#Delven Shadowguard

[juravern]

So I saw this on @pyr0clast​ ‘s blog and decided why the freak not. I haven’t made my own posts in ages, but this got me thinking.

Delven Shadowguard (my Sith Inquisitor and canon Outlander) and his Force abilities:

Force Sense (generic ability to connect with the Force)

★★★★★ – Delven is extremely strong in the Force, yeah. His actual skills with it are a whole other question (see the rest below), but what he’s good at, he’s got an ocean’s worth of juice to back it up with.

Force Empathy (ability to know what other people are feeling. Easier with Force sensitives than civilians)

★★★★☆ – He has some natural talent with this, and he’s had to hone it to some extent because an ability to read your fellow Sith in a society as cutthroat as the Empire is very useful, but he doesn’t like it; other people’s emotions are messy.

Telepathy (what it says on the tin. Easier with Force sensitives than civilians)

★★★★☆ – He can do it well enough for communication and coordination with his allies in battle - which is pretty good - but dipping into people’s minds always makes him feel a bit icky.

Thought Shield (What it says on the tin. It blocks both of the above skills.)

★★★★★ – There’s definitely training and skill and his self-regulation and all that, but it’s also got to do with the peculiar quality of Delven’s Force presence: it’s calm as the mirror-like flatness of water without ripples, or it’s crashing waves, and either way it goes deep, deep, fathomlessly down. People who try to read too deeply into him... don’t try to again.

Mind Trick (Ability to influence people’s thoughts. You know, the “These are not the droids you’re looking for.”)

★☆☆☆☆ – He probably could be good at it. He’s never really even tried to. Ick.

Force Stealth (Ability to mask your presence from other Force-sensitives)

★☆☆☆☆ – See above description of Delven’s Force presence. Try concealing that. Yeah. It’s not seething and simmering, it’s not bright either, it doesn’t demand attention, but there is metaphysical weight to it and you can’t really dampen or mask it.

Farsight (the ability to evoke visions of events happening in other places)

★★★☆☆ – Delven’s developed some facility with it ever since sharing headspace with Valkorion/Vitiate, but it’s not something he’s really wanted to rely on.

Force Meld (A technique where in battle a number of Force users join their minds together through the Force, drawing strength from each other)

★★★★☆ – You mean let people draw strength from him XD. No, actually, he’s quite adept at coordinating with his allies and this is part of why.

Precognition (Passive ability used in combat to have premonitions of where danger is coming from)

★★★★☆ – Delven is not always as alert as he should be, because neither of the things he’s good at - lightning and healing - are things that he can afford to be distracted from doing properly. But he’s pretty good at this, or he wouldn’t have survived this long.

Instinctive Astrogation (Ability that allows you to find a route through hyperspace without the help of a navigation computer or astromech droid)

★★★☆☆ – This has never come up for him and likely never will, but it’s entirely possible he could develop the skill for it.

Comprehend Speech (Ability to understand the spoken language of any sentient, though it does not necessarily mean you can speak said language)

★★★☆☆ – Again, dipping into people’s minds, ick. 

Animal Friendship (what it says on the tin)

★★☆☆☆ – He’s just never really thought about this. And he’s not really into animals. But he does have a talent for working with life.

Plant surge (Ability to channel life energy into plants)

★★★★☆ – Delven fusses over a very lovely garden of various specimens of vibrant vegetation gathered from across the galaxy on his travels, but the demands of his station means he doesn’t always have time to tend to them. So he cheats. He’s never really thought to push it further, but hoo boy could he.

Force Body (Ability to enhance your body, allowing you to jump mad heights, move super fast, survive otherwise mortal blows, etc.)

★★★★★ – He prefers to put up a good shield and not get hit at all that way, but part of being as good a healer as he is, is that he absolutely can do any of this with ease and style.

Force Healing (what it says on the tin)

★★★★★+ – ABSOLUTELY. Delven is the healer. He can mend even mortal lightsaber wounds; no I don’t care what the game says, Valkorion had nothing to do with it, that was all Delven. He reads anatomy textbooks in his spare time when he can, and does stints in medbays and hospitals, and also it’s instinct, it’s the Force, it’s the fact that he can hold everything together through sheer force of will and raw power until it stays the fuck together.

