Black Emporium is a rare pair exchange that encompasses everything Dragon Age – provided they have less than 300* completed works on Ao3. Whether you’ve been a fan since the beginning or got in to it via Veilguard– whether you write snappy dialogue or draw detailed scenery – we want YOU to participate!
*Except for Rook; see our post about how we're handling that!
2026 Schedule
All deadlines are as of 9 AM US Pacific / 12 PM US Eastern / 4 PM UTC+0.
Nominations: June 30 - July 7
Signups: July 8 - July 18
Assignments Go Out: When mods are done matching (probably sometime on July 19th)
Black Emporium is a rare pair exchange that encompasses everything Dragon Age – provided they have less than 300* completed works on Ao3. Whether you’ve been a fan since the beginning or got in to it via Veilguard– whether you write snappy dialogue or draw detailed scenery – we want YOU to participate!
*Except for Rook; see our post about how we're handling that!
2025 Schedule
All deadlines are as of 9 AM US Pacific / 12 PM US Eastern / 4 PM UTC+0.
Nominations: June 24 - July 1
Signups: July 1 - July 13
Assignments Go Out: When mods are done matching (probably sometime on July 14th)
Yes sweet nuglets, it’s that time of year again: Time to sign up for Black Emporium!
CLICK HERE TO SIGN-UP!
↳ Helpful Links:
Rules & Assignment Requirements || Participation Walkthrough Guide || FAQ || Requests on Ao3 || Tagset || Nominations Spreadsheet || Request Database || Parent Collection (All Past Years)
Signups end: July 13th 12th @ 9 AM US Pacific / 12 PM US Eastern / 4 PM UTC+0 || Countdown
↳ Reminders
RULES & ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS: Please take the time to re-read our Rules and the requirements for assignments before signing up.
RATINGS: If you are interested in receiving or creating Mature/Explicit level works (see Ao3 rating(s)), you must "opt in" by checking the "E" box for both offers and requests. Please note you must be 18+ to offer/request/create Mature or Explicit level gifts. For a more detailed explanation, click here.
TREATS: If you are open to receiving treats, or a specific type of treat (single-recipient, multi-recipient, fanart, fanfic), you must "opt in" by saying so in the sign up description box. This field does not apply to your offers. For a more detailed explanation, click here.
"OTHER ROOKS": Because there are so many different options for Rook, we are allowing participants to opt-in to a wider range via the Optional Details box so long as they'd be considered eligible. For a more detailed explanation, click here.
For a how-to-guide of the whole exchange that includes all of the information in this post, please take a look at our Participation Walkthrough Guide and FAQ.
DETAILED STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO SIGN-UPS BELOW THE CUT:
1. SIGN IN TO AO3
If you don’t have an Ao3 account, contact the mods for help!
2. GO TO THE BLACK EMPORIUM SIGNUP FIELD (LINK)
3. SCROLL TO THE “REQUESTS” FIELD
Once nominations are finished, you'll be able to sign up. In your sign-up, you'll specify the works you'd like to receive and the works you're willing to create. (They do not necessarily have to be the same!)
You must fill out at least three requests and three offers. You may only select each pairing once, but may give multiple ideas per pairing in your prompt.
If you are interested in receiving Mature- or Explicit-rated works, you must be at least 18 years old and opt-in by checking the appropriate box ("E"); this is not a guarantee you will receive a higher level.
You will have to fill out several fields on the sign-up form:
↳ Relationships
Here you can write in the relationships that you wish to request. As long as it is part of the tag set/eligible nominated pairings, it should be able to be selected here.
If your chosen relationship is in the tag-set but isn't auto-completing, this is unfortunately a bug on AO3's end that we cannot fix -- but if you copy and paste your relationship from the tag-set into this field, you should be able to submit. (Please contact moderators via email at [email protected] if you get an error and let us know what the error was.)
You may list between 1-3 pairings in the same Request field. That does not (necessarily) mean you want all three ships in the same fanwork. We allow multiple pairings in the same Request Field because it allows participants to request up to 30 unique pairings, rather than just 10. Some people group thematically, or by character.
Example of someone requesting three, non-connected pairings. The participant here loosely grouped their "platonic" ships together into one Request Field.
Example of someone requesting a pairing.
↳ Additional Tags
This field is to mark if you're open to receiving fanfiction, fanart, or both (check both boxes), for this request.
Example of someone requesting ONLY fanart for any pairings listed in this Request field.
↳ Ratings (Requests)
If you are open to receiving Mature- or Explicit-rated works, please check the box to indicate your interest. We use the AO3 ratings guide as far as judging what each rating entails.
