I love you characters who find themselves at rock bottom and keep digging who believe the ends justify the means who don't care who they hurt as long as they are never hurt again
Vanth fam art dump. With Vanth's arc leading her home my mind has been chewing on her family and how she could interact with them when she sees them again, now that she has fully broken with the court and can come clean about her relation to them.
(Also maybe saving Neva?? Actually meeting her youngest sister for the first time?? Holding said baby sister, named with her original name- the one she buried with her first kill, in her metaphorically bloodstained hands??? Hhhhhh)
A more comprehensive ref of Vanth (feat a more accurate foot design)~
Speculative biology and world-building infodump under the cut:
I like inhuman characters, so I've thought a LOT about where Vanth stands biologically on the scale between your average human and the Sooty owl (Tyto tenebricosa) that she is visually based on.
*note that when I'm speaking of race in this blurb it is in the terms of dnd race- ie Owlin, human, Orc, etc. - not race as a real-world concept.
Owlin per dnd lore are descendants of the Giant owls of the Feywild- and I played close to that when designing Vanth and her family. Her Parliament (village comprised solely of Owlin) is tight knit and exclusionary, preferring to marry and reproduce within the species rather than outside of it. (NOT interbreeding within families mind, just keeping the bloodline pure Owlin). As a result Vanth and her family are direct descendants of their earliest relatives from the Feywilds and biologically have more in common with Owls than your average human.
Owlin in her village hatch from eggs- grown within their mother for a number of months before being laid and continuing to grow until they are ready to hatch. They are born featherless, spend the first year growing in their baby fluff, begin fledging around age six, and have their first set of flight feathers between eight and nine years old.
Because they are egg-born, they have no nipples or bellybuttons, and female Owlin lack humanoid breasts. (Though Owlin in the greater Kalor that have more human in their bloodline might slide closer to human biology and have these features, along with live birth, softer cartilage beaks, and nursing). Because of this and practicality female Owlin tend towards shirtless attire as often as male Owlin in their own village, though they tend to fashion themselves the same as any other race when in diverse company to avoid offending sensibilities.
Like their owl ancestors female Owlin tend to be taller and stronger than their male counterparts, while Male Owlin tend to be better hunters and more agile fliers. It is not unusual for a Parliament to be ran by an older woman (matriarchal), though the roles carried out by either gender are otherwise similar to their human counterparts.
All Owlin regardless of racial purity have four upper limbs, four shoulders, two arms, two wings, and four sets of pectoral muscles. (There is a bit of biological suspension of belief here (rule of cool) as the setup is impractical and impossible to exist in real biology) Because of this they tend to be top heavy, with strong arms and wings and thinner, weaker legs. Owlin also have a large feathered tail to aid in flight, and hand-like feet with four to five toes made for gripping branches.
Vanth's Parliament is largely nocturnal, with traders and merchants skewing towards diurnal to trade with the largely diurnal population of the rest of Istiria. It's not uncommon for the Parliament to be lively in the night- with children playing and villagers going about their nightly business by moonlight. This is not true of all Owlin settlements, and certainly not of Owlin that live in mixed societies who are often forced to adjust to a diurnal schedule (though they do tend to be... night owls....:) ).
In which the party runs into the BEST Swift Shield restoration squad (and, y'know if you want to join they can definitely put in a good word for you), learn more about the tangled web the Soldaran church tied around Lillian, Vanth and Surmaru talk more about what it means to have your future in your own hands, and Victor finally meets Lillian's parents- going down on one knee for Lillian Forradare and giving her his worship and his pact to act as the catalyst for her full ascension to godhood.
In which the remaining party turns the iceberg into a ship with Soup's strange stellar technology while Victor and Surmaru fight to free Lillian, Henry shows back up with a surprising offer and points the party to their lost friend, Lillian is found, frightened, and freed from her befuddlement (in that order), Vanth finds god(?????) in her darkest hour, and Lillian finds not all is lost at the Shire as she takes Victor to meet the family.
A wild Kalmira Appears! Vanth's least favorite teammate still holds an important place in Surmaru's heart, and with his reappearance in Vanth's life it was time to flesh her out a bit more.
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