#Rizo Amell

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Missed these crazy kids

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The mage apprentice and the templar in training 

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So you know how it’s canon that warden Amell has four siblings who are also mages? But they’re never really brought up? I decided to flesh them out for Rizo! Meet his older siblings Faust, Leona, Margie, and Marza. Little bios for each of them under the cut if you’re interested :y

Faustus (Faust) Amell II -  The oldest of Revka Amell’s children, born 9:04 Dragon, Faust was at first raised with the expectation of inheriting his father and grandfather’s lands, titles, and legacies. An intelligent and good natured child, he was adored by his parents, in particular his mother. It broke her heart when a six year old Faust sent objects flying across the room while having a tantrum. 

Faust spent the rest of his adolescence and early adulthood in the circle tower of Markham, studying creation magic and joining the Aequitarian fraternity upon reaching the rank of enchanter. A natural leader, it was all but certain within the circle that he would one day become the First enchanter. 

When the Mage Templar war broke out and the Markham circle fell to conflict, Faust joined a coalition of Free Marches enchanters working on finding safe refuge for non-combatant mage refugees; in particular apprentices, the elderly, and the newly harrowed. He helped insulate hundreds of vulnerable mages from combat, and upon the inquisition’s resolution of the war, was given the rank of senior enchanter at the newly formed College of enchanters. He remains a voice of reason within the college, and always endeavors to remind his fellow enchanters of the most vulnerable members of their community when they speak of more radical action without consideration for their protection.  

Leona Amell -  Second eldest, Leona was born during a thunderstorm in 9:05 Dragon. It was said that the spirit of the storm itself possessed her that night, as she grew to show a fierce willfulness and even fiercer temper. Her magic manifested at nine years old, four years after her elder brother, when she badly burned a stable boy who she believed was beating her pony Adelaide. She and Adelaide made it almost twenty miles before the templars caught up.  Initially taken to the Ansburg circle in the free marches, in just three years she was deemed too volatile to ever be allowed to undergo the harrowing, and was made Tranquil right before her thirteenth birthday. She was then transferred to the Cumberland circle of Nevarra to work as an archivist’s assistant. Cumberland was somewhat insulated from the fighting when the Mage Templar war was declared, and the tranquil were allowed to continue their research and upkeep more or less undesterbed. Upon the resolution of the war, Leona was sought out by her younger sister Margareta to undertake the cure for tranquility recently discovered by Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast.  Leona is now slowly recovering from her almost two decades of tranquility with her sister in the reclaimed Ostwick circle. After the first time she yelled at Margie in anger for knocking over her inkwell, they held each other through tears of relief. 

Margareta Amell -  Margie was born on a quiet night in 9:08 Dragon, a full hour before her twin sister Marza. The twins were two when their older brother Faust was taken away, four when their mother disappeared, five when their father moved the remaining family to a secluded estate outside Wildervale, six when stubborn Leona was captured, and finally seven when they were caught in the garden playing with the small glowing green lights they conjured into the air. The twins would never see each other again after that day. 

A meek and intelligent child, Margie did well at her new home in the Ostwick circle. Naturally inclined to introversion, she mostly avoided the Templar's watchful gaze and excelled at her studies in the arcane arts, in particular the schools of Spirit and Creation. She quietly passed her harrowing, quietly worked her way to the rank of enchanter, and once the Mage Templar conflict began, she quietly voted for their circle to remain neutral and hoped the trouble would quickly pass them by. 

It was to a deafening howling wind that Margie awoke the night she felt her sister die, the aching pain in her chest suffusing down her limbs and a cold certainty settling in her mind. 

She left the next day, it could hardly be called an escape as the circle was already coming apart at the seams. She became an invaluable healer in the Mage rebellion of the Free Marches, and eventually became an agent of the Inquisition itself, working tirelessly to help save all of Thedas from Corypheus’ threat. After the Inquisition’s victory she began her quest to reunite all of her lost siblings once again.

Marza Amell - Marza was born on a quiet night in 9:08 Dragon, an hour after her twin sister Margie. Despite the fragile and despairing home to which she was born, Marza was a cheerful and friendly girl, often leading her shy twin into new adventures and singing and dancing to raise her sad father’s spirits. She idolized her willful sister Leona and adored her little baby brother Rizo. Her heart overflowed with love.

As she grew though, a seed of anger grew too, watered with every new heartbreak. First, her mother’s abandonment. Next, When Leona disappeared and no one would tell her where or why. Taking Margie away from her and dragging her to the cold and echoing White Spire of Orlais was a significant blow. The Templars who were always watching her, crowding her into corners and leering. The mages and enchanters who scolded her whenever she spoke her mind, and whispered among themselves when she developed a talent for entropy magic. Every Maker damned fool in a mask who toured the tower and tittered and gawked at them like they were animals in a zoo. The anger grew and grew, violent red leaves streaked with decay. 

