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heniareth · 3 years ago

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I was really curious about what your opinions on the DAO companions are :) I know we have talked about some, but I'd love to hear more and about the others as well :D I hope it's ok to pose this as an ask :)

Sure! That sounds like a ton of fun. This might be a long one tho. Mind you, this is not the finished version of the answer. I'd like to link stuff and add a cut, but rn that's not possible. I'll update it when I can.

Edit: I have updated it ^^

Let's go alphabetically bc why not.

Alistair:

Sweet guy. So sweet. There was a moment when I was hard pressed chosing between him and Zevran (alas, Zevran won). Also, he's weirdly tall according to the wiki? How did I not notice that before?

Let's get a bit more serious now, Alistair is a great guy. The only reason he's not the hero of the story is because he doesn't want to. He has all the qualities of a leader: he's good at dealing with conflict (as evident with the conversation with the mage at the beginning. He gets where he wants to get without antagonizing the mage, but without allowing him to trample all over him). He's a solid tactitian and knows how to make allies (he suggests to use the Grey Warden treaties, after all). I bet if he was in the leadership position, he'd even not bicker with Morrigan. His moral code is pretty tight; some might say too tight, but I think it's less about the moral code and more about learning to judge people by their actions, not by the labels they fit into (Morrigan is a proud apostate and therefore bad. Wynne is a humble circle mage and therefore good). He also has a bit of a black-and-white way of seeing the world. I empathize a lot with Alistair, especially with his experience with the Chantry and his subsequent reluctance to deal with it. I really wish I had gotten to know more about concrete experiences he had during his training as templar, but he seems reluctant to talk about it (gee, I wonder why).

Since I've only played the game once, I haven't really picked up on Arl Eamon's abuse towards him, which apparently exists (Isolde, however... I mean, even if he were Eamon's illegitimate son, he's a kid, ma'am, he didn't exactly get to chose his parents. So that's so not okay). Alistair's way of speaking about them both, however, is either sign that he has not come within a hundred miles of acknowledging how much it hurt him, or that he's already gone through the whole process and has decided to forgive them. The latter shows a very strong character; yes, he relies on the approval and leadership of others, he has his issues, but he's already started working on them.

That being said, irl Alistair would be like a little brother to me. I'd tease him relentlessly (all in good fun and I promise to stop if it makes him uncomfortable, but he's just so teasable). I still wish the videogame gave him the chance to take important decisions for himself. But that, of course, would somewhat defeat the point of the game.

Leliana:

Another sweet, sweet person. Her singing voice is amazing. Her belief in the Maker inspires me (I'm a religious person and seeing religious characters represented in a positive light is Very Cool. It's also sometimes a source of discomfort, because the Church has done a lot of very messed up stuff and positive representation can sometimes veer into apologetics for things that should not be excused, but that's a whole other can of worms. The bottom line is that religious characters sometimes work for me and other times don't and Leliana works for me very much bc she's an outsider inside the Chantry).

Leliana is best friend material, tbh. I'd love to get to know her irl, discuss theology and philosophy and maybe even politics? She makes mistakes and has prejudices, but, tbh, so do I. And I do get the feeling that she tries her best to learn. From the times she intervenes in a conversation between the Warden and an NPC, she shows herself to be compassionate and open to the needs of others. What I get from her character is that she genuinely wants to help, which is something that I adore of her. I suspect that she sometimes has a hard time deciding wether she's a good person or not. She has killed and seduced and worked for a morally dubious person, and she doesn't show the same nonchalance about it as Zevran (though they both do discuss their line of work in very... professional terms). This is, however, more of a headcanon than actual factual canon.

I also very much enjoy her girly side, like her interest in shoes and dresses. She's one badass woman who also looses her cool about the latest fashions in Val Royeaux. I like that. Between her and Alistair, a non human noble Warden has as good a help to navigate the Fereldan court as they're going to get. Leliana is also, I can't forget that, clever and insightful. It'd be easy to write her off as the innocent chantry girl, but she's so much more than that. Her kindness is paired with foresight, I think. She knows that taking on the trouble to help now can go a long way in the future. I just have a lot of respect for her.

Loghain:

This one's gonna be short bc I didn't recruit him. He's an amazing villain and would probably be a great Warden as well. He reminds me of Denerhor from LOTR; once a hero/stewart of his people, ambition and desperation have driven them both down a terrible path. I have also only little idea about his past. People say he lost a lot, and I believe it wholeheartedly; it doesn't excuse the fact that he plunged the country into a civil war in the middle of a Blight. I don't have a lot of sympathy for short-sighted politicians. I wish he hadn't made himself regent. That's what I take away from his character.

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention that really impressed me was his death. I had Alistair duel him (that was a rough duel), and then it kinda just jumped to a cutscene of my Warden nodding and Alistair executing him. That didn't sit well with me. I didn't want to kill Loghain, and less so in front of Anora. But what impressed me was that Loghain just accepted it. That takes a whole lot of guts. Compare that to Howe's death, and how he screams out that he deserved (more, probably, or anything but death) and it's crystal clear who the more noble of the two is. Loghain strikes me as very lawful neutral, and any neutral alignment has the particularity that it can be dragged towards good or bad, sometimes without the characters noticing it (which is interesting from a DnD perspective; neutral is often concieved of as just as stable as good or evil, but that may not be true. But that's a different post). Anyway, Loghain's death was impactful.

Morrigan:

I could kick myself for not maxing out her approval in the first play-through. I got to enjoy a bit of her friendship by the end of it and boy was even that little bit worth it. Friendship with Morrigan is something that is hard-won. It's all the more precious because of that.

Morrigan is full of paradoxes, I think. She's incredibly wise in some ways, yet also very short-sighted (”just kill them, don't solve their problems”. Morrigan, dear, I'm not going to gain a lot of allies if I kill everybody who poses a problem to me). She is so intelligent, but emotionally... not so. She knows so much about some things, and very little about the next. She's incredibly wilful and knows what she wants, but follows Flemeth's orders all the time through. She hungers for power and independence, yet craves closeness, but won't allow herself to have it. She asks you to prove yourself to her and is extremely critical of your actions, I think, because she's afraid. She bites the hand that feeds her because it might hit her next.

Like with Eamon, I haven't managed to catch the undercurrent of abuse that seems to permeate Flemeth's relationship with Morrigan. Except there are signs, because there must be something Morrigan is scared of and who has instilled all that rage in her, and that's Flemeth. Also, she clearly hates/does not care about her and wants her dead (unless killing Flemeth was part of Flemeth's plan as well? Hm.)

Morrigan is that one person who you are nice to, continuously, because nobody else is. And suddenly she becomes less cold. And then friendly. And suddenly you're asking yourself why everybody hates her, because she's a really good friend! I just wish the other companions came to a similar conclusion, especially Alistair and Wynne.

Oghren:

They did this man dirty. He has such great lines and I'm convinced he was a great person before Branka disappeared. He has that dwarven warrior spirit, and while he looks like Gimli, some of his most impactful lines remind me of Dwalin or even Thorin Oakenshield himself. He could be so noble had he gotten some character development, damnit!

Oghren as he is written is somewhat disgusting. I hate the lechering comments and the drunkenness. And still, I don't hate him because of those amazing lines he has when he's actually sober. It's frustrating and I'll give him that character development myself if the game won't. I strongly associate the song Whiskey Lullaby with him, bc that's how he would have ended up if the Warden hadn't taken him along (warning: the song talks about suicide and alcoholism). Like I said, they could have done such cool things with his character. As he is written now... it's just sad. Moments of lucidity drowned in alcohol and creepy jokes. As you can see, I don't blame the character for either. The alcoholism happens all too often irl. The creepy jokes... I put that one on the writers' tab.

I actually think Oghren could have been a great mentor figure (I know, I shock myself as well sometimes). Next to the Grey Wardens, the ones who know most about fighting darkspawn are the dwarves because they have to deal with them constantly. Especially a warrior caste dwarf like Oghren could have brought a lot of that invaluable knowledge to the team, especially since there are no Grey Wardens in Ferelden but two extremely green recruits. Next, you get the chance to give Oghren the command of the teammates you leave behind in the battle of Denerim with the reason that he has lead men into battle before. Where did that suddenly come from? Oghren should have been right up there telling my Warden that they were doing this wrong, that they needed more food (and booze) and a confident leader to keep the armies they've called together going. Oghren should have been able to tell my civilian city elf who got recruited into the Grey Wardens a six months ago how one leads an army. How one presents oneself to inspire confidence, how one doesn't crack under the pressure, how one gets the leaders of said armies (some who hate each others guts i.e. Dalish elves and humans) to work together. And, last but not least, Oghren could have had a great story about grief. This is a man who has lost most of what made him (and what he hasn't lost he's spilling down the drain with every mug of ale). This is a man who, if you take him into the Deep Roads, has to see what his wife did to his family, how his wife got absolutely obsessed, and can be forced to kill said wife or watch her die. All Wardens loose their home and families at the start of the story. It would really have rounded the whole narrative out if the Warden and Oghren could have recognised their grief in each other and hashed it out somehow. Such as it is, Oghren is a depressed drunkard and there is nothing we can do about that. I find that frustrating.

