#emma plays bg3

[wetcatspellcaster]

"What if I told you I love you" "You'd be lying" "*laughing* But a beautiful lie, nonetheless...." - hahahahahaha screaming crying throwing up

[lowtideandhightea]

my toxic bg3 trait is i have three hirelings who exist to cast the all-day non-concentration buff spells on my party every morning.

[library-seraph]

Choosing all the "gale, that's super hubristic >:c How dare you >:c" responses with Elisset my gay projection tiefling is really funny bc. In baldur's gate 3, elisset is a cleric of Ilmater, but she started as a Pathfinder OC who worships Iomedae, Golarion's Joan of Arc inspired war goddess. Combine that with the "closest thing I have to a self-insert" thing and. Girl you don't have a leg to stand on here. You're not making the right decisions, you're just not in the right universe to make the wrong ones

[lowtideandhightea]

i ask you WHO'S THE REAL DARK URGE HERE

I love BG3 multiplayer

[voiceemporium]

Minthara in Baldurs Gate 3 voiced by Emma Gregory

[elvhenmage]

tav qotd: for those with playlists, pick three songs and tell me in the tags how they describe your tav/durge <3

[ilikedetectives]

This kiss is hot but due to four orbital reasons behind the box, well...

[blackjackkent]

Oop, one more very revealing Minthara dialogue. I'm really enjoying this, having completely missed her on my last playthrough. :D

(Wyll is sitting very patiently with his exclamation mark over his head waiting to tell me his sad backstory but he might have to wait until Thursday. XD I'm busy listening to Emma Gregory speak to me of bloodshed and violence. 😍 )

"When did you first encounter the cult of the Absolute?"

"A True Soul came to my city preaching a message of togetherness, accompanied by two novices. Menzoberranzen is not fertile ground for such messages. I killed them and hanged their bodies in my garden."

(Cue Rakha trying not to let the beast get too fascinated by this mental image.) "Yet they recruited you all the same."

"Recruited. You could call it that. I intended to wage war on their god and the rest of its presumptive followers. Even as the flesh sagged and sloughed away from their eyeless skulls, their audacity infuriated me. I had to know where they came from. And whoever sent them was counting on my curiosity overcoming my caution."

"You followed their path back to Moonrise?"

"Yes. All it took was a simple act of necromancy, and the corpses told me where I needed to strike. Moonrise Towers."

"Given how we met, it's safe to say you failed."

"It is never safe to point out my shortcomings, iblith. But in this instance, you are correct. Moonrise is the site of my greatest failure. As it turned out, to my shame, I was defeated without even drawing my weapon. I came to Moonrise with a retinue of warriors and assassins, the best House Baenre had to offer. I expected a battle, but found a fully-laden feast table, and a welcome befitting a house matron. Ketheric expected us - expected me - and I fell for his flattery."

"I'm surprised you were so complacent."

"It is a mistake I hope never to repeat. Ketheric proposed an alliance between Moonrise and Menzoberranzan. I admit, I was captivated by him. He invited me to the head of his table as his guest of honor. I was wary, of course. If I had been in his position, the food would have been poisoned. It was not the food I should have been wary of. It was the pale woman at the foot of the table - Orin the Red."

"We had barely begun to eat when she spoke for the first time. I only caught one word - my name. Then, quick as lightning, she climbed onto the table, a dagger in each hand, and skipped toward me, slicing the throats out of my men as she passed them."

(Again, an image that Rakha likes not at all and the Dark Urge likes very much, and any references to or thoughts of Orin seem to make her head ache terribly.) "She sounds delightful."

"Few things frighten me. Orin is one of them." Minthara's voice has suddenly gone uncharacteristically quiet and full of a very muted trembling. "Ketheric held me still. His hand on my shoulder, the grip tight enough to crack the bone. When Orin stood before me, she touched the dagger to my eye, drawing out a tear of blood. I want this one, she said. Ketheric nodded his permission, and I was taken below."

