hello everyone. it is my birthday (or it will be shortly) and i have decided that i am going to do a bit for mostly my amusement that you're all coming along on. inspired by @gyrovagi , who did this first a little while ago, i will be hosting the
🔥🔥 ULTIMATE SPACETRASHPILE/TRIALOFTHETOWER CHARACTER SHOWDOWN 🔥🔥
this showdown will last for five rounds, beginning on my birthday, june 17th, and ending on june 21st. in this tournament, sixteen of my beloved ocs will be pitted against each other in a battle to the DEATH. which is to say i will ask you all to vote on who you like most. the tournament hosted on this blog will be an assortment of original characters from ttrpgs, rpgs, roleplays, blaseball, and original stories. at the same time, i'll be hosting an alternate tournament with 16 of my dragon age ocs on my dragon age blog, @trialofthetower . when both polls have concluded, the winners of each will be pit against each other in a final showdown (on both blogs) to determine which of my characters is most well loved by people other than me.
Ultimate OC Showdown Final Round: "Battle of The Victors" - Hex Palethorpe versus Rhiannon Surana
Hex Palethorpe, she/her, pan (tag) (playlist) (art via @celestialseamysteries)
Hex began her life in 2018 as my first ever D&D character in the Hotdaga-based campaign Infinite Soup. She was a rogue from the cleverly named planet Mars 2 who spent time as a bounty hunter before her lover, Onyx, was killed in the line of duty on a mission she insisted they take. In an attempt to get enough money to run away from her guilt, she met a member of the adventuring group the Revengers and the plot of the campaign spiraled from there. While with the Revengers, she befriended and fell in love with a woman named Rosette, who was just as doomed as her last lover and who sacrificed herself to ensure the defeat of the big bad. Hex’s planned villain arc was originally dashed when that campaign fizzled, but she returned as a mechanisms oc. After Rosette’s death, Hex left the Revengers and joined up with mafia boss Lady Saturn, but she returned to attempt to exact revenge for Rosette’s death on a member of her old party. This went badly enough that she ended up dead, but Lady Saturn wasn't willing to give her up and had her mechanized, a process which gave her a mechanical eye and guts and made her immortal. Further shenanigans occur from there, including the Starship Caesura, more tragic lovers, and a slow, cold death in the void of space.
Rhiannon Surana, she/her, bisexual (tag on main, tag here) (playlist) (art from @vashothmages)
Rhiannon Surana is my main worldstate's HOF, the main character of Dragon Age Origins. She was a city elf from Denerim who was taken to Kinloch Hold when she was very young. She was also non-speaking, instead communicating through sign language. Rhiannon jumped at a chance to leave the Circle with Jowan and then with Duncan when that plan failed. She simultaneously had the time of her life and a terrible time out of the Circle due to the whole Warden business. I would like to draw attention to the "complicated" with Alistair on her character sheet, which is to say that her and Alistair were very close at the start due to my gameplay fuck ups and also the fact that he was genuinely very nice to her in a way she was not used to it. And this accidentally spiraled into the game thinking they were dating for NEARLY THE ENTIRE GAME and her having to break up with him in the Denerim alienage after Leliana confronted her about the situation in the haunted orphanage. Love triangle of all time. Despite how happy being out of the Circle and experiencing freedom and love for the first time in her life made her, there was still something clawing at Rhiannon's insides that told her that she was fundamentally broken and wrong for being born a mage. So when Morrigan brought the idea of the dark ritual to her, she had a terrible crisis over cursing an innocent child with magic (or something close to it, via old god soul), something that had made her life so difficult and made her feel so terrible. She turned Morrigan down and told no one the option was even on the table and killed the archdemon herself rather than force such responsibility on Alistair. Everyday she makes me so upset.
Ultimate OC Showdown, Round Four: "Seniority Really Does Get You Everywhere" - Hex Palethorpe versus Pi (Outlands)
Hex Palethorpe, she/her, pan (tag) (playlist) (art via @celestialseamysteries)
Hex began her life in 2018 as my first ever D&D character in the Hotdaga-based campaign Infinite Soup. She was a rogue from the cleverly named planet Mars 2 who spent time as a bounty hunter before her lover, Onyx, was killed in the line of duty on a mission she insisted they take. In an attempt to get enough money to run away from her guilt, she met a member of the adventuring group the Revengers and the plot of the campaign spiraled from there. While with the Revengers, she befriended and fell in love with a woman named Rosette, who was just as doomed as her last lover and who sacrificed herself to ensure the defeat of the big bad. Hex’s planned villain arc was originally dashed when that campaign fizzled, but she returned as a mechanisms oc. After Rosette’s death, Hex left the Revengers and joined up with mafia boss Lady Saturn, but she returned to attempt to exact revenge for Rosette’s death on a member of her old party. This went badly enough that she ended up dead, but Lady Saturn wasn't willing to give her up and had her mechanized, a process which gave her a mechanical eye and guts and made her immortal. Further shenanigans occur from there, including the Starship Caesura, more tragic lovers, and a slow, cold death in the void of space.
