State of the Niamh
Dec. 17th, 2014 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrSo playing an ambitious, violent, snarky "screw the chantry" elf continues to be fun as I near the end of the game. Right now I am at level 17 and about 38 hrs playtime, things are definitely going faster than last time.
Spoiiiiilerrrr
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So Niamh was SO TOTALLY into the Temple of Mythal. ANCIENT ELVISH RUINS. ANCIENT ELVEN KNOWLEDGE. ANCIENT ELVEN ELVES. She looked into every nook and cranny with way more enthusiasm than Marijin (who felt really awkward about being on sacred ground) And she really enjoyed spiting Morrigan and taking the knowledge of the Well for herself, it was a perfect mixture of her elven pride and mistrust of mages.
Of course being reminded how totally magic focussed the ancient elves were makes that combination of traits a bit confronting. Niamh has always felt like modern elves should take the good stuff from the old days and concentrate on making a new better world instead of trying to recreate a dead one, but also had a deep seated romantic yearning for the old days anyway. The way the ancient elves don't see even the Dalish as "their people" toughened her resolve but also made her melancholy.
She was totally into being in the power of Mythal in theory, but at this point thinks of it more as having useful information and has mixed feelings about being in Mythal's power. She liked the elven gods as distant beings to pray to and give a centre to Dalish life, and had a sort of separation in her head between their benign sacred magic and the dangerous, petty magics of modern mages, with Keepers somewhere in the middle. Morrigan and Solas's convictions that the elven gods were just people was uncomfortable but also freeing. Having an elven god show up as an actual person, one who didn't seem to care very much about the elves at all, even more so. I think she may be heading towards secular humanism with a respect for religion as a thing that helps people get through things. She's even started to have some grudging affection for Andraste, partly because she really likes being seen as her herald, and partly because Andraste is exactly the kind of driven person Niamh wants to be. Minus the dying at the end. She still doesn't like the Chantry.
The Cullen romance continues to be cute, though the "he prays for you" scene was kind of surreal as a Dalish elf who not only worships the elvish gods but just met one (well, two, but she doesn't know that ;)). They did give you the chance to mention that and he said "well, my faith in the Maker helps me anyway" and I couldn't argue with that.
Niamh wasn't offended by Sera threatening to kill her after drinking from the Well of Sorrows, she's more weirded out that everyone else was so fine with it. Except Morrigan's petulant mutterings, heehee, and those went away once she realised that she'd barely avoided being in the power of her mother.
*thinks about what happened less recently*
OH YES. PUTTING AN ELF IN CHARGE OF ORLAIS :D :D
Felt a little bad for letting Celene die, but it was interesting to see what happened and having Bryala in charge totally made up for it. Ambitious elf lady bffs :D
I alwayyyysss bring Solas with me on anything elf related which is great, though some of the dialogue is clearly written from the assumption the Inquisitor isn't Dalish. He is such a jerk sometimes though. No regrets on dumping his supercillious ass. Only realised this time through that the ancient elves had exactly the same weird facial structure as him. I'd expect him to look like the original non-god Solas, who is apparently only a few hundred years old, but maybe he has adapted himself to look like his ancient elf self. Or Bioware didn't think that through
Blackwall's last quest just...didn't trigger. Not sure if it's a bug or the lack of my friendship meant he just let that dude die and will live a lie for the rest of his life. It's kind of weird knowing that Niamh will never know. I was also kind of looking forward to having her kill him >.>
Dorian's quest DID trigger, at last. Niamh didn't like him much at first, they had an unpleasant conversation about slavery early on which did not endear either of them to each other, but he has slowly grown on her. She didn't care enough to try and get him to reconcile with his father though, just said "he's a jerk, let's leave". She was pretty horrified on Dorian's behalf. Blood magic! On your own son!
I did Viviene's quest mainly because it was right next to a quarry I needed, but then the dragon I need to defeat (that Morrigan defeats for you if she drinks from the well STILL NO REGRETS) kicked my ass so I looked up that Knight Enchanter build everyone keeps going on about and it is pretty amazing. So now I have to have her in my party for tough fights even though Niamh doesn't like her much.
