I require more Abelas content for the soul, I simply do not see enough of my man. Maybe it’s because he existed for like a few minutes. But that’s besides the point. Give. Me. The. Boy.
Big fan of characters realizing they don't get to die. They have to live. And grow. And be a person. And deal with shit they thought they'd never have to. And be fucked up about it. I would like more of this. Enough dying for honor or as redemption. It ain't. You're just a corpse. There is no moral value in dirt time.
subtle intimacy is so soft. knowing someone’s routine and slowly becoming a part of it. memorising favourite teas and soups and drink orders. good morning and good night texts and messy paragraphs of love written half asleep. nicknames only you know. just small things that say “look how dear you are to me.”
why are bg3 modders so afraid of wrinkles, pores, laugh lines etc. people piss and shit about hyper realistic viddy game graphics but the moment we get high definition textures people have to airbrush them to fuck because god forbid a character have PORES ON THEIR SKIN
cassandra’s divine victoria epilogue slides suck so bad and make no sense and vivienne’s are written with so much genuine malice on the part of the writers
genuinely whats your fucking problem
I realise this is a post about Doyalist reading of this canon and, if the point is that the writers did Vivienne dirty and wrote a story that encouraged a shallow and meanspirited and, frankly, racist reading of her character, then I agree entirely. But I do want to take a crack at the Watsonian reading because I do think there is a pretty compelling in-character reason that Cassandra reacts more positively to Leliana as Divine than Vivi that is at the core of Cassandra's character arc:
Cassandra considers faith and one's personal relationship with the Maker and Andrastian cosmology the central and most important tenet of her work in the Chantry, while many of her peers, including Vivienne, do not.
Like Cassandra is someone very consumed with the concept of faith and doubt. She's often unsure whether the choices she makes, or might make given the power to do so, properly reflect the Maker's will. When she becomes concerned or judgemental about the Inquisitor's choices, Cassandra's first concern, rather than the effects of those actions, rather even whether she agrees or disagrees with the choices themselves, are whether she perceives that the Inquisitor is making those choices from a place of genuine ideological passion and goodwill.
And she's always friggin shocked and upset when the people around her are not making choices the same way. She assumes her colleagues are working out of the same passion for the Maker as her, and it makes her absolutely blind to the corruption that's happening right under her nose. It is ideologically unthinkable to her that Lord Seeker Lucius and a great number of the Templars might profess to be working in the interests of the Maker and all his children, but really be acting in entirely different interests. ie. supremacist ideology, maintaining a stranglehold on social and economic resources, base sadism. (I think it's also why she's so upset when she learns the truth about Thom for that matter. It's less that Thom lied about something especially and uniquely awful within the context of this series, and more that this kind of dishonestly damages Cassandra's faith and her central understanding of how the world works.)
So Vivienne is not like this at all. I think it's fairly obvious that her experience in the Circle, her arrangement with Bastien, and Orlesian high society, have taught her she must be calculating and mercenary to survive. She is extremely upfront and vocal about the fact that she is acting towards certain political interests, in preserving the Circle and the mages within her interest group, and it's with that in mind that she pursues the position of Divine. And she does not talk about her relationship with faith or the Maker at all.
I am not saying Vivienne has no personal relationship with faith or emotional connection to her god. I fully believe she has all the emotional depth in the world and all the vulnerability and love that any of these characters are capable of.
But, whatever those feelings are, they are feelings she keeps tucked safely under her mask. She does not talk about her faith. Compare her to Anders and Bethany, who talk on the subject at length. Who obsess vocally and endlessly about whether the Maker approves of them, and what place he intended for them in a world so hostile to mages.
Leliana talks obsessively about her faith and the Maker's role in her life and her morality.
Vivienne does not. Whatever feelings she has about the Maker are hers. And when she makes decisions within her political sphere, as Divine Victoria, she makes them based on what she believes will effectuate the safest and most egalitarian version of Thedas possible. (I don't agree with her but that's not the point here.)
So, yeah, Cassandra doesn't like this. Even if she agrees with Vivienne's general commitment to keeping the Circles, it's more important to her that she sees Vivienne making decisions based on faith in the Maker and his plan, instead of based on how the Chantry might best put to use the power it has. So, for all Cassandra disagrees with Leliana's methods, Leliana at least lets her keep the illusion that the Chantry isn't the social and political machine it's become.
And, while I struggle to say that a strong and vocal belief and engagement in the theological principles of a religion should not be a valued trait in its leader, I do think Cassandra's inability to recognise that social and political machine for what it is and what it does is consistently her most damning trait.
