#v; great things are beginning my dear ( vivienne

[ourdawncomes]

“Take care how you wield her. A spirit blade is more than a weapon, it is the shield which keeps you in the thick of a fight.” She swings at the straw target, sword passing harmlessly past it, but there is an unmistakable charge in the air. The surface of her skin hums with the protection of the Fade. “Every drop of blood you bleed from your enemy ought to bolster your defense. Otherwise you may as well use steel.”

♔ @kaaras-adaar | inquisitor

[messydatranscripts]

Recruiting Vivienne

Val Royeaux

Cassandra: I believe that messenger is trying to get our attention.

Messenger: You are the Herald of Andraste, are you not? I have an invitation for you.

Text of the message:

You are cordially invited to attend my salon held at the chateau of Duke Bastien de Ghislain.

Yours, Vivienne de Fer

First Enchanter of Montsimmard

Enchanter to the Imperial Court

The salon

Herald (not that one), as the Inquisitor enters: Lady Trevelyan of Ostwick, representing the Inquisition.

Orlesian Man: What a pleasure to meet you, my lady. Seeing the same faces at every event becomes so tiresome. So you must be a guest of Madame do Fer. Or are you here for Duke Bastien?

Orelsian Woman: Are you here on business?  I have heard the most curious tales of you. I cannot imagine half of them are true.

I: What have you heard about me?

OW: Some say that when the Veil opened, Andraste herself delivered you form the Fade.

I: I’ve heard very little about Duke Bastien.

OW: He hasn’t been seen much at court lately.

OM: His business with the Council of Heralds often takes him form home for long periods. It can’t be good for a man of his years.

OW: And of course, there’s the civil war. Bastien probably wishes to distance himself from the actions of his one-time son-in-law.

OM: Tearing up the Dales in a foolish bid for power? It will end in disgrace for Gaspard. Everyone knows it.

I: some of those storytellers may have gotten carried away.

OW: But only for the best effect. The Inquisition is a ripe subject for wild tales.

Marquis Alphonse, dramatically descending a staircase: The Inquisition? What a load of pig shit! Washed up sisters and crazed Seekers? No one can take them seriously. Everyone knows it’s just an excuse for a bunch of political outcasts to grab power.

I: The Inquisition is working to restore peace and order to Thedas.

MA: Here comes the outsider, restoring peace with an army! We know what your “Inquisition:” truly is. If you were a woman of honor, you’d step outside and answer the charges.

He starts to draw a sword sheathed at his back. Enter Vivienne via the same stairs he used as she freezes him to the spot.

Vivienne: My dear Marquis, how unkind of you to use such language in my house... to my guests. You know such rudeness is... intolerable.

MA: Madame Vivienne, I humbly beg your pardon!

V, circling him: You should. Whatever am I going to do with you, my dear?

V, turning to the Inquisitor: My lady, you’re the wounded party in this unfortunate affair. What would you have me do with this foolish, foolish man?

I: I think the marquis has seen the error of his ways.

V: By the grace of Andraste, you have your life, my dear. Do be more careful with it.

Vivienne unfreezes the marquis, who leaves.

V,, to the Inquisitor: I’m delighted you could attend this little gathering. I’ve so wanted to meet you.

The Inquisitor and Vivienne elsewhere, in front of an open window.

V: Allow me to introduce myself. I am Vivienne, First Enchanter of Montsimmard and Enchantress to the Imperial Court.

I: Is that marquis going to pose a problem?

V: His aunt is the viscomtess of Mont-de-Glace. Not a powerful family but well-respected... and very devout. Alphones will be disowned for this. It’s not the first time he’s brought his aunt disgrace, but I’m sure it’ll be the last. And after such a public humiliation, I expect he’ll run of to the Dales to join the empress’s war effort. Either to make a good end or to win back a modicum of self-respect.

I: Charmed, Lady Vivienne.

V: Ah, but I didn’t invite you to the chateau for pleasantries.

OR

I: Your salon has certainly exceeded my expectations so far.

V: I’m glad to keep you entertained, my dear.

V: I wanted to meet face to face. It is important to consider one’s connections carefully. With Divine Justinia dead, the Chantry is in shambles. Only the Inquisition might restore sanity and order to our frightened people. As the leader of the last loyal mages of Thedas, I fell it only right that I lend my assistance to your cause.

I: What exactly can you do for the Inquisition?

