Fade Rift - Application

[laurenande]

PLAYER

Name: Bubbles
Age: 30
Contact: hikuswing AIM: hikuswing
Other Characters: N/A
Interests: I am really looking forward to cross-canon CR and the inevitable conversations she's going to have about magic, morality, and the fate of Elves in Thedas. Everything in the Dragon Age universe is so similar to Arda and yet so fundamentally different that it should all be interesting.

CHARACTER

Name: Galadriel
Canon/OC: Canon, Lord of the Rings/The Silmarillion/The Unfinished Tales
Canon Point: After discovery of the Ring and the Council of Elrond
Journal: laurenande
Age: 15,000~

Canon World

The Tolkien Universe is, effectively, the default setting of modern high fantasy. There are elves, humans, dwarves, and the standard "evil" races as spawned by the Dark Lord(s) in the height of their terrible reign. The Dark Lords have been summarily defeated, lest they cast the land in a second darkness, and their machinations remain poisoning the world of the good and fair folk. The only major deviation from the world of Dragon Age is the depth of the dark machinations and the lack of overarching Blight across the land. Tolkien preferred evil jewelry to poisonous rocks.

History

Galadriel was born at, effectively, the dawn of the world and has persisted through the sharp decline of the grace and glory of the Eldar. Her youth was uneventful, in the beginning, until darkness came to Valinor and destroyed the trees that lit the world. She traveled to new lands across the sea to find her purpose, to rule, and to be with her brothers. She outlived all of her relatives through three ages of hard fought war and destruction and became a powerful ruler. At the time of her decline she was considered one of the most powerful and wisest beings who walked the earth.

Galadriel @ LOTR Wikia

Personality

Galadriel is, by both the measures of men and elves, exceptionally old.

While this is not (strictly speaking) an aspect of her personality, it is a fact that informs everything about her. She is a creature of the ancient world; whatever other traits are ascribed to her, however present and engaged she may be, she will always carry the ancient world within her. She has a persistent air of distance about her as well as a profound sense of gravity; she is enduring but indecipherable in the way only ancient things can be, she is a relic without any context apart from herself.

As strange and remote as she may seem, Galadriel is nothing if not kind. She is generous, friendly, and fair in both her judgments and actions. She is welcoming and is fond of giving gifts to those who visit her lands or do her kindness. Ultimately, she desires only to carry on, just as she has for long ages, for as long as fate permits. The flow of time, the perpetual creep of seasons and years, wearies her, as do all passing things, and she exerts much of her power to keep her lands evergreen and unchanging. Indeed, the preservation of her lands and her people is such a dear thing to her that Galadriel has come to covet power, if only to that end.

Whether for good or ill, Galadriel is quite adept at both acquiring and securing power. She is exceedingly shrewd and cunning, capable of hiding her influence when she has the will to, and prefers orchestrating the slow tides of fate over taking action, herself. She is counted among the Wisest to walk the earth and, while she offers knowledge freely to those who ask it of her, she rarely offers counsel or direction. She is a keen judge of character (if slightly cynical) and will grant nearly any gift or assistance to those she finds true.

In Arda she was not eager to change the movements of fate, preferring the harried state of war-torn Middle-earth to the inevitable decline of the Elves and of Lorien. Unfortunately, so great was her distaste for the dark, for corrupted, blighted things, that she could not simply leave the Dark Lord to linger in his lands. Even though opposing him hastened the decline of her people, her lands, and her own power (everything she feared and lamented most in all the world), Galadriel simply could not abide the spread of darkness. Corruption and decay gall her and every fiber of her being, every last vestige of her power will work to cast it out.


Strengths & Weaknesses

"Magic" is a term that Galadriel finds utterly perplexing. The mortal penchant for applying it, ubiquitously, to both her power and the deceits of the enemy, confuses her (and all the elves of Arda) deeply. What mortals consider to be magical varies but, generally, what they apply the term to is something either inherently elven or simply a skill that she has honed over her long life. While Galadriel considers none of her abilities to be magical, she has a vague idea of what mortals will probably consider as such and, as many do when faced with the choice to explain or simply move along, she often just agrees with their assessment.

