#lore: dwarves
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Deep Road and Dwarf Facts From Buried Pasts Adventure - Dragon Age Tabletop RPG
Bullet point list of the interesting bits I found, I've added the excerpts below the cut.
The Deep Roads and Thaigs are 2-4 miles (3.21 - 6.43 km) below sea level. Making them deeper in areas like those beneath mountains.
Mining galleries tunnel upwards into mountains while thaigs tunnel downward towards the mantle.
The environment of the Deep Roads can shift from shockingly cold to blistering hot depending on the area.
Thaigs are heated in old thaigs by lava but in newer (now abandoned) thaigs it was common to use steam.
If traveling the Deep Roads, carrying a light and heat source is required. Without a heat source you could die from the cold.
There is complete pitch darkness outside of the glow of lyrium or lights created by people.
Dwarves make oil lamp using nug and bronto fat.
The shadows are so long when a light source exists that it makes it hard to spot what might be lurking in the dark.
Sounds louder than a whisper will echo further than they would above ground in a space/passage.
Dwarves love wood instruments and design their spaces to allow for sounds to echo in thaigs, giving them an ever present hum poets have compared to the song of the Stone.
Dwarven stone-sense fades the longer you are on the surface.
Magic and lyrium resistance in the dwarves comes from the constant exposure of lyrium. When on the surface for too long that resistance will fade away completely.
Dwarves are masters in close quarter combat, favoring morning stars, crossbows, and shields.
Note: There are weird wordage/typos in the text itself that I didn't alter because I couldn't tell which way to go with so I've left it as is.
Deep in the Dark (page 3)
"...For those who have spent their entire life being able to see the horizon, the cramped, confusing conditions underground can be difficult to adjust to. The human and elven sense of direction is easy to lose underground, sound travels further as it echoes off the walls, the environment can be shockingly cold in one space and blistering hot in the next, and the cramped conditions impede the styles of fighting surface-dwellers will be used to..."
Light and Shadow (page 3)
"Above ground is never completely dark, even on a clouded moonless night. Underground, in uninhabited areas of the Deep Roads, the only light in the pitch darkness is that which the heroes bring with them and the glow of lyrium veins. The slightest obstruction creates a long shadow such that even with light characters are unlikely to be able to see everything within the reach of their light source. As characters move through the environment, everyone of those shadows will move in keeping, further hindering characters watching for creatures in the dark..."
Sound and Silence (page 3 & 4)
"Although the solid rock stops sound from traveling to completely sealed areas, anything louder than a whisper will echo much further than it would above ground along the passageways and chambers of the Deep Roads. The effect is especially pronounced on the roads themselves, as dwarves built their underground passageways long and straight with vaulted ceilings to greatly enhance the distance at which sound can be heard. The constant echoing combined with the dwarven love of deep wind instruments and song gives inhabited thaigs a background hum of sound that dwarven poets have compared to the Stone. Orzammar itself is never silent, and the impact of moving into the stillness of abandoned Roads beyond the city's control is greatly upsetting to dwarves who have lived with the comforting sense of community the background noise provides..."
"..Any parties with dwarves in them may find the dwarves natural stone sense a help or frustration. Dearves who spend most of their life underground will find the sense still sharp and comforting. By feeling the stone, navigation is easier. However, the sense fades the longer dwarves remain on the surface and when the darkest parts of the Deep Roads it can be a vague distraction as the sense is dulled and irritating, though not completely without use.
Heat and Fuel (page 4)
"The majority of the Deep Roads and thaigs are built about two to four miles beneath sea level, although in the Frostbacks that means they're actually much deeper beneath the surface. Dwarven mining galleries normally stretch up rather than down, tunneling up into the mountain regions of Ferelden and Orlais from beneath, while the thaigs themselves burrow downward toward pockets of lava that have moved up from the mantle. Most older thaigs (including Orzammar) have open regions of molten rock near their center that are used for heat, while more modern thaigs (ironically those more likely to be abandoned thanks to the darkspawn pushing the dwarven empire back on itself) used steam heating. Inhabited regions between thaigs are heated and lit by oilk lamps using the fat from nugs and brontos.
