I will face the Maker and walk backwards into the Void @inquisitoralisia - Tumblr Blog

Dragon Age doesn’t know what century it’s in

So, what I think I miss most about Dragon Age: Origins is the way it felt consistently medieval. Not completely, they brought in things from a lot of different cultures, and in fact, even managed to make up some of their own, but it was all woven into this framework of a series of different civilizations where the cultural fabric in all communities was membership to the same religion. You had your outliers, to be certain–your pagan Dalish, your isolated dwarves, your foreign Qunari, but if you were part of what the Chantry would deem “civilization,” you probably went to your Chantry on a regular basis, even if you didn’t believe what they taught, because that’s where you got your news. They even reinforce this mechanically with the Chanters’ boards. (Something that notably disappears in Inquisition, when they really move away from this idea.)

In other words, it looks a lot like the actual Middle Ages, a lot more than “medieval fantasy” normally does, because it actually recognizes the role of religion as a keeper and transmitter of consistent culture. More amazingly, its analog of the Roman Catholic Church isn’t automatically demonized… in a 21st century video game. I was gobsmacked. Sure, they definitely were much more of the “we must do this this and this to get the Maker to love us,” but that’s about what I expect from a religion that doesn’t teach that its slain founder was resurrected.

And even then, we get people like Leliana, who, despite all evidence to the contrary, believe the Maker is still working and still loving people. (“Cool,” I immediately think. "When this is over, can I have Leliana start a Reformation?“)

The problem is, in subsequent games Bioware started playing around a lot more with different cultures in space and time, which is completely fine. But in later games, they didn’t make the same efforts to fit them in together with everything else. Which is why I say Dragon Age doesn’t know what century it’s in.

So I finish Origins completely in love with Thedas and its culture. It feels like a fully realized world, and if it draws heavily from fantasy tropes, that’s perfectly fine. They’re still putting their own twist on them.

Then I start playing 2, and I run into this guy:

Keep reading

squirrelwithatophat

Anders and the Blooming Rose

It’s a fairly minor part of his character, but I find it hilarious that Anders, “The Healer” of Darktown, really does not like the local brothel. If you take him with you while purchasing “services” from Madame Lusine, you get this reaction…

“You’re not this desperate, I hope. I treat a lot of these customers in my clinic.”

Then if you ignore the warning and do it anyways (you know, because Hawke)…

Anders: rivalry +5

It’s not a moral condemnation, a complaint about wasting time (à la Beth or Carver), or a vague expression of disgust (of the sort Fenris or Merrill reply with) — Anders, the closest in-universe equivalent to a doctor, is warning the player-character away from soliciting prostitutes on health grounds.

One interesting aspect of Dragon Age II is that it contains many more specific references to disease — which makes sense, given the medieval urban setting, where the top causes of mortality would realistically be infectious disease. Gamlen explicitly refers to his parents dying of “cholera,” a highly lethal (even today, untreated cholera has a case fatality rate of up to 50%) water-borne illness, and the water supply in Lowtown is described as dangerously contaminated (Hawke can refuse to drink it “even on a dare,” Merrill refers to something “twitching” in the water even after boiling it). A random NPC asking Lirene about “The Healer” complains, “I can’t get my brother off the boat. The grippe’s [i.e., the flu] got him bad.” Then there are the multiple references to unspecified STIs, all of which come from (or at least are associated with) Anders.

There’s an amusing line from Anders upon entering the Blooming Rose for the first time (usually but not necessarily during Enemies Among Us in Act 1):

“If someone tries to hire me again, I’m leaving.”

Now, some fans seem to read this as a claim that the Blooming Rose has tried to hire him as a sex worker, but I believe there’s a more plausible interpretation here. (Frankly, I have difficulty imagining that a brothel would be obsessed to the point of harassment with recruiting as their newest rent boy a man in his mid-30’s — and one who, need I remind you, lives in a mine shaft connected to a sewer and notorious for its toxic fumes, dumping of rotting corpses, and disease outbreaks. And no offense to any Andersmancer reading this, but is he really that good-looking?).

Most likely, the brothel is looking to hire an in-house physician (or Thedosian equivalent). Anders is referred to curing STIs and providing other reproductive care. In introducing him, Lirene says, “He’s closed their wounds, delivered their children.” One of patients in her shop can be heard crying out, “My mother’s in labor! The baby’s come early. Can anyone help her?” To which Lirene replies, “I’ll send word to the healer.” (Anders may have been delivering babies back in the Circle as well, considering that in MoTA, he says, “At the Circle, any accidental babies are taken away before the mother even sees them.” This could, however, simply be common knowledge among Circle mages). It’s also implied by Wynne that Circle mages practice contraception: “Such births [in the Circle] are seldom, as there are ways to prevent it, but it does happen.” Moreover, Anders appears to be the only person in Kirkwall willing and able to provide these medical services. There are references to useless quacks (e.g., “some purveyor of hensbane and leeches”), but it’s acknowledged in-universe that the only effective healing comes from mages. In DAI, the Inquisitor can express surprise at the presence of a “mundane” (non-mage) surgeon, who goes on to insist that such non-magical methods will be developed in the future, all of which further reinforces the (in-universe) social/cultural equation of healer as mage. Mage healers only appear to be let out of the Circle on rare occasions to treat members of the nobility, but ordinary people don’t receive such consideration. Even the viscount’s seneschal has to seek out Anders for help. In DAI, Cullen casually moons the idea of “healers’ clinics with templar support” (among other potential “opportunities to work outside the Circle”) as a totally novel solution to mage “resentment” over confinement. The Chantry thus far wasn’t willing to release mages to treat sick commoners even with phylacteries to deter escapes and Templar overseers breathing down their necks the entire time; in fact, they were rather reluctant to let out even a handful of senior mages to fight alongside the king against the Blight, something which threatened everyone’s lives fairly equally (and even then couldn’t resist the temptation to make the mages feel as unwelcome as possible). “The Healer of Darktown” was well-known to illicitly (that is, in defiance of Chantry restrictions) provide health care for free to the masses, and this service not surprisingly had earned him quite the number of admirers and defenders. Lirene resists being threatened for information about him by saying, “Any Fereldan in the city would lay down his life for the healer, after what he’s done for us,” and a mob of Ferelden refugees even prepare to attack the heavily-armed party out of fear that the latter might harm him or report him to the Templars. His Act 2 Codex likewise reads: “When not with the Champion, he spends his time among the Fereldan refugees in Darktown, healing their ills and counting on their loyalty to protect him from curious templars.” Should it be a surprise then that a private business might be interested in his skills, especially when disease is threatening their bottom line and injuring customers?

In the game, we actually see two frequent patrons of the Blooming Rose end up in Anders’s clinic for treatment.

Dissent (Act 2), if Isabela has been left behind:

Anders: …don’t come running to me next time you pick up one of these diseases.

