#truevampire

[bride-of-hemlock]

I wanted to talk about the point of "Ascended Astarion Doesn't turn Tav into A True Vampire / Bride, he makes them a Spawn!" as "proof" that's used to say his romance must be tragic (=not a romance). Truly, I think it is such a surface level understanding of the BG3 world & lore (and tbh, vampires in general) it makes my head spin. (Also gosh people really hate looking up what words mean I guess? And it's weird how people cherrypick which DnD lore applies to BG3 and which doesn't - usually to support "tragedy" and ignoring any to the contrary, from what I noticed.)

I saw this take - with biggest "proof" being "spawn" tag for turned Tav as a "gotcha" in the files (so I heard - I didn't read the files.) Either way let's ignore that it's completely paratextual & codes prefer a shorter word (spawn is shorter than truevampire)...

My point still stands that Tav being called "AA's spawn" doesn't mean he doesn't turn into a true vampire or is inherently controlling, and regardless of code, I also don't agree with this argument.

By definition in DnD - a spawn is simply:

"[an] undead creature created when a vampire slays a mortal with its bite".

So yes - Cazador was a true vampire, but he was also his creator's spawn. These are not mutually exclusive terms.

Astarion is a spawn of Cazador. (UA.)

Astarion is an Ascendant (homebrew), and spawn of Cazador. (AA.)

Tav is a spawn of Ascended Astarion. This says nothing of their "nature", just defining the relationship (who turned who.)

Anyone turned by any vampire, whether they become a "full" one or not - is a spawn. Because the term simply refers to the act of being "reborn", in a sense, as a vampire.

This is why, in game, there are references to Spawn as children; why Astarion & the rest of Cazador's "spawn" are "siblings". It's not just a cutesy term for no reason - it's worldbuilding, showcasing the - perhaps biological workings of a vampire, perhaps to them it's social/culture - hard to say (it is after all, a small portion of the game, all things considered.) Still, the word's meaning stays consistent.

Basically, to explain plainly, one spawn "grows" into a full vampire by biting their master who sired them (like activating a dormant gene). They are still a spawn - because they were turned.

Think of it as "child" and "parent" metaphor (not literal); a spawn is like a child to true vampire. But - they do not stop being a child to that vampire as they grow up. A true vampire is free from the master - like an adult gaining independence - but do not stop being a "child" of someone.

It ["Tav is spawn, therefore AA is bad"] really is a non-argument that only works in reverse - see others fans say "Tav spawn is tragedy", see "spawn", not really engage with the world, and then decide what it means in this order (because it fits the "abuse" narratives.)

But in reality all that label "spawn" says, is: this person was turned. </3

[I won't discuss much of why Tav's turning is actually unique in-world and hints thematically at, if not bride-mechanic, then at least that it's overall different from how Astarion was turned, in mechanics and by what we can see if we actually play the game and pay attention to it instead of out of context tiktoks - and it shows Tav is unique form of spawn - but that's better for another post because there's a lot to say.]

So yea it was just something that irks me when I see this point bc it's such a... surface level "interpretation", imo only exists to dunk on the romance and not actually caring about lore or deeper themes of bonds/death and birth. Good for headcanon (you do you), but headcanons can even be "Gale is secretly a ginger using magic to hide it and has invisible tattoos" (lol) so it's not a must to take it seriously nor consider valid as "canon" or "true to text" if it doesn't base on the text itself.

xoxo ꨄ︎

[oncasette]

four characters that make me say “my man, my man, my man.”

tagged by @thyme-in-a-bubble

gifs @nincompoopydoo @pajamasecrets @truevampire @lavendarr00

tagging anyone that wants to participate!

[csockets]

<.<

leta acknowledge that one fact:

Kuro is a lazy badass that is just a really big lion sized kitten that enjoys chips and cola.

[aapk9]

Hell yeah 😍😍😍#truevampire #tvd #tvdforever #theoriginals #bestbrother #bestmediator #elijah #elijahmikaelson #thevampirediaries #originalvampire

[0-kaiya]

Lately I've been getting sick easily... :x I really haven't uploaded anything in a while because of that, so here's some recent animations I like from episode 1. Auditions coming soon

[moogleknight13]

I laughed just as hard as Lestat. Oh Edward,here's the latest Muse album kindly fuck off. #lestat #truevampire #interviewwiththevampire #tomcruise

[shirtpunchblog]

"Seras Victoria" by Alteho is $10 today at ShirtPunch.com (10/15).    

[0-kaiya]

More episode 1 progress. I've been waking up at 11 pm and going to sleep at around 1 pm and it has been messing me up a lot...so I haven't done much lately ;_; Thank you for answering^^