#He's a drow that escaped fucked up underdark society so like technically lolth-sworn by blood but he's selderine

[oblivious-flesh]

headcannon that gale can't fuckin roll his r's. I have no basis for this claim, it just feels Correct. Like imagine tav speaks literally anything but common and they have either rolled r's or like a soft r or throaty(?) r and they try to teach him. He's great at picking up vocab and grammar and such, but his pronunciation is actually terrible. I just think it's cute I love him sm

[je-suis-problematique]

Our Tavs so far:

Val (Valeryan) — Our very first Tav. They're an AFAB nonbinary half-elf half-drow from the Underdark, technically a rape child since their elf mother was enslaved by their drow father. They escaped the Underdark and fashioned themself a life as a ranger, sticking to the wilderness and avoiding civilization whenever possible. They get along with animals better than they ever got along with people and they behave much like a cornered animal themself, having no idea how to go on about acting normal during human interactions. They are paired with both Astarion and Wyll.

Ragnar Curran — A human paladin with a soldier's background. Not much thought went into Ragnar honestly, we simply wanted a male paladin to pair with Shadowheart but some Prime Bullshit™ happened during his playthrough that fleshed his character out a little more, in our perception of him at least. He is a hardened veteran with a soft side and a strong moral compass, which is ironic considering he accidentally ended up becoming an Oathbreaker, but he will do what must be done even if it contradicts his own personal wants and needs. As mentioned before he is paired with Shadowheart but he also yearns for Gale, believe it or not. That magical moment they shared together stirred something in Ragnar.

Mara Kilani — A Lolth-sworn female drow cleric whose main tactic for getting out of sticky situations is to bully her way out and if THAT doesn't work, fight to the death. Seriously, Mara is not known for her kindness or empathy, which I'm pretty sure she lacks, and her intimidation proficiency proved useful more than once. She'll help people only if she has something to gain from it and she will say the meanest things, not even TRYING to comfort whoever it is she's talking to that's upset. Survival of the fittest is the name of the game and the weak get devoured by the strong, that's all she's ever known. And still.... After a while of traveling with the others she learned to soften up, at least sometimes. Despite that though she chose to complete ceremorphosis and become illithid, partnering up with the Emperor. She slept with Lae'zel and flirted with Wyll but ultimately ended up being paired up with Minthara.

Vesemir Amastacia — A high half-elf bard who is hanging to life by a thread, literally. He lived a privileged life in the Upper City of Baldur's Gate but ultimately escaped it to pursue a career in music. He got into all sorts of trouble and even died once, but was brought back to life by @rjshepherd's OC Lamb due to the circumstances of his death being hilarious. He is chaos incarnate, fucking his way in and out of various situations, making questionable life choices, going into battle high on drugs, casting Fireball in spaces that aren't big enough to accommodate the sheer destructiveness of the spell and even licking dead spiders, not to mention getting some allies killed "on accident". All in all though he has a heart of gold beneath the careless bravado he puts on and he truly does love those he grew close to, namely Lamb and Astarion (the latter of whom he is dating).... Even if he plays with their blood pressure like a yo-yo on a daily basis.

Mikhail Talfen — A male Asmodean tiefling sorcerer who is the greenest flag to ever walk the grounds of Faerûn. He is part of the Society of Brilliance, studying sociology and psychology, and earns his living from basically being a clinical psychotherapist for those who seek his help. He is quite knowledgeable in alchemy as well so medications? He's got those too. When we created Mikhail we wanted a character who could help everyone else get their shit together and that's how Mikhail happened. He is kind, compassionate, empathetic, protective, and we gave him the buff body type so you know he gives great hugs too. His story is still largely incomplete but we know that he's paired with Gale (even though Lae'zel had her eyes on him) but his pre-tadpole boyfriend was Omeluum.

Cahir Dilossz — Another largely incomplete story but Cahir is a male Seldarine drow rogue and a Bhaalspawn, as in, he is our Dark Urge character. His story incorporates elements from the game series Dishonored, meaning there is a Void and an Outsider and Cahir is Void-touched (basically the Outsider laying claim to Bhaal's precious son) and accompanied by a Void-born version of @rjshepherd's Lamb because both of us subscribe to the multiverse theory. The general gist of it is that the Void is collapsing so to prevent it from being swallowed by the Shadowfell the Outsider sent Cahir on a mission to retrieve the Crown of Karsus and deliver it to Raphael, whom the Outsider made a deal with. Raphael gets the Crown, Raphael uses its power to restabilize the Void – simple, right? Only not really because the Outsider never gives Cahir any clear details and only speaks in vague riddles and Cahir gets kidnapped by mind flayers to boot. Lamb's whole role in this is to ensure Cahir doesn't stray from the Outsider's plan and does, in fact, deliver the Crown to Raphael, essentially babysitting the murder slut and steering him in the right direction. The main pairing for Cahir is Raphael, but he might end up romancing one of the companions as well, not sure who yet.

