#dulius

Julius (Dulius)

1. Does your OC die before or after their lover? How old are they when they die?

Julius dies a week before Dorian, in his mid-80s.

2. How did they die?

First, this requires some exposition. The rheumatoid arthritis Julius has battled since he was a child has progressed to the point that he’s pretty much disabled, especially in his hand (singular because the other is a prosthetic even though he still gets phantom pains), which has always been where the worst of the pain was. Only, the pain areas now encompass most of the joints in his body — he lives in chronic pain and the magical treatments that have halted the RA progression and managed his pain for years barely touch the pain anymore. Smoking elfroot is entirely habitual now. He’s been doing it since he was a teenager and isn’t going to stop now, even if it no longer helps the pain. The insomnia that Julius has battled with since childhood is also worse than ever —you’d think an old man would sleep more, but he sleeps less than he ever has.

Frankly he’s not very happy. The depression he’s struggled with his entire life is running rampant. For most of his life, for all of his conscious memory at least, Julius has been an artist who coped with life through art, until his arthritis takes that away. Julius hasn’t been able to do art consistently for years by this point. He still tries occasionally, I think he’d lose his mind otherwise, but pieces take forever and really wear him out.

Until the day before his death — he wakes feeling more energetic than he has in years. He slept well — the miracle being that he slept at all. His joints don’t creak when he gets out of bed. His flesh and bone hand isn’t frozen into a stiff, swollen claw that resembles a body in rigor mortis even though he’s alive. He gets up, has breakfast outside on the veranda of the estate he shares with Dorian, who is still kicking it as archon even though he should’ve given the reins to Klaus, my Rook and his heir and younger cousin, decades ago.

Julius smokes his pipe and starts sketching Dorian, still his muse even after decades together and the fact that he’s depicted Dorian in so many different ways and in so many mediums that he could fill a small gallery with only Dorian (he too has pictured that profile in marble.) It’s been months at this point since Julius was last able to hold charcoal or a brush. He’s out of practice, yet he feels an unusual sense of confidence, one he rarely had, in his ability to depict Dorian in all the beauty he still possesses. The planes of Dorian’s face, all the wrinkles and laugh lines and the cute little mole underneath Dorian’s eye are ingrained into his hand’s muscle memory and his minds’ eye.

He no longer needs Dorian to be present as a reference to draw him from memory, yet this day, he spends an inordinate amount of time simply mapping the features Dorian’s face — paying special attention to those striking gray eyes and the hair that had once been raven black hair now almost fully the color of fresh snow. He begins to draw, his right hand moving across the page of his sketchbook with more fluidity and control than he’s possessed in years.

For the first time in many years, he holds the same grace that had come to him easily on the good days of his youth, when the pain in his joints was well managed and his hands weren’t locked in place. When one of his “hands” wasn’t a collection of wood and metal bits poorly emulating the appearance and more to the point the dexterity of flesh and bone.

Time passes as it always does, waiting for no one, not even the former inquisitor, and suddenly Julius and Dorian have been sitting on the veranda for hours, talking, laughing, Dorian still sharing the latest magisterium gossip as if he hasn’t seen everything in his 40+ year long political career. All the while, Julius sketches the familiar face that he has loved since that first fated meeting in Haven’s chantry. He offers commentary when he can get a word in, Dorian still loves to hear his own voice after all this time, and honestly, Julius still loves it too; his favorite lullaby, a voice that had lulled him to sleep countless times when the insomnia made nights long and bleak.

As Julius draws, shapes and lines coalesce on the page to form the visage of the man who had spent the better part of his life fighting to make change in a society happy to be set in its ways. The fight had taken its toll though Dorian tried his best to never let it show, but Julius could see it in the set of his shoulders and the prominent wrinkles on his husband’s face. He’s still as beautiful to him as ever — moreso even, and even after all this time, Julius still isn’t confident that he has skill enough to capture the man’s beauty in its entirety. Julius finishes the sketch, signs his signature at the right hand corner as he always does, and gives Dorian the sketch. He’s embarrassed, after all these years sharing his art with Dorian is still something that makes his heart pound in his chest, but Dorian is his heart outside his body and he deserves to see.

