#sunspear griffon

[the-desert-beast]

Maelgwyn's most treasured companions.

Paola; The large, scarred tiger always nearby Maelgwyn's side. If he's in the room, she's around somewhere. Lurking, if not laying right by his feet lazing around. She enjoys being a menace to Maelgwyn. (His partner for some reason is free of her usual bastardery.) The two in combat are a very dangerous duo, their combat style keeping their enemies on the defense.

Maolmuire; [previously Glenn.] The badlands stalker griffon that Maelgwyn raised and trained from an egg. His ties to sunspears meant that finding help to raise Muire wasn't all that hard. Sometimes he gets nicknamed 'Mural." Maolmuire is the most dangerous of Maelgwyn's companions; a dedicated combat partner that is always trailing him, only a single whistle away from descending from the skies to reap havoc with Gwyn.

Cricket; The raptor that's never left Maelgwyn's side. more of a dog than a lizard if he's honest. Cricket is a lovable and dim animal. She's a transportation mount and nothing more.

[axe-trio-commanders]

So I've decided I need no provocation to talk about my characters and a post about mounts earlier got me thinking.

So- all my commanders sort of have their primary mounts; they all get two. I'll set one of them to the sorta default mount on 'x', usually the one I'd otherwise use the least, so I'm using these 'signature mounts' more often in-game- but canonically they're more-or-less the only mounts they have- though they lend some mounts to each other. Zori taught Seremnis how to call her skyscale if need be, and seremnis' griffon sometimes follows Enkkioh around when she's bored.

But!! what main two mounts each of the three has sort of follow themes related to their characters.

Zori has a skyscale (named Roro. after prince rorick. bc she's a nerd, which she got via already cannon skyscale quest in lws4) and a skimmer (named Strawberry, yes this is the same skimmer Strea had, that's why they bonded so fast). Both mounts are highkey geared for good, thorough, exploration- she loves heights, she loves swimming, she loves finding cool, hidden stuff.

Seremnis has a raptor (named Aria, that she summons from the realm of torment, and has the temperment of a puppy) and a griffon (named Requiem, a grumpy grumpy girl who only likes this weird salad, that seremnis got via the canon quest but after lws4, at the same time zori was doing the skyscale quest. She wasn't even an actual sunspear griffon she was just chilling there when the sunspears finally decided she could keep one, and now they are besties and seremnis lets her fight things and sometimes help dispose of. evidence). Anyways the theme is Seremnis likes to go fast, and likes to do so at least relatively quietly. There and gone, like a ghost. But also going that fast is just really fun, death 'defying' (like she'd actually stay dead) stunts and all.

And Enkkioh?

Enkkioh has a springer (named G-Force, because she's a nerd, which she bonded with because of the springer's genetic lack of long ears or tail and a similar color patterning to her own- and, fine, he's cute, stop looking at her like that) and a rollerbeatle (named Kinetic Friction, Kinetic for short- because I am also a nerd- which she got through the cannon quest, as a sort of apology to Gorrik and Blish for distrusting them so much at first. Of course, the result was so absolutely cool that she now apologizes by trying to take gorrik on rollerbeetle rides. C'mon gorrik. It's so cool gorrik. I updated the belt system so you won't fall off this time gorrik.)

...And the theme here is that not a single one of these is a flying mount. (Also neither of them are in any way quiet or subtle.) Enkkioh likes a good leap, sure, but there's always obvious ground in sight, she never gets high enough that landing would be an issue. Enkkioh is in both the literal and metaphorical sense my most grounded character- asuran came from underground, and she feels that in her bones.

In short- she's afraid of heights.

...And she's the character I'm playing through SotO with.

An expansion where you can't traverse the whole map, or even most of the map, without a flying mount.

