#Dalyria

[raoneven]

Astarion and his siblings 🩸🖤

[astarions-wife]

Okay so looking at the facts, Astarion says he was “one of Cazador’s first” spawn, which makes sense considering it was ~200 years prior, which puts this at 1294 for his turning. However he says “one of” which implies he wasn’t the very first, meaning one of his siblings was before him.

Through the game, we can rule out a few of his siblings as being first. Leon canonically has to be the last, as I doubt that Cazador brought another spawn into the mix during the last 10~ years. Leon has a human child, that he had prior to vampirism, and with both the favorite spawn ledger, and Victoria’s appearance, we can assume she’s likely between 8-10 in that general range. The favorite spawn ledger goes for (six) years, with Leon being 5/6, and Violet taking one year. This can easily imply he has only been a spawn for six years, and also says that given Victoria’s appearance, she was probably only 2-4 when brought to Cazador’s palace, but that’s a story for another time.

Pale Petra’s tells Dalyria in the inn that it’s been “a hundred years of eating rats”, so he was probably turned in the late 1300s, judging by this. Dalyria on the other hand was a physician to the Parliament of Baldur’s Gate, and given that the medical group she speaks of wasn’t founded until the early-ish 1400s, it’s likely that she was found during this time period.

This leaves three: Yousen, Violet, and Aurelia. Now I highly, highly doubt that Yousen was the first of the spawn. A gnome is an odd choice for a vampire spawn in the first place, so he likely wasn’t the first. This would leave Violet and Aurelia, although given one of my previous posts about Violet (found here), Violet likely wasn’t the first—the shadow curse was founded in the past hundred years if I’m not mistaken, and considering the evidence seems to lead her here, she was probably around the same time as Petra’s, perhaps a bit before.

This leaves Aurelia as the first spawn, which makes sense to me. She seems the most anxious, the most scared. She’s the only one who truly, truly begs you for help if you talk to her once Cazador is gone, and centuries of trauma would do that to anyone. Therefore, my ranking is as follows, in order:

-Aurelia

-Astarion

-Yousen

-Violet

-Pale Petras

-Dalyria

-Leon

I know their ages are different, but timeline wise this puts Leon as the youngest, and Aurelia as the oldest—which it doesn’t mean anything, but it’s interesting to think this, considering they’re the original two who are sent after Astarion at the Elfsong Tavern.

As always, this is completely in theory! Only a few of them have concrete evidence, so let me know if I’m missing anything—and feel free to use this for writing or lore as you see fit!

[wellen-katze]

A fun show - bg3 Astarion comic

I really love drawing Astarion and Petras fighting. I imagine Petras making constantly stupid decisions and Astarion getting more and more pissed by it haha

I hope you enjoyed!

[lizieltallary]

Chains.

Day № 21 of Inktober. A4 notebook, ink

[ineadhyn]

One of Astarion's most interesting scenes to me is the one in the flop house where we meet Dalyria and Petras. So, obviously, I felt the need to analyze it.

Astarion's behaviour switches the very moment he recognises his siblings. He has been snappy and theatrical before, but this now feels different. More raw. His posture changes, he bends forward in a pose like he's ready to attack. The moment he sees them, he enters fight mode.

And indeed, he does attack. He immediately goes for Petras, aiming for the weak spots he knows, his intelligence. It's bite or be bitten. If he doesn't do it (a choice you can make in his origin run for example) Petras does just the same, insulting Astarion using his known flaws: his arrogance, his egoism, claiming Astarion is all talk. This tells so much about Astarions life with them.

Dalyria is a bit calmer, she seems to care about both of them, at least enough that she doesn't want to see either of them killed. Dalyria does believe Cazador's claim of freeing them at least on surface level. She can be convinced to trust Astarion when he says he'll free them. She wants to be free. Asking why Astarion would come back if he was free, there is a certain longing in her voice. She's also the one telling Astarion about the ritual place, hoping Astarion might actually be able to free them, or at least not kill Petras.

Still the aggression in the room is not only between Astarion and Petras. Astarion also snaps at Dalyria when she's barely said anything. "That's not a way to welcome back a brother, Dal." The three of them are like dogs in the kennels of a dog fighting ring, barking at the sight of each other. Trained to compete and not giving each other an inch. You can imagine what it must have been like sharing one bedroom.

Then Astarion does his theatrical "Didn't you miss me?" Did they? Probably as much as Astarion pities them. A bit, because they've known each other for so long, but not enough to go out of their way. Just after saying he pities them, Astarion dreams about completing the ritual (which includes sacrificing them). Mostly I see the "Didn't you miss me" as Astarion wanting to make a confident first impression on them. Although it's too late, because his first instinct was to pull up his usual defences when interacting with his siblings: snapping at them.

And then Astarion actually gets physically aggressive and burns Petras. This is new. Petras didn't expect this. He says "What the hells happened to you, Astarion?" In combination with the other spawn scene when they call Astarion the runt, that never put up a fight, this paints a clear picture: Astarion has never been physically aggressive during his time with Cazador. Probably because he didn't have the means. He was simply too weak, being tortured more than any of the others. Petras talks about eating rats and dogs, Astarion got rats and bugs (he says that when talking about the bite with Tav). Also of course being broken into submission by being sealed into the tomb for the one time he didn't obey. (Worthy to mention that even then Astarion did not fight, he ran.)

