An epic quest to rid the world of ominous-looking blood stains!
Dragon
Age: Origins is a game that triggers mixed feelings from many who have
played it. There are two reasons for this: the Mass Effect series and
Dragon Age 2.You see, DA: O had the misfortune of being released after Mass Effect came out-- a game that allowed players to continue the story of a single character, Commander Shepard, throughout a trilogy of games. Many fans assumed that Dragon Age would be similar to Mass Effect, and that the choices they made in Origins would have major implications for the next game. Then Dragon Age 2 was released, and the main character from Origins didn't even get a cameo... you could say that people were disappointed.
Despite all that, DA: O stands very well on its own as a successor to earlier Bioware RPGs like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. There are memorable companions for your main character to travel with, four of which are potential romantic partners, and the dialogue options throughout the game allow you to respond to situations in wildly different ways from one playthrough to the next. It allows your characters to be more complex than Mass Effect's "Paragon" and "Renegade" personalities, and it's not as easy to predict how people will react to your decisions. For people who actually enjoy getting to know and understand the personality of the characters in a game, this can be a more fun way of implementing the dialogue.
What really impresses me about this game, however, is just how insane it allows you to be if you want to. I don't mean evil... though you can do that in spades if you want to. The kind of playthrough I'll be doing, however, is: CHAOTIC STUPID.
"Chaotic Stupid" is a term used to describe a character who does irrational things for no other reason than to be unreasonable. It's a play on words derived from the character alignment system developed by Wizards of the Coast for the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons. One such alignment is chaotic neutral, and the player's handbook goes out of its way to mention that such a character should not be "just as likely to jump off a bridge as they are to cross it." Chaotic stupid, however, isn't bound by common sense. Here are my rules for being unruly:
1) Using Vulcan-like logic, determine the most rational response to a given situation. Then do the exact opposite.
2) Allow for breaks from this rule in the interest of having enough characters to finish the game with.
3) Put no points into the Coercion skill, but select every "Persuade" dialogue option that shows up.
4) Still take a reasonable approach to selecting talents and building an effective character.
In other words, our character will be highly irrational for no discernable reason, but not suicidal. We won't be laying down in front of the first group of monsters we see and screaming, "I just want you to love me!" Like I said, I'm limited by the programming in that regard. He'll also think he's very good and smooth-talking people but is actually a horrible liar. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's talk briefly about the kind of world we're creating a character in....
The events of Dragon Age take place on the fictional continent of Thedas, a land of many kingdoms in a world of indeterminate size. Dragon Age: Origins is centered on the kingdom of Ferelden in particular, though characters and influences from other kingdoms enter into the story as well. The majority of the people who live in Ferelden are human, but there are plenty of elves and dwarves as well. Elves are considered second-class citizens and those who do not live in the wilderness (called Dalish tribes) are forced to reside in walled-off slums called Alienages. Dwarves are better off, being respected by humans as skilled craftsmen and merchants. However, any dwarf who leaves their underground community is no longer considered a "real" dwarf and is generally not welcomed back.
Magic exists in Thedas, but people who cast spells can do so due to their connection with the dream world known as the Fade. Demons inhabit the Fade as well, and mages are constantly being tempted to become a demonic thrall known as an abomination. For this reason, mages are only allowed to practice magic in Ferelden if they are a member of the Circle, a tower under the control of the church known as the Chantry. The Chantry has their own private army of Templars who are trained to resist magic and kill mages when necessary. In addition to watching over the Circle tower, Templars go on missions throughout Ferelden to find illegal mages, or "Apostates", and either kill them or force them to join the Circle.
Another constant threat facing Ferelden is a monstrous race known as the Darkspawn. These unforgiving creatures with toxic blood live underground, and have overrun almost all of the dwarves' ancient cities ("Thaigs") as well as the Deep Roads that connected them. Their origins are shrouded in mystery, but in the recent past they have attempted to invade the surface world, resulting in a long conflict known as a Blight. The group that charges itself with watching for signs of a new Blight and doing everything they can to prevent it is the Grey Wardens. The Wardens have special rights granted to them as a reward for their role in ending the last Blight, including the right to conscript promising warriors to join their cause. Some believe they are still heroes, while others consider them an unnecessary relic of the past.
We'll cover more background information as we progress and run into pieces of it, but for now all you need to know is that at the start of Dragon Age: Origins, Ferelden is recovering from its rocky past. They have rebuilt since the last Blight and are no longer under threat of war from neighboring kingdoms. King Cailan and Queen Anora are the undisputed rulers there is peace throughout the land. As I'm sure you have guessed, times like these are usually when things go straight to Hell, and this is where we come in.
CHARACTER CREATION
ORIGIN: You can set yourself up rather nicely with your origin. You can be a member of human or dwarven nobility, a mage, or an elf living in one of those independent Dalish tribes. You can be an elf living in a human slum as well, but there's one group that is slightly worse off.
While the City Elf still has some sense of community and fellowship with their brethren, the Dwarf Commoner is considered scum by his own people. This is because he's "casteless", a dwarf with no clan, no role in society and therefore, prohibited from taking part in dwarven society outside of "Dust Town". That's where all the casteless are forced to live but unlike an elven Alienage, the casteless dwarves generally don't treat each other any better than the rest of society treats them. I consider it to be the least enviable background, so that's what I'm choosing.
CLASS: Since the mage class has its own origin story tied to becoming an official member of the Circle (and dwarves can't be mages anyway), we're limited to Warrior and Rogue for our Dwarf Commoner. Since we'll be a member of a gang, doing odd jobs for a crime lord, Rogue is the choice that makes the most sense. ...Warrior it is.
APPEARANCE: Dwarves are often known to have large noses, prominent facial hair, ruddy skin and curly hair ranging from auburn to dark brown. As a result, our character will have a tiny nose, thick stubble with no beard or moustache, dark skin and straight blonde hair. Casteless dwarves also have a mark, in the form of a tattoo on their face. I think these face tattoos are not subtle enough and I usually don't put one on my other characters. So, naturally, this character will have a brightly colored tattoo that covers half his face.
NAME: Elves and dwarves would probably agree that an elven maiden is the polar opposite of a dwarven man. Say hello to Amastacia Brosca, dwarf warrior.
The black void he's sitting in is a perfect representation of the space between his ears.