Isabela: Isn’t that the point of magic?

Hawke: I don’t want to know.

Dissent (Act 2), if Isabela is in the party:

Seneschal Bran: And that will, ah, stop the itch?

Anders: Yes. Though I would stay away from women you meet in the port. Pirates tend to… dock in unsavory places.

Isabela: I heard that!

Anders: Just use the salve if it comes back.

This is probably also what Isabela is referring to in the opening to Speak to Fenris (Act 2):

Isabela: So the seneschal’s tax collector won’t be coming around again, like you asked. Funny story.

Fenris: I’ll pass, but thank you for the help.

Isabela: Spoilsport.

Seneschal Bran appears to be a regular with a particular fondness for Serendipity, a drag queen (or transfemme?) and one of the highest-paid workers at the Blooming Rose, whose gender nonconformity is generally Played for Laughs. Bran can be seen on a “date” with her at Duke Prosper’s party during Mark of the Assassin, and Serendipity can later be heard commenting, “I haven’t seen the seneschal much lately. Don’t tell me the man’s gone religious” (to which someone responds, “No, he just keeps terrible hours now”).

Isabela, of course, talks about sex and her enjoyment of brothels (including the Blooming Rose) quite frequently. In Dragon Age Origins, we meet her dueling two men at The Pearl (Denerim’s main brothel), and she can (in)famously be talked into a threesome or foursome with the Warden and their LI, although in that game it was unclear whether she was hiring prostitutes or simply ended up there in the course of searching for dueling partners (given that the building had been occupied by mercenaries, and one of the optional quests in Denerim is to clear The Pearl of disruptive mercenaries on behalf of the city guard) or following/checking on her crewmen. In DA2, it is confirmed that she was going to The Pearl for sex, and Anders remarks, “You used to really like that girl with the griffon tattoos, right?” to which Isabela replies with the name “The Lay Warden.”

(For now, I’ll just ignore the unfortunate implications of Bioware depicting a promiscuous black woman repeatedly contracting STIs and unrepentantly spreading them to white men for blackmail purposes. But yeah, yikes).

Historically, the emergence of STIs as a major social problem has been associated with urbanization and military mobilizations — basically, situations in which large numbers of individuals had opportunities for unprotected sex, especially with multiple partners, away from the usual social control mechanisms such as cockblocking parents (and virtually all sex was unprotected until latex condoms began to be mass-produced in the 1920s-30s). Without the safety measures we have in place in licensed brothels today (e.g., condom requirements, regular STI testing), brothels and red light districts were superspreader bonanzas, and perhaps unsurprisingly, medical professionals tended to take a rather dim view of them, to put it mildly. Modern readers often historical interpret opposition to brothels and camp followers (in the military) on the part of medical and public health authorities as expressions of prudery, religious conservatism, and/or misogyny, and to be frank, they very often were. Yet at the same time, in the pre-condom and pre-antibiotic era, STIs represented a major public health burden and cause of disability, disfigurement, infertility, and premature death, and there few practical measures beyond simply urging everyone to keep their pants on (which worked about as well as one might expect).

Circling back to Anders, it’s notable that he takes a much more negative view of sex in the second game than in Awakening, during which he seemed eager to hump anything that moved. This could at least in part reflect the influence of Justice, who seems to regard anything other than fighting for justice and engaging in public service to be "selfish” and even slothful (as in demon-y sloth). Or simple aging and maturity. Or, on a meta level, it could be an odd re-characterization due to the change in writer. But I like to think that his newfound discomfort with no-strings-attached boning is an unfortunate side effect of being a charity doctor working into the late hours to accommodate an endless stream of dick wart patients. It’s already a shame that his clinic and service for the poor is relegated to such a background element, especially given the role such work would realistically play in forming a person’s character. In terms of character development, it would have been interesting to explore how his work in the clinic could itself had a radicalizing effect — after all, it would bring him face-to-face with the tragic consequences of Chantry policy on mundanes (rather than just mages) as well as demonstrate magic’s contribution to the greater good on a daily basis. But this angle unfortunately never comes up in-universe.

TL;DR What I’m actually saying is that the real tragedy of Anders’s character arc is the profound decrease in sluttiness between the two games.

#incredible.#Anders #meta #DA2 #long post

patricianandclerk

i wish i could still pickpocket in inquisition simply because i can’t describe to you the amount of obscene joy i would experience hearing the various witty, dry, furious, or amused responses my companions would retort with upon finding my hands in their pockets

patricianandclerk

Sera:

*giggling* Stop it! That tickles!

*loud laughter*

I used to know a girl who could pickpocket your underwear. Don’t try that on me!

[for F!Inquisitor] Now crook your fingers. *more giggling*

patricianandclerk

Solas:

There is nothing in my pockets for you!

Have you no restraint?

Show care with another man’s pockets. You might not like what you find there.

[elf!Inquisitor with high approval] *resignedly* Lethallin…

Varric:

If you want to touch my chest hair, just ask. You don’t have to pretend to be reaching for my pockets.

What, no “please”?

Merchants’ Guild has already been in touch: my pockets are empty.

Dorian:

My dear [wo/man], at least get some wine in me first.

I do hope this is a precursor to something more fun than thievery.

Enjoying yourself?

Vivienne:

*sternly* No.

[further attempts are not possible]

Cassandra:

Ah!

Inquisitor, please, this is dishonourable!

This is not befitting the Herald of Andraste.

patricianandclerk

The Iron Bull:

What, looking for a handle?

Tell me what you’re looking for, boss, maybe I can give you directions.

Aren’t you gonna even try to distract me?

[romanced] *playfully* Angling for a punishment later, huh?

Leliana:

*soft laugh* I can give you some pointers, if you want.

*chuckle* Maybe practice on someone else first.

[if HOF was a rogue] You know, you remind me of… Never mind.

Josephine:

Inquisitor, everything I have of value is in my desk.

*sigh* I wish you’d be more subtle.

If you are going to pickpocket, you should learn to pick your targets.

Cullen:

Um, what are you doing?

Can I help you?

*flustered* Really? Again!?

Blackwall:

*laughing* Take care I don’t slap your hands.

You take care no one else catches you at that.

Fishing for loose change, eh?

Cole:

What are you doing?

Is there something in there?

Varric says getting caught stealing is wrong. [Inquisitor: Don’t you just mean, “Stealing is wrong”?] No…

elfrootsalad

how come nobody ever talks about meredith. meredith motherfucking standard THE scariest villain in dragon age (imo) how come we don’t write long meta posts about her

nightingaletrash

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone talk about how she literally styles herself after Andraste which honestly feels like it should be a huge part of any discussion about her character, how she views herself and how it reflects on her role in Kirkwall as well as the Chantry. I mean just look at this

It’s literally the same crown. She’s not even trying to disguise that even slightly. No other Templar or Chantry figure does this, not even any of the Divines seen in game. Not Justinia, Cassandra, not Leliana, not Vivienne. Meredith is the only one who styles herself in this way with the obvious intention of mirroring Andraste.

