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The Arx Secrets Thread
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@mietze said in The Arx Secrets Thread:
Ouida was Corusadin’s rider at the caer’alfar battle and defeated the champion there in combat. She also got to help raise/habituate to humans Cynara when she hatched.
Aleksei’s family the Morgans are descended from House Morganis, an old Cardian house that came over with Valar and stayed all loyal and whatnot. So Aleksei and some of his siblings were trying to get in touch with Relavor? Who sometimes watches over families like that? And we got a message that was like, “Fine okay but only if you bring that one knight. OOODA? I don’t remember.” Sadly I think you stopped playing here not long after, and I lost some sibling players and didn’t want to pursue it without them, so we never did end up meeting Relavor! But we definitely would’ve brought you.
@RightMeow said in The Arx Secrets Thread:
She has a possessed (ish) Teddy Bear. She brought him to battle with her. He comes to life and talks, but normally when she’s half asleep and not usually to her directly. He talks to the shadows around her. One was that she didn’t know her lineage and could have saved from the threat in the North. I wish I followed up on that.
omg WHAT, that’s amazing.
I know a PC who had a mirror with the soul of a former Archduchess in it, and she was sassy as FUCK and it was always amazing when she’d mouth off.
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I know someone who’s secret is that they have a book written by their future self called the Confessions of (Name). They would get clues/dreams/etc about stuff about them. I don’t think they followed up on that either.
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If Ysbail had any juicy secrets, I was too thick to figure them out, or just… not able to navigate the clues. Add on a lack of enough time to dedicate to uncovering things, and you got a big pile of woe. It’s fine though.
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@Roz i still laugh every time when I think of the first time Ouida met Cynara in game. She truly was a dumb jock of a knight and I loved that about her. I never imagined she’d have any kind of magic so like she had like 1 mana and 2 int and I must have failed like 5 or 6 checks in the scene in order to recognize Cynara until Herja mercy pulled for me. Ouida had been trying to chat up/flirt with the Pretty Lady the entire time and then…DOH!! But that would have been fun to travel with the Morgans!!
Also another fond memory came from NPCs having the same names as unrelated PCs. So this group of players and their pcs who clearly paid MUCH MORE ATTENTION than I did about lore abd history were like talking about how they should kill/take out the evil person Lady X, and Ouida was like what the fuck Other Lady X is hot and nice they’re not evil, and then the other pcs started getting worried like wtf Ouida how can you think Evil Lady X is hot and nice and where the fuck was this that you even saw her–and it went around and around and sidelined an Important Business Meeting for like 45 mins because me and my pc were too dumb to realize what they were actually talking about.
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In thought of two questions I never had answered!
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Who was Saverio? I know he was an NPC and I think he may have been at least a little evil but never figured out what his deal was.
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What was the deal with the times a bunch of reincarnates got snowy visions about saving the world? I think I heard they were from a Rex living up north?
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Most of Orazio’s family died of the plague when he was a young man. He nursed his mother, father, and a couple siblings through their horrific deaths–and then caught it, himself. In a moment of despair he tried to end his life and ended up summoning a demon instead. He agreed to its deal in order to save his life.
So, yes, he was possessed for a good portion of the time I played him. It didn’t control his behavior, but he always knew it was there. Watching. It was exorcised by Prism and Copper, but by that time…well, Orazio didn’t have many friends, and it was the only one he felt truly understood what he’d been through. So he was able to keep it in a bottle and was attempting to reform it. But mostly just…talking to it like he couldn’t talk to anyone else.
He also attempted to mend the relationship between the Nox and the Compact after the whole Nox diplomatic visit thing and ended up accidentally secret married to the Nox ambassador. He used that connection to get the weapons that had been originally on the table and distribute them, as well as to get part of the key that was necessary to restore Alaric to sanity.
Finally, when he died, his secret wife had him reincarnated as a Nox instead, and he was briefly Kathivor, Ambassador to Arx.
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I think mine were both fairly well known? I had no idea how to use them without telling them so I did!
