I made my side blog @blackwall-my-tiny-husband first and ended up moving it to an old main blog so it wasn’t tied to my other cluttered main blog. I wish I could make my side blog my main one but can’t so go follow that one not this one I use it way way more!
Follow @blackwall-my-tiny-husband for my writing art and original stuff this account is mainly reblogs
Find my fan fictions here over at ao3: HERE
All my unhinged dragon age stuff Had to make a new blog just for this because the brain rot was real and driving me to new feral heights
Silver and Steel // For Gold and Glory
@lof-weekend
"Amgwaren! That's dwarven for congratulations, right?"
"You might want to try 'amgarrak.' You just called me a pool of salt."
Isabela enjoys having Lilja Laidir around in her motley crew. Lilja enjoys a good party, a good laugh, and a great bout at the Hall of Valor, where she has Championed several matches.
Coming from a family line of blacksmiths, Lilja knows a thing or two about silver and steel. When she’s not out running errands for Isabela or terrorizing pesky deepstalkers on the beach, Lilja can be found helping her father in the shop, hammering away.
That's right, the time to celebrate the intrepid detective from Dock Town is heading our way, and we cannot wait to celebrate the one and only Neve Gallus with you all!
Neve Week will take place in October this year, and the hashtag will be #DATVNeve2026.
As is our way, we would love to hear from all of you about what kind of prompts you would like to see during the event. You can use the submission form linked above to share genius with us!
The form will remain open until August 12th, 11:59pm PST.
Check out our Rules and FAQ for more information on the event, and don’t hesitate to send us an ask if you have further questions!
We also encourage you to reblog and share this post around! There is no such thing as "too much" when it comes to celebrating Neve!
Shoutout to the mods @lof-weekend for organizing and modding this event.
Day 2 - For Gold and Glory
A moodboard for the LoF version of Tempest
This Tempest is a little bit more outgoing. She'll use any excuse to go torment Venatori and is more likely to drag a friend out for a drink than Mercar Tempest
Thank you, @sorcerousadventurer and @redaresss, for the tags!
I found this picrew and immediately knew what I had to do. So I’m making a tag game out of it. Because I can. So, will your Rook participate in fight night?
And, well, this picrew doesn't have horns. But I haven't let that stop me before (if it was one I thought I could edit after the fact), so we do, indeed, have all four of my ladies in this one. Also, I've got something under the cut at the end for anyone who wants to do their Qunari in this.
Castelin is my "throw fists because temper" gal, and Fight Night would be no exception. Don't mess with her (unless it's a friendly match, in which case she's just here to have fun and also win if possible). She loves nothing more than to go up against jerks in the ring, because then she doesn't have to hold back. Someone's leaving with a broken nose and it isn't her. If you're her friend, though? She'll pull her punches a little. Bruises instead of breaks and all that.
Aelinn definitely more of a scrapper. Sure, she's a mage in canon, but that doesn't mean she can't also train with her baby brother and throw fists when magic is too risky, or when the templars are tossing out Silences like candy. She's not nearly as good at avoiding taking hits as Cas is, but she'll keep fighting through them all the same. Doesn't matter where she comes out in a friendly fight tournament, she's happy just to get the blood pumping in competition.
Tyria has no clue what she's doing. If she's in melee, something's gone wrong, and she prefers to hit things with a stick (her staff) instead. Mind Blast is for getting out of melee. If she throws a punch, she might break her fist. Pictured above: self-defense lessons with Cullen, just to make sure she's got some foundation, even if she never plans to use it. At Fight Night, she'll be on the sidelines playing medic and cheering her friends on instead.
(Horns added in post.)
Saadrah gets plenty of practice scrapping with Venatori and slavers on the streets, and as such is a bit more of a wildcard fighter. Maybe not so bad as to need reminding not to bite, but she's pulling off MMA moves while everyone else is throwing punches because someone forgot to tell her the rules. If she's not allowed to put someone in a headlock with her legs, they should have said that at the start.
Tag! Come play if you want! And hey, if you have a Qunari, look below the cut!
Horns to add to yours! Three styles, done quick, in basic greys you should hopefully be able to do a little color-editing on (possibly; knowing your art program is up to you on this one) so you can give your fighter Qunari horns if you want. Transparent PNG so you don't even have to worry about cutting out the background. You may have to erase some of the left-hand horn to make it work with the hair you choose, though.
