#added to it now that I'm fully awake and not just vomiting my emotions on Tumblr

[slusheeduck]

I love the "lol sentenced someone to death for being annoying" memes for Astarion, and I know there's cut content from EA of him being corrupt, but for the final version of Astarion we get, I really like the idea that he genuinely tried to be a good magistrate.

He probably had some help, considering he was fairly young--even for humans irl, you're not typically appointed a magistrate until your 50s--but I can't get the idea out of my head that he came in ready to make a difference, because look at all this power he has! He can change things, really!

He steadfastly refuses bribes, and he sticks to the letter of the law. Yes, some of these rulings may have been seen as cruel, but the law is the law, and surely being lawful is a good thing? He's seen--from a distance--how the lawless streets can ruin lives, so it's tough love that's going to set Baldur's Gate right. Most people are good, he reasons, and his rulings will show them the error of their ways...and make an example of those who aren't redeemable.

Of course, he doesn't get very far before the ruling with the Gur, and then there's Cazador eager to help. Now, suddenly, he's on the other side of the law. He's the one resorting to hurting people, whether that's from petty thefts of clothes here and there--punishable by a fine of 258 gold, he remembers--or delivering his conquests to Cazador for their presumed death, which involves prostitution (in some cases), abduction, and accessory to murder.

The laws he lived by are useless, he finds. They aren't going to stop people like him from doing what they can to survive, and they're not going to stop people like Cazador from using their station to get around it. Better to assume everyone's some form of wicked, including the people who make those stupid laws.

But deep in him, I think there's still a bit of that desire for justice. Mostly for himself, because look what happened the last time he tried to help other people. But every now and again it comes back out--for the children trying to con him to survive, for the housepets that have no idea what's happening out in the world, for the guileless Sebastians who didn't know any better.

And with his ascension, he wants to make things better. Mostly for him, again, but surely everyone will benefit from his wants. Because deep down there's still a trace of that young magistrate who wanted to make the world better with the power he had.

Not many people out there are good anymore, in his eyes. But some are, and they deserve better. And he can give that, if he has enough power.