#Grisha Gusev

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A CRAP load of NPCs for one of my current modern magic DnD campaign PCs: Swan! I'll have to post their actual art once I'm done revamping their own Ref.

Whose Who under the read more!

Haigha - Their mom who is also a nighthag, its a complicated relationship

Grisha Gusev - Their late father, a drow artificer, very gepetto meets wonder emporium, went insane and died before Swan was born

Ruby Rosetta - Their adoptive Mom, bartender and owner of the Drunken Sailor, a pirate themed bar

Bjorn Rosetta - Their adoptive Dad, and bouncer at the Drunken Sailor

Taffetia / Taffy - An aunt figure to them, Taffy taught Swan to be a bard once they were adopted by Ruby and Bjorn, Taffy frequently preforms at the bar

Westley Sniverback - Their talent agent and manager for their Preforming Troupe: The Baroque Arts Collective

Their troupe! In order:

Primrose Golden-Ore (she/her)

Dwelf (dwarf-elf), shes stout and chubby and very bubbly, she is a lead vocalist and has a very operatic approach and voice, closest member to swan as they practice together a lot

Anton Roque (he/him)

air genasi, lean athletic/acrobatic build, typically male lead in both theatrical or dance/ballet type preformance, very confident and a bit egoist but not obnoxiously, he just thinks very highly of himself but still hypes up others too

Harry Fleetfoot (He/Him)

Human, he was raised / adopted by gnomes, kind of anxious and easily flustered but one of their best instrumental preformers, has stage fright when it comes to singing / speaking though

Trip (They/Them)

Goblin, one of two twin goblins,  they are the quick change and backstage managers basically, they help with getting sets and props ready, helping the actors change costume and makeup between scenes, things like that, trip is very excitable and manic compared to their twin but they both kind of feed into their respective energy to level out

Tych (She/He/They)

Goblin, the other twin of Trip, she’s more level headed and logical but still rattles off at a million miles per hour, constantly multitasking, Trip is one of the few who can keep up with their pace easily

Feyfrya Bounty (She/Her)

Eladrin, very tall and slender, she’s the main choreographer and director for their preformances, she is very strict and stoic but is fiercly protective of her troupe, the only one she is a bit more specifically harsh with is swan, as she can tell swan is putting on some kind of facade but hasn’t been able to piece it fully together yet

[doskorogorpg]

Could you go into the circlet a little bit more? What is known about its power and who knows about it? Or please let me know if there’s a lore post I missed! :)

Sure! You can find some information on it here and here. Additionally, I would note that it was first created in the early 1800s by a group of materalki & stayed in the hand of the order of fabrikators for decades without a whisper of it being known to others. It was an experiment for them kept on the hush hush to which they used to heighten their gifts for the sake of advancing their experiments. However, word eventually got out to other Grisha and to heartrender Galina whom shared a strong bond with Yuir Gusev, and told him of it in the mid-1800s. Yuri didn't think much of it as he never wished to harm or control Grisha. He only ever spoke about it to his council in a manner of notifying them something was out there without the intention of ever using it. He never thought he would have to. It was from there that word about it started to spread further. But it still never left the hands of the fabrikators as the Gusev's didn't feel they needed it and the Grisha could never convince anyone that it belonged in the hands of another order. Until Viktor. Viktor was the floodgates that made it more common knowledge on the circlet & what it is capable of as he uses it often. Since then, there have been a handful of attempts to steal it but it has never amounted to anything. Nobody has been able to even get close to him. Hope this helps!

[doskorogorpg]

