#and many thoughts on the icebrood saga overall

[kerra-and-company]

gimme opinions on jhavi pls

Jhavi opinions coming right up! :D How I feel about this character I wish I liked her more than I do, because the reasons I have trouble liking her are, generally, very much not her fault. It was jarring for me to have her suddenly there as the Vigil's second-in-command/temporary leader(?) throughout a Lot of Icebrood because I couldn't shake the fact that it didn't make sense to me for Laranthir to just be (metaphorically) AWOL the entire time. BUT that is not the character's fault! And I do like her decently well as a character on her own. She's Jhavi Jorasdottir, connected to the legendary norn who's involved in a very well-known Jormag tale. She's trying to make a legend of her own and come out of her ancestor's shadow, and then she ends up thrust into a leadership position she doesn't feel ready for. Despite liking her story concept and her, though, I've never been particularly attached to her. I think in part that has to do with some of the larger problems of Icebrood, such as the fact that the Norn and their storyline (and, thus, potentially, more time spent with Jhavi) were kinda shoved to the side. (I also think many people have written longer posts about LWS5 in general, so I won't ramble too much about this here.) All the people I ship romantically with this character None that I've considered at this point, sorry sorry! Doesn't mean I wouldn't, just that I can't think of anyone right now xD My non-romantic OTP for this character Don't know if this is quite an OTP, but I did like what little we got to see of Almorra and Jhavi's mentor-mentee relationship. And I think her and Braham could eventually be decent friends, if they managed to talk through some stuff! My unpopular opinion about this character Honestly, maybe just the fact that I like her at all is unpopular. I know at least a few folks I've seen on here really do not. One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon Again, this is more of a larger Icebrood thing, but I wish we'd had more time focusing on the Norn. It would have been really nice in so many ways, and, with respect to this character specifically, it would have given Jhavi more of a chance to really work through a fully shown storyline of her own.

[i-mybrunettelady]

Nyra and 0, VII, X and XXI for the tarot asks!

Y'all are really giving my girl the love today <3 im wordy again so long post hours

The Fool : Beginnings, infinite possibilities, taking chances, eschewing logic, spontaneity.

The biggest chance of all was forming the Pact. A lot of the big PS decisions on her part are spontaneous, guided by her own logic, because she'd never really left DR before centaurs attacked Shaemoor and had no real idea how world worked. By the time she thought about forming the Pact, she had seen enough to infer that something needed to change and to see that she could be the one to change it and that she could be closer to going down in history. So she tried and made it and the boundaries moved ever higher till we reach the current point <3

The Chariot : Asserting your will and dominance, mastering impulsivity, reining in emotion, war-like control.

Over the years she's developed a very effective way of remaining in control of every situation that boils down to don't plan too far in advance, be ready for anything and be flexible,. She doesn't panic, she's always got a semblance of a plan and is resourceful enough to make it a reality, which I think is another part of why she's a good commander. She uses firebrand mantras a lot to rein in heightened emotion (though that is not fool proof - see, once again, Icebrood Saga) and is generally helped here by Lyssa's gift of finding home in chaos. She has a weirdly high bar of when she goes into panic/heightened emotion mode, courtesy of her patron goddess. When it comes to asserting will and dominance though, especially will, she relies on stubbornness, reputation and the potential of harm. Try moving a mountain kind of thing.

Wheel of Fortune : Understanding the cycles of life/fates, a turning point in luck. Feeling an occurring change, experiencing an epiphany.

One of the most important epiphanies she's ever had was the one in which she realised she needed help. But not just for herself, but for Aurene too. After her singular grief and self-loathing driven suicide attempt in Orr (with Jory beside her to help stop her when she realised what she was about to do) she just sat there and it dawned on her that if she died, Aurene wouldn't have a mother. That shook her to her core and was the driving factor in her reaching out to mental health professionals, even if it was hard as hell, signaling a start to her journey of healing. Aurene knows this, but Nyra doesn't place the burden of her recovery on Aurene, but on herself. Aurene was just what prompted her to get up and start fixing her life.

