#Getting to write about my headcanons and favourite elements ahh

[sysig]

Divided minds of the same thought (Patreon)

[solacefruit]

Re that post about ShadowClan; honestly I’ve been wondering a lot about your world building take on Brokenstar era ShadowClan! I never said anything because you can write whatever you want and I don’t want to accidentally come off as pressure but like

A lot of your lore about how the elders are the culture keepers and the sort of council of the clan, in every clan (tho their exact role and how they play into clan politics and what they do can vary)

It makes me think about how one of the first things Brokenstar did was remove elders from camp, eventually escalating to not feeding them at all and essentially treating them as worthless (and his downfall being that he didn’t care to actually pay attention to them because he thought they were useless, thus a resistance was able to form and help ThunderClan against Broken)

And Nightstar! Who was already an elder when he became leader! It would be super cool to hear about that in your verse, because I imagine it would go a bit deeper than a regular deputy becoming leader, since elders are such an important part of the clan.

I tend to imagine that ShadowClan actually is pretty open to others joining (mostly bc in canon Boulder and Russetfur weren’t clanborn) and outwordly act like they are aggressive and unwelcoming towards others, and don’t really announce that they accept others? But if a cat comes to them and has nowhere to go, and is willing to join and learn and work, they’ll let them.And I feel like ShadowClan are super close and loyal to each other, even by clan standards. They’re seen as the mean nasty cats but they always have each others backs.

That went into headcanon ramble but ahh basically I’d love to hear your thoughts on ShadowClan and the expansion of world building and lore !!

Imma tack on another question since this is already super long; do you think in TNP the journey cats would talk about and end up feeling close friendships by understanding each other’s clan cultures? Like not just the stereotypes that those outside the clan think but hearing what it’s like in each clan from a member of it, and then having this friend group that sort of mixes those and them having habits they can’t really express around their clan bc they would sound unloyal

((Anyway I love your writing and lore and everything !! Thank you for sharing it !))

Hello there! Oh my is this a long ask. I didn’t even realise tumblr let you send asks this long? I’ll put all of my response under a read-more to preserve people’s dash space. 

Thank you very much for such a kind series of compliments! It’s lovely to know how much you’ve enjoyed my work--and how much you’re anticipating my future works. I hope they are worth the wait. And don’t worry about pressuring me--it’s really not possible. I write what I want to write, at my pace. Hearing people’s enthusiasm for my work is always lovely, of course, and I interpret asks like this as support, not pressure. 

I think Brokenstar had the capacity to be very interesting (hence why I wrote a story about him) and I thought his treatment of the elders actually showed some political savvy, just like his deposition of the clan’s medicine cats. He worked to undermine and isolate the cats whose authority could rival his own, which--when your goal is total control--is actually not a bad move. It did backfire on him eventually, but only because of Thunderclan’s involvement. 

I won’t comment on your Shadowclan headcanons, because (as I’ve said before) I don’t like to talk too much about lore outside of my stories, but I sincerely hope you’ll enjoy whatever next Shadowclan story I put forward. I’m working on something at the moment that I get the feeling you might really like--but we’ll see! You can tell me when you read if I was right about that. 

Although, you said “outwardly act like they are aggressive and unwelcoming towards [non-clan cats], and don’t really announce that they accept [non-clan cats]?” and I want to pose a little rhetorical question for you: how would they keep something like that a secret from the other clans, when every moon they attend the gatherings, and every clan announces their kittens and new apprentices? Seems like a difficult subterfuge to manage. 

As for your question regarding the New Prophecies--I honestly haven’t thought about it much. My favourite and truest love of Warriors is the old territories, and while I’ll grudgingly accept that those are now gone and will not come back, my preference is not the lake and I don’t really care for the story of travelling together to the promised land. 

That said, I don’t actually think the cats would adopt each other’s cultures very readily--that’s a lot easier said than done, for one thing, and for another, I think how much a cat would be interested in learning (and what they would be allowed to learn) is highly individual--and cultural change and adaptation isn’t really an individual endeavour--and also I suspect the clans would be quite cautious around sharing their traditions just because. Culture isn’t just a collection of quirks or rituals: it’s kind of a perspective on the world, and a lot of cultures don’t mesh super well because of these different perspectives, at least not without a long time living together and/or concerted effort. We have the term “culture clash” for a reason, is what I’m saying. Living in close proximity would probably heighten cultural tension between the clans, not reduce it, especially in an already fraught situation.

