#kuesospace-o

Kase my dear it’s not a competition.

They all eat ass with gusto, there’s no need to rush through it for some kind of arbitrary medal.

For Brynne, regardless of whether she’s sporting horns or fur, being able to sneak around and find things out is a major aspect of her character; she likes to know what is going on and tends to be good at finding things out by listening in or more frequently by charming people and getting them lost on a blizzard of rapid fire compliments and circular logic. But why does she enjoy being sneaky? Well I think it is something to do with some of her insecurities, at least when she is young; she doesn’t like the thought of being left out of something or being had at a disadvantage in a conversation, so she takes it upon herself to know what is happening. Plus, old or young she’s an advocate of the idea that knowledge can be the best weapon and most liberating resource that you can have at your disposal. She would say that a part of it is making sure that the people she cares about are safe, that no one is going to mess with what she thinks should happen and that it’s also a lot of fun seeing someone who underestimated you suddenly have to eat a big chunk of humble pie. She is also really really nosy and likes showing off. 

As for whether she is gifted at it or had to learn, I’d say that it is a little of column A and a little of B; being able to call on magic in both universes is something that helps a lot, but she also puts a lot of effort into working on her stealthy skills. No doubt her brother could tell a hundred stories of when she jumped out or appeared behind him without him noticing if he wasn’t trying to play it cool and pretend she never spooked him. While she did it to wind her brother up, it did have a practical purpose as well, to ensure that her skills got better and better and could be put to use in less safe environment. 

Hmmm this is a good question. 

I think that Fenir’s point where he is most uncertain about his kids is before they are born to be honest, he hasn’t ever been super into the idea of having kids in any universe, and while biology makes it impossible for an accident to happen in the Mass Effect universe it is a bit different in Dragon Age and Elder Scrolls where he and Nera are either the same race or at the very least compatible.

When he first finds out that Nera is going to have kids, I think that he goes into full panic mode internally, given his own past he’s fairly certain he’ll make a terrible parent and doesn’t really want to inflict that on his kids. In Dragon Age there is also a small part of him that wonders if Qunari kids are going to be okay have a renegade Dalish elf as a father; self doubt tends to be one of Fenir’s demons no matter the universe. 

But after they are born he never regrets it, even if sometimes they are frustrating and exhausting, he never wishes that he’d never had them; it honestly would really register to him since, they’re here and wishing things like that is not only silly but deeply unfair to his kids. Not saying he doesn’t get frustrated of course, sometimes he’s fairly certain his kids are the biggest idiots ever, but he loves them.

In terms of what he’s most proud of about each?

With Illaren it’s his determination to question everything, while it’s frustrating when Illaren questions him and Nera sometimes (especially when he’s a teenager) Fenir is a believe that a clever mind always questions things. It makes sure that you won’t be easily misled by somebody and won’t simply sit down and swallow what people tell you to believe. 

Honoria likes a number of things about being a mage, firstly it gives her the option to be able to have a back up weapon, something that no one is going to expect if they are attempting to harm her. Plus she is a sucker for showing off and in the right circumstances being able to show off how you can incinerate something or tie it to the ground with vines or whatever is an incredibly cool thing to be able to do. Beyond that though I think it makes her feel a little bit more in tune with the various natural magical forces of the world and makes her feel like she is supposed to be where she is supposed to be. 

On the flipside the most obvious danger is the risk of possession, the idea of being targeted by demons, whether in dreams or when she is awake, is a terrifying one that she is not able to entirely deal with. It’s something that haunts her especially after seeing an abomination for the first time. There is also the ever present prejudice against mages in society and the chantry, the thought of being killed by a mob or worse, being made tranquil haunts her a great deal when she is younger and continues to be a concern well into her later life. 

While the magic does make her life more difficult on a number of occasions and has gotten her into trouble plenty of times, she is also aware that she probably wouldn’t still be alive if it wasn’t for her magical ability. Surviving childhood moving around and then fleeing the darkspawn in the blight required forceful applications of arcane energy and without it she’d have been killed in the blight, or worse. 

In this setting it’s a combination of things.

