Neve Gallus - Official Companion Thread [Spoilers]

her or Bellara right now is at the top of the list for Oliver. 

As I understand it every mage is expected to be given some rudimentary education but it can vary according to your social status. Also there is more than one Circle in Tevinter. I'm not sure but I think you graduate from one of the other Circles and then progress to the one in Minrathous, although you can also get your initial training there if connected to the right people in the city. Dorian started off in the Circle in Carastes, which is just south of Qarinus/Ventus where his father had his estate and said to be one of the most prestigious academies in the eastern Imperium. However, Dorian got himself into so much trouble there that he was moved to another Circle and then another until finally he was sent to a small private school in Minrathous. He ran away from there and ended up in a seedy downtown brothel where Alexius found him and personally tutored him at his estate in Asariel for a number of years, after which he sponsored him to become fully qualified Enchanter in the Minrathous Circle. Myrion in TN was from a slave family but when his Soporati master discovered he had magic, he adopted him into his own family so they automatically were elevated to Laetans along with him. By contrast, Calpernia was never given anything but the basics by Erasthenes and never achieved citizen status whilst she was with him (if at all). From this it would appear that there are many paths that a mage can follow to become qualified if you are a citizen of the Imperium, depending on your family's status and wealth, so there is plenty of scope there for Neve's backstory. I doubt she was ever a slave but you never know, perhaps she was adopted at a young age as Myrion was. I imagine she is more likely either low level Altus or more likely Laetans in her origins, although she could be the only mage in a Soporati family.

I would imagine it is a common profession for anyone from a mage family who does not have magical ability. Even if Tevinter Templars don't have the special training (and lyrium addiction) of their southern counterparts, it must help having lived with mages from a young age. In fact I would think that the odd mundane being born into an Altus family would be encouraged in that direction so they can have someone as their eyes and ears in the official police force. However, the fact that her family had more mundanes than mages in its ranks does seem to suggest it was likely a recently elevated Laetans family because they haven't had a chance yet to consolidate the mage lineage, which I'm sure the Laetans try to do as much as the Altus do. That is all to the good. We've had our quota of Altus with Dorian and the various antagonists we encounter in DAI, whilst Calpernia was from the opposite extreme. Seeing Tevinter from the perspective of the "middle class", would be interesting. It also explains her willingness to work with the Shadow Dragons, particularly if some of the non mages in that faction are also her relatives.

A woman of the people, one with the masses. The mage you know. A private eye in the public eye. Free ice cones all summer long for the oppressed. Vote now: Neve for President! 🙌

I like her more and more.

All we need is her to do a detective monologue and we’re set!

I had a thought today that's probably utterly insane, but, what if Neve is a descendant of Andraste? The grandchildren who lived long enough to carry on Andraste's line of descent are all daughters of a Tevinter Magister, after all. Yes, I know that Neve is Laetan class, not Altus, but surely some houses have lost their status in the last thousand-plus years.

Leliana was mostly just a fan theory but I think it more likely that the real Flemeth was a descendant of Andraste, because of how they are always female and likely always had magic too. Remember back in DAO we could find a forbidden text that suggested that Andraste was a mage. Actually, now we have witnessed Avvar culture (who were an offshoot of the Alamaari) and how their Augurs communicate with spirits, I'm pretty much convinced that Andraste was the Augur of her tribe and married to Maferath in a political alliance to unite their tribes and also possibly because the Augur was always meant to be separate from the secular leader, so Andraste could not be the latter. That was the case in the tribe we visited in Jaws of Hakkon. This would explain the conflict between Maferath and Andraste when she was insisting on continuing their crusade after their had achieved their initial military objective of freeing the south of Tevinter rule. Maferath was aware they had only won the last battle by the skin of their teeth and with the assistance of Shartan and his elves, so realised they should stop whilst they were still ahead but Andraste was on a religious crusade and insisted on continuing.

To be honest, any female companion could be the descendant of Andraste. The bloodline would be concealed by many centuries of marriage, so how would anyone even know? It would either have to be a secret handed down from mother to child or be divulged by a spirit in the know. Certainly, the bloodline could pop up in Tevinter considering her daughter ran off with a Tevinter mage, assuming they fled back to Tevinter and not somewhere else and given how much store the Altus place in bloodlines, the ancestry would be easier to trace there than anywhere else. However, in view of the fact that Hessarian adopted the religion of the Maker after only 10 years and wiped out the Altus families who insisted on adhering to the Old Gods, you would have thought there would be a degree of kudos in being able to claim the bloodline of Andraste in Tevinter and yet as far as we know no one ever has. Of course, there is a first time for everything and it is clear now that just because we haven't been told something in game doesn't mean they won't introduce it if it suits them to.

Okay, I'll give you that one. I suppose that rules out Josephine as well. Of course, they have to be human too. How about Isabella? I believe she was her mother's only child, although that is hard to say for certain since they fell out after the mother joined the Qun and effectively sold Isabella to her Antivan husband. Still, the Rivaini do have a tradition of female seers leading their communities. Of course, Isabella can't do magic, although that was true of dwarves but times change, so who knows if Isabella may find she has a hidden ability.   Of course, based off the fan theories about Leliana perhaps you don't have to be a mage.   That would bring in Averline too.

However, when thinking about it, if we go with must be female, human, no male siblings and a mage that really narrows the field down among our companions. I wonder how it happened that they only had female children. Did they perform some ritual at conception that prevented male offspring? I was wondering about this because, of course, Morrigan was a daughter of Flemeth yet gave birth to a son. Was this to deter Flemeth from taking an interest in him as she wouldn't have use for a boy? That might mean that she altered the ritual in some way to ensure this. Mind you, he could be conceived without the ritual when he come out just a normal child, so that would appear to rule out Flemeth and Morrigan as being from Andraste's line. Just a thought.

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What's the issue with having...well two of any type of characters...in the video game together? Doesen't bother me that Leiliana and Kara both had red hair or that Ashley's sister was named ABby same as my Shepard, added more commonality then anything. 

BioWare is taking a big enough risk, imo, jumping into the pan sexual/ borderline player sexual waters again. I really don't think it would be a good idea to give us the ability, as a baseline feature, to mess with our companions physical characteristics. 

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