#so i kinda understand where lucanis comes from?

[thewardenisonthecase]

btw tw for talking about abuse

I've seen a lot online about how the game never mentions Caterina's abuse of Lucanis while he was growing up (being beaten and starved, which is mentioned in the Wigmaker Job) and I think there's a small mention to it if you're a crow (when asked, he says it was torture training under the first talon and that he resented her for a long time)

And while I do think part of the reason why this isn't brought up is just due to how sanitized this game is when it comes to the crows, I think I do understand why in world wise it's not possible to just be like hey lucanis, fuck your grandma.

It's really hard, loving someone who hurts you. Because you know they're hurting you and yet, you still love them. It's even harder when they're family.

Because its not like Lucanis doesn't know that she hurt him. He says so himself - he hated her, he resented her, and althought I do think him 'justifying' it by saying that at least it prepared him for the life of a crow, at least he still admits that it happened.

But the thing is that despite all this shit, she's still his grandmother. And like, yes, blood shouldn't excuse justifing this behaviour, I feel like it's cultural. Idk how spain or italy works when it comes to family, but here in brazil, you'll hear so many stories of physical abuse happening in families, and its still a situation like Lucanis - i hate them, i resent them, i love them, they're my family.

It's a...complicated situation and I think Lucanis's situation is made worst by the fact that he only has two family members alive and that he cannot let go of.

She beat him, she starved him, he hated and resented her, and he was afraid of dissapointing her, even if in her eyes, i don't think he could. I mean, he comes back an abomination and she still tenderly says 'my poor boy' when you rescue her in the Villa.

All in all...it's tought and I think that it would not be Rook's place to suddenly make Lucanis want to kill his grandma bc he wouldn't. Sorting out those feelings is something he has to do himself, and i'l almost glad the game doesn't make rook do a therapy session with him to talk about it.

[pupkinpumpkin]

Aight, don't get me wrong, I have and will read about almost every Rookanis fanfic there is, and I enjoy almost every version of Spite I see, but I think I see Spite's development and role in Rook and Lucanis' relationship in a certain way, but, suffice to say, Spite's relationship with Rook is just as much of a slow burn as Lucanis' relationship is

Just my personal opinion under the cut, you're free to believe whatever you wish

Spite is interested in Rook from the start, not romantically or sexually, but as a new person to learn about/annoy the fuck out of

As Rook gets closer to Lucanis, they also begin to tolerate and like Spite, which is new to him since everyone he meets kinda hates him, so, since acceptance is a very nice feeling, he wants to spend time with them. He's also realizing that Lucanis is developing feelings for them, feelings that are rare for Lucanis and completely new, and therefore, weird, to Spite

All Spite really knows is that Rook is nice, Lucanis trusts them, and Lucanis has certain feelings for them that Spite doesn't really understand, but he wants to (he's very curious for a Spite demon), so he wants Lucanis to hang out with Rook more so he can potentially talk with them more himself so he can understand these odd new feelings better

Here's where I may start getting a tad bit far fetched in my beliefs when it comes to how Spite, and possession in general, works

I'll keep it short, but just know I have a lot of feelings about Justice (all good, I love him dearly)

So, Justice in Awakening takes over Kristoff's dead body, and, when he does that, he gets these memories of him and his wife. He tells The Warden that he longs for the connection that they had and when he was just a spirit, he used to pity mortals, but now he finds beauty in their world and wants to experience all of it for himself.

I personally believe that when Justice takes over Kristoff's body, he is now able to feel different kinds of love more than the average spirit can because of this new form, and I believe that applies to Spite

When Spite possesses Lucanis, he is able to feel more than he can when he's just a spirit, feelings he's not used to and has never even thought of before. The feelings equivalent of seeing shrimp colors. New and confusing, but still exciting and worth investigating

It's in these moments that Spite's interest and fascination with Rook becomes more defined and intense, especially since Lucanis feels it as well, but because Lucanis doesn't let go of control often, these moments are few and far between, which kinda pisses Spite off, since it's another thing that he doesn't get to experience because Lucanis won't let him, so Rook becomes this forbidden thing that he wants to learn about, but has little to no access to, and, as a Spite demon, this only makes him want them more, but not in the way you're thinking of just yet

Lucanis is demisexual, we've learned that from God herself, so on top of Spite being interested in Rook, which is only intensified by Lucanis' feelings and Lucanis refusing to let Spite talk to them, Lucanis starts developing more intimate thoughts of Rook (which I personally think is around the time of the almost kiss), adding to the disaster of this overly caffeinated bisexual (well, biromantic)

Spite does not understand this. He's already trying to untangle the weird feelings he has for Rook, but now Lucanis is adding even more weird feelings that Spite can't possibly understand. He could understand, at least a little better, if he possessed Lucanis (which would give him deeper access to those feelings according to my little headcanon) and unpacked that with him, but Lucanis does not allow this, so the whole thing frustrates Spite and Lucanis, who is constantly being asked why he thinks Rook being in certain positions is so interesting all of a sudden

So, stretching my headcanon even further, I think that after Inner Demons, when Lucanis and Spite finally accept each other, Spite is given greater access to all of Lucanis' feelings for Rook, romantic and otherwise

He still needs time to truly get what all of that means, but I think those wings unfurling during the last romance scene is him beginning to understand exactly what he's feeling and being able to fully explore his new emotions, desires, etc without the previous constraints that were holding him back

I don't think Spite is by any means going between Rook's thighs and that he has any idea what he's doing by the end of Veilguard, but he's at a place where he is trusted, loved, and wanted, which is new, and he is a very curious demon who may or may not want to see what the fun's all about now that he understands people and their complexities more

Or maybe he's asexual and he just really loves cuddling, that's up to you, I'll read it either way

TLDR: I don't think Spite was begging Lucanis to pin Rook to a wall and have them scream his name from the beginning, but after Veilguard, who's to say?