Rascal (a.k.a. Dog):

Best boy. 100/10. I wish we had gotten to see the reaction of the different origins to the mabari (because elves probably have a whole different experience with them from mages or humans. And dwarves just... I think they straight up have none? XD). Other than that, no complaints. The name Rascal was the one I gave my dog because you have to be a right rascal to survive what he did and play the pranks he plays. Smartest breed in the world indeed.

Shale:

Shale is one of those characters that I recruited rather late in the game, so I haven't had the chance to explore their personality and worldview, really. I didn't even get to take them to the Deep Roads (this will be ammended in playthrough nr. 2). As such, I don't have particularly strong opinions on them (or her? The wiki refers to Shale as 'it', but that sounds weird). But, because I know so little about Shale, I have a lot of questions. First, what were they like before they were a golem? Shayle, as she was called then, was the best warrior of her time if I remember correctly. Why did she become a golem? Was it to be able to eternally protect her people? Was the sarcasm the golem Shale exhibits also part of the dwarven warrior Shayle or did that come later (if for thirty years you have nobody to talk to but yourself, you better be entertaining. And I can imagine how it could make somebody terribly jaded as well).

Next, how attached is Shale to their golem form, exactly? According to the banter, they infinitely prefer it to a squishy fleshy form. If that is the case, however, why go to Tevinter to try and become a squishy dwarf again? It's not like that process could be reversed if they wanted to become a golem again; if Shale survives to the end of the game, the Anvil of the Void is destroyed and Caridin is dead. Was the whole spiel about their indestructible form a façade? It might have been, but not because Shale actually disliked their form. I think it would have more to do with the loss of their memories and with the very invasive experiments and alterations of Shale's body made by the mage Wilhelm. The loss of memories means that Shale is unable to remember life as a fleshy creature. They might be deflecting by pretending that they didn't care for that experience anyway because of the superiority of their golem form. The modifications made to their form by Wilhelm would have alienated them from their body. In light of this, it's significant that Shale asks the Warden to decorate their form with crystals.

All of this is, of course, pure speculation. I may have easily missed or forgotten details that would disprove the above thoughts. All in all, I like Shale and I hope we meet them again in DA4 (given that it's mostly set in Tevinter). It's a liking from a respectful distance, because Shale is tall and made out of rock and also way more experienced than I will ever be (they are literally the oldest member of the Warden's little Blight fighting squad).

Sten:

Sten is another person I'd keep a respectful distance from physically. That seems to be the what he would prefer, at least. I've enjoyed his character a lot, especially because he seems pretty clear-cut at first, but slowly lets the nuance of his person show (gruff and stoic, but then he has an eye for art, a sweet tooth and he likes cute animals). It's also very interesting that there's no moment when you learn "the truth" about him the way you do with Zevran or Leliana. There's no big reveal about his life under the Qun before coming to Ferelden. He says he was sent to monitor the Blight, but honestly? If neither Ferelden nor Orlais knew there was a Blight, how could the Qunari know? I think he's lying, and he takes his secrets back with him when he leaves Ferelden. And yet I think I know him enough to say that a Warden who has become friends with him has nothing to fear from Sten.

One thing I find very interesting about Sten is how he thinks. His conversation about how women can't be soldiers has been analysed a lot on this page I think. He seems to be arguing based on a different paradigma than the one the Warden has. He also seems to have a very clear-cut view of the world. What is fascinating to me is that, when arguing with the Warden and learning about their culture, he is not necessarily becoming more lax about his worldview. I think it's more likely that he is expanding his paradigma, the structure of thought through which he understands the world. I don't think that he is now convinced that women can be warriors as well. I think he rather understands that, in Ferelden, the relationship between occupation and gender is different than under the Qun. Which of the two he thinks is more right or more agreeable, I have no idea. I'm also not very interested in that. But I find it fascinating how he always seems to be looking on quietly, gathering data, classifying it and trying to fit it into his understanding of how the world works. I wouldn't be surprised at all if his original party was a scouting party to see how vulnerable Ferelden was at that moment to outside forces. One thing I don't understand with all of this is why he urges the Warden to meet the Blight head on. No smart soldier would suggest that, except if they are foolishly proud (and Sten doesn't seem like that kind of guy tbh). I get that the Warden takes way longer to gather allies than expected because they first have to solve all of their allies' problems. But surely Sten sees the need to have allies? Is he just that impatient? Does he have a death wish (à la, I lost my sword and am without honour, better to die sooner than later and in glorious battle)? Was he his group's previous commander and is he now having trouble following somebody else's orders? Or maybe it's his way to make sure the Warden knows what they are doing? To push them into becoming the self-assured commander their allies will need once they're all gathered? I really don't know. I like the last option best, however.

For me, Sten is my fellow, more experienced soldier. Like Alistair, he can potentially be the Warden's brother in arms, but he's definitely the older brother here. He probably doesn't take kindly to tearful confessions of how hard everything is, but I feel like he's otherwise a solid rock to lean on. I feel like the Warden can trust him to do what is necessary and count on him no matter what, especially after they get his sword back. His devotion from that point on is honestly so powerful.

Wynne:

Wynne was such a support for my Warden (except with the whole conversation about love vs. duty and that she may have to choose between Zevran and ending the Blight and that she should therefore break up with him. Wynne had a point. Astala was so not willing to sacrifice her relationship with Zevran. But the whole conversation came at a point where she was already so disillusioned that she blew up in Wynne's face (”can i please just have one (1) nice thing????”)). But all in all, Wynne is great.

She has a lot of flaws. She was very marked by her life in the Cricle and, for all her age, she has little experience living outside of it. She is also a conformist despite her strong moral core. In a way, her ability to find peace with her lot in life impresses me deeply because it speaks to a lot of strength of character. Sadly, however, strength can be ill applied and used to suppress. I think she has convinced herself that the Chantry is right under (almost) all circumstances to be able to rationalize the life that mages live. She's had her son taken away from her as a baby and an apprentice killed. Her reaction seems to have been to convince herself that this was right, or for the greater good (and now I'm thinking about the Guardian's question at the temple of Andraste's Ashes; are you wise or do you just repeat what others have told you? The answer is not as clear-cut as it might be). This is why she is so irritated by Zevran and Morrigan. By aligning herself with the Chantry, she is, in her eyes, good. Zevran and Morrigan are not; they do not conform to Chantry morality and they defend themselves tooth and nails against somebody who would try and convert them. This is something Wynne never allowed herself to do; she always did the "right" thing and it has cost her so much. I'm not saying she was right (it would probably have done her some good to rebel from time to time, and to trust her own gut instinct more), but in light of this, it hardly surprises me that she's so judgamental. She has to be, or she would be forced to confront all the evil she has not fought against all those years and all the hurt that has been caused to her by the very institution she protects (and thank God she only tries to argue and can appreciate it when people have found a good life outside of her comfort zone. If she tried to convince by force or, for example, drag her former apprentice back to the Circle... boy oh boy that would get ugly). If you think about it, Wynne really is a good example for what happens if you live by a philosophy of always choosing the lesser evil.

Something that I keep forgetting over her grandmotherly and dignified character is how damn powerful she is. She has escaped the carnage at Ostagar; HOW!? She protected those mage apprentices in the Circle tower for God knows how long. In the battle of Denerim, she wades through an army and comes out alive on the other side. The wiki lists her age at 40, I think, but that doesn't make a lick of sense unless 75 years of age are the Fereldan equivalent to 100. This lady, about whom people make grandmother jokes, did all that. It's impressive.

Zevran:

You know, I would really love to know what Wynne thinks about the events at Kirkwall in DA2. It might be a disaster for her, or it might pave the way for one last bit of character development. She certainly didn't want to return to the Circle after fighting the Blight. That may be an indicator of some change in her stance on the Circle of Magi.

Edit: I forgot that she is what the Circle considers a literal abomination! Holy cow, how could I forget that?? Anyway, her conversation about what being an abomination means is so... heartbreaking, actually. It's so tentative. So careful. "Am I an abomination? Am I the same thing that has killed my students? The same thing as Uldred? Am I lost and damned? Did I invite this spirit in? Is this my fault?" Like wow, Wynne is going through something huge right there. I love it. I have to continue playing the game to see what it ends up as, but it's fascinating and such a huge thing that she allows the Warden in on that.

Ah, Zevran, my beloved (he has stolen my heart so much it's not even funny anymore). He's funny, he's charming, he's so so loyal and it breaks my heart. Zevran is the one about whom I've read most meta: these three wonderful posts for instance, as well as this one about his possible lack of scars, and this one about his lack of freedom. All of these have influenced my opinion of him and they are great reads.

