#is this a non-vampire astarion?

[destructive-poet]

modern day cunt astarion (I can see him being in a big city, my mind is thinking like LA)

crop tops, phone charms, acrylic nails. good gossip friend, spends all day in the mall but doesn’t usually buy anything because he’s secretly broke

has an apartment in downtown, only really comes out at night. everyone assumes he’s gay because he’s sassy and flamboyant but he’s an atrocious pansexual.

very carefully curated social media, but he’s never active. spends a lot of his small paychecks (he works retail— probably a clothing store) on hair treatments and rent.

(he also really likes collecting hello kitty stuff but gets embarrassed if you bring it up.)

think y2k pink mcbling mixed with a gothic aesthetic

also he drives a beat up black kia soul no I will not elaborate

[acepalindrome]

Thinking about Astarion getting his first real, genuine hug for the first time in at least 200 years. It’s nothing sexual, it’s nothing manipulative, it’s just someone who genuinely cares about him wanting to hold him. It’s new! And somehow terrifying while also making him feel safer than he’s ever felt before! And he immediately wants more of this but also doesn’t know how to ask for it. Initiating sexual encounters, that’s easy. But he doesn’t know how to say, ‘I’m feeling a little sad and lonely right now and would like a hug, please.’ Fortunately, Tav learns to read his body language and pick up on when he’s feeling especially touch-starved, so they just hold their arms out to him and let him melt into them.

[dmbakura]

I have to wonder, to people who think ascended Astarion is capable of growth or improvement as a person - why? What incentive does he have to become better (towards Tav)?

Did Cazador ever get better? Cazador's situation was similar to Astarion's and in his 200 something years of rule as vampire lord he only seemed to become more cruel, isolated, bitter and paranoid. In allowing Astarion to ascend, you completely validate all his fears and preconceptions about power dynamics - ie he is completely worthless as himself and needs ultimate vampire power to gain any measure of control over his own life. He is an incredibly bitter and cynical person with a lot of pent up rage over his situation, and you've done absolutely nothing to challenge his worldview in the ascended ending.

Why would this not extend to Tav? You handed ultimate power to an insecure guy (who canonically, textually sees you as "degrading yourself" and by his own admission would "ruin your love" until you were "nothing") and this is a good foundation for a relationship with growth because...? Just the idea that Tav, who has only known Astarion for a matter of weeks by this point, is somehow special enough to curb this guy's habits for the remainder of eternity (or whenever someone gets fed up of his shit and stakes him, which would probably be sooner than later given Astarion's lack of planning ability) strikes me as incredibly... naive?

[bhaalsdeepbat]

Gale said he was tired and old and I like to think when he gets cranky, he throws little fits and Astarion just kinda squints at him before grumbling and getting Gale to bed.

[y-rhywbeth2]

Scouring a Q&A archive for realmslore, as I am wont to do, and seeing people being semi-officially (officially?) directed to Lords of Darkness when they ask about Realms-specific undead lore even in the 5e era is amusing, and also validating (I love that book. I love how creating tomb guardians/mummies works in the Realms: it's so fucked up. I love the Bhaalist mummy and his relationship problems. I want my Bhaalist to get mummified.)

But anyway the concept that that lore holds in 5e Toril is darkly hilarious to me for reasons, because you'd be applying this to BG3:

Greater and Lesser vampires: Toril does in fact have rare daylight walking vampires! They're created when a succubus kills you by kissing you (ie draining your life force and consuming your soul during make out sessions/sex) and then your corpse rises again as a soulless undead horror that can walk in sunlight. Other than the daywalking a greater vampire is exactly like a normal vampire.

And I'm just... You can get your soul eaten by a fiend in game: can you imagine Astarion's reaction if - after being dumb enough to get fucked to death by Haarlep I know they don't kill you in-game, humour me - you came back as a vampire able to walk in the sun right off the bat? Either he's going to be insanely envious (why do you get everything he wants through an act of terminal stupidity), or he's going to be extremely put out that he isn't special. "There are no vampires like me" Are you sure babe? Bet?