Away from lava or artificial heating, the Deep Roads are bitterly cold. The lack of weather is a mercy, but travelers that go too ling without a source of heat will begin to feel the effects. As their lanterns are likely the source of their heat as well as light, travelers must take extra care with the amount of fuel they have; the dwarven empire once maintained frequent waystations along the Roads for resupply, but running out of lamp oil in the modern Deep Roads can be a death sentence..."
Fighting at Close Quarters (page 4)
"The dwarves of Orzammar equip their rank-and-file soldiers with shields, maces, and crossbows, perfect for the cramped conditions they are expected to fight in. Skirmishing is a thing of the surface battlefield, except in the largest caverns. The dwarves train their warriors to block passageways with shieldwalls and corral disorganized opposition into killing grounds.
Height is the main restriction. The dwarves built the main tunnels of the Deep Roads with lofty ceiling clearance, and thaigs are usually organized facing into large caverns to give a sense of space, but private houses and other areas not intended for heavy traffic can be uncomfortably cramped to a human. The lack of space can get in the way of swinging the large weapons humans may be used to..."
Dwarven Magic Resistance (page 16)
"...The dwarven resistance to magic is the result of prolonged low-level exposure to lyrium in the Deep Roads and is also the reason Orzammar dwarves can handle lyrium in relative safety in amounts that would drive a human mad."
#dragon age#dragon age ttrpg#da ttrpg#da ttrpg: buried pasts#lore: deep roads#lore: dwarves#lore: ttrpg
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the dungeon meshi fandom is so real for seeing falin's canonical body type (medium but with soft features) and saying "actually. she should be fat"
#eliot posts#dunme#dungeon meshi#falin touden#sorry to her canon design but i like fanon more in this case lmao#like one thing that i wish for from this comic is like. a few more positive examples of fat people#other than like dwarves and whatnot who are just naturally broad as a species#sidenote there are lore reasons that make fat falin make sense too aside from it just being cool as hell
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Something I hadn't considered until now is how brutal the mission to kill Jarvia and most of the Carta in Orzammar is for Brosca. I'll never forget the emotional gut punch that was having to fight and kill Leske, who is probably only true friend Brosca has ever had in all their life (I remember desperately searching if there was a dialogue option or something to let him live but there is none), but I also just thought that Brosca must have known most, if not all of those Carta members that we fight through the mission.
And knowing how the casteless are pretty much cut off from the rest of Orzammar's society and most are forced into a life of crime, Brosca must have known and possibly have been friends or at least care for for a lot of the Carta members, and also possibly have worked with them often under orders from Beraht and Jarvia.
Then after becoming a Warden, returning to Orzammar and under orders from either Harrowmont or Bhlen, they have to go to their old home in Dust Town and kill Jarvia (who was alledgely planning to use her growing power in Orzammar to force the Assembly to recognize the rights of the casteless), Leske and pretty much everyone else they knew during their many years growing up and while being a part of the Carta.
Just another bit of tragedy for Brosca's story.
#dragon age#warden brosca#brosca#dragon age origins#orzammar#dragon age dwarves#dragon age meta#dragon age lore#dwarf commoner#dwarf commoner origin#beraht#jarvia#rica brosca#dust town#dao#da:o#da: o#da o#da origins#aeducan#harrowmont#bhelen aeducan#pyral harrowmont
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Long Post: Why I Don’t Like The Drow
I’ve been ranting about this to a friend on discord (a lot of points I make will come from him) but I’ve finally figured out what my issue with the drow is outside of inherently evil groups being dumb.
The drow are boring. Drow lore is less of a dive into a unique culture and more of a list of fucked up things they do. Like, I cannot name a single interesting aspect of typical drow society that does not directly involve murder, sexism, or slavery, or Lolth. And even then, most of those things are written about in an incredibly bland fashion with them.
The Drow don’t really have much depth to them, and are just kind of evil for evil’s sake (or “because Lolth said so”). They do slavery, but the only real purpose of doing slavery for them is “because Lolth said so”. It isn’t for cheap labor, it’s to be more evil. They betray each other purely because that’s what evil people do. They’re misandrist, not for any real societal reason, but because Lolth hates men. There’s none of what would make slavery an interesting topic or story element, no justification for why they should be allowed to commit one of the worst injustices possible, no real economic reason for it. They just do it because Lolth says they should, and from a writing perspective it hammers home the fact that they’re evil. They aren’t evil because they enslave and murder, they enslave and murder because they’re evil, if that makes any sense.
