Sunnabela is a bard that can actually sing dragons out of the sky. It started as a series of accidents, breaking into song while playing his lute at local taverns- then being driven out by an angry mob after the tavern was left in pieces because Sunny got too passionate and blasted the place sky high. But since coming to Skyrim and meeting the Greybeards, he's able to sing in public again- and most of the time everything goes okay. Luckily Nords love his Shouts, and are more accepting when he accidentally knocks a few people off their feet during the main choruses.
But there is a special satisfaction he gets when a dragon is low health, it swings around to attack, and Sunny whips out his lute and starts Shouting at the top of his lungs some lyrics he wrote himself which incorporate in the Shouts he's learned. I'd say the bards will sing great tales, but Sunny has that covered.
Also his official ref, because Art Fight quickly approaches!
Sunnabela Dynar, my Dragonborn bard who sings dragons out of the sky. In his casual clothes of choice, of course. I’m not even going to try with his armor. I did his boots, and that’s all I’m doing.
You may think his hair is graying and that little bit of brown at the roots is all that’s left of his former hair color. You’d be wrong! What you see is exactly how his hair as always been. Rinyu has always fondly described his brother as “being a living battleground of prominent bloodlines”. Those aren’t freckles on his face! They’re fawn colored splotches, and they’re actually all over his arms and back as well! His body can’t make up it’s mind if it wants to appear more Ayleid, or more Altmer- is the joke in the family.
Of course, he inherited Laloriaran’s lovely welkynd green eyes.
A reminder that Sunnabela has no idea his father was an Ayleid King. By the time he was old enough to begin sifting through Ayleid relics and lore, Laloriaran's identity had been lost to the ages. So Trechire told Sunny his name, just she left out the King part. So Sunnabela does take on the surname Dynar, but he, and literally most of Tamriel, have no idea what importance is behind that.
Perhaps it seems cruel, but Trechire is confident Laloriaran wouldn't have wanted their son to feel obligated towards the past hardships and expectations of the crown. Besides, she made sure Sunny knew his father died bravely defending Nirn as the Last Ayleid. Sunnabela knows his father- no title needed, just the person.
Part of this was in vain, sadly, as being half Ayleid alone made Sunnabela hate his Dragonborn abilities. He often wondered if he should really enjoy it as much as he does, considering the first blessed by Auriel helped see to the death of the Ayleid race. Would his father, and his Ayleid ancestors, curse him from the afterlife? He struggled with that for a long while - but finally found some clarity after meeting and speaking with Gelebor.
Gelebor and Sunnabela have an intense mentor and apprentice relationship. Honestly, I think Sunny is that meme from Brooklyn 99 of "If anything happens to Gelebor, I will kill everyone in this room and then myself."
I had meant to add this in my Laloriaran and Trechire headcanon post as a little detail, but had to double check on the Ayleidoon lore page first.
Sunnabela's name translates, "Blessed be light".
Laloriaran's translates to "Ruler in dark times"
In my true canon, you bet Trechire heavily researched as much as she could to be able to give her baby a real Ayleid's name, or the closest she could find. She chose Sunnabela, regardless of whatever gender the child was born.
In Laloriaran's AU, Trechire was still the one who named him, insisting in the name, much to Laloriaran's surprise. He had been slowly teaching her Ayleidoon, but for her to come up with such a name... It's not often the Alyeid King cries, and even when he does it's maybe one or two tears shed. But this was one of those occasions.
After the flaws post, the Kirr bit made me want to write so have this little tidbit.
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"That's enough, Kirr!" Savos appeared in a frosty chill of wind, red eyes slicing through the cold. He rounded on his apprentice, placing himself between Kirr and J'zargo. "Nothing warrants attacking a fellow student!"
"Master, he tried to kill me!" Kirr snapped down at him. By this point fangs had began to glisten from under his lips, and his pupils were turning to slits.
Out of panic, Sunnabela quickly grabbed J'zargo and ducked him down. "Stay down," Sunnabela mumbled, trying to keep the khajiit turned away so Kirr's real nature wasn't noticed.
"He gave me destructive scrolls," Kirr seethed. "An old khajiiti trick! He knew the scrolls were dangerous, and baited me into "assisting" him! But my brother is a khajiit, so I know that tactic! He was trying to eliminate the competition!" His gaze turned on J'zargo. "Magic shouldnt be a competition!"
"And it shouldn't lead to murder!" Savos reminded him strictly. "Stand over there and let the wind cool you off! It's my duty to confront J'zargo, not yours!"