"You've seen the horrors of the colony. Orin kept me there for days. She forced me to watch as my men were processed; some for food, others for thralls. And then she placed the tadpole in my eye herself."

"You'll have your revenge."

"That is certain. You know the rest as well as I do. There were massacres before the Grove - religious communities, mostly. Those who refused to convert. Then there was you, and now there is freedom. Soon there will be vengeance."

[nerdalmighty]

hey, sorry for randomly sliding into your inbox but! i just wanted to tell you that i'm about to start act 3 of bg3, would've started it sooner but i didn't get to play for a couple weeks as i was waiting to be able to upgrade my hard drive. and over the course of playing i've ended up changing several details of my tav's backstory as well as really fleshing out their character and getting into the roleplay, and i'm so attached to them by now that i almost don't want to finish my playthrough lol. i'm thinking of starting a gale origin playthrough once i do finish just so i can see more of tara. and i noticed that you're close to finishing the game as well! can i ask how birdie's adventure is going?

AHHHHHH DON'T APOLOGIZE!!!!!! I love talking BG3 :)

I am INCREDIBLY close to finishing the game. Like, about to go to the Nether Brain for the final battle close.

I've been putting it off FOR WEEKS because I'm so incredibly attached to Birdie and the companions and their relationships to each other and I don't want it to end!!

Since last we spoke, Birdie and the gang had just done the Iron Throne mission (breaking people out of jail). She decided NOT to go confront the other Wave Servants; that chapter in her life has closed. I won't spoil more of Act 3 since you're just getting into it, but I did I think maybe three other Big Plot Things and now it's time to actually do the damn thing and beat the game.

I'm a little nervous about some of the endings I may have gotten for myself (I'm concerned I may have accidentally condemned Gale to godhood) and I know there are some things I missed, purely because it was my first playthrough and I didn't know any better (I didn't get to know Rolan, didn't save Minthara, didn't get the Githyanki egg, etc), but I'm honestly excited for the epilogue sequence. Is it mostly because of happy/soft Astarion? YES! I LOVE THAT GUY! SUE ME!

My roommate and I have been playing the game at pretty much the same pace this whole time, so I'm about to watch HER beat the game this Friday. She's playing as a Gloom Stalker Ranger named "Sevyn" (yes, like the number 😂) who's romancing Gale, but we've made relatively similar choices throughout the whole thing.

I'm not too worried about spoilers since I know a lot of the outcomes, I just don't know how it happens or what the final battle looks like. But like I explained in my previous Birdie post, I like to look things up beforehand/during certain events because I like having help. Similarly, I love watching my roommate play and learning from/with her so I don't feel as in the dark when it's my turn. Granted, I played a lot without her during Acts 1, 2 and 3, but since we're getting to the end, I've slowed WAY down and have let her go first with most big things. It's not for everyone, but it's how I like to play!

I'm so attached to Birdie and this save file that I'm thinking of creating an entirely new account on my PS5 just to start a new game so that I don't have to save over previous Birdie saves.

Like, what if in a new patch, they add a new scene to Astarion's plot line? A new action (hug/kiss)? New camp idle animations? I want to be able to go in with Birdie and do those things, should they ever come up. Yes I COULD romance Astarion again (and probably will because I'm a weak woman) but as you said about your Tav and I've been saying about mine, I'm really attached to Birdie and I'm invested in who she is and how she fits into the world of BG3.

ALSO! Apparently they're adding mods at some point to the PS5 version? It's been taking everything in me not to buy it on my computer just for some of the mods even though I LOATHE sitting at my desk for hours on end. If mods come into play, I'll definitely want to see what kind of fun things I can make happen for Birdie and the gang. Additionally, one of my friends told me that people modded Skyrim to the point where they were adding new plot points and quest lines? If that happens, and they add like some sort of masquerade ball or event where I can dress up like a princess? You bet you're ass I'm going back to Birdie to let her do that 😂 I'd want to play new paths with Birdie in general, but I'm a sucker for a royal ball sequence 🥸

So basically, Birdie's story in Baldur's Gate may be coming to an end fairly soon. I don't know exactly when yet, but I've been having a blast and can't wait to play the game again and again and again. Right now that's hard to imagine, but I know I'll pick it up with a new Tav eventually because it's such a good game and you can't help falling in love with the world and the writing and the characters. I shall grieve the loss of this particular story, but I plan on keeping Birdie around for as long as I can.

