The Road Less Traveled By

she/her Dragon Age obsessed - fanfic writer. Exia on AO3. side blog is @dragonageevents where I attempt to track all the upcoming and active Dragon Age Events. Expect cross-posting as I am a goose.

[exia-1]

Unnamed DA4 fic

What are those "from today's note taking session" posts about?

This!

I'm working on a huge project. I want to write my own da4 fic that jumps off from Trespasser. Wars, allies, broken alliances, love lost and found.

It will be solavellan with my Inquisitor, Ny'ari, who is very much still in progress. She will be a warlord with her own followers (not just the Inquisition. It's disbanded.) Who allies with the Dread Wolf, but doesn't work for him.

Solas might know how to wage a guerilla war, but I don't. Luckily, history is always there. I am currently listening to the Revolutions podcast by Mike Duncan. Specially, season 5, where he goes over the South American war for independence from Spain. It is delicious and dramatic and you just won't believe some of the Real! True! Things that happened.

To organize some of my thoughts, (and I admit to drum up interest in this monster I'm cooking up) here are some of the lore and plot points I have at this early stage:

Exploring the land the Qunari come from and what the Kossith are.

Exploring the origins of the blight and how/why the Awakening DLC from DAO is a thing and how that works/consequences of it.

Dealing with the ramifications of the veil on all species, and how it alters them in fundamental ways they don't understand. Lost senses, forgotten skills. Natures altered by a loss of [redacted].

Planning for what it means for the veil to come down and all these people from all these species suddenly having these skills/abilities/senses back.

War. Real war. Battles and victories and losses. Changing loyalties and shifting alliances.

Ny'ari and Solas as a power couple, deeply in love and fighting side by side...but love is not enough. Ny'ari doesn't work for Solas and he doesn't serve under her. They are warlords in an alliance, with disparate factions under their command. Things are not easy or smooth.

Evanuris as a real threat. Weakened, but still powerful. Charismatic and cruel. Think Galadriel in Lord of the Rings. "All will love me and despair."

[friberchi]

Inquisitor ✨

[hare-of-andruil]

They make me ILL

[fadetouchedlurker]

So ANYWAY, it took me two hours last night to put the binding on one thigh of the chainmail and i'm like. 2/3 of the way through the other thigh. Because obviously I've been procrastinating on working on it the whole day.

[fadetouchedlurker]

@elkattacks, I wanted to see how the clips were going to do with the trim too, so I wiggled my way into the whole thing.

Quite well, is the answer.

The leg guards need more wearing, I think, so they soften up a little more and don't look so fresh and don't slip around weird. (And I could put real ties on them. But they are not eating the front of my ankles like I thought they might, which is delightful!

[exia-1]

Oh my god it just gets better! All of a sudden it seems like you're at 90% wow! The trim really kicks it up a knotch!

[markscherz]

Today my magnificent octopus magnum opus, a 126-page monograph on the genus Rhombophryne—Madagascar's diamond frogs, was published open access in the journal Vertebrate Zoology. In it, my colleagues and I have described seven new diamond frog species and provided detailed revised accounts of each of the now 27 species in the genus, compiling practically everything that is known about these curious and obscure frogs!

Allow me to introduce the new characters:

This piece of lint precious child is Rhombophryne maraorao, a little burrowing species from the northeast of Madagascar. It is very similar ecologically to R. coudreaui, a long-known species from further south. The name maraorao means ‘rough to the touch’ in Malagasy, referring to the rough skin of this species. They do a weird thing where they straighten all of their limbs and go stiff in self defence. Think pumpkin toadlet post-launch mid-air stiffness, but… in the hand?

This beautiful creature is Rhombophryne mavokely, a little leaflitter-dwelling species from the northeast of Madagascar. The name mavokely is the Malagasy word for ‘pink’ but literally translates as ‘small yellow’ (mavo = yellow, kely = small). I LOVE this bizarre etymology, and also this species is small and sometimes pink and sometimes yellowish, so the name seemed extremely apt. This species was the first Rhombophryne I ever saw alive—I caught the first ever specimen immediately underneath my hammock on Marojejy in 2016!

