Who is your Inquisitor? (Backstory Thread)

23 seems just fine to me! I really like the backstory you've crafted. It's fun to try different perspectives - as you've said, playing a Trevelyan who's willing to go along with their family's wishes as opposed to being reluctant. And I'm always interested in sibling headcanons!

My Inquisitor Herah Adaar grew up in Hasmal, the daughter of a Ben-Hassrath agent who'd been working undercover as a slave in Tevinter when she met Herah's father, a Tal-Vashoth who'd been captured and used as a pit fighter by the same mage her mother was plotting against. During the course of this, um... misadventure, things happened, revelations were had, and one hot night in the sack led to a very pregnant Ben-Hassrath agent. They ended up making a run for it together, leaving the Qun and Tevinter behind forever.

When Herah was thirteen, her magic manifested for the first time. Neither of her parents knew how to handle this situation - magic was dangerous and volatile and they were trying to live peaceful lives - but her father knew of a mage among the Tal-Vashoth, a retired mercenary who he'd worked with years before. His name was Taashath and he was quite old; he had scars around his mouth, remnants of a harsh life under the Qun. Herah's parents entrusted their daughter to him for several years, and he taught her all he knew. They traveled south and east and west, meeting mages among the Avvar, the Dalish. Former Circle mages. Escaped incaensor. Herah saw more of the world than she'd ever dreamed, and gained knowledge of a number of diverse magical practices.

There are surprisingly few job opportunities for a seven-foot-tall horned giant who can shoot fireballs out her ass. Herah worked for Valain's Marauders and the Blackstone Irregulars, primarly human mercenary bands operating out of Ferelden and the Free Marches, before falling in with the Valo-Kas. She and Shokrakar were casual lovers for a time and remain fast friends to this day.

She loves dragons and her tiny wife.

My Miranda Trevelyan was the youngest child, kind of a not-very-desired "surprise baby". She felt neglected by her parents and it made her super bitter. She was always the "problem child" who enjoyed driving her family up the wall with pranks, terrorizing the servants and bullying other kids. Then in her teens she started drinking heavily, sleeping around not-so-discreetly and hanging out with outlaws and pirates in the taverns. Didn't care about her parents' religion and made her distaste known at every opportunity. She learned her archery basics from her oldest brother whom she kind of got along with, and most other skills from these pirates and outlaws. Her parents had enough of her antics and sent her off to a chantry in Markham when she was 19, with the entire estate heaving a collective sigh of relief. She hated it there at first, but it gave her time to calm down and think about her life. She mellowed out eventually and turned into a devout Andrastian, even thinking about taking vows or becoming a templar.

It only occured to me much, much later that I basically created the female Sebastian who came from Ostwick. She even kinda sorta looked like him. No regrets.

So basically, if she hadn't been at the conclave, she would be willing to become a templar. She was just torn between templars, becoming an initiate in the chantry or trying out the out-of-cloister life again.

My Alkesta Lavellan was an only and very yearned for child. Her mother is the Hahren of her clan and father - the craftsman. They had hoped and prayed for a child for years and finally had one nearly twenty years into their marriage. They adore her and she adores them back. They couldn't help but spoil her a bit, as far as "spoiling" goes with the Dalish lifestyle. They taught her to question everything she hears from other people and always draw her own conclusions. Her parents themselves have some mildly controversial views on some of the Dalish beliefs and traditions, which she adopted. All of this made her kind of full of herself, thinking she was smarter than the other kids, and gained her a reputation of a stuck up brat. She mostly kept to herself until a girl in her clan started hanging out with her (mostly out of pity, at first) and eventually got her accepted her into her circle of friends. Alkesta always wanted to be a big strong hunter, but she had no talent with any kind of weapon, or just anything in general, only her determination. She sucked at archery the least so she started devoting most of her free time to training, in addition to the proper practices. After a long time of practicing each day until her fingers bled, she caught up with the other kids and eventually became one of the best hunters in the clan. Getting so far on stubbornness alone made her even more stuck up: "So you're a 'natural' aren't you, well I had to work for it". She is also pretty as a statuette and very aware of it. She considers her looks to be about the only "talent" she was blessed with, so taking care of her appearance is almost an obsession to her. She is mostly known in her clan for being "the complainer" and "the skeptic" - whenever any suggestion or decision is made, she is the first to question it, and if she doesn't like it, she makes it known. Repeatedly. Her parents are usually the ones to tell her when to rein it in, but they're proud of her having all these strong opinions and not keeping quiet about them.

After becoming the Herald, having people worship the ground she walks on could have finally made her ego explode, but instead it turned out to be a very humbling experience. She always wanted to be respected for the things she earned, so having people kneel before her for simply surviving through dumb luck felt very wrong and for the first time in her life, she didn't enjoy being praised. Even after she started earning her victories, she couldn't see herself as the messiah everyone wanted. She initially planned to just seal the breach and go home. Didn't enjoy being the Inquisition's recruitment mascot, but sucked it up for the greater good. Actually leading the Inquisitor is something she never wanted and though she eventually made peace with her position, she never really grew to love it and always to some extent felt like a fraud. Still, she took her job very seriously and tried to be the best inquisitor she could possibly be (key word - tried).

Used to fear and mistrust all humans pre-Inquisitions, but quickly grew out of it after actually spending some time with them. Even ended up falling for one. She also started getting into Andrastianism after a lot of soul-searching and at some point stopped giving damn about what her clan might think of her. Even though she still cared for her clan and the Dalish in general, the only ones whose approval mattered to her were her mom and dad, and she knew they would just accept whatever makes her happy.

As for the age, the devs said once that the Inquisitor is of an undetermined age between 20 and 40, so 23 seems fine to me. Mines are 24 and 23 at the start. Both tried their best not to "mother" Cole but failed miserably.