OOC:

Player Handle: Kal (or Asterin, I'm using that some too)
Contact: PM or dirges @ plurk
Pronouns: She/Her

Invite/Current Player: Invite
Other Characters: N/A


IC:

Character Name: "The Dark Urge" - who goes by Devyn
Age: mumblemumble early 30's? There's a side story that took place 15 years ago and supposedly the Dark Urge was older but that "canon" had the Dark Urge as a Dragonborn so.... ehh?? Let's just say late 20's to early 30's and tbh, the character has lost most of their memories anyway at this canon point, so.
Canon: Baldur's Gate 3
Canon Point: Late Act 2, in Moonrise Towers, just after finishing the puzzle with the Grand Design. So, they just had a bombshell revelation about something that happened to them.

CRAU: N/A

History: here and here
Note: The Dark Urge is "canonically" a Dragonborn Sorcerer, but they are fully customizable in game. They go through the same events that "Tav" does (who is the fully customizable, no backstory, malleable protagonist. Dark Urge is essentially the malleable protagonist WITH a backstory) in the game, same companions, etc. but they get their own side story and background.

A tl;dr as a quick understanding: the Dark Urge is the child of the god of murder. Said god has a lot of kids but this one is a "pure" kid made solely from him/his blood, while all others have had mortal mothers. The Dark Urge was a being with unbidden blood lust and intrusive thoughts around murder and blood. They were kept in line by a little goblin butler (no, really) who pushed them towards the path of No Thoughts, Only Murder, which was mostly successful (except on occasion that the Dark Urge acted on their own will and was not, in fact, a murder hobo). The Dark Urge becomes intrinsic to the plot of the game's Big Bads as having a heaping helping hand at the bad shit happening, and scheming to take the world for their god-father. At some point before the game begins, Orin, one of the mortal-children of the God of Murder, splits open the skull of the Dark Urge, and gets them infected with a tadpole. They lose their memories (temporarily) and are taken onto a Mind Flayer ship (like the other malleable protagonist, Tav, and the companions) and that's when the game begins.

Tried to keep that loose and not-too-spoiler heavy.

Personality: Pre-game Dark Urge (which is not current!Dark Urge) is loosely outlined as someone with continued blood lust, desire for murder, and intrusive thoughts around death and the suffering that comes with it. We're offered a few glimpses into what that may or might not have been (the butler comments the Dark Urge let someone go and didn't harm them, which was weird; they potentially have admiring thoughts about their god's enemy-sometimes-ally, etc.) but most of it is baseline speculative of someone who followed their father (the god of murder) without question, headed the cult of murder, and pleasantly went about their activities without questioning their role or whether this was who they were, essentially. You can make an argument that sparing a stranger was an out of character thing to do if all they care about is murder, but there's something to be said about nature vs nurture, and that maybe the Dark Urge was always curious about life outside of their father's influence.

The Dark Urge, being a malleable protagonist, can be just about any kind of person you want. You can lean really hard into the Murder Hobo personality, you can lean into a Resist the Urge path, or you can play as someone overall lost in a grand scheme they've been shoved into. So everything here is "headcanon" malleable protagonist stuff, you know the drill. (Devyn also goes by she/they so if I use those pronouns interchangeably...yeah.)

Devyn is a curious person, through and through, who struggles with the inner thoughts and workings of a mind - and instinct - that is not their own. The idea that someone could wake up with no memories but an intense desire for bloodshed and murder, with intrusive thoughts about maiming things, and could still function speaks well to the person in question. It paints them as a survivor, someone who is simply trying to make it to the next moment, then next hour, the next day. Devyn shows herself to be startlingly calm about their lack of memories and what is going on with them at first, and despite their blank slate demeanor, they still manage to band a group together solely out of sheer survival and, then, through companionship, connection, and a shared problem (that being the tadpole in their brains).

It's almost comical that Devyn is a Bard, because it paints them as the face of the party and as support for the rest, despite their missing past and troubled memory. Stalwart and direct, Devyn is slow to open up to others, though not for lack of trying; with and without memories, they've encountered few physical and emotional connections in their life to know much of how to initiate it. (And, honestly, most of the companions are pretty bad at initiating platonic intimacy for various reasons, so they end up fitting right in.) And it is this act of connection and slow understanding of the world around them and their place in it that allows them to resist the Dark Urge in their blood that encourages them to kill, maim, and cause suffering. Little by little, the urges seem to fall away the more that Devyn is more direct about what they feel is right and wrong, as Devyn forges connections outside of these thoughts, and as Devyn focuses more and more on the needs of others - both their companions and the world around them - and less on lingering in the satisfaction of the id inside of them. It's this sort of slow love for the world and people around her that allows Devyn to find meaning and to find her footing on the path to actually be herself - whatever that may mean - and to be less and less the head of a cult and the favored child of a god.

