#trahearne lives

[bloodlily16]

Wrote a GW2 fanfic where Trahearne survives Mordremoth but the Pact camp gets hit with Hanahaki disease, enjoy! :3

[icebrooding]

"I'm aware of no creature in this world that doesn't defend its young from predators. Perhaps not always successfully, but often to the point of their own death."

[ravens-lodge]

just necro boyfriends lost in the echovald wilds

[aetherblooms]

you know what? fuck you. (transes your pact marshal's gender)

[archesa]

Trahearne deserves to go full feral at least once. You know. As a treat.

[anwenevergreen]

Severed

Reality snapped around them and unfolded again in the shape of the aircraft's deck. Gasping for air, Anwen straightened and frantically looked around her, searching for her companions, relieved to find them all – disoriented but unscathed – on the floor around her.

“Brace yourself! It's gonna blow!”

The aircraft steered away, leaving the collapsing city far on starboard, as a blinding light engulfed the tetrahedron and a deafening silence shrouded the world around them before a thundering implosion. A hot dry wind swept the deck, a smothering scent of ozone drowning them before the salt and iodine from the sea returned, bearing a cold heavy rain and the constant whimper of the wind.

“Subtle.”, Sayida remarked. “I like your style, Commander.”

Anwen let out a breathless chuckle.

“Thank you. Is everyone alright?”

“I'm deaf.”, Braham shrugged. “But it could have been worse. Remind me again why I followed you through this?”

“Something about saving the world, I believe.”

“And destroying a good chunk of the bay at the same time.”, the corsair remarked. “You just won your friend the cactus quite a lot of money there, Commander! I never thought you'd manage to bring back everyone unscathed. Your new friend seems a bit disoriented, though.”, she noted, considering the sylvari, standing awkwardly apart from the rest of the group.

Anwen nodded pensively, the sudden weight of Braham and Meryw's gaze on her nape almost crippling.

“Meryw, would you escort our two guests inside? Taimi must be very anxious to meet them.”

“Dame Anwen... are you sure you’re alright?”

She let out a breathless chuckle. “No, but I will be... I must. I... owe him that much.”

She turned to Braham, his features drawn and his eyes darkened.

“Braham...”

“Go, now.”, the young norn offered with a forlorn smile. “I don't know what I would give for a second chance like this, Commander... so you better seize it.”

“I'm sorry. It's unfair.”

“Yes it is.”, he breathed shakily. “Life often is. So you gotta take what little it gives.”

Anwen nodded pensively and offered a reassuring smile to her shieldmaiden, who proceeded to escort the two rescued Inquest inside, where Taimi waited for them, while she crossed the deck to the prow and reached out to place her hand on Trahearne's shoulder.

A shiver ran him through at her touch, a painful confusion darkening his eyes and shadowing his glow.

“Everything is silent. The voice of Mordremoth is gone, but... The Dream–... Dear friend, you must tell me everything.”, he beseeched, turning a distressed glance to her.

“I don't know where to start.”, she murmured, a weight settling in her lungs as she struggled to breathe. “What do you remember? What's your last memory?”

“The defeat of the fleet, and... a prisoner caravan. Mordrems leading Destiny's Edge and myself into the jungle. They said Mordremoth had plans for us... What happened? Are Zojja and Captain Thackeray... ?”

“They're safe. We rescued them both.”

She took in a deep, quaking breath.

“We... defeated the dragon but... It came with a price.”

“Our people survived.”, he reasoned, a sudden dread overwhelming him. “Did our Mother...”

“She's alive.”, Anwen hastily reassured. “And, she was on the path of recovery, the last time I visited. But... The death of Mordremoth took a toll on her. On all of us...”

The evident relief on his face shattered her heart a little more.

“Trahearne, the attack on the Pale Tree, the loss of the Fleet, Mordremoth... That was three years ago. I searched for you after you disappeared. And I found you. But I was too late to save you. We defeated the dragon but... it had dug its claws too deep in you... it had claimed you as a Champion and... your last will was..." Her voice died in her throat. "You sacrificed yourself to destroy the dragon to the root... To save us all.”

An expression of grief and confusion shadowed his face, immediately enlightened by pensive resignation and relief.

“My greatest fear was to see my people in the clutches of this monster. If by my life, or my death, I could avoid it, I must not regret.”

She let out a broken breath. That sounded like him – of course it did! It was him. Except it wasn't... Trahearne was dead, dead by her hand, and yet he was here, right in front of her, breathing, thinking, remembering everything that made him who he was and... so confused, so pained, so forlorn that it broke a heart she thought his loss had already shattered.

He hesitantly shifted and reached for her, as if testing his own physicality, laying a warm, comforting hand on her shoulder. She blinked, furiously willing her breath to still as the pouring rain drowned away the tears burning her lids.

"Anwen..."

Her name was soft, almost silenced by the wind.

"If I... died", he hesitated, almost tasting the word as he said it. "how... How am I here? How did I return? How did I end up here, in... Elona?"

