Cheeses Of Thedas

no but how popular are maryden’s songs?? i know she’s playing in every tavern we go to but that could be a conveniently identical npc because inquisition didn’t have a ton of models lol

like what kind of notoriety does Scout Lace Harding have? is rook going to feel like they’re meeting, idk, billie jean. eleanor rigby. jolene herself

These days I kind of can't stop thinking about how much I enjoyed the possibility of being from Orzammar in Origins, specifically because just being who you are put so much of the early game in a wholly different context.

Like, a dwarf from Orzammar has, by definition, lived literally under a rock their whole lives!! They've never left the underground, and yes, while that also makes their ignorance of surface squabbles (the mage issue, the Ferelden/Orlais conflict, everything with the city elves and the Dalish, etc.) make a lot of sense, it also comes with so many interesting new angles that I'm honestly so surprised still that I've never really seen it mentioned very often, if at all. (Even though we even get an explicit moment to reflect on it, when leaving with Oghren.)

In Origins, the moment a dwarf first steps out through the gates of Orzammar and begins the game, is a profoundly life-altering experience. Dare I say, even more so than it is for an elf or a human. Because stepping out, for the first time, they are entering an entirely new world, and for the first time, in front of them is a vast expanse of nothing but air.

The end of the prologue, it's not just a fundamental personal change that awaits you, it's also a displacement so complete, that it's absolutely dizzying to even think about.

That first time a dwarf feels the sun on their skin, they are made sun-touched, a surfacer: stripped not only from caste and kin, of identity, but also faith and memory, any favor their ancestors may have still held for them, and any possibility of ever returning, as far as they know. (Aeducan may even have a bitter little chuckle over the irony of how they could very well have just one day before shrugged off the concerns of their surface brethren completely, only to be made one of them now.)

Their whole lives, they had always been able to see the opposite wall of the cave, or at least to know for sure that it's there, along with the miles and miles of unchanging, crystal-littered rock stretching protectively over their heads-- now all of that is gone. There's nothing between them, and the infinite and ever-changing blue, grey, orange, black of the open sky they've never seen, and in the distance, there's no wall-- just glorious, humongous mounds and spires of rock jutting up into the belly of the sky, the likes of which they've only ever seen from the inside.

Orzammar, despite no sunlight ever penetrating that far, is always lit bright, and it's heated by the lava streams and pools below. A dwarf has never known anything colder or warmer, brighter or darker, never seen seasons change... the biting winds and the frequent rains in Ferelden are completely new to them, not to mention the terrifying cracks of thunder that sound like the very Stone over them cracking in two, the bright flashes of lightning illuminating the night for but a moment, or waking in the middle of the night to what sounds like countless fingers pat-pat-patting the tarp of their tent, or the fact that animals -which are varied and plentiful and wholly alien- sometimes just randomly fall into the sky, like the rumors say! They might know academically that with birds, that just sort of tends to happen, but they've never seen one take off!!

Hell, all of surface flora and fauna are completely new to them-- it's likely they've only ever seen a tree or a dog in a picture book. Flowers, they've likely only ever seen as an expensive and frivolous luxury few can afford to have for a while, and even then, they are by necessity brought in removed from their roots, dead, wilting, taken from their natural place... while here, blooms just spring up underfoot willy-nilly, not entirely unlike mushrooms at the home which is not theirs anymore.

And... there must be something organic, something comfortingly animal to the scent of hundreds of warm bodies crammed into a sealed hole in the ground-- which is just gone now. The air is fresh, clean... empty, cold, lonely. No smell of spilled ale, piss, and vomit, no thick scent of the combined breaths and bodies of all their people... no scent of belonging, the air that moves their lungs now is no longer that which has moved those of all they've ever known, and every breath washes more, and more, and more of who they once were from inside their very body.

Being on the surface, it's like being thrust into an alien world, with which all just expects you to be intimately familiar. What do you mean the grass, the bugs, the birds, the leaves are strange? What do you mean you've never eaten leaves from this plant, fruit from this tree, the flesh of this creature you've only ever heard about? They laugh when you avert your eyes from the sky and try not to think about falling into it, or when you startle at the feeling of falling water suddenly hitting your skin, as if that was somehow funny, charming.

The night, which you've never before seen fall, is a comfort from all that endless, boundless seeing- but after the Joining, not even that is a relief.

Because if you're a dwarven Warden, all the dreams you've had in your life have been nightmares.

So you cope. You learn, and adapt, and endure.

Strong and immutable, like the Stone from which you were rent.

Thedosian Artists and Performers

Here's a little list I compiled over time of Thedosian artists and performers, professionals and hobbyists, that are explicitely named across the franchise. Many more artists haunt the narrative but saddly they remain unnamed.

I saw someone earlier this week struggling with finding canon thedosian artists but the app crashed before I could note their name. Hopefully this will find its way to you, unknown person! I'll post (hopefully soon) additional lists compiling in details all form of Arts, Techniques and Music that are mentionned to exist in Thedas along with named artisans and specialized workers, in the hope it could be useful references for someone. Don't hesitate to fire a DM my way if you need something specific fast! ^-^

Abbreviations you might be not familiar with, just in case : DAtV : Dragon Age - The Veilguard TLC : The Last Court TME : The Masked Empire TN : Tevinter Nights TST : The Stolen Throne WoT and WoT2 : World of Thedas and World of Thedas 2.