Also, I mean, Cassandra is an Andrastian woman in Southern Thedas. So I think it's a bit implied she has some anti-mage prejudice, and holds the bar higher, expects mages to 'prove' they're one of the 'good ones' before she trusts them. And that's a bar I think Vivienne was reasonably uninterested in trying to clear in the short span of time before Cassandra decided she'd already made up her mind.
not to advocate for MORE sexism in bioware games or anything like that but like...the "gender equality" in DAO is so poorly thought out and by that I am SPECIFICALLY referring to women in the Grey Wardens.
Sure yeah Alistair makes that off-hand comment about how "there aren't many women in the wardens" that's more indicative of the writing team's sexism than anything else, but genuinely speaking I think there's actually a valid reason for women to not be allowed in the Grey Wardens.
You cannot tell me that Alistair and the HoF were the first to discover what Broodmothers were and how they were made. You cannot tell me that Grey Wardens have been fighting back Darkspawn for centuries and they do not know about Broodmothers. And if the Grey Wardens know about Broodmothers, then they must know that sending female Grey Wardens down into the Deep Roads is a bad fucking plan.
I can understand concessions being made during a Blight; hell, being a Grey Warden is such a Shit Job that I can understand the Grey Wardens being willing to take in anyone. But like...the women who join cannot go down into the Deep Roads for their Calling. And I would argue that them going down into the Deep Roads at all is a bad plan unless they've got some equivalent of a suicide pill with them in case of capture by Darkspawn.
It honestly is baffling to me that there's NO mention of protocols for female grey wardens during their Calling or expeditions to the Deep Roads being different AT ALL. All it would take is Alistair saying something along the lines of "So that's why there's so few women in the Wardens" after they discover the Broodmother.
Because a woman joining the Wardens isn't just risking death.
She's risking a horrific, violating transformation that turns her into a creature that endangers everyone.
A note on the post about Different Types of Love ... I've seen friends who act like couples... I have friends that I act like I'm dating because of the intimacy we have (constantly hugging, lying on each other at break to sleep and so on). You can have cuddle buddies that aren't romantic/sexual.... you can have people you talk shit with.... hell, I'm like ninety-five percent sure that being comfortable with a friend being the bathroom while you're bathing or talking about the massive shit you just had counts just as much as a romantic relationship, if not more.
It's so sad. Bioware has been a staple, almost, of RPGs for a long time.
But them laying off so many people (it's 125ish over the past handful of months) really doesn't increase confidence in the company.
Even though DA:DW is in Alpha, it's going to affect how many people buy the game. Because they'll think that many layoffs will affect the quality of the game. Average people have little idea about how games are made. Alpha means it's in primary testing, meaning the game is mostly finished.
Could they have shot themselves in the foot better if they'd tried?
Fans are pissed and swearing they're done with Bioware.
A lot of fans.
And I have a Kassandra like feeling that DA:DW is Bioware's last chance as a company.
So, their behavior toward employees = loss of consumer confidence = fewer people buy Dreadwolf = Bioware sinks and we don't get any more Dragon Age after DA:DW.
Don't execs have business degrees and such?
If so, why is my ridiculous ass better at cause/effect for economics and business than they are? I've never even taken a business class.
What exactly do the execs do to earn those obscene paychecks?
Anyway, I really think it comes down to this; if we want more Dragon Age past Dreadwolf, we'll have to ignore Bioware's behavior and buy the game regardless.
And... I don't know how many people will do that. I don't even want to do that. I've boycotted companies for far less.
50 employees are laid off and after Varric is done for the new game, you resign from his main writer. But you continue to use Varric as a figurehead for Dragon Age? Bioware/EA you really know how to make your fans lose faith in you keep it up. Thank goodness there are other good game series out there too.
For the record I feel like saying "Dreadwolf is going to suck because they laid off Mary Kirby" is like... really dramatically missing the point of what's going on here.
The next game has been in alpha for nearly a year now. Kirby's work on the game as a writer was probably mostly finished. Which does not make this better. If anything, it makes it worse.
The layoffs aren't terrible news because a game we're looking forward to might be worse because of them. They're terrible news because people who have devoted years of blood, sweat, and tears to making the game good (including the person who wrote one of the two characters on which they've been hanging the entire marketing campaign for said game thus far) have been axed now that the company has decided it can probably get by without them.
The quality of the game when it finally comes out is irrelevant here. If it's amazing, it won't make this any better, and if it's awful, it won't make it any worse. What matters is the people whose labor made it exist at all are profoundly undervalued, the industry as a whole is broken and frankly abusive, and I wish everyone in it some good labor organizing.
From what I'm seeing, it's not just Mary who's affected, but other narrative team members; narrative programmers, other writers too. The choice not to renew the embedded QA contract with Keywords also affects narrative (a friend of mine worked in embedded narrative QA).
