app to abraxas

[preyed]

OOC INFORMATION

Player Name: Kal
Are you over 18?: Y
Contact: dirges @ plurk or PM
Other Characters in Game: N/A but I was here previously with Y'shtola Rhul from Final Fantasy XIV almost 2 years ago.

IC INFORMATION

Character Name: Sebille Kaleran
Canon: Divinity: Original Sin 2
Canon Point: Towards the end of Act 3; just before killing her master, before confronting the Mother Tree, and before the final steps towards godhood and the Well of Ascension.

Age: No idea, it's not brought up in game. Elves are possibly immortal until someone kills them. She's young-ish but who knows what that means elven-wise. I'm going with probably close to 100 or something similar but we just don't know.
Background: Wiki page for her character and I'm going to also link the elf page for good measure.

It's very brief and to the point, so I'm going to flesh it out a little bit. CW: Slavery, murder, mentions of cannibalism. Spoilers for all of Divinity: Original Sin 2

Sebille's origin story dialogue (and what you learn about her over time) is that she has been a slave to the 'Master' for many years. She has a 'living scar' on her left cheek which allows for this Master to control her body and make her do what he wants; in the comic, she says his voice will try to drown out her thoughts, but she still provides internal dialogue, so her thoughts are hers but not free from influence. She was his killer for a number of years (it's not clear how long but it seems like it's been quite a while now) and he had her, specifically, hunt down elven Scions (more on this later) and others he wanted dead. When she failed or tried to break free, she was beaten and punished. One day, she was able to break free from her chains - literally and figuratively - through the use of Source (the world's energy) magic, and ran away. Eventually, her desire for revenge brought her to turn herself in as a Sourcerer (powerful people who can use Source magic but who are susceptible to drawing the attention of Voidwoken, monsters from the Void that leave untold destruction in their wake) and she was taken to Fort Joy, an island specifically for holding Sourcerers and 'curing' them. The island is run by Magisters, a sect of the Divine Order who feel that Sourcerers are responsible for a great deal of woe in the world and they strive to 'cure' them of this affliction through either death or draining them of Source, thereby turning them into silent, abhorrent creatures that the Magisters use to hunt more Sourcerers.

This is where the game begins, on a ship going to Fort Joy, which is attacked by Voidwoken. Sebille (and the other characters) narrowly escape, are flung into the sea and saved, and she manages to wash up on the island.

Sebille uses her time - both alone and with the player character once they recruit her - to track down the people responsible for her slavery in the hopes of finding her Master and killing him. She attacks a lizard on the island named Stingtail who is responsible for branding her with the living scar she has - though he pleads he was forced to do it - and is told to speak with an Undead named Zaleskar on the island. Zaleskar gives Sebille information on a Lone Wolf off of the island named Roost who was responsible for her capture. Sebille aids the other characters in finding a way off of the island, aiding other parties on the island as they also try to leave, and supports the other characters when the eventually confront Alexander, the current Bishop of the Divine Order. Alexander is killed (or so they think) and the group is saved by the Seekers (a group trying to save the Sourcerers and to fight against Magister tyranny); they board a ship which is eventually attacked by Dallis - one of the head Magisters. In the ensuing fight, a few of the origin characters (those not in the party) die. They escape Dallis and embark off the coast of Driftwood, a town plagued by troubles.

Sebille and the party do their best to solve some of these issues one way or another, each of their stories unfolding about themselves and their goals. I won't touch on the other characters for now. Sebille manages to get in contact with Roost who is...painfully gross towards her. Roost and the Lone Wolves (a group of mercenaries who take on any and all contracts) have taken out a contract to kill all Godwoken, which Sebille and the party just so happen to be now. Roost belittles Sebille, says he'll bind and beat her and bring her back to her Master, and a fight ensues. Obviously, he dies.

Eventually, the party comes across a tribe of elves, some of whom recognize Sebille. Elves are a very long-lived race in Rivelon, owed to their isolationist ways and being hidden in the forests, and are a race that is centered around an entity known as the Mother Tree.

Going to go on a tangent here because it's important... This tree is the pinnacle of elven society (outside of their elven god, Tir-Cendelius) as it is essentially the heart of their people. Its presence (both physically and metaphorically) ties all of the elves and their forests together, and the forests themselves are basically a reservoir of memories (when elves die, they are deposited back in the earth and grow into Ancestor Trees) and knowledge that band the elves together. (As an aside, and here's where the cannibalism comes in... Elves can eat flesh and discern the memories of others, and so they partake in the heart of fallen comrades to preserve their memory and knowledge as elves, while long-lived, are not many in number, and they have to preserve what they can.) Nine years ago, a horrible substance called Deathfog was dropped on the elves in their forests, and not only did so many elves die, but it poisoned the land and the trees, and is choking the Mother Tree. She is, in essence, dying.

