#thedosian history

[atomiqueen]

probs gonna have lucy's dragon age character build be essentially the same as her dnd/bg3 character sheet. she is an artificer and a mage. she and the rest of her people would probably be considered hedge witch apostates in the chantry's terms, but they never had a chance to actually impose chantry law on them before most of them hunkered down in stone bunkers during the fourth blight.

[ephemeralinstance]

The Veil and the Ad Hominem Fallacy

While there are many things I love about Veilguard, the way the Veil was dealt with was definitely a weak point. We know the devs were worried that people sympathized too much with Solas' goals; hence the choice to have him kill Varric. But I think this demonstrates a misunderstanding of the reasons why people liked and sympathized with Solas.

In previous games, we were shown that the Veil has consistently harmed spirits, mages, and (arguably) elves - three groups who are systematically oppressed and/or have their personhood erased in Thedas. And in Inquisition, Solas was the only person who stood up for spirits, and among one of the most vocal supporters of mage freedom; he was also (albeit inconsistently) critical of the ways elves have been treated throughout Thedosian history. So people who sympathized with those three groups were naturally inclined to have at least some sympathy both for him personally and for his plans regarding the Veil (of course pending further details, since Trespasser was pretty vague about this). It's not the case that people agreed with him blindly because they liked him or because they romanced him; they liked him because they agreed with him, at least about the harms the Veil was inflicting on vulnerable groups. The use of Cyrian as a metaphor is also telling here. Anaris is clearly intended a parody of Solas, and so the mask which makes Cyrian feels Anaris' emotions seems to be intended as a critique of people who sympathize with ancient elven gods due to empathizing too much with them. But again, this is a misunderstanding. People didn't sympathize with Solas' goals just because they think he's tragic, they sympathized for actual reasons based on the canonical evidence for the Veil doing harm.

Having Solas kill Varric was therefore not a good way of addressing this issue, because Solas' personal character and methods are completely irrelevant to the question of whether the Veil should come down or not. The same goes for showing that Solas is largely motivated by regret, or that he often gets his plans wrong - all of this is a classic ad hominem fallacy. Perhaps these things might serve to convince us that it is not a good idea for Solas to take down the Veil by himself, but none of it is relevant to the question of whether the Veil should in fact come down.

The right way to address this issue would have been to actually address the arguments for it! Allow Solas to articulate the fact that the Veil harms spirits, mages and (perhaps) elves. Allow him to tell us what he believes Thedas would look like after the Veil came down. Allow Rook to discuss Solas' claims with knowledgeable people like Emmrich and Morrigan, and assess their validity. Perhaps even allow Rook to talk with the Mourn Watch, the Veil Jumpers and so on about other possible ways to mitigate the harms that the Veil does. Give Rook a chance to convince Solas himself that there are other options!

I'm not saying that the Veil should have come down. There's no canonical answer to the question of whether that would have been a good outcome, since we got no concrete details at all on what Thedas might look like if it did. Nor do I necessarily think that would have been a better story. But I do think the game we actually got would have been strengthened if they'd trusted players a bit more and allowed us to explicitly contemplate the morality of the Veil, and to seek alternative ways of solving the problems it causes.

[heylittleriotact]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

(thank you - I love keeping my mutuals well fed)

💐WIP WEDNESD-ENEVER 💐

@emmg asked for a WIP so here's a chunky one. It's also spicy. Under the cut for length.

I wanted to elaborate on what I imagined Emmrich and Rook banging in a coffin was like. So....

Pairing: Emmrich x Female Rook

Rating: Explicit

Casket Spray:

A large, ornate floral arrangement that sits on top of the casket. It is usually the centrepiece of the funeral flower display.

“What I said the night we had that argument…” she trailed off, not sure what else to say. Was it stupid? Obviously. She knew that even before she got unceremoniously thrown into Solas’ prison in the Dread Wolf’s  place. Was it upsetting? Very - for both of them. Reiterating that now would be pointless. “It feels like it was just yesterday for me, but it was over a fortnight for you.” She squeezed Emmrich’s hand tighter and sidled even closer to him on the stair that they were occupying in a quiet corner of the Necropolis. 

It wasn’t that she was afraid that at any moment she might be dragged away from him again - this time for good, except, well… that was actually exactly what she was afraid of. 

“Thank you for not giving up on me.” 

That was the sentiment she ended up settling on. Thin and somewhat trite, even to her own ears - she had little doubt that he could see through it too. She might as well have told him it wasn’t his fault.

She just hoped he understood that she wasn’t solely referring to rescuing her from the Fade. 

And… there it was - that smile: effortless and comforting by virtue of its existence alone. 

His cheeks were once again clean-shaven (Amina’s gentle suggestion that maybe he should give the beard a chance was politely rebuffed), and his hair was washed and neatly coiffed as usual. One would never guess by looking at him now that only a few hours earlier he looked like a man on the very brink of insanity. 

Over her. 

Over a few poorly chosen words uttered out of fear and pain. Over being plunged into the sudden reality that those might have been the last words exchanged between them. 

Something deep within her stirred at the knowledge that he had been so undone by what had happened at Tearstone Island. If she’d had any doubts that his affections towards her were genuine, they were long gone. There were no lengths that he wouldn’t have gone to in order to retrieve her from that prison, and as flattering as that fact was, she was grateful that Emmrich had not ultimately been called to challenge his definition of what was ‘right’ in this scenario…

People probably wouldn’t have understood…

People probably wouldn’t have liked it. 

And he was nothing if not palatable, right? What with his deliberate togetherness that he presented to the world: a reassurance in and of itself. 

Take that away though…

Watchers were indeed oath-sworn caregivers of the living and the dead, but their approachable, kind nature was of a deliberate sort designed specifically to foster trust. Beneath that compassionate altruism, they were fundamentally guardians and protectors… and they were capable of staggering violence. One only had to consider the damage Johanna nearly caused to understand that a Watcher willing to operate outside the boundaries of their oath was dangerous.

Her beloved Emmrich was no different in that respect, though she was probably one of the few who knew it.

And still he had made a point earlier of talking her down from naming Solas as a ruined spirit and vowing to destroy him for his betrayal and cruel manipulation…

She wasn’t sure if this section of the Necropolis was particularly drafty this evening, but she felt the small hairs on her arms raise slightly and forced her mind away from such thoughts. 

Instead, she thought about how much she loved him. The way his eyes glittered cleverly in the light of the veilfire, and the soft shape of his lips. He was looking at her like she was the center of the universe, and she knew that she didn’t want to go anywhere without him for the rest of her days: she wanted to see his face in the morning when she opened her eyes, and when each day was done, she wanted the last thing she tasted to be those soft, slightly pouting lips. 

She’d see to it that he never felt alone or unwanted again: she would want him always.

She wanted to come back here to the Necropolis when all was said and done and make a home with him and Manfred. The three of them would be so happy together.

And… oh.

Her breath caught as a new thought stole into her mind.

In time - if they desired it - she could cease imbibing the weekly tonic she’d taken for so many years to ensure her monthly cycle. His seed would quicken within her and they would create a child borne of their loving union - blood magic in its purest and most literal form: a legacy crafted of their own flesh. And Manfred would make such a fine big brother with a little sibling to dote on…

Her stomach flip-flopped as arousal curled up through the very marrow of her bones and set a fire deep within her belly. Of course when she was young she’d thought she’d like to be a mother one day, but she’d given up on genuinely putting any thought to such an aspiration years earlier: she never thought she’d find someone who’d truly want her.

Now Elgar’nan and Solas were the only ones in the way of such a future. It was so close she could practically taste it…

She swallowed roughly, feeling her heart hammering away in her breast as the future unveiled itself in Emmrich’s eyes and she burned for him with an imminent need to be united with him utterly.

They might die tomorrow, after all…

“Amina? Are you alright, darling? You look as though you’re a million miles away.” He gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and she nuzzled into his hand. 

“I’m sorry, love.” She dragged herself back to reality with a smile. “I’m listening.” 

“I was just saying how relieved I am that you’re safe.” 

And he was. He really, really was. Amina suspected he had been counting each of her breaths since she tumbled out of the Fade; kept an eye on the steady thrum of her carotid artery when he could glimpse it just for the visual reminder that she had a pulse and was in fact alive and not just a figment of his grief addled imagination the way Varric had been for her.

“I did have someone to come back to.” She took his hand and stood. 

She gently pulled Emmrich to his feet too and rocked up onto her toes, rising through her knees – up into her hips… lengthening her spine until she could press her lips to his, kissing him and putting all of her devotion and love and fear and sorrow into it along with all of her hunger and yearning. 

