Still obsessed with this image of Vin'ath bringing their glam-yanki energy to the Underdark.

I'm curious about how other githyanki Tav/Durge players rationalise Voss almost completely ignoring the PC in favour of Lae'zel when he visits camp. It's so funny to me, but also comes with a huge amount of characterisation/backstory potential?? Almost everything else in Act 1 is SUPER reactive to a githyanki PC (a lot of the crèche dialogue is different, right down to the most minor one-line NPCs), which makes it stand out even more. Even this conversation is quite reactive, with plenty of origin-specific lines - almost all of which Voss passes over to continue focusing on Lae'zel.

Sticking the rest of this behind a readmore because it's longer/mostly just me yakking about headcanons re: my own PC and Voss (+ some images):

Live reaction shot of Vin'ath after Voss names Lae'zel "Sister in Freedom" and says the two of them - just the two of them! - will be their people's light:

♫ hello darkness my old friend ♫

Voss’ dismissal of Vin actually fits right in with the backstory I gave them - they fell out of the crèche system as a teenager after their capture + rescue by a fellow outsider from a society deemed "evil" by DnD rules + accidental partial cult deprogramming. That means they're 1. already on board the "fuck Vlaakith" train (though they'd never have dared to so much as fantasise about taking the fight to her - their childhood trauma is the one exception to their "run after it and whack it as hard as you can" approach to problems) and 2. in a complicated insider-outsider position with regards to githyanki society. Voss seems to see Lae'zel as a protégée - I think she reminds him of himself when he was young, and also of other highly talented/dedicated warriors who've served under him. Compared to her, Vin's just a bunch of confusing mixed social signals and ??? motives.

Vin'ath pretends they couldn't care less about this - Lae'zel's the one who can't stop talking about silver swords and red dragons! They let go of that desperate craving for a superior officer's approval a long time ago! - but they are

I think they (unwisely) end up confronting him about what he thinks of them at some point in Baldur's Gate. Voss gives them a devastating "I don't think about you at all" kind of response, but he is ALSO

because given what he wants to do, I think he'd be unwillingly intrigued by a very-young-from-his-perspective githyanki who's already thrown off the shackles of Vlaakith's rule/the crèche system (to some degree - more on that later!) The fact that they did it by accident, moreover, has to be borderline infuriating.

This is the point where I admit I haven't had enough uninterrupted playtime to get far with Act 3 yet (I have spoiled myself extensively via youtube videos, though), so I don't know how the scene where Voss gifts the silver sword goes for a githyanki Tav. If it's similar to the non-githyanki scene and Voss passes over them AGAIN to give the sword to Lae'zel, I'm going to howl with laughter. And Vin's going to have that long-awaited breakdown not react at ALL and be FINE because they DON'T CARE. They DON'T CARE AT ALL that this celebrated hero of their people they grew up hearing stories about is standing right there not recognising their efforts. Kith'rak WHO???? He's not even that cool in person and they are DEFINITELY not flashing back to the starry-eyed adolescent crush they had on him. Shuuuut uuuuup.

I also love that the two githyanki-specific options at the beginning of that conversation ("I will be speaking on my kin's behalf, Kith'rak" vs. "I will be speaking on her behalf, gith") elicit the exact same response?? #1 feels like an appropriate level of formality for someone whose title translates to "Supreme Knight/Commander" while #2 sounds like it's going beyond "way too informal" into "outright offensive", but Voss doesn't seem to care either way. I'm genuinely not sure if this is an oversight or a deliberate bit of worldbuilding/characterisation. Githyanki culture seems to have a hard-to-navigate Goldilocks zone of How To Talk To Your Superiors - too submissive/yielding and they'll get angry, too bold/disrespectful and they'll... get angry. (Walking that line was not easy for Vin'ath as a child, I think.) Lae'zel has a line about how "conflict strengthens social bonds" after her confrontation with Shadowheart that probably sheds some light on this. Voss does n o t like the casual way she addresses him at first, but he appreciates it if you posture back at him and gets annoyed if you just roll over. (In general, he treats a gith PC very differently to Lae'zel - Lae got called "child", Vin got called "githyanki", "kin", and "vin'iisk". I suppose he picks you out as the group leader if you speak up!)

...of course, all of this is complicated by the fact that Voss is kiiiiinda doing a bit. It's hard to say how much of his dialogue is unfiltered and how much is just him putting on a show for the sake of looking like the most unimpeachable Vlaakith loyalist. I still think it offers some fun insight into appropriate githyanki social interactions, though!

I was messing around with old BG3 saves and reloaded the mountain pass bit with Voss&co so I could get Vin'ath to do the talking instead of Lae'zel (they tend to let Lae speak when they're dealing with other githyanki, though they did take over when Voss showed up at camp). Gith2gith social interactions are always fun, but everything about this scene is extra hilarious to me. The way their expression screams "please say something please take this one Lae'zel please don't make me do it help me", but also... their complete lack of a poker face when discussing the artefact.