V: I am well versed in the politics of the Orlesian Empire. I know every member of the Imperial Court personally. I have all the resources remaining to the Circle at my disposal. And I am a of no small talent. Will that do?

I Does that mean you’d be aiding the Inquisition from the Imperial Palace?

V: Ordinarily I would be happy to serve as a liaison to the court, but these are not ordinary times. The Veil has been ripped apart, and there is a hole in the sky. It is now the duty of every mage to work toward sealing the Breach, and so I would join the Inquisition on the field of battle.

I: What’s in this for you?

V: The same thing anyone gets by fighting this chaos: The chance to meet my enemy, to decide my fate. I won’t wait quietly for destruction.

I: You say you led the last of the loyal mages. Loyal to whom?

V: To the people of Thedas, of course. We have not forgotten the commandment, as some have, that magic exists to serve man. I support any effort to restore such order.

I: So you’re in favor of returning mages to the Circle, then?

V: Where else can mages safely learn to master their talents? We need an institution to protect and nurture magic. Maker knows, magic will find neither on its own.

I: Are you devout? What’s your opinion of the Chantry?

V: I was a great admirer of the late Divine Justinia V. The Chantry, at its best, unites the disparate cultures of Thedas and looks after its most vulnerable. Had she lived, Justinia could have accomplished so much.

I: You are aware thatthe Chantry hasn’t sanctioned this Inquisition...

V: The Chantry is leaderless. They’re in no position to officially sanction anything. Besides, my dear, if there is one virtue the Chant of Light teaches us, it is forgiveness. Once the Inquisition has sealed the Breach, I’m sure the new Divine will not care in the slightest about official permission.

I: The Inquisition will be happy to have you, Lady Vivienne.

V: Great things are beginning, my dear. I can promise you that.

[ourdawncomes]

@skyheld​ asked: Which main quest affects Vivienne the most? In what way?

Madame de fer stands alone in the ballroom, watching the couples turn about the dancefloor from above. Her arms fold over her chest, expression an even mask more impressive than those her associates fix over their brow.

“Duke Bastien missing once again, I see,” a woman whispers nearby, addressing a man in a matching mask. Vivienne recognises her voice, but judges her of too little import to summon the memory of her name.

“I heard he is not well. Only a matter of time, it seems.”

“Poor dear. I know just the flowers to send Laurent.”

Her fingers tighten around her arms, manicured nails digging into the fabric of her uniform. She remembers her name, now: Louise d’Albret. Low nobility with little in the way of talent or fortune, and evidently too great a simpleton to know when to lower her voice. No great vengeance shall be acted upon them, Vivienne decides to herself. There is no cruelty in their gossip, only callousness, but she will find a way to make them pay for mourning Bastien before his time has come.

There are two potential answers for this depending on the lens you view it through. Vivienne is certainly heavily affected by the results of Champions of the Just / In Hushed Whispers, as it plays the largest role in the fate of the Circle and the Templars. She is either satisfied with the result or disappointed and frankly likely already seeking a way to establish a new Circle, even within the newly-allied mages.

Emotionally, however, I think Wicked Eyes & Wicked Hearts is hardest for her. Bastien’s absence is felt in every conversation and with each passing moment.

[ourdawncomes]

“Have you heard? Lady Mantillon has taken a new lover.” No doubt the casket makers of Val Royeaux will be thrilled by the news. “It seems just yesterday I was sending lilies for our dearly departed Etienne. To see her learn to love again is simply... heartwarming.”

♔ @fatefaulted​ | lady renard

[ourdawncomes]

@fadedancer​ asked: 2, 12 16

2. How did your character first hear of the Inquisition? What did they think?

It does not take long for word to reach Ghislain, and Vivienne specifically. At the time of the Breach opening she is in negotiations with nobility that she dismisses to turn her attention to it, and while it is possible the informants she had placed at the Conclave died in the blast I doubt it takes long for her to get wind of it.

She sees its potential long before her peers, tying her fortune to its before it has won any allies of note. This is, in part, because she shrewdly realised that it would play a hand in the political future of the south, but also because she realises there won’t be a world to influence if they do not do everything they can. She reaches out knowing they’re desperate, knowing they need allies, but confident that her gamble will pay off.

12. What does your character do during their off hours at Skyhold?

Vivienne writes a lot of letters while in Skyhold. She keeps a personal correspondence with Bastien, and when Bastien is too unwell to write then it is with the housekeeper. His family is also a frequent recipient of letters, and there are, of course, business letters.