This shiny boy is Rhombophryne sonaliae, a rather well known species from eastern Madagascar that has previously been called R. alluaudi—until we showed in 2019 that the correct use of that name was for a Plethodontohyla alluaudi from southern Madagascar! We dedicated this species to Sonali Garg, in recognition of her fantastic work especially on Asian frogs.

This forbidden truffle is Rhombophryne anatiala, a very poorly known species very closely related to R. sonaliae but found further north and differing subtly. The name anatiala means ‘in the forest’ in Malagasy, referring to the forest habitat of these frogs.

This bumpy beanbag with his go-faster chevron is Rhombophryne kotrobaratra, an interesting species from northeastern Madagascar with rather unusual anatomy, especially its quite long and strong hindlimbs. The name kotrobaratra means ‘thunder and lightning’ in Malagasy, and refers to the inclement weather that seems to bring these frogs out (true for all Rhombophryne, really) .

This coffee bean is Rhombophryne quentini, an orange-thighed species from high-elevation forests in northern Madagascar that resembles R. ellae. Back in 2020 I named R. ellae after my partner, Ella, and I thus took particularly great pleasure in naming this new, closely related species after our four-and-a-half year-old son, Quentin. A little family of frogs. :3

This little pebble is Rhombophryne kilonjy, a small, poorly known and obscure species related to R. ellae and R. quentini but found in lowland forest close to the coast in northwestern Madagascar. The name kilonjy means ‘pebble’ in Malagasy because, well, just look at it.

Even way back in my tumblr posts from 2013 and 2014 I think you would find mentions of the work I had begun on this monograph. I had no notion that it would take more than twelve years to complete. But I cannot express my joy at finally being able to share these charming, round frogs with the world. I hope you approve of the names!

If you want to read a bit more about these frogs, you can do so on my website. I have even posted a couple short videos about them on TikTok and Instagram (which also will show you how to pronounce the names!). Basically, you can find me most places on the internet, and wherever you find me, you can be sure to find frogs and lizards and snakes and a good deal of enthusiasm.

[fadetouchedlurker]

So ANYWAY, it took me two hours last night to put the binding on one thigh of the chainmail and i'm like. 2/3 of the way through the other thigh. Because obviously I've been procrastinating on working on it the whole day.

[fadetouchedlurker]

There. Finally. Done.

[exia-1]

GASP!

Oh my god! Look at this! Look at this craftsmanship! It's so good! Fade, I hope you are immensely pleased with yourself. For I'm wildly impressed!

[pooyaaaaan]

! Suggestive !

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2026/7/7 Today's drawing.

Her flexibility is impressive.

HC:Solas is always gentle with her. Always careful.

But sometimes, he simply cannot hold himself back.

The thought that he is touching a place even she herself cannot reach—that she lets him have that depth of her—fills him with something too dark and too greedy to name.

And it only makes him want to go deeper.

[deerilkka]

Reblog if it’s okay to befriend you, ask questions, ask for advice, rant, vent, let something off your chest, or just have a nice chat.

[pooyaaaaan]

*rubs hands together in glee* I'd apologize for all the questions, but I'm not sorry. I'm curious!

What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?

12. How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?

16. What makes their stomach turn?

32. Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke?  (really interested in this one!)

36. Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap? 

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look? (question for the artist!)

H) What trait do you admire most?

Thank you so much for all the questions! Some of them made me think about things I’d never really considered before, and I had a lot of fun answering them 😊

Uncommon Questions for OCs and their creators

1.What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?

As long as she needs to. She’s a hunter, so she’s very good at sitting still and waiting. She might fall asleep halfway through, though 😂 She can sleep in almost any situation and in any position. At least, she could before Trespasser—she’s struggled with insomnia ever since 😌

12. How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?

Back when she still had both arms, there wasn’t really anywhere on her body she couldn’t reach by herself. That changed after she lost one, though 😌 She learned to use throwing knives for self-defense and started keeping one close at hand, so I can imagine her using the sheathed knife—or its handle—to scratch the spot 😂🔪

16. What makes their stomach turn?

When something disgusts her on a mental or emotional level, she tends to get angry or simply go cold. But she still can’t handle the smell of rotting flesh or infected wounds very well. Those provoke a physical reaction whether she wants them to or not.

32. Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke?  (really interested in this one!)

After the whole “Fade-tongue” thing, I think it’d be cute if they started playfully tangling their tongues whenever they kissed.

I like to think this became their little running joke for years.

“Still doesn’t count?”

“…No.”

“Rude.”

“Then perhaps we should test it again.”

36. Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap? 

She doesn’t actively seek out romance. Most of the time, I don’t think she really thinks about it at all. That doesn’t mean she sees no value in it or that she’s afraid of it, though.

When she finds herself drawn to someone, she accepts those feelings naturally, and before she knows it, she’s moving closer to them of her own accord. She’s not the type who can play games or act coy.

She never really hid how much she liked Solas either. She just kept showing him until she’d thoroughly backed him into a corner 😂

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look? (question for the artist!)

Her appearance has barely changed since I first created her in the character creator. She actually started out with no eyebrows 🤭

I tend to stick pretty closely to canon in everything I do. That said… I hate drawing clothes and I’m bad at it, so I do simplify her outfits sometimes… 😂

H) What trait do you admire most?

What I admire most is her calmness. I don’t mean that she’s unemotional—even when she feels anger or sadness, she doesn’t immediately let it overwhelm her. She takes it in and thinks it through first. I tend to fly off the handle pretty quickly, so that’s something I genuinely wish I could learn from her 😂

[exia-1]

20 Questions

I have been head down at work today, and I have no idea who has or hasn't done this. So I'm going to pick a few people at random. Thanks @ashillayn and @fadetouchedlurker the tag!

I'm going to poke @celesenova, @pooyaaaaan, @lana-writes, @crimsonphantasmagoria, and @cryptid-catt-main.

The questions:

What's your blog title from?

My blog title is "The Road Less Traveled By" which is a poem by Robert Frost. I wanted to remind myself to seek out the unusual and the unexplored. To dare to do and find, rather than to follow the established paths.

2. Latest movie? What did you think?

The last thing I watched was Bullet Train back in April. I'm not a big movie person. But I did like Bullet Train. The best way to describe it is a slow-motion Rube-Goldberg type murder game between 5ish? assassins. A lot of fun. Lemon and Tangerine are the absolute best.

3. What are you looking forward to right now?

Finishing my research. I've been doing it for, god. Probably a year now, as I started it before I'd actually finished To Wake in Darkness. I'm very ready to move on to drafting and writing.

4. If you could do anything at all today, what would it be?

Fly to Europe. I have to friends there who I'd love to see in person. But flights are stupid expensive and I just got back from a vacation (and catching up at work has been murder). I don't know when I'll get to see these friends. But if teleportation existed, I would absolutely abuse it to visit those I love.

5. Drink of choice?

The truth? Water. I live in an extremely dry area with low humidity. Usually in the 30%. If I don't drink enough, I get headaches, so I always have a glass. Sometimes I get exciting and make tea (hot or cold) or coffee (usually to start my day) but the vast majority is good old H2O.

6. Hair routine?

Wash it once a day and let it air dry. My hair is straight, straight, straight, straight. Nothing makes it curl, not even 100% humidity (tried and tested). I put very little thought into it. (Yes. I know. Most of you hate me now. Sorry.)

7. Favourite way to travel? Is there another you want to try?

Uhm.

Uhm.

I've never thought of transportation as as thing to like or dislike or have favorites. It's a necessity.

I...think maybe a train? If I have space to stand and stretch? Re question 4, I want to go to Europe, but beyond the price, the travel time does not spark joy. That's a long time to be stuck in a tiny chair on a plane.

8. Favorite month and why?

January. I love snow, absolutely love it, and I moved to a different state to have mountains and snow. And Jan is deep into winter. Or, it was. Until global warming ruined it. Fuck global warming, man.

