Warden, Champion, Inquisitor, Rook -- An OC Masterpost
Hey, y'all!
I just finished my first themed week of Dragon Age prompts last week, which was such a fun experience. As I go from spending over a month and a half with one (1) OC to a mostly free schedule, I wanted to do something indulgent and silly. So, I'm making this masterpost of my OC's and including links to their series on ao3 so y'all can see all my works in their proper order! That, and I also fucking love talking about my OC's; I put too much thought into them like the rest of us.
My plan is to update this when new OC's enter the villa, so to speak. I have a few that are solid, concrete, but they don't have any fics yet. They will. Soon.
Without further ado, here are my silly little guys (gender neutral)! We're going in reverse order, because I have the most fics written about the newer girlies and less of the older ones.
Rook(s)
We've got two (2) I'm working with and they've got peak "cat and dog" energy. Or "happy dog and defensive dog that needs love" energy.
First up is Hugo Ingellvar!
He's the star of the themed week I mentioned above, Mourn Watch Week 2026! Technically the second Rook I've made, he is a lovely little man that I've grown so attached to through writing. He's a trans male dwarf who uses both bow-and-arrow and rapier (wink wink)... and he's a 24 year old with the voice of a 34 year old. I've met one of those people, I know they're real. It's super disorienting.
Anyways! His story largely follows the canon-- he was found in the depths of the Necropolis by undead and was taken in as a foundling by the Mourn Watch. What makes him special is that he is a dwarf, and dwarves are canonically rare among Mourn Watchers. Hugo spent his childhood working with the Tranquil and learning the hard sciences of the magic trade-- enchanting, alchemy, poison-making, etc. In his spare time, he got real into literature and theater. I go into more depth into his childhood in one of my fics, but it's safe to say he was am emo(tional) child and felt out of place in Nevarra and in the Mourn Watch.
He's had a very interesting and eventful life prior to Veilguard's events, and a whole bunch of my fics from Mourn Watch Week take place in his past. Through it all, he's been a charming, thirsty, bisexual mess and I wouldn't have him any other way.
Currently, he is tackling the escaped gods problem with the rest of the team and trying (unsuccessfully) to avoid developing feelings for their local mage-killer-assassin-turned-abomination, Lucanis. At some point, I'll progress their romance in writing ;)
You can read all about Hugo here!
My other Rook, and my canonical first, is Phia Mercar!
Ohhhhh, Phia. Phia, Phia, Phia. She's had a rough time. If Hugo is a romantic comedy-drama film, she's just a drama, capital-D. She's my hurt, defensive, angsty girl. She's a little older than Hugo by a few years, but she hasn't had the same childhood he has, not by a long shot. As a trans woman, as an elf, and as a Vint, Phia has had plenty of odds stacked against her and she's managed to make it this far out of sheer willpower and not much else.
Adopted by a human Legionnaire a few years into his military career, he was given special leave to raise her until she was old enough. He enlisted one of his sisters to help him, and she became her primary caregiver once Charon returned to active military duty. Despite being a mage, however, her family was not elevated to the next social class on the ladder. Leave it to the racist empire to find loopholes to keep the disadvantaged where they are.
I'm planning on digging into her a lot more soon, especially since (at time of writing this) Shadow Dragon Week is a few months away! What I *can* tell you is that she's witty, she's angry, she's addicted to parkour/hurling herself over banisters, and she could stand to add more vegetables to her diet. She and Neve should get along great, but there's... some tea there. Same with the rest of the Shadow Dragons. Seems like they're not on good terms with her, and she with them. I wonder why ;)
Her only true friend is Emmrich and he's already tipping over into romantic territory... which scares the shit out of her. She'll get there... eventually ;)
You can read all about her here! (I'm probably gonna rewrite her big fic again because I think I can do it better and she deserves it, so take 'Nettles' with a HUGE grain of salt.)
Inquisitor(s)
I have two Inquisitors to work with, one for each Rook's worldstate. I made them to contrast with and connect with my Rooks in different ways. Going with the order above, we're starting with...
Hugo's Inquisitor, Colm Trevelyan!
(Okay, so... I hear you. You're saying "Hey, isn't that just Maddox? And isn't there already an Inquisitor Maddox AU already that's good and popular?" To that, I say... yes.)
The reality of this is that 1) I love the way Maddox's face looks so much, and 2) trying to recreate it in the creator has been unsuccessful and the result looks closer to Solas than I like. So, I scrapped it and we're just going with Maddox's face sculpt.
The differences between Maddox and Colm are the following: he has dark red hair and paler skin, his voice has a soft Scottish lilt, his nose isn't broken, and he has nothing to do with the Red Templars or Samson at all.
Now! On to the backstory!
Colm developed magic at 6 and was swiftly removed from the Trevelyan family tree and sent from Ostwick to Markham to join the Circle there. He tried to escape on the way there, failed, and never tried to escape again. He spent most of his childhood isolated, lonely, and progressively more scared of being unable to accomplish his Harrowing.
After a moment of panic (and one attempted blood magic ritual later), he was convinced by the First Enchanter and the Knight-Commander that he wasn't going to succeed in his Harrowing and that he'd die one way or the other. The only other option was Tranquility, and Colm, 16 and very scared of dying, agreed. He spent the next 13 years as a Tranquil, working in the Formari and experiencing all the fun things that happen in a Circle tower (not as bad as Kirkwall but still not good). He accompanied a group of mages from Markham's Circle to the Conclave, where he was not to interfere or participate in negotiations unless asked to.
