#tryllwenn

[sylvaridreams]

[Path of the Exalted]

[lyhil]

[VS Art Party 1/???] Of course my first batch is a group of Sylvari LOL I had a lot of fun at my first VSArtParty! I took a lotttttt of screenshots and have 1 millions sketches to clean up so I’ll be drawing people’s little friends for the whole month probably Cardahmomo: @starlightsuncrow Tryllwenn: @sylvaridreams Valiant Blaise: @idrawtoomuch-gw2 Finnegan: @pinecone-enthusiast

[tequatls-favorite-spoon]

a couple of my screenshots from the na [vs] art party! brief descriptions, character names, and @‘s underneath the cut! all the names are from left to right. also, there are quite a few folks whose names or tumblrs i didn't catch, so please let me know so i can edit that info in!

the first two pictures are of the lovely tea party that was happening off to one side

pictured: Maliac (@sunsrefuge), Li Ryujin (@myolta), Damaris Shadepaw (@forbiddenredjollyrancher), Nepolia Sweetchill (@matcha-bnuuy), Jayrim Beastcharmer (me lol), Harukehn (@harukehn), Heulwin (@dalennaugw)

the third picture is of the happy couple and the next is me getting a reference picture while the wedding/vow renewal happens in the background

pictured: Lucretia Emberhound (i don’t know their tumblr), Stiùbhart (i also don’t know their tumblr), Tori Dawnmoon (@commanderfloppy), Keeper Vezz (@ratasum), Arcanist Rissia (@wall-legion), i think the charr in the back is Valkyri Bones (@commanderthalys), Scáthach Searlait (@orriannotrisen), Nepolia Sweetchill again, Jayrim again, Oakey Doki (@ecunderbase), A Bunch Of Bananas (@matsuriwolf)

next we’ve got some folks looking cozy by the tea party, and the largest charr i’ve ever seen

pictured: Jayrim once more, Wicker Weremane (also matsuriwolf), Vesnia Swiftreign (also sunsrefuge), Courtier Anella (@desertshrub), Damaris Shadepaw again

last row has another character who was really tall, and then a brief glimpse of the fun conversations that were happening the whole time, featuring the asura fam and the restaurant (i believe it had a name? i only remember someone saying that it couldn’t be mcdonald’s, for legal reasons)

pictured: Ellika Morgasdottir (@pinecone-enthusiast), Karlija Sootback (another unknown tumblr), Li Ryujin, Jayrim, Damaris Shadepaw, Harukehn and Heulwin again, Pyromancer Kudo (@catmanderratmander), a tiny lil Tryllwenn (@sylvaridreams), Tori Dawnmoon, Rissia and Vezz again, and a bunch of people in the back that i don’t know

[ohpollenpowder]

One last [VS] party shot! This is a culmination of several anomaly sparks!

Cardahmomo [Star] Tryllwenn Meisi the Loyal [Star] Lyhil [THOT]

And of course Izar. We all piled the sparks in~

[sylvaridreams]

"You're obsessed with Tryllwenn" ?????? 🤨 he's literally pretty.

[sylvaridreams]

i got the sillies, etc.

[sylvaridreams]

We are living a lie, indivisible by everything that we try, I need you to know if we carry this on, we'd be foolishly wrong, and we'd end up alone, in the end

Sylvari pod twins :) + how they looked as saplings and some thoughts below the cut

Obviously Tryllwenn had the most drastic change of the two of them, with every little piece of him changing--which I think is symbolic in some ways of their separation; if they were to meet at this point he'd recognize Inoxiam as his twin, but all Inoxiam would have would be a gut feeling of "hm I know you." A big part of his choice to change so much may have been because of that feeling of loss; loss of twin, loss of self. Etc.

I decided that Inoxiam's gained a lot of his scars as a result of his job in the Order of Whispers + his longtime position infiltrating the Nightmare Court; the glow spots on his face as a sapling were there from pre-life, the newer ones are all slashes and proof of battle.

