Nikolai Castell: An Arisen of ages long passed, and Emrys's original master. After his parents perished to plague, he raised his younger brother Ambrose alone - though not without assistance from his childhood friend and sweetheart Lorraine. The three were close, and Nikolai was lauded as their villages most talented warrior. Charismatic, good-humored, quick with a joke or to lend a hand, he was much beloved - but he would eventually become bitter and jealous of his younger brothers own growing talents. He recommended Ambrose enlist in the military - and it was due to this he perished in the dragons attack.
Overcome with anguish and guilt, he vowed to kill the dragon, and it was not long after setting out to do so that he was marked as Arisen. The Pawn he summoned only naturally took the form of the visage that haunted his guilt-ridden mind, that of his brother, Ambrose. For a time he was overjoyed, believing some magic had gifted his brother back to him. Being a 'pawn' was simply side note, his strangeness was to be expected and surely in time he would return to normal...
Lorraine Harland: A talented mage from a young age, Lorraine was ambitious and free-spirited - as much a worthy candidate to become Arisen as her beloved. Her greatest regret was that she went to seek tutelage during the time a rift had begun to grow between the Castell brothers, and thus was not there to prevent the tragedy that would unfold. Yet with the skills she had honed, she vowed to aid Nikolai in defeating the dragon and avenging Ambrose.
Though she understood that the pawn Nikolai summoned was not truly Ambrose returned to them, she found it difficult to talk sense into her lover, let alone desire to. In time, she too, would sometimes get swept up in the fantasy of their brothers return, only to herself become despondent seeing Nikolai's mental well-being gradually decay. Their journey was one filled with many hardships, and much sorrow.
Ambrose Castell: A light-hearted, quick-witted young man who had an endless sense of adventure and wonder, it's a tragedy that he was not the one to become Arisen - or perhaps a mercy.
(This is also how Emrys would have looked fresh out of the rift, pre-dragonsplague.)
Time for me to scribble down my thought-thinks about Olivia's family that have been kicking around in my head!
Lord Matthias Tramont. A stodgy man rumored to have once-upon-a-time been quite charismatic, but Olivia can’t believe that. He is all about maintaining the families position and adhering to tradition - or whatever Queen Regent Disa tells him will help their position. The family ascended to nobility through a history of service in the military (along with a few clever marriage arrangements), but in the recent past they took a slip down the political power ladder, which seems to have influenced him. He is at regular odds with Captain Brant and Watchhead Gregor.
He took great pains to arrange a potential marriage to Regentkin Sven for Olivia, only for her to spurn those efforts and, to his mind, make an utter fool of him. As such, their relationship is quite rocky at the moment. Her becoming Arisen has in some small way ‘mended’ that, but now everything he’s worked for and the connections he’s made are being tested as Disa would rather be rid of Olivia, having seen how her bullheadedness makes her unpredictable and troublesome. So, Matthias presents an air of the most detached support; giving her the most cursory and basic of protections from the Tramont family, but nothing further, while biding his time looking for the most rewarding opportunities.
Lady Claudia Tramont. A noblewoman whom Matthias was arranged to marry by his father, she is the perfect image of a true lady - carefully concealed warts and all. She is deep down a little more understanding of Olivia’s desires to break out on her own and do what she wants beyond her fathers wishes for her.
Yet outwardly she goes along with Matthias in all things, and regards Olivia coldly for acting out - something that may stem from a root of jealousy. She dotes endlessly on Ephraim and (not-so-)secretly loathes her youngest son being marched off to battle. Similarly she takes great pride in young Abigail for being everything Olivia failed to be.
As for Oliver… Yes, a mother should be so proud to have such a successful and formidable son… And she will say as much to any who would broach the subject of him, but there is a marked way in which she otherwise avoids ever talking about him that would suggest some level of discomfort. Perhaps even fear.
Oliver “The Bull” Tramont. As a child, Olivia idolized him; he was a strong and powerful knight who protected the people and would slay dragons, to her mind, and she would one day do the same. Now, however, the naivete of childhood is long gone, and she knows him to be little more than an opportunistic mercenary who upholds everything she hates about the nobility.
