The Create-a-Thon is an event where DA fandom creators and DA fandom appreciators will be put into teams to try and win the most points for their team! Winning points has two phases:
Fanwork creation period. Creators make their art, fics, renders, music, food, fiber art, or whatever else they like and post to the Collection on Ao3. Physical works such as recipes/food, crochet, knitting, and embroidery will be accepted (pending mod approval). Works will remain hidden until the end of the creation period and teams can win points for each work, with extra points for things like longest fic or most characters in an art piece.
Fanwork appreciation period: Interim points will be tallied and then teams can earn extra points for commenting on fics in the collection (limit 1 point per user per work chapter), writing and posting recommendation lists (1 point per user), or creating works inspired by others in the collection.
The winning team will be announced with all members and will get a custom banner for their team (and bragging rights).
What kind of works can be posted?
Any DA fanworks that were created during the creation period and can be posted to Ao3. Crossovers or AUs will be accepted as long as there is at least 1 DA character. Please try to tag works as accurately as possible, so that others can seek out works they’re interested in during the appreciation period or avoid those that they may not wish to engage with for whatever reason.
Who can participate?
Anyone in the DA fandom who is 18+ and has Ao3 and discord accounts, creators or otherwise! Commenting on fics also earns points for teams, so producing something isn’t necessary to participate! We’ll try and keep the teams even between creators and appreciators.
How will teams be selected, and will the teams be split only between the four themes, or will there be many smaller teams within each theme all competing against each othet as well as against other theme teams?
Teams will be selected by an indication of your preference during signups! The mods will sort people into teams based on their preference rankings (some people indicate no preference and they will fill in gaps between the teams).
The teams will be split between the four themes! There aren’t any sub-teams within the themes.
You can also indicate if there’s a specific person you’d like to be on a team with (or that you request to not be on a team with). Please try and coordinate your preferences with that person if you’re wanting to be on the same team. If you’re wanting to avoid a specific person, you may not get your first preference of the other person selects the same preference as you. Please try and limit these requests because it can make forming teams quite difficult; if there are too many people you simply cannot be on a team with, this may not be the event for you.
Hi! When signing up, will we have to choose between creator and appreciator or can we sign up as both?
If I’m remembering the form correctly, I believe it’s check boxes for writer, artist, other creator, and appreciator and you can check as many as apply to you!
If you sign up as a creator we usually assume you’ll be around for comments.
Also, it’s not that strict! If you pick writer and decide you want to make art, that’s fine! Or if you pick appreciator and end up wanting to make something, that’s fine! Or if you pick one of the creator types and only do comments, that’s okay too!
The only reason we ask is we try to have even numbers of people who are creators vs JUST appreciators on the same team, but it’s very flexible.
We're super excited to announce the dates for the 2026 Create-a-thon!
Sign-ups open: August 1-23, 2026
Team creation: August 24-31, 2026
Creation period: September 1 - October 18, 2026
Appreciation period: October 19-31, 2026
Results tallied: November 1-7, 2026
If you're interested in joining us, please fill out the interest form here to be notified via email when signups open! Otherwise, keep an eye on the blog.
From the interest form: I would appreciate clear guidelines for non-producing participation. Thats all!
You will be able to sign up as a writer, artist, creator (other types), or as an appreciator! Appreciators participate in the event by commenting on works that are submitted to the collection, making rec lists for work in the collection, or completing a “bingo card” full of tropes from the collection.
Other ways to participate during the appreciation period include making remixes (i.e., turning a created work into a different format such as book binding or podfic), or making works inspired by other works in the collection.
Typically, commenting can earn way more points for their team than creating, since you can earn a point per chapter of a work you comment on, so appreciators are a huge part of the event!
You can also cheer on your teammates during the creation period or help with beta reading. Lots of options to be involved!
You can see more of the nitty gritty on creation and appreciation from last year’s guidelines here.
We're super excited to announce the dates for the 2026 Create-a-thon!
Sign-ups open: August 1-23, 2026
Team creation: August 24-31, 2026
Creation period: September 1 - October 18, 2026
Appreciation period: October 19-31, 2026
Results tallied: November 1-7, 2026
If you're interested in joining us, please fill out the interest form here to be notified via email when signups open! Otherwise, keep an eye on the blog.
A soft piece of Faye and Lucanis enjoying a lazy morning together that I made for @dacreateathon! Check it out on AO3 and also the rest of the collection!
✨The Templartations Exchange 2026 is coming and the nominations are open! ✨
Welcome back everyone and hello new participants! Another year, another excuse to celebrate our favorite characters and see so many talented fandom members create absoltely amazing pieces of writing and art.
