@karlachslove
Children of No One
Meet the OCs of my BG3 series:
Vex Emberheart, a tiefling sorcerer with dragon’s blood in his veins;
Azriel Duskraen, a drow warlock haunted by a Dark Urge;
Ae’rys, a githyanki monk seeking to prove that cruelty and strength are not one and the same;
Brevele Hightower, an elven druid from Karlach’s past;
Eldryn Silversong, a half-elf ranger cast out from his noble family;
and Nerissa Redthorne, a Baldurian bard with more power than her humanity suggests.
Vex Emberheart
Age
25Species
Mephistopheles TieflingGender
Male (Transgender)Sexuality
Panromantic DemisexualHeight
1.65 m or 5’5”Class
Sorcerer
Draconic Bloodline
(Silver Dragon Ancestry)Alignment
Lawful GoodSignificant Other(s)
Wyll RavengardBackground
Orphaned at a young age by traffickers seeking to exploit his draconic powers, Vex Emberheart has spent his life protecting others like him. From his childhood in a shelter to life on the streets of Baldur’s Gate, he’s always been a hero at heart - whether he wants to be or not. Even in his adventures far from the city, he could never escape his calling. The famous ‘Emberheart’ is who he is meant to be. But after being taken by the Illithid Empire and having a tadpole forced into his brain, he knows he can’t save Faerûn on his own. Could the Blade of Frontiers be the partner he needs, in battle and in life?Lore
✧ Vex lost his parents at the age of 6, forced to watch them die by kidnappers’ blades. He only survived because of his draconic gifts, killing them unintentionally with shards of ice.
✧ Older homeless children helped keep Vex fed and alive, bringing him to a shelter where they all lived. A few generous volunteers spent their days caring for them, but even they couldn’t stop the traffickers who took him when he was 12.
✧ For 4 years, Vex was used for his powers, passed from owner to owner. His stubbornness, even when beaten, kept anyone from keeping him too long.
✧ Lying awake at night, Vex would often take comfort in the stars. He’d remember his parents’ stories about the constellations and make up some of his own too.
✧ He also drew strength from his bond with Bahamut. Though Vex is not strongly religious, he believes his draconic powers are a gift from the god and strives to embody his ideals of justice and mercy.
✧ When Vex finally escaped, it was with the help of other slaves, all of them rising together to kill their owners.
✧ On the long road back to Baldur’s Gate, Vex began shaping himself into the man he knew he was meant to be. He scrimped and saved for top surgery and used his magic to make a few other cosmetic changes.
✧ He likely would have made it home faster were it not for his innate drive to help people. When he sees someone in danger, Vex can’t stop himself from jumping in. It’s instinct.
✧ He earned the name ‘Emberheart’ after saving a young bard from a group of thieves. He always rolls his eyes a bit when he hears it. After all, it’s merely his surname.
✧ Vex had been living in Baldur’s Gate for a few years when he was captured by the illithid nautiloid. Rather than being freed on the ship, though, he was thrown from it, ending up gravely injured on the road to Elturel.
✧ He first meets Wyll Ravengard when he wakes up to find Wyll treating his wounds. They quickly become friends and join the refugees at the druid camp, where they later meet the party and the plot of BG3 begins.
✧ Vex and Wyll begin falling for each other right from the start, drawn together by their shared morals and heart. They’re like a pair of binary stars, always shining brighter when the other is near.
✧ When Mizora forces Wyll into his devil form, Vex is the first to tell him how beautiful he is, inside and out. When Wyll tries to argue, he compares the warlock’s devilish features to his own, asking if he finds Vex to be any of the things he calls himself. Ultimately, Wyll admits he could never. He thinks Vex is stunning.
✧ The two of them share their first kiss at the tiefling party, lying on the lakeshore under the stars. Though Wyll tried to isolate himself that night, Vex wouldn’t let him, instead setting up a little party of their own on the sand.
✧ Wyll’s fairytale approach to romance and sex is perfect for Vex, especially since he’s demisexual. His attraction develops slowly, so he’s more than happy to take things one day at a time.
