The True History of Andraste - Now with Quest-verse!
I want to collate my thoughts on the Silmarils in Thedas somewhere, so where else but here?
So the real fault for this is simply that I named my Warden in my first game - a Female Elven Mage - my classic favourite combo, which I feel is somewhat ironic because it landed me with probably the most denigrated combination to exist the Thedas - Elenaria, after Elenarien, since I couldn't copy-paste accent marks in and use Elennárë. I think there's also a letter limit and Elenarien was a letter too long.
Honestly this has happened before. When I was trying to remake a Nathaniel sim that I was willing to let have the name, I did some genetic crosses with Andrion... and Andrion ended up with a younger brother. I used Mortimer Goth as a model to base Mareph on and now, due to giving Mort a goatee in an early game, Mareph has a beard as well.
I am also seriously going to name my Hawke Mareph. He has the look (the preset that all the official art has, at least). [17/12/14: I don't know so much now about "Mareph". I've grown ised to "Garrett" due to fanfic. Maybe shift Mareph to his middle name instead?]
But anyway, naming Elenaria had the various aspects of Kizár decide to adopt her in Ask.fm answers, and then that gave rise to me wondering how a silmaril could get to Thedas... and I connected it to a line in this piece about Elennárë and Lossanárë putting their heads together to work out if they could escape Angband by slipping into another timeline.
Well it went a lot further than escaping into a different timeline, they ended up somehow slipping right through the Threads of Fate into the Fade, and right out the other side into the material world of Thedas. Somehow I think, in Thedas' history, that happened very early on, possibly even before the First Blight, maybe even coinciding with the Tevinter magisters entering the Fade - an event that would have caused huge arcane effects, even beyond the mages being cursed into becoming the first darkspawn.
The silmarils got separated and landed in different areas, and ended up having different effects on history as a result.
The first one to make a move was Lossanárë, who gets found by Brona, a humble village woman. Along the way Brona reveals that she has had trouble getting pregnant and fears her husband will lay her aside if she cannot have children. Lossanárë examines her and says she can fix it, but asks a huge favour - she wants a human body to be able to live a life. Brona eventually agrees to allow her, if it means she can have children, and Lossanárë heals her reproductive problems. Brona keeps Lossanárë nearby the next time she goes to bed with her husband and Lossanárë ends up claiming the newly fertilized embryo for herself.
Much of Andraste's real preachings on the Maker were in fact Lossanárë's musing on how Thedas and Arda are connected, and whether Ilúvatar is the creator god of this world as well. Her theories also included the line of thinking that other gods like the Elven pantheon and even the Old gods are Ainur. As far as she tended to think, she was more inclined to think the Elven gods are loyal Ainur, while the Old Gods were from those Ainur who were turned to Melkor's tune during the Great Music.
Some of the ideas that are not given great credence by the modern Chantry were actually true - Andraste was a mage, and by the time she made her march against the Imperium, was so powerful she could cause some near-god-like effects. Her reasons for the fight against the Imperium could probably be viewed as political, she wanted freedom for her people, and extended that to the Elves she befriended as well. Rumours of her having an affair with Shartan, the Elven leader who became her ally, were totally wrong though, but they were based on the fact that she spent long nights sitting up with Shartan discussing history, religion, and debating cosmology. Maferath was fully aware of this past-time and was never really worried, since he'd sat in on enough of their discussions to know what went on between Andraste and Shartan.
But the betrayal still happened, and it probably leaned more towards the power-grab on Maferath's part than the prevalent "wife of the Maker" line of thinking, which was taking hold even then. Andraste thought it was a silly idea, but did believe she was here because Eru had a mission for her to carry out.
Andraste always carried her stone with her, usually tucked, hidden under her clothing. When she was captured, though she was searched, she created a repelling field of sorts, influencing her captors to not take the stone from her. After she burned, it was not really the ashes that made Havard see a vision, but the fact that he went to find her stone-self. As close as he had been to Maferath, he ended up one of the inner circle who knew about the stone and Andraste's claim that her true soul resides in it. He gathered the ashes on Lossanárë's word and he and the other who managed to survive escaped and headed for Alamarri lands, chased by Tevinter forces sent after them. The group hid in the mountains, eventually cornered and having to face off against the Imperium troops there, until Lossanárë lets loose with her own fire, killing a good portion of the Tevinter force and both amazing and terrifying the rest into desisting.
After that, the survivors of Andraste's inner circle decided to stay in the mountains, building the village of Haven and the temple complex. Lossanárë asked to be allowed to rest, and was hidden in the urn that contained the ashes of her human body. Her appearances in spirit form would grow rarer and rarer until she went into a long sleep that lasted a couple of hundred years. It was during that time that the dragon appeared and a cult dedicated to it gained hold in Haven.
The rock that the chamber where the urn is held has lyrium in it (this is canon), though the healing ability of the ashes predates being stored there. It is more Lossanárë's power being infused into them that does it, though after she eventually get removed (by Elenaria) the lyrium would probably sustain the magic she started.
A lot of Andraste's real statements about the Maker have been vastly corrupted, or even outright altered or deleted by the Chantry. All the parts about other worlds, about the Elven gods and the Old Gods was thrown out as ridiculous and/or rewritten as the story of the spirits of the Fade. The whole idea of Andraste being the Maker's Wife was an idea she thought silly, she more referred to herself as Ilúvatar's messenger. Her going to live with the Maker after her death was created out of the whole "Wife of the Maker" idea, but it has a very loose basis in some fact - after the death of her human body, Lossanárë's visits to the Fade changed, and instead of wandering the raw Fade in her dreams, she would find herself in a luxuriously furnished room. The room had no doors, but did have a couple of windows that looked out on the Fade, and the perspective they showed, Lossanárë to this day believes is the view from the Black City. The room also is completely unreachable by demons. She can only visit the rest of the Fade if she taps into someone else's dreams or visions.
***
Elenaria's story is a lot quieter. She was found by Elves and stayed with them down through the centuries, with the family she lived with eventually ending up in the Denerim Alienage. In a similar move to her sister before her, she found out the last of her line of keepers, a young elven woman, was having trouble getting pregnant and decided to help her. Maybe the idea of having a flesh body had been something the sisters discussed at one point because Elennárë ended up doing almost exactly the same thing, asking if her keeper would let her incarnate as her first child.
Elenaria showed magic at a very early age, and came to the notice of human authorities when a Denerim lord visited the Alienage and ended up calling in the Chantry, and the Circle. That was the first of a long line of difficulties Elenaria would have, since while the Circle mage who came to escort her was nice enough, the templar who was sent to act as escort was a belligerent bastard who had no problem with intimidating, threatening and being outright violent to a four-year-old child. It was only that they had a Chantry Mother with them that stopped the templar from doing more damage than just bruising.
Elenaria did her best to settle into the life of the tower, but after a few problem incidents, her temper got the best of her and she lashed out with her White Fire, causing the then-Commander of the templars to demand she be given the Right of Tranquility. The Right was approved by the Chantry, but while it was being conducted, Elenaria's White Fire flared up again, burning away the only partially complete lyrium Tranquility tattoo and burning the Templars present. The First Enchanter at the time used magic to block her memory and, having found out about her stone, removed it from her. There were two more attempts to Tranquilize her made, and even without her stone present, they both failed again. Any attempts to remove the stone from the Tower also met with a flare-up of White Fire.
With the last attempt, the First Enchanter also decided to block Elenaria's memory of the stone entirely, and though she felt unsettled, she eventually settled back into Tower life, none the wiser. She eventually took a path in her studies that would lead to the first steps of learning to be an Arcane Warrior, and came to the notice of Duncan as he was working to rebuild that Ferelden Grey Wardens. Irving was one of the enchanters who was on Elenaria's side, not believing the stone was a threat, if Elenaria was left unharmed. In fact, he had managed to obtain it from his predecessor and kept it to study it, secretly intending to eventually return it to Elenaria after her Harrowing, but in the mess with Jowan and Greagoir wanting to execute her (it was not solely because of Jowan he held a grudge, he had heard about the attempts to Tranquilize her, and though he didn't know about the stone, he believed there was something wrong with her), the returning of it went amiss.
Elenaria's Harrowing was odd, with her form in the Fade looking taller, prettier, with longer hair than the functional style she usually wore, and glowing with an inner light. She quickly worked out how to suppress it, making herself look as her body normally did, but as she started facing off against Fade spirits White Fire started coming to her with almost no thought.
Later, after the Ostagar attack, Flemeth would call her a strange sort, unusually radiant in her power.
White Fire would make random appearances all along the way, and Elenaria remains puzzled by it, up until the quest to cure Arl Eamon takes her to Haven and the temple. Once she reaches the chamber where the Urn is, she is drawn to the Urn almost as if controlled, and when intending to obtain the pinch of ashes she came for, ends up digging her whole hand in and pulling out a glowing sphere.
