#nothing to do with BG3 absolute nothing we just vibing

[bonesmarinated]

bat-lightning heart (x) ❤️🦇 @barbecutie

[baku-usagi]

OK just finished the new dragon age gameplay review and heres my initial thoughts so far:

sooooo much better then I was thinking it would be after the trailer.

Whoever did that trailer did a truly horrible job. While minrathous is a little scifi esque, what we've seen does still at least have some of the general dragon age vibe so my interest is piqued again!

The vibe feels flatly inquisition though.

It makes me really really sad that fans have for over a decade now been begging for the games to return to origin roots, and been continuesly ignored.

I had hoped against hope that the success of bg3 would have opened up was EAs eyes to how absolutely needed a good dialog bar was, and a silent protagonist (especially since fans have been quietly complaining about the wheel and voiced protagonists since dragon age 2)

But alas, that is not a change that happened. It does look fun even if it is leaning more and more into the action adventure stuff for combat. God I miss my origins tactile system though :(

I'm excited so see the new companions in action, they're the least concerning part of everything so far. They seem lively and interesting.

I do think certain things just don't bode well for the lore and universe. Dragon age has been experiencing weird little retcons and simplifications of hard topics since inquisition, and it feels like veilgaurd will continue that legacy.

My biggest complaint is actually this:

We are immediately seeing very very small choices to be made. Unlike in bg3, where the dialog wheel serves not just to give you choices but to help create the personality of your character, this wheel has had the standard bland and tasteless three ish options that leave our rook as uninteresting as the voiced companions before them. I felt deeply disconnected from my inquisitor because there was not really much to connect with, and it seems rook will be the same.

We see no immediately consequences for our choices either besides approval of course. Which again after balders gate 3 is hard to swallow.

I don't think it's gonna be a bad game anymore thank God. But I am sad because i was reallly hoping for more on the actual choices matter rpg front that I can immediately tell is not going to be there.

That being said, some positives too!

As much as I'd like the return of tactics based, I think the hack and slash seems fun! I love the animations especially for rogue because I tend to play mages and rogues.

There is so much more nostalgia to yet be had as we get to continue meeting old friends on the way. I actually really like the game animation (nervous about it having the same eye problems Andromeda had tho 😬😬)

And I think varric and Harding have aged beautifully!

All and all I went from feeling like this was the worst it could get, to feeling like it's gonna be mid, but hopefully still worth playing! And hopefully my mind will continue to be changed. I hope. Bioware somehow managed to make me eat my socks on the critiques lol

(EDIT****

I AM SO HAPPY FOR THE SKIN TONE WERE SEEING IN THIS GAME. THE ROOK USED FOR THE GAME PLAY REVEAL WAS BEAUITFUL AND HIS SKIN LOOKED LIKE A ACTUAL PERSON AND I'M SO GLAD BIOWARE FINALLY GOT THE DARKER SKIN TONES LOOOKINH HUMAN AND GOOD HOLY SHIT. I'M SO EXCITED FOR THE CHARACTER CREATOR IN THIS GAME IF NOTHING ELSE)

[jo-the-nerd]

ALSO SPEAKING AS SOMEBODY WHO ONLY KNOWS THE BARE MINIMUM OF GOOD OMENS AND THE INEFFABLE HUSBANDS i just wanna say im pretty sure bg3 has their equivalent in bloodweave (gale [the one played by tim downie] + astarion)

my defense:

autistic book nerd and king who has the Audacity to fight God + chaotic theater gay that gives cat vibes and may need Therapy

aziraphale and gale sound like the type that would have solidarity in old man knees . idek if thats canon for aziraphale but it sure as hell is for gale

aziraphale and gale rhyme holy shit thats becoming a legitimate bullet point AJSJSJSJA

the book nerds live in their own private library . gale has a whole ass wizards tower while aziraphale has his book shop (that iirc he doesnt even sell the books in it ???)

crowley and astarion are the same fruit men . i also dont know how to explain that crowley just gives me 8 strength vibes as well . even if he was an angel you cant tell me this man can lift more than three books at once

"fuck the gods that did nothing for us. what if we chose each other" vibes from the both of them (idc what the other endings for gale are hes denouncing mystra in my canon bc i say so <33)

is aziraphale the type to have a cat . he seems so . how about a cat w wings (<-a tressym) . theyd absolutely bond over that

if you replaced the cutscenes of astarions little hissy fits w crowley i think itd honestly still be pretty in character

if i manage to pirate good omens one of these days i will be confirming if my hypothesis is correct <33

Ooooh now we're talking :)))))) I'll try to be brief (< lying)

yup that's them.

'may need therapy' we all know they do, the 'may' is only there bc they either won't admit it (Aziraphale & Gale) or would have to get dragged kicking & screaming before ultimately weaseling their way out of it looney tunes style (Crowley & Astarion)

Aziraphale is an old man in all aspects except one (biologically), however Crowley is the same age and he would definitely have old man knees. he doesn't know what to do with his joints half of the time due to being snek

yeah there are no books being sold in that bookshop fgfjkfggnv. like, it's all first editions and what-not so i totally get not wanting to give any away but then why open a shop??? instead of a collection???

yk what, fair enough. Crowley is a noodle, those arms aren't doing much more opening doors for his angel. tbf he can lift multiple potted plants at once but that's more spite than anything

i could also totally see Astarion doing the Crowley Walk(TM)

"fuck the gods that did nothing for us. what if we chose each other vibes" so true, no notes.

aziraphale doesn't have a pet (yet) but I think he would love a cat (I mean, he's got Crowley hanging around, basically the same). A tressym is just a very peculiar step up from that (consider: it has it's own wings to match him and Crowley, which is really adorable!!)

crowley's hissy fits are great and can likewise be replaced with Astarion's.

similiar additions which would probably still be in character:

C slammed Aziraphale into a wall for calling him nice

C went out into the middle of the street when he got really frustrated/anxious and exploded lightning from his body

C agreed to take care of the bookshop, not selling any books etc. but tossed any books he was holding into some corner whenever

both of them evaded the immediate ire of their higher ups by pointing out a technicality that amounted to 'this word is explained to be different from the one you're using, but through a miniscule footnote on the last page of this giagantic book'

Aziraphale has an incredible hard time overcoming the trauma and toxic mindset upheld by his superiors, including how he views himself and his partner (that one's just sad, sry)

Solid ground for a hypothesis I'd say :))

[rottenbrainstuff]

BG3 playthrough - House of Hope

Man I’m getting legit sad I’m getting so close to being done.

