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#i think history is a system of roads and theres nowhere it doesnt go
bardapologist · 3 years
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nothing and i mean NOTHING makes me want to lay on the floor as acutely as the album rooms of the house by la dispute
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thanatologyy · 7 years
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da2 primer for a friend read at your own risk
One of the staples of bioware games is that your decisions and relationships with characters effect the course of the story. So if someone dies and you think “that seems a little out of nowhere” then its probably bc you messed something up (unless youre into the whole killing your friends thing, i wont’ judge)
sorry this is so long im so sorry fuck im just really excited also theres SO MUCH IN THESE FUCKING GAMES and i dont remember what is and isnt explained in the first and second games.
The world of dragon age is called Thedas. The time is counted in ‘Ages’ its called the Dragon Age because people thought dragons were extinct but they're making a comeback. 
the map is split in half, Orlais on the left side, and Ferelden on the right. lots of cities i wont explain. Orlais is basically frace, Ferelden is england. all of the DA games mainly take place in Ferelden.
Mabari - doggies! you can have one in da:o AND da2
humans - you know what these are
elves - dont really like shoes (see: not so brief elf history)
dwarfs - live underground. they all have american accents for some reason
qunari - big tall horned scary but also beautiful ppl. their culture is something like EXTREME COMMUNISM like everyone is assigned a job and no one knows their parents or falls in love its like a city of robots. few ever leave their homeland and when they do they're either taking something over, spies, or “Tal Vashoth” (ran away) they fallow the laws of the “Qun”. They live on Par Vollen, a tropical island.
The Maker - Basically god, but he abandoned his naughty children
Andraste - The makers wife. theres a whole ton of lore behind her but all you need to know is shes basically jesus and like jesus people love to misinterpret her teachers for their own stupid agendas.
Chantry - equivalent of medieval Church system u know they rule everything and they kinda suck save for a few good people.
Mages - they have magic but bc ppl see them as a threat so they lock them up in these things called “the circle” for their entire life. ppl are afraid because 1. ahhh magic bad 2. mages can easily become possed by spirits and become ‘abominations’=big scary demons
Templars - bad. dont side with them just dont. theyre in charge of watching over the mages every moves. They are tasked with killing them if they turn into abominations. there is a long history of them constantly abusing, raping, and dehumanizing mages. some of them are good but not good enough to stop the bad templars.
Tranquil - Mages who were lobotomized. basically if they arent useful or pose too much of a risk, templars astral project into the fade and kill the fade version of said mage and basically this ruins their connection to the fade that all people (esp) mages have and turns them into emotionless void people that no longer have magic. you meet one pretty early in da2.
Blood magic - as bad as it sounds. makes you susceptible to being posessed bc im pretty sure to use blood magic you have to make a deal with a demon.
Apostate - a mage that doesnt live in the circle, this is illegal and templars hunt them down. 
The fade - i dont know how to explain this besides its like the upside down from stranger things. magic comes from here and people go there when they dream. you cant physically go into the fade its some astral projecting shit.
Darkspawn/The Blight - every once in a while darkpawn (baddies) come from the fade or the deep roads (where the dwarfs live) and funk shit up. theres the main bitch thats this huge fucking dragon and only grey wardens can kill them (this is what you do in da:o) and it ends the blight
Dalish elves - Elves that live in the wilderness to preserve their dying elven culture, have face tats that represent their gods. They constantly travel to avoid being killed and rarley interact with humans. 
Not so brief Elf history (we find out most of this is wrong in the 3rd game but heres what everyone thinks happened) - once long ago all elves had magic and they ruled thedas. they worshiped their gods (elven pantheon) in peace ect. then the naughty humans (called Shemlen by elves) came and suddenly the elves lost their immortality. The humans (specifically tevinters (theyre the naughtiest)) waged war on the elves and somehow won and their city crumbled killing lots of ppl. The ones who werent killed became slaves. after a while people are like “this sucks!” and come andraste. Andraste was a human slave in tevinter (bad place) and lead a revolution that freed the elves. her husband eventually killed her bc the maker loved her and he was a little jealous. so them the elves were free and just chillin for a couple centuries i think until the Chantry loves andraste and the maker SOO much that its A Little Annoying and feel the need to spread “the chant of light’ to every race in Thedas. Of course the elves still like their gods so theyre like “uhhh no thanks” and the Chantry is like “uhhh fuck you?????” and a big war happened where more elves were killed and taken as slaves and lost their entire culture in the process. Eventually slavery is illegal in thedas besides Tevinter. but most elves are servants and very discriminated against. so much in fact that they either live in alienages, separated from the main cities (City Elves) or live in the wilderness, constatly moving and wandering around so they dont get killed (see: Dalish Elves) 
tl:dr: elves are treated like shit 
da2 is set shortly after the blight that you end in the first game as a grey warden, i think this is explained in the first hour or something. the character you play in the first game will be refered to as “the hero of ferelden”
if you have any questions that arent explained in game hmu babe
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