#vivienne dragonborn

[wellthebardsdead]

Vivienne: *standing in the kitchen looking at a cook book with increasing confusion* …

Taliesin: *walks in and sets down the groceries* pondering the pictures again again are we?

Vivienne: what’s a tsp?? A Quart?? I wanted… to make dinner but… even after all that learning to just read books I can’t understand any of this?…

Taliesin: *sensing more to the disappointment in his tone* Vi… what’s wrong?…

Vivienne: I wanted to make dinner for when Steren comes home but… but I don’t know how to…

Taliesin: … *sighs and puts on his apron* alright I’ll show you what everything is first then we’ll get started.

*after dinner*

Steren: It was really good Vivi you’re too hard on yourself.

Vivienne: really? Taliesin helped me a lot…

*downstairs*

Kaidan: *walks into the kitchen to see every utensil, pot, dish and plate in the house now in the sink and Taliesin on the floor drinking from a bottle of wine* … Alright, let’s get you to bed I’ll do the dishes.

Taliesin: who- *hiccups* mixes up flour with baking soda?! The cake was alive!!

[trickstarbrave]

i had like better plans for the bg but then i realized that involved Drawing A Room and i didnt want to do that. so.

here is vivi in front of a big celebratory fire post alduin defeat being given a necklace from his star... steren put a lot of effort into recreating house dagoth's style of jewelry (you cannot tell me house dagoth didnt wear scarab jewelry. i will not believe you.

the lighting was a nightmare. but i think i learned a thing or two so. its a win. and vivi is always pretty so.

vivienne belongs to @mulberrycafe

[keleren-ie]

Sooooooo I've got a question for @trickstarbrave and @mulberrycafe (I hope I'm doing this correctly I'm still discovering how tumblr works). You've been talking about Vivi and Steren having a baby, and I have to know : what would it look like ?

I've taken the liberty of making a few hypothesis. Feel free to correct me, I hope I got their features right.

[nuwanders]

Some questions from the TES OC game :D

For Mathyas:

14. Any motifs or symbolism for this character? Flowers, animals, etc.

24. What do they believe is their biggest weakness? What do you say is their biggest weakness?

For Jorunn:

18. Where do they fit on the morality chart?

21. Are they: Diplomatic or Violent? Passive or Instigating? Selfish or Selfless? Law abiding or Lawless? Trusting or Apprehensive? Caring or Indifferent?

thank you so much @dirty-bosmer! <3 great questions :)

14. Any motifs or symbolism for this character? Flowers, animals, etc.

mathyas does have a motif! it features mostly in the waiting door, but has also appeared a couple of times now in king & lionheart. that motif is a spider 🕷️

there’s an obvious lore explanation here, but in irl dream symbology, spiders are meant to signify that the dreamer is being manipulated. mathyas is being manipulated by several characters in his story—astrid, vivienne, even nazir to some extent—but he is also being manipulated by the narrative itself (i.e. me). i mean how unlucky do you have to be to pick the one house in windhelm with a traumatised boy and a rotting corpse as its inhabitants while searching for a hiding spot from slavers?

mathyas doesn’t slot naturally into the canon dark brotherhood questline so i had to manipulate the story a LOT to get it to work. thankfully there’s an in-universe explanation for all of this contrivance, which is that mathyas is one of those unfortunate souls who has been noticed by mephala and turned into of her playthings. Which i get 100%, because torturing mathyas brings me a great deal of amusement, so basically i am mephala, mephala is me.

Spider imagery features quite heavily in The Waiting Door, but it’s supposed to be ambiguous to what extent these are just ordinary spiders, or whether it’s mephala sinking her claws into mathyas when he's young. Either way, the incident with the spider in the final scene leads mathyas to develop a lifelong case of arachnophobia. Poor boy.

24. What do they believe is their biggest weakness? What do you say is their biggest weakness?

Every misstep and miscalculation that mathyas makes throughout the course of king & lionheart (both what’s been written and what’s still to come), he blames on his not being smart enough— he thinks that if he were only cleverer, he could outsmart astrid and vivienne and beat them at their own game. He also feels held back by what he writes off as his ‘moral squeamishness’, his gut feeling that something is wrong even when his mind is telling him that it’s justifiable in the name of the greater good. 

In reality, he’s got it all back to front. His downfall is caused by his overreliance on what he thinks of as logic or rationality, his refusal to see ethics as anything other than a numbers game, even when his heart and soul are screaming at him to stop. He tries to control what he can in a situation that is soooo so far removed from his control, and in doing so commits some deeds that ultimately are never justified by some happy end. 

jórunn under the cut!

