#tw; endwalker spoilers

[galacticsabc]

When the Sun is Snuffed Out

[mimble-sparklepudding]

25. Roevember - Purpose.

As fragmented, imperfect beings, yours is a never-ending quest. A quest to find your purpose, knowing your end is assured. To find the strength to continue, when all strength has left you.

[arilphys]

all is excruciating pain. i breathe fire and torment. i birth a world of suffering to mire and plague.

[artisticvicu]

Summary:

Echo'a Velundaleht, Warrior of Light, Bringer of Hope and the bane of any villain's existence.

Or so the moniker goes. It changes, sure, adapting as needed to appease the masses or be used against him, but that doesn't mean he ever likes it. Not when there's more than just enemy blood on his hands and situations rob him of those he cares about.

At some point he's going to stop caring. At some point, he's going to be done with all their stupidity and the endlessness of it all and simply watch the world burn just because he could.

That thought scares him more than his own death does and he can't help but wonder for how much longer it will.

At least he has the Scions. If he had been on his own, he would have shattered a long time ago. He just hopes he hasn't leaned too heavily on them in turn.

 

Contains predominantly Shadowbringers and Endwalker content with a sprinkling of A Realm Reborn and Heavenward in the beginning, game transcript used heavily in places.

Chapter names are the main scenario quest names (and two role quests). Unnamed chapters are generally supplementary content - such as Ch33 being Azem's chapter.

[heirbane]

I'm still roosting on an ask I received from @fire-branded (like two weeks ago shhhh) about Gaius and his relationship with the other legati and it's really made me think about like.... him and quintus.

Because no matter what he's gone through, I truly don't think gaius ever, ever considered killing himself. That would require himself to see and understand his emotions and listen to his own thoughts. Even if he hadn't been in Garlemald during endwalker, I know he found out through the grapevine (wol or estinien) and was probably just ... stunned.

He has held rifles and knives and gunblades his entire life, and never once had he looked at them and considered them. To die, to ease his suffering - to cease existing is a mercy he simply never considered.

He thinks he deserves what he's gone through, and to repay his sins, he must live. To die is to leave a debt of blood behind he has not cleaned yet.

[fandomsareforincorrectquotes]

Hermes: I love your top, Emet-Selch! Azem: I have a name, you know. Emet-Selch: *sighs* Why. Why are you like this.

[inksinger]

I'm pretty sure this has been done before but like just in case -

[wystaria-garden]

Close your eyes and look around No one can find you here

[sezja]

Greetings. Can you hear me? Do not be alarmed - I mean you no harm. I wish only to hear your words. Share your feelings. Know your thoughts. May we please... be friends?

[bexplaysffxiv]

Lalapril 2023 day 5: Shatter

At the edge of the universe, Roscoe almost succumbed to grave injuries, his greatsword shattered and his body pushed beyond its limits. Only thanks to his manifested darkside Esteem and his daughter Yuyuka did he make it home.

Roscoe lore below!

Now, he still uses the same sword. His weakened wrist, which was damaged in the same fight, means he can no longer wield a traditional greatsword, so he now uses a weapon made mostly of aether with the shards of his old sword suspended within it. I really need to draw it to better demonstrate this, but the sword can split into parts depending on its required use. Roscoe may technically be an AST in terms of calling power from the stars, but he channels that power through the pieces of the greatsword SGE-style.

Also yeah. The final EW cutscenes? None of it canon for him, because he was unconscious. He made it through most of the story but at this point he hit his limit. He's not infallible, and he fell at the final hurdle, but with the love of others - and self-love - he made it through. I don't really have a lot of character influences for Roscoe but I have big feelings about him being a hobbit-style character. A little guy on a big, unexpected adventure. And at the end, he 'fails', because that adventure pushed him too far. But that doesn't mean a moral failure and it doesn't mean people think less of him for it. That parts means a lot to me. I love my lil man ♥

[mimble-sparklepudding]

Send 🪙 to see them doing or wearing something associated with commerce or material wealth. :)

A contract shall be written, requiring all who receive of Alzadaal's treasure to commit a portion of their future earnings towards the running of an orphanage.

[laspocelliere]

Day Twenty-Six: Last

All of her final moments were shrouded in darkness.

The last time she’d fallen asleep was under the night sky of Sharlayan. It had come with difficulty, even without fear. Death didn’t frighten her – it never had. Instead, her mind had churned over everything she was leaving behind, pressing her fingers cautiously against the bruises left by all those she’d allowed herself to care about. The bed was comfortable, but she slept poorly, wondering if it was worth it to let her guard down as much as she had, after all.

It hurt too much. 

And that was why they needed to be protected.

