would love to see more asian astarion thoughts/art if you're comfortable sharing!
I am always down to talk about my asian headcanons, anon. Been waiting for someone to ask honestly
I will admit, my head canon for Astarion started out as just projection and spite for fucking Cazador being the only asian character in bg3. Then I started actually thinking about it in serious and I thought it would be really neat storywise too. The drawings above aren’t too related to my headcanon of Asian Astarion, I just wanted to draw him in Joseon fashion.
I specifically imagine Astarion having roots in Koryo, official dnd’s equivalent of Korea (and not just because I’m korean, I swear). So he’s born and raised in Baldur’s Gate but his family is Koryoan by blood. Meanwhile Cazador is implied to be from Kozakura, official dnd’s equivalent of Japan. And paralleling real life, Koryo and Kozakura have bad blood between each other due to the latter always trying to invade the former, and their people despise eachother with Kozakurans thinking they are just inherently the better race and Koryoans thinking they’re just fucking assholes. Wotc was not subtle in drawing from their inspiration whatsoever.
ANYWAYS. I think it would strengthen the dynamic and add another layer to Cazador and Astarion’s relationship; where Cazador’s view of Astarion as lesser has a nationalistic flare to it. Maybe one of the reasons he made Astarion his spawn was because sadistically he wanted to dominate someone of Koryoan heritage and flaunt his status as the ‘superior’ Kozakuran. Maybe he would take pleasure in wiping Astarion’s memory of even being Koryoan. Imagine the angst where among other things, Astarion has also lost his cultural identity to Cazador. It would be an interesting detail for sure.
This has been my ted talk advocating for Asian Astarion, thank you 🫡
I think for Wyll, The Emperor would appear as someone who resembles his father. Not as Ulder himself but some who look akin to him with the same air where they carry themselves with a fatherly but military commanding air. The emperor would manipulate his respect for his father and his need for approval so bad. He knows that his father is really the only figure of authority he fully respects. It helps also that Ulder and Mizora have opposite personalities. They’re both very demanding but Ulder is straightforward and a no-nonsense rigid general while Mizora is underhanded and trickful demon who would never dirty her own hands with the work of laypeople.
Alternatively, the emperor might embody what Wyll has imagined his mother was like. I know it’s canon that Wyll doesn’t have any strong feelings regarding his mother that he’s never met but I think the thought must’ve crossed his mind once or twice. He knows that his dad respected and loved his mother so much that he never remarried. Anyone who his father devoted himself to to that extent would be someone Wyll would trust very quickly and wholeheartedly. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to think that The Emperor would intentionally lead Wyll to think that the mysterious older woman with an uncanny similarity to himself guiding and protecting him in his dreams was his mother. The Emperor would never explicitly say that he was his mother though so later he could claim “I never tricked you. You made that assumption by yourself.” But at the same time he would never deny the claim if Wyll asked him directly about it.
Guys i wanna confess something… Dragon Age 2 is my favorite game of the series.
“But they reuse assets” “the elves are ugly” “you haven’t even finished Dragon Age: Inquisition” I DON’T CARE!!! (Also the elves are beautiful don’t you even) The storyline may not have been as epic as origins but it was fun and honestly i liked the you could put it down and pick it up whenever!! At the same time the ending was just so ughhhhh like it really had me stressing! Hawke has so much personality as the avatar character and there’s not a single companion that I don’t adore (except for fenris).. Mechanically I prefer it to the other games too, like the combat was actually so fun and I liked that i didn’t have to think much about the armor of the companions. And this may be an unpopular opinion I actually prefer the graphics compared to inquisition. Don’t get me wrong, inquisition is beautiful but the style of da2 gives it a lot of character 😭
I’ve only just started inquisition so maybe my opinion might change but regardless DA2 has a special place in my heart
If you’re too lazy to read through a full article about the new players handbook for dnd, I’ve complied and paraphrased the notable stuff:
- more backgrounds and 3 new subclasses including a mystical viking barbarian
- specifically 16 backgrounds and 75 feats
- Some subclasses have been changed. Apparently way of the four elements monk has been entirely changed
- new core playable species: aasimar, goliath, orc
- Ability score modifiers now linked to background instead of species (less fantasy racism yayyy)
- calling races species now
- unspecified changes to current species like human
- you get one origin feat according to your background. Origin feat is a new type of feat typically only obtainable at character creation
- new types of feats unlockable at higher levels which are cooler/more powerful. Called epic boon feats
- weapons now have a mastery feature. So if you have mastery in a weapon you can use a move unique to that weapon like toppling with a maul. Bg3 has the same mechanic with proficiency for reference
- 100+ pages of spells 😭
- a more detailed equipment chapter
- all new art yayyy
- attempt to make it easier to understand and start out for new players
I can’t draw, my skin is breaking out, it’s humid, and I have covid (in 2024 that’s so embarrassing) so here are some wyllstarion headcanons as I try to cope with these mild discomforts.
- Wyll is pretty lax with his horn care by himself, at first he tried hard to ignore their existence entirely. But you best believe Astarion “worst fear is chipping a nail” Ancunin would swoop in and put him on a whole ass routine. It’s even become a bit therapeutic for Astarion to oil and polish Wyll’s horns before bed. And after a while Wyll’s horns absolutely shine, like if they were impressive before, they’re even more awe inspiring now like you would see them in a pinterest mood board. Astarion adores decorating them with jewelry too and even wyll gets a little kick out of buying a horn ring or two now
- Astarion fell first and fell hard. Just didn’t realize it fully till Wyll confessed first.
- built on canon: neither of them use actual mirrors, they just trust the other to be one for them every morning. For Astarion the reason is obvious but there’s some dialogue in game about how wyll feels discomfortable looking at his reflection post transformation and it makes me crazy.
- Wyll once told Astarion to be more discreet with where he leaves his bite marks and now he has semi permanent puncture wounds on his ass
- Wyll’s body runs overly hot due to his infernal transformation while Astarion runs unnaturally cold due to his undeadliness. Together they reach thermal equilibrium when they cuddle. During the summers, Astarion is the big spoon, and during the winters, Wyll is the big spoon.
- Astarion always walks alongside wyll’s blindside because he’s always half expecting to be ambushed and wants to be there to cover for him
Someone reposted one of my wyllstarion drawings saying it was like a sketch in an adventure journal which kinda inspired me. So I drew how I think they would draw eachother in their journals (assuming both have artistic ability). It also made for good practice with different brushes
I think wyll would use charcoal as a medium because there’s just something romantic about how soft it blends and how it captures one’s spirit that he would like. Plus they’re good for quick sketches and dramatic lighting which I think he’d appreciate.
I kinda went overboard with Astarion’s drawing of wyll which just might be my favoritism showing but oh well. I think Astarion would kinda be the opposite of wyll in his sketches. He’d prefer ink over messy mediums like charcoal and have precise defined lines with hatching for shading. While Wyll values capturing the essence of character in his drawings, Astarion would focus on accuracy.