Them being written as comically evil as they are also hurts them from a worldbuilding perspective. They’re so reliant on slaves for menial labor that the lower class of their society struggle to get jobs. Drow culture so obsessed with betrayal and dumbass house wars that even when actively under attack from the outside they sabotage each other. They’re so decadent that their buildings are held up with magic and semi regularly collapse when a spell fails. To put it bluntly, drow society feels like one that should have collapsed in a few centuries, which, funnily enough, is way longer than D&D elves live.
Their culture being so monolithic also makes writing anything about them difficult. Every drow antagonist is going to have near identical motivations, methods, and ideologies as every other drow antagonist. Every drow protagonist is going to ultimately feel very similar to Drizzt, because leaving their fucked up society to become a do-gooder is such a common backstory element that they added a whole extra god just for doing that. In fact, you can divide 90% of drow characters from any official materials into these categories:
Manservant
Ambitious male, usually a wizard (5 bucks says he has long hair and a widow’s peak)
Dommy Mommy Warcrime Woman
Drizzt Do’Urden or one of his many duplicates
Self-loathing and/or resentful Drider
And finally, their existence almost purely to be humanoid enemies you can fight at nearly any levels is just kind of lazy. This is a problem that I have with the “evil races” of a lot of fantasy but having a group that’s evil by birth just feels like an excuse to not have to write actual motivations for your antagonists. It’s the difference between “go attack this camp of soldiers because they’re part of the SkullMurder army and their general wants to use our land to build a dread fortress” vs “go attack this camp of soldiers specifically because they’re drow/goblins/orcs/the dreaded peepee-poopoo folk”. Using stuff like this just feels like an excuse to not have to write an actual antagonist since it comes pre-written in the group’s lore. This has the side effect of whenever such a group is the antagonist of the plot, the players or audience know near exactly what to expect. The orc is here to conquer, the goblin is here to steal, and the drow is here to enslave or do some dark ritual.
I’ve legitimately heard people say “well if XYZ can’t be inherently evil anymore, who will we use as bad guys?” It’s very simple: whoever the fuck we want. Write an evil queen, or a scheming wizard, or an underground slave trade network. For God’s sake, anyone can be evil, you don’t need to tie that to a specific ethnic group and write it as “they’re just like that”. Write an actual character for your antagonist.
#dnd#dnd lore#rant post#it’s also incredibly funny to me that the duergar are a near exact copy of the drow (but with dwarves)#and they somehow manage to be more interesting than the drow
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Anyone else think it's wild that Samuel Vimes not only has an entire Disc-wide network of the law named after him (Sammies, the Old Sam) but also inspired a super popular cocktail and a best selling book? Not to mention that time "Vimes the Butcher" helped stop a war. Again.
Honestly I would read innumerable books / fics on the widespread influence across the Disc of Lady "I have a hospital named after me honk if you love dragons of course Havelock is my friend" Sybil, high mistress of correspondence, and Blackboard Monitor Vimes.
#sam vimes#lady sybil#discworld#text post#gnu terry pratchett#terry pratchett#samuel vimes#blackboard monitor vimes#you just know yhe Dwarves and the Trolls and the Werevolves and Vampires have their own Vimes lore#Vimes the Butcher
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sometimes i think about the dwarves from twisted wonderland and think, yea actually, i can get why gran's annoyed all the time
imagine you were born shorter than others because of your race, and people infantilize and look down on you because of it, i'd be frustrated as well.
and like, imagine, you'll always be seen as this cute little child, even though you're already a sophomore, and you'll probably always be perceived as one, even when you're an adult, because at the end of the day, all you'll ever be is an extension of someone else's image (neige) and you're whole entire identity revolves around them.
