I didn't think the animation was that bad when dancing with Florianne, but the dancing animation with Cassandra was
You and me be both Cespar, you and me both....
But the smile she gives the Inquisitor when you ask her to dance is to be damned for 
.
Elrik nearly took her here and there on that balcony and sod the consequences after that smile 
I would think both are apart of the servant caste, because they play their music for the nobles. The servant caste serve the nobles in all shapes and form, and this caste is the popular and most common one to fit all that doesn't belong in the noble, warrior, and smith caste.
You and me be both Cespar, you and me both....
But the smile she gives the Inquisitor when you ask her to dance is to be damned for
Elrik nearly took her here and there on that balcony and sod the consequences after that smile
Oh you scandal dog you! 
Perfect size, ay!? I can toast to that one! Oghren must surly want to meet Elrik and Cespar Cadash!
So, I have a dwarf lore question and this seems like the right place to ask: what caste do you think dwarf composers and musicians are?
We know they exist - Paragon Ortan was elevated to that status for composing the Ortanic Symphony and an epic about the Seven Brothers. If there are symphonies, one would assume there are musicians to perform them. I think composers would probably be Artisan caste - they're the ones concerned with making things that are of purely decorative or cultural value, after all. I'm just not sure if musicians would be in Artisan caste with them, or if those just performing would be relegated to Servant status.
If there's any info about this in the Codex that I've somehow managed to miss, I'd love to know. Times like this, I wish there was a 'ask a Dragon Age writer a pedantic lore question' button somewhere on the internet.
(I'm writing a tabletop game at the moment, which is why I need to figure this out. So many things we don't know about Orzammar! The day you find yourself trying to work out where dwarves get their Vitamin E from is the day you know you've gone too far down the nug hole.)
As far as I know there is no mention of that in any codex. I would suggest to put them in the Artisan cast (here is what I found on the DA Wiki : "Artisans ornament the goods produced by smiths or simply create art for its own sake."). It also makes sens, dwarf being pratical, they would consider music as a craft. Or they could be considered "out of any casts", meaning they could be from any existing casts (nobles, warriors, merchants....) and recognize as musicians on top of their "day jobs".
And, yeah, it's a bit worrying to find yourself wondering what kind of "real" diet you could get that works when living under the earth, or what type of fibre you get to make clothes (not everybody can wear a silverite smallclothe ), I went there and I did not even had the excuse to write anything 
.
Guest_Faerunner_*
As far as I know there is no mention of that in any codex. I would suggest to put them in the Artisan cast (here is what I found on the DA Wiki : "Artisans ornament the goods produced by smiths or simply create art for its own sake."). It also makes sens, dwarf being pratical, they would consider music as a craft. Or they could be considered "out of any casts", meaning they could be from any existing casts (nobles, warriors, merchants....) and recognize as musicians on top of their "day jobs".
And, yeah, it's a bit worrying to find yourself wondering what kind of "real" diet you could get that works when living under the earth, or what type of fibre you get to make clothes (not everybody can wear a silverite smallclothe
Now I'm imagining undergarments made of moss (nice, soft, spongy and absorbent). Thanks for the mental image. xP
And, yeah, it's a bit worrying to find yourself wondering what kind of "real" diet you could get that works when living under the earth, or what type of fibre you get to make clothes (not everybody can wear a silverite smallclothe
Hmmmm. Maybe traditional dwarf clothes were all leather? Although leather underwear wouldn't be very comfy for everyday wear 
. It's certainly a puzzle - obviously they wouldn't have had cotton before trading with the surface, and none of the underground animals we've seen have wool. (Which makes sense; not many creatures that live underground are really furry.)
..... oooo, wait, what about silk? I mean, obviously in the real world silk worms need to eat mulberry leaves, but I don't see any reason some silk-spinning caterpillar couldn't hypothetically evolve to eat lichen. There was obviously quite an ecosystem under Thedas before the darkspawn arrived and screwed it up.
As for traditional dwarf food, a diet of meat, fungus and lichen is more nutritionally complete than one might expect, especially if you eat the livers of whatever critters you're hunting or herding. Vitamin E is the stumbling block - we get that from grain and nut oils and leafy green vegetables. And this is how I found myself googling the nutritional content of lichen. (Without any useful results, alas.)
Vitamin C would be the other big problem, but dwarves are probably like the vast majority of real-world animals and capable of synthesising their own. (It's really only a few primates, guinea pigs, a few bats and a handful of birds that actually need to eat it in our world.)
@Andraste_Reborn -- I think your instincts are right, that they're likely from the Artisan caste. Servants would make sense, but I would think the Artisan caste would devote themselves to the art of music and practice regularly.
I do remember Gaider answering questions about dwarf castes and listing their ranks so he's always been a good person to ask. He just deleted his tumblr blog so I'm not sure if there's another method of asking. I think it was mentioned that Jennifer Hepler and Lukas K. both worked on the dwarf content back in Origins. I'd shoot him a PM and ask. Worst thing that can happen is not getting a response.
