Amy's Giant Bees

She/Her. Queer. An adult. Sometimes I post adult stuff FYI. I sometimes do fanart and rant. https://arab.org I am putting my energy behind collective action not individual campaigns sorry

[onlytiktoks]

[aniseandspearmint]

Asdfghjkl her perfectly straight face and even tone throughout should win an AWARD

[anonbeadraws]

figure commission of Tekari and Zerina, fallen and risen aspects of the same aasimar for Izzy ✨ com info here

[vigilskept]

really i think the most insidious part of white supremacy is the way it will convince white people everything is actually About Them. being called out isn’t about you. poc expressing frustration at your behaviour isn’t about you. it’s about how you are affecting others. step one is literally just de-centre yourself from the conversation. anyone who’s not white has already had to learn this lesson the hard way and it gets tiring waiting for the rest of you to catch up

[ironmaidenhead]

FLEETWOOD MAC - RHIANNON

[whitager]

do you ever start writing a comment on the internet and then think “oh what the fuck am i going on about” and delete it

[bramcrackerswrites]

I also enjoy writing an entire paragraph, thinking "you know, I don't actually need to be involved in this conversation," and deleting it

[c3rvida3]

I think Joan of Arc's fursona would be a dog called Joan of Bark, but my partner thinks it would be a phoenix, which seems insensitive to me, but neither of us are furries, so I guess we don't really get a say either way.

[swiftrunnerfelidae]

I promise I’m not trying to be pretentious here. Jeanne d’Arc’s last name is d’Arc.  An overly-literal translator insisted it stood for “of Arc”, and that’s why we know her as Joan of Arc.  At the time, she was more commonly known as “Jeanne la Pucelle”, meaning “Joan the Maiden” or “Joan the Virgin”.

anyways since her main attack strategy was “hit them until they stop moving” I think she’d be a gorilla.

[c3rvida3]

*taking notes* What else do you know about this beautiful world?

[op-la]

"Who are you, Louis?"

For @ldpdlweek2026 day 4 - guilt | reconciliation and forgiveness

You can get this as a print here

[infectiouspiss]

trans people don't need to hear your justifications for still enjoying harry potter in 2026 stop looking for forgiveness where you're not going to get it

[fagseal]

Same goes for the marauders fandom okay I don't care if that's your pretty bisexual uwu princess because to me you are just posting about harry potter characters and wearing merch of harry potter characters which is a signal to any trans person that you are not to be trusted

[dalishious]

The Relationship Between Dalish and City Elves

In order to understand the relationship between these two umbrella groups of elves, we need to first understand how said groups came to be. That being the history of the Exalted March of the Dales. I made a big ol’ post about this a little while ago. You can read it in its entirety here if interested, but here’s the most relevant piece again: The aftermath.

In the Chantry’s “mercy,” Divine Renata I declared the following:

Worship of the elven gods is forbidden

All lands loyal to the Chantry must create segregated elven communities known as alienages

All elves given ‘refuge’ in the alienages must convert to Andrastiansism

All Chantry artwork depicting elves must be destroyed, save for a single mural of Shartan, with his ears docked to look human

All mention of elves, including the Canticle of Shartan, is removed from the canonical Chant of Light (though Professor Kenric in DA:I’s Jaws of Hakkon DLC says this happened before the Exalted March)

Almost all elven accounts of the experiences of the Exalted March were silenced; only those carried by the Dalish strongly persist

The alienages are far from ideal “refuge.” They do not have access to many services human communities have, like building upkeep, waste disposal, and sometimes something as simple as clean water. They are often walled off and over-crowded. (The Val Royeaux alienage is said to have 10 000 elves in a walled off area the size of the Denerim market, with walls so high the shadows they cast cover nearly the entire place.) Elves struggle to find stable work, as humans will only hire them for dangerous or underpaid jobs, if at all. But worst of all, alienages are subjected to complete “purges” if the elves are deemed too unruly; its citizens massacred by an army of guards.

A diaspora of elves known as the Dalish refused to accept these decrees dispersed across Thedas in nomadic/semi-nomadic clans, outside of human control. The Dalish attempt to preserve and relearn as much of their history and culture as they can. Every ten years they gather at an Arlathvhen to share and retell their knowledge, but over the many years clan cultures have grown in variance in many ways.