idk i just find the dwarfs to be interesting. like whats their life like outside of neige? do they have hobbies of their own? i'm sure they do enjoy performing with him, but is that all there is to it?? like, what if one of them just goes "hey singing and dancing is fun and all but i wanna pursue a career in archaeology"
probably the other dwarves are bothered by this too, but they care about neige a lot, so they don't really say anything
#this came from a doodle i made of gran saying fuck and dominics there like “gran u cant say that!!”#and grans like “i'm 17 i can say whatever the fuck i want to” then it spiraled from there#gran should be allowed to swear. please. as a treat.#(plus it would be so funny if it wasnt gran who swore and like. timmy or hop or something)#here we are again with me unnecessarily adding nuance to side characters who probably wont matter in the story any time soon#goes crazy over rsa i NEED more lore vshshahGsgahg#twisted wonderland#neige leblanche#the seven dwarfs#the dwarfs twst#gran twst#royal sword academy#twst#rambling#also this is kinda a sequel post to my other post about neige having abandonment issues and the dwarves being older than neige so.#check that out too i guess#twst gran#miz says stuff
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wait i’m going insane how did i not know frerin was only 48 when he fought at azanulbizar??? he was fourty eight he was just a baby i-
#like think about it#if we’re going off of the theory that dwarves come of age at 75 (forgive me if that’s wrong i’m basing this mostly on fanfic lore) like#he was a WEEUN#kíli was considered young on the quest and he was 77#frerin was quite literally a tiny wee thing i can’t#i’m getting emotional about this#the hobbit#lotr#frerin durin#frerin#thorin oakenshield#bagginshield
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This is a lot of rambling
Trying not to cry thinking about how Iron Bull grows up under the Qun a place where you don’t have names and are addressed by titles Bull’s title literally being Liar but he describes finding his purpose as being a slab of marble having the last of the junk knocked off and finally seeing the final form of what you’re meant to be taking shape
He becomes one of if not The Best Ben-hassrath (secret police) agent ever, Gatt (a former Tevinter slave now Qunari agent Bull himself freed and gave the nickname Gatt short for gattlock the explosives) says Bull kept the streets of Seheron (a place that’s been in the crossfire of a seemingly endless war between the Qunari and the Tevinter Imperium full of constant death) clean longer than anyone before or after him to the point it almost kills him waking up one day and not being able to find a single reason to do his job anymore
He reaches his breaking point and turns himself into the re-educators people that literally torture you to try and ‘re-educate’ his obv ptsd but idk if that really works so instead they send him far away to Orlais to work undercover as a mercenary “tal-vashoth” (people who from his own experiences are ruthless bloodthirsty killers) (still battling with the being an object/person) he loses his eye and builds his own family of misfits, makes a name for himself (literally)(and makes a point of using an article to sound more like a ‘mindless and destructive thing’)
Eventually a demon spitting hole opens in the sky and a longdead archdemon-controlling darkspawn magister shows up claiming god is dead and he’s taking over, and now Bull finds himself working for this inquisitor some rando from no where that is the worlds only chance at beating this undead not-god and the inquisitor is also the guy who in one instant has the power to sacrifice Bull’s new family for an alliance with the Qunari or not and have Bull officially be considered Tal-Vashoth and be excommunicated from his home, friends, and family
All this to say I thought about what if in Demands of The Qun you tell the chargers to hold their position and then Iron Bull returns to Skyhold afterwards all alone…still technically apart of the Qun still technically an agent of the Ben-Hassrath, still another tool to be used by someone else….and he just has to keep going, keep lying
I’m going to start crying jfc just the thought of Bull quietly sitting in the back of the Herald’s Rest all by himself, there’s still the hustle and bustle of Skyhold, all kinds of people coming and going but none of the background noise will be his boys anymore (´༎ຶ^༎ຶ`)
#the iron bull#iron bull#dragon age#dragon age inquisition#dai#It just made me really sad and I needed to word my thoughts#that version of tresspassser would be so enjoyable from a viewer perspective but how devastating for those characters#if u sacrifice the chargers idfwy#lore update#apparently bill’s tamassran studied the stones of dwarves ruins#In the hissing wastes he makes a comment about the stone being so old his tamasrran would make them count the grains in each stone
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what races would smunker, talon & al be if they were in dungeon meshi?
Al and [smunker] would likely be dwarf and gnome respectively i think it wld be cute....idk what talon wld be, I kinda wanna say elf because it's funny + people mistake him for an elf all the time + He Does Look Pretty and Feminine When He's Fed, along with the hating the reality that he'll outlive any loved ones that comes with being a long lived race being equivalent to that same struggle as a vampire....but a talon taller than the both of us is also kinda scary LOL
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Dwarven Princess Disa, the Glorious
Lady Disa is everything that Dwarves and our Dwarven lovers have deserved and not gotten since time began. On top of being a wonderful character, an equal in all measures to the dense and valourous immovability of dwarven men, but best of all, she has PRESENCE!
