#jahen

Big thank-you to @elceewunjo for the tag to do these PC questions. ^u^ these are super fun as an exercise.

Tag game sampled from: questions for Tav / for Durge by @eeldritchblast

instructions left by Elcee were to pick a few questions from the list that would be most interesting for you to answer for your ocs! I also really like this approach and would like to request the same for those I pass the tag along to, which will be: @ignistigator @endermal @exhausted-sufferer-salvius @rivereverie @quinthebard @taras-toe-beans @the-red-drow and @weirdest-wyrd ~ :3 no pressure though

Did your Tav have any romantic and/or sexual relationships prior to their illithid adventure? If yes, who was it with and what was it like?

okay so this miiight be cheating haha, but I have written out a detailed answer to this question and want to take the opportunity to link back to it. it’s something from Jahen’s backstory work that I was pleased with and also something that I don’t think many folks have seen. c: you can find it here! it’s also linked in his “OC Masterpost” next to the “Jahen’s Past” category.

btw just finished editing the screenshot above the other day. :3 it was one of the first ones I ever took of him. I love his expression in it. <3 let’s imagine this is his reaction to being asked his body count hehehe

How does your Tav feel about the wilderness?

Jahen feels very comfortable in the wilderness. Not necessarily because it’s easy to be there - it’s not, it’s hard work - but largely because he feels like his truest self when there’s no one else’s expectations to abide by. I guess the real answer is that it’s where he feels free. which is very important to his inner peace.

I also think being at the boundary between where the wilderness and civilization meet is where Jahen feels his most worthy prior to the nautiloid capture, because that’s his “domain” in a sense as a good-aligned ranger. he sees things he can change for the better more easily at that boundary than anywhere else. he can tend paths, leave supplies, place signs, clear thorns, and think to himself, “I’m doing good work.”

of course, that’s not to say he doesn’t also feel lonely in the wilderness. the two feelings very much coexist. freedom comes with loneliness, loneliness begets freedom. I think he’s struggled with this in the past, but gradually matured enough to realize that he can manage that balance himself, without necessarily betraying either his freedom or his love for being around other people.

How does your Tav feel about the city?

Jahen has a lot of extremely complicated feelings about the city. he was of course raised in Baldur’s Gate, and didn’t end up leaving until just before he aged into adulthood, but I’d say this is why his feelings are complicated rather than one-dimensional.

Jahen left the city because he felt he would be railroaded into a path that would force him to adhere to “the way things are” rather than the way he might hope they would be. not because he was naive enough to believe the world was perfect elsewhere, or selfish enough to crave personal power, but because there was already so much embedded in the space he filled from the day he was born, with his father and brother in the Guild, the city’s general sordid history, and the inability to act on his better instincts without being punished for them, given his place amongst the “lessers” of the Gate, a role he’d neither chosen for himself nor would be able to shed under his own strength if he remained.

Jahen recognizes that the city has deep, dire problems and that there is a need for systemic change, and I think he did conclude that he would not be able to influence those changes himself in any meaningful way. partially because he’s liable to underestimate himself, but also because he’s shrewd enough to realize that if he truly stands up to injustices in the Gate, he’d someday be forced to confront his own family on their lifestyles, which he is selfish enough to want to avoid. but he also recognizes that the “good” forces in the city aren’t always truly noble, and that the sorts of places that raised him (like the Guildhall), are not simply dens of “evil” that can or should be simply wiped from the map.

Jahen’s complicated feelings about the Gate come back to bite him in a bad way when act 3 hits and his tenuous hold on his resolve and leaderly composure is only sustained by his trust and love for his companions - and then Halsin (whom he’s looked up to and cherished all this time) begins to bitterly muse on the idea of just letting the city be destroyed because at least it would wipe its evil off the map. this nearly destroys Jahen. he knows Halsin has good reason to feel such apathy because he himself has intimate knowledge of the injustices that Halsin is really only glancing the surface of, but Jahen also knows this “burn it all down” idea is wrong. but he doesn’t really have an argument for why it’s wrong, because the Gate was so terribly wrong for him that he left. and he’s suffering so deeply already, trying to hold himself together and bring everyone through to the endgame, trying to save the city, that when Halsin starts to give voice to these (admittedly ugly) thoughts, Jahen starts to wonder if he should give up too. then halsin gets kidnapped by orin

