#rook Cassian de riva

[corvidaerook]

My crow, Cassian:

My Veil Jumper, Rowan:

My Mourn Watcher, Moore (like Momento Mori:)

My Grey Warden, Karreth:

And my new guy, a Lord of Fortune named Hayes

btw show me screenshots of your rooks. i want to see them.

[corvidaerook]

I'm thinking about Rook De Riva and Viago again and just rambling about my thoughts, which might change when it's not 3am:

For my Rook, I think the reason he never met Lucanis, Illario, or Caterina before Veilguard, or even apparently saw them from a distance considering he didn't recognize them at all, was partly because of Viago and Viago's past with the King.

Basically, Viago got forced to choose between being a Crow or being exiled because of his position as a bastard child. He didn't have a choice in it, which in my opinion leads to him having issues with the whole idea of power and who holds it and all that ("The Crows rule Antiva" do you mean the Crows, or do you mean you, Viago?) And that makes me think of two things.

1) Viago hating the idea of the higher-up Talons having too much control over him or pulling rank. What's one way to give them less of an opportunity to let them do that? Keep them from ever really seeing his best Crows. And personally, I think it's implied that Rook is one of his best. The way he talks in the Blighted Treviso scene, where he goes "you always think of something!" and acts like Rook literally just being there could've changed anything alone makes me think he relies on Rook a decent amount. Plus him trusting Jacobus to Rook, "you're a damn fine Crow," etc. So I can totally see him tucking Rook away from the higher-ranked Crows as an "out of sight, out of mind" tactic to keep them from using Rook in any way. (I know Teia and Viago don't pull rank with each other, but I can't remember if they said that was all the Talons or just themselves, and I don't believe that none of them do)

And

2) Viago seems to actually care about Rook. Teia says it, Viago seems to imply it, etc. and in my headcanon, it's definitely true. So, similarly to the first point, I think Viago would be hesitant to let anyone he cares about be in a place where they could be subject to a display of power from someone higher up in the Crows. He had to deal with being banished or given to the Crows by his father, and I just don't think he'd tolerate the idea of a similar treatment towards people he cares about. Teia is relatively safe because she's incredibly capable herself and has Caterina's support, but Rook when they were just starting out? Viago couldn't have been sure that they would win over anyone important enough to give them that sort of immunity. So to me, it feels like the easier method would be to just keep Rook out of the way. If Rook is never really noticed by the higher crows, they could never be deliberately singled out. Not only would that protect Rook, but I think it would also satisfy the paranoid, overly cautious part of Viago that's constantly waiting for another adder in the wardrobe situation.

(also, 3, Imo Viago would love to have a secret ace in the hole trick up his sleeve in the form of a personally trained, very skilled assassin who none of the other big-name Crows have necessarily noticed. Especially if Teia helped train them too, on top of Viago and an Heir. Two, if not three, incredibly talented teachers making a top tier assassin? It'd be his dream come true if they'd just start listening to his fucking orders.)

So, with those two (3ish) reasons, I think Viago purposefully keeping Rook away from the Dellamortes makes a lot of sense. I can absolutely see it where Viago just sent Rook away whenever there was some important meeting or he knew Illario would be around the Diamond or that Lucanis would be at the cafe. He might've even warned Rook that he wanted them to stay away from the Dellamortes because he didn't trust them not to fuck up in front of them, meanwhile he was really calculating about how best to keep Rook from being noticed until they were at a point where he would feel like they were ready.

And then Rook went and pissed off everyone with the Antaam stunt, all at once, and Viago had to send Rook away, making him use his power to make choices for Rook in the exact way that he'd been plotting so carefully to avoid anybody else doing to them.

[lemonina00]

Made yet another Rook🫣 and now I am low-key obsessed with him🤤. He looks like he has such an attitude😅. And I shall commit to playing him like this! (I'm normally a softie who only ever chooses nice dialogue options🥲☺️).

