#oc: samel damasio

[shiawasekai]

Next part of the reference sheet!

Nela herself with an everyday outfit post-game (and once she has worked through her issues) and her twin brother Samel as he looks post-game. I'm not fully sold on his design on some aspects, so i may revisit it at a later date.

As an aside, he has dragon wings from his crossblooded sorcerer bloodline skills and fangs that were not included in this image. Their respective heights are 154cm (5'1''?) and 171cm (5'6'').

For Nela, those are openings for the wings in the back. Also the bands she wears on the feathers are magically crafted to be both lightweight and very easy to put in and out (Samel's handiwork, in fact). They also can change color at the user's will.

Samel also has openings for the (dragon) wings under his cloak, which is why it's cut like that.

[shiawasekai]

Thinking about how Samel doesn't get to grow old together with anyone due to his circumstances.

His twin taken away by the whims of fate and only returning a whole lifetime later, his shared time with his partner thrown out of synch due to the Wish incident...

That's such a special type of loneliness. two people he should have been able to go through life Together and life has it so he outlives both by a ridiculous margin (of course with Nela reality is a bit more complicated, but as far as he knows she died at 15).

And then he gets to be outlived, forever thrown out of synch even when life gives him something back.

[shiawasekai]

how about 10 & 24 for Nela from the edgy/misc ask meme?

Thanks for the asks, Crow!! These are really interesting ones, too.

Ask meme is this one, in case someone else wants to ask anything.

10. What's an AU that would be interesting to explore with your OC?

This one may come across as obvious, but a role swap AU between the twins has been in my mind for a while. How would things play out if it was Samel, the boy who at that point had no interest whatsoever in the battlefield and was content with a quiet simple life, choose to do when put in the place of his sister? He would be so out of place there, and there is the question of what path someone like him would choose.

I'm really not certain, which is one of the major reasons this exists at the moment only as a thought exercise. I definitely feel like he would be my one character to potentially end up going Legend (as my hypothetical Aeon character has True Aeon written all over him), if anything because the mythic metamorphosis feels so antithetical to who he is to me as a character.

The other interesting option to me is Gold Dragon, but that still leaves the initial choice uncertain.

On the other hand, Samel worked through the trauma of losing his sister relatively well, all things considered. Nela, however, was a bit of a troubled soul even then... Losing her brother, her best friend, just as she was finally getting out of the hole would be crushing.

I definitely get the feeling it would send her back to a very dark place for a while. I've given her side of things less thought, but I can see her self-isolating and dedicating wholly to her studies at first.

24. What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone down? How different would their life be if they'd made those decisions?

I do like to think in a life where neither twin got involved in the Crusades, where Nela chose to not accompany her mother to Mendev and both got to live the same time.

And it would be a very eventful time: shortly after, House Thrune would win the civil war in Cheliax. These are very hard years for Andoran, leading up to the People's Revolt.

I do think for a Nela that's in a relatively good place, one that has still gone through the incident with the magical experiment, this would be revolting. She is logical and rational to a fault, however, so I can see her rushing to anything.

As an adult, I think she would leave Andoran and Cheliax. Gather resources, gain knowledge and experience in the wider world, help open routes to get those who need it out of the country.

Although her life would be ultimately one of adventuring, she wouldn't end up affiliated to the Pathfinders like her brother. She would rather do her own thing. A wanderer and hoarder of knowledge, and a benefactor to those in her homeland trying to make a difference.

She would only return home once the People's Revolt becomes imminent.

[shiawasekai]

I've been thinking a bit more about Samel's age situation, I mentioned in Discord that maybe the partial rejuvenation could be the unintended side-effect of an unfortunately worded Wish spell. One he made to avoid what would have been otherwise death. I think I'm sticking with that version of events. It's what best explains his current (by WotR's timeline) situation.

The implications are that Samel is (at minimum) a lvl 18 Sorcerer (which fits my idea of having him be high level but not max level, so i'll stick with it) and... well, that it being an unintended effect, it was also not a good time for him.

First, the incident would mark his full retirement from the Pathfinders. It was a bit too close for comfort, and by this point he would have already started a family. He can't leave them behind.

Second, I think he would struggle hard with being suddenly 20+ years younger. Being physically closer to his children than his partner, knowing his partner will most likely die way ahead of him. They would, at the very least, deteriorate ahead of him.

And now it's dawning on me that it's the opposite struggle to Nela's and the choice has never felt more appropiate.

[shiawasekai]

You know, in my laziness to fully figure out Samel's (very eventful) 90+ years of life, one thing I know for certain is that Nela's "death" played a key part in how he lived it. It made him realize his own mortality, that just staying quiet in a corner didn't necessarily mean he would have a long life. Any day it could be the last, and if that's the case... Why not try for the impossible?

