Var Shiral'vhen - Chapter 23: Da'harillen

The world is hollow.

The world is full.

Bursting with color and absent of light as Ian's mouth crashes against his.

Blood rushes in his ears, the violent hammering of his heart beating down his defenses. Heat borne not of magic flares inside him as his heart rebels against his head. Yearning he has not known in ages is torn from him by loving lips. Lips whose shape he has come to know in moments of weakness, when the light is low and Ian addresses the space between them. A space now sundered forever, spoiled by the revelation that it can be bridged.

For a moment, time flows as it did Before. It splits into the infinite, collected into a pocket of the world that none but they can touch.

And that is all that is familiar.

tag list!

Ao3 does not need an algorithm, you're just lazy

Ao3 does not need a 1-5 star rating system, you just want to bring down authors writing for FREE

Ao3 does not need automatic censorship, it is an archive, therefore anything can be posted

Writing or reading about something illegal does not mean the author nor the reader condones it, if that were true, you could never read a story involving anything negative

Purity culture is ruining fan culture and you all are fucking annoying

OC Vibe Game

Tagged by @inquisimer , thank you!

Tagging forward @askweisswolf @sandcastlekings @thesecollidinghearts

oc vibe game

thank you so much to @inquisimer @dymme @mythals-whore and @hyperions-light for tagging me <3

Would be a great plot-twist for me to finally talk about someone other than Ghilasara, but nope, not doing that!!

tagging @theheartmold @broodwoof @larkinna @taamlok if you wish to participate c:

OC Vibe Tag Game

Thank you for the tag, @inquisimer !

OC: Lenore Ingellvar

Tagging @greypetrel @ndostairlyrium @pinayelf @effelants @idolsgf @dungeons-and-dragon-age @star--nymph @chanafehs @zencetera @saessenach (no pressure!)

One of them will have to get finished eventually, right???

may i offer u teiago in these trying times

do you ever wonder if your choice of blorbo is random baby chick imprinting, or in fact a deep physiological profile that reveals all the things you need therapy for

Apparently, my decision to be silly and make fanart of someone's writing (because I genuinely enjoy the story the person is writing and I was struck with inspiration upon reading a particular scene) has benevolent and wildly unforeseen consequences.

2. Writer put said artwork into the document of his story right below the scene, so now it's IN the story where people who read the story will see it (with a link to me)

3. He sent the artwork to all his friends and people he knows because he was so excited

Wholesome interaction and I watched him do all that in real time, good stuff. However...there are two more consequences I was notified of today...nearly a full week after I gave the artwork.

Uhh...I'm pretty sure there's a moral here but I am tired and have a great deal of emotions about this.

the moral is peace and love on planet earth. and getting stuff made specifically for you unprompted is cool as fuck

evidence for half-baked theory: if you take the inspiration you've been given and follow it, in the intention with which it was given, you'll get (and beget) more.

Speaking of fools…

(My work nightwatch was a bit intense so I wanted to draw something sweet)

And, yeah, I was listening Spanish guitar again)))

So, people keep saying Veilguard is "sanitizing" Dragon Age because it’s not letting random NPCs hurl slurs at your character anymore, and listen. I get it. There’s a real fear that the game is smoothing over the sharp edges that made Dragon Age’s world feel raw and oppressive. But here’s the thing: oppression in storytelling isn’t just about how much overt cruelty a game throws at you. It’s about how a world is structured, how power moves, and what choices the player is given to respond to that.  

Veilguard isn’t getting rid of trauma or struggle—it’s just shifting the focus. Instead of telling a story where the PC is explicitly victimized because of their race or status, it’s exploring grief, loss, and the way people hold onto each other through suffering. And yeah, maybe that’s not the same power fantasy as "you called me a slur so I’m going to stab you in the town square," but does that automatically mean it’s bad.. What it does mean is that Veilguard is asking different questions.  

Origins threw you into a world where the first thing you did was fight back against the system that tried to break you. Veilguard is looking at something else: what happens when fighting back isn’t an option? When your world has already fallen apart? How do you rebuild? How do you find strength in kindness instead of just revenge?  

veilguard recognises that oppression isn’t just big, dramatic acts of cruelty; it’s also the slow erosion of hope, the systems that make resistance feel impossible, the way grief isolates people and makes them vulnerable. And what Veilguard seems to be doing is giving the player a different set of tools to push back.  

Because let’s talk about mechanics for a second. Veilguard is letting you build alliances, resolve conflicts, and use emotional intelligence as a tool and that’s not a weak approach to oppression. That’s a different kind of power fantasy. One that says, hey, maybe dismantling oppression isn’t just about vengeance. Maybe it’s about survival. Maybe it’s about finding people who won’t let you fall apart. Maybe it’s about healing.  

Like, yes, I understand why people loved the City Elf origin. It was cathartic! It was painful and messy and let you tear down the people who hurt you. But that doesn’t mean it’s the only valid way to explore oppression in a game. Power isn’t just swinging a sword—it’s also choosing to be kind in a world that tells you kindness is useless.  

Veilguard isn’t saying "oppression isn’t real." It’s saying, "What if we looked at the ways people actually survive it?" And if the idea of a game that values understanding and emotional resilience as forms of resistance makes you uncomfortable, maybe ask yourself why you think the only valid response to oppression is cruelty in return.

This is a really good post, and I think it gets to the core of what I think is one of the things people are missing about Veilguard - it's just a different type of story.