However, when someone called for help as he was walking by, as a Tranquil, he didn't have the will to ignore it. And the rest is... well, we'll see.
As an ex-Tranquil, everything that happens after being slammed with lucidity from the Anchor/being in the Fade is a nightmare fever dream. Colm is stressed out a lot of the time-- he's laughing too loudly or too long, he's crying a fair amount (sometimes out of pure rage), and he's a nightmare for Josie and Vivienne to handle. (I have some really fun ideas regarding his interactions with Vivienne in particular because they would not get along very well.)
Now, we're moving on to Phia's Inquisitor...
Saam Adaar!
I simply had to make him in both character creators, and I'm really proud of how close I thought I got despite the vastly different art styles!
Saam is the sleeper hit of my Inquisitor duo in that I wasn't excited about him at all and then he stepped in front of Colm with a much more formed personality and story. I simply had no choice.
Saam Adaar is a former saarebas/mage Inquisitor. As a child, he was initially told he would show promise as a member of the Ashkaari or perhaps a Ben-Hassrath until he manifested magic when he was 9. Immediately, he was removed from the potential life path laid before him and saddled with a new purpose: to nobly endure the dangers of magic while fettered, silenced, and leashed to an arvaraad. Despite being rather quiet and aloof, the saarebas that would later be Saam did not like this.
He was put to work as part of a squad primarily interested in hunting down Tal-Vashoth and converting bas to the Qun, bringing them back to Qunari lands to be enlightened. In his conflicts with locals, among them mages, he began to break away from the Qun and desired to learn magic, what he believed was his purpose. He developed his magic over years so that he could break free of the arvaraad's control and escape into Thedas. After blowing up a dreadnought and washing up on the shores of Hercinia, he was found by the local chapter of the Valo-Kas and he stayed with them for a bit before traveling to Markham to learn magic near a Circle.
He chose his name then: Saam -- "something" in Qunlat.
After six years in the Valo-Kas, they were hired to protect the peace at the Divine Conclave in Ferelden, and we all know how that went.
Here are some fun facts about Saam! He is farsighted (great for blowing shit up and not for recognizing faces or reading), so he does eventually get glasses once he's in the Valo-Kas. He is short for a Qunari at 6'9" (The Iron Bull is 7'6"), and he has a mustache that he keeps for two reasons: it covers the stitching scars on his lips from when he was a saarebas, and he likes the way it looks.
Eventually, Saam romances Cassandra because I love Cassandra and I simply have to give her the world if I can... "the world" meaning "another intense, quiet, and grumpy-looking boyfriend to look mean with on the battlefield."
No fics for him yet, but it's in the works.
Next up, we have...
Hawke!
Garrett Hawke (rendered in the Veilguard character creator because I don't like how he looks in DA2 because making an Asian man in that game is so fucking hard) is a big change for me because he's *gasp* a warrior. I almost always play mages or rogues, but HEAVY on the mage. I love magic.
My concept for him is simpler, and I'll dig into him when I jump back into DA2 and sit in his POV some more. His father Malcolm cast him in the role of "Protective Older Brother" when Bethany manifested her magic. He should put his dreams and joys second to her (and, by extension, his family's) safety. So far, he has done his best but it seems like everything is circling his family at all times, hungry and cruel and always out of his reach.
Garrett's an interesting man as well because he's very much pro-mage (because of Bethany), but, despite not joining the Order, he displays Templar-like abilities. He just wants to protect his sister and his mage friends. These abilities will help him do that. No one's sure how he got them, though. (I do, I know how he got them.) In the meantime, he's getting fiercely attached to Merrill and Varric and falling insanely quickly for Anders.
No fics for him just yet, but I will update when he does!
Warden
Finally, we have the Hero of Ferelden, our very own Warden!
Ester "Esti" Brosca is my newest OC and the Warden I'm planning on finally finishing Origins with! She's a dwarf warrior archer, because back then, you could actually do that instead of locking yourself into being a rogue when you want to be stronk and also prone to shooting arrows into eyeholes. She also dual-wields because no one is safe and especially not her.
Homegirl was born into the lowest Caste possible (no caste) to a drunk mom who hates her and a sister who is older and prettier and their only chance of eventually not dying a miserable death in a society that hates her. She's the 'black sheep' to Rica's 'sweetest lamb', the shadow to her radiant ginger hair. Her mom even called her "Echo" because she cared so little for her that it was like she'd been born as an afterthought.
After years of struggle and of dealing with Beraht and Leske and all the men around her who objectify her and her sister (seriously, it was so fucking bad, Origins devs really wanted women to feel gross), Ester gets recruited by the Grey Wardens after a disastrous scheme to rig the Provings and shitting on the nobles. Ostagar happens, and now she's gallivanting around Ferelden with a party of weirdos because it's now her job to unite an entire nation she didn't know much about less than a month ago.
Oh, I have so many little ideas for her, including an AU that I'm deeply invested in. In all of them, she is in love with Alistair because I'm also in love with Alistair. He's so cute and stupid and she deserves a guy who is cute and stupid and still somehow more respectful than any other man she grew up around. She deserves everything, and she's gonna get it :) No, I haven't beaten Origins. Why do you ask? Everything is gonna be fine!
No fics for her just yet, I will update when she does!
And that's it for now! I have yet to beat Origins and 2 (I've had some real-life stuff getting in the way and writing to do or procrastinate on), but it will happen one day. I swear it.
