questions answered

horizon: where do you think their character arc is headed? and where do you want it to head? presently, their willingness to step back from their oath and live a life mortal and present with others has made Trust reconsider her faith in them, and i'm wondering where you want that to go.


I don't know where their character arc is headed! In my mind, it's very much a situation where they've made their mind up, and have been quite content leaving it made completely up for a very long time, under the assumption that nothing could every sway them again after the initial meltdown of learning where they are, what happened to them, and how the world around them works. They haven't been wholly dissuaded from their goal of making the world a more 'livable' place (in their opinion, at least), but they're at the stage where they quite uncomfortably don't want to admit that they believe Mairead- and that they deep down don't want a world where people like her (and by extension somewhat, themselves) can't exist. They're also, of course, crushing somewhat hard on Mairead, but that then begs the question of what, exactly, is wrong with having silly crushes and getting distracted.

They don't have a lack of faith in the cause, they just don't think that their idea of utopia necessarily entails stripping away of all the extraneous parts of being. They're quite deeply and lastingly chilled by the fact that everything that they are, everything that they cultivate, everything that they will, could apparently be taken away by Trust more easily than they ever fathomed.

In my mind, their arc totally and utterly hinges on whether or not their transition into a changing, mortal, flawed creature is one they seize willingly and focus effort on, or is one that is thrust upon them when Trust gets tired of putting up with their honest brat behavior. They'd still very much like the power, but they're finally arriving at a point where even the best efforts and autohypnosis checks can't stuff down the fact that they'd like to be mortal like they were at the fire with Quickstep, like they were (for a few seconds) with Mairead, like they were at the taproom in Mar Pillar with East, and they'd like to be mortal without the looming regret of having squandered the world.

The arrogant crusade's starting to weigh on them, and it feels like they're approaching a terminus where they're either going to have to be forced down into a cultlike zealotry, or they're going to finally throw a rod and break down.


carnivale: what the FUCK happened between jiv and carnivale?

Jiv'undus was given a blade and told to drink deeply of the Lamb, to conclude the ritual and bring glory to the House Ramoth.

Carnivale, wearing the skin of the skittering beast Jiv'undus, threw himself from the loft window of the Ramoth's house, and rode the grit of the tiles all the way down.

It was a moment of genuine, true disgust upon realizing what kind of person they'd become- a mote of parasitizing, devouring moral conscience that chipped at the foundations of Priestess Jiv'undus until, in a moment of brutal self-violence, the idea of Carnivale wrested itself into a bleeding, muck-caked existence. I imagine it as a collection of tiny, inconsequential things- an outdated genealogy here that revealed that they did, in fact, have a father, the revelation that High Priestess Ilhar (or Mother, at least to Jiv'undus) had not told them this on purpose. At first, they assumed it was for informational eugenics; She didn't want the other nobility of the region to know that perfect little fixer Jiv'undus was the spawn of a nobody. The moment of self-disgust didn't come easily, and acting on it was (without hyperbole) the hardest thing that Carnivale ever had to do.

When asked by the other adherents if they loved god, Jiv'undus looked to their hands (the talons of the rotmistress, or so they said) and answered "No. I don't think I do."

Carnivale doesn't remember having done so- what they remember of House Ramoth and its ugliness is mostly entirely confined to periods a long, LONG way before their emergence into Reality. The first actual MEMORY that Carnivale has is waking up in that gravedigger's hut with Orvux. When asked about it now, they aren't actually able to remember HOW they made it from what they consider the darkest, lowest part of the Underdark all the way up to the Gargoyle's particular corner of the world. That gap of missing time is a bit difficult for him to reconcile as well; He has no idea when the blackout on his memory begins proper, so he has no way of knowing how much time passed between then and the day he woke up. This missing time is internally called the Plot Hole, because it's the only part of Carnivale's life that seems to lack the biting narrative teeth he so desires.

Part of Carnivale is still worried, deep down, that maybe his entire life as it stands right now is just one big trick, meant to disabuse him of his notions of kindness, empathy, and family. If it is, he's still waiting with bated breath for this particular tableau to get to the point. Packing every little piece of their body and mind away into boxes has only given him ample time to throw out the parts that still turn the stomach, to re-open and internalize the parts that are good and kind.

It will not. Carnivale is going to kill Ilhar Ramoth, cut her body into pieces, and scatter those pieces into the Otyugh Pens. It's the only way to be sure she doesn't do what she did to Jiv'undus to somebody else. After all, what end is more dramatically fitting than one at the hands of the killer that you helped create, come back from oblivion to strike down your vile evil?


turi: is just a good lad and i think he's quite nice the way he is

Thank you, and also Turi will let Rawleigh do quite literally whatever they ask him to do, because Rawleigh reminds him of his sister (Syrup, not Suki). Despite everything, Turi *is* still more comfortable with other ratfolk, because of warren life.

tripic: have they left town since winter broke?

Tripic leaves town frequently to go for jogs, but otherwise has not gone anywhere outside of the outskirts of Mourning Ridge. At this point, he really doesn't feel a point to doing so. He's working on cultivating himself, cultivating his melons, experiencing the world around him as a true ascetic hermit. Life is training, life is study, life is chasing birds like the stray dog does, life is life. If he's feeling particularly antsy on a given day, he'll strike out into the forest and climb around the trees in order to get some exercise, and if he's feeling PARTICULARLY antsy he'll try and climb parts of Sword Point if they seem relatively safe. Tripic's not afraid of a good brawl, of course, but he also doesn't particularly want to get into adventurer trouble without other adventurers; The changing of the seasons seems to have given Tripic a genuine deeper appreciation of both the town and the people around him. Now he's just working on being comfortable living among them, and being comfortable with the person that he is.