If you happen to use these horns on this picrew, let me know! 💙
thank you for all the tags, my lovely friends! @genjyoandgojyoandhakkai, @handsignals, @sorcerousadventurer, @redaresss, and @mushrooms-x-moss i think i got everyone 🥰 of course i HAD to do this one for felix (his job is literally perfume). below the cut you will also find dasha and valentina, along with my tag list 💖 picrew can be found here!
FELIX SOMMERS
felix's perfume bottle is inspired by vintage cobalt blue glass medicine bottles, and of course has a little bit of extra flourish with a ribbon. the scent itself leans very warm but not spiced. the opium is distilled from his own garden (strictly for scent purposes and not for self-medicating reasons, of course).
top notes: black tea, bergamot
heart notes: opium, vanilla, tobacco
base notes: oak, whiskey, amber
DASHA LAIDIR
dasha's perfume bottle is clear glass, with a solid gold stopper. it's surprisingly simple in decoration, but i imagine she found it on a job with the Lords and she wanted to preserve it's original look. her scent is relatively straight forward, quite like herself! mostly bright, floral, and fruity, and grounded by warmth.
top notes: pink pineapple, sea salt
heart notes: hibiscus, banana, mango
base notes: toasted coconut, vanilla
VALENTINA CASTELUCCI
val's bottle is very classic, with clean lines with a carved onyx stopper. i put a label on it, but let's be honest, valentina would have a custom bottle with her initials engraved into the glass. her scent is quite intense, as is she. i like how bright it starts, and then mellows out into a scent worthy of our Lady of the Ledger.
top notes: tomato leaf, lemon zest
heart notes: olive, black pepper, ink
base notes: parchment, leather, oud
THank you for the tag @iamsuperconfused, @kogarashi-art @handsignals, @genjyoandgojyoandhakkai and @sorcerousadventurer
use this picrew to design a perfume bottle for your OC (or anyone else you might want to)!
Zea's scent
Zea didn't have much in options for smelling nice outside of a bath. Not until much later when she able to actually figure out what she liked (Mainly due to Emmrich). She like sweet scents. The one she likes most is a black vanilla or something with melons or citrus.
Ulrike's scent
Yea I know he don't got a sense of smell but he also doesn't know if he smells or not. He tends to go based on the bottle and what blends are in the bottle.
Thanks for the tag @mushrooms-x-moss <3 I will never be over Ayla, she's the best.
So for those who don't know, Tal's my eternally pissed off asshole of an Inky who's already appeared in multiple AUs (some of them yet unposted).
Event That Defines Your Character's Past
I am a firewalker
I am a firewalker
I face the flames, I bear the heat
Takes all I got sometimes to put down my feet,
But I am a firewalker
I am a firewalker
I am a firewalker
Inch by inch, crawling,
Embers and ashes falling
Blanket of smoke is covering up my sky
Whether it's getting the mark in canon or losing his family in the AUs, there's always something that almost destroys him. But Tal always fights back, because he's too stubborn not to.
How Your Character Sees Themselves
And I've walked a dark and narrow road
To places no one goes alone
And everything I've seen
Is written on my sleeve
It's got its mark on me
Let's start a fire
Let's pull this trigger
'Cause all these bruises
Make our skin thicker
Now everybody
Can see our scars (can see our scars)
It's what we're made of
It's who we are
Tal considers himself to be a fucked up asshole and he's got a lot of trauma (different in every universe, but it's always there), but he doesn't see it as a bad thing. He's himself and doesn't give a shit what people think.
How Others View Them
Fires may rise
Shadows may fall
Hold on
Hold on through the night
On the front line
Just don’t let go
Hold on
Don’t give up the fight
Cause heroes never die
This is how people see him during Inquisition times. He has to be their savior and he hates it with a passion, but he'll do it anyway. No way forward but through or something.
Their Closest Romantic Relationship - Iron Bull
I waffled about this one for the longest time, but it's this:
Fern found it when we started writing Yeehaw Peepaw! and we actually had Bull sing it for Tal at one point, so I'll let Tal do the talking.
