#starkhaven

[lyriumdragon]

[flightofthefaeriedragon]

Spoilers from a codex entry found in A Slow Poison.

So um, about Starkhaven...

There's a document that's says the Antaam invasion included the northern half of the Free Marches down to the Minanter river, that only the southernmost parts were spared.

Starkhaven is *on* the Minanter.

I wonder what my Hawke is up to. She *is* famous for killing Qunari invaders. And she has family to protect.

(Did they avoid Kirkwall because of Hawke? Joke's on them.)

I wonder if this means that Starkhaven is occupied, or if they're having to fend off the Antaam.

[melonyfelonyfellonme]

Ykw tho if there's something (alongside the many things lmao) I really appreciate that Dragon Age has done, it's that they haven't gone the stereotypical "Dwarves Are Gruff And Scottish" route, but instead have given us Starkhaven, with better food and climate than you could likely find here

That being said, some kind of DA version of Irn Bru or Buckfast would amuse me to no end

[brother-genitivi]

okay so BASICALLY

I think every summer, regions in Starkhaven set up stands of fruits, vegetables, all sorts of produce in a huge market. People sell clothes, headscarves, even curtains. Pots and pans, pottery, olives and spices.

And Sebastian's parents probably forbade him to go (whilst letting his two older brothers frolic there as much as they wished to </3) because they believed it was 'beneath him'.

And every year his grandfather smuggled him into the market with as much coin as he could carry. Probably propped Seb up onto his shoulders so he could see everything. He'd buy him anything he wanted.

It's one of the things Sebastian misses the most after he goes to Kirkwall.

[alistairsprayerwarrior]

I’m writing a prologue for my Trevelyan before the events of DAI and her first love (with a Starkhaven Templar, no less) called Oak & Iron.

It’s mostly for me if anything because I’ve really come to adore the character Jamie Fraser and his actor Sam Heughan. Call me cringe, but I am free. 🥺

[aarongoldenwrites]

Oh, Gods. These three morons on their own, against one another. Okay. Er. Elissa "Sparrow" Cousland is a ridiculously skilled archer and swordswoman who drank Avernus' potion and is one of the savviest strategic and political minds in Thedas. She pulled the Wardens from exile to kingship (Alistair) and put herself in Amaranthine. She's in contact with her ex-lover (Alistair), her current lover (Leiliana), and her best friend (Morrigan). She picked up ways to turn her Marabi in a wolf, bear, or spider from her best friend. She's as nervous as a park squirrel from childhood assassination attempts. She knows enough to pick her moments but when she gets started she is utterly ruthless. She's a moron because she doesn't know how to stop.

"Night" Marian Hawke (oh, that nickname hurts in retrospect) is an overpowered mage drawing on three distinct magical philosophies to form her own discipline: she's combined her father's teachings with Anders' circle and Warden magic and Merrill's Dalish knowledge into something wholly her own. It's what let her beat the Arishok and Meredith, there at the end. She has a desperate need to save everyone and her big plan when it comes to protecting people from danger is to throw herself in front of all the danger, forever. She's fanatically loyal to everyone she cares about and not really good at self care. She's a moron because she'd stab herself in the face to make anyone she loves smile. Shaytaersayco Lavellan is a shadow. Her city elf mother named her nonsense because she thought it sounded Dalish. She escaped the destruction of an alienage. She's something between a diplomat, a spy, and an assassin for the clan that adopted her. Syalise is tattooed on her face because she's desperate for a home. She hates Andraste and the Chantry and the Templars and is terrified of humans in general but becomes close to several of them. Demons and monsters don't scare her half as much. She always wanted magic for herself and loves having the anchor - it's scary. It's glorious. She's spent most of her life trying to be a non-person who is easy to overlook and she's now the figurehead of a massively powerful organization. She's a moron and she knows it, which is more than can be said for the other two.

The battle: we join our heroes in Starkhaven, where none of them has ever been and so none of them have an advantage. 

Lavellan vanishes and Cousland and Hawke, who have heard of but never indulged in stealth, barely notice. 

Hawke calls on rock armor and uses force magic to buff herself up; she's fought lots of archers. She plants a lightning storm on Cousland's head. 

Avernus' potion made Cousland a ghost; she's hard to hit at the best of times. She's also taken Legion of the Dead training, so even when things do hit her she just kinda ignores it. She knows how to avoid armor with her arrows, rendering the rock armor useless. 

Hawke's force magic keeps her standing, so she drops the armor and swaps over to entropy magic and tries to rip apart the Warden's mind. The Warden broke free of Sloth; she takes some damage, but she staggers on, plants her feet, and sends more arrows at Hawke. 