She plays host to the nobility, especially Orlesian nobility, making them feel at home. This is most important in Inquisitions that she does not approve of, such as those with allied mages, as they’re also the ones where the nobles likely feel most ill at ease. This technically counts as work, I guess, but I wanted to mention it.

She commiserates with the mages, if recruited. We see in Redcliffe that not all mages wished to leave the Circle, and that by the time of Trespasser Vivienne has won enough support to reestablish the Circle under her rule. That support doesn’t come out of nowhere.

She likes to read, and takes full advantage of the Inquisition’s library, reading both fiction and non-fiction as it suits her. Vivienne is particularly fond of long-form poetry, although after Bastien’s death it takes her some time before she reads it again.

We see with her personal quest that she has a talent for brewing potions, and takes commissions. She’d still be doing these, hence why we find a note that leads us to think this is why she asked us to fetch us a heart, but she’d also experiment and tinker occasionally in Skyhold’s lower levels, trying to see what she can invent.

16. Which main quest affects them the most? In what way?

Answered!

[ourdawncomes]

Varric & Thora

Varric: You know, I keep feeling like I’ve seen your face before.

Thora: I was in Kirkwall a few years back, little before the qunari started kicking up shit. You might’ve seen me in the Hanged Man, wasn’t like there were many other places to be in Lowtown.

Varric: Shit, I knew it! Small world, but I’m a little insulted you never came to say hello.

Thora: We knew your brother’s reputation. It was no coincidence we showed up only after his, uh… disappearance. Tetrak and I figured it’d be better we keep our distance.

Varric: My brother and I’ve never had much in common.

Thora: You both had money, that was more than enough for us.

Thora: Mind if I ask a personal question?

Varric: Sure, why not?

Thora: Your family know what they did to get kicked Topside?

Varric: Oh, yeah. My father was caught fixing a Proving, before I was born, but, happened recently enough that we haven’t forgotten– even if the Memories have.

Thora: That’s a rough one.

Varric: Worked out for me alright.

Thora: For you, sure. I’m guessing it was more than just your father they exiled.

Varric: Everyone from him to the people who cleaned his bed pans, far as I know.

Thora: Yeah. That’s what I figured. Hope things shook out alright for them, too.

(in the Hissing Wastes)

Thora: It’s amazing what our people can build.

Varric: Not enough windows for my liking.

Thora: Maybe you should leave something in the suggestion box. I’m just saying, this stuff is impressive. Makes you wonder what else we used to do.

Varric: Sometimes you sound like Chuckles, with all that talk of what we were.

Thora: I’ll take that as a compliment.

Thora & Vivienne

(in Val Royeaux)

Thora: I– just saw a woman with a basket of fruit in her hair…

Vivienne: Did you? Perhaps we’ve stepped back in time yet again. That look went out of fashion months ago.

Thora: But if you all thought it looked good then, what’s different now?

Vivienne: Fashion is a living, breathing art. Wear the same thing too long and it grows stale and common, it’s only by moving forward we stay relevant.

Solas: (if present) A pity Orlesians don’t apply this logic to more than fashion.

(in Val Royeaux)

Vivienne: I passed by the most darling headscarf this morning. I took the liberty of buying it for you.

Thora: You didn’t have to– oh. It’s beautiful.

Vivienne: Isn’t it just? I noticed you seemed to be growing your hair out, these scarves are perfect when you come to that length where nothing seems to look good.

Thora: I’m guessing you know from personal experience?

Vivienne: Unfortunately.

[ourdawncomes]

♡ — my muse and yours // for viv and maxima?

Party Banter Meme | Not Accepting | @mercysought​

Vivienne: My dear, you are being rather selfish.Maxima: How do you mean?Vivienne: Why, look at you. You’re clearly hoarding the only fashion sense to be found in Tevinter.Maxima: (laughs) It’s true, I try to do right by my countrymen, but not everything can be taught.Vivienne: Just as I was beginning to believe there was hope for them.Dorian: I can hear the both of you.Vivienne: Oh, good. Then I shan’t have to say it twice.

