#Rethul Balasi

[sheirukitriesfandom]

Belated Sujamma Sundas

Today, Sujamma wants to know about your OC's moral compass. What God do they worship and why? Do they engage in any illicit activities (drugs, etc?) Any holy activities, like healing in the name of a certain divine? Have they committed any crimes, or are there any crimes they actively despise? Feel free to talk about anything and everything along these lines.  

Tagged by: @theoneandonlysemla and @friend-of-giants Thank you! These things are a nice distraction from the current irl stress.

Tagging: @elavoria @thequeenofthewinter @rakaiawriter and @nostalgic-breton-girl Rashkan

Rashkan’s morality is flexible. As a vampire, his very existence is often criminalized and, although he's not out for violence, if attacked (or provoked in some cases), he will retaliate beyond what's necessary. In general, he’s not good at estimating how much mortals can take and he's killed both intentionally and accidentally, the latter still wearing on his conscience. The former, he justifies a la “The ends justify the means”. He also doesn’t mind other types of crime as long as they don’t affect him or his loved ones negatively. Helpful, considering how often Rethul’s crookeries earn them a place to sleep during their journey to defeat Alduin.

Rashkan isn’t religious. The Raven Rock temple seems to have some influence, but overall it seems the citizens are more concerned with their day-to-day lives, and Rashkan’s family was no different. That, and he got scared the first time they visited their ancestral tomb… he ran away screaming. 

Rethul

Rethul was raised with the teachings of the reclamations and, though not religiously, schooled in the ways of the divines--useful if you’re located in the Imperial City and the majority of your business contacts are Imperials. 

Rethul hated it.

He’s not religious in a traditional sense but will playfully toast to Sanguine or ask for his favour while playing dice. He’s not serious about it though and would be shit-his-pants scared if Sanguine ever offered him a deal. Daedra, undead, soultrapping--all those things scare him deeply since he greatly values his freedom (and that of his soul). Even when he joins the Dark Brotherhood, he rejects the cultish part of it and actually prefers Astrid’s methods.

Rethul cares about himself first and foremost. He doesn’t mind causing harm for personal gain. His only moral concern are children. Having grown up with three siblings and wanting to have some himself one day, he would never voluntarily hurt a child. He’ll hurt anyone harming children, though... ;-D

Valcarion

Valcarion is a devout worshipper of Dibella. Due to her not being part of the Altmeri pantheon, he’s developed his own way of worship: He’s a patron of the arts, takes great care to maintain a beautiful home (including a blooming garden with a shrine) and gives much of his wealth to charity. He’s also the most skilled lover from among my OCs…

As a Chief Justiciar of the Divine Prosecution, Valcarion doesn’t tolerate crime. However, he’ll turn a blind eye to certain behaviours that aren’t forbidden but considered immoral by altmeri society, even if he doesn’t approve. He’s a “hate the sin, not the sinner” kind of guy, except he’s not an asshole about it. He also doesn’t shy away from methods falling into that grey area if they help with his investigations. 

[sheirukitriesfandom]

Rethul knows how to adapt his register. He grew up rich in the Imperial City and Anvil and he did receive lessons in rhetoric. His everyday way of speaking used a relatively high register with clear pronunciation and textbook grammar. In Skyrim he adapts a more colloquial way of speaking. He knows Dunmeris but doesn't have an accent in Cyrod/Tamrielic. He does, however, have a hard to place accent when speaking Dunmeris.

I don't know what English accent he'd have bc English accents sound far too similar to me. It's all just English???

In German, I imagine Rethul speaking Viennese.

Rashkan's register is neither purely high nor low. However, his speech pattern sounds artificial due to him avoiding contractions because "they're improper 😤". He most often uses standard grammar isn't as close to a textbook as Rethul used to be.

He speaks the Solstheim dialect of Dunmeris. He had a Solstheim accent when he arrived in Skyrim but has lost it over the last 50 years.

Again, no clue about his English accent but in German he sounds like someone from the Ruhr Valley speaking high German, so fairly standard but with some slight grammatical deviations. He can go full Pott, though.

