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Formally presenting Lewen, child of the Dalish Free Marches and First to the Keeper of Clan Lavellan. The alliteration was not intentional.
Lewen has spent much of his life being The Clear Choice. The clear choice for First: respectful and attentive, a talented mage brimming with enough potential that his apostate father left the clan to ensure a place for him. The clear choice for Chantry spy: devoted to his people but not needlessly hostile to outsiders, capable of sweeping barbed thoughts behind a warm smile. He can’t claim he’s surprised to hear that he’s the clear choice for aiding the Inquisition.
It’s a casual arrogance, tempered by the responsibilities that follow in the wake of such status – to his clan, to his brethren, to the shadow of his father’s sacrifice. Pressure is an old friend, but it’s the kind of friend that turns quickly, and the weight of the Inquisition is a greater burden than any he has shouldered so far.
Also his hand is itchy, like, all the time.
I’m mildly embarrassed that it took me until the third game to get into the whole Dragon Age setting for myself (though I’ve long enjoyed reading others’ stories), and even more embarrassed to be starting the game over again so soon – but heck, I’m having a lot of fun! My first play-through was a sound enough introduction but a lot of things inevitably went over my head, especially when it came to the interplay between all the religions (which led to a lot of vague, non-committal statements on my character’s part), and while human warrior was an easy base I lacked the ‘versal knowledge to make it a particularly interesting one.
In comparison, Lewen’s character went from “idle musing” to “fully-fledged and compelling” pretty damn quick and that’s a big part of the reason why I wound up enthused enough to jump straight back in. I’m really enjoying the fresh perspective on the setting too; it opens up a lot of new dialogue and reactions, it gives me a corner to hold during the religious squabbling, and Clan Lavellan is mercilessly shooting me right through my maternal heart. I’ve only seen two pieces of correspondence from the Keeper so far and they both made me (and Lewen tbh) wibble because oh, wow, that’s a lot of anxious concern / fond relief packed into a few short paragraphs. And she addresses you as da’len. And sends you a bunch of healing herbs. And Lewen misses his clan and is genuinely afraid for what this sudden spotlighting might mean for them. Winger is DOA, cause of death: tight-knit communities and the fierce care they show each other.
Mage is also proving an entertaining challenge, since I usually gravitate towards damage-soaking builds (Larkin and her small frame are something of a divergence and cause me plenty of grief), and while Lewen isn’t feeble, mages are still on the squishier side of things. I like being able to attack long-distance though! The sword-and-shield schtick was such a goddamn pain with enemies that ran away that I ended up disabling all of Dorian’s panic-inducing attacks because I got tired of constantly chasing the bastards down. Think I’m going to go with lightning as the elemental affinity, backed up by spirit; not sure what specialist build I’ll pick yet.
I’m hoping knowing what I’m doing will make for a somewhat more time-efficient play-through (I’ve never been the completionist sort) but…we’ll see. We always see.
Lewen has spent much of his life being The Clear Choice. The clear choice for First: respectful and attentive, a talented mage brimming with enough potential that his apostate father left the clan to ensure a place for him. The clear choice for Chantry spy: devoted to his people but not needlessly hostile to outsiders, capable of sweeping barbed thoughts behind a warm smile. He can’t claim he’s surprised to hear that he’s the clear choice for aiding the Inquisition.
It’s a casual arrogance, tempered by the responsibilities that follow in the wake of such status – to his clan, to his brethren, to the shadow of his father’s sacrifice. Pressure is an old friend, but it’s the kind of friend that turns quickly, and the weight of the Inquisition is a greater burden than any he has shouldered so far.
Also his hand is itchy, like, all the time.
I’m mildly embarrassed that it took me until the third game to get into the whole Dragon Age setting for myself (though I’ve long enjoyed reading others’ stories), and even more embarrassed to be starting the game over again so soon – but heck, I’m having a lot of fun! My first play-through was a sound enough introduction but a lot of things inevitably went over my head, especially when it came to the interplay between all the religions (which led to a lot of vague, non-committal statements on my character’s part), and while human warrior was an easy base I lacked the ‘versal knowledge to make it a particularly interesting one.
In comparison, Lewen’s character went from “idle musing” to “fully-fledged and compelling” pretty damn quick and that’s a big part of the reason why I wound up enthused enough to jump straight back in. I’m really enjoying the fresh perspective on the setting too; it opens up a lot of new dialogue and reactions, it gives me a corner to hold during the religious squabbling, and Clan Lavellan is mercilessly shooting me right through my maternal heart. I’ve only seen two pieces of correspondence from the Keeper so far and they both made me (and Lewen tbh) wibble because oh, wow, that’s a lot of anxious concern / fond relief packed into a few short paragraphs. And she addresses you as da’len. And sends you a bunch of healing herbs. And Lewen misses his clan and is genuinely afraid for what this sudden spotlighting might mean for them. Winger is DOA, cause of death: tight-knit communities and the fierce care they show each other.
Mage is also proving an entertaining challenge, since I usually gravitate towards damage-soaking builds (Larkin and her small frame are something of a divergence and cause me plenty of grief), and while Lewen isn’t feeble, mages are still on the squishier side of things. I like being able to attack long-distance though! The sword-and-shield schtick was such a goddamn pain with enemies that ran away that I ended up disabling all of Dorian’s panic-inducing attacks because I got tired of constantly chasing the bastards down. Think I’m going to go with lightning as the elemental affinity, backed up by spirit; not sure what specialist build I’ll pick yet.
I’m hoping knowing what I’m doing will make for a somewhat more time-efficient play-through (I’ve never been the completionist sort) but…we’ll see. We always see.