#avlora

[space-spring-art]

"The thief was a child, the pavement of snow up to her thighs. Her limbs were gaunt, knotted in a few tight muscles that suggested a mixture of constant hunger and work to survive.

One look at this skinny, angry creature, and Svarog knew what her story might be."

Please go read Snow Blind by hagofages........ I am rotating the baby Avlora headcanons around in my head like a gentle and loving microwave.......

[bannard]

[wherefore-whinnies]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVE HIMBO 🥳

🤩🤩🤩

[cullensart]

Another study with Avlora this time. I feel like my basics have gotten rusty.

[loregoddess]

Found this in my drafts while going through it to move stuff into the queue, and honestly this is just an outline for a proper analysis post but I’d need to replay TriStrat a couple of times to finish polishing it, and I dunno when I’m gonna get around to that so, here, have a 2-year old outline that still reads mostly clearly instead.

---------------------

Mirrors (narrative device for characters who are the same but also opposite), Anna and Avlora as Narrative Parallels

early childhood -Anna taken in (explicitly by the person who killed her parents) and “given a place” in House Wolffort as its future steward; very close to father figure -Avlora’s parents’ fate unknown, taken in by Svarog, but still had to fight her way and earn her place as Aesfrost’s general; no apparent attachment to father figure

combat style -Anna specializes in stealth, reconnaissance, spying, etc., rouge-like fighter, WILL fight dirty (evasion heavy) -Avlora is the face of the army, no trickery to her fighting, very up-front and “honest” and “honorable” (can inflict damage to self, deals more damage at lower health)

mentors -Anna’s mentor was Archbald (former Hyzante Saint and general) who betrayed Hyzante and forfeited his sainthood by freeing the Roselle, a long-range archer, finds new “family” in House Wolffort -Avlora’s mentor is Groma (former Aesfrost general), who is wracked with guilt due to the belief that she was responsible for killing innocents (specifically the Roselle in the fort where Archibald had freed them from), leaves Aesfrost of her own volition after becoming disillusioned with its values, a close-range martial artist who (until joining House Wolffort) leads a seemingly solitary life

present -Anna remains steadfastly loyal to House Wolffort, following Serenoa to whatever ends he chooses to lead the house to (although she would have remained by Benedict’s side in the Frederica ending, except that Benedict asked her to leave), and despite being known more or less as Wolffort’s spy, she is basically well-liked and accepted by the people, also shown to be good with children; notably willing to diverge away from Benedict’s judgments and plans -Despite her loyalty as a knight, Avlora looses faith in Gustadolph’s rule and swears her loyalty to Cordelia (Avlora sees herself in Cordelia, and admires Cordelia’s blooming strength and resolve), chooses to sacrifice herself for Cordelia (but survives and joins House Wolffort on the golden route to end the war and return to Cordelia’s service), is despised by the people of Glenbrook but resolves to atone and continue forward (notably a child is who helps adults see that Avlora is willing to commit to atoning; Cordelia is also put in a poor light due to the peoples’ lost faith in the royal family and has to similarly regain their respect and trust through her actions), willing to stand by Cordelia’s side no matter what (despite raising her, Avlora doesn’t seem too attached to Svarog or interesting in following after him, not the way Anna literally inherits Benedict’s role)

[space-spring]

This is unrelated to anything but I was thinking about it earlier and I do love the idea that Avlora and Hughette would end up being really weird sort-of-friends at the end of the golden route. Like. coworkers who regularly get into shouting matches but also write in each other as their medieval version of an emergency contact next of kin because the person they're both actually the closest to is royalty and what are they going to do? CALL their SOVEREIGN whenever they get into trouble?

Most people would still generally hold the belief that they shouldn't be left in a room alone together (which is fair given the aforementioned shouting matches) but also if/when Maxwell eventually steps down as Master of Arms, Hughette would likely take his place, and it kinda makes sense to appoint Avlora as her second-in-command given that she's the princess's main guard and also just a really experienced military officer. Everybody's like ?????!?!?!? didn't you want to kill her like a month ago and Hughette just goes "no see I still want to kill her. but since I can't do that I might as well get her to plan guard rotations for me." Avlora is aware of this but also is 100% cool with it and is honestly kind of touched by the amount of trust Hughette's put in her.

I also like to think that Hughette would at some also point request that Roland give Avlora the honorary title of general again purely because she can't stand calling Avlora by only her first name. Avlora, again, is aware of this but cool with it because yeah okay honestly it's a little weird for her too.

[triangle-strategy-notes]

what do you think happens with Avlora in the non conviction endings?

Words cannot describe how excited I got when I saw this ask!! I think SO MUCH about what Avlora does in all of the different endings hahaha. Thanks for the question! <3

In general, my personal thoughts are that the Liberty/Benedict ending would eventually play out similarly to the Golden/Serenoa ending, Morality/Frederica would involve Avlora getting involved in Svarog's civil war, and Utility/Roland would probably have Avlora considering a rebellion of some type for a while but ultimately putting her sword away to focus on rebuilding the Aesfrosti community.

