7969 réponses à ce sujet

[vertigomez]

So this thread got me thinking about literacy and dwarven education in general.

For my DC, I figured Rica taught him to read after she became a noble hunter and had to get all ~cultured~. What sort of languages do you suppose dwarven nobles learn? Just Trade and snippets of ancient Dwarven? Seems like there's enough bias against other races that learning a foreign language is probably considered... at best unnecessary, at worst a total waste of time. But it's a thought.

How much do you think the lower castes are taught? Is a launderer expected to read? How much emphasis does Orzammar place on education?

I figure surface dwarf culture just sort of goes with the flow of wherever they live.

[Bhryaen]

I'll heed the warning about the divisiveness of trashing characters, but I really like the discussion of Branca we've been having. There hasn't been any resorting to one-liner write-offs yet, so it seems we're in good company on this thread. I was genuinely curious about the topic, and I certainly see no reason get worked up over it myself... other than my usual getting worked up about the DA narrative. I think my WallsOText sometimes give the impression that I'm raving mad or something. I just get a kick out of critiquing and discussing DA. It was a bit different on the DAO forums where the Bhelen/Harrowmont debates raged constantly, taking no prisoners, and don't get me started on the Anvil and golems. Now those were some hefty WallsOText... But the Branca exchange here has been pretty enlightening, at least to me. I value the input.

 

@Bhryaen

I think they did (although I couldn't tell you exactly were) say that her husband was chosen for her by her family because he was of the same caste. She's not a Carta dwarf, although they didn't bother to design a separate outfit for her, as I understood she's a prestigious surfacer dwarf like Varric; her familiy is in the Guild, anyway, and the DA wiki tells me she's now actually being considered for paragon. In fact, I think the merchant caste is under the smith caste, so if she's the same caste as her husband and considering Bartrand was just rebuilding the Tethras fortune, marrying Varric probably wasn't allowed because it would have meant marrying down. This is basically the only reason I ever gave either of them a pass for cheating on her husband because I don't consider an arranged marriage a real relationship, otherwise, for reasons I admit are really based on nothing but my personal morals, I would have kicked Varric off my favourite character list faster than he can shoot a Nug. Whether she stood her own future husband or Varric up at the altar is not entirely clear (in the first case she'd have returned, obviously).

See? This is great background info for me. Thanks!    I hadn't thought to consult the DAWiki. I'll have to stay alert on my next (dwarven) playthrough since somehow I missed all that. I miss a lot of things on a first playthrough- the main reason I settled on my elf first: I didn't want to play one of my planned dwarves and end up missing stuff, setting them back at the end. I started with a dwarf, but when it became clear how HUGE DAI is, I knew it was inevitable I'd miss key things. That happened with my Kruklya Brosca, always irked me afterward.

 

The rest about Bianca I mostly agree with, summed up in "yep, that was some lazy writing." Her uberdwarf accomplishments seem a bit of a writer's arse-pull, something that usually throws me off. Sad that they didn't invest more on that aspect of the personal story of such an iconic DA character as Varric- one they'd clearly found so popular that he was the only one that managed to cross games as a companion. And Varric's very identity is based on his personal story (rather than on one DA faction or another), so it's that much more disappointing.

 

This part especially I agree with:

 

She did have those larger-than-life shoes of the fabled Bianca to fill, though, which was never going to be an easy thing, but I think it could've been done

These are some pretty talented writers to have dropped the ball so conspicuously in this case.

 

One thing I didn't mention- thought of afterwards- was that Bianca was probably going to get a free pass from me regardless just because she's a dwarf. If Mr. ENCHANTMENT weren't a dwarf... *grumble* At the very least DAI's dwarves have more or less distanced themselves from the "dwarf as comic relief" theme (like grumbly Gimli in the LotR movies or Sandal and arguably Oghren in DA).

 

The only thing I still don't see is her being unapologetic for her error. It's not as if she were flagrantly defending herself, saying, "What I did was RIGHT!" Contrast her sheepish reveal of her mistake (feeling bad about it), her straight-up acknowledgment that it was a mistake, and her expressed desire to fix the mistake... with Fiona's reaction after you talk to her in Skyhold. Fiona actually makes the statement, "And I'd do it all again." Now that's being unapologetic for errors, and I remain wary of her.

