#it's fine i like to think she joins davrin and taash in working out or something

[persephoneggsy]

re: the whole rook not being in the lighthouse book club thing

my headcanon for Phryne is that she's actually banned from book club, because the one time she did attend, she spent the whole meeting in Emmrich's lap (despite there being like three chairs she could've sat in instead) and Emmrich honest to god could not contribute anything meaningful to the discussion.

and also she didn't read the book. so that probably didn't help.

[fanfoolishness]

Ooh 5 letters between two of your OC’s companions about them?

Thank you for this codex ask! I have sat on it for weeks but today is the day. Gotta distract myself from them fires amirite? :-D These are for Asla Mercar.

---

Harding: Hope you're doing okay after the whole 'found an angry rock version of yourself' thing. You seem happier. That's good. But if you're not you know where to find me if you wanna smash shit. I'd be pissed about all that stuff if I was a dwarf. Also congrats on you and Rook. She keeps walking around looking all giddy. It's cute. Taash

--

Dear Taash, Who told you about me and Rook??? Also, thank you. It was overwhelming to feel all of that pain and rage from the Titans, but I think I'm coming to terms with it. I still feel connected to everything, but I feel so much lighter. Does that make sense? Like there's a way forward now, where I can remember the past without being bowed down by it. Seriously though, did Emmrich say something? Harding

--

Harding: It wasn't Emmrich. Remember my sense of smell? Comes in handy for stuff like this. And I won't tell anyone if you don't want. I get it. Sometimes you wanna keep stuff just for yourself for a while. You two are good together. I can see she really cares about you. When we were checking out the Warden fortress with Davrin in Rivain she kept talking about you. "Lace would think this is so neat. Look at all this old stonework!" "I wonder if Lace's magic would work here." "I could really go for a ham and jam slam right now." She smiles way more when she talks about you. Glad you're feeling better. The stone magic is badass. We should see if we can power it up with dragonfire or something. Better ask Emmrich about that too. Taash

--

Dear Taash, Okay fine, yes, Rook and I are seeing each other. I have to be careful because my magic keeps almost giving her lyrium poisoning when we -- um -- try to be... affectionate? Ugh, that sounds bad. But when I get excited, or emotional, it just sort of comes out! Last time she was dizzy for an hour. That's the only reason I asked Emmrich about it. I mean, I certainly know how to do things under normal circumstances. She said all that about me? Stop it, you're making me blush. She's just the best, isn't she? I know everything is so hard right now, and the world keeps trying to end, and she's carrying all of that on her shoulders, but I'm just so happy right now. After losing Varric, and everything I've learned about the Titans... I can look into her eyes (did you know they're two different colors? Green and hazel? They're so pretty!) and just be Lace. And it helps. She helps. I asked Emmrich about dragonfire and stone magic. He said neither's really his area of expertise, but based on what he's observed, he recommended finding somewhere with a LOT of open space just in case everything explodes. Let's try it! Maybe the arena at the Hall of Valor? Harding

--

Harding: You're on. I'll have Isabela set up a match. Drinks at the Hilt after? You can invite Rook to join us too. I bet she'll cheer you on. Sorry stuff's been hard. But I'm glad it's getting better even if the world's messed up. Now let's go blow something up. Taash

[dreadknightcassandra]

Awakened Darkspawn Rook in the Lighthouse [Part 1]

Davrin: "Listen, if you expect me to work with you, you need to answer some questions."

Rook: "Understandable.... And the others are here because....."

Taash: "Backup"

Emmerich: "Curiosity"

Bellara: "I fell asleep on the couch, but I'm staying for the curiosity part." Davrin: "Let's start with what exactly you are."

Rook: "I am a darkspawn. Specifically what the Wardens call a Hurlock. I underwent the Severing and was awoken, which is why can do things like talk and act independently."

Davrin: "The Severing. Guessing that's some sick joke in regard to the Joining?"

Rook: "It is neither jovial not ill. The wardens of Amaranthine that aided Father spoke of the Joining, about how it uses Darkspawn blood to connect you to the song so you can hear the choir without it consuming your body. Given the..... parallels of our awakening and its purpose, the name seemed appropriate."