Telekinesis (what it says on the tin)

★★★★☆ – He would be even better at this if he used it more, but he doesn’t really care to outside of situational utility because he has better things to do with his power and time (see Healing above and Lightning below).

Force Lightning

★★★★★+ – People who have had not just civil but warm conversations with Delven sometimes question how he can manage the state of mind necessary for Force lightning. Or they question whether it’s all that Dark a power. He doesn’t reply. There are things in life that very much inspire a cold dark hatred in him, and as antithetical as it is to his desire to fix things and have them stay fixed, it is what it is. He makes sure he points it at the right people (there is no such thing, but ‘people trying to kill me right now’ is as close as it gets), and he strikes with enough power to kill them dead instantly (we’re ignoring the game mechanics for this), and he tries not to dwell on it (because what else is he going to do, play judge-jury-executioner on the galaxy even more than he already kind of does?). But he is terrifyingly good at it and that’s a fact.

Pyrokinesis (Ability to burn stuff)

★★☆☆☆ – Delven can heat up a cup of tea or a bowl of soup, sure, and he could probably learn to do a lot more, but otherwise... why? Why would he?

[juravern]

Meme: Three OTP Questions

@anecdotesandelderthings Thanks very much for the tag XD.

As much as I love Scourge/Huath and Huath/Kira, given that their answers to these questions would pretty much run alongside canon, that’d be a bit boring. So we’re doing Delven/Kyroth instead. Kyroth Ford is the Jedi Consular of my SWTOR headcanons.

1. How did they first meet?

The first time they ever encountered each other, for a vague definition of it, it was on Nar Shaddaa, and one was a human who hid half his face behind long feathery locks of dark hair and couldn’t hide his skinniness with his black Sith apprentice robes, and the other was a Miraluka who didn’t really ‘see’ any of that, and instead sensed that the individual passing by on the other side of the Promenade square had an odd Force presence; it neither crackled with pain and rage, nor shone with serenity, but rippled gently like waves upon the surface of a sea, that went down, down, down into fathomless deep.

The first time they actually stood face-to-face and had a conversation, it was much later, calf-deep in the snow with the so-called Eternity Vault looming before them, each of them with a Council seat and bigger concerns than the Jedi-Sith divide.  

2. What did they think of each other at first?

Ky was an empath, and so from the first meeting, what coloured his opinion wasn’t recognising the notorious Darth Imperius who had clawed his way up the hierarchy on top of a no-doubt impressive kill count, but recognising that cool, deep Force presence that said, pained yet undeniably true, that I don’t want to kill anyone, but people who get in my way don’t stay there for long.

He found that very, very interesting.

Delven wasn’t an empath, so his Force senses only really picked up mild amusement and a light, sharp presence to the dark-skinned man before him with the opaque metal glasses, wild head of dreadlocks, and an outfit of black leather and bright neon purple armorweave. Not really the look he’d have expected of any Jedi, much less the Master who had led armies in retaking Corellia and been recently named to the Council.

Which was maybe a good thing, because then Kyroth Ford threw yet another Jedi stereotype out the window by agreeing to shelve the Jedi-Sith pissing contest in favour of working together against whatever was waking up within the Vault and making grandiose proclamations. 

It said something about the kind of life Delven led, that such sensibility immediately put the Miraluka pretty high up in his estimation, enemy or no.

3. Were they immediately interested/attracted or did that come later?

No one had any time for attraction in the middle of life-and-death situations, but:

Delven already admired the way Kyroth spun and whirled through combat with the violet blur of his saberstaff, all lithe grace and disproportionate strength, long before they sat down together in the cantina on Odessen and he felt the sudden urge to proposition him.

Ky already admired the skill in Delven’s healing touch, and the dry wit in the way he spoke, long before he reached across the table and tugged the Alliance Commander in for a kiss.

Tagging: IDK, @spindlewit, @sonneillonv, anyone else who wants to do this but seriously, no pressure.

[juravern]

D, F, and J for Delven

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

Funny story XD: I created Delven Shadowguard by smashing together traits from two older OCs - Corin is where he got the grey eyes, short, skinny build and feathery hair grown long, while Delven Torason is why his hair colour is mostly black instead of white, and prefers more sombre colours in his clothes instead of going for white and pastel blue. I was initially trying to recreate Corin, but that hairstyle makes the white look grey, bleh. 

