#karnissposting

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Kar'niss as seen in the Forgotten Realms idle game. (Source)

[fanged-fruity-fuckers]

I think one reason my obsession with Kar'niss has held firm since freaking October or so is because they left about 10,000 tiny backstory and character teases all over this character and then just did absolutely nothing with him.

Szarkai. Bizarre scars. Apparent Eillistraean traits. Speculative biology stuff (both sexual and non-sexual). Gender stuff. His name. His trauma repeating itself. You can just... keep digging and finding new things for a long, long time, and you can start to build fairly elaborate theories, before you even really start stretching.

I'm absolutely convinced that he was initially conceived as having a much larger role. There's just too much there.

[onemillionwordsofcrap]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Two years after the defeat of the Absolute, Astarion has made his way with Tav in the Underdark, trying to do right by some 7,000 vampire spawn--but between the looming threat of the Drow, and his own disorganization, it's starting to drive him crazy. Desperate for a bit of time to himself, he takes on a routine reconnaissance mission; but his plans go awry when he runs into an old enemy with questionable motives. Each wary of the other, but each in dire need, he and Kar'niss manage to strike a deal--but Astarion may (or may not) live to regret it.

*incoherent screeching*

Do YOU want to read a completed, 25k-word Astarion-Kar'niss buddy dramedy??? Sure you do. Get in there, champ

I really wanted to get this done on the 7th when @obisooth declared International Kar'niss Day, but at that point it still needed another edit pass and a beta read, unforch. Oh well there's always next year

I literally have not written in so long and it feels CRAZY to actually have finished a novella, revisions and edits included. Might be rusty but who gives a crap. I will be eternally grateful for the random hyperfixation.

[onemillionwordsofcrap]

Moar Kar'niss thoughts

If you're not familiar with the DnD lore, drow get turned into driders when they fail a test of Lolth, or (to her perception) insult or defy her in some way. So Kar'niss was already a second-class citizen born into a high-control religious group, and due to an unknown incident, was forcibly outcast from that group and cursed with a form that denotes total disgrace.

So he was thrown out, rejected by his goddess, forced into solitude, and suddenly along comes a new perceived goddess who has use for him? It makes total sense why he was easy prey for another cult--especially with his uhhhh obvious mental problems.

(Interesting side note: the drider transformation is specifically said not to affect one's mind, aside from probable amnesia. So Kar'niss went insane for natural psychological reasons, not magical ones.)

I've seen soooo many people talk about how they specifically avoid killing him, but man is it going to suck when he wakes up. Lantern is gone, shadow curse is gone, cult is gone, he can't hear the Absolute any more (if he ever could? IDK) and he's alone and still crazy and back to square zero. Now what.

So yeah IDK as much as his design literally makes me fucking shudder, I think Kar'niss speaks to my combined religious trauma, arachnophobia, and love of creepy weird freaks. There's so much there to explore for a character who gets total of maybe 10 minutes of screentime. Fanfic bait of all time

[onemillionwordsofcrap]

Kar'niss fanfic got me looking up shit like spider anatomy and whether they eat their shed skin.

I'm a raging arachnophobe. Pray for me

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Looked up a compilation of Kar'niss's voice library to try to get a feel for writing him.

God, this guy's VA must have had the single funnest day at the office ever. All the growling and snorting and screeching and HERETIIIIICS!!!!! He barely sounds human half the time and that's before they added the weird croaking overlay that I think is supposed to represent whatever's happening in his creepy-ass... spidery... lungs. (I don't know spider anatomy ok)

Genuinely feels like he had the time time of his life in the recording booth. Great performance.

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I finished a full draft of my Kar'niss-Astarion buddy dramedy!!

It ended up at almost 25k words and seven chapters, and I blasted it out in exactly two weeks. I think I worked out most of the logistical stuff as I went, so at this point, it really just needs a pass or two for clarity and style--and even then, really only on the last couple chapters or so, because I have a horrible habit of wanting nice pretty sentences during a first draft.

I hope to get it on Ao3 soon. I've never actually... posted a fanfic before. 😗👉👈 Just a few original works here and there, so this is new ground for me. Here goes nothing?