When she drew back, the sight of that hunger reflected back at her drove a small gasp from her - it wasn’t an exclamation of surprise, but rather the sound one might make when they find themselves suddenly breathless upon viewing a deeply moving piece of art.

He had apartments in the upper levels of the Necropolis - as did she - but when one considered their surroundings – this quiet, esoteric corner of the wing and the privacy that had clearly been paid for; the fact that this was an owned but unoccupied plot… and the individual it belonged to was suddenly kissing her again – his intent was clear. 

Her fingers twisted into his soft hair and a sumptuous moan rumbled through from him at her touch. Her jaw slackened and his tongue swept past her lips with a desperation that would have shocked her if she hadn’t been privy to the knowledge that he thought she might be dead for the past two weeks. 

Then he was walking her back, back, back, and she offered no resistance, feeling herself bump up against the raised stone sarcophagus in the center of the room. She didn’t need to remove her lips from Emmrich’s to spare a look, nor did she need to remove her hands from his to spare a touch: she knew that the stone wasn’t humble lime - none of the monuments in this section were: they were all at least marble or high-grade granite. She’d stared at the classic, hexagonal shape of the sarcophagus while he was telling her about Hope and Devotion, and as he talked her down from her determination to destroy Solas for his betrayal. She’d stared at it for long enough this evening to mark it as a monument hewn of coveted blue granite from the Anderfels. It had to have cost a fortune – interesting for a man so terrified of his eventual death to sink so much gold into it, she had thought at one point.

She captured his lower lip between her teeth as she leaned against that monument and posed a wordless question as she bit down gently: Are we really doing this, love? 

He whined in response as she worried at his lip, soothing the sting of her bite, his slender long-fingered hand slipping around her waist and splaying across her lower back to bring himself close and erase any space between them.

The familiar and welcome sensation of his hardening length pressed against her in spellbound and equally silent answer: If it pleases you, dearest. 

Every day it seemed he found a new way to surprise her. She shivered at the thought of how many other surprises might await them…

It wasn’t that they both knew that this section - regardless of how serene it was - was ultimately open to the public and anybody could happen by them at any time, though that had its own ribald appeal…

No, it was for the very fact that Emmrich I-Choose-My-Words-Carefully Volkarin did nothing accidentally and left no room for coincidence when his actions were called into question. He was just as aware as Amina that a comfortable feather bed in a warm apartment complete with a crackling fire, expensive Orlesian massage oils, and a selection of the finest wines were all things they could have within minutes should they desire them - all they needed to do was take the lift a hundred-odd levels up, and that was that.

But he wanted this.

After all, what could possibly be more sacred than making love in your eternal resting place on the eve of the end of the world? 

So she shimmied up and seated herself on the edge of the sarcophagus, her legs parting so he could slot himself between them. She could feel the slickness between her thighs clinging to her underthings as she ran her hands over him, dragging his coat down his long arms. 

“I love you, Emmrich.” 

The words were still so new to her tongue and her ears, but it felt like her heart had been beating to the rhythm of them for her entire life. 

“And I love you, my darling, precious Amina.” He shrugged out of the coat and draped it over the side of the cold stone. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever tire of hearing you say that,” she grinned against his skin, kissing up his neck - tasting the slight saltiness of him and the tang of his cologne. She nibbled at his earlobe and he tensed against her, another pained little gasp slipping past his lips. 

Unable to bear it anymore, she gathered him to her, wrapping her legs around his waist in a fluid movement that sent them both tumbling backwards into the soft velvet lining of the sarcophagus - it was surprisingly soft: quilted and down-filled. There was even a pillow at the head end - a proper one with a silk slip trimmed with scalloped lace, also probably down-filled… not one of those dreadful thin ones filled with wood shavings that offered little to no support for the reposed decedent when it came to the purpose of viewing them.

Indeed Emmrich appeared to have spared no expense when it came to the question of quality and craftsmanship of his final resting place - or was it more accurately theirs now? Destined to be put to use sooner rather than later depending on the outcome of tomorrow?

Most married couples shared the space of an owned crypt but each had their own sarcophagus or niche based on what they could afford. But as Amina’s lungs filled with oxygen, and her rib cage expanded, and she and Emmrich suffused into the cramped space, filling it completely with their bodies and limbs, she decided that the existence of things like space and stone between them for eternity simply wouldn’t do.

No, whichever one of them went first would rest in gentle repose in this exact spot, patiently waiting until the day when the heavy gilded lid was slid aside and a second set of remains were introduced, lovingly deposited and tucked in alongside the other: a cold, rigored hand posed with experienced fingers would lovingly cradle a dry, waxy chin; a leg would be positioned delicately over a fragile lower torso, bony fingers artfully arranged to look almost like it lovingly stroked the recently embalmed flesh of a thigh that would maintain its weight and mass for a few years at least.

Their heads would be gently maneuvered - a chin tucked down here, a jaw tipped up there - to create an enduring tableau of the memory of this exact moment and the reverent, passionate kisses she was tracing along his mandibular foramen: an eternal embrace in which the passing of time was inconsequential when compared to the irrefutable and immortal permanence of their affection. 

A yearning sound escaped her, urged on by the adoring vulgarities and soft praises Emmrich was whispering into her ear as they writhed against each other in the too-small space, his fingertips digging into the curve her ass, guiding her movements to help her rut needily against his thigh, each roll of her hips sending a wave of blissful sensation through her aching core.

She managed to free a hand and wriggle it down between them so she could palm his straining cock through his pants, feeling a hot wet spot against the fleshy base of her thumb where it passed over him - exhilarating evidence of his mounting anticipation. 

“Your cock is perfect,” she whispered. “Beautiful… made for me...” 

Emmrich’s response was a ragged groan and her hips pushed the flat of her palm against him through the fabric of his trousers as she bent her other wrist somewhat awkwardly to start coaxing his collar pin free.

Undressing in the limited space was easier said than done, but something about the obligation of their proximity caused the pooling heat in her belly to intensify with every huff of breath that skittered over her face and neck as they both twisted and groped in the tomb-light, tempering genuine attempts to gain purchase on things like buttons and clasps and ties with exploratory, wandering touches that lingered, caressed, and teased. Lips and tongues dragged over freshly revealed swaths of skin, trailing oaths and tender promises in their wake: sacred incantations that invoked the ancient magic that was responsible for the existence of this place to begin with. 

Amina managed to dislodge herself from between Emmrich and the wall of the sarcophagus, and used her newly found mobility to straddle his lap: her legs might fall asleep if she stayed like this for long, but the angle it provided her allowed her to deftly finish unfastening his waistcoat and shirt. 

“This shirt has about two dozen too many buttons,” she complained breathlessly as he finished with the last of the many moonstone fastenings, and Emmrich sat up to slip free of the clothing in question. 

“I can’t help but notice that their presence didn’t slow you down terribly, dearest.” He regarded her with a lascivious smile as the sleeves of the shirt slid down over his numerous bracelets: it was a filthy expression that only she was privileged to bear witness to - one of lidded eyes and swollen lips quirked in a decidedly smug countenance… the perfectly combed moustache in disarray. Almost a sneer… so vastly different than the compassionate, kind face he presented to the world. It called to something absolutely feral within her – it drove her wild when he looked at her like that, and with his torso now bare and his hair slightly mussed just the way she liked it…

She managed to exercise enough patience to allow him to strip away her own shirt before returning to her self-assumed duty to taste every inch of him that she could reach. Her hips pressed against his from her place atop him, and she closed her mouth over a nipple, lingering in place for a moment to suck gently and flick the delicate gold hoop there with the tip of her tongue. She caught it with her teeth too and ever so gently tugged on it, earning a stammered exclamation from Emmrich before she began trailing kisses downward over the warm flesh of his abdomen, seeking his ribs with her lips, counting each one in her mind as she descended: five, six, seven… onto the false ones – a silly name really – eight, nine, and ten… 

Her fingers curled into the layers of expensive red silk at his waist and she looked up at him then with lust-darkened eyes.

“Lay back,” she ordered, her voice a sensual husk that was not remotely lacking the authoritative cadence of a Reaper who was accustomed to being obeyed when she issued instructions to anyone this far down in the crypts. 

So lay back he did, and Amina made short work of any fabrics and fasteners, freeing him into her waiting hand. 

