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spainkitty · 6 months

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WIP WEDNESDAY

Chapter 2: The course is but run, and end has begun

Finally, her wisp's light began to refract against something moving. At first it looked like slithering. She and Dorian recoiled sharply before they noticed the rhythm of it. The ebb and flow. The sloshing against stone and wood.

“… that’s a dock,” Lanil said, breathless and her own dread and suspicions mounting. “Dorian, you said the amulet shouldn’t have moved us through space, only time?”

“Yes, but obviously something has—”

“No, no, you were right. Maker’s breath, you were right,” Lanil said. She all but fell on her ass to back away rapidly and incidentally dragging Dorian with her before sidling out of his grip. She spun in a circle with new eyes. The crater was massive, the pit nearly as large. The blackened rubble and the huge tree and there—a twisted mess of iron and wood that once had been a portcullis.

“Surana?”

“Redcliffe Castle has a dock, Pavus. A dock built underneath the castle,” Lanil said, fury and something deeper than fear running through every word. Dorian’s eyes widened.

“Yes, Felix brought me… You can’t mean that this is Redcliffe Castle!?” Dorian asked, sweeping his arm out.

Lanil ignored her heaving stomach, the constant song thrumming against her skull, the unsteadiness of her legs. She ran for the ledge, skirting the pit and the lyrium with shudders running down her spine. The sides of the crater were near a foot over her head, probably about level with Dorian’s height. She scrabbled up them, fingernails digging into dirt, her thin slippers sliding and slipping, pebbles and dust raining down into Dorian’s face when he followed her. She hauled herself over the edge, wheezing and cursing, vision spotting again, and saw the large, glassy, Fade-green surface of Lake Calahad and the mountains of Ferelden’s Hinterlands beyond.

“Fuck,” she hissed.

Dorian came up beside her, coughing slightly and brushing dirt from his clothes absently as he stared into the Hinterlands. What was left of it. Huge swathes of forest were replaced by blackened earth and large, glowing, red lyrium. The village on the opposite shore was in shambles and eerily silent, although it wasn't nearly the decimation at her back. The only movement among the rubble and few standing houses was the wind. And the rippling veins of light along the lyrium’s surfaces. Dorian and Lanil exchanged a loaded glance before heading towards where the broken bridge lay.

Getting from where the castle had been to the other shore across the lake was more time- and mana-consuming than difficult. The bridge between the shore and the castle had been destroyed when Alexius kicked out the arl, but there was more than enough debris in the water to fill in the gap. They had to clamber a bit, and the lowest part of their makeshift bridge was nearly under water, but they made it. Now on the other side, Lanil took in the details of the village’s ruin. Almost every building was dilapidated, whole walls missing, roofs caved in, shutters hanging from mere splinters. Huge stone blocks with traces of soot were lying like forgotten toys in the grass, and there were several gaping holes in the sides of buildings where more rubble had flown through. Lanil knelt beside one such chunk of stone, fingertips darkening when she touched it.

“This definitely came from the castle,” she said, frowning.

“Which means whatever destroyed it, it exploded outward,” Dorian surmised.

“Is this as bad as the Conclave? Did whatever happen then happen again?” Lanil asked, brushing her fingers clean on her robes.

“I didn't see it the aftermath with my own eyes, but it would explain why the sky is… like that.”

They both looked up reflexively and shuddered. Lanil could smell the Fade. It pervaded every one of her senses, almost as overpowering as the stench of the rotting fields and worse things left behind in these deserted homes.

Before they gone much farther, Lanil knew the entirety of Redcliffe was empty.

#For It Is Fleeting AU #dai fanfic #Dorian Pavus #Lanil Surana #dao surana #dai surana #since my adaar goes to the templars what would Dorian and Lanil be up to? well DOING THE QUEST ANYWAY #zevsurana made a hilarious post-chain abt 'what if they were there longer than a few hours'#while i came up with this idea before i saw the post i definitely fleshed it out and went HARD with it because of it #sadly it's a lot less funny in mine😔#gonna go reread theirs for the lols #im probably going to nipandtuckandtwist around these chapters during editing but this scene should stay the same #kitty writes a thing #kitty writes about dragons #dragon age fanfiction

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veilkeeper · 5 months

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Ren Amell Combat Dialogue

so you know how in DA2 companions have all this combat dialogue? ages and ages ago I wrote out what I think my DA OC's would say if they were a companion. here's that for Ren, my beloved warden and total bitch <3

Added to the party: Naturally. Taken out of the party: Your funeral.