 

So Varric really is a sure shot mechanically? I didn't notice that he never misses. My own elf archer misses regularly, especially when firing a regular attack at a distance or if I don't click on the target first. Another thing to watch for...

[thesuperdarkone2]

How about tapsters tavern?

[Bhryaen]

So this thread got me thinking about literacy and dwarven education in general.

For my DC, I figured Rica taught him to read after she became a noble hunter and had to get all ~cultured~. What sort of languages do you suppose dwarven nobles learn? Just Trade and snippets of ancient Dwarven? Seems like there's enough bias against other races that learning a foreign language is probably considered... at best unnecessary, at worst a total waste of time. But it's a thought.

How much do you think the lower castes are taught? Is a launderer expected to read? How much emphasis does Orzammar place on education?

I figure surface dwarf culture just sort of goes with the flow of wherever they live.

Yeah, I'd like to hear dwarves speaking dwarven. In the Fade the big demon actually had an exchange with Solas that was entirely in elven- no hint whatsoever what they were talking about, and no way to ask Solas, "Care to elaborate?" No reason the Shia-Brytols couldn't have been shouting dwarven curses at me or something. I mean, there is a dwarven language after all. Did it get supplanted by human language at some point? Not that it's a small task for the devs to invent a whole language to use consistently in-game like with the Klingons in Star Trek. Ka-pluh!

 

EDIT:

On that note, one of the biggest charms of the dwarf origin was hearing all the dwarf-speak in Orzammar in regular conversations. Mostly all you hear of it in DAI are "nug-licker" or "bronto-licker." As usual, curse words are the first to be learned.

[Gilsa]

I thought an artificer having special dialogue with Bianca was a nice touch and I especially like that they incorporated that with her character. I liked how highly Varric spoke of her genius, how she ought to be a paragon for her work. That was nice to see. I just thought that his excuse for being unavailable for all of DA2 and DA3 fell short of the mark when we're presented with a couple that bickered most of the time. Been a good while since I played DA2, but didn't he speak more lovingly to his crossbow in DA2? I didn't even realize she was THE Bianca at first. I thought that it was just part of the joke, that half the girls are Bianca and half are Helga.

 

The question of literacy is a good one, especially for dwarves. It's easy to see that knowing how to read is a necessity in the Carta if you want to climb ranks since they deal in trade secrets, pass messages with ravens, and pass notes to each other (due to the notes we find in the Deep Roads with people threatening each other, etc). One of the most interesting roleplay I've seen was a Cadash who didn't know how to read so Josephine would read the letters to her. The writer presented this as painful since Blackwall "knew" that she couldn't read, but left a goodbye note after Revelations after he disappeared (they were in a romantic relationship). She had to get someone to read that to her. I tend to go with whatever parameters the game provides for my character, but it's neat to see other people think outside of the box like this.

[vertigomez]

Ha! I do believe the original dwarven language was supplanted by Trade - which the dwarves invented. So, in a sense... everybody speaks dwarven. Maybe that's why Qunari have "dwarf" accents? They're really finicky about speaking perfectly, after all, and so they model their speech patterns after the dwarves.

I do miss all dem ancient dorf words, though. Thank goodness for the DA wiki's vocab section!

[Gilsa]

OK, request officially sent to the OP of the thread to change the title to "The Dwarven Assembly."

 

Spoiler

The dwarf thread you created in the character section

Gilsa

Sent Today, 04:06 PM

 

Hi! I don't know if you remember making a "dwarf support thread" in the DAI characters section, but it certainly took a life of its own! Thank you for thinking of the dwarves and creating a thread for fans to gather in. Since it's still chugging along after all this time, there is a desire among the dwarven folks to rename the thread to "The Dwarven Assembly" since it's more befitting for the fandom. Since you are the OP with the power to change the title, would you mind doing this favor for us? It'd be much appreciated!

This is the link to the thread: http://forum.bioware...support-thread/

Many thanks!

Sincerely,
All of the dwarves in the thread

[TobiTobsen]

Ha! I do believe the original dwarven language was supplanted by Trade - which the dwarves invented. So, in a sense... everybody speaks dwarven. Maybe that's why Qunari have "dwarf" accents? They're really finicky about speaking perfectly, after all, and so they model their speech patterns after the dwarves.
I do miss all dem ancient dorf words, though. Thank goodness for the DA wiki's vocab section!

