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the-cryptographer · 3 years

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Hezjena encouraged me to participate in a Merrill drabble challenge along with her, but I’m too lazy to post every day or every other day on here so, introducing Month of Merrill Mondays~ Where I post 3-4 ficlets for the @monthofmerrill prompts each Monday in July all in one poorly organised post :)

This time, I’m posting for: 1. Sundermount (Fenris & Merrill, Long Way Home & A New Path, cw: violence, death) 2. Keeper (Merrill solo) 3. Blood Magic (Audacity & Merrill, pre-canon, cw: self harm)

All three turned out pretty angsty, but hopefully that will turn around with some of the later prompts~ Starting with Blood Magic bc it’s my favourite in this batch, and leaving the other two under the cut.

3. Blood Magic (Audacity & Merrill, pre-canon, cw: self harm)

“Like this?” Merrill asked. She drew the knife under her arm – on the skin that lay flat against her side, out of sight.

She didn’t know how it felt. Not like clarity or focus, the way it had when she’d done this before. Just sharp, maybe? Disrupting the lines of old scars.

“That’s how the last one did it.” The Veil, thin around the shrine, shimmered. Audacity sounded almost bored. “And the one before her, and the one before him, to the beginning of time. Be bold. Try something new for a change.”

“It’s new for me,” Merrill said, as she pulled sparks from the droplets of blood. Not like when she’d done this just to feel something other than shame and to hear something more than Marethari’s critical voice echoed in her own head.

She turned her attention back to the spirit. “Why did you help me?” And for nothing more than promises, Merrill had noticed. “If what you want is something new…? I only want to bring back what was.”

Audacity chuckled. “You don’t know a thing, do you?” He pressed as close to her as the Veil would allow. “I want to see it, your brave new world, enasalelan.” Victorious One.

1. Sundermount (Fenris & Merrill, Long Way Home & A New Path, cw: violence, death)

“Is this where you intend to die, witch?”

Merrill looked around the yard – moss sprouting between markers in the ground – overlooking the foggy mountains.

“This isn’t a place for death,” Merrill explained, because Fenris was very young and stupid without his memories, blessed with the very least of Dirthamen’s knowledge. “It is where the Elvhen went to enter uthenera. It is a place of immortality.”

“It is a place of corpses,” Fenris sneered. Skeletons shambled from the grave, puppeteered by wisps desperate for even the barest feel of life, the barest brush of the cold mountain wind. In one smooth motion, Fenris grabbed for the vertebrae and crushed the bone to dust in his gauntlets. “Keep on the path you’re on, and you will be one of them someday.”

Merrill didn’t think uthenera and immortality would be too bad, if she were able to recreate it. She’d rediscover the old secrets, and return them to her clan, and then perhaps she’d go into a long sleep on Sundermount.

Ideas changed. Years passed. Fenris became more worn, but not more aged. He asked her the same question in the same graveyard, as she sobbed over Fenarel and Ineria and the others. All the hunters of the clan – dead by her hand. How would the rest of them keep from starving?

Fenris’s gauntlet was still bloody, and Merrill thought he might end her right there.

More of the clan were coming for them, arrows notched and ready.

“Anywhere!” Merrill cried. “I’d die anywhere but here!”

And he nodded, like he understood. Like Seheron had been his Sundermount.

He hauled her over his shoulder and ran away to the base of the mountain for her.

2. Keeper (Merrill solo)

“Keep? The way someone keeps bees? Or sheep?”

Hawke let the dice fall from her fist and scatter across the counter at the Rose.

Adriano picked them up with a hand that smelled like blooming jasmine.

It was a rude thing to say, but Merrill didn’t mind. “It’s alright. I would have made a terrible Keeper.”

Hawke didn’t blink at the non sequitur. She stared straight across the counter at Adriano as she removed her gloves, finger by finger. “Keep a few things for me, would you?” She set the gloves and a pair of runed rings on the counter ahead of Merrill.

Merrill kept them. She went home and placed them on a shelf with a halla statue, a ship in a bottle, and stacks and stacks of books.

She was terrible at keeping people, but she was growing used to keeping things. Piled over chairs and floor and shelves.

The roof of the tenement was leaking, but Merrill sat in the centre of the room and found herself in a palace of old Arlathan. With relics and knowledge all around her, and an Eluvian, and no need to walk from place to place.

Thanks for reading~

#dragon age #month of merrill #i'll put these on ao3 in a couple days but lazy rn #the audacity one is shippy in my heart but idk #ambiguous merracity and ferrill if you squint and wanna see it that way #yes i mistook july for june and had to edit this #2021 is a shitshow #hez also made the header

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felassan · 4 years

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Hello! I want to ask you smthing bc i am new to the fandom and i am trying to get it. Solas wants to take down the veil to bring back his people but bc of the veil his people started to get old and die and it has been more than 1000 years since be did that. So, arent his people dead? And the ones alive now are their descendats? I mean the evanuris are his people but he hates them. I know some are still alive, like abelas but the others are dead. I dont understand, what people can he bring back?

Hello, welcome to the fandom! Good question. Let’s see! There are several aspects to this. I don’t know if you’ve read Tevinter Nights, so I put this answer under a cut as some of it pertains to that.

First, there’s a bit of a distinction. Rather than “to bring back his people”, like just bringing back specific people or groups of people, the overarching goal is to save his people, his race. Save the elven people as an entity. This is more of a concept, like an idea? An idea that could take several forms, or entail several things, depending on who’s perspective we’re looking at, as is the case for many things (example: my Inquisitor’s conception of what “saving the People” means is radically different to his). “Saving humanity” in Battlestar Galactica involved only a small fraction of the human race escaping the fall of the Twelve Colonies on a fleet in space. In The 100, saving humanity in the in-universe history was a fraction of humanity escaping to live on an orbital space station after nuclear apocalypse. It’s not pleasant, but only a fraction of the whole, a (relative) few ‘seeds’, is truly required. (And not to get weird, but given the way elf genetics work when they reproduce with other races in modern Thedas, who’s to say how the genetics or genetic-analogues of ancient elves work? Is inbreeding weakness even a thing that can even happen to them? who knows. I just mean that their biology apparently works radically differently to ours in some ways)