Delven Shadowguard’s design hasn’t changed since then, I’m happy with it, aside from the copies of him I made on other servers maaaaybe going up or down a couple skin tones because I legitimately don’t remember his particular shade XDXD.

F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)?

Pride? Pride is a good one, I guess XD. I love him for being my easy-going, sarcastic, badass do-gooder who doesn’t mind being a bit silly on occasion, or the SWTOR story railroading him into stupid things happening XD, he’s bizarrely sanguine and chill and that’s nice. (I love Huath too, but he’s so angry XD.)

J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

Not at first? I sort of had this expectation, when first starting SWTOR, that game limitations being what they are, dialogue options would be limited, my character probably wouldn’t get to do much more than decide how polite/sarcastic he wanted to be. So Delven’s personality began as this mostly-blank slate taking cues from Corin and Delven T., and slowly grew to fit the framework that the main Light-side Inquisitor storyline provided - bold, sarcastic, a little reckless, a little righteous and pragmatic, this underfed ex-slave staying positive while running around putting out fires XDXD.

KotFE-ET was when I really had to start headcanoning stuff to fit around Delven instead of being content to shape Delven to fit the story XD. Valkorion didn’t have shite to do with healing the stab wound from Arcann, that was all Delven, who is THE healer, thank you. Marr and Satele should have taken one good look at Delven’s Force presence and gone “….actually, you already know all this Force stuff we were going to yak about, want to sit down and have some tea” because come on, he’s been running around angry enough for lightning and peaceful enough for healing and freeing ghosts this whole time, don’t talk to me about how the Force is more than dark or light, Delven beat you to it long ago. Torian and Vette are both alive and you will never convince me otherwise.

I mean, I’m not really into extensive rewrites? But yeah, I am not above rearranging details to suit.

[juravern]

some Sith Asks, with the character I want to ask them about in parentheses: Plagueis (Delven), Tenebrous (Delven), Tyranus (Senya), Baras, Malgus, Marr, and Vader (Vyssal)

Darth Plagueis: If you could dedicate your life to researching one question, what would it be?

Delven thinks this is a strange question. Delven has many, many things he wishes to do and/or is committed to doing. Delven would say that if he had to choose one thing to focus upon for the rest of his life, then that question would be “how do I preserve my legacy for all the aeons to come?” He doesn’t mean his literal tomb, but his bloodline and his knowledge of the Force - it is so much more than only Dark or Light.

Darth Tenebrous: If you were a Sith Lord, how much of someone’s family history would you want to know before you would take them as your apprentice?

(Delven is, of course, a Sith Lord, though he still doesn’t particularly care to introduce himself as Darth Imperius.)

As someone who was not only once a slave but is also an orphan who knows nothing of his parents, Delven doesn’t care one whit for the idea of judging someone by their family history. He would certainly make it his business to know whatever he needed to know that directly concerns the welfare of his apprentice, but it wouldn’t be a factor in gauging that person’s character.

Darth Tyranus: What would you do if you became convinced that an institution you served was doing more harm than good? What would it take to convince you of that?

(Those who have played the Imperial Agent storyline know that this is actually explored to some extent in said story XD, but it’s arguable that all the outside interference by actual assholes had more to do with it.)

Sen’ya might have been raised by a very nontraditionalist Sith Lord, but she walked into Imperial Intelligence well aware of what she was signing up for; torture and murder are just part of the job, even if she’s free to choose her own less horrific methods when out in the field. She signed up because she wanted a way to work for the greater good, for the Empire entire, for the planets and the cities with their millions of people, rather than cry about the injustice being done to a relative handful of individuals. You would have to show her that the institution no longer had the welfare of the Sith Empire in mind - whereupon which she’ll quit, make off with what resources she can, and try to find a better way to serve the cause. Those who oppose this decision are welcome to try to retire her.

Darth Baras: How respected are you by the people around you? Is it justified, more than you believe you deserve, or less than you should be?

Imperial citizens show Vyssal all the respect due one far above their station. Every Sith Lord that has heard of him respects his onetime position as the Emperor’s Wrath, and his reputation for being relentless and nigh-unkillable - so they will keep their more unkind thoughts to themselves in his presence, even if they have unkind thoughts about his mercy and where he’s placed his allegiance. Vyssal doesn’t like this, exactly, but he’s learned to wear it more gracefully.