I have just been thinking about the dwarven language and I'm pretty sure that "Asunder" mentioned orlesian signs in the countryside using dwarven runes. Illiterate peasants simply memorized the meaning, without being able to read.

If that's a fact and the Orlesians don't use old dwarven runes like the Sha-Brytol, that would indicate a separate language from Trade... or just indicate that Trade is written in runes?!

The old dwarven runes don't seem to be forgotten either, because even a Carta thug like Cadash knows some of them.

[Bhryaen]

I do miss all dem ancient dorf words, though. Thank goodness for the DA wiki's vocab section!

Ooh, this one? Yes! Wow, there's a bow in DAI called Tezpadam's Bane which apparently actually means Deepstalker's Bane. Good stuff. But there was more to dwarfspeak I'd hear in Orzammar where normal phrases were dwarfyed- like "By the stone" or... dang, I should play a DAO duster again. I wrote a fanfiction about Zev with my dwarf where I had her say "throw 'em to the lava" (or "to the molten," something like that) in the same spirit. Maybe I'll do another Duster run before I start my DAI dwarf...

[Gilsa]

I'd like to do another DAO run, but I really don't because I played the dwarven origins at least 12 times (tried out different variations, wanted to see what possible reason a Brosca would have to side with Harrowmont and commit to it, wanted to see if there was special dialogue for "siding" with Bhelen and then crowning Harrowmont at the last minute, etc). What I'd really like is flycam for DAO even though that's not likely to happen. I just really want to explore Orzammar's architecture and look around in the Deep Roads. I get the graphics are dated, but the statues and flowing lavas were still things of beauty. I have to keep the dog in my party if I want the camera to be lower to the ground to take pictures of my characters. It just gets old.

[Tishina]

 

OK, request officially sent to the OP of the thread to change the title to "The Dwarven Assembly."

 

Spoiler

The dwarf thread you created in the character section

Gilsa

Sent Today, 04:06 PM

 

Hi! I don't know if you remember making a "dwarf support thread" in the DAI characters section, but it certainly took a life of its own! Thank you for thinking of the dwarves and creating a thread for fans to gather in. Since it's still chugging along after all this time, there is a desire among the dwarven folks to rename the thread to "The Dwarven Assembly" since it's more befitting for the fandom. Since you are the OP with the power to change the title, would you mind doing this favor for us? It'd be much appreciated!

This is the link to the thread: http://forum.bioware...support-thread/

Many thanks!

Sincerely,
All of the dwarves in the thread

 

Just got home and started catching up. Cool and thanks, Gilsa! I hope she responds soon.

[vertigomez]

Ooh, this one? Yes! Wow, there's a bow in DAI called Tezpadam's Bane which apparently actually means Deepstalker's Bane. Good stuff. But there was more to dwarfspeak I'd hear in Orzammar where normal phrases were dwarfyed- like "By the stone" or... dang, I should play a DAO duster again. I wrote a fanfiction about Zev with my dwarf where I had her say "throw 'em to the lava" (or "to the molten," something like that) in the same spirit. Maybe I'll do another Duster run before I start my DAI dwarf...

Ahh, I looove bits like that! There's that dwarven lullaby in WoT2 - Veata Tezpadam! - and I always imagine Brosca and Aeducan singing that to the little ones in their lives. Rica and Bhelen's baby Endrin, Mardy's son, Kieran... basically I just need dwarves saying dwarfy things to each other. Neeeeeed.

I have just been thinking about the dwarven language and I'm pretty sure that "Asunder" mentioned orlesian signs in the countryside using dwarven runes. Illiterate peasants simply memorized the meaning, without being able to read.
If that's a fact and the Orlesians don't use old dwarven runes like the Sha-Brytol, that would indicate a separate language from Trade... or just indicate that Trade is written in runes?!
The old dwarven runes don't seem to be forgotten either, because even a Carta thug like Cadash knows some of them.

You know, the funny thing about that is all the dialogue in the game (at least in DAI) seems to suggest that they use the English alphabet! Could be a translation convention, though, and they're using "ABC" as a stand-in for letters the devs just haven't developed.

[Tishina]

So this thread got me thinking about literacy and dwarven education in general.