Any participant under 18 should NOT indicate interest in M or E works, as those are intended for 18+ audiences only.
Please choose your ratings carefully! Indicating interest in receiving higher rating works does not mean you are guaranteed to receive them, just that other people will be allowed to gift them to you in this exchange. If you're not comfortable with that possibility, do not check this box.
This recipient did not check the "Explicit" box; they will not receive any Mature or Explicit level works.
↳ Letter
This is a place to put a link to a letter, if you have one. A letter generally is a completely optional, longer version of the description field, and might include more details you'd like your creator to know, or things like pictures that are hard to paste into the description box.
Letters are commonly hosted on Dreamwidth, Tumblr, Google docs, or other such freely accessible websites.
Please note that the moderators cannot enforce any DNWs you put only in your letter.
Completely optional field. Leave blank if you don't have a letter.
↳ Description
Please feel free to use this field to go into some detail about what you would like; this helps give the creator of your work some different ideas about what they could make for you.
If you are open to treats, please indicate interest. See "Treats" for more.
Because there are so many different options for Rook, we are allowing participants to opt-in to a wider range via the Optional Details box. If you've participated before and used our Treat template, this is a similar idea! Post here explaining how.
Examples of prompts or helpful information you could share with your recipient (reminder, your creator is not required to follow your prompts/likes):
General trope likes, e.g., Fluff, First Kiss, Dwarven lore, There Was Only One Bed, Enemies to Lovers, etc.
Stylistic likes, e.g., 2nd person writing, Tarot Card art, chat-fic, etc.
World state options you favor that are relevant to your prompt, e.g., Anora is Queen/Alistair is King, Canon Divergent - Multiple Wardens, Modern AUs, etc.
A sentence or two about why you like the pairing, e.g., "I love Cassandra being flustered around people she likes!"
"What If?" prompts, especially open ended ones, e.g., "What if Blackwall did the Joining ceremony with the Hero of Ferelden in DAO? Or met HoF in the Deep Roads during the Jaws of Hakkon DLC in DAI? Would they have similar perspectives, or different?"
Rating restriction clarifications, e.g., interested in E rated smut, but not E rated violence
Be sure to list your Do Not Wants (DNWs) — if they're not listed in the Description box of your sign up, then the mods cannot enforce your DNWs. If your DNWs are poorly worded or go against exchange rules, they will also be considered unenforceable.
Example Description. This person has NOT opt into treats and cannot receive any. Please see here for more help formulating your DNWs.
4. CONTINUE TO THE “OFFERS” FIELD
The process to Offers is similar to Requests when it comes to pairings and denoting interest in creating fanart and/or fanfic. However, there are a couple differences one should make note of:
↳ Ratings (Offers)
If you are interested in creating Mature- or Explicit-rated works, please check the box to indicate your interest. We use the AO3 ratings guide as far as judging what each rating entails.
Any participant under 18 should NOT indicate in creating M or E works, as those are intended for 18+ audiences only.
Please choose your ratings carefully! You will be matched on this field; if you're not comfortable with receiving prompts that may include NSFW or "E" elements, do not check this box.
↳ "Notes to mods" Field
If you want, you can write notes to the mods, but this isn't required. Some things you might want to include:
If you are under 18 or do not want to receive any "E" requests/prompts from your recipient, please put a simple "No 'E' requests" or in your sign up. This will not disclose your age as we have adult participants who have asked this of mods over the years.
If you're attempting to avoid all spoilers related to Dragon Age: The Veilguard, including any details that may be included in a prompt sign-up, please write a note to alert mods.
The AO3 username of any individual(s) you don't want to be matched with. You don't have to provide a reason as to why you don't want to be matched with someone, but we will rely entirely on the name(s) you enter; if you ask not to be matched with FanficWriter69 but you meant FanficWriter96, we can't guarantee you won't get matched. For the sake of everyone's stress level, triple check any names and make sure you're giving us their AO3 username.
Please do not use this field to ask to be matched with a specific person.
↳ "Any Relationship" Box
If you would like, you can offer to create a work for "Any Relationship."
PLEASE ONLY CHECK THIS BOX IF YOU TRULY MEAN ANY RELATIONSHIP.
The only qualifications you can make are the category of pairings (i.e. F/F, F/M, M/M, Other, Gen, or Multi) or by DA game (i.e. DAO, DA2, DAI). You cannot differentiate by any other qualification or request.
An example of someone offering to draw fanart for any F/F pairing.
An example of someone offering to create fanart and/or fanfiction for the pairing "Fenris & Donnic Hendyr," but requesting not to be matched with a specific user.