His friends respect and accept him as a person - introverted, uninterested in romance, ferocious when angered, just a little bit vain - and he will forever be grateful.

Darth Malgus: For what reason, if any, would you decide to end the life of a loved one?

Vyssal, barely into double-digits years of age, killed one of his older brothers because it was either that or be murdered himself…. so, well, self-preservation is an acceptable reason, if not an easy one to live with.

Darth Marr: What do you foresee as the manner of your death?

With everything he’s gone up against, the number of times he feels like he’s cheated death, Vyssal would like to say he’ll definitely die in battle one of these days. It feels like hubris to think otherwise - but he does think otherwise. He honestly thinks, in moments of pride at his own accomplishments, that he’s going to get to die of old age, because it feels like nothing can kill him; virtually everything has already tried.

Darth Vader: Are you capable of unconditional, unquestioning loyalty to another person?

Vyssal Invidar Shadowguard already gives Delven his unwavering loyalty - because he has witnessed, in all their time together against the turmoil of the galactic conflict, that he can trust Delven to be compassionate, to do the right thing even at personal cost, to dare to challenge monsters and would-be gods. He trusts that Delven would never ask him for something he doesn’t want to give.

[juravern]

Sith Inquisitor chapter 3 finale, part three - the Sith Sanctum.

Part One, Part Two.

It’s awesome that the story didn’t end at the Dark Council meeting and you get this whole cutscene to touch on how defeating Thanaton didn’t just get you a seat but also his office, his followers, and basically every single thing he’d ever gotten his grubby hands on. Looting a corpse taken to its extremely satisfying logical extreme.

It bums me out that you can’t just come back into these chambers whenever you like. It super bums me out that the Kaas apartment didn’t give you any such giant spaces to lord over like a lord. (The Yavin temple has the inverse problem - it’s nothing but giant spaces.)

Ironically, I felt super awkward about the scene having your companions kowtow to the Inquisitor - but on the other hand, since I didn’t kill Harkun, he’s also present among the crowd. Yes, overseer, kneel before the former slave, ahahahaha. 

(In Harkun’s defence, he’s been polite to Delven ever since Delven became a Sith Lord, but still, scum doesn’t deserve defence, he never changed his attitude, it’s only that Delven changed positions within his worldview.)

I’m also bummed out that Lord Cineratus, that guy I ran into on Quesh and chose to bribe instead of kill, didn’t show up for the finale. (But then again, how many people even remember that by this point XD?)

I have it from a friend that a neutral Inquisitor can choose the “can I help you find peace” line, but the dialogue is then about how their own inner darkness prevents them from actually performing this act. (Strictly speaking, you see, this option earns no alignment points; it’s just that the option is only viable for a light-aligned Inquisitor.)

Speaking of this particular choice, though, I really liked it, and it was very significant for Delven in retrospect. 

I think ‘redemption’ is the wrong word here; ‘good’ and ‘evil’ aren’t labels you can just stick up or tear down like you’re an authority on the subject (as if anyone is), ‘good’ is not something I can give you a voucher to redeem for. What the scene seems to me to be, what I’m certainly choosing to interpret it as, is that these ghosts have clung to this world through their rage and fear and sundry dark feelings for so long that they’ve literally forgotten how to do anything else - and the light-sided Inquisitor shows them the way out through sharing his own inner peace, through reminding them that it’s that simple, just let go. It’s not about them finding the Light, where they go after isn’t within Delven’s remit, whether they deserve to be trapped in limbo, in this hell of their own making, that’s not the question. The question is whether you/the Inquisitor should leave them trapped like this because you think they don’t deserve to find the Light or something. The question is not whether they deserve it, but whether you should do this. Of course you should do this, if you can.

And for Delven, this act of letting go, of giving up the sources of power that let him stand up to Thanaton, this act is in itself an act of power. It is a test of will, of conviction - can you do it? barely into adulthood, without the experience and knowledge that the other Councillors have had decades to accrue, would you give up that which allowed you to survive this far? - and in doing it, in performing this act of compassion, of sacrifice, this act that is utter defiance of the beginning of Sith philosophy, peace is not a lie, in keeping true to the promise sealed in blood, it is an act of power. He knows himself, now. That is all he needs.

And Horak-Mul isn’t right either, when he says that the deed “goes against everything that being Sith stands for.” His last word, about what it is, is “Freedom.” Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.

