Crying, screaming throwing uuuuup!! What a gorgeous scene 😭 I just love Gale so much! 💜

thank you @necroticyuzu for the tag! 💫 and thank you everyone who participated in my poll! I love talking about my little Tavs and I can’t stop making them so I’m always down to be tagged in these sorta things!

no pressure tags: @beesht @grandmother-goblin @auspex-author (yk I’m always down for Shior lore)

Name: Saoirse Nic’Phaid

Gender: female

Pronouns: she/her

Sexuality: mostly straight (but she’s working on defining it)

OTHER

Family: A complicated conversation. Older human father who’s unable to work, younger wood elf mother who abandons the family often, and an older brother Arthur who was tragically murdered five years before the events of BG3 took place.

Birthplace: Lower City of Baldur’s Gate.

Job: Criminal, I suppose? She doesn’t really have a traditional job. Instead, she’s spent most of her life stealing and then selling items to make a living. It even brought in more money than Arthur was making when he was alive and working.

Phobia: Thalassaphobia. She never learned how to swim.

Guilty Pleasure: Hooking up with problematic men. They oh-so-bad but oh-so-good in bed. Her own ex-boyfriend was a member of the Zhentarim, after all.

MORALS

Alignment: Neutral Evil - rather selfish in her actions, yet will help others who are similar her.

Sins: Theft. Lots of it. Jealousy, coveting what others may have knowing she could never have it. Will usually say whatever pops in her head without thinking it through first, which gets her in trouble. Can be very self-centered in different situations (ex. she refused to take poison from Nettie at the Grove after she didn’t help the party cure their tadpole)

Virtues: Loyal to those she loves, almost to a fault. When able to, very much a “steal from the rich to give to the poor” type. Believes honesty is the best policy (unless your life is at risk, then lying to save yourself is acceptable). Family is also very important to her, especially her father, and she tried to make sure he had well over a years worth of gold before going on the run.

THIS OR THAT

Introvert/Extrovert/Ambivert - Likes to be social but also enjoys time to herself. Tries to keep a healthy balance of both.

Organized/Disorganized - in some aspects of her life, at least. When it comes to her money, she’s very organized.

Close Minded/Open Minded - No defining reason. She just is.

Calm/Anxious/Restless - Being on the run for a crime she may (or may not) have committed, she is constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure she and her companions are safe (but mostly her).

Disagreeable/Agreeable - That is, if you see eye to eye with her.

Cautious/Reckless/In Between - After the loss of her brother, she was very reckless in her crimes and overall behavior, but she has calmed down a bit. She will still do risky things for the fun of it, though.

Patient/Impatient/In Between - Do not test her.

Outspoken/Reserved - Almost too outspoken for her own good.

Leader/Follower/Flexible - Because she’s very headstrong, she easily fell into the leader position of the party.

Empathetic/Unemphathetic - To those that are like her: who’ve struggled, who understand how hard life can be. Won’t listen to the sob story of some upper class elitist.

Optimistic/Pessimistic/Realist

Traditional/Modern/In Between

Hardworking/Lazy - But hardworking in the way that she’s taking from others… yeah I don’t like to think about the logistics of it too much.

RELATIONSHIPS

OTP: Don’t hate me. But. Saoirse is absolutely crushing on Aradin, despite how much of an ass he is. She thinks she can fix him. Maybe she can.

Other Ships: Hooks up with Rugan after rescuing him from the gnolls, which leads to an interesting throuple dynamic when they’re all in Baldur’s Gate.

BroTP: Surprisingly, she and Lae’zel get along swimmingly. Maybe it’s because they have similar personalities. She and Astarion also gossip about the drama between their camp companions, as well as tease each other over their romantic pursuits. Also apparently she and Shadowheart get along very well!

NoTP: Gale annoys her, but she also sees him as a powerful ally and a good companion. Thoroughly rejects any of his advances.

"The only time I’ve felt at home is when I’m with you."

my latest Tavlor one-shot, Home, is now available on AO3 ❤️ it's an explicit work, please see the tags for detailed info.

