#eir glanfath

[tarbuchyloewenthal]

SOMETIMES WHEN I THINK ABOUT EORA I LOVE IT SO MUCH I WANT TO CRY

it's hard to put into words just how much i love the world of eora. the pillars games are really the first ones i've played that made exploring the metaphysical a core part of the narrative. it means so much, especially when the rest of the setting is really grounded and rife with social problems and realpolitik. and never has the metaphysical felt more personal. that interplay is so rare, i feel.

by the end of the games you, as a Watcher, have so much power to shape the world, and yet you are still so small compared the enormity of the divine forces you've been caught up in.

and the companions all feel like they could've been my best buds irl.

and i could spend the rest of my days staring at engwithan ruins.

and that is why, no matter how good or bad avowed's gameplay ends up being, i have never been more excited for a game's release. i cannot wait to make new friends and explore new mysteries in the living lands :^]

[sun-marie]

I really like the idea that Sabina became a Ranger in the 5 year interlude (or rather, a Scout) but I was. not factoring how difficult it might be to draw her companion 💀

[stylishanachronism]

Anyway, April fucking kicked my ass, May isn’t shaping up to be any better, I’m trying to write a mildly spooky thing about Caed Nua’s famous hospitality, an extremely random tangent that occurred to me a while back re: Maerwald and internal Dyrwodian politics, and like…… a la criox level of vampires, maybe, but I realized I don’t know where anyone is getting their salt for a fact and I may simply have to die about it

[holdinglines]

honestly my favorite thing about orlans is that they truly straddle the line between 'civilized' folk and wilder. so much of their history is as slaves! as laborers! the places where they aren't a minority they have civil unrest as they fight with bigger folk for basic rights!

are they considered folk because hearth/meadow plummage prove they can be "civilized"? is it because the Eir Glanfath have a connection to the Engwithans so it's harder to deny their culture?

the langufaeth have language! society! a written language! and no one bats an eye over eating them or killing their young! the ogres are on the opposite end of the same problem orlans have-- are enslaved and treated as inferior mostly because they are the wrong size! their blood is sold as an ingredient!

how many orlans are aware, at the back of their mind, that their humanity is always a hairs breath away from being revoked

[voicesofeternity]

Pallegina: Did your father teach you to hunt?

Hiravias: No, that task fell to the tribe's huntmaster, though he tried everything in his power not to teach me.

Pallegina: Were you a difficult student?

Hiravias: No, the huntmaster felt that meadow fur was a sign of weakness—I could do nothing right by him on account of my hair color.

Pallegina: I'm familiar with the sentiment. Hmph, from the Vailian Republics to Eir Glanfath, narrowness of mind is truly universal.

[ampleappleamble]

hey so like... is galawain an orlan?

some (or all?) of the gods seem to have "set" species they present themselves as. like berath is explicitly referred to in game as an elf in her pallid knight aspect and a dwarf in his usher aspect. woedica is very definitely depicted as a human, rymrgand as an aurochs, ondra as a tittyfish, wael as an ever-changing eyeless abomination. then there's the slightly more ambiguous ones: skaen as depicted in game is almost certainly an elf or a human, and hylea and magran both sport the pointed ears of elves even if it's never made explicit that that's what they are. abydon is probably human, although he could be an elf, or a robot man if your watcher fucked up. eothas and his aspect gaun were always referred to as "a young man," but no particular species was ever attributed to him as far as i remember, although human feels most likely probably largely due to his possession of the human maros nua's statue. and of course, a god can manifest as pretty much whatever they damn well please: two people, three people, an animal, a swarm of animals, a giant half-animal, half-man monster, a bunch of floating eyeballs, etc. etc.

but galawain looks an awful lot like an orlan, which would make him the only one (excluding wael's shapeshifting, of course). i don't know why it never occurred to me before, considering his very orlany ears, but what really made me look again was the markings on his face, very reminiscent of an orlan's two-toned skin:

compared to his beast companions he seems a bit tall for an orlan, but everything else seems to fit: green hair and brown skin are not outside the realm of possibility for an orlan, and then there's the long, hairy ears and the little spots orlans tend to have. plus it seems to be implied that the engwithans regarded orlans as barely civilized and animalistic, but still begrudgingly recognized them as kith, possibly due to their raw tenacity and prowess as ciphers. so how fitting that the architects of the gods would assign their cunning lord of beasts an orlan appearance! and fitting, too, that the tribes of eir glanfath with their large orlan population should venerate him so!

man the engwithans sucked.

anyway if anyone has any other thoughts or evidence, feel free to add on to this post ♡

[petterwass]

Work on my fairly large Bretonnian army continues. This time, mostly because I wanted to use some different colours, using heraldry from the RPG Pillars of Eternity.

