Viago De Riva is Fifth Talon of the Antivan Crows and one of the many bastard children of the king of Antiva.
Background
Viago's mother was one of the king of Antiva's many mistresses, and he's only one of many royal bastards. To protect the line of succession, the king's illegitimate children were given a choice between exile and joining the Crows. Viago was the only one to choose the Crows. As a Talon, Viago has become more powerful than even the king, and the knowledge that he could restore strength to the Crown where his incompetent half-siblings could not has started to bother him.
As a master poisoner, Viago is paranoid about being poisoned himself. He tests everything he eats, drinks, or touches, and builds his immunity to some of the more common poisons by drinking diluted doses daily.[1]
Involvement
Dragon Age: Deception
Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights
Eight Little Talons
In Antiva, Viago attends a meeting of the Eight Talons, called by Caterina Dellamorte to discuss ways to defend against the potential Qunari invasion. The meeting is to take place without bodyguards or servants, at a villa on the Verdant Isle. Viago and Teia arrive together, to convince the others that their houses are united. They've worked on several contracts together, and they have unresolved feelings for each other.
Viago and Teia find Lera Valisti murdered in her chambers later that night, four steel blades protruding from her chest in an imitation of Queen Madrigal’s assassination. Traces of lyrium are also found under her fingernails. Giuli Arainai accuses Dante Balazar of Lera’s murder, as he’s a well-known lyrium addict and frequently argued with Lera. Giuli is found murdered the next morning, in a reenactment of a famous assassination. The villa’s eight servants have also been poisoned, another reenactment. Given his familiarity with poisons, suspicions fall on Viago. He declines Teia's offer to lie for him to give him an alibi, and Caterina orders him, and Dante, locked in their room as suspects.
Teia breaks into his room to devise a way to continue their investigation. He inquires about her past relationship with Dante, saying that he’d only be bothered by her many former lovers if he were to be just a footnote to that list. He then applies an influencer concoction to her lips, to be used to interrogate Dante. She later reports that Dante accused Bolivar Nero of being the murderer, but Viago is unconvinced. Teia angrily leaves his room when he accuses Caterina instead.
After Teia leaves, Viago is bitten by an adder hidden in his wardrobe. Fortunately, the immunity he's been building towards Adder's Kiss slows the venom long enough for Teia to administer the antivenin. She tells him that Dante has just been murdered, and that the chosen method led her to believe Viago would be attacked as well. Errors in the reenactment allow Viago and Teia to unmask Emil Kortez as the murderer. He agreed to kill the Talons for the Qunari, believing that they would honor their promise to invade peacefully and not force conversion to the Qun on Antiva. Kortez is killed by Viago and the remaining three Talons.
Viago decides to keep the adder that almost killed him, and names it Emil, after his would-be assassin. He doesn't return home to Salle, but instead goes to Antiva City to brief his father the King. When he leaves, Teia asks him if he has a place to stay. As they embrace, he replies that it’s a “definite maybe.”
Trivia
Viago uses personal labels for all his poisons. Names include: Pillow Talk, the Snuff of Legends, Meet the Maker, and Up and Adder.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights, Eight Little Talons Cite error: Invalid
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