#titans and kal sharok

[dreadfutures]

those big evanurisy strokes are definitely filled in and i am having a blast

desperately gotta get this fic finished before all my lore theories are proven true lmao

[thecrowroad]

I wish we spent more time with the Dwarves in Dragon Age.

There’s a near-unimaginable scale of loss, too big to look at, it seems - an entire continent-spanning civilisation, reduced to two cities. Millenia of history, erased, lost and unrecoverable. Even the reemergence of Kal Sharok is tinged and tainted with the echoes of betrayal and abandonment, the relationship too delicate and strained to celebrate. Do we even know who the Titans truly are, to the dwarves? Gods, creators, progenitors? A symbiotic relationship where one part is dead and gone?

The genocide of the Titans goes almost without mention. Elven gods butchered Titans and used their bodies to enter the world and build their empire, and we only mourn Elvhenan. Solas and Mythal severed the remaining Titans connection to the Fade, making them Tranquil. The severed dreams of the Titans mutated and became the Blight that the Evanuris weaponised for their own ends. That blight has been killing the dwarves slowly ever since. War with the darkspawn, the loss of the Deep Roads and the other thaigs is the visible loss, but there’s also a steady decline in population numbers as blight exposure reduces fertility. The dwarves are barely holding on by their teeth.

Dagna, writing to Harding, suggests that Isatunoll was once a sort of collective unconsciousness between Dwarves. Losing access to the Fade lost the Dwarves access to Isatunoll, and now Orzammar has erased mention of the Titans from the Memories, to help maintain and enforce the caste system. To survive, Dwarves seemingly have two choices - to continue the work started by the Evanuris and keep mining the blood and bodies of their Titans while fighting an unwinnable war against the Darkspawn, or abandon it all - their culture, their history, their tenuous and fragmentary connection to the Stone Song - and live safe on the surface as little more than short humans.

Isatunoll - I am/we are (still) here. There are so many juicy, challenging stories here. How could I not want to know more about them?

[casino-lights]

Lace Harding: hear the song of the stone, children of titans

the Kal-Sharok dwarves: oh wow thank you so much. that was incredible. we really feel connected to the eternal hymn

the game:

my very dwarven rook, who was directly next to them the entire time:

[nose235678]

Veilguard Spoilers (Harding)

So, I’ve decided I’m always gonna take Lucanis on Harding’s personal quest, because she says this little line:

“We will thrive, in spite of you.”

Which reminds me of the Hebrew proverb:

“Living well is the best revenge.”

And to me? In my mind? As my Rook and Lucanis both embrace her as she’s having this revelation and in saying that? It feels like Spite was there, too. Giving her the little nudge she needed to power through the bulwark of her grief, as Lace Harding. Not just a Child of the Stone. To live her life as a wholly free Dwarf that no longer requires the presence of the Titans in order to be “enough.”

To become her own person and truly be.

Because it’s hinted/shown in the art book that the Dwarves already existed when the Titans were walking around, but solely served as the caretakers of their giant bodies. Sort of swarming out of them like ants to clean up the hive after a storm.

So, maybe the sundering of the Titans granted them freedom? Free will, even if it came without dreams or magic? Certainly something to think about.

[baejax-the-great]

If the Blight is defeated, does this mean we can reclaim the Deep Roads now

[mabaris]

the thing I’m very interested to see is Harding’s relationship to other dwarves as her weird magic manifests.

she’s a surfacer; I feel like no matter what happens, Orzammar dwarves are going to point at her as an example, saying, “this is what happens when you lose your stone sense, you basically become a human, and this is why you should stay underground because we’re safe down here”

[watcher1ngellvar]

BIG VEILGUARD SPOILERS!

Been thinking about Hardings story, and the timing of what it means for her to find out about solas creating the blight, so...

Important thing to remember, before 'the heart of the titan' means after weisshaupt, but before the lead in quest to 'heart'.

[lavellane]

i dont like the idea of everything being linked to the fade or the elves and mages etc etc and i think ive said that several times atp. but yknow what i DO want linked to everything? the deep roads actually. and im being serious abt that

[chroniclesinlacuna]

I don't have the patience to edit it but that 'let me in' meme is me with the deep roads in veilguard. I want to go back. Let me back in dammit.

