#i think its like the only way to redeem an ascended astarion | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

molgars · 2 months ago

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Snippet Sun Mon Tuesday

tagged by @lyzelky and showing up a day late and a buck short :)

here's a sneak peak of a duergar durge/ascended astarion i am working on, tentatively titled "burn the earth & salt the ashes" <3

Were she only thinking about herself, she knows there would be no point in her staying with him. There is nothing left to do here, no more work that can possibly be done. All that remains for Mint and Astarion is to consecrate the ashes of what might’ve been, had she encouraged him to make a different choice. However, he may not be the man she used to love anymore, but he is still the man that she loves. And that means something to her, even now. So Mint stays. Technically, she supposes she doesn’t have a choice in the matter; he has taken her as a prisoner, locked her in one of the countless holding cells beneath what used to be Szarr Palace. She says ‘technically’ because she thinks she could probably still leave if she wanted to, that he wouldn’t be able to stop her if it truly came down to it. But that is less a commentary on him and more one on her: Mint might have renounced Bhaal and forfeited her birthright, but a killer’s hand made delicate is still a killer’s hand. Godsblood is much thicker than water, as it turns out; even stripped of her title as Bhaal’s Chosen, she can nevertheless feel the remnants of his favor. The aftershocks of an exorcism, perhaps, or a letter penned by a former lover tucked close against her breast. Because while Astarion might have chosen to dress up as a monster these days, death is the skin that Mint has lived in her whole life. She has begun trying to shed it, but after wearing it for so long the creature underneath still bears the old, familiar shape of a nightmare. Astarion is aware of this too, Mint knows, just as he is aware of her efforts to overcome her hideous fate. She is pretty sure he thinks that she only stays here out of some misguided hope of saving what’s left of him, too. That she is trying to leverage her captivity to seduce him back to the light, so that they might live together as a pair of grotesqueries redeemed. If that is his assumption, though, he could not be more wrong. She has no desire to tear down what they’ve built for him, no desire to wrench it from his grasp when so much was sacrificed in its obtaining. Moreover, she has no delusions that doing so is even something within her power. No, she stays because she understands the way he looks at her when he thinks she isn’t paying attention: like she’s the last beautiful thing in Faerûn that he hasn’t corrupted with his touch. Like snuffing out the tiny glimmer of flickering goodness that persists in the hollowed-out shell of her body will someday be his magnum opus. Mint can’t fault him for it. To do so would be hypocritical—she remembers when she used to look at him like that, too. Although she has no intentions of caving to his cruel whims, she knows it’s important that she be there to resist them. Because without her languishing in his dungeon and fulfilling the role of the pretty, perfect thing for him to ruin, there would be no worlds left for him to conquer. And for his sake as well as everyone else’s, that is an eventuality Mint would prefer to avoid.

many of the writers i know have already been tagged but i am going to tag @again-please, @aevallare, @shewhowas39 @capriclonus @kittenintheden (should y'all want to) and anybody else who would like to participate <3

#durgestarion #astarion #bg3 #ascended astarion #AA #durge x ascended astarion #durge x astarion

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jessiemeows · 1 month ago

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New OC's :) Well not really but kind of!

Rae (Storm) Nightshade & Amaya (The end) Aníara Othzál

Both are redeemed durges

Rae is for Ascended Astarion & Amaya is for Spawn Astarion

I've written a little bit of their back stories below as well just an FYI Amaya has a full story to her already while Rae is brand new so I need to cook with her a little bit.

