Hi, I’m Sandpiper! I’m new to the Tumblr party and excited to see both new and familiar faces.
You can also find me on Bluesky.
I’ve been playing video games for most of my life and two years ago I picked up Baldur’s Gate 3, with no intention to romance that vampire I was seeing everywhere. Astarion managed to get his fangs in me anyway and his character and story moved me in a way I never could have expected. His spawn ending in particular is very special to me. This blog is going to be my little space to appreciate this amazing character.
Art
Astarion got me back into drawing for the first time in a few years. I especially enjoy drawing portraits, but have been branching out and experimenting with different styles. Here is a collage of some of my Astarion works from the past year (I actually gave this to Neil at Comic Con in November).
I'll be sharing both old and upcoming works here. I’m still learning and growing when it comes to art, but I plan to keep Astarion in my drawing rotation for the foreseeable future. I hope you’ll join me on that journey!
I also enjoy attempting to take artistic screenshots in the game. I am a mere console peasant with no access to freecam, but I have fun experimenting with photo mode.
I have two Tavs and one Durge that may also appear here from time to time.
I also love engaging in discussion and analysis of Astarion and the other BG3 characters, and will share some of my ramblings here. Topics I've been known to dive into range from long analyses on how Astarion's "family" dynamics mirror narcissistic abuse to what kind of moth each BG3 companion would be.
Thank you @litsenn for the tag! I had a lot of fun with this one and dug out my trusty Mythical Creatures of Maine book for inspiration.
Arrovan the Merman
Living near the coast, one of my first thoughts was of mermaids. I've often paired my OG Tav Emmeryn with mermaids, but when reading up on legends in my area, most of them featured mermen, with a recurring feature of long, dark hair. With that information, I decided to go a different route and give my male Tav, Arrovan, a merman makeover.
I am limited on mods on console (tragically I have no access to mermaid tail mods), so trying to get decent shots was a challenge.
In the background, the wreckage of the Nautiloid serves as a reference to sea serpent legends that we also have in the area.
In New England legends, mermaids and mermen inhabit both the ocean and the rivers. They are often portrayed as malevolent, but will not always attack humans. In one story I read, a group of sailors saw a man sitting on a rock in the ocean. They believed him to be stranded and called out to see if he needed help. He dove into the water in response, revealing his fishlike tail. In another story, a group came across an abandoned camp of river mermen, but later met some of their members who introduced them to their king.
One final story ended a bit sadly. A fisherman was out in a bay that I've been in frequently when a merman swam up and grabbed on to his boat. The fisherman promptly chopped off his hands, leaving him to bleed out in the water. I've decided to change the ending of that story to the merman surviving and gaining control of the boat, which fits my Arrovan's roguish nature.
Acadia of the Little People
There are many legends of the Little People in New England. These people are often described as playful and can bring good fortune to people if they like them, or misfortune if you have offended them. They enjoy playing pranks and have a deep connection to animals and small creatures. They may even transform into animals, often favoring the form of a white cat (this becomes relevant below). Their clothing is brightly-colored and fantastic.
As a druid/ranger, Acadia already has a deep connection to animals, including her own personal bee swarm. Her Faerunian version is currently troubled with resisting her dark urges, but as one of the Little People, she could learn to channel those urges towards those who deserve it. Playing harmless pranks could be another good outlet.
Although the Little People are not often seen by humans, they can sometimes be heard at night, dancing, laughing, singing and jingling bells.
Bonus: The Celofay
While reading my book, one creature stood out to me: the Celofay. This creature is described as a huge wildcat who circles and disorients its prey with a terrifying yowl and the ability to throw its voice, making it seem like it is far away when it is right behind you. The creature is described as blue or black and having multiple tails, which immediately made me think of my darling Nessa! So as a final picture, here is Acadia in her white cat form with her Celofay friend.
Now it's my turn to tag (apologies for any double tagging): @oonalovesastarionssimpleplan, @faircatch2025, @his-morning-star, @what-is-it-to-be-pk-esque, @elandra-beltharys, @midnight-musings-of-nyx, @wildbloodwolf - I would love to see what you do with your OCs!
If you see this and want to participate, consider yourself tagged as well! (And please let me know if you would prefer not to be tagged in these type of posts.)