18. Where do they fit on the morality chart?

I would put jórunn somewhere between true neutral and neutral good, moving further into ‘good’ territory as the story progresses. As a disabled sex worker in the imperial city, and very much a member of cyrodiil’s urban poor, jórunn grew up in a kind of dog-eat-dog world and learned from a young age to look out for herself first and foremost. The burden of being dragonborn is not one she welcomes, BUT, she does accept it, because what’s the alternative? She has nowhere to go where she can hide from her fate, no ordinary life she can run back to; those bridges have long been burned. She rises to meet her destiny if only because she feels that she must, but in doing so she discovers a more selfless side to herself 

As far as her ‘chaos’ score is concerned, jórunn remains firmly in that middle column. she doesn’t hold the law in particularly high regard, but equally she won’t go out of her way to break it for the sake of doing so.  

21. Are they: Diplomatic or Violent? Passive or Instigating? Selfish or Selfless? Law abiding or Lawless? Trusting or Apprehensive? Caring or Indifferent?

I’m going to treat this as a a no-nuance ‘this or that’ type challenge for the sake of brevity, because i could honestly write paragraphs on every one of these lmao

violent / passive / selfish / lawless / apprehensive / caring

[scribeofskyrim]

Morndas, 30th of Last Seed, 4E 201

Well, we’re still in Solitude.

Woke up this morning to a terrible storm, and I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not hike up and over a mountain, cold and wet from a thunderstorm.

Decided to stay one more day, so I checked out the apothecary, Angeline’s Aromatics. Angeline is an elderly woman, and very sweet. She reminds me of Miss Agrippina. She asked me to see if I can find word of her daughter, Fura, who joined the Imperial army. She was stationed in Whiterun. I hadn’t met her, sadly. She asked me to go to Captain Aldis and ask him if he knew where she was or how she was doing.

I went to Castle Dour and saw him drilling his men in the courtyard, ignoring the pouring rain.

I asked him about Fura, and he was reluctant, but I managed to persuade him. He admitted that she had died fighting a group of Stormcloaks a little while ago. He’d just been trying to find a good time or way to tell Angeline, but now that I knew, he was leaving that task to me.

Typical. He’s plenty brave with a sword in his hand, but he can’t face a mother’s grief.

No way in Oblivion I’m handing over Grom’s letter to that coward.

So, I went back to the shop, and delivered the terrible news to her. She said she couldn't thank me for it, which I understood. She turned away, and we left. Her niece, Vivienne, was outside. She thanked me for helping her aunt, but I could only nod.

Divines, I need another drink. I hardly did anything today, but I think that was the hardest thing I've done since I got to this icy wasteland.

On the way back to the Winking Skeever, I ran into a beggar on the street, Noster Eagle-Eye. He said he was one of the best scouts in the legion, back in the day. He’d lost his helmet somewhere while on one of his scouting missions. He marked on my map where he’d lost it, and I gave him a coin and said that if I ever came across it, I’d return it to him.

Now to spend the rest of the dreary day nice and warm here at the inn. We’ll start out tomorrow.

-------

I just heard the bard lady here sing a song about ME! They have a song about the Dragonborn! It’s called “The Dragonborn Comes” and I said to Lydia “Yeah but it’s been a while,” and she snorted ale out her nose!

I’d have a lot of wine. I’m sleeping now.

[practically-an-x-man]

Your OCs are in a D&D campaign! What race, class, and alignment are they playing as?

Oooooh I love this!! Thank you!!

(Also to make things more interesting I'm going with all currently-available races and classes)

Rae: Human wizard, true neutral - prefers a simpler setup that then allows her to adapt her character more in the campaign itself.

Robin: Half-elf bard, neutral good - fun, music-themed character to play with her buddies at the X-Mansion

Madison: Grippli assassin, chaotic neutral - she was told the grippli were water-themed and didn't realize that meant frogs rather than fish, and wanted to play an assassin

Ophelia: Maeluth warlock, lawful evil - has played the game a LOT throughout her life, at this point she's just trying to create some fun, interesting characters

Gia: Forest gnome druid, lawful good - Kate's suggestion, creating a character that was a lot like her to ease her into the game

Jasper: Dwarven fighter, lawful good - has played the game a bit, is starting to branch out into deeper lore and backstory for their characters.

Kestrel: Fey gnome ranger, chaotic good - first time playing the game, tried to build a character as similar to themself irl as they could

Katherine: Half-elf cleric, neutral good - uses this as an excuse to use her knowledge of Egyptian mythology to get her character out of tricky situations

Quinn: Tiefling rogue, true neutral - wants to cause chaos, but not enough to break the game

Eris: EITHER a dragonborn barbarian, chaotic evil (what Rick chose for them, knowing they'd have fun with it) OR a half-orc fighter, chaotic neutral (what they picked at random, just based on what sounded cool to them)

Nikoletta: Drow sorceror, neutral evil - is that a reflection of how she subconsciously sees herself after STAR Labs? Maybe.

