Finally caving and doing an Ambros loredump- this is gonna be pretty rambly so be warned
General overview:
Ambros is a Thayan wizard, artificer and most importantly for his role in the grander story, a Banite.
His story has a lot of canon divergence, namely Orin never attacking Durge, meaning Pulse keeps his place as chosen. Instead, Ambros is the one who is tadpoled.
Gonna do a cut here just to not make the post annoyingly long :,)
Story:
Ambros has worked for Gortash for almost 10 years before the plot of the game, though during a lot of this time he is plotting against Gortash and the other chosen.
This plan seems to be working- he hides it well for a really long time and even finds evidence that Pulse was doubting the plan and considering sabotaging it-- Pulse finds out about it an since he has been looking for an excuse to get rid of Ambros for a while… Well, the tadpole was ideal.
He gets tadpole and (by mistake) ends up on the nautiloid pretty much immediately. He has some memory loss, though its because of a curse Pulse put on him to lock away all the confidential knowledge he has.
He generally struggles through act 1- he is very visually recognisable as an "evil guy" meaning neither the tieflings or the druids trust him. Otherwise it is pretty canon compliant.
Act 2 has more differences, the main one is meeting his old flame Allico(described below under "romantic relationships) at Moonrise, Allico helps him remember some of their past and reveals the connection to The Dead Three earlier than in the game. Allico then joins them for the second half.
Act 3 is very different as well- mainly that Orin doesn't have as big of a role? At some point I wrote something a thing about how the game would play out (with a boss fight and all) if Pulse was in Orin's place but I can't find it :,)
Faith/philosophy:
As as Banite Ambros would likely be a High Inquisitor? Something below Gortash's rank (even before he is chosen) but still fair enough above any of the Banite enemies in the game that his authority over anyone but Gortash would be unquestionable.
He was sent along with other Banites to serve Gortash and essentially be a right-hand-man and advisor to him. While to the public he presents himself as a Thayan refugee sponsored and employed by Gortash.
His philosophy when it comes to power is pretty unorthodox, he prefers to be right under a tyrant- influencing their choices while having plausible deniability should the leader be toppled. His goal pre-canon is to lead from the shadows, while Gortash (and the other chosen) do all the work- he was plotting to take the power from them once the final battle was won, I even imagine he had Bane's support for this.
Unfortunately… He failed this pretty horribly. Pulse grew to hate him and eventually tadpoled him very similar to how Orin tadpoles Durge in a typical Durge run.
Romantic relationships:
Other than the professional connection Ambros develops an infatuation with Gortash, made even more complicated by the two having a pretty toxic (and at times abusive) d/s relationship (that occasionally featured my Durge Pulse).
He is a massive masochist so he also spends a decent amount of time being Pulse and Gortash's chewtoy.
He also has a pretty messy enemies to lovers sort of romance with Allico (@snekkinsnerpent 's oc), a Myrkulite wizard he meets through The Absolute hoax. These two are absolutely end game, their relationship even survives years of Ambros being pathetic about Gortash.
Theres likely so much more I could say? like about him as a person and how I think each companion would fare in his run but I am way too tired rn- so maybe I'll do a part 2 some day
Having a Banite Tav is so funny when Gale comments on Shadowhearts Shar reveal--
Imagine just standing there... with the only other god who likes Mystra less...
