Come for the bisexual French nuns, stay for the dialogue trees. Let's Play Dragon Age

[greed]

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u86/gr33d_2007/Dragon%20Age%20Let%20s%20Play/TitleScreen.jpg
Welcome to my Let’s Play of Dragon Age: Origins, where I will hopefully entertain people with a play through of the game, with additional commentary and some in character monologuing. Probably more the former to differentiate from Thadius’ Baldur’s Gate LP and the various in character Pokemon LPs drifting around and because I’m less confident of my creative writing skills. This might change once I get some momentum up. This LP will also have a LOT of audience participation, there are many, many choices to vote on in DAO, I may not make every option open, but there are still gonna be quite a few votes.
What is Dragon Age: Origins you ask? Story and setting wise it’s basically a mashup of The Witcher and The Lord of The Rings that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Or basically it’s the expected Bioware writing and general atmosphere, just with more sex and violence and placed in a somewhat skewed but otherwise normal European fantasy setting when the orcs Darkspawn are about to attack.
Unlike Mass Effect(Bioware’s other big modern series) it plays very much like a traditional RPG, and should have a familiar feel to any veterans of Knights of the Old Republic, Baldur’s Gate or Neverwinter Nights. It’s main differences from these three is that it’s more “mature”(not mature in a Planescape Torment, Mask of the Betrayer or KotoR2 way, more "mature" in a Fallout 2 or Saints Row kind of way) and that it uses its own combat engine rather than some variation of the D20 system. It also does a pretty good job of developing all the NPCs as well as the setting in general and it has a lot of funny or interesting dialogue which is the main reason I like the game.
Anyway onto the important stuff.

Before I can start we need to make a character. In Dragon Age you create characters by selecting a sex, a race, a class and an origin.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u86/gr33d_2007/Dragon%20Age%20Let%20s%20Play/FullView2.jpg
All of these will have effects on the content of the game, with some setups enabling different quests, different endings, different romances and all setups enabling at least some change in dialogue (some have less to recommend than others, but I’ll get to that later). Sex, race and class everyone should be familiar with and I’ll outline each choice later, but origins as you can probably tell are Dragon Age Origins' gimmick. To put it simply they're your character's history before they became the hero/anti hero/giant gallavanting prick who saves Ferelden. There are several different Origins that each have their own unique starting level and each one leads to slightly different content and dialogue throughout the rest of the game. I’ll explain each later. Anyway here's a outline of the various different options and what they mean for character creation.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u86/gr33d_2007/Dragon%20Age%20Let%20s%20Play/Sexes.jpg
Sexes: Male and Female, pretty simple, no changes to combat as far as I can tell, but considerable changes to dialogue and there are several quests and endings that require a specific gender, not to mention the two straight romances require you to be the opposite sex from them. To summarise women get a snarky good guy knight, men get a snarky and generally evil witch, both get a supportive French nun and a supportive but somewhat evil Spanish assassin elf. Sex doesn’t preclude any Origin in game, but I will recommend against male City Elf and male Human Noble as I think the female paths for these Origins are considerably better, so if one of those Origins win, I’ll play a girl unless people really object or male has an overwhelming lead. The Dwarf Noble is better as a guy due to an extra quest, but there’s less in it due to the female dwarven noble having better dialogue during her Origin quest. The others are largely the same regardless of sex.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u86/gr33d_2007/Dragon%20Age%20Let%20s%20Play/Races.jpg
Race: There are three races available for players in Origins; humans, elves and dwarves.
Humans are good offensive warriors, bowmen and rogues. They’ve got two origins, Noble and Mage, and can be all three classes.

Elves are the best mages, though thematically they make the best rogues. Like humans they can be all three classes, and they’re the only race with three Origins Mage, Dalish and City (the Mage one is shared with the humans and the Dalish one is pretty tacked on however). Also in this game elves are less ethereal and immortal and more either slum dwelling second class citizens, or standoffish (quite rightfully) travelling folk. Both of which are completely mortal.

Dwarves are the best tanks and make decent close combat oriented rogues. They’ve got two origins (Noble and Commoner) and cannot be mages. They also get innate magical resistance.Dwarves cannot be mages, don't vote for a dwarven mage.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u86/gr33d_2007/Dragon%20Age%20Let%20s%20Play/Classes.jpg
Class: There are three classes in game, each with its own skill tree and sub specialisations, which I’ll bring up in more detail when that choice comes up.

Warriors are, well, warriors, they can be specialised to hit really goddamn hard and still take some damage, they can use bows to a degree but I probably won’t use that build, or they can be turned into undying walls of meat and steel.

Rogues do two things really, dual wield (and deal ridiculous amount of damage while being really fragile) or they can be a bow using support unit with the ability to control the battlefield with a variety of abilities. Their specialisations are really cut along these lines too.

Mages are well, really diverse. There is pretty much no job a mage can’t be set up to do. They can be damage dealers, they can be healers, they can be supporters and they can be tanks. The only problem with mages is the temptation to stretch yourself thin and try to do everything, it’s much better to specialise.
Once a class is picked I’ll give some more information and ask for people to pick a build for whatever we go with. Not all builds will be available (NO SHAPESHIFTERS) but each class will have at least two options for people to vote on.

Origins
This pick has no effect on combat, but potentially a big effect on dialogue and content, so I’ll list each origin and give small no spoilers outlines of their relative strengths and weaknesses.

Human Noble: One of the Origins the developers obviously had a lot of fun with, it’s basically set up as a big homage to traditional fantasy openings. You are the younger child of Teryn Bryce Cousland of Highever, who is pretty much second only to the king in power. He and your older brother are going off to war and leaving you in charge of the castle. Then things go wrong. This Origin is good cause there is a lot of content throughout the game and the Origin level itself is strong and it gets a really good call back near the end. This is the only “normal” origin for humans, there was a human commoner planned but it was scrapped for some reason.

City Elf: Another one where it looks like they really worked at it. You’re just another slum elf and it’s your wedding day. Then things go REALLY wrong.
Good cause of it’s Origin level and because elves get a lot of dialogue due to bigoted humans and other elves being less standoffish with them

Dalish Elf: You’re a hunter for one of the nomadic Dalish clans. You stumble into something bad. And things… actually compared to the most of the other Origins, things don’t go that wrong. It still sucks to be you, but you get off light compared to these other guys. However there is pretty much nothing extra throughout the rest of the game for Dalish elves that City or Magi elves don’t get. It sadly seems kind of last minute and rushed.

Human/Elven Mage: You’re a student in the Circle of Magi about to undergo your final test before graduating to full Circle Mage. Then things go wrong.
Mages get a lot of extra content, some cool sidequests and if you’re an elven mage you also deal with all the dialogue the other elves deal with. Mages can only have this Origin BTW, can’t be a City Elf Mage or a Human Noble Mage. I always found it disappointing there wasn’t a renegade mage origin. But it's still one of the better Origins

Dwarven Noble: You’re the middle child of the Dwarven King, and about to lead your first battle. Then things go wrong. I'm not being quiet cause it's a bad Origin, it's just better to go in blind.

Dwarven Commoner: You’re one of the Dwarven Casteless (think Untouchables in India or Burakumin in Japan). You work for the local crime boss and one of your jobs goes wro… well really it just goes stupid. But funny. This is less generic dark fantasy like the other Origins, more like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels with Dwarves.
Dwarves don’t get a lot of specific dialogue except when you go back to the Dwarven Capital. Then you get a lot. And Dwarven Male Nobles can set up a short sidequest in their Origin for when they come back later.
In my opinion I think all but the Dalish Elf Origin are pretty good and even that one's not bad really. So pick freely.

Alright so basically people pick your preferred Sex, Race, Class and Origin once that’s done we can move onto the finishing touches of character creation (morality, personality, what direction we’re going with the class) then start.

[Amake]

Why isn't there any "Dragon Age" origins?

Okay, I'll go with female city elf mage, although I'm sure all the Dwarf Fortress enthusiasts around here will prevent each of those from happening.

[greed]

Uh IQ, mages only have the mage Origin (you can be an elven mage, or city elf something else though). So yeah, sorry. There is an in story justification for mages only having the one Origin which I'll explain when we deal with mages in game.

[Amake]

Aww, I wanted to see an urbanized spell-swinging punk elf. Well, just an elf mage then.

[Aerozord]

yea it bugged me there was no alternative, especially when dalish elves could easily have a mage

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Male dwarven commoner

[Wigmund]

Female City Elf Rogue

[Aerozord]

male dwarf noble warrior. played that background and can see alot of potential fun there

[synkr0nized]

Someone who gets LP thread titles. Hooray!

[Fenris]

Male dwarven commoner

This.

[Ravashak]

Male city elf rogue, Dwarves just annoy me xP

[greed]

I'll keep the voting open til sometime Wednesday, maybe Thursday if I get busy or there's a flurry of activity on Wednesday.

Someone who gets LP thread titles. Hooray!

Yeah me and Bookie spent about 5 minutes throwing ideas back and forth in Yaplet. This one's his BTW. My best one was "Sten approves of two things, cookies and this Let's Play of Dragon Age" but I decided Bookie's was better.

Also if a passing mod could please capitalise the word "French" in the title that would be awesome. It's annoying me everytime I look at the topic. Knew I'd make at least one mistake.

Edit: Thanks whoever capitalised French.

[Azisien]

Male dwarven commoner. They're awesome.

[Krylo]

Dwarven commoners are lame.

Dwarven nobles are awesome.

[Melfice]

I'll also throw in my vote for a Male Dwarven Commoner.

[Solid Snake]

Male Dwarven Noble for me. The noble background seems more interesting.

[Krylo]

I'm just going to point out that Dwarven Commoners aren't actually commoners. That would be like Smiths, or Miners, or Nug Wranglers. They're petty criminals at the bottom rung of the Dwarven Mafia. All you do in the Commoner origin is stab/punch/crush people.

Dwarven Nobles, however, have a dude they can make talk to merchants for them. There's also a lot of politics and backstabbing alongside the basic combat and fighting--and there's just as much if not more fighting.

Further, as a Dwarven Noble you have access to the flat out best piece of starting equipment (http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Superior_Dwarven_Guard_Armor) when you leave on your way to the surface

It is also second only to the Human Noble Origin in later game story tie-ins.

As for awesomeness of each origin:

Dwarven Noble > Mage > Dwarven Commoner = City Elf = Human Noble > Dalish Elf.

Though I'm not sure on the tie ins later on so far as the Dalish go.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Female Dwarf Noble

[Krylo]

Oh, also, Male Dwarven Nobles get one funny bit that possibly leads to a serious situation later that Females don't.

