#also the idea that Durge would become a god just to keep Gortash

[basket-of-cats-and-witches]

Eternity

We were not meant to be partnered in this life.

I stand here with your blood dripping from my blade, watching the light fade from your eyes.

You reach for me.

Of course you do.

It is not Karlach you look at in your final moments, for all she wishes she had been the one to take your life.

If it were anyone else, I would have let her.

I wish you were anyone else.

You smile at me, and you think it is your last moment.

“I'm glad it was you,” you whisper, and slip away.

It is not the end.

Although there are other battles we will partake in, other paths to walk upon, mine shines clear before me.

We were not meant to be together. Not in this life.

The next, however, is unknown.

Bane cannot have you. I know what he wishes. You were sworn to him first, but you are mine.

I will chase you into the endless beyond, and make your soul eternal.

Gale has set the path, all I need do is follow.

He shall take the crown.

I shall take my father's head.

I will wrest you from Bane, and find you again, and again, and again.

We were not meant to be with each other in this time.

But I shall love you the same.

As a Grand Duke.

As a farmer boy.

As a baker.

As a mercenary.

As a teacher.

No matter the form, the gender, it was you who tangled your life so effortlessly with mine, and in doing so, became the stardust that spirals throughout my universe.

We were meant to be together.

Before there were Three, there were two.

And so we shall be again.

[thedorkurge]

A prompt for you: Gortash forced Durge to attend some ball/masquerade/fancy event as his plus one with him.

Here you go! I got a bit carried away with it, as I tend to do... I hope you enjoy<3

You can read it under the cut or on ao3

Life of the party (2k)

Going to a party with the Gate’s nobility was the last thing Durge wanted to do. But unfortunately, he owed the banite a favor.

Gortash had insisted that it would be a good look to show up with a plus one. He wasn’t just a young politician charming his way up the ranks anymore, after all. He was on the cusp of becoming a lord. Bringing his own date projected an image of stability befitting his status. Of course he had also listed several other reasons that Durge hadn’t bothered to pay attention to. When he manipulated people, it happened from the outside. Observing until he knew who to kill and how to do it. 

The art of conversation wasn’t one he practiced very often.

The dragonborn pulled at the robes uncomfortably. They weren’t completely awful, they were dark enough to conceal any blood spatter, and made from expensive fabrics, but he already missed his own robes. It was almost impressive how robes with such little fabric could still get in the way.

“These clothes are ridiculous.”

“They’re not meant to be practical, my dear, they’re meant to be pleasing to the eye.” Enver had already spent a full minute adding golden touches to his outfit. Durge had refused any for himself- he wasn’t keen on the idea of adding more uncomfortable touches to the clothes he had been forced to wear.

“Is being unable to move considered attractive these days?”

“Don’t be dramatic, you’re perfectly capable of movement. The robes were made with dancing in mind, after all.” The dragonborn sneered at Enver’s satisfied grin. He was enjoying this a bit too much.

“If you expect me to dance, then you’ll be sorely disappointed.”

“And here I was so looking forward to seeing the great Dark Urge struggle for once.”

“I know how to dance. I simply prefer not to.”

Enver’s eyebrow shot up at that, as his movements stilled briefly. When they resumed, it was with a forced casualness that betrayed his interest. “Is that so? I didn’t think being Bhaal’s chosen left time for such frivolous activities.”

“I am my father’s blood, but I was raised by mortals. Do not think me ignorant in the ways of the world.”

He could practically feel the gears turning in Enver’s head as he filed away that piece of information.

“I would never, darling. I have the utmost faith that we will make a wonderful impression tonight.” He ignored the sneer on Durge’s face as he reached out to fix his collar. “But you will need a name, of course.”

“I have a name.”

“The Dark Urge isn’t exactly a name that flows well in conversation, my dear.” He said it like Durge was supposed to care about that sort of thing.

“Excellent, I shall enjoy watching the pampered nobles choke on their tongues.” A petty response, certainly, but worth it to see the exasperated look on the banite’s face.

“You said you were raised by mortals. Surely you had a different name then?” Of course Enver wouldn’t let that go. He could never resist pulling a thread once he got hold of it.

“A name that no longer matters. I am the Dark Urge. If you refer to me by any other name, I will fashion your leg bones into blades with which I can carve your voice from your throat.” Enver got away with more than most, but when it came to Durge’s god-given name and status, even he was on thin ice.