That is went Lossanárë appears, as a spirit. She takes the form she originally imagined for herself in Arda - a red-haired Elven woman who looks quite a bit like Tatië (you know I have a headcanon that Tata and Tatië are Finwë's parents) - and is all happy about having her sister back... but Elenaria is confused by it. Lossanárë ends up looking into her mind and can see the blocks, but is worried that her removing them might do damage to Elenaria's mind without the backup of Elenaria's stone-form present. She does however manage to uncover some of Elenaria's earliest memories of her stone which managed not to get caught under the block, because they were so old and vague.
***
I really need to replay the game from the start because I rejected Leliana as soon as I met her and I have ideas that maybe she and Lossanárë become buddies along the way, with Leliana fascinated by the real story of Andraste she is hearing from Lossanárë.
***
Elenaria would not fully gain back her memories of her true self until she returns to the Circle Tower and find her stone-form in Irving's storage chest, kept in a metal box that is later identified as lyrium-infused so as to shield most of the stone's power. Even before that however Elenaria is readily able to channel Lossanárë's power, learning as she goes to properly wield the White Fire, as well as picking up some of Andraste's tricks from her sister.
Lossanárë is actually all for encouraging Elenaria to pursue her interest in Alistair, believing that, before things started to go sour leading to his eventual betrayal, one of the best things in her life when she lived as Andraste was her relationship with Maferath, though she does hope such a situation does not happen to Elenaria.
In an ironic turn, Morrigan finds Lossanárë fascinating, more because Lossanárë is extremely critical of the modern Chantry and what they have turn her words into.
They eventually find Elenlossë is hidden away in Flemeth's keeping and has been for a very long time. Flemeth keeps her in a shielded box. It is actually an arrangement between them they agreed on, as despite Flemeth getting up to some things that would upset Elenlossë, Elenlossë is glad to have someone who is willing to keep her hidden and protected. As she ends up telling Elenaria and Lossanárë, being guarded by Flemeth reminded her a fair bit of Ravenér's intervention on their behalf, in Angband.
Along the way Elenaria develops a somewhat ill mood, and when Morrigan informs her of the the consequences of fighting the Archdemon, Elenaria sees it as a way to escape - leave behind her avatar and maybe see if she and her sisters can find a way back to Arda again. The problem is, Alistair is very displeased by Elenaria's initial refusal of the ritual, and goes behind her back to participate, doing so as a move to protect Elenaria. Elenaria doesn't find out until after the defeat of the Archdemon.
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Update: Elenaria becomes increasingly politically minded while facing the lead-up to the Landsmeet. With her darkening mood, she becomes more and more determined to make Alistair king, and though she doesn't admit to to Anora's face when she comments on such, Elenaria is wanting to set a Grey Warden on the throne, because she wants to leave Ferelden with someone who has the interests of ending the Blight in charge.
Lossanárë may or may not be guiding her along the way through the political mess, though Elenlossë remains quiet on the matter because her life has remained very sheltered, even with whatever Flemeth has told her over time. As a result, Elenaria pushes very hard to put Alistair in place, even to the extent of persuading him to agree with her manipulations, and organising the arranged marriage to Anora.
It is for political reasons Elenaria refuses to let Alistair fight and execute Loghain - if Anora's anger over Loghain's execution is going to be directed at anyone, Elenaria wants it pointed at her so as to set up her marriage to Alistair with at least slightly less trouble from the start. At this point Elenaria has only vaguely fatalistic thoughts, and even though she thinks she will die, is not willing to let Alistair go, on a personal level, partly because she feels it will hurt too much if he got it into his head to break things off right before the battle she thinks she will die in.
Edit: Quest-verse changes since Kélan is under Valandhir's control - He is, apparently, a castless. They met in the Deep Roads one the quest to find Branka. He eventually became a Grey Warden, and despite the research into a cure, what to his Calling.
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In a move that Elenaria thinks of as something of a revenge for it, Elenaria goes to Anora (who she organised for Alistair to marry) and proposes to help cure her fertility issues... if Anora will let Lossanárë and Elenlossë be her first two children. The long-term plan is for Lossanárë to go to the Circle Tower, while Elenlossë becomes the heir to the throne. As Mage-Templar relations get frostier over the years, this idea is shelved and Princess Alissa Theirin (Lossanárë) shows no outwards signs of magic. Plans change to having her become the Terna of Gwaren and maybe go into soldier training to back up Alana (Elenlossë).
***
Edit 17/12/14: I have wandered a bit on my thoughts about Elenaria's relationships. As of right now I don't think her relationship with Alistair survived Morrigan's Dark Ritual and her follow-up revenge of setting Anora up to be mother to Lossanárë and Elenlossë. Elenaria left for Vigil's Keep not long after the pregnancy was secure, but before Alistair found out. This may mean that he greeted her affectionately when he visited the Keep though. However he found out the exact deal going on with his daughters later and landed at the Vigil to get into a raging argument with Eleni, and after that their relationship cooled and took a while to return to friendship.
I have also come to a line of thought that Elenaria may have been considering responding to Anders' flirting, but then she got called to Wiesshaupt and by the time she came back he was gone, presumed dead.
I don't know about my thought about a possible fling with Nathaniel, though there seems an indication Kélan would have considered something but thought Elenaria was out of his reach. (3/1/15: He wasn't. He had a crush but made no move. The Redcliffe vision may have given him a sign of his soulmate. It certainly did for Elenaria - a vague image of a person with definite feelings attached. Nathaniel still might have happened.)
/Edit
Elenaria knew an Amell in the Ferelden Circle - Emilia Amell. She died during the "Broken Circle" events.
The two remaining Hawkes are descendants of Andraste and Maferath. It comes through Malcolm because it does not show up in any of the Amells Elenaria manages to meet. The Hawkes have a tiny spark of White Fire in their souls.
Well I am seeing Inquisition info and it means almost all my post-DA2 story gets massive revision. I have also thought up a number of small tidbits along the way I want to dump here as well.
Elenaria conscripted Jowan. She persuaded him to give up blood magic and built a spirit bond that would aid him doing so and help strengthen him in other types of magic. After Riordan's suggestion of conscripting Loghain, Elenaria speaks to him and has him do a Joining for Jowan. He survives. After the Battle of Denerim Jowan is assigned to Soldier's Peak, where he becomes partly an assistant to Avernus, and partly working with Drydens to restore the Keep as a secure Warden base.
Velanna pissed Elenaria off by trying to steal her silmaril, believing it to be an artifact of Arlathan when she overheard Elenaria saying it is of Elven crafting. After the attempt Elenaria put Velanna in the dungeon and by all indications she escaped during the darkspawn attack on the Keep. She has not been seen since and Elenaria does not particularly mourn her as her attitude of of Dalish superiority that had her insulting anything "shemlen", including calling Elenaria herself a "flat-ear" and "shemlen whore", on top of the berserk button of trying to steal her silmaril. The fastest way to piss Elenaria is trying to steal her stoneform. She is not shy about using her White Fire then.
Over the years Mother Dorothea, later to become Divine Justina V, is quietly leading the project of researching and restoring the Temple of the Sacred Ashes, collecting up and preserving the unedited books and documents found there of Andraste's real beliefs. Justina became a believer in the true story of Andraste Leliana learned from Lossanárë, but knows it is something that needs to be revealed slowly so as not to cause an uprising against her. Leliana is, amongst her other duties, the primary contact with Lossanárë on this. Having learned tengwar from Elenaria during the Blight, she uses that as a cypher to protect communications with any of the Silmarils.
When Alistair visits Kirkwall, Elenaria goes with him and acts as one of his bodyguards, before departing on a mission of her own when he returns to Ferelden. She briefly meets Hawke then the first time (and notices a spark of White Fire in him), and exchanges words with Anders, but does not demand he return to the Wardens.
It is on her way back south from the mission she went off on (possibly the early stages of researching the Calling) that she hears about the Kirkwall Rebellion. Further along her way south, when she sees the first refugees, she runs into an apostate mage, Daylen Amell. She offers him a place as a Warden and he goes with her back to Ferelden. Part of her reason is that she found out about her friend Emilia's background after her death in the Uldred's attempted rebellion, and that she had two siblings and feels she owes it to Emilia's memory to protect her brother, if he would allow it.
It is one the way back south at this point that she also meets Hawke and Anders again, and meets Bethany for the first time. She talks them into coming with her, giving them shelter for a while at Soldier's Peak.
