APPLICATION: Dragon Age: Origins - Wynne

Mar 28, 2011 10:12

This application has been ACCEPTED.

PLAYER INFO
NAME: Hallowd
LOCATION/TIME ZONE: GMT +2
CURRENT CHARACTERS, if any: Inoue Orihime/Kagerou and Kouei/Hawk

CHARACTER INFO
CHARACTER NAME: Wynne
SERIES: Dragon Age: Origins
RESERVED: No (as it expired)
WISHLIST: No

TL;DR PLAYER NOTE: Dragon Age is not the most straightforward canon
from which to apply a character. The player character, who's
identified only as the Warden, can be of two genders, three
professions and three races in many a combination. There is no
"canonical" Warden, so I will try to elide the Warden in memories.
However, if necessary, the male human noble warrior Warden is featured
in all the official trailers, artwork and so on, so he's as close to a
default as one can get.

Furthermore, the fates of all the NPC party members can vary based on
how the game is played. For purposes of this app, I have assumed that
Wynne joins the Warden's party as early as possible, stays with them
throughout the game, and forms an at least somewhat positive
relationship with them.

PERSONALITY: Wynne is a woman at the end of a full life: she is
a Senior Enchanter, a high-ranked mage at the Circle of Mages in
Ferelden, and has seen both peace and strife during her days. In a
world where mages are often regarded with fear and their lives
strictly regulated by the Chantry (the main religious order in
Ferelden), Wynne has embraced her role and been content with a life of
work and service.

At first sight, Wynne is world-wise but not world-weary: intelligent,
practical, and moral, but not without a glimmer in her eye. Her sense
of humour is surprisingly earthy, and she rarely becomes tongue-tied
even around the more raunchy members of the Warden's party. There is,
however, a time for jesting and a time for serious conversation.

Her life in the Circle has been cloistered, as mages are seldom
allowed to venture out of the tower. Wynne does, however, participate
in the war efforts of King Cailan at the start of the story, as mages
are valuable in battle for both their offensive and defensive
abilities. She seems to consider this her duty to the throne and
perhaps even more so to the common people under threat. As pertains to
religious matters, she believes that personal faith and honest work
for the Maker are more important than the letter of the Chant.

Describing herself as having been much more uptight, strict and
judgmental in her youth, Wynne appears to have mellowed with
experience. She takes her role as the sort of parental figure of the
Warden's party with gentle if sometimes subtly edged humour. There is
a wide streak of a mentor in her, too: she is glad to educate, even
when the other parties are less than appreciate of her teachings. Most
often gentle and even (grand)motherly in demeanour, she still has a
strong sense of right and wrong and will stand by her own moral
judgment to the end. She appreciates cleanliness and consideration,
and may be quick to administer a thorough tongue-lashing at anyone
seeming to lack in basic manners.

Wynne values both dedication and moderation, and often advocates a
careful, rational approach to problem-solving. Her respect is won
swiftly with a willingness to put oneself on the line, whether the
task at hand is mundane or heroic. She doesn't put stock in bravado or
tall tales. A person is measured by their deeds. Everyone can earn
their place with honesty and the right choices.

In a nutshell, Wynne is no-nonsense, dutiful, upstanding,
strong-willed, kind, often fussy, fastidious, and glowing with a quiet
joy for life.

TIMELINE: After the Landsmeet, the night in Redcliffe Castle
before the march to Denerim

BACKGROUND: Senior Enchanter Wynne came to the Circle of Magi
by Lake Calenhad at the age of nine. She was an orphan taken in by a
peasant family, but when her magical aptitude manifested and she set
the family's son's hair on fire, the templars were alerted and she was
taken away to study magic with the Circle.

She has spent most of her life in the Circle Tower, which is the more
common name for the Tevinter tower fort of Kinloch Hold. After an
uncertain early life, she describes her arrival at the Tower as a
homecoming.

She fully embraces her role as a mage and a spirit healer. She is a
member of the Aequitarians Fraternity, which advocates diplomacy and
moderation in the Circle's dealings and considers the chief role of
mages to be serving Ferelden with their powers.

Information of Wynne's earlier years is based mostly on the
conversations she can have with the Warden. She reveals that when she
was first assigned students, she was given supervision of an elven
apprentice named Aneirin. Adamant that she would make the shy,
reticent youth a mage, she drove him harshly and ignored the fact that
he had just been transported to a place and to people strange to him,
and would have needed a gentler hand.