While his father prefers to bow and scrape to the other nobles, Oliver prefers a more hands-on approach, proving their indistinguishable value through the wholesale slaughter of any enemies. He is equally feared and revered on the battlefield, a beast of a man who sends monsters fleeing before him. While he gets his men out alive (and mostly unscathed), he will also hire Pawns for particularly dangerous work and bears them only the least amount of respect afforded them in Vermund, often enough using them as fodder.
While he seems to care only for battle, however, he secretly has designs on the throne, throwing in his lot with the likes of Allard…
He also holds great disdain for his elven heritage, going so far as to cut the pointed tips of his own ears off, and 'encouraging' Ephraim to do the same.
Ephraim Tramont. Though your classic sickly Victorian child in his youth, he is now training to follow in his fathers and older brothers footsteps as a soldier in the Vermundian military. Perhaps needless to say, Olivia couldn’t help but to be jealous and bitter towards him for this, though she’d never actually act out in such a way towards him. Indeed they were very close, and in his youth she would often bring him trinkets and gifts when he was confined to his bed.
Alas, eventually he started parroting Matthias and Oliver by telling her she needed to simply accept her lot in life - in part out of his love for her, and in part his jealousy. As much as he loves her, he also hates her for being so ‘free-spirited’ about everything. (By then, however, she was already enlisting under their noses.)
He’s a rather weak-willed sort, doted on endlessly by his mother and not at all cruel at heart, but desperately tries to make up for his shortcomings by emulating the strength and demeanors of those around him.
Abigail “Abby” Tramont. The youngest of the Tramont’s and Olivia’s favorite. She is everything her older sister is not and more than happy to follow in her mothers footsteps, enjoying all of the dancing and needlework and such. But she loves her big sister dearly, ever enamored by the tales of adventure Olivia would put her to bed with, and Olivia’s romantic dreams of the ideal knight.
After Olivia’s return as Arisen, she would send her letters or even sneak to her house to visit her, gifting her embroideries she made. She loves to listen to all of Olivia’s own adventures now, while sipping on tea and the tasty treats she brought that she knows Olivia loves so well. And while she had next to no opinion on Pawns before meeting them so much more up close and personal through Olivia, upon doing so she’s quietly disturbed by how her eldest brother speaks of them in comparison to the reality she sees.
She is very fond of Emrys and somewhat unknowingly regards him like a big brother - she’s certainly never had a brother like him, who is actually fun to be around.
Jotting down some "world building" Pawn-related headcanons for ficverse. At least specifically Fateful Symmetry. Most are 'I get why it's that way as a video game but I want to make things harder on my characters.' X'D Might alter and adjust them as I go but for now...
⟡ Rift Crystals are used like a spell component to summon pawns from across the rift. They're considerably rarer in ficverse, making it more difficult to reliably summon pawns very often.
⟡ Adding to the limitations of riftstones in the wilds, the Arisen can't actually enter the Rift except through larger, city-based riftstones. There are not just tons of pawns standing around in there either, though one does get the sense of presences lingering on the fringes, almost like ghosts.
⟡ It's much rarer to find Pawns wandering in the world. Chalk this up partially to them being captured and sent to the Forbidden Magick Research Facilities' experiments or the excavation site. But also just a general, 'strange' decrease in their numbers that I'm putting down as a result of the Pathfinder's interference and the world at large being somewhat more cut-off from the natural cycle, and thus some other worlds beyond the rift.
⟡ Calling Pawns acts somewhat like a gacha game. There's no actual sure-fire way of guaranteeing the Arisen can call upon the same Pawn or a specific Pawn (outside the Main Pawn, of course). The only thing that's mostly assured is that they will be a pawn suited to the Arisen's needs.
⟡ The above is especially true of riftstones outside of cities. However if the Arisen has formed a particularly strong bond with another Pawn there is a much, much higher chance of being able to call them again when entering the rift through larger riftstones in cities, but there's still always the possibility it will fail.
It came pretty naturally to her despite her lack of memories.
She likes being able to keep some distance to have a better view and understanding of the lay of the land/how the battle is moving.