Anyway, the thing that appeals to me about Warriors and keeps me dipping back into this well is the elaborate world I get to create based (admittedly loosely) on canon, with the code, the laws, the territories, the history, the cultures, the names, so on. Unfortunately for me, Erin Hunter’s preference is actually to erode those things that I personally like best, and they systematically undo the most appealing elements of the series continuously. 

The territories? Destroyed. Utterly destroyed. 

The names? Increasingly silly nonsense. 

The code? Just add something in that undermines the whole concept of the clans, and then--if I’ve heard correctly re: the newest series--just undo the code. 

The history? Good luck if you can follow any kind of consistent timeline, and also characters you loved or liked or even just tolerated are now infinitely worse than before, happy super edition! 

The culture? Barely there to begin with and yet somehow worse now also, what with Windclan’s dirt boys and whatever else. 

So I’m not really anywhere near as interested or invested in the post-original territories experience. I write about it from time to time because that’s just where the characters I’m writing about are, but I kind of do it a little bitterly. I took the destruction of my beloved historical sites very personally. 

[pikapeppa]

Dragon Age Question Meme

Tagged by @galadrieljones - thanks lethallan!  This is a long one - I’ll continue it under a cut. 

Tagging forward to @schoute @viktuuri-fluff-saved-my-life @thevikingwoman @buttsonthebeach @charlatron @mrscullensrutherford @oops-gingermoment @iarollane @aban-asaara @irlaimsaaralath @wardsarefunctioning and anyone else who wants to play!

01) Favourite game of the series?

I haven’t played Origins yet, but between DA2 and DA:I, Inquisition is my jam! I’ve played it 3 times already and I’m not yet tired of it! So many places to explore, and I still haven’t heard all the banter yet, and the lore is just so rich, so many codex entries, yes yes.

02) How did you discover Dragon Age?

Basically all my Horizon Zero Dawn friends insisted - INSISTED - that I play Inquisition. For some reason I thought I wouldn’t like it, like “ahh everyone says it’s so great, how great can it be.” WELP LOL. I have no regrets, but my HZD friends might, given how HORRIBLY OBSESSED I have become LOL. 

03) How many times you’ve played the games?

- Origins: 0 times, but looking to rectify that this year! - DA2: 1.5 times. Ughhh Act 2... - DA:I: 3.5 times and still loving it!

04) Favourite race to play as?

Elf. Hands down. I played a Trevelyan once and was like MEH BORING.

05) Favourite class?

MAGE. MAGE MAGE MAGE. Although I’ve been playing as Fenris a lot in DA2 and it’s surprisingly fun!! Good thing too since I’ll have to be a two-handed warrior during my Fenquisition playthrough

06) Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time?

I’ll answer for Inquisition. There are some things I always do the same (e.g. Bull saving the Chargers, allying with Abelas, making Solas APPROVE OF ME LMAO), but other things I alternate. I’ve gone with the mages and the Templars twice, respectively; I prefer picking the mages, it just makes more sense and is more “ethical” to me, but I ADORE COLE and I think the whole envy demon storyline is very interesting, so I quite enjoy siding with the Templars too. I have done something different each time at the Winter Palace, and this time I plan to do something different yet again. I strongly prefer Cole as a spirit, but I’ve had him as a spirit and as human twice each. 

My Fenris-as-Inquisitor playthrough will be interesting. I’ll be playing in character as him, so it’s going to be quite different than what I canonically do, and I’m quite interested to see what happens. Solas is going to hate me oh god

07) Go-to adventuring group?

- DA2: FENRIS and Anders, and then I alternate my rogues. I love both Varric and Isabela, but depending on how far into my Fenris romance I am, I often have to leave Isabela behind because I HATE WATCHING HER FLIRT WITH MY MAN <sobbing> - Inquisition: SOLAS, Cole and Blackwall is my favourite group, but I also love bringing Cass instead of Blackwall - I love Cass and Cole’s banter. But Solas and Cole are my FAVOURITE PAIRING. I could listen to their incomprehensible chatter forever.

08) Which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

Damn. Umm... I put equal amounts of thought into Elia Lavellan (romanced with Solas), Athera Lavellan (romanced Abelas) and Rynne Hawke (romanced with Fenris). Before I started writing those ships, the question I had to answer was this: Why would Solas/Fenris/Abelas love her? I know why Elia loves Solas, and I know why Rynne loves Hawke and why Athera admires and eventually loves Abelas. But what is it about those OCs that those men fall in love with? I build my OCs around the men in their lives, not the other way around. 

09) Favourite romance?

