dreadknightcassandra

[dreadknightcassandra]

Warframe 1999 (some spoilers)

So I've been getting back into Warframe after 5 years away, and 1999 has held my attention in particular. I've also dealt with some seriously stressful shit that included an unwilling move, so I've been getting a little into how I've been characterizing my Drifter interacting with The Hex and their time in Duviri -> Origin. Also, I wasn't sure about the chemistry stuff when i read about it but I am absolutely loving the social aspects. Even ended up romancing Aoi cuz I liked her the most. Then I heard Aoi tell my Drifter "see you at home" and saw her bopping by the radio in the backrooms and I just <3_<3

[dreadknightcassandra]

Awakened Darkspawn Rook dialogue [Part 3]

Harding: "Darkspawn don't normally collect things, do they?"

Neve: "Solas' dagger is special, maybe they're attracted to it somehow?"

Rook: "Lyrium normally feels... i dunno, good in a bad way, if that makes sense? Our instinct is to avoid it."

--------------

Neve: "I doubt Aelia would notice if we- Oh hello Davrin. Trouble sleeping too?"

Davrin: "Turns out Rook being in this corner of the mess hall is close enough to alert me and wake me up."

Rook: "Oh, my apologies Davrin, we'll take this into the library."

Davrin: "Actually, while you're here, something bothering me about you."

Rook: "Just one thing?"

Davrin: "One thing I need an answer on at least. Darkspawn leave blight wherever they go. If they... you, bleed, spit, or even just stand somewhere too long, the blight begins to spread and take hold. I've seen you take some serious blows and even limp back in here but the Lighthouse is clean, and none of the hideouts or camps we visit are showing signs of the blight."

Rook: "Have you noticed that I'm never out of my armor while we're here?"

Neve: "Let me guess: you're sealed inside?"

Rook: "Basically. It took some trial and error to find a material that could absorb blood when I get hit without getting blighted."

Neve: "That can't be comfortable."

Davrin: "Do darkspawn even understand comfort?"

Rook: "It took me a year to understand the concept of 'well rested'. I may feel better to move without it, but I don't don't want to risk spreading the blight."

Spite: "You people need to shut up before he wakes up!"

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Solas: "You disrupt my ritual, trap me in the fade, release two Evanauris and the blight they carry, and expect me to help you?"

Rook: "I imagine at the very least you want to stop the Evanauris, and as far as I can tell, you can't really talk to anyone else."

Solas: "That doesn't mean I am willing to trust a darkspawn to deal with them, even if you are currently unswayed."

Rook: "Wow... you're the first person to say the word 'darkspawn' like it's a slur and not just a problem."

Solas: "I am far more familiar of what you and your kind are cfapable of than even you know."

Rook: "If it helps, I've been an ally of the Grey Warden for years, I even have their blood in me."

Solas: "That does not aid your case nearly as much as you imagine."

[dreadknightcassandra]

Awakened Darspawn Rook in the Lighthouse [Part 2]

Emmrich: "Rook, I cannot help but notice that your manner of speech changes when discussing your past and the blight. It sounds almost religious"

Rook: "The elf that freed us from the choir spoke the same. Her speech became ours. It helped us to grasp a world that had become so much larger than we could ever have known."

Emmrich: "What changed?"

Harding: "Varric taught them to swear."

Neve: "Of course he did."

Rook: "That was after he taught me to play Wicked Grace."

------------------

Bellara: "You mentioned a 'Choirmaster'..."

Rook: "Ghilan'nain. When she escaped the song.... changed. It sounded older, but complete, like the discordant choir finally had a guiding hand."

Davrin: "Can't say I noticed any change. Even Antoine was struggling to hear the change."

Rook: "That's because your ears get in the way."

-----------------

Bellara: "So what do you eat?"

Rook: "Nothing. We darkspawn are fueled entirely by the taint... or blight, I guess up here."

Bellara: "Wait, but we've come across darkspawn that were feasting on the dead. Why were they doing that if they didn't need food?

Rook: "I genuinely can't remember."

Bellara: "Maybe it's just an instinct? The blight consumes and all that."

---------------

Davrin: "So you said this.. Severing, it uses warden blood like the Joining blood uses darkspawn blood. Does that mean you eventually regress? Or undergo something like the calling?"

Rook: "We don't know. As much as the elf spoke of other awakened in the South, I've yet to meet another. I was one of the earliest awoken in my warren, and I do not know how long that was. Or how old I am."

Davrin: "So we have no idea if you're going to stay friendly and uncontrollable?"

Rook: "I promise, I'm just as friendly as you."

