#type: codex entry

[kakibot]

This post has a very narrow target audience, Lucanis romancers who chose the "I also love coffee!" option during the Treviso coffee date.

A big shoutout to everyone else who has baked the Nevarran Hazelnut Torte before me because they made me panic less when I reached the "why is this just a big ole lump" stage. 🖤

[mysterioustinyhorror]

Letter from Josephine in DATV if the Inquisitor romanced her.

I missed her so much 🫠

[purple-frost]

A letter found folded on the table in Rook’s room after Tearstone Island, its edges worn soft as if handled many times. There are faint smudges where ink has blurred, streaked by droplets of water.

Lucanis, If you're reading this, it means I never made it back from Tearstone Island. I need you to know—whatever happened, whatever kept me from returning—it is not your fault. Please, please, don’t blame yourself for my absence. Promise me that you won’t lock yourself away behind walls of grief and regret. There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you, Lucanis, and I think you might already know. Maybe you’ve always known... I love you. I love you so, so much. I’ve loved you since the moment we found you in the Ossuary. I’ve loved wandering the streets of Treviso with you, the late-night coffee, the quiet moments, the shared laughter, everything. I’ve cherished every single second we spent together. Not one of them was wasted. Not one of them do I regret. If I have any regrets, it’s only that I didn’t find the courage to tell you this face to face. But I couldn’t leave without ensuring you knew. I love you, Lucanis. I always have. I always will. No matter what. - Kay

[the-raven-and-the-tower]

Letter from Illario

Cousin. Not his name. Illario does that a lot and I think there’s a reason for that. Impersonal yet intimate, at an arm’s distance yet with that arm is still reaching for him, Illario is asserting the familial connection and drawing on Lucanis's family loyalty as something he knows he can rely on to control him with.

Illario jumps straight to implying unreliability; he deliberately points to Lucanis's fractured control of Spite before rudely wafting a hand at Lucanis's memory, implying that might be flawed as well.

Having tied himself to Lucanis's trauma from his capture and their supposed shared loss of Caterina in the previous paragraph, Illario isn't content with that and decides to drive the point further home in this one like the guilty fuck he is. He appeals to their shared history, using nostalgia and a shared memory to make Lucanis feel like shit. "You had more control drunk than you do over that demon, you aren’t yourself anymore" is the message he's trying to drive home (with a side of "stay the fuck away"). I guess we know Lucanis wasn't kidding when he said Illario was a slick talker.

Sorry, but for the sake of the family is such a dirty kick in the teeth. Who's left? It was the three of them and Caterina's supposed to be dead, so who the fuck is he talking about? House Dellamorte has Crows to its name, but they don’t bear the house name, nor are they family. Yet Illario invokes 'family' to make it personal.

[coles-hat]

Letter from Cullen to a romanced Inquisitor in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

[missriggie]

DreadRook Week 2025

Day 6: The Ending

//"No real god need prove himself. Anyone who tries is mad or lying."

@thelighthouse-server

Folded under cushions of the chaise in the Meditation Room in the Lighthouse, is a rather heartfelt page of a journal.

When all is said and done, Rook sympathised with the Dread Wolf and all his mistakes, working damn hard to grant him the opportunity to see the error of his ways, and bids him a safe journey through to his eventual redemption.

Elven Translation: 'Safe Journeys, Dread Wolf, May you find your way to freedom.'

[cryptbabyrook]

Book club : )

[ofcrowsanddragons]

Growing Demons

Both the idea that Zara was growing demons from scratch and that she was "growing" demons from existing spirits in the Fade are so fun. I don't think either of them are contradicted by this, but...

My thinking is that Zara started with something similar to the Seeker ritual, capturing a spirit that was similar enough to mesh with the host and then forcing the host to eat it ("like a parasite in uncooked meat").

Zara was confident enough in her process that she believed she could force the spirit to become a "demon" of a specific type, which would suffer enough that it would force its way from its host (like the host was "a cacoon for a moth").

Something about that emergence would bind the demon to Zara, which gave Lucanis plenty of ammunition for a deal... as long as that spirit was a kind of spirit that could hold out with him against the torture they were putting them through.

It makes you wonder what might have happened to Compassion, in that gods-awful place. And if Spite saw what Compassion could turn into.