I have talked about Zevran with you before, so I'll just skip to the new stuff. I have come to conclusion that Zevran is an artist at heart. This is totally not biased by the fact that I also do art, but hear me out. One of his preferred gifts are bars of silver and gold. While those have the obvious utility of basically functioning as money (they can be sold to any silversmith or goldsmith and their value is pretty stable through time and in different countries), there's also this from his codex: "Zevran shows an affinity for the finer things in life—hardly surprising for an Antivan Crow—but his appreciation can be more poetic than he lets on. A simple bar of refined silver or gold, uncomplicated by a craftsman's hammer, is elegantly valuable." Tell me that is not an artist's eye that sees that gold and sees the beauty in it. Then, there's also the meta about Zevran the Seducer which I linked above and link here again. It talks specifically about how he lets himself enjoy the target and be seen in his enjoyment. Tell me that is not an artist's eye that beholds the beauty of something he is set out to destroy. Even his talk about his assassinations show this. He talks about it as an art, the way somebody would talk about the brutal intervention in stone that produces a sculpture. Yes, it's a rationalization of the act of killing and yes killing is still wrong. But he doesn't go on about it on a moral tangent the way Alistair or Wynne would (”this person was bad, killing them was necessary”) or even through the argument of survival like Morrigan would (”it was either them or me and it sure as Hell wasn't going to be me”). He talks about the pleasure of a job well done, of the satisfaction of striking the precise point and executing a plan to the perfection so as to minimize chances of discovery and to make a clean death possible. And pleasure in seeing and in doing, this I firmly believe, is absolutely fundamental for an artist.

My favourite part about my Warden and Zevran as a pairing is that Zevran precisely brings out that ability to take your pleasures as they come and to really savour them. Fighting the Blight is tough; it's so important to find good things amidst the chaos to stay sane. If Astala saves Zevran from himself by offering him a place to stay and a purpose, Zevran saves Astala from herself by keeping her from running herself into the ground trying to save the world.

There are some things I don't like about Zev. The incessant flirting, for example, sometimes makes me uncomfortable (it becomes enjoyable for me once the Warden and him are in a relationship, but before that? Nah, no thanks). I wish he would also leave the other female characters alone (and there's so many more shameless comments of his aimed at Morrigan, Leliana or Wynne than at Alistair or maybe even Sten).

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And that's my take on the Origins companions (this was rather long. Whew ^^' I hope it was still readable and that you enjoyed it!!) Thank you so much for the ask!! It's been a joy thinking about this. I was worrying at first that the less prominent companions like Sten or Shale wouldn't get as much content but... well XD

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maleficarlife · 2 years ago

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BRIALA: INQUISITION COMPANION

I said I was gonna do this and here it is.

I don't have anything against Sera (I don't like *how* she was written but my bias is more towards her writer than the character itself) but it's my opinion that Briala would have made a way better companion than her. She covers a very similar niche to Sera -fighting for the little people, elven archer, lesbian, distrustful towards the dalish due to background- and as a plus has a way bigger involvement in the plot of Inquisition, not only in Orlais but with several cameo characters, due to her presence during the event of The Masked Empire. Obviously, this is gonna have spoilers for both the game and the book, so fair warning.

That said, let's proceed!

RECRUITMENT QUEST

Just like Sera, we first meet Briala after visiting Val Royeaux, but instead of an arrow to our feets our attention is piqued by a merchant who tells us about a contact in the city that wants to offer us informations in private. Due to the fact that the Inquisition has been sconfessed by the Chantry tho, the contact -who rapresent merchantile interests- isn't comfortable with interacting with us openly. "We want to help monsieur, but the Game has his needs." So we are invited to a meeting in the elven slums of Val Royeaux, where nobody of respectable standing would go. The slums of VL exist in TME, but we didn't got to see them in-game and they are a pretty important place.

If you tought the Denerim alienage was ugly, this is way worse: when we enter the slums one of our companions will comment about the stench and the place will have twice the vibes of bad sanity and poverty that we have seen in Origins. The elves in Orlais are in a way worse situation than in Ferelden and there are elven beggars lying down in the dirt. The sewer system creates pools of dirty water in the ground and at least a beggar is just lyying there. Regardless of the player race, we attract unwanted attention, altought only in the form of whispered ambient dialogue.

Dalish: Fear mixed with marvel. At least a couple of the elves will say that they didn't tought dalish were real. A beggar child will approach the player asking if they are here to bring ancient secrets to the people and the player can scare him off or be gentle, before his mother will drag him out.

Dwarf/Qunari: No elven child will approach the player, but there will be whispers of confusion. If qunari, at least one npc will refer to Kirkwall and say "I heard that elves had it better under the qun" (that's only partially true, of course, but they can't know that). If dwarf, someone will wonder if we are here to give Orzamarr support to one side of the Civil War.

Human: The reaction that gives more "terrified" whispers. Regarldess of class, the elves will hide more and whisper to not look the player in the eyes. If the player is a non-mage they will say that they tought the chevaliers were all too busy to fight in the war and whisper a terrified prayer to the Maker about "not again please". This is obviously a reference of the chevaliers habit to go kill elves for sports, something that they have a legal right to do in Orlais.

Regardless of race, players will reach the warehouse of the meeting, where they will meet the apostate noble buffoon that attacked us in Sera version of the quest. In this edition, he's still a racist idiot, but he's at least smart enough to play a bit of the Game. Turns out, this noble will make the player an offer, saying the nobles he rapresent will support the Inquisition if the Inquisition will provide their help in giving "arrogant knife-ears" a lesson. The noble will explain how the elves are sabotaging the war effort and how the group he rapresent intends to see that end by teaching the rabbits their place. If in the party, Varric will advice against such an alliance and quote Merrill experiences in protecting Kirkwall alienage, but the player will be able to express either disgust or support in several tones at the noble. Regardless of what said, the meeting will be interrupted by Briala and rebel elves. The noble will wonder how such a thing was possible since his spies confirmed she had been seen in Val Chevin a day ago. Briala will just say "I'm everywhere, monsieur." and attack. Then she will point weapons to the Herald party and dialogue with them start. Briala opinion on the Herald will strongly depend if the player approved or not of the noble plans in precedent dialogues but exactly like in Halamshiral in Bioware canon, Briala will realize the Inquisition is gonna be a rising power soon and offer an alliance.

The player will be able to eagerly accept, accept with distrust or refuse. If Briala is refused as companion, this will block the possibility to side with her in Halamshiral.

COMPANIONS, APPROVAL AND NPCS

Briala will get with along with Blackwall, Varric (she will reveal to him that his books are all the rage in Orlais) and Solas. Ironically she will say that Solas reminds her of her mentor Felassan, to which Solas will answer with embarassment.

She will not get along with Dorian (due to his -at least initial- opinions about slavery and they will discuss this in banter until Dorian apologizes and comes to a realization, after which she will slightly warm up to him), Iron Bull -for similar reasons to Dorian and her final opinion of him will depend on if he stays with the Qun or goes Tal-Vashot, similar to Solas- and Cassandra, since Briala will have simpathies for the Mage Rebellion.

She will be neutral towards Vivienne and Cole. She will not trust Cole and refer to her experiences with Imshael and she will play the Game with Vivienne, holding some respect for her, but also knowing that both of them have very different interests in Orlais politics.

If present when meeting Mhiris and if the player is not a Lavellan, she will call out Mhiris lies about her origins and the two will have a short hostile banter in which the player will be able to butt in to calm things down or side with either. Regardless her banter is inconsequential.

She will greatly disapprove of siding with Imshael -and could even have a cutscene in Skyhold about that, with more occasions for disapproval- and special banter with him. If you let Briala talk with Imshael too long, it will automatically trigger a fight against him.

If the Inquisitior does not side with Imshael, Briala will talk in the next cutscene about Michel De Chevin -the noble knowledge perk will help in approval here- and reveal all the backstory. She will say she doesn't trust him and that he's no friend of the elves but will agree it's better for him to stay with the Inquisition and that she has already "made him pay a price", something she will clarify while dropping the backstory. She will reveal Imshael was unleashed by Michel as soon as the Inquisitor meets him with Briala in the party tho and the Inquisitior will have a wartable option to bring Michel to judgement for unleashing a demon and killing a dalish clan.

She will often be found talking ambient dialogue with Solas -working together with the eluvians- and arguing with Morrigan. She will greatly approve of allying with the mage rebellion and greatly disapprove of allying with the templars. She will approve of disbanding the templars and disapprove of conscripting the mages.

She will be a third option to drink the well of sorrows, but only if the Inquisitor is a non-Lavellan. If the Inquisitor is Lavellan, she will encourage them to drink and be against Morrigan stealing elven culture.

ROMANCE

I'm not the best at writing romance and this post is already pretty long, so I will just give a general concept here. If anyone should be interested in an actual Briala romance and think this is good, I can do another post in the future.

Briala romance would obviously have strong references to the events of TME and her relationship with Celene. Briala would be a romance option for an Inquisitor of any race, but only women (she is, canonically, a lesbian). She would answer flirts at first, but stop once realizing the Inquisitor is serious about it. She would confront the Inquisitor and explain that while she does have feelings for the Inquisitor, she is still afraid of committing to a serious relationship and reveal that Celene lied to her and killed her parents, together with all the rest of the abuse suffered. She will tell how she realized Celene true nature too late and how a part of her still wishes she could be with her. The Inquisitor can interrupt the romance here but if instead she doesn't (I'm now assuming a standard Lady Inquisitor so I'll go with "she" for simplicity) Briala will explain that she doesn't love Celene herself but she wishes she could have loved her. She wishes Celene had been a better woman.