Enver rolled his eyes. “If nothing else, it certainly matches your flair for dramatics.”

“If you think this is dramatic, then please, do keep pushing me. We’ll see what words you will have left to describe a ballroom full of corpses.”

Recognizing the threat for the warning it was, Enver lifted his hands slightly in surrender. He was already pushing his luck by making Durge attend this party, he was willing to be a bit more diplomatic in turn.

When he finally turned to leave, he was stopped by the bhaalspawn.

Durge held a dagger out to him, hilt first.

“And what exactly do you expect me to do with this?”

“Hide it. These robes have entirely too few places to stash daggers, so if you insist on me wearing them, I will have to insist that you carry these for me.”

The dragonborn knelt down as he spoke, reaching under the long coat Enver had donned. In spite of himself the human was almost flustered by the brazen move, until he felt a holster tighten around his thigh, as another, smaller, dagger was strapped to his leg.

“Is this really necessary? You have never needed a weapon to kill someone.”

“I prefer to have the option.”

With a sigh Enver decided to entertain him for now, as he tucked the first dagger into the back of his belt. Durge did have a point, after all. The robes Enver had picked out for him had cutouts that left precious little to the imagination. He was frankly impressed that the dragonborn had managed to conceal any daggers under the soft fabric.

It wasn’t just for his own benefit, though he certainly appreciated the view. Bringing Durge along served a very specific purpose, and these robes were part of that.

The Dark Urge was attractive, that much was hard to deny. Tall, angular, piercing eyes and a strong build. He typically did his damndest to hide it under layers of blood, but now there was no denying it. The robes fit like a glove, his scales shone without their usual coating of viscera, and despite being far out of his comfort zone, he still radiated a steadfast confidence. Likely because he wasn’t above killing everyone in the room if he had to.

In short, he possessed a quiet magnetism that he never put to use. 

Luckily, Enver wasn’t above putting it to use for him. 

Together they drew plenty of eyes to them upon their arrival. Enver had become a common sight at these functions, rarely considered novel enough to be a topic of conversation. He had set out to change that, and it seemed to work.

The abnormally tall bhaalspawn towered over most of the guests at the party, the sunlight shining through stained glass windows to color the white scales that were visible on his arms, sides and back. He stood tall and proud, with a look on his face that bordered on complete disinterest.

In short, he, and by extension Gortash, presented a fascinating new enigma for the nobles to gossip about. 

Only Enver recognized the barely-concealed murderous urges boiling under his skin. Likely because they were on the cusp of being aimed at Enver himself, as he placed a hand on Durge’s back to steer them towards various conversations.

Introducing the bhaalspawn as a business partner who had aided him in building the steel watch immediately endeared the patriars, setting Durge up for a night of conversation.

His plan worked perfectly, opening the door to many conversations as nobles made their way over to make introductions to his “friend”.

In fact, his plan worked a little too well. He found himself getting distracted by his partner, unable to maintain the flawless focus he usually possessed in these settings. The Dark Urge had proven himself to be a true social chameleon, effortlessly joining conversations and keeping up with the gossip- or at the very least doing a very good job of making it seem that way.

He was a hit among the nobles. It wasn’t uncommon for someone to bring a new date, but they were usually from the same circles. True fresh meat was rare. 

And Enver didn’t like it.

It wasn’t jealousy, not exactly. After all, he knew no one else here would have any hope of surviving even a moment alone with the dragonborn. It was more like indignation. The way they looked at him, only caring for his appearance, as if he was a prize they could win. They didn’t know how brilliant he was. How brilliant they both were. 

Enver was used to being underestimated, he had used it to his advantage many times, but it felt wrong for the two of them, together, to be seen as anything less than the rightful rulers of the city. 

The Dark Urge was something special. A secret lurking beneath the polished appearance of the Gate, only known by a select few.

He was quickly regretting sharing him with the world. A world of people who couldn’t appreciate more than his looks and half-hearted imitation of polite behavior. A world of lesser people who felt entitled to his time, his company. Nobles who disregarded the bond that had developed between the two chosen, thinking they had a right to even try to separate them. People who believed themselves above the bhaalspawn, entitled to his attention, never knowing that it was the other way around.

Like the man who was currently running his fingers down Durge’s bicep. Honestly, flirting so blatantly with another man’s date, it was just gauche. The man was so caught up in questioning the bhaalspawn about his relationship status that he didn’t notice Durge’s hand moving closer and closer to a concealed dagger.

