A rook really likes shiny things

Dragon Age enjoyment and shitposting #veilguard spoilers main blog: @casthesixteenth

[briarruler]

You know… I'm not actually convinced that the Templars would always notice if you got possessed during your Harrowing?

Like they don't have the best track record for noticing that people are possessed? Sure if you're glowing, speaking in double voice or visibly mutated they notice. But if you look normal and act normal, they don't.

To all appearances Templars don't have have any special ability to detect possession. Special ability to provoke spirit/demon flare up possibly yes, but that is by being a traumatizing, violent, threatening, abusive and all round a terrible person that their victim knows can and will murder them.

'Abominations' (for lack of a better word) seem to have some degree of adjustment period, but it isn't always extreme and seems to act up mostly in response to strong negative surprises.

A patient, calm level headed spirit/mage pair who entered into the possession willing and in full anticipation of how they would need to Not React to the Templars. Or a very skillful demon who managed to take possession of a mage very smooth in full knowledge of the situation they would be getting into. These seem like instance were a Mage could walk away from their Harrowing possessed without the Templars having a clue.

[briarruler]

Delightful by the quick response

@imissorzammar 3h ago #lmao yep probably gigkfkfkdkdkd

and general agreement

@iovaras 2h ago #i cannot emphasize how hilarious it is that wynne got possessed while surrounded by other mages and no one noticed. #like different scenario for sure bc there was a fight going on and they arent templars#but it feels relevant

in the tags

@dick-hardboiled 2h ago #Looks at wynne

Wynne is a very relevant example in the context of Circles failing to notice possessions.

I did have a moment were I wondered if maybe the First Enchanter as the very experienced and lone mage overseeing the Harrowing might notice… then went hmm no, probably not.

(I suspect mages might have a slight advantage over Templars, in that I remember scenes of them showing some sensitivity to beings moving across the veil, but well first you would have to notice it happening, second you would have to recognize what just happened and third you have to be both sure enough in your suspicion of the possession and willing to report to the Templars that you sensed someone getting possessed.)

So Wynne.

Her not being noticed right away makes a fair amount of sense. She gets possessed in the middle of battle and she and all the other nearby mages are fighting for their lives. It is also a battle against demons and demon possessed mages, if there is some sort of magic pulse or shift when a spirit crosses the veil or possesses someone it's very like to be put down to another demon popping up. She was also just heavily injured and a spirit healer, if a nearby mage felt a spirit suddenly become particularly close I think their first thought would be more 'emergency spirit healing' then 'possession' especially when Wynne doesn't turn around and start attacking them.

So her being overlooked while the tower is overrun with abominations, demons, stray blood mages and several enchanted Templars makes sense. It's much more funny that the Templar just let her walk out of the Circle they almost Annulled for being overrun by blood mages turned demon possessed abominations. Like that's a total fail. There isn't even any indication that they try to check her for possession, but they should have been on high alert for it.

@ikarons 1h ago #i have been saying this the whole time #i think there are a lot more possessed mages than the chantry knows about! just in the circle! #like… a) WILL the templars notice. if you get possessed willingly during the harrowing by a spirit who doesn’t immediately explode you . no #but also b) even if you don’t get possessed At Your Harrowing… #i think the harrowing Introduces the idea in a really close up intimate way #like you’re shoved directly into the fade with no warning specifically to test you against spirits/demons #As The Warden we have successful interactions with a few! #if you meet a spirit of valour during your harrowing who won’t possess you bc it has no interest in the material world#but is kind and helpful and wishes you the best #what better way to plant that seed in your head.#but also yeah like. the harrowing is the perfect time to get it done also. hello #i think it is a lot more common than we’re shown #i also think spirit healers are Unusually commonly possessed lol#not bc it’s a requirement (i don’t think it is) but bc they are kind of predisposed to it by the nature of their work#and the experiences it gives them wrt spirits

I agree with you on all points.

The Chantry is only going to know about possessions that go wrong, possessions that get discovered. But we've seen several times that possessed people can look and act perfectly normal right up until something stresses them so badly that their spirit feels it has to react. Plus if a benevolent possession did get found out, it's not like the Templars are going to record that, they're just going to kill that mage, pat themselves on the back and say good riddance.

