Thelrand Lavellan | Captain of the Stormheart Squad
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Inquisitor
I admit that you were correct about Thelrand Lavellan. Though his skills as a swordsmanship is unparalleled, he is cocky, at times temperamental, especially when faced with failure. However, that failure never keeps him from pushing himself beyond any standard placed on him. As you have said, it is hard to place limitations on his ability.
He has shadowed other captains the past several weeks to test his capabilities in the heat of battle. He is too cunning to be a simple foot soldier and offers unique perspective on tactics that saves lives. He knows how to use everyone’s strengths to cover their weaknesses and that is something not easily learned, if learned at all.
With the recommendation of his superiors, along with mine, as Commander of the Inquisition, I appoint Thelrand Lavellan his own squad with Léonie Moreau as his lieutenant. I look forward to watching him rise to the opportunity.
Commander Cullen Rutherford.
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First portrait done of a seven portrait series by the amazing @xla-hainex. I am absolutely blown away from the detail and for them being an absolute mind reader.
I plan to have portraits done for the six members of his squad that I am so excited to gush about as they’re finished. They will all have their own codex entry and a about them section. To see Thelrand’s info, you can click the link in the title!
Léonie “Lee” Moreau | Lieutenant of The Stormheart Squad
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Léonie Moreau - or Lee as she insists - has nearly no history I could locate. She claims to be a former Chevalier stationed in Val Royeaux, but there are no records of such name enrolled in the knighthood. However, I came across a Leonard [REDACTED] who has a bounty on his head for abandoning his post and disobeying direct orders from the Empress to aid the efforts to cease the elven rebellion in the Halamshiral alienage, which only occurred less than six months ago. Leonard is not an immediate heir to a noble family whose absence would not damage the family line or name. At least not beyond saving. The older siblings - two brothers - claim to have no idea where he went. For now, I have no reason not to believe them.
I recently saw the bounty for his arrest and execution and the similarities between them both are striking.
I don’t believe in coincidences, but I believe in redemption. If Lee joined the Inquisition under a new name and a new identity, then I will not deny her opportunity to flourish and to become a better version of herself.
- a passage from Spymaster Nightingale’s notes on Léonie Moreau
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Another gorgeous portrait by the amazing @xla-hainex! As promised, there’s more info about her under the cut!
Full Name: Léonie “Lee” Moreau
Age: 34 as of 9:41 Dragon
Height: 6′1″
Origin: Val Royeaux, Orlais
Profession: Ex-Chevalier, Lieutenant of the Stormheart Squad
Class / Spec: Warrior / sword & shield
Orientation: Lesbian
Core Motivations: to live as her true authentic self
Core Fears: rejection and being unworthy of love
At Her Best: encouraging, patient, thoughtful, caring, protective
At Her Worst: sensitive, vulnerable, withdrawn, irritable, volatile
Backstory:Lee was born as Leonard, the youngest son of three in a low rank noble family with little land and fortune. She was close to her brothers who kept her gender identity a secret from their parents fearing for her safety and mental well being. As she wouldn’t inherit much, her options were limited: join the Chantry as a Brother or a Templar, or join the Chevaliers. The knighthood gave her more freedom to remain close to home and her brothers, and while she was a devout Andrastrian, she felt the Chantry abused their power and positions. Being a Chevalier also gave her a higher social standing, which she used to protect commoners and allienage elves from her more abusive fellow Chevaliers. Any discipline she received was minimal as she was a formidable warrior and had favor of several noble women.
When she was recruited to purge the elven rebellion in the Halamshiral alienage, she abandoned her post and fled the knighthood. She couldn’t condone such senseless violence and knew they would execute her for treason should she openly refuse. She joined the Inquisition after hiding for some months, introducing herself as Léonie, and began her journey as the woman she always wanted to be.
family: He doesn’t remember any of his family as he was taken to the Circle as a young child. He does have a son born to a Templar, Celina, but he’s never met him. He did learn she was pregnant though before she transferred to another Circle.
birthplace: Small village outside of Ostwick
job: In the Stormheart Squad, he is a healer. Back in the Circle, he studied herbalism.
