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If you have achieved something, please remember to observe a mandatory period of basking in the warm glow of your achievement like a lizard on a stone, lest you teach your brain that effort is futile, actually, because it didn't get to enjoy its happy chemicals, so, naturally, nothing good ever comes of trying. (And no, avoiding punishment is not a reward!)

I recommend, like, 5% of basking time in relation to whatever time you invested into achieving the thing minimum. And if you can't make your own bask, friend-brought is fine (= tell your friends!).

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trashy solas sketch idea: sad solas and the caretaker awkwardly travelling back to the lighthouse in the caretaker’s boat after solas leaves lavellan in trespasser

ooppffaaoofofaf aaahhahhaaahahaaa this one is diabolical xDDDDDD what a pathetic man

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Emmrich has a really tall bed so it's easier to climb out of, but dwarf Rook is out here every night like

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i love the vibes difference with the height difference, it's still the canon mouth kiss but then it's also FOREHEAD KISSES, NOSE KISSES, BACK OF THE HEAD STROKING!!!

solas looks more disoriented than usual in that last pic, that is the face of someone being overloaded with emotionally intimate warm snuggle oxytocin which is even LESS what he expected than Fade Tongue alone

that's the face of slowly waking up from a blissful brain shutoff, going "what just... i... did my thousands of years of touch starvation just receive a tender loving smooch on the nose ?????????????"

:^)

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i couldn't get this out of my head ;A;

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Solas makes me sad. Very sad.

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to me, it's actually more horrifying that DATV presents all this in such a cheery way, because the level of obliviousness or acceptance apparently presented by mw!rook, emmrich, myrna, most companions, etc, honestly sometimes makes them seem more morally deficient than if they were doing nasty things with some in-game awareness of that. it's weirdly more insidious? it creates some WILD and difficult to rationalize characterization IMO, much more than if there was an active uneasy awareness of fucked up stuff, or morally ambiguous characters who tried to justify things, or characters shown overtly to be brainwashed or something.

tevinter nights tells a very different story regarding wisp slavery, and the mourn watch leashing the dead, and myrna evading the question of if it causes pain in the dead/spirits, and giving audric the "choice" between either A) dying or B) submitting to "a modicum of control" :/ and emmrich in that is written as actively uncomfortable but not intervening as he watches audric kneel to accept being bound. :/ now THAT'S an interesting characterization. so THERE ARE QUESTIONS SIMMERING BELOW THE SURFACE but DATV itself just... doesn't. just... ignores it.

as it is, it's cozy necromancy that's actually a can of worms under pressure about to burst open.

this is truly the bane of my existence while i'm working on my mourn watch rook fanfic because there's SO MUCH that collapses under the slightest scrutiny, yet the game tries extremely hard to evade that both tonally and in depth of content. there are like 700 things i feel need to be explored, but due to limited capacity for the specific fic i'm writing, i'm just... raising the specter (no pun intended) of some issues but not yet able to overhaul or resolve much lmao.

veilguard having woke necromancy but still sending skeletons to work in the necropolis' corpse gulag - ghoulag if you will - is such a bizarre choice and also frankly quite hilarious because you can tell that they didn't want to commit to anything fucked up and unethical because why would they

oh no we don't *actually* resurrect dead people against their will. these are just wisps who have no prior memory of being a sentient being. skeletons are just empty vessels because the essence of that person left so it's not actually questionable for us to use people's remains. also people fill out consent forms to be resurrected and used in the ghoulag. also yes only good people can become a lich because the lichlords - that we somehow have now - do some serious soul sifting and ONLY the people with good intentions - like reading books for the rest of all eternity - are allowed to become a lich. no emmrich having a little skeleton servant isn't unethical because he wasn't a person before, he was a wisp - you know our new ex machina - and he really wanted to be a necromancers servant and learn and it was HIS choice all along.

because we at bioware are all about informed and consensual necromancy because why would we have something morally ambiguous going on? or even actually question the ethics of our companions? have challenging discussions about morals? what do you expect us to do? make things actually interesting?

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underrated emmrich moment is when bellara is shaking his hand, he doesn't pull away or make her feel weird for shaking it so long

you know that man is not the one to break hugs

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I saw someone post a tweet about how a lot of people in the Inquisition must have suspected that something was off about Solas, and out of all of them Bull knew that there was something fishy going on for SURE but the scope of the whole thing was just too big for him to have guessed exactly what was going on.

So, that made me think how the whole reveal must have been like if it actually happened in our world and oh my god it's SO ridiculous.

Btw, this is obviously OOC, but it's just. Solas makes SUCH a character oh my god.

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Imagine you are an Interpol agent that joins the CIA for this one very important and very specific mission. Everyone knows that you work for another organization and you are a trained and highly competent agent, but the situation is so dire that the CIA is basically hiring everyone who could help.

So, there is this one very weird guy.

He wears an old hoodie and yoga pants. When asked where he came from, he tells you that he is into outdoor living, so just "outside, you know, somewhere". He has no qualifications apart from being a skilled hacker and really really really good at navigating the Deep Web. In fact, he's an expert at it, to the point of being the Deep Web specialist of the team. He walks around BAREFOOT.

