#but then again i do love aeducan

[a-drama-addict]

me doing worldstate planning and seeing that I have two Aeducans: One of you guys is going to be made a Brosca

[invinciblerodent]

i'm futzing too much with my canon Dragon Age worldstate. i know that. but.

it's going to be really difficult to choose a canon Veilguard boo

[spellmage]

i finished my canon worldstate da:o playthrough today and the end made me FEEL THINGS. i hadn't played the dwarf noble origin until now and agh. my warden being accepted back into house aeducan AND being made a paragon. i want to give her a hug she doesn't want any of that

[etoilebinaire]

Taylor and Emerald for ockissweek #1: Dance! Taylor is mine and Ems is @aeducanka’s !

[vigilskept]

what kind of love are you?

tagged by @dragonologist-phd to put some ocs through this uquiz. ty for the tag!

insomnia crept in so i decided to just run all my wardens through & genuinely thrown by some of the results (but in a good way!) excerpting some of the interesting bits below for the sake of brevity

Diya Surana: Love as a Choice Love does not come to you easily, but every day you wake up and choose it. It would be so easy, wouldn't it, to grow cold and callous and grim. But you rise to greet the world, making the conscious effort to find something, anything to love. When you fall for someone, you do not kid yourself of their flaws. Instead, you resolve to see them for who they are, mistakes and all and you love them all the same.

Roshan Mahariel & Qadir Amell: Love as a Threshold Your love is free, and unquestioned, and here for wherever needs it. When you fall in love, it is as gentle as a breath in the night. When you fall for someone, it is without strings, without conditions, without need. You love with a giver’s heart and a giver’s hands and are made so much stronger for it.

Chaya Tabris & Ylva Aeducan: Love as a Flaw When you fall in love, it is with alarm bells ringing. It’s a problem and you would do anything to pass it off, burn it away, scoop it out of you with bare hands, or carved out with hooked knives before it can destroy you.

Sindri Brosca: Love as Youth Your love is buoyant. Your love is bountiful. It is ageless, and it will never age. When you fall in love, it is breathless. It is joyful and endless, it is magnificent. Your love skips rocks and tells stories, your love roasts marshmallows over fires, and laughs freely. Your love does not take itself too seriously.

Gavin Cousland: Love as Religion When you fall in love, it is as a baptism. You are born anew, made a believer in the divinity of the one you love most. Being loved by you is an ascension; it is holy and golden. It is all-consuming, and all-faithful, loyal as the dog.

Daniyel Tabris: Love as the Dawn Love is new to you, isn’t it? A fresh discovery in a world you do not quite understand. Your love loves with bated breaths. Your love swoons and sighs and lingers under awnings. Your love romanticizes. Your love aches as tenderly as a bruise. You’re swollen with desire and idealizations.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

I need to gush about Origins and discuss Duncan okay, listen- DAO is so good for a plethora of reasons but it’s the origins, the thing that it’s literally named after. Which origin you play is the important decision on the players part that has an impact on everything you do, especially if you go hard into the roleplaying of it all, it makes me want to scream. I adore it so much.

So Duncan, right? Great character, love that dude. I read The Calling and he's one of the best parts of that book. If you haven't read it, I recommend it just for Duncan alone.

I enjoy reading opinion pieces on Duncan, especially when the poster mentions which origin their warden is. I find it so interesting because your origin can change your entire perception of him.

Playing as Aeducan or Brosca? Duncan has great respect for dwarves just as the dwarves do for the wardens. Duncan’s your hero. He saved your life. You would’ve been executed or left to rot in the Deep Roads if not for him. And since the wardens are so respected, it’s honestly an honor to join them, no?

Playing a Cousland? You’ve lost everything. Duncan not only does what he can to keep your father alive long enough for you and your mother to find him, but he saves you and gives you a shot to avenge your family by becoming a warden.  

Playing as Amell or Surana? Your best friend lied to you about being a blood mage and chances are you tried to help him escape rather than turn him in, and now he’s gone and Greagoir demands you be punished. But here comes Duncan to conscript you, to take you away from the prison known as the Circle of Magi.

