#but also if I could play as an Avvar

[arlathvhenan]

No matter what happens in Dreadwolf what I want most of all is a romanceable Avvar companion whose heroic introduction to the PC is catapulting a goat at some random enemy.

#dragon age dreadwolf #I want more Avvar in general #but also if I could play as an Avvar #no more vanilla humans I wanna be a barbarian

[sapphim]

we should talk about wardens putting dogs through joining. ever since I've read it in Last Flight I can't stop thinking about it.

Mabari war hounds could be put through the Joining with no worse effect than humans experienced. Some died, some survived and gained the immunities and attunements that Grey Wardens shared. It was believed that if they lived long enough, such hounds might also suffer the Calling, but if any dog had lived that long, Isseya had never heard of it. The lives of dogs were short, and war dogs’ even more so.

—Dragon Age: Last Flight, chapter 13

Hafter was the only one of them who’d slept well. Almost as soon as they’d set up the fire, the hound had curled up at his master’s feet and was snoring within minutes. Duncan liked how the dog’s feet twitched, and how he would occasionally huff like he was about to bark in his sleep. A dog’s dreams were probably about running through sunny meadows and barking at squirrels, which was the sort of dream that Duncan wouldn’t mind having himself. Then he remembered that Hafter was tainted just the same as the rest of the Grey Wardens. Perhaps his dreams were just as dark, and when he ran, he ran away from the frightening shadows that always lurked at the edges of a Grey Warden’s mind. He hoped he was wrong, for the dog’s sake.

—Dragon Age: The Calling, chapter 11

bro hey I had thought they were playing it just a touch coy about ~exactly~ how tainted the mabari was in the calling. I didn't realize last flight had Explicitly Confirmed Dog Joinings

it's a really interesting reflection of how wardens—geographically distant and granted near complete leeway in how they choose to operate—will use any tool available in the pursuit of their duty. even a perversion of an honored cultural tradition? sure, why not. the grey wardens have been banished from Ferelden for 200 years (Kell in the calling was an Avvar Ash Warrior before joining the Orlesian wardens) but what on earth did they get up to prior to that? aside from figuring out that prized war dogs could survive the joining ofc

I have long hc'd that goodest boy Barkspawn was not so much completely cured as... in a similar twilight-tainted state to the wardens. not cured, not a ghoul; secret third thing. (ofc the wardens add a pinch of blood magic to their transformation for that extra oomph. that little get-up-and-go juice)

the devs had apparently meant, in an earlier stage of development, for the player to be able to put more companions through the joining than just Loghain. awakening-style, I guess. nothing really gets explained in the base game until Riordan shows up, but yk. Soldier's Peak is right there. dog warden? dog warden.

#wardenposting

[felassan]

A few more snippets of interest and insight from Mark Darrah, from an older Mark Darrah on Games YouTube video where he was livestreaming playing Dragon Age: Origins some months ago -

Chat asked "What characters do you hope to see return in future stories?". Mark replied, "I don't know about characters I wanna see coming back. I know too much about DA:D to really get into that conversation."

Alistair is "super quantum".

[source]

He also talked more generally about DA:O and the franchise and things in general. These bits are collected under a cut due to length -

"I feel like it would be a little bit more plausible in DA:O if one of the factions you recruit was like 'oh you got the Treaties? Okay, great, here we go'. We could've maybe added another one who could have just come to your aid without you having to fix their problems for them. The Avvar would have been a great choice because that would have let us get the [cut] Avvar content back there a little bit. They could've just been like 'yep, we're ready, let's go' and it would have been a little half hour plot. Maybe you could even have put in a little level that was repurposed from the Korcari Wilds. Oh well, my time machine is broken"

"The problem with the crashing [in DA:O] is that it's a 32-bit game so it can only use 2 gig of memory and at the higher resolutions and settings it uses more and then it slowly leaks enough memory to crash, but there's a mod that pushes it outside of the 2 gig"

Chat asked "Is there a voice actor who is great to work with?". Mark said "Freddie Prinze Jr. was probably the best, he was very active in talking about the game and he was really good to work with. Obviously a bit more expensive than other VAs"

"The problem with the art style for DA:O is, not that it's bad, I mean there's graphical problems, it's more that it doesn't have much of a distinctive look, so it just blends into everything from the same time period. If you look at The Witcher at the same time it pretty much looks exactly the same. So DAII is trying to look like something. DA:I both looks like something like DAII but also has the graphical horsepower to look good, as opposed to DAII which looks like something but the engine is kind've letting it down"

"We've never really managed to get it so that you can hold a space [in combat] very well, DA:I is probably the one we did that the best in and even still..." "The Battle for Redcliffe encounter is so hard basically because you don't have control of the space"

"The problem with healing in DA:O is basically every single combat encounter needs to be a deadly challenge on its own because you're at full health after every single combat, so yeah, there is too much healing in this game"

"The fact that you never get to play with Skyhold is definitely a miss in DA:I, there's no denying that"

"DA:O is definitely balanced very hard"

"When Mike [Laidlaw] and I came onto the DA franchise we were working on DAII and a lot of that original stuff is a lot more like DA:I than it is like DAII for sure. But it was more ambitious than was possible in the time that was available"

Chat asked "Was there any thought on letting the player choose which sibling would survive in DAII?" Mark said "No, in DAII the intention was always that 1 mage survive"