For my DC, I figured Rica taught him to read after she became a noble hunter and had to get all ~cultured~. What sort of languages do you suppose dwarven nobles learn? Just Trade and snippets of ancient Dwarven? Seems like there's enough bias against other races that learning a foreign language is probably considered... at best unnecessary, at worst a total waste of time. But it's a thought.

How much do you think the lower castes are taught? Is a launderer expected to read? How much emphasis does Orzammar place on education?

I figure surface dwarf culture just sort of goes with the flow of wherever they live.

Just my take on it, but I don't think we have to assume illiteracy or come up with an "unusual circumstance," even for a surfacer street rat. How many letters do we find between Carta members, after all, and how many books are on shelves in Valammar? I think the Carta might value it highly, in fact, and insist most people learn to read at least a little. Writing, however, might be much rarer (the two are not always taught together, and paper and ink can be expensive.)

 

My Brosca knew how to read some because she learned anything she could that might get her out of Dusttown, though she wasn't comfortable until she was Warden-Commander and had time and access to books to improve her reading. She didn't learned to write even minimally until the Blight, but can just barely scribble a note. However, she has a really excellent memory and can recite long conversations word for word.

 

Reska Cadash was extremely well-educated because of what she was trained to do, including speaking at least a little of most surfacer languages and writing very elegantly. She could hold her own with Dorian and Vivienne on any non-magical topic.

 

Zhenya Cadash learned to read and write enough to get by in the Carta, but has never really read anything that wasn't business except a copy of the Chant of Light (she's my Andrastrian) before she joined the Inquisition.

[Bhryaen]

I'd like to do another DAO run, but I really don't because I played the dwarven origins at least 12 times (tried out different variations, wanted to see what possible reason a Brosca would have to side with Harrowmont and commit to it, wanted to see if there was special dialogue for "siding" with Bhelen and then crowning Harrowmont at the last minute, etc). What I'd really like is flycam for DAO even though that's not likely to happen. I just really want to explore Orzammar's architecture and look around in the Deep Roads. I get the graphics are dated, but the statues and flowing lavas were still things of beauty. I have to keep the dog in my party if I want the camera to be lower to the ground to take pictures of my characters. It just gets old.

I only did 2.5 dwarf runs, only one Duster, so I'm ripe for another. The daunting bit is more that I went through a heinous purge at some point where I deleted DAO along with all the mods and other content, and now I'd have to re-learn, re-acquire, and reinstall them all again. Or just do vanilla, but, ugh, there was a lot I had to tweak to get it right.

 

Funny about Orzammar architecture. I think I made a long post of screenshots of various Orzammar scenery on the DAO dwarf thread (plus dwarfy statues in the Deep Roads and on the surface), narrating it like a wannabe tourist guide. I was going to make another that was a guessing game to see if you could name the location by a smaller detail. I had a shyte-tonne more screenies that vanished with the purge as well. If I get back there, maybe I'll take new ones and throw them on here for fun and nostalgia. The best part of it was always that it was so unique to Orzammar and dwarfdom, making it clear it is and always was a civilization all its own. Surfacers? Bah!

 

Wait! I have some preserved in PhotoBucket!

 

 

Ahhh, home...

 

EDIT:

And, yeah, if the fantastic DAI area design artists were to do something in HD with those flowing streams of lava... Mmm...

[Bhryaen]

Still slogging through the last of the War Room missions post-"Abyss," came across the one where the Kal-Shirok dwarves tip you off to the Venatori in the Deep Roads near them. I love the first sentence of the letter they send:'

 

 

 

"A hole in the surfacers' precious sky, not our concern."

 

And that's the way they start off greeting the Inquisition... After all the hours of drama and closing rifts and paving relations between the Inquisition and everywhere- all primarily on the surface- it just comes across so strikingly funny an attitude- lends further declarativeness to the fact that dwarves gots their own thing, surfacers be damned. "But, hey, if ya wanna get these Magister nug-lickers here in our midst, be our guest... so long as you do exactly as we say." Friggin' awesome... And they're from Kal-Shirok! Alive and well...

 

Btw, is there any relation between our dwarva surname and the Cadash Thaig? Is it mentioned in-game anywhere?