As a fan, it's the names we recognise that feel baffling and unfair. To someone in the industry (and who was laid off last year) it's knowing how much organizational knowledge is lost during a layoff; it's knowing that the culture at the company will take years to recover and will never be the same. That people who worked for years, some over a decade, at this company, suddenly have no say in their and its future. And this being BioWare ... makes me extra sad as a narrative designer. That not even BG3 breaking sales records is enough to convince the corporate side of EA that it's not worth rushing a release or firing people.
It's days like these that I wish I was creating for myself and owned the characters and worlds I helped create. Because once you're off the team, you don't own any of your work. The game industry doesn't pay royalties or residuals. And sometimes, it doesn't even credit your work if you're not there when the game releases — if it doesn't release, or releases without including your work due to cuts or changes, you may never even get to talk about that work. It absolutely sucks.
watching people on tiktok consume borax is uh. something.
having to say “don’t eat borax” was not on my 2023 bingo
Can’t believe in the year 2023 we have to say: do not consume borax. It will not provide a “parasite cleanse”, it does not combat the “evil fluoride” in your water, and it is not a super mineral. It will damage your organs. Also, it’s not rated for human consumption so frankly, who knows what it’s cross-contaminated with (my personal bet would be arsenic).
Say what, now? OMFG.
Pinches the bridge of my nose.
Forensic chemist/bioanthropologist here, please PLEASE don't consume fucking Borax!
Here's some of what Borax does to us.
Borax can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea if you ingest it by itself, and large amounts can lead to shock and kidney failure. It's banned in U.S. food products. It also can irritate your skin and eyes, and it can hurt your nose, throat, and lungs if you breathe it in. If you're around it often, it can cause rashes and might affect male reproductive organs.
absolute best parts of dao are when npcs who are tainted or on the edge of madness can see exactly what a wretched thing you are, grey warden
this is where it’s at
[ID: Transcripts of two sets of dialogue from Dragon Age: Origins.
Ruck: Once you eat... once you takes in the darkness... you not miss the light so much.
Ruck: "You know, do you not? Ruck sees, yes. He sees the darkness inside you.
Warden: "I am a Grey Warden. It's not the same thing."
Angry Farmer: "Please! You're scaring the children!"
Doomsayer: "Better to slit their throats now then let them suffer at darkspawn hands."
Doomsayer: "There! One of their minions is already amongst us! The woman bears their evil stench! Can you not see the vile blackness that fills her?"
Warden: "Ignore him, people. I know I intend to."
Doomsayer: "Darkspawn will feast on our flesh! Everyone will die!!" END ID]
Pride dino #7: Aromantic Sinosauropteryx
—-
Oof, sorry this series is taking so long 😓 This has been a very busy year for me! Hopefully by next year I’ll be able to finish it. But for now… I guess I gotta prepare for Archovember once again…
It's funny to me, by which I mean it's sad and it makes me want to cry
How often Solas forgets where he is.
He goes out of his way to distract Bull and reassure him about leaving the Qun. He jokes around with Varric and hell even reads his books. He respects Cassandra. Hell, he respects Dorian and they nerd out together about magic.
It's adorable and there's no way it was all fake. It wasn't. It was real.
And it's so fucking sad because it's obvious that he doesn't need to go back to the past to have something. He's already found a place with people he enjoys. Someone he even loves, if you romance him.
But he can't let himself just have it. He's so gutted by his own stupid pride and regret that he can't see straight and he can't let himself be happy.
And it's ironic because suppose he goes forward with his plan. Suppose he wins and everything goes the way he wants it to.
...
He's just given himself something else to regret and hate himself for.
pr speak is the worst. “agile studio” … i know you mean “we hate paying people to do work and we want to force as few people as possible to do as much work as possible. bc our CEOs want more money.” i hope EA explodes and their employees find better jobs that pay them well and treat them fairly. pouring years of your life into a product and getting canned in alpha
Gentle reminder that if you want to get Tumblr staff to consider walking back any changes to our beloved hellsite to go to the support page (probably on the desktop version of the site, I still don't think this is doable on the mobile app) and send a report under the category of "feedback". Remember to word yourself civilly and don't just load venom onto staff, you never know who exactly is going to have to read the emails. Just remember that's there for us to use.
shoutout to people who lay in bed all day when they get home from work/school, people who can't go to loud or crowded places or concerts, people who change into pajamas because other clothes are uncomfortable, people who can't consistently participate in hobbies, people who have to turn down hanging out with friends, people who have lowered their standards to improve themselves, people who need affirmations, and people who struggle to stay healthy. you deserve so much love and I hope things get better.
oh god I got a picture of the moon you tumblr bitches are gonna LOVE
LOOK AT HER!!!! CRESCENT MOON DURING A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET!!!! SHE’S BISEXUAL!!!!!!
The Bisexual and Transgender pride flags colour picked from literally the most beautiful image of the moon ever