It’s also that he intends to restore the world of his time, the world the elves of old lived in and the parameters of it. This is about two things: 1) reshaping reality and restoring it to the way it used to be metaphysically-speaking in pre-Veil times. Making it the way it used to be - a world where imagination defined reality, where spirits enter freely, when the Fade wasn’t a place one went but a state of nature like the wind, the countless marvels of architecture and similar things which were intrinsically tied to and whose existence depended on the Fade, the whole empire that used to be - once again. And 2) changing and restoring the higher state of being the elves once had, their prior form of existence. This means restoring to them things like their immortality, their inherent magic, their inherent connection to the Fade (in most elves this is now blocked, except in the case of mages) - everything “themselves” once meant. It’s about changing the laws of physics and [re]upgrading a downgrade in part of their.. intrinsic or original personhood? (not sure how else to phrase this). He wants to bring back what was once theirs, and restore the things about them that were “their glory”. And who knows, when he’s brought things back to a state when his or anyone’s imagination can change reality, who knows what can be done in such a world…? Can he then will all those who died when Elvhenan fell back to life? Can he will that the Fall never even happened? Can he will what essentially amounts to pressing a giant reset button on the world? There is even examples of time magic in the setting (even we as Inquisitor encounter time-altering magic in DAI in the Redcliffe arc, Ameridan was preserved for a while, etc).

But who will inherit this new world in the case of no literal resetting or rezzing? Yes, many of the ancients have died. But also well, as you say, some are still alive. Abelas and the Temple of Mythal Sentinels are an obvious example. It stands to reason there are other Sentinels and other ancient elves in similar positions to them in other ancient elven temples and similar sites dotted around the place. Felassan is another example. He’s clearly an ancient elf and he must have come from somewhere! He can’t have been the only ancient agent of Fen’Harel. In fact he definitely isn’t. In TN one of the agents speaks in a sort-of Dalish accent, only more formal, like he’s reading poetry - given what we know of how the ancient elven language is, with rhythms and meanings, it stands to reason this dude is also an ancient, just one Solas removed the markings of, which we know from Trespasser that he did for his followers who wished it during his first rebellion. Solas also refers to other awake or periodically awake ancients in his conversation with Abelas - “there are other duties”. You can’t do duties while asleep. Yet other enclaves of ancients are further hinted at elsewhere. For example, the elves in the Tirashan sure sound hella mysterious and different and might be ancients (I’d prefer they weren’t and prefer the idea that they’re descendants who have evolved in complete isolation from the Dalish-Dalish all this time and basically therefore have their own traits and own culture, but that’s another subject - like compare the Chasind with the Agadi). Sometimes I wonder if the elves who sent the Inquisitor the red hart mount were ancient. For another, it seems very likely to me that there are still surviving ancient elves in uthenera. The highest dreamers who “perfected” themselves were able to sleep indefinitely without needing any sort of sustenance or caretaking done to their bodies. In the Deep Roads in Trespasser we find a whole roomfull of coffins. Ok, those coffins were most likely actually coffin-shaped caskets full of mined lyrium going by companion comments at the time, but it definitely put me in the mind of a secret ‘ark’ type place somewhere with a bunch of hidden sleeping ancients. You know like in Mass Effect 3 where Javik came from? Just without all the power gradually shutting down. Some of the highest might have gone to sleep in places which were hidden or known to only few, or otherwise managed to escape by sheer luck the murders of their sleeping bodies by resentful lower class servants that took place in the latter days of Elvhenan. Others - specifically thinking followers of Fen’Harel’s first rebellion - might have gone to sleep in like a warded and protected place in preparation for what was to come. Like maybe he gave them advance warning of his Veil-creating plans and ushered them into what effectively was meant to function as a time capsule before he cast his magic. Like get on the ark everybody, the earth is going to flood. Cole also alludes to beings sleeping “masked in a mirror, and to wake them -” when he reads Solas’ mind. that could either refer to sleeping jailed Evanuris/Titans etc or a cache of sleeping ancients. The point is that there are more ancient elves left than we think, both awake/periodically awake and sleeping still, both in other places in main-world Thedas akin to the ToM, and in places in the Crossroads network. I fully am convinced of that. “Your people yet linger.” They’re out there, lingering somehow.

The modern elves are indeed descendants of the ancients. Sometimes he refers to them as his people and sometimes he doesn’t. The modern elves are an additional, potential factor. There’s debate about this - from what he says in Trespasser it’s not 100% clear, even the way he phrases his words about this subject to Charter in TN is really weird imo and so therefore also still not 100% clear - but some people do believe that the modern elves are included when he says “save the People/my people”, and that modern elves would survive the change, be changed/restored like the ancients, and get to live in the new world. So that’s a possible thing/element too.

There’s a further thing going on: he genuinely seems to believe that what he’s doing will straight up save the entire world as we know it. Not everyone in it, but the very world itself. There’s debate about this and it’s not clear, but some people think that it seems like he has knowledge of some looming massive cataclysm, and that this notion of a looming cataclysm is seeded in various places in the lore - that some terrible disaster is going to befall Thedas soon, or that some terrible thing is currently gradually happening to Thedas as we speak, like something to do with the very fabrics of the world unraveling or similar.

Hope this makes sense and helped out! Lmk if you’re still wondering about stuff or if this post flags up any additional thoughts/queries for you.

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wyrdsistersofthedas · 7 years

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Well Shit: Origins of the Vir'abelasan (Part 2 of 4)

As we noted in yesterday’s post, Mythal’s temple existed for ages before the creation of the Veil and the loss of elvhen immortality. We have every reason to believe that the Well of Sorrows existed in those ages when the Evanuris waged war against the Titans, ‘tamed’ the land, exiled the Forbidden Ones, and reached the pinnacle of their powers. What would the Well have been used for during the glory days of Arlathan?

Origins of the Vir'abelasan

Certainly it was important to preserve the knowledge of the elder elves, but there may have been another purpose for those entering uthenera to leave their memories and will in the Well. In recent post, we examined why spirits like Cole, Justice, and Command can become trapped in the waking world. Memories and painful experiences act like an anchor, preventing spirits from being able return to the Fade. An interesting question is whether this would also be true for elves who entered uthenera in ancient days before the Veil.