Actors :

Interesting tidbit : Orlesian theater actors wear color-coded shape-coded facemasks on stage. A half-face Green mask is to signal the lead masculine role, a half-face purple one for the lead feminine role, blue masks for supporting masculine characters and red masks for supporting feminine characters. Full white masks are for spirits while demons are played wearing red-striken black masks. The race, gender or age of the actors themselves don't matter in the least in the attribution of roles. There are also professional theater critics in Orlais (and maybe Tevinter as well). - Maudine : Orlesian actress, played in front of the Orlesian court in 9:41 (last name unknown, source : DAI) - Juliette : Orlesian actress, played in front of the Orlesian court in 9:41 (last name unknown, source : DAI) - Robert : Orlesian actor, played in front of the Orlesian court in 9:41 (last name unknown, source : DAI) - Stephan : Orlesian actor, played in front of the Orlesian court in 9:41 (last name unknown, source : DAI) - Rendell : Elven actor from Markham, Free Marches (has a slight accent which is frowned upon), played in front of the Orlesian court in 9:41 (last name unknown, source : DAI) - Victor Boyet : Elven orlesian actor, made his big break as the lead in "The Heir of Verchiel". (timeline unknown, before 9:20, source : DAI)

Playwrights : (See : Codex entry: A Compendium of Orlesian Theater, for more lore on those!)

- A. Pourri : Orlais, known for the popular "Wilkshire Downs" (which includes a lot of... farting. Might be why the french adjective used as a name here literally translate as "rotten"). (timeline unknown, likely pre-DragonAge, source : DAI) - Lumière Bartlet : Orlais, author of very little renown during his life, wrote "The Setting of the Light", considered to be one of the strangest plays to have been written and a possibly cursed one, as many of the crew and even the author himself suffered fatal accidents (demon deal gone bad?). (around 4:52, Black Age, source : DAI) - Marquise Freyette : Orlais, author of several plays, her most famous being "The Sword of Drakon : An Examination of the Life and History of the Father of Orlais", the play almost got banned by the Chantry for depicting Drakon as a man with doubts and feelings instead of a perfect hero. (timeline unknown, likely pre-DragonAge, source : DAI) - Paul Legrand : Orlais, author of the play "The Heir of Verchiel", a story of betrayals and revenge beloved by the Orlesian aristocracy. (timeline unknown but an "emperor" on the throne at the time, likely pre-DragonAge, at the very least pre-9:20, source : DAI) - Violette Armand : Orlais, author of the melodrama "Death in the Mansion", very avant-garde in its uses of masks' codification as a tool for subverting expectations. (timeline unknown, likely pre-DragonAge, source : DAI)

Artists and Artisans of various crafts and renown :

- Baldassare of Antiva : master artisan in Antiva City, unknown artistic specialty, sponsored by Orlesian nobility, active in 9:41. (source : DAI) - Chantal of Val Royaux : Orlais, unknown artistic specialty, sponsored by Orlesian nobility, active in 9:41. (source : DAI)

- Gustav of Val Fontaine : Orlais?, master cabinet-maker and virtuoso of fine marquetry. Designed and realised all the furniture of the library of the Winter Palace (one of the biggest library in Thedas). (timeline unknown, assumed dead, source : DAI) - Lady Cinthia : Ferelden or Orlais, renowned master seamstress and glove-maker whose work is recognizable by its stitchwork. (full name unknown, timeline unknown, presumed dead as of 9:30, source : DAO) - Ambrose Forfex : Tevinter (Venatori blood mage), wigmaker of renown, used to host seasonal "wig shows" for the nobility to attend, with models parading on stages in his estate in Vyrantium. (exact timeline unknown, but post-9:41 and pre-DAtV, deceased, source : TN)

Musicians, Singers and Dancers :

Interesting tidbits : Musicians seem especially valued in Orlais but exist everywhere, even under the Qun (Sten is even surprised it is not obvious to Leliana when she asks him). Nobles all around Thedas seem to receive some form of musical education and the most common instrument across the continent is the lute.

Dancers : - Veridian (stage name) : Llomerryn, twins exotic dancers, active in 9:41. (source : DAI)

Singers : - Carlota Montivecchio "The Songbird" : Antiva, famous opera singer, tried to murder a rival soprano only to be murdered in turn. (timeline unknown, source : TN) - Ser Corram "The Bard": Ferelden, famed singer and warrior, active in the Steel or Storm Age and lover of Arl Jacen Guerrin. (source : DAI)

Musicians : - Emeline de Montsimmard : orlesian music composer and private music teacher to the orlesian nobility, active in 9:41. (source : DAI) - Lord Edmond : orlesian, music student under the tutelage of Emeline de Montsimmard. (source : DAI) - Maryden Halewell : identified as both bard (but not the orlesian kind) and minstrel, published an anthology songbook called "A Garden's Grace : Songs of the Field", active in 9:41. (source : DAI) - Zither! (stage name) : Orlais, (actually a mage!), active in 9:41 (actual name unknown, source : DAI, playable character in multi.) - Edmond : Orlais, active in 9:41?, harpsichordist in Zither!'s band. (last name unknown, source : DAI)

