KJ

The Day 13 challenge is to set some goals, but I've already done that, so instead I'm backing up to Day 10: Create a fanwork. Possibly this is cheating, because I didn't write this today, nor on the actual Day 10 -- most of it was drafted over a week ago, and I've edited bits of it over the intervening days. But I polished it up yesterday, and got it posted, and editing and posting is an important phase of creating a fanwork, at least for me. So here it is!

Title: Constructive Solution
Fandom: Dragon Age
Rating: Teen
Wordcount: 660
Characters: Isabela/f!Hawke
Spoilers: Yes, through All that Remains
Notes: Written for ladiesbingo, "Episode Tags and Missing Scenes" prompt. Starts in the final moments of All That Remains. I have now committed fic of this moment for every romance I've played. The Hawke is Sylvie, my purple mage; I haven't talked about her much here, although I'm sure I will once I finish her playthrough.

On AO3.

Hey hey everybody, guess what? There's going to be a fanwork exchange focused on the dwarves of Dragon Age!

cotsexchange / childrenofthestoneexchange

The tagset is open for nominations until March 11th, signups open the next day, and I could not be more excited. Will this be the motivation I need to get dwarfappreciationsociety up and actively running again? Let's hope.

Title: The Rising Mist
Fandom: Dragon Age and Final Fantasy XII
Rating: Teen (moderate DA-typical violence)
Wordcount: 26,903
Characters: Ashe, Balthier, Basch, Penelo, Fran, Elissa Cousland, Alistair, Nathaniel Howe, Alim Surana, Sigrun, Leliana, Zevran, many others.
Spoilers: Yes, for all three games and Dragon Age 2. Contains a couple of DA:I references but no spoilers.
Notes: So. I kept saying I was working on it, and here it is. Only five and a half years later. Many, many apologies for the wait, but I'm really happy to be able to share it now. A couple of comments. First, because huge chunks of this were plotted and written before DA:I came out, it's not entirely compliant with its canon. Second, huge thanks to everyone who ever talked story meta with me (names that come to mind are sarasa_cat, lassarina, and alias_sqbr, although I'm sure that's not everybody), and especially to justira for providing an amazing and detailed beta read, above and beyond the call of duty. Finally, my love to everyone who left a review on Part One asking for more, or who commented with enthusiasm whenever I added WoI to my monthly writing goals. Knowing that people were looking forward to this second installment kept me pushing forward, and I look forward to being able to say it's finally completely done whenever I get to writing Part Three (currently targeted to publish in 2018).

Posted on AO3.

Today has mostly been about settling in and having some fun. Although I didn't sleep in as much as I would have liked, I still had a nice relaxing morning -- had breakfast, went to the coffee shop across the street (which might as well be an extension of con space -- there are even some official events there!) for a bit of writing time, and then had lunch with pierceaholic and magnetsorwhatever at a local cheese shop -- all before official con events started in the afternoon.

I went to two panels today. The first, "The Fandom Awakens", was essentially a love letter to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Not to say that there was no deep discussion -- far from it, as panelists spoke about how moved they were by seeing women and people of color in such significant roles, the ethics of droid labor, and why we insist on gendering droids. One good question that provoked conversation, though no definitive conclusions, was whether a droid in the Star Wars universe has any sense of gender identity. Next up was cypheroftyr's panel on the queer gaming experience, with a focus on Dragon Age although several other games were also discussed. Many good thoughts and sharing of experiences about what games do right and the (many more) things they get wrong.

For dinner, I joined the New Attendees dinner gathering. Although it could have been better organized, I ended up with a lively and fun group. We picked up food at a Russian dumplings place, then ate it on the steps of the Capitol Building, chatting all the while about fandom, and we enjoyed the conversation enough to keep it going over coffee until the time came to head to the opening ceremonies. This event was mostly informational, introducing attendees to policies and committee heads, but since this is the 40th WisCon, they also took some time for reminiscences, as long-time WisCon attendees talked about the con community and what it means to them. We also got a stirring speech from Katherine Cross reminding us to treat hotel staff with courtesy and respect, and call from Pat Murphy to make WisCon a "'splaning free zone". Then I wrapped up the night with a panel on Hamilton followed by a singalong, which was a blast. Unfortunately, the timing wasn't organized quite right, and so we didn't have time to sing the whole thing -- just as well, though, because my voice would have likely given out. :) We sang through the entire first act, then hit some highlights from Act 2 ("What Did I Miss?", "Cabinet Battle #1", and "The Room Where It Happens"). About halfway into the first act (I think with "You'll Be Back"), people started getting to the front of the room and acting out the main roles, often to hilarious effect -- maybe my favorite was Hamilton and Burr fighting over the rolled up scarf they were both using in place of their respective newborns in "Dear Theodosia". It was a great high point to end my first full day here.