Female Dwarven Nobles, however, get something a bit similar and perhaps a bit more emotional, and they get it more immediately.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

Some kinda mage. Let's go with elf, because I'm a fantasy racist and I hate elves. But there's one thing I hate more than elves. Dwarves. Goddamn fucking dwarves. Fuck dwarves.
That's why it has to be a mage. Could be human too, but no. Every idiot can be human. Speaking of humans. I fucking hate humans. So let's go with an elf mage.

[Roland]

There are mods that lets you choose any origin regardless of your character's sex/race/class, but they generally lead to unintended consequences. For example, the game is coded to check if your character is a mage instead of checking to see if they took the mage origin. Using said mods, you could make a City Elf Mage, and once the main story kicks in everyone relevant to the mage's tower will think you took the mage origin instead.

Anywho, Female City Elf Rogue, if voting is still available.

[Bells]

Yeah, if Voting is still on for this i would tell ya to pick Rogue. Survive by Stealing!!!!!

[Funka Genocide]

Male Dwarven Noble Fighter.

It is the best possible combination. He must have a man-beard and be flippant with the ladies. His axe shall rend the heavens!

(I've done all the beginnings and dwarf nobles own. Also, when Male Dwarven Noble wins, we should vote on beard style and color.)

[greed]

Voting for this won't close until there's a noticeable lull or early Thursday morning/late Wednesday night(my time, so midday Wednesday at the latest for Americans) if it keeps going at a good pace. Then there'll be a second quick vote(for things such as hair colour and personality), then we should start the game proper by sometime Friday or Saturday at the latest.

A lot of people haven't voted a class, did everyone who didn't vote a class, do so deliberately due to not caring too much which gets played? Also people can change their votes, just make sure you clearly note you've already voted(bold and saying what you voted for originally would help me not fuck up the count).

The tally as it stands now is

Male: 8
Female: 4

Dwarf Commoner: 4
Dwarf Noble: 5
City Elf: 3
Elven Mage: 2

Mage:2
Rogue: 4
Warrior: 2



Also speaking of mods I have a few(Stamina Potions, Respecialisation more hair/skins/eyes, pretty much stuff that adds things that Awakening eventually did officially) but only one that will effect the game visibly. I DLed for this LP a mod to make the dog a companion that doesnt take up a party slot. Figured it would be good for the narrative without sacrificing party effectiveness.

[Flarecobra]

Male Dwarf Noble Rogue.

And must be named "Billy Mays."

I'm just going to point out that Dwarven Commoners aren't actually commoners. That would be like Smiths, or Miners, or Nug Wranglers.

And for some reason, when I first saw this, I thought he said "Nun Wranglers."

[Funka Genocide]

when I said fighter I meant warrior.

[Bells]

A Dwarf Rogue? Named Rwarf Dogue? A French Dwarf?

This is starting to look pretty awesome

[Osterbaum]

Male Dalish-Elf Rogue.

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

I prefer the Male City Elf origin myself.

Also props for the incredibly entendre laden thread title.

[Wigmund]

Whoever Greed ends up playing, the character must go for all available romances.

Though I'm not sure on the tie ins later on so far as the Dalish go.

There's only one and everyone else in the party ignores it.
Your best friend who was lost in the Origins quest comes back later half-transformed into a Darkspawn when they attack the camp, he begs you to kill him, you kill him, everyone goes on with their life.

[Grimpond]

Male Dwarven Noble

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Swap my vote to male dwarven noble (from commoner) if noble is more exciting town.

[Aerozord]

what I really like about dwarf noble are the diologue options, can be snarky and sarcastic or a complete dick or actually noble. Like when a shop keepper addresses you you can tell your second "Why is this mere commoner talking to me?" and stuff like that

[Azisien]

Enh I wouldn't mind noble either. Any kind of dwarf origin is pretty great.

[Lost in Time]

I loved the Dwarf Noble Origin, so do that one. Male please!

[Overcast]

Male Dwarf Noble Warrior. It was my personal favorite as I went dashing through. Oh and make sure he is persuasive.

[Mr.Bookworm]

Female City Elf Rogue.

It probably won't win, but it's my second-favorite Origin (going Noble>City Elf>Mage-Dwarf Noble/Commoner>Dalish).

Seriously, fuck the Dalish origin. You'd think Bioware could have at least let you hook up with your tribe again.

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

The City elf Story is my favorite. Especially during the Traders quest.

[greed]

As voting seems to have stopped I'll guess we'll move onto the next stage. It's decided through a commanding lead that we're a Male Dwarven Noble Rogue.

There are a few things left to vote on before starting so let's get them out of the way.

Name:
Now DA is a bit weird in that we do have a last name. In most Origins this is irrelevant. However in the noble origins it's actually pretty important and comes up quite a bit in various parts throughout the game. We are Prince INSERT VOTED CHOICE HERE Aeducan of the reigning Clan Aeducan of Orzammar. The default first name is Duran BTW. My personal vote is Urist, and Bookie has already suggested Fugly. Throw out first name suggestions and I'll pick whichever gets the most support or if none get much support I'll just pick a favourite.

Appearance:
Vote on one of the following or suggest changes if you want. I don't plan on starting til the end of the week, so I can change things around.
Generic Dwarf
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u86/gr33d_2007/DA%20Lets%20Play%202/default.jpg

Confusingly Tanned Surfer Dwarf
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u86/gr33d_2007/DA%20Lets%20Play%202/Screenshot20100630012250140.jpg

Evil looking Dwarf
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u86/gr33d_2007/DA%20Lets%20Play%202/Screenshot20100630012131765.jpg


Scarred Scottish Looking Dwarf
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u86/gr33d_2007/DA%20Lets%20Play%202/Screenshot20100630012729359.jpg

Lee Van Cleef?
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u86/gr33d_2007/DA%20Lets%20Play%202/Screenshot20100630011930312.jpg


Class Specifics:
Well as a Dwarven Rogue the main options are dual wielder (tear things apart with a flurry of knives and handaxes) or an archer. Archer is far less optimal (and fun) than dual wielder, but it can be done. Kind of defeats the purpose of being a dwarf if you’re not right in the middle of the fight though.
So vote on close combat or archer.

Personality:
The thing that decides how I’ll write this guy and how I’ll deal with all the little choices and dialogue options (actually important choices will be decided by votes).

First off just give me a Dungeons and Dragons style Lawful/Neutral/Chaotic Good/Neutral/Evil deal. Then the questions below decides some of the aspects of the character that don't really get answered by the old alignment axis.

Are we an idealistic romantic? Or do we flirt and sleep around like a condensed James Bond? Or do we just not bother with it?

Are we racist/nationalist? Are we an accepting multicultural kind of guy? Or are we only grudgingly dealing with those gangly giants and spindly prancing wood sprites cause we have to, and won’t let them forget it. Somewhere in between?

How do we feel on Dwarven politics? Are we conservative? Do we like the Caste System and the ancient codes of honour and spirituality? Or are we more progressive? Open to surface life, sympathise with the Casteless and generally more agreeable to if not outright advocating change? Or are we more moderate and open to both views?

Also how arrogant about our nobility are we? Do we not even want to speak to those of lower castes? Or are we more egalitarian? Do we take any insult to out honour very seriously? Or are we more humble?

How serious are we? Do we joke around? Can we take a joke? Do jokes go right over our head?

What's our feeling on mages (the prevailing feeling among humans and urban elves is fear, mistrust and pyromanic hatred, Dalish elves and Dwarves are typically more just mistrusting or contemptous)? Do we see them as abominations that should be treated with disgust or murder, think they're generally okay or just think they're not DWARF enough to fight properly with sharp pieces of metal?

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

I like the idea of INSERT NAME being a man of the people. Also he is more supportive of castes and wants to see castes abolished.

[Mr.Bookworm]

Fugly Aeducan, paragon of dwarfiness. He drinks, wenches, and fights harder than any other dwarf, any other two men, and far harder than an entire tribe of elves.

...So basically Oghren.

Two-handed fighting style, of course, and appearance isn't even a vote. Lee Van Cleef.

[Solid Snake]

I like the Scottish Scarred Dwarf, although Van Cleef's a good alternative.

The thought of a dwarven archer makes me laugh tremendously because, assuming dwarves in Dragon Age are as short as usual, he'd be aiming right for everyone's crotches. How is that not exceptionally perfect? That could be our entire personality right there: He's a dwarf who will purposely shoot everyone he faces off against in the crotch.

I also like the idealistic romantic option if only because the James Bond alternative is cliched as hell -- though I will say that there a few interesting alternatives you could take there, most notably having the dwarf fall for two girls (or a girl and a guy, or whatever) at once and wrestling with the notion of having an affair.

I like the idea of the dwarf being egalitarian among his people, but still a fierce dwarf nationalist who nonetheless finds himself sexually attracted to taller (human, elf) women and is conflicted by that in some way.

But yeah, definitely make sure he jokes around at least a bit -- it'll make for a better read.

[Grimpond]

I also like INSERT NAME. Slightly-sociopathic with a sense of humor and a heart-of-gold-ish personality.

He's witty, but not terribly so, and oftentimes very punny. He doesn't really understand romanticism but only because he's never run into that type of particular situation. He loves a good joke, and is just as quick to make one about himself as others.

He values loyalty and honesty, and enjoys the subtle nuances of politics, because it reminds him of...whatever DA has in the place of chess.

Or do they have chess and call it chess? Whatever.

EDIT: uh, and close-combat because he likes the down-to-earth feeling he gets working with his hands.
EDITEDIT: ideas
EDITEDITEDIT: Chaotic Good, but with nods to LG when necessary

[Amake]

I'll go with female city elf mage, although I'm sure all the Dwarf Fortress enthusiasts around here will prevent each of those from happening. Welp.

I like the surferdwarf. I declare his name to be Boardbeard.

A Neutral Lazy ninjaprince, Boardbeard stalks the beaches of the night and stabs people in the back of the kneecaps with his twin daggers Slack and Grunge. He steals maidens hearts left and right, perhaps in a grand plan to keep his valued bloodline strong and outbreed the other, lesser clans and races.

That could be our entire personality right there: He's a dwarf who will purposely shoot everyone he faces off against in the crotch. Or that. That's awesome.

Also protip: You don't shoot with a bow, you loose.
I don't mean to correct your writing all over the forum Snakeman, it's just coincidence. Nerdy coincidence. :)

[A Zarkin' Frood]

I like the confusingly tanned surfer dwarf.
Or maybe the scottish looking one?
No, the surfer dude. Just call him Bro. (e: inspired by above post: Brobeard)

I think his alignment should be chaotic something.
I'd like to see him having a hippie attitude also. But that's just me being crazy.
I don't really care how he's going to tear shit up, being a hippie and all, but I'd go for archer, if only because it's different from what I'd expect from your typical axe midget.

