#oc: diric vajon

[soulventure91]

Once again commissioned the FABULOUS AMAZING STUNNING @artofzofia for this BADASS ref sheet of my longtime very-tired-of-things psi-fighter/zealot barb Diric!! We started a new arc after finally exiting the Shadowfell, so of course you can't be roaming Egyptian-esque deserts in the same fits you had for far-northern shenanigans!

Thank you Zofia for keeping him cool and sand free \o/

[soulventure91]

I commissioned the FANTASTIC INCREDIBLE @domirine to do this lovely doodle of my boi Diric!! Shirtless version under the cut ;) Mans just need a breather.

(Also requisite COMMISSION DOMI screech inserted here)

[soulventure91]

tfw your brain hones in on character developments for one of your longest-lived OCs and actually figure out Why He Matters and also Hey Here's a Loose Scene for That Coming Out.

I guess it's time to put some of my Diric comms onto @velowri because it's happening

[soulventure91]

MY BOY, as done by the awesome @/cheesedefranco on Twitter!!

[soulventure91]

I commissioned the FANTABULOUS @artofzofia for these three GORGEOUS ICONS of my D&D Drow Trio! Three campaigns, three Drow babies :D

Left: Diric Vajon, psi-fighter/zealot barbarian Middle: Iztoryn Arkenrae, profane soul blood hunter/bladesinger wizard Right: Zaketrin Iounovna Vriin (legally Teken'rahel), ascendant dragon monk/barbarian

[soulventure91]

The fantastical @artofzofia / @sotc was SO NICE to re-do Diric in their latest batch of sketch commissions!!! I've been squeeing over it all night, thank you so very much!!!

[soulventure91]

🤘🎧🤘

shuffle soul's Spoofy, get possible song analysis out of 11k+ options! |

[caveat, I have a TON of orchestral stuff so I'll just take whatever has lyrics first -]

HNNNGH lovelovelove this song. The favorite verse:

Darkness strives to blind the strong But Faith will guide our swords Loyal hearts will stand as one And fight with shields of Hope

Now I THINK I may have this on one of my Diric playlists, as a backbone for his core thought processes and emotional response. As much as he won't play the hero, Diric has a huge heroic streak in him and this song in particular emphasizes the ability to unite people against a common evil.

[soulventure91]

🍓🍹🍕 for Dirdir

odd oc asks [that i asked for sorta specifically thanku bestie] |

🍓: Does your OC have any particular scents they like? Or hate? The ocean; fresh-cooked food; hot steel for scents he likes! He also enjoys any scents that remind him of people he cares deeply about - it's part of why he starts stealing some of Mio's soaps! Scents he'd hate might include rot/mustiness (as used to it as he might be from his marches in the Underdark) and due to his Feywild experiences Diric is very wary of scents of snow and the forest. Bad memories tied to those scents.

🍹: Does your OC have any funny anecdotes told about them? Oh man, I'd have to open the floor to @gwynbleiddyn @defenderofulth1 and @morganzephyr for any really good anecdotes; I think most of them would leave Diric flushing in embarrassment into his glass of whiskey. Probably the fastest one to be recounted would be BirDiric - getting himself turned into a bird mid-spiral bc he looked around the Feywild and went 'uhhh I am no good here how can I still be useful'. The trade was on purpose, the price was not clear to him because the man has no experience in dealing with fey shenanigans, so right into the hag cauldron he went.

🍕: How does an OC spend a lazy day? Lazy day?!?! Diric??? This man hasn't had a lazy day...ever! Even at Tsenden Diric was working constantly; his depressive spirals prevent him from easily relaxing and just Not Doing Anything. That being said - I think when he does get a chance to have a 'lazy' day, it starts, of course, with his exercise and stretching routine. Diric would definitely stay in a city, taking the morning to explore and sketch and browse. He'll of course eat as well, snacking on local street food as he roams. The afternoon, if he's near a coast, Diric will head that way and enjoy the sea. Mans can't swim but he'll definitely sit in the surf (despite the risk of sunburn. Oh God the sunburn). If not near a coast or river (as he'll find a riverfront to relax at if so), Diric would find a smithy in need of an extra set of hands and work on his smithing. He's not fully proficient with smithing tools but he'd work on it as best he can!

