🌳 trahearne (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pactmarshal) wrote2022-02-08 06:36 pm
pactmarshal) wrote2022-02-08 06:36 pm
Entry tags:
songerein app
Player: unkie
Age: 31
Contact:unkie or ![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
unkie
Current Characters: N/A
Character: Trahearne
Canon: Guild Wars 2: post-Heart of Thorns (but before the Knight of the Thorn quest, assuming that vision/dream Trahearne has any bearing on dreamwalker Trahearne)
Age: 26
Background Information: About Trahearne, a general overview of sylvari, and an in-depth read on the sylvari.
For some reason, early history is missing from his personal wiki entry, but I'll touch on it briefly here.
Trahearne is the oldest of the first twelve sylvari born from the Pale Tree in 1302 AE. In his Dream before awakening, he saw the Risen Kingdom of Orr green and growing again--he understood that this was his Wyld Hunt: to cleanse Orr. And so most of his life was spent alone traversing the dead human kingdom, or studying its history, its undead inhabitants, the Risen, and the Elder Dragon that caused the corruption, Zhaitan. In fact, up until a point, he and fellow sylvari firstborn Caithe were said to be among the only who saw the dragon and lived to tell the tale.
Despite how he (and many others, to be frank) considered his task to be impossible and hopeless, his expertise on Orr gained him the respect of other scholars and fighters across Tyria, an indispensable asset that would eventually lift him up to the position of Pact Marshal.
At some point in 1325 AE, towards the beginning of the personal story, he returns to the Grove to assist a young sylvari Valiant in some tasks. Among one of these is retrieving a thorn from the Pale Tree that served as a legendary sword, Caladbolg, that was thought lost when its original wielder, firstborn Riannoc, died. After successfully retrieving the blade and avenging Riannoc's death, Trahearne returns to Orr. The rest of his involvement in the story resumes with Claw Island and is detailed briefly the wiki link above. Due to the branching nature of GW2's personal story, I'll list specific questlines I will have considered him to have gone through below.
For simplicity's sake, and since I foresee Trahearne being a lone canon warrior, the commander Trahearne knows will be the player's personal main (human male). I don't plan on making too much reference to him or really mentioning him by name to leave things generally open just in case another GW2 character does happen to show up, but this will affect the events Trahearne will have experienced during the personal story.
Even though the sylvari commander is not the one he will know, I will consider the events of the Act with Wisdom, but Act questline and the Whisper's plan to get Caladbolg back to be a part of his experience. In the Claw Island storyline, he will have experienced the Priory's perspective. In forging the Pact, he will have gone through the Making Another Suffer questline. And finally, the commander chose to accompany the Vigil's Plan to push into Orr, even though Trahearne himself wasn't there for it.
Personality: In a word, Trahearne is good. He cares deeply for his world, his people, and his causes--he is proactive in working towards keeping these things safe, and will do what he can to fight back against anything that threatens them.
A first meeting with him will show him to be a genial, cordial, and polite person. He is well spoken, confident in his speech, and socially considerate of others. Though his demeanor is generally calm and serious, he never hesitates to voice his positive feelings for others - he is quick to pick out others' strengths and will do what he can to put those talents to use if in a position to do so. He is tactful and conscious enough not to insult or act negatively towards others to their faces. For example, when telling the mysterious sylvari Malyck to leave, he expressly mentions his concern for Malyck's wellbeing as he was being targeted by the Nightmare Court. While he was likely genuinely concerned for Malyck, he privately confesses to the player character afterwards that he felt like having Malyck around would be a threat to the sylvari as a whole, which was likely the bigger reason he insisted he leave. But he wasn't going to say that to Malyck's face. His tact doesn't make him a liar, though. He is honest and generally dedicated to good, and all of these things combined has earned him friends of all types across Tyria, even from the most elusive and reclusive races, and even from those in considerable power. So many people at least know of him, regardless of their opinion on him, and calls many people his friend. This, coupled with his in-depth knowledge on Orr and the Risen eventually sees him lifted to position of Pact Marshal.