Without further ado, here is Templartations 2026 time table:
Nominations: February 14th - February 21st
Sign-ups: 3 weeks: February 21st - March 14th
Assignments Issued: March 15th
Creation Period: 8 weeks: March 15th - May 9th
Collection Goes Live!: May 16th
Creators Revealed: May 23rd
The tag nominations are already open so you can go here to make sure your favourites are in there. Don't worry - the tag set is already rich so there is a huge chance your beloved characters and relationships are already included.
If you want to join our exchange, follow the link to the Templartations discord server here.
Questions? Our ask box here is open, and the members of our community will be happy to help you on Discord too!
I am 70% ish through reading everything. I'm sorry guys the potato is burnt out now and needs to rest. I promise one day I will get to all the things. But I have 7 more events in the next month and a half so off to further silliness.
Firstly want to say ALL OF YOU are incredible. Making a rec list was so hard because so much was AMAZING.
I have also been beyond Honored to be on so many lists. I don't consider myself a good writer so this was humbling. But anyway my list!
Waiting by @raflesia65
A gift to me of art. Alistair and Karlach that filled my crossfade crossover prompt and made me so happy
Nevarran Pennysaver by @lavellanvibes
Art, Emmrich, Rook! Based on old Pennysavers. It's so good
Bury Me on the Hill and Aftermath of Adamant by @blossom-adventures
I couldn't decide both were amazing. Both are angsty (trigger warning for Aftermath for implied referenced abuse and blossom write's so well you can feel it). Bury Me on the Hill broke my heart with Loghain and Anora
Ink, Fire, and Flour: A Grey Warden Cookbook by @tarasmom @bygonesigh @teine-mallaichte @floralprintsharks @iicaru2 and me
Ok yes I technically worked on this but ignore me. Everyone else was amazing and C and Tara did so much putting this awesome collection together
Watching the Wolf by @teine-mallaichte
Teine idk how I didn't put everything you did on here. You were so creative and amazing for this event. Like I thought I did a lot but you my friend...
This was however my favorite. I am still chewing on Orana and Fenris and their trauma
The Chant is for Lovers by @fashionablyfyrdraaca
Fucking messy lesbians (and yes the messy lesbians fuck hard). Of all your pieces this one was my favorite. Though those Leliana/Warden pieces went hard as well as Nathaniel
From the Library of Emmrich Volkarin by @prince-vael
ten drabbles, based around books to be found in emmrich volkarin's collection
Literary Critique by @chaosherald
Everything you did was incredible. You music and writing was just... I am in awe. But Varric/Cassandra being messy just tickles the brain
Two Little Teapots by TheAntleredPolarBear
Kid fic? Manfred? Surviving disaster and finding joy at the end of the world? Yes
Where's Anders? By @teine-mallaichte putputters Ghostbunny Queen_of_the_Winter
The greatest art collaboration ever inspired by Where's Wally?
The Many Lives of King Markus of Nevarra by @contreparry
The whole thing was amazing but THAT ENDING
With my eyes closed by @breitweisergallery
I am still in knots over this. Tashur with that much pain and promise? It was incredible
Who Else is Going to Love Someone Like Me Who's Marked for Death? by @becauseanders
Fenris/Zevran? Didn't know i needed this pair. I need it
By The Time The Clock Strikes by @midnightprelude
This is everything smut should be. And it's an Emmrook!!!
First Dance by @theredtrails
The dancing? The background. Just beautiful art
When the Crows Come Winging Down by @librivore42
You and your poetry and it was so good!
To Pin a Crow by @cicide76536
I love Zevran/Alistair and this art was so good!
Alistair & Tabris by @lola1b
I really liked this one. Which all your art is amazing
Wicked Alliance by @lordgoretash
Messed up Zara/Illario? Um yes
Sorry forgot this one
Bad for Consumption Good for Everything Else by @jukkaricity
So much of your stuff was amazing but this one had me cackling
Tagged by @guacamolleee. Doing this uhhh... more than a week late!Thank you for tagging me though. I was really excited to do this one. I love to ramble about stuff I worked on 😆
I decided to talk about my one completed @dacreateathon fic, A Good Feeling. It's one of the longer fics I’ve written recently, and it required a bit more world building than my usual fics. I definitely have things to talk about, and probably could have gone on a whole lot longer about various elements of the world I was thinking about while writing.
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So, the origin of this fic was kind of a joke. I was messaging back and forth with my good friend @tundrafoot about DA, as we often do. For some reason we got to talking about my main Inquisitor, Aylwen, and who in the Veilguard cast she might romance. Her canon romance is Cullen, so I joked that she would be in to Davrin because her type seems to be really, really hot. Then I was like, hmm 🤔
I started to seriously think through how and under what circumstances Aylwen and Davrin could meet and fall in love. I knew it would have to be in a canon where she was never Inquisitor (and never met Cullen), and in a canon where Davrin survives. So, I decided to set it in my secondary canon, where a different member of clan Lavellan became Inquisitor and where Davrin was the one who survived Tearstone Island.
