I Like Stuff. Things.

Selune came to my tav personally in a dream to save a child that had been sold off to a devil.

And she does so due to how painful it was losing aylin for that century. She stopped sending people to save aylin as they kept dying. She essentially chose the lives of her followers over saving her daughter from her seemingly endless torment.

The decision of this has led to Selûne being rather protective and overbearing of aylin. She will never put the lives of mortals over her daughter ever again.

I think it creates a great dichotomy for Selûne, having to choose between being a goddess for selunites vs being a mother to aylin. Aylin was created for the sole purpose of doing what Selûne could not (as Selûne is held back by how much she can interfere with mortal affairs due to AO), she is meant to be the sword of Selûne, swiping out enemies and helping those in need.

And that is how Selûne lost Aylin in the first place, what led to her being trapped and tortured for a century. Not only was Aylin sent to Reithwin as a emissary, she was lured into the cage with the lie of someone who needed help.

And with that, i have come to truly see just how much some people by into the Sharran propaganda Shadowheart spews about Selune and selunites. Even with it being known of just how much Shar and Viconia fucked Shadowheart up and brainwashed her (many times over), people still buy into what she is selling against Selune.

In that Selune is no better than the evil gods and is secretly evil or dirty herself. They take her "inaction" of not saving Aylin as proof when there are DnD lore reasons as to why she acts in such an offhandish manner. Learning about Ao (what little I have) was a bit eye opening. She has to act through mortals and she seemingly did based on the selunite graves we find in front of the Thorm mausoleum.

Something like where Aylin and my Tav end up on an adventure together. They have basically been sent on the same mission. Alyin, through her mother and my Tav through hearsay. They meet up and naturally decide to work together.

The kicker is that they did not inform their significant others about their respective missions. And highkey lied about the fact that they would be out doing such a dangerous thing.

I also like to think that in a weird and convoluted way, it reflects how Selune guided my paladin down the path to intercept Shadowheart in the nautiloid and in turn everything else that happens after. That is my head cannon, anyway.

And despite not being devoted to Selune, my Paladin does have a bit of favor with the goddess considering all that she has done. Cleaned up the shadow curse, help free her daughter, help one cleric that was stolen from her return to the moonlit road (even if Shadowheart never fully embraces her, Selune is thankful all the same), her free her daughter, help bring down those responsible for the destruction of a town that was endlessly devoted to her, and so on.

I like to think that my Paladin of Devotion has a bit of a reckoning when it comes to Shadowheart in Act 2. Up until this point, Shadowheart is a Sharran simply by word. Her deeds and approvals say the exact opposite and it allows my Paladin to ignore their differences in philosophy and ideology. The snide remarks towards Selune can be brushed off and ignored. The deep discussions about Shadowheart's faith can be had but they are outweighed by Shadowheart's constant show of heart and compassion.

Getting to the Shadowlands is a harsh reminder of who Shadowheart worships and the glee and excitement she expresses in becoming a Dark Justiciar is a deeply unsettling thing.

And to be quite frank, my character hates it. She LOATHES it when Shadowheart talks about wanting to be a Justiciar and being a faithful servant to Shar, in Act II. Being surrounded by the horror and desolation Shar caused, she cannot reconcile that with the person Shadowheart actually is.

I also like to think that for Shadowheart, this is also where she realizes that she cannot have both. Shar does not allow for her followers to have room in their hearts for anyone beyond her. And it does play in her decision to defy Shar.

Shadowheart is so obviously in love with the character after theor first kiss. Homegurl is down BAD. She remarks about how much happier she is with said character. Staying down the road of being a Sharran would mean giving that up in some form and she does not want to do that.

But before she comes to the decision of defying Shar, it eats away at her that she will have to let Tav go in order to fulfill her Justiciar dream. And when it comes to my paladin, it is not lost on her just how ideologically opposed they are. My paladin's loathing and disdain of Shar becomes more palpable the longer they are in the Shadowlands. Its a heartbreaking thing for Shadowheart because she has to reckon with the fact that being a Sharran will eventually equate to opposing my character.

Following the doctrine of Shar and doing her bidding is a very easy way to find oneself on the end of my Paladin's smite. And unbeknownst to Shadowheart, my character has on fact put down sharrans in duty to her oath and dod not lose a sleep of wink over it. In fact, my character has found herself standing alongside and assisting Selunites in her travels from time to time. This is something that should be quite obvious to Shadowheart but its another thing she lies to herself about.

But through social media, I have been able to see a good chunk of the Rhiyo vs Kabuki Warriors storyline. And I feel like Kairi deserves more credit for the part she's playing. How emotionally distraught she is has been a constant thing, even when she's being mean and nasty in her own way.

Case in point, when Iyo took that elbow for Rhea, Kairi was so upset about it and it's something that I feel like has flown under the radar. It does truly PAIN her to have to go through with this war against Iyo and every time Iyo chooses to still stand beside Rhea it makes her emotional turmoil worse. She gets sadder about having to hurt iyo (and Rhea to an extent) and she gets angrier at Iyo for causing all of this mess.

And the insane abusive dynamic she has with Asuka rn just makes you truly feel for her. And it's kinda mind boggling. Kairi is supposed to be this big, brave pirate princess who stands up to anybody no matter how she may be outmatched. But she just allows Asuka to run all over her.