[vhenad4hl]

CODEX ENTRY: THE HERO OF FERELDEN - DINAYA TABRIS

The Hero of Ferelden grew up in Denerim's impoverished elven alienage. A bitter clash with a Denerim noble during her wedding resulted in her facing arrest by the city guards. The Grey Warden Commander Duncan recruited Dinaya, saving her from a certain death sentence.

Rumors sprouted of her having entered into a romantic relationship with a former Chantry sister and Orlesian bard during the Fifth Blight, though these rumors remain unconfirmed.

After defeating the Archdemon and ending the Fifth Blight, Dinaya took up the mantle of Warden - Commander of Ferelden. She began the task of rebuilding the order in Ferelden until her disappearance several years later.

Inquisition agents later uncovered that she had left to travel west in search for a cure to the Calling.

art by @sinizade

[ Alethea ]

[bitchesofostwick]

codex: notes from the inquisition

i'm rewriting that letter (THAT one; minor veilguard spoilers for those who haven't gotten there) not because i didn't like it (i loved it) but because i can and because i wanted ellinor to be able to respond. tag list: @elfroot-and-laurels @captastra @mournholdmushroom @vvakarians @galaxywhale @creaking-skull

My love,

It seems one of the pups got to my half-written work before I could, or before Tara could, for that matter. She’s a good mum and usually keeps a close eye on all of them, but if it takes a village to raise a child, I’d dare to say it takes two villages to raise a litter of mabari.

I’ve wrapped up all I could at Skyhold. Our quarters here felt strange enough to return to after all of these years. They feel stranger still without you here beside me. But I leave the fortress behind in good hands, and although I’m surprised at how many Inquisition veterans so quickly answered our calls for aid, I am eternally grateful. I make for Minrathous tomorrow morning, though I loathe to imagine how I’ll fare at sea again for the first time since returning to Ferelden from Kirkwall. I know what you’d say—take the longer route through Orlais. But first, we both know that’s counterintuitive to the urgency at hand, and second, I’d rather let Dorian win a score of chess games against me before I spend a minute longer in Orlais than I have to, for anything.

Speaking of Dorian, he told me in his most recent correspondence that you’d already tried to adopt about ten cats from the streets of Minrathous. Darling, we both know Cat isn’t fond of competition, we’ve got a full house as it is with the new pups. How do we plan to feed these cats? To house them? To transport them back to Ferelden? Please consider…reconsidering.

I digress. Ellinor, I know you are more than capable—of anything, of everything and more that I could never dream of doing myself. You are the strongest person I know. Still, it goes without saying that I worry for you. I fear for your safety—it’s kept me awake, tossing and turning, every night since you left my side. All these years, and I’ve never been able to stop worrying. If I could be there now, be your sword and your shield and your advisor all over again, I’d do it in a heartbeat. In a single breath. All this is to say please stay safe and be careful, and I will be there as soon as my feet can carry me.

