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Touchstarved Voice HCs

Ais - He smokes so I have to give him smoker's rasp b/c it's one of like two things that's sexy about smoking. He doesn't speak loudly —honestly he slurs words and mumble-speaks and cuts off words quite often — but his voice carries surprisingly well. Stays mostly in one pitch. Deeper, more resonant voice with a warm timbre: he talks and it feels like a cozy day in your brain.

Vere - I like to call his voice "mommy voice, for men". Honestly, rather than me explaining it, just listen to Doppio Dropscythe read his lines. The drawl of it and the semi-melodic intonation is everything I'd imagined for Vere!

Mhin - Most clear thing about their voice in my head is this underlying hiss to all of their words, like they're always whispering, even when their volume is normal. It leads to a raspy quality that's different from Ais's rumble. I think they probably have a higher-pitched tone of voice than any of the other LIs, but not by too much.

Leander - Announcer-y quality: you could pick his voice out of a crowd, easy. Plays with his speech: lots of variation in tone, speed, pitch and so on. Some (American) people have made him British, which I could never put onto a man I love (/j, I'm so sorry, British people) but I do think he has some qualities of the stereotypical posh British accent — mainly, the enunciation of every word. He doesn't cut corners when speaking, though not to the point of sounding unnatural.

Kuras - definitely the hardest of the main five for me to hear. I think he has a pretty deep voice, with a soothing cadence to his speech. Like Leander, his words are all enunciated and easy to understand. However, he's kinda the opposite of Ais — the demon says mean things with a warm tone of voice, and the angel says nice things with a cold, even tone. If you manage to surprise him, though, or perhaps get closer to him, you could trip up his normally smooth speaking and make him sound more "human".

BONUS: Of course, these two don't have any lines yet, but just based on looks...

Sen: Personally don't think her voice is super deep, but it is throaty, like she's speaking from the back of her mouth. I think she probably pauses a lot when she talks. IDK why, but she has the energy of someone who takes a while to get through a sentence, so she'd rather just show you without having to tell you.

Elyon: If anyone would have a British accent it would be this guy. He speaks with mostly a teasing-slash-condescending tone of voice, but whether it's intentionally or unintentionally is anyone's guess. I don't think Elyon's voice is as deep as Ais's or Kuras's, but it could still be considered conventionally sexy.

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I really wish Astarion left bite marks on Tav’s neck because Act 3 Araj Oblodra is getting on my last nerve, and I think it’d be funny if she saw Tav’s bite marks and got all pissy about it

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Meanwhile at camp

(Ref lol)

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dai companion ghilen mahariel (1/?)

companion!ghilen's introduction would fall with varric and solas, right at the beginning of the game. it's short and to the point, and doesn't yet reveal that he was one of three wardens that ended the blight.

the only visual clue to his character is the griffon pauldron on his starter armor set. and despite the pauldron, his armor is significantly toned down from the standard warden-issued blue that we find on wardens later in the game. it's entirely dark cloth and leather, with a layer of chainmail under the cloth around his torso.

that first interaction with him is polite, but vague. it teaches you two things about him: 1) his name, and 2) that he's a grey warden, as given by cassandra. we do not learn his last name, however, or any other clarifying information.

story-wise, he maintains a lowkey support role until after the prologue, where you're given the opportunity to speak with him at haven. ->

Ghilen: You might be the one person in all of Thedas that can close the rifts, and yet you don't even remember how you got here?

Herald: I'm as lost as you are.

Ghilen: Hm. You're a very curious case, my friend.

...

Herald: Tell me - what was a grey warden doing at the conclave?

Ghilen: I was there for Leliana, more than anything else. She helped me end the Blight, so I save her from the torture of bureaucracy.

Ghilen: Assuming it doesn't get blown up, that is. You certainly made it exciting for her.

Herald: I'm sorry, "end the Blight?" Are you the Hero of Ferelden?

Ghilen: If by that you mean, 'did I kill the Archdemon?' no, I didn't.

Ghilen: If you mean, 'was I one of only three wardens left to stop the Blight after the rest were slaughtered?' then yes. That was me.

...

[If the Herald is Dalish]

Herald: I'm sorry, you're Ghilen Mahariel? I can't believe I didn't realize sooner.

Herald: The people look up to you,- tell stories about you. Some of us call you the pride of our people.

Ghilen: Ah. I appreciate it, but I'm really not all that remarkable. Besides, uh... you've had a lot going on.

...

Herald: So, this is what grey wardens get up to when there's not a Blight, then?

