#no one hate caithe on this post or i will start crying

[valentineveils]

idk but i think without lesbians we would not have the story of gw2 . everyone say thank you caithe

[cindermetalheadgw2]

😊🥝🌠 for cyll and alder

😊

Cyll- she loves dancing. She and her krewe used to go to (and sometimes sneak into) parties of all kinds and just dance all night. Eventually her love of dance was what let her prove herself to the choya and not get eaten by them. Her favorite dance partner is Caithe, before that it was her ex-krewemate Boxx. Cyll was generally really optimistic pre- path of fire, and she still tries to be even though being the commander really weighs on her. What other people like about her is that she's fun and exciting, and knows how to bring people out of their comfort zone to have fun without forcing them or stressing them out

Alder- this guy LOVES every kind of physical, sensory pleasure. Good food, soft clothing, sparkly jewelry, beautiful artwork, a warm candle lit bath, a comfy king size bed with a million fluffy pillows. He has very expensive tastes but he's got an eye for quality so you know whatever he loves to indulge in is well worth the price tag. Especially if the price tag is zero gold because he stole it! He seems generally happy on the surface but, despite his romantic and flirty personality, he has a hard time finding deep, meaningful connections long term and I think he's actually pretty lonely. The few people he is close with love him SO MUCH though, they understand that under all the theatrics he's genuinely really sweet

🥝

Cyll- honestly for her since she's the commander you can pretty much go by the canon, the s4 episode where aurene died and the newest story chapter are about it. She can also be prone to violent outbursts of pure, feral rage post- path of fire. What she really needs around these times is 1. Someone else to take the leadership role and 2. To be held. I don't think words could really help much, she would just overthink and feel guilty and make herself more upset. She just has to be held and let it all out

Alder- he's really, really good at hiding when he's upset. On a bad mental health day he just holds everything in and finds a place to hide so he can drink and cry in private. The best thing for him is for someone to get the alcohol away from him, make him something to eat, have him drink some water, and just sit with him or listen to him for a while. He can get overstimulated so it's better to be quiet and not try to give him a hug or anything

🌠

Cyll- her first friend was her ex-krewemate Boxx. They used to do everything together, but he had this weird thing about cubes. Just an absolute fascination with them. He believes cubes are mathematical representations of perfection and hold the secrets to the eternal alchemy and reality itself. When the asuran colleges wouldn't fund his cube research, he became obsessive, and then disappeared. Cyll later found out he had joined the inquest for a while, then eventually left with several followers and started a cult called The College of the Cube. She's incredibly guilty and frustrated about it, she hates him but also still loves him, and can't bring herself to fight him and the college.

Alder- he didn't really have friends before the metal warband, except one. It was a krytan noble named Richard Ballston. They were really close for a while, until Alder started feeling like something was off, and eventually pieced together the power imbalances of krytan society, and that even among the nobility Richard was horribly unfair to the people "below" him. When confronted about this, Richard completely lost his shit and tried to murder Alder with his sword, but Alder managed to escape, along with enough gold and jewels to survive on his own for a while. Except, one of those jewels turned out to be a powerful magical artifact and heirloom of the krytan Ballston family, and after that Richard painted him as a dangerous, extremely cunning criminal who had made an attempt on his life. After that Alder had a hard time trusting anyone, so most of the people he's met and lost contact with over the years were short lived romances and hookups. He misses and regrets not getting closer with some of them

[commander-coppercogg]

Ok. Ok! So I had several people ask me about my point of view on Trahearne and now that I’ve played the first portion of the sylvari play though I feel like I have enough information to go on. And I have some thoughts I really wanna share! So even though I’m kinda nervous about this, I’m gonna do all that below a read more. Because 1) this got really long and 2) I wanna give people the option to not interact if they’re not interested. Everything that follows is my own personal opinion and point of view. I’m not trying to post hate, or bash anyone’s favorite character or anything like that. Alright, here we go:

I really tried to go in to the sylvari storyline with an open mind about Trahearne I did I swear. But it almost immediately went off the rails and back fired. If anything I dislike Trahearne even more now than I did before. But the good news is that I think I can now articulate why, which I was struggling to do before.

So basically my biggest issue with Trahearne can be summed up with a small piece of dialogue he shares with Caithe if you choose the All Things Have a Right to Grow option during character creation.

Now I will be the first to admit I wasn’t a big fan of Caithe for a good while. I found her frustratingly obtuse and difficult to read and get along with. I’m a straightforward person and don’t like when people beat around the bush. However after reading this short story (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Requiem:_Caithe) and the Destiny’s Edge book, I realized two things that drastically changed my mind.

