#their own estates in the city meaning they would need rooms in the palace dedicated to them. where are those rooms??? if’s tiny as hell. all

[came-out-of-the-coffin-desisted]

writing dragon age fanfiction is so so so so hard for me because every time i spot another historical inaccuracy that’s like “i don’t care that it’s fantasy they have the same level of technology this is WRONG” i have to have a moment of like. “kaed NO ONE ELSE will EVER care about this. you watch ‘ranking period dramas on corset accuracy both in construction and writing’ videos on youtube for entertainment normal people simply do not give a FUCK about medieval castle layouts!”

and yet this cycle continues, because the dragon age devs so so so so clearly DID research but they did BAD research and it HAUNTS me. like WHYYYYY is there only one courtyard that isn’t even really a courtyard in castle cousland WHY is the “main hall” huge with no furniture while the great hall “dining room” is tiny as fuck and in a horrible to access spot WHY are there no ovens in the kitchens where the FUCK do they bake the breaaaad!! like ok fine cool servants get beds in thedas i’ll bite. that fucks hard, actually! but WHY are there more servant rooms than rooms for visiting nobles do you honestly think anybody in the middle ages fucking had servant rooms???? they slept on the FLOOR in the GREAT HALL! and WHY is there a fucking library and a ‘treasury’ (which what the fuck is THAT there should be a DON-JON in there you locked your valuables in the TOWER at the TOP, not in ONE room centrally located on the first floor with TWO guards!!) like i KNOW it was for level design i KNOW it was but oh my fucking g-d it’s gonna KILL ME to write out creeping through corridors when there WERE NO CORRIDORS! like look at this. look at this.

castle cousland: stupid, awful design, honestly they kinda asked to be coup’ed with their garbage unsurvivable castle that supposedly nobody sieges regularly even though it’s literally a death trap. there is ONE main exit, no way to trap your enemies, and only one official guard post that i can see. fuck awful.

harlech castle in wales: it took 115 years for someone to successfully take this castle, and it’s withstood COUNTLESS sieges, you can go visit it right the hell now if you go to wales (not at all getting into the evilness of the english building castles in wales, that’s not the point i’m trying to make.) see how the outside makes it so that even if your enemies breach the walls, to actually reach anyone important they have to survive the volleys of arrows from the ramparts? and then presumably kill everyone ON the ramparts, or the minute you go to open a door or try to drag someone out, you’re going to get shot full of arrows. that’s after breaching TWO heavy doors (which would require a battering ram both times) which would wake up the entire castle LONG before they got anywhere NEAR the heir to the castle’s wife and child.

and before somebody says “oh well kaed maybe you just don’t know your castle building periods very well” think again. i know my castle building periods. that style above is concentric (harlech castle’s initial construction was finished in 1289 and was one of the first finished castles in england in this style,) which came after the keep and bailey style, which came after the motte-and-bailey style, which came after the burh (which arguably WASN’T a castle but whatever,) etc. there are no fortified castles in english history that look like castle cousland, because it’s fucking indefensible. now, this does lead to the question of “oh, well, what is the timeline for the game, maybe there’s something you missed!” so let’s examine the time period of origins:

