#after the blight and awakening she goes to antiva to be with zevran and has a culture shock about how different it is than in the south

[vilnan]

i honestly can't decide if i want ashara and zev's kid to have an antivan or elven name

[elegaeica]

QUICK RUNDOWNS OF MY DRAGON AGE CHARACTERS:

sura tabris, dual dagger rogue. a near exact - copy of her late mother, oldest daughter syndrome but specifically towards her cousins soris and shianni. joins the wardens primarily to save them from the consequences of her actions in teagan's castle. a sweetheart that's rough around the edges because the world she lives in forced her to be. went with zevran to antiva to help his plan to reclaim the crows and to see the world.

amaya surana, battlemage. ambitious from head to toe, groomed to be irving's successor from a young age. double crossed jowan to irving in an attempt to prove her loyalty to the circle and instead got herself in deeper trouble. just trying to make the world better for mages everywhere. isolationist who believes mages should have their own place away from the rest of the world but... tevinter isn't an option for her as an elf for obvious reasons. returns to the circle following the end of the blight and eventually becomes first enchanter before the mage rebellion.

naya amell, shapeshifter. tired, just very tired and trying to keep her head down and survive in the circle. hoping to become the arcane advisor to some bann or arl in the future. helps jowan genuinely out of fear for her friend. very kind, but very weary. she goes to weisshaupt after the blight and lives as a warden because she really has nowhere else to go. partakes in awakening and later takes stroud's place in inquisition.

aliena brosca, two - handed warrior. a golden heart beneath many many layers of stone erected to protect herself because of the world she was raised in. very angry at the world for everything that has been done to her and her sister for the mere circumstances of their birth. casteless turned paragon but unable to return to orzammar because of the memories and mother that wait there. travels with shale and wynne to minrathous to restore shale's mortality.

aurelia aeducan, sword & shield warrior. the favored aeducan sibling above both of her brothers by all of orzammar and the assembly and hated by both of them because of it. framed for trian's murder by bhelen, who she thought loved her. wise, just, and clever, she manages to get herself elected as queen by the assembly instead of either harrowmont or bhelen, and returns to orzammar to act as its queen after the blight.

aravas mahariel, bow & arrow rogue. the cautious voice of reason that tried to convince tamlen to leave the ruins, quiet and clever and so so guilty over tamlen's fate. can't return to the clan after the blight because of the guilt and fear, but can't stay with the wardens because of the trauma. fakes her own death after slaying the archdemon and continues to travel through thedas. very "can't settle anywhere because she's running from something and not towards" energy.

mina hawke, force mage. oldest daughter syndrome cranked to 100. combination of sarcastic and diplomatic personality. brought carver down to the deep roads with her and brought him to the wardens. allied with the mages throughout her time in kirkwall, killed the arishok, killed anders. desperately just trying to keep everything from falling apart and slowly losing the battle. keeping up a positive exterior while enduring a decade - long panic attack.

victorine trevelyan, dual - dagger rogue. believes herself to be andraste's chosen until she is violently proven otherwise in the battle at adamant and her fall into the fade where she has an aggressive crisis of faith. confident and silver - tongued, she's an amazing inquisitor who knows how to wield the power she's been given. commits the inquisition to the chantry rather than fully disbanding it.

nicolette trevelyan, knight - enchanter mage. thedas' equivalent of walking talking catholic/andrastian guilt. was born a mage and has spent her entire life trying to atone for that fact. one bad day away from a nervous breakdown, constantly asking "are you mad at me" and has to slowly grow a spine throughout the events of inquisition. disbands the inquisition after trespasser.

maella lavellan, rift mage. clan lavellan's first who was just supposed to be checking out wtf was going on with this damn war and get an estimation for how much longer they would have to avoid human settlements and instead got roped into this chantry cult. unwilling martyr/saint figure who very much protests any and all reference to her being the herald of andraste. disbands the inquisition after trespasser and goes into quasi-hiding after the fact, living with the dalish clan encountered in the emerald graves. (maella's romance of solas is important to her character development - i won't forceship with any solas writers, but her past romance with him will likely be referenced in interactions with other characters)

[felassan]

After The Blight

A timeline of the Hero of Ferelden’s movements and notes about their activities after the end of the Fifth Blight

I just wanted to collect it together somewhere. Obviously it does not apply if the Hero performed the Ultimate Sacrifice, although sections of it will apply to Orlesian Warden-Commanders. This is a mixture of canon information, suppositions and headcanons (so it’s a mix of a reference post and personal notes about my own HoF). The latter two things are clearly marked as such. This post has been updated. (Tevinter Nights spoilers under cut)

9:30 Dragon - Fifth Blight begins.