And I know this can vary depending on how you play or what kind of character you’ve created, but I believe you’re waaaay more likely to have a better opinion of Duncan in these origins… but if you play as Mahariel or Tabris?

Mahariel’s more obvious, here. You’re Dalish, and odds are, you and Tamlen are on the same page about humans. Duncan, a human, dragged your ass back to your clan after the eluvian gave you the blight, and sure, that was nice of him… except when you go looking for Tamlen and Duncan destroys the mirror, he’s so dismissive. He doesn’t care about Tamlen. There’s no point in going looking for him, he’s dead. Also you have the blight and Duncan’s taking you away from your family to make you a warden and no, you have no choice in the matter. He'll force his hand if he needs to. Say goodbye, forget about Tamlen, you’ll never see your family again, you’re a warden now. Hope you have fun involving yourself in all these human affairs while everyone points out how different you are!

First off, I think most Mahariel players would agree that they’re still not over Tamlen. How many of you had the thought, “If we look just a little longer, we could find Tamlen and make him a warden, too!” only for Duncan to ruin that? I don’t blame any Mahariel for throwing a fit when he and the Keeper agree you need to go, nor do I blame them for any ill feelings toward him.

And Tabris? This one is personal; my canon warden is a female Tabris, Rosalie, and Duncan really gets to me.

Rose's already being made to marry a man she's never met, some human nobles made their first attempt to crash the wedding, and now here’s this other human waltzing in. Duncan is such a little shit here, too. When you try asking him to leave, he actively tries to push your buttons just to see what you’ll do. But that’s nothing. When Rose and the other women are taken by Vaughan and his buddies, Soris and Nelaros go to Duncan who pulls his bullshit “wardens can’t get involved, they must remain neutral, best I can do is give you a sword and crossbow, good luck.”

Duncan KNOWS what will happen to those women but nope, can’t get involved. Wardens must remain neutral, can’t upset the nobles. I firmly believe that if Duncan had gone with them, Nelaros wouldn’t have been killed and maybe they could’ve made it to Shianni in time, and that infuriates me.

And yeah, in the end it’s Duncan who saves Rose from the guard, but you expect me to be okay with going with him? Alone? After everything that just happened?

It almost feels like Duncan was more interested in testing you, to see if you COULD get out of that situation or what you’d do when the guard showed up. That gives me a lot of complicated feelings about Duncan, and the way the Grey Wardens do things in general. Because let me tell you, Rose hurls that “Wardens must not involve themselves, they must remain neutral” out the fucking window, even post DAO after the blight is over and things return to “normal” for the wardens.  

Side note, I like to think that the wardens out at Weisshaupt or wherever contact Alistair at some point like "What the hell is Warden-Commander Tabris doing over there??? She's breaking every rule we have??" and Alistair's just shrugs like "My wife killed an archdemon to end the Blight and survived, she gets to do whatever she wants forever and honestly, I love that for her."

But anyway-- I get it, Duncan. The Grey Wardens were booted outta Fereldan once before and we don't want a repeat of that. Sure. Fine. Makes sense...but also Rose doesn't give a shit about that? She may come to understand it eventually but that doesn't mean she accepts or forgives it, or would ever be willing to adapt the same attitude.

And I'm not even going to get into everything with the Joining and Ser Jory, because oh my god.

Everything Duncan does influences Rose's views on the Grey Wardens and their duty, like if there was ever anything she and Alistair have straight up argued about, it's Duncan and the concept of "being a warden is an honor."

And I think that's neat. Duncan's a consistency in every origin and even though he dies so early on, his influence remains with the warden no matter who they are.

[choccy-zefirka]

We previously had a whole Discourse Session about x reader fic on this blog, but I just saw this in visual form on my dashboard (Blorbo hugging/kissing a greyed-out silhouette instead of the artist's OC), and I am back to thinking how being expected to insert my OC into the author-prepared slot is not my thing (and makes me a bit sad, actually) because... all my OCs fall for their love interest, even if it's the same person, for different reasons.

