#Tyria!Ranthyr

[neranishin]

GW2 childen please~ 6. Will give you the middle finger. 17. Would steal a penguin from the zoo. 26. Acts like they don’t care, but do.

6. Will give you the middle finger.

There are potentially some anatomical/cultural issues here, but Xekken and Ahraminta do the asuran and charr equivalent respectively. (Asura only have 4 fingers, so...) Alastroine says fuck very often and very cheerfully, but I’m not sure she actually does rude gestures.

Actually, if we’re replacing that with “the Asuran cultural equivalent of the middle finger,” we can add Strix.

17. Would steal a penguin from the zoo 

Ranthyr. He’d probably give it back! Unless it was a Bad Zoo. (There is a Bad Zoo in Divinity’s Reach. I’m not sure if he’s gone through with stealing any animals from there, but it makes him upset.) Will and Xolinn might if they needed a penguin for some reason, but they would need a reason.

26.Acts like they don’t care, but do. 

Strix, except in certain very specific cases where he absolutely shows he cares, because he has no dignity left to lose. 

[neranishin]

Oh are we doing this thing

Xolinn: True Neutral or maybe Neutral Good

Xekken: Chaotic Good

Ranthyr: Lawful? Good (when I am less tired i will think more on the law-chaos axis, but tbh if tyria!ranthyr was lawful when he first woke up he’s just slooooowly been sliding more chaotic ever since)

Alastroine: Chaotic Good, unless chaotic neutral because her view of morality can be uuuuhhhh weird. 

Ahraminta: Lawful Neutral, probably

Will: Chaotic Good

Strix: Lawful Evil

have some funky fresh character alignments

Keep reading

[neranishin]

We did a few fractals last night and the Volcanic one has some good lighting

But also I’m laughing cause. Dramatic lighting! Ranthyr doing the in-combat-but-not-actively-fighting pose! AND THEN THERE’S HIS OWL

:eyes:

[neranishin]

Headcanons! 8, 11, 25, 32

8. Can kill you with a pencil

Xekken was my first thought, so there you go. 

11. Will eat everything if they could

 Ranthyr, maybe? 

25. Is the comforting one

I MEAN. That depends on who needs comforting. Ranthyr tries. I’ve got a concept bhaalspawn named Kriemhild who might qualify, but also Kriemhild is a cursed name cause this is the third character I’ve tried to give it to, so who knows. Angien is a big-sister friend so in her own way, she counts? A lot of them have Their People that they will absolutely drop everything to comfort, but not necessarily for anyone outside of that group. Calypso generally does a good job of the role.

32. Likes socks

Toril!Ranthyr does because Aida gives away knitted things, so she has definitely given him socks that he enjoys. Other than that, I am... drawing a blank

[neranishin]

2,3, for Aharaminta, 5 for Ranthry, 6 for Strix and 7 for Xekken

Thank you friend! Answers are below the cut for brevity on your dashes.

2. What is/was your character’s relationship with their mother like?

Well, Ahraminta was largely raised in a blood legion fahrar and has absolutely internalized the whole For The Legions mentality, so I don’t think she and her mother were ever very close. Ahraminta Mom is probably very proud of her large daughter who takes no shit and is working her way up the chain of command, but I don’t think I’m ever going to develop her beyond that.

3. What is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?

Growing up, she punched anyone who brought him up, because she was told that he ran off to be a Flame Legion shaman. She was weirdly proud of him because she attributed her own guardian spellcasting ability to his genes, but was still very sure that she was never going to Betray the Legions™ and take after him in any other way.

After she learned that he never exactly wanted to join the Flame Legion and she got him out of that, their relationship is very… awkward. Ahraminta doesn’t really know what to do with a parental figure, and he doesn’t really know what to do with an adult cub, and she’s off serving the legions most of the time anyway, but also she Will Fight anyone who insults him in her hearing. Part of this is because he’s her dad, and part of it is also because she has 100% adopted Soure Doomsday by then, and Soure could have so easily ended up in a similar situation if she hadn’t been there to punch his “recruiters.”

5. On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?

Ranthyr has a bunch of pet treats at all times. They are a wide variety of pet treats because Ranthyr never knows what he’s going to meet that needs to be told it is a good boy/girl/other. He also carries around little tokens from people who are important to him - for some examples, he’s got a little piece of Ahraminta’s horn that got chipped off in a fight that someone put in a setting for him; Forgal’s old warhorn; a tiny little puzzlebox that Xekken made out of scraps in Maguuma; and a small, decorative bone and mother-of-pearl knife from Zahir. These are probably not all in his pockets every day, but a couple of them are, and the rest are in his pack. (Gonna need @aldrovanda @clericofbahamut and @ridingrootless to give me tokens from their other characters cause I don’t wanna guess)

6. Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams?