So what does this have to do with Sebille? It's revealed that she is a Prime Scion, one who is destined to become the new Mother Tree. Sebille, who has had no memory of her time before her slavery, has her memory restored and she is encouraged to become the new Mother Tree. Sebille remembers her life from before as that of an innocent, worshipped by her people and stifled by their hold over her, how little freedom she had, and the fear the Mother Tree put in her with her tyranny and control. Sebille gets away from this conversation without provoking anyone, and the party goes on to gain further Source powers, and eventually leaves Driftwood to go to the Nameless Isle, where they might ascend to divinity...and where one of them will become the next Divine. Throughout this time, each of the gods individually are telling each of the characters that they must ascend (so Tir-Cendelius tells Sebille to ascend; Rhallic tells Ifan to ascend; Duna tells Beast to ascend) and to either push the other companions out of the way or kill them if they interfere. The group collectively decides to push forward and not harm each other, and to see how this plays out. Sebille is especially suspicious of the gods and their offerings.

At the Nameless Isle, the Godwoken companions are tasked with completing a series of trials in order to take on the power of their gods and to eventually reach the Well of Ascension. During this time, Sebille can enter both the Elven Temple where the Mother Tree is, where the Mother Tree tells Sebille to kill the Shadow Prince, a lizard who is designing the downfall of the Mother Tree. The Shadow Prince who is also Sebille's former master. Sebille (with the party's help) has the opportunity to eventually confront her Master, who reveals that he took Sebille on purpose, as she was the Prime Scion. He trained her to kill the other Scions, lure them close because they knew her, all because the Mother Tree is a tyrant bent on control of the world through her influence. He tries to take control of Sebille again with the song he uses to control her scar; the party (and player character) can free her from this, and she manages to stab the Master.

And that's where she'll be coming from as a canon point.

There's a whole lot more of overarching plot and whatnot, but this is specific to Sebille and I don't want to spoil EVERYTHING in the game.


Arrival Scenario: The Free Cities

Suitability: Sebille is a woman who has lived pretty much all of her life under someone's control. She will be (secretly) pretty desperate at this point to live freely, even in another world, and she would use the time to try to understand how this world connects to her own and how that affects her (like her Source powers, connection to the Void, the gods, the Voidwoken, etc). While she is not outwardly a warm person, she has a distinct sense of justice and responsibility, and while she may not actually want to be Divine, she still is willing and desiring to help stop worlds from ending and things from getting worse. As her own world is, technically, on the brink of destruction, she understands wanting to do everything she can to put a stop to it. And, well, if she can gather more power in this world, then she can continue to protect herself and maybe return to her world (one day) and be able to resolve things.

Some plots she may want to be involved with directly: helping those who have fallen through the justice system in the world, exploring Nocwich, trying to make contact with the gods of this world to figure out how closely they align to her own world's gods and if there is a direct correlation, figure out if there is a Void in this world and if it impacts people, looking into the Singularity, amassing personal power to protect her freedom, etc. And as much as Sebille thinks herself a loner, her time with the other Godwoken has at least given her some insight into how it feels to be among trusted people and to make friendships and relationships, even if she's still prickly and defensive and wants to be a loner.

Powers: Ooh boy, I apologize in advance.

In Divinity: Original Sin 2, much like in Baldur's Gate 3, you can change characters and give them abilities they might not have started with. Sebille begins as a Rogue, and for the purposes of the app (and my own playthrough), she stayed a Rogue but gained other abilities for utility. Divinity is a weird game where you can put points into learning skills that can complement your playstyle without actually gunning for ALL of the abilities (like you can take a point in Hydrosophist to get healing but not actually go for more, as an example, and focus more on combat-related abilities).

I'm going to break down the skill trees to highlight what abilities she has based on game mechanics, her being a Sourcerer/Godwoken, and then racial 'traits'. I'll propose changes and nerfs at the end.

Rogue/Scoundrel Skills: So all of these are pretty 'standard' for rogues and are mostly around dealing lots of damage to someone once you're behind them, maximizing their blind spots. I'll list which ones she has but, seriously, they're mostly just upgraded ways of stabbing someone. The biggest 'skill' that needs to be highlighted is 'Cloak and Dagger', which allows for Sebille to teleport about 13m away without breaking stealth. I think that doesn't need to be nerfed so much as people who are skilled can definitely spot her, but it'd be more of a flavor text around...how a rogue just quickly shows up somewhere when they were over yonder just a moment ago.

The skills she has from this tree are: Backlash, Throwing Knife, Corrupted Blade (we can say this poisons people), Rupture Tendons (again, can just...say it is trying to take someone at the ankles/legs), Sawtooth Knife, Sleeping Arms, Terrifying Cruelty, Fan of Knives*.

