y-rhywbeth2

[y-rhywbeth2]

Also the braid! In the Maiden of Pain long hair in a single braid (like a whip, or some other long rope-like bludgeoning instrument) is a whole Thing with the Thayan Loviatan clergy. Also Loviatar is has white-blonde hair.

Speaking of red leather; I wonder if Durge ever used Orin's fashion choice against her while they were arguing about what makes a proper Bhaalist. Orin's right about doctrine, but she's wearing the sacred colours of completely different gods (one of whom is Bane) but none of Bhaal's, is not veiling, and the red leather with white and the spiky torture aesthetic is very Loviatar. Are you sure you don't want to be anywhere but here deep down, Little Sister?

[y-rhywbeth2]

Speaking of red leather; I wonder if Durge ever used Orin's fashion choice against her while they were arguing about what makes a proper Bhaalist. Orin's right about doctrine, but she's wearing the sacred colours of completely different gods (one of whom is Bane) but none of Bhaal's, is not veiling, and the red leather with white and the single braid and the white-blonde and the spiky torture aesthetic is very Loviatar. Are you sure you don't want to be anywhere but here deep down, Little Sister?

[y-rhywbeth2]

Just realising that BG3 kind of supports my 'Bhaalists who wish to join the faith as adults - as opposed to being claimed and raised in the faith as holy orphans of murder - must ritualistically 'die' by literally killing their old life and everyone who was an active part in it' headcanon, since Ffion does in fact get killed by her son.

[y-rhywbeth2]

Always enjoy seeing this funny little guy in the book:

As it's Menzoberranzan, I can only assume that one of the bars, clubs or lounges somewhere in the city also serves cerebral fluid or liquified organs in fancy champaigne flutes.

I wonder if drow Tav or Minthara ever sees a mind flayer they know from the pub at any point in the game?

('Disclaimer: Staff and management hold no responsibility whatsoever for patrons who have their brains or other organs consumed or otherwise removed while on the premises. Or off it.')

[y-rhywbeth2]

Halsin' elfy hyperfixation stage of 'the road of life'/elven psychological development probably includes natural sciences.

Drow are usually left out of these discussions in sourcebooks, but I wonder what Minthara's could be?

[y-rhywbeth2]

Come to think of it, from what I remember of Lolthite healing, her approach is 'if they're dying of their injuries and their loss isn't of critical importance, just raise them as zombies and put them back to work.'

Or was that the Menzoberranzan funeral plan I'm thinking of?

[y-rhywbeth2]

Sources, since this has spread out of orbit a bit.

Bane:

'Dreadmasters know much in the ways of pain. Perhaps I could return strength to your arm… if it is Bane's will that you live.' - Icewind Dale II, the comment that sparked the original thought

'I could heal soldiers who had earned Bane's grace and raise the dead.' - Finder's Bane

'I could heal it for you,' the bard offered. The priestess glared at the priest and backed away with a look of feral fear. 'My god does not wish the injury healed,' she growled. 'Why not?' Joel demanded angrily. 'This was not the first attack on my god that I failed to prevent. I was not sufficiently watchful. The dark stalker sneaked aboard while I slept and attacked Bane. I wear my wounds as punishment, but they are nothing compared to the loss of my god's love and approval. I will earn his forgiveness, though. Then he will grant me my spells again and I can heal myself.' - Finder's Bane (while the Bane in question is a Banelich, Baneliches do carry and are controlled by fragments of the god, so that is his will)

Loviatar:

'When the subject reaches the threshold between life and death, it is time for Loviatar's Mercy. Not for the purpose of relief from pain and suffering, as some gods instruct their lackeys, but so they can endure more." The headmistress chanted a request in the tongue of devils [Infernal is the holy language of Lawful Evil faiths], her free hand moving over Oredas's torn back. As her voice grew stronger, a harsh red glow enveloped her hand. Wherever it passed, blood flowed back into wounds and flesh mended. - The Maiden of Pain

"Your leg?" Ythnel gasped as he came fully out of the water. She directed them to quickly turn him over onto his back. She took the mangled stump in both hands and started to pray. A dark and unholy light radiated from Ythnel's hand, and a momentary pang of fear raced through Kohtakah. Ythnel was a cleric of Loviatar, he remembered. Then a searing pain racked his body, and he stiffened. It was gone in a second, and he was left fully drained. - The Maiden of Pain

Ilmater, regarding the martyrdom healing spells specific to his clergy:

Glory of the Martyr: Grants each subject +1 deflection bonus to AC and +1 resistance bonus on saves, splits their damage with you. Pact of Martyrdom: You exchange hit point totals with the target. - Player's Guide to Faerûn

Random trivia of the day: I was right about something ages ago, Banite clerics can only heal wounds with permission from Bane. If he decides you don't deserve it then you must just deal with the pain of injuries as punishment.

Wonder what other deity's rules about healing are?

Loviatar won't heal you until the end so that you can learn to appreciate your suffering and such. Also the healing itself is agony.

Ilmater probably expects you to heal yourself last and he does have healing spells that pretty much just transfer damage from the injured to the caster...

[y-rhywbeth2]

While Astarion seems pretty comitted to staying on the 'impulsive wanderlust inattentive ADHD' part of innate elven psychology that moon elves always gravitate back to, I wonder if he ever hits the hyperfixation phase of elven psychology:

Other elves take a branch that leads to the obsessive pursuit of perfection in art, music, philosophy, or magic. Such elves will often live apart from others, crafting musical instruments, writing plays, composing music, designing buildings, sculpting, and painting. Great Silver elf artists, Gold elf priests, and Green elf druids live most of their lives in such a state. Usually they talk of little else besides their work, which can often make them difficult to communicate with. Sometimes it seems they have created their own language in regard to their work. When they do seek companionship it is most often with those who share the skills they are attempting to perfect. They can spend endless hours discussing the most minute details of their process of creation. (You have been forewarned.) - Elves of Evermeet

Considering that elves don't reach that stage until a century or few into life, he probably didn't find his fixation pre-vampirism. I have no idea what it would be. Poetry? Embroidery and textile hobbies? Those fancy knife tricks he likes to do occasionally? Knives in general? Silver elves are more generalist than golds are, so it's probably all three. I wonder what it takes to send him off on a rant about it.

