#he’s very similar to astarion imo

[lyriumsings]

baldurs gate is so funny it’s just

laezel &shadowheart: let’s break you outta this religious cult!

wyll & gale: let’s break you outta this unhealthy relationship!

astarion & karlach: let’s break the people who broke you!

that’s it that’s the game

[some-thrilling-heroics]

shadowheart and halsin

so. the thing that i don't get (aside from the meta reason of 'they didn't write that in or record any lines' etc) is shadowheart and halsin in act 2 BEFORE she goes and spares the life of you know who

there are some jabs from halsin abt her yapping and reciting lessons like a student without understanding what she's saying and i know he is proud of her when she rejects shar, but before all that, i feel a distinct lack of conflict

shadowheart is perfectly happy to put her knife to lae'zel's throat and that whole thing where you can take sides and it's all bc the artifact she carries is for shar, that's her holy mission (plus she hates the gith on top of that)

why is there no similarly visible conflict between her and halsin when the setting is ripe for it? i would expect some comments abt helping him lift the curse - kinda like astarion says to fuck off and not expect his help with the gnome slaves (you can still have him in the party but he does complain abt us helping them) - and it could just be 'do not involve me in this, if he wants to waste his time going against the dark lady then that's his choice, but he will pay the price eventually' and then you don't have her in the party when you clearly are working to help him with the curse. also that comment he has on the old battle field when he sees the corpses - shadowheart could go 'that's what happens to enemies of lady shar. you should take note and stop your foolish quest' or some minor passive aggressive quips abt futility of it all.

now, i know shadowheart is a shitty sharran XD sure, but even with that in mind she does have a vibe of a pupil that is trying very hard for approval still and i think that would work for me as a motivator when there's nothing else to it. and i do think that she could be conflicted deep inside when she sees the effects of the shadow curse, but at least for the first half of act 2, maybe before the gauntlet she would outwardly not show that imo (plus then she does apparently share her doubts at the gauntlet, not that i ever saw that in game myself)

as for halsin. eh, on one hand he has zero issue with a vampire or a bhaalspawn and all that but imo a sharran would feel more personal than a random undead 🤔but afaik there's not much there.

perhaps he doesn't sees shadowheart as much of a threat (as, again, she is patently a very crappy sharran), but more a misguided person that needs patience to guide them away from a bad path. maybe he sees her internal conflict? i wouldn't expect him do that thing he does with minthara where it's either him or her bc he just wants to be anywhere but around minthara bc it's unsafe - but wouldn't seeing shadowheart's armor / regalia bring back bad memories? he's seen people wearing similar vestiges do horrible things. i think he would be very wary of her at least for the remainder of act 1 since joining the tadfools before he gets ....idk i don't want to say comfortable but idk.

once again, comments? thoughts? XD

[sincerelystesichorus]

me becoming a gortash apologist apparently

i never thought i'd say this. i am thinking about Enver Gortash. i'm usually not one of his apologists but... i've had brain rot for my Durge lately, and i think a big moment of developing your Durge is how you react to meeting Gortash again, yeah? you may or may not be close with Karlach but the party and Durge especially have all faced similar trauma of betrayal and exploitation nonetheless (and so has Gortash), he's already been introduced vaguely at the end of Act 2 as a threat/main villain, he worships Bane, he has general edge lord vibes (remember that bit where I'm usually not a Gortash apologist djdjdjd); what i'm trying to spit out, is there's a lot to sway you against Gortash in that first meeting. and I'd argue even a little further, as someone that followed Orin's plans of betrayal against him in my first Tav run, (just because her audacity is so damn funny.)

But anyway. Meeting Gortash. Finding out you used to be close. Perhaps homoerotically, perhaps in a strange platonic manner, or some other third thing, but nonetheless, Durge is assumably the only person Gortash has ever truly liked. He just really goes out of his way with praise at meeting again, the use of the word favorite is notable, and if Gortash had anyone worth elevating, he would, right? That was how Ketheric got here, Orin wants more credibility for herself and the Bhaalists, and Gortash... just enslaves his parents in their old home/business. But he liked you. He's really so similar to Astarion (it's nothing, you're just the only person I've ever truly cared for); he's just already a touch too far gone in his power hungry search for security. He's already repeated the cycle, years and years ago with Karlach as the main example and just the inevitability of being Bane's Chosen. And yet - Durge comes marching through the door again with this band of misfits and his old lackey he wronged, and he's willing to make a true bargain.

And I know it's just in Gortash's character to scheme, but l think playing as reformed Durge makes Gortash's potential deal all the more devastating, since he will truly follow through on his word (or, at least he would.)

It's so funny to show up dating Astarion or Shadowheart, and imagine them teasing you later that night, saying they thought you'd have better taste. Or the bitterness of being with Karlach, knowing that you seemed to be in such deep kahoots. And so on. The point is not valuing that past relationship with Gortash. Focusing on the shiny and new.

And like whatever. Gortash isn't ever going to publicly present that his feelings are hurt but like... wouldn't they? Your past lover or at the very least, only close friend struts in, now thinking they're some big shot, so beyond everything you two had ever done... when you always lived in their shadow beforehand, frankly. Gortash adores how this flawless plan was majorly Durge's, critiques Orin's sloppy manner of filling your place, how Ketheric was just a means to an end. But he liked you. The person who helped him raid Mephistopheles' vault, in turn helping him spit not only in the arch devil's face, but his past captor, Raphael's too (since Raph lives chronically in the shadow of his father, imo.) The person who thought they could formulate and enact this whole plot, and the only one he was willing to follow, to be an equal with, now coming to tell him what everyone always does, inevitably.

A final fuck you, or some form of betrayal, the same thing that caused his mess all those years ago when sold off to that warlock.

It would have to hurt, and while it's funny to imagine my little gnome Durge dying inside and cackling to the party about sleeping with an enemy and technically being the enemy... a little obssessed at the angst you could perceive of Gortash somehow falling for any crazy Bhaalspawn, nonetheless Durge, who was never one for morals, coming back renewed and not to come get him or work things out... but to slay him or turn against him. I'd send the Steelwatchers after our asses too.

In conclusion, Gortash, probably:

sigh. my bias against greasy little guys could never truly make me hate you, enver gortash. look at you, the man that you are.

