It's always so hard thinking of post-game stuff for my OCs because I'm always like "well what if she just took a fucking nap? Like a really big one?"

Semi-Connected Cas Thoughts

Casimira is extremely harsh with disciplining her nobles, and dealing with them is usually where she can be considered her most "Dogmatic". An incompetent serf isn't that big a deal (they'll be punished, but not necessarily killed), but an incompetent noble affects the whole planet and it makes it more likely she'll have to get involved in the cleanup. Unfortunately, as the old guard quickly learned, Cas doesn't hold much esteem for pedigree or tradition so she's not shy about the occasional bout of (lethal) discipline when she deems it necessary. The only family of Theodora's nobles to make it out unscathed were the Werserians for a reason, and any post-game nobles that rise after the old learn quickly to keep a close eye on their holdings.

Insofar as other bits of Court Conduct, Cas also runs on Rule of Annoying, where essentially: if made to deal with a situation or person that's otherwise unpleasant but not actively dangerous, if she can take a course of action that can selectively piss off someone around her that she dislikes without being too obvious, she'll try and do it. She would say it's to test limits, but in reality, she can nearly match Marazhai for being an emotional terror to others when she wants to be. She ends up surprisingly adept at the subtleties of court life because "managing to fuck over or provoke someone else without the matter being obviously readable to outsiders or turning violent" was a big part of why she was chosen for her pre-Rogue Trader course of work. On the other end of the spectrum from the above, one of the few instances where she will insist on following tradition or the courtly way of doing things to the letter is with nobles she doesn't like. Both sides know she doesn't care, but the right slip up can reveal a lot.

Also post-game musing but under the cut because I may change my mind about it later

So as to "how much of Cas' personal life is public knowledge" irt Marazhai, while I know the epilogue says their Feasts and stuff are pretty legendary, I don't think your average Joe on the street would be able to factually tell you "Rogue Trader von Valancius has a Drukhari consort." This run we are going for peace with the Eldar so on that front her fondness for Xenos is pretty public. But insofar as specifics, while she'd never deny him, I think their relationship is pretty "their business" in the sense that there's no point in explicitly showing out about it. The exception being the above, RoA, in which case "implying something going on to the right person for the kick of it" is fine (ie, Winterscale/Chorda/Kharael), especially because the person being provoked probably already doesn't like her and can be discredited anyways? But I mean, neither one of them is big on emotion or being especially lovey, and post-game they live apart so, idk I think it's entirely possible they can sit in the same room together for hours and unless someone observing knows them nothing would be especially amiss? I see it as essentially, most of their time together isn't planetside, so word of what goes on there doesn't reach the wider populace for the most part? Like at most, Her Ladyship has a fondness for Xenos, has a favorite Xenos mercenary (what odd Rogue Trader doesn't?), and perhaps some disgruntled nobles or former officers may allege improper relations but its hard to prove, y'know?

🕯️🍄🪲!!

From this ask game.

🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that?

Ooh. 8.5! I love editing! I'm a very visual person, reading and writing (its the art history girlie in me), and so my first step doing anything is like, "getting the image out" if that makes sense? Which is the hardest part of writing because I'm moving from "image in my head" to "words" to "connected narrative thing" but also it's what makes the editing so fun. Like, once I have what I'm trying to say down and it makes some kind of sense, I can just focus on the details and making it "look right," move this sentence here, try this word there, etc etc and that's always super exciting to me. The -1.5 is off because sometimes editing too soon or too much and then it stalls my progress because I can't stop prodding at the words lol.

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

Cas and Marazhai are very similar in that they're both "I will be vulnerable about this, once" type people. However, Cas' list of "ew no" emotions isn't as large as Marazhai's, which, combined with the fact he is usually the one coming to her about stuff, means she has a lot easier time needling him than vice versa. However, that also means the few times she's the one in the hot seat, oh it makes her sick. Not because she necessarily thinks he'd react negatively towards her, but because he gets so few chances to truly, genuinely, irritate her and they both know he's going to take it, even if its not in the moment. It's a vicious cycle.

🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here

The sense of wrongness about the planet was aided by the length of its day-night cycle: only 20 Terran hours. Not a significant difference from the cycle of Holy Terra, but one that was close enough to make offworlders feel a sense of harried unease at never having quite enough time to do anything.