Pharo Hyperion — Oh boy.... If you thought CAHIR'S story was a clusterfuck, get ready for this one. Pharo is a simple human male like Ragnar, most likely a fighter in class, and he is a world-renowned monster hunter and mage killer. What makes his story a fucking shitshow is that he isn't from Faerûn at all but rather some parallel universe where everything is modernized, computerized, and Final Fantasy-ized. There's hacking, there's guns, there's fucking flat screens everywhere, you get the picture. The main villain here is this guy named Tarantino who's this super powerful mage who is able to travel between worlds at will INCLUDING all their dimensions. He's a serial killer and an absolute menace to society Pharo's been hunting for years due to some personal vendetta he has against Tarantino, and just when he thinks he's got Tarantino cornered? Bam. Tarantino throws Pharo's ass into Faerûn, Pharo gets kidnapped by mind flayers, Pharo gets tadpoled, and then Pharo gets spat out into the wild with no idea how to survive without his gear, with no way to reach his contacts on his homeworld, and no way to know what Tarantino is up to next. Moreover, there's this stupid sexy tiefling named Rolan who's making him feel all funny. What a predicament indeed.

[Lazarus Sarkis — Lazarus isn't a Tav per se but I thought he'd be worth mentioning since his story is closely tied to Pharo's: Lazarus is a male Lolth-sworn drow artificer who is also a liberated vampire spawn. In Pharo's universe, which implements modern machinery and gunsmithing, Lazarus is an expert craftsman specializing in crafting and upkeeping various firearms and ammo types for Pharo to use. Lazarus chose to stick with Pharo after the latter killed Lazarus' vampire Master, aiding Pharo in whatever way he needed. The two became close friends and, unsurprisingly, Lazarus found a way to follow Pharo to Faerûn after Tarantino banished him there. Lazarus offered his help to the camp while Pharo traveled with them and even became involved with Astarion, bonding with him over their shared affliction.]

Lux Wilk — Lux is actually not the main character of this particular story or rather not the only one. Lux is the twin brother of Nox, both are male and belong to the lupine race which is the closest race in DnD lore that we found to adequately describe what they are, which is essentially just humans with wolf qualities (ears, tails, fangs, and in the brothers' case, also claws). Since the lupines are mostly nomadic in nature we imagined them – or at least the brothers' pack specifically – originating somewhere close to Elturel, even if they weren't part of the city proper. Perhaps they set up some sort of settlement nearby or simply functioned as passing merchants and mercs the Elturelians became familiar with/grew fond of. There is a lot I can say about Lux's relationship with Nox but I'll keep it at that it was tense at best, hostile at worst, and that it was very complicated. After Elturel fell, Lux became separated from his people and was swallowed up by Avernus, unable to find his way back out. He was picked up by a devil named Gazgan who kept him as a pet right until the nautiloid incident, where similar to Karlach, Lux used its breach into Avernus as an opportunity to escape and got tadpoled in the process. Lux's function as Tav is also very similar to Mara's where he is NOT a Dark Urge character but he is undeniably NOT a good person, which absolutely ENRAGES Nox whenever he sees his brother get praised for literally anything (like saving the tieflings for example) because only Nox knows that Lux's compassion is purely performative and always a means to an end. We aren't sure who Lux was paired with during his travels with the tadpole group.

[Nox Wilk — Nox was always treated as second best to his brother Lux because unlike Lux, who batted his eyelashes and always said please and thank you, Nox was a troublemaker who had a major issue with authority since he was a young pup. He bit, he scratched, he destroyed property, he pissed on etiquette and ignored direct orders. While Lux was glorified as the perfect child Nox was always asked why he couldn't be more like Lux, and it infuriated Nox because only he knew that Lux was merely putting on a show to get what he wants and didn't give a rat's ass about anybody's feelings except his own while Nox deeply, DEEPLY cared. After the fall of Elturel Nox ended up escaping with the rest of the refugees, thinking it best that Lux was taken by the Hells. He honestly hoped Lux would never be seen again but after the bastard popped up at the druid grove Nox was beyond furious. He tried to plead with Zevlor not to trust Lux, he even tried to attack Lux and be rid of him with his own bare hands but a part of him couldn't go through with it.... A part of him missed and cared for his psychopath of a brother. So as bitter as Nox was, he couldn't kill him. As bitter as he was, Nox wanted to help. He hoped that maybe his brother can change, now that it was just the two of them. And thus, shenanigans ensue. Nox is romantically involved with Zevlor in this one.]