[felassan]

in view of the fact that it's [soon™] Dreadwolf summer and that DA: Inquisition is currently available for free - if you're new to the series & world and looking for digestible info on the lore and history before jumping in, or played DA games previously but have been away for some time since and would like a refresher, or are simply into DA lore, this playlist looks to be a series of videos done in animated documentary style that covers DA lore and periods of Thedosian history, in episodic format. the last episode on the list is longform and brings it up until the start of the first game, DA:O ('1.7' starts towards the end of the last vid).

[explodingchantry]

One of my da world states is the funniest in the world btw because I've made an anders inquisitor and now an anders rook, and the idea of Anders blowing up the chantry, showing up at the conclave and getting the anchor, and then showing up at solas' ritual and fucking it up to a level unseen since hawke had a major impact on thedosian history is delightful. It's literally so far from my preferred world state because Jesus Christ I don't want anders to go through all of this. But my god is it fucking funny to imagine how thedas at large would have to feel getting their asses saved by him several times

[monabee-draws]

You know what would have made the Crow storyline better? If Governor Ivenci was right.

Have the traitor who sold out Treviso to the Antaam be Illario from the start, but have the Butcher's well-organised influence somehow continue even past Illario's incarceration/exile. Why? Because despite House Cantori and House De Riva (and arguably Dellamorte) buying into the whole 'liberation' narrative, the Antivan Crows are not freedom fighters. Have the Talons who stand outside of Teia and Viago's freedom fighting cause actively aid the Antaam - per Ivenci's offhand comment that they 'wouldn't be surprised if it was the Talons fighting again' that does Treviso in. Most of the Talons and their underlings probably don't even believe the whole 'ancient gods are also part of the problem' schtick because why would they? The qunari? A relatively known enemy whom most Thedosians only know as one unified conquering army. Ancient elven gods come back to end the world? Uh, yeah sure buddy. We still have to put food on the table on Sunday, and the rest of Antiva is not under occupation, actually, and devoting two entire houses to repelling an occupation which could arguably be exploited for monetary gains (a la, Zevran's contract in Ferelden) is a massive waste of resources. Considering all their general infighting and power grubbing, the Antaam presence in Treviso may in fact be a boon for those Crow houses outside of it. After all, if House Cantori and Dellamorte fall entirely, and the House De Riva Talon goes with them, more power to them.

I think this would help the Crow narrative in two ways:

One: The ruthless version of the organisation we come to know through DAO and DA2 (and most non-game lore sources) is maintained. They are an assassin's guild. Those at the top are very, very rich and powerful, and their underlings are mostly just scraping by. Politics and infighting are common. Even if a few might be swayed to a more altruistic cause, most remain loyal to the original tenets of the organisation (a juxtaposition similar to Zevran and his Crow friend Taliesen.) The writers can have their cake - a somewhat morally balanced faction from which the protagonist can still be proud to originate - and eat it too - maintaining the storied and well-trod history of brutality, neglect and coldness the Crows are known for.

Two: Illario's writing automatically improves. He's a very obvious villain character from the start, and Ivenci js essentially just a mirror of him who becomes so laughably maniacal at the end that neither can be taken seriously. Within the context of the Crows being divided on the Antaam issue, Illario choosing to side against Teia and Viago makes more logical sense. He's not just a stupid power grubbing villain. He's simply playing the game the way any self-respecting Crow would. Not only that, but his plan may still work even with Lucanis being back because he has genuine support from the remaining Houses, even if its the kind of support that will fizzle once Illario weakens his own position by killing Lucanis and Caterina, leaving the remaining houses to sweep him up in the power vacuum.

Illario being a more competent villain also deepens Lucanis' situation. In the side stories he has no interest in becoming First Talon, but his bleeding heart is also a mark against him. The Crows are ruthless and methodical, and Lucanis is emotional. Maybe Illario WOULD be a better First Talon (in this new version.) Perhaps it is not Lucanis who calls for Illario's freedom at the end of his quest/chooses incarceration over execution, but the other Talons. It always sat badly with me that none of the other Crows even suggests execution after the multiple betrayals Illario commits. Not even Teia or Viago. But perhaps they COULD, and what saves Illario is not Lucanis or Caterina's authority, but the quiet rumble of general dissent amongst the Crows. One that complicates Lucanis' transition into the new role of Talon, and which prompts him to maintain the older more ruthless ways largely out of appeasement. This also explains away the plothole that is the complete lack of discussion of Lucanis' future role as Talon, whether he intends to/how he would alter the abyssmal training system. He won't because he can't because the Dellamortes are on thin, thin ice.

[amaryllis-sagitta]

I've always disliked the spirit origin theory and I finally know why

To put it briefly: it's the cornerstone of the Thedosian brand of gnostic pessimism ingrained in the worldbuilding around both Fade spirits and elves, that subtly condemns their existence among the living no matter how hard the writing tries to compensate in the other direction (and to be fair, it hardly ever does).

I have already mentioned in several analyses that the worldbuilding in Dragon Age is trying to impose some objective moral order through the system of virtues embodied by Fade spirits and the speculated position of the Maker, illustrated through the visual allegory of The Gaze. Every place where the Gaze does not fall is identified as the Void - the realm of the Blight, demonic whisperings, evil in mortals' souls, oblivion and erasure.

This moral compass ingrained in Thedosian worldbuilding is outlined in the Canticle of Threnodies. I have always posited that we can read the Canticle's "Maker" as a purely formal locus meant to hook up some form of prisca theologia that would be partially true regardless of whom we put in the Maker's seat.

For example: the Canticle claims that when "The Maker" created the physical world from a portion of the Fade itself, then Their firstborn, Fade spirits, turned away from their perfect resonance with the Maker. They envied what they were not, and for this poisoning of the heavenly "song" with discordant (so, evil) intentions, the Maker castigated them, declared them the first demons, and made humans Their "chosen" race -- presumably, this time building them of both Earth and Spirit so that they would not envy partaking in either.

After multiple hints left in DAI Trespasser, that sparked speculation about the spirit origin theory as the dominating fan theory years ago, DATV confirmed that the "firstborn elvhen" were Fade spirits that manifested physically. They used lyrium, the blood of the Earth's Titans, to build themselves physical bodies. The Stone retaliated, and the first elvhen waged a war with it, eventually devising a way to sunder the spirit essence/ dreams from all Titans. It is heavily implied that this choice to carry out their existence on Earth as war and conquest has twisted whatever the "virtuous" spiritual nature was left in the Evanuris, and that after the end of that war, Elgar'nan simply could not stop.

Why would they do it though? While some concept art from the artbook shows spirits observing primordial dwarves dwarfing, in the end, the Regret mural that shows Mythal inviting Solas into the world explicitly tells us he had no desire to live "as HUMANS" (and the story fails to bridge that lore drop with the known lore about humans allegedly arriving to Thedas from across the seas, and only being able to thrive after the Veil).

So, despite disproving the story about the Chantry's Maker creating the Veil, the writing confirms the Chant's initial overtly anthropocentric orientation. Humans were always special and spirits were always meant to backup and store their ethically charged concepts. But the important accomplishment here is that spirits/ elvhen are doomed with an inherent moral error that snowballs into inevitable strife, destruction and error!

But wait, there's more! Because now that we have the anthropocentrism as our implied position towards the Thedosian races, the history of the elvhen race looks even more like some bizzare form of "karmic" reckoning that completely misses the point of a reckoning, to replace it with unwarranted generational punishment. First, as a result of the Great Betrayal, the elvhen are sundered from their connection to the spirit essence, and thus subjected to the Quickening, which I guess is supposed to be a way of the world giving the elvhen a taste of their own medicine and saying "Be careful what you wish for". Then, once they are finally effectively like humans in every metaphysical respect (unbeknownst to everyone except the remaining ancient elvhen), the moral corruption of the Evanuris gets passed on as the Tevinters learn to glorify blood sacrifice at the behest of their Old Gods (who are really Evanuris speaking through their Archdemons, at any capacity they still have left). This gets used to further humiliate the remainders of ancient Arlathan. What happened to the elvhen now gives Solas reason to hate the mortal physical existence of elves twofold.

The fact that elves keep being punished by the narrative is a direct result of BioWare implementing the spirit origin theory the way they did, because it was devised as a scenario of original sin that necessitates conflict and moral downfall, and ends up snowballing into dooming elves through and through.

But more than that, as I have mentioned in another post, on the metaphysical level, "pure" spirits should be occupied solely with their respective defining abstracts. Spirits should know no desire. Desire is the "unquenchable flame" that defines humans. As far as DAO, we would read that the more benevolent spirits prefer to sit back in the Fade and not interfere with the mortals, and the ones with the greatest drive to join the living are predatory demons.