Meet Cassian de Riva (he/him) 🐦‍⬛💙😊

[corvidaerook]

Very curious about Lost Bird (Hi DV here)

Hi!! Thank you so much for asking, and dw, I recognized you! So, Lost Bird is an au fic based on my Rook, Cassian De Riva (Bird,) and this post about Rook getting stuck (Lost) in the Regret Prison because they can't get over one or more of their regrets. In his case, it's very much about the Crows, Lucanis, and Treviso/Minrathous. This specific portion is focused on how, while in the prison, Cassian thinks Lucanis might be dead (particularly that he might be dead because of the orders Cassian gave.) It's also unedited lol.

“I warned you, Rook. I made it clear what would happen if you put your life in our hands.” Lucanis’ voice echoed off the stones, cutting into Cassian’s skin like rusted blades, dirty and jagged. “All I know is death, and now you’ve ensured that I knew my own.”

For a second, it felt like the floor was giving way beneath him. Like it was splitting to swallow him up, to send him tumbling through nothingness all over again.

But the ground stayed solid, his feet stayed planted, and Lucanis' statue continued to loom over him, wings spread wide and lyrium dagger clutched in one hand, a perfect mimicry of the moment just before he'd lunged for Ghilan'nain's throat.

Cassian could still feel the way his heart had stopped, right there and then. When Lucanis had leapt, and she’d spun on him, tendrils snatching him from midair to pin him against the pillar. His fear should’ve been for their mission, for the world, but all he could focus on was the freezing terror that had plunged through him when he’d thought he was about to watch Lucanis die right in front of him.

Then Harding had stepped in. Ghilan’nain had fallen for the bait, and Lucanis had killed Ghilan'nain exactly like Cassian had asked him to.

He’d lived, and Ghilan’nain hadn’t.

It was still enough for sour saliva to flood under Cassian's tongue.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he couldn't stop himself from sinking to his knees, numb hands trembling.

Lucanis couldn’t have died after that, he told himself. He couldn’t have lived through the worst of the fight, only to die after. And Cassian couldn’t have lost Bellara, Harding, and Lucanis, all in one day. It was one thing for there to be casualties while fighting a war against two Gods, but he refused to believe that three of the most important people in his life had all been taken away just like that.

It was just another one of Solas’ tricks. Like Varric. Another manipulation, meant to drag him deeper into the Fade and even further out of Solas’ way.

And as soon as he got out of here, as soon as he’d held Lucanis, felt the thrum of his heart, the warmth of his skin, proved to himself that he was alive—he would kill Solas for it.

But even as he thought it, doubt crawled nauseatingly up his spine, curling in his chest like a tendril of blight blooming behind his ribs.

The power that had surged from Ghilan’nain’s body after Lucanis had killed her…Cassian had felt the strength of it when it had thrown them back. And he had seen how even a short fall could go horribly wrong. You couldn’t be a Crow in Treviso without seeing a zipline accident snap someone’s neck or a slip on the wrong roof end with someone’s head cracking.

With the harsh stone that’d made up the Tearstone Island ruins, all it would have taken was Lucanis’ body twisting the wrong way in midair for it to have done serious damage.

Permanent, heart-stopping, lethal damage.

Swallowing hard, Cassian squeezed his fingers around the front of his armor and let out a jagged breath.

He could barely even hear the blood rushing in his ears as he curled into himself, like that could stop the way the Fade was beginning to press closer to his skin at the thought that Lucanis could be dead and Cassian wouldn't even know, all because he'd trusted Solas.

Even worse was the distant, dizzying thought that Lucanis could be dead, all because he'd trusted Cassian.

[corvidaerook]

👀sorry but I've gotta ask about treviso post game for the wip ask game

Hi! Don't apologize, thank you for asking! So, the Treviso post-game wip is about Lucanis and my Rook, Cassian, returning to Treviso after defeating the Gods. It's basically just a bunch of one-shots of them figuring stuff out together and rebuilding their lives after spending so long away from Treviso (Lucanis in the Ossuary and Cassian with Varric and Harding.) This unedited snippet is from a part in Lucanis' POV of helping Cassian with nightmares because you can't tell me either of them escaped without a plethora of bad dreams.

“Tearstone. When she wrapped you in the Blight.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “I couldn't get to you. And when I did, there was just—it was too much. Couldn't get you free.”