[DalishRanger]

Just my take on it, but I don't think we have to assume illiteracy or come up with an "unusual circumstance," even for a surfacer street rat. How many letters do we find between Carta members, after all, and how many books are on shelves in Valammar? I think the Carta might value it highly, in fact, and insist most people learn to read at least a little. Writing, however, might be much rarer (the two are not always taught together, and paper and ink can be expensive.)

 

I'm in the camp of "reading/writing are helpful, if not key, skills in smuggling and running crime rings" so I figure it's likely Cadash knew how to at least read long before joining the Inquisition. Brosca may be more up in the air but it still seems plausible. Dorn can read and write just fine for letters and managing Inquisition tasks, and he's probably read a book or two in his time, though not quite to the degree a proper bookworm would.

 

Also, I uploaded a sped up version (x1000 actual speed) of my drawing stream of Dorn and Cass from earlier for anyone who wants to check it out. Sped up, it's about 10 minutes long (actual drawing time just under 2 hours). Apologies for the blurriness; my recorder put it into a more compressed file that ended up more compressed after I edited the speed. Ah well.

 

Spoiler

[Tishina]

Still slogging through the last of the War Room missions post-"Abyss," came across the one where the Kal-Shirok dwarves tip you off to the Venatori in the Deep Roads near them. I love the first sentence of the letter they send:'

 

 

 

 

And that's the way they start off greeting the Inquisition... After all the hours of drama and closing rifts and paving relations between the Inquisition and everywhere- all primarily on the surface- it just comes across so strikingly funny an attitude- lends further declarativeness to the fact that dwarves gots their own thing, surfacers be damned. "But, hey, if ya wanna get these Magister nug-lickers here in our midst, be our guest... so long as you do exactly as we say." Friggin' awesome... And they're from Kal-Shirok! Alive and well...

 

Btw, is there any relation between our dwarva surname and the Cadash Thaig? Is it mentioned in-game anywhere?

The Cadash family (I believe of Cadash Thaig, someone correct me if I'm wrong?) were exiled to the surface for pushing the Shaperate too hard for an explanation of Shayle/Shale Cadash's fate (You have to play the Stone Prisoner DLC in DAO to get Shale as a companion.) So yes, our DAI Cadash IQs are related to Shale, and I believe Cadash Thaig was once their home.

[Wintersonne123]

One thing I didn't mention- thought of afterwards- was that Bianca was probably going to get a free pass from me regardless just because she's a dwarf. If Mr. ENCHANTMENT weren't a dwarf... *grumble* At the very least DAI's dwarves have more or less distanced themselves from the "dwarf as comic relief" theme (like grumbly Gimli in the LotR movies or Sandal and arguably Oghren in DA).

 

Oh yeah, that's definitely true. Bartrand, Bianca, Varric, at least they all have fairly serious adult human troubles. Oghren was okay in the Orzammar mission - I hoped he was really a bit of a subversion, because yeah he was drunk and rude, but other nobles shunned him for it and he seemed to have this deep-seated depression about Branka that was the root of his troubles. But in Awakenings at the latest, they just went full-out comic relief with him. I mean, it was fun at times, it just... yeah, it had that Gimli vibe.

 

What makes me like Sandal is that I see him as my best chance to get some dwarfy magic back into the series. It would be really cool if the Titans unlocked some special powers in the dwarves, maybe not exactly like surface magic, but something like that. I realise that probably won't happen since coding a whole different three or four dwarf magic trees would be a bit much, but maybe some sort race-locked specialisation?

 

 

 

Btw, is there any relation between our dwarva surname and the Cadash Thaig? Is it mentioned in-game anywhere?

I'm fairly sure it used to belong to them, long ago, since the Cadashs' got kicked out quite a while ago. They were a warrior caste, right? And that thaig is above Cad'halash where they gave shelter to elves before the Kal-Sharok dwarves killed them. Cad'halash also features in the Forgotten Wars Codex entries from Descent. Quite the hub of history.

 

Concerning reading and writing, I actually have a Cadash who I wouldn't say knows how to do these things, since he was always more on the hitting-things side of the smuggler busisness. For him, Josephine will just have to read out those War Table missions and whenever he finds some scribble or note, he just passes it on to the person standing behind him.

[TEWR]

So this thread got me thinking about literacy and dwarven education in general.

For my DC, I figured Rica taught him to read after she became a noble hunter and had to get all ~cultured~. What sort of languages do you suppose dwarven nobles learn? Just Trade and snippets of ancient Dwarven? Seems like there's enough bias against other races that learning a foreign language is probably considered... at best unnecessary, at worst a total waste of time. But it's a thought.