Jimmy: Halfling druid, neutral good - chosen because it felt very classic-fantasy, like a Tolkien character

Vivienne: Half-elf bard, lawful evil - just seemed like a fun, siren-y character to play

Spider: Human bard, true neutral - this started as a bet between him and a few of his film buddies, to start with the most boring or "useless" character and see how long he can survive. It basically turns into Jaskier/Dandelion from the Witcher after a while.

[hrodvitnon]

I actually really like the Elder Scrolls ruling both for Abraxas and Shamhat.

It would go a long way to explain some stuff- like how Leo has almost no external traits of a Gojiran. It would also make it possible for Shimo's species to bounce back by virtue of her being a female.

However there are a couple unfortunate or even retconny stuff I could see with this. First off it would really make Goji, Rodan, and Ozzy true endlings- as any kids they produce would be more towards the mother's side than their side. It would kinda make one of Rodan's core motivations in Shamhat make a lot less sense (saving his species)- if the baby is gonna be more human than fire-bird. Also- it would make what Mothra mentioned about Vivienne popping out an egg instead of just a normal birth be a little strange. If they're supposed to take after their mothers, wouldn't it make more sense for the birth to just be live and the kid looking more like a draconic bloodline sorcerer than like a dragonborn? Especially since Vivienne probably lacks the biology to make an egg- thing.

Going back to the positives and Thor for a second, you could also do a classic myth inversion by having his mother be the Thunderer named Joro and Odin being a Jotnar. Or- maybe you could even have this theoretical Odin be a sorta cross-breed between a Jotnar and a Gojiran (or some other species- it'd make the most sense if it was a species with a heat-based ability, to kind of quell the ice powers) to explain away why Thor can't shoot off ice attacks.

I'd say the whole "taking after the mother" thing isn't necessarily a problem in Shamhat; it's something that only really matters in terms of birth since the baby will naturally need to be human-size in order to be born without harming the mother beyond Normal Childbirth Agony. They're also still half-Titan and thus have access to the Polymorph nonsense that the father has, they just need to learn how to use it. But at the end of the day, it's a smut fic! Realism and logic are optional.

Okay, in that context yeah, Thor having a Thunderer mom while the father is a different species makes more sense. Elder Scrolls Genetics are AbraxasVerse canon confirmed? Great for Barb and Mothra and other lady Titans! Less so for the guys... unless some well-meaning mad scientist decides to try some cloning nonsense to produce a female specimen of the male endling species, which also has the potential to go wrong... can't have shit in Detroit AbraxasVerse.

[recovery-within-the-iris]

Update

I completed the winstred manor perfect for a family with bedrooms, storage and a kitchen. Vivienne now has the last name in-reeds and i adopt hroar from the orphanage so now we have hroar-in-reeds. My wittle family 😚😚

Shout out to that time when i just completed the main dawnguard mission and needed a pick me up because the vale is pretty but SUPER LONG AND IRRITATING so i decided to go to the nearby orc stronghold, brawl the chief and marry one of the chiefs daughters, Borgakh the Steel Heart and she was excited to leave with me. So excited that for some reason, she said i do and turned and left the temple of mara before my little argonian nerd man could answer yeah or nay or marriage. Then i got nervous, rushed the ceremony and tried to follow her outside cause she didnt ask where she could go live and when i looked at the dispersing crowd of loved ones, she was fucking no where. So now im running around to all my houses; shes not at vindrell hall, shes not a breezehome, shes not at honeyside and by this point,i dont have the home from windhelm or solitude. Ik i have a modded in castle house(cause i need the space, this is an archival run) so maybe the a.i got confused and went there. Nope. Shes not at dragonblood castle. Idk where my wife went.

So i say fuck it and assume maybe she went back to her stronghold and i still have to pay her dowry. As i arrive, its night time and dark asf. I have no follower but im just here to check for wife. No wife, infact, nobody is here other than her mom. So i sigh and start looking up what could of happend online. I see something that says that a glitch can occur where they leave(this has NEVER happened to me before and ive married easily on all 3 of my previous playthroughs) and it might be fixed if you wait outside the temple for a day and then re-enter.

As im about to fast travel from an area next to solitude(farthest northwest of the large map) alllll the way back to riften(farthest southeast of the large map) i get taken out of my map to my horse next to me freaking out and in cheeky little white writing at the top left of my screen, a tiny little message pops up " you can not fast travel with enemies near by". Im sorry WHAT?? I look up and cinamatically captured by my camera angle, i see an elder dragon, blowing a stomache full of fire, swoop over the orc stronghold that singularly holds my new wife's father, grandmother and mother.

