corseque:

The Dragon Age Tabletop materials might be a little incorrect or outdated in some small details, but if that was the case, it still doesn’t really matter.

DA is full of misleading, unreliable narrator information as it is, so this is just one more source of that. What I find really interesting is that the writers seemed to have access to a bit of internal information, without maybe being able told what details they should be obscuring.

For example, there is an adventure written about the Avvar, well before Jaws of Hakkon was released. And the pages about the Avvar gods and religion are not only still correct after Hakkon, they’re still a big resource for details that weren’t in Hakkon. I put up a couple pages on imgur so you can see what I mean. Plus all the little details like: 

So look, the detail about Avvar deliberately letting spirits possess them were in the RPG materials back in 2010, long before Hakkon went into it.

(An Avvar origin was supposed to be in Origins, but it was one of the bigger things cut. So they had a lot of the Avvar world building laid out when they came out with the first RPG Game Master guide)

So there are some details only found in the RPG material that end up being suspiciously relevant, and it’s very interesting as a source, and just about as unreliable as in-game sources.

Also, just as a “spoilery” tie-in/tidbit for those who own the Blood in Ferelden RPG book (a book written a year after DAO), the Avvarian Hold in that adventure is the same one mentioned in Jaws of Hakkon DLC as being the Hold the Present Hakkonites arose from. Playing that adventure can stop the Darkspawn from destroying the Red Lion Hold during the Fifth Blight and ultimately would stop Gurd Harofsen (leader of the Hakkonites) from resurrecting the Cult of Hakkon.

Disclaimer: All of this is completely canonical knowledge. Nothing headcanoned, there are sources for it and I’ve gathered from every source that I could. This includes: Codices (A Good Marriage), Dragon AGE: Blood in Ferelden (Where Eagles Lair) P.78, Dragon Age Core Rulebook, In-Game Dialogue (Jaws of Hakkon). Nothing is headcanon and nothing is taken from an unreliable sources (i.e. Wikipedia).

I did promise it for all those interested. If you haven’t, you might want to also check out my Burials post. It includes Avvarian burial practices, as well as that of other races in Thedas. Also just for reference:

*Clan in this post means (family unit)

Basic Information

The first thing to be said about Avvarian Marriages is that they are not long or permanent. It is up to the couple to retain the marriage if they so wish, by completing the untying of knots at the end of their marriage cycle.

Because of these relatively brief unions and naming conventions, Avvar do not take or change last names like other human cultures.

Avvar do not often marry within their Holds, as Avvarian Holds are often made up of the Thane’s family and the clans of extended family members. In order to avoid this, they are more likely to marry Avvar from other, neighboring Holds.

Although it should be mentioned, that Avvarian Brides who are taken to a new Hold are expected to give up their ties to their old Hold for loyalty to their new home. This is due to the fact that even allied Holds can go to war with one another at any time, given a good reason. Because of this, most brides are met with scrutiny by their old Holds.

The Ceremonies

The First Ceremony: A Kidnapping

Courting starts with the kidnapping of a bride, though it never without the Hold’s or bride’s consent. The kidnapping is always partially arranged in advance by at least the elders of the target Hold and clan, and the one announcing intentions.

A groom who kidnaps a bride without first announcing intent or trying to wrongfully kidnap a bride without permission will be put to death and a blood feud started with the intruder’s Clan or Hold.

Before the kidnapping, the kidnapper may approach their bride-to-be directly and secure her help on the success of the kidnapping. On occasion, a bride-in-waiting may approach a man she wishes to be her husband, if she finds one she desires before another comes to her.

With permission given and a plan laid out, a warrior will prove himself by slipping into the Hold and securing his bride without detection. A warrior caught on his first try is beaten severely, but never to death. However, on his second try, if he is caught he is sentenced to death, usually by Hold Beast.

The Second Ceremony: A (Un)Tying of Knots

“Sounds like a good deal to me. See if you like living with your handsome new husband or wife once the bloom’s worn off.” ~A Good Marriage 

Once a bride has been kidnapped and taken to her husband’s Hold, they then participate in an Untying of Knots. The bride will tie knots in a piece of rope, she will then sing the hymn of a selected God while her husband unties the rope. For every knot he is able to untie, before the Bride finishes her song they will be married another year.

