#like not to be a warden but CHILL TF OUT lmao

[blitz0hno]

There's incredible fear of people and all the facades they put up behind Kotoko's malice it's incredibly sad and worth noting the prison system does indeed reinforce to her the Violence is The Answer

[maedaeme]

keep putting this off because writing it always misses the specific nuance that's in my head but. Ardal Tabris and parallels

I understand him more in hindsight than I once did, but that probably comes from being. more than a decade older lmao

Ardal's like. 22 tops when he becomes a warden. he's baby. he's sarcastic and snappy and kind of a dick because he survives by barking like a Big Dog to fill the gaps left by everything he doesn't know, and he's just full of rage and too much pride to back down when he picks fights.

which made him stubborn. and bossy. and fed up with standing around talking about What Ifs and Why's to the point where his irritable 'you are all getting nowhere so we are going Here and Doing this, pack up your shit' slowly shifted into him being In Charge. And he luckily didn't completely fumble it, and he did end up developing the skills to be the hardheaded Warden Commander he has the rep for being. He just did it on the fly and by lying until it was true.

and it IS true now. 15-20 years later he's still bitingly sarcastic and stubborn, but he's not 'barking.' He knows what he can do. you know what he can do. on the off chance you don't, you are going to find out quickly and unpleasantly. wardens like him. nobles don't. but he gets stuff done and he's reliable if you can get him to care about your business more than his business (rare)

and then he eventually gets handed Rook.

ardal does have friends, usually wardens, usually ones that are about as blunt and cynical as he is but, occasionally, ones that help him chill tf out. and at some point he is strongarmed into taking this brand new warden with him in exchange for being allowed to continue to do what he wants.

and suddenly he's looking at himself standing in front of duncan with one metaphorical knife at his throat and the other one pointed at him from 30 years in the future and he haaaates it

I'll get the rook perspective of it all sorted eventually (i feel like he spent?? 6 years with them and then da4 kicked off?? maybe?? time is fake) but like. on one hand ardal wants to keep you alive and is not nearly as bitter as he seems but on the other hand you are a sudden and abrupt reminder he needs like 30 years of therapy. at least zevran is there to be your cool dad

[msommers]

lil baby intro post for riya ⚔️ because she's been confined to the dms for a hot minute. fellow players don’t click read more if you wanna avoid spoilers i guess lmao

smol pinterest section for vibes

her playlist is ridiculous spoiled party princess energy and i love it

born 2:84 glory in cumberland, nevarra which is!! part of the free marches way back when so that’s fun

the youngest child to duchess priscilla de clairmont and her husband loren. only daughter with four (4) whole older brothers, the oldest being born in 2:71. mama duchess is Huge in the city, controlling a large portion of its businesses and having a grand web of connections. aside from that, the family is known for its origin of nobility back in 1:16 divine during the second blight, when valeriya de clairmont (aka riya’s namesake) helped defeat the darkspawn in the battle of cumberland, earning her and her family an elevation into nobility. ((this has nothing to do with anything, but it’s important for me to know that everyone know her husband’s name is toussaint de clairmont and i’ll go to my grave happy with that absolutely troll of a name))

her magic manifested when she was 6 years old, inherited from her father and shared with one of her other brothers, magnus. she struggled with her studies, both magical and regular, and had a hard time getting better at it until her dad found out she's Vastly better once the "learn by doing" motto is in play.

she was given magic lessons by her father for a handful of years due to the nevarran circle having been wrecked in the recent past. her mom the big business baron made a deal with the circle and the new palace that she had constructed for the family was instead given to the circle, which riya then moved into and began proper circle teachings. she didn't Hate it but she didn't Love it, way too much reading went on for her liking :///

fell in love with the idea of becoming a participant in the free marches grand tourneys after her first attendance, immediately dedicated herself to one day being one of the mages participating in the event. started studying like mad to the surprise of everyone and trained hard, becoming a knight-enchanter as she saw it fitting and easily the most fun. a magic sword?? to use in a tourney??? c’mon bro, you Know there wasn’t any other choice

has extreme rich party girl energy due to her immense privilege as both the duchess’ daughter and living in the nevarran circle where they’re almost. ridiculously chill compared to literally everywhere else. she is only inside that building when it is absolutely required, otherwise she’s out spending time with family, attending social gatherings/events, or with a lover.

speaking of lovers!!! got herself a boyfriend after hooking up with another participant in the 31st tourney. in a totally unchill move, she was then framed for his murder at the end of the next tourney :/// mommy duchess was able to keep her from being immediately punished tho she was still held in prison, and eventually when it became clear that they wouldn’t be able to get her out of it, riya’s dad and older brother busted her out of there. she was sent on her way with a stupid big amount of money and was probably expected to just lay tf low for however long it took and eventually meet back up with family, but she’s a little idiot who makes it maybe a month and a half at the most before being caught in [insert location here, probably outside of nevarra tho].

cue entrance of grey-warden recruiter and his companion who invoke the rite of conscription to save riya from any imminent transportation back to cumberland for punishment. which to riya as of right now is just another form of punishment as she’s spent about two decades trying to Not follow her family’s footsteps and instead just live her life for the vibes

now for a collection of images that i think match riya’s energy pretty well just bc it’s fun:

[elkomie]

45-50 for the Inquisition Ask Meme?

thank you!

