The Rec Center #145
Hello! This week we have the first of our guest videogame explainers + fic recs: Qkat on Dragon Age! Plus our usual mix of articles and Tumblr posts, and—unsurprisingly—some fantastic Venom fanart. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“Wizards, Moomins and pirates: the magic and mystery of literary maps” by Robert Macfarlane, Frances Hardinge, and Miraphora Mina at The Guardian
Three celebrations of fantasy maps: nature writer Robert Macfarlane on Treasure Island, children’s writer Frances Hardinge on Tove Jansson’s Moominland, and Miraphora Mina, from the team that designed many paper items in the HP films, on creating the Marauder’s Map.
“The Young Pope is the best TV show since The Sopranos” by Eric Thurm at Buzzfeed
A celebration of The Young Pope, from its greatest obsessive fan.
“Occasionally, someone will congratulate me on “committing to the bit,” as if it’s inconceivable that I could love something this much.”
older stuff
“Our Usernames, Ourselves: How Anonymity Shaped The Internet (And Me)” by Katie Fustich at The Establishment
“The username was once a different kind of mask.” On crafting a sense of self in the anonymous spaces of the early internet.
tumblr & beyond
Venom fanart by liizardkiing
an iconic scene.
“I once read a slow burn where the main pairing didn’t even speak to each other until 80k words in”
“me, immediately after watching Venom.”
“I don’t have a phone so you can reach me, I have a phone so I can read fanfic on the bus.”
fanfiction + explainer: dragon age
Qkat is an engineer by day, fanfic writer and fanartist by night. She can be found on twitter posting about her cat, bad memes, and whatever fandom and/or rarepair she’s fixated on at the moment.
Dragon Age is a fantasy RPG (role playing game) series. The first game was released nearly 10 years ago, in 2009; the latest game came out in 2014 and the fandom is still going strong. It is immensely popular, mostly due to the deep emotional themes and fleshed-out characters in each game.
Every game comes with a set of recruitable party members and several of them show up in sequential games. Besides the cast, the setting itself is vast. There is a lot of lore. It gives the world of Dragon Age a lot of depth and a lot stuff to play around with.
The series starts with Origins, which is a fairly typical high fantasy RPG; the player character is one of the last people alive who can end the plague-like Blight by killing the archdemon (a dragon, hence the series name). Dragon Age II is much smaller in scope, taking place entirely within and around a city named Kirkwall, and is focused on thematic storytelling and character relationships. Inquisition, the third and (so far) final game is a kind of in-between mix of the two set at an operatic pitch; the player character must literally save the world.
(If you want a good overview or refresher of what happened over the course of the trilogy, I suggest the Dragon Age Keep website.)
At its heart, Dragon Age is is more about storytelling than gameplay. In each game, the player can choose different origins based on their character customization (race, gender, fighting style, and social status) which will then affect the progression of the story. Pivotal moments in the game are often dialogue choices, not battles against dragons; while there is plenty of combat, much of the enjoyment of these games comes from exploring the branching decision trees of the plot and the party dynamics of your companions.
Also, Dragon Age II produced a game trailer that I still randomly think about sometimes. Watch it and you will not be disappointed.
“By The Still Waters” by emilyenrose. 84K words, rated Mature.
Ships: Fenris/Male Hawke, Female Lavellan/Solas
Rec: I love it when the casts from different games get to interact?? And also FEELING ALL THE FEELINGS.
Content warnings: N/A
“Sui Generis” by manic_intent. 20K words, rated Mature.
Ship: Anders/Male Hawke
Rec: Manic’s fic is what got me into this fandom in the first place. This one is a take on a cracky idea (what if Hawke could turn into a dragon?) taken totally seriously, and it’s awesome.
Content warnings: N/A
“Greatly Approved” by damalur. 35K words, rated Mature.
Ship: Female Hawke/Varric
Rec: Sometimes I tear up just thinking about this fic, for all that it has a happy ending. The sheer amount of emotion and longing damalur packs into this is. SO MUCH.
Content warnings: N/A
“Side By Side” by GilShalos1. 71K words, rated Mature.
Ship: Cullen/Female Original Character
Rec: While DA has some excellent SI-fic, this isn’t quite that; as a story which follows a secondary character throughout the plot of Inquisition, this fic fully satisfied by outside POV and world-building cravings. Also, pining!
Content warnings: N/A
“such as iron & dragonbone” by torch. 138K words, rated Explicit.
Ship: Alistair/Male Cousland
Rec: One of my favorite game-retelling fics. This has just the right balance of canon plot and fannish exploration/expansion. I actually think I read this before I ever played Origins.
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
Yuletide signups close this week! For those who aren’t aware, Yuletide is a fanfic gift exchange for small & obscure fandoms. You volunteer to write one fic,1000+ words long, from an obscure fandom of your choice, and receive one in return. AO3 has an FAQ that should help if you have any questions. — Gav
Have a favorite one-off rec? Please send it our way! We’ll use it in a future list. Other fanworks—comics, vids, etc—are strongly encouraged as well. And if you have any interest in doing an entire rec list, explainer, or ship manifesto, please get in touch! elizabethandgav at gmail dot com.
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