But I can't leave out the rest of Tal's relationships, so here goes:
Moonbeam by Lord Huron for Dorian
Fire by The Struts for Rook
Love Is Mystical by Cold War Kids for Edwin (an alt Emmrich I originally created for my Rook so we could share an AU with Ayla, but then my gremlins took matters into their own hands)
Their Closest Friendship - Ayla Thorne (AKA Ise)
^ pic above made by @mushrooms-x-moss (hope you don't mind me borrowing it, it's just so good)
You can have the shirt right off my back
I'll walk around in your shoes
I don't need no high class friends
With no class friends like you
We might be bad for each other
But man it's oh so good
We lean on one another
In this run down neighbourhood
Maybe we're both a little messed up
But that's just understood
We get messed up together
In this rundown neighbourhood
Fern's choice for them is absolutely perfect, but I've been partial to this one ever since we started writing Yeehaw Peepaw!. It encapsulates their dynamic so well, cause they're ride or die for each other. Whatever happens, the other one is there, and I love that.
A Major Fight Scene
I'm a winner
I'm a fighter
Here to stay
And you're gonna remember my name
No nothing can stand in my way
This what I live for
This is my game
Even if the sky is falling
Even if the waters rise
Even if the world is ending
I will make it out alive
I will be the one to survive
This is the Corypheus fight during endgame. Tal starts out his story not really caring if he doesn't make it, as long as he does what he needs and the world doesn't end, but then he falls in love with Bull and Dorian and nothing - especially not a fucking ancient magister or whatever - will take that from him. He knows he can fight and he has something to fight for, so he'll survive.
End Credit Song
I get a thrill out of playing with fire
'Cause you hold your life when you hold that flame
I get a kick out of thunder and lightning
Tearing through the night, hollering your name
I get a laugh out of staring at darkness
And wondering why people live in the light
I drive fast, and I rumble the hardest
I don't feel alive if I ain't in the fight
I tried using other songs for this, but none of them hit as well as this one. It's just Tal who went through all manner of horrible things and came out stronger for it. There's confidence, there's hope, and there's just a kind of bright exuberance about it that really fits him.
Thank you for the tags @handsignals @doctormur and @kogarashi-art!
use this picrew to design a perfume bottle for your OC (or anyone else you might want to)!
Black opium, white moss, cedar wood, musk, leather, burned sugar.
These are perfumes composed for Lydia by Viago (hence the green ribbon) - even though they're not together anymore, he makes sure to send her a bottle every once in a while. Rich, heavy scent with just a hint of sweetness.
Oh, this one was fun (and quick)! 💙 Thanks for the tags, @genjyoandgojyoandhakkai and @handsignals, and also @serialsforbellara via DM!
Picrew here
Castelin Cousland
Castelin doesn't wear any fancy perfumes. At all. She prefers kaddis, for her mabari. Specifically a blue-tinted one that smells very strongly of the sea near Highever (she describes it as "seawater and soil," but Alistair once described it as "someone tried to dress up dead fish and rotting wood and failed miserably"). She tends to only use it in potential combat scenarios, but has been known to wear it to council meetings if there's a particular noble she doesn't like.
(It honestly doesn't smell as bad as Alistair described it, just strong. It takes getting used to.)
Aelinn Hawke
Aelinn isn't one to wear fragrances often, but she does have one blend that she likes for fancy occasions (sometimes the fancy occasion is getting drunk at the Hanged Man). It smells like cinnamon, clove, hot pepper, and woodsmoke, as befitting a fire mage. The fragrance became more popular in Kirkwall after Aelinn earned the title of Champion, but the perfumer who crafted the fragrance still reserves a bottle for her on the regular. Yes, she still wears this fragrance even after she pivots to force magic as her go-to.
Tyria Lavellan
Tyria is not generally one to wear perfumes either, preferring her own natural scent plus whatever she picks up while out in nature. She often smells like flowers just from having them tucked into her hair, or like the woods just from being outside (anyone who's ever smelled their kid's hair after they've come in from playing outdoors probably has an idea of what that's like, or is it just my kids?).
But she does have one bottle of an expensive Orlesian perfume Josephine had commissioned for her, which smells like gardenias and pine (but on purpose and with fancier ingredients!), which Tyria wears for important social functions and also private dates with Cullen.
Saadrah Mercar
I like to think that Qunari in general have a better sense of smell than humans, elves, and dwarves, with adaari having an even better sense than that. So Saadrah can pick up on scents easier than her fellow protagonists (but not as well as Taash does), and thus is more careful with personal grooming to manage how she smells, but also what she puts on herself so as not to overwhelm herself (or Taash).
To that end, it took Lucanis a while to hit on a perfume that Saadrah would willingly wear, but she does wear it for him because she knows he likes it. Inspired by Spite's description of her, it contains notes of citrus (lemon more than orange though) and mint, but the dominant scent is lilacs (because I like lilacs).
