#suranasummer

[becausedragonage]

30 Day OC Role Play Challenge - Alim Surana

I hope it’s clear that I’m going to play fast and loose with the guidelines of this challenge. 

Day 2 - What are your characters most prominent physical features?

[becausedragonage]

From left to right, Sula, Adda and “Binny” Surana. Not pictured are Brion, Alim and Adaia Surana.

Well, that picture got out of hand.

30 Day RolePlaying Challenge - Alim Surana

Describe your character’s relationship with their mother or their father, or both. Was it good? Bad? Were they spoiled rotten, ignored? Do they still get along now, or no?

Alim was the third* of four children born to Brion and Adda Surana in the Denerim alienage. High unemployment being a constant in the alienage, Brion left to find work, sending home money and visiting only on the odd occasion. Eventually he stopped coming home and Alim’s memories of his father are few and unreliable.

The family house was a storm, chaotic and unpredictable, with Adda at the center clutching her current favourite. When Alim was around 8 years old his magic surfaced and his mother put him out. Alim lived, more or less, on the streets for about a year with some aid from his older sister Adaia. Adaia, concerned for her brother, finally told the Chantry about him and he was caught by Templars.

BTW, mention to Alim was kidnapped by Templars and he’ll snap back that he was rescued.

Currently:

Brion - I imagine he’ll come back into Alim’s life at some point but haven’t figured that out yet.

Adaia - They met again near the end of the Blight in the alienage. She was a mercenary at that point and after the Blight moved to Vigil’s Keep where she joined the guard. She’s extremely protective of Alim but I suspect their relationship is complicated and, for a long time, not very comfortable. Although she’s got a good heart, she has quite a bit of her mother in her and isn’t always easy to get along with.

Adda, Binny and Sula - Alim met them once after the Blight. His mother sent him some messages after learning the HoF was her son and he decided to visit her, Binny and Sula. He took Zevran.

It didn’t go well. She offered lies and his siblings, lesser copies of her, supported her version. But if Alim was tempted to doubt he had already had his version confirmed by Adaia, and Zevran had Adda pegged as a liar not long into the meeting. They left and he never communicated with the three of them again. He gives them some financial support but it’s all at arm’s length.

Further reading:

Alim’s letter about his background

Comments about Alim from Adda

So the pic is, I guess, of the toxic part of his family, ringleader in the middle. And the funny thing? Alim was originally my deliberately angst-free OC.

*Those who are familiar with Alim’s background may have noticed a few details changed, like his mom’s name and birth order of the siblings. The birth order I changed mostly because of family dynamics stuff.

ETA: I’m only doing canon Alim for the after-the-Blight stuff on this because Alim/Jael AU is soooo far from after the Blight stuff.

[becausedragonage]

Speaking of Alim and clothes...

I do have this headcanon around his post-Blight mage robes and it is as follows:

He rarely wears mage robes. When he does it’s generally to formal events around Amaranthine and Ferelden. 

Then he has some very spiffy and formal robes that the Circle gifted him after the Blight for his service to them during Broken Circle. I haven’t really designed them yet but they’d be much like the First Enchanter’s robes in style with Grey Warden colours. The have protection wards worked into them. 

It’s an intensely political piece of his wardrobe and I am about to bore you all by going into why.

1) It serves to remind people that their HoF and Arl is a mage which probably goes a good deal farther in terms of making an impression and intimidating nobles for political reasons (”pay your tithes to the Wardens Arlessa or I’ll fry your firstborn”) then regular formal wear would. It also counters some of the dismissal I have no doubt an elven HoF would get once people saw the ears. 

2) They reflect the Ferelden Circle robes for a reason - Because the Circle is making sure no one forgets he’s one of theirs. The Circle is making a statement. Alim is aware of that and fine with it. I imagine a whole lot of other mage Wardens would toss them but not my little Loyalist/Aquetarian. 

3) They’re a Ferelden design. I am quite sure Weisshaupt has standardized designs for all ranks, formalwear and casual, of Warden. Alim doesn’t use them. At first it’s because of logistics and post-Blight chaos but eventually it’s a symbol of the split between him and Weisshaupt. 