Kirr begrudgingly stomped a ways off, fangs still bared as he crossed his arms. Sunnabela quickly left J'zargo, whisking over to pull up Kirr's hood.
"Stop it!" Kirr barked.
"Calm down then!" Sunnabela hissed, holding his hood up until his baby brother stopped fighting it.
Savos turned, and listened to J'zargo's side of the story. Sunnabela purposefully shuffled around a bit, crunching snow so even Kirr's ears wouldn't be able to catch much of what was being said. Eventually Savos let out a sigh, pointed towards the dormitories, and J'zargo pelted off like some stray cat dodging a thrown shoe. Savos looked back to Kirr and Sunny, now rubbing his forehead.
"It's an unfortunate truth to magical study, Kirr," Savos grumbled, walking over and staring up at his student. "But sometimes mistakes happen. Dangerous mistakes. Magic is as dangerous as swinging around a sword! No matter how much control you may think you have!"
"That doesn't excuse-"
"Enough!" Savos cut him off, flashing him a warning look. "What separates us from the rest is that here, we know the dangers, and so we know to rely on our numbers. When danger unexpectantly hits with a lesson or experiment, students are supposed to report to a professor. J'zargo made a grave mistake, but only in not coming to me before you!"
"He was trying to kill me," Kirr growled.
"So quick to announce others as killers?" Savos huffed. "That's a depressing mindset to have."
"Even if it was an attempt, he learned his lesson," Sunnabela told Kirr. "But it probably was an honest mistake. Regardless, he's obviously under watch now."
"You have to learn to swallow your damn zeal," Savos warned. There was obvious concern in his tone now. "That will smother any true progress in your study. Do you think the Mage's Guild thrived on that?"
"...no, Master Aren," Kirr mumbled, shaking his head. His hood slipped off, and Sunny was relieved to see his brother looked like any other altmer again.
"Go wait for me in my quarters," Savos ordered. "We need to discuss this further."
Kirr gave him a pained look, but didn't argue. He trudged off towards the great door, eventually vanishing inside the college.
"If any of his other teachers had talked to him like that, they'd have been electrocuted," Sunnabela breathed, and gave Savos an encouraging smile. "He respects you."
"I'll keep telling myself that," Savos dryly replied. He cast his ruby gaze over Sunnabela. "You're going to have to give me more chances to settle him myself. He can't be reliant on you forever."
"I, what?" Sunnabela blinked at him.
"Trust in me to settle him down from now on," Savos explained. "I know you two are close siblings, but he has to learn independence. Perhaps that's half of what causes this. Even if unknowingly, you still treat him like a child."
Sunnabela didn't reply, only giving a defeated nod.
"Not to mention, you have your own matters to attend to, Dragonborn," Savos commented. "I've seen at least three dragons over the past two months. That's three more than I had ever wanted to see in my whole life."
Like I said, following up on the post from yesterday.
A Quick Reminder: Trechire’s exploits include:
-defeating Molag Bal in one on one combat
-defeating Barbas who was infused with the power of Vivec, so one could argue she battled Vivec and won
-defeating the Shadow of Sotha Sil and thwarting Nocturnal
-defeating Veya, who became an abomination of Nocturnal’s, and then defeated Nocturnal a second time
-felled the first dragon in Riverhold
-literally fought a dragon on the friggin’ moon and won
-literally fought in between time and space within the White-Gold tower, fighting different reality versions of a hostile that crossed dimensions to attack her, and won
-was a moon-blessed Alpha under Hircine from the mid 2nd Era to the end of the 3rd Era, being highly praised and prized by Hircine
-was apart of the party that aided the Hero of Kvatch to stop the Oblivion Crisis, alongside the Nerevarine
-Defeated and killed Mannimarco twice, the second time Mannimarco being divine
-married Sheogorath and has remained married to the faithful prince for over 200 years
Also Note: Trechire was the only child of Vanus Galerion, the Great Mage, and knew what pressures could befall on a child of someone who was essentially a celebrity. Her mother Caafire was also well known and adored among the Fighter’s Guild, which added to that weight. All of this also seeped down to the grandchildren, but Rinyu was the only one who ever had his grandparents in his life, thus had their influence.
