love like a burning city in the breast

fandom blog. and not a bot just too lazy to decorate. vertigo_cycle on ao3

[inkarun-33]

🩸🔮

[sennedjem]

My original ‘celestial’ Gale cosplay, designed for this year’s Cosplay Met Gala at Katsucon (theme ‘Starlight and Sorcery’).

I wanted to go for a classic wizard feel - swooshy robes, draping sleeves! - and so the actual structures are fairly simple, with the detail coming out via textures and embellishment. I designed it around circles and curves to invoke celestial bodies as well as the Netherese orb, with the straight lines of the constellations providing contrast. As with all my cosplays, I wanted it to feel like clothes, not a costume - each piece able to stand on its own as a full garment; while together they are a story, each layer progressively lighter-weight as distance from the body echoes a journey towards the heavens.

First is the shirt - rich, heavy, almost constricting, bearing the weight of the embroidered orb across the chest. The forearms are bound with silver threads like strands of the Weave, the same thread that I used for the outer constellations.

Next the robe, a loose-woven blend of dark blues and purples, glimmering with metallic threads for a night sky effect. The hem is adorned with silver-trimmed circles representing the ‘endless worlds’ Gale desires to visit. The hood, sleeves, and skirt are lined with a brilliant two-toned fabric that recalls the shifting colours of an aurora.

Shirt and robe are confined by a narrow yet solid belt bearing the symbol of Mystra, meant to represent, quite literally, her ‘boundaries’. Matching pauldrons of leather and aluminium are embossed with constellations (I just really wanted to do more metal embossing, mkay?).

Over it all drapes a sheer, free-flowing mantle in the colours of the Outer Planes, glittering with hundreds of star-like beads and displaying numerous constellations. On the back is a tableau of actual Faerûnic constellations, including Mystra’s Star Circle, while the front features invented constellations meaningful to Gale’s character, such as magic missile, the Crown of Karsus, and a tressym.

I am so, so proud of this project. I can’t begin to say how much Gale means to me, but I love trying to express it through this sort of passionate creation.

[braindos]

She baldur on my gate til I uh

[bonemanprovisionco]

Wyll often falls into a pattern of black and white thinking where the sentient beings of Faerun can be sorted into one of two basic categories: monster (bad) and person (good). Monsters are acceptable to kill and in some cases, their death is morally necessary. People on the other hand, may be flawed but are ultimately valuable beings worth protecting at all costs (at least, at all cost to Very Heroic Wyll). This is a theme bg3 plays with more generally. We see it in the discourse around Astarion (“Can a vampire demonstrate empathy?” “Can a vampire love?”) as well as Minsc (“if minsc can be evil, and Nine Fingers Keene can be good… what then?”). Many more such examples!

Ulder Ravengard thinks in a similar way, and we have to imagine that Wyll learned much of this thought patterning from him. What’s so interesting about Wyll’s story in particular is that he must bear the repercussions of his father’s moral categorizing. When Wyll takes Mizora’s deal, he gets shunted straight into his father’s Bad Category. In Wyll’s own words, “He thought I was a fool or a traitor, and Duke Ravengard suffers neither.” Notice it’s “Duke Ravengard” and not “My Father”, but I can’t explore that rn.

Though Wyll gets redeemed in his father’s eyes depending on the players choices, we fall short of seeing Ulder acknowledge that his way of looking at the world is fundamentally cruel. Instead of fully confronting that the world is complex, Ulder simply shifts Wyll back into the Good Category. Wyll is reframed as Good, and thus worthy of love again. Nothing has really ontologically changed for Ulder Ravengard. Love from Ulder Ravengard was conditional and remains conditional.

What I find compelling and relatable in Wyll is that he wants to be Good. And not only that, he wants the people he loves to think he is Good, too. Though Wyll can read as very confident and generally happy on the surface, there’s an undercurrent that doesn’t get totally probed in the writing: if I am not Good, then what is left?

[piosplayhouse]

are archfey warlocks technically just magical girls?

[raichett]

liking a ship but disliking the distinct set of stock fanon that they have been assigned is like one of those punishments dante came up with when he wrote the worldbuilding for hell in inferno

[cursed-cursed]

[kitthenameless]

Looking through the BG3 dialogue files for endgame stuff and found a few interesting things.

