brennacedria:

persephonechiara:

cloveglee:

kinlochhold:

I’m trying to figure out how a discussion of Arl Eamon’s epic asshattery became about unhardened Alistair breaking up with his girlfriend if you force him to be king. (And now I’m wondering when someone will say…

Oh but Bren is so right, everything IS Queen Cousland’s fault, just by the very nature of her existence at all~

chenria:

Happy birthday lyndzapedia!! ♥

Here is a Florence Cousland and king Alistair for you, I hope you like them. I just got the sudden idea that you might like a little birthday present even if it’s nothing big and fanciful and just a small sketch ^^”

There was a high-pitched keening noise just made in my apartment right now, the dog did not enjoy it.  But his opinion is not valid today because the keening was from ME at the sheer joy of seeing THIS.  ♥♥♥  Thank you so much!  j 0j  

I am declaring everything and everyone fabulous today, because you all are and it is my birthday so these sorts of declarations are within my rights, privileges and powers, cogsarnit.

lyndzapedia:

Glad I can continue adding more things to that ‘to finish’ queue.  I mean it’s only a mile long now at this point.

Added some more details.

Glad I can continue adding more things to that ‘to finish’ queue.  I mean it’s only a mile long now at this point.

Shading shading shading shaaaaaaaaaadiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.  Also good luck with all you DABB Wave One writers, I hope check-in goes smooth and isn’t full of tearing of hair and panic.  D:

lyndzapedia:

Ohhhh this so isn’t getting finished by the time my graduate classes begin.

Reblogging for the evening crowd.

And a last progress shot before I go do lots of laundry.  :C

Ohhhh this so isn’t getting finished by the time my graduate classes begin.

Trying to get out of responsibility?  Spend an hour or so selecting and cropping screenshots.  

Please, remember me fondly after I go mad from this.

I also like to imagine that somewhere off-camera Varel is pinching the bridge of his nose and asking Mistress Woolsey to get a mop and bucket ready for later.  Velanna has decided this is all beneath her, and Justice is just confused what the appeal is of ingesting poison until you throw up.  

16.  DLC Bonus Prompt: What choices did your Warden make in Awakening?

She saved Vigil’s Keep, sent soldiers to protect the rural banns, killed the Mother and the Architect.  The talking darkspawn was an easy choice; one of them was clearly bonkers, and the was clearly offering a deal that was too good to be true.  Stopping the Blights forever?  That’d be great, but there was clearly a hidden huge cost to such a victory.

It’d be like beating Oghren in a drinking contest without vomiting later; a nice dream but ultimately unobtainable.  Plus, she’d already made a deal with one devil (Morrigan for her Old God baby), she wasn’t going to make it 2 for 2.  Protecting the rural banns was entirely a political move. Lord Eddelbreck was steadfastly loyal to Teyrn Cousland, Bann Esmerelle chummed with Arl Howe.  Guess who got soldiers? Antivan Assassination Attempt #2 did nothing but reinforce to Florence she made the right choice.

As for Vigil’s Keep vs. Amaranthine, while she doesn’t disagree with the official reports (good tactical move, all that could be saved were saved, etc.), the choice wasn’t entirely strategic for her.  This was the city that Howe ruled.  Howe, whose vestments still decorated every inch of the keep.  Whose livery was still on all the shields of the city guards.  Howe, whose ally Bann Esmerelle ruled Amaranthine.  She took those facts into consideration just as much as she did the knowledge the darkspawn had overrun the place.

Half of the choice was about washing away the last of Howe’s legacy off the face of the arling, if anyone ever pressed her about it. Later on, she admits it was a decision ruled more by vengeance than anything else.  It tempers her ego to be reminded that for all her accolades and titles she’s as human as anyone else.

15.  The story of your Warden’s endgame — who lived, who was crowned/kept King/Queen, and where your Warden wants to go from there.

Both her and Alistair lived, became King and Queen, they trade notes during official meetings and sneak out whenever they get a chance.  With Vigil’s Keep up and running, she’d really like to get cracking on avoiding war with Orlais, because it is currently interrupting her very important personal time with darling husband.  She’s also keen with getting Soldier’s Peak rolling as a Warden headquarters; it has a lot of potential!  Beyond that Florence does not make many concrete plans since the universe seems to enjoy randomly dropping things into her lap.  

14.  Morrigan’s Ritual - who did it, and how did the parties involved feel?

Seeing as how Florence lacks the proper equipment, Alistair did the deed.  It’s an awkward topic, neither of them regret it, but both also wonder if it was a smart idea.  Both of them wanted to have complete faith in Riordan, but experience by now taught them having a Plan B is smart.  There would be no Flemeth to save them this time.  Florence considers it her moment of true selfishness.  

Wasn’t the blood of the Cousland family payment enough? The loss of any chance for children? Abandoning Fergus to the Wilds? Coupled with a year being hunted like an animal, facing a High Dragon, having some weird Guardian spill her life’s story without permission, the last thing she wanted to give up was Alistair.  And, she admits, she was a bit too cowardly to die in the name of duty herself, too.  It was a devil’s bargain, but if she could revisit it, she’s positive she’d make the decision again.