Usually this means she's quick with an arrow to help others, but sometimes she's recklessly inclined to want to rush in and physically put herself between others.
Seems almost lucky with her archery sometimes. She has a way of making it look effortless and skillful, but actually she has no idea how she did that.
(Comes partially from her first cycle and being taught archery by her elven father; that 'luck' is more of the elven style of 'following your heart' still leaking through.)
Thief:
Comes very naturally to her, but she’s a little reluctant towards it in the beginning for reasons she can’t define.
She's very good at melee, but it does tend to fuel some of her less cautious inclinations - she gets very vicious and brutal, and takes more risky moves. Fortunately she also apparently has a high luck stat (usually).
I chalk it up to: her body remembers the movements, but she doesn't actually remember her thieves training, so she loses some of her subtlety.
Mage:
This doesn’t come naturally to her at all at first, and she’s primarily taught by Rann.
She’s not as good as him, but takes to it pretty well. Especially the levitation spell, which she uses often.
Rann subtly hoped she'd take to it more so she could find a less reckless way of assisting others, but she just prefers it when he's healing. His magick feels so much calmer and soothing.
Fighter:
There's a degree to which this suits her very well; she likes getting in there and being equipped to protect others...
But it requires slightly more patience and tactical-mindedness than she has either of.
Again, Rann taught her this - he's not really sure where he learned it either, but he at least had the basics down.
Overall she's very competent with this vocation, but better suited to others - besides, Rann cuts a much more dashing figure when he takes up the sword and shield.
Warrior:
Nope. That sword is too heavy and unwieldy to her and her thiefy build X'D
Beren taught her initially, but because he was dismissed couldn't continue - (she was secretly a little relieved.)
She tried to continue training afterwards but hated it; could never time her attacks right. Spent more time getting laid-out and taking harpy talons to the face.
She was however stubbornly resolved to keep trying, until Rann landed some puppy dog eyes on her to finally stop. ("...All right, if it's for you." - Yet she's relieved to have a good reason to give it up.)
Sorcerer:
Has an extremely high affinity for fire-based magicks.
Kind of goes into a semi-"berserk" state; she gets a bloodthirsty, nigh-mindless exhilaration from raining down so much destruction.
Honestly, it's a little intimidating to her. She'd rather not lose control of herself like that...
And Rann is so good at it anyway.
Mystic Spearhand:
Perhaps surprisingly, this didn't go very well for her... The polearm is just not very intuitive to her.
Was shown the basics by Sigurd in Melve, tried a couple of times to hone her skills in it after they parted but repeatedly found herself flummoxed.
She really likes how it looks and thinks its very cool though when she watches Sigurd - wishes Rann could pick it up.
Trickster:
Also not intuitive to her at all. It's far too hands-off for her.
There's a degree to which this illusory power seems familiar, it pulls her in... And similar to sorcerer, it unsettles her. Like she's looking too closely at something that will haunt her later.
Her and Luz tried multiple times to get it to work, and Luz believes she shows promise, but ultimately Reverie just tries to hit enemies with the censer.
Magick Archer:
It feels like it should make sense to her! It feels like it ought to come naturally, and yet she struggles with it a lot.
(This was Yumé's main vocation in DD1, so I think that reflects here narratively: Reverie feels drawn to it for that reason, but she isn't Yumé anymore.)
Something started to click when she picked up Warfarer though - putting her own spin on it and learning it in her own way.
Warfarer:
Towards the end of things she started to have some worries about how well she was pulling her own weight. When she began studying under Lamond, Rann complimented her that he thought this suited her perfectly, and she took a shine to it.
Perfect for balancing out her proclivities for both assessing things from a distance and seeing who needs help where - and rushing in quickly when needed.
She primarily uses it to swap between her bow and daggers, but she keeps a magick bow on back-up to try to get more comfortable with it while also being able to rely on her more tried-and-true methods.
Okay so it's another pawn lovers guild qotd, but this one... got out of hand. 😅 Took a couple different things and slapped them together for "Meeting the Former Arisen/Arisen Boss Fight".