Unpopular (?) opinion - I have read people explaining up and down and back and forth about how pressed they are that Haarlep says Raphael is bad in bed, how Haarlep is unreliable because he hates Raphael, how he’s an incubus so his standards must be very high, how Raphael is probably purposefully doing this or that because Haarlep is a spy keeping an eye on him for daddy so of course he’s not going to appear vulnerable in any way, even how sad and conflicted Raphael must be, being a cambian…

Honestly - I have zero trouble taking Haarlep at his literal word. 100%. Raphael’s house is literally full of paintings and statues of himself. He wrote an entire book that’s nothing but descriptions of different scenarios of him being crowned with the crown of Karsus. His diary entries are absolutely insufferable. He is the textbook definition of hubris and vanity. I have zero problem believing Haarlep literally. And I say all this affectionately, by the way: Raphael is one of my favourite characters in the entire game. But it’s kind of like how everyone wants to soften out all the rough edges on Astarion - I like him like this. I think it’s hilarious that he’s so vain. His hubris is so funny. His opinion of himself is so high and his confidence in his victory is so complete, but his personal incubus is sitting here lounging in his bed absolutely roasting his ass to complete strangers with very little prompting. I think he’s a great devil character and I don’t want to make up excuses for his behaviour in order to humanize him. I definitely do love complicated antagonists who have more to them than it first appears, but honestly I just do not get that vibe from him. And I love him for it.

Haarlep was so funny btw. I just love it when actors are having fun. That must have been so funny to come in and voice the character, like, ok so for today, you’re doing the same voice as before, except make it slutty and bitchy this time. It makes sense I guess that Haarlep can change into a female form if you want, of course he can, and I think it’s funny that even when Raphael wants to shake things up a bit, it’s still with a version of himself, but myeh, that whole thing felt to me like a “hey don’t worry if you’re icked out, we have a girl option too that we can totally switch to if you want.” Maybe I’ve just read too many forum arguments about how there’s too many gay people in this game and people are crying to have a toggle to turn it off, and it makes me hostile to anything that smacks of trying to soothe people’s hurt heterosexuality. (because like, theoretically there could be lesbians who object to the scene as well?) Oh well. Still funny in the end. I was going to go through with just sleeping with Haarlep to avoid a fight, because that’s the direction my tav generally likes to go, but then Astarion got very concerned and made me feel bad, so I changed my mind.

Well this whole area was fun. I loved Raphael’s house. I loved all the details. I loved the debtors, the tacky ostentatious bullshit in every corner, I loved the rotten banquet. Is that its natural state and he charmed it to look fresh when I arrived? (disgusting, I love it) Or has he just been so pissy about whatever went wrong with the skeleton folks at the table that he’s never bothered to have it cleared and has left it there in a temper tantrum as a lesson? (ridiculous, I also love it) I love how absolutely, singularly obsessed Raphael is with my party. I know it’s because we are the means by which he thinks he is going to get that crown, but it also feels personal and weird and uncomfortable. I love that my contract has this place of honour in his archive. It’s almost touching, if it wasn’t my fucking soul. I love how absolutely self-assured Raphael is, how confident he is that his plan is going to work, how the possibility of a failure or a trick, like, he doesn’t even have the capacity to consider that a possibility. It SO GODAMNED FUNNY to kick his ego-inflated ass when he was SO FUCKING SURE that he would win. Raphael you are such an insufferable idiot. I love him. I’m so glad the VA won a Bafta.

The Raphael fight is tricky, but honestly, half of the trick is that before you even get there, you have to fight your way to the foyer past the most annoying enemies. I guess Hope’s divine intervention which can restore your spells and HP helps to balance that out though.

It was surprising to see I was able to get Yurgir to side with me in the fight - I had assumed he’d be SO fucking pissed after I tricked him in the Shar gauntlet. Now I have an additional ally in the big brain fight! …except he really wasn’t all that helpful in the Raphael fight, not at all. He’d go invisible, pop out of invisibility, knife someone for maybe 7 HP, then pop invisible again. I guess every little bit helps but…? Come on dude. At least stay visible so you can soak some hits.

Apparently it’s possible to make Korilla survive the fight? I was… NOT able to do that. You get some extra dialogue if you do, but the fight is hard enough to win even without trying to manage a hostile NPC who is usually the first one Yurgir targets. Sorry Hope, sorry Korilla. How come you can cast Otto’s Irresistible Dance on Raphael, and it will incapacitate him, but it won’t make him actually boogie? I was so excited to see him dance, and then he didn’t, he just stands there.

It doesn’t even need to be said - Raphael’s fight song is of course amazing, chef’s kiss, perfection.

Anyway, bard vs bard fight, very fun, when you kill him Raphael crumples dramatically to the ground, I love the big boss fights in this game.

Coming back, I got a stupid lecture from the Emperor about how naughty naughty I was being. Sure asshole, lecture me about trust, that’s really rich coming from the guy who didn’t trust ME with anything, and I had to pry the truth out, unwillingly, in stages. I can’t fucking wait to doublecross that guy.

If you attack Helsik, Raphael’s boss song also plays? That was… a little bit strange! I wanted to see what was in her basement, but the fight with all the gilded imps and Minotaurs and whatnot was such a pain I didn’t bother. Apparently you can access the basement through Dammon’s basement anyways, if you really want to see it, so. I DID make sure to pickpocket those gauntlets back off her cause I want them.

Mannnn. I’m almost done the game. WTF. All I have left to do is go give Mol her contract, talk to Voss in the undercity and piss off the Emperor, get my poop in a group and… that’s it. I’m off to fight the brain. I’ve been playing this playthrough for six months, and I’m almost done.

[separatist-apologist]

MB I have very important business now that you know the bg3 companions, let's go for a classic. Who is the best companion to take to ikea?

Okay first of all THANK YOU. Secondly though, I'm only doing main companions because Jaheria died during our fight at Moonrise and it took me SO LONG to win that I wasn't re-doing it and I've never one time been tempted to pick Minthara over Halsin.

This is, as always, worst to best

Lae'zel- She would not understand the purpose or the point. But what do you need? Nothing, we just came to look and waste four hours pretending we could live this way. I do not comprehend the nonsense of your species.

Shadowheart- I know this will be controversial but damn I feel like she would just complain and sneer the entire time. She's up to the experience until you're halfway through the kitchen section and she suddenly gets mad but doesn't TELL you. The whole vibe shifts and she's being curt so you rush yourself out of there

Halsin- Look, I just think Mr. Nature would not like seeing just how many. trees were felled in order to make a cheap cabinet that isn't going to last you longer than two-three years.

Astarion- I know someone won't like this because it SEEMS like he should enjoy it, and he does for a while. PAPER light fixtures? PLYWOOD furniture? Oh darling. This is awful, take me somewhere people have TASTE.

