Art by WitchyLizzy
“I may not have all the answers right now… but I’m here to help in whatever way I can. Even if you just need someone to listen to you. I’m ready to stand by you through all this. That’s what friends do, right?”
“Sometimes, the magic of the Feywild feels like one big dream, but the lessons it taught me are real.”
Virtual Photography by Aga
Virtual Photography by Agata
<aside> <img src="/icons/user_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/user_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> C H A R A C T E R SHEET
Name: Amaranth Vel’thyrn (Daughter of Isolde & Darius)
Race: Asmodeus Tiefling
Pronouns: She/Her
Age: 26
Sexual Orientation: DemiPansexual
Alignment: Neutral Good
Classes: Druid (Circle of the Moon)/Sorcerer (Wild Magic)
Personality Type: ENFP
Background: Fey Lost
Hair Color: Pastel pink and teal
Eye Color: Demonic pixie pink
Height: 5’3” (160 cm)
Weight: 132 lbs
Love interest: Astarion
Best friends: Karlach & Gale
</aside>
Amaranth was born into the world of the Feywild. Her parents were unexpectedly approached by an powerful Archfey as her mother was ready to give birth, with an offer to save her and her mother's lives. But its magic came with a heavy price. Her mother would be forever bound to the Feywild, the consequence if she ever tried to flee would be the very life she was given a second chance at.
Amaranth's parents agreed to the deal with the Archfey, and keeping true to its word, Amaranth was born happy and healthy. After some years go by, Amaranth returns home one day, and her parents discover she has been blessed with druidic magic.
Amaranth's parents were overjoyed, but they also recognized that she needed to find the right mentor and a circle eager to accept her as one of their own for her to reach her full potential. Amaranth refused at first, unwilling to leave them and the only home she had ever known. It took months of back and forth, and arguments that ended pretty much the same way, but they eventually talked her out of staying, and this is where Amaranth’s journey began.
Amaranth came across a group of shadow druids in the Material Plane who promised to help her. They saw how eager and vulnerable she was, misleading her for years, preying on her loneliness and wish for genuine connection.
Things took a horrifying turn at a ritual that was meant to mark the end of her training. The spell demanded a sacrifice, something she had no idea of until it was too late. The sacrifice included not just the life of the grove, but also the death of her only and closest friend she's ever had. Everything Amaranth had believed up until that moment was destroyed in that instant. When she refused to follow anymore of their orders, they captured her, forcing her to perform dark shadow magic that caused her an immense amount of pain each time she cast them. After a year of suffering at their hand, she attempted to escape.The chase lasts through the night, until there's nowhere left for Amaranth to run once she's cornered. It's like a switch, and all her grief and anger finally unleashes as her wild magic surges for the first time. By the time Amaranth regains control, the only thing left is a pile of burnt corpses and ash around her.
Amaranth now wanders Faerûn searching for a true path to harness her druidic powers for good so she may be able to break the curse on her parents one day, reuniting with them, as well as help others who were once powerless like her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvjlXIPwRVo
Amaranth and Astarion’s initial bond forms quickly out of necessity when they and the rest of the party become infected with a Mind Flayer tadpole. Astarion’s charm and wit capture Amaranth’s curiosity. He’s resistant and continues to dodge her attempts to get to know him. But finds himself drawn to her open heart and good nature.
When he accidentally reveals his secret about being a vampire spawn, he’s shocked when Amaranth offers her blood to him instead, telling him it doesn’t matter to her what he is. He's just Astarion to her.
Amaranth slips away from camp in her wolf form as she tries to metaphorically outrun her fear of getting close to the group. Astarion finds her while out hunting, and he instantly recognizes her howling at the moon in a field, despite never having seen her in that form yet. She falls asleep with her head in his lap as he tells her running won’t help. That she’ll have to face her inner demons eventually if she ever wants to be truly free.
While the two of them are sharing a drink together away from camp after a long day, she says to Astarion that she’s never been kissed before. Seeing an opportunity to use that knowledge to his advantage, he offers to be her first. She consents out of both trust and the fear that she may not have another chance in the future. Their flirtation and physical closeness continue to escalate, and when Astarion offers to meet her after the Tiefling party, she shares her first night of intimacy with him.