Isk and Wyll are childhood friends who keep being torn apart by circumstances but inevitably find each other. Mariposa and Wyll are gender-swapped Beauty and the Beast; he is the radiant guiding light that inspires her to rise above her Dark Urge. Wilhelm is a classic sad dad, so his partners Wyll and Karlach help him find joy and whimsy in life again. Or, for example, Alyrr stirs Halsin's heart because she is kind to him, while Cinder falls for Halsin because he is kind to *her*; same goes for Niamh and Zevlor vs Dee and Zevlor.

Likewise, in other fandoms, Azelma Cadash and Blackwall initially despise each other because she thinks he's a boring straight-laced fuddy duddy, and he thinks she's a spoiled princess luxuriating in her father's crime spoils and wearing a Stop Being Poor T-shirt, but as their friendship progresses, each discovers that the other is a more nuanced person than their first impressions might suggest. While Naali Adaar teams up with him as Protector of the Small, and Adiba Adaar turns his head with her incredible Nerd Powers (Nana Lavellan is somewhere at the intersection of that, because she is both a nerd and a professional babysitter in her clan). Thraer Aeducan bonds with Morrigan like a golden retriever excitedly following her around; and Revas Mahariel sits across the room from her like they are a cat and she is also a cat, slowly getting accustomed to each other. Nella Amell gets to Zevran with her sweetness and faith in people, and Zevran gets to Brianna Cousland with his roguish charms, even as she appears to have hidden herself behind a wall of ice and grief.

Alisa Shepard is a neurotic perfectionist, Natalie Shepard is an enthusiastic, confident space adventurer; Garrus loves each of them. And in my newest obsession, Cyberpunk, my current rough and tough but secretly artistic street kid V is going to employ different tactics when convincing Takemura to ditch Arasaka through the power of love (shhh, let me have my headcanon) compared to a hyper-stressed, disillusioned corpo V and a happy-go-lucky nomad V I also have planned. And so on and so on and so on.

Can all these different love stories truly be expressed through x reader fics? Even if x reader is mostly focused on smut, I am not sure how much maneuvering you can do while leaving it generic. Again, going back to my own OCs, Arryn Lavellan, a hot-headed 20-something Dalish First, is a virgin who pretends to be sexually experienced to win Respect Points, and then learns the lesson that he did not have to do that; while Elgara Lavellan, a Circle mage and ex-Tranquil, is also a virgin due to her life circumstances, and her lesson is that there's no shame in having a "first time" after 40. Cinder the Tav is a half-Orc, half-Tiefling, used to being fetishized by intimate partners because of her appearance, so she gets her mind blown when Halsin worships her body as a great gift of nature. Laulu the Tav is a half-Orc, half-Halfling, a humble farm girl with dreams of someone who will love her for her, not her glamorous elf bard persona (courtesy of Disguise Self), so she gets *her* mind blown when Gale takes her, the real her, on a journey through the stars. But Amaya, a full Halfling this time, is a vengeful paladin who used to be married to an evil wizard that entrapped her in illusions of love and bliss in order to manipulate her to do his bidding, so she opts for the humble tryst in the woods, blowing *Gale's* mind this time as he realizes that he can be wanted for more than his magic. So for all of them, even smut will flow differently.

Some anons I got argued that inserting your OC into a love story focused on a canon character is too self-centered; you have to give other people a chance to imagine *their* OCs in this blank spot! And I guess it works for some people (a lot of people, in fact), but I would rather write stories and make art about specific OCs and read stories and admire art with *your* specific OCs and all the endless ways they can kiss that Blorbo.

[camelliagwerm]

okay so i realised the last ask game i reblogged would be perfectly suited to a poll :) and i think polls are fun :) Speculative routes under the cut so some of the lesser talked about OCs get a chance vs. say, the popular ones.

