#casteless dwarf

[lavared]

⚔️ BRÆNRYN BROSCA ⚔️

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Race: Commoner Dwarf, Casteless

Class: Rogue (Dual Weapon)

Specialization: Duelist

Affiliations: the Carta, Grey Wardens, Orzammar Royal Family, Ferelden Royal Court

Titles: Brænryn the Duster, The Warden, Hero of Ferelden, Paragon Brænryn

Personality: Wary, Brusque, Quick-Witted, Protective, Non-judgemental

Memorable Quotes: “Can I get you a ladder, so you can get off my back?!”

(Details under the cut)

⚔️ ⚔️⚔️

Three styles, three different life stages. 

First one: The Warrior Traveller’s ‘Fit 

Key Words: practical, medium weight, no-fuss, dark tones 

This is what I imagine Brosca looking like after the Joining ritual and for a good part of the game. The beginning of her journey is all slashing, crippling, and traveling on foot, so I needed to get her a look that is functional (allegedly) and with no frills. I needed to make a mishmash of in-game armor parts to get something I could picture her wearing for real. 

It could have been worse, 3/5 stars.

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Second one: The Fereldian Court Jester 

Key Words: cheap elegance, military influences, brighter colors, poofy

The special occasions look. You can see her wearing this on a diplomatic encounter with the Arl or during a war council with her allies on a cold winter day in Ferelden. I needed to elevate a basic tunic + pants + boots combo by adding more details and faking a more refined fabric for the blouse. I wanted to play on the contrast between modest and expensive, but it was my greatest goal to make her look a bit on the gaudy and tacky side. Being classy is not her forte. 

2/5 stars, but bonus points for trying to look the part. A generous 3/5 stars score.

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Third one: The Seasoned Veteran 

Key Words: subtle patterns, better fit, souvenirs, mismatched armor

She’s a grown-up now. She’s a Commander, she’s a Paragon, she’s an Icon, she’s a Legend, she’s the Moment (not really, but still). Instead of letting her go full-blown diva, I let her crawl back to her roots. The tunic + pants + boots combo is her uniform, and you won’t catch her wearing anything else, but this time you can find new and old elements added to it. I picture her collecting and looting trinkets, materials, fabrics, and pieces of armor around Thedas, and combining them with what she already owns. She doesn’t fight that much at this point compared to her Blight days, so she skips on the medium armor. 

It’s nice, it’s cute, but it could have been better. 3/5 stars.

⚔️ ⚔️⚔️

I wrote a post narrating in detail why I chose to dress her like this, but it’s so long it’s basically an essay. I’m not bothering you with that, you have a life to care about lol All you need to know is that I needed to recreate the Grey Warden Armour/Uniform color scheme to be consistent with the lore and display her unhealthy obsession for the color blue

[abearbutch]

thinking about casteless dwarf warden like. you’re told your whole life that your existence is so meaningless that you won’t even be recorded in the memories. you and your ancestors are unworthy of being remembered. and then you become the commander of the grey. the hero of ferelden.

also i love thinking about what their relationship to dwarven culture must be like. again, treated like shit on their shoe but then once you kill the archdemon you get invited back to Orzammar and made paragon. they don’t change the way they treat casteless in general, but they suddenly want to claim a relationship with you once you make something of your life.

you couldn’t go home once you left. and even after you’re invited back you can’t go home to the place that abused you and branded your face. just. dwarf warden….

[postnuclearwar]

Dragon Age!Dungeon Meshi au where Marcille is just a straight up blood mage

[biancadavri]

i love how the letter cadash can get from a dwarf HoF in inquisition only takes in consideration that both characters are dwarves and not if they have a similar background because then from brosca, the castless, the closing bit about knowing what's like to be looked down on but to keep fighting no matter what etc etc feels very genuine but from aeducan, the fucking (favorite!) child of the late King of Orzammar, those same exact words kind of read like

[inquisitoradaar]

figured smth out but it crashed just as maryn got recruited </3 here she is after destroying her competition in the proving tho

[blog-of-frontiers]

