currently workshopping an idea for my veilguard rewrite where my lavellan vherana gets kidnapped by elgar'nan and experimented on by ghilan'nain. they captured her because elgar'nan wants ghilan'nain to find out how to bind her as a second layer of immortality, and chose her purely to spite solas, by forcing him to kill his vhenan
but because ghilan'nain is mad with grief from losing andruil and would do anything to get a hot evil woman back into her life, she ended up sabotaging the experiment to give vherana a way to exploit elgar'nan's soul and steal his power to then kill him with (basically like twist in warrior cats where the main villain got one-shot bc he was too arrogant to realize a tiny cat had knives for claws)
ghilan'nain's intention is for vherana to then usurp elgar'nan, using the fact she has his power to become the rightful ruler. but vherana doesnt know this, she thinks they're conspiring just to kill elgar'nan. their will is close to breaking from being tortured, and they just want to escape
in my canon elgar'nan doesnt use the venatori (they died w corypheus anyway) because as implied by inquisition, turns out there's like 1000 ancient elves in uthenera that got buried with arlathan that elgar'nan woke up after his return, with the goal being to resurrect elvhenan & rise arlathan back to the surface during the eclipse
but right after that he gets murdered, suddenly and unceremoniously (rip mythal you wouldve loved to see it) and it was a mortal shemlen that killed him. and now she has his power
and vherana, covered in blood, half her face burned off and in a stupor, just wants to go free. but suddenly ghilan'nain's herding her to the front of the palace like "PEOPLE OF ARLATHAN, YOUR LIBERATOR SHALL GRANT US A BENEVOLENT, MOST YURIFUL NEW ORDER"
and i was worried that i couldnt write a way to justify why the ancient elves would accept an imprisoned shemlen who came to power via sabotage to rule the empire, but then i really thought about it and, like
these people are probably so fucking exhausted. they also have never not been under the reign of SOMEBODY. i 100% believe it would not be immersion breaking for them to just be like, whatever man. sure. if this is all we have, why not. who fucking cares. yeah thats a shemlen but at least she doesnt make us call her a god. who fucking cares. how bad can it get. how bad can they be. in this way she is the onceler
solas has no idea what is happening by the way. the mind connection he and vherana got stuck to each other with got cut off midway thru act 1, when she gets captured. but to solas, its like her presence just vanished without warning, and he just has to be gnawing on the bars of his enclosure scared shitless about that
elgar'nan's murder happens at the very end of act 1, 5000 feet underground, and hes stuck pacing ravines up in fade jail. he spends the second half in act 1 like this
in my datv rewrite ive made the lore about manifested spirits be able to happen in reverse (an immense amount of magical power almost nobody beside an evanuris would have can turn a manifested body into a spirit) which has ended up being the best idea i couldve had cause it’s opened up a potential ending where vherana is dying after the fight with elgar’nan’s dragon, and to save her solas using the last of mythal’s stolen magical power (that he was intending to use to turn himself back into a spirit) to instead use to turn HER into a spirit to save her from her wounds before entering the fade to love her as a worm for an eternity
writing the part of my datv world state where my lavellan (vherana) & kieran go into the deep roads to find ghilan’nain in her laboratory and end up finding my ghoul!fem warden (who everyone thought died after they lost contact with her) in there instead and shes almost dead due to ghilan’nain doing something to her body so she carries her back with them to the surface, only to hate this decision because its made not only kieran but his mom and her entire social circle have a complete yuri crash out over the state of her instead of focusing on the evanuris
morrigan and leliana (who in the wake of all this has said FUCK this divine victoria shit) wont leave her side and are constantly fighting over what to do or if they can save her or if she were awake who she would trust more with her health and vherana is just standing in the infirmary room while this is happening like🧍can you stop fucking around
based on the template by @fromthedaswithlove ❤️ my deepest apologies i only realized midway through how little i knew how to navigate this but fuck if that stopped me
How would you recruit them?
