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vakariansmonocle · 7 years

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LONG POST WARNING

okay but i’ve had some shit in my head for days bout my girl revas so like here’s a fckn ramble about it honestly.

so i tend to use a lot of imagery on her features to represent different aspects of her per verse. usually they show up in the form of tattoos, thought some are more hair style and some other just visual stuff.

like in her dragon age verse i gave her vallaslin that literally coils and connects around her body, and turns her torso into almost this twisted trunk from all the lines. Granted, there’s shaky lines, imperfect lines, and lines of various colors. because they were all given to her by people from various clans and usually multiple people if not all the people from a clan. Specifically, I did this to show how important this is to her, how deeply she’s rooted and connected to her people. how much she loves her people. It’s, in retrospect, could almost represent and be a play on the Giving Tree if it’s specifically in her inquisitor verse ngl here. But I also really like the visual of, in her inquisitor verse, the damage that’s done to these tattoos. The way it’s abruptly torn apart along her arm, the various burns and cuts through her. the honest and literal severing of her & her people, no matter how deeply she connects to them still no matter how much she cares, her people are lost to her eventually. It’s also really telling in the fact that she would have removed all of it via solas. like. She knows these markings are not hers to bare any longer. that each line is just some reminder of lost lives, lost connection. Just a reminder that she is lost to her people and it’s so.. i unno it’s honestly a really heartbreaking moment if you understand what these markings mean to her. Not to the rest of the world, not to solas, not to her people. Just herself. Like, to have all that removed, or maybe even just the facial markings, and then mark herself with Falon’din? it’s ridiculous. Honestly, in my head having Falon’din’s vallaslin marked on her is probably something that draws back those lines along her. It’s sort of why i imagine she would keep the lines. Cause like, honestly... Creator of death, the guide of the lost, the seer’s, markings touching and coiling around those lines? Tell me that wouldn’t be fucking amazingly telling and foreshadowing lmao. It’s probably one of my favorite visual characteristics of her design in that verse. Mainly because i keep some of her other characteristics with the rest of them! ie: scars on her face & throat.

anyways so like. in her modern verse she has these magic tattoos and ones symbolizing her friends, her family. These small & large details that are over looked from a distance, I think. Things maybe you notice but it’s not clear enough. Things maybe you trace when she’s laying on your lap. whatever. those sorts of tattoos and little details. Particularly i wanna talk about the large, and - usually - very noticeable, black work wing tattoo on her back. ( Because this is a detail that i wanna compare with another verse. ) But i wanna give y’all some Deets about this one. This one particular tattoo grants her the ability to freely grow large raven-esque wings from her back without having to shift her form to fit them. The wings are pretty huge but, they fold perfectly to fit the tattoo to be pulled in. BUT one of the noticeable features when her wings are out, the black work is what folds out. The ink sort of fills into the negative space, creeping along to each little point before slowly eeking off of her back. Because the tattoo is actually geometric, the ink sort of makes this 3d model of the design before the wings just fill out with feathers. If i got really graphic it does that gross (but awesome) build up of skeletal bits, muscles & sinew, & then flesh and feathers. But yeah it just fills out like that and reverse that process to retract them. See the reason for this visual is, of course, the wings of death. But, also, the association of freedom with flight. Ravens are honestly her motif though. Most people can associate raven’s with death, and mischief but in some aspects also knowledge. So it’s honestly very fitting. of course, for revas it was one of those impulse tattoos she wanted so she could have awesome wings. This doesn’t take away from the visual that she sort of has this freedom to her life, that she got to free herself from the horrors of her past, from the pain of the past. It doesn’t take away from the death aspect either, considering she connects it to her being sort of a bringer of death. Not that she is but it is a common thought process for her to have. She is, afterall, a death seer; due to her being connected to the undead and always having one foot in the ground, she can see those who will die and often senses it in passing. It is one of her strongest abilities. It is the weight and marking of a death carrier i guess, for her.