(I know there's no requirement to make everything in a fic match what happened in a given playthrough, but I like trying to fit in my choices as much as possible. It's a fun challenge!)
Then I was thinking through where the two of them could meet and the idea of an Arlathvhen occurred to me. I love Arlathvhen's as a concept, especially because they're a great excuse for bringing different characters together. Then I decided it would make sense for Davrin to be there sort of representing the griffons (conveniently, this is also the canon where I had the griffons go to Arlathan).
I also had the idea of Aylwen being a divorced, single mom, because I imagine her being married and having kids by her early 30s, whether it's with Cullen or someone else. I liked the idea of Aylwen and Davrin, two single parents, coming together. Once I had all those details in place, I got really excited to write the fic!
It was a fun challenge to think how Aylwen might be different in this canon. I don't think a lot of people who follow me currently were around for this, but I wrote a *lot* about Aylwen back in the day. She was the first of my DA OCs who really took over my brain and took on a life of her own.
In her main canon, Aylwen is very Disney princess. She's young (only about 23-24), and kind of naive (she's never lived away from her clan prior to Inquisition). She longs for travel and adventure. She's fascinated by heroic stories and by other cultures, but she also loves her clan and is very proud of being Dalish. She's a character with a lot of optimism who is always trying her best. She's also a huge romantic, kind of boy crazy, and has a certain goofiness to her.
Aylwen in this story is obviously about a decade older than she is during the Inquisition era. She’s a little more reserved than she was in her early twenties, partly due to aging and partly due to her experiences. She never got the chance to travel in this canon, so I think she feels somewhat unfulfilled never having gotten to live out that dream. She's also self-conscious, much more than she was as a young person, due to still not having had those experiences away from her clan. She also feels old. 36 isn't old at all, of course, but since she's at home momming and doing First stuff, she doesn't get to feel young and free very often anymore. Plus, in my mind Davrin is like 30ish in this fic, so he's a bit younger than her, which adds to her self-consciousness.
So in this fic, Aylwen is largely dealing with her own insecurity. She's afraid she's not the person she used to be before the Fade rift era, when she was full of energy and potential and life felt easier. In my mind, Deshanna (who raised Aylwen and is for all intents and purposes her mom) sent Aylwen to the Arlathvhen in her place for this very reason. She could tell Aylwen was restless and needed a chance to get away from her usual responsibilities. And hey, it worked!
I don't know for sure if I'm going to write more about Aylwen and Davrin, but in my mind Davrin is going to bring the kind of joy and adventure to Aylwen's life she's been missing. They're going to travel together and see parts of Thedas she's never been to. They're going to get married a shockingly short time after meeting, like a year later max. They're going to form a lovely blended family with Assan, Emi, and probably another two or three biological kids. The future AU-Aylwen deserves!
I've definitely rambled enough now, but here are a couple fun facts:
-I actually have no idea who Emi's father is. Originally I thought it was going to be this childhood friend character I made up for Aylwen a long time ago, and I even included his name in the story. But part way through I decided Aylwen wouldn't actually marry that guy. So now she's married to some random guy in her clan I haven't decided anything about (other than that he's probably super hot. We know Aylwen's type!)
-In her main canon, Aylwen also has a daughter with Cullen who was born in the same year Emi would have been. Her name is Miria, because it made sense to me that even in a different canon Aylwen would like similar sounding names for her kid.
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If you're interested, you can read the fic on Ao3: A Good Feeling
As usual I'm not sure who to tag! So if you see this, consider yourself tagged :)
'My Fair Necromancer (Or a Death Caller Amongst Crows)'
Also on Ao3 (without commentary 😂)
“The future Lady Dellamorte must understand how things are done in Antiva. Our voice in diplomatic circles, your more approachable half at formal events. If you are indeed serious about this dalliance - “
“I am.”
“Then it would behoove us to begin her training immediately.”
Rook Ingellvar is unprepared for life in Antiva with Lucanis - but it is safe to say the Antivans are equally unprepared for Rook. A series of 100-word drabbles exploring what life looks like for a Mourn Watcher marrying into the world of the Crows.
“I have some concerns about Miss Ingellvar.”
Lucanis looked up from the contract he was studying, unsurprised. “My relationship with Rook is not open to debate.”
Caterina scoffed. “Good. She is good for you. Good for us. If you mess that up, I will be obliged to take a contract on you myself.”
“Then - what concerns?”
“The future Lady Dellamorte must understand how things are done in Antiva. Our voice in diplomatic circles, your more approachable half at formal events. If you are indeed serious about this dalliance - “
“I am.”
