AU where the devs thought DH2 through

Creator: Vivs

Description:

Serkonans have a culture! idk what yall's headcanon about serkonan culture is, it has a culture! Unfortunately a couple centuries ago the gristolians began to discriminate against their Serkonans, because they're ass! (and not the good kind!) gradually the politicians motherfuckers in power industrializes a lot of serkonos, attempts to erase the culture, and starts 'reforming' karnaca to be more like dunwall! how is there's 0.03 different between architecture in dunwall and architecture in karnaca? well it makes making the game feasible, but also it's because they're 'modernized' buildings. same with clothes; the reason they look so good, and yet are so devoid of personality, culture, etc., is because the serkonan culture is being systematically erased by people who wants to benefit from their mines, and exploited cheap labor. in this au the guards reference this! bc some of them come from rural areas where people still have traditions, heirlooms, etc. and they're mocked for being 'backwater' by city-borns because that's what they're taught (even though they themselves also suffer from this erasure). theodanis, in his time, knew what was up; that Gristolian merchants assholes were bleeding serkonos dry. as much as he wants to, he can't stop this; all he can do is to build the mines, and hope that aramis lives long enough to find a successor. his son is... a lost cause. he doesnt know whats going to happen after he dies, and at this point, the best thing he can do is pray

Delilah has the emotional intelligence of a five year old child. a traumatised five year old child. she comes back from the void changed; before, she wanted validation. now, she wants to rewrite the world, so she can exist in one where her mother never died, where they lived in a peaceful little cottage off the coast, with peaceful little gardens around them. She has seen the shape of the world through the outsider's birthplace, and she wants no part of ruling it. but she finds Ashworth waiting for her at the other end of the portal, together they reassemble the coven through the power of lesbians, and delilah thinks, "maybe this world is still worth living in". she carves a place for herself in karnaca for her and her coven, because outsider's ass duca abele is an incompetent sack of flesh. it isn't a difficult task for her, and for a short while, she was content. and then she was not, because she's pretty much taken over karnaca and her mines and her workers and her citizens were suffering under the neglectful crown. no matter how much paperwork she sends, the nobles refuse to change their exploitations laws. so she schemes, and assemble a team

hypatia is the first and easiest find, and delilah finds her timid demeanor unbearable, at first. she seemed meek. week. too quiet. until the wellbeing of the mine workers come up, that is; hypatia cares so deeply, earnestly, and kindly about others that she wins delilah over (in fact, hypatia had berated her a few times for being cruel). not saying that hypatia can't be foolish, considering the conception of grim alex. grim alex is a surprising bonus; a side of hypatia delilah has suspected to have bottled up within her, now manifested into another person entirely. she and her coven help alex and hypatia adjust to their new shared existence, and proceed with the recruitment

jindosh was someone delilah could relate to. he didn't care about people the same reason azula delilah didn't care about people--because they pointed at her and called her heartless, bloodless; because they refused to listen to her, refused to understand her, and spat at her. jindosh's mind was brilliant; logical, candid, and full of imaginings ordinary men couldn't dream of. she saved him from imprisonment, and asked hypatia to teach him empathy. and she did

Delilah can draw, but her brain is still brrrr (even after seeing the shape of the world) so guess who does most of the actual ruling? the smart girlfriend (ashworth)

they eliminate a few of the nobles themselves, quietly. The 'crown killer' was coined by the press, not their little group. and the smear on the kaldwin name is a (vindictive) bonus, but it isn't really what they're going for. they wanted more independence, because gristol was bleeding them dry, and they've tried every means from speaking to nagging to blackmailing, but none of them worked. so here they are, killing people. quietly and without fanfare, but with enough pattern to send a message. well. a misinterpreted message--emily kaldwin thinks there's someone out there intentionally sullying her name; there isn't. they keep going, thinking that maybe after the next one, they can stop, the paperwork will get through, the laws will be remade, but it never happens. Emily kaldwin was too caught up being bored in meetings and being frustrated about the 'crown killer' to give 1/4 of her empire a second glance.

The plan is this--they find a public event where the crown is present, list off all the suffering Serkonos has undergone in Emily's negligence, and demand that she sign the independence article. (delilah would be in the background, as backup. she doesn't trust herself with something so personal) or, that's what they intended. the empress only pretended to listen as her royal protector snuck back around and leapt into action, and delilah had to act. she tore the mark out of corvo's hand, and petrified him, for the time. she had Emily knocked out; how can they not see reason? The team had a whole speech planned, and the document ready, for when Emily wakes up. except she escapes, and the throne is empty.

"This is a fine pile of shit we've gotten ourselves in," they said. "Delilah, you have to take the throne before the power vacuum throws the nation into chaos."

So she did

if delilah was angry about the state of things before, she was absolutely exploding after assuming the throne. before, all the cruelty she knew were that of serkonos'; turns out the whole empire is corrupt, and she--emily--had been just sitting. on her throne. being bored. delilah reads and reads and reads--all of the reports from corvo's office. can the man not see the implications? sure, there was a smuggling at this place at this time, but does he not realize how desperate these people have to be, to attempt it in the first place? does he not understand the root of the problem lies not within individuals, but the construct itself?

corvo was raised in poverty. emily grew up in mourning. if even they can forget empathy, thought delilah, then this world is hopeless.

so she prepares her brush to paint a new one, where none of this would ever come to pass

meanwhile alex and jindosh and ashworth are heading back because serkonos is crumbling without their supervision. (they didnt know delilah was going to repaint the world or else they'd def stop her) meanwhile the public goes brrrrr and the abbey goes brrrrr and delilah pretty much abandons everyone to anarchy because who cares? by the time she finished painting this, none of this will matter, anymore

Emily shows up and uh,,,, sees the product of her neglect and the greed of nobility. she learns her fucking lesson, teams up with delilah's crew, goes back to dunwall, and kicks delilah's ass into therapy