And so from 2:20 Glory onward, these two different groups of cultures have developed; those of elves living within human society, majority of which in the alienages, and those of elves living outside human society.

Now, here’s the thing: Up until recent advances in the franchise, the biggest problem between Dalish and city elves was misunderstanding, which I’ll get to in a minute. The first time we ever even see unwarranted flat-out hostility is in The Masked Empire. Then we hear about it in DA:I, how the Dalish are all stuck up and cruel to city elves. Before TME, the only time we see anything close to this is when Velanna barks angrily at a couple of city elves in Amaranthine, and this was after they were rude to her. But afterwards, she gifts them an elven amulet. It makes total sense that different clans would have different perspectives on their fellow elves in the cities, but there is something to be said about the lack of continuity in consistently seeing one thing, then suddenly consistently seeing another. If the writers were attempting to show differences across clans, in my opinion the better way to do that would be to establish it from point A to point B.

But as I said, the biggest problem still remains that Dalish elves and city elves simply do not understand each other very well. But that misunderstanding has not stopped them from for the most part, being kind to each other.

Keep reading

[dalishious]

Do you have any ideas as to how you would have written Aveline differently?

(Anyway this turned out to be one of my favourite things I’ve ever written and oh man I would never claim to be a professional writer, and don’t meaning to sound like I’m bragging, but I think I’m in love with my alternate Aveline concept.)

Have you ever heard the song Bobcaygeon by The Tragically Hip? If you’re Canadian I’m gonna go ahead and assume you have, but if not, it’s about an RCMP officer who has become disillusioned with his job, having to sit back and watch fascists/white nationalists. Gord said the song is about asking “evil in the open or evil below the surface?” (Apparently he may specifically be drawing parallels to the Swastika Clubs and Christie Pits riot. You should look it up; no one ever talks about antisemitism in Canada.)

I highly suggest watching the music video for this song, and then imagining if in place of Aveline constantly being validated by how pure she is, we instead had a character who had her “Lawful Good” nature challenged and questioned.

Every other companion has to look at themselves, question themselves, even if not always deserved. But Aveline never does, because even when other characters challenge her, it is always written so she has the narrative’s moral high ground. And no, I’m not counting her Act 2 quest with Donnic, because that is such surface level shit in comparison to the others. Fenris is out here wondering if he’s ever been and ever will be truly free, Merrill and Anders are afraid they’re monsters, Sebastian doesn’t know if he deserves to be prince… And Aveline is afraid to talk to a man.

Imagine instead…

Keep reading

[dalishious]

I hate it so much when people say “Morrigan knows more about elven history than the Dalish,” often with the explanation being “because Morrigan was raised by Mythal.” Because it’s wrong.

Morrigan was not raised by Mythal, Morrigan was raised by Flemeth. Flemeth, who has a piece of Mythal inside her. She is not Mythal herself. She very clearly explains this.

Flemeth: Once I was but a woman, crying out in the lonely darkness for justice. And she came to me, a wisp of an ancient being, and she granted me all I wanted and more… I have carried Mythal through the ages ever since, seeking the justice denied to her. Inquisitor: Then you carry Mythal inside you? Flemeth: She is a part of me, no more separate than your heart from your chest. 

Is Wynne herself Faith, because she has a spirit of faith possessing her? Is Anders himself Justice, because he has a spirit of justice possessing him? No. They are their own people, but with a part of them coming from another being.

She also goes onto say that she is nothing compared to what Mythal was as a whole being, when trying to excuse herself for not sharing what she knows.

Inquisitor: If Mythal is within you, why not reveal yourself? Flemeth: And to whom should I reveal myself? Inquisitor: To the elves? To everyone? Flemeth: (Laughs.) I knew the hearts of men even before Mythal came to me. It is why she came to me. They do not want the truth, and I… I am but a shadow, lingering in the sun. 

Because she doesn’t even have Mythal in whole within her, only a piece. A very small piece. (And I personally think she gave another piece to her daughter Yavana, but that’s a theory that’s neither here nor there.)

