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[odissean]

I keep forgetting to send those memes, I'm so sorry. The truth is my braincells have been hanging on by a thread for so long, and I'm trynna get them back in working order again

[odissean]

( star trek iv // accepting ) LAWRENCE [ @cordbound ] WROTE: ❝A ship is a ship.❞

❝NO.❞ ALL HER SMIRKING WIT, all her tale-teller's flair, was gone in an instant. Something dark circled her eyes as a leviathan circled the underside of a vessel, glistening and inevitable. How many times would she have this argument? How many times would she have to explain what was a plain, simple truth?

His lack of understanding could be excused. He was neither aaneachan or Cthaian. He was neither crew nor kin. She would almost wager he had never sailed the seas let alone the stars. And, to look at his hands — they had known labor, yes, but had they known creation? He had mended, but had he ever made? He would not understand the difference, she thought. To him, a ship is indeed a ship.

But, her crew should have understood. Each had been hand-picked. Each had ventured with her for as many years as there were waves on the sea. They had built and maintained and repaired that ship by their own blood and sweat. They had sacrificed as much to it as to any god. And yet, they had demanded she abandon it. And yet, they would abandon their quest for home. In that moment, she knew she would sooner destroy them — destroy anyone — than admit defeat.

And so she had.

Yes, Lawrence could be excused, but not by her.

Though half a foot shorter, she stood toe-to-toe with him, and her blood black eyes did not blink. ❝My ship is a ship no more than your god is a god. Odussomai and Ilmater: set the two side by side and I will see no difference. You would sooner forswear him than I would her, paladin.❞

[odissean]

Idk what's with me and giving my characters toxic exes, but I do know that, after the Odussomai is wrecked, Maedi joins the crew of this scrapper / pirate she's had a tense relationship with over the years and they both know it's going to end with one of them killing the other yet that's exactly what brings them so close

[odissean]

I need to develop Maedi’s crew more, but I have been percolating thoughts for her first officer. Before the Odussomai was lost, her first officer was her sister-in-law and a close friend — BUT she was killed either in the battle or shortly after they were lost. Someone else had to step into the position. Filling this role under such shit circumstances would be hard enough, but there’s the very personal grief Maedi is feeling that puts a strain on their relationship and makes the new first officer doubt themself even when it’s not warranted.

[odissean]

Like this post for me to raid your meme tag and send you a few later 👀

[odissean]

Like this post for me to raid your meme tag and send you a few later 👀

[odissean]

Hmmm . . . given the whole "my life is a story I am telling myself" thing going on with Maedi, it is tempting to try writing in second person. I've never really done that before. But, I'm thinking of Petty Treasons by Vict.oria God.dard where the main character copes with his circumstances by kind of. separating himself from the role he's been forced into. He doesn't even identify with his legal name or birthday. The story is from his perspective but told in second person because of that. When he says "you do this", he is saying "I do this", but he is dissociating big time. Seeing himself as a character in a story acting these events out is how he copes. That is major Maedi energy.

[odissean]

Like this post for me to raid your meme tag and send you a few later 👀

[odissean]

Things that are new to Maedi after leaving Aaneach:

Agriculture, particularly on a large scale. Aaneachans are carnivores. Any plants they raise are to feed domesticated animals or for crafts like rope-making. Great swaths of farmland are unheard of.

^ The same is sorta true of great herds of land animals. Aaneachans have domesticated many aquatic creatures but not many land creatures aside from birds. So they might "herd" huge schools of fish, etc., but huge herds of cattle, flocks of sheep, etc. are kinda trippy.

Continents. Aaneach has a few large islands but none of them are proper continents. The sight of something like South America would have her jaw on the floor.

Desserts and any land-locked places. There's maybe, like. one desert on all of Aaneach, tops.

Planets without rings and planets with large moons / only one moon. Aaneach has a halo consisting of five ring layers with four shepherd moons. This also makes Aaneach brighter relative to someplace like Earth. Sometimes on other planets she's like "damn can someone turn on a light".

Most land vehicles. Aaneach is majority ocean. They have all sorts of aquatic, air, and astral vehicles, but land?? Never been important. They have, like, carts or something and that's about it.

Living in the mountains or anywhere high. Aaneachans are semi-aquatic. The thought of living in the mountains or treetops is just weird to her?? Floating cities get a pass, though; that's cool. Something about living in the air like a bird makes more sense than living in mountains / trees / whatever.

Skyscrapers. Being semi-aquatic has made building outward over the water or down into it the logical option. Even when they build on land, they tend to spread out or dig down rather than go up. A skyscraper is mind-blowing.

Relying on written records. Aaneachans keep some written records, sure, but their species has a long history of seafaring and they tend to live on / in the water. Written records just wouldn't hold up outside of stone carvings / clay etchings, and those aren't exactly efficient. A few cultures may favor written records, but the majority favor oral records. Even as technology has advanced, Aaneachans prefer voice or video recordings over written notes and are more likely to have a conversation face-to-face.