And the reason for all of this is "the Maker" being bored of perfection in the Golden City, and wanting some change. That the world requires change and opposition to let its best aspects shine is not an controversial idea. However, in the Dragon Age worldbuilding, this necessity for change is not introduced under a milder Hermetic assumption that, even after being cast down into a darker realm of the incarnate, one can successfully control their mundane passions and heal their soul from corrupting influences whilst existing physically... Not on the grand scale, at least.

Once spirits decided to enter the physical world, they started acting like they were trapped and forced to fight for their lives (despite them being the trespassers). The vast majority of them got spiritually corrupted (if they didn't represent vices like Tyranny from the get-go), they dragged their hesitant kin down with them through manipulation. The elvhen race fell into tyranny as their "First" were actually the worst, yet people looked up to them for survival. One particularly inventive specimen devised two catastrophic tools -- one, to deflect onto the Titans whatever should have happened to the first elvhen in order to sunder what has been wrongly joined; the other, to sunder the tyrannical Evanuris from the rest of the elvhen and spirits and stop their corrupting influence. Yet, because the world changes, the collateral of one such tool introduced a wholly new type of rampant evil, and the collateral of the other made the whole elvhen race spiral down... even further into their entrapment in physicality!

The way they built up the spirit origin theory, it draws a full circle: first, the Southern Chantry and the Dalish demonize Fade spirits - one for dogmatic reasons, because it sees the marriage of spirit and flesh as something that is evil even in humans, the other because they can't be denied that healthy cackle of metaphysical irony even if they try their hardest. Then, with DAI Solas and Cole, we're acquainted with a more sympathetic understanding of Fade spirits as being that are fundamentally different but operate on a logic that doesn't automatically lead to a shitshow of a moral downfall. But then, we learn that a group of spirits doomed the entire world to millennia of strife because they felt curiosity for the Other and because the choice to cross the great threshold almost automatically made them forget the virtues they supposedly embodied and spiral down into the "lower" survival instincts.

Personally, I believe that spirits & elvhen could be built on a fundamental existential difference in a way that would have made their excursions into each other's realm temporary. I believe that the spirit origin theory, even if upheld, could have been taken in a direction that didn't imply instant rampant and thoughtless colonialism on the elvhen part. I believe that such choices would have enforced worldbuilding that didn't need to condemn the spirits/ elvhen with that weird version the original sin that receives completely unsympathetic treatment as the time goes by.

[ammocharis]

One bit of obscure Dragon Age lore a day until Dragon Age: The Veilguard is released

Constellation Bellitanus, known commonly as "the Maiden", has been linked to prominent female figures in Thedosian history, such as Queen Asha Campana and Queen Madrigal. However, its original meaning was likely tied to Urthemiel, the Old God of Beauty.

Source: Codex entry: Constellation: Bellitanus

Previous bit

[choccy-zefirka]

Another bit of Emmrichmancer comparison: romantic and sexual history prior to meeting Emmrich!

Sorry for using the same visuals, I am comfy cozy in bed and can't take new screenshots.

Evaraas Mercar. Virgin. They barely have their role figured out, and have no clue how even to approach people about this relationship thing. They just assume their crushes are not mutual, bottle things up, and move on. Once they do come clean to Emmrich about their feelings, they trust him to give them a fun time, and as he does, they realize they are feeling attracted to him not just romantically, but sexually as well.

Hjördis Laidir. Has had a bunch of partners, though nothing long-term. Acts like your typical flirty rogue, and catches feelings for Emmrich accidentally in the middle of teasing him. Likes dropping hints that, as a pirate and treasure hunter, she's really good with ropes.

Sataa Mercar. At the time of joining the Shadow Dragons, had been completely isolated by her adoptive parents "for her protection"; upon running off, was determined to discover all of the world, including "adult activities". Is good friends with a few sex workers she patronizes, and has helped them out as a Shadow Dragon. Tries to shake off her childish belief in romance as a shameful mark of her past life... But sike!

Da'Adahl Laidir. Fooled around with a couple of her fellow young Sentinels in between training and worship rituals, but their trysts would always get broken up by Abelas. Has a huge romantic heart and is excited to learn about the modern Thedosian courtship traditions.

Beata Ingellvar. Had a steady boyfriend who she thought was going to propose to her, only for him to reject her as "too unserious" for an aspiring Mourn Watcher of the illustrious Pentaghast lineage. (See, Legally Blonde).

Lenore Aldwir. Had one, very awful sexual experience that left her disgusted by her own body for a decade. Deserves to be loved and cherished, and Emmrich is the perfect candidate for that.

Vashkost Thorne. Was dragged into a cult as a teenager with scarcely any sexual experience. Now that she is free, is very enthusiastic and touch-starved, plus has a newfound Warden stamina. Can't wait to passionately make out with Emmrich *and* Bellara.

Otrera Aldwir. Virgin. She is a warrior, she Trains and Fights. Emmrich joining the team has somewhat distracted her from Training and Fighting. She is worried it might be detrimental to the mission, but also... Well, it's Emmrich. Spending time with him makes her realize (not unlike Varric and Solas' old friend, Cassandra) that she still could not care less about sex, but romance sounds rather lovely, even if it has little to do with Training and Fighting.

Vitaar Laidir. Had plenty of partners but always felt awkward and unsatisfied, because they expected her to act out the Big Mommy Dom archetype because of her appearance, while she'd rather have grapes fed to her or something. Emmrich is teaching Manfred how to remove grape seeds as we speak.

Araña de Riva. Virgin. She is a grim and brooding living weapon that never knew the tender touch of a lover. Her House, before it fell and she was taken in by Viago, was particularly brutal to its fledglings, and she is still stewing in angst over that. Teia is worried for her well-being and may or may not have held a knife to Emmrich's throat, making him promise not to break her heart.

[sanshofox]

Anyone else convinced that Solas took over an elven body a long time ago and that this person was Shartan? It’s been years and I am trying to get back into all the lore and tidbits and theories and what not. Currently reading the lore books again…

I have my suspicions that Andraste talking to the Maker was actually talking to Solas and he later in history managed to embody someone to fight together with Andraste against Tevinter to prevent Tevinter blood mages to pursue their endeavors of „opening the gates“ as the olds gods demanded of them.

Could even be that what the ideology started by Andraste’s ways/teachings was also a tactic made by Solas. Only that he didn’t predict what the Chantry could and later would ultimately become. „Dreamers“ were the first mages, tought by the old gods how to use it while dreaming. There’s a possibility that in some shape or form Solas only wanted a more careful use of magic and Thedosians being aware of the old gods and avoid them.

But in the end it all backfired with how the Chantry developed. Like a split Chantry between Tevinter and the rest of Thedas, with different ideologies, and Tevinter proceeding as usual. Or the way mages are treated and seen as a threat. Or over time the spread of false information on (for example) spirits and demons.

There were occasions where Solas was interested in how people perceive the Maker. Solas likes that it is someone that stays silent and acts in the background and not demonstrating power, which was worded in a way that one could predict he’s talking out of experience.

And let’s not forget that the main song/hymn of the Chantry is Andraste‘s „love letter“ to the Maker, where it is said that in this song Shartan was mentioned. That was cut out by the Chantry. I guess they didn’t like Andraste calling the Maker a magic wielding elf.

[blackjackkent]

All right, we also have the option to set up a little bit of past history for the Inquisition!

I am setting Helena's adventures in the worldstate of Dominic Trevelyan!

(And Elliot Hawke and Daniel Cousland, but they don't take a role in this, I am given to understand.)

Ah, Dom, my boy, I have missed you.

Dom was (is) the son of the Bann of Ostwick, youngest son of a large family, a devout Andrastean who was in training to be a templar before the breach happened and shoved him into the role of the Inquisitor. His story ended up being a lot about him struggling in (and eventually succeeding in) holding onto his faith while learning to see a much broader perspective on the world at large.

He romanced Cassandra, who became the Divine; the Inquisition under his leadership became a part of the southern Thedosian Chantry, serving as Cassandra's personal honor guard. (As part of this arrangement, I decided that he and Cassandra continued their relationship more or less in secret; they never married or made much of an ostentatious show of their love, but have been there for each other behind the scenes and relatively happy in spite of their public responsibilities).

