#councilor zojja

[ratasum]

"Okay, boys. This has gone on long enough. Both of you knock it off and sit down so we can talk about this like adults."

As things wound down from the Tyrian Alliance meeting, those still milling around the old Guild Hall found themselves confronted with a surprising situation: Logan's half-brother Zio slipping in and tackling his previously-supposedly-deceased older brother, starting a fight.

Amusing as it may have been at first, Zojja doesn't have the patience. And she wastes no time reminding Logan that she spent a year training with Mabon, and she's not afraid of using her unlocked magic to break it up if they don't do it themselves.

[ratasum]

Goodness I've had so many new guys this year! Had a big roster shift.

There's so many of them, I'm going to put them under a cut so as not to kill everyone's dashes. I've skipped some I don't have a lot of detail on yet.

Signe Robbasdottir, a young norn who was injured by Svanir as a child whiel at the Snow Leopard shrine, and she has since dedicated her life to becoming a shaman of Snow Leopard... and absolutely wrecking the days of any Svanir who cross her path. Generally solemn, she has a dry wit and a very subtle sense of humor.

Naqai! The granddaughter of Councilor Flax, she is a very rebellious young woman. Despite how much she loves her grandfather, she disapproves of how the council beds with the Inquest. Beyond that, she's energetic, bubbly, and perky... think a bit like Bubbles from Powerpuff Girls if she could strike you with lightning.

Xeonna, an asura from Rata Novus who was knocked into a specimen containment tube during the city's last moments and was awakened by Taimi's research team when the city was rediscovered. Lost and bitter, she struggles to find her way in this modern world, though she has found some companionship in the gladium charr Umbra.

Rosamund "Rosie" Marriner is the great-grandaughter of Cobiah Marriner himself, and one of my alternate commanders. The younger of four children and the only girl, she's bright, determined, and fiercely protective of the city her grandfather helped build. She has an extreme dislike for Ellen Kiel and what she's done with the city.

Another of my alternate commanders, Rhenn is my Inquest golden boy. Genetically engineered by his father to be the "perfect asura," he actually remained with the Inquest through most of his tenure as commander, until just after Joko's death. He's cocky, headstrong, and stubborn, but deep down he's a lonely young man who desperately seeks approval.

My girl Leyya! Absolute tragedy who's going through it in SotO. A childhood friend (and definitely something more throughout their lives) of Zojja's, she disappeared in HoT after getting possessed by a cursed dagger in her guilt over what happened. Though she used to be very friendly and a bit sly, she's much more closed off these days.

My poor girl Ouiima was a gate tech intern working at Ulta Metamagical in Brisban. While there, working alone on a gate, she was grabbed and dragged off by a group of Nightmare Courtiers. Kept for four years, forced to fight other captives for food and even her own life, a once shy, gentle girl instead left angry, bitter, and violent. Probably not the best person to cross.

Kippa is a big part of Rhenn's story. Born and raised in the since-destroyed asuran city that sat above the Thaumanova reactor, she's an elementalist with powerful healing abilities that had been at the Durmand Priory. Soft, gentle, and exceedingly kind, she comes off as very unasuran in many ways. She chooses to put her pain back into the world as warmth and care.

My boy Rhenn's mysterious older sister who ran away right after he was born, when she was fifteen herself, Rhiia. Though she was aware her parents had "created" a younger sibling for her, she knew her days were numbered as a result. She hasn't been home since, but genuinely feels bad for leaving Rhenn in the horrific conditions he wound up growing up in.

Praxxi is the last of my three alt commanders. Widowed when her spouse, who would have been commander, died at Claw Island, she chose to continue the mantle in their honor, and for the life of her teenage son. Lonely and lost, she has done her best to carry on, even as the responsibilities grow heavier with every new one that gets laid on her shoulders.

Silas Dreadpyre is a former Flame Legionnaire and adherent to Efram's teachings, sent out into the world to get a feel for the world beyond their ranks. In doing this, he eventually met Ahlma, a member of the Order of Whispers, growing close to her to the point of a relationship. He always looks very serious and is generally very chill, but he has a good sense of humor and loves to cook.