In one way, it reflects her status in Kirkwall: she overthrew the former Viscount and appointed Dumar because he would be weak-willed and subservient to her and the Templars. As of Act 3, she is the ‘unofficial’ ruler of Kirkwall and has the city in her grip, blocking all attempts to appoint a new Viscount as she becomes increasingly paranoid about the presence of maleficarum in the city. She has crowned herself the ruler of Kirkwall and will not let anyone stand in her way.

In the other way, it reflects how she sees herself as a holy figure. She is a warrior who defeats the wicked and defends the innocent in the name of the Maker. A humble servant who will stop at nothing to carry out his will. She justifies herself and her actions at every turn because she views herself through this lens of holiness and righteousness. She cannot do wrong and she cannot be evil, because Andraste was not wrong and Andraste was not evil. Everything Andraste did was pure and righteous, so everything Meredith does is pure and righteous.

That crown alone says so much about Meredith, it was a perfect character design choice because it so deeply conveys so much about Meredith’s character, including her most prominent contradiction: she claims to be a ‘humble servant’ of the Maker when there is nothing humble about her.

She styles herself after the Chantry’s most important holy figure, she claims that she alone can save Kirkwall, that no one else can protect the city and it’s people. She only ever doubts herself during the final battle with Hawke, and even then she just reaffirms herself as righteous and Hawke as evil. She constantly doubles down on her stances when confronted and refuses to compromise or even consider a change of course.

And on top of all of that, she wears a crown. There’s nothing humble about that.

nightingaletrash

I don’t think it’s exactly that. The Chantry has definitely cut away and smoothed out the parts of her that they find inconvenient. If you execute Anders, your final conversation with Sebastian involves a brief discussion over the modern view of Andraste. He can’t imagine Andraste supporting the chaos caused by the explosion and resulting battle and imagines her as more ‘dignified’ than a Humorous Hawke’s suggestion that she would be ‘lighting fires and screaming freedom with the rest of them.’

But lighting fires and screaming freedom is probably exactly what Andraste would have done. The Andraste that Sebastian is familiar with is an icon, not the woman who lived and breathed. And Meredith and the Chantry both use that icon to further their own ends. When it’s convenient, she was a graceful, dignified woman who would have favoured peace over chaos, or a pragmatist who would vouch for the necessity of the Circle. Whatever the intention of her words ‘magic is meant to serve man and never to rule over him’ they have been taken as this absolute truth by the Chantry and only in this single interpretation. There’s no way she could have meant it any other way /s

The Gallows is literally a Tevinter Prison of which Meredith is the jailor. She enforces the rules and holds the keys. She’s the oppressor, the imposer of order where Andraste was a liberator who brought chaos. She might have been a bitch, she certainly didn’t have to have been ‘nice’, but she was kind in a way that Meredith wasn’t.

This is a long winded way of me saying that Meredith is probably more like a reflection of what the Chantry has turned Andraste into rather than a deliberate foreshadowing of who Andraste was; she represents the icon, not the woman.

dalishious

Catching up with Thedas

We’re getting another time-skip between Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Trespasser DLC and Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. Here’s a summary of things that have happened in the supplementary material leading up to this. Obviously, major spoiler warning for everything discussed here.

If this summary intrigues you, I would definitely suggest checking out the full stories for yourself. They’re all great—especially the comics. The characters in the comics are so good and that’s not something you get to appreciate just in summaries.

This summary will be updated with the complete release of The Missing.

All Eight Talons (the leaders of the most powerful Crow branches) are called to a meeting at the Verdant Isle of Lago di Novo by First Talon Caterina Dellamorte, to discuss the impending Qunari invasion of Antiva. Fifth Talon Viago De Riva is the last to arrive, where he meets Seventh Talon Andarateia “Teia” Cantori, (both of whom were first introduced in the Deception comics.) At their first meal together, the group argue while Third Talon Lera Valisti is notably absent. Viago and Teia are sent to investigate where Lera is, and find her dead, with her body displayed mimicking an infamous Crow murder of the past. The finger-pointing starts immediately and Caterina puts Verdant Isle on lockdown, forbidding anyone from leaving. This especially pisses off Sixth Talon Bolivar Nero. The next morning, they find all the servants have been murdered. Eighth Talon Giuli Arainai was also murdered the same night. Both again, in the style of famous Crow events. Caterina orders Viago and Second Talon Dante Balazar confined to their quarters, as they are the number one suspects. Teia ignores the rule about no visitors and breaks into Viago’s room anyway, where the two come up with a plan to coax the truth out of Dante, with a mixture of Teia’s natural silver tongue and a truth poison of Viago’s making. They are able to confirm Dante is not the killer. That evening, Teia and Fourth Talon Emil Kortez find Dante dead, while at the same time, Viago is attacked by a poisonous snake hidden in his clothing. Before he perishes, Teia returns to his room and finds anti-venom among Viago’s many alchemical vials. They figure out the killer is Emil, and upon confronting him, Catrina takes him out with her cane. Before Emil dies, he reveals he was contacted by the Qunari, and made an agreement with them that if he could destroy the Crows, they would invade peacefully and Antivans could keep their way of life, without submitting to the Qun. The remaining Crows then all stab Emil to death. With the killer dealt with, Catrina, Viago and Teia all make a plan, and send written orders to the head of each House, (the heirs, in the case of those now dead.)

#oh I am CHEWIIIING #meta

valerie1972

Ferelden travel: distances and times

Methodology at the bottom if you care about that sort of thing or want to argue.

End point -> End point -> real travel time (in days unless noted)

South Reach -> Dalish Camp -> 5.6

South Reach -> Lothering -> 5.1

Denerim -> Vigil’s Keep -> 3.4

Denerim -> South Reach -> 5.6

Denerim -> Dragon’s Peak -> 1.7

Highever -> West Hill -> 4.9

Lake Calenhad Docks -> West Hill -> 2.8

Lake Calenhad Docks -> Gherlen’s Pass -> 2.8

Lake Calenhad Docks -> Lothering -> 9.0

Ruins -> Heart of the Forest -> 4.5

Heart of the Forest -> Dalish Camp -> 4.2

Gwaren -> Dalish Camp -> 11.0

Orzammar -> Gherlen’s Pass -> 3.7 (Also distance from Orzammar to Ortan Thaig and Aeducan Thaig via Caridin’s Cross)

Lothering -> Ostagar -> 3.6 (Also distance from beginning to end of Dead Trenches)

Flemeth’s Hut -> Ostagar -> 2.1 to get there but only 1.5 to get back with Morrigan’s help (Also distance from beginning to end of Anvil of the Void)

Redcliffe Village -> Lothering -> 5.6

Redcliffe Village -> Gherlen’s Pass -> 5.4 (Also distance from beginning to end of Ortan Thaig and Aeducan Thaig)

Highever -> Vigil’s Keep -> 5.6

Amaranthine -> Vigil’s Keep -> 1.7

Haven -> Rainesfere/Sulcher’s Pass -> 4.5

Redcliffe Village -> Rainesfere/Sulcher’s Pass -> 1.7

Haven -> Temple -> 5.9

Honnleath -> Temple -> 7.6

Honnleath -> Redcliffe Village -> 5.6

Lake Calenhad Docks -> Kinloch Hold-> 3 hours by rowboat

Redcliffe Castle -> Kinloch Hold -> 5 hours by sailboat

Redcliffe Village -> Redcliffe Castle -> the map makes no sense here, so let’s call it an hour’s walk. Isolde certainly didn’t run 22.5 miles in that outfit.