Which is what changed him from someone who was just content with inheriting his parents' modest little shop to someone who would go on to achieve so much (a well-regarded ex-Pathfinder, a renowned craftsman, a high-level spellcaster).

There is also an element of trauma to it. There were no few things he chose to do in order to fill in the hole his twin left. She was the ambitious one of the two, after all.

But it definitely makes their meeting a bit (more) awkward. For Nela, her brother's shift in behavior is disconcerting without the context. For Samel, much of his life has been shaped by his twin's death and now she's there. Alive and well.

[shiawasekai]

The reference sheet shenanigans mean I'm thinking about clothes a lot more.

I've concluded that the twins had a set of clothes for when they were helping out at their parents' shop (showcasing the merchandise, so to speak), which they were strictly forbidden to use otherwise. Their parents knew they would destroy them if they ever did.

They also had a set of nicer clothes for when they attended the rich kids school, which was under similar limitations because the parents couldn't afford the expense of replacing it.

Which means that most of the time they were in undyed worn-out clothes because they were a menace to themselves.

[shiawasekai]

Yet another overly long headcanon post, mostly on post-game Drezen but also Nela's relationship with her brother.

On the topic of Samel, in their teens, the twins often would spend the day away together. Each of them would be working on something entirely different from the other, but they enjoyed the company and spots of conversation. Both found in this shared time on their increasingly different lives a chance to relax and forget the outside world.

As much as their dynamic is irrevocably changed by the circumstances, this is the one thing that remains as it once was. Whenever Samel finds himself in Drezen, Nela is often found in his workshop with either some research or paperwork.

Which brings to... Why Samel would even have a workshop in Drezen. The answer is: economics!

Essentially, one of Nela's pet projects with Drezen and the myriad fortresses left by the Crusades is to repurpose any parts that have become superfluous (with many Crusaders leaving and a slowly declining demon population, there is simply no need for it all) for the production of goods. In other words, to make Drezen and other areas under its control self-sufficient through commerce.

Having lost the international aid, there is a real need to find new ways to bring back coin and food. The Sarkoris Scar doesn't have many natural resources that can be exploited and sold, but it can have workshops that add value to the resources they do get.

It's not an easy process and it meets plenty of setbacks. What little experience Nela has on matters of commerce comes from her childhood accompanying her mother on Guild business, which is barely enough to give her the idea in the first place. Executing it is another matter altogether.

Finding and hiring the right people for the job takes time and much trial and error. Years pass before the project get anywhere, but Samel's little workshop in Drezen is part of such efforts. It's a shared workshop at first, although Nela uses her personal money to build another for his exclusive use later on.

Ultimately, Nela's goal is to help with the restoration of the Sarkoris Scar, but that can't be done without money and she refuses to rely on charity from Nerosyan on the long term. Mendev is already struggling without that.

[shiawasekai]

Sharing these two also here! Mostly because for the time being this may be the only reference for poor Samel (until i finally bite the bullet and design him proper)

[shiawasekai]

Ok, gotta give my boy some love

Samel is definitely more of a doing than thinking man. Unlike Nela, who hated the idea of working at their parents' shop and loved burying herself in books, he was both talented and driven in learning all kinds of artisan work. Sewing was still his specialty and he learnt to craft magic items when he was barely a teen.

For the longest time, that looked like it was going his entire life. He was content with the idea of spending his days in a workshop, using his magic to enhance his craft and some convenience.

That is until Nela disappeared and was thought dead. Shaken by the loss of his twin and the realization of his own mortality, suddenly the thought of remaining in good old Carpenden without much of a care for the bigger world wasn't an appealing idea anymore.

Was that all his life would amount to? When he could be dead any day despite staying out of harm's way?

A few years later, he would leave his hometown to become a Pathfinder, much to his parents' horror. The few months prior were filled with constant arguments and desperate pleas for him to reconsider, but he couldn't be swayed.

He would spend the next few years wandering the Inner Sea region with reckless abandon. Samel became well considered by his peers, specializing in rescue work, and accumulated a good number of scars in his days on the field.

His wandering only met an end at 28 years old, after news of his father's declining health forced him to return to Carpenden to help out at home for a time.

He hadn't visited in years, or touched a needle. When he first sat at his old workshop, he finally allowed himself to cry after years.

[shiawasekai]

On another late night OC development post because I'm bored at work and I shall not be stopped.

Of the twins, Nela was mostly the thinking mind, but Samel was better at keeping the adults from noticing and convincing the other kids in their neighborhood to play along.

More than once, they got caught in the middle of some overly dangerous game: from convincing the neighbour to lend them their axe for totally non-nefarious purposes, they totally just wanted to cut some wood for their parents and were very responsible kids (it was for a dare), to overly realistic pathfinder pretend play (with actual magic involved ofc)

They were close to death by their own shenanigans way more times their parents ever knew. Fortunately so, knowing would have brought them to an early grave.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, their overly elaborate plays made them very popular. Their reign of terror over the adult's nerves lasted for many years.