(more under the cut)

Combat Starting:

Well, there goes my plan for a nice afternoon stroll.

I'd rather not be bothered with this. Any chance you'll walk away? No?

I have better things to do.

(Sighs) Fine, let's get this over with.

During a fight:

Are you afraid of blood magic? You should be.

Get out of the way please!

I've got you!

Can't hide from me!

Bloodied? Good, I can use that.

(Using "Blood Sacrifice") Sorry! Need to borrow that.

Kills an enemy:

You should've walked away!

Surely you saw this coming?

Too easy.

After a fight:

I think there's blood in my hair.

Did anyone die? Anyone worthwhile, I mean.

Now, where were we?

No effect:

No luck. Try again?

I don't think this is working.

Anyone have a better idea?

About to KO:

Anyone have some spare blood?

I could use a hand here!

Backup would be appreciated!

Recovering from KO:

Well, that's embarrassing.

Sorry, I was... taking a nap.

Ow.

Low on mana:

Getting tired, here!

There's only so much I can do!

Someone else KO'd:

(If the Warden falls) Well, that's trouble.

(If the Warden falls when romanced) (panicked) I thought the 'no dying' rule was obvious, get up!

(If Alistair falls) Oh, you're in for it now.

(If Dog falls) Okay, who hit the dog?

(If Leliana falls) It's a sin to hit a Sister, you know.

(If Morrigan falls) Shit! Hang on, Morrigan!

(If Oghren falls) Low blow! Get it?

(If Shale falls) How did they kill the golem!?

(If Sten falls) Sten! Shit!

(If Wynne falls) Oh no, the old woman fell.

(If Zevran falls) There goes our mighty Crow.

(If Anders falls) You didn't escape just to die now, did you? Get up!

(If Justice falls) Come on, Justice, you're not done yet!

(If Nathaniel falls) Nathaniel, not you!

(If Sigrun falls) No Callings on my watch, Sigrun!

(If Velanna falls) She's going to be mad when she wakes up.

#i think zevsurana was the one who originally inspired me to do this ages ago #idle mentioned wanting to see this so i am posting it #i have one for theo and ghila too but i don't wanna spam lol #maybe I'll post those at some point #i should do a greetings template for him too....#ren amell #the warden #oc companion dialogue #<-since this might become a thing lmao

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ttrpgsmoved · 6 months

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does tumblr user starpeace realise what they've done with that 'the love was there' tumblr post

#nullsense #JUST REALISED IT'S TUMBLR USER ZEVSURANA

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heroinesofthedas · 1 year

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Thinking about it, and it's weird how much of a "Blank slate" a Surana PC is for character building. With the other origins, you either have a parent if not both parents present in your origin or someone to talk about where you came from in the case of Mahariel, you have at least a skeleton on which ot build a backstory for your hero. Amell was in the same boat as Surana for obvious reasons until II came out, where the game and world tells you that the Amell family are nobility on the same level as the Couslands across the sea from where your Warden grew up, that you had a mother who became sick with grief as you and your siblings were taken one by one into circles around the continent. But there is absoluetly nothing for that for the Surana origin. Nothing to say if you were born in Ferelden or not, what your family was like. It’s just interesting from a character creating and developing standpoint to think about.

#looking respectfully at Zevsurana's blog and thinking thoughts about Warden Surana #My own Surana Warden and the story I created for her #and yeah of course the implication is that the Mage Origin was taken so young that your history before that barely counts #but it's still interesting to me to think about the wardens family out there somewhere #probably never knowing what happened to them #dragon age #origins #II #Mage origin #surana #amell #thinking thoughts

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couslande · 1 year

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going to chop the da writers into a thousand little pieces btw.

#sorry i saw zevsuranas post about arl howe with fem cousland #i knew the cousland origin is whack wrt gender etc but jesus fucking christ #text

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rivilu · 5 months

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Super homophobic that I can't play 3 video games at once

#constantly thinking about bg3 - alfhart and astarion's terrible horrible crunchable early game dynamic #also thinking about ayre all the time but i cant formulate my thoughts on that little lad anywhere near as well in text form #but then i'll see tumblr user zevsurana dragon age posting and suddenly.. IVE ABANDONED MY BOYS #missing orion DESPERATELY #and Einar also. All of them #and almost all the companions.. zev.. alistair.. *anachronism voice* Andy..