Orlesian Bards : I set them aside a bit, since they're versed in music and arts but technically Art is not their primary goal, just a means to an end. - Arianna (deceased, source : DAA) - Bastien (deceased, source : WoT2/DAI) - Katriel (deceased, source : TST) - Leliana - Marjolaine Vasseur (deceased, source DAO) - Melcendre (deceased, source : TME) - Rosalyn (situation unknown, source DAA) - Shayd (active in 9:41, member of the Inquisition, source : TN) - The Black Fox (situation unknown, likely deceased as he was active in the Blessed Age, source : WoT2) - The Black Hart (situation unknown, Charter's previous identity? source : DAI).

Bonus : Named Bands Those were likely made just for the joke but since they're in the game, you can pry them from my cold dead hands lol. (source : DAI) - Evading Demons ("Didn’t they lose their singer to an abomination?") - Fuchsia Lotus ("They had a song about that. “I need to live” or, maybe “Hey! Don’t kill me!” " -Zither!) - Gemstone and the Oculara ("A marvelous band. Sexy too." "With mad skills." -Zither) - Spymaster ("Great musicians, but rubbish in the sack." -Zither!) - Apostacy - Bluebird Coop ("avant-garde rubbish" - Zither!)

Painters, engravers and illustrators :

Interesting tidbits : Thedas has several "traditional painting schools" [WoT2] and Orlais has a "classical period" for paintings [TME]. Commissioning artists seem to be pretty common in noble households in Orlais, the Free Marches, Nevarra, Orzammar and Ferelden. Lockets with painted miniatures of loved ones in them are common in Ferelden, Orlais and Nevarra.

(Funny additions : Adult books with raunchy illustrations are very much a thing in Thedas. Paintings with peepholes hidden in them for spying purposes are totally a thing as well! [TN] There also are professional art critics in Thedas as well as art forgers. Orlais had a critic named "DeCassoulet" (after the French dish) who recently fell from grace because of his association with art forgers. [WoT2] )

Painters : - Ambrose Poirier : Orlais, specialty unknown, sponsored by Orlesian nobility, active in 9:41. (source : DAI) - An Ortienz : unknown origin (maybe the Anderfels given the name?), portraistist of talent, active in Serault, Orlais, during the Blessed Age. (exact timeline unknown, source : TLC) - Caliastri : unknown origin (maybe Antiva given the name?), their style is easily recognisable (and often forged?) and their paintings are found in Orlesian noble homes. (full name unknown, timeline unknown but still famous in 9:40, source : TME) - Griselda Reiniger : Anderfels, portraitist in the "traditional Anderfels style", came to prominence with the painting "The Chant of Light" depicting Andraste playing the harp the night before her execution. Won a price at the University of Orlais for it and is sponsored by both the imperial Orlesian court and the Chantry. Supposedly active in 9:41. (source : WoT2) - Tillendall Lemallen : portraitist and wild-life painter for the Orlesian court. (given his name and his knowledge of Halla, he might be elven or even Dalish of origin, timeline unknown, source : DAI) - Yvette Gabriella Montilyet : Antiva, learned her trade under Antiva's royal tutors and her works are expected to be exposed in antivan salons in 9:41. (source : DAI)

Engravers : - Ambrose Dumont : Orlais, of humble origins, famous for his woodcut carvings and prints, especially pieces representing Nugs, sponsored by Orlesian nobility, active in 9:41. (source : WoT2)

Hobbyists : - Henri Ducette : Orlais, amateur historian and artist, sketched numerous statues around the Forbidden Oasis shortly before or in early 9:41. (source : DAI) - Horace Medford : Orlais, adventurer, took charcoal rubbings of elven carvings in the Exalted Plains for the University of Orlais before 9:41. (source : DAI) - Isabella : loves to doodle in (Hawke's) books, she gets an honorable mention (because I can). (source : DA2) - Lady Marchellette : young Orlesian girl drawing fanart of shirtless Calenhad (lol what an icon), sometime before 9:41. (source : DAI) - Prince Baldewin of the Anderfels : young boy who sent his drawings and fanart to the Inquisitor, deserves a mention for being adorable. (source : DAI) - Solas (source : DAI) - Sera (source : DAI) - Yves Montilyet : Antiva, Josephine's father, hobbyist painter? who hosts salons and art shows. (source : DAI) Known titled artworks : - "Abel d'Onterre" (portrait, source : DAI) - "Anita Chayeau, beloved Grand-mère" (portrait, source : DAI) - "The Chant of Light" by Griselda Reiniger (source : DAI) - "The Dalish Woods in Summer" (landscape, source : DAI) - "General Mathieu d'Onterre, Feared by the Dog Lords" (portrait or statue?, source : DAI) - "Giroux Lemarque" (portrait, source : DAI) - "Jeanette d'Onterre, Matriarch of House d'Onterre" (portrait, source : DAI) - "Nanette d'Onterre, Ma belle Rose" (portrait, source : DAI) - "Portrait of a Goosegirl" (source : DAO) - "Portrait of Leandra Amell" (source : DA2) - "The Rebel Queen" (heroic portrait, source : DAO) - "Val Royaux" (landscape, source : DAI) - "Skyball" (a black stone painted to look like the night sky and showing constellations (source : DAO))

Poets :

Poetry is fairly common across Thedas. It is canonically taught as a discipline to noble children in Orlais, Antiva, Orzammar, the Free Marches and Nevarra but seems to be accessible to broader masses as well; as several occurrences of commoners trying their luck at it demonstrate. Published poetry works and anthology books aren't uncommon either and have existed at the very least for 300 years [DAI]. Orzammar has a long tradition of poetry and haikus [DAO, DAI, WoT2].