Flemeth is Morrigan’s mother, not Mythal. And Flemeth was a horrible abusive mother, who also never shared anything with Morrigan. Whenever you ask Morrigan about Flemeth, her background, her magic, anything, Morrigan responds by saying things like “she would no sooner tell me than you,” and shares her own theories about things, but not solid answers. Because Flemeth never gave her any solid answers. This even includes her shape-changing abilities; if a Dalish warden comments that some Keepers know of such magics, and Morrigan wonders what the origins of the magic is, she comments, “I may even ask my mother about it some day, though I doubt she would tell the truth of it even so. Such is her way.” Morrigan doesn’t even know for certain she is Flemeth’s biological daughter, and can only assume as such. “I once asked Flemeth that very question, and she merely laughed at me,” she says, if the warden makes inquiries about it. Flemeth only ever told her what Flemeth wanted her to know, and Morrigan definitely had no idea she had a piece of Mythal within her. That much is obvious from her surprise about the revelations.

Morrigan’s whole companion quest is about her trying to uncover secrets that Flemeth kept from her. It’s why she wants the warden to get her grimoire, and then her real grimoire. 

Warden: What do you hope to find within [the grimoire?] Morrigan: Secrets. My mother has many of them, and this tome represents the one time that they were able to get away from her. I do not intend to squander this opportunity to learn more than Flemeth wished me to know. This should be… interesting.

Flemeth didn’t share shit all with Morrigan. If Morrigan’s knowledge came from Flemeth, then she wouldn’t have needed to steal it from the Dalish. (Something so many people ignore or were never aware of in the first place.)

Keep reading

[dalishious]

Let’s Talk About The Right of Annulment

The Right of Annulment is the legal right for templars to “purge” (murder) every single mage in any Circle of Magi deemed irredeemable. It is said that this is supposed to be a “last resort.” But like many things when it comes to the Chantry, what is claimed to be the intention is rarely actuality.

Keep reading

[dalishious]

Hey, you know how I’ve talked about narrative favouritism before? This is a perfect example of a passive but contributing piece of it.

All of the templar letters found in the Hinterlands end with “A letter written in a crisp and educated hand.” The mage letters end with “An unsigned letter, the scratched handwriting almost too sloppy to read,” “An unsigned letter, the edge of the page partially burned,” and “An unsigned letter written in a large and excited hand.” 

Both sets of letters speak radically, the templars wanting to destroy all mages, the mages claiming to be gods. But notice how through the signatures the templars are depicted as being smart and articulate, while the mages are shown to be childish and temperamental?

That’s narrative favouritism. On its own it’s not as big a deal, but part of a larger scale of similar things, it paints a picture meant to lead the player away from feeling too much sympathy for the mages.

[mllemaenad]

Cruelty vs Compassion: Cullen and Niall in Broken Circle

Cullen: Uldred tortured these mages, hoping to break their wills and turn them into abominations. We don’t know how many of them have turned.

Irving: What? Don’t be ridiculous!

Cullen: Of course he’ll say that! He might be a blood mage! Don’t you know what they did? 

Greagoir: I am the knight-commander here, not you.

I know much is made of the torture Cullen suffered in the Fereldan Circle. In Dragon Age 2 it is used to set him up as an extremist, and an ally of Meredith. In Dragon Age Inquisition it is used to excuse and moderate his actions in the previous game, and to justify his ongoing persecution of mage characters.

However, I think it’s worth looking at that scene in the original context, in Broken Circle. Here, it isn’t really about Cullen’s pain at all. Rather, it is about establishing him, as well as his fellow templars, as the bad guys of the quest.

Keep reading

[dalishious]

In WEWH, do you think the elven woman who knows about Briala and Celene - who thinks Briala wants her dead for knowing it - is right? I’m just asking because I literally replayed it last night, and I always found that part confusing, but now I just outright don’t think it’s true. I believe that she’s scared, but I think her belief that Briala would kill her for it is probably influenced by the anti-Briala propaganda machine. Briala is too openly sad about it to also be killing over secrecy. 1/2

2/2 It’s just that if I’m right, that means that Celene and Gaspard’s blackmail material is truthful and genuinely damaging, but Briala’s is a lie. So if the inquisitor uses it, you’re basically doing what Celene did - causing her to be taken away on an untrue jumped up charge (at the very least, a badly researched one). I just think it’s interesting how the game treats their crimes and the evidence of them as equal

Oh man… I can’t tell you how much I hate that horrendously pathetic attempt at making Briala seem like she’s even remotely on the same level of horrible as Gaspard and Celene. And it really is pathetically done.

