Emmrich Volkarin - Official Companion Thread [Spoilers]

That's one of the aspects of belonging to factions that has me puzzled. There isn't going to be an origin story section that might have introduced our faction to us but it should be assumed that we have been a member for a while so should have experience in our field. In the case of the Mourn Watch I imagine they are going to assume that Emmrich is older than any of the Rooks belonging to his faction and thus will have more knowledge than they do but I do wonder how they are going to deal with this so we don't come across as a complete idiot (like the Dalish Inquisitor in the Temple of Mythal). Yet they have to make allowance for new players who do literally know nothing about the world they are in. Perhaps it will be as though they already have the arcane knowledge perk, so if the Rook is from the Mourn Watch, when they encounter something about which they ought to know, we will get a special dialogue prompt not available to other Rooks. Ditto the other factions. Then with regard to Emmrich knowing us, it may be a bit like Vivienne with a Trevelyan mage talking about a mutual acquaintance within the organisation or what he has heard about them but the Grand Necropolis being so large, they never had cause to work together.

As for the Caretaker, I dare say they will leave it up to the player how they react to him.   I dare say not every Mortalitassi is a well rounded individual, so it leaves some room for them to be a complete jerk if they wish with spirits, like the Mortalitassi in the Dread Wolf Take You.

I love how small that is, almost have to squint to see it

 Or too much of...something, anyway.

Ahem. Is Manfred the name of the wisp/spirit inhabiting the skeleton or was it the name of the previous owner/meat puppet/skinsuit of that body?

Odd, then because usually spirits just call themselves by their attribute. Cole called himself that name because it was the name of the boy that the spirit had comforted when he was starving to death and absorbed his memories at the same time, so then it effectively became Cole. So, I would assume something similar must have happened with Manfred and the spirit did adopt the name of the skeleton's former identity. May be Emmrich knew who that was and it was even his suggestion.

That is the whole thing about the Grand Necropolis. They preserve the bodies of deceased nobles through special processes and by encouraging the spirit that comes through on death to remain within it. I imagine, therefore, that these mummified, animated corpses are known by the previous occupant's name, even though their soul has long since departed into the Fade.

I think the mummified corpses only happen for rich people because the process is costly or the Mortalitasi simply find it a way to earn a living. So, I imagine that the corpses of poor people are simply interred and allowed to rot away, or possibly the bones are cleaned of flesh shortly after death. The concept art from 2020 show more than one skeleton working for a member of the Mourn Watch, so it is likely they make a habit of using these skeletons as servants. Where Emmrich was different was that he was more respectful to the spirit and encouraged it to develop its own identity. Nevertheless, I would imagine that either the spirit knew the "identity" of the bones or Emmrich suggested the name, or perhaps he gave the spirit a choice of names, but I doubt the spirit came up with Manfred on its own.

He has a voice actor.  Make of that what you will. 

He can only moan in response in Tevinter Nights (I'm finally reading it now, and so loving Emmrich and really feeling picking the Mourn Watcher background even more). So I guess he got upgraded? I think it was Corinne who said Emmrich's been working on helping Manfred develop as a 'person.'

edit: I have to learn to not keep adding that extra 'e' in our gentleman necromancer's name
edit 2: Department of Redundancy Department

Maybe it’s like Cate Blanchett in Pinnocchio