#rook talon

[drpcreates]

I have a lot going on this week so I wanted to share an OC sketchbook dump. However, I spent way too long on this because I forgot the best way to get my regular ole sketches into a digital platform. I want to do this in the more in the future so I'll work on the technique so it looks better next time. I even threw in a few characters from some of my old high school stories.

[trialsofthedas]

Lucanis, trying to sneak out after spending the night with Rook:

Viago, twirling a vial of poison: What are you doing here?

Lucanis: …I could ask you the same question.

Viago: I live here. This is my house.

Lucanis: I should probably ask you a different question.

[nightingaletrash]

Viago and Teia: *forever maintaining the balance of will-they-won't-they, always keeping the other Houses guessing if they're actually a united front or if it's all an alliance of convenience, meant to disrupt the confidence of their rivals and ensure their own strength* Lucanis and Rook: *declaring their undying love for each other within five feet of Morrigan, who has already proven to be a horrible gossip*

[grimwarden]

Rook: My bosses hate me. My coworkers are ashamed of me. (They're all assassins.) You can imagine the kind of stress I'm under.

later

Teia: oh good you're back :) vi missed you.

Jacobus: you're the best crow ever.

Viago: did you finish your contract? which is, you know, killing a god. don't die btw.

[sky--phantom]

Crows are apparently wine snobs

Viago is a big wine snob and Rook knows exactly which wines he'd buy

Viago seems to want Rook to be "cultured" and has probably taught Rook about wine, to varying success

[mohntilyet]

they hated illario because he was a d1 yapper who was bad at assassinating people and was so annoyingly drunk and grief stricken at his cousin’s wake that viago had to drug him to shut him up (so what if he was also the guy who set his cousin up to die/disappear) . and also for working with the venatori and selling out the antivan crows i guess.

[mesherew]

if you think she won't be a constant nuisance to viago you're very wrong

[thorinoakenbutt]

Do you think a Crow!Rook is going to meet Lucanis and be like 🧍🏻‍♂️ weren't you supposed to be dead lol

[lizzybeeee]

The Lucanis vs Illario story would have had greater emotional depth/intrigue if the writers didn't water down how fucked up the Crows are as an organization.

Just some thoughts about how, out of all the side villains, Illario had some great potential to be a really interesting/tragic character in my opinion.

TL;DR: Zevran Aranai has a knife with Caterina's name on it for good reason and Lucanis/Illario need therapy...or whatever the Thedas equivalent is called...talking to Rook, I dunno

Going into DATV as a new player, or even as a returning one, the whitewashing of the Crows has a lot of the potential complexities of that life simply ignored or barely touched upon. The entire 'Illario vs Lucanis' boils down to: Illario seething in the shadows about Lucanis being the 'best boy'™ of the family while Illario is an after thought - which he is.

Let's be real, Illario is not subtle and immediately comes across as the Scar to Lucanis' 'Mufasa'. It's a questline with a very straightforward villain who has pretty lackluster motivations from what info we're provided - being 'I want power and to be the First Talon'. The game does very little explore what motivations he may have beyond being jealous of Lucanis/wanting more power.

However, if you play the quest line knowing what previous games have set up about the Crows - about how cutthroat and brutal the life is behind the glamour - then you can see that the entire Lucanis vs Illario conflict has amazing potential to be a dramatic tragedy.

We've seen how the life of Crow can affect Zevran - someone who was sold into the life through child-slavery. How interesting would it be to see how the life of a Crow can affect someone who was born into it? It's pretty clear in-game that Caterina intends for her grandchildren to carry on the family tradition - despite the fact that this 'family tradition' has likely led to the deaths of most of her grandchildren and however many children she had.

If there's banter about how Illario's/Lucanis' parents/cousins died specifically I haven't heard it, but the impression I got in-game was that it was likely linked to the Crows/politics in some way? Feel free to correct me! Still majorly fucked up that she pushes her grandsons into this life regardless!

Lucanis/Illario's situation was not like Zevran's - who was sold into the Crow's through slavery, with no one to speak up for him. Caterina was a woman who had power, who knew what the life of a Crow meant, and who still pushed those she 'loved' into it because is consolidated her place in the system. For all the Crows talk of 'family' Caterina doesn't seem to give a shit about them unless if they're contributing to the family business in some way - not to mention the whole 'you fail and we kill you' clause of being a Crow in the first place.

In the 'Wigmaker Job' from Tevinter Nights Lucanis talks about how Caterina hit him [also Illario] with her cane for mistakes and had him spend days without food/water. How he used to hate her but now 'realizes' that it was her way of ensuring he survived the life of being an Antivan Crow. Did it end up protecting them? It likely pushed them both to refine their skills out of fear. It's likely that simply by association with her they would be targets and thus needed to know how to take care of themselves and fight.