- Carlol of House Yonoch : Orzammar, known as a "wordsmith", published in "The Noladar Anthology of Dwarven Poetry". (active during the early Dragon Age, source : WoT2) - Karsten Groeke : poet and philosopher, gave a lecture at the Univeristy of Orlais and was consequently chased out by the students following a bad bit of poetry praising absynthe (a strong alcohol). (Orlais? Anderfels given the name?, timeline unknown, source : DAI) - Lady Madeline : renowned poet and writer, daughter of the Rivaini Ambassador at the imperial Orlesian court, active in 9:41. (source : DAI) - Magister Oratius : Tevinter, known for his Sonnets Anthology titled "A Chant for Dreamers". (timeline unknown, source : DAI) - Paragon Lynchar : Orzammar, known for his Haikus, published in "The Noladar Anthology of Dwarven Poetry". (active during the Steel Age, source : WoT2) - Paragon Seuss : Orzammar, known for his mastery of rhymes, published in "The Noladar Anthology of Dwarven Poetry". (active during the Glory Age, source : WoT2) (- Kaariss of the mercenary group Valos-Kas loves to try his hand at poetry, to the great despair of his companions.) Unsure : - Paragon Ebryan : Orzammar, famous for his "Songs only Nugs can hear", unknown if they were a musician or a poet or both. (Exalted Age, source : DAO)

Sculptors :

Also common throughtout Thedas and despite varying through the ages, sculpture styles are seemingly recognisable for most people. Nevarra and Orlais have a long tradition of heroic statues of their historical figures, while Ferelden, the Chasind and the Avvar have a tradition of animalistic and votive sculptures. Both Orlesian and Tevinter imperial Houses as well as the Anderfels' Chantry seem to have a love for gigantic statues carved out of cliffs. One of Orlais' distinctive sculpture style is called "amour-tourmente style" ("love-torment"), example of it can be found in Art History books or seen in the Nevarran Grand Necropolis. One Fereldan Arl has a drawing room where carvings are exposed for visitors to enjoy, including one representing Yusaris, the legendary sword. To quote Lesha in Tevinter Nights : "Look, every culture has their own artistic signature—something that makes it theirs. Tevinter is all about sharp angles. Ferelden is hard and brutish, and Orlais is delicate and opulent. Dwarves are . . . well, simple is the wrong word, but they get right to the truth.” (Funny side-note : Ice sculptures are a thing in Orlais! [TME] They also have liqueur bottles with peach pits carved with erotica scenes in them. [DAI])

- Appius Trius : Ancient Tevinter, (also published in "Artists of Ancient Tevinter") famous for "sparking the imagination of all gazing at his work". (Ancient Age, source : DAI) - Gatsi Sturhald : formely Orzammar, now on self-imposed exile on the surface, the Inquisition's lead stonemason, produced several carvings of Paragons during his years as a sculptor in Orzammar, alive in 9:41. (source : DAI) - Hemiare Allegri : Antiva, commissioned by Duke Prosper de Montfort, active in Orlais during the first half of the Dragon Age. (exact timeline unknown, but alive during the Dragon Age, source : WoT2) - Juliette Coreau : Orlais, famous for a carving of Emperor Kordillus Drakon The Great commemorating the 800th anniversary of the foundation of the Orlesian Empire. Work displayed in the Winter Palace. (exact timeline unknown, but Blessed Age, so assumed dead, source : DAI) - L'Etourneau (stage name, French for "starling") : Orlais, known for a carving of Maferath The Betrayer, commissioned by Empress Yvette during the Blessed Age. (exact timeline unknown, but Storm/Blessed Age, so assumed dead, source : DAI) - Natalie Breault : Orlais, famous for her carving of "Lambert Valmont, The Swaggering Lion", commissioned by Emperor Judicael I. (exact timeline unknown, but Blessed Age, so asumed dead, source : DAI)

Thanks for making it all the way down! Hopefully, I didn't miss any name (don't hesitate to tell me if you find one I missed!) and this will be of some help to someone! Have a lovely day! ฅ՞•ﻌ•՞ฅ

Today is 11/11 which marks 101 years of Poland regaining independence and I thought it is a perfect time to publish a post that I’ve been working on for a while. 

Ferelden from Polish Perspective aka Why We Can Relate to Dog Lords So Much. 