From the left we have:

The Free Palatinate of Dyrwood

The Aedyran Empire

The Tribes of Eir Glanfath

The Penitential Regency of Readceras

The Valian Republics

Very fun heraldry all of them

[spacepigfanclub]

Theory Blurb #1 - What if the Watcher said “Fuck the Dyrwood” and never went there

After a long writing and “generally-anything-that-wasn’t-a-reblog” hiatus, I’m back as a way to de-stress from my finals

I would also like to both thank and apologise to the members of the Pillars of Eternity Discord server for having to endure my brain farts lmfao

[TW: death, lots and lots of death, lynching, suicide, everyone having a really really bad time]

...Short answer, the Dyrwood is capital “f”  F U C K E D

A bit longer answer, the fandom’s weed blorbo and the elven blorbo with anxiety, as well as the entire nation of Dyrwood are doomed. Everyone’s wellbeing depends on that one funky little gremlin that hoards pets and is not allowed any drugs due to seing ghosts while clean/sober.

Let’s get to the biggest issue at hand first and then get to various miscelaenous things.

So, starting off, the moment the Watcher decides they want to, as an example, settle down in the Living Lands instead... there’s no one in the Dyrwood to actually stop Thaos from continuing Waidwen’s Legacy. He can actually carry out the mission with none of those depressed meddling kids getting in his way and manages to empower Woedica and discredit animancy in the Dyrwood with little to no resistance.

He likely doesn’t even need to continue the Legacy for much longer, since the entire nation is on the brink of collapse. Even if Thaos leaves and the Legacy is no more and the Dyrwood doesn’t fall into anarchy like Defiance Bay did after the Animancy Hearings, they will, and I mean 10000000% CERTAINLY WILL have to deal with a massive demographic crisis.

PoE1 takes place in the year 2823 AI. Waidwen’s Legacy, meanwhile, began less than a year after the Saint’s War ended, around 2808 AI. This gives us 15 years of the vast majority of births in the Dyrwood being Hollowborn births. Not all births, since there are kids like Gordy and Saeda, who are perfectly fine, but more than enough to really matter in the long run. 

Even if the Legacy stopped and every adult in the Dyrwood got to doing the horizontal mambo like there was no tomorrow, those new births would not offset the effects of Waidwen’s Legacy, which would be felt for years to come.

As a result, the Dyrwood’s demographic pyramid would look a lot more like that of a modern day first world country... in a fantasy setting. Granted, they do have guns and some pretty nifty tech, but it’s still a fantasy setting and they only just began industrializing AT BEST. 

The only good things that I can think of here is that IF Thaos decides to end the Legacy soon after empowering Woedica, he will no longer need to divert souls. And because of the return of souls, the Dyrwood will have good harvests once more (since they were also struggling on that front if you take into account that one quest with the miller in the Gilded Vale). Everything in Eora needs soul power to work properly, plants included. 

So, we got a nation that would surely undergo a demographic crisis in the following years, where the spirits are low and there’s this aura of despair and suffering. Granted, all this exists in canon, but here it doesn’t get resolved by the Watcher. No extra kids from Hylea. No empowering the living populace by Galawain. Everyone has a Bad Time™.

And there is one nation that tries to take advantage of that by making things worse for the Dyrwood. The Vailian Republics. 

I imagine that things would go the same way as in one of Pallegina’s endings, namely the one where she bocomes Ducess Spireno’s personal guard. The tribes of Eir Glanfath and the Vailians sign the lucrative af trade deal, cutting out dyrwoodan competitors and the Dyrwood cannot do anything about it. The Dyrwood becomes the favorite chewtoy of the Republics, and they look not that better off than Readceras. 

Actually, Readceras might be better than the Dyrwood, because at least they got their pride back thanks to Adaryc and the Iron Flail.

Obviously, that would lead to the escalating tensions between the Dyrwood and the Republics. This could either result in a future war, which the Dyrwood would lose, and futher humiliation or other niceties. Or the Vailians would start thinking about “helping” the Dyrwoodans by making the crumbling nation dependant on vailian exports. As a treat.

Even if Thaos doesn’t kill Duc Aevar and Eydis Webb during the Animancy Hearings, the duc would still likely be ousted from office. The Vailians could then install a pro-Vailia puppet, leading to even more Bad Time™ down the line...

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

Misc. Section:

Aloth never gets therapy and gets beaten by drunkards from his introduction scene. He then either leaves Gilded Vale soon after and becomes a recluse, or enough people start talking about “some Aedyran asshole that is acting hella suspicious” that Raedric hears it and arranges him a HANGout spot in the middle of the settlement. ...ok, I’ll leave now.