9:31 - Fifth Blight ends, events of DAO end. The Fereldan reign or service to the crown of Queen, Prince-Consort and Chancellor HoFs begins. The HoF studies the Blight. There is an investigation effort into the darkspawns’ remaining secrets.

supposition: shortly after the coronation of Ferelden’s new monarch[s], the HoF answers the First Warden’s summons to Weisshaupt and travels there to report about the Blight. if the Dark Ritual was performed, they avoid mentioning it, despite the pertinent questions they are asked about why no Warden died killing the Archdemon. suspicions in the order abound 

supposition: if Avernus continued his research in some form, the HoF begins working with him around this time

personal headcanon: Dog never left HoF’s side after the Blight, because why would he? I know what it says about replenishing in the kennels, but that could easily be done during HoF’s many trips to Denerim

9:31, 4 months post Blight - Zevran has now begun his quest to dismantle the Crows, so romanced Zevran has most likely left HoF’s company by this point.

9:31, 6 months post Blight - Queen HoF marries Alistair in lavish ceremony. If Alistair was romanced, they then tour Ferelden. Prince-Consort HoF marries Anora in lavish ceremony.

note - The timings of the events in the expansion, DLCs and DA2 Act 1 are a bit squashed and inconsistent, which is why things in the upcoming segment get a bit janky

17th of Ferventis, 9:31, 6 months post Blight, post royal wedding - The Darkspawn Civil War/Amaranthine Conflict and the events of Awakening begin. The HoF had been promoted to Commander of the Grey, Ferelden’s Warden-Commander. They travel to Vigil’s Keep having been tasked by the order with rebuilding the Wardens’ presence in Ferelden and dealing with the remaining darkspawn plaguing the nation. Romanced Warden Alistair could not join them as he had been assigned to the Warden parties in charge of the Thaw Hunt (a hunt for remnant darkspawn pockets). Romanced Zevran could not join them as he was away hunting and being hunted by the Crows. Romanced Leliana could not join as she was summoned for an audience by the Grand Cleric.

supposition: HoF’s promotion was given to them during their time at Weisshaupt. it’s both a reward for their service during the Blight and a maneuver by the First Warden to capitalize on the HoF’s reputation and the post-Blight state of Ferelden (which was weakened and freshly appreciative of Wardens). the goal was to leverage the Wardens back into prominence and power in Ferelden

9:31, 12 months post Blight - This basically brings things into ~9:32. The Darkspawn Civil War/Amaranthine Conflict and events of Awakening end. If the Architect was spared, other Wardens in other nations are appalled, but the Wardens think the ensuing conflict between groups of darkspawn might make the Deep Roads safer. If the Architect was spared, HoF begins work of some kind with the intelligent darkspawn and has interactions with them in the coming years (in 9:37, Warden Nathaniel calls these darkspawn “The Warden’s allies” and mentions information these allies provided the Wardens with). Soon after what happened with the Architect, if Avernus continued his research in some form, HoF sends him information about the Architect.

personal headcanon: HoF names Nathaniel Howe their second-in-command. Nathaniel becomes Constable of the Grey, Warden-Constable of Ferelden

favored headcanon: HoF names romanced or befriended Warden Alistair their second-in-command. Alistair becomes Constable of the Grey, Warden-Constable of Ferelden

9:31 - If Avernus continued his research in some form, Hawke finds a very important set of Warden letters and documents from the HoF intended for the First Warden, on a dead body on the Wounded Coast in the Free Marches. HoF dispatched the messenger from Ferelden via Amaranthine to go to Weisshaupt by way of Kirkwall, possibly with the aid of an agent in Kirkwall. The courier was most likely dispatched from Vigil’s Keep. Something had happened that the HoF is concerned about and wanted to inform the First Warden of ASAP. Enclosed was a message from Avernus to the HoF. This message indicates that the HoF has been working and corresponding with Avernus to aid his research, including sending him shipments of supplies. Avernus’ research has made progress but also revealed some alarming implications, and he urged the HoF to inform the FW at once. 

supposition: “supplies” includes live subjects, as in sentient beings (Ghilan’nain would be proud)

supposition: due to everything with Avernus if he continued his research, it’s around now that seeds begin to be sown in HoF’s mind of finding a way to escape the Calling 

personal headcanon: the agent in Kirkwall is Varric Tethras, or one of his people. after all, he is an information broker, spymaster and someone who knows everyone