(Note: I did not include everyone as I figured some of these would overlap significantly, and each one would need something a bit unique about them. Sorry Byron)

Leonelle (she/her, human, lesbian, 25) — to win the pretty, petty (and a little bit pathetic) Chelish Diva's heart, you must understand she has a lot of baggage from being raised in a strict household with a Cardinal of Asmodeus for a father. She is angry, a bit immature, a bundle of nerves, but she is also vivacious, charming, and eager to explore thanks to her newfound freedom. She is also very opinionated when it comes to matters of the arts, particularly as a Chelish trained bard. Expect events at the opera but also... patricide :)

Valerius (he/him, dhampir, bisexual, 57) — a tyrant, a scion to a family fallen on hard times, a silver tongued prince. Valerius has been called many things, but the most accurate of them all is to call him a beautiful, honourable parasite. He keeps to his word, even if he may twist it to suit his agenda. He worships a goddess of gluttony and undeath, and understanding this is key to thawing his icy heart. Decadent dinners, blood rituals, cannibalism, obssession. A quintessential gothic romance awaits.

Magni (they/he, dwarf, polyamorous & queer, 27) — once, Magni was the favoured Prince of King Endrin Aeducan, and then it all went to hell. After being found guilty of fratricide (he did do it), they have become a Grey Warden on the surface. Ruthless, pragmatic and a political aspirant, Magni is open to a relationship of any kind - open or closed.

Arthur (he/him, human, biromantic asexual (sex favourable), 50) — dilf enjoyers, this is potentially one for you. Calm and compassionate, but grieving, Arthur's heart is mending after the loss of his previous partner and he might be ready for love again. He keeps his noble upbringing well but doesn't put on airs, instead using his position to try levy a better life for those suffering. Rank does not matter if one is in his care. Also comes with a beagle called Chutney.

Leto (he/him, human, pan & demiace, 23) — a young Navy Officer from the Navis Imperialis, Leto has never had much interest in people, preferring his star charts and travel journals instead. But with the right person, he might feel the stirring of something, and more inclined to go by the old courting manuals than think of something outside of the box.

Veszeth (they/them, drow bhaalspawn, aro lesbian, 62) — to court the Dark Urge is to court death. After all, Veszeth means bloody obssession. Flesh taker. They will keep you at arm's length, fighting against their nature just to love you. But that love is a twisted thing, warped by their perception of what love is by their quasi-divine father. Unless you manage to give them the courage to fight back against their destiny before it is too late, then this will be a tragedy. Thee Toxic Yuri Route™️

Luminița (she/her, changeling, demisexual lesbian, 26) — as a cleric of Pharasma who has spent her life being raised, tutored and working in Lepidstadt's graveyards, Lumi is a light and a balm to those who grieve for their departed loved ones. Patient, kind, and with a strong moral character. She will heal those who surrender to her, but allow no quarter against the enemies of her goddess and can have as much of a biting tongue as those who might test her patience. Expect tension if you were in any form sympathetic to the undead, but that makes the relationship all the juicier. Just don't worry too much about her hag mother coming to Call.

[lesbian-diana-cavendish]

Absolutely love this picrew so I had to make my wardens, hawke and Inquisitor! If you see this feel free to do it too!! (And maybe tag me, I'd love to see y'all's DA characters!!)

A bit about each of them:

Valda Aeducan x Leliana

Named after a former great queen of the aeducan house, Valda is a proud warrior with her mother's eyes and her father didn't even try to hide that she was his favorite, causing both brothers to resent her...(Also, all dwarves can grow beards! Most women in orzammar just chose not to... probably due to a human lover of a paragon at one point who accidentally made it a fad in her time lol...When she gets to the surface Valda starts to occasionally grow hers out)

Antoinette "Atton" Tabris x Morrigan

Atton is very butch and most non elves mistake her as a man, something she used to her advantage to survive the alliangae, she's a rogue with quick hands and a quicker wit. she has a lot of rage against nobles and she doesn't try to hide it (she and Valda exist in tandem and it takes *awhile* for them to get along)

Marian "Rain" Hawke x Isabela x Merrill

("Wow hawke, how come the Maker lets you have TWO GFS?!") To strangers she's a sarcastic ass who comes across as borderline lackadaisical, but her inner circle knows shes extremely driven and can be deadly serious when needed, had a twin brother who died at ogstagar to save carver so he in turn could save their family, it took her well over a year to even say his name again.