And speaking of Ahlma! A necromancer and cousin to one of my oldest characters, Qirri, she's a sassy, elegant, dramatic young woman that doesn't take any grief from anyone. One of the first people Silas got close to as he began to move outside the Flame Legion, she gladly took him under her proverbial wing... even if she initially had to break him of his outdated thoughts on her being trans.

The legionnaire of the Fist warband, Butch Crushfist is rowdy, vicious, and loyal to a fault. As the leader of an all female warband (that includes only one male, Dinky), she's quite proud of her position. Having formerly been a gladium who proved herself by putting together her group from other outcasts. All members of the warband use their fists to fight, regardless of their actual class.

And my very newest girl, for whom I'm using her art instead of a screenshot since she's off model, Pyxsi! With her mesmer construct prosthesis, as she was born without her left arm. The grandniece of Councilor Haia, she is as cunning, sly, and meticulous as her grandaunt... though that wasn't by accident. She recently pieced together that it was her aunt who arranged the deaths of her parents and grandparents in order to take her in.

Not that anyone ever needs a reason to post their characters, but I know some people get inside their head and squirrely so here you go, community prompt: Show off characters you have created this year! Go!

[commander-coppercogg]

Big Introduction Post!

Alright, me, my sibling and my boyfriend have made it to Claw Island on our joint play through. So time to introduce our characters!

Archaeologist Biarr (mine, pronouns: he/him, Chronomancer Mesmer)

Biarr showed a strong interest in history from a young age, always preferring to uncover old knowledge rather than discover new information. This was at odds with his mesmer magic, until he developed a mirror based backwards scrying technique that enabled him to discover ancient sites with an incredible amount of accuracy. This lead to him graduating with honors from the College of Statics. However, instead of pursuing fieldwork the way he wanted, Biarr was pressured by his politically minded father into becoming an aide for Councilor Ludo, an old mentor of Biarr’s. Stifled and bored, Biarr jumped at the chance to inspect and report on a Statics archaeological excavation in Bloodtide Coast. There he was shown a newly uncovered ancient Orrian mirror and attempted to use it to perform his backward scrying technique. The spell backfired, showing Biarr a horrific vision of the future where Zhaitan had corrupted all of Tyria before the mirror shattered causing the loss of Biarr’s eye. Returning to Rata Sum to recover, Biarr became involved in the events of the base game and ultimately broke ties with the Arcane Council and his father over the treatment of Professor Gorr and his research. Joining the Durmond Priory, Biarr rose quickly through the ranks and, surprising himself, become quite close with his partner Seiran. Loosing her at Claw Island was incredibly difficult for him.

Bjazz (my sibling’s character, pronouns: she/her, Engineer)

Biarr’s younger sister and a talented but highly distractible Engineer. She was very close to her father growing up and a bit of a poppa’s girl. This lasted up until she entered the College of Dynamics and began to struggle academically. Despite the myriad of tutors her father provided, Bjazz ended up flunking out. Her father, enraged and concerned that such a thing might endanger his current political campaign for a seat on the Arcane Council, disowned her. Bjazz drifted from krewe to krewe until ultimately catching the eye of Zojja during the fifth annual Snaff Prize competition. After some exciting adventures including the rescue of Professor Gorr and his research, Bjazz ended up joining the Order of Whispers as she didn’t feel strong enough or smart enough for the Vigil or the Priory. Despite perhaps not making the best field agent, any worries she might have had about that decision were immediately discounted upon meeting Tybalt Leftpaw. The two bonded incredibly quickly and work together incredibly well. The charr soon became a second, and much better, father to her. His loss at Claw Island was devastating to Bjazz.

Mortt the Bulwark (my boyfriends, pronouns: he/him, Spellbreaker Warrior)

A Synergetics dropout and former member of the Order of Whispers, Mortt left the organization after one too many arguments with Preceptor Halvora Snapdagger over what does and does not count as “excessive force”. Mortt himself claims he left because “you don’t get paid for saving the world”. Whatever the actual reason, he traveled to Rata Sum and set up shop using his skills in risk assessment and asset protection to cater to wealthy types in need of some muscle with a side helping of brains. When hired by Biarr and Bjazz’s dad, he fully expected to get saddled with a couple of annoying rich kids and was surprised to find that (mostly) wasn’t the case. Despite some tension, Mortt and his charges ended up bonding and the three stood together to protect Professor Gorr from the Arcane Councilor. It was only after Biarr and Bjazz left to join their respective orders that Mortt discovered that their father had been in on the plot to hide Gorr’s discoveries and hadn’t been to concerned that his children had stood in the way. Disgusted, Mortt quit and traveled to Lion’s Arch to find a new job. There he was hired by sylvari Firstborn Trahearne, who was on his way to Orr. However, the scholar insisted that they first stop at Claw Island, where Mortt ran into not one but two familiar faces. 