Gimli nearly stole the trilogy and it was only Aragorns firm kindness and Legolas's graceful rivalry together that balanced his forceful nature in the movies. I was nervous, because Dwarves are a lot (not in a bad way, but even dwarves must admit, they are a lot) and I worried that any portrayal of dwarven women might be a simply masculine portrayal.
But dear Manwë how wrong I was. Sophia Nomvete's Lady Disa swept the room with her power and brazen audacity and I loved every second of it. The way she cut through Durin's hurt straight to his love by pointing out the Tree, recognizing that while Durin's feelings might be valid, he'd regret it for the rest of his life if he didn't fix it, and treating Elrond with love and kindness despite how badly hurt she knew Durin was, because in the end, no matter how hurt he was, he still cared for that tree.
She balances out the crudity of dwarven men not by being elven proper, but by dwarven keen. Oh, she's clever and reads those around her like the Sunday newspaper. She's steady in the way she presents herself, sturdy in the way she balances out the more ridiculous sides of her husband, and absolutely steadfast in her control of the situation.
She makes me believe that had Dwarven women been in the peace talks between the Elven kingdoms in the first age, they might have had peace sooner, one way or another. Because let's face it, she might have been the absolute picture of kindness and hospitality but she also scared me a little. I would not want to be on her badside.
There were few things in this show that I didn't know I needed, but between the friendship of Durin and Elrond and The great lady just being herself...
And the juxtaposition of Disa and the other great ladies of Middle-earth! Eowyn is mighty and must express it in battle, Galadriel is just so amazing and this post isn't about her so I'll stop there, and Arwen, whose power of choice and grace speaks volumes, but only Disa made me feel at home (and a little scared, the looks she gives are terrifying lol).
And to you Dwarven kind out there saddened by the lack of beard... I hear you, truly. But, tell me it was not amazing seeing a real Dwarven princess be an actual legend on screen? I think the Dwarven legendarium deserves this wonderful woman and just like Elrond's reception by the lady herself, it was such an unexpected joy.
#disa#ramoth13#the rings of power#rop#the lord of the rings#Dwarves#khazad dûm#Moria#jrr tolkien#tolkien lore#tolkien#Aulë#durin iv#durin#sophia nomvete#silmarillion#the unfinished tales#elrond#lord of the rings
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I’m reading the Pathfinder ‘Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse’ setting book (guess whose copy arrived recently!), and I’m on the section on the Mbe’ke dwarves of the Terwa Uplands, and I just. I want to mention the origin story the Mbe’kes tell about themselves:
“This is the story that Mbe’kes tell.
Long ago, dwarves marched upwards on a Quest for the Sky. They saw many wondrous things on that march; temples and treasures, magics and mysteries. One group of dwarves, who would later become Mbe’kes, finally emerged in a sheltered valley.
They looked about the rocky sides of the valley, and they looked at the great blue thing above, and mistook it for just one more cavern, if perhaps larger than most. Sages stroked their beards and engineers hefted their tools, and the dwarves set about breaching the vault of the sky. They climbed the tallest mountain in the land, braced the sky properly, and started digging. Dwarves, of course, can dig through anything, and so quite soon they broke through the sky into the Plane of Air.
The People of the Air were greatly surprised by these strangers. First a great hurricane-spirit tried to chase the dwarves away, but the dwarves had fought worse beneath the earth and were not cowed. Then a great djinni of the west wind offered the dwarves fine treasures to leave, but nothing matched the wonders the dwarves made themselves. Finally, a curious cloud dragon asked what in the seven stars above and the three stars below the dwarves were doing.
Once they understood their mistake, the dwarves descended back to Golarion and looked about the valley from which they’d emerged. They could most certainly make a home there, and did, and ever since Mbe’kes have been good friends with cloud dragons.”
