#and probably killing people from time to time b/c that just seems to happen. antiva gonna antiva

[vaguely-concerned]

this game is so good at actually making me feel like I'm running into cool things with my friends and we're all standing there going :O !!! together

[wabart]

hi!!! i just wanted to say iLOVE OCTAVIAN he is such an interesting character with such a cool design!! have you ever thought of what he would be like in other factions? ♥️♥️

Thank you very very much!! This is such an interesting question!!!! I think SD and LoF are the closest to what he's like atm...

Shadow Dragons (for real this time)

Option 1: Octavian's life is basically the same, but he joins the Shadow Dragons through Dorian/Maevaris instead of doing vigilante shit on his own. He and Neve would probably get along better at first meeting. Octavian doesn't join the SDs in my story because he's too busy pushing everyone away and wanting to keep everyone else out of the danger he's causing. Plus (minorly) he doesn't like being told what to do/who to kill. He's terrible to manage.

Option 2: the Shadow Dragons are in some way able to free Octavian from imprisonment. (This one's a little tricky because of the timeline; he was in prison for over a decade and his identity would not have been widely known or publicized outside of being a bit of a religious icon for Not Dying multiple times over. If I could scrunch up the timeline for him to have been near-executed while the SDs are running, maybe they'd scoop him up to help with a religious rebellion. Idk!)

Lords of Fortune

Octavian's life is the same up until breaking out of prison with the two Antivan smugglers he was stuck with. He works as a smuggler for a few years, then gets hired as a LoF and does that for a while to accrue wealth. He would be good at it, given he's able to be a solid leader, he's smart, he's persuasive, he's brutal, etc. But he would get too hung up on his revenge (still) to be good at actually making money. He'd probably end up being forcefully retired because he's losing coin rather than making it, screwing up Venatori/relevant shipping connections in any way he can.

Grey Wardens

Since the Wardens will recruit prisoners, IF there were someone nearby who could take him (doesn't seem to be much of a thing in the Imperium lol) I expect shipping him off to become irrelevant and die fighting darkspawn would be something his judge/jury/executioner would be fine with. Octavian would be a terrible Warden, though. It would get him to a similar place to how he is 20ish years later, between a) being hardened to violence/combat b) still having his unprocessed grief c) wanting to get revenge. He just wouldn't be in much of a position to get it. He'd be a lot more like his original self in appearance/presentation, though. A farm boy. He'd probably be a lot meaner too because he would not have had the same outlets and chance to change himself (in some ways) for the better, like reading 500 encyclopedias back to back until he feels something.

Antivan Crows

I considered an option where, for Vibe reasons, Octavian could be born in Antiva/living in Antiva when his whole revenge story happens and he drags himself to the Crows as a naive, penniless nobody and begs them to train him and hide him from the law so he can get his revenge. I don't see him getting with Lucanis bc of the difference in power dynamic, but who knows, if they were to ever interact (doubtful), they might be friends in some capacity. But all this sort of loses the whole conceit of his story imo (class struggle in the Imperium/what it means to be born Soporati/exemplifying the "pull up by bootstraps" story but not in a good way/becoming like the people who hurt him, to hurt them back) BUT it would probably be a neat story. Maybe I'll make a new character for that.

What keeps with Octavian's background better is that he gets poached by the Crows through Lucanis by working with him for a longer time. I don't know that Octavian would normally say yes (given he doesn't accept joining the Shadow Dragons even though it wouldn't really change anything about his situation), but if he didn't have Dorian to help him, and he was really struggling, and maybe if he had to fake his death and flee the country or something, he would join. I expect he and Lucanis would need to be much better friends first. It's a tight balance though, because Octavian doesn't care for the Crows as an organization and wouldn't want to be associated with them. (So would need them enough to join, but not so much that Lucanis thinks he'd be a liability) He'd probably get into one (1) screaming match with Caterina and be forcefully retired lol, they are far too similar in some ways and he hates that.

Mourn Watch

This and the next one are a little more difficult for me to sort out I think...

Option 1: I could maybe see Dorian putting Octavian into contact with Emmrich in the same way Bellara does in Veilguard if Octavian needs help trying to singlehandedly take down the Venatori. Especially for something like reviving corpses (of Venatori/their victims) to speak to them. Dorian would help and then go "hey I know a guy" lol. But this wouldn't get Octavian to join the MW so hhhhhhrrmmmm

Option 2: After the attempted execution/before imprisonment, Octavian makes a break for it and gets south of the border in the hopes that he can't get caught. He has nothing and no-one and can't go back. Might join the Mourn Watch and like... sweep the halls in exchange for a place to sleep and some food to eat. If he met Emmrich or any of the other big guys, they might be able to help him bring out his very very very very deeply seated latent magic, but I don't know that he'd ever have the same ability to fight or be hardened to it. He might not even think to get revenge, just be guilty for running and want to go back to see his family again.

Veil Jumpers

Like the one above, maybe if Octavian gets the chance to run away from his execution/imprisonment (which would suit him), he'd end up in Arlathan and be found by Veil Jumpers. Again, timeline messiness, since that was almost 20 years ago. Maybe he falls into a rift and through time. Who knows. Octavian would join them if they were helping him to survive, but as he learns to fight, he'd feel himself being pulled back to his old life so he can find his family again. He'd feel a lot of guilt for running away.