Q: Tell us about the most sophisticated method of murder that you have ever used!

Zevran: My friend, there is nothing more sophisticated than a drop of poison in a glass of antivan brandy.

*laugh*

*sudden bloody cough*

Q: ???

Zevran: At such moments, I'm even a little sorry to do all this... So much wasted brandy...

Elaya Mahariel, the first non-mage of her clan to become a Keeper

Her origin would be the same origin as a normal dalish elf, the only difference being that she would pass her Keeper mantle to Merrill.

She romances Sten (please let me dream), and in the end, after killing the Archdemon, she left with him for Seheron.

That story was really great, so suspenseful/creepy and then horrifying. A solid build-up with a dramatic payoff replete with looming threat for the future. also yess for sure sounds like Ghilan’nain! in case anyone reading is wondering why she’s implicated/involved here in some way:

in Dalish lore she’s the Mother of the Halla, the first halla or creator of halla, and halla are her sacred animal. she’s often depicted with them. the part of the ruins where the fucked up monster shit is happening is clearly entirely elven, and in there we see elven bas-reliefs depicting elves and repeating dwarven paintings of elven figures. in the bas-reliefs, one shows elaborate and grandiose aravels pulled by armies of halla to distant mountains. but the relief is disquieting/slightly off and on further inspection the halla are different and wrong, with too many horns and an abnormal harder, more rounded look. their horns are longer and ridged, organic somehow, and they overall look insectile. the aravels have barred windows and are actually prison-ships. the second-pass of the relief is likely the true representation/story of what occurred in the past that’s recorded there.

in the repeating paintings, the supplicant/person/figure and the monster change each time. the priestess/queen meanwhile remains the same except for her smile getting crueler each time. it sounds like a depiction of the priest/queen doing experiments and initiating those magical changes to her subject. also striations on the columns are in the form of a halla horn symbol and it repeats over and over. some of the effed up creatures have halla and varterral parts, both elf-associated creatures. the writers there could have had nug and deepstalker parts, but they didn’t. the Wardens in the story find a big monster centipede, grotesque mutant animal amalgamations and effed up ‘new’ darkspawn. and the Jovis-creature and Friedl referred to “she” and “her”. 

In the Temple of Mythal, we learn that Ghilan’nain, far from just creating the halla, actually originally kept herself apart from the People and used her power to create animals none had ever seen. the skies teemed with her ‘monsters of air’ and the land with her beasts. she made giants for the sea including those in deep waters (for example the Cetus probably). eventually the Evanuris offered her ascension but only if she destroyed her creations for they were too dangerous and untamed to remain among the People. she agreed and killed most of them in 3 days. this codex tells us a few things: Ghilan’nain was just as whack and fucked up as the rest of the Evanuris in her own way, she made monstrous terrible things that even the Evanuris considered dangerous and was ruthless enough to kill most of her creations in order to obtain godhood. it’s long sounded like she was doing effed up experiments or something to create those things and the new bas-reliefs and repeating paintings probably show that occurring: her experimenting on and transforming her people/subjects or people in general. we also have her in a codex somewhere urging one of Dirthamen’s people to change his form into something winged.

Look at the wording of the codexes “Notes on Methods of Enchantment”, it’s weird. These notes are found in elfy places (in the Crossroads) and are stamped with a stylized halla head, which is the sigil of Ghilan’nain. (Maybe it’s not even so much ‘stylized’ as it first seems but is actually because it’s the weird insectile not-quite-right kind of halla seen in the carvings). The writing aches to be looked at, reminding me of how the carvings, bas-reliefs and halla horns seen in the story are weird to look at. About the weird wording: supplies brought in from the same stock (remember prison-ship aravels drawn by halla being taken to the lab mountains); bindings, weaving, meshing, grafts (like different parts of different beasts being stitched together); the aim to improve coordination and sharpen the heart (the new darkspawn are more clever than the old ones); explaining the process to the “stock” as a courtesy (yoo that is straight up telling a sentient being what you’re doing to it. You don’t explain shit to mixing acids in a beaker in a school lab or whatever or to your science fair volcano, those things are inert/non-sentient and cannot understand you); and the lesser animals thing (i.e. the ones she was working on at the time in these notes were higher, complex forms of life). These are probably some of her research notes.

