Grey Wardens

"We bear a sacred burden. For an age, we have protected the lands of men. But now, a blight is upon us and we dare not falter. Regardless of race, noble or commoner. The best must take up our banner to save us all from annihilation. We are the Grey Wardens. Join us."

By popular demand!

Based on the video game Dragon Age, The Grey Wardens takes place fifteen years after the events of DA and stars a cast of all original characters - with the occasional appearance of a canon character just for the look of the thing. Started in late 2009/early 2010, GW might be slower than most LJ-style games, but the quality of the writing is top-notch and the level of character interaction can't be beat. With 60 characters and a supporting cast of NPCs that are just as beloved as the player characters (Black Matthew, anyone?) there is a flavor of companion or Warden for just about everyone to love, and a thriving OOC community with enough memes to choke the archdemon, a private chatroom and even a community just for companion-style banter.

Oh, and there's a Blight on, too. We're all really excited about that.

Character sheet forthcoming; page under heavy construction.

Tropes used in Grey Wardens include:

In Character

Accidental Marriage - While Conlan realized he was getting married, he did not realize he was getting married to an Antivan Crow.
Action Mom - Emmaline Ledaal left her sons a legacy of asskicking, and at least two of them with serious mommy issues.
Affably Evil - Lucressia, Lelahai... possibly Savio, WE'RE NOT SURE.
All Girls Like Ponies - This is here to tease Jill. <3
- Actually subverted in-game by Falina's outright fear of Salma and her big, trample-y hooves.
Anti-Villain - Bloodmage Constans
Ancestral Weapon - Imenry's sword. Cyril has one too.
Babies Ever After - The Good Ending for Ordhan & Hilda
Becoming the Mask - Completely averted by Lucressia, who poisoned her husband and ran off, not because she was afraid she was falling for him, but simply because she'd become bored with pretending to be married.
Badass Adorable - Kenton. While several adorable characters may be on their way to badass, Kenton has arrived.
Belligerent Sexual Tension - NEED WE EXPLAIN?
Beware the Nice Ones - Someday someone is going to Break the Cutie and the real carnage will begin. Likely candidates: Bethen, Signy, Rhocanth, Ordhan, Alderic, Loic, Jill... and Maker help us, Hissra.
Beware the Silly Ones - Savio is a goof, but he's still a Crow.
Bi the Way - Speaking of Antivans, Lucressia has casually mentioned this fact.
Big Brother Instinct - All Ledaals toward successively younger Ledaals, Ordhan for Eileen, Cormac for Falina...
Big Brother Mentor - Ordhan for Conlan, Conlan in turn for Lalin.
Big Brother Worship - Ordhan towards Nathaniel, Eileen towards Ordhan...
The Big Guy - They don't come much bigger then The Karashok.
Bishonen - Let's face it, it's kind of hard to tell what gender Garrett is at first glance.
Blondes Are Evil - Played straight with Lelahai Kordura and Cynthia Jerkin.
- Subverted by Hilda and her nine-member family, all blonde and as un-evil as it gets, as well as half of our Dwarf population.
Breakout Character - Ser Talfryn Armstead, recently promoted from NPC to PC.
Casanova - Brennan, Aurin, pre-Tranquil Constans... somehow, Conlan, and he's not especially happy about it.
Chaste Hero - Constans has become functionally asexual. Bethen is a female version.
Church Militant - The Chantry and its Templars.
Chronic Hero Syndrome - Numerous PC's, Conlan wishes he could find some kind of cure.