[theskee]

thinking a lot about Them this morning and i already went on a mini ramble on bluesky but i gotta just dump more detailed brainrot here because this is where most of my fellow emmcanis lovers are but like

there's a dialogue that comes up between emmrich and lucanis if treviso isn't saved. and emmrich is concerned about lucanis, his emotional state, and what it might do to him and spite. and lucanis kinda snips at him about whether or not he actually cares or if it's weird professional curiosity. because lucanis is so damn raw. it reminds me of how he snaps at rook when rook suggests lucanis talk to emmirch and says "he looks at me like a thesis topic" and there is some level of truth to emmrich being curious about what's happened.

but the thing that comes through the strongest, every time it comes up, is that emmrich thinks what's happened to lucanis and spite is unfair and horribly cruel, but that there's hope for them. that they can find harmony and survive.

so in this dialogue, where lucanis is short and defensive, emmrich's response is simply a promise. that he'll be there, to look out for lucanis and spite, no matter what. emmrich has seen some shit in his time as a watcher, and he hates suffering. he knows loss. i think there's such a depth of empathy and understanding that he has for lucanis, who is coping with the loss of everything important to him, so suddenly and senselessly, and emmrich knows intimately how difficult that is, especially when you're trying to get a handle on unexpected changes to who you are as a person that are outside of your control. emmrich began to talk to spirits after his parents died. while going through so many life changes, along with the manifestation of his magic, he began to talk to the dead, something we know he didn't master until he was an adult.

how jarring must it have been, to have lost his family, and for distant relatives to have rejected the responsibility of taking him in, to suddenly have magic and have the dead talking to you? i think in a lot of ways, emmrich feels especially strongly for lucanis and his situation because he can see parallels between them.

and emmrich is patient. he never takes it personally when lucanis rebuffs his support. he's calm. he lets lucanis reject it. and eventually, we know lucanis softens up and lets emmrich help him.

lucanis goes to emmrich for help keeping himself and spite contained, and emmrich sets wards for him. more than once. when lucanis is alone in the dining hall, he questions why emmrich is still hanging around, and emmrich simply expresses that he thought lucanis might want the company. emmrich understands loneliness. keenly. he knows it well.

and lucanis goes to emmrich. timid, exhausted, and asks if emmrich has time to talk, because spite won't leave him be. and emmrich is so gentle and welcoming, insisting he will always have time if lucanis needs to talk. emmrich will stop what he's doing to create a safe place for lucanis to express himself and open up about how hard it is. and emmrich is kind. he's there. he's steady and he understands more about the nature of what lucanis is going through than most. he has the most hopeful perspective of it possible, from the very start, that despite the tragedy of the way it began, that lucanis and spite will survive together, because of each other.

he encourages lucanis to bond with spite and read to him.

and then... on the other side of it. lucanis is direct with emmrich in a way emmrich needs. when it comes to the topic of lichdom and immortality, lucanis confronts emmrich with something that i think emmrich needs to hear. that undead forever is still dead. and he asks why emmrich would want to outlive everything he's ever loved. just as emmrich has so much acceptance for Spite, this thing that Lucanis is afraid of and wrestling with, lucanis has acceptance for death. all things end, is what lucanis says. and that's okay.

when i look at these interactions, and add them to all the little things, like Spite growing attached to Manfred or Manfred breaking into Lucanis room-- the debates and the references to their companionable time drinking fine wine together, out of glasses Lucanis bought for Emmrich, and all their little cultural back and forths and i just. in the final run up to elgar'nan, emmrich tries to thank lucanis for the wine glasses. he's trying to get his affairs in order. and lucanis tells him no. don't do that. no squaring up. it's bad luck. and it just screams of subtext, of reassurance that we're not dying here today. when death seems so fucking certain and emmrich is so afraid of it. my heart for these two.

i know it's might not be as fun or full of friction as the enemies to lovers vibes one gets from say, davrin & lucanis (which omg what's not to love) but the slow burn of rejection to acceptance to closeness-- the inherent intimacy of sharing space with another person who understands your fear. and doesn't let you linger in it alone... i just. am so so so in deep with this pairing.

[proffbon]

Okay, I'm gonna say it. Some people's attitude towards beardless Lucanis feels kinda weird to me.

I personally don't care about any type of mod out there but I at least understand where people are coming from when they express their dislike for "younger" or "handsome/beautiful" mods.

But not only is beardless Lucanis literally what he looked like a year ago (he's implied to be clean shaven in Tevinter Nights and grows a beard while in the Ossuary), beard is also not some constant unchanging trait a man has. He can grow it out, he can shave it off or trim it into a different shape. So I don't get the reaction of "EWWW Lucanis looks so weird and naked without a beard! Give it baaack" from some. It lands in the same ballpark for me as suddenly not finding a girl attractive when she removes her make up.

[fenharel-babe]

Maybe it’s just me, which is okay, but I understand why the past romances weren’t really mentioned. If you romanced someone other than Solas, We got a letter and one line because I mean….the other LI’s aren’t involved in this chapter of the inquisitors story. You know what I mean?? They’re not involved in the plot, so it makes sense there isn’t much mention of previous romance.

And the reason Solavellan gets so much is because breaking news: SOLAS is one of the MAIN CHARACTERS. Literally the most important character. It’s not such a shock that his romance is going to get more coverage and an ending itself.

The romances in DAI all had conclusions (from my memory), unless someone writes otherwise. CULLEN AND SERA GOT MARRIED.

Do I hate it? No I’m SOOO glad they got that! Even though I fucking hate Cullen, if you love him then I’m glad for you! Yay! And I kinda get the saltiness from not getting attention in DATV if you didn’t romance Solas since it will sting to see everyone else get so much and you only get a letter and 1 line…..but I don’t get it when there’s ppl out there sincerely mad. And once again coming from a solavellan, I hate when ppl call them delusional and say the game was just going towards solavellan. It wasn’t. Once again, past romances mentioned very little because they’re👏not👏involved👏. While a romanced Solas and Lavellan are very much involved.

The other LIs (other than Dorian) are not involved. They won’t appear bc where would they fit??? I know we can say they come with the inquisitor, but in my head it would be pointless. The inky is going RIGHT BACK to the South literally through an eluvian (most likely) so coming with them would be pointless to me.

And another thing I don’t get is that some people hate the romance in the inner circle. Like if Lucanis or Neve get together, a lot of people hate it??? I’m just surprised like…..I thought we would like the fact that story happens in the banter and the characters change over the story and then fall in love?? I got Harding and Taash together and I loved it! They were sweet and cute! I don’t see anything wrong but that’s my opinion. And you’re totally allowed to have yours!! This isn’t hate to literally ANYONE!!! Just my ramblings and takes on things I’ve seen in the fandom.

Anyways thanks for reading if you did lol.

