A Rook by Any Other Name
Hey y’all! I did this game for Ember last year and I thought it’d be fun to play again with Rion!
Shout out to @dudewheresmynug for helping me brainstorm some of these, and to @chaosherald for creating this game 💜
Rules: I think most of us have a primary/canon Rook - but who would they be if they ended up with one of the other factions? How would they have ended up there? What decisions would they make differently? How would their personality change? What bits of them are immutable across timelines? What would they wear?!
Rion de Riva 🌹
TLDR (most to least likely): de Riva -> Ingellvar -> Mercar -> Laidir -> Aldwir -> Thorne
Rion de Riva (Rion Prime) | Antivan Crows
Rion de Riva starts her pre-Veilguard adventures in Tevinter. Viago sent Rion to Minrathous to learn “how to fucking listen, wait, and observe.” It was a punishment and demotion within the Crow ranks after her unsanctioned attack on the Antaam patrol.
Posted up at an apothecary in hightown (she is, after all, a de Riva!), Rion’s goal was to gather as much intel as she could about Antaam movements, supply lines, etc. It’s also the first time she’s been this far away from Antiva. The distance encourages her to start exploring things she enjoys doing that aren’t related to being a Crow. Things like flirting with the hot ex-gladiator that keeps showing up asking for necrotic poisons 😏
Note: Rion isn’t technically “Rook” in my canon world state – she’s more like a companion in Ember Mercar’s world. But it’s still fun to think about what she’d be like in this Rook multiverse!
Misc. details
Rion is a spellblade mage, though magic is not her strongest skill. She’s much better known for her expertise in poisons and toxins (and related antidotes).
She’s a polyglot and fluent in Trade, Antivan, and Orlesian. Her Tevene, Nevarran, and Qunlat are passable.
Rion helps the Shadow Dragons on occasion, but she never joins the faction. And she won’t do any job that risks blowing her cover (much to Ember Mercar’s frustration, in part because Ember has no idea that Rion is a de Riva spy)
Her mother is a relatively high-up assassin in House de Riva. (In my mind, she looks like Michelle Pfeiffer lol). It’s unclear if Rion’s father was a wealthy merchant / lesser noble that her mother fell in love with who died, or if he was someone that her mother targeted and killed 🤷🏻♀️
(Bonus): The Rion/Ember Combinations
Rion de Riva/Ember Mercar: Canon dynamic. Intense attraction that burned hot and fast! Both Rion and Ember were so excited with their newfound and relative freedom (Ember, having escaped the Venatori, and Rion with distance from the Crows) they just jumped right in. It was fun! The sex was great! They cared for each other! But unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to deal with the fact that their priorities were very different.
Rion de Riva/Ember de Riva: Toxic yuri~ Oh, these two would be so hot but also bring out the WORST in each other. The fallout would be spectacular. You've got two competitive, selfish, and cutthroat divas who rely waaaaay too much on external validation. What could go wrong? It's probably some rivalry to lovers to enemies arc for them, honestly. They might kill each other in the end.
Rion Ingellvar | Mourn Watch
Rion’s mother, decently high up in the de Riva household, does some backroom politicking to allow Rion to study among the Mourn Watch in Nevarra.
Maybe it's because Mama de Riva senses unrest among the houses and doesn’t want her daughter in the mix of all that. Maybe Rion’s magic is too weak to be of much use to the Crows, so they want her to focus on poisons instead. Whatever the reason - this deal requires Rion to report back to the Crows as their agent (e.g., What the hell is going on with King Markus and why doesn’t he ever die? lmao). So, a young Rion leaves home and takes on the Ingellvar surname to identify herself as a ward of the Necropolis.
Rion loyalty is torn between the two factions. She does grow to love Nevarra and the Necropolis rituals… and yet she was also sent there on a long-term contract for her house.
Rion Ingellvar is much nerdier than her counterparts 😂 I think she’d quickly serve as some sort of assistant to one of the professors. Pleeeeease ask her about her thesis!! She wants to yap so badly lmao
Misc. details:
A key element of her story would be whether she relays information on the Mourn Watch (and King Markus) to the Crows as a de Riva or keeps those faction secrets as an Ingellvar.
It took a while for Rion to get used to Nevarra’s version of Andrastianism and their relationship with spirits and necromancy. She’s much more familiar with the Antivan/Southern viewpoint.
Rion casts her magic very differently if she was taught in the Necropolis. She uses her staff more frequently and holds her spellblade more like a wand than a knife.
Rion absolutely has a crush on Professor Volkarin and will romance him if neither he nor she are romanced by Rook.
