#but that’s like. drow lore stuff lol

[swordmaid]

Okay. I've seen Shri'iia on my dash a bundle of times, and I need to know more about her. Mind giving me a rundown on who she is?

shri’iia is my bg3 tav / player character who I turned into an oc outside of the game because I’m obsessed with her CURRENTLY! which is quite obvious considering how much I post about her like it’s my full time job.

anyway shri’iia is a lolth-sworn drow who was raised knee deep in lolth’s cult, became a paladin to serve lolth and her doctrine and worshipped her spider goddess for a near 2 centuries until she got dropped off into the surface (unknown land for her, she literally hasn’t left her home until the start of the game) and she breaks her oath in less than 10 days.

that snowballs into a series of events where she going through a loss of faith, a massive existential crisis, processing the trauma of being in that cult and also having a toxic codependent relationship with someone who she projected her goddess into, and she goes through this whole journey of finding her own autonomy and with it, finds a new purpose for herself too. that’s kind of the gist of it tbh LOL

[meanbossart]

ASK COMPILATION: Boomer Drow, Scratch, Mouthwashing, Cats and musical opinions.

A more casual compilation this time as I desperately try to make some room in my inbox. I went back so far I found lore questions and art prompts that I really liked but had completely forgotten about... That's why it's a mess in there LOL I will hopefully get to those soon!

Hi! Thank you! I still dream about smoking almost every night and had a couple during the new year but I'm hanging in there :')

Very loose and mostly as a bit. It might be something that I explore more in the future, but as of right now their "canon" setting is far, far more interesting to me!

...That's brutal and highly accurate 😭

[MORE UNDER THE CUT]

I'm not gonna lie, when I started posting I got, uh, a lot of responses like this to my art. About how I drew people "ugly" and frightening and even though it MOSTLY was meant as a compliment, it got kinda... Overwhelming 😅 It definitely led me to do a 180 for a while and re-access how I wanted to draw people. I love drawing flaws but I think that comes from not really seeing them as flaws, so the amount of folks AGGRESSIVELY harping on it did eventually get to me a little bit.

I think I've since found a pretty good balance between simple, pretty and "flawed" that I enjoy, though. So, thank you! I do take your message as a compliment and I'm glad you enjoy him.

DU drow was my first run! I have since played with a different character called Izzantar who was my first non-urge campaign though.

...

...

... I didn't find scratch in the DU drow run. Sorry anon LOL

Now you see, this is the legacy I want to leave behind.

(thanks for making Astarion feel included)

I was the one who recommended it to him and I really liked it! I've always DREAMED of a game that actually and unapologetically put you in the shoes of a shitty person and took you through the complex reasons why they are the way that they are without justifying their actions. And I adore the way the secondary character undeniably had a hand in the tragedy that unfolded despite his good intentions. The game sincerely explored the types of flawed characters I rarely ever see explored and I can only give it my sincerest kudos to it.

I've been considering playing Origins on stream after MANY recommendations, actually!

I would suggest examining and referencing off athletes and gymnasts videos for practice while trying to garner a more in-depth understanding of musculature by crossreferencing that stuff with dry, medical anatomy diagrams. I have a few more in-depth examples and advice in my #tutorial and #advice tags!

DU drow would really like Frida. Jarboe would constantly disappoint him by being the very dumb animal that she is.

I think Astarion would like both of them but complain endlessly about how much attention they demand and how up in his business they'd want to be - I have a feeling he likes street cats, which none of my cats are (Frida has a little street-smarts remaining but has been thoroughly spoiled by now. Jarboe was a hoarder cat before I adopted her and is extremely sociable and un-cat-like because of it.)

I DM'd a single Call of Cthulhu session in my teens and only recently participated in my first ever DnD game in a discord event! That's about it.

This is for the over-attentive ANE readers but Brutus is a Dalyria song for me ☺️

He'd like Jazz A LOT.

But I think he'd be more of a root-punk/post-rock guy, not really into synth. And then a lot of the classics like Elvis, Nina Simone, Marley, etc.

Also Foetus and GG allin for whatever reason.

3 for Astarion, 5 for Shadowheart. Jaheira would never but she could get away with 8.

[solarg0blin]

Baldur's Gate 3 Sims 4 CC Masterlist

This is a full list of links to all the CC I've found that covers most of the Baldur's Gate 3 companions ✿ I do not own any of these CC items, and am not redistributing them, it's just a list of links. If you'd like the actual base sims can be found on the Gallery, under the EA ID S0larG0blin!

For All Sims (They are optional, but the sim won't look like the photos without them):

CAS Sliders/Eyelashes:

Kijiko's EA Eyelash Remover

Kijiko's 3D Lashes Version 2 (All of the options)

Obscurus' Lip Sliders

Magic Bot's Default Mouth Slider

Magic Bot's Default Lip Slider

Pyxis' Skin Details

NorthernSiberiaWinds' A Thousand Nights

Obscurus' Eyebags

Faaeish's Face Light and Pores

Tamo's Eyebags

LUUMIA's Height Body Presets

Eyes:

RatboySims' Impact Eyes

Teeth:

Magic Bot's Alpha Teeth

Shadowheart:

Skin:

Technovamp's Shadowheart Skin (This link also contains her alternative hair, after her Act 2 decision. You should remove her eyebrows; the skin has them built in.)

Hair:

Satterlly's Shadowheart Hair

Makeup:

CrypticSim's Elle Lipstick

Main Outfit:

Satterlly's Shadowheart Outfit

Satterlly's Warlock Outfit (For the boots)

Camp Clothing:

Moriel's Shadowheart Camp Clothing

Astarion:

Skin:

Satterlly's Astarion Skintone, Eyes and Teeth (Like Shadowheart, remove the eyebrows, the skin has it built in.)

If the skin looks a little weird when you zoom out in game, use the TS4 Alpha converter by Cmar (RIP)

Hair:

Satterlly's Astarion Hair

Main Outfits:

Moriel's Astarion Outfit

Satterlly's Early Access Astarion Outfit

Destruam's Ascendant Astarion Outfit

Camp Outfit:

Shandir's Astarion Camp Clothing

Karlach:

Skin/Body:

Moriel's Tiefling Markings

Octetsica's Occult Skin Tones

Simbience's Ear Preset

Piercings:

PralineSims' Agony collection

PralineSims' DIY Piercing kit

Hair:

Tianshi's Karlach Hair

Clothing/Horns/Basically Everything:

Moriel's Karlach (Both Regular and Camp)

Makeup:

Alf-si's Eyebrow 06

FashionRoyaltySims Eyeshadow N01

Obscurus' Eyeliner

Gale:

Skin/Earrings:

Technovamp's Gale

Hair:

JohnnySims' Keith Hairstyle

Clothing:

Satterlly's Mage Outfit

Shandir's Camp Clothing

Minthara:

(I promise she looks much better in-game ;-;)

Skin/Body:

Lamatisse's Lore Skin Tones

SM-Sims' Knox Eyebrows

Satterlly's BG3 Tattoos

Crypticsim's R.E.M Makeup

Hair:

Simstrouble's Agata Hair (Bun)

Clothing:

Satterlly's Drow Studded Armour

Moriel's Minthara Camp Clothes

Lae'zel:

Skin:

Bonmemoir's Githyanki Birthmark

Octetsica's Occult Skintones (Grab it from the Karlach link)

Clothing:

Moriel's Lae'zel Armour

Moriel's Lakefu Clothing set (Used in the place of Lae'zel's camp clothes)

Nails:

Satterlly's Tiefling Horns with Crystals, Eyes and Nails (For those claw-like nails!)

Hair:

Her hair comes with the Realm of Magic game pack!

Wyll:

Skin/Eye/Horns:

Technovamp's Wyll Skin (Devil)

Hair:

Birksche's Lennard Hair (yes, it's different to the game. I find Wyll really suits locs, but you don't have to use it if you don't!)

Clothing:

Moriel's Wyll Armour

Satterlly's Warlock Armour

Moriel's Duke Clothing

Moriel's Wyll Camp Clothing

Halsin:

Skin:

Technovamp's Halsin

Hair:

JohnnySims' Keith Hair. Same as Gale, go grab it from that link.

Clothing:

Satterlly's Druid Outfit

Moriel's Minsc Camp Outfit (The green colour swatch is close enough lol)

Whew! That was a super long post! Anyways, I hope this list helped you find some CCs you're looking for!

Other BG3 Recommendations:

Literally anything by Moriel. She's the queen of fantasy CC!

Again, anything by Satterlly, who has loads of Early Access stuff!

Technovamp has loads of build mode stuff from Baldur's Gate 3, too, such as Astarion's tent, which is where the pictures are taken.