“Then it would behoove us to begin her training immediately.”
To start, I love drabbles. I used to run drabble competitions on the neverwinter server I helped run back in the day. <3 When I saw one of the prompts for the create-a-thon was a series of 10 interconnected 100 word drabbles I was super excited. I ended up writing two of them. 😂 This whole concept was one that I've had for awhile but hadn't really been able to commit to. This turned out to be a great structure for little glimpses of what Amara's life looks like as she is settling into Treviso - because let's be real: Crows are a lot and a non-crow marrying Lucanis/joining that world would have some challenges. I also love the crunchy implication of the older crow houses being essentially Antivan nobility - Venetian merchant princes, right? And also assassins. Just - what a weird world to suddenly be not only a part of but, especially as a celebrity and hero, to have the potential to be a power broker within. I am also on team Caterina loves Rook - she's sharp, she would recognize the kind of potential having Rook in their house brings to the Dellamorte family. (and I don't think she'd be upset to see her grandson happy or have the potential for great-grand children.) The title is a play on 'My Fair Lady.' I also opted to post this one today since we've been in angst land recently and this one is mostly lighthearted.
Formal dinners were carefully orchestrated affairs. Forks, wine pairings, and place settings. Testing for poison is new, but the rest familiar. Manners and etiquette were highly valued in the Watch and Rook was almost always a model student. There are more removes in Antivan dining. Antipasto. Primo. Secondo. Endless. Assigned seats to prevent or encourage drama or business. She is given a list of topics of discussion and a rotation of neighbors who are charming but aren’t Lucanis. She doesn’t like it. Once she starts detailing autopsies to her partners between courses, they get the message and seat them together.
My knowledge of formal medieval/renaissance dining is mostly from SCA events. (shout out to the Kingdom of Atlantia and the East Kingdom and my college roommate who grew up in the society and brought me to events <3) This bit was also inspired by going with my now husband to a wedding years ago where he was at the head table and I was somewhere else and being grumpy about it. Don't do that to your friends, people. We have mention in the game of Manfred needing to take etiquette courses - that and Emmrich's lovely manners and the bit about watcher Rook talking fancier when in watcher mode strongly supports this sort of thing being a bit of common ground for Amara and fancy Antivan society. She is however absolutely going to be a bit of a brat about not being near Lucanis. 😂
For all her grace in a fight, the art of maneuvering around the dance floor is lost on Rook. Antivans favor fast dances. Complex footwork. Daring proximity. Crows especially - all hidden blades and furiously dextrous steps that leave Rook dizzy and frustrated. House Dellamorte hires a local dance master, the best Treviso can offer. He is not amused when Rook raises a host of skeletons and sets them to learning the steps, analyzing the movements from the sidelines. Atypical, but effective. She and Lucanis are soon moving around the dance floor with the same ease they move around the battlefield.
I somewhat arbitrarily decided dancing was a stumbling point (heh) for Amara in the OC in the ballroom thing that went around some time back. I loved the idea of Amara being like - I need to see this in action so I'm going to get a bunch of skeletons to do it so I can observe and learn. The casual use of undead in Nevarra has to be so bizarre to the rest of Thedas.
A flurry of activity and blades and as quick as he appeared the assassin is down. But Teia is wide eyed, clutching her arm. She sways and falls.
”Poison,” Viago hisses, grabbing his kit and hurrying to her side.
Several crows talk over each other. Rapid fire speculation of what venom they needed to counter.
Rook steps to the corpse, glowing green. “What was on the blade?” she demands.
The answer is strained but clear. Most of the room looks on shocked, except for Viago, who has already grabbed the antidotes needed and Lucanis, who has seen corpse whispering before.
One of my goals in this was to not just highlight where Amara's background/culture made things a little awkward, but also where it became an advantage. She brings a whole new skill set to the table for House Dellamorte and the Crows.
The Gardener found a skull amongst the rose bushes. Full skeletons carefully posed by the gazebo. The bones of what might have been a nug nestled near the front walkway. He politely brought up his concerns with the head groundskeeper who passed them on to the Maggiordomo who brought the matter up to the First Talon.
Lucanis was unperturbed. “They are Rook’s,” he said simply.
The staff at Villa Dellamorte were professional. Discreet. There was, however, some incredulous chatter around the servants’ table about the matter until a Venatori attack was thwarted by said skeletons and whatever enchantments they carried.
Another one of those things the game doesn't explicitly mention but that could be inferred by the status and wealth of the Dellamorte family - there would be a significant household staff involved in keeping the grounds and house and keeping everything running smoothly and they would have opinions on the newest member of the family. A bit more culture clash and another look at how Amara's skill set can be an advantage to the house.
