tagged by @saylofwaterdeep, thanks! tagging @riddlerosehearts @dr4gonwriter @kcwriter-blog @baldursghaik
Silmarien Telcontar-Telerin
For anybody who's read LOTR this should need no explanation lol but if you haven't; Simarien means starlight maiden in Quenya, and I chose it simply bc I think it's super pretty, it's my favorite name from LOTR (also Numenorian Silmarien is a princess~). Telcontar-Telerin was picked to show where the inspiration came from for each side of her family: the Teleri elves, and Aragorn's lineage, specifically Beren. Teleri elves bc they love the sea, and bc Silmarien's story has many parallels with Luthien (whose father was Teleri) OBVIOUSLY as the title of my blog indicates lol. And Aragorn because he too is a descendant of the greatest of elves and men. I picked Telcontar as it's the closest thing Aragorn has to a last name
Xanaphia Zau'ghym
My only elf with a lore accurate name except not really bc I later learned Eilistraen drow still have drow names LMAO. Let's just say her community broke a bit from the usual customs bc they lived on the surface okay lol. Zau'ghym is a name her ancestors chose for themselves when they left the Underdark; it means children of the forgotten ways. In the spirit of this, most people in her village had non-drow elven first names, to show that they recognize they are children of Corellon. They kept drow surnames to always remember where they came from. I used the elven names list from Xanathar's Guide to Everything for her first name, and the drow house name table for her last name. I picked Zau'ghym because that's exactly what her community's goal was, to turn from Lolth and back to Eilistraee and Corellon, and I chose Xanaphia just bc it's pretty :3
Prince Rivera
I asked @oryndoll for her expert opinion on what Filipino name to give him, and the suggestion was Prince + that he should share a last name with real life Filipino Drink Water Rivera. Thus the meaning of his name truly reflects who he is as a person: absolute nonsense.
Arakka
She's here bc it took me FOREVER to come up with her name. I didn't like any of the half-orc names in Xanathar's Guide, even looked at orc names from Skyrim and other games, didn't like any. I actually really liked a tiefling name, Arkha, and was gonna go with that until I remembered there's already a tiefling with that name in BG3 lol. So I just played around with that Ar beginning and the general sound of the name, something short but with that hard K sound, and wound up with this. It doesn't have any meaning, but I think it fits in with the length and sound of half-orc names. She has no surname bc either her mother didn't have one or Arakka didn't know what it was.
Also I like that her name isn't too far from Arakkis: golden sands, the Golden Scourge; a planet made violent by political machinations and hostile takeovers, not so different from what Arakka's future wife Minthy will be doing to Baldur's Gate LOL. Also Shai-Hulud = the kraken of the desert
Thank u hyperspacetowel the patron saint of modding 🙏
Can't wait to use this for Xanaphia 2.0 and take a bunch of screenshots 🥺 What happens before this is when the sun starts to hit him, is she does something she's never done before: she reaches for darkness, casting the spell to protect him. And for the first time in her life she's grateful to be a drow 🥺
@saylofwaterdeep tagged me to use this drow font generator to write my drow Tavs names :D
Xanaphia Zau'ghym
Rounded & Angular Drow Script
Xanaphia grew up speaking deep/low drow and elvish, so as a kid she actually did know this alphabet and how to write her own name. She wasn't as fluent in elvish as deep drow, and barely knew any common (her village was very isolated), so the language barrier was yet another prejudice she faced after Master Sunbow took her to his Corellite monastery (besides the anti drow prejudice to begin with). She forgot most of the deep drow she knew over the next 50 years, but post BG3 is re-learning it as she connects with Eilistraean communities
Sabithra Tor'ana
My Lolthsworn noble, a shadow sorceress and Wyll-mancer whom I haven't designed yet. She's based off Seridia from Fields of Mistria, so she will be gigantic, sexy, and have her sights set on power and conquest, but realize over the course BG3 that actually FRIENDSHIP is the greatest power of all 🥺. She comes to enjoy the little things about a simple life — or well, as simple as a life married to the handsome young Duke of Baldur's Gate could be 😂
Rounded & Angular Drow Script
High Drow / Espruar Script, incl her title, Ssap'ara (Midnight Queen)
I included high drow only for Sabithra bc Xanaphia doesn't even know this language exists. High drow is the languages of priestesses, and of nobles when they're speaking about things their servants, slaves, and the unwashed masses don't deserve to hear. So Sabithra spoke it A LOT lol
Need to look thru my already installed pose packs that I keep collecting like the rings of power and yet literally never use and see if I already have some bt1x2 where BT2 is going right for bt1's ass, bc I need some pics of Astarion and Xanaphia like this lol
He can't keep his hands off Xanaphia in a cuddly G rated way post act 2 confession, but as we know, he is canonically an ass man and his hand goes RIGHT for it in 1 of his only 2 spawn kisses lol. And it's also canon he can't keep off of Tav in a very NOT G rated way after killing cazador lmao.