On stat allocation in DA:I: "It's not so much about building overpowered builds, because you can certainly do that in DA:I if you engage in crafting, you can build a rogue with guard-generating daggers and basically be completely indestructible. It's more the opposite, it's more about putting things into places where they're unbeneficial. I don't know that it was the right call. I think given how opaque the crafting system was the nod to ease of use of getting rid of stat allocation, those two things don't really mesh, doesn't make a ton of sense that we have one of the most hard to understand crafting systems and no stat allocations. Should have really picked a lane on that I'd say"

[source]

(pls note that in places there is a bit of paraphrasing of the info, the best source is always the primary source with full quotes in their original context)

#dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #alistair theirin #fav warden #long post #longpost

[darktownclinic]

I know people probably don't like the idea of it because we're literally playing the leader of the Inquisition, but I think it works really well as a genuinely morally questionable imperialist force. Stories from the POV of non-inquisition characters where the Inquisition acts as an antagonist would actually work really well.

Like we see the Avvar get displaced when the Inquisition moves to Skyhold. One of the throne decisions even lets you banish a tribe from 'Inquisition' territory aka the home they've lived in for thousands of years that you just showed up in. And they're probably dealing with famine due to their land now hosting thousands of more mouths to feed.

Plus the vast majority of the Inquisition's troops believe they're carrying out a holy mission for the herald of their religion's founding prophet. That sort of fanaticism in general is trouble enough, but their main garrison being in a region full of polytheistic tribes? Uh, yeah, that could cause some problems.

And speaking of their 'main' garrison, the fact that others exist is a problem too. We see the Inquisition making unsanctioned claims on fortresses in both Orlais and Ferelden like Suledin Keep and Caer Bronach.

The Inquisition's presence in general is something many nobles in both nations take issue with, but outright claiming territory? Major fortresses? Even quartering troops in various towns like Redcliffe and Crestwood? If it wasn't for the world ending crisis that'd be a declaration of war.

The Inquisition also conscripts soldiers from all over the place. you have dozens of opportunities to force people to work for you throughout the game. People probably fear the Inquisition showing up at their doorstep and forcing them to fight.

It also has either an army of templars or army of mages, both which can be pretty scary groups to your average person, and those armies might also be conscripted.

And how can Ferelden feel secure with all of these Orlesians tearing across their lands for the first time since the occupation? Sure, they may be fighting demons and wearing Inquisition colors, but they're still Orlesians marching through Fereldan land.

Also the Inquisition may have been involved in an assassination plot to overthrow the ruler of Orlais, the largest nation in Southern Thedas, the one that's been backing the Inquisition the most. If the Inquisition put a figurehead in place, does Orlais' backing really even mean anything? Can you really trust a faction that so readily betrays its primary ally?

With all of that in mind... yeah it kind of looks really really bad for the Inquisition.

And all of this happens within the span of a year.

Oh and then it turns out an ancient elven god was hiding within the ranks of the Inquisition and was a close friend/lover to the Herald of Andraste and he wants to destroy the world.

#and i actually like it. after playing hawke as a genuinely good person its interesting to switch to someone who's practically a villain #i just go all in on my inquisitor being an imperialist vying for power #the only plot hole is that hawke came to skyhold to help her instead of coming to kill her #dragon age #herald of andraste #dai #orlais #ferelden #the inquisition #avvar

[lairofdragonagelore]

DLC: Honnleath and Enchanter Wilhelm’s basement - DAO

[Remade post, originally from here] 

In this attempt to play as an archaeologist, I went to recruit Shale and found several interesting statues that I did not remember they were there. 

[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

The village and the first floor of the Enchanter’s house don’t have much to offer. We only found the typical dragon-like head symbol, which is a recurrent detail in many Tevinter ruins [Like the Ruins in Brecilian Forest] or in front of the Temple of Andraste. It’s hard to assume with certainty what represents exactly but we can speculate it’s a symbol related to old gods or/and dragons and, ironically, to Andraste sometimes. 

The most intriguing part in this house is its cellar, where the child is under the control of a desire demon possessing a cat. 

Here, the mage Wilhelm developed a puzzle that, curiously, has the same Chantry-like symbol than the quincunx arrangement found in Brecilian Ruins. We know due to the desire demon trapped in the cat that this is a device to sustain a field that prevents the demon to abandon the place. One may imagine that something of the like was performed in Brecilian Ruins, and went wrong, causing the Veil to thin in that part of Thedas. 

This device has six statues around the puzzle, which make no sense for them to be there. 

By the disposition of them, one could assume that these are the entities [the representation of them] that power up the field around this place. But it’s a mere speculation.  It feels like they used all what they had to make this DLC without developing anything new, no matter if it made some sense.

Starting from the top left, we have:

The first one is the usual Avvar statue of a man with a shield and a dagger. This statue is used in the Temple of Andraste to represent Maferath. They also appear in The Fade with arms made out of tentacles.

The second one is the same dragon-like Old God statue we found in the Brecilian Ruins during the  Dalish Origin, before reaching the Eluvian. It’s the same statue that Tamlen identifies as Falon’Din. This statue is also found in the basement of the Mage Tower of Ferelden [here] where the Circle keeps relics that are mostly from Tevinter. 