There's a file for each companion that has the description: "This companion has been completely overtaken by the absolute and is showing up in the courtyard as part of the resistance. This is for companions that left the party." And each one just has a line like, "For the Absolute!" Minsc's is, "Array your end-parts before me, evil. The Absolute has given me boots enough for all!" 😄 It seems this was an older idea that got removed.

I'm not sure if this always triggers in a Gale Origin run or requires a specific path (and it's one of those randomized companion responses), but Minthara has a line that says, "Are you afraid, wizard? There is no shame in it when faced with madness such as this." Which is a surprisingly kind thing for her to say to him. (Not that she never shows kindness. She just usually doesn't show it to Gale lol.)

There's A LOT of little, slightly different Gale dialogues when discussing using the orb, depending on how he feels about using it, how he feels about the crown, if he talked to Mystra, if you're partnered with him, and your dialogue choices. It does seem though that, no matter what path he's on, even if he wants to try fighting, he is always willing to use the orb if that it ultimately what it comes to in the fight. One of his lines in particular I liked was:

[splup]

[fancy-strawberry-beard]

Class Swap AU!

This has been in my drafts for a long time lol. Anyways here's the concept:

Something is wrong. Missing. It's an ever-present feeling, but one that can be easily ignored as more important matters take precedence. That is until a memory resurfaces- a voice, speaking loud and clear: "This isn't real. Find each other. Find Tav."

Ok so something something, the timeline has changed and Tav's disappereance has something to do with it. Let's take a better look of this alternate universe's version of our companions:

Cleric!Wyll: Ulder Ravengard chose his son over his city, and made a deal with Mizora: she would take away Wyll's memories and let him live a peaceful life for as long as Ulder followed her commands. He then sent him to a monastery (safest place he could think of), with no knowledge of his origins except for his name.

Paladin!Karlach:

He takes her under his wing and she rapidly forms a friendship with Wyll. When Ulder makes the deal and Wyll loses his memories she follows him to the monastery, but she can never tell him about his past as he is likely to sacrifice himself if he ever finds out that he's being used as an hostage to force the Duke of Baldur's Gate to do Mizora's bidding.

Ranger!ShadowheartJen: saved by a slightly younger Jahera, Jenevelle (now going by Jen) trains to become a harper. She prefers the company of animals over people, as she can never let anybody know her terrible secret: she's a werewolf.

Monk!Lae'zel: After nearly dying during her first battle Lae'zel is nursed back to health by a band of githzerai. Though reluctant at first, she eventually embraces their way of living.

Rogue!Gale: Something went horribly wrong after his ill-fated attempt to impress Mystra, and Gale lost his ability to cast magic. Still plagued by his ravenous hunger for magical objects, Gale must satiate this curse by every means necessary.

Warlock!Astarion: Praying to the gods never helped, so Astarion turned to the devils instead. It was Mizora who answered his prayers. Always better than Cazador... right?

[voyeuristicbeast]

Day 14 of Wyll kisses. Gale was suggested by @herainsorcia and @selunitejeanne , and me.

[rabbitinthefog]

Shadowheart sketches

[starlightweave]

BG3 Dialogue You've Never Heard: "I carry my regrets wherever I go" Rare Gale Dialogue

Various Gale dialogues for rare situations I doubt most of us have encountered

BG3 Dialogue You've Never Heard Masterpost

Visit Original Link

[if Lae'zel killed by Shadowheart in the artifact confrontation] Lae'zel had the makings of a formidable ally. If one prone to acts of impulsive violence...Still, such conflicts will not serve our party well in resolving this little parasite problem of ours. Best we cast from the same spell book from now on.

Visit Original Link

[arriving at Moonrise without disarming the orb] So, this is the seat of the Absolute's power? Every bit as vile as the cultists who flock here, by the looks of it.

Visit Original Link

[entering the oubliette first time via the prison] Fascinating structure. Made of living flesh, or merely a simulacrum? A question for another time - for now, we'd best focus on finding a way out.

