"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."

Ok, so, I’m playing the latest Dragon Age

Ok, so, I’ve been playing Dragon Age: Veilguard, the latest title in a franchise I love to bits, and I’ve been at it since the day it came out. I’m around 100 hours of gameplay, and I just finished Chapter 10/14. I’m avoiding major spoilers but I know the serious shit has yet to go down, and still I have thoughts. Mostly on the protagonist. So hear me out.

Warning: though I have one bone to pick with production, I’m enjoying the game tremendously so don’t expect this to be just another “they ruined my game” post. I like Veilguard. A lot.

So, here’s my thought.


My Rook is a human mage, an explorer of ancient Elven ruins called “a Veiljumper”. She lives up to her profession and indeed jumps through the Veil, but only when she’s out of mana.

Your main character, nicknamed Rook, is “the most powerful piece on a chessboard”, at least according to the guy who gave them the nickname. And they are. They clearly are the most powerful in battle, regardless of the class they’ll grind down darkspawn and venatori and all other kind of weird shit like there’s no tomorrow. And there won’t be one. For the things you’re fighting, at least.

Rook also invariably sucks at their specific job.

Regardless of the origin you pick, you’ll still need to recruit a better Grey Warden, a more competent Veil Jumper, a higher-ranked Antivan Crow, a more qualified Mourn Watcher, a different Shadow Dragon, a more specialized Lord of Fortune and so on.

What’s Rook’s actual skill? Talk to people and help them figure out their bullshit so that they’ll be able to focus on their job.

They’re also losing their minds, and no one ever goes to talk to them the way Rook goes to talk to everyone else.

So yeah, Rook is a project manager.

And I relate so much.

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Artificial Integrity in the Age of Anxiety

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