[juravern]

Sith Inquisitor chapter 3 finale, part one - the duel on Corellia.  

I’m celebrating alt!Delven’s completion of the class storyline with lots of screenshots XD. (You don’t want to know how many times I Esc-ed the conversations, in order to explore all the options and nail the images.)

Part Two, Part Three.

Of the three available responses to Thanaton’s accusations of corruption, you can argue that he didn’t do anything about Zash (sounds lame), or call out the assembled Imperials as slaves for mindlessly following Thanaton and his dogma (vicious), but I personally liked the change-or-die machine metaphor best (complete with the implication that Thanaton is obsolete).

Being light-sided makes everything even more satisfying, though strictly speaking, choosing Achelon’s fate back during the Silencer demo doesn’t count for alignment. I mean, it doesn’t get much cooler than Thanaton being told ‘no’ by his own lackey because said lackey owes you his life.

I went to a fair bit of trouble to acquire the same set of robes main!Delven wore when he was doing this. 

Khem is here because Khem has been with Delven ever since Korriban. Also because maximum intimidation factor for such a momentous event XD. (And I just pretend the rest of the crew are present too, honestly.)

Khem and Talos have the only interesting reaction lines here.

The message you get from Moff Pyron after this is the BEST:

[juravern]

Sith Inquisitor chapter 3 finale, part two - the Dark Council.

Part One, Part Three.

Delven is so done with Thanaton’s bullshit.

This is why I got him robes with those oversized shoulder plates; when you’re as skinny as Delven is, every bit of extra presence helps. On him, it’s not ostentatious, it’s just the right amount of plumage.

I really, really love the whole bit where the Inquisitor forces Thanaton to kneel before them.

Darth Marr utterly dominates every moment he speaks.

I actually really like Ravage’s statement that “The Kaggath is a playground game. Murder has no rules.” Like, yes, all your pomp and ceremony is meaningless, because we all know we’re just here to kill the other guy.

But I also find it deeply amusing that none of the other Dark Councillors care about Ravage’s opinion. Marr straight-up going “Quiet, Ravage!” is probably infamous by now, but it’s hardly the only time someone disagrees with Ravage - though I’m not sure we think Thanaton’s opinion carries any weight either.

It’s even funnier, then, that Ravage pretty much says what we’re thinking more than once - irritatedly calling for Thanaton to be silenced, remarking ‘good riddance’ over his corpse, even commenting on Delven “never trust the humble ones.”

Unpopular opinion: I like ‘Darth Imperius’, okay XD. Delven would never actually introduce himself as such, but he’s fine with other people calling him that; he’s fine with being called whatever as long as everyone’s clear about where they all stand with each other.

Let’s face it, this scene is the entire reason why we play and love the Sith Inquisitor storyline XD. Power trip FTW.

[juravern]

Fear, Confusion and Anger for Delven

Fear

The moment seemed to freeze and stretch. The smell of ozone and burnt hair reached him, and the strident tone of Lord Awina proclaiming her outrage, but she wasn’t moving and her voice was unsteady, and he wasn’t moving at all; he had eyes only for the fierce white-red glow of his master’s lightsaber pointed at him.

Delven could feel the weight of his master’s considering gaze on him, and fear was cold, colder than ice in the core of him, knowing that his owner considered killing him.

There was the dwindling hiss of a lightsaber blade vanishing, and the moment broke; Lord Doldrun stepped back and turned away, his earlier irritation creasing his brow once more as he looked at his visitor. “You have worn out your welcome,” he said plainly, while Delven gasped for breath he hadn’t realised he was holding, and realised that there was fear in her bloodshine eyes, and fear in the way Lord Doldrun wasn’t looking at him.

Confusion

“I- what?”

“You need a family name, my lord,” the immigration officer repeated, not unkindly. “Take some time to think about it, if you like, while I help - Khem Val, was it? - with his documentation.”

He dropped into the first seat he found, thoughts still a whirl of confusion. He’d not given any thought to his name before; it was still sinking in, he supposed, how much everything about him and his life changed with being freed, becoming Sith.

Immigration, on the other hand, was apparently unfazed by the former slaves clawing their way out of the Sith Academy, and had all the necessary forms ready to hand.