I'll update as I go along, and find more things!

[spidehpig]

What exactly is so special about Mephistopheles? /gen. Tried reading about him a lot but he seems basic and ugly, and his voice just doesn’t do it for me.

Short answer is a really like devils and villains and have been reading up a lot more on the d&d universe as a whole. Originally bc i needed lore to make a Tav that isn’t durge for once which also led to the current fixation on Lolth sworn drow society. The hells as a whole fixation kinda started with all the discussion about Raphael’s upbringing on here & how that probably heavily influenced his personality so knowing more about his father just makes it more fun to dissect the little cambion under a microscope.@tellmeallaboutit ‘s fic also added fuel to that fire lol. Very fun take on the hells & its politics. Loved meph in it a lot & i kinda just fell down a rabbit hole reading a bunch of stuff about him after that

I also just have a tendency to simp for a character & then when im introduced to his evil old father im like why’s he kinda… 👀 (Jamie and Tywin im looking at you two)

He’s got like several different descriptions of his appearance, avatars & forms & literally true polymorphs himself sometimes. I like the creepy all white eyes and long black hair and goatee description he’s been given in a few books. He’s just handsome but also kinda scary in my head personally. Durge slayer, yurgir, ascended fiend Raphael and auntie Ethel hag are hot to me so even if he is ugly that wouldn’t stop me from climbing him like a tree lmao.

[drowxiv]

I was showering with my husband (who originally played Durafein) and he goes "you know, you never really asked me permission to make Viedyn Durafein's brother."

And I was like "Oh...well...that was kind of a snap decision when I made an FFXIV character. To make sure I cared about him I decided he'd be Durafein's brother from when Durafein was still with his house."

He asked "So when you're playing him, are you doing it in that past setting?"

And I had to explain how I kinda messed up this blog and had to go back and tag all my stuff because I was taking gameplay gposes and "canon" gposes but forgetting to SPECIFY which was which. But I see Eorza as like some post-death thing for him and mostly gpose his canon past.

He said "Okay. But how do you parse the Matron taking Durafein and escaping during the fall but leaving Viedyn? Why choose the youngest over the more experienced eldest?"

I explained how Viedyn was a great strategist and as a Drow, he wouldn't consider sacrificing himself out of "kindness", but he would absolutely be ruthless and spiteful enough to pull off a victory at any cost. So he held a choke point while the Matron escaped with Durafein. By denying their enemies true victory, Viedyn guaranteed the house would survive. It was the only way he could "win". They eventually tracked down the Matron but never got Durafein.

And my husband was like "Hmm. I like that a lot. You know... Lolth would know."

I kinda waved it off, and keep in mind we're still scrubbing away while talking this out lol. I said "Yeah of course she knew but she didn't have the power to reach him on the surface."

He said "No, no. She would know the attacking house failed and they would fall out of favor without ever being able to figure out why."

I was like "OHHHHHHH SHIT. That's exactly what would happen! And if Durafein ever had a mind to return, all he would have to do is go before the council with his house sigil and name the attacking house who failed. The remaining houses would annihilate the failed house in order to please Lolth."

At that point we were running out of hot water but he was like"Yep! And he's just the kind of asshole who would do it!"

All that to say - Durafein's lore has been extensively fleshed out by me, but even like 10 years later it's still collaborative. And I dunno I just love it and it's neat.

[vespaer77]

I'd like to tell you a story...

... about my first Tav, Shayla Moonsong.

She is a Zariel tiefling, and a College of Lore Bard, and while she wasn't my first Tav, she was the first one to finish the game. I had romanced Lae'zel, Shadowheart, and Astarion in early access, so I focused on her because I was anxious to try a new romance, Halsin. However, because she was created just after full release, her save file was horrifically bugged. I got the cut scenes for Halsin that allowed me to progress his companion quest and cure Moonhaven of the shadow curse, but after that I could get no further dialogue from him at all, even in camp. I was playing with a party limit mod by the time he joined my party, so I never needed to worry about dismissing him from my party, but I did occasionally have difficulty with him following the party. I had to run around controlling him a lot. The only scene I ever got with him once he joined me was specifically his sex scene, after I did the love test at the circus in Act 3. I knew literally nothing about him, lol, so I had to google the answers.

But that was the thing. I knew… nothing about this guy. He was just some hot elf my bard boned, I had zero investment in him other than that. And it became a head canon for me about her - she was a typical bard, slutting her way to the Gate. She slept with the Emperor, she had a foursome with the drow twins and Halsin, and she absolutely played Haarlep's game to get his pass code. And while I'd wished, at the time, I could have had the additional enrichment of a poignant, heartfelt romance, I did enjoy exploring a character that was more free with her sexuality. As a result, though, I'd ended up "saving myself" for Halsin, because I knew his romance would (or in my case should but didn't) open up very late in the game. And I'd shot down all of the other companions fairly quickly.

Including Gale.

Especially Gale.

He was still bugged at the time, and his… overly amorous nature, lol, was widely known to anyone who'd spent more than ten minutes on the internet. So I ignored a lot of opportunities to know him better. And at the time, he was honestly my least favorite character. Particularly because I truly didn't enjoy him in early access. I genuinely found him offputting and way too over the top, and subsequently much of his narrative flew straight over my head.

Like a Boeing 777.

But let's be honest. Because of the nature of his story, and the way he seems to compartmentalize his trauma as devotion, and because of the mask of charm and confidence he wears to convince your character of his usefulness, and the way he tempers his emotions so he doesn't upset the orb, all of these things… the complexity of his narrative is super duper subtle. Or at least to me it was. I was the complete dumb dumb that didn't pick it up from context like we were supposed to.

Until I played my bard, Shayla. The first one to get through Act 3.

I had saved the culmination of Gale's quest in Sorcerous Sundries til nearly the end. Just before all the stuff with the foundry and Gortash. At the time, he was still a checklist item, a box to mark off on my road to the final boss.

So I went into it feeling like this man was probably pretty fed up with me, lol. And then he read the Annals of Karsus and I realized right then just how much I'd taken this character for granted. Because everything about him, his entire personality, shifted right there, and he became… someone else. And everyone else in my party noticed it too. The choice of responses I was given was crafted in a way that made me feel like the writers very much wanted me to notice a change had taken place within Gale. And then I picked a response that was honestly a touch unkind. I don't remember what I said to him, but…

He yelled at me.

"She left me to die!" he said. I remember that part.

And when the camera panned back to me and the party, we were all wide eyed and reared away from him in shock and disbelief that this charming, confident, gregarious, and benign creature was suddenly so… dark. And it was at that moment that a light switch was flipped. The missing puzzle piece was found and snapped into place. Suddenly I understood everything I'd missed up to that point, and it was more than just an "ah hah!" moment. It was an, "Oh my god…" moment. He hadn't become someone else.

We were seeing who he truly was for the first time.

His mask had slipped. Cracked beneath strain. He'd been pushed to a breaking point.

Naturally, because he's Gale, he recovered quickly. But it was too late. I saw him. And then two things happened. I fell in love with him. Instantly. But then I also realized the game was almost over. His romance opportunity had come and gone, there wouldn't be a "confess your love at the last minute" option. And of course his fate at the end of the game was not so kind to my bard either.

I've had big feelings about it ever since.

And then the Hugs mod came out, which only served to further poke my great big ouchy feelings.

I've lived in head canon land for a while now when it comes to Shayla Moonsong. In my head canon, he did end up taking her advice, he did pick an outcome that didn't involve using the Crown of Karsus or the Karsite Orb, and in no way did he become a pulverized cloud of stardust. He ended the game living peacefully in Waterdeep, giving Tara belly rubs and ushering in the next generation of wizards without grooming them for a lifetime of suffering.

But that leaves Shayla herself and her big, unresolved feelings. Feelings that were never processed or acknowledged, as the time was never right between her relationship status with Halsin and the fate of the world resting on her shoulders.

So, what is a bard to do when she falls in love, but it's too late?

Nothing small, that's for sure. And it will probably involve singing.

(I'm planning on maybe two to three chapters for this story, in which she very much makes things worse before they get better, lol. She's still learning. But it's definitely gonna end with some light cunnilingus and good, heavy railing either on a kitchen counter or against a bookshelf. I haven't decided yet. I do hope, if you do decide to read this humble beginning, that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And also please excuse my ill attempts at self-effacing meta humor.)

Pairing: Gale / named fem!Tav bard Rating: Smut is imminent (once we get through the foreplay… er, mutual pining) Word count: 4790

Read the story HERE or under the cut

Chapter One: The Wizard, The Real One

"Is there a loan shark in the audience or something?" Jory asked.