He's definitely an absolute fucking MENACE with her post game as he becomes more and more comfortable w/ sex (my hc for them is after sleeping together several times in act 1, Astarion isn't ready for it again until post game). Regularly causing harmless mischief at home that gets her "mad" and laughing at him, which often progresses into very kissy and laughing sex, and then lots of being drunk on blood of the bandits they just killed and needing an intense, urgent fuck (and yet they're stunned when she gets pregnant LMAO) (it's bc she didn't know dhampir were a thing and he's an idiot who thought they weren't actually real lol) (low key two idiots who don't know a thing it's a miracle their baby girl doesn't get scurvy, altho perhaps this is thanks to Uncle Halsin's regular visits 🤣)
re: the evil endings for your Tav game made me realize Silmarien is the only one who I can see an evil AU for!
Prince is incapable of evil lol
Arasene is true neutral bc being evil (or being really good) is WAY too much work. Girl just wants to be a warrior, get into tavern brawls, and drink Chultan scorpion cobra whiskey to her heart's content
Arakka is already small time evil lol no matter what happens in BG3 she is ALWAYS picking up where she left off, as the Golden Scourge of the Sea of Swords, pillaging, boozing, and whoring to her heart's content
Isidro & Xanaphia's alternate endings would be just extremely depressing, not evil
If Gale didn't convince Isidro to stop using tadpoles in act 2, he would've taken the astral tadpole in act 3, never retaken his oath, and then disappeared post game, the implication being he committed suicide :(
If Xanaphia hadn't been able to help Astarion resist the ritual, causing him to leave with those truly cruel parting words, she would go back to her monastery :( She considers her inability to help him a massive failure on her part and she just...idk she wouldn't want anything better than the life she knew, as sad as it was. She sees it as she she tried being on her own in this world, and she failed. Even though she helped everyone else and SAVED THE WORLD, she could not help the one person most like herself, and so she doesn't belong anyplace but that monastery, where she's forgotten and ignored. She wouldn't have trouble being taken back by the monastery, because no one would have even noticed she was gone :(
All the "Eilistraeans be FUCKING" posts I've seen lately make me love Xanaphia even more bc she's the fakest Eilistraean ever 😂 I mean her entire village was MURDERED by Lolthsworn drow when she was 10 soooo it's not like she got to learn everything, most certainly not about all the fucking lol. The only things she really remembers are the story of Eilistraee (she's Corellon daughter, willingly went into exile to help the drow), and a bit of some prayers and dances.
She still worships her even if she doesn't know how to do anything properly, because it's the only thing she has left of her family (she remembers the story that her ancestors fled to the surface specifically to worship her) and the only community she ever belonged to, since everyone else in the Corellon monastery Master Sunbow took her too either disliked her or ignored her. She also does take Eilistraee's whole goal to heart, even moreso after she assumes a lot of things about Minthara and is wary of if she can really trust her. She realizes she's treating Minthy exactly like everyone has treated Xanaphia for being a drow her whole life.
Post game she eventually seeks out other Eilistraeans to learn what she forgot or was never taught. Tho idk about really being part of her church again like that, what with having the vampire husband and all lmao. Also, if they really be fucking like that, that's not something Xanaphia is comfortable around. She doesn't want to be with anyone but Astarion, and I can't see him being comfortable with that either. Nudity and all she is comfortable with, but she's FLEEING at top speed if anyone mentions an orgy 😂
*woman who has 67 WIPs going* I should write a collection of little scenes of Xanaphia being adorably innocent and Astarion's extremely rapid descent from "haha she's so naive! She's perfect to manipulate 😈" to "I'll rip the throat out of anyone who threatens to ruin how innocent and pure she is 😤"
I think her innocence, complete lack of expectations regarding sex, and her lack of shame learning what she likes and what he likes, would be something Astarion quickly comes to cherish and wants to protect from being destroyed by this depraved world.
I think her complete lack of knowledge and shame would also be good for him bc, since she's clueless, she always asks during their first several times: What should I do for you? Can you show me how? Can you show me some things I might like? I believe at first he would just default to well virgin girls always liked it when I did this to them, or asked them to do that to me. But slowly he realizes she's asking not just bc she doesn't know, but bc she wants him to enjoy himself too. And eventually he starts to disassociate less and begins to genuinely consider what he wants to do when asked.
