💪 for Kai and 🐟 for Dlaine!

@mystery-salad

thanks for the prompts!! took this opportunity to revisit barbrawler kai

Oh well now you have me CURIOUS so, here outside of tags, tell me about those PoF death experiences 👀

@mystery-salad

i’ll never say no to unleashing my oc lore gates 🫶 be warned. this will be long. like 800 words type of long . for context i will be explaining important backstory first that will be related to the pof story descriptions . and obviously spoiler warning !

starting with my first commander, zoya. zoya already has a complicated relationship with life and death from the get go, which only gets worse during path of fire.

zoya is a secondborn, podsister to canach actually. and just like him, she was abducted to vorpp’s research lab and experimented on. vorpp was draining her of her life force to power his golems, and she actually succumbed to these experiments and died in the lab days before caithe and faolain arrived. her body was discarded into the sea, and to canach and everyone else, she was dead.

and she was dead, her body had been drifting in the ocean for weeks, if not months, before she washed up on the cursed shore in orr. when she did, she caught the attention of the eye of zhaitan, who until now had not seen any of mordremoth’s minions.

now, due to the fact she is mordremoth’s minion (despite the pale tree cutting them off), sylvari can’t be corrupted by the other dragons, but i feel like at the time of the secondborn it was not widely known/confirmed for certain yet.

so, like he does, zhaitan tried to corrupt her and convert her into one of his undead minions - after all, if this would work, he could yoink his brother’s minions for his purposes and his army would grow even further. while the „corruption“ did not succeed - her tie to

mordremoth saved her from becoming his minion - he did somewhat revive her in the process, but not fully. zoya, now technically dead and alive at the same time but not having access to zhaitans power to keep her alive, is forced to absorb life force from other creatures to stay alive. hence, her being a necromancer. she stays in orr for a while, no idea of who she is and who she was previously, until she eventually encounters trahearne during his travels in orr and he takes her back with him to the grove. together they both study orr and try to solve his dream of cleansing it.

so when zoya dies during the fight with balthazar (to the sword rammed into her chest), her afterlife is different than the one in game. she wakes up floating in the ocean, like when she was dead for the first time, alone, no memory of who she is and who she is supposed to be yet again. but she’ll swim to the cursed shore this time, and meet the judge who will guide her through the domain of the lost, regaining her memory (even before her first death) to now.

however, it is not necessarily the judge that brings her back to ‚life‘, it is she herself who uses the power from defeating zhaitan in her memories to bring herself back into the realm of the living. she still retains her ‚undead‘ status, and similar to joko, she’s essentially a lich.

and different to the in-game, she was dead for an hour approximately, and she had troubles controlling her body for the rest of that day and needs to rest before she can continue with the fight.

my other commander, rhys, on the other hand has a complicated relationship with balthazar, which makes their encounter in path of fire difficult on a very different level.

rhys was a priest of balthazar prior to becoming known as the commander, and she was VERY devoted to him. still prayed to him frequently, despite his departure during the exodus of the gods. to me, rhys and balthazar have a relationship similar to zeus and achilles in the iliad; a god and his beloved champion, sometimes i think their relationship was as close as zeus and hercules even.

balthazar, despite being chained in the mists, heard and responded to every one of her prayers. he had very big plans for rhys; she, as a descendant of king doric and king adelbern whom were both personally blessed by balthazar and gifted with his swords sohotin and magdaer, was supposed to be his champion by his side while he would slay the dragons and absorb their powers. rhys was also supposed to be the one to free him from the mists initially, but rytlock finding and freeing him first was not a problem at all. another important detail: being a priest of balthazar made rhys immune to any fire damage whatsoever, making them a very powerful berserker.

during the course of season 3 and POF, their relationship with balthazar is strained and tested numerous times — rhys was always tempted to join his side every time he called out to them, but their hesitation was close to a betrayal in balthazars eyes, and so, they were no longer his ally anymore but his most powerful enemy that had to be destroyed. he removes his blessing, and as a result, rhys is incredibly vulnerable to fire damage.