After that cutscene, the romance will be "on pause" up to Halamshiral where the Inquisitor will have the secondary option to get Briala's mother amulet back. To not hamper Briala romance compared to the others, Briala will still offer to dance with the Inquisitor even if they aren't "officially" together yet (there will be the possibility to give Briala the amulet immediately and there will be a kiss scene, but we can't have the sex scene in the middle of Halamshiral).

Inquisitors that are romancing Briala will obviously have a strong push to put Briala in power trought Gaspard, but the "truce" ending will still be an option. Any ending that puts Celene or Gaspard in power alone will stop the romance with Briala, who will always choose her ideals and revolution over love.

This will be in fact a running fear/question of Briala across the romance and the Inquisitor -especially Trevelyan and Lavellan- will have to show Briala that she isn't demanding that Briala gives up her goals for the Inquisitor political convenience.

Once back in Skyhold, especially with Briala in power, she will say she has to organize a lot of work and "have her people keep an eye on Gaspard, altought fortunately if there is something we can trust the man on is his willingness to play the hero... Especially if it's the type of heroism that involves swords".

Briala and the Inquisitor will talk about how the Inquisitor recovered Briala mother amulet for her and they will declare love for each other and kiss.

Obviously, the ambient dialogue in Val Royeaux for an Inquisitor that romanced Briala and put her in power will be amazing.

If the Inquisitor got 100% court approval, romanced Briala and put her in power trought Gaspard, it will be revelead in Trespasser that the Emperor died of old age and was succeeded by... idk, anyone in the council of heralds could do, don't care.

It will also be revelaed that due to the status of chaos in Orlais and the support of the Inquisition to the elven rebels AND Briala pulling the strings the elves re-settled in the Dales and refused to let Orlais retake the land... And in the end the new Emperor had to recognize the Dales as an indipendent nation

#dragon age inquisition #dragon age #briala #wicked eyes and wicked hearts #the masked empire #me yelling in the void: make gaspard emperor then make him absolutely regret being in charge that's karma #also i hate tumblr i had to do absurd manouvers to publish this

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foxymoxynoona · 4 years ago

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hi fox! sorry just a question....since the thane handles what happens to foreign people who are in the hold, I wonder what happens if avvar people or any other clans go to Orlais? Is Orlais like a free city where you can just go in and out as you please??? i mean they’re all wearing masks right??? so people won’t know if they’re foreigner or resident in the place??? or not??? do they even change their mask from time to time??? sorry i have so many questions. i’m interested in Orlais even tho it’s kind of annoying.

Neat question! Did you see my post about Orlesian masks a while ago? If not I can dig it up. It doesn't answer all of this, just about how masks are used in Orlais --as in, they serve as a sort of heraldry or identification, so though some decorative elements might change, you'd still be able to look at a mask and theoretically identify what family a person is OR works for.

Generally you'd be able to go in and out of Orlais and it would be a big issue unless you're causing trouble. Orlais has in the past had a lot of warring with their neighbor Fereldan so anyone coming from there would be under intense scrutiny. The borders are vast though and so realistically you could go in and no one's going to care a whole lot --though they'll definitely identify that you're foreign by your lack of a mask unless you bought into that, hwoever you'd need to make sure you got a general safe one, and didn't accidentally pose as part of a family or household, that's BIG deal.

Val Royeaux is the capital and the place you're probably safest as a foreigner because it's a big port city, lots of foreigners, lots of activity. Any time you go to the smaller towns or cities, you'd definitely be met with more suspicion, particularly depending what your nationality is. Orlesians consider Avvar uncivilized barbarians, so they're going to be pretty damn wary of any Avvar just suddenly strolling the streets!

#lowlander #anonymous

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elvensemi · 5 years ago

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Emma, B'R, Belassan

Belassan: slow burn. I feel like he’s literally the only one on this list who could be trusted not to kill me at some point in the plot.

Emma: fake date. I considered enemies to lovers but Emma does not keep enemies well and, again, I don’t want to die. that is going to be my foremost goal in all of these scenarios. But she’s a really practiced liar so fake dating would be pretty easy, and I think it would give me special license to get away with stuff I couldn’t normally get away with. Like back hugs.

B’R: Enemies to lovers. As FUCKING FUN AS HELL as fake dating B’R would be, I would fall in love and get my heart broken. XD You know it. I know it. He knows it. Everyone knows it. Enemies to lovers, tho, now that’s a fun time. SEXUAL TENSION KNIFE FIGHTS ON THE ROOFTOPS OF VAL ROYEAUX. HE CATCHES ME BEFORE I PLUNGE TO MY DEATH, WHY? ONLY THE SECRETS WHISPERED IN THE NIGHT KNOW,

put 3 characters in my inbox and I’ll tell you who I’d slow burn/fake date/enemies to lovers with!

#ask #ask meme #kayleana

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visionmarred-archive · 5 years ago

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how hot is that character meme: the DAO party 🤔

ooh nice 👀 ty Dani!!

I will put under a cut now bc that’s a lot of party members loool

Alistair Theirin

very nice and sweet guy! has never really been my type tho, even if I can get the appeal of the romance when I stop to think about it. too much of a brother figure imo.

Morrigan

I once saw a woman so beautiful I started crying. another case of “life goals or wife goals? yes.” I let my Wardens make their own decisions on plot important stuff EXCEPT for “kill Flemeth or betray Morrigan” - love Morrigan too much to ever betray her.

Leliana

the way she says “Val Royeaux.” enough said. also, queer Christian enby here who is especially heart eyes for other queer religious people tbh

Sten

ngl I am definitely into the appeal of Sten/Warden, but for me personally? nah. would love to share cookies with him, though.

Zevran Arainai

hhhhh I started playing DA:O when I was 12 after my mom showed me the game and party members. she got to Zevran and it was immediate heart eyes and ngl, part of getting into the game was literally just to romance Zevran. caring and warm! focuses on the Warden so much! in love with him forever and always. THE original vidya game husband. men are trash but not Zevran, Zevran is a good man

Oghren Kondrat

in all my terrible taste, I actually enjoy the guy’s company. but platonically only. dating him would be like dating someone from my dad’s side of the family.

Loghain Mac Tir

favorite morally grey antagonist 10/10. but wash your hair buddy I beg ya. I guess you don’t have time for that when you’re worrying about Orlais.

#Sierra's Asks #DA stuff #ghostlygal #I leave out Dog because that'd be wrong sudgusdgh

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nilesdaughter · 6 years ago

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Dragon Age Questionnaire

Tagged by the ever-lovely @lakambaeni! I’m sorry it always takes me forever to get to your tags.

Tagging: @battlefox, @tyishi, @aurianavaloria, and any other DA fans that follow me! But, as always, there’s no obligation to fill the tag :)

01) Favourite game of the series? I think DAI is my favorite in the series, because it was the one that really pulled me into the fandom.

02) How did you discover Dragon Age? As is usual for my entrance to fandom, it started with blogs I follow starting to share content about the game. (This was a little bit before DAI dropped.) It seemed cool, and @likhoradka had made a quick Handers comic that amused me, but I didn’t really get into it until @battlefox lent me a copy of DA2 so that I could see what all the hype was about.

03) How many times you’ve played the games? I’ve played all three games through to completion once; with DAO, I played most of the DLCs that were concurrent to the base game, but I only played the vanilla games for DA2 and DAI. HOWEVER, I have started several additional playthroughs, to the point where I have a small army of characters.

04) Favourite race to play as? Elves! Though, to be fair, this is a bias I generally have in fantasy settings.

05) Favourite class? Mages, because, again, the bias followed me from the fantasy setting in general.

06) Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time? I try to play to each character, but I still usually end up making the same decisions (so far).

07) Go-to adventuring group?

DAO: Alistair/Dog, Leliana, Zevran

DA2: Varric, Fenris, Anders

DAI: Since this is the one that I have the most characters in, this is more varied depending on the playthrough, but my PERSONAL favorite combination is Varric, Dorian, and Iron Bull.

08) Which of your characters did you put the most thought into? Definitely Enansal, even though she’s just a glorified self-insert. I just write about her the most.

09) Favourite romance? Probably Cullen, but that’s because I’ve done that one twice.

10) Have you read any of the comics/books? I haven’t got a chance to, yet! I did buy myself a copy of “Asunder,” but I haven’t had time to actually read it.

11) If you read them, which was your favourite book? TBD ;)

12) Favourite DLCs? I mean, I do love “The Stone Prisoner,” because it gives you Shale, and I love them so much.

13) Things that annoy you. Mooostly the fandom. This is why I keep to myself and my little corner amongst the lovely people behind @dadrunkwriting and @asiansofthedas.

14) Orlais or Ferelden? Ferelden, because it’s always given me Celtic vibes and therefore reminds of Ireland :)

15) Templars or mages? Mages.

16) If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one? I personally have them existing in parallel universes. However, I like the idea that all of the DAO characters end up joining the Wardens at some point or another. I also do have two separate Tabris playthroughs that have become my “Tabris twins” headcanon.

17) What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc)

Veleda’s mabari is Rowan. Since my first playthrough with Sylvia was with the vanilla game, she didn’t have her mabari, so I still haven’t thought of a name. Enansal and Cullen name their mabari Buster. Most of my other playthroughs have named mabari, though, but I have way too many to name them all haha I also never named any mounts, probably because I didn’t know that they could be named!