Finally he ran away from the Circle, and the Templars hunted him down
as a fugitive and slew him. Wynne carried the regret of her
too-stringent treatment of him for years to come. The incident taught
her to listen to her students and to offer them support and counsel as
well as discipline.

Intimate relationships between mages are discouraged, but Wynne
apparently engaged in at least one. As a result, she became pregnant
and gave birth to a son. The baby, however, was taken away by the
Chantry while she was still weak from the birthing, and she never saw
him again. This does not stop her from still wondering what became of
him.

Dragon Age: Origins begins as Ferelden is bracing for an
oncoming Blight. The Blight is an assault by the darkspawn, monstrous
creatures who according to the lore of the Chantry were once mages
cursed by the Maker for their sins. The dwell deep underground, but
once in a great while, an Archdemon rises to lead them, and they surge
to the surface in an endless raiding, killing horde.

The Grey Wardens are an old military order formed for the purpose of
battling the darkspawn. Their star is on the wane in Ferelden, though,
despite that they are idolised by the young King Cailan. The king
gathers an army at Ostagar, which is also joined by Wynne along with
other Circle mages, in order to defeat the darkspawn horde in one
decisive attack. The strategy is foiled when Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir,
the king's military advisor, betrays the king and the Grey Wardens and
leaves them to die at the hands of the darkspawn.

Only two Wardens survive Ostagar: Alistair (who is King Maric's
bastard son and Cailan's half-brother) and the PC Warden, the main
character of Dragon Age. The Grey Wardens have, however, made
treaties with all the peoples of Ferelden to render them aid when a
Blight threatens. The two Wardens therefore set out to gather an army
to defend Ferelden.

Their path eventually brings them to the Circle Tower at Lake
Calenhad. At this time, the Circle is under attack from within. One of
the mages, Uldred, has gone rogue and filled the tower with
abominations. Abominations are mages possessed by demons from the
Fade, the dream realm of the world, and the risk of a mage turning
into an abomination is the reason for the Chantry's short leash on the
practitioners of the arcane arts. Thus, the Templars have locked down
the Tower and are preparing to raze it to the ground, along with any
survivors still inside.

The Warden's party enters the Tower to investigate. They encounter
Wynne, who has raised a barrier in a room to protect a group of young
mages and acolytes. She then joins the Warden in order to excise the
taint from the Tower before the Templars can destroy it.

At this point, Wynne harbours a secret. She was killed in the attack
on the Tower, but a spirit of Faith from the Fade entered her and now
sustains her life. This spirit seems to have had a long-time
attachment to Wynne, as she has felt it near her all her life.

During the journey through the overrun tower, the party is derailed
into the Fade by a demon of Sloth that traps them all in a nightmare.
Wynne is caught reliving her regret for the fallen young mages and
apprentices, but the Warden rescues her from the nightmare. With the
Warden's help, Uldred is confronted and brought down, and the Circle
of Magi is spared. Wynne insists that she accompany the Warden instead
of stay and help rebuild the circle, as she sincerely believes she can
do more good working to stop the Blight.

In the Warden's company, Wynne travels across Ferelden to secure help
from the Dalish elves, the dwarves of Orzammar, and Arl Eamon of
Redcliffe. The band of disparate warriors, witches and wanderers
encounters myriad dangers, walks the Deep Roads of the dwarven
kingdoms and the Brecilian forest where the elven tribes live their
nomadic lives.

The Warden gathers his army for a decisive battle against the
darkspawn horde. He recruits a clan of Dalish elves after aiding them
against a group of werewolves led by a spirit of the forest. He helps
resolve a succession crisis among the dwarves by placing the old
king's youngest son on the throne. He cures the ailing arl of
Redcliffe by recovering a pinch of the ashes of Andraste, the prophet
of the Maker and the founder of the Chantry in its present
incarnation.

Wynne's role in the party is most often to be a healer, a mentor, and
a sort of moral compass. The quest belongs to the Warden: she never
hesitates to speak her mind, but supports him even through decisions
with which she might personally disagree. She develops different
relationships with the other members of the Warden's company, from her
grandmotherly regard of Alistair to her thwarted attempts at lecturing
Morrigan on her wild apostate ways. She befriends the bard Leliana and
displays a wary fascination with the taciturn Qunari warrior, Sten.

