Nameless Hshar'lak

bg3 sideblog. Mostly talking about my tav Vre'thal and reblogging stuff. I played act 2 and 3 in a two-day all nighter fugue state and it influenced a lot of my character decisions. I follow as pondmain

[moghedien]

it is so funny when you realize that by drow standards, especially drow noble house and ESPECIALLY Baenre standards, Minthara is the woke liberal

She is willing to work with men in leadership positions even post-mind control and she will actually compliment and admire their tyrannical prowess

She will argue that the refugees in Baldur’s Gate should be enslaved because it’s practical and better for them that way, not because they’re weak lesser races that deserve to be subjugated

Like she probably gets called a libtard at Spider Thanksgiving every year while all her relatives are trying to poison each other

[ravysu]

my piece for Down By The River artbook

[dykestelmane]

yeah this is why you got stuck in charge of things (insult)

[specialagentartemis]

my petty gripe about anachronism in historical/fantasy/spec-fic worlds is attraction language.

We’ve all heard the “should you use modern queer labels or not” argument but honestly even when people go “true, they wouldn’t use the labels ‘aromantic’ or ‘asexual,’” so often the characters describe their experiences as “I never felt romantic attraction” or “I don’t feel attracted to anyone” in ways that makes me go. You are stilllllll thinking about this in an extraordinarily modern online way. That 19th century steampunk detective man will NOT be angsting about having never felt romantic attraction, he would be angsting about being unable to feel moved by the beauty or charm of a woman, or something. And I do think that “attractiveness” language is different from the identity-level idea of experiencing attraction—Sherlock Holmes does not talk about not experiencing attraction, but when Watson says “What a very attractive woman!” Holmes responds “Is she? I did not observe.” (And then Watson calls him an inhuman automaton and calculating-machine and Holmes calls Watson’s judgement biased). Never swayed by the attractiveness of a man or woman, never desirous of marriage, never charmed by the delights of love, all of these feel like some of the variety of ways that someone in this milieu might describe an ace- or aro-spectrum identity more than “never felt attraction” does. Mostly because, like the terms for aromantic and asexual themselves, nailing down an exclusively attraction-based definition of a-spec identities is a relatively new and extremely post-AVEN thing. And yet in fiction everybody knows to articulate their experience as feeling sexual/romantic attraction. And I always want to go nooo how would THIS character think about it?? Not how you think this character SHOULD think about it, how would THIS person in THIS context articulate their feelings?

[wyllravengards]

Painting for @mercymaker ty for letting me borrow Mal to paint her :3

[namelesshsharlak]

It seems likely that a lot of Emperor romancers romanced another character first. After all, the Emperors proposition is in act 3, when most other romances are already progressed and locked in. This makes me wonder how transitioning relationships went for a lot of Tav. Was there a messy breakup? Polyamory? Not telling your other partner? Or perhaps was there no one else at all and the Emperor was the first choice? I hereby open this post to anyone who wants to tell this story about their tav. Please I'm so interested

[wrenanigans]

On my first and ‘canon’ run with my primary Tav, Valoren, he ended up with Astarion first. They got to act 2 before realizing they were using each other. I imagine it went down like two furbies recognizing each other and starting to dance. Which is to say, Valoren broke it off and they became each other’s first real friend instead.

Valoren did not trust the tadpole or dream visitor at all at that point. He used the parasite once, to get Shadowheart out of her pod, and went “nope, gross, yikes, the power isn’t worth it.” The dream visitor had taken the form of his mother (long story longer, she was working with the Knights of the Shield and told the Emperor to use her face and tadpole Valoren specifically).

He knew that the dream guardian was manipulating them to use the tadpole, but what he didn’t understand was why. And until he could figure out their intentions, he was not going to follow along out of sheer stubbornness.

Then the Emperor revealed itself as an illithid. Valoren was from a family of monster hunters. When it came to mind flayers, he was raised to kill first and question later. But instead, he immediately changed his tune and trusted the Emperor, because it wanted the same thing he did: freedom. He took the astral tadpole to become half-illithid, and used an entire game’s worth of tadpoles to unlock all his illithid powers.

Their dynamic was more “consensual mutually assured destruction” and “manipulation 5D chess” than romance. Even with telepathy, they still had to talk everything out; they understood each other, but they didn’t know each other. They were partners in the way that two perfectly matched swords are partners. But they were both very good at pretending it was love.

[namelesshsharlak]

That's so interesting! I love the manipulative undertones of Valoren, that they know how to use people and understand what makes them tick, even if they decide not to. I personally think it's impossible to have anything close to resembling a healthy relationship with the Emperor if you don't have that skill.

