Marian Hawke

Marian Hawke is a righteously radical mage from a Medieval-esque land full of your typical political bullcrap. They arrived in-game on date and currently live in Kurzweil.

age: 28

origins: Dragon Age 2, a most excellent video game.

app link:  HERE IT IS!

hmd: C=|8) my top hat

played by: Wicke

contact:  aim is @ discof1refly

Setting
Several races coexist in the sole represented continent of the Dragon Age games, Thedas. In this Medieval-esque fantasy environment, humans are the vast majority, the ones who rule the most countries and are mired in racism against anyone not “normal” or of their kind – typical, really. Elves are the downtrodden and mistreated. Formerly free, then slaves to humans, indentured servitude is no longer as widely accepted as it once was, but their lot in life has hardly improved. City elves occupy 'alienages', or slums, whilst wilder Dalish elves cling to their heritage and roam the lands instead of subjecting themselves to human rule. Dwarves are the third prominent race, a short, stocky people on the whole. They live in stone cities underground and fear the sky... excluding surface dwarves, whom eventually get over the irrational phobia of falling into the sky and tend to be fast-talking businesspersons. There are other races, such as the totalitarian qunari, but they aren't native to the two countries Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 focus on: Ferelden and Kirkwall.

Ferelden and Kirkwall subscribe to the same method of counting the years gone by, via “Ages”. E.g. an Iron Age as we know it is named for the period of time where most tools are made out of iron. Similarly, Thedas's Ages are named for a particular happenstance or defining trait. The Age Hawke lives in is known as the Dragon Age, for the sighting of a rare high dragon. Her rise to power begins in the year 9:30, during the Fifth Blight.

Blight is the term used to describe an invasion of darkspawn, creatures tainted and twisted into irreversible madness. A Blight is a certified Problem when their dark natures awaken an Old God, or 'archdemon' as they're popularly dubbed. Even if the archdemon is killed, another will always awaken at some point, because the darkspawn are never 100% eradicated from existence... and, yes, they breed. In their own special, fucked-up way, they breed.

DRAGON AGE 2:

DA2 begins post-destruction of Lothering, Hawke and family's hometown. What the village was like is of no consequence compared to the city they fled as refugees to: Kirkwall of the Free Marches, where once slaves were kept, and where ships dock from across the globe.

Their new home and host to a variety of issues and filthy politics. Mages are kept holed up in the Circle of Magi, an institution designed to imprison and tutor magic-users on how to be upstanding citizens without actually giving them the rights of an upstanding citizen. Templars are sanctioned by the Chantry (the church of the Andrastian faith, prevalent almost everywhere in Thedas) to be guardian and keeper of the mages. The Templar Order's influence is second only to the ruling Viscount, but as he never goes against the templar Knight-Commander's wishes, no one is certain who holds the real power. Ferelden refugees are generally thought of as 'lesser-class' than Free Marches native-born. Their lot in life reflects this attitude, as Fereldens clog the slums. Elven refugees of any class are made to live in the alienage. Tensions run perpetually high.

The mage-templar conflict is the focal point of everything. There are side distractions, like a qunari mini-invasion that's solved the same night it starts, but always it boils down to the troubling nature of the Magi Circle. Mages are brought to the Circles across Thedas as children. In Kirkwall and Ferelden, there is no choice in the matter, no protest from their families that can stop the process unless they go on the run. Magelings from the beginning are told they have something inside of them that can do unspeakable harm, that they are a danger to themselves. And it's true. Their powers can be used against them. Desperate or weak-willed mages can ally themselves or be taken over by demons to incur slaughter on a huge scale.

So the templars guard the men and women locked in their towers, away from civilization. Kirkwall's templars are renowned for their brutality, just as its mages are feared and held in constant suspicion. This is the kettle of trouble Hawke navigates through – as an apostate / free mage, no less – in DA2.

Personality
Humor is her default reaction to almost every situation. Its first apparent purpose is purely for Hawke's enjoyment, to have a laugh at someone else's or her own expense. Brother revealed to spend time at the local brothel? Tease him mercilessly about what dear mother would say. Hawke is at her most obnoxious around straight-laced conservative folk and she delights in pressing whatever buttons she can get her paws on. Whether or not she stops before pushing someone over the edge is a good measure of how important the person's companionship is to her. She's intelligent enough to know when the edge approaches... and having companions who care for her is a nice commodity. Hawke is the type to return the favor, too. A social life is a good thing to have, and best when one has friends to trust.