One thing I've noticed: people often use the Twitter hashtags assigned to events, so it's worthwhile to check them. Good stuff on the Fandom Awakens and Queer Gaming Experience hashtags, specifically.

Fortunately, there's nothing in particular I want to do in the first programming slot tomorrow, so I can have another relatively relaxed morning. But still, I should get to bed. Goodnight, WisCon. I'll see you at 10AM.

Originally posted, with pictures, on my Tumblr.

After literal years of neglect, a couple of weeks ago, I fired up my Loral Mahariel game and finished it, all the way through Witch Hunt. See my Tumblr post, linked above, for a couple of snaps. My previous shots of Loral are from my brief attempted at playing DAO on my Mac, which did not go well, so I recreated him on my console (which is why he looks a little different, although I think I got him pretty close). But I was unable to get any better pictures, and most unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to take a good snap of his reunion with Morrigan. I am quite fond of him in the Blackblade armor, though.

Thoughts on Loral’s endgame and DLC choices:

( Cut because this is really rather long )

Over the last few months, I'd been slowly working on my first replay of Dragon Age: Inquisition, with a female Trevelyan. A few days ago, I finally finished it, and then almost immediately rolled up an Adaar. She's a mage and proud of it, distinctly distrustful of authority, and more than a little snarky. I have a few goals for her -- romancing either Sera or Josephine, friends with Solas (neither of my other Inquisitors managed to get along with him at all), a couple of other things -- but for the most part I'm going to let her take the lead.

But within a couple of days, I switched gears, because something possessed me to pick up my long-stalled Mahariel run of DA:O. Poor Loral had been stuck in Orzammar for a very long time, maybe even years, and I decided it was time to get rolling on him again. He beat the archdemon yesterday, and now he's back, reluctantly taking charge of Amaranthine (although not as reluctantly as I might have thought). I'll be really interested to see how he does in attempting to relate to human nobility. His experiences with the Blight mellowed him on humanity somewhat, but some prejudices remain.

I want to write up Kendra Trevelyan's experiences in more detail at some point -- she was a true believer who never faltered in her conviction that she was the chosen of Andraste, doing her work on the mortal plane. But I need to think more about what it all means. Probably I shouldn't have jumped quite so quickly into Nazlin Adaar's story, but I've been eager to play a Qunari for so long now that I couldn't really wait. More thoughts on all of these characters and their universes to come.

Hi! Thanks for signing up for this exchange, and for taking on my prompts. Before I get into specifics, first I want to encourage you to follow your own muse. I have a few do-not-wants, but consider everything else I say as guidelines or suggestions. I want you to write, draw, and/or create whatever is most inspiring to you -- if you do that, I'm sure I will love it.

But in case you do want more details, here are some thoughts and ideas:

( General likes and preferences, including the things I'd really rather not see. )

( Prompt specifics. )

Thanks again! I'm really looking forward to seeing whatever you create. :)

I was looking back through my DA:I tag on Tumblr, when it hit me.

( Spoiler for DA:I Trespasser. )

I need to decide whether this makes sense or not. But if it does, it could solve some of the issues I've had with harmonizing the two magical systems. Hmmmmmm.

For their second question, tklivory asked me to rebut a Dragon Age Confession, or other fanon/popular meta from Tumblr fandom. Not crossposting this one for what I expect are obvious reasons. ;)

I actually unfollowed and blocked all the confession blogs awhile ago, ostensibly because they weren't consistently tagging for DA:I spoilers, but mostly because I was tired of seeing the same half-dozen arguments over and over, and it seemed like the confession blogs were often a catalyst. As a result, my enjoyment of Tumblr went up about one thousand percent; if fandom is getting you down and you haven't done the same, I highly recommend it. Anyway, I'm out of the loop and not sure what the hot confession topics are right now, although I could certainly make some guesses, and it wouldn't be good for my blood pressure to go looking. So instead, I'm going to talk about a common headcanon that I've come to really dislike, and that's the characterization of Hawke as an inappropriate, incompetent, bumbling fool who doesn't care about Kirkwall and who stumbled into a leadership position, rather than as a champion.

Not to say that Hawke is a conventional hero, of course. One of the things I like about Hawke is the ways in which they subvert the trope of the chosen one. Although it's suggested that Flemeth rescued Hawke from the darkspawn in part because she saw their potential to influence events in Kirkwall, it's still mostly a case of Hawke being in the right place at the right time. And it's certainly possible to play Hawke as incompetent, especially a purple Hawke. But purple Hawke is not the only true and correct characterization. It is, in fact, my least favorite characterization choice -- rather than being funny, purple Hawke strikes me as tactless, awkward, and often out-right mean. (In particular, I do not recommend rivalmancing Anders with a purple Hawke. I found the experience thoroughly unpleasant.) But in the three games I've finished so far, I always felt Hawke was trying their best to do the right thing, to help people, and to make Kirkwall a better place, although different Hawkes have different ideas about what those things might be. My red Hawke occasionally got exasperated with people's inability to solve their own problems, but she still stepped up and did what needed to be done. Hawke may not be a chosen one, but they're still a hero, and they should be recognized as such.