What does your oc sound like? Do they speak in a higher or lower register? What is their accent? Any regionalism they use a lot?

[sheirukitriesfandom]

A while ago @elavoria tagged me to create my OCs using this picrew but my wireless connection was rather shitty. Anyway, that's a problem of the past so here are: Rashkan, sadly without his goatee, but overall surprisingly accurate:

Rethul, before he got his lip piercing:

And Alendron, my fancy fancy Fatebinder, actually looking fancy:

Tagging: @nostalgic-breton-girl @thequeenofthewinter @dirty-bosmer @skyrim-forever @friend-of-giants @rakaiawriter and @miraakulous-cloud-district

[sheirukitriesfandom]

Drew a quick Rethul yesterday evening bc I didn't want to play cards with everyone else so I drew a Rethul. Phone was dead anyway 😬 I forgot my white gel pen at home but the white Caran d'Ache makes up for that to a degree.

[sheirukitriesfandom]

Got tagged for WIP Wednesday by @elavoria @dirty-bosmer and I think @skyrim-forever so many times but... technically I have many WIPs (Savos telling the story of the Great Collapse, Various Rethul centric scenes, Lots of Rashkan angst, etc.) but every time I read those I get the urge to rewrite them completely :-/ So instead of full scenes, have a few script-style dialogue snippets because I love the dynamic between Rashkan and Rethul.

Context: Rashkan and Rethul are approaching Fellglow Keep, discussing how to deal with the mages standing guard. Quietly.

Rashkan: "We should first take out the one in the watchtower, preferably before they have a chance to alert their friend. I do not suppose you brought your bow?"

Rethul: "Well no, duh, you're a mage. Just shoot lightning or something."

***

Context: Still at Fellglow Keep, in the room with the captured vampires.

"Vampires?!?" stammered Rethul.

"Terrifying." Rashkan replied flatly.

***

Context: On the way to high Hrothgar.

Rethul: "You're putting your nose up at me!"

Rashkan: "At my height, it's hard not to."

***

Context: When Rethul enters the archmage's chambers after Savos' death, he finds Rashkan bent over the garden, a bucket and a pair of shears next to him.

Rethul: "What are you doing?"

Rashkan: "You have eyes. Use them."

***

And my favourite line from Rashkan & Rethul's first meeting:

Everything about the tall mer screamed: "I have a stick up my ass and I'm not afraid to whack you with it".

Tagging: @nostalgic-breton-girl @elavoria @skyrim-forever @dirty-bosmer @thequeenofthewinter @miraakulous-cloud-district @alma-amentet @katastronoot

[sheirukitriesfandom]

Anyone wanna send me one? I wanna practice expressions a bit and feel like drawing with markers again.

i never know what to do with the body when i do these so here’s one of those things with arms™

[sheirukitriesfandom]

WIP Whenever

Got tagged by a whole bunch people over the last few weeks but been too busy to respond. Thank you all!

I only got a tiny placeholder-free snippet atm, but I hope you like it anyway.

Tagging: @elavoria @dirty-bosmer @nostalgic-breton-girl @thequeenofthewinter @skyrim-forever @thequeenofthewinter @katastronoot @alma-amentet

"Rethul Balasi of The Balasi Family, makers of fine jewelry since the Velothi exodus. Currently out of service." He flashed his most charming smile at the young dunmer. "But at your service all the same."

Maryon. That name meant power. And where there was power, there was money.

[sheirukitriesfandom]

OCs as horror tropes

Ages ago, @skyrim-forever tagged me to do this quiz for my OCs.

Tagging: @elavoria @dirty-bosmer @littlegalerion @katastronoot @vidvana @alma-amentet @thequeenofthewinter @friend-of-giants @nostalgic-breton-girl and anyone feeling like it.

Here's what I got for Rashkan & Rethul:

So far so good. However, I put Savos through the test too and umm...

Umm...

I have no words...

[sheirukitriesfandom]

How do your Skyrim OCs handle busy inns with taverns? Do they just check in to a room and try to settle in for the night, with the pillow over their head to try to block out any noise? Or maybe they help create MORE noise, knocking back a few pints 🍻 and singing drunkenly with other patrons, before finally passing out in the wee hours of the morning?🥴

….and does Rethul fastidiously comb his moustache every morning, or does it naturally take on a fabulous curl on its own? :3

Hey, thanks for asking and sorry it took so long. I'm on holiday and haven't spent much time on my phone.