He is a WEIRDO.

You assume he is just some guy probably over his head, pretty helpful but that's kinda it. You are going to keep an eye on him anyway, as you keep an eye on most people.

And suddenly, things start no adding up.

You ask him how he learned to hack into the deep web and he answers that he just likes sleeping under bridges and there is very good internet connection there, so he ended up learning. He doesn't elaborate.

For a guy that spends all his time sleeping on the floor and hunched over a computer, you notice that he is actually BUILT. You cannot tell over the oversized hoodie, but that guy has muscle. Once it comes up, he looks you in the eyes and tells you that that's just normal when you live in the outside like him.

You need somebody to pilot an helicopter. He knows how to pilot an helicopter. "Oh, I just watched a video tutorial. You know, in the Deep Web".

You need to steal some nuclear codes. "Oh I know how to cancel those nuclear codes. I found a lot of documents explaining how to do it. You know, in the Deep Web".

You need to plan a coup. "Oh yeah I know all about backstabbing politics. I found a list of all the relevant politicians and the country's corrupt history. You know, in the deep web"

You are in the middle of said backstabbing and he's slightly tipsy looking fondly at the whole thing like "oh how I missed the vibe of a nepotist state. No one throws a party like corrupted politicians- Not that I've been in one before, of course. I've only seen videos. You know, in the deep web"

He drives the other two expert hackers out of their minds. "I don't know how you managed to get this position, you don't even have a Doctorate" "Doctorates are overrated, I think you all would do better if you came to vibe under a bridge like me"

He actually is OBSESSED with overthrowing institutions.

The hackers tear him a new one because they find his Hacker Drip lacking (fair). And he smells like Cheetos.

"I made a lot of friends on the Deep Web forums"

At this point you are convinced that this guy HAS to have something else going on. There is simply NO way someone would know so many things from his deep web premium access under a bridge.

Your best bet has to be that he's another secret agent, a very highly trained one at that, right? Or maybe a highcore antifa member? He either has inside information of the CIA or he's looking for it. But he has been ridiculous helpful so far, so you just can't tell what he's hiding and why.

And then one day guy, this FUCKING guy.

He shows up and tells your Boss that he's actually the ancient god Loki from the Nordic pantheon. That he created death, but is sorry so he's actually going to join the Earth with Heaven and Hell. A lot of people would die because of the Demons and you know, Earth as it is not existing anymore, but that's a sacrifice he's willing to make.

Now tell me, how the FUCK were you supposed to guess THAT.

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So I think the Watchers sleep in box beds...

Behold the box bed- it's a bed inna cabinet. They were popular in Western and Central Europe from the post-medieval period to the 19th century. In addition to looking neat as hell, they have a few advantages: - Thank fuck there's some privacy. Meaning if two apprentices wanted to bang, there'd be no disturbing the roommates. - Protects you from creepy crawlies or critters at night. - Insulation The Lore points to the Necropolis dormitories and apartments being partially underground (or at least part of the larger stone complex) which means it's gonna be COLD (numerous bits of lore point to this, too). Box beds would shield the sleeper from all that cold and damp radiating in from the stone (though I'm sure they have fireplaces and rooms that have been rendered with plaster to make them nice). You can also line or upholster the walls to make it extra cozy, you know, like a casket.

Added bonus:

You can double decker that shit and cram in more apprentices and novices. Because pre-modern ideas of bodily privacy means odds are, you don't get your own room.

Senior Watchers probably have their own berths, but probably aren't that spacious. Lore bonus: They look a bit like a burial vault. You could even decorate the doors with the hexagonal latticing you see in the Necropolis proper.

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the prompt "favorite flower" from your personal art prompts, for Harding AND/OR "strange beasts" just bc I think those weird little lizards in rivain would look adorable in your style! (your art is so cute!)

Harding in her Inquisition era with a bunch of Daffodils :) they feel very her.

For @thedasweekend

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Cole tho. Where is cole. Specifically. Cole. Because here is the thing; we've all made jokes about Solas and Varric fighting over Coles custody but like. One of Coles sort of father figures literally killed the other. And Cole is a spirit of compassion who's understanding of accidents and regrets but he's also a being who knows righteous fury and anger ('he killed me, he killed me'). He loves Varric and Solas regardless of if he becomes more spirit or more human, that never changes. So. Like. Which wins out. Does Coles compassion for Solas mean he can forgive him? Or does Coles love for Varric mean he can't ever do that? Does Coles compassion for all those Varric loved - where does that go? Where is cole? What is he thinking? If they'd allowed him into this game how would he have felt, acted and changed the course of the plot?

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^ (from the wot v2)

I love her so much

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It’s alright I like my men slightly unhinged.

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NO EMMRICH YOU DO NOT GET TO CHANGE THIS SUBJECT what in sweet hell do you mean no one knows what Vorgoth is 😂

I NEED ANSWERS

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that one ask made me think about post game necropolis lunch hour dates 🫢