This my "Tav", Silence. I'm still sorta working out her background details, but for now it's safe to say she's had it pretty rough.
Check below the cut for a lot of rambling and pointless, self-indulgent headcanons.
Her name comes from the fact that she didn't speak for the first few years of her life, instead learning to play the violin and communicating through her art. Someone started calling her "Little Silence" and it just sort of stuck. She didn't know her parents, but was adopted by a noble who saw her as a unique "pet" given her unusual appearance - even for a tiefling - and her musical and artistic talents.
Unfortunately, the guy was bad with money, and ended up gambling away a good portion of whatever Silence earned, in the end becoming desperate enough to try and auction off her virginity when she came of age. Silence, obviously, was not going to stand for this, and managed to escape - possibly killing the man who bought her in the process, she wasn't sure and frankly doesn't care.
With only her violin and a precious few belongings in tow, Silence made her way to Baldur's Gate and was eventually found by a gang of performers and thieves (that I have yet to come up with a name for) where she learned ways on how to survive on the streets and defend herself with her art. Now in her late 20s, and poised to set out on her own due to some complications within her social circle, she was taken aboard the Nautiloid.
There are two sides to Silence - one is kind of quiet, observant, and sensitive. She has a way of simply blending into the background if she doesn't want to be observed (she's good at Stealthing, I guess), and the other is her more or less "bard persona", which is outgoing and charismatic. Contrary to her name, Silence can be quite talkative when the mood strikes her. It's usually when she becomes angry, flustered, or anxious where she seems to forget words entirely and has a hard time articulating herself, which has led into some dramatic situations when she lashes out more physically.
Overall, she's easygoing, and tries very hard not to let her emotions get in the way of her making decisions, and so often comes off as more pragmatic than anything. She's also pretty accepting of those around her even if she is, in actuality, slow to trust. I guess you could say she's highly manipulative as a defence mechanism. So it's not that she lies to people, per se, but she can come off as liking someone more than she does if only to deflect harm from herself. She is not a people-pleaser, however, and has very defined boundaries in terms of how far she's willing to concede to someone, especially a stranger. She's excellent at reading people (most of the time), acts more confident than she seems, knows a little about a lot of topics, and is always eager to learn more. She can be impulsive and rude without meaning to, and has something of a sarcastic and dry sense of humor that always seems almost prepared in advance whenever she snaps back at someone. Her charisma and wit often seem to leave others with the mistaken impression that she knows what she's doing in any given situation, and thus has often been beset with expectations she's sure she's more often than not fallen short of. Somehow, people just seem to think she's the most competent one in the room because she talks a good talk. Due to her dual upbringing, she is capable of blending in with high society as well as she does low. Silence will generally act within her own best interests or those of her friends, but it doesn't really take much to persuade her to do the right thing.
A good example would be when she and the gang arrive at the druid hold and is asked to help the tieflings. Initially she denies getting involved until mocked by Astarion for "turning her back on the needy", at which point, just to annoy him, agrees to help. (Although, when pressed she admits she mostly did it because she realized they needed some things in the area anyway and helping them could be beneficial to their cause). She can have kind of an impish sense of humor and while she doesn't like to see others get hurt, probably does take more pleasure in watching her enemies die writhing in agony than she'd care to admit.
Random fun fact: Silence is a feral tiefling, and her tail is supposed to be reminiscent of a heraldic unicorn's or lion's tail. She often carries it with a curl or S shape as she has a somewhat chronic fear of it being stepped on or pulled. She also has cat-like eyes (that I've had to mod in, but really wish Larian would include them naturally in the game because why not??? Same with more variations in tails...)
Other fun fact is that Silence has a Secret Power in which she's capable of using her tadpole to influence those around her when she plays a song infused with a particular strong emotion. Unfortunately, she cannot replicate the song later, at least not in the same way or with the same impact as when she played it. This generally acts like an empathic attack on those who can see and hear her, impressing upon them the emotion she's attempting to convey through song which can manifest in the audience's minds as how she imagines it - so a full orchestra if that's what she's hearing in her head. As one can imagine, the situations in which this is actually useful are few and far between, as it would require the proper conditions and emotional preparation for it to be effective, although I like to imagine she has used it a few times on a smaller scale to calm tensions in the group when camping some nights.
Relationships with the other NPCs:
Lae'zel - Admires her strength, but is suspicious of her motivations mostly because she seems more than capable of finding this creche by herself, but instead wants to drag the rest of them along with her. Either she's hiding an altruistic side to her or something else is going on. Silence tolerates Lae'zel's nasty attitude, but also can't help but find her and her people's culture fascinating. She often tries to overlook the Gith's biting tongue in order to inquire more about it. It's a mystery to Silence what Lae'zel truly thinks of her, but it's probably nothing good (even if she seems to get bonus points every time she shows an interest in her people.) About the only time she gets anything resembling a compliment from her is when she agrees with her about the use of their tadpole or if she does something worth being commended for in battle. Otherwise, Lae'zel doesn't seem to be terribly fond of Silence's violin playing as the high-pitched tones seem to bother her.
