Hello I love your bg3 content and your Dorian is so lovely! Can we get like an alternative reality with Dorian and Ascended Astarion? What would your headcannon be for them? 🙇
Neil: I do love the fact that I got to create kind of two characters in one.
Blue Owl Medic: I was just thinking that. Yeah, you did.
Neil: So now that the game has come out and the whole thing, we can talk a little bit more freely about the game. No real spoilers, folks, because obviously people are still playing through it, which is amazing, including me. But there is an ascended Astarion, which people probably know, as well as an unascended Astarion. I'm not going to go into details of why, although it is all over the internet, but anyway.
But one of the fun things that I got to do with the directors and the writer as well, with Stephen, and also the other writers that contributed towards Astarion, [is that they] wrote this ascended storyline. And so, when I came across that, I realized that 'Oh, his voice probably changes as well, because his whole status changes and his whole situation changes and his power changes.' So I got to do something else, because that would also be an easy way to switch between one and the other.
And so I decided that, well, I've always talked about Astarion being very theatrical. So what if Astarion's unascended spawn is theatrical, and ascended Astarion is operatic, and I use that as a sort of launchpad. So that one is theatre, one is opera. So the two are the same kind of things, but essentially… Do you know what I mean? It's like that kind of thing.
I offered that up to the directors and they really liked it. Kirsty Gilmore was the first person who I tried it with. I think it was Kirsty Gilmore, who is an amazing director. I'm pretty sure it was her session I did the first Lord Astarion and we set the tone there. And that was really cool.
BOM: And I don't know if that was your choice, but he also holds himself differently.
Neil: Yes, he does, he definitely holds himself differently.
BOM: He stands way more upright, his chest is a little more out
Neil: Yes, that's status. That's all Laban work. We're just using completely different status shift changes as well. So whereas he has a lot of flow and all that kind of stuff and it's theatrical and distracting--it's always 'look over here and don't see how I really feel' with spawn Astarion.
With Lord Astarion, we talked a lot about the idea that the cover is now off completely. So that you see him at his most terrible, and it's completely honest and he doesn't have to pretend anymore. So he loses a lot of the flamboyance and the fun of the theatricality, which is all a distraction anyway. That's all distraction so you don't see how he's hurt and damaged and his vulnerability. Lord Astarion doesn't need that anymore. So we just thought, okay, now *mimics taking off a mask* it's off. He doesn't need to pretend, he doesn't need to do too much. It's all about the status and that kind of stuff.
It was a really fun experience to take a character I've been doing for a long time and then flip it. And that was, again, brilliant writing by Larian, brilliant storytelling by them all and brilliant ideas. So yeah, it was really fun.
Summary: These are my random head canons about Ascended Astarion and his vampiric bride, Tav/Durge. What would it be like to actually spend eternity with him?
Warning: 18+, mention of sex.
After the ascension, Astarion is so overwhelmed with all his new abilities that he is a bit distant. (Think Lazslo Cravensworth in that one episode of WWDITS where he barely speaks for two weeks all because he’s trying to make a decision about how he is going to reorganize the library) This lasts for nearly a decade, but once Astarion adjusts to his new body, he is able to come back to himself.
Once you are Astarion’s spawn (bride), he no longer needs to mask when lovemaking. He knows you will never leave him. Your lovemaking goes through many 'phases', from being loving and tender to beastly and rough. But either way, he is raw with you, and only you.
Every night, without fail, your vampire curls up in your arms, holding you tightly as he drifts off into a dreamless sleep or reverie. He can’t fall asleep without being in your arms, or vice versa.
You, his most prized treasure, are far too vulnerable during your rest, and he insists on being as close to you as possible, with a dagger close by, of course. Over the years, he never relents. If you two are ever apart, which happens so rarely, maybe once a millenia, he spends the night sleepless and aching for you.
One of the first things he does once the tadpole is gone is hunt down Haarlep, if you made a deal with him. He wouldn’t allow his treasure to be violated and used any longer.
Astarion’s possessive love for you only grows as the years creep on.
Sometime during your third century of marriage, Astarion stabs the eyes out of (and allegedly kills) dozens of men and women who he deigned to have violated you (and thus, disrespected him) by looking at you lustfully. It takes two decades of you begging him to stop before he finally relents.
Ask me anything, and it will be yours. On his own time, of course, which you have so much of. You become a very patient vampire.
Astarion certainly values your life and his, but not others. You have to remind him, lest he lose his humanity completely. And you, as well, have to make sure you have a tight hold on your own humanity. You are a vampire, after all.