[windbelle]

I'm not sure if this dialogue is new, cuz I don't remember having it before. After sleeping with the Drow twins with Halsin, you can ask him more about his past experience as a prisoner in the Drow house when he was young. At first he sounds like it was just a misadventure and time allows him to change his perspective. You can remind him that he still has trauma, and he will reflect on that. It's more interesting if playing as Astarion origin as I did here and choosing the mild mockery "Confusing slavery with a fond memory is quite the shift in perspective", then Halsin will first apologize and say he meant no offence, and then proceed to reflect.

I think this makes a lot of sense for Astarion and Halsin. Compared to Astarion's ongoing trauma, Halsin's seems to be lighter. He got away with it, and the result for him was not that bad, so he could take it lighter and subconsciously disguise it in some sort of nostalgic mood. Astarion is the one who is more entitled to point out that Halsin is simply using the glorified memory as a mechanism to hide his trauma, and he is more or less grounded to feel a little offended by Halsin's downplaying trauma in front of him. Halsin feels him and immediately apologizes. It also helps Halsin reflect on his own trauma. I don't know what's the difference if it's Tav, but this feels especially healing if it's Astarion and Halsin IMO.

Edit: it may not be an Astarion Origin exclusive thing. I think you can get the same dialogue as Tav/Durge too. It just makes more sense to me if it’s Astarion origin. IMHO it doesn’t sound very much entitled for Tav to blame Halsin, and it also sounds a bit out of place for Halsin to apologize here. I mean, how is it offensive to Tav? And what does Halsin need to apologize for if Tav doesn’t have that similar backstory? Of course it depends on how you role play as the player but it feels more natural if you put Astarion in the player’s position.

[roughlytwentytwofrogs]

This was an answer to another post, but I feel like I started babbling too much to not make it its own post.

Shipping aside, I feel like the origin companions are paired up by the story.

The most obvious are Karlach and Wyll, which you could chalk up to the fact that Karlach was going to be an NPC related to his quest in the beginning. But I feel like it's not just that, because it extends from act 1 allllll the way into the end of the game. In Wyll's recruitment dialogue, he talks about Karlach; and whether you've recruited Wyll or not, or you've brought him with you or not, Karlach's recruitment triggers Wyll's first cutscene and his first storybeat (while when learning Astarion is a vampire, despite being a monster hunter, his reaction is pretty much just "welp rip i guess").

Karlach has (!) reactions to many steps of Wyll's quest, they talk about each other all the time through their own hurdles. And of course, their antagonists are closely related (Mizora and Zariel), and they have ties to the same main villain (Gortash, who is Karlach's revenge plot and the one to hold Wyll's dad in a cell). Wyll follows Karlach into her good ending to free her from her own devil. It's pretty obvious that those two are connected from the beginning of the game to the end.

Then you have Shadowheart and Lae'zel, who are on each side of a conflict: Shadowheart stole the artifact from Vlaakith, Lae'zel is a very zealous githyanki. They keep talking about each other throughout act 1; because Lae is a danger to Shads, she keeps trying to undermine her to the PC (she even tells you what she does when talking about Raphael, by shittalking and sowing doubt, the moment Lae'zel slips, we've basically already made our minds).

Then they both go through the same storybeat, ie free themselves from their own evil deities, or fall further into their cults and ascend. There's even an (inaccessible right now) interaction between good path origin Lae and Shads, when Shads has that bit of dialogue about dyeing her hair white: she tells Lae that watching her free herself of Vlaakith inspired her to make her own decisions; Shads also has a similar one with resist path Durge.

And last, you have Gale and Astarion, who are foils in their own way, whose stories are about indulging in the power dangled in front of their noses or refuse it, and their backstories both have sexual trauma implications (I say implications, because while Astarion's are very obvious and maintext, Gale's aren't as much, afaik, but I also haven't done his romance path so feel free to correct me). They don't intervene in each other's paths, so they're the two i'm least sure about because you have to dig a little more, but still worth noting imo.

They also have these interactions with the book of Thay, which isn't a main quest but worth mentioning, because they're the only ones who do have a tie to that quest (despite not being wisdom classes).

Now whether it wants us to see it in a shipping light, I don't know! My answer would be probably not, because the game makes the companions very playersexual rather than develop their relationship with each other. You can probably also find ways to pair them otherwise, but to me there's no denying the story is written in a way that pairs the companions up to contrast their stories with each others.

Feel free to add yalls own thoughts on this!

[edoro]

wrt the last post i just reblogged (Halsin cnc meta), i personally tend to imagine him as fairly aware of and comfortable with his kinks, including the ones based on his trauma

in fact i like to think that one of the reasons why he has such trouble accepting that his years of sex slavery were in fact deeply traumatic and abusive is because his response is to heavily sexualize his own trauma - not only was that part of how he discovered that he takes great pleasure in servicing others sexually, but ever since he's sought out situations where he can recreate aspects of the experience

because he's so large and strong and people tend to make assumptions about what kind of sex he wants or what kind of role he plays (or just project their own ideas of what kind of role they want him to play or think he should play onto him), he doesn't get to bottom or sub nearly as often as he likes

although his tendency towards acts of service is imo his own way of taking that control - even if someone wants him to be aggressive and fuck them, if he's doing it as an act of service, then he's still submitting himself to them and making himself their pet or toy and giving himself that satisfaction

this is something that i really like the idea of him and Astarion having in common, actually. i like to think of them both responding to their trauma by sexualizing it, but essentially in opposite directions

Astarion wants to be the one in control, the one doing rather than the one done to, and in contrast to Halsin, i think he would 100% think that makes him a bad person, basically as bad as Cazador

he doesn't really understand kink as something negotiated, as play between willing partners. his only experience is being tortured and exploited, and now that he finds himself with all of these desires to control, dominate, and hurt someone else, to force himself on someone else the way he was forced so many times, he's sure that it must mean he's irredeemably broken by his experiences

meanwhile, Halsin knows that both of their desires are normal and nothing to be ashamed of, but he's got this fun little cognitive dissonance going on where even though he would never think this of someone else, he feels like the fact that he found his experience of sex slavery powerfully erotic means it wasn't really that bad and that he can't really call himself a victim - maybe sort of a victim, but not entirely one, not the way someone like Astarion was

