Marian Hawke (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
championofchuckles) wrote2012-07-23 10:40 am
championofchuckles) wrote2012-07-23 10:40 am
Quest Update: Application
PLAYER INFO
Player Name: Poptart
Preferred Contact Methods: AIM @ Kuroupouri; plurk @ rustandstardust
Other Characters: n/a
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Marian Hawke
Series: Dragon Age 2
Canon Point: The beginning of Act III. Three years after she dueled the Arishok for Isabela and awarded the title of “Champion of Kirkwall”, she gets to play nanny to Knight-Commander Meredith and First Enchanter Orsino.
History:
Malcolm Hawke was an apostate[1]. Leandra Amell was nobility. They were in love. And so, they escaped Kirkwall together, far away from the Circle to a Fereldan countryside. There, they had their first daughter, Marian, who shared her father’s magic and charming personality. They had two more children – twins, Bethany, also gifted with magic, and Carver. When Carver was big and Marian learned to lead, Malcolm passed away. They continued to live quietly and unnoticed in their farm.
But everything changed when the darkspawn attacked.
The horde destroyed their home so, with nothing but the shirts on their backs and the weapons in their hands, they fled Lothering. Along the way, they crossed paths with a templar[2], Ser Wesley, and his wife, Aveline Vallen, also seeking refuge. They agreed to put their differences aside and travel together to Kirkwall, where Leandra still had her brother Gamlen and their estate.
While trekking through the Wilds, an ogre appeared and smashed Marian’s baby sister’s head open. The refugees murdered a good number of the darkspawn and the ogre. A Witch of the Wilds named Flemeth charred the rest. Hawke made a deal to deliver an amulet to a Dalish camp in exchange for Flemeth’s assistance to help them go to Kirkwall. Before they left, they had to kill Ser Wesley because he was infected by the taint[3].
Act I
For two months, they were stuck in a crowded ship, along with the helpless and the desperate. And then, they saw it – Kirkwall, The City of Chains. The Harbor was filled to the brim with refugees being denied access inside. Marian and co. helped a guard out, and he agreed to fetch their relative for them, Gamlen Amell. He could surely get them into the city!
Except Gamlen wasn’t the noble they expected. He was a bum. He also sold the estate to slavers, to settle a debt. But, he was able to get a smuggler to provide the coin to let the Hawkes and Aveline in – provided the siblings work their asses off for it. So, they earned their stay for a year.
A year later, Aveline found a job in the City Guard, and Carver and Marian were finally free from Athenril’s service. They were residing in Gamlen’s hovel, though; it smelled like cabbages and made everybody miserable. They hoped to earn their fortune and caught wind of Bartrand’s Deep Roads expedition. They wanted in, but Bartrand didn’t have the money to accommodate hirelings anymore.
Varric, Bartrand’s brother, noticed the Hawke siblings and recognized their potential. He opted to be partners with Marian – fifty sovereigns[4] and a map, and Bartrand can’t refuse. They took odd jobs for the money and maps, and managed to gather up a merry band of misfits along the way – Anders, an ex-Warden apostate (“I didn’t know you can leave the Wardens.” “FINE, I ESCAPED.”); Merrill, a discarded Dalish blood mage; Fenris, a wanted fugitive from Tevinter, and; Isabela, a Rivaini pirate without a ship. Before they knew it, Hawke was ready to go on the expedition.
She left Carver home, much to his bitching, because she didn’t want any more passive-aggression and blame from her mother. The expedition was going nicely until they found an idol made of lyrium[5]; Bartrand, the smarmy bastard, decided he didn’t want to split the fortune three-ways and locked them inside the tunnel to rot. After thrashing and slicing a path through golems and darkspawn, they found an exit and a huge treasure trove at the end of the tunnel.
Marian went home to share the good news to her family; instead of the warm welcome she expected, found out Carver was joining the templars to “find himself”. He told her that he was sick of living in her shadow.