[ratasum]

Wanted to make a separate post of this mostly just to explain my design process:

The headgear had to stay. It is (obviously) iconic to Zojja's look, and easily recognizable at any distance.

As for the rest of it, I wanted something that would be light and easy for her to move in. She's never really going to be fully recovered from what happened to her in Maguuma: chronic pain and fatigue are persistent complaints in her life. But she's actually accepting medical help and doing physical therapy, so it IS improving. But a loose skirt with soft layered fabrics seemed like a good angle.

The colors and lines evoke her original gear, with a similar collar and stripes on the front panel to her old outfit. It still reads as Zojja's clothes without being her core gear. The reason for the CHANGE from her old gear is simpler: she gives Snaff's gauntlets, both the one she always wore and the one taken from Kudu's dead body, to her two apprentices as a way of passing the torch.

[ratasum]

A thing that's lived rent free in my head with Zojja becoming a councilor in our setting is having to deal with Flax... and his insistence that she "prove herself" by representing the Arcane Council at the Tyrian Alliance meeting in Lion's Arch.

Not that she'd ever bow to his demands, but it is a great opportunity to get some real work done, and it DOES give her the opportunity to move without him constantly looming over her shoulder, presenting some interesting opportunities for the asuran race... or so she hopes, anyway.

[ratasum]

In mine and @wall-legion's stuff, since Zojja returned home post-SotO leaving Logan to continue wizarding it up? A year passes between SotO and JW. In that time, about six months in, Leyya and Zojja are interrupted in their long vacation in Cantha with the krewe with a tempting piece of news: Councilor Haia finally got caught for all her crimes and there's an open council seat.

With a chance to finally take apart the system that harmed her, Leyya, many of their asuran friends, and both of her apprentices, as well as continues to allow the Inquest to rub shoulders with them and even do important project work that affects asuran society as a whole?

Zojja jumps at the chance.

Of course, being a councilor is a lot of work, and while she loves the challenge, the rest of the council can be an absolute chore to deal with. She does have Leyya to vent to when she gets home after a long day, but it's still stressful.

But that doesn't stop her from immediately volunteering to be the councilor present at the great Tyrian Alliance meeting...

[ratasum]

And a follow-up to Zojja's councilor fit, Leyya's "stay at home wife" gear. Getting possessed and having her physiology altered by that possession messed with her stamina, so while she's still staying fit, she stays home a lot more. Having stopped doing wet work, both for Zojja and for the Order of Whispers (though she does still do some Whispers work in Rata Sum), she's let her hair grow out and gotten some piercings.

Of course, that means that when Zojja's not busy with Arcane Council work, she gets to be a pest and provide stress relief and a much needed/welcome distraction from dealing with the likes of Flax and Yahk while digging her heels on in the inside.

Leyya's improved a lot, though, and being able to vibe at home has helped her significantly. She's not constantly feeling like she has to be useful to be loved, and finding some peace in that fact.

[ratasum]

Sneaking kisses while hand delivering your wife her lunch she forgot back at your place? It's more likely than you think.

Leyya probably delights in bothering the councilors while Zojja's on the clock, but can you really blame her when she's got a wife that brilliant?

[ratasum]

Alternate version from mine and Jenn's main timeline, where Leyya is driving the entire rest of the Arcane Council out of their god damn minds.

Not pictured: Rhenn in the background being an absolute pest to the Astral Ward's operations in Lowland Shores.

[ratasum]

Maybe showing up with Isgarren at the Tyrian Alliance meeting without telling your half brother, who up until this exact point thought you were SUPER dead, that you hadn't actually died in Arah and were up kicking it with a super powerful wizard cult was a bad idea, but that might just be me.