[gullamor]

Nothing Good Happens In The Deep Roads

Hi, I'm new here to Dragon Age Tumblr. Publicly, anyway. I lurk. Anyway, I've been playing Veilguard like many of us I imagine. For show and tell I have brought you the most paranoia-inducing segment of one of the companion quests and I like... haven't seen anyone mention it or talk about it so I would like to add it to the collective borg of screams. So, like, spoilers. Duh. You've been warned.

Still here? No turning back. Okay good. Welcome.

SO ANWAY. I'm on a second playthrough now, trying out new options and classes and things. I get around to that point where you start to get companion quests fired up and Lace's kicks in earlier than a lot of them to me at least. Ya go down to the Deep Roads where nothing good ever happens. And my first time through, visiting Kal-Sharok I distinctly remember it being... fine. Like there were darkspawn and stuff but that's just the deep roads and they cranked the gross factor on the darkspawn anyway, so... what gives? Where are my bad vibes and sad times now of going down in the deep roads where nothing good ever happens? Enter playthrough numero dos. I'm picking through Kal-Sharok, really getting up in there. Trying to find all the things I missed. I was standing at the precipice before delving down into the Deep Roads. And my eye snags on this fucking thing:

Now, y'all with color coordination skills may note that all the bad guys and evil shit down here is red-coded. In my brain, I was just thinking to myself. Huh... that looks like a Venatori crystal. ... I don't remember there being Venatori on Lace's quest. So naturally, I'm curious. I continue on, and try to get up closer to get a better angle.

Huh.. that doesn't look like a venatori smashy smashy crystal... that looks like a person... And then ALL AT ONCE I recall where her questline continues and how there's angry Red Lyrium Titan Lace by the end of her questline AND that Valta mentions 'something has found Lace' when we're talking to them and then we get jumped. There's no shot that's angry lyrium Lace... right..? So now like any sane person, I'm on my guard the entire rest of that quest. And I was fucking right to be BECAUSE SHE STALKS YOU THE ENTIRE TIME. I eventually remembered as I was playing you can zoom in with the photo mode they blessed us with and could see Lace. But they stalk you through the entire area until you get to the chamber where Valta is. I don't know if I caught them all, and I am too frightened to go back and find it so I dump all my findings here for the community to scream with me about.

tl;dr, and my thesis statement in all things with these games Nothing. Good. Happens. In the Deep Roads.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

kal sharok really feels like a place we were supposed to be able to return to as a permanent map. it has a dedicated eluvian (in an area of the crossroads that doesn’t have as many permanent eluvian as the others), you can wander WAY more of the houses/town, the npcs even have multiple ambient banters, and Harding DOESNT HAVE a “home” region or faction otherwise like the other companions, even related to the inquisition. i was shocked when after leaving it meant i couldn’t just go back whenever (and missed some exploring because of it). it really does feel like a late stage cut happened here and i wish i knew more of what was intended… maybe it would have let us address the titans or the fact that a whole LOST CITY is finally open to us. imagining the quest lines that could have been… maybe poor dwarf rooks could finally get some special content… rip

[shoutydwarf]

Veilguard spoilers

- juggernaut lore retcon for no reason. They were supposed to be golems.

- one singular line for a dwarf rook to confront the evanuris about what was done to the titans. That line is @ mythal, not solas, the one that created the dagger to commit the genocide with.

- white man casually commits genocide on said titans but the part he regrets about it is the blight that strikes back at him. not the inconceivable pain, death and horror he inflicted on an entire race to cause it.

- you cannot talk to him about it.

- dwarf!rook holds that dagger the entire game without once remarking on what it did to the dwarves.

- we went to kal sharok and still know nothing about it. All dwarf content is restricted to harding’s quests.

- you can establish that you believe in the maker or the elvhen stories, but not the stone. There is not a single line where a dwarf rook can express that they have dwarven faith.