Let's see.

Rashkan:

Rashkan would take a seat somewhere out of the way. He'd try not to attract attention while watching the other patrons, however, he doesn't mind (polite) company. If some drunkard were to flop down at his table he wouldn't react kindly.

Rethul:

Rethul is fairly paranoid, so in most cases he'll avoid the other patrons, check into his room and lock the door (Except for the evening before Bleak Falls Barrow. He got completely hammered that evening). However, there are situations where he'll let loose and once he knows the Dark Brotherhood isn't after him, he's the parties it up. He boasts, drinks, takes on dares, etc. Only once he adopts Aventus Aretino does he finally find a good balance between excess and responsibility.

As for his mustache, he's rigorous when it comes to beard care. Combing it is the bare minimum, even when logic would dictate different priorities.

Eyvindr (need to write about him more):

Eyvindr is rather shy and honestly a bit judgemental when it comes to the other patrons. If he really has to stay at an inn, he'll spend the time in his room, trying to block out the noise.

Sol:

He doesn't like noise and crowded places, so a busy inn would be a last resort at the most. Also he's broke...

[sheirukitriesfandom]

It's maaa boyyy!!!

Thank you so much!!! This was a lovely surprise to wake up to 😀

I love how my precious idiot looks in your style. His smug expression is wonderfully punchable; you're absolutely right, he IS about to say something at the viewer's expense.

Also, that's some orange that lives up to the nickname Rashkan gave him: The carrot-headed menace 🤣

@sheirukitriesfandom’s dragonborn Rethul! Quite the mustachioed man, and probably about to say something at your expense…

[sheirukitriesfandom]

Was bored earlier today so I doodled some OC noses. Didn't have internet half of the time so no references were used. Still, it's nice to see their differences up close.

[sheirukitriesfandom]

OCs as lyrics

@thequeenofthewinter and @skyrim-forever tagged me to participate. Doing this for Gileth, Rethul and Rashkan.

Tagging: @elavoria @alma-amentet @katastronoot @littlegalerion @nostalgic-breton-girl @friend-of-giants

Gileth:

Ich bin ein Stern / I'm a star

aus flüssigem Metall. / made of molten metal.

Ich bin ein Stern; / I'm a star;

alles wird in meinen Armen Asche. / everything turns to ash in my arms.

Ein Stern, doch kein Feuer blendend weiß / A star, but no white-hot fire

Taute je in mir das Eis. / ever thawed the ice within me.

The song's in German and was very much the inspiration behind Gileth's problems with his talent for pyromancy and the tragic consequences thereof.

Rethul:

Promises, they tempt me to

Will I change? I won't be that fool

Maybe for a day, a week, maybe two

I'm a dreamer, narcissist

Manchild that's confessed

The face of death won't make me an evangelist

I close my hands, not in prayer, not in prayer - into fists

I lost the way

Pretty much sums up Rethul during a good chubk of his story.

Rashkan:

I've listened to the stories of resentment and disdain

I've looked into the empty eyes of anger, fear, and shame

I've taken blood from every stone

And traveled every road

When I see the distant lights illuminate the night

Then I will know I am home

I always imagine those lines depicting Rashkan finally returning to Winterhold after the defeat of Miraak. By then he's been away from the college for a long time.

[sheirukitriesfandom]

WIP Whenever

@miraakulous-cloud-district tagged me to share some of my writing (Thank you 😀).

Since I don't want to spoil ACoS and don't have any worthwhile excerpts from my active WIPs I haven't posted already, have something from ye olde "Ideas I will get to someday, I swear" folder.

Tagging (writing or artwork): @elavoria @nostalgic-breton-girl @friend-of-giants @alma-amentet @katastronoot @the-sunlit-earth @skyrim-forever

Spoilers for my version of the CoW questline. Also, there's a placeholder left in there because I still couldn't be bothered. Sorry 😬

With muffled steps, Rethul snuck in through the door, past the garden and around the wall behind which the archmage's bed was located.