Enver noticed. But then again, Enver had noticed every part of the conversation. His own little group had been tuned out in favor of tracking the flirtatious movements of Irchan Pulver. 

Lady Menzel was the first to notice his split focus, as she leaned in conspiratorially. “It seems that Irchan has taken a shine to your date.”

“Indeed.” Enver’s smile was as fake as the jewels around Menzel’s neck. “If you’ll excuse me.” 

Usually he wouldn’t rise to such obvious bait, but this time was different. Enver should probably step in. Just to make sure Durge didn’t kill anyone in broad daylight, that’s all.

“There you are, darling!” He pointedly wrapped his hand around the arm that was inching towards the dagger, before he turned to greet the man. “Irchan, always a pleasure, I’m sure you won’t mind if I borrow my date for a moment? The dancing is about to begin, and I would so hate to miss out.”

Irchan, who had clearly been angling for a dance himself, looked slightly irked by the interruption. Fortunately there was nothing he could say or do without being terribly impolite. After all, the dragonborn was Enver’s date.

“Of course, Enver. I was simply introducing myself to your friend. It’s always nice to see fresh faces.”

Their smiles were equally forced. 

When Enver finally pulled him onto the dance floor, Durge was too busy being upset about his interrupted murder plans to complain about being forced to dance.

“Why did you stop me?” Durge’s hands were painfully tight around his hand and waist, but Enver held firm.

“Because you were about to kill him.”

“And he would have deserved it.”

Enver didn’t technically disagree. “Discretion, dear. I thought you assassins were supposed to value that sort of thing.”

Durge’s voice was practically a growl in his ear. “I could have killed him right there, and made sure no one knew for hours.” Enver’s grip tightened as the dragonborn tipped him backwards, one large hand moving to support the human’s thigh.

It rested directly on the concealed dagger he had strapped there earlier.

Enver felt his breath hitch slightly. “I don’t doubt it. But I’d much prefer you didn’t.”

When he was finally standing up once more, he could practically feel the urges roiling under Durge’s skin. They didn’t like being told no.

Oh, what the hell. Irchan wasn’t that important anyway.

“Not in public at least. I’m never one to turn down a private demonstration.”

For the first time that night, a genuine smile appeared on Durge’s face. It was wonderfully cruel, rows of needle-like teeth gleaming in the light. 

As the dragonborn pulled him close once more, Enver wondered just how many people Durge would convince him to let him kill before the night was done.

[whathebeep]

Hi I just saw that you're taking prompts, are they for fics or hcs? Because if so I'd love something on the concept of Durge and Gortash thinking no one knows about them, but everyone does :)

I saw your post a while ago and just know it wont leave my mind for a long time

Hey!!! Yes truly the requests are for fics or HCS so if you ever wanna request again go for either! ♥️ Though honestly I find when I do fill requests or anything of the sort it becomes an odd mix between a mini fic and a rambling about HCS? Once I finish my main durgetash fic on A03 I'm def gonna do more structured fics about ideas like this 👀 but for now, here's what I got!

PS. This kinda became a POV of sort from Ketheric on their relationship 👀

PPS- I've realized I didn't have a tag for my own writings yet so I'll be making sure to post stuff I've written as #beep writes!

Oh how they think they're so brilliant. They both think themselves so devious- as they are in all their other dealings. Gortash built a weapon's trade empire up from nothing and Durge is the prodigal, chosen child of the god of murder. They have their strengths in the fields they are familiar in. This, however, is something they are not. Neither had truly felt something for another being *ever*.

To Ketheric their feelings to one another was obvious. He was a man who had been in love, after all. In their meetings together he could see the way that they glanced at one another. The way they would sit a little closer, the way they watched, fixated on the way the other spoke. Durge especially. While they were calm and composed, the way they watched Gortash when he spoke...well. it was clear they wanted to do more than just drive a dagger through his throat. Durge would also notable watch Gortash's hands quite a lot, like they were a pendulum and they were under a hypnotic spell.

Gortash was different with it. He would pay attention when Durge spoke, yes, but he was terrible at keeping his facade up. The way his expression would soften, a small smile on his face...he was smitten, too. Forget how absolutely pleased he looked whenever Durge drew their blade and cut into a target. The few times Ketheric asked Durge to deal with a captured harper or a follower who had failed, Gortash would watch with an obsessive fascination. Like he wanted to sing Durge's praises for their mastery with the blade.

