I hope you don't mind me asking: What colouring technique do you use? Would you mind making a little step-by-step tutorial in the near future? I ADORE your vibrant choice of colours. So pretteh~
Another thing I love about this place. Post a theory about science and genetics of elves and the Fade? Someone can craft an answer for it. Have a writing question or a moment of doubt? People can offer advice. Post a racy picture of oh-my proportions? Get people asking about the program, techniques, and requesting information on how to better their own skills.
Never stop, Solas thread.
...we kind of ARE Solas, aren't we? 
Add you said, the key is time. Undergoing metamorphosis like that in seconds is just too much. But they can manipulate time through magic! Dorian's tree has this awesome ability to accelerate his time, so that everything else slows down in relation to him. You can cast the same spell when you shape-shift. If it takes you two weeks to change form, it could look like a second to the outside world.
Note that you don't have to change shape completely and you can keep must of your brain the same so that you don't end up with the IQ of a wolf as well after the transformation.
I liked how they explained shapeshifting best in Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series. The Charter-skins allow you to weave the shape of another animal and wear it like a skin. Like you said, not everything has to change. You've still got your own brain, but the physical instincts of the animal are powerful, and they linger after you shift back. Which makes sense, since brain and body interact to make you you. So after Lirael uses the owl shapeshift, she avoids bright light for a few days. After she uses the otter morph, she has a powerful liking for raw fish 
Though DA also clearly has souls/essence that persist from body to body (see the Archdemon) for which we have no good IRL scientific equivalent. (Some imaging studies about the dorsal-lateral PFC and consciousness, but it's hard to draw causality from those.)
I hope you don't mind me asking: What colouring technique do you use? Would you mind making a little step-by-step tutorial in the near future? I ADORE your vibrant choice of colours. So pretteh~
Thanks! 
I'm a sucker for vibrant colors. xD
Well for coloring I mainly use the soft brush (one of the default brushes) for shading since that's what I'm used to and it gives it a very "airbrush" look. xD And for the cel shade, I use the default hard brush or I also make use of the polygon lasso tool. I'm hoping I could venture into a more "painted" style but I always end up sticking to the style I'm using now.
(Gosh, I'm so bad at explaining things. My apologies. D: )
Hmm, I've never tried making a step-by-step tutorial before but I guess one day I will? Maybe?
Sunny, that drawing is amazing!
Thank you! 
Okay guys! I just wanted to share with you the art I finished for the *ahem* Tumblr event. Here it is. (NSFW)
I literally just clicked on this and had to hide it cause my dad came walking by 
ahahahaha I QUICKLY FOUND IT AGAIN WHEN HE LEFT AND I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE PLEASED AND RARR LOOKIT DEM LEGS BEIN' SPREAD
MY GOODNESS 
There's a quote from Trespasser from a mage quizzy that tells Iron Bull that "the veil isn't technically a physical barrier, it's more like a magical vibration that repels the fade". In that respect I assume it is a lot like the barrier spell, like some of you mentioned already. Also from Trespasser I kept hearing people talking about how the crossroads and some the places that the eluvians lead to might not exist any more. Or may never have existed on the Thedas plane of existence.
When you first go into the eluvian with Morrigan you can ask "if they [the eluvians of the crossroads] don't lead back to our world then where do they lead?" and Morrigan simply answers "places in between, I can describe it no better." I think the Eluvians lead to small pockets of alternate dimensions. Possibly all the same alternate dimension. There's also a door in Trespasser that says that Fen'Harel "created" the large valley you see to house the elven rebels.
I think the ancient elves are trapped in one of these pockets, with their Eluvian door either destroyed or locked with a missing or destroyed key. The only thing I don't understand is if Fen'Harel could create such places, why does he have to destroy the veil and bring his people back to Thedas specifically? Why not some place like Thedas in this alternate dimension?
/rant
Okay guys! I just wanted to share with you the art I finished for the *ahem* Tumblr event. Here it is. (NSFW)
Oh dear, I can feel the heat rushing to my cheeks -cough-
Lovely.... colors.