(even though their situations are very similar in certain respects. Astarion says most of his partners didn't even "grant me temporary bliss," but that doesn't mean he never found any of it sexually satisfying or erotically compelling, or never had any complicated feelings about Cazador that included love, a desire for attention/regard, or a sense of comforting familiarity)

i'm just very fond of the idea of Halsin being pretty comfortable in his own enjoyment of submission, including things like masochism, cnc, pet play, various types of power exchange, and just generally a lot of things that are quite specifically aspects of his own past abuse, and getting to walk Astarion through the idea that it's fine and okay to like that sort of thing whether you want to be on the giving or receiving end of it

and MEANWHILE being forced to confront his own internal double standard where he holds himself responsible for things that he would never hold someone else responsible for, due to his direct engagement with Astarion's trauma, and having to slowly come to the realization that he was a captive, he was a victim, it was abusive, and he is in fact Kind Of Fucked Up About It

[sailorgundam308]

Being the angst sucker that I am (but also a coward that doesn’t want to feel too depressed about bad endings), I headcanon a lot about the dynamics and end/post game canons for Astarion and Karlach as a couple (no shit!).

I know a lot of people ship Karlach with Dammon. I obviously don’t, but not because I think they don’t fit well together or whatever. I have this thing in my head of how I view Karlach which puts her relationship with Astarion as more realistic, more fulfilling, and more attractive to me (duh).

Dammon as a character is a nice, hard working guy. He’s also crazy handsome, has the hots for Karlach and some mechanics knowledge to be able to help her a bit. So yea, cool. I like him a lot so that’s not it.

BUT.

Just gonna blurt it out: I think Karlach is too fucked up to be with him in the canon universe we have. It’s a similar reason I have for how I see her reaction to the love test in the Circus in Act 3, which I made a post about. Had Karlach never been betrayed by Gortash, had not been irreversibly damaged (in more ways than one) and not been transformed by her 10 years ordeal, Dammon would be the ‘perfect pairing’ for her - a gentle, good hearted, generous and hot piece of ass. Thumbs up.

HOWEVER.

She’s not that girl anymore. She keeps it bottled up, pushes it down and shuts herself to what her trauma did to her and while it’s commendable, imo, it’s not real. She wants it to be so bad because she’s got so little time and is desperately clinging to her life before she started making mistakes (now being back in the Material Plane after so long). If she doesn’t die, though, she won’t keep this up forever. She’s carrying pain, remorse, ANGER, jealousy, self pity. A LOT of it. Much more than she let out in her post-Gortash breakdown. All these are very human emotions, and very understandable in her situation. She also changed, physically, mentally, emotionally. She grew, she learned- and it wasn’t all pretty and nice things. I like the idea that she’s being the most genuine character in the game while ALSO being the one wearing the most impenetrable mask. It’s wild and damn cool to see her through that lens.

Which brings me to Astarion.

He is also wearing a mask, but a much more frail one. He’s cracked. He tells and shows us these ugly emotions, his selfishness and hurt, much more directly than Karlach does. He’s broken, wicked, mean. It’s clear his trauma completely changed him (though I don’t think he was a good guy before it either), and is entrenched into who he is when we meet him - and will continue to be part of him even after he heals.

I think Karlach is attracted to him not in spite of how mean he is - but because of it. I don’t think she’s aware of it, though. She says something about Astarion having a good heart beneath it all - and while he might have something like a better heart inside that can be rescued, he’s not inherently good, nor he was before being turned (nor he wants to be). The dynamic of Karlach using goodness and positivity as a lifeline, as if to counter the decade of (literally) pure evil she’s been forced to endure, while also ‘surprisingly’ getting along so well with Astarion from the start, also being attracted to his wickedness, gives an incredible depth to their relationship. I see not only the idea of Karlach’s kindness, non-judgement and patience being a refuge for Astarion, but Astarion’s grey personality being a refuge where Karlach will be able to let her walls down - show the ugliness bottled up inside - without fear or shame, and knowing it will be completely and utterly understood. Astarion will never judge her for whatever impulses or thoughts she might have, for displays of selfishness, jealousy or violence. Imo, they can even work some of those out together (wink wink, but not only in that way lol). At the same time, I do believe Astarion saw from the first glance he had at Karlach (or in the first couple of days) that she carried a pain much like his. It’s why he respects her, why he is so quick to apologize to her and only to her, why he feels empathy for her suffering while being absolutely cold to the others. She’s the first one who gives him the opportunity of allowing himself to feel safe, to let his guard down if only for a night. His connection with her might be based on a selfish start (it’s about him - she is like him), but it grows to be more complex as they grow closer. I see him slowly falling in love with her as a parallel to him slowly learning to love himself, to forgive himself.

It’s all so beautiful, poetic and layered and shit (wow, me so eloquent).

But in all honesty, that’s all to say, while I think Karlach and Dammon look nice together, I see him as being the person who’d have been the one for her if she was just Karlach Cliffgate. However, she is not. She is Karlach Cliffgate and she is also Karlach Demonsbane - and for that ‘her’, Astarion - with his imperfections, his wicked ways and his darkness - is the one who truly fits her perfectly (or imperfectly, which imo is even better).

Thank you for reading all this rambling. I love rambling and will (can) never stop so good for you :V

AGH I LOVE bittersweet gritty messy romanceeeeeeee (but I wanna give them a better ending than the one in game - though if the patches weren’t broken, it’s improved a bit already)

[edelgarfield]

some people on both sides of the Astarion polyamory BS are infuriating.

people keep arguing about what Astarion's "true" feelings as if he's a real person instead of just acknowledging that the whole scenario is handled poorly.

as someone who IS polyamorous, the whole scene makes me extremely uncomfortable, and I, personally, interpret Astarion's agreement as disingenuous. I don't think that was the intention, and I don't fault anyone who views it differently, but IMO the whole Halsin/Astarion polyamory discussion falls into a bunch of pitfalls that people new to polyamory fall into IRL that inevitably end in disaster.

trying to equate his new dialogue about mizora to the situation with halsin is ridiculous regardless of what point you're trying to make. they're two different situations that play out very differently, with two different people that Astarion has a very different relationship with. Calling you out for cheating with Mizora doesn't mean that he'd definitely for sure speak up if he was uncomfortable with Halsin, nor does agreeing to you being with Halsin mean he should automatically be okay with Mizora. (I have similar feelings abt the "why would the origin characters be okay with polyamory with Halsin but not each other" argument but that's a whole other post)

having reservations about the Astarion polyamory route isn't "denying him agency." and IMO we really need to stop pulling out that argument whenever someone has a headcanon about a character that you don't like. Astarion is fictional. He, by definition, doesn't have agency.

i take particular issue with this line of thinking because there are so many extremely valid reasons someone might be uncomfortable with the way the polyamory discussion is handled in game ranging from trauma to bad experiences to poor writing. by focusing on astarion's agency, people are prioritizing the feelings of a fictional character over the lived experiences of ACTUAL REAL PEOPLE. like. I hope I don't have to explain why that's fucked up.

