#herald of berath

[cadegund]

the watcher is berath's blorbo

[glamfellens]

now im torn if i want to multiclass as a priest of eothas or berath in deadfire,,,

[ghostwise]

watcher of caed nua, herald of berath, hound of eothas, with the prettiest brown eyes you've ever seen✌🏽

[dayntee]

I have very strong opinions about disaster wizards, and especially THIS MOTHERFUCKER:

Listen, if you haven't played Pillars of Eternity, I understand. It's a bit niche unless you're like us olds who grew up on real-time-with-pause CRPGs in the 90's and early 00's (namely the original Baldur's Gate, BG2, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights). That type of gameplay appeals to a veeeeeery particular crowd of people, and if you weren't either super into the Forgotten Realms or D&D in general, it likely wasn't your bag.

THAT SAID - with Avowed coming out next week, I need to gush about one of my favorite fantasy worlds and its disaster wizard because I just love this stupid man so much.

Mild spoilers for Pillars of Eternity and Deadfire ahead:

Eora is a fantastically interesting world. It has some of the most unique fantasy races to play and explore, it leans into its darkness and philosophy hardcore, and it takes a look at gods and says "What's that, you pretentious fucks? Sit your asses down, you have no power over me."

The combat and mechanics system is intricate and complex, but vaguely familiar if you've played any form of tabletop RPG. It does its own thing while still being reminiscent of stats and mechanics with which you're likely familiar. If you're the kind of person that likes to theorycraft their character into a fine-tuned murder machine, you will like this system. If you aren't, that's fine too - there's an option to take all the thought out of the process and let the game level you up itself so you don't have to worry about it and can just roll around doing story stuff.

Pillars of Eternity had a friendship (but not romance) system, which sets you up to have the best found-family adventure with total nutjobs that also has more Matt Mercers than you can shake a stick at (seriously, if you pick a male PC and the right voice option, within the first 20 minutes, your party can be composed of exactly three Matts). It deals with your character, known as the Watcher, getting the world's worst split personality syndrome and having to hunt down the mystery behind why babies are suddenly being born with no souls.

Stick with me, this ride is WILD.

After you resolve this pretty inconvenient global cataclysm, you settle down in a keep you acquire during the course of the adventure, only for a god to wake up between game 1 and 2 in your basement and *checks notes* CRUSH YOU TO ALMOST-DEATH.

Oh, and he also takes a part of your soul. For funsies!

Berath, the god of death, offers to restore you to life to figure out what basement-god (Eothas) has planned so long as you agree to be their herald. While you can say no, that just ends the game, so your will to live means you're in on this whole thing and now you get to sail a boat to do it, for reasons, I guess.

Several of the companions from the first game reappear in this one, but to keep on topic, the most important one is Aloth. Why?

BECAUSE NOW YOU CAN WOO THIS ASSHOLE AND THE ANGRY SCOTTISH LADY THAT LIVES INSIDE HIS HEAD.

Aloth is one of my favorite disaster wizards because he has all my favorite tropes just... built right in:

Crippling self-confidence issues

A "split personality" (it's more complicated than that) that is both mortifying and also potentially one of the best characters in the game

A maker of Generally Bad Choices™

Canonically bisexual

Entirely non-committal (at least without a lot of work)

A PAIN IN THE ASS TO ROMANCE

I say these are my favorite, but they're really just all the qualities that every other disaster wizard I've ended up falling for tend to have in some way. Aloth just winds up having them all, wrapped up in a handsome elven package, and then voiced by Matt Mercer because fuck me in particular, I guess, god damnit.

Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk on why Aloth is amazing and more people need to romance this jerk. I say this with nothing but love—it's 100% worth it, even when he's breaking your heart (or his romance flag is bugged and you have to roll back three hours to fix it AHHAHAH GOD WHY).

Should you want to read along with the general flow of my head canon for my own playthrough, which is a helluva slow burn will they/won't they extravaganza, you can find the largely completed series here on AO3. There's even smut now!

Back to Solavellan Hell with me.

