Taash - Official Companion Thread [Spoilers]

I don't know if I would call Bull badly written. (And he certainly wasn’t a super soldier for me, given he was constantly dead.) He has some interesting nuances to him, such as how he tailors his personality to each companion in banter, so they'll find him less threatening. But it's true he never really came together for me as a character until Trespasser, when he betrayed my Inquisitor. I do hope Taash differentiates herself from him, and also isn't written like Qwydion; she mostly felt like Ashly Burch playing a mage self-insert.

No idea. They suddenly introduced them as a faction in Tevinter Nights. It is not clear if they are a recent offshoot/renaming of some other group, like the Felicisima Armada (because newer writers found the name too difficult to remember/thought it didn't sound cool) or they have always been part of Rivain but somehow no one has ever mentioned them before (my main objection to their sudden introduction after 3 previous games and 2 lore books).

From Tevinter Nights it would appear they are a loose knit guild of adventurers who will hire themselves out to recover artifacts, steal items to order, provide protection to travellers/explorers or even deal with threats that the authorities can't be bothered with, if the pay is good enough. They apparently operate Thedas wide since members of the guild featured in the short stories located in the Freemarches, the Silent Plains and Minrathous.   It would seem their main base is in Rivain somewhere and that is where they get together to swap stories of their latest adventures, show off their booty and presumably have a board advertising jobs they can take.

Then the blurb accompanying the trailer from 2023 says they control the seas around Rivain, which is why I link them to the Felicisima Armada since that was originally said to be their jurisdiction.  However, the Core Rule Book does say the Felicisima Armada was the collective name given to several groups of pirates that came together to deal with the Qunari threat in the Storm Age.   Essentially they gained a degree of respectability after they drove the Qunari off the island of Eastwatch and allowed the other nations of Thedas to regain control of the seaboard down the east side of Thedas. They were based on the island of Llomerryn and had links to the Raiders of the Waking Sea. It does seem odd to me that the Lords of Fortune would also be operating out of Rivain and said to control the seas around those shores and yet not been linked in some way with the Armada who surely would not have appreciated a rival faction in their area. If they were connected in some way it might account for why no one, including Isabella who originated from Rivain and was married to a merchant seaman, has never mentioned them.

I have a sneaky suspicion that this is part of a general drive to simplify the language used in the games. As you say, they couldn't change the Antivan Crows because they have featured so prominently in previous games and in any case the name isn't unduly complicated.

However, consider how they changed the name of Qarinus to Ventus in a comic series even though Qarinus was meant to be the third kingdom that was combined into the old Imperium along with Neromenian and Tevinter itself. Dorian maintains they are really attached to tradition and both he and Maevaris come from that city, yet the reason for the name change was some recent victory over the Qunari, whom they had been fighting for centuries so why now? Rumour had it that some of the writers thought people would find the name confusing with Qunari. No one I know of had and why didn't they just change the first letter of the name to a "K" or a "C"? Right so perhaps some of the writers objected to the length of the name. Ventus is shorter and easier to remember.

Based off this logic changing the Felicisima Armada to the Lords of Fortune starts to make sense, bearing in mind that previously the name only appeared in codices that not everyone might have read. To be honest it is a bit of a mouthful. Yet, I suspect they aren't the only faction to have had an update.

Take the Mortalitassi, who have always been the faction associated with the Grand Necropolis of Nevara. Now our companion is from the Mourn Watch, presumably a specialist branch of the Mortalitassi, although no sign of them in any lore book, previous codex or conversations with the Mortalitassi, Dorian or Cassandra in DAI. I await with interest to see if the Mortalitassi are mentioned at all in DAV or only this new faction.

What about the Veil Jumpers? A rather strange but simple name. Don't know what veil jumping we are going to be doing and what it has to do with researching magic and ancient artifacts in Arlathan but there you go.

Then there are the Shadow Dragons. Normally a faction in Tevinter would have some Latin root to their name. Draconis Umbra would sound a lot more mysterious and in keeping with their history, particularly as they claim to be promoting the Tevinter the modern Altus forgot but instead we got Shadow Dragons. It is also noticeable that we have heard nothing of the Lucerni since Trespasser, not even in connection with Dorian and Maevaris in Tevinter Nights. Has their faction fallen by the wayside of simplicity?

Of course, the Grey Wardens already had a nice, simple sounding name so no problem there.  Veilguard and Rook are a lot simpler than Inquisition and Inquisitor.

We still have the Venatori as the bad guys of course, so perhaps we should be grateful for small mercies. Perhaps the rule is going to be that the good guys have simple names and the bad guys the complicated ones.

Oh you're good. That is just the sort of explanation they would likely give. However, it is also possible that the Mortalitassi are the elite members (Altus equivalents) with connections to the nobility and the Mourn Watch are just the regular workers with no political significance. As the Mortalitassi were founded by a Tevinter mage, I assume their hierarchy more closely follows that of Tevinter society than in the wider community. The Mortalitassi were said to be very influential in Nevarra and their advisers to the King pretty much running the country as he was becoming increasingly old and decrepit.   (I will continue this line of thought on the Emmrich thread).

I don't think that the mourn watch could be a rename or a translation of the mortalitasi,

Tevinter Nights is very clear they are a group within the mortalitasi.


