“and thus, a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens. with it, bore a child of dawn; the morninglord's gift and chosen.”
ㅡ by ilyanated.
🪻: yoohooㅡ hello, tumblr ! i'm not really sure how first posts work, but for my first post i've decided to share my pride 'n joy; my tav (and dnd oc), ilya.
i would like to point out that ilya is still under development, with her character design and overall d&d 5e and bg3 stats the only thing that are actually concrete or finalised (only reason why i am saying this is because i'm somewhat overthinking her character is still messy, in a sense). anywho, enough of the pillow talk — i'll leave you to it! 🌻
character details // stats & other notable traits
🪻: credits to @tepkunset for the character sheet template!
lore // oc backstory
“After fleeing ███ █████████ ██████ in the name of Lady Firehair and meeting the love of her life, Elysie Karuvam and her husband, Lars Thaleward, were blessed with a healthy baby girl. Though to the couple's surprise, most especially Lars’s, their newborn looked different.
Sure, the lass was dusted with freckles similar to her father's, alongside his nose and housed her mother’s complexion and eye shape but this child didn't house any draconic traitsㅡthe same ones that Lars has.
Not only that, this child was born with a head of curls whose colours are reminiscent of a sun's kiss at daylightㅡmuch lighter than her mother's, with eyes as bright as the sun's light, and a chest cavity marked by a golden concave star that serves as her birthmark.
There is no doubt about it; Ilya was born a divine soul, blessed by Lathander himself, and was given to Lars and Elysie as a gift. Their choice to overcome their respective pasts and grow into the person they choose to be has blessed them with a light so bright and a piece to complete their tiny family puzzle.
The three lived a merry-filled life at the Lower City, with the two showering Ilya with love and care, ultimately shaping her whole person.
under the cut // additional lore
Unfortunately, these moments did not last for long. At the age of 6, Ilya was taken from the hands of her loving parents and was held in captivity for 24 years.
Ilya was subjected to painful torment, with her divinity and magic abused and used under the excuse of purging the taint out of her. The torment served and played like a broken record, leading Ilya to believe that her existence is nothing more than a curseㅡa blightㅡslowly diminishing her worth in her eyes.
That is, until the Morninglord called.
Through dreams of dawn and his voice guiding her and promising better days, Ilya refound her purpose and strength, ultimately deciding she’s had enough of the hurt and planned her eventual escape and soon, her return home to Baldur’s Gate.
She escaped and wandered without direction, surviving on forest forage and scraps left by travelers. With no supplies beyond her journal, old rags, and tinctures, she struggled until the Nautiloid abducted her.
🪻: “the redacted information is meant to leave space for ambiguity and flexibility for d&d campaigns.”
author's note // fun facts??
🪻: ilya is actually my first d&d oc (if we're not counting self-insert versions, aka the “what i'd be like if i was in d&d” characters).
to pretty much summarise ilya's character, her character concept is based on both the art of kintsugi and the eclipse. mixing in lathander's beliefs and values as inspiration for her story (take a shot everytime he gets mentioned), these two visual concept ideas, a bit of aurora, and florence welch; ilya was conceived.
🪻: not only that, she is heavily inspired by my favourite fictional girlies: rapunzel, aerith gainsborough, tifa lockhart, lunafreya nox fleuret jill warrick, and rinoa heartilly.
🪻: her story went through a whole lot of rework. originally, ilya's story was very on-the-nose with the whole eclipse thingㅡwith her soul being involved with one of the dead three deities. she even had her own character arc paths, similar to how the origin characters in baldur's gate were written depending on the player's choices. i scrapped it, however, since it felt too complex for both actual tabletop use and my fear of her becoming a li'l too much (it's the “mary sue” fear).
the reason why she has such a hefty story was that, at first, i envisioned her as a “what if she was an origin character part of baldur's gate 3” before ultimately deciding to turn her into my tav and oc. being a massive lore whore and character creation slut, i didn't have the heart to delete any of these notes so, i went on with it.
🪻: in terms of headcanons or additional details that weren't clarified during the first few paragraphs or areas, whenever she casts higher-level spells, her body begins to “crack,” revealing glowing scars reminiscent of kintsugi fractures in porcelain.
however, these cracks are temporary. This imagery symbolizes how the weave or the celestial power she’s housing is too much for her.
🪻: her cracks also change, depending and corresponding to the type of magic she is using:
Charm: Pink
Necrotic: Green
Lathander/Light: Gold
Thunder: Purple
Lightning: Deep Blue
Ice: Light Blue
Fire: Orange or Red
🪻: basically, she's pretty much a human, celestial nightlight.
🪻: anywho, i won't keep anyone for long! i shall end the author's note and post here. thank you so much for taking the time in reading this hefty post. feel free to share your thoughts and criticisms on ilya! honestly, i don't mind a bit of feedback, just to ensure my li'l bundle of joy isn't becoming or is considered a mary sue.
also, if anyone's interestedㅡhere is ilya's playlist! most of the songs chosen represent her archetype, personality, and well, what i think suits her overall! the arrangement of songs in this playlist are also intentional (with the intent to introduce you to her layer-by-layer).
🪻: p.s ! i will update this post shortly to include the mods i used in baldur's gate, if anyone is interested in using them (i'm kinda unsure which ones i used so, hehe. i'll be double-checking them all to be sure).
origamiaround
baratheonpilled
ellievsbear
gummygunk
prguitarman
turnnoffyourmind
pixelskylines