[vosquitransitis]

act 3 time for my horrible creation (carrion)!!! we have successfully entered the toxic doomed yuri phase with minthara and everytime her voice softens when talking to carrion i fucking melt

[leofrith]

🫵🏻 KARLACH KISSER

[wetcatspellcaster]

OK so either approval or cut scenes are ooc and it's up to fic writers everywhere to decide which

[lowtideandhightea]

also tbh. while i recognize it's a different game. i think the best comparison point for lae'zel is sten from dao. tbh, if you treat her almost exactly like sten in dao, she warms up to you almost immediately.

[noodleguys]

📌💥

[gregoriaofnyssa]

Demystifying Female Romance

The basis of female romantic interest is relation-- it is autoerastisphillia. Love of oneself as the lover. This is the true explanation behind the tendency for ��female centered” romantic media to have a bland female protagonist and a dynamic, interesting, and often pained male romantic interest. The typical explanation of this is that the female protagonist is supposed to be a blank slate for the female reader to relate to; the female fantasy is to be loved by a dynamic, interesting, rich, and pained man. I am sure there are some women who interact with romantic media in this way, but I am also sure this is not typical, at least not subconsciously. Instead, the bland as bread female protagonist is a conduit for the female reader to relate to and romantically embody the male love interest. 

I experienced this recently when I started playing BG3 recently. I’ve never felt like this about a fictional character before. My heart is inflamed. I think about Astarion, and I giggle like a child. But what is my real interest here? My interest is in myself. I realized I do not so much as have affection for Astarion, but rather I have a great deal in common with him. Our traumas could not be more similar unless I was kidnapped by something supernatural. I was abused; Astarion was abused. I had my body taken from me; Astarion had his body taken away from him. Horrible things were done and said to me; horrible things were done to Astarion. Astarion had his flesh cut into; I had my flesh cut into. 

I always thought fictional crushes were weird, especially when I was a child and my abuse was happening. But now I understand it. The great quality of art is that it allows you to be seen. Really seen. Validated. Only, this art had abs and a lovely voice. This art, and all art I love, makes me want to be a part of it. I love the art because I want to be it.

Autoastarionphillia. Love of oneself as Astarion. It is extremely strange, like much of the rest of female psychology. Masculinized female psychology is even weirded. Reflecting upon this, I recall when I was younger and my abuse was happening, I connected greatly to the character Killian Jones from the ABC show Once Upon a Time. I was enthralled by the relationship between him and Emma Swan, but I really had no interest in Emma. I have always related more to male characters in general, actually. I relate to many male characters more than most real women in my real life. As far as Killian goes, I related to his anger, his pain, and his hunger for vengeance. At the time, I almost didn’t know why I related so. It took me some reflection to realize what was being done to me.

My desire wasn’t so much for the character (it was especially not for the actor), but to be loved like he was, and redeemed like he was. The same is true for Astarion. I relate to his pain, intimately, and I relate to his anger. I wish I could’ve brought vengeance like Astarion will in this (and every) playthrough. I wish there would’ve been someone to pluck me from the horror of what was happening to me. I wish someone would’ve defended me. I wish someone was there to be my mirror. 

This is why the woman in virtually every romance novel (or movie, TV show, or videogame), is a dishwater blonde or brunette with a meek, unknowable personality. (Emma Swan was not like this by any means, but we should still consider why I still related to Hook more than her). This is so prominent that I can’t actually decide if I find Twilight so memorable because of Bella Swan the character, because of Kristin Stwert’s acting, or because of the zeitgeist around the saga in general. The very fact I’m having this debate in my head I take as proof she is not memorable.

