#while they still have the same purpose of fighting the blight
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thewardenisonthecase · 8 months ago
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I will say. Yes, as a grey warden truther, I'm very satisfied with how they were portrayed in game. I think there was a balance of these are the guys who've saved the world 5 times show some goddamn respect and they're a shady order who has too many secrets and who will do the worst things for the sake of the greater good (a end justify the means thing)
however. why does NO ONE mention that its very much established at the end of Inquisition AND trespasser that the order is going through, lowkey, a civil war. At the very least, there's a schism about what the order is going to do in the future, with the northern and southern grey wardens having different ideas.
I really wish they would have adressed this because I need to know what happened. Like Blackwall, if he's a warden, will say there's been a lot of discussions at Weisshaupt. Did they ever come to an agreement? Did the southern grey wardens break away from the order and are acting of their own accord (kinda like the chantry v. imperial chantry)?
I have to know
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tinkerbitch69 · 5 months ago
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So just replayed the deep roads/primeval thaig section of da2 while pondering the implications the new veilguard titan/dwarves/blight lore has to *vaguely gestures at the weirdness* all of it and it’s got me absolutely gnawing on my keyboard so I gotta talk about it.
So ok, easy one, sandal’s got stone magic! The same Harding has. Now we know that’s a possibility it’s the only explanation that makes sense for finding him next to a petrified ogre and his ‘NOT enchantment!’ answer. It just fits too perfectly to not be true. But then that means SANDAL HAS AN OPEN CONNECTION TO THE TITANS!!! This explains how his diary ended up in the fade in tresspasser, if he is connected to an awakened titan, he’s probably had a connection to the fade as well this entire time. Probably even able to enter it at will like a mage but also like…are the titans speaking to him? are they influencing him? are they up to something that sandal is helping them with? Aaaaaaaa I need them to bring sandal back and reveal these things *gnaws*
Next point of order, the profane. Aah the profane… what the fuck ARE the profane????!!!! Like I have some theories thanks to the new lore but I’m still not certain. Anyway, one of them is seemingly a demon in disguise and when you fight him, he dies and an abomination, standard old abomination, no rock wraith shit or anything, rises out of him. Now a DEMON rising out of a possessed vessel, we’ve seen before, but an abomination? A person possessed by a demon? How does that work? What about the giant ancient profane with a skull that seemed to control the others? What the fuck is going on? How does this all tie into red lyrium and the blight and the dreams of the titans and the ancient elves’ sundering of the titans from their dreams???
Well…
*carefully places tinfoil hat on head*
Well…
So we know the place is old right? Like stupid old. Literally called primeval, that’s like the oldest you could possibly be, so what if this thaig is not just older than the first blight, like Bartrand said, but also older than the veil, older than arlathan, older than the blight itself???? 👀👀👀
What if the primeval thaig was where the dwarves once lived when they were still connected to the titans? When both the titans and the dwarves themselves could dream and thus access the fade and magic. This lines up with lore around the thaig mentioning it seems to have been shaped by magic, which should be impossible since dwarves can’t do magic right? WRONG! and we know that now!
But if this was a relic from a time when the dwarves still had their magic and their connection to the titans, what would happen to those dwarven mages when the titans were effectively tranquilized by solas? What happens to dwarven mages that are turned into rock golems or whatever the fuck happened to branka after the descent?
Well what if the profane ARE those dwarven mages? What if the titans pain and anguish and rage, the blight itself, transformed them into something PROFANE! *roll snare drum* this makes sense as to why there are so many shades and demons in the thaig and why one of the profane is possessed. perhaps the demonic possession even occurred long before the profane were transformed and the abomination that resulted from said possession was just already hiding amongst the dwarves that got transformed too! what if the giant ancient profane is just their version of Volta, a dwarf closer to the titans that became something more than a dwarf or a golem *gnaws*
Finally, the idol, what the fuck is up with the idol??? How did it get there??? How did it get blighted in the first place???
Well, we know what the idol is now. Solas’ lyrium dagger. The one he used to create the veil, but more importantly, this was not its original purpose! Solas regrets reveal he originally crafted a lyrium dagger to sunder the titans from their dreams, (which I’m presuming is the same one even if it does introduce some problems later on) the thing that created the blight in the first place, soooooo…
WHAT IF THE PRIMEVAL THAIG WAS WHERE HE DID IT? 👀 THE PLACE WHERE THE TITANS WERE TRANQUILIZED 👀 THE PLACE WHERE THE BLIGHT WAS BORN👀👀👀
This would explain how the dagger got there because ofc the dagger would still be in the entry wound essentially, it would explain how it got blighted as it is essentially both the bomb and ground zero, it would explain why the profane occur here and and only here (as far as we know) as they were at the epicentre of the blast, it would explain why they turned it into an idol, as being born of the blight (aka the titans rage and pain and suffering) the dagger is a very symbol of all the things that the blight is made of!!! it would be a reminder to never forget the atrocities committed to them and also a source of power for their blight magic. Finally it would also explain the name of sundermount, a region on the surface we know to be somewhere nearby the primeval thaig that the ancient elves very much had a presence in as (presumably many centuries/millenia after their war with the titans) a battle was fought there but the elven empire and the tevinter imperium. The only wrench in this is how solas got the dagger and took it all the way to skyhold to create the veil only for it to end up back in the thaig? Maybe the one used in the veil ritual was a replica dagger since several key plot points of veilguard involve replicas of this dagger. maybe solas took it back there and sealed it back up so it wouldn’t be a danger, maybe it was reclaimed by the profane and taken back to serve as their idol once more, idk but all the rest fits too perfectly to be coincidence and holy shit holy shit holy shit
*gnaws gnaws gnaws*
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lavendarr00 · 8 months ago
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ADAIA "ROOK" THORNE | GREY WARDEN | SLAYER
Adaia (ah-die-ya) is my Grey Warden and my youngest Rook at 21 years old. She's special to me because she's actually the secret child of my HOF and Alistair. (I had to do it haha) My Tabris HOF and Alistair fell in love during DAO and spilt when he became king but they maintained their secret love affair resulting in Adaia. She has a serious/stoic personality, romances Davrin, and is closest with Harding & Lucanis.
Ramblings about Adaia under the fold (some end game datv spoilers) 😊
Tabris went to be with Leliana in the chantry while she was pregnant and gave birth there. Tabris couldn't return with Alistair's child and her duty to the Wardens and Ferelden lead to her leaving Adaia with the Chantry for adoption. She named Adaia after her mother. The only other people that know about Adaia's parentage are Alistair, Zevran & Morrigan (though I feel like Solas somehow finds out). Alistair has never met Adaia but got to see her once with the help of Leliana while visiting Orlais (Tabris gave him permission). Adaia does not know who her parents really are. Leliana naturally keeps tabs on her and in the rare opportunity she gets in contact with Tabris she shares what Adaia's been up to and what she's like. Morrigan does not reveal her parentage when they meet in Veilguard but a knowing smile would flit across her face when interacting with and observing her.
Details about her origin aside, Adaia's personality is more serious/stoic like her mother but her dad is Alistair so... yeah she has her moments 😆 Her upbringing was more or less uneventful but that pushed her to seek a higher purpose in life as a teen which eventually lead her to joining the Wardens. In truth, the decision to join the order was impulsive and she often regrets joining but at the end of day is dedicated to fighting the blight and saving lives. She struggles with feeling like she needs to be useful to be of value and can have a temper. She takes life too seriously which makes rolling with the punches hard for her. She gives surprisingly good advice and shows a lot of grace to those she cares about but will never give herself that same grace. Not very self aware in that area.
In Veilgaurd, she romances Davrin & her bestie is Lucanis so just like her mother she falls in love wither her fellow Warden and is best friends with an Antivan Crow 😆 She's also close with Harding since they are both from the South and are "salt of the earth" type folks. She, Harding, and Varric quickly became like a little family while hunting Solas. Adaia takes Varric's death especially hard. He really was a mentor to her and got a lot of comfort and reassurance from him. His "it will all work out" like mentality was something she needed especially after being basically kicked out of the Wardens. She's mature of course, but still young and learned a lot from Varric. To his surprise, Varric came to really appreciate and cherish the role he took in Adaia's life even though it was brief.