❝ if they do it again, you tell me. ❞ for Lee & Samhel
Drills were done hours ago, but Samhel remained in front ofthe targets. The knives were missing their mark more times than not, thoughthat hardly mattered. The stuffed dummies were the only thing he could throwthem at without getting in trouble. Well, in more trouble than he already was.
Upon collecting his knives from the targets, he heard agaggle of giggles behind him. Every time he moved, or dropped a knife, it feltlike it was louder and more frequent. He snuck a look behind him and snappedhis head back, grinding his teeth. It was Jeremiah and his group of chickenshitfriends he kept around to feed his ego.
Just ignore him. Just ignore him. Samhel went back tohis mark, making eye contact with the man which was his first mistake.
“Hey, Sammy!” Jeremiah slung his arm around Samhel’sshoulder.
“It’s Samhel,” he replied curtly, then attempted to shrughis arm off. “If you don’t want to get stabbed, I’d recommend moving your arm.”
Jeremiah scoffed. “What, like how you stabbed your captaintoday?”
He locked his jaw, forcing himself to look at the target. Hetightened his grip on the handle, then quickly flicked it towards the target.He let out a short breath when the man finally took his arm off his shoulders.
“It’s a classic rookie mistake to bring your actual weaponsto training instead of the blunted ones. And on the day where Commander Cullenwas there, too. Makes you wonder what was going through Thel’s mind, huh. If hemade the right choice, choosing the crazy knife-ear over someone who knows whatthe fuck they’re doing.”
Samhel continued to ignore him, just throwing knife afterknife, imaging Jeremiah’s ugly face on the dummy. He often wondered sometimeswhy Thelrand chose him over Jeremiah, who everyone else sang praises over. Henever asked, almost afraid of the answer. He smiled a little when he managed tohit between the eyes of his target each time.
“Hellooo? What the fuck are you smiling at? Did I saysomething funny?”
Turning to him, Samhel threw the knife down betweenJeremiah’s feet. Naturally, the man jumped back, and he stepped forward. “Yeah,and I know that one’s sharp, asshole. Believe it or not, I do know what thefuck I’m doing. If you’d stop sticking your head so far up Cap’s ass that hecan taste you, maybe you’ll see that. And don’t think I didn’t see you snoopingaround my shit this morning while I was getting ready.”
Jeremiah’s eyes narrowed. “Do tell, Sammy, what are youimplying?”
Samhel shrugged. “I don’t know. Jealousy is a funny emotion,ain’t it? Must be hard to watch the guy you want to get on your knees forchoose some ‘crazy knife-ear’ over you. Oh, he probably remembered what a totaltwat you were when you drunkenly declared to the entire tavern that you wishedyour father finished the job with the Halamshiral elves. Yet all you’ve donesince you got here is try to get into the pants of one.”
The man scoffed and glanced to the side at his friends witha shaky chuckle. “What good does those ears do for you when you still can’thear shit.” He pushed Samhel back with a hand on his shoulder. “Though you didmiss the part where I told them about fucking your moms before – “
Samhel saw a flash of red, and popped Jeremiah in the nose,then tackled him into the ground. He could only get a couple punches in beforehe was pulled up by the bastard’s friends, kicking out his feet, landing acouple hits on his gut.
Jeremiah pushed himself up while holding his stomach. Hegrunted and wiped the blood from his nose, glancing at the offending color onthe back of his hand. The confrontation, although brief, had attracted a smallcrowd. The corner of his mouth lifted when he glanced around. He stepped backand Samhel was released.
“Ah ah,” Jerimiah warned with a wag of his finger whenSamhel stepped forward and kept his hands raised in a show of surrendering.“You’ve got an audience and I’m the only one injured here, Sammy.”
