The Old Guard (Ye Olde Cullen Thread v4.0 + gen discussion)

The forbidden romance angle is a strong draw, aye. Main reason why I went that route.
Templar Inky with Cullen sounds interesting too. 

I like a mage pairing, but half the game is about being an elf,so why not be a mage with Cullen while getting extra dialogue options?

Awww... Although I totally wouldn't Templar "to help people." I'm the Inquisitos, I'm already helping people. Ha. It'd be more about the fact that Corypheus is quite tainted mage? It'd be useful? Wonder if that's an option. I only have one warrior planned and that guy is for Dorian. I prefer being a rogue or mage.

Today,I watched MIL talk with Cullen and Roderick. And Cullen says something like,"Maker forbid there be a chantry full of Rodericks". I laughed! Oh Cullen.

I have seen some Cullrian art from the stonelion before. Cullen is so curly too!

I like those too! I could definitely do something with the middle one, and probably the first one too. I don't usually headcannon the family stuff, so that would be more of a challenge for me.

Interesting. I didn't realize it would automatically post the image. 

To link to it you could instead hyperlink some words to the image.  Like so: SOME WORDS.

Or provide the link to the image page on dev art, so that folks can visit her page and comment and fave her and her other art, like so: 


ourmysticalnonsense.deviantart.com/art/Avvar-Cullen-573062811

Esp since the art is a bit NSFW. 

(A quick run down on how to bring Cullen back if he succumbed to lyrium addiction. The slide just says he was 'gone' I interpret it as he was no longer in the place she originally found him, not that he was dead)




The night streets of Val Chevin were quiet as he walked through town looking for the small figure of his companion down every alleyway. His other companion stayed by his side matching the speed of his gait and also, surprisingly, maintaining an alert, watchful eye. Usually the large mabari was blissfully unaware of potentially bad situations, Thud wasn't trained to be a war dog from birth, he had been a pet to an Orlesian family and had a tendancy to frolick off chasing butterflies when the situation became heated, but tonight the huge dog seemed intent on his purpose.

Suddenly the dog let out a small 'woof', and wagged his tail excitedly, just as Rylen spotted the short figure of Lace Harding, a brave female dwarf who's actions during the Breach, helped open up new areas to the Inquisition soldiers. Rylen knew the soldiers owed this woman a great deal of gratitude, her expert marksmanship and daring rescues saved many lives.

Rylen picked up his paced and within strides he was standing in front of the little dwarf with an impressive kill rate. "Did you find him?" he asked her urgently and she gave a sad slow nod.."Follow me, Captain." she muttered softly as she turned and lead the way further into the alley. Thud spotted the pile of rags slouched up against a stone wall before Rylen did and was already sniffing and whinning quietly into the filthy cloth heap that wasn't moving.

Shit, no! "C-Commander?" Rylen's husky voice broke uncertainly. "C-Cullen!" he rasped a little more sharply as he bent down to shake the pliant body of his leader...no...his FRIEND. One quick shake...nothing. Another shake, a little harder...still nothing. Then Thud loomed in, his wide dripping toungue slurping the unkempt, bearded face of his once master.With a gasp, a sputter and a cough the still, prone body finally showed some life.

"Andraste's tits, demon! Begone!" Cullen's weak voice sputtered as he spit dog saliva out of his mouth. Rylen jumped in and pulled Thud back.

"Cullen! Cullen, can you hear me?" Rylen whispered urgently, still shocked that his normally proper friend had used such an heretical expletive.

"Fuck you, demon! I will not fall for your games..." Rylen's eyebrows shot up in surprise as Cullen's curses drifted off into him being once again unconscious. Cullen's language alone was an indication to how far he had fallen, Rylen remembered Cullen as a man who would blush at the sight of a woman's small clothes hanging on a clothes line, he would look away all flustered from the slightest amount of a woman's visible cleavage and now he was hurling swear words like a dock worker. What in creation had happened to him?

"Fuck this!" Rylen's voice grated with determination and anger, then with great care his picked up the once robust, muscled man who was now so thin and fragile and gently placed him over his shoulder.

"Sir?" Harding's hesitant, questioning voice broke in the darkness."We're supposed to report-"

"We are NOT leaving him here! Not like THIS!" With tears burning the back of his eyes and a strangled tightness in his throat, Knight Captain Rylen vowed. "We're... NO- I'M, taking him to his family! You can return to the Inquisitor...or the Seeker...or Lady Nightengale..or where ever the FUCK you want to go! I have a duty to see my FRIEND home!" 

With unsteady legs, Rylen turned on his heel and headed in the direction of the city gates with Harding and Thud following close behind. He couldn't speak again, not just yet. The sight of Cullen ravaged and weak from lyrium addiction tore at his soul. The light weight across his shoulder was a reminder that he had failed the man who had become like a brother to him. Had he gone searching for Cullen sooner, Cullen wouldn't have been in such a bad condition.

Rylen could've had him in South Reach weeks ago, but no, instead Rylen decided to help with the disolution of the troops, expecting Cullen to return at any time. But days became weeks and after a couple of months with no sign of Cullen returning, Rylen realized something was wrong...Then the rumours started. Rumours of a vagrant in Val Chavin who was begging for lyrium and claiming to be Commander of the Inquisition... and Rylen knew he had to check the rumours out.

Now, as Rylen headed to the waiting chestnut Ferelden Forder, he knew where he was going. Getting Cullen to South Reach and to his family was going to be a long trip, but dammit, that's what he was going to do.




(sorry it's more than 100 words.)

Yeah, I'd agree with others that a mage pairing with Cullen is quite popular. Partially I think because of the drama of a mage-templar hook up. Partially because of the extra dialogue. Partially because some folks are living out their unrequited Amell/Surana x Cullen dreams. Partially because I think mage is just a very popular class to play. I've seen a lot of reasons. I don't know that I have a sense of what "most" people do, since I feel like I've seen it all in terms of our discussions and the fanart I see. Indeed, I think I see Cullrian as often as anything else these days.


A member of our thread did quite a bit of exploring of a templar-templar hook up for him that was very interesting and quite satisfying for her. 


For myself, I don't usually roll a mage, as it just isn't my preferred playstyle, so I romanced him with my Trev that I'd been writing stories about before the game was released. Then my heart broken Solasmancer has romanced him in theory after the Solavellan pain. But my canon for Cullen will always be Hawke. And now, conveniently, she's at Skyhold in My World^TM, as a rogue, so that works for me.    

Commander Cullen - Falling Leaves
by AuriV1

I really wouldn't mind seeing Rylen feature again or become our next ascended extra like Cullen, he definitely stole his scene in the Western Approach and it was a shame we never saw more of him outside of the war table in DAI.

Would like to see him return for another game or even a graphic novel, perhaps where Rylen and Scout Harding team up with the multiplayer agents to Do Something Awesome™ for the Inquisition, let us see what the Agents of SHIELD were up to while we were playing the Avengers in DAI?

That would be awesome. Esp for someone like me, who can't stand to play multiplayer. Even to hear more Cullen and Rylen. And Sebastian's VA. Even to see Isabela.

edit: I actually liked all the DA comics so far (Alistair et al and Magekiller; like the rest of the fandom, I ignore the Orson Scott Card stuff). It's of course weird to smush those stories into the canon, since at least with Alistair et al, it's specifically one certain canon, so therefore non-canon, blahblah.   But it was cool seeing minor IQ characters flit in and out of the Magekiller storyline. I really like seeing all the auxiliary properties and also enjoyed the books immensely. More Rylen. More Harding. MORE SER BARRIS! All would be good.