Vespinâs fuck up in the ascension ritual makes so much sense after learning more about how malconvokers work. Because a lot of that subclass is about tricking devils and demons to doing your bidding and a lot of that comes with hiding who you are. Because if word gets out that wizard mcwizard is the famed devil tricker, mr mcwizardâs business is cooked. A lot of what Vespin would have been doing at the height of the Age of Arcanum wouldnât be known. Especially the way malconvokers are perceived.
Like look at Laerryn or Patia for comparison. Both are on equal levels of wealth and status as Vespin when it comes to the mageocracy. Except kind of not. Laerrynâs work as the Architect Arcane is known. Sheâs a celebrated wizard in her time. People know that sheâs the one keeping that city flying. Patia is the Keeper of Scrolls, sheâs the one with all the knowledge of Avalir. Their achievements are known in their time. But Vespin? All we know about him even before his big fuckup is that he was some archmage.
But itâs the Age of Arcanum bitches. Everyone and their mother is some crazy fucking mage. You gotta do something big to be known. And itâs not like Vespin wasnât high up in the mageocracy. In fact he knew more about Avalir than the people running that city. But thatâs the thing isnât it. A lot of Vespinâs work deals in secrets and devil deals that would not be making it on the front page of wizard news. He has to work in the shadows per his subclass.
And itâs almost ironic because Vespinâs not evil aligned. He canât be per his subclass rules. But hubris isnât a trait of evil. Itâs something everyone can have. Malconvokers are meant to be trying to bring more good by tricking the bad. The idea is get rid of evil in a more tricksy way than a paladin just smiting a devil. So him being so adamant in taking down a Betrayer is just him being a malconvoker on a higher level. But this is more than tricking some greater demon. This is taking down a god. A Betrayer no less.
The way Brennan plays Asmodeus is that in his own wordâs âheâs not out here flim flamming youâ. Asmodeusâ greatest strength is in his manipulation. And honestly I think Vespin could have killed him. If not for the hubris. And Asmodeus sees through him. What did he promise him? In this confrontation, any lesser god or lesser manipulator would have said the usual shit of âwait Iâll give you power or immortality or some other bsâ. But Asmodeus isnât a fool. He sees Vespin coming for the kill shot and says okay, letâs make a deal. Because he knows that despite this being the stake that malconvokerâs theses rely on, what Vespin really wants is to be known. For his work of banishing evil to come out from the shadow and side eyeing. And he traps him.
Because for all intents and purposes, Vespin had the kill shot. But he faltered when Asmodeus hit him with the okay kill me, but no oneâs going to know you or why you did it. Because by the rules of the RQâs ritual, your mortal life is struck from history. And it is simple hubris. Like itâs not that hard to understand. But itâs also this idea of oh you spent your whole life working to get rid of evil, to balance the scales, and itâs not as glamorous as being the Architect Arcane or the Keeper of Scrolls. And people think youâre a heretic and heâs living in Vasselheim so yeah his ass had to be doing his wizard business in secret. And yes Vespin was high enough in status to possibly get past the scrutiny but heâs probably not summoning fiends in the middle of Vasselheim on the regular.
Yet, thereâs the growing mageocracy. Everyone is trying to one up each other. Everyone is showing off. And it eats at you that youâre a talented mage but your work wonât be spotlight like that. Sure you get interviewed and sure youâre in all the circles. But thereâs this idea of being above all of that. (And heâs really not) So when thereâs this chance of finally getting your work known and doing the ultimate mic drop of a malconvokerâs career, yeah Vespin is going to fall for the hubris that he thought he was above.
And this isnât saying he was like a good guy and then oopsie doopsies he fucked up once. But thereâs something so interesting about the basis of his hubris and reasons behind the choice he makes that dooms him and Exandria.
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