#veilguard headcanon

[silurisanguine]

Amenities in the Lighthouse

I've seen a few jokes which are funny about the fact there are no toilets or bathing facilities in the Lighthouse and all the implications of that with Solas.

But for everyone else there, I can't believe the construct hasn't made facilities for the new residents. So I had a good look around the place and have come up with logical places a toilet/ communal wash room would be and then a more elven(see roman) bath house.

The Lighthouse's main structure is massive and there are buildings we do not access. (Not counting the free floating structures we see in the distance.) On each side are some buildings with smoking chimneys suggesting they have a function. Yet we do not access them at all in the game (Taking into account portals and the music room).

So if looking from the direction of the dining hall, on the left side is a grey free standing building. It has no windows and is connected to another building with a chimney right next to the upper side of the main Lighthouse ( not near Taash's storeroom.)-

This i now headcanon is the toilet/ communal wash room.

On the right side is a much grander looking building with high thin openings/windows and a roman like feel to it. Plus another chimney to warm things...like water? The music room we find would be behind this in structure as it has grand windows we dont see in these pictures. -

So i headcanon this is now the bath house for more social activities- sauna, pool, etc.

Anyone is welcome to adopt this concept as their own if they like, so they too can write/draw/imagine the Veilguard being nice and clean! 🤣

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

Most Antivan Crows do not live long enough to experience a midlife crisis

The Crows supply their ranks generally from orphans, illegitimate or abandoned children, children purchased from slavery, whore houses and other similar sources. Some are born into the Crows already, but those would be a very small minority, for reasons explained below.

Lucanis mentions that Crow training involves a lot of acrobacy. After a brief search, sports with similar physical requirements such as gymnastics, ballet and martial arts have the ideal starting age in the range of 4-10 years, 15 at the latest, when the children's joints are still flexible (and their minds can be easily manipulated). Zevran is canonically stated to have been taken at the age of 7.

Crow training is intense and brutal, involving straight up torture as tests of pain tolerance. From the 18 fledglings of House Arainai taken in the same year as Zevran, only two survived to the end of their training (World of Thedas Vol. 2). Training with real weapons, harsh punishment, possibly the Spartan custom of underfeeding the children and driving them to stealing food for themselves to encourage learning stealth and resourcefulness, and very likely killing any who try to run away, all these are very likely factors for the high death rate among fledglings.

If the average age of newest Crow fledglings is 6, they might be ready for promotion to the rank of Assassin very well as early as the age of 14-15. This is where the second meat grinder starts, these new Crows will already have plenty experience, but the first solo contracts will still likely take many of them, either killed by their targets, by their Masters for failing the contract, or by themselves to avoid the pain and humiliation of returning to their Masters unsuccessful. This period might likely have the highest suicide rates in general, as the new Crows are still relatively emotionaly vulnerable but old enough to comprehend their position in the world and the weight of their actions.

Promotion to the rank of Assassin also certainly brings great benefits that only increase as the Crow's career progresses and their contracts bring them more coin. The comforts and opulence of Antiva are for them to take, and someone who has grown up only knowing hunger and pain will certainly not hold back. Alcohol, drugs, sex, all the addictions and diseases will surely take the lives of many Crows.

An Assassin's career begins early and ends early. To use sports and dance once again, most porfessional gymnasts and ballet dancers retire between the ages of 25 and 35 as their physical capabilities decline. Those who have survived this long will be granted the rank of Master and oversee the distribution of contracts and the training of fledglings, and will participate in actual assassinations much less. This is also where one might strive to become a Grandmaster or even a Talon. At this point, a Crow will have enough prominence within the organization that they might become a target themselves. Only the most skilled, well-connected and ruthless Crows will continue to rise and, most importantly, continue to live.

If a presumed average number of fledglings per House is around 20, 2-3 will make it to Assassin. In one Assassin's 20 years long career, that would make only about 50 new Assassins out of 400 fledglings. Probably only about a half of those will make it to 35. Even fewer will make it to 50. Out of 400 children bought or stolen from the streets.

