Let me tell you about Odette Sterra, First Whisper of the White Willow

[Caster13]

Weight of the World - Nier: Automata OST
(Originally suggested to Roxy as a theme song for Vivian but as Odette
developed, I thought this also became suitable for them as well.)

Odette Sterra was my first committed PC in the City of the Rings and it was one hell of an introduction and reintroduction. Playing Odette has reminded me what I love about all of you and this place and I'm glad that I had that one weird dream about EFU (thanks Ciorba) back in August that convinced me to take a peek back in here.



Odette's portrait is another amazing work by Charlie Bowater. If you ever see any of her works as a character portrait, you probably wouldn't be wrong to guess that I'm playing that character.

Concept/Origin/Background:

The majority of 2018 was a bad year for me and--especially--my wife. Health issues that she had been suffering for over a decade and a half had gotten worse due to what treatments and procedures she tried having little or minimal effect. The entire thing was more draining and a bigger burden on my emotions and mental health than I either realized or admitted at the time, but it was one of the factors of why I stepped away from EFU back then.

Near the end of 2018, my wife started a new treatment that finally improved the state of her health.  It took a few months of the treatment's efficacy remaining stable and consistent, but I then started feeling  more hopeful than I ever have in my life. During these (mis)adventures in health and recovery, I was exposed to a lot of different approaches and interpretations of the concepts of medicine, health, recovery, healing, mental health, and so on.

I didn't realize it at the time, but I think this may be what partly inspired the idea of the White Willow--a deity of healing with a focus on incorporating and balancing body, mind, and spirit. As I am oft to do, I also wanted to play a relatively fly-on-the-wall (at first) character that allowed me to interact with as many characters possible. So, that's where the idea of the White Willow being true neutral came from. I wrote up an alignment interpretation chart which I think does a good job of explaining how any character could approach the White willow.

As for Odette's origins, I never actually decided on who they were before they Awoke. The most developed idea I came to was that they were a Sharran (thus why they had a fear of cats, as creatures of Sharess, hated them). This also would've been a good reason for their neutral evil alignment.

Thanks:

First of all. All of you. Just all of you. Every player and DM who contributes to EFU. And every player and DM for interacting with Odette. I like to think every interaction, big or small, affects my PCs in various ways and it absolutely felt like it with Odette.

Roxy, most of all, for having Vivian be both foil and friend to Odette.

The crew of the Blazing Hearts played by Zytum, Warsor, snoozer/mazz, Don Nadie, Nazey, and RippingHeadz. I am proud and amazed that we got as deep as we did. But I feel absolutely gutted and guilty with where it ends now.

For playing characters who have had a profound affect on Odette of their own: Astra, tinfoilhat and the Avowed crew players, scitus, DTW, Spiffy, Empress of Neon, Ciobra, Amon, Gordon, VanillaPudding, Diablo, Cisnopith(sp?), nelly, Voss, Lannister, naga, clood, cat, stranger, vlaid, SnakeXFX and the player of Ahma. There's likely many players and characters I'm forgetting but please believe me when I say that everyone who interacted with Odette contributed something to them.

Many players have noted how I played Odette as a non-binary/genderless person and I'd like to offer a special thank you to them. I originally envisioned Odette as feminine but the idea popped into my mind when I saw and decided on Odette's portrait. It took me a while to get used to it myself (there were a few cases where I emoted using "she/her") but it quickly felt natural a few weeks into playing Odette. This experience was also something that helped me to come to understand about my own gender.

Works of fiction:

I have always love writing fiction for EFU and I absolutely threw myself into it for Odette from the beginning.

Their journal can be found here.

The White Willow Bible here.

A Criticism of the Renunciation. Odette started working on this a few days after they met Vivian. Based on numerous discussions, this work was an attempt to try and peel Vivian away from the Renunciation. A certain trip into the Razor's Web that turned disastrous, however, changed that and Odette came to realize what the most important words in the world aren't those in some long winded treatise.

And most recently, the Prophecies of Saint Vivian Servanus, August of the Mist, which further developed into Odette's own prophecies as the Mist had a cruel habit of talking to them.

There was also an advice column that Odette wrote inspired by r/AmITheAsshole but that quickly fell by the wayside because I ran out o ideas and because I decided to focus on their journal.

Screenshots:

Time for the motherlode. As a number of people have suggested, I set up my own Discord server to host all the screenshots I took. I'll post some of my favourites here but for the whole gamut (nearly 80 images!) please come and take look here.

Note: I play on a 2K monitor so these screenshots can be a bit big, apologies!