When the first whispers of something trying to control Wardens starts being heard through the Fade, Elenaria orders all her Wardens to either to Denerim, Soldier's Peak (which remains high security and difficult to enter), or on missions that will hopefully keep them out of reach of whatever it is. Elenaria in turn has her own research project getting more serious, and she takes Anders, Jowan and Daylen with her to work on it, promising Hawke that she will protect the former. (weather having both Jowan and Daylen in the same place results in something... well so far I have three versions of Daylen's story where he's the Hero of Ferelden, and in all three he had a crush on Jowan. Only one version however ends up with them in a relationship with each other, though all three have Alistair/Jowan. That latter would never happen in Elenaria's 'verse, but Daylen/Jowan might.)
18/02/15: My fondness for Anders has waned a little and I am less inclined to the idea of him being with Elenaria on her quest. The other option is that she ordered Nathaniel to get Avernus somewhere safe and ordered Anders to go with that team. I do still think Jowan and Daylen are with her. Jowan has been working alongside Avernus for years so would probably be her expert on how the Taint works, and Daylen is probably good at healing (something Elenaria is not - she's a battlemage and sword-fighter). /Edit
27/6/15: I feel I failed to mention along the way that Kélan remains at Elenaria's side through everything. When she goes off on the various trips over the years, he goes with her, including the first visit to Weisshaupt, when Anders is driven from Amaranthine, looking for Morrigan, the research trip that coincides with the Kirkwall rebellion, the trip at the time the Breach opens. Usually Eleni shoves command onto Nathaniel when she's off - he is not overly fond of it but puts up with it anyway.
Also, minor note: Jowan goes by the name Levyn, and has done so ever since his Joining. Daylen/Jowan is also very much a yes. /Edit
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The letter Elenaria sends the Inquisitor has extra thoughts Elenaria contributes for the Inquisitor's consideration, including her thoughts on Justina V, Leliana, Morrian, and Hawke. She avoids mentioning that she has Anders with her. It also comes with a second letter for Leliana, written in Tengwar, giving Leliana a few more details about what Elenaria is up to. That one may admit to Anders, but only Leliana knows that.
Stroud dies, Hawke lives. He promised to return to Anders, and he made that promise while Elenaria was present.
Elenaria kinda doesn't regret the loss of the Orlesian Wardens. She feels the vast majority of Wardens outside Ferelden are obstructive and hidebound. She does feel a bit ashamed that she doesn't regret their subversion and deaths more, but she does believe that Orlais will now have a chance to rebuild an Order with a rush of new blood in it. (She also finds the leaders of the Order in Weisshaupt obstructive and hidebound, and a lot of other Warden bases have a degree of that attitude as well.)
However I have to say Elenaria is growing more disillusioned by Thedas, feeling the murky morals of the world is affecting her too much. Her quest to cure the Calling may have been a little a way she could remove herself from too much of that, getting herself involved in something non-political and over-all helpful. She desperately wants to return to Arda and has grown more dependent on Kélan to help her keep perspective. Away from her sisters she feels he helps her keep a little in touch with Arda, as well as his friendship simply being a comfort.
I am currently very much in favour of Leliana as Divine Victoria, and given my growing idea of my Inquisitor Trevelyan, I think she would be too. She'd be okay with Cassandra, but not Vivienne.
26/02/15:
The identity of the Inquisitor has been totally revised for Quest-verse. It is Shangraile, the ancestor of Shakurán who served in Angband. He was kind to the Silmarils and became friends with them. Elennárë and Elenlossë saved his life twice when the forces of Valinor assaulted the fortress, the first time healing him after he was caught in a rockfall, the second when Eonwë found them and they asked him to spare Shangraile.
Shangraile returned east and lived the rest of his life, always dreaming of the Silmarils singing for the rest of his life, but when he died, he woke in the Fade and walked out of it into Thedas, just after the opening of the Breach. Leliana and Cassandra arranged for him to be known by the name of someone who was at the Conclave, Ciaran Trevelyan, and he became the leader of the Inquisition, He saved the Mages and backed Cassandra as Divine.
Leliana worked out he was from Elenaria's homeworld and helped him adjust.
He and Elenaria never got a chance to meet in Thedas due to their respective positions and duties.
Cassandra came around to accept the information about the true word of Andraste but was aware the it would cause schisms in the Chantry if released too fast, so decided to release it in small pieces. Leliana was all for releasing it fast, which might have made more problems. (Edit because of post-Tresspasser revisions.)
Shangraile has found a way back to Arda through a Tear in Ost-In-Edhil that opened into the Fade. It was a combination of the Soul Sacrifice and an Arcane Well Annatar and Celebrimbor were able to create. Elenaria, Shangraile and the spirit of Jaerindar - the Easterling who made the Soul Sacrifice - closed the Tear, with Jaerindar staying inside it. Elenaria and Kíli then closed the Arcane Well because it was a badly made one and as much a wound in the world as the Tear was. Shangraile is now traveling with them, going by the name of Ciaran.
Shangraile likely followed the Silmarils to Thedas and back to Arda due to a bond created partly because he owed them his life and partly due to Elennárë leaving traces of her power behind when healing him.
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21/2/15: I finally put into words an idea detailed as Not a Friend of Red Jenny. Canon basics this is set around is that a random ambush turns up a letter that gives the "Friend of Red Jenny" quest, which involves taking a Small Paint Box from Irving's desk and delivering it to a house in Denerim. DA:I reveals that Sera lived in Denerim as a child and once had a Small Painted Box as a toy.
The basic plot of this idea is that the Small Painted Box was what Irving kept Elenaria's Silmaril in. However at the time of Uldred's takeover Irving picked it up and had it in his robe, hoping he could borrow some of Elennárë's power to fight the Blood Mages. Elenaria saved the day and Irving eventually gave her her stoneform, in the box, after she returned from the Temple of Sacred Ashes.
Elenaria became suspicious of who wanted the box but would not get that question answered for over ten years, when, after a run-in with Sera while visiting Skyhold, she ends up in a confrontation with her aunt Melendiel - Ethiliel's sister. Mel resented that Elennárë chose Ethiliel over her, and not knowing Elenaria was Elennárë's puppet body, wanted to steal the stone back, as Ethiliel's "mage brat" child had ended up taking it to the Circle Tower with her, and Mel thought the stone falling into Mage hands was Bad News.
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Edit 16/10/15: Now I am not fully informed about all the details of Tresspasser, but what I do know is that it happens two years after the final defeat of Corypheus. The governments of both Orlais and Ferelden are not happy about the Inquisition's continued presence, the Anchor in the Inquisitor's hand is playing up, the Qunari attack the Inquisitor, and Solas has gathered support and has agents who have infiltrated the Inquisition. Solas seems, from what I know, to actually set out to help the Inquisitor fight the Qunari, but apparently reveals that his long-term goal is to lead a revolution amongst the Elves and by the sounds of it eventually tear down the Veil and restore what was lost when he first erected it.
The Evanuris - the Elvhen gods, were originally mortals who gained massive power due to an unspecified war. Solas turned on the other Evanuris after they turned on and killed Mythal, creating the Veil and sealing them away in the Fade. Solas claimed they would have destroyed the world if left free.
Firestar events: Shangraile never trusted Solas, suspicious of him right from the start. When faced with him again Shangraile was willing to die rather than accept any further favours from him so refuses to let Solas near his hand. The confrontation ends up with Shangraile dead and his soul moving on to another world, another life and the next step of his journey.
I have settled on a story for the rest of Elenaria's time in Thedas as well. She managed to find a cure to the Calling, though the search took her a good few more years. However in the years after the Inquisition Vivienne gains more position with Divine Victoria (Cassandra) and eventually orchestrates an attack on the College of Enchanters, massacring them.
Cassandra ends up refusing to accept the information and the true history of Andraste, setting out to destroy it. Leliana secretly gets the originals to safety but for the time being they are declared heresy. Cassandra tries to demand Eru Náro be handed over to the Chantry, with an implied threat of war if it isn't, but in a war of letters Alissa, now Terna of Gwaren, argues that by Cassandra's declaration of heresy, Eru Náro is only the spellcasting sword of "Some Random Arcane Warrior" from Andraste's approximate time and that Cassandra has no proof that it is anything otherwise. Alissa may have reworked the enchantments in Eru Náro so only someone with White Fire could wield it. Given that she was the one who enchanted it originally, and did so in the Ardan manner of enchanting, it is likely something that once she was gone could not be changed without destroying the sword, and her and Alana's descendants would not care to do so as the sword is their inheritance.
It is soon after this (and also soon after Kélan's departure on his Calling) that, under Vivienne's command, the Ferelden Circle of Magi attacks Soldier's Peak, where Elenaria, Levyn and Daylen have kept a group of independent mages. Levyn collected apostates right from the start, giving them protection for as long as they wished, dealing with those too unstable who resorted to blood magic or got possessed, and event recruiting a few into the Wardens, however the Mage-Templar war boosted the numbers to over thirty mages of various ages, including Bethany Hawke, who had stayed there after Garrett set out on his investigation of the red lyrium. In the attack, both Levyn and Daylen are killed. Some get out, including Bethany's son, but most are killed.