[soulventure91]

🖊 + Diric

oc gushing hours: always open |

MY SON okok so just for you, Grey: a SWTOR AU of sorts!

Diric would probably be mixed-blood Sith: looks human enough to be ignorable by the nobility, but just a little Sith enough that most folks are unsettled by him - it's the gold eyes, really. Serves in the Imperial Army, probably a Pierce type except unlike Pierce has a traumatic mental breakdown when his unit gets wiped out. Probably by rakghouls on Taris or something else equally awful in a shitty posting. I think to reflect Dir's D&D story of being imprisoned by mind flayers, he's probably captured by the SIS. Is he a double agent or just really lucky? No one knows. And he doesn't go back to the Empire after getting away from them.

No idea how to factor in the hag deal but Force shenanigans often work! Or weird genetic experimentation! Either way, somehow Dir ends up full Sith pureblood and hates it. Keep a blaster very obviously on his person at all times. Probably makes use of an assault cannon or blaster pistols as needed. Maybe just a little Force-sensitive (because psionics are like the Force, right? *insert 'THAT'S NOT HOW THE FORCE WORKS' joke here*) but not enough to really raise attention from Empire or Republic. Either way, Diric's still just a simple (relatively) man trying to make his way in the universe - even if life can get really, really complicated.

[soulventure91]

diric for the unhinged character bingo please and thank you 💕

AS UNHINGED as he can be and I am about him, no bingo 😔😔😔 very close in spots tho!!!

[soulventure91]

emoji asks for u:👑,🙈 (esp for dir) and i'd love to know 🌌 -- for as many of ur blorbos as you see fit!

emojis bb! |

Diric Vajon 👑 CROWN - what does your oc want to be remembered as? why? I think I answered this one in the last round doing this, BUT. If he's to be remembered, Dir would like it to be as a protector, someone that could be counted on when he was needed. He grew up believing that being a soldier, a fighter - someone able to stand up for himself and others - was how he was going to make it out of Blackthorn and make a difference in the world. He's not as sure now as he's been in the past whether that's how he'll be remembered - if he'll be remembered at all.

🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - whats a side of your oc that they don’t want to show other people? It's peeked out a bit since he's come back from Tsenden, and it's a side he is trying to be more comfortable with letting out: being playful, not being wound up in his armor all the time. Diric's never felt comfortable letting down all his walls and allowing himself to have fun. He's going to make an attempt once we get out of the Shadowfell, though - day at the spa, do some frivolous shopping and maybe some new piercings, and get down some dancing if he finds a good place. Dir needs something to help his soul heal and stabilize his broken heart at the very least.

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them? So when I fist started playing a ttrpg in uni, I was able to get my hands on a HeroLab license (that group was running a heavily modified Pathfinder 1e game, hence HL) and started working with a few different concepts. Around the same time as I was starting to read up on Drow (since I wanted to play one and my DM wanted to ensure I didn't accidentally make a Drizzt), I also discovered mind flayers! There's actually a sequence in the second Homeland Trilogy book where Drizzt is! Briefly captured and enthralled by mind flayers! And part of that stuck with me enough that when I was passing time doing concepts and inspired by art on Pinterest, I created a psionic dhampir ranger - a man that had been captured and enthralled by mind flayers and escaped, but was forever changed by the experience. I then shelved that concept and that character sheet has since been lost to time - sometimes I'd think about it again, though, and the thought came on strongly after Tac died and Tez was spiraling rapidly out of the party. Of course at the time 5e didn't have dhampir or psionics, but I could still have the mind flayers in the background - and I could play not a full Drow (at the time that PF1e Drow had gotten kinda shafted in terms of chardev so playing full Drow some years later had left a bad taste in my mouth, and something similar happened in an in-person game I'd been in while also playing a full Drow) but a partial Drow, who would be outside the dangerous society and more easily exit onto the surface. And that's how you get to Diric!