^ For similar reasons, paintings and drawings haven't been popular. Even where ships are concerned, the majority of cultures have worked designs into the ship itself or its rigging rather than paint it. This has carried over into architecture, space vessels, etc. Mosaics, sculpture, architecture are more common. Even where music and dance are concerned, performances in the water are more common than performances on land. Maedi finds paintings, etc. fascinating.

[odissean]

I have decided the Odussomai had a crew of twelve when it was lost. It was as minimal a crew as possible so they could focus on efficiency in the battle. Captain, first officer, 2 engineers, 2 pilots, 2 communications officers, 2 navigators, 2 gunners. One primary and one to replace them if the primary falls. This was a hail mary sort of strategy after all.

When the ship was damaged, they lost both navigators and one engineer. The losses are blow for reasons both personal and practical. They’ve all been trained to take over each other’s stations in an emergency, but there’s a difference between what’ll work in a pinch and the sort of experience a dedicated professional brings. Maedi can double in engineering, and one of the pilots starts navigation training. The first officer doubles as quartermaster. Funnily enough one of the gunners becomes their medic. One of the communications officers becomes sort of?? Idk an appropriate term but they start cataloguing what they learn of the peoples they encounter with an emphasis on languages and communication protocols etc. I mean they’re all explorers at heart so all of them sort of have an area of interest. It’s not Star.fleet-esque cataloguing but treating this like an expedition helped them cope in the beginning.

[odissean]

Ooooo I think SW verse Maedi would fall under the Scrounger class, especially after the mutiny. It combines fringer with tech specialist. Someone who’s good at finding “junk” parts and repairing or cannibalizing them to create something functional.

[odissean]

It is funny to me that I love rodians and yet I never have ideas for rodian characters or worldbuilding

[odissean]

I do wonder what the default should be for Maedi's BG3 verse. If the choice was entirely in her hands and no one else was influencing her, what decisions would she make? The sticky part is the mutiny isn't just a mutiny to her. I've mentioned how deeply attached to the Odussomai she is, seeing it as an extension of herself, and how this is one of her flawed coping mechanisms. There's an additional layer to that, though, attached to how the Odussomai got lost. They were fighting a losing battle after a strategy she proposed failed. One of the first casualties was her oldest, dearest friend and fleet admiral who'd thrown his unwavering support behind her. She ordered her people to retreat, but the Odussomai's systems were damaged and the resulting malfunction shot them into unknown space. In her DND / BG3 verse, this is the Astral Sea.

She is, in some ways, trapped in that moment. It's not just about getting home. It's about knowing that home is in danger. It's a nightmare where you can hear your family screaming as they're attacked, but no matter how hard you run, you can't get any closer to them. If it was only about getting herself and her crew home, sure she could take another ship. It would hurt to abandon the Odussomai, but she could do it. But, it's specifically about getting back to the battle and the war. Back to her fleet and her family. Who don't just need Maedi but the admiral she is, not just her crew but the sailors they are, not just her ship but the punch it packs. Leaving behind or altering the Odussomai is like surrendering or hindering their chances at victory when they're needed most. No, her logic in this matter isn't sound, but these are feelings born of trauma.

Which means that the mutiny has the same effect in her mind as if her crew had fired on Aaneach itself. It doesn't help that in most verses they mutiny after learning their home has been conquered / they lost the war. That doesn't apply to DND / BG3, but still that doesn't lessen the effect of their attempt to trade the Odussomai for another ship. She cared about her crew. She trusted them completely. She would have given them no cause for mutiny under different circumstances. But, when I think of the cumulative effect of what she's endured and how far she's fallen in her attempts to get home . . .

I think she's torn. One part of her wants to liquidate her former first officer in their pod, and the other wants to save them at all costs. Her decision is to speak with them. There's tension, but . . . I think the ex-first officer asks Maedi to save them. There's a moment where it seems like she won't, but she turns around and sets them free. Then stalks further into the colony to continue their mission, back turned and no acknowledgement of them.

The fight back at Moonrise afterward is. nasty. As one might expect. There was a time the two of them would've trusted each other's counsel above all others', but now it's like shouting at a brick wall. I think any sort of reconnection would require a third party who's removed from everything they've been through and can offer a new perspective. Someone who can see the middle ground they can't. Without that? The two part in anger.

Which means Maedi still doesn't know spelljamming and is still obsessed with repairing the Odussomai. She effectively ends the game in the same circumstance she started it. Sure, she perhaps has access to more opportunities due to her role in saving the city, but nothing has really changed for her. And, that's . . . yeah. That's par for the course. Running and running and running yet getting nowhere. She HAS to confront at least some of her coping mechanisms. She HAS to make a compromise if not a change. She will never get home until she does. The problem is she is trying to stay who she was and keep the Odussomai as it was as if she can freeze the moment in time when they were lost. As if they can simply return to Aaneachan space and find everything waiting. But, everything has changed — Maedi, her ship, her home. She can't make it back to where she began because it doesn't exist anymore. She is preventing herself from moving forward.

[odissean]

SW and possibly ST verse profiles are up next. I wanna read the SW rpg sourcebooks more closely to get some ideas, though.

[odissean]

VERSE / DND.