Pi (Outlands), they/them, non-binary + aroace (tag) (playlist) (art via @null-sketches)
Pi was once the princex of a faraway kingdom of winged people. Pi's culture put great emphasis on their wings, believing that their souls were stored inside them and that, if one's wings were damaged, one was now living on borrowed time. Pi's older brother, Violet, was ruler of their kingdom and a warmonger who's violent ways eventually led to their palace being sieged. Violet attempted to save Pi, but they were eventually found by enemy soldiers and their wings were destroyed, though they were not killed. Pi woke up in such a state and panicked. They ran away from the kingdom and eventually found themself in a strange land called The Outlands, a world where people from different worlds and times washed up when they were banished and alone, and a world where death didn't seem quite permanent, where everyone seemed to have a few extra chances. Pi was hesitant to believe that they had such extra chances, however, due to the state of their wings, and lived like they were on their last life at all times. This fear led to Pi betraying their friends to stand alongside a resident of the Outlands who was attempting to take over the place for himself in search of his protection. One day, however, Pi was killed and woke up anyways, causing them to spiral into guilt and grief over what they had done to their friends. This eventually culminated in, after a few more deaths, Pi giving one of their precious few remaining lives to bring back a friend who had been killed permanently by this war. Now on their last life and the war over, Pi was content to live out the rest of their days on the Outlands in peace, but in short order, they were tricked into a ritual that would take their last life in order to allow another resident of the Outlands to ascend to godhood, and Pi was gone for good.
Ultimate OC Showdown Round One, Poll One: "Battle of the LivingDead Girls" - Hex Palethorpe versus Cecilia (Lastname)
Hex Palethorpe, she/her, pan (tag) (playlist)
(art via @celestialseamysteries)
My bestest friend <3 Hex began her life as my first ever dnd character in the hotdaga-based campaign Infinite Soup. She was a rogue from the cleverly named planet Mars 2 who spent time as a bounty hunter before her lover, Onyx, was killed in the line of duty on a mission she insisted they take. In an attempt to get enough money to run away from her guilt, she met a member of the adventuring group the Revengers and the plot of the campaign spiraled from there. While with the Revengers, she befriended and fell in love with a woman named Rosette, who was just as doomed as her last lover and who sacrificed herself to ensure the defeat of the big bad. Hex’s planned villain arc was originally dashed when that campaign fizzled, but she returned as a mechanisms oc. After Rosette’s death, Hex left the Revengers and joined up with mafia boss Lady Saturn, but she returned to attempt to exact revenge for Rosette’s death on a member of her old party. This went badly enough that she ended up dead, but Lady Saturn wasn't willing to give her up and had her mechanized, a process which gave her a mechanical eye and guts and made her immortal. Further shenanigans occur from there, including the Starship Caesura, more tragic lovers, and a slow, cold death in the void of space.
Cecilia (Lastname), she/her (tag)
(art via @celestialseamysteries)
Cecilia is not my oldest oc, but she's the oldest one i can remember any details about and that i'm willing to post about on this blog. Cecilia was created circa age 13 for the first story I ever wrote on my own. This explains everything I’m about to tell you about her. Cecilia is a lost princess whose brother attempted to kill her after killing their father to take the throne. She went on the run for give or take a year after this before uniting with her old lady in waiting, an ex-knight, and the weirdest little girl I could write at age 13 to kill him back. I swear to god I gave her a last name, but I guess I DIDN'T WRITE IT IN THE STORY ANYWHERE. Sorry girl.
