7969 réponses à ce sujet

[Bhryaen]

@draken-heart

Aww, what happened with Duvessa? Or is it more like what I go through, constantly conceiving new characters that can't be denied?

 

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'm sooo feeling this. I spent too much time yesterday looking through old DAO material reminiscing. Now I'm missing my salroka and feeling stone-blind. Thanks for that mention of WoT though. I had to google it- first came up with World of Tanks which- no- but now both volumes are in the mail!

 

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.

Yes! I kept hearing the Sha-Brytols make some "uneartly" growl during the combat, plus it almost seemed like they had luminescent eyes at times. I was wondering if they weren't so much ancient dwarves as just ancient dwarf-form monsters. At least that would assuage my repugnance at them failing to add any dialog interactions with them... sort of. It still felt awful having no option but to kill them- and so many of them... and then do Deep Roads missions that killed even more. I mean, I don't exactly want them to go extinct.

 

I don't know about them being darkspawn though because that location didn't have corrupted (red) lyrium. It was like a preciously rare "uncorrupted titan" site. I wonder if Caridin's old blue-lyrium territory is still blue given how much red lyrium has apparently jutted up to the surface all over southern Thedas. It can't all be people-turned-lyrium-crags. Or is it? I mean, it comes up in Hinterlands too. But about the Sha-Brytol, I think they're a different sort, though they weren't exactly presented as a blue-lyrium army we might be able to recruit against the red lyrium army. Lyrium-permeated folks don't seem to be so cordial regardless.

 

Didn't recall that about the corruption of the Kal-Shirok dwarva. The letters they send to the Inquisition don't sound like darkspawn though, and they even came to the surface to rescue dwarves that had been enslaved by the Venatori, so if they're corrupted, it would have to be a curious sort of corruption. Maybe something like the darkspawn we met outside Amaranthine? You definitely got me speculating too though!

 

Oh, and I want a suit  of that Sha-Brytol armor! We kill enough of them. At least let me rob one before they do the whole DAI green vapor disappearance act.

[draken-heart]

@draken-heart

Aww, what happened with Duvessa? Or is it more like what I go through, constantly conceiving new characters that can't be denied?

 

Kind of like you, also with a mix of  Alva wouldn't have let the crew send her sister (who is a tinkerer) to the conclave, and so Volunteered instead, explaining the switch.

[TobiTobsen]

Yes! I kept hearing the Sha-Brytols make some "uneartly" growl during the combat, plus it almost seemed like they had luminescent eyes at times. I was wondering if they weren't so much ancient dwarves as just ancient dwarf-form monsters. At least that would assuage my repugnance at them failing to add any dialog interactions with them... sort of. It still felt awful having no option but to kill them- and so many of them... and then do Deep Roads missions that killed even more. I mean, I don't exactly want them to go extinct.

 

I don't know about them being darkspawn though because that location didn't have corrupted (red) lyrium. It was like a preciously rare "uncorrupted titan" site. I wonder if Caridin's old blue-lyrium territory is still blue given how much red lyrium has apparently jutted up to the surface all over southern Thedas. It can't all be people-turned-lyrium-crags. Or is it? I mean, it comes up in Hinterlands too. But about the Sha-Brytol, I think they're a different sort, though they weren't exactly presented as a blue-lyrium army we might be able to recruit against the red lyrium army. Lyrium-permeated folks don't seem to be so cordial regardless.

 

Didn't recall that about the corruption of the Kal-Shirok dwarva. The letters they send to the Inquisition don't sound like darkspawn though, and they even came to the surface to rescue dwarves that had been enslaved by the Venatori, so if they're corrupted, it would have to be a curious sort of corruption. Maybe something like the darkspawn we met outside Amaranthine? You definitely got me speculating too though!

 

Oh, and I want a suit  of that Sha-Brytol armor! We kill enough of them. At least let me rob one before they do the whole DAI green vapor disappearance act.