[dreadknightcassandra]

Had an idea for a Pegasus mech and pilot in Lancer

Imagine you arrive at the battlefield and see a mech sitting out there, maybe it's a Lancaster, maybe it's a swallowtail. You get ready to engage in combat. And then it starts to move. Have you ever seen AI generated videos where it's given an image and told to animate the image, but the skeletons defines thin the image are incredibly wrong and as a result everything within the image moves wrongly and in ways that your brain can't quite comprehend. The enemy Lancaster starts moving like that. You cannot understand how it is actually moving forwards, but it is definitely moving. Then one of the rails or panels on the side shifts slightly, and you realize your mech has been hit and taken damage. The enemy's guns aren't firing, hell you think one of them is being used like a leg. Eventually, you finish fighting this monstrosity, and convince the pilot to step out to meet you. Instead of any hatch opening, the mech reaches parts of itself in the shape of a hand up, peels itself open, and out steps.... You. The enemy mech pilot looks exactly like you, he even walk mostly like you, though there is something slightly off. As you start to question them, they answer you back in your words. Your exact words, in the intonation that you said, building their responses exclusively based on the things you have said to them in this conversation, in your voice. All while standing outside their still peeled open mech.

[dreadknightcassandra]

Sometimes you lie down, have a single errant thought, and next thing you know you've been up for an hour and a half writing part one of a dialogue scene

[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.

[dreadknightcassandra]

Grey Warden Rook dialogue ideas

Emmrich: "Rook, how would you like your remains handled after you perish?" Rook: "I don't think you'll need to worry about that." Emmrich: "What do you mean?" Rook: "When a warden takes the Joining, we consider our deaths pretty early on. Even when there's not a blight, most Warden bodies aren't really recoverable without risking even more lives. We either die overrun by darkspwan on the surface, or die overrun by darkspawn miles below the surface while hearing a deafening song. If a warden falls in battle or goes on their calling, their name is added to a cenotaph, a while feather is sent to their next of kin, and the rest of us move on." Emmrich: "That's.... I hadn't considered that. In Nevarra, it's rare for someone's remains to be unrecoverable, and even when it is, there are ways to ensure they are properly enshrined. Sometimes, the Grand Necropolis will find them of it's own accord. I wonder if there are any of your lost fellows buried in the depth of the Necropolis without us knowing?" Rook: "The upside, the Wardens don't need a body to be remembered and honored." -------------------------- Neve: "Sometimes it feels like what I'm doing is pointless. If I defeat Aelia, what's to stop someone else like her from coming along and causing problems? All the efforts i put it, undone by a city that doesn't seem to care" Rook: *after an extended silence* "Ten thousand darkspawn" Neve: "Excuse me?" Rook: "Young wardens will often start trying to count how many darkspawn they've killed and ask senior members what their kill count is. And a lot of the elders will give the same answer, ten thousand darkspawn." Neve: "I assume because they lost count?" Rook: "Because the count is irrelevant. It doesn't actually stop the darkspawn forever. A thousand Wardens could march into the Deep Roads, burn every warren they can find, slaughter dozens of broodmothers, and it will still be a temporary reprieve." Neve: "Quite the motivational statement." Rook: "It's also a reminder why we do this. It's not about killing darkspawn, it's about protecting the world from them. Every darkspawn I kill won't make a dent in their numbers, but it does keep the innocents near me safe for another day. There's nothing that will stop another Aelia from coming back and terrorizing Dock Town. But stopping her still saves the people here and now, and keeps the world brighter for another day." Neve: "Rook.... You being here with me, it's dangerous. It's starting to make me think this is actually possible." Rook: "I drank a cup of poison that makes me hear music a decade ago and I'm still in fighting shape. You'd be surprised what's possible."

----------

Lucanis: "What's happening in Treviso.... we knew the blight is bad, but to see our own civilians turned into those... things. It's horrific." Rook: "Wait, what?" Lucanis: "People who are infected by the blight, they eventually succumb and become darkspawn themselves. We didn't realize it at first until we saw it for ourselves. Why did you not warn us about that?" Rook: "Because that's not how the blight normally affects creatures! This has to be the work of Ghil'anain." Lucanis: "What normally happens when someone becomes blighted." Rook: "They die. usually painfully." Bellara: "Wait, then where to darkspawn normally come from?" Rook: "I promise, your life is better for not knowing."