Once the number of years of marriage are up, the Avvar can perform the knot ritual once more or they can separate, there is no requirement for them to stay together if they do not wish it. Both bride and groom can be remarried to each other or to others at any time after the years allotted are up.

The Bride’s Influence

Despite the kidnapping of the Bride, the Bride has many times and chances to reject the union, giving her the most power when it comes to completing a Marriage Ceremony.

She is given a choice at the beginning, to give the groom permission to kidnap her. Should, for some reason, the kidnapper not heed her wishes, she can then do whatever she can to undermine his kidnapping. If he is caught, and was never given permission, he is immediately executed (see above).

Should the kidnapping succeed, either unrightfully or if she has second thoughts/wants a shorter marriage. The Bride is then able to influence and sabotage the Knot ritual. She can chose a shorter hymn, chant it at whatever speed she wishes, and tie the knots as tight a possible to make it harder on her husband-to-be. Though her husband-to-be can also choose to only untie as many knots (or untie none at all) as he wishes.

eternion:

ageofdragon:

I’m not ignoring you anon(s), I’ve just been trying to put my answer for it into words. So I’m sorry!

But really it is several things.

First of all, I do doubt that anyone but the Warden would know this option exists. I don’t really know how Jowan knew about it, but it doesn’t seem like common knowledge; especially with how often possession is condemned with death by everyone else; even in the Circle where mages and lyrium are a plenty. Anders is also not present for the ritual and so probably doesn’t know about it (I think at this point he is either on an escape or still locked away in solitary).

Second, Connor accepted a demon’s offer in his sleep (The Fade) in order to save his father (as Jowan explains, the demon is not a physical being at the moment). Connor was what Thedas thinks of as possessed. While Anders took a spirit, that had been trapped as a physical being in the real world, into himself physically. In fact, Justice was such a physically manifested spirit that his and Anders’ “soul” was combined.

An actual possession has a demon puppeteering a mortal from across the Veil, two obvious entities separated by a wall of reality. They have little to worry about when being separated, the only repercussion might be mental distress on Connor’s part as we see in Inquisition, unless the person separating them (The Warden) makes a deal to allow the demon in later. In which case, there are bigger problems involved, including a corrupt “hero”. But Anders had Justice truly within in as a part of him. Like Anders said, there is no way to tell where he begins and Justice ends.

This could also be the result of the spell that brought Justice into the real world. The Baroness of Blackmarsh, physical locked Justice into the mortal world and he could not return. Even in the death of his host, he could not return to the Fade. So how do you exorcise a Spirit that does not exist in the Fade at all anymore, unlike the Desire Demon who lived in Connor’s “Fade bubble”. And then also, has no where to go once he has been exorcised from his vessel, how does Justice leave if he doesn’t know have anywhere to leave to?

Which brings it to the last point, would Anders actually want Justice exorcised? Anders combined with Justice because he wanted to save Justice from dissolving into nothing, his friend couldn’t return home to the Fade and so he gave him a home. But if Anders has Justice exorcised who knows what happens to him, he still can’t return home and so everything Anders has sacrificed for is all for nothing. There is a huge level of guilt there. He tried to give his friend a home and ended up corrupting him, he can’t fulfill his friend’s purpose and can barely handle Justice’s influences at time, and in the end can he really just give up on Justice and condemn his friend for all his mistakes and shortcomings? Which of course, that is not all true; but I certainly think it is how Anders would see it and ultimately guilt himself into keeping Justice.

As for Anders actually trying to separate him and Justice? I really don’t think he was trying to when he asked Hawke. Especially because of how flippant he seems about it, no worries Hawke there is nothing involved other than a potion. Anders knew what he was doing and both him and Justice were equally responsible for the way things ended up; but Anders has also accepted that he is one of a kind, and due to restrictions of magical study there is little hope of him ever finding a solution to separating him and Justice. Even in Tevinter, where they would rather enslave spirits and demons than be friends with them and accept them into themselves.