 

1) I don't think they're darkspawn either. I thought more along the lines of a connection between the effect of the Blight and lyrium ingestion. Blue Lyrium made the Sha-Brytol into mindless, blue lyrium-eyed zombies; the red lyrium transforms the templars into red crystal sprouting brutes, but both groups also show physical transformations and features that remind me of their corresponding darkspawn breed. In both cases Lyrium shows similar and rather nasty side effects that are eerily similar to the effect of the blight.

 

2) Regarding Kal-Sharok. This codex entry was the one i spoke of:

 

 

 

Trading With Kal-Sharok

My approach was carefully observed. This was not a thaig unused to watching its boundaries. I got the impression that if I'd been one of his Orzammar cousins, our meeting would've been swift and bloody. That is, if I'd been allowed to find the passage at all. As it was, he was polite and efficient, and he knew well the current market for everything he offered. Clearly their isolation is not because of fear, and certainly not disinterest. Among his wares, I saw the latest fabrics of Val Royeaux and volumes by a Free Marcher poet three centuries dead. This only added to my doubt of the official year of Kal-Sharok's "rediscovery" as declared by the Assembly of Orzammar. I didn't mention this to my host. As curious as I was, there was an undercurrent I found unsettling. I must stress that he and his helpers were professional and honest throughout. But there was something I can't describe. While he remained hooded the entire time, he looked me square in the eye when our deal was struck, unashamed.
I lived through a time of Blights. I've felt the gaze of a Grey Warden and seen the corruption of his prey. Why I remembered both in that moment, I still can't explain.

 

That codex, combined with this after action report:

 

 

 

    A report has arrived from the site of the suspected Venatori enclave. It is nonsensical given accepted historical record:

    Located Venatori enclave. Fires on approach; assumed they torched their camp while retreating. Not the case. Camp already destroyed, Venatori dead. Dwarven tools found, but no dwarves, alive or dead. One deepstalker corpse found, signs of blight corruption. Best guess, Venatori surprised by forces emerging from the camp well. Assume they left the same way. Well collapsed, no passage possible. Enclave scoured for resources for return to Skyhold.

    On return to Inquisition camp, message found next to a newly opened sinkhole:

    'We always come for our own. What about you, Inquisition?'

    Binthus Warhelm Kal-Sharok

 

My warden sense is tingling. Wherever Kal Sharok dwarves show up there are either people immediately thinking about Wardens and Darkspawn or blight corruption is found. Based on my theory that titan blood aka lyrium and the Blight are connected it leads me to the suspicion that Kal-Sharok could've unearthed a titan.

 

3) Haven't you found the armor and the schematics yet? There is one Sha-Brytol armor set for each class in the Deep Roads and schematics for nearly all the equipment they are using.

[90s Kai]

I think someone a few pages ago wanted to hear the American voice actress on the angry choice on Trespasser. Well here you go!

 

Spoiler

[Bhryaen]

@TobyTobsen

 

This is so cool. OK...

 

1.) That certainly sounds right, though I was unclear by Valta's words if they were blue-lyrium-affected dwarves or just blue-lyrium manifestations of the Titan. Wearing actual armor though makes it seem more like the former. The lyrium-addled merchant in Orzammar didn't say anything about hearing the "song" or anything. Still... it would make sense. The red-lyrium-affected actually ultimately become the lyrium though, so either blue lyrium doesn't have the same effect of changing life forms into itself or the Sha-Brytol aren't exactly the same sort of life forms as regular dwarva. There was a good post in the comment section of that video I mentioned comparing blue and red lyrium to Star Wars' Force and Dark Side, so I'm wanting to believe the uncorrupted Titans aren't into turning people into drones, especially since the Sha-Brytol seem like just guardians rather than mindless zombies. But there's no reason Titans of any sort are all that partial to anything, and if they're actually dead it would explain the mindlessness. Lyrium is supposed to be living though, so I'm not sure how that would work.

 

Duh. Check the DAWiki, Bhryaen:

 

According to Valta, they are lost and misguided from their original purpose. They were all Dwarves who drank Titan's blood - lyrium, and wear armor with lyrium woven into it (this causes it to fuse to their flesh). They guard the titans from those they deem "impure".

