#agent teall

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Thinking about making some minor tweaks to Teall's backstory to make him less jerked around by everyone else. There's still a measure of manipulation in the person he became, but it's less weak willed and more misled by people he trusted that turned him into a young man who bitterly resented his older brother.

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Very fun to play around with! Makko of course being a tentative but true ally... and of course Vezz's shitlord of a little brother is aggressive from the jump.

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I think I actually do have one unkissable oc. He is technically being kissed by someone but that's because they're awful for each other I don't think anyone else would want to kiss him.

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Okay so I have... something vaguely resembling a plan for Teall.

He does wind up being promoted to the Arcane Eye, and he initially has a sort of crisis of faith on learning how tightly wound the Inquest is to the Arcane Council.

His life's purpose up to that point had been showing his mother that her oldest son was worthless. That his ties to the Inquest had made him useless, a flawed and broken person. That he'd left a scar on her good name and reputation, and she should disown him, disavow him.

But now that rug's been ripped out from under him.

An important thing to note about Teall, though, is that he's a hammer. Meant to be swung with force at a problem, and easily swayed.

With some time, he's convinced that he had been wrong, but not in... the best way. If the Arcane Council trusts the Inquest, so should he, but his brother? His brother is vocal about the Inquest's evils. He is never silent about how brutal they can be, or the lives they've ended in some ill-ventured pursuit of progress.

The Inquest is no longer the black mark on Vezz's name. Vezz's departure and continued slander of it is.

This is a bit of a joint effort between Zatte and the council, of course, but it happens regardless. Over the course of a few months, he goes from hating Vezz from having been in the Inquest at all to hating him for leaving the Inquest, making the council look foolish, and destroying opportunities that should have belonged to their people.

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Once among the most brutal Peacemakers, disliked by a considerable amount of Rata Sum's populace, the originally believed disgraced Teall is no longer held back by red tape and rulebooks.

The newest agent in the Arcane Eye, his vicious nature has been nurtured, and he has his sights set on one of the council's... thorns.

That his target is the former commander is no nevermind to him...

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So the more I think about it, the more I wonder if Teall should be kicked off the Peacemakers in the end.

I've talked a lot recently about the Arcane Council being in the Inquest's pocket, or at least so closely tied with them that it's hard to tell where the lines cross.

Teall's constant going after Vezz was making the Peacemakers look bad. This was making the council look bad as well. And so he does eventually get removed from the Peacemakers.

But what if it wasn't that cut and dry.

What if his removal from the Peacemakers was more... a promotion.

I say this with the distinct implication that Teall may get removed from the Peacemakers... only to be given rank in the Arcane Eye.

I'm not sure yet now this will affect the story going forward. Because this would involve the council revealing that they're more or less in bed with the Inquest, and Vezz's involvement with the Inquest was largely why he'd hated him.

I don't half wonder if Flax wouldn't twist him in the other direction. To realize that Vezz's actions against the Inquest make the Peacemakers and the Council look bad.

I'll be percolating on this for a bit.

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OH SHIT, the worst boy had a birthday!

Happy fifth birthday, Teall. You prick.

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Teall really is someone whose anger just. Overwhelmed him. He didn't like his brother, but everything that happened that lifted Vezz that much higher, outpacing Teall by leaps and bounds, just made him angrier. His becoming the commander, stopping Zhaitan, then Mordremoth, Balthazar, Kralkatorrik, and everything in between.

Vezz was an icon. Everyone knew his name and the names of the people in his circle. Teall was so used to his father telling him what a failure his older half brother was. Hearing how much of a failure he was from Vezz's own father.

And yet, he was winning! So he convinced himself it was Vezz hanging on the coattails of people much more successful than him.

He convinced himself Rissia had to be controlled somehow.

And every new thing he convinced himself of just made him angrier and angrier until his anger overshadowed everything else. To the point that he lost his position in the peacemakers, lost all the respect he had, and joined the Inquest. Wound up in the same position Vezz had been in when youthful bad temperament had led him into multiple bad decisions.

And he couldn't even step back and see the irony.

Was threatening Taimi and Qirri necessary? No, but they were a couple of weak little girls, and they supported his brother. Threatening to hurt them got a rise out of him.

His anger made him stop caring what happened.

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Does Vezz know about Teall's vendetta against him? Do they interact at all during his time as commander?

Vezz knew Teall didn't like him; he's known that for a long time. And they did run across one another a few times. The vitriol was pretty obvious, but he never realized just how bad it was.

