Guess who's back on their bullshit touching up old paintings
IT'S ME, BABY
Still liked this painting too much to let it languish... decided to use a palette I almost never use since it's such a pretty pairing for fire, and Audric deserves a brighter portrait
from the Art Nouveau/Alphonse Mucha-inspired illustrations and designs, to the expressive poses and lettering, and the wonderful composition, not to mention the awe-inspiring look of the magic.
This comic could be about spreading butter on toast, and it would be worth a read; however, it also sports a fantastic story, SO GO READ IT
BTW MY ALL TIME FAVORITE ARTIST IS Alphonse Mucha, so this is just playing to my sensibilities
Soli Theories that i've found and some i've been gathering myself so far.
So there is a theory that elias is the fox due to quite a few things in canon that just seem to point to him being the fox. The gored left eye, Elias' left eye, the fox appearing on campus wherever the corruption breaks out. The fox shows no sign of erupting, elias has aether rot but controls it with a vile of ( )
Someone also pointed out how the fox' wispy tail trails as thorns wrap around both of them in the chapter covers.
It would seem elias has been intrigued by the corruption and aether rot since he was younger, having played with a corrupted parasites insides when he was just a boy, barehanded. When he brought the parasite closer to his face he grinned in a very creepy way, almost like he enjoyed being so close to it. When his brother came up behind him, from the panel it looked like he quickly ate it.
So when Maia got bit and Elias looked it over he "Jokingly" said "its a gift" and "Heed them, make your form a worthy vessel" "Just as those who came before you, Just as I gave mine" and for some reason I don't doubt that he might've given his vessel over to it. He is corrupted after all, and no one yet knows how.
After the spell rebounded in Callistoskeep he seemed hurt, weaker and in need of help but swore he was fine. He held a vile in his hand and said it happens all the time, and that it'll pass after a few. I wonder if him using powerful spells triggers the blight and corruption within him, making it worse and harder to keep at bay over time. Question is, did he infect himself when he was younger in the streets with that parasite he found? Or was he just feeding on it already corrupted, and in need of more corruption to sustain him? Hierphants clariet i'm assuming is what helps him keep it at bay these days.
In talking about the corruption: "It looked liked it was screaming." "They always do. Together. By late stage assimilation theres no hope in seperating them. Its beyond just a tangle of flesh and aether. They're a coalescense. So if one must die so will the other. Both corruption and host" it seems like he knows this all too well, almost seemingly speaking from experience and knowing it may be impossible for him to ever be seperated from the aether rot and corruption.
I gathered some theory notes on Solivaga into one place. I’m adopting a confident voice for the sake of the bit with little to no expectation of being right, but the fun I had writing this up is 100% true and real.
#1: The fox is a Reaper’s familiar gone rogue.
Take his uncanny intelligence, even for an Aberrant. Maia questions how a stray could enter Rothsraine Academy’s tower, so he had to have originally been purposed here before things went south. Groundskeeper Bastion Hornsby (Mr. B) drops the lore:
The fox’s gored left eye is an active corruption risk, and wherever corrupted outbreaks appear on campus, he’s sure to follow. Mr. B suspects the fox is related to this cryptic “something” threatening the Veil. Yet the fox shows no signs of erupting. How?
Head Reaper/Professor Sacha Gaillot owns a striking pair of Rimecur Mastiffs, bred to withstand large quantities of blight without infection. The errant fox could still be following his instincts to hunt corruptions, even after running away. As for which Reaper the fox belonged to: in this artwork, he’s enveloped by symbolic thorns. Each of the revealed Thorncrofts have been drawn with hidden or gored left eyes. The apple doesn’t stray far, even for familiars.
But a site commenter named Seraph gave some pretty compelling evidence for theory #2: The fox is Elias Thorncroft, citing their visual similarities, the way its wispy tail trails into him as thorns entrap both of them on the chapter covers.
They also share a fondness for sweet baked goods, and Professor Shelly Gwenne-Batar says Elias spends a lot of time at the specimen pens, home to the recent fox sightings. When Maia uses her downward smash attack, Elias is later seen dealing with back pain.
lesser points compiled for brevity’s sake:
*nikolai’s a werewolf! dog-fox rivalry’s a tale old as time! totally not because elias keeps leaving his aetherbiology homework in the dormitory fridge!
Based on Maia and her shrewpuffs, ch2’s cover art depicts exactly what they’ll get up to.