- on the other singular time you can mention the titan genocide, it’s just one minor part of a list of reasons you still don’t trust him. To which weekes’ mouthpiece, morrigan in this case of all people, insists you should forgive him because he is very very sad about it.

- harding, the single dwarf mouthpiece, also insists on forgiving him and having compassion for him. This is AFTER I chose to have her honor the titans anger.

- this is all while every other villain in the game is 100% one dimensional and unforgivable.

- all dwarf dialogue options you get with harding are variations of “im not connected” “i dont know what you’re talking about” “i dont get it”

- not a single Ambassadoria mention.

- Orzammar is thrown away in a codex entry in which harding says they’re purposely suppressing the titan reveals in order to uphold the caste system. Because having corrupt society like every other nation in the world means they’re undeserving of the truth. Doesn’t matter that the king I and most people selected has been working to undo that system for 20 years now. It could have had to do with the fact that they’ve been selling their peoples blood to survive for the past thousands of years but yeah let’s strip away the nuance and paint Orzammar as the bad version of kal sharok.

- dwarves can apparently dream now except they can’t because rook tells harding they can’t except they’re contacting solas in their dreams every other night and it’s never elaborated on and they’re never particularly weirded out about it

- I counted 6~ special dialogue options in the entire game, the bulk of which happened in a single cutscene. I got more than that in act 1 alone for my elf.

I’ll write out more on why all of this specifically feels like shit later. But tldr: dwarves are pitted as the first victims of the evanuris, which you expect to be a big deal, and then it is Not. Combining this with an utter lack of ability to clock weekes’ mouthpiece characters when they’re trying to convince me to forgive the man that committed genocide on my people, because he’s so very very sad about it you see, the game’s entire thematic message is dogshit

[felassan]

DA:TV spoilers/long post under cut. This post is a continuation of [this post].

A note on the [former] Arishok's - potentially Stenishok's - current whereabouts and activities.

A nod to how Dalish clans can be quite different from each other in some ways. it's neat to hear an example of the way in which the specific details of one of the tales from Dalish lore differs from clan to clan. I would read an entire volume of World of Thedas's worth on this topic alone hh :D

Neve hears the swell of the Docktown sea when she's in the Lighthouse, the sound of the home she loves so dearly 🥺 Neve Gallus I love you

This Crow mask from concept art made it in! I wish this existed as a helmet for Rook, as it slaps ^^

same

I lost Harding in my story (second team leader), so this hurts so bad (which is to say, real good). (˚ಥ﹏ಥ)ง..

where Orzammar has Shapers of Memories, Kal-Sharok has Stewards of Memories.

Ostagar mabari bois reference 🥺 Ostagar here could feasibly have been descended from Dog, the HoF's mabari specifically. during the time of Awakening, Dog was said to have fathered a few litters of puppies.

'Ghilan'nain stamps her notes with a stylized halla head' continues.

Archive Spirits sound like Dragon Age's answer to VIs in Mass Effect, like Avina (versus the AIs). Only seven in the elven lore Bellara knows at the point in time of writing this Codex - did Mythal never feel the need to have an Archive Spirit, did the knowledge of Mythal's simply never come down through time, or did the remaining Evanuris only make Archive Spirits after Mythal had been struck down?

Stories such as ones about the elves in The Last Court 👁️..

for obvious reasons I just think the naming of "Elgar'nan's Pride" is curious...

Calling the moon and the sun to him like doves in this Codex was a neat bit of foreshadowing of the eclipse that happens at his hand during the endgame. quelling an unquiet earth - striking down the Titans and building the elven empire, like here.

Ghil has her halla head symbol to stamp, June has his own mark. I'm super curious to know what form June's takes. The single lyrium crystal split in two to 'join' the two June eluvians remains me a lot of Quantum Entanglement Communicators in Mass Effect hhh.. "When a pair of quantum-entangled particles is separated, a change to one particle will affect the other instantaneously, wherever it lies in the universe. QECs exploit this effect to transmit binary data any distance. Two pairs of entangled particles are necessary for transmission and reception." it's like that, but Dragon Age.

This reminded me of Codex: Raising the Sonallium.

