#sd/gw rook

[elvhenomenon]

i had to do it. (above) caranthir/lucanis (beneath) auriel/davrin made with couple maker. i hc davrin with freckles of some sort... and i also hc he grows his hair out post-game.

auriel and davrin's shirts are supposed to be golden but came out as orange. *shrugs* gotta love couples who coordinate their wardrobes.

[trellanyx]

I finished the siege of Weisshaupt quest last night, and feel like BioWare did a really good job of selling how chaotic it was. I really felt how batshit overwhelmed everyone was, facing wave upon wave upon wave of Darkspawn from all sides, the booming taunt of Ghilan'nain in the sky and an Archdemon destroying every plan and hiding place as fast as the party could come up with them.

The closest comparison to this mission, ofc, is the assault on Adamant Fortress in DAI. But I never felt the characters’ desperation like I did during Weisshaupt. The relentless mantra of “keep moving, keep fighting, make it alive to just the next second, we have to try we have no choice”.

And because of the dialogue options I picked, it made me the most invested in my Rook that I’ve been for the entire game so far. I kept picking encouraging dialogue, and as the mission went on it really began to feel like she was straining, keeping a strong front because she’s the leader, it’s what she has to do, because if she doesn’t keep up a steady stream of “we’re gonna be okay, we’ll figure out plan B, C, D, don’t give up” then not only will she have failed her team when they need her most, but she herself will fall apart and be unable to do what comes next.

It’s Lucanis yelling, “how am I supposed to stab a cloud with a dagger?!” It’s Davrin saying the horns are calling reinforcements to the east battlements - “And where are we?!” “The east battlements!” - and the realization that the 3 of us fighting these Darkspawn alone are the reinforcements. It’s the dying screams of Wardens every few minutes, it’s the wall is gone the bell tower is gone the escape path is gone everyone is gone—

It’s Rook standing by the dragon trap, muttering, “And now I die.”

it’s also Lucanis’ EPIC move with the wings and dagger

This was the first time in Veilguard that I felt truly sucked into the story. If nothing else, I’m glad I got at least one moment like that.

[berensreverie]

I love to think about Lucanis choosing for himself what he wanna be. Rook told him "hey what if everyone forget about you and you can be anything you want" He could be cook in Nevarra with MW Rook, go off on adventures with LoF Rook, hunts mage with SD Rook, or disappear into the forest with VJ Rook Or of course! He could choose that being first talon is what he wanted and being two married crows with crow Rook! Or raise griffons with GW Rook!

Katerina molded the life for him, wish we could see the story of him seeing if this life is what he wanted.

[lurkiestvoid]

why wait to finish one playthrough before pre-rolling the others?? anyways I still gotta dig the pics out of a folder somewhere but I already have all (six!!!) Rooks lined up and ready to go (still a work in progress):

- Astrid "Knight" Ingellvar, Qunari MW sword-and-board warrior (x2, Neve/Bellara). Very paladin-coded, loves the Necropolis and its culture, has a good intuitive feel for its shifts and energies. Awkward and large and kind. She knows all her friends' death wishes and can be relied upon to see them through. Secretly embroiders as a meditative hand-eye coordination exercise. Wants to trust Solas to do the right thing. [She's definitely my main, I'm about 85hrs in :>]

- Erendira "Dira" "Rook" (Brosca-Arainai) "Laidir", elven Lof archer (Lucanis). Sneaky lil thing; often perched on some ledge or railing or other. Sticky fingers, magpie tendencies. Secretly a sucker for sweets. They were a stablehand for the Inquisition for a bit, then went to join 'Auntie Bela's' guild. Takes more after their father. Likes to sculpt lil clay animals and leave them for their friends to find, like Inquisitor Lavellan. Has zero tolerance for Fen'Harel's bullshit; Anti-Solas Captain.

