Application for Folkmore

★ Character Information ★

Character Name: Lila Trevelyan
Character Age: 25
Character Species: human (mage)
Current Health: other than missing half of her left arm, pretty good!
Outfit: pink. pink pink and more pink

Character Canon: Dragon Age, taken immediately after the events of Trespasser, having lost most of her left arm
Link to History: Lila was the lucky one to hear Divine Justinia calling for help, interrupting Corypheus and gaining the power of the anchor on her left hand. That gave her the ability to close the vast rifts in the Fade (the afterlife/dreamline/hellscape) in the sky. Lila was initially a very reluctant person, not believing in the hype that she was the Herald of Andraste at all and constantly doing her best to make her companions observe her and come to their own decisions. She was also completely uncertain that she actually could become the hero some people saw her as. She'd been a Circle mage since she was ten and she honestly didn't mind the Circle, it gave her plenty of time to study magic theory. But she didn't feel she was ready to put the theory into practice, but found herself with little choice as she was being thrown into life or death battles on the regular. Her decisions are as follows.

Lila backed Leliana to become the next Divine and transitioned the Inquisition into her honor guard at the end of Trespasser. Lila felt that the Chantry needed to be almost rebuilt from scratch and that Leliana was the best choice to make it happen.

She left Stroud in the Fade as in Lila's canon, Alistair is king of Ferelden. She also chose to conscript the Wardens into the Inquisition as Lila was a massive fangirl of the Fifth Blight, reading everything she could about the ragtag band of misfits set out to stop the Blight and end the Ferelden civil war. She found Alistair the stuff of fangirl fantasies and admired its leader, the currently missing Queen of Ferelden. When she gets letters from Alistair or Cousland, she has them framed and hung in her room at Skyhold.

As Lila was a mage, she was already inclined to recruit the mages to help close the Rift and fight the previously unknown Elder One (Corypheus). She made it a full partnership instead of a conscription. This decision was approved of by about half of her companions and deeply opposed by the other half.

Lila became thoroughly fed up with Celene, Gaspard, and Briala. She felt that none of them had Orlais' best interests in mind, that all they were interested in was the preservation of their own power. As a result, she revealed that she had blackmail material on all three of them and forced them to work together for Orlais. She did not reunite Celene and Briala. She was able to gain enough court approval to expose Grand Duchess Florianne as a traitor and assassin and thus, the Duchess was taken in alive. Her ultimate fate was to serve as the Inquisition's jester. In flat shoes

Lila chose to drink from the Well of Sorrows, not wanting Morrigan to risk it as Lila felt that Morrigan needed to be able to be a mother to her son. Lila realized that there was a risk, but chalked it up to the fact that she was at risk every day that she got closer and closer to defeat Corypheus.

Lila chose to make Cole more human, feeling that he had a right to be angry on behalf of the young mage he couldn't save and that if he didn't resolve his feelings in a "healthy" way, he'd regret it. It was worth it in the end as she felt that she'd gained a valuable friend in the process and she totally shipped Cole and Maryden even before they got together officially.

Lila chose to save the Chargers, pulling rank and ordering Bull to accompany her to do so. Over time, pulling rank as the Inquisitor became more and more easy as she became far more confident in her abilities to actually do what the people thought she could be, not a savior, she would never be comfortable in that role, but as a leader who could put her money (magic) where her mouth was, one who could pretend to be the Ditz but in reality was a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass of the Messiah type.

Lila chose to not romance anyone directly involved as a counselor or companion (especially not Cullen because the abuses of the Kirkwall Circle had become common knowledge and he had been part of that power structure). She did flirt incessantly with Scout Harding and by the time of Trespasser, they'd become an official couple, much to Lila's delight.

At the end of Trespasser, where she had to confront Solas, she'd already figured out who he really was and had resolved to stop him by any means necessary.


Canon Iteration: canon

★ Folkmore Roles & Attributes ★

Skills: Lila is extremely good at consistently making people such as Florianne underestimate her, given her tendency towards pink, girlish things, and a ditzy outward personality. She can also play chess, sing, and dance well.
Canon Abilities: Lila is a very skilled, very scary Rift Mage as she felt that she needed to know everything possible about the Fade and the Veil to be able to do her job as Inquisitor properly.
Role: Legend
Role Qualities/Attributes: Lila will get a circlet of light around the back of her head, visible as a crescent over her head and light pink colored feather wings.
Role Reasoning: Lila is very dedicated to making sure that no one gets hurt who doesn't have to. She has no patience with politicking when people's lives are at stake and she's very proactive about trying to protect as many people as possible. She didn't think she could be the leader people needed, not for a long time, but when the fight came to her in Haven, she realized that she could do it and even become a hero for the people. She no longer thinks she can accomplish her goals, she knows she can.

