#the timeline makes no sense to me but i know i hate ivar!!

[g4ll0wd4nc3r]

school of the viper headcanons

these are not edited and probably not canon compliant but fuck it we ball

they can’t regulate their internal temperature as well as other witchers, so they have to soak up warmth from somewhere else. you’ll often see vipers curled up as close to their campfires as possible when traveling or taking a nap on a nice warm rock.

gorthur gvaed is filled with era-equivalent space heaters

an older viper some centuries back developed hand warmers. it’s a necessity when traveling.

vipers aren’t outwardly affectionate to each other. you’ll know if one trusts you if they offer to make your potions or food (i like you enough to not poison you) or if they turn their back to you

on the rare occasion that they are more affectionate, they will huddle for warmth or wrap around one another. they may also rub their heads/cheeks together, but not often.

on the whole, vipers are loyal and protective of one another, but have difficulty showing it. vipers on the path tend to avoid one another

building immunity to toxins started as soon as you were recruited. trainees (read; children) would be required to drink poison and identify toxic plants, often running the risk of getting severely ill or dying. older witchers were instructed to slip poison onto food or drinks too

you learned pretty quickly to either smell out whatever was on your food or be tough enough to ride it out

vipers will never eat food they haven’t seen prepared. they go hungry more often than not.

vipers who can get away with it conceal their status as a witcher. a lot of people have crossed paths with one and never known

someone made a hc that vipers will wear other schools’ medallions before an assassination and i love that

vipers are smaller than wolves or bears but more built than cats

the cats and vipers are sister schools. they hate each other and need each other. it’s very strange to see. toxic yuri

cats and vipers are known to trade or buy things off one another, with vipers being able to make quality potions and cats being able to procure harder to find ingredients. they also had similar training so on the rare occasion they work together, they mesh really well

however they will most likely attack one another when out in the wild — cats and vipers both take human jobs, and cats especially are known for poaching jobs that vipers may be interested in

a relatively new practice is “getting your teeth”. after a hard hunt, vipers will have a procedure to get retractable fangs in their mouth. they can load poisons and tear through pretty much anything at the cost of being extremely close combat. vipers without fangs are sometimes called “nibbles”.

maybe also split tongues. is that too quirky

best eyesight among all witchers, which makes it even funnier that vipers keep going blind/get eye trauma

like cats but opposite — their mutagens dulled their emotions to an extreme, so young vipers tend to be extremely blunt and rude. older vipers have learned to fake their emotions to “normal” levels, but will drop the mask as soon as they can

expect your viper to be extremely to the point. they expect the same of you. good luck!

cold and mean and weird about affection BUT. but. after ivar and the old guard died people started adopting animals that were left on the base of the mountains / on the path back for winter

gorthur gvaed is filled with animals that are so so loved and spoiled. it’s atonement for the animals that were killed during training and healing for the vipers that are left

vipers can usually whip up their potions and elixirs while on the road, but much prefer the fully outfitted alchemy labs at gorthur gvaed and *will* complain. loudly.

its not winter unless someone explodes something while experimenting

if an experiment goes particularly wrong it’s not unusual to see a viper face down on the floor. floor time. it’s like a reward

all vipers are fucking nerds. they have an extensive library (added on to after ivar’s death) and many of them learn additional skills (languages, math, other sciences, even music) when out on the path.

most horses don’t like vipers

that tweet that’s like i’m probably nonbinary but i have a job so i can’t worry abt that rn. yeah thats the whole school

[captainpoopweinersoldier]

Don’t get mad at me but I need help with kys. Do you think that their relationship is healthy bc if they would of ever broken up then both of them would be so self destructive. I guess I’ve never loved someone that much to be that devastated and that’s why I’m asking. I love you and you’re story, I guess I don’t understand why they would be like that for a break up.

Part 2 of the healthy anon Also I know people who have been in relationships with those kinds of people and if they break up, sure it’s devastating but they eventually move on and get together with other people and are happy. Again no disrespect, I’m just trying to see your p.o.v

No worries, I’m not mad or feeling disrespected. I have no qualms with people inquiring about their relationship lol. 

So, it’s really a bit too complicated to deem their relationship healthy or unhealthy. It’s got both aspects on top of endurance of extreme circumstances.