—-

Some aggregate distances:

Highever -> Ostagar -> 20.3 through West Hill, Calenhad Docks, Lothering

Denerim -> Haven -> 23.9 via West Road through Redcliffe, Rainesfere, Sulcher’s Pass

Denerim -> Redcliffe -> 16.3

Flemeth’s Hut -> Lothering -> 5.7

Redcliffe Castle -> Haven -> 6.2

Redcliffe -> Denerim -> 4.5 forced march via West Road

—-

Methodology: using the map and scale included in the RPG guide, I came up with inch measurements for the distances on provided roads or, where roads aren’t shown (like to and from Haven and Honnleath) where it would seem natural to travel, like along a river. Deep Roads calculations were taken mostly based on the fact that in The Stolen Throne and The Calling the entrance Maric and co. use is somewhere not too far from West Hill and they come across Ortan Thaig after a few days, so it’s not like all those abandoned thaigs are neatly nestled under Orzammar. Once I had scaled the Ortan Thaig map to fit that, I scaled the others appropriately, figured out how they’d all line up, and went from there.

I tried to get really ambitious and calculate Mercator projection compensation (where the map gets more distorted longitudinally the closer you get to the poles) but that’s a whole lot of math that I haven’t used in like twenty years so, no, that didn’t work out.

From that I calculated the distance in miles (D).

I then assigned a difficulty rating (X) from 1.0 to 2.0: the higher the number, the more difficult the travel. Up to Haven? 2.0. Along the West Road between Denerim and South Reach? 1.0.

Travel time (V) is calculated by using accounts from various population migrations in Europe and North America (not forced/death marches) where most people traveled on foot over varied terrain and averaged 20 miles per day. Forced marches on roads go at about 70-75 miles per day, cross-country forced marches go at about 55-60 miles per day.

Sailboats travel at approximately 16 mph, rowboats at approximately 2 mph with an experienced rower, and horses at about 30 miles per day over long distances.

So the formula works out like this: (D/V) * X = real travel time (in days).

You may want to vary these calculations for bad weather by adding an additional difficulty multiplier. For example, I assume there will not be snow along the road from Ostagar to Lothering. I also assume there’s snow, but not a blizzard, in the Frostbacks.

I’m only providing end points and real travel times in this post because I’ll be damned if I can figure out how to get tumblr to manage a table without shitting the bed. I’ll screencap my spreadsheet and post my whacked-out lined-up maps of the Brecilian Forest and Deep Roads later (maybe not today; I have miles to go before I sleep) and add them to this post or a new one that will link back to this one.

Here’s the link to the post with the spreadsheet and maps of the Deep Roads and Brecilian Forest.

lavellanpls

》Heroes of Thedas

[example page] [example post] [link to dollmaker] [non-reblog template]

↠THE (WARDEN, CHAMPION, INQUISITOR):

INTRODUCTION

Name: -

Nickname: -

Motto: - (Words they live by. Can be anything; but for help/ideas: [list of famous mottos] [latin proverbs] [latin phrases] )

BASICS

Race: -

Class: -

Ability Focus: (Their favored skill tree. [Abilities (Inquisition)] [Talents / Spells (DA2)] [Talents / Spells (Origins)]

Specialization: -

DETAILS

Alignment: [D&D Alignments] [Alignment test]

Personality Type: [list of MBTI types] [MBTI test]

Archetype: (Their character type; their role in the story; one word summary. Help & examples here.)

Tarot: (The basis for their character tarot cards. [card meanings 01] [02] )

Symbol: (A symbol that represents them. For a list of heraldic symbols & meanings: [01] [02] [03] )

RELATIONSHIPS

Romanced: -

Closest To: (Character(s) they got the most/fastest approval from.)

Clashed Most With: (Character(s) they got the least/slowest approval from. **Not necessarily their enemy; counts for which character took longest to gain friendship/approval from.)

TACTICS

Ideal Party: (Your go-to in-game party combo.)

Weapon of Choice: (Their favorite weapon and/or the name they gave it, if any.)

Favorite Ability: (Their favorite ability/talent/skill/etc.)

#🤔#reference

jackdawyt

All of the posts for Dragon Age 4/Retribution!