The entire set up of the Circle does not encourage any possessed mage to be open and honest about what is going on. As a matter of life and death they are going to hide it and never breath a word to anyone. Not tell their students or their peers or record it in their dairy. And even if they do tell someone, and that person keeps it secret from the Templars, then that person has good incentive to keep it secret even past the possessed mage's death, because if the Templars found out they knew and didn't report a possession, well, it's not going to be pretty.

Post Harrowing possessions!

You meet a Spirit during your Harrowing. You chat with them. The spirit helps you. You like the spirit, maybe started to consider them a friend. You kill the demon. You pass your Harrowing. The spirit who talked to you and helped you through the Harrow starts visiting your dreams now you are an official Mage of the Circle. Sometime later you agree to them possessing you. No one notices.

Why do you agree? Maybe you trust them. Maybe you are lonely. Maybe you are curious. Maybe you are bored. Maybe you are angry. Maybe you are depressed and don't want to be trapped here in this life anymore. Maybe you want to help them. Maybe you are afraid of demons and decide that choosing who possess you is better then waiting until you falter. Maybe you keep seeing your fellow mages leave you, death, Tranquility, transfer to another circle, and you want a friend who will be with you always. Maybe you want to study a particular type of magic but are not skilled at it.

There are all sorts of reasons a mage might agree to a possession.

Spirit Healers having unusually high levels of possession is basically canon. What with both Anders and Wynne being possessed spirit healers. I think Spirit Healing requires the ability to attract and interact with spirits at a higher level then most mages, but becoming possessed is completely optional. It's just that they interact with benevolent spirits regularly, with the mage becoming familiar with the spirits they rely up and the spirits becoming familiar with the mage they help.

I think this intimacy with Spirits also contributes to the rarity of Spirit Healers. As in it is not just rare to have the knack, but for all that a fully trained spirit healer is valuable, I bet mages with the potential are more likely to be killed by Templars. Probably not helped by the offensive nature of the Harrowing, as a mage who is disinclined to violence might struggle more when suddenly forced into a death match with a demon, although their greater familiarity with spirits might also help.

Of course all this assumes that the Templars both allow the apprentice mage to undergo the Harrowing in the first place, and that they don't terrifying them into choosing Tranquility when making the choice between the unknown and dangerous ritual test suddenly thrust upon them in the middle of the night and the known horror of the Tranquil.

[quantumphoenixblue]

In Your Heart Shall Burn

I think about the Inquisitor stumbling through that mountain pass, desperately searching for any survivors, a very normal amount.

Still version:

[stonesense]

cassandra’s whole presentation in inquisition is so frustrating because absolutely everything hinges on the assumption that to be lawful is to be inherently good, and that there is nothing to reasonably criticise at all in being a violent enforcer and interrogator for the dominant religion. this is not even an issue. self-doubt is her real problem! because don’t worry we’ve decided her boss the pope was a kindly old woman martyred saint, and also violence is just funny and cute and not to be taken seriously when women do it

this is a character who first appeared on our screens brutalising a prisoner to get information, and who starts this game with a similar approach to our player character. ooh, maybe we could explore her relationship to violence and the causes she’s willing to do violence for, or our player character could even have an affect whether or not she continues to be this kind of person. that would make sense right? oh, wait, her personal quest about her order inexplicably doesn’t focus on what they do day to day at all? we’re just sad they got destroyed (???) and somehow surprised they were keeping secret the cure to the damage their religion was openly intentionally inflicting on people, like that was the first sign anything is wrong here? well that’s fine she has a second smaller personal quest maybe there’s something there. oh it’s a cutesy one about how she’s an adorable fangirl who secretly loves romance and the books the aforementioned prisoner writes. okay. because remember guys, it’s okay to reveal that she of course had traditionally feminine interests all along, you have to do that to humanise her, but it would be stereotyping if she wasn’t straight!