But if you're interested in more details/reasoning, I wrote up some of that as well! Don't worry about the readmore I wrote a normal amount about it :) it's a normal amount I promise. I only wrote a normal amount. I promise it's just a norma

Liberty/Benedict Ending

With Liberty ending, tbh I feel like story-wise it really feels weird that Avlora doesn't come back, given how it's essentially the Golden/Serenoa route except Aesfrost and Glenbrook are on good terms, which seems like it'd be a point in Avlora's favor.

But as far as looking at her reasons for staying away, here are a few possibilities:

— She didn't feel Cordelia needed her as badly since Glenbrook was now fighting a war on only one front (vs. the three in the Golden/Serenoa route) and she wasn't willing to risk her life by returning to face Glenbrook's judgment.

— She felt betrayed/demoralized by how Cordelia handed over her throne and went along with the whole alliance to Gustadolph. (Some reasoning along the lines of "Why exactly was I risking my life to stage a coup d'etat if Cordelia was just going to hand her power over as soon as things got inconvenient?")

— She didn't trust Serenoa and Benedict after they suddenly usurped Roland and allied with Aesfrost. She also canonically isn't a fan of Benedict's morals to begin with, so there's that.

— Or, (most likely explanation in my mind) she saw that Glenbrook was trying to secure an alliance with Aesfrost and felt that publicly swearing fealty to Cordelia would aggravate tensions between the two.

Depending on what you think her reasons were, there are a lot of different explanations for what she's up to during the time period between the Chapter 17 decision and the end of the game. Theoretically she might just be hiding out somewhere, or if you want to imagine her doing something more interesting it's possible that she'd quietly reach out to Cordelia and/or would try to track down Roland in order to make sure he's safe for Cordelia's sake.

Either way, I do think Avlora would eventually come around and rejoin Glenbrook once the war cools down and the alliance becomes less strategically important.

Benedict's treatment of Cordelia does kinda suck, and I think Avlora's worry for her would outweigh any other doubts she might have. Roland's absence from the castle would probably make the decision easier too, since Avlora a) doesn't have to worry about Roland's grudge against her and b) knows that Cordelia doesn't have Roland to protect her.

Morality/Frederica Ending

I like thinking about this one a lot :) I take a lot of my headcanons from Little Queen of All Things Forsaken on Ao3. I don't want to spoil the fic a ton for anyone who hasn't read it and wants to, but the basic premise centers around the question of "what if Cordelia stayed behind to rule Glenbrook when Roland and everyone else ran off to Centralia?" Which if that's the case, I would definitely assume Avlora would eventually decide to return and serve at Cordelia's side.

I'd imagine Avlora would essentially become the Dawnspear of Cordelia's reign, where she serves as both a political figure and the head of Cordelia's Kingsguard.

(^^ also this conversation would be really funny to me in the context of her literally taking his job)

BUT, if we're assuming Cordelia is recruited and goes along to Centralia with everyone, I think Avlora would wander around for a long while trying to figure out what she should do. Tracking down where Cordelia went is technically an option, but Avlora was never directly informed about Centralia. To add to that, rumors for sure would slowly filter in from Hyzante about the explosion that killed Idore, and it'd be easy to assume others died in the blast as well.

And even if Cordelia did manage to survive the escape, how much time is Avlora willing to spend looking? How far might the Roselle have fled? Since Avlora's not currently serving as Aesfrost's general, she doesn't have a boat, or supplies, or really any resources whatsoever. Is she really willing to throw her life away to search for someone who might very well already be dead?

I think eventually she'd catch wind of Svarog starting a civil war against Gustadolph and would join Svarog in that effort. Given Benedict serving as an advisor to Gustadolph, it seems possible-to-likely she'd lose the fight like she lost against Wolffort, and at that point would either be killed or would run off again and just try to live a normal life somewhere.

Or maybe she'd finally go "welp. guess I've officially got nothing to lose!" and go try and track down Cordelia. Another fic I really love is somewhere, beyond the sea which is Serenoa/Frederica-focused but also has a really cool bit about Avlora coming to Centralia.

Utility/Roland Ending

I think Avlora would be absolutely horrified at what Glenbrook + Hyzante do to Aesfrost. Like her entire nation is just. Gone. She was willing to oust Gustadolph, willing to join Cordelia, willing to take up a sword against people she once knew and worked with, but I don't think she ever expected the consequences to be the literal destruction of Aesfrost in its entirety.

The image of Avlora (or really ANY Aesfrosti) going back to Ironstone and finding the entire city buried beneath an impenetrable layer of blackened slag is haunting.

And given the history of conflict between Hyzante and Aesfrost, watching Hyzante take over all of Norzelia has gotta be. a whole thing for Avlora. However she felt about the Saintly Seven before, she definitely hates them now. I also can't see her ever wanting to associate again with Roland or Serenoa after hearing about their role in what happened.

