#Tiadres Amell

[tiadres]

(Sent again, I just realized I used a symbol in the last one that makes tumblr eat asks hahah ignore if you got this already!) Veilguard questions: 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 20!

Hi, thank you for asking! c:

1. What was the first Dragon Age game you played?

Dragon Age Origins! So started from the very beginning ^^ I learned about Dragon Age from a friend maybe 6-7 years ago and starting from the first game seemed logical when jumping into a new series.

4. What does your worldstate look like going into DAV?

Summarizing some of the main plot points from each game:

- Warden, Tiadres Amell, is a human mage and alive & well

- Romanced Alistair, who is the King of Ferelden. Tia is his mistress.

- Recruited all companions (base game and DLC) and they are alive & well

- ... except for Loghain, who was executed at the Landsmeet

- Helped Redcliffe fight, Connor is alive and not possessed

- Supported mages, did not agree to Cullen's "request" (very diplomatically worded in the Keep, considering what he was suggesting asjfgj) and Irving is alive and well.

- Brokered peace between the elves and the werewolves

- Defeated Branka, Bhelen is the King of Orzammar. Dagna left to study and thus was the Arcanist in DAI.

- Found the Urn of Sacred Ashes, did not defile it

- Tia agreed to Morrigan's suggestion and convinced Alistair to go along with it, and thus Alistair had old god baby with Morrigan.

- ... and thanks to that dark ritual, Tia defeated the Archdemon without perishing herself.

- Protected both Amaranthine and Vigil's Keep

- Killed the Architect

- Champion, Cadriel Hawke, is a mage and alive & well

- She romanced Anders, who is also very much alive & well

- Recruited and befriended all companions, even Sebastian although Cadriel didn't really understand why he'd wanna hang out with the rest of the gang 😂. Everyone is also alive and well, except maybe Sebastian who is alive but maybe not so well or at least not happy with how things turned out. Also everyone besides him stayed with Cadriel.

- Bethany died in the prologue 😔

- Carver became a Grey Warden, Isabela returned with the tome and was not given to the Arishok, Aveline married Donnic, Merrill did not destroy the Eluvian and her clan is alive, helped Tallis.

- Killed the Arishok in duel

- Approved of Anders' actions at the chantry

- Sided with the mages

- In Legacy, sided with Larius and found Malcom's will

- The Inquisitor, Anwen Lavellan, is an elf mage and alive & well.

- She romanced Josephine (and Harding, although Dragon Age Keep does not acknowledge that at all).

- Recruited and befriended all companions

- ... except it's a bit more complicated with Vivienne. They started with very low approval as they saw the mage matters from two very different points of view, but eventually got along much better. Anwen gave Vivienne the real snowy wyvern heart, but as her approval apparently never got quite high enough, there's this funny thing in the Keep where I had to manually assign them to friends because the Keep thought that since they were never friends, Inky also didn't give her the real heart. So I fixed it by selecting the friend and the real heart tiles.

- Dorian reconciled with his father and left to Tevinter to change things, Blackwall left prison as Grey Warden, Iron Bull is Tal-Vashot, Cassandra discovered the book and rebuilt the Seekers, Sera killed Hammond, Solas freed his friend, Cole is more spirit, Varric tracked the red lyrium source.

- Leliana was inspired, encouraged Cullen to stop taking lyrium, did favors for Du Paraquettes to solve Josephine's problem

- Samson was Anwen's nemesis (this is funny in the sense that I never felt like he was some big nemesis for my character, then I saw the tile in the Keep and was like whaat ^^") More than that I felt sorry for him, it would have actually been interesting from story point of view to have him be the Commander of Inquisition's forces instead of Cullen. Learned about Samson's armor and destroyed it.

- Anwen denied being chosen by Andraste, declared for order and stability, was a recruiting judge

- Went to Redcliffe and allied with the mages

- Grey Wardens rebuilt, Stroud was killed in the Fade

- Celene and Briala reconciled, Florianne is alive

- Anwen drank from the well, respected the temple traditions and allied with the guardians.

- Leliana became Divine Victoria

- Sutherland's company was successful

- Did the exploration stuff

- Discovered and met Ameridan, shared the truth

- The dragon was slain, earned legend-mark from the Avvar

- In Descent, saved the mines and stopped earthquakes

- Bull remained loyal, disbanded the Inquisitioon, stop Solas at all costs

6. Do you have your Rook(s) planned out to any degree? If so, would you share some details or ideas you have?

I actually just talked about that in here! So I have a pretty solid plan forming for my Rook, Konstantin, who will be a mage (I really love playing mages ^^"), necromancer (I think the specialization is called "Death Caller" or something?) and a Grey Warden, and he will romance Harding. I'm certain that I will create more Rooks too (and hc them to be companions to my canon Rook, like I've done with many other Dragon Age ocs who are companions to my canon heroes even though I've also played the games as them) but I don't yet have any specific ideas regarding them.

