badwolf1950

[badwolf1950]

So, full disclosure, I haven't been a Solas fan before.

I am now.

And that's because of Veilguard and the many, many ways in which I felt let down by this game.

The aspect that bothers me most is the reduction of nuance and complexity.

Rook's hero's cakewalk (because “journey” really isn't the right word) is a ready-made path that offers no deviation at all and never challenges the player in any meaningful way.

Sure, you can spend some time pondering the pros and cons of saving Treviso or Minrathous. Ultimately, it makes no difference. Rook does their best, they just can’t be in two places at once.

Same with the companion character arcs. What does it mean if you decide to you turn Emmrich into a lich? For the most part, it's idle musing. Indulgence. He’ll be happy either way, there are no real stakes. Yeah, your actions do have consequences, just not the sort of consequences that make a substantial difference. It’s the illusion of choice – reduced to cosmetics.

The problems with decisions that cost nothing is that they don’t feel like an accomplishment. They also don’t allow for character growth. Rook doesn’t change, they remain static. Even the section in the Fade where Rooks faces their regrets is easy and comparatively lightweight. Varric was killed by Solas, Harding resp. Davrin died in combat and either Bellara or Neve was abducted by Elgar’nan. It’s not like Rook’s decisions actually caused these events, it’s not like Rook actually failed through a choice they had to make that turned out to be the wrong one. Everyone was there willingly and volunteered to fight the good fight. Rook’s regrets are not about real guilt, they are about feeling sad and guilty. And that – it needs to be said – is not the same thing. At all.

At the same time, the story carefully avoids any kind of true ethical dilemma.

It's not even about the lack of mean or edgy dialogue options; that’s just a symptom. The cause is the writers’ unwillingness to let realism intrude in Rook’s fairytale – the lack of anything that would require Rook to compromise on morals, or fight temptation. Rook is never faced with any sort of moral conundrum, or allowed to act out any kind of vice that realistic characters have. In its straight-path simplicity, Rook's story is apparently written for children and people who remain child-like in their yearning for simple, uncontested truths.

Of all the sorts of conflicts that a story can offer, Veilguard carefully avoids the most realistic and (in my opinion) interesting ones: Character vs. self and character vs. society, aka, politics. The game firmly refuses to go there. To the point where it creates a completely unrealistic consensus on all sides that eliminates yet another sort of conflict: character vs. character.

If Rook and their companions would talk politics, they’d all be on the exact same side. In a two party state, they’d all cast the same vote.

I am sure that there are many players who feel comforted and reassured by that fact, who sincerely believe that this is how stories should be written. That stories should reflect the world not as it is but as they think it should be. But for everyone who likes their stories a little more realistic, that lack of meaningful interpersonal conflict, that lack of real diversity which comes not from appearance but from different cultures and opposing viewpoints amounts to a frankly cringe-worthy, artificial and juvenile surface-level interaction between characters. Or, to phrase it differently: the diversity remains skin-deep and doesn’t extend to the philosophical, and even in the few instances where it does, it shies away from the political.

Which means that the only conflicts that remain are the most boring and stereotypical ones: character vs. monsters resp. the supernatural, where all foes are evil in the blandest way (Supremacist Venatori! Fascist renegade qunari! Power-hungry necromancers!). These conflicts are resolved through exploring maps and endless, repetitive combat.

The only thing that brings a bit of nuance to the game is Solas’s story. And there is an element of character vs. character in Rook’s and Solas’s relationship, but the sad truth is that what could have been a fascinating mirrored character journey falls flat for all the reasons already explained – because where Solas is a character as layered and controversial as it gets, Rook is anything but.

Solas’s story shows how even people with the best intentions and the greatest integrity are ultimately broken by what life throws at them, both by the decisions that are forced upon them and the choices they make on their own. It shows how a prolonged war is always a sunk cost fallacy: I’ve gone this far, if I stop now, it was all for nothing.

