Skyhold Academy Yearbook

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"It's probably best described as non-magical Hogwarts staffed by the Second Inquisition of Thedas, with occasional musical numbers and an extremely high tolerance for shenanigans."

Welcome to **Skyhold Academy**, where the curriculum is made up and the plot doesn't matter. In this modern AU, the Inquisition staff teach at the eponymous boarding school, eventually revealed to be more than meets the eye (no, it's not a Transformer). When Evvy Trevelyan arrives to substitute for art teacher Marian Hawke, she's as confused as the reader probably is, but soon finds herself utterly enmeshed in the nonsense.

## **Involved Characters**

Although pretty much the entire cast of *Dragon Age* shows up in some form or another, these are the core characters.

### **Evangeline Trevelyan**

The youngest child of Bann Trevelyan of Ostwick, Evvy doesn't feel like her title means much since the Free Marches all converted to democracy. She's a gifted artist who jumped at the chance to serve as a substitute teacher at the renowned academy. But strange things are afoot and it takes a while for her to completely understand the truth about the weird and wonderful school. She serves as the primary viewpoint character for the first story, after which it becomes much more of an ensemble series.

### **Cullen Rutherford**

Cullen teaches history at Skyhold Academy, where he is beloved by the students for his handsome wallflower persona. He has some personal trauma in his past which he tries to avoid, which makes it difficult for him to pursue a relationship with Evvy. His collection of humorous history-themed ties is the bane of Dorian's existence. He's close friends with Cassandra, the girls' phys ed teacher.

### **Dorian Pavus**

Dorian is the academy's librarian and music teacher. He almost immediately becomes Evvy's best friend when she arrives at the school, and the biggest 'shipper on deck' for her and Cullen. He and Varric have a bit of a prank war going with each other; they are actually very good friends. His relationship with Coach Bull, the boys' phys ed teacher, becomes more pronounced as the series progresses.

### **Varric Tethras**

Varric, perhaps unsurprisingly, teaches creative writing and language arts. In his spare time he writes novels on his vintage typewriter, which he calls Bianca; he also writes stories about and for his colleagues. His best friend, Marian Hawke, takes a sabbatical in the first story which upsets him greatly, though not for the reason that everyone originally thinks. Behind the scenes, he's the school's resident philanthropist, making sure the kids get to the movies each month and have ice cream parties once a week.

### **Leliana Nightingale**

The headmistress of Skyhold Academy, Leliana is an old friend of President and First Lady Theirin of Ferelden, who are essentially the school's sponsors. She knows *everything* that happens... or at least, most things. Once in a while, things fly under even her radar.

### **Cole and the Partners in Crime**

Cole is a shy and withdrawn student who gravitates toward Evvy, eventually becoming her legally adopted son. The Partners in Crime are three original student characters named Rory, Jim, and Nessa; they are best friends, and frinds with Cole as well. Rory and Jim write in-universe fanfiction about their teachers, which usually falls into an AU setting as well. In later installments, Rory is in a committed relationship with Krem.

## **Universe Plot**

Much of the universe is original content. However, the first story does loosely follow the main plot of *Dragon Age: Inquisition*, and other storylines throughout the series bear resemblance or at least refer to other aspects of the game series. Unlike in the canon, however, all characters are human and magic has been completely stripped from the setting (except in some of the in-universe fiction).

Also, the quip about random musical numbers is not a joke. These teachers do a lot of singing.

### **Skyhold Academy**

In the original story (intended as the only story when it was written), Evvy Trevelyan arrives at the school and is instantly thrown into the daily madness. She's got a strong crush on Cullen, who keeps running away from her, but the bigger problem is Venatori Prep, the school's hated rival, who are clearly up to no good. She introduces her best childhood friend Mahanon to Cassandra.

### **The Year of the Unicorn and the Emerald Princess**

Set during the events of the first story, this consists entirely of chat and text messages exchanged between the three students known as the Partners in Crime. They're astonished to learn that their teachers are active on social media and that Solas is a famous Let's Player called the Dread Wolf. No, really.

### **Where the Sky is Held**

A collection of short adventures in the fall and winter of Evvy's second year at Skyhold Academy, including the first appearance of teacher fic written by Rory and Jim.

### **I Must Be Going**

*Skyhold Academy* meets *The Princess Bride*. No, really.

### **Skyhold Academy Seasons**

Another short adventure collection set immediately following the previous installment. Among other things, Dorian forms a student drama club and Solas is a mime. No, really.

### **Disorienuptials**

Varric gets his wisdom teeth pulled, and there is a wedding. And yes, these things are related.

### **The Memory Band**

Another short adventure collection, this time including a reunion of previous graduates.

### **Life is a Roller Coaster**

What starts as a fun trip to the amusement park leads to Varric passing out and the teachers watching *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.*

### **Beauty and the Bloodsucker**

Jim and Rory write a vampire AU about Cullen and Evvy for a short story contest, and Jim makes a lot of awful puns. Written as a Halloween 2018 treat for the series readers.

### **New Message Received**

Another text fic similar to *Emerald Princess*, but with an expanded cast and covering most of the previous installments.

### **Bright Jewels, Chained City**

Jim and Rory write a series of *film noir*-style stories as their final senior writing project. It's an unofficial sequel to *Hard in Hightown* featuring a pair of detectives based on Cullen and Varric. The plots are loosely based on various side quests from the games.

### **Love Is a Mystery**

The final installment (probably), which wraps up a bunch of threads at the school.

### **Ordinary Chaos**

A prequel which shows how the school was founded.

### **The Red and Gold Dossier**

A prequel to the prequel which shows how Ferelden became a democracy and Alistair met his wife.

## **Meta/Trivia**

The pure nonsense-with-a-plot aspect of the series came about because it was originally written just for the enjoyment of its authors. Lady Norbert lost a job she loved when the store where she was working closed. Her close friend AuroraBorealia had been a coworker at the store until she moved out of state. They wrote the first story together as a means of combating Lady Norbert's depression during the weeks leading up to the final closing day, and originally had no intention of going beyond that. However, when others began expressing an interest in it, and they themselves had the desire to write more stories, the series was born. It's generally regarded as a "lighter and softer" tribute to the *Dragon Age* universe, and it exists purely to make its readers (and authors) happy - so there isn't always a focus on remaining canon-compliant.

## **Offsite links to information about this universe:**

* The entire series at AO3
* The series page on TV Tropes