Vin: Gotta convince him I'm a Vlaakith loyalist. Gotta pretend I have no idea what he's on about when he says he and his squad are searching for something. Gotta be the closedest of closed books.

Vin: NAILED IT.

(Shadowheart in the background with an actual semi-decent poker face makes this even funnier.)

Watching him fly away like - this is fine, task failed successfully.

Bonus: Vin getting what they think is earnest praise from a legendary knight who believes them to be a good little follower of Vlaakith. No, they don't have unresolved commanding officer issues. Why would you think that?!

don’t talk to me or my son ever again

Howling as I go through my Last Light Inn screenshots because of the difference between Vin looking at Mol:

Baby.

vs. Vin looking at Raphael:

E V I L

important

Karlach and Vin'ath’s official ship smushname is Karvin' and I think that’s beautiful.

Nobody told me new Karlach kiss animations dropped, so when I loaded up BG3 to mess around with older saves, I got taken out by THIS (yes, they are smooching in Art Cullagh’s sickroom full of mercenaries while Wyll and Shadowheart look on/smile appreciatively, what of it):

THE HAND???? ON THE CHEEK???? THE HAND???? ON THE WRIST???? THE SOPPY SMILES???? (Karlach’s was just as bad, if not WORSE)

Vinnnn you’re not allowed to smile like that. I might fall in love with you too. ;o;

…and then they went in for the finisher: FOREHEAD TOUCH FOREHEAD TOUCH FOREHEAD TOUCH. Larian knows what the people want.

Vin'ath: We'll have to make the inevitable evitable, then.

Karlach: You read my mind.

They share a single wavelength (and a single brain cell)

4 and 14 for vin'ath!!!

Thank you!

4: If your Tav was a companion, where would they be found?

Alone in the wilderness, as far away from major settlements as they can get. People don't always react well to them and they've only had one close relationship post-crèche (that did not end well), so they've become a pretty committed loner - sometimes they team up with other roving adventurers as a paladin-for-hire when a job comes up that can't be done solo, but those are just brief arrangements of convenience. The crèche they grew up in was on a small peninsula that would get cut off from the mainland at high tide, which may be why they developed such a fondness for the sea and water in general. If there's a decently-defensible beach nearby with good cover, you'll probably find them there!

14: What hobbies does your Tav have?

Vin is very bad at having hobbies. They think things like weapons practice and training to hone their psionic abilities qualify as relaxation (it counts as downtime as long as you're not actually fighting anyone for real, right?) Despite their best efforts, though, they do have some:

They love swimming - playing in the water is about the only time they feel able to let go and be silly, though not usually in front of other people. They've got a deep love for and curiosity about the world in general, so they enjoy wandering around exploring even when they're not on a mission (and they climb a lot for fun as well as for work - difficult rock walls are interesting puzzles to them). Stargazing is something else they do a lot of, though it makes them feel sad and wistful more than anything else. Finally, they enjoy watching theatre/performance despite having close to zero bardic aptitude of their own! So much of what they learned about the non-githyanki world in that first bewildering year post-crèche came from literature/music/drama (which unfortunately meant a fair amount of it was inaccurate... oops). They don't get to see many plays due to the whole "determined avoider of people" thing, but when the chance does come up, they'll jump on it.

Dream Visitor: Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not your fault the world is wicked. You did the right thing.

Vin'ath’s guardian - who only has their best interests at heart! - comforting them in a way that is definitely 100% sincere and not at all calculated to appeal to their paladin nature. Really.

What if we took Karlach to the Astral Plane to slow/stall the deterioration of her heart, though???

I knoooow it wouldn't work according to lore, but imagine if it did. Time doesn't pass/passes very strangely in the Astral, and it's probably pretty cold to boot... IMAGINE. I feel like Vin'ath has definitely earned the right to put in an Astral Visa Application on behalf of their girlfriend, and Lae'zel also has a massive crush on Karlach/respects her fighting prowess (same difference!) They could make it happen! (The rest of the party would be welcome to come along too, although I don't know who would take them up on it - Wyll if he got invested in taking the fight to Vlaakith For The People or ended up in a throuple with them? Gale out of sheer curiosity?)

...I also think Karlach would hate the Astral Plane (she might enjoy it at first due to the novelty, but then...), which adds in a hefty dose of angst and conflict. You love to see it. Aaaahhh I wish this were an actual possibility.

star child, stargazing

Vin'ath giving Youth Varrl of Crèche Y'llek life advice like

hate to see you go, love to watch you leave

When you try to screenshot a cute kiss, but hit F12 a few frames too late.