According to the elves who lived in the Dales, the ancient elves:

“were not immortal, but they did not suffer from deterioration of mind or body. They suffered only from a deterioration of the spirit. It did not happen often, but the oldest of the elves were said to reach a point where they became weary of life. Memories became too much to bear, and rather than fade into complacency, they voluntarily stood aside to let newer generations guide their people.”

In essence, these ancient elves wanted to the do the reverse of Cole becoming more human in Inquisition. Elves entering uthenera were casting off the pain and memories in order to become like spirits. Without their memories and identity weighing them down, they would be able to search the depths of the Fade like spirits, perhaps even answering the prayers of their descendants with wisdom from the Beyond. Properly trained and prepared elves could also reach parts of the Fade where even spirits were unlikely to go:

“The pages of this book—memory?—are instructions on how to reach the deepest parts of the Fade, realms so far removed they're unmarked by Dreamers:

"Epiphany requires a mind smooth as mirror glass, still as stone. Put aside ten years for practice, and the next hundred for searching. What others have learned will ease your journey. Those who never manifested outside the Fade will find it easier to find its stillest roots, but it is rare the compulsion overtakes our brethren of the air." (-Codex)

Even the name of the Well makes sense in this context. The Well was a repository for all the pains and sorrows of an elf who was tired of all they experienced in the mortal world.

If our theory about elves being descended from spirits who became corporeal Thedas dwelling beings, then leaving part of their essence in the Vir’Abelasan before entering Uthenera might have been an essential step to ensure that the elf reconnected with their spirit-ual roots. It would likely make it easier for them to obtain the ultimate connection to the Fade, which would allow them to be fed by the Fade itself. In The Masked Empire, Felessan said that:

“Most of those who entered uthenera could survive on a simple potion. Water, with honey and herbs added to keep the body alive. Servants would brush it across the lips of the dreamer at the full moon, and then smell the naked wrist of the dreamer at the new moon. If they smelled the perfumed scent of the herbs, it meant that the concoction had been drawn into the body, and they would keep feeding the dreamer. If the wrist was bare of scent, then it meant that the dreamer had learned to draw sustenance from the Fade itself, and would never need to be fed again. Those true dreamers were placed in beds of purest white, signifying the dreamer’s achievement of perfection.” (The Masked Empire, pg. 317)

The Fade fed these dreamers like it feeds Cole when he has a corporeal body. It is only when his connection to the Fade weakens that he starts to need food. The reverse process happened with elves who achieved a spirit-like connection to the Fade.

But uthenera did not have to last forever for the ancient elves. Dreamers could return after wandering the Fade after a short time or many ages (ie Solas). They might even have been able to wander the deepest parts of the Fade and still be “themselves” if/when they returned from the Beyond. In order to truly travel through the Fade like spirits do, ancient elves likely needed to be more spirit-like themselves. The Well would have provided an easy way to recover a sense of self, and will, for an elf returning from uthenera who had become so spirit-like that they have been cleansed of their identity and forgotten much of who they were (and whom they served). The Well would have provided a simple way to download and upload knowledge and personalities.

The reverse also seems to be a possibility. Spirits who spend a large amount of time in the physical world seem to develop stronger wills and a greater sense of self, which can also lead to a “corruption” of the spirit. This appears to be exactly what happened in The Jaws of Hakkon. Hakkon was summoned and bound in the corporeal body of a dragon and was no longer able to speak to the Avvar augurs in the Fade. Hakkon became so corrupted that he could only kill and could no longer provide wisdom to the augurs.

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The Avvar in Stone-Bear Hold advocate for Hakkon to be killed so he can be reborn and purified. There is a cost for this level of purification. Death seems to be a total reboot for a spirits as they loses what memories, identity, and will they have managed to accumulate. Such was the case with Solas’ spirit in the All New, Faded for Her quest.

The Wells could have provided a way for spirits to cleanse themselves of negative emotions, as well as allowing elves to be cleansed of their pain and experiences before entering the Fade. And let’s face it, the priests of the Evanuris probably know a lot of shit that could be very damaging to the elven gods if it fell into the wrong hands. Plus they probably know some of the dirty ass secrets that the Evanuris did to maintain their power and that knowledge would likely fuck with the priests’ heads. In other words, they had extra incentives to give up their memories and take a long walk in the Fade.

So the Wells probably once served as a way for the servants of the various elven gods to pass on their knowledge, but also to imprint a geas to keep them loyal. It could also cleanse spirits of grounding emotions and influence so they could return to the Fade with less difficulty. So why wouldn’t the other Evanuris have had a Well of Sorrows of their own since they had so many obvious benefits? Answer: They did! We just have to locate them...and we are pretty sure we have at least two other examples of Wells of Sorrows.

-MM

PS - We are trying not to overwhelm people with too much info in one post, so this is part two of four. The rest will posted around this time over the rest of this week. You can also find search for posts by topic on our Navigation page.

Other posts in the “Well Shit” series:

Part 1: Searching for the Secrets of the Elvhen Gods

Part 2: Origins of the Vir’abelasan

Part 3: Dirth of Knowledge

Part 4: The Elvhen Ritual

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #temple of mythal #well of sorrows #vir'abelasan #mythal #uthenera #evanuris #dragon age spirits #dragon age meta #dragon age theories #thedas technology #morta's musings #long post

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galadrieljones · 7 years

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Since we were talking weddings recently, I was wondering about Mythal. Did she ever want to get married? How did she feel about it? Did she think at one point, when the war was over, she might be able to marry Solas? Did she even think they could ever be in a public relationship? Did she want to marry in secret?

I envision Mythal as having been secretly very, very infatuated with the notion of marriage. I know I have said before, how she wanted to be Solas’s kept woman. There is a song on the TDS playlist: “A Simple Kind of Life” by No Doubt. This song is for Mythal, and how she always just sort of wanted to be his veritable wife.