Strix probably still has dreams about College, the way you just. Always have dreams about high school even when you’ve been free from it for almost a decade. So he’ll dream about trying to corral classmates to do a group project, showing up to class with the wrong notes, trying to explain coursework to one of his krewemates before he suddenly goes wait we never even had this class together and wakes up, that kind of thing. 

7. Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?

Oh boy. Yes. Prior to the events of the game, he pretty much just had the usual anxiety nightmares, like. Oh no! I suddenly can’t remember anything! I suddenly cannot make sounds when I try to speak! Things that are very distressing when you are dreaming, and then you wake up and it’s like. ...Oh right. That was a dream. 

After starting to raid inquest labs on the regular, he gets to have nightmares about what he’s seen in there. After joining the fight against the elder dragons, he gets nightmares about his friends getting inflicted with dragon corruption. After Claw Island, he dreams about seeing them dead. That really only gets worse as he goes to Orr and onward. He misses the war with Scarlet for the most part, so he doesn’t really get any new nightmares until  Maguuma, when he gets a lot of bad nightmares about the ground falling out from beneath him and walls getting crushed in around him, because he was in an airship when the vines came for the Pact Fleet. And then Path of Fire just added new settings for the my-friends-and-family-are-dead nightmares, and so on.   

[neranishin]

13 for gw2 kids and 40 for ranthyr?

13: Which OCs complement each other the best?

Ranthyr and Xekken aren’t the most glaringly obvious answer, but they worked together in the Maguuma campaign and it was a good partnership. There’s obviously the dps/healer dynamic that I’m never gonna get to appreciate cause I can’t be in a party with my own characters, but also: they both care about the people under their command, but Ranthyr’s got that Vigil mentality that lets him keep going when they lose someone, which Xekken hasn’t developed. Xekken’s better at strategy than Ranthyr is, but Ranthyr’s better at finding resources in the jungle for Xekken to use in those strategies. Ranthyr might be a cryptid and a sylvari in a jungle that’s not kind to those things, but he’s also a Vigil Warmaster where Xekken is a Whispers Lightbringer, so like. Together they almost make a respectable authority figure. Dunno if I can rank every OC pair and come up with a Most Complementary one (especially when I start adding friend OCs to the pool), but they’re an interesting one.

40: Who motivates Ranthyr?

I mean, obviously his friends in the guild and his siblings and his god and whatnot, but for someone specific who I don't think I've talked about much: His dad is the elven parent, so he's got some elven friends who check in occasionally. Some of these elven friends are jerks, but one of them is Raithor. Raithor is an arcane trickster who goes around raiding old tombs and abandoned temples (aka: doing Bad Archaeology, sorry Jo) for employers. Raithor is basically Ranthyr's favorite "uncle," and he helped Ranthyr through his self-consciousness when his eye first got injured. 

He helped by suggesting that if people were gonna stare at his cloudy/unfocused eye, he might as well give them something else to  stare at instead, which is the story behind the big sun tattoo on Ranthyr’s face. But it’s also the story behind Ranthyr just unapologetically being Ranthyr at all times, cause Raithor basically taught him that other people’s opinions are their own problems.

FOR TYRIA RANTHYR, umm. I mean. His friends and family in the grove and the guild and the pact. I don’t have a Raithor equivalent here.

[neranishin]

1,3,7 for ranthyr and xekken!

I ended up formatting one of these in a way that got super long again so *fingerguns*

1. an overheard conversation about your OC

“It just seems so strange that Ranthyr would join the Vigil. I mean, he’s a Dawn bloom! And the Vigil is so… combative!”“Perhaps combat can be diplomatic? I mean, duelling is almost like diplomacy. Angry diplomacy.”“Hmm… and he did get involved in duelling so soon after he awakened.”“And the Vigil is led by a charr. Who knows what charr diplomacy looks like?”“Oh, I’m sure Ranthyr does! I’ve seen him with two different charr! At least, I think it was two. They were both black, but they were such different sizes, and I don’t think charr grow that quickly.”“…That was meant to be rhetorical, my dear.”“Oooooh.”

“Ugh, I have to do this project with the bookah.”“Just leave him alone and pull your own weight and he’ll match your level of mediocrity.”“Wh - I’m not mediocre!”“Then why are you complaining, genius? If he’s really a bookah, you’ll just look good by comparison.”

3. a report written by your OC’s teacher or mentor

Almorra,

The plant kid fights with Wolf’s ferocity, but he smiles like the world’s made of sunshine and rainbows. You sure he was a good choice for this mission? He keeps saying “Hi” to the separatists and renegades and I half expect he’d continue on with “How’s your day been” if they didn’t so reliably respond by shooting at him. It’s only slightly better than the charr kid’s not-so-subtle posturing whenever we’ve got a human around. Don’t think she’s really got renegade sympathies, and don’t really think she’s doing it consciously, but it’s enough to turn the plant kid’s “annoyingly chipper” into “creepily dissonant.”