- Rosalínda "Rosa" "Queen" de Riva, elven Crow mage (Emmrich). Right arm and eye are prosthetic, scarred patches down right side. Right eye teal, left eye lavender. Kinda Morticia Adams vibes; loves gardening and plant magic, focuses on poisons and toxins. She happily tunes out the lows (and highs) of Teia and Viago's relationship because she knows they're endgame even when they don't. Is suspicious of Solas at best, would rather not hear him out. However she also loves to paint, and loves his murals.

- Kieran (Theirin) "Bishop" Mercar, human SD mage (Davrin). Cocky but with good reason. Things are awkward with mom, it is what it is. Jokingly calls himself the 'bastard prince of dogs' but actually kinda has some hangups about it. Ex-oldgodbaby with consequences. Grew up in the Crossroads (and Orlais, and Skyhold, everywhere really), world-wise for his age. Followed Dorian to Minrathous. Anti-Solas Devotee. Has a decent singing voice.

- Dargo (Brosca-Arainai) "King" Thorne, dwarven GW two-handed warrior (Harding). Similarly adopted brother of Dira, as Blight orphans. Bit of a chip on his shoulder in a funny way, but bit of a temper. Lovingly based on Ka D'Argo of Farscape fame, with bushy braids as appropriate. Takes more after his mother. Also started in the Skyhold stables, but stuck with Rainier. Anti-Solas Disciple. He's a great cook, surprisingly.

- Ivy "Towers" Aldwir, elven VJ mage (Taash). Petite but feisty, maybe has a bit of tunnel vision, kind of a hammer that sees everything as a nail. Prefers to snipe from cover, doesn't mind if it's from behind her hot theyfriend. Is also, at best, suspicious of Solas but willing to at least hear him out. Likes to trade fanart for Bellara's fanfics.

[surfs-jo]

So I gathered all my thoughts on the romances and here are my top three!

My first and canon romance is Emmrich! There was no competition at all when I found out we could romance him and seeing my SD Rook with him made me so happy. My girl was on her hands and knees for him. I was honestly blushing after each scene with him. The best romance for me!

Next is Neve! I already fallen for her character so of course I'm gonna fall for her romance! The way my LoF Rook was tearing her hair out over her was how I felt after each cutscene. She kept trying to show her that no matter what, she was gonna stay by her side.

And third is Davrin! My friend was playing his romance and gave me all the details about him. I did spoil myself a little and looked it up and wanted to play it so badly. Im still in the middle of playing his romance, but i know that he's one of my favorite romances now! I made a GW Rook for him as he helped davrin through everything about the changes around him. It was charming, flirty and fun with him! Also, Assan was a bonus!

These are actually my favorite characters in that order so ofc I'm going to enjoy them more.

I did find Bellara's romance so sweet as she fawned over rook! The cute but nervous way they both talked about how the relationship was going to work out and how it leads to the romance in the end was adorable!

[muwitch]

The moon for your rookery

TY SO MUCH FOR THESE <3 answering these epic tarot rook asks I am, as matter of fact, vomiting words here again, so going under the cut!

Lucius [SD]

Where do I even unpack with that one…

The jig is on, the cat is out. Most of Luc’s problems and personal quests are tightly tied to him being a Radonis’ nepo baby [one of several but alas]. And it wouldn’t be so bad actually, if he wasn’t also half rivaini, which in a highly ancestral society is not always looked positively upon. Besides we are speaking Tevinter.

By his birth he is put down in a rat race he despises, yet desires to win so desperately just to prove everyone and especially the absolutely absent father figure wrong, and do so with gusto. He adopts quite a machiavellian approach to his own life and how he works toward that complicated goal. He joins Shadows out of late teen rebellion and for the longest time is not there really for the cause, there is an ulterior motive lingering in the back of his head. That is a blindspot he later forgets about and it bites him in the ass years after. Painfully.

He’s an altus mage. He generally tends to think of larger categories and despite them being of “greater good” it takes time for him to narrow them down to see not only calculation and statistics where it should be people. He radicalises pretty easily. He knows there’s collateral damage, always. And he thinks he’s ready for those sacrifices to be made. Exitus acta probat.