Act II
Three years later, Hawke was moving up in the world. She bought her family’s old estate in Hightown. The Qunari still haven’t left. The Arishok, their leader, asked for her help specifically to find Javaris, a dwarf that tried to smuggle the Qunari’s bomb formula but instead got a decoy for a smoke that could kill humans. It turned out there were crazy elves conspiring against the Qunari. Hawke killed them and saved the day again.
After that whole debacle, Hawke informed the Viscount of what happened and he gave her a quest to investigate the case of missing Qunari. Turned out, Ser Varnell was mutilating them out of spite for their people. The Viscount found out, and Hawke proposed to burn the bodies.
Tension rose between the citizens of Kirkwall and the Qunari. During this down time, Hawke helped her friends out; she stopped Anders from killing a girl; helped Aveline net a husband; denied Merrill the Arulin’Holm; promised Isabela to find her relic; cleared out the ghosts in Bartrand’s mansion for Varric; took out Fenris’ slavers, and; recruited Sebastian Vael, an exiled prince of Starkhaven.
One day, Hawke came home to Gamlen interrogating Bodahn about the location of Leandra. He mentioned white lilies. Hawke was alarmed – the white lilies were the mark of a serial killer she encountered years ago with Ser Emeric – and rushed outside to look for her mother. She followed a blood trail into a warehouse in Lowtown and found that a psychopathic necromancer mutilated her mother’s corpse and sewn her face into another body because she looked like his “wife”. When Hawke finally killed him, she cradled her mother’s body in her arms and said goodbye. Hawke lost her mother. Aveline offered her condolences.
Days after, Hawke found Aveline and Isabela bickering in her estate. Isabela found her relic and Aveline was assigned to pacify the Qunari. She helped Isabela first; she found her relic, and left Marian to save her own hide. Meanwhile, the Qunari just about had it with Kirkwall’s bullshit and attacked the city. Hawke fought through the war and came face to face with the Arishok. They started to negotiate peace, but it cannot be done without the relic. Isabela came back with the solution and returned it to the Arishok, but he wanted to leave with the thief as well.
So, they duelled one-on-one on who got to keep Isabela. Hawke won and was crowned “Champion of Kirkwall”, the Qunari left, and peace returned to the city.
Act III
Three years later. The Viscount was dead, and Knight-Commander Meredith took to office. She enforced stricter rules on the mages and, inevitably, the oppressed pushed back harder. Hawke’s status as one of the most influential neutral force meant she had to perpetually keep an eye on the bickering Knight-Commander and First Enchanter.
This is where I’m taking her.
*
1 – An apostate is a wanted mage. Every mage not in the Circle is, basically, a wanted mage. Everybody’s afraid of magic here, hence why they stuff them in ersatz military schools where templars were free to hiss and spit on them and why the Hawkes lived as quietly as possible. They didn’t have a choice.
2 – Circle templars keep the mages in line. Ideally. They are known to abuse them and treat them like dirt. Even then, they are regarded as the most noble and chivalrous people by society.
3 - He was turning into darkspawn. The only way to save him was to turn him into a Grey Warden, but during those times, they were scarce.
4 - Gold. There are also silvers and coppers.
5 - Magic stone, really expensive.
Personality:
Hawke’s default tone is neutral purple – meaning sarcastic and charming, in-game. She is effervescent and notoriously flirty at her best; caustic and inappropriate at her worst. Her sharp tongue and devil-may-care attitude paint the portrait of somebody who’s just casually cruising through life. As long as there’s gold or giggles to be had, she’s in. Bonus points if whores are involved.
Her humor is her greatest shield, because it’s the only thing she knows. Feelings make her uncomfortable. She is not above petty grudges but is too proud a creature to give up control and cry. That is why Hawke is the type of person that would crack a joke around a man cradling his dying son. That is why she’s also the type that would try to crack a joke as she cradles her own, dying mother. She can come off as cruel but that’s usually not her intention; she often regrets things she says after she’s said them, and she usually tries to rectify this, but it doesn’t always work. Bad things happen when Hawke talks. Problem is, she never stops talking.