Anger

By the time they made it to the front lines, Delven’s fury had condensed into bright power humming in his veins; but by no means had it abated. He didn’t blame the soldiers and non-humans one whit for turning traitor, and he didn’t want to kill them, but here they were and Malgus was to blame - not like this, you fool, we cannot afford for you to tear the Empire further apart from within, with the Republic breathing down our necks! - and it didn’t matter, did it, whether he stood back with his force barriers while Sen’ya stabbed them in the backs, or he killed them himself.

So. They had a good thing going, but perhaps it was time for a change.

It was a mark of not just how dangerously competent they all were, but also of how many death-defying missions they’d run together by now, that none of them even spoke a word; Vyssal stepped up to his right flank, Ryhenna to his left, and Sen’ya was digging out her medical kit even as she absently thumbed her stealth field generator on-

-and he strode forward, calling a lightning storm from the sheer rage in his blood.

[juravern]

@singing-hedgehog I made it!

Yay for double-command-points event + boost + Group Finder bonus for Ops. Also yay for the sheer amount of CXP the Oricon weekly full run gives. Should have just come here instead of derping about with the Tatooine GSI missions LOL.

[juravern]

If there is only one planetary questline I would never ever skip, this would be the one, for this specific reason: the Dread Masters.

They are very, very intriguing, okay XD.

(Delven does not share my feelings. Delven did not like watching them casually gang-mindrape someone else, even if that someone else was a homicidal Esh-kha. Delven felt decidedly unnerved by their surrounding him like that. Delven does not want to talk about what he was reading off them via the Force.)

And I am off Belsavis. I will have to return in future for the bonus series. Now that I’m getting so close to endgame I find that I’m becoming impatient XD.

[juravern]

For the meme, Delven: 3, 4, 5, 11, 27, 30

From this ask list.

3. Do they fit in with their faction or were they sort of born into it?

It doesn’t get more ‘born into it’ than being born a slave in the Empire, being discovered to be Force-sensitive by his owner, and later discovering he’s the lost descendant of some ancient Sith Lord. Delven absolutely does not fit in with the Sith except where he wants to (see: his fashion sense, which comprises sweeping robes/longcoats, oversized shoulder pads, and purple, black and red). He’s rational, not generally full of rage or fear, specialises in the healing arts, and is a short (1.6m / 5ft 3in) skinny guy hiding behind his overgrown fringe of hair XD. Happily, in the Empire might makes right, and Delven is absolutely ridiculously powerful.

4. What is their homeworld?

Dromund Kaas. His owner for pretty much his entire life until becoming Sith was this mid-high-ish level bureaucrat of a Sith with a small estate on the outskirts of Kaas City. Strictly speaking, he only went to him as a child, but it’s not like Delven remembers anything prior to that. To this day, Delven has no issues with humidity, and if he has a chief complaint about anywhere it’s “why is it so dry?”

5. What planet do they now call home? Either where their stronghold is or where you headcanon they live at.

He’s sort of torn between Dromund Kaas and Odessen. He has a very nice Kaas City apartment, and he was glad to find out friends had helped him keep his stuff together while he was MIA, but Odessen feels welcoming, in the Force, in a way Kaas never has. Dromund Kaas really reflects the heart of the Empire - all prickly and dangerous, and all the beauty is hidden, and he wouldn’t have it any other way, but.

11. Do they have a favorite color crystal they like to use? What color?

Copper! He found and attuned it on Voss, during the whole thing with the Mystic trials and studying with the dreamwalkers. It meant a lot to him, meeting people who have a different view on the Force other than Light/Dark; it was validation of everything he’d worked out for himself, that he could carry both in him and make it work, that the Force is pretty much whatever you want it to be.

That’s the Watsonian headcanon, anyway; the Doylist reason is that the copper crit crystal was the first big purchase I ever made in SWTOR; I paid someone 150k for it, someone who was very nice and patient and put it on the GTN for me to buy when it turned out we couldn’t trade because I was free-to-play. I made this purchase right before I went to Voss, and it turned out the colour was pretty much an exact match for the colours of the spirit world - headcanon immediately formed and accepted.

27. Do they have any regrets?

I’ve answered something similar to this before, and I found the answer! Here. The short answer is that Delven is bizarrely well-adjusted and doesn’t do regrets. Shit happens, life’s like that.

30. Do they like to boogie? Do they dance to that good old cantina band?

It’s not that Delven doesn’t want to - he likes the rhythm and beat and all - he just hasn’t a clue how to. Parties in general are a thing he’s vaguely aware other people do. 