So yeah.. I fight and kill the dragon. Im lvl 42 by this point, dragons dont really phase me much. Are they scary and big? Yes but not something i couldnt handle with a couple of iron arrows, 5 poisons and good aim. I see arrows that arnt mine being shot at the dragon while i kill it and i see my new mother in law running into the longhouse of the stronghold after its dead so i just assume, everything is alright. Dragon's dead, i saved my in laws but i still cant find my fuckin wife. So i follow what the guide says and fast travel to riften.

I choose to appear infront of the gates of riften instead of the much closer jarls house thing because i just got a bunch of Dragon bones and scales, im overencumbered, i wanna make some money. As im about to start walking and turn to go to the pawned prawn, shit you not, up comes padding the fucking courier. See, awhile back, i started the portion of the white phial mission and (spoilers) ive been waiting for neurelion to just die already so i can get the phial. I assume "finally! I can get the phial!" Nope. The courier tells me i have some inheritance, sorry for your loss, leaves. Now im abit sad, cause see i assume its one of the beggars in the game as i like to walk up and give them the gold everytime im in town. I have an absurd amount of gold so i dont really mind. However, if the beggar dies in the game, they can give you the inheritance. I was sad cause i like the beggar characters and it'll suck to go to a shopping district without paying them a visit.

As im reading through the inheritance letter thing, i notice the name is not one i recognize. Its chief ka-something. Im thinking " who tf is that?" Then it hits me. The orc stonghold that just got attacked, my new wife is the daughter of the chief... Did my father in law just die?? I didnt see his body?? So i say fuck this shit and fast travel right back to the stronghold. Im looking around and i see the mom up and walking around and as i turn the cornor of the fence, in typical skyrim fashion, theres dead grandma all proped up on her knees and leaning back like shes about to do a sick slide. Then i glance to my right and right infront of the door to the long house is, shit you not, the body of my missing wife's dad.

I may get too much into character when i play skyrim cause all i can imagen is that this orc stronghold was peachy till this hot shot little nerdy argonian boy came trottn in. He arm wrestled the chief and offered to marry his daughter so he could get the resources and she could get her freedom. Everything is fine until after the wedding and suddenly their daughter fuckin gose missing after silently leaving her own ceremony. The family just returns the stronghold confused and late that night, the new son in law pops up just outside the gate and peaks in then looks like hes about to leave before, what they can only assume, is the boy's pissed dragon-uncle, comes swooping in and kills their leader and matriarch. The boy kills the dragon then just fucking leaves without saying anything. They file the death. The chief wanted somethin to be left for his daughter's new non-traditional family so 100g gets drained from the bank account. Then a day later he shows up and starts standing over the corpses looking incredibly confused.

Oh and to top it all off, just when i was about to go back and try the waiting outside thing, my game crashes :) everything resets to the moment i finished the dawnguard mission. I have never met my wife or this family i brought dragony harm upon and ive elected to take that as a sign that perhaps i am not to marry that orc woman and will infact, never return to their stronghold again :)

Is ok, my character has known and interacted with Vivienne from solitude more so now i get rp as my guy building a house for them(windsetd) and everyone around them knowing my guy has a massive crush and will propose anyday and they knkw because hes been around the potion shop more often and hes been buying ALOT of building materials suddenly :)

He(i) also got to directly save her from a dragon attack by killing a dragon that was in the shopping district of solitude. :) i cant wait to marry those two

[nickandros]

i think i'm so fond of carver in part because of the whole younger brother disease, but also because i love any character in an rpg that completely breaks the power fantasy. i remember so vividly seeing a reddit thread right after skyrim came out talking about everyone's least favourite character and some guy said maven black briar bc she doesn't respect that you're the dragonborn and i was SO shocked bc i loved this feudal girlboss succession ass family matriarch specifically because she tells you to fuck off out of her sight. it's not a bug, it's a Feature that you can never get full approval with carver. that's how it's supposed to be. he's a jealous, spurned younger sibling. vivienne is one of my favourite dai companions and i've almost never played a game where she likes me at ALL. so much of rpgs is about being the biggest baddest bitch in the world and the whole time i'm gonna be dragging along someone who is kicking and screaming and wants me dead because what is the point of any of it if you're not kept humble.

[snowelfsupremacy]

“Who is this scholar again?” The dragonborn said behind Serana, the walk to Winterhold becoming tiring as more snow continued to fall. 

“Don’t call her that to her face, friend. She doesn’t take kindly to titles.” The vampire rubbed her arms before continuing. “She was a friend of my mother’s, she is our best hope if we want to find her.” 

