Morrigan/Leliana, for a Black Emporium treat! I must admit, I’ve very quietly loved this pairing since the first time I played Origins and caught Leliana checking Morrigan out, and I was so… !!!!!!!! when Leliana was really antagonistic towards her at the Winter Palace, oh my god, so yeah, um. Slightly angry makeouts please and thanks.
SO. info time cus of course everything is different with murat.
murat probably fell in love with davrin right away, but he didn't know how to show his feelings to a man without it "being gay", so he just... bullied him. he's been ragebaiting him a lot, for stupid reasons, he even stole lucanis's complaints about the wardens cus he just lacked ideas. he flirted with him occasionally but did it fast so the flirt won't stick in their heads. murat often provoked davrin to spar with him, davrin didn't want to, but after murat's "well i didn't expect anything else from the grey wardens," he went right at him with the "listen here you little shi-" ngl davrin liked beating him up cus this is what you get for annoying me that much, and murat liked it cus he could touch him and it won't be gay at all. often, their "definitely not fights just sparrings" were interrupted by very angry and pissed off neve and they had to go to bellara for free healing.
murat had his first little oh moment when he was drunk again and decided to go bother davrin again, but that was the first time davrin had snapped at him. and here, against the wall, being scolded loudly, he understood that he REALLY likes it. murat stared at him quietly, too deep in his eyes. davrin noticed this and let him go, apologizing and asking him not to bother him like that again. murat didn't want to leave, but he left. and had his really hard and fast walk of shame back to his room, hoping no one saw him. well after he really thought that maybe he was just a pussy, and if you like a guy, you should just go for it and not like he did. he calmed down later, ragebaited davrin a little less and flirted a little more. davrin was satisfied with this new ratio.
the portrait of the first talon, lucanis dellamorte, and his right-hand man, murat.
guys i think i finally have murat and lucanis' full canon story. me and younger me would fight a little about it lmao but i think this suits them the most.
warnings: it's long and it's not happy. but i really love them the way they are, not perfect, just a couple of 35+ traumatized men...
rookanis (murluc) full love story canon very sad
some lore moments (differ from canon):
for antiva the crows are mostly not heroes. someone thinks they’re defenders, someone thinks they should be killed like rats. the rich and nobility don’t like them cus they understand that crows can come for their heads too which is like not cool. nevertheless, they secretly, sometimes not really, cooperate with them. for me the crows are not morally grey. they lean towards evil.
rookanis timeline:
during datv (9:52-53) they slowly fell in love with each other and began their relationship there. lucanis became the first talon but all the firsttalony stuff was handled by caterina. so all this time they were roughly speaking having fun, spending all their free time on each other. they had a wedding in 9:55. in 9:56 caterina died, murat became the first talon’s right-hand man (further “the hand” for short) but was doing almost all of the talon's job. in 9:63 the hand was assassinated. after a few months, the first talon disappears, and all the leaders of the suspected house are killed. lucanis dellamorte was never seen again.
the love story part:
the bonding between murat and lucanis was greatly influenced by how similar they were. both are very traumatized. kind but were raised in harsh crow conditions (murat's situation was even worse cus the wealthy lucanis had more freedom). they were both afraid of love because murat had a very unpleasant past experience, and lucanis had none at all. and the most important part - they’re both crows. it's easier to deal with something you're very familiar with. many common topics to discuss. also luc is murat’s type. and vice versa. maybe. they started falling in love right from the ossuary, but i don't think either of them really understood it. then murat's classic flirting started, which was reduced from flirting with everyone to flirting to lucanis. and he even answered sometimes. both of them didn't do very well with the first moves, but these unsuccessful moves led to the tension growing between them. and one evening they uhh drew their swords, which i think they both didn’t expect. after that they didn't have much sexual contact until the end of datv (mostly cus murat didn’t want to rush this and make luc uncomfortable), because there was no time, they had work to do. they loved each other quietly, tenderly, kisses, holding your hand on his waist, and lucanis even started to flirt more openly. also not forgetting about little adventure in lucanis’ mind and murat’s horrifying adventure of meeting your ex. they really helped each other there. also no sex in datv’s final. cus cmon this solas’ prison was hell. even if he wanted to, he couldn’t. just be near me.