1) In Thedas astronomy, some of the constellations are theorized or interpreted inworld as representing the Evanuris, like Solium and Elgar'nan, and Tenebrium and Falon'Din. Draconis is a very interesting one - there is speculation in the world that Draconis represented "an unknown eighth Old God stricken from historical record". As we now know, the Tevinter 'Old Gods' are linked to the Evanuris as their dragons/Archdemons. and here we have a possible mention of an 'eighth Evanuris' [on top of the 9 minus 2, Mythal and Fen'Harel] [[I know this codex doesn't say this being was one of them specifically, but for the sake of simplicity I'll just say it]] whose name has also mysteriously been struck out.. 👁️👁️ 2) Theory time. Falon'Din and Dirthamen were each soul fragments of what was originally the same spirit soul/being. Morrigan mentions them as being only one such case of this. the entity "The Healer" here is described as being linked to Sylaise. and in Dalish lore, Sylaise showed them how to heal, how to use herbs and magic for healing purposes. in Dalish lore the Vir Atish'an, the Way of Peace, involves learning Sylaise's wisdom, learning the arts of the healer and the mender. What if this 'eighth Evanuris' was the twin to Sylaise in the way Dirthamen was to Falon'Din? then maybe the healing stuff of 'Sylaise 2' "The Healer" came to be remembered as being associated with 'Sylaise 1' "The Surviving Sylaise" (since originally they were the same being after all, there could have been some shared traits or domains maybe)?

◕‿◕ This whole codex entry was super cool and felt kind of meta, it reminded me of how over the years in the fandom people have debated which one is which and tried to line the two sets up hh.

Beyond Thedas. (remembering the new stuff about the Devouring Storm from across the sea too)

These empty settlements made of crystal and obsidian.. that's suuuch a distinctive image and idea. there's something in that, but what?

maybe it's a volcanic land? interestingly volcanic soil can be very fertile, so in different parts of the same 'volanic land' you could feasibly have (especially in a fantasy world anyways, I'm just babbling for fun here, pls don't take the shit 'geology' etc in this post too seriously lol, ik it probably doesnt make actual real sense) areas of bare volcanic rock/glass next to or not far from areas of rich green lush vegetation growth growing from volcanic soil.. maybe the various sailor expeditions to Amaranth with their conflicting reports of it simply landed in different environs of the same 'volcanic place'? that could account for the differing accounts of what Amaranth is like.

There is this picture from the DA:TV artbook that the crystal and obsidian line really reminds me of -

Caption: "A version of the deserts of Nevarra. In this case, trying something with very high contrast: white ash and sharp black obsidian."

but this is apparently a depiction of Nevarra.

a volcanic land.. the Devouring Storm as a cloud of ash or pyroclastic flow? poison fruit, a poison cloud.. something something.. or the differing reports of the land could simply be separated by time instead of place, and something bad happened like an eruption? or could crystal and obsidian both be formed in the great heat of dragonfire? maybe there's dragons in the mix there somehow right, it's "Dragon Age" (there's always a dragon..) and the Qunari made the adaari using dragon blood to help see and fight "the ancient enemy".. something something.. I think there's more to the DS than simply a natural phenomena tho, as it's framed as an ancient enemy (or the tool of such) of the Qunari, something that was being fought, as having devouring anti-magic/magic-nullifying properties and being very cold [or at least that associated mysterious substance stuff is], but it's fun to think about :)

In The Calling, Duncan found a box in a Circle Tower which contained a strange-looking dagger made of obsidian, and there was something kinda weird about it. I read back some of the descriptions of it and something that struck me:

He handed Fiona’s staff to her and passed the black-bladed dagger to Duncan. The moment Duncan touched it, he felt a strange pulsing deep within the metal. It was cold and strangely . . . off. Yet it had never felt like this before. What could be happening to it?

here his dagger is cold and off. Compare DA:TV codex entry "Mystery Substance" (MS is connected to the DS): "It is cold, for one; ice forms on the vial's sides, even in the warmth of the afternoon sun."