But why have him as a Crow in the first place? Why not simply train them well to defend themselves? You can't deny that she doesn't benefit from having her grandchildren in the family business - intentionally wanting Lucanis to take over her position as First Talon. The Antivan Crows are a force to be reckoned with and being one brings a whole lot of power in Antiva - being part of the elite of that group even more so.

If the game showed us the ugly reality of the Crows - the brutality of the lifestyle and how cutthroat the organization is, it could have really added some depth to Illario's betrayal - having it be more than "I want more power/respect" to "this is the result of what you taught me was valuable in life."

Warden: "Do you actually enjoy being an assassin?" Zevran: "And why not? There are many things to enjoy about being a Crow in Antiva. You are respected. You are feared. The authorities go out of their way to overlook your trespasses. Even the rewards are nothing to turn your nose up at."

Illario, bitter about Caterina favoring Lucanis - resentful of the fact that she has already decided that Lucanis will be her successor, being offered power by the Venatori (at the expense of the Crows) and accepting because why not? How different is it from what the Crows do? Isn't power and status the whole point of working yourself up in the Crows? Getting into a relationship with Zara because why not? Isn't sex part of the allure of being a Crow? Why can't he have this? Why shouldn't he have this?

Rook: "When we met, it didn't seem like Illario and Caterina were close." Lucanis: "It was hard to be close to her. Even for me. And...I was her favorite."

Why would he have connections to his family? Why should he? Caterina certainly never seemed to value 'family' beyond what they could do for her and their family legacy. Most of his family is already dead, and of those that remain the only parental figure he has obviously favors Lucanis. We don't have a lot of evidence in-game to show that Illario ever really cared for Lucanis, but the prequel story 'The Wake' and Lucanis' own banter imply that they were practically brothers, best friends. Perhaps he did care and then ceased to at some point, perhaps he didn't at all, or perhaps he accepted that an early death for them both was inevitable like everyone else in their family. Dead now or later - what was the difference? At least if Illario sells him out now to the Venatori then he'll get something from it instead of another dead family member to bury.

It's the tragic result of raising a child in an environment where he was taught and experienced the need for self-preservation at all costs. Constantly threatened, punished, and made well aware of that fact that his life was an expendable commodity. Then, when things in the world went to shit he picked the only option that made sense to him. To save himself.

The irony of the potential fall of the Crows, the fall of House Dellamorte, coming at the hands of one of their own - not because he had a change of heart but because he was taught too well by them. The Crows view those that fail them as disposable, someone to be discarded - if the Crows fail Illario, what is to stop him from applying that mindset to them?

But this would require the writers to acknowledge how messed up the Crows are and we can't do that to our 'Noble Freedom Fighters'™. They'll also need to address Zevran's existence and what lore was established in past games...and we can't have that either lmao.

[cybershock24601]

Once again thinking about post canon Rookanis with Rook slowly discovering just how fucked up the Crows actually are after the sanitized impression Rook gets during the game and how much being First Talon is weighing on Lucanis and going "fuck all this" and just drags Lucanis out of the gothic shit show that is his family and House and the overwhelming expectations of his grandmother who has done nothing but try and force Lucanis into a role he was never meant for just because of spectre of his mother and her daughter has been hanging over Lucanis his whole life. Lucanis probably feels really guilty about abandoning the role of First Talon but can't deny just being Rook's pampered malewife is so much more fulfilling then anything else he has ever done. Lucanis is a man meant to love and provide for the people he loves not be the sort of ruthless tactician the First Talon is required to be.

[christinabindon]

LUCA! Veilguard stickers in progress! Once I'm done a bunch i'll add them to my ko-fi sticker shop!

[drpcreates]

This week I'm bringing some of my younger OCs, Hepsiba, Parivash, and Rook dressed as Red Riding Hood, Catra, and a newsboy respectively. Hepsiba is enhancing her costume with a little illusion.

[trialsofthedas]

Rook: *sneaking in through their window after a night at the villa*

Viago: *turning in their chair and flicking the light on* You want to tell me where you've been all night?

Rook: I was out with Teia?

Teia: *turning in their chair* Wanna try again?

[postcardsfromveilguard]

*exasperated older brother noises*

Not sold on the overall sanitization of Crow Lore (this blog salutes Zevran Arainai🫡) but I do love Viago and Teia and Rook de Riva’s whole dynamic with them.

[clairedelune-13]

Lavellan: *divulges a whole lot about her love for Solas*

Also Lavellan: Anyway, let’s gossip about your husband.

[acciokaidanalenko]

No one from House Dellamorte kneels.