[herearedragons]

okay but what if. paladin + priest of Berath multiclass for Deadfire Mae. maybe she takes Berath's route at the end of POE1 and is very willing to ally with them at the beginning of Deadfire. maybe I really lean into the "deal with death" aspect because she DOES enjoy the spookiness of her Herald role.

and also. she's going to need a favor or two from Berath eventually. so from her perspective, it's a good investment

[thatwinglessthing]

OC Tag Game

I'm taking the universal tag from @layalu and running away with it to talk about my special little guy. Releasing him into the wild.

Art, of course, by Laya! <3 And his slightly cursed in-game look, cause I don't have any other way of showing him off. Okay I have a Sim of him but I'm not sharing that.

GENERAL

Name: Ragnarr

Alisases: Stag Boy, Sparks (do not call him that, reserved for very few people), The Watcher (of Caed Nua), Hound of Eothas, Herald of Berath

Gender: Cis man (he/him)

Age: Mentally mid 20s, physically 66 at the start of PoE

Place of Birth: a small village in the White That Wends

Spoken Languages: Ordhjóma, Aedyran, Engwithan, minimal Huana and Rauatan

Sexual Orientation: Demiro ace

Occupation: Lord of Caed Nua (not anymore due to unforeseen events), Captain of The Defiant (sporadically), adventurer, reluctant saviour of the world, potentially eternally in the service of Rymrgand in the White Void? Oops?

FAVOURITE

Colour: dark greens, blues, and oranges

Entertainment: People watching, specifically to gossip

Passtime: Reading, meditating, chilling in a forest as a Completely Normal Stag

Food: Salads and roasted meats

Drink: some kinda fruity water, mostly tangy ones

Books: Reads most of anything, but is fond of mysteries

HAVE THEY

Passed University: No

Had sex: No <3

Gotten Tattoos: He kind of can't, what with the. Firelike skin.

Gotten Piercings: Yes! Three on each ear.

Gotten scarred: Complicated! His skin doesn't really scar, that's what the cracks in it are. They're wounds that can close up, but depending on how severe they are, they take longer. Pre-Deadfire he gets his left ear chomped off by a stelgaer in a spiritshift mishap. And a lightning scar on his chest from Eothas' biaŵac.

Had a broken heart: Getting ostracised from your village will do that to you, yeah.

Been in love: Yes, once.

ARE THEY

A cuddler: Not really. He doesn't like physical intimacy all that much, it takes Someone Special to earn that. Yngvi is an exception cause he's his special little guy.

Scared easily: That depends! He used to not be scared of anything, but after dying, he's much more cautious, which sometimes comes off as scared.

Jealous easily: He doesn't let himself be jealous, but there are moments where he yearns for things others have that he can't, he would never admit to being jealous though.

Trustworthy: He only trusts as much as the other person trusts him.

FAMILY

Siblings: He has (had?) a sister.

Parents: Doesn't remember them much, he's not seen them since he was a young teen.

Children: He's infertile, but it doesn't bother him, he'd not want any anyway.

Pets: Yes. He keeps taking in strays, and he has GOT to stop. And also Yngvi, of course. But he's not much of a pet, he's his bonded companion.

[quinttyz]

THE HERALD OF BERATH AND HER 2 UNFORTUNATE COLLEAGUES

[modwyr]

The Herald of Berath and the bearer of Berath's Wrath.

[adraveins]

I've never been able to settle on a preferred "canon" ending for Kit, assuming a story that follows the not-so-subtle path that the Watcher has walked for two games, that arrives at the choice to ascend or not. there is more than one version of Kit in my head, one where she chooses apotheosis in a sudden and perhaps volatile manner, and another where she resists that pull and chooses to live out the rest of her days as a mortal. but neither of those options feels right.

so maybe my indecision about it is a perfect roadmap for her. I think Kit would be just as indecisive about where all of her ambition and willing and unwilling power takes her, willful and headstrong in all matters but this. I've dwelled before on Lady Webb's line about prolonging her life and how her sweet husband didn't see it the same way, choosing instead to die in his natural time. how I like the idea of Kit hearing that and staring down the barrel of her own future without realizing it, because Edér follows her to the ends of Eora and back but can't and won't follow her there. and even Ydwin, not a disciple of Rymrgand but an adherent of entropy nonetheless, would wish to fade with time.