Post Veilguard, Adaia & Davrin work with the remaining Wardens to research what of the blight is left and how recent events have effected it (and go visit the griffons of course). We learn from the Inquisitor that the south has basically been wiped off the map from the double blight but of course we don't have specifics. No clue what Bioware has in store for Rook post Veilguard so I'm going to write my own thing until then haha
My HC: Alistair is alive, got married, and has a child (young - no older than 10) so Adaia is free of the potential responsibility of the crown. My HOF was not idle during the double blight. She survives but gets serious injuries meaning she can no longer fight. Before the double blight she was researching the calling so she decides to take that back up again and travels to the Anderfels where the remaining wardens are based. She and Adaia meet. Adaia has no idea of her connection to her but Tabris knows right away. She keeps that to herself as she and Adaia get to know each other. Both are heroes that have ended blights so they had a lot to talk about. Tabris helped Adaia out a lot actually with processing lingering regrets and grief from events in Veilguard (Harding's death especially). And Tabris got to spend time with her daughter for the first time since Adaia was only months old. It was very healing for both of them. After some time Tabris gets the courage to tell Adaia who she is. She doesn't expect Adaia to believe her and if anything expects anger from her. Adaia doesn't take it well but not entirely bad either. Mostly shocked and speechless and needed some space to think about it. But within the week Adaia & Tabris are connected to the hip. Davrin thinks Adaia's parentage is hilarious. Of course Rook would be the daughter of the legendary Hero of Fereldan & King Alistair! It explains so much 😆
And that's Adaia! 🤍
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queenaeducan · 8 months ago
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as i mentioned i beat the murals last night and i have so many thoughts. many i think may take a while to sift through and get to where i want them but. for now.
solas wanted to KILL the mages in his personal quest. the circumstances are not the same (he did agree, however reluctantly, where they did not ask), but the result- a spirit of wisdom turned to violent pride- are the same. how much does solas let himself feel about the regrets in the murals? how much has he let himself process? does his anger in this quest reflect the anger he feels towards mythal?
it also does a lot to contextualise his feelings re: cole's personal quest. i've said before that when you put cole's pq in the context of what happened to wisdom (and others before it), solas's behaviour makes sense. but like. idk, i know ppl will fault solas for anything but being against this considering what happened to him it makes perfect sense he's opposed to the idea (especially when varric is going off of nothing but his gut and his own preconceived ideas of what a person ought to be).
what does the game want us to believe about mythal?
- the one we see in the murals is the one who put into motion many of the problems we see in the world today, even if solas is complicit/outright guilty of carrying them out for her.
- the fragment we meet in morrigan is "older and wiser" but still gives kind of uh. unsatisfactory answers to my elf rook about why she didn't help (oh she did, just here and there. i wish my rook could have been angrier about that. my rook, who frees slaves, and has seen solas free slaves, meanwhile flemythal... helped end a couple blights? thanks, but. that's not specifically an elf problem). she calls you her children in a way i felt kind of patronising. which makes sense, but it's a very. undesired benevolence, i suppose. but i felt like the game wanted us to think this mythal was Good(tm) and that i'd want to keep her around despite having little reason to want to root for her at that point. she also doesn't mention spirits and their part in all this at all, just physical elves.
- the mythal we meet at the secret area morrigan opens is just. an evanuris. thoroughly. this is the mythal that decided the best option to a conflict between elgar'nan and falon'din was to let two other elves die for it. if you tell her you don't need gods she calls you a child and fights you. you can get her on her side by being honest and saying you think she was wrong, which is nice i guess.
- i guess i'm saying we don't get a super satisfactory answer on why she was a charismatic and better than the rest. we see she had vallaslin even in ancient times (felassan) but no mention of that comes up anywhere. so i guess it's up to me to decide why solas is so easily and constantly persuaded to give up his very nature to do what he did.
ultimately i thought the relationship, despite not having a lot of ground for why it became so deep in the first place, was very interesting and problematic (positive). it parallels so nicely with briala and celene, and contrasts well with solas and the herald (or if you're me, solas and the thora cadash AND solas and ian). i don't know how much of the former comparison is on purpose as far as datv is concerned, but i do think it makes everything more compelling so i am running with it.
another criticism is that the rebels were just dropped in favour of the gods. disappointing! especially since the game makes a point of recommitting the future of the elves to solas's motivation in the convo with morrigan. like only 3 of the statues had memories? i wish that there had been an alternate set of murals for each, or something. the memories we have paint solas in mixed lights (sacrificing spirits, killing an agent) but most of the codices we receive have him in a positive to neutral light. i wish the game were more interested in exploring his dynamic with felassan, who calls him "old friend," and other rebels. it would have better served the "mirror" they're trying to make rook into to show solas building connections with rebels as you are with your team. show him loving the people he got killed, the same way i think you will be able to get your companions killed (if the pre-game comparisons to me2's suicide mission are any comparison).
anyway. i'm not even done with the first quest of act 2 god help me.
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tohwitchesduels · 7 months ago
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WILD CARD OF WITCHES DUELS - Battle 53: Amity Blight vs Viney
Disclaimer: This is not a popularity contest or which character you prefer, in this tournament, you decide who is stronger/better/smarter/etc. opponent.
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information for both opponents under the cut to those who don't know what they can do in their battle:
Viney:
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Viney specializes in both Beast-Keeping magic and Healing Magic. She doesn't show spells of other kinds. For the purposes of this tournament, I allow Viney to have a powerset established by MoringMark's comics due to him fleshing out her capabilities in the "A Hint of Blue" comic storyline and his comics being beloved by the fan base.
Viney and Amity never really interacted with one another directly but both of them have mutual friends in Willow, Luz, Gus, and Hunter, so overall they're on friendly terms. However, both of them are to an extent competition freaks going all out, bloodthirsty hands down. Viney is not giving up her spot and will fight anyone that will come her way (she's especially rolled up as she's pretty much the weakest of the finalist and it does bug her a bit).
Viney is an absolutely fierce and intimidating competitor who will stop at nothing to win. She can get even more ruthless and petty when facing her friends claiming them to be traitors. Her magic is also quite impressive if not prodigious. The girl is absolutely skilled and at times quite chaotic. Viney's in it to win. She can be however a bit hasty in her approach. Viney has plenty of physical strength to back up her punch.
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Viney does possess a Palisman and is quite a proficient flyer. With her fighting spirit, she is capable to rush at her opponents furiously and knock them out with her physical strength. However, at the same time, she gets tunnel vision due to this and her attack can still be blocked knocking her out in the process.
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Quick Heal - Viney is capable of very quickly healing wounds of hers or others (only available during Battle Royale when it comes to other people, no way she's healing her opponents unless it's after the battle but that's debatable due to her personality). According to Viney, the only scars she has are emotional making her quite a proficient healer who can leave the battle without a single scratch on her.
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Healing Shield - Viney is capable of creating a shield-shaped hand to block any attacks coming her way. From simple bullets to even raging streams.
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Medical Knowledge - Viney has enough experience to come up with remedies on the fly while also understanding both the strong and weak spots of the body of any witch/demon, meaning Viney knows where it hurts the most and you bet she will use that knowledge to her advantage.
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Griffin Companion - Viney can summon Puddles to aid her in battles. Puddles can at times be wilder even than Viney herself, but Viney is still his master and he listens to her commands. Puddles is both strong and smart, a large griffin that can give Viney's opponent just as much of a hard time and is even more fierce than Viney, dealing huge damage. Also much like other griffins he probably possesses spider breath, which Viney can use to attack her opponents with an army of crawling spiders. Viney can ride him naturally.