That doesn't mean he's a social butterfly, however. He tends to keep to himself and seems perfectly content to do so, even when he is ostensibly the star of a celebration. After successfully cleansing Orr, he's initially found by himself and only decides to celebrate after prodding from the commander. Rarely does he seek people out for their personal company, but often for their counsel/advice or if he needs something specifically from them. At the start of the personal story, he is not affiliated with any of Tyria's orders, only working with them if they need him for his expertise on Orr or vice versa. Perhaps because of his loner nature do many who aren't personally familiar with him find him a little weird or offputting--even some sylvari do, due to his "obsessing" over Orr, and that's in contrast with his legendary nature among them as firstborn.
He is dedicated to causes that champion the greater good and the roles that allow him to do so--a love of the world instilled into him by the Pale Tree that he readily embraces. But this is heavily intertwined with his understanding of strengths and weaknesses which also applies to himself: While he readily accepts the duties prescribed to him, he is no idealist--he understands his limitations and that weighs on him. Most of his life pursuing knowledge on Orr and its corruption, then understanding how monumental and intangible cleansing Orr was brought him despair. For that, he spent many years avoiding his Wyld Hunt, burying himself in books, resigning himself and believing the task to be impossible. It wasn't, though--he just needed a literal army and a legendary sword. He shows similar feelings when he's first made Pact Marshal. He understands the importance of the job, and his commitment to taking down Zhaitan, cleansing Orr, and his acknowledgement that he is an expert on the matter leads him to take the post, but he expresses much hesitation and insecurity over the prospect of leading an army. He's a scholar, not a fighter! However, once he knows he can fill the shoes of marshal, his attitude flips to a more confident one. Towards the end, as the Pact is preparing its assault on Mordremoth in the Silverwastes, he can be observed confidently doling out orders to his subordinates. He has a similar confidence when he's acting as firstborn. He believes he knows what is best for the sylvari and can readily mentor the younger ones, sometimes even order them around, brandish his title as firstborn as a threat when need be (usually against the Nightmare Court), and even, almost arrogantly, stick with calling the second generation sylvari "secondborn."
He tends to approach things with a logical, rational mindset. At heart he's a scholar and enjoys the pursuit of knowledge. He tends to keep a level head and approaches things critically; this even carries over when he's made marshal and put into a position where he is making strategic calls for the Pact. He's able to synthesize many threads of information into succinct strategies, to the point where seasoned tacticians compliment him on his tactics. One thing he is surprisingly good at is listening to new information and being able to shift his perspective if need be, because he can acknowledge that he has gaps in his information. This is most evident when he shows willingness to hear the commander argue why the world should focus their attention on Mordremoth. At that point, Trahearne had already spent a lot of time and resources rebuilding the Pact and laying groundwork for the offensive on Kralkatorrik in Elona, and pivoting to basically the opposite side of the continent would be a huge effort, yet he was more than willing to hear them out. And that's before he started taking Mordremoth personally...
Despite his subdued emotional response to most things, he does have a bit of a vengeful streak. He says so himself: "I occasionally fall victim to my rage." Anything that tries to harm the things he cares deeply for can set him off into a righteous fury. This is evident even in the early parts of his life: when the asura find and mutilate Malomedies, a fellow firstborn, he seems to initially agree with secondborn Caderyn and wants to get back at them for harming one of their own, but the Pale Tree talks him down. When other secondborn are kidnapped not long after, he has a similar reaction, though more measured and guised as concern for the sylvari wellbeing--not before a biting comment about the asura being ignorant though. Part of the reason why he had the Pact pivot so quickly from Kralkatorrik to Mordremoth was because the Shadow of the Dragon - one of Mordremoth's champions - attacked the Pale Tree and gravely harmed her. Even though he seemed convinced and willing to shift at that point, he decides almost immediately to pour Pact resources into fighting Mordremoth. Yes, he is dedicated to taking down all the elder dragons, but the incident only served to fuel what was essentially personal revenge. Sadly, though, his rage towards Mordremoth's actions against the tree may have made him hasty in his decision to launch the Pact fleet over the Heart of Maguuma, which would ultimately lead to his demise.