[artemisiavulgaris1114]

I normally don't do discourse but, I've seen some floating around and I maybe have some relevant perspectives so here's my opinion on a thing:

so I am a hella subtext girlie. ships are always painful as fuck for me (in the good way) because give me breadcrumbs and I'm HOOKED I wanna eat that whole loaf crumb by crumb!! no ez mode. that's boring. I love a nice slow burn, I'll happily gnaw my way through 50 chapters of complicated setup and character development before they even meet (and like lol maybe this is actually the problem). And I love Lucanis's romance and I'm happy with his story, the writing and the way it progressed for the most part. I'm demi so I got it and that's all I'm gonna say on that point til a bit further down.

I STILL think that the way it was handled doesn't work well with the pacing of the game, and I don't think that's down to the writing, I think it's mostly the way the game story progression was designed. I think this is true to some degree for all the romances because there's no interactivity outside of quest cutscenes and the ambient dialogue that happens right after the commitment scene. But especially for Lucanis because to me their romance is in the little details, the every day interactions as their relationship slowly deepens. That's obviously done really well in the cutscenes we get, but feels like it makes less sense in the scope of the whole story because there are a whole bunch of in-between pieces missing.

If you're going to finish everything there is to do by the end of the game, a huge chunk of the time that you spend doing quests is completely devoid of any reference to your romance. I feel like especially for Lucanis and Rook more ambient dialogue between them would have made it feel more natural and substantial, especially especially if they are both Crows. For example, the way it's handled between Taash and Harding/Lucanis and Neve feels much smoother and the development is more overt. I think being that those happen more toward the end of the game, there feels like more of a natural character development-relationship development progression as you go through their individual quests.

Like, 2-3 lines of additional unique dialogue peppered throughout the lead-up to endgame after the romance is locked in with Lucanis would have vastly improved it and helped bridge the gap, I feel. And I'm not necessarily talking about romantic interactions, just some unique dialogue to show how well they've come to know each other, how Rook understands his mind and that it helps them build trust, any sort of communication to illustrate the subtler ways they're building their bond. It's clear from Lucanis's journal that they're intended to be spending a decent chunk of their off-time together--so why is there little to no evidence of it in game other than the initial reference? There's no reactivity from Teia and Viago, which made me sad because theirs is the reaction I'd want to see the most. I've gotten lines from Neve and Taash about the romance after it's locked in, and the convo with Emmrich about gifts, but that's it as far as other companions go. Maybe there's stuff I'm missing? Maybe this is something lacking in all the romances.

And honestly as a demi person the final romance scene kinda came out of left field for me. considering it felt like not much communication had been happening leading up to it (minus the pre-endgame convo, which I'm also gonna mini-argue should be more explicit with the emotions involved from Rook's end, like the spanish translation) and understandably a lot has been going on. but I wasn't really expecting it to escalate the way it did with so little dialogue, I'm fine with it but this is one of those cases where I prefer less subtext and more text before something like that happens, actually.

I did a replay where I saved Lucanis's quests until last and that honestly felt a lot better, so maybe the pacing's just a me problem idk. I'm gonna chalk a lot of this stuff up to cut content? and maybe like, the fact that they didn't want to get too specific with Rook's ambient dialogue since they're meant to be player-driven. Going back to the companion romance comparison, it's a lot easier to write dialogue between two characters who are more specifically defined.

Anyway blah blah that's it. i'm nitpicking because overall I'm happy, so anything i feel doesn't work or is lacking is gonna be a gripe, and you can be happy and still have valid criticisms. I enjoyed the game and the writing and the characters quite a lot, and I honestly wasn't expecting to, so yay! Time to gnaw on that subtext and see what kinda creative juice comes out~

[piictochat]

I thought I was done with Veilguard things but alas.

Things that could’ve happened if Rook’s companions could dislike them.

Spoilers under the cut

First of all the fact that no one has the ability to leave is crazy. I understand Harding and Lucanis staying no matter what (Harding due to Inquisition ties and Lucanis because of his contract) but Davrin could always go back and help the Wardens, same with Bellara and the Veil Jumpers. Neve could just go back to Minrathous and keep an eye on the Venatori herself from there. And Taash and Emmrich could just straight up be like I’m done and leave. And they wouldn’t be available in the party anymore but they would show up to the final fight and their survival could depend on their faction level.

With the wards if your affinity with Neve is low and you choose Bellara she’d try step in to do them in her place cause she doesn’t trust Rook but Bellara insists and Neve blames Rook for Bellara being taken and blighted. If you do choose her she does them reluctantly and gets blighted and doesn’t survive the endgame. She’d probably also throws underhanded insults at Rook while acting like a magister during Elgar’nan’s archdemon party. Also when it came to the point where she’s about to leave she’d tell Rook Varric is dead.

I also feel like if your affinity with Bellara is low it can’t be high with Neve only neutral.

Bellara just doesn’t share anything with Rook if her affinity is low. Her interactions are really awkward in the not cute way, very need-to-know and just a bit passive aggressive. She goes to meet with Cyrian and doesn’t tell you and she may even fall under Anaris’ control? Maybe Strife and Irelin tell you about her going missing again and you find out and try to save her, Cyrian sacrifices himself for her somewhere during the fight and if Rook can’t help her turn it around she destroys the Nadas Dirthalen and is just gone after you return to the lighthouse.

Spite would be on your ASS if your affinity with Lucanis is low which weakens his control. That should make Lucanis cast an amount of blame on Rook during his failed attempt at killing Ghilan’nain (or even that the attempt would be more or less successful based on his affinity). It wouldn’t really effect his quests because they usually come as jobs or Teia asking for Rook’s help.

Davrin with low affinity would be less cordial and more direct. He’d be the first to criticize Rook’s failures and would question how effectively they’re leading the team. You likely wouldn’t get any of his companion quests since they’re all quality time things that he likely wouldn’t share with someone he doesn’t like.

I could also see Davrin maybe dying at Weisshaupt since in the game when the first warden demands to kill the archdemon Davrin looks to Rook before letting him through. If his affinity is low enough (which is wild cause if you fucked up with him THAT BAD by this point of the game it’s intentional) he’d ignore them both and do it himself (maybe the first warden would push him away on some “No! My glory!” thing so that Davrin doesn’t die?The option would’ve been nice though). Then he’d leave after Weisshaupt cause he’d feel like he’s wasting his time while his fellows are dying off and he feels that since he failed at killing the archdemon he’s not fulfilling his duty.

Taash I feel would have the least fuss for leaving if they weren’t feeling respected. I think you only fight maybe two dragons (and at the same time) if you stick with the main story. So if Taash didn’t at least stay neutral they’d get bored and bounce.