In a chair next to it, Rashkan sat motionless except for his thumb stroking the back of archmage Aren's hand. He was mummified with blankets, sleeping, his head and neck wrapped in bandages and stabilized by some ungodly healer's contraption. 

"Good evening," Rethul whispered, feeling as though his voice could do even more damage.

"What do you want?" Rashkan hissed, granting him not a single glance. 

Rethul moved closer and carefully sat down at the foot of the bed—that did earn him a glare, one that would have made Alduin himself quiver with fear.

"How's he doing?" Rethul nodded at the archmage. "Not gonna croak, I hope."

[Something something if looks could kill] 

"Part of his neck cracked when he hit the ground. Colette fused and stabilized the bones as best as she could but… The brain, nerves—such complex things; even the most skilled of healers are likely to do more harm than good should they choose to meddle with them. And if there is internal bleeding…" Rashkan sighed. He looked tired—regardless of whether the undead felt tiredness at all; that was a question Rethul would ask at a later time. "If he ever wakes," Rashkan continued, "there is a good chance he will suffer lasting damage. Alas, Do not pretend you are asking for his sake."

Rethul flicked his tongue. Of course he was not here for the archmage's sake; the man had caused him more trouble than the damn Imperial Legion.

"Rude and sharp as always, I see. You're correct though, I've come to ask for help."

"No."

"You don't even know what I was gonna ask."

"Yet my answer persists."

"But—But someone needs to help me survive Mzulft. Mirabelle's request, ya know. Gotta track down the Synod. Can't do that if I die to a bear or bandit on the way. C'mon we were a good team at Fellglow Keep."

"If you are too weak to handle miniscule distractions such as wolves or bears on your own, ask the students or one of the erudites. I am going nowhere and that decision is final."

Rashkan's gaze wandered back to the sleeping archmage. There was a fondness in his eyes, a desperate plea that transcended words. Prickly as the grumpy vampire was, at least one person avoided getting stung. Somewhere in the back of Rethul's head, a voice demanded 100 Septims for winning a nonexistent bet.

[sheirukitriesfandom]

Aaah, this is still so adorable. Again, thank you for accepting my commission.

I love Rethul's proud yet smug expression and the pure joy on Aventus' face. And the cards and knick-knacks on the table; I can picture this taking place on a snowed-in day at Heljarchen Hall.

Rethul knows many kinds of trickery and sleight of hand - things he used to swindle gullible folk out of their hard earned money; it's also how he made his first steps in illusion magic.

Again, I absolutely love this piece, thank you very much 😊

commission for @sheirukitriesfandom ! their dragonborn Rethul teaching Aventus Aretino some card tricks, and being proud of his son who turns out to be a quick learner :D

[sheirukitriesfandom]

@dirty-bosmer , @skyrim-forever and @miraakulous-cloud-district tagged me to do this quiz:

Thank you~

I decided to answer for Rashkan, Rethul and Valcarion.

Tagging: @elavoria @alma-amentet @katastronoot @littlegalerion @thequeenofthewinter @fenriael

Rashkan:

dark stormy blue

Sinking ships, raging seas and tumultuous hearts, love isn't easy for you. It's a struggle, a constant inner fight of should I? Can I? Do I? Feelings are hard and they rumble inside you in a dissatisfied mess that begs to be let out. Your heart screams and cries inside you and you... You can't, you won't. You're scared. And love is scary, it's hard and sometimes it just doesn't work out. People leave, people hurt, people change their minds. And you and your cold stormy heart yearn for the calmness, for the distance, to be allowed and able to simply not feel. And yet, you do. It rages, it fights and storms inside you and you try to keep it down, keep it quiet, to feel pretending not to. It's the burn of childhood friends growing apart, of parents that aren't quite there, of relationships that burn out. So you snuff it down with water, cold and calming and blue, blue, blue. But being loved by you is blue too, just not in that way. It's the soothing, embracing feeling of floating, the moment when you sink down bellow the waves and become one with the water, with everything. It's the balance, the dramatic yet calming sound of waves that crash against a rocky shore. You're the good and the bad, the violence of the storm and the watery peace right after. You're the blue, blue feeling and loving you is watery tears, yelled confessions that no one will hear and burying your feelings in a deep watery grave never to be found out about. Your love is dark stormy blue, it's vast and deep and all encompassing, it's safety in the surface of danger, it's trusting the unruly abyss and yet I'd gladly risk drowning just to feel what it's like being loved by you.

