Vertices Lavellan

> I hope you know what you're doing. Humans- Chantry folk- Have a much different idea of what 'saving the world' means.
>
>

## Vertices Lavellan

### Title

Scout-Commander
 Cardinal of the Inquisition (conditional)
 Spymaster (conditional)

### Affiliation

Clan Lavellan
 The Inquisition
 The Warden
 Friends of Red Jenny

### Family

Isosceles Lavellan (father)
 Scalene Lavellan (mother)
 Aleka Lavellan (adoptive sister)
 Minerva Lavellan (adoptive sister)
 Cartesian Lavellan (cousin)

### Location

*Inquisition*:
 Wycome
 Haven
 Skyhold
 *Post-Trespasser*:
 Unknown

### Voice

Harry Hadden-Patton (*Dragon Age: Inquisition*)

### Appearances

Dragon Age: Inquisition

**Vertices Lavellan** is a Dalish hunter and scout of Clan Lavellan, serving eventually as the Inquisition's Scout-Commander and potion master. He is a default companion in Dragon Age: Inquisition exclusive to Haven, and a romance option for a male Inquisitor.

## Background

Vertices was born the middle child of his adoptive sisters, and the only biological child of his parents, Scalene and Isosceles Lavellan. They had struggled for a long time with having a child, and Vertices was born a treasured miracle after several miscarriages. Scalene was a strict, stubborn, but unerringly kind mother. Isosceles tended to be more lenient and gentle-hearted, though with a fierce protective streak he would jokingly attribute to his half-dwarven father. Vertices' own dwarven-blooded nature would see him grow into a short, stout, and slightly fuzzy elf compared to his peers.

Not long after Vertices was born, the remnants of a far smaller clan stumbled across their encampment. Previously natives of the Orlesian Dales, their clan had been attacked and slaughtered by human soldiers who took their mere presence on city boarders as a threat. The few stragglers who remained sought out the larger Lavellan clan, and merged with them in order to ensure their survival. One of these survivors was a three-year-old girl who had lost her parents in the attack. Knowing they would likely never be able to give Vertices a sibling on their own, and compassionate for her loss, they offered to take the girl in as their temporary ward. Eventually, Minerva Lavellan became their daughter.

Minerva watched Vertices grow over those next few years, observing him to be a loud, fussy, and stubborn child. As a toddler he was eager to explore, often wandering away from his parents to pick at bugs in the dirt or chew on interesting plants- A semi-constant cause of stress, according to himself.

When Vertices was three, there was another birth in the clan. A troubled one, that ended with the death of the mother. The clan lost one of it's strongest mages that day, and gained a premature newborn clinging to life. Observing that the father of the child was too distraught to care for her, and her older brother far too young, the Keeper offered to pass initial care of the infant to another clan member until the two were mentally well. Aleka Lavellan was raised by a village in her first few months of life, but eventually her primary caretakers were clear. This was, in no small part, due to the shining their son had taken to her.

> It was the first time I'd ever held an infant- Maybe that had something to do with it. I just knew she was this... Squirming, tiny thing that couldn't protect herself. And that I could do it for her, until she was ready.
>
>

From the moment they met, Vertices was glued to Aleka's side. He would watch her carefully as his father carried her around the camp, suddenly quiet and diligent. Every moment they were left together, he would try to teach her something new- Which leaves were and were not edible, how to practice rope-braiding on strands of grass, when the Halla wanted to be pet and when they didn't. She was too young to absorb any of it, but it kept her entertained. And as she grew, that attachment didn't wane. Eventually Aleka's older brother abandoned the Dalish to become a Templar, scouted by recruiters who were drawn by his fear of magic. Her father disappeared soon after, under odd circumstances- Many said he died of a broken heart. Scalene and Isosceles took Aleka in officially, and Vertices declared himself her brother without a moment of hesitation. No one could sway him otherwise.

Though Vertices was known through the camp as a rather odd boy, it was mostly to an affectionate extent. At eight years old he declared that he wasn't a girl, as his parents had thought- This was taken without too much surprise, as Scalene and Isosceles had considered the possibility before, and the clan wasn't a stranger to the concept. His tendency to hyper-focus on his interests made him an attentive hunter at an early age, and his mother took the chance to teach him everything she knew. His easy boredom was solved by sending him along to shadow the apprentices, which fostered an early fascination with nature, leathercrafting, and potion making. He thrilled in how the clan alchemists could create magic out of the same plants he would trample over while watching the scouts. After all, Vertices always had a fascination with magic, and slight jealousy that his eldest sister was born with it instead of him. This jealousy, for now, was nothing but a childish rivalry. He and Minerva got along fine, as much as any siblings do- Which is to say, besides his tendency of putting bugs in her hair, and her tendency of getting him in trouble for small pranks.

Growing into a preteen, though he was less social than some of the other clan children, Vertices was not without friends. He had two, exactly: Varmael and Araevin. He didn't need any more, or any less. The three were inseparable, even through all their various angsts and growing pains. As they began their apprenticeships, they only became closer. They were each other's partners in crime for sneaking out after dark, romping through human cities, pickpocketing noble tourists and swiping food from vendors. It wasn't, however, a time without trouble.

