Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening, all rights to the owners.
You know, having to write this chapter made me realize just how random some of these ideas were, and how many of them were just an OC wearing Robin's face.
Bard
Despite everyone's expectations to the contrary, it was Olivia who proposed to Robin, and the bard would forever bemoan (in good humor) that it was not a dramatic public proposal but one delivered in private and therefore unfitting of their respective occupations.
The two would go on to found their own theater which would be renowned for its musicals, and the bizarre songs Robin concocted for them, sometimes creating entirely new musical genres in the process, would be the subject of rigorous study for musicians for centuries to come.
Communication Issues
In retrospect, the Ylisse-Plegia war was considered an incredible waste of time and men by both sides, and the blame would be passed to the Grimleal (who were partially, but by no means fully, at fault), and Kestrel's re-discovery by Plegia largely solved the immediate tensions between the two nations.
Though her memory never returned and her communicative abilities remained poor, Robin served as a frontline commander for the entire Valmese war and Grima's return, and became a roaming knight after peace returned, becoming the foundation for several local myths across the continent about terrifying, silent, dark knights that swoop in to protect lonely villages.
Historian
After Grima's fall, Robin went on a world tour of historic landmarks, often displaying more knowledge about them than his actual guides, and generally exhausting anyone who made the choice to join him on any given trip. He would eventually partake in actual archeological excavation and conservation work within Ylisse, and became a key figure in the study of outdated military tactics and the circumstances that lead them to be used in the first place, paving the way for future innovations through understanding of the past.
He would never marry and showed no distress over the fact, but he would eventually adopt a pair of Plegian orphans named Morgan and Marc who would carry on his name, if not his bloodline.
Marc showed great interest in his father's occupation. As for Morgan, she was quoted as saying: "If I never have to go see another empty field for the purpose of 'historical significance' ever again, it will be too soon".
Lich
To this day there are four surviving Shepherds. Three of them are manaketes, one of them is undead.
Robin Lowell is a veteran of many wars, but she is perhaps best known for the war immediately following her bout of total, permanent amnesia. She fought in the Seventh Ylisse-Plegia War, the First Archanea-Valentia War, and the Third (and final) Grima Crisis. She was once Queen of Ylisse and was a powerful pillar in Ylisse for many centuries after that, keeping the royal line relatively free of the corrupt, selfish maniacs that would eventually come into power everywhere else through her guidance and (when necessary) political power.
Nowadays Lady Lowell is a much more obscure figure who is mostly known for serving as a guest lecturer in prestigious universities and maintaining a museum dedicated to her old companions, the Shepherds.
Wild
Robin Dawnfeather is perhaps best known for his bloodline rather than anything he accomplished (though that is quite a story itself, and one all too often glossed over), as despite being of an unknown species he went on to have two children who demonstrated wildly different mixings and alterations of human and wildborn traits. Severa was known and feared for having a literally sharp tongue (a tongue with a needle couched deep inside of it with extra muscles in her jaw to shoot it like a crossbow bolt), whereas Morgan was infamous for her blackened eyes and the streaks of dark blue across her otherwise pale skin which often had her mistaken for a demon.
The study of wildborn hybrids is still a subject of rigorous study today as scientists attempt to find some rhyme or reason for the seemingly arbitrary distribution and alteration of wildborn traits when passed onto children of mixed parentage, and the entire field of study originated almost entirely with Robin, Cordelia and their children.
Plant
By far the most well known specimen of Darius Lowell's private garden was an alraune (a species of sentient plant specialized in preying on humans and human-like creatures) by the name of Robin. During the course of the garden's dismantling, she was relocated to the palace gardens instead, where she remained for the rest of her life.
This, purportedly, was in large part due to her relationship with the son of her former captor, Chrom Lowell. Their romantic entanglement was a well-known, if unpopular, fact among Ylisse's noble class. They very much disapproved of their prince being involved with a non-human, especially one that was not Ylissian, a known man-eater, and incapable of human-like reproduction.
History, however, has vindicated the prince's choice of partner. He lived a long and happy life, and though he had no child of his own blood, he was considered the unofficial ancestor of a long line of alraune that lived in the Ylissian gardens for centuries to come, all of which were directly descended from Robin. The most famous of these would have to be Robin's immediate child, Morgan, who famously created a spell to allow alraune to temporarily detach their humanoid lure from the rest of their body and move it well beyond their normal range.
Dancer
Lucina Lowell had an eventful life, even after Grima's fall, though much of that was not in the way she would have wished. She stepped in to lead the Shepherds at an unspecified time during the post-war period, and continued to do so well into her later years. However, the post-war period was a relatively peaceful time, with at worst some grimleal and Valmese war holdouts to deal with. Most of the chaos in Lucina's life would come from politics, despite her very best attempts to avoid such things.
The princess was fortunate to have an ally in Robin Tealeaf, the Shepherds' chief tactician and her father's right-hand man. He would aid the princess in navigating the political landscape, even if that mostly involved finding excuses to attend as few events as possible and dodging gossip by simply never interacting with the upper crust of society if it wasn't necessary. When the pressure on Lucina to marry (her being a royal, and a woman at that) became too much for the girl, he famously solved the issue by marrying her himself. (Much to the frustration of the nobles who had been pressuring her, as they had hopes of her marrying one of their sons.)