I'm a little stuck on this. I have two ideas: 1) Solas' ritual causes a tear in the Veil in Minrathous. Demons are coming through, but suspiciously they seem to have some semblance of order to them and they're not just rampaging about. Turns out they have a psuedo-leader keeping them from wrecking the city and she looks suspiciously human-like and her name just happens to be Hawke. 2) Is the fucking Lighthouse in the Fade or the Crossroads the game is so gotdam inconsistent about it. If its in the Fade then you find her after the Caretaker says there's a disturbance somewhere and if not dealt with it could destroy the Lighthouse's magic. Idk. Either way you find her and there's a big issue of "is this actually Hawke or just a demon that's really fucking convincing" that the team can't seem to agree upon.
What would their personal quest look like?
(my vague, mildly detached outline) So this takes place in my vague half assed rewrite where Merrill is the representative of the Veil Jumpers. The quest would start when Rook visits the VJ while Hawke is in the party, causing Merrill to flip the fuck out. She does a couple of "tests" and while she can't confirm it, she strongly suspects this isn't just some random demon. It's difficult for her to say for certain though, because somehow this person can barely even be considered a human anymore; she's too close to the Fade, too similar to the spirits. Merrill says there isn't much to do besides wait and see if her memories come back.
Weisshaupt comes around and you get a new quest where Esther, who previously refused to even entertain finding her sister, is now panicking and insisting that they look for Bethany to make sure she's alright because she wasn't there at the battle. Davrin would have a few favors to cash in with the rest of the Wardens, and eventually Rook takes her to Hossberg where she's aiding the wounded and helping protect the civilians against darkspawn. There's a point where Hawke is about to go and confront her, but she suddenly freezes and has a panic attack, unsure why her body seems unwilling to follow her. Talking back to her at the Lighthouse, you find out Hawke had a sudden flashback about the day Bethany was recruited to the Wardens. She remembers that Bethany didn't want to be a Warden, and how Hawke basically just thrust her into Stroud's hands despite Bethany's pleas to not be taken away. She has memories of Bethany's bitterness, never writing, never speaking to her after she'd been recruited, and Hawke is now convinced that her sister must resent her.
It's all still a huge work in progress and I'm still not sure if I even Like it (just feels too clean which was like my biggest complaint about VG anyway) but I was also thinking of a part where the Fade essence is starting to take her over and she gets really sick and starts going into sudden bursts of rage and that's how her and Anders reunite and as you can see I'm so on top of this
How would their approval raise? What would make it drop?
Rise: Siding with the reformist Wardens, punching the First Warden, fighting Solas (HE FUCKING KILLED VARRIC!), generally picking fights, literally everytime you fight in that fucking arena for the LOF you get a minor approval boost, sticking up for the defenseless, siding with mages, showing empathy for spirits and demons, petting those fucking dogs
Drop: Siding with the pragmatic Wardens, talking down the Warden, redeeming Solas, disrespecting Isabela, taking away free will, unnecessary cruelty or ignorance towards spirits and demons, asking her too many questions yes I'm serious like the opposite of Solas
Approval Greetings: Low/Medium/High/Romanced
Low: A grunt. That's it.
Medium: Rook's last name as a formal greeting
High: "Rook."
You cannot romance this woman sorry shes the one unfuckable companion on the team
What would their iconic lines be?
man fuck if i know. something something blood something something kill she's so complex and i'm so good at writing dialogue ❤️
Do they have location specific dialogue?
She'd comment that Docktown feels strangely nostalgic. Hanging around too long at the Veil Jumper camp will trigger some banter between her and Merrill. Going to the market at Treviso makes her comment on the weird organizational skills spirits have. I'm so good at this
What would their party banters look like?
omg ❤️ lookie here 💕 ❤️
How do they feel about Spite?
Probably the most understanding out of the entire team, even though she thinks he's literally the most annoying creature alive. Spite's obsessed with her. Thinks she's the funniest person on the team.
