#bg3 githyanki

[anikorsmthnidk]

chk!

[theamaus]

[thestalkerbunny]

Once you understand that Lae'zel's love language is being mean and that her entire culture is rooted in being mean to each other-Her romance route just makes SO much more sense.

[daughter-of-summerset]

My Tav’s sketch

He is a funny old necromancer with big heart and humor of a pathologist

[niymue]

"I don't play gith because they're ugl-" WHATS THIS THEN.

[certifieddilfenjoyer]

Astral Prism, Orpheus & Raphael Theory

So you know how most people in Baldur's Gate 3 fandom make the Raphael joke?

I'm here to tell you that it's extremely hurtful, because his character has a lot more depth than some of you are willing to see.

Behold, my Baldur's Gate 3 theory:

Right before we enter Act 3, we are jumped by githyanki who want to retrieve our Astral Prism. We are summoned to the Dream Visitor - The Emperor, to help him in the fight.

We find out then that our supposed ally is an illithid but there is one more guy, The Gith, the Orpheus, The Prince of the Comet.

You can ask the Emperor what the heck is a githyanki doing there and he will tell you the brief story about the War of The Comet*.

He is going to mention, that he is bound by INFERNAL chains. Hold on? How come?

After we are done with the Royal Guard, we can go to the upper left side from Orpheus's prison and find an ancient Githyanki disc. It will tell us, that Vlaakith had some infernal business conducted with a devil with wry charm. Of course Raphael isn't the only devil capable of being charming, but it feels natural for it to be him when he is already a very important character in game.

Baldur's Gate 3 Wiki says that it is indeed Vlaakith and Raphael.

OK, but why would they exchange the Astral Prism and is it Vlaakith getting it or Raphael receiving the relic?

He is giving it to Vlaakith. But how would he be in possession of such an artifact?

My theory: He is the one who had it created for that trade. (Commissioned from someone else)

Explanation:

If you look at Hope's and Orpheus's prison, you will notice a striking resemblance at the crystals that can be only shattered by the Orphic Hammer. A Hammer, that Raphael is in possession of! How convenient!

(Even Hope's and Orpheus' eyes are glowing in the same way when they are enslaved.**)

The runes and the design of both Astral Prism and Orpheus' shackles are also strikingly similar. It does not look like anything of Githyanki creation, it screams infernal.

But that still doesn't really add up, does it? Who would possibly create such a powerful object which plays such a major role in the plot?

Here, we have to familiarise ourselves with the wonderful post by Bearhugsandshrugs

Em explains above who the people visiting House of Hope are***.

One of them is a crazy, extremely knowledgeable wizard who specialises in creating copies of himself which prevents him from dying in battle.

When we kill Raphael, we kill him in HoH, in his own domain. He should be gone, for good! But yet, upon interacting with the Orb of Infernal Envisioning, we see that he is soon to be devoured by his father. Hells do not split into separate planes - so either Mephisto snatched his soul somehow (which seems impossible because his body is still there and devil's souls are their bodies) or Raphael respawned and his father took one of his clones or something like that. (He's just so cool I had to put it in here, but let me return to my theory now)

Another name on the list points out to Raphael's interest in different planes (even the ones which don't seem to be reachable) but also, magical puzzle boxes capable of holding items inside. As you can see, the name on the list is under the uninvited visitors section, which most likely means that they either fuel his soul pillars or have been turned into a soul coin. So it didn't have to be that particular person helping Raphael with the creation of the Astral Prism, but it points out to his interest in that topic.

Now, when would that even happen?

Karsus Folly took place in -339 DR, BG3 takes place in 1492 DR, around 2000 years later.

The enslavement of Orpheus - so also the Vlaakith trade - happened at around -4000 DR.

It is not impossible that Raphael was already around and scheming at that time. Why? Because Mephistopheles gifted Haarlep to Raphael most likely when Raphael was about to get the Crown before his father snatched it. Comparing their visual age, it seems that Raphael was already a young adult cambion at around the War of The Comet age.

Another thing is the fact that, Kith'rak Voss, the badass Githyanki Red Dragon rider, the sword of Vlaakith, found out about Raphael and contacted him and told us to get our ass inside Sharess Caress. Raphael doesn't mention him having an 'office' there, it's Voss who does it. Only upon entering the place, we can interact with Korrilla who's like, hey girl go upstairs Raphael rented a room hoping you'd drop by. HE KNOWS WE SPOKE TO VOSS, he has to! And also, Voss was around when Orpheus got enslaved! According to Wiki he was inside the Astral Plane when that happened. And Raphael has absolutely 0 interest in trading with Voss, yet the githyanki managed to reach him somehow. In my opinion, when he finally realised the lies of Vlaakith, he was looking for a specific devil, for Raphael, because he might remember him from back then.

