#heinrix it won't help

[dairine-bonnet]

I guess Heinrix will put the names of those people who rushingly left the room on the list of suspicious individuals.

P.S. Or the names of those who kept standing in line and didn't follow the order of an Inquisitorial acolyte?!

I've heard that if you don't act at all to improve the situation, other companions get annoyed. Is that true?! Need to figure it out!

[nahoba]

[lordcaptains]

i do like that the dlc lets heinrix show off a bit more of his knowledge and skill as a member of the ordo xenos. in the main game, the most we get of that is in commorragh, and he's…not really at his best there.

but in the dlc, heinrix knows - or at least has an idea of - what's going on before anyone else. he suspects that there's something up with the flute player from your first meeting and has him followed - which the nemesite later tells you did interfere with his plans. (the player may also suspect this, but they have the advantage of knowing the flute player is a named npc with actual dialogue.) 

he's the first to realize you're dealing with a genestealer cult. (in typical inquisition fashion, he won't tell you what he suspects until it's absolutely necessary, but he does know.) 

when you're investigating the body of the mutant drained of blood, heinrix tells you what you need to know about it, even if you fail the checks. he helps you withstand sharing choirmaster weisz's sight of the alien mind on board the ship. he notices the bite scars on the man's neck in the plasma drive chambers before the player even has a chance to check.

he's pretty good at his job!!

(also i love that he says he'll correct jocasta's information only if she's wrong about something and then he immediately shares what he knows after every question you ask her anyway.)

[redbatchedcumbermayned]

It all started under a duvet held up by an oar

Not so long ago I emailed Chris Tester, the voice of Heinrix van Calox in Owlcat’s recently released CRPG Rogue Trader, and asked if he would like to sit for an interview with me. Having some experience in interviewing people I like, most famously Oscar winner and all-around sweetheart Eddie Redmayne, this was not a completely nerve-wracking endeavour. And within a day of sending my email, Chris said yes. And what a pleasure it was interviewing him: Chris was so generous with his time, that the agreed upon 30 minutes turned into 50 minutes as we brushed upon many topics from his start as a theatre actor to his first voice-over role in a video game to his recently discovered hobby of playing D&D. Of course, we also spoke about all things Warhammer 40k, his new found fame brought on by voicing Heinrix and the insights he could share about the character.

I will publish this interview in three parts over the next week in text form and with the accompanying audio file (the audio quality is not spectacular but tumblr limits uploads to 10MB). If you quote or reshare, please quote me as the original source.

Part 2 of the interview

Part 3 of the interview

Fran: Thank you very much for taking your time.

Chris Tester: That's no problem. No problem at all.

F: So then let's start. You graduated in 2008.

CT: I did. Yes.

F: You started out as a stage actor. Did you always want to become a stage actor or an actor in general? Tell us a bit about your career.

CT: I always wanted to be a stage actor. Yes, as soon as I knew that I wanted to be an actor, which probably wasn't until I was a teenager. But yeah, my first passion was always the stage, and that was kind of borne out in my career. I would have been open to TV and film of course, if it had come along, I'm a huge fan of TV and film as well, but I never got an audition for any TV or film work.

I think I literally did about three short films in my 10, 12 years of actually professionally acting, and it is one of those industries where the more you do of one thing, the more you seem to find yourself doing the same thing to a degree. So yes, watching Shakespeare from an early age was one of my first passions.

And that was what first planted the seed of wanting to do it myself. The whole aspect of live performance is still something that I'm very passionate about. Up until 2020, when the world changed, I was trying to do two or three theatre shows a year, but since 2020, I haven't been near a stage and I doubt right now, especially with the way that the UK theatre scene is going, that I'm going to be back on stage anytime soon. I am resigned to that, but at some point in my career, I know I will be on stage again, because I can't live without it, but only for the right thing, both financially, but more importantly, creatively.

F: Your production company is currently on hiatus?

CT: I was the producer of a theatre company, which was run and was the baby of the director of the company, a guy called Ross Armstrong, who's one of the most talented writers and directors that I've ever worked with. I was helping out with a lot of the administration stuff so that he could still put me in plays. Instead of creating my own work because I'm not a very good writer or the best writer in the world, I support those people who will write me good parts. So yes, it is currently on hiatus, but never say never, we would always be looking to get back. It's difficult right now. It's difficult for all of us, because arts council subsidy, that way of being able to fund stuff, is drying up. We were doing a national tour of the UK when we were doing that [with the support of a subsidy]. There's even less money, there's even more people. I won't bore you with anything more than that, but it's kind of tough. We'd like to come back, but in the right way, and that's tricky to negotiate.

F: It's always hard as a stage actor to earn a living.

CT: Well, I've been spoiled by voice-over as well, and whereas when I was in my 20s and 30s then you're all about your art. And of course, I'm still all about my art, but I'm also about my wife and my cat and the mortgage and the bills and wanting to have nicer things to a degree as well. I've come to terms with that and voice-over does facilitate that as well as it opens you up to different roles and working with different people. So, I can't complain.