"Hmm?" Nelsyn replied, but she didn't look up from her lines. He supposed that was fair. She was busy letting Sara fix the adhesive on the curly teal wig that sat between her horns, and Jory knew as well as anyone on cast that nothing good came from troubling the crew. He let his heavy bear pelt slip from his shoulders as he sat down in the empty chair next to her.

"She's been there all night," he told his friend as he nodded toward the entryway to stage right. "Boss lady. We've been touring this show for months. We could all do it in our sleep, she knows that. Never seen her hover like this."

And there was no reason for it. "The Fall of the Absolute" was a roaring success. The production was Shayla Moonsong's crowning achievement, a media darling, and the current obsession of a whole continent. She'd catalogued volumes of stellar, five-star reviews thus far, and was selling out box offices everywhere she went. The show was the hottest new thing since "Volo's Guide to Sex in the Elemental Planes."

But it wasn't her biggest accomplishment. It wasn't what she was truly known for.

She was the Hero of Baldur's Gate.

She faced the illithid Netherbrain herself, and won.

And the tale they were telling in front of all those people was her story.

Heavens knew the winsome bard had faced far greater perils than watching a chapter of her life play out on a stage.

And yet there she stood, on this most unremarkable of nights, leaning just inside the door frame where she could observe without obstructing. Where she could scan the audience like a scrying eye, searching for… something. Normally she'd be flitting about like a cloud of gnats directing the cast and crew, answering questions, giving orders, helping the caterer, filling water jugs, finding toilet paper, running errands, meeting VIPs. Trying not to go crazy. But not tonight. Tonight she stood very still, chewing her thumbnail and unconsciously flicking the tip of her tail over and over, hard to the left.

And Jory remembered what Nelsyn had said about what it meant when tieflings flicked their tail to the left.

She was clearly nervous about something.

"Well, we're about to do the big emotional number," Nelsyn finally told him, closing the cover of her script while Sara gave her wig a good yank to test the glue. "It's the one all the teenage girls are sobbing over their sketch pads for right now."

She stopped to take a sip of water when Sara bent to pick up her cosmetics case. The girl made a gesture to Jory to give up his seat, and he tripped over his own feet unfolding himself to stand up. Once again he was reminded why he was cast as the big druid, Halsin. Shayla had told him once that while he wasn't quite as tall as the real thing… he was close. He wondered how easily the boss lady's former lover would have fit into that chair.

"This is our first time in Waterdeep," Nelsyn continued, trying her best not to move her lips while Sara applied a fresh coat of pink stain. "She probably just wants to see how it gets received. She doesn't really get to just sit out there and watch, you know?"

"Yeah."

"Could be it," Sara told them both, bunching her eyebrows and concentrating on keeping her hand steady. "Part of it, anyway. That is her favorite character out there, singing his heart out about the bomb in his chest."

"Her favorite character? The wizard?"

"Someone else got a bomb?"

"Please. Everyone knows I'm her favorite character."

"Listen," she replied as she wiped the applicator clean with a kerchief, "you're a good looking kid, and no one hates watching you take your clothes off out there." Nelsyn snorted, but they both ignored her. "A healthy percentage of ticket sales is probably yours, no one's arguing that. But that's not enough for you to game the win."

"Game the w- what?" Jory laughed, his oiled obliques glistening as he pulled the bear pelt back over his shoulders. "Look, I'm not trying to make it a competition or anything, okay? You brought it up. But I literally play an archdruid who carves ducks, sings to squirrels, and adopts orphans. Plus? He looks like this." He swept his hands grandly over his abdomen, flexing muscles most people had only seen in paintings or medical textbooks. "And did I mention he's also her boyfriend?"

"Her ex-boyfriend," Sara corrected him, pointing at Nelsyn as she spoke. "Have you even listened to the song she's getting ready to sing? You know. The one about love? And sacrifice?" She shifted her weight as an intern sidled past her to tidy the table, refill their drinks, and bag up the trash. "And don't tell me you haven't looked at Erik with both of your eyeballs. We've all seen him. The man has eyelashes as long as your forearm. And the biggest, saddest, wettest brown eyes on the face of this planet. He's like a baby cow, okay? I'm just saying." She stood to let the intern past her again, and bent to drag her cosmetics case out of the way. "This is the man she cast to play the lead in the big romantic climax of the whole show. When the main character realizes she's in love and it's too late. She's managed to capture," she pinched her fingers in front of her face, "the very essence of what it means to have sad children mooning over this show for years to come, okay? The baby cow is a cash cow. And he is clearly her favorite character."

"I think the vampire is her favorite character," the intern said, unprompted, as she reached to help Nelsyn out of her seat. "He's everyone's favorite character."

"You're all wrong," Nelsyn told them as she sloughed her way out of her robe with great theatrical flair. The intern caught it before it hit the floor, just as she'd done so many times before. Nelsyn stood with her hands on her hips and a gallant curve to her tail, casting her eyes toward the rafters and beaming a heavily pink-stained smile, resplendent in her artificially distressed leather armor blotted with thick fake blood.

"I'm her favorite character," she said, glowing with certainty. "And it should be obvious. I'm her! Now, stand back and watch while I go make a bunch of little girls cry!" And with that, she grinned devilishly and pranced toward the stage.

But once she was gone, the intern leaned forward and beckoned. Jory found himself instinctually drawn to listen.

"Well, you wanna know what I heard?" she whispered, and her eyes landed on Shayla for only just a moment. Jory nodded out of reflex. "I heard a rumor that someone in the orchestra pit overheard the boss lady telling someone in the box office that there was going to be a special guest tonight."

"What. Like, family?" Jory asked. "I thought she was an orphan."

"Could be anyone," Sara answered him from where she stood, combing through a wig hanging on the wall. "Philanthropist, politician. Who knows.

"Or," the intern hissed, leaning in even closer, "it could be one of them."

"One of who?"

"You know. Them. Thems what was with her, when all this went down."

"Like… like one of the actual…?"

"Don't you two have anything better to do than -"

"Wait. We're in Waterdeep," Jory breathed. He snatched up Nelsyn's script and started thumbing through it, fanning the pages and blowing a strand of hair across his nose. "Isn't… isn't the wizard…?"

Sara dropped her comb to her side and opened her mouth, but stopped and blinked at him instead. A thoughtful look crept across her face. She nodded her head in defeat.

"The wizard's from Waterdeep."

Then, as one, they all turned to look at Shayla where she stood at stage right, still as a statue.

And the music began to swell. The strings stirred the air with sounds as soft and sweet as sunset. The woodwinds sang a shrill crescendo as Erik began to make his famous climb.

And Nelsyn began to sing her famous song.

Before she disappeared beyond the narrow view from stage right, Jory watched her as she raised her arm to reach for him.

The wizard.

And her voice rang out so high and so clear, so heavy with every loss that Shayla Moonsong had ever suffered, with every plea that ever twisted her heart in bitter knots. With every word that ever fell from the mighty pen of their beloved playwright.

Who stood now with her hand at her throat. It bobbed once when she swallowed. Her lips parted and she drew a breath, and a hush fell over the crowd. She settled in to listen with the rest of them.

And her tail flicked once more to the left.

I know I've been unkind to you And I've pushed you way too far And I know in ignorance I forced you To reveal the man you are And I know I've left you with nothing to lose And even less to gain And though I know you owe me nothing Please don't give in to pain

Erik's silhouette was emblazoned across the long, velvet curtain hanging behind the hideously decorated staircase he was climbing. His movements were eery and real, despite their paltry attempts to pantomime a grisly memory that none of them had ever lived. Each step was measured and dreamlike and perfect, like a person caught in a trance or a dead man called home to his rest by a spectral light.

Or in this case, a massive papier mache facsimile of a netherbrain hung from a scaffold over the stage.

Please, Please don't do this I'm begging you not to go Please, Please don't do this There's something you need to know What can I do to make you wait Convince a goddess to change your fate Please tell me that it's not too late There's something I didn't say…

"It can't be him, though. Can it?" Jory asked. "Didn't he, like," he pointed a finger toward the stage, "explode?"

"Oh, no. It's just a story, mate," came a voice from behind them. It was Velanthyr, the elf who played Astarion. They rounded the table and perched themself on the corner, placing their white wig beside them as they took a bite from an apple. "She's embellished tons of stuff. For emotional impact. They all do it."

I should have loved you since I met you I should have loved you all along

"That bard she played? In the first act?"

"Yeah?"

"She ain't really dead either."

"Seriously?"

I should have told you that I love you Instead of hiding behind a song

"My cousin met her. Said he saw her play someplace they had dinner."

"No shit?"

"It's true. She teaches music in Baldur's Gate."

