Finally decided to draw a variant Slayer form for Chiev since he has access to that in canon… very happy with how it came out, but I don’t think I’m drawing this design again any time soon, just because of how much work all the spikes were. That’s why the ‘standing up’ picture on the size chart is just the base Slayer lmao.
Written (very late) as part of Durgetash week 2025, a little fic featuring Chiev! I'm really happy with how it turned out, so I hope other people like it!
Pronouns: He/It
Gender Identity: Trans man
Sexual Orientation: Gay
Race: Bhaalspawn (Drow)
Class: Bard (Swords)
Background: Haunted One/Dark Urge
Partner(s): Gortash, Astarion, Sparks (friend's Dark Urge, It/Its Dragonborn Sorcerer, mostly in alternate timelines but this is actually the most important relationship for Chiev)
Bio/Backstory:
Chiev was raised by a drow woman fleeing the Underdark after a failed coup. Unbeknownst to her however, her infant daughter had been replaced with a Bhaalspawn in the chaos of her escape. As this child grew up, she saw its strange tendencies and violent urges as a curse from Lolth for her treachery.
She died before learning the truth about her 'child', who was then taken by Sceleritas to the Temple of Bhaal. This was where it solidified itself as a tool of Bhaal, unquestioningly obedient and lethally efficient.
It wasn't all bad though, as Chiev also developed an interest in music separate from his identity as the Chosen of Bhaal, and he also got his name (in timelines where he's with Sparks, they give each other their names, in other timelines the name is given to him by Gortash).
In Game:
Chiev is very invested in the approval of others, or really, the approval of exactly three others: Enver Gortash, Astarion, and Bhaal. This is partly because at one point or another in his life, each of them have positioned themselves as the only person he should listen to, and upon returning to Baldur's Gate, he is hearing all three of them pulling him towards different goals, and as such is having a very rough time of it (for a brief period of time the Dream Guardian/Emperor also occupied a space of "voice I have to listen to", but he is a distant fourth place in Chiev's mind). Above all, he wants to be loved and wanted, and has trouble seeing why what he wants would actually matter if it contradicted what one of those people wants from him.
The Timeline Stuff:
There isn't one specific 'canon' timeline for Chiev, mainly because I have a lot of ideas, all of which have narrative merits, and the one that actually played out in game is too miserable to think of as his exclusive canon (he was on a run specifically to complete achievements, so a lot of his characterization came from working backwards from 'what type of character would fuck the Emperor and then embrace Bhaal three days later')
So Chiev's possible arcs fall into a few different categories, as follows:
'Bad' Timeline/'Gameplay' Timeline:
In this version of events, Chiev reasserts his lack of free will by submitting to Bhaal after the Orin duel. He then also helps Astarion to ascend, giving him a false sense of security that he has control over it. At the top of the Netherbrain, Chiev kills Gortash and Astarion, and then enacts the beginning of the end of the world.
'Neutral' Timeline:
For the first time in his life, Chiev disobeys a direct order from one of his important people, and renounces Bhaal, giving him the realization that he can make choices for himself and what he wants. He then uses this realization to talk Astarion out of ascending. The two of them destroy the Netherbrain together, and slowly figure out what they both want from a life together in the Underdark. Gortash unfortunately still dies to the brain in this timeline, so while it is the morally 'best' ending, it's not the one Chiev is happiest about, so I'm not calling it the good timeline.
'Good' Timeline:
Not as sure about how this one happens, but Chiev, Gortash, and Astarion end up ruling the world together. Absolutely insufferable power throuple. Chiev probably ends up as a mindflayer in this timeline, because he absorbed a lot of tadpoles (the Emperor told him to and no one else said anything otherwise). This is the ending I think the most about the post-canon for, because it's got a lot more going on than the previous two.
Astarion doesn't ascend in this timeline, mainly because the same thought patterns that lead to that outcome are also the ones that get Chiev to embrace Bhaal, and that doesn't really work here.
Sparks Timeline(s):
This is less a specific timeline, and more a collection of related timelines where Chiev and Sparks (who belongs to @hucowboyification and is the most specialist dragonborn in the whole world and I would blow up a building for it) both exist and are in love, influenced by both of us saying "you know what would be cute/fun/sad/fucked up" repeatedly.
And then here are some screenshots and drawings of Chiev:
