🤲: Do they have any deep desires that they don't talk about and/or don't even realize they have? Do these desires conflict with their main goal at all?

Thank you for this ask as well, Ki'to! u w u ! ♥

RPG Character Development Questions!

Oh, absolutely.

The one that claws, and claws, and claws at Nomin is the desire to have close connections and feel like she can keep them. After Endwalker, it's not that bad of an intrusive thought, but after leaving the Steppe, and all of the events through ARR all the way to ShB? There are so many harrowing things, losses, and near losses that center around her and her involvement as the WoL that it becomes this nagging feeling that she needs to keep a lot of people at arm's length.

More under cut because Endwalker spoilers.

She never talks about this -- not until she kind of has more deep connections and private conversations with Estinien after they start living their own life on the Island Sanctuary. But she does later express to him how it always stifled her and made her fearful to have close connections with anyone. And like...there's a point where she breaks down crying about it because that time in Ultima Thule really hammered that home for her.

Like...she had Thancred stolen away from her, after she was finally reconciling more with him (she was not a fan of his general attitude toward Ryne, but she was working on rebuilding their bridges). Not to mention that there was that moment she watched Estinien give his life for her and the others to press on, and like...that kind of fucked her up, because not even just a night ago, they finally confessed and shared a night of love and passion with one another because, 'fuck it, this might be the last night we have together.'

But you know...she had to stay strong, she had to hold herself together, she had to press on in order to see everyone's desire to save Etheirys through. I would think that those experiences in Ultima Thule actually contribute to some PTSD night terrors and insomnia -- the sense of not wanting to fall asleep because she doesn't want to relive those moments.

So yeah...it does kind of conflict with her main goals a lot of the time. Because she DOES like those moments of respite and camaraderie... But a lot of the time, she distances herself in order to just...keep them at arm's length. That maybe being distant would make it hurt less. Not just for her, but for them, too.

[DEATH] - What is their view on the cycle of life? Do they believe in reincarnation?

Hihi, Ki'to! Thank you for the ask! \ o w o / ♥

The Major Arcana [Ask Game]

Nomin views life as precious -- she always has. This is why she could not mesh well with the Tumet, even when she was a child and was raised with their cultural beliefs and values. It hurt her as a child to make friends and then lose them because they were not able to finish their trial (granted, not every friend she made failed; though I headcanon that once the Tumet are returned and deemed worthy to the tribe, they kind of cut connection with those whose worth are still not yet determined if they are outside the family / breeder couple). I figure, at this point, it's because of her life as Azem and what that entails.

Her general Steppe knowledge and experience, however, means that sometimes violence and the "it's them or me" mentality does have a strong place in her mind and training in order to keep her own life. So she's not fully against the taking of other lives if it means she gets to live, or others that she cares about get to live. She's fully prepared to go toe-to-toe with the likes of the the Ascians, Ilberd, Fordola, Yotsuyu, Asahi, Zenos, and many others if it means their life for the sake of many others is what's necessary.

As for reincarnation, absolutely! In regards to herself, not so much until after she starts connecting the dots of her being Azem (or rather, the Azem when the Final Days happened) when after Amaurot and the events of Elpis. But, one of her closest friends is a Dotharli man by the name of Arik, who has always been told that his soul is from someone of the Noykin who was accepted into the Dotharl. She will admit that she knows little about the process, but she doesn't question nor demean the belief, because part of her thinks it's nice that you get to come back and re-experience life in a different way.