F: It's quite similar with making a living as a writer, because with a steady income you get used to a certain standard of living and once you have obligations and bills to pay, I think the stress on your mental health being creative and having all the stresses of regular life thrust upon you brings with it a challenge.

CT: It's a cliche we can very easily fall into: if I'm suffering, then it means I'm an artist. And that's not necessarily very true. It very often means that the art that we create only reflects one aspect of our lives, and it's usually a very tortured one. I am also about having wider experiences and broadening myself out. Whereas I think when I was in my twenties, I was thinking a bit more like: Oh, I'll experience the world and life through my art and just purely through my art. Whereas now necessarily I need to have a life outside of it as well, and then I can justify like I have the life so that I can feed my art or not, whatever. You know, I'll be a better artist by having a bit of a life outside of it. Maybe.

F: But that's what your twenties are for.

CT: Yeah, indeed.

F: Doing the crazy stuff, doing the band stuff 

CT: Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, there was certainly an aspect of that in my twenties.

F: So, what brought you to voice acting or voice-over work initially?

CT: Money. Video game stuff is kind of sexy and cool, and I'm a gamer, so that's important. Before I was a video gamer, I was a board gamer and off the back of that, I was a voracious video gamer, partly because I wasn't very good at team sports at school. I was always the person who was picked last in the football team. So that becomes part of your identity for better or worse. But video games, I was pretty good at, not amazing, but I was pretty good at, and I enjoyed it. And it gave me a different form of escapism as well, and off the back of that I always had an interest in them. 

So, the very first voiceover job was a video game: Dark Souls, which is quite a big franchise. At that time, I was your very typically jobbing actor. My acting agent came in and said: I got something for you. And so, I went in with that. But it was only in 2016, 2017 that I realised it was something that you could actually do yourself. People had recording studios at home and they were contacting people directly, not just going through agents. Because I'd basically written to the same 20 voice agents in the UK, mainly in London for like eight years in a row and not received anything. So, you keep knocking on those doors hoping. 

Before I'd even graduated from drama school, I'd burnt a CD and made these cases with my headshot on it and sent them all off at what at the time felt like great personal expense and didn't get anything for eight years in a row.  So, I was a bit like, I'm obviously doing something wrong, but I don't really know what, because I'm doing these workshops and getting good feedback. Then I found out through a couple of online courses, that there were ways and means of doing it myself, and that was a bit of a game changer for me, and within six months of having started, I was earning more through voice work than the bar job and the box office job that I was doing combined. Within six months, I was kind of like: “I gotta quit because I'm actually holding myself back from things.” So that was quite a big shift.

F: Somewhere you said, you started out under a duvet and with an oar.

CT: Yeah. On my website, I do have an image of it. [Dear reader, I could not locate this elusive photo] I literally had to take the duvet off my bed and put it into the living room, which was the quietest space in my then shared flat. I also had to wait until after one flat mate had watched TV and another one had used the table that had their washing on it. One of my flat mates had stolen an oar from some night out and that was perfect in order to be able to erect it over my head and the duvet as a frame. 

I did probably the first four or five months of voice recording like that. Probably about 10, 15 voiceover jobs that I actually got paid for, I was using that because it worked well enough. Since then, I've gone through various different iterations of a setup in the bedroom, to a setup in the hallway, to my current setup. In 2020 we moved to our first house, and this is the spare bedroom which I've had converted into a studio, which means my cat can be here asleep on me or near me getting fur everywhere, but it's fine. I can thrash around and I've got natural light to work in at the same time, which I find quite important. [Pictured below Chris' current setup.]

F: Very pretty. That's good. Guide us through a typical day of yours, if you like.

CT: Oh, sure. I mean, there is no typical day. And yet, and yet, and yet. A typical day for me is, because I am spending the vast majority of the day sitting in this room or somewhere close to this room, because I may need to record at short notice, because the vast majority of jobs are quite short notice. My priority is exercise for mental health more than anything. I've got some weights at the bottom of the garden, and I will get up first thing, and I will go there and I will do that after breakfast. And that's my minimal routine of physical activity done. 

And then I'll come back, and this is so rock and roll. Now what I do is, I spend like an hour on LinkedIn. And that's what you dreamed of as a creative person. Isn't it as an actor? I spend time on LinkedIn regularly every day, because it's a really good networking place for a lot of my types of work, and first thing in the morning, I'm a bit mentally sharper. So that's when I come up with a quick post that may be inspired by a bit of content that I've made elsewhere. That probably takes about 20 minutes and then I spend another 45 minutes to an hour engaging with people and saying hi and introducing myself and asking questions, whether that's with video producers or game developers or documentary makers or pretty much anything and everything. There are a lot of people who are active at that time. And so I do it.

And then after that, if I already have some recording lined up, then I'll prioritise mid-morning, because I've warmed up physically a bit more then, and I'm focused. So, you're going through the scripts, annotating the scripts, recording the scripts, editing the scripts. But then there could be live sessions at any time within that as well. I try to keep hours from nine till six. But occasionally, like with Rogue Trader, that was recorded at various different times of the day because we had people in New York, we had people in mainland Europe, and we had people in the UK. So all different time zones, so that can happen at any time. 