45. What is their most and least favourite place to explore? Why? is it cheating to pick fade for favourite place? dana’s very interested in Learning Things Hands-on, especially things that have to do with magic because that’s the relevant to her life the most, so she was genuinely 100% into a chance to physically explore the fade (her excitement was unforunately dampened by the circumstances of that visit and also very much by worrying about how her companions were taking it. if she were there alone she wouldnt even mind the giant demon spiders much tbh). out of regular locations uhh emerald graves as long as she doesnt need to deal with any of the clowns there (just because its objectively the prettiest?) least favourite -- deep roads. we are all hate deep roads

46. Which companion/adviser makes them think twice about their choices, if any? in the beginning of the game she does Not understand what she’s doing but any second-guessing is quickly overriden by Spite over people who she sees as authority figures disagreeing with her. later she chills out about that and just does what she thinks is best not exactly ignoring her companions’ input on that but. not giving them much influence over the final decision either. the one person she definitely will listen to & change her decisions if needed is josephine, because she trusts josie to know what she’s doing and also be interested purely in picking the most efficient course of action, not influenced by personal biases or beliefs. so dana’s content to defer to her judgement when she feels they’re dealing with josephine’s area of expertise

47. What do they think about the Champion of Kirkwall? assuming she gets to meet my hawke and not the bullshit watered down fucker the game gives us, she is. incredibly interested in everything related to the chantryboom & will Not fuck off with questioning hawke about it. dana’s Learning Things aspect is not restricted to magic theory and is in fact pretty focused on real life issues that influence her real life ass so: political dynamics, recent history and defininitely, definitely the mage/templar conflict lmao. so meeting a key figure from the kirkwall mess? information source first, person second. if they ever get to the getting to know each other as People stage, they’d get along i think. dana’s drawn to people who don’t take life overly seriously, hanging out with them helps her center herself. 

48. What do they think about the Hero of Ferelden? the blight is also recent history, but not rly relevant to her life so she’s much less interested in her, aside from help with figuring out the da:i grey warden mess. however shes heard some badass stories & has this storybook picture of a heroine who saves the world in her head so if they met she’d be starstruck for a while. zaria would probably just adopt her into her found family eventually bc that’s zaria’s m.o. at this stage of her life lmao. they have similar backgrounds but different approaches to them (like they were both star students but zaria blocked that all the fuck out as soon as she was out of the circle so its not like they can have. magic theory jams) so they can share their perspectives.. oh they’d make a Great team for diplomatic events theyre both very good at charming nobles except zaria also knows how to navigate that to achieve specific goals & dana’s just bullshitting it for funsies 

49. What is their least favourite foe to fight? she does Not like darkspawn she’s used to both regular bitey fauna and demons but darkspawn creep her tf out

50. Are they proud of what they accomplished? hmm she’s... dissatisfied with a lot of outcomes of her actions. she goes in without a plan a lot and like, does Okay, but feels responsible for not doing Better? for example re: bullshitting her way around nobles she had tons of fun during wicked eyes and got the truce ending and then Immediately secondguessed that. she’s proud she solved the main story corypheus mess tho & she’s glad she could help fiona’s mages & also glad about every smaller quest with visible good results, like the companion quests. 

[a-moved]

ship breakdown: butch and lw, cullen and inq, zevran and warden

WOAH these r a lot thank u so much!!!! (im gunna do this with my kids and not in general bc yknow…. everyone has different hcs)

also behind a cut bc it’s very, very long

BUTCH & LW

i dont have any lw who’s w him :c

CULLEN & REGAN

ah yes dragon age..... haven’t heard that name in a while

How did they they meet?

O͞Ń̤͚̥͉̯̳͙ ̷̼̱͈̱̝T̡̫̣͈̞͚͎H͙̞E̫̘̯ ̘̝̰͚͈B̹̘̫̮̖͡ͅA͚̼̲͜T̹͈͘T̯͟L͟E͕͙͕͙̘̟̠F̨͇̙̱̦͔IE̪̩̲̹ͅͅḺ̡̮D̩̘͎̠̝̜̘͟

Who developed romantic feelings first?

hmm probably Cullen… Regan liked the whole “knight in shining armor” impression she got from the beginning & flirted w him… a lot…. but only realized she had a lil crush on him much later lol (and surpressed the shit ouf it)

Who is their biggest “shipper?”

i don’t think anyone in particular “cares” that much about them, vivienne asked how they’re doing once but i think that’s it lol

When did they have their first kiss and under what circumstances?

ok canonically it was the battlements smooch n im sticking with this bUT there was one time Regan was about to get tf out n cullen grabbed her arm n there was aN ALMOST KISS but cullen chickened out bc it was inappropriate to try n kiss his boss and she probably didn’t like him like that anyway  h a (according to him)

Who confessed their feelings first?

in the game it was regan n i’m sticking to it bc i think cullen is the kinda guy who would just eat up his feelings for someone so he wouldn’t embarrass himself lol

What was their first official date?

they went to that lil skyhold tavern together and held hands under the table bc they thought they were sneaky n no one would notice

How do they feel about double dates/group dates?

not really into it unless they’re really bored and have nothing else to do

What do they do in their down time?