There's a backup of his tumblr somewhere; I don't have the link, though.
There's a backup of his tumblr somewhere; I don't have the link, though.
Ah, good to know. He didn't answer that many dwarven questions on his tumblr blog, IIRC. I did copy down what he wrote on an older forum, but it doesn't address the musician question. (I had a habit of compiling relevant dwarf info in notepad so I could refer to things easily. Lost a lot when they upgraded to the new forums though since I put most of it in a group thread that I can no longer find.)
(Link doesn't work, but leaving it in for posterity.)
http://old.dragonage...Gaider&rating=3
David Gaider ~
Lead Writer
Thread: One-line lore questions only please [+32]
Date: Wednesday, 05 August 2009 05:03PM
Quote: Posted 08/04/09 16:26 (GMT) by MoL0toW
- How many castes do dwarves have and what are they called?
In order of their rank:
Noble caste
Warrior caste
Smith caste
Artisan caste
Miner caste
Merchant caste
Servant caste
Surface caste *
the casteless
* NOTE: the existance of a "surface caste" is a source of contention amongst the dwarves, and by and large the Shaperate would consider the surface dwarves to rank amongst the casteless. The growing number of high-ranking castes that voluntarily live on the surface however, makes the idea of them remaining permanent exiles a bit problematic.
Many of the castes have strata within them, and the rank of a specific member may be a source of considerable argument (a highly-placed member of the Smith caste might consider themselves above a lowly soldier, for instance) but overall the caste ranks are considered inviolate.
A Brosca warden is made part of the warrior caste post Origins, but.....what about Paragons? Wouldn't they be above everyone else?
Aye. This is why I hoped that when Harrowmont died in the epilogue, Aeducan would resume the throne with Bhelen out of the way. =p
While dwarves have no gods, a Paragon is like a god in the eyes of dwarves which is attributed to the fact that the dwarves venerate their ancestors, so a living Paragon is considered as a living Ancestor. The word of a Paragon surpasses in weight even the word of a king — even if the former's title does not grant official power.
http://dragonage.wik...om/wiki/Paragon
Oh, this reminds me. Gaider also mentioned on his tumblr that they had intended for all races to be able to get engaged to King Alistair (if in a romance), but the non-humans would get negative reactions from others. I thought that was interesting and wondered if a dwarf noble being engaged to King Alistair would result in a different perspective since it's dwarven royalty merging with human royalty. Ditto for Anora and dwarf male noble.
Alas.
Hmmmm. Maybe traditional dwarf clothes were all leather? Although leather underwear wouldn't be very comfy for everyday wear
..... oooo, wait, what about silk? I mean, obviously in the real world silk worms need to eat mulberry leaves, but I don't see any reason some silk-spinning caterpillar couldn't hypothetically evolve to eat lichen. There was obviously quite an ecosystem under Thedas before the darkspawn arrived and screwed it up.
As for traditional dwarf food, a diet of meat, fungus and lichen is more nutritionally complete than one might expect, especially if you eat the livers of whatever critters you're hunting or herding. Vitamin E is the stumbling block - we get that from grain and nut oils and leafy green vegetables. And this is how I found myself googling the nutritional content of lichen. (Without any useful results, alas.)
Vitamin C would be the other big problem, but dwarves are probably like the vast majority of real-world animals and capable of synthesising their own. (It's really only a few primates, guinea pigs, a few bats and a handful of birds that actually need to eat it in our world.)
Yeah, leather underwear would cause no small amount of shaffing 
and skin problems.
We could go for spider webs based clothes I guess, it is a bit far fetched but not everything in fantasy has to make perfect sens
I tend to think that you need dwarven farmers, as far as we can tell dwarven physiology is similar to human and elven physiology, so the needs are the same. We could imagine Thaigs close to the surface with enough light to grow small crops and trees (the Cadash Thaig in DAO was quite overgrow with grass, moss and trees if I remember well, and places like Valamar in the Hinterlands also have some vegetations growing.
Regarding Vitamin E, you also find some in fishes (tuna for example), so you could go with underground lake fish farm (Am I pulling a Gollum here ).
Trade is evidently the best way to for the dwarves to get all those things, hence the importance of the Carta and the Merchant guild (and all the surface dwarves), plus I personnaly tend to think that original dwarves did not live underground first, so they might have taken seeds with them when they started to dwell in mountains and caves.
I really like the idea of a dwarven farmer, always thought about it since my first reading of LOTR ( and that was around 20 years ago.....well, ****!)