the seekers shouldn’t have been presented like they had to keep the tranquil cure secret or lie to their own people for us to suddenly start questioning whether they should maybe not be restored. the seekers are an evil, full stop, by nature of being the elite soldiers and interrogators of an institutional religion who beat people up in basements. is this a hot take somehow? i guess it is, for people writing a game with the inexplicable basic concept “what if the spanish inquisition was good actually”? the seekers do not have inherent honour or value or goodness. some people may believe they do in the setting, that would be realistic! but our wide range of other companion characters should not all respect her deep down, and our player character shouldn’t have to play the bad guy to not get on with her, and when someone resents her for things she did and stands by doing, it shouldn’t all be played for laughs. (because yes she did have someone beaten and held a blade to his throat to get information and dragged him from his home across the continent, but she’s lawful and he’s a scoundrel, so it basically evens out and they’re a funny frenemies odd couple when you think about it!)

a game that can’t recognise that—a game that’s too lukewarm and pathetic to ever say anything more critical about the chantry than that it’s irrelevant and out of date, that has a complete failure of imagination to present its female leaders as anything but caricatures of petty schemers immediately cowed by force or pure-hearted motherly old women just trying to do the right thing—isn’t a game that can write an interesting cassandra. i guess bioware having been incapable of handling these topics is so obvious from the basic plot of the game that it’s hardly worth saying. but it’s such a shame and such a waste. she could’ve been so good if she was bad </3

[recents]

i just think that the idea of a blue pro-circle pro-genocide viscount mage hawke being run out of kirkwall for shit politics is a lot funnier than the traditional like red non-mage hawke in that role

[recents]

i am imagining balcony addresses beyond your wildest dreams

[recents]

random 1: Viscount, how do you respond to allegations that you engineered the chantry bombing as a coldhearted, opportunistic political ploy to remove Meredith from power and install yourself as viscount?

hawke: With intense pain. I was betrayed by the terrorist that I must call my former partner. If he had a problem with the way the Circle is run, he should have stayed in the Circle, where he could participate in the democratic process, and blown the chantry up at the ballot box. Thank you. Next question.

random 2: Yeah, yeah, we all read the little book your pet biographer pushed out. We also read the one where a pirate pegs a werewolf. That doesn’t change the fact that multiple witnesses saw you and Anders at the chantry that day—

hawke: Excuse me. I must stop you. I noticed you called Messere Tethras “little” and my “pet.” I question the intentions of someone expressing such blatant anti-dwarf sentiment. This is not how Kirkwallers treat each other. Guards? Thank you. Next question.

varric *always standing next to them in public for pr support*: *under his breath* Did you just call me Messere? Don’t call me that.

random 3: Viscount, if you believe in the democratic process, why don’t we have it here?

hawke: Next question.

woman being restrained by guards: MY DAUGHTER WAS TWELVE YEARS OLD! TWELVE! SHE WAS NOT A MALEFICARUM, SHE WAS NOT AN ABOMINATION! YOU MURDERED HER! YOU KILLED OUR CHILDREN IN THE STREET!

varric: Actually they killed the children in the Gallows.

hawke: Painlessly.

varric: Yeah lady your kid didn’t suffer. *under breath* I think we’re beefing this one, Hawke

[apostaterevolutionary]

I know it's been almost 15 years, but sometimes I am just. Overwhelmed by how close DA2 is to being a masterpiece, and the fact that it’s so good largely by accident, not design, and that it being given time to be developed properly almost definitely would’ve stripped it of everything that actually makes it so good. It is truly lightning in a bottle the way no other game ever can be imo

The 3 personality options, for example. The idea itself is good, and while it’s true that the way it’s implemented is kind of iffy (and I’m not sure if this concept can ever not be iffy, but it probably could be better), the way it interacts with the friendship/rivalry system (also good in concept, iffy in execution) and some wider world implications is… really interesting. Because at the beginning, before relationships are fleshed out, it’s very simple: blue to be nice, purple to be funny, and red to be mean. If someone were to pick all red options in conversation with different companions, it does not actually yield a coherent personality because early game red tends to just be ‘whatever you think sucks’ stated bluntly (there are exceptions to this but the overall trend is the point, not the exceptions). Blue is the opposite: regardless of the beliefs being stated, it tends towards favourability. Even on the wiki, red vs blue are described as reacting negatively or positively to what just happened

