Silence in the Library

Watch Michelle Obama’s inspiring speech at the Democratic National Convention

“Our motto is when they go low, we go high” was just one of about a billion amazing Michelle Obama-isms. See how she drops the mic when explaining why Trump is toast.

Gifs: PBS NewsHour

WATCH THE FULL SPEECH

Dragon Age Aesthetic - Solas

Brother Genitivi: Thedas’ Indiana Jones only with more actual scholarship

(and considerably less violence)

A very incomplete list of the places Brother Ferdinand Genitivi has been in pursuit of knowledge:

The Emerald Graves

Orzammar, where he met Branka

lost in an ancient Tevinter ruin in Northern Rivain

chased by Tal-Vashoth

a village of Qunari converts

imprisoned and tortured by dragon cultists

the Grand Tourney in Tantervale

Kirkwall

Minrathous

the Black Emporium

asking a Dalish hunter questions about his culture while hanging upside down from a tree

“If I can be honest, the long reign of the Chantry has made the recording of reality at times a trial. Most common histories have been rewritten through the filter of my religion. Everything has meaning as it pertains to the Maker. And while this is unavoidable, it sometimes leads to conflicts between what is officially taught by the Chantry and what I have seen with my own eyes”. 

–Brother Ferdinand Genitivi

Zevran: I deserved to die, and you spared me. Why are you so quick to condemn these mages?

Warden: You’re a lot better-looking than most of the mages.

Zevran: Why, thank you. Flattery would normally distract me, but not today. Inconvenient, no?

Warden: You’re saying I made a mistake sparing you?

Zevran: (Nervous laughter) Perhaps. But you did it nevertheless, no?

Warden: Magic and knives are different.

Zevran: Magic can kill. Knives can kill. Even small children launched at great speed could kill.

Zevran: Why single out the wielders of one and not the others?

Warden: Mages can do more damage with one spell than you ever could.

Zevran: Mm. Touché.

Zevran: I’ve taken the lives of many throughout my career, but this is no measured act. There is no chase, no hunt, no dignity in this… there is only slaughter.

Warden: What about the people they might slaughter?

Zevran: Might, not will. Committing genocide just because something might happen is more than the mark of a weak mind. It is insanity.

Warden: Zevran, you’re a hypocrite.

Looks like the rumored new Mass Effect book is going to be a thing after all, and then some, according to this fiction guide from Titan Books?

Transcript:

Mass Effect: Andromeda Initiative (N.K. Jemisin, August 2016, PB336pp TBC)

Launching a brand new series of Mass Effect novels which tie in to the epic game.

With a new game - Mass Effect: Andromeda - set for release in 2016, the launch of a new series of canonical novels is timely. While earlier Mass Effect games focused on the defense of the Milky Way galaxy, with humans pitted against a race of ruthless mechanical invaders known as the Reapers, the new story will take the game in a dramatic new direction and is set in a new region of space, with a new and deadly enemy.

Titan will publish four unmissable Mass Effect novels, sure to appeal to the game’s huge number of fans. The game Mass Effect has won numerous awards, including Best Story, Best Voice Acting, Best Original Music and, from The New York Times, Game of the Year.

The novels will act as prequel and sequels to the events in the games and will become part of the overarching Mass Effect saga. They will focus on key characters and answer the many questions fans have been asking.

Do note that it has the release date for ME:A down as 2016, obviously BioWare have told us that it’s been pushed to Q1/spring 2017. I suspect this is due to the timepoint this guide was put together at.

Also note that the book title seems to be Mass Effect: Andromeda Initiative according to the info on the book in the sidebar portion. On at least one site where the book is or was featured (like libristo.pl and weltbild.ch, see first link at the top of this post) it was listed as Mass Effect: Andromeda - Initiation. The cover art that some of those sites featured for the book had the same title; that cover art (which kind of looks to me like a placeholder) with the old [?] title is what’s used in this fiction guide. Either a title mistake on the cover art/previous listings of the book, or a title mistake in this guide, that or the title has been changed. If it has indeed been changed it might point to the significant “Ai” logo we’ve seen around standing for “Andromeda Initiative” rather than “Ark/Arkcon Initiative”.