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If you're anything like me, you made it your mission to collect every single horse breed in Dragon Age: Inquisition. However. If you're anything like me, it annoyed the hell out of you to not have good parallels to real-world breeds for art references. This post aims to help with that, using some tomfoolery and shenanigans to give some vague approximation of region, build and color in order to find horse breeds that exist in real life and would make sense in Thedas.
This will be put under a cut after the first pony because this post got LOOONG. Enjoy!
The Ferelden Forder, or the Cleveland Bay
The Ferelden Forder is described as a "proud animal ... [that] ranges well beyond its namesake, at home in stables and armies across Thedas." In the game, the Forder is a beautiful rich dappled bay, with darkened legs, mane and tail. Given that Ferelden itself seems to be vaguely inspired by the regions present in the UK, the stout appearance, tallness and shapely body of the Cleveland Bay lends itself near-perfectly to the Forders, in my humble opinion. The only thing about the Cleveland Bay that isn't truly represented by the Forders is their white markings--Forders have a big white blaze on their face in Inquisition, whereas real life Cleveland Bays are considered inadmissable in the studbook with markings any larger than a small white star.
Despite that, I think the Cleveland Bay is an excellent point of reference to use when drawing Forders, and the color variations are perfect for learning how to shade all sorts of variations of bay ponies.
The Amaranthine Charger, or the English Thoroughbred
The Amaranthine Charger is described as "spirited but not unruly" and an "uncommon mount, sure to impress." Amaranthine is still within the borders of Ferelden--or at least neighboring it--but its proximity to the Free Marches had me stumped. It's my opinion that the Amaranthine Charger could go two ways: a lighter, faster breed, or a thicker one that's been crossed with that fineness. So, there are two good options I feel are representative of the Amaranthine Charger.
The English Thoroughbred or the Irish Sport Horse (otherwise known as the Irish Hunter). Both breeds are brave, both have some speed, both are generally seen as being handle-able, and they both come in an array of colors that could be fun for any artist wanting to try their hand at some funky markings and patterns. I only chose a black coat since that's what we see in the game.
The Orlesian Courser, or the Selle Francais
The Orlesian Courser is breed that is spirited, with a "lineage longer than most noble names." While technically the Selle Francais is a newer breed, it is made of a bunch of older French breeds being merged into one studbook. The range of height (155-180cm at the withers), more elegant conformation and refinement lends itself perfectly to a faster, more 'respectable' horse that still may be capable of carrying a knight or mounted combatant.
The Selle Francais typically comes in shades of bay, grey and chestnut, but other coat colors are possible, especially when crossed with other breeds.
The Dalish All-Bred, or the 'Some Sort of UK Pony Breed'
Dalish All-Breds are described in-game as being hardy and sure-footed, as well as a breed of "humble origins." New Forest Ponies are generally well-temptered and loyal, often used as family mounts or for children. Being a breed that often roams New Forest, these ponies are also rather brave and perhaps exceptionally well-suited to navigating challenging terrain, making them great parallels for the Dalish All-Bred. Ironically, while piebalds and skewbalds (the pattern presented in-game) disqualify New Forests from being added to the studbook, it isn't entirely uncommon to find such patterning within the breed. Other options for Dalish All-Breds might be Exmoor and Dales Ponies.
Green Dales Feral, or the American Mustang
The Green Dales Feral is said to have descended from stock that escaped the Qunari invasions in the North, which sounds an awful lot like the Spanish horses that worked their way over to America and became feral. Mustangs aren't often used by your average Joe, and the Green Dales Feral is also "rarely seen on the field." The horses are hardy, sure-footed and brave, and come in a variety of fun and interesting colors and patterns that are sure to dazzle and make for fun art studies. Mustangs also come in a lot of different shapes, so you can really customize your pony however you'd like them to look.