I think it would be neat to explore them meeting again someday in the future, but I don't think it would be cathartic for either for a long time. Inoxiam is still keeping Whispers secrets, and Tryllwenn still thinks he's an actual courtier, which he's still not exactly happy about.

I started out lazy and then got more serious as I went, so Tryllwenn ended up taking the longest and looking the best orz

[sylvaridreams]

Tryllwenn / Submerged Cathedral

[sylvaridreams]

I made Tryllwenn 8.5 years back and barely developed him in that time… 😨The few things I'd done with him years ago didn't lend much to his personality or anything so I'm figuring that out now as I go. A lot of what I do know about him right now is just in relation to others lol.

I do know he's a non-identical twin; even before he changed his identity (gender, appearance, name) he and Inoxiam never looked alike, but they awoke from the same fasciated pod. They were very close at first, sharing a bond that transcended the need for speech; but when they were a couple of years old, Inoxiam was recruited into the Order of Whispers, and soon sent on his first mission to infiltrate the Nightmare Court as an initiate. He could not offer any reasonable explanation to his sibling, who was unaffiliated with any order--I.E., he couldn't blow his cover to tell his twin what he was really doing. Tryllwenn vehemently opposed this turn of events and the two parted ways, a separation which has lasted nearly two decades as Inoxiam continues his deep dive into the Court, and Tryllwenn explores the lonesome reaches of the world.

They still share some kind of bond; if one of them were to be in danger or hurt, the other would feel it despite the distance--I can imagine it would lead to some distress, not knowing if your estranged twin is okay or not, feeling fear and pain and panic overwhelming you with nothing you can do to put an end to it but sit and wait.

He's an engineer and a chef; he enjoys tinkering and cooking, and is pretty good at both. His favorite mount is his roller beetle, which he calls Ruteli, and he built the saddle himself and upgrades it frequently. He's exploring the Crystal Desert at the moment, exploring and finding relics and sweeping up some remnants of corruption that linger there in the wake of everything that's happened.

I think he'd like to go to Cantha... right now he's been away so long he probably hasn't heard that Cantha's opened back up, but he'd be fascinated by the Jade tech I think.

That's ALL I GOT but I want to have more -_- I want him to have a buddy or something that he can meet and travel with but right now he's all alone.

[sylvaridreams]

Specifically I'm thinking about Inoxiam's stint in Twilight Arbor being cut short. I've thought about how the Order of Whispers handles the Nightmare Court and ultimately decided that Whispers agents within the court do not know one another and cannot recognize each other, by design--that way if one of them gets caught, even under torture they'll be useless at pointing out other agents.

...is how it's supposed to work! But at the end of Inoxiam's time in the Arbor, an agent was uncovered, and that agent threw out accusations at the courtiers they had deemed most likely to be Whispers agents: a high ranking viscountess, two low ranking initiates, and Inoxiam. He had no idea if the other three were Whispers agents or not, or even if the original accused was! But the Court didn't really care that he couldn't point any fingers; they tortured everyone involved except the Viscountess trying to get information and flush out any more rats.

And by the end of it Inoxiam was in a terrible state, badly wounded and dissociative, trying to mentally protect himself from what was going on around him. When they were finished wringing info out of him (what little they could get)they dumped him in the wilderness to die. Someone unknown signaled the Order, and Inoxiam was recovered, but had so little memory of what had happened that he couldn't tell them what he'd said to the Court.

Anyway back to him and Tryll... as pod twins I think to some degree they are able to feel and sense each other's emotions and even some physical sensations. But they've also been apart, physically and emotionally, for over a decade, since Inoxiam "joined" the Court (was sent there by the Order) and Tryll cut ties.

