#i'm finetuning the dark souls au hc's

[friedesgreatscythe]

this is just a compilation of all my bloodborne au headcanons for the seed siblings and my deputy, johanna. (the focus is mostly on joseph, because @myrcella was asking me about him).

i headcanon he was once a vicar of the church (like laurence or amelia), but he had eldritch visions and heard mutterings of the great ones, which made the church want to put him in the choir (since that's where all their cosmic research went). once he found out what the choir was up to (experimenting on orphans and mental patients), he refused to join them, but this led to a kind of ego death/mental breakdown that pulled him into the hunter's nightmare, because he was touched by the eldritch truth, knew its secret, and was forever changed/stained by it. i imagine that this was kos reaching out to him because she felt his pity and fury on her behalf, and she wanted him to help her.

his build is pure arcane, which is very hard to do because you basically are very physically frail, but you can call down the stars to attack your enemies, or take on the physical attributes of a great one to do damage. so joseph's basically like... he's the closest thing a human can get to an audience with a great one while still being HUMAN, but it makes him more susceptible to their pain and loneliness, and he's trapped in the nightmare, not really sure how to get out or what to do, because he doesn't want to hurt the orphan, but the orphan won't let him get near kos' body. so he’s trapped there, hoping that a hunter will come into the nightmare that is (1) sane, and (2) willing to help him.

this is also where i imagine that johanna comes in (bc she's been dreaming about kos and joseph, bc fuck yeah soulmates), and together they decide that she's going to be the one to distract the orphan long enough for joseph to commune with kos (and kill the nightmare shadow that grows out of her body--bc THAT'S how you end the nightmare, but the orphan won't let anyone get near it). johanna's willing to risk turning blooddrunk and losing her sanity if it means putting all this horror to rest, but this actually ends up saving her, because she isn’t doing it out of fury or bloodlust or wrath. it's a kind of empathic brutality, ig? and so with the nightmare laid to rest, her and joseph can finally leave it and wake up in the morning sunshine.

i also imagine he goes around and keeps adding more incense to ppl's urns when the night of the hunt is on, so they can stay safe.

as for the other seed siblings: jacob's an executioner, and he rescued faith (who was a vileblood) from cainhurst because he couldn't stand to see the entire castle slaughtered like animals. so he brought her back to yharnam. john's like eileen the crow, a hunter of hunters--he knows when hunters go off the deep end (aka, sin) and have to be put down, all the while risking losing his sanity in the process.

a hunter of hunters also knows all the darker secrets of the hunt itself, like people turn into beasts, even the clerics, so no one is safe. i imagine that john once worked in the research hall the choir had, but joseph helped get him out of there, so he became a hunter of hunters as a kind of redemption for sitting by and watching innocent people be mutilated. now he can give hunters a peaceful death before they turn into monsters--of course, the irony here is that with each person he kills, he feels all the more guilty and bitter for it, because trying to wash away blood with more blood just doesn’t work.

jacob became an executioner because he was taken in by the whole "the vilebloods ruined everything and are to blame" rhetoric, but once he was actually put to battle, he realized how wrong this was, so he couldn’t go through with it. he calls himself an executioner still because he takes some pride in their training, but he does what he can to eliminate any/all knowledge about cainhurst so no one else goes there to disturb the ghosts. he wants them to rest in peace.

he also makes sure no one goes to old yharnam, because the people there are (1) mostly children, and (2) are closed off from the rest of the city, so they can’t harm anyone. basically jacob takes it upon himself to act as a guard patrolling most of the cathedral ward, which can be exhausting and tiring, but it’s a job he takes pride in.

faith was raised in the castle and is noble, so she has this regal, elegant air about her, the kind that makes people sense there’s something strange but not unkind about her (vilebloods imbibe blood dregs and gain insight, so faith is basically protected from risking beasthood). and in between hunts (like, when yharnam is vaguely ok), she'll go around to check on the people who were locked inside, offering them incense, telling them of oedon chapel so they can stay safe, etc. she and jacob try to take children back from the choir, but it's really risky because access to the choir is EXTREMELY limited, and after joseph disappears most of their focus is on trying to get him back, so when johanna shows up, talking about him, they're like oh shit, SHE can do it.