The World : Integration, synthesis, accomplishment, blossoming, fulfilment and wholesomeness.

Here I'd like to focus on her ethnicity for a bit, because I feel like it's relevant. She is an ethnic Ascalonian, identifies as one, and in the hierarchy of it, it goes Ascalonian, Krytan, human. But when she started out, those labels had an additional meaning of separation, the manner of "why would i, who am these things, do x?" And this is not to say she's 100% wrong in doing so - there are horrible things charr (because this is very human vs charr) have done to humans and that needs to be addressed. And she has, many times. But somewhere along the way she integrated into the wider world all while preserving those ethnic markers and that led to an overall blossoming of her relationship to them. There's a future to Ascalon that does not forget, but isn't defined by their conflict with the charr, and that can rebuild itself. There's more to being human than just struggling to survive. That statement may not go over so well with some members of her community, but oh well, she's not about to shed tears over it and she truly believes that is the way to go.

[mystery-salad]

The Vuisce Plot

Just want to get down my basic thoughts on their overall plot, since they went way off the rails! Despite how much their story diverges from canon, major spoiler warnings under the cut still!

Vuisce started out as a simple Pact engineer who came in through the Durmand Priory during the normal story, an irrelevant person handled the basic story as Commander up through lws2. As such, plot went normally there. They simply followed orders, though they did continue to push their Priory research which focused on the eternal alchemy and how that magic flows through Tyria and its creatures.

Zhaitan’s death shook them in a way they hadn’t expected. The explosion was different, the shockwave that shouldn’t have come from a dragon dying unless...perhaps all that magic they consumed had a reason for it. After all the world kept spinning despite the dragons gorging on magic. And now a huge mass was suddenly back in the world.

They continued to research, and Scarlet’s ability to wake another dragon via a leyline magic path really confirmed how dangerous killing these giant beasts could be. They argued against the initial attack trying to talk anyone into an alternate path, but one priory engineer can do little against an entire three organizations aiming for the death of the dragons.

———————

But then the crash happened. And the Pact fell apart. And what else can you do than pick up the pieces and any survivors you can find, and take the chance to try and do things your way? Their team isn’t the canon one, after all they never directly worked with any of what would’ve ended up being the canonical team.

Vuisce zooms through HoT with a ragtag team to Mordremoth, Caithe handling most of the egg arc herself. Once there, Trahearne is not nearly as far gone as he is in the normal slower story progression. And he’s able to hear Vuisce out and try to help through his connection to Mordremoth.

Using some various *hand wavy* methods and a lot of experimental magic based on theoretical equations, the team manages to lure Mordremoth into a smaller body. One of her strongest Mordrem. And from there, they cut Mordremoth’s mind off from her own body. The forest goes dormant, the sylvari and mordrem are free from control, and Mordremoth can be handled alive without unleashing all her magic into the world.

Trahearne is saved, with Mordremoth cut off from his mind. Vuisce beelined so quickly to the dragon that everyone from the og dragon team (Eir, Zojja, etc...) didn’t die or suffer too horribly from prolonged time in the blighting pods. And once Mordremoth was trapped and incapacitated, the crew went to see Caithe and the egg since it called to Vuisce. Though the call was quieter, calmer without the sudden influx of magic from another dead dragon.

———————

Time passes, Mordremoth eventually calms down in her new body. She knows she can’t on her own reconnect to her old body and magic and...while she can’t control much here, she can think clearer without so much power buzzing through her mind. And perhaps life is better, with a team protecting you rather than a threat constantly facing your domain. She joins Vuisce’s group officially and aims to help keep the world stable. Perhaps if it’s stable enough she and her siblings may return to their bodies and slumber once more.

———————

Mordremoth senses the bloodstone and white mantle before the others can, leading the team to the disturbance to try and halt the explosion before it overflows. They can’t of course, bloodstone is innately parasitic and reasonless. And has so many bodies and so much magic to feed off of. The explosion still builds until it’s too late. But in the aftermath there is a worse threat. The pact can be left to handle the fallout here, they have better resources and Vuisce trusts they won’t kill the wrong things. But that Mursaat is not what he seems. The team must prepare to fight a god.