[Flarecobra]

Surfer, name Anamata.

Chaotic Neutral.

Close Combat.

And he should have the motto: "If ya ain't surfing, yer fighting!"

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Evil Looking Dwarf, name Grigori

Chaotic Neutral

Go Archer. Constantly refer to bow as 'Annabelle'.

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

Evil Looking Dwarf, name Grigori

Chaotic Neutral

Go Archer. Constantly refer to bow as 'Annabelle'. Vera

fixed

[Funka Genocide]

Surfer dwarf named Bro, dual wielding, free wheeling Dwarf-about town.

He should be kind of a dick, but a forward thinking dick. Like he'll start shit, but he'll start it to your face like a real Dwarf.

And then stab you in the back, like a real rogue.

[Ravashak]

Van Cleef look, no inspiration for a name at the moment.

Close combat, causer of stabbity death,
lawful neutral,
not romantically interested in non-dwarves (so don't bother),
extremely proud/nationalistic of being a dwarf, considers them better than the other races and only working with them out of pure necessity. Would prefer to kick them out of the area, but meh, guess they're sort of needed.
Highly conservative, wants to preserve caste system and ancient codes, for it is Dwarvesn!
Extremely arrogant in nobility, he's a Dwarven prince, and the others'll know it!
Crude jokes about others are fine, but once anything Dwarven is even remotely insulted, into a berserker rage he flies!
No more distrust on mages than of other humans and elves, as long as they're good servants they can be tolerated, I guess, it's not like humans and elves can fight well anyway, damn non-Dwarves!

[Wigmund]

Name:
Throw out first name suggestions and I'll pick whichever gets the most support or if none get much support I'll just pick a favourite.

You shall be named Grumpy.

Appearance:
Vote on one of the following or suggest changes if you want. I don't plan on starting til the end of the week, so I can change things around.
Generic Dwarf
Confusingly Tanned Surfer Dwarf
Evil looking Dwarf
Scarred Scottish Looking Dwarf
Lee Van Cleef

The Van Cleef. Surfer looks like a blond Oghren.

Class Specifics:
So vote on close combat or archer.

Close combat with two axes

Personality:
The thing that decides how I’ll write this guy and how I’ll deal with all the little choices and dialogue options (actually important choices will be decided by votes).

First off just give me a Dungeons and Dragons style Lawful/Neutral/Chaotic Good/Neutral/Evil deal. Then the questions below decides some of the aspects of the character that don't really get answered by the old alignment axis.

Chaotic Neutral, you're gonna be a self-serving prick. You do whatever gets you ahead, just like every other Dwarf noble.

Are we an idealistic romantic? Or do we flirt and sleep around like a condensed James Bond? Or do we just not bother with it?

You have three romance options as a male. Morrigan, Leliana and Zevran. They will all succumb to your stout charms. And you should choose any dialog that lets you hit on Alistair even though you can't romance him :(

Are we racist/nationalist? Are we an accepting multicultural kind of guy? Or are we only grudgingly dealing with those gangly giants and spindly prancing wood sprites cause we have to, and won’t let them forget it. Somewhere in between?

Small-minded twit at the beginning, which evolves into smug nationalism that tolerates others but knows that Dwarves are the ones chosen by the Stone. Your attitude is mainly shaped by how much an individual will benefit you at the time you meet them and later on in your schemes.

How do we feel on Dwarven politics? Are we conservative? Do we like the Caste System and the ancient codes of honour and spirituality? Or are we more progressive? Open to surface life, sympathise with the Casteless and generally more agreeable to if not outright advocating change? Or are we more moderate and open to both views?

You do whatever will benefit you the most.

Also how arrogant about our nobility are we? Do we not even want to speak to those of lower castes? Or are we more egalitarian? Do we take any insult to out honour very seriously? Or are we more humble?

You should win awards for being the Upper Class Twit Of The Year.

How serious are we? Do we joke around? Can we take a joke? Do jokes go right over our head?

Is that a short joke? You want to lose a kneecap?

What's our feeling on mages (the prevailing feeling among humans and urban elves is fear, mistrust and pyromanic hatred, Dalish elves and Dwarves are typically more just mistrusting or contemptous)? Do we see them as abominations that should be treated with disgust or murder, think they're generally okay or just think they're not DWARF enough to fight properly with sharp pieces of metal?

You don't care about mages because you've never met one before. You treat them as you would any other human or elf: as surfacer scum that either needs to be bent to your will much like your adventuring companions, killed because they are in your way or ignored because they present no benefits to you at this time.

[Melfice]

I'm seconding everything Wigmund said, except we're the Scarred Scotsdwarf and our name is Urist.

[Krylo]

Face: The scot.

Name: Who cares? Everyone's gonna just call you "Warden" and "Prince Aeducan" anyway. He could be named snotsballs mccrapfacefull for all I care.

Combat: Dual Wielding. Archers are slow to get going (though they're far from sub-optimal at end game summoning giant bears and using AoS), and they lack all the awesome fatalities. Though I am tempted to demand we use a two handed weapon and backstabbing with no real combat feats/abilities.

Alignment: Lawful Neutral. Seems to be the alignment of every other Dwarven Noble. Except the REALLY corrupt ones.

Flirting: It's our stone given duty to spread the Aeducan seed.

Politics: As the middle child, we were never that interested in politics growing up. Big brother was destined for the throne, after all, but there have been whispers in recent months... As a result, however, our opinions on the caste system et. al. are basic Dwarven party line, but not strongly so.

Nobility: Because I enjoy being cruel to characters, we LOVE being a noble, and the lower castes should not dirty our perfect noble ears with their filthy mouths. However, that isn't to say we are above 'enjoying' our heritage. We don't know how we would ever cope without it.

Serious: Averagely serious. Not a goofball, but not a super stern asshole either. Jokes with friends a bit, when the time is right.

Mages: No strong feelings. No reason to distrust or fear them, as that magic rolls off the back of a dwarf like water. They're just another form of combatant, though a slightly squishy one.

[Solid Snake]

I don't mean to correct your writing all over the forum Snakeman, it's just coincidence. Nerdy coincidence. :)

It's okay. I'll just hire you as my editor someday.

[Overcast]

Face: Lee Van Cleef.

Combat: Sword and Shield. It feels far more fitting when you get that one shield.

Alignment: Neutral Evil, a corrupt but sly nobleman.

Flirt: James Bond bisexual sleep around with fuck all everyone.

Personality: Not racist because once he is on his way he should be aware the dwarfish population on the surface doesn't really amount to much. Though I may like him to be a bit dickish to the Dalish if only because they probably won't cater to his personal interests that much anyway. In both Dwarven Politics and Nobility I'd like for him to be aware that having friends in all areas is better than isolating himself on his pedestal since he is the middle child, but I also figure anyone of his position would prefer to stay in main power rather than to eliminate the caste system and make him as simple as everyone else. I'd like for him to be a bit joking showing off that general experience with being social that I'd really enjoy in him. And as for mages...I figure that he has a friendly understanding with them with the knowledge that they are the primary buyers of lyrium.

[Aerozord]

think there is a mod so you can have multiple relationships at once

Assuming you are giving added fluff to this LP, lets do what you cant do in game. Have his apparent personality differ from how he really is.

To all he appears a kind man of the people. But truth is he is a self serving dick that will backstab everyone (figuratively and litterally) if it helps him along. In fact he became a warden just for the extra clout it grants him under the pretense of wanting to end the blight

[Lost in Time]

I vote the Van Cleef face! Also I vote that you are very noble. High class and snobby, and jokes usually just fly over your head. (Hah! Height joke.)

[greed]

Alright as voting has slowed I'm gonna get to work on the first gameplay update. Because the votes in this section were all over the place I'm going to make the character a bit of a compromise between all the votes.

Name: Urist.

Appearance: Van Cleef just edges out Surfer so we'll go with that.

Style: Close Combat has a pretty good lead. I'll take the suggestion of having him name his favourite weapons though.

Alignment: This was pretty much all over the place, as a compromise I'll start him off as Lawful Neutral and have him mellow into some vein of Good as the story progresses, as most votes seem to be for LN or good and this progression actually makes a lot of sense.

Personality: Bit of a Dwarven nationalist and a typical ignorant noble who wises up when it comes to politics as part of the above mentioned mellowing. He's generally laid back, easily joking and a bit of a flirt when it comes to personality and he doesn't have any hard feelings about mages. This last part will probably change when he sees Morrigan's outfit.....

[A Zarkin' Frood]

NPF, I'm disappointed.
The surfer was gold.

[Grimpond]

NPF, I'm disappointed.
The surfer was gold.

I swear to god I would have suffered brain damage if that went through

[greed]

Update should be up in the next day or two. Main delay is transcribing enough of the dialogue that things make sense. If someone has access to the game's script, links or advice on how to get at it will make future updates much faster.

[Ravashak]

I swear to god I would have suffered brain damage if that went throughI'd like to change my vote :D

[Grimpond]

I'd like to change my vote :D

:mad:

[Rejected Again]

Vote: Ravashak. When's the lynch?

[tacticslion]

Bah, computer problems keep me from everything!

I would have voted for the surfer's skin, the scot's hair color (and possibly, though not necessarily scar), and basic dwarf's face/beard style. Really, it'd be a win/win/win! Otherwise, I like the picture so far.

Note: I'm such a nerd.

Also protip: You don't shoot with a bow, you loose.

Uh, were you voting for him to "loose" into everyone's crotches instead?

[greed]

http://i46.tinypic.com/2uzc93k.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/34npqc6.jpg

Badass Soothing British Voice: The mages sought to usurp heaven. But instead they destroyed it.

http://i46.tinypic.com/3hbac.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/316ap87.jpg
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http://i46.tinypic.com/zv7yoi.jpg
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Badass Soothing British Voice:It has been four centuries since that victory and we have kept our vigil. But those that once called us heroes, have forgotten.

http://i50.tinypic.com/ofdmqg.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/67ta15.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/2csjwcl.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/zx7kvb.jpg

Badass Soothing British Voice:Orzammar was once the seat of an empire stretching thousands of miles through underground tunnels called the Deep Roads. The city now stands alone, cut off by the Darkspawn invasion.

http://i49.tinypic.com/2myw65x.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/2ni2rsg.jpg
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Badass Soothing British Voice:You have grown up in a world rife with political intrigue and have struggled against brothers and cousins for hour and prestige.

http://i48.tinypic.com/2e0urt1.jpg



Quick note: In game text will be normal but given a speaker to show who's talking.
Urist Aeducan's internal monologue will be in italics.
And Out of Character notes about the game and what not will be bolded. These will be simple descriptions of where the party's going, commentary on the games events or paragraphs summarising in game info that isn't communicated through dialogue (so stuff from the Codex, or stuff that occurs in Origins or choices we don't choose.)




http://i46.tinypic.com/24ynvk7.jpg

Gorim: I couldn’t find the armour’s matching dagger, but I scrounged up a rather fancy longsword. Do you wish to wear your shield to the noble’s feast?
Urist: Yes. Let them see me as a warrior.