All of my love, yours, eternally, Cullen

~~~

Darling,

You’re right about the urgency we’re dealing with. I don’t even have to say this, because you’ve seen it firsthand as well as I have. But in better times, I certainly would suggest you take the longer route to get here. I know you despise Orlais. Believe me when I say you’re going to despise Tevinter as well. In fact, when I told our friends you were on your way, Harding took on an especially sympathetic expression, and Dorian merely cackled in my face. There’s magic abound here, love. And I know you’ve gotten more used to it, and I know you cope better now than you used to, but I still need you to know. It’s not like the south. It’s unchecked and it’s everywhere, and I just want you to be prepared.

Maevaris is looking forward to meeting you—Dorian’s all but sung your praises to her—and so is Rook, though she reminds me at times of Hawke and I imagine your personalities may clash a bit, were the situation at hand not so dire. Morrigan is here as well. I can just about see your eyes rolling as you read this. So get it out of the way now, before you arrive.

As soon as your feet can carry you? Poor Lady. She’s quite spry for a mare her age, and it’d wound her to know you discredit her efforts this way. I promise not to tell her you said that.

I’m sorry—it’s not fair for me to joke. I know you mean every word that you say. In truth, it hurts my heart to see you worry this way, especially after all the pains we’ve gone through to build a quiet life for ourselves after the Inquisition. I wish it were not so. I wish this wasn’t happening. I wish we were at home again, picnicking in the fields with no bigger concern than what fruits we want from the market the next day, or which friends we want to visit with next. I hate that I have to be here. I hate that I’m without you. Worst of all, I hate that you have to travel to Tevinter of all places just to be with me again. If it were in my power, I’d have made sure you never set foot in the city of Minrathous, because I know you’re going to hate it here.

Dorian saw me write that. He said you need to grow a thicker skin.

Anyway. I’m being careful. I promise. I will see you soon, my love.

Yours, Ellinor

P.S. I did not adopt ten cats. Dorian made me put one back because apparently it belonged to the fruit merchant, and I was “stealing.”

[a-gay-bloodmage]

A Qun of Two: Chapter One

Art by the beloved @caedharlowe

(The Iron Bull & Ozol Adaar)

Ozol Adaar learned, many years ago, as he ran through the jungle arm in arm with his saarebas, that leaving the Qunari behind doesn’t make one a savage. Nor does it mean abandoning the poetry of the Qun. Now, with the dreadnaught left to wash up on a rocky shoreline, he resolves to teach the Iron Bull the same lesson.

On the First Day, We Name Ourselves

Long ago, the Ashkaari lived in a great city by the sea. Wealth and prosperity shone upon the city like sunlight, and still its people grumbled in discontent. The Ashkaari walked the streets of his home and saw that all around him were the signs of genius: triumphs of architecture, artistic masterpieces, the palaces of wealthy merchants, libraries, and concert halls. But he also saw signs of misery: the poor, sick, lost, frightened, and the hopeless. And the Ashkaari asked himself, “How can one people be both wise and ignorant, great and ruined, triumphant and despairing?”

—An excerpt from The Qun, Canto 1

Read on Archive of Our Own Here!

Report from Lieutenant Cremisius Aclassi

To the slackers pissing away time in the Hinterlands: 

Long time no see, boys. Maker willing, this letter finds you faster than you find the end to your assignment. Got some updates for you. 

The Chief isn’t Qunari anymore. Not in the sense that he shaved his horns and started wearing a shirt, but in the sense that he’s “tal-vashoth.” You know, same kind as the ones he was fighting up in Seheron. Ones he said were all insane and savage and what have you. Turns out that was all Bull-shit. Or, at least, seems to be so far. Maybe the madness’ll start to kick in next Tuesday. He hasn’t put out the formal announcement yet, but it’s not hard to tell with the way the Qunari agent, Gatt, disappeared by the time we made it back to the Chief. He should’ve been there. 

The Herald’s a tal-vashoth, too. I know you haven’t met him yet, but he’s good. So good that he hurts to look at, sometimes. You know those Chantry brothers that can just look at you and make you want to vomit up every stupid thing you’ve ever done or said? That. That’s what he’s like. And the big, grey bastard would probably hold your hair and pat your back while you were hunched over the bucket. If that’s what a tal-vashoth is actually like, I’m not worried about the Chief. He’s in good hands. And some really big ones at that, ones actually fit to hold his fat ass. 

Probably important to mention what happened. We were on track to secure an alliance with the Qunari—the proper Qunari, not the Herald, the ones who’d spear me without thinking as soon as they realized I was a Vint—and the position we were holding was royally fucked. More Venatori than we thought were making their way up the beach, and if we kept trying to hold them off, keep them from attacking that stupidly large Qunari warship, we’d be dead if the Chief didn’t run in and save us. But the Chargers aren’t cowards. Void take me, I’d rather die than run. Not doing that again. Maker knows that there wouldn’t be another Chief to swoop in and save me the next time I ran. 