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Muscle Growth - power-up which came from MoringMark's comic. Viney can enhance her muscle to enhance her own strength to a superhuman level when attacking her opponents. (I will not post screenshots of Mark's comics but I will leave parts of the comics where he demonstrated this ability so you can support HIS art).
Equipment attack - power-up which came from MoringMark's comic. Thanks to her medical knowledge, Viney can throw medical equipment at her opponents using this or get her hands on a weapon of said equipment.
The comics of Moringmark in question
Link to more of Viney's capabilities here
Amity Blight:
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Amity Blight naturally specializes in Abomination Magic the most, but she does so capacity in knowing spells of other tracks like Plants and Illusion, but it's very limited.
I will mention Amity's moves just by name to not make this post too cramped, and in the title, there's a link to Amity's main character profile debunking all her moves.
Amity and Viney never really interacted with one another on-screen, but both of them have mutual friends in the form of Hexsquad, so they themselves are on friendly terms. Granted, both of them can be a bit of competition freaks and go all out and bloodthirsty during this battle. In the end, Viney is the only thing that currently stands between Amity's battle with Luz, and they promised to each other that they would get to fight in the finals and Amity absolutely intends to keep this promise and will crush anyone who will try to take hat away.
Amity is a very skilled, talented, cool-headed, and pragmatic fighter. Hardly does she lose composure when battling even strong opponents, displaying plenty of agility and athleticism (as shown in her battle with Hunter and Grom, which is also given considering she was a former captain of the grudgby team at Hexside), and can be both a powerhouse using plenty of strength or a mastermind coming up with tricks on the fly while outsmarting her opponents with her skillset. Very dangerous, and even more so once she puts more passion into her battle. Hardly there are any weak spots or flaws in her battling style, but she can still be overpowered. Abomination Magic in particular feels to be weaker than Construction Magic for example, and it can be rendered useless when dealing in an environment with no mud. Granted Amity holds abomination goo with her so at most, she's going to be weakened. Amity is capable of controlling any slime or mud she comes in contact with.
Amity does wield a Palisman named Ghost and according to herself, she's a "safe flyer". This means she's overall pretty proficient and skilled in her flying capabilities, but at the same time, it means she's not a real aerial ace like Luz or Hunter for example. She's skilled enough to not easily fall off by herself, but as proven in her battles with Hunter (both EL and TTT), she's not fast enough to necessarily avoid being hit in midair. Granted she can still be faster than average and have better reflexes than average, but still not enough to beat some real aerial aces. She is proficient in staff-wielding, being capable of using it to enhance her own spells.
Light Spell
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Projection Spell
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Voice Change - Amity is capable of briefly changing her voice to sound whoever she wants like to sound. Her real voice however can still be heard through, but it could be used as a brief distraction during Battle Royale or maybe to mess up some verbal spells of other casters (like beast-keepers, though it's hard to tell if it would actually work, or Alador's Abomatons as proven in Reaching Out).
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Oath Spell
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Thorn Bolt
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Shield Spell
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Barrier Spell
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Fire Ball
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Abomination Golem
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Abomination Bullet
Abomination Block
Abomination Shield
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Abomination Slide
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Abomination Root Attack
Abomination Arms
Giant Abomination Arm
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Abomination Lasso
Abomination Bind
Abomination Bubble
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Abomination Blade
Abomination Gauntlet
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Abomination Wave
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Abomination Construct
Abomination Multiple Hands
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Abomination Tendrils
Abomination Hand Block
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Abomination Arm Attack
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Abomination Arm Stream
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Abomination Hand Wave
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Return to Masterpost
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mercysought · 5 months ago
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this is indulgent only because i have Thoughts myself lol, but what is anora's reaction to what goes down in redcliffe in inquisition, and is it any different from what we see in the game? does she blame fiona and the mages for alexius' presence? how does she feel about the inquisition coming there to clean up the mess?
unprompted asks my beloved . @skyheld
I am always so exhausted about how the games after Origins just have a way of making Ferelden and its government to come off as the most ignorant, uninterested and/or incompetent. It is one of the things about the games that I find myself constantly feeling just drained about.
You cannot tell me, for a single moment, that the same woman that would have at one point gone with Cailan to fight giants in the Ferelden wilderness by themselves would also be the same woman that would just be vibing. And, as far as I know, or at least without having to dive into codexes (which I don't find to be a good way of storytelling, but alas, time is limited and is focus, but still, a topic for another post) she only shows up when things are resolved. There is no attempt to really communicate with the Inquisition except from brief glimpses of dialogue that Josephine has. And honestly, honestly the Circles are and have always been mostly a Chantry concern.
The towers are spread across nation because while the Chantry was initially an Orlesian organization it is also the main religion practice in Ferelden (especially after being occupied for so long). But it is also that occupation and the ripples from the fifth blight that make me feel so frustrated if I think about this for longer than five minutes.
Here are some assumptions I'm making, for my own sanity:
Josephine and the Fereldan crown have reached an agreement to extend some authority of the Inquisition in Ferelden. They are to aid with the rogue templar and mages.
They are not to occupy forts without express consent from the crown.
They are not to enforce acts of violence against Ferelden and its people without express wishes from the crown.
Anora is too busy trying to keep track of the status of different breaches opening across Ferelden, that is the only reason why she has not reached out to negotiate or threaten Alexius
To loop back to one of the questions, she doesn't blame Fiona because Fiona is a Chantry concern. She is a Fereldan, sure, but she is a mage first. And unfortunately from a Chantry standpoint I think that logic remains even when the Circles are disbanded. For as long as Anora remembers she has never had to deal with mages directly without some involvement from the Chantry and Templars. Not that it's good, it's just the reality. So no, she would not blame Fiona. She would blame her own Fereldan soldiers and whoever was responsible for keeping Redcliff safe (whoever Bann was it, Eamon I guess?)
If nothing else, I can understand why she may not have raised the army towards Redcliff, it is a nuclear option however if a Tevinter mage is occupying a Fereldan's noble castle, then I think it should call for the very least for strained negotiations. And at worst a response in force.
Lastly, I imagine relief? If we follow the assumptions said above. If we don't and it's an Inquisition that has not attempted to reach out to the crown she will drill into them for thinking themselves lords of the place. She will thank them but also to be warned.
I don't think she would ever blame Fiona or the mages, they are homeless for all intents and purposes and it is a crisis for Ferelden as a whole where the Chantry seems to be doing fuck all except amass an army behind a "Herald of Andraste" as a way of fixing their shit. If nothing else, she sees the Inquisitor as an unwilling puppet, in the best case scenarios in the worst? She sees someone that she will eventually need to remind that borders of Ferelden and Orlais exist for a reason.
In any case, a strongly worded letter is sent to Orlais. Not to the Divine obviously, but to whoever is running the circus. And another to Tevinter to the Archon to get their fucking people in line.
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dialmformud · 15 days ago
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For the Thorne ask game: 1, 7, 9, and 10?
Thank you new moot for the ask!! My OC page is very under construction rn so these are appreciated while I work to legitimize my blorbs.
From Rook Thorne Ask Game by @flowersforthemachines. Thank you for these great prompts - they're all thinkers.
1 - Why did your Rook join the Wardens? How long have they been in the order?
Helena had a brief stint as an Inquisition soldier when she was 19-20, give or take a few years after Trespasser. As the organization downsized, she was among the first to be dismissed because she was basically just infantry and they didn't need foot soldiers at war-time levels at that point. But she didn't want to go back home to her small village in the Ferelden Bannorn, so she basically took the Thedas equivalent of a gap year(??) - just continuing to travel like she wanted to do in the Inquisition for a bit and figure it out later.
She eventually runs into an old friend from her days as a new recruit who joined the Wardens after. They were still the same person she knew from the old days, but something definitely seemed different, kinda off. But she yes-and'ed her way back to their camp and decided to humor their suggestion that Helena think about the Wardens if she's looking for ~purpose~. A couple "we'll see where this goes" here and there and suddenly she's been in the Order for a little over three years. Time flies when you have significantly less left.
