artist, adult, dude (he/him). ask me about my fantasy world or any of my characters and you will make me happy for 100 years. Go to 54625-2 for other stuff. art on the header by the wonderful lilliancdoodles
there is a city sized university called Gresse on the island nation of Yixa. Gresse is a university committed solely to the study of magic and magi, and they own a gigantic fleet of quite possibly hundreds of thousands of ships that go out to almost every country in the world - countries under the Gresse Concordisse - to pick magi up and take them back to Gresse. No one except the highest higher ups in Gresse themselves know exactly why this is considered necessary. Within the terms of the Gresse Concordisse it is plainly stated that any realised magi withholding themselves from the ships and refusing passage to Gresse is committing a crime against Yixa, as is anyone knowingly harbouring them.
Saal is (secretly. Secretly , secretly) a magi ; a Pathetic one, but one nonetheless. He also just so happens to live in what would likely be classed as the 3rd most anti-magic nation in the world, Ulor. (he has some serious self image issues.)
Ulor is a country that is almost entirely run by various underground thieves guilds that have existed as long as the country itself. They are deeply entrenched in the culture of Ulor. There is no Ulor without the guilds. Despite the lowlives that make up their ranks - known as scaru - and their propensity for drinks, drugs, gambling, whores, fights and cursing, the guilds are perfectly organised and calculated, and spare no sympathy for anyone in the way.
Saal Fera is a scaru belonging to the guild 'Fratera', the guild in charge of the southernmost territories of Ulor. He's pretty much the exact opposite of organised and calculated, and very much in the way. Him being magi and therefore technically a fugitive was enough to make him a massive liability as is - without the extra mess of him then going and accidentally getting a valuable and talented guild brother, a man named Omalivilian, killed on the job. His standing with the guild master Amaria dropping from unfavourable to straight up resentful, Saal is now at risk of being dropped by the guild; even worse, Amaria has threatened to save everyone the trouble and report him to the ships to have him taken away to Gresse if he doesn't seriously make up for what he's done.
The guild is split into groups called divisas, and Divisa three is made up by Saal and his two best friends: Vitra and Divus.
And then there's Livilial, who's a member of guild Fratera who joined after escaping from her home country to Ulor, who has now made it her life's goal to make Saal as miserable as humanly possible even if that means getting him kicked out the guild for good; Omalivilian was her beloved younger brother. However, Livilial and Saal already have a complicated past, meaning her feelings about him are a lot more conflicted that she'd like to admit.
There is plenty of more in depth lore about all of them that I have posted about , but that's the shortest overview I can give I reckon !! now I will put all of the tags
kinda awesome I now have 3 entire OCs who can be described as tired morally complicated brinik women prone to violence who are wrapped up in serious romantic issues
that's just what happens if you're born in brin ig
no i don't think those characters are siblings i think they're friends. I don't think that's their mom I actually think she's their friend. I don't think they're related actually I think they're friends with each other.
Census Survey Results, Pt. 1 - Intro & General Demographics
We're finally here! Because of how lengthy these posts will be, I'm going to have to split them over multiple posts. The plan is to have this intro, posts focused on each game and its main responses, and then a further few posts dedicated to each game's responses on the optional opinion section along with a selection of the free-response text box answers. They'll all be tagged with '#census survey', and once they're all out, I'll link them all in the pinned post so they're easy to find :)
Here is a list of pretty interesting patterns and findings I got from the results before we dive into the answers themselves!
When it comes to the free-response section, Veilguard inspired far more writing than any other game, with the highest comment count, response rate, average word count, and total word count
Solas inspired the largest number of people to say something, with the highest raw comment count and highest response rate. Cullen, Loghain, Anders, and Oghren also all broke 200+ optional text responses.
Sigrun had the least text responses (though she was rated positively by 85.2% of respondents and negatively by virtually nobody), with all the Awakening companions getting between 80-100. The non-DLC character with the fewest responses was Inquisition Leliana
Josephine inspired relatively few and relatively short responses, but 94.7% of respondents rated her positively
Taash generated the most intense free-response engagement, with the most total words and average words per response
Anders was the character who inspired the least indifference - only 1% of respondents selected "I'm indifferent" for him
Cullen was the most polarising, with his ratings fairly evenly distributed. He also had the highest negative percentage, narrowly ahead of Oghren
Oghren had the highest percentage of "mixed/conflicted feelings"
Tallis inspired the most indifference, with 43.5% of respondents selecting "I'm indifferent" for her. The next highest result was Sebastian at 25.4%
The top five characters with the most "I love them" responses were Dorian (75.4%), Zevran, Morrigan, Merrill, and DA2 Varric. Dorian was the most overwhelmingly positively rated, with 94.2% positive answers, 0.8% negative, and 1.4% indifferent
Vivienne, Sera, Taash, Harding, and Lucanis all had very positive ratings as characters, but their free-response text boxes were generally criticism-heavy, with people citing issues with their writing and storylines
Opinions on Oghren don't differ by gender - men were slightly more likely to be mixed rather than negative, but otherwise percentages were broadly the same across the board
Opinions on Taash differ pretty clearly between cis and trans/nonbinary respondents. Trans and nonbinary results are almost identical, but cis people were broadly less positive on Taash. 6.4% of trans and 5.6% nonbinary respondents rated Taash negatively ("dislike" or "hate") compared to 16.8% of cis respondents. 38.5% of trans and 38.6% of nonbinary people specifically selected "I love them" for Taash, compared to only 22.8% of cis respondents.
