#inquisitor calissa

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Saw that post about putting your OCs in AUs again and got to thinking about Calissa in Pillars. She'd be a fire godlike, and a priest of Magran (or maybe a paladin? though I can't remember if paladins must be in an order, or if they can just be religious), sent by Magran to the Dyrwood to Finish The Job. Not quite Waidwen level, but Magran could be jealous of the Waidwen thing and just really attach to this particular godlike. Pallegina would be her best friend, taking the role of Valerie - the one who stands by her decisions but still challenges them, and also the one who tempers her piety. Durance would be her cautionary tale, taking the role of the Hellknights, about the dangers of unchecked faith. And then there's the part about how she was supposed to be a dawn godlike but Magran somehow stole her, given the whole Eothas-Magran conflict...

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Tristian looked at Calissa with tenderness only twice before going blind.

Those were the only times in her whole life that anyone had ever looked at her like that.

One of those times was immediately before he chose to blind himself.

Her face is the last thing he ever saw.

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asdfkjafl somehow I had never gotten the bright idea to look up Calissa's name on a baby name site. Probably because I always make OC names by staring at the "enter name" field and putting in random syllables until something clicks, so I'm not used to having an OC with a "real" name that could be searched.

well.

Apparently Calissa means "most beautiful".

hey remember when tristian first saw her and thought that she was sarenrae and had taken mortal form to appear to him?

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Calissa at the end of her life is so important to me. The way her knees ache constantly. The way her hair fades from gold to bronze. The way she does not forgo aging, despite her celestial heritage, but develops wrinkles and age spots. The effort she spends to write a letter, though her hands shake. The way those very hands no longer have their callouses from the sword and shield, and how conflicted she feels about that.

She has almost no frown lines - instead, laugh lines sketch the shape of her face, each of them placed carefully by her friends and her love.

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8, 19, 25 for the end of year asks? 🥰

Thank you for the ask 😊

8. Game of the year?

Pathfinder: Kingmaker! Look, Kingmaker is def not flashy, haha. It's got some bugs, it's rough around the edges. But each of the characters is phenomenal, and their stories and quests are so well thought out. The story surprises you. And I love the small details, like your alignment changing the music in your kingdom! This game got into my soul and won't leave <3

19. What’re you excited about for next year?

Drawing more! I'm not where I want to be with my art yet, but I can see improvement with every drawing and it's been so wonderful to do it daily. I draw first thing in the morning, and it makes getting out of bed so much easier.

25. Did you create any characters (in games, art, or writing) this year? Describe one

Well, since I'm talking about PFKM - it's Calissa time :) Calissa (she/her) is my PFKM Baroness - human aasimar (archon-blooded), Inquisitor of Iomedae, lawful good. She has bronze skin and long golden hair which she wears in a braid, and golden eyes that glow faintly.

Calissa was raised in a cult that masqueraded as a Church of Iomedae, far away from civilization. The head of the church, Father Gregor, was abusive towards all his charges, but Calissa's fire magic and her aasimar appearance made some in the cult think she was touched by Iomedae, which made Gregor extra cruel towards her.

When she turned 20, she sought to leave the cult, but she knew Gregor would never grant her permission, unless she asked for something he could not deny. She only knew of one such thing. Even so far from the nearest city, word of the Crusades at the Worldwound had reached them. She decided she would demand to join the other Iomedeans who fought back the demons there.

But then a traveling monk came to the church, and brought news of the Stolen Lands and their need of a ruler. And so Calissa got permission to travel there and bring law to the land, in the name of Iomedae.

The monk found his way to the church because Iomedae guided him. This would be the first of the goddess' interventions in Calissa's life. During her time in the Stolen Lands, she made friends who helped her unlearn some of the painful lessons that Gregor taught her in the cult, and she met Tristian, whose actions put her faith to the ultimate test. She had to break in order to rise from the ashes, but when she did, her faith ran true and deep.

end of the year asks

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Owlcatober prompt 29, Sleep

There had been a time when Tristian volunteered to stand watch over the camp nearly every night, trying to escape his nightmares - only to watch helplessly as Calissa tossed and turned in her bedroll, ensnared in nightmares of her own.

Blessedly, those days were gone. Peaceful sleep had found them both at last, together more often than apart.

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Hey! I'm Ana. I like CPRGs, I dabble in writing and drawing, and I am in fact a lil spring onion thank you

music sideblog: @no-sleep-demon

general writing tag

general art tag

Fandoms I've made stuff for lately:

art tag ◇ oc tag ◇ ship tag ⚓ Belonging - 500 words Aloth thinks about his relationship with Siobhan - brash, uncouth, a loudmouth, a thief… yet caring and kind, in her own way.

writing tag ◇ art tag ◇ oc tag ◇ ship tag ☀️ The Light of the Sun (series) - 22k words \\ 7 works A series of stories about Calissa, an aasimar inquisitor of Iomedae with a rigid faith and an uncompromising view of forgiveness, and her journeys with Tristian. Both Calissa and Tristian struggle with their faiths in their own ways, and oftentimes when one of them is at their lowest, the other sees the good in them and helps bring them back from despair.

writing tag ◇ art tag ◇ oc tag ◇ ship tag 🩸 Judgment - 35k words \\ 15 chapters Astarion and Nyssa (redeemed Dark Urge) have settled down in Baldur's Gate to run a small perfume shop and no longer worry about saving the world. But when He Who Was arrives with news that Petras is building an evil regime on the backs of the spawn sent to the Underdark, they decide to set out on one more journey.

💀 Rogue Trader oc tag ◇ ship tag

🍄 Avowed art tag ◇ oc tag

👹 Dragon Age writing tag ◇ art tag ◇ oc tag ◇ ship tag

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Okay no this is fun. Thinking more about this for the others.