In Origins, you play as one of the two people in the country who can save the world. You are fighting impossible odds - you and Alistair and the mishmash of people you've managed to recruit - against a ceaseless mass of mindless creatures. Not only are you fighting darkspawn, you're fighting against the system, controlled now by a man who sees his fears around every corner. Depending on your Origin, you may feel more strongly about certain factions in the game, and by the end you can feel hope for the future as you ask for a boon (self-governance for the Circles, or land for the Dalish clans, or a noble seat for the City Elves). It's one type of fantasy - and it's a good one!

In 2, you're playing as a hopeless refugee, who manages to build something for yourself through hard work. But the core of 2 is that in the end, it didn't matter. Nothing Hawke did ever mattered, because you still lose basically everything, and even if Hawke wasn't there, and did nothing, things would play out the same. Things in Kirkwall would have come to a head, Anders would still have blown up the Chantry. It's another type of fantasy, and a particularly dark one on a personal level, imo.

In Inquisition, you're someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time (or arguably, the right place at the right time), thrust into a leadership position you didn't ask for but that you have to take. In some ways it echoes Origins, with you and your allies standing against people in power, but the difference is that you can accumulate a significant amount of power and become a force to be reckoned with. One again, a different type of fantasy for people to enjoy.

Veilguard is once again a different type of story. It's about saving the world, yes, but it's also about making that world a better place to live in, both in small and large ways. It's a story about hope in the face of hopelessness, looking to the future in the face of loss. It's about acknowledging your regrets and your failings, but getting to your feet and saying "I can do better."

And for me, that was a really cathartic story. Being positive and hopeful doesn't suddenly mean it's sanitized, and it certainly doesn't make the writing bad. It's a different type of story.

And it's okay if that story doesn't resonate with everyone! Not every story will! It's okay to look at something and go "that's not for me, thanks." The problem for me comes when someone looks at something and instead of going "oh I don't think that's my thing", they go "I don't like this thing, which means it must be objectively bad".

I think it's honestly a symptom of a bigger problem in wider fandom spaces, how they've evolved into this less nuanced place where some people seem to think it's unthinkable to go "no thanks, not for me".

It's okay to just dislike something. Veilguard being different doesn't erase the joy you found in the other games.

this is a good post and I like it a lot

as a narrative dev, what veilguard is doing as a heavily authored rpg is really interesting and sleek.

when i say heavily authored, i mean that the game and its dialogue options have been designed to limit player freedom in exchange for ensuring an internally consistent player character narrative that cannot help but engage with the themes they've built in.

it IS restrictive. there are some kinds of initially desired roleplay for some kinds of players which is not supported by dialogue options. it is more notable for rook than for hawke, because hawke can get quite vicious in a very direct way at times.

however, the characterization of rook as the protagonist is deceptively complex. i recurring critique i see which i disagree with but do understand is the concept that all of our dialogue options are "different flavours of nice".

It's very rare the game lets you do or say something that's clearly, overtly, fucked up. the first example that comes to mind is what we can do with the mayor of d'meta's crossing.

and make no mistake, choosing to leave that guy wrapped in the blight tentacles and alone is a monstrous act. that is The most fucked up individual choice we can make with our entire chest. i haven't played a grey warden rook yet, where i presume you have the option to send him to the wardens - but imagine a Grey Warden Rook choosing to condemn a man to be both wrapped in the coiling and invasive blighted tentacles and either slowly starve to death or be torn apart by wildlife.

wildlife which will in turn be corrupted.

it's the worst thing that rook will do to another person directly. it's only possible because they are furious, panicked and mostly alone, and being egged on by bellara, who is also, entirely fairly, furious. in my first run, i picked that option anticipating it would probably end in a mercy kill. when it did NOT, I was horrified. it was the only time i reloaded the game to change a choice that i had made.

there's a lot of nuance possible in mixing and matching the choices rather than just doing the nice/sarcastic/stoic options all the time, and also - a lot of the "stoic" options are very conservative and deeply rude, especially in recruitment missions. Some of the flirt options are incredibly poorly timed, and I like that you have the option to do that - and especially when flirting with harding at first opportunities in the game, i adore that she is then having an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT conversation with rook than the one rook thinks is happening, something that's only catchable on a second run or with foreknowledge of the blood magic at work.

human rooks can be dismissive and at times racially microaggressive towards others. qunari rooks have a potential to connect deeply with taash, or to have some issues with their own heritage - my shadow dragon qunari rook gave the impression of really having internalized some nasty shit when i had them talk about the challenges of their upbringing.

one of the things that's been notable to me on a dev side looking at the feedback for veilguard across platforms is that many people's rooks feel to them like viable people within the world. like, notably so, for rpg player characters. the more intimate focus of the narrative, the repeated checking in with companions and being taken on outings, the way they respond to the challenges and situations they are in - it's normal to them. they aren't an out of context entity airdropped into this environment.

Bed heads

I love 'hero living long enough to become the villain', but oughhhh, 'villain living long enough to become the hero' is life altering. Also not just ending in some goddamn sacrifice. They've gotta legit LIVE with those actions. And holy fuck, if they end up caring for someone they previously traumatized and now have to bear being the thing that haunts their nightmares for years? OH, THE ANGST, TAKE ME NOW!!!

reminder that if you ever meet a sweet, morally good, chivalrous knight: it's your most sincere obligation to corrupt them. "but my vows," this, "this is against the rules," that. if you haven't completely fucked up their entire code of conduct and destroyed all ability to discern right from wrong without you being the one to tell them by the time you're done with them, then you need to up your game. inside that pretty, rule-following chained dog of a knight is someone yearning to be set free of their self-imposed shackles, and it's your duty to help them get there.

Why else would they allow themselves to be shackled, unless they believed they needed to be controlled, that something inside them was already rotten and dangerous? All you have to do is convince them to hand over the end of their lead.