#i'm not actually like 'DURGE SUCKS' or whatever

[eff-plays]

What is it that you struggle with in the vanilla durge story?

OUGH I just about stopped bleeding followers, now I'm gonna start again.

Oh well RIP in piss me 😔 You're my sweet cheese though so I'll answer 💖

Basically I find that Durge (as far as I know) actually having a pretty good time before Orin put a worm in his dome undercut a lot of the "oughough I'm struggling against my nature" storyline they're going for. Because Durge never chose to try to leave before being forced to, him attempting to redeem himself basically happened by chance, without any sort of motivation. And that makes sense for a video game character with amnesia, but that's where the "set backstory" clashes against player choice. What in-universe reason does Durge even have for trying to resist his urges? Just like ... an innate feeling of wanting to be good? But why? How? If he's made from Bhaal's flesh, why is that instinct even there at all? If he's a thinking independent being, why didn't he try to leave before Orin did the worm thing?

I'm not even particularly against the Urge itself, even if the way its presented is very edgy and juvenile at times. But the fact that it's implied the Urge was SO strong before but now is just gone and been replaced with a new personality just doesn't mesh with me.

Either Durge had some agency before and chose to be a serial killer horny for murder, and that's why his not remembering shit makes it possible for him to prioritize doing good now that his Urges are suppressed/forgotten. OR he's Bhaal's own flesh and the Urge is an intristic part of him and he physically cannot comprehend doing good.

But because the player needs to be able to choose whether to indulge or redeem Durge, why Durge is choosing/capable of doing good is left to the player. And that just doesn't mesh with the backstory they set up. The Urge was so strong before that he was gleefully a serial killer, but now it's so weak that he's able to resist? Why? What changed? Why was there a personality below the Urge at all? What use does Bhaal have of a puppet who is, on some level, able to think for themself? And if Durge was always able to think for himself, why didn't he rebel sooner? Well, because what if the player wants to play Evil!Durge, then it wouldn't make sense for Durge to rebel in his backstory!

My friend said it's basically a factory reset, and that's what's bothering me. It's unmotivated, it's chance, it's not Durge acting on his own accord. Larian are trying to have their cake (protag with a set background) and eat it too (protag is vaguely enough defined that you can just insert your own motivations into them).

Idk ... Does that make sense? It's a very difficult sort of incongruence to explain, so I'm sorry if I rambled a bunch and said fuck-all.

I'm considering making Phoebus into a classic Bhaalspawn from the previous games, but I'd have to do a bit of research to make that work.

#bg3 #durge critical #i guess?? #bleh #i don't actually care if ppl play durge or anything #i'm not actually like 'DURGE SUCKS' or whatever #it's just like a personal issue i have with the way it's presented #so if it work for you? great! #you're lucky cuz you get way more in-game and fandom content! #and that's not me being sarcastic it's just an observation #i would love to join but it just doesn't do it for me

[crossdressingdeath]

Gale: I've been threatened with the sharp end of a dagger before, but never with such a monster as Orin holding the blade. Gale: It certainly would have been a disappointment to spend so long resisting the instructions of my own god, only to die as the play thing of someone else's. Kyvir: Are you hurt? Did Orin harm you in any way? Gale: I'm not sure I'll ever truly recover from the embarrassment of falling for her tricks, but physically - I'm absolutely fine. Rather well rested, as a matter of fact. Gale: Whatever modicum of reason lurked in that warped mind of hers led her to spare me, rather than skewering my corpse over her temple door. Gale: I hope we never see Orin's like again. Mind flayers and Absolutists I can handle, but she was nothing but cruelty and carnage. Another whose god should go unworshipped.

Kyvir may have partnered with Gortash to start up the Absolute hoax and spent years as Bhaal's Chosen killing people in his name, but hey! At least he's not Orin!

I'm surprised Gale's not hurt, actually. I suppose Orin does have enough restraint to not immediately kill her hostage, at least... It's kind of funny with the way Durge can go "Oh, hostages? So amateur, I would've just killed them" when Orin first reveals the kidnapping. She's so mad about it and then she goes back to the temple and doesn't lay a finger on her hostage. Apparently Gale was basically just taking a nap! I can understand the "nothing but cruelty and carnage" description in general, but in this specific instance it seems a little mean. She just tied him to a table and let him sleep until the party showed up!

I love him commenting that it'd suck to die because of Bhaal after fighting Mystra the whole game, too. The gods all suck! We have to work together to kick all their asses so that none of us suffer an ironic death at the hands of one just after breaking free of another.

#bg3 #gale of waterdeep #orin the red

[penisbutterjellytime]

TY 4 tagging me @markodragic !

Last Song: First Date by James Shayfer. I have a playlist dedicated to my Durge and this song actually inspired me making him. A lot of James Shayfer pops up on there lol. I plan to make a piece with him based off the song … eventually

Favorite Color: All colors are specials in their own way but that being said, dark or dull greens and purples go hard.

Currently Watching: Not currently watching anything but last watched the new Fionna and Cake stuff. Mostly watched it cause I had time to kill and I loved Fionna and Cake when she was first introduced when I was little lol

Last Movie: I think the last movie I watched was Across the Spiderverse when it was out in theaters with one of my dorm mates! (she's an animation major so she's legally required to watch it lol)

Currently Reading: Not reading anything atm. Last book I tried to read was a couple months ago was Gideon the Ninth. Only got to the first few chapters. I love fantasy but I've learned I hate reading it lol. I can imagine my own fantastical stuff but my brain sucks at imagining other peoples worlds lol. Been really wanting for months to try and read Stone Butch Blues though. I'll read that whenever school gives us a break maybe lol.