Is there nothing left that I can do But fall to my knees and pray

"So what's with her, anyway?" Velanthyr asked, pointing their apple at Shayla while they wiped the juice from their lips with their other hand.

The tip of her tail flicked again, and slowly she wrapped her arms around her middle.

To any god or any devil Who'd keep you from walking away

"She's been acting weird all night," they said.

"S'what we were just talking about."

Please, Please don't do this! Turn around! This isn't right!

"We think the wizard might be out there," the intern told them. "The real one."

"Oh no," the elf laughed.

Please, Please don't do this! Please, I'm begging you to fight!

"Hope he has a sense of humor. It's about to get weird!"

"Weird?!" Sara growled at them, flinging her comb about.

Forget your fickle god's desire I'd cross the oceans, I'd walk through fire I'd conquer all the Hells entire For you And yes, I know you're tired

"The man is getting ready to watch himself die! And I'm sure I don't need to remind you his death is self-inflicted! If there's a chance that any of this is real? That the trauma this man survived is on display? You all need to show a little respect." She shook her head and turned back to her wig. "Shut up and let her listen."

Sara's words may have stung him, but Jory knew she was right. So he obeyed her, and he listened. And for the first time he truly heard the fragile warble of desperate heartache that Nelsyn had worked so hard to craft through her voice.

Come back to me and take your rest Indulge one overdue caress I'll steal the sorrow from your chest And confess, I will confess

But he didn't just uncover a new appreciation for his friend and her level of skill. There was more to it than that. There was a depth to this scene that he'd been missing before now.

There was a meaning. One that wasn't meant for the whole world.

It was only meant for one man.

He could sense it in the vibrant tension bound between Shayla Moonsong's shoulder blades.

And then Nelsyn grew quiet. Everything got quiet. The music made a subtle shift to something low and dulcet, but tense, like a string pulled too tight without snapping. Jory found his feet had led him to stand at Shayla's shoulder. He could hear her breathing through her teeth and he felt compelled to reach out and take her hand.

She took hold of it like a lifeline.

You're everything to me and more You're all that I've been fighting for You're more than just an end to war…

Nelsyn paused after that last note. It was important to the narrative, it was the whole point behind the wizard's story. But her longing would go deliciously unrequited, and would inspire a veritable deluge of creativity from fandom communities everywhere.

Shayla squeezed Jory's hand, squeezed her eyelids firmly shut. She held her breath and Jory could see Erik had reached the top of the rise. There he stood, a straight, unyielding figure gazing off into the liminal distance, resolute.

And he would never turn around.

It wouldn't be long. Any moment.

Nelsyn sang her penultimate line.

And I would give my life for yours…

She held the word so long it nearly sank into Jory's skin. It sent a wave goosebumps to crest over every inch of his body. The orchestra wove their way through their final, sweeping refrain, and the conductor brought them to a close on a plaintive harmony between a flute and an oboe.

And then the light collapsed.

It shrank to a small, pale circle that drew its stark and shining focus on a razor-slim shadow cast against the curtain.

In the shape of a dagger.

Erik lifted it high and turned its point toward his heart.

"Gods preserve me," Shayla mumbled to herself. It was the only sound Jory could hear aside from the sniffs and sniffles of the audience. Collectively they teetered at the edges of their seats, enthralled by a beautiful, mournful man who was counting the final seconds of his life with undaunted stoicism and courage.

Nelsyn could've whispered her final line if she wanted to, but instead it burst from her as a scream.

"Don't do this!!!"

Jory felt it thrum like a shockwave within his own chest, and beside him Shayla flinched. She squeezed his hand even harder.

"Just tell me when it's over," she said to him. And then suddenly there was a flurry of activity.

He took a step back and yanked her away from the door when a small flock of technicians flew in to crowd the space they left behind.

Up high, far in the corner, Jory saw the dagger move against the curtain. And all of the good people of Waterdeep gasped when they watched the blade meet its mark.

"Fire in the hole," a technician murmured beside him, and the spotlight on the curtain went black.

Then a pair of spells were cast that bathed the audience in a blinding aurora. It blazed with ribbons of vivid blues and purples and greens, speckled with myriad glittering white stars.

And an arrow of roaring thunder was launched far overhead. It detonated with such a resounding boom that it shook everything, even the floor boards beneath Jory's feet. It rattled seats and drinking vessels, it toppled music stands, and it made Erik's staircase sway alarmingly as it was wheeled backstage, with him still riding precariously at its top.

Shayla Moonsong's face fell into her hands.

"Go on," Erik sang as he danced his way down the stairs. "Tell me how devastating I was. Don't hold back. Tell me everything."

"You were spectacular, my love!" Velanthyr assured him as they ran to greet him, cradling his face in their hands and kissing him sweetly. "You always are."

"Were they weeping?" he asked his lover, nuzzling their face with his own. "The lights are so bright, I can never see."

"They were drowning in their tears, darling. Drowning."

"Is everything alright?" Sara asked as she approached on her tiptoes, reaching for Shayla's arm. Velanthyr's wig drooped at her side, forgotten. "What can I do?"

"I can't even look," Shayla whimpered through the palms that smothered her face.

"Oh honey," Sara cooed as she pulled the woman closer. And in a blessed act of mercy, she asked the question that no one wanted to ask, but someone needed to. Long before now, before this critical point had been breached.

"He's out there, isn't he?"

"I think I've made a huge mistake." Shayla slid her fingertips down to press against her lips, unable to form any other words. She could only shake her head, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"Do you want us to look? See if we can see him?"

"I don't think I wanna know."

"Where is he seated?"

"E6."

"Oh." Sara briefly grimaced at Jory, but didn't stop rubbing circles across Shayla's back. "Front and center. Of course."

"Yep." The way her lips popped at the end of the word only served to emphasize how mortified she was. "Wouldn't want him to miss anything."

"Well, of course not. He's your guest," Sara replied, jerking her chin in a way that suggested Jory had been volunteered for reconnaissance.

"Oh gods!" Shayla raked her claws past her horns to twist them into her hair. "I even told him he could invite his mother!"

"Well that's a perfectly reasonable thing to do, one would think."

Jory understood his assignment. He sauntered away but paused at the door frame. The show wasn't over yet. When the technicians finished collecting their gear, they scrambled off to safely stow their rockets and retrieve the set pieces for the final scenes. They were dragging the staircase away from the main thoroughfare when Corinne, the woman who played the narrator, whipped past them.

"Coming through," she chimed, racing out to center stage, taking her place before the curtains could rise once more. Her final soliloquy would lead them into the epilogue, and would give Jory the opportunity he needed to cast his eyes past the orchestra pit and across the section of seats that lie beyond.

Front and center.

He would only have a minute or two. Sara would need to replace Velanthyr's wig. Erik needed a drink and Nelsyn's makeup needed a touch up. Very soon they would be on stage, the lights burning holes through their retinas, leaving them blinded and oblivious to all but each other and the saga they would spin to its end. He reached up to buckle the clasp on the bear pelt that draped across his shoulders.

For now, it was the narrator's turn. But he was ready. And then the curtains rose.

He smashed his face against the door frame like a cat burglar. A shaft of light swung down upon the stage illuminating Corinne at its center, and Jory peered out into the darkness it left in its wake. He squinted until he found the end of the section behind the orchestra pit, and he started counting backwards from there.

But seat E6 was empty.

Certain he'd made a mistake, he counted back again to double check, to be extra sure.

But he was right the first time.

"It's empty," he muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

"What?" Shayla cried as she spun to face him.

"Yeah," he told her. "I counted twice to make sure I had the right seat, but no one's in it."

"Oh gods." She began to pace, wringing her hands. "What about the one next to it?"

"Which side?"

"Just tell me if you see an older woman."

"Umm, okay." At first he wasn't certain. There was a child on the right side, but on the left was a person who'd stood up, and was bent with their back toward him, like they were reaching for something. "I think… maybe. Yeah. I think so. It looks like she's getting up. She's picking up a bag or something. Is that a cat?"

"Tara?"

"Who brings a cat to a -"

"She's not a cat. She's a tressym."

"What the hell is a tress- holy shit, it's got wings! It just flew over - oh! Oh, I think I see him!"

"Where!"

The tressym sailed through the air to float beside a tall, slender man who was moving quickly up the aisle toward the exit. He wasn't running, out of proper respect for social decorum, but he had the energy of a man who wished he was. His shoulders were hitched up near his ears and he was stifling his mouth with the back of one hand.

And a shiver ran down Jory's spine.

This was the guy. The wizard. The real one.

Gale Dekarios, of Waterdeep.

In the flesh. Right there.

