Vainglory
crystalpangolin
Profile
Billie Eilish
Vainglory is the king of a small country, appointed the position not through bloodline or election, but by the mysterious machinations of the Crown. With the position and authority also comes the curse: the Crown isolates the King it chooses by making them immortal and preventing anybody else from questioning their authority. To most people, Vainglory is a figure, not a person.
Vainglory does the best she can with the life she has. It is, at least, not a difficult life to lead; the responsibility is heavy, but not unbearable. A few people can see through the curse clearly enough to recognize her as a living person, and there are even distinct advantages to wounds that heal without fail. Given the choice, Vainglory would be rid of the Crown forever -- but she doesn't have that choice. So she lives with what she has.
- people
- chocolate
- plants & gardens
- beautiful views
- the crown
- the kingdom
- the weight of it all
Vainglory is difficult to read: she masks her emotions intensely while going about her days. She has been caught up in the expectations that other people put on her: as the King she isn't meant to be a person, so the Crown won't let her be seen as one. She learned early that it was easier to let people think what they will; she stopped trying to connect to most people as a person herself.
But when given the opportunity, Vainglory loves other people. All she needs is a reason to put away the mask and she becomes a different person entirely: someone relaxed, eager to listen, and glad to talk about the things she loves. She is still a fairly subdued person, but the difference is very clear.
The curse is many-layered, and it doesn't end at immortality or isolation. When Vainglory feels strong emotions, she begins to cry tears of golden ichor. It doesn't matter what that emotion is, and this further encourages her isolation from other people. When possible, she tries her best to put away very powerful feelings until she's alone: it doesn't feel right for people to see her vulnerable like that.
Vainglory is an anthro dog with particularly fluffy cheeks, hips, and tail. She has rose-shaped ears, golden eyes, and top surgery scars on her chest. She has some freckles across her body, and the markings around her eyes resemble makeup. She typically has a very serious or neutral expression on her face.
Vainglory almost always wears a crown of burnished metal around her neck or on top of her head. She cries tears of molten gold. She may optionally have fingernails or claws.
- The shapes of the cheek fluff and ears are essential.
- Vainglory's nose is very slightly downturned.
- Crown can move around or be removed, but always ends up back around Vainglory's neck eventually.
- Vainglory cries molten tears when emotional.
- Speckles can be approximate as long as they're in mostly the same place.
- Typically wears more feminine clothing, like dresses or long, flowy fabrics, but can be drawn with any outfits.
- Gore is welcome and encouraged!
The Crown chose Vainglory as the King, and that was all it took to make Vainglory's life what it is. Her memories, her old life, were erased -- except that she knew she wasn't always the King. Vainglory thought of the Crown as a as a thing with malice, tormenting her for reasons of its own, but there was no way to investigate any further without knowing more about what it took from her. She couldn't even know if she had done something to deserve it.
Not that it mattered. The Crown had done its work well: being the King was all that mattered to Vainglory's present life. The curse was the curse, and trying to untangle its mysteries was pointless without help. And with the Crown isolating her, there was no help.
Vainglory lived in that familiar helplessness for a long time.
The first person to see trhrough the deceptive fog the Crown laid over everyone's minds was Radiance: one of Vainglory's advisors and the spymaster of the kingdom. Radiance was cunning and sharp, exactly the kind of person to question things that others take for granted. When he began to question the origins of the King, it took very little time for him to realize that something was... off.
Radiance untangled his memories with obsessive drive, and arrived at the only reasonable conclusion: Vainglory shouldn't be King. And when he dove further, he decided: I could be. He began to plan.
It started with assassins. Vainglory would wake up to a killer in her room, usually without enough time to fight them off -- but they wouldn't kill her, at least not permanently. Then, Radiance began to make attempts himself. For months, Vainglory wondered what had changed to make her a target... until she realized that Radiance was seeing what nobody else could see: that she was King because of the Crown, and that it didn't have to be that way.
Convincing a man who wanted her dead to join her side, to help her break the curse, wasn't easy. But Radiance was worn down by the constant failed attempts on Vainglory's life; eventually, he had to admit that they would get much further working together to unravel the curse. So long as he would get the Crown in the end.
spymaster
Radiance is Vainglory's court spymaster, directing all of the information-gathering resources of the kingdom and many of the shadier, more secretive parts of the government. He is very skilled at what he does: this skill, and his nose for things that don't make sense, are together what let him realize the truth of the Crown. Vainglory would be glad to consider him an ally, but Radiance has his own ambitions; it isn't easy to work with someone who has tried to kill Vainglory so many times.
But it isn't as though either of them have other options.
So the two of them are reluctantly on the same side, investigating the curse and its mechanisms to try to break it. And if Radiance still makes attempts on Vainglory's life... well, she isn't happy about it, but at least he isn't doing any permanent damage.
knight-captain
The captain of Vainglory's knights, Siobhan is a deeply serious, unshakeably loyal man -- and it isn't, Vainglory thinks, solely because of the curse. The curse doesn't inspire loyalty -- it just prevents people from questioning it. So Siobhan's determined protection of her, and his dogged pursuit of her goals -- must come from his own self.
Vainglory worries about him sometimes. Siobhan is always working: if he isn't commanding the knights, he is guarding the King; if he isn't doing either of those things, he has probably found something else that needs doing. He barely sleeps, and he needs to be ordered to take time off. It should be reassuring to know that someone is so tirelessly pursing Vainglory's goals for her, but she doesn't ask for such intense self-sacrifice. She would be happier knowing he's getting enough sleep.
soothsayer
When Vainglory started investigating the curse in earnest, she went in search of information about curses in general. Magic is not terribly common, but it does exist, and Vainglory came into contact with a mysterious creature by the name of Seer. She has eyes on the inside of her body, rather than the outside, and she claims that this allows her to peer into the future and know things she shouldn't otherwise know.
Seer came to live at the castle, and Vainglory provides her with funding and accommodation in exchange for any information she might glean about the nature of the curse: from visions or through knowledge of magic, Vainglory won't be picky. Seer is an offputting presence, though; not many people are happy to have her around, and even Vainglory doesn't know how to act around her.
questing knight
One of the boldest, most trustworthy of the castle knights. Vainglory sent Arthur traveling to locate any information that might exist about curses and magic -- particularly about breaking curses. Arthur spends most of her time far away from the castle, but visits on occasion in order to report her findings and get some well-earned rest.
religious leader
Arcangela runs religious services for Vainglory's castle, but more important to Vainglory is their talent for record-keeping. Arcangela's library is extensive -- almost obsessively so -- and Vainglory has set them to the task of finding in their histories records of any other Kings, and whether or not they were also cursed. Arcangela hasn't found anything worth reporting yet -- but they are also busy, and can't search the records quickly. They may yet stumble on something relevant.
As long as Vainglory has known them, Arcangela has claimed to be a fallen god. Now that Vainglory is immersing herself in the magic that exists in the world, she isn't sure anymore that Arcangela is lying.
friend
Fenmore is an artist who lives in the castle, and by virtue of being one of the only people who doesn't have political machinations, Vainglory feels slightly more comfortable around him than she does around most of the other castle residents. He doesn't see through the curse, as far as Vainglory can tell, but he also doesn't care very much that Vainglory is the King, and that's almost the same.
friend
Imogen has never been affected by the curse. Vainglory suspects it is because she didn't begin life as a person: she doesn't have memories to hide or change because she started as a statue, and the magic that brought her to life was incompatible with the curse.
That, or her fierce will to make her own life can defeat even the Crown. Vainglory likes to spend time with her: they are good friends, and Vainglory has very few of those.