Me, I have absolutely no objections to those people who throw down the disco ball and music droid and get everyone in the vicinity spontaneously dancing XDXD. I may have bought the thingamajib from the Ilum social vendor myself XD.

[juravern]

Dissociation

I wrote a little bit of an imprompt thing. A little bit of a spoiler for the Nathema Conspiracy, a bit of tweaking to suit my headcanon, and the result of my musings on why can’t my Sorcerer just be both healer and dps spec at the same time XD. An impromptu thing that took hours, actually, because while I knew exactly what I wanted to write, the exact words did not always immediately drop into place.

“We don’t have much time. Unless we get Theron to Odessen, he won’t make it.”

Delven ignored Lana, dropping to one knee beside Theron. She was a dependable ally, and a friend for the most part, but he was discovering a dislike for pointless and ignorant statements.

He exhaled, letting go of the sensation of crackling light.

He inhaled, drawing in humid air that hummed quietly of life.

He breathed out cold anger, and breathed in unshakable calm.

When the sorcerer reached out a hand, fingers spread wide, over the prone body before him, he knew the injury with an effortless certainty. He’d been similarly wounded before; now he numbed nerves, split char from living flesh, purged contamination and wove tissue together with a much steadier mental touch than he had managed previously.

“Your scars,” he said with a faint smile when he was done, “are going to look nicer than mine. We should still get you on a drip and antibiotics soon, and hold off on food until we’re sure your intestines are fine. But your condition is stable for now, unless you run off for more undercover hijinks.”

Theron made a sound somewhere between a chuckle and a groan, eyes drifting shut again. 

Delven climbed to his feet, drawing power with him as he did so; the injured man’s body rose from the ground as if borne upon an invisible stretcher. Lana dragged Atrius with her as they made their way out.

“Your skills continue to surprise me,” Lana remarked, as they navigated the walkways. It was not quite an admission that she’d forgotten he could do that, but right now Delven felt generous; being underestimated was always useful. “Few Sith can heal as you just did. And those who can are not nearly so accomplished in combat.”

“My understanding of the Force is a peculiar dichotomy,” Delven agreed mildly.

He doesn’t try to tell her about how the Force spans both life and death, how chaos and harmony are two sides of the same coin.

He doesn’t point out that, even by the Sith attitude regarding the Force as a tool bent to one’s will, one may do anything that they set their will to.

And he doesn’t explain how even he cannot simply mend flesh and cast lightning by turns, as if he were a performer juggling balls. He bears a measure of sympathy for Revan; the impossible contradictions that shape and bind the galaxy are too vast to simply be held side-by-side within a mortal mind without consequence.

[juravern]

Gimme a theme song for Delven and something for Talos Drellik?

I’m not in the habit of picking music for my characters, so I scrolled through my playlist to find something appropriate. And what I picked, well…. I’m not sure if it fulfils the letter of your question to answer with music tracks that contain no lyrics, but it certainly fits the spirit, to me XD.

Talos - Confrontment ~ Naruto OST 2 

Delven - Infinite Legends ~ Two Steps From Hell

Picking something curious (in both definitions of the word) for Talos was easy; nailed in ten seconds XD. For Delven, I thought about a few other TSFH tracks (Cloud Maker, The Ancients, Ghost Brigades) before settling on Infinite Legends as a good mix of ‘light and quirky’ and ‘epic’.

[juravern]

8, 20, 27 of the Excessively Detailed Headcanon Meme for Delven! =D

8: Favorite indulgence and feelings surrounding indulging

The opportunity to indulge himself, to waste time or money or whatever for his own pleasure, is something that always feels a little odd to Delven; he’s always had to be doing something to some purpose, whether that was stealing scraps from the kitchen because he was hungry and underfed, hiking across the galaxy on Zash’s instructions, or being responsible, what with Zakuul and the Alliance and all that. But he doesn’t feel guilty; he decided a long time ago that he wants it, he should have it, isn’t that kind of the point of the Sith Empire, of the Sith?

Delven’s indulgences include nice robes and strange, pretty plants, but his favourite indulgence is to take a walk outside when it’s raining. Preferably somewhere less urban, and preferably heavy rain. It’s refreshing and freeing, to embrace the wind and rain when everyone else is huddling under cover, to feel the wild life, to simply be. 