~9:31 - The events of The Golems of Amgarrak take place. HoF investigates Amgarrak Thaig after being invited to Orzammar by Jerrik Dace, on a search mission to find a lost expedition. Most likely takes place after Awakening because Jerrik sent a letter requesting aid to Vigil’s Keep.

personal headcanon: the HoF has contact here with House Tethras, who canonically funded Jerrik’s search mission

9:32, nearly 1 year after the Archdemon’s death - The events of Witch Hunt take place. HoF searches for Morrigan through the Korcari Wilds, Cadash Thaig, Kinloch Hold and the Dragonbone Wastes. If HoF romanced Morrigan, they may vanish with her through the eluvian. In some universes Kieran has now been born. For some HoFs, they now meet their son for the first time.

supposition: it’s now that Morrigan tells some HoFs about the leads she found that point to the western lands as a place where a cure for the Calling might be found. if HoF didn’t leave through the mirror, some HoFs may now find that the “gift” Morrigan left them along with the stolen Dalish book is information about these leads. do note that some HoFs are implied to have come into the knowledge without Morrigan’s involvement

supposition: 9:32, post Witch Hunt - It’s now that HoFs who romanced Zevan travel to Antiva to reunite with him for a time, their expansion and DLC-business being concluded. they do what they can to help him in his Crow quest

9:32 on, for a time - HoFs who romanced Morrigan, fathered Kieran and left through the mirror help Morrigan raise Kieran for a while. This goes on for a long enough time that the roughly ~10 year old Kieran clearly remembers his father in 9:41.

supposition: much of this family life took place in hidden, secret places, some of which are in Thedas ‘proper’ itself and some of which are in the Crossroads and places reached via the Crossroads

supposition [?]: 9:32 on, til leaving / ‘mysteriously vanishing’ in ~9:40 - HoF most likely based out of Denerim Royal Palace and/or Vigil’s Keep, being largely occupied in this period with the duties involved in being Queen, Prince-Consort, Chancellor and/or Warden-Commander of Ferelden. The former would involve such things as advising, often being seen at court, helping to rebuild Ferelden in the wake of the Blight, and resisting the influence/incursions Orlais attempt around this time. The latter would involve such things as recruitment, training, establishing bases, sending annual reports to Weisshaupt, scouting, clearing remnant darkspawn activity, rebuilding Vigil’s Keep and/or Amaranthine, overseeing the arling etc. It’s also likely that Warden business would take them to other parts of Thedas at times. Romanced Zevran and romanced Leliana both assist when they can with rebuilding the Wardens, without officially joining. Depending on HoF’s actions during the Darkspawn Civil War/Amaranthine Conflict, potential events such as a riot of common folk at Vigil’s Keep can occur here. HoF continuing to actively serve in the Wardens during this time probably isn’t just supposition due to how they and Warden Alistair can refer to their duties in 9:41. Still, there’s lots of space and flexibility in this period for headcanon, for example to include things from the ‘rumors’ and such listed at the end of this post.

supposition: HoFs who romanced Zevan are involved on and off as they are able in this time period with his Crow quest, helping when they can. “on and off” refers to their involvement in his quest, not their relationship. canonically around this period Zevran is known for high profile kills of Guildmasters and having some of the others in his pocket. by 9:34 he has 2 out of 7 Guildmasters in his pocket and has killed at least one other along with Eoman, 2 Grandmasters, and 4 other members of House Arainai

personal headcanon: HoF establishes Soldier’s Peak as a secondary and proper functioning Warden base in Ferelden, and it comes to rival Vigil’s Keep

personal headcanon: HoF grows increasingly dissatisfied with the actions and attitudes of the Wardens (primarily the First Warden and other leadership in the Anderfels) during this period, and in the later years begins to consider making a play for power and seizing the First Warden’s seat

~9:33, 1 year after Darkspawn Civil War/Amaranthine Conflict ends - If HoF saved the city of Amaranthine, it is finished being rebuilt. Relevant because it is part of the arling goings-on, which is currently in HoF’s hands.

personal headcanon: 9:34 - HoF visits their clan near Kirkwall, having sent word ahead to Merrill. HoF is able to see Merrill and Marethari again prior to Marethari’s death in Act 3. this ties in handily with the timeframe when Warden Stroud/Alistair passes through Kirkwall on a mysterious important Warden mission. HoF, in the company of this Warden party (which includes Warden Carver), meets Hawke and is reunited with Anders/Justice and Isabela. HoF meets their contact Varric in person for the first time