and

“I was hoping!” Duncan raced as fast as he could, intending to stab the man before he could manage another spell. He leaped into the air, his dagger poised for the strike, but it was too late. Remille raised his other hand and a jet of dark shadow poured forth from it. It struck Duncan in the chest and propelled him backwards. He crashed to the ground well away from the mage, screaming in pain as the shadows spread over him like a blanket. It felt like a million ants crawling over his skin, each one biting and tearing away a piece of flesh. He flailed and swatted at the blackness with his free hand, but it was insubstantial. Like a ghost, his hand simply passed through it even though he could feel it consuming him. Desperate, he stabbed at the shadow with his dagger. Better to carve off his own flesh than be eaten whole by this magic. To his surprise, he didn’t stab himself. The moment the blade so much as touched the shadows, they recoiled from it. He began pressing the blade with frenzied haste against his body wherever the darkness touched him, and each time it retreated. Within moments he had escaped, backing against a wall and breathing rapidly. Terror raced through him as he stared at the inky black pool that lay just a foot from him, now sizzling. That could have been me, he thought. He was covered in sweat. The leather armor on his legs was torn up, the skin beneath it covered in slick blood, but he was whole. The dagger almost pulsated now. 

and here, magic spell-cast shadows recoil and retreat from the dagger, and it begins to pulsate. compare "Yet there is more to it than a simple chill. I cast several spells on the substance to ascertain its nature (once I removed it from Atrahel's possession; an easy task with one as dull as he) but the magic simply vanished as if consumed. When brought near any active magical ward, unless said ward had been cast with tremendous power, it sputtered and disappeared. A magic that devours all others would be a powerful weapon. If I could channel and master that energy". the MS also fills Atrahel with vim and vigor, where Duncan's dagger prevented him from being affected by the Calling and protected him from Blight corruption.. idk it could totally be nothing at all but it's interesting that some tales of a land across the sea recount obsidian structures, the DS is connected to across the sea stuff, the MS is connected to the DS, the MS is cold and anti-magic/consumes magic, and then you have Duncan's weird obsidian dagger which is cold and anti-magic. could totally be nothing, coincidence or bc [iirc] Duncan's dagger was enchanted and was made of the magic that the Architect taught Remille tho hh.. this post is word salad atp, not even a theory. 💀

This Memento describes that if the human nations call another Exalted March on the elves, Antiva/The Crows will not stand idly by while it happens this time.

Pertaining to the First Days of.. the First Elves...? as they walked for the first time on physical legs and breathed in air into lungs for the first time, maybe struggling to process / attune to their new form of being (flesh bodies rather than spirits)?

pertaining to the final days of Elvhenan? the Evanuris wronged the Titans before the formation of the Veil. the Titans' anger/severed dreams became the Blight, a growing thing that has been used as a weapon (e.g. Ghil) and can bring down gods, and it found frightened elves in their flesh bodies? 🤔

"Pillars" is cool phrasing for this set of Mementos because of the Titans as the Pillars of the Earth stuff :)

House Saelac (of Gorim Saelac fame) had a presence in or association with Kal-Sharok too, at one point.

I'm obsessed by the fact that for centuries Kal-Sharok sent spies out into the world above (and also to Orzammar too it sounds like?) to keep an eye on what was going on, and all that time the people they spoke to never knew from where they came.

Any connection to Codex Entry: Memories of a Duet? [ctrl-f "duet"]

The Fen'Harel art on this one says that this is to do with Solas. his failure in DA:I - the Orb of Fen'Harel lying broken into shards at the end after Corypheus was defeated, its power gone forever. misplaced trust, betrayal.. a whole new set of painful regrets start burning, added to the already large pyre.

Also Solas-related from its art. Sounds like one of his frescoes that he paints right? which god? the phrasing there could be interpreted as 'the god being painted' or 'the god doing the painting' both imo.

If the other two "Remnant" ones are Solas-related chances are this one is as well. a token or statuette of Mythal in dragon-aspect, well-handled by Solas ig q.q death is a parting and all that.

