Background for my wild magic sorcerer Taranlas Levine (Part 2/2), events are pre-BG3
Here follows the second part of my lore for my Wild Magic sorcerer Tarry, these notes focusing more on her and her early life pre-BG3. Tried to do some proofreading of my notes so hope this is readable 😅 Enjoy!
The first few years, Taranlas grows up in Neverwinter with her brother, their life easy and without much pressure from the world around them. Every now and then, their aunt Siena visits them during her adventures, filling the Levine children’s heads with stories of bravery and magic. Saveria lets Siena have this chance to connect with the children, since apart from a few small mishaps here and there, Siena has proven a powerful sorcerer and seems to have grown with the responsibility her magic gives her.
Apart from her brotherLucan, Taranlas has a hard time making friends as many of the noble families’ children find her a bit quirky and she has very different interests from many of them (including reading massive fact books, playing outside in the woods, and having special interests such megafauna; yes, dinosaurs :D), so Marcellus gifts her daughter a foal that she names Juniper (or June; don’t mind the fact that horses age normally and half-elves don’t - June has a long lifespan…). Tarry, as her brother calls her, and the foal become best friends and she often sneaks off to the stables to read with her horse whenever she can. Horse riding becomes something that her father and she can connect over and they love going on rides together whenever they can.
Around the age of six, Tarry starts manifesting little sparks of magic, often when she’s either very excited or anxious, which instantly causes her mother to worry that this magic will turn destructive. Marcellus tries to comfort his wife and with some help from Siena, Tarry learns to connect with her magic safely, no signs yet of this being a strain of wild magic. Saveria hopes against hope that maybe the Damos family “curse”, as it’s been called, has finally ended.
A few years later, word is sent to them that Siena has died in an ambush by some orcs led by the Bhaalist general Akheron Favron (my Dark Urge Ceres’ grandfather…the plot thickens), however, it turns out that Siena actually unleashed a wild magic surge that killed not only her and the attackers but also some members of her own adventuring party. Losing Siena sends Saveria into a spiral, her then trying to ensure Tarry won’t suffer a similar fate. On the other hand, Tarry, who’s lost one of the only people who truly understood her, becomes panicked and anxious, her wild magic finally showing its real face. Marcellus wants them to treat Tarry with patience but Saveria, certain that the only way is either to suppress the magic altogether or have Tarry study to become an actual wizard. Even though Marcellus disagrees with this at first, he gives in as he doesn’t have much understanding of the arcane. Furthermore, Tarry loves learning so initially she doesn’t mind the idea of being taught in a magical academy but the more she realises she has to become someone she’s not, and her being harassed for every thing she does wrong, the harder it becomes for her to find joy in her magic and similarly to her mother and the teachers at the academy, she starts fearing it.
Around Taranlas’ teenage years, the family starts moving around the Sword Coast due to her father’s work as an Alliance Envoy, first to Baldur’s Gate, then to Waterdeep before they finally settle in Baldur’s Gate. During Tarry’s years in Baldur’s Gate, she befriends the young tiefling (Katherine) Marlowe whom she becomes great friends with as they both feel a bit like underdogs, Tarry teased for her clumsiness and wild magic whereas Marlowe is harassed due to her social background.
In Waterdeep, Tarry studies a while at Blackstaff Academy, but with time they give up on her due to her unfocused nature and tendency to cause trouble, even though it’s always by accident. As a teenager and young adult, she’s also paraded around a lot at balls and events, more due to her mother’s wishes than the father’s, but Tarry wants to become an arcane scholar first and foremost and doesn’t want to be married off as a way to cut magic out of her life. During all this time, her brother Lucan proves to be the one that always steps in to shield her from unnecessary pressure and does everything in his power to understand her, even with his limited understanding of magic. With him around, she finds safety and learns to build a quiet sort of strength in the midst of the chaos.
Unfortunately, even with all the training, she can’t get her magic under control, and instead it’s growing more powerful and unyielding. The final blow for Tarry happens when she’s sent to the House of Wonder, an old temple of Mystra that now is a learning place for young mages - the instructor she faces here is among the harshest ones she’s faced, and by this point, the belief she has in herself and her own magic is low. For weeks she studies and practices night and day but gets more and more burnt out, finally resulting in her bringing about a wild magic surge during a spell casting session that hospitalises her as well as another student. She’s expelled and decides enough is enough.
For Taranlas, being cast aside from the academies and not given a chance to prove her worth (as often the instructors try to teach her as a wizard with little patience for her wild magic) breaks her self-image, as unlike many other sorcerers who go off on their own and just rely on their own raw powers, she actually wanted to be part of the arcane academia, learning more about magic as well as learning about herself. Tarry loves magic like nothing else and can’t really see herself without it, it would be like cutting out a part of her, so she realises she needs to find her own way to harness it. Thus Tarry sets out to travel along the Sword Coast for many years, every now and then returning home to see her family - sometimes she’s traveling by herself, sometimes in a group, and she also lives for a time with a group of Druids from the Emerald Enclave. With the druids, she finds new ways to root her magic, learning a bit how their magic works and with time, even though her wild magic is still hazardous and unpredictable at times, she discovers ways how to use it to her advantage.
One day she is traveling back home to Baldur’s Gate, when all of a sudden, the shadow of a large vessel looms over here. A Nautiloid. And that’s how her story in Baldur’s Gate 3 starts.
