Hey there! Welcome to the next part of Skye’s lore stories! This is the article where I break down the Vainglory Hero Lore given to us by SugarVenom and make sense of it. Think of it as a food critic critiquing a meal, only my meal is these stories. Join me, will you?

The Choosing (Skye, Part Two)

This Edition’s Piece

I believe this lore is awesome. Lots of this article is devoted towards The Choosing, the event mentioned in the previous article where powerful leaders choose suitable wives for their sons. Skye is forced to participate, despite her wanting to be a soldier.

The marriageable young men crowded in corners playing Yunnori and howling at the results, seeming to care little for the outcome of the Choosing, but the young ladies ran their fingers over their own names and gossipped about which girl the house mothers would choose for their sons in the ceremony.

This bit of the lore reminds me of real-world before prom or homecoming, with guys not really freaking out about it (well, some did) and most of the girls really excited.

Skye closed one eye and targeted the smug first daughter of Tiger House, a pretty girl named Nari. Around one delicate wrist, Nari held the velvet leash of a drugged and declawed tiger that blinked with confusion at the guests.

“I hope you are chosen by a good house, Skye,” she said. “It would disrupt the tedium of these things if a house mother cooked up a surprise.” It was well known that a daughter of Tiger House was a wise diplomatic choice for Baron Silver. Tiger House had been at all-out war with Silver House that year; destroying much of the Silvers’ cavalry of mechs …

… but with Skye’s renovations …

These paragraph are spoken mainly by Nari, the first daughter of Tiger House, most likely a rich and powerful house given the velvet leash and the tiger she has as a pet. Seems as though she has her life picked out for her.

I do want to mention the beginning of the first paragraph in that last snippet, Skye closed one eye and targeted… Sugar Venom has a interesting way of including references to Heroes’ Abilities in her lore stories. This one is no different, hinting to her Target Lock passive. A very nice addition.

A finger jabbing into her spine straightened Skye’s posture. Her mother had shadowed her all night, correcting with bruising pokes and hissed instructions. Skye plastered a disingenuous monster of a smile on her face and neglected to answer, choosing instead to hold Nari’s lazy gaze until the high-born girl looked away.

The mother. The one who forced Skye to attend this ceremony. This paragraph shows just how obsessed (that might not be the right word..) her mother is about getting her a good husband.

“I need air,” Skye said to no one in particular. She hid two honey pastries in the sleeve of her overcoat on her way outside to the dark balcony. In the far distance, down the great hill upon which the Silver House stood, past the outlying village, past the farmland and minion camps, the crystal mines glowed a calm, eerie blue in the night sky. She stuffed a pastry whole in her mouth.

Skye shows us here that she isn’t completely obeying her mother’s instructions, stuffing honey pastries up her sleeves to conceal them. Now, another thing I’d like to highlight: the Crystal Mines. This is another interesting thing.. I’ll talk more on it later.

“You smell of grease.”

Baron stepped close behind her, his words tickling the skin on her neck. He plucked the other pastry from her hand and popped it into his mouth. He wore the silver-embroidered robes of his house and his knuckles were crowded with silver rings. He wore his wealth as was fitting; after all, it was his great-grandfather’s mining that had unearthed the powerful crystal. Other houses had vied for it, battled for it and died for it, but Silver House had held it.

“You’re mistaken,” Skye said, crossing her arms in an act of defiance meant to calm her shaking. “It is the latest perfume. All the ladies are wearing it this season.”

“I do like your hair.”

“I plan on doing it up like this every morning from now on.”

So.. Baron. His family had found the powerful Crystal that their country’s conflict seems to be centered around, so he seems to be very wealthy and important to the people. He jokes around about her hair, she jokes that it’s a perfume, normal things. Then, for some reason changing heart about wanting to be chosen, she tells him she plans on fixing her hair the same way every day after he says he like it. Seems a little odd for her to suddenly change her mind, though I could say it’s just because of how important he is and that she wants to look normal in front of him.

Baron rested his forearms on the balcony wall. “It seems not so long ago that you and I were children together, playing while our fathers pored over maps, or planned jungle battles …”

“And soon your father’s battles will be yours.”

“It is absurd that so many have died for those glowing blue stones.”

Skye peered out at the mines in the distance. “What happens when the mine is depleted?”

“We will own nothing but a pile of empty crystals, their power drained long ago in our war machines. We will dig farther into the farmland, feeding fewer people every year.”

Again, the Crystal Mines. Trust me, I’ll get to them. Patience.. Though it seems like they are very dependent on them, and that the mines are running out, fast.

Oh, and it seems that they were friends when they were younger. So that raises the question: Why try to be like the others when he knows who she’s really like? Who knows, might have been a mistake.

Skye could not look at his eyes. She stared instead at his hands, at the scars from fighting that crosshaired his knuckles. “My father is collecting information about powerful energy wells where crystals may be recharged,” she offered, but Baron shook his head.

“The wells are too far to be of use to us. There are times I wish that the mines would disappear. Then, we would have no need of mechs and tanks, nor the filthy minions, nor this ridiculous choosing ceremony.”

“The choice would be ours,” whispered Skye. She covered Baron’s hand with one of hers and jolted with the electricity of it.

“Yes.” Baron turned his hand under hers and opened it. In his palm, a shining silver tile nestled. Skye inhaled the honey from his breath as she drew her fingertips over the tile, over the deep groove of her own name on it. “One day, the army will be mine, and I will need you to be my general.” He curled his fingers around the tile, gripping it, as Skye shivered. “Sometimes, despite everything, a man must choose for himself.”

Here is what you (might) have been waiting for. The mines are running out, and Skye’s father has been talking about wells of energy where crystals might be recharged. These wells, I believe, are on the two ends of the Halcyon Fold. The reason I believe this is because in the Fortress’ Name lore story, there was talk of an enormous Fortress guarding wells. We found Fortress to be a hero, so the wells he was guarding must be the Halcyon Fold bases, or wells as I plan to start calling them.

And then Baron drops the bomb. He has chosen Skye to be his wife, and she will be put into a position she would most likely enjoy, being a general in the army. A great ending to this part, but as we all know..

To be continued …

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Edition of Vainglory Lore Reviews. I’m Captainpewd, and next time there is some lore, you can be sure I’ll be there to review it! ~Captainpewd