Contracts are the life blood of Antiva. Charters, loans, trade agreements, hired blades in the dark.
Marriages, outlined in exacting detail.
The contract negotiator for House Dellamorte is used to different sorts of terms in his normal work. He is not entirely sure what the standards currently are for weddings, but this one seemed worth questioning “Death and Internment: Both parties agree that upon their deaths their physical remains are to be entrusted to the Mourn Watch for formal internment. Is that correct?”
Lucanis nods. “She is agreeing to spend her life with me in Antiva. It is only fair.”
I love this concept. Antivans - particularly Crows - and their contracts. Mr. hates the Necropolis, but loves Rook agreeing to spend eternity with her in Nevarra. <3 Ultimately, Lucanis is fairly practical when it comes to death. I absolutely see him being fine with this because he'll be dead - whatever happens to his body won't be his problem and Amara would feel pretty strongly about internment in the Necropolis since that is such an important part of the world she was raised in.
It started with Jacobus. As far as he was concerned, Rook hung the moons. She ended up taking on the role of mentor and cheerleader, a trusted adult he could ask about things outside the world of the crows. Then it was the others - one of the Egrativi orphans needed tutoring. Another advice on a heartbreak. Then a safe space, a warm meal.
Family.
Illario asked Lucanis about it. “Have we made an alliance I didn't know about? All these fledglings underfoot.”
“No,” Lucanis answered. “But Rook was a foundling. She isn’t going to turn away an orphan in need.”
Jacobus is such a fun character and ends up so attached to Rook. Amara would absolutely see a house full of orphans and be like ' is anyone going to adopt them?' and not wait for the answer. House Egrativi and House Dellamorte absolutely end up allies, not through traditional crow politics or the like, but because half of them end up slipping and calling Amara 'mom' at least once and family is family. 😂
The afternoon had gone well. A diplomatic luncheon with the new Governor of Treviso and several local guildmasters. Rook was at her best, spinning her celebrity into new friendships and helping her new friends solve problems. Things were winding down and Lucanis was considering how best to make their excuses and their escape when their host had the servants bring out a round of coffee. The family’s custom roast. Rook eyed the cups with mild dismay. “Apologies,” she told the Governor, heedless of the offence she was causing, “but would I be able to get a cup of tea instead?”
This is very much where I see Amara's life going - diplomat and problem solver and a maker of alliances. Post-game Rook has so much notoriety and so many connections across northern Thedas - that plus the money and influence of House Dellamorte puts her in a really fun position. This was also very much a bit of real life awkwardness - I am a tea drinker in the states where coffee is definitely the norm. I can think of a lot of moments where I had to awkwardly ask if tea was an option when coffee was being offered. From what we see of Antiva I can only imagine Amara not drinking coffee stands out almost as much as the skeletons.
The intruder had proven tight lipped. Crow training. When talk turned to taking souvenirs, sending them to the King's council to see who would claim what was left of him, Rook calmly entered the room. Her autopsy kit hit the table with a thunk. She unwrapped it, candle light shining on the pristinely kept tools as she drew her favorite bone saw. “How shall we do this? Natural? Preserved? Acid stripped bone? I'm partial to haunted myself.”
This would be assassin was one of the first to learn how protective Rook was of her family. He wouldn’t be the last.
And this aspect of Amara amongst the crows is one I have played with before here. She is fiercely protective of her people and can absolutely match the brutal violence of the Crows, just with her own spin on it. My warnings on Ao3 were for "Crow typical violence,' and 'Watcher typical use of bone saws.'
“You know,” Rook said, draping herself over him, “I’m always going to be Nevarran.”
Lucanis pressed a kiss into her hair, just this side of dozing off. “And Dalish,” he murmured.
“I am never going to be Antivan. In spite of everyone’s best efforts.”
“So you realized…”
“That I was being - what, trained?”
“Something like that.”
Rook chuckled, warm air against his skin. “Yes.”
Lucanis traced slow circles on her arm. “Apologies. I love you. As you are. I just want you to be happy here.”
He could feel her grin against his chest. “I am. Me and my skeletons.”
Ending with a bit of silliness. 💕 Amara is smart - she figured out what was going on (and would understand that she does need to know as much as she can about her new home and the expectations around it - just like the folks here need to get to know her.) I also wanted to wrap things up with the reassurance that Lucanis and Amara are all in on the life they are building together, that they know and understand each other, that they love each other and all is right with the world, even if they are coming from very different places.
(Tell me Tuesday was started by @adejareve. Originally written for the @dacreateathon. No pressure/just saying hi tags to @seaglassmelody @davrinsleftpectoral @blackwall-my-tiny-husband @sandcastlekings @jukkaricity @hedwigoprah @aetherflowers @genjyoandgojyoandhakkai and anyone else who wants to share <3)
Recommending a few works from the collection that altered my brain chemistry!