( Cut for DA:I spoilers. )

Like much of the fanon and meta that irks me in DA fandom, my issue with treating bumbling fool Hawke as the one true Hawke comes back to people who don't consider the choices of other players to be valid. There are so many different ways to create the universe of these games, and to mold the characters, especially the player characters, that to nail it down into a one true fanon is impossible. And, in my mind, misses the point of the games entirely. Why play in such a mutable sandbox if you're just going to set everything in concrete?

classics_lover asked me for my thoughts on Dragon Age dwarves. Let me show you them.

If I have a reputation of any sort in Dragon Age fandom, it's probably as a dwarf fan, especially the two dwarf Grey Warden Origins -- the Dwarf Noble is my favorite origin, with the Dwarf Commoner as a close second. I've written quite a lot of fic about my Brosca and my Aeducan, and the single DA story I'm most proud of is an AU about a Brosca and Aeducan working together. I also created and sporadically maintain the Dwarf Appreciation Society on Tumblr. So DA dwarves are a bit of a niche for me, and one that I'm happy to sit in.

The obvious next question is "why dwarves", especially when I've never been particularly drawn to the dwarves in any other fantasy universe. And I think the short answer is politics and storytelling.

Anyone who knows me from Final Fantasy XII fandom can tell you that I am a fan of stories that are dense with politics, and that make the political situation an important part of the storytelling. Politicking is a theme that runs throughout the Dragon Age universe, but nowhere is it denser or better done than through the Orzammar quest in DA:O. However, this is only really true if you play a dwarf origin. My first time through, I played a human noble, and although I liked playing through Orzammar and the Deep Roads well enough, it's a much richer experience with more personal resonance if you play a dwarf. The events of the origin come back in both cases, especially for a Brosca, and unlike most other Wardens, a dwarf might have deeply personal reasons for wanting to see one candidate or the other on the throne. I like how the various character and political threads come together, and considering the different ways they can come out. And I find myself drawn to this story of a formerly immense and proud civilization on the decline: the ways some factions are fighting against it while others are looking for ways to grow and change, to fight the coming extinction of their way of life. And a not-insigificant percentage just leave, abandoning the old ways to set up a new life and integrate into surfacer society.

Aeducan is my favorite origin. When I decided to start a second game (before we'd even finished our first!), I spent half a day playing through the events of all the origins besides Cousland, and I knew immediately that my Aeducan was the character I wanted to carry forward. She's also the character I consider my primary canon Warden. But in terms of coming back to Orzammar, Brosca is hands-down the most interesting and best written -- their personal connection through Bhelen through Rica gives them higher stakes in the political game, as does their past association with the Carta.

One of my disappointments with DA2 was the lack of dwarf characters (I don't think there's a single named female dwarf character in the entire game) and the scarcity of new dwarf-related lore and content -- not much besides the Deep Roads expedition and a bit in Legacy, since Varric is not very connected to dwarven society -- so I was pleased to get more in Inquisition, particularly the ability to play as a dwarf again. My first Inquisitor was a Cadash, and although I was a little surprised to discover that she was a surfacer, it's a character choice I appreciate. I'm really intrigued by the ways that different dwarves adapt to surfacer culture. And although I could have wished for more dwarf-specific content, I did appreciate the connections we did get, particularly the opportunity to learn a little more about the Carta. Scout Harding, too, provided a bit of a window on how a dwarf might fit in with a mostly-human community. (Although we do see other dwarves living in Redcliffe -- I wonder if she knows Dywn, or is somehow connected to him?) And of course the return of Dagna made me extremely happy, even if a part of me was hoping that the master arcanist was going to be Sandal. The lack of an explicit meeting with Sandal and Bodahn Feddic in DA:I was a small disappointment, but no less real for that. Much as I like him, I had been iffy on Varric's return as a party member, but overall it worked out for me, especially in the ways it tied into the red lyrium thread.

And of course we got an entire dwarf-focused DLC in Descent (even if I found that particular sidequest somewhat disappointing as a player). ( Cut for Descent Spoilers. )

As for the future, I'm hoping we get a better window onto the obvious problems in Orzammar, and I'd really like to get to Kal-Sharok at some point. The tease we got for that on the Inquisition war table was more tantalizing than satisfying. But I was glad not to see it ignored, and have hope that it's setting up more for the future.