How much do you think the lower castes are taught? Is a launderer expected to read? How much emphasis does Orzammar place on education?

I figure surface dwarf culture just sort of goes with the flow of wherever they live.

 

I don't think Beraht would've taken kindly to Brosca knowing how to read, as he looked at Brosca and Leske as enforcers only. Leske even tells us that if you're too good, you're a threat, and if you're too shitty, you're a liability. Being able to read, being even a little bit educated, would constitute a threat for both of them.

 

Of course, Mama Brosca knew how to write, so assuming she didn't become a depressed drunk straight away after her kid was born, she may have taught Brosca a few things. 

 

Far as I can recall, the Origin story didn't involve anything that would need to be read, so it can go either way. I'm not saying it's not possible or that anyone's HC is wrong, as the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but just that given who Beraht was... he might not have wanted or supported anyone but Rica being given an education.

 

Just my take. Cadash on the other hand, being a smuggler/guard, would need to know how to write/read.

[Bhryaen]

Just watched this video on the origin of lyrium/Titans/dwarfdom connection and am a bit floored... Gotta wonder if Gaider had all this cooked up (or at least the outline) prior to starting work on DAO or if, say, the Titan theme was created only as DAI was being thought out, reflecting on their previous lore and extrapolating. Either way, they've done an excellent job of making it look like it's all been one story fully integral from the start. I sure hope the post-Gaider DA lore will stay this awesome... Varric: "Have you ever noticed that for a people with no mages, dwarves use an awful lot of magic?"

 

What makes me like Sandal is that I see him as my best chance to get some dwarfy magic back into the series. It would be really cool if the Titans unlocked some special powers in the dwarves, maybe not exactly like surface magic, but something like that. I realise that probably won't happen since coding a whole different three or four dwarf magic trees would be a bit much, but maybe some sort race-locked specialisation?

I wish they'd have followed up with some of the seeming quest hints that were coming from Sandal in DA2, at least when he becomes a resident in the Hawke mansion. He was saying something about being watched- gah, can't recall- but then nothing came of it. But, yeah, bring on dwarf magic! The lore could easily lead there at this point. Shale had some special powers that weren't as involved as the multi-trees. Maybe a dwarven Stone Mage could have something like that. Not sure how they could work it into a class, but they might make it a dwarf-centric specialization that unlocks for any dwarf that completes a particular quest in the right way- sort of like the unlocking of the Arcane Warrior in DAO. Then you can decide if you want to develop it or use a warrior/rogue specializtion. That way it wouldn't seem gimmicky and would grant magic without contradicting lore that has insisted for three games that dwarves can't magic. After all, dwarves are only 25% magic-resistant. They've still got 75% to account for... Duster golem power ftw!

 

OK, so our Cadash IQs are likely from the Cadash Thaig diaspora. I think I'll have my Cadash's be the children of one of those who sought refuge in Orzammar and became casteless due to having been on the surface. So glad I waited on my dwarf so I can get a better handle on an origin head-canon... But I take it that there's no mention during DAI anywhere anything about the Cadash Thaig or anything? *grumble* gimme back origins *grumble*

 

So much more clarification just using the DAWiki for lore questions. On the Cadash Thaig:

 

Cadash was built upon an ancient settlement called Cad'halash. That settlement was destroyed by Kal-Sharok dwarves when they discovered that it gave shelter to elves fleeing the destruction of Arlathan, as they wanted to cover all evidence of it so as not to jeopardize their alliance with the Tevinter Imperium.

The thaig was rebuilt and repopulated, and named Cadash. A huge stone statue was erected on the highest hill to honor those who had sacrificed their lives to become golems.

 

Maybe finishing DAI with a dwarf first would be better... and then go back to DAO with all the new lore to consider the old material in a new light. I got through Amgarrak on nightmare and remember diddly about the lore. That video was showing those massive hand sculptures holding up stone that you find in Caridin's chamber, and I was like, "Nooo..... Was that representing-? Nooo....."

[TobiTobsen]

Something crossed my mind. Excuse me if my writing is all over the place, I'm writing this down as I carry on the line of thought further.

