#vs: as the crooked crow flies | da!theo

[tiredassmage]

whims of wisps

[tiredassmage]

Theodore de Riva

[tiredassmage]

sorry for interrupting you, kings 😔

[tiredassmage]

[tiredassmage]

[tiredassmage]

25: What specialization best represents your Rook?

Thank you so much! I even have cool weapon shots to go with this one, lol!

[50 questions for Rook! (Non-spoiler Edition)]

Minerva I intend to build with the Slayer specialization because... women with epic giant axes, tbh. What more do I need to say? xD But also because she's inspired by a dragon hunter oc I had several years ago, and giant weapons seem appropriate for fighting some of Thedas's most giant beasties! It's also been hella fun so far. She's not far enough along yet to actually be within the specializations yet, but the Weapons area skills around it that lead into this specialization chain have been so much fun already. Thank you Veilguard for giving me a fun time playing Warrior for the first time in this series, lol! I hadn't been entirely married to a damage type to hone in on with her just yet, but the burning weapons on takedown effect with the dragon hunter inspiration? Heavily leaning into the fire theme, I think!

Also, of my 3 started Rooks so far, she's 1 of 2 whose specialization doesn't match their faction, lol, which is a lot of fun, I think. Min is a Grey Warden! And she's the only one I have action photomode shots of so far, lol, which is both because I simply had that much fun with how her build's going and bc I... might've not thought about it for the first 2 because I was busy doing story, lol.

But we'll give them some love, too, because I'm feeling self-indulgent <3 [Slightly more spoilery nature for the boys' pics because they're from cutscenes]

Tyr's my Rogue, and a Duelist. Tbf, I'd already pretty much determined he was going to be m first + main + most likely canon Rook, but the second they dropped dual wielding melee Rogue, there was absolutely no other way he'd ever have been played unless I'd absolutely sucked at the build, which thankfully wasn't the case because I adored it. It was everything I needed and wanted from a gameplay perspective + what I wanted to replicate the fighting style I'd imagined for him.

Right up until they'd released the backstory tidbits, I'd been on the fence between setting him up as a Shadow Dragon or an Antivan Crow, after all, so it just worked out that the Shadows fit his backstory better, but his fighting style is still heavily aligned with what likely influences the image of the Crows. (And as a bonus fun fact, when I'd put him in Inquisition for fun, I think he would've ended up with Josephine, so another little fun dueling moment for him, lol.)

Heavily a necrotic damage + stagger & takedown build. Not just because they have epic, powerful detonations with his beloved Neve, but that was certainly a cherry on top! xD

Which leaves us with Theo, who is ironically the only one who seems to have listened to the memo about the faction-theming with the specializations for all the other listening he hasn't done, according to Viago's complaints. xD Theo's my sword & orb Spellblade, who - as you may guess from that - also nearly ended up as a Rogue and who I might play around with a Rogue build for one day. Outside of DAV, Theo's original training was as a dual-dagger type rogue who started to dabble in learning about magic after one of his early jobs went a little sideways and had him on bedrest for a while. And Theo simply could not take staying completely idle like that for long. Sort of as a happy accident then because purple's kind of his color, it's worked really well that this is a heavily-lighting damage focused build and I think his hotbar is... completely shock & lightning based skills atm. And they are so pretty. As a backup, I've got a little necrotic damage going on with his staff usually.

I'd really just told myself I wasn't allowed to play two duelists back to back. xD Maybe if I go with a Rogue rebuild, I'll give saboteur a try? He gets along well with Bellara and Emmrich because he... well, Viago would probably say he's the type that can't leave well enough alone even when it's going to bite his hand, but at its best, it's curiosity with how to make odd things work. His DAV edition in particular can be quite a bit emotionally... charged, but he's also kind of the epitome of an improviser. The only direction to move is forward, and Theo's adaptable enough to tackle that with a sledgehammer or a lockpick as the situation calls for.

[tiredassmage]

[tiredassmage]

dav thoughts misc. edition

(if you will)

there's a few other assorted things that fuck me up about having played my canon/first run of veilguard through as tyr that i don't think i have the full ability to word properly atm and i'm not sure when or if i will, so i'll suffice with a shorter(? we'll see how bad i ramble) list.

for one, the recurrent themes of grief and change and regret are just. delicious. and exactly the kind of shit tyr's baked out of or into or however you wanna say it in his ~original media presence (swtor), so it's absolutely incredible to watch it come up so often in veilguard. i figured he'd fit really well and naturally into rook's role and i wasn't disappointed. one day i could probably make a screenshot dialogue collection of it all, but i also know my own motivation for that kinda thing, so that's. a fairly big project i just don't think i'll ever actually complete but it lives in my mind.

the second is that it is massively fucked up after the twist in the end that his dragon age verse tag is a line of varric's from inquisition and i am still crying and sniffling about it intermittently because there's no way i could've known about that. and god it works painfully well. there better be a damn good punchline, varric says. hold my beer and watch this, said veilguard.