Abilities & Inventory: Trahearne is a Necromancer, which means his abilities focus on dark energy and things like stealing life, inflicting lots of debuffs, and creating minions from dead things in the ground. In particular, he seems to prefer using a scepter and focus (that is, at least, before receiving Caladbolg), so you can see what those do here and here. He does not seem to use the unique class ability listed on the necromancer main page - Death Shroud - so I will not be using this either. Since he has no elite specialization (if he ever did he never got to use it bc he was out of commission the whole expansion lfmao rip) and just a core necromancer, I don't think big nerfs are necessary.
I'd like to mirror how weapon skills work in game and have him unable to use any of his scepter and focus skills until he can procure some in Songerein. But that also means being able to summon a bone minion even without them, since that's a utility skill and not tied to weapons. A bone minion is small and can fight for him, but also explode on command for bigger damage. Unlike the description in the wiki, I would only have him summon one at a time.
Later in the story he comes to wield Caladbolg, the legendary blade made from a thorn off the Pale Tree. The sword seems to have its own skill set, not necessarily moves that Trahearne himself comes up with, but he wields it skilfully and has even used it in combination with the knowledge he has regarding purification rituals to cleanse Orr.
He typically insists that he is no fighter, but in reality he can hold his own in a fight decently well. But until fighting actually happens, he can make use of his non-combat skills, which include talking to people, critical thinking and asking the right questions and following up on threads of knowledge, whatever survival tactics he picked up spending so much time alone in Orr, leadership skills, and lore dumping.
Sylvari are born with some innate "abilities" that seem supernatural to others due to their connection to the Dream. Some of these include an empathetic bond with other sylvari and some plants, but the extent to which Trahearne experiences these is not really explored in-game, so I'll go with the assumption that he does, just to a lesser degree than some sylvari. This will not apply in Songerein due to his connection with the Dream being severed.
Trahearne arrives to Songerein with nothing but the literal clothes he grew out of his tailbone. He will not have Caladbolg.
I wouldn't necessarily call Trahearne someone who is super in tune with his emotions, so the road to developing and gaining mastery over dreamotion abilities might be a long one. But I do have some ideas: When channeling positive emotions, I think creating bright light from his hands would be fun, and in more powerful iterations/as he gets a better grasp on the energy, that light might even...take the form of a big sword reminiscent of a thorn...?? Conversely, when overwhelmed by negative emotions, he might find himself inadvertently creating thick, thorn-covered vines that will consume what he's touching. That will be fun when he's dealing with the guilt/regret knowing he led his subordinates to their deaths and his people into the thrall of an Elder Dragon. also i like suffering :)
Suitability & Plans: The biggest reason I wanted to play Trahearne here (besides just wanting to play him) is because the premise for Songerein would feel very familiar to a sylvari, what with the dreaming and all that, and it's just different enough to be interesting for someone with an inquisitive mind. There's also all this about like...Nightmares? Nightmare-infested wastelands? An encroaching nightmare is a threat immediately understandable to any Dreamer, so that would give him a very clear task upon arrival even though that wasn't originally his area of expertise.
It would also be interesting to explore who he is when he doesn't need to assume the roles of firstborn and marshal. He doesn't need to mentor or lead anyone anymore. Would it be freeing, or will he fall back on old ways? Additionally, it would be fun to delve into the more emotional side of him. He actively tries not to give in to his emotional impulses, so I think it would be interesting to see how his (likely) want to contribute would clash with the necessity to be emotional in order to meaningfully contribute.
Luckily, since Trahearne is the type who can at least get on politely with many kinds of people, and the type that manages just fine on his own, he's not particularly reliant on any castmate and doesn't need a specific type of person to thrive. As someone whose natural instinct is to learn more, I think he has plenty of intrinsic motivation for him to get out there and do things.
As far as plans, there's plenty to theoretically work towards: Purge the nightmare, purify the corrupted wastes...Wait, haven't I heard this song before? Even though it's strikingly similar to things he's done before, that doesn't mean it's the same--he has no army, no Caladbolg behind him this time, just a collection of people who are his equals in this odd situation. And this time, he will have the confidence that came from successfully cleansing Orr and taking down Zhaitan, so even if the methods to those ends turn out to be completely different, he will feel comfortable offering whatever knowledge that could be used towards those goals, since it could turn out to be invaluable information. Just because this isn't his home world, and even without a Wyld Hunt pushing him forward or with the weight of Tyria on his shoulders, that doesn't mean he wouldn't try to do right by his new neighbors.
