This week BioWare released the latest downloadable add-on for Dragon Age II, Mark of the Assassin, timed with the start of Felicia Day’s highly anticipated Dragon Age: Redemption web series, which features her character from Redemption, an elf named Tallis.
The details are still a little sketchy around this new heroine (anti-heroine?), and while I’ve watched the first episode of Redemption, I haven’t finished Mark of the Assassin myself. But when I started playing it, I was struck by Tallis’ character design. Felicia Day has a very unique face that contributes to her charm and appeal, but it doesn’t seem to translate to her digital Dragon Age doppelganger.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say the character looks a bit creepy. Compared to the other characters in the game, who are a lot more polished, Felicia’s stands out like a sore thumb. Just take a look at Tallis above right, compared to the other assassin character, Isabela. EA version of Tallis. I mean, look at how they’re advertising her! They were definitely trying to recreate Felicia’s unique and sweet features as faithfully as possible, but some things just don’t translate well into polygons and pixels.
No, this just won’t do. And since I’m such a fan of the Dragon Age franchise, I decided to re-imagine Felicia Day’s Tallis in Second Life, adding my own spin on this redheaded assassin’s style. Take a look:
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But this is just a taste; keep reading for all the juicy details on how I put this look together.
In Dragon Age II, the elves have much more distinct features than they did in the first game: They’re lanky, almost bordering on gawky, with massive irises and broad, high-bridged noses… in addition to their characteristically pointed ears. Tallis is no exception, though she of course shows some of Felicia’s facial elements, and a bit of signature smirk. I did my best to reflect that in creating my shape for Tallis, though I was careful not to make her look too alien. I’m wearing the Loa skin from Mother Goose’s [Click here to teleport to Mother Goose’s in TURPENTINE]specifically because the realistic skin is an integral part of recreating Felicia’s real features. I added a pair of eyes from MiaSnow [Click here to teleport to MiaSnow in TWOMOONS ISLAND] , famed for having very large irises — perfect for an elf. I picked a pair of cute sculpted prim ears that were large and just a little bit droopy, like Tallis’ ears in Redemption, from Beetlebones [Click here to teleport to Beetlebones in SEOUL CITY] , and tinted them to match the skin.
Her hairstyle was where I finally began to diverge from what’s been established so far. In the game, Tallis wears a high, thick ponytail, while Felicia’s live-action Tallis wears her hair down. Having long hair myself, I know that it may look great when it’s loose. However, if I were an assassin, I’d prefer to keep my hair out of the way as much as possible. I compromised with a low and loose ponytail called Fight, a limited release by Elikatira for Collarbor88 [Click here to teleport to Collabor88] , in a Day-worthy shade of red. I also took some liberties in terms of Tallis’ body art. Call me a dork, but it really stood out to me that she’s apparently part of the Qunari, a society of heavily-painted warriors, but in the game, she doesn’t have so much as a speck of paint or ink anywhere. Her armour also shows a lot of elven influence and many elves in Dragon Age also sport intricate tattoos, but still not a line to be seen on Tallis. So I chose to run with the Qunari idea and added a layer of red warpaint by Ghurab [Click here to visit Ghurab on the Marketplace] . The original tattoo has markings on the face as well, but I edited the layer to keep her face clear and Felicia-esque.
I found Tallis’ original armour a little too vividly-coloured, not to mention a little bit flimsy. Anyone working with the Qunari would need something with a little more substance, so I started with the green and brown Ddraigh armour set from DragansVarg (you might remember the black version from my take on Assassin’s Creed), then tinted and added pieces of Caverna Obscura’s Ascalon Ranger set [Click here to teleport to Caverna Obscura in ALLIGATOR BAYOU]to get this layered look. After some minor modification even her pauldrons are a blend of the two, with Ascalon on the right shoulder connecting to the Ddraigh pauldron on the right. Finally, I added a pair of highly-detailed matching daggers from { TALA’s } Weapons [Click here to teleport to TALA’s in CIFRA]to complete the avatar — and make her combat ready, of course!
I’m rather fond of my SL-based Tallis myself, but I put the question up to fans of Dragon Age and Ms Felicia Day: Which version is more worthy of the Internet superstar? Since she once visited Second Life as her Guild character, I wonder if she’ll want to try becoming Tallis in SL too!
Janine “Iris Ophelia” Hawkins covers gaming and MMO fashion for New World Notes, where she also writes the virtual world etiquette column “Miss Metaverse Manners”. She was the official fashion blogger for Blue Mars, was featured in the New York Times, and has spoken about virtual style at Manhattan’s Fashion Institute of Technology.
This article originally appeared on New World Notes.
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