18) Have you installed any mods? I wish I could, but I definitely don’t have the space or know-how to install them.

19) Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden? Veleda definitely did not. She was actually more than happy to stay in the Circle, because she definitely started out as a huge Loyalist, and was upset that she was basically forced into leaving with Duncan. She was eventually glad for the opportunity to live in the “outside world” though.

20) Hawke’s personality? Sylvia ended up being true blue lol

21) Did you make matching armor for your companions in Inquisition? No. I usually prioritized stats (and sometimes individual colors).

22) If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?

Veleda: She wouldn’t have betrayed Jowan. Being away from the Circle made her realize that she should have put more value in his friendship.

Sylvia: Even if it ultimately spared his life, she always regrets NOT taking Carver to the Deep Roads with her, because she hates the time that they spent apart.

Elera: She never would have left her Clan prior to the events of DAI.

Enansal: She wishes she never had gotten involved with Aaric.

23) Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon? Not particularly? I’d say my biggest canon-breaking content is my Tabris twins and my Kremquisitor playthrough.

24) Are any of your character(s) based on someone? Aisling Tabris, Sylvia Hawke, and Enansal Lavellan are all self-inserts, technically >_> Nan is the one that is most like me, though. Ash is my go-to persona when I make new characters, and Sylvia is really only a self-insert in the sense that all of her dialogue choices were based on what *I* would do in that situation.

25) Who did you leave in the Fade? Stroud, because holy frick, I could not break Varric’s heart like that.

26) Favourite mount? N/A

#tagged #tag meme #dragon age

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trvelyans-archive · 6 years ago

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Hi, I just started following you today! Would you be so kind as to introduce your main ocs? I'd love to get to know them?

gASP yes!

okay so there’s camilla cousland she’s my canon warden but tbh i’m kinda over her. she’s cute tho and she’s married to king alistair of ferelden. she has a lot of ptsd from the blight and isn’t really a fighting person to begin with so she’s kinda traumatized and yeah it’s relaly sad

then there’s yvette marie hawke and she’s my hawke and i LOVE her. in my mind i think of her as 5′3 and she’s filled with rage and she, honest to god, is a two handed warrior and her sword drags on the ground behind her ajhbsah anyway she’s filled with rage, loves her sister, and the only thing she ever does with her hair is braid it. she romanced fenris originally, but i’m replaying her with anders!

then there’s ilyaf’iel lavellan, she’s my canon inquistor, she’s really sad and lonely and cute and pretty and i would die for her? she stans ameridan and loves magic and cole and varric and also animals and has a pet nug from stone-bear hold, one halla and a pride of arlathan mount that she has in a pasture outside her post-inquisition shack in the foothills of the frostbacks. ALSo she was born my oc clan, clan irassan, and was given to clan lavellan at age 5. i love her so much

she supports leliana as divine, sided with the mages, exiled the wardens, romanced solas, and disbanded the inquisition!!!

and then there’s riel manon, i don’t talk about her as much anymore but i was obsessed with her at one point. she’s an escaped city elf from val royeaux who secretly runs an underground home for other escaped city elves to live in and she uses her contacts in the inquisition to keep the “center” i guess up and running. it’s all a secret tho, no one knows about it (and i cant tell if i want her to work with solas hm)

there’s also ana fontayne who i’m sure i’ll talk more about soon, she’s an 18 year old mage who lived in the gallows and thinks of bethany as a mom and she hates templars, she joins the college of enchanters after inquisition is over and leliana is divine and she really excels in ice magic specifically, has really cute blonde bangs

and THEN! my BEAUTIFUL GREY WARDEN BABIES CELINDE HERCULIUS AND EARNEST (last name redacted, jk, i just dont have one)!!! i have a whole seperate account for drabbles for them ( @celindeherculius) that are currently going in chronological order (it’s an enemies to lovers type scenario but they’re like… almost to lovers by now) but one day i’ll just write random stuff after their main story is over. probably a bunch of angst and kissing scenes. anyway i love them so much, they’re such interesting characters and i love their dynamic??? currently they’re on the run from the warden order bc like the warden in inquisition, earnest and celinde’s mentor matheus thought the wardens were doing sketchy shit and he was very outspoken about it and then SOMEONE in the order MURDERED HIM!!! he left a note telling earnest and celinde to run away while they still could so they’re currently on the run

basically celinde is struggling with the after effects of a lifetime of neglect and learning how to love and how to be vulnerable and earnest is struggling with always feeling as though he’s letting people down and he isn’t good enough because he doesn’t know how to fight and celinde does, he’s just really good at chores, i love them, i love that he’s soft and cute and she’s all tough and angry and i just i Love them

thank you for asking!!!!!!!

#ask #thank u angel!!!!!!!#i love celinde and earnest so much #my kids #also ana #i never ever talk abt her #also my two male inquisition ocs but theyre irrelevent #one day ill talk about the #m

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batsintheshadows · 7 years ago

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Athera the Companion

Inquisitor’s Name: Athera Lavellan Race / Class / Specialisation: Rogue Elf Assassin Gender Identity: Female

Varric’s Nickname for them: Antlers

Short bio: As a typical da’len hunter nearing the time she could recieve her vallaslin, Athera was taken by slavers while away from the camp with her younger brother. Her sacrifice allowed the clan to escape, but lead to a grueling ordeal before she escaped and found her way back home. Now she is a respected hunter and occasionally travels to visit the elves that live in human cities, so they may know more of their history should they be interested. She also assists with problems that the human guards tend to ignore.

What would their companion card look like? I actually commissioned one of these! it hasnt quite been finished yet tho.

Athera aiming her bow high above her head with a victorious smile as the sun rises, a halla head with three arrows in the horns formed from the clouds behind her and a green bird perched on her shoulder, coat billowing in the wind.

More under the cut, because theres gonna be a LOT here.

Recruitment mission: Athera approaches the Inquisition in Val Royeaux, quietly and from a side street. She wears a hood to hide her face and when asked about it she says that she may be making a poor choice, and if she is it would be better to have the option to hide. Athera tells the Inquisitor that she is visiting family in the city, and has discovered that elves have been vanishing. She says she wants to see what’s going on, but has a feeling that whatever is happening is too much for one person to handle. If pressed about her identity, Athera stays vague, saying that she could get in trouble for looking into this at all, and wouldn’t want that to affect anyone she cares about.

If the Inquisitor agrees to investigate she tells them to meet her at a certain location at midnight, and not to worry about her too much. She has enough martial training to help in any fights there might be.

When you meet up with her, Athera is nervous, checking her arrows and pulling her hood down further over her face. If you ask her about it she says she hasnt ever done “anything quite like this” before.

When you enter the building, you discover a slaver ring and some captured elves. Athera strikes first, no matter what you say, and in the ensuing fight her hood comes off, revealing her vallaslin. when everything is said and done Athera very pointedly ignores the party in favour of freeing the captured elves, who are very grateful for her arrival. She asks if they will be able to get back to the alienage safely and one of them says that they can get them there, leaving Athera free to look for letters and talk to the party.

She picks up some letters and folds her arms, and asks the Inquisitor if they are going to take any sort of action now that they know a Dalish elf is meddling in the city. There is an option to tell her that if she joins The Inquisition then the Inquisitor will stay quiet. Athera is silently furious, but says she would prefer this to end without bloodshed if possible. Athera Greatly Disapproves if you pick this option. You can also ask about her lying to the group. Athera claims she never lied and points out the ways that everything she said was technically true.

Otherwise you can attempt to turn her in, which causes her to flee and become unrecruitable. or you can say that you won’t alert the guards. In the latter case, she is grateful and asks to join The Inquisition. When asked why she says:

“I’m not stupid. A big hole in the sky? Demons around every corner? This could be the end of the world. My clan can’t outrun that. You’re the only ones I’ve seen even trying to make a difference. If theres any way out of this, its with the people that arent caught up in petty squabbles. So yes, I won’t like being away from my clan for so long, but I’ll like it even less if the world dies.”

She agrees to meet the Inquisitor back in Haven, and pulls her hood back up, heading off into the night.

Where they would be in Skyhold / Haven: In Skyhold she would probably hang around in the gardens, but move to somewhere around the stables if it was converted into a chantry garden. In Haven she would be on the docks by the frozen lake.

Personal quests:

Quest 1: After arriving in Skyhold and gaining some approval, Athera will go over what she found in the slavers letters. She says that the slavers were reporting to a merchant called Vivicus, and that she suspects that theyre related to the Venatori. Athera has followed a trail that has ended in Redcliffe, and asks the Inquisitor to go with her as backup. If the Inquisitor tries to bring Dorian, the cutscene will not trigger and Athera will suggest trying again with “company better suited to the operation. Like people that never owned slaves maybe.” Once the cutscene triggers, Athera give you what she knows about the slaver. A small and pretty easy fight with demons ensues as you enter the building, and the party makes it up the stairs to a room with a man in fine clothes sitting on a chair facing away from the group. As the group approaches, the man falls sideways when touched, revealing he is very dead and has a note stapled to his chest that simply says “your move Inquisition -V”. Athera is upset by this, and tells the Inquisitor that they need to be sure the body gets proper death rites. Back at Skyhold Athera thanks the Inquisitor for their help and apologises for dragging them into her mess. She says that itll probably last a while as well, if this guys as much of an asshole as he seems to be.

