#˗ˏˋ 🩷 ˎˊ˗⠀character study.

[pinktief]

@charlatann told zuriel to grow her hair and she said bet.

[a-zif]

maybe i'll add this to my rules but for simplicity sake i'll share here

in the timeline of bg3 azif is around 60 years old. which is why she's solidly level 20, she has been adventuring for half of her life at this point.

because she's an aasimar, her appearance is somewhat deceiving. she definitely doesn't look very young per se. her angelic features make her look more alien than "young" (i.e the iridescent sheen, her odd mannerisms) so that definitely adds to the difficulty in trying to age her just by look. she just looks ambiguously adult, like she could be anywhere between 30 and 50.

[pinktief]

zuriel being smol and cute but having a 20 strength and being a dawnknight... she has prince in shining armor energy.... she's utena coded

[pinktief]

compendium of companion hcs : general.

where can zuriel be recruited? is first encountered on the nautiloid, or in the nautiloid crash region?  or is she not recruitable until a later act?

as mentioned before, zuriel is recruitable in act 1. you can find her entering the map right before the mountain pass / bridge in the northwest part of the wilderness map, after facing the githyanki patrol. she will ask you if you saw the red dragon flying away. engaging in conversation with her, she'll tell you she's traveling in the same direction as you and follow you to the rosymorn monastery.

  what sort of general actions raise or lower her approval?

zuriel approves of kind actions, though she will also approve of being a dick or lying to enemies.

  are there any instances where zuriel can permanently leave the party, depending on player character actions?

in act 1, should zuriel be found before completing the rescue the druid halsin quest, if tav betrays the tieflings at the grove she will leave the party. in act 2, she will leave the party if shadowheart kills the nightsong.

  does she have any secrets that can be revealed?  what are the prerequisites for this secret coming to light?

not necessarily a  secret, but she will share more about her life at home and family early on if your pc is a tiefling or a follower of any deity allied with lathander (like tyr or selûne) doesn't have to be a cleric or paladin! people can be religious regardless of class, specially since RAW forgotten realms everyone in faerûn must follow a deity in some shape or form, otherwise their soul will be yeeted to the wall of the faithless in the afterlife. most people with align themselves with a deity, this can influence zuriel's perception and initial reaction towards them.

  does she have her own personal quest that spans the course of the game?  can it take different branching paths depending on the choices the player character makes?

as said before part 2, zuriel's personal quest is pretty short and it takes place entirely at the end of act 1 in tandem with the find the githyanki creche quest. she's on a mission to investigate what happened in the rosymorn monastery, she was sent by her mother who is a high priestess of lathander in archendale after the communication between the rosymorn monastery and the archendale temple seems to have been abruptly interrupted.

upon learning that the githyanki attacked the monastery and took over the building, her quest objective updates to finding the blood of lathander before the githyanki find it as it is a sacred relic. in order to keep zuriel as your ally you must let her take and keep the mace.

  what do they say when the player character asks her to stay in camp?  how about when the player character asks her to come adventuring again?

> “ wait for me in camp. ” “ you sure...? alright, but i'll be on stand-by ready to go if you need me. ” 

> “ come, dawnknight. join me. ” “ it's smitin' time! ”

  does zuriel have any escalating conflicts with one of the other companions, like lae’zel and shadowheart’s knife-fight?

she won't pull out a knife, but she will be icy towards shadowheart at first due to her being a cleric of shar given shar and lathander are enemies.

  are there any unique npcs associated with zuriel that can show up during the course of the game?

zuriel's mother, dawnbringer āl azif, is a relevant character to her quest. she does not show up but is mentioned when zuriel explains her mother and the clergy in their temple have not heard back from dawnmaster vaseid or anyone else in rosymorn for months so she's given the mission of investigating and saving the relic hidden beneath the monastery.