[Home on AO3]

thank you once again to @rainyssafespace for the beautiful reference: [x]

title is a song by Mumford & Sons

You guys know me, I can not not draw my characters with their babies aaa

I WANT the angst of a post epilogue Tav and Astarion who broke up for whatever reason at the party 6 months later- seeing one another- and Astarion is happy - he is free, enjoying life - being the *good* guy-

But Tav is so different. Something is lost in them. Everyone is happy. Everyone is moving forward, finding the things they wanted... But Tav is stuck. Stuck in a past that was only 6 months or so before when he still loved them- but they were happy together. Maybe you didn't want him to ascend and it broke something; or maybe he convinced himself that all your time together? It was nothing. All it had been was a transaction that he no longer felt was worth it anymore. Or he's convinced himself of this

And Tav, with dark circles under their eyes and fake smiles and laughs and jokes- has to pretend it doesn't hurt them still. He seems so happy- and yet they're still left standing in their head in the moment it ended.

Tav who just looks so different, it's a bit of a shock really.

That's not the same Tav anymore.

But it's okay. As long as he finally feels happy and free; they don't mind. One day, it will stop hurting (gods they hope it does.)

Now; smile and laugh with him and make something up about how things are going great. That your heart is not in a million pieces and that you aren't lost in life. That you aren't filled with guilt and regrets.

“Mushrooms and tea leaves can tell you quite a lot, actually.”

For decades, the Reaching Woods were overrun by goblins and gnolls. The creatures accosted locals and travelers alike, taking their victims hostage if they had been unfortunate enough to avoid a quick death. The witch of the woods was one of few spared. She slowly found her way in the good graces of the packs, using her kind words and magical trickery to shepherd abductees back to the edge of the forest. Word of her good deeds would spread throughout the Sword Coast after she assisted a captured Volothamp Geddarm, and the legend of the good witch was born.

"Tell me you love me in private/I do not care if you're lying"

WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME BALDURS GATE THREE IS A HORROR GAME

Pt 2 of my tav Saoirse's screenshots! warnings for Act 3 spoilers below

If you missed pt 1 it's here

my pfp, bc this scene was so so beautiful.

It's from Shadowheart's romance scene

also featuring this one from my header

these robes.... so glad I chose a non melee class to wear all the clothes in this game without worrying about missing out on AC.

bonus Lae'zel looking at Saoirse in the background

little photoshoot on the way to murk cazadork

and little dialogue spoiler warning for post Caz fight

no clue where her hat went here but it's fine. I have no obsession to my tav being covered in blood <- lying

+ bonus little shart kiss from the most recent patch. I had been waiting for new kisses for so long since shadowheart didn't have any special ones until the patch, and for some reason half of it was always off screen.

and lastly an epilogue photo

and that's all I got for Saoirse. So far this is the only playthrough I've actually completed, for my first playthrough it will always be near and dear to my heart, total runtime of 133hrs and I spent a good chunk of it locking myself out of interactions, restarting fights (I hate you House of Hope and House of Grief) getting lost, learning the combat system, learning more about dnd, sobbing at the story (act 2 finale you know what you did) and absolutely falling in love with this game.

I'll be sharing more of my tavs later but in the meantime, feel free to ask about my tavs/ocs in the comments or my asks! I'll answer all I can.

Saoirse NicPhaid

[SAYR-sha] (she/her)

Class: Ranger - Bounty Hunter

Race: Wood Half-Elf

Age: 25 years

Background: Criminal

Game Progression: Act One

Don’t let her appearance fool you, she’s deadlier than you think.

Born to an older human father and a wood elf mother with a habit of adventuring and leaving her family behind, Saoirse had to do whatever it took for her and her older brother, Arthur, to survive. She started stealing when she was around eight or nine years old, mainly just from food stalls in the streets of Baldur’s Gate. These eventually escalated to breaking into peoples homes and stealing their valuables, up to trying to rob the Counting House in her late teens (which she didn’t get too far by herself tbh).

With their father was too old to work, Arthur quit school once he was in his teenage years and started working to further provide for the family. He tried to urge Saoirse to not steal from others, but when so much gold was rolling in that he didn’t even need to go to work anymore, he stopped trying.

When Saoirse was twenty, Arthur was found murdered in Bloomridge Park. To avenge his death, she became a bounty hunter to find his killer. She’d been on the hunt for nearly five years before the in-game events took place.

