Random DA things

[zillah975]

I love this game like burning. After I'd been playing on the PS3 for several months, I bought a shiny new laptop for the sole purpose of having it for the PC and I'm now playing it on BOTH the PC and PS3, because it's JUST THAT AWESOME. *draws hearts* I have four working laptops now, because of the three I had before, none would run DA.

The following rantishness is from looking at the game from the POV of a character within it, not from the POV of a player who understands why things have to go a certain way in order to position the player character to proceed down a certain path and become the big hero.

( Cut for spoilers, in case someone hasn't played through yet )

Fractures & Shades of Grey

[miri1984]

I thought I might start linking the latest chapters here as well as posting them everywhere else considering I'm a bit of a pimp in that regard. For anyone who isn't following them, we're nearly at the end of Fractures and Shades... well Shades could be anywhere from halfway to three quarters done, I'm not entirely certain yet considering every time I do a chapter outline it turns into TWO chapters when I try to write it. They're all up on Deviant Art as well for people who prefer that format.

Fractures link to first chapter.
Fractures link to last chapter posted.

Shades of Grey link to first chapter.
Shades of Grey link to last chapter posted.

Trovommi Amor: Searching the Wrong Soul

[onemorealtmer]

Index is at my dw journal, like I do.

Title:  Searching the Wrong Soul
Words:  2529
Rating:  PG default
Characters:  Zevran/f!Tabris (Taniva) and the gang
Summary:  There's nothing two careworn, slow-to-trust elves enjoy more than having their secrets stripped bare in front of everybody by some random spirit!  Oh, and also there's a dragon.  Whatever.  (Also-also, the series title makes a cameo.)

<-Previous:  A Perverse Communication (M)

 

( Read more... )

 

Vir Lath Sa'vunin Chapters Twenty-Nine and Thirty

[lenna_nightrunner]

A Dalish-centric AU gen fic featuring two Mahariel Wardens, one bastard prince, and lingering ghosts.

Title: Vir Lath Sa'vunin (We Love One More Day)
Rating: T (Language and Violence)
Authors: twist_shimmy and lenna_nightrunner
Post Word Count: 3350
Summary: When their parents died, Tesni Mahariel was left to raise her brother Caerwyn with the help of the rest of their clan. True to their penchant for getting into trouble, Caerwyn and Tamlen went hunting one day and ran afoul of a mirror, of all things. The next thing Tesni knew, Caerwyn had been recruited by the Grey Wardens. As if she’d let some shemlen just take her brother away! Determined to keep Caerwyn safe, Tesni goes after them, and antics ensue. She’ll stop the Blight to protect her family, Caerwyn will help--grumbling all the while--and Alistair will do his best to bond with his tattooed and bristly new brethren. When all is said and done, the blurred lines between friendship and blood bonds will draw them down a path that will change all three of them forever.

In which our Wardens are out of commission, and their new clan must get along without them and try to get them back.



( Twenty-Nine: You Can't Feel Me Here in the Room With You Now )

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( Thirty: Wanna Keep You From Breaking )

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( Language Notes )

I knew what had happened the instant I saw the look on her face.

Lore consistency question!

[onemorealtmer]

Having waited until now to play a f!Aeducan, I hadn't thought about this before.

WHY is f!Aeducan treated as an Aeducan?  She should be seen through the lens of her MOTHER'S lineage, right?  Can we even find out what that was?

Elven questions, and a theory

[darkrose]

I got my new laptop! It's amazing--I can play DA in the way it was meant to be played, with decent graphics and without long pauses between keyboard entry and action.

I'm trying to finish my third Mira playthrough, and it's raised some questions about the elven history and lore as presented in the game.

Questions first:

1. How many towns in Ferelden have alienages? Canonically, Denerim and Highever are mentioned, but Amaranthine City doesn't seem like it's big enough to support an alienage, and we certainly don't see one in Awakening.

2. The thing about elves not being allowed to carry weapons--is this something Howe put in place, or is it actual law? Does it only apply to the alienage itself? It comes up in fic a lot, but no one apparently blinks when Mira and Zevran are running around town conspicuously armed and armored. (And yeah, hardly anyone recognizes you as a Grey Warden either, but I'd like to at least pretend like there's some consistency here.

3. Does the Chantry actually, you know, DO anything in terms of social issues? I guess they take in orphans, but based on the City Elf origin, they only show up in the alienage if you pay them to officiate a wedding; certainly the sister at your wedding is pretty ineffectual when Vaughan kidnaps half the wedding party.

4. Why, exactly, did some of the elves choose to move to the human cities and live as third-class citizens after the destruction of the Dales? I could understand if they were already there, but it seems odd that at least half of them would follow their oppressors rather than the rest of their people.

I do have a theory on this, based on something Lenaya says. If you talk to her, she mentions that there was resistance to her training as Zathrian's First because she wasn't born Dalish. She explains that the Dalish elves are descended from the nobility of the Dales.

To me, this suggests that the split between Dalish and city elves is class-based, and that while the nobility swore never to bow to defeat, the commoners either couldn't or wouldn't go with them if it meant wandering homeless forever. I can easily see Joe or Jane Ordinary Elf saying, "Look, I'm not a very good hunter, and I've got two small children--I'm supposed to become a permanent refugee just for the sake of pride? Fuck that shit." I think it gives an interesting twist to the Dalish contempt for "flat-ears"; there's some guilt underlying that attitude.


ETA: mousestalker answered question 4 here. Thank you!