#gythian

[deathrooteater]

been thinking on Borderlands Vault Monsters and Sirens, and my brain came up with an au i really liked, so i'm sharing under the cut (btw, i haven't played new tales nor 4, so i won't be talking about the vault monsters from those)

Vault Monsters are Sirens AU

Okay, so the base idea for this AU is that every Vault Monster we encounter (with the exception of the Sentinel) is actually a Siren heavily modified by Eridian scientists or whatever equivalent they had. This also means there used to be a lot more Sirens before they became Monsters and their powers never got passed down, eventually reducing their number to 7. As for each specific Vault Monster/Siren...

The Warrior

Originally the user of Phaseflame, which allowed her to generate and control fire and heat. Made as an initial response to the Destroyer, the Eridians made sure to restrict her freedom when changing her, to the point of forcing to obey her handler/master's orders.

The Traveler

Originally the user of Phasetravel, said user could teleport over short distances instantly. One of many Vault Monsters made simply as guardians of treasure, the Traveler swiftly rebelled and teleported herself and her Vault away, only said Vault reacted badly to Phasetravel, and didn't stop teleporting until Gortys managed to jam that side of the Traveler's powers.

The Rampager

Originally the user of Phasechange, it allowed her to transform her body in a somewhat limited manner, with the ultimate purpose of making her more powerful. This power got severely limited in her change into a Vault Monster, only allowing her to transform within certain parameters, much unlike the greater freedom her original power granted.

The Graveward

Originally the user of Phase Horizon, which essentially allowed her to create mini-black holes. This ability got butchered when she was changed, limiting it to a passive effect she had on the planet she was in, basically turning Eden-6 into a "gravity sink".

Gythian

Originally the user of Phaseheart, it both gave her a greatly extended life (useful for a human Siren, useless for an ageless Vault Monster), and allowed her body and conciousness to live past her physical death (only useful as long as her body wasn't crippled or destroyed).

And finally...

The Destroyer

Originally the user of Phaseruin, which is similar to Phaseleech in that it allows the user to steal others' power and energy. However, unlike Phaseleech, which both can act as sustenance and allows the user to steal other Sirens' powers, Phaseruin simply directly transforms the victim's energy into power for the user. The Destroyer was the first Vault Monster made, and used by the Eridian leadership to eliminate their enemies and rivals. However, the Destroyer grew too strong and rebelled against her masters, seeking to take the power of the entire universe.

As for what this means to the storyline of the games? Essentially, when a Vault Monster dies, their powers are finally passed down. This usually happens to the nearest non-Siren woman to them. As such, the inheritors of their powers are:

The Warrior: Gaige

The Traveler: Sasha

The Rampager: Moze

The Graveward: Aurelia (she survives in this AU)

Gythian: Iris (who gets to come back through Gythian's power)

The Destroyer: Ava

That's about as much as I've come up with so far, but I'll probably come up with more at some point. Cheers!

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

[ninevoltcolt]

Gythian Enters

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

FINALLY FUCKING FOUND WHERE THE GYTHIAN RING MODELS ACTUALLY FUCKING ARE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD LIRD.

Anyways! Here they are! Vincent/Wainwright's is on the left, Eleanor/Alistair's is on the right. They are somewhat colorless for some stupid reason but whatever.

Unfortunately, I tried exporting these for Blender usage but they don't seem to be working. Alas, such is life.

Bonus references under the cut.

Some internal and external views.

Raw diffuse textures! The "white" are the glowy crystal parts.

Normalmaps.

Effect masks.

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

Was Gythian's countenance supposed to resemble a flowing cloak? Or am I looking too far into that specific design?

dingdingding it absolutely was!

eleanor herself has a huge ass tentacle cape/cloak so i wanted to incorporate that visual into wainwright somehow. even with the current gythian lore it still definitely fits for its regal, decadent demeanor, spheres of influence and current "residence". it also just looks sick as fuck.

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

daimonion (or, average warlock talking to his beloved cringefail patron)

please click for better quality bc tumblr decided to siphon it of all lifeforce smh my head

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

Alright it's been in the works long enough and there's been enough fic lore drops that I think I'm ready to drop the full Jakobs Family Values gythian lore. Here goes. Cw medical horror sort of but I use it only as a metaphor.