The last five years did not treat hee me kindly, though. Overcome by grief, she would abuse alcohol and other substances, and overall hung out with the “wrong crowd.” She also began stealing more often, but was caught a few times due to carelessness. Because of her “clean record” (how she was never caught before), all she got was a slap on the wrist, but was told that the Flaming Fists would be keeping an eye on her.

Right before in-game events, Saoirse went on the run from the Fists for being a suspect in the double murder of her boyfriend, and his… other girlfriend. Rumor has it that she caught him cheating with a much younger elf (who was only sixteen… the scandal!). The Zhentarim are on her ass too, because her ex was a member (she will definitely have a Rugan interaction). She swore up and down that she saw them together and left right after, but she didn’t kill them, she swears! Sadly, neither the Fists or the Zhents believe her story. Thank goodness the Nautiloid saved her, right?

Click for more fun facts here! 🤠

Oh, funny story: her ex boyfriend (who she’s a suspect in the murder of) is her dream guardian.

Saoirse has always loved animals, which was what led her to want to be a ranger. She was also quite skilled with a bow and arrow, as Arthur had taught her how to be an archer. She has a dire raven as a familiar, named Corvus, who she found early on in her days of crime and has been by her side ever since.

She’s had a lot of brain trauma. She also has a crush on Aradin. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.

detail of Down by the River [full art - NSFW]

Being a first time dad in 350 years has kind of hit him hard

Astarion is making a lot of fun of him because he keeps getting teary eyed whenever he sees Oran

babies are both angry together

🔥 "Saoirse Transformed" 🔥

I couldn't wait to draw Saoirse in her draconic form! No longer limited to just the shimmer upon her face, now a majestic display of brilliant gold emanates from her wings, her hair, her fingertips! With the power of flight & a resistance to fire, her flames seem to burn even brighter. That said, she'll keep her daggers nearby just in case. 😉

Tavstravaganza Part 2/4!

Thank you so much everyone who responded to my ask the other day! Hope you like your Tav sketches <3

Sagora: @miradelletarot Saoirse: @purpleasters-inseptember Arianna: @arianna-irwynarn Mosey: @gidgit-stop-that

AAA, okay - (it's fun for everyone involved I think, it's so interesting reading everything you have to say, like seriously....) My tav is a human noble, and her name is Saoirse (this doesnt really matter i just love her lmao) and she has a bad relationship with her family; her parents are very traditional in that they see men as the heirs, and women don't take over thrones/noble houses, it's the sons that do this. She had one older brother, and her parents intended to have another son to have the "spare" so to say, and instead, they had her- a daughter. No matter how many times they tried after her, they could never have another child (a lot of miscarriages tw) and they ultimately blamed Saoirse, saying she was a curse to their family. Her older brother eventually dies in battle- and he was the only family member who loved her/treated her well; in an attempt to get *anything* from having a daughter, they intend to have her married off- but she runs from home and never goes back; she's a barbarian and the reasoning for that is because she's so full of pent up anger and rage from her familial life that, well, being a barbarian is an amazing outlet for that rage. She's kind of on the middle ground of being good and bad- she likes to help people (usually children or people she feels are pure of heart) but she also likes to get things in return for doing things (it's how she lived after leaving her family!) And she's actually pretty vulgar with her speech despite having been a well and proper noble (she was groomed to be a good noble girl - because if they were going to have a daughter- she was at least going to be proper.) A bit blunt sometimes. But sometimes, her little noble girl peaks through in some situations. It's what makes her good at convincing people and being diplomatic... And I just wonder if Astarion would just be... So annoyed by her/hate her noble upbringing- like I always thought perhaps at first he pins her as a noble and thinks she's been raised with a silver spoon in her mouth... Like I wonder if they'd even work at all, you know? Anyways sorry I'm going on for too long- and her story is probably very cringe but I still love her!!!

Aw, come now, flower. We don't do cringe. We love all them Tav's and Durges on this blog. Unconditionally.

Also, Saoirse and my durge Whisper - born Alastríona- have to be chaps now solely based on the fact that they both have Irish names 👉🏻👈🏻

Anyway!

At first glance, I can't see why Astarion and Saoirse wouldn't work. I don't even think he'd be that annoyed - at least there's no inherent reason for him to be as far as I can tell.