at the very, very latest, origins could be based off of the BEGINNING of the british “wars of the roses” (the civil wars between the various members of the house plantagenet) which began in the 1450s— this is personally what /i/ think origins is based off of, for a couple reasons. 1) trevelyan was a real person— g.m. trevelyan was a british historian who wrote about the wars of the roses, and in one instance there’s a quote of his the devs almost verbatim used for the design of the free marches: “the Wars of the Roses were to a large extent a quarrel between Welsh Marcher Lords, who were also great English nobles, closely related to the English throne…” they ixnayed the part about the marcher lords being ferelden nobles, i imagine because it was too complicated, but trevelyan? marcher lords? a close relationship with this country? (i.e. like somewhere that might take in their refugees after a catastrophe?) cmon. 2) because ferelden is fucking huge and the histories are kinda weird, because they aren’t 1 for 1, i’m gonna say that we have to use the norman conquest of england as our unification date. in other contexts i wouldn’t try to argue this, but in this one, i’m saying 1066 is the unification date of the anglo-saxon kingdoms into england. calenhad gives us a hard unification date for ferelden— the first landsmeet was in 5:42 exalted, ergo origins is 388 years later. the wars of the roses started in 1455, 389 years after the norman conquest ended. 3) the wars of the roses happened because of a succession crisis— admittedly, these two succession crises are very, very different, but there are definitely parallels between loghain and henry vi and alistair and edward iv. henry vi was crowned at a young age (loghain largely ruled for maric at various points in his life, starting when he was very young,) and was very ineffectual— he suffered from an unknown mental illness which made him extremely unstable and unable to rule for large periods of time. loghain, on the other hand, ruled when the /theirins/ weren’t stable, so you argue he had the opposite— meanwhile, his policies WEREN’T sustainable, whatever you might think of him. loghain is too shaped by his own experiences to be a truly good leader, and by the time his rule/anora’s rule is threatened by cailan, he’s sacrificed enough of his principles that he’s willing to commit atrocities (notably, margaret of anjou ruled during the worst parts of her husband’s mental instability, which again could apply to loghain OR anora, as they ruled fairly jointly after a certain point.) edward iv was the son of richard of york, who was eligible for the throne at a very young age (18 to alistair’s 19) because his father was dead. he was coaxed and led into battle by his cousin, the earl of warwick (also known as the kingmaker— sound like a protagonist you might know?) that’s about where the similarities end, but that’s largely because alistair is a grey warden— if he weren’t, he’d probably be able to have kids and end the question of succession. but he can’t, which, assuming the devs eventually remember, WILL lead to another civil war. hence why i say this is at the BEGINNING of the wars of the roses.

another option that could be argued but makes much less sense and i have no evidence for is that alistair has similarities to edward ii (second son who only became king because his brother died, married a more powerful woman to consolidate power, not very good at ruling, no offense to alistair,) but that still puts origins at like 1307-1327. in either case, they would have been using concentric castles— and given what time period castle cousland was originally built in, it would have been built as a motte-and-bailey, which would NOT have lasted four hundred years. so the castle had to have been rebuilt, and bryce cousland would have had to update that rebuilt castle, because no one lived in it during the orlesian occupation. so where the hell does this winding, weird multi-level design come from?

i GUESS— and this is SO charitable— they could have designed castle cousland based off of a country house design from the mid 1500s, but none of them look like that, either. they’re exclusively rectangular, for one thing, and one of the huge bragging rights of owning one was that they weren’t fortified— they came into fashion during a period of relative stability under the tudor rule, when it was considered guache and maybe even treasonous to build a fortified castle. ferelden is NOWHERE NEAR a period of stability, if anything at the end of origins they’re entering their greatest period of INstability, given what happens in inquisition, and that no matter who ends up on the throne, there’s no way for them to have children. so there’s NO way this castle is a country house, or inspired by one.

leaving us with the final conclusion that a) the game devs definitely did do research into the time period because i can fairly directly trace a line between the event i think inspired origins and the plot, but they didn’t do enough research to figure out what the everloving fuck the BUILDINGS looked like. so these castles make no fucking sense and can’t possibly be called historically accurate even with the fantasy defense, and b) i care WAAAY too much about this for somebody who isn’t even a medieval historian. my area of expertise is the paleolithic, i have no clue why this bugs me so bad i spent four fucking hours writing this post.

