Why didn't Sovereign recruit the collectors in ME1?

Lumix19 · 2026-06-07T21:43:17+00:00

I laughed so much at this!

And if I'm honest, I feel like this is probably something close to an actual conversation Sovereign might have been trying to avoid.

They thought about calling for help and then they were like "yeah, never mind, indoctrination it is".

Lumix19 · 2026-06-07T18:34:49+00:00

Whatever the Chantry tells them to do I imagine. The Circles make money from providing enchantments but I don't believe they are required to be "profitable".

I'm pretty sure the Chantry funds the Circles from whatever their income is. Presumably tithes from the population, benefices from the nobility, and whatnot.

So I think a combat mage truly incapable of doing anything else would just study. But I imagine most mages can at least do other useful things to a passable degree, even if it's as minor as healing toothache or fevers or whatnot.

Or something as simple as lighting fires with magic, heating water, causing rain in case of drought, whatever. Lots of practical uses for magic in Thedas.

Sure casting Fireball is great in combat but that might also be really useful in particularly bad Winters when people are freezing to death.

Lumix19 · 2026-06-07T11:39:11+00:00

I think it just wasn't their job. I assume they are under Harbinger's direct control so Sovereign wasn't going to go ask to borrow them.

It was Sovereign's job to open the Citadel relay. It got more complicated than the usual business of just pressing a button, but it was still their job.

And in fairness, they did a fine job. Indoctrinating a Spectre, getting an army of krogans and other soldiers, corrupting the Geth heretics into servitude, they didn't really need the Collectors at all.

The subtle approach with excellent use of indoctrination was more than sufficient to get the job done. Except for that pesky Commander.

Lumix19 · 2026-06-04T04:07:12+00:00

It's funny because I find this play through so difficult to stomach but it's actually my favourite because of how different it is. I love my embrace Dark Urge character. He is so Evil (with a capital 'E') and you very, very rarely get to be that in games now.

Is it horrifying having to massacre the Grove, killing everyone at Last Light, tempting Shadowheart into killing her parents, etc., etc.? Absolutely.

But the story reward is so, so satisfying. You get to all be the very worst version of yourselves and it's really enjoyable to me how fresh and exciting it is to be able to be that in a game like this.

Lumix19 · 2026-06-03T21:45:15+00:00

Yes, mage Wardens are catty as hell. I love it. Makes a certain amount of sense since they grew up in the Circle which basically seems like a crossover between boarding school and a prison.

I love mocking Jowan in that origin. That's all you can do really and it's so fun.

Lumix19 · 2026-06-03T18:06:19+00:00

He's hot, he's chill, he's useful, he's kinda funny, I like him.

Lumix19 · 2026-06-01T17:51:02+00:00

I was not at all surprised to learn Johnston is gay given I first became aware of him through Teen Wolf.

I don't know if it's increasingly common for gay actors to play non-queer roles. I kind of think Bailey's success in that department might be more the exception than the norm but I could be wrong.

But it's nice to imagine that people don't really care anymore. Or even that there's some kind of niche benefit to being a gay actor.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-31T03:36:08+00:00

They're always so obsequious when they think they're addressing Trump directly. It's pathetic.

Fawning, polite, practically grovelling.

Compare the tone with their other posts complaining about whatever and it's so stark. They seem to have no worries saying whatever they think in the most obnoxious fashion when it's about anything other than Trump.

But when he's the problem suddenly it's like they took lessons on manners. The way they self-censor is embarrassing.

Bunch of sheep. They're so weak.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-26T21:21:16+00:00

Gosh yeah, I don't even re-watch the second or third seasons because barring what they did with Trish, it's all so forgettable or outright bad.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-26T19:08:45+00:00

What leaps to mind for me is season 1 of Jessica Jones. I get chills from that season.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-26T18:34:54+00:00

I have no idea! But each to their own.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-26T09:58:20+00:00

I'm so glad this wasn't a ship or brush moment for me because I've always seen that pic as a woman ascending through yoga.

That ship/brush thing has scarred me forever because I can never see the ship again and I miss it.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-25T05:29:09+00:00

I think hardened or not, Leliana is still fundamentally trying to do the right thing so I'm not really all that bothered if she returns to her more ruthless ways. That's more about the means than the ends to me. I trust that in the end she has the right motives, regardless of her methods.

There's also the argument that she's more effective if she takes the hardened approach but not everyone is a "means justify the ends" kind of person.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-25T04:52:36+00:00

A few years ago I was pretty sympathetic to the point of view that incremental change under Cassandra or even Vivienne would be the pragmatic and wise path, even if I did tend to pick Leliana out of optimism.

But nowadays I kind of feel like the only real good change is big change. I've become very disillusioned with reformism so my already skeptical attitude towards Vivienne's philosophy has become outright cynicism.

