I've Been Thinking About The Tendency Of Some Fans Who Create Their Ideal OC Character In An RPG And

I refuse to believe they didn’t know what they were doing when they made The Ghoul. You mean to tell me a good man and father with a fondness for dogs and in love with his wife, over the course of centuries and nuclear war, turns into an irradiated cowboy bounty hunter with flexible morals, quippy one liners, and a reluctant fondness for an earnest and kind (but total badass) young woman with whom he shares an equivalent exchange before they end the season with the promise of two unlikely parties joined together on a road trip quest…and people DIDN’T expect tumblr to go feral?

Lrb, I would also argue that Larian expected us to romance Halsin as a joke, what with how late in the game the romance occurs and how much emphasis the marketing put on the bear scene.

People are so weird about Halsin and other characters, I hate fandom sometimes.

Jesus what the fuck

i didn't have "i'm broken" teenage asexual angst i had "i'm literally being the only reasonable one about this concept and the rest of you are behaving like fucking freaks" perception issues

Fans: I can't stand Halsin because he's racist to Drow!

Me: I see. Quick question, who's your favorite character?

Fan 1: Shadowheart, who hates all Githyanki, of course!

Fan 2: Lae'zel, who hates all non-Gith, of course!

Fan 3: Astarion, who hates all gnomes, of course!

Fan 4: Minthara, who hates all surface elves, of course!

Me: ...... I see.

Oak father preserve you.

Grab prints here.

While there is no doubt that having the Qun inflicted on everyone else is unacceptable, knowing why there are adherents is important because it'd never survive if it wasn't at least addressing enough people's needs to become a culture. One of the biggest things that stand out is that the Qunari do not believe in neglecting their poorest and weakest members of society. Oh sure, ideally, everyone should be taken care of, the Chantry sisters do have charities.

And yet.

There are people still joining the Qun (for good or for ill) like the city elf brothers who were wanted for murder. Why did they kill? Humans raped their sister. Did they go to the City Guard? Yes. No one did anything about it. Why? They were city elves, the least of all citizens.

No amount of spare food or clothing will address that need for justice there.

It's notable that Andrastian myths focus more on Andraste, her relationship to the Maker and a few involved in her story. But the story of the Qunari's reason for arising centers on the failure of societies in taking care of their poorest, their neglected.

Long ago, the Ashkaari lived in a great city by the sea. Wealth and prosperity shone upon the city like sunlight, and still its people grumbled in discontent. The Ashkaari walked the streets of his home and saw that all around him were the signs of genius: triumphs of architecture, artistic masterpieces, the palaces of wealthy merchants, libraries, and concert halls. But he also saw signs of misery: the poor, sick, lost, frightened, and the hopeless. And the Ashkaari asked himself, "How can one people be both wise and ignorant, great and ruined, triumphant and despairing?"

So the Ashkaari left the land of his birth, seeking out other cities and nations, looking for a people who had found wisdom enough to end hopelessness and despair. He wandered for many years through empires filled with palaces and gardens, but in every nation of the wise, the great, the mighty, he found the forgotten, the abandoned, and the poor.

There's another passage that comes to mind of how the Qun may not be all fascism and pigeonholing tyranny to the citizens (taken with a large grain of salt):

Dragon Age Wiki

Codex entry: Qunari Tamassrans

See also: Qunari, The Qun, Tamassran Nanny Goodwin lay on the hard stones of the Kirkwall docks until the sailors left with her purse. As sh

Nanny Goodwin lay on the hard stones of the Kirkwall docks until the sailors left with her purse. As she struggled to her feet, a large grey hand reached down to help her. It was one of the Qunari, the great horned giants who had come to live in the city.

"I thank you," said Nanny Goodwin hesitantly, looking for her satchel. "I did not know the docks were so dangerous, or I would have asked one of Lord G___'s guards to accompany me as I bought healing herbs for the children."

"You are a tamassran," said the Qunari. "Under the Qun, no sailor would accost you. Why are you here?"

"I am but Lord G___'s nanny," Nanny Goodwin said, "and Lord G___ did not believe me when I told him that the children needed healing herbs, so I was forced to buy them myself."