Maia frees an army of shrewpuffs as the prophecy foretold, but Elias never holds a blighted animal carcass. What do we see at the end of ch2?
A devoured corruption. It arrives right after Maia notices Elias’ aethervial is filled with blight. Who does Mr. B blame?
A canid corruption.
One of these specimens had traces of human blood. I think it’s Elias’ if his bleeding hands from corruption bites in ch1 are any indication. But when authorities find human blood where it shouldn’t be, they check the missing person registry.
Reaper trainee Caleb Gaillot vanished in a ‘Veil Fall’, an event known to cause corruption, and was last seen at Widowsgrove (ch1 p16) - where the first dessicated carcass was found. Caleb never took his Reaper duties seriously, having once struck his weapon into a corruption’s assnethercrux on a dare (ch1 p20). Exactly the guy you’d expect to ignore basic protocol at his own peril
is what I WOULD say, if the Thorncroft brothers’ reactions to Maia asking his whereabouts weren’t so blatantly suspect.
Rowan says Audric Thorncroft was “on the same call” as Caleb on that day, and isn’t the type to lose someone on the field. In other words, he was one of the last people to see Caleb alive, and he wasn’t being half as diligent as someone of his reputation should.
I’ll leave Audric on fraudwatch while I tackle something better: why’s Elias eating corruptions? Is it a rich source of vitamin c? There’s enough rumours of his eruption already, given the gnarly blight scar from an attack many years ago. From his own mother, Lyra Thorncroft. Students fear his infection will reach the point beyond return. But what if that ship has sailed?
Either corruption affects its hosts differently than the Veil assumes, or this is a new strain. To keep the parasite under control, the host must feed it the aether it craves. The side-effects are premature Aether Rot, which only Hierophant’s Clariet can remedy. This would explain how Lyra was able to continue her ‘normal’ post-parasite life in spite of the risks. She really did have it under control…for a time. But she couldn’t do it alone.
Gwennebat strong-armed Elias into tutoring through a cryptic I.O.U card on behalf of his family. As a professional in aetherbiology, she had the means to deliver all the corrupted specimens Lyra requested - for research, she assumed. But it only slows the inevitable as the parasite demands more, noting the fox’s concerning behaviour has recently escalated. Something went wrong at the worst time, and we know the fallout. Let’s go back to where it all started:
Lyra got her parasite from a figure I’ve dubbed Blight Man. Before Blight Man earned his title, it was a humble wisp slithering through Reaper HQ, visible only through Lyra’s goggles as it searched for the right magi to feast on. It sneaks into the office of “Barry Bassett” and Lyra storms in upon realising someone’s still in there. She’s too late; the wisp possesses him and takes on a stronger form. The creature displays uncanny intelligence and greets her by name.
Are we watching a hapless victim of late-stage corruption, just before blight picks its vessel? As for his identity, judging by the frantic paper-rifling, crash, and desk-grip before it strikes, he sure as hell isn’t Barry. If he doesn’t work here, how did he infiltrate HQ, and if he does, what intel does he need that his colleagues cannot know he’s looking for?
A cure for an ailment? One that, if discovered, would deliver your head straight under the Reaper’s sickle… let’s assume, for the sake of my laser-focused hopium, that ghost and man were one in the same. Who is he? The answer lies in the present. Compare this hand shot to Sacha Gaillot one chapter later.
Solivaga’s cast is deceptively small. There are only two families to be concerned with right now: The Thorncrofts and Gaillots. When Elias refuses to join the Reapers (notice Sacha praises his father and brother, but not Lyra) the way he snatches his vial back is personal.
Elias inherited not only his mother’s curse, but her gadgets, research and wit. He likely knows her corruption happened in Reaper HQ. Maybe even suspects Sacha’s involvement.
proposed timeline:
Lyra follows her level 5 corruption readings to Reaper HQ, where she walks in on Sacha trying to find the cure for his corruption. He shares the parasite to keep her silent.
Lyra runs out of time to cure herself and erupts, infecting Elias.
Elias feasts on blight to keep the parasite at bay, while evading detection from the Reapers in a less conspicuous form.
Caleb corners Elias in critter mode on a sweep in Widowsgrove; the secret is jeopardised.
Audric intervenes, and pins Caleb's death on a Veil Fall to protect his brother. One life for another, a son for a mother…