Each of these are basically some kind of dagger-related stabbing/slashing skill that can give status effects. I'd say to keep it fair, we can remove status effects or make Sebille reliant on people who will give her poisons/concoctions, or she can make some herself and learn? There's a crafting system in Divinity to make things like that so, I'd think it's safe to say she knows plenty of poisons and things.

Of note: Fan of Knives requires a point of Source power, so it's very strong and does require that extra magical bit.

Polymorph Skills: These are animal-based brief physical changes that kind of make combat more versatile but aren't necessarily powerful on their own. She has Chameleon cloak (go invisible for 2 turns, so for a short window) and Spread Your Wings (temporary wings for short-range flight movement for 6 turns, so for a few minutes).

Warfare Skills: Physical fighting powers. She has Battle Stomp, which is a huge stomp attack that uproots the ground a short ways in front and has the chance to knock over characters. I'd say this is case-by-case basis depending on who she's fighting but would also provide a good distraction.

Aerothurge Skills: Using air-based abilities, like storms and lightning. But she only has Smoke Cover, which causes billows of smoke to temporarily disperse around her so she can make a quick disappearance, as enemies cannot see into the cloud for a few turns.

Hydrosophist Skills: Water-based skills, like ice and whatnot. Sebille has Restoration (basic healing spell) and Vampiric Hunger (allows you to steal vitality from people and give it to yourself for 2 turns). Vampiric Hunger is melee-only, so you have to be right beside someone to use this.

Sourcerer Abilities: Sebille has a unique ability which is 'Break the Shackles,' which...does exactly what's on the tin - if Sebille is ensnared, she can use Source magic to break her bindings, both from mental control and physical control. I think this can mostly still work, maybe preventing her from being mentally controlled (or maybe being highly resistant to control that isn't godlike or way over powerful like NPCs the mods play) and that she can still be ensnared but that enough tries with her Source magic can break her out? I am open to allowing the mods to circumvent this ability and this can be hashed out with players on a case-by-case basis as a temporary binding/snare that she can break free of eventually with enough effort.

The other Source powers the players get are: Bless (cures Cursed and can harm demons if cast on them), Spirit Vision (be able to see ghosts, mostly those of Sourcerers but also of anyone who has left an impression on the surroundings), and Source Vampirism (stealing Source from others).

Bless already is a timed-based effect unless it is curing someone of something. So if someone is cursed, Bless will cure them. But if Bless is cast on a demon, it eventually fades so they aren't suffering overlong. I'm willing to nerf this further and make it much weaker or have it only work on Sebille.

Spirit Vision I'd like to keep because it would be really cool to use in game to interact with the environment more, solve mysteries and puzzles, and just in general to facilitate more storytelling? But I am also open to this being nerfed except in highly concentrated magical areas, for instance.

Source Vampirism is something I'm torn on because, on one hand, Sebille will likely quickly run out of Source unless the mod team wants magic in this world to translate into Source. Technically in game, this can either 'eat' ghosts (as they are Source once dead, being latent energy) and can sap from target characters. I'd propose that if energy is energy and magic is magic, Sebille would be able to use this to sap additional magic to power herself to use abilities, but that these would not be permanent loss of magic or energy from characters.

Race-related abilities: I AM SO SORRY this section is becoming unbearably long. She's an elf... Sebille has 'Flesh Sacrifice', meaning she can harm herself for an extra combat point and 10% more damage. Combat points don't matter, so I'd say it's "Sebille can draw her own blood to hit a little harder for the next 30 seconds" or something like that. Again, open to this being nerfed.

The last is not really an 'ability' for combat but is the flesh-eating (link to the ability Corpse Eater) part I spoke about earlier. Sebille (and any elf) can eat the flesh of another creature like a human, dwarf, elf, etc. and gain a memory or an ability from them. I'd nerf the ability part but I was going to say I'd like to keep the memory piece if/when this happens in game. The memory is short, it's not overly detailed, maybe like a 2-3 sentence description and that's it. But I figured it'd be fun flavor text, if morbid.

Sebille is a special princess because apparently she is so strong in this ability as a Prime Scion that she can actually taste someone's flesh by licking and know a brief memory from before. This happens when you first meet her (she licks the player character's arm and mentions you were having thoughts about a former lover) and later if you romance her, she'll see some memories as she kisses the character, and can follow their thoughts. It's not like she can read someone's thoughts so much as follow logical conclusions; in this instance, she remarks that the player character feared her, and she takes the time to assure them she won't harm them. Again, this can be nerfed, but I also can slap up a permissions post and see if people want to get up to weird shenanigans with it, with other players proposing what she sees instead of me infomodding. But, again, up to the mods! I'm flexible either way.

PERSONALITY QUESTIONS

Describe an important event in your character's life and how it impacted them.
I could talk about Sebille becoming a slave because that is probably THE most pivotal event in her life...but I actually will take it one step back and say that her decision to leave her tribe and to try to run away from the Mother Tree was equally important, not just for her but for her fate.