There was some dwarf in Orzammar whose job it was to tattoo (possibly brand??? Like with a hot poker???) all the casteless babies. What fucking caste were they in. Hey, it's a living

[bhaalspawnshitposting]

Every casteless dwarf deserves a Zevran its a hill ill die on ill kill on ill stop a blight on

[crossdressingdeath]

Things that do not get discussed enough: you can spare Loghain, marry off Alistair and Anora, and still become chancellor. Imagine how incredibly awkward that would be for just. everyone involved. I feel like that's a decision that should've gotten a "Hey uh Your Majesty are you sure that's a good idea" when Anora says it, just because... the king currently hates your guts? Maybe playing advisor to the crown isn't the best place for you? And yet.

[hungrydovahkiin]

“Get out of here, duster!”

She’s casteless, they say she doesn’t exist, not she, no Her sister, no Her best friend, not hers mother…only because they say she deserves no more.

But she fight, she cry, she laughs, she bleeds… she is alive.

And no mark in her face will change her mind.

I've been wanting to draw her for a long time!!

my first casteless dwarf gray warden. Natia Brosca, a sword and shield warrior, with a strong character and a bit of a bad temper, always getting a few laughs of her party with her horrible sense of location, taking care of each of her companions in the good, and the bad ones. With a duty she founds a porpuse , felling proud of her order she fighting for the family she found on her journey, knowing in her heart , she was born to be a Gray Warden.

I apologize for the mistake of writing in the draw, I was exhausted at the time.

[ladyofsnark]

I want to make it clear that I like Dragon Age Inquisition. That’s literally not the issue.

But I’ve had this long standing, unnamed problem with the Inquisitor themselves and I think I know why.

Because they’re a literal blank slate.

In Origins and in DA2, we start off in the middle of a very personal story. The Warden is a Casteless dwarf that becomes Champion, they’re an elf who has to escape her captors and fight her way to her friends, they’re a noble’s child who watches their whole life burn down in the course of a few hours.

And we can tell the King to his face “I murdered my cousin’s rapist” “my parents are dead”. We get an outside element who reacts to us and even shares our grief.

There’s an immediate, emotional reason to CARE about them because it starts off as THEIR story and then they become the person that the whole world’s fate is hinging on. But they start as a person and we make them a legend.

With Hawke, about 90% of the game is how these people’s interpersonal lives affect things and how they affect the world and the world-ending stuff doesn’t happen until the very end as a culmination. You start as a penniless refugee outrunning the apocalypse and your first immediate concern is the fact that the only person who’s going to save you from that is YOU.

The Inquisitor wakes up in the Fade and is immediately made the Herald of Andraste. We get literally two? lines of dialogue that even vaguely let us react to the absolute insanity happening around us. But becoming the Herald literally consumes everything. And that’d be a really awesome story if we knew who the Inquisitor was before? But we get two vague lines about our background on the origin selection page, a smack on the tush, and we’re off to save the world.

We don’t get that same kind of emotional foothold with the Inquisitor that we do with our Warden and our Hawke. Your inquisitor doesn’t HAVE a story in game.

And the biggest place where this is noticeable is with Clan Lavellan.

Whether your clan is destroyed or saved, nothing changes. You don’t get a dialogue to acknowledge your grief or your relief, you don’t get anything from your companions, you don’t even really have any involvement in it besides moving some chess pieces around. It just happens in text and then absolutely nothing.

That’s it. Something that should fundamentally destroy your character just happens and the only person who reacts to it at all is the player and the Inquisitor is just our little hand puppet and THAT is the disconnect. 

[lavared]

⚔️ BRÆNRYN the DUSTER ⚔️

-”From dust she came as a Nobody, and to dust she shall return as a Hero”-

•

The lines sucked by themselves, so I tried to embellish the sketch a little

[fishklok]

In an effort to combine both of my interests, I decided to expand on my Dragon Age!Metalocalypse AU in the style of Dragon Age: Absolution. I'll do more detailed designs later, I just wanted to get the basic concepts down

The general concept of this AU is that 5 musicians discover that weird magic shit happens whenever they perform together, due to demons or old gods or something like that. They're being watched over by a mage who's trying to study this anomaly and the Prophecy behind it. Also Crozier (not pictured) is a former Templar commander who's being mind-corrupted by Salacia (not pictured), the reincarnated visage of an old god.