Yeah she's having... a time

[tricos-here]

I think you always have such cool gw2 characters, is there any you wanted to talk about?

och thank you 🧘 uhm... I suppose I haven't really talked about nikita and aki a whole lot, nikita being his younger sister

they were elonian nobles whose family was cut down by joko because they were sunspear sympathizers, nikita and aki managed to survive the attack thanks to the help of some guards though they were separated, supposedly for their own safety. aki ended up being raised in a farm in kourma while nikita was raised in a temple of balthazar, where she became a priestess for him

aki would at some point join the order of shadows where he'd quickly raise through the ranks and become a redeemer and during s4 would form a special task force in which they'd utilize the newly discovered skyscales

nikita for her part would've joined the zhaishen order where she met and became friends with zafirah. during the events of path of fire, she'd question balthazar's actions and even renounce him, but she still followed zafirah and even helped her carry out his will, however reluctant

aki and nikita reunited just before pof after years of being raised apart and though their familial bond held still, they didn't really see eye to eye, mostly due to the disdain of nikita towards the order of shadows and their cowardly conduct of keeping the status quo instead of helping people

uhm other lil tidbits, aki's skyscale is named abha, and nikita had a tigris griffon named na'ilah as well as a tiger named raafe. aki is a deadeye thief and nikita is a spellbreaker warrior

I only have crusty outdated screenshots of them because I'm on my phone but one day.... I'll draw them properly

[aegor-bamfsteel]

Hi there! I'm not sure if this is something you can answer, but say in an AU where Maelys I Blackfyre won the war of the Nine-Penny Kings and sailed to Westeros to finish trying to take the Iron Throne, what route do you or your followers think he would take his army? Sail straight to the capital, go through the mountains of Dorne, or go for Dragonstone first, etc. Thank you for your time!

Hi, Anon! Thanks for the question.

While I’m not the best at coming up with military tactics, fortunately we have enough other invasions of Westeros via the Stepstones (which now, at least, are Maelys’)—in the First Dornish War, Fourth Dornish War, after the Myrish Bloodbath, even Aegon VI’s recent landing—that the pirate fleets usually go northwest to the islands (Estermont, Tarth) and coastal settlements (Griffon’s Roost, Crow’s Nest, Rain House) of Cape Wrath in the Stormlands (the Dornish coast being treacherous and not as rich, plus they’re usually the allies of the pirates). I think Maelys, were he interested in taking the crown of Westeros, would start off there. From there, it seems Stepstones pirates raided the east coast of the riverlands into the Vale, though some captured the Wolf’s Den in what is now White Harbor (and apparently some go even farther north). I don’t know what kind of support Maelys would have in mainland Westeros (he had 2 Westerosi allies in Spotted Tom and Derrick Fossoway) as he never got that far. The other invasions of the Stepstones that got as far as they did was mainly because of local support, usually from the Dornish (more recently because of Jon Connington’s insider knowledge). So raiding islands and coastal settlements to appease his supporters with plunder may be all he’s capable of doing (which crosses Dragonstone off the list at least initially, since it’s notoriously poor. Claw Isle and Driftmark seem the better prizes in terms of plunder). Sure, the Golden Company sacked Tyrosh under Maelys, but we only have a rough idea of how big it is (making the shadow city of Sunspear look like a town, though towns could be 1-20000 people) and I’ve speculated the sack was helped with local support. I just don’t think going straight for the capital or Dragonstone would be the strategically wisest move. Maelys might establish himself in the Stormlands and win a few victories there before possibly moving on, as he proved himself in Essos before going to Tyrosh in helping conquer the Disputed Lands.

Thank you again for the kind words.

[praise-joko]

Hey! I’m MagpieShrike but you can call me Maggie if you like. She/Her.

I’ve been playing GW2 off and on for years but just recently got back into it. Started creating my own non-Commander characters and got way more invested in the story.

I’ll be posting GW2 art (when I finally finish a piece) and some griffon flying escapades as well as reblogging content from other members of the community. Feel free to send asks about my characters, it’ll help me develop them and actually get stuff written down. You can find them bellow the cut.

Interactions will come from my main blog @mjrral

Will be fleshing this out more later but for now some basic descriptions and playlists will suffice.

Charr

Chaskana - 🎵 - Guardian, Gladium (formerly Chaskana Havocwreaker), Sunspear.

Brylox Havocsinger - 🎵 - Warrior -> Forged -> Reforged Warhound Jackal

Havoc Warband - 🎵

Deceased members of the Havoc Warband:

Craval Havockeeper

Druvark Havocweaver

Selara Havocmaker

Sylvari

Basmani - 🎵 - Scourge, Order of Shadows Creator

Emcras - 🎵 - Ranger, Priory Scholar (Druid?)