And then that damn horn sounded. Cut right through the storm like some- Damn it, I’ve been spending too much time around the Herald, trying to talk all poetic. He’s a loon about poetry, by the way. Not sure if I’ve mentioned that yet. Shit, now that I’m writing, I’m wondering if maybe the Venatori got in a knock or two. Rattled my brain around something so fierce that I can’t even remember the blow. 

As it goes: Chief is tal-vashoth. Herald’s been tal-vashoth. I think we nearly died. Writing this in the tent while the Chief and the Herald sit in the rain. I don’t know what they’re talking about. Rocky is snoring and the rain is hitting the tent and the candle is low and they’re not even talking anymore. They’re just quiet and that’s the worst part. The Chief should be joking and telling everyone to quit worrying but he’s not. Not really. He was laughing and joking and being the Chief the whole walk to this shit camp, but there was something off. Chief, if you’re reading this, if you’re still a snitch and a snoop even after you’re tal-vashoth, fuck the rest of them. All the Qunari. If one sunk ship’s enough to disown you, they don’t know how much you’re really worth. At least five, I’d say. Maybe more. 

Chief’s a free agent now. Still our Chief. Hoping that the Herald being grey’s a good sign. It’s still fucking raining. 

Horns pointing up. 

- Krem

[dragonagecinema]

An update on Sten in Dragon Age The Veilguard 💔 Every subsequent game, I hoped to see him again, but it never happened 😔 What do you think of his fate?

[warpedlegacywrites]

Headcanon Codex Entries - Varric Tethras

An unsent, partially-written letter, found in between the stabbed pages of a copy of Tales of the Champion:

Hey, Seeker Cass. You've probably already heard from Harding, but I figured duplicated efforts couldn't hurt in this case. We've tracked Solas as far as Minrathous. You'd hate it here, which is a shame because it actually lives up to all of Sparkler's hype. The whole city lights up at night with magic. I'm writing this by rune-light in our rented room. I can picture your sneer of distaste as you read that last line. And now I can hear your annoyed grunt reading that line. Good old predictable Pentaghast. But I'm not writing this to annoy you. Okay, I'm not writing this just to annoy you. You know I'm no good at these kinds of letters. I've been thinking about us I've always hated how things ended between us. I know--my fault. Sorry to bury the lead. But I promise this isn't just another apology. What could I even say at this point that I haven't already? What have you ever said that I haven't deserved? I don't really know why I'm writing this. I probably won't even send it. Just wanted to get it down on paper, I guess. To tell you that I don't regret it. What we had was good. While it lasted. For whatever that's worth. I guess I just needed to tell you that. No regrets.

[mrsdellamorte]

I’ve been doing the codex prompt challenge in our discord so I thought I’d post some here! I didn’t go in order, I’ve just been picking out ones i really wanted to do!

I’ve been writing about my Rook, Thea Mercar, as if she was a companion to recruit! ✨

Codex Prompt #13: A message between companions about Rook

Neve’s Case Notes: The Enchanter from Nevarra

Varric said we needed more “power” in our search for Solas, and I agree. Mentioned an old friend, Enchanter Althea Mercar. Too bad we didn’t find her before the ritual. I was skeptical at first but, seems this enchanter isn’t what I thought she’d be:

- A Senior Enchanter of the Cumberland Circle with close ties to the College of Magi.

- A successful enchanter. Not one of her students failed their Harrowing.

- Spent time teaching and training mages for the Inquisition-must be how Varric knew her.

- A former Shadow Dragon- This surprised me. Never heard of her, but turns out she was using Rook as her alias. ‘Rook’s’ story is well known among the Shadows, her work speaks for itself. Ashur didn’t have much to add when I asked. Strange.

Her last paper was published in 9:48, around the same time The Shadow Dragons dismissed her. Seems the lead goes cold there. I’ll keep looking. Odds are if she’s hiding, she doesn’t want to be found.

A note in Harding’s handwriting:

Varric’s right, Thea is just who we need. With her fire power and magical expertise, we’d be unstoppable. Lucky for us, I know exactly where to look. Ever heard of Calla Lily Vineyards? It’s in Southern Antiva, owned by The Mercar’s. I haven’t seen her in years, it’ll be nice to see an old friend. We can head to the vineyard before meeting with The Crows, kill two birds with one stone you know?

Scribbled at the bottom:

No pun intended!

[the-raven-and-the-tower]

Another Codex entry. Need I say more?

[missriggie]

DreadRook Week 2025

(Bonus) Day 6: The Ending

@thelighthouse-server

Rook returns to the music room in the Lighthouse, standing by the window where the echoes of a sonata reminds her off a god she knew long ago.