#vesh the bloody siren

[cryoverkiltmilk]

[essayofthoughts]

Hi! Do you think Vesh ever “re-emerged” after her and Kash’s wedding? Do you think Kash ever had to confront her as an adult? Thanks!

Well, if it happens, it doesn't happen in the time between Kash's 15th and when we meet him - he explicitly says he hasn't seen her since he tried to kill her at his fifteenth, so certainly by then she hasn't re-emerged. Given that she didn't re-emerge when Kash revivified Vex it's possible his attacking her banished her to some degree - I don't think he actually killed her, given he still has divine magic (and a few other things - I'll get into those). While in other settings belief in a domain can confer divine magic, the Calamity's k'nauthi kind of implies that divine magic usually comes from a divine patron, not belief?

Additionally, per the Campaign Guides, Vesh is purportedly protective of her chosen mates, of which Kash is one, and yet Kash almost died and was saved by Zahra, which suggests she's not active in his life and that nor is she actively protecting him. Additionally, the Campaign Guides say that Vesh goes after and attacks chosen mates who are insufficiently loyal - she's jealous and possessive... and yet we know Kash and Zahra are together for roughly a year on-stream, and even are expecting kid(s)!

This honestly all suggests to me that whatever Kash did when he attacked her when he as fifteen may have banished her or bound her away - only backed up by what he says to Keyleth after resurrecting Vex: "I hope the barrier that was sealed has remained sealed."

So! If Vesh is able to re-emerge it'd likely be after what we see of the stream and... it's possible? We know from the Campaign Guide that there are other cultists of Vesh, and it's perfectly possible they're finding and raising chosen of Vesh with those yellow-gold eyes, and attempting to invoke the Sting of a Hundred. And, if Vesh doesn't answer, presumably because of whatever binding or barrier fifteen year old Kash (HE WAS FIFTEEN) managed to set they may well endeavour to break it - and Vesh certainly seems the vengeful type, based on what we have in the Campaign Guides and what Kash says.

I would not be at all surprised if, if she did escape Kash's bindings, she'd go after him. Something I bounced around when my friends watching C3 mentioned the apogee and everything going sideways is - that'd be a great trigger for Vesh getting loose if she hasn't already. We know that what's happened then has broken a lot of divine bindings.

However... Kash is quite genuinely, physically, mentally, and magically stronger than he was when he was fifteen. He has levelled up, yes, but he has also trained to be better at fighting (per Friedle's backstory for him, he was a soldier for a time!), become less afraid of using Vesh's magic, and most importantly, thanks to Zahra, has done a lot of healing from the trauma Vesh wrought on him. And, also, he has friends - allies. Even if all of Vox Machina, Keyleth especially, are busy with other things, he has Zahra, who has a powerful otherworldly patron of her own, and, notably, he and Zahra stood up to and survived a newly ascended god, when they went to assist Vox Machina against Vecna. They have faced worse than Vesh.

While I don't think it'd be fun if Vesh went after Kash, I do think they'd have significantly better odds than Kash might fear. Even if Vesh were to deny Kash her magic, he has legitimate fighting skill and also Zahra on his side.

Plus, I'm kind of inclined to believe that the Sting is a kind of... irrevocable binding. If Vesh could have denied Kash her magic for attacking her or when he was attacking her, I think she would have! But she didn't - he still has magic, and magic distinctly from her (remember, him calling on her magic lights up the scars he and she inflicted on his arm). So... I don't know that Vesh could keep Kash from using her magic, given the Sting. (I imagine this is also why she kills unfaithful chosen - she wouldn't want her magic, given irrevocably, to be wastefully used.)

So... I don't think Kash has had to fight Vesh again by the time we see him and I don't think he's likely to for some time! It is possible, however, that either due to the efforts of her cultists or things like the apogee solstice, she could get free and go after Kash at some point post-stream. And in that case...

If Vesh did go after Kash, she'd probably be out for more than blood - she'd be out for his head.

