~ORIANA TEMPIL, THE WARLOCK OF CANIA~
Over the past few months I've been pulling apart and gluing back together my Warlock, Oriana's story over and over again as I have played BG3 and experienced its aesthetic alongside my good buddy ol pale @mangrove-heelerz, and she is now worlds away that I originally engineered her to be. So this calls for a proper, more hellish introduction with SOME DRAWINGS. Let's dive in!
Oriana Tempil is a High Elf Lore Bard / Fiend Warlock with the Noble background.
She is also the younger sister of Torrin (†) and the older half-sister of Darius, a Mephistopheles Tiefling and a Cleric of Lathander.
All these beautiful shots are by @mangrove-heelerz!
~BACKGROUND~
Known as the one and only daughter of the great Paladin, Belouar Tempil, Oriana is a beautiful, charismatic and intelligent noble socialite that uses her beauty and knowledge of music as well as art to entertain patrons without fail, using this skill to also slither through the endless social circles of Baldur’s Gate to gather useful information and occasionally artefacts without suspicion for her fiend patron.
Oriana was secretly a Warlock to the archdevil Mephistopheles, the powerful lord of Cania who took interest in her years prior due to her ability to manipulate and weave through the crowds of the higher society.
Finding herself on the Nautiloid, kidnapped and incubated alongside her half-brother after a social event gone wrong in which they were both sent away by their parents in a fit of anger, Oriana gets a glimpse of the world outside of a golden palace and is thrown worlds away from her comfort zone, learning along the way how to work in a team of equally unfortunate individuals who soon become allies, or, at least, acquaintances.
~PERSONALITY~
Oriana’s personality is a complex blend of bubbly charm, artistic passion, and profound insecurity. Initially vain, self-centred, and used to being the centre of attention, her worldview is challenged by the realities of her journey.
She struggles between doing what is right and maintaining her carefully curated image.
Beneath a stubborn and hard-headed exterior lies a deep well of insecurity about her own destiny and a fierce, if sometimes poorly expressed, love for her brother Darius.
She is lawful neutral, learning empathy, loyalty, and compromise through shared hardship. Her spirit is melodic, persuasive, and often subtly manipulative, a tool homed in noble courts. She is also naturally flirty and promiscuous.
Oriana is only 25 years old so she can be perceived as being a lot less mature than other elves.
~HISTORY~
The second child of Belouar Tempil and Figelia Grimwald, an Oath of the Crown Paladin and a Dawnmaster, she was raised alongside Darius within the higher society of Baldur’s Gate in a noble household worshipping Lathander, the god of light, rebirth and new beginnings. Her and Wyll Ravengard crossed paths many times, and played together as children, prior history being evident as they both mingled with the social elites.
Oriana and Darius were raised in House Tempil, with a ‘rotating roster of maids and nannies’ which Oriana refers to from time to time.
Oriana prided herself in her wealth, status and beauty and sort to focus her skills on music, art and poetry for social gatherings, serving as the family’s beloved Bard.
Enjoying music and art, Oriana also enjoyed extensive research into Tieflings which evolved into Fiends, having a fond interest of them since her brother’s birth.
Despite her and Darius looking vastly different, she adores him despite his appearance and considers him her best friend and due to Darius’ naturally immense strength and brawn, he was assigned as her somewhat personal bodyguard when needed.
As well as enjoying the latter hobbies, she’d bask in the attention it’d give her from numerous dukes and other noble elites who’d bestow upon her many gifts and trinkets, primarily the promising socialite and high elf duke, Haimdall Horge, one of the most prominent suitors that Oriana would entertain due to his mountains of wealth, charm and charisma. His likeness is also used for her Dream Guardian which is MESSY 👑💅👠
Oriana also had romantic connections to a Tiefling noble, Bethany Tinwhistle, the two briefly reuniting in Act 3 when the latter was aiding refugees in Rivington, though both are on unsavoury terms after Oriana had stolen a Tinwhistle family heirloom per the instruction of her patron.
(Ori and her brother; photographed by @mangrove-heelerz.)
~ENCOUNTERING THE ARCHDEVIL~
Oriana began her extensive research into fiends at a very young age, her thirst for knowledge coming to a head after receiving a mysterious journal gifted to her (unbeknownst to her, delivered by an agent of Cania) on her 16th birthday, laced with gold and titled in infernal, bewitched with arcane secrets.
This book would encourage her to ‘practice’ summoning circles in the dirt of her large estate gardens and complicated spells in her chambers with very little success, until she one day summoned an imp, and tasked it with entertaining her brother on his 14th birthday, which turned catastrophic after the imp in question devoured half of the cake as well as Darius’ favourite dog. Oriana recalls being reprimanded for her careless use of magic and sent to her room for the rest of the celebration but remembers how happy she felt that she finally summoned something successfully.
Her budding infernal talents caught the attention of Mephistopheles himself through an unstable arcane channel to Cania through the journal.
Mephistopheles became drawn to Oriana due to her thirst for knowledge, her interest in her father’s politics, her connections to the elite of Baldur’s Gate, and her potential to persuade a ballroom of patrons as well as her strengthening grip on hellish magic.
Mephistopheles contacted Oriana through the journal one night and offered her immense, infernal power to assist in her father’s political endeavours; in exchange she would aid him in spying on the elite, obtaining magical artefacts, often stolen from the latter, and to keep Cania regulated in hopes of one day overthrowing Asmodeus as well as his own son, Raphael.
For the past decade, Oriana has kept her allegiance to him and has upkept political standing for her family whilst keeping her pact a secret from them, not including her father who was happy to reap the benefits of a Warlock/Bard daughter to guarantee his own success, and, hearing how Ulder Ravengard’s son was exiled, he wanted to protect his daughter from the same fate.
Over the years, Oriana’s priorities have shifted from remaining a Warlock of Cania to earning a place in Cania itself, hoping to replace Mephistophele’s former consort Baalphegor and aid him in his hellish endeavours more closely. But will she go through with it? Maybe this pesky tadpole situation will make her re-think her life path. Or maybe it won't.
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Anyways, I feel I've waffled on for far too long and will leave it here until I can make a proper character sheet, more art and continue more gameplay! I love my girl and I look forward to drawing and playing more of her soon.