From what little Jory could see, the play had done him justice. He was a very handsome man, lithe and lean, long-legged with a powerful stride, and every bit as comely as Erik had depicted him to be.

Yet it was hard to imagine, through simple sight alone, that this was a man who had once been the Chosen of a god. Or that this was a man who had once vanquished the avatar of Death itself. A man who had put an end to the Cult of the Absolute.

A man who had once made his own decision about whether or not to plunge a dagger into his heart.

But it was easy to see why Shayla would want to stop him. This man clearly meant something to her.

He didn't know what providence deemed it necessary for him to ask. It certainly wasn't any of his business. But the question tumbled out of his mouth, unbidden. Perhaps the gods themselves just wanted to hear someone finally say it out loud.

"Does he know how you feel about him?"

Shayla slumped and let her hands fall limp to her sides. She pulled her lip into her mouth, and her eyes swam with visions of regret. "No," she whispered to him. "It was never the right time."

Oh, how irony could be so cruel.

"You should go after him, then," he told her. "Go quick. If you hurry, you can catch him before he gets to the front door."

"Shit!" she snarled and for a moment, Jory was afraid she'd scurry across the stage in the middle of Corinne's long and emotional speech. There was a wild streak in him that almost hoped she would. But instead, she bolted through the loading bay doors and flung herself outside, presumably to tear down the alley between the theater and the wine cellar to run around the building toward the front.

Nelsyn wandered over to them, sipping cold water from her mug and watching over her shoulder as the loading bay doors swung back and forth on their hinges.

"Jory," she stated flatly. "What did you do."

"What?!" he cried. Sara could only double over and laugh at him. "I didn't do anything!"

"Somebody did something," she said, eyeing the doors skeptically. "And it looks a lot like it was you."

"I'm serious! She asked if we could see him, and I told her yes. That's all."

"See who?"

"The wizard!"

"What wizard? You mean, like… Erik?"

"No!" He stuck out both hands and shook them. "The actual wizard! The real one, from Waterdeep! Yes, he's still alive! No, he didn't explode!"

"Well, everybody knows that…"

"She wanted to know where he was, so I told her, and then she ran out the door."

"Wait. So he was actually here tonight?"

"Jory," Sara accused him, still smiling pitifully at him as she crossed her arms over her chest. "That's not all you said to her."

"But I didn't -"

"You asked her a pretty personal question."

"Where was he sitting?" Nelsyn continued as she took another drink and leered at him over the rim over her mug.

"E6."

"Wow. Front and center."

"Yeah. She didn't want him to miss anything."

"So what did you ask her?"

Jory could only roll his eyes and sigh. None of them had time for this. He dropped his head and pinched his brow between his thumb and his forefinger but when he looked up, he found all eyes were on him. Even Erik and Velanthyr had paused their conversation long enough to turn around and stare. The technicians in the back tried to appear as if they weren't listening, but everyone knew they were. Suddenly, he could feel the heat that was trapped beneath the heavy mantle of his bear pelt.

"I asked her if he knew how she felt about him."

"What do you mean, how she felt…" And through the window of her eyes he could see her mentally calculating every single word she'd just sung. Right in front of the very man it was all intended for. Seated front and center, missing nothing. Her eyes flickered like golden flames.

"Holy shit," she breathed. "Like… feelings? Real ones? What did she say?"

He didn't get to answer. Just then, raucous applause erupted from behind them. The thunderous retort of clapping hands and cheers drowned all other sound, and signaled to them all that their time was up. Corinne came skipping backstage as the curtains fell behind her.

"And that's a wrap for me! Slam and a dunk! Go get 'em while they're - what's going on?"

"The wizard was here tonight," Nelsyn answered her without breaking her eye contact with Jory. "The real one. Shayla is in love with him. What did she sayyy?"

"No," he told her, holding very still while Sara dabbed a powder puff over his face. "She said no. He doesn't know."

"Are you serious?" Corinne gasped, pressing a hand to her heart.

"Well he does now," Sara chuckled, wriggling her eyebrows as she dropped the powder back into her cosmetics case. "I hope she caught him before he got away. He deserves an explanation."

And all around them, activity buzzed. Scenic backdrops rolled by, the intern fussed with Velanthyr's wig on her tiptoes, Sara dug frantically around searching for her lip stain, and the other actors began lining up to take their places. But in spite of the jubilant bustle of life happening all around them, Nelsyn could only stand with her mug in her hands, awestruck by the revelation they'd just been given.

"Sweet tapdancing Asmodeus," she laughed, shaking her head with her eyes transfixed on some far away place. "You mean to tell me that this whole time," she jostled the water in her mug when she bellowed, "THIS WHOLE TIME?! This whole play has been just a great big love letter to some… man?! For months?! And he only just heard it? Tonight? For the first time?"

"I think that about sums it up, yep," Sara told her, taking the mug from her hands.

"That's genius!" She shuffled to her place in line, utterly befuddled, her eyes glassy and glazed. "They're star-crossed, it's perfect! I wish this would've happened months ago! Just you wait, you'll see. When all the little fan fic authors out there find out about this? They are gonna go berserk! People everywhere will pay money for a vial of our sweat! The contents of our chamber pots - we'll be famous!

"Gods have mercy on us all. There might even be a sequel. We'll be touring this show til the day we die!"

************************************************************************

[bhaalbaaby]

Mods I Use and Recommend!

I love mods and my game is modded to the hells as far as cosmetics and some gameplay. Here is a list of most if not all the mods I use or recommend! 

Disclaimers: I use BG3MM, not Vortex, so I don't know how modding works with that. Also all the mods will let you know how they can be downloaded ei through a mod manager like BG3MM or if they need to go to the /data folder! Read through their page to see how! Also as with any mod to games, be aware they can break your game. These mods stay updated for the most part and haven't broken my game really either. If you have any issues, most of the time the creator can assist, or a simple uninstall of the mod in BG3MM and deleting it and reinstalling it, works, unless it's a Patch issue which the creator will be aware of most of the time lol.

happy modding (updated jan 12th, 2024) - not updated for patch 7

Character Creation

Faces

New Character Creation Presets - I love these presets, they’re all gorgeous and unique! Most of the time, I’m using these.

Customizer’s Compendium - NPC faces unlocked for creation. I mostly use this when I’m dicking around in the beginning like seeing Astarion in different eye colors lol

Faces of Faerun - Very unique heads to use! I’ve seen people use them, but not as often as they should lol

Alt-Shadowheart Head Presets - Presets that are just edits of SH’s and Kagha’s face

Some Heads for Bodytype 2 - A lot of Male Heads! They’re very unique and pretty.

Gufery’s Head Presets - I love how unique these faces are. I haven’t used them yet, but I do have them downloaded. If you want a face that not everyone uses or has used, I recommend it!

M Half-Elf Head 2 Alt Style 

Addy’s Head Presets

Weeviljester’s Ethereal + Meadow Heads - Unique Heads to use! Similar to Gufery as I haven’t seen people using these.

XX’s New Female Head Preset for Human, Drow, Elf, Half-Elf, Tiefling - cute head. reminds me of a pixie.

Dwarf Head 6 For Human, Elves, Drow, and Half-Elves

Head Presets and Glass Skin - T2 and T4 - - Pretty faces for masculine bodies. I haven’t used the glass skin edit though.

Vemperen Heads for Elf Tiefling Human, Drow, Half-Elf - A pretty face preset

Cosmetics and Hair

Tav’s Hair Salon - Such a comprehensive hair mod! It has so many different hairstyles that are mostly edits of the hair in the game, but I love them so much.

Ellian’s Hair - Very pretty hair, not quite lore-friendly, but I love them

Vessnelle’s Hair Collection - Very cute lore-friendly hairs for everyone!

Honey’s Hair Kitchen (WIP) - more lore-friendly hair

De-Accessorized NPC Hairstyles - Adds a jeweless option to Orin’s and Umberlee’s Hair

Variant of Orin’s Hair - Adds bangs to Orin’s hair, not without the accessories.

Astralities’ Hair Color Supplement - I love these hair colors! I love that you can change the color of your eyebrows and lashes too!

Horns of Faerun - Pretty horns that you most likely have seen around lol, it does have horns for everyone however like Saer’s

Saer’s Horns - New Horn options for everyone - unique horns, but they are unlocked for all races, so just be aware.

Ghouls Customization Compendium - Custom Heads Horns and Beards - cute horns and stuff. Penelope's Heart Horns are here

Trips’ Accessory Collection - More Piercings and Glasses! May clip with some custom faces though

Eyes of the Beholder - Necessary if you download the heart eyes mod I’ll link below, but unlocks different colors and allows for custom irises and such!