The Free Marches Ranger, or the Oldenburg
The Free Marches Ranger is a palomino in-game, so I did want to make sure the breed I referenced had horses in this particular coat color. The Oldenburg is a German breed; it's sporty, athletic and also rather even-tempered. Other options might be Holsteiners or Hanoverians, depending on how stocky you want your reference to be. With the Free Marches being such a loosely connected place, it's difficult to really pin down each city-state as being of a certain region, so I used the idea that often gets circulated that the Marches resemble German city-states and worked backwards from there.
The Asaarash, or the Iberian Horses
The Asaarash was another one difficult to pin down, as the model in the game seems to just be an armored version of the Green Dales Feral. However, the actual information blurb tells us that the breed is Rivaini in origin, resilient, and is used to carry messages across Seheron. There's a couple different directions here, but I chose to focus on the Rivaini origins of the breed and chose the Lusitanos and Pura Raza Espanolas to represent the Asaarash. They're powerful breeds that are tall and stocky, capable of carrying heavier loads as well as being used to work cattle. They're brave and particularly adapted to war, having been used as cavalry horses. Both also come in the chestnut coat.
If looking for a horse that would more closely match the 'speed' and desert adaptability of Seheron, I would recommend Egyptian Arabians as your starting point.
The Frostback Mountain Horse, or the Trotters and Saddlers
The Frostback Mountain Horse is used by the Avaar in the Frostbacks, making the horse hardy and adapted to cold by nature. I chose to look to Scandinavian horse breeds for this and discovered the Swedish Coldblood Trotter, a horse with some feathering (hair) around the legs that matches the in-game equivalent and comes in varying shades of brown and black. The game codex describes the Frostback Mountain Horses as being "fierce, loyal and not quite tame" which doesn't exactly match the psychological profile of these Trotters, but I felt the region and build apt enough regardless to overlook it.
Other options for mountain horses would be the American Rocky Mountain Horse or the Kentucky Mountain Horse (sometimes referred to as the Kentucky Saddler/Saddle Horse).
The Taslin Strider, or the Italian Saddle Horse
The Taslin Strider is described as a refined breed and is most common in Antiva's warmer areas. It's also described as being suited to long distances and spirited charges. I thought the Italian Saddle Horse, or Sella Italiano, would best fit this particular description. The Sella Italiano is a breed with a great degree of refinement, as evidenced by the beautiful floaty trot above and pricked ears. The Sella Italiano is also bred for show-jumping, giving it a degree of power and force. The breed also competes in three-day eventing and endurance, meaning it checks off the boxes for long distance riding as well.
The Imperial Warmblood, or the Lipizzan
You may be familiar with the elegant Lipizzan from the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, with their elegant caprioles and levades. The Imperial Warmblood, being this beautiful grey and described as imposing, made perfect sense to be represented by the Lipizzan. The horses have all the refinement of a dressage horse with all the warlike structure of a good cavalry horse (the two are actually more entwined than you'd think). Additionally, the Lipizzan has near world-wide fame, lending itself further to the Imperial Warmblood's omnipresence when the Tevinter Imperium was at its height. Nowadays, the breed seems to feature more often in the Imperium's homeland, mirroring the current concentration of Lipizzan horses today.
The Anderfel Courser, or the Altai
The Anderfel Courser was a tough one, and I'm torn between two options. The Altai is a breed that is suitable for mountainous terrain as well as cold climates, which I think makes it perfect for the areas of the Anderfels that are freezing and rocky (think Hossberg in Veilguard). However, the Anderfels also has areas of arid, rocky and cavernous deserts, which left me stumped. I think a combination of the Altai and the loose 'Afghan horse' category (Qatgani would be an excellent keyword to start on those horses, or the sport of buzkashi for action-packed poses) would be best suited to this strange combination of climates. It also fits the Anderfel Courser's description of being highly uncommon across Thedas. Being bred for the Grey Wardens, I think the Altai and Afghan horses would likely be the best suited for their particular brand of excitement.
