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commanderjuni · 7 months

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[OUTDATED]🦋SRABBA TALK | PERSONAL STORY AND LWS1

SOOOO guess who just finished living world season ONE today? that's right. this guy. first and foremost I LOVED IT? i played through it before but sorta blew through everything, but actually taking time to experience the story was very fun

and now, the even funner part... writing about what srabba was up to during it all! i'll be doing this for each part of gw2's story for fun, and to articulate my thoughts about it!

⚠️ MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PERSONAL STORY (1-80) AND LIVING WORLD SEASON ONE BELOW THE CUT

Beginning with the personal story, Srabba actually has no involvement with the war and eventual death of Zhaitan.

Srabba is only 13 when the events of personal story take place, and thus she has no real place to be at on the battle-field. However, she kept tabs on the new research and theories springing up as more was uncovered about the elder dragon of death.

While she was doing pre-college studies in Metrica Province, Srabba kept up to date on the situation mainly through research papers, news articles and word of mouth. Zhaitan wasn't exactly a quiet affair, so there was plenty of hubbub about the dragon and the three orders— the Vigil, Priory, and Order of Whispers— coming together (for once) to take down the dragon.

The breakthroughs during this time: the confirmation of one Professor Gorr's theory— the dragons consume magic, thereby taking it out of Tyria and growing stronger in doing so— has monumental affirmations and implications, and Srabba finds herself more and more fascinated in the topic.

Because of this, she sort of... nudges her other projects aside. Chaos magic can be put on hold, she'll keep her hearing aid development on the back-burner— this, this dragon research... It was incredible, and Srabba was eager to know more.

Thus, Srabba decided that after turning 14 and enrolling in the college of Dynamics (after proving herself with a clever invention called the Transatmospheric converter— a blend of asura intellect, mesmer chaos magic, and elemental magic), she'd make a name for herself in becoming an expert in dragon magic. Alongside chaos magic, of course. You can be a genius in two things, after all.

Srabba's choice in enrolling in Dynamics was a success in keeping aligned with her goals. Statics only focused on what they already had, and Synergetics... bleh. Too theoretical and philosophical for her tastes. Dynamics got things done in new and innovative ways, and Srabba made a name for herself in her class with her bright, cutting-edge ideas. She was regarded positively by her professors, albiet some of her peers found her a bit... egotistical... and some of her professors found her a bit too smart.

Nonetheless, Srabba was thriving in college.

And then... Scarlet happened.

First it was Dragon Bash. Then it was the Queen's Jubilee. Then it was the wretched tower in Kessex Hills. It didn't take long for word to travel back to the asura side of Tyria, and Srabba once again found her putting her projects aside for a new interest: Scarlet Briar.

Now, Srabba could care less about Scarlet as a person. As far as Srabba cared, she was a crazed Sylvari who liked explosions and bombs a little too much. It was her machines— her alchemy and magitech and gizmos galore— that Srabba really cared about. Srabba found Scarlet to be a genius, and she needed to study some of this genius' work.

Thus, Srabba sort of... Oh.. Y'know... Snuck out under everyone's noses and onto one of the sites of Scarlet's latest monstrosity: the Clockwork Marionette. She wasn't there for the fight, personally, but was found by Logan Thackeray snooping around in debris and fancy shiny bits and rubble. Not only did he have one nosy progeny to deal with, but now two nosy progeny.

Srabba and Taimi had no prior interactions, and as far as they knew before this moment, the other didn't exist. However... If it meant annoying some dumb human...

And with that, a beautiful friendship was born.

Upon being dragged back to Lion's Arch to be sent away to Rata Sum upon a guardian taking ownership of them, Srabba and Taimi got to actually chatting, and found they both had quite a lot in common.

One, they were both orphans. Two, they both were disabled and hated getting pitying looks because of it. Three, they were both brilliant prodigy progeny, and hated even more when people doubted them for their age. And four, they both were fixated with Scarlet and her work.

... As far as Srabba figured, though, Taimi was more curious about Scarlet as a person, and the two had plenty of slight bickering about who knew the most about her or was going about thinking about her the right way— much to everyone else's dismay.

It is around this point Srabba begins to become not the leader, but a facet in the budding new guild, composed of Marjory Delequa, Kasmeer Meade, Braham Eirsson, and Rox— Oh! And Frostbite, too.

In canon, the Commander eventually brings everybody together, but fate somehow managed to gather all of them in one place, and it didn't take the group long to bond.

They have two brawn, two investigators, and now two brain. A perfect even number!

... Odd, if you count Frostbite, though. But Srabba doesn't like odd numbers, so it's an even number now. Hmph.

