Rivereverie - Ranting To The Void

An exhaustive list of everything wrong with Wyll:

He likes clowns

Nothing else

He was mean to Astarion a few times but we can forgive him for that

I love the clip where Neil Newbon talks about how he wanted to make Astarion's laugh kind of abrasive or off-putting... because little does he know that just made him more endearing. Oops.

I do wonder how much he remembers about his schooling. Like if something happened that triggered his memory, would be start spouting off random legalese?

Do plushies count as fanart? Anyway I made a replica of the puppy plushie from Violet Evergarden.

Some people really play the whole game, experience Astarion's storyline in full, yet don't understand or respect that he doesn’t want to be treated as a sex object. 

The 7000 Spawn Conundrum .

Had a reply to a reply in regards to how nobody is talking about the consequences of releasing 7000 spawn into the Underdark.

So lets start a pot! rummage rummage rummage Ah! The Emperor's 7 Treasures it is! Black and green tea with rose and sunflower petals. Not sure why its called seven when there are only four things in it but, oh well what the hell.

"To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them."

William Shakespeare

That is the question, isn't it. To be the one who releases 7000 spawn into the Underdark and let them live, or not to be the one who releases 7000 spawn into the Underdark and destroy them.

WARNING: Game Spoilers, Topics of sex, Abuse, Murder, Torture and Adult themes and language. Not underage appropriate.

This is not fact. Just opinion based off my own and game experience. As always, how anybody cannon their relationships or behaviors is perfectly right! No blame, no shame, it's your game!

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And welcome to another round of difficult choices. How anybody decided this is through their own lens and filter and neither right nor wrong in their choosing.

Here is why I was ok with the decision to let them go.

Lets be honest about the dark impulses of humanity. You could release seven thousand humans and get the same outcome. No they are not biting people, well..some might be, but the "how" of how someone choses to unalive someone else is a moot point. The outcome is the same. Those aligned with destructive violence will choose destructive violence. You need only look out into our own world to see that truth.

So, you have 7000 vampire spawn on your hands. Do you kill them all out of fear for what a few might do? Or do you allow them to make their own choices and let fate decide?

For me, the issue with destroying the spawn was you are also destroying the ones who would not chose a life of evil intention. You are taking away their chance to make a life because their neighbor might be bad.

I have always hated the punish the whole for the act of the one mindset. I've been on the receiving end of that more than once and It is absolute equine grass byproduct.

Sebastion was a good example of this. He had been down there for 170 years and still had control of his mind. His first concern wasn't blood, but that his family and friends were gone.

"My family-my friends-they're gone.."

He wasn't "mad" or craven. He wasn't snapping and rattling the bars of the cage like a feral animal to get to rip out anybody's throat. What he was was angry, tired and hopeless. And rightfully so. The fact that he could hold a cognitive conversation was key to me. They did not present as mindless beasts, they were just people suffering.

"I just know I don't want to die down here, please. I just want to breath free air one last time."

Now, I'm sure there were a few in there feral, but I don't think it was possible to open one door at a time and sort them all out. Opening the flood gates was the only option. So again, its a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

But there were a few hints as to if it was a good choice or not.

First, Astarion is unhappy about the decision when you talk to him about it the next day. He laments that they should have been given a chance to make the choice just as he had.

"But he called them feral and said they could cause incredible carnage. Why would he suddenly care? "

Because, deep down, he didn't actually believe that. Not for all of them anyway. Honestly given his ability to talk himself into things, he was absolutely creating justifications to make sacrificing them easier to bare if he went thought with the ritual.

"Better they serve a purpose."

Hard to feel ok about killing something you consider sentient vs an mindless dangerous animal. And at that time, he was terrified of them. Imagine being surrounded by all the people you had ever wronged. How would you feel about it?

Second: When you find the children again, Gandrel (if you let him live in the swamp) and Kass thank you for letting them live.

This the most fucked up part of this whole situation. Those littles are now forever stuck at whatever age they are. Kass seems to have accepted it but Chessa is still battling her reality. But, as they age "mentally" they can eventually make a decision about if they wish to live as the are or leave for the astral plane.

"I did not expect you to free us. But I am grateful. Thank you for your mercy..Thank you for everything."

Third, the epilogue. Through the letters you learn that the children are doing well with the use of animal blood and medicine to help them overcome their cravings. And the city of spawn are also doing well and are grateful to have the choice to walk their own paths.