Now that Astarion has some power for the first time, he uses it. And holy damn can I understand why he wants more. How good it must feel to be able to defend himself with more than words for the first time. This bit of power makes him say "I am not afraid of anything anymore."

It's enough for him to say "I am going to stop Cazador." A thing none of the spawn expects of him. Astarion would never rebel against the master. Cazador himself doesn't believe it until his last moment. They were all wrong about Astarion. Cazador indeed never broke him.

Also, pay attention to the leaning forward pose. Astarion does that on multiple occasions. It's his "my instinct screams to fight and defend myself"-pose.

(I am not entirely sure if "do not slouch before me" is also referring the same pose, or if it's more of an instinct to bow or cower. But that's for another day.)

[meanbossart]

DALYRIA but looking a little different because she's doing fun stuff in the thing im writing

[tadpole-apocalypse]

Today’s spawn of the day: Dalyria!

I really appreciate her taking responsibility for the 7000 souls i dumped on her

[barbatusart]

"yous" because when you turn into a vampire you automatically become italian

[arradraws]

Sweet Dalyria 🗡️

[proffbon]

Forgot I was carrying around the shiny mace and scared Petras and Dalyria off. Astarion had this to say.

[endlessnightarts]

"Coven means 'Family'. And Family means I am disappointed in all of you." ~ Cazador Szarr, probably, at some point

I feel very out of practice drawing so I'm not sweating this anymore.

I love vampire nonsense and I love how ridiculously big Astarion's family is (not even counting the ones Cazador People Under The Stairs'd), they are all awful, I want to adopt them. I played a little fast and loose with costumes and whatnot, highlights including Cazador gets a flowy coat bc I couldn't help myself and Leon is being forced to wear a shirt. They are in the order I vaguely headcanon from oldest to youngest excluding Godey of course, headcanons subject to change at a whim.

Also I think Sceleritas Fel and Godey should hang out, there it is that's my crackship. they trade torture tips and gush over their bloodthirsty masters

[ekalita-blr]

Sorry not sorry XD Drama queen Astarion

[astarions-wife]

Was anyone going to tell me that Dalyria will beg for Astarion not to ascend during the ritual if you play Astarion Origin? Or was I supposed to find this out at 1am for myself?

[lucrezianoin]

Do you have any footage of Tav speaking with the other vampire spawn post-Cazador fight if you didn’t bring Astarion with you? I could have sworn I saw somewhere someone mentioning that the spawn are quick to try and call Tav “master” after they defeat Cazador and I’m interested in seeing the cutscene for myself!

Yes i posted it here!

Only aurelia and yousen will call the player master!

[asidian]

Ghosts in the Halls

by: Asidian

Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3

Pairing: Gen, Astarion & Victoria, Leon & Victoria

Warnings: unreliable narrator, dramatic irony, implied/referenced torture, outsider pov

Excerpt:

Some nights, while Father is out working, Victoria hears screams through the lovely wallpaper, somewhere deeper in the building. Sometimes it's a lady, but more often it's a man; he has a higher pitched sort of a scream, quite distinct indeed, and it goes on for hours on end.

"I think Lord Szarr has a poltergeist," Victoria tells Father one day, as he slips in around sunup.

"Oh?" says Father, and he sounds tired and a touch distracted. "What makes you say that?"

"Well," says Victoria. "They're meant to be loud, aren't they?"

"Yes," says Father, and he draws the word out, slow and a touch uncertain. "That's so. Has someone been talking to you?"

"Oh, no," says Victoria. "But there's always a man screaming. He's quite loud about it."

And Father looks at her for a long moment before he reaches out to set a hand on her head. It's not a hair ruffle, not quite – he just rests it there. "A poltergeist, surely," says Father. "Best try to ignore it, if you can."

[nottragic-stilltoothsome]

I'm hardly the only person who noticed how weird it was that Astarion genuinely thought Cazador carved a poem on his back - because, he also carved them on the other spawn. Have they not noticed? Haven't they seen each other shirtless for 200 years while being roommates?

Not even to mention, the "targets". I understand they were mostly drank and preoccupied, but have none of them ever commented on them? Were there no tieflings?

If Tav is a tiefling they recognize infernal legal jargon instantly.

So i raise you: Astarion's scars are actualy invisible.

Just as other of Cazador's rules, this one stopped having an effect when Astarion got tadpoled.

Thats why we can see them. And thats why Astarion only then takes any interest in what they might say.

I back this theory up on the inconsistency i mentioned above and on the fact that you can't see them on the other spawn during the fight when they are trapped for the ritual (still under Cazador's influence)

Now, i haven't the slightiest idea how are they charmed not to be perceived.

But i do think Cazador subtly ordered his spawn not to think about them too much, aside from the painful memory aspect. So, they didnt notice them on each other. They never wanted to find out what they say. If the targets said something - they would conviently (for Cazador) forget it almost immediately.