I damn well know enough of them see me as an invalid since I got poisoned and became "Whitey locks"(thanks so much for that moniker Bhelen, bloody human fairy tales). Just because I prefer to fight with speed and knives than swing unwieldy phallic replacements around....

Gorim: You will look powerful. Of course if every other noble has a shield and three swords, you’ll feel awfully underdressed.
Urist: You, my friend are ridiculous.

For stone's sakes Gorim, can't you let me take anything as seriously as it deserves? Bah where are they going to wield a third sword, between their teeth?

Gorim: One can’t take all this marching about and speech-making too
seriously. Moving on to the business at hand…..
The king expects you to make an appearance at the feast but there’s no rush. The noble family heads will spend hours boring your father with petty grievances.
Urist: The art of ruling is hardly boring.

Hey now, we're nobles for a reason. I'm sure most of their concerns are valid and of great importance to the Dwarven people.

Gorim: If you say so. Listening to a hundred lords complain that their neighbours use the same underhanded tactics they themselves employ , would tire on me in…. oh about a minute? Still there are other excitements. As part of the celebrations, permits have been auctioned off to members of the Merchant Caste who wish to sell wares in the Diamond Quarter. Lord Harrowmont has also opened up the Provings for young warriors to test their mettle before tomorrow’s battle. Perhaps we should go show them what single combat is really all about. And by we, I mean you. Heh, I’ll practice my cheering.
Urist: Why don’t you want to fight in the proving Gorim?
Gorim: You remember last year’s Proving? It took your fathers smith six hours to remove my helmet! I’ not meant for single combat. I fight as my lord’s second and shield that’s good enough for me.

He's actually better than he's giving himself credit for. The guy who knocked him out in round one (I think it was someone from House Dace, pretty sure it was a noble. He had a really expensive looking hammer) went on to win the rest of the Proving easily. If he'd got matched against anyone else in that first round he would have done much better.

Provings are gladiatorial contests of strength the Dwarves use as their spectator sport and to settle matters of honour. The sport fights are only to incapacitation, hence why Gorim's still here and breathing. The latter are to the death and are how noble houses settle disputes (when they can't use assassination, blackmail, bribery, extortion, sexual favours etc...).

Urist: The Proving sounds appealing. Let’s go have a look.

Should be a good warm up for tomorrow.

Gorim: Right behind you my lord.
Urist: Are you excited about the big battle tomorrow?
Gorim: Yes I yearn to face the Darkspawn and prove my worth as your second.

I understand the feeling Gorim but

Urist: Remember, it is my glory we go to win.

I'm the lord here.

Gorim: Of course. I am here to serve.

Long as you remember that. Been a bit uppity this morning. I don't mind too much, but it could give Trian an aneurysm. And you an extra air shaft or three.





This is Gorim

http://i49.tinypic.com/23trpg3.jpg

“My father served your father for many years and now I serve you.”
Gorim is your faithful second, your best (and pretty much only) friend, your bodyguard and if you're the Female Dwarven Noble, your lover too (much to your family's consternation). The lines they share are pretty great and are the replacement for a quest that Princess Aeducan doesn't get for reasons that will become obvious.
According to a conversation with him his history is pretty much that his grandfather was a great hero of the Deep Roads excursions and raised his family to the top of the Warrior Caste. Even nominated for nobility, but as he says "the honour was in the nomination, he did not receive a single vote.". So his family became hereditary retainers of the Aeducan line.

Alright now that we're free, time to show off how the non-talking part works. It's pretty basic point and click classic Western RPG when you're not fighting or talking. Make it 2d and top down and it would be no different than Baldur's Gate.

http://i46.tinypic.com/110dfkz.jpg
You find things. And as the tool tip on the bottom right says.

http://i50.tinypic.com/wbw07p.jpg

Loot them.
http://i45.tinypic.com/2zf05fd.jpg

This is the inventory screen where we organise, use and equip our various items. I've just switched out the shield in my off hand for a dagger so we're now dual wielding a sword in the main hand a dagger in the offhand. This is much better for Urist, as he is a rogue with several dual wielding skills and with his stats he does much better damage with a dagger than a sword. Daggers get damage bonuses from both strength and dexterity, sword damage is affected solely by strength. His dexterity is 20 and his strength is a measly 12 (I’ll explain stats in more detail when Urist levels up). Also before anyone asks me to use shields, rogues cannot learn any shield skills (rogues and warriors share the dual wielding and archery skill trees, shields are the warrior’s specialty).

http://i47.tinypic.com/oi5h1e.jpg

We can also examine our surroundings to find interesting things. This here is a bust of Urist's dad, King Endrin Aeducan. We click it and we get
http://i49.tinypic.com/nou7nr.jpg

Not loot but a codex piece. Which for any players of Mass Effect, works pretty much exactly the same.
http://i49.tinypic.com/r7rkmv.jpg

Here's a sample. Not of the codex we just picked up though. I showed this one as the information on it is more relevant to the game. Dwarves talk about the Stone a LOT so this will explain it.



As I was walking down the hall we spotted a suspicious looking Castless (well suspicious and Casteless mean about the same damn thing in this context) woman exiting my brothers room and, confronted her.

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Ah, she's Bhelen's girl. Pretty, but Casteless? I mean yeah they're okay for the occaisional tumble but it's against the Stone to mingle too much. Tainted by dishonour you know.

As I said before with the Dwarven Commoner PC's explanation and Krylo mentioned, the Dwarves have a Caste system which includes a Casteless group. The Casteless are criminals or the descendants of criminals (worth noting that going to the surface too long is a crime, so all surface dwarves and their descendants are technically casteless too). Most Casteless in Orzammar are beggars, criminals(often part of a gang called the Carta), prostitutes and "noble hunters". Urist identified Bhelen's mistress here as Casteless due to the brand on her face, almost all Casteless have them forcibly applied so other darves can identify them on sight as Casteless. Yeah. The other Dwarves view them with extreme contempt. Urist's view here is actually pretty moderate.


Urist: Gorim, tell her that my brother is at my feast.

He seems to really like her, won't shut up about her if you get him talking when Trian's not around.

Gorim: Prince Bhelen is attending the feast being held in Lord Aeducan’s honour.
Mistress: Yes, of… of course. It was presumptuous of me to think he would return to--- I am sorry.
Mistress: I will show myself out, with your leave my lord.

She has been invited here by Bhelen, it would be rude to her treat her too harshly Casteless or not.

Urist: Go, or stay, I don’t care.

Can't be too polite though. My brother's girl and Casteless, stay the hells away.

Mistress: Thank you. I will go now.

That was Rica BTW. She's only a cameo here, but she's the big sister of the Dwarven Commoner PC and the heavily involved in his/her Origin.


After that we headed outside and saw two dwarves arguing loudly outside the palace. Probably should deal with the issue before they disturb any nobles coming to my feast

Scholar Gertek: Please Master Vollney, my work is accredited by the Shaper!
Bruntin Vollney: These books are lies written by the enemies of House Vollney.
Ugh Volleny arrogant little sods, the whole damned House.
Gertek: Lord Aeducan! You can vouch for my work can’t you? Your father loved my “History of Aeducan: Paragon, King, Peacemaker”

Nug tits, I uhh admittedly haven't really kept up with my historical reading. Prefer my books to have more fighting and less politics. Gorim help me out.

Urist: Gorim, does this scholar truly have my father’s favour?
http://i50.tinypic.com/2wdy05e.jpg

Ah yes father was trying to get me to read that. Said it would give me "better perspective on the duties of a noble", wonder what he was implying there. I know my duties perfectly well.

Bruntin: This… worm has written a book that slanders my house!
Urist: That’s a serious charge.

Or would be, if your house had any honour worth defending....

Gertek: My work tells stories of all those raised to paragon in the last 500 years. When the assembly names a paragon that man or woman is then by definition, everything one can aspire to be in the world. They form their own noble houses, and are revered as living ancestors. But paragons start off as men.
Bruntin: Vollney was more than a man.
Urist: What was Aeducan like before he was a paragon?
Gertek: Aeducan was much loved but he was till a man. He was plagued by melancholy and his fervor regarding Orzammar’s safety bordered on obsession.
http://i46.tinypic.com/15znxo8.jpg

Mr Smith Goes to Orzammar would have a significantly less inspirational ending than the American version.

Bruntin: Unlike Vollney is that what you mean old man?
Gertek: Vollney became paragon by narrowest margin in history- one vote. A vote mired in rumours of corruption and intimidation. The records of that vote are a matter of fact kept in the Shaperate. Not liking history doesn’t make it any less true.
Urist: The scholar is right.

History is the basis of tradition. Not liking it doesn't make it any less true. If you ignore history then what is the point of tradition? Of nobility? No dice Bruntin.

Bruntin: You’re taking HIS side? What if he published a book like this about Paragon Aeducan?
Urist: Aeducan was a great man.

He couldn't, a book about a dishonourable Aeducan would be patently untrue.

Bruntin: And Vollney was not? Must you disparage a Paragon?! You’ve made a huge mistake.

Fool, I am no mere scholar for you to bully, insult me in front of my palace, on this day. I was willing to let your earlier rudeness slide on account of the scholar's book, but this I will not abide.

Gorim: That fool has no idea how weak his house is or how low he sits in it. Should I have him killed my lord?
Urist:…yes. And see that everyone knows why he died.
http://i47.tinypic.com/15mmgy1.jpg

Gertek: You’ve shown yourself my daring and aggressive here than most believed of you. You’ve shown House Aeducan and yourself to be a friend to research , history and the glory of our people.

Ah yes, proper, respect. Good man. Smart man.

Urist: Carry on with your work scholar.
Gertek: Of course I have much to document and organise. Good day your Highness and thank you.
Gorim returning.
Gorim: Word has been sent he won’t live past the hour.

Excellent.

Oh hey Bhelen... and Trian, great. Stone give me strength he looks like a deepstalker crawled up his arse and died this morning.

http://i45.tinypic.com/2im8k85.jpg
Trian: Especially since duty requires that you attend our king father at the feast today.
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Trian: Silence if I want the opinion of my siblings second I will ask for it.
Gorim: Yes, your highness.
He is MY second Train, show him some respect.