Garahel reference 🥺

[lesbiansforboromir]

Anyway um. The general narrative position of Orzammar in Veilguard makes me want to throw up blood <3

And like the argument can of course be made that it is being percieved through a very biased lense, Kal-Sharok has held this grudge for nearly a thousand years now and therefore obviously are going to percieve themselves as the more morally pure culture in comparison. And Lace is a surface dwarf who really knows nothing about Orzammar except for the discrimination she has encountered when interacting with it. Okay, sure, Dragon Age has always somewhat awkwardly attempted to be an entirely unreliable-lore tale, nothing can be taken without a grain of salt etc etc.

So I suppose my main grief and agony is more with the DECISION to make these people the only ones who get to say anything about Orzammar in this, the final reveal of the true crushing extent of the Dwarven tragedy!!!! I have spent literal decades within the understanding that Orzammar is living on borrowed time, like pretty much every codex entry written by a dwarf about themselves mentions the 'long struggle' that will eventually be lost, the darkspawn will someday claim Orzammar too and with nothing of the Deep Roads left to conquer they will finally surge to the surface and begin the endless blight. Orzammar was made the unwilling blockade for the surface against the darkspawn.

And now we find out?? That the thing that was going to be the death of them, that has been eating away at the dwarven people for millenia, the cause of a thousand thousand horrors and griefs and terrible choices and screams in the lonely dark- That was the very thing they were begging to protect them!!! Stone protect me, Stone keep me, Stone's blessings to you, she encircles us and we must protect her here where darkness meet's light- but they were not protecting her!! And she wants them all to be consumed by the tide of her righteous retribution, for forgetting her, for using her, for building their civilisation upon the wreckage of her and leaving her trapped and alone in a purgatory between life and death, between existence and absence, cut off from they who made her whole and yet they thrive and she is left behind.

But they didn't know! They don't remember! All the dwarves have been doing for generation upon generation is unconsciously trying to clumsily recreate that lost soulful feeling of being part of a cohesive whole, Solas literally calls them 'the severed arm of a once mighty hero, lying in a pool of blood' (biting him biting him biting him b-) but the point is they were also traumatised by the loss and have spent ages and ages just trying to figure out how to exist without like... THEIR CONTEXT!! Their dreams!! Like Dwarves ARE STILL part of the Titans, evidenced by the fact that when the Titans lost their dreams so did all the dwarves, even those born post the calamity, they just are disjointed, disassociated!!!

... But Orzammar is just a stupid, hidebound, oppressive, politically-putrified, 'immoral' city of people whose perspective on all this is ergo completely superfluous, uninteresting and unimportant. And Kal-Sharok (who are just sooo morally pure they're making all the GOOD choices and don't have any prejudice in them at all and their own tragedies only drove them towards good things so I guess it was good Orzammar cut them off after all???) Well they apparently already know most of it anyway and they're ready to move on and grow and learn and it's all just so neat and clean and no dwarf who venerates and loves the Stone has any catastrophic or ugly feelings about this whatsoever! Orzammar APPARENTLY doesn't even care so yaaay how cool wow that's so cool an entire culture just doesn't care about their religion and it's origin? They just don't care? Haha! They just don't care! They're probably even suppressing it for evil oppressive reasons, completely ignoring the fact that even the Casteless have a relationship to the stone, wow! That's so compelling haha! I hate it when societies have to actually struggle with something or when religion is important to people, booo imagine... imagine......

[kissingwookiees]

it is kind of annoying to me actually bc harding’s personal quest really feels like it has no pay off? especially if, you’re like me, and you get a specific ending with her…

‘red lyrium is usually blighted this is different it’s just lyrium that’s angry’ why… establish this and have them share no visual difference?? i don’t get it

[nadas-dirthalen]

Whoever writes the codices over at BioWare has my eternal thanks, because I'm out here misty-eyed about Kal-Sharok just reading these tiny little mementos. Weeping about Emmrich consoling Harding on the nature of spirits, souls, and the spirit-soul exchange across the Veil.

I still think that the next game (or the one after) is going to show us that a mass movement of spirits is what's going to fix the Titans, and I'm in mourning over it in advance, because this is a wound that's stayed open, barely allowed to scab, for millennia.

Thank you BioWare for making me mourn... the ground. The sky. Everything that ever was and ever will be. Thank you for wrapping that up in Paragon Metez.