Some Quick Diagrams
I realize not everyone is as into horses as I am, and may be stumped on how to search for certain colors and patterns when looking up references. As a final little send off, I've compiled here a group of diagrams designed to help beginners look for color, markings and patterns without drowning in resources on [insert your search engine of choice].
As always, feel free to play with keywords and markings, and really, just go buckwild. These are fantasy horses, after all. But I know sometimes finding references that fit the image in your mind's eye can be tough, so I hope this post helps out, either with finding drawing references or just showing off some cool kinds of horses you may have never heard about before!
If you're interested in learning about medieval horses and their general uses and care, I would highly recommend watching Modern History TV's Everything You Need to Know About Medieval Horses for more information.
especially funny bc it feels like a throwaway line there? like vivec’s just fed up with nerevar and says “reach heaven by violence, then” to get him off his back. and then nerevar takes it literally and fights his way to the moon to fight ghosts there
tbh a mod where the nerevarine goes to the moon to meet whatever vivec meant by the parliament of craters would be awesome. literally none of it is meant to be taken literally but wouldn’t it be cool
While a valid point, small nerd correction here: the time when Vivec tells Nerevar to reach heaven by violence and he goes to the moons is not the first nor the most important time it comes up. It is absolutely not a throwaway term.
The first time the line is introduced in Sermon 6:
You have discovered the sixth Sermon of Vivec, which was hidden in the words that came next to the Hortator.
[...]
Six are the formulas to heaven by violence, one that you have learned by studying these words.
Herein "heaven by violence" refers to just any form of ascension to godhood whatsoever, since all walking ways require engaging in the violence of the universe - the Tri-Angular Truth, the original betrayal from which the Aurbis sprung forth - and reenacting it yourself. Different paths to reenactment became codified as the walking ways, hence, "formulas to heaven by violence".
The second time it comes up in Sermon 15, the one where Vivec introduces Nerevar to the concept of the Sharmat:
'You alone, though you come again and again, can unmake him. Whether I allow it is within my wisdom. Go unarmed into his den with these words of power: AE GHARTOK PADHOME [CHIM] AE ALTADOON. Or do not. The temporal myth is man. Reach heaven by violence. This magic I give to you: the world you will rule is only an intermittent hope and you must be the letter written in uncertainty.'
Here he is directly instructing Nerevar to ascend and become the Sharmat's equal, which necessitates that Nerevar must first overcome Vivec himself (earlier in the same Sermon, "The ruling king will remove me, his maker. This is the way of all children."). Vivec will be the one to judge whether he is worthy and capable of the station (Sermon 13: "If there is to be an end I must be removed. The ruling king must know this, and I will test him. I will murder him time and again until he knows this.")
Then in Sermon 16, the line comes again:
Nerevar said, 'I am afraid to become slipshod in my thinking.'
Vivec said, 'Reach heaven by violence then.'
Nerevar doubts his abilities and so Vivec advises him to complete his journey to apotheosis, which will leave no room in him for doubt. That is why he goes to raid the Parliament of Craters, who directly call him out for his flaws and belittle his supposed "royalty", as they are not "the earth under his temporal domain" and thus do not recognize his authority. After his failure to subdue them, Vivec finds him in Sermon 17 and takes him around the world, showing him the Red Mountain where he will inevitably face the Sharmat.
Sermon 18, then is the last one to mention the line:
This sermon is forbidden.
In this world and others EIGHTEEN less one (the victor) is the magical disk, hurled to reach heaven by violence.
This sermon is untrue.
The ending of the world is ALMSIVI.
The Hurling Disk is an existing symbolic image in TES which represents Nirn itself, the Wheel with no center, hurling through the void to reach an invisible heaven. Sermon 18 in particular tackles Vivec's own doubts about his divinity and whether the Tribunal are truly an improvement over the Three Good Daedra they mantled, while he muses on the way their apotheosis revised the universe.
