Vasraen’s Playlist – Caution to the Wind

 Tangled Angel by Coda

Lilting strings and plucks, this song embodies its title. Delicate, fluttering, and despairing; swooning, swooping, and falling. I think the mood of this piece really suits Vasraen. I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s angelic, but I also wouldn’t say angels are innocent. The song captures naivety, airy and loving, thrown into turmoil by fate of one’s own carelessness. Tumbling on down.

 Love Over Gold [Live] by Dire Straits

Lyrically, this song is just perfect for him. I personally love the lyrics and it has some beautiful lines that have always stood out to me. From the start, there’s dance – and.I have always interpreted that as literal rather than metaphorical, have always imagined Love Over Gold as a song to and about a dancer or performer,

You walk out on the high wire, You’re a dancer on thin ice. You pay no heed to the danger, And less to advice.

With the context of the song I take this to mean personal danger (including emotional). The safety of Vasraen’s companions is paramount to him – but his own safety can be an afterthought, mostly because he often has full faith that he will succeed through diplomacy (and he’s not the best judge of how he may endanger others should he fail). Love Over Gold also follows Tangled Angel in the theme of naivety; Vasraen knows bad people exist, but often believes that he can still sway them with kindness alone, and this belief definitely persists against the advice of others.

             Your footsteps are forbidden,              But with the knowledge of your sin              You throw your love to all the strangers              And caution to the wind.

Didn’t I say it was perfect? This works very literally for Vasraen. Be it from Lolth or Vhaeraun, Vasraen has gone off course, and his every step away from his home in the Underdark is ‘sin’. So, knowing this, what does he do? Throws his love to all the strangers, and caution to the wind…

             It takes love over gold,              And mind over matter,              To do what you do that you must.              When the things that you hold              Can fall and be shattered              They can run through your fingers like dust.

I’ll admit, in both a regular interpretation and a Vasraen-specific interpretation, that I deviate into metaphor for this one. The song is even called Love Over Gold and should cement that the final lines refer to the fleetingness of material – alas, not how I hear it. I always imagine it not as the shattering of material things, but rather, memories and relationships and whole swathes of the life you have known, lost, changed, gone forever. And Vasraen, well…

Creature Lives by Mastodon

And now, something almost lyrically irrelevant. This was chosen more for the mood of it, as well as the blunt empathy, and the hopefulness. The friend who introduced me to this song said it was something like his ‘you’re gonna be alright, kid’ song, something that could make him feel better.

             I saw the creature fall,              Into the swamp from which he spawned              I heard them laugh and say              They never liked him anyway

             I tried to talk to them              To help you on your feet again              They laughed and said to me              The swamp is right where I should be

             The creature lives              The creature lives              The creature lives              The creature lives

 Make Love by Daft Punk

Just a relaxing synthy song for someone who likes to make out.

 Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy by Queen

This was chosen for Vasraen by the DM, and it’s basically in the title. This song is spectacularly candid and endearing, so unabashed and light-hearted. Makes some disgustingly clichéd and capitalized romance tropes seem fun.

 Heart Upon My Sleeve by Avicii

The titular phrase suits Vasraen, but otherwise I can’t explain why this instrumental tracks stands out to be me as a fit. I think it adds some bass and depth to playlist, and so can allude to that in his character. Heart Upon My Sleeve doesn’t strike me as any kind of ‘happy go lucky’ song, either. It sounds a little tumultuous or desperate, a bit like striving or trying.

 Baby We’ll Be Fine by The National

Again, I’m already a big fan of this song, it really strikes a chord with me. It speaks of a whole-hearted and desperate façade, it’s trying really hard to be okay, it’s trying really hard to convince yourself and others that you’re okay, it’s a near-manic energy pulled taut over something broken and tired and ready to fall apart at any moment. Projecting outwards and refusing to turn inwards lest you cave in entirely – and you do cave entirely.

 Green Theme by Baroness

I’ve already spoken before about Baroness’ double album Yellow & Green, “drowning in brine”, “bile, tides, and resignation”, “shallow waves”. Green Theme is on the calm shallows and resignation side of things. Nothing too deep to this one in terms of Vasraen, just a calm song for him.

 Sexy Boy by Air

I removed this from the playlist for a time, but felt it’s absence. Musically it just sits so perfectly adjacent to the other songs. The lyrics are mostly in French; I’ve looked up a translation before, but forgot. The key idea is ‘Sexy Boy’. That’s about it.

 Wake Up Your Saints by Tha National

I’ve seen this song interpreted as not, in fact, about any such faith in saints, but faith in a partner. From the bridge and chorus:

             It’s easy to lose your grip              It’s easy

So I walk through the streets I love              And I’m led to the house I built              So I walk through the streets I love              And I lay in your bed again

Wake up your saints, Jenny, I need them              Jenny, I need them              Today

Kind of like having faith in a person’s practical nature, rather than any practice itself. That context aside: For Vasraen, I mostly just love the jaunty pep, and candid and practical voice of it. “Wake up your saints” as a phrase just seems very parallel to his candid (if still awestruck) relation to Eilistraee and his clerical powers in general.  As a bonus, there are some other select lines that are appropriate, including this opening,

             I had a hole in the middle, where the lightning went through,

Vasraen of course has a Lichtenberg scar right over his heart. And later,

             She said you’re right, it’s a living, but you’re wrong for the life,              You know you never should’ve listened to my father’s advice.

Vasraen was perfectly successful at his pursuits and mission before leaving the Underdark and running away. The second line is less relevant, but depending on the voice, or by changing the relation, it could fit. (Eilistraee – my brother’s advice. Perhaps Vas himself, his own father’s advice. Perhaps Yterra, her mothers advice.) It doesn’t need to be exact to communicate that Vasraen had a lot of influences to deviate from.

 with love by Elbow

This song is just a bit nice, though my feelings toward Elbow can change now and then (at times they are utterly boring to me). Put simply, with love is just about friendship:

             When your dentures prevent your smile              These adventures will fill your eyes              With love

 Les Champs-Elysées by Joe Dassin

What can I say, this song is about fun and love along The Avenue des Champs-Élysées, in Paris. It’s got nothing to do with him. It’s just a fun song.

 Gramofón as performed by the Symphony Orchestra of the National State Teleradio Company of the Republic of Belarus

The DM played this song during a dream/dance/religious vision sequence Vasraen had with the goddess Eilistraee.

 Vienna by Ultravox

             This means nothing to me              This means nothing to me

 Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham!

I just think he’d like it. I think he’d like George Michael. What I mean is that I love this song and George Michael and it suits Vasraen and his playlist because I say so. I can’t yet dance like George Michael does in this video, but Vasraen could.

 I Am Sound by The Dandy Warhols

Less so the chorus, the verses in this song are all extremely fitting. I also like the vibe of it.

             For have I, I’ve built a castle              Upon believing before I doubt.              I have suffered but my friends say I have learned from it.              And for have I believed the snow could              Not be freezing upon the ground              Now my ass is blue and black, but I am sound.

Vasraen’s family tree. He lived with most of ‘em, and near the others. (Ok, lived with parents Maal and Tisrahel, next door to Yllisa, Haden, Yterra, Dux, and Ontos, in the same city as Iasta and Ullien, and the same region as Ullia, Ruis’ka, and Elk. He met Lirashe only a couple times as a kid, and then once more as his first contact on the surface.)

edit: oh and grey means they’re dead

Here’s a couple other details I guess.