Men were substantially more likely to love Anders - 41.2% of women loved him vs. 61.5% of men.
Women were substantially more likely to love Cullen - 28.9% of women vs. 13.1% of men - and men were substantially more likely to hate Cullen (10.1% of women vs. 25.3% of men).
Sera was loved by 52.6% of men vs. only 35.3% of women
Some other interesting patterns: Neve was more positively rated by nonbinary people and men than she was by women, and Iron Bull was much more positively rated by nonbinary people than by either men or women
People who like Solas are almost twice as likely than others to also like Blackwall
Anders and Fenris fans aren't generally opposing camps, though Fenris fans are more likely to dislike Anders than Anders fans are likely to dislike Fenris. Among people positive about Anders, 97.2% were also positive about Fenris.
Ace-spec respondents lean slightly more positively toward Lucanis, but the difference isn't statistically significant
Older respondents (for this purpose 36+) like Cullen more than younger respondents do, while they like Loghain significantly less. Older respondents are also notably more likely to like Lucanis, Emmrich, and Aveline. Velanna, for some reason, peaks significantly for 23-27 year olds
Bellara was rated positively by every single person who said Veilguard was their favourite game
People who romanced Alistair in Origins tended to romance Fenris in DA2 and Cullen in Inquisition. People who romanced Leliana in Origins heavily favoured Josephine in Inquisition. Merrill romancers strongly gravitate toward Josephine and Bellara. Isabela romancers overwhelmingly favour Neve in Veilguard. Zevran romancers favour Dorian and Lucanis. Blackwall romancers divide strongly between Emmrich and Davrin.
The most common favourite romance pipelines were Zevran > Fenris > Dorian > Lucanis and Zevran > Fenris > Dorian > Emmrich
The fandom is very consistently pro mage, with 97.8% siding with the mages in Origins, 95.6% in DA2, and 89.7% in Inquisition. Only 1 respondent out of the 760 who answered the question for all three games chose the Templar option in every game.
To back up the common complaint in the free-response boxes about Veilguard forcing a harmonious team with no ability to disagree with companions, Rook was dramatically more likely to get along with everyone. The percentage of people who said their protagonist genuinely got along with every companion was 28.9% for the Warden, 22.1% for Hawke, 28.3% for the Inquisitor, and 72.2% for Rook. The most common sources of friction: For the Warden, Oghren, then Wynne; for Hawke, Sebastian, then Aveline and Carver; for the Inquisitor, Vivienne and Cullen, then Sera and Solas; and for Rook, Lucanis and Taash, but at much lower rates than any previous game's conflicts.
Certain pairings of characters were very often loved by the same people; some examples were Aveline and Cassandra, Morrigan and Isabela, Velanna and Merrill, Isabela and Neve, Isabela and Sera, Zevran and Fenris, and Nathaniel and Carver.
Cullen fans were more likely than other players to dislike Velanna, Merrill, Sera, Vivienne, and Isabela.
Inquisition players who chose the mages usually allied with them, but players who chose the Templars usually conscripted them.
How old are you?: 28-35 (48.3%), 23-27 (24.6%), 36-45 (18.4%), 18-22 (6.3%), 46-55 (1.9%), 13-17 (0.3%), 56+ (0.1%)
What's your gender identity?: Cis woman (48.2%), nonbinary (31.5%), trans man (10%), cis man (2.3%), trans woman (1.9%)
Write-in responses were mostly more specific nonbinary labels, people who didn't know their identity, and those who weren't comfortable disclosing gender identity but chose not to skip the question.