Perhaps Avvar/Rivain can help. (I don’t know, what is FleMythal exactly, but perhaps somehow similar as Anders, but clearly stronger.) 

Anders clearly doesn’t want to exorcise Justice. You’re right, he feels responsible for him, and Justice would die. Anders only hopes, if Hawke executes him or support the Templars, that Justice finally will be free, but he doesn’t know, what exactly will happen if he dies, as I see.

This quest (Justice) is weird in friendship (romance): I’m not sure, that Hawke wants to risk Anders’ life due to doubtful experiments.  Fortunately, the game allows Hawke to doubt in the necessity of. In rivalry this quest works well.
But the point is, this was only lying. Anders didn’t try to separate them.

I actually did mean to touch on the Avvar/Chasind/Rivain, because they may be more equipped to help! However, with what we know about them so far, they don’t have means to actually do anything; just to help find an answer.

Which is because the Avvar and Rivain have a fail-safe system instead of a removal system. The Avvar and Rivain set up limits and “cages” for the spirits they allow into themselves, before accepting the spirits into themselves. So should something go wrong, they set off their fail-safes to oust the spirits. Should a spirit go rogue, at least for Avvar, they let the other spirits take care of the “abomination”. When the rogue spirit becomes dangerous, the other spirits will cause the resulting abomination to pass in their sleep and release the spirit back into the Fade.

While Hakkon, a spirit forced and caged into a physical form (more similar to Anders and Justice), has to be killed to return to the Fade. So yeah, they would definitely be of more help with spiritual possession and may at least be able to help Anders have better understanding over Justice. At the same time, Anders is still an unknown to them and something that would need further research by even the Avvar.

Dwarves

Deep Roads Dwarves believe deeply in The Stone, all come from her and return to her throughout their lives. They do this by entombing their dead within her, almost all Deep Roads are dwarves sealed in stone containers upon death to prevent the Darkspawn from defiling their corpses. However Dwarves cannot not truly return to The Stone unless the ritual words have been spoken over their corpse, as seen done by Hawke for a redeemed Legionnaire (Legacy DLC). The ritual words being: “Atrast tunsha. Totarnia amgetol tavash aeduc.” (so far untranslated).

Typically Noble dwarves and Paragons will be buried within detailed and intricate crypts and sarcophagi, while commoner dwarves are encased in piled stone plots. If stone cairns are unavailable for the burial, whatever the reason, they are buried beneath the solid ground. Meanwhile casteless and surface dwarves are considered unworthy of the Stone and are believed to roam the empty caverns of the Deep Roads as spirits and/or Rock Wraiths.

Dwarves also believe the quality of the Dwarf who returns to The Stone affects “her”. A Dwarf who was considered to be a disappointment or rebel and was sent to The Stone weakened “her”, while one of merit and possibly a Paragon strengthened “her”. Those who would “poison” “her” are often disposed of by fire, these being dwarves who have been defiled and/or eaten on by darkspawn after death.

Legionnaires bury their own brethren within the Deep Roads, typically within large shared areas. The nature of their personal burials, mean the last of the Legionnaires do not receive a burial and are never returned to The Stone they had finally earned through their deaths; since no dwarves are left to bury the dead.

Elves

The Ancient Elves were said to be immortal and live forever, thus lacking burial rites. Instead Ancient Elves would become weary of life and lay down for their spirits to cross over into the Beyond. They would return centuries later to share the knowledge they had found.

During these long sleeps, know as Uthenera, servants would attend to the physical forms and preserve them for when they’d awaken. Oils would be rubbed into their skin to help them consume the knowledge they found and keep their bodies from decaying. Herbs were burnt in the chambers to strengthen their connections to the Fade during the sleep. While a potion of honey, herbs, and water would sustain them physically.

Many Elves who entered the last wave of Uthenera would never wake up, their physical forms forgotten and decayed away. Thus turning the sleeping chambers to burial grounds and abandoned tombs. 

After the fall of Arlathan and the elves gain of mortality, elves of the Dales were buried in burial sites with markers and stone tombs. Most of the these still standing landmarks house Great Warriors and Respected Elders.