~9:36, 5 years after Darkspawn Civil War/Amaranthine Conflict ends - If HoF saved the city of Amaranthine, Vigil’s Keep is finally finished being rebuilt.

supposition: ~9:37 (dependent on when Hawke did MoTA) - Not long after Hawke kills Corpheus, HoF begins digging for information about him much like the DAI Warden contact. HoF is investigating rumors they had heard and found about him, being concerned that he would be able to jump host bodies on death like an Archdemon. This happens in romanced Warden Alistair worlds in tandem with Alistair, and I don’t see why it would be exclusive to those. This can technically occur anytime between 31 and 37, but 37 makes the most sense for this to happen, as I can’t see HoF sitting on Corypheus knowledge for almost a decade before he rose

9:37 - Queen HoF is at home in the Royal Palace in Denerim when King Alistair meets Hawke in Act 3.

supposition: Prince-Consort HoFs, Chancellor HoFs, HoFs who remained King Alistair’s paramour, HoFs who were friends with King Alistair and potentially some others are also at court in Denerim at this time, either visiting or in a less temporary manner, depending

9:37 - Hawke meets Warden Nathaniel and possibly their Warden sibling in the Deep Roads. The First Warden had ordered an investigation along Hawke’s Deep Road expedition route, as Hawke went further into the Roads than anyone believed possible and the Wardens are interested in the primeval thaig. The Wardens obtained directions from Bartrand and were prepared to do extensive excavations around the thaig using explosives.

supposition: HoF had some involvement in the above, for example overseeing, organizing and decision-making on a level more local than the First Warden’s initial order

personal headcanon: Hawke’s Warden sibling has been under HoF’s command in recent years

personal headcanon: 9:38 - HoF accompanies Alistair during the events of The Silent Grove, Those Who Speak, and Until We Sleep. these events canonically take longer than 3 weeks, probably ~2 months. their travels take them to Antiva City, the Tellari Swamps, Ventus, Seheron and the Fade. HoF is reunited with Sten and Isabela, and meets Maevaris

~9:40, before Cassandra interrogates Varric - HoF departs on their long-ass quest to the west to find a cure for the Calling. Romanced Zevran accompanies them. Their journey takes them far out of the areas where Corypheus is operating, to lands untouched by Blight. Cassandra initially seeks HoF now, but cannot find them, most likely because they’ve left. Romanced Leliana couldn’t go because Justinia called on her for help. Romanced Warden Alistair stays behind to investigate the mounting concerns in the Wardens with corruption in the ranks, Corypheus, Wardens disappearing and the false Calling.

supposition [?]: Awakening Warden companions that we’ve not heard from again - so Velanna, Sigrun and Oghren - accompany HoF on their quest, explaining why they haven’t resurfaced

personal headcanon: in the months prior, HoF began to grow concerned about stirrings of strange behavior in Warden ranks, much like the DAI Warden contact

9:41 - A letter arrives to Weisshaupt from the new Warden-Commander of Vigil’s Keep. Around this time Clarel is noted to have stopped writing to Weisshaupt.

supposition: there is a new Warden-Commander because HoF has now departed on their quest. the new one could be temporary in the interim or a permanent replacement. the new one is possibly whoever HoF promoted to Constable of the Grey / Warden-Constable of Ferelden, as Wardens of this rank are second-in-commands who step in when the Warden-Commander is away. [headcanon note here: if HoF had elevated Alistair to the position, it’s possibly now occupied by someone else given Warden Alistair soon goes into hiding after becoming concerned]

9:41, mid-Inquisition - It proves difficult, but Morrigan, Alistair or Leliana facilitate Inquisition contact with the HoF and an exchange of letters between HoF and the Inquisitor. HoF signs their letter “Warden-Commander”.

supposition: given how they sign the letter, it doesn’t seem that they have officially stepped down from the role yet. alternatively, a Warden can continue to use the title after stepping down, or this is an inconsistency. I think it’s most likely the new Warden-Commander in the Weisshaupt letter above is acting-WC at this time point

~9:44, post-Trespasser - HoF has returned from their quest to find a cure. If they romanced Leliana, they rejoin her. If Leliana is Divine, HoF is often seen at her side. If not, their respective responsibilities often keep them apart, but whenever they can they spend time together at a villa on the Waking Sea.