7. Which character from the previous games or other media are you most hoping will make an appearance in DAV?

The Inquisitor is confirmed so I'm looking forward to that. Josephine would be great especially since Anwen romanced her, maybe we could get some dialogue about how they're doing and see them interact with each other. Merrill would be cool especially since she would certainly have a lot to say about the situation at hand, she could even be a good advisor on Eluvians and Elven lore. Maevaris Tilani, Zevran, Fenris, Krem, Bodhain and Sandal also come to mind, and many others certainly too.

8. What faction are you most excited to learn about?

I really love Grey Wardens but since they've been much involved in every game, I'm not sure how much new we're going to learn about them. Probably mostly something about what's been going on in Weisshaupt recently. Antivan Crows I'd really love to learn more about, and the Mourn Watch. And the Veil Jumpers seem really exciting as well!

9. Which romance, if any, do you plan to pursue first?

Harding! When we first saw reveals about the companions I was all heart-eyes at Taash (and still am, I am weak for big, strong ladies) but when I heard that Harding is in DAV and a full companion and romance option, I knew I'm going to pursue her first. My inky has a non-monogamous arrangement where she's in a relationship with Josie but also dating Harding more casually, so Harding is available for Rook even though she has a pre-existing love interest.

10. Which location are you most excited/hoping to explore in-game?

Based on the trailer, Minrathous seems very exciting. I actually like that they went for a more futuristic style with it because it is a city ruled by mages with a sense for dramatism, so of course it's gonna be like from a different world. I'm also excited for Arlathan forest, I'm expecting it's going to be a more classic fantasy location with bunch of magical stuff.

13. What's one thing you've seen confirmed so far that you're a fan of?

Harding obviously, and the rest of the companions seem very cool too and I love that they're romanceable (and pansexual too, which gives more freedom in designing characters to romance them). I know this is already another thing, but the character creator sounds amazing too and like a huge upgrade from DAI. I love that there will be an option to be non-binary, and that character creator options aren't limited to gender. Sounds like we'll have a lot freedom in making our characters, which is awesome.

20. Post a picture of gif that conveys your current level of excitement for Dragon Age: The Veilguard!

[tiadres]

30 Day Dragon Age OC Challenge

15. Choices

Tia’s choices in the main quests of Origins, Awakening and Witch Hunt: 

🌹 Supported the mages and did not allow the Rite of Annulment 🌹 Helped Redcliffe prepare and fight 🌹 Saved Connor by sending Jowan to defeat the demon in the Fade, with the help of Circle mages   🌹 Did not defile the Urn of the Sacred Ashes 🌹 Brokered peace between the elves and the werewolves  🌹 Defeated Branka 🌹 Supported Bhelen to become the King Orzammar 🌹 Supported Alistair to become the King of Ferelden, Loghain executed by Alistair 🌹 Accepted Morrigan’s offer 🌹 Dealt the killing blow the Archdemon, survived the battle  🗡 Protected both Vigil’s Keep and the city of Amaranthine 🗡 Killed the Architect 🔮 Did not go trough the Eluvian, and did not attempt to stop or harm Morrigan either

I think a lot of these decisions are very understandable in the light of what I have already told about Tia during this challenge: she wants to support her fellow mages and protect civilians, she is an Andrastian even if her views differ from the Chantry’s teachings, she always seeks diplomatic solutions... Her hardest decisions out of these were the question of who should be the ruler of Orzammar, who should rule Ferelden and whether to take Morrigan’s offer.  The Orzammar situation was challenging because to Tia it felt like having to choose between two bad options: Bhelen was the late king’s son but there were concerning rumors about him, Harrowmont was the late king’s close friend and advisor but he didn’t seem completely clean either. It was a though choice but she ended up supporting Bhelen and feeling kind of dirty for it, but later she was somewhat content upon seeing the progressive changes Bhelen did in Orzammar, such as making it more open to the outside world and making things better for those who had been at the bottom of the caste system.  Tia had not enjoyed having been forced to make big political decisions (especially since officially Grey Wardens are supposed to be neutral), but she soon had to do so again in Denerim. She ended up supporting her love Alistair because she thought he could grow to be a great king and while he was initially reluctant he seemed to get used to the idea and even want it as the Landsmeet went on. After being selected Tia convinced him that he could still keep her around as mistress, so all seemed pretty good on that front. Later Tia has wondered if she should have supported Anora instead because even though Ali did become a great king, it is also a huge responsibility and a stressful position for him. Maybe he would have been happier as a Grey Warden, and then him and Tia could also spend more time together. Also Anora would have surely made an amazing queen. So overall this is the decision Tia has probably regretted or questioned the most afterwards.