They do fight well together though, so if we can get her fur to lie flat and him to sit quiet sometimes, I guess we can make this work. Still can’t believe they were the best choices available, though.

–Warmaster Forgal Kernsson

From: kurrem.geo@dynSubj: Advice

Not naming names, but I have an irreverent student with test scores egregious to classroom behavior. Ruling out academic dishonesty for now, since testing in isolation actually further improved scores, but classroom behavior continues to be disruptive. Advice for proceeding?

From: bronk.chem@dynSubj: Re: Advice

Xekken

From: piann.than@dynSubj: Re: Advice

Xekken

From: wonna.meteo@dynSubj: Re:  Advice (Xekken)

It’s Xekken. You can name names. Xekken is Known.

From: twek.psych@dynSubj: Re: Advice (Xekken)

Accept that he is loud but brilliant. Use him to identify and cull the weak.

From: lokk.phys@dynSubj: Re: Advice (Xekken)

This is Xayann, hijacking my husband’s terminal because he is presently incapacitated with hilarity and cannot prevent it. 1. You might want to remove a student’s progenitor from the recipient list when complaining about said student2. I second my intercollegiate colleague’s suggestion to use him to cull the weak. If they can’t work past a loud genius for a classmate, how will they ever handle a more eccentric genius for a kreweleader?:) –XYN

From: twek.psych@dynSubj: Re: Advice (Xekken)

Don’t you “intercollegiate colleague” me after your review of my last publication, Statics

From: lokk.phys@dynSubj: Re: Advice (Xekken)

Twek, be less wrong, and I’ll be less scathingly critical.

7. someone describing a time your OC hurt them

“Ranthyr came back from a mission. My Tonn didn’t. He may not have killed Tonn directly, but, well. He wasn’t able to save him either, was he? And he still goes around smiling like sunshine, like all of this is acceptable loss for his Pact’s greater victory.

“At least the Lightkiller has the grace to look ashamed.”

--Ceera, Pact Medic

[neranishin]

For GW2 company [1/2]: 11. How are they vocally expressive? What kind of voice, accent, tones, inflections, volume, phrases and slang, and manner of speaking do they use? 17. Are they more shaped by nature or nurture — who they are, or what has happened to them? How have these shaped who they’ve become as a person? 22. How do people respond to them, and why might these responses differ? 31. Is there anything that counts as a “dealbreaker” for them, positively or negatively?

Right

Novel Time.

11. How are they vocally expressive? What kind of voice, accent, tones, inflections, volume, phrases and slang, and manner of speaking do they use?

I can give you an example of Xolinn’s voice! Here’s the intro cutscene with her voiceover. It’s even got the right college! (Obviously not the right character model at the end, but. y’know.)

SO she’s 100% as confident and convinced of her excellence as any other asura. She should absolutely be using larger words than I usually bother to put in her mouth but. Listen. I’ve gotta be up past 2 am and running on pure adrenaline before I hit that level of Automatic Thesaurusitis. Also she’s calmed down on that front since she’s started spending so much time outside of Rata Sum, but. Old habits.

Xekken: “Keep that up and I’ll give you a bruise, lose...r...” is iconic. He’s less prone to using ridiculous vocabulary than most asura, but he does still have his moments where he decides to show off. Puns and alliteration have started sneaking in the longer he spends in the Order of Whispers, aka the Order of Gratuitous Wordplay. He tends toward loud and excited. He knows what an inside voice is. He just generally doesn’t see the point in using one.

Strix: Xekken gets the default male asura voice, but Strix gets the occasional entering-battle line of “*sigh* You brought this on yourself.” Unfortunately, I don’t have a link to that. He alternates between sounding clipped and irritated or drawling, depending on what kind of urgent the situation is. Prone to big words, because that’s just asura culture. More ready to look at you, sigh, and flawlessly switch down to actual layman’s terms than most of the asura NPCs in the game, though, provided he actually cares about you understanding the thing (not a guarantee). Basically, he cares more about getting results than anything. Which leads to at least one instance of “Yes, I am Inquest, but I also haven’t the time for your petty moral tribulations, so either assist me or evacuate.” in those defeat-Joko’s-Awakened-as-they-gate-into-Central-Tyria events. 

Has a tendency to throw “Raze Joko” into conversation as a result of spending an unfortunate time undercover with Awakened, who tend to throw “Praise Joko”s into every other sentence. Raze was close enough to slip under the radar without hating himself.

Will: I like the default voice acting for Will too. (As a point of clarification: the player character in that link is the second guy to start talking). He talks like... a person... um. More prone to Grenth-related expletives than those of other gods, because he feels closer to Grenth than to the other gods. Accidentally drops technical jargon into conversation without noticing it, but is happy to stop and explain if the other person asks for clarification.