It is complicated, because for all intents and purposes, she kept him for so many years. She was older, and rich, and he was her bodyguard, and then her General. But by the time the rebellion began, (and I know so much of this is only implied or mentioned merely in passing in TDS, but still) he had surpassed her magically, and he liberated himself, with her blessing. So during those last like, six years when they were together, living in Skyhold, lovers in secret, the power dynamic between them had completely switched. He was always the socially and sexually dominant one of the two, but by the last half of their relationship, Mythal put her entire fortune into Solas’s rebellion. Armies, ships, territories, soldiers, strongholds, everything. She kept the Sentinels almost as a front, an illusion that her empire was anything other than the financial foundation to Solas’s slave rebellion. He was her legacy. If she’d had it her way, they would have found some way to vanquish the other evanuris without the Veil and foster a self-sufficient, democratic society of elves. She thought they would come through the war victorious and change everything. Then, they could wash their hands of ruling and war, marry, and live simple lives. Much like Sene and Solas are doing now, but on a grand and mythical scale. They were gods.

I think she was naive in this way, a true believer–in Solas, and his vision, which was, ultimately, to just break the aristocracy. But the magic had gotten so out of hand–shit got so fucked up. He couldn’t break the aristocracy without killing the aristocrats, and the aristocrats were immortal. He had to like, break Uthenera. Anyway. Mythal tells Cassandra in passing while they’re in the Korcari Wilds that she did think about having Solas’s child. She is downplaying things, of course–a kind of self-preservation. She wanted to marry him, to have his children, all of it. They may have discussed it even. But Elvhenan was in such disarray, complete lawlessness. Marriage was barely achievable for common folk, unless they lived in one of Mythal’s protected territories or Solas’s sanctuaries, where life was difficult, but it went on more or less regularly. A baby was a pipe dream. I’m certain she used some form of magical birth control. She was in constant danger. She did not want to bring a child into her fucked up situation. She did not know if her body, given how much stress she underwent every day, could even sustain a healthy pregnancy.

So, clearly I have thought about this. Lol. I think that Solas and Mythal were in real, true love. Yes, there were unhealthy aspects to their relationship, a good deal of co-dependence, but their circumstances were so violent, and dangerous. They were always on call for war. In another life, I think they might have worked out. ;_;

Anyway, it’s all gonna be okay. Now, I mean. For both of them. So just…sigh.

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love-in-nature · 7 years

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Once Upon A Dream Chapter 69: Solas - If Only

Read from the beginning on my AO3.

It had never been his intent to interfere between her and the Herald. He had planned to let it be, but he could not stomach seeing Emma like this. Not now. Not when time was so short for them that he could practically feel the last grains of it slipping between his fingers.

He could easily say that it was because he did not want her to leave with regrets. He did not want her back in her world with the pain of a fight never resolved. It would be truth, but only a part of it. The other part was purely selfishness. He wanted her light, her happiness, her easy laugh. He wanted to drown himself in it all before she left, wanted her full attention when they took of each other those last few times.

He should be grateful in a way. Her parting would mean she was safe and would remove his one distraction. It would make things simple again.

Instead, he often found himself wishing that they had met before everything. Pondering what it would have been like for them. Before he had become Fen’harel. Perhaps then none of this would have come to pass. They would have lived out their immortality until they were both ready for the uthenera and then entered together.

Unrealistic thoughts. Even had it been so, even had he not been pushed down the path of godhood, the gods war would have found them. It was another reason he had no choice in what he had done. It was that or the destruction of the world by the very gods who had once sworn to protect it.

No choice in what he must do now. No choice in her leaving.

And he would not have her leave in pain or, worse still, have her hesitate in her resolve to leave. If she did he might…

No.

He would talk with the Herald in private. Try to make her see sense. He had plenty of time to make a plan before they camped for the night.

Or at least he had thought.

But they camped, darkness fell, and he still was uncertain how to proceed. The beings of this world had been mostly predictable. If Emma was not predictable, if she burned brighter than any other, that was because she was not of this world. That made sense. The Herald making him uncertain made much less sense.

He waited till Emma was involved in some deep conversation with the Tevinter, something he was not entirely fond of but that was beside the point at the moment, and he went in search of the Herald. As it turned out, he need not have made the effort. The Herald found him herself, leading him out away from camp at a quick pace.

They walked until the sounds of the camp were but a distant hum. Then she turned to him, “So, what’s your plan?”

“I… pardon?”

She sighed, “You know, your plan to keep Emma here. I want to help.”

He took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and placed his hands behind his back, “It is my intent that she go, not stay, as should yours be.”

She blinked and he watched as color flushed her cheeks, her fists clenching and unclenching at her side, “You… you want her gone!? I thought you---”

“I do not want her to leave, no, but---”

“I thought you cared about her. What then? Was she just some way to wet your---”

He dug his fingers into his palm and spit out the words before he could stop them, “I love her, Herald. She is not---” He forced himself to stop, took a deep inhale to calm himself, “She belongs in her world. I am helping her to go back because I do not wish for her to suffer. She can have peace, does she not deserve that?”

Ivy’s eyes narrowed, “She won’t have peace there and you’re an idiot if you can’t see that.”

He had to work hard to control his features, “I do not know what you think her world is like, but she would have peace there. She had no need to fight before coming here, no---”

“Did she talk to you at all, about what happened at Redcliffe?”

His brows furrowed for a beat before he forced his expression neutral again, “I am aware that she saw death, mine included. I am unsure what this has to do with---”

“You were dead. Or as good as. I don’t know how she knew you were still alive or if she knew for sure, but she risked everything just to grab your sorry ass and hold you while you died. Because she said she couldn’t let you die alone. Even though she knew it wasn’t real, that when we got back it would all be nothing still, she did it. You’re telling me that she will have peace if she leaves you? That she’ll, what? Just forget all of us? Forget you? No. She will live her life in that world wondering if you survived or if that fate she saw became true. Even if she doesn’t know it now, that’s how it will be.”

Words failed him. He knew that the Herald spoke but he had become numb after the statement, she wouldn’t let you die alone. It filled his head, rang out over and over again. He had done this. He had brought her here, even if indirectly. He had taken from her that which he should have left alone. Now they would both pay for it.

But how could he not have. He was pulled to her no matter how he tried to fight it, and she to him. The whole thing left him with a horrible choice. Let her go and spend the rest of his life mourning the loss or keep her here for longer. Enjoy the time he had with her until…

Until he rained chaos upon the world and her with it. Until she saw the blood that saturated his hands so thoroughly. Would she still love him if she knew? He could not bear the thought of her seeing him as anything but Solas. Could not bear the thought of her turning from him with disgust in her eyes. More than that, if it came down to it, if she stayed, would he be able to follow through? Would he be able to do what he must if it meant hurting her, killing her?

