viva-la-vendetta

[viva-la-vendetta]

《— Playlist —》

Playlist I made for this AU. More will be added of course as I find more songs that fit it.

[viva-la-vendetta]

《— Quoth the Raven #1 —》

General blog commentary is that I updated the desktop theme and moved things around in my posts, created a new one just for tags, &c.

In regards to actual AU content, I’m super excited to start working on this project because it’s been sitting here for a while. I don’t want to go too off the rails into ridiculous AU territory. I want to keep moderately close to canon to keep it realistic within the rules of the game and universe. Considering the Multiverse, there’s an infinite amount of variations, each slightly different from each other, that exist. My AU is just a fan interpretation of one of these alternate universes.

I still don’t have a succinct name for this AU, viva la vendetta perhaps may be one, but even that feels too long for me. While I was in the middle of thinking about all of this, Viva Las Vengeance by Panic! got released and I had already been well into my Percy / Critical Role brainrot after watching TLOVM and starting campaign one (I am about 60 episodes into campaign two as of this post as well).

Between finding songs that fit the characters and listening to the song on loop, I was like “huh, this might prove something interesting”. Another song I was listening to that I see as a “Percy Song” (at least for my AU version) was / is Bang Bang by Green Day.

The line of lyrics that really stood out to me was “Oh baby, baby, this is viva vendetta”. However, “viva vendetta” is an incorrect phrasing of the Italian phrase “Long live Revenge”. I adjusted to the correct phrasing (“viva la vendetta”) and ran with it. So yeah, blog URL is technically inspired by a Green Day song.

In regards to characterization, I noted something when I was researching information. It’s assumed the Briarwoods took over Whitestone around 805 PD (to make things easier for this AU, I am saying sometime in 805 PD exactly). Canonically, Percy is in his early to mid 20s by 811 PD. Vox Machina liberated Whitestone from the Briarwoods a year prior in 810 PD.

Here’s where my interest came from as I had assumed Percy to be in his early to mid teens at best during the events of the Briarwood take over (I’m aware there are likely people who knew he was not, but I had not looked into the specifics prior as it was not needed information).

Campaign wise, if Percy was in his mid 20s (24 - 26) during 811 PD, then in 805 PD he would’ve been anywhere from 18 - 20. If he was in his early 20s (20 - 23) then he would have been 14 - 17. Since for me, and this AU, I have Percy being 26, using 811 PD as a point (per canon), he is 20 at the time of the Brairwoods take over.

So, here’s the current brief timeline (a future post will be made to expand on this in more detail).

785 PD — Percy is born.

789 PD — Cassandra is born.

799 PD — Professor Anders begins tutoring Percy in topics outside of the typical curriculum and subsequently begins to feed into, and sow, discontent within the young Lord ; Percy is 14 ; Cassandra is 10.

803 PD — Anders suggests to Percy that the Briarwoods come to visit Whitestone under the guise of tutelage ; Percy is 18 ; Cassandra is 14.

805 PD — Briarwood take over ; Percy is 20 ; Cassandra is 16.

810 PD — Liberation of Whitestone from the Briarwoods ; Percy is 25 ; Cassandra is 21.

811 PD — Point in the timeline that things are based on ; Ending events of the Chroma Crisis ; Percy is 26.

[viva-la-vendetta]

《— On Percy’s Childhood —》

Percy’s childhood was not happy despite his noble upbringing and the appearances put on. The family was happy enough, but the fact of the matter was, as the third oldest of seven children only so much was expected of him.

As a child Percy was bright, intelligent, and always seeking more ways to learn of the world around him. There were no pressing knowledge or court etiquette for him to learn aside from the basics expected. The learning of the duties of the Court and ruling were left to Percy’s older brother and sister, Julius and Vesper.

A young lord free of responsibility and pursuit with free reign to indulge in his interests at first seems to be ideal. Aside from his basic duties as a member of the First House of Whitestone, Percy had much free time to indulge in his various projects. Always tinkering and building plans to improve the city and assist it’s people. Unfortunately, many only saw such as flights of fancy and hardly practical.

Perhaps what hurt young Percy the most was the disregard and rejection from his parents. Lord and Lady de Rolo certainly tried to provide equal attention to all their children but it was hard for them to connect with their second oldest son. They tried to understand, and certainly Frederick tried to apply some of his son’s ideas (though brilliant, Percy’s ideas tended to lean on the side of near impossible for many). However, and the years past and the children grew up, more and more of his parents attention focused on the two eldest, set on inheriting the titles as future heads of the family.

The younger de Rolo’s seems oblivious to it, content on being free from any serious obligations. Percy, however, increasingly found his parents disregard, whether intentional or not, frustrating. As he grew, so did his ideas, each one more outlandish. Perhaps at some point he stopped going with practical and possible and simply went for the most bizarre in effort to gain the attention he so desperately desired.