———————

Aurene is born in relative safety. The golden city is stronger for the magic still flowing through the dragon laying beneath, and Balthazar knows better than to pull his ruse in front of the elder dragons directly when he seeks to kill them. She’s smaller, more delicate as the only magic her egg has absorbed is that of Zhaitan and her own mother. She’s bonier and scrawnier, but tough and energetic as ever. And she learns fast. And grows faster under the tutelage of her elders.

———————

The team chases Balthazar through HoT but any ambush he may set is far outmatched. Vuisce never travels alone after all and how do you take down a team who’s faced and ready to challenge death already?

———————

Aurene grows more, having gained Balthazar’s magic. Joko follows soon after. There are some enemies you simply can not reason with after all, some are not drunk on the consumption of the magic of Tyria, but the power they think it could bring.

———————

Kralkatorrik is a more challenging target, flying high rather than bursting from the ground. And the Pact is closing in much to Vuisce’s chagrin, with a plan they hope their little team can move faster than. But they can’t, and Aurene is saved by luck of consuming Joko. Vuisce accepts how dangerous the Pact is to their plans on keeping the world stable, they won’t let it cut this close again. But in the mists with Aurene they finally catch up to Kralkatorrik, forcing their way into his mind with the help of his sister already on their side.

They trap another and lay low again, waiting for Kralkatorrik to calm down and listen in his new form.

———————

And then we hit icebrood saga which I’m still working out deets on

As for the standard team, none of them are involved in the plot. They saved the world with the commander once and have moved on to calmer lives they’ve each chosen, with the reputation of a victory under their belts.

Braham learned well from Eir over the years once she returned from the Jungle. It was a rocky road, figuring out what they each needed as a mother and son. But even more they found how they could be friends, as Eir taught Braham what she learned from her own great battles and victories, and Braham prepared properly to become a legend himself under guidance and support from the family he has left.

Taimi started up her own lab in Maguuma thanks to the uncovered Rata Novus hub, and runs a krew dedicated to discovering and learning from other old asuran cities. She hopes to dig all the way back to the years her people had spent subterraneously. There’s much to learn of how things had changed, knowledge lost from the displacement. It’s a flourishing prestigious krew that many look to join.

Jory and Kas open the detective agency back up. Jory’s know-how and Kas’ connections are an effective combination, there’s not been a case they couldn’t solve once brought to their attention!

Rox freed herself from Rytlock’s shadow, his denial of her success purely by trying to help her friends being the last straw. And it was still a success by many means, she draws her own group of admirers and an eventual warband. One that respects and admires her skills. She truly is enough. And when the Olmakhan reconnect through the threat on their own lands, she discovers the place she can truly call home.

Caithe runs the crystal bloom, ever the shining emissary of Aurene and the head of a group that’s much smaller but doing their part to remind the world that the dragons are necessities, not the enemies here. The world is wary at best of this team of dragons on the loose, surely they’d be better off of the pact got what it wanted and killed them instead? But perhaps not...Caithe hopes to push this point with her own faction as they try to aid the Pact in repairing damaged zones.

And Aurene herself grows, a slower growth but a magnificent one nonetheless. She’s shimmering, as one could expect from a child of Glint, and resplendently graceful. But darker as well, smoldering and shambling in her own way as magic from Balthazar and Zhaitan and Joko runs through her, less diluted by the plant and crystal magic of her elders. She’s a force to be reckoned with and no one can deny that.

Zhaitan is eventually revived in turn with the help of its siblings, able to pull back a fair amount of its magic into the body before being encased in a smaller avatar in turn. This is the turning point for many watching Vuisce’s team from afar. They’re surely a threat if they’re even reviving old kills. How long before this all backfires? They can’t possibly hope to control the dragons can they???

But of course, control was never the intention, just as defeat was never a possibility. And the world will keep turning, as Vuisce hopes it will.