5. A NOTE ON MATCHING
After sign-ups are completed, creators and recipients are matched based on their sign-ups. Matches are one-way; that is, while it is possible A may write for B and B may write for A, you are more likely to have A writing for B, and B writing for C, and C writing for A.
You will be assigned to someone who has at least one request that matches at least one of your offers for the below two fields: relationship pairing and type of fanwork.
You will be matched with someone who requested:
at least one of the pairings for which you offered to write or draw ("Relationship" field), and
at least one type of fanwork you offered ("Additional Tags" field aka fanfic, fanart, or both — if both, you can create an assignment in either format; you are not obligated to create two assignments), and
whether or not you've both indicated interest in Mature- or Explicit-rated content ("E" checkbox)
You are guaranteed to have a match by the end of the date listed under "Assignments" in the schedule. If you do not have a match by then, please contact the mods via email at [email protected].
That's right, you heard it here first. Or second, if you've checked your email and saw a notification about a shiny new gift(s). Or third, if you're part of the Discord and joined in on the celebratory messages. Or possibly even fourth, if you saw it on Dreamwidth.
Regardless, works are now live!
Click here to start reading the 2025 Black Emporium Exchange Collection
Read, kudo, comment galore! A week from now, September 7th, we will reveal creators. If you would still like to post a treat, you may do so at any time—just ping a mod after submitting to make sure we see it in the queue.
If there is a problem with your gift, do NOT message your creator or comment publicly on the work. Contact a mod asap at [email protected] so we can handle the issue and find a solution.
As detailed in Part 1, we have had to apply different standards for Rook ships due to the change in Ao3 tagging. In an ideal world, we would have numbers for the different Rooks the way we do for Inquisitors and Wardens. At this point, the only way we are going to get those numbers is with some help. Actually, a lot of help.
Hence, the crowdsourcening!
We have created a spreadsheet for you, the Dragon Age community, to input data about the Rooks featured in the works alongside Lucanis, Lucanis and Spite; and Emmrich.
Whether you want to help systematically or just as you read to your own personal tastes, any and all entries for completed works will help! Since this is checking eligibility, please only enter information for COMPLETE works.
There are only four columns in this sheet:
-Ao3 Work ID: Copy and paste this from the URL. Make sure it’s the work ID and not a chapter!
How, exactly, does one find the work ID? It's in the URL! Here's an example of how to find the work ID:
That link is for a multi-chapter fic from last year's Black Emporium. Here's a screenshot highlighting the number we would want if this was a Rook work we were trying to count:
If you were to click on the "entire work" button, you'd get this url: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58663841?view_full_work=true
Again, all we want for this field is the number.
If you enter a number and it turns red, it's a duplicate of one that someone else has already done -- hooray, one less for you to worry about!
For gender, lineage, and faction, select the appropriate option; if any of those are unspecified, leave them alone.
We greatly appreciate your help! Inputting this information will let us refine which Rook ships will be eligible and which will not for this year's Black Emporium. Share it with anyone you think might be interested -- the more the merrier!
Black Emporium is a rare pair exchange that encompasses everything Dragon Age – provided they have less than 300 completed works on Ao3. Whether you’ve been a fan since the beginning or just got started with the series – whether you write snappy dialogue or draw detailed scenery – we want YOU to participate!
2024 Schedule
All deadlines are as of 9 AM US Pacific / 12 PM US Eastern / 4 PM UTC+0.
Nominations: June 25 - July 3
Signups: July 3 - July 13
Assignments Go Out: When mods are done matching (probably sometime on July 14th)
Hello nuglets! If you've been watching this space, you've already seen some of this information. As we are almost ready to officially begin Black Emporium, we are posting the finalized guidelines for Rook for THIS YEAR.
Prior to Veilguard being released, Ao3 announced a change in how they would tag video game protagonists. They would no longer support the layered canonical tags that we are used to for the Warden, Hawke, and the Inquisitor; instead, all varieties of Rook would simply be "Rook (Dragon Age)". Different tags to denote lineage and background would go under additional tags.
When you post on Ao3, none of the three main tagging fields (Relationships, Characters, Additional tags) are required. However, almost all people tag the relationship and/or the characters involved.
Because of that change, fanworks with Rook are not being tagged with enough detail for us to assess each Rook ship individually. Instead, we have had to make some generalizations based on what the mods and some helpers were able to discover about the most popular Rook ships; and trends for past PC/LI ships.
Details are behind the cut; please take the time to read them if you are thinking about participating this year! These guidelines cover eligibility, nominations, and requests.