Ahraminta: A Blood Legion intro for u. Swears like a goddamn sailor. Anet, let Ahraminta say fuck, you cowards. Occasionally shouts “Oo-rah!” in the middle of battle which is ADORABLE. Almost all of the voice acting in this game is so good and I’m so happy to adopt the default voices for my children.

Ranthyr is the exception, because while the male sylvari voice is GOOD, it’s not him. He’s loud and excited and i guess in the tenor range? (How do voices work.) Occasionally goes sing-song with his inflection, especially if he’s saying something that comes close to snarky. Baby-talks to his pets because of course. ...omfg he’s probably got a Warmaster Voice that’s actually somewhat authoritative. Does he give orders to any troops under his command like he’s giving obedience commands to a dog? absolutely, just without the good boy baby talk after. Forgal probably sat him down and instructed him on that.

17. Are they more shaped by nature or nurture — who they are, or what has happened to them? How have these shaped who they’ve become as a person?

Xolinn: ...Nurture. She doesn’t let people push her around, but she’s also open to learning the lessons they have for her. Also: Xolinn’s Nature: Hey let’s rule the world and help people by controlling them! Xolinn’s Nurture, aka all of the Good Influences in her life: Okay but actually maybe that would end really badly? So we shouldn’t?  

Xekken: Nurture. He just had a limited reference group growing up, so the majority of people would have said he didn’t give a damn about what other people tried to teach him about How To Behave. (Here’s the thing, though: Xolinn’s his big sister, and Xolinn thought it was great that he didn’t let people push him around, and his parents were always proud of him, so his classmates and professors don’t matter anyway). His various wars have not been kind to him and it shows. But he also keeps accidentally getting attached to new people in spite of that even if he sometimes really wishes he wouldn’t.

Strix: mmmm Nature. He’s obviously been affected by things that have happened to him, but they haven’t changed him so much as intensified parts of his personality. Like, he’s always kind of passively been convinced that death happens to Other People - like, he’d research paths to immortality, but felt no pressing urge to take irrevocable steps down them. And now he’s very very committed to surviving. (which doesn’t NECESSARILY mean he’s looking to become a lich, but if that’s a side effect of what he has to do to achieve his aims, then it’s gonna happen.)

There’s also, like... he’s conservative, but he also graduated from Synergetics and still failed to internalize the principle of Don’t Betray People. That, or he just defines his loyalties differently than the people around him expect him to. Still working that out.

Will: Nurture, on account of just how different he is with a stable environment and a best friend who is going to make sure he doesn’t do anything TOO stupid.

Ahraminta: Arguable, because Charr training starts young and I really don’t think she’s experienced much to challenge it. So which parts are nature and which are things she’s been taught? Like, even her “No, fuck you very much, I am going to Do the magic I am good at and use it to Protect My Warband, and I will punch you if you have a problem with that” could go either way. Like, yeah, she got written up for punching people, but Rytlock thinks it’s great and he’s a tribune soooooo.

Ranthyr: Nature. The Pale Tree gave him the opportunity to be who he is, but he’s the one who stands on that and refuses to budge for anyone, up to and including Elder Dragons. 

22. How do people respond to them, and why might these responses differ? 

...I mean, obviously this depends on who the person is, but. Hm. Okay. Grab a random non-combatant off the streets of their home city:

Xolinn: A random asura is going to be polite, because Xolinn is well known and generally respected. But eventually, someone’s going to say something regrettable, because even though Xolinn is generally respected, she’s also been up to some weird shit in the past few years. And the other asura is going to get awkward and find some way to politely excuse themselves (even if Xolinn’s the one who insulted them) because as charming as she is, Xolinn is also fucking terrifying and your random, average asura is smart enough not to poke a dragon. Metaphorically speaking. We think.

Xekken: not as respected as his sister. Sure, he won a Snaff Prize too, but in true Xekken form, there was a lot of collateral damage and noise surrounding that. Xekken kind of blazed through a lot of krewes after graduation and didn’t mesh well with any of them (until Hronk grabbed him for the MIG, anyway), so he’s kind of got a reputation as a big dumb bookah. Which isn’t one that he discourages, because he kind of prefers that people not be terrified of him the way that they quietly are of Xolinn, and if he’s a big dumb bookah, people don’t stop to think about how he was raised by the same mesmer mom as Xolinn and has probably picked up enough theory to psychoanalyze and manipulate you. 

So the takeaway here is that a random asura off the streets of Rata Sum would treat him about like how they’d treat any other random asura off the streets, with an additional dose of disdain because he’d rather kick a golem than build a gizmo to shut it down remotely. A fellow Dynamics alum would add loud groaning to the equation, but would also be more willing to listen, because there’s an equal chance that Xekken either did them a favor or knows something about one of their projects, and they don’t want to risk him visiting their lab and causing an accident.