It wasn't until after he'd stepped down as commander that things really started to go off the rails. Rumors started reaching him from Cautti, he and Teall's mother, that he'd gotten involved with something that worried her, but he wouldn't tell her.

A little investigation, and a little of Pheazza's "I know a guy who knows a guy" energy, uncovered that he was working with Zaige's little sister Zatte.

Things really started to escalate after that, up to Zatte and Teall kidnapping Zanthe and Teall eventually getting kicked out of the Peacemakers for his increasingly unhinged behavior towards the former commander, his friends, and their families.

Teall has gone on record as threatening to hurt Qirri and Taimi to draw out Vezz, at least once.

I honestly think that continued failures just enraged him to the point that he could no longer see how unhinged he was really getting, to the point that he found himself in the exact place his older brother had found himself in after making some bad decisions, all while recognizing none of the irony.

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So beefier Vezz is still not quite as beefy as Teall.

But I have a more important piece of information to share.

I'd forgotten how tall I made Teall compared to his brother. Vezz is taller than Teall.

Vezz's "canon" (as in how I write him) height is 4' even. Teall is probably about 3'10". I think we've nailed it team. We know why Teall's so bitter about Vezz and it's because Vezz is cooler and taller than him.

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Writing Teall is wild because he's just. So damn high on his own supply that he cannot see that he's gotten locked into the stupidest crusade ever.

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"Oh excellent, I have a question for Peacemaker Teall! Well, I suppose it's JUST Teall now. My apologies." Kudo says this, but he has the most devious grin he can muster while still appearing cordial.

"I guess I'm just dying to know how you reconcile your ill-fated crusade against Vezz for joining the Inquest WHILE joining yourself? A bit counterintuitive isn't it? Not that I'd imagine you care what a former Inquest scientist thinks."

Your OCs Ask My OCs

He pulls his ears back as his lips curl into a snarl, baring his fangs. He at least knows better than to attack first- no telling what someone has up their sleeves that he's not ready to deal with. But his shoulders tense, muscles tight.

"You've got no idea what happened between him and me, or why I had to sink so low as to trust them over my own former "colleagues." The Peacemakers don't push back against the Inquest as much as you think, and I only got cut loose because they didn't want to look bad dealing with the "commander" directly. But he's not commander anymore... and I've got another ace up my sleeve. I won't be here long, and once I've completed what I came here to do, I've got bigger fish to fry than a few scrawny wimps."

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I do find it kind of funny that I had created Vezz to be a pure villain type, an unrepentant asshole, antagonistic, and vicious. Then he turned around and became one of my most beloved characters, soft and kind and generally good-hearted, even if his past is difficult.

Teall, on the other hand, was only ever supposed to be a minor nuisance. He didn't like Vezz, or trust him, but they were still brothers. Then he went full on Cain on me, becoming fully antagonistic with a bloodthirsty streak a mile long.

I didn't give either of you permission to do that.

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6 and 21 for world's shittiest brother

OC Interview Questions

Teall's shitty reputation precedes him.

6. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do?

"Toss-up, but I think the hardest thing I've had to do was the work I put in to join the Peacemakers. It's a miserable grind- they want the best, and I was going to show them the best.

When I was working on joining, certain parties were still making trouble for my family with their allegiances, so I had to work twice as hard as anyone else to show I was a loyal, dependable officer. And it paid off. I've climbed the ranks pretty fast."

21. Describe your ideal partner.

"Someone who's submissive. I'm the one in charge in the relationship, end of story. I'm not gonna force someone, obviously; I don't want someone who's not into it.

But they also need to be able to hold their own. Regardless of her... inclinations, I think that's why I still get on... well enough with Zatte. She's smart, good in a fight, and she knows that when it comes to matters outside our shared goals, I'm the one in control."

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Teall really is like. The worst brother imaginable the man has the biggest Cain Complex and he's not even the older brother.

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For Teall: what is the most sus thing Vezz has done in recent memory?

Ask one of my ocs a question about a different oc of mine

"I could list several, but I think the thing that bothers me the most is this whole "Oh I've retired and settled down in this little village near Lion's Arch" business.

Nothing against Lion's Arch, but I can't imagine living among the burners there, and on top of that? I still don't trust his whole thing with that one girl, I think she's the daughter of a med krewe chief named Pazz? I don't trust that as legit. There's no way someone from such a respectable family would willingly go along with someone like him.

I mean, I've heard the stories. I remember someone saying when they met, she hated him. And they've got a bunch of mesmers- there's that one sylvari, I heard she'd almost been with that Nightmare Court, but who knows how honest that is?

I don't buy it."