historical fiction within it).

T: Any fanfic tropes you can’t stand?

Hmm... I wouldn't say I can't stand it, but the thing I'm least likely to read is probably modern/coffeeshop/highschool/uni AUs, unless there is a compelling plot point mentioned in the summary, or I am familiar with the author. I don't always enjoy when the main themes of the original are gone unless there is an equally present driving force. They definitely can be done well, and I've certainly read ones that I was doubtful of at first that I really enjoyed, but for the most part that would be what I'm most wary of.

However, I do like AUs like this where they keep the driving force and change the circumstances. Modern Thedas with magic? Amazing, 10/10, I want to know how Isabela would text so bad. Hannigram AU where Will did something not at all FBI related, but he and Hannibal meet anyways and Hannibal is still a cannibal? Divine - they always will meet because they are entangled like atoms; Hannibal will always be Hannibal, and he will always be drawn to Will.

I think this is harder to do when there are less fantastical elements to the story; I have a harder time imagining a coffeeshop AU I would enjoy for the Aubreyad, for example, just because there are no longer tall ships or Napoleon to beat - and there are, in fact, not many modern AUs for the Aubreyad; there are a good deal more for Temeraire, because there are fantastical elements to Temeraire (dragons) that can be transferred over.

Thank you for the questions, @papercranesong and I hope you enjoyed my essay xD

[broodsys]

got tagged by @plisuu, thank you again! this'll be fun >)

tagging hmmm lemme see... @jazzmckay | @streganicha | @jellydishes but as ever no pressure uwu also trying to not tag Everyone i know so other ppl can continue to pass it around lmao

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

55!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

299,998. okay that's amusing i'm glad i looked. i'm two words away from 300k lmfao

3. What fandoms do you write for?

99% dai, with a tinyyy bit of da2. also one fic (that has totally fucked up my stats page bc it's a much more popular fandom) for pkmn: sun and moon (anime) and one for cagaster of an insect cage (anime). my old deleted ao3 had more fandoms, the other big ones being les mis (movie) and inception

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

we're the last to know (pkmn sumo, little cutesy ash/kiawe thing)

sleep just a little longer (solavellan somno smut lmao)

the hidden mage (fenders during dai timeline)

domitable (solavellan smut with solas domming for once)

a matter of taste (solavellan smut where solas is encouraged to figure out his own interests)

5. Do you respond to comments?

yes! sometimes it takes me a bit but i always reply. if it's a long/thoughtful/specific comment i also try to address a bit of what the commenter brings up :')

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

oh that's maybe a day to die for sure. wrote that back in my first dai hyperfix period after it had come out, this is a bad end au where they get stuck in the magic future

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

my longing series comes to mind. nessa lavellan/solas. it was also my first venture back into seriously writing fic and my first dai fic ever since i got back into my hyperfix :')

8. Do you get hate on fics?

none yet, luckily

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

lmao yes i write so much smut. um... what kind indeed? i'll just say it's very character-driven - not always stuff i'm personally interested in, but hey, if it works for them, good. i shall write the thing. i write a lot of different kinks

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

none i can think of... although i do have an outline for a dragon age characters in the star trek universe fic lmao

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not to my knowledge, but i don't go looking, either

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

one, yes!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no. considered it at times, but it seems kinda awkward

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

all time....? well i'll say that the ship i've sailed the longest has been fenders fr

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

the fucking. cagaster of an insect cage one. god. i keep thinking about it and fanfic is nonexistent so i feel extra compelled to finish my fic for them but i just have like 0 interest. da took my entire brain over (again)

16. What are your writing strengths?

hmm... your boy can sure write some character introspection!!! honestly tho, one of the things i'm proudest about in my writing is my ability to match the tone to the fic or character pov

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

action scenes, especially fight scenes :x i can do them but they take soooo much longer than anything else and it's an uphill battle (heh) the whole way

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

while i wouldn't write another real language in fic, if it's a fan language (like project elvhen) then i sometimes include short pieces if they're different from what would normally be spoken. so like... arlathan era fic, no, i'm not going to include stuff from project elvhen bc everyone's speaking elvhen all the time. but if it's during dai era or smth and they're speaking common with the occasional elvhen word/phrase thrown in, then i'd add the word/phrase and define it at the bottom

19. First fandom you wrote for?

da2!

20. Favorite fic you've written?

that's gotta be from my bigfic series, antiquation :') specifically i think part 5, paradigm shift, is my favorite of the whole series uwu

template under the cut!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5. Do you respond to comments?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

16. What are your writing strengths?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favorite fic you've written?