There is no question, however, that Edward Cullen is memorable. He spawned more discourse and fandom than I can even imagine (Twilight is slightly before my day). Just think, a pained, superpowered vampire who sparkles. The men in these novels (Twilight is not the first and shall not be the last) are dangerous, powerful, emotional, eccentric, and relatable, and the women are self-described insecure and frumpy, and nothing else described. This is not a fault of the genre, but a feature. 

Male love-interests in romance fiction are, furthermore, usually pained in a feminine way. They are violated, abused, degraded, raped, beaten, and so on. These are means of suffering most common to women. Further, they often inflict self-wounds of hatred, vengeance-seeking, self-hatred, and self-blame. In women especially, these wounds fester. Women believe they are unlovable, and so does the love interest. Their psychologies, as love interests, are also more similar to women. 

Astarion is strong, funny, and capable in a way I wish I could be, but never will be. I wish I could be loved as I love him --as my character loves him. I wish I could be supported and corrected and held, I wish my shame could be refuted, I wish my ugliness could be seen as beauty. 

No matter how much I am loved, I will never feel it. I will never really feel my shame refuted, or my ugliness turned to beauty. So, I possess it vicariously, through someone who will. 

All this is to say I am Astarion’s juice box. Because I wish I could drink the beloved’s blood.

[lutethebodies]

Last Lines

Tagged by @trappedinafantasy37 here (thank you!).

I know I said I would be starting my first fic this year, but while I've been outlining it and unloading a few scenes here and there, I don't have anything I'm happy enough with to share (yet). As for my own tagging: I'll open it up for anyone to do after me.

So if it's cool I'm gonna fall back on song lyrics (like I did once before), with a caveat: one aspect of my Tav/Minthara fic is about how they're both performers post-BG3, a hearts-and-minds ploy as part of their long game to take over the city.

My Tav is the bard, so the songs began with him, but that doesn't mean Minthara can't sing and play on them, and so she's chosen a few instances to take center stage during their lute/lyre duo gigs. One of those instances is for "Exile's End."

Another of my Tavs, the cleric, wrote more about this song here, but its genesis in-world is less relevant to Minthara than what's in it that she can relate to herself—the parts of it she can inhabit and made hers that fuel her performance. To me that's often how it works with a piece of music.

It's also good practice for her to use contractions and loosen up her Common Speech a bit; it's probably her third or fourth language at this point, and while she can use contractions (Emma Gregory said so), she still doesn't do it much.

I should also probably note that none of this is meant to say that she can't compose/perform her own songs. She certainly can! She just took to this one is all. She also might swipe Cannor's lute to play it.

Meta: I tend to write song lyrics (or at least get ideas for them) in batches rather than one at a time. However, there's usually one catalyzing lyric or idea that re-unlocks the process and opens the floodgates. Two years ago, this song was that catalyst.

Anyway, lyrics and a link to music below the cut.

Exile's End

I cannot wait, I cannot wait I cannot wait for exile’s end

I used to be somebody Now I’m just somebody else I could handle a crowd, I could dream out loud And I could not get over myself

I dined on melodrama And now I’m mellow defined I can stay off stage, I can stay disengaged And I’m only reckless in my mind

Cause I’m in no hurry and I won’t pretend That I cannot wait for exile’s end

I used to love to see it And now I just hate to be seen I thought I could be free of my history Yet memory’s still evergreen

So I’m in no hurry and I won’t pretend That I cannot wait for exile’s end

I used to have ambitions And now I just have my doubts My only addiction, fostering fiction, Is always gonna rat me out

A comeback’s a good look, and I’d wear it well, But if anyone’s asking, I can’t tell

Cause I’m in no hurry and I won’t pretend That I cannot wait, I cannot wait I cannot wait for exile’s end

Music here. Thanks for the indulgence.