How all of this affected her Children:
Rinyu: There was definitely an expectation placed on Rinyu’s shoulders, but as he was born and raised on Artaeum, quickly accepted into their ranks and teachings at a young age, it never felt that suffocating to him. Trechire encouraged him to always strive to seek what he wanted out of his life, never to look to her for example and expectation. He’d always wave her off, saying, “I know, mother, I know”, but regardless his thirst to match his mother, father, and grandparents in legacy never died, even up to the 4th Era. Though the pressure came most from living up to Abnur’s legacy, and in the end, in his opinion he failed, and that weight still is on his heart to this day. But recently within the 4th Era, he aided his younger brothers and brought down Lord Harkon, obtaining Auriel’s Bow, and now controlling the ability to blot out the sun. So in a small measure, he feels as if he finally has earned his place as a “Child of the Vestige”.
Hirchire: Trechire never withheld the truth of his existence from him, but confessed everything when she knew her son was old enough to understand. She spent his entire childhood and teen years assuring him he was loved and valued dearly. Hirchire was trained by Trechire herself to be a skilled, thoughtful hunter that would bring Hircine just as much honor as Trechire had in all her years. There was quite a bit of pressure, especially when Hirchire learned Hircine wasn’t really his father, but over time that pressure died off as Hircine showed his unconditional pride in his demi-prince. He never knew the pressure of the Galerion legacy, as he didn’t dwell among mortals for all his upbringing. His sole knowledge is of the forests, of the teachings of the Wardens, of the lessons of the Hunt, and of the loyalty of the Wolf Alphas. Once he was an adult, he saw what else Tamriel had to offer, but nothing satisfied him other than these things.
Sunnabela: Perhaps it seems cruel, but Trechire never told Sunny the truth about his father. All Sunnabela was raised knowing was that his father had been one of the last of the Ayleids, and had died protecting Tamriel against Molag Bal. Trechire thought that having someone like her as a mother and now Sheogorath as a step-father would be already too much on him. As long as he knew of his father’s love, kindness, honor, and sacrifice, she knew Laloriaran would have been happy. Sunnabela grew up with not only with these two unusual parental figures, but with one thousand year old vamperic half-brother who had changed his race from altmer to khajiit and served as a Listener for the Dark Brotherhood, then a half-brother demiprince who was literally like a king of the woodlands, and then another demi-prince half brother who was two years younger than him. Despite all this, he grew up very chill, adored music, and felt no pressure other than the need to be there for little brother Kirr, who had no idea how to interact with mortals subtly. As they grew, this bond grew stronger, and Sunnabela and Kirr were inseparable. Until Sunnabela Shouted an entire Inn apart by accident when he hit a high note during one of his ballads. Trechire explained that due to his experience as a newborn, she knew Auriel had possibly altered him- giving him the dragon’s blood. It was only then that Sunnabela truly felt the pressure of being the Vestige’s son, of being an Ayleid’s son, and of his half brothers who he had thought were the only ones who ever needed to live up to the prestigious legacies of their family.
And it broke him. For as long as he could, he and Kirr dodged the call of the Dragonborn, traveling Tamriel as if nothing was different. Until the events of Skyrim, but if I were to fully go into detail about the pressures and mental toil Sunnabela went through, this post would be unbearably too long. If you’re really interested, just Ask to hear it in a separate post.
Kirr do Shaan: Alike his brother Sunnabela, Kirr also cracked, but due to the pressure of solely his mother and grandfather Galerions. Kirr adored magic and invention, and loved bringing the intoxicating winds of inspiration to Tamriel whenever he walked among mortals- as was his ability as a demiprince of Sheogorath. But as the years went by, and he saw countless mortals rise to glory thanks to his blessings, he grew jealous and bitter. He’d never met someone who could inspire himself to make breakthroughs in his own studies. It was always take, take take, never anything being given back to him. Only Sunnabela spurred him on, always there to listen to Kirr’s rambles over the topics that excited him so. Kirr finally lost it when the Psijics flat out rejected him, called him a disgrace to the Galerion bloodline solely due to his daedric blood, and turned instead to the grandchild of Mannimarco to potentially lead the College of Winterhold. He was beyond jealous at this point, not wanting to really dwell on the idea that he had failed to follow in his mother or grandfather’s footsteps, and due to his demi-nature, possibly never could. In the end, he was willing to betray his brother and their company to try and outshine his rival, to achieve what he thought would make him a true Galerion. As a result, Aithilo and Trechire pulled him out of the party, and he was one on one mentored by a retired Ceralus, who abandoned the Order to be with the last remnants of his family. He didn’t march to defeat Alduin by Sunnabela’s side, as he had promised, but Sunny prayed that one day they’d fight together once again.