Quest 2: Occurs after either The Fade or The Winter Palace. Athera is reading a letter, and claims that its information on Vivicus. If asked about where the letter came from, Athera says she’s been tracking weird courier orders and got lucky with this one. Athera says the letter reveals that Vivicus has somehow discovered her identity and is using it against her. She doubts her clan will be targeted, but asks permission to grant them safe passage through the surrounding lands and trading rights at Skyhold. She admits that in spite of what her clan could bring in, its really just a favour to her. If the Inquisitor agrees, you get the option to open a new area on the war table, but cannot select Dorian for the mission. When you arrive, you run into an ambush of slavers who seem to be expecting you. The fight is really difficult, but you only need to defeat half the slavers to trigger a rescue by Athera’s clan. As the last of the slavers fall, Athera gets the attention of one of the hunters and gives him a big hug, introducing him as her younger brother Elgadir. Elgadir is overjoyed to see his sister again and says the clan has been worried since she stopped writing. Athera replies she has been writing weekly and getting letters back as well. After a bit of confusion, they figure out something weird is going on, and tells the other hunters to check if any of the slavers are still alive. One is, and they get to them before the throat cutters do. Elgadir says that he doesnt much like the idea of bringing a slaver back to any of the clans camps, but if this problem is gonna get solved then they’ll probably have to. one of the other hunters goes ahead to warn the clan to prepare for a captive and some guests. Elgadir gives the Inquisition members a warning that if they do anything foolish, they will pay with their lives, but if they approach in good faith, then the clan will be happy to do business with them. The party is introduced to the clan and Athera goes off to talk with her brother and the Keeper, leaving the team free to explore. There are a few quests to help the clan or act like a dick, Athera gets approval or disapproval for them even though she isnt in the active party. To advance the quest, you enter the Keeper’s aravel. Athera sits with her brother hugging her, clearly distressed. The Keeper tells the Inquisitor that they have all come to a consensus that it would be a lot easier to deal with the situation with all the facts, and asks Athera if she would be willing to tell the story herself. Athera then tells the Inquisitor that she was taken from her clan by slavers around six years ago, and though she managed to fake her death and escape, Vivicus has discovered her identity and has been intercepting her letters for a while. The letter that sent her running back to her clan was to be sent to the person that owned her, and she intercepted a similar one at Skyhold intended to sow some discord. Athera says that its probably a game to Vivicus now, and that he will go to any lengths to win. She fears for her clan, as she fears for those she has become close with outside of it. At the prompting of the other two elves, Athera also admits to being very stressed out, since the Inquisitor unknowingly hired someone from the family that used to own her. “Theres a reason I don’t get along with Dorian, I’m scared to death of him.” The Inquisitor can tell Athera to stay with her clan for safety, offer to expel Dorian from the Inquisition (Athera will reject this idea because she knows the Inquisitor wouldnt have let Dorian stay if they didnt like him or need his help.), or keep to the plan of allowing the clan safety in the lands around Skyhold. Back at Skyhold, Athera thanks the Inquisitor for listening to her, saying she feels far more at ease now that someone knows, but begs the Inquisitor not to tell anyone her secret and to make tracking down Vivicus as much of a priority as possible, otherwise she doesnt know what could happen to her.

Quest 3: Takes place after the second main quest you complete after unlocking Skyhold. Athera and Dorian are arguing as the Inquisitor approaches them, though most of the shouting seems to be coming from Athera’s side with a lot of what is obviously swearing in elvish. When pressed, Athera accuses Dorian of going through her letters, and Dorian denies the accusation. “If you would listen before you started screaming at me, you would know that this is my letter. That I was trying to give to you quietly. But if you insist on discussing this in the courtyard...” Athera snatches the letter and runs away, leaving Dorian to ask the Inquisitor to go after her, saying that Athera probably wouldn’t want to see him right around now. When the Inquisitor finds Athera she is incredibly upset, and lets them know that this letter has been opened and Dorian knows who she is now. The Inquisitor can comfort her or be awful, and after theyre done talking Dorian knocks on the door, asking to come in. Athera tells him to keep his distance, and he agrees. Trying to lighten the tension, Dorian makes a joke about how Vivicus is really an idiot if he thinks sending Dorian a letter is going to do anything, what with the whole pariah thing. No one laughs. Athera asks Dorian what he’s going to do, and Dorian suggests using the note to lure Vivicus out. “We’ve been playing cat and mouse for months. I’ll be glad to see it end.” Athera tells Dorian that she doesn’t trust him, and will only go if the Inquisitor comes too. Dorian agrees, and they begin to make a plan, through the door because Athera can’t face him yet. After this, a war table mission to smuggle a letter to Vivicus opens up, and once it is completed a mission on the storm coast opens up called “Trigger Venatori Trap”. Once there the party fights off some Venatori, and Athera slowly breaks ranks with the group, making herself an easier target and leading to Vivicus showing himself at last. The rest of the party sets up a good flanking position and a boss battle against Vivicus, who is a blood mage and ACTUALLY DOES BLOOD MAGE STUFF WHY DID THEY LEAVE THIS OUT OF DAI???, begins as Dorian makes a snappy “oh what an idiot” type remark at Vivicus. The party are victorious, and they return to Skyhold where Athera tells the Inquisitor that she has no idea what to do now, since she has no way of knowing who Vivicus sent letters to. If you did a war table mission to stop the letters, you are able to reassure her that the Inquisition has the situation under control. Athera says that she likes the Inquisition, and whatever comes she would like to stay until the end as long as her and Dorian are kept separate. Preferably on opposite sides of the castle. At this point Dorian wanders past because a little light humour won’t kill anyone and begins yammering on about their victory a little too nervously. He admits that he’s been feeling a bit nervous since finding out about Athera’s past, but has done some deep soul searching and wants to apologise for how the relationship between the two of them has been. He promises to try and do better in the future, to which Athera replies “You’d better! Your family put me through hell! The least you can do is try and make it better.” Dorian doesnt make eye contact, and promises to keep her words in mind. He also says that they don’t need to speak again if Athera needs space. Athera says that would be for the best, but she won’t complain if they end up working together since stopping the end of the world is more important than the hurt one person carries. As Dorian turns to leave, she lets him know that once corypheus is dead all bets are off, and that she’ll probably throw him out the window, but the comment doesnt have much bite to it.

How to get their approval: helping elves and mages, respecting artifacts, killing venatori, freeing slaves, and generally not being an ass.

How to get their disapproval: Cruelty to elves and elven relics, slavery in any form, chantry and templar supporting, being an ass to mages, and victim blaming anyone.

Are they romanceable? Y/N Can you have sex with them? Y/N Are they open to polyamoury? Y/N If they can be romanced and are not, will they begin a relationship / relationships with other character(s)? If so, who? Sera already gets with Dagna, so odds are Athera wouldn’t get with anyone if unromanced.

Who are they friendly with? Vivienne and Sera (after a while).

Who do they dislike? Cassandra, Dorian, and Solas.

Companion card changes: (use a text descrip. if you have no images)

Loyalty: Athera stands in the middle of a dark forest, her bow ready to draw and a smile on her face as she moves. the trees are gnarled and twisted, something could be hiding in them. but she is armed, and the forest is her home.

Romance: (if any) The bow and arrows have been put aside, and Athera sits cross legged by a campfire. there are trees all around and Athera has a serene smile on her lips and a look of total peace in her eyes.

Side Missions: (eg: fetch / gather / kill quests) None because fuck those. Ok maybe destroying monuments to the Exalted March on the Dales. Thatd be pretty satisfying. Also a war table mission to ensure that no letters get to the Pavus family that unlocks a dialogue option at the end of Athera’s last quest.

Opinions on mages / templars / how the world is going to shit? Templars fuck shit up, mages have been friends and guides to the clan and the Templars always try to take them away and people get hurt. She would rather just leave the Templars alone entirely. And of course mages can be trusted with their own lives! Everyone else does it what makes them so bloody different?

She has more nuanced opinions on the Chantry and how it relates to the oppression of mages and elves, and how its all a bid for power, but she’ll only talk abt it with an Inquisitor she likes.

Something guaranteed to make them leave the party: defiling the graves at the elven burial site in the exalted plains, killing the golden halla, or straight up betraying her.

Special Events:

Imprisoned at Redcliffe: How is your Inquisitor holding up in Redcliffe, being slowly infected with red lyrium over the course of a year?

Athera is almost unable to speak at all after a year in Redcliffe. She talks in fragments, and when she first sees the Inquisitor she just stares at them for a long time with a blank look on her face, waiting for them to either do something or vanish. Whenever Dorian speaks she glares at him. After all, this guy from Tevinter shows up and then everything fails and the world dies? She’s been blaming him. The Inquisitor has to talk her down.

She puts all her remaining energy into the fight ahead, wordless, expressionless, and merciless. When it comes time to hold off the horde she says in the flattest voice possible “Going out. Hold them off. Do not fail. Dareth Shiral.”

At the Winter Palace: Does your Inquisitor enjoy the party, any special events with them at the Palace?