Urist: I go where I want, when I want, Trian.
Trian: Your lack of a sense of duty to your house is obvious. I can’t imagine why you are receiving a commission. I expect after tomorrow I will spend much time apologizing to the heads of noble families whose children you lead to their deaths under your incompetent command.
Bhelen: That’s a bit harsh isn’t it Trian?
Trian: As heir to the throne it’s my duty to impart wisdom and judgment upon those who need it. Now then you, get to the feast.
Urist: I’ll go when I’m ready.
http://i46.tinypic.com/34xqou8.jpg
Trian: Come Bhelen

Poor Bhelen, at least Train dislikes me enough he doesn't feel obliged to drag me around as his second all the time.

Gorim:That was fun nothing like being talked down to by the next king.
Urist: Perhaps becoming king will calm Trian

Of course Trian's just insecure, he's not happy unless he knows he's better than you. He was much nicer when me and Bhelen were just kids and he was father's second. He'll probably be fine once he's king and me and Bhelen are still just princes. And I'm happy for him to have it. I much prefer the duties of a prince anyway. Fighting for glory, wooing girls from the noble and warrior castes, drinking til you think you have several different beards. The true Dwarven way of life.

Gorim:We can only hope.


Continuing our walk to the Proving grounds we overhead a conversation.
http://i50.tinypic.com/e9ssw5.jpg

Teli: …would that Ser Blackstone were a noble, mmm.
Mardy: Stand up straight they’re coming.
Huh are they talking about us?

Teli: What have we here? Two handsome, strapping noble lords! You both looks so grand.
http://i49.tinypic.com/250qsm0.jpg

Teli: Who’s your friend, my lord? Another noble from the honoured House Aeducan?
Urist: This is Ser Gorim, of the Warrior Caste.
Teli: Oh, then not a noble?
Mardy: No, Teli, not a noble. Stone, you’re thick sometimes.
Urist: I’m a noble.
Mardy: That you are my lord.
http://i47.tinypic.com/ff7kub.jpg
I didn’t know the Merchant Caste included this profession. Then again I never did pay much attention to the workings of the lesser Castes….. maybe I should have.

Urist: Are you two “merchants”?
Gorim: …they’re noble hunters my lord.
Ohhhh. Right, the lack of brands confused me. Must have cost them a pretty penny to get rid of them.
Gorim: A man takes his caste from his father and these women hope to bear a noble lord’s son. If one is successful, she’s raised up to concubine in the noble house to care for her child. It provides new swords for the house and many nobles look favourably on such women.
Urist: Sounds like a good deal to me.

Puts Bhelen’s fling in a whole new light though. Wonder if little brother knows? Probably, little weasel’s way too smart for his own good. Maybe I shoudn't be so cynical.

Mardy: Shall I come to your chambers after the ceremony, then…?
Teli: I talked to him first I want him!
Mardy: He’s looking for a woman, Teli, not a little girl.

Heh, burn.

Mardy: I’m Mardy, and I know how to give my lord a night he’ll remember.

I wonder if I can get away with this…

Urist: Do I really have to pick just one?
Teli: Oh, my lord has his energy about him!
Mardy: There will be no three to a bed, if that’s what you’re thinking. We both require full experiences all to ourselves.

Enthusiastic and strong willed… this should be fun, two might be work though….

Mardy: If you think you can manage us both though…..

….but if I back out now Gorim will never let me live it down. I can hear it now next time I try to sleep in “Does my lord not have enough… energy?”, "Can't you "manage" another round of sparring?".

Urist: Both of you it is!
Mardy: This should prove most interesting. We will wait for you together , my lord, and show you the proper way to celebrate a princely commission!
Alright four things to look forward to. The Proving, the ceremony and then some entertainment. This looks to be the start of a great year.:dance:

Alright to the Provings.
http://i45.tinypic.com/140ybtj.jpg
Oh right the guard. Yes, yes, fine, escort me. Man father can really worry like an servant caste who ripped his lord's pants sometimes. Nobody's got the gall to kill one of the Aeducan Princes.


So there's the first update. The rest of the Origin should be up sometime soon(as in a couple of days, aybe three depends if I decide to wrap up the Origin in one go, or space it out). Any constructive critiscisms would be very much appreciated. It's why I put up this little part first. Also any questions about the story that are unclear are welcome if there's a lot I'll make sure to include more commentary in later updates.

[Solid Snake]

http://i49.tinypic.com/250qsm0.jpg

...Oh Dear Lord, it's Barbara Streisand.
RUN AWAY
SAVE YOURSELF, DWARF

[greed]

Holy shit this update is huge.

The Provings, I've been wanting to try my hand at one of these.




Ha ha, oh man is he going to be feeling that one in the morning. Whe he tries to piss. Cause think she might have just torn one of his kidneys.


Proving Master: Your highness it is an honour to have you here.
Urist: No, I’ve come to fight.
Proving Master: Y.. your Highness this proving is in your honour….
Gorim: Then honour him by doing as he says. My Lord Aeducan will fight in the Proving.
Thank you Gorim.
Urist: I will honour today’s warriors by testing their skills.
Proving Master: Of course it is well within your rights.
Proving Master: *To the crowd* Men and women of Orzammar we have a late entry to these provings,

Ah the sound of a crowd roaring in adulation, I will never get tired of that. It's good to be a Prince
Provings Master: *quietly* Are you ready for your first match?
Urist: Of course.
Proving Master: Then let us begin.

Proving Master: Lord Aeducan will fight Aller Bemot, youngest son of Lord Bemot.
Aller Bemot: You honour me with this match.
Urist: The honour is mine.
Proving Master: First warrior to fall is vanquished. FIGHT!
Bemot was not very good. Admittedly I used some…

...unorthodox tactics I developed because Trian and Gorim always beat the crap out of me in straight fights….

And before I knew it he was down.

What I did here was use one of the rogue class' special skills, Dirty Fighting to temporarily stun Aller Bemot. Then I just beat on him while he was helpless. Dirt Fighting is based on the graphic it has, throwing sand and rocks into the opponent's eyes. It's odd because it work on things that don't actually have eyes like Deepstalkers and some undead...

Proving Master: That was quite a fight Aller Bemot is no slouch with a hammer.
That’s a diplomatic way of putting it. Well I'm back up here and not even touched. What's next Proving Master?
Proving Master: Are you ready for your next opponent?
Bemot didn’t have make me raise a sweat, so yes, yes I am.
Urist: Who is my next opponent?
Proving Master:Adal Helmi. A… a woman, your highness. She’s a tenacious fighter.

Why's he acting embarrased, nothing wrong with women being warriors, Paragon Astyth the Grey more than proved that centuries ago. Most badass Paragon ever. And I always did like the Helmi's, even if Lady Helmi still treats me like I was twelve.


Alright this Paragon thing has come up twice now so I'll give a quick explanation. As the Scholar Gertek explained in the last update, Paragons are dwarves that do something so incredible the dwarven nobility vote them to be a literal paragon of everything dwarves should be. While alive, they're treated with practically religious awe and reverence and their words are considered close to law. Their families are also instantly elevated to nobility, one extreme example being the founder of House Bemot who was a commoner(not Casteless, probably servant caste or low in the smith or merchant castes) and got elevated to king. Anyway the Paragon, Astyth, mentioned here was a female dwarf of the warrior caste, in those days warrior caste women were pretty much stuck as house wives due to a ban on women wielding weapons and armour. She decided "fuck that" and proceeded to first cut out her tongue, then train herself up. Then she won a grand proving against fully armed and armoured male dwarves, bare handed wearing normal clothing. The nobility decided she'd proven her point, lifted the ban, and made her the first female paragon from the warrior caste (there were female paragons from other castes before that however). Even at this time period a fair chunk of warrior caste women take vows of silence in honour of her and call themselves the Silent Sisters. They don't have to and most dwarven warrior women don't (Helmi here doesn't, but then she's noble caste not warrior), it's basically the closest thing the dwarves have to a religious order. The only living Paragon is a woman of the Smith Caste by the name of Branka (she became a Paragon for inventing smokeless coal, very important for a subterranean civilisation I imagine) various crowd dialogues have mentioned her but I wasn't fast enough to screen cap any of them. She took her entire house on an expedition to the deep roads two years ago and hasn't been heard from since.

Urist: I’ll fight anyone.
I mean hell she can't be worse than Bemot.


And there he goes droning on again as I make my way to the centre of the field. Wait is she talking
Adal Helmi: Honour and gory to your house, your highness.
Urist: And to yours.
Phew, didn’t miss any of the courtesies that would be embarrassing.
Proving Master: FIGHT!



Okay, what I'm doing here is I've stunned her using Dirty Fighting, and now I've moved around to attack her where that black part of the circle is. For mages and warriors attacking there gives a flanking bonus. For rogues however it changes their melee attack to a backstab, increasing damage, critical chance and armor penetration I believe. t's easy to tell when it's working as the whole animation changes.

This fight, bit harder than Bemot. Actually got a few cuts. Still won pretty handily though. The lady just didn’t like me being so quick….thank the stone I did not say that out loud.


Proving Master: That was a crowd pleaser. Many were waiting to see that woman put in her place.
I wonder if he’d be so much of an ass if she weren’t unconscious and being carried off by her family’s retainers. Man’s not a noble, Blight he was not even that great a warrior, just had a mouth that amused some nobles, he should not be talking about his betters that way. Maybe I should bring up his slip of the tongue next time I speak to Lady Helmi, might be amusing seeing someone other than me getting publically humilated by her.

Proving Master: Ser Blackstone one of the best of the Warrior caste is your next opponent, are you ready?
Urist: I’m ready to fight
UM: Let’s go before you offend someone conscious’ honour.

Alright time to head on down fight the next one.

WHAT?! Oh that is it, that’s one too many Warrior Castes getting uppity today.
Urist: I’ll make you eat those words old man.
You know this is the Proving right? We’re not fighting because I was standing on your cobbles.

STONE I HAVE A RIB IN MY LUNG.

And finally, you're down. Tits did that go badly.

That did go badly, kinda got a bit over confident after the last two, forgot that Blackstone can take down a rogue's health in 2 shots, one if he criticals.


Proving Master: Well done. You have proven that even the best of the Warrior Caste cannot match a noble Aeducan.
Damned straight. “Try to learn as you bleed” the gall.
Proving Master: Frandlin Ivo is your final opponent. He too has had many victories today.
Gorim: House Ivo is relatively inconsequential but Frandlin may change all that, he is headed for a command of his own soon.
Urist: I’m ready.