Hex Palethorpe, she/her, pan (tag) (playlist) (art via @celestialseamysteries)
My bestest friend <3 Hex began her life as my first ever dnd character in the hotdaga-based campaign Infinite Soup. She was a rogue from the cleverly named planet Mars 2 who spent time as a bounty hunter before her lover, Onyx, was killed in the line of duty on a mission she insisted they take. In an attempt to get enough money to run away from her guilt, she met a member of the adventuring group the Revengers and the plot of the campaign spiraled from there. While with the Revengers, she befriended and fell in love with a woman named Rosette, who was just as doomed as her last lover and who sacrificed herself to ensure the defeat of the big bad. Hex’s planned villain arc was originally dashed when that campaign fizzled, but she returned as a mechanisms oc. After Rosette’s death, Hex left the Revengers and joined up with mafia boss Lady Saturn, but she returned to attempt to exact revenge for Rosette’s death on a member of her old party. This went badly enough that she ended up dead, but Lady Saturn wasn't willing to give her up and had her mechanized, a process which gave her a mechanical eye and guts and made her immortal. Further shenanigans occur from there, including the Starship Caesura, more tragic lovers, and a slow, cold death in the void of space.
Nell is a resident of the small, desert town of Rustblock and a MOTW character with the Pararomantic playbook, which, for those unfamiliar, states that the PC is fully human but has a "guide" to the world of the supernatural who is some kind of monster. Nell's guide is a ghost and hir wife, Victoria, who was killed in a car crash before being summoned back to the mortal world by Nell. Nell joined a monster hunting party run by a local bartender and nuisance and firmly neglected to tell anyone about that ghost wife thing.
Ultimate OC Showdown, Round Three, Poll One: "Hastily Installed Mechanical Body Parts Are Never A Cause For Concern" - Hex Palethorpe versus Aurora (Beastlife)
Hex Palethorpe, she/her, pan (tag) (playlist) (art via @celestialseamysteries)
My bestest friend <3 Hex began her life as my first ever dnd character in the hotdaga-based campaign Infinite Soup. She was a rogue from the cleverly named planet Mars 2 who spent time as a bounty hunter before her lover, Onyx, was killed in the line of duty on a mission she insisted they take. In an attempt to get enough money to run away from her guilt, she met a member of the adventuring group the Revengers and the plot of the campaign spiraled from there. While with the Revengers, she befriended and fell in love with a woman named Rosette, who was just as doomed as her last lover and who sacrificed herself to ensure the defeat of the big bad. Hex’s planned villain arc was originally dashed when that campaign fizzled, but she returned as a mechanisms oc. After Rosette’s death, Hex left the Revengers and joined up with mafia boss Lady Saturn, but she returned to attempt to exact revenge for Rosette’s death on a member of her old party. This went badly enough that she ended up dead, but Lady Saturn wasn't willing to give her up and had her mechanized, a process which gave her a mechanical eye and guts and made her immortal. Further shenanigans occur from there, including the Starship Caesura, more tragic lovers, and a slow, cold death in the void of space.
Aurora (Beastlife), he/they/she, non-binary (tag) (art via @oakoutpost) featured in: dream sweet in sea major, new game, beastlife seasons 9, 12, 14, and 15
Aurora is my second Beastlife character, but the first one had the same name as me so that would be confusing to include here. Anyways. Beastlife is a weekly Minecraft death game that I participate in, originally as my main Minecraft-sona, but then said sona could not deal with the mental load of living solely in a death game and killed themself in spectacular fashion. Unfortunately, this sona's soul was still on loan to the runners of the game, so the folks who own the soul decided to reincarnate it into the body of Aurora, a lonely boy living in an empty superflat world. Aurora was allowed to grow and become desperate for human connection on this world before being slowly introduced to the concept of Beastlife through the occasional stream on a computer in their library. Aurora was also occasionally allowed to speak to whoever she was watching that day, and these brief tastes of connection made Aurora desperate. Desperate enough that he eventually attempted to force his way into Beastlife via fusing himself with the computer that showed the streams. That was when everyone decided they were ready to finally be let into the game, and the rest is history!
am i allowed to ask about your ocs? tell me something about them
oh boy you are allowed. however i have soooo many so strap in for a minute. originally i wanted to focus on a specific group of them (the riverpine crew) for this but i realized i'm gonna be talking about a million and one characters in this little ask game (see here) (i haven't even talked about a riverpine character yet!) so y'know what, lets give a few sentence run down of everyone, or at least everyone i'll most likely be talking about. under the cut, of course, but i'll do my best to be brief.
dnd ocs
hex palethorpe: she/her, first dnd character, rogue. an ex mercenary turned universe saver turned mercenary again when her girlfriend dies as apart of that universe saving plan. also became a mechanisms oc down the line after she tries to kill one of her old party members for his hand in her girlfriend's death and that doesn't go so hot. her left eye and intestines are mechanized.