Norwood: The Laurent house sword, Queensguard had a soul hanging out in it that would talk to Norwood. The soul’s name was Pimsley Egglesworth, and he was Jonathan Baseborn’s (Laurent founder & Norwood’s past self it turns out) steward. He liked to lecture Norwood about etiquette and was part of why I played Norwood as stiff as he was sometimes. The sword was also blessed to protect the heirs of Laurent so in super tough scenes were stiff seemed super bad i would excitedly text the GM “CAN MY SWORD GLOW PLEASE??” and if they said yes Queensguard would take out all of Legion’s baddies in a scene and it was awesome. Norwood asked once if Pimsley wanted to be freed (gonna go to Aureth and be like “remember that stick I gave you? Want to help me free a soul?”) But Pimsley was all “bah, I’m stay with you.” (Cue tears)
I loved that damn sword. I would spend happy hours imagining Norwood and it talking. Every scene involved the sword in the back of my mind saying things to Norwood no one else could hear (typically when I KNEW he broke etiquette!). When Margerie and Norwood married he told her about Pimsley and she put a kibosh to the sword living in the bedroom with them. >.>
While I’m sorry Laurent lost their house sword, the poetry of its ending with Norwood literally made me cry. When Queensguard was broken it released the spirit. Norwood died at the same time and Pimsley and Norwood went back to the wheel together - thus tears.
Kenna: She had a knack for finding lost things, or being found by lost things. She looked into it a lot until it lead to the Prince of Secrets (because I can’t find his name?). She got to visit some cool places based off stuff she found. One was this museum with possessed toy monkeys and clowns. I always wanted to go back again but couldn’t find people to join me. X.x Also people were all “wtf stop looking. Bad idea!” And it freaked her out. I eventually got tired of the pull and also ooc nonsense I can’t remember now so stopped playing. I do miss her energy.
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This is such a cool thread!
So, Alis secret: She had one from the beginning, about having nightmares that a den of white dragons was attacked in their sleep by a horde of shavs that were poofed in by a dragon with a black claw. And she realized after hearing what happened at Sanctum while she was training in Arx that she’d dreamt of what happened to the family, and knew it must have been something other than what it seemed.
But, later on I got a much bigger secret through RP. Irony had contacted several people asking for someone to tell her about being a Knight and what it was all about. And Alis being all Oathlands Knighty was like ‘I am not letting letting someone that isn’t a //Valardin// Knight talk about Knighthood without getting a word in about how WE do it. So ofc she volunteered. And when Irony asked to be Alis’ squire she absolutely said yes, and had no idea that Irony was really a dragon. Not until much later, when Tolv came to Alis and was like 'hey, there’s a dragon that’s been trapped in a pit in YOUR LANDS since forever. You might wanna get them out before they’re consumed for Primum. And in the course of the rescue, in the best scene ever, Alis was injured by giant insect things (b/c of course giant insect things) and Irony got BIG MAD. Literally big mad, and turned into a dragon cause someone hurt her human. And that is the story of how Alis became a young dragon’s familiar. Big ol secret to those outside the Red Wardens until endgame.
Azova’s secret, on the other hand, I didn’t ever get to fully explore, which makes me sad. It started with just having the ability in any battlefield or place like the House of Solace, to know who was the most injured and close to death and exactly where to find them so they could be helped.
Found out through my final rfr that she’s the reincarnation of a Caer’alfar era champion of Lagoma. One of the goddess’ aspects of healing in battle.
I didn’t know any of this when I leaned heavily into her being a Mercy and asked for Legendary Mercy as my title for getting Medicine 6. But, it would have been so cool to play on all of that in game.
All in all, I think both characters and their secrets in the end kicked ass
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@Roz said in The Arx Secrets Thread:
In thought of two questions I never had answered!
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Who was Saverio? I know he was an NPC and I think he may have been at least a little evil but never figured out what his deal was.
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What was the deal with the times a bunch of reincarnates got snowy visions about saving the world? I think I heard they were from a Rex living up north?