Athera spends most of the party doing things to mildly offend the Orlesian elite, talking with the elves, and quietly smashing expensive vases when no ones looking. She likes being in Halamshiral, hates what it is now, and corners more than a few nobles and gives them a “history lesson.” She will do the same to the Inquisitor if they ask, but will be less passive aggressive about it. She also complains about the outfits, saying she hates red but Josephine wanted everyone to “present a unified front” and she couldnt wriggle out of it.

She also takes joy in being announced as “Athera Lavellan, Hunter of Clan Lavellan and Emissary to the Cities.” since she’s betting he’s never had to introduce an elf before, let alone introduce one with a few titles.

When asked about it later, Athera says the only good thing at Halamshiral was Briala, with various comments depending on what happened.

In the Fade: Your Inquisitor’s reaction upon entering the Fade? Archdemon’s taunt, and Inquisitor’s response? Epitaph on their grave?

Athera does not understand any of this. She shoots arrows, mainly at wolves and terrible people. now there are demons here because its their home that theyre the ones invading and what with recent events theres pretty strong evidence that this sort of thing doesnt end well. Athera isnt mindlessly terrified, but she. wants. OUT.

Nightmare: “What’s this now? Valeria, pretending to be a wild elf? You looked much better in red.”

Athera: “Say that name one more time and I’ll rip you in half.”

Nightmare: “Dont worry about Marcus hating you for leaving him. He died a month later, his thieving ways finally discovered and punished.”

Athera: “You-you’re lying! Theres no possible way for you to know that!”

Nightmare: “That you know of.”

Athera’s grave says “Losing Herself”

Trespasser: What is your Inquisitor up to two years after Corypheus’ defeat? Any special events with them over the events of Trespasser?

Athera spent the past two years using the influence gained during her time in the Inquisition to help elves in both the cities and the wilds. she has busted up a few more slaver rings and is one of sera’s contacts. she has traded information with the Inquisition out of respect for her place in it and so leliana can send her some useful stuff back. she’s been using her clan as a safe place, and looks forward to returning every second she is away.

Other Major Events: Any other major events that happen with them over the course of the main game?

She becomes friends with Sera, who she likes for not taking things too seriously when everyone else is so grim.

She also has a Talk with a human Inquisitor romancing Sera that more or less amounts to “I know ur cool so this whole thing is probably legit, but if u ever hurt sera i’ll cut off your arm and hit u with it ok good talk kiddo love u bye!”

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu this took a long time and a lot of thought, but i had LOADS of fun doing it! I always like working on Athera’s backstory, though nothing is quite 100% set in stone yet sooooo... dont quote me on any of this.

I was tagged by @heyscience and i am throwing this tag right back at you! Do it!

#asks

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mstigergun · 8 years ago

Text

OC Kiss Week, “marginalia”

OC Kiss Week, Day Five (a fluffy kiss, sort of? definitely dusty tho!)

(I don’t have any pictures of these two, since they are nerds in the University of Val Royeaux and not, you know, kicking around the Inquisition)

@enviouspride asked that I write something with Iona Trevelyan, who is the middle Trevelyan sibling. He’s mentioned in Leonid’s timeline fic, and in Alla’s, and also Leonid is really mean to Iona when he comes to visit for First Day one year. That is a formative and vicious little interaction, which makes Iona really take stock of his life and make a Big Change. Well, big for him!

So, in my little headcanon, Iona was sent off to be a Chantry archivist, but because of some ordinance about, like, y’know, not drafting the unwilling, young scholars are given the choice at some point to continue with their work for the Chantry or to go elsewhere. Most stay, because they’ve been shipped off by their families -- usually noble families with too many children and not enough coin -- and have no other means of surviving. Iona, because he is very clever and very handy with translations, gets head-hunted by the University of Orlais, who want to poach him for their own young scholars training program (tm) (also because he’s too good and clever to be an archivist; he would be wasted on the Chantry). Given the choice, Iona decides he’d rather work with the University, mostly because one time he kissed a girl in the Chantry and realized that a life of celibacy sounded pretty sad. He likes books, but not that much!

Iona would have joined the University at 18 in 9:33. This little piece is likely set around 9:39, when he’s 24. He and Sian would have met no more than a year earlier when she got her offer to study at the University. Sian is really into ancient codes used for old trade route manifests. And who knows? These two might someday come in contact with the Inquisition, who could need some translations completed of ancient letters or someone to parse out the specifics of some coded letters. No code can stand up to the intellectual fury of Sian Fields, while her tall and awkward fellow makes her tea and suggests alternate grammatical structures when it comes times to make those encoded sentences make sense...

[~2600 words]

marginalia

He likely wouldn’t notice, except that he’s taking a break from poring over Durotti’s Anderfels manuscript because his eyes have started to burn. With his nose pressed against the paper, he can’t hear anything, like somehow reading makes him deaf. It’s a quirk that served him well when he was studying with the Chantry, where bells and songs and the distant echo of the morning service might break his concentration; it’s an even more useful oddity here in the University, where he’s certain the other young scholars in his cohort spend more time gossiping about one another than actually tending to their research.

One good thing about growing up a Trevelyan, he often muses: he’s gotten very good at ignoring unpleasantries.

But since he’s not currently lost in translating a strange dialect into a more modern incarnation, and because he is instead sipping on his cold tea and staring pointedly at nothing, even when the words dancing on the parchment before him call his name so loudly they’re practical a choir…

Well, they’re not a choir. Neither is the voice that echoes off the dusty domed roof overhead.

“Shit, you fucking bastard. I swear to the Maker and beyond I will dig up your blighted bones and set them alight, you Antivan arsehole!” The heavy sound of manuscripts being dropped furiously on tables, or else on the floor. Footfalls stomping their way up and down the narrow passageway, then, “Foremost fucking scholar on the Storm Age Drylands route, my arse.”

There’s only one young scholar in the whole of the university who swears quite like that, just as there’s only one scholar in all of Thedas who is so invested in ancient Antivan trade routes and their curious codes as to be there in the smallest and darkest hours of the night. And if anyone could use a break before she sets the library alight instead of an ancient historian’s bones, then it’s sure to be Sian Fields.

Iona picks himself up, rolling out the crick in his neck from too many hours with his nose to a manuscript, and heads off through the precarious passageway toward the curses he can still hear.

This library, crammed in a tower in one of the University’s remote eastern spires, isn’t well-frequented, which is why it’s full of dusty towers of papers long since come loose from their bindings. It is entirely unlike the orderly library that houses hundreds of years’ worth of Chantry scholarship, which is bright and sunny, with air as clean and cool as the best sort of autumn afternoon.

There, his fellow scholars breathe easily, waving down attendants for tea or cheeses or a different colour of ink for improved notation.

Here, in the dark, tangled mess of shelves and labyrinthine cataloguing systems, Iona has to be mindful that he doesn’t take too deep a breath, lest he sneeze his way through the stacks and inadvertently cause an avalanche of forgotten Antivan translations of obscure trade histories.

Which would be very, very unwise, Iona decides, as he sidles through a particularly narrow gap between Mollarch’s Treatise (the revised third draft) and Lady Fontaine’s exhaustive lists of everything she ever purchased that was, at least in part, blue. Swear as Sian might, if anything were to happen to this collection –

Well. Iona would need to write Alla, and he very much doubts she would arrive in time to save him from Sian’s wrath.

“Fucking worthless pile of dog shite. Can’t you have thought of one halfway clever thing to put to blighted parchment, or is it all piss?”

This time, it’s almost a plea. Tremulous and unsteady.

Oh dear. Iona picks up the pace, shuffling around corners and shimmying delicately past particularly precarious stacks.

Down one very narrow row, a little light glows.

Ah, that would be her. Iona pokes his head around the corner. “Hello, Sian,” he says.

He sees her, more a shadow than a woman, in the very farthest corner of the collection, hunched over a desk, her head collapsed against her arms. She doesn’t even look up, her shoulders slumping forward as she scrubs her hands hard across her face. “Iona Trevelyan,” she sighs, truly sorrowful. “I hate Antiva.”

“No you don’t,” Iona tries, wriggling his way down the aisle to try and offer some semblance of… comfort. Emotional and academic support. The like. How Sian managed to climb her way over some of these stacks when they pose a challenge even for Iona’s long legs…

He frowns, worry squirming in the depths of his stomach, slippery and familiar. “How long have you been here? You know we’re meant to take breaks at least once a day. The Proctor has been very clear…”

That gets her attention. Sian surges to her feet, whirling to face him. Her face is smudged with the distant remnants of kohl, her hair – usually coiled very neatly at the base of her neck – has come loose and makes a frizzy, red halo around her finely-formed features. And though the top of her head wouldn’t even reach Iona’s shoulder –

Still, the look she levels him with manages to make his shoulders draw to his ears. Like staring down the mouth of a lion, all golden fury.

“The Proctor can go fuck a plate of cheese, for all I care. Awhile, Iona, that’s how long I’ve been here sorting these fucking codes out,” she spits, casting an arm out at the mess around them. “Can’t you tell? Haven’t had a breath of blighted fresh air in days. And if the Proctor thinks I’ll take a break when everyone else is busy swanning their way through their parties and assisted readings and afternoon scholar teas, then he can come here and tell me himself!”

