#vorpp

[fireskarr]

GW2 Unused dialogue: Flirty lines?

So here's a fun one ;)

During my deep dive into the Living World S1 related dialogue lines in the game, I stumbled across a flirty line from Jory that I hadn't heard before. I didn't think much of it at the time, since several of her regular lines are rather flirty. But then I found one for Braham. And then Rox. And then I started to pay attention.

For most characters, there are blocks of what I like to call 'generic' lines. These blocks tend to be separate from the story-specific lines and ambient conversations, and include things like event-related chatter (let's go, follow me, go on ahead, etc), greetings, yes/no, calls for help, battle cries, etc. And I noticed some of the "thank you"/gratitude lines were almost always preceded by some kind of flirty line (and a few aren't, it's kinda messy haha). So I ran through all the other characters and pulled what I could find.

Not all named characters seem to have these though, and I might have missed one or two that weren't obviously flirty. There's also a chance that some of these are part of ambient conversations I'm not aware of, but most ambient conversations tend to be separate, so I dunno. Like I said; kinda messy.

I've separated them into two groups: Named NPCs and un-named NPCs

Marjory Delaqua: "Mmm, mm, mmm. You can walk into my bar any old time." Braham: "You'd look great in a bear skin." Rox: "I like you almost as much as meat!" Magnus the Bloody Handed: "You look like a kindred spirit. You like winter sports?" Evon Gnashblade: "You like gold? Jewels? I bet you do." Vorpp: "Hello beautiful. Are there anymore at home like you?" Scarlet Briar: "Hello, you're pretty cute. For a drone." Captain Mai Trin: "Do you have what it takes to be my First Mate?" Magister Tassi: "What do you say? You, me, a little romantic stroll through the library, hmm?" Mad King Thorn: "Heey! How would you like to be queen for a day?" Bloody Prince Thorn: "Mmm, you're as luscious as blood in the moonlight."

Lionguard 1: "Hey, good lookin'." Lionguard 2: "My shift's about to end, how about a drink?" Aetherblade 1: "Hey baby, wanna ride on an airship?" Aetherblade 2: "I'm all business. But I'm all pleasure too." Aetherblade 3: "Hey there, hot stuff." Zephyrite 1: "I feel a spark between us." Zephyrite 2: "You outshine the sun." Zephyrite 3: "Did I see a glint in your eye?" Zephyrite 4: "I feel balanced, now that you're here."

[queer-as-used-by-tolkien]

I always interpreted that as Vorpp being Inquest himself though? We know there are Inquest on the Arcane Council. Politics being absolutely horrible as always with corrupt, selfish bad actors everywhere - that doesn't say anything about the average asura (though yes, some of them - like the skritt experimenting heart in... Metrica? Brisban? - are non-Inquest and still evil).

Also, I never debated the moral character of the asura experimenting on the Secondborn - just Malomedies. Vorpp is a really bad one. I remember reading something that said Taimi got to choose between Zojja and Vorpp as an apprentice (they both wanted the excellent prodigy), and Taimi chose Zojja, obviously, because they're both main characters.... but once I learned what Vorpp had done I was like yeeaahhh, go Taimi! Vorpp's slimy hands don't get to TOUCH her! even though Taimi probably didn't even know. But if he was evil enough for that - and to still not regret it - then he's evil in other ways that Taimi probably noticed and steered quite clear of. Good for her. (She, Zojja, Snaff, and all other allied asura are all also good examples of my point that some asura are bad and others don't care, but most asura are okay.)

The specific ones who experimented on Malomedies, however, we don't know anything about, and from how I read that lore post OP is getting his info from, Trahearne and Cadeyrn just wanted to go murder a bunch of asura. No indication of finding out who specifically experimented on him, and since they did return him once they found out he was sentient, going back to kill them would be a high gesture of bad faith. (I could see going to the Arcane Council and demanding reparations, but that's not what was being considered.)