so I think Kit's apotheosis is gradual. she's Awakened and a Watcher. she's a Herald of Berath and a Hound of Eothas. she shares soul-space with the god of the sun and stands as witness and eventual arbitrator to a court full of gods. the Wheel lies torn apart before her, and the vast possibilities of mending what was broken open up.

it's not easy or quick, and it takes the work of many hands, but throughout it all Kit dives further into power and knowledge, and inches ever closer to where mortal gives way to god. Kit has enough of the gods in her that she ages but remains preternaturally strong and healthy, and the rest of the world passes by in time. places change, and people die, and as they do Kit is less likely to grow close to new faces, but some drive within her never lets her walk into that good night of her own accord.

and maybe it's when her oldest friends and lovers have passed that Kit finally steps completely into a different kind of existence. not sudden, not explosive, but like slipping into a different skin that has grown slowly over the course of her life, shedding the mortal coil at long last.

[solas-backpack-mug]

weird fun facts about your oc(s)

rules: share some fun facts about your oc(s). they don't have to be relevant to their story, perhaps even better if they aren't. the weird ones are the best!

rangi moa, watcher of caed nua

her glasses have plot armor. rangi gets into some Serious Shit and through it all, the glasses remain intact. they survived dramatic battles, eothas emerging from the ground, rangi fainting multiple times, jumping down a really deep pit, and falling overboard at sea. to name a few

she cares a lot about her appearance. she loves dressing in black and wearing black makeup, she simply thinks it looks nice. however, some people in deadfire assume she looks like that because she's the herald of berath and a watcher. it perplexes her

the only thing she really misses about rauatai are darkest rauatai cookies. she loves chocolate. after the events of poe2 queen onekaza occasionally offers to grant her whatever she'd like. one of these times she asks her to start importing these cookies

asaria ix ensios, rangi's past life

before becoming a missionary, she was a tailor and did embroidery. she loved embroidering flowers the most

as a dawn godlike, she glows all the time. it's stronger when she's happy or angry and weaker when she's sad, scared or sleeping

on top of visible light, she also emits infrared and ultraviolet (just like the sun!). so standing close to her makes people warm but they can also get sunburn by being near her for too long. asaria is a deadly lazer

tagging @herearedragons @sun-marie @hallaheart @ampleappleamble @adozentothedawn @dragonologist-phd @modwyr to share weird fun facts about their oc(s) (no pressure) <3

[arlathen]

the thing with fantasy games is that players go in ready to suspend disbelief and accept strange things as normal within the world. in order to show them that something is remarkable and out of the norm for the world, you have to have other characters who live in the world react as though it is.

in pillars 2, you get stopped at the docks early in the game and the harbor master doesn't believe you when you say that you're the death god's herald. the death god tells you to prove it to her, so you do a little creepy death display and she runs away screaming. in this little scene it is conveyed to you that berath choosing a herald is out of the ordinary for this world and that people find the power you have frightening.

veilguard. yes this is a dragon age post. veilguard extremely drops the ball on this, *especially for the new players they were trying to court*. because, again, you go into a new fantasy game ready to accept the rules of that universe and like. outside of bellara's "our gods are back" KINDA and the first warden, there's no refusal to believe it, no steady acknowledgment that this is so far beyond the realm of most people's comprehension in-world.

[zipmode]

More Neien thoughts ive been having because she makes me soooo insaneeee

Sooooo Neien sees Berath as a parental right. A shitty one but a parental figure nonetheless. She's never been a fan of any of the gods but she respects the wheel at least; sees it as the only decent thing the gods have really done.

Deadfire tears her up a bit because all of a sudden out of nowhere she's getting attention from Berath like WAY more than any mortal ever has. And she's very conflicted about it because well yes she's basically just getting her soul held hostage but at the same time Berath is probably the most reasonable god and well. Thats mom/dad.

And here she is wielding the Twin Eels and the Blackened Plate armor and everybody's calling her the Herald of Berath when she finds out she's basically a living battery. A contingency plan. AND everything she's thought about the wheel is being put into question by Eothas.

She lets Eothas break the wheel and prays that she can finally, finally just fade into obscurity the way she wanted to all the way before the events of POE 1. this of course will be impossible.

Theres no point to all this rambling it just evokes suuuuch a feeling within in me to think abt.