I've had this image rolling around in my head ever since Jenn and I decided Zojja would be the councilor present in Lion's Arch, since Logan took her place in our setting in Wizlandia, and I finally got around to drawing it.

Featuring my boy Zio Fortino, who is Logan's younger half brother.

[ratasum]

WIPs of some Councilor Zojja, both enjoying the challenge and hating dealing with Flax.

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I need to talk more about Pyxsi.

She's the great grandniece of Councilor Haia and, when she was around 14 or 15, figured out her great aunt orchestrated the "accidents" that killed her parents and grandparents. Since then, she's been doing everything in her power to finally get her caught and dealt with... no matter what that entails.

Pyxsi is an extremely talented mesmer and uses her magic to create a hard illusion prosthesis for her left arm, since she was born without it. She doesn't usually keep the magic active if she doesn't need it, as it's a draw on resources, but she can do a lot of things with it, including summoning an arm with a sword instead of a hand.

(Spoilers for our SotO rewrite below)

While everything was going down in the Horn of Maguuma, Pyxsi had pulled her college best friend (and retired commander) Rissia in to help her on a project. She'd started pulling a thread, and in the process had discovered a way to finally take down her aunt.

And take down they did. But with Haia finally arrested for her laundry list of crimes, one question opens up that she floats with Rissia: who should they angle for the now open council seat?

And it just so happens Zojja came home from Amnytas and is on an extended vacation a skip away from Rissia's little sister in Cantha...

[ratasum]

“Think you're escaping and run into yourself. Longest way round is the shortest way home.” ― James Joyce, Ulysses

Was doing some screens with my Zojja clone to talk about her as a councilor, since she doesn't stay with the wacky wizard cult in our setting, and just had the thought of taking some screens to "make the choice" as it were. Sometimes running away isn't your only option, nor is it the best one.

And sometimes, while it can be the hardest thing you've ever done, accepting what you can't change and moving forward with a new perspective and a drive to make something better is ultimately the soundest choice.

[ratasum]

So, why we made Zojja a councilor.

At its core, Zojja's story has consistently been about running away.

It's not overt, but it's pretty clear: from the moment Snaff died, it's been about keeping everyone at arm's length so she doesn't hurt like that again. She isn't your friend. She isn't anyone's friend. The only person she lets get anywhere close to inside her circle canonically is the Savant.

And even then, she specifically treats you like a lackey and even calls you "Minion" (even if she corrects herself).

If she lets other people in, she loses. They can see that she's hurting deeply. She's a young woman, and though we never get to know her real age, it's implied she wasn't older than her early 20s. And Snaff loved her like a daughter, and she loved him, even if she bucked back against his ideas. He encouraged it, even. And then he was gone, because they let people in.

She never needed anyone to not see her for just her genius or to "want her just for her" because it never played into it, and it was never an issue at any part of the story that we see her in. She knew she was smart and that was a non-issue- she was a genius! A highly experienced golemancer, heir to Snaff's legacy! There was no inkling of her feeling like people were using her- one of her key flaws was her tendency to use others to keep distance.

She is confident, stubborn, self assured, and above all? Kind of selfish! She doesn't need other people except when they're useful. She doesn't need help unless when she dictates it. It's what makes her tension with Kudu so interesting. He went a similar path, and she didn't realize she was starting to walk it too.

My friend and I had played with Zojja being still in contact with the group for several years in our rp stuff, though we had considered reworking it with the release of The Expac. And after... events, we decided to mostly chuck it. Not just because we were a couple of the many disappointed with what we got but because Zojja's story had no line through to the story she'd had since the jump...

...except that she was still running away. Pushing away people she knew. People were reaching out to her, trying to keep up, but she refused it. She didn't want to be seen or perceived as weak. This had nothing to do with her being needed and everything to do with Zojja's continued push to not be seen as a person with feelings and fears. The stuff about her not being reached out to give talks or teaching anymore doesn't fit either- she was never doing that to begin with. She had other irons in the fire she was busy working with, and other than taking Taimi as her apprentice, she's NEVER done more than push heavily for the Snaff Savant prize to honor her late mentor.