Hawke cares more than she’s willing to admit. She’s lost a life in Lothering, and she’s determined to do right to her family in Kirkwall, even if the job is thankless considering all the backbiting. This is her prime motivation in the first Act, and for the most part, she succeeds. But little by little, they’re taken away, Bethany by the ogre, Carver by the templars, and her mother by the hands of a psychopath. Although she tries to deflect any allusions to them, it’s obvious that she carries their deaths with her.
This track record for tragedy and years of running away from templars have honed her into the fine warrior that she is today. She is sharp and quick to her feet if anyone ever dares to show inclination to threaten everything she holds dear. But, she only ever attacks when provoked, because she doesn’t believe in violence for the sake of violence, and her opinions are mostly flexible, save for a few, select topics like slavery, darkspawn, templar oppression and blood magic where she is strict and rigid in her ways. She believes in freedom, of enjoying life, keeping friends close and enemies closer.
In these ways, the name “Hawke” really suits her – a bird of prey, strong, dangerous, proud and solitary. The scenes where she is alone, either hunched up on her bed or staring into the fireplace in quiet reflection, speak volumes of her character. Pretty her up with a fancy title if you want, but she’ll never be anything other than an apostate refugee. It’s no wonder she managed to collect a lovely array of patchwork people because she’s one of them. And she does appreciate her merry band of misfits, even the angsty, glowy ones; they’re her new family. She might sass them from time to time but she always thinks about what’s best for them.
Hawke is not a Hero; she’s not a dashing Cousland that would save the day out of the kindness of her heart. She’s a Champion; a normal person trying to get by, with strengths, weaknesses and motivations like any other, who just happened to be really good at flinging fireballs her way to the top.
Powers: She has magic. The most she can do with it is rain fire all over a street. She can set fire to the rain, if she tries really hard.
Other Details: She’s bringing her doggie along. His name is Ser Twinkletuffs the Oppressor.
SAMPLES
She doesn’t know how she manages as Champion, really, what with everybody asking her for something or other. “Champion, would you care getting rid of a band of raiders at the Wounded Coast?” “Champion, there’s a blood mage sacrificing a little girl, you must help!” “Champion, are you married? Because you’re certainly the Champion… of my heart.”
Frankly, it’s taxing. She missed the good, old days, back when nobody knew her and she could get debauched at the Hanged Man all she wanted without having to worry about lowering people’s expectations, because they had none. It’s no fun.
“Why are we at the Bone Pit again?”
“A coal miner’s daughter wandered off and we are to check if she has not been eaten by dragons yet,” Fenris supplies.
“Yes, but I was asking existentially.”
“Because it’s too early in the morning to get drunk and we get gold,” Varric says, helpfully.
“And loot,” Isabela adds.
“I live in a mansion in Hightown. Do you guys really think I need more gold and loot?”
Her question never gets answered because they get attacked by a horde of baby dragons. They make quick work of them; sensibly so, considering Hawke’s fireballs, Varric’s arrows, Isabela’s daggers, and Fenris’ blade. Despite what was said earlier, they still make sure to pillage all the bodies. They find rhe little girl eventually, crying and whimpering under a rock. Hawke, as usual, takes the initiative and crouches down to try and make eye contact with the kid.
“Um, little girl? All the dragons are dead. If I were you, I’d use this opportunity to get out of this hole. But maybe that’s just me.”
“Are you… a good stranger?”
Oh, Maker. She doesn’t know how much she’s getting paid, but she bet it’s not enough.
“Yes. Unless you mean you’re going to stay there, in that case, I’ll turn into a mildly irritated, severely underpaid stranger.”
This, apparently, works, and the girl crawls out of her hole. Hawke awkwardly pets her bushy hair.
“Let’s get you back to your father.” She tosses a look at her companions. “We really need to find better ways to spend quality time with each other.”