I've yet to draw any type of DAI fanart and I've NEVER drawn anything relatively smutty, not even kissing.
Maybe I should....
*blushes* I'm surprised there's no hentai out at this point or is there...
heheh I haven't found any yet -agrees on searching some for science-
LOL but I have made some NSFW myself.. also gay stuff with Solas hahah it was fun... never posted it though... I am currently working on one picture that I got inspired to do because of one song also gonna make a video with that song haha
That's a tough one, but the shape shifting itself can easily be explained (pseudo)scientifically.
Changing shape completely already happens in nature with metamorphosis. My flies can completely change their body shape and all their organs in 2-3 days at 25 degrees C. To change into another animal, such as elf to wolf or to dragon or raven would be relatively easy since the genes that determine body plan and the basic metabolic pathways are very similar between different animals. Also what Morrigan says about how you need to study the animal you want to turn into fits with this - you need to be able to know exactly what changes to make.
Add you said, the key is time. Undergoing metamorphosis like that in seconds is just too much. But they can manipulate time through magic! Dorian's tree has this awesome ability to accelerate his time, so that everything else slows down in relation to him. You can cast the same spell when you shape-shift. If it takes you two weeks to change form, it could look like a second to the outside world.
Note that you don't have to change shape completely and you can keep must of your brain the same so that you don't end up with the IQ of a wolf as well after the transformation.
You will probably also want to shut down consciousness during this process because waiting two weeks for your body to change shape while everything around you seems frozen is probably super boring.
I really hope some physicists can chime in and extend our science of Thedas theory with some explanations: What is the Fade? What is the Veil?
OOOH OOOH smart answer!!!
Now riddle me this!
If you are a shapeshifter and you are preggers and you shapeshift, what happens to the little creature developing in your human womb?
This has been a serious life question for me for as long as I can remember!!
And hello everyone!!! I'm in a typitive mood today... typitive did you get it 
like talkative...but typing-- okay I'll stop!
Greeting Solassians! I have reflected a lot of late how only a year ago we were all here getting so excited about the prospect of meeting Solas and speculating on who he might actually be. I always pegged him for an ancient elf but never an elven god of any shape, let alone the Dread Wolf.
What I find hard to square with the latest revelations is the image we were presented with before the game, which was largely in keeping with Solas we encountered. Time and again he would talk with one of the companions and seem to make a very reasoned argument concerning his opinion before urging them to take action regarding something he felt strongly about, for example slavery. Some of these I can still equate with what Solas said about himself but one conversation strikes me as particularly hypocritical on his part.
Cassandra: "Solas, if you don't mind me asking, what do you believe in?"
Solas: "Cause and Effect. Wisdom as its own reward, and the inherent right of all free willed people to exist." (my emphasis).
Okay so you could argue that he didn't regard the majority of inhabitants as People until he encountered the Inquisitor but I find it very disappointing that this "belief" of Solas has been discarded. He claimed to me that it is to save his people and I would do the same. However, his people have survived thus far and the other elves will die along with the other races. My Inquisitor, an elf incidentally, will struggle to his last breath to save his people from the fate Solas has in store for them but the only reason he is likely to harm Solas' people is because he pits them against him. I find it hard to understand why Solas does not simply take his ancient elves to one of the remote spots linked to the eluvian and build something up from there. Even if they are mortal and aging, can they not reproduce? He claimed he shut away the evanuris because they were going to destroy the world, but he destroyed the nature of the world in banishing them and now he intends to do the same again to our current world, so how does it make him any different from them? He denies he is a god and yet is willing to make god-like decisions on behalf of the whole world.
My elf girl still loves him and wants to save him from himself but personally I just do not recognise him as the same person I fell in love with. Nor do I blame the absorbing of Mythal for the change because he admits that the only reason the world is not already burning is that he underestimated Corypheus. It simply feels like everything he said before was a sham and that all the expressed regret is just him still trying to manipulate me. (Which is how my male elf feels) Any insights please?