during their battle, rhys doesn’t die by his sword like zoya, a death some could see as a merciful death. instead, he burned rhys to death, FULLY. this was a lesson to his former disciple, one that should follow them into their afterlife.

rhys’ afterlife was a burnt and barren wasteland, full of ash and the occasional leftover fire/ember. they, too, forgot who they are and what their purpose in life. even when they slowly regain their memories, they don’t consider going back to the living but staying dead. in the domain of the lost they have been „dead“ for a few days, but in the domain of the living they have been dead for a whole day.

when rhys decides to come back after all, out of vengeance and out of loyalty to aurene, they willfully step into a raging fire inside a hollow tree trunk which acted as a portal. their body was about to be cremated when they decided to come back, emerging from the fire. their whole body was burnt, but they found new strength in killing balthazar once and for all.

a little soft commission for @mystery-salad featuring Call and Mar 💕💐

MORE FOR U I ask for: Caithe, Anise, Crecia, Zojja!

And for ocs: how would the ladies react to my various commanders? Laighe, Kai, Joel, Matthias, Ruan, Roiel, Roibird, Trella, Hastigi, Taomesin, Cora, Vuisce, Cara, Call, and Mai Trin

(You don't have to do all of them u can ignore any u want to, I just wanted to give u lots in your askbox 💖)

@mystery-salad

Caithe- MISTLETOE!!!! I will give her the kissies. I love herrrrrrrrrrr...

Anise- ok she would kick my ass but mistlefoe honestly. I may support women's wrongs but I don't support monarchists also she is mean to Logan and only I am allowed to be mean to Logan LOL

Crecia- mistletoe!!!!!! hello yes my furry ass would like to smooch RIGHT NOW.

Zojja- mistletoe, but like. respectfully.

The Ladies would... mistletoe for Laighe (but make it slightly weird. cheek kissy with a clone). Mistlefoe for Kai because chaos mode activate (she doesn't have a good reason beyond maybe it would be fun to fight Kai).

Mistletoe for Joel, but The Ladies would be unsure which body to bestow a cheek smooch to.

Mistletoe for Matthias, but she would be annoying and blow him a kiss with the loudest kissy noise and little mesmer sparklies, probably.

Mistletoe for Roiel, she could probably sense there's enough chaos going on already, what with Roi's strong connection with the mists.

Mistletoe for Roibird, because she can't be mean to Roibird. He's just too friendly and sweet. She would feel bad if she made it Weird, so it would be the most normal mistletoe situation ever (and thus very WEIRD for The Ladies).

Mistletoe for Call. This is the most simple, she just wants a kiss with a hot girl. And Call is very hot.

Mistlefoe for Cara because The Vibes. The vibes are so off. Obligated to fight. Violence time. No chaos we die like weird sentient plants.

Mistlefoe Mai Trin because it would be fun and also she maybe wants to be a little mean gremlin to Scarlet. Hehe.

Bingo template for Canach and Caithe? 👀

@mystery-salad

@mystery-salad

x

sorry i posted that and immediately forgot and went to bed lmao

let's just say my standards for character arcs are higher than what the game has to offer . i have other things to say but let's just say it's that for now : - )

A commish I finished for @mystery-salad !

I'd love to get 1, 6, 14, and 20 for your co-commanders✨️

@mystery-salad

1. At what point during the story do they meet up?

answered here!

6. Did they chase after Caithe together or was one/were some on the airship with Trahearne during the start of HoT?

imani is on the airships with trahearne to lead the assault and laerus mainly does the chasing, while taal originally stays back for logistics (having refused to meet the pale tree). he joins laerus after the pact ships go down, although mainly to track down DE and imani, still intent on avoiding caithe and trahearne as much as possible. him and caithe still get some quality 'ex-siblings arguing' time with laerus having to babysit mediate, while imani gets taken prisoner alongside traho.

