Given enough coffe I could rule the world @zundely - Tumblr Blog

About

Zundely/Zund | they/she/he (whatever is funnier atm)| Polish

Heyo- I am an art hobbyist, zoology nerd and fantasy enjoyer. I mostly post about Dragon age, with ocassional addition of other fantasy media. I have a tendency to ramble and overanalyse even things I enjoy- will do my best to tag such musings accordingly.

Dragon Age Worldstate

Warden Commander: Celia Aeducan

She\They | Warrior Champion/Berserker | Chaotic Neutral

Romanced: Leliana and Anora

Champion of Kirkwall: Jona Hawke

She/her | Rouge Shadow/Duelist | Chaotic Good

Romanced: Isabela

Inquisitor: Osian Lavellan

He/him | Rift Mage | Neutral Good

Romanced: Dorian Pavus

Rook: Saarash Mercar

They/them | Rouge Veil Ranger | Lawful Neutral

Romanced: Lace Harding

Other stuff

My art tag is #zund-art. I have some love for pretty much all DA companions and don't love doing character hate of any kind. I am also a very enthusiastic Bethany x Velanna shipper, looking for more loyal fighters to plege allegiance to my cause.

The dividers

seracadash

The thing is that they did a very cool difference in da2 of rivalry/friendship romance, and how they act with you being a mage or not, or a man or a woman. And Sera has a different dinamic depending of your origin. And with Alistair you can have a different ending as a Cousland. And that shit rules for me. And i think is worse when your gender, class and race doesn't vary the relationship at all. People would be like "oh they just love you no matter what" and its like you know they simply didnt take time programming different dialogues.

#Honestly I adore when they do this #I aldo feel like implementing those variations can solve a lot of problems some people have #With the “whole cast is bi” approach

I do think queer people sometimes present this point of view that's because their gripes and issues with dating/romance aren't pertaining to straight romance it somehow can't be at least a bit rooted in things like misogyny. Like I have a guy friend who constantly bemoans how "you have to be a supermodel to have a chance in dating nowadays" only to proceed and air out his frustration that straight "attractive" women should complain about men since their dating pool is so big and "they could have any guy they want". Which is just... these are all to some extent red pill talking points. If a straight guy said all that he would be classified as an incel. But it's a gay man, so he proceeds to joke about straight cis men bullshit and never interrogates if his view of women can be influenced by misogynistic trends even if he is not attracted to them.

#may delete later #Not dragon age #Coming out of hell called exams only for first meeting woth one of my high school friends to leave me concerned #I do also see that trend when women parrot a lot of the talking points that I feel like #If said by a man most people would immediately clock as bullshit #But it usually also comes with a heavy dose of insecurity and self-loathing which makes the whole thing kind of tricky to proceed

apolladay

What category is your last name?

Son of some guy ("Johnson", "O'Brien", etc)

Job ("Smith", "Miller", etc)

Place/town ("Hill", "del Valle", etc)

Nickname/attribute ("Short", "Goodman", etc)

Hyphenated/multiple of the above

Other (describe in the tags!)

Unsure/results

Voting ended onJul 6

#Our last name is fun in that it doesn't mean anything as far as we are aware #We have this long lasting family anecdote that a German guy waaaaaaay moved to Poland for a girl #And he wanted a vaguely Polish sounding last name that he would be able to pronounce #And so about 20 people in Poland currently all have last name that just doesn't mean nothing #But is extremly easy to spell and pronounce for all the non-polish speakers

seracadash

When i see people saying romance in fantasy videogames should be racelocked im here like im gonna hack your computer so no romance in da works for you unless you play a dwarf and then in bg3 only gnomes and dragonborn

#Do... do some people honestly want that #Why? If you all want to romance everyone with only elves and humans so badly just go and be boring in your games #What is it with some people and getting angry that others are having fun

I'll say- interacting with TADC fandom feels to me a bit like waltzing into a wolves' den and that should be saying something considering my fandom alma mater is the dragon age fandom.