The third statue is the monstrosity of three heads. It can be found in the basement of the Mage Tower of Ferelden too, and in the Temple of Andraste, as guardians of the entrance towards her ashes. They are exactly in a place where you can find ruined paintings, one of them representing the Old God statue. So far, I could not find any way to link this statue to any lore. It feels like a monster proper of The Horror of Hormak . Or maybe, it’s related to Tevinter, since they have a representation of a three-head serpent statue too. Curiously, you can also find this statue in the residence of the Arl in Denerim [as decoration? lol]

The fourth is a typical statue we find in DAO to represent the Alamarri people. This same statue can be found in the basement of the Mage Tower of Ferelden [here] where it has trapped the soul of  Eleni Zinovia who was a former consort and advisor to Archon Valerius, and the mother of Archon Hessarian [the Archon who killed Andraste when she was burning].

The fifth statue must be an Old God, most likely Urthemiel, thanks to the iconography we find in the game files. We saw it in The Fade , and in the basement of the Tower of the Circle of Magi as well. This is the representation of the archdemons that we know were conceived originally according to concept art present in the instruction book of DA:O, but their tentacles made it difficult to animate in the game. In some interviews to Gaider, he explains that this concept was changed into dragons just because animation was easier this way in addition to the requirement that a game called Dragon Age should show more dragons too. 

And finally, the sixth statue is a warrior-like holding a sword. I tend to relate this statue as the representation of Tevinter people. In the Temple of Andraste we found this statue related to Archon Hessarian.

It’s hard to understand why such a mess of statues are there, and why they are arranged in a way that may imply they are sustaining the barrier. So far, the purpose of just pointing this out and gathering information related to architecture and statues and symbols we found around has been completed with this post.

My conclusion is that, specially in DLCs, they reuse resources already present in the game and sometimes this works against any intention of reading information in the environment. DAO in particular has always been very weak in this sense, unlike DAI.

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore ]

#Playing DA like an archaeologist #alamarri #avvar #avvar design #alamarri design #Old Gods

[nightmarist]

The more DA expands its world and mythology, I hope theyd allow us more and more character options, granted its a lot of work to write all the possibilities (though, I hope and assume thats what they Have been doing all this time in addition to the actual coding, animation, etc production).

I'd really love to have Orlesian or Nevarran or Avvar origins sometime, or even accents. I feel lie with how expansive DA is, they could also do an offshoot set of games that are happening during the main plot the way the cartoon was.

Hm. They have a TTRPG, but Ive never seen/played it. Maybe I'll look into it, bc genuinely I love the world of Dragon Age even if I have choice words about some aspects of the games (tbh mostly DAI but thats not the point haha)

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition

[vigilskeep]

so a bunch of your posts made it onto my dash and i got really curious and ended up playing dragon age for the first time ever, and i wanted to say thank you cuz i love this game and now that i (mostly) know what you're talking about, i love seeing your posts! i played as mahariel, romanced alistair, spared loghain, didn't do the ritual, and left alistair to marry anora while my warden made the ultimate sacrifice and now everything hurts real bad :c

i'm going to play again and shoot for a happier outcome, but now that i've finished my first run i wanted to ask, if you could add any different origins to da:o what would you pick? i don't know a whole lot about the lore but reading the codex entries it seems like there's a lot of interesting groups! and i didn't think there were mages in the dalish at first because it wouldn't let me play as one, but i think i would have liked that a lot.

omg!!! excited that u ended up playing dragon age and apologies for the way i may have influenced it towards turning out JGSHSJSJK but the drama is so good

hmm any different origins... any kind of apostate mage origin would be really good but that’s more towards taking the existing origins and spicing them up e.g. apostate human noble, apostate dalish elf, apostate city elf. the most important thing abt the origins to me is the insight they give you into different parts of the world and the unique perspective you can have on events, and i’m trying to think of a group—within ferelden—where i feel like there’s missed potential. some kind of human commoner would be good just bc humans always have to be nobles which is lame. maybe like a bandit origin or idk redcliffe castle servant origin so people can have a connection to that quest or ummm oh a soldier origin maybe where you’re one of loghain’s or howe’s? an orlesian origin would be incredibly spicy. every persuasion check with a fereldan should get doubled in difficulty for that. i know they scrapped plans for an avvar origin and people have come up with the idea of having a chasind origin before... oooooo for a connection to haven there could be some kind of. i don't know. secluded andrastian sect origin. you could also have like a templar origin that would be crazy. tevinter origin is a push but it could happen...? idk

i’m just throwing ideas onto the drawing board here and i don’t think any of them are super compelling, i haven’t thought a lot abt it. the origins really are very good as introductions to ferelden and orzammar and i don’t feel like there’s really majorly significant groups they missed

#btw there are totally mods to play dalish mage! i know it’s a popular one #if you ever want to try it

[shivunin]

For the edgy meme - #1 and #10 for your whole crew? Please? 🥰

Brave to ask about all of them haha!! Thank you for the questions, Lilou c: These questions are thought-provoking for sure. That first one was a doozy.

(Edgy OC Ask meme)

1. What memory would your OC rather just forget?

Arianwen: Ooh this is a tough one. I think Wen would often like to wipe the slate clean and start fresh, so to speak. It would be easier and less painful in some ways. If she were to pick just one, I think it would be going back to Ostagar and having to watch Alistair find his brother's body. I think it was the first time she could admit to herself she really cares about him and there was nothing she could do to help. That's a hard place to be if you're used to not caring about people and acting before thinking.

Maria: The sound Bethany's back made when the ogre snapped it. Not her whole death---she wouldn't want to forget her sister's last moments---but the sound haunts her.