/delurking mode whilst trying to catch up with the thread
I've mentioned few tens of pages back that I'd been doodling whatever headcannon came to my mind when it comes to my Lavellan & Solas romance.
Well, here it is.
Forgive me the quality, I haven't drawn for nearly 12 years now - kids really do take a part of you, don't they?, and never before on a mobile or any kind of digital media. (Note 4 is great, Cole says so.) 'Tis ok, although not my best for sure. But the mobile screen is so friggin tiny.
Also, it is majorly Not Safe For Work.
So yeah. They totally did it.
Edit:
Wow. Seems CapricornSun had same naughty thoughts going in the head. High five.
/lurking mode on
Hi folks!
I haven't visited this thread in forever, but I just finished Trespasser and wanted to chime in! I know this is marked spoiler-safe, but I'll add tags anyway just in case. Also, it'll mostly hide the rambling so you guys can continue your current discussion without too much interruption.
Spoiler
The Inquisitor is not going to die of the Anchor.
Solas completely removed the Anchor--but the Inquisitor's left forearm and hand are also gone because they were too far gone to save from the damage of the Anchor. Weekes addressed this in a tweet some time back. By dissolving the anchor and arm, Solas saved the Inquisitor's life--even if he despises said Inquisitor.
It appears that Solas believes the Inquisitor is going to die from whatever is to come thanks to his plans, not from the Anchor (since he saved the Inquisitor from that). Even if you survive the ensuing chaos, though, he doesn't seem to think that the Inquisitor will become immortal. For a romanced Lavellan, that means she was lost to him from the very beginning, with or without the Anchor.
So, I just noticed this and don't know if it has already been mentioned... but the vallaslin of one of the elves (the one looking towards us) looks as if it belongs to Mythal. You can compare it to my Inky, hers lack the part on the chin but otherwise it looks the same:
Spoiler
I'm just curious... does this mean that Mythal did not support Solas goal of freeing the slaves, or merely that she had to do so very covertly and send her slaves to him rather than remove the vallaslin herself? I'm inclined to believe the latter, but it's still food for thought. Perhaps everything was so secret that even the Evanuris (with the exception of Mythal) did not know the identity of the Dread Wolf? And perhaps, as the organization grew, it suffered "the inevitable fate of betrayal and corruption", leading to Mythal's murder. That would explain his trust issues!
Sooo many questions!
I know a lot of people really hate this idea but, yes, Mythal kept slaves, and no, she doesn't seem to have been inclined to set them free. Remember the Temple of Mythal? Remember what Abelas says about drinking the Well? "You would be bound, as we are bound." He's still a slave, thousands upon thousands of years later. He's also loyal, and he may have become Mythal's slave willingly. We don't know.
Solas liked Mythal because she cared for her people--according to Solas, at least. She may have been the only one to treat her slaves well, rather than use them in horrific experiments and rituals. Again, we don't know the precise context.
Mythal is not a perfect paragon of goodness. She is just as grey a character as any. While I like her, I think she's ultimately going to be a huge threat. She's been waiting for thousands of years for vengeance. She seems to agree with Solas's goals (she gave her power to him willingly, and if the dev notes are true, she actually planned to do so all along), and I think it will be harder to turn her from those plans than it is Solas. Solas already shows uncertainty about his goals. This is one of the reasons I think that the Veil will come down even if you do stop or kill Solas--if he doesn't do it, Mythal might. If she doesn't, then there will be someone else.
Okay, here goes...It's actually pp. 276-277, WOT2:
The last pages of the Grim Anatomy are largely unreadable, torn, and singed. It's as if someone
attempted to destroy the book. What little can be made out speaks of rot and emptiness.
The accompanying diagrams are bizarre, no longer resembling the physiology of any known
animal but instead a mess of overlapping and interconnected geometric shapes.
Thoughts, anyone???
I always thought the last page was a diagram of a Titan. I thought it might be something done by Ghilan'ain, but there's no real way to know.
/delurking mode whilst trying to catch up with the thread
I've mentioned few tens of pages back that I'd been doodling whatever headcannon came to my mind when it comes to my Lavellan & Solas romance.