And then I try to do other kinds of bits and pieces of marketing whenever I've got free time to. I do use really exciting productivity hacks, like time blocking. Again, not something that as a creative individual, I was like: Oh God, this gets me so excited, because it doesn't, but it works. It's finding a system that works for you, but still has a certain kind of flexibility and fluidity. I'm trying to make sure that I get outside of the house, and that kind of stuff. 

Recently, over the last year, I’ve started doing audiobooks as well. That long form type of thing is quite nice to be able to dip into because sometimes you don't record for two, three days. You don't get the work. Nothing’s coming in. So, you’re marketing, but it kind of connects you back to the performance side of things to go: I can do a few chapters and you know, that kind of thing. So that's probably it. I try to formalise it, but you know, every voice actor’s day is radically different. There are people, some of the biggest names, going into different studios every week or every day. I very rarely, despite being based in London, I very rarely go into external studios. Like I would say 99 percent of the work I just do from home.

F: So how do you find the right voice for the specific type of voiceover work you do, maybe start with how did you find Heinrix's voice?

CT: Thankfully, Owlcat sent through quite a detailed casting breakdown. So, you get a picture, and that's pretty crucial, as well as a short bio, in terms of the background of the character, but not too much, because you have to sign an NDA, a non-disclosure agreement. But even if you do sign an NDA, I think developers are always slightly hesitant of giving you too much info about the game because things could still be changed. But I think I did get a picture of Heinrix, if not in the first audition, then certainly on the second one. From that you immediately think about the physicality and what might affect the voice, and there was also some direction in terms of what they were looking for. Anybody who has heard the character and me, they do not sound radically dissimilar. There's not a transformative process that I needed to go through, other than his sense of authority and the space that he takes up and the sureness that he has in that he has a kind of divine right from the emperor, so that level of confidence being brought through.

The other part of the audition was about the void ship [the Black Ship] that he'd been raised in and the horrors that he'd seen. And you as the actor have to do the detective work to go like this is showing another side, the more vulnerable side, the side that underpins all of his life choices up to this point. It's essentially playing the opposite to a degree. So it was kind of knowing when to let those elements bleed through a little bit. I think I had probably about a page worth of scripts, quite a lot of script actually to audition with. 

But I don't like to listen back to it a lot, because I think you get into your head. My biggest thing is stage work where it's ephemeral. You say it once and it could be different the next night. The whole point is that there's no one definitive way of doing things. Not quite the same with voice acting, where it's being recorded and you've got to get used to hearing it back. But I try not to overthink it. Just like record it two or three times with different impulses and then review and go like, those two seem pretty contrasting. I'll send those along and hope and then never hear anything back unless I do.

[cawyden-gaming]

Christopher Tester (Heinrix VA) voice acting a part of my fanfiction Immortalium.

It is a scene that isn’t posted yet that follows the game event in act 4 where the Rogue Trader can disappear again on a companion quest (spoiler for the companion below and in the video).

While sadly not in the game, I think we can imagine the emotions Heinrix must be going through at this moment:

He is angry with himself, that he wasn't able to prevent this from happening, angry with whoever is responsible for the Rogue Trader to disappear

He is emotionally hurt and in great pain as he just lost the woman (again), that he fell in love with

The sheer helplessness that he can't do anything to help her come back

There are moments where he clinges on hope and where he tries to keep control over his emotions, to distance himself from the pain like he always does

He is remorseful over things he said and did that hurt her, and the missed opportunities to make it right (this is specific for my fanfic)

The voiced scene is Heinrix trying to write a letter to his beloved Rogue Trader, even if his words might never reach her. While writing, he voices his thoughts about the whole ordeal.

I hope you enjoy Christophers very emotional performance as much as I did:

The whole text (as I mentioned, this is while he is trying to write a letter):

“Dear… no.”

“Lord Captain...”

“I... I lost you.”

“And now we are dragged against our will along the unpredictable currents of the warp, unable to steer a path of our own, to break away into realspace once again, a plaything of volatile forces. But we shouldn't even be here, it wasn't planned and the usual protocols and rituals were not done. What were you and Lady Cassia doing in the sanctum? Why was no one else informed? What were you hiding? Would you have told me if things had been different between us?”

“No. No! Right on this ship, right under my nose ... what am I not seeing?”

“Gone. How many hours have I spent in front of this accursed painting, looking for a sign, a trace, wondering if something would drag me through it like it did with you? Granting me relief by uniting me with you or a slow death of agony in the horrors of the warp.”

“Nothing. Despite everything I tried, everything I did, all the investigations, interrogations...can you believe that I even asked Idira for help, to listen to the voices in the warp against my better knowledge and judgement, still leaving me with nothing that brings me closer to you, to help you return.”

“What good is the authority of my position, years of experience that refined my skills and abilities, all my collected knowledge, even my sorcery, if it can't help me protect or save the one who matters most to me?”

“Trap after trap after trap we went through - with open eyes. Even the one I knew was coming. Whatever happened now, took me by complete surprise. It shouldn't have.”