★ Personality ★

Please choose one of the follow options for your personality section. Please clarify which option you have picked and, if option 2, which questions you are answering:

Option 2. Choose FOUR-FIVE of the following questions to answer and expand upon. You may choose a fifth question if you feel it is integral to your character's personality. Each answer has a 100-300 word requirement.
OPTION 2 QUESTIONS (PICK 4-5) 100-300 WORD LIMIT EACH:

What was the most traumatic experience your character endured? How did this change them? The destruction of the Conclave, shortly followed by the attack of Corypheus at Haven. The Conclave cost her her older sister as well as extended members of the family she hadn't seen in years, not since she manifested magic and was sent to the Circle. At first, Lila was a terrified young woman, not understanding herself, her new powers, and how she fit into the world. She'd not been out of the Circle in thirteen years, so the very fact of being outside of the Circle was a massive shock to her system. Having others consider her the Herald of Andraste was another shock as Lila (unlike her family) had never been particularly religious. She encouraged her companions and others to see Lila as Lila, not a Herald or a savior or anything like that. But the attack on Haven, she was trusted and tasked with leading people into a battle that they may or may not win, Lila willing to sacrifice herself to stop Corypheus with the avalanche, something she'd have thought unthinkable before.

What experience challenged your character's core beliefs? How did they handle this or change from it? The discovery that she was a mage and being sent from her rather large family and into the Circle of Magi. The Trevelyans had been a very faithful family and had dedicated one member of the family to serve the Chantry every generation and it was supposed to be Lila. However, Lila knew she'd be miserable as a Chantry sister, so manifesting magic was the perfect get out of jail free card. Ironically, as many people considered the Circle as a jail in and of itself. But Lila took to it like a duck to water, gaining power rapidly and to an extent where she outdid mages years older than herself. Her Harrowing was a noodle incident as we don't know what exactly happened, but whatever it was, it was impressive enough for the First Enchanter to record it in their locked history book and never speak of it again. Lila just shrugged, though, feeling like they wanted her to prove her power and resistance to demons and she'd done it, with flying colors. Had Lila become a Chantry sister like her parents originally intended, Lila would have hated it, the regimentation, the prejudices, the hypocrisy. Being a mage to Lila was a godsend, protecting her from a future she would have been miserable in and leading her to greater freedom from within Circle walls to what she'd have had instead. And she never considered herself cursed with magic, although her family certainly did.

What is a headcanon (or two) you feel strongly about and that you prefer playing your character with? How is this supported in canon and why do you think it benefits the character's story? Her older sister, Diana. As girls, the two of them had been incredibly close despite a large age gap between them. Diana treated Lila almost like a living doll, dressing her and making her up and inspiring her passionate love for all things pink. But that relationship soured as soon as Lila manifested her magic. Diana was very religious and felt that Lila's magic brought shame on the family, that she was unclean and had done something wicked to gain her magic instead of just coming into it on her own. Making matters worse, the child being sent to the Chantry now became Diana instead of Lila. Diana had big dreams of marrying for power and position, but as a sister of the Chantry Diana had to renounce all worldly possessions and titles, living a life of poverty, humility, and chastity, something Diana still held against Lila by the time of the Conclave where Diana was sent as a representative of the Chantry and Lila as a representative of the mages. Lila had high hopes that somehow, she could fix the rift between them at the Conclave, but then the Conclave was destroyed, killing everyone inside. Including Diana. Lila still feels horribly guilty about that, feeling that there must have been some way to save Diana, even after she remembers how she became what she was, the Inquisitor, and she mourns the loss of the chance to be close to her sister again..

What is your character's moral code? Do they have one? Why or why not? Lila's a big fan of helping mages and the people caught in the crossfire in the war between the Templars and the Mages. She's capable of seeing both the big picture and the little picture and making determinations according to each as to what to do. For example, when there was the chance to seal an alliance with the Qun, the Qunari dreadnoughts were attacked and Bull's Chargers were in mortal danger. While an alliance with the Qunari would have given the Inquisition even more influence and power, she felt that the little picture--saving the Chargers--was most important as even though they were mercenaries and had to believe there was a chance they wouldn't make it out alive, the lives of her friends overrode the lives of the Qunari on the dreadnought as Lila felt that they were soldiers and had to have already accepted death as an outcome somewhere down the line. She chose the little picture, to save her friends, over the big picture--an alliance with the Qun. In a case of choosing the big picture, she opted to take on the mages as full allies of the Inquisition, hoping that Thedas would see that mages could take care of and govern themselves without falling into the abuses of power found in Tevinter.

Which Taylor Swift era is your character going through right now and why? 1989 Taylor Swift. Lila is almost absurdly cheerful, despite the fact that she was carrying the fate of all of Thedas on her shoulders and the 1989 album is Taylor balancing her more pop aesthetic with her singer/songwriter aspect. Lila would thoroughly enjoy that album, especially Shake it Off (which she does. if something goes wrong, she tries to stem the tide of other potential problems and usually succeeds. She'd absolutely rock out to Bad Blood, loudly singing along and dancing, acting like the badass people didn't fully realize she was. She was a hero. She could save Thedas and she knew she could. But at the same time, powerful people have enemies and by the time of Trespasser, Lila had plenty. Ferelden wanted the Inquisition gone for good and Orlais wanted them under their influence. Lila chose to stick it to both of them, choosing to transition into Leliana's honor guard, a middle ground between pop and singer/songwriter. And a middle ground between being dissolved and maintaining their military might.

★ Player Information ★

Player Name: argustar
Pronouns: they/them
Are you over 18?: 44. OLD. :(
Contact(s): argustar on plurk, PM the character journal
Who Invited You?: already in game
Current Characters: Arashi Kishuu, Bella Swan, Mariane Cousland, Tinya Wazzo, Misty Day
Permissions: Here
Writing Samples: here, here, here, here