Well, here it is.
Forgive me the quality, I haven't drawn for nearly 12 years now - kids really do take a part of you, don't they?, and never before on a mobile or any kind of digital media. (Note 4 is great, Cole says so.) 'Tis ok, although not my best for sure. But the mobile screen is so friggin tiny.
Also, it is majorly Not Safe For Work.
So yeah. They totally did it.
Spoiler
Edit:
Wow. Seems CapricornSun had same naughty thoughts going in the head. High five.
/lurking mode on
Oooh! That's pretty!
And it's just perfect because it's Solas Smut Saturday/Solavellan Smut Saturday on Tumblr btw. (Which is totally the reason why I did mine. Yup, totally is.)
Sunny, yours is the first NSFW artwork I've seen that I've enjoyed. I love your style! ^^ Thanks for sharing!
The Inquisitor is not going to die of the Anchor.
Solas completely removed the Anchor--but the Inquisitor's left forearm and hand are also gone because they were too far gone to save from the damage of the Anchor. Weekes addressed this in a tweet some time back. By dissolving the anchor and arm, Solas saved the Inquisitor's life--even if he despises said Inquisitor.
It appears that Solas believes the Inquisitor is going to die from whatever is to come thanks to his plans, not from the Anchor (since he saved the Inquisitor from that). Even if you survive the ensuing chaos, though, he doesn't seem to think that the Inquisitor will become immortal. For a romanced Lavellan, that means she was lost to him from the very beginning, with or without the Anchor.
<snip>
Really? Weekes confirmed the Inquisitor wouldn't die from the Anchor?
I assumed that the arm removal only gave the Inquisitor more time. Solas had said that it would kill her/him eventually... not that I'm disappointed I don't like the idea of my Inquisitor eventually dying from the Anchor after it took so much from her already.
Although it makes Solas's choices all the more upsetting. He's not only willing to give up their love, but also her life for his plans.
...
Uhhhhhh, Solas, why??
I do wonder what exactly will happen when the Veil is torn down... why would Lavellan die too? Isn't Solas trying to change the modern elves into the ancient elves? Theories?
Edit: Top!
http://dragelove.tum...ooooooooooooooo
Sunny, yours is the first NSFW artwork I've seen that I've enjoyed. I love your style! ^^ Thanks for sharing!
Hnnngh! Thank you! And no problem! I love sharing my stuff with you guys.
And it's time for me to go to bed. Goodnight everyone! 
Really? Weekes confirmed the Inquisitor wouldn't die from the Anchor?
I personally only took it that he removed the Anchor and stopped Inquisitor from dying.... for now. But what Inquisitor is supposed to eventually die from is actually an unknown. Weeks himself actually tiptoed around any sort for solid answer for a while (since quite a few people asked about it in first few days of Treaspasser out), so it kinda makes me suspect that the true answer may be a bit complicated.
Really? Weekes confirmed the Inquisitor wouldn't die from the Anchor?
I assumed that the arm removal only gave the Inquisitor more time. Solas had said that it would kill her/him eventually... not that I'm disappointed I don't like the idea of my Inquisitor eventually dying from the Anchor after it took so much from her already.
Although it makes Solas's choices all the more upsetting. He's not only willing to give up their love, but also her life for his plans.
...
Uhhhhhh, Solas, why??
I do wonder what exactly will happen when the Veil is torn down... why would Lavellan die too? Isn't Solas trying to change the modern elves into the ancient elves? Theories?
I personally only took it that he removed the Anchor and stopped Inquisitor from dying.... for now. But what Inquisitor is supposed to eventually die from is actually an unknown. Weeks himself actually tiptoed around any sort for solid answer for a while (since quite a few people asked about it in first few days of Treaspasser out), so it kinda makes me suspect that the true answer may be a bit complicated.
Unless it's some sort of delayed symptomatic aftereffect, removing the Anchor (and we are told it's completely removed) saves you from the Anchor permanently.
