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he/they | 24 | ME/DA

[palipunk-deactivated20260328]

Loved the Asma and Cullen cameo in absolution - favorite canon BioWare moments

[v-arbellanaris]

still working plotting for my main fic and yknow. i see a lot of posts laughing at cassandra/the inq/justinia/whoever for wanting to recruit hawke as the inquisitor but like there's actually a lot of really disturbing tones to it, when i thought it through.

cassandra recruits cullen into the inquisition. and yeah, he comes in as a military commander, despite the fact that he has no military experience, but i think that's more related to like. the roots of the first inquisition. they later became the templars and the seekers -- cullen is military commander not because they expected to have to fight anyone but because justinia was going to use the writ to build the chantry's military strength if the bloody conclave didn't work out. cullen was hired because he's the fucking knight-commander of kirkwall, and justinia wants him to rebuild the templars. i know people like to laugh about it because it makes "no sense" but the military commander was never meant to do the kind of fighting they ended up having to do in the game -- it was intended to remake the templars. cullen trained hundreds of templar recruits in kirkwall and he's one of the only few that hasn't broken away from the chantry despite the dissolution of the nevarran accord. he's the most obvious pick for commander, when you consider what the inquisition wants.

bw canon hawke is a mage hawke who sided w the mages in kirkwall. they recruited a templar that knows him personally, that has had an antagonistic relationship with him in the later years, that knows how he works and thinks. if they had gotten their hands on hawke, do you actually think they wouldve politely asked him to lead the inquisition?

[v-arbellanaris]

like i dont think cullen is necessarily aware of why they've brought him on -- its clear throughout dai that he views this as a sort of second chance which... i dont think he would've seen it that way if he knew they'd brought him on just to do what he'd always been doing.

but i do fully believe that if the conclave hadn't worked out, if the templars/seekers had refused to come back under the chantry's control and drag the mages back to the circle etc, justinia would have called for a second inquisition, in essence to replace the first, and recreate "the armies of thedas' faithful".

justinia already had the writ calling for the inquisition prepared before her death at the conclave. leliana explicitly states that the writ is "the divine's directive: rebuild the inquisition of old. find those who will stand against the chaos." the entire opening sequence of dai after this point then goes on to explain that The Chaos in question is... not whatever the hell happened at the temple of sacred ashes. it's the bloody mage rebellion. they throw you INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE TWO FACTIONS FIGHTING almost immediately after this scene. leliana also says that they "don't have a leader [...] and now, no chantry support". the inquisition was always intended to function WITH chantry support because the inquisition would then supplement it. even cassandra's speech essentially supports it. she says "afterwards, they [the first inquisition] laid down their banner, and formed the templar order. but the templars have lost their way. we need those who can do what must be done united under a single banner once more."

if the warden is alive, they're being considered for the position of inquisitor too at the end of da2. even more fucked up implications if the warden is amell/surana btw. but leliana, who DOES clearly know what the warden is up to in dai, know their location enough to be able to send a whole LETTER to them, for some ~mysterious~ reason does not allow the warden to fall into the inquisition's clutches. why would she do that if she genuinely believed the inquisition meant them no harm? this is NEVER ADDRESSED in dai either??? and ive written a bit before about the power struggle between the chantry and the wardens and how it was built up in dao/da2. justinia wouldve absolutely been breaking the law -- a law higher than chantry law -- in forcefully conscripting the warden, but i honestly don't think she cared at that point because:

in the past, to bolster their own forces (e.g. during the exalted marches), whenever the chantry called for additional manpower, orlais would be more than happy to provide. but, by the events of the conclave, orlais itself is in the middle of a civil war that justinia failed to mitigate/prevent in the masked empire.

the chantry, by 9:40, has no army. the nevarran accord has been dissolved and the seekers and the templars have both gone rogue. the chantry has no mages. the chantry has no back-up army to call on because orlesian forces are tied up fighting each other. and it's only been a handful of years since the qunari attempted another invasion in southern thedas -- in kirkwall.

that's what the writ calling for the second inquisition was for. to rebuild the chantry's army.