Hawke takes some hits but gives back in kind -- rock prison and stone fist took down the Arishok, but Avernus' tampering lets Cousland escape Hawke's grasp. More arrows fly. Lightning answers. The Warden paces herself, keeps her distance, as Hawke unleashes torrent after torrent of energy. 

Cousland thinks she can wear Hawke down. This is wrong; Hawke cycles mana through herself with little thought about her own well-being (she doesn't care if she dies so long as you lose). Hawke is tinkering, finding ways to overcome what Avernus did, using magic to bat away the arrows. The Warden closes the distance, reaching for her swords - a sign of desperation.

Lavellan appears behind Hawke, drives two cleavers into Hawke's back, kicks out her knee, slits her throat, and vanishes. 

Cousland stands next to Hawke's body. She draws her swords and extends her senses -- she's used to using her Warden blood to sense darkspawn, but she can usually sense other creatures, too. Lavellan is something else. 

Wade's Dragonscale Armor saves Cousland's life. 

Lavellan leaps from nowhere and cleaves into the armor, clearly expecting to go through it. If the armor had been made by anyone else, it would have. Cousland feels her ribs fracture but gets a sword up in time to stop the throat slit as Lavellan, again, vanishes. 

What follows is a series of hit-and-run attacks -- Lav stabbing, running, vanishing, wearing the Warden down. The Warden learns her patterns, learns how she responds, and sets a hunting trap that Lav leaps into. 

An arrow punctures Lav's other foot. The Warden hammers her with sword blows, drives her to her knees. 

Hawke (you didn't think the Maker was done with her, did you?) catches the Warden and Lav with stone coffin and squeezes. Lav activates an anchor explosion and the Warden and Hawke are sent flying. Sparrow and Hawke crumble, get to their knees. Cousland takes a swipe at Hawke. Hawke goes down. The Warden raises her head. Lavellan is gone.

Lavellan is behind her. 

Lavellan slits her throat.

Tl;dr -- Hawke is easily the most powerful while Cousland is intelligent, tough, and has surprising options that make them equals. Lavellan, though, is more than willing to let her enemies fight one another and pick up the scraps. 

Lav wins. 

If one or more is dead, it's up to you whether or not you take that into account. This can also just be a theoretical "them at their steongest". Setting and conditions of the mêlée à trois are up to you, and feel free go into detail of how exactly the fight would go down!

[vigilskeep]

ranking da love interests on a scale of how unhinged theyd be if their beloved was made tranquil (they would all be maximum unhinged its just a matter of deciding what flavour)

[tahopo]

still insane to me that sebastian’s happy to marry a mage

[shih-coulda-had-it]

Sebastian held up his hands as if in surrender, then tucked them behind his back. “Let us begin.” Varric paced around the billiards table, tracing the wooden rim with his finger, until the green-felt table stood between himself and Sebastian. In her mind’s eye, Cassandra could see the topography of the Free Marches lying between them. You’re shaking the chessboard, Bull had said. Cassandra’s hands tightened on the smooth wooden cue.

ongoing great cassarric fic (A Marriage of Inconvenience) by @thisauthorisscreaming

[lyriumdragon]

i'm sorry for any mistakes in Gaelic

*Hawke is a wonderful woman

[thevaelguard]

Turning this into a poll would be hard since there's many nuanced options, but for people whose Hawkes friendmanced Sebastian, do you actually imagine your Hawke joining the Chantry to marry him, or did they do something else? :]

For people whose Hawkes rivalmanced him, how did their relationship play out together? Did they marry before they left Kirkwall? Did they get married at all?

And of course feel free to rb and talk about your Hawkes who ended up breaking up with him/died before they could wed !!

[a-shakespearean-in-paris]

Imagine if knight captain rylen was in DAV though

[kenwaysfolly]

he may have been behind a dlc paywall and he may have been straight and he may have been the most hated da2 companion but the fact of the matter is sebastian vael is bioware's special little boy who gets a mention in both* sequels and because he's my special little boy too i say yayyyyy

[sapphim]

Varric: Tell us about Starkhaven, Choir Boy. I'm sure we're all burning with curiosity about your far-away land. Sebastian: My far-away land? It's inland Free Marches, not on the moon. Varric: And here I was hoping…

Suddenly recontextualizing Varric's one-sided feud with Sebastian in light of this early banter. It's not just that Varric has an immediate psychosexual animosity towards the man that he is not going to unpack. He is also... being belligerently coastal elite about it.

[queen-scribbles]

.

[extravagantliar]

welcome back Starkhaven and Ostwick you two likely have the best hospitality/inns in the free marches and Kirkwall is still the worst