9. Favorite time of day and why?

Oh gosh. I don't know! Let's go with sunrise. I'm up then anyway (no alarm, this is just apparently me now) and it is beautiful. And quiet. Few other people are insane enough to be awake when I am.

10. Do you play or follow any sports?

I don't, no. But my husband follows what feels like every sport in existence and he tells me about them. So I have a lot of random facts in my head that are disconnected, just from listening to him.

11. What kind of music has been stuck in your head lately?

Strangely, nothing. I've been listening to Rainbow Kitten Surprise and Matt Maeson, but none of them have turned into an earworm. *knocks on wood* yet.

12. Dishes or laundry?

Dishes.

13. Something you learned recently?

Green parrots can breed with the red/blue macaws and they make rainbow babies!

14. What would you talk about if you could give a TED talk on anything?

Cross stitching, probably. And how, like everything else, it is horribly commercialized and you really don't need that new doo-hickey or fancy what's-it-called. Stop signing up for 'fabric of the month' or 'thread of the month'. Do you have a plan for it? A pattern? Anything you will use it for? No? You're buying clutter to simply have things. Stop it.

15. Piece of advice you find yourself giving a lot?

Stop using my brain and use your own. (Said at work. Nicely. With different words.) I'm pretty knowledgeable, and my coworkers come to me for help. And I don't mind, but I'm trying to get them to do basic research before they come to me.

16. Piece of advice you would give yourself five years ago?

Keep counting those calories. You lost all that weight and stopped counting and look what happened. Just accept you need to portion control for the rest of your life. Also, don't stop your running routine. It's so hard to start again.

17. Do you believe in luck and superstition? Do you carry any lucky items or follow any

Despite question 11, no. I've incorporated those little habits into my life as a way to joke, or break tension, or convey an attitude, but I don't feel it. Luck is probability, which is math. So, I suppose it's more accurate to say I do believe in luck, but only because of math and statistics.

18. Are you musical (play any instruments, sing)? Would you ever perform for an audience?

A lifetime ago, I both sang in a choir and played piano. But that's high school years kind of stuff. Nothing since then. I have no shame, so I totally would perform in front of a crowd if I had cause.

19. Write, type or speak?

I'm not sure I understand. My preference for general communication? How I prefer to write stories? Work communication vs social? They all have different answers.

For story creation, I prefer writing by hand. As evidenced by the two and counting journals I've filled in with my notes. I'll type them up and get them in a word processor, but for now. Hand writing. I love it.

For story creation, I prefer typing (hah!). The general plotlining and research and "oh hey that's cool!" goes in a paper book, but the actual prose is straight into a computer. I write, eh. Rather quickly? I don't know what to compare it to. But I will say that when I do prose by hand, my hand hurts well before I'm done actually writing for the day. So I've learned to just do that straight on a comp.

For work, email or chat, please. Don't call me to take advantage of "one more thing" and "while I have you". Use your brain, not mine.

Social interaction is mixed. For people who live close by, I prefer physical proximity and verbal communication. But for long distance friends (of which I am blessed to have a lot) typing is fine. I make an effort to be clear in my communication, and I like to think that helps facilitate long-distance/internet friendships.

20. What do you wish someone would ask you?

??? Nothing?

I don't consider myself a terribly interesting person. I'm just here, doing my thing. Others have much more fascinating interests, I'm just lucky to know them and get to hear them speak.

[exia-1]

From today's note-taking session July 23, 2026

Oh my god, Bolivar has a warlord partner like Solas will have in Ny'ari! Ok, to be fair, it doesn't sound like she ends up actually fighting in combat, but she is his equal in the revolution. In ways none of his other partners were. He had a wife, Maria, who got yellowfever and died. He swore never to marry again. And by god he meant it. But that didn't stop him from taking lovers.

During the course of the war, he hooked up with Pepita Mechado, who was killed during the course of the war as she tired to make her way to him (we know it was tuburculosis that killed her, but not exactly when. Times are hard to pin down. Somewhere in 1819 is when he got the news but she died before then. Possibly 1818, hard to say.)