  are there any moments in the game that trigger unique dialogue for zuriel? (like gale’s anecdote about the barfight after you save the goblin prisoner)

after isobel and aylin join the camp, talking to them before initiating conversation with zuriel unlocks a funny exchange between zuriel and tav where zuriel shares that her mother is an aasimar like dame aylin.

tav can ask "how is it possible for an aasimar to have a tiefling child" to which zuriel responds she's "a tiefling like her father" and immediately adds she's in fact adopted. then tav can comment simply "that makes sense, it explains it all" or "i wonder if a tiefling and an aasimar would counteract each other's ancestries and have a plain human child", this last option makes zuriel laugh and gives 5 points of approval from her. either response is followed up by zuriel sharing that she has many siblings, some were conceived by her parents instead of adopted and those siblings are all tieflings, therefore she believes tieflings always breed true while the celestial ancestry of an aasimar is recessive.

[pinktief]

hello i just woke up from my nap. i see people are talking about marriage headcanons and all i have to say is that being married is one of zuriel's goals and it's very important to her.

she's a 'married or nothing' kind of person, not very into casual dating. maybe at the beginning that would be fine, but ultimately if someone isn't all for it with her then what is the point? this isn't explicitly just how she was raised (in the sense she wasn't told this is how she should go about relationships), but it is what she learnt from modeling relationships after her parents.

there are two big aspects to this:

first of all, legally speaking it's important to her than her and a partner would be acknowledged as family by law. not being married means that in the eyes of the law two people in a relationship are functionally strangers with no rights to each other whatsoever.

secondly, and probably most importantly, she wants lathander's blessing and acknowledgment of her relationship. she thinks if her god recognizes these two souls belong together then the union will transcend the mortal plane.

all in all, it's just logical for someone who is inherently dutiful and willing to swear an oath of service like a paladin to see marriage as an important milestone in solidifying a relationship.

[pinktief]

zuriel is a sleepy prince,,, sleeps a lot and eats a lot. she needs a lot of energy ok🩷

[pinktief]

since everyone on the dash is sharing their voiceclaims. i used the tav 4 voice for zuriel and now this is what she sounds like in my brain ☝️

[pinktief]

    character sheet.

[pinktief]

if there's one thing zuriel got from her mom (besides being devotedly religious and thinking of lathander as an actual family relative) it's her propensity for saying the most out of pocket things. she never means to be offensive, but it can come off as arrogant or insensitive sometimes. she does it with such innocence and curiosity though it makes it hilarious.

[pinktief]

when i said zuriel is the closest to her father i didn't mean she's not close with her mother, it's more so that she identifies the most with her dad. she idolizes him and wants be like him + personality wise they're the most alike.

i have this very vivid mental image of zuriel as a pretty young kid being out and about with her mother, maybe traveling through some town that isn't their home, and realizing how rude and mean people can be to others when someone is cruel to her mother — who, in zuriel's eyes, is quite literally an angel (not really but kind of) and the absolute kindest person in the whole world. partly because it's her mother and most kids love their mother, but also because she does see how how devoted azif is to lathander and the community. her life revolves around being of service to their god, helping everyone around them and raising children with love and care regardless if she birthed them or not. anyone mistreating her is just plain cruel and unfair, this is zuriel's earliest memory of being aware of injustice and unfairness in the world, and when she began to notice how protective her father is and understanding why. since then she had the very intense urge to be able to protect good people like her father protects her mother. she thinks this is lathander's plan for her.

even as an adult zuriel is still very protect of her mother (specially in public because azif is kind of agorophobic, someday i'll write about the correlation between that and zuriel's high charisma and social skills developing from the desire to protect her mother from her agorophobia). her protectiveness inevitably extends to her younger siblings and by proxy children in general as well as animals. though generally she will be protective and jump into helping anyone who seems to need help.