Test Drive Sample: TDM Toplevel
Questions: There's some ambient sylvari dialogue that mentions feeling briefly disconnected from the Dream when using asura gates. Would that be the case in Songerein, or is there still a connection? Related, but how does being in this dream feel like? Does it feel immediately familiar, or would it be like being handed a cat and then told it's an iguana?
Age: 31
Contact:
unkie or Current Characters: N/A
Character: Trahearne
Canon: Guild Wars 2: post-Heart of Thorns (but before the Knight of the Thorn quest, assuming that vision/dream Trahearne has any bearing on dreamwalker Trahearne)
Age: 26
Background Information: About Trahearne, a general overview of sylvari, and an in-depth read on the sylvari.
For some reason, early history is missing from his personal wiki entry, but I'll touch on it briefly here.
Trahearne is the oldest of the first twelve sylvari born from the Pale Tree in 1302 AE. In his Dream before awakening, he saw the Risen Kingdom of Orr green and growing again--he understood that this was his Wyld Hunt: to cleanse Orr. And so most of his life was spent alone traversing the dead human kingdom, or studying its history, its undead inhabitants, the Risen, and the Elder Dragon that caused the corruption, Zhaitan. In fact, up until a point, he and fellow sylvari firstborn Caithe were said to be among the only who saw the dragon and lived to tell the tale.
Despite how he (and many others, to be frank) considered his task to be impossible and hopeless, his expertise on Orr gained him the respect of other scholars and fighters across Tyria, an indispensable asset that would eventually lift him up to the position of Pact Marshal.
At some point in 1325 AE, towards the beginning of the personal story, he returns to the Grove to assist a young sylvari Valiant in some tasks. Among one of these is retrieving a thorn from the Pale Tree that served as a legendary sword, Caladbolg, that was thought lost when its original wielder, firstborn Riannoc, died. After successfully retrieving the blade and avenging Riannoc's death, Trahearne returns to Orr. The rest of his involvement in the story resumes with Claw Island and is detailed briefly the wiki link above. Due to the branching nature of GW2's personal story, I'll list specific questlines I will have considered him to have gone through below.
For simplicity's sake, and since I foresee Trahearne being a lone canon warrior, the commander Trahearne knows will be the player's personal main (human male). I don't plan on making too much reference to him or really mentioning him by name to leave things generally open just in case another GW2 character does happen to show up, but this will affect the events Trahearne will have experienced during the personal story.
Even though the sylvari commander is not the one he will know, I will consider the events of the Act with Wisdom, but Act questline and the Whisper's plan to get Caladbolg back to be a part of his experience. In the Claw Island storyline, he will have experienced the Priory's perspective. In forging the Pact, he will have gone through the Making Another Suffer questline. And finally, the commander chose to accompany the Vigil's Plan to push into Orr, even though Trahearne himself wasn't there for it.
Personality: In a word, Trahearne is good. He cares deeply for his world, his people, and his causes--he is proactive in working towards keeping these things safe, and will do what he can to fight back against anything that threatens them.
A first meeting with him will show him to be a genial, cordial, and polite person. He is well spoken, confident in his speech, and socially considerate of others. Though his demeanor is generally calm and serious, he never hesitates to voice his positive feelings for others - he is quick to pick out others' strengths and will do what he can to put those talents to use if in a position to do so. He is tactful and conscious enough not to insult or act negatively towards others to their faces. For example, when telling the mysterious sylvari Malyck to leave, he expressly mentions his concern for Malyck's wellbeing as he was being targeted by the Nightmare Court. While he was likely genuinely concerned for Malyck, he privately confesses to the player character afterwards that he felt like having Malyck around would be a threat to the sylvari as a whole, which was likely the bigger reason he insisted he leave. But he wasn't going to say that to Malyck's face. His tact doesn't make him a liar, though. He is honest and generally dedicated to good, and all of these things combined has earned him friends of all types across Tyria, even from the most elusive and reclusive races, and even from those in considerable power. So many people at least know of him, regardless of their opinion on him, and calls many people his friend. This, coupled with his in-depth knowledge on Orr and the Risen eventually sees him lifted to position of Pact Marshal.