Elf: No one’s supposed to be here… Briala said… I shouldn’t have trusted her.

Inquisitor: Briala told you to come to this wing of the palace?

Elf: Not personally. The “ambassador” can’t be seen talking to the servants.

Elf: We get coded messages at certain locations. But the order came from her.

Elf: She’s been watching the Grand Duke all night. No surprise she wanted someone to search his sister’s room.

Inquisitor: Is there anyone else who knows the code and the drop location who could have written those orders?

Elf: I… don’t know. Any of us could do it, but… no. No one else would send me here. It had to be Briala.

Inquisitor: What were you trying to find in Florianne’s old room?

Elf: The message didn’t say. I should have known it was a setup.

Inquisitor: This wing is sealed. How did you get in here?

Elf: Easy. The door was unlocked. One of the others probably handled it.

Inquisitor: All sorts of people tonight are taking advantage of this wing being closed.

Elf: Briala probably knew it was dangerous and sent me anyway. One more embarassing secret erased.

Elf: I knew her. Before. When she was Celene’s pet.

Elf: Now she wants to play revolution. But I remember. She was sleeping with the empress who purged our alienage.

Inquisitor: Something like that could destroy Briala, if it were known.

Elf: No. Some know she has… a history… with the Empress. But they believe she was just a favoured servant.

Elf: If… if the Inquisition will protect me, I’ll tell you everything I know about our “Ambassador.”

First off, if you ask the woman if she knows for sure it was Briala who even wrote her the message sending her here, she says that no, she can’t be sure. But lets believe her, because she does seem convinced it must have been Briala, because “no surprise she wanted someone to search his sister’s room.” Okay, that makes sense. Except then this woman claims that Briala sent her because she knew it would be dangerous, and wanted to just get rid of her… in which case, what about searching Florianne’s room, then? How is that to be accomplished if she was in actuality sent to die? And why would Briala then personally go into said danger to rescue or avenge her people, when in doing so she’s risking her own life and everything she’s trying to achieve at the ball?

And fuck, this part really gets me: That Briala and Celene were lovers is not exactly a secret. The whole reason Celene burned down Halamshiral is because she had a hissy fit over a public play written about this, and claiming she was too soft on elves. And if the nobles of Orlais know about this, then their servants would know about this. But for some reason this elven lady says not only that Briala’s people don’t know the truth, but suggests that they would leave her if they did.

I hate this. So. Fucking. Much. This is literally weaponizing Briala’s past abusive relationship. This is the worst kind of victim-blaming, and it’s played off like this is a legitimate reason to not trust Briala. Because she formerly had an abusive lover.

I even hate how it’s worded as if Briala was with Celene while she was burning the Halamshiral elven quarter, when in reality that was one of the reasons she finally left her! (The other being that she uncovered the truth that Celene had her parents murdered.)

Flashback to in The Masked Empire:

“If I admit to regret, you would pounce upon my weakness to remind me that my regret does the corpses little good. I would ask what would do some good, and you would tell me that nothing could. I will not twist in agony for your amusement because you blame me for their deaths!”“Blame you? You killed them, Celene.”“I did.” Celene kept her voice calm, though the tremor in it surprised her. “When Gaspard spread the rumour, I had to either put down the rebellion or execute you in order to disprove him and keep the throne.”On that, Briala spun. “And you chose me? Should that make me feel better? You killed hundreds of peasant elves to save my life?”“I killed hundreds of peasant elves because they rebelled against my rule and endangered the empire,” Celene said, voice low and pleading. “Tell me what else I should have done. Pretend it was a noble house or a merchant guild killing guards and putting barriers in the streets, and tell me what I should have done.”“You could have found another way!”