Vertices was starting to resent some of the restrictions of his clan. His curiosity was outgrowing his surroundings, and although they travelled constantly, it felt like the same "safe" forests and towns every time. He stared for hours at maps he had swiped from human libraries, maps that stretched far beyond any of their own, the edges curling at the Donarks, The Sea of Ash and the Boeric Ocean. The world was so wide, and what he had explored of it felt so small. If they had found such magic, and ruins, and crumbling temples on the same dull route of the Free Marches and Ferelden, what could they find outside such gray places? What lay beyond those wine-stained edges? He did not crave the world of humans, as they were clearly far too lazy and dull for such exploration, content to be born and die in the same place- Or to force others to do the same. He knew that it was fear of them that kept his clan from exploring further than what they knew was safe. But they were a large clan, one of the largest, versed in human culture, and they were strong. If he had the Keeper's trust, if *he* was the First, maybe he could convince her it was worth the risk. They could break past the borders, far away from any humans, and come back rich with discovery.

But he was not the First, and he never could be, despite what he may have dreamed as a child. The First could only ever be a mage. A mage who showed dedication to tradition, strong leadership, and power. When Minerva turned eighteen and finished her apprenticeship early, showing yet again what a prodigy she was, it was her who was given that honor. She was loyal to the Keeper's decisions, understanding the risks of their mere existence. She dismissed Vertices' suggestions, same as the Keeper had. Perfect, prodigal, cold Minerva. Too good for him now, despite their shared childhood- Wiser than him, even though she was still a child herself. And a childhood jealousy slowly grew into more.

Despite it all, he still clung to his wild dreams- Although now more bitterly. At fifteen he had started a habit of using his skills to less legal ends, stowing away coin and jewelry he had pilfered from rich merchants and travelling chevaliers. He got in his share of trouble, needing to be bailed out more than a few times, chastised for bringing unwanted attention to him. More than coin, however, Vertices stole books. Accounts of travelers, explorers, grand adventurers. Books on science, alchemy, and mathematics. He soaked up information like a sponge, wanting to know everything humans had kept from them, everything he could use on his own grand adventure. The one he would have someday, when he left the clan to carve his own path, and would come back with strange animal pelts and dragon-skin and chests full of gold, showing everyone he was *right*.

> You'll never find a larger hoard than a Chantry library. And it's not about the 'preservation of knowledge', or whatever they claim- Rewriting history means pretending the real accounts don't exist. We're just lucky they haven't burned it all yet.
>
>

It was one of these missions for knowledge that lead Vertices to pick the lock of a Chantry basement, sifting through dusty tomes by moonlight, looking through books of science that couldn't be found anywhere else. Confident no one would possibly be in the locked Chantry this late, until he ran into an old Cleric re-organizing the shelves. He seemed to regard the young elven boy as no threat, only making a bemused comment about how if he wanted to steal books he should "get along with it", so the Father would have less work to do late into the night. Vertices took his chance and ran.

He made it back to the camp undetected, but was confused as to why the cleric hadn't called any guards. He wasn't convinced being caught trespassing in a Chantry wouldn't end up with a bunch of angry villagers storming the camp, so he went back the next night, determined to stop the cleric from talking about his encounter to anyone. His stealth was not as convincing as he thought. After the nighttime congregation had left, the cleric called Vertices out from his hiding place, and proceeded to engage him in a light conversation about one of the history books he had stolen, before recommending him an updated edition. He introduced himself as Father Alden, and when asked why their were no guards waiting to arrest him, the old cleric laughed. He said the guards were too much bother, and that he wouldn't be a very good priest if he stood in the way of such a determined knowledge-seeker. He gave Vertices a few more books, and sent him on his way.

It would be a few days before Vertices next sought Father Alden out intentionally, but he had become frustratingly stuck understanding a piece of mathematics, and clerics were often the most educated people in any poor village. He snuck into the Chantry basement again and waited for the cleric to come to his desk, before starting to interrogate him about the book. Alden patiently answered every question, even demonstrating some of the equations at his desk. This started a pattern, in which Vertices would tentatively seek the old cleric out again and again over the course of the two months his clan stayed outside that village. It was the first time he had ever had access to a teacher, a scholar. Elves would never be taught in a university, and Alden knew that, though he never spoke of it. He did, however, mention his time at a professor at Denerim's university- A fact that seemed to make the young elf all the more eager.

When it was time to leave, Vertices went to the Chantry basement one last time, the door sitting unlocked as it had for the past few nights. He returned the books he had been hoarding, saying that it would be stupid to weigh down his pack with them anyway, and most of them were outdated, and it would suit him more to just leave them here. Alden gave him a few small tomes to take with him, and bid him well.

At sixteen, a minor famine and economic downturn hit Ferelden. They were at the far end, meaning it would be months travel to the Free Marches for such a large clan. Food was a concern, winter was on the horizon, and after a difficult few weeks Vertices turned his attention from his books. The Keeper and the Elders may not be able to do what was necessary, for the sake of keeping human attention away from them, as it always was- But he could. Aleka was thirteen, and growing, and he couldn't listen to her complaints about the hunger pains and pretend there was nothing he could do. The minor thefts in any towns they stopped by became less minor, and more frequent. Varmael and Araevin would join him with similar ideas, picking pockets and hustling cards, sneaking into the bedrooms of well-to-do lords and ladies and selling their jewelry. The sacks of food they bought were hidden among the clan's existing stores. The Keeper made her disapproval clear, but they continued. There were times these arguments escalated, when they had to leave a city's boarders early due to an angered guard or storm of locals, when blame was tossed around. There was tension in the clan, and an even higher mounting tension between Minerva and Vertices as she scolded him for bringing them such trouble, for putting them in danger for something they could have resolved on their own. Aleka, meanwhile, was annoyed at constantly being left out of the conversation. She did not want her siblings arguing over protecting her, while she herself was being shielded from what was wrong.

## Romance

Vertices is only a love interest if not playing with the Aleka Lavellan inquisitor preset, and is only a love interest for male inquisitors. If not romanced, completing certain criteria will enter him in a romance with Dorian instead.