#Calguais

[uselessidiotsquad]

Should you fight my characters? Plant Flavor!

Back at it with more!

Riaghael

Battle Music: Saltillo - A Necessary End

Should you fight Riag? Look I get it, you get it, even he gets it - he's not the most amiable person in the world. He's usually grumpy and sometimes even an asshole. He wouldn't even be mad at if you if you tried to fight him. But no one is winning from this fight. You will likely feel like crap trying to fight someone who (is trying but) cannot fight back, and guaranteed he will feel even worse. Trying to fight someone who is well aware of that they aren't what they used to be is a little mean - so please don't fight the grump.

Who initiates the battle? You would have to, he knows he can't win in fights anymore so he doesn't try to start anything.

Who would win? You would. He physically can't wield weapons anymore and mentally/psychologically is unable to deal with the stress of it. It wouldn't even be a fair fight, he would summon minions to try to defend himself but that's it. You would still be able to take him down pretty quickly.

Deiliús

Battle Music: anoice - finale

Should you fight Dei? They are the least threatening person you can encounter. ...so why on Tyria would you? The only reason I could ever see someone trying to fight them is them being a rigid 'All NMC are evil and must die' type of person. They have all the strength of wet tissue paper and are allergic to conflict. Don't fight them. You stand nothing to gain from it (besides my unwavering disapproval).

Who initiates the battle? You would HAVE to. They would expend all of their energy just trying to run from you than have to fight. Even if cornered they would try to fend off attacks but not fight back.

Who would win? There's no question that you would win. It would be like kicking a stray cat on the street that had just gotten its ass kicked from other cats. Their magic is illusion based for concealment or psychological harm (which they hated using and only did in the past because they were forced to) not for attacking. It wouldn't even really be a fight, it would be you kicking their ass.

Under the cut to save your dash!

Naechdion

Battle Music: Shadow of the Colossus OST - Silence

Should you fight Dion? No! Absolutely not! He's minding his own business in the Wychmire and is already scared of everything. Leave him be.

Who would initiate the battle? You would have to start it - but that means finding him first. He's very good at hiding.

Who would win? You would, but then you would probably have to fight me because Dion doesn't deserve to be picked on. He's bad at Guardian magic and scared of everything, he would probably be shaking in a corner as soon as you got anywhere near him.

Ruby Aenn

Battle Music: Dallas String Quartet - Firework

Should you fight Ruby? Ruby is always up for a good fair sparring session. Actual fights, she thinks can be avoided with enough discussion but sparring for practice is fun! She's game for a bit of a spat if you are!

Who would initiate the fight? 50/50! She might want to warm up before a bigger skirmish and ask you to spar with her. Or perhaps you feel like trying the Prismatic Dragon's Champion on for size.

Who would win? Ruby has some very clear strong points and weaknesses. For one, she's tiny, just at 4'9, so her center of balance makes her harder to take down. Most especially challenging is that she changes her fight strategy depending on which pet she is soulbound to. So that's tricky. However, it is easy to bait while attuned to specific animals and that makes her slip up because the animal side wins. It would be fair!

Madrúil

Battle Music: The Dali Thundering Concept - There is no Calm Before the Storm (Instrumental)

Should you fight Mad? Oh god, please kick his ass. He has made life hell for a lot of innocent people and deserves to get the shit kicked out of him. You would be making a lot of people happy.

Who would initiate the fight? Chances are Mad would since he thinks with his fists more often than his brain. Or he would be trying to abduct you for his hounds to 'play with' so you had to defend yourself.

Who would win? Tricky. Mad is good at both long range with his bow and close melee with axes, but struggles at mid-range. If you have something that can keep him just close enough to you to not be able to use his long bow but not so close you meet the axe, you can probably out last him. That is until he goes full chicken shit and gets other Blasphemy goonies to try and waylay you. He's not above being a slime ball to win.