“I can't sleep and I am too tired to think clearly anymore. I am at a loss.”

“No. Focus, van Calox. I won't give up - there must be an explanation, a solution, a better way than just waiting for another miracle to happen. I have to do something, anything to bring you back. It can't end like this.”

“Every day can be the last … I learned this lesson far too well – why didn't I act like it? Letting valuable time run through my fingers as if we had eternity to spend. As if there was for sure a tomorrow to tell you what I need you to know, to make things right, to get another chance to hold you, to be with you.”

“I only ever wanted to protect you. I failed. Again. Trying to keep you safe but all I accomplished was to push you away and to hurt your feelings in the process. I was blinded by revenge against the Xenos, for all the pain and suffering they had inflicted upon us. By my concern and fear it could happen again. If I had done things differently maybe... but now it's too late.”

“Hope. How often is it used as a tool, perverted in a cruel attempt to increase the pain of suffering? I have seen it countless times. Did it myself. And yet, it is all I have left. I hope for your safe return. For another chance for both of us, one I would dare not waste again.”

“Commoragh. We returned, against all odds. Maybe we were just pawns in a game of gods. I like to believe the Emperor watched over us in this forsaken place. I hope he still watches over you and helps you return once more, wherever you are. Because I, apparently, can't.”

“Please come back to me.”

[mistresssheo]

Heinrix has dropped his papers. He wants to pick them up and thinks Livia wants to help him, but she wants something else.

RT: Oh come on, just a little kiss for your Lord Captain.

Heinrix: It won't end with a kiss. It was the same last time. I have to finish this report ... Please...

I have drawn this picture before, but on paper. Here.

[lerulpes]

actions that produce thoughts | Rogue Trader x Heinrix

disclaimer: silly little thoughts of mine because I am SO OKAY about a certain van Calox citizen that I think about him almost every day. Here you can read something about one of the first romance scenes and get to know my Rogue Trader a wee bit :D

also: the thoughts about etiquette breach are sponsored by post from rokamakofo

also #2: english is not my first language, so excuse me. or not.

Lord Captain's chambers appeared as usual. The vox stood silent, the ship hummed, the clocks in the corner were ticking as they did for every other von Valancius before, but Elisabeth was a bit unwell. She laid on her bed, still in her clothes, and looked at the ceiling. Who would've thought that a simple gesture would unsettle her this much.

During her years in the Militarum, people only saluted her and shook her hand on rare occasions: no one dared to touch general Scipio-Grimald in any other way. Since she became a Rogue Trader, nothing really changed, maybe people just tended to bow more. But who knew that her hand would ever be kissed, and kissed so... so... Failed to form a definition, Elisabeth exhaled and lifted her palm.

Calloused fingers covered with scars - burned, cut and Emperor knows what else, short nails - her hands were less noble than people wished they were, and Elisabeth usually wore gloves in public. She took them off when talking to her retinue or in her quarters, and for the first time a certain someone took advantage of this.

The palm folded as if someone was still holding it. An image reappeared before her eyes: dimly lit room, regicide table, interrogator van Calox two steps in front of her. He was going to leave, and Elisabeth wanted to extend her hand to shake his, but Heinrix was faster. Rustle of his jacket as he stepped forward and gently grabbed her hand; warmth of his skin, not contained by uniform, when his fingers interlaced hers; softness of his lips, first lips to touch her knuckles; slightly hesitant look in dark eyes as he finally found the strength to pull away.

A deep breath. Elisabeth felt her cheeks grow hotter once again.

Why, why did this youthful crush seized her in most irrelevant period of her life? Why didn't her heart wait for things to settle down, why did it choose an Inquisitor who tortured people in front of her and would gladly hand her over for this infatuation? Elisabeth hissed.

She blamed her stupid, stupid head, blamed her heart for being ready to fall into his arms, blamed Heinrix for accepting her gestures and not discarding them. Well, maybe it is just a matter of etiquette he suddenly remembered from his childhood? - asked a voice in her head. He never did this before, - answered another. And we never chatted tete-a-tete drinking amasec before too. Not an activity you engage in with a hound dog (even if pretty and charming) of the Inquisition.

"Damn you, van Calox," hissed Elisabeth, trying to get dark-haired Inquisitor out of her head, but all in vain.

meanwhile

As the elevator doors shut behind him, Heinrix allowed himself to exhale and relax his shoulders. He pinched his nose bridge, closing his eyes, put his hands on his hips and stared at the ceiling lamps. Well done, van Calox, simply lovely.

Years, no, decades of service went smoothly. With cold head and heart he hunted down every traitor, sniffed out every hint of heresy, he was Calcazar's best hound dog. Never has he thought that all that can be swept away by a woman who dared to speak not with interrogator van Calox, but with Heinrix.

A deep breath. Must be the booze; he got too relaxed and decided he can allow himself something more. Now he needs to write a gentle reminder not to drink in her presence on the back of his head.