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pillowprincessvarric · 1 year

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Regretting that I heavily implied that Malcolm was a spirit healer in Sang So Loud, Sang So Clear because I no longer really believe that but it's going to be a bitch to go back and edit.

#the. the one zevsurana post that refers to him as being a ''flashy elementalist'' is so In My Head now #and there's something in the idea that a lot of adrian's Problems just boil down to the fact that he showed a clear affinity #for spirit work early on and that was just like. the one thing that malcolm couldn't really teach him anything about

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new-austin · 1 year

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Dwarven politics are way more scary than "the game" and they don't even have a stupid name for it. It's just politics.

#Posts written by number1dwarffanorlesianhater #zevsurana posts so true. The game IS SO dumb #Dragon age

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v-arbellanaris · 1 year

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3 21 and 25 👀

from this ask game - tentatively accepting.

thanks for enabling me as always harker ASKDFJASKDFJ

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

ok this one is a bit difficult because i have been on tumblr a very long time and i have seen so many bad takes but! if u guys were around in the beginning, u will remember. a post. i shall not name the poster. but the content was basically a 'why the a/ndersmance is toxic' post with just the absolute most deranged, ableist takes on the romance (including amazing hits like saying anders is basically a creep for... doing romantic things. on the romantic route. that you, the player character with agency, choose to pursue) that ended with 'and that's why i prefer [redacted ship]'. i really think they could've just saved everyone's fucking time by just saying they preferred [redacted ship] from the start instead of trying to act clever about it.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

... the eva/nuris. in all honesty, the idea of the elven pantheon in dao and d/a2 was so fucking fascinating to me - it was really rich. from the very first codex i got as m/ahariel, i never had the impression that the d/alish looked at their gods with pure, unfettered adulation - i understood that a deep wariness, a fear for their Othered Morality, came with the worship. the d/alish, to me, seemed to respect the gods as you respect a force of nature; inexorable, inevitable - which made perfect sense to me. and then d/ai rolls in and the worship of the gods in d/alish culture seems much more along the lines of how white people think polytheistic brown religions worship their gods - a certain naivety and rose-tintedness that i've never seen in real life. nothing about the reveal of the eva/nuris would have surprised me in d/ao because i already knew that Gods Were Not Good; but in contrast, d/ai wants the reveal to have some deep impact because we're led to believe that the d/alish do believe that Their Gods Are Good. and ta-da! turns out Only The One True God is benevolent and everything else is false idols and also evil - akin to devil worship - and and and

anyway. i don't really care about the eva/nuris anymore; d/ai killed that for me.

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

ehhhh sometimes i side-eye people who really rely on the "b/ioware can't write" schtick to prop up their points of how canon should be (and often, it's even more flattened, somehow, than what canon we've already got lmao). like. i don't think the problem is that b/ioware writers can't write. i'll say it jokingly sometimes but i think some people really have taken it super seriously and in actuality i think it's just not true. i think they should hire more sensitivity readers. i think their writer's room should be more diverse. i think E A should stop trying to make b/ioware something it's not and instead let it be what it is. i think there are a lot of fundamental problems with how video game sales work (and how they contribute to whether a series will get more content or get axed). but i don't really think b/ioware can't write - they've created a really layered, complex, nuanced world and unfortunately the world we live in, where everything revolves around sales and how quickly companies can produce products, is what is flattening the complexity of that world. i think the world they've built has grown far, far beyond what they had initially planned for, and i think the ways they've been trying to make up for that is insufficient. but i love this game - i love the world they've built, the characters, the lore, the central conflicts. i don't even hate most of the plotlines, even if i hate how things are framed. i think they've made something really amazing - and i wish they would continue to improve on the flaws of their previous writings, not doubledown on it and make it worse.