“It was only a dream, Rook. We are safe, together in Treviso, and Ghilan’nain is dead.” Lucanis murmured.

With a small, cracked hum, Cassian turned closer. His hand found Lucanis’ chest and curled there, over his heart. His fingers dug into Lucanis’ shirt like he was trying to steady himself.

It was silent for a moment, neither of them speaking. Lucanis let it be, only laying his hand over Cassian’s, pressing it down gently so that he could be sure that he could feel the thrum of his heart. A part of him itched to say something, to reassure Cassian, but he knew all too well that the simple comforts were sometimes all one needed, himself included; after they'd brought Cassian home from the Fade, all he had wanted was to listen to his voice, soft and soothing.

But even the reassuring sound of Cassian’s murmurs hadn't been enough to chase away all of Lucanis’ worries about facing the Gods. And it seemed like Lucanis’ heartbeat wasn't enough to pull Cassian from a nightmare now, because after a long, stretching minute, his face crumpled.

He sucked in a breath, lifting his free hand to scrub at his face, and tightened his grip on Lucanis’ shirt.

“Lucanis.” He pleaded.

Spite, having been watching warily in the back of Lucanis’ mind, stirred sharply. His magic rolled beneath Lucanis’ skin like pinpricks of static, before the familiar warmth of his wings unfurled into the air to curl around Cassian.

“Fix it. Make him better.” Spite snarled, feathers fluttering in agitation.

“I’m here.” Lucanis squeezed Cassian’s hand and purposefully ignored Spite’s presence. “I wouldn’t leave you.”

But Cassian either wasn’t convinced or just wasn’t listening, because he dropped his other hand to join the first, clutching at Lucanis like he was about to slip away. With a noise that sounded like he’d been punched in the gut, he pressed his forehead to Lucanis’ shoulder.

He was shivering, Lucanis realized. Shaking despite the warm summer air still left in the room from leaving the windows open that afternoon.

And when he spoke, Cassian’s voice was hoarse, muffled in Lucanis’ shirt but no less gut-wrenching for it. “You got blighted. Like Bellara. It—I couldn’t—”

Lucanis’ heart sank.

“Oh, Rook…” He said softly.

[corvidaerook]

The problem with the way that I approach rpgs is that I want to go back and replay datv with my first Rook, only this time I speed run the main story and purposefully let everything go to shit to see his reactions and everything, but I feel like I need to have a reason for why he would ever do that and what changes to make him go from so fully prioritizing his allies and companions to just completely focusing on the Gods and nothing else. Like it's a video game dude, just play it😭

[corvidaerook]

I made an entire au about my Rook getting the bad endings so I could see his reactions, where he loses his sister in the Treviso Dragon Attack to explain why he focuses on the main quests without helping any of his friends or allies, and in the time between stopping the dragon and when I think he learns about his sister, I chose this dialogue😭 Cassian you don't even know...you don't even know...

[corvidaerook]

I'm playing through Veilguard again with my Crow Rook so I just saw this conversation for the first time, and it's so funny. Lucanis actively flirts with Cassian, Cassian gently flirts back, and Lucanis, my 'just got out of a hellscape of a prison,' demisexual, workaholic king, backpedals so hard despite them already literally being together that he defaults to talking about killing his cousin

[corvidaerook]

My Rook + Rookanis photo dump because I'm going through my gallery

This is one of my favorite photos I have from the entire game ngl. Like 1) it's just pretty, but 2) my Rook, Cassian, carries a lot of guilt for what happened at Weisshaupt, so getting Lavendal to bloom again was a big, really surprising thing for him. And in the cutscene with Antoine and Evka, there's this moment where Rook turns to leave and (for me,) Lucanis stands up and just kind of looks after him, like he's concerned. So this fits with that Imo because my Rook doesn't openly express his upset feelings very much, so this is his moment of just looking at what they all managed to do and letting himself feel it before putting that away again, and Lucanis just waiting for him. They don't talk about it or admit that's what it was, but it's Lucanis' way of being there without crowding him.

