#dal'ranak

Nerus. I keep scrapping and reviving this character over and over again because I cannot decide whether his story is good/interesting enough to go with (Also because it’d be strongly tied to yet another character and I’m not sure *this* is the best path for her to take) I think he’s from, like, early 2022?? Anyway, it was from a time I still HCd that protoss crests never stopped growing and since this bitch was supposed to be like 800 years old, his was fucking massive. 

(Also from a time I HCd that the older a protoss is, the more bony and spiky they look until they essentially resemble a mummified body. Which ended up being a double edged sword for me because it meant drawing him with a really thin face and I don’t particularly like protoss with very thin, almost beak-like faces because they then remind me too much of a Tesla logo ifhbvkdfvdgb)

I love the kind of stories where, like, a god that was killed didn’t actually die. That thing is too divine and too powerful to truly be killed, something too incomprehensible for mortal minds to ever understand. The idea that the corpse of a god still radiates some kind of energy or magic that can be harnessed for whatever reason, that it still seeps out of the carcass and influences the world it died in is very very interesting to me, and also whether this residual energy could  be harnessed in whatever way to bring that divine being back to life. The Xel'naga are born of the Void and can shape it to their will, it's a part of them, forever and always. Amon already came back once, so why not again? 

The way I see it, Nerus was a powerful priest of some Amon-centred religion/cult for a looooooong time and was completely dedicated to his god and the duties his position enticed. His only goal in life would be to serve him, whatever it meant, even if the will of his god was the eradication of Nerus’s own people and the universe as a whole. 

He greatly disliked Alarak from the moment he defeated Nuroka in a Rak'shir because he saw him as a potential threat to his religion and his god's great plan, which would only escalate when Alarak actually became the Highlord and was like "Lmfaoooo, Amon fucked us over, guys, time to yeet him" Nerus then saw his life’s work collapse all around him as nearly all Tal’darim turned their backs on Amon and instead joined Alarak in his quest to kill him. The ultimate heresy. He then went into voluntary exile and set himself on a path of finding out how to revive his dead god, because he wants nothing more but to serve him. He doesn't care how many people die on his quest, or even if he personally is successful. He only cares about figuring out if it's possible and either doing it himself or preparing someone else to do it in his stead.

And, as if this bitch wasn’t creepy enough, he was like 11ft tall and VERY spindly as additional contrast to the character he was supposed to share the story with, who was barely 5ft artist challenge: draw your OC in a way Vivziepop would draw them-*gunshot*

Y’rash, formerly Ulzea, because her original name sounded Nerazim-y instead of something a Taldy would be called. I fucking hate this character, mostly because I can’t get her design to look the way I want to. She’s on her *fourth* redesign now and I am STILL not satisfied with the way she looks. The black and white sketch of her is the most recent one and the one that’s most accurate to how I imagine her but it’s still not a 100%

Anyway, this is Dal’s mommy that was mentioned earlier (whether she’s his biological mother or just someone who stole a child and brainwashed them into thinking she’s their parent is left for interpretation. Probably the latter, who knows. I know.) She only ever saw him as a meatshield to use for her own gain and protection. Y’rash was a fairly highly positioned Ascendant but also unlike many others who climb the Chain because of ambition, power or just to hone their skills, she was comfortable where she was in the link because of the power it offered her, also being low enough to escape most political attention and not be deemed a big threat. The problem was that the only way she could stay where she was meant she had to beat anyone who challenged her for her position, and she didn’t particularly want to risk someone stronger than her climbing up and usurping her (read: kill her to get her job)

So, as any sane person would do, she decided to bring up her own child in a way that would assure her place in the Chain, meaning that Dal was supposed to hone his combat skills, become *stronger* than her and eventually climb, only to then position himself directly under her, so any potential challenger goes after him and not her, all while he’s completely brainwashed into blind loyalty towards her. He was one of many, but was her absolute favourite (read: he was the strongest) and for a while, he enjoyed the kind of twisted attention she “showered” him in because it was the closest thing to love he experienced so far. 

That all ended when he got gravely injured on Endion, losing a whole limb, while the rest of his "siblings" made it out of the war with lesser injuries. This catapulted him from the position of the faavourite child to the very bottom of the family hierarchy, which he wasn't coping with at all. He was desperate for Y'rash's approval and as such was agreed to everything his mother wanted of him to win it back, something that eventually got him on Shakuras where he met Zhakul. Bla bla bla some shenanigans ensue, he gets a taste of what real love and kindness is, then it's all ripped away from him again because of his own hubris. He decides to blame Y'rash for this and the rest can be found in his section ifbvifjhnbf

(Story is subject to change tho. This was made up around 2016/2017 when I was still a teenager and I now see this as something very outdated with about as many plotholes as a cobweb has. I started rewriting this in early 2023 but because I only have such raw, early concepts for this story, I still see this as the more coherent of the two plotlines so for now this one is canon for the AU. So. Subject to change)