Additionally, the asura's "neighbors" were twelve two-year-olds (eleven if it was post-Riannoc's death, which iirc we don't know for sure), so if they were worried about a war they could've just gone and killed the dozen of them or kidnapped all twelve for experimentation. Those particular asura, I remain convinced, had integrity and regretted their actions.

i think trahearne should be allowed to kill some asura, as a treat

[where-is-caithe]

thinking about Rhowan collecting all of Scarlet's recordings and holding onto them and listening to them over and over.

[soulbeastdragon]

Side by side of my main story Aurenthir (left) and my alternate timeline Aurenthir (right).

Main difference is a point in the story.

Main story Aurenthir was an unfortunate victim who got captured by Vorpp's krewe and experimented on early in his life. This resulted in him being wary of Asura and refusing to go to Rata Sum with Ceara when they were traveling Tyria together. Instead, he went to Divinity's Reach while Ceara went ahead to Rata Sum.

Alternate Aurenthir didn't get captured and experimented on, so there was no caution of the Asura for him. He goes to Rata Sum and from there supported Ceara (and then later Scarlet Briar) with her schemes until she was put down by the Commander. Alternate Aurenthir was already in the Heart of the Jungle when his twin was killed and he became Mordremoth's Herald, and the Grovekeeper of Thorn Hollow.

In both timelines Aurenthir's well and alive. Main story Aurenthir helps the Commanders and the Pact all the way up until the end of EoD and then he kinda retires and lives out his days helping ex-Mordrem and ex-Courtiers settle back into society.

Alternate Aurenthir goes into hiding after his defeat in HoT, and doesn't reappear until around EoD where he's trying to make a new life for himself. He actually becomes really good friends with Yao in this timeline and kinda has Ceara back by building her from watchwork knight parts and from her various holodiscs recordings. I'm still playing with ideas on alternate Aurenthir, so it'll be fun fleshing him out for the other expacs like SotO and Janthir Wilds.

[hawkepockets]

[archesa]

me when the emotionally repressed character is revealed to have had something happen in their childhood that was completely out of their control but changed them in a way they can never come back from

[kornyo]

Oh well now you have me CURIOUS so, here outside of tags, tell me about those PoF death experiences 👀

@mystery-salad

i’ll never say no to unleashing my oc lore gates 🫶 be warned. this will be long. like 800 words type of long . for context i will be explaining important backstory first that will be related to the pof story descriptions . and obviously spoiler warning !

starting with my first commander, zoya. zoya already has a complicated relationship with life and death from the get go, which only gets worse during path of fire.

zoya is a secondborn, podsister to canach actually. and just like him, she was abducted to vorpp’s research lab and experimented on. vorpp was draining her of her life force to power his golems, and she actually succumbed to these experiments and died in the lab days before caithe and faolain arrived. her body was discarded into the sea, and to canach and everyone else, she was dead.

and she was dead, her body had been drifting in the ocean for weeks, if not months, before she washed up on the cursed shore in orr. when she did, she caught the attention of the eye of zhaitan, who until now had not seen any of mordremoth’s minions.

now, due to the fact she is mordremoth’s minion (despite the pale tree cutting them off), sylvari can’t be corrupted by the other dragons, but i feel like at the time of the secondborn it was not widely known/confirmed for certain yet.

so, like he does, zhaitan tried to corrupt her and convert her into one of his undead minions - after all, if this would work, he could yoink his brother’s minions for his purposes and his army would grow even further. while the „corruption“ did not succeed - her tie to

mordremoth saved her from becoming his minion - he did somewhat revive her in the process, but not fully. zoya, now technically dead and alive at the same time but not having access to zhaitans power to keep her alive, is forced to absorb life force from other creatures to stay alive. hence, her being a necromancer. she stays in orr for a while, no idea of who she is and who she was previously, until she eventually encounters trahearne during his travels in orr and he takes her back with him to the grove. together they both study orr and try to solve his dream of cleansing it.

