What did you do today in DA? [Spoilers]

Playing DAI slowly, taking in the scenery, finding the tomb spot of an Old God in the Western Approach... All these things and some others formed a question.

Is there a theory that the "Maker" is the origin of the blight and is also the entity imprisoned in the Black City? Hearing Corypheus' ramblings again, along with reading about the voices Andraste was hearing (totally sounds like a Calling), makes me think that the Chantry unknowingly is worshipping the devil 🤣

Kinda makes sense to me (don't get mad, lore buffs). Destroying the Old Gods might be destroying the seals that hold the entity imprisoned. Which is the connection to the Blight and the Calling. But I can't quite figure if the entity is doing all the Calling from the prison or the Old Gods were already tainted to begin with and that's why they were imprisoned below ground?

Was the Taint existing before Corypheus? Was it something else that ended up with a changed nature when Cory and the gang entered the Black City? Sort of a virus mutation (yeah, Covid connection)? Was that the plan of the "Maker" entity? (sort of like the breach of the Dark One prison from the Wheel of Time series).

Further shots in the dark - maybe the Blight was strictly working only on the immortal elves and when Solas screwed it all up with the Veil, the imprisoned "Maker" needed to lure some humans to the Black City in order to modify the Blight for mortal creatures and unleash the latest version on the earth. Probably was the only way to begin the cycle of Blights and eventually destroy all seven prison seals. Which might explain why the Old Gods voices suddenly went silent after the Black City breach - mission accomplished and it was all whispers from the "Maker" entity that now has armies of darkspawn to command. Or the new Blight virus overwrote and destroyed all old connections.

Is it possible that the Veil unexpectedly allowed the imprisoned entity remote access to the now mortal realm (again, Wheel of Time had it similar)? That's why Solas is so pissed at the Wardens and the destruction of the Old Gods. Our Egg Head didn't foresee those consequences, didn't expect the entity to get mortal realm access and definitely didn't expect or knew enough about the Blight and how it works now on mortals (that's how Cory blindsides him).

Which would also require the "Maker" to have a hand in the creation of the Wardens, possibly through a tainted human/elf/dwarf that hasn't completely lost their mind yet. Which brings me back to what started it all - Andraste and her hearing of the Calling. I like the idea how she was definitely carrying the taint and doing the "Maker" bidding. Not sure to what exact end yet and if she was a targeted puppet or just an unfortunate soul that interpreted the Calling as she went on. Also, Andraste was definitely an elf and a mage in my books. The Chantry knows! They hide her ears on the statues!

Maybe that's why Solas wants to bring back the Veil. It's his only way of keeping the entity imprisoned and saving everyone that survives. Meanwhile Mythal was savvy enough to save and keep an Old God soul in circulation, thus hiding a key to the prison just in case.

Or maybe I just spent too much time under the sun of the Western Approach.

Andraste wasn't hearing voices (and hearing the Calling requires you to have the Blight taint first). She meet the Maker in her dreams and he showed her part of the Fade...but she totally wasn't a mage you know and the Maker totally wasn't just a spirit. There is a lots of similarities between her story and the legend of Tyrdda Bright-Axe now that I think about it. In Tyrdda's case, the spirit was believed to be the Lady of the Skies. 

This might makes more sense for people who played and remember the lore in Jaws of Hakkon, that's where we learn that Alamarri mage take on spirit companion to learn to control their powers. The last Inquisitor, Ameridan, also had a spirit companion. But none of that means that Andraste's spirit was "nice" thought, but from the Avvar/Alamarri point of view, the Maker isn't any different than Hakkon, Lady of the Skies and cie...it's just that they forgot about him (but why?).

The theory that something is imprisoned in the Black City is as old as DAO thought. Lots of fans believe that is where the Elven gods are trapped. But Corypheus confirmed the Maker wasn't there, but they did find power and embraced it (the Blight it seems). Doing Champion of the Just give you access to Corypheus personal "lab" via the Calpernia related quest chain, there you can find journals/lore entries that are extremely interesting about how things went down before the Magisters breached the City.

The Blight pre-date the Magisters breaching the City according to the Dwarves and that is mentioned in DAO as well. Trespasser has some lore that hint at the Ancient Elves finding the stuff when they were digging Lyrium for Mythal in the Deep too.

Hmm, maybe I should really go on replaying DAI for real. I really like the lore/exploration in the game and I just made a new character in it. I'm just not quite sure yet if Lady Trevelyan is who I wants to play (or if I keep her current hairdo).

Some RP on the current Inky:

Lady Evelyn Trevelyan was a true believer and she honestly thought Andraste saved her at Haven. However that faith was quite shaken after dealing with the Wardens and restoring the memories.

In order to cope and find answers, Lady Trevelyan put herself in the arms of the one true champion of justice and honesty in the Inquisition... - Warden Blackwall!

And of course, after their first night together, he leaves Evelyn naked in the hay and bolts to Orlais. Commitment issues much?!!!

When she found out the truth about her lover, something in Evelyn broke and she embraced her new religion - Snark! As Blackwall-Thom was weeping on the floor of his cell, all she could find the strength to say was "I sure know how to pick'em." Sounds like our Eve is no stranger to disappointment in men! And carries some baggage there.