#I just look over the fence every once in a while and go nope still scary #But it may be better for me to keep my many opinions to myself considering I am once more #Not particularly fond of... the characterTM #The Ast*rion-syndrome strucks once more #Maybe that's why I am able to survive in DA fandom space... I don't mind Solas being there #rambles #not dragon age

gxldencity

In this webbed site's attempts to overglaze da2, some ppl on here claim that it has the best portrayal of the qunari bc you can "talk" and "reason" with them. The qunari in da2 basically represent the unfounded fears white western countries have about brown people becoming conquerers through -checks notes- establishing a settlement except in DA2 that basically happens. There are barely any attempts to question these fears. If there are like in MoTA when Tallis said that the qunari in Orlais could just be random carpenters, Hawke and the game really acts like Tallis is stupid and you're stupid for being a Qun follower. Even Seamus was partially blamed for his death by associating with the qunari. The closest relationship Hawke and the Arishok have could be described as respect through mutually assured destruction. Out of all the DA2 antagonists, the Arishok is the only one to not get a sympathetic backstory or reasoning the way that he is. He's a qunari. They're all exactly the same you know

#This plus insisting the qunari “looked the best” in DA2 when it's a like one single model reused for everyone #+ The Arishok #So did they look “the best” or is the Arishok just a cool design and we are not questioning why #The qunari as all treated as a monolith by not allowing them any unique character or physical traits #I love DA2 but if we have to be honest that if portrayal of qunari in Origins was problematic but left space for improvment #DA2 does kinda send a lot of it down the drain

Coming out of the woodworks to say I dislike the "set sexualities for RO vs everyone is bi" discussions because it does sometimes feel like all the love for uniqness and representation the set sexualities give ends when the set sexuality in question is ace. Because any time there is a character with no spicy scene, some people will go calling the romance bland and/or unfinished, or lacking in content so... yeah.

#Not to say it is not the case BUT #It can be also the case for romances with a sex scene #And it peeves me off especially when there is an explanation presemted FOR the lack of sex #And it will get knocked down #"But this character didn't explicitly say they are ace #Cool. The other reason is also valid- celibacy is also valid.#Or it can still be both #I remember someone insisting that Solas romance needed more content BECAUSE there was no sex scene

seracadash

anyways i love that the qun has no monarchy bullshit or rich people,,, i love when bull goes to the winter palace and its like "this is fucking bullshit", i love that they dont have concept of family cause they get all community raised and kids are not only the responsability of their biological parents, and that they accept people of other races same as their own... i remember when i played dao and talked to sten and the qun sounded so interesting, i really was looking forward going to par vollen and see all the qunari there,,,,

#Like I am always torn on the relationship structures of the Qun as culture #Because to me personally it sounds so cool and fascinating that Qun just doesn't see the need for a family structure #Based on people pairing off and raising their biological offsprings #Because children are raised communally #And then since there is no need for people to pair off to raise kids there is no reason for them to legally pair off at all #Or for tgere to be any type of association between people one has sex with and people they love #I love it it and what it suggests about how Qunari view love and don't really feel the need to diffrenciate between #Platonic and Romantic love and partnership and how none of those are nevessarliy linked to sex and creating a family #But then I also do get this... vibe that the writers didn't find it all that cool actually and it is ment as just another symptom #Of Qunari “otherness” as in “ they don't even form romantic relationships and sex is meaningless to them!”

queam

Queen Anora

#anora mac tir #oh my god #Amazing #beautiful

Being the only creator for one of your OTPs is hard because whenever I feel craving for some content I have to make it all by myself.

#Felt some Bethany x Velanna feels today #Might need to make them in Paralives #The beautiful saphic gloomy x serious household

ryann-44

there will never be another character like Oghren

#We know Oghren. We know #The whole Orzammar knows

Recently have watched a videoessay on a ship that idc about to be honest but it was one of the big ones with a lot of adjecent drama and it reminded me of the thing that I see a lot of the time happening... when lack of fandom engagment with female characters is ever brought up as a symptom of larger problem that is fandom misogyny you will always hear a version of "fandom is not activism" as a counter argument... and the thing is I do in fact deeply agree with that statment but I am also baffled to see the same people often turn around then and treat some mlm ship of choice as the thing that could save every little gay child on the planet, this pairing on the american netflix show becoming canon is literally what all of LGBT rights is hinging on, everything is resting on the showrunners removing the pesky girlfriend/s of one or both of the boys invloved and having them smooch... so which one is it.

At the end of the day I see dissections of fandom biases not as personal callouts for someone ship's not being progressive amenough but about pointing out that none of us are immune to propaganda and we all could stand to do a bit of introspection sometimes on how we engage with media because that introspection can later help us better engage eith real people around us. But it is telling to me that when some people approach their personal taste in media, fictional character's and ships as a way to declare your values and morals to the world and someone points out that only ever engageing in media centering white men, even if they are kissing, still isn't flawless progressive logic, it will make people defensive. But I think that is useful to sometimes remind ourselves that both is true- fandom is not that serious, but it is a community you are sharing with other people. And making sure you are a part of creating a positive space for all should probably be more important to any one person then a ship becoming canon.