Basmani/Emcras playlist

Pyrifea - 🎵 - Daredevil, Soundless -> Pirate -> Icebrood

Brydolon - Revenant

Evil!Brydolon - demon corrupted

Aimvara - Mesmer tailor (virtuoso)

Aimvara & Brydolon Playlist

Trychinebau - 🎵 -Mirage

Andwyol - Deadeye, recovering mordremvari

Warder Dameg - Elementalist, mordrem beasty

Asura

Gate Technician Ips - Engineer

Operative Iava - Guardian, Inquest

Norn

Strix Wyvernkeep - Ranger, Pact Commander (but not the Commander)

Mounts

Sunchaser - 🎵 - Grand Lion Griffon

Sunspitter - Cobra Noble Skyscale

Sunny - Raptor

Heuldro - Cobra Noble Skyscale

Tywodfaen - Sand Lion Warclaw

Squall - Lightning Wyvern

[eparch]

She's in jp alt park jail + wvw boosters jail so I can't take the time to get nice pics of her, but I do have a character who is pretty much my GW1 main/nightfall character

She was killed and awakened by Joko ahead of the other Sunspears and forced to forget everything about herself—submitting to Joko's will under the belief that whatever he wanted from her would be enough to protect her friends. With the new name Najma, she would largely work as a civil officer for the kingdom, only occasionally tasked with accompanying Mordant Crescent units on the field when dealing with sunspear remnants for reasons unknown to her. Shortly before Path of Fire, Joko sent her to manage his harem (making her their matron) where she swiftly bonded with the members of said harem. After Joko's death, she joins the free awakened and works nonstop to get the members of the harem back to their families or to new places/homes/whatever they want, and once that's done she continues to use what she picked up as a civil officer to help other awakened come into their own. She never quite regains all her memories, so her eventual reunion with Koss gets extremely confusing for everyone involved...but as of EoD they're probably traveling together again anyway (and they'd have their own griffons probably!) and getting to enjoy their undead life and a renewed friendship

[huntunderironskies]

optional bonus prompt but like if you WANTED to do skin for rami, i think he’s pretty cool

I absolutely want to--

So Rami has an...unfortunate relationship with his body and his self in general. His conception of his identity is very weak because he's not one person so much as lots of parts of different people (I got creative with what a Revenant could be) and he tends to see himself in what sort of utility he can provide to other people. Unfortunately ever since he was born (which, he's a Sylvari so it wasn't that long ago) that has mostly involved violence. He's comfortable with his body mostly in the sense that it's a useful tool to cause incredible pain and/or death in the defense of things he values. His self-esteem fluctuates wildly based on what he thinks other people think of him.

Probably the only thing keeping him from getting worse or trusting the wrong people is that he follows the tenants of Ventari's Tablet with single-minded devotion. HoT and onwards spoilers below the cut just in case I finally drag one of my beloved mutuals into GW2 with me (it's still on sale btw, I'm just saying, you've got until the 11th, countless hours of entertainment and quality time with me lie within and my guild is really helpful and supportive and beginner friendly--)

Rami's FP is pretty much without contest the Pale Tree so you can imagine he did not handle the end of LWS2 well and he starts spiraling once his already-tenuous link with her is broken. His second FP was Trahearne so, uh, long story short while he was never the commander in my canon (because nobody would trust him with a leadership position and he wouldn't want it even if he was given one) he had to take a sabbatical and someone else ended up dying in the desert but it's fine because that guy had an ancestral death curse so dying and getting better made him finally break the curse.

Deep down he's not happy with his life choices and the fact he keeps getting involved in violent conflicts but it's so ingrained into his life straight from his birth that trying to live peacefully would be even harder, and the time period where he was on sabbatical caused his mental health to kind of tank because fighting was his identity and he hasn't dealt well with trying to find another purpose in life.

(Probably the happiest he's ever been was helping the Sunspears to bolster the griffon population in Elona and raising his own griffon, Llamrei, from an egg. Fun fact, he's very heavily involved in general mount husbandry things and also has probably helped to boost the popularity of roller beetles in Tyria. It was a chance for him to actually make something grow instead of destroying.)