It was sick, the way these other chosen looked so hungry for one another. But in a way, Ketheric understood. After all, would one who had never experienced love before not want to consume it with their entire being? He knew little of their pasts, but for chosen like them, love would not be so commonplace. They were like starving mutts, desperate to make their meal last but far too hungry for more more more.

He was glad he put their rooms far from his own.

[crossdressingdeath]

for the dark urge asks: 5 + 15 + 1 (because i really need to know why kyvir is a bard of all things for a durge)

x @zoneofsmites

(Durge asks!)

Yeah bard sure is a choice for Durge huh.

1. What circumstances led to your Dark Urge becoming their Class/Subclass? I've talked about this a little before, but when Kyvir was eleven or so and mostly living on the streets he got caught murdering someone by a woman who happened to be a not-particularly-scrupulous bard (I'm tentatively saying a tiefling woman named Euphoria, but I'm not entirely settled on that just yet). While the murder child was... a lot, she decided that his skill at sneaking around would come in handy, so she made him a deal: she wouldn't turn him in to the Fist if he stole some notes from a rival bard for her. When that went well, she offered to teach him the bardic arts in exchange for his continued services as a spy and saboteur, an arrangement that worked quite well until she ran out of things to teach him that he couldn't pick up just as well or better on his own and Bhaal got sick of his kid having affection for someone else and made him kill her. (Don't feel too bad for her, she didn't even let Kyvir live with her. This did make it easier for him to indulge his Urges without her noticing, but still!) She also taught him the basics of College of Swords stuff, but he picked up most of it on his own after her death. Also, since I'm seriously considering multiclassing him into assassin rogue next run: that came entirely by instinct, and is why he was a reasonably successful murderer before even hitting his teens.

5. What opinion does your Dark Urge have about the Gods? Keeping in mind I'm not super knowledgeable about Forgotten Realms cosmology (and setting aside Bhaal, since that's a separate question on the list)... The good gods are a bunch of self-righteous bastards and the evil gods mostly just get in the way. Kyvir's not fond of any of them. Well, except for Bane; he has a genuine, deep-seated respect for Bane. Turns out that when you've got divine daddy issues and a bone-deep terror of being out of control, the god of tyranny starts seeming like a pretty compelling option for worship! What no it's not even a little bit a sex thing shut up.

15. What is your Dark Urge’s greatest fear? Losing control of himself permanently. The way Bhaal can take control of him and force him to kill even people he very firmly doesn't want to scares him at the best of times (and plays a part in why he can't fully commit to his relationships with Gortash pre-amnesia and Astarion post-amnesia until after he's tried to kill them and they've managed to stop him), but the thought that one day his father might decide not to give control back? The idea that one day Bhaal might yank his leash tight and leave him nothing but a mindless, obedient puppet moving only at the whim of his god forever? That terrifies him. Orin's fate keeps him up at night longer than his own death does.

[majorasnightmare]

o(*￣▽￣*)ブ (drops in your asks box and politely asks you to answer questions one thru five owo) (for durge) (please 🥺)

🥺🥺🥺 okay 💜

1. What circumstances led to your Dark Urge becoming their Class/Subclass?

gay sex cooperating with banes chosen for a LONG period of time

dirge's style as cult leader was brutal but focused on long term success rather than short term appeasement, and as such he prioritized situations that would result in more death than if he himself had simply killed someone. not just brutal familywide killing sprees, but encouraging a worsening of living conditions to increase the general crime rate, and allowing a web of lies, rumors, and gossip to proliferate to encourage so-called "acts of passion" so that others might be lured to bhaals embrace by enacting their own murders. this general approach inevitably led him into contact with gortash, who sought to ally himself with bhaals chosen, and then that first date at the halls of wonder went off fantastic. the issue started to crop up several years into their partnership, where despite dirges high intelligence, careful calculated approach to growing the cult of bhaal, and deft skill at keeping their actions relatively underground (ha), he was incredibly isolated and fairly ignorant of most anything that wasnt immediately relevant to bhaals interest. the more he worked with gortash, the more often he was on the backfoot simply by virtue of not knowing the intricacies of the discussion, and the more he was aggravated by his own lack of knowledge. in his own opinion, it wasnt enough to simply know the intimacies of murder and how to conduct it, if he was to slaughter the world then clearly he must possess knowledge OF the world and all it contained. the more awareness he gained of his own ignorance, the more it irritated him, and the more obsessed he became with filling in the gaps of his knowledge. eventually conventional studies just werent enough, and the more dissatisfied he grew, the more he strayed further from the temple, and the pursuit of knowledge became less a method of appeasing bhaal and more a method of attaining freedom from him, a pursuit gortash wholeheartedly encouraged.