....that said I'm thinking about Tryllwenn in the middle of the crystal desert doing something when he's nearly struck down by this massive feeling of fear and pain and disorientation, he suddenly doesn't know if his twin is alive or dead, he's terrified and hyperventilating curled up in the sand waiting for this feeling of absolute DREAD to pass, waiting for the pain to fade and it keeps coming, until it suddenly just stops all at once. Thinking about how horrifying it would feel to think that your estranged twin has just been murdered on the other end of the world, being absolutely positive that he's gone and you're all that remains, a new feeling of dread rising. And I don't think Tryll would realize he was alive until the next time he gets hit with a similar feeling; when Inoxiam is alone with and cornered by Eldulis for the first time and starts dissociating and then begins flashing back to his torture. And it's simultaneously terrifying and painful and agonizing all over again but also such a relief that he's still alive somewhere. Even if he's hurting and scared at least he's alive.

I think from that point Tryllwenn might start trying to find him. Realizing that he loves his twin too much to give up on pulling him from the Nightmare. It's worth it to at least try.

Today I am thinking about Inoxiam and Tryllwenn again...

[sylvaridreams]

My gender headcanons for sylvari are complex and practically nonsensical but here goes.

(TLDR, gender is a salad, and brother? I'm adding ingredience.)

The root of the question for them is not so much "male or female," "cis or trans," or "binary or nonbinary," it's more like "opt in or opt out."

I.e. they can fill certain boxes that apply to them as dictated by the culturally human lense we're viewing them through (a sylvari binary cis woman, or nb trans man, or this combined with this and that, etc) but within their culture, sylvari aren't going to look at these black and white yes or no labels and be able to make strict sense of them.

So while I do apply these labels to my own ocs, I'm also applying an additional lens of "opt in or opt out of gender" or of gendering strictly mattering to them to determine how they view themselves. Let me try to run through some examples...

Alba, through the first set of lenses, could be classified as a gender-nonconforming cis or genderqueer man. Were he human he might identify himself as some combination of these labels, however he does not think or care about these things. He has opted out of identifying himself as anything; he's essentially "not gendered" because he doesn't care.

Auruim could be read as a masculine cis man. He cares urgently about how he is perceived and read because he ties his strength and worth in with his masculinity. He is "opted in" to being gendered, as it matters to him.

Two of my trans masc sylvari are worth putting up side by side: Tryllwenn and Letnyaga are both trans men; Tryll is binary and Letty is non. Both are gnc and somewhat femme presenting. Letnyaga would also be viewed as pre or non op. Tryll is opted out and not gendered, it does not matter how he is perceived. Letnyaga is opted in.

(Pronouns are a whole additional beast that I won't go into.)

I think I'd have to tie this in with some of my headcanons about sylvari sex organs as well for it to make more sense. Obviously, they cannot reproduce, but have many of the apparent parts required for sex. As sylvari were modeled off of humanity, I believe that at their base they would appear to align with what human bodies look like, at least at first glance.

However, we've seen that sylvari can grow and shape things to their preferences. One of my physiological headcanons for them is that, were a sylvari to lose a limb, they could with time regrow it. The limits of regrowth are tenuous and uncertain. Can you regrow your head if it's lopped off? Probably not, a lot of vital stuff is stored in there--how about regrowing a body if everything from the mid-chest down gets blown to bits-again, likely not. But growing and reshaping things to be have the form and function desired is doable, probably even second nature for some of them. For others it may be more difficult.

Regardless, the ability to grow a different or additional sex of genitalia and shape it to your own preferences adds another layer of "well that isn't quite like humans at all!" For example; Aeris, she/her, fills the boxes of binary cis woman, but she's also grown a penis. Lychen, similarly, checks all the boxes of binary cis man, except that he's gone ahead and swapped his dick out for a vagina.

Does this make sense? Probably not hehe... but are you still rockin with me?! I hope so!

Or, blah blah as @starlightsuncrow succinctly summarized....