[dreadknightcassandra]

I feel called out

[dreadknightcassandra]

I was there that day. I bade witness to our queen's final actions. I'm not sure I believe the things I saw but.... if you want an account, i've one. It was the 5th month of the siege of Chevray, and 4 months after the assassination of King Broden II. Her ladyship was still in her mourning period, or so we thought. She kept the mourning garb and was rarely seen. Her health was also deteriorating, though her attendants assured us her humors were being properly tended. I remember the day distinctly. The queen strode unto the battlements, despite the protests of her royal guard. I was a mere squire at the time, assisting Sir Goldren, may he rest. Arrows were raining in upon the grand balcony, but her highness flinched not. I dare say, her visage was a masque, like mixture or determination and the deceased. The guard harried to keep her sheltered, for all the good it did. ......Forgive me, if I am to go on, I must ask neither my name nor account be surrendered to the Exorist Bishop. Our queen was a righteous woman, I cannot accept her actions were driven by any other force...... very well. She stepped unto a crenellation of the balcony, and raised one hand. The rain of arrows slowed to a drizzle, the ceased in their entirety. It then felt as if a sirocco had descended upon the castle, such was the heat and ferocity of the winds that began to stir. Yet still her majesty was unphased. She stood, motionless, her hand outstretched and her face still. Then came.... the fires. In an instant, her guards were engulfed in a searing flame, hues like brimstone and ivy. I was struck dumb observing this..... I don't know the words for it. As each knight ceased screaming, a chain of flame of the same coloration spring from her hand, lashing into the entrenched siege. As each knight fell, her majesty's face...... it was changing. Growing brighter, shifting unto a face much like those seen painted in the basement of the Oldanth Chapel...... I cannot tell you how i know of those painting sirrah, this story alone endangers my soul to be told! As I was telling, her face.... it maintained this discompassion, as if her actions were of no note to her majesty's countenance. Once the final knight fell and her final chain sprung unto it's target, she.... She just, pulled. She tugged upon the chains, and was engulfed in a brilliant light. This was when my face was burned to the extent you can see, and when my eyesight was robbed from me. From the noises I heard, I believe myself to be fortunate. The knights that found me questioned me. I told them the same story I am telling thee now, though none believed it. They say no bodies were found, that the sieging army's commanders and the majesty's guard were all missing. All that was found was the melted crown of her majesty still fused to the crenellation upon which I saw her stand. Her attendants had fled the keep before she ended the siege and seemingly fled unto the surrounding wood. I was given a choice of execution or banishment.... given the screams I still hear, I wonder if chose wrongly. Perhaps exile would have been less painful after all.

[dreadknightcassandra]

[dreadknightcassandra]

I made these as a way to compile all the geographical vocabulary that I thought was useful and interesting for writers. Some descriptors share categories, and some are simplified, but for the most part everything is in its proper place. Not all the words are as useable as others, and some might take tricky wording to pull off, but I hope these prove useful to all you writers out there!

(save the images to zoom in on the pics)

[dreadknightcassandra]

Reblog to empower an author

Writing Tips

Punctuating Dialogue

✧

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

“This shows it’s the same character continuing to speak.”

[dreadknightcassandra]

Alternate Rooks for each faction [Dragon Age Veilguard]

Had some ideas of alternate origins for a Rook of each faction. Mourn Watch: They weren't just found as a baby in the Necropolis. They are a spirit made flesh, like Cole, who chose to stay in reality. Grey Warden: An Awakened Darkspawn who's been aiding the Grey wardens due to the alliance of Amaranth (and to have access to Warden blood) Shadow Dragons: They were once followers of Calpernia during the time of the Inquisition, and followed her example when she defected from Coryphius Lords of Fortune: They were a qunari/viditharri who left the qun and found shelter in Rivain with Isabella Veil Jumpers: One of the Artifacts malfunctioning in the forest pulled them when they were young forward in time to the current age (thinking like from storm or blessed age). The Veil Jumpers took them in while trying to find out how and why it happened. Antivan Crows: ......okay I got nothing here These aren't meant to be feasible starts per se, just interesting ideas i can't get out of my head. I'm curious if people have any other ideas for faction origins

[dreadknightcassandra]

I don't write stories because it's stuff I want to see in the world. ideas visit me like the ghosts in Christmas Carol and won't leave me alone until I write them down.

[dreadknightcassandra]

Medieval lesbian romantic comedy story

European princess doesn’t want to get married but must or be forced into a cloister in 6 months. She gets attacked by bandits while traveling, but is saved by a lightly-armored knight and their attendants. Knights is a woman, her name is known but one of the men in her posse usually takes the name to ensure fair dealings. The knight agrees to take the princess home, but the Princess is in no hurry and convinces the knight to take a detour. Knight agrees to take her to a town she frequents. Along the way, the princess gets to know the knight and her crew. The knight reveals that she is an English princess who was faced with a similar dilemma, and while there were plenty of suitors, she agreed to none of them, and wanted a life of combat and adventure, not child rearing and court. Her posse are either old friends from back home or people she saved and picked up along the way.