Dorian is speechless, he always was, no matter how many times he’d seen his own face rendered in Julius’s art. Dorian is brought to tears — maybe the years have softened him or perhaps the realization that his husband spent the one good day he’d had in far too long ensuring that Dorian knew just how loved he was in the moment and all the moments before and after by memorializing the moment forever in his art.

The two share a kiss, passionate like the kisses of their youth, a passion that had never faded though their youth certainly had. They pull away and Julius suddenly finds himself weary. He’s overcome with an exhaustion that makes his bones heavy. His hand is beginning to ache. He takes a few drags of his pipe and declares that he’s ready for bed. Perhaps tonight will be a good night for sleep, he thinks. Maybe the insomnia will be kept at bay by Dorian’s comforting embrace just for this night. The couple does their nighttime routine together and fall into bed entangled with each other like they’d slept each night for more years than either cared to count. Julius falls asleep with Dorian’s arms around him and Dorian’s breath in his ear. He slips off to sleep easier than he has in years. He doesn’t wake again.

Klaus visits his cousin's estate a week later — Dorian was supposed to resume archon duties that day after his mourning period. He was late, and Klaus had a feeling he knew why. Klaus finds Dorian sitting in his Julius’s favorite chair, Julius’s last sketch laid over his chest, and Julius’s unlit pipe still clutched in his hand. He’d joined his husband by the maker’s side. Klaus and Tevinter mourn, and the wall of light, still lovingly maintained, gets two more orbs side by side.

3. What were their last words?

“I feel like I’m going to sleep good tonight, my love. I’ll see you in the morning. I love you.”

He slept. Too good. 😭

4. How are they mourned? How do all their loved ones react?

Dorian joins him in death soon after. By this point the magisterium has been in recess for a week so Dorian could mourn Julius. Klaus takes over as archon and extends Dorian’s week of mourning to honor Dorian himself. Klaus takes all of Julius’s sketches and other artwork and has an exhibit curated to honor their lives. There’s a special section dedicated to all of the artwork Julius has done of Dorian.

Tobias (Foby)

1. Does your OC die before or after their lover? How old are they when they die?

TBH, @lunastarhawk and I have discussed two distinct possibilities for this, depending on who dies first -- and I think we came to the conclusion that the ultimate result, regardless of who dies first, is that the other is joining them very soon. Logically, Favian is probably the one to die first if both of them live to “old age” -- Favian has 18 years on Tobias, though. As far as a "canon" Fobyverse death, I think ultimately it's Favian who goes first.

2. How did they die?

Tobias brings about his own destruction without his anchor (hah) holding him back. Favian and their daughter, Lucy are the things keeping him alive and when he loses one, the other just can’t balance the scale themselves. I don't want to say he'd actively end his life, but that is a possibility I could see for him, honestly. What he DOES do is slip back into self-destructive tendencies. Excessive drinking, picking fights, and goading someone to kill him. Basically, he slips back into the person he was in his 20's. One way or another, his life catches up with him, and he doesn't last long without Favian. I also think the effects of bearing the anchor and just the way Tobias doesn't take care of himself play a huge part in his death.

He wouldn't die right away. He'd try for a while. He promised Favian he would. Tobias wouldn't tell Lucy that he was slipping, because he's her dad and she's not supposed to have to take care of him. She's an adult now and knows her dad better than anyone, other than Favian. She can tell that he's not doing well and tries to keep an eye on him anyway, but she has her own life to live and can't be there for him 24/7, not that he'd let her anyway.

Ultimately, I think Tobias dies from a combination of alcoholism, a host of unhealed injuries, lack of general care for himself (not eating, not sleeping), and the effects of the anchor. Like Julius, he slips off in his sleep after his health hits a critical low that leaves him bedridden.

Depending on how old Favian lives to be, Tobias is maybe in his mid 60’s when he joins him. Give or take ten years?