“How about a knitting circle?” Varric asked.
Player Name: Poptart
Preferred Contact Methods: AIM @ Kuroupouri; plurk @ rustandstardust
Other Characters: n/a
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Marian Hawke
Series: Dragon Age 2
Canon Point: The beginning of Act III. Three years after she dueled the Arishok for Isabela and awarded the title of “Champion of Kirkwall”, she gets to play nanny to Knight-Commander Meredith and First Enchanter Orsino.
History:
Malcolm Hawke was an apostate[1]. Leandra Amell was nobility. They were in love. And so, they escaped Kirkwall together, far away from the Circle to a Fereldan countryside. There, they had their first daughter, Marian, who shared her father’s magic and charming personality. They had two more children – twins, Bethany, also gifted with magic, and Carver. When Carver was big and Marian learned to lead, Malcolm passed away. They continued to live quietly and unnoticed in their farm.
But everything changed when the darkspawn attacked.
The horde destroyed their home so, with nothing but the shirts on their backs and the weapons in their hands, they fled Lothering. Along the way, they crossed paths with a templar[2], Ser Wesley, and his wife, Aveline Vallen, also seeking refuge. They agreed to put their differences aside and travel together to Kirkwall, where Leandra still had her brother Gamlen and their estate.
While trekking through the Wilds, an ogre appeared and smashed Marian’s baby sister’s head open. The refugees murdered a good number of the darkspawn and the ogre. A Witch of the Wilds named Flemeth charred the rest. Hawke made a deal to deliver an amulet to a Dalish camp in exchange for Flemeth’s assistance to help them go to Kirkwall. Before they left, they had to kill Ser Wesley because he was infected by the taint[3].
Act I
For two months, they were stuck in a crowded ship, along with the helpless and the desperate. And then, they saw it – Kirkwall, The City of Chains. The Harbor was filled to the brim with refugees being denied access inside. Marian and co. helped a guard out, and he agreed to fetch their relative for them, Gamlen Amell. He could surely get them into the city!
Except Gamlen wasn’t the noble they expected. He was a bum. He also sold the estate to slavers, to settle a debt. But, he was able to get a smuggler to provide the coin to let the Hawkes and Aveline in – provided the siblings work their asses off for it. So, they earned their stay for a year.
A year later, Aveline found a job in the City Guard, and Carver and Marian were finally free from Athenril’s service. They were residing in Gamlen’s hovel, though; it smelled like cabbages and made everybody miserable. They hoped to earn their fortune and caught wind of Bartrand’s Deep Roads expedition. They wanted in, but Bartrand didn’t have the money to accommodate hirelings anymore.
Varric, Bartrand’s brother, noticed the Hawke siblings and recognized their potential. He opted to be partners with Marian – fifty sovereigns[4] and a map, and Bartrand can’t refuse. They took odd jobs for the money and maps, and managed to gather up a merry band of misfits along the way – Anders, an ex-Warden apostate (“I didn’t know you can leave the Wardens.” “FINE, I ESCAPED.”); Merrill, a discarded Dalish blood mage; Fenris, a wanted fugitive from Tevinter, and; Isabela, a Rivaini pirate without a ship. Before they knew it, Hawke was ready to go on the expedition.
She left Carver home, much to his bitching, because she didn’t want any more passive-aggression and blame from her mother. The expedition was going nicely until they found an idol made of lyrium[5]; Bartrand, the smarmy bastard, decided he didn’t want to split the fortune three-ways and locked them inside the tunnel to rot. After thrashing and slicing a path through golems and darkspawn, they found an exit and a huge treasure trove at the end of the tunnel.
Marian went home to share the good news to her family; instead of the warm welcome she expected, found out Carver was joining the templars to “find himself”. He told her that he was sick of living in her shadow.