"The pod- ... The pod you were trapped into, it... served a purpose, other than to hold and detain. Mordremoth... We have found months afterwards that it had attuned Zhaitan’s magic... After the Pact defeated it, its domain was left unattended and the other dragons feasted on this magic, and claimed part of Zhaitan’s power to themselves."

Truth. Hardly ever pure and never simple. But it was a grounding notion. Familiar and reassuring, to see his interest piqued, his head tilt so slightly as his eyes lit with a spark of curiosity. She could have rambled on for hours, just to imprint this image of him, listening intently, his features drawn sharply against the setting sun filtering through the heavy storm clouds, his glow shifting with every touch of the rain.

“Mordremoth... used this to make his minions... turn our dead into soldiers for the dragon's army... and honed his power of creation to make his army undefeatable. Every time we felled one of his lieutenant, they reappeared, returned to torment those who had known them, the comrades who saw them die, who drowned in the guilt of being unable to save them... of having to kill them themselves..."

The last words turned to ash, the pain of burns never quite healed – scars that glistened and shifted on her skin where she had held him as he burst in flames – strangling her.

"When we entered the heart of the dragon's domain... we were faced with such clones... Logan... Zojja... And, now..."

His eyes darkened with clarity.

"Me..."

The sudden dimming of his glow filled her heart with dread.

“A weapon to a dead dragon... A revenant, come to haunt you..."

The Orrian had a saying – the dead return for either love or revenge.

"I am sorry, Anwen... I never meant to..."

"I'm not."

A gust of wind swept the deck of the aircraft, and a shiver ran her through even as she closed the gap between them.

“You haunt me, Trahearne – my every waking moment, my every dream, my every nightmare – ever since I lost you. Your absence haunts me. And if your presence must haunt me now, I will gladly accept it."

The words died on her lips... but he already knew.

"Anything rather than lose you again.”

Previous | Next (tbw)

[silvesi]

BANNING myself from working on art for a lil so I can get over my damn RSI. WIPs upon ye!

[just-eyris-things]

Vent post. Because i feel like kicking a hornets' nest.

Honestly im just tired of how people will call someone ignorant/uneducated and will go for the throat for every little thing, while they themselves say shit like pierogis all the time. If you're going to point fingers at others, you yourself should be without fault.

The question is... can you?

[vannahgw2]

Haha noooo brain, don't sculpt buggy the clown and obsess over him nooo aaahhaaaa

[troonwolf]

Does Braham ever get over himself and stop blaming you for Eir and shit? He was my fave buddy and he’s depressing me rn

The Commander basically doesn’t have friends and it makes me sad.

They could have also made people a little more upset when you fucking DIE. Like damn let me wake up with Taimi bawling over me or something

Commander does not get enough respect :(

[safewarmbubbly]

multiple comms ask -> 4, 9, 16 <3

Thanks for the ask my friend!

To first clear things up, they aren't really co-commanders, Cynthia is the Commander of the Pact, while the others are operatives, scholars, and soldiers for the Pact. This is all in my Trahearne lives AU

4. Did they have different responsibilities in the Pact? Cynthia was the Commander of course and left her position shortly after the death of Trahearne. Acantha would soon take over the roll, once a soldier of the Pact now the new Commander, taking very well to it. Warren and Theseus were scholars and soldiers on the ground back in Orr, with Theseus also taking part in a covert ops team akin to that of the Pale Reavers. Thalia was mostly covert ops, only taking to the frontlines in the last few weeks in Orr. As for my newest... Raven Soulspeaker has yet to be introduced, so I cannot say much.

9. Did any of them join the Shining Blade? Thalia did! Theseus was going to join but you know... the whole going on a rampage and getting many innocent people killed to take down a group of White Mantle cultists thing... Cynthia joined as well (going along storyline terms)

16. How effective are they as a team? Theseus, Thalia, Warren, and Acantha have worked together on quite a few occasions. Warren and Acantha teamed up to take out Theseus in his bloodstone crazed state, which worked out rather well despite how terrified she was as she held her ground. I'd say once they're in combat the group works quite well, Acantha shielding the group, Theseus shadow-stepping to the front lines and farther, Warren and Cavall picking off stragglers towards the back, and Thalia casting illusions to divert enemy targeting. Add Cynthia to the mix and you have such a whirlwind of agony for the poor souls who took them on.

[icebrooding]

My 'Trahearne lives AU' has sure turned into a very big complex canon divergence where a lot less people die/their fates are drastically changed and also I bring back characters from early on because I Can.

[gristlegrinder]

lies down on the floor. the new kesha song works really well on my commander’s playlist

[aetherblooms]

so i hear y'all like trahearne?

bonus silly guy:

[archesa]

Happy anniversary, Æthnen!

Two years ago, today, I made this beautiful fern for my Trahearne lives AU and I've never looked back!

More pics and some lore and creation details under the cut.

The choice of face preset has been a real pain in the arse (Trahearne's facial features in creation mode when, Arenanet?!) and took a good long time staring at my Total Makeover Kits, but I'm quite happy with the result.

The loss of the dark thicker leaves framing his face to Mordremoth's corruption left furrows in their stead, and his once violet glow has turned golden due to the fusion with the dragon.