Zevran likes them by the way. Reminds him of the good old days when Alim was always in robes and access was easy. :D

[kroganmom]

Nimue Surana, the Hero of Ferelden

I’m just going to say I’m done with this jfc

[northstarfan]

Afterword

So becausedragonage sponsored a virtual bloodbath to celebrate the end of Surana Summer, with a couple of guest-stars to fill out the ranks. And she kinda ended up inadvertently traumatizing herself. A lot. I mean, a whole lot.

And since friends don’t let friends wallow in unnecessary guilt, I wrote a thing. Enjoy.

The chime sounding the end of the final round had not quite faded as Jael shouldered his way back into the arena. Whatever combination of magic and craftsmanship had suspended them all in the illusion of the culling game was already fading. The artificiality of the setting crept in bit by bit -- leaves that were cunningly painted paper, awareness that the same birdsong was endlessly repeating overheard, and turf that smelled of crumbling, barren dirt and old hay. Time to be on your way, it all said, back to your own stories.

Except that Alim -- *his* Alim -- hadn’t made his way toward the exits with the others. And that made Jael’s heart catch in his throat in a way that was entirely real.

His desperate search was brought up short by the sight of Alim -- in strange armor and with short-cropped hair, but still his Alim -- sitting beneath a tree that was bleeding out its color as the trunk cracked like drying clay. The mage's head was bowed. The long, slender fingers Jael had so often admired were involved in picking a crumpled, yellowing beech "leaf" to pieces.

"Dirth'vhenan?" Jael settled beside him. Alim's pale fingers wrapped around his dark, sword-calloused hand before he could say another word. Jael squeezed firmly, letting his lover feel the reality of him. "I'm here."

"I didn't think it would feel that way. It was just supposed to be a game."

"It was just a game," Jael agreed. He would be lying to say he hadn't felt a crushing weight on his chest at the thought of Alim dying, but he'd been removed from it all by then, and Alim had died almost quietly compared to his own death. The memory of his frozen, brittle flesh and jaw shattering like ice under the blows of a staff...it made him shudder. And Alim had seen the aftermath of that.

"It was just a game," Jael said again, this time for himself. He rose to his feet, using his grip on Alim's hand to and bring the mage along with him. Alim leaned into him as soon as they were standing. Jael's arms went around him out of reflex. "And the sooner we walk away, the sooner we forget."

"I didn't think *I* would feel that way," Alim admitted. A moment later, the fingers that had been twined with Jael's were tangled in the Dalish elf's coarse, dark hair, all the better to haul him down for a kiss.

"Don't ever do that to me again." The words were a breathless, heated whisper against Jael's lips. Alim was pressed flush against the leather of his armor, chest to chest. "Whatever it takes to survive the Blight, you do it. Let all the rest of this slip away, but don't you dare forget that."

Perhaps this was yet another spell, one woven entirely of love and desperation. And Jael was helpless before it.

"On my soul," he murmured. "Whatever it takes to stay with you."

"Good." A fierce snarl from his Alim, his fussy little mage. "Now let's get out of this Maker forsaken place. We have a Blight to stop."

[telvani-archive]

I wanted to draw sulahnnehn‘s Sibylla for absolutely ages and since I had no Surana of my own for Surana Summer I thought this would be a good time to stop being lazy.

(Or maybe I just wanted to draw this kid in a pretty dress. We will never know) 

[sulahnnehn]

High Chancellor Sibylla Surana of Ferelden, painted by the wonderful rainbow-soap ♥

[ladymagister]

Would you like to stick Sibylla in for tonight's battle? She was knocked out too soon and needs to avenge herself. :)

Aw man, looks like we missed the rematch ;__; And I was pretty bummed when I saw how quickly she was slaughtered in Round 1, hehehe. I’ll just headcanon that I resurrected her with my necromancing powers and took her to the beach with me (which is why I didn’t see your message until now~ I’m on a much-needed vacation for the week ^^)

Thank you SO MUCH for helping with / organizing the Surana Summer events this month! Following the blog and tag have been such a treat to me, and I’m certain many others as well. Positive, inclusive events like this one are so important to the fandom. You and Alim are treasures ♥