Frandlin Ivo: You fight well. I wish you glory today and glory tomorrow.
Some manners, good.
Urist: May you be as stone.
Alright the last guy nearly beat me into an Ancestor in a relatively straight up fight. So this time I’m going to go to plan B.
DUST IN THE EYES
Knife in the Back


RUN AWAY



And repeat until finished.



Proving Master: Congratulations Frandlin is as fierce a competitor as I’ve ever seen.



Urist: I’ll wear it proudly.
Or I would if the thing wasn’t so heavy I can't move my head wearing it….


Urist: Alright Gorim, guard, let’s head back to the Diamond Quarter. Should head to my feast.

On the way though I saw a merchant signal me over very nervously. I’m feeling magnanimous now, so I guess I’ll make the poor wretches’ day.



Nervous Merchant: I am… so honoured to have you visit my booth. I have a …. Proposition, but I dared not approach.
Gorim: Yet you dare now.

Now, now Gorim, this one’s actually being pretty polite and respectful about it. And at least he’s not so star struck he fainted, like that magic merchant.
Urist: I’ll hear him out.
Gorim: Very well then speak.
Nervous Merchant: Um, yes just so. Here is the thing what I mean to say is…
Urist: Spit it out


Nervous Merchant: I uh sent a messenger to deliver the dagger to you. Prince Trian had him thrown out. I don’t know what offence he caused but I had him beaten severely.
Urist: Let me see this dagger.

By the infinite beards of my ancestors. This is a dagger, the curves, the fine edge, the brilliant sheen, the enchantment such that it crackles with energy when held in the air. :dance: Calm yourself Urist, must maintain royal composure….



Nervous Merchant: You do me much honour, ser. The blade has been crafted over a period of two years by masters of every art.


….and that would be why Trian was so pissed today. He took one look at this regal dirk of mine, and got insecure.

Gorim: Trian is heir. He will rule when King Endrin returns to the Stone.
Nervous Merchant: If the Assembly wills it. Forgive me, ser, but whispers say the second child of Endrin will be chosen.
Gorim: Whispers, indeed. It’s a princely gift. If Trian recognises it, though, it may send the wrong message. Or the right one depending on your intentions.
I have no intentions, Trian may be an ass, but he’s the one who wants to be king I’m happy just enjoying myself and earning honour for my house, let him and Bhelen do the real work. I don’t want to give him the wrong idea, but this is very nice dagger. I’ll... I'll take it, but just try not to wave it around in front of him. So he doesn’t feel inadequate.
Urist: I’ll take it, damn what Trian thinks.
Nervous Merchant: You bring me uncountable honour my Lord.


And now I better get my ass to the throne room before dad and Lord Meino get too drunk to conduct the ceremony without looking like a pair of Casteless tits. Still remember Bhelen’s coming of age, Stone that was embarrassing..


Alright, everything in place, armour's polished, moustache regal. Good. Ready to make my entrance.




Gorim: Look the Grey Wardens are here, the raid tomorrow must not be standard reconnaissance; the Wardens only go where there is the greatest threat.

I see Lord Dace signaling me over, seeing my father still busy dealing with other lords I decide to see what he wants.



Lord Ronus Dace: I wish to speak to you of a matter most urgent.
Urist: Gorim how much time do I have?
Gorim: It looks as if the heads of House Bemot and Meino are keeping your father busy.





By the Stone, is he trying to become the Paragon of Ass Kissing? What kind of favour is he working his way up to asking of me? Exterminate the Darkspawn? Shit lyrium?


Gorim: You honour me my lord.
Urist: My ears are yours Lord Dace
Dace: First let me congratulate you on your commission. Two of King Endrin’s children now commissioned war-leaders. It does great honour to your house.

Ugh okay this is enough get on with it.

Urist: You didn’t stop me to exchange pleasantries.
Dace: Ha. No I surely did not. Let us just pretend we spent another ten minutes congratulating each other’s houses yes? There is a vote coming before the assembly next week and a word from you could go a long way towards helping our cause.
Urist: You know I don’t do favours, Lord Dace
Dace: Oh, I would never ask a favour with nothing given in return. I propose a mutually beneficial arrangement. The vote concerns the status of the so called surface caste. Lost to the stone, air-touched and so forth. Centuries ago narrow minded men declared that any dwarf who left to live on the surface forfeited his caste, and his house if noble. That he was in essence no longer a dwarf. I seek only to remedy an injustice, to retie the bonds of anyone who can trace himself to one of the noble houses, wherever he may live. Please agree to speak for this noble cause.

I may not be an absolute hardliner for tradition like some, but this is one of oldest and most steadfast traditions. I’m not going to rock the boat on something this big.

Urist: Those who travel to the surface are no longer dwarves.

There, nice safe Traditonal line.


Dace: Long story short she has a cousin who went topside, got stupid and wants back into the House. Will you lend me your voice to help keep my wife happy? The reward still stands.

I’ll hear out what exactly he wants and think about it.
Urist: What do you need me to do?
Dace: When your father presents you to the noble houses, I will ask for your opinion on the matter. You have merely to say that you feel our surface brothers should be returned their noble rights. What could be more simple?

Alright get away from him for a bit and consider what he said, what Dace says seems harmless enough but that’s why I try not to play politics , everything seems harmless enough, his little request is likely to get me up to my ears in bronto shit if I’m..



… not careful. Yes, right, here we go. Just want I need today, public dressing down in front of half the Dwarven nobility.
Urist: Excuse me?
Lady Helmi: Lord Dace is playing you false. Go ahead be his puppet. Your first command will be marked by every major house turning their back on you.
I figured he had some angle but, one this big? Huh. I mean she could have an angle too, but she's an old friend of the family, she probably wouldn't fuck us over too much.
Urist: I’m listening
Lady Helmi: Last spring a guild from the Merchant Caste invested heavily in an expedition with a guild from the surface. Lord Dace backed the merchants’ guild, pouring a great deal of money into the venture. The expedition was a disaster.
Urist: So this is Lord Dace’s play to recover his losses.



It is both a duty and a burden being so blessed by the Ancestors, but thank you.



Lady Helmi:The surface guild has no way of repaying his investment. But it does have several leading members who are descended from noble houses. Houses Helmi, Bemot…. Aeducan.
That snake. Trying to trick me and mine into accepting his debt? I’m going to gut him like a fattened nug.
Urist: If the surface dwellers returned to their noble houses….
Lady Helmi: You being to see the whole pictures. Your house and mine would be forced to pay the surfacers’ kin debts. It would be a great victory for Lord Dace.
Urist: I’m going to go… talk to Lord Dace. Thank you.



Almost feel bad about knocking out your daughter earlier. Well I’ll forget that initial impudence for you forgetting that I guess.

Dace: You return. Were my instructions unclear?
Urist: I should kill you where you stand.
Dace: What would that do besides get you cast down into the Deep Roads or put down like a beast? Are you upset about something?
Urist: Your plan would have forced my house to pay your surface debts.
Dace: I suppose it could. I mean, well, it’s the spirit of the law that’s important right? Our poor disenfranchised surface brothers…..



Oh no, you nearly made me look like complete fool right before getting my commission. This will not end with this.
Urist: Not so fast.
Dace: You won, don’t be stupid about it.



Dace: For now. We shall see what the future holds. Train’s grasp on the throne is in no way certain and much can happen before then. Now let me be.
Urist: Your schemes are an insult to House Aeducan.



And here is King Endrin, finally.


This is Lord Meino, doesn't come through here, but the joy with which he says this really makes him the most Dwarf Dwarf other than one we'll meet much later.


Lord Harrowmont: My lord, are you sure you wish to do this?



So that’s why he was so confident, he was sure the threat of his son would dissuade people. Well lucky for him I forgot! Err I mean…

Urist: I was counting on it.
Lord Harrowmont: Very well. There is to be a proving, then.



And here's Lord Bemot.



Lord Meino: To the Proving grounds!



Alright, let's do this. As the Antivans would say, Dwarfo e Dwarfo.



Channeling the spirit of a Dwarf that nearly was: Righteous.



Oh hey I remember that hammer, he's the guy that... one shotted Gorim.... crap.


Evasive maneuvers. Alright calm down, just do what works.



BACKSTAB! That is why I'm the Princ...AAARGH HOLY CRAP THAT HURT.



Lucky I've got some health poultices, bottoms up.

No, do not ask me why they drink poultices. Bioware, I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Now to



FINISH HIM



Lord Dace: This is my fault; my son has died defending my honour….
King Endrin: I am sorry for your loss Ronus. It was the ancestors’ will.
Lord Dace: Yes, the ancestors… I… I am sorry. Excuse me my king.

Back in the throne room
After making my way back to the throne room with my father and the other lords I’m greeted by a tall human, one of the Grey Wardens and judging by his stance close to the throne, probably their leader.



Duncan: It is an honour to meet you at last.
Urist: The honour is mine, Warden?
Duncan: Duncan my lord. I have had the opportunity to recently meet with you father. He speaks highly of you. He says you may be the quickest fighter in all of House Aeducan.
Urist: There is no may about it. I’m the best.
Got the proving helm to show it too.



Duncan: We need more Grey Wardens like you and quickly, even as the Darkspawn weaken here in Orzammar they are stirring on the surface. A Blight has begun. Soon the fight must go beyond the Deep Roads, lest the Darkspawn threaten all the world.
That’s a compliment, I was just boasting. The Grey Wardens huh, most elite from all over handpicked for their skills and willpower.
Urist: Good let them leave our city and pester the humans for a while.
Duncan: No one is safe from a Blight. If the Darkspawn overrun the surface they will return in even greater numbers. Orzammar would perish along with the rest. None of our lands is truly self sufficient.
Urist: Are there many of my people in the Grey Wardens.
Duncan: Over the centuries, many dwarves have made names for themselves in our order. These days however, there are fewer Dwarves and thus even fewer Dwarven Grey Wardens. A pity since Dwarves have the most experience fighting Darkspawn.
Urist: I am an Aeducan. Orzammar needs me here.
And the whole going topside deal, is not something that sits well with me. Want to keep my stone sense thank you very much.



Duncan: I wish you luck in the deep roads tomorrow, show the Darkspawn the might of your people.
Damn right I will. Now to finally see about this ceremony.



Lord Bemot: Poor bastard, still couldn’t wish it on a nicer house.
Lord Meino: Well put! Our new commander taught House Dace a serious lesson.



King Endrin: Are you ready to be presented to the heads of the noble houses.
Urist: Of course father.
King Endrin: So dutiful… very well let us begin *to the hall* lords, ladies grant me a moment of your time. Who would pose a question to the prospective commander?