supposition: HoF didn’t come back until now, as they are not mentioned in the base game epilogue. their quest really took years

supposition: All HoFs return now, because why would only Lelimancers make it back?

supposition: HoF found a cure, given the fairly light tone in the romanced Leliana epilogues. if so, they probably step down from being a Warden, as Fiona was not allowed to remain in the Wardens after being cured

supposition: If HoF romanced Morrigan or Alistair or married Anora, they instead rejoin their respective LI, or LI and child in the case of Morrigan sometimes. Leliana, Morrigan and Warden Alistair as LIs in DAI all express the same sentiment of what amounts to “this time, when we rejoin one another, we intend to stay together”. romanced Zevran here was already with them, having gone on the quest

supposition: At this time point HoF clearly still has some continuing responsibilities of some form. work with the Wardens in an advisory capacity? ongoing service to the Fereldan crown? there’s lots of space and flexibility now for headcanon, for example to include things from the ‘rumors’ and such listed at the end of this post

supposition: It appears Leliana tells romanced HoF of the troubles to come (’for both saw the troubles that were to come’). presumably this is a reference to the Dread Wolf and related threats. I assume she would tell this to any HoF that she was good friends with

personal headcanon: the cure for the Calling is distributed to Anders and Carver. whether it’s distributed to all Wardens or made common knowledge to all Wardens is debatable

personal headcanon: HoF ‘takes care of’ some of befriended Divine Leliana’s enemies. I especially favor this headcanon with romanced Leliana

~9:44, post-Trespasser, probably into 9:45 - ‘The Bard’ reports a sighting of an unspecified Warden-Commander in an auctionhouse in Llomerryn, talking to disguised Divine Victoria. This Warden-Commander’s identity is left unstated, and this story of the Bard’s, or this part of the story, seems like it was made up.

supposition: this was made up and never happened, given the context. I do love the allusion to the apparent contact and scheming between HoF and romanced or befriended Divine Leliana, though

----------

There are also lots of things that the HoF was rumored or can be suggested to do post-game in the DAO and expansion epilogues. If desired, these could easily be woven into headcanons and stories to help fill the periods where there are large timegaps. You could also headcanon in HoF appearing with romanced Zevran and romanced Leliana at various timepoints when they resurface in the narrative, for example.

continue to have unspecified adventures and travels

travel with Sten to Par Vollen

travel with Wynne and Shale

dwarves: return to Orzammar, potentially Paragon duties

Mahariel: return to their clan

Tabris: potentially Bann of the Alienage duties

Cousland: return to Highever, help Fergus rebuild

and so forth

[musingmycelium]

god okay i info dumped on discord bc thats just who i am as a person so i’m cross posting it here in case anyone else is curious about my canon world state. under a read more bc its, uh, maybe a bit of a monster.

i've got a dummy complex worldstate for no reason other than i like to make things difficult for the sake of a good story i guess. for origins my canon warden is an apostate, ellanis tabris who in an 'accident' had his leg crushed and it never recovered, causing it to have stunted growth. he uses a cane to get around and his disability helped hide him in the denerim alienage since apostacy is probably one of if not the most dangerous crime for an elf.

he's only one of three, though. his best friends growing up are noure surana and attie nehrios. noure gets taken to the circle when they're 17 (and ellanis and attie are 15) and comes into play a bit later, while attie is a seamstress and budding red jenny.

as far as origins itself goes ellanis' canon route is deep roads - dalish - haven - redcliff - circle - redcliff. fairly standard stuff up until haven/broken circle tbh. in haven during the guardian's first trial instead of shianni ellanis sees noure (whom the alienage presumed dead when arrested bc it wasn't, ah, a clean arrest) as the ghosty thing and during broken circle ellanis finds noure again and 'conscripts' them into the wardens. really he just takes them with him and destroys their phylactery so they won't be followed. (noure's phylactery is stored in kinloch instead of the spire after their fourth escape attempt since it gave them too much of a head start to make the templars wait to get it) theres a lot of Feelings surrounding connor but other than that ellanis doesn't super change things there either. he does, however, not have any idea about the dr. which is the biggest break i have from canon in dao with the exception of my inclusion of More City Elves. instead of morrigan going to ellanis she, as his best friend, knows he'll refuse to do it and instead goes straight to alistair. morrigan actually never tells ellanis anything about the ritual, ever.

during unrest in the alienage ellanis meets up with attie again, who is already working to clear the slavers out herself, and she falls head over heels for morrigan pretty quickly. fast enough that when morrigan sets out on her 'nobody follow me' thing attie does anyways bc thats just who attie is as a person. and besides she can't stay in denerim now that she's maybe or not killed a nobleman for what happened during the wedding.