(note about spite: i don't talk about him much because he's not in a relationship with them. for me, spite is aroace, he doesn't understand it. he can only hype up these two cus he feels that they enjoy it and have positive emotions. all I can say is that murat was very wary of the demon at first, but then he calmed down. however, he still keeps the possibility of spite's danger in his mind.)
after that, the most interesting part begins. both of them are still with the crows, and lucanis is also the first talon. however for a good ending, they should have left the crows but here we are. lucanis can't let it go cus it’s his family, his home. murat, on the other hand, can't let go cus it's his “family”, and he's also terribly brainwashed. murat lived without being a crow, and he had a chance to leave it all behind, but alcoholism isn't his only addiction. he's back to what makes him feel bad cus he can't breathe without it. remember this part, because it's the root of their problems.
at first, it was caterina who was in charge of the crow's business, and murat and lucanis spent all their time together when they weren't working on contracts. they went on walks, visited expensive restaurants, gave each other more knives and swords as gifts, had sex, worked on contracts together, had more sex. murat taught him a lot and showed him a lot, and they quickly progressed from vanilla to kinky in just a year. in 9:55 they got married, with the wedding arranged by teia, who was hoping for a knife fight because she was 200% prepared for it. everyone was prepared, and they all had knives in their jackets. after the kiss, everyone was silent, hoping someone would jump out. nothing happened. it was the most boring crow wedding EVER. no assassinations. no poisonings. sigh… :(
yes, caterina chose lucanis herself, but a couple of years before her death, she started to think “daaamnnn………….”, lucanis was not competent for the leading position, she could see that, but she would never admit that she had made a mistake or that there had been favoritism towards one of her grandsons. so she came up with a solution: she focused on murat, because although murat didn’t have the same dominant streak, he was a very intelligent and obedient boy. he could not refuse to listen to a wise elderly woman, especially the first talon. she began to train him, showing him how things were done, who could not be trusted and who could not be trusted even more, who needed to be threatened and who needed to be killed, and so on and so on. as caterina's death approached, murat was officially designated as the first talon's right-hand man. in 9:56, caterina passed away peacefully.
this is where the hard part begins. murat and lucanis loved each other, but the problem was that they loved each other too much. losing yourself in your partner would be the main theme of their relationship. they thought they were making each other better, but they were only making each other worse. both murat and lucanis were traumatized, and they couldn't have these deep therapy talks, so there were things they didn't tell each other.
murat has been suicidal since he was a teenager, and unfortunately, even with lucanis, it hasn't gone away. murat's love for luc helped him not to think about it, but the desire never went away. he never told lucanis about this during their relationship, cus it was difficult and it was his own problem. he lived solely for lucanis. it was his life goal to make lucanis happy. as a result, he took on most of the lucanis’ work. he handled all the negotiations, strategic decisions, and other tasks. lucanis accepted this cus he believed that murat was fine with it. you know why he thought so? cus murat had told him that it was a pleasure to help him, and let's not forget about the crow’s patriotism. even if he wanted to, murat couldn't leave all this behind, as he had an immense burden of responsibility. initially, helping the first house seemed inspiring to him. however it turned out to be hell pretty fast.
lucanis wanted to get away from all of this, from being a crow, but he couldn't. the main reason was his attachment to his family, which had only intensified with murat the ativan crow. it was even harder for him to leave now. he didn't tell murat about this either cus my inner turmoil was my own.
lucanis wanted to help murat with these sad eyes of his, so that he would be happier, but this ended up making murat more cold and pragmatic. murat would accept lucanis no matter what, but he made him worse. let me explain. the first talon is a very serious job, and you need to think constantly. your feelings should take a backseat when making decisions. murat isn't the kind of person who can just change everything for the good, he does things the way they've always been done, maybe adding a little more brutality to make it work better. he became more irritable, but he never lashed out at lucanis, he never saw him as the cause of his problems. lucanis rarely did any talking or thinking, he became more of the weapon he always was. murat gave important contracts only to lucanis. this is where the problem started. in these contracts, murat couldn't always allow lucanis to practice virtue. sometimes, the target had to be killed by faking a suicide or a heart attack, discreetly. so lucanis couldn't free the target's slaves or punish other torturers. murat said he understood him, but they couldn't afford it, because if they didn't complete a contract X, the crows would suffer, and THEIR people would die. they never argued or raised their voices, they just listened to each other. losing yourself in your partner................... is it your desires and needs or mine? and how did it end up being none of our desires at all?