One of the first chats with Vivian: I do not have the right words to describe the relationship between Odette and Vivian. It started off simply: "I'll convert her to the White Willow", but with every step forward, their relationship became more and more complex and I like to think they both developed in immense ways because of each other.  I, frankly, cannot imagine Odette without Vivian and, ever since they met, Odette was extrinsically defined by who or what they were to Vivian. Even after Vivian's death and with Odette's descent into despair and Mist worship, Odette was still making decisions that revolved around Vivian. The two were many things: religious rivals, philosophical opponents, quest buddies, ponds scum, ring running companions, and much more. In the end, however, they were just incredible friends that made life in the City of Rings bearable for one another.
[hide=A chat with Vivian][/hide]

The day before the Siege of Ring 92 event, Vivian showed Odette the cathedral and the two had a discussion that touched on death and reincarnation. Odette made a promise to her but, after Visha's death in the Ponds Sunpurse Manse event and Vivian's following break down, Odette realized this was a promise they should not keep and, instead, that the greatest act of friendship that they could ever do for Vivian would be to let her go when it was her time.
[hide=In the Cathedral of Ring 92][/hide]

Lots of people thought Vivian was odd or strange for a variety of reasons. But, behold, the true horror of Vivian:
[hide=The True Horror That is Vivian][/url][/hide]

After Vivian's death, Odette was able to get their hands on Vivian's robes which lead to this makeshift funeral.
[hide=A Funeral]

[/hide]

I love this shot simply because of how it seems like a weird mix of sad and badass.
[hide=I Wear Black Now][/hide]

Despite not being a follower of the Renunciation, this particular piece of loot obtained from within the Razor's Web was apt and would come to define the relationship between Odette and Vivian. This belt was a constant reminder of the lowest point in their relationship (just a little bit of murder-suicide, no big deal) but it was also a reminder that their relationship would eventually result in heartache for Odette.
[hide=Loot!][/hide]

A fun little trip to the Golden City to steal some heavenly wine. Out of all the Houses, Odette jived with Velstra the most. I had a blast interacting with all the Velstrans.
[hide=Wine Trip!]
[/hide]

Here's a beautiful shot from within the Razor's Web.
[hide=Vivian Giving All of Herself to the Renunciation... Or does she...?][/hide]

Some scenic shots. The DMs have done an amazing job of building EFU:CoR and it is absolutely gorgeous and I am absolutely blown away but the things I have seen. Ring running was somewhat tough on me because it felt both time constraining and lonely, but I definitely would agree that every player should give it one good go to see some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen in this game.
[hide=Scenic!]





[/hide]

And finally....

I had no idea what was going to happen when we entered the Pallid Prince's Feast Hall. I was terrified, trembling in my chair. It looked like a battle with no way out. I had zero confidence (at the start) that the party could win and I had no idea how Odette was going to survive. This was a painful lesson to always, always take permadeath warnings seriously. Don't just ask if your PC is ready to die. Ask if they have real, good in-character reasons to go. Ask if they are afraid and if they should act on that fear to turn around. Ask if you're ready to stop playing them.
[hide=Feast...][/hide]

Don't forget all the screenshots are in this Discord server!

What now?

I have no solid idea.

Part of me says to just roll my next concept and jump back in. Many people have reached out to me with their suggestions and invitations and I'm absolutely touched by them and the fact that you enjoy playing with me to try to rope me back in as soon as possible.

Another part of me says I should lay off a bit. Playing Odette had got me back me into the bad habits of staying up way past my bed time, procrastinating on household chores, and writing far too many forum posts from work. These could fly in my earlier years but maybe not so much now.

Plus there's all the psychic and emotional damage I'm still recovering from (thanks a lot).

Well. Whatever. Keep rocking EFU.

[Astra]

I'm going to miss them so, so much. What a phenomenal PC. Odette - and their friendship with Visha, and especially their friendship with Vivian - really was something special. The server's a little lonelier with every character death, but I think this one is hitting the hardest.

<3 Just a wonderful character. I'm really sad, but I know whatever you decide to do next is gonna be great.

[Nazey]

A very well characterized PC.  Well done, I hope you do stick around for another.

[Anonymous Lemur]

Take as much time as you need to recharge. It's likely we'll be here. I enjoyed Odette a lot.

[nelly]

thanks for the fun =)

[Bearic]

Don't forget the gloves. =]

[Empress of Neon]

Absolutely adored this character from beginning to end. Watching her develop/suffer tragedy after tragedy really tugged at my heartstrings.

A+ :)

[tinfoilhat]

I think we started our PCs around the same time, and I greatly enjoyed chatting with Odette. They felt extremely well developed and really human to me. It made me look forward to the somewhat infrequent trips back to 99 when I took my PC down the ringrunner path, just so I could catch up on the latest with the Pondscrew and hear about all the stuff they've been up to.

I was happy to hear you were back, and I'm glad things are going better for you since  2018. Whenever you're ready for the next, the server will be patiently waiting so, as others have said, take whatever time you need.

Amazing job - and great screenshots!

[Cat]

Odette was truly a fantastic character, and the long talk we had when I was Calypso was one of the things that will stick in my memory with how enjoyable it was. I hope you will come back, you are a joy to play with.

[SeerofLight]

After everything, definitely helped breathe life back into playing Vivian, and very much a fav. <3 Odette was such a good human, they felt so real, and I adored their constant butting heads when it came to faith, a lot of what they argued about rubbing off on eachother in the end. A lot of Vivians stances on philosophy changed because of Odette

[Gordan]

Odette was great, one of the few people to aee the pain inside Tamia and tried help her... long may she reign

[Scumlord Spiffy]

A profound and stabilizing influence on Aaron's world and life. Now it's gone, it's all downhill from here, baby.

A wonderful PC Caster.