Now Emmrich? If he leaves due to low affinity and someone calls him back to help get Rook’s dumb ass out of the fade, I think the low affinity dagger he’d make would either break after getting Rook out and would straight up eliminate that being an option during the endgame or the dagger is made but Solas would know that it isn’t real and the option is basically a game over.

Low affinity Harding is kinda tricky. I think if she didn’t like you she’d just be short and factual and go about her business. She would do what she’s told and not much else. The effect maybe wouldn’t be felt until post game cause I’m sure if she survives she would take off to the Kal Sharok herself and not turn back and if she couldn’t calm the Titan’s rage then… Dragon Age 5: Harding fucks all this shit up.

Obvs there would be no Hero of the Veilguard status since you probably wouldn’t be able to even complete a quest line from a low affinity companion. Also faction growth if they left would be hard since each companion is pretty important to their faction.

[dawningwinds-s]

I'm a decentish way through Veilguard (just before Weisshaupt) so idk. Here's a summary of my compabions impressions so far:

- Neve: This woman has the sexiest voice I've ever heard, huge props to the VA. She's also a lot nicer to everyone than I'd've first guessed, I kinda expected similar vibes to Vivienne (who I'm pretty lukewarm on) and have been pleasantly surprised. The cutscene with her bonding with Assan is adorable and the fact that she just gave the skeleton a nickname makes me happy.

- Lace: Lace Harding, the scout of all time. She was fun in DAI and I've loved seeing her get a good of development here. The Stone Song powers are an interesting bit of lore and it's been fun seeing her grow accustomed to that. She's also just really sweet and I like her a lot.

- Bellara: Ngl I think she might be the funniest bitch of all time. "So it's safe?" "No, I just mean... worrying won't help. Whatever happens will be instanteous! :)" (her and Davrin in the crossroads) is probably the thing that stuck with me the most on that front. Her backstory with her brother makes me pretty sad, though, but makes a lot of sense for her character. Also, love a woman who builds stuff.

- Lucanis: Gods I feel so bad about Treviso. This man has had it so rough and I only made it worse. The Spite situation is really interesting and I look forward to seeing how it's resolved, and I've really enjoyed seeing his interactions with the other Crows. He's also surprisingly nice for an assassin, considering we went to the Treviso marketplace and he went out of his way to buy something for everyone else on the team. I also find it kinda funny that he seems to be primarily in charge of the grocery shopping.

- Davrin: He comes with an adorable griffon, what more can I say?

... a bit, actually. I genuinely enjoy his storyline with learning to take of and train Assan, he's understandably having a bit of a tough time considering he has no idea what he's doing but he's really pushing through it and finding his way. The wood-carving hobby is really interesting, I don't think I would've guessed it but I like seeing companions have things they do other than beating up bad guys. The way he connects it to the monster handbook is also interesting-- I do have a lot of respect for him seeing other handbooks and deciding he needed to do it right.

Emmrich - Honestly I would love to take one of his classes. Not only would it be really interesting from a perspective of someone who likes Lore, he genuinely seems like a really good teacher with a lot of patience of his students, and he puts in the effort to individualise the learning experience. Manfred as a teacher's assistant would also be really fun. He's really polite with everyone and seeing how much more formal he is is a really fun contrast. The absolute terror of death that can only be quelled by surrounding himself with the dead also works well with the idea of a necromancer.

Taash - I'll be using they/them for Taash since I'm at a point in the game where their gender isn't entirely clear. They're dealing with it. Taash has such a rough time with their mom, I've never had an overvearing parent like that but it's very believable how they respond. I also really love the "People who've only ever been one thing will never understand how big the world is" line that technically comes from Rook, but it's a really good line and it's a good early bonding moment for them. They're also a just little stupid I think (there's a couple Lighthouse interactions ypu can listen in on that exemplify this), but they've got big muscles and breathe fire so they'll be fine.

Bonus round

Assan - BABY. I love this little griffon. He's really clever and full of mischief and I can hug him whenever I want. Perfect character.

Manfred - For some reason my brain keeps thinking his name is Martin. That aside, he's such a silly little fella. He's a spirit of curiosity. He picked his own skull. He loves to make tea. He'll get in a fight with a griffon only to team up to beg for treats. I don't even know if he can eat. I doubt he knows if he can eat. He's got goofy glasses. You can play rock paper scissors with him. Icon.

[bareee]

(Don’t read this with a dark tone, read it with a light tone please I’m asking.) So why is your boy sassing Neve for being concerned she was possessed by a demon when it’s a real danger in dragon age? She’s a mage, the most vulnerable to possessions, she’s allowed to be ask after it. In fact everyone is cautious because of it.

You suffer joke to get answers XD I couldn’t help it

NOW BAM

1. He’s always sassy or has an attitude when he’s comfortable, Neve (and eventually Lucanis)makes him very comfortable.

2. And most important, short answer:Mark is not from here, he’s from Faerun(BG3/DND). He know nothin’.

Longer answer(with some spoilers):

In Mark’s whole canon, he’s from there, he made it here on accident, so HE KNOW SHIT bout anythin goin on. Antoine and Evka will explain more in a comic sense when we get to em cause they dealt with the ol’ man the most in the beginnin cause I chose the Warden route (Cause boy is tank and extra health is important and I go by mechanics in video games when I know no lore), turned out lore wise it was a very fun choice for who Mark is anyway but still. He took out the tower in the warden backstory, With his own body falling through it after teleport in here in my story, and Mark not knowin anythin, not bein able to DO anythin he was suppose to be able to do, and at a ripe ol 68 yr old is the standard story of a dense ol man takin his new lesson on learnin and changin with whats around him. He aint happy, and Antoine, Evka,Harding,Varric, and the most recent Neve and soon Lucanis are the ones stuck with this ol man stuck in a mind set that makes no sense cause their world makes no sense to the ol man. NOT TO MENTION him bein told and find out ether now or later when Emmrich joins that in Dragon age, what we’d split in different race groups completely in dnd as Fey, fiend, and undead, are actually all in same category here just different stages or whatever also is somethin he will not be able to comprehend well. Which I will continue why this is VERY bad down at the bottom cause spoiler.

Which all is kinda good for me cause I know nothin other then veilguard myself. I have inquisition but haven’t played it at all for the years I’ve had it downloaded…. And in my veilguard only experience i can see and understand what everyone bitched bout how laxed it is. I KNOW NOTHIN that is bad bad in the world because the game has no agency what so ever hardly. Some context a little sometimes like thanks to Harding’s and Davrin’s attitude towards Lucanis You know somethin’ up and bad juju…. But its so mild in a world perspective I had a hard time judgin on s scale whats more dangerous then other things… I have heard plenty that this is not a great step into the dragon age world, I fully know it and am happy the character I chose to play represents how clueless I’m gonna be bout everythin in this.