[sylvaridreams]

I once again have too many options of who to bring to the May vsartparty so... I'm going to have to do another poll. /)_(\

Poll is for a week, but I'll call it Saturday before the party; I'll also probably bring runner-up later in the party for a little bit. :p

[sylvaridreams]

I'm going to outline sooome of Aeris' looks throughout time (largely ignoring what greatsword skin she has bc it changes a few times too I just Didn't Think)

her "I'm a Priory baby sapling and I'm learning a lot" fit

her "I've been completely consumed by my perceived Wyld Hunt and the need to complete it, regardless of what it costs me" fit

her "tails wake up. you fucked up big time" fit (when Tryllwenn finds her in the desert after the failure at Thunderhead Peak)

her current, "I came back but I'm very not well about it" fit

and her "maybe someday i move past this" recolor

[sylvaridreams]

Ummm. Peeks around doorway and comes prancing in. Thinking about Aeris and how beloved she is... 😊 even my mordremvaris love her. Her new bow is from Auruim. Here's a mordrem weapon for you. NORMAL gift. This is a normal gift that any person could give to their colleague. Venasis wants to be friends and pick her up and swing her around. Darlio plays it cool like he's just tolerating her presence but he's deep down desperate for her to like him. She's the least likely to tolerate mordremvari bullshit and yet they're all chomping at the bit for her approval and attention.

She and Alba have been friends for almost a decade, keeping up through letters and occasionally crossing paths. She's the only non-Dragon's Watch or adjacent person who knows Alba had to kill Trahearne. She's the only one who keeps in contact with Tryllwenn and knows where he's at. She sends letters to Inoxiam to check in, knowing that he'll never respond to her.

She's spent ten years chasing her Wyld Hunt and trying to figure out what it really is. She's immune to Lala's charms by being effortlessly and genuinely more charming. She's the whole world's small pink sister and best friend. And she even comes with a sword.

[sylvaridreams]

Last night I was thinking hard about Inoxiam. His role in things and his mission in the Nightmare Court... I want him to have people in the Order of Whispers that he can lean on and rely on. Considering the missions he's been on, having to live within the Court, separated from his people and despised by them; he lost his twin by taking this mission because he couldn't tell Tryllwenn why he was going to the Court. And especially with his last mission in Twilight Arbor ending in his torture and rescue by the Order of Whispers, and them needing him back on his feet to head into Lionsbane Copse as soon as possible.... He would have needed a lot of support or he'd break all the easier when he reached Lionsbane and met Eldulis.

I have two other Whispers characters, but one has left the organization... I just don't know what to do about giving him friendship lol. And colleagues and superiors. People who know what he's doing and why and who can be around. Holds my hand out 🫴 give me your Whispers characters and let them be buddies... he don't bite...

[sylvaridreams]

oc group ask: who’s spending way too much on mobile games and who isn’t touching them with a ten-foot pole? @kerra-and-company

Character ranking ask game!

I misread as "spending too much (time) on mobile games" so that's the perspective I dove in with, oops. Most likely to overplay to most likely to avoid:

Bourbon, who has an addictive personality and gets caught up in tapping colorful button for serotonin reward

Auruim, who gets riled up by the bad game ads and gets so angry about it he has to prove that the game is simple and quick to beat and oh what do you mean I've been playing 12 hours it was daylight a second ago. Can you turn off the light I want to hit level 30

Aeris, who has a 300+ day streak on her game of choice and exchanges gifts with Auruim

Daoyi, who'll play really really casually for a while. he doesn't care if he loses progress or what game, he'll uninstall them and find new ones on a whim. His sisters are infuriated with how casually he approaches games. Like have a little passion about it! Don't uninstall that you have rare items and you'll lose them!

Alba, who can maintain a very strong 2 day duolingo streak before he forgets about it for a week and gives up on it.

Tryllwenn, who comes preloaded with the recitation of an essay about how those types of games are typically really addictive and bad for you and microtransactions are actually--