3. What were their last words?

(To Lucy)

"M'm sorry I couldn't fight harder, love. I don't think I have any fight left in me. I've been fighting for so long that you'd think I would be better at it, but when it really counts...I promised your poppy, ya know? That I'd try, once he was gone. I told him what he wanted to hear. I think he knew I was lying. Some of his last words to me were telling me to live, anyway. And I know I'm letting him down, and I'm letting you down. But love? You've gotta know how proud I am of you. In spite of me, you're everything I wish I could've been. You made me want to be better, to try harder. You gave me a reason to live. I'm rambling now, but I love ya, Luce. So damned much. Goodnight."

Not committing this to cannon but hey.

4. How are they mourned? How do all their loved ones react?

We decided to incorporate Favian's Favidorverse death into Foby, so Tobias' ashes are scattered in the amaranthine ocean in the exact spot his husband's were. The "funeral" is small-scale, nowhere near as grand as Favian's -- Tobias would've hated the attention. It's attended by Lucy, Dorian, Maevaris (if still living) and a few other Shadow Dragons, and whichever of our Rooks exist in this iteration.

Lucy keeps some of both of her dad's ashes in a dual reservoir urn necklace in the shape of a heart. The right side of the heart is encrusted in aquamarine gemstones, the color of her daddy's eyes. The left side bears emeralds, the color of her poppy's eyes.

Zavriel (Ravioli)

1. Does your OC die before or after their lover? How old are they when they die?

Zavriel dies literally days before Rowan (@maagisterpavus). We put them in their mid-60s after much, much consideration. Possibly subject to more discussion.

2. How did they die?

Brooke and I had a whole long hour plus long conversation, trying to hammer this out. We finally settled on Zavriel dying days before Rowan. Evidently, Rowan is already dying of some undisclosed, lingering health issues, similar to his canon death. He’s actually been sickly for a long time, but managed to hide it well (it’s a rogue thing, amiright?), but it’s finally caught up to him. By this point, Zavriel himself has started having symptoms of “The Family Curse,” a strange affliction that killed his grandfather, Sylvas, and uncle, Taralen, really young. The same affliction that his younger cousin, Varien, has but has managed to keep under control thanks to Emmrich’s help. It’s diabetes, but they don’t know that in Thedas.

Anyway, after Zavriel becomes symptomatic, Rowan’s health is already failing and they know he’s dying. Zavriel makes the choice to not accept Varien’s offer of treatment to manage the symptoms of diabetes because he doesn’t want to prolong his life when Rowan is dying. They’ve been together their entire lives (except for the two years before Rowan was born and brought to the clan in Zavriel’s case) —classic childhood friends to soulmates. Zavriel has never known a life without Rowan and he doesn’t intend to start now.

The untreated diabetes ends up taking its toll way sooner than expected and Zavriel ends up dying before Rowan, in his sleep. Rowan wakes up one morning and Zavriel just… doesn’t.

Rowan doesn’t outlive him by long — maybe a few days. Goes off into the forest to be alone and mourn, and is found already deceased by Varien. No one can really say whether he died of his own failing health or a broken heart. Probably a mix of both.

3. What were their last words?

"You know, vhenan, I've been seeing Taralen in my dreams again. I can see him more clearly now, like he's standing right in front of me some nights. I think he's waiting for me. He's just going to have to wait a little longer, then. I'm not leaving you here to your lonesome. I love you, ma vhenan. I'll see you in the morning."

He... doesn't see him in the morning. And Taralen is Zavriel's baby brother who died when Zavriel was a young teen. :(

4. How are they mourned? How do all their loved ones react?

Rowan obviously doesn’t react well. :(he mourns Zavriel by joining him days later.

