Tag Archives: GW2

The Necromancer and the Orchid Prince: Part 3

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Whoohoo! Progress is being made! This one is extra long (by 25%) because the 70-80 quests are actually really long! And copious amounts of fluff! Thanks again to Tharash for beta-reading and editing!

The most egregious thing that needed adjusting for me was the final boss fight, because Zhaitan goes down like a sad puppy in the game and… like… some Wyld Hunt that was. I wanted to stab the dragon myself, not watch it die by clicking the “shoot cannon” button over and over! (Also that dungeon is very slow and doesn’t have great pacing.) It was also fun to figure out how the different choices of mission could work at the same time! I also put in some cameos from other characters, some of them probably gratuitous.

Soundtracks used for inspiration: Fodlan Winds, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Let There Be Fire, Apex of the World, and also 打ち上げ花火 by Cellchrome (or Fireworks is what Google Translate tells me that means) which doesn’t have the studio version on YouTube, only live mall performances which are… not actually that great (sorry Cellchrome, you guys sound better on CD, I will buy all your CDs if you make them available in Canada, deal?).

I’m madly in love with Trahearne’s voice, help lol. How is it so deliciously yummy!? Cheers to Matthew Brenher for having such a magnificent voice. : )

I’m in game up to the end of HoT, so I’ll be writing at least up to that point.

Contents:
– 1: Strength of the Firstborn (Forging the Pact)
– 2: The Second Loss (Level 70 quests)
– 3: Comfort (The Battle of Fort Trinity)
– 4: Strike Boldly (Level 80 quests)
– 5: Love Requited (The Cleansing of Orr)
– 6: Victory or Death
– 7: Meet the Family (Basegame Epilogue)

Part 2: Hope’s Legacy Continue reading →

The Necromancer and the Orchid Prince: Part 2

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This one goes up to the end of the level 60 quests, and Caoilfhionn is actually in-game half-way through the 80 quests. Zela, my main, is almost up to Heart of Thorns.

Reminder that ‘Caoilfhionn’ is pronounced ‘kee-lin’, though I’m strongly considering changing it to Caolán, at Tharash’s suggestion. Also Tharash edited the dialogue for his characters again, whoohoo!

Contents:
– 1: Raven’s Shaman (Level 40 quests)
– 2: Ghosts and Guns (Ascalon Catacombs)
– 3: Hope’s Legacy (Caudecus’s Manor)
– 4: Hearts That Beat (Twilight Arbour)
– 5: The Fall of Claw Island (Level 60 quests)
– 6: A Slow Blossoming (Level 60 quests)
– 7: The Marshal of the Pact (Level 60 quests)
– 8: Your Place is At My Side (Trahearne)

Part 1: A Valiant’s Quest

 

Part 2: Hope’s Legacy

1: Raven’s Shaman (Level 40 quests)

Returning to Lion’s Arch was less of a culture shock this time. Caoilfhionn knew what to expect, both from the surroundings and the people, and he didn’t so much as jump when a Norn staggered past him in the outskirts, waving a tankard and bellowing insults to everyone she saw. The centre of town was more peaceful, with more… ‘ordinary’ people gathering near the beautiful lion fountain. Now that he looked at the place from a new perspective, it was not overwhelming at all. People thrived here, Sylvari included. The gulls stirred his heart, the towers of masts and rigging, the slosh of the waves against the docks, the smell of seaweed. Continue reading →

The Necromancer and the Orchid Prince: Part 1

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So… I got back into GW2… to have something ‘new’ to play with Tharash (we actually played it a few years ago, but due to a glitch with a cutscene we stopped abruptly and never returned until about 6 weeks ago) – and… well… I fell in love again at level 60. So I wrote about it.

I wrote, in fact, 20K words (so far) of random fluff and adventure about my Sylvari knight, Caoilfhionn the Orchid Prince, and his falling in love with the “””creepy””” (charming, nerdy, awkward, adorable) necromancer Trahearne. Caoilfhionn is pronounced “kee-lin”, according to the internet, because Irish (one of the Sylvari linguistic inspirations, along with Welsh) is like that. If you’re Irish or familiar with it (I am not?) it is actually a feminine name, because I was going to make a female Sylvari, but I didn’t really like the female Sylvari voice (and it’s Jennifer Hale? But it just didn’t fit the aesthetic I wanted (speaking of voice actors HOW is Matt Mercer the male Norn PC? It sounds nothing like him! He’s so good)) or most of the default faces as much as I liked the male Sylvari voice (much sweeter! Even if it lacks energy a lot of the time) and default faces. And I still liked the name, and have no gender associations with it, so I hope you can forgive me for using it anyway.

I’ve completed the basegame story, up to Victory or Death, so please no spoilers, I like finding out Caoilfhionn’s reactions in real-time. Scenes skip around because the actual story of GW2 is… spotty in quality and pacing, and I didn’t feel it was worth the effort to fix everything, so you will probably enjoy this fic more if you’ve played the game than not. This section goes up to the end of the level 30 Sylvari quest, with hints of other simultaneous level 10-30 questlines.

This story involves Tharash’s input and characters so heavily that it’s very nearly co-written – at least, all the non-fluffy parts are co-written. I have a good sense for Sylvari culture, but for example all the Asura dialogue is by Tharash, because I haven’t a clue with those hilarious little twerps. As you might expect, he has no personal interest in a romance with Trahearne, so those parts are ALL ME. (also here is a picture of his immediate siblings!)

Caoilfhionn probably listens to a lot of Enya.

It’s a nice break from Murlesson’s story! I’m not editing this too closely, I’m not trying to push it to a higher level (like with SWTOR or MEA), I’m just having fun putting some OCs in a really neat world. And Caoilfhionn falls in love at first sight, because of course he does. Like, that’s actually a Sylvari thing. Continue reading →