Speaking of hanging out, Edér is another solid candidate, judging by his introduction scene alone. Homeboy also never gets therapy or answers regarding Woden. 

After the birth of his Hollowborn son, I imagine Raedric would become even more paranoid of Eothasians. And since there ARE rumors in the Gilded Vale that Edér is a follower of Eothas, or at least that his late brother was one... he may better book it out asap.

Kana never finishes his thesis on the Tanvii ora Toha, or at least tries to get through the barrages of spirits up above and the monsters down below on his own. I believe he would, sooner or later, have to either abandon his dream or hire a whole ass merc group to help him if he actually can do everything without the Watcher’s abilities. 

Though, on a more positive tone, perhaps this could make him meet Aloth and Edér without the Watcher’s help, though I suppose their dynamic would be different compared to the actual game.

Bloody Legacy is never finished. Aelys Harond is never rescued from the Skaenites and the ritual is completed. Everything goes on the same way as when the Watcher begins the quest, but never fights the Skaenites or wipes Aelys’s memory, AKA she returns to her uncle, kills him and then herself, causing an uproar.

Heritage Hill is never cleared of the undead. Saeda Valtas is forever locked in the quarantine zone and either dies of starvation or is found and eaten alive by her undead family/neighbours.

Simoc, Vela’s guardian, eventually finds a gullible fool that would get him the baby-made potion. Vela either dies, or Simoc’s son finally decides to kill his father. 

Raedric never gets killed as long as he’s staying in his hold. Once Thaos empowers Woedica and leaves for a new mission, Waidwen’s Legacy would misteriously “dissapear” and Raedric would be seen by the remaining populace of Gilded Vale as a “hero”, just like in one of his endings.

Maerwald eventually dies and Caed Nua becomes even more of a ruin that everyone avoids like the plague. Since there’s no one there to conveiniently repair and pimp up the keep, Lord Gathbin never bothers to leave Aedyr for the Dyrwood.

Stalward either remains a backwater, or they do indeed get help from someone else. Maybe an adventurer reactivates the Forge and everything’s well... until the Eyeless arrive and Adaryc decides to occupy the place and succeeds, giving way for an era of relative prosperity in Readceras (for the first time ever, actually). Adaryc would try to find a way to destroy the Eyeless menace, as he is the only other Watcher that we know of, the only other person that gets the message that shit is about to go down.

He either succeeds or gets martyr’d trying, but would have a delayed response due to him thinking it is all Dyrwood’s fault. 

If Adaryc and the Iron Flail succeed in wiping out the Eyeless, but at the cost of Adaryc’s life, then get ready for the Cult of Saint Adaryc, the Second Coming of Eothas, to spread like wildfire across Readceras.

If they DON’T succeed though... say goodbye to the entirety of the Reach.

[rannadylin]

More RPG npcs from the picrew: Anwen, anamenfath of the Keepers of the Stone tribe of Eir Glanfath, also purveyor of very intriguing magic tea which definitely contained St. Gyran’s Horn among other herbs Dal couldn’t quite identify; and her brother the Galven Ardghal, busy organizing the Glanfathans to defend the Dyrwood from Waidwen.

[chronomally]

I like the idea of having a druid in my party but Hiravias' vibes are a little

[jesawyer]

how do you feel, in retrospect, about the portrayal of Eir Glanfath and aedyran colonialism in pillars 1? as a player I feel like colonialism as a theme is explored with much more nuance in Deadfire, so I’m curious how you feel the first game stacks up against its successor in this regard

Colonialism was much more of a focus for us in Deadfire. In Pillars 1, it's more of a background element both in the story and in the world itself. By the time of the Hollowborn Crisis, the Dyrwood has been colonized for a while. The colonizers and natives have already had multiple rounds of wars and treaties. The central focus of the Watcher's quest is not really about colonialism or the struggle of native cultures against imperial forces.

In Deadfire, the colonization/imperialist efforts are ongoing and have not been going on for all that long relative to the start of the pursuit of Eothas. The native culture is actively fighting against multiple colonial powers and the Watcher becomes directly involved in what is ultimately a question of sovereignty over the region.

[adraveins]

Petrichor for Kit, if you'd like?

petrichor – n. the pleasant, earthy smell after rain

On AO3.

---

"I’m going for a walk,” Kit says.