When not using Viviene to explode things with her lightsaber staff my usual party is Solas, Sera, and Iron Bull, eg team pointy ears. Nimah keeps hoping deep down that if she continues to bring Sera to elfy things she'll decide it's maybe not so bad after all. This has mainly resulted in a lot of Sera going "Ew demons ew magic ew rituals D: D:". At the same time Niamh kind of enjoys Sera taking Solas down a peg. Elvish culture is important, but only to the extent that it is helpful for elvish people, and Solas seems to have it backward. Iron Bull is just fun :)
Still not 100% sure Leliana was the right choice for Divine: yes, she wants to help the elves (and dwarves and qunari, who Niamh has some empathy for), but she's SO weak on mages. But it's set now. Got the "Viviene tries to angle for the job" conversation this time, lol no. Leliana and Cassandra were both understanding about my motivations, if unmoved, when Niamh said JUST TEAR IT DOWN.
So I think if Leliana does go ahead and make sure the circles don't reform Niamh is going to take her templars and form her own non denominational voluntary circles and templar order. Try to find a way to keep the powers without using lyrium (Alistair managed it. It's unclear about Cullen since he's more of a general now) Also encourage non-humans to join the order. Maybe have a mixed templar-and-mage police who worked to keep mages in line, helping with demonic possessions etc. And encourage non mages like Dagna who want to study in the circles with the mages. Mages need training, and the chance to be away from society when they're dangerous, but the us and vs them idea of mages as a Group Apart From Regular People seems to end in either Kirkwall or Tevinter. And if you can leave the circle, people will be more likely to send their mage children there.
Niamh wouldn't have liked this idea to start with, but until she left her clan all she knew of mages were Keepers (who had unfair political power, could be very dangerous, and were not remotely oppressed) and a vague idea of human mages being dangerous. Seeing the way mages get treated in Ferelden/Orlais was eye opening, and uncomfortably reminiscent of the treatment of elves. Also...she may have a long term plan of making the circles more compulsory once she can show Leliana and everyone else how nice they are now.
And the Inquisition is to be another inclusive, non denominational organisation, if she has any say in it. She's put Dalish insignia everywhere she can and recruited as many non Andrastians as possible.
Current plan: try defeating Mythal's dragon with Viviene, if that fails keep levelling up until I can do it. Then double check all my quests, talk to everyone one last time, and finish the game!
Aaaand that's all I can think of right now!
Spoiiiiilerrrr
ssss
sss
ss
s
So Niamh was SO TOTALLY into the Temple of Mythal. ANCIENT ELVISH RUINS. ANCIENT ELVEN KNOWLEDGE. ANCIENT ELVEN ELVES. She looked into every nook and cranny with way more enthusiasm than Marijin (who felt really awkward about being on sacred ground) And she really enjoyed spiting Morrigan and taking the knowledge of the Well for herself, it was a perfect mixture of her elven pride and mistrust of mages.
Of course being reminded how totally magic focussed the ancient elves were makes that combination of traits a bit confronting. Niamh has always felt like modern elves should take the good stuff from the old days and concentrate on making a new better world instead of trying to recreate a dead one, but also had a deep seated romantic yearning for the old days anyway. The way the ancient elves don't see even the Dalish as "their people" toughened her resolve but also made her melancholy.
She was totally into being in the power of Mythal in theory, but at this point thinks of it more as having useful information and has mixed feelings about being in Mythal's power. She liked the elven gods as distant beings to pray to and give a centre to Dalish life, and had a sort of separation in her head between their benign sacred magic and the dangerous, petty magics of modern mages, with Keepers somewhere in the middle. Morrigan and Solas's convictions that the elven gods were just people was uncomfortable but also freeing. Having an elven god show up as an actual person, one who didn't seem to care very much about the elves at all, even more so. I think she may be heading towards secular humanism with a respect for religion as a thing that helps people get through things. She's even started to have some grudging affection for Andraste, partly because she really likes being seen as her herald, and partly because Andraste is exactly the kind of driven person Niamh wants to be. Minus the dying at the end. She still doesn't like the Chantry.
The Cullen romance continues to be cute, though the "he prays for you" scene was kind of surreal as a Dalish elf who not only worships the elvish gods but just met one (well, two, but she doesn't know that ;)). They did give you the chance to mention that and he said "well, my faith in the Maker helps me anyway" and I couldn't argue with that.