Among the elves, Galadriel is considered uniquely skilled and extremely powerful; she was said to be the most powerful of the Noldor after Feanor, the ancient smith who captured the lights that lit the world and fashioned the Silmarils from them. Whether this assertion is accurate or not is academic; Galadriel's skill is beyond question. She is no smith, but her ability to enchant, to contain power, and to embue objects with her will is both great and unrivaled (excepting Sauron, of course) in Middle-earth. Her crafts are invaluable to those who are gifted with them, despite how commonplace they may seem, and there are few who would trade her gifts for anything.

The power Galadriel commands is not limited to enchantments, however complex or simple those creations may be. She is capable of wielding considerable amounts of raw power. The most impressive of her skills are those that have no tangible vessel. She is capable of healing, can see and speak into the hearts and minds of others (as subject to both player permissions and nerfing, below), can view the shifting threads of fate (through the Mirror of Galadriel), and can conjure raw magical force to both defend and attack. Her most staggering accomplishment, however, is the utter concealment and preservation of Lorien; shielding her vast lands from both the ravages of time and unfriendly eyes requires the overwhelming majority of her accumulated power and, ultimately, surpasses what she is capable of without additional assistance.

As powerful as she is, Galadriel's power is severely augmented by the Elven ring Nenya, an arcane artifact created by the Elven master-smith Celebrimbor, last descendant of the house of Feanor. It is unclear just how much raw power the ring provides, but she depends upon it greatly and, should its power fail, both she and Lorien will diminish and, ultimately, meet their respective ends. Nenya, the ring of Adamant, is one of the three rings of power crafted for the elves. It is invisible, except to those who bear rings of power, and like all other rings of power it is subject to the control of the One Ring.

While not specifically stated in canon, due to her age and the events that she was party to, it is reasonable to assume that Galadriel is capable of wielding weapons with some measure of skill. Her physical prowess was significant enough to merit her mother-name Nerwen or "man-maiden," and she was never so foolish that she would have gone defenseless into danger. Given her lineage, Galadriel would be capable of wielding a spear or pole-arm with considerable agility and would be (reasonably if not exceptionally) skilled with a bow and arrows. Like all other elves of Arda she is ambidextrous, is capable of walking atop snow or sand without sinking, and is extremely resistant to corruption, sickness, and injury; she does not sleep, and she exudes light.

For all her gifts and abilities allow her to do, it is her abilities that are her undoing. Galadriel has always been proud, she has always been ambitious, and with her increasing need of it, her desire for power is considerable. She makes few rash decisions, but when she does, it is often in the service of expanding her own influence and has both extreme and tragic consequences. Though her ring was not touched by Sauron, it is still bound to the One Ring and, as such, Galadriel is incapable of exceeding the Dark Lord. Despite her misgivings and her knowledge of the nature of the One Ring, she craves its power.

Unfortunately, Galadriel, like all other elves in Middle-earth, is in a perpetual state of decline. Though she fights against it, her body weakens with the passage of time and exerting her power becomes gradually more difficult. Use of her powers takes an enormous physical toll on her, particularly if the use is dramatic, violent, or extended, and demands both rest and recuperation. Suffering such a state fuels her desire for more power and, in turn, use of that power places her in an increasingly weakened state, and so on, in an ever-repeating cycle.

In Arda, Galadriel took solace in the company of her husband and of Gandalf the Grey. The two steadied her and grounded her to the present and herself, and Gandalf's ring granted her some reprieve from the passing of time and the slow descent into despair. Though she is counted among the very wise, without their steadying influence, her desire for power and her need to stay the decaying world, destroy darkness, or claim dominion will gradually overcome her. She is not evil, nor malicious, but fear and loneliness can bring even the most noble low. In Thedas, Galadriel will be apart from everything that has ever defined her, completely untethered from the world she has clung to for so long, and it will drive her to unpredictable ends.