Tags for the people on my tag list, and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it!
use this picrew to design a perfume bottle for your OC (or anyone else you might want to)!
Giovanna's Perfume
Giovanna wears a bespoke scent created just for her by a perfumer she was a patron of back in Salle. She cherishes this perfume, and considers it to be a key part of her self. The scents within her perfume include: oranges, sea air, marshmallow, amber, orange blossoms, and roses.
Nona's Perfume
Nona does not often wear proper perfumes, preferring to wear perfumed oils in her hair. But when she does use perfume, she has a very special bottle gifted to her by Mryna. This perfume smells like: sage, petrichor, oakmoss, lilac, and incense.
I'd love to see what your character's perfumes would look like, and maybe know the scents, too? SO, I'm adding my tag list, but please consider yourself tagged if you see this and want to do it!!
I was tagged by @paxvoik2 and @grad-writes for this one!
First, Xiqaa's, which I imagine smells like vetiver, sea salt, jasmine and ozone:
Aydenne's is rosemary, pepper and fresh cut grass with a hint of orange blossom:
(an attempt was made. He's not aesthetic. Lol)
Tagging @kogarashi-art @davrinsleftpectoral @blackwall-my-tiny-husband @cimmanombagel @woundedsoul12 @redaresss @serialsforbellara @lemondelighted @jenn2d2 come and play if you like it's a very easy picrew! No need to describe the perfume I just like smells haha
Thanks for the tags @serialsforbellara, @mushrooms-x-moss and @zennihilation <3
Link to the quiz here, it’s super quick ✨
Rook
Yep, my pretty boy is definitely a lovely peach (and he's dying laughing about it). He's the sweetest guy you've ever met. Also "gets bored easily" is so true for him it hurts.
Tal
Yep, that tracks for my grumpy asshole - no emotional expression, enjoys being alone and independent. Although the #chic is sending me. He might be handsome, but that man is anything but chic.
The one thing I disagree with is that my boys are a bad match for each other. They're the cutest together, I'm sorry to say. To a disgusting degree.
Finally, Saadrah's up with her soundtrack. I had like half of this list ready to go already, pulled from a different playlist I have for her, but I didn't quite have every category. At least the two I didn't have ready yet didn't give me near as much grief as some of the other girls' songs.
All links point to YouTube videos.
Rules: Make a post with links to music and/or lyrics describing six things/ events about your OC/story.
Event that defines your character's past
Force of Nature - Miracle of Sound
So eager to seek, so much to find
Got nothing to prove to narrow minds
They rant of redemption as I
Leave them long behind
'Cause I can see the worlds unseen
Truth is in the mystery
Focus on the sting I feel
From every pain and danger
'Cause I can see the worlds unseen
I can hear them call to me
Harnessing the energy
From every fall and failure
I'll be a force of nature
Yes, a Horizon Zero Dawn song, but I think the sentiment works.
Young Saadrah is very much a thrill-seeker and stubborn child, sneaking around and climbing into places she probably shouldn't and being extremely adventurous. Her mother realizes Saadrah is too wild to tame, and so instead, like one of the things the Qun does that Hissera actually agrees with, she provides proper training rather than discouragement. Her daughter is an inquisitive force of nature, and instead of reining it in, she's going to steer it.
This extends to when Saadrah is on her own, too. She's "got nothing to prove to narrow minds," and will learn from pain, from failure, and make it part of herself.
How your character sees themself
Right Where You Belong - Blame My Youth
That wildfire rages when you hear the voice inside
So you burn up all the pagеs, rip out every storyline
And onе day you'll be thinkin' how you ever got this far
You'll remember you took chances with abandoned broken hearts
All your life, you're searching on
But you are right where you belong
It takes her a bit to get there, but realizing that she's been where she needed to be to make a difference, to help others, and that her push to search for a place to belong wasn't as important as recognizing where she already was.
Their closest romantic relationship (Lucanis)
Words Are Worthless - Sleep Theory
Let me know you can hear me
Let me see your light again
I keep chasing your shadow
In this maze you're lost within
Please don't go where I can't follow
If I can keep you from falling to pieces
Then I'd be saving myself in the process
And we'll collapse every word 'til we're speechless
Because you'll soon find that words are worthless now
(They're worthless now)
Thank you, @arisofsky, for the song rec. I love it.