If he has a favourite memory of Dromund Kaas, it’s dragging his motley crew on a stroll to the outskirts of Kaas City during a downpour. The jungle greenery, the crackle of thunder, explaining to Ashara and Talos and Xalek that this is the point, enjoy the cold, enjoy not having to be anywhere, the freedom and lightning are his right. Andronikos and Khem already understand. They stand there all utterly drenched, smirking at the others, or glancing about uncertainly, and then they are laughing, each in the their own way.

20: Childhood illnesses? Any interesting stories behind them?

Nothing particularly notable, which was just as well, since his owner was a cheapskate of a deskbound paperpushing Sith. Upsides included minimum standards of maintenance being adhered to, on the basis that having to replace his slaves would be more troublesome and costly, so Delven did, like, get his shots; downsides meant that Delven was already in his teens and about to ship out to the Sith Academy by the time he discovered the existence of cough syrup. This is one of the reasons he decided to learn healing skills.

27: What is their biggest regret?

Not killing Thana Vesh XDXD. Okay, no, like, seriously, Delven doesn’t really do regrets. 

He wishes he hadn’t killed Ashara’s teachers. He wishes that it wasn’t so easy to be friends with Darth Vowrawn.

He wishes so very badly that he didn’t have to kill all those nameless, faceless people in his way; this is war and they were soldiers who made their choice but they were just people trying to do what they could and it was just slaughter, they didn’t stand a chance against him. It’s not any individual battle that bothers him, it’s not even their deaths, not really, just that it was so easy, and couldn’t he have found any other way?

But time and tide wait for no man, and Delven wants to live, wants to see each tomorrow, knows that nothing is perfect and that everyone dies, even that stubborn bastard Vitiate, and knows that he’s trying, that’s enough.

Delven is bizarrely well-adjusted XD.

I think my replies got excessively detailed, LOL XD. Seems appropriate, though.

[juravern]

Again XD, tagged by @anecdotesandelderthings like ages ago. This is why I read blogs directly instead of touching my dashboard.

GENERAL

Name: Delven Shadowguard

Alias(es): Darth Imperius, Dark Councillor, Alliance Commander

Gender: M

Age: Approximately 17 at the beginning of Chapter One

Place of birth: Dromund Kaas

Spoken languages: Basic; can read Ancient Sith 

Sexual orientation: Polyamorous pansexual

Occupation: Healer, Sith Lord, Alliance Commander

APPEARANCE

Eye color: Grey

Hair color: Black

Height: 1.60m / 5′3″

Scars: Old jagged slashes down right side of face

FAVORITE

Color: Metallic colours, black and grey

Hair color: He doesn’t really do favourites in this

Eye color: See above

Entertainment: Reading 

Pastime: Photography, gardening, walks in the rain

Food: Not picky

Drink: Hot tea, all kinds

Books: Non-fiction, any subject

HAVE THEY

Passed university: Sith Academy counts?

Had sex: Yes

Had sex in public: No

Gotten pregnant: No

Kissed a man: Yes

Kissed a woman: Yes

Gotten tattoos: No

Gotten piercings: No

Had a broken heart: No

Been in love: Yes

Stayed up for more than 24 hours: Yes

ARE THEY

A virgin: No

A cuddler: With the right people

A kisser: Kind of

A smoker: No

Scared easily: No

Jealous easily: Never

Trustworthy: Mostly

Dominant: Yes

Submissive: Situationally

Single: Technically. At least two long-term partners (Ashara, Ryhenna).

RANDOM QUESTIONS

Wanted to kill someone: Yes

Actually killed someone: Duh yes

Ridden a beast: Yes

Have/had a job: Yes

Have any fears: His power means a lot to him, in all its permutations and applications; losing the ability to protect himself, to save others, to enact change....

Sibling(s): None

Parents: Dead 

Children: One (Sen’ya, no relation to Tirall, I named her first)

Pets: None

[juravern]

Instead of sleeping, I made this. I hope you’re happy, @anecdotesandelderthings, for making those cards you did days ago XD.

Also, I love the energy mechanic that Kaladesh block introduced and did so much with. I gotta. And, I mean, Sith Sorcerer, all the lightning, and I stacked so much alacrity on Delven he straight-up regens Force more quickly.... XD