The Sweet Escape

[catherynne-e]

[catherynne-e]

"Lord Ankunin, do mine eyes deceive me, or do you seek to take me for a dupe?"

"I would never dream of it, Lady Lucres!"

[juliaarnary]

Self-Indulgent Weekend

Anything you want, darling ❤️

I've prepared a lot of screenshots for this weekend and beyond. Romance, image editing experiments, a sleepless night... I just realized I've never actually set up tags for my Tavs. Even though I mostly have one main Tav  — Liv, I do have different versions of her!

✨ Gentle tag for @catherynne-e, @lunafaluna — no pressure at all! And if anyone else wants to join, you're very welcome! ✨

[catherynne-e]

My vampire lady Léa 🫀🫀

[catherynne-e]

OC redesign: vampire lord/lady

My thanks to @juliaarnary for the invitation to participate🫀🫀

[juliaarnary]

"All That Glitters Is Not Gold"

I've started a new fanfic, and I want to try out several new things at once.

Whisper: my new Tav, specifically for Gale. Tavianna Albaris (human, wizard).

She's young and talented, a total bookworm. Gale immediately made an impression on her — intelligent, well-read, he handles magic like an artist, and on top of that, he can explain the most complex magical concepts in such a clear and simple way. He struck her as reliable and worthy companion (especially compared to the other, more shady types around…).

Gale, in turn, was not only happy to have someone to discuss things that no one else seemed to understand, but he also agreed to give her a few magic lessons — to guide her talent, help her gain confidence in her abilities, and show her the beauty in what she could create.

I'm planning to give them the time and attention they deserve. Although, in this new story ("All That Glitters Is Not Gold"), Tavianna and Gale are meant to serve as a reflection of Lynn and Astarion. But more on that in future posts.

[juliaarnary]

I've been wondering about one thing. Eilistraee is a good goddess and an enemy of undeath, right? How would she react if her priestess — or any of her followers — fell in love with a vampire? Yeah, I'm thinking about one specific vampire, in all the various branches of his story. And what if one of Eilistraee's followers got turned into a vampire?

My drow protagonist varies across different stories and ideas: sometimes she doesn't believe in gods at all; sometimes religion just isn't a big part of her life; sometimes she actually follows Eilistraee.

In my dark romance fic, Liv was a priestess of Eilistraee. And... she's a great sinner who chose the sun for her beloved. For her, that would mean renunciation, punishment, silence — and she would accept that. She made that choice. Maybe she believed in the best in him. But to get to that point (fight Cazador) without losing her magic, Liv had to "break up with the vampire." In essence, she tried to deceive her goddess — but she was given a choice and a chance. Still, Eilistraee's light had already stopped being the most beautiful and precious thing in the world to Liv. She had fallen in love with a vampire, but she couldn't take the next step — to fall into darkness with him. But then Ascended Astarion chose for her — and turned Liv into his vampire spawn. Because she had previously "left" him, Astarion acted possessive and awful — he didn't want to watch her "suffer over a goddess." After that, there were fights, misunderstandings, resentment, struggle, escape, and return.

The turning shook Liv awake, finally letting through shame, guilt, and loss. The bitterness of her choice. But she remained caught between two kinds of suffering... until she eventually found a new path and a new role in the arms of Ascended Astarion. She could live without her goddess. But she couldn't truly leave him.

And that's the sinner she is.

[catherynne-e]

WIP Wednesday Thursday

At @juliaarnary's suggestion, I'm sharing what I'm currently working on - a small location: a city library.

Since until recently I'd never done any modding and I practically don't understand English at all, the work is going slowly. O-oh-so-slowly, at the pace of a paralyzed turtle, heh. But every wall I 'build,' every detail I add to the interior, I consider my little victory.

So, what's already there?

The library itself - four walls and a roof.

Shelves full of books.

A quiet little corner for lanceboard lovers.

A «reading room» - a few tables pushed together so people can read and study comfortably.

A spot for the librarian.

What's not there yet:

Decent lighting.

All those little details that bring a space to life and make it feel lived-in.

The technical part: at this stage, it's really just a chunk of the map in Toolkit.

So yeah, I've got my work cut out for me 😅😅

[juliaarnary]

This month I will draw Liv. It's my March challenge. I will work on the images of my Tav (Liv) from different fics.

The priestess of Eilistraee (wip)

[juliaarnary]

Oops, I did it again. Now I have two WIPs with Liv from "A Bird in a Cage": one before turning into a vampire, and new one after.

Time to figure out how to finish both drawings...

[juliaarnary]

"Mine" — and that's the only thing that matters.

Consort and Lord? Just a spawn and his wife?

Or maybe… the vampire mistress and her beautiful servant?

Perhaps the time for an AU has come.

[catherynne-e]

[juliaarnary]

A lot of people here love writing about their headcanons and OCs. Me? I prefer to just post screenshots — reading is hard, lol. XD

I'd rather let the screenshots tell the story on their own, without my commentary. Also true: I'm too lazy to write much more than I already do for my fics.

Recently, I reworked an old piece and made my first mini photoset for it.

What's the fic about?

"Secrets are part of my nature, darling."

By chance, Astarion finds himself miles away from his tormentor and far from Baldur's Gate, stuck with a handful of mismatched misfits. The role of leader feels foreign, even alien: just days ago, he couldn't make a single choice for himself. Now, lives depend on him. But he quickly realizes that this ragtag bunch of idiots might be the key to his complete freedom from Cazador. There's just one problem — they probably won't be thrilled to learn their leader is a vampire. Everything is going relatively well, until Astarion lets a drow named Liv into the group — a follower of Eilistraee. And almost immediately, the battle begins. Over beliefs. Over desires. And over survival itself…

The protagonist and leader of the party is Astarion — doing his best to hide that he's a vampire for as long as possible. This isn't a story about a beautiful, tragic vampire in distress. He's cunning, dangerous, and manipulative. And around him? A bunch of powerful fighters who together could absolutely destroy one nasty true vampire from Baldur's Gate.

Tav steps into the role of a possible companion. Liv is young, principled drow who worships Eilistraee. She's a formidable fighter (Eldritch Knight/Trickster) — but a complete novice when it comes to romance.

So the theme of the photoset is clashing principles and values. Will they find a way to understand each other? Or will their story end in a fight to the death?

[catherynne-e]

[catherynne-e]

Share your plans

Firstly, I want to thank @emberstormrage for the invitation to participate. Thank you ✨✨

Secondly, I invite @juliaarnary, @shkura2011, @noonenever, and everyone who wants to join. ________________________________________________________________

I don't have many plans, nothing grandiose: just go with the flow and occasionally take screenshots from my favorite game. I also haven't lost hope of returning to writing my fanfic about Astarion and Léa... I've also recently set a goal to get to know the Baldur's Gate 3 Toolkit better and try my hand at creating new locations for virtual photography. But so far, all I have is an unfinished public library and a lavender field with a cypress alley.

That's essentially all my plans.

[juliaarnary]

He seems cruel, selfish, and insufferably pleased with himself. But underneath it all, he's relieved that Liv is safe inside his palace  — even if she keeps rebelling.

[juliaarnary]

I've put together visuals for another chapter of my fic "A Bird in a Cage". Spawn Liv has been brought back to the palace from the Underdark. The Ascended Astarion rejoices.

More in the navigation post.

[catherynne-e]