You're still mortal though, so you'll suffer from whatever Solas is up to. If that doesn't kill you... you're mortal. You will die sooner or later regardless. That's probably why he's so hurt by his own actions.
And it's also why I feel zero sympathy for Solas's pain. He is hurting, yes, but everyone else is going to be hurting a whole lot more.
Hnnngh! Thank you!
And it's time for me to go to bed. Goodnight everyone!
Sweet dreams CapricornSun!
Unless it's some sort of delayed symptomatic aftereffect, removing the Anchor (and we are told it's completely removed) saves you from the Anchor permanently.
You're still mortal though, so you'll suffer from whatever Solas is up to. If that doesn't kill you... you're mortal. You will die sooner or later regardless. That's probably why he's so hurt by his own actions.
And it's also why I feel zero sympathy for Solas's pain. He is hurting, yes, but everyone else is going to be hurting a whole lot more.
Yeah, but although I realize there must be more ancient elves than what we saw at the temple that can't be enough for Solas to build his new wold around.
Wouldn't he try to change the modern elves? Give them magic, give them "immortality"? I mean, he has modern elves working as his agents, what is he promising them? I would assume a better world for them to live in... but do they know at what cost?
UH SO MANY QUESTIONS!
OOOH OOOH smart answer!!!
Now riddle me this!
If you are a shapeshifter and you are preggers and you shapeshift, what happens to the little creature developing in your human womb?
This has been a serious life question for me for as long as I can remember!!
And hello everyone!!! I'm in a typitive mood today... typitive did you get it
LOL, eventually I'll work myself into a corner with this... But not yet
So, first of all, it might be wisest to not be pregnant for long if you're a shapeshifter. You already have the capacity to control the structure and function of your body and the passage of time. So why not shorten your pregnancy to just a week or two? (Wouldn't it be awesome if we could actually do this? I'd be a lot more inclined to have children.)
If you still have to be pregnant and shapeshift, it would depend on the size and stage of development of the fetus. For a small fetus in the first two trimesters, you can avoid altering your womb and its contents and just turn into a pregnant wolf that carries a human baby inside. If you carry a large fetus and want to turn into a smaller mammal or if you want to turn into a non-mammal like a dragon, you might not be able to do this.
And you better not be doing something to endager the baby after you shapeshift 
I say, just stay somewhere safe with rest, light exercise, and a healthy connection to the Fade during the looong two weeks of your pregnancy
Disclaimer: I'm not an MD, so take my pregnancy advise with a grain of salt. But I'm sure any doctor will confirm that maintaining a healthy connection to the Fade is sound medical advice.
Found this video while searching youtube. This could have been shared before and be totally unrelated to topic, but...
If Inquisitor drinks from the Well of Sorrows you hear unintelligent mumbling. Surprise, surprise, there seems to be a hidden message. Video is inside spoilers to save space.
Spoiler
This is some serious Indoctrination Theory level of creepy. xD Pretty interesting! Is this what you hear when you play that whole scene backwards, or is that ambient noise happening while the game waits for you to make your choice?
Unless it's some sort of delayed symptomatic aftereffect, removing the Anchor (and we are told it's completely removed) saves you from the Anchor permanently.
You're still mortal though, so you'll suffer from whatever Solas is up to. If that doesn't kill you... you're mortal. You will die sooner or later regardless. That's probably why he's so hurt by his own actions.
And it's also why I feel zero sympathy for Solas's pain. He is hurting, yes, but everyone else is going to be hurting a whole lot more.
No, we're never told that it's completely removed - the Anchor itself is removed, yes, but whether there's some residual magic of some sorts remains an unknown. We did see Anchor's unstable magic spill much farther than a hand and forearm after all.
Also, no - I don't think everyone else would be hurting a whole lot more. He did say to Inquisitor that he stopped the Qun to give the South some final peace and that he wants people to die in comfort. From the looks of it, it seems that whatever Solas plans to do may be pretty quick, catching most people unaware.
Him though? He expects to pay the ultimate price himself, which from his own description seems like eternity of fate worse than death.
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