7 - What did your Rook feel during the siege of Weisshaupt and in its aftermath?
Helena didn't spend too much time in Weisshaupt as many of her friends, as she often volunteered for scouting and recon missions despite being incredibly clumsy and in loud steel armor.
But whenever she found herself in the fortress, at the heart of everything, she felt a true sense of camaraderie and brotherhood. Like the Inquisition, Helena's favorite thing about the Grey Wardens was the people. She understood rationally the purpose for the order's existence and their duty. She willingly took the oath and held respect for the gravity of the Joining. But she wasn't like a patriot about it, didn't feel that level of fervor as some. She was happy to be around others from very different walks of life and swapping stories, hearing about where folks come from.
So Helena was quite devastated afterwards after the adrenaline and shock wore off. In the moment during the siege she was in pure autopilot, acting out of pure instinct and muscle memory from training, which she took seriously. But mainly just the sheer disassociation to turn off her brain and take charge when everything went to shit. It worked when it needed to but not without cost.
Helena self-isolated for a good week after, not really talking to anybody or eating much. The companions all stepped up in their own ways in helping her back to her feet, Davrin and Neve especially.
As she would go on to say at her first team meeting back at the table, they needed to continue the fight. (I have Expedition 33 brainrot atm so it's very much 'for those who come after.' )
9. What parts of Thedas, if any, did your Rook serve in before Veilguard?
See answer to No. 1 but I'd add that if the Inquisition was not a thing, she most likely would have enlisted in Queen Anora's Ferelden army. It's not even that she has a super military family it's she got really bored growing up on the farm and needed new sensory input. Editor's note: she was not careful about what she wished for.
10. Does your Rook want to remain with the Wardens after the events or the game?
Without a doubt. In fact, she has never been more open to embracing the Warden propaganda with all its branding when she thinks about how exciting the future could be for these doomed souls post-Blights.
Especially with the griffons. She'd probably forego any real leadership position and just ask to be in the aviary to hang out with her sweet idiot children.
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So I've been jotting down ideas the past few days about diseases and hygiene in Tamriel, and I've decided these ideas expand into Healers and even as far as Necromancy.
*Just for reference while reading this, I personally believe there is a very fine line between accepted restoration magic and Necromancy. Flesh magic in particular is blurred along the edge between those two.
According to the book Skin Blights by Any Other Name, the people of Tamriel, at least some of them, have knowledge that proper frequent bathing, clean clothes, and only eating quality food will lessen the chance of diseases. So I decided to take this and run with it. I personally believe that this was taken to heart and it's fairly common to be clean and well groomed. I also think that larger cities, especially ones such as Solitude, Whiterun, the Imperial City, etc make use of proper sewage disposal to lower the risks of disease and also to keep the city/streets clean.
Regarding the last point, I think common areas such as bath houses and public outhouses are common in large cities as well.
I believe masking is also a fairly commonly practiced way to fight outbreaks and general illnesses. They might not necessarily know what causes certain diseases, but they know they DO consider it to be a type of miasma. I believe this practice was adopted from the Redguards in the Alik'r Desert, who use a type of masking to protect themselves during sandstorms (Excerpt from Alik'r Survival for Outsiders).
There was a major resurgence after Red Mountain erupted in the 4th era and every day masking is now common in still inhabited parts of Morrowind and Solstheim, especially in parts where ash from Red Mountain is common.
I believe masking was made common among most groups of Necromancers fairly early on due to the belief that diseases from the undead were miasmic in nature(plus it helped keep gross smells at bay via herbs/flowers/etc), this eventually lead to what I would compare to plague doctor masks being created. I think you can recognize a lot of necromancer groups based on their mask design of choice. Some aren't in a group and choose one for more aesthetic purposes. (Example: my OC Karasu is a necromancer and a Nightingale who follows Nocturnal. His mask of choice is a raven.)
On a similar note, I think gloves became common use when dealing with injuries, surgeries, or blood for general sanitary purposes not long after cleanliness started to become more important to the general population.
At one point in time I believe the Dwemer were able to create microscopes (based on some of their other machines) and by extension discover bacteria and other things, however a lot of this knowledge was lost when they disappeared.
The school of restoration isn't as powerful as the games make it out to be. I believe that health potions act more as pain medication with an added bonus of encouraging cells to regenerate or completely regrow, same with healing spells.
Cure disease potions and spells can cure a variety of very common illnesses, but it depends on the severity of the illness. Some diseases need specific treatments due to natural resistances.
Praying to cure diseases doesn't always work, and it doesn't work for every disease. I believe diseases like various forms of vampirism and lycanthropy are mainly cured this way.
Natural disease resistance only effects specific diseases and ailments, mainly ones that are specific to the region where they live or lifestyles they lead. (ie Bosmer, especially those who follow the Green Pact, are naturally more resistant and sometimes even immune to diseases such as Cannibal's Prion)
Healing spells can close small cuts and wounds relatively easily, but it can only assist so much when it comes to big gashes and other major wounds.
I believe surgeons would exist and play a major part alongside Healers and Alchemists when it comes to major wounds.
Surgeons are magic users who focus on the school of Flesh Sculpting, which I believe blurs the lines between Restoration and Necromancy.
Most of the best Surgeons are those who have studied Necromancy or practice it currently (or previously). If currently, its mainly the ones who believe you can practice necromancy in an ethical and humane way.
God, I have more but I didn't know I'd already typed so much and my hands are starting to hurt. I might share more later
@unsettlingcreature
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chloepleasestopdying · 1 year ago
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There’s like a hundred fics I won’t write. Here are some of them:
Criminal Minds crossover, either version; version A, where the FBI gets called in when Max and Victoria get kidnapped and the FBI team have to find them. Max believes that Chloe is dead because she was shot before she was kidnapped but the FBI find her in the graveyard on the edge of death and Max gets shot herself in a standoff with Jefferson.
Version B, where the FBI get called in after a what they believe is a murder spree. Max and Chloe kill a pair of cops and conveniently the dash cam is missing. The FBI slowly uncovers the fact that the Arcadia Bay police are trying to cover up the Prescott’s mess and the girls were just defending themselves.
Both of these are a bit too dark for my tastes, so they won’t be written.
The Wilds crossover; basically Max and Chloe are part of the original experiment due to their past friendship and falling out. I like the idea of Chloe struggling with being the oldest girl there and also trying to stay mad at Max. I’m still crushed about The Wilds being canceled so I won’t be writing this.
The ‘Max and Rachel death match’ AU. Essentially this AU involves Chloe and Max meeting up the summer before Max comes to Blackwell and making up enough that they begin dating. Chloe and Rachel have been an on and off thing for years and had a huge blowout fight, which is the reason Chloe was in Seattle in the first place, but Max (not knowing the full context of what happened) says that Rachel is Chloe’s friend and tells her it’s fine that they make up. Rachel, having a host of issues going on, reacts really badly to possibly loosing Chloe and tries to cheat with Chloe. This ends up blowing up in her face. Max and Rachel then kinda have this low key kind of war for a while before Rachel owns up to her mistakes and apologizes. Not going to write this one because I feel bad about making Rachel a bad guy and I don’t think I could write her struggling in that way well enough to justify it.
‘Baby trap’ AU. Max is coming off a really toxic relationship with Warren when she meets up with Chloe again in their early twenties. They both acknowledge that there is something between them but due to their issues (Max’s toxic relationship and Chloe’s resent struggles with addiction) want to move slow. However this is quickly fucked up by the fact that Max discovered she’s pregnant due to a purposely pieced condom by Warren. This AU is much fluffier than it sounds, as Chloe quickly steps up as being a ‘dad’. I won’t be writing this AU for a similar reason as above, I’d feel bad about making Warren out to be a bad guy. Plus a don’t actually like babies.