[sunsrefuge]

1, 3, 7, 13, 23, 28 for whoever you'd like to talk about most! (-@astralarias)

ohh, i'll chat about Liifa since im writing stuff for him this month!!

1. Write a basic lowdown of your OC. What's their deal?

Liifa has a ton of history so I'm gonna try not to make this too long kjshs but! Presently he's a traveling lich who's just entertaining himself by getting into whatever messes he can all the time. He's charming and friendly with anyone he meets, but he's also naturally suspicious of anyone new and does overthink a lot! (If he went to therapy, he'd get diagnosed with anxiety before he even walked in the door lmao) He does carry the Binding around sometimes, and he does the business of making deals for Ipos to get people to accept the book and carry it around (while it ruins their life a little bit). He's fully aware that Ipos is being terrible to the people he gives it to, he just turns as blind of an eye as he can to Ipos's activities so he doesn't feel bad about enabling it kjhdu but it's part of their deal, so he can't say no. :')

3. Are they a part of any groups? If so, what's their role? This is for you, Inquest and Nightmare Court people

He's actually an ex-Sunspear! From two and a half centuries ago. :D He got cast out when he was found with the Binding, because who in their right mind would carry a book of Abaddon's into the Sunspear Sanctuary?? More presently, he's part of a criminal organization that I made for writing purposes, which is currently under the codename 'Suits Syndicate'! So yeah, he takes part in heists from time to time, stealing things and occasionally assassinating someone.

7. Do they have a favorite mount?

I'm stuck between Jackal, or Griffon. He'd have a fondness for Jackals definitely, since they're repurposed Abaddon's magic themselves! But Griffon's probably hold 1st place in his heart, since they're the mounts of the Sunspears!

13. How recognizable are they? Do they have a reputation?

He doesn't have a well-known public reputation, but he does tend to be recognizable if you've met him before because of his neon blue eyes. The reputation he does have would be mostly known by criminals and pirates; as someone that you shouldn't make any magical deals with (thanks to the Binding,) but also as someone who gets the job done if he's on your team.

23. Did they have any close calls/near death experiences other than the canon ones?

He's definitely had his fair share of close calls! Even though he is a lich, I like to make jokes about him being a 'baby lich' because he hasn't actually died yet. (Technically... he dies eventually, thanks Captain Zell!) I think his closest call in recent years is either when Joko finds out he's also in Gandara, or from another one of my characters, Rocci, because she does take his arm off dvlkdfjh

28. What is their character arc, if they have one.

I'm actually writing out the central portion of his character arc for NaNoWriMo! :D When he gets the Binding, he's just a naive young adult trusting a stranger because they kind of hyped him up about it. From there, that ends up killing his easy-trusting nature pretty thoroughly. And then! During LWS4, he ends up dragged into Gandara thanks to the Binding, and ends up having to trust both someone that he's very wary of, and someone who's just as naive and trusting as he used to be. It works though! He's a bit more trusting afterward and does end up sticking with his newfound friends for quite a while!

[warmaster-aranaies]

@commander-thiernaen ‘s sunspear Fahir’s griffon.

Fajar is the mate of Eudar’s griffon Risha. They are the same species of griffon but Fajar had his tail get bitten off when he was still just a chick which made him an unlikely case to get trained to become a sunspear griffon. Fahir loves the underdog and took Fajar to become his mount.

Its a bit like toothless and hiccup but in a desert setting adfgh

[macomico]

🍧 🍁🔪 ☁️ I would ask for literally all your oc's but :uhm: rhiannín, rashmi & chris

🍧 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?

The only thing of emotional value Chris has left, from their time at the two foster homes they were living at, is a little notebook they had filled with food and recipes that they had prepared with said families. If their foster parents at the time allowed it, they would cook with them, and note down what they did for 'later use'. They still go through the notebook sometimes and revisit those dishes, and they would be heartbroken if it was damaged or lost.

Rashmi still has some of her old toys and drawings/creative projects she did as a kid, though most things she and her brother Ranveer donated to other kids that have more use for it now. The toys she has kept to herself are wooden toys her now passed father Aditya has made for her, a small sunspear and many animals from the desert. Her most cherished one was a toy of a 'monster' they'd thought of together when she was small, a jumbled mix of a griffon, a choya and a sand eel. She wouldn’t forgive herself if she lost that...