Iona swallows once, his eyes very, very wide. Wide enough that the dust swirling through the air actually makes them sting. “Right,” he says. “Well. Sian. Perhaps you’d best take… a very small break. I’ve tea over in my alcove, and it’s cold but my sister sent it from Ostwick, so it’s decent enough. And… I suspect – it must be Bianchi you’re reading, yes? He will certainly keep. What else has he to do, but be dug up and burnt?”

Sian’s jaw tightens. And though this library, all but forgotten by their peers who pursue flashier topics and whose collections are orderly and clean and well-tended by servants, is dimly-lit, particularly this late at night, Iona can still make out the glassy sheen to her eyes. The tension in her shoulders. The –

She’s going to cry, maybe. And Iona isn’t quite certain he can handle that.

“Sian,” he tries, stepping forward. He reaches and catches her ink-stained hands in his own. Smiles, even though his stomach is fluttering with a million different worries. “It will all be alright. You’re the cleverest person in the whole university. If anyone can make Bianchi fall into line –”

“I’ll be fine,” she says, voice thin. “And that was unkind of me. I’m sorry. You’re not like the rest of them, and I should – As riled as a hound come full moon, my mum likes to say. And you’re right. Tea would be good, and some time away from Bianchi, and –” Sian blinks rapidly, furiously, hands tightening against Iona’s. Her stare, sheened with barely contained tears, darts from shelf to shelf. “It’s only that there’s so much. But – yes. Yes, I’ll be fine. It’ll keep.”

Then, firm and declarative, her hands very warm and soft in Iona’s, Sian straightens her shoulders, the light from her lantern making her hair glint like burnished copper. She draws in a long, steadying breath –

Which catches in her throat. Sian’s hands leap from Iona’s and she sneezes, so violently that Iona jerks backwards.

A thud as his elbow jostles into something. He has enough time to register the fact, before he hears it: the sliding of parchment, the whispering rustle of sheafs of paper coming undone. “Oh!” cries Iona, whirling, his hands flying up to try and catch what’s begun falling, to try and right this wrong, but –

The whole tower, which soars so delicately toward the ceiling, tilts toward him. He watches it, the middle sagging forward, then the top, then the rest.

It falls, a roaring, fluttering waterfall. First the one stack, then another, then the one to his left and the one beside that. A crescendo of hissing papers, quicksand closing in over him –

Iona’s coughing and sputtering and stumbling backward, and Sian has grasped him hard by the back of his tunic and hauled him away from the imminent catastrophe. Before him, the air is rife with thousands of ancient pages, with plumes of dust and flaking mildew. And the moment the pages settle, pooling across the floor, more liquid than parchment, Iona’s heart comes to a dead standstill in his chest.

He can’t feel his fingers. He can’t feel his legs. He can’t feel anything.

Maker help him. Andraste bless and keep him and guide him to something that is not this.

Hundreds of hours worth of cataloguing, only to be undone by –

Beside him, a wheezing breath.

“Are you alright?” Iona cries, whirling once again to face Sian, because if somehow her lungs have tightened, and she can’t breath, well. He’ll have to find a mage, which means finding the Proctor, who will skin Iona alive in front of all of Val Royeaux, but he will do it so long as Sian is alright and safe and –

“Andraste’s blessed tits,” gasps Sian, tears streaking down her cheeks as she laughs and coughs and sputters, her mouth caught in a grin so very bright Iona is almost blinded. “The whole thing, Iona! All of it!”

“Oh.” He feels himself shrinking, there in the midst of the chaos. “Yes. All of it.”

“I know I was cross with Bianchi and his kin, but I didn’t need you to go ahead and destroy the whole lot!”

“Well.” His hands curl against his sides and he tries to slide them beneath the cuffs of his sleeves. “I didn’t – I would never intend to – But Sian,” as again he realizes the scope of the damage he’s done. “Your work! How will you cross-reference if it’s all –”

Sian waves a hand through the hazy air between them. The same pale hand rises, fingers threading through her dust-whitened hair. “Let’s see, shall we? As Bianchi’s contemporary Russo writes in her very poorly composed summary of the four dominant trading families of the Storm Age, published in 7:23 and available in that lump of manuscripts over there… Who’s ever going to come here to check my citations? I can put it right before the Proctor even so much as suspects a thing.”

That will hardly stand. “I’ll put it right,” says Iona, with a firmness that feels very unfamiliar, but one he feels in the marrow of his bones. To demonstrate, he stoops and picks up an armful of pages, clutching them hard against his chest. “Since it’s my fault. And you’re clearly very invested in your research!”

Sian’s stare, which is bright and unflinching and always reminds him that he must be even more diligent in his studies and even bolder in his theories, narrows, staring at the sheaf of papers he’s holding. Then, with a loose shrug as she brushes dust from the front of her dark sweater, “Well, sure, it’s interesting enough when Bianchi’s not being a total prick, but no one reads it, so I’m never in a rush. Which nobles want to read about what a turnip farmer’s daughter thinks is relevant? None of them. Don’t know why I didn’t just stick to writing about whether the Chantry used red or mauve tapestries in the spring of 8:41 like all of our esteemed colleagues…”

Someone else would point out that it’s unfair, to her own research and to the research of their peers, but –

Well. She’s not entirely wrong. Iona’s heard what people say: that the University should never have offered Sian a scholarship. That they certainly shouldn’t have given her free reign of her research. That she doesn’t belong, with her foul mouth and loud laugh and refusal to pretend work that doesn’t matter does.

Sian shrugs again and turns away, fussing with the manuscript sitting on her desk. Her notes to the side are a scrawl, as usual, as wild and unpredictable as her mind. When first they’d started classes together, their teacher had gone up one side of her and down the other about the state of her lecture notes. You are not in Ferelden any longer, the man – the world’s foremost expert on what sorts of ink were popular in Val Chevin in 7:81 – sneered. You do not make notes for dogs.

Their whole class, a handful of the best and the brightest, or else the richest and most well-connected, had been tittering and watching the strange girl, her clothes a little too well-worn, her mouth a little too quick to criticize. But instead of recoiling, Sian had straightened under the stare of their teacher, shoulders squaring up as she tilted that bright glare in his direction. They’re sensible enough to me, she’d said, even though her skin had flushed red and Iona could see her knees jittering beneath her desk, And that’s what fucking matters in the end, doesn’t it?

So Sian’s right. She doesn’t fit here, and that’s why Iona loves her.

His arms tighten around the papers, which rustle gently in his grasp, his throat tight – and not, he knows, from the dust thick in the air. “I read your work.”

Her stare, golden as a hawk’s, again lands on him. “No, you don’t.”

“I do,” he says, breathless. Iona takes a half-step forward, no doubt doing irreparable damages to very rare manuscripts, but – Well. This matters. He continues, feeling bold despite Sian’s skeptical gaze. “Your translations of the shipping manifests from the harbourmaster’s encoded diaries were breathtaking. I’ve never seen anyone work like that before, Sian, and –”

Her forehead creases, eyebrows crawling upward toward the dusty nest of her hair. “You really read my work?”

“Of course I do,” he says, certain now that he’s on the right path. That this is important. “You’re the only original scholar in this whole place, and – And –” Iona pauses and squares up his own shoulders, trying to think of Sian in those early days, or on any day since. Of all the times she’s dealt with how unfair so many of the people here are. She’s brave and beautiful and brilliant, and the very least Iona can do, Iona, whose place is never questioned, whose research isn’t called useless or boring or –

“And you remind me to be better, all of the time,” he finishes, ignoring the way his heart flutters in his chest, the way his words are too quiet and foolishly breathless and utterly beneath her notice. Onwards, he thinks, ever onwards. “So I’ll clean up, and you can keep on with your work. Or maybe – maybe you could take a break, Sian. You do seem quite frustrated, and –”

“You’re a ridiculous man,” Sian breathes, and then she surges forward, and Iona nearly trips backward again.

Except this time her hand has fastened hard on the front of his tunic and she hauls his chest downward and plants a declarative kiss, right there on his mouth.

He drops the papers, and decides – somewhere between the delighted laugh that breaks free of Sian’s throat when his hands find her waist beneath the bulk of her sweater, and the smell of dust and crumbling paper in her hair, and the feel of her mouth and the way her eyes sparkle that singular gold when he kisses the very tips of her ink-stained fingers – he just doesn’t care about the manuscripts any longer. They’ll keep until tomorrow.

#ockiss17 #oc kiss week #tana writes #idk how to tag this #university of orlais #iona trevelyan #who will very happily marry the turnip farmer's daughter #he will eat turnips with every meal #'why are you eating so many turnips?'#'because i thought -- well -- doesn't it matter to you?'#'to me? maker's balls iona don't you think that growing up around thousands of turnips might make me slightly less fond of them?'#'but i thought --'#'should i start hosting dinner parties like the ones your family puts on in ostwick? should i talk more about embroidery? gossip?'#'... i take your point.'#'if you married me for my empire of turnips iona trevelyan you'll be very disappointed. i'll rule no such empire.'#'that's not why i married you. i'd rather your fine thoughts than any empire -- past or present'#'well... good. because turnips aren't the best foundations for empire as it turns out. i suppose my thoughts will have to be enough.'#'they are. you are.'#writes to his mother warning them off including turnips in the meal before they visit

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