- Group 3. Stopping a fight on the road is one thing, deciding from that to go investigate, and break up a slaver ring hidden in Denerim, when it has nothing to do with their mission on the other hand...
Color Coded for Your Convenience - Black Matthew, assassin and thief extraordinaire.
Cool Old Guy - Valan, Tobias, Cyril...
Conveniently an Orphan - Nearly the whole damn RP?
- Inverted with Hilda, the fifth child of seven, her family (sans one brother) living happily in the Anderfels, with her parents still sickeningly in love with each other.
- Inverted with Cyril, whose older sisters, hoard of nieces and nephews, parents, and a plethora of cousins are still alive. While being Warrior Caste means that some of his extended family were Darkspawn fodder, his closest family are still alive.
Cult Colony - Just a happy little village in the mountains! (Imenry, Brennan)
Cute Witch - Bethen, and of course Signy "The Cutest Apostate"
Deadpan Snarker- A few characters crack wise every now and again, especially Azabeth and Lalin, but this is Conlan's default mode.
Death by Origin Story - The population of Imenry and Brennan's entire village, Nathaniel Wyland, Albrecht Aelricsn, Valeré Kordura, one or both parents of 2/3rds of the RP (as follows)...
Deceased Parents Are the Best
- Both parents - Conlan, Bethen, Aurin, Brennan, Imenry, Seda...
- One parent - The Ledaal bros' mom, Faer's mom, Alderic's dad, Simon's mom, Nerys' dad...
Death Seeker - Ordhan after the siege of Denerim.
Does Not Understand Sarcasm - Ser Ordhan. Which makes his friendship with Conlan very awkward.
Dramatic Irony
- If Ordhan told Conlan how proud he was, Con would be a lot less bitter; sadly Ord Cannot Spit It Out and Con probably wouldn't know it if he did.
Earn Your Happy Ending - Do we really have to explain this one?
Empty Shell - Tranquility will do that to you.
The Fettered - Ordhan would fit this trope completely, if he weren't also The Quiet One
Fiery Redhead - Azabeth, Jill, Viara...
Forbidden Fruit - Templars. Oh, Templars. Also Constans, and there is something very wrong with that.
Funetik Aksent - Played with by such foreigners as the Amazing Disappearing Orlesian Bard, Raelias, Kyrio, etc, but codified by Hilda Aelricsdottr, who speaks a version of Jaegermonster.
Good Parents - Rois to Coan, Valan to Faer, Piers to the Ledaal boys, Tamrial & Yolita to Aeolyn, Epona to Branwyn, Hilda's folks to their whole massive blonde brood, Emiliana to Rhocanth, Ignacio to Lucressia (... maybe) ...
Heroes Want Redheads - Azabeth, Jill, Viara, Roran, and apparently if she stopped shaving her head, Lythe. There's clearly a Dwarven sex-kitten under all that Legionnaire armor, just waiting to bust out.
- As for heroes who want redheads: Conlan. He'll try to deny it; both that he is a hero and that he wants anything to do with redheads. He is lying.
Heroic Bastard - Ordhan, Cormac
Heterosexual Life Partners - Lalin and Azabeth. Alas, poor Faer, he'll never be rid of Az's cheerful needling even if she approves!
Hitchhiker Heroes - Every single group. Alistair is going to wonder who all these people are when they go back to Amaranthine.
Hot Amazon - Hilda
Hot Chick with a Sword - Imenry, Nerys
Hot Librarian - Bethen
Hooker with a Heart of Gold - Lillian
I Have Boobs - You Must Obey! - Az does this at least thrice in character - once to Conlan and twice to Aurin.
Jerkass Facade - Conlan tries to have this.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold - Cormac.
Knight in Sour Armor - Conlan, Simon...
Lampshade Hanging - This is inevitable, given a certain quotient of Genre Savvy characters.