Considering sylvari don't really have a childhood I'm gonna take an object from Rhiannín's first few months as a fresh sapling. It's her earring, a gift she received from a lovely elderly human woman in Divinity's Reach. Rhiannín had stumbled into her while running errands, and helped her bring them home, where she found out the old lady used to be a jeweler. She was invited to stay for lunch, then for dinner, and while they were cooking and talking together, the old lady was telling her stories of how she met her wife and their adventures together. A few weeks later, Rhiannín received a lovely letter with thanks for the lovely evening and earrings. She wears one earring in her ear, the other is safely kept in a little jewelry box until she finally gets to pierce her other ear. lol She, too, would be very depressed about losing those earrings and the letter.

🍁 MAPLE LEAF - what is their favourite season? why?

Chris enjoys summer the most, cause it's warm and they get to bring the pups to a lake for a little swim and not worry abt them catching a cold.

Rashmi enjoys the desert winter, because it rains more, making the desert bloom. :)

Rhiannín loves autumn, when the trees all turn different hues of red, orange and yellow. And so many leaf piles to jump into. <3333

🔪 KNIFE - how do they react to injury / misfortune befalling their loved ones (significant other, family, friends)? do they put themselves at blame?

All three obviously get very worried, they’re all kind of mother hens when it comes to this, trying to help their loved one patch up and rest. Rashmi the most honestly, she’s the one that absolutely will not argue about this. ☠️ She and Rhiannín are also the two of the three to feel guilty about their loved one getting hurt regardless if they were there or not to maybe prevent it, but both wouldn’t say it out loud to not worry their loved one.

Chris is the most calm (on the outside LOL) out of them, they’d feel guilty if they were present when it happened, but other than that they just hope Stella does not leave that bed and act like its nothing as soon as they leave the room. 🚶‍♂️ It’s like “could you please stay in be- oh you’re on your feet and want to get out. well how convenient that im blocking the entire door so u cant leave. eat ur soup pretty please. :)”

☁️ CLOUD - a soft headcanon

Rashmi picked up sewing from her best friend Yasmeen, when the two used to sew and alter their own clothes as teen girls. :) She then taught it to her brother Ranveer, so they both could fix the family’s shirt holes. 😭

Chris always keeps treats and bandaids on hand. Literally all of their jackets contain both of the two. Also they made Stella a noodle necklace made of ramen once as a birthday gift, mostly as a joke. 🍜

Rhiannín used to sing and dance at the constellation shelter in the grove frequently, before she left for Maguuma, and she had a favorite dress for it. She still carries it with her, but she hasn’t worn it since... perhaps sometime!

[wisp-of-chaos]

some rambling & backstory about my shiny sylvari under the cut

- secondborn

- nightbloom

- very close friend of malomedies

- dreamed of elona before she woke up in the real world & was called by her wyld hunt to free it from palawa jokos reign

- joined the order of whispers to find a way to travel to elona

- was the very first sylvari to enter the crystal desert

- is now working as an undercover agent at amnoon for the order of whispers & order of shadows disguised as an elonian noble & palawa joko sympathizer

- is an honorary member of the sunspears

- goes by many names and only a handfull of selected trusted people know her real name

- is very fond of snakes and black coffee

- her favourite colors are white & gold

- always seen wearing a mask

- has a jackal named artorias, a griffon named ornstein, a skyscale named kalameet and a rollerbeetle named smough

[axe-trio-commanders]

Hey guess where I got to today!

It’s a ship and it’s on fire! What better place for a picture than a ship that’s on fire?

You can put raptors on it!

You can put large cats on it!

(also seremnis has a new friend say hello)

You can even put necromancers on it! (And they look very nice!)

It just takes a bit of a climb to get up to it.

(under the read more for acrophobia reasons)

Just a bit of a climb

Always nice to celebrate finishing the Abaddon’s Ascent climb by having a ship magically set itself on fire and taking some nice pictures, hm?

[heraldofaurene]

🍓🍓🍓 Herja strawbs?

Yay! My first OC ask :’) Infodump ahead!

