NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN!
Nominations for the Black Emporium are live until July 3rd! Reach out and tell someone (namely: us) about your favorite rare-pairs (namely: any pairing under 300 complete fics on Ao3). You have twenty nominations to use. Pairings can be twosomes / threesomes / moresomes / etc. We believe in sharing the love.
How do you, in fact, become a true Fereldan buckaroo by nominating a rare pair or 20?
Go to the Dragon Age Rare Pair Tag Set and click Nominate (you have to be signed into Ao3 for the button to appear). For inspiration or to check if someone had the same idea as you, we have a Searchable Nominations Spreadsheet that we manually update.
For more information on this stage of the exchange and how best to format your nominations, please see below the cut:
Full Participation Walkthrough Guide || FAQ
Important things to remember:
Pairings/groups must be nominated in order to be requested during the next phase of the exchange, Sign-Ups.
Nominations require a set format — keep reading for more details
All nominations should be under Dragon Age - All Media Types.
Pairings/groups cannot have more than 300 completed works on AO3.
We allow original characters in this exchange as well as canon characters.
Nominating a pairing/group is not “binding”; you do not need to request or offer the pairing later.
Nomination Formatting:
All nominations should be nominated under the “Dragon Age - All Media Types” fandom.
Nominations do not need to auto-complete to be accepted; if Ao3 does not complete your ideal nomination, just type it in manually.
For romantic/sexual relationships, please nominate the characters you wish to nominate with a “/” between each character. For familial, platonic, or otherwise non-sexual requests, please use a “&.” e.g., “Meredith Stannard & Orsino” would not have any sexual or romantic undertones. “Meredith Stannard/Orsino” would be considered sexual and/or romantic, even if the fanwork itself didn’t include any sexual acts.
Nominations should be spelled correctly. e.g., “Merrill”, not “Meril”
Nominations should ideally be in alphabetical order, by last name. If a character does not have a last name, use the first name instead. e.g., “Zevran Arainai/The Iron Bull/Solas”
If a character has multiple names or aliases, go by their “main” name. e.g., “Blackwall”, not “Thomas ‘Thom’ Rainier”
For Dragon Age player-characters (such as the Warden, Hawke, and Inquisitor, etc.), we treat different surnames and gender as different characters. Female Surana will be evaluated differently from Female Brosca, Male Surana, etc.
Nominating Dragon Age “Player Characters”
For the purposes of this challenge, the Dragon Age protagonists will be considered different characters based on their gender and surname. The three genders we utilize for this exchange are: Male, Female, and Nonbinary.
When nominating characters, please format as such:
Male [Warden Surname / Hawke / Inquisitor Surname] (e.g., Male Trevelyan)
Female [Warden Surname / Hawke / Inquisitor Surname] (e.g., Female Hawke)
Nonbinary [Warden Surname / Hawke / Inquisitor Surname] (e.g., Nonbinary Brosca)
So, for example: “Male Trevelyan/Male Cousland” will be accepted as a nomination; “Inquisitor/Warden” will not.
You can nominate pairings where one version of the pairing is over the limit as long as the version you nominate qualifies. For example, you can request “Male Lavellan/Solas” or “Nonbinary Lavellan/Solas,” even if “Female Lavellan/Solas” is over the limit.
Customized or individualized Wardens/Hawkes/Inquisitors are not valid nominations. For example, “Mary Trevelyan/Vivienne” would be ineligible; the requester would need to use “Female Trevelyan/Vivienne,” “Male Trevelyan/Vivienne” or “Nonbinary Trevelyan/Vivienne.”
In your prompts in your sign-up, you can request preferred details (such as specific OCs, a first name, looks, personality traits, class, background, etc.), and creators may choose to incorporate those elements into their gift for you. However, creators are not required to incorporate those preferred details, and works will not be checked for that by moderators.
Nominating "Dragon Age: The Veilguard" Characters
Yes, DATV characters are eligible for nominations!
For nominating "Rook," reports show that Rook's surname will be decided by faction, though the surname options haven't yet been revealed at the time of updating the Walkthrough/FAQ. Therefore, to make it easier for future tag-wrangling, please nominate Rook by gender (Female, Male, Nonbinary) and faction (as we currently know them):
Grey Wardens
Veil Jumpers
Shadow Dragons
Lords of Fortune
Mourn Watch
Antivan Crows
Eligible nominations could include: "Female Shadow Dragon Rook" or "Nonbinary Antivan Crow Rook" or "Male Mourn Watch Rook."
Nominating Characters from Other Canons (i.e. Crossovers)
We allow crossovers from other series so long as they are interacting with at least one canonical character. However, when nominating a character from another specific series, please put the name of the fandom the character is from in parenthesis after the name, for example: “The Iron Bull & James Vega (Mass Effect)”
For crossovers that are from different media within the Dragon Age fandom, no specification is needed, e.g., “Merrill/Solas.”
Nominating Other Original Characters
Original Characters who are not Wardens/Hawkes/Inquisitors are also allowed to be nominated, provided they follow the following guidelines:
The OC is listed in such a way as to give someone freedom in how to write them.
OCs should be generalized or archetypal. e.g., “my OC Gerald D’Vivir” is too individualized and customized, but “Male Orlesian Noble” is eligible
A good rule of thumb here is whether the character idea can be summed up in 3 or less words; if you can, it is probably a good option. If you cannot, it probably is too complex for this kind of exchange. e.g., "Tal-Vashoth Mercenary" or "Original Templar Character" is eligible; but "Older Blonde Warrior Dwarven Warden Widower” is not
If the gender of an OC is considered important to your request, please include it. If you are fine with any gender option, gender does not need to be added, and the creator of the work can choose their choice of gender options for the character. e.g., "Orlesian Noble" or "Female Orlesian Noble”
The OC is not listed in such a way that would, essentially, reflect the spirit of a canon character that is otherwise not permitted in a relationship.
As an example, while it is possible to have an Original Female Elf Inquisitor who is not Lavellan, it is so close to canon based on that description that it would essentially function as the same character.
Lastly...
What are you waiting for? GET YE TO THE NOMINATING!