Also to Faerunner
Now I'm imagining undergarments made of moss (nice, soft, spongy and absorbent). Thanks for the mental image. xP
You're welcome
They are looking for beta testers for patch 5. Black Emporium! New schematics!
http://blog.bioware....black-emporium/
You know, I always had a little bit of an issue with the Harrowmont vs. Bhelen dynamic --- okay, a large issue, because I always say Bhelen's a hack and the devs have really been trying to force the idea that he's the best leader to us You know, I always had a little bit of an issue with the Harrowmont vs. Bhelen dynamic --- okay, a large issue, because I always say Bhelen's a hack and the devs have really been trying to force the idea that he's the best leader to us -- but I feel like even in Origins the game tried to really push you towards Bhelen being right with very little ambiguity in the scenario (even if Bhelen's method of getting the crown would realistically create more problems for him, but that's never addressed), even going so far as to make Harrowmont seem not just more of the same old, same old traditionalism but full-on stupid.
Like the isolationist policy he ended up having in the epilogue. Despite the fact that after he's crowned the surface merchants say the gates are open and they can trade again inside the city. So it kinda seemed to come out of nowhere (though they haven't held to it). Since Inquisition has him trading with Gaspard, I do wonder why he didn't use the money to buy foodstuffz from the surface merchants (I have my suspicions, but I'm bitter).
Or even how in Inquisition Bioware reverses what the epilogues originally had. Originally, Bhelen was pressing for more Golems but Branka refused, wherein he laid siege to the place. In contrast, Harrowmont didn't give Branka more Dwarves for Golems, which had her decide to raid the surface and then Orzammar had to face a war because of her stupid actions.
In Inquisition? Completely reversed. Bhelen is now the one not giving Branka any more resources while Harrowmont is giving her more and more.
That bothers me. They didn't go with Traditionalism vs. Reformation but more like "Bad vs. Good". And it's why I say it seems like Bioware is kissing Bhelen's ass, to put it bluntly. =/. I would've preferred it to simply be "More of the same" vs. "A New Beginning" rather then "Downfall of the Dwarves" vs. "The right choice" (this is a problem with Origins itself to be honest. The Circle of Magi quest has no repercussions if you save them, as another example). It's still clear that Harrowmont would be the wrong choice, but it wouldn't be black and white about it.
His views on the casteless and how he panders to the Assembly I don't mind. Very in line with who Harrowmont is and enough of a reason to feel he's not a good ruler (long-term catering to the Assembly creates problems). It's just the other stuff that seemingly either comes out of nowhere or is contradicting whatever else happened that we were told. I've always maintained he's maybe an ok-ish king at best for peace-time but even so... I dunno. Perhaps I just let my hatred of Bhelen and me seeing flaws in his rise to power color my perspective just a bit too much.
Which don't get me wrong, I can get behind Bhelen being the better candidate (if you're not a DN that is. Or a DC). Dwarves need reform, after all. I just think it wasn't presented very well when you look at it under a microscope and examine each character truly. Worse still when IIRC Aeducan is named Harrowmont's heir? And yet somehow you can't even get the throne in his "poisoned" ending?
But as is well known, I'm bitter. VERY VERY bitter lol.
OMG that new paaaaaaaatch!
That means it's free right? Perhaps the transformation mirror?
This will be an actual thing?
armor tints!
Aye. This is why I hoped that when Harrowmont died in the epilogue, Aeducan would resume the throne with Bhelen out of the way. =p
While dwarves have no gods, a Paragon is like a god in the eyes of dwarves which is attributed to the fact that the dwarves venerate their ancestors, so a living Paragon is considered as a living Ancestor. The word of a Paragon surpasses in weight even the word of a king — even if the former's title does not grant official power.
http://dragonage.wik...om/wiki/Paragon
Oh, this reminds me. Gaider also mentioned on his tumblr that they had intended for all races to be able to get engaged to King Alistair (if in a romance), but the non-humans would get negative reactions from others. I thought that was interesting and wondered if a dwarf noble being engaged to King Alistair would result in a different perspective since it's dwarven royalty merging with human royalty. Ditto for Anora and dwarf male noble.
Alas.
That bites. My Aeducan would have stayed with him under those circumstances. I always thought it was weird that a DN, at least, couldn't marry him.
They are looking for beta testers for patch 5. Black Emporium! New schematics!
Yeah! Makes me glad I have an unmodded PC version so I can apply for the Beta. Mirror to fix all the stupids that come out of the CC's bizarre lighting! Group storage!
FINALLY
One has to wonder why this stuff wasn't in the base game itself.
Still happy the patch is coming out though.
Guest_Stormheart83_*
I demand beards that reach my Dwarfs knees.I need more beards, none of the current ones reach my nipples!
I demand beards that reach my Dwarfs knees.
I demand beards that I can wrap around my entire body like a large coat.
Guest_Stormheart83_*
That would be a sight to see.I demand beards that I can wrap around my entire body like a large coat.
I just want a beard that's braided into two parts. Something like Oghren and Brosca/Aeducan! (Brosca ftw!)
Retour en haut