In the immediate aftermath a party of foreign Wardens, probably made up of mostly Orlesians, turn up at Vigil's Keep and attempt to depose Elenaria and Nathaniel and take it over. Elenaria hands her stone to Nathaniel with orders to send it to Alissa in Gwaren and then proceeds to bait the foreign interlopers into fighting her, setting herself up to die and taking them down with her in a Firestorm made of White Fire.
After a bit of arguing between Nathaniel and Elenaria's spiritform, he does as she asked and has her stoneform delivered to Gwaren.
In the years after Elennárë remains in the background as her sisters defend Ferelden and make sure their family is firmly established. The last thing they can do for Thedas is to finish their original plan to leave behind some strong White Fire users who may one day fight for the Light after their return to Arda.
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27/6/15: I have a general outline in my head for an Alt-verse - instead of going off to do more research into the cure for the Calling, Elenaria secretly goes to the Conclave. After going up to the temple to speak to Justina and to visit Maferath, she returns to Haven when the false Calling (which she could tell was not quite right because she had briefly been spoken to by Urmthiel) got strong enough for her to worry for Kélan, Levyn and Daylen's conditions. As a result, she is not in the temple when the explosion happens and thus survives and Shangraile still ends up with the Anchor.
Elenaria does not know Shangraile (he's after her time in Thedas, in her POV), but she recognises that he's an Easterling from Arda. He in turn is quick to realise who she is and instantly trusts her, with her becoming one of his advisers.
So far I only have a few small ideas in this Alt - one of the mages in Fiona's group is Solona Amell, Daylen's elder sister, Elenaria instantly suspects something is off about Blackwall, but when the truth comes out respects that he was trying to atone and takes him under her wing as a Warden recruit.
She would initially distrust Iron Bull because what she knows of the Qun makes her dislike it, and would be rather viciously pleased to opt to save the Chargers. She would initially distrust Dorian as he's Tevinter and expresses a casual support of slavery, but probably comes to tolerate him later. Vivienne's politics annoy and offend her and she would stand opposed to her pro-Circle stance at every turn (the system is broken and even a clean-up of it would not fix it, it needs a total overhaul). Cole might also cause her concern to start with - he's a spirit and she's seen what became of Justice. Given that he is not actually possessing a person she might come to tolerate him though, but he might be able to see that she is different and his random comments might get her back up because she doesn't want him airing it in public.
But the one I have the most ideas about is Solas - I have this line of thought about Solas taking an interest in her and trying to subtly woo her and directing his thoughts about Elven culture her way. She doesn't care all that much though, as she has only really known post-Tevinter slave culture turned City Elf culture and past experiences with pushy stuck-up Dalish has her not very receptive of them either (it's really a pity she never met Merrill, though she might be put off a bit by the blood magic and casual attitude towards demons). Solas however pushes it too far by trying to appear in one of her dreams, causing her to first attack him within the dream with her fire, then waking up and hunting him down to threaten him with it in the waking world too. She will not stand for someone to get that close to her soul - at least not someone she already distrusts (she does have spirit bonds with Levyn, Daylen and Kélan, through which she is holding off the false Calling, but she knows and trusts them and considers the practically adopted brothers).
(This is a plot that really needs a playthrough to back it up.)
Bonus Notes:
The elven slave that found Elennárë was named Neria Surana.
The Suranas became partially matriarchal - the Bearer was always the head of the family, unless she moved city, any elven man marrying the Bearer took her name, though any non-Bearer Surana girl took her husband's.
Choice of Bearer was always up to Elennárë, she accepted the daughter she got on the best with.
Elennárë was sometimes referred to as the secret Keeper of the Surana clan. She and the Surana family treated this as a joke mostly, because Elennárë only knew as much of Elvhen history as the family did, since she only arrived in Thedas during the last century or two of the Ancient Age.
The last few moves of the Surana line have taken them from somewhere in Orlais, to Highever, and then to Denerim.
Elenaria's parents are name Ethiliel and Theran Surana - Ethiliel being her Bearer, Theran having taken his wife's name according to Surana tradition. After Elenaria, they went on to have two more children, a boy named Nolo and a girl named Aralissë. Both were already born by the time Elenaria was revealed as a mage and taken to the Circle Tower.
Family given names in the Suranas show signs of being influenced by Quenya. They are often not exact Quenya, but they show a style derived from it.
Ethiliel had an older sister named Melendiel - "Mel" for short. Mel became a Friend of Red Jenny and had a longstanding issue with being passed over as Bearer in favour of Ethiliel. Mel was the one who set up the contract for obtaining the Small Painted Box. She did so because previous investigation had found that Irving kept Elenaria's stoneform in that box.
Theran was originally a Tabris. He is a cousin of Cyrion Tabris, therefore Elenaria is a second cousin of the City Elf Origin.
Elenaria was taken to the Circle at the age of four, after an incident where someone tried to hit her, in public, in front of Chantry officials (it may even have been a templar who tried to hit her). She luckily had her stoneform in her possession at the time.
Aralissë only avoided being amongst the girls abducted from her cousin's wedding because she was sick that day, and bed-bound.
Ethiliel and Aralissë were in the cages when Elenaria went through the slaver operation and destroyed it. It was fortunate for her she didn't lose anyone in her family, but Elenaria still felt helpless when it came to those who were lost.
After the Fifth Blight, when Elenaria arranged for Anora to be mother to Lossanárë and Elenlossë, Anora hired Aralissë to serve as the personal maid for Alana and Alissa. This ends up being quite a good job for her, and she ends up staying on as Alana's personal maid right through her life.
Here's a few bits I wrote, some of which my thoughts have been a bit revised since I wrote these.
Firestar of Thedas - Elenaria talks briefly to Anders - set not long after the start of Awakening.
Fire-Star of Thedas: Discussing Andraste - Anders once heard that a piece of Andraste's shinbone was sold in the Amaranthine market. Elenaria puts forth her opinion on that.
Death of A Guardian - Alissa Theirin reacts to one particular death caused by the Breach opening.
RB-verse - Dreams of Grey - Kizár dreams of Elenaria.
***
Elenaria's timeline is now officially linked to Quest-verse. As of 14/01/15 I moved the Quest-verse links list here.
Quest-verse intro - How Kíli and Kizár met, and discussing the up-coming quest.
Kíli and Kizár's thoughts in Bag End, and a talk with Dwalin.
Storytime with Balin
In Rivendell
The Puzzle of Dreams
At Beorn's: Wounds and Visions
Mirkwood
The Elf-Guard
Laketown
Dreams of Another Life.
The Grey Wardens of Erebor
The Defeat of Smaug
After the Battle of Five Armies
Quest-verse Snipet - a solo about how other lands hear about what happened at Erebor.
The Smith of Rivendell
Quest-verse: Coming Home - Returning to Cardemir.
Stone-verse: Taking Shape - while making a frame for Elennárë, she and Kíli cross worlds. Elenaria and Lossanárë reassure and trade memories with Elennárë and the two Kílis talks a little.
Kizár's Thoughts - particuarlay about [Stone-verse] Elennárë.
Talking About Other Lives - Kíli and Kizár talk about what happened while he was forging the shapeshifting rings.
The Turn South - Time has come to split paths with the returning Exiles.
Memories of the Living and the Dead.
The Veiled City.
The Tear - Kíli and Elenaria go to heal the Tear in the central plaza of Ost-In-Edhil and meet Jircanor and the spirit of Jaerindar. Someone else comes through - Shangraile aka Inquisitor Ciaran Trevelyan.
Crossing the Shire - Meeting Rangers on the border of the Shire, and some talk after.
Sailing To Himring - Heading for the island of Himring, to meet it's "queen".
Family Dinner - Trading tales of where everyone has been.
Solo: Kizár's thoughts on the island and her family.
Fion - Egandír brings news of a dwarf come to the coastal village.
Sisters work on sword designs. (Kizár & Lossanárë)
Elenlossë's Thoughts.
Contemplating the Journey East
Arrival and greetings at Erebor.
Elenaria's memories are hurting her, Shangraile helps.
Dáin Ironfoot's party comes to Erebor and at the welcoming reception things are discussed, both about Grísela and about Thorin and Fíli.
At the coronation party Kizár and Shangraile dance, and plot.
While the coronation celebration carries on, two strange dwarves come to Erebor.
Kizár goes to talk with Anvari about his family.
An attempt is made to drug Kizár that results in her in a bad situation.
***
Firestar of Thedas Alt-verse. - Where Elenaria went to the Conclave and in the aftermath of it's destruction checks on the still unconscious Shangraile.
