#orlana corvail

[strategischwelt]

Gustavus: That's because there is no secret machine, Queen Maria. You see, I learned something today. "Throughout this whole ordeal, we've all wanted to show things that we weren't allowed to show, but it wasn't because of some Tokimune's clone machine. It was because of the magical power of threatening people with crime. That's obviously the only true power. If there's anything we've all learned, it's that terrorizing people works."

Avestus: That's right. "Don't you see, Dactites, if you don't want to be made fun of anymore, all you need are guns and bombs to get people to stop."

Orlana: That's right, Ages. "All you need to do is instill fear and be willing to hurt people and you can get whatever you want. The only true power is crime."

[losebetter]

so i wanted to talk about something that’s been on my mind lately wrt masquerada - specifically about jaxus corvail. this isn’t a super serious meta essay (read: i’m just thinking out loud) but it does contain spoilers for the game so i’m putting it under the cut!!

on paper, jaxus - kalden azrus’ previous partner who was killed a year prior to the game’s start - sounds like another tired take on the same depressing trope. I KNOW. i know. it’s “bury your gays,” it’s “fridged partner makes living partner better/more determined,” we’re all sick of it - but something that i’ve had on my mind for a while is how even with that... it’s not, really? at least i don’t think so?

it’s not jaxus’ death that inspired kalden to grow or change, it’s his life. in the context of the story, jaxus’ death isn’t treated as his or kalden’s due diligence, the punishment they should’ve expected for being queer - it was an awful, unpredictable accident that caused such a severe fault in their family dynamic that kalden is at a complete loss of how to go on, how to heal. kalden’s grief over jaxus isn’t used as a springboard for his character development - it’s portrayed realistically as an undercurrent to who he is, and who he becomes. it’s something that will never leave him completely, but that he can find peace with enough to feel joy and acceptance with his family and with the people who have become his close friends.

jaxus isn’t buried and forgotten - in fact, i think that’s a huge part of kalden’s character arc - he can’t bury jaxus, he can’t just move on with his life while he’s being haunted like this, much less change who he is as a person, or feel some determination to do more. that isn’t how recovery works. all of kalden’s actions that are driven by his love for jaxus & their family (note: his grief is secondary, it’s his love that always comes first) are desperate bids to fix his past mistakes, to do something right - but it isn’t until he can talk the situation out with cicero & vint, or find real closure with the head matron (and to an extent, orlana) that he really sees jaxus’ death for what it had been: something that never should have happened. not something that was his fault, not something that they should expect, their relationship a ticking time bomb in a society with homophobic tenets - none of it.

i don’t know. maybe this doesn’t make sense, but at least to me, i’m very hesitant to label the game as burying its gays - not when it tells such a profound, sensitive story about grief (a real thing that yes gay people also experience, including for reasons specific to us and the danger we face in our everyday lives just for existing), and when kalden (easily the most memorable Canon Gay character for me since - what, glee, maybe? when i was like 15?) is written with such dignity and care, and his identity is given such empathetic, compassionate treatment. i don’t feel that jaxus was silenced, even though in reality, we never actually meet him - we don’t even know what he looks like - i honestly feel like his story is told as much as kalden’s, and that he fits right in with masquerada’s whole overarching narrative about how we move on after tragedy and what legacies we leave behind.

[incorrectmasquerada]

Kalden: (about Orlana) Sometimes people are layered like that. There's something totally different beneath the surface, you know?

Cicero: And sometimes there's a third, even deeper level, and that's the same as the top surface one.

Kalden: ...Huh?

Cicero: Like with pie.

[incorrectmasquerada]

Orlana: Hey, heretic! Wait up!

Kalden: Orlana, that's not a great way to try and start a conversation.

[incorrectmasquerada]

Orlana: I mean, who would sacrifice everything they've worked for just for their dumb sibling?

Kalden: Razitof would.

[incorrectmasquerada]

Orlana: Mira, I need you to take a look at... THIS.

Orlana: (reveals page from Kalden's journal with a flourish)

Mira: Well, it /sounds/ like a piece of paper, but I'm guessing you're referring to what's ON the sheet of paper.

[incorrectmasquerada]

Orlana: I am but a tool of the Hall of Songs.

Cicero: Well, you’re half right.

[incorrectmasquerada]

Guess what? One day Kalden and I are gonna get married on top of a mountain! And there’s gonna be flutes playing and trombones and flowers and garlands of fresh herbs! And we will dance until the sun rises! And then our children will form a family band! And we will tour the countryside and YOU WON’T BE INVITED!

Cicero to Orlana

[incorrectmasquerada]

Orlana: Kalden Azrus, I'll ruin you if it's the last thing I do!

Kalden: If you ruin me, I won't have any money to take care of your brother's eleven children.

Orlana: Good thing I don't care!

[incorrectmasquerada]

Orlana: Look, I don’t want to sound prejudiced-

Kalden: But you’re gonna power through it.

[strategischwelt]

Debuted Characters of Masquerada: Songs and Shadows (by act)

*Prologue (402IL, Civil War)

Cyrus Gavar (deceased)

Nahl Varius

Amadea Invidius

Lissandra Rorik

Avestus Aliarme

Lucia Shuria

Act 1 (407IL, 5 years later)

Cicero Gavar (All)

Kalden Azrus (All)

Tiziana de Felici (All)

Amadea Invidius (All)*

Lucia Shuria (All)*

Razitof Azrus (All - mentioned, appears in Act 3, but killed)

Tvothe Twins (Alena - Ricardo) (All)

Avestus Aliarme (All, except Act 2)*

Tristan Delzole (All, except Act 2)

Kairi Aquila (Act 1 and 3)

Mira Bas (Act 1 and 3)

Orlana Corvail (All, except Act 2 - mentioned)

Palov Orteus (Act 1 and 3)

Olus and Renia (Act 1 only)

Vitris (Act 1 only)

Valice Varain (Act 1 only)

Faveo Fedelta (All, except Act 2 - mentioned)

Brekken Tarius (Act 1 and 4)

Varl (Act 1 and 4)

Travis (Act 1 only)

Nahl Varius (All, except Act 3)*

Corvus and Ophina (mentioned only)

Act 2

Vasco Tessitore (Act 2-4)

Merimbus Family (Leventhos - Livia - Damien) (Act 2-4)

Lissandra Rorik (Act 2 only)*

Jezero fon Huric (Act 2 and 4)

Sable (Act 2 only)

Asha and Beniva (Act 2 only)

Zelia Deladore (Act 2-4)

Izander Ershel (Act 2 only)

Vint (Act 2-4)

The Bloodless (mentioned only)

Jaxus Corvail (mentioned only)

Act 3

The Lady (Act 1-2 - mentioned, but appears in Act 3 and 4)

Oli  (Act 3 and 4)

Malleus (Act 3 only)

Esebelle de Felici (Act 3 only)

Act 4

Vicario Emirus, Sevil Patrio, and Privia Onair (Act 4 only)