Nathan: Qunari warrior (reaver). Nathan was raised by his adoptive human parents who love him very much (they're still alive; his backstory is very wholesome). However, Nathan started to manifest these weird magic-like abilities that could only be activated by screaming. Over time, he learned to finesse these abilities and now he can use them for cool pyrotechnics and stuff when he performs. Death metal exists in Thedas now.

Pickles: Dwarf rogue (tempest). Pickles was born to a very traditional merchant caste family in Orzammar, specifically a region in Orzammar where everyone has Midwestern accents. After being fed up with always getting compared to his twin brother, Seth, and not being able to live up to his ancestors and family expectations, he left for the surface. He expected to spend the rest of his life drinking his sorrows away, but then he met Nathan and they started a band.

William: Dwarf rogue (legionnarie scout). William is a casteless dwarf who was infamous for his abrasive personality. This ended up getting him into trouble when he was overheard badmouthing a particularly sensitive noble, and he was banished to the Deep Roads as a punishment. However, he actually enjoyed his time in the Deep Roads and felt a lot of pride dedicating his life to fighting the Darkspawn. His new purpose in life became wanting to join the Legion of the Dead. He manages to escape the Deep Roads sometime after the Blight, but he's still very proud of his legionnarie duties. He's a very good bassist because spending so much time in caves has given him a better understanding and appreciations for deeper sounds and vibrations.

Skwisgaar: Elf rogue (bard). Skwisgaar was well known in his Dalish camp for being the best musician in his clan. But over time, the novelty of that started to wear off and Skwisgaar wanted to be the best musician in other larger communities. He left home in search of a way to truly hone his potential as a musician. Also since he has a wolf motif in the show, there's probably some kind of Dread Wolf connection somewhere, I'll wait for the DA lore to update.

Toki: Elf mage (blood mage). Toki was born to an isolated village that was definitely ruled by a cult (think DA:O Haven). He spent his childhood being plagued by nightmares that eventually manifested in him accidentally summoning a demon that killed everyone in his village. But that didn't stop Toki from befriending the demon. Now Toki is just wandering around Thedas, developing an increasingly large arsenal of demon friends and being uncomfortably chipper despite his horrific abilities.

Charles: Human mage (knight-enchanter who is blood magic curious). Charles is a Circle Mage whose noble background has made his time in the Circle a bit smoother than most. After the Circles fell, he became the magical advisor to a few nobles, but he always felt intellectually unfulfilled. He decided to give up assisting nobles and instead chose to monitor this weird group of musicians, not knowing the kind of power he just tapped into. Also he's been secretly studying blood magic and necromancy.

Knubbler: Elf mage (rift). Knubbler is one of the mages Charles brought on to help him with his efforts. His time studying rifts left him blinded and a bit corrupted in the head, but his knowledge of magic is almost unmatched. Charles is the only person in Thedas still willing to work with him.

Abigail: Human mage (force). Abigail spent most of her life trying to be a perfect, by the books Circle Mage. But then the Circles fell and Abigail realized that none of this shit matters, so she might as well have fun. She joined Charles' team where Knubbler works as her assistant.

Melmord: Human mage (knight-enchanter). Melmord is a mage who fronts as a rogue. He was caught trying to steal Charles' research and Charles thought he could easily defeat him with magic, but oh no Melmord is a mage too. They have a homoerotic magical swordfight before Melmord falls off the tower. No one hired Melmord for this job. He just showed up and started causing problems.

Seth: Dwarf guy. Seth is Pickles' twin brother who did everything a merchant caste son in Orzammar is supposed to do. He married a merchant caste woman and had a kid, he honors the ancestors, he brings in coin, etc. However, Seth tends to get in trouble with the law quite a bit, specifically gambling, working with smugglers, fixing Proving matches, etc. But he's always able to pay off his crimes, so no one seems to care.