Act II
Three years later, Hawke was moving up in the world. She bought her family’s old estate in Hightown. The Qunari still haven’t left. The Arishok, their leader, asked for her help specifically to find Javaris, a dwarf that tried to smuggle the Qunari’s bomb formula but instead got a decoy for a smoke that could kill humans. It turned out there were crazy elves conspiring against the Qunari. Hawke killed them and saved the day again.
After that whole debacle, Hawke informed the Viscount of what happened and he gave her a quest to investigate the case of missing Qunari. Turned out, Ser Varnell was mutilating them out of spite for their people. The Viscount found out, and Hawke proposed to burn the bodies.
Tension rose between the citizens of Kirkwall and the Qunari. During this down time, Hawke helped her friends out; she stopped Anders from killing a girl; helped Aveline net a husband; denied Merrill the Arulin’Holm; promised Isabela to find her relic; cleared out the ghosts in Bartrand’s mansion for Varric; took out Fenris’ slavers, and; recruited Sebastian Vael, an exiled prince of Starkhaven.
One day, Hawke came home to Gamlen interrogating Bodahn about the location of Leandra. He mentioned white lilies. Hawke was alarmed – the white lilies were the mark of a serial killer she encountered years ago with Ser Emeric – and rushed outside to look for her mother. She followed a blood trail into a warehouse in Lowtown and found that a psychopathic necromancer mutilated her mother’s corpse and sewn her face into another body because she looked like his “wife”. When Hawke finally killed him, she cradled her mother’s body in her arms and said goodbye. Hawke lost her mother. Aveline offered her condolences.
Days after, Hawke found Aveline and Isabela bickering in her estate. Isabela found her relic and Aveline was assigned to pacify the Qunari. She helped Isabela first; she found her relic, and left Marian to save her own hide. Meanwhile, the Qunari just about had it with Kirkwall’s bullshit and attacked the city. Hawke fought through the war and came face to face with the Arishok. They started to negotiate peace, but it cannot be done without the relic. Isabela came back with the solution and returned it to the Arishok, but he wanted to leave with the thief as well.
So, they duelled one-on-one on who got to keep Isabela. Hawke won and was crowned “Champion of Kirkwall”, the Qunari left, and peace returned to the city.
Act III
Three years later. The Viscount was dead, and Knight-Commander Meredith took to office. She enforced stricter rules on the mages and, inevitably, the oppressed pushed back harder. Hawke’s status as one of the most influential neutral force meant she had to perpetually keep an eye on the bickering Knight-Commander and First Enchanter.
This is where I’m taking her.
*
1 – An apostate is a wanted mage. Every mage not in the Circle is, basically, a wanted mage. Everybody’s afraid of magic here, hence why they stuff them in ersatz military schools where templars were free to hiss and spit on them and why the Hawkes lived as quietly as possible. They didn’t have a choice.
2 – Circle templars keep the mages in line. Ideally. They are known to abuse them and treat them like dirt. Even then, they are regarded as the most noble and chivalrous people by society.
3 - He was turning into darkspawn. The only way to save him was to turn him into a Grey Warden, but during those times, they were scarce.
4 - Gold. There are also silvers and coppers.
5 - Magic stone, really expensive.
Personality:
Hawke’s default tone is neutral purple – meaning sarcastic and charming, in-game. She is effervescent and notoriously flirty at her best; caustic and inappropriate at her worst. Her sharp tongue and devil-may-care attitude paint the portrait of somebody who’s just casually cruising through life. As long as there’s gold or giggles to be had, she’s in. Bonus points if whores are involved.
Her humor is her greatest shield, because it’s the only thing she knows. Feelings make her uncomfortable. She is not above petty grudges but is too proud a creature to give up control and cry. That is why Hawke is the type of person that would crack a joke around a man cradling his dying son. That is why she’s also the type that would try to crack a joke as she cradles her own, dying mother. She can come off as cruel but that’s usually not her intention; she often regrets things she says after she’s said them, and she usually tries to rectify this, but it doesn’t always work. Bad things happen when Hawke talks. Problem is, she never stops talking.