Harding: "Wait, back up a bit. Did you say 'Father'? Do darkspawn have parents.?

Davrin: "Last I knew, Darkspawn all came from broodmothers. Of course, that was also before Ghil'anain changed the blight on us."

Rook: "The stale song does still write from the broodmothers, before the choirmaster was freed. Father is the one who learned to free us all. We don't know his name, and the wardens we spoke to did not know either. They used other names, like Architect or Magister Sid... Sid... something."

Neve: "Magister Sidereal?"

Rook: "I believe so, yes."

Lucanis: "I take it this was some kind of super magister?"

Neve: "The Magisters Sidereal were the seven magisters who breached the Golden City and caused the first blight. If this 'Father' was one of them, he could absolutely be considered a father of all darkspawn."

Bellara: "Wait, I thought we didn't know if the magisters were real."

Harding: "Except we did. Corypheus was one of those seven magisters. Dorian and the Inquisitor even managed to track down a name, Sethius Amladaris. He was a high priest of Dumat apparently."

Neve: "That explains House Amladaris' sudden heel turn in support for the Inquisition. Guessing they were blackmailed."

Emmrich: "If this Father was one of the seven magisters and was called "architect", he might have been-"

Davrin: "Can we save the history lesson until we're done interrogating the talking darkspawn we're expected to follow?"

Rook: "I know nothing about what you're discussing anyway."

Emmrich: "Fair enough. What is this severing you spoke of?"

Rook: "It was something Father discovered, a way to quiet the song and allow a solo to be performed. Where the joining uses the blood of darkspawn, the severing requires drinking the blood of wardens."

Davrin: "WHAT?!?"

Assan: *Angry squawking*

Emmrich: "Davrin, I know you're upset, but please put your sword away and give Rook a chance to explain before you and Taash do something extreme!"

Davrin: ".......Fine. Talk."

Rook: "I cannot give full answers. I've never met Father, I was awoken long after the civil war at Amaranthine. It was an elf who was filled with song and sorrow that brought us the ritual. She used her own blood and chose those of us of her accord to sever. She was the one to teach us to read Father's notes. She stayed to ensure our warren had a leader who truly knew the new teachings. After she departed, our leaders would find wardens who could no longer hear past the song. Their blood freed us."

Davrin: "And I'm guessing none of that blood was taking willingly."

Rook: "I don't know. I did not seek these wardens. I sought out and dealt with the ones driven mad by silence."

Taash: "What, like literal silence? Do darkspawn like to make noise?"

Rook: "No... or, yes? The song.... the taint was it's name in his notes, it filled our minds. it was all we knew, it guided us, it was us. When the music leaves, it leave a vacancy in us for a... soul I think? I do not know how it works. But to lose that guidance while also being able to be afraid for the first time...... it is a difficult thing. Some demanded the song return. Some did more than demand."

Harding: "So that group you saved me and Varric from, was that why they were acting strange... or, stranger than you...no offence."

Rook: "They thought they could bring the music back by adding more to their choir. I did not want that to happen.

[defira85]

GOD okay so some feedback on my predictions for romances based on the first twelve hours

BELLARA FEELING HAUNTED BY HER BROTHER'S DEATH??? When Kas is haunted by the fact that Vaaran left the Qun for her, to save her, and now Vaaran is dying from the Calling because she joined the Wardens for her, oh my god, I couldn't have WRITTEN BETTER MYSELF. Two bubbly mages HAUNTED TOGETHER

Dhraoibhan and Davrin. Hmm. He's got a much more gym bro vibe than I was expecting. It might work? Not sure so far if it'll work

Emmrich I've only just gotten, but he seems brighter and more enthusiastic than I thought he might, will have to see if that will work with Vaaran? I want him to feel more angst about her imminent death, I know I won't get that in the game and I'd have to write it myself, but hmm. Hmmmmmmmm.