Amber: Dwarf lady. Amber is Seth's wife and another merchant caste dwarf. She has a pretty spotless record and tends to go unnoticed. I thought about making her secretly a former Silent Sister to explain why she never speaks, but I think even Seth would notice if she literally didn't have a tongue.

Magnus: Human mage (necromancer). Magnus was born in Seheron, but he moved to Tevinter in the hopes of expanding his knowledge of magic (and probably changed his name too to fit in). Unfortunately, even Tevinter thought he was too dramatic to put up with, so he was cast out of every group he joined. After getting fed up of his cool ideas not taken seriously, he joined forces with an escaped Qunari Saarebas, who is definitely going to listen to his ideas instead.

The Saarebas: Qunari mage (saarebas). The Saarebas is Qunari mage who escaped from his Aravaarad and went on a rampage across Tevinter to try and find his long-lost brother who was taken there. When he discovered that his brother was killed, he went on another rampage. He was able to escape Tevinter with Magnus' help and the two joined forces.

[vigilskeep]

is scaea from orzammar? if not why does she have the casteless brand id love to know

she is not! the cadashes have been topside for generations

in my head, it’s popular among a certain undercurrent of the surface carta, as a cultural reaction to those who would rather try to assimilate into human society. but also stemming from casteless culture in orzammar and the kind of tattooing that elaborates on the brand, which is canonically popular in dust town and sneered at as seeming like they’re proud to be casteless. basically it’s an attempt at saying, as a surface dwarf, that you’re not ashamed of what you are, and you’d rather be marked by your own people than anything topside even if what you’re marked as is worse than nothing. it’s definitely a counter-culture thing that gets characterised as the hallmark of reckless angry kids. and a reckless angry young scaea got hell from her family about it lmao. she had andrastian parents that hoped she would get out from the family business i think

i also suspect it was during carta infighting that someone took a knife to it, rather than simply by accident; somebody who would know what a marker of identity it can be and went for it. may have been even more personal than that, i havent decided yet. but shoutout to anders for saving the eye

[ultimatecryptid]

Possibly my favorite part of the dwarf commoner origin is that its the most triumphant from the bunch. For the first half of the origin youre playing gopher, its shown exactly how much the people in Orzammar look down on you, and how little mobility you have (Rica is more optimistic, but even she believes that its a long shot to change anything, even though she KNOWS her sibling is worth it! its the nobles who wont see). Youre under the Beraht's thumb, yes, but youre also under the city's shoe more generally. Half the people in Dust Town recognize you as Beraht's enforcer, half the dialogue in the Commons are people thinking you getting too close would get them "infected" or at least looked down upon—your very existance a taboo. And then you arrive at the Proving Grounds, Duncan greets you with blessings, something not afforded to the casteless, and then you walk into the tournament, beating everyone handily (and in one dialogue option rubbing this in their faces!)! And even when you are caught! when they try to get rid of you for stepping out of your place, you kill the man using you to his own ends! and and Rica is fine and safe and maybe happy! and Duncan is calling you couragous and saying a group that half of Orzammar admires would be blessed to have you! You WON!

And then you get to Ostagar, and you lose everything.

like. the epic highs and lows of highschool football have NOTHING on the commoner to ostagar route! maheriel and tabris and cousland and aeducan are playing bad things happen bingo! amell and surana are on the worlds worst graduation bender! but BROSCA! brosca my BELOVED. the bigger you are the harder you fall!

[transprincecaspian]

Fic Recommendations

Here are a list of the fanfictions that I have either read or are currently reading and think that should get more attention!

“Not Another Dragon Age Fanfic (The Lone Wolf Cries)” by dork_trash94 Kieran finds himself suddenly transported to Thedas, and vows to keep a close eye on the Dread Wolf to stop him from betraying them once again. As he finds out, a ‘close eye’ unfortunately means actually being close - and it doesn’t help that the game’s timeline is changing, either. Lots of pining, sprinkle of yearning, some funky Time-bending, and a frequently flustered Solas. (via @fen-harelapologist94 on tumblr)

They’ve also just released the first chapter of their newest fanfic!

