#qunari positive

[thedaselcor]

Chapter 8 is up!

[knife-eared-jan]

In case anyone is interested, this is the modding wishlist so far...

The bold ones are what I would very much like to try to have fun with myself, the others are a sobbing plea to the universe for someone to take pity on me bc I figured I probably lack the skills to make them myself.

They're roughly ordered by how desperate I am for them to exist.

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-Remove combat VFX (except mages & bombs reduced) -> sadly this doesn't seem to be part of the accessibility features which are otherwise great, but like, my autistic brain literally fries up with all the flashiness, I'll just meltdown 24/7. If you know how to do this, I would love you 5ever.

-Isabela outfit swap + darker skintone + age-up -> this is terrible in so many ways. Can't believe how they butchered my girl jfc I thought we were done with this type of shit??? (That was the spoiler I saw just now hooo my god). Also, let her be in her 50s pls!

-Morrigan outfit overhaul + hairstyle swap (to 36) -> Free her from the double boobs! Also, her actual hair is basically in the CC, why give her that millenial mum haircut? And again, let her be nearly 50.

-Qunari face texture edit -> needs no explanation, I bet it will be the most popular mod of the game forever

-Shadow Dragon PJ swap (mage outfit without shoulder pads?) -> it's PJs 2.0 and I don't like it. I guess that's why they gave Inky the same outfit, cause it just really looks like that. I got obsessed with this other one that is essentially the mage outfit sans the shoulder thing. I think that would make a great casual outfit.

-Inquisitor outfit overhaul/swap -> see explanation for the Shadow Dragon PJs. It makes perfect sense as a stand-in for the Inquisition PJs but then my Inkys are never actually subjected to them. Hope there is a Dalish outfit or otherwise a Veil Jumper one, that fits my Lavellan. It would also be fun to craft my own with pieces of different armors from Inquisition and Veilguard maybe.

-Inquisitor prosthetic replacement -> There's lots of different headcanons people have for theirs and it's sad there isn't a slider for different options. I don't even know yet what I'd like myself, but something a little more obviously a prosthetic I think. Or none at all maybe. Just, choices are cool.

-Mourn Watch Rogue armor retexture -> I am apparently the only person on this planet to feel this way, but I loathe the Mournwatch rogue armor - it just gives Joker. Like, I might like it in a TOTALLY different setting, but it does NOT give Thedas at all. Love the controversial mage one though, so I guess i'm just weird.

-Irelin hairstyle swap (to 64) -> to match the hairstyle she had in The Missing that fit her much better. Again, it's in the CC, why didn't they just use it?

-Solas face texture edit (no orange contour, bigger scar, more freckles?) -> look how orange you are, gurl! Like, I'll live without it, but I am bothered... I bet the creation of his scar comes up in the memories as well, so why is it so smoll.

-Solas retina change to more outer blue -> I get that he's cool and mysterious now, but I liked the blue a lot. just personal preference tho

[nohr-selphias]

Everyone can stay hating on the qunari cc . I WILL be making a hot qunari lady w a fivehead and she will be so beautiful to me, and more importantly beautiful to Davrin / Emmrich

[pondering-gales-left-orb]

this was originally tags on a re-blogged post but i had so much more to say so here we go

THE QUNARI AND WHY YOU ALL SHOULD BE NORMAL ABOUT THEM

the qunari story and lore drives me insane with how the fandom treats them

because we see them form the eyes of feraldans and orlesians and kirkwallers we never get a look form the inside

we only see what they see and they only see the military side so ofc to them they think they are all rigid and strict! even when you try to know more from the qunari we meet, they only talk about their training and military life which is normal ask any army soldier about his daily life and he wont talk about the flowers he saw walking down the street obv

the three Qunari characters that we see are literally the military convoy dispatched to another kingdom, the fucking president who is also the leader of the military forces, and the secret police guy (not even mentioning the actual straight up army and army general we meet in trespasser) why would they present as anything but scary intimidating and imposing when talked to by strangers??