He’s (not by choice) a bloodmage - occasionally - and it ties with a certain will to sometimes impose cruelty both on others and himself. It requires a sort of forceful detachment in important matters. It also comes with crushing feelings of guilt and self-resentment he constantly tries to justify. Magic is a tool, right?

From all of the above Luc has this bivalent nature where he has no idea where he actually, truly belongs, because he’s already quite detached from Rivain and despite living in Tevinter since age 5, always constantly reminded he is not fully a vint. Not in a certain sense. He’s a Shadow Dragon, but has to lie to his comrades 24/7 about his identity in pretty little words. And he thinks he’s doing the right thing by doing so, protecting them from himself - from all that comes of him really being himself with all the luggage - but mostly protecting himself. All that pia fraus is a direct product of his upbringing. He’s all tangled in that complicated web of self-lies he’d build over the years that he forgets himself that omnia mea mecum porto.

On the brighter side all the “good” values per se come from his mother. They take root and survive in small rebellious acts long enough to sprout when he’s ready. Despite his efforts to convince himself of being what he is, he still has lots of compassion and understanding to people around him. And is not immune to making connections, to value honesty (toward himself of course, but at least he’s ready to reciprocate as deep as the situation dictates) and things that are humane in their nature. He wants and  tries to be a bigger person, something better, something lighter, something others can look up to. Once, twice, slowly trying to right the wrongs that already happened. (Not like there isn't a certain influence in his inner circle about that).

Watch him be bitten in the ass again for it.

Gwyn [GW]

Ah, my sweet Fereldan child. Daughter of two hailed heroes. Heiress to the teyrnir of Amarantine. Current king-consort’s niece. Beloved and cherished and protected from a younger age. THE disney princess. 

Gwyn is no stranger to a little bit of entitlement because of her heritage, and, specifically, her family history, aka Warden Cousland’s beef with First Warden(s). Gwyn thinks, a bit naively, because she’s barely 19, that she just knows better. It’s the teen maximalism at its best and worst in her, taking her own experience at Vigil’s Keep and her mother’s style of managing the Wardens as ideal. 

She also thinks because of that she, Gwyn, knows how to handle shit, especially concerning wardens, she has this natural ego, this belief she HAS TO step up and do things. Which is a polar sort of entitlement to that of Luc’s. She feels this responsibility which neither of her parents wanted her to bear, and a bit of dreams of heroics.

Combined with competence acquired by training at home and all the runaway hot girl shit, makes her think only she could handle certain things. She has to learn to rely on others as much as she relies on herself, not only inspiring them to be self-sufficient, but actively engaging to let them reach out to her and share the burdens that are too heavy to carry alone.

Due to runaway reasons, while we are at it, she’s more on the same page with peasantry than actual royalty she technically belongs to by birth. Her dislike of Fereldan post-Blight politics and her mother’s involvement in it, she transfers the same approach to authority to other places, which is, in hindsight, not the best strategy to have. She purposefully hides her family name by going as Gwyneth Thorne for those reasons and from time to time it bites her back, but not as painful. (But only until South gets blighted and she has THE experience firsthand).

Despite her mature image, Gwyn’s whole motivation for the Rook business is to help cure her parents. As simple as that, and she’s so single minded about it, she forgets to focus on other things. Forgets that she’s still a child with a gaping weeping hole made by her parents absence. One she’s desperately trying to stuff with something for years. She forgets she needs to let herself be vulnerable, open. Not some fearless brave warrior a Warden should be, not the effective leader, but just a person. When she lets herself cry for the first time that’s gonna be a revelation.

Also, she’s Fereldan, that lot comes with the funniest bundle of biases. Despite her education Gwyn would be either spouting the pup nonsense as much as harding, or be a surprised picachu for the whole year Varric drags her around as they track Solas. She easily forgets things are not what they were “back home” and when calculating she should probably consider cultural differences instead of assuming - she’s working on it, honestly.

