#sideshow;

[ringleaderising]

"If you take a few more lefts than most, you'll find yourself in Motherditch- I ain't recommending it, of course, all sorts a' strange folk in the bayou, even stranger stories bein' told amongst 'em. but you got a particularly stubborn curse, an' stubborn magic needs stubborn folk to break it. soundin' a lot like you ain't got any options but the Ditch, darlin."

[Lorekeeper, Sideshow, Verdigris, Milo, Idolia, The Specter, Adder, and Dart.]

[ringleaderising]

[Sideshow as Velvir // Sideshow, Present day]

'' I see a man who gets to make it home alive- but it's no longer you. ''

Thinking about Sideshow tonight- when I created him, he was a mirror, Obsidian/Mullberry/Red (unsure about the tert, may have been a different red, but I like sanguine better. so.)

While in the context of reality I quickly decided I preferred guardians and he was made one around year 2 of playing, in lore Sideshow's breed, color, and name change (His name was Velvir when I started, if memory serves!) was an effort to hide himself from the aftermath of an interpack war in plague, that saw the death of his mate, the War Poet Selvvinir.

[Selvvinir in life // Selvvinir as a member of The Host.]

After her demise, Velvir sought some way to make right what he believed was his fault- the death of his beloved surely could have been circumvented, it could have been prevented if he was a better combatant- And in his grief, in his desperation, Velvir and a handful of his still living, still loyal packmates followed the whispers of myth- Gods looser with their laws than the Eleven- ones willing to restore that which was lost back to the living- for a price.

His efforts took him all across Sornieth, pursuing tales of things beyond the magic and myth of the Living Gods, packmates lost, scars earned, and one mask traded for another- and eventually, a deal.

[Tarrence, Death Of Old.]

Sent by Selvvinir herself to Velvir's side during his attempt to escape his dominion within The Host, it is Tarrence who would hide the once pack leader in a new shape- one that benefitted the exhausted Godling: Sideshow's charge is found within the Gaplands- protecting the entirety of Vaudemire Way- where the rotten imperial now dwells, a symbiosis of sorts, the undead weaponsmith's safety assured by the falsehoods whispered by the very bard who Sideshow sought.

And Sideshow's past an echo, the bloodshed of a mirror now spread wide in a body too slow, too old to be anything more than a lumbering tank, a war-scarred bulwark protecting the one space where the remainder of The Host cannot hope to find tarrence.

For now, at least.

[ringleaderising]

Progen share!

Before, and Many, Many years after.

For the life of me, I cannot remember Selvvinir's original colors- she was definitely splash, but her secondary eludes me, especially post-wheel expansion. I've scattered them both a small handful of times, and while they're not my ideal colors, they match each other, which I've concluded is genuinely just so cute I can't take that away from them.

I've kept Sideshow in my lair for the entire decade I've been on site (these two turn 10 in june!) and Selvvinir was unexalted when the option was offered by the help-tools back as soon as they were added, and I definitely prefer them both as a guardian/Skydancer, just for the vibes, but their clan lore will always maintain that they were a pair of mirrors when they were *originally* together.

[ringleaderising]

I am REALLY loving Sideshow, he's gorgeous. Could you tell us a bit about him and what he does?

Sideshow's job is "Bog Man."

In all honesty, he's actually my progenitor dragon, and I recently decided I was going to start a journey of scattering him- and after a particularly rough one, that wasn't going to be pretty without a lot of gems, I went again, and we got some kind of Bog Wizard- so he may not look like this forever, but for now, he's a big ol' bog boy. He's a former soldier, who's spent much of his life training exaltees in the name of the Plaguebringer, but eventually combat wore too heavy on his shoulders, and while he still regularly joins patrols with his former lieutenant Poser and their enigmatic friend, and the town of Vaudemire's forgemaster Tarrence, He has found a greater comfort in simply letting the woes of the world and the aftermath of The Splintering drift by, as a distant observer, over an active participant.

He attends to Lorekeeper, these days since she's placed not far from the swampy cabin he calls home, keeping her candles lit, and leaving meager offerings to thank her for her care taken to chronicle the stories she minds.

There's whispers that he has something to do with The Host, a lover from lifetimes ago now among them- but surely, that's all just hatchling chatter and old wives tales.

[ringleaderising]

aw fuck they put my boy's ass in the BOG.