everything anyone is gonna tell that is bad about the Qunari im gonna tell you you dont know if every single Qunari does these things do they all believe in force conversion? the Full Qun is not taught fully to everyone you only get taught the relevant parts to you and your potential, only the priests know it all, so how many Qunari actually know and agree with the actions of the secret police and conversion army?

the military and police training even in our world includes a great deal of unlearning kindness and care and relating to people and involves a great deal of dissociation but do regular people do that to?? do the Qunari people learn to disconnect the same way a ben-hassrath does? the logical answer is no because why would a baker or a shoe maker or a tailor need this heavy military training?

both Sten and iron bull once they get to know you TELL YOU that you cant judge the qunari based on them only, there are a whole nation of regular people in there that just living their life they do not have the harsh life the military trained have, they laugh around the fire and enjoy life in their own way and its different but not at all at the same time

the fucking arishock himself tells you you cannot inquire about regular qunari life from him because he is not a regular person he is a military man -the leader- he didnt live the life you are asking about he didnt learn the answers you need

when Wynn says to Sten "your people dont seem like music people" and he calls her out on that saying" based on what how do you know that?" and proceeds to tell her that he is not the equivalent of his people not every person is like him and he doesn't represent the nation as a whole they have music and art they have fun they have a beautiful life just not him in that moment because he has a job to do away from all that

in the fade you see his memories of relaxed qunari having fun and laughing and making fun of each other and that's STILL his military coworkers

do you think a regular ass Qunari that's like a cook in a tavern is gonna talk so much about the re-educators the same amount as bull?? do you think they even interact with them beyond childhood education (aka school....the part of the qun they need to be a cook)

all three of them ask you is that bad? is that worth destroying like your people think? do you think they are savages like your people think? compelling you to think beyond them to the people of par vollen

and im sad the fandom doesn't think about these questions critically and just generalizes the military experience on the nation of Par Vollen and by extension the Tal-Vashoth too

for example do you think the baker in par Vollen wants the Tal-Vashoth dead or is it just the military leaders? i bet if you go to a par Vollen vegetable seller and tell him "the Arishok is going to hunt Tal-Vashoth tomorrow" hes gonna blink twice and then say "alright....anyway so are you gonna buy something ?"

the transition of iron bull from Qunari to Tal-Vashoth is supposed to show you that regular people on both sides don't reflect the military goals of the leaders they both just want to live a fulfilling life how ever different that is from what we consider a fulfilling life and we get to see what that looks like to Qunari through the tender moments shown to us like with Sten and the whole charges and the bull story, the ones who want them dead are the military

but no the fandom has decided All Qunari bad All Qunari fascists or whatever as if the military goals of the chantry are better somehow

but then they give andrastian people grace they dont afford to the Qunari even though they are both regular people that follow two beliefs that doesn't consider the small folk in anyway shape or form as anything but fodder to further their ideology but one of them only has their death justified and accepted while the other are allowed to live and are given a plethora of excuses

[zundely]

So far the one big criticsm I have is- I do hate how they made the Qun a boogeyman for Antivan Crows to be cool vigilantes about. I was sort of having some hope maybe they would make this more interesting with no real good guys, but nope, Qunari are more bad racist caricature of a society then ever before and Antivan Crows conviniently forgot they get most of their recruits from child slavery I guess.

And like, I know know they made a really huge point of calling it "Antaam" and not "Qunari". But still, their leader getting nicknamed "the butcher". The whole dictator-coded speech was also very odd for Qunari. And yeah, the qunari writing was always very problematic but it feels like this time there wasn't any thought put into how to write them in an interesting fashion and maybe fix some past mistakes (since writers are clearly willing to retcon things), instead all we get "Qun bad Assasins good".

[magnetic-rose]

so/las stannies found my post

[freelanceplatypus]

Have you seen the design of the qunari in veil guard

It’s um

Not great

They are megamind now

I was at work when the flood of new DATV content dropped earlier today and could only read an article about it and the author commented specifically on how prominent the qunari foreheads were.