#asks #starpeace #zevsurana #fandom critical

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vigilskeep · 8 months

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back and even bulkier with another powerpoint! i opted for spreading the information out in a hopefully engaging way over limiting the number of slides. the circle is a BIG, big topic, with such focus over the course of the games, so if i didn't cover anything useful, you want to know anything more specific, or equally if i made a mistake and missed or misinterpreted something, please let me know ily!!

transcript below the cut! my eternal thanks to @bisexualcommandershepard for providing one for the previous powerpoint and in doing so reminding me to get my act together, you have my sword

zevsurana’s guide to the circle of magi

can’t tell your circles from your chantries from your colleges from your conclaves? boy, do i have the powerpoint for you!

hit me with the basics

under the law of the orlesian chantry, every mage is required to join the circle

a mage who does not join the circle, or escapes one, is labelled an apostate, a crime punishable by death or tranquillity

tranquillity is the process by which mages are branded on the forehead, robbing them of their emotions and magic

at the end of their apprenticeship, each mage is taken without warning to their harrowing. they must choose between being sent into the fade for a dangerous test against possession, or tranquillity.

it is illegal to make harrowed mages tranquil, but they are still required to live under the circle’s supervision

depending on which text you believe, there are 14 or 15 circles under orlais’ chantry.

[this slide is accompanied by an image of a map of thedas. there are small markers spread across the map on 12 locations, mostly in orlais and the free marches, but included everywhere except tevinter and seheron.]

these are the known locations!

i didn’t include starkhaven’s, which was destroyed in a fire at the start of da2, or jainen’s, which is mentioned in an online game but as another circle in ferelden makes the dao plot make no sense. i suppose that would have gotten us up to 14 but i’m not doing it. cope

hierarchy of the circle

there are six ranks:

the grand enchanter is the mages’ direct representative to the divine. in our time, this is grand enchanter fiona, who famously stated “fuck the divine”

the first enchanter leads each circle. theoretically, their permission is needed for a mage to leave the tower, for a harrowing, and for a mage to be made tranquil. in practice, their actual power depends hugely on their political skill and their corresponding knight-commander

the senior enchanters are the most experienced mages in a circle, and advise the first enchanter, who will select one of them as their successor

those who have gained the rank of enchanter (also known as junior enchanters) are now expected to mentor apprentices

the simple rank of mage designates those who have passed their harrowing. an inhabitant of the circle fully capable of magic might say “i’m not a mage, just an apprentice”

the apprentices are children and young adults who have not yet completed their harrowing

outside of this hierarchy are the tranquil. they instead belong to the ‘formari’, who perform enchantment and sell enchanted items to produce the circle’s wealth

(it’s really important to me that you know the different ranks usually have different coloured robes to mark them out. i can’t explain that all here because it varies from circle to circle and we don’t have all the data but i think that’s so fun that i have to point it out even though it makes this slide super crowded i hate it i’m sorry)

politics of the circle: what are those first enchanters even doing?

an ideal first enchanter should govern their circle as a quasi-parental figure who can protect their mages while maintaining an uneasy balance and accord with the templars

they are also an administrator managing their circle’s finances

a weak or unskilled first enchanter can spell doom for their circle just as much as one at odds with their knight-commander

the college of magi is a council of all first enchanters

the college regularly meets in cumberland, nevarra, to discuss circle policy and elect the grand enchanter from among them

politics of the circle: what’s this about frat boys?

once a mage achieves the rank of enchanter, they may join a political fraternity

choose your fighter:

the largest fraternity, the aequitarians, are centrists

the loyalists are chantry bootlickers

the libertarians seek greater power and independence for the circle. the resolutionists are an even more radical group that emerged from them

the isolationists wish mages to withdraw from society completely

the lucrosians prioritise the accumulation of wealth and influence

the aequitarians maintained an alliance with the loyalists until the final vote to rebel, when wynne’s son rhys, asked to represent the aequitarians by first enchanter irving, voted with the libertarians

that was a lot of politics.

let’s take a breather because we haven’t even gotten to history yet oh boy

[this slide is accompanied by two pieces of dragon age concept art of white-haired mage women casting spells. one is an older human white woman who may be wynne, dressed in ornate robes and casting purple magic with a casually imperious gesture. the other is the concept art for warden surana, an angry-looking young elven white woman with a palm full of icy magic.]

hot circle mage concept art break. of course you have white hair and [caps lock begins] one thousand points lightning damage-- [caps lock ends]

but where do circles come from, i hear you cry

well, when two semi-circles love each other very much,

the year is 1:20 divine, and our questionable hero is kordillus drakon…

the circles had existed long before this, of course, in a very different form: elite tevinter academic societies

but right now, the south is in chaos. the first inquisition’s reign is coming to a close. the second blight is fifteen years underway with no sign of stopping any time soon, and will rage until 1:95 divine

kordillus drakon, the very first emperor of orlais, has a budding empire and a budding chantry that look like they might die in the cradle… unless he can continue enlisting mages against the darkspawn

we may wish to take a moment to register that kordillus drakon apparently looked like this. Sure.