“Tea Leaves and Sweet Dreams” by dork_trash94 Kieran was not prepared to meet Solas - the infamous and reclusive TA for Professor Flemeth’s Magic Theory and Application class - in person, in his tea shop. Much less the same academic program.

I am currently in the midst of reading this next fanfic but I positively adore the author’s use of language! Dwarves are not usually my favorite fantasy culture but I have so grown to love the Aeducan and Brosca storytelling here. It is the first part of a four part series so we are all in for a treat!

“Of Diamonds and Dust” by @dragonologist_phd Marja Aeducan and Darvis Brosca lead lives as different as one could possibly imagine. Marja Aeducan, a member of the nobility and second in line for the throne, has spent her life maneuvering the dangerous political machinations of the Diamond Quarter. Meanwhile, Darvis Brosca, a Casteless dwarf rejected by society, does whatever it takes to survive on the streets of Dust Town. When a Grey Warden arrives in Orzammar, the lives of Marja and Darvis are forever changed. Driven from the city by misfortune and betrayal, the two must join the ranks of the Wardens in order to save their own lives. But the surface has far greater dangers than they realize. The noble and the thief will need to stand together if they’re going to fight against the oncoming Blight, the brewing civil war, and the strange surface malady called “sunburn”. Also, the contemporary fic to read alongside it: “And So They Burned”

I have been reading “South” for over a year now and I need it to get widespread to a wider audience. His use of imagery and their idea of Tolkien’s world is so refreshing. They also have a lot of other LoTR fanfics that you should check out, too!

“South” by oxbridge The Grey Company rides south: Through Eregion, Dunland, and beyond.

Other fics that I’m currently reading and think should be shared!

“Dead Pasts and Dread Futures” by youworeblue The Inquisitor’s heart broke after the Exalted Council when her family of friends scattered to the winds. She was emptied of hope as Solas’s power and reach grew. Left with a dead past and dreading the future, Ixchel Lavellan lay down and chose not to wake up. As the Veil began to unravel, and the fabric of reality tore apart at the seams, a desperate ally sacrificed everything to give her a second chance. And Ixchel will never forgive him. (via @dreadfutures on tumblr)

“Keepers” by AkbalKiin A necromage in the plains causes a stir to the local folk. The Inquisition investigates and recruits an elf, a former Keeper, into their rank for his knowledge on Dalish archaeology and his stealth abilities. The Inquisition tests his skills as they close in on Red Templars as part of a plan to thwart Samson and Corypheus. (via @nightmarist on tumblr)

“Une Autre Histoire D'amour” (series) by fondofthehowes Exploring the relationship between Étienne Montmartre, an Orlesian warden better suited to be a bard, and Cassandra Pentaghast. For a woman that long pined for the concept of a man that would sweep her off her feet, she never anticipated that she would not only find it, but that he would be far more than that too.

“Would That I (O Unrepentant, Faithless, Treacherous)” by @thiefbird Saved from Alistair’s vengeance to presumably die to the Archdemon, Loghain Mac Tir is at a loss to find himself alive after the end of the Blight.

"The Lark and the Crow" by @dujour_13 Woljif had to admit, it was a pretty sweet deal. Why not follow through and see what an honest quid pro quo felt like? A couple of days ago he had been chained up, for lack of a proper jail cell, in the moldy basement of the Defender’s Heart tavern, furiously concocting dead-end escape plots. The worst thing about it was crouching in a dark corner on a hard, cold floor and gazing up the stairs where light, laughter, the scent of food, and sometimes even music drifted down, out of his reach. Perpetually out of his reach. Until, of course, this golden-headed half-elf had come down the stairs and made him a deal. (via @dujour13 on tumblr)

"none of us are going back." by @var_bellanaris "We are all going forward. None of us are going back." — Richard Siken, Snow and Dirty Rain The Hero of Ferelden and the Hero of River Dane on surviving past the end of your myth. (via @v-arbellanaris on tumblr)

[dragonologist-phd]

Jumping in on the trend started by @mightymizora and doing self-promo for some of my favorite stuff I’ve written/worked on this year!