Well, it won't help the need to be around her, to help her and touch her. To his own regret Heinrix realized that, even being totally sober, he wants being this close: to give her hand, to hold her shoulder, to pass an object and accidentally touch her fingers with his.

Everything was much more simple when her desk was between them. A fine border that cannot be crossed. But of course something told him to go to this damned table and tell her some nonsense - a nonsense that somehow caught her attention. "Finally you talk about something that interests you," - oh, he wished he didn't.

Heinrix closed his eyes once again, and an image reappeared before him, her image. Relaxed, smiling - not a clump of nerves ready for an ambush. Could he blame himself for wanting to kiss her? To make it an answer to all of her gestures? Maybe a kiss on the hand was the lesser evil after all.

He touched his lips - lips that weren't touched by anyone for a long time - with his fingers. He almost felt her knuckles once again; her hands were anything but a noble lady's, but what can you expect from an operative? If he was still on his homeworld, though, he'd bet his mother would already scold him and lecture about propriety.

Although propriety was the last thing on his mind when Elisabeth looked him in the eyes. It was extremely unbearable a few minutes ago when she looked at him over her hand: mouth agape, shock on her face, slightly disheveled hair and reddening face - a kiss on the hand clearly was the lesser evil.

The elevator beeped when approaching needed floor. Before exiting, Heinrix put on his stoic mask once again. Politely nodding to every officer he met on the way, he opened the door to his cabin, slipped in and shut it back. A deep breath, a hand combing through his hair trying to cool down.

"Damn you, Elisabeth," hissed Heinrix, trying to get the Rogue Trader out of his head, but all in vain.

[thatzombiecat]

Just wanted to drop in and saying thank you again for the great references for Heinrix - I haven't used them yet but when I have more time to practise drawing again they will be a great help! And thank you so much for the information about the brushes - this is super interesting!

I am glad you share your gorgeous art with us - and of course your thoughts and backstories of Elayne and Vincent ❤️

Ahhhhhh appreciate you so much Cawyden!!! And pleased to know that materials are finding their use! ^^ I looove the works you made before, especially one for the past Gift Exhange, was so fireeeeee!!! Hope you'll find plenty of joy and inspiration to grace us with more new pieces again ❤️❤️❤️

I'm so happy I discovered your blog, it was my first introduction to the RT fandom space in the tumblr, and the materials you have provided were nothing but exceptionally informative! Still endlessly grateful for you reaching out back in the past year's February to help resolve the blog's shadowban to this day, otherwise I won't be here for sure :'3 I was still new to the site and haven't really knew much.

Thakn you again for everything, for you kind support, for being there with us in the fandom 🫶🫶

[noelle666]

Rogue Trader AU - Janus (a little piece)

So, I need to strart writing the story based on these AU ideas since some scenes are already appeared in my head and need to be put on paper. The problem is... I can't find words. The only thing I can drag out of myself right now is a little scene which I can see clearly and it takes place somewhere in the middle of the story. So, maybe if I write it down it'll help with the rest of writing.

Ok, here we go. Again, it is an AU universe, Noelle is not a Rogue Trader, she was and still is an Ecclesiarchy priestess who ended up on Janus and lives there for several months as a member of Vistenza Vyatt's retinue (it will be explained later (I hope I'll make a proper explanation) why she wanted the young priestess to stay).

***

The young woman was sitting on a chair reading her notes, trying to remember all what she learned from Master van Calox. It was indeed easier to understand principles of regicide when you have a board and a partner patient enough to spend enough time for a lesson. No matter how good and detailed all the explanations and illustrations look on paper of a textbook, theory intertwined with practice is more convenient than raw theory. Fire was slowly dancing in a decorative hearth, the day was coming to an end. Suddenly someone knocked at the door; Noelle wasn't expecting visitors and hesitated at first, but stood up and went to the room's entrance. She opened the door and saw Heinrix: he looked even more serious than usual.

"Ma..."

The young priestess wanted to greet the interrogator and asked what brough him here at this evening hour, but the man pressed a finger to his lips commanding to not say any word. Van Calox entered theroom, closed the door and took an envelope out of a pocket, he handed it to Noelle and started waiting, looking at her with a gaze of his cold steel eyes. The priestess looked at a piece of paper on which she read words "Read. Silently. Now"; she felt this was a serious matter if a member of the Inquisition asks, no, demands to do something, so she opened the note and started reading.

"Noelle,

First of all, forgive me for approaching you so suddenly and without warning - the matter is serious, and there is really not much time. I must ask for your cooperation tomorrow evening. I cannot share many details but my investigation has led me to a conclusion: all cases of strange deaths and dissapearances are related to the Archenemy's activity, and I know where exactly is the source. Although, with all these knowledge I cannot act openly since I am alone here and my collegues, I am afraid, won't arrive in time, so I want to attack a snake while it suspects nothing with a single accurate strike. And here I need you.

We have to put on a little show to confuse the culprit. Again, I cannot tell you much, but to make everything look belivable I'll have to break rules of decency and violate your personal boundaries, for which I must ask your forgiveness. I will not hurt you and will not do anything terrible, you may be assured, the situation will be under control. When the play gets to its culmination I will say to you one word, only one word, which you MUST obey.