Gale- It's possible to be TOO enthusiastic about something, actually. Gale. I'm begging you, PUT THE TRINKET DOWN. You actually do not need to touch everything, has anyone told you that? What was supposed to be a light hearted two hour day has spanned the full business hours of ikea and if Gale doesn't stop picking up plants, you're going to wait until the store closes and hunt him for sport.

Wyll- An altogether good time with the Blade of the Frontiers. Does he entirely get what we're doing here at 10am on a Saturday? No, but he DID wear walking shoes and he will definitely stage a half-hearted fight with you in one of the living rooms. You spend half the day making jokes about childhood trauma, and the other half trying to figure out how to get that impulse buy cabinet home in his subaru (look I know this is in my heart okay?)

Karlach- You already knew. The RIGHT enthusiasm and so much hype. OH MAN MEATBALLS? Fuck yes. Not only does Karlach also want to lay down on one of the massive beds and play pretend that you could absolutely live this way, but she's willing to help you build the furniture (she's got tools at home, this is going to be so easy she says!). Youre relationship is better for going to ikea

[iocainesmoothie]

veilguard was incredible, 11/10

I really don't have any interest in nit-picking or criticizing what was missing or done poorly, there was always going to be too much they COULD have crammed in and inevitably so much that didn't make it because at the end of the day it has to be a finished marketable product and must be made with finite resources.

there are always going to be cuts and places that feel lacking, there are always going to be holes, but its important to be appreciative of where they DID decide to spend their resources and I think their team did a fantastic job.

the hair, omg the hair.

the DA2 atmosphere, the ME2 story structure and emphasis on companions, the lore of DAI, like they could not have made a game more tailored to my tastes.

I'm so so so grateful to everyone at bioware who made it happen and that games like this still get made, truly no one does it like they do. BG3 was great but i don't consider them a substitute for the feeling i get from Bioware games. I finished veilguard like 2 days ago and I'm still kinda wondering around in an emotional fog.

I really thought I was going to be disappointed by the romances because nothing was going to compare to the impact and shock reveal and story relevance of solavellan, but omg emmrich!?!

he's so romantic, he's such a lover, he WANTS love so bad, he's so flustered about the age gap! his character arc is ACTUALLY INTERESTING and thematic! there are actually different routes for his romance to go and theyre both HUGELY different AND good!!! AND ALSO relevant to his themes as a character!!! in either route you basically have to chose which one of you is going to (eventually) die first and leave the other one mourning and its like UGH HES SO!!!! UGH ITS SO GOOD!! YOU GET IN A LOVERS SPAT BEFORE A BIG STORY MOMENT!!! THATS WORKING SYNCHRONOUSLY WITH THE GAME PLOT TO ENHANCE THE OVER ALL STORY!! ITS SO GOOOD!!!!

also its SUCH a relief to have an option that wasnt like SUPER young, the age gap is hot as fuck and its part of his story and UGH ITS SO GOOD!!

i also just love the mourn watch as a whole, I feel like some of dragon age magic system gets explained a little too concretely (it feels like everything is either because elves or because spirits or both) and the necropolis vibes are sort of like, no we haven't solved all that there is to be solved about magic and the fade, there are mysteries and cool stuff and wiggle room in the universe for other new stuff to be introduced, like lichs and vampires and supernatural beings that arent just different flavours of spirits.

I do feel bad for the lucanis girlies though. giving players HALF as much romance content as everyone else, and then saying its because of personality reasons? for a character whos personality you wrote yourself? seems mean spirited.

like you didnt have to do that, it was actively making the player experience worse for arguably nothing, if you wanted to convey that lucanis doesn't feel free to want things for himself there were other ways to portray that than an ABSENCE of content. you have a finite word count to bring these characters to life. Wasting it like that for arguably nothing except to make players feel disappointment doesn't seem defensible to me?

not even going into the neve thing. everyone on twitter is doing the usual "boohoo you just hate neve because you hate women" thing.

I LOVE neve, i think that "fantasy-noir" vibe she and varric have is absolute PEAK, I also didnt even romance lucanis, and i think they're perfectly sweet together and i love when companions have lives outside the main character!

but i do think its double shitty to write a character who fully ignores your romance lines (like not even shrugs them off or has an awkward or negative reaction just FULLY does not react as if the game isn't registering the option you chose) but then have them actively pursuing someone else?

what happened to those personality reasons?

lucanis has never had a relationship before but suddenly he's juggling 2 people?

during his quest (his stupid lazy dream sequence quest that has to happen in the middle of another conversation while the two of you stand there awkwardly for some reason) even if you've chosen every heart option he'll still imply in his dream sequence that hes attracted to neve.

YOU get cut off from the romance route if you choose to support minrathous but he's fine with neve?

I'm just saying, if i were writing one of 6 romance routes in the last dragon age game maybe ever made, I would have been more generous. The way it treats the player is almost adversarial?

I know, i know, the opposite side of the spectrum is being TOO fawning about the player till it almost reaches the point of paternalistic condescension, like when every single character adores the mc and never questions or doubts or disagrees with them. that also sucks! that is also a bad writing choice!

i LOVED rook and solas's relationship. I am a hardcore solavellan solas simp and my sole goal was for them to get their happy ever after, solas is my favorite character across all media EVER.

that said, i loved making rook shit talk him, and swear at him and hate him, and i was DELIGHTED every time solas betrayed them, even at the very end when he, the god of lies, swears on everything he holds sacred that he PROMISES he wont try to bring the veil down again after elgernan is dead and you just KNOW hes trying to give you one more stab in the back for the road, i LOVED it. i was DELIGHTED to be trapped in that prison, it was the strongest part of the game and I cried pretty much nonstop from that point to the finale. i dont NEED every character to get along and play nice and love me unquestioningly. i LOVE carver!!! i LOVE the rivalry system!!!

again i havent even played lucanis's route and i probably never will because i'm insane about emmrich (who btw i can romance every play through and pick a different version and get a different but equally devastatingly romantic route AHEM)

also im only criticizing his writing here, at the bottom of a huge rambling text post behind a read more on a dead website at 5:30 am, because mary kirby did get laid off and didn't receive the severance she was owed and regardless of how i feel about her latest work she absolutely deserves the money and new stable employment and picking on the way she wrote her character doesn't seem like the right thing to do anywhere there is even a slim chance someone might see it.

anyway, i just think maybe they were trying to play with structure to convey something and i disagree with the results, but what do i know. I'm protesting more about that because the mechanics of writing game romances, more so than the romance itself, is my obsessive special interest and I'm always thinking of how I would do it, and to see someone get the chance to do it in the big leagues and fumble (according to my tastes) chafes me a little.

that said, iv seen a lot of people who were perfectly happy with what they got from Lucanis so maybe im totally wrong lmao.