How would they react when Treviso/Minrathous is saved? Their reaction towards the one left in disrepair?
I think Hawke would actually be on a neutral ground there and defer to Rook's judgement. She'd probably be the supportive companion in either case, approaching them after to tell them they did what they could under impossible odds and she doesn't envy their position. Saving Treviso would have her lament that, in a strange way, Minrathous reminded her of home. It must be the Tevinter influence, but even so, she feels a sense of loss. Saving Minrathous on the other hand would have her comment that this isn't the first city to fall under Qunari occupation, and she'll open up a little bit on her thoughts regarding the invasion at Kirkwall and how sometimes she wondered if she had only delayed the inevitable.
How would they reach to the mc redeeming Solas? Tricking Solas? Fighting Solas?
Wouldn't it be funny it she pulls a Sebastian and loses her shit if you redeem Solas. I don't think she actually would but that's just a funny thought. She probably just makes a bunch of snide underhanded comments towards Solas that show how much she hates his guts and how she's going to kill him herself one day. Tricking Solas probably renders her some disgruntled acceptance, since she's aware that you're playing the long game here but also that's just so lame why can't we just kick his ass. Fighting Solas is 10/10 woooohoooo everyone get your kitchen mixers we're beating an egg
What does their epilogue look like? What are they up to in the years after Veilguard?
Nice peaceful retirement with her husband in the Anderfels. I have like. this scene in my head ok hang on
A personal challenge for how I’d work largely within the existing framework to tweak things. It’s fun to think about.
The way I’ve broken them down is any character changes; their narrative arc broadly and how some quests might change; and what Rook’s involvement would be in terms of the outcome. Overall, I felt like some of the quests were far too personal for it to be solely up to Rook to determine the outcome. In general, I believe it should have been a gradual influence that ultimately the companions decide on.
Featured are Harding and Neve.
Harding
Changes: I’m divided on Harding because the storyline that we got would have worked with Dagna, who had always been interested in magic and is a caste dwarf and more tied to her heritage. Also her bubbly personality would have been an easy swap. However, if I had to rest the Titan story on Harding, I would change her personality to be more aligned with that of DAI where she is a bit more rough around the edges. I understand the stance that because she’s not in the presence of a public figure like the Inquisitor, she’s more casual. But I feel like there were glimpses at the beginning of the game where she seemed more of that rough-edged personality. I am a strong proponent that Harding could have been a conduit for knowledge from previous events if players wanted to engage with that content.
Arc: Harding’s quest would lean into the question of why her and what this means for the rest of the dwarven population. It would be that she never was against her heritage but also not super close to it, having been in human society for most of her life. When she does get this ability, she would be kind of confused. Like,” ugh, why is this happening to me?” But she would also see the benefits of having it. There would be some foreshadowing or hinting that the reason Orzammar and didn’t respond to her inquiries is due to a smattering of their citizens mentioning hearing voices and being able to dream. It worries the leadership and, unsure if it is madness, they would like to keep it within their walls. A minor thing, but I think impactful, would be reactivity to having completed enough of Solas’ regrets before doing Harding’s quest, allowing her to confess that she knows what happened to the Titans. This would change the Oracles dialogue slightly and be a little more pointed, but it would still be a relatively vague response.
I did like the training we did with her and the encouragement/discouragement angle. There would be another instance where Rook could double down on their stance, which could affect their relationship with Harding. There would be the added nuance that perhaps Rook is wary a bit, but will still stand by Harding as she discovers more about these powers. Rook could also be very flippant about her research or actively hostile towards her using them (in the same vein as telling Lucanis you don’t trust him after rescuing him from the Ossuary). As you progress, in one of her quests*her abilities fail her and she gets taken over by the other half a bit, allowing you to see that there is an imbalance.