Rosette Gang 🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them? So for the Rosette kids, it began with Kassi and playing the first open beta of Diablo 4. The opening intrigued me, and Diablo being a dark fantasy universe the idea of playing a necromancer seemed like a cool, lore-infused place to start. Of course though the necromancer's body model was bony and starved-looking - but that just set my creative juices turning. Necros in Diablo are sort of a combo class of D&D wizard and warlock - sturdier than a sorcerer but still a solid magical cannon, if restricted in some ways compared to a magic-heavier class. Building from there I could reckon Kassi as someone that tried to be the full-wiz style of necromancer - but can't. So she needed a more warlock-esque arc - leaning again into Diablo and the character of Rathma, born of an angel and a demon and known as the First Necromancer. So of course with most things when I want to develop further, I turned to my bestie @tatooine92 and said 'hey what if some portal magic went wrong and this skinny little necromancer that actually has 15 STR landed in Thedas'. She followed it up with 'what if she landed in Kirkwall??' This is how we get to Dylen and Jerrik - originally two nobody Templars guarding the Kirkwall Chantry when the Veil gets popped open briefly and this maybe-demon person falls right out in from of the Grand Cleric. Jerrik was the Quiet Stoic Protector, while Dylen was the Curious-But-Wary-And-Witty Newbie (and yes they're husbands, we knew this immediately). Kassi immediately bonded to them, and when I started developing her original world Steph agreed that I could port Dylen and Jerrik in as well - which meant I had to figure out "Templars" without actually having Templars. Cue D&D again and the Eberron setting with dragonmarks - just altered and made rarer! That's how you get the most sunshiney-yet-goth necromancer who can bench press you while still grinning; an ex-con who suddenly has magic that lets him be EVEN SNEAKIER; and a very tired sword-and-board-plus-protection-magic man who really doesn't like necromancers for Deeply Personal Reasons \o/

[soulventure91]

glance for your usual suspects? 👀

oc character designs | we start with the ladies just for u :D

glance: At first glance, what stands out most about your OC’s appearance? What’s their distinguishing feature?

Pre-transformation, Trin was always easily spotted simply for being Drow - her ashen skin and white hair. Since the Drow vanished from her world, Trin is a rarity just by walking around! We've met more tieflings in Trin's campaign than other Drow! Post-transformation, of course, the red dragon scales visible on her shoulders, neck, and legs make her stand out even more.

Kassi is a tossup between her emaciated figure - countable ribs, some other bones jutting out under her clothes - or the intricate tattoos covering her face and body. Her tats are records of the spells and rituals she's mastered during her twelve-year apprenticeship under the dead-speaker for the Tjedis tribe, Setaisi (fondly called Seta). Then again sometimes it's her bright-but-ragged smile!

Pre-transformation? Diric was almost entirely uninteresting to look at - normal height, normal hair, just some normal dude. You would have to get closer to notice the faint points of his half-elven ears, or catch him in the dark to see the reflective glow of his golden eyes. Post-transformation, he can't go anywhere unnoticed! Could it be his massive height of 6'8? The dragon horns that arch up from his hair now? Or the rich slate-blue-grey of his now-fully-Drow skin? He can't go anywhere without being seen now.

Tor is fairly basic compared to the rest of the usual crew of OCs, even for a Drow. I think for him, the first thing that stands out is exactly how normal he appears to be - nothing fancy, nothing different from any other Drow you might see. At least until you notice his vivid blue eyes and the tattoos on his lower arms, which will eventually become sleeves of spells and arcana.

[soulventure91]

🍒🍊🍐💧🍇 A healthy fruit salad for Dir-dir!

A jumbo ask fruit salad - wait he doesn't have to exchange anything for it right >_> |