Niamh wasn't offended by Sera threatening to kill her after drinking from the Well of Sorrows, she's more weirded out that everyone else was so fine with it. Except Morrigan's petulant mutterings, heehee, and those went away once she realised that she'd barely avoided being in the power of her mother.
*thinks about what happened less recently*
OH YES. PUTTING AN ELF IN CHARGE OF ORLAIS :D :D
Felt a little bad for letting Celene die, but it was interesting to see what happened and having Bryala in charge totally made up for it. Ambitious elf lady bffs :D
I alwayyyysss bring Solas with me on anything elf related which is great, though some of the dialogue is clearly written from the assumption the Inquisitor isn't Dalish. He is such a jerk sometimes though. No regrets on dumping his supercillious ass. Only realised this time through that the ancient elves had exactly the same weird facial structure as him. I'd expect him to look like the original non-god Solas, who is apparently only a few hundred years old, but maybe he has adapted himself to look like his ancient elf self. Or Bioware didn't think that through
Blackwall's last quest just...didn't trigger. Not sure if it's a bug or the lack of my friendship meant he just let that dude die and will live a lie for the rest of his life. It's kind of weird knowing that Niamh will never know. I was also kind of looking forward to having her kill him >.>
Dorian's quest DID trigger, at last. Niamh didn't like him much at first, they had an unpleasant conversation about slavery early on which did not endear either of them to each other, but he has slowly grown on her. She didn't care enough to try and get him to reconcile with his father though, just said "he's a jerk, let's leave". She was pretty horrified on Dorian's behalf. Blood magic! On your own son!
I did Viviene's quest mainly because it was right next to a quarry I needed, but then the dragon I need to defeat (that Morrigan defeats for you if she drinks from the well STILL NO REGRETS) kicked my ass so I looked up that Knight Enchanter build everyone keeps going on about and it is pretty amazing. So now I have to have her in my party for tough fights even though Niamh doesn't like her much.
When not using Viviene to explode things with her lightsaber staff my usual party is Solas, Sera, and Iron Bull, eg team pointy ears. Nimah keeps hoping deep down that if she continues to bring Sera to elfy things she'll decide it's maybe not so bad after all. This has mainly resulted in a lot of Sera going "Ew demons ew magic ew rituals D: D:". At the same time Niamh kind of enjoys Sera taking Solas down a peg. Elvish culture is important, but only to the extent that it is helpful for elvish people, and Solas seems to have it backward. Iron Bull is just fun :)
Still not 100% sure Leliana was the right choice for Divine: yes, she wants to help the elves (and dwarves and qunari, who Niamh has some empathy for), but she's SO weak on mages. But it's set now. Got the "Viviene tries to angle for the job" conversation this time, lol no. Leliana and Cassandra were both understanding about my motivations, if unmoved, when Niamh said JUST TEAR IT DOWN.
So I think if Leliana does go ahead and make sure the circles don't reform Niamh is going to take her templars and form her own non denominational voluntary circles and templar order. Try to find a way to keep the powers without using lyrium (Alistair managed it. It's unclear about Cullen since he's more of a general now) Also encourage non-humans to join the order. Maybe have a mixed templar-and-mage police who worked to keep mages in line, helping with demonic possessions etc. And encourage non mages like Dagna who want to study in the circles with the mages. Mages need training, and the chance to be away from society when they're dangerous, but the us and vs them idea of mages as a Group Apart From Regular People seems to end in either Kirkwall or Tevinter. And if you can leave the circle, people will be more likely to send their mage children there.
Niamh wouldn't have liked this idea to start with, but until she left her clan all she knew of mages were Keepers (who had unfair political power, could be very dangerous, and were not remotely oppressed) and a vague idea of human mages being dangerous. Seeing the way mages get treated in Ferelden/Orlais was eye opening, and uncomfortably reminiscent of the treatment of elves. Also...she may have a long term plan of making the circles more compulsory once she can show Leliana and everyone else how nice they are now.
And the Inquisition is to be another inclusive, non denominational organisation, if she has any say in it. She's put Dalish insignia everywhere she can and recruited as many non Andrastians as possible.
Current plan: try defeating Mythal's dragon with Viviene, if that fails keep levelling up until I can do it. Then double check all my quests, talk to everyone one last time, and finish the game!
Aaaand that's all I can think of right now!
