"I will never yield, for as long as I breath, I have hope."
-Bastion

Bastion started as a side character of mine... a satellite character even. But every since he was first convinced, he has come a hell of a long way. He was one of my characters that was never considered an alternate fursona (Which became more common later on in my... furry... career). He wasn't even one of my FIRST characters, though he is old compared to some of them. But this did not stop him from finding a way into my heart. In fact, he even surpassed the "main character" he was supposed to be supporting as. So that's definitely saying something!

He has gone through a few changes, but he's a lot more 'stable' of a concept then Gavan... and has probably changed less than Luca. I believe it all started when I was trying to create my own furry world. I had one character set to be a "Prince" of a kingdom in this world, and he was the main character. Bastion was one of his (though it really should be his father's) generals and vassals. Or at least that was the plan. In the end, he almost ended up becoming one of the Prince's personal bodyguards, which is... really a bit different from where he started. He was generally meant to be a mentor and protector of the boy. He also was a very non-magical fighter.

It's hard to state where his inspiration as a character came from. If I had to take a hazard I'd say early inspiration was the Knight/General class from Fire Emblem... combined with the Badger Lords of Redwall to create this massive, immovable rock of badger. As mentioned before, he started without magic (thanks to the armored General class of Fire Emblem). I do believe this changed after I started playing WoW. Instead of making him just a knight/bodyguard... I made him a full out paladin, because I'm original like that, you see. He got himself holy magic to round out his kit and give him all roles of Healer, DPS and Tank. Still, he didn't get much love like this, and for the most part, he was still pretty low-magic. His greatest skills came from his wisdom and tactical mind... and heavy armor.

Then I started playing Ironclaw...

I joined a group, and I realized this group needed a tank and healer... so Ta-daaa I remember this concept of a badger paladin I have laying around and I stat him up and throw him into the fray. Little did I realize how close I would get to this badger and how much he would grow as a character. For example: This is when he got his name of Bastion.

To start I should say that this is not the same Bastion as I knew. This Bastion was much younger, inexperienced, and a bit... naive? He also developed a short temper that only a badger could have. This was definitely a farcry from older, wiser, more level-headed bastion. I guess he grew up at some point?

Some aspects of his past started to develop in this game... He gained a family and like... 6 siblings! His mother had passed away, and he mourned her hard. This pushed him to join the church, and lead him to be rather... faithful. He was encouraged to join the church by his father, who wanted to have his fingers in as many things as he could, to some extent at least. I don't want to say he was Zealous, but... Zealousish... He suffers no insult and his patience is rather limited. Being a noble, he knows how to act, but boy you can cause him to scream internally. That said, he is loyal to his friends, which allowed a couple of characters to use him for their goals... stupid fellow Player Characters. He was also bound to self-imposed chastity, to try and be pure for the Holy Light of S'allumer... but he is a man and he slipped up a few times, leaving him feel dirty and dishonorable. Poor, stupid badger.

The game lasted for a long, Long time... and ended in a tragic, bittersweet end for Bastion... and though I have realized that not everything will translate to the character's original world, it did help me round him out as a character.... and playing a tempermental character was actually kind of fun. I got to yell at people. :) He was definitely a contrast to Luca, I will say that... and I am curious to see how else he develops in the future. Maybe he'll lose the magic again, but I doubt it...

He doesn't have much of a presence in a modern setting, to be honest, so I can't really say anything about that.

But Bastion definitely holds a spot in my heart, and not just because I have the hots for badger daddies... Well, also because of that... don't judge me.

My badger daddy quota is now filled! :D

Art done by the irreplaceable Chetchaka <3 Uploaded with his permission.