Written for @daflowerzine. Spot illustrations by @kalidels.
VANDAL ARIA. A flowering shrub that is often associated with the rose due to its sweet scent. Its closely related cousin, the felicidus aria, is capable of growing in blighted lands. The vandal aria - while lacking in this quality - still tends to be found almost everywhere, especially warm and dry climates. It's said that if the vandal aria is left unchecked, it will overtake an area.
Now that the zine has been fully published and the left-over sales are finished, here is my contribution to ARDENT BLOSSOM: A Botanical Compendium. Inspired by Solas' interpretation of an especially stubborn plant who does not always perceive surrender as an option. I'm a good sucker for foreshadowing; thank you for letting me write!
Transcript under the cut.
“Amidst the ever-shifting dunes, I see it – that small, flowering shrub that grows stubborn against the drifts. It blooms as if ignorant of the hostile terrain that it is has made home, or despite it.
‘It would not surprise me,’ the Warden Blackwall commented as we sat near each other in the light of the feeble campfire that illuminated the immediate space around us, ‘if the Vandal Aria came first and the deserts came later.’
I watch in the glowing darkness as the sands batter against the rose. In a moment, I dread to see the meager shrub be torn apart by the blistering winds that chase down the slope that has assaulted our own tents for the better half of a few hours. Yet though its green stalk bends and its petals open to drink the storm, it does not break – it merely sways, a wayward dance in the nighttime.
‘It is desperate to survive,’ I say.
Days earlier, we crossed a withered landscape where the Vandal Aria had cracked the stone as it pushed its way to the surface. The entire length of the stoneway bridge was covered in the sweet-smelling herb.
I saw how she choked the life out of any other plant senseless enough to grow near her, as the Vandal Aria will risk no competition. She is as wild as she is determined.
We can learn a great deal from her – the will to survive, and the grim horrors that must be accosted in order to do so. It is a grave lesson that the Inquisitor has learnt. Let us not be so modest that we cannot acknowledge that in order for one to survive, the deaths of others might be had.
Yet, let me conclude these observations with this:
If even the Vandal Aria can flower in an endless vastness of nothingness, then so to, can we. Even when there is nothing, is there not the chance to begin again. One just has to ask themselves –
At what cost, and am I willing to pay it?”
A written account by the apostate Solas in the Hissing Wastes, 9:41 Dragon, preserved in the Skyhold Archive and recovered in 9:43 Dragon at the request of Divine Victoria.
Playing the Oblivion Remaster with my Dunmer Vehka whose greatest crime is being a winter in an imperial city that favors its autumn, spring, and summer colors.
“Murderer, herald, judge, savior: these were some of the titles heaped on the Inquisitor as she led a force that challenged nations.”
To commemorate the ten-year anniversary of Dragon Age: Inquisition, my all-time favorite game and installment in the franchise, I commissioned my titular Inquisitor and her closest companions. Done by the ever so talented @artist-rat
"All I need to know is if there might be some future for us, some possibility of... I do not know what. [...] I still have the earring. I would like to give it to you... as a token of affection. Will you take it? [...] Then that is enough for me."
Dragon Age: Origins themed Valentine Day commission by the wonderful @quibbs 💕in which Zevran turns the camp into a makeshift tattoo parlor because my Tabris doesn't have her ears pierced. maker she's going to get sepsis.
The Tower tarot card can represent sudden change, destruction, and upheaval. It can also mean the need to let go of old beliefs or structures. Not every Tower denotes tragedy.
“The old ways are no longer useful, and you must find another set of beliefs, values and processes to take their place."
"Idiot: I hope you’re reading this. If the trail has really led you to Tevinter, it’ll be harder to get messages through. The Antaam in Antiva are prickly about anything to do with our neighboring kingdom.
Back home, things have cooled, but they are not forgotten. Killing all those Antaam might have felt righteous in the moment, but the Talons are still complaining that your actions ruined weeks of setting up a larger, more effective strike.
I am one of the Talons still complaining. Consider this trip with Varric a contract. Crows don’t fail contracts, especially Crows of House de Riva who may need to improve their judgment. But there is more at stake than honor. Whatever this “Solas” is up to needs to be stopped. I’ve seen enough of his handiwork to know that. Don’t get careless out there. Don’t fail. And don’t get yourself killed, or I will come after you in the Fade myself."