14. How close are they? What do they think of each other?

they all definitely start out on a more 'professional' basis, someone who shares the same goals and ambitions. over the course of their trauma the story they grow very close - taal and laerus both especially were very lonely before, and their positions as Commanders means that they all develop a unique bond with each other that no one else can ever truly match. but they aren't really co-dependent, and all have deep meaningful relationships with other people.

everything else is under the cut bc Wall Of Text strikes again

laerus: he's the oldest of them and he feels responsible for the other two and their well-being as the assigned Dad-Friend. sometimes he can get a little overbearing with his care but he knows that they're capable and trusts their abilities. he'll still give them minions to tag along on harder missions, and nag them about properly taking care of themselves.

imani: especially in the beginning she admired laerus a lot and wanted his approval, which she still obviously wants but now it's on a basis of a strong friendship. she'll always go to him for advice on personal matters. her and taal have a more quiet understanding. they prefer actions to words with the other, and when they talk about personal matters they're very direct - but they both appreciate it.

taal: he has a hard time trusting people and definitely took the longest to warm up to the others but once he did they were his. he doesn't really do familial relationships anymore (or tries not to) but imani is kind of like a sister to him, and laerus is one of his 'rocks' in life. he even took both of them to meet the soundless community that is his home (and family) :]

20. Would they pick their co-commander/s over anyone else? Over Tyria's safety?

not over tyria's safety. they're all painfully aware that sacrifices have to be made - that sometimes you just can't save everyone, no matter how hard you try. and, most importantly, none of them would want the others to jeopardize the entire world just for them. that being said, imani and taal definitely will choose their co-commanders over other people's lives if necessary. it's a tactical descision - all three of them are extremely valuable assets and excel in their fields in ways few others ever could, by virtue of their unique knowledge, experiences and the trust they earned by both powerful political players and the masses. obviously they don't enjoy it or particularly want to, but they understand the need for it. laerus isn't often in the position where he has to make those descisions and he'd rather work himself to death than condemn others to that fate. i wouldn't say that HoT broke him (can't break what's already in pieces) but it was the push for him to stop being as involved in the military part of being commander as he had been until then. he obviously can't avoid it entirely but having to order others to walk into certain death just isn't a burden he can bear anymore.

🖊🖊 for Nisha and 🖊🖊 for Cio 💖

@mystery-salad

Pens for them coming right up!! :D <3

🖊 - I think I've mentioned this in passing before a long time ago, but Nisha was (alongside Laranthir and the others) the one in charge of the assault on the Mouth of Mordremoth. Xe threw absolutely everything xe had into that fight and was incredibly instrumental in the Pact's victory. It was also a hell of an accidental audition for the Marshal position.

🖊 - Nisha's engineering techniques tend to be some amalgamation of what xe learned "growing up" alongside the Itzel, what xe read about in the Priory upon getting there, and various smaller things that xe picked up from working with Cio/other engineers in the Pact. They're therefore somewhat unorthodox but they work--it's the same specific vibe as someone doing the addition of 45 and 67 in a different way than you but still ending up with 112. Xe's also very well-versed in various poisons from the Maguuma Jungle because of xyr background and often uses them in xyr weapons--plenty of poisonous/toxic darts.

🖊 - Cio (alongside Nisha and a few other Pact members) roughly follows the Hunters and Prey storyline--the bit of the level 80 PS that starts with going after the missing Pact squad. Kekt, one of the members of the search party, was an old friend of Cio's from the Priory. They weren't always on the same wavelength (he was a lot more cautious than both Cio and Sieran, for one thing), but they were friends regardless, and losing yet another person so close on the heels of losing Sieran was particularly rough.