and now its awakening time 

ellanis meets up with anders for the first time and through him learns a bit more about noure's time in the circle. (noure and anders and karl were lovers for roughly three years before shit hit the fan hard) and fuck canon here because ellanis doesn't have time for this. plus the architect is interesting and yah maybe insane but he's in the place for a little madness. ellanis lets him live and strikes a bargain with him, they share research and any ferelden wardens who prefer to answer their calling not by fighting darkspawn but by potentially furthering the cure are welcomed by the architect. but after awakening ellanis leaves vigils keep in nate's hands and goes on 'offical leave' to work on his own cure..... and to live in antiva with zevran...... lkjkjlkjkjkj

noure, after broken circle and during awakening, goes to nevarra via orlais. it takes them a couple of months to settle but noure finds viuus (yes that viuus) who takes them on as an apprentice of sorts bc he's also in a bit of a jam. it works, sorta, noure learns more spirit based magic and reconnects with a part of themselves the circle tried to beat out of them. it only lasts for about two years, though, because templars find them, one a recent transfer from kinloch and noure isn't exactly a forgettable face. so!

well, its around the same time that anders leaves the wardens for good. and ellanis puts anders in touch with noure. they decide to meet in kirkwall, because rumor has it that's where karl is and thats gonna be the place they need to go first.

attie though, she's just hanging out with morrigan and stirring the pot in orlais as a jenny. she also works with the mage underground and defo either knows or works with briala as a kind of agent. her story is more foggy tho bc i haven't read Super much of TME or played some of witch hunt

da2 comes in and i've Recently, like as of last week i think, decided to swap my canon hawkes. william is now my canon hawke instead of the twins. he's an apostate who's magic is mostly clairvoyancy and a shepherd.. or he was until the blight. bethany dies during the escape and its only the Beginning of the sad times for william.

with his pretty suble magic william makes for a Superb smuggler, and lands the gig with bartrand quickly. he Also, gets a bit of a crush on varric while they're still going around raising money. he takes carver, varric, and isabela with him to the deep roads thinking that keeping his brother close will be safer. and, well, it isn't.

act ii is a bunch of horse shit anyways but william tries to keep out of things until isabela is directly threatened by it and only then steps in seriously. for the most part all of the things which go down with petrice are done with noure and anders. they don't like the qunari being in town either but they, at least, can use the situation to weaken the chantry and by extension the circle. even if its only a bit. during act iii the two of them build up the mage underground and start preparing to take direct action against the circle. william is, still uncertain but he doesn't stop them. his magic has never been a large danger to himself, it's suble enough and under control enough that he's never really had to fear templars. he feared them for his fathers sake, for bethany's sake, but not his own. not really. and well, we know how da2 ends but i hate the retcon of 'hundres of casualties' bithc! where! so no, only the grand cleric and a handful of upper level chantry people where inside when it went up and they deserved it.

ellanis is working on the blight cure during this time and makes it far enough that he and zev are surprised by twins (two girls named adaia and killian) but otherwise ellanis is mostly chillin in antiva

while attie is now definitely working closely with briala both as a jenny and as an agent

and we’re up to dai with my canon quizzy - da'ean lavellan, the clan storykeeper (next in line after his father) who only attends the conclave because idrilla was going to first and they didn't want to loose the clan first. i've got... way more canon deviance in dai than anywhere else bc dai Suxxs but its way too long but basically! 

da'ean romances both dorian and the iron bull bc im poly and i said so, idrilla comes to skyhold as magical advisor and she works where morrigan does in the game (tho morrigan still shows up she's not an offical position as much, which suits her and attie just fine). linayel, da'ean's nas'falon (qp) arrives with her and he slots in as an archery trainer. 

plus, ellanis is the warden contact instead of the many (some really wild??) canon contacts. leliana tries to contact him to be quizzy but he's travelling and misses it, and when noure contacts him on william's behalf and mentions corypheus (ellanis knows about legacy bc william brought noure and anders along) ellanis puts some pieces together and comes to skyhold. he'd already been working to figure out the weird calling (it is and yet isn't the same as the blight he remembered) so he's already a bit aware of the situation. william doesn't stick around for long, basically just long enough to get confirmation ellanis is on his way. even tho he misses varric this isn't his place

adamant goes down wicked different bc ellanis is the fucking HOF. by this time he's developed his magic enough he can pretty much take down all of the wardens within a good 300 foot range just nearly instantly. (a combination of his blight cure research and his natural entropic aligned magic hohohoho) so he makes it to clarel Fast. instead of falling into the fade ellanis (anyone else remember just fucking punching rifts closed in awakening? lol) works with da'ean to open up the rift in the main courtyard and suck the nightmare into the real world. and then he fuckin annhilates it bc he can

