Title: Victory at Ostagar
Author: Arsinoe de Blassenville
Rating: T
Genre: Adventure/Fantasy
Pairing: None at the moment
Status: WiP
Summary: When Bryce Cousland's little spitfire scaled the Tower of Ishal and lit the beacon at the critical moment, King Cailan won a mighty victory against the darkspawn. For the moment. Cousland/Alistair/Loghain/Cailan/Morrigan and eventual other origins
Link

I've been following this story for a while and it definitely seems to be one of the best in the DA:O fandoms. It also has good grammar and a decent update rate.

The story follows female Cousland origin warden as she is set out to enforce the treaties(Orzammar is canon-rehash but thankfully merely skimmed over to get it out of the way). After that it starts to get a lot more interesting with several different plots and agendas being revealed.

It is currently sitting at 210,668 words and with the last chapter seems like it'll really pick up now that the background has been set and treaties mostly done with.

I'll give it a 5/5

 

At first I thought that was the goddamn pairing.

But then I remembered, I read this yonks ago when there wasn't as much of it and remember enjoying it, and I seriously doubt any developments have cropped up to derail said enjoyment since. So, yeah, read it.

 

Ah, One of my favourite Dragon Age fanfics, I have read through a few times and if I remember right the characters stay mostly true to their canon personalities.

Something I especially enjoyed is the stories/fairytales told by the characters through the story.

This gets 5/5 from me.

 

I've never played Dragon Age, but I've got some time to kill currently. How familiar does the reader have to be with the game universe in order to enjoy the fic, and could twenty minutes on the wiki feasibly give me a cursory understanding of it?

 

There is no reason not to play the game - it's a wonderful experience that provides well over 40/50+ hours of excellent entertainment.

However, if you are incapable of playing the game, reading the wiki will likely suffice, since everything in the game has likely already been incorporated in the game. DA:O is very much a choice-driven game with an overarching "spine" that serves as its plot - the outcomes are the same, but the individual journeys differ slightly.

Still, I suggest you play the game so that you can simply visualize the characters much better, such as Morrigan's acerbic method of speech.

 

Now that I've read it, I can pretty much say that this is probably best piece of Dragon Age fanfiction around - superb characterization, while nothing in particular comes off as forced.

 

new chapter is up and the story is still updated regularly and going strongly. I really love this one, probably the best Dragon Age story I have read so far.

 

Story is updated every Sunday and shit has gone down in the last ten chapters or so and it is still outstanding. Anyone still following this?

 

Very much so. While I do prefer her other fic, The Keening Blade, it's always a good day when VaO updates. Blassenville has done a great job at weaving a number of disparate characters and storylines together to form an entertaining, cohesive whole.

 

930.000 words and the author shows no signs of slowing down, which makes the originality and quality of this fic even more impressive. The amount of time she must invest in this fic, and not just for the writing, is truly staggering.

Continues to replace DA canon in my head.

I do have two issues with the story.
Every problem there is can be attributed to evil Orlesians. Gets old really fast.
She treats Loghain like the average HP fanfic author treats Bellatrix. Meaning she handwaves everything away that might make him look bad so she doesn't have to feel bad fantasizing about him. Ugh.

Still, the best DA fic with the possible exception of 'The Keening Blade'. Also written by the her. 5/5

 

Have to actually disagree with your two complains.

Most problems can be attributed to politics, which i found to be very believable. The Orlesians behave like a powerful enemy nation who believe that they are in the right would behave. at the non Ferelden Grey Wardens aren't incompetent. Incompetent would mean they were trying to do their job but failed to do so. They didn't try in the first place and those that did, gave all the help they could under the circumstances, which all ties back into politics.

Spoiler

As to Loghain, dunno, I always felt that his portrayal was a fair one, in, that the protag comes to the realization as to what kind of person (petty, condescending and arrogant) Loghain really is. I am fairly convinced that the story will end not in a happy way for Loghain and that Bronwyn will be the cause of that (or at least help). His bad traits aren't really hand-waved away and there are going to be consequences for some of his actions.

I mean, she doesn't even particularly like him anymore, let alone love him, and that is not going to be brushed away. Coupled with his general attitude towards Bronwyn, doubt that will last.

The amazing thing is, the author cranks up 8000-10000 words weekly, which is a pretty awesome writing speed, considering the quality of her stuff.

Something I never understood: What is the appeal of "The keening Blade"? Tried to read it once but the first few chapters made it apparent that it doesn't really have the quality of VAO, so, what makes that story so good? Does it get vastly better later on?

