So, I wrote a short fic where in short, Corbeau keeps his family with Harmony a secret for their safety... but it's a really bad open secret cause LOOK AT THEM.
Anyways the kids are Thistle (girl), Thorne (Boy) and Corbin (Baby) and Corbin is a name that's kinda a joke if you ready the fic.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Also HC that Thistle is the one that eagerly takes over the rust syndicate when she's older and rules with an iron fucking fist.
Yall Pokemon ZA has got me by the balls and I think Corbeau is such a fun character to play around with.
Here is a small pic of the whole ass world in my head where him and Harmony aren't exclusive, but should be, but they're both emotionally unavailable and fear vulnerability. Let's throw a pregnancy scare into the mix, forcing them to take off their cool masks and be terrified!
Also I took a NPC and turned them into a lesbian spy I HAVE NO REGRETS SHE STOLE THE SHOW I'M SORRY.
I could post so much more from my little brain if anyone is interested.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/74915296
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Summary: Rolan will take all the pain and suffering of his life and burn it into greatness (or: the Personal History of Rolan, Archmage of Ramazith’s Tower)
Tags: Heavy angst, hurt/comfort, emotional abuse, childhood trauma, eventual romance, eventual happy ending, the first two-thirds of this are just going to be a lot of pain I’m sorry
Rating: M (for future canon-typical violence)
So I’m currently working on an ongoing Rolan longfic project that was basically inspired by one of the things he says if you cast Speak with the Dead on him; he says that going to Baldur’s Gate to be Lorroakan’s apprentice is his destiny, and it made me wonder what sort of life he lived before the events of the game that made him feel that way. I started headcanoning an elaborate backstory for him and this is what popped out of my brain as a result.
The story will basically follow Rolan’s life from birth all the way up until the end of the game; eventually my little gnome Tav will show up and she’ll annoy Rolan to death there’ll be some nice fluff and a happy ending, but I will be putting Rolan through all nine layers of hell up until then because he canonically has a really bad time of things in general (and I love angst I’m sorry Rolan).
The first three chapters are already up on AO3, I’m almost done with chapter 4 and will try my hardest to not give in to the ADHD and post a new chapter each week/every two weeks if I get busy. I know my headcanons might differ a lot from other peoples’ and my writing isn’t that great, but I hope people will enjoy reading this anyway ( >___<;; )
-tieflings are born with horns that curve flush to their little baby skulls. They’re initially smaller and kinda squishy to touch.
-they will grow and harden in the coming months after their birth, roughly taking the shape that they will keep for the rest of their lives.
-tieflings shed their horns just once in their lifetime, usually after they’ve lost all their baby teeth and as an early step in puberty for a young tiefling.
-lots of doting parents will keep their tiefling childs “baby horns” like how some parents will keep baby teeth as a keepsake.
-Omg imagine like, a kid losing one, and the other is kinda wiggly just hanging in there.
-they tie some cord around the loose horn and the other end to a door
-all the dumb cliches humans do for loose teeth. (Oh no it’s so cute)
-the adult horns come in much bigger and harder than the baby horns.
-a tiefling tail can betray a lot about how a tiefling is feeling. Depending on how it whips and curves in a conversation can tell you if a tiefling is happy, scared, or angry. It’s called a “tell-tale-tail”. HAH. GEDDIT?
-canonically tiefling will often wrap their tails around their waists or legs when in crowds or around strangers, to avoid them getting stepped on or tugged.
-Tieflings have blood vessels and nerve endings that extend from their fingertips and into their nails, like a cats.
-Also like cats' nails, they have a “quick”, that if trimmed will bleed and is very painful.
-This is why all tieflings seem to have elongated nails, even if they are in a position or profession that longer nails would be a hindrance. A tieling can file their nails to be more blunt, but a tiefling would never purposefully trim their nails too short and cut the quick.
-I imagine there being a big discourse around trimming a young tieflings nails, (probably done by an ignorant non-tiefling parent, or the care givers at orphanages) as it’s considered inhumane… like declawing cats
-there are brands of inner-race discrimination in tiefling communities. Most prominent being how far back the infernal blood can be traced.
-a teifling line that is generations upon generations old (like, their great great great great great grandmother slept with a cambion for example ) is held in higher esteem than a first generation tiefling, because the “taint” is so far removed, and that family has had generations to establish themselves in the tiefling community and culture.
-a first generation tiefling (like, their mother was a cambion, for example) is looked down upon because the “taint” is much more immediate.
-also canonically, a group of 3 or more tieflings is called a “curse” of tieflings (derogatory)
I am so normal about the fact Rolan grows and levels up parallel to the tadpole party throughout the story, growing stronger and stronger despite the fact he doesn’t have a proper instructor nor any magic focused schooling. (I’m clawing at the walls)
So much is happening to and around him as an Elturel refugee trying to hurry to the city, but he perseveres and remains so dedicated. It's honestly amazing to see him go from bragging about his thunderwave to master of Ramazith’s tower within a relatively short span of time
HE SAVED THOSE ORPHANS WHEN THEIR PALADIN LEFT THEM!!! I WISH I COULD HAVE SEEN THE HEART BREAKING BATTLE.