Also as far as Toril is concerned with undeath in its own setting: undeath is evil, as are all of it's sources and all acts of inflicting it upon somebody (except for Baelnorn), but the undead are people and a bit more complicated. Not necessarily terribly nice people, who are monsters and sometimes have to do horrible things due to their nature, but they have control of their actions do damage control and decide not to be total bastards. (Most are total bastards). There are folk stories and legends of protective ancestors and helpful undead, and some undead hunters are wont to let "sleeping undead lie" if they're not bothering anyone. Interestingly I also saw something today that some undead hunting is actually done by undead, who don't appreciate other, less pragmatic and/or morally inclined undead being more evil and destructive than they need to be ("‘nuisance’ undead") and risking encouraging hatred/fear of the undead and angry mobs amongst the living: do you mind, some of us are trying to unlive in relative peace here. How is a Lich supposed to study with clerics breaking down their door, you animals?? Different source again, but D&D's token "good" vampire is a Torilian native (and by "good" I mean Chaotic Neutral and messy, and currently being warped and tormented by the Dark Powers of Ravenloft who enjoy a good chew toy). Toril does have another "good" vampire in official material, but he's been cursed to be Lawful Good and would explicitly go back to being a monster if you lifted that curse, so methinks he doth not count.

[merchantarthurn]

sigh... sometimes i wanna put a ND headcanon on a high shelf away from people who seem to see Character Flaws and go "ah, it's because he doesn't understand social cues. criticism or irritation at his flaws is ableism".

no. no he just genuinely is conceited. he can also have the social cues issue but he's also conceited like textually. like it's not just 'socially awkward' to constantly talk down to someone or fucking. choose one of the lowest moments of a friend's life to go "well ahaha once again, this is why i didn't become a warlock. why didn't he sacrifice his immortal soul for a second time, age 24, like he did when he was 17 and was taken advantage of by a powerful demon? kinda sucks of him if you ask me" anyway i feel insane watching people talk about gale sometimes.

[notthisbody]

wip of some incredibly self indulgent fanart

[grey-wardens]

okay, i know that i said i'd spread the posting of durgewyll fic out over a few weeks but i also want to post it all asap because my brain is still so stuck on it as the Fic That I'm Writing Right Now that i can't write anything else

[rackartyg]

hmm i don't think the nuances of astarion's reaction to araj is to do with him finding romanticisation of his vampirism specifically to be distasteful so much as, like, she's objectifying him and that's what he doesn't like (but instead of sex, it's based on his vampirism). something something there's a difference between strangers and someone you trust something

[outergodly]

VAMPIRE LESBIAN ASTARION．

Like & Reblog if used．

No Kin ／ ID ／ Me tags．

[jacqcrisis]

Realizing I'm once again putting myself in danger of getting worried comments from people about their favorite character getting the shit kicked out of them too much in my fic but

BUT

this time I have an excuse. Astarion really did get the fuck beat out of him Every. Fight. from partially through act 1 up until I respecced him at the beginning of act 3 in my first playthrough. That dude needed all of the healing. All the time. Drinking all the health potions. Covered in blood. Most of the cleric's healing words are for him and him alone. Just on the ground, moaning in pain, the little death save counter over him while Ronan rushed to aid him and I, the hapless player, got a little twitch under my eye from the rogue losing out on a turn he could be stabbing once again.

I'm just documenting. I'm just relaying canon. He goes through an arc of getting good at combat in the background of the romance and self-discovery. It's fine.

[vampyrcain]

mfers who genuinely like ascended astarion have either never been in a toxic relationship

or maybe they just romanticize toxic relationships

probably both

[thebigbiwolf]

.

[bubblegum-snowdrop]

why is ur tav in mintharas clothes

Because she knocked Minthara out and stole all her stuff, of course.

Hel [my gal in the sidebar] very much does not like Minthara for lore reasons <3333

[edit: she is not my sidebar rn but the point still stands lol]

[leonisdumbasallhell]

Are your sketch requests back open? Or are you still trying to catch up on old ones?

They’re still closed atm, i opened my ask box for something else. I’ve been sick all week and also got sucked into Baldurs Gate 3, so i haven’t been working on them atm. It might be a bit before they’re open again, i’ve got a very busy month ahead 😔 sorry for the trouble

[eldrichthingy]

Everett would 100% call Lord Astarion "lordling". They just. They would do that.