Im also just now thinking of all the stuff we'll never get a definitive answer to if this really is the last game, or all the choices that we imported over fifteen years that ended up meaning nothing.

like if only elgernan and ghilly were left, does that mean what the wardens were doing WAS actually killing the gods? and once theyre all dead the veil would come down because it no longer had their life force fuelling it and the mega blight would come out? and THATS why solas was so freaked out by clarel?

what the fuck was the point of playing hot potato with urthemiel's old god soul over the entire franchise? what about the well of sorrows?!! what the fuck is actually going on in kalsharok? theyre just like ALL semi-tainted semi-wardens? WAS andraste a mage? a vessel for mythal? WAS SOLAS SHARTAN????!?! what was yavanna trying to rebuild the dragon population for? WHAT RECKONING WAS MYTHAL PLANNING?!?! what the fuck is the gathering storm? why did the pre-qunari race decide to drink dragon blood to become qunari to get away from them? LIZARD MEN ILLUMINATI FROM THE MOON? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!

i mean i know obviously the answer is "resource budget and time", and again im just so incredibly grateful the game got made at all, i guess im just left with the same feeling every other dragon age game gave me which is that i desperately want more.

[syrips]

thinking about the poll/post (omg i found it!!) asking about if strahd would be a vampire ascendant and i decided to ramble about it along with other random things because dont mind if i do indulge!! hehe

shoutout to @/thecatslug for inspiring me to colorcode my rambles because oh my god i love colors. also sorry the color code might not make sense its just syrips color coded my brain likes it gfdgdfg

ravenloft / bg3 spoilers below:

so, im not sure if the question meant 'would strahd be considered a vampire ascendant' or if it meant 'could strahd become a vampire ascendant', so i decided ill try to answer this: would strahd be considered a vampire ascendant? sorry if this wasnt the original question i just wanted to ramble honestly

before we get into the fancy nitty gritty stuff, let's take a look at the details of four main things apparently i cant count heh, get it, count? anyways im not fixing that four sorry numbers are hard

Vellioth the Martinet

Baldur's Gate's Master Vampire List

The Black Mass Scroll As A Whole

Cazador and Jander (what?)

Strahd

-----

Vellioth the Martinet

so, random fun theory that no one asked but i just wanna ramble it. did you know that 'vellus' means fleece or wool?

just gonna leave this here. unrelated to anything else btw i just wanna ramble it.

random wiki stuff:

"vellus / villus / veillier = fleece, shaggy tuft hair, wool villi = in france, to watch over martinet = wikipedia: 'in English, the term martinet usually refers not to the whip but to those who might use it: those who demand strict adherence to set rules and mete out punishment for failing to follow them.' vellus hair = 'peach fuzz'"

🩸✨💛 random theory no one asked for 💛✨🩸

vellioth has hair with:

color range: peach (fuzz) to wheat blonde

length: medium to long

type/shape/texture: curly to kinky; 'shaggy/woolly sheep' texture

anyways back to the actual stuff.

... hi.

so! the narrator/cazador describe Vellioth as 'ancient', or at least they call his skull ancient? which is very strange to me for two main reasons. Vellioth isn't old. and i know, 'but syrips, you say everyone isn't old because strahd's a big old dusty super elder!.' and yea. hehe youre right. but for now, just remember this - Vellioth was Baldur Gate's Master Vampire from 1204 DR to 1276 DR. this will be important in a moment, not even because of the age, but because what ill describe below.

-----

Baldur's Gate's Master Vampire List

so. one thing that i see thrown around a bit, is that people may assume that the vampire list left by Lady Incognita is based on birth and death or other stuff, but! i will clarify it a bit:

the title of Master Vampire does not mean the previous one's destruction or death. it only means their defeat upon someone else taking the throne. sure, they may occur at the same time, but one can take over without killing the former.

the master vampire list is a self-proclaiming title, and one that others can attempt to contest

each city/point of interest has their own master vampires fighting in their own little territories. we only see those of baldur's gate. not of waterdeep. not of other towns or cities or locations. if you're feeling the vtm clan vibes/drama, then youre absolutely right! cazador penpalling another master vampire to brag about his master vampire status in baldur's gate is both him bragging and him potentially preparing to claim other places once he ascends

the master vampire title gives no actual vampiric, magical, or physical power. it's an entirely a social construct, in the most literal way possible. it provides social influence, social intimidation, etc. but, it's just like putting on a mundane tiara. grats, i guess.. its shiny at least-

anyways, this stuff is mostly put down just to say - nothing about this "Master Vampire" status is about ascension, power, and/or 'special abilities'. it's a moot point/status. which leads to why the master vampires need other ways to gain power.. which is why.. woah! cool transition to-

-----

The Black Mass Scroll As A Whole

if you got this far then thanks for reading. sit up and hydrate because it's time to talk about the black mass and why you need to be in tip top shape for reading this part. ahem:

the black mass scroll is not just one ritual, it is a collection of Vellioth's schooling, a list of rites/rituals, details of soul, divine (good, neutral, and evil) magic, and the methods of manipulation of the soul, divinity, and magic.

tl;dr - the black mass scroll is a list of lists. a collection of collections. the black mass scroll is.. an archive!

one could say it is massive. heh. anyways yea, the mass is a double meaning - a mass in the ritual sense, but also the meaning of 'a bunch of somethings.'

why is this important though? well. because this black mass has 'all the ways death can be turned to one's advantage or made more interesting', such as 'The Rite of Perfect Slaughter' and the 'Rite of Profane Ascension.'

so, let's talk about the Rite of Perfect Slaughter, which is actually fairly easy - Cazador killed Vellioth in the Rite of Perfect Slaughter. yet, Vellioth, who should be 'dead,' is recalling this. we should note, both of these people are undead. and undead death doesnt always work in the same way as complete removal/destruction. literally look at the other undead/'dead' in bg3 itself. look at those who 'died' in ravenloft. yet, some return, despite being 'killed' in the human perceived way.

either way, all we can confirm, based on this Rite of Perfect Slaughter, is that it removed Vellioth's authority/status as a Master Vampire. that is literally all the information we have right now. anything else is speculation, theory, or even deception by an undead or someone affiliated. which makes me wonder, who came up and formed that name, the "Rite of Perfect Slaughter"? cazador and vellioth both have a distorted view of what 'perfection' means, and we've seen cazador lie/hide information that will work against him. and also, Vellioth was laughing as cazador did the Rite on Vellioth. why didnt cazador and astarion laugh together when astarion performed the Rite of Ascension? because cazador didnt want the rite used on him. i guess the point of all of this is, who originally discovered or created the Rite of Perfect Slaughter? because, we dont know! for all we know, Vellioth couldve wanted to be 'killed' to give his soul to someone else, to preserve his vampirism/unlife or something. afterall, the black mass has 'all the ways death can be turned to one's advantage.' it doesnt say by who benefits from it. but anyways. the origin isnt really relevant for this, i just wanted to point out that these Rites are all a various and mixed collection of times, rituals, affiliations, and intentions - most that we dont even know fully, if at all of who benefits from it. and, considering we dont even know what some mean, or who made them, the original people who discovered them may not even be Cazador or Vellioth.

why? or how?

because, the line Astarion says when he picks up the Black Mass Scroll: "[Cazador] stole everything, even [Vellioth's] precious rules."

it doesnt matter who made the rites, rituals, weird strange description/stuff. all that matters is that Cazador has the entire bundle of stuff that is from previous vampires and creatures. and, the symbolism that Astarion picks it up and takes it, means the collection of potential power - of The Black Mass Scroll - Astarion is the current inheritor of potential power.