Instead of her anger seemingly being directed wholesale towards the elves, Harding would struggle with even being the keeper of these feelings. Yes, she felt the need to blend in, but she would recognize that she did in fact live a more privileged life than some others. Should she be the conduit for this righteous anger? How should she go about imparting it to others when they are also trying to keep things in a small group of knowledge? How can the dwarves, who are being affected by awakening Titans coexist with modern elves?
Rook’s Involvement: I think since it’s a lot of high emotions in her final quest, having a friend grounding her was a nice touch. The choice would remain the same, but Rook’s encouragement/discouragement would be taken into account when Harding decides. Being more encouraging would result in Harding taking heed to what Rook is saying, naturally more inclined to Compassion but could also use the anger to empower herself. In contrast, being dismissive towards her abilities would result in Harding for sure embracing anger. The Compassion choice sets her up with more support skills while the Anger is for more combat, but I think even visually it would have been cool. Perhaps the Compassion choice would have Harding's eyes glow blue while Anger would have her briefly look like her red counterpart.
Interpersonal: Harding would be in an interesting position to me, as a Southerner who has recently traveled a lot of Thedas with Varric and also came into contact with a lot of different people in the Inquisition. As an Adrastian, I think she could be challenged depending on the player and the reveals within the game. I think she could be on the cusp of being more open-minded while still being devout.
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Neve
I didn’t dislike Neve’s quest, but Aelia really fell flat to me.
Changes: I feel like Neve needs to be more ingrained in the SD or she is outside them but knows them.
Aelia: In my opinion, Aelia needs to be more dangerous, more formidable. I would give her the Johanna Hezinkoss treatment, where we tangibly see the danger instead of hearing about it. With Johanna, we see she has the lantern; she has pulled in a piece of the Fade; and has already stolen the life from so many. So when she comes through with her golem, it’s a tangible “oh no” moment. With Aelia, the gimmer of that was when she was controlling the Thread boss and the witness. I think it would have been more impactful if there was the implication that she has grown more powerful, perhaps able to control groups of people during a quest or Rook helping Neve to stop a group of her followers wreaking havoc in Dock Town. Or approaching the catacomb temple, we see blood magic going crazy. Neve’s quest could have been a way to really see the damages of blood magic in the same way Zara could have pushed the grotesque side of it.
Arc: Neve’s questline would play out largely the same, with her closing in on a former opponent but with a few more dramatic flourishes. For example, Bataris comes up dead with his father and templars thinking Neve had something to do with it. I think her quests could interact with the main story and support it, providing a more granular experience while the main story remains more high-level. Upon finding out that Aelia is back, there would be another quest where there is major Venatori movement, after their failure in "Blood of Arlathan." It is revealed that Aelia is mobilizing in mass and has gained more followers who want to be on the ‘right side’ of the conflict. Among those missing or controlled would be NPCs (like Hal and Cida) that we see in the temple later on. Neve would be confronted with a choice that mirrors that of the Archon quest and generally similar to the vanilla game's choices: protecting Dock Town using the underground connections and with a show of force against the corrupt; or relying on due process and civilians to change things. I could see the 2nd option as being an exercise in using official channels to make change that sticks and to fight propaganda/negative sentiment on the Shadow Dragons.
Rook’s Involvement: Rook’s support in Neve’s quest would determine how she decides the outcome for her final quest as well as if she is hardened or not. A Shadow Dragon Rook could have an opinion on whichever choice she makes. For example, a by-the-book Rook may be disappointed with Neve choosing to go the forceful route and vice verse. Or Rook could include themselves in the future-facing outcomes of her decision.
Interpersonal: Neve would have been fun to have dialogue with throughout the game, learning her views on events as they happen, as well as her past cases. Players would be able to challenge her on her views of Tevinter and being a mage of some privilege, even as she fights against injustices. Her and Lucanis would not initially get along due to the perceptions of both their origins. If she was hardened, she would be more subdued overall but still a dedicated member of the team. I think it would be nice to see her open up in general.