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mid aetheris spy elf guy.
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i think that as aetheris trying to pretend to be ‘good’ guys, still?
fr fr
(she/her) -
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@hellfrog lol at Aetheris still trying to make fetch happen
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I didn’t finish out on either Jael or Ailys, so I don’t feel comfortable sharing their secrets. But here’s Thena’s:
As a kid, she stole something from a mysterious stranger in a bar. It turned out to be a necklace, that bound itself to her with blood magic and was only visible in mirrors. When she helped take down a garganuan, the souls of the original Path of Storms shamans (I think? This was a long time ago) went into the necklace and she became their protector.
She left Arx with Silver to do Hero Things. I’m not sure what happened after that, but if she’d been offered the chance to become a nox’alfar she 100% would have taken it.
ETA: @Narson NOT DEAD!
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@Snackness Jael’s Furyborn status at least became really public at the end!
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@Roz Yes, I heard
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So to understand Jaenelle’s original roster secret you have to know what her original personality was!
Jaenelle Personality: There are the wise, there are the intelligent, and there are the savvy. And then there is Jaenelle. She may be the sweetest woman, the most sincere, but there are some quarries full of rocks with more brain power than the noblewoman. Quick to giggle, and to stare vacantly at any sort of conversation, she often laughs at jokes days later or is certain birds are secret spies for the animal overlords. The one thing that stands out, is that matters of running a household - the numbers, supplying, organizing the servants… Jaenelle seems to be a complete savant. Math and numbers are as easy to her, as everything else is completely beyond her reach, almost eerily so.
Secret #1 of Jaenelle: Jaenelle had her husband killed. She even said ‘Yay!’ after the deed was done, too. She’s always been a quietly brilliant woman, but learned very early on that most of the men of House Thrax were not particularly interested in what a woman had to say, so she found it far easier to feign ignorance while manipulating matters. She decided she wanted to be married into Velenosa, due to the far more freedom it would grant her, and a few choice words to her grandfather had him begging his beloved cousin Prince Donrai Thrax, the Prince of Maelstrom, for the opportunity to give you away as his dying wish. Unfortunately, House Velenosa was only too happy to marry Jaenelle to Gersard because the man had already courted two scandals by not being able to stay away from women and they knew it was only a matter of time before the imbecile did something truly stupid. Jaenelle was married in a lovely ceremony (Yay!) but he couldn’t stay away from the Queen Genevieve, and if they became known as lovers it would have ruined everything. Fortunately, Duchess Esera was just as sick of her brother as Jaenelle could have hoped and agreed that it needed to be done. Jaenelle understands Esera gave Talen the nod to take care of it, who made certain it seemed like Prince Gersard was drunkenly walking along the walls while mourning the death of Queen Genevieve and had an ‘accident’. Yay!
This is the reason most of my requests handled by Apostate in the last almost 8 years ended in ‘Yay!’. He is the best cheerleader a petty manipulative girl could have!
Her second secret came about through natural RP relationships and was her Deathspeaker and Soul healing abilities that I stopped hiding in the last few months.
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When I asked for an OC secret for Bhandn, it was basically: “can I have a magic sword”? Exploring it was one of the most fascinating and nerve-racking experiences I had on Arx. I’m extremely grateful for @Apos for taking the time to write it. I’m extremely upset at myself I never pursued it fully; between burnout and feeling increasingly certain I had to do some of it solo (for reasons explained below), I eventually ground to a halt.
Secret #1 of Bhandn
It all began when he received the sword. The gift itself was mysterious. It was anonymously delivered and none of the other inhabitants of the Crown Apartments could figure out who sent it, though a few mentioned an odd redheaded crippled man was wandering nearby. Since receiving it, the sword has just felt -right- in his hands, and its craftsmanship is unreal, though he’s had difficulty putting it down… and when he saw that Cardian ship still lingering in the harbor, he suddenly was wracked with horrible pain, an overwhelming crippling pain that sent him to the ground in a fetal position and passed after he looked away. The sword looks vaguely similar to the style that the Praetor from Cardia was seen carrying about the city, though what it means is anyone’s guess, and Bhandn feels an uncomfortable sense of something wrong whenever he gets near the Palace of Arx.The rare times since he’s caught sight of the Cardian representatives, the agony has returned.