I can only speak very generally, of course, because I don't know how exactly Saoirse would behave in conversation and what traits she carries the most openly, so a lot of what follows will be based on assumption.

The "worst" clash of character I could see would be the part where she likes helping people. But that's relatively infinitesimal of a problem since she at least wants compensation for what she does. He generally handles that better than he does straight-up martyrs.

Furthermore, Astarion is a man of quick judgement - both by nature and by affliction - so how he first views Saoirse is probably highly dependent on how she initially presents herself.

Is the first impression more noble or barbarian?

He might look down on a very posh noble girl, but less because of her inherent nobility and more because she's "sheltered". (She obviously isn't, but he doesn't know that yet.)

(And, let's be honest; the former would be rather ironic, seeing as Astarion is likely of nobility as well. I wouldn't put it entirely past him, but it would need a very special attitude to make that one probable. )

But, going off of that: Nobility is basically the peak of shelteredness, as we probably all agree. Like, sure, being of nobility might not be easy, and there's a lot of expectations that come with it, but, in the end, nobles never go hungry.

They don't have to sleep in dirt.

They don't have to grovel just to be able to live.

Their pride is intact in all it's facettes and their dignity hasn't been ripped to shreds.

Astarions, however, has.

His dignity was shredded by Cazador, every little plight against his humanoid rights leaving another mark until it's raw.

Over the course of the game, we see him regain some of the pride he likely used to hold in himself. We can see it in how he stands up for himself later on - one of my favourite moments being when he berates Tav after they mention that Cazador has "really destroyed" him and he's like "No. I'm still here." and all that.

BUT that's later.

He has to get there first so, at first, "sheltered people" are likely to be a sore spot of his.

I think I mentioned it before in another ask, but people who experienced a lot of trauma tend to view those they consider "sheltered" in a rather negative light.

"Sheltered" relates to naïveté and naïveté can be viewed as idiocy, thus leading to infantilising behaviour towards the sheltered person. They "Don't know anything" and "haven't seen anything", so "how dare they talk"? It's a very normal point of view, and Astarion is probably not different in that regard, even if he's not outright saying so because he needs Tav on his side.

But, with Saoirse specifically, I see another thing coming up that could possibly be interesting.

Saoirse was raised as a noble, but she is somewhat blunt, vulgar and angry. She is used to having poise and grace. It's what she grew up seeing, what was expected of her and what was instilled in her for the longest of times. But at the same time she's a barbarian. A barbarian! The very opposite of a noble; the true opposite of poise and grace.

That's a contradiction if I've ever seen one and with Astarion being as deep in his survival mode as he likely is...well, he'd definitely notice. He'd notice that her gait is too elegant for your standard barbarian, her poise too graceful and her choice of words too perfect at times to be what she seems. But he'd also see the rage she carries and her willingness to let it out when the situation arises.

It's two very different natures that meet - the elegant and somewhat cold nature of nobility and the fiery passion of barbarians. It will take time to actually see how those two correlate and that is definitely something that would have him wary.

Contradictions like that are dangerous, because they make people somewhat unpredictable. That is something he absolutely doesn't need right then. If he can't somewhat estimate her actions, he can't make use of her. Worse, he can't plan his own actions properly because who knows what sets her off?

No. Astarion needs Saoirse to be predictable so that he can be safe.

So he'd likely hesitate a bit longer before he can truly be open with her. He needs to scope her out and get to know here more - enough to actually see who she truly is - to feel safe enough to trust her.

(Learning of her past is likely helpful here because it weaves the red thread through everything. Knowing how she grew up will explain her anger, thus helping ease his uncertainty. It basically takes the contradiction out of Saoirse because her actions suddenly begin to make sense.)

But as I said, despite that contradiction, I don't see any reason why those two wouldn't work! If anything, I think it could be a very healing relationship for the both of them.

(Especially Saoirse, seeing as Astarion is extremely loyal once you're in his heart and he's not shy about telling you that you're the only one he's ever cared about. He'll choose you over everything else, maybe shy of his own hide, and that could be exactly what someone like Saoirse needs after a lifetime of disdain. )

That's it, flower! That's as much as I can say from what you've told me - but do hit me up if you'd like to know more or for whatever other reason!

Saoirse sounds absolutely lovely, and I would love to hear more about her ❤️