That doesn't mean he's a social butterfly, however. He tends to keep to himself and seems perfectly content to do so, even when he is ostensibly the star of a celebration. After successfully cleansing Orr, he's initially found by himself and only decides to celebrate after prodding from the commander. Rarely does he seek people out for their personal company, but often for their counsel/advice or if he needs something specifically from them. At the start of the personal story, he is not affiliated with any of Tyria's orders, only working with them if they need him for his expertise on Orr or vice versa. Perhaps because of his loner nature do many who aren't personally familiar with him find him a little weird or offputting--even some sylvari do, due to his "obsessing" over Orr, and that's in contrast with his legendary nature among them as firstborn.
He is dedicated to causes that champion the greater good and the roles that allow him to do so--a love of the world instilled into him by the Pale Tree that he readily embraces. But this is heavily intertwined with his understanding of strengths and weaknesses which also applies to himself: While he readily accepts the duties prescribed to him, he is no idealist--he understands his limitations and that weighs on him. Most of his life pursuing knowledge on Orr and its corruption, then understanding how monumental and intangible cleansing Orr was brought him despair. For that, he spent many years avoiding his Wyld Hunt, burying himself in books, resigning himself and believing the task to be impossible. It wasn't, though--he just needed a literal army and a legendary sword. He shows similar feelings when he's first made Pact Marshal. He understands the importance of the job, and his commitment to taking down Zhaitan, cleansing Orr, and his acknowledgement that he is an expert on the matter leads him to take the post, but he expresses much hesitation and insecurity over the prospect of leading an army. He's a scholar, not a fighter! However, once he knows he can fill the shoes of marshal, his attitude flips to a more confident one. Towards the end, as the Pact is preparing its assault on Mordremoth in the Silverwastes, he can be observed confidently doling out orders to his subordinates. He has a similar confidence when he's acting as firstborn. He believes he knows what is best for the sylvari and can readily mentor the younger ones, sometimes even order them around, brandish his title as firstborn as a threat when need be (usually against the Nightmare Court), and even, almost arrogantly, stick with calling the second generation sylvari "secondborn."
He tends to approach things with a logical, rational mindset. At heart he's a scholar and enjoys the pursuit of knowledge. He tends to keep a level head and approaches things critically; this even carries over when he's made marshal and put into a position where he is making strategic calls for the Pact. He's able to synthesize many threads of information into succinct strategies, to the point where seasoned tacticians compliment him on his tactics. One thing he is surprisingly good at is listening to new information and being able to shift his perspective if need be, because he can acknowledge that he has gaps in his information. This is most evident when he shows willingness to hear the commander argue why the world should focus their attention on Mordremoth. At that point, Trahearne had already spent a lot of time and resources rebuilding the Pact and laying groundwork for the offensive on Kralkatorrik in Elona, and pivoting to basically the opposite side of the continent would be a huge effort, yet he was more than willing to hear them out. And that's before he started taking Mordremoth personally...
Despite his subdued emotional response to most things, he does have a bit of a vengeful streak. He says so himself: "I occasionally fall victim to my rage." Anything that tries to harm the things he cares deeply for can set him off into a righteous fury. This is evident even in the early parts of his life: when the asura find and mutilate Malomedies, a fellow firstborn, he seems to initially agree with secondborn Caderyn and wants to get back at them for harming one of their own, but the Pale Tree talks him down. When other secondborn are kidnapped not long after, he has a similar reaction, though more measured and guised as concern for the sylvari wellbeing--not before a biting comment about the asura being ignorant though. Part of the reason why he had the Pact pivot so quickly from Kralkatorrik to Mordremoth was because the Shadow of the Dragon - one of Mordremoth's champions - attacked the Pale Tree and gravely harmed her. Even though he seemed convinced and willing to shift at that point, he decides almost immediately to pour Pact resources into fighting Mordremoth. Yes, he is dedicated to taking down all the elder dragons, but the incident only served to fuel what was essentially personal revenge. Sadly, though, his rage towards Mordremoth's actions against the tree may have made him hasty in his decision to launch the Pact fleet over the Heart of Maguuma, which would ultimately lead to his demise.