This one is the first real mission Cassian had been on with Lucanis solo (other than the Treviso market) and I think he's trying to piece together what he's seeing of Lucanis with the stories he's heard of like the Demon of Vyrantium through the other Crows. This guy is the feared magekiller, but he's also grocery shopping for the team, gets excited about wyvern daggers, loves coffee, is poetic and sweet, like none of it is what he expected so I think Cassian at this point is still trying to figure it out. I also love this lighting for Lucanis even if it washes Cassian out😭

A bunch of random screenshots and live Harding reaction

[corvidaerook]

Love how I unknowingly made a rook who has both a mentor and a love interest with pet snakes when I'm personally genuinely terrified of them. I will never do anything with Lucanis' pet because I can't think about it at all without guaranteed nightmares

[corvidaerook]

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. People can send an ask or comment about the title that most intrigues them, then you post a snippet or tell them something about it!

Thanks @thedissonantverses for tagging me!! I don't know if any of my followers haven't yet/want to do this, so I'm going to leave it open for anyone to do if they want to!

From my primary Rook's Veilguard folder:

Lucanis - Post-Tearstone Island

Lost Bird

Future - Lucassian

Treviso - Post-game

Lucassian

Saving Lace

Viago

Canon - Catchall

Despair Demon (Cold #5)

Blood of Arlathan

(context, my Rook's name is Cassian, so Luc/anis + c/assian is Lucassian)

[corvidaerook]

Like sorry not to brag about my favorite boy but he looks so good

Is it just me, or is the lighting in Davrin's side quests just always wildly good?? A lot of my favorite screenshots of my Rooks come from his cutscenes because they're always pretty

[corvidaerook]

Brain rotting over my own Rook so I made mood boards ft. Lucanis

[corvidaerook]

put your clothes back on I'm going to read you my 8 page 8.5"x11" info-dump essay on my datv Rook's exact character arc and personality and how it leads to the choice he makes in the endgame

[corvidaerook]

Hi! I'm new to Tumblr, so this is my temporary pinned post.

I just finished Dragon Age: the Veilguard and need a place to blab to the abyss about my Rook, Cassian De Riva, Lucanis, and the other companions, so this is where I'm gonna do it.

I'll tag any Veilguard spoilers with #Veilguard spoilers, so that's the tag to mute.

[corvidaerook]

okay I'm back in the building because I just got through Weisshaupt on this playthrough and fucking hell I'm losing my mind. The amount of things that hit so much harder because of the extra context of "he just lost his sister"?? I need a place to dump all my thoughts, so lore/random stuff/Rook thoughts info-dump alert:

1) from a Rookanis perspective; Cassian's current goal in life is to kill Ghilan'nain. He wants to stop both the Gods (and Solas) ofc, but Ghilan'nain is personal. It was her dragon who attacked Treviso, killing his sister, Amara, and taking away the last piece of his immediate family that he had left. He wants her dead yesterday.

And Lucanis is the one person he's really been relying on since he learned Amara was killed. He just lost Caterina, he's a Crow too so he understands the pain of what happened in Treviso, he's similarly minded in that Cassian also wants to focus on work and revenge over letting himself feel things. Like in general, even outside of any potential romance between them, Cassian just feels so much safer and more comfortable with Lucanis over anyone else. The only one who comes close is Davrin because Davrin's idea of comforting him is going "hey, wanna go on a walk about it?" instead of trying to be sympathetic or making him feel emotions he's trying not to feel.

Then they go to Weisshaupt. Lucanis tries to kill Ghilan'nain and Davrin almost dies to the Archdemon and there's a little girl running around who might've lost her father that he can't protect properly. In general, Cassian is having a fucking horrible day. And Lucanis misses the shot.

From Lucanis' perspective, it must be horrible. He's watched Cassian spiral since losing his sister, pushing everyone away, suddenly angry at the world and everything in it, refusing to even really think about his grief except for 1 moment where he lost it a little with Teia, and then watched him start acting normal again except everyone can see that Cassian's putting on a facade of being fine and he's actually incredibly not fine at all. Lucanis thinks to himself okay, I can't fix his feelings or bring back his sister, but I know killing. If I can bring down Ghilan'nain, it will be revenge for Treviso, Minrathous, and Cassian. And then he misses, and Cassian tells him to retreat, not even giving him a second chance, and they're running, and they get back to the Lighthouse and don't even get the chance to talk before they're sitting with the team and Davrin's blaming him and he's blaming Davrin and Cassian yells at all of them, and then Lucanis goes back to his pantry to brood think about everything, and Cassian comes to find him, and the one of the first things Cassian says is, "Forget about Ghilan'nain."