🍒 What kind of things do they expect from their relationships? Does this differ between platonic relationships and romantic ones? Is your OC “demanding” or a door mat? What kinds of things do people expect from them in a relationship? Man relationships are a really rough thing for Diric bc he's just been through a lot - platonic, fully sexual, kinda-romantic, you name it he's probably been through it. He grew up without much of any social relationships with his mother or anyone else in his family (this man didn't even know his mother's cousin, the head of their house, is married to ONLY THE SECOND-MOST-IMPORTANT MILITARY FIGURE IN BLACKTHORN -), so probably item one of Dir's expectations is just in general giving a damn about him. Show him you care and half the battle of getting him to open his heart is done. He also expects being able to talk freely about himself without feeling judged or that he's not reaching the "right point" as he's rambling. Sometimes to stop his spirals he needs to verbalize it and then go 'oh, shit, that's not right, wow i'm an idiot'. He tries not to be demanding but sometimes I think Diric accidentally comes over that way. He has that mild jealous streak discussed here - anyone that gets along more easily than him with whoever his romantic interest at the time is risks facing that protective 'they're mine back off' vibe from him, and his interest will probably have protective pupper Diric curling around them vibing 'my person MINE'. Re expectations from him in a relationship, Diric tries so hard to be whatever he's 'asked' to be. His relationships in the Void-Delvers often left him a chameleon to whoever he was with while they benefited from his protectiveness and supportive shoulder. While with Mio, Diric tried to exemplify what he imagined he could be with Mio long-term: the proud strong bodyguard and confidant, outwardly cool but privately utterly devoted and gentle to guide Mio through any storm. Even though that backfired but ultimately wasn't the reason for their breakup, part of Diric's brainpower right now is still spiraling through the 'what did I do wrong' phase of his heartbreak cycle. He's never been asked to just be himself in a relationship - not asked to change to 'be' anything other than what he is.

🍊 What is your OC’s favourite meal? Snack? Dessert? Drink? Any reasons behind this besides liking how it tastes? Fave meal: A rough equivalent to a marsala with mushrooms and spider-crab! Dir loves savory, filling dishes that put fuel in his tank but make his mouth water for days to come. Mushrooms are an Underdark staple, and I imagine finding underground crabs for eating are a huge delicacy - so while this is Dir's absolute favorite, it's also a huge rarity for him to have. Snack: Weird Underdark food time. Crispy-fried/grilled insects for quick protein and funky texture. Diric likes remembering eating (it's one of the few ways you can mark time underground sans magic!), so sometimes he'll eat weird things just for the experience. Dessert: He's actually not really big on sweet things! Some fruit is usually a solid to-go for him, but I think for something more fancy something like sopapillas (soft sweetbread lightly fried and puffy, coated with cinnamon sugar to be dipped in honey!) would be his speed. Beverage: Diric is such a whiskey man, it's not funny. He'll also drink ales and other beers but to truly relax it's gotta be a whiskey. I think of specific whiskey he'd prefer a bourbon over a single malt - something with a bit of spice as well as smoothness.

🍐 What is your OC’s mentality? Are they overall positive? Negative? A bit of both? Describe their thought patterns and reasoning behind their choice making! Answered previously here!

💧 What is the earliest memory your OC can recall? Do they know what their first words were or remember where they took their first steps? Do they have any mementos of their childhood they’ve kept such as a stuffed toy or tiny baby clothes? Oh boy. I was chewing on this in the shower. One of Diric's first memories is of his bedroom door - the room he used for planning and trying to get a grip on the Blackthorn situation! - closed and locked from the outside. He'd been pulling on the handle enough that it came a bit loose. The door itself is reverberating from crying at it, begging to know what he did wrong, that he was sorry, please. Please was probably one of his first words, too. Memento-wise, his old room still has a lot of his old toys - play swords, carved figurines a la action figures. He didn't have a lot of soft things growing up.

🍇 Day or Night? Sun or Rain? Summer or Winter? Night! Even as a half-elf, the nighttime and darkness thereof calms Diric and helps him feel less wound up. Nighttime on the surface is way preferable to the darkness of caves where he grew up; although he doesn't mind cave-darkness, there's something more velvety and reassuring about surface nights that really soothes Diric's soul. Sun! Which sounds really weird after picking night but it's the warmth of the sun that restores Diric's heart. If the nights are for comfort, sunlight is for strength and growth. It's why I picked his draconic power to appear in gold dragon ties instead of something more aligned to his character (brass/bronze) - to show him able to shine despite all he's been through and as he grows into the best possible version of himself. Ugh it's an or so I can't say neither x_x. The true answer is spring because of the possibility inherent in lengthening time, in life's reawakening and the chance of growth! I guess if he had to pick Diric would say summer because of long days and summer nights are far preferable to winter nights - a warmer darkness, softer velvet. Diric unfortunately associates cold with the sensation of having his mind picked over by mind flayers and the feeling of their tentacles around his throat.