King Endrin: I give you Orzammar’s next commander! Now feast drink and celebrate for the morning brings battle!
King Endrin *to Urist*: As for you my new commander, find your brother Trian and send him to me.
Urist: Of course father.

Well at this time of night he's probably in his room, readjusting that stick up his ass for maximum prickishness. Probably getting poor Bhelen to help him.

Trian: So you are a commander now. In name at least.



And there's Bhelen, wasn't interrupting anything was I brothers?

Urist: Bhelen, how was your day?
Bhelen: Interesting, I would have been at the feast but Trian had need of me…


Trian: Now do you have some purpose in bothering us?
Urist: Father wants you.
Trian: Of course he does. We must discuss strategy before tomorrow’s battle. Bhelen stay here and stroke the new commander’s conceit if you like, but then get to bed.

By the stone Trian. Could you make that sound any creepier? And you're gone good, you're my brother but seriously it's hard to deal with you for more than a minute or two a day. Don't know how Bhelen stays sane I really don't.

Bhelen: All day I’ve put up with that. He can really grate on the nerves.
Urist: Well he’s our elder brother I suppose it’s his right.

Let the baby have his bottle. He’ll settle down once he’s on the throne and actually feels like he’s in his place.



Urist: You sound serious Bhelen.
Bhelen: Unfortunately I am. I never thought his much-proclaimed honour would let him act on his jealousy, but big brother, Trian is going to try to kill you.
Urist: That seems a little farfetched.

As you said his honour would never let him do it, Trian's not faking it like most nobles, he really is that honourbound.

Bhelen: I overheard him giving orders to his men. He’s decided you’re a threat to his taking the throne. Maybe he’s right.
Urist: I’m not the heir he is!

DAMNIT, this can't be right, someone is playing you Bhelen, or you're playing me. I can see that, you trying to drive a wedge in the family to make yourself more powerful.

Bhelen: Trian is not popular with the assembly. It’s not common but sometimes the Assembly names someone other than the marked heir as the successor when the king dies.
Gorim:House Bemot’s founder became a Paragon and a king in one move from the assembly. He was a commoner.
Bhelen: That was an extraordinary move. But at least a half dozen times the assembly named a lesser family member or even a noble form a different house as king. Usually it was the popular younger brother of the heir designate.


Bhelen: If you win glory against the Darkspawn tomorrow, it will only strengthen the case for you as the next king. Trian fears father will replace him on the spot, and you know his pride will never let him step aside.
Urist: I will not fight Trian.

He'd probably kick my ass in a straight fight, and dad would disinherit me if I did it thrugh subterfuge anyway.

Bhelen: You’re my elder I’ll respect any decision you make. But please be careful, I don’t want to lose the brother I actually like.
Urist: I’m glad for your concern, Bhelen thank you.
Bhelen: I’m taking your place as father’s second tomorrow. For now try to get some sleep.




Alright, nearly forgot. Ancestor's give me strength, I am going to shake the Stone itself tonight.

[greed]

One very pleasant and somewhat exhausting night of surprisingly agile Dwarven sex later I hurried to the entrance of the Deep Roads to meet my father and the rest of the expedition. I arrived as they were planning how to divide the Dwarven and Warden forces.




Gotta agree with Bhelen on that one.

Lord Harrowmont: Are you questioning my plans Bhelen?



Man those two HATE each other.





When I arrived, Lord Harrowmont and my father discussed my orders. I was to head to the Eastern Deep Roads and search an abandoned Thaig for the Shield of Aeducan. A morale builder to help reinforce my status as commander I guess. The door to the Thaig is apparently still sealed as it takes an Aeducan signet ring to open.



But with the Darkspawn withdrawing for the Blight on the surface the way is clear for a small team.


Glory, like the sound of that.




I and Gorim quickly made our way to the deep roads.
Okay we’re getting close to the site now. The going shouldn’t be too hard, early scouts said this area was free of darkspawn




… what’s with that giant spider web?



WHAT IN THE ANCESTORS DECAYING CLEAVAGE IS THAT THING

Huh it actually died pretty easily for a giant spider demon. Also apparently backstabbing works with an axe. Never knew that, just threw it in a panic..uh feat of heroic inspiration.Alright no more spider webs nearby.


Uh is that a snare. A really, really, obvious snare? Kay so the only things smart enough to set traps down here are Darkspawn. And there are snares here. Recently laid ones. I think the scouts might have fucked up here. Well it's probably just a few Darkspawn shouldn't be too much trouble.



And there’s a leg hold trap I’ll just fix this so Gorim or our any other Dwarves who follow me don…. Oh crap. Crap. Crap. That is one ugly son of a bitch.


Thankfully Gorim distracted it til I was ready to stand then I finished it with…



....the blunt end of an axe in the back. Is that armor they wear made of butter?


And then I found one of the advance team. Frandlin Ivo? Huh well that’s good he was pretty damn tough yesterday in the Provings, so I suppose he’s a good man to have in a fight.


Frandlin Ivo: Did you run afoul of any Darkspawn?
Urist: A few. They weren’t organised.
Ivo: Still that was more than we expected, once I finished scouting the tunnels I hid here to avoid the Darkspawn, most of the tunnels are dead ends. The one we want is swarming with the fiends it’s going to be a fight.



Alright so away we go



Dead End

Alright so here we go



Dead End full of Deepstalkers! Damned Ivo couldn’t have told me the right path? Must still be holding a grudge for my “tactics” yesterday.

So yeah those are Deepstalkers, subterranean predators, weird, they're pretty much tiny raptor like dinosaurs with sucker mouths and presumably atrophied eyes. Also make disconcertingly cute noises when they attack or are attacked.



Alright, finally this looks right. Got columns and everything. Very Dwarf.


Fought some more Darkspawn, disarmed some more obvious traps. It’s a giant RED BARREL FULL OF EXPLOSIVES. What the hell kind of trap is that? You can’t bloody miss it! It’s like sticking a spear in the middle of the road and calling it a trap. I mean yeah it’s dangerous but it’s gonna take a pretty impressive level of stupidity for anyone to actually fall to it.


Met the second scout.

A very impudent scout.
Urist: Is that anyway to talk to your commander?




Crap. Made it to the door and found… some Dead Darkspawn and the door open. This does not bode well.
Gorim: Looks like someone beat us to the door.
Yes and they’d need an Aeducan signet ring to open it. Sigh more political shenanigans, maybe Trian is trying to kill me, well I’ll be ready no one in Orzammar can take me single handedly. And with Gorim backing me up we should be able to escape any ambush he can put together. Well let’s see what’s what.


Well if that's the case I'll just do what I usually do, beat them up and leave them lying on the ground for their kin to pick up and nurse back to health. None of my cousins can take me anyway.

Urist: Whoever it is, the shield is mine.

And here's our mysterious intruder. Not a cousin, nor a noble. Smug looking upstart isn't he?

Mercenary Captain: So glad you could finally join us. We feared you’d gotten eaten by the Darkspawn.



Mercenary Captain: So maybe you tell me where it is, and I won’t mutilate your body so bad your father doesn’t recognise you.
Urist: The shield is a metaphor. It’s in all of us.

God damn do I love that line.

Chew on that. Stone what a terrible moustache, did your mother go out and fuck an elven child? That kind of facial hair isn't natural

Mercenary Captain: A funny nobleman just what the world needs. NOW KILL THESE IDIOTS.



So after killing those idiots we found an Aeducan signet ring on their leader.
Urist: It’s Trian’s.
Gorim: Trian’s? That means he….
Urist: This may or may not mean anything.

You didn't did you Trian, damn it you delusional fool, I'm totally fine with you being king.

Gorim: Or it may be a warning for us to keep our guard up.
Urist: Caution is always a good idea.
Gorim: Agreed. Now, perhaps we can find that shield.



Alright for some reason the room was rigged with as simple puzzle to protect the shield that requires four people to complete.




Finished it.



And grabbed the shield. It's old but as Gorim says



You can feel the DWARF emanating from it. The shield of Paragon Aeducan.



Short Darkspawn fight here, where we fought a bunch more Genlocks and a Blight Wolf, which is really a dire wolf by another name. Theyve even got those weird toothy tumour things. And I leveled up.



These are our stats. So I don't break flow here I'll explain them in the next update. I put two points in Cunning and one in Strength BTW.

Got my ass back to the Crossroads.


Gorim's got a point, maybe we should bunker down once we hit the crossroads and think out or next step. Trian could strike at any minute.


But he didn't.


He couldn't. Crap



No way little brother. Shit, I knew you were manipulative. But STONE we're your brothers, Trian was an ass but he did look out for us and I've NEVER done you wrong. SHIT SHIT SHIT. Craaaaap


CRAP


Gorim: By the stone it’s Trian!
.....that little weasel. I’ll kill him for this. This is beyond even what the basest houses do.
Urist: Bhelen..... outplayed me.
Gorim: Someone’s coming!



Got to move… no there’s no point. The trap’s closed running would just make things worse.


....dad.


....BHELEN.



Urist: It’s not I assure you.

I say standing over the corpse of my brother who was openly paranoid about me taking his place. This is going to go well...

Bhelen: He killed Trian! Just as Trian said he would!



Thank you Gorim.

Lord Harrowmont: Your loyalty makes you useless as witness. It falls to others to tell the story. You scout what happened here?

But of course Harrowmont has a point.

Scout: Trian and his men were here early. It seems they’d done battle with the Darkspawn.



Urist: You traitor.



Lord Bemot: STOP HIM TAKE HIS WEAPONS! I think we’ve seen enough.
King Endrin: No. If the scout were lying I might have done much the same.


Like this will help. Bhelen has all the bases covered. Better get ready to add House Ivo to the “people I’m gonna kill list”.
Lord Bemot: Frandlin Ivo you are a good and noble man. Did the scout speak the truth?






Didn't notice til I uploaded the screenshot, but holy hell look at how smug Bhelen is here.

Ivo: Afterwards my lord stripped his signet ring.
Gorim: You treacherous bastard!
King Endrin: Silence, Gorim. Do you have anything else to say my son?
It won’t help but
Urist: It’s Bhelen he’s behind all of this.



Lord Harrowmont: Bind him. He will be judged before the assembly. To Orzammar!

Days, maybe weeks later.





Another day rotting here in prison. I guess it at least doesn’t smell as bad as the Darkspawn. Wait voices is that… Gorim! Yes!



Urist: Why has the assembly not sent for me yet?
Gorim: The… Assembly isn’t going to call for you. Bhelen has taken Trian’s place in the Assembly. He introduced a motion to condemn you immediately and it easily passed.