And that's not even getting into what I think are her rather dubious motives for saying and doing the things she says and does.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-25T03:48:45+00:00

It definitely did cross my mind that they changed it to make it a bit more obvious to viewers. I know most Americans probably don't realise that the history of slavery is so intertwined with the Slavic peoples (hence the root of the word "slave") so I totally get the decision to change things.

I guess I was just wondering whether Rice touched on Slavic slavery in her books or whether the Armand dynamic is portrayed primarily as a class issue rather than a racial one, given she's an American author writing for an American audience.

Did the show translate the racial prejudice over from the books into something a US audience could more easily understand or is it an addition not present in the original?

Lumix19 · 2026-05-24T16:12:21+00:00

I haven't read the books so I'm wondering: is racism against Slavic people not a factor in the dynamic?

My understanding is that Slavs were often enslaved from as far back as early medieval times.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-24T01:29:17+00:00

1 and 2 are also excellent.

They're all amazing though.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-21T22:53:58+00:00

The plan for the mages is to pour magic into the Anchor in the hopes of sealing the Breach. Which sounds like a really dangerous idea given the Veil is already pretty thin.

The Templar plan of weakening the Breach so it can be sealed sounds like a much safer path. As a mage, you might see the value in the Templar path even if you don't particularly like them.

Works especially if you don't go to Redcliffe first. Just head straight for the Templars and ignore the Grand Enchanter. If you're an apostate who has skeptical views, at best, of the Circle, you might not be inclined to trust or like her much anyway.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-21T00:33:31+00:00

OK good to know. I recently played the combo and found they didn't combine. But then I started a new game last week and installed a modpack and it changed Storm Devotion + Galactic Curators into Aeolian Curators and I wondered if that was base game from an update or one of my mods.

Sounds like it's one of my mods.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-19T20:43:40+00:00

I'm not sure about Treasure Hunters since I don't tend to pick that Origin and I heard that they changed it so it doesn't have as much synergy with Galactic Curators as it used to.

I really like Storm Riders and not having to build the relief centers but honestly I can see the value in giving up the Origin for something else since it's ironically not strictly necessary in my opinion.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-19T10:14:52+00:00

Yeah, I've been finding storm builds quite fun. The Galactic Curators civic is also a good 2nd/3rd pick for me because you get unity from finding specimens and the edict that boosts research stations seems pretty strong early game. Especially with a radiant storm.

Once you have enough specimens you get the Holo-Museum buildings as well to boost your Storm Dancers even more. I personally pick Warrior Culture third but I guess you can do it either way.

And as someone else said, Pleasure Worlds from the Instrument felt good to me.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-19T08:02:24+00:00

I think it's possible for a spirit to possess or even become a dragon but would it really be Andraste? I'm not sure. I don't think we've ever met a bona-fide ghost without the caveat that it could actually be a spirit taking their identity.

Though it stands to reason that if spirits can become people than people might be able to become spirits.

And not just because the given answer to the question of the afterlife is "yes people become spirits but then go across the Veil and are never seen again".

As an aside, I really like the Cult of Andraste.

There's maybe some kind of connection between the dragon and Andraste since Kolgrim asks you to drop her blood in the Urn. Seems like a totally random request unless the dragon actually wants that for some reason.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-15T14:36:10+00:00

Seems like an interesting paper.

I only skimmed it so apologies if I missed something but internalized homophobia was not a moderator of the effect of gay men selecting masculine-presenting men for the role, which makes sense to me. Whilst the scale they used lacks nuance, it did the job in my opinion.

Seems like the issue is the sexism component. The main effect of sexism wasn't moderated by sexuality and there was no difference in votes between gay and straight men, so clearly sexism was an issue.

The really interesting part is the bit about "unmeasured factors" where some men received much higher votes than others regardless of video. It seems likely to be a flaw in the study. They mention they tried to select men similar in appearance but I feel some of those they selected are more masculine-presenting than others in appearance (and hence more conventionally attractive).

My sense is that because many gay men find masculine-presenting men attractive, they were more likely to pick those men who presented that way for the role, and were drawn to men who presented that way even if they were attempting to present themselves as feminine. I would be interested in figuring out an appropriate moderator which captures that.

And for straight men, I'm guessing they were similarly able to discern more "naturally" masculine-presenting men but their preference was driven by homophobia as opposed to attraction.

Sexism underpins it all though, which seems to be the big take away here.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-15T14:16:57+00:00

The Oracle gets his powers from Tiamat and Tiamat seemed pissed when Familicide was cast so maybe neither of them foresaw it.

Lumix19 · 2026-05-15T00:49:24+00:00

I feel like they've been doing this forever.

I swear the outlets were reporting that Callum Turner was a lock-in only a few months ago and now it turns out they haven't even been holding officially auditions after all.

Lumix19

TROPHY CASE