Pallegina Trevelyan x Sera (Trevelyan)

Youngest of seven, greatness was never really expected of Pallegina, who was always a bit quiet and socially awkward, she didn't take to politics as quick as her siblings, and was usually just ignored by her parents, but one of her older brothers trained her with the sword and shield and she proved to be a natural warrior, she was sent to the conclave as an expendable formality. Thanks to the support of her friends she's taken to being the inquisitor remarkably well... tho Josephine often has to work overtime to fix her many faux pas

[mightymizora]

Could you recommend a fic that is just beautiful prose? I love feeling immersed in the story as well as the beauty of language the author weaves. Also smut. Smut is a good bonus.

BG3, DA or PoE are fine, I'm not picky.

God, CAN I.

So the main issue is I'm probably going to want to recommend writers, not individual fics on the whole. Choosing a fic per writer is torture but I will try my best.

Starting off strong with @senseandaccountability AKA Lilith Morgana. You could do literally any of them (the current Astarion fic Blaze me a Sun is stunning, and the iconic one is the Blackwall/Trev fic there are names for what binds us) but I'm going to plump for so I wait for you like a lonely house which is Aeducan/Gorim and is just sublime.

NeverwinterThistle writes incredible Gortash/default Dark Urge Stuff. Ten Silver Pieces is incredibly written but very, very gory too so have a care. The prose is quite something though. The others are slightly less gory, but no less intense.

Noseforahtwo writes beautiful work. Out of the Woods is Blackwall/Trevelyan and has gorgeous smut and wonderful dialogue.

@popiellart AKA martyrologics again is somebody I could recommend everything of, and people are going to assume I will go for The Hunt (which I could) but I'm going to plump for The Dark Urge/Lae'zel fic the dark urge sleeps alone because it's beautiful, and romantic, and deserves more readers.

Again, @smoreofbabylon AKA Vashnoi has a gorgeous sensitivity across her work, but I'm very fond of More than Bodies

All of @gribbo/@jiubilant but I love this little Barcus Wroot centric piece

the one who bleeds by @des-no9 is beautiful

voyeur by @rowanisawriter is an exceptionally strong outing from a fab writer

And I'm going to sneakily rep one of my own pillars fics, Calm Seas.

[tenojan-in-tevinter]

Playing origins and I made it to the fade and tbh I wish they made an extra dream section for each of the origins at the beginning. I know that the fade is already SO long but I think even just a small little scene would add a lot.

Just 'cause, the companions get these dreams that are so personal to them that they can't break free without your help, and all you get is a conversation with a guy your character knew for all of... two days maybe (nothing against Duncan I love him I just don't think he'd be the emotional anchor for all the origins). Like idk it just makes it seem like Sloth just didn't try at all with the warden but then nailed it with the others? I get his whole thing is being lazy but if he's lazy with the warden he would be lazy with other people too right? Selective laziness...

Like I want my Cousland to be lured in to stay forever with their brother or their parents. I want Mahariel to see Tamlen again and never want to leave the fade. I want Aeducan to be caught in an eternal battle with Bhelen they can never really win. I want Sloth to try and convince my mage that they're in the circle tower, and not in the fade, and nothing is wrong.

I know they were also limited on what they could do and weren't even sure if anyone would like dragon age all that much when they made it but I think it has serious story potential. Anyway thanks for reading my little essay I just have so many ideas.

[dragonologist-phd]

15 Lines of Dialogue

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the OC. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you're free to include those as well!

tagged by @ammoniteflesh! thank you!!

I chose Marja Aeducan this time around, since she gets some pretty good lines through Of Diamonds And Dust!

"I merely mean to express my surprise that an untrained alley fighter would cause so much trouble for the Proving participants. It would seem that either this Casteless is worthy of the Warrior title, or our actual Warriors are not."

"Fine. Don't consider the fact that it's the right thing to do- consider the fact that if the Blight wipes out Ferelden, you'll be wiped out with it. Don't you understand? There's nowhere you can hide from this."

