#xan ravengard!!

[linka-from-captain-planet]

the concept of Lae’zel and Wyll basically teen-parenting gith baby Xan is both the sweetest and funniest thing I can imagine

(That’s supposed to be a tiny warlock outfit Xan is wearing… Lae’zel made it so their son would have something that kinda makes him look like Wyll, since they share neither blood nor lineage)

[somehowmags]

here's the thing alright wyll is perfect for a single parent romance novel. like him and lily aurora ravengard are absolutely destroying at the daddy daughter dance. he's showing up to the pta bake sale with the best brownies in town. they're having tea parties together with all of her stuffed animals. it's great they're adorable. the problem is absolutely fucking nobody else in this party is ready to be not the stepparent but the parent who stepped up. karlach? would love being a cool auntie. astarion? weird uncle. shadowheart? rediscovering life post shar. lae'zel? maybe if she was raising xan but also she's busy doing hot girl shit like killing vlaakith. gale? malewifing it up but ultimately just happy to be here. halsin? cool uncle. minthara? double income no kids bisexual aunt who shows up on candlenights to unleash the gift reckoning. do you see my fucking problem. how am i supposed to romance novel in these conditions.

[mosses-gate-3]

How does Andis, Salix and Ren feel about kids? Do they like them, or just find them annoying? Are they any good with kids? Would they ever want kids of their own?

Bonus question: Tell us about their kids if they ever have any!

okokok I did do a similar ask a bit ago with Salix & Andy BUT! I have been thinking a ridiculous amount about regale children

Ren I think is surprisingly good with kids. One of their biggest strengths is keeping a calm, neutral outward appearance in stressful situations, and I think that translates over really well to childcare. They enjoy spending time with the kids at the Grove. As for whether they'd actually want kids of their own:

I don't think they and Gale can physically have bio kids together, nor do they want to. But I was thinking about them and children and a thing came to me.

“So you remember the egg from the creche, yes?” “…The one we put in a bag of holding six years ago and forgot about?” “…Well, I'd say it was less a random choice and more a calculated decision made for the good of the egg and our group, but yes - I've been researching and it’s fascinating, really, Githyanki eggs can incubate for extended amounts of time in the Astral plane due to a number of unique conditions and, theoretically, this property extends to pocket dimensions such as those created by a bag of holding. It’s been a dream of mine to study the precise conditions that make this possible for years–" "Gale, love, didn't you say this was urgent?" "Right! Yes. It’s hatching.” “It’s WHAT.”

...And then they go around frantically calling up Lae'zel and the others, and there's an impromptu six-year-anniversary reunion while they try to figure out how the fuck to take care of an egg baby. Featuring Dadstarion... NOT.

After he's safely born they all have a very long conversation about who should keep it. Wyll and Karlach are the obvious first choice but they're dealing with a lot of change at the moment (Wyll's training to become Grand Duke and they're moving back in to Baldur's Gate and aren't in a place for a baby yet.) Lae'zel is still fighting a civil war, Shadowheart has a lot on her plate already, and I wouldn't trust Astarion anywhere near a baby let alone with CUSTODY of one (see previous). So Ren and Gale keep the child and name him Xan. Look into his dead, soulless eyes.

They all try to stay in his life in some way. Lae'zel visits when she can. Shadowheart is like a cool wine aunt who's always around. Astarion is like a cool wine aunt who's never around. Karlach and Wyll, Wyll especially, are practically co-parenting the kid. He's not in the right situation for kids right now but he will be the best damn babysitter this side of Avernus.

But fear not, because in a couple years the two of them will have kids of their own! DAD WYLL LIVES IN MY BRAIN RENT FREE OKAY. I think their names are Talia and Jayden and they're raised very close with Xan, he sees them as his younger siblings and is very protective of them.

Here's Xan and Jayden! Talia is probably behind them. At this point Xan's about 10, Talia is 7 or so, and Jayden is around 4 or 5.

Xan inherited Gale's expressiveness and tendency to gesticulate, and Ren's logical mind and speech mannerisms. I think he's generally very responsible. Other than that he's hardly similar to his parents at all, he doesn't care for academics much and most likely becomes a melee class later. They're very proud of him anyway; it's probably for the better he didn't turn out Mystra's next Chosen or something.

When he gets older he and his siblings set out to become adventurers! Talia is a cleric of no deity in particular (that is a thing you can do I looked it up apparently the power can just come from something you really believe in) and Jayden's a sorcerer (I have Karlach classed as a wild magic barbarian in my playthrough which is where he gets it from.) Xan is a paladin, I don't know which oath, probably Ancients or Devotion. I'm currently working on aged up designs for them, I'll reblog this with them when I'm done.

That's pretty much all I have so far but this is pretty much what I consider canon after the game, at least in Ren's playthrough! I'm sure they'll be excellent parents. Even if they did forget a literal living baby in their bag of holding for SIX YEARS... But it's fine there was a lot going on. Thank god for the weird githyanki physics I made up.

[omgkalyppso]

Screenshots of the epilogue. Discussion of Étoile's endgame situation (with still possible changes to be made) and Many Spoilers.

Gale and this oc didn't get along great, so that's my warning for that.

If you open this and it's too long you can press J on desktop to skip it.