[v-arbellanaris]

#this is good yes YES#i just played a bit and Solas asks Cassandra what the original plan was#and it was so clear cassandra dodges the question#damn does this mean Solas knows? he fucking KNOWS?#and therefore had no regrets about blowing up the conclave?#many bird with one exploding foci?#wait what? via @sandraugiga

ok wait. WAIT. because. i went to look for the banter. and i found this:

Solas: Did you believe the Conclave could achieve peace, Cassandra? Cassandra: I had hope, as did we all. Solas: The templars went to war to force mages back into their Circles, which the mages would never agree to. What solution could Divine Justinia have offered when all sides rejected compromise? Cassandra: The war was going nowhere for either side. That they went at all showed they realised this. Solas: Or they believed the other side would relent. Cassandra: We shall never know now.

which is already. eugh. idiotic. very dodging the question, you're right. but then i found this -- and idk if this is rare party banter triggering (as the vid says) or deleted content because i've never gotten this but uh. what the fuck?

transcript below, emphasis mine underlined:

Herald: Why do you call her [Cassandra] Seeker? Varric: Because that's what Cassandra is. A Seeker of Truth. A sort of templar. Didn't she tell you? I'll bet they didn't even introduce themselves properly. Or mention who all these soldiers are. Cassandra: The prisoner is accused of a terrible crime. Varric: And yet you want her help. Unless you just decided to take her out and show her the sights. Herald: So who are they, then? Varric: Cassandra and Leliana were the Right Hand and the Left Hand of the Divine, respectively. They were the Divine's unofficial agents, doing things like gathering these soldiers. Herald: For what purpose? Solas: The Templar Order was once the Chantry's army, but it abandoned them to hunt mages. A replacement was needed. Cassandra: It is more than that. Varric: So she claims. Clearly the Divine had something in mind for them. Cassandra: Let's move on.

like. HELLO??? IT'S CANON?!

[annahenriart]

A careful apostate🌑

Another wip I keep meaning to finish✨

[valleyvhenan]

Inquisitor as a Companion

Inquisitor’s Name: Maraad’nashii Adaar

Alternate Name?: goes by Raad (pronounced “Rod”

Race, Class, & Specialization: qunari, mage

Varric’s Nickname for them: Sparkles

Default Tarot Card: wheel of fortune

How they are recruited:

found wandering through the wilds, separated from his mercenary group. is unfamiliar w the inquisition but readily decides to join

Where they are in Skyhold: top level of the rotunda

Things they Generally Approve of: pro-mage/anti-slavery remarks, finding ways to avoid violence, diplomacy

Things they Generally Disapprove of: anti-mage remarks, unnecessary violence, cruelty

Mages, Templars, Other?: understands the need of Templars, but doesn’t think the circles need to exist in their present state. supports circles as a means of teaching, obligatory classes for mages to help them learn their talents and understand the dangers of magic.

Friends in the Inquisition: his closest friend is Bull, relates to him a lot as a mercenary qunari. acts as a father figure to sera, admires blackwall for his courage and cassandra for her faith, vivienne for her diplomatic nature

Romanceable?: can be romanced by any race, harder if you’re a human. locked to a male inquisitor romance.

Small side mission: recovering his lost mercenary group members

Companion quest: needs the inquisition’s resources to help him track down his old “partner.” reveals along the way that said partner used to be romantic, talks about the hardships of finding love as a gay qunari. discovers his old partner working for the red templars, PC must decide whether said partner lives or dies. raad greatly approves in either scenario, but allowing the partner to live proves fatal for raad before the final fight, where he is discovered dead in skyhold gardens.

*still fleshing the big guy out, more to come

[ochomonos-deactivated20230619]

[darthvell]

"Being deprived of me for so long would test anyone."

[godsofyfirheim]

He's such a good tank he probably could get away with wearing just this.

[elvhendis]

Tell me this wasn't Solas at Halamshiral

[lulii999]

I think its a rule of thumb that when drawing Varric, you gotta draw him super hot. Anything less is an insult.

[lunehowls]

mwuah!

[levikra]

just a silly little thought that I had

[timethehobo]

He deserved better than what he got. 

[inkiedraws]

Some art style practices with Mass Effect because i love these games a very normal amount

[kasianie]

An art I made for 2021 N7 Day💥 To celebrate my favorite video game series till November 7th I will be posting only my ME works so sorry in advance for focusing on one subject ;)

[anders-is-a-terrorist]

[stonesense]

the romance outfits are all very sexy but honestly if my group of friends were all on the run for various reasons and one of us suddenly became the most popular guy in town we’d ALL be branding like hell. i don’t care if isabela’s your girl or not she’d wear champion’s colours for the free drinks alone

[stonesense]

sure anders and merrill look cute with the goth moment and the angelic armour but you know what’s cuter? lounging ten feet away from sentry duty templars in full champion’s red. outfits that say no go on try to arrest me i dare you to do it i want you to do it

[stonesense]

fenris with the amell crest when the guard finally show up at danarius’ mansion

[lorandesore]

Anders