"You mock me, but you do not understand that title. Since I was born, I have been trained in the arts of war and negotiations. I have faced off against politicians twice my age. I have led soldiers into battle. And I have survived against the darkspawn, even when left alone and defenseless in the Deep Roads. I do not fear the Blight. I plan to stop it. And I plan to use every resource to do. Right now, unfortunately, that includes you."

"You don't have to be happy, and you don't have to trust me. Just do your job."

"In Orzammar, when a loved one dies, we return them to the Stone. Their spirits enter the thaig and become part of our foundation. Our strength. I know these customs are different than yours, but I believe the principle still applies. His spirit is still with you, and it makes you stronger."

"I cannot change the hard times you have faced in your past. But you are not the only one who has known injustice."

"I know it's not simple, and I know it's not enough. But we have to start somewhere."

"It will work. Just leave the talking to me."

"I never scheme. It's called strategizing."

"These are the choices we have to make. We're Grey Wardens, remember? The last in Ferelden. And that means we have to make some difficult decisions."

"It wasn't fair. But none of this is fair, Alistair. To any of us."

"I ask again, Knight-Commander, was I misinformed of your order's purpose? Or are you merely strikingly incompetent?"

"This is not pretend, this is my life! And I will not lose it again!"

"No offense, Brosca, but that might be the saddest thing I've ever heard."

"I do not lie. Occasionally, I decide how much of the truth a person should know, and when they should know it. But I don't lie."

And I'm realizing now that she has a lot of long quotes, too. Definitely one of my more verbose OC's!

I tagged a bunch of people for this fairly recently, so i'll leave this as an open tag for anyone who wants to do it (or do it again!)

[vigilskeep]

out curiosity are their any pc backgrounds/hawke personalities/love interest match ups that just don't work for you? i tried to romance leliana as surana and it just...didn't click because my elf had been hurt by andrastianism far too much and that's a huge part of leliana's character. i tried purple hawke/merrill and there's a cultural divide linguistically which results in her not getting a lot of his jokes while hawke's purple responses seem more condescending to her than blue and red are

i think there’s something cool you can do with every single dao origin and romance pairing and i did a whole ask game on that basis! but there are a few i wouldn’t personally play, like i think everything that can possibly be said abt ali/cousland has been said and i’ve never come up with a tabris to suit ali, tabris or surana with leliana doesn’t do much for me, i’ve never really felt like doing an aeducan or mahariel with zev, i’ve never had a mahariel concept i feel like would work with morrigan, etc. etc. and those are all GOOD pairings and i see good content of them and i can totally see their potential, and some other people’s ocs who are in those pairings are beloved favourites of mine, it’s just not smth i’m personally drawn to doing myself

in da2... again i don’t think there are any “bad” ones it’s all a matter of taste. because the options are so limited its easier for me to come up with the one specific hawke variant i like for each romance than cross off everything i don’t. personally i prefer mage hawke for isabela and merrill and non-mage hawke for anders and fenris... as for the hawke personalities i think it depends how u play it. generally i prefer purple dialogue in the isabela and fenris romances because they respond well to that lightness and blue/red dialogue in the anders and merrill romances because they’re so rarely taken so seriously. but that doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t be purple in general, and i really do think there’s something fun in all hawke variants with each romance. i keep trying to think of one i absolutely wouldn’t do and then i’m like... wait... there’s something in this...

i do think there’s something kind of charming abt purple hawke/merrill specifically because purple hawke can’t rely on their usual joking front to win her over like everyone else. also in a relationship, purple hawke painstakingly explaining every joke to her to everyone else’s irritation and her a) laughing when she finally gets it or b) going “OH! but isn’t it supposed to be funny?”

[thedastrash]

OC Tag Game!

Ooo thanks for tagging me @kittynomsdeplume & @cleverblackcat!! This took a while to get to but it was very fun!