1.) Caithe has been going through intimate partner abuse for years, quite possibly her entire life. I don’t know why it took so long for me to realize that but once I did, everything about Caithe’s behavior makes sense and I began to see her in a new light. She is constantly wary and on edge and watching everyone around her because she is expecting the abuse to begin again. She is traumatized and struggling to deal with the world around her. Faolain still has contact and access to her and she doesn’t have a support system that could help her escape that.

2.) Snaff was the closest thing Caithe (and the rest of Destiny’s Edge to be quite honest) had to a father. He parents the hell out everyone else in the guild. I plan to make a more in depth post of the book as a whole at some point but there’s one bit in particular I want to mention. At one point Caithe has a run in with Faolain, her abuser, at a party. They talk, Faolain leaves and Caithe starts to cry. Snaff, who is in the middle of an important conversation with several high ranking racial representatives, drops everything mid sentence to walk away and gently ask Caithe what’s wrong and why she’s crying. This and other scenes show that Snaff cared about Caithe in a way no one else in her life ever has. And then he died in an extremely traumatic way.

Now, knowing all that, take a look at this dialogue again.

Trahearne is saying, point blank, to an abuse victim that recently lost one of the only people who gave her unconditional support that it’s about time she moved on with her life and got over it. And Caithe makes it extremely clear that this is not the first time Trahearne has said something like this and how upset it makes her. At best, this is a staggeringly inappropriate thing to say. It shows a blatant disregard and misunderstanding of Caithe’s emotional and mental well-being. To a neurodivergent player (such as myself), it reads very similarly to telling someone with depression to just try yoga and thinking positively. At worst, it it outright malicious. But here’s the thing: I don’t think Trahearne said this with the intent to cause harm. I think he just legitimately never stopped to consider Caithe’s point of view or the consequences of what he said.

And that’s my main issue with Trahearne. He comes off as incredibly privileged. He’s a Firstborn, he’s the first of the Firstborn. Yes he’s been given an incredibly difficult Wyld Hunt but so has Caithe and so has the sylvari player character. And the Pale Tree lavishes him with advantages that you and Caithe never get. Trahearne’s the one given the super important vision quest (you the player character are just along for ride, which makes absolutely no sense if you’re any race other than sylvari), Trahearne’s the one given the super important sword (after you the sylvari player character do all the work of finding and retrieving it and even using it only for the Pale Tree to take it away and give it to Trahearne), and Trahearne is the one who gets to have all these super cool interactions with characters that he’s apparently known for years who all really really like him. To the point that multiple characters repeatedly fall over themselves to tell Trahearne how smart he is and how lucky that are to have him leading them. Even when those character also mention how weird it is to have a scholar with little relevant experience leading them. It’s this weird back and forth disconnect that I don’t understand. (Also Trahearne just apparently know a largos, one of the most mysterious and standoffish races in the entire world, well enough for her to just yknow do him a big favor. No questions asked. Or explanation given.)

And then later in the same instance:

It just feels like he’s given all this attention and praise and, as a gay trans autistic person, I feel little to no connection with someone who’s been given all of that and then talks like that to a traumatized person.

Furthermore, in terms of not thinking about consequences, how about the ending scene of Living World Season 2? Y’know this one?

Where Trahearne, the Marshall of the Pact, aka the person in charge of the logistical side of things and NOT ACTIVE COMBAT, decides to y’know just carpet bomb an entire section of forest. Without scouting it. A section of forest that turns out to be inhabited! By multiple races and cultures, i.e. the Jaka Itzel, the Teku Nuhoch and the Quetzal Tengu. And like yeah you could blame Mordremoth’s influence, but it’s made pretty clear that Trahearne isn’t affected by Mordremoth the way other sylvari are. It’s never once questioned that the player character will rescue Trahearne, while every other sylvari around you is suspected to the point of being put in prison camps or even outright slaughtered. But Trahearne is absolutely 100% not corrupted guys we just have to help him out a bit. If Trahearne could keep his mind together at the heart of Mordremoth’s power, then it stands to reason that he was in full possession of his mental faculties many miles away when he made the decision to open fire. And he chose to carpet bomb the area anyway, endangering countless innocent civilian lives. Like wow…

Also whoever voices Trahearne pronounces Caladbolg incredibly incorrectly. If you’re going to take inspiration from languages such as Welsh or Gaelic, languages that people are struggling to preserve in the face of continuing imperialistic and colonialist movements, the least you can do it pronounce the words right. There is no hard B sound in Caladbolg. Whoever voices the Pale Tree is on the right track with pronunciation. Please do right by the cultures you pull from.