Suggested Nerfs

I've left the original, unaltered comment from my first app here but, in summary:

Galadriel adheres to the general common power nerfs posted by the mods but, in particular, her additional nerfs work thusly:

Galadriel's powers are mostly nerfed by the presence of the veil, it separates her power/soul from her body almost entirely and removes a great deal of her uncanny elfyness in the process. The veil separates her from the full well of her strength and can only be overcome in very temporary ways at great expense to her health and well-being. Her telepathy is limited to line of sight and any attempts to reach beyond that are met with catastrophic difficulty and precious little success. Her own arts are exceedingly difficult to use and maintain but, by the same token, she cannot successfully channel her power as the native mages do either.

Her ring is her major source of power and, while she draws on it at will, using it is always very taxing for her.

Arrival Inventory

The Elessar - A magical brooch created for her by Celebrimbor, as a personal gift. It allows the bearer to see the withered, burnt, and decayed as whole and healed. Whoever holds it has the ability to heal and restore from injury and hurt and the strain of time and sorrow seem to weigh less heavily upon them. It is silver, shaped like an eagle, and bears a large green gem that shines with great clarity. Like most Elvish works, this object contains the will/power it exerts and, at least passively, can be used by anyone.

The Phial of Galadriel - The star-glass. A crystal container with silver bindings inside which is contained starlight from the Evening Star of Arda. It seems mundane, if beautiful, when it is not active. In all but the very darkest domains, the glass can be held aloft and will give off a great glimmering light. It is capable of driving back dark creatures and corruption, though it can cure neither. *Currently owned by Ellana Ashara.

Mallorn Nuts - Contained in a small satchel of white cloth. Nondescript nuts gifted to Galadriel centuries ago. They are extremely difficult to cultivate in Arda, but would likely grow in Thedas. Success will yield a specific and ancient variety gold and silver, flowering tree from Galadriel's homeland. They are very strong, grow quickly, their leaves can preserve food, and their wood can be used to construct exceptional items if one has the will to cut one down.

Nenya - The Elven Ring of Water. A ring with great power that can obscure, protect, and preserve, and which serves as a boon to the power of the one who wears it. It is made of mithril and has a brilliant white gem mounted in it. To those who are not ringbearers (or, in this instance, mages or spirits), it would appear ill-defined, radiant, and star-like, when it is visible at all.

'Human'ization

Galadriel is largely in keeping with the standard races of Thedas, apart from being 6'4".

Fit

Galadriel has existed in Thedas for some time and while she fits into the setting fairly well, there are a few glaring aspects of her that might appeal to other native and non-native characters.

Firstly, she believes that the most dangerous thing in all Thedas is the Blight, bar nothing. Red Lyrium is the bane of all life and, as such, she has devoted her entire attention to reclaiming power so that she can scour it from the living world. Corypheus, The Mage-Templar War, and the Inquisition's struggles are things she considers mortal in nature and is largely disinterested in.

Secondly, she consolidates power whenever possible and has amassed quite a bit. Her efforts began upon her arrival, identifying the Veil and how she might be capable of manipulating it, and they escalated in ways which natives found increasingly disturbing. Unto the point where she was both arrested and surveiled by Templar guards for an extended period of time. She had been largely neutral on the subject of the Inquisition previous to this event and soured on the idea of allying herself with the organization following it...which leads us to:

Third, Galadriel, as an ancient elf, considers herself apart from the rules of this world--she is neither a mage nor a templar and does not believe she is constrained by mortal law, nor obliged to participate in mortal affairs. Whether or not that is true, the only mortals who have successfully curtailed her actions have been elves.

Lastly, while she is good, fundamentally and fully, she is a chaotic form of good and can be alarming and inspiring all at once. Her allegiance is largely to rifters and then to local elves. And while her use of power and her ultimate goals may seem reckless she is an asset in the fight against darkness. Any characters aligned against darkness will likely illicit a positive response from her, native or rifter, and any with physical corruption (GREY WARDENS) will earn her ire and garner nigh endless negative CR.

SAMPLES

1 - Elf-Magic

Whether by accident or design, the garden of Skyhold rested directly beneath the path of the sun. It was a small courtyard, clearly intended as a sanctuary within high stone walls and arches, but the plants that grew here were resilient. Galadriel wasn't fond of the deep shadows the walls cast, nor of how quickly they moved across the ground. Fortunately, the position of the garden guaranteed that there was little variation in the path of the light. The shadows were a reminder of the passing hours, as sure and mechanical as any clock, but the repetition allowed days bleed together with ease.