Strix: Fear. The inquest has a well deserved reputation. Even asura who don’t know Strix personally know enough to look at his inquest uniform, look at his “I would rather not deal with any annoyances” expression, and step out of the way. Even asura who DO want to get the attention of the inquest would probably prefer to find an agent who looks a bit more approachable. If nothing else, a more approachable agent probably has a better network in the organization anyway. 

Sometimes Strix just looks bored, and then a random asura might approach him, and they might even get a perfectly acceptable and interesting conversation out of him. And then whatever Strix was waiting for happens and he switches into Get Out Of My Way mode, and the poor asura is left feeling like they just narrowly avoided death.

Will: Will is approachable! Will could be the center of attention at any party where he chose to be such, probably. If someone from a lower class needed to talk to a noble, and Will was standing in a lineup of nobles, I feel like there’s a higher than 50% chance that they’d choose him, because he just genuinely wants to be a good person, and he wears his eccentricity well.

He wears his unfortunate fashion choices less well, though honestly, he’s probably charismatic enough to get away with most of it. Maybe not the bounty hunter coat, though. There’s “dishevelled adventurer with inexplicable bone bits on his armor,” and then there’s. The thing at the bottom of this post.

Also Kazimir Ambrose is probably more intimidating than him, and they’re pretty much inseparable, so there’s that.

Ahraminta: Look, she’s like, 8 feet tall, okay. She’s a huge charr with respectable horns and extremely spiky armor, because that Blood Legion aesthetic. Equal odds your average charr on the Black Citadel streets is extremely attracted to her or wants to fight her for the honor of their legion. Or both. 

And just for fun: Your average human from Divinity’s Reach is probably horrified. Your average asura probably sees a big meat shield and takes notes in case they need to hire a Large Fighter Person for an expedition later.

Ranthyr is a cryptid. He’s a very friendly blue plant with a matching plant dog who greets you like an old friend. And then he disappears into the wilderness and comes back a week later and buys you icecream because you look like you might have been having a bad day, and he just found the best ice cream he’s ever had. You hear a day after that that while he was disappeared, he took out something that’s been terrorizing travellers. The next time you see him, he smiles and waves and continues walking. He’s humming something that sounds beautiful, but makes the small prey center in your brain scream. 

And this random person wasn’t even in the Maguuma Jungle during Heart of Thorns.

tl;dr: Brief moments in passing: Ranthyr is great! Extended contact, when you are not Legendary Cryptid level yourself: what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck 

31. Is there anything that counts as a “dealbreaker” for them, positively or negatively?

...I have. no clue what “positive” dealbreaker means. So here we go

Xolinn: Did you just Actually Insult one of her friends? You poor fool. Nothing will save you now.

Xekken: Ok, so  usually I would just say “Inquest” and be done with that, but. Strange times. So we’ll amend that to “Inquest, unless they also happen to be extremely invested in taking out a common enemy and make the first gesture of alliance.”

Strix: Uhhhh. He’s pretty much open to anything. Fuck only knows if you meet his eldritch standards for Has My Loyalty And I Will Not Fuck You Over though.

ok no wait. Anything less than violent resistance to Joko makes you not worth his time. That’s a relatively recent thing, though.

Will: Uhhhh listen... just because he makes less bad life choices in this setting......

Ok he will not make a deal with an entity that has literally tried to destroy the world.

He will also listen to Kazimir’s judgement. Assuming Kaz is available to make a judgement.

Ahraminta: You Do Not Fuck Over Ahraminta’s Warband And Live. But more literally than with Xolinn, who might just kill you socially

Ranthyr: Don’t hurt animals. Don’t willingly associate yourself with people who hurt animals either.

Anyway, speaking of Will’s bad choices

look at this disaster.

[neranishin]

I made it to Tyria Pride yesterday!! And it was super fun, but I can’t make it today because of work. It got me to write a quick thing of Xekken going, though, so I’m throwing that out into the wilds of tumblr. Asura boys being cute (and one of them being grumpy because he doesn’t see the point of walking for hours in a Big Crowd but is temporarily awake at stupid-o-clock in the morning anyway).

Xekken finished affixing his ear ornamentation - moonstone studs connected by fine chains of darksteel, silver, and platinum, with amethyst drops adorning the latter - flicked his ears once, and grinned at the shing of the chains sliding together.

A voice came out of the darkness behind him, muddled and raspy with sleep. “So if I’m comprehending this correctly… you’re going to go through two asura gates over the span of… about twenty minutes… so you can spend about twenty hours walking across half of Tyria… so you can end up back here, where you started?”