[dragonologist-phd]

break, hunt, skin for Desta?

thank you! these are some good ones!

break: What would cause your OC to break down completely? What do they look like when that happens? Has anyone ever seen them at their lowest?

the first thing that comes to mind is failing to protect someone she loves and feels responsible for her would- she'd be wracked with guilt and anger, a very drastic change from her usual personality. something of that scale hasn't happened, so nobody's seen her like that; if it did, she would probably try to hide how much it hurt, to keep from worrying others

hunt: Who or what is your OC hunted by? A person, a feeling, a past mistake? Is your OC able to let their guard down, or are they constantly alert?

ooh...she definitely feels hunted by the gods inn general, and Galawain in particular (fitting, considering his domain). her place in regards to the gods defined to much of her early life, and she managed to escape all that for a while...

only to be Awoken to her past life as an Inquisitor, someone who deliberately devoted their entire life to the gods. those memories weigh on her, and it doesn't help when Eothas steps on her house and Berath forces her into a Herald role- it's a lot, and for someone as independent as Desta, it feels both deliberate and malicious. by the end of Deadfire, she's hoping the destruction of the Wheel will at least buy her some peace from the gods, but her guard definitely hasn't been fully let down

skin: How comfortable is your OC in their skin? Do they grapple with anything that lives inside them—a beast, a curse, a failure, a monster? How do they face the smallest, weakest, most horrible version of themself? Are they able to acknowledge it at all?

This is a complicated question for Desta- she grew up hearing about Galwain as the Father of Monsters, after all, and what does that make her? Her own parents abandoned her and considered her cursed, while the priestess who raised her called her a blessing, one that should be above and apart from others. For a long time, it was very confusing, and Desta wasn't comfortable with herself at all

Siobhan, her paladin mentor, helped a lot with that- she simply accepted Desta as a person, and as an adult Desta is very comfortable with herself, both good parts and bad. She still doesn't like to think about the many different ways her life could have gone, but she also doesn't feel the need to justify the choices she did make to anyone

[ghostwise]

rinny ily need you to know your aller content gives me life & so much joy & your aller x sarafen material is so. 🌹💚💗💞‼️‼️thank g-ddddd thank g-d...would love to hear more of your thoughts/ideas for allerleirauh in general as well as anything you enjoy regarding her relationship with serafen 👀👐

Thank you beloved I am rotating them both in my mind… love writing a woman who is so weird about gender and also beset by horrors. (gazes at my legion of said characters)

Aller is definitely one of those characters who seems to have a lot of confidence and self-assurance, but it all crumbles upon closer inspection. THEE definition of fake it 'til you make it, but the making it part gets further and further out of reach… due to literally unforeseeable circumstances (weird ionic storm awakens your past lives, haunted by the sedimentary spiritual stratum of a colonial state, giant statue smashes your castle and steals your soul, etc). She's a bit of a mess and she is desperate for people to know that she's a mess intrinsically, not bc of the gods or the Watcher-ing or the Awakenings... she was a mess like, before all that, really guys... if she lies or steals or makes drama it isn't bc a past life popped up and took over... she likes to own her mess, you know

Serafen is dead scared of her at first. He sees her walking around, flinching at ghosts, channeling their memories, seeing their lives, their mistakes and triumphs… and he thinks oh fuck noo ain't happenin' to me ain't dyin' on this voyage for no holy woman to peruse my sorry soul ❌ it's bad news bears

He figures he'll play it safe and then bounce once he finds Remaro. See how that turned out for him lmao now he's in a queerplatonic fling with the herald of Berath

[laiskanpulskeart]

I realised there's some line after which I just start making headcanons in my fanworks, and it's the combination of boredom and knowing the lore. So now that train is rushing full speed to a mountain wall. This is Walau, a Rauataian moon godlike who becomes the Watcher and Herald of Berath after the actual Watcher from PoE 1 decides to return to the Wheel.

Walau happened to be on a sinking ship at that moment in the storm, drowned and then was brought back to life. People of Port Maje took him to the inn to heal, Edèr finds him there and nobody's happy. To make Walau happy I gave him a noisy skinsack with a satellite antenna. He'll also get a handsome fishman later as a boyfriend.

[slugminibar]

my grey warden/ hero of ferelden + beraths herald/ the watcher of caed nua+ scribe haylen + oc scriubbles