I'm legitimately unsure about the question of whether Dom "vowed to stop Solas" or "vowed to save Solas from himself". My old liveblog did not make the decision 100% clear and it's been a decade and I forgor. XD

I think that I am going with "vowed to save Solas from himself," though. Above all else, even his faith, Dom's golden-retriever friendliness was his defining characteristic. And I do have some writing at the end of his liveblog about how that aspect of him affected Solas's certainty even during Inqusition:

All of a sudden that weird conversation on the battlements from several years ago makes sense. Dom, with his laughing eyes and fierce loyalty and sense of the absurd, was the first to bring home to Solas that he was in a world of people, and not just a dead echo of the place that was once his.

So I think Dom wants to believe that he can still convince Solas to stand down without having to kill him. He was definitely very angry and hurt to learn of Solas's plans and if it comes down to it he won't hesitate to do what's necessary to protect the world from him. But... he still has hope that it won't be necessary.

(Per Dom's end cards in DAI, he also ended up doing a bunch of work with Sera as a member of the Red Jennies, also under the radar. Hard to say if that took the entire ten years of interim; unsure if the game is going to give further sense of what he has been up to in this time.)

And after considerable effort... here is how he looks in Veilguard!

He definitely looks somewhat more depressed than he looked in Inquisition. Then again, maybe that's apropos, given that it's been ten years and a lot has (presumably) happened in that time. XD Frankly, no rendition of him that I could do in Veilguard would match his face in Inquisition, which still stands as one of the crowning achievements of my long career of Making Hot People In Video Games.

But this is not bad, all things considered. He at least doesn't look like the guy playing him in Veilguard is horribly miscast. XD

And with that, all of the CC work is done! Time to dive into the game!

[thedinanshiral]

How have the dragons aged.

I have to address the identity crisis many are having around Dragon Age. Namely, what is Dragon Age? What makes Dragon Age be Dragon Age?

Dragon Age is everchanging, it always tries new things, introduces new protagonists, new companions, new conflicts and cultures to navigate through. Maybe it'd be easier to define what Dragon Age isn't. Dragon Age isn't unchanging, it isn't stagnant, it isn't a single uniform thing, and tryingto reduce it to such will always result in failure.

The simpler, more obvious answer when searching what defines a Dragon Age game is worldbuilding, storytelling, characters. Dragon Age isn't about a specific, limited game genre, a set-in-stone gameplay style, or a single character that must always return for it all to make sense, and it isn't a determined art style either.

Dragon Age is Thedas, with all it contains. It's the lore, and i assure you it has not been retconed and the games haven't been rebooted, because everything's been a conscious choice that makes sense in-world. And because at this point Thedas is its own, none of it has to adjust to what we expect of it.

From a technical standpoint it's simply not feasible to include every decision from past games, there's just too many, and frankly many don't change anything on the grand scale of things. I saw this happen with the Keep, many of the choices available for DAO and DA2 i couldn't even remember. Maybe they mattered then and there, and served their purpose with exposition, but clearly whatever my Warden decided to do with the werewolves in the Brecilian forest was never going to define the fate of the world. So devs have to decide which choices matter in the big picture, the biggest picture they can think of, and work from there.

Many were very upset certain decisions from previous games weren't affecting Veilguard like they imagined, and it wasn't just choices but lore as well. But lore in DA can be tricky for some; it's not presented by an omniscient narrator, quite the contrary, the lore in DA has always been presented by UNRELIABLE narrators, questionable and extremely biased sources like Orlesian scholars and Chantry sisters, or sources who are just as clueless about it all as the players, as random farmers, adventurers, common folk just leaving notes and letters behind, even gossiping. The lore in Thedas is presented in a similar way as our own history is: records are missing and maybe later rediscovered, some authors have an agenda, victors write history and the defeated and conquered are silenced and their version of events lost to oblivion, things go terribly misunderstood for ages and upon new findings hopefully they get corrected. There has even been quests exemplifying this, so the game itself is telling us repeatedly to question everything. We don't know Thedas as well as we like to think we do, and we've only participated in a couple of decades of its ninth age.

Disclaimer tho, this post is not an invitation to argue with me, to tell me how wrong i am and how much you disagree with me. I know these are controversial points a lot of people are very upset/annoyed/disappointed with, it's why i'm addressing them, i have read enough of that side and i'm simply providing an alternative and nope, i will not budge on any of this (: If you disagree just go on with your life, best of fortunes to you and have a nice day!

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

Who the Warden was and what choices they made as an individual don't matter much going forward, only that they stopped the Fifth Blight; that and that alone is their real contribution to thedosian history, when you really think about it, if you can put nostalgia on break for a bit. I love Hawke, i do, but they were just a lil' guy doing the best they could with the cards life dealt to them. Interesting things happened to them, not the other way around. And we can all agree the defining moment in DA2 was the fireworks, and that wasn't even Hawke, it was Anders. The Inquisitor is a bit more relevant, if only because of an extra unfortunate case of wrong time, wrong place. Again, fate just messes with people in Thedas in unforeseeable ways. What do you mean you found a blighted Magister Sidereal sacrificing Divine Justinia during the Conclave, and accidentally touched an acient elvhen artifact that marked you as the new key to the Fade itself and granted you power to close holes in the Veil from where demons come out??? Oh, y'know, just another Tuesday in Thedas. But that's where it gets more interesting, Inquisition is where certain players showed up, and with them came revelations. The Golden City is not so golden, the Maker is not sitting in a throne, at least one ancient Tevinter Magister is walking around blighted, the Evanuris weren't particuarly nice, some ancient elves still live, Flemeth is Mythal, and Solas is not just an apostate hobo mage who knows stuff because he "saw it in the Fade", but because he is the Dread Wolf, the one responsible for the Veil and how it reshaped the world.

That was a lot to take in, and it changed everything.

The Inquisition choice most people are upset about that didn't carry into Veilguard is who drank from the Well of Sorrows, because of the implications of whoever did being bound to the will of Mythal. The reason why that is inconsequential now is simple: Mythal is dead. There's no longer any will to be bound to! And you could counter saying Mythal has been dead for a long time, yes, but the fragment that survived through Flemeth was possibly her strongest, and she's gone too. Morrigan in Veilguard explains what she has of Mythal now is just her memories and knowledge; there's no will left, only a fragment here or there with no real power to exhert over anyone. We can see the consequences of drinking from the Well already in Inquisition, when we meet Flemeth through the Eluvian, and she either controls Morrigan or controls the Inquisitor to stop Morrigan. But once Flemeth is gone, that power is gone too. Therefore, as much as you might hate me for saying it, who drank from the Well of Sorrows doesn't matter anymore.

Another thing people are mad about is they don't get to see racism, slavery and oppression, which is...odd, that you'd want to see that so much not having it ruins the whole game for you. Personally i'm no fan of torture porn, and i can infer a lot from blood magic ritual sites littered with charred corpses and blood splatter decorating the walls. That's what we got and i don't need much more. Yes, we got see to Tevinter. Ok, not the whole of Tevinter, just Minrathous. Ok, not Minrathous per-se, but Dock Town. We can visit the poor area of Minrathous. Who's gonna have slaves when they're poor themselves? Oh yeah, Halos the guy that fries fish by the docks is gonna have an elven slave to mistreat in front of Rook just to remain truthful to the lore we got so far, sure. That sounds ridiculous to you? Good, it should. Seeing Dock Town is not retconing the awful bits of lore about Tevinter, it's adding to it. Minrathous is not the jewel of an empire, it's a big city and like all big cities it has its ugly side, it has slums too, it has areas where the poor live poor lives barely making it day by day, under the thumb of an elite that doesn't even know they exist nor would they care at all if they did. We may not get to see slaves being abused or people being racist towards elves but we can hear how common people keep disappearing, and later find out some Tevinter mage needed bodies for their rituals. We find so many bodies, such gruesome scenes...