Countess Diamhasla

Battle Music: Romanian Folk Dances, Sz 56: III. Pe-loc - Andante

Should you fight Diam? PLEASE DO. Can I help? I would love to help. We can throw her down a well. She sets people up for failure, and when they are at their most vulnerable she 'saves' them, only to then hold that over their head to get what she wants. She's fragile and has poor health but I'm not above beating her leafy head in with a mallet.

Who would initiate the battle? You would, she doesn't do fighting. Usually letting her henchmen do the dirty work for her. Half of the issue of fighting her is actually getting to her, she's fairly well defended.

Who would win? She's scary good at earth magic, so the key would be to interrupt her before she can summon too many elementals or the huge earthen hands to grab you. If you can hit hard and fast, you win, easy. But if you let her get too many spells off it's looking like she will win.

Warden Captain Cálguais

Battle music: Andry Vinogradov - Chain Dance

Should you fight Cal? They're the most honorable (to the point of being insufferable) person to fight. If you asked for an honorable dual they would be happy to oblige you but in any other situations they would not. To spar for the sake of improvement (since they will be telling you the whole time where you could have done better) sure! Fight them!

Who would initiate the battle? Either you asking to spar with them or them training baby Wardens and asking you to spar as an example.

Who would win? Likely you would, but not easily. They are pretty competent at fighting but they tend to be rigid and fixed in their training they learned so they can't always adapt to new threats.

Glanaim

Battle music: Gallowstreet - Fisticuffs

Should you fight Glan? Sure, as long as you realize he treats fighting like flirting half the time. Morally he's a grey person so you don't have much to lose by fighting him. He doesn't kill people unless he's paid to do so so go for it!

Who would initiate the fight? Depends! If he's in a good mood, he'll ask you to spar with him. Otherwise you'd have to approach the topic.

Who would win? If you give him any distance at all, he will win so fast it makes your head spin. He's a sniper, and a damn good one at that. If you go after him in melee you have a very strong chance of winning, since he's not as good with pistols as he is with his rifle. (bonus there's a high chance he asks you out for a drink and then a rematch later).

Caonai

Battle Music: Skyrim OST - Tooth and Claw

Should you fight Cao? I don't recommend it. She doesn't see the point of fighting without killing - so if you challenge her one of you is going down for good. Plus she's an older lady who just is trying to care for her siblings. Sure, she may not have social skills, but she keeps to herself.

Who initiates the battle? If she thinks you are going to harm her siblings or pose a threat to the remnants of her family, she will absolutely start it. And give you no warning, you will just have a Norn sized, winter-hardened Warrior after you.

Who would win? Cao would win unless you run away mid-fight. She fights to kill, not to spar. While she is not as strong as some of my other kiddos, she is very slow and unyielding. She aims to break your defenses before going in for any major damage with her mace. If you run, she might not chase you - having tired herself out.

Caemdryn

Battle Music: LORN - ENTANGLED

Should you fight Caem? Honestly, it's up to you. While he is not a bad person, he has so much anger (mainly at Charr and the Jungle but it bleeds over) that it makes him a twat at times. Would there be any major negatives to getting rid of him? No. Any positives? Not really.

Who would initiate the battle? I think you would have to but it wouldn't take much. All it would take is a comment about Sylvari being dragon minions in any shape or form to get him defensive and then he will be after you.

Who would win? In close quarters, Caem, hands down. He hits hard and fast and has no small amount of fury/unhinged behind it. At distance he can't really attack but he can block and shield himself from most projectiles. Best bet would be to try and slow/cripple him and then get him from range so he can't close the space.

[uselessidiotsquad]

For all your sylvari, how high esteem to each of them hold the Pale Tree in?

@mystery-salad

Ty for the ask! I Ranking time!

Highest Esteem:

Calguais, my Warden Captain. They're a revenant who is basically in direct conversation all the time with Ventari and thus are the most painfully lawful good plant I have. They annoy me with how rigidly they see things. To them the Pale Tree is basically god/ess.

Caemdryn. He maintained his connection to the Dream even after everything in the HoT campaign and is aggressively protective of other Sylvari (to the point of being kinda a dick to the other races). The Pale Tree is not just a mother, but like a divinely put in place ruler (for Sylvari).