Morning Ritual by @dalish-rogue
This one is actually a lovely Lucanis x Rook art piece! It’s so beautiful and soft, go check it out!
First Dance by @theredtrails
A lovely Emmrich x Rook wedding dance. The composition of this piece is absolutely delightful.
Explicit works:
On the Pyre by @zennihilation
Okay I read this fic and was thinking about it for days. It’s Sebastian x Ashur, which I had never thought of before, but it works amazingly.
with my eyes closed by @breitweisergallery
A wonderfully devastating little fic where Tarquin is Venatori (and Ashur has to deal with the consequences). I had the pleasure of betaing this fic and I’ve read it multiple times!
Alright it took 2 weeks but I have now read almost every single fic in the DA Create-a-thon collection including most of the lightenening rounds. I have 8 Fics left in the entire collection (sorry to the 8 of you I promise I will get there) but having read 153/161 fics I think I can say I can make a good rec list.
Listed in reverse order of how I read them (aka the bookmarks I have)
@'ing people when I can but I don't know the AO3 to tumblrs of everyone
Also just in general @dacreateathon mod team did amazing work. CAT showed up exactly when I needed a way to distract myself from the real world
Non-Explicit Fics
Shattered Things by @aetherflowers - This is one of the best fics in the entire collection. I keep thinking about this fic constantly. It is such a haunting overview of the wardens as a whole and what drives them to join.
A Day in the life of a Weisshaupt Warden by @woundedsoul12 @teine-mallaichte @winterhartarts @fashionablyfyrdraaca - Its hard to pick just one fic here because there's so many good ones but they just look at normal wardens. There's drinking games, angry pigeons, wardens surviving just long enough to mourn - its so so so good
What is there to say? by @runesandtunes - I never imagined Carver hawke as Rook but this works. Carver is such an under explored character and this fic did such an amazing job of capturing him.
Feeling lost, letting go by @breitweiser-gallery - I bookmarked this fic just so I can go reread it to cry again and again. If you love Felassan this is a must read.
Five Names Unwritten by @librivore42 - amazing poetry about some characters whose names reflect themselves or how they change. The Cole and Blackwall poems especially were like gut punches.
The Preferred State by @jukkaricity - There were so many cool fics about Tranquility this CAT - but this one combined my special interest of the Qun and it just makes my brain go brrrr
Inconsequential by @floralprintsharks - This is the tranquil fic of CAT. It took a minor Tranquil Character (Elsa from DA2) and made her so real. Every diary entry is this fantastic exquiste peak into her life. Also I'm a sucker for Bethany Hawke.
Here at the Quiet Limit of the World by @lion-writer Crack Ships treated Seriously are always some of the best written pairings and this is no exception. It captures the horror and terror that comes with true immortality, and the dangers that come to those who chase it, even for good reasons. Xenon has never been more loved in the DA fandom.
Explicit Fics
You have brought sin to heaven by @midnightprelude and @breitweisergallery (sorry I don't know your tumblr) - Ashur/Dorian smut set in the Chantry 😉
creature of need by @guacamolleee - I love men yearning over the objects of their affection, unable to stand it. And this fic makes Emmrich one of the world's top tier yearners.
There's tons of great CAT Fics this year and I could have easily listed all 150+ that I read if given the time and energy to do so. Instead I forced myself to limit it to 10 which took me forever because I kept agonizing over it.
Amazing work everyone seriously I don't think I read a single bad fic
... but it's Wednesday 😂 tagged by the wonderful @tarasmom 💖💖💖 thank you so much!
It was harder than I thought to pick one fic to ramble about, but decided to go for my @dacreateathon pièce de résistance: to plant a garden
It's 11k words of Emmrook sex pollen smut, but I did, in fact, have A LOT of thoughts during it. I'm curbing it here to just a couple 😂 but if someone asks for the director's cut with commentary, then maybe...
Anyway. One of the very first things I thought about was the fantastical logistics of the sex pollen and the flower, because I needed something to sort of ground the whole endeavor, you know? 😂
Eventually, I settled on this whole thing being part of the way the flower reproduces — it creates a scent that whoever smells it considers attractive, enhancing existing emotions, getting the pollen all over them one way or another, and encouraging thoughts to wander in a certain direction so the pollen can, ahem, travel. Because this is still obviously just the gossamer thread of plot trying to connect the smut together lmao
“Snow covering the grounds, the world still and silent as if we were the last two people left on Thedas.” Another kiss to her wrist. “The smell of oranges in the air when we entered, vibrant and alive in the dead of winter, a splash of color on a white canvas.” And another one. “You were so delighted, running between the trees, reaching out for the tallest branch.” [...] "And you were freezing by the time we returned to the Necropolis, nose red, sticking close to my side for comfort. But we still had those hot chocolate packets from Treviso, the ones you liked so much, and that warmed you right up. Even peeled open an orange, dipped it right in there.” He laughed, a muted sound, mostly air. “Oranges and chocolate.”