PART ONE -- ELIGIBILITY
Because of the different number of possible Rooks and the lack of specificity in Ao3 tagging, the threshold of ineligibility for individual Rook ships is raised to 600 completed works. The threshold remains at 300 completed works for all other ships.
For individual Rook ships over 600 completed works, the following gender/lineage/faction combinations are banned:
Faction -- No same-faction Rooks are allowed, regardless of gender or lineage.
Gender / Lineage -- Female Elf, Female Human, Male Elf, and Male Human are banned for all other factions. Nonbinary human or elf is still allowed. All possible dwarf and qunari permutations are allowed for all other factions.
Therefore, the following Rook ships are ineligible for this year:
[Any] de Riva/Lucanis Dellamorte
[Any] de Riva/Lucanis Dellamorte/Spite
Female Elf [Any]/Lucanis Dellamorte
Female Human [Any]/Lucanis Dellamorte
Female Elf [Any]/Lucanis Dellamorte/Spite
Female Human [Any]/Lucanis Dellamorte/Spite
Male Elf [Any]/Lucanis Dellamorte
Male Human [Any]/Lucanis Dellamorte
Male Elf [Any]/Lucanis Dellamorte/Spite
Male Human [Any]/Lucanis Dellamorte/Spite
[Any] Ingellvar/Emmrich Volkarin
Female Elf [Any]/Emmrich Volkarin
Female Human [Any]/Emmrich Volkarin
Male Elf [Any]/Emmrich Volkarin
Male Human [Any]/Emmrich Volkarin
PART TWO -- NOMINATING
All Rook nominations must contain Gender, Lineage, and Faction, in that order. Any nominations that do not contain those three pieces of information will be queried and/or rejected. Do not include "Rook" at the end; it's not needed! For nonbinary Rooks, please use "NB" to save space.
Rook always comes first in their ship, regardless of alphabetical order. For ships of 3+ people, other characters must still be in alphabetical order.
Examples:
NB Human Thorne/Antoine/Evka Ivo
Male Qunari Ingellvar & Myrna & Vorgoth
PART THREE -- REQUESTING
Because there are so many different options for Rook, we are allowing participants to opt-in to a wider range via the Optional Details box. If you've participated before and used our Treat template, this is a similar idea!
To use this option, you must have at least one Rook ship in the relationship field. Then, in your optional details box, you may say:
Opting in to:
Any [Gender] Rook
Any [Lineage] Rook
Any [Faction] Rook
And filling in your preferences accordingly.
You may combine these options, e.g., "Any Female Qunari Rook" or "Any NB Laidir". You may list as many combinations as you like. You may NOT use this to request an ineligible Rook relationship (e.g., an ineligible variant of Rook/Lucanis, Rook/Lucanis/Spite, or Rook/Emmrich.)
This information will NOT be taken into account during matching. It will simply give your creators (assigned or treaters) more options for filling your prompt. Since we will not be using it during matching, there is no need to put information about what Rooks you will or won't create for in your offers.
BE 2025 - Preliminary Guidelines for Rook Relationships
Hello sweet nuglets! Now, you may be wondering why you're seeing a post from us when it's only April. Sorry to disappoint -- we aren't starting early this year. We just needed to get a head start on figuring out eligibility for Rook because of 1) A change in how Ao3 tags video game protagonists and 2) The very large number of possible Rooks.
A little bit more explanation and rationale will come after the cut, but we don't want to make you wait any longer!
Rook nominations must contain Gender, Lineage, and Faction. We are exploring ways to let people offer or request a broader category of Rooks; it is extremely likely that there will be some sort of option to do that this year. So, an example of an allowable Rook nomination would be: Antoine/Evka Ivo/NB Qunari Thorne
Because of the different number of possible Rooks and the lack of specificity in Ao3 tagging, the threshold of ineligibility for individual Rook ships is raised to 600 completed works. The threshold remains at 300 completed works for all other ships.
For individual Rook ships over 600 completed works, the following gender/lineage/faction combinations are banned:
Faction -- No same-faction Rooks are allowed, regardless of gender or lineage.
Gender / Lineage -- Female Elf, Female Human, Male Elf, and Male Human are banned for all other factions. Nonbinary human or elf is still allowed. All possible dwarf and qunari permutations are allowed for all other factions.