Rae is going to be sort of power hungry and will most definitely influence all of her companions to take whatever they can and never give. Unfortunately this will lead to very bad paths :( (I will not be raiding the grove that is too much for me lmfao only one tied will die, IM SO SORRY KARLACH ITS FOR WYLL). I am also going to try to figure out how to save Last Light Inn without murdering everyone when I have Shadowheart kill Dame Aylin, I'm sure I can figure it out, I watched a YouTube vid about it the other day. Therefore I'm once again playing as a chaotic good person?? I think? I'm not sure what it is called if you are power hungry low-key do evil things but are so chaotic you end up doing the right thing. What I've come up for her backstory well what little I thought of is her as a siren, that's how she brought back her victims in sacrifice for Bhaal (similar to Amaya but I've cooked longer with Amaya so she has much more trauma). I don't think she ever liked being under Bhaal's influence similar to Amaya, I believe it is cannon that all Dark Urges have left the cult at some point (I could be wrong but I read somewhere that they have) but she did leave the cult before. I haven't cooked long enough for me think of why she rejects Bhaal's power since she is power hungry but I feel like maybe its because she's so bitter, her dad didn't save her, no one saved her from Orin and all the fucked up shit that happened in the mind flayer colony but I'll get back to y'all on that soon lol. I may give her bluish skin but I might not because tieflings can have human color skin tones, I like Rae's color scheme too it's going to be dark royal blue which reminds me of electricity. I'm not sure if I should keep her as a storm sorcerer it just fits her I suppose, I originally wanted to be a monk. If anyone knows how to use a sorcerer let me know, I've tried to play as one before but didn't understand the mechanics lmfao.I only created her in customization, I'm waiting to get to the grove with Amaya and then I'll create her for real.

Amaya is my go to playthrough that I adore so much and already thought of so much lore for her (her former name use to be Eris but I changed it lol. She's my funny little cry baby chaotic good girl, different from Rae is she always wants to do the right thing but ends up doing it in the most chaotic way lmfao. She's a cleric/paladin of Selune mainly because her mother was a cleric of Selune and her dad also worshiped her but was a ranger, after her adoptive parents died when she was 12 (she did not kill them the Zhentarim did) she was kept as a slave for them, did unimaginable things that a teen should do :( this was mainly because one of the zhents took a gross liking to her, she was also forced to thieve, her main schemes back then were using her cleric abilities to scam someone out of money and then pickpocketing the rest. She had her first Bhaal urges happen to her just before her parents died but vowed she would never act on them after their deaths. This wasn't until she couldn't take it anymore at age 16 and killed her main abuser (there's more to this but I want to write it out eventually in story form.) After a few more years of being on her own other bad shit happened which was when she finally found the cult of Bhaal at the young age of 19. After this, Bhaal of course demanded kills from his lovely daughter and she became a siren but hated every second of it and tried to run away more than once but never couId and would be punished for it which then eventually leads to her wound on her wrist which will occur she will bleed bleed and have a lot of pain, she will also have one of the worst headaches that can even make her physically ill every time she rejects one of her worse urges (this was a joy with Lae'zel thinking she's transforming every day lmfao). I think of this as similar to Shadowhearts wound but more graphic, basically a conditioning to make her do bad things. Again there's more to it that I written about already and will eventually release in future. I changed her color scheme from purple to red bc I hated all the purple eyes lol and I prefer to keep a theme going tbh lol. With Rae her physical appearance will not change when she rejects Bhaal (I may change her appearance when Astarion makes her a spawn though but only a little) but Amaya's appearance does! Her natural eye color is dark brown which is why I chose the eyes that looks like a red haze is over natural color. Her hair will also no longer have dark red streaks and will be just normal black and the glowy horns I think will change from red to white :)

I know there will be another dark urge OC soon it will be for Wyll though but that OC is literally just gonna be me lololol. I'm waiting for Larian to fix Wyll before I start that though. Hopefully SOON!

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #the dark urge #my ocs

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crowover · 9 months ago

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Oohhh i wanna do this! Astarion is stuck in my head for the last 5 months and i'm happy to share that! xD

-Was Astarion a child by Elven standards when he was changed?: I would say yes - mentally. Well not childCHILD more a rebellious teenager, especially cause Cazador for sure treat him like a child or at least made sure to remind him that he doesn't grow or change. We know he also stays this rebellious teenager no matter how hard Cazador tries to beat it out of him. Also thats why fics with Astarion having kids or being married pre vampire are a bit weird to me. He's just too young for any of that, by Elven standards especially.

-How tall is Astarion?: He is the shortest of the BG3 boys in my HC, not by much but still. >:D So from tallest to shortest - Karlack, Wyll, Gale, Astarion, Shadowheart LaeZel

-What is Astarion's natural eye color?: I always liked gold the most. But i'm cool with any other HC really. Maybe not green thou (even if its my fav color haha) just feels too woodelf'y for me.

-Dom or Sub? Top or Bottom?: Dont care. If anything he leaned/forced to be anything what ppl asked of him. And his preferences after he learns about his sexuality? Just read a book instead. ASEstarion baby! But i do think he'll still do it with his partner sometimes for the nice feelings and somewhat enjoy it too.