Slowly chipping away at this portrait. 16 hours in and he doesn't even have hair yet, but we'll get there eventually (maybe). I've reshaped his nose more times than I can count and still not sure if it's right, but I'm pretty excited about how his eyes are looking!
Thank you for the tags @thesanguinesonnet @kt-catt @deianestormborn!
I have talk about what a failure Cazador is after killing Gortash again and reading every note in his office
Cazador isn't mentioned at ALL. The tyrant of the City didn't bother to send an invitation or put Cazador on any list of notable nobles. Heck. Lady Jannath made several lists, but not Cazador.
Nobody in the Gate gives a shit about Cazador. And that's beautiful.
Cazador was truly stuck in his pathetic excuse of a castle, torturing people, believing that he was much bigger than he actually was, believing that he was this powerful god who could become even MORE powerful. In truth, he was just a scared pathetic little man who never amounted to anything (sound familiar?). And not a single noble/person in power in the Gate actually cared about him or his power lol.
I repeat, Lady Jannath canonically is more powerful and influential in the city than Cazador. That's actually amazing.
Ever since I heard that Astarion can call himself an “angel of vengeance” to Cazador in his origin, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of Angelstarion. Though he certainly has fallen angel vibes, I also love the idea of post-Cazador Astarion as an angel of vengeance, putting abusers and monsters where they belong.
I was tagged by the lovely @optimisticgrey and @rdekarios... Who have both been quite kind and supportive and are extremely talented and awesome.
This is long... sorry...
I am gonna be honest, when photomode came out, I wasn't that interested - I was still pretty early in playing BG3 and the novelty wasn't anything I thought about doing. I joined a lovely group of BG3 fans and they were talking about their Tavs/Durges and I brought up my Durge, (named Aerelana at the time) that I gave the darkest skin and black long hair as an opposite of Astarion, who she was romancing...
Then I tried to use photomode to 'pose' people... which was an interesting experience...
I barely had any mods except the Darker Black Hair mod, some hair mods and a face mod - but those were for gameplay experience, not vp.
Early Attempts?
Here is my Durge Aunrae (Aerelana) with Ascended Astarion, my drow Tav with Spawn Astarion and my first playthrough character Risvani (early version) with Halsin - the Risvani Halsin one is what I call my "1990 prom pic". These were my first real attempt at 'posing' using the base photomode pose options and expressions.
And that was it for my VP for a while? Like I said, I was more interested in playing than photos... I did take some screenshots from time to time, but not much... whatever caught my eye.
These are from my Tactician run with my Tiefling, Zephyra, who romanced Karlach. The second one makes me laugh cause Astarion looks like a singer with his backup dancers.
The community I was involved in posted amazing shots and I started to think about maybe doing some of my own. I saw the mods with lights and Otis cam and it all felt a bit overwhelming to be honest.
First Tries
The first mod that I downloaded with intention was QSAT (I'm extremely paranoid about my computer not running anymore cause of downloading these mods, so I was nervous about this, but everything was fine). I downloaded BG3MM because of this, along with MCM... But, now I was able to use some poses... It was an interesting experience... and this was my first attempt to really... TRY to do a photo.
Lighty Lights enters the fight
Then... Lighty Lights! (pre Bonezone). It... didn't work that well for me my first time because I didn't know what I was doing, so I had to use photoshop to get the lighting I wanted.
(first photo is just the shot and second is the edited shot - blocked out so tumblr doesn't get mad at me.)
I started to get a bit braver about what I was doing and got EasyCheat and other mods (no locations yet) and tried to just... have fun with the expressions and poses...
Guess I'm really doing this?
At the end of 2025, I decided on a "New Year's Eve" vp shoot... I watched some real life photography videos about lighting to help learn what I could do. Then I tried a location: Serafina and Gale's Elysian Summer Home by axianna on Nexus.
(I also did not know about toggling light markers... so one of them got in my last shot... That.. was fun to see after everything was said and done
From that point, I started to get a bit braver...
I was feeling a little more confident about my pics. I was overwhelmed by all the ideas I had and wanted to do... and I enjoyed taking poses and changing their intentions a little.
Bonezone on LightyLights let me feel like I had so much more control over what was happening - to get more of what I wanted the figures to look like and their positions... (Please don't stop making poses cause I need a starting point for ANYTHING!!! Modders are absolutely amazing and awesome!)
Yup, I'm doing this...