Now. A couple of things. First, the actual historical and archaeological record tells a different story, suggesting that the proto-Mbe’ke initially fought for territory with the cloud dragons in the Terwa Uplands (evidence includes a suspicious number of old Mbe’ke relics made of dragon bone), but eventually the two groups made peace and became the firm allies they are today later down the line. Second, the Mbe’ke have a proud tradition of ‘tangle-tales’, an expression of their humour, which involve telling the most ridiculous, nonsensical, over the top stories possible with the straightest face possible, and responding to them just as seriously to encourage elaboration, until someone finally breaks and laughs. So. Tall tales are a prized tradition for Mbe’ke. And third, there’s this later note:
“If one were to ask a Mbe’ke, they would say that their people are famed for three things: first, they are the most stubborn of all dwarves; second, they are the most argumentative of all dwarves; and third, they have absolutely no sense of humour. This last will be said with a perfectly straight face.”
Their humour and culture is a combination of dwarven stubbornness and pragmatism, and cloud dragon whimsy and curiosity. And in that context …
I just really love that origin story? As a thing they tell about themselves. Because you can see …
The things they pride themselves on are being stubborn, argumentative, and secretly humorous. And it shows. Their origin has them climb out of the earth, look up, fail to realise that the sky is not just another ceiling, and then impossibly dig through that as well anyway. Stubborn, yes. Heh. And then, in the Plane of Air, they cannot be driven away by force, because come and have a go, and they can’t be driven away by bribery, because we’re dwarves, you can’t offer us anything we couldn’t make ourselves, but they can be politely knocked back by someone gently arguing with them until they realise their own idiocy. In this story, the cloud dragons were just ‘lads, what are you at?’, and the Mbe’ke looked around, realised their cosmological error, and just went ‘oops, our bad mate, thanks for the head’s up’, packed up their kit, and went back down a layer.
I love so much that this is a story they tell about themselves. That it shows what their pride is held in. In stubbornness, in doing the impossible, in refusing to be driven back by any insurmountable obstacle or show of force or attempt to undermine their integrity, but also in recognising their own foolishness, in acknowledging their own errors, in having fair dealings with people who deal fairly with them, and in poking some gentle fun at every previous thing on this list. Yes, it’s showing them in their best light, according to their own values, and the reality is often different, but it does illustrate quite well what those values are, and it’s fascinating.
And I also love some of the little details. They climbed the tallest mountain in the land and braced the sky properly. Like, if you’re going to do this ridiculous thing, you’re damn well going to do it right. Is it plausible or even possible? Irrelevant. Do it right regardless. I love that they saw another vast ceiling, another impossible barrier, and the ‘sages stroked their beards, and the engineers hefted their tools, and the dwarves set about breaching the vault of the sky’. Like, right, on we go! Another job, let’s get it done. They’re so … dwarvish. And god I love dwarves. You cannot stop a dwarf from digging. I love them.
Ahem. Anyway. I like the Mbe’ke a lot? Also dwarves. Just. In general. Heh. Carry on!
#pathfinder#pf2e#lore#mwangi expanse#dwarves#mbe'ke dwarves#i just love dwarves#worldbuilding#mythology#story telling
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oh also the reason why dwarves are always wearing such huge cloaks and capes when u see them out and about is bc living in a cave system with active forges actually makes them very well suited to deal with high heat and humidity so when they're uptop they're literally always cold.
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This is probably a tired old take but I really love the parallel between Aulë/Yavanna and Thorin/Bilbo, it just fits so well and adds a mystical layer to their relationship.
Like OF COURSE the dwarven blacksmith, King Under the Mountain, child of Mahal, would fall in love with the hobbit, one who loves all that grows, child of Yavanna. They complement each other beautifully just like their makers !
#even tho dwarves were barely mentionned and hobbits were nothing more than a footnote in the silm#the lore about the valar really made me appreciate bagginshield even more#bagginshield#silmarillion#the hobbit#aulë#yavanna
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Why Leliana is half dwarf
My hc theory on why Leliana is half dwarf.
The rest of the post is under the cut.
.
1 - Her mom was a servant to an Orlesian noble, and dwarven servants are common in Orlais.
Nobles: Don’t be an idiot. How could the Herald of Andraste be a dwarf?
Nobles: Maybe it’s just a servant.
The comments Orlesian nobles make towards a dwarf inquisitor in the Winter Palace.
