Cloud is an apostate city elf hiding in the slums of Kirkwall/Denerim/IDK somewhere. Maybe he used to hang with the Dalish, but after his (also apostate) mother died, he moved to the city? Maybe Claudia was supposed to be the Keeper but something happened, like with Merrill? But then he gets captured. Maybe his neighbors are dicks or something, who knows. THROWN INTO THE CIRCLE. Let's go with Kirkwall because I remember DA2 better than I remember DA1 and I'm not even out of the Hinterlands yet in DA3.
Zack is a TEMPLAR IN THE KIRKWALL CIRCLE HAHAHA. He believed VERY STRONGLY in his cause as a young person, when he joined the Chantry and stuff. It wasn't that he thought mages were bad, but he did feel like they needed to be controlled. But the older he gets, the more time he spends there (possibly under the command of Knight-Commander Meredith), the less he feels like he is doing the right thing.
Also, FORBIDDEN ROMANCE BETWEEN A TEMPLAR AND A MAGE OH NOOOOES (though I talked to one lady in Inquisition yesterday who was a mage with a templar boyfriend and she was just like “look, whenever you put a bunch of healthy adults together in a small space, some of them are gonna end up fucking, even if they're a mage and a templar ok” and I laughed for like 20 minutes).
Anyway, they FALL IN LOVE because this is the kind of person I am. Cloud maybe uses Blood Magic or something, because that's p cool. Also because he really wants out of the Circle. And he's due to undergo the Rite of Tranquility because it gets found out. Or something goes wrong with his Harrowing, I don't even know. But Zack finds out about this ahead of time and decides it's time to act. He goes down and destroys Cloud's phylactery and they ESCAPE INTO THE NIGHT TOGETHER OOOOO
So they go to Ferelden after the Fifth Blight but before the fall of the Kirkwall Circle. They can blend in with the refugees, and the Circle in Ferelden is in shambles, so it'll be easier to be an apostate there. And they get a Mabari and name him Angeal after Zack's old templar friend who taught him everything he knew. And they meet Aerith, who is a Witch of the Wilds, and they become friends, and everyone lives happily ever after. Through the horrible civil war and Orlesian occupation that is going on (i think???) in the game I'm playing right now, and Zack's debilitating and possibly life threatening addiction to Lyrium. THE END
Also Tifa is a Qunari because holy shit Qunari are great. Probably a Tal'Vashoth. She punches people a lot. But she doesn't have to punch them most of the time, because everyone is terrified of Qunari.
Yuffie is a dwarven noble. P O L I T I C S ! She wants to initiate real trade with the surface, like instead of through the Carta, and give equal rights to the casteless. She probably got her ass thrown right out of Orzammar.
Barret is a human living in Kirkwall. Huge mage sympathizer. Probably hangs out with Anders, and they blow shit up together. Except that Barret is 19840298340182019840985% cooler than Anders FUCK YOU ANDERS I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU EVEN IF I UNDERSTAND WHY YOU DID IT
Anyway, Barret actually feels bad about the shit he's done and the people he's killed. Maybe he helps run the mage escape underground railroad thing. His story is him realizing that templars are also people and that the issue isn't as black and white as he feels like it is. He feels bad about what he's done and works really hard to make things better!!!
I got distracted before I could figure anyone else out lmao bye *rolls away*