“And she lives in Winterhold of all places? Couldn’t she choose a warmer environment? Preferably with less snow?” She grunted as she stumbled, the snow piling at her feet making it difficult to walk; especially with the fur boots she was wearing. She had discarded her normal light attire for something warmer and therefore heavier; she didn’t appreciate the extra weight. Despite being the dragonborn, she wasn’t very muscular and apart from stolen goods and purses full of coin, she couldn’t carry much. Serana came to know this information some time after they began travelling together in search of the elder scrolls and needless to say, she wasn’t amused. 

“She is rather peculiar. I remember when she would come visit us, she would be completely in tune with the icy weather of the castle despite not being a vampire.” Serana sighed in relief as Winterhold finally came into view, the lanterns outside the tavern becoming a beacon to the pair. “I’m guessing it’s because she’s an elf. Elves are very resistant to harsh weather.” 

“I’m an elf” 

“You’re a disgrace.” 

“I’m the dragonborn, I can shout you across the gorge.” They stepped onto the tavern's porch, shaking snow from their hair and taking off their masks. Serana's scoff was soon replaced by a sigh as warmth of the tavern enveloped her; even as a vampire Winterhold's cold was punishing. 

"I'm choosing to ignore your threat in favor of our mission." Making their way to the bar, they paid for two rooms and warm meals and took a seat at one of the nearby tables. The moment the streaming bowl of vegetable soup was placed in front of them, they dug in ignoring the burn of the liquid on their tongues. 

"What's her name? You never mentioned." 

"Vivienne. No last name, just Vivienne." 

"A walking mystery, I see. This is going to be a long trip." 

A/N: Gelebor I love him so much and I think he deserves both a love story and a companion so here we are.... this will be as canon friendly as possible there will be some changes however (bc Bethesda’s story is kinda idk how to put it...illogical and I also simp for Vyrthur) I hope yall like it. You can also find me one AO3 as CosmicRacoon. Thank you for reading

[ms-katonic-of-tamriel]

Chapters: 106/? Fandom: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age (Video Games) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Elisif the Fair/Madanach, Cicero/Eola, Argis the Bulwark/Farkas, Athis/Eola, Borgakh the Steel Heart/Kaie, Cicero/Iron Bull, Anders/Female Hawke, Alistair (Dragon Age)/Elisif the Fair/Madanach, Borkul the Beast/Josephine Montilyet, Dorian Pavus/Loghain Mac Tir, Iron Bull/Original Female Character(s), Blackwall/Bethany Hawke, Anora Mac Tir/Felix Alexius, Briala/Fiona Characters: Elisif the Fair, Madanach, Cicero (Elder Scrolls), Eola, Borkul the Beast, Kaie, Argis the Bulwark, Cassandra Pentaghast, Leliana (Dragon Age), Josephine Montilyet, Varric Tethras, Solas, Fiona (Dragon Age), Blackwall, Iron Bull, Cremisius "Krem" Aclassi, Cullen Rutherford, Vivienne (Dragon Age), Sera (Dragon Age), Dorian Pavus, Cole (Dragon Age), Athis, Flemeth, Bethany Hawke, Alistair (Dragon Age), Felix Alexius, Anora Mac Tir, Loghain Mac Tir, Hawke (Dragon Age), Female Hawke, Dagna (Dragon Age), Gaspard de Chalons, Briala (Dragon Age), Morrigan (Dragon Age), Kieran (Dragon Age), Rhys (Dragon Age), Evangeline de Brassard, Ralof (Elder Scrolls), Serana (Elder Scrolls), Barbas (Elder Scrolls), Miraak (Elder Scrolls), Sutherland's Company (Dragon Age), Sebastian Vael, Lucien Flavius, Ria (Elder Scrolls), Inigo the Brave (Elder Scrolls), Aranea Ienith, Tullius (Elder Scrolls) Additional Tags: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Polyamory, Bisexuality, Romance, Angst, Crossover, Epic, Threesome - F/M/M, Light BDSM, Cute Kids Series: Part 3 of Elisif the Dragon-Queen Summary:

The High Queen of Skyrim should have the world at her feet, but some things even a Dragonborn can't command, such as the ravages of time, rock dust and Skooma. With her beloved husband dying, and her beloved five year old miserable, Elisif risks everything to petition the gods for a miracle. Except miracles come at a very high price...

Now with updated tags!  In which the pretence that Tamriel is Just A Story finally starts crashing down as the rescue team arrives, with friends both old and new in tow.  And first order of business is dealing with a Prince of Starkhaven intend on bringing the Inquisitor down.

[wellthebardsdead]

Vivienne: *walking across the bridge from riverwood, jumping as a bunch of birds suddenly scatter while others land nearby, eyes immediately locking onto them in wonder* what are you??

Taliesin: that’s a Robin- you’ve? Never seen birds before?

Vivienne: not very tiny ones like these, how can they be so small and sound so loud?