Ghilen: Hardly! Most of them stick around the order to do aimless housecleaning. If it were up to me, I'd be retired.

Ghilen: I was retired, until somebody put a hole in the sky.

Herald: I didn't create the breach.

Ghilen: I didn't say you did.

Herald: ... Oh. Right.

Ghilen: [Laughs] Stay safe, "Herald."

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Sunlight

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Vere and his fashion ❤️ doodle

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so, about ghilen mahariel,

he is so different tonally and characteristically to my lavellan (and tabris! but thats a post for later).

venathren lavellan who volunteers to trade in the city every year without fail, lets his voice carry over open courtyards, is bold, talkative, and curious. he hears about the conclave through idle chat with village locals and runs home to tell the keeper that he's going.

they weren't invited, of course, but lack of an invitation's never stopped him. he can smile his way out of damned near anything, and he knows it.

so off he goes, bringing little more than a goodbye kiss from his mother. at the conclave, he's no different. he mingles and wanders, ever bold and excited.

this time, he wanders too far.

and ghilen mahariel, who'd just turned 22 when he contracted the blight. he was preparing to bond with his lover of several years, had never once left the clan, and is suddenly both torn from it and kicked out of it in equal measure.

ghilen mahariel who's dead silent on the trip to ostagar, only speaking when spoken to. he spends days in a walking slumber that only breaks when they finally arrive and his eyes meet the very top of the tower of ishal. reality dawns on him, and an oppressively cold feeling of death and dread seeps through him.

he's eager to cure the mabari and excessively courteous with morrigan, but feels a twinge of envy at surviving when daveth is granted the luxury of death.

still, he finds reasons to push on: people that he cares about more than himself — people that depend on him.

ghilen mahariel who worms his way into each of their hearts without even trying. he is naive. he's indecisive and utterly ruled by his heart. he is meager and easily swayed. he's soft; weak, even.

he's also achingly gentle. he's never left his clan — never met anyone that didn't believe the same things as him — but he is nevertheless marvelously understanding. he gives without expecting in return (and how could he? the only thing he truly wants is a gentle death — and to be forgotten) and gives so readily that you wonder if he's ever once thought of himself. his voice is gentle and warm. it soothes and urges the others on, even as he is lost and alone.

becoming a grey warden was not his choice, and he is deeply resentful of it. the effects of the blight and the joining (which is to say nothing of the grief he carries) leave him chronically sore and tired. the very blood in his veins feels like its not his own. he is colder, paler. his entire body feels brittle at times. but he never forces this resentment upon anyone else. he suffers, silently, instead. mind you, his pain never goes unnoticed. he is loved, whether he sees it or not.

ghilen mahariel who cannot even return home when his job is done, because he barely feels dalish anymore. even if he knew where his clan was, he couldn't bear to face them. he lives in states of in-between with tabris and her family, half of him always stuck in his head, replaying the night tamlen came to camp in the horrible picture-perfect accuracy it burned into his brain.

after amaranthine, he finally begins to pick himself up. the world isn't perfect — it isn't even good, from what he's seen — but its innocents deserve charity and love. as he did, when he was younger. as his friends always have.

he travels back and forth amongst them, but he's always where they are — loving them the way he knows how.

his best and closest friend invites him to attend divine justinia's conclave. asks her 'dearest ghilie' to pretty please keep her company so she isn't 'bored to tears'. she's playful and flippant, trying to hide how badly she needs it all to go right, but he knows everything there is to know about her.

he goes, and none of it goes right, and by the end of the day he's back to work.

his gentle death can wait a little longer.

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I’ll start packing babe 😌

(I have been reading waaaaaaaay too many (read “not enough”) Rolan fics lately) like so so so many….

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(Some of) My Wardens!

[Templates here!]

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ik i've been functionally comatose online for a while now but i'm back for a bit to talk about my canon DA world state in which tabris and mahariel are both recruited and when the blight's over tabris goes off to look for a cure for the calling while mahariel stays with leliana and,,, joins the inquisition. fully integrated party member. (and is romanceable !) it occupies so much of my brain space

i have inquisition party banter drafted. and a rough romance arc for your(!) inquisitor to date my dragon age origins oc ghilen mahariel

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I came back from the dead (aka playing baldurs gate 3) to give you some BG3 shitpost

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Dat banter was so sweet tho

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tell me this wasn’t basically zevran’s recruitment

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Collection of memes with mostly my tav/astarion to keep myself sane

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bitches will really play thane's romance one time and have their entire perception of love shattered