Where do you live?: North America (61%), Europe (31.5%), Australia/New Zealand (4.5%), Asia (1.3%), South America (1.3%), Africa (0.5%)
Which Dragon Age games have you played?: Inquisition (98.5%), Origins (96.9%), DA2 (95.8%), Veilguard (84.2%)
Which is your favourite Dragon Age game?: DA2 (40.6%), Origins (29%), Inquisition (24.1%), Veilguard (6.3%)
Which was your first Dragon Age game?: Origins (62.9%), Inquisition (26.5%), DA2 (8.8%), Veilguard (1.8%)
Which difficulty do you generally play on?: Normal (49.7%), Casual (37.4%), Hard (9.4%), Nightmare (3.5%)
Which platform do you generally play on?: PC (69.4%), PlayStation (17.1%), XBOX (13.5%)
Which of the spin-off games have you played, if any?: None of the above (66.1%), Dragon Age: The Last Court (25.8%), Heroes of Dragon Age (15%), Dragon Age Legends (6%), Dragon Age Journeys (3.8%)
Which of the animated/live action screen media pieces have you watched, if any?: Absolution (53.6%), none of the above (37.9%), Dawn of the Seeker (31.7%), Redemption (16.5%), Warden's Fall (8.3%)
Which of the tie-in books have you read, if any?: Tevinter Nights (43.4%), The Stolen Throne (40.6%), The World of Thedas Vol. 1 (40.5%), The World of Thedas Vol. 2 (39.7%), Asundder (37.8%), The Masked Empire (36.3%), The Calling (34.7%), none of the above (28.5%), Last Flight (26.7%), Hard in Hightown (17.6%)
Which of the tie-in comics have you read, if any?: None of the above (52%), The Silent Grove (32.7%), Those Who Speak (30.4%), Magekiller (30%), Blue Wraith (28.3%), Until We Sleep (28.3%), Knight Errant (25.9%), The Missing (22.9%), Deception (20%), Dark Fortress (18.8%)
Which additional spin-off media have you engaged in, if any?: None of the above (56.6%), the Vows & Vengeance podcast (32.4%), the Dragon Age tabletop RPG (21.7%)
I can't depaul her without removing the features I really wanted her to have I'm gonna have to give up for now and pick this issue back up in the morning . what do I even do . she looks fucking exactly like him . this is going to be impossible
Is Renethea particularly religious? That last ask just got me thinking about it . The dominant religion of Ulor (Izubanism) is VERY anti magi, and there is even a god in the pantheon who is worshipped as a protector against the forces of magi. I also know religion and OCD can be a devastating combo so it got me curious .
Would she feel like worshipping and being super devout could protect her ? If so, is she obsessive about religious rituals as well? Or would she have some other reason to stray away from it?
(no worries if there's not enough info on the religion itself for you to fully know)
Honestly probably . Though the extent that she would worship would likely be influenced by her grandmother , who so far has been characterized as being so vehemently anti-magi that i could imagine that soon after her son (renethea's dad) was taken to Gresse she would have gotten very involved with the worship and rituals of this protector god . And of course bringing Renethea with her to help protect her from the possibility of being a magi (thinking she's doing the right thing to keep her granddaughter safe but it's quickly becoming abuse)
The only reason i could imagine her not worshiping with a congregation is if her grandmother mentioned to the church that Renethea was the daughter of a magi , and then after she died Renethea became more and more terrified that the church would be able to find her out or sense her or do something else so she stays away (even if it doesn't make sense since if they could do that , why wouldn't they have done that from the beginning)
But she would most likely do the rituals even if ^that scenario happens . Protecting herself from her magic getting out , protecting others from being hurt by it . Lots of symbols and trinkets , probably a small shrine in her room to be safe . Unsure how devout she would be if the above scenario doesn't happen , cause i think she would get in her own head about the idea of going to worship so much at the church would be suspicious to anyone who payed attention to her .
I just want to know more about them in general, but I do not have any specific questions in mind, so could I have one fact (however big or small) about each of your divisa members that you haven't shared yet ?
(If all of them is too much pressure you can just answer for whoever you do have answers for) :D
Not set in stone but: For the twins i'm thinking about the idea that they would actually have different last names . Enthis wants Fratera . Of the two he is the most into the guild and the guild activities . He's good at it and it's where he places a lot of his self worth (doing good on the jobs means he's being helpful . He's contributing to the family business ) so he wants to take the name of the guild , the epithet that people have been calling them for years .
But Galicalla is much more individual than Enthis . Sure she enjoys the work but it's not her life's work . She would much prefer the name Masiisis , still alluding to them being 'the fratera twins' but being her own person within that outside of the guild and life she was born into and had no choice but to join .
And building off of that , I think that if they hadn't been born into the guild that Enthis would have ended up in there anyway , while Galicalla would have ended up doing a more respectable profession , if she had one at all . Maybe an informant would be as close as she got .
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Renethea will go to shows or orators , listen to the stories and then go back home and write it down to the best of her ability . She is always on the look out for more paper and will use whatever scraps she can find to write with . Part of her is worried that if she doesn't practice continuously she'll forget , and it's one of the last things she has from her mother , her ability to write . I also think that one of her most prized possessions are any pieces of paper with her mother's handwriting from when she was first learning . She's tried very hard to copy her mother's handwriting , and most people would have a hard time telling the difference looking at them side by side , but Renethea can see the differences and it kills her .
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Vallus has very very faint memories of when he lived as a noble . They're so faint he thinks of them as dreams he remembers really well or very vivid imaginings of what noble life would look like . If he somehow ever ended up in his family's estate he would be confused how familiar it feels but brush it off as a type of deja vu
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I shared a lot of my Illinae facts when you asked about her before but an interesting ooc fact : Her last name was based around the goddess Frigg , being one of if not the most important and strongest female gods in norse mythology (though she (Illinae) doesn't reflect her domains of worship) . And the arrow symbol on her brawler gear is an allusion to the Māori Mangopare which symbolizes strength , termination , strong will , and fighting spirit ! Obviously doesn't have those meanings in Ulor but I thought the designs and meanings were cool .
Ty for the ask , I hope the facts are interesting :D