As they move toward Moonrise Towers, their relationship grows more intense—and Amaranth’s fear of abandonment begins to subtly manifest when she’s with Astarion. Amaranth opens up more about her past in the Feywild and with the shadow druids, including her losses and guilt over her parents. Astarion, in turn, confesses some details about his centuries under Cazador.
One night, while Astarion is having a nightmare about Cazador, Amaranth reveals something to him she's never told anyone. She can shape her dreamscape into anything she desires and can pull others in with her, having been touched by Feywild magic. Normally, it takes the form of the Feywild itself. She knows how dangerous this can be if she allows the wrong person in, but she trusts him and wants him to feel safe. After they share an innocent kiss in her dreams when he fails to seduce her, Astarion knows in his heart he has feelings for her.
Right before Astarion confesses to her, the two get into an argument. Astarion warns Amaranth that if she continues to leave her heart open for anyone to see, she’ll end up giving it to the wrong person and getting hurt. Astarion knows he’s lashing out because of his guilt, and is scared to admit to her he tried to manipulate her at first due to her past, worried this will irreversibly break her trust in him because he knows how important it is to her. He gets some advice from Shadowheart that gives him the courage to come clean. Amaranth storms off after the fight and goes to fight the orthon herself, with Karlach noticing and having to almost drag her back until she talks some sense into her. Amaranth had been scared up until this point it wasn’t genuine love she felt for Astarion, but rather she was latching onto him out of overwhelming loneliness. She eventually comes to the conclusion her feelings for him are real after his confession and admission, and the two have no idea what being in a relationship is like, but they start learning together.
As they travel through Baldur's Gate, Amaranth is torn by the implications of Astarion’s plan to become the Vampire Ascendant. She understands killing Cazador is the only way to secure Astarion's freedom and guarantee their safety. But she's terrified of what it might mean. Both for Astarion—and their future together—if he gains that power.
Inside Cazador’s palace, Amaranth is startled that parts of it look so familiar. And once they reach the kennels, she’s hit with the realization. She’s been here before. This is the place she remembers seeing those red eyes. The ones that carried so much pain and sadness. It was Astarion, she knew him. Or used to.
Back when she was under the shadow druids’ control, she used to have dreams of someone who was as lonely as she was and desperate for anyone to hear them. She remembers his plea for help, how his grief and torment mingled with her dreamscape, and how she was subconsciously drawn to it.
During the confrontation with Cazador, he reveals that after he became suspicious of Astarion’s numerous failures to bring sacrifices back for the ritual. He forced Astarion to come clean about his secret. Seeing Amaranth’s influence on his spawn and fearing what might happen if it continued unchecked, he compelled Astarion to forget her. After the ritual she was so traumatized and broken she unknowingly shut him out. Frozen by the fear she would end up hurting him too.
When Astarion has the choice to either complete the ritual or spare the other spawn, it’s Amaranth’s love and her belief in him that he can be better than Cazador that brings him back to his senses. Astarion realizes that he can be free without having to change—without losing himself to the darkness. And Amaranth was the one who helped him open his eyes.
In the cemetery later that night, Astarion asks Amaranth to recall their shared past together. She can't help but feel guilty that she allowed herself to forget their past. But Astarion reassures her that what matters is they found each other. They're free now and can finally let go of their fears as they share an intimate night over his grave.
Before the final battle with the Elder Brain, they climb up to the roof of the Elfsong Tavern. The sun rises as they hold hands, knowing Astarion won't see it again for a long time once the tadpole's protection is gone. Astarion admits to Amaranth that he’s exhilarated and terrified. He's never had a future to look forward to. And now he does with someone he loves deeply beside him.
With the help of their friends and companions they met along their journey, they managed to defeat the Illithid army and save Baldur’s Gate from the Dead Three’s elaborate scheme. After they say their goodbyes to their newfound family, Amaranth and Astarion decide to travel across Faerun, seeking a cure so that he can walk beside her in the sun again.