[shewhowas39]

Hello :)

After reading your post about elven maturity - which is great imo because I'm totally new to dnd and know little to nothing - I think you might be able to answer some of my questions.

I stumbled upon posts that stated Astarion to be so young because he still carries his child name or something like that. It's been weeks I read those posts I can't remember probably. So my question is, if "Astarion" is his child name, what would be his "adult name" by elven standards? Does he even need to chance his name? I just think it fits him perfectly fine so I can't imagine him having a different name or similar name to his "child name".

Thank you in adavance for your answer :)

this is a really great question that i probably should have touched on in my post. so thank you for asking!

okay, so as i explained in my original post, in elven culture, elves are considered adults at age 100. this has nothing to do with physical or psychological maturity. it's purely a cultural thing because elves live so long.

now, it does actually go somewhat deeper than that. long story made short, an elf's trance (called Reverie in elven culture) goes through phases as they age. during trance, an elf relives memories. there is a lot of lore behind this that is really interesting, but basically, around age 100 the memories they access during trance changes. which is where the marker of 100 comes from.

at this point, an elf is able to choose thier "adult name." up to this point, they've carried a name given to them by parents, usually a name that reflects something about their perosnality. like a nickname. and then when they are seen as adults, they are allowed to pick a name for themselves. it's a sort of right of passage.

now, again, this is a elven culture thing. so elves living in more diverse cities, like Baldur's Gate, might do things differently.

it can be assumed, because it is on his grave and he was only 39, that Astarion was his "child name." at 39, his trance/reverie would not have gone through the change yet. so he never got to pick his adult name.

what would Astarion's "adult name" be? it would be up to him. considering he lived in Baldur's Gate, he may not even ascribe to this custom. but if he did, then presumably at age 100 he would have chosen a new name.

why didn't he choose one when he hit age 100 since as a spawn? there could be a lot of reasons for this. one is that he may not have folloed the more elfy customs because of where he lived. one is that his trance/reverie remains the same as it was at 39 and never went through the change because of being sort of in stasis as a vampire. it's also possible he just didn't see the point, seeing himself as dead anyway. (i doubt Cazador would have been willing to call him by a chosen name anyway.)

this is a very simplified version of the lore. the trance/reverie stuff is interesting but complex and tied into elven religion, which Astarion also doesn't have any interest in, which may be another reason he never changed his name. if you're interested in it, definitely check out hte Forgotten Realms wiki. it's neat and may have some insight into waht Astarion could possibly see during his trance.

but, again, going back to my old post, Astarion having a "child name" does not mean he is a child in any way except for a specifically elven cultural sense. he just didn't go through a very specific right of passage. and he never chose a new name for himself.

hope that explains things!

[ghostkingart]

Doodle idea or general ask/prompt! I saw Our Flag Means Death as a fandom you’re into. How do you think Astarion or one of your OCs would look or function in that universe? Would they prefer Black Beard or Stede as a captain? What would their job on a pirate ship be? How would they dress?

What a beautiful prompt! I absolutely adore pirates and, fun fact, I've got an ongoing Black Sails fanfic on my ao3 🤭 kinda on hiatus due to BG3 brainrot but it's out there!

I'm gonna put up a trigger warning here for: discussion of abuse, prostitution and sadomasochism, and I'll put my reply under the cut (it turned out very long yet again).

P.S. OFMD friends I'm sorry this is showing up in your tags. To briefly explain we're talking about a crossover between OFMD and Baldur's Gate 3. Feel free to skip 🫶

I do think Astarion would prefer the old school Blackbeard as his captain, maybe Valeriy would also, but Veles would definitely prefer Stede. However, at the same time, with learning vulnerability being a big theme for all these characters, I think either captain would be fine for all three of them.

Tangent but I think Veles being in Stede's crew would help him so much with his feelings of inadequacy and his desperate need to be useful at any cost. Stede would show him that it's okay to just exist and be yourself.

I imagine Astarion and Valeriy would have followed Blackbeard until he meets Stede (where Veles would be) and then, just like in the show, Stede and Veles's side would teach Blackbeard, Astarion and Valeriy's side to be gentler, kinder and more vulnerable.

I can see Astarion, Valeriy and Veles being in a polycule in this AU but get this: Valeriy and Izzy. I'm obsessed with it now omg.

Fun fact: some of Valeriy's original backstory versions include him being a pirate. This never fit into the overall story/lore however, so I scrapped it.

I'll yap about this more later but let me tell you what I think each of them would do. First things first, I'm honestly not sure what Astarion would do, I don't think he'd be ranked too high, but I also don't think he'd be ranked too low. Somewhere in the middle imo.

Valeriy would be like Izzy's own right hand man and/or ranked just below Izzy. They have a similar ruthlessness to them.

Veles would be a master of navigation on Stede's ship I think.

I think I'll draw them in this AU actually, but I'll come back with that later.

I think Izzy and Valeriy in particular would work so well together because, just like Veles is distinctly a masochist due to his backstory, Valeriy is a sadist, except that Valeriy has a much healthier approach to his sadism than Veles has to his masochism. I've talked about this sm already but Veles's masochism transcends sex and he most certainly sees himself as an object. Valeriy is nothing like that, he's very careful, gentle and communicative if there's any sadomaso play going on, and he keeps it all in the bedroom.