Since Rann and Reverie are based on old very powerful OCs, I got a little gratuitous with them sorry. Hey, it's entirely optional! (Just like clicking read more because it's long.)
Quest: “A Dream Apart”
After staying at the Nameless Village inn for a night, there’s a chance for it to be attacked by a Drake. It must be allowed to flee - in the process of doing so it will crash into the mountain and reveal a hidden path. (If defeated, this can be attempted every time a drake happens to attack, but low probability, and can’t be repeated after completing the questline.)
This path will lead through a cavern behind the waterfalls not far from the Nameless Village. Following it further, the path twines up through the mountain to some ancient ruins (similar vibe to going up to Sphinx).
There the Arisen will meet with the Pawn, Avierann, who stands over the remains of the Drake - its loot can be obtained scattered around the area, and he encourages the Arisen to take it. In this area you’ll start to notice a strangeness in the air, a ‘distortion’ quality you can pick up on visually from time-to-time. Multiple options here:
>Try to pass Avierann
He will stop you. This will lead to conversation options, or if you persist, he will engage in battle.
>Talk to Avierann
He’ll inquire what you’ve come here for. Depending on your answer, he’ll say the answers you seek may be ahead, but if you seek a fight you’ll be shown no mercy. (This can lead to fighting him.)
>Fight 0 - Avierann
Throughout the fight he’ll often shield himself and levitates around the battlefield often, pummeling the battlefield with both fiery and icy meteors. His abilities are above that of your average Pawn, and his voicelines will mostly seek to deter you from continuing down this route. “Please, don’t be foolish.” “There is a better way.” (If you stop attacking him long enough, it will cancel the fight and you can talk.) Once you get him to his final healthbar he’ll start spamming meteorons and maelstroms so have fun. This is definitely a ‘mini boss’ in terms of difficulty tho.
Reward: EXP, Wakestone, Moonbloom
If you seek wisdom, he will lead you to the summit. The ‘distortion’ in the air grows thicker, (but so help me it’s not giving you a headache). Before going, he warns you there will be no turning back, and you won’t be able to use ferrystones. Finally you’ll come to where Reverie resides.
*Just made a post about this recently,* but she’s an Arisen of a previous cycle who fused with her Dragon rather than either of them killing one another. She basically looks like a red dragon with a griffins feathers along the upper portion of her body up to the humanoid torso of Reverie where the head would be.
She shouldn’t exist here, and you definitely shouldn’t be able to meet her. Especially not on the Pathfinder’s watch.
She’ll start talking to you like the Sphinx does, and will say *you* shouldn’t be here, suggesting a certain someone (the Pathfinder) would not be happy with his latest toy if she ruined it. (You can take that as her killing you or sullying you with information you shouldn’t have.) Her demeanor is notably a little… well, yeah, Sphinx-like. Not quite the same, but she’s got a monstrous viciousness to her though that’s playfully and carefully restrained.
I don’t wanna get too in-depth about what sort of things she could say that could be spoilery, but it’d probably be a step above Rivage Elder in terms of clarity and direction in what you should do going forward - but still just frustratingly vague enough in perfect DD fashion.
Then she’ll tell you she’s curious if you might truly be capable of breaking free, and asks if you would amuse her with a fight, suggesting that you, too, must enjoy the thrill of combat Zenos ass behavior. If you disagree she’ll call you boring, but that will be that. She warns that once you leave, you will not be able to return - and you won’t until a NG+. You can talk to her again and accept her offer of a fight though, otherwise you return to the Nameless Village and can no longer reach the path that led there.
REWARD: Minimal EXP, Wakestone Shard
>Fight 1: Friendly Fight
Fast and fierce, she fights much like the Dragon but much more mobile. She’ll grab and throw individuals in the air and then smack them across the field with her tail. She conjures magick arrows that hover around her and will act as a sort of ‘shield’, exploding if you come into contact with them (which also means you could destroy them), and after several seconds will hone in on all targets. Ultimately it does feel rather ‘fun’ and ‘light-hearted’, she is not holding any punches but she laughs and cheers you on, praising you when you do well and encouraging you when you muck it up.