This is a sort of compilation of my own thoughts I had while playing the games and various talks with my Polish friends. It is not supposed to force any ideas or teach others how to interpret the game. I just thought it could be entertaining for anyone interested in history and culture. I was trying not to elaborate too much on the subject here but it still ended up being A Very Long Post TM. To make this post a little neater to read, I divided this post into 4 sections:

1. History

2. Fashion and Food

3. Politics

4. Relationships with Other Countries

I will be very happy if you find a minute or two to read some of my points. If you have any additional questions or comments feel free to leave me a message :)

And once again - enormous thanks to @aeducanka​ for proofreading. I would be a poor mess without you. 

Keep reading

can i say, as i'm playing the veilgaurd, i really enjoy how every game varric's in he has a completely different relationship with each protagonist (not really spoilery under the cut but read at ur own risk)

in da2, him and hawke are BESTIES. they match each other's wit. they flirt (female hawke). they get each other into boatloads of trouble and always get each other out of it. varric never left hawkes side no matter what hawke said or did. they were equals.

in dai with him and the inquisitor, it always seemed like he held the inquisitor just a little bit at arm's length. yes, he was their friend and a part of their inner circle, but he always made it a point to mention that the inquisitor is "larger than life" and is more of a figure of legend than a person. he always gave advice the best he could, but obviously what would he know about being a "herald of andraste". they were not equals, at least if you asked varric.

in datv, he is clearly rook's mentor. any chance you get, he is always hyping up rook's abilities and leadership. making jokes if their feeling on edge. making sure they never doubt themselves. literally, any time you visit him where he's healing, he always has some real SWEET thing to say to you "are you sleeping?" "make sure you rest" "you got this kid". with varric, rook can be vulnerable. "if i hadn't made that choice, neve/harding wouldn't've gotten hurt" and varric makes sure you understand that that wasn't your fault and had to make a choice. they were not equals, at least if you asked rook. but varric would disagree.

(obviously i'm not done playing VG so idk if how i'm interpreting this is accurate BUT ALAS)

i appreciate how varric is seen differently in each game he's in, it makes him always really interesting to watch throughout each game!

A list of potential cures for the Calling, that we know about, that BioWare has apparently forgotten

Andraste's grace: it's not specified whether the flower the kennelmaster has you pick in the Korcari Wilds is Andraste's grace or if the game just needed a one-off asset and decided to reuse one they already had. However, in the dark future in DAI, Leliana is found to have unusual tolerance for the taint, and in DAO she talks about her mother pressing her laundry with dried Andraste's grace flowers, so it makes you wonder. Anyway, the flower stops Barkspawn becoming a ghoul and seems to make them immune to the taint from that point on.

Maric's longsword: he finds it in the Deep Roads and is suprised it isn't covered in the same Blight-rot as everything else - until, that is, he touches the sword to a patch of it and sees it wither away. Whether it's the dragonbone the sword is made of or the runes on the blade is difficult to say, though if it was just the dragonbone then it would make sense for that to be a more well-known property of the material (and would have been an interesting reason for why dragons were hunted to extinction). If Alistair carries it with him, doesit slow the progession of the taint through his body? Does he know its effects, and give it to the HoF to help keep them safer on their journey to find a permanent cure?

That obsidian dagger Duncan finds in The Calling: the dagger belonged to First Enchanter Remille - who also gave the expedition members brooches that accelerated the spread of the taint. iirc the both the dagger and the brooches are made by the Architect with Blight magic, which means the darkspawn magisters have more knowledge of how the Blight works than the Chantry attributes to them.

Whatever the fuck is going on with Avernus: he hasn't managed to cure himself yet, but he's managed to make it to 200 and the Warden can let him continue his experiments if they don't kill him - and he'd be a really useful resource if the Warden later wanted to send him other potential cures for testing.

Dragons: they have an ability to isolate the Blight in their bodies by forming crystaline cysts around the initial infection to stop it spreading. Useful if it can be more widely applied. Also, it's implied that Maric's reaver blood, which Calenhad gained by mixing his blood with a dragon's, is what somehow cured Fiona of the taint, kinda like a reverse STI, BUT in the Deep Roads they went through an area where the walls were coated in a pale, chalky substance suspiciously devoid of Blight-rot and she touched it, so I'm a bit suspicious of that.

Blood magic: makes sense since the taint is a problem that starts with infected blood. There are two major instances in DA canon where blood magic has been used to purge the taint from an object or being (both by elves btw). The first is Isseya using it to draw the taint out of a clutch of unhatched griffon eggs, which she says is only possible because the taint hasn't yet taken over the hatchlings' bodies to the same extent that it had with the adult griffons. The second instance is Merrill purging the Blighted eluvian in DA2. It's insane that Anders - who is a reluctant Warden and who possibly knows the HoF seeks a cure - isn't more excited about this. She literally removed the Blight from a fully tainted object. Since Isseya proved the same can be done with living tissue, it's probably the closest we've come to an actual cure, but since it also took years there's no telling if it could be a practicaly solution for all Wardens

The thing that gets me about Varric in The Missing and the new gameplay, is that this has happened to him before.

He already had a friend who tore down his world - even if on a much smaller scale. He had a friend who was a mage, who had suffered and experienced injustice, and who used that as fuel to do something awful that might achieve his aims but would kill a lot of people, would tear about Varric's chosen family and...and he couldn't stop him. He didn't really try.