After watching some of the CC on youtube videos I'll admit a lot of it does just look plainly BAD. The most standout thing is the lack of texture on the forehead. It's horn base FOOORREEEHHHEEEAAADDD then the brow ridge. It's just this smooth expanse that doesn't blend into either the horns or brow on either side of it.

Now, do I think this is a lost cause for Qunari lovers everywhere? No, not at all. There are some skin textures that seem to help aid in masking the smooth plane that is the Qunari forehead. Bringing back biowares love of geometry based "sliders" we now have a triangle shaped forehead slider that appears to be able to decrease the space between horn and brow.

It took a lot to make a decent qunari (especially male) in DA:I and I think its going to take a decent amount of fussing and going back and fourth with settings to make a qunari pc whose skull looks like it makes sense in DATV.

Biggest take away is that the horn base texture just does not seem to carry down to the forehead and it looks ODD. I think we will see a lot of qunari rooks with bangs lol. I just think the folks playing in this early access did not have the time to make a Rook that looked GOOD. Even those choosing the other races came out with some wild looking characters.

DA2 had the best race features and I think if bioware had the guts they'd go back to da2 style qunari but life isn't made for gamers like me.

[girlbob-boypants]

You also cant seem to have a qunari Rook who likes being Qunari/enjoys that culture as far as I can tell.

[technicalgator]

what if the Shadow Dragons had a species based off their symbol. a species that resides mostly in Shadow Dragon territory, where they can be companions to fellow Shadow Dragons, a source of intel via spying, or the biggest headache for merchants and shopkeepers. what then.

[kissingagrumpygiant]

I think also the vibes of solas and cullen's respective romances are different. sure, cullen has a couple of sweet moments in his overall romance but he's always posited as a golden child with no flaws (despite his many flaws) and it's all hunky-dory. solas' romance paints him as this pretty flawed dude! he's weirdly secretive and distant at times, he acts meek sometimes and blisters with rage at others. the things he says don't always match up and the trespasser reveal is the start of understanding why.

cullen is fairly simple to understand. he has some complexity but it is mostly an open-and-shut case and once you've finished his romance/storyline, you can mostly understand him. not so much with solas, he's so squirrelly and contradictory. he knows he shouldn't be getting in a relationship, but he does it anyway. he knows you'll be his enemy one day but he'll still stop your arm from wrecking you so you can talk one last time even though it could potentially give you time to attack (which if you have low approval with him and do try to attack, he immediately stops you by influencing the anchor but still).

he's not even ugly, he's just bald 😭he's a bald little dude who says he's turned his back on the world but when the inquisitor reaches out a hand, he takes it!! anyway I'm completely normal about solas.

its about the character study its about the Layers its about the complexity of a hypocrite who at his very core cares for others so much its his driving motivation from thousands of years ago but his pride is too much to admit he made a passing judgment, a mistake, and now he refuses to back down from his original plan its about how he now gave his whole heart to another person who isnt his people and now he has TO DEAL WITH IT, and hes gonna have to hurt them to reach his goals but he still cares and hes not like coryphaeus as he tells himself as he tries one last time to help the inquisition by tripping the qunari spy network because he CARES and he recognizes somewhere deep in himself these are his people too and he cant ever really turn his back on lavellan bc he still visits their dreams

[fabiansociety]

da2 isn't the best dragon age game *because* it's openly a tragedy, but being a tragedy forces a level of narrative coherence that the other games in the series don't have, and *that's* what makes it a better game.

okay, so. dragon age 2 runs on nested foreshadowing and a limited set of themes that almost every character and plot beat fall into: love is not enough, wealth is not enough, power is not enough, good intent is not enough. the problems you run into are structural, rather than individual, and your ability to resolve them as one person is strictly limited. the arishok is a central figure for this, because he prefigures every other tragedy and makes the game's thesis statement as clear as possible. he doesn't want to be in kirkwall, but he is compelled to remain until he gets back what was stolen. he doesn't want to lead a coup attempt, but he is compelled by qunari codes of justice to act. he does not want to die and fail his duty, but but he is compelled to by the other two impossible demands. every tragedy in kirkwall is the result of too many people with wildly different definitions of justice crammed into one place specifically designed to maximize human misery and suffering, and so you get a wonderfully nested narrative onion where each quest reinforces that idea, where there are no good options, just positions you can take — even the affinity system plays into that, where constantly gassing up your friends or constantly pushing them to change are equally correct ways to go, but ones that won't ultimately make a huge difference in their lives or characters, because no matter how much they like you, they're not under your control.