I don't think I need to explain why Valeriy's sadism would work well with Izzy, OFMD fans have talked about it enough for me haha. But I wanna reiterate that I imagine it all being consensual and mindful, honestly very much unlike Astarion and Veles where at times it gets super messy due to them both being messed up in their own right.

How about how I imagine they became pirates? I mean it's a pretty simple answer. Historically it's pretty accurate, to my knowledge, that people on the margins of society escaped to become pirates. It checks out because Astarion, Veles and Valeriy are all a flavor of queer (bi, gay and pan in my hc). But also, all three of them have some type of abusers to run away from as well as an overall bad life situation (think Valeriy who's already escaped his father, but has only landed himself in prostitution instead. he'd like to leave that behind).

Random bit of a headcanon here, I think Veles would be a person of color in a non-magical AU, and I think that because of the racism towards drow analogy in DND. I'd probably completely redesign Veles for a non-magical AU, but all in its time.

I think Veles would be super cool with the rest of Stede's crew. He'd be very shy at first I think, but he'd find acceptance within the ranks.

I'm also thinking about, once the two crews join, Valeriy would really enjoy listening to Stede or Lucius read to him. Another fun fact: Valeriy reaaaally likes books, he simply can't read them on his own. Meanwhile I don't think he'd have many opportunities to be read to in Blackbeard's crew (this isn't an Ed is illiterate thing btw, this is an Ed has a reputation thing).

I think that's all I have for now! If you have any more ideas for this AU pleaseeee send me another ask!! This was so fun :D

[sundays-mutt]

i have a question i would like to ask you...because you;re the only astarion opinion-haver i trust these days

if you've already answered this or somethin similar apologies!

but i was gonna ask what you think astarion needs (not what he necessarily wants but you can include that too if you want :]) in a relationship

means a lot to me that you think that!!! im not really resident white boy expert imo

but if you are asking me i do think astarion needs someone who can care for him and give him a lot of attention but also someone who can give him direction and purpose

it is important for me to mention that i have no investment in astarion as a character like romantically. i like him and i enjoy writing him a lot but i have no biases towards his character that would make me think this way which is Important because i, from the bottom of my heart, believe astarion needs someone who can give him like... emotional enrichment and 'dominance' in some sense of the word.

submission is really subversive for astarion for this reason to me. but really at the core of it - submission that gives him purpose and reason. astarion is a very nuanced character. he needs agency, but he also needs unconditional love more than every other companion which is confirmed by other companions through dialogue.

to me - astarion needs someone who can not only spoil but also wrangle him. not necessarily domineering in the way people imagine. but someone who is comfortable setting and enforcing boundaries of behavior for him and taking care of him. someone who can allow him to explore himself in a controlled and healthy way while also giving him guidance from time to time without being condescending.

and this isn't because i think astarion is broken and can't make choices for himself but because i think he is owed not having to think. not having to figure out every single thing for survival etc.

this isnt to say the only relationship for astarion is a d/s one (but i should emphasize i really firmly believe this is a good thing for him) but that he needs someone with a lot of emotional maturity and a lot of self assurance to be firm with him sometimes and spoil him at others. the feral cat comparison is earned because he really does have like. rescue who needs scheduled feeding and plenty of pets vibe. don't let him step on your toes etc

anyway my point is mostly that i think astarion is most well suited for someone who can, in some capacity, look after him without expecting anything in return. i dont mean dominance in an innately sexual way but the underlying intimacy of letting yourself be completely and entirely accounted for.

i think even if his partner nature takes on a more submissive demeanor or passive role - it still ultimately ends with him listening to them and getting pampered by their affections. i also think this alligns with his wants he's just not very honest about it

[kyluxtrashpit]

So I haven’t posted that much about it here, but I’m still going with my Kylo in BG3 playthrough and I want to talk about how it’s been going and his relationship with things cause it’s honestly really interesting? Like from a character pov, it’s just really fascinating some of the things he’s going through and the way he reacts to things

So as a reminder, the idea is that Faerun is just a place on a planet in the same galaxy as star wars (probably in the unknown regions or something, somewhere where the gith and the FO/etc. have just never encountered each other cause space is Big). And he somehow ended up there after TFA. So he’s a temporary visitor and his primary goal is to get home. As part of that, he wants the tadpole out right now immediately, as it’s suppressing his Force powers, just like it suppresses everyone else’s powers in-game. So that’s where we start

And I’m just kinda gonna ramble about his relationship with different concepts and the companions and whatnot (behind a cut for length)

So first off, it’s interesting for him to be in this world as we have gods and devils and other beings of great power. And Kylo is like. Largely unimpressed by all of them lmao. All of these beings are nothing compared to the Force, in his opinion. Plus he’s on a planet where they don’t even have electricity and he’s used to space travel. The magic is impressive, he’s interested in that, but he still considers it inferior to his own powers. Which makes for a very interesting play – a character who finds all of these powerful beings everyone’s beholden to utterly unimpressive and irrelevant. Also, things in this world don’t really matter to him in the long run, as he doesn’t plan on staying. Which brings us to…

Lae’zel– his relationship with Lae’zel is really interesting imo because they have a lot in common. It’s funny in the sense that both of them see the other as their local guide to the world, meanwhile neither of them actually know shit lmao. They’re both from space. So it’s really the blind leading the blind. But they have similar morals, having no qualms with threatening or killing to get what they want. They are both warriors who greatly value martial prowess and they kinda bond over that. If I didn’t personally see Kylo as gay, there absolutely would’ve been romance potential here, as these two get each other so well. Lae’zel’s inner conflict about Vlaakith is also kind of a shock to Kylo as… well, there’s a lot of parallels to Snoke there. I think he’s going to return from this journey ready to turn against his master, just as Lae’zel is. Vlaakith is unworthy to lead and she has much in common with Snoke. Lae’zel’s journey has made Kylo realize some things himself