NOW SPOILER ALERT cause at this time we’re still like 2 or 3 comics away in my bg3 one from this info bout Mark bein fully known knowledge out there, AND I do hint at things to happen in the DAV storyline sooooo Imma put a cut here if ya dont wanna read it yet and can come back after those are out if liked. I have been diligent on keepin this damn thing a secret and drippin hints so its your fault of ya spoil it for yourself now~~~

Mark bein FEY in dnd and even worse an ARCH FEY makes it where not in any way, shape, or form is he possible here doesnt make it better for him to process things. Here he makes no sense and in fact the closest thing Ive been able to find that represents what Mark is the Evanuris. Solas, Elgar’nan, Ghilan’nain, these are the people he’s closes to representin here, and he HATES that. (Includin the others he dealt with in this game that I forgot the name of) And even to them he’s broken and not correct. He doesn’t belong here at all,and the world will be breakin him in the process of fittin him in till he figures out ether how get back home or how to once again break himself to fit a mold.

[alpaca-clouds]

Things I will once more do: Overthinking magical stuff in a fantasy title scientifically. Right now featuring the question: "So, how does sleep work for Spite and Lucanis from a biological perspective?"

I know it is silly, so please, if you want to tell me that in the comments: Please spare your virtual breath. For everyone else though: Feel free to indulge me.

Also warning: Mild spoilers for Veilguard. Obviously.

I am not a biologist, let alone a human biologist. However, I know enough to be able to understand that sleep is important for both brain and body. While the research onto the exact biological aspects of sleep is still ongoing, we generally know that while we are awake certain chemicals build up in our brain and nervous system, and only can get flushed once we sleep. Because of that sleep generally improves neurological functioning, attention, and especially visual perception. We also do know that certain chemicals can build up in muscles and organs while awake, and will be flushed during sleep, just as certain wounds will heal better during sleep. (Though do not ask me on details there.)

Lucanis, obviously, does not try to sleep, because when his mind sleeps, Spite can take over. And ideally the hope for the poor guy is, that by the time you finished his companion quest and he has an agreement with Spite, he will be able to sleep more easily, because at the very least Spite is no longer a danger.

However, I cannot help but wonder: How exactly does Spite's control of the body work in regards to the biology of sleep?

The wiki tells me, that in regards to spirits and demons, they usually do not have a physical body - though I will at this point not ask too many questions how it works with the manefested spirits at the Fade tears, given that poking them with swords does seem to kill them. But... No, I am not going to that level of overthinking. No, no, no.

But Spite... Spite is right now very much bound to the physical body of Lucanis, which kinda gives this a little problem: Does the body ever really get to sleep?

Because if Spite takes over, once Lucanis sleeps... Well, we know at least that the entire physical stuff is then still in use. The muscles do not get that full rest they need. When it comes to the nervous system, we do not quite know. Because, yes, spirits in this world can think without a body. So I am not fully clear on whether or not Spite, now that he is bound into a human body, uses that body's nervous system to think and have emotions - or if his thinking works still on a sort of non-physical, paranormal level. Because if he uses the nervous system, that is not gonna be healthy.

We know the body needs the physical rest. But we know the nervous system does need it even more.

So, either Spite does just not use the nervous system for that - or they will have to agree to having a couple of hours a day, where both of them sleep. Because otherwise... Well, again, we do not quite know what "not sleeping" does on the long run. But there are definitely some hints that it migth be a possible cause for dimentia and certain mental health issues.

Again: I get I am overthinking a fun fantasy concept. But you know what? I kinda love overthinking this kinda stuff. xD

[thegeminisage]

okay liz i have a fic question. what was zara tempting lucanis with? sex? is that it? maybe this is simply the fact that i am ace, but i don’t understand why she thinks that would work

THAT'S A GREAT QUESTION firstly dw you're in good company i'm ace lucanis is ace everybody can be ace here. secondly ty for asking about my fic bc i love to talk about it. ok, i'm putting the answer behind the cut because 1. it's long (sorry, i wrote it late at night, you are not obligated to read it all) but also 2. for anyone who doesn't know, i'm discussing the sexual assault from ch6 of "the ossuary." my answer isn't at all graphic or anything but please consider this your content warning.

okay, so, short answer: yes, zara was more or less tempting lucanis with sex. it's a honey-or-vinegar, carrot-or-stick kinda sitch - since beating lucanis with a stick for almost a year has gotten her exactly nowhere, she, ON A VERY SURFACE LEVEL, has decided to try offering him pleasure instead of pain in order to get what she wants, which is for he and spite to turn into a monster that fights for her. what's actually happening here is that temptation doesn't really factor in at all; she wants to assert power over him and simply sees sex as the most appealing way to do it.

long answer w/ author analysis (sorry again): zara actually appeared in "the wigmaker job," a novella set in the dragon age series that takes place before the events of the game and also before the events of my fic, and that is where most of her characterization comes from. in the game, she's a bit of a generic villain. in the book, however, even though we only get her for a few short paragraphs, we get to learn a LOT about her.

first and foremost: zara is vain. in the game, your party confronts her while she is bathing naked in blood. she does the whole fight naked (covered in blood from the shoulders down to appease the censorship gods), and the longer the fight goes on, the more old and haggard she begins to look; she makes herself beautiful with blood magic. in the book, we see her do this: she stands naked in front of a huge mirror, with multiple slaves standing around her, ALSO holding mirrors, so we can see herself from every angle with no blind spots. the instant she finds a stretch mark, she has one of the slaves prick their own hand open and bleed on it, so she can use blood magic to make it go away. she is interrupted during this ritual with new of lucanis's exploits (more on this in a sec) and doesn't care; she's so vain that she enjoys that these people can stare at her body. she's so vain that every slave and servant in her house must also be beautiful; the book says none of them look "a day over thirty-five." there is nothing this woman loves so much as her own appearance.