As a player I must confess that this is a choice that was heavily influenced by my own meta knowledge of what would happen later: if Ali was a Grey Warden, I would have been forced to choose between him and Hawke in DAI, and I simply didn’t want either to die. So instead I arranged for Ali to be king so I got to sacrifice poor Stroud instead. So while I try to roleplay and go with decisions that make the most sense for my character, this is the one exception. On the other hand it does create an interesting personal conflict for Tia: should she have chosen otherwise? Would it have been better for everyone if Anora had become the ruler instead of Ali? 

I already touched Tia’s mixed feelings concerning Morrigan’s offer in the previous prompt, focusing on the feeling of having cheated the fate even though at the same time Tia was of course happy that both she and Ali could live. Adding to what was said previously, Tia didn’t like the idea of Morrigan having sex with her boyfriend and wondered if she herself had broken a line by persuading Alistair to go along with this plan. Tia does not know what exactly happened during that ritual; a part of her does not want to know and the part that would have wanted to be there to see didn’t get what she wanted because Morrigan didn’t allow audience (or “extra participants”). Tia and Ali agreed to never talk about that night because both of them just wanted to shrug the memory off. What was done was done and Tia got what she wanted so she does not exactly regret having made that decision, but she does feel dirty about it for multiple reasons. So if the Alistair vs Anora-decision is the one Tia questioned the most afterwards, the deal with the witch is one that was hardest and most complicated emotionally. 

Want to do the challenge as well? Here are the prompts

[tiadres]

30 Days of Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 26: Skills

Outside of anything to do with combat and magic, Tia’s skills include:  - Hair and makeup  - Persuasion  - Knowledge about history and the arcane aka being a nerd (okay this is related to magic)  - Singing; she’s nowhere near Leliana’s level, but is a decent singer. She kinda wishes she was better at it. She’d also like to be good at drawing. 

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[tiadres]

30 Day Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 19: Courtship

Tia immediately liked Alistair when she met him: she found him funny, friendly and the kind of person who was just generally comfortable to be around. Someone who’s dependable but who also feels like a peer even though he was already a Warden and Tia just joining. After Ostagar they were the only Grey Wardens left in Ferelden, and found comfort in each other. The two quickly became friends, and it didn’t take long for them to realize that they had romantic feelings for each other too. 

They are very much in love with each other, and their love brought them warmth and solace during the Blight and everything that they went trough. Their relationship survived the Landsmeet too: Alistair became the King of Ferelden and Tia stayed on as his mistress. They are still doing great, even though they sometimes have to spend a lot of time apart because of their duties. 

Want to do the challenge as well? Here are the prompts

[tiadres]

30 Days Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 11: Magic

Every one of Tia’s siblings turned out to be a mage and as she was one of the youngest kids, she first learned about magic from witnessing as her older siblings discovered their powers. She barely remembers anything of this however since she was still a small girl herself when her own magic manifested. 

Tiadres, only a few years old at the time, was playing with her brother and they got into an argument over who gets to play with their new toy Mabari. She got frustrated and almost froze her brother's whole arm. Luckily he got help quickly and survived with just minor frostbites. Their father (who at this point wasn’t even all that surprised that yet another one of his kids turned out to be a mage), contacted the templars, and Tia was taken to Ferelden’s Circle of Magi. The templars who came for her treated her quite neutrally, as neither she or her father resisted. 

While Tia’s first experience with using magic had been a little bit scary and could have ended very badly, she was never afraid of her powers nor considered them to be something sinful, even though the Mothers and Sisters at the Chapel continuously preached so. On the contrary, Tia was endlessly fascinated with the beauty and potential of magic, and loves it deeply even after seeing many people use it for bad deeds. 

Tia has also always been curious about The Fade, especially since she has a gift of being close to spirits. She understands the dangers lurking in there and practices caution as she journeys The Fade in her dreams. 

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[tiadres]

30 Days Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 10: Politics

Technically, the Grey Wardens are supposed to stay out of politics. In practice this ideal does not hold true, at least not in Tia’s experience as in multiple occasions she’s been trusted to make big political decisions. She tries to wield this power as wisely as she can but sometimes it’s very hard to know what option is the least bad. 