[commanders-sole-braincell]

foxholemonster replied to your post “It still hurts my little heart that the sylvari commander is...”

Sylvari commanders see children running around and playing, genuinely asking a friend what those kids are doing. Not understanding the concept of just having fun when it’s explained to them. “Come on, surely you’ve done that too, plenty of saplings play around from what I’ve heard” “...I...I wouldn’t know. I never was around saplings much.” “Really? Come on you’ve gotta be exaggerating” “No, really. I had a hunt, I couldn’t exactly go just waste time ‘playing around’ when the world needs me”

On the other hand, their team finding this out and immediately setting them on a mandatory vacation and taking them around the world to genuinely explore and have fun like they never got to. Seeing for the first time unbridled joy and excitement on their face once they settle into the idea of taking a break. Realizing how strained and posed their smiles always were when they finally genuinely smile and laugh. Realizing how wrong the world did this child, and how this may be too little too late

But by the gods they’re gonna give the Commander at least a moment of joy after all this

FOX I’M CRYING IN THE CLUB MY DUDE YOU DESTROYED ME

Anet let Dragon’s Watch take us on a lil vacation we need it, please

Like, god I can practically see everyone having this horrified dawning expression when it clicks that while they were living their lives (heck we’re half a year older than jory and kas’s relationship), we didn’t get that, we were keeping everyone safe by facing this threat most people believed we’d DIE to??

I can also see Canach being downright furious with Caithe and the rest of the Firstborn (and Pale Mom), like they’ve just raised this child for slaughter to some extent? They’re barely out of their pod and they’re fighting the Court, making important decisions over who lives who dies, learning about this destiny their sister who’s had 25 years to grow, has supposedly failed? And at the earliest possible chance, they essentially send them away to one of three military-esque boarding schools? ‘They had a choice’ doesn’t really matter when your choices are ‘child, do you want to go to this school where you’ll be researching your targets? This one where we train you to be a living weapon on the battlefield? Or this one where you learn to manipulate, torture, and become a spy?’

A necessity for saving the world? Yes! Good for this sapling? No! And the sapling just goes with it, because you’ve taken what’s essentially a child, and told them they’re this fabled hero, with a big destiny, and that you’re helping them - and at the start it’s easy, they feel big and important, the leaders of their race respect and listen to them! But years down the line it catches up, heck by the end of the personal story, there’s characters that actively HATE you, that despise you and want you dead - that’s messed up

[kehideni]

Gonna do this because i’m bored.

Original post: http://liaraliara.tumblr.com/post/140046142390/super-detailed-questions-about-your-ocs

1. What’s their full name? Why was that chosen? Does it mean anything?

Beasteye Denalien. He is of the Beast warband and as he is the hunter of his warband he chose Beasteye as his name. You know for... aiming and stuff...

2. Do they have any titles? How did they get them?

He has a lot but i chose “Veteran” for him canonically. It’s because he’s been a beastmaster for 20+ years with the Ash Legion and it’s rare to keep a job for that long.

3. Did they have a good childhood? What are fond memories they have of it? What’s a bad memory? 

Well, he had a pretty normal childhood for a charr except for his mom died when he was 5 and the poor cub didn’t know how to process that or if he should process that at all so in his personal story his reaction to death is mostly hurt and confusion. He doesn’t know how to deal with death that is until Tybalt. When Tybalt dies in the personal story he learns how to mourn.

His favourite memory is of when his first pet- Raphael the red drake - hatched and thus started his career as a beastmaster.

His worst memory is... well, every death he witnessed. For a charr he is pretty sensitive, but he grew to be a pretty good actor too so you will not see him cry. The damage is completely inner-working. He remembers every face.

4. What is their relationship with their parents? What’s a good and bad memory with them? Did they know both parents? 

He knew both of his parents, his mom was very strict but also very caring. Alas she’s dead and he doesn’t learn how to mourn till Tybalt. His relationship with his father is good, he helped Vallus escape.

His good memory with his mom is when she’d pet him on his back and sing to him till he fell asleep as a small cub.

