#basically vesta's a bard... sorceror?

[mimirjoo]

 Fuck it, Phantom of the Opera!AU feat. my ocs.

Some lore: - The Soldier (Ishmael) was a farmer, but repeated droughts dried up his land and his fortunes. His mother was a sick, frail thing, so to provide for her and his father he signed up for the army, thinking of returning after a year to a house with a roof that didn’t leak, plenty of food at the table, and his mother rosy-cheeked and bright-eyed again. But the war dragged on, and after five years he returned to an empty house, a pair of gravestones, and the money he was sending home nowhere to be seen. All that time living in the trenches earned him one wad of cash, a torn photograph of ghosts he once knew, a battered army jacket, and nightmares in his head. With no where else to go, he left for the Citadel, where an old friend promised him room and board for cheap and a job at the opera house. So he picked up his briefcase and beat-up guitar and hitched the next train to the Walled City itself, where his fortunes would take a strange turn.

- Ishmael was mostly a quiet man, friendly and gentle, but quiet. He liked the job enough, working as the janitor/stage hand/maintenance man to put his hands to work again. It also afforded him time alone, sweeping and fixing and tinkering. And when he was alone, he liked to sing. Marvelous voice he had, the deep notes vibrating through the halls and the rafters. Smooth like thunder, a fellow soldier of his once said after he picked up his guitar and sang a song of home in a nameless tavern in a forgotten town. But like something that came from six feet under. And little did he know, deep below the opera house, someone listened as his voice was carried through stone and over water.

- The Phantom (Vesta) hid away from the world, haunting the cisterns and chambers beneath the opera house. There, she could conduct her arcane sciences in peace, far from the prying eyes of the public. Beneath the notice of the Magisterium, the Inquisitors, and the College. As if being born at the borderlands wasn’t unfortunate enough, her bloodline was cursed with strange, wild magic running through their veins. People had been taught to fear magic unbound by Thaumaturgical Law, and thus they feared her and her sister, even when she was a little waif who wouldn’t hurt a dog that snarled at her on the street. And with Magisterium rallying that fear turned to hate, and that hate produced a bomb. It took her arm and her sister’s life. So she turned her back on the world in return, drifting from place to place, hiding in the shadows and learning her wild magics in secret. She listened close to the sound of magic, and began to sing in Tongues. Her scarred appearance masked a sharp, quick mind, and a dark hunger which grew. 

- As for how she got to the opera house, it involved a glory-stealing professor, a ratty, eager-to please concierge, some stolen jewels, a lasso, a ransom, and a bribe. And some dark magic. At least that’s how Mme. Guillermo, the concierge, tells it. 

- When she heard a voice from above while navigating the cisterns below, a voice deep and resonant, she stopped and listened. For the voice hummed with something latent, a slumbering magic. Untapped potential. She had to find its source, and after a bit of investigation she found it coming from a man sweeping the stage after the doors had shut for the night, using his broom as a makeshift microphone. The new maintenance man, Mme. Guillermo told her. Looks like someone’s going to be paid a visit by the Phantom.

Extra notes below the cut.

- Vesta and Ishmael are my ocs for a separate project, and I liked their designs and dynamic well enough to plop them into this au. But what once was a fun little diversion turned into someone more complex, and now their selves here can be considered... different... characters...

- Ishmael is closest to his canon characterization, except he’s less sneaky and enigmatic here. Less of a funky bastard (affectionate).

- Vesta is far more different from her version in my personal project (she’s actually the villain there). However, an important carried-over trait she has here is that she wants relationships that are reciprocated, so no, she won’t be forcing anyone to stay with her. She also dislikes relationships based on falsehoods from personal experience.

- The au is inspired a bit by Dishonored (which I have not played). Might add a bit of Spanish Colonial Era Philippines, if I’m up to it. 

- There isn’t a Raoul in this au (if there is a character who’s the closest thing to a Raoul they’re probably long dead anyways). The relationship between the Soldier and the Phantom can go on unimpeded by that, oho.

- I’m planning to do an Equivalent Exchange type of magic system (Fullmetal Alchemist was part of my childhood) here for the Thaumaturgical Law. Basically, the Thaumaturgical Law is structured magic, controlled through careful ritual and runes. Wild magic, found in nature, is more chaotic and unpredictable. Mishandling can lead to... unappealing results. Magical shockwaves. Zones devoid of life. Plants growing out of people. Still figuring out wild magic’s uses. 

- Vesta’s prosthetic arm (which is actually unique to this au, it’s not in the personal project canon) is powered by magical means. Thaumaturgic magic in the medical field is new, but it’s important to know that it’s difficult to use on people like her with innate magic. There could be a reaction (uhhh... something like a magic immune reaction or something, like a transplant rejection), so the treatment has to be very, very carefully tailored to the person with innate magic. This is why she won’t change her eye color (it’s a trait of her specific... ethnic group? Bloodline?) which marks her as someone with innate magic. She’s already lost one eye, she’s not taking a risk at damaging the other.

- Speaking of Equivalent Exchange, what exactly did Vesta sacrifice to get her arm to become fully functional, hm? 

- On a lighter note, Ishmael’s love language is sharing his food. He eventually offers Vesta half of his deli sandwich, because love is stored in the sandwich.

- Vesta’s love language is going on and on about her interests. She enjoys teaching more than she thought she would. Voice lessons, anyone?

- I imagine Ishmael eventually being offered a room to stay at the opera house by the Phantom after the rent gets too worrying. She pulls some strings and gets him a comfy place. Congrats! You now have a neighbor other than Mme. Guillermo, Vesta.

- Why is the Phantom so dramatic in trying to charm Ishmael? It’s because she likes pulp fiction. (She gets books from the opera library, the lost-and-found, or from Mme. Guillermo. Mme. Guillermo brings her the latest book catalogue, she marks down ones she likes, sends her off with some cash, and gets her books dropped off at Box No. 5.) Cut her some slack, she’s making do with the knowledge she has.

- Box No. 5. is hers, no one else will sit in her seat.

- Oh, and she still extorts money from the superstitious owners of the opera house. Having a reputation as a vengeful ghost who can cause chandeliers to fall on unsuspecting victims has its perks.

- I might split Christine’s role into two; the bass who becomes the Phantom’s muse and the scrappy ballerina-in-training who gets stuck below the opera house on a dare to find the opera ghost. It’s basically the “what’s with this sassy... lost child” meme between her and the Phantom, and the Phantom has to show her the way out while staying hidden. The Phantom ends up unintentionally adopting her. (I have done it, everyone! I’ve milf-ified the Phantom!)

#the phantom of the opera #my ocs #my art #the phantom and the soldier au #vesta #ishmael #my writing #basically vesta's a bard... sorceror? #I'm new to DnD cut me some slack #might do more with this #might even suggest to add it to the campaign #...if i played a campaign. we ain't got a dm. #indulging my love of deep voices