Varien isn’t happy with him at first. The two of them are very close and worked hard to rebuild their relationship after they’re reunited during the events of Veilguard. I think Varien is also really upset because their grandfather died from diabetes and so did Varien’s dad — it’s not something to mess around with, and they didn’t HAVE a treatment….they didn’t have a choice. And Zavriel does, but he’s purposely refusing it. Varien in the ravioliverse has still witnessed a lot of death (less than in his canon verse but still enough to really mess him up), and I think the thought of losing someone who doesn’t NEED to die is… yeah. I think a lot of the anger fades when Zavriel actually dies and turns to sadness, especially after Rowan dies. But also, Varien saw how much losing Zavriel destroyed Rowan, and he realized that, were the scripts flipped, he’d have lost Zavriel not long after anyway. I think he realizes being angry is pointless.

Zavriel’s siblings are distraught, obviously. But I think they understand in a way as well. They know how much Zavriel loved Rowan. He’s already given up most of his life putting his wants on the back burner for them, and if what he wants is to die with the love of his life, they’re going to honor that.

As far as how Zavriel is mourned, he is given all the appropriate Dalish funeral rites. His ashes are scattered in a spot near where the remnants of the clan (Zavriel's family and those that weren't killed during the attack at Wycome) are camping. After Rowan passes, his ashes are scattered in the same spot. The cycle has reached the logical progression; they began their life together, and that's how they end it. Maybe new life will grow from their ashes.

OC Holding Hands (Picrew here)

I put the hand scars on all my boys' because it reminded me of the prosthetic. Would they actually wear rings over the prosthetic? Probably not, but it's the vibes. Is that even their left hands? I don't know, I don't care.

TobiasxFavian (@lunastarhawk) - Foby: after the jerks are married and realize that holding hands and being intimate isn't *gasp* the end of the world. Why is Tobias wearing a fingerless glove over the prosthetic? I don't know. It's a vibe.

ZavrielxRowan (@maagisterpavus) - Ravioli: After the childhood best friends turned committed life partners finally get married. They both lose their arms, so Rowan commits to the #GloveLife, and Zavriel apparently paints the "nails" of his prosthetic. Which, to be clear, is something he would do. For what? You guessed it. The vibe. The vines and ladybugs felt very Dalish coded.

Julius x Dorian - Dulius: I'm kind of obsessed with this one. It pays homage to Julius being an artist, and the green "paint" on his "prosthetic hand" also reminds me of the magic of the anchor, so it's kind of up in the air about if that's actually paint or residual magic. ;) Pictured in Dorian's hand is Halward's letter, the letter that started it all for them. And he's wearing those half gloves that I don’t know just give Dorian.

Mermaid OC's (Meiker here and NB option maker here)

My three boys and a "bonus" CeCe because OF COURSE I'm making my Lord of Fortune girl as a mermaid, WHAT DO YOU MEAN? Honestly, one of my favorite meikers to date, and I don't think I can choose a favorite, but it MIGHT be Zavriel? I usually have words for that boy, but this was made for him.

Forest Fairys OC's (Fairy Meiker here)

CeCe Laidir as a fairy <3 Hi, I love her. You'd think with as much as I insist on including her in dollmakers that I would, I don't know, finish her playthrough, but I have not.

"Bonus" Zavriel! It's a femme dollmaker, but with how androgynous Zavriel is, I thought I could make it work and look convinincingly like him. PLUS, I'm pretttty sure the face tat I gave him is the alt version of the June Vallaslin (Irelin's) he already wears, so I couldn't pass that up. You can see the top part a lot better under the crown he's wearing. It's either the vallaslin or a damn close riff. Very happy with how he turned out!

Gothic OC's (Meiker here)

It's CeCe (again) and her little bat friend. This post is already so long with all the Picrews, so I'm not including a story, but that doesn't mean my girl doesn't deserve to be oogled.

Casual and Cozy OC's (Meiker here)

CeCe in a modern setting!

It's a ME (kinda) that's pretty close to my natural (I have it dyed a fading burgundy/purple color) and length, but while my hair is wavy, it's not nearly that voluptous. SPEAKING OF voluptuous, I am quite physically more so (and so much shorter) than my girl here, but I never really see body type options in these doll makers - alas. I'd so wear that outfit though. Also, realized too late there was a laptop accessory, but I wasn't remaking this again, so just *pretend* there's a laptop in my lap.