These are all read a positive outcomes to this difficult choice. The spawn are free to chose and build their own lives regardless of how any one else thinks they should live it. If they want to live, they live. If they want to die, they die. If they want to be monsters, they live as one. Etc ect. No choice is free of consequence. Even "good" ones.

"Pretty to think that is possible. But how would you feed thousands of vampires in a city?"

Not all seven thousand spawn made it. So how many are collected there is unknow. Over time a herd of Deep Rothe' can be shepherded and raised as blood animals. Like a Dairy farm but blood instead of milk. The larger the heard the more blood that could be produced over time.

Yes, I know, It's not vegan friendly but they are vampires loves. There is no plant option here.

The meat and products made from them could be sold to the surface. They could also establish trade agreements with the city butchers. A bit of gold for blood that would otherwise be dumped into the rivers and septic systems.

And we all know, given our fandom nature, there is no shortage of people who would get in line to be "pome de sang's" either.

Yes, I'm looking at all you kinky little juice boxes. You know who you are. I’m kidding of course. That would require alot of scrolls or a lot of clerics.

Anyway, feeding them would, in time, be sorted out in a way that is sustainable.

Also, they would not be adding to the population at an exponential rate. They are all spawn so they can't make more vampires. It wouldn't be everybody mating and birthing 100 or more new babies a year either. I know Dhampir's are suggested, but the occurrences would be rare.

Would there be pockets of corruption and gangs of violent ideals? Sure, those happen in any society. But as Leader of the city Astarion states they are delt with. Just like wolf packs, if you are putting the success and survival of the pack in danger with your bullshit behaviors your going to get removed from the pack.

"Ok, that's all well and good but what about the Underdark?"

Im sure there was an impact on the Underdark after the wave hit, but if you recall there are a plethora of gargantuan baddies down there and those spawn have not been training for months to battle them.

And you could warn the Myconids through the spores to be on the defense should they reach them. A couple well placed timmask spores and bibberbangs and the problem is solved. Ha ah! Booom!

The Duergar can fend for themselves as well as they are known to have impenetrable fortresses.

Any that make it to the City to cause problems will be handled by the vast amount of adventurers and hero's running around.

Honestly, if you are gong to loose a legion of vampires anywhere the Underdark would be the least impacted.

The point is there are pro's and cons to every decision. Peace and violence in every ecosystem.

Pick your hard.

And again, however one chose is right for how they viewed the situation within their universe.

Now, if you will excuse me, I'm late for the book club.

[From the game's datamined dialogues]

Astarion says those lines when he helps your fallen character in battle (romanced and/or friend depending on the lines).

He may be half-joking here, or maybe not at all, but in any case, I find it interesting that he already calls himself a hero and saviour (even ironically) when he helps you. And it made me think a lot. (And maybe I'm overthinking all this but eh... the brain-rot is real).

Because, beyond the possible irony of those "hero/saviour” labels, it says something about the image he has of himself while your adventures unfolds.

During the Tieflings' party, he's quite loud about not enjoying being a hero. He wasn't particularly fond of the idea of saving the Grove in the first place anyway.

Same with the Gnomes in the forge, saving them isn't his priority, to say the least.

After all, why would he play the hero when no one, in 200 years, has ever even tried to save him. Neither heroes, nor gods.

So I was thinking about how Astarion came to realise that not only you care about him, but that he too cares enough about you to want to help/save you.

Does you adventures together slowly make him understand that he can save you, as much as you can save him?

After all, quite early in Act 1, you can tell him that you agree to watch each other's back.

And he approves.

I want to believe that this "deal" is the first step toward his acknowledgement: he can protect and get some protection. It starts as a kind of transaction, but gradually, it's not about mutual benefice anymore. After a while, he wants to help/protect, as much as you want to help/protect him, as friend or a lover.

And of course, it paves the way to the epilogue (spawn Astarion, not romanced). 

And it's beautiful.

He made it all the way from resenting heroes for not saving him, to becoming a hero himself - the kind of hero he decides to be.

And I am wondering... the fact that he can protect you, did it affect his own self-esteem? making him realise his own worth? As a fighter, but also as friend or a lover, as someone one can rely on...

Did it make him realise that he too can become his own hero, his own saviour?

That without Cazador's power over his body, he has everything in him to save himself?

Delicious in Baldur’s Gate

Nyachooh

okay wait I saw a comment on the patch 8 animation pointing out the knockoff Sleep Token poster in Astarion's room WHAT

people say it's a nod to all the Sleep Token edits he gets

Rolan is one of those characters who is so insufferable it loops back around to being endearing. I love him.