wesley young: he/him, cleric of apollo. wesley grew up in a post apocalyptic world and specialized in healing magic before one day getting a vision of another end of the world scenario and joining up with the rest of the party to stop it.
elena sherwood: she/her, oath of glory paladin of the raven queen. elena was a pirate captain turned adventure and also from an all tiefling party which always makes me laugh.
issac stewart: he/him, sorcerer. issac was a dnd character from a last of us inspired setting that specifically took place on my college campus post apocalypse. issac was an ra in the freshman boys' dorm before the apocalypse so i gave him the soldier background which always makes me laugh.
motw ocs
rosie hart: she/her, the flake. rosie was attacked by a strange monster as a young girl which opened her eyes to the supernatural, metaphorically and literally because it also gave her magic powers to see things others can't. rosie joined a team of people who traveled to different universes and timelines attempting to save the world.
alexandra habchi: she/her, the spellslinger. alexandra was a normal woman who suddenly unlocked magical powers and got swept up in a world of magic, fairies, and the supernatural in an attempt to save her home town of riverpine.
alfred grey: he/him, the hex. alfred came from an old money family and taught himself magic from a young age. alfred got mixed up in the campaign when he summoned a monster he couldn't unsummon and found out his family was a cult trying to make him the new host of an eldritch god. it's a long story. he's also riverpine.
jamie fitzpatrick: he/him, the crooked. jaime was once a run of the mill thief before he and his partner caroline were caught and caroline suddenly showed off magic skills she couldn't control. she was caught while jaime got away and he tried to lay low before he got involved in a plot of monsters harassing deepwater hollow. also a riverpine character.
nell park-conrad: they/ze, the pararomantic. nell lived normally in the small town of rustblock before their wife, victoria, was killed in a car accident. after that point, they were haunted by her ghost and eventually got involved with monster hunting in town.
dragon age ocs (strap in there's a lot of these sorry. i'm a prolific da oc maker. more information about all of them can be found on my dragon age blog @trialofthetower if you're curious)
rhiannon surana: she/her, hero of fereldan. circle mage originally from the denerim alienage. she was taken to the circle at age 3 and lived there her whole life before Game Happened. rhiannon is non-speaking and a leliana romancer (but there was also a lot of romance drama with alistair on that file) and she died killing the archdemon.
feran brosca: he/him, my rogue randomized file hero of fereldan. casteless dwarf outcast from orzammar who found himself in the wardens against his will. he romanced morrigan and did the dark ritual.
piotr aeducan: he/him, hero of fereldan. once a dwarven prince ousted from orzammar after being framed for the death of his brother, he took some time to see himself worthy of a new life with the wardens. zevran romancer, he did the dark ritual.
lilah kadar: she/her, my only awakening warden (as of now). lilah is a surfacer dwarf from orlais who originally wanted to be a member of the royal army but found that she couldn't stomach killing living people. she joined the wardens for another attempt at glory and sided with the architect. after returning from amaranthine, she fell in love with another warden, sana, but sided with clarel during inquisition era and died at adamant.
katerina hawke: she/they, mage. i honestly don't know how to succinctly talk about hawke so i'm not gonna try. katerina was an isabela romancer with an absolutely terrible act 2 that featured, alongside all the other bullshit that happens in act 2, a gender crisis.
"garrett" hawke: he/him, my randomized run rogue hawke. actual crazy person i love talking about his bullshit but i once again cannot summarize it succinctly.
conall trevelyan: he/him, mage inquisitor. my original da character and primary vessel for thinking about being transgender in dragon age. younger brother of brigid and younger half brother of erin trevelyan and uncle of alistair de riva, dorian and bull romancer.
brigid trevelyan: she/her, rogue inquisitor. conall's older sister, erin's younger half sister, alistair's aunt, blackwall romancer. brigid and conall's inquisitor worldstates are dueling timelines, they're both at the conclave but only one survives to become inquisitor in each timeline. brigid was a chantry sister before the conclave so she's my primary vessel for andrastianism posting.
erin trevelyan: she/her, not a protag! alistair's mother and the eldest of the trevelyan siblings. erin married a well off merchant from rivain who later became abusive and cruel. in a timeline where brigid is inquisitor, brigid and her are close and thus erin asks for her sister's help in getting rid of him. in a timeline where conall is inquisitor, they do not become close until post-trespasser so erin hires the crows, which is how her child becomes one. erin is my primary vessel for free marches posting.