Calissa (inquisitor) and Tristian (cleric, ecclesitheurge): a little more complicated!

This got long (a post about my fav OC getting long? who knew??) so have a readmore:

At first, they both hang back. Tristian is in the center back, and Calissa covers one flank. She starts out using a heavy crossbow, because she tries using the sword and quickly realizes the sword skills she learned in the church are shit. Especially when she fights alongside Valerie, whose sword work is impeccable. Turns out a cult in the woods isn't the place to learn great fighting skills.

She also starts off using primarily debuff spells. "If the enemy can't overcome hardship, they don't deserve victory." (Calissa your traumatic upbringing is showing)

Tristian starts out using a light crossbow, because his skills with a scimitar are severely lacking given his new mortal body. He's actively a danger to his companions when he tries swinging steel around. He starts off using mostly healing spells, because he's trying to atone for all the other damage he's doing.

They catch each others' eye sometimes, there in the back line. But it's hard to do more than that when you're flinging acid at trolls and the like.

But over time, Calissa trains with Valerie enough to take up the sword and shield again, as is proper for a follower of Iomedae, and moves to the front line.

This is around the time that Tristian loses his sight. And while he still has some magical sight and can preternaturally tell where enemies are, it's not good enough for a ranged weapon. He picks up the scimitar again, as a symbol of his recommitment to Sarenrae and his desire to atone, and trains with it until he's competent with it in battle.

Calissa also starts using more healing spells. Her perspective is changing, influenced by Tristian. Perhaps it's okay to lend aid. Perhaps it isn't a sign of weakness to need it.

And Tristian starts using more offensive and fire spells, because he atones for the harm he has done and is no longer afraid of causing damage.

And when they fight side by side, blade to blade, it's exhilarating for both of them. They start off so far from each other and grow so much closer during their time together, in all aspects of their lives. How many times does Calissa's shield dart out to protect Tristian? How often does Tristian immediately close Calissa's wounds with his magic? How many times do they find themselves back to back in the midst of the fray?

They start their journey on opposite sides of a chasm, and together they build a bridge that spans it, because their need to be near each other is that great.

Thinking very softly about how Hissera (mage) fights from the back line and Davrin (warrior) fights from the front.

Hissera loves order and control. They take comfort in being able to see where Davrin is. They can tell immediately when Davrin needs help, and can bail him out if needed.

But Davrin just trusts. Just knows Hissera is back there somewhere, and if he's in a scrape, they'll come through. And in exchange Davrin charges everything in sight, to avoid anything getting past him and reaching Hissera.

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Calissa in symbolism 💛

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she may be lawful good but she'll still step on you (WIP)

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Calissa never had a last name.

She had no family in the cult, and therefore no family name. Sometimes the others saw the light in her eyes and the fire in her palms, and called her Calissa Firebird - in awe or in derision, and she hated both in equal measure.

Once she left, she was known by her titles. Inquisitor Calissa. Baroness Calissa. Queen Calissa.

If the common folk thought it strange that their queen only had one name, they did not say it. Truth be told, they were still getting used to having a queen in the Stolen Lands at all.

And once time had taken its measure, and she left the throne room and crown behind in favor of her cottage and garden, at last she found she needed no more titles. She needed only her name, and the way Tristian spoke it like a blessing each time.

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already thinking of filling out that cool OC template for calissa and damn if her flower isn't gladiolus

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One of my favorite things about Calissa is that she never makes peace with the nickname Firebird. Even with all her triumphs, with all her personal growth, some wounds just don't heal. This one is a puncture wound, tiny but deep. She will never "reclaim" that name, and sometimes that's just how it is. Sometimes all one can do is throw it away and forget about it, and there's power in that too.

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lil wip snippet

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I didn't do this on purpose, but after Calissa has her crisis of faith and works through it, she becomes so much more playful and mischievous. As soon as she leaves her church cult, she starts having doubts about her faith, specifically the way it was taught to her. She sees the way others approach their faith with ease and without rigor (Linzi's "no bowing for me!" comes to mind), and it's completely different than how she was raised. And over time the chafing between what she thinks her faith should be vs what she wants her faith to be becomes this unbearable weight. She tries so hard to be an Inquisitor and do everything right, and none of it feels right, and it makes her so serious and uncompromising.

So when Tristian finally shows her the truth, and Iomedae directly affirms it (!!), and Calissa takes a huge leap of faith and forgives and doesn't get smited out of existence on the spot - then suddenly all the things she wanted are things she can have. She can have that ease; she doesn't have to be so uptight. And suddenly she's in conversation with her goddess. She can feel Iomedae's answers to her prayers. She can feel that she's on the right path in life.

And a huge weight lifts from her. And so she can be playful and mischievous and fun. She can poke fun at Tristian. She can joke with her friends. And when she trades the Inquisitor's hat for the crown, you'd think the responsibilities of running the kingdom would weigh her down again - but not at all. Because now she has a solid foundation in her faith, and nothing can shake her.

Is it any wonder then, that at the end of her life, Tristian is shaken to his core, but Calissa is ready and at peace?

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Calissa's celestial heritage is absolutely Sarenite. That's why Tristian is able to see her light (halo - though hers never takes the shape of a halo) despite his blindness. He doesn't just "see" it in his blindsight; it actively shows in his blackened vision.

However, Iomedae claimed her from a young age - via the tenuous connection that the sun is also one of Iomedae's symbols, and amplified by the fact that Calissa's prayers to her were always earnest, even though the church she grew up in wasn't a church at all. Sarenrae lost all access to her then. Sarenrae never cared to have it, though; while Iomedae very much did, for her designs.