So the real fault for this is simply that I named my Warden in my first game - a Female Elven Mage - my classic favourite combo, which I feel is somewhat ironic because it landed me with probably the most denigrated combination to exist the Thedas - Elenaria, after Elenarien, since I couldn't copy-paste accent marks in and use Elennárë. I think there's also a letter limit and Elenarien was a letter too long.
Honestly this has happened before. When I was trying to remake a Nathaniel sim that I was willing to let have the name, I did some genetic crosses with Andrion... and Andrion ended up with a younger brother. I used Mortimer Goth as a model to base Mareph on and now, due to giving Mort a goatee in an early game, Mareph has a beard as well.
I am also seriously going to name my Hawke Mareph. He has the look (the preset that all the official art has, at least). [17/12/14: I don't know so much now about "Mareph". I've grown ised to "Garrett" due to fanfic. Maybe shift Mareph to his middle name instead?]
But anyway, naming Elenaria had the various aspects of Kizár decide to adopt her in Ask.fm answers, and then that gave rise to me wondering how a silmaril could get to Thedas... and I connected it to a line in this piece about Elennárë and Lossanárë putting their heads together to work out if they could escape Angband by slipping into another timeline.
Well it went a lot further than escaping into a different timeline, they ended up somehow slipping right through the Threads of Fate into the Fade, and right out the other side into the material world of Thedas. Somehow I think, in Thedas' history, that happened very early on, possibly even before the First Blight, maybe even coinciding with the Tevinter magisters entering the Fade - an event that would have caused huge arcane effects, even beyond the mages being cursed into becoming the first darkspawn.
The silmarils got separated and landed in different areas, and ended up having different effects on history as a result.
The first one to make a move was Lossanárë, who gets found by Brona, a humble village woman. Along the way Brona reveals that she has had trouble getting pregnant and fears her husband will lay her aside if she cannot have children. Lossanárë examines her and says she can fix it, but asks a huge favour - she wants a human body to be able to live a life. Brona eventually agrees to allow her, if it means she can have children, and Lossanárë heals her reproductive problems. Brona keeps Lossanárë nearby the next time she goes to bed with her husband and Lossanárë ends up claiming the newly fertilized embryo for herself.
Much of Andraste's real preachings on the Maker were in fact Lossanárë's musing on how Thedas and Arda are connected, and whether Ilúvatar is the creator god of this world as well. Her theories also included the line of thinking that other gods like the Elven pantheon and even the Old gods are Ainur. As far as she tended to think, she was more inclined to think the Elven gods are loyal Ainur, while the Old Gods were from those Ainur who were turned to Melkor's tune during the Great Music.
Some of the ideas that are not given great credence by the modern Chantry were actually true - Andraste was a mage, and by the time she made her march against the Imperium, was so powerful she could cause some near-god-like effects. Her reasons for the fight against the Imperium could probably be viewed as political, she wanted freedom for her people, and extended that to the Elves she befriended as well. Rumours of her having an affair with Shartan, the Elven leader who became her ally, were totally wrong though, but they were based on the fact that she spent long nights sitting up with Shartan discussing history, religion, and debating cosmology. Maferath was fully aware of this past-time and was never really worried, since he'd sat in on enough of their discussions to know what went on between Andraste and Shartan.
But the betrayal still happened, and it probably leaned more towards the power-grab on Maferath's part than the prevalent "wife of the Maker" line of thinking, which was taking hold even then. Andraste thought it was a silly idea, but did believe she was here because Eru had a mission for her to carry out.
Andraste always carried her stone with her, usually tucked, hidden under her clothing. When she was captured, though she was searched, she created a repelling field of sorts, influencing her captors to not take the stone from her. After she burned, it was not really the ashes that made Havard see a vision, but the fact that he went to find her stone-self. As close as he had been to Maferath, he ended up one of the inner circle who knew about the stone and Andraste's claim that her true soul resides in it. He gathered the ashes on Lossanárë's word and he and the other who managed to survive escaped and headed for Alamarri lands, chased by Tevinter forces sent after them. The group hid in the mountains, eventually cornered and having to face off against the Imperium troops there, until Lossanárë lets loose with her own fire, killing a good portion of the Tevinter force and both amazing and terrifying the rest into desisting.
After that, the survivors of Andraste's inner circle decided to stay in the mountains, building the village of Haven and the temple complex. Lossanárë asked to be allowed to rest, and was hidden in the urn that contained the ashes of her human body. Her appearances in spirit form would grow rarer and rarer until she went into a long sleep that lasted a couple of hundred years. It was during that time that the dragon appeared and a cult dedicated to it gained hold in Haven.
The rock that the chamber where the urn is held has lyrium in it (this is canon), though the healing ability of the ashes predates being stored there. It is more Lossanárë's power being infused into them that does it, though after she eventually get removed (by Elenaria) the lyrium would probably sustain the magic she started.
A lot of Andraste's real statements about the Maker have been vastly corrupted, or even outright altered or deleted by the Chantry. All the parts about other worlds, about the Elven gods and the Old Gods was thrown out as ridiculous and/or rewritten as the story of the spirits of the Fade. The whole idea of Andraste being the Maker's Wife was an idea she thought silly, she more referred to herself as Ilúvatar's messenger. Her going to live with the Maker after her death was created out of the whole "Wife of the Maker" idea, but it has a very loose basis in some fact - after the death of her human body, Lossanárë's visits to the Fade changed, and instead of wandering the raw Fade in her dreams, she would find herself in a luxuriously furnished room. The room had no doors, but did have a couple of windows that looked out on the Fade, and the perspective they showed, Lossanárë to this day believes is the view from the Black City. The room also is completely unreachable by demons. She can only visit the rest of the Fade if she taps into someone else's dreams or visions.
***
Elenaria's story is a lot quieter. She was found by Elves and stayed with them down through the centuries, with the family she lived with eventually ending up in the Denerim Alienage. In a similar move to her sister before her, she found out the last of her line of keepers, a young elven woman, was having trouble getting pregnant and decided to help her. Maybe the idea of having a flesh body had been something the sisters discussed at one point because Elennárë ended up doing almost exactly the same thing, asking if her keeper would let her incarnate as her first child.
Elenaria showed magic at a very early age, and came to the notice of human authorities when a Denerim lord visited the Alienage and ended up calling in the Chantry, and the Circle. That was the first of a long line of difficulties Elenaria would have, since while the Circle mage who came to escort her was nice enough, the templar who was sent to act as escort was a belligerent bastard who had no problem with intimidating, threatening and being outright violent to a four-year-old child. It was only that they had a Chantry Mother with them that stopped the templar from doing more damage than just bruising.
Elenaria did her best to settle into the life of the tower, but after a few problem incidents, her temper got the best of her and she lashed out with her White Fire, causing the then-Commander of the templars to demand she be given the Right of Tranquility. The Right was approved by the Chantry, but while it was being conducted, Elenaria's White Fire flared up again, burning away the only partially complete lyrium Tranquility tattoo and burning the Templars present. The First Enchanter at the time used magic to block her memory and, having found out about her stone, removed it from her. There were two more attempts to Tranquilize her made, and even without her stone present, they both failed again. Any attempts to remove the stone from the Tower also met with a flare-up of White Fire.
With the last attempt, the First Enchanter also decided to block Elenaria's memory of the stone entirely, and though she felt unsettled, she eventually settled back into Tower life, none the wiser. She eventually took a path in her studies that would lead to the first steps of learning to be an Arcane Warrior, and came to the notice of Duncan as he was working to rebuild that Ferelden Grey Wardens. Irving was one of the enchanters who was on Elenaria's side, not believing the stone was a threat, if Elenaria was left unharmed. In fact, he had managed to obtain it from his predecessor and kept it to study it, secretly intending to eventually return it to Elenaria after her Harrowing, but in the mess with Jowan and Greagoir wanting to execute her (it was not solely because of Jowan he held a grudge, he had heard about the attempts to Tranquilize her, and though he didn't know about the stone, he believed there was something wrong with her), the returning of it went amiss.
Elenaria's Harrowing was odd, with her form in the Fade looking taller, prettier, with longer hair than the functional style she usually wore, and glowing with an inner light. She quickly worked out how to suppress it, making herself look as her body normally did, but as she started facing off against Fade spirits White Fire started coming to her with almost no thought.
Later, after the Ostagar attack, Flemeth would call her a strange sort, unusually radiant in her power.
White Fire would make random appearances all along the way, and Elenaria remains puzzled by it, up until the quest to cure Arl Eamon takes her to Haven and the temple. Once she reaches the chamber where the Urn is, she is drawn to the Urn almost as if controlled, and when intending to obtain the pinch of ashes she came for, ends up digging her whole hand in and pulling out a glowing sphere.