It’s the effects around the battlefield that are scarier; the world itself will look like it’s beginning to fray at the edges and come undone, like you’re doing something dangerous on the fringes of reality. The summit transforms and the world twists around you, giving you a kaleidoscope of glimpses of familiar and foreign landscapes, of worlds unmoored and worlds rejected from the cycle…
Eventually she will stop the fight and praise you, admitting she isn’t sure if you’ll be able to break the cycle, but she’ll choose to believe you can.
At this point, you can choose to continue talking for the above rewards, or press the fight with intent to kill. If you continue talking:
She’ll warn you that pushing too hard against the cycle may result in leading to a path like hers - existing on the fringes of the worlds and unable to truly change anything within them. But figuring out just what that breaking point is -how far is too far?- is something only you can decide. She’ll wish you safe travels on your road ahead, and an ending that you can take pride in, before casting you in a light that returns you to the edge of the Nameless Village. You cannot return to this place again until NG+.
Reward: EXP, Wakestone, Dreamer’s Enigma (Magick Bow) A deep red bow formed seemingly from the crystalized blood and flame of a dragon. “This bow seems to be from another world, and exists precariously within this one.” (Noteworthy feature: zero weight cost.)
If you choose to continue the fight:
>Fight 2: Gloves Are Off
Rann: Reverie… Are you certain?
Reverie: Yes… So long as we’re together.
Rann: …Very well. Together then.
Avierann fully heals her as the battle begins, hovering on the edge of the battlefield. She sounds sadly resigned: if this is the path you’ve chosen, she won’t deny you - nor will she make it easy for you. Indeed, it’s her job to make it as hard as she can so you can face the trials to come. Rann will constantly cover the field in either Maelstrom or Meteorons, will heal and shield her - taking him down should be the first order of business, though she will viciously defend him in turn.
You may need to stun her (achieved primarily by attacking her human part), and sacrifice her down time to whittle him down - he will prioritize healing her while she’s downed even over himself.
“I won’t allow it to end like this.” - If you kill her first Rann will shatter the remaining stability of the battlefield; you’ll be clinging to small bits of viable land in a sea of jagged, pieced-together realities and have to navigate to get back to him in time and break his shield before he resurrects Reverie (half health). If she resurrects the field will return to ‘normal’, albeit with increasingly less safe/convenient areas to stand and maneuver.
Killing her first is not advised. sorry breaking/reordering reality and resurrection is Rann’s specialty But if you can cancel him before he resurrects her, the battle will eventually end - he will try to keep doing this though. Once you finally get him down he will fall to one knee and fade away, “Very well then, this was what she wanted…”
If you go for him first, on Avierann’s final health bar Reverie will go into a rampage, mostly just increasing the speed and strength of her attacks. She’ll grab and stand on a target with one hand for a frustrating amount of time, or fling them other targets. Once Rann is defeated she’ll let out an anguished scream that creates a stunning shockwave. Regardless of any attacks she’ll go over to pick up Rann’s body and embrace it to her for the remainder of the battle.
“I knew… I knew it would hurt, but…” She straightens up. “Very well. Together then.”
Her movements will be far less brutal - her attacks mostly continue same as before but she’s slowed drastically. On the final half of her final health bar she has more or less given up and will only give cursory slaps of her tail and retaliatory swipes of her claws. She speaks as if to him, but her words might also guide a careful listener.
“After countless turns around this world… Time and time again we’ve found ourselves here… But at the very least, we were together… Was there another way? … Perhaps there are as many paths as there are wills seeking to find them… But mine leads only to you… So, surely…”
Finally she will collapse, still clutching Rann’s body and talking only to him. “Perhaps… next time, then.”
If you can divide your forces to whittle them both down at the same time they’ll talk to one another as their health dwindles. Their voices are tinged with both deep sorrow and a sense of burgeoning joy. The embracing of an ending towards a new beginning.
“Reverie… Do you remember when we met?” “What a funny question, which time?” “The first time.” “Well, that’d have to be… Soon, wouldn’t it?” “Hah, yes. Soon.”
Once both of them are destroyed their bodies will disappear in a burst of light that swallows the entire area, and you’ll be left outside the Nameless Village.