Adahlena: The moment she realized her father had been made Tranquil. She could handle losing him and she could handle helping him settle in to his new life, but the moment she realized he was never really coming back is the singular most painful moment of her life.

Elowen: None. The idea of forgetting anything terrifies her. She keeps meticulous notes just in case.

Emmaera: Halamshiral. She despised the experience and now that it's done with and she knows she'll likely never have to interact with the Orlesian crown again she'd rather wipe the whole experience from her mind (except the balcony. She'd hang on to that dance on the balcony)

Salshira: Watching her best friend die as a child. She has always felt responsible, and for a long time would never have given up the memory (it's her fault; she owes it to Saeris to remember), but I think once she comes to terms with it as an adult she would rather put the memory to rest and stop having nightmares about it every night.

10. What's an AU that would be interesting to explore with your OC?

This is a really funny question because all of my Lavellans were originally written in AUs. Emma, who is my actual canon Inquisitor, has an extremely flimsy timeline because the first fic I wrote for her was an AU haha.

Arianwen: I am working on a sort of spy vs. spy one with her and Zevran right now that's been really fun, but I am playing with the idea of Wen being stuck in a time loop and (entirely separate) a soulmate au inspired by that *strangles you with the red string that ties us together* post

Maria: I just finished the only AU I had planned for her so far (the magician au) but I also was playing with a circus au before that...but I'd have to find a way to make it distinct from the magician au so I need to think on it more.

Adahlena: Her entire existence is an AU, so none.

Elowen: I have an avvar au and a love triangle au for her more than half written, I just haven't felt like coming back to them lol

Emmaera: The mermaid au I'm currently working on! She is an archaeologist at heart and would be out there exploring Elvhen ruins if it hadn't been for the Inquisition. I'm enjoying writing this one because she gets to be in full archaeologist mode (and finds a mysterious man on the beach etc etc). (I want to finish this but I keep getting distracted by Maria). I've also toyed with some kind of vigilante au with her (but let's be real, she spends the greatest swathe of her time in Kirkwall clearing out Darktown and it's not that much of an AU)

Salshira: I also just finished an AU for her! I do think a princess/bodyguard AU would be fun with her (because she would be climbing out the window constantly) but I don't currently have plans to write one. Oh, also the various Josiemancing fics I have for her I guess? They're not really AU but they are alternate to her main timeline.

#oc ask meme response #ask response #i have a big long list of AUs i sometimes use as warmups but i haven't come across a ton of standard ones that interest me #though i have 3 or 4 lavellan modern AUs i never intend to post haha #i really like twisting canon events into AUs as opposed to like the standard cafe/modern/etc AUs (though I enjoy reading the latter) #i just have trouble fitting characters' personalities into that kind of AU if that makes sense #thanks again for asking! <3 i think i asked you one when i stuck this in drafts but if i missed you lmk!

[softersinned-arc]

thinkin bout inquisitor astoria thinkin bout how she positions herself as the second coming of andraste but very specifically in a way that appeals to the people more than institutions - because while she absolutely does play to institutions (she has to! she's avvar and a mage and she has to do some things to keep herself safe from the chantry, even if it means allowing them to imagine they have more influence than they do) she positions herself as the people's inquisitor. the whole second coming ploy is done to make herself so popular with the people that she can eventually destabilize the chantry and maintain some degree of control there as well.

so she's known to come to the people directly. she's spoken with most of the pilgrims who come to skyhold; there's a lot of embracing and shaking hands and kissing babies and offering blessings when asked. she'll sit and pray with people. she'll divert her own funds when she can to the people. she'll look to commoners for aid in presenting herself: she hires a teenage girl from among the pilgrims to help her as an attendant, mostly in doing her hair; she hires seamstresses from among the pilgrims, and often favors practicality over excess; she tells children stories in the courtyards; she commissions commoners to paint her portraits; she really heavily leans into the fact that she's fereldan through her father, that as a bastard daughter and an avvar she came from nothing (as far as the fereldan nobility was concerned), that she helped rebuild amaranthine in the aftermath of the darkspawn civil war. when she's married to ellis, she emphasizes too the sacrifices made by the people she loves most to protect the people at large above all else, even from darkspawn.

the thing is that there are certain things she can't escape. she can't escape that she's a mage, so she has to pledge that in service to the maker, to appease the faithful and the fearful. she can't escape that she's avvar, so she has to present a figure whose otherness is appealing, specifically by calling on andraste, who was herself alamarri. she can't escape that she's a bastard, so she has to make that appealing by presenting herself as one of the people, disadvantaged by birth and chosen by the maker all the same (like they, too, could be chosen someday). she's made enough friends among nobles to know that she'll never be one of them, so better to appeal to the larger populace.

and that's part of her choosing cassandra, too; leliana is too immediately radical, and vivienne would scare the shit out of anyone fearful of mages, no matter how conservative she is. cassandra's reputation is largely unimpeachable, and it helps that astoria genuinely thinks cassandra is well-suited for the position: she wants to make changes, but not so rapidly that they won't maintain support. it's also part of why she chooses to let celene die, even though gaspard has ambitions to reconquer ferelden: he's new and largely untested as emperor, and he relies upon her goodwill to keep the support of the common folk. (she also installs several of her own spies in the court, including one who becomes gaspard's lover, and maintains an ongoing friendly blackmail scheme. you know, among buddies.)

but what it comes down to is political strategy. the people have by and large been ignored as a political force but the fact of the matter is that the social order has been upturned repeatedly and the people are beginning to realize that they have some measure of power. by establishing herself as a champion of the faith and a champion of the people, she wields control over one of the largest potential forces in all of thedas, and that makes her, politically, a threat. (no wonder people will want to get rid of her.)