✧ Vex is the first to suggest finding Wyll a way out of his pact, and he dedicates himself to the cause. When Mizora offers Wyll the ultimatum of choosing his father or his soul, Vex tells him they’ll save his father on their own - and they do.
✧ When Ulder Ravengard berates his son for his supposed ‘mistakes,’ Vex is fiercely defensive of him. He uses their shared tadpole connection to show just how much of a hero Wyll is… and how much he loves him.
✧ Though Vex tells Wyll he’ll remain at his side either way, he’s thrilled when Wyll chooses to become the Blade of Avernus. A life of adventuring and helping people is his idea of a perfect future.
✧ Despite only knowing him for a few months, Vex doesn’t even have to think before accepting Wyll’s proposal at the Wilden Oak. He truly can’t imagine a life without him.
✧ After returning from Avernus with Karlach and her partner, Brevele, they immediately elope, just the two of them and a cleric. Their friends are astonished when they find out. They never would have expected Vex and Wyll to do something so spontaneous.
✧ Within a few weeks, Vex realizes he’s pregnant (and that he likely was in Avernus). He later gives birth to a pair of twins, a boy and a girl: Soren and Morrigan. Until the children are older, he and Wyll choose to take a break from adventuring and settle down in Baldur’s Gate.
✧ They live out their happily ever after at home and on the road, leaving the twins with their aunts and uncles from time-to-time so they can rejoin the fight. As soon as the kids are old enough, they practically beg to join their fathers, with Morrigan inheriting Vex’s draconic powers and Soren becoming a studious Bladesinger.
Azriel Duskraen
Age
70Species
Lolth-Sworn Drow
(Bhaalspawn)Gender
MaleSexuality
Gay (Polyamorous)Height
1.88 m or 6’2”Class
Warlock
The Archfey (Sarath Thar)Alignment
Chaotic Neutral
Chaotic Evil (formerly)Significant Other(s)
Astarion Ancunín
Halsin Silverbough
Enver Gortash (formerly)Background
Azriel Duskraen has no memory of his past. When he wakes up on the nautiloid with a pounding headache and a tadpole in his brain, the only things he knows are his name… and the Urge. Deep within him, something grabs hold with jagged claws, begging for chaos and carnage, demanding he bathe the whole world in blood. But when that world needs saving, Azriel ends up on a very different mission. Unlike Vex, the de facto leader of their infected party, Az is no hero, and he doesn’t pretend to be. As he grows closer to a vampire spawn with morals like his own, though, something inside him begins to change. Can he and Astarion prove that they’re more than what their masters made them to be, or will the Dark Urge consume Azriel first?Lore
✧ Azriel was left in Menzoberranzan as a newborn, dropped on the doorstep of the noble House Illyrin by Sceleritas Fel. Rather than raising him as her own, the house matron, Phaere, gave him to her servants.
✧ One servant in particular, a man named Malakar, became rather attached to the strange infant. He didn’t balk at his single demonic eye or the blood red tinging his white hair, but instead, treated him with love and care.
✧ Az was a witty, playful child with a knack for causing trouble. He would often play pranks on the nobles, replacing their wine with something unpleasant or rigging the curtains to catch fire, but he was always smart enough to avoid being caught.
✧ The Urge came seemingly out of nowhere, consuming Azriel like wildfire. He was 10 the first time it fully took hold. By the time his memory returned to him, every drow in the house was dead. The only one left was him, standing over Malakar’s corpse with a kitchen knife, soaked head-to-toe in blood.
✧ With no other choice, he fled Menzoberranzan after that. All alone in the wilds of the Underdark, Azriel was certain death was near. But it wasn’t death that approached him with a warlock’s pact. It was Sarath Thar, the Omenseeker, asking for only one thing in return - his life’s story, every gruesome and intimate second, from birth to death.
✧ Armed with his new powers and guided by his patron, Azriel made his way to Baldur’s Gate. In mere months on the streets, the Urge drove him to commit such vile and ghastly murders that Sceleritas immediately knew he was the culprit. The butler quickly spirited him away to the Temple of Bhaal, uniting him with his brother, Sarevok Anchev.