That is went Lossanárë appears, as a spirit. She takes the form she originally imagined for herself in Arda - a red-haired Elven woman who looks quite a bit like Tatië (you know I have a headcanon that Tata and Tatië are Finwë's parents) - and is all happy about having her sister back... but Elenaria is confused by it. Lossanárë ends up looking into her mind and can see the blocks, but is worried that her removing them might do damage to Elenaria's mind without the backup of Elenaria's stone-form present. She does however manage to uncover some of Elenaria's earliest memories of her stone which managed not to get caught under the block, because they were so old and vague.
***
I really need to replay the game from the start because I rejected Leliana as soon as I met her and I have ideas that maybe she and Lossanárë become buddies along the way, with Leliana fascinated by the real story of Andraste she is hearing from Lossanárë.
***
Elenaria would not fully gain back her memories of her true self until she returns to the Circle Tower and find her stone-form in Irving's storage chest, kept in a metal box that is later identified as lyrium-infused so as to shield most of the stone's power. Even before that however Elenaria is readily able to channel Lossanárë's power, learning as she goes to properly wield the White Fire, as well as picking up some of Andraste's tricks from her sister.
Lossanárë is actually all for encouraging Elenaria to pursue her interest in Alistair, believing that, before things started to go sour leading to his eventual betrayal, one of the best things in her life when she lived as Andraste was her relationship with Maferath, though she does hope such a situation does not happen to Elenaria.
In an ironic turn, Morrigan finds Lossanárë fascinating, more because Lossanárë is extremely critical of the modern Chantry and what they have turn her words into.
They eventually find Elenlossë is hidden away in Flemeth's keeping and has been for a very long time. Flemeth keeps her in a shielded box. It is actually an arrangement between them they agreed on, as despite Flemeth getting up to some things that would upset Elenlossë, Elenlossë is glad to have someone who is willing to keep her hidden and protected. As she ends up telling Elenaria and Lossanárë, being guarded by Flemeth reminded her a fair bit of Ravenér's intervention on their behalf, in Angband.
Along the way Elenaria develops a somewhat ill mood, and when Morrigan informs her of the the consequences of fighting the Archdemon, Elenaria sees it as a way to escape - leave behind her avatar and maybe see if she and her sisters can find a way back to Arda again. The problem is, Alistair is very displeased by Elenaria's initial refusal of the ritual, and goes behind her back to participate, doing so as a move to protect Elenaria. Elenaria doesn't find out until after the defeat of the Archdemon.
---
Update: Elenaria becomes increasingly politically minded while facing the lead-up to the Landsmeet. With her darkening mood, she becomes more and more determined to make Alistair king, and though she doesn't admit to to Anora's face when she comments on such, Elenaria is wanting to set a Grey Warden on the throne, because she wants to leave Ferelden with someone who has the interests of ending the Blight in charge.
Lossanárë may or may not be guiding her along the way through the political mess, though Elenlossë remains quiet on the matter because her life has remained very sheltered, even with whatever Flemeth has told her over time. As a result, Elenaria pushes very hard to put Alistair in place, even to the extent of persuading him to agree with her manipulations, and organising the arranged marriage to Anora.
It is for political reasons Elenaria refuses to let Alistair fight and execute Loghain - if Anora's anger over Loghain's execution is going to be directed at anyone, Elenaria wants it pointed at her so as to set up her marriage to Alistair with at least slightly less trouble from the start. At this point Elenaria has only vaguely fatalistic thoughts, and even though she thinks she will die, is not willing to let Alistair go, on a personal level, partly because she feels it will hurt too much if he got it into his head to break things off right before the battle she thinks she will die in.
Edit: Quest-verse changes since Kélan is under Valandhir's control - He is, apparently, a castless. They met in the Deep Roads one the quest to find Branka. He eventually became a Grey Warden, and despite the research into a cure, what to his Calling.
---
In a move that Elenaria thinks of as something of a revenge for it, Elenaria goes to Anora (who she organised for Alistair to marry) and proposes to help cure her fertility issues... if Anora will let Lossanárë and Elenlossë be her first two children. The long-term plan is for Lossanárë to go to the Circle Tower, while Elenlossë becomes the heir to the throne. As Mage-Templar relations get frostier over the years, this idea is shelved and Princess Alissa Theirin (Lossanárë) shows no outwards signs of magic. Plans change to having her become the Terna of Gwaren and maybe go into soldier training to back up Alana (Elenlossë).
***
Edit 17/12/14: I have wandered a bit on my thoughts about Elenaria's relationships. As of right now I don't think her relationship with Alistair survived Morrigan's Dark Ritual and her follow-up revenge of setting Anora up to be mother to Lossanárë and Elenlossë. Elenaria left for Vigil's Keep not long after the pregnancy was secure, but before Alistair found out. This may mean that he greeted her affectionately when he visited the Keep though. However he found out the exact deal going on with his daughters later and landed at the Vigil to get into a raging argument with Eleni, and after that their relationship cooled and took a while to return to friendship.
I have also come to a line of thought that Elenaria may have been considering responding to Anders' flirting, but then she got called to Wiesshaupt and by the time she came back he was gone, presumed dead.
I don't know about my thought about a possible fling with Nathaniel, though there seems an indication Kélan would have considered something but thought Elenaria was out of his reach. (3/1/15: He wasn't. He had a crush but made no move. The Redcliffe vision may have given him a sign of his soulmate. It certainly did for Elenaria - a vague image of a person with definite feelings attached. Nathaniel still might have happened.)
/Edit
Elenaria knew an Amell in the Ferelden Circle - Emilia Amell. She died during the "Broken Circle" events.
The two remaining Hawkes are descendants of Andraste and Maferath. It comes through Malcolm because it does not show up in any of the Amells Elenaria manages to meet. The Hawkes have a tiny spark of White Fire in their souls.
Well I am seeing Inquisition info and it means almost all my post-DA2 story gets massive revision. I have also thought up a number of small tidbits along the way I want to dump here as well.
Elenaria conscripted Jowan. She persuaded him to give up blood magic and built a spirit bond that would aid him doing so and help strengthen him in other types of magic. After Riordan's suggestion of conscripting Loghain, Elenaria speaks to him and has him do a Joining for Jowan. He survives. After the Battle of Denerim Jowan is assigned to Soldier's Peak, where he becomes partly an assistant to Avernus, and partly working with Drydens to restore the Keep as a secure Warden base.
Velanna pissed Elenaria off by trying to steal her silmaril, believing it to be an artifact of Arlathan when she overheard Elenaria saying it is of Elven crafting. After the attempt Elenaria put Velanna in the dungeon and by all indications she escaped during the darkspawn attack on the Keep. She has not been seen since and Elenaria does not particularly mourn her as her attitude of of Dalish superiority that had her insulting anything "shemlen", including calling Elenaria herself a "flat-ear" and "shemlen whore", on top of the berserk button of trying to steal her silmaril. The fastest way to piss Elenaria is trying to steal her stoneform. She is not shy about using her White Fire then.
Over the years Mother Dorothea, later to become Divine Justina V, is quietly leading the project of researching and restoring the Temple of the Sacred Ashes, collecting up and preserving the unedited books and documents found there of Andraste's real beliefs. Justina became a believer in the true story of Andraste Leliana learned from Lossanárë, but knows it is something that needs to be revealed slowly so as not to cause an uprising against her. Leliana is, amongst her other duties, the primary contact with Lossanárë on this. Having learned tengwar from Elenaria during the Blight, she uses that as a cypher to protect communications with any of the Silmarils.
When Alistair visits Kirkwall, Elenaria goes with him and acts as one of his bodyguards, before departing on a mission of her own when he returns to Ferelden. She briefly meets Hawke then the first time (and notices a spark of White Fire in him), and exchanges words with Anders, but does not demand he return to the Wardens.
It is on her way back south from the mission she went off on (possibly the early stages of researching the Calling) that she hears about the Kirkwall Rebellion. Further along her way south, when she sees the first refugees, she runs into an apostate mage, Daylen Amell. She offers him a place as a Warden and he goes with her back to Ferelden. Part of her reason is that she found out about her friend Emilia's background after her death in the Uldred's attempted rebellion, and that she had two siblings and feels she owes it to Emilia's memory to protect her brother, if he would allow it.
It is one the way back south at this point that she also meets Hawke and Anders again, and meets Bethany for the first time. She talks them into coming with her, giving them shelter for a while at Soldier's Peak.
