#codex entry

[demilypyro]

I decide what these characters are called.

[kakibot]

This post has a very narrow target audience, Lucanis romancers who chose the "I also love coffee!" option during the Treviso coffee date.

A big shoutout to everyone else who has baked the Nevarran Hazelnut Torte before me because they made me panic less when I reached the "why is this just a big ole lump" stage. 🖤

[artflameball]

She just gets it

[fuschiarulerinthebluebox]

When I got to work at the bakery Tuesday, before I was even fully in the door, the owner asked me if I had any recipes that would use up a bunch of apricot…

And I was like actually… You know what, yes, yes I do. And I’ve been wanting to make it for MONTHS now. So I whipped out my phone, pulled up the DA Wiki, and made Nevarran Hazelnut Torte (with some slight modifications for what we had on hand). AND IT’S SO FREAKING GOOD YOU GUYS! I have all of the actual ingredients at home and I’ve been meaning to make it, so this was a pretty good test run.

I did tell some of my coworkers where the recipe was from (because they only see me this excited about something when it’s nerdy) and they were all for it. One of them has also been reading my Emmrookanis fic, so she knew exactly which characters I was talking about.

I also did a cute little blurb for our social media post, “Achievement Unlocked! Take your tastebuds on an adventure with this Apricot Nutella Cake with layers of fluffy chocolate hazelnut cake, tart apricot preserves, covered in rich dark chocolate hazelnut ganache.”

This was definitely more “cake” than “torte” because of the substitutions, but I feel like the flavour profile should be pretty similar…

1 1/2C sugar

8 egg yolks

1C Nutella

1/2C milk

1/2C oil (or melted butter)

2 3/4C AP flour

2 1/2t of baking powder

8 eggs whites, whipped to stiff peaks

1C dark chocolate

1C of heavy cream

1/2C Nutella

1T espresso

[woodlandeelf]

How to play Dragon Age's Vendetta*

*an unofficial guide created by someone who loves to know things for people who also love to know things

I really wanted to write in a few Vendetta card scenes for my fanfics, but me being me, I needed to know how the game actually worked! This is by no means a perfect assumption of how the DA writers intended the game to work or be played, but I've done my best to reconstruct some actual rules (and play-tested them!) that make the game real-world playable.

Feel free to use and reference these Vendetta instructions in your own work, since it's Dragon Age's IP of course--but if you do, I'd love a shout-out for the work on rule establishment and play testing that I've done!

From the Codex:

"In the game, played with a divination deck, Death and the Fool constantly trade ownership, eliminating a major arcana card with each pass. Hands are rebuilt with the minor arcana until Death at last takes the Fool, and best final draw takes the pot." "Outcomes can seem nebulous, and it is rumored the entire exercise is a silent way to discuss contracts while hands are kept busy and away from weapons."

(tl;dr, the game is fast and the points don't matter)

The point of the game is, inherently, to keep hands busy (and away from knives) while discussions or negotiations occur. Depending on the location, the speed, and the table setting, Vendetta can be seen as an exercise in peace-making between Houses, or as a method of intimidation.

The game can only be played with two or four players, which I've dubbed "Duel" or "Melee."

Rules & Instructions & diagrams below

Players: 2 or 4 (duel or melee)

Set up: Deal evenly the 20 Major Arcana cards between two or four players. Take Death, the Fool (and if playing with four, two Minor Arcana cards) and shuffle; each player draws at random (if playing with four, return the two Minor Arcana cards to the Minor Arcana deck) to assign players. The starting player is the player with the Fool. Minor Arcana deck is shuffled and set aside.

How to play: Each player with a Fool or Death in their play area card eliminates (flips and covers) another player’s Major Arcana until none are left. That player can replace that Major Arcana card with a random Minor Arcana card from the deck once they’ve deployed Death/the Fool on someone else’s hand and the slot is empty. Players can only take a turn if they have Death or the Fool in their play area. Play ends and scores are taken once there are no Major Arcana cards left alive and Death “takes” the Fool.

Game ends: “when Death takes the Fool” i.e. when there are no other Major Arcana cards to eliminate. The player with Death and the Fool murdered in their play area will have one less card to score with.