Galadriel enjoyed the monotony of it.

This place was strange, to be certain, but she had seen enough strangeness to know that nothing remained so for long. All too soon, she would grow accustomed to this place and the unfamiliar stars that wheeled overhead. Until then, when her comfort could finally extend to encompass the whole of Skyhold, she took her ease in the garden. Its familiar purpose and predictable light was, insofar as anything in Thedas could be, like home.

She was hardly a boisterous guest, but still she suspected the human "Chanter" women disdained her presence. She could not guess why. She had no desire to inflict discomfort on others, not while she dwelled in their halls, but humans were unpredictable. (It was something of a comfort that this simple fact, inconvenient as it was, translated to all of Creation.) Although she attempted to befriend the women in the garden, any overtures she hazarded were immediately rebuffed and, indeed, seemed to place ever more strain on their patience.

They tolerated her lingering amid the plants, dawn or dusk, night or day, but found her interaction with them to be outrageous. One of them had been rendered red-faced and angry when she found Galadriel urging the flowers to bloom. The elf had assumed the women would have enjoyed the sight of their golden sun and carmine field blooming in the beds of the garden but, for some reason, they took great offense at her manipulation of the flowers.

Galadriel was baffled by their reaction but she tried not to judge them harshly, their hearts were kind. Perhaps, in Thedas, the very act of gardening was considered mysticism? Their chanting was certainly very adamant on the topic of Magic; if that included tending to blooming plants, their upset wouldn't be so inexplicable.

Whatever their reasons, it was a dear shame that gardening upset them so. They spoke with such love of the Maker's Creation; if anyone would delight in assisting the beauty of the world, they would.

One day, should they ever be less opposed to her presence in general, perhaps she would offer to teach them how to tend flowers.

2 - Aye, it's a weed.

"It is called Elfroot?" Galadriel asked as she examined the delicate herb in her hand. It was a fine, delicate plant and not entirely unlike many that she'd seen before; the rising scent of it was cool and vaguely medicinal. It was edible but she doubted the effect would be worth the taste; there were simpler and more effective ways to numb pain and stop bleeding.

"Aye, it is," the elf before her confirmed. The woman was named Minaeve, a word which Galadriel had pronounced entirely incorrectly on her first attempt and would, doubtless, botch again. "Used for healing and the like, makes good potions if you've a mind for it."

"I see," Galadriel said and turned her attention back to Minaeve. The shorter elf squared her shoulders and chin proudly, as if in direct response to how Galadriel bent forward, just slightly, to speak with her. "If I may ask: why is it called 'Elfroot?'"

Minaeve did not appear to have an answer to her question and, in truth, seemed both confused and moderately discomforted by the fact that she had asked it. Galadriel had no desire to force answers from anyone in this place and Minaeve had been more courteous than most. After a moment's pause, she handed the plant back to the shorter woman and smiled.

"I have seen it's like before, but I have never known it by that name. Something similar grows in my garden; they seem to sprout between every gap and stone. There, they are simply called sulca."

"And what's that mean, then?" Minaeve asked, her demeanor torn between a subtle sort of combativeness and earnest curiosity. Galadriel took pause at her question and considered it a moment.

"The closest word in your tongue would be...Root."

Comments

Nerfing, The Veil, and Fëa/Hröa - Trespasser Spoilers

[laurenande]

So, as a preface, I would like to acknowledge straight-away that Galadriel is staggeringly over-powered. Her laundry list of infuriatingly vague and expansive powers, combined with the general invulnerability of Tolkien Elves, is probably fairly worrisome in a game/rp context.

Nearly all of her powers will require permissions to use them (the mind/heart reading, in particular) but the items she has, or what she can make should probably be limited. (I would very much like her to keep Nenya, for reasons I will explain below, but the Elessar, etc I will gladly have her part with so that others can find/use them.)