With the Warden's help, again, she also discovers that Aneirin, the
apprentice that her harshness drove away from the Circle, survived his
hunters and joined a clan of Dalish Elves. She meets him again in the
Brecilian Forest, and they reconcile: he has found his place in the
world, and she can continue on the Warden's quest with a newfound
peace of mind. She also eventually reveals to the Warden that she is
living on borrowed time, the spirit of Faith the only thing keeping
her alive. However, this doesn't deter her from pledging her aid to
his task for as long as she can. As she herself says, she could die
any day in battle, so she will not lie around waiting for death. It is
better to put her remaining days to good use, as she sees the
situation.

Finally the Warden has gathered his army, and it is time to deal with
the usurper Loghain. With Arl Eamon's help, the Warden calls a
Landsmeet, a gathering of Fereldan nobles whose purpose is to give the
country a new king. With Arl Eamon's suggestion, the Warden puts forth
Alistair as the Theirin heir. The Warden persuades the Landsmeet to
unite against Loghain. The former general is brought down and slain in
an honorable duel.

At the same times, news arrives that the darkspawn horde, with the
archdemon at its head, is marching on Denerim. The arls and banns
rally to join the Warden's army in a last attempt to bring down the
Blight.

[I am cutting the history here, since the game can end in so many
ways that it's easier to pick a point in the timeline before the final
battle (and certain other choices) is resolved.]

ABILITIES: To avoid extensive game mechanics jargon, I've tried
to describe the effects of spells Wynne has access to in each school
of magic. Each spell ability tree in Dragon Age has four
spells. As a compromise, I've picked the trees she starts with and
given her the three first spells in each (except for glyphs).

Mages in Thedas open a brief connection to the Fade, the dream realm,
to channel its forces to shape into spells. Wynne seems to be the
exception to this rule, as she is bonded with a spirit of Faith that
saved her life. The spirit currently sustains her life and she can tap
its power to fuel her spells, but this also means her lifespan is
finite. She is dying, slowly but surely.

It would make the most sense to me that the spirit were still bonded
to her in Edensphere. It is nonsentient and does not communicate, but
Wynne describes it as a warm, soothing presence she can sense with
her.

Unlockables

Spirit healer spells

Spirit healers can infuse multiple allies in healing energy with a
single casting, rouse a person from unconsciousness, or place a ward
over a fellow warrior that renews their health when they become
seriously wounded. (Group Heal, Revival, Lifeward)

Primal spells

Wynne commands a variety of earth-elemental spells that can
harden her skin against blows, knock down a target with a stone
projectile hurled with great force, or make the nearby ground itself
shake and unbalance anyone standing there. (Rock Armour, Stonefist,
Earthquake)

Creation spells

Healing: Wynne's array of healing spells consists of a basic
curative spell that targets one person, knitting injuries and sealing
wounds, a spell that restores some of a person's mental energy and
reserves (i.e. mana, chi, magic points, whatever you want to call
this), and lastly a working that greatly boosts a body's regenerative
capacity for a short while. (Heal, Rejuvenation, Regeneration)

Enhancements: Wynne can infuse an ally with focus and strength,
enhancing their attacks, cast a protective aura that deflects most
light missiles, or grant an ally the ability withstand cold, fire,
electricity and other forms of spell energy, although this saps the
target's strength somewhat. (Heroic Offence, Heroic Aura, Heroic
Defence)

Glyphs: Wynne can inscribe a magical glyph on the ground that
paralyses the first creature to pass its bounds for a time. (Glyph of
Paralysis)

Vessel of the Spirit

This is an ability granted by the Spirit of Faith that has bonded with
Wynne. It is a great surge of magical energy that disorients nearby
enemies and restores allies to health and mental focus in the same
range. It does, however, expend so much power at once that it leaves
her weary and light-headed for a time.

Passive abilities

By Fereldan standards, Wynne is a learned woman. She's been educated
by the Circle and has at least theoretical knowledge on a wide variety
of subjects. She has also served in war as a battle mage, so she has
an understanding of tactics and strategy. She is also trained in basic
staff combat, I would like to say, for those times when there is no
chance of magical self-defence.

GAME INFO
EDENSPHERE NAME: Amber
BIRTHDAY LOG: Sure, or I can pass this time. Either way is fine.

DREAM: The colours of the room are stark and aged and luminous,
as if the walls were flooded with light from an unseen sun. Bold,
cracked lines of paint run over the smooth stone. She walks on
tentative feet, like getting out of bed after a long spell of
sickness, and runs her hands along the stone and the shades bursting
with light; proud figures crowned with flame and gilded with ice, a
dreamlike city of golden towers, rows of twisting, monstrous creatures
shambling below.