The ‘Ryan is Ryan’ AU where Ryan Lucan is also Ryan Caulfield due to time travel shenanigans. I was never able to make this one work very well but the basic idea is that Ryan Lucan has time related powers too but more uncontrollable than Max’s and got stuck in the past when trying to save Gabe. He was unable to travel back to his own time and started a family in the past with Max’s mother. He has come to believe that messing with time is extremely dangerous but when he learns that Max and Chloe are in Haven Springs around the same time that Gabe dies he decides to act. I never got this idea to work despite my liking of it so I won’t be writing it anytime soon.
DAO AU, not to be confused with the DAI AU. Max is mage who gets taken to the tower later in life compared to most while Chloe is something of a modified Ash Warrior. William bred and trained mabari and Chloe has somewhat continued that tradition with something of a tempest flare. Her special interest is in different Kaddis’s and her desire is to expand the war paint, not just to humans but also the effects. Her quest for finding a recipe for a warpaint that prevents the Blight almost kills her— luckily she’s found by the last Gray Wardens in the kingdom who just so happen to include her old friend Max, who got taken along with Surana when Duncan was visiting the tower. Not going to write this one due to it being similar to the DAI AU.
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whisperingwisterias · 1 year ago
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Barefoot Gen and the Suffering of War
While many of the anime shows and films we have watched have depicted brutality, struggling societies, pain, and death, none have done so quite to the extent that Barefoot Gen has. Barefoot Gen does not shy away from showing us the harsh realities of war and really reminds us how much everyone is affected by government decisions.
To start off with, Barefoot Gen is pretty clear in its criticism of the Japanese government and how it has handled and continues to handle the war. The people of Japan are obviously starving: getting the bare minimum of rations to live off of, fighting over food, and hoarding what they do have even when people worse off than them are suffering. It’s also especially hard for families like Gen’s, who have to prioritize who to feed, like Gen’s pregnant mother. Gen makes a comment asking why the war is still going on if Japan’s surrender is inevitable and close, and his father doesn’t hesitate to criticize those in power who are ignoring the plights of the people to continue fighting. Gen’s mother asks the same question later in the movie when she hears the news that Japan has finally surrendered—why now? Why did it take the deaths and irrevocable suffering of thousands of people for them to stop? Why couldn’t they have given up before things came to this? Why did it take not one but two devastating bombings for them to finally give in?
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The anime is also very graphic in how much people suffered because of the government’s decision to keep fighting. During the actual dropping of the bomb, the film goes through a montage of people melting from the explosion. Children, families, mothers with children, people at home, people at school, people in public transport; people just out trying to live their lives as best as they could are senselessly subjected to an excruciating death. The film also shows that there were people who still lived after being disfigured by the bomb, walking around with their skin half melted off of their bones. And even after all that death the damage didn’t stop there; the chemicals from the bomb poisoned the rain and their insides, leaving people unable to drink water, sick, and dying even after the initial blast. There were so many sick and wounded that the makeshift hospitals couldn’t provide medical care to everyone and only helped people who seemed like they had a chance of making it. Gen also comments on the fact that there are so many dead bodies that those cleaning them up just treat them like bags of trash, like they had never lived once at all. And even of the survivors of the bomb, those who were most injured by it often lived in rot and were begrudgingly taken care of by their relatives, often seen as a blight upon society.
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And yet, with all of this pain and destruction, Barefoot Gen showed us how people still found a way to keep living and continue finding joy. Although Gen and Ryuta originally helped Seiji for money, through their help they gave him a new purpose in life, helping him realize that his life isn’t over just because his injuries make it harder for him to do certain things, and reminding his family that his injuries don’t make him a lost cause. Gen and his mother also are able to find family again, first in Tomoko, who brightened up their lives even for the short time that she was in it, and in Ryuta, who was so similar to the brother that gen had lost. At the end of the film, Gen and Ryuta also find wheat sprouting again, even after others had been speculating that it would take decades for that to happen. Although life is still hard and tragedies still happen, happiness can still be found, and destruction can be rebuilt again.
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voidsentprinces · 2 years ago
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I enjoy Jullus. Here is a character who joined the Garlean Military to protect his lands from what he was taught was the "Savages" coming to drag his friends and families away. He stuck to his guns and stood fast against rumors of Zenos's death and being possessed by the Ascians. He keeps to his values even though they are clearly flawed because that is what his family needs. And then, Zenos kills the Emperor and the Capital is razed with his family inside it. He is drenched in the colour palette of the expansion, despair. But, there is a sliver of hope, word has it the Emperor's voice can still be heard on the radiowaves. There is something still worth fighting for, he can fight against the monsters who are overrunning the capital, he can serve Garlemald and the memory of his family against the invading Savages who have finally arrived on his doorstep.
He pushes himself in the roll of a soldier, who is ignorant of the Eorzeans. But Alisaie and Alphinaud both show us how greatly they've grown. By trying to break through his indoctronation. They are the perfect candidates to break through to Jullus but they are not just bright and kind individuals. But they might also been the same age as his siblings were before their untimely demise. They carry with them, a want to aid and a hope that someday they'll break through. And slowly, overtime, going to do chore after chore. We slowly learn of Jullus and what he had gone through.
We are the Warrior of Light, the daemon who wiped out the Praetorium and many Castrums, the nightmare that haunts his fellow soldiers. But still, he sees how the people in other provinces gather around us as a legend of hope and light through the dark. And dark through radiant blight. He confides in us, warms to us, gets to know us and the twins. But he still clings harshly to his sunk cost fallacy. He still wants to do right by his nation and his family's memory. So he reluctantly arms the Twins collars and prepares for a suicidal attack on Camp Broken Glass. Only to learn that no reinforcement is coming. There is no one else to defend the nation of Garlemald. Just his skeleton crew of the remaining 1st Legion. And so, he surrenders as his own Legatus uses his blood to strengthen the remaining chain of what remains of Garlemald.
He comes face to face with Zenos and fosters his grief and rage at the Prince who caused him so much pain and suffering. And in return, he is met by apathy and indifference and a question, that had Zenos had a good reason for throwing Jullus' and so many others' lives in turmoil, if it would of justified it all? Jullus is confronted by this and sees that the atrocities were without purpose only the boredom of a man seeking to reach the Warrior of Light for a duel. It is absurd and yet it clears Jullus's mind, his last act as a soldier for the Empire is to exile the prince and denounce the Royal Family more or less. He then follows Alphinaud and Alisaie's example and turns his focus to build a brighter future for Garlemald. Welcoming their help and our aid in the coming conflict. And when we bring another exile who is closed off from the world in Zero who is beginning to open up, he offers her the same kindness and understanding as the Twins gave him. He then continues their mission by trying to convince the old rigid remaining Garlean council to see that they cannot remain closed off from the world. Something that Vrtra rekindles by opening trade with the fallen Empire now budding independent nation.
I look forward to see what they so with Garlemald. This Empire founded to sow misery and chaos by Emet-Selch's design. Now having to bear responsibility for the past sins while kindling good alliances where they can to make what little amends they can. Since they're now burnt to the wick.
Side observation: In a way, Haurchefant's hot chocolate gesture is repeated throughout the MSQ. First the cup of cocoa is given to us, then Alphinaud picks up the torch in finding a way to use it to look forward to the conflict with Nidhogg and Estinien, then we give the Garleans a cup of warm soup and a hearty song, and then Jullus offers up Buuz to Zero. Zero then offers her own power to Golbez to turn the Thirteenth around and return it to as it was before.
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tinkerbitch69 · 6 months ago
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Ok I wanna share my rook and the stupid long backstory I came up with for her ^^
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Meet Elaine Aldwir! Veil Jumper Rogue
BACKSTORY
Worldstate details here: https://dragonagekeep.com/en_US/iss/?worldState=030001010110000200115&_gl=1*ikptws*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTQzOTA1MTQ5LjE3MzU3Mjk2MzA.*_ga_2KBD0JQHLQ*MTczNTcyOTYyOS4xLjEuMTczNTcyOTY0Mi4wLjAuMA..