[soulventure91]

im kicking the door down for 🍋🍐and 💙 for the diric lore

oh god Diric lore from the jumbo asks oh boy oh BOY -|

🍋 Does your OC act petty and jealous easily? What sort of things make them feel like this and do they experience guilt for getting so worked up? How do they deal with these emotions when they get them? If your OC doesn’t feel like this often, why not? Okay SO. We know the answer to the first is relatively yes - the why is a bit tricky. Diric's jealousy often derives from seeing someone he cares about (and we're talking like. Devoted levels of caring, like to the level of only-missing-a-ring-and-vows, which is. a problem for him.) interacting with someone else Dir probably doesn't know as well or doesn't feel secure in himself to be around - and getting on with equal or greater ease that Dir usually feels when interacting with the person he's given his heart to. This is why he had to have a couple clarifying talks with Alar when Alar made his initial arrival because man did Alar rub Diric wrong those first few weeks ^^; To be honest if they talked some more, especially because Alar is the last of three party members with direct divine communication he hasn't talked to about his therapy, I think Diric would find a lot of respect and admiration for Alar. Probably he wouldn't reach the same levels of devoted but Diric would be more in line with figuring out maneuvers with Alar in mind like he has with Maahes. Diric absolutely has to be called out on his jealousy if it's spotted; otherwise he's going to sit on it and end up saying something really stupid as his invasive thoughts start going off. He'd be more guilty about what's said in that case, but not over the feelings that triggered the outburst. With his therapy stint, another thing he gets to work on is not getting jealous in general - doesn't help that he and Mio are still figuring out how to patch things up and Diric still has a severe case of heartbreak to parse through - which is part of why Diric still has self-isolating moments at present and also giving Maahes any space he might need (partly in the hopes Mio would come to him if he needed to vent - though overhearing Mio opening up to the others somewhat, while a good healthy move for Mio that Dir does, in his psyche, understand, makes Dir question exactly how much Mio does trust him - look, invasive thought spiral ay). To be honest Dir should not be self-isolating. Someone please just sit next to him.

🍐 What is your OC’s mentality? Are they overall positive? Negative? A bit of both? Describe their thought patterns and reasoning behind their choice making! Motive number one for any choice Diric makes: does this help me better protect those I care about? Protecting others is the focus of his mindset, period. To Diric's mind, if he can't protect the people he loves - even if those people are more than capable of protecting themselves! - that's a failure on himself. Combat encounters where he lags behind the others and is either put in danger or unable to get in a swipe before the party wipes out the enemy? He's failed. Trying to advise or be a listening ear but getting chided for doing that? He's failed. Venting his thoughts or trying to explain the weird broken bits of his brain and not feeling like he's been understood? Failed. It's very negative, not healthy, and why one part of his new promises to Bahamut includes the caveat of not at the expense of myself when it comes to extending himself protectively. Usually, motive two is the more selfish one: can I become stronger doing this? It was this motivation that spurred him into Blackthorn and then the Underdark. If Diric could look at Blackthorn and say 'no, being there again wouldn't help me or anyone', he wouldn't have pressed going. But because it put to rest some of his issues and he was able to grow personally and protect the party, overall Diric's choice was always going to be yes, return to Blackthorn. Even if he hated every second of it. But he'll refuse to go back unless Aislinn herself asks for him.

💙 What did your OC want to be when they grew up and why? Did they have any lifelong dreams or ambitions they never got to work on or are they currently working to achieve this dream? Has their life taken a very unexpected turn and put all these plans on hold for a while or have they given up on any dreams? This poor little boy all alone in his room surrounded by toy weapons and the equivalent of comic books and action figures only ever had one dream: to be important to someone and be recognized for himself. All he could dream of was being a soldier like Malarnur Duskblade and one day being strong enough to fight alongside him. Obviously Dir did get his wish of becoming a soldier, but when you're put in the unit of social outcasts and expected to die...yeah. Add on completely wrecking your first command operation and there was no way Diric was ever going to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his childhood hero. Which came true for the most part since Diric killed the pit fiend possessing said childhood hero! But I think by that point he didn't...want the hero's celebration he'd once dreamed about. Which is part of why he doesn't want to ever go back to Blackthorn, even with now being fully Drow. He was there as an outsider, not as someone that earned his place. I think part of Diric still has that dream of mattering to someone; it's why he devoted himself so much to Mio, why part of him is so certain he'll find somewhere that wants him. Because if he knows the where, the who should come naturally. But if he can't find the where or the who, that could break Diric entirely. This little boy's dream is all he really has left holding his heart together.