“More or less!” Xekken slid coordinating bangles onto his wrists, then attached the wonderfully impractical and flowy loopy-sleeve-things Livata had dreamed up for this outfit. He loved the loopy-sleeve-things. One of the greatest joys of these celebrations was getting to wear elements of the showy, elaborate fashion he and Livata specialized in creating together in outfits that were actually comfortable to wear for a whole day.

The only response from the dark was a decidedly unimpressed grunt, accompanied by a glowing sliver of a glare. Xekken walked over, sat down on the bed, and ran his claws through Strix’s hair.

“You could come too, you know,” he said quietly. Then he grabbed a bright gossamer scarf from the bedpost and tickled Strix’s ear with it. “We could still find you one of these easily enough -” he broke off with a snicker as Strix swatted the offending fabric away, grabbed the pillow Xekken had abandoned when he first got out of bed, and used it to bury his face more effectively.

“I’m meeting up with Livata and Oli, you know,” Xekken continued. “We’re getting pies. With Ranthyr. And Vel, if Ranthyr’s having better luck convincing him than I am with you -”

“Veliusk likes stalking all over the wilderness,” Strix interrupted, “and is incapable of denying that tree anything, anyway.” He disappeared back into the pillows just as Xekken whisked the scarf back over his ear in silent rebuke.

“Lagg and Ulrich are probably going to join up with us at some point, too,” Xekken tried to point out. No response. He sighed quietly and looped the scarf around his neck where its pink, yellow, and blue clashed vibrantly with the purple, black, and greys of the rest of his ensemble. Then he  leaned down to kiss his partner on what little of his head was still exposed and rubbed a hand over his shoulders, feeling some of the tension ease away.

“I’ll see you tonight,” he murmured, then slipped outside into a dark, pre-dawn Lion’s Arch.

[neranishin]

2, 6, 12

2. What OC has/is a mentor?

Strix was a TA before he went off to join krewes/the inquest, so that’s kind of like being a mentor. Alastroine had a big sister/mentor figure when she was a newly awakened Sapling, buuut then Caithe happened to her. She might view Valdis as a mentor of sorts now, except that it’s less that and more that VAAAA is her family now. Ranthyr has @aldrovanda‘s largos Zahir teaching him to sing (and also a little bit to hunt, because largos) and Forgal was basically his dad. 

and outside of Tyria: obviously all of my bhaalspawn had Gorion (though how much they listened to him varied). Arizan had Brother Merring and @sunshinedoomguide‘s Iswen. Ranthyr had his mom and his “uncle” Raithor, who were very different mentors, but both important.

6. What OC is the Mom Friend?

Of my Bhaalspawn: Kriemhild, if I ever get around to playing her. Both variants of Ranthyr might count. Donan probably also counts.

12. Which two OCs are the most different from each other?

On the surface, Arizan and Kashimah. Except I’ve had both of them in my head for a very long time, so it’s not so much that they are wildly different as that they have reacted to similar situations in wildly different ways and have wildly different coping mechanisms.

Strix and Ranthyr are probably the most different in Tyria. As in, they can’t even work as foils for each other because they are so different.

[neranishin]

ranthyr.... my sunshine son

B A S I C S

full name:

Tyria: Ranthyr. Just Ranthyr

Toril: Ranthyr Cuthalion 

gender: Male

sexuality: Some kind of ace. Panromantic? idk??

pronouns: he/him

O T H E R S

family:

Tyria: All The Sylvari (except the Nightmare Court). Notably, he’s decided Livata is his cousin. Gotta do more character development to figure out how he’s “related” to you guys’s characters. Also, Forgal is his adopted norn dad, and Furrocious is arguably his brother?

Toril: Big sister Shearah, Big brother Tasar, mom Kethryllia and dad Enthrys. Kethryllia’s a human, but she was raised by an elf named Darulia (I THINK. These are all my friend’s OCs. @somewolfchick please tell me if i got names wrong D:)

Toril Ranthyr also adopts friends as family to an extent but we’re gonna be here forever if i get into that

birthplace: 

Tyria: The Grove, at dawn

Toril: A small town in Gray Vale. I don’t think we’ve come up for a name with it yet??

job: Adventurer! True in both worlds! But more specifically

Tyria: Also a Warmaster of the Vigil/Commander of the Pact. Laranthir probably got on his ass over the whole fistfight with Bryce incident.

Toril: Paladin of Amaunator. So, actually, basically still just adventurer.

phobias: Being alone makes him uncomfortable. Being underground for long periods of time makes him depressed. I’m not sure that he’s actually got a fear of the dark or enclosed spaces, but they aren’t Great for him.

guilty pleasures: EDIT: ASJKGBSD I forgot i left this blank to come back to UM. Not really sure Ranthyr’s got much he’s ashamed of? Hmmm.

M O R A L S

morality alignment?: Good. He’s a good good boy. 