(additionally, the more i think about her potential in-game romances the more i think that she'd honestly probably end up romancing cullen, in part because the optics look fucking spectacular. like, she genuinely enjoys his company, i think she'd have fun with him, i think she'd really honestly like him a lot. i also think she's very aware that the sight of the inquisitor, the second coming of andraste, the woman who defeated corypheus in such obvious intimacy with her commander, to whom the inquisition's martial forces answer, a templar determined to reform and protect and to whom she (as andraste's second coming) can offer some measure of public forgiveness? it's nowhere near as risky as, say, a grey warden with so many secrets, or a qunari mercenary and member of ben-hassrath, or potentially isolating from the people as another noble would be.)

but the point is: astoria ia calculating. astoria plans everything in advance and when she can't plan she's a hell of an improviser. astoria manipulates everyone and everything around her and even if the end result is surprising selflessness, the thought process behind it is anything but.

#i. this is how the world works: you've gotta leave before you get left. ( ethos ) #(back on my 'cullen had amazing potential it's a fucking shame nobody actually wanted to commit to actual redemption' bullshit) #(back on my 'if i was writing him i would have given him the r.oy m.ustang 'i've done horrible and unforgivable things which means all -) #(- that's left to do is try and mitigate that damage because i sure as fuck can't change it' treatment bullshit) #(like truly fuck that guy but i love a horrible little guy who tortures himself. i wanna make him sooooo catholic.)

[merrybandofmurderers]

So I’ve seen (mainly on Reddit) that the mage allegory to mentally ill people/ oppressed people isn’t 1:1 because a mage can conjure fire, so a neighbor would have a right to be cautious, but someone who thinks that say for example a Jewish person is automatically dangerous for being Jewish is just racism/bigotry. They usually then mention that Circles should be reformed to be more like schools and not prisons where mages do have freedom to leave and integrate into society. What are your thoughts on that?

tbh, i don't know if the mages are meant to reference a real life marginalized group. like, even without it being said, the dalish are obviously inspired by native and jewish people and the qunari are obviously an islamophobic take on muslims. but nothing about the mages reads as anything specific to me.

they are definitely an oppression allegory, but it kind of seems like the writers just threw a bunch of things that oppressed peoples experience onto the mages, and they're mages becuz it's a fantasy.

(granted, i haven't played the first two games, possibly it's clearer there. or the writers have maybe said straight up that the mages vaguely represent the mentally ill. idk. that's just my thoughts.)

that being said, i have spoken about how the mages function as a failed allegory for oppression. simply put, any allegory for oppression fails if the oppression is based on a "reason", i.e. the oppressed being legitimately dangerous.

in real life, there is no true rationalization for prejudice. black people are not inherently dangerous, jewish people aren't running a secret world-ruling cabal, gay men are not inherently pedophiles, the mentally ill are not more predisposed to violence, etc. oppression happens becuz the oppressive class builds their power on the subjugation and exploitation of the oppressed; the "reasons" given to justify prejudice are made up.

now, even within the game, there is evidence that the danger mages present is not universal. the dalish, the rivaini seers, and the avvar don't seem to suffer as much from accidental magical murder and demonic possession, which hints at the chantry being the main problem. it's also been talked about how non-mages can be just as dangerous as mages while having a lot more freedom to be so. which suggests that "mages are inherently dangerous" could be in-universe propaganda against an oppressed class.

that being said, the writers--despite creating evidence to the contrary--do seem to believe in the idea of "mages are inherently dangerous," or at the very least want to argue that their oppression is warranted and use that as one of the reasons. despite establishing the mages as an oppressed class, they go out of their way to argue that they are in fact equal to their oppressors and villainize their more "revolutionary" characters.

in regards to the circles, i don't know if it's possible to "reform" an institution that was built to be oppressive. mages do need access to education, i just don't know if the circles can be made into that, especially if major aspects of the old infrastructure remain, like the templars.

it may be better to construct a new institution specifically for education. maybe take some tips from the dalish, rivaini seers, and avvar. i don't know, i haven't thought as much about that, in practical terms. i'd be interested in hearing other people's thoughts.

#sorry this turned out kind of long and rambling but i have a lot of thoughts #answers #anonymous #mages #circles #da blabs #i guess basically i'm agreeing with the reddit ppl on the first part but less so on the second part

[madymoo-fandom]

My Opinions on Dragon Age Inquisition

Currently I have WOPPING 1253 hours on DA:I, and even tho no one asked or cares, I'm gonna ramble on about it.

DA:I

For me, the role playing aspect in DAI is middle ground. Its not nearly as good as DAO's but much better than DA2 when it comes to your choices and how it impacts the world, however, if often feels like when a companion disapproves of an action, it doesn't matter. For instance, I had the disapproving cutscene with Cassandra late game, I later did a few quests and then got the cutscene where Cassandra claims you as a good friend in the same playthrough. It was just a bit confusing.

DAI has the best cast of companions is my opinion, this may be due to the larger cast of diverse characters but still. Their personal quest don't feel random, the romance options are good and also feels like an actual romance. Their are scenes were you let your hair down and just do whatever, showing these character are more than just comedic/broody characters we fight with.