this coherence is even justified by the framing device. of *course* the moral of the game is "insisting on a dogmatic, narrow idea of justice destroys individuals and societies," it's a yarn being spun by varric the con artist to a chantry cop!

neither origins or inquisition play with that sort of narrative complexity. origins is a jaundiced hero's quest, certainly, but it's still basically a hero's quest; inquisition has a number of characters who question what you're doing and why, but the multitude of voices pulls the game in too many potential directions. DA2 was so constrained in its production that it pulled on decidedly ancient theatrical traditions, and it worked so, so well

[thedaselcor]

Newest chapter of Viddathari essam Ashkaarebas is up! We're up to 9 published chapters of Sataareth Issqun adventures!

[lizzybeeee]

I feel like another reason for Sten being much less 'intense' then the qunari we see in the future games is because, technically, when we meet him he's Tal-Vashoth.

He's lost his sword/soul, he's failed his mission from the Arishok, and his karatam (fellow soldiers) are all dead. On top of that, the realization that he's lost asala leads to him killing an entire farmhold, (not just the men, but the women and children too!) - literally proving to himself that without the Qun he is lawless and savage, just as he was taught his entire life. Alistair talks about how Sten is regretful of what happened, but that his "regret is the not the same as it is to us" - which I agree with! He's more regretful at his loss of composure/purpose more so than the death of the farmers.

He's stuck in this limbo of being loyal to the Qun, because he genuinely believes in it, while also being confronted with the idea that according to his beliefs he is nothing - his soul is dust. He had come to terms with the idea of dying in that cage because he was less than nothing and he could see no way of making his way in the world without the purpose of the Qun.

Then along comes the Warden who gives him a chance to find a sliver of purpose again: to fight the blight.

The blight/darkspawn is a threat to all, even the Qun, so it doesn't conflict with his beliefs. It's also responsible for the death of his karatam - and in his fade prison we can see that he has a strong camaraderie with his fellow soldiers - so on a personal level he's invested in seeing them destroyed. Sten is, according to the Qun, lawless and chaotic, so why not die with a blade in his hand, even if its not his soul?

Sten's more open to hearing/conversing with the rest of the party because:

1) They're fighting together - He needs to know how to work with them and they are not trained as the Qun trains warriors. He comments in a lot of his banter about the fighting styles/techniques of those he's with.

2) He is Tal-Vashoth - For the time he is without asala, at least. At this point in time he's come to terms with the fact that his death is only delayed - that he will die from the darkspawn or the Qun if he returns to Par Vollen. So why not talk with these people who he's traveling with? What can he lose from it? Most of his conversations are not him attempting to convert others to the Qun, but his attempts to understand how one lives without it.

3) He is someone who needs a strong sense of purpose to function (thanks to growing up under the Qun) and the Warden provides that purpose.

While he's initially distant/critical with those in the party, with time he becomes open to conversing with them outside of arguments/criticism - even joking or teasing them! He's still loyal to the Qun, but he's willing to speak/listen to the perspectives of others because what does he have to lose? He even asks questions/converses with the Warden about the differences between the Qun and life outside of it - even though he doesn't agree, that's way more than the Arishok was willing to do in DA2. He's trying to understand how someone can live without the Qun because it simply does not compute, but he's faced with the reality that somehow people do live without it.