Doesn't mention a source... Maybe the "original purpose" was when the Titan was managing them, but now that it's "dead..." Dagna said she felt like she was part of a sort of hive mind, so maybe the Titan used to be a unifying force for that collective consciousness. Then they add later:

 

After Valta gains her connection to titan the Sha-Brytol become very wary of her. Knowing she is connected to the titan and the power it grants her, the Sha-Brytol attempt to offer her a suit of their traditional armor which she refuses. They watch her and flee from her when she investigates their tower. Valta notes that they both love and fear her due to her new powers.

When was this? Trespasser? I may have underestimated how much I miss on a first playthrough. New powers, eh? Even the sort to scatter the Sha-Brytol. Do I detect a hint at dwarfy magic???

 

2.) I did wonder at that "signs of blight corruption" line. Like, what kind of signs? What made them seem "blight corruption"ish? Were there scortched footprints? That's some serious Blight-radiation if they were only there long enough to kill the Venatori and pull their kin out. Even darkspawn don't leave those sorts of effects. There's a passage in the DAWiki for Kal-Shirok (love that name) that backs you up further:

 

It has also been intimated that Kal-Sharok's isolation and perhaps their interaction with the darkspawn during this time may have changed them in some unknown way. Descriptions of Kal-Sharok dwarves depict them as physically different than their fellow Orzammar dwarves. They are described as being pale, and possibly "tainted" in a way that is hard to define.

The source for those assertions are WoT (which I don't have yet) and the DA table-top game (which I'll never have), so I can't asses it further. They don't mention those passages from DAI, but they do support the idea. One other thing that's notable is their destruction of Cadash Thaig. They did it for Tevinters- willing to go as far as murdering their own just to preserve whatever connection they had to the Vints. Then we get the letter about Venatori near them. Why would Vints be near them? They can obviously collapse tunnels to destroy intruders. The whole mission seems like a "we can't kill them ourselves, but if you do it, we can save our political ties and claim innocence" situation. If they still have a Vint connection, maybe it's Vint magic that's been staving off their corruption. After all, Alexius kept his son alive for at least a year before Leliana executes him. Kal-Shirok has been hanging on for much longer than a year, of course, but maybe the blight hasn't gotten to them to the same degree as Alexius' son who got blood on him.

 

"My warden sense is tingling."

 

3.) Is that in Trespasser or Descent? I thought I was pretty thorough scouring Descent, and I only seem to have a (non-masterwork) suit of Legion of the Dead armor.

[Tishina]

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.

Oh, there's definitely no problem if someone wants to play their Brosca or Cadash as illiterate, I just said "I don't think we have to assume illiteracy or come up with an "unusual circumstance," even for a surfacer street rat." A Brosca isn't born into the Carta, you're working off your mother's debts, so he wouldn't have any control over what you learned prior to that. You might find it expedient to conceal the fact you can read if he frowns on it (I don't know that we have evidence that he'd considered literacy threatening, I suspect it might be completely irrelevant in his mind.) I think illiterate is at least as likely as literacy (especially if your Carta dwarf isn't ambitious.) I just don't think making our Brosca or Cadash literate requires inserting some remarkable circumstance in the backstory, especially since minimal literacy makes it easier to transmit orders within a gang that's supposed to be hidden.

[Gilsa]

 

3.) Is that in Trespasser or Descent? I thought I was pretty thorough scouring Descent, and I only seem to have a (non-masterwork) suit of Legion of the Dead armor.

 

Here's a list of schematics that drop in Descent: http://dragonage.wik...s_(The_Descent)

 

Maybe you just didn't notice that you acquired the schematics automatically because after the boss fight, it goes straight to a cut scene of rushing to Valta's side instead of taking the time to loot anything.

[TobiTobsen]

@Bhryaen

 

1) I think that red lyrium is certainly more aggressiv than it's blue counterpart, probably due to it's corruption.

 

I don't think the Titans are dead. At least not all of them. There is this interesting snippet written on red lyrium in the Fade realm of Nightmare:

 

    We are here
    We have waited
    We have slept
    We are sundered
    We are crippled
    We are polluted
    We endure
    We wait
    We have found the dreams again
    We will awaken

 

"We have found the dreams again" - Certainly sounds like the dwarven condition of not dreaming and that it's caused by their disconnect from the Titans.