When the first whispers of something trying to control Wardens starts being heard through the Fade, Elenaria orders all her Wardens to either to Denerim, Soldier's Peak (which remains high security and difficult to enter), or on missions that will hopefully keep them out of reach of whatever it is. Elenaria in turn has her own research project getting more serious, and she takes Anders, Jowan and Daylen with her to work on it, promising Hawke that she will protect the former. (weather having both Jowan and Daylen in the same place results in something... well so far I have three versions of Daylen's story where he's the Hero of Ferelden, and in all three he had a crush on Jowan. Only one version however ends up with them in a relationship with each other, though all three have Alistair/Jowan. That latter would never happen in Elenaria's 'verse, but Daylen/Jowan might.)
18/02/15: My fondness for Anders has waned a little and I am less inclined to the idea of him being with Elenaria on her quest. The other option is that she ordered Nathaniel to get Avernus somewhere safe and ordered Anders to go with that team. I do still think Jowan and Daylen are with her. Jowan has been working alongside Avernus for years so would probably be her expert on how the Taint works, and Daylen is probably good at healing (something Elenaria is not - she's a battlemage and sword-fighter). /Edit
27/6/15: I feel I failed to mention along the way that Kélan remains at Elenaria's side through everything. When she goes off on the various trips over the years, he goes with her, including the first visit to Weisshaupt, when Anders is driven from Amaranthine, looking for Morrigan, the research trip that coincides with the Kirkwall rebellion, the trip at the time the Breach opens. Usually Eleni shoves command onto Nathaniel when she's off - he is not overly fond of it but puts up with it anyway.
Also, minor note: Jowan goes by the name Levyn, and has done so ever since his Joining. Daylen/Jowan is also very much a yes. /Edit
________________________________________________________________
The letter Elenaria sends the Inquisitor has extra thoughts Elenaria contributes for the Inquisitor's consideration, including her thoughts on Justina V, Leliana, Morrian, and Hawke. She avoids mentioning that she has Anders with her. It also comes with a second letter for Leliana, written in Tengwar, giving Leliana a few more details about what Elenaria is up to. That one may admit to Anders, but only Leliana knows that.
Stroud dies, Hawke lives. He promised to return to Anders, and he made that promise while Elenaria was present.
Elenaria kinda doesn't regret the loss of the Orlesian Wardens. She feels the vast majority of Wardens outside Ferelden are obstructive and hidebound. She does feel a bit ashamed that she doesn't regret their subversion and deaths more, but she does believe that Orlais will now have a chance to rebuild an Order with a rush of new blood in it. (She also finds the leaders of the Order in Weisshaupt obstructive and hidebound, and a lot of other Warden bases have a degree of that attitude as well.)
However I have to say Elenaria is growing more disillusioned by Thedas, feeling the murky morals of the world is affecting her too much. Her quest to cure the Calling may have been a little a way she could remove herself from too much of that, getting herself involved in something non-political and over-all helpful. She desperately wants to return to Arda and has grown more dependent on Kélan to help her keep perspective. Away from her sisters she feels he helps her keep a little in touch with Arda, as well as his friendship simply being a comfort.
I am currently very much in favour of Leliana as Divine Victoria, and given my growing idea of my Inquisitor Trevelyan, I think she would be too. She'd be okay with Cassandra, but not Vivienne.
26/02/15:
The identity of the Inquisitor has been totally revised for Quest-verse. It is Shangraile, the ancestor of Shakurán who served in Angband. He was kind to the Silmarils and became friends with them. Elennárë and Elenlossë saved his life twice when the forces of Valinor assaulted the fortress, the first time healing him after he was caught in a rockfall, the second when Eonwë found them and they asked him to spare Shangraile.
Shangraile returned east and lived the rest of his life, always dreaming of the Silmarils singing for the rest of his life, but when he died, he woke in the Fade and walked out of it into Thedas, just after the opening of the Breach. Leliana and Cassandra arranged for him to be known by the name of someone who was at the Conclave, Ciaran Trevelyan, and he became the leader of the Inquisition, He saved the Mages and backed Cassandra as Divine.
Leliana worked out he was from Elenaria's homeworld and helped him adjust.
He and Elenaria never got a chance to meet in Thedas due to their respective positions and duties.
Cassandra came around to accept the information about the true word of Andraste but was aware the it would cause schisms in the Chantry if released too fast, so decided to release it in small pieces. Leliana was all for releasing it fast, which might have made more problems. (Edit because of post-Tresspasser revisions.)
Shangraile has found a way back to Arda through a Tear in Ost-In-Edhil that opened into the Fade. It was a combination of the Soul Sacrifice and an Arcane Well Annatar and Celebrimbor were able to create. Elenaria, Shangraile and the spirit of Jaerindar - the Easterling who made the Soul Sacrifice - closed the Tear, with Jaerindar staying inside it. Elenaria and Kíli then closed the Arcane Well because it was a badly made one and as much a wound in the world as the Tear was. Shangraile is now traveling with them, going by the name of Ciaran.
Shangraile likely followed the Silmarils to Thedas and back to Arda due to a bond created partly because he owed them his life and partly due to Elennárë leaving traces of her power behind when healing him.
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21/2/15: I finally put into words an idea detailed as Not a Friend of Red Jenny. Canon basics this is set around is that a random ambush turns up a letter that gives the "Friend of Red Jenny" quest, which involves taking a Small Paint Box from Irving's desk and delivering it to a house in Denerim. DA:I reveals that Sera lived in Denerim as a child and once had a Small Painted Box as a toy.
The basic plot of this idea is that the Small Painted Box was what Irving kept Elenaria's Silmaril in. However at the time of Uldred's takeover Irving picked it up and had it in his robe, hoping he could borrow some of Elennárë's power to fight the Blood Mages. Elenaria saved the day and Irving eventually gave her her stoneform, in the box, after she returned from the Temple of Sacred Ashes.
Elenaria became suspicious of who wanted the box but would not get that question answered for over ten years, when, after a run-in with Sera while visiting Skyhold, she ends up in a confrontation with her aunt Melendiel - Ethiliel's sister. Mel resented that Elennárë chose Ethiliel over her, and not knowing Elenaria was Elennárë's puppet body, wanted to steal the stone back, as Ethiliel's "mage brat" child had ended up taking it to the Circle Tower with her, and Mel thought the stone falling into Mage hands was Bad News.
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Edit 16/10/15: Now I am not fully informed about all the details of Tresspasser, but what I do know is that it happens two years after the final defeat of Corypheus. The governments of both Orlais and Ferelden are not happy about the Inquisition's continued presence, the Anchor in the Inquisitor's hand is playing up, the Qunari attack the Inquisitor, and Solas has gathered support and has agents who have infiltrated the Inquisition. Solas seems, from what I know, to actually set out to help the Inquisitor fight the Qunari, but apparently reveals that his long-term goal is to lead a revolution amongst the Elves and by the sounds of it eventually tear down the Veil and restore what was lost when he first erected it.
The Evanuris - the Elvhen gods, were originally mortals who gained massive power due to an unspecified war. Solas turned on the other Evanuris after they turned on and killed Mythal, creating the Veil and sealing them away in the Fade. Solas claimed they would have destroyed the world if left free.
Firestar events: Shangraile never trusted Solas, suspicious of him right from the start. When faced with him again Shangraile was willing to die rather than accept any further favours from him so refuses to let Solas near his hand. The confrontation ends up with Shangraile dead and his soul moving on to another world, another life and the next step of his journey.
I have settled on a story for the rest of Elenaria's time in Thedas as well. She managed to find a cure to the Calling, though the search took her a good few more years. However in the years after the Inquisition Vivienne gains more position with Divine Victoria (Cassandra) and eventually orchestrates an attack on the College of Enchanters, massacring them.
Cassandra ends up refusing to accept the information and the true history of Andraste, setting out to destroy it. Leliana secretly gets the originals to safety but for the time being they are declared heresy. Cassandra tries to demand Eru Náro be handed over to the Chantry, with an implied threat of war if it isn't, but in a war of letters Alissa, now Terna of Gwaren, argues that by Cassandra's declaration of heresy, Eru Náro is only the spellcasting sword of "Some Random Arcane Warrior" from Andraste's approximate time and that Cassandra has no proof that it is anything otherwise. Alissa may have reworked the enchantments in Eru Náro so only someone with White Fire could wield it. Given that she was the one who enchanted it originally, and did so in the Ardan manner of enchanting, it is likely something that once she was gone could not be changed without destroying the sword, and her and Alana's descendants would not care to do so as the sword is their inheritance.
It is soon after this (and also soon after Kélan's departure on his Calling) that, under Vivienne's command, the Ferelden Circle of Magi attacks Soldier's Peak, where Elenaria, Levyn and Daylen have kept a group of independent mages. Levyn collected apostates right from the start, giving them protection for as long as they wished, dealing with those too unstable who resorted to blood magic or got possessed, and event recruiting a few into the Wardens, however the Mage-Templar war boosted the numbers to over thirty mages of various ages, including Bethany Hawke, who had stayed there after Garrett set out on his investigation of the red lyrium. In the attack, both Levyn and Daylen are killed. Some get out, including Bethany's son, but most are killed.