Another complaint i've seen around is how who was chosen as Divine in Inquisition doesn't matter because apparently there's no Chantry in Veilguard and that goes against the lore, etc. In short, that's like complaining there's no Protestantism in the Vatican. The North is not under the Orlesian Chantry influence, Tevinter has its own version of the Chantry, their own Divine, their own expressions within the faith. Who was chosen as Divine south of the Waking Sea probably, most likely, doesn't even faze them. If there's a chantry to have any influence in the areas we visit in Veilguard, that would be the Tevinter one, but even so the North is a very particular region. We learned in previous games that magic is to be feared and therefore controlled, that dealing with spirits is unwise at best, and that the risk of possession leads inequivocably to abominations and must therefore be avoided at all costs, spirits are to be avoided, they can turn into demons, everything is demons! Bodies are cremated to prevent possession and anyone claiming to be talking with spirits is identified as an abomination. Yet in Rivain, which is not under the Chantry and has a history of cultural and religious diversity, seers can commune with spirits in a harmless way, and work together just fine. Meanwhile in Nevarra, there's a whole institution dedicated to the preservation of the dead, the communication with the decesased, spirits and demons, a whole branch of magical studies and applications revolving around diving into what Andrastianism warns against, and it's done in a very solemn manner and benevolent attitude. Tevinter's main difference with the South comes from a different interpretation of the Chant of Light, where if magic is to serve man, then those in power who are to serve the people should be mages, so they're ruled by a mage supremacy and their entire society is defined by it. It makes, in game, within the lore, perfect sense that we don't get overly religious andrastians crying for the Maker to deliver them from demons and possession and the evil of magic in a region where all that is everyday's bread and butter and people are generally cool with it or at the very least used to it. Harding talks a a bit about the Maker, Neve admits she can't keep up with the andrastian festivities, and i guess the only case for the Andrastianism we know would be Antiva, but let's face it, a kingdom ruled from behind the curtains by an order of assassins for hire isn't gonna be very adept to following religious tenets. (As a small note of colour, there is a Chantry building in Antiva, unaccessible as far as i know, and right across it through the canals there's a nug statue, one could say a golden nug statue but on its four legs, not like the one we had in DAI. I like to think that's Schmooples, and a hint that by default the Divine is Leliana but that's just me ok she's my Divine).

I also want to talk about "those across the sea". For people who got or learned of the secret hidden post-credits scene, it may have felt like that reveal automatically invalidated everything we ever did in every game so far so nothing really matters anymore, but that's not the case. The choice of words they use was deliberate by the devs, Epler said that much on Bluesky. These mysterious figures "balanced, guided, whispered". They did not "control" or "forced". They did basically no different than what Flemeth/Mythal had been doing, giving history a nudge when needed. They manipulated different actors throughout history, but didn't exactly force their hand. The Magisters decided to follow the whispers of their gods and try to break into the Fade because of their own greed for power. Loghain betrayed Cailan and the Wardens because of his own feelings, Bartrand fell to the power of the red lyrum and refused to listen to his own family. These beings, whatever they are, have influenced the stage setting it all up for their arrival, but ultimately it was people's choice, by their free will, what had the final say. Loghain could have respected his own King whom he had a duty to serve, Bartrand could have listened to Varric, everyone under their influence could have broken out of it if they wanted to do differently.. but they didn't.

Lastly, I've seen comments about how Veilguard is a "soft reboot" because of how it handles the events in the South, virtually erasing it so nothing from previous games mattered and now there's a "clean slate" to take the series to new places instead of ever returning to Ferelden. First off, nothing says we had to return to Ferelden at all. Guys we had THREE games in Ferelden already, let it rest. Secondly, the events from previous games do matter, they have all led to the events in Veilguard: Varric wouldn't have been at the right time and place to join the Inquisition if Hawke hadn't become the Champion of Kirkwall making himself a POI for Cassandra, nobody would have been at the Conclave if Anders hadn't set the fuse, and Anders wouldn't have had Justice and later Vengeance if Awakening hadn't happened. So Varric and Harding wouldn't have been chasing after Solas at all, nobody would even know he existed, without a long chain of previous events from all games and pieces of media in this series. It has all led to this moment, and for that it has all mattered. Ferelden and the South being destroyed is consistent with them experiencing two blights at once, with enhanced new darkspawn, with two blighted Evanuris on the loose. It's the end of the world! And this time there's no magic hand to save the day, the people in the south are just that, people. Trust the Inquisitor and their allies to do their absolute best to face the threat, that's all we can do. Life and history moves on. And just as the North, where most Blights took place, with the first one lasting a hundred years, survived and eventually thrived so can the South, they can eventually recover, heal, and real world limitations aside, it'd even be possible to be part of that effort. I can easily imagine a new protagonist taking the action back to the South, contributing to the efforts to recover after the double Blight, helping Ferelden and Orlais stand again. Not to mention, with how deep and rich Thedas is in its worldbuilding, if BW wanted to "reboot" they could just pick any place, any point in history, any faction, create new ones, and just go wild with it. What happens in the South in Veilguard is not necessary at all for a reboot, so it's there at the very least to show how desperate the situation is, how high the stakes are. I think the updates we get from the Inquisitor are there to really make us feel it, and as Rook try our best to solve things on our end because the sooner we kill the archdemons, the sooner we end Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain, the better the chances of the South to survive this calamity.

I could keep writing but this is long enough. I'm not done playing The Veilguard (on my 2nd and 3rd run!), and i keep taking oh so many notes, but i wanted to lay down my thoughts on these few points first. If you read this far thank you and i'm so sorry, it's annoying how i can pull a counter for everything, i know.

[quitefair]

Dragon Age Lore Breakdown: Gereon Alexius

Started working on my accursed DA fic again, and the research rabbit hole led me down the In Hushed Whispers path. And I found out a bunch of things about this dude that I realised I never knew before.

Anyway, ramble under the cut.

Before he became a Magister, Gereon Alexius was first and foremost, a researcher of magic. One that was trying to push the boundaries of what magic could do, particularly in the field of ‘traveling through and controlling both time and physical space’.

His research partner (and eventual wife) was Livia Arida, a researcher who focused specifically on the Veil.

Gereon’s father, Magister Alexius, was your typical Tevinter upper class dude – focused on power and bloodlines and image. House Alexius wished Gereon focused less on the theoretical and more on magic with practical uses.

Gereon's father thus gave up his post as Magister to his nerdy ass son in the hopes that he would become more invested in politics like he himself was.

Instead, Magister Gereon used his position to ‘became a tireless champion of education, criticizing his peers for pouring the Imperium's funds into the war with the Qunari at the expense of the Circle and demanding better schooling and institutions of higher learning for the Soporati.'

His codex entry is more telling of his backstory and character than anything he's displayed in game lmao.

He continued his research in a diminished capacity, and subsequently married his long-time sweetheart and research partner Livia Arida. He also took a position as professor of thaumaturgy at the Minrathous Circle.

[They use the word ‘thamaturgy’ here very liberally, and I’ve not seen this anywhere else in my Dragon Age research. We all know the DND connotations, but I would like to take the meaning of the term as ‘boundary breaking magical research’, since that’s what Gereon is known for. Like idk the Thedosian equivalent of fringe science.]

[[This also assumes a scientific hierarchy within the study of magic within Imperium society, which I doubt they will explore in DA4, but gods that would be so fucking fascinating.]]

Anyway, Gereon and Livia had a son, Felix. Despite both his parents being mages, and particularly gifted ones at that, Felix was a very weak mage, one that could only cast very simple spells and with great effort.

Gereon’s father saw Felix as a weak link, described him as ‘just barely more than a Soporati’. Because of this, he tried to have Felix assassinated. Typical Magister behaviour.

Livia, being absolutely… livid (yeah I went there lmao), intercepted the assassin, and in turn, fucking had Gereon’s father assassinated instead. This ensured Felix's safety and secured Gereon as head of House Alexius.

Anyway, if it wasn’t clear how much Livia and Gereon loved Felix, you should know by now. Since he couldn't learn much magic, they brought in tutors from all fields – history, art, music, literature, etc, ensuring that anything the boy could study was offered to him on a silver platter.

And although Felix wasn’t a powerful mage, he seemed to have inherited his parents’ analytical minds, and therefore was a gifted mathematician. Recognising this, his parents sent him to study at the University of Orlais.

In the meantime, both Gereon and Livia continued their boundary breaking research. At this point, they decided to take on assistants and apprentices, since they could not involve their son in their research.

While Livia took on ‘half dozen of the most promising young students of the Fade and the Veil throughout the Imperium’, Gereon chose only one apprentice.

You know who it was.

So they continued their research – with Gereon and Dorian focusing on breaking the boundaries of magic itself, while Livia and her apprentices sought to determine the effects of such magic on the Veil. Kind of like an unstoppable force vs immovable object situation.

[There's also what I can only assume is an artist's rendition of their notes in The World of Thedas 2, which is... well.]

[The description included: Careful study is paid to the eyes of the nug. Based on the drawings and a limited deciphering of the text, the author seems all but obsessed with understanding what animals see and how this might differ from our own perception of reality.]

[[Edit: apparently the images above aren't from Gereon's notes, but from a book called Grim Anatomy. Dissecting this book is a whole nother post so we'll leave it at that.]]