Rook’s victories, on the other hand, come without a cost – both in terms of moral corruption and in accountability. The guilt Solas bears is real. The fight against the titans, followed by his war against the Evanuris, requires compromising his own morals, one day at a time, one century after another, he’s trying to save the world yet doomed to fail. Sacrificing the spirits to win a battle after the war has gone this far? Every single war leader around the globe would make the same decision. In fact, all of them do: They do sacrifice the lives of others if it will help them win, they do send soldies into the trenches to die, whether these soldiers want to or not, and they are rarely, if ever, truthful about the reasons why.

In a certain way, the story of the spirit of wisdom turned flesh is reminiscent of the biblical Fall of Man: the original sin. Solas has fallen, and he’s broken. In trying to heal the world, he’s trying to heal himself. The burden is too heavy, the responsibility to great, the knowledge that he is responsible for all of it too devastating. Solas’s greatest conflict is character vs. self. It has the potential to be great. In a way, it is. It’s the single redeeming quality that, depending on your interpretation of what went on behind the scenes, the writers managed to salvage from the original concept of Dreadwolf or the lone pillar that withstood all their attempts to bring it down.

Only sadly, infuriatingly, in the end, that fallen hero’s ending is put into the hands of a protagonist who judges him from the perspective of someone who has never even stumbled – not because they are wiser, braver, or kinder. No, just because the writers were gracious – or cowardly? – enough to never let them fail.

The game gives Rook a moral high ground which isn’t earned in the slightest because Rook never had to walk even a quarter of a mile in Solas’s shoes. They don’t know what they would have done in his stead, they have no idea what it actually means to see the sorry shape the world is in and know that it was your hands that shaped it. And even where Rook might actually be culpable – the interruption of Solas’s ritual that freed the remaining Evanuris – anyone is quick to assure Rook that it wasn’t their fault.

Whatever regrets Rook carries, they’re born from self-doubt and trauma response. Survivor’s guilt, mostly. When compared to Solas’s immense guilt, Rook’s regrets are, for lack of a better term, insignificant. That Rook manages to face them doesn’t mean that they are more truthful or emotionally mature, it just means that Rook’s story is a tale for children and Solas’s is not.

It’s not that I’m necessarily opposed to the idea that the player decides Solas’s fate through their actions. It’s the injustice of it all that bothers me: The player is led through a game that provides a safe space for their character, one that is devoid of any interpersonal conflict and any ethical quandary. Rooks succeeds through kindness and heroism and taking their companions on team bonding exercises.

As if Solas could have won the war against the Evanuris if he’d taken the time to take his companions on coffee dates.

The juxtaposition – Rook vs. Solas – fails, simply because of this deep divide. Rook’s story is detached from reality and yet Rook gets to be Solas’s judge, jury, and executioner. On what grounds?

As I said, right in the beginning, I haven’t been a Solas fan before. But by the end of Veilguard, I was firmly, irrevocably, Team Solas, just because I was so annoyed that the narrative put Rook in a position of moral superiority. I detested my own character. Jesus, what a goody two-shoes! I was rooting for Solas simply because his story was so much more: a genuine tragedy, a study in complexity. Rook, on the other hand, remains bland, snotty, unchanged. Untried.

The thing is, I don’t believe that my reaction was one the writers had intended. I strongly feel that they didn’t mean for me to pick up on their double standard, that they expected me to walk away fully satisfied, convinced that Rook and The Team were the Good Guys because they went on picnics and petted the griffon, their final victory well-earned and just. If only Solas had had a Team and taken care of their emotional needs – he could have taken down the Evanuris with nary a scratch!

It’s all so very disingenuous.

Rook and, by extension, the player exist in a bubble of sanitized content. That is clearly deliberate. The player is meant to like it there. (In that sense, it’s only logical that they changed the title from Dreadwolf to Veilguard.) And clearly, it does resonate with a certain kind of their player base: mostly with people, I think, who would like their real life to be a bubble too and whose only experience with moral corruption is when they find it in others.

