Aliana Lavellan: Former Inquisitor, False Herald of Andraste
Crimes: Treason (issued and acknowledged by the Chantry), Blasphemy (Orlais and Fereldan in particular), Grand Larceny (Orlais), Murder (Ben-Hassrath), Espionage (contracting reports from both Orlais and Tevinter)
Reward: Varies per accusation; Orlais offers 10,000 sovereigns for her capture only, as they wish to execute her on their own terms. Fereldan is offers 7500 for proof of death or 10,000 for capture. Tevinter desires only to see her death and many suspect the hefty bounty of 15,000 sovereigns to be both put forth by the Venatori and unlikely to actually be fulfilled. The Ben-Hassrath offer no reward, but have labeled her kill-on-sight for slaying one of their most prestigious spies.
I talk about a lot of my other Lavellans, but rarely of Aliana, my first and "canon" run. She's... not a great person and while not every accusation on her head is entirely accurate, there's a kernel of truth in all of them somewhere.
Tagged by: @iamsuperconfused, @elfyroot
Tagging: Open tags! But please do tag me in your most heinous OC's crimes. I want to see them at their worst. 😜
@esakris is amazing and I love them so much. Here is my canon heros, all three lovely babes. Leina Surana, Cheyenne Hawke, and Aliana Lavellan. Now to save up to get literally all my other OCs commissioned from them.
"Some sort of artistic endeavor that is imperfect, incomplete."
So, uh, I got a few of these. How about the infamous Bodice Ripper I keep talking about but never post updates on? 😅
The trek to the Breach was tense, to say the least. Aliana wasn’t about to back down from any argument with the Seeker, and it’s not as if she was unaccustomed to the overt distrust of humans. Even on the rare occasion where her simplified vallaslin was hidden under a layer of maquillage, she could never hide her “knife ears,” and thus there was no settlement in which she was ever truly welcomed.
Still, she had managed to negotiate the ability to defend herself, picked up a discarded bow and half-empty quiver from an unfortunate fallen soldier, and shown that at least for the time being, Cassandra could trust she would have her back. ‘Progress,’ she supposed.
They picked up their pace as the sounds of battle echoed ahead of them. Cresting the hill, an elven mage and a dwarf with a crossbow stood back to back, fighting against a handful of demons. Two guards fought another pair of demons nearby. Above, what could best be described as a “tear” in the sky, flickering as though it emanated intense heat and casting a sickly green glow over the scattered snow, yawned and stretched.
Before Aliana could ask the question, Cassandra was already charging forward, much to the relief of the two that lay ahead.
I get less stoked about this one from time to time because it's largely just a retelling of DAI, and that's been done to tears... but the parts I like writing are the ones unique to Aliana (my original Lavellan) or the interstitials between my chapters, which are either from my author's perspective (Bellara) or the notes she's writing from (which vary from chapter to chapter).
Finding a way to trim down the "told" story vs. the things I *want* to write has been the greatest challenge.
Fandom: Dragon Age
Pairing: (F/M) Solas/F!Lavellan
Notes: Aliana is what we call my "canon" Inquisitor. She was my first (and actually only) playthrough character for DAI, and was a disaster of a person... as evidenced by the fact she romanced Solas and didn't stand a chance. Classic rogue who makes bad life choices, and eventually will be the protagonist I use whenever I get to my Bodice Ripper retelling fic.
Kink under the cut!
*****
She’d never asked to be a religious figure, and neither had he. Solas had always found “god” an ill-fitting title.
But Aliana wore “Inquisitor” well. Though he knew her to be no herald of the Chantry’s, he still found it to be suiting that he was now the supplicant. As she sat on her bed, he knelt before her and ran his hand up the outside of one bare leg, his nose tracing the inside in parallel. Her wistful sigh signaled the parting of her knees, baring herself before him.
Solas had never been more eager to venerate the divine.
Bodice ripper? 👀💐 Can a pal get a crumb of bodice ripper?
Yaaaaas.