Hawke cares more than she’s willing to admit. She’s lost a life in Lothering, and she’s determined to do right to her family in Kirkwall, even if the job is thankless considering all the backbiting. This is her prime motivation in the first Act, and for the most part, she succeeds. But little by little, they’re taken away, Bethany by the ogre, Carver by the templars, and her mother by the hands of a psychopath. Although she tries to deflect any allusions to them, it’s obvious that she carries their deaths with her.
This track record for tragedy and years of running away from templars have honed her into the fine warrior that she is today. She is sharp and quick to her feet if anyone ever dares to show inclination to threaten everything she holds dear. But, she only ever attacks when provoked, because she doesn’t believe in violence for the sake of violence, and her opinions are mostly flexible, save for a few, select topics like slavery, darkspawn, templar oppression and blood magic where she is strict and rigid in her ways. She believes in freedom, of enjoying life, keeping friends close and enemies closer.
In these ways, the name “Hawke” really suits her – a bird of prey, strong, dangerous, proud and solitary. The scenes where she is alone, either hunched up on her bed or staring into the fireplace in quiet reflection, speak volumes of her character. Pretty her up with a fancy title if you want, but she’ll never be anything other than an apostate refugee. It’s no wonder she managed to collect a lovely array of patchwork people because she’s one of them. And she does appreciate her merry band of misfits, even the angsty, glowy ones; they’re her new family. She might sass them from time to time but she always thinks about what’s best for them.
Hawke is not a Hero; she’s not a dashing Cousland that would save the day out of the kindness of her heart. She’s a Champion; a normal person trying to get by, with strengths, weaknesses and motivations like any other, who just happened to be really good at flinging fireballs her way to the top.
Powers: She has magic. The most she can do with it is rain fire all over a street. She can set fire to the rain, if she tries really hard.
Other Details: She’s bringing her doggie along. His name is Ser Twinkletuffs the Oppressor.
SAMPLES
She doesn’t know how she manages as Champion, really, what with everybody asking her for something or other. “Champion, would you care getting rid of a band of raiders at the Wounded Coast?” “Champion, there’s a blood mage sacrificing a little girl, you must help!” “Champion, are you married? Because you’re certainly the Champion… of my heart.”
Frankly, it’s taxing. She missed the good, old days, back when nobody knew her and she could get debauched at the Hanged Man all she wanted without having to worry about lowering people’s expectations, because they had none. It’s no fun.
“Why are we at the Bone Pit again?”
“A coal miner’s daughter wandered off and we are to check if she has not been eaten by dragons yet,” Fenris supplies.
“Yes, but I was asking existentially.”
“Because it’s too early in the morning to get drunk and we get gold,” Varric says, helpfully.
“And loot,” Isabela adds.
“I live in a mansion in Hightown. Do you guys really think I need more gold and loot?”
Her question never gets answered because they get attacked by a horde of baby dragons. They make quick work of them; sensibly so, considering Hawke’s fireballs, Varric’s arrows, Isabela’s daggers, and Fenris’ blade. Despite what was said earlier, they still make sure to pillage all the bodies. They find rhe little girl eventually, crying and whimpering under a rock. Hawke, as usual, takes the initiative and crouches down to try and make eye contact with the kid.
“Um, little girl? All the dragons are dead. If I were you, I’d use this opportunity to get out of this hole. But maybe that’s just me.”
“Are you… a good stranger?”
Oh, Maker. She doesn’t know how much she’s getting paid, but she bet it’s not enough.
“Yes. Unless you mean you’re going to stay there, in that case, I’ll turn into a mildly irritated, severely underpaid stranger.”
This, apparently, works, and the girl crawls out of her hole. Hawke awkwardly pets her bushy hair.
“Let’s get you back to your father.” She tosses a look at her companions. “We really need to find better ways to spend quality time with each other.”
“How about a knitting circle?” Varric asked.