And the funniest bias she’s is with the griffons, because not only did Wardens AGAIN conceal things, fuck them up, but she also wants one for herself. She earned it. No she wants one now, Davrin, we gonna bag the weeping howler, get me bow. 

[flowersforthemachines]

19 and 8 for the Rook asks please!

-rookamell

thank you for the ask!!!

questions come from this list! I answered 7, 17, and 22 here, 18 here, 23 here, 4 and 15 here for Ghilasara 🌸 and 20 and 23 for Cerastes here!

8. Do they expect to actually come out of the whole thing alive?

Well, of course. She has such a certain feeling (fear) that she'll die on her Calling that she doesn't consider alternative causes of death for herself. She'll die when her time as a Warden comes, and not before.

19. What's their favorite outfit like?

For casual wear, she prefers more open things. She's insecure about all her body scars (all 30+ of them...), but she prefers to keep them on display rather than try to hide them. In a "look at them if you dare" sort of attitude. So it's all shirts with V-necks, and short sleeves.

Out of default casual attire, she'd pick the Sable Doublet, but as someone with access to mods, I'm very partial to the Mage outfit from Rook's civilian starters in either the grey warden palette, or the Lucanis palette (Lucanis's bluish purple does look good on her. in my humble opinion)

Or the Dalish Wraps without the coat!

For armours, she wouldn't wear things that are too fancy/decorated (so, like. most crow armours are out. all lof armours are out, as are a lot of SD things). At least most of the time. She also absolutely wouldn't wear anything without pants/with extra skirts that covers her knees. Do not put the ex-circle mage in anything resembling mage robes, she'll bite.

The things I see her in the most are the Shadow's Hold, Vestment of the Dead, the N7 armour (without the coat) using the GW palettes from the Grey Wardrobe mod, and the Garb of Kingship, of course ^_^

[pendlewood]

Oh BOY. Watched a bit of gameplay for the different classes and I just was NOT expecting to be drawn to the warrior class. And yet here I am, about to abandon my MW mage Rook, for whom I have a whole playlist for, and go with a GW or SD dwarf warrior Rook. SHE CALLS TO MEEEEEEE

[videogame-ocs]

It depends on how injured:

My main & Crow Rook, Ariadne De Riva if minorly injured will typically just brush it off with humour but if they’re moderately to severely injured, if she can hide it from Lucanis or her companions she goes to the Cantori diamond to Viago and Teia for help. If not, then it’s normally one of her companions any one of them honestly, they always call for Lucanis in the end to calm her down so she can be treated anyway. She’s not good at being injured, She freaks out if one of her companions are injured and she is protective of them all but she’s only really overly protective of Lucanis.

My MW Rook Cassius Ingellvar will immediately go to Emmrich. He however doesn’t really freak out if his companions are injured….although he does worry a bit about Emmrich.

Felix Mercar, my SD rook, well this is a bit of a out of left field option but Felix will go to Dorian Pavus for any injury, this is because Dorian is his adopted father (Felix is the adopted son of Dorian and that Worldstate’s Inquisitor Percival Trevelyan in his lore). He has a low pain tolerance so he can’t hide it at all. He’s extremely protective of Neve, Bellara and Harding specifically.

My GW rook,,Zaria Thorne won’t go for help. At least not initally. She’s a stubborn bastard who will have to be talked into it by fellow grey warden Davrin. Despite that she’s very practical when it comes to her companions being injured and she gets very overly protective of all of them. Especially Davrin.

rook qotd: what does your rook do if they're injured? do they go for help? do they keep it to themselves? how do they react if one of their companions get injured? are they overprotective?

[dymme]

Here's Maggs Mercar!

My SD!Rook is my GW!Rook if she were younger, born in Minrathous and joined the revolution!

She saved Minrathous ;-;

I really want to draw more Rooks >:) this time I would like to draw Shadow Dragons!Rooks

Just reblog this post with your Shadow Dragon!Rook screenshots or drawings and I'll draw them :>

+ if you don't mind, write what city did they choose you know when (I think I'll use it for a joke)