 

"We are crippled" - Thanks to their fight against the Evanuris and their elvhen minions and/or Solas creating the veil?

 

"We are polluted" - Red Lyrium?

 

"We will awaken" - That Titan in Descent certainly is awake. Valta confirms that.

 

Not sure where the second of your quotes is coming from, though. The last time I heard from Valta was after the Descent when the Inquisition scouts tell you that Valta is gone, along with Renn's body and the entrance to the "heart chamber" of the Titan.

 

And Valta certainly used something that looked very much like magic, when she pushed the Inquisitor to the floor after the Guardian fight. Some kind of blue force wave.

 

2) I think the "blight corruption" part refers to the deepstalker. They probably used it as some kind of attack dog, or something. The exposure to the Kal Sharok dwarves would then explain the corruption. Sounds a bit like what happens with the Darkspawn Messenger, when you let him go in Awakening. Wherever he goes, incidents of the taint occur.

 

3) In addition to the schematic locations Gilsa mentioned you can find the unique armors at the following places, if my memory is correct:

 

Revered Defender armor - Heavy: Complete the Deep Roads Expeditions: Buried Sea Bridge operation and you will find it one the island at the end of the newly build bridge.

 

Stone Stalker armor - Medium: Should be in a chest shortly before the last Inquisition camp in the Bastion of the Pure.

 

Vestments of the Pure - Light: Looted from the Arcane Horror at the ritual site in the Bastion of the Pure.

[Cespar]

I think someone a few pages ago wanted to hear the American voice actress on the angry choice on Trespasser. Well here you go!

 

Spoiler

Whoa! She's kind of lacking here. Jon Curry and Alix Wilton Regan were more powerful during that scene. At least for me they were.

[Bhryaen]

Here's a list of schematics that drop in Descent: http://dragonage.wik...s_(The_Descent)

 

Maybe you just didn't notice that you acquired the schematics automatically because after the boss fight, it goes straight to a cut scene of rushing to Valta's side instead of taking the time to loot anything.

Great, thanks. Got 'em! I was thrown by the schematic names: I was looking for "Sha-Brytol" in the title. Looks a lot different on a human, want to see it on my Blunchard...

 

 

Funny... didn't require lyrium to make it.

 

EDIT:

Ah, that's what's different. The one we see in Descent is jet black with golden runes. The crafted version is more uniform in color, and as usual jet black isn't available... even if we still get all the nice dwarfy (Aztecky) patterns in it. Unless I just didn't use the right materials... Hm... *borrows TobyTobsen's pic for comparison*

 

[TobiTobsen]

The armor you can loot is pretty susceptible for every little change in lightning. In full sun you can't see anything because it's reflecting the light like a mirror, under "normal" lighting conditions it looks greenish or brown, like on your Blackwall, and in dark conditions it looks pretty much like on the Sha-Brytol. The schematics will have the additional quirk of the different metal colors.

 

A bit like those car paints that change color in different light. Not sure if it's working as intended or the usual BioWare problem with everything looking metallic and shiny, wanted or not.

[Bhryaen]

@TobyTobsen

 

Yes, I agree: it does seem like the Titans can't all be dead. The way Solas spoke once though sounded like they were, dwarves now severed from their "Locus" but unable to even remember it. But those earthquakes didn't seem to be coming from a dead Titan turning in its grave. Did they ever explain that? At the end of Descent that was my primary concern, but then I saw I got the "Stopped the Earthquakes" achievement. What was even happening? Why was it causing earthquakes in the first place? Is it getting restless due to widespread corruption? No explanation. Beating up its guardian couldn't be what eased its mind. Or it only stopped shaking the earth because Valta came to visit and pull a thorn from its foot? It had plenty of dwarves already there obviously not lacking in Stone Sense, having never been near the surface in centuries. Was it just lonely for a non-lyrium-addled dwarf? I can empathize. Or is there something about Valta that made it a special visit- like due to her Shaper knowledge or something? If she picked up special powers, why? Tell me! Tell me! haha

 

That would be a sea change though if Titans were to awaken- or fully awaken. In Legacy the Spawnies were hearing Cory before he was fully up and at 'em. Dreaming dwarva would require some heavy storytelling regarding the effect on Orzammar and a dwarven protagonist as well as the Fade. It could also be the lead-in for dwarfy magic. *casts Blue Blast spell*

 

Good call on the Darkspawn Messenger. That did happen, didn't it...