Varric in Inquisition is bitter - horribily bitter - about Anders. About what happened in Kirkwall. From da2 in his ambient dialogue we see that he knew something was wrong. He even says he thinks Anders will get himself killed if he keeps doing what he's doing. He's rightfully suspicious of him in the third act. But ultimately, he does nothing. Even when Anders is waiting there, possibly about to die, he refuses to commit to an opinion, to a side. And then in Inquisition he blames Anders bitterly. He's angry at him. But he also blames himself, it's all tangled up in the deep roads, in bartrand and red lyrium and the fact that he was the one who brought all these individuals together.

So skip forward to now. To Veilguard. To Solas trying to tear down the veil. And I honestly think Varric is seeing them both. He looks at Solas and he sees his friend Chuckles, and he sees his friend Blondie and he already failed one of them when they were in this situation. He stood by even and let Anders die! He didn't try and stop him, he saw the signs and did nothing. And this time he will not let that happen. This time he will not lose his friend. He will not stand by and watch him die, and he will not stand by and watch him destory the world.

The whole Solas thing is just a larger expansion of what happened in Kirkwall to Varric, except this time it's happening everywhere and the stakes are much higher. Which makes it even more tragic that all he wants to do is talk him down, give him another option, get his friend back. I just...fhjudbhajfdhfhareli

Daemon Age: Inquisition

Blackwall & Leojeanne AKA Thom Rainier & Marta

Wire-haired Dachshund (C. l. familiaris)

When Thom Rainier settled, his father did not say anything of note, and his sister could not, for she was dead. The first comments on Marta’s form were made by the dog-hangers, and they said, “Fitting that your daemon would be a little bitch, Rainier!” Thom and Marta both wanted to beat the living daylights out of them. They chose not to. They chose to do nothing.

Blackwall, the real Blackwall, had a black bird. Small, and unnoticed most of the time. The imposter Blackwall could lie and say, “No, no, I have a black dog, not a black bird.” No one did anything. How could someone have the audacity to imitate another man and his daemon?

Blackwall is often covered in bites of unknown origin. Well, he knows. They come from Marta, who delivers the punishments she believes are deserved. She bites and growls and hisses insults at him. Nobody loves you. They all hate you. Thom believes her.

Thread: Sylvia Feketekuty on the influences of Emmrich and the Mourn Watch

The rest of this post is under a cut due to length and possible spoilers.

Sylvia Feketekuty: "I think I've gotten to most people’s questions, and I promised I'd talk about influences on Emmrich and the Mourn Watch before wrapping this up. So here we go! It took me while to figure out Emmrich's character voice. I'm happy with where I landed, but he was a tough one. A few books helped me out. MR James' Collected Ghost Stories (1890-1930) My favourite ghost stories of all time. James excels at building dread, at writing people finding strange things in books, or around the corner, or in the old lane at night."

"He was also an antiquarian and a scholar at Cambridge. I wanted Emmrich and the Watchers to feel formal, but not like they were from another epoch. James’ language, polished by a rich academic career, was an excellent benchmark for 'older, but not ancient'. E.g.: if using contractions was appropriate for James' time, it was appropriate for Emmrich. It freed me up, mentally speaking, to deploy them whenever they improved cadence or flow. Thomas Ligotti's Songs of a Dead Dreamer Fellow Ligotti fans may already be thinking Emmrich doesn't really share the philosophy underpinning Ligotti's work, and they’re right. However!"

"Songs of a Dead Dreamer is filled with fantastical imagery that’s a bit lusher than that found in Ligotti's later works. It was really good at bringing to mind the kind of moody, expansive dreamscapes I think our necromancer mentally occupies. It’s from a different book (Noctuary), but Ligotti’s “The Spectral Estate” also merits a mention. If you plunked it down in front of Emmrich to read, he’d know exactly what it was on about. The Romantic poets (or any poetry on similar themes: overpowering swells of emotion, the grandeur and awe of nature, love and loss and grief.) Palgrave's Golden Treasury was usually in reach."

"If I was in a jam, or psyching myself up for a scene, sometimes I’d read a few poems to get into the proper head space. Or just for the pleasure of it. Poems are great! Please take a link to Shelley's "A Dream of the Unknown", one of my favourites. [link] I also read a few books by morticians and funerary directors. A friend lent me Smoke Gets in your Eyes and From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty (probably the most famous mortician on the internet?) I also checked out Nine Years Under: Coming of Age in an Inner-city Funeral Home by Sheri Booker."

"These books were full of lessons about how people react to death, how different cultures treat it, how anger and grieving express differently but come from the same wellspring. Very humane looks at how we deal with loss and other people. Moving on to non-books: My First Cadaver, a podcast of stories from medical students and medical professionals."

"I listened to a few episodes My First Cadaver, and there were some incredible tales in there. Gross (I could never be a doctor) but incredible. And I was struck by was how much students working on donated cadavers got attached to them. I can’t remember if it was in MFC or not, but there was one story about a medical student introducing his date to the cadaver he was working on like she was a beloved aunt. It was very sweet! Peter Cushing in Horror of Dracula (1958) and The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) These films are filled with handsome costumes, ominous sets, and the oversized passions I associate with gothic melodrama. Cushing's perfect in them."