What motivates your Tav to either embrace or resist the tadpole?

mostly body horror lmao 😭 I think it’s very possible a couple of the companions incorrectly assume at first that Jahen is as resistant to the tadpole as he is because it’s “immoral” to use them, but that’s truly not it at all. Jahen’s sense of morality doesn’t even perfectly line up with most people’s (explored a bit here), and he’s very much not the type to assign contextless “sin” even to something like an illithid. but Jahen is horrified by the presence of the parasite in his skull throughout the adventure, he hates the feeling and never really manages to fully compartmentalize it and ignore it, and he’s terrified of losing his free will to the thing (and Jahen has a very strong will that he’s not even fully aware he has. (well. until a certain fic event happens that I have thus far kept under wraps. hehe))

he abjectly refuses to even touch the potential power of it for anything that involves subjugation or authority. he does allow the other companions to use it to communicate with him for either privacy or trust-building reasons, but by midway through the adventure when those personal connections are growing to the point that those requests would even be made, they are each aware how much it disturbs him and only use it when the situation is particularly fraught. Wyll, Astarion, and Gale kind of just use it like a telephone amongst themselves though by act 3 lmao. Lae'zel doesn’t for obvious reasons, Shadowheart doesn’t - not often at least - because she sort of has enough entities monitoring her innermost emotions and intentions and isn’t keen on adding more, and Karlach would, but isn’t usually invited because she’s so mentally loud she gives the boys headaches. <3 my darling. my precious baby girl with the voice of a megaphone.

How does your Tav feel about killing?

Jahen doesn’t take much pleasure in killing. he can get caught-up in battle euphoria and feel a sense of triumph and pride when he’s particularly lethal or efficient with his kills, but I think in most cases, at least when dealing with thinking-creatures, he’d rather be able to work things out diplomatically. he’s obviously able to recognize when this would be foolish though, such as with goblins or duegar living within their typical cultures.

that said, he also doesn’t feel a lot of guilt for killing. having been wilderness-oriented for as long as he has, he’s adapted to the natural order of “survival of the fittest” well enough that if he can act on compassion, he will, but if he can’t, he’ll do what needs to be done and not lose a great deal of sleep over it. I don’t even have him pull punches (read: turn on non-lethal mode) when roleplaying fights, even if he did previously try some kind of diplomatic approach that failed. I also don’t roleplay him trying to reason with Ketheric. I think that doesn’t even cross his mind, because Ketheric is demonstrably so far gone by that point.

I think the most common scenario in which Jahen would lose sleep over such a thing would be if he was dealing with some kind of band or group of multiple people, and it was the leader he was forced to bargain with (who might not be open to bargaining), while any lackeys involved were expected to just follow orders even if they might prefer not to fight (or die). if anyone tried to run from him though, Jahen would let them go.

Merry Christmas

@ranger-jahen

Hope you’re having a good day!

yes he did! c: Jahen was a little cautious at first when Astarion mentioned wanting to talk to Raphael about making a deal, but one of the things that’s consistent about Jahen as a character for a very long while into the bulk of the story is that he does not consider himself anyone’s “boss,” he tends to only lead by example rather than firmly telling the others what to do or what not to do, and he doesn’t even take his role as leader wholly seriously until early act 3, so during the first chat at Last Light Inn, he merely doesn’t stand in Astarion’s way.

then when they reached the Thorm Mausoleum and Raphael requested something so oddly “doable” in exchange for that information, Jahen and Astarion are both suspicious of Raphael’s offer while also both agreeing “well? it doesn’t seem that bad… right? this should be fine?” and it helps to cement their tentative rapport that’s been building for a while. Yurgir doesn’t even get far enough into the conversation in the Gauntlet for Astarion to have any complaints lol and Raphael shows up at camp that night to fulfill the bargain.

ask game here!