-The Twins?: Sad scene. I think its good Larian added it to show that Astarion doesn't just suddenly heal just cause he is in a healthy relationship and it will take time.

-Halsin?: i'm NOT a fan of Halsin to be clear. He's mhe to me as a character, i really don't care about him or his story in game, was kinda bland i guess. I cant see him being in a relationship with Astarion either. There was post on tumblr saying Astarion would hate Halsing if he was romancing a good Tav and YES i agree with that! Asatrion would spiral and ask himself why Tav is with him when this perfect goodygood giant elf is right there and be too self-conscious to say no to the polyamory question he got. We see that in game as well but Larian needed one of the male character to be okay with it so they ran with our pale elf...

-Ascend Astarion or Spawn Astarion?: Both are awesome! Neil is amazing haha But I choose Spawn in all my runs! He just grows so much as a character and still is a lovable menace no matter what!

-Can Ascended Astarion become/stay good?: hmm well i do love fanfics when ppl try to redeem the True vampire. HONESTLY i kinda dont like that the Ascended Vampire is not that different from a true vampire in the end. Like he supposed to have his humanity and human needs back right? He just becomes evil and power hungry. (yeye i do get that nothing good can come from killing 7k ppl but still.) I do think that Ascended vamps should be something more and can be "good". Imagine if Cazador would Ascend and be like - Oh, wait, i fucked up, what are THESE FEELING?! haha

-Is Astarion good, evil, or morally grey?: Morally grey ALWAYS. Spawn Astarion is the epitome of Chaotic neutral. Not chaotic evil what some ppl try to place him "cAuSe hE's VaMpIrE" or "he does evil things" pff, DnD dropped the placing of characters/races in strict boxes some time ago anyway and of course he does mean things when it was the only thing he knew for almost 200 years. The most important part of chaotic neutral is his own freedom and needs and that is what Astarion's character/story is about. I think even ascended Astarion is more 50/50 Neutral and Evil, thats also why when romancing him he uses the word "fun" to describe his relationship. And i love that he stays morally grey after the epilogue with killing "bad" ppl for his needs (i doubt he'll do that if he didn't need blood to survive haha)

-Post-game Astarion HCs: Well i do love spawn Astarion and that he and his friends would try to find a way for him to walk in the sun! maybe after they free Karlack? I dont think he would care much for the 7k spawn for too long. Not being the plan ahead or details guys kinda is in the way for leading a colony of spawn i would say. haha After some time he'll seek out out his friends just to "bother" them. Like in the ending (gods i dislike it so much) before Astarion runs of from the sun, he was so happy to just celebrate and spend time with his buddies! And then is literally slapped in the face by the sun and all his companions do is just comment on - "welp no more sun for him hurdur" LIKE WHAT? guys he can literally die now and you dont even try to help or support him?! oof Larian i get it was a supposed to be "funny moment" but its really not... and they know it too! With how Astarion origin story ends so like why does it end like that for any other playercharacter? urgh ANYWAY i'm just rambling now

-Pre-Cazador/Magistrate Astarion HCs: Oh i'm sure Astarion was a asshole. Not too corrupted just yet but maybe was slowly heading that way. I think he was too young to have that of an important position just yet, so more like at the beginning of his magistrate career. Most likely he wasn't known and his murder wasn't a big deal either and Casador knew that. I do think Astarion moved to Baldur's Gate and had no family/friends there either, just focusing on work.

The Headcanon Game - Astarion

Hey everyone! I thought it'd be fun to make a new little game around Astarion, there's just so much that's debated back and forth in fandom that- instead of fighting about it- what if we just shared our personal headcanons about some of the most popular debates and why?

You can either reblog this and add yours there, or make your own (and hopefully tag me? I'd love to see it!) but I hope you guys find this to be as much fun as I do!