She was practically part of the rebellion already, before the first stone of the Kirkwall chantry even hit the ground.

She was a scourge on the battlefield, weakening and draining anyone who stood in her way, filling their enemies minds with nightmares, forcing them to feel the same anger and fear and pain she held in her own heart. A pain that lasted until a Templar’s sword finally ran it through. 

Her last thoughts were of Margie, sleeping peacefully in the eye of a storm.

Rizo Amell - The youngest child, born 9:11 Dragon just a few months after his older brother Faust was taken to the circle. Rizo’s arcane ability was discovered when he was seven years old, after freezing a glass of water that wasn’t cold enough on a hot day. It was hardly a surprise to his father at that point. He was the last of his siblings to manifest, almost an inevitability. It was the first and last time Rizo saw his father cry. It was also the last time Rizo saw his father at all. He barely remembered his mother. 

Rizo was sent to the Ferelden circle on Lake Calenhad, where he excelled at primal magic and was a favorite pupil of the Grand Enchanter. He was known as a capable, friendly, and accommodating young mage, bookish and maybe even a bit of a pushover, but well liked among his peers. Until, that is, his assistance in his friend Jowan’s failed escape and subsequent conscription to the Grey Wardens. He rose to prominence during the fifth blight, defeating the Archdemon by his own hand and becoming the Hero of Fereldan, as well as Arl of Amaranthine, a close friend and advisor to Queen Anora, and Warden Commander of the Ferelden grey wardens. 

What followed was a few years of peace, rebuilding and recruiting, and relaxing with his comrade and lover Alistair whenever they could both grab a spare moment. Rizo had even started idly researching the ancient grey warden griffins, on the off-chance there was a clue to if any had survived, though he was always too busy to consider it a priority. He found little hope for baby griffons, but he did find strange allusions to an escape from the taint... That peace ended abruptly and violently with the destruction of the Kirkwall chantry. The mage templar war was a violent few years for everyone, but especially for Rizo, juggling as he was not only his status as warden commander but also senior enchanter of the Fereldan circle and advisor to the queen. It took peace being brokered by an upstart organization calling itself the inquisition for him to finally slow down and take a moment to breathe... at which time he finally noticed the whispers starting in the back of his mind. He may have survived slaying the arch demon but he hadn’t escaped all consequences, his calling was coming, sooner than it had any right to. He left that very night to seek out a cure, Rizo was not ready to lay down and die.

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I haven’t drawn Rizo in a while so here he is, a rough and tumble magic boy

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Y’know how when you like someone all of a sudden everything they do becomes endearing?

Alistair Knows.

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Looking through the tags on my Rizo posts it seems some people are a little bit confused.

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I love ur dragon age character, Rizo! He's the best!

I don’t have my tablet with me

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A good old boy, twelve years later. 

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Thought I’d compare the first pic I ever drew of Rizo two years ago and the one I drew today.

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By the end of Awakening in my main Origins run I didn’t even have a warrior in my party, because my Warden was an Arcane Warrior/Battle Mage and I made Nate a ranger so basically my Amell and a giant spider were tanking it up while everyone else did mage and rogue shit.  It was great. 

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I thought I’d give the relationship template by @trashwarden a go for Rizo! 

Rizo’s a really friendly guy and it’s hard to get him to dislike someone, and he’s so genuinely guileless it’s hard not to end up liking him, so he usually ends up at least friends with everyone he travels with. He adores Alistair, almost as much as he adores his doggo Aegean. His feelings about Jowan post-origin are extremely complicated and conflicting, and he doesn’t much like to think about it.  In Awakenings he gets along best with Sigrun and Nathaniel, and even finds himself nursing a bit of a crush on Nate which he privately feels very guilty about. 

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I drew Rizo in some fashionable outfits today, because for reasons.

One’s more mage inspired, one’s more grey warden inspired. I imagine he’d wear the first one of he’d never left the Circle to become a grey warden and perhaps, oh I don’t know, was invited to court or something? And the second one is if he’d attended Halamshiral, which is why he looks older.

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Rizo through the years, a.k.a. one man and his fluctuating facial hair.

Original template by @against-stars

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Congratulations Anon, feast your eyes on the most self-indulgent thing i have ever spent way too much time I do not have on.

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gdi Oghren why do you have to be so high maintenance?

I never understood why Oghren reverted to neutral towards you when you started Awakenings, even if you got 100 approval with him in Origins, so here’s my attempt to explain it. (screw you Oghren you only love me for my gifts ;m;)

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Rizo needed a little bit of help when he first decided to become an arcane warrior. He got it... eventually.

(this is really sketchy and hastily done but whateeeeever)