The Goddess who killed his sister, and he says to forget about her because, "I'm just happy you didn't get killed out there." Cassian would rather lose out on his chance for revenge than lose Lucanis, one of the only people he still has that he cares about.

2) Also, just from a general Cassian perspective, there are a few different things that just feel so important to me.

Cassian's voice when he says Davrin's name before the Archdemon sacrifice. Through the entire siege, Cassian was trying so hard not to think about the fact that he was leading Davrin straight to his death, and then all of a sudden it was there, and horrifyingly real, and Cassian was going to lose another person he cared about to Ghilan'nain and her fucking monsters. I use the male American voice for Cassian and he just sounds so tired and scared, and it was so fitting. And the fact that someone pointed out that Davrin's eyes look wet when he says to give Assan a hug? That man was crying??

How much more worried Cassian seemed when he realized Lucanis was missing in the pre-Eluvian room glance at the pantry.

The extra tension between Cassian and Neve/anything Minrathous-related because he knows it's not her fault and that she has every right to be mad or distant but he can't stop wondering if, maybe if he hadn't gone straight to Minrathous to try to help, would he have gone to check on his sister instead? Would he have found her in time? Could he have done something different? He couldn't do anything in Minrathous anyway, why didn't he stay and check on her? He chased away the dragon in Treviso, so why does it feel like he lost so completely?

The tension between Cassian and Emmrich because Emmrich, trying to be nice, offered to help him figure out the arrangements for his sister's funeral and accidentally hit a nerve when he asked if she'd be cremated because the cold is a huge trigger for Cassian because when he was younger, his parents and brother were killed, and he was left with his sister laying in the snow, not sure if she was alive or not, and Emmrich wants to ask him if he's going to put her in the ground, cold and alone?

The tension between Cassian and Bellara because she's one of his best friends but she sometimes talks before she thinks and she's brought up his sister to try to help him one time too many and he feels like he's going to cry if she tries one more time, and he can't do that because he won't be able to pull himself back together.

The tension between Cassian and Harding because she knows him better than anyone on the team because they've known each other for the longest and he's terrified of her seeing straight through his jokes and quips and realizing how not-okay he is.

This fucking face when the conversation starts drifting into "blaming Lucanis for losing to Ghilan'nain at Weisshaupt" territory:

Choosing the angrier, strong-arm or armored dialogue choices and hearing him get so much more upset than he ever did in his canon run and feeling the genuine change between the two timelines. He's so mad in this one with everyone and everything, and he's completely run out of patience with pretty much anything that isn't Lucanis, Teia, and most of the time, Davrin.

Getting the "Letter with a Grey Warden Seal" post-Weisshaupt about how the Wardens are doing, and having Evka say, "they're a good person trying to deal with a lot of change - and it hasn't stopped them from helping" about Flynn, knowing full well that Cassian is a good person going through a lot of change and that the entire point is that it has stopped him from helping the people he cares about.

Having Cassian actually have more (reluctant) patience and sympathy for Solas because he has a very abrupt, very personal stake in stopping Ghilan'nain that he never had in the canon run. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is making him feel a lot more trusting towards Solas, and it's going to come back to bite him when he gets castled. He's going to be so much more angry later.

This line and the fact that all I could think about is that Cassian might be 28 years old, but losing his sister made him feel like a child again, and he feels so completely alone because of it.

Knowing that, at Tearstone, Cassian will take Elgar'nan's sister from him the same way that Ghilan'nain took his.

I made an entire au about my Rook getting the bad endings so I could see his reactions, where he loses his sister in the Treviso Dragon Attack to explain why he focuses on the main quests without helping any of his friends or allies, and in the time between stopping the dragon and when I think he learns about his sister, I chose this dialogue😭 Cassian you don't even know...you don't even know...