#fake codex entry

[runawaydragons]

I made a thing this afternoon (thanks to @avoskorm sharing the resources I needed) that will be part of a future chapter of Blood That Sings The Same, and is a reference to the other WIP I started that is an ancient elvhen Felassan related fic (which is partially @sandetigerrr 's fault).

Putting it under a cut cause **Spoilers** technically...

This letter was written prior to The Masked Empire, timeline wise. After Felassan met a very young Mary Brithari Surana in the Crossroads. It was left at a long abandoned shrine at the base of an ancient *redacted* statue in a forgotten part of the Crossroads.

Vaelyn/Nesithra/Gelen/Mary's ancestor was one of the ones who Elgar'nan killed. She knew it had a high probability of happening so she did some shit to have fragments of herself survive in her descendants. She and Solas did not get along really, but they respected each other and both wanted to help people.

If you add what happened with Briala to also finding out fragments of his oldest friend had lived on in modern elves, his choice to question Solas makes even more sense... And now Mary and such have a heavy burden regarding what happened to him.

I need to reread The Masked Empire before I dive headfirst into the Ancient Elvhen WIP fully, but I do have a bunch of stuff outlined and more than one scene/chapter drafted. <_<

[ofcrowsanddragons]

I think the endnotes are getting away from me.

---

The Landfall District: While it’s possible that the Antivan Crows had their own ways to refer to areas of the city, very little evidence indicates there was a specific area of Treviso called “Landfall”. Several Treviso-based novels had been translated into Orlesian during the preceding two decades, which were re-translated to Trade without referring to the original works. Any references to el lugar del arribo (“the place of arrival” or “the landing spot”) as well as the less common and more romantic el tierra del arribo (“the land of arrival”) were translated into Orlesian using the proper noun Le Quartier de l'Accostage (“The District of Landfall”).

Through this corruption, the area on the peninsula surrounding the main road used by merchants traveling from the port to the mainland was effectively renamed. Originally called Camí Savi by locals (literally “Wise Road”), it would soon be referred to as "Landfall" in Trade. Fiction, including the work in question, began referring to the area as El Distrito de Desembarco (“Landfall District” or “The District of Disembarkment”) or sometimes El Barrio de la Transición (“The Neighbourhood of Transition”). See Jereth et al. for further reading.

Trans. Enchanter Alan Adams

[A handwritten note scribbled below: Where is this translator from? It can’t be Treviso. We’ve been calling it Landfall for decades.]

[joiningthefandomeightyearslate]

Another fake codex entry for this time a Randy Dowager entry for an omegavrs story... It was fun to write

A creased quarterly missive of suspect virtue:

The Randy Dowager greets the summer with the collected The Shield is no Maiden, a scandalous tale of an Orlaisian alpha from a respectable house searching for the Avvar Shield Maiden who saved him from bandits. The question is can he tame this wild omega?

The Randy Dowager: After last quarter's review of To Have or Have Knot, dear reader, some have accused the Randy Dowager of no longer giving alpha and omega romances a fair shake. Let me tell you it's not the endotypes that have disenchanted me to the classics but the over used formula, and this readers does not fall into that trap.

The Lady herself says: "If one said I didn't give, The Shield is no Maiden, a fair shake it is only because I was trembling on my fainting couch when the titular Shield Maiden pinned the respectable alpha to the inn wall. Five scarves fluttered out of shock out of five." -RD

[bluekaddis]

And the last one (so far) - my cinnamon roll Lizzie ✿

CODEX ENTRY: LIZABETH TREVELYAN 

I see many people joining the Inquisition these days and the first thing they want to do is to see the Herald of Andraste with their own eyes. I can’t blame them. Minstrels sing ballads about her heroic deeds in every tavern of Thedas. Her companions adore her and would surely go into Fade itself if she asked them to. But I must tell you, it was not always the case.

I have been a soldier of the Inquisition since the beginning and I remember the first time I worked on a mission with the recently proclaimed Herald of Andraste.

I admit I was disappointed. She seemed weak. A noble girl dragged into the dirt of war. I had heard she was trained to be a templar, but I thought that she must have been bad at this, otherwise she would have taken her vows already. She carried a bow but was reluctant to use it. She started crying when one of our horses got deeply wounded and we had to put it down. Why would Andraste choose such a person to be Her messenger was beyond me. We were even angry at Lady Cassandra and her advisors to put so much faith in that woman. Yes, she was kind, empathetic and willing to help, but these were the traits of the healer, not a warrior.

But in the end it was her who stayed behind when Haven was attacked. She defied the self-proclaimed god, his dragon, his army. She didn’t have power to kill them, but she managed to save us all.

And when I heard the crowd cheering as she took the sword and claimed the title of the Inquisitor I remember thinking - maybe sending us a healer instead of warrior was indeed the Maker’s plan?

Excerpt from the letter sent by Inquisition soldier to his family. 9:42 Dragon

[bluekaddis]

and this time for my Disaster Champion of Kirkwall :}

CODEX ENTRY: GARRETT A. HAWKE

My Lord,

I am well aware that this is my seventh letter of complaint sent in the past few months. I will not comment on the lack of reaction they received. As previously, the reason behind my misery is my neighbour, Serah Hawke and his unruly behaviour.

His dog still comes to my kitchen’s door, hoping for leftovers. The only thing that has changed since my last complaint is that it now wears a collar with a note saying “The dog is a fat, greedy liar, don’t feed him”.

I suspect that Serah Hawke redirects his unwanted mail to my address. Only this month I received seven letters with death threats, two packages of “Freedom for Mages” manifestos and a book with indecent pictures.