✧ Over the next 30 years, the Bhaalists shaped Azriel into a relentless, bloodthirsty monster. He was tortured by the cultists, Sarevok, and even himself, carving deep scars into his face with his own hands and tattooing his entire body at once.
✧ When Orin was born, the abuse only worsened. Beneath the Urge, the innocent boy Azriel once was pushed him to protect her. He would often purposefully draw Sarevok’s ire to distract him, enduring physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at his hand.
✧ Fifteen years before the events of BG3, when Azriel was 55, he was approached by a young Enver Gortash. After months spent tracking Az and his work, Gortash purposefully got himself kidnapped and dragged to the Temple of Bhaal. On his knees at Azriel’s feet, he made his proposition - Bane’s Chosen and Bhaal’s purest progeny, uniting to restore their gods to glory. Though Az nearly killed him at first, he ultimately chose to accept, if only to grasp at the tiniest bit of power outside of his family’s control.
✧ Five years later, when Gorion’s Ward and Viekang died in battle and Bhaal was resurrected in truth, Azriel was gifted the form of the Slayer and officially became his father’s Chosen. These were his darkest years, only half-remembered even before the tadpole.
✧ It wasn’t long before Az and Enver fell into bed together. Az didn’t have the feelings Enver did for him, but it became a rebellion of sorts for them both - the child of Bhaal touching, but not killing; the tyrant’s Chosen submitting to another. Privately, they considered leaving their gods behind and starting a new life, but neither was foolish enough to voice these thoughts aloud, especially once Ketheric and Myrkul became involved.
✧ As Azriel grew more independent and gained power of his own, Orin became more and more furious. Though Az had always treated her as a sister, raising her gently, even weaving her signature braid, it was clear to Orin that he was no longer the Chosen their father deserved. She didn’t need to don an illusion to lure him into the illithid colony. He trusted her, and she rewarded that trust with a knife to the skull.
✧ When Azriel woke up on the nautiloid with no memory of his past, it was almost a gift. The Urge was still there, gnawing and ever-present, but it wasn’t him. He could fight for a new life - a life of his own.
✧ Though Astarion holds him at knife-point the second they meet, Azriel is immediately drawn to him. Beneath the snarky surface, he can sense something different. Astarion is broken, like him.
✧ Azriel is completely unfazed by Astarion’s vampiric nature, and their flexible morals and cutting wit bring them together early in their journey.
✧ The first time they sleep together, Az can tell there’s something Astarion isn’t telling him. Though he asks repeatedly if everything is okay, Astarion insists there’s nothing he wants more. Astarion later admits that his past came back to haunt him, but that night was still wonderful in a way he never anticipated.
✧ When the Urge drives Azriel to kill the dragonborn bard, Quil, he doesn’t hide the crime. He’s horrified - not so much that he would commit murder, but that he wasn’t in control when it happened.
✧ Azriel likely wouldn’t have been opposed to destroying the Grove to gain more information about their tadpoles, but when Vex firmly vetoes the idea, he’s a bit relieved. Indulging the Urge is an act he tries to avoid.
✧ When the party arrives at Last Light Inn, Azriel is faced with a new revelation: in his past life, he helped Gortash plan Karlach’s kidnapping. He even guarded him when he was confronted by her fiancée, Brevele - an elven druid now working with Jaheira - and took one of their eyes. Fortunately for him, Brevele takes Karlach’s word that he’s a friend.
✧ Azriel is already shaken by the cultists’ deference towards him when they encounter Araj at Moonrise. Her blithe suggestion that Astarion is nothing more than property infuriates him, and he is only kept from killing her by Vex.
✧ When Astarion finally opens up about his trauma and admits that he only slept with Azriel to keep himself safe, Az’s heart breaks for him. As they talk, he slowly realizes that he originally viewed Astarion the same way. He immediately makes it clear that Astarion means everything to him, with or without sex.
✧ After Sceleritas tries to force Azriel to kill Astarion as penance for letting Isobel live, Az withdraws into himself, terrified that his night tied up by the fire was just the beginning. Thankfully, Astarion refuses to let him go that easily.