♦ NOTABLE DREZNA ELITE FAMILY LINES & STANCES ♦

GUSEV: The dominant family line of Drezna that rose to power through Konstantin Gusev & has remained in power since. The Gusev's have always had a tenuous relationship with Grisha at best. The Grisha were first seen as weapons to be used, then tentative allies, and finally back to mortal enemies per King Viktor. BILAN: Konstantin Gusev's wife Angelina's line of descendents. This line has the closest ties with the Gusev monarch and has been fierce supporters of them since their family lines were first united. Their family line is known for producing scholars & their current head of household is Emilia Bilan who is a royal advisor to King Viktor. The Bilan family sees the use of Grisha, but they would never go against a decision made by the Gusev monarch. TITOVA: Galina's line of descendants and considered the first royal Grisha line. The Titova's do not have a speck of power anymore. Most, if not all, are dead & the rest have gone into hiding except for Luna who is the current personal heartrender for King Viktor. They can be seen never too far from his side, and usually with eyes so sunken from extreme tiredness. This line is now in deep servitude to the Gusev's. DRYGA: Dominant family line of skilled warriors who are commanders & war leaders for the king's army. The current head of the house is Dimitri who is the military leader of Gusev's army. This is a predominantly bloodthirsty human line with a strong distaste for Grisha. ZHUK: Family line known for their charm as well as their skilled artistry. They are rich for their architectural designs as well as their paintings. Their most famous painting is a depiction of Konstantin Gusev plunging his sword into the leader of the South. They are a wealthy, influential family who have some sway in the current matters of politics. Their line has a strong stance against Grisha. KORIN: A wealthy family line that has been known to mingle with Grisha and even produce Grisha heirs. The current head of household is a human named Feliks and this family has quietly faded to the background; preferring to stay out of current affairs and remain neutral. The monarch only allows them to stay in Starosva for a steep price they will soon be collecting on. MISHIN: A once wealthy Grisha line that was wiped out completely in 2010 by the Gusev monarch. There are no known survivors. NECHAYEZ: Prominent household in the North who are known for their elaborate designs & distaste for Grisha. They aren't as involved in the politics or warfare but are considered to be a supporter of King Viktor through sizable donations of money. LYKTIN: A gifted human family line that are known for their skill in smuggling & trading in secrets. They are extremely wealthy from their less-than-savory acts of thievery and the current head of household, Boris Lyktin, is a royal advisor to King Viktor. They are impartial to Grisha as they see their use but also their unruliness. ZIMIN: A Southern family line who have been strong allies to the Gusev monarch as they were branded traitors for their war crimes against the South by revealing weak points in the Southern army. They used to live in Tahelka but now predominantly live in the East or North. They aren't as involved in the politics now as they've lost their biggest aid of knowing the South's secrets, but they still declare allyship with the monarch & stand against Grisha despite not really having a care either way regarding Grisha. The current head of house is Kristopher Zimin who lives in Starosva.

[doskorogorpg]

hi hi hi! i’m new to the grishaverse - as in, i havent read the books and only watched season one of shadow & bone, and apologies if this was ask elsewhere, but from my understanding, grisha’s have uniforms, correct? im asking because im interested in applying for asli, and in her connection with anton it says that he’d like to her her out of oversized sweaters. does this mean grishas what they want to wear? or is it because it’s more a rebellion, therefore clothes/what they wear doesn’t really matter? sorry for this long message and thank you sm in advance 💓💕

Oh, please never apologize for the long messages or lore expansion. I honestly love being able to dive more into this creation!! This hasn't been asked before, so I'm super glad you did!! They did have uniforms in the Grishaverse, but I wouldn't say they'd have them here. Most of the Grisha choose to keep their powers hidden or not common knowledge so as to not draw the eye of King Viktor and his army. They would be wearing normal clothes which you can get an idea of what exactly they would be wearing here & here. The only Grisha who would have any sort of uniform would be ones still in King Viktor's or the elite's servitude. Those Grisha would be wearing golden-lined keftas with the Gusev emblem on them.

[doskorogorpg]

♦ NO MOURNERS, NO FUNERALS. AMONG THEM IT PASSED FOR GOOD LUCK.

name: Yekaterina "Katya" Volkova.

age: Twenty-Nine.

race: Grisha.

powers / skillset: Heartrender.

gender: Female.

HEARTRENDER. She can feel what's buried beneath your ribcage. A cage, indeed. Desperately entraping your heart so it cannot be touched. But she doesn’t need to touch. Only feel. And she feels your heart. She hears its thump like an echo in her mind. She senses how it flutters, missing a beat, in fright when she comes near. She feels it all. You are nothing but skin, bone, blood, and a frail little heart. She’d love to know what it sounds like when it goes pop. She just might find out soon.