If anything, all it did was stretch this out in the long term. It wasn't an arc or healing, it was just more of her running from everything. Taking on ascension wasn't healing it was a permanent hiding place. And it wasn't satisfying because we weren't allowed to sit with it. We got no mention of Snaff, she brushed off Taimi despite preparing to do to her what happened to herself with Snaff, and they boiled her problems down to... not feeling wanted. Even worse that they presented her continuing to run and refuse to let people in (even the wizards- they're encouraging her to ascend and leave everything she loved behind, remember) as a good thing.

We even accept it without any pushback. We don't even get time to sit with her. She gets fifteen minutes, is Wizard Lobotomized off-screen, and then promptly hurried out of the story so we don't have to worry. We know where Zojja is she just doesn't give a shit about you anymore! That's great; you should be happy!

(To say nothing about the fact that the ONLY commander she should've greeted with fondness is an asuran commander. She has next to zero interaction with anyone else. I honestly just cannot stand what they did with her; there were a billion ways they could've done it and made it feel organic and I would've even accepted her ascending but it was shoehorned in so hard and we got no time to see any of her "growth." We just got told about it and that was that.)

It doesn't jive with anything else. To say nothing about the galaxy sized plot hole her being missing for eight years provides when Taimi couldn't keep a secret if her mouth was glued shut and WE KNOW SHE WAS REACHING OUT. So was Logan, and he doesn't say anything. We deal with Rata Sum repeatedly, nothing.

Zojja was famous. She wouldn't have just never been mentioned as missing.

That aside, we wanted to play with the fact that her being there was just a continuation of her running away from her own grief. I didn't want to let her bury it, especially knowing she'd refused people who DID care.

We also wanted to play with the criticisms of Rata Sum anet has hammered in. Zojja was harmed by the culture there as much as the Savant is, as much as Taimi was. Someone needs to fix it. Making it a councilor who literally has two lines in the personal story just feels cheap. Making it Zojja, finally realizing she doesn't need to keep pushing people away, doesn't need to keep running, doesn't need to blame everyone else for her own grief and guilt.

Going back to Rata Sum, taking on an open council seat and facing down the system that hurt her so damn bad, hurt Taimi, hurt every young asura coming out of the city, felt more organic in the end. We still have her go to Amnytas and stay there for a little over a year. There's genuine tension, a back and forth on whether she should stay with these people who tell her she's so special and her magic is so good and important and powerful or return to Tyria to face her pain head on and actually let the people around her love her and help her heal.

She decides not to join the cult in the end. And it'll be hard work- using people is what she does. We see it in the early PS. And it's hard! A lot harder than having the cult wipe everything about her chronic pain and injuries with Super Special Magic (as someone with chronic pain let me tell you how much THAT pissed me off) and letting them just wipe away all the bad memories and pain by making her an immortal who simply does not care about the Little Things back on Tyria.

She goes home, and eventually takes up an open council seat to push back against Flax. No one's more stubborn than her. She will drag Rata Sum into the modern era if it takes forever. She'll take time to heal, let people in. Let the people that care about her actually care about her.

Healing takes time, not magic. She'll get there.

[ratasum]

Comically, I think Zojja as a councilor works best with Phlunt. Not because she likes him (she's still bitter about how he used to treat Taimi and Qirri), but because he's a traditionalist. He doesn't like Yahk. I get the feeling he probably doesn't like what Flax is doing.

She can appeal to his desire to see Rata Sum thrive. To see the Inquest dealt with. To his ego. To his intellect. Zojja knows how to work people (we see it often during the personal story).

Her in is literally the oldest sitting council member when she's the youngest and that's a neat angle to me.

[ratasum]

I'm gonna fight more with wikidot today to start making my own "wiki" for our characters and realizing that I'm gonna have to have a section for canon characters who deviate from "canon," especially in our main setting but in others too.

Trahearne becoming the Brother Tree, Logan "dying" in Arah and filling Zojja's role in all but one verse, Eir's survival and sick prosthetic leg she gets out of the deal and taking Braham's place as Primordus's champion in one verse, Zojja not joining the wizards in ANY verse (can't make me see that as well written sorry) and taking Ryland's place as Jormag's champion in one verse/becoming a councilor in all, the list goes on.