[ozbian]

Catching up on Naddpod and I can't believe we nearly had Emily as a Paladin of Vesh the Bloody Siren

Glad they went with Prism because I love her, but given what we know about Vesh, the au where Laudna meets this paladin is fun to think about

[slayerscake]

Vesh, the bloody siren.

Kinda cool to learn more about her.

There are a lot more lesser gods then I thought.

[essayofthoughts]

📓

#2 - So! I yelled about this idea recently to @burr-ell, @crithaus and @blorbologist because I was going over some early, pre-stream campaign stuff and it collided with my New Blorbo thoughts and.

And.

Kash was identified as Vesh's chosen because he had yellow eyes as a child. At some point one of his eyes turned blue, we don't know when, why, or how, but given that both his eyes being yellow was the mark of him being chosen I am inclined to think that one eye turning blue was a consequence of his vehement, violent rejection of Vesh during the Sting when he realised what she was. I think it botched the connection they were meant to have and consequently messed with his "chosen" status, and thus his eyes.

Anyway. In our world, eye colour significance varies drastically based on culture and is much more meaningless than in Exandria, a world where instantaneous communication and transportation have been possible for absolutely ages, and where gods and godly entities have been known, active parts of the world in extremely provable ways. In Exandria, a particular eye colour being specifically associated with a particular god is likely to be standout and specific and not overlap as it might in our world.

Further, yellow eyes aren't too far off golden eyes, and you know who else has yellow/golden eyes?

The Dread Emperor.

Yeah. The child-snatching evil wizard. The one who took the form of a child with golden eyes to lure in kids, and seemingly had golden eyes in his true form as well.

And the Dread Emperor is ancient. Exists primarily on his own demiplane. His exact nature is up for debate.

Vesh is also ancient - a possible warlock type for her, aside from Archfey, is Undying. She also retreats to her own demiplane between summonings. Her exact nature - if she's archfey, witch or something else, is also up for debate.

But the Dread Emperor is from The Book of Vile Darkness and Vesh is a creation of Will Friedle and these are entirely different origins...

But they both exist in Exandria and if they're in the same sandbox, I will play.

So- what if there is some connection there? What if the Dread Emperor was a past chosen? Hell, given the fact they've both been around for ages, what if he was the first chosen? If you wanted to you could give a similar backstory to Kash and make him almost sympathetic (albeit in the "cool story, still kidnapping and murder" kind of way) or you could just have them be awful exes. Three ideas I have so far are:

The Dread Emperor being a past chosen of Vesh, staying in his own demiplane to avoid Vesh, using a child form outside to avoid Vesh likewise, capturing children to try to regain a childhood lost to a cultish upbringing while also having the certainty of being a Chosen One to let him excuse being a godawful piece of shit.

A chosen who fled before consummation because he was told the truth, thus creating the reason chosen of Vesh (such as Kash) are kept in the dark as to Vesh's true nature and the real reason they're life (to balance her being death), and sought to increase his own power and independent evil so he wouldn't ever be shackled to another entity.

What if Vesh and the Dread Emperor are like... thousand-year exes? What if the Dread Emperor was her first chosen and she gave him too much power which is why he's proven so long lived and so powerful and then he abandoned her and that's why she's obsessed with yellow eyed kids as chosen ones.

It is important to note that the validity of all of these ideas is entirely speculative. But I think they're fun as possibilities and if the Dread Emperor did start out as a Chosen Mate of Vesh who rejected her, be that before or after the Sting, it might also explain why she murders all other followers around at the Sting (to isolate the Chosen so they only have her, standard cult isolation tactics) and why she murders chosen she feels are insufficiently faithful (to avoid having another superpowered rival with a magical link to her)

Just... the idea of two superpowered, acrimonious evil exes is incredibly entertaining to me. And it could fit! Which makes it even better.

send in “📓” and I’ll roll a d10 and ramble some worldbuilding thoughts