Slight NSFW ahead

The template:

Was Astarion a child by Elven standards when he was changed?:

How tall is Astarion?:

What is Astarion's natural eye color?:

Dom or Sub? Top or Bottom?:

The Twins?:

Halsin?:

Ascend Astarion or Spawn Astarion?:

Can Ascended Astarion become/stay good?:

Is Astarion good, evil, or morally grey?:

Post-game Astarion HCs:

Pre-Cazador/Magistrate Astarion HCs:

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, my thoughts 😌

Was Astarion a child by Elven standards when he was changed?:

Yes and no! I don't think that Astarion was literally a child (obviously), but culturally I do absolutely believe he was regarded as a child/young adult. Elves live for nearly a millennia and there's no way that that comes without the interpretation that ages much greater than our own are exceedingly young to them.

An Elven man who hasn't even hit his first century of life? Even in the most human-saturated cultures, that is very young. And while other people/races may not have treated him as such, his parents certainly thought so.

How tall is Astarion?:

5'11", per the Githyanki description of him. Though I go a little feral over 5'9" Astarion too,,,

What is Astarion's natural eye color?:

I prefer Topaz! I like the thought of this ghostly haired, golden eyed pretty boy who turns desaturated and red when his life his stolen from him. I even like to think that maybe when he was alive he'd do the redhead thing where his skin would explode with faint freckles when he spent too much time in the sun, and the vampirism washed them away.

Dom or Sub? Top or Bottom?:

Dom/Top leaning switch, in my opinion. Astarion is reveling in having control for the first time in centuries, and I think for an extremely long time that's all he's willing to do as well. I'd go so far as to say that he likely has some very poor reactions the first time he tries to let go of the reigns.

However, once he grows to truly love, trust, adore Tav? Say when those fateful six months have passed? I could see him giving it a try. If Tav is gentle with him, patient with him, I think the amount of love and attention he's being given would have him cumming harder than he ever has before.

In the least to say, Tav has unleashed a very spoiled little nightmare onto their hands alone.

The Twins?:

I genuinely believe he wants to try, here. He's still riding the high of feeling free, and Astarion is an exceptionally impulsive, brash person. He doesn't like plans, he doesn't like waiting. He's free! Everything has to be better now, yes?

Except... it's not, and he responds poorly to it. I don't think he particularly wants to talk about it afterward, either. It's not a "too traumatized to talk" thing, it's a "too humiliated and frustrated to talk" thing. He needs to be given time, to have Tav wait for him to come around on his own terms. Trying to comfort him while his emotions on it are still a live wire will have him snapping at them. It comes off as pity to him.

Halsin?:

Controversial, but no.

I don't doubt Astarion wants to be okay with it. I think he'd love to be exactly as confident and cocksure as he acts, but I don't believe the span of the game to be long enough to erase centuries of sexual trauma and deep rooted feelings of self-loathing and inadequacy.

Halsin is one of the few he registers as an actual threat to the relationship, in my mind. In part because he's so eager to open the relationship. So trusting, so loving. And he's also just... a big hunk of all of that. So Astarion will force himself to accept it, because having part of Tav is better than having none of them.

Now... the more important question.

Could he ever be okay with it?

Yes! Just not so soon.

Give him time to breathe and grow, to accept who he is. To accept that Tav genuinely, actually loves him for the long term, and he'll damn well become a freak himself. It's just not within a span of days or weeks at most of being free. And I don't believe Astarion will ever actually fully okay with sharing Tav emotionally. Sex? Sure. Love? Not so much. He's a jealous boy.

Just saying... Six month reunion orgy.

Ascend Astarion or Spawn Astarion?:

Spawn! But both are EXTREMELY fun. I like the infinite possibilities of Ascended Astarion, both good and horribly bad. Want your deepest, darkest, dead dove angst unhealthy relationship? Yes! Want your dark romantic, sexy relationship? Yes! Want your Dracula Lisa? Yes!

However realistically, A!Star is a shitbag and I will take my little Spawn and his gaggle of seven thousand accidents. I love seeing how disgustingly infatuated he is with Tav by the end.

Can Ascended Astarion become/stay good?:

I think so! But that's just because of how open his story becomes. He's a shitbag the first six months but we really have absolutely no clue where he's going from there. NOW ARE THE ODDS BAD? Yes...

But that's what fanfiction and headcanons are for, no?

Is Astarion good, evil, or morally grey?:

Morally grey, methinks. I don't like how people gun so hard for one or the other, both pretending that they know him best. It's in my opinion that he's neither as foul or as good as people like to make him out to be. There's a reason so much of his story was retconned or wiped out before it ever even came to fruition.