 

Regarding the tezpadam I thought it just meant the Kal-Shirok raiders brought lunch.   

[Bhryaen]

I see what you mean. These were all taken in the same ruins in different spots with different lighting. In one it did seem jet black, though the golden edges to the symbols still didn't happen. Close though.

 

 

It'll still look better on a dwarf.

[TEWR]

 

 

 Maybe red lyrium and the blight have some Titan as their source?

 

If I had more time I'd go into the theories I've been spewing that basically go into how I believe the Blight originated in or through the PT and there is a Blighted Titan out there somewhere, given that the lyrium all throughout the thaig is red.

 

Suffice to say your thoughts line up with my old posts

 

 

 

What was even happening? Why was it causing earthquakes in the first place?

 

The Breach woke it up and scared the hell out of it, so the earthquakes were the result of its fear.

[wicked cool]

Going through this thread and orhers ive cone across a dwarf named fjalar Im trying to recreate some basic facial structure, face shape choice, eyes, lips for him. Any thoughts. Google has several images for him

[Tishina]

Going through this thread and orhers ive cone across a dwarf named fjalar Im trying to recreate some basic facial structure, face shape choice, eyes, lips for him. Any thoughts. Google has several images for him

Merela? I think he's talking about your Fjalar...

[Merela]

Merela? I think he's talking about your Fjalar...

 

Going through this thread and orhers ive cone across a dwarf named fjalar Im trying to recreate some basic facial structure, face shape choice, eyes, lips for him. Any thoughts. Google has several images for him

 

I did a quick research on Google - it's my nerd indeed (Father forgive me for I have sinned when I posted screenshots from my PC playthrough, my retinas are burning now). And I have to admit being a bit torn here: I'm very flattered that you're trying to recreate at least some part of Fjalar, Wicked Cool, but on the other hand, he's my character - there is a reason why I've never uploaded his face sliders on a site like Reddit. So here's the thing: as you requested, I've uploaded the basic informations on the shapes for the face, eyes, lips and nose (and also for the make-up - or rather the lack of make-up) I used. However, and I hope you will understand, I will not provide the specific sliders for each.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

[wicked cool]

Thank you so much

[Bhryaen]

For those who haven't seen this vertigomez's thread on the forum yet, you'll probably get a kick out of it, particularly if you just read the title first...

[Bhryaen]

If I had more time I'd go into the theories I've been spewing that basically go into how I believe the Blight originated in or through the PT and there is a Blighted Titan out there somewhere, given that the lyrium all throughout the thaig is red.

 

Suffice to say your thoughts line up with my old posts

 

(on Descent)

The Breach woke it up and scared the hell out of it, so the earthquakes were the result of its fear.

I'm probably showing my ignorance, but what is PT?

 

A scared, woken-up Titan that's quaking beneath the ground may be the storyline, but... really? A Titan is scared? And its response is to make earthquakes? I mean, if my Inky responds to Cassandra at the beginning of the game with, "OK, I'll do whatever I can," my Inky is then more brave than a Titan? This is a Titan after all, not a random villager or an infant. And if it's scared, why earthquakes? Shuddering in terror? Scared folks tend to hide in a corner so as to not be noticed. At least let the earthquakes be doing something to assuage its fear- like collapsing red lyrium mines or disturbing the Conclave site. If it didn't like the blue lyrium mines digging into its veins, it's odd to be going after those instead- unless it's trying to destroy access to its hiding place, in which case it's not particularly good at it, given how many ladders, passages, and lifts remained intact getting down there. And it's supposed to know the landscape of the Stone, no? Actually once I learned lyrium was alive and was coming from the Titan I started feeling bad about the mines or letting the Inquisition establish new ones in that section of the Deep Roads, but the Titan doesn't seem to mind- sort of like the Giving Tree (a very bittersweet story that obviously had enough of an impact on me as a kid that I still feel sad about it to this day). Unless lyrium veins are more like the result of the Titan than a part of the Titan itself- making the stone come alive rather than being attached to some titanic creature. Lyrium is not exactly a resource like oil which is the result of living things that are long since dead and compressed. Lyrium isn't just organic- it's alive.