in the short story, the Wardens have obviously discovered one of her secret lab-type places where the ‘magic’ happened, essentially. she was doing hideous experiments on some of the People, a mad scientist. the pools could specifically be the method which she used to make her ‘beasts of the sea’. possibly since then it’s been contaminated/further warped by Blight or similar. its likely she continued doing experiments after ascension: these places underground were good places to hide no doubt.

an interesting thought: Mythal was said to be “born of the sea”. Was Ghilan’nain trying to essentially recreate the conditions that led to what was essentially the elvhen formation of organic molecules - i.e. life - from inorganic molecules? in biology we call this process abiogenesis. 

There is reluctance to do the surgery if you live alone, even if you have a good support system. One of the most stressful things was the hospital constantly asking about who would be looking after me, picking me up, etc. I really felt the bias towards people who are married and against people who are single. I don’t think it was intentional but it was definitely there. That being said you will definitely need a robust support system of some kind to get through everything in the first 4 -8 weeks or more after surgery. 

All your pill bottles will have safety caps and you won’t have the strength to open them on your own without a lot of struggling.

There are soooo many medications. Take them as prescribed and when they say take the level of pain meds you need to manage your pain, do it. I got opiods and ibuprofen. If the pain is bad 5-7+ on the 1-10 scale take the stronger meds. Pain can slow healing by causing stress on the body.

Drains are a pain in the ass. Every hour pushing the hoses so they don’t clog. Major drag but they are very important and if they get clogged it can cause issues

Sleeping sitting up, prepare for this. Lots of pillows or recliner or something. Practice for a week or more before surgery to get used to it. 

Sleep as much as you need. Don’t feel like you should stay awake or whatever because you are supposed to or it is day time or whatever. Listen to your body.

Drink lots and lots of fluids. You may think you are drinking enough but you probably aren’t. The fluid in the drains and the medicines and peeing all the time and sweating from the tight wrap. You need to replace all of this fluid. I think I have been up around 80+ oz the past few days.

The month before and a month after surgery eat a high protein and higher calorie diet. It will help with surgery and recovery. You need the energy and the protein to recover. 

Cut out added salt, caffiene, alcohol, and nicotine before surgery and during recovery. All of these can increase fluid retention, slow healing, or be dangerous with the meds.

Your chest will feel very strange. At first you can’t feel anything and then the skin feels tight everywhere and still strange. The recovery process feels real weird. Your whole torso feels kind of bizarre and new.

Ask all the questions. No question is stupid. It’s trauma to your body ask all the questions. YES all of them.

The tube (intubation) from surgery irritates the throat. Coughing from this sucks so damned much because of the binder and the chest tightness and what not. Find lozenges (Both cough drops and just candy) that you like. I say candy because too many cough drops can upset the stomach and you don’t need that after anesthesia and with all the meds. Also get popsicles.

Take everything out of packages you can before surgery. They are damned hard to open. Those paper cartons holding the apple sauce and snapping apart pudding cups and pulling apart pill blister packs.. ugh I should have taken them apart before the surgery.

Scissors are your friend and every package is an enemy. Seriously, get a good pair of scissors for packaging.

Also, skip 2 liters of pop, gallon of milk, etc. They will be too heavy to pick up after surgery. You can be more independent if  you get smaller size things.

Timers are your friend. All the phone timers forever. Also, handwritten or some other chart type to keep track of drain cleaning and taking meds. You will be sleepy and forgetful the first few days. Use other things to help you keep track.

Take stock of how your lights go on and off. Can you reach them while pretending you are a T-Rex. If not, especially ceiling fans and that, put long strings on the pulls so that you can operate them while you can’t raise your arms.