the second thing to know about zara is that she is obsessed with lucanis and has been since she first heard about what he did. in the book, lucanis manages to kill some forty venatori (blood mage cultists) in a single evening by setting demons loose on a party they're having - but before he does that, he frees the slaves to get them out of danger. zara is impressed by his skill in killing, but she's also gleefully looking forward to exploiting such an obvious sign of weakness: his heart. zara wanted to turn lucanis into her own personal attack dog from the moment she knew his name. that being said, the entire time she talks about exploiting his weaknesses and punishing him for killing venatori, she is COMPLETELY NAKED SMIRKING AT HERSELF IN THE MIRROR, while other men blush and try not to stare. there IS a sexual undertone to this budding obsession.

and, of course, there are also hints of her being extremely controlling (of the appearances of the people around her, of her own image, lucanis's behavior, etc) AND of her being very sadistic (happy to bleed her slaves dry, looking forward to exploiting lucanis's weaknesses and punishing him for killing venatori).

the problem, then, arises when lucanis just. doesn't. break. almost a year of torture now and he's still absolutely useless to her. and not only can she not use lucanis as a weapon, neither can she not exploit his weaknesses or punish him the way she wanted (she can hurt him, but it doesn't get the results she's after). zara is getting absolutely nothing she wants, and furthermore, she has just found out from lucanis himself, who had no reason to lie, that she's NEVER going to get what she wants - lucanis couldn't break for her even if he wanted to because it so thoroughly goes against spite's nature to allow her the satisfaction.

when zara approaches lucanis, her real goal is to assert power over him bc she's tired of not having it. but she's not self-aware enough to like...think of it that way? in zara's mind, she is so beautiful that there is no one, NO ONE, who would not jump at the chance to have sex with her,. people who don't like venatori might deny it, but deep down, ANYONE would do whatever it took, whatever she asks, because she's irresistible. she thinks what's going to happen is that she's going to go in there, reveal the trick, seduce him while he's weak and vulnerable, and then, when he gives in, hold it over him and taunt him with it, and later figure out how to use his desire for her as a new tool with which to break him. i don't think she thought it through much beyond that - she's tired of not getting her way, she wants to be desired, she thinks lucanis is hot, she's gonna go fuck him, that'll fix everything. she might not get him and spite to turn into a weapon on the spot, but she's expecting to make progress, AND scratch an itch a year in the making while she's at it.

what she was NOT expecting was for lucanis to 1. be ace and not desire her at all even a little bit 2. call her out on her bullshit. she was expecting him to cave and beg her to fuck him, because hey, she's the most beautiful woman who ever lived, that's what anyone in thedas would do, right? no one has EVER turned her down before, either because they couldn't or didn't want to. but lucanis does. worse, he tells her "i know what this is." it's rape, he knows it's rape, and the point of rape is power. he KNOWS she's frustrated with her inability to force him to do what she wants in any other way except this. furthermore, he also knows she's secretly ugly - he and spite can smell the blood magic holding those good looks together like safety pins and duct tape.

this is the worst possible thing lucanis could do to zara in this moment. not only is he NOT becoming the weapon she tried to turn him into, not only will he NEVER become a weapon, not only has he sensed zara's WEAKNESS (or feeling of weakness, for not being able to force him to do what she wants), he DOESN'T WANT TO FUCK HER. her, zara, the most beautiful woman who ever lived! in one version of this scene, lucanis reading her for filth like that temporarily shocked her into leaving - though she did come back and assault him eventually. in the scene i have as it is, this is why she finally breaks eye contact with him. because even though he's the one strapped to the table, he has just humiliated her. it won't save him - he knows it won't save him - but he is defiant to the last because that defiance is what drew spite to him to begin with.

and so she doubles down: if he won't fuck her by choice, he won't get a choice. she'll make him want her whether he likes it or not. ultimately, though, the whole thing is still very unsatisfying to her: like, yeah, she can force him into a state of arousal and she can force him to finish, but she can't MAKE him WANT her anymore than she can MAKE him turn into a weapon. that's why this is her last scene in this fic, and also my explanation for why she isn't in the prison when your party arrives there during the game. he humiliated her, and she can no longer bear to look him in the eye. in a way, lucanis won, even if it was a pyrrhic victory: she raped him, yes, but aside from sex, she still doesn't get anything she wants.

ironically, this was probably the closest lucanis ever came into finally goading someone in the ossuary into killing him and releasing him from the torture - if zara kills him, no one ever has to know what happened (that someone didn't want to fuck her), and he said himself that he couldn't become the weapon she wants even if he tried. the only reason she threw him back in his cell instead was because she knew he'd find death so much more preferable and wanted to punish him for hurting her.

so, yeah! she was both tempting him with sex and not actually tempting him with anything at all. sorry the explanation got long-winded. i thought about this scene a LOT prior to writing the fic and i adjusted it many times in my outline and after it was down to get it just right. so i have a lot of thoughts about it!

[dragon age masterpost]

[perditus]

Lucanis usually having the most interest in terms of shipping but being the hardest for me to commit to ships for. At least romantically anyways, the bar is way lower for platonic ships. He doesn’t fall for appearance so it doesn’t matter how attractive the other is. It’s all about personality and how they get along. Also,

1. If you dislike the Crows it’s pretty much a dealbreaker. Does he understand it? Yes absolutely he’s very conscious that their profession isn’t widely accepted. He’s not an idiot and he’s not inconsiderate. He can be friends with someone who doesn’t like the Crows because he understands but romantic partners? No, if you can’t accept his Family and what they do it’s just not going to work. He doesn’t want to hide apart of himself for someone with that in mind. Lying won’t work either because Spite WILL call them out.

2. If someone’s kinda shitty towards him he’s not ever going to find interest. There’s a huge difference between being sassy and downright rude. He accepts a little more heat from a fellow Crow just because he can somewhat understand where it’s likely coming from. His training sucked but he knows he still has more than others. He is aware. He doesn’t take it from Davrin - Rook would be no exception and neither would any other companion. Now if it’s about Spite he’s more tolerant. He knows.

3. Accepting Spite is necessary for a long term relationship. He can’t get rid of him unfortunately so it’s something that has to be worked out. Does he have to be romantically involved? No! That’s not at all what that means. Spite is just going to be there and ignoring him indefinitely will cause issues later down the road.

4. I don’t write romance with Rooms that choose Minratheous over Treviso. He doesn’t necessarily hate them but they’re attached to the devastation Treviso goes through. Caterina is lost permanently. That takes a lot of processing, more time than he has in VG. If I considered it, it would only be post-VG and would require a lot of plotting. And chemistry.

