#why is durge never brought up in Tav/Gortash fics?

[vinff7]

I have Drugetash AU brain worms, but they won’t fully form enough to make fics so I’m dumping them here.

Idea 1: Durge through Bhalspawn magic or normal sex could have children with Gortash and both were planning to do this. They were not going to get married, Gortash would marry someone else for political empire expansion reasons latter down the line, but Durge and Gortash had both plotted that as part of their take over the world plan they would have children together and those would be their heirs that Gortash would legitimize and just not have children with his actual wife / essentially political puppet.

This idea is courtesy of Dune, I just love the idea of Durge being a consort and Gortash promising to never touch his actual wife and only having kids with Durge.

“I swear to you now that you’ll need no title. That woman over there will be my wife and you but a concubine because this is a political thing. Yet she shall have no more of me then my name. no child of mine, nor touch, nor softness of glance, nor instant of desire.” - quote from Dune that I died thinking of Gortash saying to Durge.

Idea 2: the above is still true but this is a Tav play through so Durge fucking dies. And in this play through Durge and Gortash have known each other for a Loong time, like 10+ years and then Durge dies. Bonus angst points if Durge is pregnant and that is part of why Orin tortures them to death.

Fortunately in idea 2 land it is a Tav/Gortash fix it world so somehow Gortash doesn’t die at the end of the game and Tav has a crush on Gortash, but it’s complicated by the fact that Gortash is still getting over his recently murdered long term lover but has 0 coping skills except insisting that ‘it’s in the past, it doesn’t matter!’ And trying to plow on not even mentioning Durge to Tav if it can be helped.

Triple angst points if it follows many Tav/Gortash things I’ve seen where post Brain the two get married to maintain political stability which brings up angst from the promise Gortash made in Idea 1 about not caring about his marriage partner cuz he would have Durge, but Durge is super dead and Tav is left trying to pick up and puzzle the pieces together.

[autistichalsin]

A while back, one of my mutuals on Twitter posted a get to know your Tav/Durge game, which I did for both Kiaran and Taviana. However, I realized I never shared it here, and I wanted to do so now!

1. Taviana- she/her, human Bard, Entertainer background, chaotic good alignment

Kiaran- he/him, half-Drow Ranger, Haunted One background, initially chaotic evil alignment, then chaotic neutral, then chaotic good

2. Taviana- she was grocery shopping for her family. The picture of normality (a recurring them in her and Astarion's story is that she is almost infuriatingly NORMAL aside from the tadpole).

Kiaran- the same as other Durges; he was experimented on by Kressa, then sent away by Magthew.

3. Taviana- I'm not very far into her playthrough, but it will be Astarion solo for canon. Noncanon may include Halsin and the Drow twins.

Kiaran- Halsin solomance. The Drow twins and Abdirak as flings, and pre-canon Gortash. Noncanon experimenting w/ Haarlep but it didn't work, which is why it's not canon.

4. Taviana- Astarion excluded, she's closest to Wyll, and she struggles with Lae'zel.

Kiaran- Halsin excluded, he's closest to Karlach, and struggles with Gale.

5. Taviana- not sure, since I haven't gotten far. Since I headcanon her and Kiaran both existing together, she likely would have lost Alfira or Quill as well, which would crush her, I think.

Kiaran- Alfira (though I might change this to Quill) and Lae'zel, though I don't consider the latter canon. He's indifferent at first, more worried about the fact that he killed in his sleep than the victim themself, but he is sad when he turns good later and starts to feel the empathy that was missing.

6. Taviana- Taviana convinces Astarion, who is a spawn, to live with her in Baldur's Gate while Astarion's 'siblings' care for the spawn in the Underdark.

Kiaran- Living with Halsin in his commune, and getting Halsin pregnant with TONS more Silverboughs.

7. Taviana- Yes! She has a huge, boring, normal family, and you best believe they pester her and Astarion to come over for weekend dinners. Hilarity ensues. She is infuriatingly normal and Astarion doesn't know how to react.

Kiaran- no :( But I do have a fic planned of him trying to resurrect his foster family and trying to make amends.

8. Taviana- She loves using Bardic Inspiration to help heal and reenergize her teammates. She doesn't enjoy fighting, so getting to help in other ways cheers her up.

Kiaran- He loves using his abilities as a Ranger against their enemies. He feels alive, like he's indulging his animalistic Dark Urge instincts without harming an innocent. It's something Halsin can relate to well.

9. Taviana- Helping Astarion kill Cazador but convincing him to stay a spawn, finally showing him that he can be something entirely undefined by Cazador. That was the moment she knew Astarion had finally found himself.

Kiaran- Resisting Bhaal and freeing himself of his Urge once and for all, finally being able to rest easy with the knowledge he would never harm Halsin.

10. Taviana- She loves purple, so anything purple makes her happy as a clam!

Kiaran- Not really. Kiaran dresses for comfort and utility, like Halsin, so as long as he has something practical, he's set.

11. Taviana- she loved returning to Baldur's Gate because it brought her closer to her family, though she ultimately decided not to reach out to them until after the brain. (She was afraid of scaring her little siblings.)

Kiaran- He loved the Shadow-Cursed Lands, not for what it was obviously, but for what happened there, because he got to help Halsin save Thaniel and Oliver and cure the land.

12. Taviana- Never considered it. She may be innocent but she knows enough to know the house always wins.

Kiaran- VERY briefly considered it, but came back to his senses soon enough to realize whatever Raphael was offering, they could accomplish themselves.

13. Taviana- Her family are all Lathanderites. She isn't quite as devout as them, but definitely considers him her main deity.

Kiaran- Not devoutly, though he does pray to Mielikki before/during missions as a Ranger, and becomes Jergal's Chosen during/after canon. He starts to see the importance of some of Jergal's goals, such as recording the names of the dead (this is how he learns who he killed so he can remember them, after all) but doesn't devote himself enough to be truly called a worshipper. But old Withers is rather over it by that point, so he doesn't really ask much more from Kiaran aside from doing what he can to remember the dead.

14. Taviana- Living with her family in Baldur's Gate, figuring herself out as a Bard. She was close to lining up a few gigs, but nothing big enough to distinguish herself.

Kiaran- Murderhobo Durgey stuff, using his Ranger abilities to kill more effectively.

15. Taviana- Alfira/Quill, and Milil in the epilogue, of course!

Kiaran- Oliver. He understood Oliver almost perfectly, and was able to use that to persuade him to return to Thaniel.