Astarion he also gets along well with, as once again, they both are comfortable with murder. Also, Astarion was the only man at camp willing to fuck him without needing to get feelings involved first lmao. So of course, this is the romance that actually ended up happening (more on that later). Which is mildly annoying for me, as I’m also romancing Astarion with durge and would’ve liked to not have two the same so close together sdkslks but it is what it is. It would’ve been ooc to have Kylo end up with his other option. I’m also not sure what he’s going to do when it comes to Cazador. Cause on the one hand, I can’t see Kylo wanting someone else to get some great power he can’t, even an ally. But if a lover? That changes some things… I also think Kylo fully believes he can kill Ascended Astarion if need be so he could be down for it. Though, I could also see Kylo just killing one of the other spawns during the fight to ensure Cazador can’t complete the ritual, with no thoughts for what that means for Astarion. Also, again, I’d like to do something different on this run, even if not a different romance option, and ascending Astarion could be the dash of freshness I would like. Idk, we’ll see. It’s interesting, honestly. I have no idea where it’ll go. It is funny to imagine him bringing Astarion back to the Finalizer though lmao

Now, Kylo’s other romance choice somehow ended up being Gale lmao. I’m not even sure he really likes Gale, but he definitely liked the attention Gale gave him. But alas, Gale is a ‘feelings first, sex later’ kind of person and that’s not Kylo’s speed. Kylo’s also had just about enough of hearing the name ‘Mystra’ lmao, another god that he’s sure pales in comparison to the Force. I’m also not sure what’s going to happen with Gale’s ending here, as Kylo would not want him to seize the power of the crown (Kylo would rather have it himself, but I don’t think that’s an option). But Gale’s ending conditions are also so convoluted, it’s hard to know what you’re going to get even when you plan it. You basically need a guide to know for sure which you’re getting lmao. So. It’ll be interesting for sure

(Also, speaking of the crown, I have no idea if Kylo will take Raphael’s deal. Cause on the one hand, he’s not terribly threatened by Raphael. And if he can’t have the crown, well, he doesn’t really care what Raphael might do with it, as this world is just one of many and he’ll be leaving it. But I don’t think he likes owing someone something. So I’m really not sure how that’ll go yet. He could take the deal and then go get the contract perhaps, idk)

Minthara, Kylo also gets along with well, unsurprisingly lmao. She probably reminds him of a certain General sdksld. I think the only disagreement they really have is Minthara has embraced the tadpole, while Kylo still wants his out – without it, he has access to much greater power than it can give. He understands why she values it’s power, as it’s the most she’ll ever have access to, but he can have more (at least, in his opinion). So keeping it, ruling over this land – that’s small potatoes shit to him. The FO seeks to rule the entire galaxy. These petty matters are largely insignificant to him (and, tbh, this must be how Lae’zel feels about some of the power struggles in Faerun – the Gith have an empire in space, her main goal is to be cured so she can get back to that). Still, he respects her a lot, and if it were possible, I think he’d consider inviting her to be part of the FO

Karlach is a mixed bag, because he admires her rage and her ferocity, but he does consider her naïve, too nice, all of that. So like. They get along sometimes. In truth, we’ve gotten more Karlach approval than I expected, though still not a lot. Because I do think Kylo is the kind of person to give a fighting chance to those he’s killing, he likes it when they fight back, he wants to find a decent challenge (he just rarely does). And Karlach tends to approve of at least giving enemies a fighting chance, rather than just an execution. That’s… probably all they agree on though lmao. Oh and finding Mizora incredibly annoying

(This is where things start to get sad, btw sdlsllks)

As for Wyll, Kylo found him naïve too, but he liked him well enough. Respected his ability, he’s easy on the eyes, things like that. But, unfortunately, just far too naïve. I think it would’ve been interesting to like, have Kylo make him worse, but that’s not really a thing in the game as Wyll doesn’t have like, a really bad ending in that sense. He does, however, have a bad ending if you think you’ve found a loophole and kill Mizora in the mindflayer pod…

(This is a mistake I genuinely made on my first playthrough, but then immediately reloaded. I should’ve known it was too easy lmao. Kylo, though, Kylo would absolutely try that… so unfortunately, we lost Wyll 😭)

And the other companion we lost, a long time ago, was Shadowheart. They didn’t really get along from the start, with her being so secretive and Kylo being a fan of probing people’s minds on the reg. She also didn’t like Lae’zel, and he does, so. Unfortunately, it was just fated that she wouldn’t survive when she moved to kill Lae’zel in her sleep (also, kind of sensitive thing for Kylo, you know, considering that’s happened to him too)

It is actually too bad, though, cause his feelings on Shar are… complex. You would think, just at first glance, that he’d been down with her, given that she’s all about darkness and such. But her darkness is not the one he’s embraced. Her darkness is about absence, about loss, about emptiness… that is not what darkness is to Kylo. To Kylo, darkness is passion, it’s pain, too, but it’s also power. It is the light that is the absence, that is giving up such meaningful things like emotion and connection. So I think he would find Shar’s teachings have more in common with Jedi teachings than it would seem on the surface. The Jedi are peace through oblivion, light burning away all you are until you are merely a vessel for the Force and nothing more. Thus, Shar, who uses darkness in the same way, would seem like a perversion of darkness to him. In darkness, there is passion and freedom and strength. It is not oblivion. It is not loss. It is everything but what Shar teaches it is. As such, I think he really does not like Shar, but not because of the reasons that most in-game characters don’t

The other interesting part is how he feels about the dream guardian. So I made the dream guardian Ren, because I thought that would be interesting. Ren is the last teacher he had before Snoke and I think Kylo still has a lot of complicated feelings about Ren. Regrets, too. So if you-know-who really wanted to get Kylo’s attention, Ren is the best choice, no doubt

(I talked about this a little before, but I think only on twitter, so it’s a bit of a repeat if you’ve seen my other post on it)

But it ended up being really interesting because Kylo knows it’s not Ren. It doesn’t act like Ren or talk like Ren and, most important, Ren is dead by his own hand. It’s a trick of some kind. He knows that, he has no doubts

And yet. Even though he does not fully trust the guardian, he doesn’t… not trust them either. So far, they have been on his side. They clearly know him, considering the form they chose. And a part of him, I think, really regrets how things went down with Ren. It’s not a second chance, he knows that, but. It’s like imagining doing things right while you’re in the shower or late at night. It’s not real and it’s not going to fix anything. But you still want to try to create a world, however temporarily, where you didn’t make that mistake. And, when he entered the prism, that, combined with seeing Ren on his knees (the same position Tai was in, in his last moments), disarmed and allowing Kylo the chance to choose… Kylo can’t kill him. Even if it would cure him (though he has his doubts there too), Kylo can’t do it again. He knows it’s not Ren and that it never was and that surely some kind of terrible revelation will happen in time. But for now, Kylo wants to let himself imagine making at least that one choice differently