In exploring Bhandn’s secret, a few things became fairly clear in my mind: the extreme pain he received seemed to be linked to the Malardin. One key point of this was that he did not succumb to that sensation when viewing anyone from Cardia. It was specific to Marcus’s ship, and quite possibly Marcus himself (I never tested this). And it most certainly triggered during Malar’s flyby over Arx on the day of the “Questions of Cardia” event Sina hosted where we first met Petraea.
So it seemed certain to me that it was something associated with Malar (and those sworn to him?) were the root cause of these painful episodes. There was a point where Kael, as then Sword of Sanctum, actually asked Bhandn to possibly reside at the Valardin manor to see if he could weed out Malardin. We never put that into play; I can’t remember why, but it was on the table at one point. I think it resolved itself, according to my vague memory.
So that was one aspect of his secret I thought was fairly clear, if not why it happened (what supernatural effect was causing the pain, rather than why it triggered.)
Moving on to the sword itself, I never changed the desc that was written for it:
a beautiful greatsword engraved with sapphires
A beautifully crafted greatsword with a silvery sheen over its diamondplate, the pommel is covered with sapphires and engraved with the entwined rings of Limeance. On the hilt are words written in a non-Arvani tongue.Adornments: 13 precious stone
It is a diamondplate huge wpn.
Its level of craftsmanship is perfect.
It contains script in a foreign tongue.The script in the foreign tongue was Draconic. Laric was the first PC who saw it and provided the following translation:
“This sword’s name is Fidelis, to be wielded by a holy knight who is sworn to defend and never yield.”
It turned out that Fidelis was made in Cardia, by the master weaponsmith Galvinus. For House Morganis. Discovering that clue led to a very interesting and enjoyable scene with Petraea where she divulged quite a bit of information about Cardian crafting techniques. I don’t recall my exact thought process as to why, but it led me to wonder that Fidelis had been modified from its original state, gaining both the sapphires and possibly the Rings of Limerance engraving, though it was possible the latter was present on the original work. (I’d have to find the log for Petraea’s quote so I don’t misrepresent what I was told.)
Also, the sword was heavily infused with primum. I never found out why or for what purpose it was imbued.
Bhandn and the Morgans had a meeting about that, needless to say. “Hey. I think I have your ancestors’ House Sword.” and off we went. Aleksei also went and used magesight on it during that scene and got a headache.
Users of magesight having adverse reactions to the sword were one of the reasons I was trying to figure out how to get it for Bhandn, since I suspected he could look at the sword “safely” compared to others.But what about the sensation he got from the Palace, as indicated by the secret? In the spoiler block is the action about it. And that led Places
.Sir Bhandn arrives at the Palace, and already it feels wrong, somehow. He waits patiently, and soon enough the King’s Own show up - Sir Corban, Sir Austen, and a contingent of Silver Swords that follow. The Mother Mercy also shows up, and it isn’t until then that Bhandn unsheathes Fidelis.Almost immediately he is awash with a sense of nausea, but he gives a grim nod and together they proceed into the palace. The first place they look is the Hall of Metal - because the King’s Own is adamant that they first determine if this is something that might affect the King. But whatever churns in Bhandn’s stomach isn’t heightened by his presence in the Hall of Metal.
And so they turn away and walk back to the Great Hall, and this time Bhandn leads them on a different path. There’s a pounding in his ears, and that stomach-churning sensation grows stronger and stronger with each step downward. There is a moment where he stops at the entrance to the prison below and - here he can go no further. Instead, he falls to his knees weeping, and his sword slowly turns until it is pointed at himself.