What comes away from that is someone desperate to live and to experience life, who shies away from personal topics often but wants to engage in revelry with the rest, who is desperate to survive to the next moment in the hopes of understanding who they are and what's happened to them, even if that means recognizing they have a past that is full of blood, carnage, and deceit. Perhaps it's fitting, then, for Devyn's role to be that of a Bard, who tells stories and supports, all the while masquerading as someone who has it together even as they might be one wrong move away from giving in to their darker inclinations.

I feel like I'm not doing a good job of this so I'm gonna answer 3 questions anyway.

What does your character act like around strangers? Around friends? Does the way they act tend to match the way they feel on the inside? Why or why not? Around strangers, Devyn is open in demeanor but politely so for most of Act 1 and into half of Act 2. It's not that she is unkind or cold, more uncertain and questioning, and trying to understand. She asks...way too many questions, is definitely very nosy, but wants to do what feels right, what seems right by other people, and it can come across (partially) people-pleasing and partially to be a little finicky, almost deceitful. She is careful about the intrusive thoughts, as she has to be, because she's already killed an innocent quite recently. Another slip could cost someone else their life. [An example being she sees a kid nearly dive into some water because he's controlled by a harpy's song, and the initial thought is, "The death of a child... It's the oldest and sweetest thing." Instead, she saves the kid by singing to drown out the harpy's song after viscerally being like...huh???] Around companions, she is more open, even vulnerable. She willingly admits that she struggles with the loss of memory, the dark thoughts, even as early as Act 1, and so that bond grows stronger until it's apparent she trusts her friends more and more, not just on the battlefield, and is willing to face her past for them.

What is the most important thing to your character? Who or what would they die for? What would they never, ever do no matter the circumstances? Ironically, by the end of the game? Freedom. The freedom to choose to live her own life and to not be a puppet, and so the idea of becoming something Other that could be a great danger to her friends... It's that razor's edge of wondering if that power could help her companions/help their situation and if it will be worth it to sacrifice their freedom (like giving in to the tadpole powers) or if that will only compromise the fragile 'truce' she has with her urges. She wouldn't compromise the safety of a friend and companion, these people who are her found family, no matter the cost. She might challenge them on their views - as they challenge hers - but she wouldn't knowingly put them in harm's way unless it was needed, and she would insist on being right beside them.

Will your character look back on their life with any regrets? What will they wish they could have done before they arrived in Limbo? What will they do if they get out? OOH so this is a canon moment! In Act 1, the Dark Urge kills a hapless bard that comes to camp. It happens instinctively after they go to bed, and it's painted as terribly traumatic, to the point that it can either decide whether the Dark Urge embraces murder or pulls away from it, and it frequently comes back time and time again as moment of regret. As Devyn only knows this, this is a major regret. ...She'd also say that she wishes she spent more time embracing the little things, reflecting on the earth, being a person. But time was of the essence so she didn't get this chance. If she gets out, she wants to know the truth of her past, get rid of the tadpole, stop the Absolute, and then probably wander Faerun and simply live her own life as herself.

Abilities: I am so, so sorry.

Devyn is a Level 9 Bard, so here is the spell output for this before we get into the ~feats~ and things they're just good at in general. Please note - ANY AND ALL of these spells can be nerfed. I'm mostly going to use them for funsies anyway.

SPELLS
Healing Word - Healing spell to one target/ally who is within eyesight. Can't see them? No healing for you. It's pretty weak in general.
Thunderwave - In a smal cone in front of the caster (Devyn), she can shoot out a shockwave of "thunder" (so, sound and force) to push into people/objects. Can break down a poorly structured short wall with enough force, definitely can knock unarmored people over.
Cure Wounds - Heal an ally you can touch. Stronger than Healing Word.
Tasha’s Hideous Laughter - Target one person and try to get them to fall over with uncontrollable laughter. They spend each turn trying to recover from this and get back up; otherwise, they're prone and easier to hit.
Speak with Animals - What it says on the tin. Until you go to bed that night, you can talk to animals!
Heat Metal - Heat up metal to the point of burning. That armor your wearing? Now hurts a lot.
Shatter - A spell that creates a 'shatter' effect wherever it's placed, causing moderate damage.
Glyph of Warding - Place a glyph on the ground with some kind of status effect (sleep, detonation, fire, lighting, thunder, ice, acid). If someone steps on the ward, it activates, and they are damaged by whatever status effect is active. It goes away after 1 turn once it's been tripped.
Fireball - What it says on the tin. Massive damage.
Confusion - Causes a small group of attackers to be befuddled and more likely to attack each other, run away, and generally not be able to attack with any coordination until they shake it off.
Greater Invisibility - Turn self or ally invisible until someone either spots them or if the invisible party attacks; then the spell wears off. (Feel free to take this but, consider, invisible sex....)
Mass Cure Wounds - Heals caster and nearby allies in a small radius.