Born under a different name, in the year 9:25 Dragon to an elven servant of the Howe family and an exiled Dalish apostate living in Amaranthine alienage, Elaine’s early years were dominated by the fear and chaos caused by the fifth blight. Eager to isolate their daughter from the worst of it, the young Elaine rarely left vigil’s keep where she was alone even among the other servants, unable to figure out when she felt so strongly from the boy around her. An accident of birth sadly common in Ferelden led mistaken assignment of the male gender which would only be rectified by herself many, many years later.
Yet there was undeniably bright spot amid a childhood of isolation and discrimination. Elaine grow up on tales of the Hero Of Ferelden passed along by travellers and merchants that entered the keep. The young elven mage who sacrificed herself to slay the archdemon become more than hero of her country but a personal one of Elaine’s. Her example taught Elaine to always try to do as much good as she can, no matter the personal cost. A lesson she carried with her throughout her life.
Sadly when one crisis had abated, another was not far behind. The darkspawn civil war erupted within Elaine’s very home. Hidden away in a secret cellar, she survived the onslaught unleashed by The Withered unscathed yet talking darkspawn would plague her dreams for many years to come and her mother perished in the chaos and her father injured. Taking on some of father’s duties around the keep to help out, she had a chance to meet the new warden commander of ferelden, A no-nonsense Orlesian dwarf by the name of Reva Kader who instilled in her a strong sense of duty to those around her and respect for her comrades in arms at the vigil. Other notable connections she made in these days were meeting the oft missed prodigal son Nathaniel Howe who taught her archery and basic survival skills as a favour to her father, should she need them to escape, as well as fhe dalish apostate velanna. Though she would often deride the young girl who so eagerly followed her about, Elaine could sense in her the same quiet pain as her mother held and that would stick with her for many years to come.
Years later when the mage rebellion broke out, Elaine chose to fight for the mages, remembering the plight her mother faced evading the watchful eyes of the templars. Despite the protestations of her father, who was secretly always glad she was not born a mage herself, Elaine ran away from home, surviving off the land using the advice of Nathaniel and making her way to lake calenhad to join up with the rebellious fereldan circle. Though hesitant to place a child of twelve on the frontlines of a struggle that was not her own, Elaine found purpose as a lyrium mule for the burgeoning resistance movement, smuggling the processed substance from orzammar straight to where it was most needed escaping the notice of renegade templars due to her young age. It was during this time that she first met mages who had supposedly changed their gender at some point in their past. While still too nervous to ask herself and often not spending enough time with them to have an opportunity, Elaine found the concept profoundly appealing and it spurred many questions within herself she would struggle to come to terms with for many more years.
She continued in this way until the disaster of the divine conclave intensified the conflict tenfold. Unable to support the mages decision to ally with the venatori and becoming disillusioned with such a divisive fight in the face of the existential threat of the breach, Elaine left the rebellion along with a contingent of mages to join up with the inquisition at haven. Only 15 at the time and despite lying about her age, her conscripting officer saw right through her and refused to assign her to any serious fighting or danger. Finding work as a scout, Elaine helped to map some of the relatively calmer parts of ferelden in the early days of the organisations history. During this time she first met and worked with Scout Harding and very quickly developed a crush on her, though she was too nervous and unsure of herself at the time to act on it.
As the Inquisition grew, Elaine had a chance to see the wider world beyond Ferelden’s borders, travelling to where she was most needed and learning the skills of a scout and a ranger from experienced soldiers originating from all walks of life. Among her fellow soldiers were many dalish elves and for the first time in her life she had a chance to learn more of her mother’s culture that she was so devastated to leave behind. Although not all showed her kindness or were open to discussing their culture with a city elf, she made many lifelong friends among her dalish compatriots. It was during this time, that she gained her vallaslin, choosing the mark of dirthamen to represent her role in the inquisition, discovering the long buried secrets of thedas. Despite all this she was often only on the periphery of the inquisition’s operations due to her youth and inexperience. She fondly remembers the one time she went to skyhold, amid the celebrations and reorganizing following corypheus’ defeat. She even caught a glimpse of the inquisitor.
Three years later, following a rather depressing stint as little more than a local bureaucrat after the crisis of the breach was abated, the inquisition was abruptly disbanded. Now out of a job, Elaine reached out to the warden commander of Amaranthine to try and get back in contact with her father only to discover he had been killed in a demon attack while she was off fighting demons with the inquisition elsewhere. Dejected and lost, it was only amidst this emotional turmoil that Elaine finally accepted herself for who she really was. Through apothecary contacts she made during her time in the inquisition she acquired a supply of feminizing poultices and treatments to finally allow her to become her true self.
Around the same time, her dalish friends were discussing the many revelations the inquisition had unearthed regarding elven history. All of which had piqued their interest yet amid all the chaos the inquisition was involved in, none of them found the time to pursue any of these leads further. They mentioned that a group of dalish up north had founded a new group of volunteer explorers and archaeologists to find more hints of their newly unearthed past in arlathan forest. It seemed many elven contingents of former inquisition agents were heading north to join their numbers and provide their knowledge and expertise. When her friends revealed they were thinking of doing so themselves, Elaine jumped at the chance to discover more about the lost culture of her mother that they now shared.
Upon arriving in Arlathan, some of Elaine’s friends from Clan Morlyn introduced her to Strife, the leader of the veil jumpers. Elaine immediately formed a close bond with old elf over their shared background of being city elves who made their own way to the dalish rather than being born into it. His gruff, taciturn personality also reminded Elaine of Reva Kader, who she had never stopped admiring as a leader. She swiftly fit in among the veil jumpers unlike any where else she had been in her life. through strife she met the mage irelin and her girlfriend Bellara, who became fast friends after bonding on several expeditions. Elaine finally felt like she had found a stable home in the veil jumpers but that was not to last.
Following a particularly disastrous expedition to find a map that could help the jumpers navigate the dangers of the forest with more ease, Elaine returned with a decimated team and empty hands. Unashamed of her choice to prioritise the lives of her fellow jumpers over the artifact, she was furious to learn strife disapproved of her actions and a heated argument followed, despite Irelin’s best attempt to mediate the situation. Storming out of camp rather than submit to strife’s further remonstrances. Elaine was shocked to see a familiar face seated round the campfire. Scout Harding had found the veil jumpers. After some catching up and introducing her companion, Famous Author Varric Tethras, Harding explained they were on the trail of the dread wolf himself and were looking for assistance wherever they could find it. When she overheard strife yelling about how she could never be trusted in an expedition again, that she completely misunderstood what the veil jumpers were about, she jumped at the chance to leave with them. Concincing Varric to let her join his team after explaining how she get into this mess with Strife.
On the road back to Minrathous, Elaine had a chance to listen to Varric’s tales around the campfire and play chess against him to pass the time, earning merciless teasing from both him and Harding for her overuse of the rook piece. She instantly struck up a bond with the old dwarf, finding in him an unexpected mentor figure. When Varric mentioned off hand his old friend Maevaris Tilani, a figure Elaine had heard much about, she confided in Varric about her gender identity. When she mentioned how she still struggled to feel like herself most days. He gifted his old shaving mirror, which she did not take too well at first, but after he told her to look into it and how he saw a hero staring back, it became one of her most cherished possessions. Even more so when Varric insisted on a stop over in Kirkwall so Elaine might visit The Black Emporium and use its mirrror of transformation. During their travels, the bond only increased as they found their way into many scrapes with both venatori cultists and agents of the dread wolf but through it all, the thing that stuck with the newly christened rook was that despite all the years that passed in between, her old flame for Scout Harding had not diminished at all…
BONUS: INQUISITOR
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& SCREENSHOT GALLERY!!!
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blade-of-the-crow · 7 months ago
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Hey! I decided to make a short angsty fanfic for Davrin and Wardenrook!
Hope you enjoy a little snippet 🥹(not beta’d wanted to get this out quickly!)
What happens when after all they've sacrificed a simple life with their half-bird half-cat kid just isn't in the cards for our heroes 🥺
PART 1
It’s been nearly 5 years since the fight against the blighted elven gods, or as Bellara liked to explain it, a fight with several little wars.