And then, June 1822, he met Manuela Sáenz, who would be his partner and equal where none others were. She knew politics, she knew the players. She was a devout revolutionist and knew all the right strings to pull. She even prevented an assassination attempt on him!

This is exactly what I'm looking for with Solas and Ny'ari. Well, Ny'ari will also lead armies and fight, which it doesn't appear Manula did. But otherwise, this is the badass warrior couple I wanted. I did't realize, going into this, that Bolivar had this sort of relationship but he did! This is so cool.

If/when I have time, I'm going to do more research on Manuela Sáenz, as she seems absolutely fascinating. A firecracker who wouldn't be controlled by her much-older husband. Who protested for women's rights, was both accepted and shunned from high society due to her bastard nature, and who used it to make herself strong.

I very much look forward to learning more about her.

Will I tailor Ny'ari after her? No. Ny'ari is very much her own person at this point in development. But that's not to say some of the sass from Manuela won't make its way into some of Ny'ari's dialogue.

In case anyone has been wondering, yes. I will be making tons of author's notes about what detail in my story came from what character/event in my research. In case anyone is interested in this sort of thing.

As a final note, my spelling on some of these names and places is absolutely horrible. That's what I get for listening to my research as I take notes. I think it's faster this way - maybe. But wow. For example, it's not Manuel PR who was one of the generals who fought with Bolivar, it's Manuel Piar. Whoops. I mean, I knew PR was in no way correct, but that is how it is pronounced, so I just wrote PR and kept going. I have a feeling a lot of the things I just wrote and moved on for will need to be fixed as I go. Looking forward to that part of the writing process. I admit, the research is starting to lose it's shine.

[riadoodles]

I made sticker stamps of Emmrich and Davrin for a Cowboy/Old West Veilguard stamp rally for Game On Expo this weekend 🤠🐎🐎

[fadetouchedlurker]

[fadetouchedlurker]

Still slightly damp (the leather), but I wanted to try them on with the chainmail so I could check and see if I was ready to add the leather binding on the thighs (i.e., did closing them up over the knee more actually work, and did closing up the seat more work, to which the answer is, happily, yes.)

[aru]

Tumblr Code.

[geekishchic]

If I ever see any of you in public, the code is “I like your shoelaces”

that way we know we’re from tumblr without revealing anything

I’m just going to say this to strangers until i find a tumblr person

must keep reblogering!! Im going to be so suspicious if any one tells me this now!

Remember the answer is: I stole them from the president.

always reblog tumblr identification

[worldheritagepostorganization]

World Heritage Post

[pooyaaaaan]

2026/7/22 Today's drawing.

Sunscreen doodles. ☀️

[fadetouchedlurker]

[exia-1]

From today's note-taking session July 22, 2026.

Bolivar is looking for another victory, something overwhelming and impressive. He doesn't get it, but his protege, Sucre, does. He ends up acting essentially as a distraction as Sucre goes and makes the big win. This upsets Bolivar because he's got a big ego.

But, I think it's actually a good tactic, egos aside. Solas is already a powerhouse (we see this in Trespasser) and he's also very charming as we see in Veilguard (and pointed out in a post by @vhen-harel apologies, I tried to find the post you'd made about it but it eluded me.). Having Solas also be a great tactician feels like too much.

Edit: I found it!

So, he's going to be one singular powerful individual, and charismatic enough to draw good tacticians to him - and then he's going to listen to them.

And what better tactic than to have a god-tier power level leader in Solas, running around with several thousand soldiers, to draw all the attention in a region to him? Leaving someone else (Ny'ari? Abelas? Felassan?) to make a surprise attack and win the crucial victories.

I like this, and it helps address the issue of power creep. I also completely understand why the writers of VG just put Solas in time out for the game. He's so powerful. They had to provide narrative choices. I don't have that problem.

Also, I've decided on an alternate back-story for Felassan that doesn't tie to his fate in Tevinter Nights, and I'm very excited about it, but I can't talk about it as it'll spoil the surprise.