You know even though he had been studying and practicing for years, he’s probably never used magic in combat before that moment. Probably didn’t even start taking combat magic seriously until they were banished from Elturel.
Just imagine him realizing in the moment that this is *real*, that all that reading and practicing is for nothing if he can’t do something in this moment.
I didn't even LIKE HIM in act 1.
I thought he was a pompous asshole who thought he was better than everyone else AND I WAS RIGHT.
I LAUGH CRINGED through his fireworks show. I was like "omg this guy really been selling he's a powerful wizard and he's over here lighting sparklers?!"
THEN ACT 2 ROLAND HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS.
Learning that he SAVED EVERYONE with those paltry fireworks I laughed at.
That he blamed himself for Cal and Lia being kidnapped.
I was just fooling around exploring when I ran into him getting attacked by the shadows. I had no idea it was a thing.
I think that's the moment he really took hold of me.
I looked it up after and saw that you can use Speak with the Dead on him and find out He's not blood related to Cal and Lia.
AND THAT WAS IT. I WAS SMITTEN. SMITTEN BY THIS TSUNDERE ORPHAN SAVING FAMILY MAN.
please tell me your personal journey to the Rolan Protection Squad.
–Rolan, initially, wasn’t sure what his birthday was.
-The orphanage just had a big birthday celebration for everyone on New Year's day.
-Newly adopted Rolan didn’t want to have a birthday on New Years anymore.
-Cal and Lia offered to share their birthday with him (cause they’re twins)
-BUT ROLAN WANTED HIS OWN BIRTHDAY
-He jumped through hoops and sorted through a ton of documents for the next several months to try to find out what day he was surrendered to the orphanage
-He finally found the intake records from nearly 10 years before
-notes about a newly born tiefling, skin listed as rudy, hair dark, and swaddled in a woman's opulent velvet and fur cloak.
-the intake day was the same day of the year as Lia and Cal’s birthday
-so that’s the story how all three siblings have the same birthday!
-it’s one of cal’s favorite stories to bring up to people
-especially if Rolan is around
-even moreso if he’s tipsy
-because he will insist on commandeering the conversation and finish the story
-and he’s so dramatic with it
-cal and lia just love to watch him and laugh at him retelling this story again
also if anyone wants to incorporate any of this in their own vision of fics, have at it. It's all just fun and I will read every Rolan fic and HC ever.
-After Mom passed, Rolan had to be head of the household. I see him working at a library, but then having to move to more stressful boring jobs for shittier people to make more money. Maybe balancing books for some accountants of something.
-Rolan has a lot of deep set self-hatred from being born a tiefling, and the lack of opportunities resulting from it. (literally from birth since he believes his mother was most likely a noble woman)
-He would try to make some of his tiefling features “less offensive” while he worked at the bottom of the ladder and was probably the only tiefling employed there.
-He could never hide his horns, but he did originally adopt his current hair style in trying to make his ears less obvious.
-He would have his tail wrap around his leg and dress over it. (Canonically this is something tieflings do, especially in crowds, to avoid their tails getting stepped on, but I’d imagine doing this for long stretches of time gets very uncomfortable. Imagine getting a tail-cramp)
-He would file his nails to as short and as rounded as he physically could.
TIEFLING NAILS HC: Tieflings have blood vessels and nerve endings that extend from their fingertips and into their nails, like a cats.
-Also like cats' nails, they have a “quick”, that if trimmed will bleed and is very painful.
-This is why all tieflings seem to have elongated nails, even if they are in a position or profession that longer nails would be a hindrance. A tieling can file their nails to be more blunt, but a tiefling would never purposefully trim their nails too short and cut the quick.
-none of this mattered when Elturel fell into hell. There were no “tolerable tieflings” anymore.
-His time traveling to Baulder’s Gate is actually the first time in a decade he’s grown his nails out and let his tail swing free. It was originally because of convenience and lack of a nail file, but by the end of his journey he had actually become more confident and proud of his race and kin.
-The racism at the gate was rough, but his confidence remained intact when his letter of his apprenticeship got him and his family processed quicker than most.
-It all came crashing down when he finally met Lorroakan and it became painfully obvious the wizard had no idea he had offered an apprenticeship to a tiefling.
-Rolan was dropped off at an orphanage at birth. He was swaddled in nice blankets, and it was assumed his mother was likely a non-tiefling from a noble family, and did not want to be saddled down with a tiefling child. (whether his father was a fellow tiefling, a cambion, or some other brand of fiend is unknown)
-It's often joke that all tieflings are "kin" in the eyes of non-tiefs, and that everyone assumes all tieflings are related... but when a 6 year old Cal and Lia saw a 9 year old Rolan... they really did think that he was kin.
-Cal and Lia grew up with their mom in a tiefling community, but it was mainly mephistopheles tiefs, so when there was another red skinned, black horned, and yellow eyed tief, they instantly gravitated towards him and the next several hours Rolan spent playing with kids that didn't look down on him.