The Hundred quickly surround him, for his protection more than in concern that he is a danger. He is clearly struggling, tears streaming down his face. He murmurs words that make no sense, in a tongue no one can understand. He sounds like he’s begging, pleading for something. Remorse covers his face. And then he passes out on the floor.
Sophie moves to examine him immediately, but there seems to be nothing wrong with him at all. Strange. He’s just passed out cold.
One of the guards picks him up and she looks to Corban and Austen - “I’ll just take him outside then Sirs? If someone could pick up his sword and bring it too?” She waits for confirmation, and then hauls Bhandn outside. It isn’t until she drops him at the fountain of Alarice and splashes some water on his face that he awakens - and all she says is, “You might want to be more careful there. Don’t you know that place housed the worst criminals in history? Didn’t know you Knights of Solace were so sensitive.” There’s a spark of amusement in her eyes now, but she waits while the others join them, and then she salutes. “First Captain, I’m on duty with the King presently.”
Corban absently salutes and dismisses her - and it isn’t until much later that he realizes the duty roster doesn’t change over for another hour.
And that’s how he got Sapphire’s attention. But more than that, one of my meditation actions led to the realization that Bhandn’s past life was somehow involved with guarding the Bijoux’s occupants. I suspect his past life was around the timeframe of the Fractals’ escape from the Bijoux, at which point he took his own life. I never discovered what he said in that action when he tried to kill himself and had to be restrained, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a plea to a god, possibly Limerance.
Anyway, that’s about as far as I got. I was OOCly trying to figure out how I could get Bhandn to progress to magesight to delve into the sword further, but unfortunately that just wasn’t to be. I was one of those people who didn’t want to burden staff with that; it felt like something I needed to do for myself.
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So many of these secrets made it into cat drawings and the tarot deck and I had to be so careful.
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Ray started from nothing, just a criminal henchman with a cliche’d backstory.
He found out over time that he was a quarter Nox’alfar. He found out that his father had been a holder of part of the Will of Baalphrigor who’d sacrificed thousands to the Abyss in a war, and who’d killed Ray’s mother.
He found a woman who could cope with him and got married, and a man who could cope with them both but couldn’t get married but was a not-quite-husband. He found a goddess who could cope with him and swore to Her service. He rose to be a Second of his crime family and one of the top-ranking members of the criminal underworld. He made friends and he made enemies, and he was the protege of the Queen of the Compact, while his wife was a successful businesswoman and a ‘successful businesswoman’ and a protege of a Voice of the Crown and his not-quite-husband was a Knight-Lieutenant of the King’s Own.
He ended up dying to save a bunch of souls in a shardhaven, and his goddess and his patron brought him back to life. He became an Aspect - and then went and performed the Paladin rite on his own and for one goddess only, and became the Paladin of Death, because that was a much safer title to use. The Wheelspinner came to him, and in the last battle he did what he could.
House Mazetti tried to ennoble him, often. House Velenosa made the offer as well. He’s accepted on behalf of Tanith and his child(ren), and House Calvaria will rise.
He started with nothing, and he ended up with so much, and I’d like to thank Herja for a truly stunning storyline and Tanith and Austen’s players for some absolutely amazing times - and the rest of Ray’s friends for putting up with the irritating murderous git and letting him be around regardless.
It’s been a whale of a time.
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Isolde is the reincarnation of Primeria Aetheris. She avoided being archduchess after Esera died because it would draw too much attention to herself. But ultimately was like ‘eh who cares who knows’ when the apocalypse arrived.
Alessia’s past life was some Rex’alfar/cat khati person who had an oblivion glaive. Not much else to that past life! BUT it meant the Rex brought the glaive to her current life with a bunch of demon cats. Everytime she’d kill someone, their soul got stuck in the glaive and the Rex’alcats siphoned it for primum. Of course this char went evil!
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I didn’t have a whole lot of time with it but Aconite was Construct crafted by Obsidian and his Magisters in a ritual under Ahj’on in the temple of the Great Reflection to be a Weaponto destroy all non-believers. She was taken out of the Mangaldissi by some slaves who found themselves on the wrong end of a fight with Fidante.