GENERAL DETAILS: (ALL VERBATIM FROM 4CHAN SITE) >Game takes place primarily in Tevinter but we’ll have missions in the Anderfels, Seheron, Antiva, Deep Roads, and the Fade, etc.. >60% of the game world is represented by the capital city of Minrathous which is 200 times bigger than Denerim in DAO. >Minrathous will be a open and living city with moving npcs that walk around, buy goods, do busy work,, think of how npc’s acted within Novigrad in the Witcher 3. >The city will have large temples, statues, large buildings and towers, markets, docks, fountains, giant walls which you can explore and other cool areas like a coliseum and even an aqueduct which you can climb. >If you hadn’t noticed yet Minrathous will be heavily based on imperial Rome and Constantinople and in lore is the largest city in thedas with nearly 1 million inhabitants. >The city is divided into 5 zones/districts with no loading screens to get into each one so it’s all integral. >The districts include, the noble district which is in the upper/Northmost part of the city set on a hill which will have three different staircases that can get you in and out of the district. >Within that district you have a smaller district encased in marble walls and only accessed by gate called the Imperial quarter which houses the Imperial Senate house, the Grand Library of Tevinter (lorewise its equivalent to the library of Alexandria and is nearly impossible to get into - there will be a quest dedicated just to that place), Archon’s Palace, the grand temple of Dumat and senatorial mansions. >The lower half of the city includes includes the market district, the “plebeian/worker class district”, the coliseum district which also includes an academy of magic, the library of minrathous, imperial army headquarters and finally the poor district. >The streets of Minrathous are all cobbled, the outside walls are large guarded by just as large juggernaut statues which are massive black golems. >The city has three bridges that connect it to the outside world which you can also explore before being told to turn around. >The other 40% of the game world will be large maps and dungeons similar to the zones in DA:I. >One specific zone will be a swamp marsh area where you’ll get one companion and a tied story mission. PLAYER CHARACTER: >Your character can only be human for story reasons, that means you won’t be able to play as a elf, dwarf, qunari etc… >Can play as male or female. >There’s a CC filter on being homosexual, heterosexual or bi and influence some dialogue line as well as romance options. >Your character’ last name is Lanius and will be referred to as such by all the NPCs and text. >DAR will be more story and character focused than DAI, you have a mother and father and a dead male/female that’s interchangeable based on your sex ie if you’re male you’ll have a dead sister and vice versa . >Your dead sibling is dead before game and will be involved in a form of a quest with your own mother. >Vastly improved CC system, you can literally make a young Liam Neeson type character if you wish, it’s that good and it’s the best CC system ever made. >You’ll have 7 companions, 4 males and 3 females. >Of those 7, one will be a dwarf, another an elf, and there’ll be a qunari companion. >If you take any of these characters on mission with you within Minrathous prepare to have racist encounters and with the Qunari a literal bloodbath. >The main female romance option of males is named Eva Scala and her father is senator Daedelus Scala leader of Populares faction of the imperial senate. >Your father is a minor noble of the equestrian rank and is leader of the knightly class of Tevinter, he is in constant conflict with the patricians/senators especially Scala. >The rest of the companions I’ll mention in the story bits. GAMEPLAY: >Will be more like DA2 combat and will have a vastly improved tactics system similar to DAO. >Loads of build variety. >Blood magic returns and your story is affected if you use blood magic/become a blood Mage. >NPCS and companions will mention that a lot if you actually choose the blood Mage path. >The canon is to play a Mage but you can still play as a warrior or rogue. >The rogue is actually super fun to play as, you’ll actually be a stealth assassin type figure if you spec into it. >Warriors are just warriors, still cool. >Items system is the exact same as DA:I. >RNG is more forgivable in DAR than DAI however the higher difficulty the less luck with RNG. >Can craft weapons and armour. >Can tint, color and modify your armour. >Weapons are less final fantasy looking. >Five different difficulties, easy, normal, hard, very hard, nightmare. >No new game plus. >Can customize companions. >You have a den in Minrathous similar to the assassin’s den in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. >You and Daedalus Scala lead this secret society known as the Old Order whose fundamental goal is to bring back the last two untainted old dragon gods to fight against a “greater evil”. >You recruit people similar to how you recruited individuals in DAI and send them on missions of assassinations, political intrigue, resource gathering etc…pretty much similar to DA:I. >You get rewards for mission completion including exp, crafting resources, rare weapons and items, and Old Order points used to unlock perks in the Perk system. >The Old Order is integral to the story line but recruiting people and sending them off to missions is entirely optional. >Attribute system returns and is pretty much nearly identical to DAO. >Game is set in 9:51 Dragon. >the Qunari have invaded Tevinter in six different invasion points. >They’ve already conquered the northern half of tevinter except for Minrathous which is guarded by its powerful walls on land and by the Imperial Navy at sea. >You’re apart of a southern tevinter relief force. >Game starts off with massive cinematic battle. >You pick your gender, do your CC, pick your class. >You’re apart of a 4 man specialist commando force including yourself, Eva Scala which the commander, one warrior named Constantius, and a rogue named Justin (both of whom die at the end of the level). >The first area of the game is the army camp area. >Get assigned the mission by the general/commander Mage literally name Maximus Decimus (there’s there’s loads of name references to everything Rome and Roman including movies/TV shows) and dropped off immediately behind enemy lines. >Your goal is too pretty much disable the Qunari warmachines (cannons) and destroy their supply train. >There’s numerous cutscenes of a large grayish wolf stalking you. >Kill trash mobs of Qunari and Dalish elves in alliance with them. >Final battle of the level is with a powerful Saraabas. >Get confronted after the grayish wolf finally appears and transform to a giant 10 foot tall armored figure. >Pretty much destroys everything and sets giant balls of Fire on to the clashing armies. >There’ll be a warden civil war that you’ll have to resolve. >Assassination attempt on the Archon. >Salos burning and killing tevinter cities and both Qunari/Tevinter armies. >Second final level will be Solas essentially trying to destroy Minrathous just after you beat off a Qunari siege. >Final level is traveling to the forest of arlathan to kill Salos/Solas. >Ending choice is to kill, capture or save Solas. >Solas is the main villain in game. >Dorian cameo. >Inquisition and Grey Warden both mentioned. >Hawke/Stroud are in the Anderfell level.

#''can only be a human for story reasons'' IMMEDIATELY FROWNS #I'd say I'd still give it a chance when it's released but I will watch everyone else rip it to pieces #before I have anything powerful enough to run it SO I'LL GO FUCK MYSELF #DA4 #long post #text posts

eazzy--pink

I heard something interesting happens if you try to pickpocket Duncan so guess what I’m doing?

Also. Why can’t I play the prequel where I romance him.

eazzy--pink

So here’s what happens when you try to pickpocket Duncan and fuck up:

Fair warning, you only get this dialogue if you do it in Ostagar at the beginning. But what happens is that a guard runs over to him and accuses you of stealing. Duncan plays it cool and sticks up for you, saying “Grey Wardens are honorable, blah blah blah, and I’d take the word of a Warden over some asshole that’s got a bone to pick with people because he has to be a responsible adult for once in his life.” And the guard is like “whatever fine.”

So then Duncan pulls you to the side and asks you if you can talk for a minute. He talks about how the Grey Wardens come from all walks of life and have adapted the skills they’ve picked up over time in order to benefit the mission, which is a good thing. However, since the Grey Wardens are on thin ice with Ferelden because of Sophia Dryden, he advises you to be a bit more cautious about how you go about honing your skills.

Which of course, brings up additional dialogue options and me, being the thirsty asshole that I am when it comes to character dialogue, decides to go the little shit route and I tell him that “I need the practice.”

He says: “That’s perfectly fine. Just don’t get caught.”

Which okay after hearing all of this it makes you probably think “Duncan is absolutely the coolest dude because here you are fucking up and you haven’t even been in Ostagar for an hour and he’s sticking up for you because he knows you really don’t want to be here but you’re in it regardless.”

But see, if you read The Calling, you’d know that in the first six months of Duncan being made a Grey Warden because of the whole “killing the Warden-Commander’s fiancé to be in a failed burglary attempt,” you’d know that his intense disinterest in being a Warden led him on a path to try and get himself kicked out or jailed.

The primary plan being to steal everywhere he went.