He lost his left arm to the dragon's possession and ultimate attempt on the Commander's life and arbours a complex prosthetic, a combination of asura and exalted technology fuelled and activated by his hard-earned control on the draconic magic that remained after Mordremoth's defeat.

Nightmares and draconic magic were not the only reminders he keeps from his possession - as the Dragon's unwilling Champion and Vessel, he retained some hold onto the Mordremoth's domain, and if the fact that flowers endemic to Caledon seemed to grow wherever he went was easy to ignore, the entanglements and coils of vines that armoured his necromantic minions called for some reconciliation with the darkest hours of his existence.

He also develops a strong bond with Aurene/ First, a connection through the energy he was once the vessel of, filtered and diffracted through a prism to allowed the Egg to hatch.

And an evergrowing attachment for the little dragon he and Anwen consider as their daughter.

He rarely - if ever - returns to The Grove after Maguuma.

It never felt like home to him, his heart turned towards the shores of Orr long before he left to complete his wyld-hunt, and the divide between him and his kin too deep already when the darkness shrouding him called to the deep ingrained fear of the dragon of shadow and death... irreconcilable now that his mere presence called the memory of the shadow of a dead dragon within them all.

To conclude... I really need to get back to writing for this verse as most of the development has happened in conversations between @lilypixy and I, in my head or via answers to asks, so... if I have as much time on my hands as I expect this week I'll try and actually finish one or two of these WIPs!

[archesa]

I have... a few ^^ And to make things simpler, 3 variations around different versions of the same Commander (Anwen) if she had chosen different professions.

Anwen Evergreen's verse(s)

In the main storyverse, Anwen is a guardian and when Trahearne asks her to kill him, she refuses. "Not if I can save you", she says.

When Mordremoth takes over Trahearne, she makes a desperate guess : that Elder Dragons, being these timeless, seemingly all powerful, everlasting beings, would be unable to comprehend pain the way mortals feel it. She has cut down Trahearne from the jungle, and freed him from the pod. Mordremoth's body is dead, thanks to their combined efforts to destroy its mind and the Pact's to uproot its Mouth and the very last of its essence clings to Trahearne like mistletoe. And she won't let it take root. So she uses both her fire and her healing powers to torture Mordremoth out of Trahearne. Overwhelmed by pain like it never could have known, cut from its realm with nowhere to flee, Mordremoth relinquishes its hold on Trahearne's mind in hope to gain full control of his body and defend itself from the fire devouring his host. Anwen corners Mordremoth's presence into a single point – Trahearne's arm – but the dragon defends itself, impeding her from using Caladbolg to permanently severe the dragon from his unwilling Champion and Vessel. The thorn sword is picked by an unlikely bearer, Canach, who cuts Trahearne's arm and kills what is left of Mordremoth.

Trahearne is scarred and weakened, but alive. His legs will heal with time — and the support of mobility aids crafted by Taimi – and he'll get a prosthetic for his arm – the pinacle of asura genius and exalted magic.

In the Blighting Pod AU, Trahearne dies in Maguuma and it's only several years later that Anwen finds in the depths of Rata Primus a laboratory where Inquest experimented upon Blighting Pods stolen from even the deepest reaches of the jungle. When this last pod blooms, she finds someone familiar awakening inside.

In a third verse, Trahearne has faith that, as a Druid, Anwen will find her way to reach through Mordremoth's defense and destroy it, so he decides to willingly accept the mantle of Champion the dragon wants to bestow upon him. For a couple of weeks, he leads the dragon's armies against the Pact, aiming for a stalemate – just enough victories to satisfy Mordremoth, while also leaving a breach for the Commander to exploit. The plan goes awry when, both as a reward for his service and as a barely disguised threat should he betray his master, Mordremoth has a gift delivered to his Champion – the one his first and foremost loyalty his to... the Commander.

From within the Heart of Thorns, they find a way to escape Mordremoth's watchful guard and lure it back to sleep, effectively leaving Trahearne in charge of its Domain.

(I don't know if I'll ever give any real attention to this verse, but it's where the Wintersday Miracle ficlet is set 😁)

Bonus round if I'm one day in the mood to make Anwen suffer : everything happens as in canon, until End of Dragons. And while purifying the aspect of Mordremoth absorbed by Aurene at birth and over the years, she feels the call of something familiar. Hiraeth. A deep longing for something long gone... (I have no idea how Trahearne would return in this particular instance but it would have to do with the facet of plant and mind, perhaps in the shape of a presence bound to the legendary weapons...)

And last but not least...

De Draconis Mobile

In this verse, Trahearne dies in Maguuma but his sacrifice doesn't suffice to destroy the seed of Mordremoth. The jungle dragon remains, weakened and dying, and is saved by a new Champion. (more on this later)

As for Trahearne, his mind, his soul retreated in the devastated part of the Dream overtaken by Mordremoth and burned to the ground by the Commander when he attacked the mind of the dragon. This is where Galaëd, under the guidance of Dairban's own travel through the Mists (more on that later), finds him and guides him back to life.

Hey question for the Trahearne lovers here

For those of you that have a Trahearne lives AU, how do you go about it? How does he not die? Feel free to ramble about it :)