He battled some demons again in front of my house. The mess he left was indescribable. When Knight Captain arrived to investigate, I hoped the Serah Hawke will be held accountable, but they just quarrelled for half an hour and then shared a bottle of ale. I guess you cannot expect much from Fereldans.

Last week I saw Serah Hawke and his companions making a bonfire. He tried to lit it with a fireball. My western wall is still covered in soot, and some Dalish woman has drawn flowers on it. How was that supposed to help?

I expect the city guard to take action.

Official letter of complaint sent to the Viscount’s Keep by Lord Otto Oudehedge 9:33 Dragon

[bluekaddis]

I had been thinking for some time on what to write in characters description section and I decided that immersion is fun – so I wrote fake codex entries for my canon heroes. Thanks to @aeducanka for proofreading ❤

  CODEX ENTRY: REIN COUSLAND

Dear Cousin,

I specifically ordered my man to deliver this letter to you in person. Read it when you are alone and burn it right after.

Your disapproval of our rulers is well known to me. However, the disturbing rumours about you contacting the House of Repose forced me to write you this warning.

I know what you were thinking during the Landsmeet. Most of us thought the same. She is young. She has no family to back her up. She is the war hero, loved and idealized by the people, and controlling her means controlling the mob. So we gave her and that bastard prince the crown.

And then we realized that we wanted to put a muzzle on a wolf.

You can call her the next Sophia Dryden and accuse her of selling Fereldan lands to Weisshaupt. You can send letters to the Most Holy complaining about more privileges being given to mages and elves than to respected noble houses. You can push your beautiful, fertile daughters into the court, hoping they would give the king a child which his queen apparently cannot deliver. You will not be the first one, nor the last one to try these things. She will allow it, probably. The folk loves Her Wardens more than your soldiers. For every offended zealot there stand ten elves and mages who remember that she has given them the long denied voice. And if any woman could turn the king’s eyes from his beloved wife, arl Eamon would have used her a long time ago.

But know this - the moment she sees you not as a whining child forced to share their toys with others, but as a blade pointed towards her or the king you are lost. She has slain the Archdemon. Piercing your chest will be much easier.

Slightly burnt letter found in late bann Aspendale’s room. 9:34 Dragon

[elvenbeard]

”It is probably fair to say that the “Herald’s Rest” tavern on Skyhold’s grounds is probably the social center and meeting place for members from all ranks within the Inquisition. Servant, soldier, scholar – all these and more are often seen as guests. Especially during the evening hours the tavern is usually brimming with people who are looking for a hearty meal accompanied by cheerful music and maybe the occasional game of Wicked Grace after a long day of hard work.

An amusing side-note might be that the Inquisitor himself is also a regular visitor of the tavern. Although it is also said that right from the start he seemed suspicious of the sign hanging over the entrance door.

“Is that supposed to be Andraste carrying the guy with the green glowing hand? Kind of… imagined her to look a bit different. Also… why does he look like he’s dead? Should I be worried about something?” is something he reportedly said during one of his first visits.

Other than that the Inquisitor is more a man of deeds than a man of words. Whether or not there is alcohol involved, it usually gets loud in the tavern when he and some of his trusted companions are around, either to celebrate a victory, or, and yes it happens as well, just to pass some time in good company. Once there apparently was a spontaneous knife throwing contest held in one corner of the tavern – no one was hurt though, apart from their pride maybe. Another time a couple of plates flew through the dining area and almost hit a travelling scholar and his entourage who had come to visit Skyhold. Apparently the plates had been lifted into the air due to the impact of a hand being slammed onto a table with great force during an arm-wrestling contest. The Inquisitor and some of the highest ranking members of the Inquisition, including Seeker Pentaghast, had been measuring and comparing their strength. A third contest, apparently inspired by a bet involving climbing and the chimney inside the tavern, was cancelled by the bartender before anyone was hurt. At least that’s one version of the story.”

- “The Herald and his Rest” from “Stories of Skyhold – a compilation of anecdotes and other tales of another side of the reborn Inquisition”, collected and written by an anonymous elven bard

___________________________________

Prompt #12 from the Codex Prompt Meme: Your OC overheard while drunk - more or less :’D this was quite hard, because what do you write when your OC doesn’t really talk much while drunk, because he rather does stupid things, AND only drinks seldomly because he always only does stupid things - requested by @lindira and @iio-in-thedas, thank you! :D

[elvenbeard]

“Tamlen is arrogant and selfish, and his boldness and eagerness to prove himself is sadly overshadowed by his recklessness. His short-temper once almost led to his exclusion from the clan, as some of you might remember. Is that someone you would want to be responsible of gathering information that might prove vital for the future and survival of us all? Certainly, he is quick and silent, he knows how to remain unseen; but that is not what I’m questioning. I question his judgement, whether he will be capable of making the right choices even if under pressure, without senselessly endangering himself, his mission, and the clan. I should be sent to the Conclave. Someone who was actually educated in diplomacy and different cultures, someone who was trained to make decisions under pressure, a mage with a logical mind. I should be sent to the Conclave, not a foolish child pretending to be a man and who wants to play the hero.”

 - from a transcript of a gathering within clan Lavellan, 9:41 Dragon; the speaker in this part of the text is the clan’s First, Laryn Lavellan

___________________________________

Prompt #10 from the Codex Prompt Meme: A description of your OC by someone who hates them - in this case Laryn describing Tamlen - requested by @lindira, thank you!! :D