Suan Eyes Preset - This is where Penelope’s Heart Eyes are from! Eyes of the Beholder are required to get this to work

P4 Custom Eye Colours - More eye colors

Kailime Eyes Illithid Soul - I just added these, but they’re so pretty!

Astralities’ Skintone Expansion - Natural Tones - More skin tones

P4 Custom Tattoo and Makeup Colours - More colors for makeup and tattoos

NPC Eye Skin and Hair Colours For Tav - Adds NPC colors to your options

Makeup and Tattoo Edits - Changes some of the tattoos to be blush and color on the lips and edits some of the eye makeup as well.

Freckles and Moles as Tattoo Replacers - More freckles and mole options with tattoos

Unvisual Volo’s Eye - Yes that buff is so necessary, but it’s boring that everyone has it so this makes it so it’s there, but you have your regular eye colors.

Unique Tav - I haven’t downloaded this because I do like some of the options already in the game and don’t wanna lost them, but this is recommended if you download tattoos or makeup and don’t want to share it with NPCs

Clothes and Body Mods

Basket Full of Equipment - There are SFW/NSFW versions. I use the NSFW version because I am a heathen lol there are heavy weight wise btw in the game so you definitely will be heavily encumbered 😭

Mizora Dress Retexture - TW3 Triss Edition - Witcher-themed again, but for Mizora's dress! Basket Full of Equipment is required for this to work.

Io's Outfit Collection - Cool outfit collections

Modular Equipment - Adds more accessories via belt/underwear layer

Ciri's Clothes - Witcher Based clothes, or more adventurous looks. I like the boots

Sharlotte's Dress Mod - Dresses galore for everyone

Simple Gold Necklaces - Necklaces ♥ They're so cute

Druu's Clothes and Armours - Cute outfits for Bards, Clerics and Wizards (though it can be for anyone t1)

Purchasable Camp Clothes and Underwear - Don't wanna wait until Act 3 for all the cute stuff? Here you go!

Extra Dyes For the Fashionable Folk of Faerun - Unlimited Dyes for Armor and stuff!

Divine Curse Mod Series - Sexy clothes and body mods. All of them are listed at the bottom of the mod.

Scantily Camp Outfit - Sexy clothes for camp

Beautiful Curvy Body and Sexy Outfits - More thicc bodies for t1. It does change everyone so just be aware. It is also very selective still for clothes and there may be clipping. Just have to go through and see what is compatible. If it's in the game, it most likely will work though. Custom outfits may not

Beautiful Nipples Textures (Body Skin) - Small fix for nipples that I use with the BCB ^^

No Abs for Companions and PC - Not everyone is ripped lol 

Universal Armour Fixer - Fixes armor mods

Miscellaneous

Bloodless - Dice inspired by Astarion!

Cute Dice Collection - Very cute dice!!

Gortash Redux - I only have the hair mod, but it makes him more scrungly face wise lol

Cheats/Gameplay Mods

No Inspiration Point Cap - No more only having 4 Inspo Points!

More Actions - Add more Actions to battles. Can be for everyone or just your party, or just the enemy if you bad.

Camp Event Notifications - Long resting is so important for the story. This lets you know if you have any cutscenes waiting. They also stack up.

Bags, Bags, Bags - It's nice, but I forget I have it and things get lost lol

Arachnophobia - NO MORE SPIDERS and Drider! I love this mod. Lets me actually play without having to deal with spiders. fantasy games pls stop with huge bugs

Show Approval Ratings in Dialogue Choices - Lets you know how your options affect your companions

Party Limit Begone - No more just 4 people! It can be a little OP/annoying, but I love it.

Tutorial Chest Summoning - Most of the clothes/armor cheats will be in the first chest from the Nautiloid, but with this, you can summon a temporary chest at any time. Comes in handy when things have updated!

Daughter of Lolth - Minthara - Good Recruitment - Recruit Minthara without killing the Tieflings! It works so far, but her romance is still borked.

More Noblestalk - Don't want to save the guy in the bibberbang or give his wife the noblestalk and wait until act 3? Here is some noblestalk ahead of time!

Bag of Holding - It's the thing! lol reduce your carrying weight with this bag of weight reduction

No Romance Limit (Polyamory Mod) - Romance everyone!!!

Achievement Enabler - Just in case certain mods don't allow you to get to achievements while playing. Needs Native Mod Loader first

Required

ImprovedUI - adds custom icons and stuff to mods that have it and helps mods work

Baldur's Gate 3 Mod Fixer - Lets mods work

BG3 Mod Manager - Download mods and stuff. The script extender is also built-in under tools!

Script Extender - some mods need the script to be edited, but they'll let you know and BG3MM will also let you know in case you don't have it downloaded.

[kalmiaphlox]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love ❤️

oooh thank you for this! I think I've done this before but it was a while ago and now I have a few more fics under my belt!

I'm Better Now, I know My Faults - my completed dadstarion long fic, coming in at 206k. I recently reread this, and while it's a fucking mess from my inability to stick with tenses in the first like 14 chapters (I promise I'll fix it one day, I'm so sorry new readers!!), I am super proud of what I created. It's not perfect, it's kinda long, but damn I wrote all of that and I miss my lil characters. I wrote well over 100k of it before I actually started posting online and every word was a labor of love.

Till Lies Break Our Hearts - current WIP. Arranged marriage AU between Astarion and my OC/Tav Hircine. Inspired by a lot of Korean manwhas that involve the same trope, I've been really enjoying writing this one. Manipulative Astarion and secretive women, what's not to like? Lots of Elder scrolls references, drow lore, spooky shit and eldritch happenings in this one so I have a lot of fun just doing whatever I want.

If You Give A Vampire A Polymorph Scroll - probably my favorite short fic of Astarion and his big (little) dragon gf getting up to funny business in Waterdeep. Crimes and lots of biting to be had with these two goobers. I just like silly stories

Crash Landing - a little dad-batstarion. Astarion learns how to fly as a bat and becomes much to confident. A cute little fluffy story. Also one of my faves.

Damn, this is what it feels like to be you? - this one is definitely a labor of love... I've struggled a lot with just keeping the characters properly differentiated and then I could complain all day about writing smut lol but it's been a ton of fun writing something so different, especially for a character that is resistant to this type of stuff.

[mogruith]

🏆🧩🎲🧠📚🔥

(is this too many?)

Hahaha oh my gosh so many! Love it! The energy!!

🏆 How do you celebrate accomplishments?

Oooh, hmm... I usually just blab about it to my bestie and leave it at that but if it's something big (graduating from my Masters program was the last big one I can think of) I will probably have a nice meal and some drinks with my siblings and friends. Not very exciting, I'm a pretty low-key person lol

🧩 What are some of your hobbies?

I have some that I do a lot and others I do very sparingly. Besides obvious gaming and stuff, I love photography although I switched to mostly Virtual Photography over COVID. Sparingly, I like to fix/tinker with clocks and watches (nothing extensive tho) - I find it rewarding.

🎲 Loot you would carry if you were an NPC?

Besides the usual keys, wallet, phone, I also carry a STUPID amount of keys (at least for work) and Mace lol - I also almost always have some kind of earbud on me - always listening to something.

🧠 What is your personality type?

I assume this is in reference to MBTI stuff. Last time I took it (a few years ago for a work seminar) I got ISFJ. I don't tend to put much stock in these but I think it's a decent broad-brush of my personality:

📚 Currently reading?

I'm nearly done with Daughter of the Drow. I haven't been keeping up with my attempts to do more reading these days lol

🔥 What are you passionate about right now?

In case my unhinged Tumblr posts haven't made it obvious, I am apparently very passionate about collecting everybody's sad wet drow OCs as my personal pets lmao. Okay but for real, I have been trying to dig into the Forgotten Realms lore to understand drow more 'cause I just find them really interesting! Thank you for all the wonderful questions, you're really sweet!!

[kawareo]

PSSSST 2 for the writer question meme

2. How does their race play into the design? Was it a conscious choice because of the racial features or did you simply enjoy the playstyle or lore?

Sooo Strike is a drow and when I made him one i admittedly had no idea about most of DnD and drow in general, I was just making my favorite OC to see what he'd look like in bg3 lol, it's why he doesn't really look like a drow or other drow ingame

BUT after getting way too into the Bhaalspawn stuff and bg3 lore and everything, I can confidently say that I found excuses reasons for why Bhaal would've made him that way.

the drow are considered a 'scary' race, Bhaal would've wanted that for his child, and they're kind of like... a degradation of a 'noble' race of elves? At least they're considered as such, they give off the high and mighty vibe and can do everything elves can but they're also considered lesser than surface dwellers.