- Down Amoung the Dead Men

- The Dead Wolf Take You

The mortalitasi feature under the name mortalitasi in Murder by Death Mages aswell.

The official site describes then as "An elite necromantic order that tends to Nevarra's sprawling Grand Necropolis, where undead walk and spirits dwell."

There's that "elite" word again, all mages in Nevarra become Mortalitasi so I guess elite is meant to emphasis that the Mourn Watchers comprise only the most skilled.

It seems unlikely to me that they'll have retconed the mourn watch as being an alternate name for the mortalitasi as a whole. Though the elite guardian necromancers may be the only mortalitasi Rook's interested in getting help from.

This does put me in mind of some of the official marketing before Veilguard before it was even Veilguard in 'those without power' acting and, well, breaking it down here. Some seem to fit the theme and some only seem to fit the theme only contextually. 

The Shadow Dragons, Veil Jumpers, and Lords of Fortune are pretty easy...they don't seem to have a lot of official sanction or power throughout Thedas or even within their countries, they are very much fringe organizations. Organizations that are on the outside looking in and have specific objectives but don't have a lot of power to enact the change they want to see especially in the case of the Shadow Dragons with much larger and more powerful organizations, the Venatori, Lucerni, Tevinter government, and Qunari all maybe playing some role within the politics of the Imperium. That is a lot of noise for the Shadow Dragons to have to find a niche in and say 'hey Slavery is bad the Venatori aren't the answer!' or 'Hey Solas and these new Elven gods are a threat!' 

The Antivan Crows and Grey Wardens are much more interesting in a way because at first glance and at the beginning of the series they had tremendous power that they could wield in their specific contexts. The Grey Wardens had the Rite of Conscription and a broad mandate to stop the Darkspawn. The Crows meanwhile are seen as the de facto military of the Antivan Realm. While not powerful themselves they wield tremendous influence throughout the Kingdom and throughout Thedas to where any invading force would be cut to ribbons because the merchant princes would hire the Crows to defend their interests. But both organizations of late have had a significant depowering, loss of reputation, and even some suspicion and internal strife eroding their authority in recent media and, to some extent, throughout the series. The Wardens had the whole issue with the False Calling in DAI greatly damaging their influence in the South and maybe even seeing the Order become virtually extint in the South, to rumors of internal conflict with the Wardens in the Anderfels. Likewise the Crows have also taken it a bit on the chin by running into the various meat grinders of Hawke and the Hero of Ferelden (don't remember them being much of a force in Inquisition) to having most of their leadership wiped out in Tevinter Nights and because of internal strife there as well. We'll have to see exactly how these changes effect each order in game but its likely based on them that they will also be on the outside looking in. 

The Mourn Watch would seem to be the Wild Card in this. Are they a 'control' part of this group of six? The one organization which still has influence and significance, at least in their own Kingdom, to be in relative stable position? Maybe with this the only problem with them when dealing with Solas/ the Elven gods plus the other threats is a lack of numbers? Afterall they seem to be a relatively 'elite' branch of a relatively small order within Nevarra gives me the impression that there aren't going to be that numerous. Or are they going to be like the Wardens and Crows? Afterall 'Murder by Death Mages' did have Sidony uncovering a plot by the Mortalitassi to utilize undue influence within the Kingdom to get their way including murdering political rivals. Given that Sidony was acting on behalf of the Inquisition we know her orders have to almost have been assigned sometime before the Exalted Council even if her mission was completed after and thus pretty early in the timeline...maybe we will discover her investigation bore fruit and Nevarrans and the Neverran King has taken a lot more critical eye in regards to them and the Mourn Watch. Also given what happened with Solas in The Dreadwolf Take You might be another showing of how they too could be on the ropes in a way. 

Saw someone comment on this, so thought I’d share it here.

We know Taash is written by a non-binary writer
We know Taash is played by a non-binary actor

Wouldn’t be surprised if Taash is our first non-binary companion.

I think it would have introduced undue complications. It is one thing allowing the player to be non-binary but quite another to go that way with a companion, particularly in view of the fact that the game would be translated into different languages. How often will people refer to Rook in game by their pronoun? Perhaps occasionally in banter if at all. However, how often might people refer to Taash by the relevant pronoun? Possibly more. English is much simpler in this respect but I have to admit I have always wondered how people would cope with a language where most nouns are already gendered and "They" as a pronoun is most definitely connected with 3rd person plural. Also, if it is a culture that doesn't recognise gender identity or non-binary.

Some languages aren’t gendered at all, either, like Chinese. Or at least, not in the same way, with pronouns.

Taash could also be genderfluid and fine with multiple pronouns. Either way, it’s easy to see why they might have left the Qun. If Taash left the Qun, anyway, and isn’t Vashoth.

Looking it up, that’s not true. There’s quite a few pronouns that are used for nonbinary people in German, like Xier.
But like you mentioned, if there are issues the dubs can simply use the character’s name.

First, all pronouns and words for that matter are made up.
Second, no I won’t leave it at that. Did you say the same when they introduced gay people? Non-binary people exist in Thedas, so there’s nothing wrong with wanting one as a companion. Only bigots would disagree.