The lighting on the side view of Étoile and Astarion's hug could've been better, but these were both very sweet. Especially since I had to go back and hug Astarion based on seeing a friend's screenshots as I'd had Étoile ask whether he didn't want to go speak with the others. He seemed so standoffish.

I went back even further afterwards and had Étoile go to Avernus with Karlach just to see whether there was an angry reunion in this six months later, but the game registered it as having broken up with Astarion, though he did have much more to say as a friend than as a romantic partner.

And I've heard that in multiplayer that a character can speak with the player character who didn't romance them About their romance so I need to play with someone who will either make two very specific selections while romancing Astarion or who would be fine with me doing so, just so I can someday see what he might have to say.

Halsin walked through a hedge to get here. Étoile's going to fucking produce a handkerchief to dab the dirt from his scars, etc.

I'd like to think that Shadowheart's cottage is somewhere between Reithwin proper where Isobel and Dame Aylin are based, and Halsin's settlement which extends from Moonrise down to farmland in the valleys where Ketheric's army was camped. I think I'd place Komira and Arabella here too, and it's tempting to relocate Zevlor and Doni but I don't think you'd get Mol (and therefore a number of her kids) out of Baldur's Gate, and I still like the idea of the strained but reliable familial relationship she could have with the fallen Paladin if she needed to lay low from both thugs and the law.

Regardless, that's a lot of people at least a five days walk from Baldur's Gate, and maybe Astarion's quiet with Étoile because he suspects that they'd be staying there if they could, rather than managing his 7000 evil exes the chaos of the vampire spawn, his siblings, the drow and the city; and even if Étoile didn't want that, perhaps Astarion feels that all of their friends think Étoile would be better off in that life, and is a little less secure in facing them about it than he'd care to admit. Or maybe Astarion's quiet because he would rather be living either that or any other selfish life where he wouldn't have to consider what the spawn would be doing without oversight, where he wouldn't have to worry that moving to a wooden home would see it set ablaze around him by adventurous monster hunters who sought to see him in sunlight even at the cost of greatly disturbing all Halsin had built.

Karlach and Dammon would be in Baldur's Gate because Étoile was able to get her an item blessed with Auril's cold to act as a magical coolant for her heart.

Wyll and Florrick both heavily implied that Wyll would be Duke Ravengard at the end of Étoile's playthrough but in the epilogue he was once again the Blade of Frontiers, and a ranger. After seeing some screenshots on what was supposed to feature in the epilogue if Wyll became duke, I'm going to ignore whatever the hell happened there and maintain that he became duke. He featured in my plans for how the vampires would cope and govern!

Lae'zel and her son Xan may even have been my favorite part of the epilogue. They are so important to Étoile; who would drop everything to help for two months or so if Lae'zel asked them to help with her journey, though they'd doubt she'd need them to.

Gale is in Waterdeep. His relationship to Étoile was strained during the game events and it totally collapses / is held up by niceties only in post-canon. I still picked the hug because I think Étoile would be surprised by how much they missed Gale / how relieved they were to see him alive before the dread of his presence really set in. Gale clipping shoving himself face-first into Étoile's tits and his following line really made this awkward interaction feel authentic, lol.

Étoile wasn't willing to trust Mystra with the Crown of Karsus (and notes that she didn't promise anything with regards to their tadpoles), and signed a pact with Raphael, effectively condemning Gale; but mechanically Gale doesn't acknowledge this after the defeat of the netherbrain, and says he's going to reforge the crown for Mystra. Because of this, I'd either consider him and Étoile having an argument on the docks, or Gale's power being restored by the loss of the tadpole, as Wyll's are lost and Astarion regains a vampire's weaknesses. And Gale could be a level 17-20 wizard, with spell slots enough to cast Hold Monster on Astarion, to cast Time Stop, to cast Teleport, to put himself in the bay where he can retrieve the Crown immediately. Though perhaps he would be more subtle.

Étoile could express confusion and conflicting emotions upon seeing Gale in the epilogue, and at the end of Withers' party, Raphael could show up as he did post-credits, to accuse Étoile of allowing Gale to usurp his Crown, to express his warning that Mystra has now both the Crown and the Orb, and to threaten to make coin of Étoile's soul. I think rather than for a vague notion of "Étoile seeing the consequences of their actions," Raphael might not kill them instantly because he thinks himself patient, and if there's a chance Étoile could still honor their pact in the years they have left to them, that he believes them to be more useful living than as a piece of currency, but if the Crown is the possession of Mystra or another deity by the time their name is written in one of Withers' scrolls, then he would collect their soul as promised.

Étoile would deck Gale after Raphael left. I don't think they'd forgive each other, but they could probably remain civil in Karlach or Halsin's presence at least.

Raphael was such a stronger enemy for Étoile narratively than Mystra would be, but I'm happy to put that fic concept on the backburner to indulge this since it could give me an excuse to have Raphael around more to bitch instead of to need-to-be-defeated.

Other OC's I'd keep in Étoile's worldstate are Borgakh - a resident of Halsin's settlement, Upton - moved from Baldur's Gate to Waterdeep after their fiance died during the mindflayer madness, Uleri - a librarian in Baldur's Gate entangled in politics, and Yar'sul - a ranking githyanki sworn to the cause of the Comet.