Hi everyone!
Apologies for the delay, as Life™️ has been Life™️-ing a lot recently, but we're very excited to announce that it's time for the fourth annual Dragon Age Big Bang! (No, really, where has all the time gone???)
We'd like to issue a warm welcome back to those who have been with us before, and a very warm welcome to those who will be participating for the first time! We're glad to have you all 🙂
Dates will be announced on this blog tomorrow, but if you want to be in the know early, they've already been announced on our Discord server. Feel free to join and get in the know sooner!
But if Discord's not your thing, that's okay, too. All relevant information for the event will be shared here!
We hope you're as excited as we are for this year's Dragon Age Big Bang, and we can't wait to get started!
For @dragonagebigbang I had the pleasure to illustrate my first AU piece for @ladyofcrowsandcoffee fic Finding Their Edge, featuring her baddie Rook Carphria de Riva and Teia Cantori (and many more Crows). So please go and have a read if you're into the Antivan Crows or figure skating or both (or none 😋)
And a big thank you to @ladyofcrowsandcoffee for that cool team up and more importantly... Happy Birthday! 🎉 I hope you have a wonderful day
Ahhhhh I finally get to post this! My contribution to the Dragon Age Big Bang 2026! Companion illustration for the fantastic fic The Princess & The Rook, by @fiberpunk027. It's a really lovely piece that reads like a comfy fairytale (especially if you want some closure on Alistair as a king and father), and reading the draft made it so easy to stay motivated throughout the entire drawing process.
Fic synopsis and close-ups under the cut!
"Marillia "Lia" Theirin is the imaginative child of Alistair and Anora Mac Tir. The heir to a kingdom, she spends more of her days daydreaming and pretending her life were a fairy tale than focusing on becoming a great future queen, much to her mother's disappointment. All of that changes when a mysterious black bird comes to her window seeking refuge. "Rook" is a strangely intelligent bird intent on finding the King of Ferelden and delivering an important message only meant for his ears. These two unlikely friends navigate the uncomfortable spaces between childhood and adulthood, as they discover that the parents they had idealized may be fallible humans after all."
Taash's mom is dead. She's dead. She's dead and gone and it hurts. They're not anyone's little girl anymore.
That was supposed to be a good thing.
So why does saying it hurt so badly?
Chapter One
From my beloved river Permessus I come to you,
Illustrious heroes descended from kings.
You are renowned for your exploits,
But the truth can never be known since it is beyond your reach.
I am Music.
I can calm troubled minds with my sweet sounds.
With noble anger or with love, I can melt the hardest of hearts.
I can charm people with my golden lyre,
So I can prepare their souls to receive the sweet music they will hear in Heaven.
Now I want to tell you about Orpheus.
— Music, L'Orfeo
Read on Archive of Our Own Here!
For Taash, a Recipe from Omri
I have heard this recipe called many things, as many old dwarven traditions are. It is a goulash with a few changes from a plain one. The sweetest name I have heard it called was “Marry Me Goulash,” told to me by Ademamar Cadash. He told me that his mother wooed his father with it before they could even speak a word to each other. I have usually only called it “something to do with all these spare parts.” Follow the instructions carefully, Taash. Or do not! It is wonderfully difficult to ruin. Go with your gut, la mia Trottola.
Ingredients:
- 2 ¾ cups of trottole pasta (the best kind for this) (your favorite)
- Bone broth for boiling pasta in
- 1 pound of ground bronto meat (lean-ish beef works, too)
- Dried marjoram, rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano, and sage in equal parts, a few heavy sprinkles
- As much black pepper as wanted
- Several cloves of garlic, minced
- Decent amount of minced onion
- A good few spoonfuls of butter
- A good bit of salt
- A pinch of sugar
- Plenty of smoked paprika
- Whatever kind of hot pepper wanted, however much, chop finely
- 3 or so cups of tomato sauce
- Enough milk to clean the sauce jar and turn the sauce more orange
Steps:
Set the bone broth mixed with water and a little bit of salt on the stove to boil. Put a wooden spoon over the top to keep it from boiling over in case you forget to pay attention. While waiting for that to boil, heat up a pot. You will need the time. Put a spoonful or two of butter in it. Once the butter starts to melt completely, put in your one pound of meat. If bronto, it will take a long time over a very low heat to grow tender. Beef is far more simple, even if it does not taste as rich. While cooking, add in the seasoning. Constantly shift it around to keep from burning and to mix in all of the seasoning evenly. You could do this in a bowl beforehand, but that takes extra time and makes another dish dirty. Do not bother. When the pot is boiling, add in the trottole pasta. The shape means that it can catch plenty of meat in the spirals. It needs to boil for 14 minutes. Stir decently often. Once the meat is browned, add in the cups of sauce. Use milk to clean out the jar it was stored in and not waste anything. The sauce should end up a fine orange. Add in more butter. Keep it on a low heat. Once the pasta is done, use a pasta crawler (spider) to scoop the trottole out of the pot and into the sauce. Add in a bit of pasta water to the sauce. Stir slowly for 10 to 20 minutes until much of the liquid has boiled down. Serve hot.
This form is to indicate that you, an artist, are signing up to participate in the 2026 Dragon Age Big Bang event
By signing up to particip
Hey everyone! We're pleased to announce that the artist sign ups for the 2026 Dragon Age Big Bang are now live! (apologies for the slight delay!)
Please read the instructions carefully, and if you have any questions, you can reach out to us here, on the DABB Discord, or at [email protected]
Artist sign ups will last from now until April 5, 2026 11:59PM EDT (UTC -4)
We're so excited for all the hard work our authors have put in already, and we can't wait to start this collaboration process!
This form is to indicate that you, an author, are signing up to participate in the 2026 Dragon Age Big Bang event.
By signing up to partici
We're pleased to announce that author sign-ups for the 2026 Dragon Age Big Bang are now live! As a reminder, sign-ups will be open from now until March 1, 2026 at 11:59PM EST (UTC -5), at which point writing can begin
Can't wait to have you all join us!