[...] “That’s what the flower smelled like to me. That memory. Your toes curled under my thigh, your fingers smelling like orange peels. All I wanted to do that night was kiss you, taste the chocolate staining the corners of your lips.”
-> I went through so many perfumery websites trying to settle on a scent for Rook. I obviously wanted it to be something sweet, because Rook (my Thana here) is like 90% sugar from all the sweet things she eats lol. I learnt a lot about scents, some very complicated and flew right over my head, before settling on something simple: oranges and chocolate.
I am not actually very good at describing smells beyond like... simple terms. I can recognize them if it's something I've smelled before, but asking me to describe it is pretty hard lol. So when this comes up in my fics, I fall back on the idea of scents being mingled with memory. You smell something and you know just immediately that, yeah, this smells exactly like the back of my friend's car in 2018 when we travelled during that one summer break and got lost in the middle of the mountains overnight. Or something like. You know what I'm talking about lol
Scent and memory are intrinsically linked for most people, and this comes out with Emmrich here. At his age, I imagine he's accumulated a lot of memories, some more precious than others, and he seems like the type to fondly look back on those experiences. With Rook, she's a splash on a canvas. He had already kind of settled into his life. At his age, he's well rooted. Then she barrels in and suddenly he's fighting gods and falling in love at the end of the world. She adds that much needed zest (aha) to his life. And he won't be able to shake her off that's for sure. After all, when you eat oranges, it gets everywhere. The scent just lingers forever on your fingers, sharp and strong.
Leaning down, she caught a whiff of its scent — barely there, but something sweet and heady, like oakmoss and flowers, potash and lavender. Something familiar like… like Emmrich’s aftershave, or his cologne before he would leave for work. Or the soft smell of his soap before they went to bed together.
How strange, and yet — so comforting.
Rook missed him something fierce, an ache in her chest ever-present when he wasn't in reach. Even the few hours they were apart was agonizing, leaving each other for their separate duties as Watchers. Call her clingy, or childish, or desperate — but they always fell back together, returning to the same place they both called home, sinking into each other’s arms as the night wore on.
-> Another thing about scent is that it's not only tied to memory, but also feeling. Unlike Emmrich, Rook is less likely to look to the past, and she associates the scents with very present, very physical things: his aftershave, his cologne, his soap. They're markers of things she gets to have and enjoy in her present, which I think is also a marker of how young she is compared to him lol She's less concerned about the past, she's thinking of him now, she wants him now, she misses him now. Rook later on in the fic does think of a memory, a recent one where they bought Emmrich's cologne together, but even then she doesn't dwell on it as much as Emmrich's paragraphs and dialogue.
Emmrich's scent is also based partially on canon (Taash so very helpfully lets us know that Emmrich smells like potash and moss with flowers... among other things like sap, dust, and human blood, which is a bit harder to make super sexy, but I digress), and based partially on what I think smells good. Compared to Rook, Emmrich has a much more natural, earthy scent. And if Rook brings the zest into his life, Emmrich meanwhile grounds her. Lets her find a place to lie down and settle and put down roots herself (with him, preferably).
My Rook has never really had that chance before, being an orphan and foundling. I imagine she had been bounced between different caretakers, never really belonging to anyone or having anyone belong to her in return. It's something she wants deeply, and she didn't get to have that until she meets Emmrich who wants it almost as bad as she does. It's also why she really wants to have his babies, okay, to plant the proverbial garden together, you know?
They even had a sunroom, situated in the place that received the most sunlight in the house — which wasn’t much, to be fair, even the upper residential halls of the Necropolis rarely had that much sun to begin with.
[...]
“I’m fine,” she muttered, “Hot day.”
Emmrich pulled away, his hand going to his chin as he thought out loud, and Rook nearly cried at the loss.
“It is. I couldn’t help the feeling something odd was happening when the weather suddenly cleared up.”
[...]
From the breeze blowing in from the window, she smelled the first drops of rain.
-> I have no idea if anyone noticed it (no one commented about it so I assume not lmao), but the weather is weird in this fic. It's noted that the Necropolis doesn't really get a lot of sun in the first place, but then Emmrich's also saying how odd it seemed for the weather to clear up like that. It's also mentioned a bunch of times that it's hot all of a sudden, and that isn't just from the frisky feelings Rook's experiencing. And then when all of it over, it returns to the normal dreary weather of the Necropolis with the smell of rain.