They were apparently super close to a breakthrough. But we can’t have nice things in Thedas, can’t we?

In 9:38 Dragon, Gereon and Livia travelled to Orlais to visit Felix. As the family travelled back to Minrathous (or Hossberg - Dragon Age is never consistent with the lore), they were attacked by hurlocks. For some reason, Gereon wasn’t with his wife and son when this happened.

Livia is killed and Felix is tainted.

Gereon is obviously filled with survivors guilt, the grief of losing his wife, and the fear of now losing his son to the taint. He stopped caring for anything other than his son’s health, and this affected his relationship with his research, and by extension, Dorian.

This led to an argument over how distant and strange Gereon was becoming, and eventually Dorian parted ways with Gereon.

In the gap between this and the events of Inquisition, Gereon is now part of the Venatori. It can be assumed that the reason he joined was because of promises made that the Elder One can save Felix from death.

[We can probably extrapolate that Gereon somehow understands that Corypheus is a darkspawn, and so that adds to the weight of his belief that Corypheus can cure Felix.]

It is this time and space bending research that is the foundation of In Hushed Whispers.

Once Gereon is defeated, you can judge him in Skyhold. If you decide to take him in as an agent, he can continue his research for the Inquisition. (Though canonically all it yields is this amulet. Which isn't even unique, you can get it in random loot drops anywhere. Sad.)

[felassan]

supposedly isolated from Orzammar for almost 1000 years, having to do some questionable things to survive and possibly in some way Tainted.. I wonder if Kal-Sharok has a sorta 'city in the BG-world Underdark' vibe? what do you think it looks like?

thinking again about the recent teaser, Speaker 1 is an Antivan Crow speaking as we view Antiva, and Speaker 3 is a Grey Warden speaking as we view the Anderfels. Speaker 2 speaks with reverence about the "Risen Gods" as we view Rivain, where dragons have become increasingly aggressive of late and been attacking ships. maybe Speaker 2 is a dragon cultist (something that isn't exactly the same as being an Old God cultist) speaking of reverence of their dragon 'gods', and the actions of a dragon cult are why dragons in this area have been becoming bolder? there have been dragon cults throughout Thedosian history. after the First Blight, many desperate Imperial citizens turned to the worship of actual dragons to replace the Old Gods (who had failed them). “A dragon, after all, was a god-figure that they could see: It was there, as real as the Archdemon itself.” there are also reports of dragon cults in places which never worshipped the Old Gods:

Members of a dragon cult live in the same lair as a High dragon, defending its young. In exchange the dragon lets them kill some of them and drink their blood, which confers benefits on them like increased strength (sounds like Reaver abilities, basically). Scholars aren’t sure how these mutually beneficial relationships begin. Nevarran dragon hunters reported mad rants and tales of godhood from such cultists.

it also reminds me a bit of Kolgrim's Disciples of Andraste Andrastian-offshoot dragon cult from DA:O. so perhaps Speaker 2 is a dragon cultist, and the problem Rivain has been having is dragon cultist activity and subsequent increase in/increase in the boldness of dragons?

if 9:52 is when DA:D is set, then it's been 10 years in universe since Corypheus' defeat in 9:42. if DA:D then releases in late 2024 then it's been 10 years irl since the release of DA:I. one might say that both we and the characters have been.. dragon ageing at the same time

something else the "the peace and comfort of my reeeiignnn" voice lowering into a draconic rumbly growl before a wolf howls in the distance reminds me of is Fen'Harel's draconic wolf/lupine dragon form, as shown in the Skyhold rotunda mural and described in Tevinter Nights. the speaker of that line isn't Solas ofc (wrong accent etc). neat imagery though. and the sfx or soundmixing of the dragon growl then the echoing howl is just rly cool to me 👌

[hyperions-light]

The Unified Thedosian History Theory

Okay, while I’m on my DA conspiracy theory shit, I thought I’d move this post over here from Pillowfort, where zero ppl saw it lmao

I will link it here, so you can see that it was posted before VG came out

I was right about some stuff, but I didn’t get the origin of the Blight or that the original elves were spirits— I do still think the blood magic ritual stuff could be very interesting!

Under the cut bc loooong lol

With the announcement of the fourth DA game (TEN YEARS after the third one) I have returned to only thinking about Dragon Age literally all the time. Idc if it's bad (although it seems promising to me), there is nothing that could stop me from playing this game. Going to put my Thedas history theory under the cut, pretty much just so that if I turn out to be right about any of it I can point and be like SEE?

Spoilers for: Dragon Age: Origins + DLC, Dragon Age Origins: Awakening, Dragon Age II + DLC, Dragon Age: Inquisition +DLC, Dragon Age: The Veilguard (as much as we know in August 2024), The World of Thedas Volumes I & II, Dragon Age: The Calling, Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights, Dragon Age: Absolution, The Dragon Age Tabletop game (yeah, really)

In-Universe Sources

Okay so I'll just overview which in-universe sources I'm going to use most.

1. Solas. He was there and even though he is The Lying Man he really hates lying lol (Very funny to play through the game when you know his secret and see how many things he says are Technically true). I think that anything he considers to be factual information (how things looked, what events generally happened, etc) and is NOT his opinion of stuff can be taken as mostly factual. Idk where it concerns Mythal, because he's obviously biased toward her.

2. Vir Dirthara, Elven temples. About as reliable as Solas, biased from an ancient elven perspective and vague bordering on incomprehensible in places.

3. The Chant of Light. I think that we can say that some version of most of the events depicted happened, especially since we have first-person corroboration on the Blight stuff from Corypheus, maddeningly vague though he may be. There are several examples from Inquisition and the WoT volumes of the Chantry deliberately changing or obfuscating things to serve their purposes, so everything from them is a bit suspect.

4. Dalish folklore. At least partially correct, although maybe told from a biased perspective where it concerns the Evanuris.

The Beginning of Modern Thedas

Okay so, pre-Veil in Thedas, the dwarves and elves are most likely the only races inhabiting the continent. There is Elvish lore in the Vir Dirthara suggesting that the Evanuris at some point subdued the Titans which were revealed in the Descent DLC. I think it's likely that the dwarves' own religion and the elvish word for them (children of the stone) point to them literally being creations of the stone titans in some way (maybe they are the same race? Valta refers to the Dwarven race "breaking in two", but could also be the separation of the Sha-Brytol from the other dwarves). Considering the apparent attitude of the Evanuris and the Elvhen empire at the time, it seems likely that they were subjugated by the Evanuris and probably used for magical works, considering their blood is Lyrium.

So the Evanuris go to war; Mythal is betrayed and killed (I think it was Elgar'nan, but we'll just put a pin in that), Solas takes offense to that and creates the Veil, trapping the Evanuris in the then-Golden City in the Fade, the astral form of Arlathan. The humans do not arrive in Thedas before this point; the Chant's explanation for this is obviously incorrect, given that we know Solas and not the Maker is responsible; given that this is the primary human explanation for the Veil, it seems reasonable to assume they weren't present for its creation, since they seem to think it's just a natural phenomenon. Creating the Veil is what causes the elves to lose their immortality and inherent magical skill. The humans arrive after this and begin to build what will become the Tevinter Imperium. These events occur in close enough proximity to one another that Elven lore eventually forgets the real reason they're no longer immortal and attributes it to the influence of humanity (or, at least, some elves do).

This is when worship of the Old Gods began. They are just the Evanuris, speaking via dreams to the humans. If you remove Mythal and Solas (who were not trapped behind the Veil) from the pantheon, there are an equal number of Old Gods and Evanuris. The Old Gods are also worshiped as dragons, who will eventually become the Archdemons; the Evanuris clearly have the ability to control dragons, which you can learn if you drink from the Well of Sorrows at the end of DA:I, but I think their control was probably more direct and sustained. (Also, controlling dragons is possible via blood magic, as shown in DA: Absolution, so it's probably just an incredibly difficult/powerful spell). They also have the ability to transform into dragons, as Flemythal demonstrates in DA2. I hypothesize that the Old God dragons are still able to be controlled by the Evanuris from the Fade, and they use them as their physical avatars, as well as appearing in draconic form in the Fade.

The Evanuris teach the Tevinter mages powerful magic and help them enslave the elves, which is essentially returning them to their status quo, except they obviously would prefer not to be trapped. This is when they start suggesting to the High Priests that they should walk into the Fade and open the gates to the Golden City. Breaching the Veil and opening the cage would hopefully let them out. So, the Magisters do this, they reach the City, they open the gates.