2 - As it's seen in the mission In Hushed Whispers, Leliana has a very strong resistance to the Blight sickness. Dwarves are naturally resistant to the Blight sickness due to their constant proximity to the darkspawn. And in another example, the dwarves of Kal'Sharok have adapted and "become inmune" to the blight disease, similarly to Grey Wardens. So it'd make sense if she had inherited this same resistance from her mom.
3 - She likes nugs and is very passionate and caring about them. Granted, she doesn't want to eat them like all dwarves do, but still, she's the only human (afaik) in the series who has shown so much interest for nugs. Also, following with the possibility of her mom being a dwarf, I wonder if she told her stories or had figurines or something about nugs and thats why she's so fond of them.
4 - She's in awe of Orzammar and really likes the city.
5 - The epilogue for lyrium ghost Leliana in Trespasser very much sounds like the song of the Titans, and the corrupted version of it which its what imo prompts the darkspawn to seek out the Archdemons.
Like this comment that Cole makes about the Titans’s song: “It’s singing. A they that’s an it that’s asleep, but still making music.”
Also, we all know lyrium is a titan’s blood. So a dwarven blooded Leliana becoming a “lyrium ghost” after “dying” could actually be pretty similar to what Valta becomes at the end of The Descent DLC. Also to note is that Valta somehow revived Renn after becoming connected to the Titan and acquiring its “magic”. This could also explain why Leliana returned to life after being killed in the Temple of Sacred Ashes", cause she would have a special connection to lyrium from her dwarven blood.
6 - She has super strong thighs that can break a person's neck. Clear sign of dwarven genes.
Venatori: "You will break!"
Leliana: "I will die first! Or you will"
Thanks for reading my very serious theory.
#leliana#dragon age#dragon age meta#dragon age lore#dragon age dwarves#illusivesoulrambles#dragon age leliana#leliana dragon age#sister nightingale#orzammar#i spent more time on this than i should have lol#this is half silly half serious but i do actually have this hc for her#the pieces match!
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Lore: Titans
What we know about titans is little and sparse pre-DA4. Somethings that we do know about them are:
Also known as "the pillars of the earth"
They created the dwarves, they are potentially "The Stone" that dwarves refer to.
Alternatively the titans themselves are children of "The Stone", but created the dwarves. They consider the dwarves to be their children.
Lyrium comes from titans, it is considered to be their "blood".
The titans emanate a song from lyrium, it is different from the Blight.
Titans use earthquakes to shape the earth, they also previously used "Shapers" to carve valleys into the earth.
Their size is so vast it is impossible to describe it according to Valta. They're large enough to support life within themselves, from plants to dwarves like the Sha-Brytol.
Titans enable the dwarves to have a hive mind connection with it and others.
History
At least one titan has been killed by the Evanuris - specifically Mythal. Though it is suggested that it was multiple titans.
Ancient elves mined the bodies of titans' for lyrium, but out of fear, they eventually sealed them with stone and magic. They cited that "what the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would destroy all in its anger."
Before the Dragon Age, the last time a titan was known to be awake was -1170 Ancient. Before the fall of Arlathan and before the First Blight. Both instances were the same titan.
After -1170 Ancient there is no mention of the titans in Orzammar's memories. Though there are two texts that mention titans, they predate the First Blight.
Orzammar became the capital of the dwarven kingdom after the titan awoke in -1170 Ancient.
Known Titans
We only have the confirmed location (specific or general) of two titans.
Heidrun Thaig - it is the focus of the entire Descent DLC
Orlais - It is a super general and non-specified location but it is mentioned on the handle of Tug's axe that "The Stone lives beneath Orlais." It is also mentioned by the Nexus Golem in da2 in the Abandoned Thaig. Given that the stone is a reference to titans, we know there is one somewhere in Orlais.
Theoretical Titans
These are locations for titans that are mostly theory and locations I've seen others in the fandom talk about.
Temple of Sacred Ashes - I have seen this one floating around and I have some doubts. Mostly since we don't really know how big titans are, we can't rule out that it is the same titan as the one under Heidrun Thaig.
Which, considering they can cause earthquakes and are described as impossibly vast, more so than a giant or a high dragon, they're erring on the side of large for sure. Coupled with Valta saying she wanders through the body of the titan for an unknown amount of time and hasn't seen all of it, only adds to just how inexplicably large it is.