By Thedas' standards, Galadriel's magic is excessive. She's basically a pronunciation mark and a devoted congregation away from being one of the Enuvaris.

Fortunately, after playing Trespasser and re-reading several bits of Tolkien, I've got what I think is a pretty decent idea for nerfing her, one that will make her the most easily playable (motivation-wise, for me) while keeping her from unbalancing the game in any way. (Frankly, I don't intend to have her use most of her abilities and I definitely don't want to unbalance or complicate the game, but deciding on IC reasons and making OOC agreements are always the best course, I've found.)

The reason Tolkien Elves are so steadfast and have all the particular natural gifts that they do is all down to Fëa and Hröa. The Spirit and the Body, respectively. Essentially, when compared to mortal races and immortal spirits their souls are way, way more entwined with their bodies than anyone else. Because of this close bond, the strength of their spirit can and does sustain their physical form. Conversely, elves who have had their spirits broken by grief or trauma, who may otherwise be completely healthy, can and probably will perish. Elves are their Fëa, it's their soul and their will, and seems to be the greatest measure of their power. Because their Fëa is tied to their body so closely, expending it in excess will both weaken and damage their forms considerably.

Elves in Arda do not consider a great deal of what they do to be magical and, basically, they just use the term magic as a time-saving measure when dealing with other races. Since they have no tangible concept of magic (at least not in the same sense that Dragon Age characters do), it's easy to imagine that there is no tangible separation between them and the source of power in Arda. Elves in Arda are either so inundated with ambient magic that they exert very little willpower when calling on it, or the power they inherently possess is so ubiquitous/easily utilized that exerting it is simply what it is to be an Elf.

Whether Galadriel's strength is entirely based in how much ambient magic she can tap into or entirely dependent on her manipulation of her own Fëa/will/soul, it really doesn't change much from here out.

In early conversations with Solas, he suggests how the world would be if there was no Veil separating the waking world from the Fade. He basically tells you that the elves of Thedas once did magic so easily it was like breathing. The Veil separated spirits/the Fade from the physical world and created a partition that severely diminished the elves, and decimated the power of the Enuvaris. However the Enuvaris worked or whatever they actually were, magic was a pretty integral part of them and cutting it off had a dramatic and immediate effect.

TL;DR: In Thedas, unlike Arda, there is a distinct divide between the Fade and the waking world. As a way to nerf Galadriel's frankly ridiculous skill-set, rather than cut out individual skills or powers, I suggest that this divide would affect her immediately upon arrival and would remain a constant hurdle for her.

We haven’t seen anything in Thedas that works quite like the rings of power or the magic in Arda, so the effect the Veil would have on items of that nature is sort of up in the air. Assuming she’s allowed to keep Nenya (Which would be delightful, really. The idea of a frantic and insistent search for a ring with super-secret-powers that she refuses to explain just seems...super tedious, if I’m being honest about it. I mean, I won’t object if she really can’t keep it, but the appeal of that sort of thread is not particularly significant.) the Fëa/power stored in her ring would be sufficient to sustain her while her own powers and ability to cope takes a nosedive.

At her best, so long as the Veil remains in place, I imagine that Galadriel will be at only a fraction of her power and, since she’ll already be exhausted by the Veil wedging itself between her spirit and body (and probably reducing the effectiveness of her natural super elfy-elf abilities and/or requiring her to, say, sleep occasionally), she will not be eager to use her particular brand of magic unless it is absolutely necessary and generally unavoidable.

As a double bonus, since she has absolutely no sense of how to use Thedas style magic, nor what they actually mean when they say the word magic, she will have to (and be eager to) find someone to give her basic instruction. I’m sure this would be delightful for CR, positive or negative, and it puts Galadriel on the same playing field as everyone else while leaving her fancier powers as extreme options for later story missions or specific CR.

Of course, I’m totally willing to discuss this, figure something out, and/or modify/append my app accordingly, but I really think this will work nicely.


(Additionally, I apologize for submitting this on the very last day of apps. It's very long and, well, that just feels like a rude thing to shove at somebody like this. Sadly, between being sick and how difficult summarizing Galadriel turned out to be, this was the fastest I could complete it.)