Gythian, the Eater of Hearts, was also known as the Great Binder, the Velvet Emperor, the King of Affections, the Lifeblood Baron, the Heart-Relentless or the Unceasing Instrument, among other names.

Was already considered "old" before the Titanomachy (the time when the Eridians put all the Primordials in vaults), even by Primordial standards.

He was a member of the Circle of Chaos, a quadrinity of some of the most powerful and influential Ahgof'n in the Six Galaxies, right after Cetenkli, the Destroyer. The other members were Yt'sir the Tricuspid Star, Arsgaoth the Blade-in-Rags and Obraxxys the Groundskeeper. The four of them were simultaneously rivals and allies in their goals.

He was considered a master of hemogen ("blood energy") and orgone ("worship energy") magics, the latter quasinergy being his main source of sustainment.

Gythian was worshipped by many civilizations, either as their sole deity or as a protector or fertility god invoked in specific situations or during rituals done at regular intervals of time. It, and those civilizations, considered his domains to be life, love, joy, constancy/eternity, flesh/the body, relationships, bonds (both physical and metaphorical), rhythms and cycles, family and art, among others.

Did not get the news about the Great Imprisonment (i.e. the Titanomachy) in time to prepare for it. He was actually caught completely off-guard as the Eridians [SPOILER REDACTED], depriving him of sustenance. As such, it chose to go into deathdream (a sort of hibernation, ala "cthulhu the great dreamer" and all that) rather than face the Eridians head on.

The Eridians thought Gythian was actually fully dead (they saw the heart still beated but didn't consider it relevant), so they didn't bother sealing him in a Vault. Since they weren't able to kill even a single Primordial before that point they built some infrastructure around it for safety in their investigations and whatnot. Of course, it was cut short by the activation of the Machine, and so, Gythian remained in what is effectively a coma for a very, very long time.

The kritch were once his starspawn (biological servant bot swarm of sorts). Due to the long deathdream, the psychic link between him and them degraded until the kritch became normal animals.

In fact, it was a long enough time that it began to starve. Neither hemogen nor orgone keep very well, so slowly his body began to digest itself for energy. Sure, in deathdream he didn't need much of that energy, so he could stay like that for a while, but...

Come Eleanor and Vincent Olmstead. The orgone their relationship produces is paltry compared to the love of multiple societies, but considering that before this Gythian literally had *nothing* flowing in it makes a huge difference. Unconsciously, Gythian's power reaches out to Vincent, whispering the eldritch equivalent of a sleeping person's delirious nonsense rambles, but Vincent wants a cure to his terminal disease so he takes the bait real quick. The two merge, but because Gythian's still comatose Vincent is the "senior" partner in this symbiosis.

Eleanor finds out, makes the rings, the two figure out Gythian's blood can mutate stuff, the two establish the Bonded cult. You'd think Gythian would appreciate a whole ass cult, and he does, but it's not enough to wake him up. Why? Well, because the Bonded are taking far more than they're giving.

Portals, cool spells, lifeblood blasts. The Bonded aren't getting the energy for this from themselves, they're taking it from Gythian. Yes, they sacrifice people to him, yes they worship him as their dark savior, but it's not enough to make up for all of that, only enough to make Gythian's half-dreamy mind go "yep, we're being fed, everything's nice and good". Imagine a person in a "vegetative state" (there's research showing many are still quite conscious) being given just enough food to survive while at the same time they get regular liposuctions and phlebotomies.

All the while, Eleanor and Vincent never actually communicate with Gythian. Yes, they hear those whispers, but it's eldritch nonsense.

When the Vault Hunters finally fight Gythian, just before the Heart is destroyed Gythian wakes up, realizes what the fuck's happening and detaches his soul from his body. Using one of the rings as an anchor, he jumps over into Wainwright's body.

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

Sometimes I call (my AU version of) Gythian "Family Friendly Slaanesh" but honestly that isn't really true.

Yes, Gythian is way less about excess and perfection, but he still is definitely about fucking. In fact, it is probably way more about fucking, considering its main spheres are love, family, bonds and flesh.