[badwolf1950]

Był taki moment, kiedy nie podobał mi się Dragon Age Veilguard. I był taki moment, kiedy nie podobał mi się Sleep Token. A później Rook mnie wciągnął jak żadna inna postać z gry wcześniej, a kilka piosenek ST okazało się napisanych o nim. O tym Rooku któremu historię dali scenarzyści, Rooku którym gramy my wszyscy, nie tylko tym moim. Ale też taka jedna, najbardziej boląca mnie piosenka, która jest o każdym crowRooku jeśli ten kocha się w Lucanisie i o tym jak bardzo to nie może skończyć się dobrze. Ona najbardziej nie może mi wyjść z głowy. Nie potrafię już słuchać ROME, ze względu na Petera i Kierana. Ich nie ma i jakby nigdy nie było lub gorzej. Bad Omens brzmiało inaczej, gdy był Felix, i brzmi już zupełnie inaczej gdy Felixa już nie ma. Chyba nagle dziwnie obco. Dziwne rzeczy robi w mojej głowie muzyka z bohaterami i opowieściami ale też chyba opowieści robią dziwne rzeczy z odbiorem muzyki.

[badwolf1950]

"i was a transtrender" no you werent. you were just questioning your identity and then you decided that wasn't for you. that's a fucking healthy thing to do. fuck off lmao

[badwolf1950]

[badwolf1950]

House de Riva 🐦‍⬛

Like father

Like mentor you deeply respect and see as your elder brother but never going to tell him that because he will poison your food

Like son

Like a found protege who failed every step he made but you love him as family nonetheless but you're never going to tell him that or you have to poison your own food

[badwolf1950]

*few moments later*

stubborn freaks, i love them both ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ

[badwolf1950]

I did not create this summary but I have permission to share it.

Act I, the background:

The video opens with a timeline of Nano's history, Kilby glazing herself, and bragging about participation numbers.

When Kilby joined the board, she "figured we must be getting five- and six-figure support from big publishers" and "big authors." But, SURPRISE! "Nanowrimo never had that level of backing."

Shows some charts (screenshots, below). Note that the charts show that right around half (give or take, depending on the year) of Nano's funding came from charitable contributions.

Immediately after showing these charts, she says the organization was "primarily funded by sponsorships and merchandies, and not by charitable contributions." This is a great sign for what's to come. *As of 2020, Nano was "six-figure[s]" in debt. Her time on the board was focused on fundraising.

Act II, the scandal:

Kilby claims that the grooming of children ONLY happened off-site, NEVER on nano itself.

Kilby claims that the board publicly shared the findings of its investigation into CF after 10 days. It is implied this was done back in MAY.

Kilby admits nobody had any relevant training or certification for dealing with children.

Kilby claims nobody at NaNo knew who CF/Mod X really was (blatant lie) because they just didn't keep those records, which prevented them from being able to work with child protection organizations.

Kilby claims she was tapped for the ED position because she "understood youth-facing organizations" and "had experience with the required state-mandated training." No evidence of this understanding or experience is supplied.

More self-glazing

"Our top priority is, and was, child safety." lol

Kilby claims they implemented staff background checks "immediately" (later in the video, she'll claim that some unspecified number of people had been "vetted" and were working with the org again).

Further claims that they "developed an advice content [sic]" aimed at teaching minors how to be safe online. ….where? who knows?

Claims they started verifying educators on YWP.

Act III, the community:

Forums: Inconsistent moderations, outdated TOS. Saw problematic, unaddressable behavior. Couldn't maintain the integrity of the space.

One of the problems was that they had "encouraged" "volunteers" to set up "unofficial" Discords and facebook groups with the Nano name. "Nobody under nanowrimo's authority was moderating those groups." Using resources to deal with issues from these "unaffiliated" groups.

"The number of people who view themselves as experts by virtue of how long they've been doing Nanowrimo… numbered in the tens of thousands." [The salt really starts here]

Act IV, the fallout:

ED job was "bigger than rebuilding after an educational crisis" [because you're so good at that, clearly]

When Kilby took over, there were more than a dozen existing labor violations.