I believe you understand the situation will indeed be dangerous, hence I am asking you and not commanding. I wouldn't put you at risk if I wasn't sure and calculated all possible outcomes with all possible variations of actions. I give you a choise: if you join me, burn this note right away in front of me. If not, give the paper back to me. Yes, you can decline my request (it is a request, not an order), but I am hoping you will join me for your little role can help me a lot".

Inqusitors never "ask", if they tell you to do anything you must do it and even more. And yet Noelle could've said "no"... no, she could have not. She'd seen with her own eyes what demonic power can do with a person, how a mind can be corrupted and how light leaves human's soul. A terrifying view which no one would've wanted to witness, a view which makes you think how weak you are since your mortal hands cannot bring any help to those who got under control of dark Warp powers. The priestess folded a note in half, she came close to a hearth and threw the paper - fire swallowed this little meal quickly, chewing it and turning into a small pile of black weightless ash. Noelle turned to Heinrix: she noticed a little sigh of relief, a shade of tension left the face of the interrogator. The man gave a short nod, he turned around and left the room with no word.

So, tomorrow evening then. Let The Emperor guide them and help them with their uneasy mission.

[amalhin]

7, 8, 27, 4, 53

4. Are any of your OCs part of a larger story or project? If not, what sorts of things do you use them for (drawing, daydreaming, etc)?

i have 5 ocs i don't post about that are apart of a project my girlfriend and i worked on for a little bit, i mostly don't post them because i've given them up completely to mina for them to decide what they're like, i just provide a rough guideline of what i imagine. other than that, i actually use most of my ocs for large writing projects that i will never show anyone and they'll die with me!

7. Talk about three of your oldest OCs.

technically icarus and finn are my longest, but i have nothing to say about them since i've relinquished control of them LOL

my oldest oc besides those two is dhaveira, my lavellan. he's been my most fleshed out and most precious oc since i got intro dragon age when i was 18 or something. i've always considered him my best oc and i thought his original plot where he dies was the best outcome for him.... >_< i've written a lot of fics about him and his time as the inquisitor where his mental stability degrades rapidly under the stress of being a ruler, and i also kind of dipped my toes into the idea that his excessive usage of the anchor causes him to slip in and out of the fade. and i'm extremely proud of what i did with his staff! i won't go off about all of it but he's bound a demon to it so it's alive and "speaks" to him, which i was really inspired by my own psychosis so whenever the staff speaks it's technically incoherent nonsense that only dhaveira can understand. he's always searching for a meaning behind everything.

and then my last two older OCs are my courier Six Deluxe and my lone wanderer Cyril Chen, i love six because he is incredibly bizarre and during his character development over the years i don't think any companion would actually like him. i think the companions tolerate him because he provides them safety and he's stupidly rich. cyril is probably my dearest OC i think i put a lot of myself into him.

8. Talk about three of your newest OCs.

vein is my favorite newer OC :) i really love him to pieces and i love how tragic his life is. he goes through so much development caring about the companions in bg3 that, while he still murders everyone who disrespects him, he comes much softer. in all of act 3 he spends most of his time doing all of his friends requests because he believes he's going to die and he'd never forgive himself if he went back to bhaal and his friends still needed his help. he also becomes yenna's dad >_> with astarion >_> because i think those two need something going for them to prevent them from catastrophic thinking all the time.

then there's my rook, who i ... i honestly like so much, i think about him all the time LOL i really like the dynamic he has with solas and i also love the horror of it all. i really liked datv >_> anyway i love near's little family of weirdos and creeps and i love how many times he has to process grief

Errmmmm then there's vitya who i'm having a lot of fun with, he really struggles with personhood and the fact that he's been experimented on so he doesn't really feel like he's human anymore. he doesn't allow anyone to touch him and he refuses to touch anyone or anything with his decayed arm until post-comorragh where it's even worse so he keeps bandages or gloves over his arms. i also love his relationship with marazhai and i do love the angst of his relationship with heinrix. the only person allowed to touch him is marazhai ^_^

27. Name an OC who has a very defined aesthetic.

ok i legit couldn't think at all but vein is very inspired by gothic lolita, though i usually draw him shirtless because i avoid drawing clothes as much as possible. kanon is also based on white goth, and vitya was heavily inspired by older visual kei bands like buck-tick and mucc. oh! and pyrrha is entirely based on lolita and j-idols. i think those ones have pretty clear aesthetics but i usually pull from so many influences that it's hard to pinpoint one specific thing.

53

[quirkyenby]

I'm only on Chapter 2 of my first playthrough of Rogue Trader, and the tea is already piping hot.

Her name is Nova, and she's a voidborn psyker Int-based Officer (I know it doesn't work; that's why I play on Story mode). At the beginning, she was the epitome of hyperempathetic autistic, Iconoclast people-pleaser to the core.

She made tough decisions, got pushback, trusted too much and paid the price.

She triggered Heinrix's romance first, but had a fast-burn relationship with Jae. At first I thought it would be similar to the Gale/Shadowheart love triangle I had in BG3 where they would end up at a "me or him" ultimatum. However, that was before what I like to call...