Now it gets really interesting, because this is where the Blight gets released ("And so is the Golden City blackened with each step you take in my hall"); I think that the Blight could be one of two things: 1) A failsafe for someone letting the Evanuris out, meant to weaken/contain them, 2) A curse created or used by the Evanuris to give them control over people. I think that second one is the key, personally, and I think that explains a lot of what's happening in Thedas that hasn't been explored yet.

THE Ritual

Essentially, I think the Grey Warden Joining Ritual, the Well of Sorrows ritual, the ritual we see performed in the Horror of Hormak and the process used to turn people into Darkspawn are all the same thing. Functionally, you introduce a magically imbued bodily(? idk what it is in Hormak) fluid into the host, and then they are connected to the originator of the spell, resulting in some kind of physical/mental transformation depending on what the intent of the creator is. (It's probably blood magic or blood magic adjacent, but at this point in the series I don't think it really matters).

For the GW Joining I think it is a very diluted version of it, because the whole thing is sort of passed down third hand to them (Dubiously canonical, but in the DA tabletop game they say the Wardens learned the ritual from Tevinter mages and elves) and they don't really know what exactly they're doing (which, IMO, is part of why Solas dislikes them so much). The originator of the spell, in this case, is the Archdemon/Evanuris, but it is diluted by the blood of normal Darkspawn and the blood transfer is so minimal that, if the ritual does not kill the recruit outright, it only connects them distantly to the Archdemon, and the progression of the curse is so slow that it doesn't fully take hold for ~30 yrs.

Compare to what we know about how the Darkspawn fully transform a person into one of them (not talking about someone getting tainted and becoming a ghoul like Tamlen/Wesley/That guy from DAA). The concrete example we know about is the Darkspawn turning the dwarves of Branka's house into Broodmothers. If you listen to Hespith's explanation of what happens... (please be careful if you follow the link— there is implied sexual assault) well it's extremely gross, but essentially they are forced to take into their bodies a large amount of bodily fluids secreted by the Darkspawn, which over time turns them into Darkspawn themselves. The Hormak ritual is performed similarly.

The Well of Sorrows is, I think, I gentler version of this same ritual. Sorrows implies tears as the fluid to me; the participant, in this case, must be willing, and it seems like the actual control that is given is, at least initially, pretty minimal. This is another thing that Solas objects to very strongly, and he won't tell you why. He doesn't even want Morrigan doing it, and he doesn't like her at all.

History Again

So, if that's the case, then returning to the Magisters: they breach the Golden City, which becomes Blighted, turning it black. They themselves are infected, and flung back into the material world-- this could either be purposeful on the part of the Evanuris, in order to spread the Taint, or it could be accidental. For my theory, it makes sense of them to do it purposefully; because these are the original victims of this ritual, they inherit some of the knowledge of the Evanuris, like we see with the Well of Sorrows. We see Corypheus performing the same trick as the Archdemons/Old Gods when he transfers bodies in the DA2 Legacy DLC. (Would be great to have confirmation of abilities via the Architect, but unfortunately we haven't seen him in a long time and everything he says is incredibly suspect/he may not even remember that he is a magister).

They spread the Blight. At this time I think they are probably either so disoriented they don't know what they're doing or just thralls of the Evanuris. Even when Corypheus is awakened in Legacy, he seems very confused about when/where he is. I think that in the present timeline, Corypheus and The Architect have simply become so old that they've effectively outlasted the taint (a thing that is possible to do, according to The Calling), to an extent, and gotten free will back.

Anyway, Blight spreads throughout Thedas, the Old God Dragons are corrupted, giving the Evanuris the ability to directly control the horde (put a pin in that, more Darkspawn discussion later). They rampage through Thedas, seemingly heading toward the heart of the Tevinter empire (pin that too).

The Grey Wardens are founded, the Wardens slay the Archdemon and the Blight ends. Skip forward a bit and move down the continent to everyone's favorite shithole, Fereldan (or, what will be Fereldan).

A native tribeswoman, Andraste (a powerful mage), bonds with a spirit, which is an established tradition in this area. This spirit is called the Maker by the Chant of Light, but it is actually a Justice/Vengeance spirit-- Mythal. Mythal helps Andraste lead a crusade of justice into the Imperium, allying with Mythal's people on the way.

Before the crusade is finished, Andraste is betrayed by her husband, Maferath, just as Mythal was betrayed by her husband. Her loyal elven retainer, Shartan, vanishes into the flames with her, just as Solas vanished after Mythal's death.

Okay, but why would Mythal do that, besides her natural inclination toward justice? Why would the Evanuris want to mind control the entire population of Thedas? What the fuck are the Darkspawn even doing, exactly?

Let's Get Very Speculative

I think it has to be about worship. I think that being worshiped gives the Evanuris power somehow, because why even start the Old God cult? Why would Mythal want to spread a story that is essentially hers in disguise all over Thedas? Why do we see the Darkspawn in DAO make shrines to something? The single thing, the only motivation that we KNOW these gods have is accumulating power. If being worshiped gives them power, then proliferating their religions makes sense, and it makes sense that the first thing Corypheus did after getting out of jail was start a cult.

But how does that work? My thought is that because things in the Fade are a reflection of reality, and because thoughts are able to shape the very fabric of things there, if people believe you are a god and you have infinite power, you do.

I think that, basically, what's going on when there's a Blight is that the Darkspawn spread the taint to the Archdemons, allowing the Evanuris to control them from the Fade; these Archdemons contain portions of their souls, either transferred via the Taint or placed there before the creation of the Veil. The Evanuris use the Archdemons to create a Blight, where they try to get to the center of the Tevinter Empire, not in order to reach Minrathous, but the Forest of Arlathan, which has to be 1) near there and 2) a site of magical power. We see in the Veilguard gameplay video that this is where Solas chooses to conduct the ritual and where the Veil can be breached. The Evanuris are clearly able to walk out of the Fade corporeally from this point, so I think that is the primary/ultimate goal of the Blights.

However, I think that when an Evanuris begins a Blight, they are expending their power and risking at least a portion of their life force. When the Archdemon is killed, it either kills or severely weakens the Evanuris whose Archdemon it was. This neatly explains the Old God Soul, which gets absorbed by Flemeth and then, presumably, Solas. I think the reason that we only see/fight Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan are because they are the only Evanuris remaining (besides Mythal and Solas, who are both fine I think), with the others either having been absorbed by them to increase their own power (very on-brand for them) or they are simply too weak to leave the Fade.

We have already seen the defeats of Dirthamen (Dumat), Sylaise (Toth), Andruil (Andoral), June (Urthemiel) and Falon'Din (Zazikel, although I don't feel like this connection is entirely solid; I mostly just think this because you COULD associate death and freedom, and the Kios constellation which represents him looks kind of like a guy with a staff and wings, symbols associated with him. Could swap Dirthamen and Falon'Din, potentially. Death-silence is maybe better, and Falon'din's role as a guide could be why he was the first to establish contact with the Tevinter magisters).

Unfortunately, there's not a ton of info available about Razikale or Lucasan, but Night can be easily associated with Elgar'nan, who is said to have wrestled the sun out of the sky, and I'm sure Ghilan'nain's weird fucked up experiments can be classed as mysterious.

THE END WHEW!

That was really long lol. Might make different posts about the titans and the forgotten ones and the void at some point. Work the Qunari in there somehow. This is basically just an attempt to unify all the disparate elements of the lore that we've been given into a cohesive history; a lot of this stuff is maybe not related at all, but it's very fun to speculate! Thanks for reading, if you made it all the way down here lol

Tumblr addition: happy to discuss with people, as long as everything stays chill!

[explodingchantry]

There is a clear delineation between the lore caused by dai, and I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it, to be quite honest. Because I DO, actually, like a lot of what dai did to the lore. Not all of it, but quite a lot. And veilguard is in direct conversation with dai - most of the big revelations in veilguard are directly linked to dai, foreshadowed in dai, and any link to ancient thedosian history we can make using this new lore... All of this ancient history is stuff revealed either in dai or in media created after dai such as world of thedas.

But some bits WERE foreshadowed before... Just very few of them lol. There's a bit in witch hunt where morrigan says flemeth is much more closely linked to the blight than we think which... 🤡

I want to look into it further. Idk, make a list, maybe. I've been trying to link events and lore together, catch foreshadowing, etc - but everytime I find something that links directly to the reveals from veilguard, it's always a piece of lore either from dai or from media after dai lol