[rookosom]

Rook Osom's Fanfic Masterlist

Dragon Age

(It's a series, but each fic can be read as a stand-alone)

Close to the edge (Close like a heartbeat is close to the chest) Rookanis | 6k | Mature | pre-relationship | flirty banter Rook gets the slutty coat. Lucanis has thoughts. Spite has no filter. 🗡️💓🐦‍⬛😈🧥☕🐟😳

I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved Rookanis | 3k | Teen & Up | Angst | Hurt/Comfort | Lucanis needs a hug Lucanis' side of the story, from the moment they met until the horrible weeks of Rook being trapped in the Fade. 🗡️👿🧶☕

I don't need to know where we begin and end Rookanis | 9k | Explicit | Smut | Loss of virginity | Spite is there too Rook is back. Lucanis wastes no time telling and showing them how he feels. 🥴🍆💦🥵❤‍🔥

----------------------------------------------

Stranger Things

Say what you mean (I want to be with you) Steddie | 1k | Teen & Up | fake relationship | Steve speedruns a sexuality crisis Steve thinks he doesn’t like guys because he never felt anything when he practiced kissing with Tommy. And then, he had to pretend to date Eddie. 🥺💗✨😘🌈🌞🔥

Under my skin Steddie | 13k | Explicit | Angst and Fluff and Smut | Virgin Eddie The world didn’t end, and now he can’t stop finding comfort in Eddie’s hugs. But even after he comes to terms with his feelings, it doesn’t mean he’ll get his happy ending so easily. 💕🤗🙈 🌛 🌈

I waited all my life just to fall for someone like you Steddie & Ronance | 4k | Mature | Misunderstanding | Angst with a happy ending Eddie’s Valentine’s date with Steve is threatened by a half-naked Nancy coming down the stairs. 🍓😢☕👕🧇🌹

For your love (I'll do whatever you want) Steddie | 3k | Explicit | Idiots to lovers | Shameless Smut Eddie wakes up to a handsy Steve. They're not dating. 🤫🍆🥵💦👅🤯🔥

You are all that I need (so take it all) Steddie | 5k | Explicit | New Year’s Kiss | Getting together | Virgin Eddie Steve finally snaps and kisses Eddie. And then, he just can’t get his hands off of him. ❤️🌈🎆💋

It's not like I'm in love with you Steddie | 6k | Mature | Jealousy | Angst with a Happy Ending  | Idiot4Idiot Steve asks him on a date. It turns out to be a double date, with two girls he doesn’t know, and no, Steve is not his date for the night. 🚗😱🍔🌳

I wonder if I ever cross your mind (For me it happens all the time) Steddie | 5k | Explicit | The confusing ordeal of trading handjobs with your best friend They go from friends with benefits to dating with no benefits. To say Eddie is confused is the understatement of the century. 🍆💦🤯🍿❤️🔥

I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs Steddie | 11k | Explicit | Overheard love confession | A shit-ton of fluff After Steve finds out Eddie is in love with him, he begs him not to let it ruin their friendship. Eddie is not afraid to make Steve understand how loved he is. ❤️😱🥰🤯😍💘

Would you be so kind to fall in love with me? Ronance | 5k | Explicit | First Time | FWB | Pining  They’ve been slowly dancing closer. After months of making out, the girls finally take a step further. 🤭💦👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩🍑✌️🔥👅

I could never (He can't be mine to hold) Steddie | 7k | Explicit | Massage with a happy ending | Shameless smut After being forced to hear each other’s moans during a massage, Eddie is determined to do whatever it takes to get Steve to make those noises again. 💆‍♂️😳🙌🤤🧴💦

[sigridhawke]

4, 7, 13, 18 for the rook/partner asks!!

Yayayay thankyou! >3c

Ask game here! I’m going ham cause I wanna talk about the boys. Ettore de Riva my boy (nonbinary/male) [1] [2] Stephen Trevelyan (male) belongs to @ur-localkiwi <3 Tash has also added her notes for Steph to help me out with these, thanks bestie <3

4. Do your Rook and their partner share the same faction? If so, does that affect their relationship at all? If not, what is your Rook’s opinion of their partner’s faction? What is the partner’s opinion of Rook’s faction?

Ettore was a Crow years before Steph joined the Veil Jumpers. It affected their relationship much cause they were always long distance and when they met at the Lighthouse it just fell into their natural division of who goes where when hunting the gods/helping the team.

Because he is a Crow, his relationship with Lucanis starts on a pretty good foot even if there is some ‘tension’ between their Houses. If anything it makes them work better together because they have an innate understanding of what is expected of each other. It means they talk a lot about ‘family’ and also butt heads with their different upbringings within their Houses. Ettore can and will get pretty heated about the methods used to train Crows.

Tash:  Steph would only have been with the veil jumpers about 2-3 years before VG. Steph doesn't have an opinion over Ettore being in the crows, he came into his house with a knife he probably thought “oh yes that makes sense” when he learnt he was a crow lol

7. Are they a physically affectionate couple? Are they fine displaying those affections in public or do they prefer to be in private? If they’re not, how do they prefer to show their love instead?

Ettore loves affection and attention and will go out of his way to seek it or give affirmation that he’s still hopelessly in love. Intentional stealing of touches whether it's brushing hands, hand on back, patting on shoulder. One of his favourite games is trying to steal kisses. With Steph it is a greater challenge cause he’s so damn tall. So he has to get a little creative. With Lucanis likes to make a game out of (usually) fights, the winner gets to request 1 thing from the other. Ettore will always pick a kiss if he wins and cashes it in immediately. 

13. What song(s) do you associate with them?

I am not well versed in music associations but for Ettore: Jacky by Marc Almond

The “Cute in a stupid ass way” gets me every time.

18. When all is said and done, where would they like to retire together? Is marriage in the cards for them? Children? Pets?

Ettore has 100% joked/not joked about marrying Steph. Buying a ring, proposing all that jazz in some grand gesture. He would like to eventually. But he also would like both partners to be there too so he’s happy to just kinda wait and see how things work out. He’s optimistic it may happen eventually but it's not a necessity for him to be happy. (Maker knows Teia is on the edge of her seat waiting to say she’s already preplanned half the wedding lmao)

He is also the kind that daydreams of retiring, little cottage, pet cats, pet wyvern, living out his days iwith his partners, growing old, everything just perfect in the world. It’s completely unrealistic and he couldn’t imagine actually retiring from the Crows (not that they would let him) or living long enough to retire, but it's a nice thought to daydream about. He wouldn’t say it out loud but he hopes he outlives his partners so they wouldn’t be sad without him. Especially Steph.