Riaghael. While not nearly as intense about the Tree as the other two ranked above him, Riag dearly loves the Pale Tree. That's his mom. Not a Divine Ruler but a mother and a respected figure to ask for insight, but not Perfect In Every Way.

Ruby Aenn. Being the one who discovered first hand the origins of the Tree and then having to tell others, there's a small break of trust in her. The Tree is not the end-all-be-all of Sylvari and she's still a bit annoyed that the origin of the Tree was kept for so long. More damage might have been avoided if it had been known by others. But still, she cares for the Tree and the Tree's well-being.

Middle Tier:

Glanaim. Glan's functionally Soundless though without the commitment of it. The Pale Tree is an unreachable figure, some unknowable entity that tries to influence in ways it thinks will help the world. Glan would very much rather find that out himself than through the Tree's influence.

Naechdion. Doesn't really have the connection with the Tree that the rest of the Sylvari do since he was supposed to be Mordrem. He isn't aware of this though. Honestly he doesn't know the Tree has a sentient form or face or energy, it's just the big plant at the other end of Caledon that people seem to be protective of. People seem to be around it so all the more reason for him to avoid it.

Toraedh. Despite being 50% Nightmare, Tora doesn't dislike the Tree. They do, though, dislike it's manner of controlling people with Hunts. Especially since their own Wyld Hunt basically guaranteed they were to be treated like crap by other Sylvari. Being shoved into some duty someone else decided for you before you were even born is cruel.

Lowest Esteem:

Deilius. The Tree is just another example for them of a person/force that promises things and then doesn't deliver. Before they turned Nightmare, they were sort of neutral on the Pale Tree. Now they just see it as both A) someone else who left/abandoned them B) a symbol for the people who want them dead on principal C) a place that had fond memories that have been soured by others actions.

Caonai. She is not of the Pale Tree, and views the Tree and the Maguuma Sylvari as being too young/weak to be relied on. They are spring children, she is born of winter and ice. They won't last.

Madruil. The Tree is a controlling force on Sylvari that makes them do things for the sake of a 'greater' good. He's doesn't like the idea of doing things for others.

Countess Diamhasla. Diam sees the Pale Tree as a relic of the past, and she should function as a production line for Sylvari but stop trying to tell them how to live their lives (mainly so she can START telling them how to live their lives woops). Utter disdain, she would lobotomize the Avatar and have her just be a broodmare for Sylvari production if at all possible.

[uselessidiotsquad]

OC group ask game! Who would be the best (and who would be the worst) at Karaoke?

@commanderfloppy

Ooo fun one! In terms of -

Singing voice (Best)

Ruby. She has a lovely singing voice.

Mhunizz. He has a surprisingly melodic one.

Phil. He's not got any training but has a very rustic, folksy sounding voice that's good for a few types of songs.

Glanaim. Though a bit nasally in sound, he does have a nice voice when he's not purposefully trying to be smarmy.

Singing voice (Worst)

Riag. The man is as tone deaf as a stump, a running joke is his singing would be able to kill Risen twice over.

Deilius. Their voice is cracks and breaks so much from being garroted it wouldn't sound great, plus they'd be too embarrassed to try.

Dion. He barely speaks and people have a hard time understanding him, it sounds like wind through branches more than words often.

Performance (Best)

SIGILIS. GET OUT OF THE WAY SHE'S GONNA BE DANCING ON EVERYTHING. It's a full on show with her.

Valens! Her 'band name isn't 'Forgedance' for nothing!

Bhruizz. While xe doesn't always sound the best, xe has a lot of fun getting other people involved in singing with xem and like joining in on the chorus or waving lighters.

Performance (Worst)

Mhonde. The poor boot sized boy would be too embarrassed and would just freeze up and awkwardly stumble through it. Likely will stop before the song is done and hand the mic off to someone else (beet red and uncomfortable the whole time afterwards).