🖊 - Cio runs into Casca and Brook before Ari does. She and Ari are not always working on the same mission or in the exact same place, even if they're both doing work for the Pact/their respective orders in the same general area, and this is one of those times. Cio ends up meeting them through helping Casca, Brook, and the Olmakhan deal with the storms and Zohaqan, and each party sloooowly figures out the significance of the other. I have various associated shenanigans and drama and story bits related to this (and to Cio and Zohaqan) percolating in my mind.

2, 6, and 12 for Teva?

@mystery-salad

Hi, thank you for the ask!! Coming right for my newest character :D

Just a heads up, Teva's been floating around in my head as "non-pronouns with left beef" for like 4 months now. For readability's sake I'll use they/them but honest to god I do not know what's up with this Charr's gender. Like. Nothing and everything at once.

Ahem, anyway:

2. Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind? 

Not initially, but fairly soon after their creation I decided they'd be somehow connected to my Charr scrapper Leto! And I believe originally I had previewed a lot of black dyes for their armour's look but then decided to go with a white colour scheme to contrast Leto's really dark design. Also overall it just looked much better, and also fits the character better.

6. Is there any significance behind their eye color? 

That's actually an interesting question for Teva!! The eye colour is one of the very last things I settled on after I had already decided on everything else (minus one shade darker or lighter for the base fur).

My original plan was a pale pink colour for the eyes because it honestly just looked really nice in combination with the rest of the colours. But then there was the blue magic of the Olmakhan horns, and I was starting to have ley energy brainworms again and... yea. Decided for a really bright blue then!

I'm still undecided if blue is Teva's natural eye colour or if it's a result of ley energy experiments. I guess at the very least the magic enhanced the colour (if it didn't change it entirely).

12. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)? 

Honestly I haven't created much yet at all;; I've taken a few screenshots / made some gifs but haven't encountered any specific issues other than me being really bad at getting decent angles of Charr in general.

In general Teva's still a bit of a vague haze of loose concepts and personality traits in my head, I hope to be able to share more in the future!!

*sets Elaphurus by Yvain De Lis* large, heavy armor sign language salads? Idk if Yvain is ex mordrem but Ela is and it's not often I see another huge guy who can speak sign language 🥺

@mystery-salad

tho yvain is not really a mordrem! he comes from a different tree in the area and had his pod drift away, in the same vein as malyck. he wonders around the maguuma jungle acting as a knight errant for the local sylvari. he can speak but he prefers sign language as to not scare strangers ✌

Phibi! I pick phibi

@mystery-salad

you are a gremlin - you are independent, take no shit from anyone and LOVE to pursue your hobbies with no one stopping you in your career!! despite a carefree face, you are dedicated to your crafts and interests and people like you for that!

additional diagnosis: you like to attack taller people solely because they look at you wrong

👰 for Arkus and Eridunis, even if you're considering drawing em all I feel a need to ensure this makes it onto the list <3

@mystery-salad

🥰

I am here to ask, in general, about Milica and Niko in the aetherblades after my finding out they both exist, (thanks to lydia answering my ask about stephanie) especially post-EoD what happened 👀

@mystery-salad

aheem heem. i have yet to draw pirate mili but here is niko + pirate mili in game!

being an aetherblade captain is just an AU for mili, but boy i do adore it <3 more blow on both!

there isn't much post EOD yet bc i want to replay it and dig for some more details

MILICA

NIKOLAS

and another lovely comm for @mystery-salad 💜🖤

For the ask meme! Kai and Kalla :3c

@mystery-salad

MISTLETOE MISTLETOE MISTLETOE

Kalla is a simple lady. She sees cute charr, she wants to smoochy. She would give a polite little snoot rub sort of kiss. Though the temptation to be a gremlin is real, she wouldn't want to make it weird so she would resist the urge to give wet sloppy forehead licking. But the urge is there.

She would also be down for mistlefoe though... what's a bit of playful sparring between charr pals...

Oh hiiiii Nia, it looks like you got caught under the mistletoe with Rieft! 💖👉👈

@mystery-salad

Rieft is getting a smooch on a cheek!!