Tyria: Probably neutral-leaning toward chaotic good

Toril: tries to be lawful good, probably ends up more near neutral good in actual practice

sins - lust/greed/gluttony/sloth/pride/envy/wrath

virtues - chastity/charity/diligence/humility/kindness/patience/justice

T H I S - O R - T H A T

introvert/extrovert: extrovert. But also Tyria Ranthyr is gonna become a cryptid after/during Heart of Thorns, so he might be less extroverted than Toril Ranthyr

organized/disorganized: Disorganized probably

close minded/open-minded: Open-minded

calm/anxious: Calm, or very good at faking it

disagreeable/agreeable: Agreeable

cautious/reckless: Reckless

patient/impatient: …Patient? It depends on the case?

outspoken/reserved: Outspoken

leader/follower: HMMMMM maybeee it’s

Tyria: Leader

Toril: Follower (?? Maybe? He’s good at taking direction, but also he aggressively adopts people, which is its own kind of leading.  HM.)

empathetic/unemphatic: Empathetic

optimistic/pessimistic: Optimistic

traditional/modern: Modern

hard-working/lazy: Hard-working (sloth is up there cause like… it’s what gets him in trouble, less because it’s a persistent problem.)

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

otp:

Tyria: Listen it is very easy to get a big gay crush on Trahearne, probably half the sylvari in the pact have a big crush on Trahearne. Is it ever going to be more than a crush? PROBABLY NOT. BUT IF I WAS GONNA SHIP HIM WITH SOMEONE. THERE’S A CANDIDATE RIGHT THERE.

Toril: Well, there’s whatever his relationship is with Vel, so that either goes here or brotp. And then there’s whatever kind of crush he has on Lans Thuliaga.

ot3:  

Tyria: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We’ll see what we see. idk. I am bad at shipping most of the time

Toril: @thissparrowisreadytofly wrote a thing trying to figure out how Vel felt once, and she included Oli saying their paladin in it, so like. There’s that. As something that would not be out of character, potentially, but would require everyone involved to a. identify their emotions and b. communicate them instead of going ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about it, and Ranthyr is very good at going ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and doing whatever feels right instead of actually communicating

brotp:

Tyria: I guess Livata? I need to play as him with people more often, clearly. He and Caithe can be cryptid bros. Yes.

Toril: Again, I do not know where to classify one Velshaeln Sevielzhar, so! Also Oli. Also probably some people I’m forgetting cause my brain has been in Tyria for so long. Is Ruru still a character? Cause I remember thinking he and Ruru would be good friends

notp: As Jo has said, Ranthyr and the Anti-Ranthyr cannot meet except for fisticuffs. 

[neranishin]

Rani, for everyone from Guild Wars 2! :D 14: Pet peeves. Tell us what would really tick them off. Do they have a Berserk Button? 15: Does your OC have any awful fears? Do they get paralyzed with fear or can they work through their fears? 16: What are concepts they value? Virtues? What do they look down upon?

KICKS DOOR DOWN HELLO FRIEND DID YOU REMEMBER THAT YOU ASKED ME THIS

This ended up being fifteen questions to answer, and I kept forgetting it was in my drafts but HEY! HERE! Have some slightly disjointed answers. Cause that fear one just kept evolving for Xekken the longer i played him holy shit

14. Peeves and Anger

Okay, so Xolinn is a member of the College of Statics, which is kind of the most collaboratively-minded asuran college. They often get projects/inventions from other colleges because that krewe moved on and went “Hey, let Statics find a use for this cause I have better things to do than actually contribute something concretely useful to society.” Xolinn has developed very strong opinions on documentation and asura who don’t bother with it and still expect another krewe to be able to do something effective with their research. Like, it’s one thing if you don’t want anyone to be able to STEAL your work, but it’s something else entirely if you knew you were going to be pushing it off on someone else eventually! Record your shit! Record it twice if you’re going to keep spilling coffee on it! By the Eternal Alchemy, people…

One time, an important member of the Inquest stole an invention from Xekken. Xekken now gleefully wrecks every Inquest lab he comes across and joined a secret spymaster society 75% so he could use their resources to track down said member of the inquest and introduce his skull to a very large hammer. The other 25% is because, like, saving the world stuff, or something.

Will’s difficult, because he has so many things to be angry about on Toril that just… don’t apply on Tyria. He at least gets irritated with his fellow nobles who just don’t comprehend how bad the rest of the world can get sometimes and do hurtful or stupid things in that incomprehension. 

I’m not sure this Will actually has a berserk button (or at least not yet), because all I can think of is if someone truly upset his best friend. But even in that case, helping Kaz is more important than laying down the fury. And then Kaz is probably going to wreck whoever it was himself, if wrecking them is important, soooo.

Ranthyr still gets most angry at people who mistreat animals or vulnerable people. This is a universal constant.