DANG I love that this was the very first one I got because I actually have a whole little scene written around that moment. ^o^ I kinda even low-key hope to someday do a little illustrated sequence for it. essentially Jahen can immediately tell by sniffing the wine that it’s got the truth serum in it. alchemical familiarity and all. xD and he kind of just chuckles and looks Jaheira dead in the eyes while he drinks it down (Gale and Shadowheart were in his party and both gave him a -1 disapproval lmao. Karlach was the third companion and she had no approval change so I imagine she’s just not personally suspicious of Jaheira at all)

my extra little bit is that Jaheira immediately asks him a question and he just teases her like “now wait a second don’t you want to wait til it kicks in? it’s barely reached my stomach” and then Jaheira has to try not to laugh because she wanted this to be a serious business matter

so in summary: Jahen knows the truth serum is in there, he understands why Jaheira would go to these lengths, he makes sure she knows that he knows and then drinks it to prove the point he has nothing to hide. and then he clowns around about it haha

ask game here!

:D hello

haha so this is another titled-and-saved draft I’ve had stashed on this blog for some time. xD I’m just gonna copy & paste over what I was already working on and finish it up for ya real quick. :3

so the ‘Dream Guardian" and their appearance is based around the Emperor’s fascination with Jahen prior to the identity reveal at the start of act 3. a portion of ideas I’ve worked with for how Jahen functions as this sort of “main character” that bears the brunt of the narrative is that although he is the Emperor’s primary target/most closely-monitored ally, he does not understand why. he never even really comes close to understanding why. mainly because he does not see himself as having any qualities that “stand out” in a way that would make him valuable to someone like the Emperor. but the Emperor very much has his reasons.

the biggest of these reasons is that Jahen has a near-prodigious force of will. not tied to any particular “D&D” stat or anything, just an enormous willpower that you probably wouldn’t be able to tell through the vast majority of ordinary methods. The Emperor is able to determine this through the same mental powers that he uses to decide that Minsc would be a liability if taken into the party (and tries to refuse to protect him on the basis of.) The Emperor’s ego also plays into this, because he thinks of himself as unique among illithids due to the fact that his own “force of personality” kept his mind largely intact even post-transformation, which is what has convinced him that he is still Balduran, just with a different form. the Emperor finds it easy to project his own mental championship onto Jahen, and he hand-picks him as his intended “thrall” because he wants to see what Jahen might be able to become if he’s able to be convinced to accept the mind flayer form.

the second biggest reason is that Jahen presents a challenge on the very same basis. not only is Jahen extremely difficult to “sway” into patterns of thinking he’s not already amenable to, he’s so disgusted by the parasite in his head that he refuses to use its power of will against others at all. he will not even entertain the idea of subjugating other beings by using the parasite’s “authority,” even creatures he usually doesn’t have much empathy for, such as the goblins. this appeals to the Emperor’s ambitions as he searches for how he could slowly bring Jahen under his own “control” (which he never fully succeeds at doing, which partly contributes to his decision to go complete scorched-ground at the very end by re-joining the Elder brain instead of facing down his failure to bring Jahen into compliance with his final goal of assimilating Orpheus. part genuine strategy exit, part hissy fit exit.)

the third reason is that Jahen’s force of will is like the mental equivalent of a super duper “sleeper build” from the Emperor’s perspective because personality-wise, Jahen is a pretty diplomatic guy! he doesn’t crave control or “authority” of his own, he doesn’t prioritize his perspective over anyone else’s, and he doesn’t even really hold his own high ambitions of any kind, at least certainly not to the same degree as other members of the party. so as part of sizing Jahen up as someone useful, the Emperor anticipates that he’ll be able get up underneath the guard of the Cult’s forces without detection easier, because on the surface of things he is neither notable nor memorable in any specific or seemingly “powerful” way.

and finally, the Emperor can see that Jahen is dedicated to no higher powers or specific grand figures, and that the very best way to get into his psyche is to present another helpful and concerned adventurer to him. Jahen has been alone for a long time. there has been no one person nor idea he has ever longed for or strived after in some way that he would cooperate with a manifestation of it with no questions asked. he has some people or deities he’s admired from afar here and there, but they are distant and command no more of his loyalty than his own intrinsic values do. Jahen has repeatedly had to forge his own path, take his own risks, even leave behind the pieces of the life he once had in order to find his own heart in truer places. but cooperation and connection do matter to him.

