#brydolon

[praise-joko]

Started working on Brydolon's toyhouse first since she's currently leading in the poll. Wrote out a bit of her backstory, just her waking up from the dream.

Brydolon awoke to a void of nothingness, a constant rush of white noise, her only company. Confused and afraid, she waited there, unaware of any passage of time. Eventually, she began to make out patterns in the noise; beats and tempos that swelled and eased. She began to see those patterns in the darkness too, fuzzy shapes darker than the rest, swathes of barely there light that came and went. She reached out to those patterns, dug her hands in, and ripped them apart. Tearing herself from the all-encompassing darkness, she fell into a world of bright light that hurt her eyes.

The shapes before her were blurry and dim, but their voices were clear. One kneeled before her, and set in the blur were the most beautiful eyes she would ever see. Transfixed by their clarity, she took that figure's hand and felt an overwhelming rush of emotion, connection, and belonging. The figure smiled at her, sending a feeling of happiness, concern, and relief washing over her, and with a calm and steady voice, said, "I saw you in my dream. My name is Aimvara; what's yours?"

With a newfound certainty, she replied, "I'm Brydolon."

[praise-joko]

Object for the backpack game :)

Rolled for a random character and got…Basmani!

Basmani carries a well stocked stationary set with him wherever he goes. He has a lot to write whether it be mission reports, notes for his research, or letters to his friends.

One item that stands out from the others is a braille slate and stylus. After Aimvara took Brydolon in, Basmani started to correspond with her as well. Initially, Aimvara would read the letters aloud and add Brydolon’s comments to their replies. After hearing that Brydolon had learned to read Braille, Basmani took to learning it himself in secret from a local in the Crystal Desert so that he could surprise her with a letter just for her. That metal pocket slate might be small but it gets a lot of use. Nowadays, he writes two copies of each letter he sends to them. One penned neatly in ink and the other embossed in braille.

[praise-joko]

Oh yeah, taking evil!Brydolon to soto was the best idea.

Right from the start I got some amazing lore snippets for the both of them.

Brydolon's ability to see through the mists initially didn't sound any alarms. She could not interact with the visions she saw; there was no way to detect this ability.

When Brydolon learned to pass through the mists, pilfer items of interest, and channel the abilities of others she saw, the astral ward started to pay attention to her.

She was mostly harmless and only used her abilities to protect herself and Aimvara, so the astral ward chose not to take action and simply keep a strong watch on her for the time being.

Evil!Brydolon was another matter entirely. They didn't have the finesse that Brydolon had. When they tore through the mists, they left scars in the barrier.

But they were hard to catch. Hopping from world to world to plunder their supplies. They didn't contain themself to the Mist wars, and their actions directly impacted the survival of multiple worlds.

Now, I am still deciding whether the Astral Ward would have bit the bullet and enlisted their help, if they got possessed, or if they just continued on as usual. But I absolutely love all the ideas that soto has helped me come up with. I only made Brydolon's evil counterpart a few weeks before soto.

[praise-joko]

Brydolon

She / Her | Toyhouse | Playlist

Born after Mordremoth's attack on the Pale Tree, Brydolon emerged from her pod disconnected from the Dream and the world around her. It is Aimvara's presence that keeps her grounded in the reality she lives in. With an ability to peer through the mists into other worlds and timelines, Brydolon is often unable to see what is happening in front of her. While it's easy to know when she is looking at a place entirely different from where she stands, sometimes she will be seeing a slightly different version of her surroundings. These differences can make it hard for her to navigate in everyday life. Even so, she has found a way to make this ability work for her, creating rifts into the worlds she sees to channel attacks to enemies and draw their attacks away. If she takes some neat trinkets she sees, well, that's what makes life fun.

[praise-joko]

Power is out so have some Brydolon brainstorming.

Vision:

Is mostly blind to her reality, instead seeing into alternate timelines and other locations in the mists

While most of the time the environment will resemble the one she is in, small differences make it easy for her to stumble

When she sees a completely different location she generally tries to wait it out rather than fumble around

She has a cane to help her when she wants the extra assurance when moving

Senses:

Mostly cut off from the dream, the only Sylvari she has a connection to is Aimvara

She can ‘see’ Aimvara though it’s more like she can sense her magic

Aimvara’s presence helps ground her to reality and helps her differentiate between reality and visions

She eventually hones this sense to detect strong energy/magic signatures such as ley lines and dragon minions

Though she is still blind to regular people (luckily people generally stay out of her way because of her fierce appearance)

Combat:

Doesn’t channel legends like other revenants

Creates rifts to take attacks/objects/abilities from the visions she sees and pulls them into her reality

Also uses rifts to send attacks away

Other:

Was born during the mother tree’s weakened state after the defeat of mordremoth

Doesn’t have qualms about taking important things from other realities (Aimvara has some concerns but it’s been going on for so long that she’s just like, “why bother?”)

Has seen alternate versions of herself in the mists but none with her abilities

Although they can fight, I don’t think Aimvara and Brydolon are very combat focused. Brydolon is more of a bodyguard for Aimvara.

And right as I finish, the power comes back on! Thank you Brydolon.