Abilities & Inventory: Trahearne is a Necromancer, which means his abilities focus on dark energy and things like stealing life, inflicting lots of debuffs, and creating minions from dead things in the ground. In particular, he seems to prefer using a scepter and focus (that is, at least, before receiving Caladbolg), so you can see what those do here and here. He does not seem to use the unique class ability listed on the necromancer main page - Death Shroud - so I will not be using this either. Since he has no elite specialization (if he ever did he never got to use it bc he was out of commission the whole expansion lfmao rip) and just a core necromancer, I don't think big nerfs are necessary.
I'd like to mirror how weapon skills work in game and have him unable to use any of his scepter and focus skills until he can procure some in Songerein. But that also means being able to summon a bone minion even without them, since that's a utility skill and not tied to weapons. A bone minion is small and can fight for him, but also explode on command for bigger damage. Unlike the description in the wiki, I would only have him summon one at a time.
Later in the story he comes to wield Caladbolg, the legendary blade made from a thorn off the Pale Tree. The sword seems to have its own skill set, not necessarily moves that Trahearne himself comes up with, but he wields it skilfully and has even used it in combination with the knowledge he has regarding purification rituals to cleanse Orr.
He typically insists that he is no fighter, but in reality he can hold his own in a fight decently well. But until fighting actually happens, he can make use of his non-combat skills, which include talking to people, critical thinking and asking the right questions and following up on threads of knowledge, whatever survival tactics he picked up spending so much time alone in Orr, leadership skills, and lore dumping.
Sylvari are born with some innate "abilities" that seem supernatural to others due to their connection to the Dream. Some of these include an empathetic bond with other sylvari and some plants, but the extent to which Trahearne experiences these is not really explored in-game, so I'll go with the assumption that he does, just to a lesser degree than some sylvari. This will not apply in Songerein due to his connection with the Dream being severed.
Trahearne arrives to Songerein with nothing but the literal clothes he grew out of his tailbone. He will not have Caladbolg.
I wouldn't necessarily call Trahearne someone who is super in tune with his emotions, so the road to developing and gaining mastery over dreamotion abilities might be a long one. But I do have some ideas: When channeling positive emotions, I think creating bright light from his hands would be fun, and in more powerful iterations/as he gets a better grasp on the energy, that light might even...take the form of a big sword reminiscent of a thorn...?? Conversely, when overwhelmed by negative emotions, he might find himself inadvertently creating thick, thorn-covered vines that will consume what he's touching. That will be fun when he's dealing with the guilt/regret knowing he led his subordinates to their deaths and his people into the thrall of an Elder Dragon. also i like suffering :)
Suitability & Plans: The biggest reason I wanted to play Trahearne here (besides just wanting to play him) is because the premise for Songerein would feel very familiar to a sylvari, what with the dreaming and all that, and it's just different enough to be interesting for someone with an inquisitive mind. There's also all this about like...Nightmares? Nightmare-infested wastelands? An encroaching nightmare is a threat immediately understandable to any Dreamer, so that would give him a very clear task upon arrival even though that wasn't originally his area of expertise.
It would also be interesting to explore who he is when he doesn't need to assume the roles of firstborn and marshal. He doesn't need to mentor or lead anyone anymore. Would it be freeing, or will he fall back on old ways? Additionally, it would be fun to delve into the more emotional side of him. He actively tries not to give in to his emotional impulses, so I think it would be interesting to see how his (likely) want to contribute would clash with the necessity to be emotional in order to meaningfully contribute.
Luckily, since Trahearne is the type who can at least get on politely with many kinds of people, and the type that manages just fine on his own, he's not particularly reliant on any castmate and doesn't need a specific type of person to thrive. As someone whose natural instinct is to learn more, I think he has plenty of intrinsic motivation for him to get out there and do things.
As far as plans, there's plenty to theoretically work towards: Purge the nightmare, purify the corrupted wastes...
Test Drive Sample: TDM Toplevel
Questions: There's some ambient sylvari dialogue that mentions feeling briefly disconnected from the Dream when using asura gates. Would that be the case in Songerein, or is there still a connection? Related, but how does being in this dream feel like? Does it feel immediately familiar, or would it be like being handed a cat and then told it's an iguana?