Tied for Absolute Worst is Calguais, a very rigid and uptight Warden who would be funny because they're so bad at having fun. But painful to witness. And Galla - who has the affect of Murder Time and scares people even if she tried to be enthusiastic about it. Her RBF makes the situation tense.

[uselessidiotsquad]

hello! i'm on my laptop so, sadly, no emojis, but have 2 free space strawberries and one specifically for dei! :D @kerra-and-company

Ty for the ask :D 2 Strawbs for *randomizer says...* Warden Calguais! I don't talk about them nearly enough, good show.

-Cal is my only Lawful Good, kiddo! Everyone else is either neutral or chaotic but Cal finds great importance in laws and such. They are well meaning but often come across as preachy and narrow-minded.

-A lot of their 'preachy' tendencies come from the fact that they are a Revenant and commune with Ventari often. It's certainly bolstering in ones beliefs when you can talk to the one who wrote them down and who has other ideas on them. In that way they think that they are validated and justified in being strong willed about it.

- Dei is very good at impressions, part of the less serious uses for illusion and mesmer magic. Using just enough magic to get their likeness and tone but not a full mimic of them. Often times they'd do impressions of their friends just to annoy them a little.

[uselessidiotsquad]

Random thought, ranking some of my Sylvari in how close they are to the Dream.

Most to least:

Siori Suan

Legit stuck in the Dream his whole life, does not always know where he starts and the Dream ends.

Warden Calguais

Devoted steadfastly to Ventari's tablet and the teachings of it.

Ruby Aenn

Has always been close to the Dream, but is not as gung-ho about the teachings of Ventari.

Toraedh

An odd one for sure, they are as close to the Dream as they are to Nightmare. It makes things challenging when both sides aren't over fond of you.

Riaghael

He used to be a lot closer to the Dream, perhaps even at the level of Calguais. The mental break he had put a huge wedge between him and the Dream and it's now a very faint connection.

Naechdion

Is not close to the Dream, since he was supposed to be a champion of Mordremoth. His Dream experience was vague and scary and he rejects it. Would be Soundless if it didn't mean having to ask how to do some of the blocking techniques.

Glanaim

Very nearly Soundless. He's not interested in the shared empathy of things as he views it as a cheap way to get to know someone. It's also why he doesn't get all prickly about some Nightmare Courtiers.

Deiliús

They're Nightmare now, the other side of the coin. Even if it hasn't made them cruel, it has distanced them from anyone besides other Courtiers. And since most Courtiers tend to be unkind, they distance themselves from those as well.

Bonus!

Caonaí is of the Shiverpeaks Tree, which connected her children to a Proto-Dream, a loose framework of the Dream. It was not as vibrant and nourishing because it didn't have very many, if any, memories of Sylvari to fill it. But when her Tree died, it denied the Shiverplants even that rough form of it. All 9 of them are Soundless now.

Mad and Diam are both fully and unshakably Nightmare. It brought out the worst of their behaviors and sustained them.

[uselessidiotsquad]

Had a bit of a cackle as I realized that I have very few kiddos who would actually be a decent fit for role of Commander.

Top Tier:

- Riag (top rank top tier, he made it his whole life, threw himself 100% at it)

- Galla (a life history of fighting and researching, logical, willing to compromise fairly in some situations)

- Warden Cálguais (considerate if not dogmatic in nature, preachy and tries too hard to adhere to Ventari's ideals)

Middle Tier:

- Ruby (she does a good job! even if she thinks otherwise, thinks more with her heart than her head at times)

- Mhonde (he's got a good heart and a level head, but prefers detail work over single big projects)

- Parteira (doesn't like being in the spotlight but willing to do the gritty work of it)

Bottom Tier:

- Dei (does not have the courage, confidence, health, or combat skill for it)

- Glainaim (has the ability to apply himself but not the interest)

- Cao (has just recently entered the rest of society and doesn't understand a lot of the context needed for the position)

- Valens (she's running on idealism and has no real grasp of what do to with a position of influence)

You're Screwed Tier:

- Dion (people??? conflict??? FIGHTING??? ;; plz no)