Rethul:

soft fresh green

Nice breeze, bare feet and freshly cut grass. Your love is a lighthearted hope for the future. It's protecting your eyes from the sun but enjoying the light rays still, it's laying on the grass and feeling it tickle your neck. You look to the side and they look back at you, full of hope and plans too. You plan together and laugh all day and your sunburn will feel like them. Your love is delicate, hesitant. A well curated binder full of collages for a future you can't be sure will come, but you keep going, you keep planning, you keep squinting at the sun and smiling, and running your hands through the grass so it will smell better. You keep holding onto the bright sky even as the sunsets, even as the starry night stares back. But you keep on holding, you keep on dreaming, you close your eyes and feel the sun on your skin and convince yourself that the sunburn is good, it's something to hold on to, just makes it linger a bit longer. Your love is a lighthearted hope for the future. It's sweet and wonderful and it keeps love alive, makes the world a better place. You run your hands through the grass, clench your fingers tighter and keep making plans. And I can only thank you and hope I can learn to love like you someday.

Valcarion:

bright sunny yellow

Sweet tasting popsicles, summer dresses and shielding your eyes from the sun. Your love is the excitement of something brewing, something growing. It's the almost childish bubbling giggles of something new, but with the potential to stay. It's wide smiles, blinding sunny light and warm bodies that gravitate to one another. It's the the softness, the willingness, the slight holding of breaths in a crucial "what if" moment. It's the impatience too. The bouncing on tiptoes to see further than your eyes can reach, the holding out for a future that never seems to come even though you're ready, you're so so so ready. It's the constant feeling of warm sand beneath your feet, holding out for the crashing waves. And still you wait, dry and impatient and with burnt soles of feet. Your love is sour candy, enjoying it as your nose scrunches up from the aftertaste of it. It's hands that grab and take hold, that reach and ask them to stay and hope and beg and wait. It's bubbling excitement sure, but it's also demanding, focused, driven. It's love like a plan, with a path and route and a clear destination. And you bonce on your tiptoes, and burning, waiting for the soothing water, the crashing waves, you hold onto the melting popsicle, you wait and wait and wait. It's tiring almost as much as it's lazer focused ambition, deeply rooted desire and the unrelenting hope that it will work, that it will come. And it does, I promise it does. The waves crash, the beach floods and the pain passes, the water cool and soothing and you can let yourself fall in, sinking, sinking. And it's good, it's perfect, what you were hoping and more, holding and embracing you and welcoming you into the stillness you always knew you were reaching for.

[sheirukitriesfandom]

Double-Speak OC Tag Game!

@dirty-bosmer tagged ma aeons ago but I neither had enough time nor energy to participate, so I'm doing that now. Thank you ^_^ Bet you forgot about this :P

Tagging: @elavoria @alma-amentet @littlegalerion @nostalgic-breton-girl @katastronoot @thequeenofthewinter @skyrim-forever @miraakulous-cloud-district and anyone wanting to work on their OC's motivations.

This time, it's Rethul's turn!

1. What do they say they want? (i.e., what are the desires they put out into the world and have no trouble admitting)

Rethul mourns his life of luxury and desperately wants it back. He wants riches, leisure and not having to worry about a thing.

2. What do they think they want? (i.e., what are the desires they keep hidden and only admit to their closest loved ones)

He wants his family to forgive him for dragging their name through the mud.

3. What do they actually want? (i.e., what is something they subconsciously need, but either do not realize or cannot admit it)

Rethul needs people who accept him even if he doesn't fit their expected version of him. People for whom he doesn't have to keep up appearances.

Ultimately, he doesn't want to be "a Balasi" or the famed dragonborn—just Rethul.