Dalish now bury their dead within the ground and plant trees above them, poems and songs of mourning are sung as they are passed onto Falon’Din. However, Falon’Din is no longer physically around to guide the elves home, thus they lay their dead with an oaken staff (representing Falon’Din) to guide them along their path to the Afterlife. As well as a cedar branch (representing Dirthamen) to chase off Fear and Deceit, the crows who once served Dirthamen and are now without a master. It is believed that the trees planted above the Dalish’s dead is to represent that even with each death of their people, they live on and will never die out.

Meanwhile, City Elves follow the human rites of cremation, this is so they stand out less among humans and are more accepted into their society.

Humans (Andrastians)

The Chantry calls for cremation in all their funeral rites. As Andraste was burned and returned to the Maker, so shall her followers be. While Nobility and Royalty tend to have larger, grander pyres to send them off; Commoner pyres are often no more than a ring of stones and occur within the city limits, despite fire risks. While criminals are burned on mass pyres, all at once. The ashes of the dead are then cared for how the deceased’s loved ones see fit, they can be buried, spread, or kept as decided. The practice of cremation is believed to also ward off any attempts of demonic possession and/or use of blood magic.

Nevarra is the only Andrastian exception to this, as they practice Necromancy and build cities of the dead. This comes from the Nevarran belief that as a being dies and enters the Fade, they displace one of the Maker’s Children, a spirit. So in exchange for the person’s place among the Maker’s side, the spirit is allowed a mummified corpse and the experience of being in the World of the Living. Thus the Mortalitasi create the Cities of the Dead, entire catacombs of possessed corpses nurtured by them.

Due to the macabre nature and questionable practice of the Mortalitasi, as well as their active support for spirit possession, there is much fear and controversy in the Chantry about Nevarra’s practice.

Avvar

When it comes to non-Andrastian practices, Avvar are the ones most well known. The Avvar believe the afterlife to be guided by the sky, specifically the Lady of the Skies.

The Avvar believe that some of their dead are destined to be reborn anew and are favored by fate. These individuals are not known by memory, as the resurrected chosen are acknowledged to not remember their past lives; rather these individuals are said to be guided by past experiences, having the unconscious knowledge of what must be done. These beings are often encased whole in stone coffins.

Those not reborn join their loved ones in the Afterlife and simply live on in death together.

The Avvar’s actual burial rite is not so much of a burial. A procession is led for the deceased Avvar and their loved ones sing for them as they strip the deceased’s flesh from their bones and cut their bones into pieces, all before laying them out on a ritual slab. Then raptors (predator birds) feed upon their remains, the most common to appear being crows, and return them to the skies.

Qunari

The least is known about the Qunari death rites. The only information available is that when Qunari warriors die, it is their swords and not their bodies retrieved. The Weapon is the Qunari’s true soul, while their body is no more than a husk.

There is nothing regarding whether all Qunari (not just those of the Antaam) have a soul weapon and if they do not, what happens to non-combatant Qunari after they die.

Sources: The Stolen Throne, The Masked Empire, World of Thedas Vol. 1, Dragon AGE: Tabletop Set 1, Dragon AGE: Tabletop Set 2, Dragon Age 2 (Legacy DLC), Dragon Age Codex Entries (e.g. Uthenera, Falon’Din, etc.)

I’m working on a character and I’m not quite an expert on Avvar (yet). 

So I’m wondering would it make sense for a Warrior to blessed by a shaman with a beast spirit and become a were or should they be a shaman with a beast spirit and heavy weapons training?

coattailsofdoom:

"We call her the Vigil. She's been around for a long spell."
 - Seneschal Varel

Vigil’s Keep is one of the oldest settlements in Ferelden, older than Denerim and Gwaren. The barbarians who battled the Tevinter Imperium chose this location for a fortress so that their warning fires would be visible at great distance, when Tevinter ships neared the coast.

The cellar beneath Vigil’s Keep retains traces of the Avvar barbarians. To the Avvars, the Vigil was both a fortress and a holy site. The cellars bear monuments to their gods, heroes, and their rare military victories.