Caterina Dellamorte is over 70 years old.

[kanis-things]

these 'names' sound wrong

[murmel-malt]

Have some bellarook for new year's <3

[ellie-writes-games]

Spite Wants To Set A Flame

Lucanis (and by extension, Spite) have been helping Bellara with her romance novel. Flowery language and smut metaphors lead Spite to some surprising conclusions.

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗ prev Part 8 of Burn After Reading banter series next ╚══════════════════════════════════════════╝ Enjoying my work? You can leave me a tip on Ko-Fi | Have a request? Part of an on-going series of fan-writings. See the full Masterlist here.

As someone on the autism spectrum, I remember struggling with interpreting metaphor as a young person A LOT. As soon as it was introduced in Veilguard that Bellara was writing some smutty fanfiction, the first thoughts I had were "Oh, the neurospicy gang is gonna struggle." (Mainly Taash and Spite.)

This is fanfiction written by me, @ellie-writes-games. These are NOT actual screenshots from the game. Peace, love, and mad props to the DA writers.

[ode-to-fury]

We're missing the potential of a Dellamorte reunion after Rook gets taken to the Fade. It's been a week and a half, and Lucanis hasn't slept in three days. Lace is dead, Taash is perhaps the only person more catatonic than he is, Emmrich and Neve have come up with an insane plan to recreate Solas's dagger to give them a chance at ripping open the Fade to find Rook, and Davrin refuses to listen to any word that Rook might not be coming back, the only thing keeping Lucanis alive is Spite. So one night, Spite takes him to the only person other than Rook who can help.

It's not Neve, because Neve is busy with a case: getting Rook out of the Fade, so she and Emmrich are so consumed none of the others have been able to get them to even eat. No, it's not Neve, Lucanis finally collapses from exhaustion on Rook's sofa after being less than useless(or thats how he feels) to everyone for a week, and he wakes up with his hand on the knocker of Viago's door.

For a moment, he thinks about just jumping into one of the canals, but then he knocks, and Viago opens in his dressing gown.

"Lucanis?"

"I need to talk to Illario."

And Illario is grumbling about being woken up in the middle of the night, but then he sees his cousin, no his brother's face, and suddenly the last twenty years haven't happened. Suddenly they're kids again, and they've snuck into the villa kitchens after a particularly brutal training day with Caterina, and both of them are hurt and exhausted and hopeless but at least they have each other.

"Lucanis?"

"She's gone, Illario. I lost her. And I never told her I love her."

[demigoddessqueens]

Manfred: *skeleton noises*

Emmrich: your son is awake

Rook: before sunrise, he’s your son

[iivieberry]

Didn’t plan on posting it at first but Veilguard’s companions headcanons !!!!!!

You can find the version without the panties on my Twitter bluesky and Patreon 🧡

[emmg]

Lucanis is 100% the passport dad of the group. He has a color-coded folder of everyone's documents, a pen, a backup pen, and snacks. He’s already memorized the gate number, and honestly, he’s just tired. Tired of all of them.

Meanwhile, Harding and Taash are at the duty-free perfume counter, trying to huff their way into new allergies. "What if I sprayed this directly into my eyes?" "Only one way to find out."

Davrin and Assan have declared war on a vending machine that ate his money.

Emmrich is in the VIP lounge, where he’s sipping a $20 coffee and having a full-blown academic debate with Johanna who happens to be taking the same flight. It’s about something absurd, like "Does the number of airport Wi-Fi bars correlate with societal decay?" Hezenkoss did not come to play, and now the barista is their unwilling moderator.

Neve’s at the bar. She’s on her third martini and halfway through some case files, glaring at anyone who so much as looks like they might strike up a conversation. She’s also definitely pretending she doesn’t know any of them.

And Bellara? Bellara is just gone. Like, not even in the airport anymore. Somehow she’s ended up in a completely different country. There’s a 50/50 chance she’s fine and living her best life, or she’s single-handedly causing an international incident. Wherever she is, she has absolutely no regrets.