Favorite OC: Evil question to start. I can't possibly choose unless I set some limits for myself so I'm going to cheat and say my most popular OC. I have the most art of her by no fault of my own. Velaneth Surana is my canon HoF and Warden Commander. Vela is a very open person: never lies, has no body shame, and loves to learn about other people and where they’ve come from. She walks into every hostile situation with her best foot forward trying to make friends and allies.

Newest OC: I’m slowly congealing my ideas about Orlagh Trevelyan because I’ve been imagining what the different cultures of the Freemarches look like - especially on the coast where trade is frequent. She’s from Ostwick of course and trained as a Templar as a youth but spent summers at a monastery with her aunt in Wycome which I imagine a bit like Morocco. I’ve been staring at my Pinterest boards imagining her lonely days growing up and what it means for her to leave her walls behind and be thrust into this new organization with all these people and their differing ideals. I'm particularly interested in exploring her being a templar but having some latent magic that has been tied up in her templar abilities so long she didn't realize it was ever there.

Oldest OC: In DA my oldest OC is Topaz Brosca from my original run of origins. The one where my save got deleted right before the Landsmeet lol rip. I've recently revisited her and I'm falling in love with her again. She's a hot trans girl and stabby rogue and she falls in love with the surface world immediately. My oldest OC ever though... might be a self insert hobbit character I made for myself as a child before I knew what fandom or fanfiction was lol! I think her name was Charlie? my memory is BAD but I know that's a name I loved as a kid.

Meanest OC: Szadrine Aeducan is my final origin from DAO to get an OC and I'm slowly growing deeply obsessed. She’s involved in (literal) cutthroat Orzammar politics and ends up skipping the warden bit after the whole betrayal and exile thing. She simply deserts at Ostagar. I think she should end up kicking ass in Orlais because she would be so good at the Game.

Softest OC: Bearnard Cousland is a soft, sweet, bookish baby-gay who would rather bury himself in his research in a library than seek glory or fight battles or do politics. Bearn is the second son so he’s gotten away with avoiding some of that but of course he has to attend his lessons and participate in the tourneys. His scholarly work lends him some political savvy since he’s intimately familiar with Ferelden’s history, but he’s most interested in lost texts and translating ancient works. He never had good gay role models growing up and thinks of himself as homely and forgettable, so he never felt like that was an option for him, but Maker does he ever pine lol!

Most Aloof/Standoffish OC: Gotta be Irene Amell. She's a real bitch with resting murder face. Incredibly unapproachable, intimidating Domme energy. Tends to default dislike people and keep to herself, prefering to slink around and eavesdrop than talk to people for info. She’s very protective and loving toward her close friends and lovers, but it’s hard to get close in the first place.

Dumbest OC: Myrna Hawke is a smart woman, she's an accomplished mage, enjoys reading, quick witted, but she has zero self-awareness and has a very hard time even understanding how she feels, much less how other people feel about her. She’s absolutely clueless and fully blindsided by anyone’s interest & gets tongue tied and stupid when she’s horny. She’s also very impulsive and acts before she thinks things through which leads to getting into a lot of dumb shit.

Smartest OC: There are excellent contenders here: Bearn with his book smarts and Topaz with her street smarts, but I want to say Ithadhea Mahariel because even though they are incredibly dense when it comes to interpersonal relations, their wealth of traditional knowledge from their clan is incredible. They are not really a people person, usually quiet and solitary, but they took to hunting like they were born for it and eagerly learned everything in the realm of woodcraft and survival. They know all their clan's stories by heart and and know resources by seasons in a way that is part of their internal clock. I think this kind of generational knowledge probably outstrips the scope of any of my other OC's knowledge.

OC I’d Be Friends With: Edric Cadash is so laid back and friendly I think he’d be one of the easiest to make friends with. I want to have tea and gossip with him and have that turn into late night drinking and telling stories by the fire. Vela would be an instant friend as well; she wants to befriend everyone and she'd have an easy time with me!

no pressure tagging some of my DA OC enjoying friends: @sinquisition, @highwayphantoms, @lets-get-brave, @sandalinbohemia, @dismalzelenka and anyone else who wants to share! Feel free to @ me so I can see your post! <3

[howyouducan]

I love that I get to have my Rook be a selfish treasure hunter before he's the hero. It harkens back to my DA:O Warden. Audrun Aeducan was the daughter of the king of dwarves before she was tasked with uniting Ferelden, and that stark contrast gave weight to the rest of the game.