I don't intend to make up a character sheet for this verse at the moment. Doesn't seem strictly necessary for tumblr rp. However, if you'd find that information useful, you're welcome to drop me a line and I'll whip one up.

THIS VERSE COMBINES ELEMENTS OF Spelljammer: Adventures in Space with Maedi's primary verse. Her backstory remains unchanged except that Aaneach and Taruisa exist in the same pocket of Wildspace. Whatever counts as magic in this pocket of Wildspace is different from what is known in Realmspace, and they have no awareness of the Astral Sea or other planes. The Odussomai ends up last in the Astral Sea entirely by accident.

The difficulty is not finding their way home. Every being in the Astral Sea has perfect navigation. The difficulty is traversing the perils of the Astral Sea without being bandied further and further from their destination. The Odussomai itself presents an obstacle in this regard. It is a worthy vessel with technology unlike anything the Astral Sea has seen before. Many try to steal or trade for it. But, it isn't optimized for travel of this kind. It was created with Wildspace only in mind. Navigation and sensors prove unreliable, and their lack of an open air deck limits their field of view compared to spelljamming ships. Furthermore, locating usable resources for refueling, maintenance, and repairs is a trial.

The Odussomai persevered despite this, but as time wore on, the crew insisted they ought to learn spelljamming instead. But, Maedi was adamant they persevere in the Odussomai. Tensions came to a head when they found someone willing to trade them the perfect ship for the one they had. The first officer had even aided their navigators in learning spelljamming — behind Maedi's back. She was furious. They declared that if she would not bend, they'd all break. She would not bend.

In the mutiny that followed, she sabotaged the Odussomai. She would rather risk dying with all of them than losing the ship she'd put her heart and soul into. They had to bring the Odussomai home. The Aaneachan fleets were counting on them.

The Odussomai crashed on Toril with Maedi as the sole survivor. She remains determined, however, to repair the ship and return home. She travels far and wide, taking just about any work imaginable if it brings her closer to her goal. Desperation too often supercedes morality or honor.

ARC | BG3.

This is an offshoot of the above verse tailored to BG3. Maedi was captured by the Nautiloid and infected with a tadpole. She can be found in the same cave as Rugan holding out against the gnolls. It takes no convincing to get her to join the group. She'll do anything to be free of the tadpole. She's overall honest about her origins and her quest to return home, but she often presents an edited version of her misadventures. There is a veneer of honor to be maintained.

This isn't properly challenged until Act 2. Records in Balthazar's office indicate two of her crewman survived the crash. One of them lays dissected in the room; the necromancer was intrigued by this unknown species. The other is found within the ilithid colony. It's her (former) first officer. There are a few options here. Of course, the ex-first officer can be killed or abandoned. But, there are two additional options. One, the ex-first officer can be spoken to, revealing some of the tension with Maedi and that the other crewman transferred knowledge of spelljamming to them before death; Maedi can be convinced to take this knowledge from the ex-first officer, breaking their mind in the process. Two, the ex-first officer can be freed to escape the colony.

If the ex-first officer was saved, they will be present at the victory celebration in Moonrise after Ketheric's defeat. Maedi will have an explosive argument with them, and it becomes apparent that the the crew of the Odussomai and she as its captain have not been as honorable as she's led the party to believe. The ex-first officer can be told to kick rocks, Maedi can be told kick rocks, or the two can be persuaded to cooperate. The third option will lead to the ex-first officer joining the party's camp.

There are two primary routes for Act 3.

One is available if Maedi was convinced to take knowledge of spelljamming from the ex-first officer. They can find a spelljamming ship in Baldur's Gate. It could do with some work, but it's in good enough shape to help in the fight to come. If the ship is acquired, the ensuing dialogue gives the opportunity to convince her to give up on the Odussomai and simply focus on getting home OR reinforce her resolve to repair it, using the spelljamming ship in the meanwhile to acquire supplies from other worlds. The first option results in Maedi disappearing from the camp before the final fight; as suggested, she is focusing on getting home no matter what. The second option results in Maedi using the ship to support their forces in the final fight, though this temporarily removes her as a party member.

Two is available if the ex-first officer joined the party's camp. Again, they find a spelljamming ship in Baldur's Gate. Needs work but it's serviceable. There are two options. The first option requires either reinforcing Maedi's commitment to the Odussomai or simply not speaking to the matter; the ex-first officer can control the spelljamming ship during the fight freeing Maedi up to be a party member; the spelljamming ship will be destroyed at the end of the final fight. The second option requires convincing the ex-first officer and Maedi to reconcile as well as convincing Maedi to give up on the Odussomai; they will both crew the ship in the final fight; the epilogue reveals they're restoring the ship to sail it home.

[odissean]

The way I'm just unreasonably happy with how she turned out in this game.

[odissean]

Thinking this morning about Maedi's Bard Voice:tm:. I think it often doesn't have the effect Maedi wants it to have. In her mind, these are lines of epic poetry or Shakespearean monologues — and probably there was a time she did deliver lines like that. But, now she has trouble changing voices as she copes with her circumstances through story, and I think her speech can often be perceived as corny or melodramatic. It doesn't land in reality the same way it's landing in her head.