 

And then it stopped quaking... no longer afraid? getting a grip on itself? And because of Valta? She's just that good of a mother? What up wit dat? As I mentioned, it's not as if the Titan didn't have dwarves with Stone Sense around it all the time. What was so special about Valta (other than that I like the character)? Did she tell it about Orzammar being alive and well, and it made it feel better to know that its original creations were still making their way in the world? How does that in any way make the Breach less scary? If it had had a talk with my Inky during which it learned that I could close portals and was doing all I could to fix the problem, OK, maybe. But it only spoke with Valta who knew little of surface matters otherwise. Maybe Valta just made the Inquisition's case for me very well anyway and convinced it to just wait. Or something.

 

Not saying any of the storyline is necessarily unreasonable, but it's hard to get a grasp on. It would be more palatable to believe the earthquakes were the result of its reawakening- shifting about as it acclimates to the world it has been slumbering in for so long despite the changes. (Though 1000yrs or so is barely a blip on a planet that's been around for millions of yrs, like our Earth. But I digress...) As it is, I'm forced to adjust my opinion of the Titans as fearless godlike beings that could level Val Royeux with a few stomps. Maybe Titans are more like giant buffalo that the ancient elves used to hunt, almost to extinction, or like rainforests in the modern world, and the one we find is one that had burrowed to a place the elves couldn't find it, buried deep within the earth that it had helped shape. But if Valta is speaking to it despite all its feral tendencies, it reminds me of the moment in JoH I got to put a bear on trial. I mean, we talk to our pets as well- like the way people speak to horses to calm them, but still... Titans are people too! And apparently they're good singers if you can hear them. But so are birds, I suppose. The thing that could throw this idea off for me is that plaque in the Western Approach that seemed to be referring to a Titan- an immense creature wandering the desert in search of magic to eat that stumbled on some random explorer. That plaque made it seem like the creature could hold actual conversations, not a huge horse neighing. Might not have been a Titan though.

 

EDIT:

Titans do make for a cool creation myth though...

[TobiTobsen]

All I know is that we need a scene like the stone giant fight in the Hobbit between a red and a blue lyrium titan.

 

If that's not planned I'll simply make one up for my headcanon.

[vertigomez]

All I know is that we need a scene like the stone giant fight in the Hobbit between a red and a blue lyrium titan.
 
If that's not planned I'll simply make one up for my headcanon.

Like this?

Spoiler

[Merela]

I'm probably showing my ignorance, but what is PT?

 

Primeval Thaig, I think.

[Bhryaen]

Just watched a YT vid of the end of Descent (repeatedly)- and then replayed it- got new impressions (that I just gotta impart).

 

Not sure why I hadn't thought of it before, but one of my favorite episodes of "Star Trek: Next Gen" was the one where there was a powerful empath on board and they came across a huge creature wandering in space that the empath alone could communicate with. Ultimately the empath learns that the creature had been alone for eons, the last of its kind, and he can feel its desolation, so he beams inside it to discover it's actually a living spaceship that used to be piloted by some ancient empath race. The creature then starts trying to "tell" the empath everything that it had been experiencing for all those eons all at once, and the empath clutches his head shouting, "Too much! Stop!" or something. Innerestin parallel to the moment where Valta clutches her head and then blasts away the Inquisitor, shouting, "Too loud... the song... stop!" Starting to really like this Titan... In both cases the creature then calms, a symbiosis begins, and the empath/Valta decide to stay with the creature. If that's the sort of creature that the Titan is- albeit lingering in the deep rather than roaming interstellar space- and that's the sort of relationship Valta is engaged in with it, this could be very awesome.