However, the guild doesn't have time to frolic around. Scarlet clearly is planning something, and the group is determined to figure out what. Srabba manages to participate in some evidence scouring with an asura by the name of Vorpp, and Kasmeer and Majory. To everyone's horror, they all put together that Scarlet isn't just planning something big, she's planning to strike Lion's Arch, and she's about to strike it hard.

Scarlet soon unleashes her greatest atrocity on Lion's Arch: an all out catastrophic attack.

Lion's Arch is gunned, bombed, and a thick miasma soon takes over and claims anyone who is exposed to it for too long. All forms of terrible enemies— Flame Legion, Inquest, Aetherblade pirates, Krait, Dredge, and Nightmare Court— lay siege to Lion's Arch and kill anyone who doesn't escape or tries to stand in their or their leader, Scarlet Briar's, way.

The attack reaches Srabba— who away tending to her studies and research— and the news mortifies her. Although she's dealing with college and papers and exams and her own mini research projects, she feels a strong calling to head out and help.

She has a rendezvous with Taimi at one of the refugee/rally camps nearby the Vigil headquarters, and to see all the damage up close... Survivors recounting the horrors and losses, resources spread thin, people dying with little hope to save them... It takes Srabba out of her comfortable bubble of research and onto the field, and the sight not only horrifies her, but it sparks something in her usually cold heart— forget all about studying Scarlet; the only thing Srabba wants to study is a way to put that wretched sylvari down for good.

However, the rest of the group makes an effort to keep Srabba out and away from danger— they don't want to bring anyone else in to the battle, where the probability of death for a 14 year old with only three years of magical experience and little to no combative experience... Eh, it's better if one doesn't say the exact numbers. (NOTE: They aren't high.)

This enrages Srabba, but despite her anger she knows they aren't exactly wrong.

After Scarlet is slain, something... Happens.

Srabba was in the midst of studying artificing when even she heard a wretched noise— it was a loud, rumbling sound on par with a growl, or a howl, or a roar.

It didn't take long until Taimi urgently contacted her via digitized mail, and despite initial suspicions, Srabba came to the same conclusion as Taimi: that was the roar of a dragon.

Srabba didn't take long puzzling why the roar happened in the first place. Scarlet had descended upon Lion's Arch with some horrible platformed drill that struck into Lion's Arch's sea. Previous discoveries unveiled that Scarlet had been toying and pin-pointing and probing for ley-lines, and Lion's Arch had been the main target on her maps.

Synergetic research dictates that all of Tyria is loaded with ley-lines: rivers and streams of (usually) invisible magic. Wherever magic travels, it travels along ley-lines that dot Tyria's entire expanse. Scarlet Briar had dug up a ley-line, and made a racket so loud it may have drawn the attention of a dragon.

Srabba had plenty of papers to back it up, but not even she wanted to believe it. She knew Zhatian— with it's risen minions and death magic— was bad enough, but what Scarlet could have woken up... It could be much, much worse. What was worse was that Srabba couldn't figure out which dragon Scarlet's infernal drill had woken up, and this put her on edge... Thankfully, her newfound friends could try and soothe those nerves after calling everyone to the Dead End Bar for some food, drink, and light celebration in taking Scarlet down.

However... Srabba knows something lurks on the horizon.. Something bad.

To be continued...

#guild wars 2 #gw2 #writing #mesmer srabba #gw2 asura #gw2 mesmer #gw2 living world season 1 spoilers #gw2 personal story spoilers #gw2 spoilers #gw2 fan submission

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commanderjuni · 7 months

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[ OUTDATED ]🦋CHARACTER TALK | MESMER SRABBA

ok to anyone who knew laff for like. upwards of just a few days. IGNORE HER. HER NAME IS BENCHED FOR NOW. in her place i'd love to introduce.... drum roll please.....

MESMER SRABBA! (or well. personal story through living world season 2 srabba anyways)

as i mentioned in a previous few posts, srabba actually was an older character that has the prestige of being my FIRST toon i levelled, pain stakingly, bowls of apple sauce and crafting balls of bread dough and all, from level 1 to level 80. i remember trying to spec virtuoso on her, but for whatever reason not even i know i must've gotten fed up and deleted her

over time i was a little upset about that choice so i tried. MANY MANY MANY TIMES to remake srabba. she's been through

being made an inquest lab rat (failed)

being made a thief (not really a fail but she sure aint one now)

being made a thief. again. (i wanted a pink spectre. didn't work out.)

positive i made her a necromancer at least ONCE.

being made a ranger? i think?

and many few other attempts. but by some declaration of fate, srabba is back and here to stay as my mesmer and fated commander.

however, since i'm going through story in chronological order and haven't gotten past living world season 4, she very much so has some growing to do! (literally, kinda)

i've also picked and tossed a few things about laff out as to give myself some more creative freedom with srabba: i've realized recently i have this weird habit of constricting myself and forcing myself to go with the same idea, but for now i think it'd be better for me to just. do whatever! improv! toss things in and fish things out!