-----

Cazador and Jander (what?)

now, reader. you might be like. 'syrips, what does this have to do with if Strahd is considered a vampire ascendant? why is jander being brought in here?? im so confused, just answer the question about strahd!' well, too bad! you gotta wait! into the sealed tomb with leo dilisnya you go!

anyways! what we learned so far (as well as random rambling cuz why not):

cazador literally takes things that aren't his

cazador learned this from 'ancient' vellioth

Vellioth become a master vampire at 1204 DR of baldur's gate

Cazador became one at 1276 DR of baldur's gate

but! let's take a quick look and compare this to our beloved Jander Sunstar's lore:

they are incredibly weak when compared to an already existing Jander and strahd, as Anna has existed on the sword coast beginning around 970 DR

not only does time work differently in barovia, but in Toril / DR time, strahd already exists at this point as The Vampire. he is already the ruler of barovia, as well as the center of attention in the domains of dread

time isnt really important here, but its worth noting this because of Jander. not only did he kill his vampire master (which can be considered a 'vampiric ascension,' as you break the chains and limits of your master and are now free to grow in vampiric abilities), but he literally wielded an ancient and holy relic that vellioth and cazador could not even imagine to do.

and, not only did Jander do that, but he challenged the cause of vampirism and was brought by the mists into barovia. he was a candidate to challenge the master, founder, and origin of vampirism - strahd. Jander had the potential to ascend. to break free from the true master and curse, of The Vampire.

anyways, jander (and astarion) is a great reference character for vampire ability when comparing vellioth and cazador to jander/strahd.

but yea. tl;dr - jander makes vellioth and cazador look really pathetic. like baby levels pathetic. vampire ascension is about going 'backwards/upwards' on the vampiric bloodline tree, gaining your agency back so that you can climb up the ranks to more 'potent/ancient' generations. basically, it's about being free to go as far/deep as you can attempt. ascension is not about 'the removal of weaknesses', it's about 'the reduction of vampiric inferiority'. and, being unable to be in the sun is not of inferiority. they can go in the sun, but it will hurt. what one cannot do without suffering, teamwork, pacts, and/or luck, however, is breaking their seal on the master they're forced to be inferior to. even in the cazador fight, the only thing that saved astarion was literally the tadpole helping to reduce his inferiority with cazador. on a side note, vellioth laughing at cazador during the rite of perfect slaughter makes me believe that vellioth benefitted and only caused cazador to descend deeper, instead of ascend.

anyways. back to cazador. the only way that he can reduce the vampiric inferiority (as well as ascend himself) is for him to confront more and more ancient vampires, you know. like what jander attempted. but, cazador doesnt want to do that. instead, he works with an archdevil to attempt a cheap temporary bandaid/loophole around the wrong problem. instead of focusing on his own inferiority complex heh pun intended, he focuses on how to get a tan and how to be less thirsty..? like. what? either he has no idea what hes doing, or he believes removing all weaknesses and flaws will make him a more perfect vampire. what a silly head.

anyways. the rite of 'ascension.'

yea, let's go into that!

what is the Rite of Ascension??

here you go, reader!

---

🎇🩸🏹 The Rite of Profane Ascension 🏹🩸🎇

Oh, piteous dead! Oh, ravenous dead!

syrips translator: oh pathetic hungry un/dead people!

Immortality is your gift, but darkness is your prison and hunger its gaoler.

syrips translator: you can't be out in the (sun)light, and your hunger imprisons you because youre in denial of how to manage your vampirism.

The Rite of Profane Ascension will release you. Walk in the sun. Suffer not from hunger. Grow your power beyond anything you imagined.

syrips translator: with just 7 payments of 999.99 souls, you too can remove the ailments of sun allergies and midnight cravings! call now to receive your 'ascension' kit!

A pact has been made with the Lord of Hellfire. Deliver unto him seven thousand souls, each bearing an Infernal mark, and you shall be free of your chains. You shall know true power.

syrips translator: -fast disclaimer speak- your sun and anti-hunger status is not actually included or garaunteed. you are agreeing to the terms and conditions that you are only receiving the kit to build and perform the sun and anti-hunger ritual. 'free of your chains' is only used to describe the 'chains of darkness and hunger' and nothing else. purchase not necessary to be 'ascended.' call now and begin your journey!!

Deliver the souls.

syrips translator: i really dont care who gives me the souls. just gimmy. thanks

Speak the words.

syrips translator: okay the actual pact is below. everything else was just to hype you up and was just the advertisement, hehe! anyways. anyone who says the ritual below with the right components is all i care about. because the stuff below is the actual trade. and no, you didnt get scammed. this isn't a vampire ascension, it's just an advertisement targetted towards a vampiric audience. you read the terms and conditions correctly, right? silly guy.

Ecce dominus,

syrips translator: "(google translate) Behold, the Lord" / 'uhh hi -opens trade window-'

Has animas offero in sacrificio,

syrips translator: "(google translate) I offer these souls in sacrifice," / -puts 7k stack of souls in trade window- 'here's the actual trade that you wanted -presses confirm trade-'

Nunc volo potestatem quam pollicitus es mihi.

syrips translator: "(google translate) Now I want the power you promised me." / -presses accept- so this trade goes against the ToS but.. youll give me the power i asked for, right?... oh thank god i was so afraid. illegal ingame-to-irl-currency trades are so scary.. thank god, or thank meph in this case haha get it- oh okay im leaving.. s-sorry.. thanks..-

-----

Strahd

wooo hooo! we made it back to the original question!! we did it!!

now, lettuce answer this question that we we've been waiting on for so long. i dont want to leaf you hanging.

would strahd be considered a vampire ascendant?

big drum roll! bhrrrbhrbrhbhrr!!

-cough-

..

no.

...