Watching your friends pass one by one is difficult, and Astarion supports you through it all, despite him not particularly caring about them himself. He cares about his consort, and he does everything to make you comfortable while you grieve. This is where your humanity starts to slip, when your friends are gone from your life for many years.
If you are able to reverie, you aren’t able to actually look through your memories because of your undeath. The years stretch on so long, you nearly forget how the story began at all. But you always have Astarion, and he does his best to help you both remember.
Astarion never takes another consort or another independent lover. The two of you enjoy threesomes and orgies occasionally, but Astarion prefers it to be just you and him. Astarion did particularly like to watch you get fucked by other men and women. But this changes sometime during your first century of marriage. Astarion demands to have his consort and only his consort in the bedroom. He ultimately doesn’t trust anyone else to be intimate with him. He doesn't want anyone else to touch him. You don’t protest the decision.
Astarion creates regular vampire spawn, more for utility than anything else. He always asks your permission.
After a thousand years, you and your Lord are inseparable. You are not to leave his sight.
He is very powerful, and has become a threat and a target. The two of you rarely speak aloud anymore as your mind connection is so strong that your minds are melded together. Your relationship is beyond spoken word. As Bride and Master, you are unsure where you begin and he ends.
Eternity is a very long time. Astarion agrees, but he never wants to die, and he certainly will never let you go.
In your old vampiric age, the two of you strike fear into every mortal you come across. You can't help it. You are both so hauntingly beautiful and pale, and your intense mind connection makes most mortals believe you to be...absent. Oh, how the sheep forget themselves.
Yet your need for blood is so small now. They needn't fear you, not really. You now only drink from Astarion, which gives you what you need. He loves it, being your life essence.
He doesn't let you drink too much, of course. During your fifth century of marriage, Astarion wants you to feed on him and only on him, as his contempt for others grows and his possessive love for you begins to cause him his own bout of madness.
This causes you to go mad, and Astarion is entirely distraught until you are healed. He spends an extravagant amount of money and a long time healing you.
With the last of your friends dead, you forget to view the mortals as anything but the puppets of your Master. The ways of the world as you knew it slip by you. There is a war, Astarion tells you, but you have no fear. You know he will protect you.
You often go into a vampiric hibernation as you sit on your throne during court. Astarion is still able to put on the mask, but you cannot. Astarion wishes you would try harder, but he also understands.
Even after so many years, Astarion’s body craves you. You are certain you are addicted to each other. You wonder if it is a result of your vampiric marriage.
He pleasures you every night, and you pleasure him; you cannot remember what sex was like before your undeath, but you know that nothing feels as good as when Astarion makes you come.
Halsin is the last of your old friends that you can remember, as he lives to be nearly a thousand. You do your best to remember his face, but it slowly starts to slip away from you.
You feel sad about these things, at times. Astarion cradles you, both your body and your mind, and tries to assure you of your gift. Eternity.
just thinking more about the Ascendent Lord being an ex-adventurer and that being the basis for his character, and the man literally could have been Lady Arabelle’s counterpart.
The character who sees his past decisions and beliefs as mistakes vs the woman who still believes in her ideals and principles. Both being right and wrong, and the Vestige being somewhere between them, having to decide how they feel about their own actions and choices and figuring out how to distinguish themself from both of them.
Neil: I didn't ever really improvise anything. I'd improvise how I'd say the line obviously, but I didn't improvise any words really for Astarion. There's hardly anything that I've changed, maybe like one thing, just because it didn't quite work. So largely all the script is as scripted. I did the lines as scripted.
But there was definitely a moment I think I tried to squeeze in muahahas and things like that. *laughs* Like what if I can get away with a cackling laugh that kind of sounds like a muahaha?
Oh, he has a new laugh, I didn't tell you that. Ascended Astarion has a new laugh. Do you want to hear it?
Blue Owl Medic: I feel like it's more true to the character.
Neil: But do you want to hear the actual Ascended Astarion's laugh? I don't know if you picked up on it on your playthrough.
BOM: Yes. No, I haven't actually gotten there.
Neil: I changed the laugh. So, the laugh with Unascended is *high-pitched giggling laugh*. It's all like high and lilting and trill and shrill sort of up and piercing. And then Lord Astarion is *laughs haughtily* Like that. So I dropped it. So he goes, "Oh dear. Well that's not very good, is it. *laughs*" It's all like down here. *points at throat* And low and short as well. So it was really like--it was fun. You'll see it. So there's a difference.