#not da #fandom critical #rambles #The video generally I think was made with intention to #Disprove the negative stereotypes associated with certain shippers and...#Can't say it suceed. Mostly because it relied to heavily on trying to convince me the ship had narrative legs to stand on #And was of a great importance to all of lgbtq community #And... I'll be honest idc if a ship has legs. You can't logic people into a ship #However... you can loose good will from me by denying the shipers were as sexist as everyone claims #And then proceeding to insist that this woman is obstacle to all of gay rights actually

dalishious

Hmmm not done ranting about how dirty Dragon Age treats Merrill actually! Because you know what else bothers me? The fact that it's regarded as a dangerous and naïve thing for Merrill to want to rediscover elven history. But when Morrigan wants to do it, she's written as having the grace and confidence that you should support.

I'm not drawing conclusions from nothing btw. Even Charlotte Reber's book, the behind the scenes look at Dragon Age 2, uses Merrill as an example of when it's a "better outcome" to disagree:

"Merrill is easy to befriend by aiding in her personal quest—but her path is one that leads towards tragedy and self-destruction, and supporting her risky decisions can result in the death of not just her mentor, but her entire clan." —pg. 84 "In fact, Hawke disagreeing with a party member’s actions sometimes arguably leads to the better outcome for everyone involved. In Merrill’s personal quest, for example, helping her repair an ancient elven artifact can result in the deaths of both her mentor and her entire clan." —pg. 109

(I will reiterate that I can't understand how any of those deaths are Merrill's fault.)

#That is an extremly weird wording in those book exerpts #They almost suggest that by disagreeing with Merrilll you can prevent all the deaths when #That's only sort of true for the one dialogue option that doesn't make the Clan agressive?#And that doesn't have anything to do with helping Merrill or not #But yeah it is tiring to see how when Morrigan or Solas do it it's cool to use controversial means to seek knowlage #But when Merrill does it

Also in way more important Paralive's update

Einride and their younger brother Wilmar! They are younger and taller then their "canon" counterpart but they are ment to be tall for dwarves. Also staying very true to their character, Ein immidietly got a breadwinner aspiration, starting learning surgery in their job as a nurse and entered a situationship while Wil almost failed school and learned repairs so he can fix stuff around the house.

#Einride cutthroat #deep roads expedition oc

Not to talk too much about Paralives on my DA channel but something that I kinda sorta want to mention because it's been peeving me off- I think it's kind of stupid to come in hot with criticsm of Paralives inclusivity in comparison to TS4 when Paralives has options in early access that either aren't in TS4, are paywalled or were only a fairly recent addition. Paralives is giving us pronouns, poly romantic intrest and inclusive body customisation (withouth reducing it to just Body type A and body type B which is nice), medical aids including lower limb prostethics and it's all in early access. Obviously there is still long way to go but I do belive the developers earned themselves a benefit of the doubt for now and that trend to pretend that holding indue games to a higher standard then big studio ones is a bit tiring.

I am not saying Paralives is doing everything right. It could use more attention to things like pronouns, usable canes, some body features could maybe stand to allow more range of customisation. And people have every right to complain about it just... maybe not sing your praises to EA's sloppiest cashcow while doing it?

#not da #Paralives #My 'fave' criticsm so far was that “The boddy proportions are a bit off ”#And if they missed such a “basic thing” it shoukd make us worry what we can expect from them in the future

lelianasbong

read a post about how it's difficult for fans to want to further develop already-established female characters because they come with cultural baggage that's work to unpack, so. 'just make female ocs instead yay!!!!'

and i get some of what they were going for - that female characters often have misogyny baked into their characterization or appearance from the beginning, they're objectified more often, there's less of an element of 'just jump in and have fun' when you have to wrestle with the reality of misogyny -

but. if the ONLY female characters in the ENTIRE WORLD that you ever find engaging are your ocs, i think that's an unwillingness to engage with women who aren't Essentially You

#Also something that needs to be mentioned #Making female OC's doesn't inherently mean those characters escape the misogyny in their characterisation #It just that we as a creator are less likely to notice it because it reflects our own biases #And if we are unaware of those issues we are also less likely to engage with them critically #It is vital to sometimes venture out if ones comfort zone because it gives us a clearer view of it

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Given enough coffe I could rule the world