Child Tobias

Tobias was a "difficult child" with a lot of behavioral issues and difficulty regulating his emotions. Despite this, he was naturally charming when he wanted to be and seemed to have the ability to turn said charm on or off like a switch was flipped. On top of natural charm, Tobias was a born singer, which delighted the noble guests of House Trevelyan - a skill that would later be weaponized against him.

Of the Trevelyan's three sons, Tobias was the only one who refused begin training to either join the Templar order or become a chantry cleric. His parents found a different use for him; instead, inspired by the bards of Orlais, they essentially began to groom Tobias into an unwilling bard, weaponizing his charm, natural stealth, and ability to seemingly fade into the background, alongside his singing abilities. All that was done in a ploy to regain status the Trevelyan family had lost due to a scandal involving Tobias' lyrium addicted, disgraced-and-exiled-but-formerly-highly-regarded, now deceased uncle.

Tobias' parents turned his behavioral issues into rigid obedience, training him to be the perfect weapon with very little sense of self and bodily autonomy. Tobias would spy on and assassinate whoever he was told to, from Ferelden to Orlais, with no questions asked. During his teenage years, Tobias was essentially forced into sex work as part of his "skillset" in exchange for information that his parents deemed worth the cost of selling their son.

"Freed" of his past after the Conclave explosion, Tobias is left with chronic nightmares and lingering issues with his own autonomy and sense of self, which is why he makes a big deal of breaking the cycle with his own child.

Tobias x Favian Trevelyan (@lunastarhawk) - (Foby)

Lucille “Lucy” Trevelyan - Tobias’s biological daughter, conceived during his past. He doesn’t find out about her until after post trespasser, by which time she’s about 5-6 years old. Never close to her mother, who blamed Lucy’s conception on the demise of her abusive but financially beneficial marriage, Lucy was immediately a daddy and poppy's girl after her then dying mother dropped her into Favian’s lap while Tobias was on a bender. To put it lightly, Lucy’s arrival saved her dads, who were well on their way to sending each other to the grave, after the anchor took Tobias’ arm and sent him on a self-destructive spiral that was headed in one direction and re-triggered Favian’s own self-destructive tendencies that he thought he’d grown out of.

Favian adopts Lucy as his own and commits to raising her with Tobias, although neither of them knows what the hell they’re doing. Lucy ends up being a mage from her mother's side, and the manifestation of her magic leads to the family unit moving to Minrathous to afford Lucy the chance to learn magic at the greatest circles in Thedas, despite the possible risks to Tobias leftover from his days as inquisitor.

Lucy grows up surrounded by the Lucerni/Shadow Dragons after her dads join the fledgling organization. She receives specialized magical training from her godmother, Maevaris, and "uncle" Dorian, whilst attending the finest circles in the Imperium (no, her dads didn't have to threaten anyone to swing that, why do you ask?)

Unlike Tobias, Lucy has had her own autonomy rigidly enforced into her and thanks to Tobias and Favian, she has a strong sense of who she is and what she believes in. She is emotionally grounded, intuitive, and has a zest for life that is entirely her own and not something her dads could have taught her, with them having spent most of their own lives engaging in behaviors meant to get them killed. In short, Lucy is the best parts of them with a healthy mix of the negative traits (everyone’s gotta have em’)

Child Zavriel

Zavriel as a child before his parents disappeared and he became the caretaker of six younger siblings. He was much more carefree and laughed more easily, preferring to spend his days exploring with his best friend, Rowan, and inadvertently getting the younger boy into trouble with Rowan's mother when he kept him away from his training too long. Things would start to go downhill when Zavriel's magic manifested at 5, and then completely turn upside down when Zavriel was 13-14 with his parents' disappearance and learning that he was set to become Clan Lavellan's First, whilst being a full-time caregiver to his siblings.

Zavriel + His Siblings

**Adult Zavriel barely changed from child Zav while I was making them, and somehow I find that adorable. Zavriel in miniature.