Reward: EXP, Wakestone, Path of the Heart (Archistaff) A dark red stave seemingly made of the twined hardened fibers of a dragons heartstrings, the crown of the staff is half-broken, as if it once held a gem, but a glowing red power energy lingers here now, seemingly in bitter defiance of it’s own fate. (Noteworthy feature: zero weight cost.)
>Fight 0-1: Vengeance
If you fought and killed Avierann when you first met him, Reverie will not talk to you, and will immediately launch into battle. There is no mercy here, no fun. Guttural snarling roars of: “What have you done?!” and “You fool!” Rabid, berserk repetitions of “Why!? Why!? Why!?”
Along with her above tactics, she’ll occasionally leap to five points around the battlefield, creating huge aoe telegraphs for each element (fire, ice, lightning, dark, holy) that will erupt in the order she went to them. Staying close to her and avoiding all of the damage can be perilous. She’ll occasionally grab a target and throw them *into* one of the aoe ranges, giving them a small window to run out of it. If attacking her from behind her tail may also smack you into one.
Similar to above fights, the battlefield is an increasing hazard being broken down and restructured. You’ll see places from DD1, BBI, and others yet unrecognizable. Sometimes she'll raise the ground up to prevent you from running.
She’ll occasionally let out terrible screams that stun anyone too close, it seems she'll keep trying to restore some order and calm down occasionally, but will keep falling back into a despairing rage. At about half health she will start ripping at her human body in a blind frenzy.
“I don’t want to do this anymore! I don’t! I don’t! I don’t! Not without him! I must go, I must go to him!”
The human/griffin parts of her will be replaced by pure dragon, as the familiar visage of The Dragon comes forth. The music will end and go mostly silent before slowly the harps from DD Main Theme come in and lead into a rendition of Eternal Return. You’re fighting the Dragon now, you know how that goes. His dialogue is limited but:
“A cruel hand to hunt down they who pose no threat. Yet such cruelty may yet be needed to forge the path thou desire. Above exists the watchers gaze, with hands that would strangle the will from thine soul and make a puppet of thee.” And upon death: “Go forth, and bleed the watcher dry, O blessed butcher.”
Reward: EXP, Wakestone, Ragnarok (A duospear with a staff made from dragonbone, and the blades from dragons fangs, the description reads: “Once a man sought to defy the Dragon and became Arisen. Once the Arisen sought to defy fate and became the Dragon. Once, the Dragon sought to defy all, and turned its fangs on the chains that bind this world.” (Noteworthy feature: zero weight cost.)
So in order to get all of the rewards.... :'D There is ONE more route option I'm imagining where if you somehow manage to leave Rann alive (unconscious) when you first meet him and then kill Reverie, he will then proceed to stalk you through the world, occasionally assassinating your pawns, showing up mid-Drake fight, and just generally wreaking havoc.
There's a similar route for Reverie doing this if you kill him and then turn back without going to the summit - you lose the ability to go back, but she will break into your world for revenge. :'D
Okay here's my outline for the gist of how Olivia and Emrys's different cycles go, without getting too into the nitty gritty details. Mostly just how they end. Spoilers for sure and big gratuitous headcanons of course. <3
CYCLE 1:
The Bad Ending. Emrys goes ‘purgener mode’ in the Unmoored World, mostly kills Olivia*, and then proceeds to wander through other worlds until killed. Time restarts and loops back for them.
(*I think she was kept very slightly alive, the tiny thread of her remaining life 'elongated' by being fused into a dragons heart, but obv in a not very pleasant way or sense, and for a blessing she wouldn't have been very aware of it.)
CYCLE 2:
‘Dream’, or False Cycle. This is a really warped, distorted cycle. It happens, but even more outside the typical parameters of the world than usual. It's a result of being the ‘bridge’ dragon!Emrys created, connecting the failure of the first cycle to a true, renewed attempt in the third cycle after a fashion.
(Basically, he's creating the parameters for the time loop, using his connection to the Brine/greater powers via dragonsplague. The implications here are pretty big but we won't see more of that until the True Ending.)