Participation had been declining since before 2020, fell off a cliff.

Sponsor money in March 2023: $310k. Sponsor money in March 2024: $125k

2023's funding shortfall was equal to 20% of their total annual budget

"We were operating outside of our mission." Claims they became an "advocacy group that actively lobbied for authors." No further specifics of how, for who, or to whom are provided.

We COULD recover from this, except for not having money.

Act V: Conclusion (why is there still 10 minutes left in the video??)

Nano is shutting down.

Website will stay up "as long as possible, but we cannot guarantee a specific end date" [because I don't know what the host's non-payment policies are or when the check will bounce]

We were going to merge with another writing org, but they noped out when they saw our debt.

"Other potential supporters" were scared off by mean, dastardly 'ol REDDIT

"Many people who withheld their support, or supported us anonymously, told us that the tone of the community was a big issue."

The press was mean to us and inaccurate about our position on AI. (what press? Youtubers??)

Kilby claims they TURNED DOWN "a number of" AI sponsors because it "went against our mission."

"The real alternative to the organization closing, and I can't say this enough, would have been for us to been funded [sic] by the community." No kidding?

"Community funding shouldn't have been a problem."

The collapse of Nano was because of things that happened before I got here (financial mismanagement), but it absolutely wasn't because of AI or a scandal. Don't put it in the newspaper that it was because of AI or a scandal. Those were just a coincidence.

Thank you to everyone I fired, drove away, etc. etc.

[badwolf1950]

no one mourns the wicked

So Nanowrimo is actually dead.

After 25 years of operation, Nanowrimo is shutting down.

An email came out in the hours approaching April Fools

A video was attached to the email, which can be viewed here:

The video is on Kilby’s channel and not the long dead Nanowrimo channel. The video is full of…

Kilby logic, but there is some relevant information contained within.

If have anything on Nanowrimo you need to get off the site, take it now. The site will likely not be around for too much longer.

Despite everything that the organisation has been through, the closure of a 25 year old nonprofit is still a tragedy, and my heart goes out to everyone that’s grieving from this. Nano has hurt a lot of people, but it meant a lot to so many, and I will be sorry to see that go.

Even if I don’t agree with many things in the recent video, I can agree with the sentiment of one slide.

I will update you all if and when relevant information comes out. Despite everything, I now doubt that this will be my last post.

[badwolf1950]

okay i need someone else who's been at least tangentially aware and/or involved with NaNo to watch this video and chat with me about it because I have THOUGHTS™ (below the cut).

Here's the thing—aside from the fact that NaNo's PR has been slowly imploding for the past ~five years, this video itself feels VERY MUCH like a CYA from the Interim Director (a fact bolstered by both the fact that it's being posted on the "NaNoWriMo Kilby" account, not the formal NaNo one AND the fact that at multiple points, it's tosses out what Kilby specifically did to "help" things) as well as an indictment of long-time participants (despite the claims that it's not, Kilby states in the PPT that "[the board of directors] heard repeatedly from other would-be grassroots supporters that they aligned with [NaNo]...but that the community vitriol was a problem," then in the audio overlay specifically calls out that "a lot of people who viewed [NaNo] as a welcoming community had that view challenged this year. and it wasn't because of what HQ was doing, but because of what they were seeing from people who were self-identified Wrimos", then later pins the collapse of the organization on people not giving enough money to support NaNoWriMo) rather than a solely objective analysis of what's happened.

Genuinely sad that this is happening, but imo this video felt condescending as fuck, between what feels like a thinly disguised "you all didn't know everything that was going on" mantra being hammered home every few slides, the fact that it's a recorded slideshow instead of a video or a comprehensive written report with verifiable evidence of the steps taken to mitigate the legitimate concerns that were raised with their team regarding organizing and child safety on their platforms, AND the fact that near the conclusion, Kilby states "what hurt the organization far more and for far longer [than the genuinely BAFFLING stance that they took on AI in late August of 2024]...was the fact that many members of a very large, very engaged community let themselves believe the service we provided was free."