In the immediate aftermath a party of foreign Wardens, probably made up of mostly Orlesians, turn up at Vigil's Keep and attempt to depose Elenaria and Nathaniel and take it over. Elenaria hands her stone to Nathaniel with orders to send it to Alissa in Gwaren and then proceeds to bait the foreign interlopers into fighting her, setting herself up to die and taking them down with her in a Firestorm made of White Fire.
After a bit of arguing between Nathaniel and Elenaria's spiritform, he does as she asked and has her stoneform delivered to Gwaren.
In the years after Elennárë remains in the background as her sisters defend Ferelden and make sure their family is firmly established. The last thing they can do for Thedas is to finish their original plan to leave behind some strong White Fire users who may one day fight for the Light after their return to Arda.
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27/6/15: I have a general outline in my head for an Alt-verse - instead of going off to do more research into the cure for the Calling, Elenaria secretly goes to the Conclave. After going up to the temple to speak to Justina and to visit Maferath, she returns to Haven when the false Calling (which she could tell was not quite right because she had briefly been spoken to by Urmthiel) got strong enough for her to worry for Kélan, Levyn and Daylen's conditions. As a result, she is not in the temple when the explosion happens and thus survives and Shangraile still ends up with the Anchor.
Elenaria does not know Shangraile (he's after her time in Thedas, in her POV), but she recognises that he's an Easterling from Arda. He in turn is quick to realise who she is and instantly trusts her, with her becoming one of his advisers.
So far I only have a few small ideas in this Alt - one of the mages in Fiona's group is Solona Amell, Daylen's elder sister, Elenaria instantly suspects something is off about Blackwall, but when the truth comes out respects that he was trying to atone and takes him under her wing as a Warden recruit.
She would initially distrust Iron Bull because what she knows of the Qun makes her dislike it, and would be rather viciously pleased to opt to save the Chargers. She would initially distrust Dorian as he's Tevinter and expresses a casual support of slavery, but probably comes to tolerate him later. Vivienne's politics annoy and offend her and she would stand opposed to her pro-Circle stance at every turn (the system is broken and even a clean-up of it would not fix it, it needs a total overhaul). Cole might also cause her concern to start with - he's a spirit and she's seen what became of Justice. Given that he is not actually possessing a person she might come to tolerate him though, but he might be able to see that she is different and his random comments might get her back up because she doesn't want him airing it in public.
But the one I have the most ideas about is Solas - I have this line of thought about Solas taking an interest in her and trying to subtly woo her and directing his thoughts about Elven culture her way. She doesn't care all that much though, as she has only really known post-Tevinter slave culture turned City Elf culture and past experiences with pushy stuck-up Dalish has her not very receptive of them either (it's really a pity she never met Merrill, though she might be put off a bit by the blood magic and casual attitude towards demons). Solas however pushes it too far by trying to appear in one of her dreams, causing her to first attack him within the dream with her fire, then waking up and hunting him down to threaten him with it in the waking world too. She will not stand for someone to get that close to her soul - at least not someone she already distrusts (she does have spirit bonds with Levyn, Daylen and Kélan, through which she is holding off the false Calling, but she knows and trusts them and considers the practically adopted brothers).
(This is a plot that really needs a playthrough to back it up.)
Bonus Notes:
The elven slave that found Elennárë was named Neria Surana.
The Suranas became partially matriarchal - the Bearer was always the head of the family, unless she moved city, any elven man marrying the Bearer took her name, though any non-Bearer Surana girl took her husband's.
Choice of Bearer was always up to Elennárë, she accepted the daughter she got on the best with.
Elennárë was sometimes referred to as the secret Keeper of the Surana clan. She and the Surana family treated this as a joke mostly, because Elennárë only knew as much of Elvhen history as the family did, since she only arrived in Thedas during the last century or two of the Ancient Age.
The last few moves of the Surana line have taken them from somewhere in Orlais, to Highever, and then to Denerim.
Elenaria's parents are name Ethiliel and Theran Surana - Ethiliel being her Bearer, Theran having taken his wife's name according to Surana tradition. After Elenaria, they went on to have two more children, a boy named Nolo and a girl named Aralissë. Both were already born by the time Elenaria was revealed as a mage and taken to the Circle Tower.
Family given names in the Suranas show signs of being influenced by Quenya. They are often not exact Quenya, but they show a style derived from it.
Ethiliel had an older sister named Melendiel - "Mel" for short. Mel became a Friend of Red Jenny and had a longstanding issue with being passed over as Bearer in favour of Ethiliel. Mel was the one who set up the contract for obtaining the Small Painted Box. She did so because previous investigation had found that Irving kept Elenaria's stoneform in that box.
Theran was originally a Tabris. He is a cousin of Cyrion Tabris, therefore Elenaria is a second cousin of the City Elf Origin.
Elenaria was taken to the Circle at the age of four, after an incident where someone tried to hit her, in public, in front of Chantry officials (it may even have been a templar who tried to hit her). She luckily had her stoneform in her possession at the time.
Aralissë only avoided being amongst the girls abducted from her cousin's wedding because she was sick that day, and bed-bound.
Ethiliel and Aralissë were in the cages when Elenaria went through the slaver operation and destroyed it. It was fortunate for her she didn't lose anyone in her family, but Elenaria still felt helpless when it came to those who were lost.
After the Fifth Blight, when Elenaria arranged for Anora to be mother to Lossanárë and Elenlossë, Anora hired Aralissë to serve as the personal maid for Alana and Alissa. This ends up being quite a good job for her, and she ends up staying on as Alana's personal maid right through her life.
Here's a few bits I wrote, some of which my thoughts have been a bit revised since I wrote these.
Firestar of Thedas - Elenaria talks briefly to Anders - set not long after the start of Awakening.
Fire-Star of Thedas: Discussing Andraste - Anders once heard that a piece of Andraste's shinbone was sold in the Amaranthine market. Elenaria puts forth her opinion on that.
Death of A Guardian - Alissa Theirin reacts to one particular death caused by the Breach opening.
RB-verse - Dreams of Grey - Kizár dreams of Elenaria.
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Elenaria's timeline is now officially linked to Quest-verse. As of 14/01/15 I moved the Quest-verse links list here.
Quest-verse intro - How Kíli and Kizár met, and discussing the up-coming quest.
Kíli and Kizár's thoughts in Bag End, and a talk with Dwalin.
Storytime with Balin
In Rivendell
The Puzzle of Dreams
At Beorn's: Wounds and Visions
Mirkwood
The Elf-Guard
Laketown
Dreams of Another Life.
The Grey Wardens of Erebor
The Defeat of Smaug
After the Battle of Five Armies
Quest-verse Snipet - a solo about how other lands hear about what happened at Erebor.
The Smith of Rivendell
Quest-verse: Coming Home - Returning to Cardemir.
Stone-verse: Taking Shape - while making a frame for Elennárë, she and Kíli cross worlds. Elenaria and Lossanárë reassure and trade memories with Elennárë and the two Kílis talks a little.
Kizár's Thoughts - particuarlay about [Stone-verse] Elennárë.
Talking About Other Lives - Kíli and Kizár talk about what happened while he was forging the shapeshifting rings.
The Turn South - Time has come to split paths with the returning Exiles.
Memories of the Living and the Dead.
The Veiled City.
The Tear - Kíli and Elenaria go to heal the Tear in the central plaza of Ost-In-Edhil and meet Jircanor and the spirit of Jaerindar. Someone else comes through - Shangraile aka Inquisitor Ciaran Trevelyan.
Crossing the Shire - Meeting Rangers on the border of the Shire, and some talk after.
Sailing To Himring - Heading for the island of Himring, to meet it's "queen".
Family Dinner - Trading tales of where everyone has been.
Solo: Kizár's thoughts on the island and her family.
Fion - Egandír brings news of a dwarf come to the coastal village.
Sisters work on sword designs. (Kizár & Lossanárë)
Elenlossë's Thoughts.
Contemplating the Journey East
Arrival and greetings at Erebor.
Elenaria's memories are hurting her, Shangraile helps.
Dáin Ironfoot's party comes to Erebor and at the welcoming reception things are discussed, both about Grísela and about Thorin and Fíli.
At the coronation party Kizár and Shangraile dance, and plot.
While the coronation celebration carries on, two strange dwarves come to Erebor.
Kizár goes to talk with Anvari about his family.
An attempt is made to drug Kizár that results in her in a bad situation.
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Firestar of Thedas Alt-verse. - Where Elenaria went to the Conclave and in the aftermath of it's destruction checks on the still unconscious Shangraile.