Aco was so poisonous, even touching her briefly held some risk. Contact could range from severe hallucination and euphoria to just ded. She was poisonous right up until her Crossing. Her blood was so caustic it melted people’s limbs off. Needless to say she was just a little aloof and strange due to this.
She explored her roots, where her ‘family’ came from and found out that the bloodline that Obsidian used to create her were a bunch of Serpent Khati who got it into their head to worship the Abyss and set roots in the Saffron Isles. Some of them became shards.
The rest of the story I love but it’s probably boring to anyone but me.
I really enjoyed playing Arx, getting to cobble words together to build great stories with all of you was really the best times I’ve had on a mush in over a decade. I hope to meet folks again in 2.0.
You’re all really amazing! Also Apostate is as previously mentioned an utter Rockstar, a legend. I appreciate him letting me take on this story with an OC right out of the gate.
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Sydney’s mother Clemensia was a famed Cardian performer. She fled from Cardia after a power grab gone awry, and Sydney was born in Arvum. She summarily walked out on Sydney. The man Sydney thought to be her father moved to Arx with her, where he acquired debt with the wrong people, got himself poisoned, and all of his debt fell to Sydney. Being barely into her teens, she got underwater on things quickly, and ended up all but owned by that debt. She took dives for coppers, scraped by, slept in bars and streets, and nearly froze to death in the winters.
Petraea Livy terrified her by gobbling up all the debt she owed to multiple lenders and telling her in no uncertain terms that she would be working for the Scales - and oh by the way, her real father was Cardian nobility who got her entire bloodline killed and Gaius Tullus (a rather potent Cardian noble), wanted her dead.
After a few years of proving herself running a mix of morally murky tasks, Petraea (sometimes prickly and often awkward woman that she was) revealed that she was Sydney’s half-aunt. That being indebted to her was never a real thing, just a way to keep her in sight. She also learned that one of her sisters who escaped Cardia self-immolated herself due to the powerful and uncontrollable nature of her fire magic. She met allies, and she formulated a plan with them to put an end to Marcus Sulla (and then Malar), both of whom were ever just out of reach of their designs. One of them went on to slay Gaius Tullus back in Cardia.
She made wonderful friends along the way, dated freely, laughed often, and drank just as often. She called everyone with more than one syllable by a nickname, wanted or not. She was afraid to tell people she loved them. She reveled in a good spar, but soon realized she hated seeing people die, and took every effort to limit casualties, something that with her bare-handed style she had every ability to dictate without limiting herself.
She broke after being in Bastion. She tucked her tail and ran sooner than anyone else when she saw how overwhelming the force was. She picked up the pieces, and they never really fit back in the right places, but she carried on. She trembled through many of the fights after that.
She fought with allies to obtain The Last Breath, one of the piece of the Will. She fought to defend Artshall. She fought to retake Bastion. She inherited Petraea’s wealth and name, became Sydney Livy, and donated almost all of it to the Lower Boroughs. She helped convince Cardian dragons to return to Arvum, she helped fight back the final assault of Azazel’s forces, and she stood shoulder to shoulder with her allies and defended the Thinnest Point. She said her goodbyes to those she loved, and flew forth back to Cardia to help finish the Civil War alongside Cynara, to whatever outcome.
Sydney was often a coward beneath the mask she wore around most people, but she found the courage to fight for what she cared about and who she cared about when it mattered. Her highest skills were Brawl and Empathy.
My sincerest gratitude to all of the lovely story scenes over the years from Sydney’s dearest friends and companions (Yes, if you suspect I’m talking about you, I am!), for the many people who enthusiastically accepted her being an antagonistic brat at the start, and for the rest for being patient with her, to the people who Sydney never got close to but I sure as hell noticed and adored, and last but not least all the storytellers, with special kudos to Herja, Crawfish, and Apostate. All of you helped sculpt something super meaningful to me.
Now I’m going to go roll Composure at Daunting.