She must go. Not only for his selfish reasons but for her own sake. She may hurt for a time, may wonder what became of them, but she would move on. Live her life. Be happy. She had to. There was no happy ending for him but she could have hers.

He came back to the world around him to find Ivy mere inches from him. She spoke in a hiss, “I see the way you look at each other. That kind of thing, it doesn’t happen all the time and you know that. So, what elf? You keep telling yourself it’s for her, but you and I both know that is a barrel of shit. You’re afraid. Afraid because she makes you feel. Afraid because she has a way of ripping off that fucking mask of---”

“Enough.” His heart beat loud in his ears and his voice came out more severe than he had intended. The voice of a commander, not the voice of a humble apostate.

Ivy startled, it was enough to make her pause. Not a good thing in this case. He was slipping. There was too much going through his head and control was escaping him. He forced a deep breath, dug his toes into the dirt beneath him.

“I apologize, Herald.”

She scowled, “For being an idiot or for letting me see a part of your personality you didn’t want me to?”

He forced his mind to focus on the issue at hand. What he learned of the events at Redcliffe would need to be processed later, but now he needed to find a way to make the Herald see.

“Herald, please. Do you not see that the best course of action for Emma is that she go home? It is clearly the safest option for her. There she has a chance at--”

“It’s not the best course of action. She’ll never be happy there, not anymore. We need her here and she knows it. If she goes back now---”

“It is not as though she can simply wait, time is of the essence, as you well know.”

Ivy put her hands on her hips, “What’s so bad about her staying here, huh? She could have a new life here. Once this is all done you and her can go off into the sunset, live a quiet life together.”

If only it were so, “Things are not so simple, Herald.”

A voice from behind him, “Funny, you would think it would have occurred to at least one of you that I should be involved in this conversation. Or am I an object to be placed where you two decide is most fitting?”

His stomach dropped and he had to once more force his face to remain neutral as he turned. Emma stood near, arms crossed over her chest and her eyes narrowed. He opened his mouth to speak but she put up her hand.

“No. You listen to me now, both of you.” She looked to Ivy, “Ivy, I get it. I understand you want me to stay, that I can help, but you have to understand I have obligations to people in my world too. I have a home there, a life. If I go back it doesn’t mean that I don’t care or that I don’t love you. And you,” Her eyes shifted to Solas, “I know you want to protect me, but I am not a child to be coddled. I can take care of myself. Whatever decision I make, it has to be my own. You both need to lay off and respect that. This is hard enough without being tugged between two people I love.”

Guilt threatened to bite at him. Why he was not sure. He was correct after all, she needed to go home and he had only been trying to help. Still, he could see her point. He never wished for her to feel like a pawn or like she was not in control. That was unless she asked him to take control, but that was an entirely different set of circumstances that he should not even be thinking of now.

“Ir abelas, vhenan.”

Ivy was still fuming, “It is your decision, but it is one that has an affect on all of us. Do you really think you can go back now and things will just magically be ok? That you’ll just slide back into your old life like you were waking up from a nap? We need you. I need you and you need us now. Stop lying to yourself.”

Solas was not quick enough to bite his tongue, “Herald.”

Emma gave him a look to stop him from interfering before she turned her attention back to the Herald, “Ivy, please. It’s not as though I---”

“No. I don’t want to hear anymore excuses. You’re right, this is your choice. A choice, Emma. If you are going to go, at least own up to it.”

With a wave of her arms, the Herald stormed of back to camp, fuming. Emma watched her go and Solas watched as Emma’s face crumbled. He went over to her, desperation to keep her from pain making his heart clench.

“Vhenan, do not listen. She is upset, she--”

A ragged breath, “She’s right.”

He froze, fingers stopping inches from her cheek, “What?”

“How am I just going to go back after all this?” She turned to him, eyes shining from the tears that threatened to spill, “I’m not who I was when I left. I’m never going to be that person again, I don’t…”

Her voice trailed off to nothing and he reached forward, pulling her to tuck her head against his chest, “You will be alright with time. You have people who love you there. A,” he had to work to get the next word out. It stuck like a stone in his throat that he had to push out, “husband.”

“Yes. Who I now realize I never loved him as I should have. I mean I loved him, I love him, but not like…”

You. He heard the word in his mind just as clearly as if she had said it. What response could he possibly give to that? What they had was unique, rare. That they found it in each other when they should have been worlds apart was…

She continued, her words muffled against his chest, “I have done everything because I should do it. Everything because it is what I thought she would have wanted, what my family wanted. Now everything here is,” a deep inhale and she shivered against him, “If I leave I’ll never know what happened. I won’t know if you’re alive or dead or… well, it sounds arrogant but what if something happens that I could have prevented. If you or Ivy die and I could have saved you. I don’t---”

He pulled away from her just enough so he could reach down and tilt her face up, “Vhenan.”

He brought his mouth to her cheeks, kissing away the drops of tears that fell there before he moved to kiss each eyelid, and then her nose. When he rested his forehead against hers he could still taste the salt of her tears mingled with the taste of her skin.

She couldn’t let you die alone.

An ache formed in his chest. Almost crippling in its intensity. What could he possibly say now? The truth? He wanted her to stay, that the very thought of losing her nearly broke him. That he could no longer imagine a world without her in it. That he would give up everything, anything, if it meant they could be together.

But he could not. He could not say those things anymore than he could turn his back on his people. This would have to be enough for both of them. These moments of time together, it would have to hold.

His hands shifted pulling her tighter still as his lips moved towards hers. He stopped just short, the heat of her felt against him. A question. When she sighed he felt the brush of air tickle against his mouth. Then her fingers were around the back of his neck, pulling him down more to her as she closed the distance between them. Her answer.

This was not something he should encourage. Not now, not here, not when there were so many chances that someone might see them. Still, he needed, he ached. Such was his need for her that the moment she was in his arms again somehow the rest ceased to matter. This was beautiful. It was also dangerous.

Little touches were treasured by him, any small brush of hands or contact with her was something he coveted. If everything were different, if they had more time, it would have been enough; but it was not. He needed her. Now.