this makes the Emperor’s attempted manipulations much easier, because there’s not a specific persona he has to try to emulate or predict in order to convince Jahen that he’s someone of import. and that’s exactly who the “Dream Guardian” is; a total stranger. she is an older-looking woman with curly gray hair, perhaps a couple decades younger than Jaheira, someone with enough experience that he may be able to look up to, and a half-elf like Jahen, an at-a-glance hint that she might understand him in some way. she appeals to his desire to do good when possible while also taking his own survival and the survival of his friends into account. she reassures him time and time again that he’s smart for being wary of the parasite, but he’s safe under her guidance and he needs the advantage in order to take on the trials and tribulations sure to come.

Jahen never gives in, but it’s not an easy matter for him. He’s in an agony of uncertainty the entire time, despite his instincts telling him it must be a trick of the parasite, there’s no other rational conclusion to make. when the Emperor’s true identity is finally revealed, it breaks all trust, because Jahen knows then how deep the manipulation went. he coolly cooperates with the Emperor from that point forward out of having no other options, and doesn’t do anything in particular to provoke him, but he is angry inside. any chance for a true alliance is irreversibly lost at that point (though the Emperor does continue to delude himself otherwise.)

and then as a final cinematic detail, just for fun/if anyone finds it interesting, Jahen still hesitates right before landing the killing shot. he’s standing atop the brain, got his bow drawn back to his shoulder, and the target he was aiming at falls to a blow from Lae'zel, so he swivels for a new target and the enthralled Emperor lines up in his sights, and he nearly drops the damn arrow. something like two heartbeats pass, and then he says “I’m sorry,” but he doesn’t realize he does. Gale hears it, because he’s standing right next to him (casting a globe of invulnerability), but he’s the only one who knows the words were uttered. Jahen looses his arrow and the Emperor dies.

YES i am laughing rn because it is often amusing to me as well that Elenion and Jahen are so different xD <3 they have a few things in common here and there (music enjoyers, sex-confidence havers), but their differences I agree would make for hilarious conversations between the two of them. :D

Jahen would valiantly attempt to keep up with Elenion infodumping but you’re correct that he would quickly become overwhelmed and have to call a breather. he might very sheepishly request Elenion to focus on one historical tangent at a time and let him absorb the details about it for a day or so (sleep on it perhaps) before another one is explored. ;D Elenion fucking homeschools Jahen arc

I think the question with Gale is really interesting because Jahen technically has one branch of magic he does understand. as far as Ive been able to determine from loosely browsing around in available-on-the-internet D&D lore (I’ve probably spent no more than an hour reading on this so like take this with a grain of salt) the Rangers in the forgotten realms setting are able to access and cast magic through the same channels that Druids are able to access and cast magic, but Ranger spells are conducted through a more nature-as-domain perspective and Druid spells are conducted through a more nature-as-religion perspective.

within TTRPG framings of the lore, in some games Rangers even have to spend time “meditating” to access their spells or restore their spell slots, and I’ve adapted this just a touch for how I imagine/write Jahen utilizing his magic and known spells. so Jahen has done some work and spent some time in contemplation of how to use magic himself, just not at all in the same ways that Gale has done. we even know from Gale’s comment after Halsin officially joins the party in Act 2 that Druidic magic specifically is not his expertise either. so I almost think in some ways Gale and Jahen could do a bit of Cultural Magic Exchange without too much trouble.

however, Gale is obviously just about as highly educated on magical theory and craft as you can possibly get, and Jahen has little to no formal education in any subject, so yes, Gale does lose him before too long if discussing anything other than raw technique. xD I sort of imagine Jahen stops him if he can get a word in edgewise but he wouldn’t talk over Gale or try to shut him down, so if The Wizard is determined to ramble I think Jahen just lets him ramble. after a time or two of being completely lost while Gale rambles on, Jahen would listen for any words he doesn’t recognize, select 2-3 of them to hold in his mind & remember for next time, and then when “next time” rolls around, brings them up like “hey Gale this might be a stupid question but what does X mean? I didn’t understand what you were saying about it before.” and I more or less imagine that Gale would have a joyful aneurysm over being asked specific questions about his rambling hahaha. so they get along even if Jahen doesn’t retain most things. c;

