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arto-rhen · 4 months

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Here's my full post of Rayne which I will direct future related posts to. I will tag her with #TavRayne if anyone wants to start following along with her journey. She is my Tav OC from my first finished playthrough of BG3 and she is a Tiefling Sorcerer with Draconic Bloodline. I had this character made for a dnd game for a while but I never got to play her and then when Baldur's Gate 3 launched, I had my chance of playing her this way and I had lots of fun roleplaying her.

Her backstory was slightly changed between the original dnd story and the BG3 version so that it fits better with the setting, but I kept most of it the same.

It's pretty long, but I decided to put it here in case anyone might like to know about her more. I am not the best with descriptions sometimes and I was still trying to be brief, I also did not make her story while checking if any of it is connected to lore or not, I went along with what I thought was an interesting idea for a character, and the dnd sessions I was part of didn't require full knowledge of all of the books that contain the lore. In case anyone may feel like something doesn't feel lore accurate.

She was raised in her first years by her family that consisted of her father that started her sorcerous bloodline by entrapping the soul of a dragon in secret, her mother that was partly coerced into a marriage with her father and 3 siblings that were close to her age but not allowed to see her.

Although on the surface, it seemed like a family of a powerful Sorcerer that is successful, in reality, Rayne was raised for one purpose only, which she was not aware of yet. Her connections to her siblings and even to her mother were frayed in order for her to train her abilities, and although she received praise an approval for being able to overcome any challenge in her training, she would usually sneak away to play with her siblings as well.

One day, they decide to play a game where they each present something secret to each other, and she decides to bring her father's spellbook which she always sees but isn't allowed to look into. Because she was taught how to write mostly infernal and primordial and mostly spells, once she opens the book and decides to tell her siblings what she found, she finds a lot of sacrificial ritual spells and learns of her father entrapping a dragon's soul and using his successors of infernal heritage that would gain the draconic power to absorb their power and maintain his own, where one successor that has inherited the draconic power would be trained to be the strongest and then used as the primary sacrifice, while the siblings are used as collateral for ensuring the success of the ritual. The ritual also requires a type of lettering on the body of the main sacrifice, and Rayne already had it done. She half doesn't believe that they would actually be sacrificed, but ultimately tries to devise a plan with the siblings to find out more and what they can do in their situation.

In the end, the father was already close enough for the ritual to commence, and when he sees his book missing, he transports his kids in the ritual and starts it. Because the ritual also needs Rayne and anyone in her place to be willing with the transfer, it ruins the ritual and instead makes her powers go haywire and burn down the entire building they were under. She wakes up only to see ash everywhere and nobody in sight, and she stays there for an indeterminate amount of time trying to process what just happened until a fearful group of guard approach and take her away. Some of the inscriptions on her body remain etched into her skin as burn marks, and she remains with some of the marks always on her.

Most people in the vicinity don't understand what happened in that place and believe that she was at fault and the authorities plan to take her to a special prison. By that point, Rayne is heavily traumatized and nonresponsive.

On her way to the prison, a member of a powerful wizard guild shows up and takes her instead after hearing of the incident that her powers caused and Rayne solely accepts because she's given food. That is where she starts learning and realizes that there is more to the inscriptions that she was taught for the ritual and she also learns to read and write common. As she is given better conditions there, she gradually becomes more receptive to others over a few years but she still has a feeling that she might once again be trained in order to be used, so after she starts learning more of the world that she realized she was isolated from by her father, she begins to look into their operation closer, only to find out that they were using different people of tiefling descent in order to harness magical abilities from them, and she ends up making another plan to evade and help those tieflings.

She uses some of the things she was taught for her father's rituals to instead use that power herself and breaks the device that hold the tieflings and harness their powers one night. That night, she helps the tieflings escape on their own and she then runs away being chased by guards and wizards from that guild. This is where she makes her way to a city where she hides. For the game, I made it so that city is actually Baldur's Gate where she winds up for good.

Her life in the new city starts from the very bottom, as she tries to dodge the guards that are after her bounty, and she doesn't have any food or shelter and she is still in shock after the previous events. In the end, she becomes harder to find when sitting among the homeless and sells anything she owns in order to buy food for the small group of homeless people. When she hears some adventurers talk about a failed quest for the retrieval of a special item that the local apothecary needs, she decides to try for herself in order to make some money. Using her innate abilities, despite her still young age, she manages to get the item and deliver it to the apothecary for a reward.