In age and picture order (left to right):

Sahren - The second oldest child behind Zavriel (five years younger) - de facto "mom" of the sibling bunch after their mother and father's disappearance. She's Zavriel's rock and tries to parent him as much as he parents her, making sure he remembers to take care of himself as much as he takes care of all their siblings.

Ellas - Two years younger than Sahren (despite the two looking like twins more than the actual twins of the family). Ellas is a quiet, reserved, rogue who is more than happy to fade into the background of the chaos that is having 6-7 siblings under one roof.

Nirasha - Sweet and soft spoken, Nirasha is two years younger than Ellas. Another mage, Nirasha, is quite close to her eldest brother and regards him as a mentor. After Zavriel leaves the clan, Nirasha takes over the role of being Clan Lavellan's First after her older sister, Sahren, turned down the offer in favor of continuing to help take care of the younger children.

Hallen (m) and Mahalla (f) - Fraternal twins who are two years younger than Nirasha. They might not look alike, but they act exactly the same in all the ways that count, with one key distinction of Mahalla being a mage while Hallen is not.

Taralen †  - (Trigger warning, child death) The baby of the family, who was only a year old when their parents disappeared. Wild and mischievous, Taralen had a great love for insects and simply existing in nature. Magic ran strong in his family's blood, and baby Taralen was no different, with his own magic manifesting in a chaotic and wildly uncontrolled fashion when he was only three. Two years later, not long after Taralen's fifth birthday, Zavriel would yell at Taralen for releasing his "pets" (insects he'd collected) into the camp. Taralen would run off in a fit and take refuge in a broken-down aravel outside the bounds of camp. Still upset at being chastised, Taralen would lose control of his emotions, and as a result, his magic, and the aravel would be engulfed in flames. Zavriel would fight with everything he had to get Taralen out of the aravel, but it would be in vain, and Taralen would perish in the fire. The death of Taralen would leave Zavriel with emotional and physical scars (he received scars to much of his face in his rescue efforts) for the rest of his life.

Child Julius

Julius was born the seventh and youngest child to the Trevelyan family, the sixth boy, and the only mage. After Julius' lightning magic manifested when he was four, his father became convinced that Julius was not his son, as no one on either side of Julius' lineage had produced a mage in generations. What Octavian Trevelyan didn't know was that his own father was an escaped circle mage who had been living as an apostate and hiding his magic from everyone. Julius' birth would cause a general rift in the Trevelyan household, with everyone but Julius' older sister, Harlow, blaming his arrival on the family's dysfunction. Julius would turn to art to cope with his family's disdain and near-neglect, becoming a talented artist. Unfortunately, around the time his magic manifested, Julius would begin showing symptoms of a strange affliction in his hands that caused the joints to swell and redden and become incredibly painful, making it nigh impossible at times to hold any art utensil, effectively eliminating any coping mechanism he might have found. He became a quite reserved and withdrawn child. Julius would be kept in the Trevelyan house until age 10 in the hopes that instructors hired on the down low could teach Julius to control his wild lighting magic without the scandal of having to send their youngest son to the Ostwick Circle. By this point, word of the suspected affair on the part of Julius' mother had already gotten out, and the family's reputation was in shambles. After Julius lost control of his magic and shocked a visiting dignitary at the Trevelyan manor, his parents were forced to finally allow the Templars to take the boy to the circle. Not so secretly, everyone but Harlow was relieved to see Julius go, and Julius was relieved to be gone. Luckily for Julius, he would almost immediately meet a boy his age named Calix, who would make the next 8-9 years of life at the circle bearable. Calix and Julius would become romantically involved when they were about 16. Unfortunately for Julius, good things don't last, and Calix would be killed during his Harrowing when Julius was 18. I couldn't resist making kid Calix, but I don't write about his backstory, don't worry lol.

Julius x Dorian (Dulius)

*picrew does not have heterochromia options, I recolored Klaus’s right eye because it was driving me insane.