She doesn’t have to pose it as a question. Edér follows her, like he always does, and Defiance Bay appears unchanged as they leave the others at the inn and make their way through the city. The streets are damp with recent rain, the sky heavy with the promise of more, but the people are out and about, as they always are. Kit recognizes a few, and she is careful to weave a thread of power around herself and around Edér as they walk, so that any curious eyes slide off of them like water.

The stories are already trickling in, and she doesn’t feel like fielding questions about the Lady of Caed Nua, back from the dead and back from her titanic clash with the gods in the wild waters of the Deadfire.

Defiance Bay is no different. Only Kit is. Only Edér is. It’s comforting and unsettling both, to walk streets that haven’t changed. It settles as a melancholy weight in Kit’s chest, but it doesn’t hurt. There’s something cozy about moving unseen through a place that’s almost home and observing its everyday hustle and bustle. Edér makes up stories about a few passers-by, and Kit laughs, and it could almost be five years ago.

The forests of the Dyrwood rise up just beyond the bridge, and as Kit steps into the shadows of the trees and sets foot upon the sodden underbrush, something in her finally, finally relaxes.

“I hate the ocean,” Kit says, leading them deeper into the woods. The ground is solid beneath her feet. Its pitching and turning is nothing like the waves, entirely imperceptible to mortal senses. It moves, and it doesn’t. Far below, souls once whispered an eternal song just outside of mortal hearing. Perhaps they still do. She just has to find it, has to listen more closely than she ever has.

The air is heavy and rich with the passing of rain. The scent of life renewed, turning ever onward despite the winds of change.

“Was getting pretty sick of it, myself,” Edér agrees. “How long do you reckon we’ll stay?”

Even on islands so big that Kit couldn’t hear the sea anymore, a salt-smell had clung to the air. Here, they are far enough from the docks that only the smell of damp earth surrounds them. There is no rush of waves here. Only the wind and the faintest hum of animals souls thrumming just below their cries. Even the city behind them is muted.

“A while,” Kit says. She needs to go to Eir Glanfath and Dyrford and visit every adra vein in between. She needs to see to Caed Nua’s progress, left in Emery’s capable hands all these months. She needs to spend time on land that maintains the illusion of forever, where rain doesn’t threaten sails and hulls, only renews growing things. “Make that a while.”

“Don’t tell me you missed the Dyrwood,” Edér says, dry.

They’re far enough now that the forest might as well go on forever. Kit turns around to face Edér and breathes it in. Her chest feels light, airy. It doesn’t make sense, when things are perhaps more dire than they’ve ever been. “I hate to say it,” Kit says, “but this strange little country is home. Besides,” she adds, “it’s where I met you.”

Edér blushes and tries to hide it behind a pipe that he pulls out and lights hastily. “Good to see we made a local out of you,” he says. “Missed it too. I wouldn’t mind hanging around.”

“As long as you want,” Kit says, warm.

Edér waves his pipe at her. “Thought you wanted to meditate or something?”

He watches over her as she gets lost in the glow of essence, in the resonance of living things, searching with a cipher’s ear and a Watcher’s hearing. She has tangled irreversibly with gods, and she hears incredible things now, at impossible distances, but she can’t hear the adra in Stormwall Gorge. She can’t hear Caed Nua. With her mortal ears, she hears only another band of rain, coming in fast.

Something has changed, and maybe one day, it will be for the better. But for now, they have work to do.

[sun-marie]

Eamoc Part 2, Electric Boogaloo ✨

At first, Eamoc didn't feel anything particularly strong towards Xoti one way or the other. However, once Xoti began feeding him his favorite snack, Palohe Nuts, they became fast friends and he was often seen at her side (when he wasn't at Sabina's). How Xoti knew Eamoc's favorite snack may or may not have something to do with Maia asking Sabina what it was as a "personal favor" ;)

Given how different Aloth and Iselmyr are and Eamoc's distaste for the former, you'd be forgiven for thinking Eamoc might get along better with the latter. You would be mistaken. While usually Eamoc is content to simply huff and side-eye Aloth, Iselmyr's more... confrontational nature has come very close to an all out brawl between the two, much to Aloth's terror.

Being from Eir Glanfath, Eamoc felt especially comfortable around Serafen, whose presence reminded him of home. For Serafen's part, he figured he could do worse than have a great horned beast as a friend, especially when that beast was willing to help him reach new heights, as it were.

[stylishanachronism]

📗

So in my quest to flesh out Dyrwodian politics I have come up with several things that amuse me, so current daydream fic is ‘the elopement of lady Araminta’ in which Minta does not elope, but does take a look at the politcosocial situation five years precanon and goes ‘hm this is bad’ and talks her way into becoming the Dyrwood’s ambassador to the Deadfire just before luminous adra becomes a thing.