[pinktief]

i'm 100% convinced that zuriel saw and talked to ghosts a lot when she was a child. she grew up in a temple, funerals were probably held at the temple. i'm not sure if that would cause souls to stick around or if they would've just been attracted to lathander's energy, but she definitely saw them and talked to them.

it became less common as she grew up, though if a wandering soul did want to communicate with zuriel she would be predisposed to being to hear or see them.

[pinktief]

zuriel as a baby.

[pinktief]

for all the non-bards on the dash, what musical instrument would your muse/s play for leisure?

i'm thinking of zuri playing the autoharp (or a fantasy small version of a guzheng) just as a hobby. she probably only plays when she's back home, but since arts and stuff are celebrated in lathanderian churches she could've picked it up and played just for fun.

[pinktief]

i like that the game uses latin for casting spells but. realistically, zuriel would cast spells in celestial. this is an ability she learnt from her mother, a person with celestial blood, and both of them are channeling magic from a god that would speak celestial. it just makes the most sense to use that language for spellcasting.

[pinktief]

on a more serious note. the creche quest was Hard to get through because seeing the lathanderian temple in ruins made me sad:( i think of zuriel going through a place that looks so much like her home being so mistreated, knowing the people that lived there - people who lived and served their church like she and her parents - were attacked and murdered... and it's just sad.

she would've felt so much sadness and suddenly so homesick. she's generally fearless, honestly. she doesn't get scared of many things if at all. but in those moments she would wish so hard she could just be back home in archendale with her parents and siblings and all the people from the temple.

[pinktief]

compendium of companion hcs : story specific.

how does zuriel advise the player character when it comes to the dream visitor?

she's generally neutral about the dream visitor. not negative or hostile, but cautious. if she's told the dream guardian claims to be another infected victim somehow trapped in the astral plane zuriel is a little more inclined to believe them given the rest of the infected party are also in an extraordinary situation. still, she'll always suggest being cautious.

how does she advise the player character on raphael?

while zuriel is somewhat neutral about the dream guarding and willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and see how things play out, she's actually very adamant against agreeing to anything with raphael. she'll approve of lying to him to keep him from turning hostile, but will not approve of actually going through with making a contract. 

how does she react to astarion biting the player character?

she only thinks he should ask for permission, but doesn't disapprove. he has to eat 🤷🏼‍♀️

how does she react to the player character letting abdirak whip them?

i would say she disapproves but she did go through all of it and got her permanent loviatar's love buff too so. slay i guess.

how does she react to the player character taking their first tadpole power?

she disapproves. no comment.

will she stay with the player character regardless of siding with the goblins or the tieflings, or is it possible for her to leave the party permanently?

zuriel will leave if tav sides with the goblins. she will also leave if shadowheart kills the nightsong.

what can she be found doing at the tiefling/goblin party?

she's more of an observer than a partier, so she can be found sitting in her tent enjoying the music.

does she have comments on who the player character chooses to spend the night with?

she does make a little comment about pc and (insert character) looking at each other with puppy eyes, tells them it's very cute and encourages them to make the best out of the time they have left in case they die soon.

how does she react if the pc licks the dead spider in the gauntlet of shar?

she makes a disgusted sound and asks "why are you like this?"

what does she say if the pc tries to force them to go up on stage with dribbles the clown?

disapprove, obviously. also boo the clown and say out lourd "dribbles sucks ass"

is it possible for zuriel to be kidnapped and replaced by orin?  how is orin's deception revealed?  how does she react to the pc rescuing them in the temple of bhaal?

she's not kidnappeable.

how does she react to the pc either allowing astarion to ascend or convincing him to spare the 7000 spawn?

she disapproves of either options.

how does zuriel react to the pc becoming a mind flayer?  can she offer to become one themselves?  does her reaction change if she's romanced? 

she disapproves, but will still help defeat the elder brain. she wants nothing to do with mind flayers so she would not become one. even if romanced, she'll go her own way. she makes an exception for karlach, however. if it's karlach the one turning into a mind flayer she won't disapprove as she understand karlach's circumstances are complicated.