Scoring: Same as Wicked Grace (or in the real world, standard 5-card draw poker) and scored with the Minor Arcana in each player's play area. Aces are high, and hand values are based on pairs, triples, straits, full houses, flushes, royal flushes, etc (same as Wicked Grace and standard 5-card draw poker).

Betting: The game has no intuitive breaks for mid-play bet raising, and hinges on players not folding (and all players staying alive until the end, cough cough Crows and their knives) so any betting would have to take place before play begins; since winning and gambling are, once again, not the point of Vendetta, it like the rest of the game must be easily smoothed over in favour of allowing conversation and negotiation to take precedence. Winner takes the pot.

Duel:

Separate Minor Arcana, Major Arcana, and Death and the Fool. Set Minor Arcana deck aside to draw from.

Start with 10 major arcana cards per person laid out. Each person draws either Death or the Fool at random.

Player 1 (whomever is starting with the Fool): deploy the Fool to eliminate one of P2’s cards. Flip and cover with Fool to eliminate.

Player 2 (whomever starts with Death): deploy Death to eliminate and cover one of P1’s cards.

P1 takes Death and eliminates and covers one of P2’s Major cards. P1 then draws a Minor Arcana card to replace their eliminated and uncovered one. (There is never a card left flipped and not replaced)

P2 takes the Fool and eliminates and covers one of P1’s Major cards. P2 then draws a Minor Arcana card to replace their eliminated and uncovered one.

Repeat 5 and 6 until only Death and the Fool remain. Death covers Fool and ends the game.

Strategy with Duel: No specific strategy identified. The Duel is a dance, and by virtue of drawing cards, the points are left entirely up to chance.

Melee:

Separate Minor Arcana, Major Arcana, and Death and the Fool. Set Minor Arcana deck aside to draw from.

Deal Major Arcana. Blind-draw Death the Fool, and two Minor Arcana cards. Player with the Fool becomes Player 1. Return Minor Arcana cards to the deck. Shuffle deck and set aside.

Player 1 deploys Fool to eliminate (flip and cover) one of another player's Major Arcana.

Player with Death deploys Death to eliminate (flip and cover) one of another player's Major Arcana card.

Player whose Maj. Arcana was just eliminated by the Fool re-deploys the Fool to eliminate another player's Major Arcana. Draw a Minor Arcana card and cover eliminated card.

Person with Death performs the same action.

Play repeats until all Major Arcana cards have been eliminated, and Death is finally allowed to eliminate the Fool.

Strategy with Melee (4 players): don't be the last person to have the Fool played on them so that you aren't one Minor Arcana card short of everyone else at the end!

[chaosherald]

Lucanis Week Day 1

Spite/Determination

"Logbook 0"

(text below)

Infinity pools

flow st.utt.er.ed ContaineD

OVERflowed edges caught

gold tarnishes

chaining-chains-chained

Crow caws

CAUGHT CAUGHTconfined.

clawing claw wing

talons touch

trapped Resolution

Resolute grit dirt dark

soiled spoiled 

Malice vexation hurt HURTS

spits SPITE shut up shut down

shut                            away

d(r)aggerrrrrr sharp scrape scald

survivetogetherSURVIVETOGETHER

crow pierces pieces peaces

survive-tethered-ad-cor

Accord...dot.ted.scraps.sign.

DEAL.

Thank you @datvcompanionweeks for hosting 💜 Amazing Lucanis border by @gutz-ingellvar 💜

[mysterioustinyhorror]

Letter from Josephine in DATV if the Inquisitor romanced her.

I missed her so much 🫠

[greatwyrmgold]

Before I saw that one video essay, I kinda assumed Persona 3 Portable's female main character (often called FeMC) was just, like, a girl version of the male main character. FemShep, but for P3.

But now that I know she has her own distinct social links and characterization and stuff, it kinda makes me mad that everyone calls her FeMC, even though Makoto gets to be Makoto. (And Yu Narukami gets to be Yu, and Tatsuya Suou gets to be Tatsuya, and Ren Amamiya is usually referred to by his codename, but that's still more dignity than Kotone gets.)

I guess the fandom gets away with it because Kotone is literally the only female main character in any Persona game (unless you count Maya Amano). But Kotone is also the only MegaTen character named Kotone (unless you count some filler character from a Persona 5 mobile spin-off), so they could still use her name if they wanted.

But they don't. The only important thing about Kotone is that she is the female MC.