(After the completion of Bring Me the Heart of Snow White)

Maxima: About Bastien...Vivienne: You needn’t trouble yourself, darling. I’m quite well.Maxima: That was never in doubt, but we don’t express our condolences because we must. He was a good man, and if there is anything I can do for you, please-- tell me.Vivienne: (pauses, voice a touched strained) Do you recall the Wintersend Ball of 9:34?Maxima: Of course. You and Duke Bastien must have danced for hours that night.Vivienne: It certainly didn’t feel like hours. At least, not to us.Maxima: Why do you ask?Vivienne: I was rather hoping for an encore. You remember his favourite song, do you not?Maxima: Of course. Nothing would please me more.

[ourdawncomes]

❛ I’ve never had any friends before. ❜ milva to vivienne!

The Last Unicorn | Not Accepting

“A charming young woman like yourself? I find that difficult to believe.” Honeyed words, but they are sincere enough. Certainly she had seen no reason to dislike her, her optimism regarding Vivienne’s rebel peers aside. They could not afford to allow such differences in opinion to drive them, not so long as their enemy remained.

A discerning eye notes a wrinkled collar, the ends bent at an angle unbefitting the Inquisition’s Herald. She still dresses like she’s no one, the sort of outfit designed for one’s eye to skim over in a crowd, were it not for the glow of the Fade in the palm of her hand she might be invisible. Vivienne reaches out, slow and deliberately, so as not to startle the girl. “You will make many more friends, in due time,” she says, pressing the collar between her thumb and index finger and sliding over the wrinkle. The cloth is left warm where she touches it, and, more importantly, smooth. “And enemies to match, but worry not– they have more to fear than we do.”

[ourdawncomes]

“The Inquisition grows by the day.” Beyond the quiet of the Chantry, the faithful gather to watch history unfold, with fortune-seekers snapping at their heels. The beast, it seems to her, has many heads-- four, to be precise, Seeker Pentaghast strikes her as the most practical of them. And the most likely to listen to her concerns. “Haven will soon be groaning beneath their weight. Have you given any thought to new headquarters? Somewhere that will be able to sustain our numbers, and defend them should this ‘Elder One’ come knocking at our door?”

♔ @pentaghasted | cassandra

[ourdawncomes]

🤓 Professor Kenric, for Vivienne

character thoughts meme | accepting

“An academic to the bone, that one. The University of Orlais has no shortage of second sons eager to make a name on paper that they cannot make in deed. Mere glory hounds with only a passing interest in what they study, most are poor substitutes for the scholarship found in Circle Towers. The same cannot be said for Professor Kenric, otherwise our paths would never have crossed. It was believed there were no more theses to be written regarding the first Inquisitor, after all. I wonder how many laughs he endured when he first mounted his research? I doubt they’re laughing, now.”

She finds Kenric to be a bit awkward and, at times, a bit boring. Vivienne has an interest in history, but it only goes so far. His theories on the actions, relationships, and origins of Inquisitor Ameridan were fascinating, but some of his more in-depth trivia she found a bit dry. He’s charming, in a bookish sort of way, and as she said above she thinks a lot of scholars at the university get in because of their titles and not merit. As the fourth son of a noble couple, Kenric’s background definitely gave him a leg-up, and was likely the reason he was able to pursue research that was considered to be a dead-end at the time. However, he definitely is passionate and she believes he deserves the credit he’ll get for his discoveries.

[ourdawncomes]

tag drop

#cracks in the vein ( crack )

#sulahn’nehn ( music )

#the dawn will come ( queue ) merrill tags

#the dalish pariah ( merrill | about )

#what’s in your mirror? ( merrill | visage ) #it’s a keeper’s job to remember ( merrill | ic )

#we have our own stories( merrill | headcanons )

#i haven’t exactly had any friends ( merrill | squad )

#merrill x bethany tag tba

#v; we fly on wings and wheels ( merrill | dalish )

#v; first in exile ( merrill | acts 1 & 2 )

#v; a new path ( merrill | act 3 )

#v; emma ghildirthalen ( merrill | inquisition )

#v; daisy chains ( merrill | modern )

vivienne tags

#sentimentality is not an option ( vivienne | about )

#the high priestess  ( vivienne | visage )

#i’m never truly out of my element ( vivienne | ic )

#a leash can be pulled from either end ( vivienne | headcanons )

#inquisition tag tba

#v; the jewel of the high court of orlais ( vivienne | circle )

#v; great things are beginning my dear ( vivienne | inquisition )

#v; magic exists to serve man & never to rule over him ( vivienne | divine )

# v; a leash can be pulled from either end ( vivienne | enchanter )  

[ourdawncomes]

♔ incomplete thread with @theshirallen​ - reposted from my archive

“I could not help but notice your technique in our last skirmish, my dear.” His spells are woven with more grace than his words, and there is something familiar in them. The way he wielded a staff was more polished than Solas, the end does not plant itself in the earth so firmly, nor so proudly, for that matter.