NEVE AND HEDY. Oh boy. I think they'd work excellently together but. The Virmire Choice. People who have gotten far enough know what I mean, and the rest of you will recognise it immediately once it happens. I just... I'm struggling to find a way to justify picking Neve's path in ANY playthrough, let alone Hedy's playthrough which is all about helping the little guys because she's ex Casteless (Captain Brand, she literally wears it as a badge of pride). And I'd heard if you didn't pick Neve there it locks you out of the romance. FUCK. I don't know. I have to do some soul-searching

Harding and Luci is going to work just fine I think. Nothing huge about it

I'm thoroughly disappointed with Lucanis so far, you can absolutely tell they fired Mary Kirby 2 years before the game dropped because his writing is just so... flat. He's such a weird edgelord. On paper you'd think he'd be my favourite but jesus. Anyway I'll romance him with my bloodmage cousin of Hawke and ruin his life and I'll have fun where she can fully see Spite the whole time and pretends she can't to soothe his ego

Taash I don't feel like I've gotten to know well enough to know yet but I think she's fine for Nomi. We'll see once I get to know her more.

I think Beren is going to end up with Solas FUCK

Harding said that one line about "maybe you'll be the one to teach him how to see the world differently" or whatever it was and I was like WELP

[elcor-thespian]

I’m in the early early early stages of planning out what my characters do post-DATV, but so far:

-Lucanis and Nephele get married like 6 months after the game. People that don’t know them well are like, isn’t that a little fast? But everyone who has spent even 5 minutes with them knows they’ve been acting married pretty much the entire time and honestly it’s less weird if they finally make it legally binding. These two are so wifed up for each other I stg

-Emmrich and Nasreen on the other hand take about two years and properly date, although just like Lucanis and Nephele they do move in together right away. Nasreen joins the Mourn Watch and has to go through all the training and there’s multiple tribunals and ethics committees to establish whether there is an unfair bias, but eventually it’s decided that as long as she never has Emmrich as a professor and he’s never her direct superior it’s fine. This doesn’t stop her fellow students from being weird and gossipy about it, so she has a really hard time making friends her age. This makes Emmrich obviously feel really guilty but she could honestly give a fuck. She has enough friends.

-So far I only have plans for kids for these two couples. Nephele has a hard time getting pregnant and has multiple miscarriages, but ultimately has a daughter named Francesca. I feel like we as a fandom really got attached to this name for this game and I am no exception (I blame Hozier)

-Nasreen has fraternal twins named Jonah and Imogen, both mages.

-Only one of my 7 Rooks stays with the faction they started with

—Nephele Mercar moves to Antiva and never officially becomes a Crow because of her age, but as my canon Rook and wife of the First Talon she is very highly regarded. Plus shit got really awkward when she chose Treviso over Minrathous as a Shadow Dragon, and even though she was basically forgiven the vibes never really recovered.

—Nasreen Aldwir joins the Mourn Watch, like I’ve said. If she had been born in Nevarra instead in an Antivan Dalish clan she would have always been there, but it is what it is.

—Aleksei Laidir romanced Bellara and I think they kind of smush together the ideas of the Veil Jumpers and LoF. Like yeah, there’s a lot going on in Arlathan, but there’s weird undiscovered magic stuff all over, right? Let’s get on a boat and go find it.

—Brenna Thorne romanced a sacrificed Davrin, and she spends about 6m with Antoine and Evka before admitting that it’s just too much for her emotionally. She goes on special assignment to Arlathan to care for the griffons. She moves in with Uncle Eldrin and they take care of each other until he dies and she hears the Calling. I love yearning.

—Konstantin Ingelvar romanced Neve and mostly stays in Minrathous helping her and the Shadow Dragons. He’ll still go back to the Necropolis from time to time to help out, but as a non-mage he feels more useful with Neve.

—Elspeth de Riva peaces the fuck out of Antiva and goes with Lace to work with the dwarves in Kal-Sharok (mostly). Most people don’t even realize they’re married at first, they just think Elspeth is Lace’s bodyguard. That’s a dynamic she’s very comfortable with.