so when zoya dies during the fight with balthazar (to the sword rammed into her chest), her afterlife is different than the one in game. she wakes up floating in the ocean, like when she was dead for the first time, alone, no memory of who she is and who she is supposed to be yet again. but she’ll swim to the cursed shore this time, and meet the judge who will guide her through the domain of the lost, regaining her memory (even before her first death) to now.

however, it is not necessarily the judge that brings her back to ‚life‘, it is she herself who uses the power from defeating zhaitan in her memories to bring herself back into the realm of the living. she still retains her ‚undead‘ status, and similar to joko, she’s essentially a lich.

and different to the in-game, she was dead for an hour approximately, and she had troubles controlling her body for the rest of that day and needs to rest before she can continue with the fight.

my other commander, rhys, on the other hand has a complicated relationship with balthazar, which makes their encounter in path of fire difficult on a very different level.

rhys was a priest of balthazar prior to becoming known as the commander, and she was VERY devoted to him. still prayed to him frequently, despite his departure during the exodus of the gods. to me, rhys and balthazar have a relationship similar to zeus and achilles in the iliad; a god and his beloved champion, sometimes i think their relationship was as close as zeus and hercules even.

balthazar, despite being chained in the mists, heard and responded to every one of her prayers. he had very big plans for rhys; she, as a descendant of king doric and king adelbern whom were both personally blessed by balthazar and gifted with his swords sohotin and magdaer, was supposed to be his champion by his side while he would slay the dragons and absorb their powers. rhys was also supposed to be the one to free him from the mists initially, but rytlock finding and freeing him first was not a problem at all. another important detail: being a priest of balthazar made rhys immune to any fire damage whatsoever, making them a very powerful berserker.

during the course of season 3 and POF, their relationship with balthazar is strained and tested numerous times — rhys was always tempted to join his side every time he called out to them, but their hesitation was close to a betrayal in balthazars eyes, and so, they were no longer his ally anymore but his most powerful enemy that had to be destroyed. he removes his blessing, and as a result, rhys is incredibly vulnerable to fire damage.

during their battle, rhys doesn’t die by his sword like zoya, a death some could see as a merciful death. instead, he burned rhys to death, FULLY. this was a lesson to his former disciple, one that should follow them into their afterlife.

rhys’ afterlife was a burnt and barren wasteland, full of ash and the occasional leftover fire/ember. they, too, forgot who they are and what their purpose in life. even when they slowly regain their memories, they don’t consider going back to the living but staying dead. in the domain of the lost they have been „dead“ for a few days, but in the domain of the living they have been dead for a whole day.

when rhys decides to come back after all, out of vengeance and out of loyalty to aurene, they willfully step into a raging fire inside a hollow tree trunk which acted as a portal. their body was about to be cremated when they decided to come back, emerging from the fire. their whole body was burnt, but they found new strength in killing balthazar once and for all.

[ratasum]

I'm very sleepy and rolling around in my head the fact that while we know the founding, history, and general structure of most of the cultural "bad guy" groups, we really have painfully little on the Inquest.

I've been digging in the wiki for any information on who founded them or when, and there's really just... nothing.

There's some indication that they were at least inspired by Zinn. The Inquest's page on the wiki indicates Kudu was behind the experimentation on Malomedies, but the page requests verification and any links I've seen people post aren't archived and weren't saved on the wayback machine.

It's increasingly frustrating. Rata Primus is massive in scale and 30-40 years doesn't feel quite long enough to have built it from the ground up. Having them founded around the time of Zinn's exile would make sense, but then how did they get reinvolved with asuran politics? And it's clear the average asuran citizen hates them. There's a ton of ambient dialogue in Rata Sum and Metrica Province from regular npcs about how awful they are, and a good chunk of events and renown hearts in Metrica rotate around ruining the Inquest's day in one way or another.