"Under the Qun," said the Qunari, "tamassrans are trusted and listened to when caring for the children, and any healing herbs they needed would be provided. Why did Lord G___ not attend your words?"

"He is a noble," Nanny Goodwin said, "and I am merely a servant who cares for his children." She shifted her shawl to hide the bruises the sailors had given her, as well as the bruises Lord G___ himself had left.

"Under the Qun," said the Qunari, "all are equal, and no tamassran thinks herself a mere anything."

Nanny Goodwin bid the Qunari good day and returned to Hightown with much to think about.

Sounds like propaganda, doesn't it? And it'd be easy to dismiss as just that, if not for a few non Qunari members of the Qun like Gatt.

Dragon Age Wiki

Gatt

Gatt is an elven agent of the Ben-Hassrath. Gatt was a slave in Tevinter until he met Hissrad. A Qunari team led by The Iron Bull (who was t

Gatt has lived under the Qun after escaping from Tevinter so he has two societies to compare side by side to on the pros and cons. And his assessment is this: The Qunari are meeting enough of his needs to offset their flaws in society.

So there are some positives in Qun society. It's far too rigid and narrow in its overzealousness to categorize and control everyone, but it's fascinating in how it's not just a cartoonish, mustache twirling parody of an evil government. They genuinely do want to take care of every single member of their society, it's just a shame that expectation to conform is non negotiable.

CONFESSION:

It sucks that we rarely get to see any truly positive or cultural looks into Qunari life. Sten was kind of our only real peak into it without every character around them going "wow thats TERRIBLE the qun sounds AWFUL you're basically SLAVES". Even Tallis's storyline eventually turned into her running away from it. We'll shine a light on how the Chantry and the slave empire are 'flawed but worth saving' all damn day, but maker forbid the Qunari have any kind of positive exploration with the modern storyline. I'm not saying I want them to be a shining perfect utopia, but would it kill anyone to add a little nuance?

Yes. And it's a modded versions of all the Shepards I've made. I've had painful longings since the release of ME3 for mods to "fix" Shepard but it took years, help from friends and money to finally afford the tools needed to mod and I've kept the results on my phone since.

Is your phone wallpaper a fictional character?

So some time ago, it occurred to me as to why there's strong ghoulcy vibes in Fallout. It was kinda obvious in retrospect, but I was slapping myself in the head when I noticed it.

The flashbacks.

Cooper and Lucy's flashbacks are being shown in greater detail than any other characters. Maximus has his, but they keep repeating back to an image of a Brotherhood knight rescuing him, not his life before Shady Sands was destroyed. It's odd, because you'd think that Maximus and Lucy would have more in common since they both had once lived in Shady Sands and that Lucy's parents directly affected Maximus.

But no.

Instead, we're seeing more parallels drawn between Lucy and Cooper to explain why Cooper invited Lucy along his journey, why he sympathizes with her and why they're leaving together at the end.

"Well duh," I can hear in the back of my mind. "Of course that's why other ghoulcy fans are fascinated by this dynamic."

Thing is, why go through all that for those two? Why not a rivalry that continues, a race to get to Lucy's father instead? Why not Maximus leaving with her since he too would have been ripe for a revenge tale? We'd get more of a destined lovers feel if we were getting more of Maximus's past shown in flashbacks alongside Lucy's, but instead, we get the sense that Maximus is more focused on the future instead of being haunted by his past.

Things aren't still decided, and for all we know, Maximus and Lucy may still be endgame, but it gets harder and harder to ignore the questions. I do want to see more of Maximus's life before he joined the Brotherhood. I want to see why Dane is so devoted to him (there has to be a history there). I feel like Maximus is on the brink of becoming a revolutionary in changing the Brotherhood once he figures out himself and what he ultimately wants. He straddles the line between doing the right thing and being pragmatic.

But most of all, I want to see more ghoulcy. I want to see Lucy and Cooper develop alongside each other. I want to see Lucy change in ways Cooper didn't expect the way Clarice from Silence of the Lambs became someone Hannibal didn't predict.