they talked less, mostly because murat was very tired. he would come home and just fall on the bed next to lucanis, who was reading a book. instead of talking, murat would just fall asleep, and lucanis would gently stroke his hair. i won't even mention their sex life, as murat had problems before, and now due to stress the only hard thing in murat now was his life. they were close to each other anyway, and there were no issues like sleeping on the couch alone. however, the sweet love they shared in the beginning had long since faded.
in the end they were able to discuss that they both felt not very good. about five years later. lucanis finally decided to say that maybe they should consider moving away from treviso, away from all the problems, to some quite place. just them, the dogs, the cat, maybe the goats, and maybe even the druffalo, why not right. murat chuckled, but then realized that lucanis was serious. and then thought it out. he was really fed up, but how could they just leave everything behind? but he said he would consider it. they would eventually die, and they would have to find replacements, as they didn't have any children anyway.
murat started looking for suitable master-assassins among the house dellamorte. he had a long list of criteria, and he wanted to find someone better than them. it took them about two years to find the right person, and murat believed in him by 90%. he asked viago and teia to keep an eye on the house and the future talon. but they couldn't just leave immediately, so they started preparing and looking for a right place. it was a long process.
but it doesn't matter anyway, murat and lucanis went on a contract together for the first time, just like before, when they were suddenly attacked by someone who was too prepared and knew everything abt them. but they still managed to defeat them. well, almost. the last enemy and murat killed each other at the same time. lucanis couldn't help murat in any way, except for listening to his last words.
after the death of the first talon's right-hand man, things got really bad. a lot of things went downhill right away. lucanis didn't care about these problems. the only thing he wanted to know - who ordered the assassination. he knew it was related to one of the eight houses. thanks to the de riva and cantori, the list of suspects was reduced to 5. but the case was extremely complicated, and murat and lucanis were ordered in the most indirect ways possible, making it difficult to trace the leads. lucanis spent two months thinking about it, and then he disappeared. soon, master-assassins and those close to the talon X began to disappear. eventually, the head of the X talon was found near the X house's estate. after that, the murders stopped.
no one knows what happened to lucanis. but i do hehe.
in short, it's spite. he blamed lucanis for murat's death, and he was very angry. lucanis eventually stopped resisting and considered himself guilty not only of murat's death, but also of the fact that their relationship was worsening. after all, he could offer to leave the crows right away, or not offer at all and remain silent until the end. he could help other people, and he could do it with murat. he could... he could do a lot of things. but he didn't do anything. because he's a loser. or it's murat! maybe it's all his fault. maybe..... spite devoured lucanis’ mind. all these years, spite was under control, just to get off the chain like that. their consciousness merged. until eventually lucanis died and spite took over his body. moreover, he began to deform. a weird biomass, horrifying, similar to the demon of rage but with some crow and reptilian features. spite lived for several years in a place in the forest, near the mountains, where murat and lucanis planned to stay. spite killed all those who were unlucky enough to pass by. in the end, the demon was killed by either a templar or a mage.
all their dogs (tartufo, unfortunately, has already passed away she was old :( ) after the death of rookanis, lived with teia and viago. the cat ran away. THE END!!!!!!!!
HIII I AM NOT DEAD. i am actually in art school now!!! classes started so i draw less on my laptop but i will swing back around soon! hope you all are holding in there, thank you for the love on my posts <3
We want to see your Rooks! From now until Tuesday, November 4th at 4pm UTC, reblog this post with a screenshot of your Rook, their name, faction, and pronouns!
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this is my rook tulin "roach" de riva, he/him, antivan crow! you have permission to use him! under the cut two cheeky drawings of him by myself <3 he's the people's baby daddy.