"His portrayals of Van Helsing and Baron Frankenstein are brisk, determined, obsessive, and brimming with energy; they’re scholars who are experts in their field, yet still men of action. They felt like natural touchstones for a professor suddenly called to grand adventure. I also ended up reading Cushing's memoirs. In a bit of strange synchronicity, there were similarities between his life and traits I'd already decided to give Emmrich. Cushing came from a working-class family, had an intense phobia (his was of the dark), was vegetarian, and so on. I'd had no idea."

"(Humans tend to pattern-match, but it was a little eerie.) A side note: I've seen people speculate Emmrich was based off of Vincent Price. There’s a bit of the good Mr. Price in there, but Cushing got to play more heroic roles than he did. He felt more right to me. A second side note: did you know Vincent Price was a gourmand who loved to entertain? He and his wife Mary put out a beautiful cooking book, A Treasury of Great Recipes, filled with warm and charming commentary. If you're interested in that kind thing, highly recommended!"

"One influence when I was pitching the Memorial Gardens to the rest of the team was Swan Point cemetery in Rhode Island. It's where Lovecraft was buried, and like many a Weird Tales nerd before me, I was curious and wanted to see it."

"I wasn't prepared for was how lush the plants and flowers were, and how beautifully landscaped everything there is. Swan Point is a historical burial place, and also a carefully tended garden and arboretum. It stunned me. I'd never been in a cemetery like it. Emmrich complains about Hezenkoss making him play complicated wargames when they were students, and that one in particular had three separate rulebooks."

"I've seen people guess whether I was referencing D&D or Warhammer 40K. D&D was formative, and I know a frankly embarrassing amount about WH40K at this point (No regrets. Necrons and Admech 4-ever.*) But the origin is even sillier. *Why yes, Mechanicus 2 IS my most anticipated upcoming game. I used to own the first edition of a board game called Mansions of Madness, and was supposed to learn the rules so I could lead my friends through it. But come the day, I’d procrastinated, and was running short on time."

"Fantasy Flight's previous game in the same vein was Arkham Horror, and AH is not a simple game. But I remember being hopeful, as I peeled the shrinkwrap off, that maybe MoM would be easier to learn than AH. Have streamlined rules, or fewer things to remember. Then the top popped off, and three separate rulebooks fell out and slithered to the floor. (The DAV game’s not meant to be MoM, but the absurdity of that moment stuck with me.) (It's not the game's fault, by any means, that I was unprepared, and the session went as well as it could have with me flipping through the books going "Okay wait...hold on...I think that was here...no, wait.") The Nevarran hazelnut torte recipe is actually a family recipe from my grandmother, on my father's side. I’m beyond delighted people have actually made it. (Our recipe uses metric measurements, but the DA style guide uses imperial, so I was worried about the conversion. Looks like it went okay.)"

"On my mother's side of the family: my grandmother cooked and cleaned for a living, and my grandfather was a butcher. He passed away before I was born, and my grandmother when I was very young. So I gave Emmrich’s parents those professions as a little nod to the grandmother I only knew very little, and the grandfather I never met at all. I would’ve liked time with them both. And to end on a lighter note, "Ever thought of becoming a hat person?" is an extremely oblique reference to a line spoken to one of gaming's greatest characters: Murray, the demon skull from Curse of Monkey Island. (Curse is the first Monkey Island game I ever played, and therefore my favourite.)"

"Small bonus: here’s the music I listened to most while working on Emmrich and the Watchers. Some of it probably only makes sense to me, some of it seems thematically obvious. (I don’t have Spotify so best I can do is an itunes screenshot.)"

"Not on the screenshot because I changed PCs halfway through, but I also listened to a lot of music from Cryo Chamber, a great dark ambient label. [link] And their sister label, Cryo Crypt, which does "Dark Fantasy Dungeon Synth." [link] And also Allicorn IS on the screenshot but I think I've listened to his stuff on every game I've worked on by now. [link]"

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Bonus: follow-up comments and exchanges -

User: "I KNEW the torte was somebody’s family recipe!!" // Sylvia: "My only regret is that the icing was originally a stove-boiled icing made with eggs and chocolate and butter emulsified together. I couldn't get it working, however, these past few years. I think we lost some crucial part of the steps when trying to write out a clean copy. So I went with ganache for the game, because I didn't want to print something that didn't work, and I've used ganache myself. It's good! But I'm going to try to replicate the original again one day." [source, two] // User: "I noticed that sometimes, ingredients doesn't react the way they used to and part of that is probably due to some "industrial" changes in the recipe for ingredients like chocolate or butter to cut the cost of making them, imho. It's sad because it means we lost a very specific way to do things..." // Sylvia: "Yeah, that was the first thing a friend who bakes a lot suggested. I wonder if I was a victim of "Buttergate" when Canadian cows were being fed so much palm oil butter was harder to spread as a result. After a long search, I found a local place that makes butter that actually tastes good, which is an incredibly sad sentence to have to type out." [source, two]