-When Cal and Lia heard their mom calling for them to come home because dinner was ready, they were confused why Rolan wasn't coming along too. They had to drag him.
Rolan: YOUR mom isn't MY MOM.
Lia: How do you know? You said you don't know your mom! Maybe she is!
Rolan: Because MY mom was a noble woman.
Cal: Okay but if Mom ISN'T your mom.... maybe she knows your mom. Mom knows everyone.
-With the whisper of maybe finding his family, and the promise of dinner... Rolan was convinced to come along.
-Cal and Lia's poor mother. Lia had a habit of never meeting a stranger, and Cal had a habit of bringing any wayward strays... but she tried to hide her surprise when her children came home with an orphan...
-Rolan was pretty mature for his age, and was embarrassed when the young woman tried to politely hide her surprise at her children's blithe immaturity and excitement.
Mom: Okay okay, well you can tell me all about this after you've washed up and sat down at the table.
Rolan backs out of the doorway as Cal and Lia run in to wash up. He felt so foolish. His heart ached watching them sprint away from him. He swore to himself to never pass through this neighborhood again while walking back from the library.
Mom: You're not hungry, Rolan? Do you have a curfew?
Rolan: Uhm, Harvark's doesn't care where we are as long as we're there for roll call in the morning.
She recognized the name of the orphanage. Noticed his embarrassment.
Mom: Well, I made far too much stew today so you'd be doing me a favor by helping us eat it. So come in, wash up, and have a seat at the table before it gets cold!
-They sat at the table and for the first time in Rolan's life, he ate dinner with a family.
-The only time he went back to the orphanage was the next morning (before roll call!) when Mom interviewed (aka paid) to adopt him.
Lia: I TOLD YOU Mom was your mom! I was right!
-Sometime after his official adoption, angsty Rolan got into a fight with Lia and screamed that he wasn't really their brother, or a part of this family.
-which made Cal cry (Cal still is the crybaby)
-Mom explained to him that though they aren't blood-related, they *are* a family. That someday there might be a time where family was all the three of them had.
-Mom got sick when Rolan was 16. It was a long sickness that slowly took her life over the course of 2 years.
-On her deathbed, as a final request. She asked that Rolan Look after his brother and sister. Stick together and look out for each other.
-Rolan is thankful Mom passed long before Elturel fell into Averus.
Marcus stopped abruptly in the middle of the grass. A woman in a blue dress was already sitting on the Crisis Bench. He didn’t recognize the dress. She looked up from where she was sitting.
“Sorry,” he said, holding up his hands. “I didn’t think anyone would be over here.” He didn’t think he remembered an introduction to anyone in that dress. It was a memorable sort of a dress. “I believe I ran into your mother inside?” he ventured, because he ran into so many mothers.
“She’s not here,” she said, which was not what he wanted to hear and which he absolutely could not handle at the moment.
“Right,” he said, trying to recover, pretending as if he’d just remembered something. “Your father–”
“We haven’t met,” she interrupted. “I’m not anyone.”
“Oh thank god,” he said, abandoning propriety to collapse onto the bench, dropping his head between his knees. “Thank you.”
“Too many people?” she said sympathetically.
“I’m really bad with faces,” he admitted.
“A lot of people are,” she assured him.
He dragged his hands down his face. “I just confused a Duke with a waiter.”
She bit her lip. “As long as you aren’t rude to waiters, you should be fine,” she said.
“I wasn’t rude,” he said. “I’m never rude. It would have been better if I was rude.” He buried his face in his hands. “I tipped him,” he said, anguished, muffled by his palms. Why had he been dressed like a waiter?
She burst out laughing, loud and with her head tipped back, overwhelming the empty garden. He separated his fingers to stare at her.
“Sorry,” she hiccuped, which immediately descended back into snorts. She laughed like she was hunting for truffles.
“Thanks,” he said, though he almost did feel better. “I’m feeling very supported in my time of need.”
“There’s only one thing you can do,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes, trying to dab at them to not destroy her makeup. Reflexively, he offered her a handkerchief, which she accepted. “You have to flee the country. It’s the only way.” She checked the handkerchief for signs of smeared eyeliner. “Leave your family. Change your name. Get a new family. Never tell them your dark secret.”
“I think my old family might notice if I got a new family,” he said, now resting his chin in his hands, elbows balanced on his knees.
“That’s why you have to burn your house down,” she said matter-of-factly, now holding his handkerchief in a neat fold in her lap. “Just burn the whole thing. Everything but your favorite hat. You leave the hat on top of the ashes for your family to find. ‘This must be him’ they’ll say. ‘He would never have left his favorite hat’. It’s the perfect crime. Once it’s done, you become a pig farmer. Anyone comes around asking questions, you feed them to the pigs.”
“You seem like you’ve put a lot of thought into this,” he observed. “How are your pigs?”
She looked him over sidelong. “Hungry,” she said primly.
tangentwithtanner
gummygunk
prguitarman
blakekathryn
romaincrisis
yousharknotpass
baratheonpilled
theartofmadeline