I also think the 'perfectly matched swords' dynamic is soooo fun and one of my favorite in fiction. It gives it an angsty twist that they thought they had to pretend it was love. I am also really marveling at how similar Valoren is to my tav Vre'thal. I think if they met it would be like two same poles of a magnet colliding

[doomedlamb]

[namelesshsharlak]

It seems likely that a lot of Emperor romancers romanced another character first. After all, the Emperors proposition is in act 3, when most other romances are already progressed and locked in. This makes me wonder how transitioning relationships went for a lot of Tav. Was there a messy breakup? Polyamory? Not telling your other partner? Or perhaps was there no one else at all and the Emperor was the first choice? I hereby open this post to anyone who wants to tell this story about their tav. Please I'm so interested

[cherryspliced]

Orin the RED

[luna-azzurra]

The thing about a good character flaw is that it has to be the same thing as their greatest strength just turned up too high. the person who loves deeply and therefore controls. the person who sees everything and therefore trusts nothing. the person who is so loyal they lose themselves. there are no clean villains and no clean heroes and once you understand that in fiction you can't unsee it in people. everyone is just their best quality at the wrong volume.

[bonemanprovisionco]

Watching Wyll grapple through the moral ramifications of killing Karach is so narratively satisfying.

When you confront Karlach he expresses doubt, but it’s so easy to convince him to push those doubts aside. You can even reassure him after her death that he did the right thing. He says something to the effect of “I’ve killed many devils, fiends, and ne’erdowells, how should this be any different?” (Heavy paraphrasing, here). It’s only after Mizora confirms Karlach was a tiefling that it really sinks in for him.

In past playthroughs where I’ve spared Karlach, it was easier to believe Wyll when he says he’s only used his warlock powers for good. But watching him struggle with the self-doubt he feels after killing Karlach? Suddenly it recasts all of his previous kills in a new light.

How many others were like Karlach? How many were good people caught in bad circumstances, except they didn’t have a tadpole connection to demonstrate their goodness?

There’s a strong parallel, too, with Resist Durge’s own guilt over Alfira. Resist Durge questions themself: who am I that I would kill an innocent like this? And after killing Karlach, Wyll is forced to ask himself the same question. The visit by Mizora and the visit from the butler add further resonance to the two’s struggles. Both visitors provide their charge’s with boons as rewards for carrying out the will of greater malevolent forces.

I love Karlach to bits, but in many ways her death gives our Very Heroic Wyll a much needed moment of introspection.

[daimiyamoto]

THEO SOLOMON

Baldur's Gate 3 Cast Play D&D Live

[dykestelmane]

Visit Original Link

Stand. Now is not your time. We have much to discuss.

Dialogue for if the Emperor has to res the player after the Orpheus fight. Who the fuck said you're allowed to be dead right now, when you could be talking. Rude.

Also the trigger instructions just because I don't know why it amused me but feels important to include:

[baldursghaik]

cannot iterate enough how much of my first run was the emperor telling thyneron to get his pussy up, get his money up

[baldursghaik]

immediate meme redraw

[tacticalgrandma]

One thing I do just want to note—yes, creators of the source media all too frequently give Black and Brown characters scraps when it comes to content. But we would not have Rolan clocking in more works than Wyll if content quantity mattered most in who fandom engages with. Yes, sometimes creators make missteps when writing Black and Brown characters. But with many white characters fandom will hc around dips in writing quality, or meta about how it’s actually brilliant.

I have seen a lot of different fandoms. The medium and the creative team for the source material has varied widely. The way fandom dismisses Black and Brown characters as boring, or pillories them for the smallest slights, and then huffs about how terrible it is that their property would treat their characters of color this way—that has remained constant regardless of the character’s personality, significance, depth. Especially given how engaged properties are with their fans, I don’t think you can or should discuss erasure of Black and Brown characters without holding fandom accountable for creating racist communities, all off its own steam.

[ikarons]

ok wait. ask. horrific fandom controversies surrounding your oc as a canon romanceable companion?

[namelesshsharlak]

It's genuinely so difficult for me to see Vre'thal as a romanceable video game character because a good chunk of her character is about not fitting in with allonormative relationships. Meanwhile most romanceable video game companions are player-sexual, and will just date the pc if they do enough things they like. (In a similar vein, Vre'thal does try to fulfill this kind of trope for Karlach and it ends up not working out for either of them).

But if she was relegated to a romance role? Godddd she's literally the stereotype of the cold robotic aroace. She'll do romance bc she wants the people she likes to be happy and she will tell you this. The Mission comes first and she will betray the player in order to complete it. She'll advocate for dubiously ethical trolley problem solutions and people will say this has to do with her not being allo. Gets the stamp of awful ace rep. Will leave the player if they want to settle down at the end of the game. Is chill with polyamory and people will say this means she doesn't love her partner. But genuinely I do see her being stifled and unhappy with most player characters so she would have to have her edges sanded off to ever become available as a romance route.