That sparks curiosity among adventurers and people involved and she begins to take on different jobs on retrieving and finding magical and special items, working with both reputable sources and networking around the underground, which becomes her job for a long time in the city. Due to her charismatic nature and ability to always deliver on her quests, she is able to have strong enough connections in the underground of the city to rid herself of the initial accusations due to her past, being able for the first time to live for herself and start once again enjoying using her magic without being reminded of her traumatic past.

At the start of the game or story, she is pretty much in a decent place both in spirit and the house that she owns in the Baldur's Gate, but along with the kidnapping of the mindflayer ship and becoming infected, she finds a group of companions that are more similar to her and each other than they first realize.

For the dnd game, I also noted that the sorcerer father was still alive and could become a challenge in the future, along with the wizard that found her afterwards, both becoming obstacles at one point.

Overall, I really liked playing as her because some parts of her story fit well with the companions. Her experiences with abuse of magic can contrast Gale's nature of being both chill and overly confident when it comes to using magic, but also relates by loving magic just as much. Her story of a father that wants to control her and absorb her power through a ritual and giving her no other purpose can relate to Astarion's story with Cazador, and the idea of his possible apparition really puts her story in the same trope as his. Dealing with a father/authority figure that presents themselves as having her best interests when in reality they are training them to be used can relate to both Shadowheart and Lae'zel, and her sense of adventuring and heroing, can relate to Karlack and Wyll.

Overall, if anyone got to read up to this point, I am looking forward to showing you through a mini comic series different parts of her story with these companions. Thank you for reading up to this point! And if anyone wants to he tagged to future posts, let me know.

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marcynomercy · 2 months

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Fate written in blood

I wanted to write a fanfic of Calamity and Carnifex for a while so I took courage and did it, hope you enjoy reading.

Thank you @tragedybunny for beta-reading.

Summary: The blood has always been her way until the day that fate changed, After being kidnapped by mind flayers and the fall of the Nautiloid Calamity had a new opportunity for freedom and strangely her fate crossed with that of Astarion when the elf put that dagger around her neck.

Their fate until now was written by others, but now they would write with their own hands in blood.

Warnings: Violence, blood, game events, mentions of trauma, distress/comfort, mention of abuse. (That’s it for now)

Ship: Astarion and Calamity (Tav), Shadowheart and Carniex (Tav), mentions of other characters.

Chapter 2

Chapter 1 - The beginning of a bond

Freedom was just a dream, a dream she still cherished and strangely came true in a distorted way. It became reality in the form of a capsule being opened and the shock of her body on the floor.

A pain in her head and the knowledge that there was a tadpole in her brain... nothing comes for free does it?

The first thing she did was look at the capsules looking for her twin brother, maybe he was kidnapped too? Unfortunately, she did not succeed.

After the fall of the Nautiloid, Calamity awoke for the second time, by the gods she really thought it was her end but strangely fate had other plans as always.

She did not hesitate to look for her brother even after the fall, she looked body by body, wreckage by wreckage...nothing. But on the contrary she met the cleric who had helped before, her sudden infusion of kindness had good results and so her group began to increase.

Shadowheart was the first to join her on this journey and then soon after came that strange familiar pale elf who left a beautiful first impression... a blade against her neck. Her response was a headbutt.

After the misunderstanding was explained he apologized.

"Excuses accepted, if I were in your place I would have done the same." That was her answer. “My name is Calamity.” She introduced herself.

"A somewhat ominous name for such a cute person, well I’m sure your parents meant well." The elf joked. "My name is Astarion."

So Astarion joined them.

He saw her circling the ship freely as he tried to find a way to escape, but he noticed that strangely she seemed to be looking for someone. At first he deduced that she was looking for Shadowheart, but soon fell off the idea seeing how she was still looking for that person; given the way she looked at the bodies with fear and then with relief mixed with disappointment. Calamity did that until they had nothing left to scour just a wounded mind flayer trapped by rubble, that thing tried to control them, but it was too weak so they managed to resist. They were angry, so much anger and hatred for a nasty creature like that... so worried about becoming one of them.