He's complicated, mean, spiteful. But he also loves and cares, fusses, grows for Tav, and so incredibly fast. That's not an evil or good man. But one that could become whatever he chooses.

Post-game Astarion HCs:

I have a few routes for Astarion that I desperately enjoy. However I think it remains a constant that Astarion is not ready to immediately settle down after the end of the game. He's been trapped in the city, in Cazador's Manor for centuries. He wants to go, to see, he wants to stretch his legs and see what the world has become, what he's missed out on.

He wants to go spelunking in ancient ruins, he wants to mind artifacts, he wants to find a cure. He wants to wipe the blood from Tav's face and devour them in the aftermath of battle. In his mind, Astarion has all eternity to settle down now.

However, in a similar vein. For a Tav who can't adventure? Well, he has all eternity after they pass. There's no point wasting such precious time, when he can cherish every last minute he has with the person who helped him feel love again.

I think that either way, once he does settle down, Astarion becomes a tailor. A very popular one at that. Not for the typical reasons— though he is incredibly talented.

People flock to him for the simple fact that he never gives them exactly what they want. It's a surprise, every time.

Fitted perfect to their body, completely bespoke designs, and completely a mystery until it ends up in the customers hands. But one thing is universally guaranteed; the end result is spectacular.

His immediate fame comes from the noble youth of Baldur's Gate. Forced into dresses or suits that they don't want, uncomfortable and crawling in their skin. Too feminine, too masculine, doesn't fit, doesn't— Astarion can sniff their grief and discomfort from a mile off. And parents who wanted dresses get suits, parents who wanted suits get dresses, with a very simple: "No refunds."

Pre-Cazador/Magistrate Astarion HCs:

OKAY this is the one that I've stewed on the longest.

I don't think he was evil. Nice? No. But not evil.

The reason I say this is because, most people who think he's a crooked Magistrate turning dirty deals is because of Early Access. But EA all but outright states Astarion isn't just a crook, he's practically a slave driver for Cazador and knew him intimately. Several of these things (gladly) have been retconned or entirely removed from his storyline.

What we do have however, is that in his first decade of servitude, knowing full well he'll be beaten and tortured, he lets some boy go for being sweet to him for all of one night. That doesn't give the temperament of someone who is so self serving and so vile that he'd sell people for cash.

Instead, my personal interpretation is this:

High Elves are- as far as I can tell- exceedingly privileged, even in Baldur's Gate. And for Astarion to be a Magistrate so young? It gives me the image that his family was at the very least very wealthy, if not outright nobility themselves.

As a result, Astarion likely grew never knowing personal strife. He was privileged, spoiled, doted upon. Part of the prime demographic to be protected by the city guard and the Flaming Fists.

And as we know, Astarion is impulsive, rash, short sighted, lacking in empathy at the best of times. I think that due to his own upbringing and his singular perspective on how effectively the guard works for people like him. He couldn't see past his own nose, couldn't imagine a world where the guard is draconian instead of just, that they have favoritism and turn the other cheek to crime if its against people they don't like or for enough coin in their pockets.

I think he very genuinely believed in the judicial system, blindly so.

He wasn't a crook, he was a zealot.

The only way he could ever see a person breaking the law is because they truly wanted to, and therefore they're deserving of the harshest punishments of the law. To the letter. (Remember what he says during the tests?)

But that doesn't exactly make friends. Sure, he was doing his job exactly how it was meant to be done. But that means both the innocent being punished overly harshly, and the actual crooks not getting out by coin or bribery.

And that leads him straight to Cazador. This beautiful, confident, exceedingly naive and gullible magistrate that would be prime pickings. Who made himself an enemy by being too strict in his rulings. Easy to pay off someone already resentful of his choices. Wait for him to fall, and sweep in at his most desperate.

The ending result being that Astarion swings savagely in the opposite direction. Because his becomes a story of cosmic irony, such blind faith in the city only to be so horribly failed. Only to become one of the people that he would have punished savagely without any empathy for his plight.

Hence being gentle enough to save someone's life at the expense of his own, those fledgling ten years of his initial transformation. Not a nice man, not an evil one.

Or, TLDR:

That's all for now! I hope you enjoyed!

#fun #astarion #baldur's gate 3 #astarion ancunin #astarion headcanons

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