Tash: Steph would like to marry Ettore but has never brought it up purely out of fear that Ettore’s crow work would come first. He's also a bit scared that would mean sharing him with lucanis if the marriage extended to him and steph might explode with jealousy if there was a second husband in the mix (something he probably couldn’t work through this time ripf) 

Tash: Asides from his wisps friends, steph would like to adopt a cat one day.

[himbopunk]

🌹and 🌷 for the ask game!

meant to do this when u sent em oops. ask game in question!

doing hakim for both of these!

🌹 What’s the first genuine fight Rook got in with their love interest about? How was it resolved?

hakim and neve fight a decent amount, their main big early one (at the cusp of their relationship like. being one lmao) was about hakim not being upfront about the fact that he grew up in tevinter as a slave before being a raider + lord of fortune. (i think its kinda like, how the dragons/crows are harsher on you because youre supposed to look out for your people and you left to go help the other. he's not a shadow dragon but it's like, something super important about his life he didn't tell Anyone until the slip up with taash and then on top of that that retroactive feeling of betrayal cuz its like, you of all people then should know what the venatori rising + losing shadow dragons would mean... it's layered.). it kind of fizzles out a bit on its own though cuz thats how hakim and neve's fights usually go, i think? they get to the point they both are yelling or something, one of them realizes what theyre doing or says something stupid and the tension falls apart. theyre both just not great at being upfrot about their feelings so they gotta yell a bit and move on. (they dont usually get like super nasty/personal/etc its just. High Feelings that burn out quick)

hakim and lucanis don't really get into many fights until after the endgame i think bc the stakes finally arent world ending enough that they can let whatever they wanna fight about be an issue. i think. either its about illario or after an encounter with caterina. i think hakim gets super frustrated with the way lucanis can be with her and hes tried to be understanding about it but its like. he's not had any functional/longterm relationships before and seeing someone he cares about struggle w the circumstances of all lucanis' family + crow shit really gets to him. and considering hakim's whole like, live freely by your choices mentality, he just doesnt really get a lot of it. so i think either they argue about some shit lucanis didnt speak up on to caterina more than once despite hakim knowing how he feels, orrr theres also just the whole. mess of hakim having previously had a thing with illario. that ones complicated cuz hakim does Not like illario and thinks hes a piece of shit and lucanis doesnt exactly have a jealous streak but i just feeeeeeel like. whenever it is they finally have a big fight post-endgame some of the illario stuff comes out too on both ends.

i think neve intervenes and talks to them both individually. they both have to take a few days to cool off and then feel really bad about everything and apologize a ton. (probably lucanis goes to bring him food as a peace offering just as hakim is coming to bring him some cute small gift like smth for his knitting or an apron or smth wyvern themed.) this is not the last time this happens ofc but its not very frequent at all.

in general ig all corners of the relationship are rly good at empathizing with the other but neve and hakim will do it like mid-fight and then lose momentum but lucanis and hakim both get blinders on a bit and it takes a couple days to set in and sort things out

🌷If Rook needed to get away from their responsibilities for a moment, where would they go? Where is their safe space outside the Lighthouse?

drew a little smth for this, but hakim likes being on the coast, somewhere he can watch the ships take off from the docks. sometimes he'll find a spot on a rooftop watching the docks in treviso or dock town in minrathous, but there's a lot of little things there that don't quite hit the same as being back in rivain... there's a sweet spot of quiet and busy the air is + the sea smells a certain way. so if he's got access to an eluvian, he'll make his way to the rivain coast (preferably the southern coast or even an island bc thats what he actually prefers but he takes what he can get.)

usually its taash or harding who finds them there first when he needs to get away

[rederiswrites]

Arden Mercar: the Lovers and the Moon?

Yay thank you! Very good selections!

The Lovers: Who is your Rook's most significant relationship within the Veilguard? How do they help Rook feel seen and understood?

At first, of course, it's Varric. Ha. Haha. Varric appreciated the person Arden had chosen to be in a way that none of the older figures in his life did, and that created an easy bond. He was very happy for a while there, working with Varric and Lace, and he made Lace the sister he never had, too.

But ultimately, it's his relationship with Lucanis that becomes an absolutely critical point of contact, of being seen and loved come what may.

I badly need to write about this at greater length and mean to, but at first, Arden thinks that Lucanis's relationship with Caterina was very much like his with his own father, Charon Mercar. Eventually, he understands that there was an element of cruelty and manipulation in Caterina that just isn't there with his dad, but it takes Lucanis a lot longer to see the distinction (certainly not during game canon). They both had harsh childhoods marked by extremely demanding training and study, where parental figures with inflexible expectations molded them into fighters, though for pretty different ends. It's a fairly unusual experience that helps the two of them bond--as well as Taash, in their own way.

Arden and Lucanis are also both just...painfully earnest and sincere about their feelings, when they do show them. Arden shows his very freely, which kinda freaks Lucanis out at first, but Arden is a good enough reader of people that he can course correct and look for ways to make both of them comfortable, and as we know, Lucanis finds ways to show his feelings when he can't say them. And the fact that they care about each other for the people they are, rather than their importance to the fight, is so critical to both of their mental wellbeing.

The Moon: How does Rook's past impact their values? Does their past come with any biases or blind spots they have to account for?

So working, again, from the more or less canon idea that a Mercar Rook is the adopted child of a Tevinter general who is in good standing with the leader of the entire Tevinter military, I imagine that Arden grew up in the upper ranks of Tevinter Soporati culture. Charon Mercar's only mention in canon is in a codex that describes him as a potential ally to Dorian and Maevaris' Lucerni because of his private sympathies for reform. Personally, I imagine him as the kind of guy who's actually quite traditional, but in the way that he really believes in noblesse oblige and the responsibility of the powerful to those in their power and so on. He's a military guy, not a revolutionary, but he believes in treating servants and slaves well, and has nothing but scorn for anyone with Venatori sympathies. But, you know, the kind of guy who thinks that you should work with the system to deal with bad actors, even as the system is clearly rewarding the bad actors.

Arden respected, and still respects, his father, but ultimately diverged with him on the last point. After years of fights, he finally said, I'm out, and went to Minrathous, where he eventually found the Shadow Dragons. It eats at him that his family still has a few slaves, and he knows he's avoiding the issue by freeing the enslaved people of others without truly holding his family to account.

The part he knows a lot less about is what it's like to be poor year after year; what it's like to be free but desperate. He's pretty poor when he's on his own in Minrathous, but you know--also young and able-bodied and only responsible for himself.