They have a fucked up culture that's centered around an evil god(ess), but one that is not Bhaal. Strike could therefore relate to them but only from afar as they would've never accepted him as one of their own, which leads me to my next point

Isolation. That comes in two ways; one because people who aren't that familiar with elves and drow see a drow and assume the worst, so noone in their right mind would want to associate with him if they knew (Strike has to roll a persuasion check whenever he meets someone new and tells them that he's actually an elf), but because he doesn't fully look like a drow, everyone who does know them better will get this awful uncanny valley feeling about him. Like something is wrong but you can't really point it out, you know?

and another important thing is that Strike is a cis man, which puts him at the very bottom of social hierarchy of the lowest rank of an elf. Drow men are basically slaves and are treated as such, which means that his entire life he was constantly aware that without Bhaal and the title of being his scion, he would still, always, be a slave.

So yeah essentially me not knowing how drow work or look turned out really well because Bhaal is just enough of a bitch that I could totally see him make a mismatch of a person who will never be able to fit anywhere and whom noone will respect unless if he uses his Father's name and power to assert himself, but in any case, he created someone who will be unable to relate to anyone and find any other home outside of the temple.

[ckda]

Val'ka'h - Bg3 Dark Urge/Tav

Here’s my once Tav-now Durge, named Val’ka’h. He’s a small storm sorcerer, probably chaotic neutral or good for alignment. He very much became his own character after my tav playthrough. As I finish’s up the Durge one, he’s really come into a full one. Now he has a whole (horrific) backstory with all the angst that comes with being a pretty male Drow and ya know all the Dark Urge junk. Some fun little tidbits under the pics but some a spoiler-ish just a warning.

Have way too much lore below the cut.

Val’ka’h

- had no idea when I started Drow pretty much only have white hair if not half, so his name changed to be named after thar trait. Not sure how accurate that drow naming conventions list was on reddit but here we are lol

- I wanted really long hair so I got the mod for that very soon in…which led me too giving him the same hairstyle as Orin in my tav playthrough before even knowing who she was. This went great with the Durge stuff because I think it would be sad if they used to do eachothers styles if they were ever close.

- His powers woke up kinda late in him, as a means of desperation to survive when his agency and independence was threatened at its worse. I like his powers being based around the sky and mostly lightning magic since there is no sky in the underdark. The powers also made him even more sought after though to be used.

- Full on glass canon. A very powerful sorcerer rediscovering his abilities but damn does he have so few hit points. He’s killed people with just a cantrip and enough lightning chargers in my playthroughs, but gets downed at some point like every other fight.

- Women probably kinda freak him out because of past experiences. Just listen to Minthara talk for 5 seconds you'll get it. He doesnt show this at ALL though and also realizes it’s a bit irrational outside of the where he’s from. Karlach scared the fuck out of him after killing Alfira without her realizing. Eventually, he becomes plenty comfortsble with the girls though, each in there own way.

- I had the original idea after delving into some drow and underdark stuff that Elisitree and Lolth kinda shared space in his head. His power I think came from her, or at least maybe parentage side that worshipped her, and woke in him as a means to free him from Lolth, which only sort of worked as Elisitree is a goddess but still struggles for grasp with her people in the underdark. Not sure if that’s how any of that would “accurately” work but whatever.

- Dark Urge playthrough altered this, as I think that Bhaal actually being the one to step in the or at least claiming to be as a means to pull him into loyalty towards him. Elisitree I think would still be fun to hace a play here, thlugh again, trouble gaining a foothold or even communicating maybe because of the power inbalance.

- This worked even better because the instance when his powers first arose, I imagined it was a huge burst and lash out and killed a large amount of those in the House he was currently in servitude for. So this likely could garner attention from Bhaal.

- He tries to sing, but only where no one can hear him.

- LOTS of scars. Durge typical stuff I figure, along with hard time prior to the surface. I romanced Karlach on Tav run as she was my fav but as I was making Val'ka'h more characterized Astarion or Lae'zel made more sense. Ended up with Astarion cause him with Durge in general is just so damn fitting. So thats where the neck bite is from heh.

- Obviously, he eventually got to the surface to escape the hunting and huge target on his back. So now he has a fuck ton of freckles from the sun.

- Along with the black hair, I gave him the unique claws/nails and fangs was just fun. This I think could've been seen as "unique beauty" within the drow so maybe thats why his mother kept him alive against the norm for male drow born in his standing.

- He LOVES music but has never gotten to pursue it to any degree and is extremely shy about trying to and his interest in it at all. He kept one of each type of instrument all throughout the journey, mostly quietly and not noticed since picking them up was so far apart until Astarion noticed them all when they holed up in Elfsong in the city. He doesn't bring it up but does buy him a music box. (If you haven’t used one in game yet, go do that.)

I have WAY more I could talk about with him but I'll end it here. Im about to confront Orin after Astarion's ordeal so maybe more of the backstory will change around it. I posted this to the bg3 community page without realizing how damn long it is, and I was holding back then...geez haha

[meanbossart]

LORE ASK COMPILATION: "Still not banging Halsin, Squid Games, Sun King, Failing at love quizzes, Bottoms, Tops, and Cats" Edition

He didn't, Halsin wasnt around for act 3, too busy healing land and saving ghost children or something!

THANK YOU/I'M SORRY, I'm surprised there isn't more Bhaalist Dark Urge/Spawn Astarion stuff out there. Don't get me wrong, I love a good evil power couple, but who can resist the good ol'heartbreak of a vicious unending cycle brought on by your own senselessness!

That wasn't something I was interested in previously just because acquiring the slayer form isn't part of his canon, but I've been looking at enough fromsoft games' monster designs that I might be a little inspired to try LOL

Also I am just a fan of the canon design and never before thought it needed altering. But I'll let it cook ;)

God damn it.

DU drow was VERY antagonizing towards the emperor since the moment he dropped the facade, which made the attempt ESPECIALLY hilarious - that poor guy is so, so lonely.

I don't recall the exact wording in-game, but once the emperor took his shiny squid pecs out and shot his shot, DU drow recoiled and called him disgusting. After having the visions of Stelmane forced upon him to make whatever baffling point the emperor was trying to make, DU drow smugly asserted that he had finally let the mask slip and their very terrible date ended with the Emperor enforcing their reluctant need for one another, for the time being.

In-prose, that would honestly be pretty much it. DU drow would have reacted with absolute revulsion at the prospect of being hit on by a mindflayer, and taken the Emperor's (miscalculated) moment of lashed-out vulnerability as a win - as proof that he was exactly as duplicitous as he always assumed the Emperor to be.

I can assure everyone that I am as entertained by the thought as the rest of you and it is in the cards for future art, I just have... So many prompts... I have at least 5 different mini-comics I want to make, BESIDES singular pieces, BESIDES the fanfic... I wish I had more time and more hands.

But DU drow's unlikely semi-success as a parental figure is hilarious to me. I think about it constantly.

I haven't entertained that thought much because its antithetical to DU drow's character. Whether "good" or evil, he wouldn't allow Astarion to ascend because of his fear of no longer being needed and his reluctance to watch his partner be consumed by out-sourced power and changed into something he despises. Realistically, in a world where Astarion is allowed to ascend they could only break up and inevitably kill each other soon after.

That said, I am fascinated by the Sun King and the implications that path has for his character. So far that is an arc that I can only really see Astarion taking on alone, though - that might change in the future, might not. We'll see!

IF I CAN MAKE IT NOT ENTIRELY MISERABLE, I JUST MIGHT.

He got 2 out of 3 questions wrong - which is to say he was way too honest and Astarion didn't like that.

Except for the "when is he the happiest" question, which he correctly answered with "when he's neck deep in gore".

This is not even a lore-embelishment, this is actually how that scene went for me and I cackled about it for ages.

He would love to get tied up for old-times' sake. I doubt he knows much about fancy knots but Astarion might (though I might be in a minority that doubts his enforced "sex life" was actually that interesting at all.)

Thank you so much!

You are mostly correct. Bhaalist drow, both pre and post tadpole would be much more keen on the idea of having people around who fulfill their every desire - EXCEPT for killing. That is a joy they take on for themselves.

"Canon" DU drow values his independence a lot, on the other hand. He's neutral on the idea of slavery (what a sentence) and wouldn't be opposed to temporary servicing, but the idea of having someone around waiting for orders doesn't attract him at all, or at least would get on his nerves quick. He much preffers to do things himself and makes sure that other people see how much he does not need assistance.

The answer is yes, basically LOL.

DU drow both adores and despises Sceleritas presence and he doesn't know why. It very much reflects the type of relationship they used to have prior to DU drow's memory loss, and it's one of those things that he has conflicting feelings about but not any context for them.