So I wonder what it must’ve been like for him in that moment, hearing or seeing you stealing in the camp as soon as you got to Ostagar, him knowing that you are not here because you want to be but because you have no choice, and him remembering how distraught he must’ve been to even consider testing these Wardens like that. So instead of blowing up at you and telling you that Wardens are above that, he meets you in the middle and sort of gives a little nod to the fact that he gets it because he’s been there too. Because of course he wouldn’t fault you for being upset about this. You and him have more in common than you think. Than you’ll ever get to know, thanks to what’s about to happen next.

#I love my Warden dad 😢#Duncan #long post #text posts

mimzilla

I honestly think that like all of my issues with the plot structure of Inquisition can be summed up by this sign. It’s right next to a path up a hill at the Storm Coast, one surrounded by little boulders and rocks that have fallen. But at no point during gameplay does a rock fall.

Why bother putting this sign and the fallen rocks there if you’re not going to have a rock fall on the player?

Why include blatant character flaws in the companions that don’t serve much purpose beyond “rounding them out” by existing? Why have Dorian be focused on reforming all of Tevinter’s issues except slavery if it only comes up exactly one time in non-essential dialogue? That is a HUGE-ASS FLAW. Why give Sera such vitriolic self-hatred and internalized racism when oppressed elves are precisely the sort of ‘little people’ that she fights for? Why can the Inquisitor not talk about these things with them and help them realize that they need to change their thinking?? Can you IMAGINE the character arc Sera could have had???

Why can Clan Lavellan be killed if no one in Skyhold ever acknowledges it? The only possible purpose it could serve would be to provide emotional stakes for the odds the player is up against, but nothing emotional actually comes of it.

Why can you customize Skyhold if none of those changes make a difference? Why can you build up over 300 power at the War Table if it’s completely useless outside of main quests, of which there are ridiculously few?

Why have a storyline about Lyrium addiction among Templars if it’s never acknowledged that said addiction is entirely the Chantry’s fault?Why include Fiona in the game if all she ever does is stand in a hallway? For that matter, why make an entire game leading up to the mage rebellion if the ACTUAL BEGINNING of it is shunted off into a book that a lot of players won’t know exists and the rebellion itself is just going to be background noise in the next game?

Why are Alistair/Stroud/Loghain and Hawke in the game for literally about 1 hour (out of a solid 90, generally) if one of them has to die? The Inquisitor doesn’t know them. New players don’t know them. To have an actual emotional impact in-universe, they should be legitimately introduced into the story in a significant way. Instead they appear, die/leave for Weisshaupt, and disappear again. They do nothing; things happen to them.

There are so many signs for falling rocks, but no rocks actually fall.

teknon-deactivated20190112

#the tea is hot and bitter folks ☕#DA:I critical #long post #text posts

grogblogging

da extended universe roundup

dragon age is one of those franchises that sprawls over about 600 mediums so here’s a handy list of literally all of them, with links where i could provide downloads. if anyone has other links, or if i’ve missed something somewhere, feel free to add it on!

the games

origins – the first one, the best plot, the worst graphics, decent mechanics for an old game, broadest character development, as good as people say [xbox 360, ps3, & pc]

dragon age 2 – somewhere in the middle, smoother mechanics, deep rather than broad in terms of plot, world, & characters, better than people say [xbox 360, ps3, & pc]

inquisition – the latest one, the nicest graphics, broad rather than deep, actively pretty shallow in areas, nice cc though, not as good as people say [xbox 360, xbox one, ps3, ps4, & pc, though not all dlc are available on last-gen software]

the dlc

origins:

various add-ons, notably the stone prisoner which adds the companion shale

a tale of orzammar – prequel to dwarf origin [.dazip]

the darkspawn chronicles – play alternate plot as a darkspawn

leliana’s song – backstory for leliana

the golems of amgarrak – added quest in orzammar for the warden

witch hunt – sequel to origins involving morrigan

awakening – the main dlc, adds a significant sequel to origins, introduces anders

dragon age 2:

various add-ons, notably the exiled prince (adds the companion sebastian) and the black emporium (adds magic item store, your own mabari, & the ability to customise your appearance after the beginning of the game)

legacy – added quest in a new area, introduces corypheus

mark of the assassin – added quest in a new area, also felicia day is there

inquisition:

various add-ons, notably the black emporium again, although no doggo this time :(

jaws of hakkon – whole new area, multiple quests, explore the story of the first inquisitor & meet avaar, also there’s a bear

the descent – whole new area, deep roads but they’re pretty now, lots of dwarf lore, hopefully introduces stuff picked up in later games?

trespasser – the real ending to the game, why this wasn’t in the base game i’ll never know, it’s really good though like man, def introduces & develops stuff that’s gonna be important

the novels

the stolen throne – prequel to origins, the orlesian occupation of ferelden, introduces king maric & develops loghain [epub]

the calling – sequel to stolen throne, king maric, duncan, & the grey wardens, introduces fiona [epub]

asunder – prequel to inquisition, the development of the mage-templar war, introduces cole [pdf]

the masked empire – concurrent with inquisition, the orlesian civil war between celene and gaspard, develops briala [epub]

last flight – concurrent with inquisition, develops grey wardens in the anderfels, hopefully introduces stuff that’s gonna come up later [epub]

the comics

dragon age (idw comic) – prequel to origins, the daughter of a mage & a templar has a bunch of adventures, focus on circles & magic

dragon age (penny arcade comic) – prequel to origins, a bunch of templars try to find the witch of the wilds [webcomic]

awakening – prequel to the ‘awakening’ dlc, nathaniel howe breaks into his family’s home [webcomic]

the silent grove – sequel to dragon age 2, alistair, isabela, & varric go on an adventure in antiva, there’s stuff involving flemeth & maric [online]

those who speak – sequel to the silent grove, alistair, isabela, & varric in tevinter this time, isabela’s backstory is developed [online]

until we sleep – sequel to those who speak, alistair, isabela, & varric still in tevinter, varric’s backstory is developed, maevaris tilani introduced [online]

knight errant – concurrent with inquisition, an elven squire in kirkwall caught up in inquisition business [online]

magekiller – concurrent with inquisition, two badasses hunting down venatori for the inqusiition, also the archon is there, also lesbians [online]

the short stories

prequels to dragon age 2, companion backstories [anders, aveline, fenris, isabela, merrill, sebastian, varric]

the anime movie

dawn of the seeker – standalone movie about cassandra pentaghast fighting some dragons, fills in her backstory, fun in places but mostly only for the truly desperate [dub, sub]

the tabletop rpg

d&d style tabletop rpg in the dragon age universe, written pre-dragon age 2

being played on ‘tabletop’ with chris hardwick, kevin sussman, & sam witwer [part one, part two]

core rulebook [pdf]

the books

the world of thedas 1 & 2 – books full of lore, character backstory, art of characters, animals, & areas, purportedly written by brother genitivi

the art of dragon age inquisition – art book

dragon age library edition – compilation of the comics ‘the silent grove’, ‘those who speak’, and ‘until we sleep’

grogblogging

the web series

redemption – prequel to ‘mark of the assassin’ dlc for dragon age 2, a live-action series following tallis. thanks to @rrevan for the heads up! [youtube]

grogblogging

the text-based game

the last court – digital card game following the marquis of serault, prequel to inquisition; thanks to @thirstyforred! [online]

carabas

And Warden’s Fall, web series following Kristoff before Awakening.