The combat is also my favorite. I personally play with a controller for DAI, unlike DAO and DA2 just cause once you add a jump button on keyboard, my brain cannot process. I felt more in tune with the combat and less restricted. The specializations is really nice, although I'm not a big fan of companions also having the same specializations as the Inquisitor. I do wish they did different specializations for each character, like DA2 but with the time constraints they were under, I understand.

DA:I DLC

Black Emporium

Idk if you have to pay for this cause I got the game on sale with all the DLC and Expansions but honestly, I wouldn't use pay for this separately. I use it a lot in game, but only to edit my Inquisitor threw out the game and to buy crafting supplies cause I can never have enough bloodstone. I can find more than enough fantastic weapons on my adventures and the armor is very lacking in this game already and the schematics and armor in the stores doesn't add much. I'm an artist, I feel a need to have my characters looking good.

The Spoils of Avvar

Again, idk if you have to pay for this one but I get it for me personally, I rarely use the armor, weapons or customizations but I can see why some people would like this.

Spoils of the Qunari

Even though this pack is the same as The Spoils of Avvar, I would pay money for this (if you have to, again idk), well up to a sertain price. Since we have little armor options for our Qunari inquisitor, I would give a toe for more. Like a said, before. I enjoy cosmetic mods and this helps keep my folder a little cleaner.

The Descent

Fantastic DLC that added much lore (and kinda reconed some) to the Dwarves and also added a bit more to the Ancient Elves. The Descent is ment for after vanilla gameplay, so imagine my surprise playing this midish, late game and immediately being at 2 potions once the first enemy. I resaved and decided to play when it was ment, "level 16" it said, and damn it was still hard. I honestly beat a lot of areas by hiding between rocks where the enemy couldn't get me. A scummy tactic, but a working one. All in all, I had fun.

Jaws of Hakkon

Evil, in a fun way. If you think The Decent was hard at its recommended level, this was worst. Jaws of Hakkon has a level 20 recommendation, and with beating the vanilla game at level 14, (you could probably do it sooner if you skips a few pointless quest) and level cap of 27, I had to do a lot of grinding just to have my a$$ wooped every step of the way. Still, I had fun, although when getting frustrated I recommend a drink of your choice and getting some food, maybe watch some YouTube videos.

Trespasser

Somehow, not nearly as hard as The Descent or Jaws of Hakkon for being the actual end, maybe because the developers felt people would skip the other dlcs or for those who didn't have them, which is a nice thought, since it is the actual ending to the game, players were most likely to play this dlc than any other. I am a bit frustrated that you had to pay for the real ending but I think there's a few reason why. Time constraints and money. Inquisition was under a huge time constraint and EA/ The higher ups at bioware were not wavering. We're lucky the game was pressed back a year already, the game would have been under polished, faced a lot more issues and important parts would just be missing entirely. Another reason I think to why is because Trespasser is very different in story and setting compared to the vanilla and other DLC's. Players would properly have a harder time feeling that this was end game. If was a good DLC, personally my least favorite story driven out of the 3, but I still enjoyed it

I am impatiently waiting for DA:D. I just hope if Bioware ask for more time, EA will give it to them so they can make a great game. Not gonna lie, I'm just excited its not going to be multi-player. In my opinion the formual we are use to in these kinds of games don't translate well in multi-player, and without this formula is wont be a true Dragon Age game.

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #dragon age dreadwolf

[kayura-sanada]

I'm fascinated by the Avvar and their way of life, and how they handle mages. I kind of idealize them, although I know I probably shouldn't and they have their own issues too. I wonder how or if their handling of mages could influence the rest of Thedas. (Also, Skywatcher was my favorite agent in Inquisition. He defeated demons coming from a Fade rift all by himself!)

Me, too! I love the Avvar! I love their belief system, their ways of life, how they work with magic and train one another, their belief in living in harmony with nature, and how spirits and magic are recognized as part of that.

I, too, recognize that I still know little about the fullness of Avvar culture, and I know that the strict traditions would and have driven me mad (I have taken advantage of that loophole every game I've played), but of all the cultures of Thedas, the Avvar is the group I most respect.

(And I love Skywatcher, too! He's strong, smart, patient, observant... I honestly wish we could have had Sandal as an agent, at least, considering his momentous strength and breadth of understanding, but I'll take Skywatcher any day!)

#anonymous #response #da:i #avvar #skywatcher

[malefilus]

I really want to see like more people from different backgrounds for the main character preferrably but also even a companion. People who actually stick to and adhere to their cultural beliefs rather than slowly either have nothing really except for one or two pieces of dialogue here and there to remind us (looking at pretty much all nonhuman inquisitor) and someone who isn't just gonna be Andrastian. I'd also like the ability to just be straight up awful again. The warden could be awful and make the meanest decisions but we kind of lost that in the last two. Imagine if we just got like: 1. Tirashan elf main character. What little we know about the Tirashan elves is that they're far more violent than other Dalish. Their vallaslin is stated to be nothing but 'blood red' and any who enter their area rarely get out alive. Imagine someone who came from that type of upbringing and was pretty much shoved into a position of 'save the world'. I also just have a theory that they probably didn't fully worship the elven gods but perhaps worshipped more the forgotten ones. 2. Give us someone who was raised by the Avvar and is an Avvar. Let us go in as someone who sticks to that belief and upbringing throughout all of it. The dialogue and interactions you can get out of that dynamic alone would be amazing. Plus the fashion would be top tier to me. 3. What about a Qunari who is from Par Vollen and still abides by the Qun. Maybe someone who was sent on a similar mission like Sten was in DA:O to simply answer a question. Watching them be put out of their normal day to day into something else would be interesting. And giving the character player the dialogue and options to either stick to it or change slowly. 4. What about a Fog Warrior? That'd be rad. Especially if you throw in a lot of help for your cause from Tevinter and Qunari; both groups fog warriors actively fight against. 5. Give me the ability to have been or be an Antivan Crow. We get to pick up little stuff in Origins to play pretend at it, sure. But I mean like give me more. 6. What about another city elf or even a Tevinter escaped slave? Those would both be an interesting twist to present