As a former illustrator, I tried to tell 'short stories' with the pictures...
I attempted to set scenes with lighting and costuming and location...
Getting emotion and meaning... continuing to just become familiar with using poses, expressions, lighting... It was still stressful a lot of times...
For some reason I think everyone is faster than me at doing this - that's probably not true... right?
Latest Thing...
The latest thing I was doing was figures in shadow in minimal light as experimentation.
I'm pretty happy with my growth from when I started. But I still consider myself new to VP - there is so much great stuff out there and so many talented people...
I tend to feel like I'm behind everyone else and when things don't work, I get frustrated with myself because it seems EVERYONE ELSE is using these things and getting great shots, so it has to be me that's screwing up... but, I have to remember that I'm only seeing the end result of their struggles...
I still have to try out Otis Freecam... It's installed and has been waiting for a month for me to get brave enough to use it. I've just started trying out Move Here... and now there's Realms Builder... oof... always a new mod to try out... I'm VERY grateful to the support I've gotten from people in the community.
I have to give a special shoutout to @starlit-serpent who was one of the first people to encourage me and give me advice as I began this little VP journey of mine... She is awesome and you should go check out her amazing artwork and VP!
So much to learn still and so grateful to all the modders who create all the amazing mods for clothes, characters, poses, vfx, locations etc...
I usually don't tag anyone cause I feel like I'm bothering people...
Thank you @missfortunetherogue @wild-surge @cinder-rellish181 @elceewunjo and @archduchessgortash for the tags 💛
No pressure tag: @theya-art @unovafarm @quinthebard @bloodless-sandpiper @riddlerosehearts @mogruith @the-starflower @izumiphoenix @michanvalentine @wasteful-sam @starlit-serpent @spillingteanotpermitted @lilhumanoid @echoechowhiskey
Ellith as a Lamia (cw: snakes, cannibalism and sex)
The legend of the Lamiae is based on the Greek myth of Lamia: a woman seduced by Zeus and punished by Hera who took her children – Lamia became insane with grief and started to devour other people’s children. She was then turned into a horrible creature.
The lamiae are described as some sort of nightly creatures with a tremendous sexual drive, and who feed on the men they seduce (as you can see, they’re also connected to succubi and therefore, to Lilith). Unsurprisingly, lamiae are often described with reptile characteristics.
There are several versions of the folklore, which evolved through the years and civilisations, but we can pin-point at least two recurring elements:
A lamia is a ‘child-devourer”
A lamia is a cannibalistic seductress
Which, obviously, is perfectly fitting for Ellith (even more if you read my little thing about Ishtar/Inanna)
Always hissing.
An ethereal, whistling but nonetheless enchanting voice haunting the marshes.
She sneaks through the bushes and ferns, always haunting the dreams of those who dare think about the darkest side of ecstasy.
The swaying of her hips follows the rhythm of her breath, each step a call for death, each heartbeat a call for a feast.
Crimson curls cascading down a soft but thick skin, half hiding the scales on her backside.
Pray not for the poor souls who harkened her call and never came back from this catabasis. Her poison tongue delivered the sinners to the hells they were seeking. Lost in the lustful liquor of her intoxicating kiss, entangled in the vines of her toxic limbs, drunk on the smell of her venomous sex. They reached for the darkest side of love and shall never return.
Her fangs will tear at their flesh, forever feasting on their blood on the altar of her own lust.
There shall be no salvation.
Their sexes she shall keep to satisfy her wretched needs, her hunger and savage tongue. Their seeds she shall save, to mix with her wine and to infuse her foul potions.
Hush, children! Keep quiet or else she shall find you.
And if her lullabies catch your ears, run. Do not follow the honeyed voice of the snake. If she appears in your dreams, do not play with her. Do not laugh with her, or else your innocent soul shall be hers.
If she finds you, wake up.
If she hears you laugh, scream.
Do not walk the night without a prayer.
The Lamia is waiting for your loss, waiting for you to answer her sickly sweet calling.
She does not forbid. She does not forget.
She's famished for your flesh, your blood and soul. And she hunts. Always hissing. Always swaying.
VP for A Whole New Life, my upcoming modern AU - and somehow, managing to encapsulate their angsty exes-to-lovers arc in one set, by the bestest, most adorable, @yennefer-of-vengerbergs