Like, we started off with cool armor and lightning daggers, and doing&saying whatever we wanted with no consequences; and then bam, your brother is dead, you're banished, it's either be a warden or die in the deep roads. And then disaster strikes again and you're the last warden in Ferelden? Perfect, time to learn some life lessons!

[queenaeducan]

Questions for Thora: 4- attitude towards Andrastianism? 18- do they have any irrational fears?

Questions for your Hawke: 6- attitude towards the Qun? 16- do they get sentimental about their weapons or armour?

Questions for your Warden: 13- their thoughts on the Grey Warden order? 23- do they have, or want to have, children? 23-a: if they want to have children, what do you do with the obscure lore that wardens have impaired fertility? (obviously "I ignore it as the Maker intended" is a valid response according to me)

DA Worldstate Questions!

Thora Cadash

4. attitude towards Andrastianism?

Thora is Andrastian- or rather, she believes in both the Stone and the Maker. This is based on some lore that I believe is from Orzammar discussing how the two don't contradict each other (so really Cass should be asking Cadash if there's not room for the Maker in their lives rather than Lavellan).

Her attitude towards Andrastianism is different from her attitude towards the Chantry. She believes in and finds strength in Andraste and her story, perhaps in many ways more than in the Maker. The Chant gives her strength and she loves to sing it. When it comes to the Chantry, she has always felt excluded from it. She might have joined it had she been allowed (and in her companion verses if Leliana is Divine she may serve her), but over time she comes to be more critical of it. Kirkwall taught her to question the Circle, and Inquisition drives those questions to the root of the problem. She does want to believe it can change and supports Leliana in pursuit of that change.

18. do they have any irrational fears?

Not really. She's afraid of deep water and dogs. In the Nightmare she doesn't see spiders, but her companions as they appeared in the Red Lyrium future. All of those fears have some pretty solid basis. Her biggest thing that impacts her day-to-day is that blood/corpses make her ill despite death being part of her job, but again I can't really call that irrational, just unusual for adventuring fantasy protagonists.

Sylvia Hawke

6. attitude towards the Qun?

Definitely not for her. She is more or less the Arishok's foil, undisciplined and chaotic to his control and order.

Her attitude to it at large is less negative than you might expect, in part due to the grudging respect she comes to hold for the Arishok. She also can't say she's a fan of the natural conclusion of its enforcement, which is to say: the conquering of the south. While she had sympathy for the situation of the qunari, after she discovers why they really stuck around so long she found them a little pitiable. She'd fled her home because of the Blight, they were in exile over a book.

16. do they get sentimental about their weapons or armour?

Not at all. She likes to add little touches that she carries from one piece to the next, but isn't attached to any kind. Ironically, in her playthrough I do end up having the same robes through most of act 2 and 3 (robes of the notorious pirate) because there are only a handful of pants for mages in DA2 and Sylvia just isn't a dressy robe person. So she isn't sentimental, but she is picky.

Tamar Aeducan

(Tamar isn't my OC, but my spouse's, but she is my worldstate Warden and the one I'm carrying to DA4).

13. their thoughts on the Grey Warden order?

Tamar is realistic about it. She takes her duties seriously, but finds a lot about the Order to criticise. She had a poor relationship with Clarel when they were both still alive, and is more likely to grant Solas his due in his criticisms than Ian, who holds the Order up on a pedestal. Tamar also is willing to play a little loose with the rules- for example, during Ian's recruitment in DA:O she "recruits" him with no intention of having him Join, letting him go back to his clan after the Archdemon's defeat.

23. do they have, or want to have, children?

She doesn't have any. Tamar has issues conceiving even in verses where she isn't a Warden, like our Modern Thedas verse. She does want them, as does Gorim, but there isn't room for one in her life as Warden-Commander. In Modern Thedas they do adopt, though!