Conlan: MAGES AND ARCHERS TO THE BACK OF THE GROUP! WARRIORS UP FRONT!
Azabeth: And where are the sneakthieves and other roguish types supposed to be standing?

- Lillie in the same scene: "After the rescuing of Jill and then of Azabeth Lillie had half expected to find Redheads beset by attackers every day of their journey."
Like Brother and Sister - Conlan and Lalin, so much so that he's begun calling his former cellmate "Lil' Sis."
Loveable Rogue - Demetir and Falina are particularly cuddle-able, and Black Matthew's students have it going on- although sometimes "loveable" might mean more than one thing with those girls.
Luke, I Am Your Father - Noah doesn't realize that his mother is the famed mage Wynne who helped end the last Blight.
May-December Romance - Ordhan (36) and Hilda (20). They still manage to be absolutely adorable together.
The Munchausen - Demetir
My Beloved Smother - Teyrna Rois Bryland. Enough said. And Coan and Rhocanth stop just short of being Mommas Boys.
My God, What Have I Done? - Constans and Bethen, SIMULTANEOUSLY, on opposite sides of the same problem.
Non-Idle Rich - Coan (NOW anyway <3), all Ledaals who are not mages.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished - What Conlan believes about heroism.
Our Dwarves Are Different - Only three are bearded, and all are adorable.
Our Elves Are Different - AND HOW. Also, tall.
Parental Abandonment - Lalin's mother, Azabeth's mother, Galen's poor mother, both of Nerys' parents.
Parental Substitute - Talfryn to Coan, and Valan to Galen.
Papa Wolf - Valan. Definitely Valan. Faer's fear of wolves makes this trope name amusingly ironic.
- Also shown a touch more literally in the form of Garrett's father, Swiftrunner.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse - Most of the PC dwarves.
- Magic is often seen as something of a game breaker, most people breathe a sigh of relief, knowing massive balls of fire will not come shooting from any dwarves they encounter. Pity those people.
Pirate Girl - Captain Vi!
Playing with Syringes - Technically playing knives-and-lyrium, but Paragon Dagna has successfully made the first Dwarven Mages *ever.* Dwarven mage Signy took it a step further by then going through the Warden's Joining ritual. One hopes this doesn't end in a case of With Great Power Comes Great Insanity.
Promotion to Parent - Nathaniel to Ordhan, Azrunath to Rhocanth (or IS he?)
Proud Warrior Race Guy - the Karashok.
Ragtag Bunch of Misfits - The more companions the Wardens pick up, the more each group becomes this.
The Quiet One - Ordhan, Karashok... Nivak, permanently.
Rage Against the Heavens - Conlan.
Reluctant Warrior - Again Conlan.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man - Her name is Lalin, and his is Faer.
STD Immunity - Even Pearl workers have nothing to fear.
Stoic Woobie - Ordhan (although Hilda is thankfully no Manic Pixie Dream Girl)
Take a Third Option - Conlan's solution to the group 3 stand off over Azabeth, will probably be employed as the plot unfurls.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork - Go go group drama! G2 and G3 particularly. G1 be chill.
Team Mom - Bethen, we see you knitting sweaters for the boys going off to war.
Thicker Than Water - Bros will be bros. (Also, there is a pun here.)
Token Evil Teammate - If only Group 2 knew how easy it would be to have Lucressia turn on some of them.
Totally Not a Werewolf - Garrett
- This is actually a double inversion, if you consider that Garrett was originally Totally A Werewolf before the breaking of the curse!
Unstoppable Rage - What Cormac is constantly trying to control, as the last time he let loose, he lost his status as a knight.
Unwitting Pawn - Ordhan is just doing his duty.
White Sheep - Nathaniel and Eileen Wyland.
You Can't Go Home Again - Several characters who were taken from, or had to leave the life they lived just before the start of the game: Rhocanth, Signy, Falina, Faer, Jaden, Alderic, Seda, Azabeth, Lalin, Coan, Savio, and Conlan (Now that he's donated it to elves).
- In addition there are several characters who have this in their backstory; Eileen, Constans, Demetir, Ordhan's exile from Denever, Imenry and Brennan (now that it's burned down) With the exception of Imenry and Brennan, this crosses over with Stranger in a Strange Land as they can go home, they would just be very unwelcome.
  - This goes Double for Bethan, who can't go back to her home in Lothering, being a mage, and can't go back to the Circle because she's a Grey Warden. Also for Desiderio, since he's gone apostate now.
Your Days Are Numbered - MASTER YOUR TAINT.

Out of Character

All-Star Cast
Crowning Moment of Awesome - Every single player will agree that The Video, a music video set to the Dragon Age theme "This Is War" and featuring clips from a large portion of the games PB's, is the single coolest piece of media related to a role playing game ever created.
- Until an updated one is made.
Horny Devil - If you see a Desire Demon in the chat, be very afraid. Especially if you are a Templar, Faer, or an inanimate object.
Improbable Weapon User - You'd better watch out if Ordhan starts lacing up his ice skates.
Loads and Loads of Characters - We've got buckets of 'em!
Memetic Mutation - This entire OOC section, really, but these are the standouts.

THIS CHATROOM IS MADE OF DIAMONDS.
Loic has no pants
poo guy
such a duck
Party time
BEAVER BEAVER BEAVER TAINT TAINT CAKEHOLE

Rouge Angles of Satin - Ambien, full stop.