“Damn you, Celene.” Briala’s big beautiful eyes filled with tears. They caught the light from the fire, shimmering in the darkness like a cat’s as Briala stepped closer. The pulse in her neck fluttered fast, though she moved as gracefully as always. “Don’t explain it. I know why. I just wished you had cared more.”“It would have been a locked suite in the palace for a few years, nothing more!” Celene kept her voice low, aware that Michel and Felassan had stopped planning and were looking their way. “It would have changed nothing for us.”“Your hair still stinks of the smoke from the people you burned,” Briala said. “That is a change.”The dead leaves crackled under Celene’s feet as she stepped forward. “How many wars can our empire survive in such a short time? I wanted my legacy to be the university, the beauty and culture that made us the envy of the world. Instead, I may be known as the empress under whom Orlais fell. You have the luxury of mourning Halamshiral’s elves and holding my heart hostage. Sitting on my throne, I see every city in the empire. If I must burn one to save the rest, I will weep, but I will light the torch!”Briala swallowed. “You’re not weeping, as far as I can tell. Nor are you sitting on your throne.” She stepped away, her movements fast and jerky. “With your permission, Your Radiance, I shall go indulge myself in my luxury.”

And what’s more… What’s more is we also have characters trying to diminish Briala’s rebellion as if it’s all just about personal revenge against Celene, and not because she wants freedom and equal rights for her people. 

Sera: Call it politics or the Game or whatever, that’s personal hate. Heh.

Inquisitor: Any thoughts on who we’re investigating?

Sera: The empress is pretty. It’d be fun to drink and kill stuff with Gaspard. Briala is frigging funny.

Sera: Elves-elves-elves, but it’s really a pissing match with an old lover. Don’t know the rest, but that explains a lot.

Sera: (Shrugs.) They’re all lying, but Celene’s nice to look at. Good thing we’re here to save her neck.

Dorian: An empress dead, an emperor under your spell, and that elven harpy eating out of your hand–if she doesn’t bite it off.

Like for fuck sake Kristjanson I know you really want to make sure we all know well and clear how bad Sera thinks elves are, but really? Sera, Sera, the Red Jenny woman who hates nobility and likes causing chaos for them, supports Celene and Gaspard over Briala? Sera makes the most sense to be a Briala supporter out of the entire party roster! What the absolute fucking fuck is wrong with you alsdfshagdfljs fuck fuck fuck you fuck you fuck you!!!

…Anyway. That was probably a longer answer than you were looking for but uh, I got a little carried away. I have a lot of strong feelings about Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, as you know.

[dalishious]

Falsities About Vivienne

I’ve unfortunately seen a spike in people’s hatred for Vivienne lately, and worst thing about that is, I’m gonna say it: They’re wrong. A lot of the reasons people hate Vivienne are in fact, wrong. False. Not true. Inaccurate. 

So here’s some of the most popular falsities about Vivienne, debunked. I’m not going to talk about whether her stances on things are right or wrong, only address the misconceptions about her.

Contents:

“Vivienne is selfish” / “Vivienne is cold”

“Vivienne hates her fellow mages”

“Vivienne doesn’t understand templar abuses”

“Vivienne hates spirits”

“Vivienne had everything handed to her”

“Vivienne hates the Dalish”

“Vivienne is a terrible Divine”

“Vivienne is a villain”

Keep reading

[morings]

You know what’s great? People acknowledging Fenris’ incredible intelligence instead of dismissing it because he’s illiterate.

People acknowledging Fenris as a polyglot (tevene, common, qunlot, definitely many more such as nevaran, anders, orlesian etc.)

Fenris as incredibly well spoken (in a second language no less)

Fenris as incredibly well versed in cultural and legal matters

Fenris as well versed in poetry, history, religion, philosophy, etc. do to being surrounded by them for years

Fenris as extremely resourceful and skilled in matters beyond being a warrior (you can bet your ass staying free for years took more than just strength)

Fenris as someone who has many creative and diverse skills

You can bet your ass that this man is absolutely a sponge for knowledge and revels in learning new things, both by necessity of having to be aware to survive, and because he enjoys it/is proud of it.