#wheezes #long post #text posts

dalishious

ATTENTION DRAGON AGE FANS:

In an attempt to explore any impact of playing the series in chronological order or not, as well as reading/watching any extended materials, I have created a survey that I would really appreciate as many people as possible filling out!

Cross my heart, I will NOT write criticism of people’s opinions on the findings post, criticize people for only being familiar with x amount of things (which I don’t believe in anyway,) or anything of the sort. I also promise to keep things anonymous. What this survey is about is my interest in is analyzing the narrative’s consistency and fluidity, and how it affects player perception of some significant things. And a few other tidbits of relevancy. I think it would be an excellent source of information for future meta writing, maybe by me, and maybe by many others, too.

You do not have to have played all three games to participate! In fact, I am very interested in hearing from people who haven’t!

There are also a few different places to write in comments, but it is not necessary. Don’t feel like you have to.

If you could please take just a few minutes to fill this out, I would be very grateful! Also, please reblog so as many people with as many varying responses as possible may see it!

I’ll be closing the survey on October 1st, 2017 (ooh, very special month,) and will collect all the information and share then.

SURVEY LINK

#oooo #links

venviru-blog

Things that an elven Inquisitor probably deals with

Diplomats and dignitaries attempting to address their advisers instead of them because consulting an elf is like consulting a servant

Someone suggesting they cover their vallaslin with powder or tinted creams when they go to court, likely in the name of being helpful

Never ending backhanded compliments. “Oh Maker, they know how to use a fork when eating? Goodness they must not be so barbaric after all!” “How nice it must feel to have risen up from such lowly beginnings. Surely they never imagined such splendor and power, it all must be so new and exciting.”

Being overly-sexualized due to their race. “You know, I’ve never seen elven ears up close. Am I wrong in thinking they must be delightfully sensitive?”

Being mistaken for a servant. All the time, often purposefully.

Hearing knife-ear, savage, barbarian, heathen, and other more colorful terms both to their face and behind their back.

People talking slowly and loudly under the assumption that they cannot speak common. Add hand gestures for extra points

People marveling when they can speak and understand common without difficulty, thanks

Enduring suspicious looks and even comments when they dare to communicate with fellow elves in their own language. “You could be saying anything!”

Receiving gifts of art supposedly rendered in their likeness. But the portraits tend to hide their ears beneath hair and soften the angles of their faces. Curves and bulk are added in places where none exist and in short they look awfully HUMAN in all these paintings and statues

Hearing the phrase “for an elf/Dalish” way too much. “You’re very pretty–for an elf.” “You read so well for someone Dalish!” “You speak common so beautifully for an elf.” “You’re so intelligent for an elf.” Yes yes! They get it! They’re an awfully exceptional elf bc surely no other elves have any talents or wits or virtues about them whatsoever!

Dealing with constant (be they subtle or obvious) attempts to convert them to Andrastianism or whatever the shems call their faith

Weird and offensive assumptions. “YEAH ya know what? We DO offer blood sacrifices up to our gods– or at least we’re about to start. I’ve been taught that they see killing off idiots as a particular act of reverence.”

#anger.#Elvhen #Inquisitor #DA:I #text posts

wyrdsistersofthedas

Taint Resistance in a Bottle - Random Thought Blogs: The Blighted Entries 2

Totally just a random exercise in speculation this week after reading some very interesting ideas about whether the taint could be spread from Grey Wardens to their LIs or to those healing them. I highly recommend reading the excellent thoughts and evidence presented by the OP, @altalemur , @rederiswrites and @higheverrains. My thoughts took a tangent, of course, that eventually circled back to become this post.

I think there is a fairly simple, albeit probably magical, answer to the question. Whatever gives the Grey Wardens their resistance to the taint makes it nigh impossible for them to pass the taint on to others. Even with prolonged exposure to a warden’s body, like during a rare warden pregnancy, the warden is not contagious, including to the child. In fact, we know that Morrigan had to go to extreme, probably blood magicky, means to have a baby with the taint. Wardens just don’t pass it on. Examples:

If Morrigan is involved with a male warden who refuses to do the Dark Ritual, she still gets pregnant with a taint-free Kieran (which implies there must be some consent on the part of the warden in order for the ritual to work).

Side note: The fact that Morrigan could have a baby with the warden without the Dark Ritual implies that the ritual had nothing to do with increasing her fertility. The ritual was purely to pass the taint on to their child or create a connection with the archdemon. Ergo, Morrigan probably was using other means (again likely magical) to ensure she became pregnant.

Fiona gives birth to Alistair, taint free.

Side note: Fiona had been a warden for about a year when she became pregnant. Same thing happens with Morrigan, if you do the Dark Ritual or the warden is romantically involved with her. This suggests that a warden’s best chance at having children is during a 18-24 months window right after the Joining.

When griffons were forced to undergo a modified Joining ritual, they are completely unable to develop the Grey Wardens’ resistance to the taint. This leads to their (near) extinction because they can infect each other with the taint, unlike wardens.

I suspect that when the first Grey Wardens discovered how to do the Joining, they also figured out a way to magically block, or resist, the taint…at least for a while. If this theory is true, it would also give another reason for the Calling. If the Grey Wardens eventually lose all their resistance they would become no different than a ghoul, who can and do spread the taint to others.

“There are stories across Ferelden of these ghouls, maddened by the corruption of the blight, attacking their friends and spreading the corruption further. While it is likely that the sickness will eventually kill a ghoul, the dying strength of these poor creatures makes them nearly as great a danger as the darkspawn themselves.

They are no longer our friends, our family, or our countrymen. They are victims of the Blight, and must be given the same mercy Hessarian showed Andraste: a swift sword.”

It stands to reason that Grey Wardens who completely lose their resistance would then pass on the taint like other infected beings. (I wonder if the Architect’s accelerated ghoul program, which he used on Bregan, Genevieve, and Utha, allowed them to keep their resistance longer. Utha seemed pretty lucid in Awakening. I wonder if the Architect gave Seranni some form of the resistance too.)

A warden’s resistance to the taint is so powerful, in fact, that it literally blocks the song of the old gods in darkspawn. The Architect needed the blood of wardens to free the darkspawn of their compulsion, or rather their resistance to the taint.