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Sweet and savory are very closely tied but I'd say savory. Give me a jar of pickles I'll scarf that shit down like a horse eating carrots or whatever.

Relationship Status: Single. to my knowledge no one's ever tried to shoot their shot. Either that or I'm too stupid to realize. They hate me for my boring, reserved energy yet awkward and peculiar mannerisms …

Current Obsession: Baulder's Gate 3 I'm so sorry to ppl sick of it on their dash lol. Also my own world building but I'm … not going to post that … unless people start asking me about it ... then maybe.

Last Thing I Googled: "cow face" and "cow skull". had time to kill in class so I tried to draw cows cause whenever I've tried to draw them from memory they end up looking more dog like than I care to like.

Currently Working On: Besides school work I'm trying to solidify all the gods and Pantheons of a world I've been working on since late high school. It's weird and confusing, I'm making little mood/image boards of sorts so I can narrow down their designs, aesthetics, vibes, etc. Most I'll explain is that the ones I'm working on all the Gods are based off different artistic mediums (god of clay and pottery, god of glassblowing/stained glass /blacksmithing, god of the 2D and cave art, god of destruction/experimental/multi media , gods of leather/weaving/fashion, gods of music and sound, etc etc ) (two of my projs (one i just finished and one currently) for school are environments based off my world building lol)

[astrovagrant]

obvs my full timeline isn't done yet but the orin vibe is like. ana IS an impostor. and the feeling that orin has for her originates from hatred, but the context is entirely different from as-written durge

i'm gonna cut for big ol durge spoilers

orin as written is jealous, feeling she deserves more. she seeks to displace someone more powerful and more favored than her, to prove her worth, etc. it's a little-sister-on-a-power-trip, and while that's fun and puts the player in the position of realizing they really did suck that bad to be Top Bitch over her, i both a) want more for orin and b) need more control over anathema's origins

orin with anathema is still antagonistic but it's like - she is the pure-blooded grand/daughter of sarevok. she is an eminently skilled shapeshifter. she killed her mother and then (in my lil timeline here) the 'canon' bg/2 protag (whatever the hell his name is, though i might eventually play those games For Real rather than half-remembered watching-my-mom-play bits) for bhaal's favor and the right to lead this cult to glorious slaughter and she has been doing that for years - careful planning, for a beautiful outcome.

this orin is more methodical, more patient. she still has her moments of cackling blood-soaked glee, but i want her to be SCARY and not just unstable - she knows good art takes Time and avoiding too heavy of an eye on her group is critical. she feels, in every sense, that she both is entitled to and has also earned everything she has, and threats to her status/position will be disemboweled posthaste. to that end, i think i enjoy her being a full dread three planner way more than a revan-esque "YOU were the EVIL MASTERMIND" reveal.

enter stage left: a shambling puppet, filled with a stolen gift. she Knew something was wrong about anathema as soon as she entered the stage, and even as she saw doubt enter her sect at the arrival of another claimant to the throne, she believed her father would never favor a liar and a thief over Her. she, who has done so much for Him, in His name. when bhaal turns his eye to anathema and doesn't immediately unravel her at the seams - even tells orin that she's Actual Competition - she's seeing red, literally.

ana - even in her fucked-up state - gives her a run for her money. don't really have what the underlying goal was for this whole gambit (i'll get there ok ok - the durgening might also Not Even Happen in a fashion that there IS a 'before'-time. i have yet to decide)

regardless of When the durgening happens, orin's energies with ana upon re-meeting are a) intense b) violently taunting rather than jealous overcompensation c) knowing that ana is an Outsider, not an equal - she is prey, no matter what she's stolen. does she deserve a duel? maybe if you're good, pet. maybe if you're good.

i also think orin toys less with hostages (that's a gortash tactic - see the iron throne, yetcetera) and more with the looming and HIGHLY legitimate threat of violence and sowing distrust to shape ana's behaviors. they're playing a little mind game and ana IS susceptible, because ketheric's dead and gortash can be reasoned with (as a man who wants to maintain dominance and power, he still ultimately needs People and Things to dominate), but orin is sheer unadulterated joy in the rending of living flesh. slaughter is the journey And the destination. you can't really reason with someone like that, and ana Knows it. so when orin starts coyly bringing Other Party Members And Associated Friends into the conversation as viable alternatives for bloodshed since ana won't do what she Fucking Wants, ana IS paying attention.

what does orin want? to kill anathema, most certainly. but more directly: to reclaim what she has 'stolen', of her own volition or not. to drain and consume her.

so orin fucks with her more Directly, but always a little cheekily, flirtatiously. don't you wish you could kill me? you won't kill any of these sad little scenarios i keep giving you, but i know the lying transfusion in your veins wants to rip me limb from limb. i know you wake up almost every night with blood in your mouth because your weak mind roils against MY father's sacred visions. your blood - even stolen as it is - sings for mine because it knows it Belongs to me. it should be one with mine. you should be one with me. wouldn't you like that? you'll walk into my jaws willingly, Soon. when there is nothing left but me. when your blood leaves you no other option than to return Home.

[loud buzzer sounds as ana's 'fucked up psychosexual things to have with antagonist or antagonist-adjacent npcs' counter goes up by one]

#i just need her. to be scarier. and hornier in a tactile way rather than a 'idk crazy is hot right' generic assumption #anathema #nwnposting #obliquely because the timeline by and large covers more nwn events than bg events. i need a generic tag though