I've been rolling around the idea that they came together as a faction around the time of the experimentation of the Firstborn, and that those asura were who would form the megakrewe and start recruiting likeminded individuals. There's strong indication most asuran citizens really have no idea (you as an asura commander certainly don't) until it comes out that this even happened.

But the council plays into the Inquest's hands quite often, we know they're canonically corrupt, and so their approval of Vorpp even if the rank and file wouldn't approve doesn't shock me.

My only hangup is time. Rata Primus looks like it's been there a while. Is it an old abandoned Rata that was formed around the time of Rata Sum and then taken over by the Inquest after it was abandoned for some reason, or the residents died out and the survivors left?

Did they manage to build a base that complete in 30 years? How did no one notice?

I'm wracking my brain about it. So how's your morning lmao.

[archesa]

💋, 🌶️ and 💢 for a char of your choice!

Thank you 🥰 I'm currently very much hyperfixated on Baldur's Gate, but I can summon Anwen or Galaëd for you 🦋🍂

💋 First kiss - His first kiss is with Canach, after Rorschach's resurrection. Galaëd's hands are burned, from holding the Commander's corpse, and Canach helps him, heals him, bandages his hands and kisses him. It's soft and yearning, a chapter of their past closed and a new page to be writen, the promise of something more.

🌶 First spice - They retreat from the victory celebration to watch the fireworks on the heights of Amnoon, and one thing lead to another 😚

💢 Person they cannot stand - Vorpp. He and the twins are of one mind as to what would happen to the Emissary should he run into them in a dark alley.

Bonus round for Lily, my Astarionmancer 😊

💋 First kiss - Lily has no relationship experience. Her first kiss is with Astarion, the night of the tiefling party, the same night they sleep together the first time.

��� First spice - The night of the bite is a very... enlightening experience for her, and when Astarion propositions to her a few days later she is absolutely mortified to know he saw right through her, felt the effect he had on her.

She runs away from him rather than face the embarassment and gets a pep talk from Karlach and Shadowheart 😅 The night of the party she gathers her courage and they make their own entertainment together 😚

💢 Person they cannot stand - Aradin gets on her nerves the second she meets him!

[dasozelotvonnebenan]

Hi yes hello please let me tell you about my small and easily exploitable son Vorpp Jr.

He is the son of that Vorpp. He doesn't like that fact, but not for any moral reasons, he's just annoyed that everyone keeps bringing it up. He doesn't care about his dad's work, just leave him alone.

He worked in Rata Primus in the lab where they brand devourers. He's a necromancer so he has some unique ways of looking at them. He's just an assistant though, no one would ever take orders from him.

He does not understand the concept of lying. On a fundamental level. This makes it very easy for people to take advantage of him. He does some impressive mental gymnastics to make seemingly opposite statements both be true at the same time. You could tell him you are a bee and he will believe you. Clearly he must have missed something when he learned what bees are, since you are obviously a bee.

When the awakened attacked Rata Primus even though they didn't he ran away with another asura from his lab. (even though everything was fine obviously) He insists he simply relocated his lab and is continuing to work for the inquest it's just that there is no one around to tell him what to do so his job currently constists of doing nothing.

Alright peeps time for another Show Off Your Characters post.

Can't believe I haven't made this one already, but today's topic is: Inquest!

Share the worst of your worst. I want to see all your amoral criminals, tortured minds & misunderstood tragedies. Talk about them as much or little as you want, drop some pics. 3, 2, 1 go:

[adrisventari]

OH BOY MORE RATS!

DAY TWO - AUGUST 21st Do you have an Inquest OC? How did they end up in the Inquest? (If you don't, what college did your OC attend?)

@asura-appreciation-corner

Met Cella, who doesn't actually exist in game and is also a little dead soo......

Cella is Gehix's bastard of a mother. Renowned biologist, accomplice of Vorpp during his experiments on the Sylvari. Joined the Inquest officially shortly after said experiments were "ruined". She was the one responsible for cutting off Enansi's leg. There are rumors she may be Kuda's mother, but that's never been confirmed. She's a horrid little creature, and Gehix's career in medicine was partially to spite her and her lack of ethics.