The last time she’d been kissed was under the dark snowfalls of Ishgard. Aymeric had held her so tightly she could scarcely breathe, his arms still holding the faintest tremor of doubt from dealing with the plague of blasphemies across the city. She’d kissed him, fierce and determined, pouring her love and devotion into him with everything she had. He wouldn’t turn. He couldn’t. He was the pillar she held herself up against, even as the Final Days pressed down upon them, with seemingly only her own shoulders to keep them from crushing down into the earth. 

The snow fell silently down on them, mixed in with ash and dust, and she kissed him with the conviction that she was coming back, she was coming home, this wasn’t any different.

He kissed her in turn, desperate, and steady, and terrified all at once. Because this time was different, and they both knew it. Leaving him behind had never been easy; with the state of the world now, it nearly killed her.

She would die protecting him, if that’s what it took.

She left under cover of darkness, lips tingling and cold seeping into her bones with the sensation of loss. 

The last time she’d seen the sun had been under the encroaching red-dark skies of Thavnair. The air tasted like gunpowder and smelled like burning flesh, cloying and thick in her lungs. Shadows hung heavy over everything in sight, despite the sun burning black and bright in the blood-drenched sky, illuminating shimmering mirages of stars. It had been unsettling to see the sky fade in and out of its fury as she travelled across Eorzea, desperately trying to stem the flow of chaos and death as it rampaged across the star. Dust and grit was rough on her exposed skin as she moved from city to city, dry-eyed and determined to find a solution to what plagued them.

Heart impossibly heavy with the knowledge she now held.

The Scions looked askance at her at varying intervals, but she knew what they weren’t asking – what they never asked, not once, but expected of her regardless. When it came time, she’d do what was necessary. She’d always been their last hope, and they were more desperate now than they’d ever been before. 

She’d never feared death.

The last time she’d tried to die had been under the moonlight of Coerthas. Still a child by most standards, she’d emerged from the mountainside in cold winter darkness, stolen sword at her hip and pushed forwards by her refusal to ever return to her home again. She’d never known welcome, never known acceptance, or kindness or anything close to love. She told herself it was what she was seeking, going out into the world unprepared as she was, but in the deepest recesses of her soul, the truth lay, curled and dark.

She sought out strife and adventure.

She secretly hoped that she’d find the thing that would end her. End a lifetime where all she’d known was disdain for her very existence.

To her shock, she hadn’t found it.

To her horror, she found that when the time came to die, it turned out that she very much wanted to live, after all.

The last time she drew breath was under the black, bottomless expanse of Ultima Thule. The ground that wasn’t ground was cold beneath her back, with her own sweat and blood mingling and cooling in the air that wasn’t air. 

Next to her, just out of reach, Zenos had breathed his last. She felt it happen, somehow, nearly like a loss, or a lightening – or maybe it was her own soul, gently breaking free from its shackles of a mortal body at last. She knew she was bleeding out, could feel blood pooling beneath her and soaking into her hair, but there was no pain. Nothing but the silence, and the infinite darkness above her, and a lifetime of memories that drifted across her fading consciousness like dreams.

The travelling she’d done. The people she’d met. The lives that had touched hers, and that she’d touched in return, regardless of how many walls she tried to throw up. The people who’d managed to breach those defences, even without her knowing. The Scions. The Alliances. The Ancients. The star. Aymeric, Aymeric, Aymeric.

Goodbye, love. 

I’m sorry.

Consciousness slipped quietly away from her, her gaze catching on what little she could see through her darkening vision. Distantly, the stars beyond winked soft and gentle, the sole witnesses to her final moments as her lungs struggled to draw its last few breaths.

All her final moments had been shrouded in darkness.

But that wasn’t quite right.

The Warrior of Light let her eyes fall shut, finding death a comforting friend after all as she drew her last breath, and her last thought: 

All of her final moments were dappled with stars. And the first time she opened her eyes once more, her first moment was illuminated in clear, bright, indescribable light.

[pumkinbones]

For both your boys: 4. Has your character ever been hurt or betrayed by someone they thought they could depend on? What happened?

Varian

"I honestly don't know what I expected by trusting him..." Varian sighed heavily, fingers tracing over a hidden scar on his left side idly as the memory bubbled to the surface. "While not the dependable type, I thought I could at least depend on his predictability. I hoped he could have waited." Bright red ears twitched with anger as he bit his lip in attempt to prevent an outburst. Taking a moment to calm himself before speaking again, softer, more shaken. "Zenos..."

"We are both monsters and fiends. Our battles made me feel alive. But I had a duty to fulfill, so thus I drew a temporary line in the sand. I thought he would respect that..." The chimera drew in an exasperated breath and shook his head. "He didn't. Instead he let Fandaniel toy with me. Let AMON twist my body to his whims once again."