BOM: It's like a wealthy laugh.
Neil: It's a wealthy laugh. It's an of-means laugh.
BOM: Aristocratic, I see somebody say.
Neil: It's a better-than-you laugh. 'I have more money than you. *laughs*'
BOM: 'I have a palace. What do you have? A camp? Fuck you.'
Neil: 'I have a castle. *laughs* Don't you have one? Sorry, that's sad for you.' Yeah, like that.
Summary: More random hcs about our favorite vampire lord and his pretty consort. Particularly in their ancient years.
Here's the link to part 1
Pairing: Astarion x Female Tav
Warnings: 18+. Light smut. Astarion being very possessive of his treasure. Slightly dubious consent.
As Astarion’s dark consort, you are imbued with unimaginable gifts that only evolve and expand as you age into your vampiric strength. You are likely the second strongest vampire in existence by the time you and Astarion celebrate your second millennium together. Astarion is so proud of you, and he thinks your beauty only grows the longer you spend by his side and the more you embrace your vampiric nature.
Astarion loves your fangs, your red eyes, and your pale skin. You are a perfect reflection of him, and he loves seeing himself in you. Knowing that he created the most perfect creature is what drives much of his ego.
Sometimes, after your husband has made love to you, he will stand the two of you in front of a full body mirror just to admire the two of you. He is so proud to be able to see the reflection of you both. He believes it was all worth it, everything the two of you did to achieve this waking dream. But eternity is so long, my love.
As the ages pass by, Astarion ensures that you are fitted in the most fashionable and stylish clothes of the times. The same goes for his regular spawn, even if Astarion is a little bit disgusted by them. They are merely spawn, after all. Nothing special, unlike him and his sweet consort.
Astarion embroiders cheeky phrases into your underclothes, especially your panties. ‘If you’re seeing this, you will wish you were dead’ one of them reads. Not very creative, but Astarion is quite amused by it.
You have a soft spot for the spawn. Astarion isn't surprised by this, and he even understands it, but he doesn’t like it. The spawn remind him of the 'before times', that of which you are highly discouraged from ever acknowledging.
Astarion does not share his gifts with anyone but his darling, of course, so his spawn are afflicted with the same curses that Astarion once was. You think of them as beloved pets, and you pamper the spawn, to Astarion’s indignation and dismay.
But Astarion lets you. He’s annoyed that you’ve spoiled them, but at some point, he finds himself feeling a level of kinship with his bride and his other creations. Sometimes, seeing how you handle the spawn makes him fantasize about having a family with you. What if he just chooses the right spawn, maybe ones he and you could try to…love? The thought is lost on you both before it is even completed.
Astarion's love for you was a weakness, in the grand scheme of things. And he wouldn’t allow himself to have any more. You were his one virtue and his favorite vice.
Astarion has bouts of madness, especially during stressful times. He will make extreme decisions in these moments.
A memory that is nearly lost on you is brought back into view when Astarion sequesters you in a deep chamber in your palace. Once, he told you he wished to lock you in the boudoir and be in each other's arms for a decade. You nearly forget about it yourself, but Astarion remembers.
He frightens himself into the decision after an attack on the palace. The attackers had gotten so close to his bride: you were only a room away from the fighting. This sends Astarion into a panic.
You allow him a few days: just the two of you in bed. It’s even quite lovely, at first, being in Astarion’s arms as he makes passionate and desperate love to you.
But it quickly turns sour once you filter through the frantic web of his mind and find his true intentions. Astarion insists it’s for your own good. You are to stay in the boudoir until the war is over.
As an ancient, sheltered, pretty consort like yourself, you needn’t bother yourself with unpleasant feelings. Astarion gave you everything you wanted for so long. As you react to Astarion’s decision, he realizes he has entirely spoiled you.
You dare compare this decision of his to that of which his old master would make.
Astarion reminds you how good you have it by forcing you to drink his blood as he fucks you senseless on silken sheets and a feather mattress. Astarion keeps you in the boudoir for some time. He comes and goes as he pleases, alternating between fucking you, biting you, and feeding you.
But Astarion succumbs to your begging once you finally break down and start to sob. Astarion hasn’t seen you cry in so long, he had forgotten what it looked like. But what he feels is so deeply uncomfortable, even disturbing to him, that he must fix his mistake and do what makes his consort happy. He can’t take it. He can’t stand seeing you anything but content.
You gave him everything, and he will return the favor. And now, you two are forever bound, connected in body and blood.