Gale - Gale and her get along famously, and, next to Wyll, finds him probably one of the easiest to talk to in the group. They both share a great interest in magic and, at times, a similar sense of humor (which is to say she's about as bad at puns as he is). They're both well-travelled and well-educated, and if she doesn't know or understand something magic-related, she's quick to ask Gale for guidance, and enjoys seeing him in his element. Gale seems fond of her wit, open-mindedness, and appreciation and interest she takes in the world around her and those that live in it. She seems to have a genuine interest and appreciation for everyone in the group and admires her dedication to watching their backs, even if it's obvious she doesn't entirely trust any of them. He likes that she seems to know a surprising amount about wizardry despite not being one herself - at least enough to ask advanced questions about things that he might consider to be outside the interest of most bards, as well as the fact that she isn't easily fazed by things that would turn most people's stomachs or make them balk in disbelief. As could be evidenced by her rather extensive anatomy studies on the bodies of their fallen enemies ("It's free art references!")
Admittedly, Silence was a bit shocked and uncomfortable to learn about Gale's history and his need to consume magic artifacts, but as he seems sincere in his efforts to keep it under control, chooses not to worry about it and does what she can to support him, which he greatly appreciates. There's still that little nagging voice in the back of her mind, however, even if he's friendly enough to get her to forget that at times. She has to remind herself on occasion that she doesn't really know him.
Shadowheart - Shadowheart and her also get along very well, even if they're both somewhat guarded around each other still, and Shadowheart, when not in the right mood, can be very difficult to talk to just in general. But, it's Silence who is first to lower her defenses, and speak to the Shar acolyte candidly. Silence finds the two of them have a lot in common in terms of how they approach most situations - pragmatic but always erring to self-preservation or that of the group's. Shadowheart seems to appreciate Silence's amicability, willingness to compromise, and respects that, even though she is friendly, she isn't naive about it. It also helps that Silence doesn't seem to have a problem with her being a worshipper of Shar and respects her desire for privacy even without being prompted. Silence appreciates how much of a team player Shadowheart really is, with her main interests usually centring around maintaining the group and essentially keeping everyone content enough not to turn on one another.
Astarion - Even though she enjoys picking on him from time to time, it's almost always in a way that he can also appreciate. She finds it more fun when the other person is in on the joke as well. This can and does include flirting, but thus far, she's made it pretty clear that she perceives it as simply something to laugh about (even if he might be absolutely serious about it). Unfortunately, at least initially, she also finds Astarion to be one of the hardest to read among the group, and picking on him isn't something she started doing until she knew where his boundaries lay. Up until then, she approached him delicately, allowing him to lead the conversations and learning what she could along the way, which, fortunately, he seems more than happy to do. As a result, he takes her quite a bit longer to translate than the rest, and doesn't feel entirely comfortable around him for a long time to come, really only engaging with him whenever he wishes to engage with her. As a result, the vampire tends to find Silence the most comfortable and trustworthy one of the group even if she seems careful enough not to let him get too close. He's likely the first to notice how little Silence voluntarily shares about herself, often distracting the others with reassurances, compliments, and asking questions she thinks they would enjoy answering.
Despite this he appreciates that she's easygoing and down-to-earth, while still having a good sense of humor and seems to know when to take something seriously, and, while at times seemingly easily impressed with the world around her (like he's one to talk), also seems to accept it for what it is and adapts accordingly.
In actuality, Astarion has about as much trouble reading her as she does him, as he's found it impossible to tell if she's genuine in her compliments and expressing interest in others around her. She certainly seems to have a gift for getting people to trust her. She's good at taking control of conversations and deflecting away from topics she doesn't want to talk about in the least offensive way possible, and he's made the mistake of reading her sincerity as naivety. She intrigues him as almost every time he thinks he has her figured out, she does or says something unexpected, or contrary to what he would assume about her, and he's not even sure if she's doing it on purpose. It's possibly a matter of them being out of step with one another, being of differing natures, even if he gets on better with her than he has anyone else in recent memory (insofar as we know about his story at least).