—Paloma stays with the Shadow Dragons. I haven’t played Taash’s romance yet so I don’t quite know what the vibe is, but I’m feeling like it’s probably a lot of long distance

[ohsweetflips]

3, 7, and 15 for Rhodes for the Rook questions

@dancing--lights asked: 3, 7, 12, and 15 for the Rook & Companion asks for Rhodes? 👀

combining these two so that i can answer them all in one go 👀

3) What animal/monster would Davrin carve for your Rook?

ohhhh my god it feels lowk basic to say a cat but honestly. rhodes loves cats and, if davrin ever asked what animal they wanted a carving of, they would immediately say a cat. probably laying in that loaf-like way cats do :)

with davrin's art, i think that is something that rhodes is just so fascinated by. like, they're a very tactile/physical person, they're not someone who doesn't appreciate the arts (or writing/reading/anything of that caliber) but it's just so far out of their wheelhouse so like. 100% someone who can just watch and be enchanted by davrin's work. they also absolutely closely examine each of his carvings + the first time they ever saw/looked through his monster manual, they might as well have been dealing with a newborn w/ how carefully they were handling it

7) Does your Rook join Bellara in her technical talks about the Fade and various artifacts or are they more content to listen?

i think rhodes can to some extent join her in these talks bc they were veiljumpers together and they Know what she's talking about. however. i think bellara was more into the science-magic side of veiljumping/defusing artifacts than they were. so it's more like they are very enthusiastically listening to her talk abt artifacts while chiming in with their own experiences.

to rhodes, bellara is one of the smartest people they know so they're like her hype-man and love listening to her actually talk through the magic of what they do while they're out on missions. for all intents and purposes, they do understand the magic of what they do, but if they had a designated role within the veiljumpers, it was probably to help secure areas and make sure everything is safe/undisturbed so that people like, for instance, bellara could disarm artifacts easily.

i see their friendship as very brain-and-brawn but very similar energy/enthusiasm. i don't remember what reason veilguard gave for it seeming like bellara and veiljumper!rook don't know each other pre-game but it worked in strife's favor bc the two of them probably would've been a great duo but rhodes' impulsivity + bellara's curiosity probably would've caused like. at least a couple headaches for him lmao

12) [Does Taash] bring your Rook 'round the Hall of Valor to drink often?

i like to think so! taash is one of their close friends in the veilguard and they are endlessly entertained by isabela so whenever taash mentions that they're going to the hall of valor, they're like 👀👀👀

also even just. thinking abt it now. rhodes probably gets rowdy when drunk which definitely would add some more fun to the already-fun crowd that frequents the hall of valor

15) Bonus: What is one thing a companion does to cheer up your Rook if they're feeling down?

i so badly want to say something w/ davrin for this but honestly. ever since bellara's quest with the funeral rites for cyrian. i have not been able to shake literally physically working through your grief and like. ik that is Specifically for funerals but i feel like that can also extend to just Working Through Things and that is what rhodes would take to best.

like, as much as they are (or try to be) attentive to their friends' feelings, they are weirdly out-of-touch with their own. they're not leaping to talk abt their feelings and they're very much the kind to be like "eh, it's fine, i can deal with this later" bc they have always been a very On The Move person and just believe that they can "come back to things" later - and, surprise! things tend to feel worse later!

like. i'm still working out a lot with rhodes but it's like. 50/50 they're like "shit got worse and now i'm suddenly feeling every bad emotion at once, starting first and foremost with anger" or they're like "this will fix itself later :)" *does nothing to fix it*

and i'm torn bc, on the one hand, i think it's funny if bellara is just like "hey! you should come to arlathan forest. with me! for something :)" and rhodes is like "oh yeah of course cool veiljumper shit" and it's only when they're like halfway through climbing some trees or shit that they're like "wait this is helping me work through shit"

however, on the other hand, i don't think bellara would be the type of person To be "secretive" or whatever about it, so i think she'd just be open and tell rhodes that she thinks this would help them. and they, in their stubborn way, don't know if it actually Will but they don't like saying no to her, so they'll go and then very tail-between-their-legs admit that it does work.

and then this happens repeatedly and each time rhodes is like. "ah fuck. you're right. this does help."

like. tldr. the thought of bellara and rhodes having a heart-to-heart while climbing through bushes is so dear to me