Sky Augury

art by Belinda Dalton

Hail Déa Mysteria!

Yesterday’s Easter Sunday attacks is the largest post-colonial civilian massacre in Sri Lankan history, with 300 dead and 500 injured. Our country needs your help! Please consider donating to the following:

1. Muslim Aid USA, a registered 501©3 organizations in the US with a local presence and country office in Sri Lanka. Has raised 14,000 USD so far. They’ll be matching the first 5000 USD raised.

2. The Red Cross (it has faced criticism but still remains the best way to help in an international emergency)

3. In addition, some known and trusted people are running this Gofundme campaign:

MY HEART IS SO HAPPY!!

@galadrieljones created this amazing piece of Solas and Aelyn and I can’t stop looking at it! The flowers in her hair, his hand on her neck, the necklace, her dress, his flower crown, just… everything. They look so soft and peaceful!

Bad Children All Get Eaten

A Marcher rhyme, originating in rural areas but common in some variation from Wycome to Starkhaven

Now gather, all young ones, and hear what I say, For good girls and good boys know when to keep mum. For silent politeness is simply the way, And always be thinking of this rule of thumb:

Eaten, eaten, eaten! Bad children all get eaten! Boiled or toasted!  Broiled or roasted! Eaten, eaten, eaten!

And always give credence to elders and lords, Respect all their titles and ranks of the guard. And bow to your betters if you are their wards, It’s never worth risking a loss of regard.

Eaten, eaten, eaten! Bad children all get eaten! Poached or basted, nothing wasted! Eaten, eaten, eaten!

And when you complete all your work in the store, Or stables or cobblers or fletchers or field, It’s not just polite to wash off what you wore, If giants can smell you, then your fate is sealed!

For decades, astronomers searched the cosmos for what is thought to be the first kind of molecule to have formed after the Big Bang. Now, it has finally been found. The molecule is called helium hydride. It’s made of a combination of hydrogen and helium. Astronomers think the molecule appeared more than 13 billion years ago and was the beginning step in the evolution of the universe. Only a few kinds of atoms existed when the universe was very young. Over time, the universe transformed from a primordial soup of simple molecules to the complex place it is today — filled with a seemingly infinite number of planets, stars and galaxies. Using SOFIA, the world’s largest airborne observatory, scientists detected newly formed helium hydride in a planetary nebula 3,000 light-years away. It was the first ever detection of the molecule in the modern universe. Learn more about the discovery:

Helium hydride is created when hydrogen and helium combine. 

Since the 1970s, scientists thought planetary nebula NGC 7027—a giant cloud of gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus—had the right environment for helium hydride to exist. 

But space telescopes could not pick out its chemical signal from a medley of molecules. 

Enter SOFIA, the world’s largest flying observatory! 

By pointing the aircraft’s 106-inch telescope at the planetary nebula and using a tool that works like a radio receiver to tune in to the “frequency” of helium hydride, similar to tuning a radio to a favorite station…

…the molecule’s chemical signal came through loud and clear, bringing a decades-long search to a happy end.

The discovery serves as proof that helium hydride can, in fact, exist in space. This confirms a key part of our basic understanding of the chemistry of the early universe. SOFIA is a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that allows astronomers to study the solar system and beyond in ways that are not possible with ground-based telescopes. Find out more about the mission at www.nasa.gov/SOFIA

A Lake in Pomerania, Poland

Amsterdam

Athens

Bac Son Valley, Vietnam

Barcelona

Bern

Cape Town

Central Park, New York City

Chicago

Dubai

Dubrovnik

Giza Pyramids, Egypt

Mali, Maldives

Mangroves in New Caledonia

Marina Bay, Dubai

Maze at Longleat, England

Meskendir Valley, Turkey

Mexico City

Moscow

Namib Desert, Namibia

Niagara Falls, U.S.A.

Paris

Rio de Janeiro

Seattle

Shanghai

Terraced Rice Fields, China

Tulip Fields, The Netherlands

Vancouver

Vatican City

Venice

Antiva has more in common with Latin America than Spain and Italy (the other one often said.) So the TL;DR version is yeah I think most Antivan characters like Zevran and Josephine could be considered Latine. (And Josephine was clarified to be a WOC, though we weren’t given any details beyond that because BioWare.) 

Also you should totally check out @latinxdragonage!

First, just a reminder that there is no 1:1 ratio of Thedosian countries and IRL equivalencies, but rather general regions of the world. So please don’t misinterpret this as me lumping all of Latin America together, but rather I believe that is what BioWare did in terms of pulling inspiration from a wide range of places and cultures. Antiva is a large place and there’s lots of room for differences across it!

Zevran says that in Antiva it rains often. Spain has a dry climate compared to nations like Colombia (which has been ranked as the rainiest country in the world) and neighbouring countries:

That it rains so much in Antiva makes sense why they have a region called “the Drylands,” if it’s dry unlike most of their country, instead of the other way around like Spain.

Antiva is also hope to the Tellari swamps, which is a giant wetland [some images are included in this post]. Four of the worlds most major wetlands are in South America, including The Pantonal, which is also one of the largest. Looking at the actual comics though, while it’s called a swamp it appears more like a rain-forest to my eye at least. In which case that still definitely wouldn’t bring Spain or Italy to mind, would it?

Still talking about geography, Antiva shares The Hundred Pillars with Tevinter, which is a long stretched mountain range like the Andes.

Last Flight describes Antiva City being decorated with turquoise tiles, just like the Aztec people used it for, among other things as it was favoured for both ornamentation and ceremonial use. There is no turquoise in Spain.

Also in Antiva is gold; their symbol is a golden drake. And yeah the Spaniards sure loved their fucking gold, but who did they steal it all from again?

Antiva is where coffee is produced in Thedas. The world’s biggest coffee producer is Brazil (by a lot), with Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia and Mexico also being on the top ten list.Some other foods that are known to come from Antiva are peppers, corn and passion fruit, all foods native to Latin America, and only brought back to Spain by colonizers.

Antiva is specifically named when discussing fine weaving skills, with rugs apparently identifiable as Antivan by look. Weaving is an iconic textile tradition from many Indigenous peoples in South America.

Zevran mentions something called a “lillo flute” being a common instrument used by Antivan minstrels. This may be a fictional type of flute, and not that they have the copyright on all flute music, but flutes are among the most used instruments in Andean music.

Antiva has a huge history of piracy and as a trade hub similar to the Caribbean, including the existence of pirate seaports, which were a large contributor to the establishment of Antiva as a nation.

Finally, a few things entering headcanon territory but I’ll include anyway:

I like to think the Drylands could be equivalent to the drylands in Mexico, Argentina and Chile.

That Antivans have notable weaving textiles would also suggest that they have the animals it takes to produce the fibres, like llamas and alpacas? Which would thrive in the Drylands and mountains. And the Dalish of Antiva probably use halla wool.

It’s not that there aren’t any things that Antiva has in common with Spain and Italy, like previously being a city-state (something Gaider specifically pointed out when asked if Antiva City was Italy) and known for wine exports. But I think Orlais has more in common with those countries, when we’re talking about the quantity of similarities……And frankly, I am really tired of the fantasy genre only equating to Europe. Dragon Age is one of the only franchises not to do that.

SOURCES:

Dragon Age: Origins

World of Thedas Vol 1

World of Thedas Vol 2

The Silent Grove

The Calling

The Masked Empire

Last Flight