For this reason I'd also call attention to the final line: unlike in the other Sermons, where they end with "The ending of the words is ALMSIVI", this one says "The ending of the world is ALMSIVI". By ascending, the ALMSIVI have destroyed the previous world where they did not yet exist as gods, and time had been rewritten. Sermon 17 alludes to it even more subtly - Vivec and Nerevar engage in combat and Nerevar is wounded, "marked for all to see", but then he heals the wound. In this revised timeline, Nerevar did not die by their hand.
All of these musings are fundamentally talking about the nature of godhood and its effect - its violence - upon the world. One must engage in violence to escape it, and to continue exercising one's power is inflicting that violence upon the world. You don't even realize you do it.
Subsequent are the revisions, differentiated between hope and the distraught, situations that are only required by the periodic death of the immutable. Cosmic time is repeated: I wrote of this in an earlier life. An imitation of submersion is love's premonition, its folly into the underworld, by which I mean the day you will read about outside of yourself in an age of gold. For on that day, which is a shadow of the sacrificial concept, all history is obliged to see me for what you are: in love with evil.
"i don't comment on ao3 because i don't wanna be annoying or weird" skill issue + you greatly underestimate the power dynamic here, writing multi paragraph comments is like feeding a bunch of deeply insane and possibly starved ducks at the park and watch them go completely mad over having received a piece of bread
'Tu mia sola aria, tu mio solo sole' / 'you my only air, you my only sun'
my piece for the @me-envenena-viago viarook fanzine uwu - thank you for all who donated for the full zine and please show love and support to everyone involved. thank you to the organizers for making it a great experience, and for introducing me to other viarook lovers uwu
There is no drug on earth that can replicate the absolute euphoria of hitting a writing flow state at 2:00 AM. You aren’t even typing anymore. You are a vessel. You are a channel for the gods. The characters are speaking directly into your brain and you’re just the stenographer trying to keep up. You feel like you could fight a bear. You feel like you invented the alphabet
shadow dragons we're all doing the shadow dragon snecret handsnake (secret handshake where we make snakes with our hands and go ssssssssssssssssssssssssss together)
One little detail that I love in the Lucanis romance, is that in the lock-in when he makes your favorite dessert, you can check the grocery list. This list is for the paella he made to go with dessert, and at the very bottom, Harding makes a note:
I love this so much. The way he keeps insisting that he made it for everyone, despite the fact that there was already going to be another dessert for this meal. It's just sweet.
I also love the idea of him stressing that his clever ruse is going to fall through, with this addition. I want to see him pretend that he just missed that note on his own grocery list, while Rook just grins at him.
wedding dresses are white specifically so that if the bride goes axe-crazy you can rest assured you will see the blood stains all over her and it'll be sick as fuck
”how do i get people interested in my ocs” TAG THEM. BY NAME. HAVE AN ORIGINAL CHARACTER TAG I CAN LOOK THROUGH. PLEADE. SOURCE TAG AND THEN INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER TAG. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE CLICKED THROUGH THREE DIFFERENT VARIATIONS OF “#OC” ON SOMEONES BLOG TO GET THE FULL EXTENT OF THEIR ORIGINAL CHARACTER ART I REALLY WANT TO SEE. TOO MANY. THREE HUNDRED POSTS HIDDEN BECAUSE I WAS GOING THROUGH THE “ORIGINAL CHARACTER” TAG AND NOT THE “OCS” TAG ON THEIR BLOG. YOU MUST DO THIS FOR ME.
favorite thing in the whole wide world when a story is about how a typically “negative” trait is the one essential to saving the day. a character whose anger pushes them further than any of their kinder aspects. someone so stubborn that they cross a finish line no one else could reach. greed that becomes justification to protect people. ruthlessness that gets the job done right. the coward who becomes a hero because they were the only one with the sense not to face something deadly head on. selfishness that keeps you alive.
I love when our ‘worst’ impulses are shown to be as important to who we are and how we handle things as the best parts of us. sometimes you don’t conquer what everyone says is wrong with you; sometimes you learn how to make use of what comes naturally instead of fighting against it.
I know now what I was born to do @watchmans-ease - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