After the events of Baldur’s Gate 3, Amaranth and Astarion are on the road for a while on the lookout for any leads that might help them find a cure to help him walk in the sun again. A few months after the epilogue, they come across a traveler touched by the same fey magic that her mother is afflicted with. Amaranth tries using her druidic magic to help slow the curse. Still, it’s beyond her capabilities, and the traveler dies shortly afterward, but not before he utters a cryptic warning about how nobody leaves. And that there’s always a price.
Later that same night, the pair is visited by a shadowy figure tied to the Unseelie court who offers Astarion a “gift,” a chance to reclaim the sun again. The price... Amaranth’s druidic magic, along with her extended lifespan. Amaranth, who is normally outright against making deals, especially with beings of the Feywild, is ready to take it for Astarion’s sake. He immediately stops her, arguing that the sun means nothing if he’s going to lose her in a few short decades.
Amaranth sneaks off to Gale’s, hoping he can conjure a way for her to return to the Feywild before Astarion can catch up. While Gale pretends to take his time prepping, he sends a message to Astarion, refusing to let her go alone. Astarion arrives in time, and lashes out at Amaranth, telling her he’s hurt that she’s being selfish and not thinking about him. Amaranth pours her heart out to him, but when he breaks down about the thought of losing her so soon and pleads for her to put herself first for once, she knows she can’t go through with it. They both promise to find a way together that doesn’t involve sacrificing a part of herself.
Shortly after they arrive in the Feywild, Amaranth is reunited with her parents, and Astarion hesitates. He knows how close Amaranth was to them and is happy for her, but even he’s not sure how they’ll react to him being a vampire spawn despite the stories Amaranth has told him. Isolde immediately notices the way Amaranth looks at Astarion and recognizes how in love her daughter is. She is initially concerned at first, but when she sees the way Astarion genuinely cares for Amaranth, she offers him warmth and acceptance. Darius is more subtly skeptical, given how protective he is since he almost lost Amaranth before she was even born. There’s some tension at first when he tries testing the depth of Astarion’s devotion to his daughter, but eventually accepts him as family, too.
Some time after a night of magical intimacy together, Amaranth is visited in her dreams by a creature of the Feywild that she had a fated encounter with as a child. It shares a seemingly impossible revelation to her. She's pregnant. Not just with one, but with two children—hers and Astarion's, thanks to the magic of the Feywild. She keeps Astarion in the dark about this fact for some time, afraid of his reaction—and also the fact that she and the children may not survive given her family's history. She ends up breaking down when she can't take it anymore in front of her parents. They convince her to tell Astarion, but the chance is taken from Amaranth during a battle with a particularly dangerous Fey creature. It ends up taunting Astarion with the reveal, and while they're able to walk away from another fight, Astarion is shaken to his core. He eventually forgives Amaranth for not telling him sooner, but he's terrified of losing her. And the fear only grows stronger the further along she gets.
The strain on her body becomes too much for Amaranth, and she can't keep going. Astarion starts to panic about leaving her out in the open and exposed to danger, when something extraordinary happens under the light of the moon. The two of them are shown the way into a secluded grove, protected by an ancient spirit of a Lorebark tree that offers them sanctuary for the remaining duration of Amaranth's pregnancy. In a moment touched not by fear, but by his unconditional love for her, Astarion asks Amaranth to tie her soul to his. The two of them have an unofficial ceremony, blessed by the Feywild, and spend a short honeymoon together.
The celebration is short-lived, however, and Amaranth goes into labor earlier than anticipated. Complications arise very quickly, and the spirit of the Lorebark can provide her with some relief thanks to its magic. But it warns Astarion that without magical intervention, he'll lose both the love of his life—and their children before ever getting the chance to know them.
Fáelán Ancunín, Little Wolf
<aside> <img src="/icons/user_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/user_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> C H A R A C T E R B I O
</aside>
<aside> <img src="/icons/user_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/user_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> C H A R A C T E R B I O
</aside>