This is definitely a moody song for them, but it works so well for where they are during DAtV. The first verse, about "you keep building the distance / that divides your heart and mind" and "I keep chasing your shadow / in this maze you're lost within" fits so well with Saadrah trying to help Lucanis out, and then the second verse about "I can't pull you back to reality" and the bridge with "in my heart, I can hear you / calling from the dark again" feels very much like Lucanis trying to reach out to Saadrah while she's in the Regret Prison.
And, of course, "if I can keep you from falling to pieces / then I'd be saving myself in the process" works so well for both of them.
Arrgh. Such a good song.
Their closest platonic relationship (Adaar and Varric)
One More I Love You - Alex Warren
5 a.m. and I feel like crying
I knew I lost you, I lost a friend
Clock ran out at the worst of timing
I'm deeply troubled, filled with regret
I'm arms, knees deep in alcohol
But I'm drowning, I'm drowning, I'm drowning
Sinking deeper, need your arms around me, around me
'Cause there ain't nothing in this world
Nothing in this world I wouldn't do
To say one more I love you
Nothing in this world, nothing in this world I wouldn't do
To say one more I love you
This one's for the father figures, and one I knew was a Saadrah song when I first heard it. I actually originally had it in the "Past" category, but then I realized it also fit Varric, and that's less "Past" and more "toward the end of the game," so....
Saadrah is very much a daddy's girl growing up, even though it's her mother who's providing most of her training. Adaar is a very big influence on Saadrah's life, and losing him at the Conclave is a big point of heartache for her. Then, when traveling with Varric and Lace, she ends up bonding with him as a secondary father figure, so you can imagine how hard it is on her when she's in the Regret Prison and finally accepts what happened.
She's "drowning" in emotion both times, and would give nothing to get one last chance to talk to both of them (at least she kind of gets that with Varric in the Regret Prison, even if it's just a memory of him).
A major fight scene
Manalan Mailla - Vilma Jää (from Control Resonant)
Wretched I was traveling, roaming wild
I saw a nightmare, a brother long dead
Who is this, wielding such fierce power?
Everything beautiful lost, the soul's melody extinguished
During the evening I prepared, settled in the morning
Before a new dream, awakened to my wish
Like a storm, I ward off those brought by the winds of Tuonela
Hell is freezing over, frost in the land of Manala
(English translation from the Control Wiki; you can see the Finnish lyrics there too)
("Tuonela" and "Manala" are both names for the underworld in Finnish mythology.)
I'll be honest, this is on her playlist first and foremost because of the catchy beat. It almost feels a tiny bit playful to me, while still being a very good rhythm for something like a fight. Saadrah dissociates a little when she gets into fights, especially ones where she needs to take out enemies swiftly and efficiently, and treating it like a very precise dance (a very steady beat) helps with that, so I could see a modern version of her listening to a song like this on airpods while working.
But looking at the translation of the lyrics as well, and a Reddit thread where someone initially offered their translation just based on the version in the Paranatural Manhattan trailer, I do enjoy the extra layers from the lyrics. The thread says "the song is an example of traditional runolaulu (poem singing), which used to be the way stories were passed on a long time ago," which works for how Saadrah learns and internalizes things by rote and mnemonic devices, for later recall. And then that first stanza feels so much like everything falling apart during DAtV.
And I really like the top comment in that thread, where the commenter (a Finnish speaker) said the last verse tells of a strong commitment to fight and vanquish the threat, which is perfect for a fight song for Rook.
End credits song
Here - Rascal Flatts
There's a place I've been looking for
That took me in and out of buildings
Behind windows, walls and doors
And I thought I found it
Couple times, even settled down
And I'd hang around just long enough
To find my way back out
I know now the place that I was trying to
Reach
Was you, right here in front of me
And I wouldn't change a thing
I'd walk right back through the rain
Back to every broken heart
On the day that it was breaking
And I'd relive all the years
And be thankful for the tears
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you and got me here, right here (oh.. baby)
Calling back to "Right Where You Belong," another song about searching and wandering only to find the place you belong (in this case, a loved one). For Saadrah, that's finding her way (back*) to Lucanis, but also the years spent wandering first with her family and then on her own, trying to find where she belongs, to eventually reach the Veilguard. I like to think that even if they go their separate ways after the events of the game, they still consider each other family and keep in close touch. Unbreakable bonds and all that.
* "Back" because Saadrah and Lucanis, in my canon, met once as children, when Saadrah was doing some of that "exploring and wandering to places she probably shouldn't go" that exasperated her mother.
Gentle tags for anyone who'd like to play along, or just to invite you to come look. 😊
