#lacrimosen

[sylvaridreams]

the pistol spin idle hit at just the right moment. the drama of it all.

[ohpollenpowder]

Morgan Gunnar [BRUH]

Tarathiel Aelynn [Liar]

HOST Valdis Kogrunner [VS] + Tarathiel + Spite Scorchedearth [KSC]

Ambrose Wolfsbane + Marwyd [CAFE] + Johnny Boy Joestar [CAFE] + Pyromancer Kudo [UWU] + Fractæl Stranger [CAFE] + Minerva Alrekkin [CAFE]

Krulain Ripclaw [DOL]

Telka Shattersong [Star] + Hematologist Vleori [ily]

Lacrimosen [Star]

August VS party shots! Sorry this is so late. I didn't really expect to make it so only really got the tail end of things, I think. And August has been a bit more...draining than I had expected. Feel free to tag yourselves!!

[sylvaridreams]

Mom said it's my turn to lead an army, weren't you listening?

[sylvaridreams]

local man tries to draw again

[sylvaridreams]

I'm just like, sylvariposting today. <- I do this every day so whatever.

Anyway running with the "Lala overthrew the Pale Reavers and took off with a bunch of their young recruits to make his own army" idea... I love Lala, he's not "evil" but he is a manipulative person who'll twist others and charm them any way he can to get what he wants. He claims to be a firstborn, a secondborn, whatever he can get away with to posit himself as Higher and Better Than You, somehow. He couldn't do this working with Laranthir in the Pale Reavers because Laranthir knew that was all deceit. So he started scheming behind the true secondborn's back, charming young recruits who had joined the Reavers with hopes of doing good. Well we could do even more good together, you and I. 💚 Just us together. 💚 And eventually he had so many Reavers on his side, he was able to say hey, what do we need the Reavers for, let's go build our own organization over there! ^_^ who's with me! And led some huge chunk of the snipers away like the pied piper.

He has a tendency to flirt to get what he wants. And he's genuinely charming about it, and other sylvari (saplings especially) fall for it and believe that he’s genuinely interested in them specifically, that he only has eyes for them, that he means it when he refers to them as dearheart. Naturally he has zero interest in them. Any of them. But it's so quick and easy to get them in line and doing as he bids when they all believe that he's in love with them too.

(Lychen is immune to his charms. Zero interest. He'll smack Lala to get him to stop when he's coming on too strong to a recruit. "You have to stop flirting with all the new recruits, sir. They're starting to get jealous." "What's to be jealous about!" "Two of the new snipers got in an argument over which was your dearheart, and three others overheard and joined in." "Well they're all my precious dearhearts." "Stop that.")

I'm figuring out right now what Lala and Eldulis' history together is. Eldulis is a genuine secondborn. At some point I feel he was a valiant. Lacrimosen a couple of generations later was maybe a fellow valiant. Maybe Eludlis was his mentor... I think during this time he would have been questioning the validity of the Dream, the Grove, the Pale Tree... all of it starting to look so fake and forced. He was disillusioned with his own Wyld Hunt and wasn't getting any answers from the Firstborn or their mother. He'd confided in Trahearne first that he felt his Hunt wasn't attainable, and had gotten some kind of comforting non-guidance, which had pushed him towards talking to Faolain instead. Why are we doing all of this, sister? To what end does it serve? And she did have guidance, in the other direction. I think Eldulis would have tried to sway Lacrimosen before going fully to the Nightmare Court. Come with me. You have potential in you. Lacrimosen laughed in his face and told him he had no interest in organized cults. So now to this day there's this rift between them where they both think of the other as that fool who made the wrong choice and ended up in some stupid organization that I have no interest in. Were they to actually be forced to sit down and communicate I'm sure they'd be able to be somewhat honest about missing what they once had, when they were friends, but it's something they can never return to--there will only ever be animosity from Eldulis and aggressive flirtation from Lala.

[sylvaridreams]

mom's not home.

I'm mom now :)

[sylvaridreams]

i deleted this right after posting it last time because it was stupid but sometimes..... things that are stupid... are funny.