With his father his favourite memory is when they were playing ball while Vallus fixed an Ash Legion tank’s wheel. (I actually drew a comic of that but i plan to digitalize it)

5. Do they have any siblings? What’s their names? What is their relationship with them? Has their relationship changed since they were kids to adults?

He was from a litter but for some reason one of his siblings was dead-born, and the other was so much of a runt that no matter how hard his mother tried the cub just died. If those two would have survived Denalien would now have a brother and a sister.

6. What were they like at school? Did they enjoy it? Did they finish? What level of higher education did they reach? What subjects did they enjoy? Which did they hate?

He was a very friendly cub at the fahrar but he got bullied for it so later on he became the silent type. He still likes making allies and bonds easily but he no longer initiates those friendships.

7. Did they have lots of friends as a child? Did they keep any of their childhood friends into adulthood? 

His friends in the fahrar were the ones that later on became his warband. You know how that goes down.

8. Did they have pets as a child? Do they have pets as an adult? Do they like animals? 

He is a beastmaster/hunter. :D He has his red drake Raphael. And yes he loves animals a lot.

9. Do animals like them? Do they get on well with animals? 

Yes and yes.

10. Do they like children? Do children like them? Do they have or want any children? What would they be like as a parent? Or as a godparent/babysitter/ect?

Yes he likes children, and children like him too(think back to the Olmakhan). He never considered the topic though. He doesn’t know if he wants cubs. Maybe after the Tyria is safe from the Elder Dragons. He is already a parental figure for Braham, Taimi and even Aurene though.

11. Do they have any special diet requirements? Are they a vegetarian? Vegan? Have any allergies?

No. He eats whatever he wants.

12. What is their favourite food? Meat on a stick.

13. What is their least favourite food? I guess vegetables.

14. Do they have any specific memories of food/a restaurant/meal?

He had a drinking competition with Pirates, back with Tybalt.

15. Are they good at cooking? Do they enjoy it? What do others think of their cooking?

YES! That was the first profession i maxed with him.

16. Do they collect anything? What do they do with it? Where do they keep it? 

Evon Gnashblade Actionfigures. He loves how he could sell it for 5gold/each whenever he wants. It makes him feel like he got an investment xD

17. Do they like to take photos? What do they like to take photos of? Selfies? What do they do with their photos? 18. What’s their favourite genre of: books, music, tv shows, films, video games and anything else 19. What’s their least favourite genres? 20. Do they like musicals? Music in general? What do they do when they’re favourite song comes?

He likes music of course. He would love to waltz sometime, but between one world ending dragon and the other there really isn’t time.

21. Do they have a temper? Are they patient? What are they like when they do lose their temper?

He is very patient but once angered he goes for the throat. There’s no getting away from him. (enemies)

When allies anger him for sh*ts and giggles he takes it. When it’s something like Caithe’s betrayal in HoT he is just heartbroken and sulks until A) like Caithe it turns out it was not intentional or B) it was intentional then the traitor is treated like an enemy.

22. What are their favourite insults to use? What do they insult people for? Or do they prefer to bitch behind someone’s back?

“Who are you and why are you breathing at me?” He doesn’t really insult he is more of the type of “ask stupid questions get a stupid answer”. He doesn’t do b**ing behind someone’s back.

23. Do they have a good memory? Short term or long term? Are they good with names? Or faces?

He does have a good memory.

24. What is their sleeping pattern like? Do they snore? What do they like to sleep on? A soft or hard mattress?

He sleeps too few hours because of stress, sadly yes they snore mostly because when he does sleep he passes out. He sleeps on whatever surface he passes out on :’D

25. What do they find funny? Do they have a good sense of humour? Are they funny themselves?

He loves sarcasm and silly puns.

26. How do they act when they’re happy? Do they sing? Dance? Hum? Or do they hide their emotions? 

He is very vocal when he is happy. He laughs he cheers he roars he hums and sings sometimes too.

27. What makes them sad? Do they cry regularly? Do they cry openly or hide it? What are they like they are sad?

Misfortune makes him sad, deaths that are his faults and he doesn’t cry outwards. His soul cries but physically he just can’t. Except for the very last LW story... he just collapses and cries.

28. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared?

His biggest fear is that someone else will pay the ultimate price for his incompetence or weakness. That he gives all but it’s not enough, that the soldiers who follow him blindly into battle will once realise that he is nothing special, they were the ones raising him into power.(That’s what he thinks atleast, he doesn’t realise that what the Pact achieved so far are his victories)

29. What do they do when they find out someone else’s fear? Do they tease them? Or get very over protective? 

He tries to be supportive, he is very understanding. Will try to help them through it rather than ridicule them. (Braham with spiders, anyone?)