Green eyes flashed brightly with a hatred that no one, not even the scions have ever seen. Varian let out a seething hiss, "That sundered bastard is the reason why I'm like this! This undying amalgamation of dragonkin parts. And to watch my 'friend' march up to those I love with only the thought of causing untold devastation... Breaking our promise. Showing them the real monster under my skin." Varian straightened up stiffly, sweeping the hair out of his face. "That I cannot forgive."

"That is why in our final fight... I had to win."

_________

Rhys

With a steely gaze he signed two words:

BROTHER and then BETRAY.

His brow knotted together and his lips pursed as he finger spelled, "R-A-V".

"HE AND G-A-R-L-E-A-N-S KILL BROTHERS. I ESCAPE." Rhys paused his gestures and ran his fingers over the thick scar across his throat. He tapped it lightly and slowly signed, "R-A-V CUT, BROTHER Y-U-R-I SAVE ME." With an angry grunt he continued, "WILL FIND R-A-V, KILL HIM, REVENGE FOR Y-U-R-I."

With a wave of his hands he was done. Getting more than that from him would be a task as this hurt ran deep. It was his whole reason for existing, for joining the Maelstrom, and fighting with Eorzea against the Garlean threat. He would find his back-stabbing brother, find out why he set upon killing his own, and make him suffer as he had.

[artisticvicu]

Summary:

Echo'a Velundaleht, Warrior of Light, Bringer of Hope and the bane of any villain's existence.

Or so the moniker goes. It changes, sure, adapting as needed to appease the masses or be used against him, but that doesn't mean he ever likes it. Not when there's more than just enemy blood on his hands and situations rob him of those he cares about.

At some point he's going to stop caring. At some point, he's going to be done with all their stupidity and the endlessness of it all and simply watch the world burn just because he could.

That thought scares him more than his own death does and he can't help but wonder for how much longer it will.

At least he has the Scions. If he had been on his own, he would have shattered a long time ago. He just hopes he hasn't leaned too heavily on them in turn.

 

Complete at 47 chapters until Dawntrail 7.1, probably.

This contains predominantly Shadowbringers and Endwalker content. Unless noted otherwise, each chapter is named for the quest it appears in.

Chapters 42 through 44 uploaded.

[reapcrbunny]

DAHLIA AND SCARS

hello it is time for a masterpost of this gal's scars which, at this point, are rather extensive after all the trauma her body has gone through.

SCARS FROM A REALM REBORN. her scars from arr are an energy / fire blast scar she received from midgardsormr in the cs's post the keeper of the lake when he flavour blasted her into next week and took away her gift of light for a time. formerly her hands were burned during the praetorium when lahabrea flavour blasted her with that big ol attack of his with the revamped solo duty fight we get.

SCARS FROM HEAVENSWARD. haurchefant died. emotional scarring.

SCARS FROM STORMBLOOD. her scars from stormblood mostly come from the various fights she undergoes with zenos, the main one from the cutscenes following ghimlyt dark. the attack that ultimately takes her out of the fight ends up slicing through her WAR armour from her clavicle down to her navel which ultimately left her bleeding out with only the remains of her armour holding her guts in. the scar itself healed rather poorly due to her running around because trouble on the star never slept even when she needed it. she also picked at it because she has anxiety and she picks. at her scars. she sports other scars that she gained from their fights throughout, though none as bad as that one.

SCARS FROM SHADOWBRINGERS. cracks knuckles, here we go hoss. so basically throughout the expansion, from the moment she consumes the light her skin begins to crack. it isn't a big deal at first, at least to her, but the more she takes the bigger the cracks get and the more they spread. they begun at the small of her back and spread akin to a virus over the rest of her ; up and down her back to to her shoulders and back of her neck. the scars at first are a glowing white only to change to gold once the light has been expelled in full ( even though her troubles aren't over ). while not a scar, her eyes turned from emerald green to icy blue. her fight with elidibus leaves her, for a short time, with chain mark bruising around her arms where she was held in place when yeeted into the space between worlds before emet clicked her back to the fight.

SCARS FROM ENDWALKER. besties she's emotionally spent throughout lmfao, she's ( gordon ramsey vc ) RAW. but physically ? the fight with zenos wrecked her significantly as she returns to the ragnarök alive by a thread but broken with nyx'ael covering her like a sheet with their wings. seeing her reveals a sorry state that takes months to heal and tataru gifts the island to her for recovery over anything else. bloodied hands / claws, scars reopened and torn with fur from her ears missing in places - neck sliced through where had it been any closer to her throat she would have been unsavable as the damage would have been too extensive. for awhile after she has trouble walking as everything hurts, using her scythe as a support or allowing fray or nyx'ael to shoulder the pain she would feel so that she could even move to do things for herself. she suffers from chronic pain even worse than she had it after shadowbringers which is ongoing into 6.3

[lookbluesoup]

Does your OC believe that a person can be redeemed even if they have committed heinous deeds? Or do they maintain that some crimes can never be forgiven? (For any OC!)