His hands begun seeking out her skin, trying to find a way beneath all the infuriating layers of clothing. A hand on his wrist stopped him and, this time, she was the one that pulled her mouth from his. Panting breathless against the skin of his neck as she tried to ground herself.

“Solas, I’m sorry but we shouldn’t. Not here with… well…”

He took one last deep inhale of her before he forced himself to step away, putting space between them with a brush of fingers across her neck, “You are correct. You… I became carried away.”

A laugh escaped her, a quiet whisper of a thing, but it still made his heart skip, “A rare enough occurrence for you.”

“Not as rare as it once was it would seem. Come, vhenan, let us go back to camp.”

It was not long after they arrived back at camp that it was time to sleep. It was longer than he cared to admit till he found his concentration in the Fade. His mind continued wondering to Emma, to worrying what Amynta was telling her, thinking that he’d rather have her with him for more than just concerns about Amynta. Thinking that he should have taken advantage of the moment of privacy they had stolen instead of going back to camp.

When his thoughts did finally focus, he managed to get a decent outline of at least one ward before Wisdom appeared. He did not look from the parchment he was working on when he felt her lean over him. Instead, he simply finished the last of the lines.

She waited till he was done to ask, “That is a strong ward. This is for your lover?”

The term threw him for a moment. It felt heavy, powerful, but still not even close to describing what Emma had become to him.

“Yes.”

He sighed and set back in the chair as Wisdom moved to lean on the side of his desk.

“I take it this means Mythal claims she has had no luck finding the entity?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose, “She has not. There is no reason for her to claim this unless it were true.”

Wisdom’s lips pinched a hint but she said nothing as she looked down at the ward once more, “So this is your backup plan then?”

“Yes,” He moved his hand from his face and stood to walk over to the window where Emma often set, “If I can not find this entity before she leaves, then I need to be sure it will not be allowed to interfere again. I will be more able to deal with the entity itself after she has left. Less…” His voice trailed off.

Wisdom grinned, “Distracted?” Solas hummed in the back of his throat and Wisdom continued, “You still intend to hunt it down after she is gone?”

“It must pay for what it has done to her. I…” A deep breath, “She should never have had to go through any of this.”

“Yet, it allowed her to be with you. What if this is what was always meant to be? You can not deny---”

He shook his head, “It would have been easier for her, better, had she never known any of this.”

“Maybe you should stop putting thoughts and decisions into her head.”

Solas turned to her, eyes narrowing a hint, “I am not---”

“Where is she by the way? I still have not had the pleasure.”

A sigh, “She is training with Amynta.”

Wisdom’s eyes went wide, “Training with… and you’re alright with that?”

He gave a dry laugh, “Not really, no, but I find it difficult to focus on tasks when I am around her at this time.” He shook his head, “The training is pointless since she will be leaving before she needs to fight like that. It keeps her busy however and, who knows, perhaps she will find use for it in her world.”

“If she goes back.” Before Solas could respond Wisdom continued, “You and Amynta are…”

“We had a discussion. She still has not forgiven me for Felassan. There was no other way or…” He swallowed, shook his head again, “I do not believe she ever will forgive me, but, for whatever her reasoning, she has agreed not to tell Emma of my past.”

“Did it occur to you that you should tell Emma about your past?”

“No. I will not risk losing her for what time I do have. Besides, what purpose would it serve? The way she sees me now,” His eyes shifted to look out the window, “I treasure it. I would not have her see the blood staining my hands. I would not have her know that I…” He clenched his fists, could not bring himself to say it.

“You did not bring her here, dear one.”

“Perhaps not, but if not for me, whatever did, would not have been able to. All those lives lost at the Conclave, the mark on the Herald, everything... I had never intended to cause more suffering than was necessary.”

Wisdom walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder, “This path you have set yourself down, it is not the only---”

“Don’t.”

She took a deep sigh and removed her hand, “Stubborn man. Regardless, you will not be able to keep it from her forever. She is a dreamer and, I assume, intelligent, otherwise you would not have interest. She will find the truth. Better you be the one to tell her.”

He turned from the window to Wisdom, “Not in the time she has left here.”

“If she stays---”

“She will not stay. Now, if you would, I could use your aide on these wards.”

#dragon age fanfic #modern girl in thedas #solas #emma x solas #once upon a dream #love-in-nature writing #not solavellan #solas x modern girl in thedas #trevelyan #ivy #wisdom #spirits #fade

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andrasteshaircurlers · 7 years

Text

Alright to be fair this post should be titled: Let’s talk Lyrium, and world order, and how magic types relate to each other, and a lot of other shit because Tansy just finished Trespasser and is kind of freaking out. but that did not make as good a title.

See?

(As you can also tell I started this lore post a LONG time ago)

Basically the DLC was just one validation after another of some of the ideas I had lore wise that were so out there that I just sort of went NAH and didn’t really share them. It also validated lots I have spoken of but that’s beside the point.

There was literally so much to cover that I kept debating about how to mix it up for a while before finally deciding to just sort of dump it all in one place.

I ended up going with the Lyrium title because this has validated TWO crazy theories I had!

So basically I promise you there will be lyrium

There will just be a lot of other stuff too. Please keep reading. Unless of course you are a templar experiencing withdrawal in which case I advise you to… I don’t even know. Sorry buddy you’re screwed.

CRASH COURSE ON THEDAS WORLD ORDER!

Fade - Fade magic - spirits - sky/outerspace

Thedas - blood magic - us - Thedas

Void - Void Magic - dead people - Water

LYRIUM! LYRIUM EVERYWHERE!

I um... Might need to explain a bit more. Lemme just copy and paste from another of my posts

First let's look at magic. Blood/fade/void

We know how magic works for blood and fade “ A mage uses magic by tapping into the power of the Fade to essentially question reality, rendering it mutable and able to be reshaped. To this end, templars are the ideal foils for mages, having been trained specifically to counter and “deny” magic

http://higheverrains.tumblr.com/post/132465307323/circle-charts this post got me thinking

ok so basically Blood magic uses the power of real life of reality to shape spells Fade magic uses the fades power with it being a place of unfixed existence.

You got that? Thedas is reality, Fade is unfixed reality

The void as we see in the void magic performed in the Calling draws its power from lack of reality. It works by literally dissolving reality out of existence instead of changing it as fade magic does or creating it as blood magic seems to.

