I’ve gotten some questions about who Cirian is, so here are some doodles and WIPs from his game and

I’ve gotten some questions about who Cirian is, so here are some doodles and WIPs from his game and a bunch about him under the cut.Cirian was originally created as a spiritual successor to my evil, high-elf necromancer, Aelen after Aelen died in his own game.  Cirian was originally going to be an evil character and his story started out just like Aelen’s.   Cirian was born to self-obsessed noble parents who raised him to think only of how he could use those around him for his own benefit.  His favorite game growing up was seeing just how much he could manipulate the staff around his parents’ estate without them realizing he’d done anything and he learned quickly that if he made an effort to be cute and pleasant, he would be given all kinds of treats and favoritism.  But his pleasantness was an act and people’s willingness to be duped by him reinforced his belief that everyone around him was beneath him.  He grew up never feeling love or empathy or compassion.   Not long after he turned twelve, Cirian’s parents were visited by a relative of the king who demanded Cirian from them.  Instead, they traded his foster brother, Declan, away as a child slave in order to preserve their own status and to spare Cirian from the nobleman’s interest.  However, the townsfolk Cirian’s parents ruled over discovered their plot and intended to strip them of their titles and take them to trial, so Cirian took matters into his own hands.  He killed them both and framed the town’s captain of the guard.  His parents had failed him and taken something that belonged to him- his foster brother- and given it away.  From that day forward, Cirian decided he would never let anyone who didn’t have the intelligence and cleverness to lead him control him again.  No one ever suspected Cirian could have been the killer- after all, he was just a child, and he was well behaved and well liked by everyone.  The captain of the guard was hanged in his place.  After Cirian escaped punishment for his parents’ deaths, he was approached by a servant of Asmodeus and signed a contract for power in exchange for his soul.This is where Cirian’s story begins to diverge from Aelen’s in a major way.  After his parents’ deaths, Cirian was adopted by a friend of his father’s, Quinten Sunsage.  Quinten was the first truly good person Cirian had ever met.   No matter what they faced, Quinten could always handle it and Cirian idolized him for that.  To Cirian, who had always determined people’s worth based on what they were capable of, Quinten was the most valuable person he had ever met.  And to Quinten other people weren’t commodities.  They really, truly mattered, even if they could never repay him, even if they could accomplish nothing alone.  So Cirian began to consider whether people should matter to him too.  He began to consider morality for the first time and Cirian began doubting everything his parents had taught him.It took him a while, but, Cirian slowly started to try to do good in his life and to consider whether his actions were hurting people.  He helped save the royal family from a siege by Drow; he became the leader of a gang and turned it into an organization to help those most hurt by the siege; he abandoned his contract with Asmodeus and became part celestial to save his soul.  But in spite of all this, his life is in turmoil.   Cirian feels as though inside he is two people who live at odds with each other, constantly warring over doing what is right and doing what comes easily.   Manipulation and apathy for people is so natural for him, and he still finds he’s very good at it.  He often fails at understanding ‘normal’ people’s emotions and motivations and these failings lead him to make poor decisions in leading others.  He considers his poor leadership unforgivable and thinks of himself as worthless by his own standards.  His hatred for himself clashes intensely with the belief his parents and his upbringing ingrained in him that he is inherently better than everyone else.  Some days he sees people living their lives around him so comfortably and doing things he can’t do so easily and it tortures him.  How can even a small child feel something so simple as empathy when he can’t?  Why is it so wrong for him to be the way he is?  Is it even him that’s wrong, or is it everyone else?  Often he wishes he was the only one in the world so he didn’t have to pretend, and so he didn’t have to struggle.  So that he could just live.And to make matters worse, the city Cirian lives in is being controlled from the shadows by a nobleman who is just like Cirian used to be.  Lord Alistair Martin thinks of people as his toys and the city as his playground, and with no one who is good enough to play his games with him, Alistair does whatever he wants to whoever he pleases purely for entertainment.  And Alistair has taken an interest in Cirian.  He has been gas-lighting Cirian for months, trying to get Cirian to join him in his way of life and to revel in his true nature- to be known by someone just like him for the first time in his life.  To stop apologizing and just be himself, the rest of the world be damned.  And Cirian has a hard time resisting his pull…-images- Cirian as a child; Cirian with Quinten’s dog, Queen Mae; Quinten Sunsage; Cirian using his appeal to get his way;  Alistair meets with Cirian; a rare restful moment. -- source link

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