[soulventure91]

Stillness, Canvas, Bling for Diric pls!!!

oc character designs | tha BOI

stillness: How does your OC act while still? Are they fidgety? Do they have any common gestures or tics? Does their clothing affect how they hold themselves while at rest?

Diric can be somewhat fidgety, though he can make himself still if the situation requires. His main tic is typically a light tapping on the nearest available surface, getting more insistent if he's stressed out or nervous. Armor means he sits very straight, similarly if he's in a uniform, which is why his hands usually fidget more than the rest of him.

canvas: Does your OC have any scars, piercings, tattoos, or other markings? Do they display or cover them up at all?

Let's see...Diric does have some physical scars, mostly from training mishaps during basic and other scraps during his army time. The most visible scar he has is one that presses under his jaw and flick up onto his right cheek; it's the one scar Diric recalls being definitely from his slavery under mind-flayers, a point where an illithid got ahold of him with one of its tentacles and Diric is fairly sure he came || close to being eaten. Piercings, he has a few cartilage piercings in his ears for subtle decoration though Diric's never really done much to show them off! Probably the one piercing the party would know for certain about is for the sending earring Diric gave to Savita prior to his departure for Tsenden. Tats! He has the turquoise pecs-and-sleeves whorls from the wood elves that grant him damage reduction when not raging! They certainly saved his life multiple times over. Other markings, probably we'd count his dragon scales here. Diric has gold dragon scales as part of his physical transformation with being blessed by Bahamut: two streaks that basically run along his cheekbones up to his ears, and another two streaks that begin under his hairline and run parallel to his spine. I headcanon that those streaks are where Diric could potentially have dragon wings anchored to his back, if that becomes a suitable beat for the campaign.

bling: What jewelry does your OC wear? Does it have any meaning?

Diric doesn't wear any right now, unfortunately! He has the piercings (probably as part of listing methods to ID him if he was killed in the tunnels) but after his enslavement he didn't have any interest or ability to replace them. He still has yet to get any new bling to put in!! He'd probably start with a cuff on the exterior of each ear, and get an industrial bar to mark where an ear-point used to be. I reckon Dir COULD be persuaded to get a chain but you'd have to beat him thinking it could be very unsafe in combat.

[soulventure91]

🍧🕷️🖍️ for Diric!

emojis everywhere! |

🍧 SHAVED ICE - do they still have any objects from their childhood? what significance does it have to them? what would their reaction be if they lost it? Not on his person; most of Diric's childhood objects - mostly toys (play weapons and "action figures") and books (regular and comic-esque) - are back in his childhood bedroom in Blackthorn. Their significance is less the items themselves and more what wasn't there along with them: friends to play with, his mother giving them to him. Sure as a boy Diric had a great imagination and could pass time in his own company pretty well, but the loneliness has left a mark and you don't let go of that kind of emptiness easily without knowing how best to fill it.

🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears? Biggest, number one fear (aside from mind flayers)? Being abandoned, again. Losing anyone around him, or being removed from those he considers friends, again. Part of Diric leaving for Tsenden required confronting that fear head-on, and oh boy did it fuck him up real good. He had to remind himself that most of the party did voice wanting him to return, otherwise I'm not sure he would have. It's kind of irrational but Diric is also afraid of being deceived: that someone he thought he knew well isn't that person he believed at all - usually in the sense of them being worse than he had hoped. I'm not sure about a really basic fear; I think any fears of the dark/spiders/crawling things/deep dark water got drummed out of him in the army. Still can't swim though and will probably avoid water that crests over his head if he can.

🖍️ CRAYON - what advice would you give to them? Just...relax. Diric spends too much energy analyzing and trying to predict or anticipate others, especially when hurt. Yes he needs his time and space to recover from emotional pain but often it comes with the problem of Diric trying to minimize any other oncoming damage - which often comes across as over-amplifying his processing, or assuming the worst in a conversation that should be positive for him. A chance to simply step back and not feel like doing so will put in in difficult emotional or social straits is what he needs most.