But it gets really interesting when you get to act 3 friendship arcs. And I think a lot of people have never done enough red!Hawke to know this, but it’s funny how it changes. In act 3, blue tends to be the less radical option. Hey, maybe your clan will come around, Merrill. Hey, Anders, that thing you’re thinking sounds a little troubling. Meanwhile the red options start to become a lot more supportive, at least in many situations: fuck everyone who doesn’t believe in you, you know what you’re doing and I believe in you. Don’t hesitate, do the thing

And this isn’t trying to convert anyone to red!Hawke lmao. But it reminds us that blue isn’t just “nice”, it’s diplomatic. And red isn’t just “mean”, it’s aggressive. One can be aggressively supportive and being too diplomatic starts to feel a little centrist, especially in the face of the escalating problems in Kirkwall by that point. And while I do think this is partly like, just a natural consequence of the system they built, and it would’ve been impossible without the friendship/rivalry thing because this is the only game where both directions of the approval scale lead to developments beyond ‘fuck you, I’m out’ which I do think is a plus even if I think the rivalry system needs work, the fact that Varric’s nickname for a blue!Hawke is “waffles”, presumably because they tend to waffle, says a certain level of intentionality. However, comparing to inquisition, where the personality thing got way more convoluted (or veilguard, where it got watered down)… I just think it was done better with Hawke. And I feel that if they’d had the time to tweak it more, I fear they would've sanded off some of the edges, but those edges and stark contrasts are what make it so good

And the companions – the fact that everyone is abrasive and an asshole and says at least one thing in the game that, alone, would be enough to make people who don’t know the game hate them unconditionally is just. It’s so good. There’s no other game like it out there. It’s pure leftist infighting written years before that concept made it into the popular lexicon. Even bg3, where the companions do have some real bite and at one point one companion tries to kill another, it’s just not the same? They’re brought together largely involuntarily. Coworkers, perhaps, even if they bond more as the game goes on. The DA2 crew are together by choice. They’re choosing this lmao. These are people who strike up arguments constantly and call each other slurs by day and then go play cards together at the bar at night. Completely unmatched energy. No one is doing it like them. And had the dev team had the time to give these characters a second look, there’s no fucking way they would’ve stayed like that. For all the occasional weird, ooc moments that kinda make no sense, I’d rather have those than have even the slightest dilution of their essences

And just. The overall vibe. The closest I’ve found to what DA2 makes me feel is what Disco Elysium made me feel and I can’t really describe why I find them to have similar vibes, as everything else is different, but it’s just. I think it’s the setting. Kirkwall and Revachol are sisters in my mind. These shitty, cursed cities with horrible histories and they suck so much, but you love them, too. Because they’re alive, they’re as much a part of the narrative as the people who live in them. There’s a presence to them. And that strength of setting… it’s not something you see often. The mood, too, I think is there, of people trying their best in bad circumstances, and maybe you can win and maybe you can’t, but hey, at least you do have the positives. Honestly, I’d say DE is actually more hopeful overall than DA2 despite that people constantly call DE depressing (it’s not, it’s really not lmao, sorry but I can’t agree with that)

And idk, I could say more I’m sure, but I kinda just wanted to gush in an unstructured way cause I got suddenly hit by the feels again out of nowhere. Also I think it’s time for my roughly annual replay because god, I just really fucking love DA2 y’all 🥹🥰

[ac3tinium]

dragon age shitposts

[choccy-zefirka-deactivated20251]

@sky-scribbles

[sunlight-shunlight]

i'm always gazing into the distance thinking about city elves bc, despite bioware forgetting them entirely, there's stuff like this dagger from the tabris origin in dao:

elves are not allowed to own weapons in denerim to begin with. so this means that they went to SIGNIFICANT effort to keep this thing at all.

it survived hundreds of years from the dales collapsing to the present day thedas, with the name and story attached, despite the various displacements and woes the elves went through in between then.

the fact that it's named after fen'harel, and yet has this positive connotation of defending a home rather than betraying allies, is huge actually! like that's wild. not only did the city elves remember fen'harel at all As A Concept despite their forced conversion to andrastianism, they ended up with a very different view of it than the dalish.

i would argue that given how the city elves are always struggling under corrupt and brutal nobility, they might have retained a stronger cultural memory of the arlathan rebellion as a positive thing in their stories. and the dalish clans are technically descended from dales nobility too, so that would also have an effect on their ideology?