Also check your doors to make sure they don’t stick. You won’t be able to tug hard on doors or drawers or whatever.

Get yourself some treats. Food related or clothing or whatever. Treats will help.

Before surgery plan out and prepare at least a week of meals. Be sure to include some that are easy on the stomach like crackers, rice and chicken, etc. Just in case you have stomach upset from the anesthesia or meds. Gentle foods include starches and chicken/tofu that is low fat and low spice so that it is gentle.

Soft fuzz free and easy to get on clothing is essential. I went out and got a couple of those shorts and button down shirt pajama sets. Life savers. Also, get a size or two bigger than usual to accommodate drains and padded bandages and things. 

Strange pains, you will probably have them. 

Be sure to do the arm exercises as directed by your surgeon and watch your shoulders hunching. The shoulder hunching is from the chest tightness but you don’t want your back to start hurting. Try to sit up as straight as you can.

Pump action soap dispensers will be too hard to use the first few days.

Weeks before surgery, start teaching yourself how to do things without your arms; like standing up, getting into and out of bed, squatting, getting up from chairs, etc. Practice doing things with your elbows next to your chest like a t-rex; getting food and drinking, brushing teeth, taking meds, etc This will be very important

1: The pharmacy can put twist-open caps on. If you ask for them, we can do it. I would never mind cracking the bag open and fixing them myself.

2: For cough drops: If you are, like me, someone who hates minty-ass cough drops: There’s 2 more kinds besides mentholated. One type uses pectin to lube up your throat. The other kind uses benzocaine and it fucking rules. That- and throat sprays- will numb your throat. obviously do not use if you have a -caine sensitivity lmao.

3: The pain meds. Take them on the schedule. I’ve found that pain meds work better when you pre-game that shit. Slam those things like you’re in the back of your dragula.

I cannot stress how important a support system is. I know everyone talked about this, but it’s super, super important. Having a person who can take off work and be with you for the first 4 days is ideal. And, god, I can’t imagine what it’d be like living alone for the first 2 weeks. I didn’t have to deal with the single bias because I have a husband, but I also ended up needing my MIL living with me for a few days because he had work.

Post-intubation throat stuff: aloe vera drinks! Aloe vera will soothe your throat just like it can soothe a sunburn or similar, and you can get different fruity drinks mixed with it.These also serve as really good treats, as OP mentioned. Plus, it helps you get all that extra hydration in!

Take stock of all the stuff you use on a day-to-day basis. Store them close to you, down near your arms. Plus, is there a way to get a lighter version of something you need? For when you can eventually shower/bathe, can you get travel-sized shampoo bottles instead of full sized? Definitely stick to individual bottles to drink things instead of jugs or 2-liters.

Laxatives after surgery can be helpful to prevent the opioid constipation, but try starting stool softeners several days before surgery too, and consider maintaining usage. This will help you have your first bowel movement after surgery, which is pretty important to insure you’re doing alright.

Start really hydrating in days leading up to the surgery too! (Although not in the time before surgery as directed by your surgeon!)

Do everything your doctor directs before and after surgery. It’s essential! Keep notes readily available (I had a whole top surgery folder), and keep your helpers aware of the protocols too, because you WILL forget once you’re all hopped up on anesthesia and meds. Use alarms, but also use your helpers, because if you have a tendency to sleep through alarms, all your meds and exhaustion will not help that!

and within a few days, there was a sudden addition from my one of my neighbors along with a Bunch of thumbtacks. this was an unexpected, but welcome surprise!

well there was still so much space, i figured i'd add another crumb to the art hoard. i'd been playing genshin that day so i drew my favorite grandpa

and like clockwork, new art manifested!! this person is gonna grow to be a great artist i know it. the detail in those stones? hell yeah that's cool.

we're two weeks into it. more neighbors have joined in with their artwork. who knew there were so many artists in my building?? we're onto somethin great here i just know it.