The Voxcast Incident.

Spoilers ahead...

So Jae and Nova started off great; there were some red flags, and at that point, Nova was colorblind. Giving gifts is a valid love language, but one of Jae's lines during her quest made me think. ("it's not a bribe, it's a gift.") Nova gave her a whole damn colony! Jae was her first relationship; why wouldn't she go above and beyond for her?

Then it happened. It was just after she kicked Idira off the ship for essentially causing innocent deaths. She had a deep talk with Heinrix. She was growing a bit of backbone, even getting some Dogmatic points in planet decision.

Nova was about to start some unrelated business when Voxmaster Vigdis told her about how Jae broadcasted their sexy private time to the entire station.

Like no. Nope. Nu-uh. Nada.

I won't go too deep into why, because it is obviously a blatant breech of consent.

Like nah.

But onto wholesome stuff, a bit after the Voxcast Incident, Abelard and Heinrix had banter where Abelard was being a typical protective dad, and I couldn't help but imagine how enraged he'd be at Jae for her stunt. It's giving me fic ideas already.

At least Nova still has Sirocco.

[systembug]

🔺 RED TRIANGLE POINTED UP — does your oc know how to use any weapons?

🩹 ADHESIVE BANDAGE — does your oc have any physical and/or mental disabilities?

💘 HEART WITH ARROW — what and/or who do(es) your oc consider the most important to them?

🖤 BLACK HEART — has your oc killed or seriously wounded anyone before? have they broken someone's heart and/or broken someone's trust?

😓 DOWNCAST FACE WITH SWEAT — is your oc open-minded or stubborn? are they inquisitive or do they prefer to keep to their bubble of knowledge?

🤒 FACE WITH THERMOMETER — does your oc get sick easily?

for Ethera?

Thank you for the ask<3

🔺 - Yes! She knows how to shoot, specifically. There are many guns that are too heavy for her to use effectively, however. The best choice would be a one-handed laspistol, imo. Her combat style is staying behind the lines and coordinating others, so close-quarters combat is a worst-case scenario.

🩹 - While i didn't intend to represent anything specifically, i think some traits i've given her might match some irl disabilities. I needed to balance her willpower, intelligence and psychic powers with some weaknesses so i made her physically frail. Which turned into her getting tired easily and avoiding physical exertion in the fic/my head. This is similiar to chronic fatigue, i think. The other thing i came up with just for flavour was her constantly whispering. Initially it was to give her typical "Mysterious mage" vibes. But then it gained a significance in her story, so its an important part of her now. I didn't go into any specifics on what exactly caused her injury, but it might be viewed as similar to some irl voice disorders(?). Basically, she cannot yell - her voice breaks and she would have a coughing fit. It gets hoarse and she has trouble breathing in some cases. She has a voice-amplifier that boosts the volume for her in case she needs to be heard.

The voice disorder is a metaphorical detail, that i put in mostly for symbolism, its not meant to be accurate to anything.

💘 - Her found family<3 It includes:

Her Seneschal that is utterly loyal and supportive, a person that has her back always. Pasqal, enough said XD (she trusts him enough to be herself fully with him) Idira, who she loves platonically. Her poor little meow meow that genuinely cares about her Lord Captain and Understands her:3 Jae is a fellow girlboss that fought to be a free person in an uncaring universe. They respect each other very much. They sometimes swindle each other out of money, in a friendly way XD Heinrix becomes her friend eventually, because he cannot hide his tender emotional side from a telepath and Ethera cannot bring herself to use it against him because she's just like him in that regard. They also bond over Psyker trauma Special mention goes to Vigdis - very loyal and helpful, becomes her right hand in gathering intel through the vox system.

🖤 - Yep:D This comes with being a spy. Its never a physical, direct murder, but she DEFINITELY poisoned some nobles, ruined some reputations and lives and possibly broke a couple of hearts along the way.

😓 - Its hard to not be open-minded when you can feel and know people's point of view like your own. She does have some values she won't budge on ofc, but she will hear you out at least.

🤒 - Yes, unfortunately. But as a Rogue Trader she has some good medical personell to take care of her:) (sickfic when /jk jk unless)

[captastra]

Hello! 2, 8, and 9 for Lethyan!

2. What was their Origin? How did they end up in that path?

Lethyan is a sanctioned psyker, specifically a pyromancy psyker. Unfortunately for her, like all other psykers, she did not end up on the path but was simply always a psyker. Her abilities manifested when Lethal Revenant (her home ship) was attacked by World Eaters (Chaos Space Marines). A boarding party had penetrated the ship a few levels below where her clan lived, but her clan barely had time to start running for safety when Marines made it to her level. No crew members had made it to their level yet, not that they would be expected to, which meant Lethyan, even as a girl of 9, knew she was died. This would be her end, surrounded by flames with a World Eater bearing his chainsword down on her. Except she didn’t die. Instead the fire around her seemed to respond to her screams and swarmed the World Eater, burning him until he was nothing but ash and burnt ceramite.