this culminated in him branching into esoteric lore and eventually into the occult, ending with him gaining awareness of an eldritch entity seemingly perfectly suited to his goals. Caiphon, the violet star who itself is dedicated to the acquisition of knowledge heedless of costs. None of this is explicitly 5e canon PER SE but me filling in gaps from older editions, and while im sad baldurs gate cant cater to my exact ideas of warlock patronship it makes sense

see dirges NORMAL eye color is that rich red he has for his right eye (left side in the pic). the other eye is the price of his pact. when he reached out through foul ritual (which also resulted in his face scars) and invoked caiphon into this world, the pact he struck required only a relatively minor price on his part: caiphon would claim his eye and be allowed to view his actions through it, along with occupying a portion of his mind. it was a price dirge agreed to immediately, and the physical contact between him and the star god scorched his scelera black, and caiphons claim seemed to almost ignite the iris from within, giving it the glow it currently has. both of them feel theyve kind of cheated the other a little, and their relationship is fairly cordial and amicable. in caiphons view, it got front row seats to a repressed bhaalspawns lunatic plan to slaughter the world in a partnership with his fathers sworn enemy, AND gets to partake of whatever insane bullshit dirge does post tadpoling, including reading the entirery of the necromancy of thay. and all IT has to do is give the little freak some eldritch blasts? that doesnt seem fair at all, and it almost even feels bad. it tends to view dirge with some degree of affection and is happy he didnt die from the lobotomy.

from dirges perspective, he gets forbidden eldritch knowledge capable of warping reality without being beholden to the goddess of magic's inane whims and repressing standards and an endlessly refreshing powersource capable of acting in ways wholly unique from other sources of magic, all for the price of setting his eye on fire and letting an elder god shack up in his brain. most warlocks dont get half as much for twice what hes paying and he really feels bad for wyll, because he feels hes lowkey cheating caiphon out of power for basically free. he considers caiphon a reliable business partner hed happily pact with again if he ever had need to, and when caiphon kindly informed him just grabbing the blood of lathander might have lethal consequences, dirge was inclined to listen.

gortash had to be there for that summoning as part of caiphons ritual requirements and the resulting images have been permanently burned into his brain and occasionally try to chew at his sanity. not an experience he wants to repeat regardless of how close he is to dirge. if he had known itd be Like That he wouldnt have agreed in the first place and he tries not to be haunted by it, regardless of how much he supports dirges efforts to break free of bhaal

2. Did your Dark Urge have any romantic and/or sexual relationships prior to their illithid adventure? If yes, who was it with and what was it like? If no, how did they feel about being single?