-leaves-

-returns-

okay so. why isnt strahd considered a vampy ascendant?

well, before we talk about that. let's consider what a 'vampire ascendant' is considered, by Vellioth, Cazador, and the Rite of Profane Ascension's terms:

an 'ascended vampire' is just one who has the ailments of sunlight and hunger removed by the process of this specific ritual. remember that line i said of a Master Vampire being a moot point? well.. to burst the blood bubble, the "Ascended Vampire" line isnt a literal 'vampire ascension'. it's also a moot point, in its own way. but not as mooty, it's more of like a half-truth. like something an archdevil would do to tempt someone into doing something for a small dose of infernal - not raw vampiric - power in return. take note that nowhere in the actual ritual lines does it talk about ascension, let alone vampiric ascension. all it talks about is to say the words 'you made a promise.. i hope you keep it..pls gimmy Infernal powers..'

you know how raphael is making a deal with you and how off it feels? that's because youre not ascending when he mutes your tadpole. he's just using his abilities to manipulate/mold something in you with his powers. that's how this ritual also is. it's just a half-truth, unempathetic advertisement, masked as a pact so that the one who does it feels satisfied, despite the archdevil just receiving much more power than the one who sacrificed all the souls.

but, let's say this ritual is legitimate, and one does 'ascend' by the archdevil's abilities to remove the ailments. so, they are technically 'rising,' in a way. they are becoming a 'stronger infernal-gifted vampire' because of less weaknesses. but, what are they trying to ascend to? what is the purpose of removing all of these weaknesses? why go through all of this?

because. they hunger. they want power. they want true immortality. they want to remove all weaknesses in mortal life and immortal unlife to have free agency, without inferiority to anything. they want to be able to transcend time, space, and death, to be on a level of the highest peak of vampirism.

and, of course. who would that be? who would be the most ancient, powerful vampire, cursed and imprisoned by their own success in achieving what other vampires can only dream of?

who was imprisoned not from failure, but from succeeding too well that something else had to intervene?

anyways, as much as i love stroking strahd's ego LOl i keep going tho, his novel-canon potential is severely higher than the CoS potential. but, through all the modules, novels, and other media, it's still heavily implied that strahd's major weakness is tatyana. if he had tatyana, or felt he was losing the chance to pursue her, if he lost this weakness, he would unironically be scarily unstoppable. the only thing stopping strahd from being a huge dictator or even more power-hungry tyrant is literally because of his obsession/'curse' with wanting to have a bae. which i find very hilarious but focus syrips that part isnt the point-

anyways. tl;dr - strahd has nothing to ascend to. he has no vampire that he's inferior to. if anything, he wants to descend. he wants to be 'less' of what he is now, to be with tatyana. or, to ascend tatyana to his vampiric level. it's his entire curse. and, because of this, he also cannot descend. if he does, he will either lose himself, or he will lose tatyana. and he will not dare to risk that.

he also has nothing that he has or can ascend from. he is the 'original'. at most, he just ascended from 'himself.' but, that's not really an ascension more than just a transition. (and, moving from the material plane to the domains of dread kind of shows that he's not really ascending/rising, more than he's just moving into a warped/slanted plane that operates differently in time and space.) and, unlike in the Rite of Profane Ascension, strahd used himself (and everything affiliated to him) as both the component and result, because no other method existed. he is the origin and reason that rites/methods to 'becoming a more powerful vampire' even exist. he's the reason that vampires exist. when strahd says he's the ancient and land, he's not just saying it for the cool monologue phrase even though we all know he totally enjoys saying it everytime. he's also bluntly saying, 'i am the ancient because i, with barovia, transcend time. i am the land because i, with barovia, connect with the domains of dread. and, the domains of dread, connects with all planes. i am beyond 'a vampire.' i, strahd, am the concept and definition of the vampire.'

everything that all vampires do, by definition, are mock versions, mock attempts, and mock methods that strahd has already mastered, influenced others to do, or that he has knowledge/creation of. everything all vampires do, is attempting to do what their masters had done. with every new spawn, they start at the bottom, trying to climb to their master's level. and even more rarely, attempting to climb to their master's master's level. but strahd is at the top of the MLM vampire pyramid. he has no master to climb up the ranks to. he's already the CEO, founder, etc. (idk how business works), he can't out-climb himself. -strahd pompous voice- 'ouhhh.. it's so lonely being at the top, ouhhh..' but anyways, he can ascend or assist others, since he's a patron. but most power-hungry vampires wouldnt want to do that, especially because they're probably trying to climb up just to compete or be on strahd's vampiric level. and yet, asking strahd for ascension is incredibly easy - all it would mean is making an eternal pact to always be subservient and inferior to strahd.. he'd gladly ascend you, you'd have the potential to be superior to all other vampires.. the only one above you would be personally him. and.. suddenly, a deal with an archdevil who doesnt care about the pettiness of vampire superiority, kind of sounds safer in comparison now..-

or idk. i could be wrong. just a ramble i had fun doing. hehe ty for reading

references/sauces:

bg3

bg3 wiki

wikipedia

wiktionary

google translate

ravenloft novels/modules/games/media/editions from like everywhere

[wetcatspellcaster]

Hi! Are you a Dragon Age fan at all? If so, are you looking forward to the Veilguard drop later this month, and do you have any plans to write any fic in that world in the future? :)

Also, as a Solasmancer I just want to say that have been thinking about Pieces a lot as the vibe I imagine for a Solas/Inquisitor Lavellan reunion in Veilguard, if we do get one (a girl can dream, right?). Specifically, this part:

"I’m so tired, Astarion. And I’m sorry, but I can’t be that girl for you, anymore.”

The sombre silence that followed was unlike anything Rosalie thought she had ever shared with Astarion, in the times before. They had had their mute periods - fraught, tense, and full of unspoken hurt - but nothing quite so resigned as this. Rosalie felt all the ways she didn’t align with the woman he’d known - how if one was superimposed upon the other, they would no longer fit. And then she felt mostly just… old. She raked a hand through her hair, feeling a deep heaviness settle upon her. It was almost as if, in admitting how much she had exhausted herself to get here, all that tiredness came down upon her once more.

The similarities between the two situations just really hit me right in the feels. Anyway, I absolutely adore Pieces, if you can't tell. Thanks for sharing your wonderful work with us!

hey beloved! thank you for the question.