Ahraminta… is peeved by people who make bad decisions and then won’t even own up to the fact that the consequences are their fault. When those consequences involve people she cares about getting hurt, then you need to Meet Her In The Fucking Pit. 

Intentionally hurting people she cares about is actually less rage inducing, because then she just takes your head off and is done with it. Blood for the Blood Legion. 

15. On Fear

Already answered for Xolinn, so I’ll tell you which option she chose when the Pale Tree asked for her greatest fear! It was the “fail so badly that I will be dishonored” one. And really, failing to protect people she loves is still a form of that fear of failure, so.

Xekken… hm. Xekken hasn’t really seemed fearful so far. HMM. Well, he’s only level 40, so I’ll let you know if that changes. Pretty sure he doesn’t get paralyzed by fear either, though. He’s more likely to get in trouble for responding with FIGHT when he… really maybe shouldn’t…..

Like, I don’t think he’s got the same adrenaline addiction as Ophie, cause I’m pretty sure his reaction to the undead dragon that’s going to show up in his life in 20 levels is going to include a fair amount of Oh Shit in it, but that’s not an “awful fear.” That’s just having a more normal brain chemistry than Ophelia.

Actually if anyone is a candidate for sharing that addiction, it’s Will, who might actually look at that dragon and go OH! KAZ, LOOK! I’M GOING TO SET IT ON FIRE SO MUCH *whips out flamethrower, grinning far too much* but even then, that’s like… coping with the mortal terror by grabbing the most outrageous weapon he has available to him and then causing a bunch of explosions until it goes away. 

Update a few weeks and some story shit later! I don’t think Xolinn dying is like a concrete fear of his, until something happens and he finds out that it really really is, he does not want to have to burn his own sister on a pyre, this is not allowed to happen.

Update yet more weeks later! Because this has been in my drafts for ages! He is terrified of the idea of ever falling in love. It seems like a terrible idea to him, personally.

Anyway, speaking of Will: this Will was left at an orphanage when he was a baby, because Will apparently can’t have a 100% happy backstory in any universe, so that’s probably left some fear of abandonment in his hindbrain. But as said before, he doesn’t get paralyzed, he just… sets shit on fire. Will. Will, your coping mechanisms need work.

Ranthyr also doesn’t like being alone! So it’s lucky that Sylvari have some kind of passive psychic link think going on. Well. It’s lucky until Mordremoth, and then Ranthyr gets a lot of other things to be terrified of, like getting turned or having to put down his friends if they get turned. He  probably thought he learned how to handle that fear in Orr, what with all the Risen, but Mordrem are so much worse because they DIDN’T die first in most cases. Ranthyr might kind of get paralyzed, but it’s less physical paralysis and more “Hey, what if I just go in for some really heavy denial about this situation and distract myself and don’t actually address the problem that I am afraid of/otherwise upset by.”

Ahraminta. Hm. Spiders. There is no deep lore for this. Spiders are just unsettling. Catch Ahraminta literally setting herself on fire after fighting spiders to get rid of the lingering crawly sensation that there are some hiding in her fur, because guardian torch skills are just extra that way.

16. Values and Virtues

Xolinn values respect and knowledge. Condescend to her and she will start idly planning your demise (unless it’s, like, typical casual Asuran condescension, in which case she’ll just respond in kind, because that’s asura culture). Insult her friends and she will never be fully cooperative with you again. But at the same time, if your completely evil research has sufficiently fascinating results, she’s going to admire that while she destroys you for your utter lack of ethics.

Things I’ve said while playing Xolinn and therefore somewhat in her headspace: “Look, experimenting on people isn’t personal, so it’s only evil, not infuriating.”

Xekken apparently values loyalty, which is not something I would have called when I first made him, but here we are. He also values basic self awareness. Like, be as much of a disaster as you need to be, just so long as you recognize that you are a disaster.

Will values open mindedness and inventiveness. Will’s opinion on Seiran, in a completely affectionate and approving tone: “Oh, she’s utterly mad, of course.” Seiran cobbles together a terrifying abomination of magic and technology? Will is scared while things are going to shit because of it, but once everything settles down, he immediately switches back to “ooo, shiny, it actually works!” And that’s all you need to know about Will’s priorities, probably. (He’s still horrified when he ends up the Responsible One in a group, though.)

Ranthyr values sacrifice in this world more than he does in Toril. Toril Ranthyr breaks a little bit when his friends pull Heroic Sacrifices. Tyria Ranthyr, Warmaster of the Vigil, can actually find comfort in “they died to protect people/to save the mission.” He also values love, obviously, because he’s still Ranthyr so he still loves so many people. 

Ahraminta also values loyalty, because Charr culture. She also values... resourcefulness, I guess? The ability to look at what you’ve got and make it work, even if the resulting solution is less than conventional.