#oc: brynnrae

[lewvithur]

i started drawing this in may and i didn't get it finished until the end of pride month i am so cool

anyway here's all my ocs! brynnrae's a trans lesbian, rylzyne is nonbinary and pan, zenith is bisexual and demiromantic, and denxral is bisexual and genderqueer

happy pride month ever follower!

[lewvithur]

OC: Brynnrae Crescentwing

it's May 6th, which means one thing and one thing only. it’s been four years since i’ve designed this half-elf wizard who has become one of my oldest current OCs.

meet Brynnrae!

for today, i figured i’d go into detail and explain how i made her her.

around this time in 2020, i was running my own little DnD campaign. yep, during the pandemic and everything. we had to have at least three sessions done and recorded over Google Hangout. anyway, around this time, the party was bound to run into a city overrun by wizards that i do not remember the name of.

the other thing that happened during this time was i found about some anime, HaruChika. i’ve only seen one episode of it, and it’s the episode where this character showed up.

her name is Makoto. obviously, her main deal is that she looks like Snufkin from the Moomin series. she even plays a melodica. but the thing that interested me about this detail was that she was food-focused. she starts a music duel just so the loser can buy her food. she’s often seen with bread in her hand. so i took that detail and decided, “hey, my next character should be a perky little brat who is always hungry.”

that’s when Brynnrae came in.

here's the first time i drew her about 4 years ago!

so that was her niche. she was 1. made to be a guide to help the party throughout the town so they could fulfill their objective within the walls of the gated wizard city, and 2. there to be a food-obsessed gregarious wizard who was out of place among her peers. and of course there was a joke wherein she ordered food for the table and then asked the party what they would like to order. there had to be.

ever since then, i kind of had her in the back of my mind, developing her bit by bit so she isn’t just a joke character. there were some things i knew about her from the very start that wouldn’t change, mainly that she is a trans lesbian. also the fact that her mother is a sun elf and her father is, of course, human. 

anyway, i kind of had her in the background for a while until a little game called Baldur’s Gate 3 came out. in the midst of creating a character, i had a few ideas of just, “hey, let’s make a human bard who’s down on his luck” or “let’s make a tiefling sorcerer, maybe?” but after a few of these thoughts, i went, “screw it. i’ll make Brynnrae.”

there are some things that are different between her in-game appearance and how i draw her (which is how i imagine her looking personally). in-game, her hair is straight and reddy, whereas in actuality it’s dark brown with a touch of auburn and there’s quite a bit of volume in it. there’s also features i imagine her having like the shape of her nose and the fullness of her lips that i can’t really tell if the game captured that well. 

keeping her lesbianism in line with how i was designing her, i ended up using her to romance Karlach. and through that, i decided a few more things about her character. in addition to being a bit of an oddball who isn’t particularly skilled at wizardry and as much as she studies, her mind is elsewhere (guess i gave her ADHD and probably some autism too for good measure), i added that she really loves romance books. that could give her something to connect with Wyll over (who is basically her best friend at this point).

at the same time, it got me thinking about how she would approach things like romance and sex. having barely experienced either, she learns these things with Karlach. she learns what it means to ache for someone. she experiences things the smuttiest of her books could only dare to dream about. she changes her preconceptions about what it means to be in a romantic and sexual relationship. she brushes up against characters like Astarion (who she learns to tolerate) and his issues with these things, only to be reassured by him after some coercion leads to her giving up bits and pieces of her and even swearing her body to someone else.

the main conflict of Brynnrae’s character, especially where this run is concerned, is how her naivete and her too trusting nature lead her to trust bad people, and how she struggles to stop cutting herself up for people. this probably also explains why she and Wyll get along so well. they’re both very soft-hearted to a detriment. and while in the run i did she didn’t end up taking the astral tadpole, i think i should have had her take it to make her story a bit more interesting and give her a point where she knows she’s gone too far in trying to appease others, and now it’s time for her to fight for her autonomy again.

and so i imagine the best ending being where Brynnrae fights and saves herself. where she helps Wyll save himself. where the two of them look out for Karlach and save each other. things go well for them in the end. they deserve it.

on another note, while i don’t imagine Brynnrae being polyamorous, she would be open to the idea of Karlach dating Wyll as well. because frankly i think these two should be together no matter who the other is also dating. 

so that’s how my darling Brynnrae changed from a joke character i wrote for a campaign to (hopefully) a multi-faceted question on autonomy and trust and more.

thank you for reading have a cute smooch

[lewvithur]

bunny girls 3 (there is only one girl in this picture)

[lewvithur]

OC: Rylzyne Auvryndar

well i did this for Brynnrae a few months back, and since this is December 8th, it has been a full year now since i brainstormed this Bhaalspawn babe who has won my heart. so let's talk about them and how they came to be.

meet Rylzyne!

(i was working on some art i meant to have ready for this post, but my tablet pen kept fucking up so you just get this)

now here's how it goes. i was wondering to myself what should i do for a Dark Urge run of Baldur's Gate 3. at the time, i was doing a run with a tiefling sorcerer named Zenith, but i was thinking about other things. then one night, while i was driving, a song happened to start playing, and that was Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene by Hozier. and that's when the idea snapped into place. this Durge would be the epitome of sex and death whose very presence is akin to a high one becomes dependent on. who loves to slit throats at any form of climax. who draws people into their crazy little world and then end them just as fast. the lyrics that stuck out to me was "straw blonde hair" and "tongue so mean". that was what i was working with.

the next day, i fucked around in the character creator to give myself ideas. i chose a short feathered bob, and then the idea came to me. i want this character to have Roxie Hart vibes. someone who could easily be seduced into evil by the fame that is promised by being a killer. this may have eventually melted away, but the conceit is there. someone who isn't good aligned. someone who is selfish. someone who likes killing. and in fact, someone who is not above manipulation and deception to get what they want, which is the finer things in life.