[y-rhywbeth2]

Random trivia of the day: I was right about something ages ago, Banite clerics can only heal wounds with permission from Bane. If he decides you don't deserve it then you must just deal with the pain of injuries as punishment.

Wonder what other deity's rules about healing are?

Loviatar won't heal you until the end so that you can learn to appreciate your suffering and such. Also the healing itself is agony.

Ilmater probably expects you to heal yourself last and he does have healing spells that pretty much just transfer damage from the injured to the caster...

[y-rhywbeth2]

D'ya wanna talk about Vel (and Astarion's) happy ending?

Mostly the vague 'happily ever after' that doesn't prompt much further thought, just fuzzy feelings. It's mostly just adventuring with moments that are in the romance genre (to them, to the onlookers they're hunting it's the horror genre). They've both got insanely long lifespans, so they spend years to decades together and apart. Vel's got a lifespan of at least 1,400 years and I chose to extend that indefinitely*, assuming he doesn't die at some point, in which case he's coming back undead. Astarion miraculously escapes getting into a fatal accident like an unfortunate outdoor housecat he resembles.

It probably takes centuries of nervous breakdowns, communication, mistakes, comfort and processing, and it won't fix everything, but eventually there will be a lot of life experience to balance out the years of trauma. Also ironing out normal couple issues, like insecurities, and Vel being religious and Astarion's tendency to mock and belittle religion.

They have a holiday home in Sigil, where Astarion can enjoy 'sunlight' and hang out with the local undead community and enjoy the politics and chaos, and probably falls in with the Sensates and the Mercykillers to a minor degree. Vel likes the Dustmen and the Doomguard. I like to imagine they end up in the Domains of Dread at least once, becoming one of the few people to leave, and get on Strahd's nerves in the meantime.

In some timelines Shadowheart is also involved with them, for the first 100 years, at least.

*(Aside from potential immortality from divine lineage, there's also lore that has elves actually being immortal but getting called home by the Seldarine - Vel just won't do that if it comes to it).

[y-rhywbeth2]

A similar problem with traumatised characters and fantasy expanding past the limits of real-world trauma: I can grasp Astarion's trauma and the effects of it, but I have no way of experiencing or looking at actual evidence of how 200 years of it would impact one's psyche and trauma responses.

I'm just going to lean on the static nature and undead resiliance of vampires, I guess? His mind is only capable of limited amounts of psychological change from what it was on waking up in his grave and his emotions work a little differently to humans (or elves, in this case) so it's just horrifically severe within 'normal' boundaries of horrific shit? idk. What the fuck. 200 years of xp went into disassociation, I guess.

[y-rhywbeth2]

Part of the problem with happy endings and trauma-healing arcs and etc is that sometimes the narrative hands you the ingredients that if you use them all... Well, how the hell do I make something out of this that doesn't end in horrific tragedy?

(Willful suspension of disbelief, deus ex machina, enforced amnesia and magic, mostly.)

[y-rhywbeth2]

...actually this is lie, some of my ocs are terrible and/or tragic by nobody's hand but mine and they stay that way, but nobody I've ever brought up, so I'm still innocent.

I'm calling CPS (Character Protective Services)

'I give them all an eventual good future of healing and happiness, all their suffering is transiatory!' I say, as I whack my OCs around the head with the baseball bat full of nails that canon handed me, repeatedly. 'I can't handle stories that don't have happy endings and all the bad endings are just AUs to reinforce the happiness with what could've been. Half of the angst is just coming from the canon backstory and events of the plot anyway!'

[y-rhywbeth2]

I'm calling CPS (Character Protective Services)

'I give them all an eventual good future of healing and happiness, all their suffering is transiatory!' I say, as I whack my OCs around the head with the baseball bat full of nails that canon handed me, repeatedly. 'I can't handle stories that don't have happy endings and all the bad endings are just AUs to reinforce the happiness with what could've been. Half of the angst is just coming from the canon backstory and events of the plot anyway!'

[y-rhywbeth2]

My favourite genre of OC is 'would be the BBEG and cause the apocalypse, save for want of a nail that pushed them towards being loved (platonically, maybe romantically) and returning that love.'

...both of the OCs I'm thinking of also would've been evil in a large part due to daddy issues, now that I think on it, but that's the game's fault for assigning you the daddy issues backstory.

[y-rhywbeth2]

All Durge's other potential issues with their body aside, if my body were directly formed from a god's essence I would never trust it, ever. Gods are extremely sneaky, impossible to truly kill, and lurk in all that they touch. Who is to say that thing will ever be truly yours and won't turn on you one day...

[y-rhywbeth2]

I wonder if Astarion ever gets sulky about elven culture's standards for what undead are acceptable and which are not (the difference being that the acceptable are powered by positive energy (life energy), non-predatory, bound to a life of self-sacrificial duty, and created by the divine will of the Seldarine).

Baelnorn liches, spirit guardians, and one of Cormanthor's ancient libraries where the ghost archvists occasionally possessed library goers and escaped from the library to steal their lives and go enjoy the pleasures of life again are fine, but oh no, drinking people's blood and damaging their souls 'a little' and behing inherently driven to destruction, death and control and other things blasphemous to elves is too far...! They're ok, while he gets smote by Sehanine's clerics on sight.