[an-established-butt-dent]

Lil Solavellan fade cuddle sesh

[silurisanguine]

The Antivan Crows grooming regime headcanon

So we know Antivan Crows are ALL about appearance. The best fabrics, softest leathers, finest tailoring. That goes to their personal appearances too. Why Lucanis looks good even when we break him out of prison - i've written about here Teia has perfect spirals in her hair, not a hint of frizz. Viago's facial hair is ON point. Illario has the sharpest cleanest jaw...so on and so forth. There isn't a non well groomed Crow in the building. I think that attention to aesthetic extends to body hair...or lack there of -

The Crows remove all body hair because it doesn't suit their aesthetic and a hairless body shows off their well toned muscles.

But also body hair is messy to them, can chafe and rub under leather and sweat, so also very practical to remove it.

Because of this, Antiva has Crow run spas and salons everywhere dedicated to appearance.

Waxing is nothing when Crows are trained to deal with pain.

[devilry-revelry]

At the start of Veilguard, if you run with a female Rook, it’s girl squad right up until you recruit Lucanis.

Once he’s picked up, there is chatter about how Harding is a terrible cook, how Bellara is usually making meals, and there is almost immediately a grocery list posted in the kitchen, written by Lucanis.

Then he goes shopping for the ladies.

I know this can’t be a new take, but I love the idea of these ladies surviving off of girl dinner, and Lucanis is just… horrified.

Bellara just snuck in to the pantry to grab her fourth apple of the day.

Neve had a handful of almonds and coffee for dinner.

Harding just made… something that no one else could stomach. She barely even ate her portion before eating a stale heel of bread.

Rook was in the kitchen at midnight eating a cucumber, and only a cucumber. No oil, no vinegar, or salt, pepper. She didn’t even chop the damn thing up.

Fresh from the Ossuary, and immediately on a new job, Lucanis decides the best way to success is making sure the ladies of the Lighthouse are properly fueled to save the world. It starts with a grocery list, and a new house rule: everyone comes to dinner. No exceptions.

[jeeaark]

[thimblings]

Viago would never allow his child to grow up this dumb, please.

[heylittleriotact]

Pssssst…

You know Emmrich’s ring? The one with the large stone that he says was his Father’s last gift to him? Yeah, that one.

It’s the only piece of jewelry he owns that isn’t gold: it’s actually something inexpensive like brass or copper. The large, shiny stone? Not a ruby or emerald - not even a less valuable gem like garnet or tourmaline. It’s just coloured glass.

It’s costume jewelry - you couldn’t get a copper for it if you tried to sell it in the market.

But it’s all a traumatized kid had left of his Dad, and despite all of his hard-earned wealth and success as a grown man, he wears that cheap ring that leaves a green band on his skin every single day, no matter what.

[ellie-writes-games]

Lucanis Lunchboxes: Inedible Minestrone

What if Lucanis packed Rook lunchboxes with little notes in them throughout the main story?

On the map, a "!" icon appears in the hallway just outside Rook's room in the Lighthouse. A temporary chest here holds a one-of-a-kind Valuable and a letter from Lucanis that is added to the Codex. Triggers after the Act 1 pantry scene, Lucanis romance only.

[SPOILERS] Read the letter from Lucanis below the line:

Spite's first attempt at cooking. He hasn't gotten the hang of it quite yet, but he's trying! What would you want Spite to try to cook for you? (He's open to suggestions.) I'm planning on writing more of these with the longer-term goal of modding these notes into DA:TV.

Maybe one day he'll even make something edible. We're all rooting for him.

Enjoying my work? You can leave me a tip on Ko-Fi | Have a request?

Part of an on-going series of fan-writings. See the full Masterlist here.

This is fanfiction written by me, @ellie-writes-games. These are NOT actual screenshots from the game. Peace, love, and mad props to the DA writers.