Tia does still have very clear ideals that she stands for. The most important issues for her personally are to have more freedom and better treatment for the mages, fighting against slavery and encouraging equality where ever possible. So in general Tia wants to help people be free and have equal rights.  

Want to do the challenge as well? Here are the prompts

[tiadres]

30 Days of Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 4: Mind Matters

One of Tia’s strengths is her iron willpower. No matter how hard the situation is she keeps her wits about her and tries to stay strong for the sake of others. The downside is that sometimes it’s difficult for her to be vulnerable around people because in the Circle she learned that displaying any weakness or having deep emotional attachments could be potentially dangerous. And also that the demons are always looking for a way in.

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[tiadres]

30 Days Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 21: Coda

Tia was very young when her adventure began, and matures significantly during her journey. In Awakening, she handles her new responsibilities as wisely as she can. It goes well too, as she does good work in protecting Amaranthine and making the Vigil’s Keep a strong and prosperous fortress. She stays as the Warden Commander after the events of Awakening. Tia still holds the title during the events of Inquisition even though she’s gone on a mission to find the cure for the taint. She is accompanied by Nathaniel, Velanna and Sigrun while Oghren was left at Vigil’s Keep to keep an eye on things (he’s actually pretty useful when he needs to be). They hear Corypheus’ fake calling and wonder what it is, but manage to resist it even though it’s hard. 

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[tiadres]

30 Days Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 25: Downtime

Tia loves hanging out with her friends, reading, playing with her Mabari and trying out new spells. She also keeps a journal. After meeting Leliana Tia realized that she really loves music, and while she can’t play any instruments, she does sing sometimes. Mostly when she thinks that no-one is around to hear though.

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[tiadres]

30 Days Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 24: Food

Growing up in the Circle of Magi, Tia didn’t go hungry as the mages were given fairly good quality meals each day. After leaving the Circle it perhaps got a bit harder to find food at times, but not too much so. What was new was that Tia had to learn how to cook while in the Circle someone else had always done it for her. Having knowledge of herbalism was of some use in getting started, but of course making a meal is different from crafting a potion.  

Tia’s best food-related memory is watching as Alistair made lamb stew on the campire: a peaceful moment in the middle of chaos, just a group of friends camping under the stars and enjoying a simple but honest meal. Sometimes when she’s at the court she and Ali sneak into the kitchens and the King makes stew for him and his lover. 

Want to do the challenge as well? Here are the prompts

[tiadres]

30 Day Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 13: Values

When making a decision, Tia first and foremost considers whether that option would harm the innocent people. She'd rather do things the hard way if the alternative is to hurt those she's trying to help and protect. However she is often willing to take the more grey path if she thinks it's practical enough, such as allowing Avernus continue his research but more ethically, or taking Morrigan's offer. It's the same with Tia's own use of blood magic: she recognizes its uses, but has certain limits such as only using her own blood.

Want to do the challenge as well? Here are the prompts

[tiadres]

30 Days of Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 6: Pocketses, Precious

Useful herbs, a dagger, a journal and writing tools, a book or two she’s currently reading, small trinkets of sentimental value. You can fit quite a lot of stuff inside mage robes, in Grey Warden uniform maybe not quite as much but at least it comes with handy pouches. 

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[tiadres]

30 Days of Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 3: Race

As a human Tia has rarely experienced negative treatment because of her race, expect perhaps when she’s gone to places like Orzammar or a Dalish Clan where she is initially considered an outsider (for understandable reasons). Being human and Fereldan* is a part of her identity, but more than that she’s used to being seen as a mage first because many people have their fears or prejudices about mages. 

*Being one of Revka Amell’s children, Tiadres was born in Kirkwall but she was very young when her mother disappeared and her father took the remaining kids with him to Ferelden. Thus Tia has lived basically her whole life in Ferelden and considers it her homeland. 

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[tiadres]

30 Day Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 30: Free Day!

Some random trivia about Tia: 

✨I associate her with The Magician tarot card ✨Her favorite color is blue ✨Her favorite flower is rose ✨Her zodiac sign is Aquarius, which converts to Tenebrium “The Shadow” in Thedas astrology* ✨ Sometimes I feel weird talking about her using her name because “Tiadres” is a name I have used for myself on the internet for over half a decade now. I used to give that name to my characters whenever I first dove into a completely new game, and that’s how my Warden ended up being Tiadres. She’s the only OC I have by that name now and I don’t intend to give that name to anyone else anymore since I associate myself with it so strongly and as I said, calling Tiadres “Tiadres” feels weird sometimes for that exact reason. Yet at the same time it also feels like the right name for her and I don’t want to change it so that’s how we roll ^^”  ✨If I’m being brutally honest, Tia and my Hawke are probably both a bit self-insert-y but in different ways. Tia is kinda like me but with confidence and actual social skills lmao