Steren: birds back in Morrowind are, really big, seagulls are the smallest known of there though they often just get eaten by cliffracers.

Taliesin: *snorts* now I know you’re pulling my leg, cliffracers are extinct.

Steren: …what? No they’re not they’re everywhere on the mainland and-

Vivienne: Steren- cliff racers have been extinct for over a hundred years. Saint Jiub made sure of it.

Steren: I- I need to sit down.

[trickstarbrave]

im just making shit up to put on vivi while i suffer and die from this horrible stomach ache

[chronicalanxiety]

The party for a DnD pirate-themed one-shot

From left to right: Vivienne Redford - Half-Tabaxi/Battlemaster

Julian "Alaúde" da Silva Campeiro  - Half-elf/Bard (College of Lore)

Edryn Ahmerath - Triton/Eldritch Knight

Kar Kra'Thom - Dragonborn/Cleric (Tempest)

[felassan]

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but... How exactly does lyrium potions work? I mean, lyrium can't be digested because it's literally poison, right? So how do mages replenish their mana during fights, given that they are unable to simply sip the mixture and throw the bottle away? Is there any explanation of this process?

hi Nonnie, no you’re fine, it’s not stupid. I encourage folks who have questions or things they’re wondering about to hmu like this becuz I genuinely enjoy talking about this stuff and tryin to help :) I put this answer under a cut because it became quite long (although Tumblr coding is doing something whack with it idek).

as you say, lyrium is a really dangerous and volatile substance, and can cause both psychological and physical harm, especially to mages. there’s not an out-and-out explanation on your query or how lyrium potions work that I’m aware of, but there’s a few things at work here. (mages are definitely able to sip the mixture of a lyrium potion and replenish mana for the record! we see this in the books, and drinking lyrium potions also grants mages such things as the ability to enter the Fade when fully awake and temporary short-term access to power levels far greater than their natural magical potential. this is supported in the lore. mages also don’t need lyrium potions to perform magic, it only enhances what they can do and speeds up the replenishing of their strength. the average combat-experienced mage can probably cast more than three spells in battle without needing to chug a potion.)

now first, the explosive and seriously dangerous kind of lyrium is actually lyrium in its raw form, the ore as it is untouched in the earth. the most experienced members of the dwarven Mining Caste are capable (just about) of safely mining it. they can do this due to their natural resistance, though it must be noted that they’re not immune, that the resistance is only partial, and that if they go to the surface it’s lost over time. they then process and refine it into a form which is less dangerous. it’s this processed, refined lyrium which is in lyrium potions. the reason why we don’t know much about how the dwarves go about this mysterious process of processing and refining is because they keep it secret, and a jealously guarded one at that, to the point that only a handful of Mining families know how. but whatever they do, it renders lyrium into a variant form which is less dangerous, although not harmless of course. it needs to be processed like this for mages to even be able to approach it.

next, only a small quantity of lyrium is in a given lyrium potion (per the item description they have in one of the games). I suspect this (what feels to me as essentially amounting to dilution) also has an impact in lessening the potential for harm, or the extent of the harm done. this idea is supported by lore: “mages [consume it in a] diluted form... [overindulgence is bad,] particularly in more concentrated amounts”. in addition, to make a lyrium potion, the lyrium is “mixed with liquid”. this is just a feeling of mine, but I can’t quite imagine that a lyrium potion is simply a small quantity of lyrium diluted/dissolved/mixed up in a larger quantity of water. this is bordering on headcanon, but it’s possible that whatever other ingredients are in there, they help to render the lyrium to be.. more inert? more stable? less harmful to the body.

the lore also does actually acknowledge that lyrium potions have a damaging effect on the body for mages (see Vivienne’s comments on mana imbalance). there’s an element of what’s called gameplay-story segregation here. mages in Thedas aren’t truly chugging lyrium potions all the time on the field of battle the way we do in-game to restore mana, just like Dragonborns in Skyrim don’t really stop in the middle of a battle to eat ten wheels of cheese and five loaves of bread in order to regain HP. as a function of gameplay, spells require mana to cast, and so we require a way to restore mana. in reality mages wouldn’t be drinking lyrium potions anywhere near as often, and use of lyrium potions by (sensible) mages would be considered and measured. this is because the lore does actually say/acknowledge that long-term or excessive use of lyrium (i.e. potions) by mages can even lead to physical mutation (the uppermost magisters of the ancient Imperium reportedly became unrecognizable and inhuman-looking due to this). so it’s a resource that would be used sparingly and at time points which would be ‘spread out’, so to speak (or so I think). it should also be noted that unlike templars in the later stages of lyrium addiction, which is progressive and doesn’t get better, mages with mana imbalance are somehow able to recuperate from the effects. whatever the reason for this is, it’ll be do to with their being mages.

also, during the development of DAO, the effects of lyrium use and addiction were originally going to be shown in both mage characters and those with the templar spec. drinking the potions was supposed to yield diminishing benefits. DGaider wrote once on this saying:

The implementation we had was that, if the addiction developed, the use of lyrium had diminishing returns. You needed more and got less. The problem we encountered, is that mages pretty much needed to drink lyrium potions [note: this ties to gameplay-story segregation as mentioned above]. Addiction was practically guaranteed. So there needed to be some method of dealing with the addiction without rendering it pointless, and ideally some kind of story implication...