I'm mostly pulling elements from Laff's story, since she's kinda being repurposed into Srabba! Thus don't mind any parallels yaknow /lh

aaannnyway....

MAJOR RAMBLE BELOW THE CUT!! no spoilers whatsoever, but it's gonna be a long post x)

Srabba, during Personal Story, is about 13 years old. Like most asura her age, she is smart, crafty, and markedly intelligent. Before applying to the College of Dynamics in LWS1, Srabba is a ward of the Progeny Protective Service.

Her parents perished in the infamous Thaumanova Reactor meltdown when she was only four years old; Srabba only escaped after they had to yell and urge her to run away to safety with the masses fleeing to escape, which she did, and it is still something plaguing her to this very day.

Srabba not only faces the challenge of lacking a direct guardian to care for her, but also has to navigate the difficulties of being hard of hearing in a society that revolves around discussing and debating scientific theorems and gizmos… Which isn't exactly easy to do when you can't hear much below normal talking- and all the background noise: the buzzing and humming and clinking of asuran society- it makes it even harder to understand what someone is saying to her.

Srabba relies mostly on lip-reading and making educated guesses to understand what others are saying to her. Although she had experimented with hearing aids in her younger years, as she approached her teenage years, she grew less interested in the idea of being "dependent" on the creations of others.

Instead, she aspires to create her own hearing aid device to assist her. This challenging project is a main motivation for joining the College of Dynamics. She is eager to improve her creative thinking skills and enjoys the freedom of starting from nothing to bring her own ideas to life, which is quite different from the, in her humble opinion, dull livelihoods of Statics students who merely tweak existing designs.

In regards to her personality, Srabba is best described as the following:

Witty

Smug

Crafty

and Stubborn

Very, very, very stubborn. Srabba is a very independent person, who finds that despite not having a primary caregiver, she has strong footing when it comes to operating solo, and takes great pride in it.

... Perhaps too much pride.

Because of this, Srabba never has been the most inclined to working with others or, Eternal Alchemy forbid, collaboration. The idea of having to depend upon others is... a frankly scary thought, and one she doesn't like submitting herself to. If she can do it herself, she'll do it herself- no matter how long it'd take.

And the 'Mesmer' part of her name isn't just for show. Srabba is a certified, bonafide mesmer.

Her abilities sprung to life very recently, when she was about 11 years old. She's had only two whole years to really acclimate herself to the intricacies of mesmer magic, but she has a surprisingly great grasp at it. It may or may not have something to do with, oh, y'know... Being born on top of an Inquest lab experimenting with chaotic energy and all. It happens!

Srabba primarily follows the Chaos specialization. As the quote goes: "Where some see chaos, I see opportunity". Srabba views the tragedy of the Thaumanova Reactor as a unique proposition. Although the reactor exploded, it showed the potential using chaos energy actually had. It could transport people place to place, it could disorient and befuddle one's mind, and most important to Srabba: it could bend time and space.

Because of her close connection with chaos magic and energy, Srabba finds that among other factors, she'd fit in well in Dynamics. Her project aside, Srabba has a bright passion for studying chaos magic and energy, and seeks to be the "big leader" on the subject. She not only wants to know how to use it, but how to conserve it, and contain it, and master her own control of it so well, she could figure out how to either revert or lessen the damage in the Thaumanova wreckage.

As for Srabba's actual manipulation of mesmer magic, she's adept in confusing people: with or without actual conditions. She can be here, or she could suddenly be there. She could be right in front of you, or you could just be talking to a clone of herself and you wouldn't be too much the wiser unless you paid close attention. Her illusions are fueled by her innate psychic ability like most mesmer's, and her innate psychic ability is... frighteningly powerful for her age.

Let's be thankful she doesn't know too much about her potential at the moment.

Between the three signature mesmer masks, Srabba follows the Phantasm of Sorrow: she doesn't actually brandish this mask, but rather wears it on her face. Her sad, droopy eyes and thin-lipped frown and big, down-turned ears makes it easy to think she has something troubling her... But for all we know, she actually could be laughing in her head about how moronic some of her peers look. Nobody is the wiser to what goes on in her head, and she very much so likes it that way. It fuels her ego a little. (Light-hearted)

While she rarely finds herself in need of physical altercations, she always keeps two swords at the ready. She finds manipulating her magic through them surprisingly easy, and she is currently studying the art of mantras and phantasms. She especially hopes to start learning all the cool space and timey wimey magic, too.

She's a girl with a lot of plans, aspirations, and irons she wants to start putting in the furnace.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #writing #gw2 asura #gw2 mesmer #gw2 fan submission #mesmer srabba #i have a lot of thoughts about this girl but i'll get to it after getting past living world season 1

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