Lisbet and Ivar’s relationship starts with hardly any openness or honesty. He puts her through the ringer in so many ways, including being emotionally abusive. Lisbet knows he’s dangerous, that the people he surrounds himself with are dangerous, and that being with him in turn, puts her in danger. And she’s cool with it because she cares enough for him and gains certainty of how much he cares for her, so she’s willing to take all of those risks. That’s not healthy.

Sure, Ivar and Lisbet love each other. But I think we can all agree on that if Lisbet was our friend or daughter, we’d be a little fucking wary about her decisions where he’s concerned.

And of course they do love each other. They’re both obsessed with each other, and probably to a dangerous level because of what they’re both willing to do for each other. This is what a typically ‘normal’ person is like with someone like Ivar, a dangerous gangster amid a criminal organization who often maims or kills people for a living, and also has some serious psychological issues. I don’t think any neurologically sound person could deem all of that healthy. And their romance is what’s so fun and interesting and challenging about writing this dynamic, as well as to watch it grow.

Because besides that, they both have great respect for each other, with work they’ve come to find their ability to be open and honest with each other. They can utterly be themselves together. And they also care about nurturing each other, encouraging them to be their best selves. Pushing them to work harder and excel. And these are all healthy things in a relationship! They develop the utmost trust in each other in seriously intimate ways, emotionally and physically. 

Then there’s the intensity of knowing that Ivar would absolutely kill for Lisbet. And given the right circumstances, I’m fairly certain she would do the same for him. Not only that, but they are continually put in literal life or death situations. They have shots fired at them, people assaulting them, trying to kill them, all for the sake of a criminal organization. I can’t speak for those you know, but I have personally never known someone to be in a relationship like that. The ride or die concept is not to be taken lightly where these two are concerned. Among actual gunfire and crime and chaos and death and violence, these two have found themselves in each other. They complete each other, and are madly in love with each other. 

So, back to the breakup scenario. Because of all aforementioned things, and their personalities, and my creative control, obviously they’re never going to break up. 

But in thinking of what could possibly break them up, it has to be something so terrible and tragic and awful that is so irredeemable that there’s just no coming back from it. Something so fucking bad that I literally can’t even come up with something in this universe that would tear them apart. We’re talking gargantuan levels of FUCKED. So bad that not even the commitment to the Mob can keep them together - which in gangster media you just don’t see, they usually just end up hating each other but stay together anyway.

So whatever this Big Bad Thing is completely destroys them both. There’s the coping with that, the inevitable grief with the Big Bad Thing itself. Think of normal people coping with horrific things, it’s not always pretty, sometimes they never recover. Even if they move on, there’s still a part that hurts no matter what, and there’s always questionable coping mechanisms involved in one way or another. Now apply that to Lisbet and Ivar. They are not normal, they are a teetering bridge between healthy and unhealthy. Ivar, as I’ve previously mentioned, has some serious psychological issues. How would they cope with the Big Bad Thing itself? 

Then how would they proceed to cope with the BBT that manages to tear them apart? They are more than two halves to a whole, Lisbet is Ivar. Ivar is Lisbet. By losing each other, they lose themselves. Think of how Ivar has constantly been insecure and filled with self-hatred, believing himself to be a monster. Think of how Aslaug, the most important human being in his life was torn away, and how he was able to find solace in Lisbet. Think of the terrible descent he would’ve made without her. And then think of Lisbet, who has risked literally everything in her life for Ivar. Her friends, her family, their safety on top of her own, and with the sacrifice of her future. Abetting a criminal organization, and who knows how deeply depending on the timeline of this scenario. The dynamics the two of them hold, the dom/sub dynamic. Sex wouldn’t even ever be the same.

The two of them are completely incapable of moving on from each other. Ivar would never love anyone else. Period. Lisbet would certainly try, because as always, she struggles to keep her normalcy in tact, and that would indeed be the normal thing to do, but no man would ever be Ivar. Neither of them would ever be complete without each other. Without the pain and the chaos, without the trust and the intimacy. All factors - healthy and unhealthy - is what makes their relationship, and makes it unique. And to me, what makes it infallible. So to lose all of that?? The word devastation doesn’t even sum it up. 

I hope this is helpful with putting it in perspective, feel free to ask more. I kinda got lost in the dramatics of it all so I hope it makes sense lol.