Thedas has more or less moved on, she’s not back to normal and will never be the same as it was but in some way we are stronger for it.
Tevinter has a ruler that has begun to repair the damage its legacy has left on the world and the elves are slowly being recognized as people in their own right and not beings whose sole purpose is to live as slaves, and as for the Wardens, well the Wardens are figuring out what their purpose is now that the last archdemon has been slayed.
Since the fall of Elgar’nan the strength of the blight in Thedas has diminished greatly and with the help of the remaining wardens who volunteered, the South is finally starting to see the promise of one day hosting life again.
After the final battle the Veilguard went its separate ways. Neve stayed in Tevinter, Lucanis and Bellara returned home to help rebuild their organizations, Emmrich and Manfred returned to the Necropolis and Taash went to live with Harding’s ma who was in one of the first convoys from Southern Thedas fleeing the blight.
As for a certain Warden power couple Rook and Davrin decided to make their dreams of a quiet life with their half-bird, half-cat kid together a reality. Everything was finally coming together until two months ago.
“Hey Rook!” I hear a familiar voice call out my name as I am trying to hack through a blight tendril blocking what should be a doorway according to old blue prints.
About a year ago what was left of Warden leadership decided now might be a good idea to see if Weisshaupt could be taken back. With the darkspawn gone and the gods dead the blight's hold over the fortress wasn’t what it once was. I offered my assistance a couple months ago and came up here while Davrin decided to stay behind in Arlathan with Eldrin and the griffons.
“Yea?!” I called out.
“The first Warden wants to see you in her office!”
“Alright!” I called out as I sheathed my blade. “But give me a hand it’s easier to jump down this pit then it will be jumping up.”
I reached my hand up and felt a firm grasp take hold and lift me out.
“Damn Thorne skimping out on rations?” The man is taller than I am so I have to crane my neck to see who it was. I sigh when I realize who they sent to fetch me.
“And here I thought your ass was among the names of the fallen who had not been identified yet.”
“Bloody hell who knew you grew into such a bitter bitch.” He laughed “I guess you’re still upset about how I ratted you out to the higher ups back then huh.”
“Oh wait was that before or after I found you balls deep in a fresh twenty-year-old recruit.” I scowl at him.
Ashton Anderson, a fellow warden who I had the foolish notion to choose as my first love. We met shortly after our joining. It was a whirlwind romance that lasted way longer than it should have. My punishment for my actions with the horde wouldn’t have been so severe if not for him whispering shit into the First Warden’s ear about how my ‘reckless’ actions were a result of a broken heart and that I was not fit for anything other than a junior warden position. Turns out there was a promotion in the works and that the two names brought forth were ours. He used his position as my unfaithful ex-boyfriend as leverage.
‘Son of a bitch.’
“Okay I see you’re still upset about that.” He had the nerve to look sheepish and turn his head away.
“Actually what you did was probably the best thing for me. It led me to where and who I belong with so if you don’t mind I’ll be going.” I said as I stalked off.
Never had I imagined I’d run into him but to be honest it was a good thing. If it was anyone else I might not have been able to breeze past that comment about my weight so easily. I am able to hide my appearance under warm clothes and heavy make up, but how frail I am underneath is another thing entirely.
I get lost in my thoughts and before I know it I am in front of the First Wardens office. I take a moment to compose myself not knowing what laid behind those doors. I knock and a moment later a familiar voice calls out in response.
“Come in.” I push inside the door and find the first warden and her partner.
“Rook” Evka greets with a nod as she gets up from her seat behind her desk and walks over to where her husband was standing.
“Evka, Antoine.” I nod “What’s up, someone told me that you guys needed to see me.”
“Oui, thank you for coming so quickly.” Antoine replies as he gestures to the chair in front of the desk. “Please have a seat.”
“Uh oh.” I joke “Why does it feel like I’m being brought before a jury.” I say trying to make light of the situation.
“Rook.” Evka shakes her head. “I think you know exactly why you are here.” She admonishes gently.
I sigh. “How long have you guys known?” I asked not looking directly at them.
“Antoine knew as soon as you arrived.” Evka said as she sat down next to me and placed a warm hand on my knee. “I clued in a few weeks later, when you started getting turned around getting to the mess hall, a route you knew like the back of your head. I asked Antoine after to make sure I wasn’t making a bigger deal of it in my head. You taking longer each day to get ready in the morning was another obvious clue.”
“I can’t hide anything from you guys it seems.” I respond after a lengthy pause.
“You’re right. I hear it. I hear my calling.”
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ummokayhello · 2 months ago
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Race, Music, and Culture: Part 2
So, how do race and music connect? What does this have to do with culture?  
For one, music, in my eyes, is a culture of its own. It is highly affected by social expectations, politics, and emotional development of humans in society. Josh Kun concisely puts in his book Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America that “Race remains a visual idea, a set of meanings, stereotypes, assumptions, and lies, all rooted in differences that are experienced and indexed most commonly by the eyes.” The way I am able to use Kun’s clear words in relation to music, much like he does in the remainder of his text, is to relate it to the way in which music can both ignore and face the restrictions of race as a concept. Music is and has always been a tool for the processing of human life, a way to form simple sound into rhythm and meaning where it might not have been found before. It is through only human ears that it can be heard, and only through human hands that it can be crafted.  
Sadly, race follows the same overlap of rules. In life, race is simply an idea gathered by a history of oppression long overdue for dismantling. It is a set of stereotypes, expectations, and judgments. It is only seen with and through human eyes and created just the same. A wild animal will not stray from a human due to skin color or facial features labeled as falling into a certain box. The clouds do not move wind to touch our skin differently based on the shade. Only humans uphold the hatred found in the biases we find in everyday life, and it is present in Kun’s writing in his book. He describes music as a form of capturing the oppression one may face in life and putting it into sound.  
I think that while music can surely be used for this purpose, it can also be used as a distraction. A better word may even be hope. My first thought drifts towards songs made by slaves in America, and how they still are sung in freedom to this day to celebrate their resilience. While, at the time, they were crafted as a means to hold hope for the future and a distraction from the cruel reality at hand, they still serve as reminders of oppression and the fight against it in the present day.  
I believe that Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic put it best in Critical Race Theory that “...by every social indicator, racism continues to blight the lives of people of color, including holders of high-echelon jobs, even judges”. My first assumption regarding my very own example above was that music related to the struggle of POC might sometimes play the role of a distraction, but I was able to quickly garner the reality that even music made in the hope of taking away from the power of racism by distracting from it still faces it directly. To hope for a better future in the name of freedom is to face the oppression head on. To acknowledge its existence, and to walk away from it anyway. 
It was in these early moments of research that I had truly begun to gather what it is I would like to conclude about my gatherings: Music, as an artistic expression, is highly influential within an oppressed culture. From this point on, I would begin connecting my sources to this theory I developed. It was something I would have hoped to find true, or at least relevant within my last entry. 
Bibliographic References
Delgado, Richard, Jean Stefancic, and Angela P. Harris. Critical race theory: An introduction. New York: New York University Press, 2001.
Kun, Josh. Audiotopia: Music, race, and America. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, 2005.
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brennacedria · 3 months ago
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First one from general, 1 and 2 for Warden?l, 6 for Hawke, 12 for Inquisitor, and 17 for Rook :)
Ah! It took a week, but I got this one done! Everything's under the cut, because it obviously got LONG.
GENERAL
Do you have a favorite worldstate to play in? If so, what about it makes it your favorite? Almost everything I play is in the worldstate based around my canon Warden, Elissa Margaret Cousland. That includes her, a Queen Cousland Warden Commander; Ria Hawke, a purple, mage-loving rogue; Vrania Amell, a non-Warden apostate/former maleficar turned Inquisition agent; Mika Trevelyan, Inquisitor; Kaela Mercar, Rook; and Sofia de Riva, a non-Rook little sister to Viago, who functions as his liaison to the Lighthouse. The one unifying band around all of these girls is a fierce pro-mage, pro-freedom stance in pretty much all ways.
