owlmoose | Entries tagged with wardens of ivalice

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.

Current Mood: relieved
Current Music: "Foreign Shores" - S. Zeilenga
Crossposts: http://owlmoose.livejournal.com/765992.html

I might have just sent a draft of Wardens of Ivalice Part 2 out to beta. Maybe I will actually finish this thing.

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Music: FFXII Soundtrack
Crossposts: http://owlmoose.livejournal.com/760010.html

One of the roadblocks I've found in working on this story is that it's just been too long since I played FFXII. And since we recently got rid of our only television that will effectively run a PS2, I don't see the opportunity to pick it up again on the horizon at all. (Dear Square Enix: I understand that this remaster rumor is essentially just a rumor, but can't you at least port the darn thing to modern consoles or iOS? Pretty please?) Probably I need to apply myself to some Let's Plays, but I did find this collection of all the cutscenes, and I watched it over the space of a couple of days last week.

"Final Fantasy XII - The Movie - Marathon Edition (All Cutscenes 1080p)" (Watch on YouTube)

By all, I mean all, not just the FMVs -- it even includes snippets of most major boss battles, at least one shot of each Quickening, and the introductory shots for most of the world areas. The video is over six and a half hours long, and it was worth every minute to remind myself of details of story, landscape, and characterization. The characters' voices live in my head again, more so than they have in years. It's no substitute for living with the characters and Ivalice through a hundred hours of gameplay, but it was decidedly better than nothing.

Making writing progress, too, if slowly. What's mainly got me blocked at this point is giant plot details that I don't know yet. But I'm hoping that sitting down and writing up the character work, the character moments, will give me plot. It's worked before, anyway.

Crossposts: http://owlmoose.livejournal.com/739988.html

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.

Current Mood: excited
Crossposts: http://owlmoose.livejournal.com/727876.html

Believe it or not, I have been working on the next part of Wardens of Ivalice (my epic Final Fantasy XII/Dragon Age crossover) in fits and starts over the past year. I like what I've written so far, but I've realized that it's hard to motivate myself to work too much on the story when I feel like I have too many gaps in my attempt to merge the two universes. So it's time to start hashing these things out, and I'd love some help tossing ideas around.

( Minor lore spoilers for Dragon Age and Final Fantasy XII, and for part one of Wardens of Ivalice. )

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Music: "Dark Flow" - Dispirition
Crossposts: http://owlmoose.livejournal.com/649608.html

I did the 15 Characters Meme on Tumblr last week -- create a secret list of 15 characters, take prompt request with numbers standing in for the characters, see what happens -- and had a lot of fun. My list was a mixture of characters from Dragon Age, MCU, FFX/X-2, and FFXII. Some of the results (mostly on Tumblr, a few crossposted to AO3):

Steve Rogers challenges Basch fon Ronsenberg to a duel.

“I’m not so sure this was a great idea,” Bucky said, looking over his shoulder to the other side of the clearing where Basch checked the straps of his armor. “He looks pretty handy with that sword, and I don’t know if you’ve ever as much as picked one up before.”

Steve shook his head, then hooked his shield over his arm. “I don’t see that I have much choice,” he said. “That army is threatening the whole platoon. If I can save everyone on both sides by taking out their general, then I’ll do my best with a sword.”

Natasha Romanoff and Tony Stark in a love triangle, competing for the affections of another.

Tony stared across the room at Pepper, not quite certain he’d heard her right. “You have… plans? With someone who isn’t me?”

“Contrary to popular opinion, Tony Stark is not at all times the center of the universe.” Pepper crossed her arms with half a smile.

Seven and Nine get lost and argue over directions.

Character Seven was Balthier. Character Nine was Tony Stark. You have no idea how much I love this prompt.

Recast Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy as characters One and Nine. Rewrite the failed proposal scene.

The role of Elizabeth Bennet will be played by Alistair. The role of Mr. Darcy will be played by Yuna.

Alistair, Yuna, Tony Stark, and Sigrun throw a surprise party for Paine and Ashe. Two surprise party prompts combined into one story.

“C’mon, they’ll be here soon!” Sigrun ducked down behind the Warden-Commander’s desk and gestured for the others to join her. Alistair followed with a grin, but Tony didn’t move from his spot by the bar, and Yuna wavered.

“I… I don’t know,” she said. “Paine doesn’t always like surprises. I’m not sure Ashe does, either.”

Sigrun and Ashe, unexpected travel.

This prompt slots neatly into my Wardens of Ivalice AU, as a missing scene from "The Joining."

Auron and Basch are accidentally locked in a room overnight.

Auron turned the handle one last time, just to make absolutely certain there was nothing to do — he couldn’t break the lock, or bust down the door. “It seems to be sealed magically,” he said.

“Then it appears we are here for the time being.” Basch slid down the wall to take a seat on the floor, and Auron followed suit, tipping his head backwards. “I don’t suppose you carry rations?”

Ashe cuts Basch’s hair.

Though any of a hundred servants could have been called to take on the chore, Ashe feels compelled to perform this duty herself. After the Strahl is safe in the royal aerodrome but before anyone disembarks, she requests a pair of scissors, and then she cuts Basch’s hair.

Paine is afraid, because Balthier hates Yuna.

“You really think they’d come after us?”

Paine turned her head sharply to meet Yuna’s eyes. “You know Balthier wanted that sphere cache. You know you beat him to it, snatched it up from under his nose. And if you think the Youth League was mad when we pulled that stunt with them…” She shook her head. “They’ll be after us, all right."

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Freya's Theme" - FFIX Soundtrack
Crossposts: http://owlmoose.livejournal.com/625273.html

Now that I've posted the first part of my Final Fantasy XII/Dragon Age crossover, I wanted to step back a little bit, think about the world I'm creating and how it's going to work. Spoilers for DA:O, FFXII, and also for the story itself behind the cut. Thoughts and suggestions are more than welcome!

( Musings on magic, tech, and other things. )

So, that's where I am right now, at least in terms of bringing the worlds together. I have a lot of thoughts on the characters, too, and why I created the connections and teams I did, but that can wait for another day.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Crossposts: http://owlmoose.livejournal.com/562819.html

Title: Wardens of Ivalice, Part One: The Joining
Fandoms: Dragon Age & Final Fantasy XII
Rating: T
Wordcount: 26,909
Characters: Ashe, Balthier, Basch, Fran, Elissa Cousland, Alistair, Nathaniel Howe, Alim Surana, many others.
Pairings: Ashe/Balthier, Alistair/Cousland. For now.
Spoilers: For FFXII and Dragon Age: Origins. Includes characters from Awakening but no major spoilers. No references to DA2.
Notes: So here it is, unleashed upon the world at last: my giant crossover of doom. I've never attempted a crossover of this magnitude before, so I hope it works. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to take this direction, and to all my IM friends who haven't played Dragon Age but put up with my babbling and idea-flings regardless. Enjoy!

Summary: Two years after war's end, Queen Ashe is confronted with a new threat: an invading darkspawn army, bursting from underground caverns throughout the world. Fortunately for Ivalice, Warden-Commander Elissa Cousland and her team of Grey Wardens are not far behind.

Link to story, on AO3