About the only things that get on his nerves at times is that she's maybe a little too soft, and a little too cautious and prone to overthinking than is good for her, mostly because it ends up involving dragging them into doing something boring or "unproductive" (not to their overall benefit). Never mind that she's encouraged him to wait in camp or go on without them if he has a problem with their decisions. It also bugs him that, even if she sees the merit in using the tadpoles, she's on board with the others that it isn't safe to do so until they know exactly what it is they're dealing with. Rather by accident, it would seem, Astarion finds himself liking her more than he realizes, especially after his condition comes to light and, lo and behold, she's not only okay with it, she wants to know everything about it and how they can use it to their benefit, even if she doesn't seem to be too terribly keen on being fed off of, as long as he can sate himself with bandits and ne'er-do-wells, she's off the hook insofar as she's concerned... for now, and has basically told him that she's his "emergency supply" if circumstances require it.
Despite all this, Silence is still vigilant, and while she trusts him with certain things, doesn't trust him completely, and knows full well the lengths to which his type is willing to go to cover their attempts at taking advantage of a situation.
Third King of the Third Circle, Beleth. Aka The Reclusive King, The Hidden King, Oracle of Tuonela, Mother Muse of the Eventide, The Scarred Sovereign Sphinx, The Unbreakable Tempest, Fleshripper, Demoneater, Truthspeaker, wielder of the great halberd Antiphon. She has never been defeated.
So, there's this scene in the game where Astarion laments he hasn't seen his reflection in 200 years and asks you to describe him. My Tav, being an artist, offers to draw his portrait(s) in her... very well-worn sketchbook, that she's had to be a bit precious with since blank drawing pads are hard to come by.
I imagine she's got a few tomes in her pack that are probably covered in scribbles and sketches overlaying the printed text. She's also a tiefling hence (my very lacklustre) attempt at Infernal - probably a dialect of it to lean into the fact that I didn't have a reference at the time I doodled this, with the more tidy one being written more formally, and the other what I imagine their every-day handwriting to look like. Also some random doodles for testing out the red pen she was using. lol I'm not sure what the Infernal says but it's probably a draft of an unrelated poem since she's also a bard, and/or just some off-hand notes or reminders about his personality and initial impressions. "Conceited noble, flamboyant, aquaphobic(?), eccentric, haunted unicorn." (rough translation would be someone who thinks they are unique and special because of their physical attributes. The "haunted" indicates he's obviously hiding something dangerous... aside from the fact that he's a vampire. My Tav doesn't trust people easily, and tends to take everyone's stories with a grain of salt, although she probably trusts Astarion more than the rest of the party right now. Gale and Wyll are "too nice". *narrows eyes*)
Personally, not particularly happy with these, but that's just me. I feel like my style of drawing people is too "tight" and doesn't really look much like the person I'm trying to draw until I add shading to help define features better, so these I don't feel do the character justice. Buuuut I'll just have to make another attempt later.
Also a bonus doodle from a NSFW sketch I was working on and lost interest in, but liked how his profile was turning out. :3
Messing around in Daz some more. This time with the animation feature. Made a turntable and a blinking/expression shift (which I will attach in the reblog since I can't post more than one video per post.)
Also been picking at textures a bit more. I've been kind of a wuss about adjusting the model in Blender since I will need to eventually get around to sculpting his proper horns, paws, tail, and maybe hair. But that looks like that'll be the greatest challenge. They've made hair quite easy to sculpt in Blender, but as he wears a ribbon, I'm not sure how that's gonna work. Guess I'll find out! >.> I'm not super planning on using him for animations, so less concerned about adding physics to anything, but it would be nice if only as a learning thing. I also want to sculpt his clothes too but a;kfje;ak g I'm working on a much more simple model of a music box in the meantime and wanna finish that up before I really tackle anything more complicated in Blender.
An assortment of werewolf sketches and paintings I've done over the past few years, the first two being much more recent. Some are commissions, and some are my own OCs, which I will do a more detailed post on later, because I am le tired.
Opinion among the Goetia regarding Third Duke Valefar is fairly evenly split. A known trickster and miscreant, he has very few solid allies in the Infernal Court, but those who are tend to remain so. Despite his specialization being that of deception, it does not necessarily mean that he cannot remain loyal to his allies.
Still at the end of the day, Valefar is as self-serving as any Demon, save for when it comes to his King. Mostly everything he does is for his own pleasure, and anyone else who benefits is either simply incidental or by design in order to assure their cooperation with whatever scheme he has planned.
Aside from being known for his unmatched shapeshifting abilities, his talent for thievery, and the capability of weaving illusions so potent they could even fool a King, Valefar expresses a capriciousness that make most other Demons seem like well-balanced individuals. As he says so himself, he does what he likes, when he likes, and if someone says he can't, then that will basically boil down to whether he's fond of the person demanding it of him as to whether he will listen. Even so, Valefar is surprisingly less of a brat than one might expect. His relaxed attitude, hedonistic nature, and tendency to see everything as a kind of game seems to mitigate any damage dealt by blows to his ego. He is as delighted with someone outsmarting him as he is when he bests them outright. Because, for Valefar, it's less about the destination and more about the journey.