Side note: this is why blood magic can be so unexpected as in Last Flight. You are creating reality not changing it as Fade magic does.

Still with me here? Good,

According to the prima game guide “ Spirits whose realms are flocked with visitors rise to rule great portions of the Fade, while memories and concepts forgotten in the real world slowly drift away back into the ether, the spirits who ruled them losing all potency”

This ether is also known as the abyss or void. It's the raw waters of the fade. It is nothing but nothing is powerful because nothing is just energy that has not been shaped yet.

This is the fade in its natural state. Before people touch it with their perceptions

Its also a storage place for the souls of the dead before they return

The void is the land of the dead. (as stated by so many cultures in thedas) Thedas is the land of the living. And the fade is the land of those who can neither live nor die.

Now then.

Titans figured out how to have dwarves not enter the fade. But instead be drawn to them and their wellspring to from their own private pool of knowledge. These were the original memories. The accumulated knowledge of generations at the finger tips of new dwarves.

Sound like anything? The well of Sorrows. The elves took lyrium and “something else” That something else was souls.

This is how imortality works. Circumventing the void. Or rather making sure your full being is brought out into a new body.

Of course this does not explain my last little bit about space and stuff... So I Should started talking about that.

It started with a crazy thought There are three realms of existence, three types of magic.

But two big powerful animals? Titans and Great Dragons? Both of whom have blood with crazy special properties?

I don’t believe there is only two. I think one has not yet been revealed to us (Unless of course it’s the Cetus in which case we just don’t know shit)

Dear Bioware, please let it be this thing. Please let our heroes have to go out on boats to meet with it with only harpoons and fishhooks for defence, all like “Haha, we’re so screwed.”

But basically It got me thinking, If Dragons ruled the skies, and Titans do their shaping thing in the stone what is left?

BINGO! The Seas!

But that is crazy right and where did outerspace come from?

Well let me show you somthing

Heh-heh nice little rifty, please don’t swallow m-

No! What are we doing!?

OH MY G-D!!!

Gonna look back.... What the?

HOOOOBOY!

Welcome to the other side of the rift.

But wait there is more!

Nice Crossroads Green Forcefield thing.

Hmmm So this is the lowest point.... I wonder if I just

Is that what I think it is?

Thats right under the crossroads is an entire freaking forest.

Oh broken paths?

You mean like this?

A lot of people get frustrated about the geography of thedas and how it makes the sence. The thing is... It does. If you link the physical and the magical

But back to the concept of the seas.

Remember this in the fade?

Yeah I don’t think it was crestwood. Mostly because there is black water in the raw fade in DAO

Wanna know what else was in the fade?

Which is interesting because in the past lyrium in the fade was blue

Why the change?

Well... It could be because we entered the fade physically

Or it might have somthing to do with the part of the void we entered being connected to the void. I don’t think those fossils where an accident. Connecting water and death in a thing. As is connecting death and the void as I mentioned above.

We know the titan’s blood is lyrium

We know it has a heart

New age crystal lovers eat your heart out!!!! Yes I am a crystal lover...

So let's ask the question. What do hearts and blood DO?

If our blood and hearts carry things like oxygen and the other nutrients we need... We have to ask what TITAN hearts and blood carry.

My theory since before trespasser has been that the awnser to this is souls. Lyrium transports souls through the void the fade and thedas.

Moving on.

Here lies the abyss, the well of all souls. From these emerald waters doth life begin anew. Come to me, child, and I shall embrace you. In my arms lies Eternity.

In the book “The Calling” Merric speaks this verse while very likely in a titan.

What if this wellspring is a holder for souls. So that when Sha-Brytol die they can be brought back. A “secret to immortality”

What does this idea remind you of? Well it reminded me of The Well Of Sorrows.

But that’s crazy right... WELLLLLL....

This is the “pure” Lyrium we see in Decent

The Lyrium we see in trespasser however is different looking The following are two pictures of it taken at the same angle just moments apart.

Notice the shiny. It’s almost like the Lyrium has been charged somehow. But charged how... FLYCAM TIME

Oh look at this... You know what it reminds me off?

Welcome to Uthenera

Close up more

Oh look Lyrium columns leading to...

The dark waters of the fade. Shall we call this the void?

Diving boards are important for void sacrifices guys.

I’m about to propose somthing crazy guys.

What if Red Lyrium is not always evil?

Besides the fact that a Qunari inquisitor seems not to find Red Lyrium a bother in trespasser we have this.

Does this mean that Red Lyrium was once not blighted? or that the blight was once not bad? That there is some red Lyrium that is not bad?

The Elves in origins seem to suggest so.

This Camp should be doomed

But we have seen more than just blue and red lyrium

We’ve seen green Lyrium. FYI The Hissing Wastes is home to many Oddities

I know some suspect this might be a trick of the light But this does not look like a trick of the light to me.

Furthermore the Qunari in Trespasser seem to agree with me considering this is found in their little clubhouse.

SO if red lyrium is blighted lyrium.... Or rather void like Lyrium.... what is green lyrium..?

The awnser came to me seeing the Fade Touched Lurker

found in Jaws of Hakkon.

Green Lyrium is fade touched lyrium...

Which means that it is either like Veil Quartz... OR....

We have a possessed Titan somewhere!

Personally I bank on the Possessed Titan for two simple reasons.

First of all we find no green Lyrium in the Frostback Basin where both our fade touched friend above and veil quartz are...

ALSO

While we know that dwarves like using Lyrium in interior decorating...

We also see what could be other colors of lyrium in their decor...

From green...

To red and even yellow....

That this might be lyrium is given further credence by the fact that a Lyrium sales dwarf in Orzammar seems to be selling these decorations...

And that wraps up this lore post!

Thank you to @aqunaristateofbind for the Morrigan well graphic!

#final pre-hiatus lorepost #lore #dragon age lore #codex #lyrium #lyrium lore #inquisition lore #dragon age inquisition #tresspaser dlc #trespasser lore #de #the descent DLC

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feynites · 7 years

Note

May I ask, how does time 'feel' in Elvhenan? As in, if someone was to spend a month away, is that roughly equivalent to spending a week away in modern, mortal Thedas?

This is a really interesting question, because the perception of time tends to change in regular mortal humans as we get older!