 

We know that Kal-Sharok dwarves have some connection to the Blight. They are always hooded, the orlesian merchant that met one of them thought that "their isolation is not because of fear, and certainly not disinterest." (maybe self-quarantine?) and he immediately made a connection with Grey Wardens and Darkspawn when he got a look at the face of the dwarf.

 

Kal-Sharok is blighted. A rather cut and dried explanation, right?

 

But after seeing the Sha-Brytol

 

Spoiler

 

I'm asking myself: Is it really that simple? If Kal-Sharok is blighted: Why aren't they dead yet? Or ghouls? And if you look at the faces of the Sha-Brytol: Don't they look a bit darkspawn-y?

 

The blood of the Titans, Lyrium, "created" the Sha-Brytol and we know that Red Lyrium, the seemingly corrupted version, is having a rather shitty effect on anybody that gets affected by it.

 

So I took a look at the Red Templars:

 

Spoiler

 

The archer; his face looks pretty close to what we've seen as early stages of ghoulification, doesn't it? And the knight looks pretty close to a Hurlock in Templar armor, if you ask me.

 

The archdemons are sleeping somewhere in or beneath the Deep Roads. The Darkspawn came from the Deep Roads. We now know that the Titans are somewhere beneath the Deep Roads.

Lyrium/Titans sing to the dwarves. The archdemon sings to the darkspawn. Red Lyrium victims hear a "song". Red Lyrium spreads like the blighted lands and was "first" found in some ancient dwarven Thaig. 

 

That leads me back to my initial point: Maybe Kal-Sharok is a step further than Orzammar and Shaper Valta. Maybe they already found or know of Titans? Maybe even the origin of the Red Lyrium and/or the Blight? Maybe red lyrium and the blight have some Titan as their source? Maybe one that was affected differently by Solas creation of the veil and corrupted his dwarf immune system?

 

 

I'm just rambling at this point and maybe I need to put on my tinfoil hat and step away, but the closer I look the more connections I see.

[themageguy]

A bit of a spoiler from the Dragon Comics

Spoiler

Anyone else notice that as Varric walked in the Fade flowers/plant life, arose from the ground. I wonder if this has any particular relevance now that we know more of the nature of the dwarves.

[Vaseldwa]

Hey all, I stared a new FF. I am going through all DA games plus all story based DLC content. Starting off with The Warden, Orza Brosca! Hope those that view it will enjoy   

 

http://forum.bioware...-da-trilogy-ff/ 

[draken-heart]

I have some sad news for dwarf fans. After debating it over a few hours of sleep, Duvessa was switched around with her sister Alva, who is a dwarf warrior (Duvessa is still around, just relegated to background now). Here is a picture and a bit of a backstory on Alva in the spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Alva and her sister, Duvessa "vessa" Cadash, grew up on the streets before their parents introduced them to the Carta. The sisters were polar opposites in how they handled situations. While Duvessa was a more cunning dwarf and utilized her wit and avoid being hit in a fight, Alva was the type to be in the thick of it, or the one slamming heads into a bar table. Alva loved working on caravan guard duty more often than not, since sometimes there was a fight involved. When the head of the clan (her father) needed someone to go to the Conclave, Alva went in her sister's stead. Alva was also a bit cunning, posing a mercenary looking for a job, and ended up teaming with a Qunari who was already hired to provide security, until she walked in on something she was not supposed to.

[vertigomez]

I don't think Beraht would've taken kindly to Brosca knowing how to read, as he looked at Brosca and Leske as enforcers only. Leske even tells us that if you're too good, you're a threat, and if you're too shitty, you're a liability. Being able to read, being even a little bit educated, would constitute a threat for both of them.
 
Of course, Mama Brosca knew how to write, so assuming she didn't become a depressed drunk straight away after her kid was born, she may have taught Brosca a few things. 
 
Far as I can recall, the Origin story didn't involve anything that would need to be read, so it can go either way. I'm not saying it's not possible or that anyone's HC is wrong, as the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but just that given who Beraht was... he might not have wanted or supported anyone but Rica being given an education.
 
Just my take. Cadash on the other hand, being a smuggler/guard, would need to know how to write/read.

To be fair, I always figured - if Rica did teach the DC - it was very much on the down low. I definitely agree that Beraht wouldn't want his thugs gettin' any highfalutin learnin' on his watch.