#rook reva'sahlin aldwir

[cursed-candlehop]

Have a not-so-quick overview of all my active Rooks (with actual screenshots for once in my life) because I should be drawing and I don't wanna.

Fede Mercar

A sweet, gentle lad; realized at a very young age that to survive as a free Elf in Tevinter, one has to be useful (but not intimidating), and his most consistent way of being useful was being entertaining and playing the fool - but his humor is a soft and caring thing. He tends to deliberately position himself as someone to be laughed at to defuse hairy situations or cheer up people he likes. Unfortunately for him, that often means looking a heckuva lot more clueless and incompetent than he really is, but he considers that a worthy sacrifice.

Had a shockingly decent childhood, all things considered, and he really does love his parents - but he's still afraid his unlikely adoption might have been a publicity stunt: "look, you really can civilize an elf if you get to them early enough" or something along those lines. He's never actually asked, worried that they've come to love him enough to tell him the truth. He doesn't want to know.

(Fede is also, notably, the dork who loses his virginity in a coffin; Emmrich's legit the first person he's ever found both interesting and trustworthy enough to (badly, clumsily) flirt with - and somehow it worked. He's extremely surprised by that, but also not about to question it)

Jehanne Ingellvar

Pretty, confident, academically brilliant, wildly talent at magic, and blunt as anything. Raised by a rotating cast of Mourn Watch teachers, their most constant companions were the corpses of the Necropolis - which left them with exactly the social skills you might expect: good for spirits, bad for polite corporeal society. They mean well, but they do not suffer fools gladly - and to them, that might just be most people. Despite their occasionally somewhat stern exterior, though, they are an idealist at heart (and one that ultimately wants even the fools to be happy. Ideally somewhere else). They're definitely somewhat of an asshole sometimes, though.

Fina de Riva

Was picked up by house de Riva after being orphaned (and trying - and almost succeeding - to pickpocket Viago). Uses her charming looks as a weapon - she loves manipulating people, but she also doesn't like harming innocents, and the Crows give her the opportunity to harness and indulge her base impulses as much as she wants without having to feel overly bad about it. Most of her targets have it coming, anyway, as far as she's concerned.

She starts off more than a little ruthless, until Neve enters the picture and they end up enabling each others' softer sides.

Reva'sahlin Aldwir

(... got a nickname because Varric needed something shorter to yell in battle so this fucking idiot doesn't take an axe to the skull)

Born to a particularly bedraggled Dalish clan in northern Orlais, he was gently encouraged to GTFO as soon as he reached adulthood: Not only did his clan have too many mages as it was, they also figured that this wildly curious, overly trusting goofball was a ticking demonic time bomb. Since the other clans of the area largely agreed and didn't want him either, he traveled instead - tried to live with the city elves for a while but they hated his guts for being Dalish and not subtle about it. And so, he travelled towards Arlathan - more because he needed a goal in life then because he thought it was a good idea. It took him a solid seven, eight years to get there, taking the long way through Orlais, the Free Marches and Antiva, sometimes staying in one place for months; upon getting there he joined the Veil Jumpers... and then promptly pissed them off, too.

Despite everything, he's a bafflingly genuine, sincere and happy-go-lucky guy - might be a remnant of spending his childhood until his magic came in as the clan's beloved golden boy - though he does have oodles of emotional baggage that he considers "nobody's business but his own".

He's also kind of a shit mage (until Bel, Emmrich and Neve get him up to speed) - he ends up as a Spellblade, because he spent most of his life a lot more used to carrying a dagger than a staff. Which drove Varric up the walls at first.

Has heterochromia; both of his eyes started out brown, but he injured one of them while getting mugged somewhere outside Kirkwall and his botched healing magic tinged it fade-green.

(... I also have like three or four more Rooks cooked up, but they don't have actual, started playthroughs yet)