And then, later, he actually passed the checks to give the guardian a hug, which I didn’t know was a thing lmao. So of course he took that. And he’s still not sure what the guardian actually is and he knows he shouldn’t trust but he just. He cannot resist

I did save right at the end of act 2, so. He’s gonna find out the truth very soon here, whenever I play him next. And I think Kylo’s REALLY not going to like you-know-who lmao. He is really not a fan of being manipulated, especially as this journey has helped him realize just how bad it was with Snoke

There’s also Halsin and Jaheira, but he doesn’t know them super well yet. I figured we’d lose Halsin as Kylo would be like ‘well, good look waking up that kid or whatever’ but apparently you actually cannot refuse to help with the portal? Lmao you’re like ‘nice, looks like my work here is done’ and Halsin’s like ‘oh no, I definitely still need you. Brb, going into this portal. Also you’re gonna be attacked btw’ and just. Goes. So fortunately we got to keep him. Kylo would really like to sleep with him though so sdklskd. Maybe he did it for bear dick, who knows

Jaheira honestly probably shouldn’t have lived, given how aggressive she is during the first meeting – Kylo should’ve attacked, but I, the player, also wouldn’t have been able to survive that fight lmao. So I compromised by leaving her fate up to chance at moonrise and not adding her to my party (I usually do, to ensure she survives). But she lived! So we shall see. I don’t think he dislikes her as of yet but. No opinion for the moment

It’s also kinda funny that like. In truth, he’s done more things that are “good” than I honestly expected at first but it’s like. A lot of “good” things are still just ‘kill this guy and I’ll help you’ and Kylo is fine with killing lmao. And he wants the Absolute dead a) for what they did to him and b) to get the worm out of his head. But we also lost two companions so far, and a good number of random characters. So it’s been a very wild playthrough tbh. It’s very chaotic neutral but it is still by far the evilest run of a video game I’ve ever done sdksldks 😅

Which is why I’m taking a break before act 3 because woof lmao, this is hard for me to do, even though it has turned out to be really interesting both play-wise and in terms of character analysis/exploration. Anyway, I shall end this on the note of RIP to the fallen 😔

🪦 Us

🪦 Owlbear mom

🪦 Mayrina

🪦 Shadowheart

🪦 All the tieflings you lose if you don’t convince Rolan to stay at the grove (apparently a lot)

🪦 Zevlor

🪦 Wyll

[fiachrastudios]

Mermay really has god me thinking about a Mermaid!AU for the Tadfools… It’s still very vague in my mind, really I just have a couple of ideas for pieces but I have a hard time stringing it all together. These are my thoughts so far:

- Karlach was turned into a Merrow when Gortash sold her to Demogorgon

- Shadowheart is a cleric of Tharzidun or Umberlee instead of Shar

- Tharzidun as the BBEG instead of the Absolute - SH might play more of a Minthara-y role if she worships him.

- Wyll is pursuing Shadowheart instead of Karlach ( or maybe in addition to?). I don’t know who he’s working for yet - I saw a post on here that I really liked (drop a link if you know it) where they wished that Larian had made Mizora more of a motherly figure, and preying on Wyll by pretending to be the mother he never had, which I really loved and is something I’d want to explore. I’d probably have to make a whole new OC though, since she’d be so different, and I don’t know if I still wanna her as a devil or explore a GOO-lock/Fathomless pact for him instead. His pact weapons definitely a pact weapon though bc that’s sick as hell.

- Astarion gets captured by Cazador, who is still an elf. This is one that I have the most logistical issues with, since he would be separated physically from the others. Best solution IMO is to have him in one of those aquarium attractions that section off a natural body of water and have it break somehow. I’m also toying with him being a dhampir insteaad, as the result of Cazador experimenting on him - give them a bit of Frankenstein/Adam dynamic ;). Cazador could be a part of Tharzidun’s cult too, since fishpeople are so Lovecraftian…

- Aelar still comes from the Underdark, from a cult very similar to Lolth Drow but without all the weird racist and misogynistic etc. shit bc this my original society do not steal : ). His arc would be pretty similar to what I’m planning in my Durge run with him, but with a slight change - he got exiled for some reason, and ends up washed up nearly dead on the shores by a hut that Jaheira keeps after his fellow cultists attack him. He comes across Astarion and his siblings’ enclosure one day - the harbor in Baldurs Gate is too polluted for most merfolk to live, so it’s the first time they’ve had contact with outsiders in a long time.

Biggest hurdles right now are figuring out Gale and Lae’zels stuff, and of course, how they actually meet and what the BBEG’s plan actually is. Do y’all have any suggestions?

[sybaritick]

the thing about writing character dialogue for fics is that how easy or difficult a particular character is depends, IMO, on three things:

How much practice you have taking on voices different from yours in general (past writing, roleplaying, DnD very much counts for this, improv, etc)

How much of that particular character's dialogue you've read/heard and how recently (good to check the source material regularly!)

How similar their way of speaking is to a register you personally have

the third one is the funny one! That's the one that throws people!

It's easy-ish for me to do Gale cuz he's an over-explaining enthusiastic nerd in a lot of his dialogue, and I can be that too-- the big things I need to watch for are that he speaks more formally than me (even during casual conversation) and obviously regional differences (Waterdeep isn't in New Jersey), and aside from that it's mostly smaller changes in tone that are hard to put into words.

It's also easy-ish for me to do Gortash because I have a natural affinity for villains and he's such a great Lawful Evil "says nice words but the meaning is terrifying", but obv he has way less dialogue than Gale in-game and that can make remembering how he really sounds more difficult.