I am very much looking forward to Veilguard. Dragon Age was my first videogame series I ever fully got mentally unwell about, and it's also the reason I started writing fanfiction at all. I've written for nearly all my canon inquisitors and wardens :) i'm very very excited, and not exaggerating when I say it had become one of my reasons to live - even if it's a bad game or whatever, that character creation may become one of the threads i hang by

I don't know yet if I'll write fic. I have two active wips I want to finish and I am already teetering on the edge of burnout, alongside a desire to start focusing on original projects. I also can't play veilguard until my thesis corrections are in, and the deadline for that is november 15th. which is only two weeks of waiting, but it means i don't want to be thinking about the game at any point as something i *have* to write fic for, or feel any pressure around. So I have no explicit plans. I want it to just be my reward for finishing my PhD! officially!

ngl, it's currently nice to have a piece of media I'm looking forward to that I don't want to produce content for, only consume :) and I'll still have two other WIPs, so it's not like people will be starved of my writing!

ofc, if the mood takes me and I get swept up in the frenzy, there will inevitably be fic. I was very mentally unwell about inquisition lmao, I nursed that fic idea for 4 years before I ever wrote any of it down. I imagine I will steer away from game fic, and so if I write anything it will either be pre-game Rook backstory or AU stuff. I also think it will not be pushed out the way my bg3 stuff was pushed out, so don't expect anything from me and then maybe a year or two from now you'll get surprised by something :D

I am not personally a solavellan girlie, but I did accidentally second lead Solas so hard in my Inquisition fic quite without planning to, it just happened organically bc it made sense for the characters. so I infinitely respect Solavallen girlies' beliefs xxxx

[tj-dragonblade]

Shipper Tag Game

Tagged by the delightful @seiya-starsniper @zzoomacroom and @carnelianmeluha, thank you!

What ship were you completely obsessed with as a teenager, but now you don’t care about anymore? I...hm. Am I willing to publicly admit to the self-insert daydreaming I did as a teen, long before my days in internet fandom? Okay I guess I kind of just did but I refuse to elaborate. I have long since moved on and I ship him with an in-universe partner at this point.

Which ship would you consider your first one? You ask a lot of my poor aging memory. I'm gonna say...before internet-accessible fandom? I was very keen on Rogue and Gambit in high school, when the 90s XMen animated series was one of my primary interests. After acquiring internet access and discovering communal fandom? 2x5, Gundam Wing. Duo and Wufei.

Your first fanfic was about which couple? Duo and Wufei

Do you remember the first couple you saw fan art of? It was probably Heero x Duo since that was the big popular ship in GW

Have you ever gotten into ship discourse? I don't think so. I am not exempt from having spoken ill of ships over the years but it's been about my opinion, not some kind of value/morality judgement and I have never gotten into fights with anyone

Did you used to have a NOTP or have one currently? There is one ship that I will class as a NOTP and it only became that after it went unexpectedly canon. I'm still willing to incorporate their canon kid into things and I have no interest in demonizing her, but I absolutely Do Not Want to see/read/hear about them having a genuine romantic attachment because the canonization pissed me off so bad. It's SaiIno from Naruto, for the curious.

Who were the last couple in the last fanfic you read? Dreamling

Currently, do you have any OTPs? Depends on your definition of OTP I suppose. To me it means 'favorite couple' more than 'can't stomach seeing them with anyone else'. Currently that's Dreamling. Currently I'm not really interested in reading about either of them with anyone else but historically as I spend longer in a fandom my tastes grow more willing to branch out, so who knows what the future holds. And I still have OTPs from each fandom I've been in (some of which predate the common use of the term 'OTP') even if they're no longer my reading/writing focus.

Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting into? Not...really? Not mad about? This is such a weird question, if I was truly taken with a ship I would have explored it? Are we asking if I'm mad about getting into a ship after the fandom has passed its peak of popularity maybe? IDK? I mean, there are occasionally characters from properties that are in formats that I don't tend to invest my time in (Podcasts, video games, long-ass long-running animes that I did not get in on the ground floor with) that catch my interest, and then I have next to no canon framework for exploring my interest, but it's not a thing I'd ever get mad about. If I really want to know more about Gale and his potential matches I'll find somewhere to read BG3 lore, y'know?

Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they’re kind of interesting? Mmmmmno. But I do have more than one that's gone the other way.

Do you have any ship that, in the past, would have been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over? Mmmyep. I remain unapologetic about it; that is my ship, tirelessly built with my own two hands and almost nothing predating me to influence interpretation, lovingly crafted exactly as I see it and convincingly enough to interest a handful of other folks. Thankfully none of the people leaving occasional kudos on those fics these days are raising a stink about the 'problematic' elements.

What is your favourite crack ship? Lord of the Lost's Judas album gave me serious serious Jesus/Judas vibes, but that's not really crack so much as quote-unquote blasphemy. I am going to steal Seiya's answer of Tony the Tiger x The Grinch, because I am hard-pressed to think of anything else that would qualify.

What is the couple you read the most fanfics about? Currently? Dreamling. I tend to hyper-focus on one fandom at a time and when I'm lucky enough to ship the popular pairing, there is Far Too Much to spend my limited free time on and little reason to invest any of it elsewhere.

What do most of your ships have in common? I think the broadest way to sum up the widest swathe of similarities is that I generally enjoy a dynamic of Reserved x Exuberant, or to pull back a little further still, of Complementary Opposites.

What do you absolutely hate in a ship? Hate very rarely enters into it. Lack of chemistry, I guess? But that is a very subjective criterion. For every 'But why would you ship them?' I can ask, someone will have an answer.

Tagging, no obligation, tag me in your existing post if you've just done it: @danikatze, @zalia, @esperata, @staroftheendless, @rooftopwreck, @aquilathefighter, @chaosheadspace, @ginoeh, @macavitykitsune

[ace-malarky]

Happy Storyteller Saturday! So obviously with Veilguard out it's going to be difficult juggling video games and writing so I will ask about the balance between the two - is there anything in the Dragon Age world that inspires you creatively with your own worldbuilding? Or, if not Dragon Age, can you think of other creative influences on your work? Feel free to share snippets if relevant :)

hello happy Storyteller Saturday!

Oh it's going to be so hard to balance everything lmao but we shall persevere

(also this got long lmao my bad (I regret nothing))

So I have yet to meet a game with character design that doesn't result in me then. taking that character and putting them in stories lmao. We're seeing this most with Maverick at the moment (2nd BG3 playthrough, my beloved), so what I normally try to do to like. mitigate too many characters is create a character that I already have and play the game as them? And this has worked for some of the BG3 playthroughs.

Mav's is the most obvious I think bc there's the hag eye moment, then me going "we have to be mean so Astarion likes us and then I will drag him into the light", the second curse was just hilarious happenstance and then I. you know. ignore the end of the game for my own stuff :3

This has also happened with pokemon, I used Taerne when I played Kingdoms of Amalur... not so much Assassin's Creed bc that has a very definite Vibe for the assassins that doesn't feel like it gives you as much scope? I also haven't played them as much. Something about not getting to name them.