For example, when you’re five, a year seems like a really long time because that’s one fifth of your life. When you’re ten, a year is still pretty substantial (a tenth of your life) but not quite so much. When you’re twenty, you can view a year as a decent chunk of time to spend ‘figuring things out’ or travelling or otherwise taking a step back from life. When you’re forty, a year doesn’t seem very long at all, and so on and so forth (although this perspective can shift, interestingly, when you’re surrounded by kids a lot, because they will remind you of their own perspective on time and can sort of ‘bring you back’ to when you saw the world that way, too).

Of course, if we apply this to Elvhenan, then by the time people are getting into their hundreds the years are just zipping by, and once you’re around Haninan’s age, you sneeze and a decade has happened. And that’s a little more extreme, up to a point, than I can personally wrap my mind around.

But! Another interesting factor is that, technically, our brains do not have unlimited memory space. If someone were to become immortal, they would eventually start dumping huge amounts of memory, like a computer clearing out storage space. Else, you would never be able to make new memories, because your long-term memory storage would be full. This could mitigate the rapid-fire passage of time, because up to a certain point, the condensing of your perceptions would stop simply due to the fact that you weren’t able to ‘stack’ experiences up any higher and keep building that tower of perspective crushing time into smaller and smaller percentages.

Story-wise, though, this would lead to gradual amnesia. Not necessarily of the most distressing kind - humans already kind of do this, we just delete extraneous files like ‘what I had for lunch last Tuesday’, or ‘everything they made me memorize in highschool’. But even so, eventually, important memories would also vanish for the more aged elves. (I considered making this an element in LG but ultimately I figured I had enough to be going off of).

Fortunately, elves in the ancient world have what amounts to a handy-dandy external storage drive, in the form of the Fade/Dreaming. So, what’s actually going on is that while a elf’s physical memory can only hold so much information at any given time, they can access other memories that would normally become ‘deleted’ files because they’re being contained by the ambient energies of the Dreaming. The ancient elves are not really conscious of this, though, like it’s not any more difficult than trying to remember something which happened a really long time ago tends to be, it’s just functioning a little differently. But, part of the reason why uthenera can be so appealing to especially older elves is that after a certain point, much more of your lived experiences are part of the Dreaming than are part of your own physical memories, and focusing on those memories constantly draws one deeper into that side of things.

What this amounts to in terms of perceiving time, however, is that most elves perceive time differently as they get older, but there’s a ‘cap’ on how much faster time seems to move (after about a hundred years, I’d imagine, it stops speeding up). And of course there are the usual, human moments where focus, intensity, distraction, enjoyment, etc can make time seem to move faster or slower. But to the average elf, a year is probably more like a middle-aged human’s perception of a month.

Hope that answers the question, and, uh, sorry for rambling! ^^;

#Anonymous

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daughter-of-the-prophet · 7 years

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Elvhenan

Elvhenan, meaning “place of our people” in the elven language, was the civilization of the elves, or elvhen, in the time when elves were still immortal and the dominant race on the surface of Thedas. Elvhenan covered most of Thedas; particularly Ferelden, Orlais, and lands west of Orlais.

Background

Elvhenan’s political, economic and cultural center was the great city of Arlathan, or ar lath’an, meaning “this place of love”. Arlathan was located in a great forest in the north of Thedas, not far from where the Tevinter Imperium first emerged. The most famous of elven cities of legend, it was neither the only nor the oldest one.

The Imperium is said to be the cause of Arlathan’s downfall, leading to centuries of slavery for the elves, during which time much of the lore and history of ancient Elvhenan was lost. What little remains is mainly in the memories of the Keepers of the Dalish elves, who hold the responsibility of gathering, remembering and teaching the lost lore, passing it down from generation to generation through the oral tradition rather than through the written word.

Culture

The life of the ancient elves was leisurely: the immortal has no need to hurry. Elven settlements included galleries and amphitheaters in which elves could while away some of the endless time they had at their disposal. They had crystal fortresses interwoven with trees and palaces floating among the clouds. And through it all, magic wove harmoniously through seemingly every aspect of the lives of the ancient elves.

At the center of the ancient elven world stood the great city of Arlathan, a place of knowledge and debate, where the best of the ancient elves would go to trade knowledge, greet old friends, and settle disputes that had gone on for millennia.

Elvhenan had, however, a far more complex–and sometimes troubled–society than may be imagined from the outside. As an empire, Elvhenan relied on a class system, one that often elevated its nobility at the expense of its servant class (and even, potentially, slaves); little different than the societies and cultures of any other race on Thedas. Indeed, the lower classes of elves were treated little different by their fellow elves than City elves are treated by human nobility in modern-day Orlais.

As mortality began to touch the elven people, the dead would traditionally be brought with great ceremony to burial chambers and placed in luxurious beds with satin sheets and soft pillows. Their bodies would be cleaned and the inner tissue would also be burned away by the mages, to preserve it for eternity.

Dreamer mages seemingly comprised the top of ancient elven society, and that this may have created some resentment among the lower classes, particular as the empire fell and Dreamers were perhaps seen as failing to help. Some Dreamers have been discovered to have been murdered while in Uthenera.

Temples to the individual gods were overseen by High Keepers and priests. Some of those survived into the Dragon Age, becoming known as “Sentinel elves.”

Uthenera

While the ancient elves did not die, the oldest of the elves were said to be weary of life. Memories became too much to bear, and rather than fade into complacency, they voluntarily stood aside to let newer generations guide their people. This practice was known as uthenera, or “the endless dream”.

Language

Along with their lore, much of the language of the ancient elves was lost with the fall of Elvhenan and the long enslavement of the elves by the Tevinter Imperium. Some words survive, however, and are used by modern-day elves, primarily the Dalish.

Religion

Ancient elves worshipped a pantheon of five gods and four goddesses. Their religion also mentions another set of gods called the "Forgotten Ones", the enemies of the elven pantheon. Only Fen'Harel, the trickster god of the elven pantheon, was able to walk freely between both groups. Elven legend attributes the failure of their gods to intervene in the fall of Elvhenan to Fen'Harel, who, it is claimed, deceived both the elven pantheon and the Forgotten Ones, trapping the former away in heaven and the latter in the abyss, where they could no longer influence events in the mortal world.

#dragon age #elven places #Elves

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