 

Valta also says at the end that the rhythm had stopped but that the song remains the same (while the rhythmic heartbeat continues steadily in the background). Further into it she says that the earthquakes and everything were what had prompted her to go down there. So maybe it was just sending a homing beacon to the People of the Stone. Valta arrived, so mission complete. Still likes singing though. A creature after my own heart.

 

I also had missed the part when Valta was reading the wall memories and discovered the Sha-Brytol cut out their tongues. So, OK, I suppose that's why all they do is grunt and growl eerily and you can't ask them anything, monstrous or no. I hope there's a better reason for writing them that way than just saving on the voice acting budget or ensuring that Valta gets all the key reveal lines. At present it doesn't seem like being a Revered Defender is best served by lopping off one's tongue, the Silent Sisters notwithstanding. The "entombing" themselves in lyrium armor bit might work, but why would not being able to talk to each other or tell outsiders to scram assist them in protecting the Titan? And there's supposed to be a whole city down there- of tongueless warriors and rogues? That'd be a creepy place to grow up. And they say child circumcision is bad. Then the memory adds that they've been entrusted to guard the Titan until it "stirs." "Hey, uh, guys? The Titan stirred, right? I'd call earthquakes a 'stirring,' wouldn't you? Pretty solid interpretation of the Memories, if you ask me... So, uh... can we leave now?" Nahhh, they wouldn't say that... with their tongues cut off...

 

Another detail I missed was Valta's insisting the stone preceded the Titans- gave birth to them- so there goes my creation myth- or at least my earth-creation myth. When the huge lyrium veins are first seen and everyone reacts to it, they speculate about how it's remained intact despite the Sha-Brytol mining it for use in their armor, and Valta says, "Unless they found a way to harness it." We already know lyrium is alive- so it probably grows- but maybe there's something more to it? Like there's some sort of fertilizer or something? Like that huge underground sea. Then it would be more of a renewable resource, unlike oil, so I don't have to get all conservationist about it, other than establishing regulatory laws to prevent over-mining. I'll convince Bhelen to do it! Don't make me!

 

On dwarfy magic Valta insists her Blue Blast ability isn't a "spell." She is a warrior after all. She calls it an "accident." Oh, no, she di-int! Doesn't mean a DA4 protagonist couldn't acquire the same ability and more that maybe fully manifests later in the game when specializations occur, but unfortunately it only seems to be awarded to you if you have Stone Sense, so no surfacer would be able to gain it, and DA's stories mostly revolve around the surface. If we do acquire it in DA4, it would have to be in a special origin story for a dorf that's never become sun-touched. Maybe a "Pure Dwarf" origin!! What? It could work. A regular guard patrolling new lyrium mines deeper inside the Titan who gets separated from their band after a Sha-Brytol attack and stumbles like Bilbo into a chamber where you interact with the Titan and come away "different," as the Inky calls Valta. Then when you rejoin your band, everyone notices the difference and sends you to Orzammar to assess the situation, but the Shaperate still wants the matter kept mum, so they then exile you off to the surface to quiet the matter (or you fight your way out). Or the only way out of the chamber is a long climb to the surface. Well, I'd like it. I bet there'd be a spike in the number of players wanting to play dwarves too, particularly if the powers are pretty cool...

 

Valta: "Well, at least I don't need a reading lamp anymore..."

 

Valta: "Take that, you green hander! Feel the power of the Blue!"

Aedlea: "Oh, yeah? What's so special about a blue hand?"

Valta: "Well... well, for one, it's a primary color. Ha! Top that, secondary surfacer!"

Aedlea: "Oh, hush, or I'll cut out your tongue."

 

One last thought... poor Renn... cool character we were able to get to know. If I knew he were so expendable to the plot I'd have left him back at the initial camp. One-shotting one of my companions wouldn't have mattered since they always get up again after the fight's over.

[TobiTobsen]

One last thought... poor Renn... cool character we were able to get to know. If I knew he were so expendable to the plot I'd have left him back at the initial camp. One-shotting one of my companions wouldn't have mattered since they always get up again after the fight's over.

I'm pretty sure that we haven't seen the last of Renn. His body disappears with Valta and the "entrance" to the titan after all.