Then there’s lots of twisty diplomatic stuff that does not make the Dyrwood a major power in the region by any stretch of the imagination, but does get Brackenbury ‘clean’ academic grade adra, a ready supply of high quality cotton, rice, and various fancy new dyes, and keeps Minta herself away from trouble.

Also she gets married.

[babineni]

Rings - part 2

(Part 1 here)

'Godsdammit, come off,' Gaura mumbled to herself as she tried to pull off a ring from her finger. She was staying at the Gréf's Rest with her company. Aloth and Kana left to warm up by the hearth, while she along with Hiravias and Pallegina took a table and waited for Edér to bring them some refreshments. That is when the druid glimpsed the Ring of Wonder on Gaura's hand. It was a tiny sapling, taking the shape of jewelry that she bought from a Vailian merchant back in Defiance Bay a few weeks before. However the merchant failed to mention that the ring was Glanfathan and as much as the Watcher grew to like the ring during that time, once Hiravias revealed its origins, it didn't feel right to keep it.

'Eir Glanfath and the Republics have been trade partners for quite some time now,' Pallegina explained. 'I assure you, if our merchant got hold of your products, it has been through fair trade.'

'Sorry, Pallegina, but I'm staying skeptical,' Hiravias retorted. 'You don't know our druidic orders like I do, and that ring looks like something the Ovates make.' He scoffed. 'Though come to think of it, they might've just handed it to your people to show off. They've always been snobbish.'

'It's fine, Pallegina,' Gaura said as she continued to struggle with the ring. 'If it's Glanfathan, Hiravias should have it. Fairly traded or no.'

'I appreciate that,' the druid answered, his lips curling to an amused smirk. 'Good luck trying to pry that thing off without losing a finger, though.'

The Watcher froze clutching her finger. She stared wide-eyed at him.

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Rings of Wonder are made of living wood,' Hiravias explained. 'They're enchanted so they fit the hand of their wearer and eventually they bind to their flesh,' he crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. 'Bet, the merchant didn't mention that in his sales pitch.'

Gaura returned the grin albeit in a forced and pained way. 'No, he did not,' she said, gritting her teeth and turned her attention to Pallegina, who pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

'Merla,' she grumbled under her breath, 'I suppose, I'll have a lengthy chat with that postenago.'

'Who's a postenago?' Edér showed up and handed a pint of ale to each of them. He sat down beside the Watcher close enough for her fire to warm him.

'Edér, help,' Gaura didn't bother to answer and showed him her hand with the ring stuck on it instead. 'I can't get this thing off.'

The farmer squinted at the ring. 'Huh, it's squeezing your hand real tight,' he took her hand and pulled at the wooden band gently first, then harder and harder until he nearly pulled her finger out of its place, but the ring didn't budge. 'Try using your mouth,' he said after he stopped trying.

'My mouth?' The Watcher blinked at him in confusion.

'Yeah, your mouth. Like...' Edér was about to lift her hand to his lips when he stopped to ask: 'Can I try?'

Gaura shrugged. 'I guess, why not?'

Edér took her finger in his mouth as a response. The Watcher's heart fluttered when she felt his tongue against her skin and his teeth closing around the ring. He tugged at it once, twice and on the third try the ring gave away and slipped right off Gaura's slickened finger. Edér dropped the ring in his palm and was about to offer it to her before he remembered to wipe it on his shirt sleeve. Then he offered it again with a warm half-smile, but Gaura was still only able to stare at him, stunned.

'Hiravias,' the Watcher's voice was hoarse as she called him once the shock wore off, 'if you'd like...' She gestured at the ring resting on the veteran's palm.

'Much obliged,' the druid reached across the table and took the round sapling. 'If you guys don't mind, I'll go see what the wilds around this place have to offer,' he winked with his good eye at the Watcher. 'Have fun you two.'

'If you excuse me, as well,' Pallegina's golden eyes flickered between Edér and the Watcher for a moment and in the dim light, Gaura could've sworn she was blushing, 'I should check what Kana and Aloth are up to.' She grabbed her pint and left for the hearth in the middle of the inn.

The Watcher shifted her weight a little uncomfortably and she stared at the ale in front of her, as if she could find something clever to say written in the drink. Edér followed her gaze and broke the silence.

'Innkeeper warned me that the ale might taste funny. It froze and had to be melted again,' he grimaced as he spoke but raised the pint towards the Watcher anyway. 'Cheers to you.'

Gaura lifted her own glass and touched it against Edér's. 'Cheers to you,' she took a sip and pretended that it was the watery ale that calmed her fluttering heart to a comfortable warmth.