So yeah, that resistance that Grey Wardens have to the taint is probably what prevents them from spreading it to their companions. Now the next question should be…what gives Grey Wardens that resistance? Like I said before, I think part of the resistance is part of the magic of the Joining Ritual, but that doesn’t explain why some can survive the Joining and other die. What makes a Grey Warden able to survive the Joining and develop that resistance to the taint? Is it some innate quality or biologic feature in the warden themselves? Or is it an outside force or aid?

Leliana seems to have a natural resistance to the taint. Maric is able to resist via potions concocted from “rare herbs” and, possibly, his dragon flavored blood. There are also suggestions that a person’s willpower can affect their level of resistance. Former lead writer and ex “word of god”, David Gaider, said:

“Insofar as how long a Grey Warden could remain on the throne, it depends. The taint will make a Grey Warden age faster, so someone like Loghain isn’t going to be able to stay a Grey Warden for very long as he’s no young man. The “thirty years” quote is about the maximum, but the reality is that it depends on how often one is exposed to the corruption and sometimes just personal variance– even so, for a monarch to stay on the throne upwards of thirty years is no mean feat. I don’t really think that’s the limiting factor when it comes to this sort of thing.” (Bioware Forums, I miss your information if not the sea of negativity. More interesting taint related info here.)

Another quote:

“But the idea is also that it varies. Thirty years is the maximum that you could probably expect. It’s going to vary for an individual according to their willpower and the level of their interaction with the darkspawn. During a Blight you can expect that the Grey Wardens are going to have shorter lifespans. Outside of a Blight the Grey Wardens would tend to live longer. We have instances in the game of people going on their Calling after five or ten years. Alistair’s thirty year quote shouldn’t be taken as gospel, that’s the way I like it.” (Interview with Gaider, posted on Swooping is Bad LJ)

I’m going to have to investigate this further, but I am pretty sure the level of resistance in each warden varies and can be affected by several factors.

Taint Resistance in a Bottle?

“King Maric was given a leather satchel full of potions, each of them contained in a delicate glass vial. According to the First Enchanter, this was a precious mixture of herbs that would enable Maric to resist the disease spread by the darkspawn. He was, after all, the only one in the group without the Grey Warden’s immunity. One full vial was to be swallowed each morning; according to Duncan’s count, that meant the King had a two-week supply.

Rather optimistic of the First Enchanter, really.” (The Calling, p. 71)

I’m very curious about the “rare herbs” mentions in The Calling and in the Joining ritual description. I suspect that Marethari used a variation of the potion Maric took to keep Mahariel alive long enough to take the Joining. The fact that none of our companions were tainted while killing the oodles of darkspawn in Origins would make a lot more sense if we had to make potions to help them keep their resistance up. And here is the section of total speculation that began this whole post:

What could those “rare” herbs be? (Possible ingredients list lies below the cut.)

(I mean, this could be critical information for those of us that like to write fanfiction and don’t want to totally hand wave encounters with the darkspawn by saying, “Once again, we’ve all managed to not get tainted in spite of all the people around us who are totally tainted now because darkspawn!”)

Keep reading

#Hm!#Wardens #long post #text posts #meta

tuberkiin-deactivated20160313

I’m rereading the passages on the Qun in world of thedas and:

“As far as the Qunari are concerned, a symbol and its signifier are the same thing. Because of this, artists are part of the priesthood. Their role is considered to be one of research, discovering things that were not already apparent, rather than making things new.”

I mean, that use of an artist is pretty great imo because now I’m thinking about qunari art and how that would look, an how it may actually be a lot more abstract than we might at first assume, because they’re meant to re-examine things for more pieces of truth (if we take truth to be an actual thing with many observable facets, like a gem).

But my favorite part is about signifier and symbol.

In philosophy, a sign (a word or means of communicating) is composed of the signifier and the signified. For instance, the sign “cross” leads us to the actual object cross, which is a signifier, or symbol, and the concept it represents — let’s just say God even though it could have like 20 different nuances — is the signified. What the book is saying is that the signified and the signifier are the same; because all things are connected, because their perception of the world is so immediate and almost literal, to them, there is no distinction between the symbol and the concept, and there SHOULDN’T be. That is a distraction: you will inevitably argue if that is truly what the symbol represents, or if the symbol does the concept justice. That’s a pointless argument if it all comes packaged by default.

Like in the case of the cross, it could simply mean church or house of worship - a place. But once removed, it could mean the actual cross where the crucifixion occurred. Twice removed, and it could mean Jesus. Three times, his sacrifice and the idea of sacrifice as a whole. Finally, it could mean god (which is a sign in and of itself of all sorts of other concepts like goodness, infinity, justice, judgment, etc).

The Qun discards that entirely and says “no, these things are all the same.” Not that they are homogenous, but that they are all part of the same function or object and thus cannot be taken independently of one another, or questioned separately. A leaf pulled from a tree is still that tree. But without the rest of the tree, it dies and has no purpose. The tree in turn loses a leaf, which helped it complete its function and existence. It may not suffer like the leaf, but it is a loss that may not be easily replaced. You can’t understand the leaf without the rest of the tree, and without its leaves, the tree is no longer a tree.

On a philosophical level, this is a lovely idea, but taken to a large-scale society and placed under enforcement, this can be very dangerous too. Anyone who suggests that this leaf could be used for something else, and thus break the link between itself and the tree has broken a fundamental law of the universe as the qunari see it. “These things cannot be separated, so why are you separating them?”

But it also leads to what I like most about Qunari society: you are not alone. You do not experience existence alone. And you are not meant to. Each little piece - person - is different, but important. Leaving society will lead to struggles (and most first-generation immigrants can say this is very true). Staying and helping each other will help everyone flourish.

#HM!!#Qunari #Qun #text posts

moghedien

The thing about the dalish is that they will never be what they were in Solas’s time, and that’s okay.

The dalish taking pride and wanting to learn their history is fine, it’s great even, but cultures evolve. Cultures change dramatically over time. No one can realistically expect the dalish, or elves in general, to be what the elvhen were. The elves have been through so much crap, and have lost so much of their culture. They’ve rebuilt some of it, and it only resembles what it was, but that’s not a bad thing. Cultures change. Both the dalish and the city elves have a unique elven culture and neither of them are “wrong” or even more right. They’re just different.

And I think this is my main problem with Solas. He’ll try to drag down everything the elves have struggled to built because they’re wrong to him. He will try to make them his version of right and completely disregard the fact that that is the very last thing the elves need.

The elves need people like Briala who will fight to secure their future and Merrill who will put to use the knowledge they have of their past. They don’t need Solas coming around and destroying the little they already have and reminding them how “wrong” they are

#points at this #Dalish #Elves #Elvhen #text posts

bmovedfnskjd

Such is an act for demons.

#I'M... V SAD NOW... and lowkey mad why did this happen to my warden boys...#Anders #Justice #DA2 #DA:A

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

I will face the Maker and walk backwards into the Void