Sylvia, re: Vincent Price being a gourmand and his cooking book: "It's extremely cool. My library had a copy and I remember it being pretty big, too." [source]

User: "I was following this thread and I'm delighted about all of these facts and information. Thank you for sharing!" // Sylvia: "Aw thank you! And thanks for reading, it was nice to unpack all the stuff kicking around my mental attic." [source]

User, re: MFC: "Sorry to post again but this one got me- my mom is a doc, and i remember her telling me stories of the cadaver she worked on (evidence of different surgeries she had, the cancer she had, etc), and mom always ended her stories saying how thankful she was to her. It really does stick around." // Sylvia: "No need to apologize, I liked hearing about your mom's reaction! It's exactly what I kept hearing and reading about, a sense of reverence for the gift." [source]

Sylvia: ""The irony that I had to convert the measurements back to metric" Haha. I tried to get as close as I could. Here's the written down metric version of the cake batter. It's an older recipe so I had to try to guess what a "knife tip" ended up as." [source]

A user on the torte being a family recipe: "Oh my gosh 🥹 that makes it all even lovelier!" // Sylvia: "Thanks! I was really excited to share the family recipe, it's a bit of work but it's one of my favorites." [source]

A user under the post about MR James' Collected Ghost Stories: "So you're probably the one behind the mysterious bronze whistle, I take it?" // Sylvia: "Haha, guilty. Cameron Harris, our editor, helped me figure out a phonetic guide to the latin. (If it fails anywhere it's very likely my fault.)" [source]

User: "As an avid Emmrich lover & someone trying to write some Emmrich POVs in my Emrook fanfictions, I can not thank you ENOUGH for this wealth of info / music inspo to go off of" // Sylvia: "Thank you! (Seriously though some of those songs probably only make sense to me, they're not all thematically on point, but some are. Hope you enjoy!)" [source]

User: "As another "needs a million hours of droning ambient music to write" writer I appreciate these greatly" // Sylvia: "We both have good taste! 🎶" [source]

User: "Thank you for writing out this list!! Peter Cushing makes so much sense as an influence. I love the variety of media here, it gives me so much new stuff to check out!" // Sylvia: "Thank you for reading! If you do check out some of this stuff, hope you enjoy!" [source]

Sylvia: "thanks so much, and for reading the thread! It was fun to write." [source]

User: "Thank you for sharing these books!I was looking for a good ghost book" // Sylvia: "Thanks! Hope you enjoy James. "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" was the first story of his I read and I'll never forget that experience." [source] // Sylvia: "I just love the mood James could create, so much." [source]

User: "ELECTRIC SIX MENTION" // Sylvia: "My greatest favorites, now and forever." [source]

Sylvia: "Please archive away, I am intent on deleting the account eventually but it'd be nice to know people could look this stuff up later if they're curious. (Future generations need to know which Atrium Carceri tracks I listened to!)" [source]

User: "Amongst many things, not the least of which is the gratitude and delight of having your fantastic insight into the writing process of Emmrich, my grandmother’s hazelnut torte is fantastically close to the Nevarran version which was a delightful discovery." // Sylvia: "Ah now nice. I assume she was also central/eastern European then? I suspect it was a popular recipe at a certain time." [source]

User: "As an ex-mortician turned game writer, this was a FASCINATING read!" // Sylvia: "Haha, I definitely took inspiration from morticians! (Thank you for checking it out, that thread got long)" [source]

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Thinking about the mage rebellion and Fereldan. My main Warden is a Surana that sticks Alistair with the throne so I never really gave it much thought about why Ferelden's ruler would accept the rebellion.

But I replayed and something stuck out to me: Connor was frustrated about them being in Redcliffe. He asks how that could be seen to be a good idea. And honestly? Given that the Wardens rule Amaranthine and it's a major point of entry from the sea it wouldn't be that hard to have set Fiona's people there and gotten fewer side eyes by the locals. They're used to Wardens, mages ain't that weird in comparison. Especially after the Warden-Commander let a possessed corpse follow them home from the swamp like a lost mabari.

But Ferelden has a population problem. Lots of dead young men and women just at Ostagar, let alone the southern hills, the bannorn via the rebellion, and Denerim. And the survivors of the Siege at Denerim would have had high chances of Blight Sicknesses, there were probably epidemics following 9:31. That would have crippled the fighting population. That doesn't even count that a lot of the refugees who made it to the Marches and elsewhere never returned.

Redcliffe is the fortified gateway to Ferelden from the /Orlesian/ border. The same Orlais that certain powers (Gaspard) want to return to being an expanding empire.

Celene's hold was weak. Weak enough the Inquisitor could arrange to break it entirely.

The Chantry is primarily Orlesian and that would give the mages a reason to not want Orlesian control if it came down to Gaspard as Emperor bringing chevaliers back across the Frostbacks.

I don't think Ferelden took the mages in out of generosity. At least not entirely. I think they saw a chance to add a significant military force to their country if their gamble paid off - and that's why Teagan agreed. Unfortunately for the rebellion the Tevinter thing is a definite point of no return - the mages weren't loyal enough to their own cause, to where they were, to continue the risk of keeping them.