WEWH is also different but this time its bc of attie (and morrigan's different now too bc she's been dragged into things by her wife) briala's at the palace yeah, but now she's also got attie waiting in the wings. instead of getting stuck in place by the quizzy attie is able to manuever things to implicate gaspard and celene alone (mostly bc i hate the blackmail on briala it just doesn't vibe well with her character to me). so instead of the shitty options of 'gaspard rules with briala shadowing him' or 'celene and briala end up back together' its 'celene gets put in place by briala and now briala calls the shots'

idrilla romances solas, and as a dreamer she's sure something is fishy but can't figure out what exactly. (until trespasser that is, when she figures it out at the murals) but she provides a good foil to his asshatry and as offical magical advisor steers the inquisition with morrigan's info about the arbor wilds. she knows the rituals and the magic bc she's first and they make it through far faster than in canon, making a quick alliance with the sentinals and beating samson well before the canon battle area. 

(linayel romances cass but their story is still quiet and vague as of yet but linayel mostly remains in skyhold to help train and strategize)

then da'ean kicks corypshits ass soundly becase that fight Sucks Ass.

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

so one of my classes this semester is History of Espionage which is pretty dope and today we discussed Elizabethan England the other day, today is the American Revolution, and I’m just...thinkin about Dragon Age as I do and like... I’ve given Catalina Tabris so many titles and responsibilities already (she’s already the Warden-Commander of Ferelden and the Arlessa of Amaranthine and I opted for her to take the title of Bann of Denerim’s Alienage as well and then I think she’s a Chancellor to the king? I can’t remember all the ending slides) and there’s no way she can actually do all of those things, forget me adding more, but I’m thinking like.... I still totally want her to be Alistair’s spymaster.

Like hell, Cata is kind of her own spymaster because right from the outset of her arriving in Amaranthine there’s plots against her and while she’s clumsy at endearing herself to some of the nobles at first, she quickly realizes that she can’t just rely on the chances of her wardens or someone friendly overhearing noble plots. So she starts befriending the most sympathetic nobles and her willingness to extend assistance and carry out runaround favors (she got good at that shit during the blight) starts to endear her some more to others. Bann Esmerelle's death and the mopping up of the last of that conspiracy takes out some more enemies and then the nobility of Amaranthine is pretty firmly tilted in Cata’s favor. There’s still conflict, of course, with those who blame the wardens for Esmerelle’s death, as per the Awakening end slides, who are coming up with new plot to unseat the wardens. 

The peasantry always loved her because she was more willing to hear their concerns and be sympathetic toward them than she was to dealing with noble shit, and she offered unexpected mercy towards deserters and rioters brought before her. Then her heroic defense of the city of Amaranthine, rallying a handful of guardsmen and a few wardens who accompanied her to drive back all of the darkspawn and save the people, really seals the deal. And as always she’s the goddamned Hero of Ferelden who rose out of nothing to kill the archdemon and save the country from the blight. 

Which sure she’s an elf but most of where that works against her is with the nobility who don’t like her for being a warden and don’t like her for being a commoner so it’s one more tick mark against her. With the common folk it’s what she’s done and how she’s helped that they predominantly care about. There’s always exceptions but this is the main point.

So that’s her status in Amaranthine, the conflict and conspiracy. I think... actually I think she would, once they’re close friends and trust each other, appoint Nathaniel as a quasi-spymaster, because at the surface level the impression is that he doesn’t like her. She murdered his father, she took his land, why would he like her? And they play that assumption for all it’s worth, so that wardens from Weisshaupt who don’t like Catalina use Nathaniel as a contact point and he goes straight to her and they figure out what she wants him to feed back. Nobles who still hold loyalty to Howe assume that his son would as well, and is trying to subvert the wardens from within, and Nathaniel lets that stand, lets them open up their conspiracies to him. Eventually, they have to move to different tactics, after probably a few years when it becomes very apparent that Nathaniel is Cata’s loyal second-in-command and then she appoints him officially to be her warden-constable and seneschal. 