avexis: she/her, mage inquisitor. technically not an oc in that she appears in the bad movie dawn of the seeker and briefly in inquisition but as inquisitor she Becomes my oc. her tranquility is reversed by being bodily thrown into the fade during the conclave and then her entire life gets severely fucked up for the rest of the game.
malika cadash: she/her, rogue randomized run inquisitor. terminally self confident and independent, to the point that the only optional companions she recruited were blackwall and dorian and she kicked blackwall out later. eternally hung up on cassandra pentegast who she literally made divine. woman of all time.
alistair de riva: he/they, mage rook. crow in one timeline and warden in the other, alistair is my most special guy. lucanis romancer and part of an au timeline with 3 other rooks (cleverly called the 4 rooks au) that i think about often.
leve mercar: she/her, mage rook. leve was a slave in tevinter who was taken down south to act as guard by her venatori master. the inquisition killed him while they were in the south, allowing leve to escape. she eventually returned to minrathous and joined the shadow dragons to free other slaves. i also think about her a terminal amount. bellara roomancer.
issala ingellvar: he/him, rogue randomized run rook. issala was once a lord of fortune, but after too many blow up fights with isabela, he left and eventually found himself hired by the mourn watch. issala is a qunari who is lying about just how much he follows the qun and his run is not finished but he IS officially romancing harding now which is huge.
warden sana: she/her, not a protag! sana, as mentioned above, joined the wardens as a young woman and eventually fell in love with her mentor, lilah. when all the wardens in orlais began to hear the false calling, sana questioned clarel's actions and found herself chased out of the wardens by the woman she loved. she took lilah's notes about the architect with her and sought him out, she's a vital part of my half thought out post veilguard curing the blight adventure.
assorted others
adrian "fitz" fitzgerald: he/she, vtm: bloodlines oc. fitz is toreador and was turned when he was 27, three months after moving to LA from his small hometown in georgia. fitz spends most of the game straddling the line between the anarchs and the camarilla, unsure of who to trust with neither side really seeming to like her other than the anarchs in hollywood. sided with the anarchs in the endgame, but spends most of her time postgame in hollywood rather than downtown LA.
pi: they/them, minecraft smp oc. pi was once a royal, with their brother violet as king. he brought war to their kingdom and one day the palace was sieged. violet died trying to save pi and they were "killed" and their wings destroyed. pi's people believed the soul was stored in the wings and pi did not understand why they'd woken up. they ran, and found themself in a strange island called the outlands where lost souls like themself wound up. this island was eventually discovered to have a five life system, which pi believed they could not be a part of die to the aforementioned wing/soul thing. they took a lot of actions they otherwise wouldn't have out of this fear of death and left a lot of people burned. pi eventually lost all their lives and i Do think about them daily.
ahhh my old friend there isn't any god... i think for this one i'm gonna say my similarly old friend, hex palethorpe. i've posted about hex a lot but not recently so quick rundown. hex was once my first dnd character, a level 6 rogue who did mercenary work with her partner, onyx, before they were killed on a mission she insisted on. she met the rest of the party on another mission a few years later and got roped into saving the universe. on this saving the universe mission, her new girlfriend, rosette, and one of her party members, yrt, sacrificed themselves to hell to kill the bbeg. yrt had to kill rosette in hell and that's about where the campaign ended due to Problems. there had been a planned evil arc for hex when the campaign was meant to come back. yrt gets out of hell but rosette doesn't, she can't understand yrt's reasons for killing her, she leaves the party and eventually turns evil. that never got to happen, but it was an arc i liked to think about a lot, so when i joined a mechanisms oc roleplay group a few years later, i brought hex along with me. her evil arc didn't go quite to plan and she ended up dead, but her new boss, the mob boss lady saturn brought her back to life as a mechanism. hex eventually bailed from that job too and eventually began gallivanting around space as the master at arms for the starship caesura, and now you're all caught up!
i picked this one for hex because it's a suitable level of complete disillusionment with the world that you reinforce because it's all you know ("sometimes i think about the chance that i'm wrong/but then i close my eyes and just remember this song"). hex has been burned too many times to count and now she refuses to believe that there's anything else. until you spend about a decade or more breaking down some walls, and even then she's far from as quick to trust as she used to be. also she has died before and she didn't see any sort of afterlife in that brief period of time, so she sure as hell doesn't believe there's one waiting for her anymore.
(send me a song and i'll tell you what oc it reminds me of!)