Act 1 Astarion/Ascended!Astarion is fun and easy for similar villain reasons-- but Act 3/post-game spawn Astarion is slightly harder for me because he's more complex in a way that doesn't come as naturally as Gale does.

ok also lastly the funniest part of this is when you come out of writing gale pov fic for an hour and accidentally send a normal discord message that's still half in "gale voice" because you're still exiting that headspace. i mean nobody really notices cuz i'm already weird but i find it funny

[saremina]

(scared anon) so like yeah he isn't exactly cazador 2.0, but imo when tav can tell him "you're just like cazador" it's them being cruel, knowing cazador is a sensitive subject. you can tell him something similar in different ways (a tyrant replaces a tyrant) that don't involve the name cazador and he doesn't respond as viciously. for fans writing off his ascension as just cazador the sequel, that is very reductive. spawn astarion is not an entirely healthy partner either lol

oh yeah I think it's totally cruelty on the player's part, absolutely. that's definitely on the list of worst, most hurtful things you can say to Astarion. buuuut the one small problem with that line is that since we don't have tone indicators it's entirely possible to read it as a factual statement (which it's not because what facts support it) if you wanna read it as that. I've seen it pointed out as proof that ascended Astarion is Cazador 2.0 one too many times to not be aware of that reading being rather prominent (in certain circles that I've taken to avoiding like the plague). it's sort of a 'because you can compare him to Cazador in game it must be true that he's like Cazador' reading that I don't understand but it gets on my nerves every time I remember it exists. and considering some of the writing choices with ascended Astarion, I sometimes wonder if it's meant to be read that way (not getting into the specifics of writing because otherwise I'll be here for hours and I'm not awake enough for that lol)

and yeah you're right, reducing ascended Astarion to Cazador 2.0 is, well, reductive since it erases everything that makes him interesting. though since the fandom can reduce spawn Astarion to 'he's just a good person now', I'm not surprised it happens. and yes, spawn Astarion is not healthy either. he has issues. so many issues. they're both complex ways for a complex character to develop, and I wish it was easier to engage with both of them as they are and not as these caricatures people are so keen to make them into.

[prettyboykatsuki]

hey fang!

so i've loved reading your posts about bg3, especially when you go into detail about the companions - it makes me feel a though i have a better understanding of each of them.

i have a variety of different oc's i've been trying to pair up with the companions, but one of the things i've always had a problem with (no matter the fandom) is knowing if an oc would be compatible with the character i want to pair them with. it might seem dumb to be taking it this seriously i suppose, but making it 'realistic' is part of the fun for me i think.

i'm not actually sure there is any advice you could give me from what i've said, so i have a question instead - you don't have to answer of course! i know questions involving strangers ocs probably aren't that fun to answer

so i wanted to ask: what are some traits or things in general that would definitely NOT be compatible with the companions? so i know what not to include.

<3

hello my love!!!

first of all... i am glad u like when i talk abt bg3... i am hyperaware this is an anime blog so i feel a little bit bad. however. it has consumed me all the same so i cant do anything about it LMAO.

second of all - i understand!!! i also create readers / dynamics based on compatibility and what i think works with them. i don't often post like... what characters like or dislike. my brain is weird so i dont rlly see it that way.

like i do not often think in terms of compatible or incompatible but in like... specific dichotomies. and u can create any dichotomy if you understand a character at their core. i think a good place to start is by assessing what a characters greatest convictions are (or lack there of), how that conviction is shaped by their life experiences and how that effects them, then understanding how they apply that belief.

for example - wyll is a really upright and righteous character, and he has a deep desire to protect the sword coast overall. he disapproves generally of immoral acts and prefers heroics. but that doesn't necessarily mean that he dislikes people who break the law, even though he airs on the side of lawful and kind.

his life experience show that he is understanding of people who were put in difficult situations that caused them to act in specific ways. he's empathetic towards both astarion and shadowheart, and chooses to spare karlachs life after understanding whats happened to her.

so his conviction is protecting the sword coast, but he's willing to let certain things slide even though he prefers to air on the side of legal and morally good. so what is the application of that? what can he make exceptions for? what can he not make exceptions for?

to me these things read as wyll is probably more incompatible with someone who is willfully evil and generally self involved. like he could never get along with minthara lol

contrarily there is shadowheart who, ultimately, loses what she once thought was her greatest conviction. this is pretty common in bg3 among the companions. all of these characters tend to have these wild hopes and dreams and what comes out of them aren't always what they expect and elements of their truer deeper selves show this way. shadowhearts greatest desire is to serve her lady, and when that is ultimately ripped away from her - she is completely very lost on what to do

the effect of being a shar worshipper is that she naturally prefers disrection and privacy and open-minded people, even after she has let go of her worship. however, depsite being former sharran, she tends to like acts of kindness especially towards her character. her life experiences having a hardened childhood and probably being a selunite in truth, mold her into still preferring non-violence and kindness.

she is complex, so its less clear what she would outright dislike imo. but you can figure that she probably dislikes what she perceives to be naivety and people who are loud-mouthed and showy or otherwise close minded.

lae'zel and shadowheart so they r both similar and not.

every character follows a similar pattern. astarions conviction is killing his abuser. a life of enslavement and being taken advantage of gives him a specific dislike for acts of kindness - but its also shown that he cares a lot and is quite sensitive. when astarion loses his conviction, the other aspects of himself are more obvious. especially his nuances around the idea of goodness or kindness. essentially his dislike is not for kindness itself but for charity. his life experiences shape him in that he is always looking towards what gives him advantage and wants tav to act in a similar way.

but he doesn't actually dislike kindness in any way. what he hates more than that is being controlled. someone controlling and righteous both in personality and action probably irritate him. being righteous is not the same as being kind i should point out.

gale is unique in that his story revolves around finding new conviction almost to a point of obsession. his life experiences, specifically around being mystras chosen and a prodigy of magic, tend to prefer things that preserve knowledge or pragmatism. in general, i think gale could dislike someone who is ignorant and excessively unambitious / disorderly.

i can go on if u want. im very tired so i feel like im not making sense. my main point is that each character tends to have this main overarching thing that drives them. when that is taken away or enforced or smth like that - you get a chance to see a deeper and truer part of them. understanding what is compatible or incompatible with a character depends more on what stage of that their in and what parts of themselves they are crutching on most. in the case of bg3 these convictions are of great importance so when forming ocs you would want to take that into account and measure it out.

this is crazy long and kind of nonsensical. and took me an hour to write. im so sorry sfsdksd. if u want smth more direct pls ask me tmmrw morning lmao