URGH WHY MUST YOU ASK ME THIS. GOD FINE. Fenris rivalmance, ok?? But I also love the Solasmance and the Blackwall romance to the point of swooning so just FUCK RIGHT OFF WITH THIS QUESTION THXBAI~

10) have you read any of the comics/books?.

Yes! Masked Empire and Asunder.

11) if you read them, which was your favorite book?

Masked Empire. I really liked getting more background on Celene/Briala and Gaspard (i.e. WHY THE FUCK I SHOULD GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE WINTER PALACE MISSION AT ALL). I loved Felassan and Briala’s dalen/hahren relationship. And it was just better written than Asunder.

12) Favorite DLCs?

Must agree with Gala here; Trespasser is bae, and Jaws of Hakkon is just beautiful (and also AMERIDAN <sob>). But I also liked Mark of the Assassin quite a bit! So amusing!

13) Things that annoy you.

The fact that it takes a MILLION YEARS to get banter in DA:I, and also that you can’t just click on your companions in DA:I whenever you like if you just want to hear their voice. I KNOW I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CLICKED ON FENRIS CONSTANTLY TO HEAR HIM SAY “I enjoy following you”, OKAY? LIKE ALL I WANT IS FOR SOLAS  TO SAY “vhenan” TO ME WHILE WE’RE WANDERING THROUGH THE BLOODY WESTERN APPROACH

14) Orlais or Ferelden?

Ferelden? We seem to spend more time there. But I’m kind of neutral I guess.

15) Templars or mages?

Mages. Hands down. Sorry Templars.

16) if you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?

All parallel universes. None of them coexist. Rynne Hawke doesn’t even coexist with any of my Lavellans because Fenris becomes the Inquisitor in my headcanon

17) What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc)

I have only one pet, Hawke’s mabari, and his name is Toby. 

18) have you installed any mods?

Console only <sob>

19) Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden?

n/a - haven’t played Origins yet!

20) Hawke’s personality?

PURPLE HAWKE, with a healthy dash of Isabela-level flirtiness. But Rynne (over?)uses humour to deflect pain and agitation and anger.

21) did you make matching armour for your companions in Inquisition?

...Maybe. 

HAHAH so I made matching colour armour for Elia and Solas, yes. And I generally like to dress both Cole and myself in black and red!

22) if your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?  

Ohhhh.... fuck. This is tough. - Elia Lavellan (romanced Solas): ...surprisingly, nothing really. She’s got a pretty zen kind of ‘what will be, will be’ attitude. In her darkest moments she might regret falling for Solas, but overall, she doesn’t really regret anything. - Arya Lavellan (romanced Blackwall): nothing. She is very confident.  - Athera Lavellan (romanced Abelas): honestly, she questions half of her decisions half the time. After Trespasser, she regrets not dissolving the Inquisition. (I haven’t decided yet if she eventually does dissolve it after all; perhaps we’ll see what DA4 brings us).  - Rynne Hawke (romanced Fenris): a LOT of things. She regrets letting Bethany attack that ogre. She regrets not bringing Carver to the Deep Roads, because maybe then he wouldn’t have joined the Templars to spite her. She regrets not following up more closely on Emeric’s murder investigation because otherwise maybe her mother wouldn’t have died. She basically blames herself anytime anything bad happens with her family (including the Merry Band of Misfits). 

23) Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?

I actually quite enjoy sticking to canon for the most part, and expanding on facts that we already know. The one canon-ish(?) thing I don’t love is the idea of Dalish Inquisitors understanding or speaking a dialect of Elvhen that’s mutually intelligible with the dialect that Solas and Abelas speak. I let it slide in my Solavellan fics, but I mean, it’s been THOUSANDS OF YEARS between Arlathan and the Dragon Age. Dalish Elvhen (even if they have many many dialects, which is most certainly the case) is very unlikely to be mutually intelligible with ancient Elvhen. I’ve been meaning to write a full post about this for like a year oops

24) Are any of your character(s) based on someone?

They all contain some elements of self-insert, so... me, I guess? XD

25) Who did you leave in the Fade?

The first time I played Inquisition, I had not played DA2 yet, so I left Hawke in the Fade for LOGIC REASONS OK - Stroud was like the only senior Warden left, I thought they needed him! I’ve left Stroud there every time thereafter. 

26) Favourite mount?

Well, it WOULD be any and all the harts, except for that FUCKING HORRENDOUS SOUND THEY MAKE. I thus prefer to ride dracolisks for the Coolness Factor™.