In her dream, she hears them whisper.

    In their hubris, they reached too high. For their sin, they
    were cast down.
A table stands along one high wall, its wood chipped and darkened. A
slow trickle of tawny ale leaks from a leather skin, studded with
silver. She swipes a finger across the stain in the table with a faint
"tch" of her tongue.

    "Attractive amber color. Nutty flavor, slightly sweet, just a
    hint of toastiness. There's some spice to it... I'm finding hard to
    place... Is it... cloves?"

    "Cloves! By the stone, you're a lady after my own heart. If I weren't
    buckled into this armor, I'd take you round the corner and... well,
    you know."

    "Give me more ale?"
Chuckling, partway in exasperation, she moves on. There are more
things on the table, but in the manner of a dream, most of them slide
away, out of focus, the moment she turns to them. One glows in the
strange light; a handled, golden mirror, where her face nonetheless
blurs as she lifts it.

    "I imagine you find many things difficult to believe. Your own
    preference for the leash you wear, for instance."

    "There are good reasons for the world for fear -----, even despite our
    best intentions."
She sighs, shakes her head, and sets the mirror down. The voices come
slurring and murmuring, like the distant sound of water. A pair of
long, subtly curved daggers with leather-wrapped handles invites her
hand, one blade drawing a whisper of blood from the pad of her thumb.

    "Must you be such a child? Are you incapable of a single,
    serious conversation?"

    "I know. I am terrible and it makes me sad. May I rest my head in your
    bosom? I wish to cry."
Such irritation, there, mixing with a stubborn hope that she held. The
daggers fade out of her attention as she comes to the end of the
table, where a pair of blue satin slippers is set on the floor, their
delicate ribbons swirling out on either side.

    "Oh, I've had some two decades or so to grow mellow. Believe
    me, back then I was quite... prickly."

    "So you are like a fine wine, yes? Losing the raw edges over time?"
The feeling that washes over her this time is warmer, if edged with
concern. Tangled with one of the ribbons is a messy ball of yarn, such
as one might throw to a dog, still moist with slobber. She shakes her
head again. The same great capacity for love, in both of them, she
thinks fleetingly. Onwards, then, she drifts towards the far wall,
which stands bare after the riot of colours on the other side. A long
sword hangs there, wielded with two hands, nicked for a cruel edge
rather than any lack of oiling and sharpening.

    "An unbound ----- is like a wildfire. As prone to consume
    itself as it is to devour all that surrounds it."
She thinks she could never truly understand, however much she tried.
So far from home, all of them, but that one more than any other. She
lays her hands on the cool metal of a footman's shield on the wall,
tarnished with use, burnished with care. A griffon rampant, silver and
red, almost leaps to life under her palms.

    "That sort of union is... not encouraged. Although that does
    not stop us from seeking out each other's... company from time to
    time."

    "I... all right, suddenly you don't seem quite so grandmotherly to me anymore."

    "Good. I would hope not."
And suddenly, her eyes prick with tears of care and great warm
affection. She turns from the wall of weapons and towards the window
that now stands in stark relief on the next wall. Beyond there,
darkness gathers. Something is wound around her fingers, and she
raises her hand to see an oval pendant, specks of air caught in the
hardened sap, dangling from a braided leather cord. The sun refracts
through the tawny amber and is gone.

The window, the rusted iron of the bars, the red-stained night with
its prowling, terrible creatures fills the room. Against the horde,
she glimpses a figure, draped in grey, steeled in purpose, stand.

    "I'll see this through, I promise."
Her own voice rings like a bell as the darkness drowns the sun in the room.

JOURNAL SAMPLE: [The script is meticulous, in wide, rounded
letters with frequent fluting tails.]

This is a most curious turn of events. I am rather past the age where
one expects to be born, even less be ignorant as a babe. I do believe
this is still the earthly world, however strange a corner of it.
"Eden's Sphere". It has a nice ring to it.

At my guide's behest, I chose to call myself Amber. You can call me
that as well.

Now, where might a new arrival make oneself useful?

ASPIRATIONS: I wanted to try something a little different
again? I enjoy Wynne, and I think she might be an interesting addition
to Edensphere. I have this brazen idea to have her work at the Farm
and take over/found a proper brewery, because she appreciates a good
drink in the canon. (By which I mean, if possible, I would love to do
this.)

Mostly I imagine she could inject some colour into the Sphere--I have
no grand aspirations at this point.

app: 2008/12/12 revision, applications

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