Samhel’s eyes darted from face to face around him and felthis pulse elevate more. He could feel the sting of tears welling in his eyes.As he turned to leave the scene, a heavy hand clamped on his shoulder. Heflinched and glanced up to the amber eyes of the Commander.
“Come with me. Both of you.”
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Samhel sat on his cot in the barracks, leaning his elbows onhis thighs, and kept his eyes on the floor. He wrung his hands and bounced hisleg. His hair formed a curtain around his head. It made him feel separated fromthe dozen or so people he shared the room with and he was grateful for that.
He saw their feet before he felt someone settle beside him,the cot sinking under their weight. They raked their nails gently over his backand said nothing for a while. He couldn’t stand the silence. “Lee, please saysomething or I’ll go mad.”
Lee carefully tucked hair behind one of his ears and liftedhis head with a hand under his chin. “Commander Cullen already gave you anearful.”
He turned his head, his curly hair slipping from behind hisear.
She resumed the gentle scratching on his back. “You barely saida word to him and just let Dubois do all the talking, all the blame falling toyou. I know you didn’t attack him without reason. Will you tell me whathappened?”
He rubbed his bruised knuckle and sighed. “He’s been…messingwith me for a while.” He looked up to see if anyone else was paying attention.That the few others in the room quickly looked away told him that they were. Hescowled. “Can we go somewhere more private?”
“Of course.”
The stables weren’t necessarily more private with the stablehands and horsemaster Dennet about, but they barely paid them mind, and thesurly looking fellow wasn’t around. They sat on a bale of hay, and Lee foldedher hands in her lap. “You said he was messing with you?”
“…Yeah. I knew him. From the alienage. He didn’t live thereobviously, but he was one of the chevalier hopefuls that got their kicks out offucking with us. Mostly the kids. I’d stand up to them, get their attention offthem, and come home black and blue. Sometimes one of my moms, Sena, would getinvolved.” He paused, chewing on his lip. “Jeremiah talks a lot of shit, but noone ever touched her.”
Lee nodded in understanding. “I…did remember hearing about his…escapades. I hoped most of it were just drunken boasting. I’m glad thatpart of it wasn’t true.”
“Yeah, he’s just a chickenshit whose daddy got him out oftrouble because he was Chevalier. Jeremiah never joined, but still likes tomake it seem he’s a seasoned warrior, that I’m inferior. Even going so far to sabotagemy training to make me look bad. Telling me last minute that training timeschanged, misplacing my weapons, changing them….”
Lee pursed her lips, then grabbed his hand to hold in herlap. “If he does it again, you need to tell me.” She leaned to catch his eye. “Imean it. Don’t think that Thelrand and I are blind to this, but it’s hard toaccuse and punish if you never say anything and lie when we try to help.”
Samhel nearly pulled his hand away, but relented and sighed.“I believed him, okay? Everyone fucking loves Jeremiah so I believed for the longesttime that Thelrand didn’t make the right choice. And now that I stabbedhim –“
“That was an accident, Sam. If you had known that your bladeswere sharp, you wouldn’t have sparred with him.”
“He could have died!”
“But he didn’t. Thelrand is fine and he doesn’t blame you,and he does not regret choosing you. You need to remember that. And rememberthat Jeremiah was chosen for a squad long after you because while you believedthat Jeremiah is so loved, we can see what kind of man he truly is. IncludingCommander Cullen, which is why all he did was talk to you.”
“Really…?”
“Yes. Thelrand thinks he’s a bit of a cunt.” She chuckled. “He sees so much potential in you.” She pushedhair behind his ear and cradled his face. “You remind him of himself when hewas your age, and he wants to help you as someone had helped him.”
She wiped the tears that were now falling, and then pulledhim into a hug and tucked his head under her chin. “You’re not alone. I knowyou’re still hurting, but I’m here for you.” After a long moment, she pulledaway enough to kiss his forehead and cupped his face. “Thelrand asked for youearlier. Do you want to go see him?”