other peoples durges can vary but my little freak 100% was fucking gortash. dirge was too committed to bhaal to entertain romantic relationships beforehand, but the cult considered the proliferation of bhaalspawn to be one of his "duties". he wasnt forced exactly, but sarevok applied a lot of social pressure for dirge to sire another spawn as bhaals "stud", so he did have quite a few deeply unpleasant sexual encounters with members of the cult throughout his pre tadpole days, that are responsible for his current traumatic associations with topping. nothing ever came of them, and all of them were with other members of the cult who both enthusiastically consented and were under the assumption their zealous leader was ALSO enthusiastically consenting. gortash was the first voluntary relationship he had, and it was characterized by self loathing and self destructive behavior. when they had gotten close enough to be companionable, dirge found himself spending more and more time around enver, and repressing his Urge becoming more and more difficult. as most of his schemes centered around controlling his Urge to maximize its effectiveness, this put him in an incredibly strenuous position that he eventually impulsively tried to alleviate by aggressively working that energy off by fucking banes chosen until he felt less insane. it didnt work but it DID kick off what he considered a very bad habit. gortash had a better sense for what dirge wanted underneath all the self imposed repression because once he had THAT book figured out, dirge isnt a particularly hard read, and gortash considered his service to bhaal to be something that confined his potential rather than enhancing it. plus being the man domming the bhaalspawn responsible for filling a graveyard by himself is QUITE the powertrip. the general durgetash cycle went something like this: bhaal asks something of dirge which hes conflicted about fulfilling, he fulfills it anyways, he feels upset and then guilty about being upset and then confused about why hes upset when as far as he knows this is the only thing hes EVER wanted to do, dirge doesnt go back to the temple and leaves orin in charge by default, dirge spends time either fruitlessly repressing the urge or unsatisfyingly appealing it, dirge ends up at envers, enver sees hes wound tighter than a bowstring and doesnt press the issue and lets him drag his bloodstained shoes all over gortashs new carpet, after an hour or two of silence gortash breaks the quiet and starts a conversation, dirge interrupts him angrily and starts trying to posture to regain some sense of control over himself, gortash pushes him into some kind of sexualizing position, then gortash offers to give him what hes actually here for (some mild relief in the form of allowing himself to submit and hand the responsibility of decisionmaking and pleasureseeking to someone else), dirge acquiesces and has a genuinely nice time so he doesnt leave when the scene is done, dirge doesnt sleep because the guilt of fucking a banite kicks in, dirge dips as soon as the sun comes up to slip back into the temple and enact some kind of self flagellating punishment to atone for a moment of weakness where he wasnt wholly devoted to bhaals goals. that cycle repeated for years leading up to the absolute plan, where dirge finally started to make progress in Not Literally Whipping Himself for Not Hating Gortash (slight. slight progress. meaning he might say bye to enver in the morning instead of leaving before gortash was up) but the habit of not going back to the temple in combination with Fucking A Banite is what would eventually lead to orins betrayal, as encouraged by bhaal and sarevok

the name he currently goes by, dirge, isnt actually his name as he only went by his various titles in his pre tadpole days. it comes from a comment gortash made regarding one of dirges little habits, that being when hes calm and engaged enough on a task that he can focus enough to tune everything else out, he starts to sing quietly to himself. gortash only got to be present for it a few times, and typically only after a murder, leading him to comment that the bhaalspawn was "his little funeral dirge" (a remark dirge did NOT take well at the time that he DID threaten gortash about)

the offhand remark was the only thing he fragmentedly recalled when he had to introduce himself, hence dirge

3. What would your Dark Urge consider to be their greatest skill? Is this accurate?

dirge thinks his best skill is his ability to hit the Kill Yourself button and watch someone blow their brains out at his recommendation. act 2 would agree with him.

4. What would your Dark Urge consider to be their greatest flaw? Is this accurate?

pre and post tadpole dirge considers his greatest flaw to be ignorance, pre because of his relative lack of experience with the world outside of baldurs gate, and post because of his amnesia. in reality its tendency to try and self actualize through handling stress and trauma by himself, which mostly just gets him into worse and worse situations because he doesnt feel capable of reaching out to others about his problems AND considers the fact he experiences those problems at all to be personal failings

5. What opinion does your Dark Urge have about the Gods?

FUCK THOSE GUYS LOL

pre tadpole dirge only considered bhaal worthy of worship because bhaal was meaningfully committed to influencing and impacting the material world of mortals in a manner that would actually have any payoff (read: killing the world)

post tadpole dirge has a deep abiding loathing of gods, their artifacts, their chosen, and most things relating to divinity, with a few exceptions. theyre petty and spiteful, and by virtue of their whims, not even their actions merely their WHIMS, meaningfully worsen the lives of the few people he actually considers people (ie the tadpole gang). bhaals divine connection to him is the straw that breaks the camels back and turns a negative ambivalence to a full on hatred of gods and their mettling.

the exceptions are gods that are willing to interact not as divinities but as people: loviatar gets a pass because she grants meaning and purpose to pain and suffering and reaches out to provide a tangible reward to the efforts one makes through suffering. pain reminds us why we want to be alive, and its a lesson dirge takes to heart after a particularly enlightening encounter with abdirak. while he participates in loviatars rituals of worship, its less about venerating a deity and more because the acts and the philosophy behind them resonate particularly well with him, and the lack of veneration isnt something loviatar punishes so much as she encourages truly focusing on the experience and ensuring its shared with her, which is something dirge can respect.

selunes on thin fucking ice but gets a pass because of dame aylin, isobel especially, and shadowheart (tho he does think selune and shar fighting over her is particularly pointless and petty but he appreciates the help in shadowheart living her own life)

mystra is on fucking sight the real reason gale didnt take dirge with him is because that convo would have ended with dirge choking a brunette out