Wait. WAIT. You want to add to the acknowledged!AUs? With an arranged marriage? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! I want to know SO MUCH.

Okay, so I’ll have you know that this is entirely your fault and I blame you for everything. Because, like most of the things I start, this has gotten wildly out of hand and I have completely lost control of my life. (this is how my Kyrian/Mahariel thing happened)

So you posted your acknowledged!AU rec list. And I went through them. And I started reading The Elven Queen. While I didn’t actually make it far into that fic, I liked the premise and it got stuck in my brain and now I’ve got this whole fucking AU WORLDSTATE rattling around in there that is trying to weed its way into my other fics because of this one damned arranged marriage and just WHY.

But anyway. Yes. It starts with the same basis as that fic, with an elven rebellion, but mine starts while Maric is still king. Tabris ends up at the head of it despite being very young. And while it would never fly for an elf to be made queen, or be married to Cailan who will be king (esp since he’s already married), Maric conveniently has another kid, who will never be king. And they can totally swing marrying a second born bastard son to an elf to stop what has essentially become a civil war.

Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age (Video Games) Rating: Explicit Relationships: Dorian Pavus/Solas Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Slow Burn, Slavery, no Solas is still an abolitionist, punitive tattooing, Worldbuilding, so much world building, seriously there's a map and everything, Elvhenan, the Elvhen Empire never fell AU, Cultural Differences, Multiculturalism, in the Anderfels, the Anderfels is now Ethiopia, Fen'Harel, is a git, but he tries, Dorian Has Issues, So does Solas, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Halward Pavus' A+ Parenting, Internalized Homophobia, and Tevinter's culture of homophobia, Feels, have them all my treat, Rare Pairings Summary:

In an alternate Thedas where the Elvhen Empire never fell but waned Dorian Pavus is captured on the Arlathan border. Rescued by an 'Agent' of the Dread Wolf and transported to his stronghold in the Anderfels Dorian has a choice- Allow himself to be ransomed and return to the safety of Tevinter or take a risk and remain in the Rebel God's fort which offer freedoms the Imperium would never permit.

this is adorable and once again I am Merrill

Isabela commandeering a ship to help Merrill get that Squirtle

Anders being like “Merrill why did you risk bodily injury just to get a Pokemon” until she tells him she was chasing a Meowth and he’s like “okay yeah that’s reasonable” (and promptly decides to download the game himself)

@mehofkirkwall and I were talking and there are things that Hawke can’t seem to avoid no matter where she goes:

giant spiders

dangerous underground labyrinths formerly inhabited by dwarves

blood seals requiring her blood specifically, apparently

HONESTLY. like, “haunted” was one of my favorite quests in DA2 (right up there with “night terrors”) because it pretty much reminds me of ghost adventures: kirkwall edition.

aveline’s starts threatening to bash through the walls about five minutes into the quest, merrill’s literally just like “umm hello??? messerre ghost??? can we talk about this???”, fenris gets hit with a flying vase and his only response is “something here is angry”, anders is just like “lmao at least it’s not a haunted marsh this time. what even is my life”, isabela’s like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, pretty much all of them probably keep throwing looks in hawke’s and varric’s general direction like ‘why the hell do we let them drag us into these bullshit situations’

but anyway, for real one of my favorite modern AU things to think about is the DA companions going ghost hunting and all the shenanigans that would likely ensue and i think about it every time i watch one of those silly ghost shows

the elder hawke twins in one of @mehofkirkwall‘s and my AUs