(inoxiam and eldulis at the Roseate Canaries' hq for the first time, in da waiting room)

[sylvaridreams]

I finished replaying HoT again on Lacrimosen (achievements...) and found that every time Mordremoth got into his head and staggered or knocked him out, all his minions would very subtly drop dead on the spot. VERY funny.

[sylvaridreams]

Audden (The Silent)

A "Soundless" sylvari -- not truly Soundless in that he doesn't exercise any mental wards to disconnect from the Dream. Rather, he awoke without any connection to the Pale Tree or to his race as a whole. Though aware enough at the time he awoke to understand his own personhood, he entered life without any of the collective memories of the sylvari race, or any of the social or emotional bonds that a Dreamer would wake with.

He was incredibly naive a first, even for a sapling, having to learn each new concept for the first time like a child rather than knowing the basics when he woke. The Firstborn and other sylvari tried to study and understand him, to unravel what he could be and what his existence meant for their people. The end? A new beginning? Audden struggled to connect with anyone, being prodded and monitored like a rat in a cage. As kind and polite as they were, the other sylvari still treated him as an anomaly, an "other." He grew to view the Grove as nothing more than a beautiful prison, and quickly became frustrated with sylvari society, the Grove, and the Pale tree who claimed to care for him, despite there clearly being no bond between them at all. He felt no love for her, and no love from her. He knew he was wrong, out of place, too different from anyone to be happy-- like a cuckoo egg left in a sparrow nest to be raised by strangers, he grew to fear the idea that he wasn't sylvari at all, but something planted there. A parasite, left to feed on resources not meant for him and grow. He worried that he could belong to the Nightmare he'd heard about, that his true nature must be something twisted and evil. Or perhaps he was something even worse, something that would wipe out these kind, well-intentioned people who seemed to want so badly to help him connect with their world.

He wanted nothing more than to run from the Grove, but feared that doing so would allow the Court to find and take him. Eventually, too miserable to remain in one place any longer, having Ventari's teachings drilled into him and told his nature, he ran away, creeping out of the Grove and fleeing to the south. He managed to evade Courtiers for a time, but was ultimately too naive to make it far and stay out of trouble.

Lychen of the Pale Sentinels picked him up. Audden couldn't trust him at first, not as another sylvari, another of "their" mother's children, or perhaps a Courtier -- it is often hard, upon meeting Lychen, to tell if he's a good person to put your faith into or not. Lychen earned his trust through sheer disinterest, and Audden was eventually willing to travel with him to the Sentinels' headquarters and go before Lacrimosen. Lala saw in him an opportunity to further the reach of their organization, as well as something to strive for--but Lychen warned him that Audden had already spent his life being studied, and that such lab-rat treatment was the reason he'd run away; treating him as any kind of anomaly was certain to drive him off. He further suggested that since Audden was, in a big way, untouched by the Dream or the Nightmare, leaving him be and watching from afar would be a better course of action to see how an uninfluenced Sylvari might develop-- a sort of control experiment.

So, at this time, he resides in the Sentinels' HQ castle, training to become one of their snipers and devouring their vast library. As many of the Sentinels are Soundless, and as the castle has become a sort of refuge for Soundless sylvari specifically, he's managed to make a couple of friends naturally, just by virtue of studying the same topics or being naturally bad at the same drills. Lacrimosen is still watching him, but he also holds Audden in high regard, and Audden seems to recognize this.

[sylvaridreams]

Shitposting about Eldulis and Inoxiam (and Lacrimosen also) but also this may well be where they are during soto. Chillin.

[sylvaridreams]

Still trying to figure out what kind of organization Lacrimosen is heading BTW. I dunno. :p

[sylvaridreams]

I was also thinking about Inoxiam and Eldulis ouuugh... I've talked about it before but I have to again I think. Inoxiam is of course not a real Courtier, he's a Whispers agent trained specifically to tear down these courts from within and salt the earth so that they can't rebuild. He specializes in turning courtiers against one another and sabotaging court plans, pulling out the most important load-bearing pillars of whatever orchard or grove or copse he's stationed at and letting things burn.