#anyone: so what are you getting up to on spring break? me: uhhhhhhhhhhh *spends four hours writing a bioware calloit post about their #historically inaccurate castles* Normal Things #it took me four hours bc i had to pare it down like 8 times btw. i could have kept going #btw there are image descriptions on the maps #dragon age origins #dragon age #long post #actually i take it back i DO know why it bugs me and it’s because they made this g-dawful design part of the plot on every single occasion #like highever? would never have been sacked if not for this design. redcliffe? whole story is about infiltrating this castle through these #extensive dungeons they never would have fucking built bc there’s no use for them. the palace in denerim (which doesn’t even have a name) #is so so so fucked. we can’t even get into it but i HATE it. denerim is a city small enough that not all the banns arls and teyrns can have #their own estates in the city meaning they would need rooms in the palace dedicated to them. where are those rooms??? if’s tiny as hell. all #they needed to do was to put up some extra wings you can’t go into that’s all they needed. i’m so so so annoyed by this it’s such a pet #peeve of mine. especially since skyhold is SOOOOOO good if’s the pinnacle of dragon age buildings no one else will ever be her #there’s multiple courtyards. there’s a garden. there’s the stables centrally located there are concentric walls there’s that weird palace #thing in the center with the world’s hottest great hall. there’s a FORGE there’s a keep there’s a guest wing there’s a tabern there’s #ANOTHER tower you can build there are sentry posts there’s a gatehouse there’s a bridge no one will ever replace her in my heart i know this #skyhold baby you are so so so sexy and delicious and everything a fantasy castle in a video game should be MWAH

[cynthiakozacik-blog]

For decades, suppliers laden with fruits, vegetables, and nuts would pull up to the courtyard of City Market, a century-old wholesale produce mart in what is now the eastern side of downtown’s Fashion District.But on one recent weekday, it was the warm scent of charcoal from the oven at industrial-chic Italian restaurant Rossoblu that wafted over the courtyard where horse carts and later diesel trucks once brought their perishable wares for sale.

After having sat vacant for years, the once-thriving market is reemerging as City Market South, an upscale outpost dedicated to dining, drinking and hanging out. The idea is to entice a new wave of office workers and others who want to unwind on a downtown block few used to visit.

“The Fashion District is changing,” said Mark Levy, one of the developers. “We’re adding a new dimension.”

So are others, as L.A.’s real estate renaissance opens a new frontier.

Investors and developers are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the scruffy-edged Fashion District, making it next in line for the kind of growth that has been transforming South Park, the Historic Core and Arts District for years now.

Los Angeles developer Geoffrey Palmer is finishing up his 600-unit Broadway Palace apartment complexes on the western edge of the district, which has seen a rush of new housing, offices, stores and restaurants since the popular Ace Hotel opened on Broadway near Olympic Boulevard in 2014.

Brookfield, known for its portfolio of conventional high-rise office towers on Bunker Hill and the Financial District, bought a stake this year in the $440-million California Market Center, a half-empty fashion showroom complex it plans to transform into offices for creative firms.

Such pricey investments in the once-remote Fashion District dovetail with the profound transformation of downtown that some longtime observers still find hard to fathom.

“A year ago, I wouldn’t have believed City Market South” could exist, said veteran commercial property appraiser David Zoraster of CBRE Group Inc., who has been studying the city center professionally for nearly four decades. “Downtown is now a cool place. For most of my career, nobody would stay there if they didn’t have to.”

The changes encroaching on the Fashion District also are being spurred by internal, industry forces as online purchasing and other shifting retail trends shake up the food chain bringing clothes, accessories and fabrics to consumers.

The vast California Market Center, at 9th and Los Angeles streets, has been struggling for more than 20 years, as wholesale showrooms lost their supremacy in the clothing trade amid the rise of mass retailers including Wal-Mart.

The giant retail chain, for example, learned to quickly evaluate what customers wanted at the point of sale and buyers no longer needed to travel to showrooms to make purchasing judgments. Online sales also clobbered a lot of the smaller boutique owners who once flocked to the district to stock their stores.

“The garment industry is hitting some headwinds with the Internet,” said Rena Masten Leddy, executive director of the Fashion District Business Improvement District. “Showrooms are less important now and some building owners will decide to go in a new direction.”