I started a new DAI playthrough. I see I'm not the only one who believe Evelyn is a nice name, I haven't bothered changing it either. I started with a Sword&Shield warrior (this somewhat sound dirty) which I don't hate except for the part where reaching enemies takes a while after combat started. I probably should have invested in a gap closer when spending points. Oh well, next level up.

My Lady Evelyn is currently hunting downs things for the survivors at the Crossroad in the Hinterlands: food, supplies, enemies. She's doesn't think she's a chosen one and she wonders how terrible this is all going to go down.

----
Mother Giselle (something like): Do you think this can be worst (talking about the Chantry denouncing the Herald/Inquisition, suggesting I got talk to them)
Me: Probably, yes.
----

The plan is to try to romance Josephine (whom I never finished the romance for), but you never know what can happens. The first two times I made a character to romance Josephine I ended up with Sera and Dorian respectively. I abandoned my PTs the other times without getting far enough to finish her romance. I never tried to romance Blackwall though, but since I know where this is going I never felt the point of doing that either. I guess saandrig 's path works thought.  But I'm not playing a Faith-based Inquisitor to make it hit properly...Maybe I should have? I never fully embraced that role in any PT.

hmm. Maybe I should restart to make a True Believer and embrace the Herald role fully.

Oh and one annoyance, I want to antagonize Solas (and punch him), but he likes when you help people early on and ask questions...and I liked doing both. 

I was looking for one-handed weapon in the game and there is a few schematics added by Trespasser that I'm missing. One of them is a reward for playing tag with harlequins at the Winter Palace. My reaction: You can play tag with Harlequins at the Winter Palace   I played through Trespasser twice I never realized that it was an "activity" there and it seems I missed a bunch of Trespasser-added rewards both times too. I'll have to pay more attention this time.

I'm thinking that maybe I would enjoy the game more if I didn't craft myself some OP stuff right at the start even if it's with tier 1 material too.

And I might switch to two-handed over S&S, but I haven't quite decided yet. 

The schematic is Brand, a one-handed sword that deals fire damage. That's how I learned about the harlequins, I was looking at schematic I didn't have and where to find/get them.

I did the fireworks before and Cullen's dog food hunting. Only the harlequins I missed or maybe I attempted it, failed and flushed the experience from my mind. 

"Looks at the 1 million gold in inventory. Hides the Cheat Engine table."

Yeah, man, why do they make it so hard to have money in this game? 😅

I didn't even know that was a thing. What was it?

Oh, I forgot to mention: One thing that did help back in DAO and DA2 is that the quest rewards often included gold. In Inquisition, it usually is just exp and maybe items.

Lady Trevelyan has embraced her role as the Herald of Andraste and she comes off as a bit aggressive about it.

After spending some times in the Hinterland to secure the Crossroad, the Inquisition managed to secure a meeting in Val-Royaux with some Chantry Mother(s) so they stop antagonizing us. The Templars turned party-crashers at the same time. Their leader sound like he has an inflated ego. Cassandra says he wasn't like that before. hmm.

While there, we also stumbled on an invitation to a party from First Enchanter Vivienne, a strange puzzle-note and Fiona, the leader of the Rebel Mages.

Enchanter Vivienne has now joined my Inquisition. The strange puzzle-note needs to be investigated further....
Fiona invented us to Redcliff, but that's beyond the Templars/Mage squirmishes in the Hinterlands. Lots of things left to do in the Hinterlands actually. Including finding a Warden for Leliana.

I put Solas and Varric in Inquisition armor. 

I tried a bit using a two-handed sword, but I went back to S&S. Lady Trevelyan is a walking battering ram and that looks better with a shield. She might also have teased Josephine when she asked her about things, like how the quarters were in Haven. They are fine Josie, fine.

After my trip to Val-Royaux, I returned to the Hinterland to:
- get my first horse and build some watchtower so the Horsemaster can send more to the Inquisition.
- deal with the rebels Templars and Mages around the region. Also rifts and demons whenever I stumble on them.
- help the refugees at the Crossroad: food, furs, etc. Only a healer is missing now.
- a recruited a Warden and I'm bringing him along my holy missions (I use Cassandra 99% of the time usually)
- Vivienne probably hates me, she's wearing a very non Orlesian looking Griffon Robes right now.

I still have a few things to do in Redcliff before doing Champion of the Just. I like meeting with Fiona and "friends" first. I always roleplay that we need the Templars to deal with "them" afterward.

I haven't recruited Sera or Bull and I'm not sure if I will yet.

Finally, I feel like I hit like a wet noodle. By that I mean that I'm slashing things with my sword and their HP bar doesn't move after barrier/guard are removed.   I'm good at knockback things thought.


I'm pondering doing everything available before doing Champion of the Just (the other zones too, not just Hinterland). I usually speedrun to get my specialization and do the content after, but my current build won't change much after getting a spec, I'm mostly just knocking things down for others to kill.  

As anyone played through the game without a specialization?