- Ordia (would sell you all out to the newest threat at the drop of a hat for one corn chip and a handshake)

- Sigilis (does not work well with people she thinks are too stuck up, would quit on her first day and let everyone else fend for themselves)

- Siori (understands things from a VERY removed perspective and works entirely on theory with no experience actually 'living')

- Mad (...it's Madrúil need I say more)

- Diam (like Ordia but worse, would wait until the worst moment where she would get maximum kudos from whoever she sold everyone out to, would ally with the shadiest mf'ers possible to cover her ass)

[uselessidiotsquad]

Hello hi if you'd like to share some Mhonde fun facts (esp Mhonde x Raja ones) i think we'd all appreciate it

Little lucky guy sparks joy

Have a mound of Mhonde Facts! Sorry for this being a late reply, been busy.

He belongs to the College of Statics - while he loves new innovations, he prefers trying to perfect and solve old problems in new ways - not come up with stuff from scratch.

As the youngest of 6 siblings, didn't really have any choice but to be a well behaved progeny since all the easy tricks were done and ruined already by his older siblings.

He doesn't get along with a lot of Asura in that he thinks common decency and manners are more important than curiosity alone and discovery. Along a similar note, he's a fairly private person and is THE GUY you can trust with secrets. Steel-Trap Mhonde does not blab at all and actively looks down on gossipy types.

Mhonde tends to stick his tongue out when he's really thinking or working hard on something, it's just an automatic response. Though it does make for some rather amusing faces when others walk in to see him >:P! because he's focusing.

This isn't actually his first relationship, he had dated around a bit before but nothing really stuck, but there were no hard feelings either. He's still on good terms with many of them and they still work together on projects from time to time.

He and Raja are still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship and haven't really gone into the logistics of longer term prospects. They've decided they'll cross that bridge when they get to it and not ruin the now with future worries.

Mhonde is very expressive both with his facial features and with his ears alone and Raja has started to be able to pick up his body language even when he's being polite. Mainly, when dealing with people that frustrate him but he's still trying to be civil but the ears are screaming 'I'd love to drop you off the side of Rata Sum right now, with a lead parachute.' They can often have full conversations just with body language alone.

Mhonde is the only one among his family to be fully blonde! The rest of them are brunettes/light brown. Good ol' recessive genes.

He's also extremely giggly.

The Tiniest Beeb is almost the least gremlin in some ways of my kids! Calguais wins that. Mhonde isn't super mischievous or gremlin-ish. However, that doesn't mean he's not willing to be petty on occasion to those who deserve it. This primarily means sabotaging other Asuras projects after they made rude and lewd statements about his girlfriend. As a member of Statics, structural integrity is important to him. Especially when he knows which areas are likely to crumble and fall directly onto the complicated machinery of others. Interesting knowledge, that.

Mhonde does not like being picked up even by Raja and it embarrasses the daylights out of him. If he gets too embarrassed, he will cover his face and his ears will curl to try and hide his face too. She has learned this and will usually squat, kneel, or sit to talk with him instead of picking him up.

The two of them went to her designated shrine to Raven once - Mhonde not being too familiar with the Spirits. Raven chose not to come in person to give an audience but one of the birds flew and sat on Mhonde's head the whole time. They bother considered it a thumbs up of approval. He was very excited to see the bird use a stick to try and get a grub out of a log - because it was using new ideas to solve old problems too.

Mhonde has a habit of resting his chin in his hands and giving Raja puppy eyes or just an endearing stare but doesn't always want her to know - so he uses the fact that he's got almost no vision to be like 'Oh no, I was thinking and didn't realize you were there, sorry'. He knows. He did it on purpose and will again.

Holding hands has proven to be a bit challenging, so he'll often just prop his arm on his head at the elbow to be able to reach. It does look a little silly but it works!

And lastly, he has absolutely no interest in Pact or Big Scale events. He thinks the focus should be on the home front before it is on the global, which is where he helps out. Though the proton forge is his specialty, he is also a good architectural planner and engineer for solving more mundane issues like infrastructure, running water, and power.