✧ Az and Astarion begin to grow closer to Halsin in the Shadow-Cursed Lands. Though Astarion still makes biting comments at Halsin’s expense, they both take comfort in his fierce protectiveness, and he slowly finds his way past their walls.
✧ When Halsin propositions Azriel in Baldur’s Gate, Az considers it, but tells him that he and Astarion still have work to do in their personal journeys first. They’re both still tied to their pasts, and while they care for Halsin, they need to be whole on their own before starting something new.
✧ When they reach the Lower City, Azriel immediately zeroes in on Cazador. Giving Astarion his freedom is more important to him than any other quest, even facing Orin and Bhaal.
✧ Together, Az, Brevele, and Halsin convince Astarion not to ascend. Azriel couldn’t be prouder of him for breaking the cycle of abuse and claiming power in his own right, not his master’s.
✧ Though he gives Astarion space to process after killing Cazador, Azriel stays by his side the whole evening afterwards. He washes the blood off of his lover’s skin and holds him for hours before they go to the graveyard.
✧ When Astarion finally admits he loves him, Azriel is ecstatic. In truth, he’s been waiting to confess for months.
✧ Though he holds it together in the Bhaal Temple, clinging tight to Halsin’s hand, watching Azriel die will always haunt Astarion. When they return to the Elfsong, he breaks down completely. The worst part is that he knows it will happen again one day. It’s part of his immortal curse.
✧ To Astarion’s surprise, resurrection wasn’t Withers’ only gift to Azriel. When he brought him back from the Fugue Plane, it was with an oath: “Death will not claim thee for as long as I endure.” It was then that Azriel became bonded to Jergal and functionally immortal.
✧ Killing Gortash is harder for Azriel than he expected. Though he never loved him, he was the first person to treat Az like a man, not a monster. In the end, he finds that he can’t even fulfill his old promise - that when the time came, it would be his dagger plunged through Enver’s heart. Instead, he lets Karlach have the killing blow.
✧ Once the battle with the Elder Brain is over, Az and Astarion choose to live in the Underdark, not only to help the feral vampires they released from Cazador’s dungeon, but also to learn more about Azriel’s new divine powers.
✧ When his bond with Bhaal was ripped away and Jergal resurrected him as ‘child of no one,’ Azriel became something new - no longer a Bhaalspawn, but a divine titan. His murderous gifts were replaced with powers of protection, a result of his purified deific blood.
✧ While living with the vampire spawn, Az and Astarion grow close to one of the kidnapped children: a Lolth-sworn szarkai named Lirael. She was being trained on the surface as a spy when one of Astarion’s siblings took her, no older than Azriel was the first time he felt the Urge. She’s witty and wily like them, but also unbearably lonely.
✧ Shortly after the epilogue party, once Azriel has discovered a spell that shields Astarion from the effects of nature, they decide to move to Reithwin with Halsin. Though they never expected to have a child, they find themselves unable to leave Lirael behind. Despite her fangs and red eyes, she fits right in with the orphans Halsin cares for.
✧ Late one night, once the children are asleep, Halsin, Astarion, and Azriel are sharing a drink under the stars when Astarion makes a surprising admission - that he never thought he would feel this loved. Breaking into beatific smiles, Azriel and Halsin pull him into their arms. The three of them spend a blissful night together, only the first of many.
✧ The children are quick to love their new caretakers, accepting them as fathers. They have nicknames for all three of them: ‘Daddy Halsin,’ ‘Papa Az,’ and ‘Papa Starry.’
Ae’rys
Age
20Species
GithyankiGender
FemaleSexuality
Demiromantic LesbianHeight
1.68 m or 5’6”Class
Monk
Way of the Four ElementsAlignment
Lawful NeutralSignificant Other(s)
Lae’zelBackground
Born and raised in Créche Eche’as, nestled in the Stormhorn Mountains, Ae’rys is a fierce warrior. She’s never been given the choice to be anything else. Amongst the ranks of the gith, there’s no room for the weak. But after watching her créche tear itself apart from within, all seeking Vlaakith’s glory, Ae’rys’ definition of ‘strength’ is quite different from the rest of her kin. Given a special mission by the Jhe’stil Kith’rak himself, Ae’rys has spent a tenday spying on the Inquisition in Faerûn when something unexpected happens: a githyanki by the name of Lae’zel arrives, carrying the Prism their whole species is fighting to find. Even after Ae’rys saves her life, Lae’zel is slow to trust, more cold and exacting than the sternest sa’varsh. Together, though, they might just stand a chance, not only of saving the world, but of freeing their people from Vlaakith’s tyranny - for good.Lore
To be added soon!