One night, they are the last 2 awake by the fire, sitting close to stave off the cold. The knight explains that her family was very religious, that she was forced to run away from her home. Her brother, who supported her dreams and was known for being quite liberal, covered for her until she was away. The princess in turn mentions that her family can be a bit closed minded as well. Her parents, her eldest brother, and his wife are traditionalists and patrons of the bishop, and likely wouldn’t approve of the knight. There is an awkward silence between them, but when the knight turns to speak, the princess suddenly kisses her, then the both pull away shocked. Princess: “I don’t know why I did that!” Knight: “I don’t know why I enjoyed that!” A few more seconds of shocked silence pass, before both immediately jump up and  walk briskly to separate tents. A few days of painfully silent travel later, with the posse cajoling the knight from time to time, the party arrives in their destination town. As they move through the town, seeking vendors and supply, the princess notices that almost everyone in the town recognizes the knight, many of whom remind the knight they still wish to repay favors, and the knight keeps declining. That knight, the knight rents out a private room at the Salmon Steed inn for dinner with the princess, while the rest of the posse get shitfaced next door. The pair finally admit they have feelings for each other, feelings they never knew before, but the princess is worried that she’ll never be able to act on them or live like the knight does.

The next day, a caravan from the Princess’s kingdom arrives in town, looking for her. The caravan guards almost attack the knight and her crew, thinking she kidnapped the princess, but the princess is able to talk them down. They pay the knight a modest finders fee, but forbid her from accompanying the princess any further. Both leave town in different directions, very sad.

A few days later, the knight is still very despondent, and resolves to pursue the princess. THe posse is immediately on board, and they rush back to the town. The knight calls in all her favors, getting new dress armor, heraldy, new clothes for her posse, the works. She also sends a letter to her brother, requesting a load of something to act as a dowry, preferably something valuable to people farther from England. We cut to the brother, receiving the letter, calmly walking away from court before breaking into a run to alert his men at arms to get to work, while his wife volunteers to fake illness to explain his absence.

4 months later, the princess is attending court, a little bored, upset that yet another suitor is due to arrive tomorrow. But then, the court is interrupted by the sounds of horns and bards. Running to a balcony, they see the knight in dress armor with her face visible, attendants in tow, announcing her as a Dame. The knight arrives at the castle, is announced, and immediately makes a bee line to the princess to ask for her hand. The court is stunned and flabbergasted, with the king and queen very upset. The knight proclaims her lineage, and as a dowry says that from England, to be with the princess, she brought a haul of yew. The King is outraged, refuses to approve the union, while the princess’s brothers are in support. The eldest brother suddenly stands up, inspects the knight, whose hands are shaking in fear until the princess holds her hand. The bother, notes a few flaws on her armor, then declares his support for her union. When the king is incredulous, he responds “For my sister’s happiness, I will approve. It matters not that this knight is from England”, at which point the brother’s wife faints at the notion. The knight and crew are all very confused, but the princess is almost crying with joy. The knight states that she’s actually not really welcomed back in England, and the king begrudgingly relents and allows the union. The knight is made a member of the kingdom, and the two live happily.

[dreadknightcassandra]

Had another story idea: The First 20 Loaves.

Nazi-allegory soldier is captured by resistance movement, resistance is trying to get info out of him. One woman insists on humane treatment, starts sneaking him bread until caught, but minor change in soldier attitude convinces superior to let her keep giving him bread (in addition to regular food.) Woman expounds to the man that being good and kind gives you no reward but builds a better world than cruelty ever will. Man disbelieves, but eventually asks if he can be taught to bake bread. Woman says only if he doesn’t mind his first 20 loaves are terrible. Man and woman form closer connections, but she isn’t able to get needed info from him. Then one day, the woman stops giving bread. She stops coming by entirely. Soldier inquires repeatedly why, where is she, is told she was captured. Soldier then agrees to tell them the info they are looking for, on the condition that he be allowed to help rescue her. WHen asked why, man just responded he misses the bread to protect his ego. Eventually, resistance raids the camp, able to start freeing prisoners. During the raid, the soldier can’t find the woman, goes to the camp records to look for where she might be. Finds a file on her, we don't see what it says, but the man burns it, then runs off. Eventually the women is found, near death. She is rescued and brought to resistance for treatment, but they needed to amputate an arm and a leg to save her. During her recovery, soldier reveals he saw the file about her previous service at the camp, including pictures of her coldly committing executions, until one photo at the end of her about to be executed while sobbing profusely. The soldier asks what changed, woman responds that someone “gave her bread”. She gives vague answers about learning to bake bread over a montage of a little girl in the camp continuously trying to give the woman a flower she picked, with the woman slowly growing more receptive to the little girl over 20 attempts, until one day she was forced to execute said little girl for trying. Soldier asks if the woman can teach him to bake bread like her, and she responds “only if you don’t mind your first 20 loaves being terrible”

[dreadknightcassandra]

Stardew Gothic