#aurene is baby

[marmaruuu]

AUREEEEEEENE✨

[gristlegrinder]

part of what makes IBS so fascinating to me is its position both within the world of Tyria and the story it was trying to tell, and the larger metatextual circumstances surrounding its development. because, like, The Icebrood Saga is a story that's, IMO, largely about placing individual actions in complex systems of power, and what happens when those systems begin to unravel.

-> Can you help us deal with Bangar? Aurene: He's a part of a larger web. Strands connecting to strands. Cut one out and nothing changes, not really. Aurene: It's hard to explain. But seeing how those strands connect... Taking one life won't solve your problems. (x)

so, like, you have Ryland, who talks about "playing his cards right" but has really been dealt a bad hand from the start and can only keep playing bad cards - the one decent play he gets in Turnabout to try and get out of the game gets interrupted by an arrogant bastard killing Cinder, and it's downhill from there. it's not necessarily that it was always going to end the way it did with him, but you're fighting an uphill battle against his upbringing, against his relationship with Bangar, against all cultural context. he insists that Jormag didn't coerce him into anything, and that's true; he ends up as Jormag's champion because, at least from Ryland's perspective, there's really no other option by the time he has the bow in his paws.

likewise, you have Braham, wrestling with being the norn of prophecy, slowly (slower if Champions didn't have to be rushed out of the door, I imagine) coming to terms with what exactly that means. he knows from the beginning that either Jormag dies, or he dies. he knows this, and knows that it's always going to end one way or the other. the prophecy unfurls, and Jormag awakens, and it becomes more and more obvious how it's supposed to go. He bonds with Primordus, because there's really no other option by the time Jormag is threatening to freeze the world ten times over to ice their brother out of existence. and sure, it might still destroy him even if Jormag doesn't kill him, but he doesn't get the luxury of thinking about that.

and then you have the Commander, who should be in control of the narrative, because in-universe they're the Commander and out-of-universe they're the player character, but there are multiple points where that agency is taken away from you - Smodur bombs the bunker and interrupts your negotiation, Ryland puts a bullet through Smodur's skull. you're always going to try and save the farm, but not every problem has an easy solution. the Legions are built on centuries of war and violence and hypervigilance against external threats; Bangar is not an isolated bad actor but a product of that system, and the gears of the war machine churn on both sides of Drizzlewood. you (and Aurene) are largely an audience to the family tragedy - tragedies, plural, both the relationships between Rytlock/Crecia/Ryland and Jormag/Primordus - as they break down.

"The Balance" isn't sustainable in its current state, but there isn't really a good alternative at this point. you can't back down when you're three dragons in (we tried that after Mordremoth, and Balthazar wouldn't have it and Kralkatorrik couldn't stomach it), and Jormag and Primordus (mostly Jormag) are threatening to escalate as the encroaching void eats away at them both. there's this real sense that they just have to make the best of a bad situation, and hope that the damage is minimal. the universe itself is on a cresting wave and it's about to crash, heading into End of Dragons.

so you have all of that, and it's also the chapter of GW2 where the developers are hit with major studio-disrupting internal problems and a fucking global lockdown. your story gets interrupted, there's not much you can do about it, but you have to keep going and make the best of it, even when the fate of arenanet itself seems uncertain.

what happens in the aftermath, after the dragonstorm clears?

[starlightsuncrow]

Do you mind. He's busy (babysitting)

[mileroos]

.catching up; a moment in the sun

[ ID: a painting of trahearne, sylvari commander and aurene from guild wars 2. Sylvari commander and trahearne are lounging against a pink and white background. The commander has a big laugh and has his hands up, gesturing as he talks. While trahearne is leaning his head against his hand, looking at the commander with an amused smile. Aurene’s crystal tail is visible near the bottom of the picture, stretched across the frame. The mood is happy, relaxed.]