#dragon age #i'd just like to be able to have like some difference #i'm sorry i never play as a dwarf and i don't know their lore so well so my ideas for them are small #but dude i just wanna play as something less open ended and generic #i get why they do the more open ended main character so people can more project and create their own #but you can still do that while saying the character is from the avvar rather than just fereldan again

[bumblewarden]

Dadwolf Player Origins Predictions

I'm not aiming to be right in any of these predictions, but the multiple (playable!!!) origins were such a charm point for Origins. It was left out of DA2 and barely squeezed in for Inquisition, so here's hoping

Cut for length

Altus: Human / Mage Since we're going somewhere the mages aren't universally oppressed, we ought to see it from the highest social perspective available.

Soporati: Human / Warrior + Rogue A human commoner at last! My primary choice for a non-mage human to contrast with the Altus mage.

Orlesian Noble: Human / Warrior + Rogue Also contrasts with an Altus Origin but in a slightly different way. Plus, it brings in a PC from the previous game's setting as has been tradition for the previous games.

Avvar: Human / Any Class Another fun potential human background from the south that we haven't had a chance to play yet. They have such a fun perspective to bring into events. This is the one i personally want most, and they could actually have enough rp appeal to make me actually play a human of my own will (sorry Hawke).

Dalish: Elf / Any Class Of course, as the Dalish are primarily nomadic, it also wouldn't be too hard to bring in a new clan from the south. It could be especially interesting to see someone from a clan that spends a large amount of their time in the Dales. I never read The Masked Empire, but I've heard there was at the time a large clan near Halamshiral. Especially being so near Felassan, that would bring an extra level to their already-tense relationship with Solas and the Fen'Harel plot.

City Elf: Elf / Any Class In keeping with how each game's PC comes from the previous game's setting, they could be one of/a child of one of the elves abducted during Unrest in the Alienage during Origins. Valora could be present in their origin. Are we ever going to acknowledge Valora again, BioWare?

Kal-Sharok Dwarf: Dwarf / Warrior + Rogue We should be a lot nearer Kal-Sharok, and i want to know what their deal is exactly. They sounds exciting. Surfacer dwarves would also be cool and could actually be from the south, but we just did that.

Warrior Caste: Dwarf / Warrior + Rogue Alternatively. We've already done the highest and lowest of Orzammar society. Let's see what's up the the middle dude now and also exile them while we're here. Gotta move the plot along somehow.

Tal-Vashoth: Qunari / Any Class Conflicts with the Qunari (political and religious group) are ramping back up. I don't think they'd take away the option to play a Qunari (racial group) after granting it in Inquisition no matter what happened in DA2 character creation, and i think it's going to be much more feasible to squeeze them in if they're Tal-Vashoth.

Warden: Human + Elf + Dwarf / Any Class Would be more of a Warden-Recruit than a full Warden, but maybe the playable origin finishes with your Joining. We should already have a Warden companion (Davrin), but this would give the player a personal investment in whatever's going on in Weisshaupt. Not a likely option since Wardens are supposed to be so much more competent than the average fighter, but a fun possibility.

#dragon age #da4

[lairofdragonagelore]

The Fade - DAO

[Remade post, originally from here] 

Details I want to keep fresh, related to the architecture and statues we see in The Fade in Dragon Age Origins.

[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

The place had a lot of veins of lyrium and, probably, a reminiscence of what will be in DA2 red lyirium. The Fade reflects reality, so it's not strange.

Here what now has a bit more of meaning: Red veins or blood. In any case, both are related since we saw in DAI sections of it soaked in blood, from where red lyrium sprouted around. [Here] 

The normal lyrium can be found not only in the DAO Raw Fade [curious name for this part of the Fade where we were thrown by the Sloth demon, not exactly the same way we accessed to it in DAI], but also in the several sections that we are teleported to [ for example, Mage asunder, Templar's nightmare, etc]. Now, the red veins can only be seen in the Raw Fade. 

This could have been the first time we saw this troublesome element.

In the Raw Fade we also see statues of Avaars with tentacles. This is another detail that I overlooked years ago but now they may have some meaning. So far, we know, the original intention of the Old Gods were to be Cthulhu-like creatures, with tentacles, like the statue in the Dalish origin linked to Falon’Din. 

The statue is named “disturbing statue” in-game and clicking on it gives us the codex: Beyond the Veil: Spirits and Demons [unreliable source since it’s from a Circle mage]. 

This type of statue (four of them in fact) surround a mini boss in the Templar's Nightmare, where we fight a desire demon.

Now It’s curious that those tentacles seem to come out from Avaar statues or from twisted structures, like this apparent white bowl. 

Or from this strange tent that gives me feeling of an Aravel. This one is called “twisted structure” and after clicking on it you have the codex: The Black City. 