They could not think about it, they had to forget at least for a moment and continue.

In a few hours the group recruited two more members, Gale of Waterdeep and the warrior githyanki Lae'zel who was already known to the girls.

Lae'zel was adamant and insisted on looking for the creche, Calamity on the other hand agreed with Shadowheart as to be wary and distrustful of githyanki so she tried to handle the situation as best she can.

"We already understand your point Lae'zel, but at the moment we do not have the resources for this. We need a place to set up camp, supplies and most importantly investigate this whole situation. There is something wrong and if we want to survive we need this information, so yes we will look for this creche and get its location meanwhile nothing prevents us from looking for answers, do you not agree?" One talent that Calamity cultivated and honed was persuasion and it fit her like a glove at that point.

Astarion was surprised how she was a smooth talker and a good sense of survival, he decided if he wanted to survive he should focus on her.

"In fact we don’t have a defined leader here right? In that case I think our dear Calamity would be perfect for that role." Astarion wasted no time in ensuring his target the most important role, all for the sake of his well-being.

Calamity stared at him in disbelief.

"Me what?!" she protested in shock.

"Well he’s not wrong, you seem to have skills for it given the way you handled it well during our short period on the nautiloid and now after the crash." Shadowheart commented thoughtfully. "Actually for me it doesn’t matter who would actually be the leader, but that you were nominated I won’t be against it."

"I don’t see any problems either." Gale also agreed.

"Tsk, if you’re all for her leadership, I won’t question it... for now. Better prove yourself worthy of that role."

Still stunned as everyone simply pushed her to the leadership, Calamity just sighed and nodded.

"Okay, okay... so let’s move on." She just took the lead and they moved on.

Astarion smiled, pleased. The first part of his plan was a success now he just needed to conquer the rest of it which didn’t seem to be difficult for him.

Well, that’s what he thought.

For the rest of the day he tried to approach her, but either Calamity ignored him or she just replied disinterested... How frustrating!

He took it out during the fight in front of the gates on those filthy goblins, it was good to kill something for a change, but then he saw that Calamity wasn’t just a pretty face. She beheaded the goblins as if they were nothing, her attacks were swift, agile and precise. It always focused on the vital, simple and practical points. This was no amateur skill, Astarion’s sharp eyes realized it was the skill of a professional, trained assassin. Calamity until now was a box of surprises for him, since they went from plunder this crypt to pacifying an argument between a tiefling and a human, knocking out the human with a punch to finding an improbable clue just because of a mistrust. He noticed the way her eyes ran around the place analyzing everything and that she was suspicious about something, then she tried to be a little too curious and quickly managed to sneak behind the stone shelves of one of the rooms by finding a chest with a suspicious letter addressed to Kagha.

But just as she proved to be very suspicious and cautious, she showed herself to have a terribly naive side! - dumb and stupid being more sincere.

Astarion was incredulous when she trusted the druid Nettie and being poisoned by her, but again Calamity saved herself with her lip and got the antidote along with some answers and her best bet was the druid Halsin... then another stupid decision, accept the poison Nettie gave.

"You know I’m starting to think you’re an idiot! You should have denied the poison!" Calamity stared with a serious look.

"I did it to spare us a possible confrontation unnecessarily and she would only let us go if I accepted and if the genius did not notice she locked us there with magic! And we gain a potent poison it can be useful in future battles." She seemed to have thought of everything.

"Well that doesn’t justify your stupid decision to trust her first!"

"Yes it was a stupid decision, but what could I do? I had to risk it and at least we had some productive result in this, never heard that the ends justify the means?" Her voice had a sarcastic tone and it irritated him.

"I can’t believe she poisoned you, tried to put you down like a dying dog without as much as a whisper of consent!" Gale was quicker in expressing his outrage.

"She gave up at the end." Calamity replied.

"Yes! But that doesn’t change the fact! How dare she snuff out life with as much thought as snuffing out a bloody candle?!"

"Are you all right, Gale?"

"Yes. Yes, I am. It’s just that, had it been me…Had it been… But you handled it, and you handled it well! As for myself, I could quite do with a tumbler full of Waterdeep Whiskey."

He really showed concern so she smiled sweetly at him in response.