When he is no longer Tal-Vashoth (if you help him locate asala) he maintains the respectful camaraderie/friendship(?) with the Warden - calling them an 'Ashkaari' which is basically 'an enlightened one' when they return his blade. Not to mention how he calls them 'Kadan' and promises to not look for them on the battlefield of the 'eventual' invasion of the Qun in southern Thedas (RIP Qunari War story thread). It comes across to me, at least, that he rationalizes/reconciles his time as a Tal-Vashoth by associating the Warden with the Qun - which is both a sign of massive respect and pure copium lmao.

He says he's 'complete' when he gets asala back and it makes me feel a little sad every time! How much has the Qun shaped/warped his sense of identity that he's unable to see all he accomplished without it? :(

Anyway, this turned into a rant about how I love Sten as a character and how complex and well he was written - top tier writing, 10/10 <3

Something very dear to me in DAO, when it comes to Sten and then Qun is that, unlike the next games, it doesn't feel like the Qun is portrayed in that much of a negative of a light?

Sure, some of its issues are still adressed. Sten will ask 'how are you a woman if you fight' to leliana, morrigan, wynne and a female warden, and it highlights the gender roles in the Qun, but considering that if you play as a female warden you get ask/told again and again that there aren't a lot of wardens or that people are surprised you're a warrior (cof cof howe mentioning its unusual that bryce would train a female cousland as a warrior cof cof) i don't have much complaints with that. it is what it is. And at least, you can stand up to Sten when he says those things.

I think the only time i was like 'ok that is fucked' was when Sten brought up how the Qun treats its mages, because even when he talked about how everyone under the Qun has a role, he doesn't talk in a way that makes you feel like this is some sort of extremely bad and rigid thing. In fact, Sten makes the argument that its better because then people don't have to spend their life trying to fit in into something they're not (and lowkey, Wynne expressed similar sentiments when she talks about that it's better to embrace the role/destiny that the Maker gave you than fighting against it).

But what really drives home to me about home to me is that, at some point, Alistair asks the Warden how they feel about the other companions and when talking about Sten, there's a possbility for Alistair to say that, in the way Sten talks about the Qun, it doesn't feel as vile as the chantry makes it out. And you gotta keep in mind that Alistair spent a good portion of his life living in the chantry, so for him to say that, for me, is a big deal on how the Qun is portrayed through Sten.

I think about this a lot because I honestly was like wow, besides a few things, the Qun seems lowkey to be pretty good until we got to DAI and there was the whole thing with re-education, and hunting tal-vashoth (which, its adressed in DAO, but i feel like they were much more subtle about it). Like heck, even in DA2, I don't think the Qun itself is portrayed that badly, because 1) the Arishok doesn't do shit to Kirkwall until he's provocked like 3 different times and 2) Kirkwall is a shithole, so when he talks about the city, he lowkey makes sense.

Idk. I really liked how the qun was handled in DAO because of Sten and his perspective, and then in DAI and DATV I was just going 'yikes' most of the time.

[kassette--woodswich--esquire]

I hate the incel debate against female space marines. Former artists from GW have already confirmed that in the past it's solely been a sales decision that they didn't make any, and that was in the 80s and 90s.

(For context, I see the arguments popping up again now that Space Marines 2 is a few weeks away, usually in the comments on tik tok).

There are many lore reasons that already exist to work them in. And you wanna know a secret? If the 8 foot tall post human warrior is wearing a helmet, you'd have no idea. Good, practical armor is sexless. And all space marines are extensively modified anyway. The only real difference would be hair preferences culturally speaking, and maybe, MAYBE, some facial differences. Otherwise? All space marines would be built like a strongman competitor cranked up to eleven.

Maybe just let us have this one extra customization? It wouldn't even change gameplay, it'd be akin to using a different skin in Overwatch. It's just flavor.

For the minis, you could even use pre-existing parts from Age of Sigmars Stormcast Eternals.

And for the counter argument of "why not let Sisters of battle have men then". Okay. Let's do it. They could be men that take an oath of celibacy like monks, and are legally recognized as women after their oaths. Kind of like the Qunari Military, any sex can be a soldier, but the position of soldier is considered masculine to the Qunari. Do that in reverse, everyone is a sister of battle, including boob chest plates, because the role is feminine.