The concept of tentacles in the whole series of Dragon Age seems strange, except when you think in the Old Gods. Their original design was not meant to be Dragons, but creatures with long arms and tentacle-legs, which design was mainly present in those strange statues of Dragon Age Origin we find in the Brecilian Ruins in the dalish origin, in the basement of Wilheam [when we retrieve Shale] and in the Fade no less, in the Templar's Nightmare and among treasures in the Mage Asunder.

In Templar's Nightmare we also find an Eluvian, which is curious. It looked like it is placed in a storage room or in a laboratory. Like in DAI, the eluvians we find in DAO are simple in structure, nothing alike Merril’s.

It’s curious that the top of the Tower of Magi has three eluvians that seemed to be broken. If we think that the tower was built by Avvar [related to elves thanks to Tyrdda’s lover who was an elf, check Tyrdda Bright-Axe Path], the presence of these artefacts here is more than suspicious. Unless the current Circle mages were the ones bringing these artefacts to the tower, the presence of these mirrors would speak of Elves being related to the Avvar. 

Returning to the Fade, there are also statues that are used to represent Elven Gods or Andraste [hard to guess since DAO has overused these statues, and their “environmental telling” value is quite poor]

There are also statues that resemble Andraste [with Ferelden iconography] all over the place, but there are some creepy ones:

 in the section Mage Asunder, where Andraste's head is replaced by a skull

Here you see Andraste with a skull in each of the three statues. The only time I remember similar iconography was in Din'an Hanin. I already talked a lot about the design symbols that Mythal and Andraste have in common: for example, the single spike in their helm. So, in some ways, both characters are related in a way hard to speculate. 

If we are allowed to link them vaguely, I can relate these statues of skull-Andraste with the Myhtal’s whose head was replaced by a skull in Din'an Hanin [image above].

In Mage Asunder I also found Three vessels with strange icons. Mostly dragon head-like that resemble a lot the heads of the slender-tentacle figures that seem to represent the Old Gods.

Later, in the Temple of Andraste, we will see these vessels in the puzzle of the transparent-bridge during The Gauntlet, and it's in one of these vessel where Andraste's ashes are kept. The strong components of dragon nature and old gods in this vessel is more than curious for being the Urn of Andraste's ashes. I hardly believe it was a lack of resources in the old engine of DAO. We also find later, in DAI, links of Andraste with Wyverns [check in Crestwood: surface], 

and in the DAI Fade, we find fragments of a big statue of Andraste exactly in front of a Wyvern, showing to us that both of them share the single spike symbol in common [I feel it’s a dev’s choice to place them this together, check this in The Fade-Flemeth: Part 1 ]

There is also a strange iconography on the floor of the Fade where the pedestal for teleportation tends to be in some sections [not always]. It could mean just a powerful enchantment structure for teleportation. It's a spiral, each of the circles has its own detail, showing more swirls in its relief. One would be tempted to guess this is elven design in the Fade, but we also found this spiral in the Circle of Magi [originally made by Avvar and Dwarves but since the Avvar seem to be related to Elvhen we can’t say for sure]. 

It was in this place where Uldread was performing his ritual in order to change the mages into abominations. Again, we know the tower was made by Avvar, so this structure should be Avvar. However, we can softly link the Avvar with the Elvhen through Tyrdda’s lover. We don’t know how deeply related both cultures were. 

As a minor detail, there is a symbol in most doors in the Fade which is usually present on all the doors of the Tower of Magi. I never saw it again in any other game.

It’s also worth noting that the tower has these circular platforms, which were present in most chambers of the Temple of Andraste, or in the [Brecilian Ruins].

Finally, it's interesting to see that most of the Fade is made of "melt down" buildings. I think this design prevailed from DAO to DAI, which developed walls with the same material as the creepy statues of screaming creatures [Keepers of Fear]. These statues are also linked to Avvar, so it seems that the Avvar presence in the Fade is stronger than one could imagine, at least from an iconography point of view in DAI as well as in DAO. 

However, the concept of sprouting tentacles did not survive into DAI so far: 

Similar melted-down architecture can be found when you access to the Fade for a second time trying to save Connor.  

In this particular case [I played with Jowan] there are strange columns spiralling up,

and the red veins are now present in the portals we use. One could guess this is where the Demon dwells, and her presence corrupted the portal/lyrium in it. 

There is also a landscape that reinforces the concept of tentacles

And a last detail, maybe not important... did the Archdemon dream happen in the Fade? That green colour and the landscape with tentacles we see in just some seconds of the cutscene may suggest so. Then again, this would not be super strange since Dragons seem to be deeply related to Magic and the control of the Fade, according to the three oldest comics of DA: The Silent Grove, Those Who Speak, and Until We Sleep.

#Playing DA like an archaeologist #lyrium #old gods #archdemon #fade #the fade #eluvian #andraste

[animusmage]

Lavellan: You realize I’m an elf. A Dalish elf.

Cassandra: I have not forgotten.

poor hallia is going to be screaming “i’m not the messiah!” for the entire game

#my dragon age tag #i tried to play through as my adaar since she's my canon inquisitor now #but it's been so long since i played my solavellan file i couldn't resist #especially since i can actually have screenshots of everything now! #anyway i stuck hallia in the avaar armor as soon as i could #because it's snowing in haven and *someone* needs to be dressed properly for the weather #also i realize i should probably start captioning these the subtiles can be a bit hard to see so here #*avvar listen i made this post when i was half asleep okay