Emrys is the Arisen, Olivia (fittingly after her death, an ‘empty vessel’) is his pawn.. It ends with the bittersweet victory of Pawn!Olivia sacrificing her newly realized will, prompting Emrys to realize this isn't 'how things should be', and the world loops back again.
CYCLE 3:
The Unmoored World goes very differently. Emrys seemingly overcomes the dragonsplague to help her defeat the Pathfinder Dragon, Olivia disappears for several months after the final battle. When they find her she has none of her memories, and it takes over a year for them to finally start to return - whereupon she is officially made Sovran.
It’s a good, happy ending - until many years later their son, Idris, is made the new Arisen. They realize that while they may have gotten rid of the Pathfinder and Brine, the Dragon’s Dogma itself remains. When their son tragically perishes, time loops back once more.
CYCLE 4:
The Final Cycle, The True Ending (Until I start getting more bright ideas.) I like to think the Pathfinder would be slightly more of a threat here -when- they realize they were overcome before, and were only returned to their ‘rightful place’ by… means unknown even to them.
Ultimately a new order is created. Emrys ascends up the dragon ladder, overcoming dragonsplague and subsuming the Pathfinder/Brine. He essentially becomes a new class of dragon, holding that role in perpetuity, with Olivia as Sovran and Seneschal.
Basically they become living gods and re-define the Dragon’s Dogma. 😌 (And they have their kids later and Idris never has to become Arisen.)
Notes!
Cycle 2:
It's almost dream-like/nightmarish in the way I imagine it is, yes, close enough to the basic DD2 story experience, but Emrys's actual perception of things is often skewed. His personal memories don't always add up, essentially, because they were cobbled together 'on the spot'.
Basically he didn't actually 'exist in the world as a human' in the history leading up to him awakening at the excavation site when time looped back - he’d been a pawn up until that point. The chaotic result of Cycle 1’s ending and him trying to patch things back together, trying to ‘fix Olivia’, but ‘Olivia’ being ‘gone’ resulted in him getting slotted into the role of Arisen and a haphazard backstory shifting into place between the fell curse of amnesia.
It doesn’t all exactly make ‘sense’ because I just want to be able to slap an Arisen!Emrys cycle in there and it’s just inherently not right on any level.
Cycle 3 has the most alternative endings that are genuine, AU endings, that don't really fit in the scheme of continuity... but they're out there. 😂
The Neutral Ending. After several bad turns with Dragonsplague, Godsway, and dealing with Olivia’s brother, he begs her to give up her charge and simply leave with him. Though reluctant, she eventually agrees. They live out their days, sometimes avoiding and other times assisting new Arisen.
The Happy Ending. Despite their son becoming Arisen, he later manages to truly break and end the cycle, and all is well. Some of it has overlapping plot points with the True Ending, but with Idris playing a more central role. It’s likely in this one Olivia and Emrys would eventually grow old together.
Uh-oh, got a sudden infestation of fresh brainworms about putting some OCs in DD2...
Haven't dabbled with them too much in CC yet but the first is miss Rune. Spunky, enthusiastic, trouble-maker.
And...... Cyrion.
Who is uh... well, we won't unpack all of that OG-verse stuff.
Idea is: Cyrion was the Arisen, and very much ought to have had the potential to overturn the established order the Pathfinder had set in place. A truly accomplished and fearsome sorcerer, while he had the will and power to succeed, I'm blaming his ultimate failure on being a bit of a fucking douche who didn't connect with other people let alone his pawn.
Enter Rune up there, pawn (at the time) in question. During their journey he utilized his magicks to augment and alter her to better meet various needs throughout their journey. (not pictured: from the waist down she has the legs/tail of a fox - "thou shall be swift and nimble, fox-footed" - this is from her OGverse but we'll see if I add more as I think about them in DD later)
At the time he realized he was basically boned somewhere in the Unmoored World, he did three things: separated body from spirit (body becomes dragon - which is more or less just programmed to do what dragon do), bestowed spirit to Rune, charged her with securing him a new body.