✨ When Anders was forced to give up Ser Pounce-a-Lot, he gave him to Tia from whom he had originally received the cat in the first place. Tia looked after Ser Pounce for years, until she met Anders again and gave him his kitty back.  ✨ After being named the Warden Commander, Tia received a beautiful white horse she named Silver Griffon. Even though she can’t have a Griffon mount like the Grey Wardens of old did, she can still name her horse in honor of them.  ✨If Tia had Pokémon, she would prefer the Ice type and her team could include for example Glaceon, Milotic, Dewgong, Alolan Ninetales, Articuno and Aurorus. I find it easier to limit to just one type because there are so many Pokémon it’s hard to choose just 6 from all of them ^^” 

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*Thedas astrology is a fan project, you can learn about it in here and here

[tiadres]

30 Days Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 29: Moral Dilemma

What choices would your OC make when faced with each scenario in the Trolley Problem, as follows:

A: An out-of-control trolley is speeding down the tracks. Ahead, there are five people who are tied to the tracks. The trolley can’t stop. If it hits those five people, they will die. There is no action you can take EXCEPT that there is a lever nearby. If you pull the lever, the trolley will be redirected onto another track, where a single person is tied - and they will die instead.

Do you pull the lever?

I hate this fkdjgkfjg but uh assuming they’re all random people, Tia would save the five in the name of greater good but she would absolutely hate herself for having to sacrifice anyone. 

B: As before, an out-of-control trolley is hurtling towards five trapped people. This time, you are standing on a bridge over the trolley tracks next to another person, who is oblivious to what is happening. If you push the other person, they will fall on the tracks and die, but their corpse will provide enough resistance to stop the trolley before it hits the other five people.

Do you push the other person?

I hate this even more It might depend on who those people are and what’s at stake, but in most situations Tia couldn’t push the person. 

How would the OC resolve these problems if unconstrained by the limits of either scenario?

Magic. She could most likely stop the trolley without killing anyone. If she’d have to risk someone’s life it would be her own. 

Want to do the challenge as well? Here are the prompts

[tiadres]

30 Day Dragon Age OC Challenge

Day 23: Childhood

This was actually the first thing I wrote when I began preparing for these prompts, yet I had to wait almost till the end of the challenge to post it since it was for day 23 ^^” 

Tiadres Amell was one of Revka Amell's younger children, and has hardly any memories of her family. One moment that she still recalls clearly is the day she came to her magic. I already talked about this on Day 11: Magic but to summarize, little Tiadres was playing with her brother, they began fighting over a toy and in a burst of emotion she froze his arm (no permanent damage done, luckily). Tiadres was taken to Ferelden's Circle of Magi, and within those walls she remained until she was adult and just recently out of her Harrowing.

In the Circle, Tiadres proved to be a curious and good student, always eager to learn and quick to figure things out. Her best friends were Jowan and an elven girl named Andriel Surana, as well as an older mage Anders whom Tiadres saw as a big brother of sorts. They got to know each other better when Tia was in her teens and Anders was assigned as a mentor for her because she had shown gifts for spirit healing, and the First Enchanter Irving had thought (mistakenly) that having a student might keep Anders from trying to escape after he had been separated from Karl.

While Tiadres was a model student in many ways, she also had a mischievous side, and occasionally she and her friends would get into small trouble. It was mostly just harmless fun, nothing serious. Expect for the one time Tiadres assisted Anders in escaping the Tower. The Knight Commander questioned Tiadres but was unable to prove she had played any part in it, and so she survived without consequences. Anders however was caught once again and thrown into solitary confinement, which made Tiadres desperately think of ways to help his case.

Tiadres had the luck of having a pretty safe youth in the Circle, but she heard of and witnessed the uglier side of Circle life more than once. Sometimes it hit close, like in what Andriel or Anders went trough. Tiadres did often wonder what life outside the Circle was like, and wished she could go and see the world. Anders was a big influence for her developing an opinion that the Circles would need to change from mage prisons into something better. Sometimes she would ask Anders what he had seen when he'd been on the run, or inquire spirits about the outside world. The latter ones rarely could provide a thorough answer, as good spirits did not have a similar interest in the mortal realm as demons did.

Overall Tiadres' childhood could be compared to a life of a songbird in a gilded cage; all seems to be well on the surface and the bird is well taken care of, yet she can't help but yearn for the open skies she sees from the window.

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