13.  Your Warden’s opinions of the following social issues: the plight of the Alienage elves, racism in general, maleficarum, the dwarven caste system.

Alienage Elves: She feels kind of squicky about this situation.  Their plight is terrible, and let’s face it, she has participated in the whole social structure all her life.  Selling them off into slavery infuriates her, to no end, to the point she vowed she’d never stoop that low.  However, she isn’t really sure how to tackle it, beyond starting with improving living conditions there.  Other than that it feels pretty daunting to try and improve hundreds of years of discrimination and hate.  Alistair deciding to appoint one as an advisor does a lot to make her feel better, because it gives her someone to tell her just what she can do to try and make this better.  And the Hero of Ferelden has some collateral to spend to get people to shut up if they try to disagree.

Racism in general: Considering the people she’s hung out with, Florence is pretty cool with anyone who meets these base requirements.  1) Not trying to stab her in squishy bits, and 2) not too crazy.  Duncan’s message about Grey Wardens recruiting from everywhere really sticks with her. It isn’t what somebody is, but who they are that counts.  When your back is against the wall, are you really going to argue about who’s offering help?

Maleficarum: Until she spent more time with Anders in Amaranthine, Florence really didn’t have a grasp on mages/magic/the Circle beyond some magic being bad and resulting in people being possessed by demons, and that she didn’t like the demon possession part.  However, she also didn’t like the “burn the countryside and then salt the earth” plan the Rite of Annulment offers to counter a couple of possessed mages. Her opinion boils down to not minding mages until they start murdering (if it’s not self-defense).  

She’d rather leave dealing with maleficarum to mages and the Circle because she is not an expert.  She can’t even remember the last time a Cousland was sent to a Circle. So she thinks hey, how about we just leave this evil mage thing to non-evil mages. Of course, given that the Chantry is in Orlais, and is fond of Exalted Marches, this conflicts directly with the ‘avoiding war with Orlais to spend more time with the darling husband’ plan.

Dwarven Caste System: In so far as she can tell utterly pointless.  Telling a whole group of people they can’t rise to anything greater doesn’t really make sense, because from what she can tell it doesn’t do anything except piss off those people.  And they may not have “Ancestors”, but a great many of them seem to have knives.   

Basically Florence feels she makes a better face for a cause than an expert opinion.  If somebody can show her the right evidence and organize a solid solution she is fine with lending her face/name/general good credit to the cause.  Think Princess Diana championing causes as a similar situation; she knew she was extremely popular so if she showed people what was going on they’d rally behind it.  That’s more Florence’s style when it comes to dealing with things.

12.  Your Warden’s opinion of the following characters: King Cailan, Arl Howe, Dagna, Lady of the Forest/Witherfang, Loghain, Flemeth, Caridin.  [Extra Credit: Broodmother]

King Cailan: Naive and a bit dumb, but he meant well.  He didn’t deserve the death he was handed. Also, all the rumors she’d heard from court were true; Anora totally wore the pants in that relationship.    

Arl Howe: If it were at all possible she would have had him resurrected and then killed him a second time.  Particularly after that comment about her mom.

Dagna: Adorably sweet, a bit weird with the whole Circle fascination, but she had a dream she was willing to give up everything for, so she has all the respect Florence has within her to give.  All the respect!  Just, sweetie, you’re kind of strange.  In a good way.  But not the craziest person Florence has hung out with.

Lady of the Forest/Witherfang: Both terrifying and inspiring in the ‘awestruck’ way. 100% justification in her mind to just give the southern forests to the Dalish and never step foot in there again. Because Maker only knows what that forest is going to spit up next to keep out trespassers. Next time someone strolls in the spiders could start talking before they ensnare you to feast upon your insides.

Loghain: Discomforting.  Here was a man who did some great heroic deeds, and then later let old battle scars, ego and distrust get the better of him.  The compliment he paid her at the Landsmeet still leaves a bad taste in her mouth.  She wonders if in the same situation she wouldn’t make some of the same choices he did.

Flemeth: You don’t mess with a being like that, ever.  You respect it, you are polite to it, and you sure as hell don’t go out of your way to piss it off.  Even if its daughter politely begs you to kill it.  That’s when you just lie to the daughter.

Caridin: She can’t judge him any worse than he’d already judged himself.  It was a different era, he admitted his wrong, regretted it, and then made up for it.  All debts paid, in her book.

Broodmother: She’s never told Alistair this, but the Broodmother is the exact reason why when it’s time for her Calling, she’s not going to the Deep Roads. She’ll go to Highever and run herself through with a sword, then have her body burnt on a pyre.  The Broodmother answered the question of why there weren’t many female Wardens.  If she can’t give Alistair any children, she definitely doesn’t want to birth a million darkspawn horrorbabies.