neve and him still drive me up a wall (positive). i want to chew on electric cables or something about it. she's incredible and i love her. and it's incredible the kind of... parallels if you will that are in her and tyr's relationship and to some of the relationships he's had elsewhere (shara jenn, anyone? yeah. i'm still not over my watcher two feelies and neither is tyr). the only explanation i can think of for why i didn't predict how down bad i'd (and... tyr, tbh) be for her is because i didn't dig a whole lot into the material immediately before release bc i just wanted to have fun when i got my hands on the game. they have similarities to each other, and neve's own struggle draws out a really interesting Thing tyr does about... where his love and beliefs sorta come together. honestly, part of why he falls so fucking hard for her is because she's on the edge of letting him jump off the i love you cliff, uncertain if she should let either of them take the risk of actually saying it. i think a lot of it is exactly that neve gallus knows the kind of loyalty that's in that man. she wants to believe him when he says they'll figure it out, but they're up against impossible odds, and he is trouble, for her, because she knows the kind of lengths someone like him is willing to go to. he'll see this through to the end, whatever it takes, because that was a promise. and he'll apply that same level of dedication to whatever it is he feels for her. [inhales] god they're so fucking good, brent.

i'm probably forgetting other things but. again. short rambly list just to kind of get it out of my skull and remember to share it because i want to even if all the words won't word completely how i kinda know they are in my head, lol.

i also have developing feelings about rook #2 (welcome back theo, the man the myth the legend most of you probably haven't met but i love him) and it's doing really interesting things about family and performance pressure and fitting in with him that, again, brain refuses to fully articulate atm. but they're in there. gnawing on what it's doing to the crow background for me w/him.

bites the keyboard etc etc.

[tiredassmage]

I have to get back into theo's playthru and I have to finish min's before I allow myself to do that bc I can only afford to sell my soul reasonably to a few blorbos at a time (I want to to keep their characterization consistent/remember their headspace vs where they are in the story), but what I love for theo is his dynamic specifically with teia and viago.

again, have to finish more to see where it really goes, but so far they give. such tasty vibes kadnflkadnsf;. theo i think is viago's adopted nuisance, and his expectations for theo are...

let's say theo feels a little closer and warmer with teia. teia is always trying to keep the peace between the two of them. i, outside of the situation, can reckon viago puts the kind of pressures on theo as he does because he cares and wants to see theo succeed, but, to teia's exasperation with the two, would rather down his entire poison collection in one sitting than admit that plainly.

teia knows this about him. theo doesn't. and she's usually the one trying to gently coax theo to see some of the heart behind all the expectations, and... also probably the one trying to convince viago to maybe go a little easier on him every once in a while. because i think it's given theo a bit of a rough time with his relationship to being a crow - maybe he isn't good enough, and maybe this isn't the right place. and i get the feeling from this trio's dynamic that viago has tended to push him for greater heights more often than not, where he feels a bit more comfortable admitting some of these doubts and frustrations when it's just teia around.

so imagine theo's surprise when the demon of vyrantium himself expresses some similar feelings with the work more in line with a kindred spirit than another pressing call to action. (it's a bit comforting.) (i think they're going to be friends.)

[tiredassmage]

dot's oc masterpost vol. 2

the embarrassment that the old one i linked is actually way more out of date than i thought it was is (hopefully) spurring me to action. if you're actually reading this, i succeeded! hooray, lol!

since i'm a blorbo enthusiast who is often making more or making more developments to the ones that exist, this is a highly simplified version that will hopefully be easier to keep up-to-date. it may not necessarily be wholly exhaustive of everyone i'll post about, but i'll try to keep the most active offenders (affectionate) on here.

STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC

TYR DECKARD. imperial agent. tagged: ch: tyr

ALUCREN ELLERY. imperial agent. tagged: ch: alucren

LENSAN RYALDAR. bounty hunter. tagged: ch: lensan

SAVOSTA. sith warrior. tagged: ch: savosta

RHYST DELAVAST. jedi knight. tagged: ch: rhyst

LEO ASHOLD. smuggler. tagged: ch: leo ashold

FENDREL ROCLEYRN. trooper. tagged: ch: fendrel rocleyrn

NIKIHLUS DARKMOUNT. imperial agent. tagged: ch: nikihlus

SWTOR (AUs)

TYR. (trooper au). (smuggler/smuggler companion au). (bounty hunter au).

FINAL FANTASY XIV

ASTOR CAULFIELD. midlander hyur. healer. tagged: ch: astor caulfield

SHAY DELACROIX. wildwood elezen. tank/dps. tagged: ch: shay delacroix

BAS SILVERBLADE. veena viera. dps. tagged: ch: bas silverblade

TYR DECKARD. midlander hyur. dps. tagged: vs: ouroboros | xiv!tyr

RHYST HARTWOOD. seeker mi'qote. tank. tagged: vs: long way down to the bottom of the river | xiv!rhyst

SARANTUYA UYAGIR. xaela au ra. healer. tagged: tbt

BALDUR'S GATE 3

AMBROSE. wild magic sorcerer. tagged: vs: the self is not so weightless / nor whole and unbroken | bg!ambrose

ALUCREN. the dark urge. tagged: vs: is that... blood? no. nevermind | bg!alucren

LEO. college of valor bard. tagged: vs: the only thing the foolish need are a suitcase and a trunk | bg!leo

RHYST. oath of ancients paladin. tagged: vs: of wings that burn and men who fall | bg!rhyst

RHIANNON. light domain cleric of kelemvor. tagged: vs: she lives her life like a bird in flight | bg!rhiannon

DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD

TYR MERCAR. shadow dragons. duelist rogue. main rook. tagged: vs: there better be a damn good punchline | da!tyr

THEODORE "THEO" DE RIVA. antivan crows. spellblade mage. tagged: vs: as the crooked crow flies | da!theo

MINERVA "MIN" THORNE. grey wardens. slayer warrior. tagged: ch: heaven wide above my head / sand beneath my shoes | da!minevera