Orcs are a fairly aggressive bunch, in general, and Hades hails originally from Orsinium. There’s that pressure to go with the flow and prove yourself as a mighty warrior and for Hades, being born blind, there would be that added scorn that he would never succeed to amount to much. So he trained hard and became good (spite is the best motivator, honestly) and as soon as he became good, great even, in the ways of war and metal he was away and proving both to himself and to everyone else that he could be a success no matter what anyone else said.

And he did. And he was satisfied. For a while.

And then as he got further and further away from Orsinium and travelled more and more of the land, he started to wonder what he was doing it for. Who was he doing it for? He slowly realised that he had no need to prove anything to anyone, that he could just live for himself as he was and there was nothing wrong with that.

So he wandered some more, and found a nice city by the sea that was needing help in being rebuilt. And he helped them. And he stayed. He made a home and a forge and a garden and does honest work for a living, and everyone knows that the work he does is honest and of quality.

Humans

Well Varia has never exactly had an easy life at the hands of humans being a city elf and all, though I think that she recognises that there are a fair few good humans as well. She’s cautious around humans for the most part since she’s never sure whether one is going to want to use her, attack her or blame her for something that she hasn’t done; all three have happened in the past so she tends to always be prepared to go into fight or flight mode internally when she is still working one out. Externally she doesn’t let her uneasy show, Varia has always been defiant of racial stereotypes regardless of universe and she tends to make smart mouth comments right back at a casually tossed ‘knife ear’ thrown her way and the like. The fact she is clearly armed and armoured tends to dissuade people from attempting to press the point further. 

Before leaving Gwaren Varia tended to be a bit less cautious of interacting with humans since none had royally messed up her life at that point, but she did also tend to be less open about her distaste for the casual racism that permeated the culture around her; she was more willing to keep that sort of thing to herself. 

Dwarves

Most dwarves that Varia has met have either been in the merchant’s guild or the carta (though in her personal opinion the only difference between the two is the amount of fancy clothing they wear). She has done work for both periodically as she has made her way across Ferelden, especially near the coast and the Frostback Mountains. On a personal level however she has very little experience with any dwarf as a person thus far, indeed she has met a few in passing but knows little about their culture below ground beyond the fact that they fight darkspawn, build incredible feats of engineering and have a very strict caste system. 

As for before Gwaren, well dwarves were a short people who traded in the city, a few of whom lived in large houses in the dwarven quarter of the city. She knew more about their architecture however given that Gwaren is built on top of an old dwarven port. Since she was little it was always a dream of hers to be able to get into Orzammer and see what it looked like. Hell she’d take a relatively safe job in the deep roads if it meant she could see some of the amazing things that they had created. 

Qunari/Kossith

Varia has had some dealings with Tal-Vashoth and Vashoth mercenaries and guards since leaving Gwaren, she tends to find them frustrating to talk to, be very capable fighters if they are Tal-Vashoth. If they are Vashoth she usually is able to have a more amiable relationship with them since like her they are pretty much ingrained with human culture for the most part and they get what it’s like to have a lot of people be very racist at you. The actual Qunari though? She’s never actually met one, at least not knowingly. 

More answers for this meme.

4. Has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? If so, does anyone else know?

One of the biggest defining moments for Varia would probably have been the very first time that she saw the Citadel station; the sight of such an awe inspiring station floating in the Serpent Nebula was enough to make her fall in love with her independence from the get go. She didn’t realise it at the time, but it was the start of her coming to the realization that she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life on the Flotilla, she wanted to spend it out there amongst a dozen other races and the various stars. Though at the time she was more interested in staying on the Citadel. 

Thus far she’s never told anyone about that moment; it’s a moment she keeps for herself, a point in her life when something shifted and she found the path she wanted to take through it. 

5. On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?

Generally Varia tends to have practical things in her pockets, a few technical components, some suit filters, a pouch containing medical and emergency suit repair supplies. She also occasionally has a few physical tools when prepared for work as she’s adapted various bandoliers for her suit that allow her to have all the tools she needs for repairing everything from skycars to ship engines. A reflection on the plurality of her work over the few years she’s been away from the Fleet. 

20. In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?

Varia tends to project an aura of cool self confidence, though she couldn’t really be described as someone who brags about her abilities unless it’s a very specific skill set. She is however quietly self critical, and in her more unhappy moments tends to play down her own abilities and compare herself to others negatively.