"Oh, so you’re the kind of guy who prefers whiskey? That’s good to know, but I think at the end of today no one here would deny a drink." The way she spoke almost sounded like flirting, at least to Astarion’s ears.

The elf crossed his arms bored while they talked, it was decided that it would be better to find a place to camp and close the day.

The camp was set up. It was a tiring day, Calamity lightly massaged her strained shoulder after taking off the leather shoulder pad. Waking up on a devastated beach, recruiting one by one her new companions for that group, being chosen as a leader, plundering a crypt where you had a weird skeleton that was now in your camp, killing some goblins, being poisoned by a druid... She went over the day in her mind as she counted every event on her fingers, a tired sigh escapes from her mouth before she lies in her sleeping bag.

"Where are you brother?" she muttered covering her face with her hands.

Maybe he wasn’t kidnapped... so what would she do? Her mind starts spinning, she tried to focus her thoughts. Come on she needed to think of a plan! Wait... when did her mind get so clear? Was it the tadpole? Since she woke up in the Nautiloid she did not feel that weight that excessive fear caused her, the tadpole suppressed it?

Of course the same was still with her, but he did not control her anymore. Calamity smiled taking advantage of this relief, no anxiety, fear or panic... just a brief moment of tranquility. She gave herself the luxury of enjoying two minutes and then began to worry again, they will surely come after her.

"I don’t want to go back, but I can’t leave him..." She swallowed the cry.

She was free, but her brother wasn’t.

This brief moment of relief was taken by anguish, she could only hope that he is not suffering because of her. If she comes back maybe they’ll never have a chance to be free, she looked at the group through the small crack in the fabric of her tent’s entrance, she also had to worry about them now.

Her hands searched for blank book pages she had found, if she wanted to do that she needed to write it down! That’s how she started this diary, noting possible missions and progress and of course a way to vent alone. Calamity wrote everything, her advances of the day, the discoveries, hypotheses, theories, ideas for future plans and finally what she felt.

"It’s weird, I’ve never felt so good after so long... am I wrong? All this seems like a distorted dream from which I hope not to wake up, still not sure if my brother was kidnapped or not since I did not find any trace of him. I don’t know if I feel relief or regret for not finding him, on the one hand I’m happy because if he wasn’t kidnapped it means he wasn’t infected but at the same time I feel anguish because it means he was alone... I miss him."

She wrote with her anguished heart so she soon closed the diary and left it aside when she realized that someone came to her tent.

"Gale made dinner and I came to warn you." It was Shadowheart.

"Thank you, I’m starving." she replies putting on her social mask again and coming out of the attempt. " We’re lucky to have someone with culinary skills with us." She smiled and walked to the campfire beside the cleric

That first night together as a group was... quite a bit distant, Gale after dinner stood watching the fire and shared his pessimistic thoughts full of reality shock. " There’s nothing abstract about it" was what he said, Calamity understood his point but all he could offer were words. She then spoke to Astarion who expressed just as everyone else had how serious Gale was and later commented how new it was to him.

"The night normally means bustling streets, bursting taverns. Curling up in the dirt and resting is… a little novel."

"I confess that all this is strange to me, it’s the first time I’m away from the city but we need to take a chance after all we have a lot to do tomorrow."

"You mentioned that you were from Baldur’s Gate and I couldn’t ignore your abilities." She just got serious staring at him. "No need to look at me like that, what I mean is that I noticed that you are someone capable. Well I’m no place to rest yet, today has been a lot. I need some time to think things through to process this, you rest I’ll keep watch."

"If you say so, I’ll sleep quietly knowing there’s someone watching."

"The pleasure is all mine. Sweet dreams."

She walked away and Astarion kept his eyes on her, a single measure of her abilities made her alert, he was no idiot and knew that if he angered her, it could be his end tonight. Although it left him more intrigued by the minute, thinking he might have met her earlier wouldn’t make sense, but he still had that impression rooted in his mind... where he saw those eyes before? Her eyes are unique, the left eye sapphire blue and the right eye red this combination is not seen every day around.

He saw her talking to the other half-elf and then she returned to the tent, this matter occupied him for the rest of the night along with his hunger.

Well that’s it! Thank you for reading the first chapter.

@spacebarbarianweird @spacesquidlings@thechaoticdruid

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