Important Facts about Cassius Ignatus Ingellvar, my Rook for the Emotional Damage Worldstate that also ring true in my canon Worldstate: The Shattered Crown:
Cassius is biologically the grandson of both Bann Fearchar Mac Enraig (maternal) and King Markus Pentaghast of Nevarra (yeah okay King Markus canonically didn’t have kids but canon is mouldable to our own wishes) Making him a bastard prince & Nevarran noblility technically, and both the biological cousin of the Hero of Ferelden and a distant cousin of Cassandra Pentaghast.
His real name is not actually known by anyone. Although Eleanor Cousland’s younger sister did talk about a son who she’d named Domhnall once, leading Eleanor and Bryce to believe the baby had died at birth during a eighteen month trip she took to Nevarra.
His father, King Markus’ secret son was murdered in the chasm of the Necropolis after hiding his son away in a tomb, saving his life, his body was promptly stuffed in a tomb in the chasm hidden away by Markus’ opponents. Cassius would later stumble across the tomb with the help of Emmrich 30 or so years later.
baby Cassius was found shortly after by Vorgoth and a few skeletons, and was taken in and raised by an couple of Mourn Watchers who couldn’t have children of their own. They gave him the name Cassius Ignatus Ingellvar.
His magic manifested when he was eleven.
Before enrolling as a student at the Necropolis himself Cassius liked hanging round the streets of Nevarra people watching although when he says it he does sound like he lived on the streets for a bit. That’s not really the case though.
His parents died of old age just before he was accepted into the academy, within weeks of each other.
Cassius is canonically disabled. He’s half blind.
During his time as a student he was honestly brilliant. He was well behaved, he loved learning, he was very eager to participate in classes.
But….one day when he was fourteen, everything went wrong. A fellow student of his was experimenting with a new method of resurrection and accidentally caused an accident, zapping Cassius with electricity which sent him flying, and knocked him unconscious for four weeks, he was severely injured with burns all over his body and he lost vision in his right eye completely. His injuries eventually healed and scarred over but his vision never recovered. His eye doesn’t work at all.
Despite this, he’s never really let his disability define him, he learned how to do everything better because of it but he still has occasional slip ups, his balance isn’t the best and he sometimes mistimes jumping a little because of the distance thing.
As for his scars, when he got older, he decided to cover up the worst of them with tattoos on his arm, leg and back.
The scar on his face is kind of an insecurity point for him though but it’s also what makes him who he is in a way and he knows that.
Okay so Cassius and the rebellion still happens in both world states, I haven’t figured out what he did to actually quell it so drastically exactly, but I don’t think someone who is as good an egg who sees the best in people as Cassius would do something bad, just something that pissed off the Mourn Watchers.
Whatever he did, Cassius does leave the Watchers for a bit. Going with Varric in the Emotional Damage Worldstate (his Rook run) or being sent on a trip only returning help the Veilguard (my canon Worldstate).
Whatever happens though, he ends up aiding the Veilguard, so much so that he befriends and develops a close bond with Emmrich specifically.
Speaking of relationships, Cassius is gay and in a relationship with bone daddy himself, Emmrich Volkarin.
In the Shattered Crown it’s a little more complicated than in the Emotional Damage Worldstate, as Emmrich and Strife do date for a while but it doesn’t last because they’re just….too different (side note I don’t like the Strife/Emmrich romance, it just comes out of nowhere, unlike Neve and Lucanis or Harding and Taash) and Emmrich is kind of accidentally swept off his feet by Cassius.
But more on the above point will be coming in a future post, when I get round to figuring out and explaining the logistics of how my canon Worldstate works.
Cassius has never been in a relationship before, kind of like Ariadne De Riva, my canon Rook, but he has different reasons to Ariadne as to why that is and that is because he didn’t think anyone could love him due to his scars and disability for a long time. Also he had only just about figured out his sexuality when Emmrich came swanning into the Veilguard and sealed it for him,
Cassius is actually older than Emmrich initially thinks, he’s 30. But that still a good 20 or so years between them so the worry Emmrich has is reasonable.
Cassius likes Emmrich because he’s so knowledgeable and smart and kind. It’s his gentleness and kindness that makes him fall for him.
Anyway Cassius and Emmrich’s relationship does end up much the same in the Shattered Crown Worldstate as the romance in the Emotional Damage Worldstate, just with some minor changes (like that Emmrich had already sacrificed the Lich thing and obviously Cassius doesn’t go through the trapped in the fade thing and most, if not all of the games events are over).
Cassius is kind and just a purely good egg. he just tries to see the best in everyone but he’s not naive. He has his moments of anger when something I just happens or people aren’t listening to him although he prefers to deal with those people diplomatically but he will punch if he has to.
He’s also very charming and has an odd timing with flirting.
Vorgoth is basically his adopted dad at this point. It’s kind of funny.
He’s going prematurely grey.
He believes in the Maker, he’s Andrastian in faith.
But he also believes that spirits retain something of themselves when they die and are raised back from the dead.