As of today, April 21, 2025, the following ships have more than 600 completed works:
Lucanis Dellamorte/Rook
Lucanis Dellamorte/Spite/Rook
Rook/Emmrich Volkarin
That means, that, as of right now, the following Rook relationships are ineligible:
Lucanis Dellamorte/[any] de Riva Rook
Lucanis Dellamorte/Spite/[any] de Riva Rook
Lucanis Dellamorte/Female Elf [Any]
Lucanis Dellamorte/Female Human [Any]
Lucanis Dellamorte/Spite/Female Elf [Any]
Lucanis Dellamorte/Spite/Female Human [Any]
Lucanis Dellamorte/Male Elf [Any]
Lucanis Dellamorte/Male Human [Any]
Lucanis Dellamorte/Spite/Male Elf [Any]
Lucanis Dellamorte/Spite/Male Human [Any]
Emmrich Volkarin/[any] Ingellvar Rook
Emmrich Volkarin/Female Elf [Any]
Emmrich Volkarin/Female Human [Any]
Emmrich Volkarin/Male Elf [Any]
Emmrich Volkarin/Male Human [Any]
If you want to know more about the Ao3 change, how we arrived at the filtering criteria for popular Rook ships, and maybe a hint at how we are looking to fine-tune these guidelines, read on!
Background
Historically, customizable video game protagonists have had different tags on Ao3 that are linked to a parent metatag.
The parent metatag for the Inquisitor is "Inquisitor (Dragon Age)". Here's two screenshots of the subtags that everyone should be familiar with.
This allowed us to evaluate each inquisitor variant (male, female, nonbinary [not listed here because it's not been canonized by Ao3]; Adaar, Cadash, Lavellan, Trevelyan) when determining eligibility for this exchange. Again, as you're all aware, there are a few relationships that have significantly greater popularity on Ao3 as a whole than many, many others. Black Emporium runs on the spirit of rareness, hence the threshold of 300 completed works.
The Problem
Prior to Veilguard being released, Ao3 announced a chance in how they would tag video game protagonists. They would no longer support the layered canonical tags that you see above; instead, all varieties of Rook would simply be "Rook (Dragon Age)". Different tags to denote lineage and background would go under additional tags.
When you post on Ao3, none of the three main tagging fields (Relationships, Characters, Additional tags) are required. However, almost all people tag the relationship and/or the characters involved.
What we are seeing is that, for Veilguard, the additional tags that would help us determine what variety of Rook is in the fic are not being used.
The most popular Veilguard ship right now is Lucanis Dellamorte/Rook. The way that Black Emporium has historically done tags, these would be the variants on that relationship:
Lucanis Dellamorte/Female Human Thorne
Lucanis Dellamorte/Female Human Aldwir
Lucanis Dellamorte/Female Human Mercar
Lucanis Dellamorte/Female Human Laidir
Lucanis Dellamorte/Female Human Ingellvar
Lucanis Dellamorte/Female Human De Riva
…. and then replace "Female" with "Male" and "Nonbinary"; and replace "Human" with "Elf" and "Dwarf" and "Qunari"; and you have seventy-two different relationships that fall under the umbrella of Lucanis Dellamorte/Rook.
As of today (April 21st), there are 2,483 completed Lucanis/Rook fanworks. Here's a snapshot of some of the most popular additional tags for Lucanis/Rook.
Searching for Male Rook gives these tags:
Basically: it has become impossible to easily determine rarity for ships containing individual Rooks where the parent tag (Rook/LI) has over 300 completed works. Again, as of today, the following parent tags meet that criteria:
Lucanis Dellamorte/Rook
Rook/Emmrich Volkarin
Lucanis Dellamorte/Rook/Spite
Neve Gallus/Rook
Davrin/Rook
Lucanis Dellamorte & Rook
As you saw above, we came up with a way to narrow the top three of those ships down. How?
With some help from other people in the BE Discord, we looked at the data for other LIs with Inquisitors and Wardens. Note that these numbers are for all works, because that let us do the comparisons more quickly:
Josephine and Zevran are the best examples we could find because they are available for an Inquisitor/a Warden of any gender. We also checked Dorian, Sera, Blackwall, and Morrigan; and saw similar trends.
With the caveat that F!Adaar/Josephine appears to be an outlier, for the most part, elf and human were the most popular options on Ao3, with dwarves and qunari lagging significantly behind. We also saw between 5 and 15% of the ships lacking specific race data (Zevran's male and female only percentages are, also, outliers).
Between the data for past LIs and the tags that were coming up for Lucanis/Rook, we felt as though declaring same-faction and binary human/elf options was our best compromise between what the numbers said and the spirit of rarity.
If the Rook fanworks were more comprehensively tagged, we might be able to refine that criteria further. Since that relies on thousands of creators making that change, we don't expect to have that happen in two months. Another way of refining our criteria would be to get a more complete idea of what's in these fanworks. That's too much for the mods to manage in two months, but if we got more hands....?