[where-is-caithe]

remembering Rhowan is one of the secondborn tortured by the inquest and that Vorpp is the one who did it AND that you literally are forced to work with him for the entire 3rd episode of season 1

[dotmander]

character introduction: diarmaid (she/her)

an engineer, one of the secondborn that were subject to vorpp's experiments, and an accidental nightmare convert. she didn't realize the nightmare had taken root in her for years; as soon as it was discovered, she left the grove in disgrace.

despite this, she snubs the courtiers; although she believes sylvari society should be restructured, she isn't a sadist, and thinks the caste system they've borrowed from humanity is ridiculous. instead she builds fun freaky stained glass abominations and charges exorbitant prices for them. if you let her, she would sit in her tower and make nightmare-fueled creations until she dies, chasing away almost everyone that comes to visit; unfortunately for her, people keep trying to remind her she has morals. eugh.

song

[commanderfloppy]

Shipping game stuff ; Vlixxa annnddd... Faolaine?

(@dumb-dumb-mander)

Oh now this is a strange one, it took a bit of brain storming to figure out if there was even a way for this to happen since most of their possible interactions Flops would be going through it and Faolain would be uhh...evil. One scenario did manage to pop into my mind though.

It's 1304 AE, a bunch of secondborn had just been captured and Caithe and Faolain are on the way to rescue them. When trying to find a way to enter the facility, they see a tired college intern who was sent to deliver a supplies shipment (someone just shoved the responsibility on her) and get her at knife-point.

She doesn't need to be at knife-point for long though because as soon as she finds out a bunch of sentient plant people are being experimented on in there she's ready to help.

With the combined efforts of assassin skills, lab clearance, and hiding in a cart of supplies, the three manage to get in there and actually save a bit more of the secondborn. (Vorpp still escapes though)

Honestly I have no idea how this relationship would progress other than Vlixxa becoming the one maybe okay asura who possibly gets invited to join the plant lesbian polycule?? Maybe??

It would all go to shit so fast though so uhh..

2/10: Gee Floppy how come you (possibly) get TWO plant girlfriends?

[dasozelotvonnebenan]

asura (and asura-adjacent): most likely to accidentally blow something important up and most likely to bite someone

Explosions:

1. Aerana: The signpost example of a dynamics student. If it hasn't exploded five times you're not done tinkering.

2. Jazz: Very Dynamics Alchemist. Only deserves this place if you consider blowing up yourself to be blowing up someone important.

3. Vorpp Jr.: Prone to mishaps and people don't pay attention to him so he ends up in lot of volatile spaces

4. Frigg: You wouldn't believe how many traps this man has set off.

5. Posh: Works with very experimental weapons, but is careful with tests.

6. Kelii: As a medic she usually unsplodes people, but also her idea of a defibrilator is an angry air elemental in a jar

7. Zorgg: He'd have the temper to be inconsiderade around volatile materials but simpy doesn't get the chance to.

8. Gekk: You expect "I plan everything weeks if not months in advance" Gekk to be involved in accidents? Only second to last because he might cause an explosion through one of his more impulsive underlings.

9. Doss: Very Statics Alchemist. If there is an explosion it is guaranteed to be intentional and away from anything important.

---

Biting

1. Zorgg: His best friend is an armored behemoth and a bad influence.

2. Jazz: Guy once transformed into a shark headed Ettin. Did enough biting to last for a lifetime.

3. Frigg: Once you spend enough time bonded with a devourer you just start to nibble on people.

4. Gekk: Loves to fight dirty and hates losing.

5. Doss: Only if cornered.

6. Vorpp Jr., Kelii, Posh: These all prefer to stay out of biting range

7. Aerana: She gets sick from seeing blood. I think tasting it would kill her instantly.

[loacharacterlist]

full text post, in case something breaks again

A doctor on a Pact submarine that sunk. He didn't come back right.