Brevele Hightower
Age
63Species
High Elf
(Sun-Moon Hybrid)Gender
Non-BinarySexuality
LesbianHeight
1.98 m or 6’6”Class
Druid
Circle of the MoonAlignment
Neutral GoodSignificant Other(s)
Karlach CliffgateBackground
The unwanted child of a flighty moon elf and apathetic sun elf, Brevele Hightower was raised by the druids of the Baldurian Circle from infancy. They were a brilliant ray of sun in the stagnant grove, bringing new life everywhere they went, and little changed as they grew up. Their only flaw - in the eyes of their elders, at least - has always been their desperate need for freedom. Brevele begs to differ. After all, that yearning for liberation is what led them to meet the love of their life, a fearless tiefling named Karlach Cliffgate. When their beloved fiancée disappeared the day after they became engaged, Brevele immediately knew who was responsible. Facing Enver Gortash and his pet Bhaalspawn, though, only left them with a wounded eye and more questions than answers. Now trapped in the Shadow-Cursed Lands after a decade spent searching, the last thing Brevele expects is for Karlach to return to them, much less with a tadpole in her head and the lost Scion of Bhaal at her side. Can Brevele and Karlach make up for lost time? Or will their love be yet another casualty in the fight for the fate of the realms?Lore
To be added soon!
Eldryn Silversong
Age
52Species
Half-Elf
(Wood Elf + Human)Gender
MaleSexuality
GayHeight
1.93 m or 6’4”Class
Ranger
Beast MasterAlignment
Chaotic GoodSignificant Other(s)
Gale DekariosBackground
At first glance, no one would ever believe that Eldryn Silversong is the son of a noble. Heir to Earl Thalion and his late wife, Reyna, Eldryn rejected his viscount title long ago, choosing instead to build a future alongside the beasts of the wild. He's a born hunter, deadly with blade and bow, and bound to a lineage of wolves who fight fiercely at his side. It's those very skills that lead Wyll Ravengard and Brevele Hightower to recruit their old friend the moment they reach Baldur's Gate. Thrown back into the whirlwind of backstabbing and corruption that made him leave the city in the first place, Eldryn begins to question if there's even anything worth protecting. But with the help of his companion wolf, Delphi, he soon finds his answer in the form of Gale Dekarios. Gale and Eldryn are an unlikely pair. The Wizard of Waterdeep certainly never dreamed he would discard his goddess for a mere sylvan ranger. Together, though, they may finally be able to find something worth fighting for - and more importantly, worth living for.Lore
To be added soon!
Nerissa Redthorne
Age
28Species
HumanGender
Female (Transgender)Sexuality
BisexualHeight
1.78 m or 5’10”Class
Bard
College of ValourAlignment
True NeutralSignificant Other(s)
ShadowheartBackground
Nerissa Redthorne has always lived her life behind a mask. Forced to fend for herself as a freshly-orphaned teen, her charisma has long been her greatest asset. She weaves spells like song lyrics, turns combat maneuvers into the most graceful of dances. What no one has gotten close enough to know, though, is that beneath the façade of the daring storyteller lies a wily spy. Secrets are power among the nobility of Baldur's Gate, and Nerissa wields them just as skillfully as she does her flute. She collects knowledge new and old. With a carefully-placed word, she could topple an entire regime. When the party meets her at a ball turned bloody, they quickly discover how much they need someone like her on their side. Fortunately for them, a silver-haired cleric has already caught Nerissa's eye. Shadowheart's story hits a painfully familiar note. They've both been molded into weapons by forces beyond their control. Can they learn to forge their own futures, together? Or are their fates already written in blood?Lore
To be added soon!