FURTHERMORE. if we assume there were multiple felassan-style immortal elves running around, with varying loyalties and agendas, then... i am once more on my "the dalish Historical Misinformation Nightmare has been fomented intentionally by immortal elf agents to keep them worshiping the evanuris" ted talk.

which also explains why the city elves didn't get affected by that! bc... the type of immortal elf who would be an evanuris partisan, would also see the city elves as hopeless and not even worth the trouble to influence.

THIS is how the city elves can still win-

[notebooks-and-laptops]

I think it's absolutely wild how DATV and DA2 are complete opposites of each other almost down to the letter. I find this super interesting because both were 'rushed' (DAtV as it stands today only had a few years in development, even though there was a ten year gap because they kept scrapping things) and yet the developers chose to focus on completely different things when they knew they wouldn't have as much time as they'd like.

Like.

DAtV is an absolutely beautiful game in terms of graphics. Stunningly so. Even for the time it came out, DA2 had bad graphics.

DAtV has multiple interesting maps; even those without a lot of content are still varied and again, quite beautiful. DA2 reuses all it's dungeon maps without shame.

DAtV allows you to create a Rook with a unique backstory, race and appearance. DA2 you have to be human and you'll always have the same backstory.

HOWEVER DAtV doesn't give Rook a lot of real choices or personality options. Rook acts the same basically no matter how you play them. Hawke has three main personalities and when the game doesn't let you pick dialogue it will make Hawke speak in whatever of these three you most commonly pick.

DA2 is a game about systematic injustices, power and how you deal with both. DAtV scrubbed all systematic injustices from Thedas and made all that stuff background at best, completely ignored and forgotten at worst.

DA2 is full of companions who can be genuinely antagonistic with the player; they even have a rivalry system to account for the fact. A lot of cut scenes can end with you shouting or being mean to each other. DAtV everyone is nice and speaks in therapy speak. There's no real way to lose approval or to get mad at your companions.

DA2 has companions who hate one another; they're antagonistic if you bring them out and they are just mean a lot of the time. The closest DATV gets to this is Taash and Emmrich and rook 'solves' their fight super easily and then they get along great. Also, the reason they're arguing is just Taash finds Emmrich creepy not you know. A big political difference in opinion.

DA2 gives Hawke the chance to pick 'evil' options. You, personally, can kill your companions and you can also just be a dick. DAtV forces you to play as a hero all the way down to the heroic pre-written backstory.

There's I'm sure more contrasts. But I think what it comes down to is that DAtV prioritised being a 'good' game in terms of things like graphics, maps and had a more sanitised version of Thedas so 'everyone' could enjoy it. Whereas DA2 dropped the graphics and maps almost completely so it could focus on conflict, politics and interpersonal relationships.

And I think this kinda mirrors a LOT of modern gaming compared to games made 10 - 20 years ago. But it's even more starkly obvious because of the fact that they were both rushed so it's very clear what prioritises they picked.

[lavellaned]

in my heart of hearts the mythal in the crossroads is 6 feet tall, horned, decked out in armor fitting a self-appointed goddess borne from primordial war and a giant fuck-you dramatic feathered cape. it hurts to look at her directly. out of the corner of your eye you swear the shadow she casts is in the shape of a dragon. she's been stewing in resentment for so long the air just always smells like a wildfire and lightning strikes. ya'll remember the fucking puzzles in her temple? you wouldn't be able to just walk up to her and start talking to her, idc how long it's been since she's had petitioners.

if you want me to believe in the "like holding a piece of the sun" line you have to do better than the pajama-wearing default character creator template num 9 that we actually got.

[citree]

You know what?? You’re so right

It’s not even hard to alter her basic design. She’s supposed to embody Justice and judgement. Just make her more cunty.