So, this is going to end up being my personal Lavellan's story retelling but, you know, through smut and with a couple of extra lenses. This is ambitious as hell, so not ETA on when this drops, because it's definitely the "big pet project." A few things to know:
First, it's being written by Bellara Lutare after the events of Veilguard. Because we all know that girlie is a fiction writer, and she takes this job very seriously.
Second, Bellara decides to write this very historical retelling (lol) through the lens of a bodice ripper novel so that it doesn't get lost. No one wants to let good porn go to waste in Thedas.
Third, Bellara, being an academic, has hunted down resources or interviews to source her writing. I intend each chapter to come accompanied a snippet of one of these resources. It's an experiment I want to try so that I get to play around with writing a lot of different character voices and in a bunch of different mediums. For me, it makes a good narrative exercise. This is hard to explain without showing, so here's a preview of Chapter 1's resource - a personal account of the opening of the breach from Cassandra:
XX MONTH - Dragon 9:41
The account of Cassandra Allegra Portia Calogera Filomena Pentaghast of the Seekers of Truth, Right Hand of Divine Justinia V has been recognized, verified, and entered into Chantry records. Below is an excerpt of the approved transcript for public distribution.
*****
It is by the divine grace of the Maker that my life was spared from the blast that has deprived us the guidance of our Divine Justinia. My heart weeps for what has been lost, and we now look toward an uncertain future in which the conflict between Mages and Templars is more uncertain than ever.
It is poetic, then, that from the ashes of what was lost, the Maker has sent us a light in the dark.
Though I initially had my reservations, Aliana Lavellan has shown herself to be trustworthy, courageous, and capable. Were it not for her intervention, as well as the timely assistance of Solas, a wandering elven apostate, and Varric Tethras, the dubious dwarf “storyteller” also in our custody, matters would be much worse. Solas’ theories about the Mark that Lavellan’s left hand now carries have proven accurate: she can close Rifts, and thus, is likely crucial to closing the Breach.
Still, such unlikely allies beg the question of the Maker’s intent. It is understandable, if not frustrating, that members of the Chantry like Roderick exercise suspicion and doubtful.
Though I cannot say with any certainty what the will of the Maker might be, I do believe Aliana Lavellan was sent to help. She has a natural proclivity toward saving lives where possible and exacting justice when necessary. Regardless of what her beliefs (or more trying personality traits) may be, we should be grateful she is willing to aid us in our hour of need.
We shall see, in time, if she is worthy of the title the people have bestowed on her: Herald of Andraste.
So I saw a post about art positivity and posting art even if you aren't 100% proud of it so uh, here's this emoji challenge no one asked for. I left the sketch part in because I'm just a slut for sketch stuff?? And I kinda like it better than the full version. Then again I'm still learning about the program I'm using and figuring out my style so
Did a challenge this morning to sketch 3 things that represent me somehow, so me being the Dragon Age trash I am I drew Leina, Aliana, and my son Sandal. (I'm a little disappointed in how little effort put into Leina, but tbh they all look 1000x better than my previous doodles 😫)
I think what always gets me about Solas is that when it comes down to it, I'm not even mad. I'm just heartbroken. I remember being so devastated when I found out my Qunari couldn't romance him, and I never wanted any of my Lavellans to romance him because of it. But he was my friend. I fell in love with the fade and wanted to know everything I could. I asked him every question possible in my first few runs. I had Trespasser spoiled for me relatively early, so I refused to use him in my party unless I had to. But I couldn't help but be curious. I'd say "then there's this asshole" but in my heart I was just hoping it wasn't true. So when I finally got to Trespasser and learned everything, I still was devastated. My Trevelyan shouted that she wanted to be the one to kill him, but once she was alone with him all she could do was hold back tears. They were friends. He saved her life countless times. And did so again by amputating her arm. She tried to talk things out, to change his mind. It took me several different runs to get to a point where I could have an Inquisitor who could be friends with him again. Even though I knew who he was way before I even knew who Corypheus was. And now Aliana Lavellan cherishes him as a close friend and I can't wait to see how devastated she is at the events of Trespasser (especially if I decide to let Blackwall become a Warden).