Klaus Mercar: Klaus is a 25-year-old child. No, not really. But also really. After Veilguard, Dorian finds out that my Rook, Klaus, is his biological cousin on his mother’s side. Klaus has gone his entire life not knowing his biological family (and the fact that he was actually an Altus by birth). Dorian has lost his father and mother by this point and doesn’t have a particularly close bond to the rest of the Pavus side of the family, and all the Thelssarians are ostensibly deceased. Once the two cousins find each other, they get quite close very fast, beyond the working relationship they had during the events of Veilguard. Dorian reinstates Klaus’s birthright, inducts him into the magisterium, and names him his heir.

Julius isn’t particularly close to his own family, other than his sister, of course, and essentially adopts his husband’s cousin as an apprentice and a dear friend.

Child Klaus and Child CeCe

*I also recolored CeCe's left eye to give her HER heterochromia.

Klaus Mercar - Adopted by Legatus Cheron Mercar, Klaus was the only mage in a military family of soporati. Well respected as the Mercars were, Klaus still spent his life caught between classes - while he was a mage, he was laetan and received none of the privileges associated with the Altus class of mages. Legatus Mercar would use whatever standing he had with the upper class to ensure that Klaus was able to receive a good education within the Imperium's Circles of Magi, the Altus children in the circles always made sure to let Klaus know that his presence amongst them was neither needed nor wanted. Klaus would take to getting into scraps in the darkened streets of Docktown, which would eventually devolve into petty theft and other minor crimes, eventually culminating in an impressive rap sheet and an induction into the Shadow Dragons. It was all meant to be as his life of crime would lead to him finding out his true identity.

Calypso Calliope "CeCe" Laidir - Born Callum Callahan Ladir, CeCe was the fourth son born to her father, a human pirate in Isabela’s crew, and her mother, a disgraced Dwarven noble who gave up her birthright by joining CeCe’s father on the surface after falling in love when Isabela’s crew stopped at Orzammar to sell their bounties.

CeCe’s mother would die during childbirth with CeCe, thanks to complications associated with a dwarven woman having her 3rd half-human-sized child. CeCe would be raised as a boy until she was about 3-4 years old and able to articulate to her father that she was, in fact, a girl. Her father was delighted - he’d secretly always wanted a daughter, and CeCe revealing her truth felt like the fulfillment of that wish AND like he was getting a small piece of her mother back.

CeCe was allowed to begin socially (and later, thanks to the power of magic and storytelling) medically transitioning and chose to change her name to Callypso Calliope (shortened to the nickname CeCe), keeping the Call from both of her birth names in honor of the first and last gift her mother gave her (her name). CeCe would spend most of her life sailing the open ocean with her father, brothers, and their extended family found in Isabela's motley crew. Her father was dedicated to CeCe and her brothers, but struggled to support four children without the love of his life. During a raid by a Tevinter Slave trading crew when CeCe was ten, CeCe and her father were taken hostage. The terms were set: one of them must be sold into servitude to secure the other's release. CeCe chose to go in her father's place because she knew that his body would not tolerate the agonizing manual labor expected of a slave after a rough life of seafaring. CeCe would be a Tevinter galley slave on the ship "Her Lady of the Amaranthine" until age sixteen, when she decided to take her life into her own hands and jump overboard when the ship was sailing in the Venefication Sea off the coast of Rivain. CeCe had grown up in these waters and was a powerful swimmer, though the seas were choppy thanks to a coming storm. CeCe would manage to paddle her way nearly to shore before being knocked unconscious by a massive wave. By some miracle, she would wash to the coast of Rivain with a deep, jagged gash down her abdomen and over her left eye, but otherwise, relatively unharmed. After months of wandering Rivain alone, she would be reunited with Isabela's crew and her father and brothers and would officially join the Lords of Fortune, which had been formed during her absence, half in an attempt on Isabela's part to develop a crew strong enough to rescue CeCe from her captivity, were her crew ever to cross paths with "Her Lady of the Amaranthine" while on the open ocean.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this, but I was curious, so I also made a "3-4 year old" CeCe before she began transitioning and my heartttt. Callum was a cute kid, but he's not my girl. She looks so much happier after getting to be herself. <3