Midnight Black and Paris Green (BG3)

Shadowheart isn't accustomed to placing her trust in other people. Neither is Naia. But these are interesting times, and stranger things have happened.

(Tav/Shadowheart, 15.3k, ongoing)

“The way you write Shadowheart makes me oddly happy. It just feels... right in every way. Her internal musings and conflict, the dialogue, the longing, the banter, the prescence of her Shar worship and how its affecting her and Naia's little affair all just fits together so nicely. You're doing her such justice and I'm so charmed by Naia!! She's so lovely. Just a silly and whimsical girlie trying her best.”

The Weight of Silver Linings (BG3)

Wyll’s pact is broken, his father saved. All should be right with the world…but of course, things are never so simple as that. After a tense reunion with his father, Wyll and Naia find themselves contemplating the day’s events as they discuss forgiveness, family, and the twisting path into the future.

(Tav & Wyll, 2.4k, one-shot)

“That's really beautiful, and I love the snapshot of Wyll and Naia's friendship and the contrast in their perspectives”

Her Tongue So Mean (PWOTR)

Lilith is busy. Wenduag is bored. A battle of wills ensues.

(Commander/Wenduag, 1.4k, one-shot, smut)

“Oh, this was SO GOOD! I love the way you write Wenduag, and the back-and-forth she and Lilith have is so captivating to read ❤️”

“Incredibly hot AND a good character read”

Love & War (PWOTR)

Galfrey was a queen, a paladin, an icon for all that was righteous and just in the Crusades. Cleo was a barbarian, a tiefling, a personification of demonic chaos. By all rights and logic, the two should have been at each other's throats- and often, they were.

But somehow, through war and struggle and sacrifice, they ended up finding more in each other than either ever expected.

(Commander/Galfrey, 27.8k, ongoing)

“I absolutely love your characterization of Galfrey – her awareness that she’s no fun, but also her awareness why. Her doubts and hopes about this new Knight-Commander and her reaction to her insubordination. That hand kiss was so charged…I am also in love with how you describe Cleo. She totally comes to life already in this first chapter.”

“DRAMA!!!”

Of Diamonds And Dust (DA:O)

Marja Aeducan and Darvis Brosca lead lives as different as one could possibly imagine. Marja Aeducan, a member of the nobility and second in line for the throne, has spent her life maneuvering the dangerous political machinations of the Diamond Quarter. Meanwhile, Darvis Brosca, a Casteless dwarf rejected by society, does whatever it takes to survive on the streets of Dust Town.

When a Grey Warden arrives in Orzammar, the lives of Marja and Darvis are forever changed. Driven from the city by misfortune and betrayal, the two must join the ranks of the Wardens in order to save their own lives. But the surface has far greater dangers than they realize. The noble and the thief will need to stand together if they're going to fight against the oncoming Blight, the brewing civil war, and the strange surface malady called "sunburn".

(205k, longfic, ongoing)

“Ooooh! What a wonderful idea! The dwarf origins are my favorite and to have them both brought together in a single adventure honestly has me excited! And such a great writing flow you have here! The episodic parallels work so well to showcase the characters and how they grow into their own people! Love it!”

And So They Burned (DA:O)

The world was not a kind place to those touched by magic. Haunted by whispers of demons, fear of the Templars, and memories of the lives taken from them, three apprentices in Kinloch Hold turned to each other and made a world of their own.

(Amell/Surana/Jowan, 56k, ongoing)

“Everything from the characters to the writing is so good. I genuinely couldn't put my phone down and just binge read it. I especially love the whole poly aspect, I haven't really seen fics that explore that. Also wanted to add, the dynamic among all three of them is just so amazing, I want to put them in my pocket and run, they don't deserve this circle life. This story is amazing 😊”