Along with that, if you keep with the scale of Ferelden being the size of England then from the thaig to the temple is only a 16 day journey (240 miles/386.24 km). Adding on the scaling math I have for the depth of Heidrun - being deeper than Mariana's Trench - the Titan could very well stretch that far.
Primeval Thaig - If this was indicative of a titan location, let alone being tainted, I feel that there would have been a discovery of red lyrium so much sooner. We know how infectious that stuff is, how impossible it is to destroy and how rapidly it grows. Not only is the thaig not deep enough to be directly connected to the titan, but it was completely sealed off to prevent it spreading.
That said, I do think there is a possible titan under the Vimmark mountains. So far the only titan we have a definite location on is underneath mountains. Considering they cause seismic activity, I can definitely see one slumbering under there.
Anvil of the Void - This one does seem a bit plausible to me depending on where you put the thaig. This post by @/wyrdsistersofthedas explains the plausibility quite nicely. It is a bit tinfoil-y as is anything about dwarves and titans at this point. Especially when the source is dao and with how much BioWare has set aside in terms of lore. In essence though, Cariden's anvil is connected and supplied by a massive lyrium vein. His anvil and its location is also the only location where the creation of golems has resulted in functional creations. The rest went wrong or were driven mad in some way. The golems Branka is making from the Casteless in DAI if you give her the anvil are still consistently failing.
Sternann Peak, Anderfel - There is a lyrium mine out here near the town of Geltberg. Which also implies that there is a thaig as well. Whether this is run by Orzammar dwarves or the Carta is unclear.
Beneath the elven crossroads - The lyrium mines in Trespasser might be connected to an entirely different titan or the aforementioned titan beneath Orlais. It is unclear where the the spaces you go through the crossroads even are.
Cryptic Comments From Cole and Keiran
Cole
"It's singing. A they that's an it that's asleep, but still making music."
"Their ancient shapers were mountains drawn of all their wills, walking their memories into valleys of the world".
"They made bodies from the earth, and the earth was afraid. It fought back, but they made it forget."
Keiran
"But you can't be taller. Not without the titans."
Titan Tidbits and Theories
Cole implies that templars have established a connection with the titans through their use of lyrium when asked for his opinion on the templars. Solas also echos this by describing how templar abilities work, that they pull in the reality of the world around them to shut out magic.
Though this doesn't quite explain Seeker abilities, the use of they lyrium brand and the touch of a spirit may forge a different kind of connection.
Cole comments on how "They (ancient elves) made bodies from the earth, and the earth was afraid. It fought back, but they made it forget."
This suggests that maybe the original elves who are implied to be originally spirits, made bodies out of the titans (earth) and that this is one thing that instigated the war between titans and the evanuris. Though this is a speculative interpretation of what he means.
In the tabletop it is implied that in the past, the thaigs were carved from living rock - potentially the titans.
The dwarves of the elder days filled the thaigs, large open caverns beneath the earth, living in great cities carved from the living rock.
Adding to the above point, we see two instances where the old gods' prisons were under/nearby dwarven thaigs. In the Shimmer Stone Mine in the Western Approach and the Dead Trenches near the Ortan Thaig where Urthemiel amassed his army.
If the oldest thaigs were carved from titans, it brings to question if the old gods were buried before or after the dwarven kingdom started building their thaigs given the "newer" thiags are above the old god prisons, and the prisons are above the titans.
If the old gods were buried after the start of the dwarven kingdom, which would be after the fall of the titans, it brings to question if the old gods are connected to Arlathan and the founding of the dwarven kingdom, and if this was one of the relics of the ancient dwarf and elf emipire collaborations mentioned in the tabletop that was forgotten about. Sandwiching them between titans and thaigs for safeguarding.
#dragon age lore#lore#theories#titans#dwarves#dragon age inquisition#dai#thaigs#dragon age meta#long post#lore: titans#reference: titans#reference: dwarves
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Anyone playing "Return To Moria"?? Because yesterday I found out you can sing while you mine and it gives you a buff, and I just.... 😍
#conkers corner#conkers cosy games#return to moria#lotr#moria#lord of the rings#dwarves#dwarrow#dwarrowdelf#dwarf lore#khazad-dûm#dwarf singing
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