Urist: I’m going to kill him
Gorim: I don’t know that you’ll get the chance. The assembly has already sentenced both of us.
Both. Wait what?
Urist: What’s going to happen to you?

Why is blame falling on you. I bet Ivo isn't getting any punishment despite his "involvement in my nefarious plan".


Gorim: My knighthood will be stripped, my name removed from my families records… but I will be allowed to attempt some sort of life on the surface.


Gorim:You’re to be sealed in the Deep Roads to fight Darkspawn until you are overwhelmed and killed.
Urist: The cowards weren’t strong enough to kill me themselves.
Gorim: That may have been Bhelen’s first mistake. Lord Harrowmont gave me access to see you so I could tell you this. Duncan and the Grey Wardens are still in the Deep Roads.



Gorim: Survive to reach the Wardens and you may be able to escape with Duncan.
Urist: The Wardens seemed good men… for humans.
Haven’t got many options other than the humans. The only decent dwarf I know is right in front of me.



Urist: Heh, only some Darkspawn between me and freedom?

Well they weren't that hard on the way to the Thaig. How dangerous can it be?

Gorim: Bhelen underestimated you much as we underestimated him.



Urist: You’re safer going to the surface.

The surface, Stone, may you not reject us.

Gorim: I would give up all the safety in the world to go down this dark path with you.



Urist: The same to you my friend.

... friend huh. Suppose you can't be the second of a Casteless exile.



Last time I'll hear that probably ...damnit Gorim. DWARVES DO NOT CRY. SO STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME.

Guard: They are ready for you now.
Alright guess it’s time to be walked to the backdoor and kicked out. Surprised Bhelen hasn’t lined the streets with Casteless to throw food at me or something. Ah we’re here, hello Lord Harrowmont, here to commit another travesty of justice and honour?


Lord Harrowmont: Your name is from this point forward, stripped from the records. You are no longer a person, nor a memory. You are to be cast out into the Deep Roads with only Sword and Shield, there to redeem your life by fighting the enemies of Orzammar until your death. Do you have anything to say before the sentence is carried out?


Urist: I’m innocent.



Lord Harrowmont: I'll stop him and make sure he receives justice for his actions.

Go for it Harrowmont, wish you more luck than I had.





Thanks Harrowmont, if I ever manage to come back on revenge driven rampage. I'll remember this.

Urist: Tell my father I go to a warrior's death.














Balls.


Next full update will be a while, will a have mini update before it though, where' I'll explain stuff, do the part where Urist meets up with the Wardens, his reaction to seeing the surface for the first time and tee up the questions for the next series of updates. As always constructive criticism is welcome. Much rather be told where I'm fucking up now, than continue doing so.

[Krylo]

Why are you giving your dual wield rogue strength?

Dual wield rogues should be straight cun/dex dagger builds.

[greed]

Why are you giving your dual wield rogue strength?

Dual wield rogues should be straight cun/dex dagger builds.


Just getting it to twenty so he can wear the tier 7 light armour eventually. I'll stop raising it once I hit sixteen and get the last four points in the Fade.


But other than that, yeah he'll be straight cun/dex.

[Krylo]

Ah right, the armor restrictions. Weapon too, if you ever use something that's not a dagger.

Fun fact, though, you can equip strength boosting crap, equip the armor, then remove the strength boosting crap and the armor stays on.

Still good to have it, at least mostly, naturally, though--just to make equipment changing less of a massive pain in the ass.

[greed]

http://i26.tinypic.com/rrqxyt.jpg
Better get going, kinda wish this sword wasn’t too damn heavy to use. Thanks dad! Stone, you’ve been about as helpful as tits on a nug this whole time. Ah well gotta get moving

http://i27.tinypic.com/b3x5di.jpg


Spider again, still harmless.

http://i28.tinypic.com/33nztq1.jpg


Dead guy… with a bow. Awesome.

http://i28.tinypic.com/20j5qoz.jpg
Oh crap, a snare nearly stepped on it....fantastic this means there's Darkspawn ahead, great if I have to deal with a fucking cave in I would not be surprised.

http://i31.tinypic.com/micbrq.jpg

Got him. Or her? Don’t know. Don’t want to know.

http://i32.tinypic.com/5plr4g.jpg

Alright finally got a second dagger so I can get back to how I like to fight.

http://i32.tinypic.com/25pjwrd.jpg


HAH. Bastard never saw me coming.

Sneak+backstab critical = Dwarven ninja.

http://i32.tinypic.com/2w2065s.jpg

Found you.

http://i29.tinypic.com/2s8o6xx.jpg

Duncan: Lord Aeducan?!

http://i27.tinypic.com/vry4rd.jpg

Urist: I am Lord Aeducan no more.

http://i26.tinypic.com/2qc4br4.jpg

http://i27.tinypic.com/2yv8hso.jpg

http://i32.tinypic.com/wvvnlh.jpg

No, no worries, I have nothing to be ashamed of, and you'd find out next time you came to Orzammar anyway.


Urist: I was betrayed by my brother.

Duncan: Lord Trian?

Urist: No Bhelen. Trian is dead.
The poor stupid lug.

http://i27.tinypic.com/otgb38.jpg

http://i26.tinypic.com/29emxav.jpg

http://i25.tinypic.com/2zf3k0o.jpg

Duncan: As leader of the Grey Wardens of Ferelden I would like to formally invite you to join our order.

Nothing else I can really do. Sure as hell more honourable than being a mercenary or some soldier in a human lord’s army, which is pretty much all I’m trained for..... plus I bet Grey Warden's get all the ladies.

Urist: I’d be honoured.

It’s pretty much the only thing I can do where I can still have some honour, surface dwarf or not, I still have to have that.

Duncan: Then welcome. We leave immediately for Ostagar to join with the human forces facing the Darkspawn hordes, lead by King Cailan.

http://i32.tinypic.com/1zntpfm.jpg

....wait, there's not going to be any dwarven girls on the surface. I'LL KILL YOU BHELEN!

END CHAPTER


Tiny chapter this time, sorry got lazy when the forums were down.

Anyway everyone seen the announcement of Dragon Age 2? Seems they're going more Mass Effecty this time round, fully VA'd lead, and Awakening style companion interactions(BOO!). Also the MC can only be human, like Shepard you get to play Hawke, a human refugee from Lothering who can be either male or female. Honestly this whole announcement just sounds like a string of shitty decisions.

Of course if the VA is good, or the focus of only having male/female human it could still be fun, but it just seems like it's completely abandoning everything that made Dragon Age different from Mass Effect, by the sounds of it DA2 could be called A Fantasy Mass Effect: Dragon Age 2. Also the fact that apparently the story is set over a long time period of many years is pretty cool.

[Revising Ocelot]

I played Dragon Age first, then the Mass Effects about a year later, then came back for a new DA playthrough about 3 months ago, and I actually was bothered by the lack of VA for your main character. It was inconsistent - your character says things in battle, but not in dialogue. This could have created a ton of extra work, I guess, considering there's several "voice sets", but... meh.


I've not played Awakening due to hearing bad things about it, could you elaborate on what the character interactions were like in that?

[greed]

Basically, you can't talk to your party when you want to, they'll just either randomly start conversations when they're scripted to, or you can start certain one time only conversation with them by interacting with certain NPCs and overworld objects, it honestly feels pretty cold and distant. It kinda worked for Awakening seeing as your party there were just some temporary conscripts and you were their big boss, but in a full length game I do not think it would work well.

It was designed to force you to carry all the party members with you if you wanted to see all their dialogue, rather than just work through their entire relationship without ever using them, but frankly I'd rather they just keep any time conversations.

[tacticslion]

What it says in the post title.
...
Though I'd still totally recommend my dwarf visual over Van Cleef

No worries, though, as I'll only tease about it this once hold a bitter grudge against you forever for ignoring my ideas that came too late to be heard!

Also, did I misunderstand your re-introduction to the forums, or are you going to have to rewrite a bunch of stuff again?

[greed]

No I think you misunderstood, I'm not rewriting anything, all I meant to convey was that I got lazy over the downtime and didn't make a buffer of future updates. Not that I really could seeing as the next several updates actually have a bunch of votes coming up. But just wanted people to know there wasn't going to be a bunch of quick post downtime updates.

I did think of doing a few quick alternate universe updates to show off the other origins but never got around to it. Might still happen at some point if I have trouble writing a regular update or something.


Anyway, some votes for the next update string.

What are our thoughts on mercy, particularly concerning deserters?

What are our thoughts on thievery? Are we okay with thieves? Are we okay being a thief ourselves?

We will also meet our first three party members, one's the dog which I'll get to later. We will also meet Alistair a snarky knight and Morrigan a bitchy witch. Thoughts for initial reactions? This is only the initial reaction we'll change later once we know them better(or not if you guys decide you like the initial approach), just want a general idea of how we'll deal with a witch who loves to alternate between infuriatingly vague and venomous, and a knight who's two parts goofy and naive and one part also pretty bitchy.

What are our thoughts on human nobles? Diplomatic respect for fellow aristocrats? Contempt that anything other than dwarf can claim nobility?

And most importantly what will we name our dog? It's a giant brown and black pit-bull/great dane hybrid with a goofy :3: personality if that helps with your naming.

Note there is no vote not to take the dog, the dog is awesome and will be in the party.

[Aerozord]

What are our thoughts on mercy, particularly concerning deserters?

as a dwarven prince I doubt you'd look too fondly on them, kill'em



What are our thoughts on thievery? Are we okay with thieves? Are we okay being a thief ourselves?


you are a backstabbing rogue, now having to do such things just to survive, so I say more forgiving, and probably do it yourself. Besides you are used to just getting what you want anyays


We will also meet our first three party members, one's the dog which I'll get to later. We will also meet Alistair a snarky knight and Morrigan a bitchy witch. Thoughts for initial reactions? This is only the initial reaction we'll change later once we know them better(or not if you guys decide you like the initial approach), just want a general idea of how we'll deal with a witch who loves to alternate between infuriatingly vague and venomous, and a knight who's two parts goofy and naive and one part also pretty bitchy.


Morrigan: "I'd tap that"
Alistar: I personally would have difficulty making a character that didn't get along with him
Dog: toss up, if you were doing it less serious I'd want him going "Finally, a mount"



What are our thoughts on human nobles? Diplomatic respect for fellow aristocrats? Contempt that anything other than dwarf can claim nobility?


Begrudging respect. They aren't dwarfs, but he knows the need for diplomacy from time to time.



And most importantly what will we name our dog? It's a giant brown and black pit-bull/great dane hybrid with a goofy :3: personality if that helps with your naming.

Mr Scruffles

[Marc v4.0]

Elf Biter

[walkertexasdruid]

I named my dog Brutus.