You can tell Rion Ingellvar admires Myrna greatly and based many of her mannerisms off of the woman
Rion Mercar | Shadow Dragons
Rion is still technically a de Riva here. Mercar is her cover name. Just like in her canon backstory, she’s sent to Minrathous as a spy for the Crows and runs an apothecary shop.
Over time, for whatever reason, she starts to become sympathetic to the Shadow Dragons and the work they’re doing. Eventually she joins the cause. Starts to exert some more of her own individuality as she figures out who Rion de Riva is when she’s not a Crow. It’s exciting! (And honestly, who better to go about this personal rebellion with other than the queer corner of Minrathous aka the Shadow Dragons?)
Misc. details:
Rion Mercar is more altruistic than her counterparts. She will spare a few coins for beggars, ask people if they need help, etc. She blames Ember and Neve for being a bad influence on her.
Honestly IDK how a Rion Mercar would get along with Neve! I think they’d still be wary of one another. Neve doesn’t know Rion is a Crow spy, but she knows there’s more to the girl than she’s letting on…
Tarquin likes Rion if only for the fact that she turns in her after action reports promptly and without errors [cue Tarquin’s significant side eye to Ember]
Rion Mercar would have a cat. Well, it’s not her cat. But it hangs around the apothecary shop, and she’s taken to feeding it. She calls it Zev (for Zevran. Her own personal Crow joke).
I also just thought it'd be fun to give Rion Mercar the hairstyle Ember usually has lol
Honestly this is probably the only Rion de Riva who would be conflicted in the Treviso vs. Minrathous choice... I think she'd still save Treviso but IDK 🤔
(Bonus): Rion/Ember Combinations
Rion Mercar/Ember Mercar: OK, in this universe I could see Rion and Ember getting together…at least for a while longer! In the end, I think they’d still outgrow each other and part ways. They’d be much better friends by the end of it, though!
Again, one of the major conflicts that led to their breakup was how Ember always put the Shadow Dragons first. If Rion adopts the same cause? Well, it might not be as bad.
Ideally, she’d join up on her own (vs. chasing Ember there) because she agrees with their vision for a free Minrathous. If she joins only for Ember, that resentment will fester.
Rion’s fighting style would look even more “rogue like” after hanging out with Ember so much. She adopts some of her tactics and shares a few of her own tricks, too.
Rion Mercar/Ember de Riva: Now THIS is an interesting twist! Honestly, maybe my favorite version of them after chatting with Raz about it. Possibly the only AU I could see these two grow and be happy together??? If they can get past the early hurdles and not kill one another, that is 😅
Rion still works for the Crows, but they’re growing suspicious of her “extracurricular” activities in Minrathous. They think she’s abandoned her contract.
Ember de Riva is sent by the Talons to “persuade” Rion to either rejoin the Crows or die as a Shadow Dragon.
The only reason Rion gets this chance is because Viago values her as an apprentice. Also, I like to think Rion’s mother is relatively high up in the de Riva household.
And then it’s enemies to lovers!
Ember de Riva is honestly a bit of a brat. She’s accustomed to the luxury provided to her for being a very good assassin. Honestly, she’s been drinking the kool-aid. Being away from the Crows would do her good.
Because Ember de Riva is also far less confident / her own woman compared to Ember Mercar. She was trained from a young age to seek validation from the Crows and Talons, and it’s deeply ingrained. An Ember de Riva would never rebel against her masters…unless a Mercar can inspire her.
I do think Rion could persuade Ember to side with her, eventually. It’d be HARD.
But it WOULD be so sweet to see Rion Mercar taking Ember de Riva out to go do things. Get fish at Hal’s. Listen to Cida’s music. Figure out what she likes to do outside of being a Crow (Ember just ends up being trained as a living weapon in all universes, eh?) Role reversal of Rion appealing to, and drawing out, Ember’s compassion and altruism!! Rion, recently free (in a way) and learning about who she is as a person helping Ember do the same!
Also, I imagine Ember de Riva was like Zevran in that she was sold to the Crows as a slave. So, I could see her easily sympathizing with the Shadow Dragons and their cause once she’s got her Crow Contract blinders off.
On the flip side, if Rion cannot get through to Ember, then I imagine they’d have to duke it out and only one of them would survive.
Anyways, I just really enjoy rotating this scenario around in my brain lmao
Rion Laidir | Lords of Fortune
Two ways this could go down: Either Rion runs away from the Crows OR she’d been living with her father in Antiva and, upon finding out she’s his illegitimate child, runs away in an act of defiance. Either way, she’s leaving her home to try and “find herself”. And, thanks to many misadventures along her journey, she ends up with the Lords of Fortune.