Even back then, when the adults reprimanded them, the sentence Nela heard the most was "you should know better."

[shiawasekai]

So, because I really want to iron out the details of Nela's past (as much as I want to indulge on her myriad of issues mid and post game, gotta develop the little feral kid she once was too).

Being born in a, back then, very much humble family (I mentioned before their mother was ambitious and resourceful enough to become a known figure in the tailor guild later on), Nela and Samel's parents didn't have the money to give them a proper education.

It was the church of Iomedae who provided for the twins' education for free. Their offer was initially only for Nela (being the only one aasimar), but she refused to go until they relented and extended the offer to Samel too.

The clerics had obvious reasons for their offer, but the school itself wasn't tied to any specific church. It was a reputable institution built for the children of richer merchants and landowners, so both twins stuck out like a sore thumb.

They didn't get many chances to make friends with their classmates, mostly keeping to themselves. The main reason they didn't tantrum their way out of the school was the magic classes, essential for the two young sorcerers.

Nela loved learning in general, but her loyalty to her brother was strong enough she would have left if he had wanted it. They did everything together at that age.

Sadly, Nela never got to graduate.

[shiawasekai]

On other topics, thinking in the idea I mentioned yesterday somewhere else...

So I've settled on having Nela and her family be from Carpenden because it suits my requisites very nicely: big but not too big, relevant enough to explain some minor stuff, almost no presence of long lived races because those would completely ruin the concept...

That region just so happens, according to what I'm seeing, where Sosiel comes from. And that's too much of a coincidence to not abuse it a little bit.

As a clarification: it has been 78 years since Nela, who wasn't even an adult, vanished in a foreign country. Her existence has been virtually forgotten and she only remains a small anecdote for those who know her family relatively well. Most people aren't even going to know the name or what was her deal.

Of course her brother and whatever cousins remain alive remember her, especially her brother, but it's an old wound. It's not the sort of thing you openly reminiscence about every day.

They would have built a grave for her over time, assuming she died in Mendev. Her brother visits it often, but the rest of the family doesn't bother with it.

But what if Sosiel knew one of the grand nephews? At least well enough to have heard some version of the story once and be brutally unsettled when the Knight-Commander with the same full name and some striking physical resemblance to his friend's family appears. Writing back home asking for further details and the more detailed a picture he gains, the closer the match becomes.

A walking ghost. And whenever he tries to get information of her past, she is evasive and refuses to give any details. She hasn't given them to anyone.

Maybe he is the one to contact her brother with his suspicions once the Crusades are over and he is back home, which ends on Samel going on a trip to Drezen and the twins meeting again after 80 years.

[shiawasekai]

By the time Nela meets with her brother again she is in her (physical) mid-20s and her twin brother is in his 90s (fairly youthful for his age because he would also be a high level spellcaster, but very much an elder).

Assuming his brother had children (which is my idea) and that every generation had at least one descendant, that would mean that by the time they meet again her brother (Samel) has already at least ONE great grandchild. His grandkids would be at the youngest of Nela's approximate age.

Those family reunions gonna be wild.

[shiawasekai]

I was thinking in Samel and Nela and their relationship. Mostly wondering if I was maybe making it too... pleasant? The whole idea of "their different races should have soured their relationship beyond repair, but instead of letting their differences drive them apart they thrived because of them" is a huge part of why I chose to have them be twins, but there is also overdoing it.

Then I just realized they're simply very friend-coded kinda siblings. Like, yes, they are twins, but most importantly they are friends. Allies.

That doesn't mean they don't get on each other nerves or anything, or have more stereotypical sibling arguments. But the way they're close to each other is very much alike that of very intimate friends.

The one thing they always have is each other's back.

[shiawasekai]

On an aside about Samel, because the poor guy is still taking full shape in my head (so I don't have anything nearly as detailed on him) but he deserves more than the few mentions I can otherwise afford him.

Born an human, like his parents and unlike his sister, and yet just as strange as her in his own way. He is a crossblooded sorcerer with both a celestial and a draconic bloodline.

Unlike his sister who embraces books and knowledge for knowledge's sake, Samel is a practical man who is only interested in what he can use. He is also the only one of the twins to have learnt about their parents' trade (tailors). Not only that, he enjoys it. He didn't limit himself to tailoring, however, and soon he learnt a variety of other related crafts.

Unwilling to stop there, he also learnt and mastered the art of enchanting items, which on his adult years made their parents' business to skyrocket.

Despite that, he never established his own shop or worked officially as an apprentice to their parents. Instead he decided to spend a lot of his youth wandering the world as a Pathfinder, a chance that allowed him to hone both his magic and his craft. By the time he fully inherited the family business, he was a very powerful sorcerer and well-known in a variety of circles.