 

Yea the first chapters of TKB aren't all that impressive and the story, especially in the beginning, tries sometimes too hard with the whole comedy thing. Try starting with a later chapter, it might be more to your liking.

Spoiler

Orlesians:

I don't mind Orlesians acting in a hostile manner, it's perfectly reasonable. A conspiracy? Sure. A assassination? Excellent. Slander? Cool...

But Arsinoe seems to be finding Orlesian influence everywhere. The Wardens in Weisshaupt don't help because evil Orlesian secretaries manipulate them. The Chantry exists only to infiltrate and conquer Ferelden for the Empress. And torture people for the Lulz. And just how many Assassination attempts were there anyway? A dozen? All Orlesian. Naturally.

Loghain:

You are probably right about the Loghain/Browyn relationship. I had a similar impression but I'm more concerend about the first, oh, 800.000 words .
Pretty much every time they are together I feel like she should've punched him. Would've punched him if he was anyone else. Kinda sad. I really don't like how cavalier the author deals with stuff like Eamon's assassination or him reading Fergus private correspondence, either.

Warden:
You're right. Kinda embarassing but when I was complaining about the incompetent Wardens, I was actually thinking about 'The Keening Blade'. Read both of them last week and.. yea. My bad.

 

Spoiler

True, the orlesians do a bit much but then again, how much sense would it make if they throw the towel after it failed the first two times? The people leading Ferelden have to go for the Empress to succeed and that makes it a try and try again until she succeeds kind of thing. And the assassin's make damage whenever they do something. But after the recent chapters, doubt that will be an issue anymore. Besides, they are/were the biggest superpower on the continent, so, makes sense that they make use of that power in whatever way they can.


I agree, I am still rooting for Bronwyn to gut Loghain like a fish because his behavior towards her and others is totally impossible. I guess Blassenville was going for the disillusionment people have for their heroes. Bronwyn tolerated those early on because of that, same as to how Alistair ignores Duncan's bad habits, but later on, that illusion ceased and now we have a bitter Bronwyn who is more accomplished than Loghain and knows it and i doubt that when they are face to face again, she will take any of his bullshit.

As to the blasé attitude of the author, well, those instances were written from Loghain's POV, so, makes sense that he himself feels as if he was in the right of doing so. Remember, Bronwyn never found out he read her letters to her Brother. Loghain is a dirty bastard and the fact that he felt justified in doing what he did helped making me dislike him more, not less.

Will try The Keening Blade again, will have to sludge through the earlier chapters though >_>

Are there other DAO fanfics with a similar scope? One Blassenville's profile page she threw around a few plot bunnies and I found two of them to be extremely interesting and would love to read them.

But other than the Prince of Thorns, which i really disliked, for the unbearable main character and Sarah's stuff, don't know any other decent stories.

 

Keening Blade I didn't mind purely because I found the character of Maude Cousland to be awesome. The way the world is explored and expanded post Blight is rather interesting too.

Perhaps the way Maude is more clearly Loghain's superior and is shown to be quite capable of killing larger warriors equally as skilled as he in a single blow helps. That and the fact that he knows it.

 

Totally with you when it comes to Prince of Thorns.

Well there are two fics that come to mind but you probably know them already. They aren't anywhere near as good, or long, as Arsinoes but I fav'd them for a reason. I think.
Heirs of Honor - M!Cousland and F!Amell survived without Duncan and make their own path.
Corin - Cousland marries Anora. Quite good but suffers a bit from too much romance.
Both around 200k.

 

Corin isn't dead. It just has a somewhat slow update rate.

 

Ah, good to know. Thanks.

 

I find the number of important characters a bit to high, it often feels to me like she is trying to tell 3 stories at once. In my opinion it would have been better if she separated the whole Astrid/Paragon into a new companion story.

But other than that is really a great example that even 1 million word fics can be still entertaining and I can´t wait to see how the whole Cousland/Loghain thing will end.

 

Am halfway through Keening Blade and fuck me, do I get angry at the continuous slights the Warden gets, with her glory and rank being passed over to Loghain and pretty much treated like useless arm candy by nearly all humans. I am actually so livid, that I am reading purely out of spite, to see the time when Maude finally snaps and goes on a killing spree or takes over or does something to stop this asshattery.

This does get better, does it? If I have to read 200 000 more words of her getting the shaft, I will kill someone.

 

Have you read her confrontation with the surviving Howes and Loghain yet? That bit is rather therapeutic.

Spoiler

Her final dealing with the Arishok is great too, as is Loghain's revelation after it.