i also decided to make them non-binary, because frankly i will make any character non-binary if i wish. and that is why their name is Rylzyne by the way. i found a table for drow names, picked the first half from the male section and the second half from the female section. already, this makes them an anomaly among drow, as if the pale skin is not enough. these were fun little hints i put in to suggest that as a Bhaalspawn, they have no real connection to drow heritage. otherwise they'd most likely be fucking slaughtered for refusing to play into their matriarchal society by just straight up not having a gender.

a bunch of other things started to creep in. by making them a dual wielding fighter/rogue, they became an assassin, bhaal’s favourite little killer. everything about them is geared towards making them a streamlined perfect murderer. they’re light on their feet, barely eating, a waif that clings to the shadows and catches victims unaware. however, their favourite method is what they call the little death that starts the big death. they love to kill their victims during sex. that’s what that means.

in order to create perfect scenarios for themselves to kill without getting caught, they’ve developed a talent at reading people. their penchant for insight grants them opportunities, including one Enver Gortash. that said, their charisma could do with some work. while they do try to play the role of in-over-their-head ditz who is secretly a silver-tongued bastard who holds all the cards, the truth is they’re not a silver-tongued bastard. so when that mystique is destroyed, they reveal just how much of a brat they really are.

there is also a gamine aspect to their character, an impish boyish charm. they also aren’t good hearted, despite ultimately resisting the Urge. they only care to do good if it benefits them, and they dream of a life surrounded by jewels and gold and more people than they know what to do with. they want their name to go throughout Faerûn. Rylzyne, the most beloved killer. they’ll steal your heart. maybe literally. they love the image of a killer. the mystique it brings. the certain je ne sais quoi. all of that and more.

but even with all of this, there is one thing they crave more than anything else in existence. they crave control. and the Urge is a threat to this very control. there is poetry in a kill. it is an art form. and the Urge wants them to paint a canvas with nothing but splatters of blood. they want to be present within the moment. they don’t want to close their eyes and find a corpse mangled beyond recognition. and the moment they start holding people close to them, the last corpse they want to see is their loved ones. so their game is a tightrope act, balancing from embracing to resisting and then ultimately disposing of Orin and being reborn into their Urge-free self.

the way i imagine Rylzyne going from act to act is. act 1, they're tetchy and grumpy because of this headache and these urges, and since bloodlust is soothing them, they might as well indulge. that said, they think the tieflings aren't a satisfying enough kill, so they're hunting goblins instead. turns out they can do the good thing, if not for completely fucked up reasons. Alfira is an example of what a bad kill feels like. they do not know yet that the reason they didn’t like seeing Alfira dead is because it was out of their control. they just assume that it’s because this kill was too much. this is an outright gore fest that feels motivated by a deep primal hunger that they are trying to fill with a single slice. but hey, at least they aren’t making themselves sick by holding back. so they’ll gore it up. for now.

act 2 is when they realise that these orders from the butler are more structured. but Rylzyne doesn't like being told who to kill. they decide it for themselves. so they do what they can to not kill Isobel by hoping that spilling blood in the shadow cursed lands will make up for it. it doesn't, and now they're forced to put a hand on Astarion's neck. at least until they fight back. it is then when it hits them that they can't soothe the wound of murderlust with more murder. they want their body back. they want control. and they can't mindlessly kill their way to this control.

act 3 is finally when they turn over a new leaf, knowing that they are a Bhaalspawn and this is their birthright. now they know who to aim the knife at. Orin. they'll shed a tear for her because they see themselves in her. but in the end, they are still quite selfish, and if they have to spill Orin's blood to be rid of these urges, so be it.

post game, they'd realise their love of luxury is really mostly a fascination with jewels. the artistry and precision of cutting jewels is a skill they can practice quite well. they’d probably end the game running a jewel shop with all of their finest works for sale. at least, by day. by night, they’d play hero for a bit, killing for hire. maybe Astarion can join them too, if he’s up for it. but the important thing is they’re killing by choice, no longer to sate a hunger that has haunted their mind for too long.

that’s their story, but i did come up with some other bits of information.

one thing i developed is their thoughts surrounding food. as a Bhaalspawn, their concerns were keeping light, not concerning themselves with eating as that could weigh them down, and only ever feed the hole in their stomach with raw meat when they felt like feasting. it wouldn't really be until Astarion sits them down and offers them food that they realise "yeah if it helps him have tastier blood I'll do it, it’s all part of the transaction". and then they become more aware of the yawning ache within them, and they find whatever helps to ground them, whether it be a good meal, love, or indulgences they denied themselves because it wasn't murder.

there is also their view on sex. in some ways, it strengthen Astarion's views, in that they see him as part of a transaction. because of their emotional intelligence, they figure out quite quickly what he's doing, but they're willing to play along because it will motivate him to fight. and hey, he's the only person they've slept with that they haven't had the urge to kill because he's already dead! there's also the fact that he's the only one who is willing to let them indulge. so when he admits his feelings and admits he's been seeing this as a transaction, they assume that he knew that they knew this already, which is why it confuses them. but now that he’s putting his heart on the line, they will do the same. and they will hug. and it’s great.

so uhhhh that’s them!

on another note, i have to give many thanks to @abysskeeper for breathing life into this character through their commissions. after seeing these fun little conflicts with them and Astarion i've been given new angles i've seen this character through. it's added another dimension to them and i love it. stormy has taken a basic description and turned it into vignettes that speak to my vision. again, thank you so much. and check out their stuff! it is very good <3