theriverwrites

My hope for this year is to start sharing some of my short vignettes here, so before we begin, here is a very brief introduction to the characters you’ll meet along the way.

Tempest (she/her)

A half-elf storm sorcerer from the distant island of Evermeet. Her mother was an elven noble and her father a human adventurer, one of the few non-elves ever to have been permitted to visit this last stronghold of ancient elven culture.

Through fate and circumstance, and a tear in the Weave, Tempest ends up alone, washed ashore outside of Athkatla. With nothing but her newly-awakened storm magic, she chose a new name (no, she wasn’t named Tempest before), and built a life for herself as a smuggler, trader, and sorcerer-for-hire up and down the length of the Sword Coast. Until a certain job went wrong, and she ended up on board a mind-flayer vessel, crashing through the realms and landing in the wilderness of Faerun. There she meets other survivors of the wreck, including a dashing hero known as the Blade of Frontiers.

Tightly-wound, stoic and strategic, Tempest fears unleashing the full extent of her powers, and her emotions. Yet beneath the surface, anger and grief rage with the electricity in her veins.

Tempest came to me for my second play-through of Baldur’s Gate 3. She defied all my expectations and very much seemed to make her own choices – this was especially felt in the romance options where she fell head over heels for Wyll, despite my initial plans to romance Gale. She has a special place in my heart, and even though her run in BG3 is over, I will return to her story again and again (and yeah, probably replay her because I want to get her story right, you know?)

Alana (they/them)

Born into an elven alienage on the outskirts of Antiva City and orphaned at a young age, Alana’s story began in the same way as that of far too many elves across Thedas. After killing a human noble in self-defence, Alana was recruited by the Antivan Crows, and trained to be an assassin. Life in the Crows was hard – many who have been through the brutal training describe it as hell – but Alana took to it with enthusiasm, and the Crows became in some way the family they never had.

Ever impulsive, Alana wears their heart on their sleeve and they are guided by their emotions and deep compassion, which their training never managed to destroy. Instead, they honed it into a sharpened blade; a knife at the throat of corrupt oppressors everywhere. Viago de Riva, head of the House which Alana joined upon becoming a full Crow, is frequently exasperated by Alana’s impulsivity and refusal to follow orders, but over time he comes to realise that left to their own judgments, Alana is like no other Crow he has ever worked with.

Alana feels things deeply, their life has been scarred by pain and struggle, even their very identity a source of confusion and doubt. They mask this with sardonic humour, and a deep-seated need to help others with their problems, to be useful.

Alana is my current Dragon Age Veilguard character, and I’m still getting to know them. My hope is that by writing some scenes to fill in the gaps from the game, I’ll get to learn more about them.

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These two are the main characters I’ve written for, I expect there will be more over time, as I replay these amazing games and learn more about the worlds in which they’re set. I’m really just dabbling with this whole writing thing, so don’t expect much from me on here. But I care deeply for these two and anything I do share on here is done out of love.

[Obviously, I don’t “own” these characters or their worlds – Baldur’s Gate is Wizards of the Coast, Dragon Age is Bioware – but I’m not exactly trying to make profit off these so whatever]

#Writing #Fanfiction #BaldursGate3 #DragonAge #TheVeilguard #Tempest #Alana