Trigger Warning: N/A.

The heart. You either own it or it owns you. Katya owned hers, and she owned a collection of others, too. She cumulated them like toys or fine weapons to beckon at her call. But none of them were enough. She wanted more. Her collection wasn’t complete until she found herself sitting upon piles of gold, dressed in the finest fabrics, and snug beneath blankets of fur that kept her skin warm until slivers of light peaked through curtains to announce the morning sun. But oh, dear heart, why did it have to be him. Why did the traitorous ticker have to stutter over him: Viktor Gusev. A mortal king is nothing to the queen of hearts. Especially one so thoughtless as him. And yet.. Money talks. More specifically, it talks to her, and she all too happily lets it talk her into his bed despite how they loathed each other. Hate meant nothing, though, when they both had something to gain. Viktor had her power, and she had his money to live as lavishly as she pleased when he didn’t need her. Which wasn’t often. He called to her like a forlorn lover; always needing her there to display his power and the hold he had over even one of the Grisha’s strongest. She despised it. Hated being his plaything. But he swore he’d always keep her pouch full despite the nature of his war. She just didn’t understand it until it was too late that he was always fighting against her.

She knew it when her heart stuttered. Not out of a heavy heart or love lost. Rather it flickered because he commanded it so. He put on his crown, the one he always wore, and commanded she stop her own heart so he could finally hear her plead. But she did not beg nor whimper. She only gasped and struggled in vain as her own heart stuttered until he grew bored of her. Then all that was left was to toss her to his prison cells when Azov burned. Where she became the one thing she never wanted to be. Forgotten. No longer a prize of his to be coddled in front of his few trusted elite. The girl they all spoke about in whispers while never really knowing her name. She was nothing. Caged as her own heart until she felt those slivers of light across her skin without the comfort of furs or warmth this time. Light that enshrouded the shape of a woman who converted her iron chains to cool liquid and glided the both of them through walls as if they were nothing until they came face to face with a man who promised no one would know her name. No one would know her story. She’d just be the girl swathed in cheaper furs, drinking expensive liquor, and collecting her hearts until she got what she wanted most: to take everything back from the one man who dared to stop her heart.

MAKSIM & VARYIS: The second and third of Mikhail’s recruits. The only two she actively tries to make an effort with and allows herself to be persuaded by to join in on their certifiably insane antics. Not to mention the two of them are a good excuse for her to not have to get so close to anyone that she begins to open up her heart. Opening up her heart only meant weakness, and she had her sights set on loftier goals than being weakened by softness. So, she won’t admit she cares for either of them. But she’ll continue to show up wherever they call because they were hers. Her two favored. The ones she’d never dare to touch with her powers. SVETLANA: Mikhail and Svetlana came to her when she was at her weakest. They saw her at her worst, her most vulnerable, and all they did was wrap her arms around both of their shoulders and carried the weight of her until she could stand on her own two feet again. And they did all of this without breathing a whisper of who she was to the others. She is grateful for both. They freed her and offered her the chance at Viktor’s money again. But she finds herself closer to Svetlana as the two of them are often paired up for Mikhail’s schemes. Or they escape the city for a while for a nice reprieve in the other's company as neither of them were as power crazy or erratic as the rest of the crew. She was just Svetlana. And Katya found she could be just Katya around her, too. SOFIYA: She wasn’t an idiot and she wasn’t tragically blinded by her heart. So it made her decent company. Someone who wasn’t quite a friend but worth Katya’s time for what she could smuggle in. She’d saddled up next to the worst of humankind for a good drink. And not the Volki’s definition of a good drink. No. Sofiya smuggled liquors you’d only find on one of the elites' tables. Katya will never turn down a drink like that so she finds herself often visiting the girl despite her taste for power that seems to only be apparent to Katya. But it only took one look in the mirror to see to know when someone was chasing power.

YEKATERINA VOLKOVA IS PORTRAYED BY ANYA CHALOTRA & IS CURRENTLY TAKEN.