...and you can see why it suddenly became costly. If we could come up with some other implementation that was meaningful, I'd like to see return in the future -- it was something templar characters were meant to face as well as mages, after all.

ultimately they dropped it because they couldn’t find a way of implementing it that was both playable and cost-effective. the fact that this was dropped in this way contributes [on a meta level] a bit to the origin of where your question comes from.

hope this helps make sense of things somewhat :)

[a-productive-manor]

APM’s Cabin Fever Reading List

Cloistering got you down? Need somewhere better (or worse) to escape? 

APM will be offering a rotating reading list of stories: for now, by APM authors, but we’ll be adding reading recs more widely as we update.

Do you need a massive longfic to get lost in? No problem, we got you. 

Don’t have the spoons for anything longer than a one-shot? We have those too. Different genres, pairings, and fandoms.

[[[~Multichapter~]]]

The Voidling Dragon Age Inquisition; Explicit; F/M; MGIT; Solas/OC @othanas​

Having awakened in a different time, place, and reality- the Earthling Andromeda's introduction to the brutal landscape of Ferelden is a quiet and suspicious one. With no known language to readily communicate, an arcane resistance that halts all magical intervention, and the forcible implant into a culture so vastly different from her own, Andromeda must accept that her tale on Earth has come to a violently abrupt end. However, unknown to Andromeda and those within the ranks of the Andrastian Inquisition, her story lights anew with a cosmically malformed and hungering purpose. Pray for planet Thedas.

Rara Avis  Dragon Age Inquisition; Mature; F/M; MGIT; Blackwall/OC, Cullen/OC @convenientcoma​

When Dr. Alberta Marieve Shaw left work on Christmas Eve, she was planning on a quiet evening at home before heading off to sit on a beach in the Caribbean for a week, but, things do not go according to plan. She finds herself in a completely foreign world, unlike anything she has ever experienced. At first, it seems that nothing in her past or training could have prepared her for this, but perhaps she is better suited to this world than she initially thought. She must navigate a war between mages and Templars, the brutality of Thedas itself, and the whims of a powerful Inquisitor to survive and find her way home.

The Slightly Tragic yet Very Inspiring Story of Casien Yedlin, Orphan, Scholar, and Mage TES V: Skyrim; Teen and Up; M/M; Ulfric Stormcloak/M!OC @curiousartemis​

Casien Yedlin is newly arrived from Solstheim. Unfortunately, Windhelm is not the paradise his aunt and uncle hoped it would be. It's funny what you learn to put up with to avoid dying from starvation and frostbite. (Or, the one where a young Dunmer servant befriends a Nord king, and somehow, against all odds, love begins to bloom.)

Scions of Lavellan and Untold Tales of the Inquisition Dragon Age Inquisition; Mature; F/M, M/M, Multi @eranehn​; galacticatart

After the needs of their clan took them in different directions, estranged twins Avril and Era'nehn find themselves embroiled with the Inquisition. Thrust into the turbulence of unfamiliar politics and burdened with unearned power, they each must individually navigate the straits of newfound friendships and enmities, all while finding their footing amidst agency, powerlessness, and slowly developing romantic attachments. This story follows their successes and failures through the official timeline, blending canonical events with original interludes told through the eyes of their friends, advisers, companions, and Inquisition agents.

In Violation Dragon Age II; Mature; Multi; Ser Agatha/Orsino @fandomn00blr​

Ser Agatha was sent to Kirkwall in 9:30 to help the Circle there with the influx of refugees from Ferelden, a few months before the new Knight-Captain, Ser Cullen Rutherford arrived.She was a serious woman who conducted herself with propriety, for the most part just preferring to keep a low profile and stay out of trouble. She rarely let her guard down or allowed her emotions to show through her heavy Templar armor. Few of her fellow soldiers ever saw or appreciated the subtle sense of humor she had, her quiet rebellious streak, or the anger she felt deep within her at the things she'd had to bear witness to as a Templar in Kirkwall before the Rebellion in 9:37. But when the time came, brought on by an apostate revolutionary's devastating attack on the Chantry, she stood firmly against Meredith's orders to annul the Circle, with Cullen and a contingent of Templars who still remembered the part of their vows that Agatha held most dear: their duty to protect the mages. Now, along with whoever's left in Kirkwall, she'll have to pick up the pieces...