In contrast though is the au where she never died. In this au, she never got killed. She had to live with her memories of abuse and torture. She had to live with the weight of two murders on her hands. She had to live through the loss of her parents instead, through the burden of becoming a guardian to her siblings. She lives in this state of never truly free of this past. It’s essentially barbs in her spine, tugging and holding her down from it. This weight and pain of everything she’s been through crushing and keeping her from the freedom of moving forward. I mean, honestly she’s tried to die several times but due to this au being essentially reversed, she can’t die. Rapid healing and what not. So she can’t die. and that’s sort of a bummer. more of a bummer because she got trapped into a deal of ‘i’ll give you money in exchange for taking my place. added bonus: immortality!’ so she’s just fucked up from that. So a lot of her tattoos are.. Little things. Symbols, words, phrases. Reminders. A lot of them are very punk inspired, but there are a few that are to keep her going and lift her spirit when it gets really heavy. But she doesn’t have her wings, but god she wants to be able to have them. She wants so badly to be able to feel the wind against her face, feel weightless, to feel Free. Reach up and grab the clouds and see everything from great heights. Wings to her would be only the freedom to get away from everything just for a little bit. But. She’s also okay with not having them. Because this version of Revas has a different visual tick; a soft, warm golden glow when she feels hope & happiness to a very high level or whenever she uses healing magic. Now you may be thinking ‘that’s unfortunate, wouldn’t that draw attention?’ But uhh depression folks. But this like, visual sense from her is like. I think something really beautiful and warming to her character. Because it’s that sort of idea that she, very literally, embodies this hope in the darkness. It’s faint, soft & flickering. It’s almost like she’s surrounded by a dozen little flames, as if she herself is made of this dull flame. But she doesn’t burn anyone who touches her like this, it’s more of this sort of overwhelming warmth in your chest, running along your nerves and gently taking the weight off of you. Should you let it. And god if she’s healing an injury it eases the pain and the light will literally seal the wounds for you.

These two visuals are sort of the polar opposite of one another and that’s really the point of it. I wanted to make it more than just ‘oh she didn’t die and shit sucks’ vs ‘she died and she has a decent life.’ I wanted to draw out the most powerful aspect of these versions of her & pull it to the visualization of them. I mean honestly it’s one of my fave tropes. and maybe it’s cheap trick to do it like that but it’s so good. It’s so good. Listen, No Death Revas has so much weight pulling her down yet have her represented by flames and fire, burning determination and hope? It’s so ideal. It’s so good for her. & to have Revas normally represented by Ravens and wings? It’s extremely fitting because she’s still this little shit. She is a symbol of carefree but overly caring. Someone who remembers so much and cares about the details. It’s so good i unno i love her.

Misc difference in details between the two:

Hairstyle: Normally, Revas has extremely long hair that reaches her ankles. It’s usually pulled up into a high tight ponytail or braided. Wearing it down is usually saved for spending time with someone she loves, romantically, or just casual tiredness. However, in No Death, she shaves both sides of her head & keeps her hair length down to her collar bone or to the middle of her shoulder blades. But, it’s usually parted to hide the shaved sides for work, or pulled to one side & tied. This is mostly based on my own coping mechanism of cutting my hair after loss.

Dress: Typically, she’ll wear pretty revealing clothing. Ranging from open back tops & booty shorts to crop tops & short skirts. She does usually wear shorts tho. It’s her thing. She likes showing off her body because she’s proud of it and enjoys it. Though, also because she mainly lives in California so. lmao. But again, in comparison to No Death, it’s the opposite. Due to a lot of trauma and shame of how her body looks, she wears non fitting clothing and generally doesn’t wear anything that shows off her features. Because she really hates showing off tbh. Like its a lot of Frumpy clothes. but it keeps her comfy so.

****TW: SELF HARM**** Scars: Notably the only real major scars on Revas are the one on her throat, and the matching long ones down her forearms. Of course she also has some on her face; One: across her left eye, along her left side of her jaw & going from her left nostril to the right side of her jaw. Two crossing over her right eye & connecting mid cheek. Only the scars on her throat & over her eyes don’t appear in No Death. However, she does have a noticeable forehead scar. Besides facial scars she does have a lot of self-harm scars along her arms and thighs. Most of them are well healed. She also has a scar along the right of her torso, matching both back and front. ( this was from falling onto something and being impaled but it healed quickly ) As well as a scar at the bottom of her ribs from the ritual to become immortal. I should note that her healing ability only increases how rapidly she can heal. she retains some damage & scars from the injury should they be significant to her. *** tw end ****

I try my best to bring out characteristics and make shit detailed af so if i, or anyone else, ever wants to draw revas it’s all sort of summed up there man its good stuff i love her so much.

#oc: Revas #c: Revas Ramsey #au: No Death #self harm //#self harm tw #family death ment #long post #i love revas so much and i like talking about these things so much god #scriptuurient #this has almost 2000 words jfc

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