(Though honestly I think the person she'd be the most furious toward would be Svarog. His duty, like hers, was to protect Aesfrost, and instead he completely destroyed what little they might have had left.)

I feel like she'd spend a good while thinking about revenge against Hyzante in a "as the last semblance of anything like a leader that Aesfrost has, I'm obligated to avenge that which was destroyed" type of way. Possibly even to the point of actually trying to put together a resistance. But with the way Hyzante crushes people's spirits and manipulates resources to encourage 100% obedience, I feel like she would really struggle to gain ground in that respect.

You could also imagine that she runs into Frederica at some point in all this, since both of them would likely be on the outskirts of society and/or wanted criminals. I don't know for sure whether I could see them fully joining forces (mostly just think they'd butt heads over specific goals and methods for fighting back against Hyzante), but they'd for sure have a lot to talk about.

As far as Cordelia goes, I think Avlora wouldn't really want to blame her for everything that happened. Like Avlora would be aware that Cordelia wasn't innocent in it, but on some level I think she would just sort of mentally go "it cannot be Cordelia's fault because if it was her fault then it was also my fault. We were both just following orders. We were both doing what our nations demanded of us." And also I think she likely would consider Cordelia to be the closest thing to a friend she has left, and as a result would have a hard time giving that relationship up.

Their dynamic in the Wolffort Wedding extra story cracks me up and I also think it would be in-character for Cordelia to hunt Avlora down as soon as she hears rumors that Avlora is still alive. If that happens then I wholeheartedly believe Cordelia would take one look at Avlora (wearing the same clothing she had on when she fell into the Norzelia River more than a year ago) (hasn't eaten in a week because she's avoiding the Hyzantian ration handouts and won't accept any from other displaced Aesfrosti) (generally stressed out of her mind and regularly daydreams about throwing her life away on an assassination attempt on Idore) and Cordelia would just go "okay yeah no I'm going to nurse you back to health and you're going to like it."

Roland would probably catch onto this at some point and I do imagine he'd try to attack or otherwise apprehend Avlora (he might feel a little bad about it because Cordelia obviously cares about her, but he's also tied himself inexorably to Hyzante at this point and not apprehending the last bastion of the Aesfrosti army would go against everything he's committed himself to). But assuming Cordelia's a little older and has had time to recover from the war, I think she'd put up a fight to the point that he'd back off and turn a blind eye to Avlora so long as she doesn't try anything too aggressive.

Getting deeper into "this is just me writing fanfiction" territory, I'm a sucker for "veteran gets to lay down their sword" arcs and I think it'd be nice to see Avlora eventually distance herself from plans of revenge and instead focus her energy on supporting the remaining people of Aesfrost as a sort of community leader, possibly with Cordelia's help.

I also really love the idea that Avlora would run an orphanage at some point. Working with orphans would be a good way of satisfying Avlora's desire to protect those who are otherwise alone, and it's also just funny/sweet to imagine General "There is nothing more agonizing than a child glaring at you through tears" Avlora trying to, for example, get a three-year-old to do something they don't want to do. Her personality and values as a character lend to her being a pretty big pushover with kids while simultaneously not having any frame of reference for "how to gently coax a child to do something" and I think it'd be a good and humbling experience for her :)

[sillyneko-scholar]

I'm back...

[dashxero]

I should remind people that commissions are open. dashxero.tumblr.com/commissions for details.

[minnowoooo]

Avlora and cordelia commission (for someone on twitter)

[bizarrebeasties]

General Avlora from Triangle Strategy.

[space-spring-art]

Some quick silly Halloween doodles with the tri strat crew :)

[chaoticrice]

Continuing my game of Triangle Strategy, and of course I fall for the Sword Lesbian/Queen ship

[princessandknightfight]

[cullensart]

This damn dress has been haunting my TL so I had to draw Avlora in it. It was very good for my soul.

[space-spring]

Trying to motivate myself to work on the next chapter of my fic, so here we are with an Avlora/Maxwell ship chart!

And for fun, a non-comprehensive list of plot parallels that I've been putting together:

They both serve as the leaders of their respective militaries.

They both act as mentor to one of the Glenbrooks and have a really close relationship with their respective royal (to the point that they're willing to sacrifice their lives to ensure that royal's safety and success).

They both independently do that thing where they hold back during the tourney and THEN dramatically reveal the fact that they held back during their later duel. They do this by unleashing devastating, flashy moves that they presumably developed and practiced in secret specifically just in case they found themselves in this exact situation. Related point: they're both insane

They both have doubts concerning their respective ruler's honor (Gustadolph and Regna respectively). Despite that, they both spend a considerable amount of time serving those rulers and consequentially develop complex feelings around it. Those thoughts generally revolve around thinking that their respective Glenbrook royal (Cordelia or Roland) would do a better job.

They both end up washed down the Norzelia River following an invasion, but manage to miraculously survive regardless and come back to help finish the war.

I am looking with incredible respect at both of their character designs.

So, in conclusion, they should fall in love about it! QED, thanks for coming to my TED talk, until next time