I sadly doubt that the boys would become parents during Shadowheart's lifetime (it's for the best, they have a lot of work to do before I would trust them not to drop a baby), but honestly she strikes me as really liking kids as long as she doesn't have to, well, have them LOL.

And thank you so much for enjoying them and humoring me!

I think it is less about bottoming-topping and more about enjoying a more submissive role during sex, as well as in other scenarios. He believes that giving control away is, in a way, a show of devotion that goes both ways - his own for the willingness to do so, and his partner's for not taking advantage of it despite his wanting them to do so.

With one-night-stands (which he occasionally had pre-tadpole) he would still bottom without any of the submissiveness. This is because he didn't have the capacity to understand what it was about bottoming that attracted him, and led him to feeling constantly unfulfilled and frustrated (he just isn't build for no-strings-attatched type of arrangements, lol.)

This means that he really could operate either way depending on the partner as long as he got that fix of docility, whether it be from the bottom or top.

I think of Astarion as being similarly versatile but leaning more in the opposite direction when it comes to power-dynamics - though it being less about dominance itself and more about being pampered and catered to - and, of course, getting to do what he wants. Though he's willing to try most things a partner is particularly enthusiastic for just to see how he feels about it.

That said with DU drow he does prefer to top for a plethora of reasons.

I didn't have this piece of lore thought-up at the time, but I should have made them look like the lady he lost his virginity to.

Him and Astarion were gobbling those things up until the emperor reveal, then they both quit it cold-turkey after DU drow stomped the astral-tadpole dead (and back then you didn't have to roll any dice to do it, because otherwise we would have weird veiny DU drow to deal with for sure because he would NOT have suceeded that save.)

DU drow's feelings towards animals is a constant in every iteration of his character. They are organic little pieces of art wandering about the world that act upon their own laws and regulations, ones which humanoids aren't privy to - except for when they intrude into that world through magic and try to understand it through their overly-complicated systems and concepts. If a cat made the temple it's home, it can stay.

[eachuisge-cc]

hi! you're a real one when it comes to high quality fantasy cc, i cannot thank you enough for that, your stuff is awesome.

i really enjoy your cat people as a sort of pseudo-occults, and I've been considering starting a save that was focused on them (especially now that you shared those lovely townies). i've been wondering if you ever wrote down more lore around them anywhere, besides the little snippets in tags? if not, are you planning to do something like that at some point?

besides that, do you have any plans to make any updates/additions for the digi legs? recently i noticed there wasn't a full fur version for the cat/wolf paws which i think is a bit of a shame ^^'

again, i really want to thank you for doing what you do, both the sims cc and your skyrim mod. your horses were part of the reason i got skyrim a while back, and have been playing with the mod since the start!

thank you, really glad you're enjoying my stuff!

I don't have have any sort of lore document for them which is actually fairly unusual for me (I love making lore docs and charts for fictional species. so much. I have so many for so many things), but it's mainly because I was still developing them as a concept and honestly thought literally nobody would be interested lol. turns out a few people are though and that's all the excuse I need to make another lore doc so I'm actually planning to do that soon. it probably won't be as in-depth and concrete as like, my takes on cathar or drow, but I've actually got a fair bit of unspoken lore floating around in my head at this point.

the cat paws actually do have a full overlay now, it's up in the downloads for the NSFW version and I forgot to also add them to the SFW ones. I'll be fixing that, and a couple other small housekeeping things I've noticed/been alerted to, after the holidays. for now though you can just grab the merged paw/hoof packages from the NSFW version, it's the exact same file I just upload it with both versions for convenience. everything will get a full variant eventually, it's just a bit more work intensive and the current priority is getting all the planned foot types finished. I'm making good progress on some horse hooves, and the last one currently planned is a tridactyl bird/reptile/dinosaur type foot that will end up having both scaled and feathered overlay options. everything will get a full overlay eventually, probably in tandem with a matching NSFW leg variant.

[beecreeper]

1 and 2 for the creator one? Leaving the OC choice to whom you wanna ramble about

I wanna ramble about both lol so I'm gonna

1.) What or who inspired your durge design the most? A particular idea or vibe or perhaps another hottie or baddie?

For Briar, I initially took a lot of inspiration from 70’s hippie murderer vibes, like the manson family or Sheri Moon Zombie's character house of 1000 corpses and stuff.

For Ferox the inspiration was this tiktok specifically.

I saw this man and went I NEED TO MAKE THIS A CHARACTER IMMEDIATELY. His personality also heavily inspired by the song "Who I'd Be" from Shrek the Musical.

2.) How does their race play into the design? Was it a conscious choice because of the racial features or did you simply enjoy the playstyle or lore?

I have distinct memories of being devastated that Briar was leaning towards being human as I was designing her. I was like "nooooo humans are boring tho..." but none of the other races seemed to fit the vision as it was coalescing. I almoooost made her a drow, but it just didn't seem right. In the end I'm glad she ended up human. I justify it in universe that Bhaal wanted her to be able to blend in and be able to lull people into a false sense of security, so a hot human woman was the choice.

For Ferox, I am historically a big fan of the “big boy who is a nervous softie” trope and also a certified orc enjoyer (no inherently evil races! I love nuanced orcs!!). I had already known that I needed to make an orc durge/tav eventually, if not next, so when the inspiration hit it was a no brainer. I was specifically drawn to the idea of an orc raised by goblins because the mental image was so charming to me. Big smashy boy surrounded by tiny chaos guys egging him on >:3

[halsinsbignaturals]

Photodump of some screenshots I finally took of my Dark Urge, Nesya (aka Nes). She is a half-drow Way of Shadow monk. Going for redemption route.

I was really sad the base game didn't have solid black or white eyes as an option since I wanted the scarred eye to look nonfunctional but its fine lol.

I looove this braid from the Tav's Hair Salon mod. Not just for lore reasons but it also has nice physics and feels right for a monk.

As I play, I've been building her up to be an unarmed build bc I like the idea of a Durge that likes to just beat the shit out of people and tear them apart with their hands. And for the most part, I'm having her approach things from the standpoint of not wanting to kill innocents senselessly but quenching The Urge with letting herself loose on baddies without much thought. Also letting out aggression through intimidation (the buff is just so good, ofc I'm gonna make the roleplay work). Anyway, it's my first Durge run so I'm still fleshing out how to play her without missing out on fun Durge-specific stuff.

[dantes-divine]

I would like to ask about elowen’s extensive lore-compliant backstory, please!

HIIIII I LOVE UUUUUU thanks for asking

basically, Elowen is the bastard daughter of the fifth daughter of house Faen Tlabbar in Menzoberranzan, ~1200s when house Faen Tlabbar was the seventh house of the city. as the firstborn daughter, she was meant to be honored--but her mother had fallen for a wood elf during a (failed) surface raid, and so Elowen is of impure blood. balancing these two facts--a deeply fanatical house unable to kill a firstborn daughter for fear of angering lolth, but also wanting to destroy the impure--her mother was killed and she was kept alive, but treated the way men in menzoberranzan are treated. subservient and forbidden from learning magic, she trained with Faen Tlabbar's weaponsmaster for a time before fleeing the city and taking up with the mercenary band bregan d'aerthe.

bregan d'aerthe is an infamous mercenary band of drow renegades, founded and led by a son of house baenre. she served for a time, learning to tame beasts of the underdark, wield a bow with precision alongside her dual shortswords, master stealth and tracking. this is how she became a gloomstalker ranger!! she combined her affinity for stealth and ambush with weapons skills and knowledge of poisons, multiclassing into assassin rogue!

this was a time of tumult for bregan d'aerth, though, as it followed on the heels of conspiracy within the organization and the deaths of important members such as arathis hune. splintering loyalties, questioning whether jarlaxle baenre was capable of leadership, all that good stuff. fearing questioned loyalty and a knife in the back, elowen left behind the violence of the underdark to search for her father.

she tracked his whereabouts down the sword coast, learning the ways of rangers on the surface. here she sheltered for a time with the druids of the emerald grove, but was never fully accepted due to her appearance, and quickly moved on. her father's trail led her to a city like none she'd ever seen--baldur's gate! overwhelmed in the urban environment, she was still struggling to find him when she was abducted by mindflayers B)

she's unfamiliar with surface customs and deeply disconcerting as a heavily armed, light-footed, lolth-sworn drow with black eyes and heavy makeup. this is why she has low charisma lol--but she's neutral good! she wants to help everyone and be kind, but unfortunately rolls chronically low on everything, especially charisma checks.

her religious background, reverence of house baenre, and history with the emerald grove make her especially close to shadowheart, minthara, and halsin, but she looks up to wyll more than anyone and considers him and karlach her best friends.