Having quickly become the black sheep of the family, the only one who genuinely cared about his projects was his youngest sister and family member, Cassandra. The girl, just as bright as her brother, would spend hours listening with rapt attention to her brother as he explained his ideas. The two formed a close bond while Percy increasingly became estranged from the rest of his family. Dinners were tense and the discontent shimmered and grew under the surface.

Sensing the waste of a great mind, the tutor of the de Rolo children ended up pulling Percy aside. Professor Byron Anders was by no means an attractive man, but where he lacked in appearance he more than made up for in intellect. The man took Percy under his wing, encouraging his projects and to never give up hope that one day his parents, and the rest of the world, would see the true brilliance of Percy.

The man heaped praise onto the boy, teaching him things he thought were equal to his intellect rather than what was assigned for him to teach. Professor Anders quickly became someone who Percy could turn to with any problem he was having. Whether it be struggling with a current project or just ranting about the neglect and uncaring attitude of his most of his family.

Sensing the resentment Percy was feeling, the tutor of the de Rolo children pulled him aside. He’d always had plans for the boy, had his workings in the shadows. Percy was not the only intellectual person whom Lord and Lady de Rolo wrote off (again, either intentionally or not), and Professor Anders saw his Chance with sinking his claws into an young and hurting child.

He fed Percy’s resentment, nurtured it and encouraged it to fester. Spoke words of encouragement and praise the bolstered Percy’s confidence in himself. Twisted and warped that confidence into a sense of superiority and arrogance. He was the smartest of the de Rolo children, after all, at least according to Anders, and the man was the only adult Percy had come to trust. His parents didn’t understand him, and if they didn’t, then who would? Certainly only Anders and others of high intellect.

Seeking to gain a hold of the city, or perhaps merely further recognition, Byron Anders told Percy of some friends he had across the Lucidian Ocean; the former Archmage of Antiquity of the Cerberus Assembly and her husband. Anders did not leave out the information that Delilah Briarwood had been ousted, in fact he spun the tale that it had been an unfair and politically driven sabotage. Anders promised Percy that Delilah and her husband Silas would teach the boy everything they knew, as while the general magics and knowledge of the world was beneficial, learning specifics was far greater.

None the wiser to the sinister plans Anders had, Percy readily agreed to meeting the Briarwoods, curious about furthering his knowledge to things outside of Tal'Dorei. Little did he know that by inviting them into his home he would spell certain doom for the de Rolo’s and set in motion a series of events that would rewrite history…

|← The Briarwoods →

[viva-la-vendetta]

《— Blog Tags —》

『 AU / In Universe Tags 』

#《— Champion of Ravens —》 : General tag for AU related content.

#《— Fledgling Posts —》 : AU content in regards to Percy’s childhood and younger years.

『 Admin / Out of Universe Tags 』

#《— The Duskmaven —》 : General tag for non-AU related content.

#《— Archive Commentary —》 : Admin posts making comments / observations on content posted. Any misgivings, general thoughts, or details of the AU building process are shared.

More Tags TBA.

[viva-la-vendetta]

《— AU CHARACTER PROFILE —》

Name: Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III

Nicknames: Percy, No Mercy Percy

Titles: Champion of Ravens

Age: Twenty Six (26)

Pronouns: He/Him

Moral Alignment: Neutral Evil

Class(es): Fighter (Gunslinger), Paladin (Oath of Vengeance*)

Deity: The Raven Queen

Allegiances: HIMSELF, The Raven Queen, Orthax (formerly), Vox Machina (frequently dubious)

Enemies: Anyone who gets in his way of Vengeance, The Briarwoods, his own family, Vox Machina (on and off)

* Toying with the idea of him being an Oathbreaker, or at least toeing the line.

[viva-la-vendetta]

《— Viva la Vendetta —》

꒰ 𓄿 ꒱ ⇢ ˗ˏˋ edward / percival | They/Who | 18+ ˎˊ˗

─ 彡 Champion of Ravens!Percival de Rolo AU Blog.

A place where I keep everything pertaining to this AU. Potentially open to minor Role Play in the future, Ask Box always open for inquiries and discussion.

Important Posts:

TAGS | CHARACTER PROFILE | TIMELINE

PLAYLIST

Additional AU Content:

Viva la Vendetta — Ao3 Collection of AU associated works written by me. Dubiously canon to the AU because author cannot make up their mind yet.

Disclaimer: This is a fan interpretation of the character Percival de Rolo, and the universe of Exandria. While all non-canon ideas are my own, everything that IS canon, including the characters, settings, and everything else mentioned belongs to Taliesin Jaffe, Matthew Mercer, and the rest of Critical Role.

MORE INFORMATION IS ADDED AS AU IS EXPANDED UPON.

I have a lot of content and ideas for this AU that are not written down yet. This post will be updated periodically as relevant information comes up. Additional information such as history and miscellaneous information will be in future posts.

[viva-la-vendetta]

I think I finally have a use for this side blog now. Everything associated with this AU is now going to be on this side blog.

Art of my Champion of Ravens!Percy AU because I can’t get enough of the idea.

Originally posted on my Twitter account.

Do not repost to other sites. Reblogs allowed.