[gyrovagi]

WAIT HOLD ON i had a templar lyrium impotence 'joke' post cooking in my head last night while i was falling asleep but it was also me being deeply seriously about templar-mage gender dynamics and i forgot about it until now when i am also falling asleep so im posting this in the hopes i can remember and make the post when i wake up maybe < guy who is going t oforget

[gyrovagi]

ok i know in my heart and soul i'm never going to be able to form something coherent out of all this just bear with me. is it canon that lyrium makes your dick not work NO is it even implied NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST. nevertheless it is real and true to me and deeply serious. impotence makes sense as a side effect of regular lyrium usage substances love to give you erectile dysfunction. it may even be a semi-desirable outcome for the chantry to effectively chemically castrate their religious military force, and possibly even for the nobility who send their younger sons into the order so they won't fuck up the line of succession. as far as i'm concerned it's cowardice that bioware didn't full commit to templars being required to take vows of celibacy

and like. So the thing about discussing gender and sexuality in thedas is that what the material TELLS you is men and women are equal in thedas <3 and then what it SHOWS you is that isn't true at all. and every time i remember that sexuality in thedas codex it feels like my brain is crumpling guys i'm going to be honest that's still homophobia. so there's various contradictory impulses at work and it's kind of impossible to truly analyze 'in-universe' gender-sexuality dynamics when the material is so clearly influenced by out-of-universe misogyny and homophobia. gamlen homophobia momence you will always be famous to me

but genuinely it is interesting to me for templars to be literally physically emasculated in line with the way the order is emasculated within chantry hierarchy by virtue of being predominantly men, when men are only capable of gaining 'real' power within the chantry by becoming templars, and are ultimately still beholden to an entirely female priesthood. And every morning you wake up and you go to the chantry and a revered mother gives you your dose of lyrium that you're physiologically dependent on and one day it will kill you and right now it's making your dick not work.

and it like... would more clearly illustrate templar sexual abuse of mages not as an extension of sexual desire but as a product of/reinforcement of power dynamics, functioning in part as compensation for the order's symbolic/physical emasculation. don't worry fellas, if you feel like being a templar holds you back from living the masculine ideal because you ultimately answer to the girlpope and you were possibly given to the order specifically so you wouldn't have a family to continue your line and also lyrium is rotting your body, you actually still get access to a subordinate class of people whose lives you exert total control over and anything you do to them can be justified up to and including sexual violence and murder

i don't even think it's an intentional choice that mages are degendered but they like... very much are, in the way that oppressed peoples are at large degendered by virtue of categorical subordination, though mage oppression was also . not really intentional. certainly in the most 'basic' understanding of sexgender in a medieval pastiche setting, in that mages are heavily discouraged from having children and separated from any children they do have. once you've made enough 'men in skirts' jokes what you've written is that male mages are understood as emasculated/feminized in thedosian culture. Gamlen homophobia momence you will always be famous to me. and clearly the 'witch' still exists as an Archetype of magic user that is incredibly gendered.

like in my mind i think the only way i can make andrastian gender roles cohere is if what we're ultimately dealing with is basically a madonna-witch dichotomy. but this is truly going off the rails and not the point of this post to whatever degree it had a point in the first place. what i'm saying is maybe cullen would be interesting to me if he had erectile dysfunction

[pluviatrix]

i have Thoughts on why mr. zevran "never takes another lover" arainai isn't in veilguard.

[mudd-art]

"THE YOUNG INGELLVAR IS NO WHERE TO BE SEEN." -VORGOTH, best legal guardian.

[ilikedetectives]

- This earring suits you.

- Is that so? Better keep your eyes on it then.

by @azarya-s

[housederiva]

[triaelf9]

I love my spooky dad and I love all the headcanons for Ingellvars and Vorgoth helping raise them, so as a mood-lightener this week, I doodled some babby Ronan doodles for fun now that I've settled on their canon faction XD

Hope this brings you some smiles too ^_^

[djcaelid]

I've been playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard. It's pretty fun. [x]

[otherwolves]

Entwined Souls