Jahen is pretty damn humble about just not knowing much outside his very specific areas of expertise and I think he’s very open about this to Gale as well as demonstrates implicit trust in Gale’s knowledge about magic without even deliberately making a point to do so (he’s sincere but not patronizing.) I’d say this is one of the things that endears Jahen to Gale very quickly haha. like Gale is there at the start of the adventure “not to be So Bold but I am a Super Expert on all things magical” and Jahen just goes “heard.” lmao like he just believes him! xD no pushback whatsoever. Jahen never hears any of Gale’s slightly more annoying or arrogant lines because if Gale is ever like “do you want help with that magical thing” Jahen is always going “yes please”

I have an audio clip for Jahen that’s just him verbally tugging on Gale any time a magical item crosses their path and i LOVE it because this is exactly how I imagine it plays out inside the story. xD magical artifact? Gale. magical weapon? Gale. magical sigil? Gale.

is “all of the above” an option omg. it’s a good thing Jahen’s not here with me or else he’d try to crawl through the screen hahaha

but yeah I do think he’d really like all of these. :D he would not turn any of them down. I think his absolute most favorite sort of dessert would be something that’s got a kind of best-of-both-worlds thing going on between fruit and pastry.

the tart example leans a little closer to Mostly Fruit and the cake example leans a little closer to Mostly Pastry so perhaps the freshly baked pie would fall perfectly in the middle. or something like a really good crumble or cobbler that has nice fluffy pastry or streusel piled on top of some baked & spiced fruit. also he would fuck with some ice cream with it too but idk how easy ice cream is to come by in faerûn haha

as far as what Flavor of pie/cobbler/crumble I think he’d be a huge sucker for apple, peach, and berry bakes especially. but again, there wouldn’t be any fruit options I can think of that he’d turn down. :] I should give him one of those extremely minor allergies to something that he’s never realized is an allergy tbh. like when people go “I love how spicy pears are” and their friends are like “….pears aren’t spicy.” bc that would be so funny

backspacing through a line of Jahen dialogue like “he didn’t go to school. he doesn’t know that word.”

🍑 Which companion has the best butt?

Jahen would look at you very seriously and tell you that of course Wyll has the best butt.

a pleased Wyll would then move out of earshot and Jahen would proceed to lower his voice and tell you that Karlach has the best butt.

oc sexy times asks here

thank you I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying them! ^u^ aaa it makes me so happy. I answered #17 in this ask.

9) Going to buff/heal a companion/romance

these are so super fun because even though he’s not as powerful a healer as Shadowheart or Halsin, he does have some training in this area and he cares a lot about it! ;u;

The other companions have different lines based on approval level in platonic relationships, and I think that lends a lot of interest to Jahen’s lines too, especially for negative approval, because he’d be practical about healing even if he didn’t like you, but without his usual warmth or silliness. c;

Buff/Heal Negative Approval:

“Take this. Keep going.” “Steady. Keep the goal in mind.” “Don’t give up. This will help.”

Buff/Heal Neutral Approval:

“You’ve got this. I can help.” “Let me have a look. That’s better.” “No shame in it. Let me help.”

Buff/Heal Positive Approval:

“You don’t make a shabby rug but I like you better in three dimensions.” “Easy there, I’ve got you. Hope this feels better.” “I’ll be after you at camp later. Here’s a little boost for now.” “‘Better out than in’ is for… other things. Not blood. Let’s patch you up.”

Buff/Heal Romance:

“Just a little help. At least I get to hold you for a moment.” “You’re strong, you’ve got this. Hope this helps.” “Can’t stand you hurt. Let me heal you.” as well as the “canon” - “I’ll kiss it better later.”

ask game here

awww my goodness thank you so much?? ;u; I will tell him and also he loves you too 💛💛💛