Hawke's wise-cracking mouth is her shield. Often she'll deflect a confrontation by poking fun at the easiest target, frustrating friend and foe with her refusal to put on a serious face. As a rule, Hawke avoids showing anyone how deeply upset she is by life-changing or otherwise dramatic events. When her mother was killed, sewn-up and resurrected as a blood mage's plaything, she held her as the life drained from her undead body without shedding a tear; instead, she mustered a half-assed joke about 'saving the day' and pretended to be brave. Moments of absolute weakness are reserved for when she has privacy, and no one's there to see the wreck. Her pride won't allow it. Fits of anger she has less of a problem expressing with an audience since it doesn't imply frailty or make her seem as pitiable.

Shield and sword, her witticisms and flirtations are also applied to instances where attacking is in her best interests. Betrayed by a trusted friend? Hawke asks if she should turn around to be stabbed in the back or if aforementioned friend would prefer it to be a surprise. She's not above petty revenge, doing little things she knows to be annoying. The more threatened she feels the nastier she gets, unafraid of ripping open emotional scars or savagely supplementing verbal acid by adding a dollop of violence. Though Hawke can let go of grudges, she tends to hold onto them if a sincere apology or reparations aren't made.

It's a natural event for her rascality to get on people's last nerves. Hawke's readiness to supply gags regularly comes at the worst possible time, such as when a man is holding his son's corpse. For some ungodly reason her impulsive mouth opens and against her better judgment she tries to lighten the load for the freshly-bereaved father. Thankfully, Hawke can shut up every once in a while when she realizes she's making a bad situation worse but it usually doesn't happen until after she's screwed something up.

Ill-timed and inappropriate delivery tops the Hawkeward charts, but her incessant need to have her nose in everybody's business is in second place. Every single person with a problem the Champion Her Astuteness can detect is subject to interrogation. Despite Hawke understanding the concept of personal boundaries, she isn't above popping someone's sacred bubble to satisfy her curiosity (while not being receptive to getting a taste of her own medicine, sadly).

She's pansexual and flamboyantly so. Shallow as it may be, Hawke appreciates style and aesthetic charm as much as she does a winning personality and is a firm believer in 'loose love'. Not that she condones causing mass heartbreak for the sake of momentary pleasure; even if there is mutual attraction with an interested party, it gets nipped right in the bud if it's clear that more than a physical affair is expected. Hawke isn't ready to sacrifice freedom for commitment. Her personal relationship with the Maker, or lack thereof, enables her to guiltlessly be free with her affections. The question of whether or not there is a Maker doesn't take away any sleep at night, and it's not vital for her to be a good little Champion in case he's watching. Religion has no effect on her life and she's fine with it.

Rarely introspective and uncaring of her arrogance, Hawke is at least comfortable in her skin and with the person she's become. No skeletons in her closet to speak of or triggers. Sure, her worst fear is having Tranquility (i.e. lobotomizing of everything that gives the world flavor) forced on her, but that's typical of any apostate. Unless you're a murderous blood mage. Hostile blood mages, after what was done to her mother, are likely to bring out the worst and cruelest side of Hawke. Having been a mage on the run herself and knowing what it's like to be wary of every person she meets only spares the mages who don't murder innocents.

Abilities & Weaknesses
Magic in Thedas subscribes to four schools: Creation, Spirit, Entropy, and Primal. There are subsets as with anything, but these are the basis for all other magics.

Creation. The obligatory “heals plox” school. Creation is excellent for healing allies and buffing 'em up, making them faster, stronger, etc. Creation glyphs can ward against oncoming foes.

Spirit. For subtler attacks that cost minimal focus, and off-balancing tactics using an enemy's number against them. Good for countering enemy magic.

Entropy. The phrase “all in the head” means jack squat to the Entropy school, since it specializes in turning the enemy's mind in on itself. Imaginary nightmares, hallucinations and whatnot.

Primal. With Primal's powers combined, you, too, can command earth and sky! Exactly what it says on the tin.*


 * Knowing how to manipulate two opposing elements serves as the basis for other non-official schools too, e.g. learning to wield fire/water and abuse gravity. Hawke leans more toward offensive spells (Spirit, Entropy, Primal, etc.) than supportive. She can manage a healing spell from the school of Creation, but isn't proficient or super-effective acting as a support mage. “Force Mage” or “gravity is my BFF” is her specialty.

Technically, at any time she's able to utilize blood magic, but since she will never ever do so for IC reasons, no point in getting into it.

In Singularity, Hawke will find that casting mind-affecting spells will give her splitting headaches. Widespread elemental casts, like tempests/firestorms, are a fast-track to needing a good long nap if she casts them more than twice in the span of an hour. Everything else functions normally.

Character Relationships - Forever a Work in Progress
Fenris:

Ketojan:

Abigail Hawke:

Astrid:

Gibson:

Flynn:

Ram:

Agent York:

Agent Washington:

Charles Xavier:

Eridan:

Wheatley:

Dave Strider (AU):

Dave Sprite:

Karkat:

Raimi:

Free Space
thumb|left|300px|*RUNS AT THE MOUTH*