Is it the flower? Is it the Necropolis? Honestly, either interpretation works.
The flower is already weird. It having more weird weather powers in its very short lifespan would be cool and makes some sense if it's trying to make sure it can successfully reproduce lol. But my intention was for it to be the Necropolis itself. You can say that the Necropolis is what led Rook to the flower in the first place, and when Rook take it home, it makes sure it has the kind of weather conditions to make it thrive. Why? Because the Necropolis wants some Emmrook babies too, duh 😌😂
That got pretty long lol. If you haven't already (and if you're interested), you can go read this fic on AO3: to plant a garden 🌱
No pressure tags for a few friends if you wanna play! @thequeenofthewinter @caughtnyact @broodwoof @veil-song @randomnonsensedragonage @the-bear-and-his-sunbird @rauferes @arquennial @mushrooms-x-moss @jukkaricity @handsignals @holdingontojupiter @kirain @woundedsoul12 and whoever wants to share something! Tag me!
My piece for Dragon Age Create-A-Thon 2025! Me and @only-slightly-terrified had an amazing idea for a Zevistair fic, and it turned into a beautiful journey, To Pin A Crow ! This scene is from Chapter 2!
Read it on AO3! Check it out!
My art is also in AO3!
REQUIRED CLOSEUPS because I love their faces, I love their asses, And I love Rylan laughing. Thank you @winebearcat for letting me have Rylan Amell here as well <33
(I'm going to start posting some of the create-a-thon pieces here with commentary - both for my own records and to share 😂 Transcription of the visuals is after the notes.)
(This was one of my contributions for the Team Mourn Watch Collaboration 'Mementos of the Dead." The concept was a collection of artifacts from some of the folks interred in the Necropolis. The political landscape of Nevarra is fascinating - an undead King with no clear heir, nobles who compete for how well they can kill dragons and how reverent they are of their honored dead, various circles of Mages with overt political sway, lich lords and undead nobility who are at the least highly regarded and at most actual contenders for power. There are bound to be some hard feelings over the current state of things and I wanted to lean into that - so we have a dead political dissonant, continuing his crusade on the walls of the Necropolis to the delight of the students and the chagrin of the professors. I also loved the idea of Emmrich catching students passing notes and Vorgoth being the 'principal' who has to deal with them. 😂 There is also the tension that some in the Watch would agree with our poet - we know Emmrich doesn't like the nobility - but when your livelihood is caught up in the current system things can get complicated.
The concept of a spirit of Vigilance was from @seaglassmelody 's Sabi as a companion story. 💕 They seemed like a good source for Myrna to have spoken to for information.
I also really wanted to write some poetry and there weren't scoring rules for that when I wrote this. There were by the end of the creation period.)
Here lies a Pentaghast
Who tried to be king
Next to him a Van Markham
Who tried the same thing
Vaunted nobility
Playing their games
End up here vaulted
Where all are the same
And maybe one day
They'll figure it out
Tis the bone keepers
Who have the real clout
So keep your small crown
Our dear fleshy friends
You will be ours
When you meet your end
The enclosed poem was confiscated during a lecture on controlled possession and managing spiritual resonance with the senior apprentices. I reminded the students about the importance of professional decorum. I have also passed on the names of the primary perpetrators to the Senior Watchers. I would recommend each be interviewed to ensure they are not harboring any serious seditious intent. While I certainly sympathize with the perceptions some of our students have of the nobility, it is of the utmost importance that they fully appreciate the nature of our patronage from the upper classes. Or at least, the importance of picking one’s battles.
- Prof. E. Volkarin
I HAVE SPOKEN TO THE STUDENTS. THEY DID NOT WRITE THE POEM. IT MATERIALIZED ON THE STONE OVERLOOKING THE SCREAMING CANYONS. THEY FOUND IT AMUSING. THEY ARE NO LONGER AMUSED. FURTHER RESEARCH IS WARRANTED. ENSURE THIS IS ADDED TO THE ARCHIVES.
VORGOTH
We have questioned the spirits who frequent the screaming canyons. A political dissonant who died under questionable circumstances, one Otto Willibald, recently came into our care. Vigilance reported seeing the man’s skeleton in the area having a discussion with spirits of Destruction and Knowledge. Professor Volkarin was asked to speak to the suspected author and let him know he can be provided writing materials but the stone walls are off limits. This should also allow us to keep his work amongst seasoned Watchers who can be trusted.
- Myrna, Keeper of the Seals
Tagging @blackwall-my-tiny-husband @davrinsleftpectoral @seaglassmelody @woundedsoul12 @genjyoandgojyoandhakkai @hedwigoprah @sandcastlekings @jukkaricity @dacreateathon and anyone else who wants to share <3