Thank you for the ask! :3 I'll answer for Lyrha and Nahte, since they have some slightly different perspectives on things!

Nahte believes that anyone can be redeemed in that they can have their life, station, or fortune spared and make better choices in the future, but that redemption does not necessarily free someone from ALL consequences of their previous actions. Nor does he believe that forgiveness means sweeping aside all the hurt and pain someone has caused.

Redemption comes in seeing that you've done something damaging, and attempting to do better for the future, even if you don't always get back the friendships, esteem, or whatever else you lost because of your harmful choices. It's a deliberate kind of introspection and decision to change out of love, not a tool to handwave consequences away.

He's seen a lot of people "change" just to get what they want, and revert back to their old self afterwards - whether because they got the result they wanted, they brought people back to them and now that they have control again they no longer care about changing, or because they didn't get the affection back they desired, and when the "tool" didn't give them what they wanted, they discarded it. Both are possessive behavior. Not a true change of heart.

He does not believe, however, that he personally has the right to pass judgement on an individual, because he does not see the world they do. He hasn't had their experiences. He can only choose to support or oppose specific actions. If he feels they are doing something harmful, he will stand against it. If he has to kill someone to protect another's life, he will. If he can avoid hurting, and bring people together instead, he'll try.

Some actions, like Ilberd's massacre, Nahte holds onto a lot of anger about because it felt so avoidable to him, if people had been more compassionate, less full of hate and judgement. Others, like Hydaelyn's shattering the world into shards and the Ascian rejoinings, he feels more conflicted over, because he understands how difficult the situations that led to both were, and without both of these things contributing to his strength, it's unlikely he would have been able to prevail against the Endsinger. He will always wonder if there were better ways; he knows it's part of being human that he will never know for sure.

But he doesn't have it in him to truly hate people, even his enemies, and is hardest on himself in this regard because he feels so guilty about the many lives he's taken. Even if it was to prevent greater loss of life. Even if he understands that good an evil choices are rarely so clear cut, and the ultimate consequences of them, even less predictable. He gets better at this over time thanks to his training as a Dark Knight, but it's still a recurring struggle for him to be as forgiving of his own actions as he is those of others.

Nahte feels very strongly though that anyone can be a "villain," depending on the view, and that a lot of conflict comes from a lack of understanding and fear. He resists Us vs. Them modes of thinking. Because he's human, he's not perfect at it, but he tries very hard to be self aware in this regard. He's willing to forgive a lot and focus on the current moment, and the future, rather than laboring over anger at what came before. He wants to move forward with people and promote building something better tomorrow, not perpetuate hate.

So it could be said he doesn't really... think of people's behavior in a binary of good and evil. Neither side is ever entirely wrong or right. There's competing needs, different perspectives, and a desire to connect with and protect one's "People", whoever that is perceived to be. And in a lot of ways, Nahte sees the entire world as "His People."

Lyrha struggles with this a lot. And though she's at least as smart as Nahte, she's not as philosophical as him. She's much more action oriented. Her stance on the matter is then a bit more fluid and possibly even contradictory.

Lyrha spends most of her early life doing objectively harmful things. She murders, kidnaps, steals - she hurt people for a living. But she also didn't know that life could be different. She believed everyone was selfish, and that cowardice, stupidity, or bad luck was the only reason others ended up "prey" instead of "predator." Every day was about survival.

When she meets X'rhun, that changes. Lyrha realizes there are gentler, more fulfilling ways to interact with the world and viewing strangers. She's been doing a lot of bad things she didn't have to do. She's a villain, in everyone else's story except her own. It's a tough pill to swallow, but she does it. She learns how to let herself be empathetic, even when that hurts her.

She also realizes that in the same position, a lot of her old associates wouldn't make a similar choice. They liked hurting other people.

So Lyrha ends up feeling a lot of personal guilt, and that she has a lot to make up for - some of which she might never be able to amend. She's killed people and they're not coming back. She's sent children into slavery, and after all these years she has no way to find them again, to know what happened after, to give back what she took. She has nightmares about it.

There's a practical part of her that still won't hesitate to kill, without shame, people who threaten her "family" or the strangers she's sworn to defend as a Red Mage. She hopes that if she's killing and stealing and lying for the "right" reasons now, it can make up for the all the wrong she did before, and balance the scale. She also has the capacity to reach out to other people who are jaded, like she was, and offer them a chance to find a better way. But she doesn't know if it will ever be enough.

What she does know is that X'rhun and Arya love her, and they stay beside Lyrha even after finding out what she'd done in the past. Their love is what gives her the courage to keep trying. So in her mind, maybe the answer is simple: You are redeemed when you are loved and love in return.