He may be a thief, but it is the act of stealing itself that is the reward, as well as what may come next, as he is inclined to simply sitting back and watching the effects of his actions on those involved.
Never one to fear consequence, Valefar has been punished for his transgressions in many ways since his Fall, at least for the ones he's been convicted of. Although he may not hold the record for most killed among the Goetia, the repeated ends seems to have made him wiser than most, and he tends to not make the same mistake twice. To those who know him best, watching him walk willingly into what is most obviously a trap, is surely an indication that he has already planned well in advance. This isn't altogether an unusual attribute, as Demons, being quite ancient and of a non-human disposition, perceive reality and the flow of time differently. Humans are usually predictable in their behaviors, which is why Valefar has the good sense to applaud those who defy expectations, as some would say.
Where Valefar is most deceptive is in his self-expression and how he socializes. He seems to be perpetually in a good mood, and even being bested only means that you have now gained a friend, likely a permanent one, who is going to make a habit of checking in on you or following you around until he succeeds in driving you insane. His behavior is often paradoxical; he may actually be upset that he lost to someone he underestimated, thus, his way of getting "even" is by giving them what they most wanted out of whatever game or deal that was decided. But it is exceedingly rare that he will make his displeasure known openly, as nearly everything he does is done with a sharpish grin and sincere enthusiasm. One must be quite explicit when communicating with him as he will act on what he perceives the response to be rather than what it truly is, especially if it might benefit him to do so. Being berated for this will usually result in him blaming you for not being clear enough in your explanation, thorough enough in your reasoning, or that you simply should have known better as he was just acting "according to his nature".
Naturally, Valefar, thinking himself the most clever of the 72 members of the Infernal Court, has taken it upon himself to regularly remind the others that none are better than the other, even if their titleage implies otherwise. All still have human Souls and all are still subject to the same pitfalls, even himself. Still this "public service" he claims to provide is more or less just an excuse for him to avoid boredom.
If ever there was an enemy to Valefar it would indeed be boredom and isolation. Although he isn't above taking quiet moments to himself, he would much rather remain in the company of good friends or lovers for as long as possible. Valefar is, at his heart, an entertainer, and he enjoys nothing more than being the center of the attention or being the source of one's pleasure or pain. Unfortunately this means that he can be manipulative and controlling in some situations, and more than a little sadistic in others.
Valefar is not immune to his own penchant for deception as he will do most anything to avoid having to be honest about his deeper, more complex feelings. Indeed, the Demon seems to suffer from an inability to articulate certain aspects of himself even if he wanted to, particularly if it may risk painting him in a more vulnerable light. Valefar does not trust easily, but expects everyone to trust him as easily as he trusts himself. If he ever were to open up to someone else, it would be most likely be expressed through something that must be observed rather than explained outright.
Third Duke Valefar is one of the only members of the Goetia that is capable of true transformation. While other Goetics tend to have one, maybe three, forms they have access to - typically their true form, a human, and/or demi-human form - Valefar can choose to manifest any he wishes. Like all Goetia Demons, his true form is his actual default form, the one that has become a mockery of its former life as an Angel among Ein Sof's Heavenly Chorus. Although standing roughly 10 foot at the shoulder on all fours, which is his main form of locomotion in this shape, Valefar is rather on the average side for the size of a Goetic. As well, he will often default to his demi-human form (seen above) or its human equivalent, especially if he's intended on leaving someone - usually a mortal - with a certain impression. Being a showman at heart, Valefar regards his talents with transformation and illusions as a form of art, and when bored, will practice it by himself, whether for amusement or out of the desire for perfection.
Valefar will also casually manifest illusions as a form of expression, and has made a habit of doing this so regularly, that they can happen in his sleep. Despite his energy, Valefar is a big fan of sleeping, and has been known to take days long naps, his dreams manifesting as illusions and warping the world around him so long as he remains in REM sleep.
Anyway, no one is really reading these anyway so I just felt like rambling nonsense about one of my favorite OCs. lol Valefar is fairly new, maybe only three or so odd years old, but so far has accumulated more art than I'd care to admit. He's probably my most drawn character to date and likely will be for some time to come. And he's as fun to write as he is to draw. Fortunately he is one of the main characters of the story, albeit he spends a good portion of it trapped in a different... state of being, I guess I could say. The Valefar described above is the OG Valefar, what he was before the Terrible Thing happened from which he will be recovering for a good portion of the story.
If you did happen to read this then thank you very much for your attention! It means a lot. c: And I hope you enjoyed reading about Valefar.
For another perspective on him and his role in the story, you can check out my previous post.