Also, bulk buyers from South America, once key customers in the district, are disappearing as stronger dollars and political turmoil in some countries depress purchasing.

Parts of the district also evolved over the last several years as many merchants moved east of San Pedro Street to newer buildings.

Women’s wear stores, which were concentrated on its western end around Maple and Wall streets north of Pico Boulevard, moved to the sprawling San Pedro Wholesale Center and other big wholesale marts to the east, said Mark Moniz, another CBRE property appraiser.

Some men’s wear wholesalers checked out of Los Angeles Street and many clothing accessories dealers vacated spots on Main Street closer to the urban core of downtown.

Now, new owners are turning those sites into apartment buildings, hotels and restaurants as change come at the Fashion District from two directions.

“The South Park neighborhood is creeping east and the Historic Core is creeping south,” Moniz said.

City Market South is leading the changes on the eastern edge along San Julian, transforming the south end of the old produce market into a mixed-use center with offices, bars, restaurants, an event center, fashion showroom Lovestitch and a coffeehouse.

Among the tenants in the eight-building complex will be a couple of entertainment companies, Drive Studios, a visual effects firm, and the Bullitt studio operations of filmmakers Justin Lin and Anthony and Joe Russo. The trio are behind such box-office standouts as the “Fast and the Furious” franchise and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”

Bullitt’s offices will be in a two-story former warehouse built in the 1930s that also holds Rossoblu, which serves Bolognese-inspired Italian cuisine.

Also coming to the former warehouse, in January, is Slanted Door, a branch of a San Francisco restaurant known for its modern Vietnamese cuisine.

And set to open soon in an old banana-processing facility and loading dock is a yet-unnamed bar and restaurant by mixologists Pablo Moix and Steve Livigni intended to be a nighttime destination.

Indeed, creating multiple eating and drinking options was part of the strategy to build City Market South’s reputation, said developer Levy, who is building out the complex with partners Kevin Napoli and Peter Fleming.

Fleming is the great-nephew of Edward J. Fleming, who co-founded the original City Market with Au Gee Jong in 1909. He brought in Levy and Napoli of Lena Group Partners in 2013.

It will cost about $13 million to build out the 2.5-acre Market South, but it is slated to be just the first phase of development at the former produce site long known as the City Market of Los Angeles.

Plans for a much bigger parcel to the north owned by Fleming call for a ground-up development that could include a campus for a private college, high-rise residences, hotel rooms and offices for rent. If approved by Los Angeles officials, the north City Market complex would total about 1.6 million square feet on 7.5 acres, said Douglas Hanson, master plan architect for the project.

Construction would be spread over several years and could cost more than $500 million. Hanson said City Market South was a way to kick off the bigger project and reorient the neighborhood from vehicles to pedestrians.

“It starts to develop the neighborhood for the second phase,” he said.

For all the changes the Fashion District is going through, such gentrification is unlikely to creep into Santee Alley, the district’s popular outdoor bazaar where throngs gather daily to shop for bargains and kitsch.

Rents on the alley and on prime blocks nearby with a lot of foot traffic reach $9 per square foot per month, said real estate broker I. Hassan of Quantum Associates.

That’s a price most downtown retailers, who typically pay $3 to $5 a square foot in the Arts District and Historic Core, would balk at.

Operators of Fashion District shops that sell only wholesale can also pay as much as $9 or $10 a square foot. That means landlords are getting top dollar and the kind of change now occurring on the edges of the district may not further creep into it anytime soon.

So for now, City Market shares San Julian Street with a cluster of prosperous-looking wholesalers such as “Juliet,” “Dancing Queen” and “Cinderella” that sell women’s floor-length gowns for special events.

“It will be interesting to see how it affects the rest of the neighborhood,” Leddy said of City Market South. “Some owners are saying, ‘I wonder what I can do with my property.’”