[girlbob-boypants]

S3 is such an interesting part of gw2 cause it feature some of my favorite and most hated moments

[silvesi]

*rotates a trahearne lives AU rly fast in my brain*

Sometimes a functional family can be you, your husband, a shitty little vampire you accidentally adopted 4 years ago, and-

elder dragon.

[therealpactcommander]

happy mlemsday!

[i-mybrunettelady]

new mini acquired <3

[likemesomesalads]

Shay and shiny daughter. That's it, that's the post.

[tinotika-arts]

I had a little thought with a friendo over the housing (homestead?) update in upcoming expac like

It's a home away from home instance! An actual home! That we can decorate and our other characters can be inside (?? I don't remember I was busy-)

Like.. what if the commander/wayfinder just doesn't feel like their hometown/home instance is their home anymore? Things have changed so much, people know where they're from... Living out in the wilds is probably where they might be able to find peace. A place only their close friends would know.

(Unless this was all in the trailer and it went -zip- over my head because I watched it half asleep)

[valiant-portabella-pirkko]

hot new* Dragonstorm bug let's go

ended the intro cutscene to find myself randomly teleported into Primordus's lava, taking no damage. so I ran away and immediately burst into flames and just... started taking continuous damage, the fire overlay stuck on my screen. Just Permanently On Fire.

and then the grand twist: attacking Jormag finally put me out so I guess the dragons really do neutralize each other! wild

* DISCLAIMER: I have no idea if this bug is actually new, this is just the first time I've ever experienced it so it's new to ME specifically

[icebrooding]

puts big sis in modern clothes too! spent ages debating whether to put her in a skirt or not but i thought it was cute so-- <.<;

[edmunderson]

vaq and what i've got so far for his room at his homestead :)

[halffulltubofmintchip]

I met Aurene today

[antariies]

thinking about aurene again. she and harley have a much closer relationship than what’s shown in canon—the two are basically dad and daughter. and thanks to harley’s influence, his aurene speaks more casually and musically, jokes around more often, and loves to try new food despite not needing to eat anymore.

their closeness is a double-edged sword, however! in his efforts to give her the most loving and normal childhood he could, harley ended up coddling her too much. she’s still reliant on him after she ascends, and it comes back to bite her in the ass when he gets shot by bangar and has to step away for the rest of ibs. his absence is something neither of them anticipated or prepared for and now dragon’s watch is arguing over what to do without the commander and they’re looking to her for Elder Dragon Wisdom and she’s like “I DUNNO!!!! 😰 just because i can see every possible future doesn’t mean i know what to do with that information!! this is so hard i want my dadddd 😭” she’s immature and sorely ill-equipped to handle a civil war.

it feels so unfair. of course she’s not ready for this, she’s never had to be before! one second she was a teenager burning herself out with brazen heroics in lws4 and now she’s the elder dragon of prismatic light. aurene thought she would at least get a few years to ease into it. she and harley also both operate on different timescales compared to everyone else bc their senses of time are warped; harley’s due to being a chrono and aurene’s due to being an immortal dragon. who was Raised by that chrono. both of them are very ‘big picture’ thinkers!

so when aurene suddenly finds herself having to make these big decisions, she calls her dad consults her champion. harley’s advice is to use her future vision to compare potential timelines, see which one has the best ending, and reverse engineer it from there. on paper it sounds pretty good, but by the time she finishes comparing and actually chooses a future, she comes back to dragon’s watch like “OKAY, you guys need to convince smodur to—“ “aurene, smodur got sniped two weeks ago 🤨 he’s dead.”

she takes too long deliberating and makes bad calls that get people killed AND jormag is in her head. she might as well be down for the count as far as the fighting is concerned. @hawkepockets’s prem ikaros is there to fill in for harley for the rest of ibs, but it’s just a horrible time for everyone involved :-]

[commanderfloppy]

Something abt roasting the godliness out of balthazar

I realize now that you might've meant roasting as in verbally demeaning him but uhh...

Two local idiots try to roast a God of FIRE