What I'm saying is, femboy sisters of battle.

If you read the whole thing, I thank you. Just getting some feelings off my chest, it's not that deep. If you don't agree, cheers. We can both agree Warhammer is awesome and go our separate ways. Have fun out there.

[felassan]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard - companion bios all together

[source, two]

Text in each image reads:

"Lace Harding This dwarven scout has a positive outlook and a ready bow – as well as unexpected magical powers. At her core, Harding is still a girl from Ferelden; she loves adventure, animals, and nature and is fiercely protective of her family and friends. Abilities – Seismic Shot; Heavy Draw; Shred; Adrenaline Rush; Soothing Potion Neve Gallus A cynic fighting for a better future, Neve is both a private detective and a member of Tevinter’s rebellious Shadow Dragons. Born and raised in a working-class neighborhood of Minrathous, she does not believe in the superiority of mages. Abilities – Icebreaker; Blizzard; Glacial Pace; Time Slow; Replenish Davrin Bold and charming, this Grey Warden has made a name for himself as a monster hunter. Though he was raised in a Dalish clan, he craved excitement and adventure. He’d rather make history than reflect on it. Now he cares for Assan, a young griffon. Abilities - Battle Cry; Death From Above; Heroic Strike; Assan Strike; In War, Victory Bellara Lutare Bellara is creative, romantic, and obsessed with uncovering the secrets of ancient Elvhenan. She has a strong sense of self – a clear idea of who she is and what she wants – and will push herself to her limits to find the answers she seeks. Abilities – Fade Bolts; Enfeebling Shot; Replenish; Time Slow; Galvanized Tear Taash A qunari dragon hunter with the Lords of Fortune, Taash lives for adventure and doesn’t mind taking risks. While her interests include sparkling treasures and hitting things with an axe, she is also deeply knowledgeable about many topics. Abilities – Fire Breath; Dragon’s Roar; Dragonfire Strike; Spitfire; Fortune’s Favor Emmrich Volkarin A necromancer of Nevarra’s Mourn Watch, this well-mannered scholar comes complete with a skeletal assistant, Manfred. Emmrich is as serious about his duty to protect innocents from the occult as he is about his studies of the mysteries of the Fade. Abilities – Final Rites; Replenish; Entangling Spirits; The Bell Tolls; Time Slow Lucanis Dellamorte Lucanis is an expert assassin for whom the Antivan Crows are a family business. Poised and pragmatic, he would rather not be the center of attention, focusing instead on his work. Lucanis specializes in executing powerful mages and has earned the title Demon of Vyrantium. Abilities – Eviscerate; Abominate; Soothing Potion; Debilitate; Adrenaline Rush"

[butchvamp]

okay i've played a bit more and i have a lot of thoughts about Taash and the way gender is being handled overall in this game...

first i will say the positives which is that i do really appreciate the attempt at incorporating trans characters both in the world as companions and allowing us to make those options in the cc. and as someone who also writes dark fantasy stories with trans characters i do understand how difficult it can be to incorporate these identities into a world that doesn't necessarily have the same language as we do; but overall the way they've approached this feels very... i've seen some people call it unpolished but i actually feel the opposite. it's almost clinical (therapy-speak in general has been a main criticism of this game) and it's way too polished, in my opinion, which is what makes it so jarring to see.

there has been a trans character established in game previously, there is already a precedent for these identities to exist in this world, and they have never used this language before. the way Iron Bull talked about Krem felt far more realistic and integrated into the world of Thedas comparatively. was it perfect? no, of course not, but i chafe at the idea that it needs to be perfect, anyways. this is another problem the game has; past characters have had their flaws completely ironed out (Isabela is now a paragon of friendship and returns cultural artifacts instead of looting them, Dorian has multiple codex entries wallowing about how he used to defend slavery, the Crows have suddenly become a big found family-- on and on and on) and while i have my criticisms of some of these flaws (Dorian's pro-slavery rant in inqusition still makes my eyes roll) i dislike the way they're handling these changes and just expecting us to ignore all of the lore and worldbuilding from previous games. and all of this "political correctness" only for the game to still be so racist.