After this incident, Lethyan was able to get away and hide under the radar for a few more years before her psyker abilities were discovered and she was given to a Black Ship to be taken to Terra to begin her training and sanctioning process. Lethyan never speaks of her time aboard the Black Ship. The memories are not something she ever wants to relive.

From there she went through the sanctioning process which left her more scarred due to an error that occurred and left her mind tortured in the warp before finally being brought back. With her powers too powerful to lose, Lethyan gets assigned to the Imperial Guard and spends her days pre-Rogue Trader assisting the Guard in battles against enemies of the Imperium. Unfortunately for her, she survives each and every fight she gets sent on.

8. How much does your RT buy into the Imperium's dogma? What do they agree or disagree on?

Answered here!

9. Who is your RT romancing/planning to romance?

Heinrix. Initially Lethyan was hesitant of him because their first meeting triggering some very bad memories for her, but when it became obvious he would be very easy to tease, she couldn’t help but find herself drawn to the man with such thick icy walls that even right away had cracks showing the sensitive man underneath. So obviously she had to do whatever it took to melt them away and sure enough she found herself falling. The poor dear, Heinrix may be devoted and down bad for her, but Lethyan ends up just as down bad for him.

Its hard to resist the parallels between them of ice and fire. Lethyan so free and open with who she is, which Heinrix on his end can't help but be drawn to as well. I truly could ramble for hours about these two (and have so I won't go crazy here).

She does have a small dalliance with Marazhai though. What can she say, he brings out something in her that she never had the chance to explore in the Imperial Guard and found his manner…enticing. Though in the end her heart would forever belong to Heinrix.

[cawyden-gaming]

Do you know what exactly the flags in Toybox are you need to set in order to get the Master of Whispers ending for Heinrix? I want to do a run where he stays on the ship for Commorragh, but I know if I do that I miss out on at least one corruption point.

Hi!

Of course, etude CorruprionInterrogator (that is not a writing mistake, there is a r instead of a t in the name).

Just fyi: you do NOT need him with you in act 3 to get this ending even without toybox. You only need 2 points for his date in act 4 and then get there the 3rd one.

For toybox look here in the post under corruption points:

You need at least 2 points for an additional dialog option to appear in his first romance scene in act 4 which gives another point and then at least 3 points before the second romance scene (after Euphrates mission).

So just set the counter at least at the start of act 4 or earlier to 3 and you should be fine.

You can still take Heinrix to the black ship to get a point (go with him alone then he won't be interrupted by the others) and then you can go back to the shuttle before the fight if you don't like to do the mission or want other companions.

And the other point you can get on Janus. Just get him in your party at the end when you want to talk to the Governor - you might need to have him present in the one fight then there too, I suppose you can't change the companions at this point.

If you don't mind having him present for the one Janus fight (you get a romance conversation afterwards as soon as you leave the Governors office) you can get 2 points with him for his MoW ending.

You do not need to have him with you in act 3 (he does have nice romance content there), If you have 2 corruption points and then get the 3rd from his date scene you get the MoW ending.

[eurekq]

🍹: Does your OC have any funny anecdotes told about them?

I'll answer this for a couple of different ocs!

Elektra: Elektra was a massive flirt during her IG days, but more as a self deprecating thing (Think "yeah I bet you really wanna get with this huh" type humor. Not expecting it to be reciprocated). This doesn't really come out a ton during the game (Everyone's her subordinates so it doesn't land the same. The only person she can really do this to is Heinrix) BUT. In the aftermath of Jae's party, after stumbling onto the bridge, she very loudly, publically, and explicitly came onto Pasqal. She doesn't remember that this happened. Everyone else does. Vividly.

Elektra also, unfortunately for everyone in the vicinity, has the carouse score to go partying with the Space Wolves whenever their paths cross. She gets very into this. The time she finally wheedled Heinrix into doing a keg stand was legendary.

Cascade: When Cascade and Woljif first kissed they got their horns stuck together. When they finally got unstuck they got a couple more inches apart before realizing that they were still tangled together in some of her sharper jewelry. This was very visible on a well-lit balcony and Daeran and Seelah won't let them forget about it.

Epiphany: Epiphany's wild magic often responds to her emotions, and sometimes in very funny ways. One time she got pissed at Gale and accidentally generated a literal rain cloud directly over his head. It wouldn't dissipate for a whole day and got a bunch of his books wet. This did not help their already strained relationship.

Animals also hate her: more than one bar owner has stories of a cartoonishly angry tiny tiefling woman being chased around the establishment by their pet cat or getting mobbed by chickens in the street.

[redbatchedcumbermayned]

📻 and Isha!

Thank you, Nova! <333

My playlist is an absolute mess, but I'll offer "Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)" for Isha.

I love Cher's interpretation of the song, because Isha too sings in a contralto voice, and that song is the opening to the musical episode of "Much Ado About The Lord Captain", belted by Jae and Isha.

And these lyrics just fit her growin frustration with Heinrix so much:

Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight Won't somebody help me chase these shadows away? Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight Take me through the darkness to the break of the day