[this slide is accompanied by concept art of kordillus drakon. he is blond white man in vaguely iron age dress, with an interesting hair cut including bangs, a high half ponytail and a very large moustache. he wears a swamp-green cloak and a black fur pelt over a green and white striped tunic, with a hand-axe slung through his belt, and crossed garters over whatever combination boots and pants he's wearing, which seems to be one singular garment.]

the solution to drakon's problem?

the nevarran accord

“what do video game enjoyers love? fantasy historical treaties? yeah, probably” – bioware, constantly

and they’re right unless you’re a joyless hater

the nevarran accord was agreed between the newly formed chantry and the original inquisition in 1:20 divine

the people of the south feared magic, but they also wanted to be able to use its power against great threats like the darkspawn

in one move, the circle of magi, the seekers of truth, and the templar order were created

some mages considered the circle a refuge in a world full of terror. to others, it was a prison

but this is dragon age, so maker forbid we would only be told one version of events

there is also a codex entry called ‘history of the circle’

it describes the mages of the divine age as chafing under being allowed to do little more than light candles and lamps for the chantry… as if there wasn’t a fucking blight going on

in protest, mages snuffed out the eternal flame in the grand cathedral at val royeaux, and barricaded themselves in the choir loft. divine ambrosia ii attempted to call an exalted march on her own cathedral, but even her templars discouraged her

shouted negotiations were conducted for 21 days before the mages “went cheerily into exile” in a remote fortress, separated from society into the circle for “the first time”

nerd's note:

personally, i would understand this as the circle as an organisation being created with the accord in 1:20 divine, and the mages being relegated to this lesser role after the greatest battles against the darkspawn, with the establishment of circle of magi towers after the protest. there’s no date of events on this codex, but since it mentions templars, it has to have been post-accord.

i would also take this account with a grain of salt in-world, as it was written by sister petrine, a controversial writer to the chantry, but nonetheless a chantry scholar.

this has been a lot of chatter about mages. but there’s an elephant in the room, and it’s looking at us suspiciously…

the circle and the templar order

the circle does supposedly have nominal independence from the chantry…

Knight-Commander Greagoir: I promised you aid, but with the Circle restored, my duty is to watch the mages. They are free to help you, however. Warden: I thought the templars were in charge of the Circle. Knight-Commander Greagoir: The templars guard and advise, but the first enchanter has the last word in what happens in the Circle.

...

Warden: Won’t the Circle of Magi do what the Chantry says? Alistair: Technically the Circle of Magi is independent. We don’t know that the Chantry won’t support us, of course. Morrigan: You truly believe that? Alistair: If we speak to the First Enchanter, he should see that his responsibility to the Grey Wardens supersedes anything the Chantry or even Teyrn Loghain might have to say about it.

… but since when has power ever gone where it’s supposed to?

as world of thedas volume 1 explains, “Although the Circle is supposed to be autonomous, a heavy Templar presence in all Circle towers has effectively made the organisation an arm of the Chantry for ages.”

a first enchanter can quickly lose all the power they allegedly hold

even in the best of times with a skilful, well-intentioned first enchanter, templars reserve the right to send mages to the dungeons, to take away their children, to kill any who leave the circle, etc. as a matter of course

grand clerics reserve the right to grant the right of annulment

generally, the system is maintained by a mutual interest in avoiding open conflict

the templars are the ones in power with the chantry’s full support. if they drive the mages to open conflict, their comfortable routine is uprooted

templars are equipped to hunt down individual mages, even blood mages and abominations

templars are not equipped to be outnumbered or face even numbers. mages are simply far more powerful in a fair fight than they are. lyrium can only do so much

...

mages, meanwhile, operate under the not entirely unfounded belief that the outside world is entirely hostile to them

at least if they remain, they can keep an uneasy balance in which most mages survive, their existence tolerated by the chantry. they can continue studying among their own kind in the only home they know

if they openly rebel, they may throw aside what limited protections and goodwill they have. mages like wynne outright state certainty that if they rebel, “genocide” will follow

furthermore, those mages with more status have more access to privilege. they’re also the ones who have best passed the chantry’s tests. thus, those in a position to lead are least inclined to rebel

you only rebel against the circle because you think less of your children are going to die starting a war than they are in here.

and, uh, on that cheery note… any questions from the class?

#zevsurana academics #dragon age #circle of magi

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