FEATS
Bardic Inspiration - By playing a little tune, you can 'inspire' an ally to roll better on their next turn if they wish. So it's like giving them a little boost of luck that they're gonna land a better hit. You can depower this or just have it be, like, inspiration to keep someone going in battle.
Song of Rest - Basically a free pick-me-up that a Bard can do once a day to heal people for a little bit of health and keep them going.
Cutting Words - Basially, when someone attacks, Devyn can insult them and potentially make them too intimidated to 'roll well' during that turn. It's hilarious but we can change it to be a distraction tactic.
Vicious Mockery - Similarly, give psychic damage to an opponent and try to keep them from attacking well next turn.
Blade Ward - Defensive cantrip; helps protect against bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing weapon attacks.
Friends - It's an advantage feat that helps with advantage on persuasion but ehhhh we can forget about it. It's a RP game.
War Caster - This is a feat that lets you be able to concentrate better on spells and if someone moves out of range, you can cast Shocking Grasp (or you do a lil electrocution) to try to get them to halt/stop in their tracks.

In general, Devyn specializes in Persuasion, Medicine, and Intimidation due to virtue of being a Bard and also through their Haunted One past as a Dark Urge (which gives Medicine and Intimidation added bonus). There's a mechanic in the game around crafting potions once you have a recipe so I'll say Devyn has proficiency in potion making beyond a normal person, but she still needs a recipe besides a basic health tonic and a basic poison. They also can play a variety of instruments but specialize in the violin and sometimes prefer the lyre.


Inventory: Violin and Spider Lyre (if allowed). The lyre just has a spider in it but previously could summon a Drider in the Shadowlands. It won't work in game (unless you want it to accidentally summon some weird shit, then we can do that, but no pressure.) If I have to choose one, I'm going with the violin (unless I can get a violin in game, then I'm choosing the lyre because it looks fucking sick)

Knife of the Undermountain King (dagger) and the Blood of Lathander (mace). The Darkfire Shortbow. A pouch of gold coins, two health potions, and a potion of poison to slap on one of the daggers.

Any and all of these can be missing/not coming with her. She's also just wearing some level 2 leather armor that has no real special shit to it, and it'll be changed out for other clothes, it doesn't really matter.

I'm not adding necklaces/accessories. None of those are coming with.

Eternal Reward: To regain her memories, stop the Absolute, and relive her life.

Goals/Ideas: So this is probably a social faux pas, and it's okay to say that to me, but I saw that someone else was going to do this with negative anima and I think I'm going to co-opt that, if possible. So the Dark Urge, once figuring out that murder doesn't mean shit here, is going to instead struggle with urges to create negative anima. I'd like to play out the tightrope of wanting to do good and to fight the urges while also being corrupted/seduced by that negative anima during events and at other times. In canon, the Dark Urge can stave off the urges for so long that if they go to sleep one night, they will try to kill their lover, and they have to be tied down (ooh, sexy~~) to keep them from causing issues, so I'd like to definitely play on...Devyn needing to seriously ask for help from others when the urge gets too strong to harm others in some fashion. (If it works out in being tied up, then all the better, wink wonk) I'll work it out with people because I also don't want it to be EVERY EVENT and have it turn into "Devyn's Apology Tour" every month, but having it happen at some appropriate (and inappropriate) times will be fun. If there is something about working on balancing these pieces, especially since none of her castmates will know who she is, so she has to seriously start over and find people to trust, etc...

Otherwise, definitely want to work on found family, working on consent and figuring out who she is as a person and what that looks like. She is Unromanced so also working out romance/sexual pieces will be fun in game to establish that trust and relationship. Also now that she's 'dead' and the threat of the world being taken over is still happening, it's also a good time to sort of, like, slow down and figure stuff out, etc.

I'm open to ideas too, I've been out of RP for 3 years so I'm a little smooth-brained about plots atm.

Samples: Sample There's technically 4 comments + a top-level. I'm adding this very short other thread I had on bakerstreet just cuz it has some introspection here.

Secret Code Phrase: My curse is my redemption