which brings me back to Taash.... Taash is very strange character, lacking agency around both their gender and their culture. they are simply a mouthpiece for the writer. while yes, it should always be made undeniable that your character is trans or gay or xyz, Taash really does only exist to be nonbinary. and to be clear, a nonbinary character like them could be very interesting, if their writing wasnt so... white. we know that the Qun has different ideas about gender than Rivain (and elsewhere) and this could have been a very interesting exploration of that; however, it is obvious that the Qun (and Taash's mother) are meant to be depicted negatively, and ultimately it ends with the player (not Taash) choosing between their two cultures. their gender is clearly far more important to the writer and the only facet of their identity they seemed willing to explore, which makes me question why even make this character qunari to begin with...

Neve and Rook are also the two that spur Taash into exploring their gender. this, on the surface, is not a problem for me. i'm playing as a trans Rook and while the dialogue was again very overpolished and clunky i found it kind of endearing. but the way Neve is used as this "foil" for Taash really rubbed me the wrong way. this assumption that Neve has no complicated feelings about her gender or being a woman (which i highly doubt considering the world she lives in & how misogynistic it is) and the implication from Taash that she only dresses the way she does for her mother/other people (which Neve doesn't even get to challenge) is extremely narrow-minded. Taash is the Only character that acknowledges gender; so far, even when flirting with other characters, it's only been Taash that i've been allowed to specify with that my rook is trans, despite Taash already knowing that from our previous conversation (i hope that this changes once i lock in with a specific character so feel free to correct me if it does).

but no one else really seems to have an opinion except that Neve drags Taash around to meet Maevaris, and we get the very goofy note that's just a list of modern gender identities and their definitions. i do partly sympathize with the writers here; again i've had to find a way to incorporate lgbt identities in my own writing and it can be difficult depending on your audience. i understand wanting to be very clear and concise. but this is... just goofy. and this desperation to be so correct around gender while simultaneously writing such an offensively racist narrative is really frustrating.

there's also an inconsistency that comes from this with Taash's character-- they are portrayed as this rough but awkward character that is bossed around by their mother, they are bashful with flirting early on and are almost child-like in comparison to the other characters. and then suddenly you get a scene with them where they very directly ask if you want to have sex and suddenly pin you against the wall. this scene was so jarring to me i referred to it as a jumpscare because WHERE has this character been this entire time? i want to see more of this, more of this character who takes what they want and knows exactly who they are (which they even say multiple times when you first meet them... but then need Neve and Rook to hold their hand about it?)

i do really like Taash, i like the idea of them, of this very self-assured and almost cocky character who is also a little silly, this person who is so sure of who they are but has to deal with their mother undermining them while also navigating a culture they feel disconnected from, and i also like that the player can help them through it... but the execution is awful, shallow, and racist. the idea that someone can only choose One culture is so offensive and also a laughable conclusion when compared to their coming out as nonbinary. the writer clearly understands that people don't exist within these little boxes when it comes to gender, but can't wrap their head around it when it comes to someone's culture-- which is also a very important part of a person's identity and often contributes directly to their gender and how they feel about it. all of these different characters have different experiences, come from different places, Davrin and Bellara are Dalish and even have differing opinions on what that means for themselves, but the game doesn't touch on any of it. all we get is a lecture from the writer that is completely removed from the world it's presented in.

i wish i could understand what it was this character was meant to convey. i stand by saying that it doesn't need to be perfect; i know there are people that had problems with Krem in inquisition, but at least Krem was his own person. Taash doesn't even get that here... i harp a lot about character agency when i give writing advice on my other blog but it really is so so so important for marginalized characters-- both gay, trans, and especially characters of color-- to have their own agency around their identities that is completely separate from the player & player choice, that allows them to exist as their own person within the world you've created, and i think Taash's character and story is an unfortunate example of exactly what not to do.