WARDEN
How did the first few days after Ostagar feel like? Numb. For all practical purposes, Elissa was numb from the moment she left Highever. In a sick way, she was grateful for the new senses she'd gained from the Joining, because they gave her something to focus on other than everything that happened--the attack, the Joining itself, and the betrayal. She doesn't break down for the first time until meeting Leandra in Lothering, when Leandra recognizes her as Eleanor's child.
How does the Warden feel about the Deep Roads? The Fade? The Deep Roads initially overwhelm her, as the call of the archdemon is so much stronger there than above ground. It's intoxicating in a way, and when they first witness the archdemon at Bownammar she's so drunk on it that she tries to attack then and there, and has to be stopped before she jumped over the edge of the chasm. The Fade… was literally a nightmare. She never had any experience with it outside of the one time in during the Blight, so breaking that hold is the only time she's familiar with it.
HAWKE
How does your Hawke deal with losing Leandra? Not well. In both Ria's canon and her alt versions, she closes herself off in ways, at least for a while. In canon, she continues to work but stops coming out socially for a while. Because they can see her and see how she seems to be, no one worries more than would be usual and they give her space to heal. For her alternate, though… that's the version of her where Bethany died in the Deep Roads, and once Leandra's gone Ria thinks she has NOTHING. She's the last Hawke. She shuts herself away entirely. Years before, when Bethany died, Elthina sent Sebastian to keep up with Leandra during the mourning period. Later, when Leandra passes and Sebastian has already gotten close to Hawke, he takes it on himself to do the same for Ria. She's so bad off that he ends up moving into a guest room to be nearby at all times, and stays there until well enough after the Arishok fight that people started to talk.
INQUISITOR
How does your Inquisitor feel about Blackwall’s reveal? Mika knows nothing of the Wardens, and had no reason to doubt him until everything came to light. She… wasn't HURT by the reveal, in that she didn't have an attachment to him or his story… but she did believe him, so there was still a feeling of betrayal in a professional sense. She ended up sentencing him to the Wardens, because everyone told her that was a thing she had the authority to do, and accepted him back on the condition that he turn himself in to the Order after the ordeal with Corypheus was over.
ROOK
If Rook could switch factions, which one would they join? What would their reason be? Kaela will probably eventually end up working with the Crows in one way or another, probably some sort of administrative thing. Maybe she'll become liaison from House Dellamorte to the other talons the same way Sofia already functions as Viago's liaison.
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lizzybeeee · 8 months ago
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I feel like another reason for Sten being much less 'intense' then the qunari we see in the future games is because, technically, when we meet him he's Tal-Vashoth.
He's lost his sword/soul, he's failed his mission from the Arishok, and his karatam (fellow soldiers) are all dead. On top of that, the realization that he's lost asala leads to him killing an entire farmhold, (not just the men, but the women and children too!) - literally proving to himself that without the Qun he is lawless and savage, just as he was taught his entire life. Alistair talks about how Sten is regretful of what happened, but that his "regret is the not the same as it is to us" - which I agree with! He's more regretful at his loss of composure/purpose more so than the death of the farmers.
He's stuck in this limbo of being loyal to the Qun, because he genuinely believes in it, while also being confronted with the idea that according to his beliefs he is nothing - his soul is dust. He had come to terms with the idea of dying in that cage because he was less than nothing and he could see no way of making his way in the world without the purpose of the Qun.
Then along comes the Warden who gives him a chance to find a sliver of purpose again: to fight the blight.
The blight/darkspawn is a threat to all, even the Qun, so it doesn't conflict with his beliefs. It's also responsible for the death of his karatam - and in his fade prison we can see that he has a strong camaraderie with his fellow soldiers - so on a personal level he's invested in seeing them destroyed. Sten is, according to the Qun, lawless and chaotic, so why not die with a blade in his hand, even if its not his soul?
Sten's more open to hearing/conversing with the rest of the party because:
1) They're fighting together - He needs to know how to work with them and they are not trained as the Qun trains warriors. He comments in a lot of his banter about the fighting styles/techniques of those he's with.
2) He is Tal-Vashoth - For the time he is without asala, at least. At this point in time he's come to terms with the fact that his death is only delayed - that he will die from the darkspawn or the Qun if he returns to Par Vollen. So why not talk with these people who he's traveling with? What can he lose from it? Most of his conversations are not him attempting to convert others to the Qun, but his attempts to understand how one lives without it.
3) He is someone who needs a strong sense of purpose to function (thanks to growing up under the Qun) and the Warden provides that purpose.
While he's initially distant/critical with those in the party, with time he becomes open to conversing with them outside of arguments/criticism - even joking or teasing them! He's still loyal to the Qun, but he's willing to speak/listen to the perspectives of others because what does he have to lose? He even asks questions/converses with the Warden about the differences between the Qun and life outside of it - even though he doesn't agree, that's way more than the Arishok was willing to do in DA2. He's trying to understand how someone can live without the Qun because it simply does not compute, but he's faced with the reality that somehow people do live without it.
When he is no longer Tal-Vashoth (if you help him locate asala) he maintains the respectful camaraderie/friendship(?) with the Warden - calling them an 'Ashkaari' which is basically 'an enlightened one' when they return his blade. Not to mention how he calls them 'Kadan' and promises to not look for them on the battlefield of the 'eventual' invasion of the Qun in southern Thedas (RIP Qunari War story thread). It comes across to me, at least, that he rationalizes/reconciles his time as a Tal-Vashoth by associating the Warden with the Qun - which is both a sign of massive respect and pure copium lmao.
He says he's 'complete' when he gets asala back and it makes me feel a little sad every time! How much has the Qun shaped/warped his sense of identity that he's unable to see all he accomplished without it? :(
Anyway, this turned into a rant about how I love Sten as a character and how complex and well he was written - top tier writing, 10/10 <3
Something very dear to me in DAO, when it comes to Sten and then Qun is that, unlike the next games, it doesn't feel like the Qun is portrayed in that much of a negative of a light?
Sure, some of its issues are still adressed. Sten will ask 'how are you a woman if you fight' to leliana, morrigan, wynne and a female warden, and it highlights the gender roles in the Qun, but considering that if you play as a female warden you get ask/told again and again that there aren't a lot of wardens or that people are surprised you're a warrior (cof cof howe mentioning its unusual that bryce would train a female cousland as a warrior cof cof) i don't have much complaints with that. it is what it is. And at least, you can stand up to Sten when he says those things.
I think the only time i was like 'ok that is fucked' was when Sten brought up how the Qun treats its mages, because even when he talked about how everyone under the Qun has a role, he doesn't talk in a way that makes you feel like this is some sort of extremely bad and rigid thing. In fact, Sten makes the argument that its better because then people don't have to spend their life trying to fit in into something they're not (and lowkey, Wynne expressed similar sentiments when she talks about that it's better to embrace the role/destiny that the Maker gave you than fighting against it).
But what really drives home to me about home to me is that, at some point, Alistair asks the Warden how they feel about the other companions and when talking about Sten, there's a possbility for Alistair to say that, in the way Sten talks about the Qun, it doesn't feel as vile as the chantry makes it out. And you gotta keep in mind that Alistair spent a good portion of his life living in the chantry, so for him to say that, for me, is a big deal on how the Qun is portrayed through Sten.
I think about this a lot because I honestly was like wow, besides a few things, the Qun seems lowkey to be pretty good until we got to DAI and there was the whole thing with re-education, and hunting tal-vashoth (which, its adressed in DAO, but i feel like they were much more subtle about it). Like heck, even in DA2, I don't think the Qun itself is portrayed that badly, because 1) the Arishok doesn't do shit to Kirkwall until he's provocked like 3 different times and 2) Kirkwall is a shithole, so when he talks about the city, he lowkey makes sense.
Idk. I really liked how the qun was handled in DAO because of Sten and his perspective, and then in DAI and DATV I was just going 'yikes' most of the time.
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