But ok yes for Dragon Age - and I only started playing them properly this year, but I've tried Origins many times before - I knew I didn't want to like. spawn more stories so what I did was go "these guys are now side characters in other stories" so they turn up in Mav's and Chant's and Tem's stories and that sort of helps

but particularly for my Hawke also, the backstory I've given her in the dnd writings is very similar to the DA2 background with the family et al. Girlie did not have a living family member (past her uncle and cousin ig) at the end of the game and she fully blamed herself for all of them :3

My hero of ferelden def meets his boyfriend in more or less the same manner as origins

so like yeah I pull the characters out and I pick 'n' choose their backstory and hilariously it is not the inquisitor I played that I slotted into Chant's stuff because he wasn't supposed to be my first run but I thought it was too funny to pass up. Have absolutely slotted my next one in there tho

Rook hasn't made an appearance yet because we're still working him out

Iiiin terms of world building. not? so much? ig bc I'm dumping them into dnd-esque stuff so I'm changing up things anyway. Have stolen their partners and renamed them and they're probably still obvious but it's not like this is for anything other than my own general enjoyment.

... n I was going to dump some of the excerpts below the cut but apparently I do not have access to the ones I actually wanted lmao

[alister312]

I saw in your stick of truth art you said you play baldurs gate? Im interested to know if you have any south park crossover ideas?

I have been playing lately!! well, not really 😅 a friend from d&d has been streaming it to me but once I have my own gaming PC I will be buying and playing it on my own a lot 😏 but since i can’t exactly access it on my own i don’t know the whole game’s plot so no spoilers please!! however i will say……. wyll my beloved 🥺

(putting further ideas below the cut in case anyone else wants to play but can’t and doesn’t want any spoilers at all!)

speaking of Wyll, i do definitely get Gregory vibes from him. like, the fact that he’s a runaway noble who was forced to run bc he sacrificed himself (or at least his soul via a pact)…. big martyr vibes. and now he just goes around helping the downtrodden for no reason other than that it’s the right thing to do?? ABSOLUTELY Gregory. but i will say that the way Gale talks is more Gregory’s vibe.

Christophe….. idk honestly. i will say I’ve seen that one foreign kids in bg3 crossover thing that has Christophe as Shadowheart and i think that is pretty much the MOST wrong choice lol. i know she has trauma with wolves and Christophe has trauma with guard dogs but that’s where the similarities end. Shadowheart’s a cleric. her whole thing about devotion to a goddess. Christophe’s arguably biggest defining character trait is his hatred for God. if i had to pick a main companion person to align Christophe with it’d maybe be Karlach..? but idk. maybe he’s not meant to be in a bg3 AU.

for general SPxbg3 and not just my two main SP boys tho, I really vibe with the idea of Stan as Halsin… strong, kind, loves animals 🥰 kind of the perfect fit! also the fact that he’s a bear and finn has all the art with post covid Stan as a big ol bear. for Kyle, my heart wants to say Astarion since i love vamp Kyle and for style/halstarion reasons BUT Kyle is not as mean spirited as Astarion is at first ofc so i think he’s sort of similar to Gale..? well meaning but comes off as kind of pretentious, bad luck in romance, and kind of a nerd.

Kenny is Karlach, no doubt about it. loves to party and dance, excellent vibes, but cursed in ways that involve destruction of their bodies. circling back to Astarion, honestly i think this could be Craig! i mean, Damien fits really well too but i’m trying to think of more major characters for this theoretically crossover lol. Wendy seems like an obvious choice for Shadowheart visually at least, but i think she’s a bit more like Wyll! assuming that it’s not Gregory haha. they both care deeply about issues of justice and are willing to fight for what’s right. Shadowheart then i feel could be Bebe… both perfectly bitchy but also badass. and tell me Bebe wouldn’t be the type to cut and dye her hair after a dramatic moment!!

then there’s Lae’zel who honestly I’m a bit stuck on 😅 to be frank she’s my least favorite character so far. the tav my friend and i have is a cleric of lathander who believed that the guardian in the prism was his god (before learning The Truth lmao) so the combination of the githyanki occupying the temple of Lathander and wanting to kill the guardian made me not like her much. but maybe she could be Red bc Red is my favorite SP girl so that will help endear her to me 🥰

i know nothing about Minthara bc my friend loves Halsin so we killed Minthara basically the moment we met her. doesn’t help that she’s a drow and personally as a D&D player I hate dealing with drow. come back to me about her when i play on my own and don’t kill her straight away.

[kairoswouldnever]

no fr i mean it Gale's romance is like... specifically catered to me coz:

i knew nothing of DND, let alone of BG3, Gale assuming the role of someone who told me things and explained what's what and gave a word of advice every now and again shaped a lot of my initial exploration of the game. yes i didn't mind his "lectures": i've enjoyed them and appreciated them

i love magic. this guy is a walking magic generator. being showed (on a rogue character) what it's like to cast in a DND universe has influence my choice of building Darling into more magic-infused build. the headcanon is that Gale taught him all of it. i fucking loved the experience.

in life, i love two things the most: space and books. Gale seduces you with a book, soul-fucking you amongst the stars. i was sold. i didn't know where to put myself and couldn't play the game for a couple of days coz his act 2 romance scene was on repeat in my mind.

the angst aspects of Gale's character are quite... something. i played DA. DA2 specifically. Anders and Gale are similar in my head, somewhat, especially with the way how i view Anders and after romancing Anders several times i just... couldn't do it. i began to think, at some point, that i absolutely cannot save him, nor stop him from his plan. and even on friendship runs with Anders, ngl there was a couple of times where i chose to kill him coz i couldn't see any hope for him and well. roleplay. Anders appeared broken beyond repair to my Hawke, betrayal too great. Now, enter Gale. whom we are set to save from exploding, and we succeed. and low-key this changed my view of Anders, too. maybe i was too dumb. maybe i have misjudged and there is a way to save the guy. maybe my Hawkes didn't love him hard enough lol idk... but regardless. the whole redemption arc of Gale's, his baby steps of healing from trauma and depression brought me so much joy, also as a fellow trauma and depression "enjoyer", as much as Darling gave Gale hope, he's given me some too.

THE FUCKING LOYALTY. THE HUMOUR. THE SASSY ATTITUDE. THE LOW-KEY NEURODIVERGENT VIBES. yes yes yes. perfect.

and look. i am a loud BioWare enjoyer. i have played and replayed a lot of ME and DA and while each game has their lovely LIs, ngl i have only been truly mesmerised by Dorian's. maybe a little bit of Kaidan's but it's a bit weird coz it was OOC of my Shepard to romance him and i just did it for myself. but. Gale, as recent of a discovery he is for me, beaten everyone and everything and i am mildly annoyed but not at all surprised. books and space, fam. books and space.