HONESTLY just chilling/jussst doing normal stuff… regan likes going out sometimes and meeting people but they both work a lot so they’re grateful for any time they have so most of the time they just read a really awful book for fun or something

What was the first meeting of parents as an official couple like?

Cullen’s parents are ded so no meeting (regan ahs to meet his siblings one day and its hell bc they all look the same and she cant tell them apart)

Regan’s parents love Cullen tho, she introduced them during their visit to skyhold.... Regan’s dad is especially fond of him, the only thing that really puts him off is his lack of a title or anything 

Which one is more easily made jealous?

h m m m m  both of them the same, regan just shows it more and gets clingy, cullen is just like.. “this is fine : )”

Are they hand holders?

dude of course i love handholding...... hand hold for everyone

How long do they wait before sleeping together for the first time? What’s the circumstances?

see: desk scene

Who tops?

regan lol

Who does the shopping and the cooking?

they have servants who cook/shop for them, they did try cooking for each other but that didn’t go well lol

Who proposes?

accoriding to the trespasser dlc that i didn’t play it’s cullen 

Do they have joined Bachelor/Bacheloette parties or separate?

do bachelor parties even exist in thedas idk 

Who is the best man/maid of honour? Any other groomsmen or bridesmaids?

h m m idk if cullen really has a lot of friends so the best man is a mystery but the maid of honor is most likely either viv or josie

Big Ceremony or Small?

BIG, cullen would probably prefer a really tiny ceremony but regan (and her fam lets b real) insist they throw a big event trespasser who?

Do they have a honeymoon? If so, where?  

they’re probably to busy to have honeymoon but if it was possible, eithersomewhere nice and warm at the beach or somewhere in a small idyllic village in ferelden 

Do they have children? How many?

YE a boy and a girl but i haven’t decided on their names yet lmao

Zevvo/warden

ok since i’m having major name finding issues w my zevmancing warden i’ll just call her amell for this bc... i romanced him with an amell lol

How did they they meet?

it was very romantic, zev tried to kill the warden and their group uwu

Who developed romantic feelings first?

both around the same time, zev just tried to brush it off and realized it later

Who is their biggest “shipper?”

probably Leliana

When did they have their first kiss and under what circumstances

outside a tavern in a random village they were staying in for the night lol.. it was a kinda warm night (or as warm as it gets in ferelden) n they just sat outside and kept talking even tho everyone else was inside already and zev asked if he could kiss her A W

Who confessed their feelings first?

amell, zev was just like “h a me in love??? what are u talking about im not :)))))))” for a long time

How do they feel about double dates/group dates?

i feel like they’d try it just for fun but neither has any strong feelings about it

What do they do in their down time?

most of their quality time(tm) just consists of just chilling and talking bc honestly??? i feel like neither of them can ever shut up. plus zevran has a bunch of intriguing stories that amell loves hearing over and over

Zev also loves watching amell doing her lil plant hobby, he has no idea what she’s doing but it makes her happy lol

What was the first meeting of parents as an official couple like?

zev’s parents are dead and Amell’s are....... god knows where

What is their favourite thing to get to eat?

uh this is hard bc zev is used to antivan food where they actually use spices, while amell just had very bland fereldan food all her life so it’s..... hard

Are they hand holders?

in this house we love and appreciate hand holding

How long do they wait before sleeping together for the first time? What’s the circumstances?

ok surprisingly it’s very far into their relationship, they actually date for a few months before sleeping together for the first time (we ignore the canon). i haven’t thought about the circumstances yet tho

Who tops?

usually zev.... they switch around sometimes but in general its mostly him

Who does the shopping and the cooking?

mostly zev, cooking isn’t really one of amell’s strengths lol

Who proposes?

ZEV

Do they have joined Bachelor/Bacheloette parties or separate?

none

Who is the best man/maid of honour? Any other groomsmen or bridesmaids?

most of their friends live somewhere else by the time they get married but estella is the maid of honor (ye that merged canon is a thing) and the best man is............... no idea, who are zevs friends...

Big Ceremony or Small?

small and they both start crying

Do they have a honeymoon? If so, where?  

ye, in a small cottage in antiva, somewhere at a beach

Do they have children? How many?

2 girls, lucia and caterina :’)