He fucked up his first mission of this type. He couldn't take the cruelty he was witnessing and went off the rails, started attacking courtiers outright and blew his own cover. His Whisperskeeper had to pull him out from the burning remains, and he went back into training for 6 months before he was given another chance. It's painful, seeing the absolute torment and depravity, the things that the Nightmare Court will do to other people. He has to standby as other sylvari are tortured and killed, knowing that he can't do anything now but that if he bides his time, he may get a few out later.

He has so many secrets. And then they sent him into Lionsbane where Eldulis resides as the Duke of Torment. And he has this unique and terrifying ability to flay minds, to peel away deceit and peer into the hidden truths that people lock away. Impossible to keep a secret around, because at the first hint of suspicion he'll use his truthseeking ability to force a person to speak what is real. And Inoxiam isn't meant to catch his attention; he's still physically recovering from being tortured at Twilight Arbor, and they want him keeping a lower profile here, small acts towards a broader purpose...

But then Eldulis takes a direct interest in him. Of course he does. He can tell immediately that Inoxiam is keeping something safe, and he wants to know what, but enjoys the challenge and chase of trying to pry it out with conventional means. In other words, Eldulis courts him, trying to corner him near the edge so that he'll give himself up of his own volition. Inoxiam is strong-willed, but he can only do so much, only go for so long, and again, still recovering from Twilight Arbor. Still hurting. Still having nightmares and panic attacks. And he's so easily cornered in this state. So tired and scared of what will happen to him this time if he's found out again.

Then I think Eldulis would finally use his power to peer into Inoxiam's mind and see how terrified and hurt he is. He'd pause and consider going further, peeling to the center of his lies. But the chase is more fun. He's supposed to head to Twilight Arbor, soon. Faolain is dead and they need someone to replace her, and he wants that. He wants Inoxiam to be by his side for the Dark Vigils. So he backs out without looking at the truth, and tells Inoxiam that he'll be coming with to the Arbor.

And then I think Lacrimosen shows up and ruins everyone's plans yippee!

[sylvaridreams]

Our of your sylvari, most likely to disobey their wyld hunt!

@mystery-salad

Character ranking ask game!

Asks that make me have to Think about how many Sylvari i have. Too many. Sorry everyone. From least to most likely to disobey their Hunt:

(Name - goal of the hunt - status)

Inoxiam - destroy the court - actively pursuing, bit of a winding road though.

Unnamed new guy (Darlingtonia?) He doesn't rember... he forgor.... his hunt was to serve as a knight to SOMEONE which he took very seriously but he's also Shy. He doesn't know that's his Hunt but he's still intuitively trying to follow it at any cost.

Eldulis - dark hunt, lead the nightmare court - actively pursuing, would not stray from it for even a second unless perhaps some twink were to distract him

Alba - kill the elder dragons/protect the world - has begrudgingly paused before in killing dragons but also ultimately succeeded at it.

Auruim - protect a creature slumbering in the jungle (defend mordremoth) - failed, but not without trying to succeed.

Aeris - kill kralkatorrik -> serve aurene -> What the heeeeell is she meant to be doing? - off track. She's back to trying to figure out her purpose to pursue it. She's also easily distracted though.

Lacrimosen - ??? - no one can tell him what to do! (He is probably actively pursuing whatever his hunt is. He is just also having a great time with other things!)

Venasis (remaking soon) failed while pursuing, but also wasn't trying super hard and would have given up at the first sign of trouble.

Lychen - ??? - doesn't take orders. Would "politely" (backhandedly) decline a wyld hunt and leave.

Tryllwenn - protect his twin - actively walked away from it.

[sylvaridreams]

It Is Not Wednesday, and yet we wip whenever... anyway I'm writing that fic I said I couldn't and wouldn't write, and am figuring out the Pale Sentinels and Lacrimosen's motives further.