30. Do they exercise? Regularly? Or only when forced? What do they act like pre-work out and post-work out?

He really doesn’t need to with his 24/7 combat activity.

31. Do they drink? What are they like drunk? What are they like hungover? How do they act when other people are drunk or hungover? Kind or teasing? 32. What do they dress like? What sorta shops do they buy clothes from? Do they wear the fashion that they like? What do they wear to sleep? Do they wear makeup? What’s their hair like?

He wears clothes out of materials he finds in his environments. Fur, bones, leather. His hair is all grown out because who has time for a haircut when you got a World to save?

33. What underwear do they wear? Boxers or briefs? Lacey? Comfy granny panties? 34. What is their body type? How tall are they? Do they like their body?

He is pretty big even for a charr. Well built and pretty tall(can’t really say measures) yes he likes his body.

35. What’s their guilty pleasure? What is their totally unguilty pleasure?

His guilty pleasure would be eating weird stuff, like toxin cured hogs x’D Unguilty pleasure is dancing it’s just that he doesn’t have time for that. 

36. What are they good at? What hobbies do they like? Can they sing? He likes carving wood. He likes to dance and is pretty good at it too. He can sing but not that greatly. You know he can sing on his own speaking voice but not professional singing with higher and lower tones.

37. Do they like to read? Are they a fast or slow reader? Do they like poetry? Fictional or non fiction?

Doesn’t really like nor hate reading, they are pretty average readers. He hasn’t read that much to decide wether he likes poetry or not. Same with other literature.

38. What do they admire in others? What talents do they wish they had?

He really admires people who can truely sing. 

39. Do they like letters? Or prefer emails/messaging? 40. Do they like energy drinks? Coffee? Sugary food? Or can they naturally stay awake and alert? 41. What’s their sexuality? What do they find attractive? Physically and mentally? What do they like/need in a relationship?

He never stopped to consider his sexuality nor did he ever find anyone THAT attractive. He also never thought about relationships that much. But from an outsider’s point of view i think he would need someone who trusts him but also is critical of him. Someone who would be an equal partner to him because as of right now he feels pretty alone even with Dragon’s Watch there to back him up. 

The closest anyone has gotten to a role such as that is Caithe who was an equal parner in raising Aurene. She also trusts the commander and although we haven’t seen her being critical of him we have seen her NOT follow the commander blindly around.

(I... kinda ship Caithe with the commander. No, not my character but i mean the commander as the universal character(which means with my oc too but you get my point i hope))

I think the commander needs someone BY him not all these support BEHIND him. (Note how he told Braham that too in A Star to Guide Us) Welp i got sidetracked.

42. What are their goals? What would they sacrifice anything for? What is their secret ambition?

Well that’s an obvious one. “To make a world worth of his loved ones.”

43. Are they religious? What do they think of religion? What do they think of religious people? What do they think of non religious people? CHARR HAVE NO GODS!

44. What is their favourite season? Type of weather? Are they good in the cold or the heat? What weather do they complain in the most? 

He prefers spring but as he is a furry little kitty cat person he is pretty good in all weather.

45. How do other people see them? Is it similar to how they see themselves? That’s hard to answer as there is someone who calls him a murderer for failing her husband in a mission and there are others who ask for his autograph on their greatsword.

46. Do they make a good first impression? Does their first impression reflect them accurately? How do they introduce themselves? 47. How do they act in a formal occasion? What do they think of black tie wear? Do they enjoy fancy parties and love to chit chat or loathe the whole event?

He doesn’t like fancy suits but if he must he bears with it. He can put on a font and chitchat but that’s mostly to spare himself from boredom.

48. Do they enjoy any parties? If so what kind? Do they organise the party or just turn up? How do they act? What if they didn’t want to go but were dragged along by a friend? 

Honestly, he’d really just like to rest finally. Sit down by a fire at night and stare off into the dark distance. Finally letting his guard down knowing nothing bad will happen if he does it. And just... be with his own thoughts for a change.

49. What is their most valued object? Are they sentimental? Is there something they have to take everywhere with them?

He has a Tybalt plushie he got from Tybalt as a joke, and an Aurene mini. Both have a photo function, a visual reminder who they were and what they looked like.

50. If they could only take one bag of stuff somewhere with them: what would they pack? What do they consider their essentials?

Other than the sentimental stuff, i guess food and survival tools.