(for context, the below screenshot was taken today and conspicuously notes that "Oh, and best of all, it's free!")

Kilby makes a salient point that artistic/creative efforts—especially non-profit organizations—are struggling to find funding from their communities. That's real, and it should be cause for concern for any of us on here/elsewhere who find value in the arts, whether as creators or enjoyers of it.

That said, as much as the financial concerns of NaNo may have been the driving factor behind the shutdown Kilby is discussing, it's kind of wild to hear the narration go from such clinical descriptions of what they did when grooming allegations were raised to "but you all didn't bother to donate enough so now we're shutting down >:(" energy.

The decline of the org is clearly a multi-faceted thing, and while I appreciate that many of those factors were discussed here, to me the tone of this video felt off-putting and a bit like a last-ditch effort from someone trying to clear their name before bailing on a sinking ship.

[badwolf1950]

Being obsessed with your own ocs is so so good for you i seriously can't recommend it enough

[badwolf1950]

learning that constantly thinking about and analyzing and interpreting my traumas isn’t actually healing . and don’t get me wrong its made me a very effective communicator and emotionally intelligent person. but actually im supposed to be moving on and experiencing new things and happiness and stuff and not just compulsively reliving and recontextualizing the past. oops!

[badwolf1950]

forever reblog

ocs are great you just make up a guy and do whatever you want with them and it's free and nobody can stop you

[badwolf1950]

it finally happened. I remade my Rook into original character in my own world and I even have a bit of a story to write. It only took staring at my Rook being my wallpaper for about 3 months or so. Still not sure if I'll ever finish the game, cause I am still stuck at the end of the act 1 and hating those feels it brought in me.

don't ever talk to me and my boyfriend ever again, those looks say it all. i was gonna headcanon that my Rook is a child of my OTP from my original story (well, their dragon age au-counterparts I made once) and that was supposed to be all the creative effort I'm putting into DAV, but...

Now I understand people who loved their Inquisitors so much. I didn't have such connection to my Lavellan, I was having feels more about Solas' story and the whole scope of it (still getting goosebumps listening to that trespasser theme). ATM I can't stop taking screenshots of my Rook. I love them. And their eyes are just so amazing. No idea how I done it, at the premiere I just downloaded the game, made the character and played a bit of the prologue, not even to the moment where Varric gets stabbed. Got overwhelmed and also there was event happening in my MMO and life happened etc. I loaded that saved game few days ago, played a bit and fixed messed up face I created that first day, and... Then fell for those eyes after some cutscenes and dialogues. IDK, I just can't stop looking at my Rook and admire them. Also I headcanon them as being just a baby, you know a bebe thrown into that big mess and having zero clue what's going being the square that doesn't fit the circle etc. Crows in DAV make me laugh and I am not sorry, this is some kind of abomination what they've done to them (I mean veilguard writers), but I still love that I can play as one and no amount of bad retcon / terrible writing / messing up the ideas?? can take it away from me. (I knew they will mess it up and it's not worse that what I expected, but just downright... so bad it's funny). Well what can you do when you have unrealistic expectations for assassins I blame Euthanatoi for (same with necromancers or necro-assassins or any variations of House Jannisary).

Also why the frakk is my Rook forever alone, companions having a lot more interactions between them and who invented that awkward idea of Rook just passing by listening to others conversation not being able to join and then the pair that was talking just keep eyeing their boss and it's so awkward. No one loves my little poor mew mew or smth, WTF is this.

[badwolf1950]

I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter was one of the best works of sci-fi of our generation and one of the best works of transgender fiction ever written, and there are world renowned authors who still have successful careers after they publicly assassinated the nascent woman who wrote it. I don't think they should ever know peace.

[badwolf1950]

remember. when faced with the rise of fascism it is always the most important thing to start vitriolic and divisive online discourse about who is more oppressed

[badwolf1950]

i love getting my Rook close to ledges and watching them struggle to decide whether they want to jump or not