His putting on a performance also doesn't work in the way he expects bc she has no clue she's supposed to want that. The aspect of his performance that does work is he's very forward lmao. Wyll has a HUGE crush on her but he's much more slow, subtle, and romantic. That doesn't work on an oblivious and clueless girl lol. What works is to crash in and bite her neck and accidentally activate Xanaphia's libido for the first time ever 😂. What works is Astarion slinging his stupid fucking pick up lines and making this lonely, melancholy, scared girl laugh bc she's never gotten a chance to be so silly in her life.
Overall she is so innocent and honest with him, seeking out his company all the time before and after they have sex bc she likes him, and expects nothing from him in return except that he be honest too. So his guilt about lying to her rapidly eats away at him as his genuine affection for her grows.
I think he rather quickly wants it to stop being an act, but doesn't know how to be genuine with someone, especially how to have honest sex. He also, as we know, is terrified of cazador, desperately seeking allies, and feels he has nothing to cement an alliance with except sex.
So he doesn't stop for that reason either, until she gets extremely angry on his behalf over Araj, her quiet but powerful anger anyone rarely sees. That I think would really make his guilt unbearable. Xanaphia is so upset everytime they encounter evil, despite what Astarion considers the evil nature of the world, and he doesn't want to be another nasty surprise for this sweet girl. He also wants to stop faking, and realizes he doesn't know how, he needs her help.
ANYWAY so this all means the scenes included are:
first meeting; love at first knifepoint 🥰
One or two scenes where he's flirting, but she just tilts her head and blinks those big, round, pink eyes at him like "huh?" smiling innocently but clearly not getting it. This will be set in comparison him being his silly true self and her LAUGHING and really enjoying his company. he's very confused by this bc he never uses this to seduce. So keeps up the seduction act but also is more sillayyy
Their first time, and his brief moments of sincerity driven by how many times he's surprised at: her complete lack of a frame of reference, when she offers him her neck, his feeling free to bite her as he pleases, how what gets her to come for the first time is not just his elegant practiced fingers, but when he bites her thigh. He is not consciously aware of it, but she likes him for him, fangs and all
A section that covers subsequent times after, her innocence and curiosity, how she always asks him what he wants; how once she learns some things, she asks if she can try something, does he like it, and slowly he begins to actually check with himself if he does
The "I love you" thing and her anger - the unspoken expectation that she expects nothing from him but honesty
Araj and his confession
Post confession cuddling and his reflection that her innocence and sincerity in spite of this evil world are what allowed this to happen, and he doesn't want anyone to sully those aspects of her
The Mamzell and her wildly racist comments to Xanaphia, which visibly upset her (she did get comments sometimes outside the monastery but rarely, and also it's been 10 yrs since she left said monastery). He gets really angry - yeah it's a brothel and the Mamzell clearly thought Xanaphia a customer, but that doesn't matter, fuck her - definitely calls the Mamzell a shriveled old shrew lmao, and whisks Xanaphia away. Xanaphia feels weak for being upset by it, especially in light of all Astarion has been through, and that too makes him angry because "It's not a contest, darling! You told me I shouldn't accept the way that blood merchant spoke to me — well, neither should you. Neither of us deserve that."
The night the other spawn try to kidnap him. She gets very angry with him for lying and then trying to manipulate her with that whole im doing this for both of us. "I can't be what you want to see in me" becomes sort of a theme I guess
Because then we have the ritual. When she gets him to change his mind with her speech about she learned to be brave, how she wants to be brave for herself and for him, to protect him, and she knows he's brave enough to live without this evil power, bc she's seen his bravery. She's seen a lonely, scared person like herself learn over this journey to be brave enough to live without fear, just as he is. And he reflects a couple days later, at the graveyard, when he's starting to process things, that if not for her innocence, she would've never trusted him after that first day when he pulled a knife on her, after he tried to bite her, after he was ready to kill 7k people to be just like cazador. If she wasn't so innocent and pure, believing the world isn't entirely evil, she would've never have seen the goodness in him, and never have given him the chance to learn to be brave. "This is a gift. I won't forget it 🥰"
This was NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THIS LONG but wow look I have an outline now. Fic will be titled one of their theme songs, either Strangers in the Night or I'll Be Your Mirror. I think the latter, bc it fits the theme better 🤔. Also bc maybe someday I'll write a long fic about the entire BG3 story w/ Xanaphia, focusing on their relationship, and that will be called Strangers in the Night