Business-savvy with a head for numbers, Rion helps Isabela with the financial side of the faction. Determining costs of relics, haggling with nobles, making sure the treasure hunters were being adequately but not overpaid, etc.
Misc. details:
Rion is basically the hot girl on the beach with a fruity cocktail, a big sunhat, and her laptop open to an excel spreadsheet in this universe lmaooo 💅🏻🏖️👩🏼💻
She adores Isabela. The woman is an almost-mentor / fairy godmother / friend / ill-advised crush / and drinking buddy all rolled into one.
Rion finagled her way into getting first dibs on Antivan loot (clothing, jewelry, wine, paintings, etc.) and she wears a lot more gold than she would in other universes
She enjoys watching Hall of Valor matches, though she very rarely partakes
And, ok, yeah she'd probably wear that peacock-y bikini mage armor in Rivain but I didn't have it unlocked yet in her playthrough so just imagine it instead 😂
Rion Aldwir | Veil Jumpers
One way she could end up among the Veil Jumpers is that she’s an Antivan merchant simply trying to get around the Arlathan Forest for herbs and potion ingredients without being shot in the face every time she crosses paths with an elf 😅
Perhaps she even serves as a part-time healer at the Veil Jumper camp, making sure they’re stocked up on healing potions and antidotes.
Now, don’t get me wrong, she would complain so much about camping out in the wilderness like this. BUT. She’d do it for the field research opportunities lmao (she’s such a nerd).
Misc. details:
Probably the second most altruistic version of Rion, following her Mercar universe
Rion keeps trying to convince the Veil Jumpers to wear shoes (The blight! The rubble! The broken glass and metal shards!!) to no avail
Rion Aldwir would be very close with Bellara, often accompanying the tinkerer on missions if only to keep her alive.
Honestly, I could see Rion having a fling (or full-on romancing) Bellara in this timeline
Rion Thorne | Grey Wardens
Oof. Rion would HATE being a Grey Warden so much 😂
The main reason I rank this faction last is because Rion would never willingly choose it. The only way she’d ever become a warden is if she got blighted and was forced to take the Joining to survive. And hoooo boy she'd be bitching and moaning about it for the rest of her life lmao.
Rion would hate everything about being a warden. She doesn’t care about their history. She doesn’t care about being a Hero. She doesn’t want to be trudging through knee-deep mud in the Hossberg Wetlands and fighting darkspawn every day. And she certainly doesn’t want to face the Calling!
Honestly, I think that’s what she’d end up doing as a Warden – investigating and testing out cures for the Calling. She’s studied Aubrey Brosca’s notes on the topic, though she’s never met the Hero of Ferelden in person (she would also like to personally thank Morrigan one day for teaching Warden Brosca how to take good notes and organize his archives for future scholars!) She's often found helping Flynn serve as a medic/physician to the Wardens... if only because it helps keep her away from fighting darkspawn.
She’d be great friends with Flynn, honestly. They're ride-or-die for one another. And if you ask Rion, Flynn is the only person that makes the life sentence of being a Grey Warden bearable. Ok, Antoine and Evka are also good eggs...even if Evka scares her a little.
Misc. details:
Rion Thorne would have such a love/hate relationship with Davrin. She’d admire him and trust him to watch her back…but also think he drank the Grey Warden kool-aid.
She’d specialize in fire magic, since most of her time is spent fighting darkspawn
She’s still Antivan in this universe, but she was never a Crow
Cutting her hair short would be more practical, but she refuses to do so. It’s the last bit of her old life! So she ties it up in a bun instead.
Becoming a Warden actually makes her far more Andrastian
Evka is one of the only people who can keep Rion in line lmao all it takes is a stern look and Rion will grumble and go back to her duties
Rion usually talks down the First Warden but, if she were a Thorne, I think she’d punch him
Gently tagging @in-the-drowning-deep @maagisterpavus @dudewheresmynug @trashwithvariety @rookamell @casa-dei-corvei @therivercrow @kogarashi-art @waxlyricalmoon @master-of-the-elements @handsignals @lemondelighted @curiouswisp @quaksi @mushrooms-x-moss @tevivinter @the-archons-moustache @lycheecatee @mythals-whore @hedwigoprah @sandcastlekings @augustnugs @sorcerousadventurer @ourinquisitorialness @juniper-and-dragonthorn @ratbagjasper @flowersforthemachines if you'd like to play! 💜
It could be sharing your old post if you've done this game already, playing again with another Rook, or brainstorming what your Inquisitor/HoF/other OC would be like in each of the DATV factions! It's also just an excuse to play dress up and have a photoshoot of your dolls lmao and honestly that's half the fun 😂