🍓 Herja is very fond of and has been deeply influenced by certain aspects of Charr culture. The Legions’ emphasis on interdependence within the warband- and their strict martial hierarchy- were utterly inscrutable to her at first (opposed as they are to Norn values of independence and individualism). Over time, though, as Dragon’s Watch become more and more tight-knit, she learned a lot from Rytlock, Rox, and Elusine about what it means to be part of a chosen family.

She is now especially comfortable around Charr, and she had a marvelous time drinking hard and getting rowdy at the All Legions Rally in Grothmar until everything went to shit. :P

🍓 She is the embodiment of Ranger Justice™️ and will ABSOLUTELY steal your pets if you’re not caring for them properly and/or if you’re an asshole in general. As a result of this tendency- and her inability to leave most injured wild creatures to their fates-she’s amassed a really excessive number of pets.

When she can, she foists animals onto her friends and contacts with more stable home lives, and when she can’t, she takes them to live around Stonewright’s Steading in Hoelbrak with Garm and her wolf pack. The shamans there care for them as an act of spiritual devotion, and visitors enjoy gawking at (and even tremulously reaching out to pet) the famed Pact Commander’s strange menagerie.

She’s responsible for acquiring all of the mounts currently used by the guild, and for straight-up stealing Lady Wisteria Whiskington, who has become sort of an unlikely mascot to Dragon’s Watch.

🍓 After PoF, she became very involved in the Sunspears’ griffon conservation. She helped establish a program to train new griffon handlers/breeders and to cultivate new breeds of riding and working griffons from central Tyrian species.

[grasping-earth]

Day 27 - Feathers

It’s a pity the griffon has been eclipsed by the skyscale in so many ways. Still prettier, to me.

I had a Sunspear oc in GW1 who went through a lot, and found myself surprised at how emotionally invested I was in the Sunspear Order when they came up through Path of Fire and the following story season. The idea that they are being slowly revitalised in the wake of the Commander’s influence on Elona makes me happy. The griffon mount collection really tells that story, quietly in the background, and this place really represents it.

(Prompt list here)

[kerra-and-company]

Commander Asks part 2: 13, 14, and 18

-uselessidiotsquad-

✨

Heya @uselessidiotsquad, thanks so much for the ask! :D Now that I've finished giving myself a headache via homework, I can answer this!

13. Does your commander have any hobbies?

Yep! Kerra loves to play the flute, and she sings sometimes, too. The flute is something that Rel taught her (at least as far as the basics went), but she picked up singing on her own. Reading also makes this list--anything from Snargle's books to history to instructional manuals. That's the first thing she had that might have been considered a hobby; she figured learning as much as possible would be useful for her Hunt/her job and then realized she loved it. If she didn't join Whispers, she'd most likely have joined the Priory.

14. Which mount does your commander use the most?

Kerra uses her griffon the most! She found Sana in the Bitterfrost Frontier when she was still a chick, and the baby griffon followed her around, including joining in a few missions where Sana really should not have been. Eventually (as a young adult) Sana ended up staying at the Sunspear sanctuary, and by the time Kerra finished restoring the sanctuary, she was old enough and big enough to ride. Sana is very protective of her rider and occasionally gets into "spats" with Kerra's jungle stalker Felix, who is quite a bit older than her and isn't quite sure what to make of her very bouncy/energetic nature. (He conveniently forgets that he was very similar when he was young.)

18. How much money has your commander lost to Canach?

First of all, thanks for this question as;fjdfsadf. Second, early on into their friendship, Kerra definitely lost money to Canach, though not a ridiculous amount. But she'd never bet against him when he's betting that they'll succeed (like in Elona, for example), so the total amount has stayed pretty stagnant since then. If they make bets with each other now, it tends to be along the lines of "how many problems can I solve with explosives" or "how many times will I have to remind Rhi to pick up their toys before they actually do it", and they also rarely make bets for money anymore.

[g0atmama]

two in one post uhh

i haven’t made a post about getting the griffon but i love her and i named her lethellan. yes it’s dragon age. no i will not change it. i wanted the reference

also vie and lethellan are sunspears for spooky. she already wore the armor as her daredevil set so i just had to change the dyes.. and lethallan wanted to be dressed up too