Dead Bitch Walking Dragon Age Inquisition; Mature; Multi; Alistair/OC @grumpkinvicky​

She was dead, she’d accepted that the moment she’d woken up, looked at the night sky seen two moons and the stars. Having accepted this fact she was living life to the fullest. She had no skills whatsoever, or no usable ones in the middle of the Hinterlands.Breaking into places before the templar/mage rebellion had made things a little easier to loot old treasures. Knowing where there were rarer herbs helped too, after she’d watched a couple of other people picking them.Now she had some bombs, she had some more weather-resistant clothes and more importantly, she had a map to Therinfal where the greatest treasure of all would be found.

The Inquisition’s Dragonborn DAI/Skyrim; Explicit; Multi; Rylen/Female Dragonborn @inquisition-dragonborn​

Gwenaëlle, the Dragonborn, has completed her final challenge and defeated Alduin, the World Eater, but on her way home from Sovngarde she seems to have taken a wrong turn and ended up in Thedas where a fledgling group, led by a man with a glowing hand, struggle to save their own world. Does the prophesy of the Last Dragonborn still have more to play out? Will the Inquisition accept her or destroy her? A tale of action, adventure, dragons, and love.

Threshold Dragon Age Inquisition; Explicit; F/M; Delrin Barris/OC @sarenkascrawls​

Non-magical Thedas. The Inquisition has reached the stalemate in the war with Corypheus because of the expansion of Hasmali regime in the Free Marches, threatening the safety of their allies and the trade routes. The only way to negotiate with an authoritarian Hasmal is through an offer of a familial bond. Ser Delrin Barris sends out a marriage proposal in an effort to secure a truce. It seems a sacrifice worth to help end the war, even if it changes his life forever. Mira Surma, the daughter of voivode Surma, a Hasmali military general, has spent the last seven years serving as a lay person in the Chantry. One night her father’s henchman arrives to take her, and she knows nothing will ever be the same. Her entire life, Mira has tried to carve out an existence free of her father. His entire life, Delrin has tried to follow his duty. Their marriage acts as a political tool, but it is real. Amidst the war, they try to build a life together with the best intentions. 

A Prince to Call Mine Vampire the Masquerade, Bloodlines; Explicit; F/M; Sebastian LaCroix/F!OC Crystal_Grace

What if meeting the man of your life meant dying? Marjory Sartore used to be completely oblivious to the true nature of the world, only worrying about climbing the ladder at her company and balancing her expenses. That was until a storm made her stay late at work and she saw the most alluring man right in front of her. Obsessed with a man nobody seemed to know, her attempts to find him again leads her to the most important change in her life: death. Made into a vampire and thrown into the middle of a power struggle, could she learn to survive in a much more violent world and come closer to the man of her dreams?

The Reluctant Alchemist’s Guide to Thedas Dragon Age Inquisition; Mature; F/M, Multi; Solas/F!OC @paraparadigm

Margo Duvalle likes her quiet academic life just fine. Her research on the history of botany is going well - until she finds an odd manuscript in the local special collections library. What starts as a promising source for a new article leads to a series of unfortunate events that hurl Margo into an unfamiliar world - and into a stranger's body. But a PhD in history doesn't prepare you for surviving in a world on the edge of collapse, especially when the organization that seeks to fix things is itself a sordid mess. As she tries to unravel the mysteries lurking behind young Evelyn Trevelyan's apparent incompetence, Margo is led into a tangled web that weaves multiple worlds together — and what waits in the shadows might be much bigger than whatever strife plagues Thedas.

[[[~One-Shots and Short Works~]]]

In My Heart Shall Burn Dragon Age Inquisition; Teen & Up; M/M; Delrin Barris/M!Levellan @curiousartemis​

Wine, Women, and Song - A First Day Story Dragon Age Inquisition; Mature; F/M; Blackwall/F!OC @convenientcoma​ Green for Hope Mass Effect; Gen Crystal_Grace

Is it Fate or Chance Dragon Age; Gen @fandomn00blr​ Just Another Night At The Hangman Dragon Age II; Teen & Up; Fenris/Carver Hawke @grumpkinvicky​

The Sleeping Dwemer’s Guide to Tamriel TES V: Skyrim; Teen & Up @inquisition-dragonborn​

Love Song for a Dying Man Dragon Age Inquisition; Teen & Up; Bastien/Vivienne @sarenkascrawls​

Memories of the Grey Dragon Age Inquisition; Explicit; Blackwall/F!Cadash @paraparadigm​