"Old Leaf" Montrose is a Melandru hermit descended from a long line of priesthood nobility. The rare times he's seen in the graces of Divinity's Reach's upper echelons - as he would rather spend his days befriending bears than politicking - he always has an interesting story that he rambles on about for ages. He's also always seen in sandals, for some reason.

Maorlan was originally a happy-go-lucky carnival performer; that is, until the Maguuma Jungle, where he stole the identity of a noble that died in the airship he was on after it crashed in order to hide his sylvari nature. He is now on the run, and very paranoid and erratic, though luckily for him his disguise glamours are honed very well.

Alchemancer Kenstt is an Inquest researcher promoted to a comfy position thanks to his powerful father. Specializing in necrobiology and necrochemistry, Kenstt's main area of expertise is experimenting on live subjects - even collaborating with the infamous Vorpp on sylvari - although he can't exactly comprehend the manmade horrors he conflicts, for whatever reason.

Despite his supervillain antics and compulsive lying, he's more of an annoying dork than a schemer, cracking unfunny dark jokes and going on tangents about technobabble nobody else understands.

Ros Aodhan was from a separate tree deep in the Maguuma Jungle. Although not experiencing the Dream, he heard of other Sylvari in passing and decided to seek them out for himself - along with the rest of the world.

Samael has seem many roles throughout his life: Pact soldier, elementalist, Dreamer. All did not go to plan.

Originally an arrogant elementalist with an uncanny skill in pyromancy, he was captured along with Canach by the Asura, isolated from the others, in a project attempting to understand the power of Primordus and the Destroyer servants under him. The very same firey magic that made him a talented mage turned in on him and scorched him in his core, burning away both his physical form and the powers that fueled his cockiness and identity to an internal, inaccesible molten ember.

In his broken mind he sought to become a knight of sorts, a vanquisher of evil, a protector of the Dream, despite the tortures leaving him off-putting and unable to communicate empathically with the rest of his kind. The disconnect distressed him more and more, and the more he was distressed, the greater his fury. This usually involved fire - he trained himself from scratch to become an engineer specializing in explosives - until he was removed from the Pact for unspecified war crimes in Elona.

He now spends his days scorching Nightmare and taking on whatever "evil" he finds.

Armod is carving out his legend, one kill at a time. He's a sniper for hire, both for legitimate and illegitimate benefactors, but he didn't originally plan on becoming an assassin; as dramatic as it sounds, he simply figured that man was the most dangerous prey. He is a devout follower of Snow Leopard and has tattoos of her surrounding his one unsleeved arm. Polite, efficient, and has a plan to kill everyone he meets.

Jori is a cocky Norn elementalist that just recently left her hearth-fire. She wants to see the world and fight whatever stands in her way of doing so. She is powerfully armed with flame magic, but weak with all other elements.

Her Spirit she favors the most - or, rather, the one that favors her the most - is Raptor.

Hela Smokethunder's obsessiveness has given her an almost godlike view of mechanics. She believes that smoke and metal can best the Spirits of the Wild, and extensively researches Asuran and Charr technology in her wild pursuit.

Twaffi the Rascal is an escaped Inquest infiltration unit crafted for the purpose of murdering politicians that got in the way. Before the project was complete, she escaped, and swam from island to island until she was pulled out of the water by some pirates. She took on a new identity as a scoundrel, one that she tries way too hard with. Y'arr!

'Bald' Cadrin is a gruff old Pact engineer who helped pioneer the first modern airships. An accident took off a good chunk of the left side of her body, which she rebuilt with the help of an asura. She lives only because the machinery she crafted is keeping her that way.

Zamiya Voidslash is a Blood Legion scout.

Vyorag Headbang is a Metal Legion fangirl and the Head warband's official troublemaker. About as sober as she is serious, brass has an eye on her, waiting for one more wrong move. She hears spirits of the lands around her who are always whispering something or another.

Hafstenn (WIP)