“I had’t realised the Dalish taught their mages how to wield their staves in such a way. It resembles the Circle’s more closely than I’d imagined.”

Her words are offered in the same tone as much of her speech, aimed somewhere over his head and landing in a way that sets the tips of his ears drooping. And her words are no better, offered with an implication that she’s always watching–and he cannot convince himself that she does so out of any kind of goodwill. She’s a proud Enchanter, after all. That truth crawls up his spine in an unpleasant, creeping way, and the seams between his fingers bite into his skin as his knuckles tighten at his staff.

“I know very little about how the Dalish teach their mages, Enchanter.” He keeps his eyes forward, and his teeth dig sharply into the inside of his cheek. “But if there is resemblance to the techniques of the Circles, I would…would feel safe in the assumption that it is the Circles who imitate.”

“Is that so?” A single brow raises, curious as it is skeptical. There is instruction in his magic, of that there is no question, his spells lack the chaos as Solas’s spells (though the gaps in his education were as clear as his vallaslin). “I would not think the Dalish the sort to share.” Nor the Circle the sort to mimic, for that matter.

But that is not what interests her about his response, and she hums with clear thought before she speaks again. “Which is why it surprises me to hear your unfamiliarity with their techniques, given you wear their markings.”

Ian forces a breath through his nose, willing the tension away from where it coils between his shoulders. At his staff, his fingers loosen one at a time, dancing along the unpolished surface until the aching in his gloves relents.

“Perhaps…” He speaks slowly, softly, as though he’s talking more to himself than to the Enchanter. “Perhaps the Dalish would be more inclined to share, were they not so frequently the victims of theft.”

His eyes travel to their corners, hardly glancing at her before he looks sharply away. “I wear the Vallaslin because the Keeper of my mother’s clan felt it was unjust to hold a child responsible for–for the wrongs of the Chantry.”

Teeth work roughly at the inside of his lower lip, and he tightens his grip against his staff again. “I rec–rec–” He stops, takes a moment. Breathes. Tries again. “The Keeper only had–I received only the most basic of lessons, from the Dalish. If you see the influence of Circles in my spellwork…”

His dissent is slow, as though each word must be plucked from his throat. She’s not unaccustomed to the sound of stuttering, over the years she has heard it dozens of times, often in apprentices overly eager to please. Time cured them of the impediment, but Ian, it seems, has not yet outgrown it.

“Then it is the Circle’s work,” she concludes in his stead. “What a curiosity you are, not quite one or the other. Let me guess: you were taught at Kinloch Hold? I would recognise Irving’s instruction anywhere, he always has had a fondness of glyphs, I have not met a mage from Ferelden’s Circle who does not use a style reminiscent of his at the very least.”

Warmth floods his face as something sharp and uncomfortable pinches in his gut as he agrees.

“No. Not quite one or the other.” Ian can’t bring himself to look at her, not even from the corner of his eyes. He watches the way the toes of his boots stir little clouds of dust, the way that dust clings to the dampness at his hems.

Still, despite the truth in her statement, he doesn’t quite concede to the concept that he was educated by Irving, or any of the Enchanters of Kinloch Hold. There had been lessons there to learn, but not, he thinks, the sort that Lady Vivienne means.

His movements are deliberate, slow and careful as he slips his staff into the harness at his shoulders, freeing his fingers to tug and fidget at his sleeves.

“I’m certain that Enchanter Irving would–he would be gratified to hear that.” Or horrified. Ian’s not certain that Irving would enjoy being recognized in the wild elf’s haphazard casting and improvised, stumbling glyphs, but then…he isn’t very much enjoying that Irving had been recognized, either.

“As grateful as he ever is, one assumes. He has always been the dour sort, it never surprised me that he and Knight-Commander Greagoir got along so swimmingly.”

While Ian fidgets, she examines her own nails, still pristine after their last fight. She does not miss the discomfort in his face, how fast his face darkens to a deep red at the mere suggestion of Circle wisdom.

“You ran away years ago, I presume. It did not seem as though you were one of the rebel mages, merely among them.”