#sarevok

God what the hell even are Bhaalist family conventions, LOL.

No, he wasn't. And how much it would have troubled him depends on how long he's been a bhaalist for. It's actually interesting to me how Orin seems betrayed at the revelation, considering everything else that the Bhaalists get up to - Is she upset because of the incest? Because of the implication of generational sexual abuse? Because she ends up deducing that she was originally supposed to be a sacrifice to Bhaal herself? I have to assume that the lie itself is what upset her, since she must have been under the pretense that Bhaal impregnated her mother, somehow - but we don't actually have confirmation either way. That whole line of dialogue feels a little bit incomplete to me, so we can only theorize from there.

It's worth pointing out that DU drow himself was not brought up with the same inhibitions as your average person - he is aware of what is taboo and what isn't, but he understands that Bhaal's law does not abide by social conventions, and Sarevok would have sold himself as Bhaal's mouth-piece for a long time. If Sarevok set out to convince DU drow that what he did to Helena was necessary, then he would have probably accepted it. Still, DU drow had a lot of empathy for Orin for the majority of their time together: If that revelation crushed her as much as we see it do in-game, he would mirrored her indignation up until a point - that point being before his rivalry with Sarevok had grown into a type of bro-ish respect.

Also, do you have any lore about child rearing in the Bhaal temple?

Nope!

DU Drow tried his hardest to be celibate (which, whilst living in a cult that does little to encourage impulse control, was quite difficult). He believed himself to be in love with Orin and as an old school romantic at heart (even back then) he did not want to overstep the made-up boundaries of that inexistent relationship, nor did he want to "sully" Bhaal's genes by procreating with a commoner. These are ideas that were mostly instilled into his head by Sarevok, to be clear - I don't think Bhaal himself would have cared.

Whenever DU drow failed to abide by his celibacy (which happened like once or twice a year) he would engage in behavior that could not result in children, or have partners that could not become pregnant. The singular exception to that was the woman he lost his virginity to at 17-18 years of age, and he killed her shortly after.

So, supposedly, he is indeed the last living Bhaalspawn by the end of the game, and he would like to keep it that way!

As for my personal headcanons... It gets a little complicated. As it has come to a point where I cannot quite discern between things I read from the obscure source-material and conclusions I arrived at personally. I could have sworn there was some WoTC material out there about how child-rearing within the Bhaal temple was a whole ritualistic thing at some point - but I cannot find that information now to save my life.

Ooo! Sorry it took me so long to get to this!

Why did Orin tadpole your Durge, rather than killing them? Was that her plan all along, or did she mean for Durge to die?

I think Orin mostly tadpoled Minonen just to mock him. I think her main purpose was to kill him, but with her usual artistry and flair, which in this case involved using the plan that Mino, Gortash, and Ketheric had cooked up together and using it against him.

Did your Durge and Orin ever kill their victims together? How did that go? What did your Durge think of Orin's style of killing?

I think they definitely did kill together, sometimes, especially in Orin's younger years. In my canon, Sarevok gave 8-year-old Orin over to Minonen's care after she killed Helena, having little interest in actually raising a child himself (and possibly a bit afraid of her, ha). Mino wasn't super thrilled to be saddled with the care of a traumatized and also highly dangerous child, but he never liked Sarevok (Mino was created by Bhaal centuries before Sarevok was even born) and was glad to be able to protect Orin from the worst of his tendencies and, of course, to have the chance to shape her in his own image.

Needless to say, he was not very successful. He appreciated Orin's zeal and passion, but looked down on her outlandish methods, treating her with condescension as he tried to teach her his ways and taking every opportunity to remind her of his own superiority, in methods, rank, and blood.

Nevertheless, she officially became his second-in-command at the age of 15, both because of her undeniable skill and their familial connection.

Throughout all that time, both before and after she received some level of official recognition from him, he was very insufferable and emotionally abusive/manipulative towards her, even as he did try to protect and care for her in his own way, so uh... her resentment of him that ultimately culminates in attempted murder is pretty understandable!!

Thank you so much for the ask!! :D