In choosing to cast off this 'charmed' life of being the Prime Scion, being adored and worshipped by her people, she chose herself for the first time, and was rewarded for her selfishness by two things: the first is that Sebille mentions how, at one point, every step that took her further away from her people saw the forest turn harsh against her, cruel, tripping at her, something (and someone, the Mother Tree) turning unkind and spiteful in her decision; and that in choosing herself, in breaking free from the relative safety of numbers, she was able to be picked off and kidnapped, leading to years of torment.

Sebille's arc is increasingly about her own choices, her freedoms, but if you play as her, you can also have moments where some options bring up the shame she feels at being captured, at being beaten and brought low, that even the god of the elves mocks her in their private conversation. So for Sebille to choose herself and also to have the desire to help others, to save the world, it comes from a place of pain and preservation, and the game really tries to blend this back-and-forth she goes through a lot.

Does your character have a moral code, or other set of standards they try to live by?
Yes and no. I would say her moral code has more to do with survival than anything else. Earlier in-game choices (if you play as Sebille) allow you to refuse to help others because they are weak, but other options will allow her to empathize with elves (and to have high derision for lizards). But one thing you can frequently choose as Sebille is the desire to set others free through the punishment of their masters. Early in the game, you can come across a bound dragon who is in service to a master. On one hand, you can mock the dragon (whether you play as Sebille or not), but a Sebille-only option has her saying she will add another name to her 'list' of people to kill, and she will gladly go kill the dragon's master for him.

So I think it has more to do with survival and a sense of justice, and kinship for those who have been duped and enslaved by circumstances out of their control.


What quality or qualities do they admire most?
In others, Sebille seems to admire strength (and power, if used properly for the benefit of others and not to harm people undeserving), candidness (even if she won't spill her own secrets until she's more familiar), and the willingness in others to get the job done. She'll do the dirty work if it needs doing, but people who show an ability to be direct and do what must be done will have favor in her eyes.

She seems to also admire natural curiosity when it comes to someone asking enough questions to understand a situation, and patience from others (especially directed towards herself). While she can be cagey, she greatly respects people who will let her be and who give her space when needed.

About herself? She seems to think well enough of her abilities (power, again, to take back her life) as a rogue, as an elf. She has quite a bit of pride in some cases - it's hard to say because it is a game with lots of dialogue choices, but Sebille has the option to be petulant and to fight against her god who is trying to force her to kneel and kiss his feet. The inner dialogue seems to hint that she is trying to hold fast to a sense of self that WILL be stronger, that CAN survive, even as her own god browbeats her for being 'weak'.

Do they have a part of themselves they dislike?
Sebille seems to recognize she is not an easy person to get along with and she uses her aloof behavior to push people away...for better and for worse. In addition, as mentioned earlier, Sebille has some inner dialogue choices that hint at her shame towards herself for being captured, for not being strong enough to fight back against her master's control.

The comic shows a great deal of remorse around her killing so many people for someone else; in the game, when she discovers that she was killing other Scions, others in line to become Ancestor Trees, there's a dialogue option for her to be horrified at what she's done. And this is right in the middle of her not fully remembering who they were and how important they were to her people, when she couldn't even remember who she was supposed to be. There's so much struggle around personal identity and how it relates to others around her (her people and her companions). Her personal quest to kill her master is considered (if you play as her) to be blinding her to her true self/true cause as a Prime Scion, and can make her people hostile if she insists on pursuing her vengeance first!

Even in the end of her personal arc, she has the option to kill the Mother Tree, kill her master, or kill BOTH, and she has the choice to allow herself to be the next Mother Tree or to refuse. And there's a lot of wiggle room there in the game, further illustrating internal conflict and malleability.

What is their sign, and why?
The Hanged Man - This was a tough choice but I chose Hanged Man for a few reasons, namely around being an outcast (one of Sebille's tags is 'Outlaw'), resiliency, understanding hard truths about themselves and others. Sebille is well aware how she's been twisted as a person but she can only be who she is; she is aware of the sins she's committed and makes no excuse for them. Unwilling to change herself - or being unable to - fits really well with the undercurrent of her walking into the narrative and wanting to simply be herself, not wanting to be a slave or a ruler (both of which being forced on her).

My second choice was The Tower for change, providing thoughtful critique, and revenge...but while Sebille is against unjust systems, she isn't currently in a position to go toppling regimes or larger pieces of society. Instead, if you aren't playing as her, she foregoes being Divine so she can simply be herself, and I think that's more indicative of not selfishness but an understanding of her own limits as a single, traumatized person who is only just beginning to see how she can affect change on larger scales. So I think she's not...quite there yet, and The Hanged Man would fit her better at this time.

SAMPLES

Top level on the TDM and the comments that follow.