#Why is Vex in a position of power? Because Syldor died (of mysterious circumstances) and Velora was too young

[last-of-the-lot]

Okay so I have been obsessed with EPIC for a while now, and I was scrolling recently and found this little snippet floating around. Looking at the person made me think of Vex'ahlia from Critical Role, which immediately made me think of a Critical Role/Epic AU.

But instead of the normal dynamic of Odysseus and Penelope my brain immediately defaulted to Percy being the one waiting at home and making this challenge to the suitors to string Vex's old bow. And like... I don't argue with my brain when it comes to creativity. Then it started to snowball. I do not need to write an AU right now, but it won't leave my head.

Oooooh I have so many thoughts.

[last-of-the-lot]

Alright it is still gnawing at my brain stem, the vengeance saga is still swirling in my brain, and I am avoiding work, so I am going to flesh out Critical Role/Epic the musical AU. Working name; Shadowed Dawn AU.

I'll come up with something more witty as I write more.

For anyone who has no idea what the hell I am talking about, go read this post.

So! First and foremost I am going to take all my ramblings out of the tags and put them in this post and give more context to them.

What does Percy make and unmake during the night? He creates and melts down parts for an intricately carved pocket watch.

In the Odyssey, Penelope is weaving something. It escapes me if it is a mourning shroud for Odysseus or for his father, but I know that it is something important enough to stay the hands of the suitors. In this version, Percy was commissioned to create a pocket watch or something mechanically beautiful, and elves with their understanding of art and all that respect the time he is taking. To a point.

Why is Percy being passive? Well he married Vex and moved to Syngorn of course.

Going by campaign canon, Syngorn sucks for non-elves. The books expand on it, but I think that Percy could get by but not outwardly go against the system that is in place. He also has a daughter to think about here and despite his family being willing to help him out, they can't just mess with a line of succession.

Where has Vex been for twenty years? Trying to get back from putting down an ancient dragon and every other monster that got in her way.

I like to imagine that this sort of a No Briarwood/ an Arranged Marriage AU. Not a no Orthax AU, that is important. (Or will be later.)

Vex and Percy married youngish. They had known each other for even longer. Right now I'm thinking they met when Percy was ten and Vex was fourteen. (Vex had already been training with The Dawnfather for four years, yes this will be explained later.) They got married in their twenties around the age they would have been during the first campaign. Vex leaned into society dealings more, and Syldor saw that as having a use. Hence arranged marriage.

Instead of a dragon the monster might turn into a city killing aberration, as The Dawnfather has an issue with those. Maybe he sent our his champion to go deal with that and didn't anticipate how badly it would go.

What is the Bow? Feanthras obviously.

In the odyssey the reason that stringing and drawing the bow was such a challenge was because the thing was made for Odysseus specifically, who was the descendant of a god. In this, I think that it has more to deal with the life Vex led as an elven ranger trained by The Dawnfather than anything to do with relations to a god. Reasoning being if she continued to do the same things that she always did while pregnant with Vesper, then a bit of what made Vex special made Vesper special as well. Sort of how a few people like to headcanon Vesper as an aasimar.

Why did Vex not take it with her? Same reasoning that Odysseus didn't take his bow to Troy.

Despite not going to war, Vex still went to go kill some stuff on the opposite end of the world. She left her bow because it was a symbol of strength and maybe because she trusted herself to get the job done without it.

Why is Vex in a position of power? Because Syldor died (of mysterious circumstances) and Velora was too young.

Yes I think someone merced his ass. Probably not Vex, despite what everyone believes. Syldor died right before the marriage was supposed to be completed but not in time for it to be called off. Vex didn't look unhappy but people talk. No one would outright say it, but it would further explain why she is respected. Why didn't Velora's mother take over in Syldor's place? Line of succession and Syldor had no written grips about Vex, so she got the job.

The Dawnfather is Athena and Vesper is Telemachus

Okay a lot of this part is just going to be rambling, but this dynamic is something I need everyone to walk with me on. Take Luke Holt's voice, and imagine it coming from the faceless, burning power of the SUN. Now imagine the Sun kicking your ass. This is the dynamic the Dawnfather brings to the table. And we know from Downfall that he can care, he can care so much.

The Dawnfather would move a lot in avatars. Not so much a smaller version of himself or even anything human looking. I think he would favor appearing as a mouse when he needs to whisper into the ears of his chosen, and a dragon when tearing people apart. In wider canon, Pelor is often the god of time, so I feel alright giving him some form of quick thought even if that isn't his 'God Move' as they are known in Epic. It is just him exercising his power of his domain. What would his 'God Move' be? Good question, I'll get back to you on that.

Vesper is a bit like Telemachus and also presents a more refined appearance. Elven ideals and all that. But she is a vicious thing when pressed. I like to imagine she has sword training from both her father and Dawnfather, and also a bit of magic that no one can explain. It's god given. (Might have been a group effort.)

In my head Percy is draped in a mourning veil and tasteful symbols of both the Archheart and Dawnfather while making the challenge because he is mourning both his autonomy and hopefully the suitors while making a plea to both the god of his new home and the god of his childhood to protect his daughter.

Okay this one is a bit big but let's see if I can condense it. Vex began to read up on the Dawnfather as a way to connect with Percy, as it would be something that she knew he would learn as he got older. The Dawnfather took an interest in her before it even got to that point, and trained her for ten years before sending her off on a fight. He continued through this AU's version of the Cyclops incident, before leaving for reasons I will flesh out later. The Dawnfather is aware of his wayward De Rolo and the prayers being sent, but the Archeart is having too much fun with the scenario to really let him do anything beyond mentor Vesper.

I feel as if the Archheart is taking the place of Hermes here in personality more that role. But I can see them making sense for helping out Vex in multiple ways. The Archeart did create elves, so that does make Vex a descendant of theirs in a way. Plus I feel like they would love a show.

The veil itself is inspired by the veils that the priestesses of the Matron of Ravens wear as well as the act of being a dead man walking and covered in the sheet that would one day cover his dead body. He knows that he would probably not be buried the Whitestone way, and this is his way of making peace with that. The symbols are calls to the gods a last ditch hope that their attention will turn in his direction. I think that Percy at this point would be as much of an atheist as he could get away with. Not as much as he was one in the campaign, and I will NOT be getting into Exandrian religion and what atheism means in a world where you have tangible proof of the gods in this post, but in context of this AU and Percy I think he still has a spot of hope in him. Yes Vesper still gets into a Little Wolf like fight and yes she would have eventually strung Fenthras like Telemachus almost strung Odysseus' bow

I touched on the second part of this earlier, but now to expand on the first part. Vesper is properly educated and trained as Syngorn children are, but she is more human than Vex ever was and Vex had issues with elves.

So she gets in fights a few times. Her magic manifests around her thirteenth birthday to literally everyone's surprise but the Archheart who is too busy laughing their butt off and running from a pissed off Dawnfather to really explain shit for a few years. Percy ( rightfully ) takes this to mean that his daughter has the blessing of the god of their home despite being more human than elf, and incorporates the Archeart into his daily prayers. The suitors started really pressing the issue of Percy's remarriage and the control of the Vessar estate and power seat around her seventeenth birthday, and the little wolf fight is her going up against a blade singer mage maybe a century or two her senior.

This is when The Dawnfather comes back to support her, and the Archheart goes off to find out where that darn champion of The Dawnfather's went. Maybe if he had her back, he'd leave them alone about the amount of magic they gave the younger champion.

That is a lot of my thoughts on the Percy side of things. There are still more, like what role Orthax plays in this, but that is for when I form all my thoughts together.

Next post will probably be about the crew Vex has on her journey home.