[doskorogorpg]

♦ NO MOURNERS, NO FUNERALS. AMONG THEM IT PASSED FOR GOOD LUCK.

name: Octavia Kaverin.

age: Twenty-Eight.

race: Grisha.

powers / skillset: Alkemi.

gender: Female.

ALKEMI & MARKSMAN. Skills that go hand in hand. One to poison or explode. One to puncture. She’s a bombshell with keen eyes, and she is meant to take out entire city blocks. Her arrows are one to watch out for as you don’t know what they may bring you: her mark could be quick and explosive, or you could find yourself choking on death for weeks before you finally find rest.

Trigger Warning: Mentions of death & loss.

The movement of light, soft and easy. The flick of an elongated shadow stretched among the trees almost impossible to decipher. The gentle breeze and wisp of an arrow hurtling past your ear. Octavia was all and none of these things. Gentle as a breeze, but piercing as an arrow. She pierced her ways into hearts just as fast as she soared far away from them. She was a flicker of time in people's lives before she faded to a new homeland with new faces. She never lingered too long as she avoided attachment. Attachment meant feelings, and feelings meant the possibility of loss. She couldn’t stand to feel loss anymore. She’d already lost too much: her parents, her brother, and her best friend. They were all gone in a wink. Gone in a beat of her heart. Taken out in a raid King Viktor swore were actions done by Grisha, but she knew the truth. Even as a child she saw the glint of the Gusev’ emblem on those men as she hid under her bed. She could never forget. So she flits in and out of lives; walking a very thin line and never getting too close to those around her so as to not never feel like she did that night. She was never meant to be a permanent figure in anyone's life anymore. But she can only avoid so much for so long.

Wandering from place to place, it was Argun where she found herself lingering at for too long. She found herself lost to its Dread Woods. The woods were her escape. Far away from any observers to sharpen her skills, and push the boundaries of them. She goes so far as to blindfold herself and just listen to the world around her; using hearing instead of sight to hit her mark. It was here she found peace, and the noise that constantly hammered her thoughts turned to silence, a stillness coming over her until all she heard was the diurnal noises of the woods. It was here, too, she allowed someone to unbolt the latch around her chest and open her up to the possibility of loss again. Mikhail Voronin. Someone who knew her loss. Felt it so deeply in a way she knew was only possible because Viktor took from him, too. It was a loss he used to propel himself forward while she shrank in on herself and hid in the woods. She didn’t want to be in exile anymore. She knew it the moment she saw him. She wanted to feel something, anything, again and hurt the one who hurt those she loved most. She would have all those men feel as she had when they took everything from her.

YEKATERINA: They both work as bartenders at The Shattered Cup. Octavia isn’t always a fan of the company Katya keeps as she finds Maksim explosive. And not the good kind of explosive like her arrows because hers came with precision while his was unbridled chaos. But, she still enjoyed Katya’s company when she is by herself at the bar, and she’ll often have a drink or two with her after work. Octavia enjoys how they don’t have to go into depth about their pasts and can just focus on the analytics of the here and now of what they are facing. If she is spending a night with Katya, she always makes sure to bring her fanciest bottles as she knows her friend has very rich taste. NASTIA: Her ride or die. The reawakened beat of her heart. The one who opened Octavia up in a way she didn’t know was possible any longer, and whom she pours all her love into. She would until her dying day. Nastia is the one she wants to spend all her nights with and she does for the most part. The two always find an excuse to escape to the nearby woods to keep one another sharp in their aim or hide up on the rooftops together to just be with one another, alone, free to talk about anything on their minds. Octavia doesn’t really know what it feels like to have a home anymore, but she knows Nastia certainly feels like hers. SASHA: She finds them intriguing at best, and heartbreaking at most. Octavia can see a pain in their eyes that she is all too familiar with and wishes she could eradicate the torment they feel. But she knows she can’t. She knows from personal experience that the only one who could take that pain away permanently or heal it is Sasha. So, instead, she merely offers them her company and an ear to listen when they need it. Even if the world is telling Sasha they have no one, she will always try to be their someone as she is really trying her best to let people in again.

OCTAVIA KAVERIN IS PORTRAYED BY ZHENYA KATAVA & IS CURRENTLY TAKEN.