"FASCINATING STRUCTURE" FFS WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM (I didn't even know entering this way was possible until i found this! Unfair imo that this doesn't play if you enter the oubliette the other way. Larian stop hiding Gale dialogue from me for no reason 😤)

Visit Original Link

Tav: [if dated Gale, but missed the chance to become partnered] You and I had the beginnings of something before, I think... but we didn't act, and now it's too late, unfortunately... Gale: Worry not. I carry my regrets wherever I go, and am used to their weight. One more will not break my back.

devnote is "heartbroken, but feigning good humor" 😭

Visit Original Link

[if Tav betrayed Shads to Viconia] A pity Shadowheart was the price of it, but the 'Lady of Loss' will take her dues. Our loss is our gain, so to speak.

devnote: "Grim, knows Shadowheart has a miserable life ahead. Last bit is a play on 'their loss is our gain', as the player lost Shadowheart to gain the Shar temple's support." We just betrayed one of our companions to a life of torment and getting her mind wiped and this mf is like TIME TO MAKE A PLAY ON WORDS IN A JOVIAL TONE! What is WRONG with him 😂😭

Visit Original Link

[if the party never met Zevlor, and Orin killed him] A grim sight to behold when you're as bone-weary as we are.

:((( He is the ONLY companion with dialogue for this situation. Which makes me wonder, does Orin even kill Zevlor and dump him in your camp if you've never met him? Or is this dialogue of Gale's actually not rare, but inaccessible?

How is romanced Gale feeling if he's willing to die?

Visit Original Link

[act 2, if Gale is willing to die] Oh, you know. Filled with the bottomless dread that can only come from your own impending and self-inflicted death. Glad to have met you though. At least I'm going out on a high.

"Glad to have met you though" not even an "I love you"!? I know he's depressed but JEEZ

Visit Original Link

[in the mind flayer colony, if Gale is willing to die] Trying not to think about what lies ahead, if I'm being honest. I'd have hoped to spend our final moments together somewhere more romantic, but it seems we won't have much of a say in the matter.

Visit Original Link

[after the mind flayer colony, if Gale is willing to die] Glad to be alive, but mostly frustrated that we came so close to the source of our strife - that brain -and left it intact. Still, each new dawn with you is a blessing I didn't dare to hope for. Selfish as I'm no doubt being - I'm grateful for that.

"each new dawn with you is a blessing I didn't dare to hope for." I need to work this into a fic immediately 🥺

Visit Original Link

[act 3, before meeting Mystra, if Gale is willing to die] Like I missed a golden opportunity. And now I'm going to pay a far higher price for the same prize. When the time comes for the orb to fulfill its purpose, I will think of only one thing. Your face. Nothing else will matter.

How is this dialogue so sad but contains some of his best lines 😭

[anskapaints]

Friday wasn't great, so I did the second Gale as a treat.

✨Astarion / Jaheira / Shadowheart / Wyll ✨

Yapping and progress under the cut.

Gale also got an immediate far-side-of-the-face job once I merged the layers down. Maybe one day I will catch the wonky perspective during drawing.

Gale's story is most important to me because to me it is mostly about the relationship of a man and his beloved craft. If you are passionate about something - no matter if it's painting, music, learning a language and being able to express yourself in it - and you get better at it, it can be bliss and become mentor, muse and friend to you, and quite easily your whole world. You might even feel beloved and blessed by your craft herself. Otoh a phase of stagnation might feel like your craft is a cold, unkind mistress, dangling the secrets you desperately need just out of reach - and you have to do everything in your power to climb to those heights because otherwise, you are nothing but the sum of your failures.

I feel the internet does not make it easier because while it offers inspiration and community, it also forces constant comparisons with all the masters of the past and present on to you - there might even be a handy metric to put numbers to your self esteem. So you can easily feel like you have to proof something. Especially if you pursue your thing with professional ardour, this can send you down a very negative feedback loop and make you hunt down those "three little tricks" instead of just enjoying your slow but frustrating growth.

I guess, what I am trying to say is, that it makes me so happy to have Gale patch up his relationship with magic. So he can enjoy it again in a healthier way in which it doesn't consume his whole being, in which he can share his passion with his students and inspire them to greatness while also encouraging them to enjoy the journey, or in which he does not have to limit his interests but can follow his curiosity to another adventure.

[kendypun]

My sweet Bae'zel, always gonna love you💚💚

Airing out the bitties on bsky

[rippedcolors]

🦇

[featherwurm]

Looks like someone could maybe use a hug...