(* Justice to my poor Githyanki, the most based and cool race in BG3. Imagine how painful it has to be to realize over centuries of time that you helped the self-proclaimed queen establish her tyranny over your own people because you've been brainwashed to believe that Orpheus is a traitor and Vlaakith the rightful heir of the throne)

(** The eyes, the chains, the crystals. The top of the Orphic Hammer is literally partially built from that same gem/crystal and on top of that, if you use Examine on it, it clearly states that it has been built in Infernal forges.)

(*** headcanon warning: The Amulet of Vigor that is present in the Archive is actually proven to have some... Other invigorating capabilities ☠️☠️☠️ and the old, ancient, crazy wizard has the boudoir privileges. Coincidence? ☠️☠️)

Anyways, to sum up:

• Githyanki disc shows us a deal between Vlaakith and Raphael where the devil gives her the Astral Prism.

• Raphael orders creation of the Orphic Hammer (the name itself, come on, it's such a mockery just like House of Hope) to make sure that he has the means to free him if it will benefit him in any way.

• In exchange for the Hammer, he receives some kind of knowledge of ascension to godhood. (Lae'Zel tells us during the game that ascension is the githyanki's greatest honour but it turns out it is nothing else but ensuring that Vlaakith remains alive and a god, because she just consumes the life force of her greatest warriors)

• Hope's and Orpheus's chains are strikingly similar and the part of the Orphic Hammer is built from the same gem/crystal that seems to be enslaving both of them.

So yea, my humble request is that you start fully appreciating the incredible writing of the game, instead of just focusing on the shallow 'haha bottom' jokes. I could make another post about that itself, but it's pointless. I hope you enjoyed!

[dirtybg3confessions]

Confession: the fact that githyanki have regular genitals is so silly. i demand they get thr weird ass hemipenes/cloaca situation they deserve

[mauvedraws]

Lae'zel and my githyanki ex-cleric, V'nemre (Nem for short)

[veilody]

Azúcar casually just goes Koala mode as soon as you can touch Karlach. 🐨

[taproot-bread]

A quick doodle of my durge and Lae'zel. Cricket is a halfling bard

Based on this meme

[aristenfromwarsaw]

Sweet Lae'zel <3

[galpalaven]

new head sculpt for the most handsomest man in all the realms the crooked smile is so him pLEASE

[thegoblinwitchqueen]

You know her feet would be swinging back and forth

[rattini]

[ opens my wallet to show you my gith warlock ]

Her name is Peh'tra, she renounced her devotion to Vlaakith when an entity lurking at the edge of the universe granted her spooky powers. An established underground criminal and resident witch, terrorising small villages with her ragtag coven and small following of red kobolds.

Who knows what she will do for the power she seeks >:3c

[deletarius1893]

Lae’zel portrait with & without framing. Another finalized piece I’ve had in the works for a while.

[justcallmefox89]

Before the Creche - Gale and X'aa'nath drabble

Just a little fluff.

“I cannot believe you are letting him keep that thing.”

Galer turns and flashes Shadowheart an amused smile.  “Bold of you to assume he’d listen to me even if I did attempt to dissuade him.”

The cleric rolls her eyes.  “You’re the only person X’aa’nath will even consider listening to.”

Gale simply shrugs and smiles, turning his attention back to X’aa’nath and his newly summoned quasit, Shovel.  The sorcerer had finally gotten around to studying the summoning scroll the group had scavenged from the dead necromancer’s cellar, and had become instantly enamored of the tiny fiend. 

“I don’t see the harm,” Wyll gently interjects.  “It might do X’aa’nath good t-”

“Shit-piddling toe rag!” the quasit shrieks.

“To have a pet,” he finishes dryly.

“Well I quite like it,” Astarion says, sauntering over with a goblet of red wine in hand.

“Of course you do,” Shadowheart huffs.  “But camp will become crowded with two obnoxious imps present, don’t you think?”

Astarion takes a sip of his wine, looking wholly unimpressed.  “Such scathing wit.  Oh, how you wound me,” he replies, monotone.

Gale turns back towards X’aa’nath, smiling softly to himself as he watches the young gith take Shovel’s tiny, clawed hand in his own, demonstrating how to gently pet first Scratch and then the owlbear cub, Pudge.  The quasit’s dark eyes light up with wonder as he timidly scratches the dog behind his ears, earning himself a quiet woof of approval.

“I think they’ll be alright,” the wizard murmurs.  “And we’ll be reaching the creche soon; I think we should allow X’aa’nath all the joy we can before we arrive.”