Four things, maybe, but how the world resets is fine as a mystery. I'm chalking it up to something in the way he did all this 'outfoxed' [haha] the Pathfinder and re-established Rune as the Arisen, thereby 'rewriting' the story that had been written until that point. Starting fresh.
BUT that's about all I'm roughly thinking so far. There's def going to be some ??? aspect of Cyrion's spirit, now Rune's, trying to return to the pawns body that "looks/feels" familiar to it over the course of the story in a weird rendition of "bestowal of spirit" but we'll see how THAT turns out :'D
For the ask game! Pawn #2, arisen & pawn #7. World and story #3
Thank you Amier! :D
(Dragon’s Dogma 2 Ask Game)
Pawn #2 - Do they act any differently around other Arisen across the Rift?
Emrys is actually a bit more laid-back and genuine around other Arisen than he is Olivia - almost solely because Olivia exists as "his Arisen" that he is bound to, so she gets most of his 'ire'. But, by 'genuine' this sometimes means more of his "Straightforward" remarks come leaking out, but it's usually all in good fun.
Amusingly between them, (on the surface at least), it looks like Emrys lets a thin wall down, and Rann puts a thin wall up.
Rann is just a little more stiff and formal, but his overall demeanor doesn't really change a whole lot. He's keen on being helpful wheresoever he can, but would prefer to hang back a little and let others take the lead so he can support (which isn't entirely different except that Reverie sometimes prefers to follow his directions).
It's kind of a bit of a load-off, not being the "main pawn" 😅 so he's happy to defer to the judgement of the Arisen's pawn. So while there's that slight sense of distance initially, with enough time spent it'd gradually relax as he finds his footing with each individual Arisen, so-to-speak.
Arisen & Pawn #7 - What are their least favorite enemies to fight?
A common enough answer, Reverie hates rattlers. Her preferred tactic if possible is picking them up and chucking them in the brine/lava/whatever. She also HATES ogres; early amnesia brainfog Reverie got some trauma from them that she does gradually overcome with the mentality of: I'mgoingtokillitI'mgoingtokillitI'mgoingtokill it before it can drool all over me.
Rann similarly is not fond of ogres for pretty much the same reason of how badly Reverie responded to them. 😂But I do think it's funny that his inclination complains about griffins, so I like to think he's been a bit traumatized about them ever since that time Reverie got flown halfway across the map - ...and then when it happened again... and again........
Olivia hates choppers. They are so annoying and she always forgets to look for them and they always catch her off-guard. And she'd much rather admit to that than confess how piss-her-pants scared she is of literally everything undead. Ghosts, skeletons, zombies, you name it, she's trying not to cry or hide behind Em. Fortunately her "fight" instinct is significantly higher than "flight" but she kind of just starts blindly flailing around a bit.....
Obviously Emrys's greatest enemy are crates. I mean drakes. Drakes. The potential for having his control taken away from him is uh, it's pretty uncomfortable.
World & Story #3 - Regardless of whether you adhere to the in-game counter or not, how long do you think their journey took? Did they book it with a sense of urgency, or did things get drawn out - and why?
Okay, short answers because one day I'm gonna probably do "full outlines" for each of their journeys.
Reverie's probably takes about a year, maybe encroaching closer to two years. I like to think the sense of urgency can be drawn out, so I'm shoving in shopping episodes and more personalized quests for more NPCs, a million little delicate moments between her and Rann.
(Also playing with the idea that ferrystones are more of a 'for the gamer' thing and even rarer and more difficult to obtain in the real canon, so travel time elongates and once you get to Battahl you don't just skip over to the other side of the map for lunch all the time.) I might get a clearer/more refined idea about their journey though when they get into NG+.
Similarly, Olivia's journey tbh probably takes at least three years, but I haven't pinpointed the actual timeframe either. I just know everything gets drawn out. From her family being involved and helping find a way to cure her amnesia, to spending a few months in the Nameless Village training as a thief, to Vernworth getting wiped out by Em's Dragonsplague and them having to go on a quest to find the Eternal Wakestone, everything gets really stretched and tugged around.
Three years might even be lowballing it a little, but she's not looking to challenge Savan's supposed record 😂