But back to Denerim. Whenever she can, Cata’s in Denerim, because that’s where Alistair is and that’s where her family is. Whenever she isn’t in Denerim, she has her father take up her duties as Bann of Denerim’s alienage, and really... really he’s the bann in all but official title, because Cata holding the official title means that she is the target for the ire of angry racist nobles and she will always, always make sure that her family is out of the line of fire. And she’s advisor to Alistair. For the first six months, Zevran is hanging around as well, and he gives them both a crash course in understanding how assassins work and how to watch for potential threats, and when he goes back to Antiva to fight the Crows he promises to keep an eye out and intercept any contracts taken out for Alistair or Cata’s lives. Cata also took Ignacio’s contracts when in Denerim and so a few of the Crow houses are interested in what she can do for them. It doesn’t save her from the Crows that Esmerelle contracts out, but you know, what can you do.

I imagine that most of the elven servants in Denerim’s palace and the estates that all of the banns and arls from all over hold in the city are from Denerim alienage itself. And Cata grew up there, knows everyone as her extended family, and even if they don’t like her personally, the alienage looks out for its own, and Cata is using her power and influence to try to make things better for them. So in return she has an intelligence network planted in every noble estate, people who are considered so low as to be beneath suspicion, who can listen out for anything that might be useful and once home, pass it back to Cyrion or Shianni. And then there are the servants in the palace itself, who can note anything suspicious, the sudden appearances of anyone who doesn’t belong. And Cata makes sure to introduce all of her neighbors to Alistair, so that if she’s not around, or if they can’t get back to Cyrion or Shianni or whatever, they can go straight to the king himself and he’ll know them by face and name.

There’s probably an alienage in Amaranthine - it’s a big enough city for it - and Cata definitely integrates herself into that community, befriends the servants at Vigil’s Keep as well. And then she has some contact with Highever alienage because I headcanon that she does go visit there and track down her ex-fiance’s family to return the wedding ring that she wore throughout the blight. Soris ends up living in Highever and though he marries a human woman, he probably has at least a little bit of connection with the alienage inhabitants - if nothing else, Cata urges him to, for her sake and the sake of these complicated games of politics she’s playing. Highever and Amaranthine have their historic alliance and Teryn Cousland is a staunch supporter of the king, and Nathaniel encourages Cata to strike up that friendship again. And Highever’s noble estates, including the teryn’s castle, are probably staffed by alienage elves, so again that’s inside information that is beneath suspicion. We see in DAI, Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, that the things elven servants overhear and discuss are deeply important, and Cata knows that and is going to cultivate it all she can. Obviously her network is limited, really only encompasses the northern coast, Highever, Amaranthine, Denerim, but those are the most important points.

I used to imagine Cata doing a lot of excursions into the Deep Roads but you know, there’s no way she has time for that. Even if she passes some of the governing aspects to Nathaniel, she’s just so busy with so many tasks. Oghren, Sigrun, and Velanna take some of the command duties among the wardens, as well as Nathaniel, and Cata does occasionally go down into the Roads - she likes assessing the new recruits who have just survived the Joining - but that’s not going to be her primary task. Honestly she definitely would prefer to just be killing darkspawn, but there’s probably more good she can do for the elven population and her country and Alistair by doing this politicking desk work. It feels like a breath of fresh air when she leaves to search for a cure to the calling.

Also, the last point - the Architect. Cata spares the Architect, like she spared Avernus, hoping that they can assist her with useful information on how to stop the calling. She’s interested in that way before she leaves on her quest. And the Architect has his awakened darkspawn, and there’s the one - the Messenger? - who warns you of the Mother’s impending attack. Cata spares it and convinces it to fight with her to save Amaranthine, and there’s an epilogue slide that says it kind of acts as a rogue agent of doing good but accidentally infecting things with the taint while it’s trying to help. So if no one else gets that information back to Cata first, she’s got awakened darkspawn roaming around who can be like “hey shit’s going down in this area.” Their information is most helpful for manning operations in the Deep Roads - they can tell her where the problem areas are, and which places are clear, and what the best passages through the Roads are. Nathaniel mentions vaguely their “allies” in DA2 in that quest and I want to imagine Anders is like “oh for the love of fuck is the commander still taking advice from the darkspawn on how to run her missions in the Dee Roads?” and Nathaniel is like “of course she is, and usually it doesn’t turn out this bad.”

Wowza that’s a lot of writing but like... I have a lot of thoughts about what Cata gets up to in politics and as commander and she sure as hell doesn’t do anything in halves.