#venadeus is the corrupting force and iovita is the corruptible

[incendiorum]

the whole seeking peace after trauma aspect to io has become such a big facet of them over recent years. it's the end goal for them, to finally and completely take their life out of the hands of the people who have puppeted it both from the start (venadeus) and for centuries (col, the hounds). io is, as it stands, in a permanent state of 'can't grieve yet' and the closure to finally start grieving and live their own life completely and wholly comes in a cascade after they finally admit to themself that there is no redeeming col and that something must be done for good. col still living is why io is in their permanent grief limbo. and of course there is the problem that venadeus has considered io nothing but a tool for himself since the moment they were conceived, but io ends the venadeus line with themself, once and for all. they hate that they were always meant to be a sacrificial lamb, but becoming the next and final venadeus gives them the things they've desired and a means to fully become themself. they get power - they get so much power as to practically be untouchable, and with it they simply seek the peace that had been taken from them centuries ago. it's hard getting there, admittedly, resurrecting as a god is something they have to claw through tooth and nail, but the end makes it worth it.

[incendiorum]

okay, I've kind of touched briefly on this before but venadeus viii is a corrupting force for io. while he only interacts with them via dreams, he uses it to influence a lot of how io reacts to their waking world. and he has a lot of sway in how they resurrect. whether that be peacefully, or violently. as the god of violent magic, it can be (correctly) assumed he has a preference. and that he certainly has his machinations working in the world to sway it the way he wishes. even if he dies when io takes the title, he can still ensure that his domain is given new life.

YES, I'm talking about fantasy verse AGAIN as a sub-note but I love using aus to expand on certain aspects of what io is like in canon. fantasy absolutely expands on io's vice of wrath. venadeus viii is still a god in this verse, and he is still replaced with iovita. he did this maliciously, though. he did not tell them that they were taking his place as a god. he told them that they would be untouchable. dangerous. he unleashed them back on the world as a living, breathing force of natural disaster. someone who would twist themself into knots just to get a taste of destruction again. someone who would swallow the sun if they could, for just an ounce more of power. because he encouraged iovita's core belief: the path to peace is forged in violence. io in this verse isn't really aware that they're technically a god. if they were slain, the environmental impact would be absolutely catastrophic - because everything about them has been turned into something prickly, venomous, boiling hot, dangerous. but they would also resurrect again. and certainly throw themself directly back into vengeance. it can still be presumed that io is the god of destructive/violent nature in this verse. their many viper-like qualities, their fire, and their absolute claim on their valley (refusing to allow people to build anything more than a couple measly villages) are all evidence of them subconsciously embracing the domain they claimed when they accepted venadeus viii's proposal.

my roundabout way of rerouting this back to canon is just to point out that io is very corruptible and venadeus viii is very good at corrupting. depending on how io dies, he can influence them into coming back bitter, angry, and very destructive. catastrophically so. which is why see: fantasy verse. io in that verse would raze a country just because they wanted to. and this is because of the way they died: bitter, hurt, angry. unjustly.