Fairy
The Grand Tactician and her husband were famous among the nobility and infamous among military recruits for their deceptive appearances. Many an unfortunate new soldier learned that the knight's welcoming smile did not bely a forgiving attitude when it came to training, and his wife was equally infamous for catching slackers and those who shirked their duties, as her unassuming appearance did not raise the guard of those she spoke to and they would only realize too late they were speaking with the Grand Tactician herself.
Despite their constant and extensive training, both husband and wife never had cause to use their skills or the army they honed for more than the occasional bandit cleanup. Both were quite content with this reality; especially Robin, who reveled in the freedom peace time granted her, even if her husband always had difficulty doing the same.
Childlike
The relationship between the Voice and Ylisse's Grand Tactician was a source of much contention among many parties. There were many worries and complaints spoken on the subject of a religious figurehead having a romantic entanglement at all, and further scandal thanks to the tactician's childlike appearance.
With that in mind, it's perhaps not a surprise that Tiki and Robin did not make a big show out of their wedding. In fact, they got married in private a few years after Grima's fall, and the Shepherds conveniently neglected to tell anyone else about it. They were all content to let the news gradually trickle out as observers of the pair put the clues together, and as such they were not officially confirmed married until well over five years after the actual ceremony.
The Chained Lady
Many tales would be written about the battle of gods that occured over Dragon's Table, with a giant, multi-winged, feathered dragon being tethered to the earth by great chains that erupted from the earth, as well as a prince and his demigod daughter who climbed those chains alongside their companions to ride atop the dragon's back and slay it once and for all.
As a much more immediately present deity than Naga or Grima, the Chained Lady's worship returned with a vengeance, and though she would never eclipse Naga, the fact that her blood was mixed with the exalted family resulted in her becoming an officially recognized secondary deity in the church of Naga; something that is true even to this day.
The goddess herself was known to be a reclusive figure, spending most of her time in the palace and leaving only in the company of her husband and her children. She would remain in the palace for a time after the prince's passing, but would eventually leave with her destination known only to her children.
The Chained Lady and her children have reappeared several times throughout recorded history. Even after Ylisse's fall, Lucina and Morgan have been players in most major wars on the Archanean continent and have maintained a relatively high profile for their entire existences, while the Lady herself has occasionally cropped up to help combat world-ending threats but seems content to remain unseen.
Servant
It took many years before the enchantments upon Robin could be broken, and even then his behavior saw very little change. Serving the royal family was too deeply ingrained in his mind to be changed, spell or no spell.
Robin was by far the most eventful thing about his own life. His incapability to sleep, well-intentioned stalker tendencies, and fanatic devotion kept palace life interesting for himself and his charges for long into their lives.
Perhaps the only peculiarity beyond his normal was his adoption of a young Plegian orphan by the name of Morgan. Knight-Commander Frederick famously complained about the girl inheriting all of Robin's worst tendencies, and history remembers her as an expert spy and political menace despite her lowborn status.
Banshee
Robin is not a high-profile figure in history despite her uniqueness. She got dragged into three wars and accrued an impressive array of skills through absorbing the memories of soldiers around her, which had the result of making the banshee into a master tactician and combatant, but also resulting in her entering fugue states after battles, overwhelmed by obtaining too many memories in too short a time.
After the wars were over and Grima defeated, Robin spent a long time recovering in Donnel's village. She spent years sorting through the memories in her head, with many tales from travelers who went through the town about a tall lady stalking the streets at night, whispering incomprehensible non-sequiturs to herself. Her exact relationship with Donnel was not well documented; all that is known is that she lived in his house for his entire life. Historians have presumed they were married, but no evidence aside from this one point has ever surfaced.
Robin mostly vanished from the historical record in the years after Donnel's death. Tiki, Nowi, and Nah have spoken of her since, and it is presumed she is still alive and occasionally visits her former fellow soldiers.
Highwayman
Many tales were told of the Raptor, both during and after the wars. While he was never a part of the Shepherds, he worked with them or adjacent to them on many occasions. Despite his origin as a common highway robber, he ended his life as a folk hero and the subject of many daring and dramatic tales.
A favorite tale of many who knew of him was that of his rivalry with the Ylissian knight Sully. They clashed hundreds of times throughout their lives in a longstanding competition, the tally of which swayed between each fighter's favor at different points in their lives. This competition would be passed on to their respective children, albeit in a less serious fashion as the girls were known to be close companions, and Morgan was not as much a scoundrel as her father.
Mind Control
To some extent, Robin spent her entire life cleaning up the aftermath of the initial mind control incident. The Shepherds were slow to trust her, and some never quite did. It was thanks to Chrom vouching for her (and the relative harmlessness of everyone's time under mind control) that she suffered no consequences, and she made good on that trust by ensuring another incident never happened again. Every future use of her power was purely for military applications, and she even took to wearing locked gloves when not in battle to make others feel safe around her.
While it is not known who Robin got married to, or if she got married at all, it is known that she had a child after Grima's fall. Morgan inherited none of her mother's powers, and it is theorized that the Fell Brand may have been the culprit for those powers in the first place.
Fashion Designer
Robin Tealeaf is a curious case in history, being known equally for his skill in battle as well as his skills with cloth. Both had long-lasting impacts, the full details of which would necessitate several books worth of information to properly address. His military contributions are tied in with the Shepherds and Exalt Emmeryn, but his contributions to the world of fashion are all his own.
The most the layman is likely to know about Robin is the design school he founded. The Tealeaf School of Design has been a centerpoint in the world of fashion since its opening over five centuries ago. Robin himself taught at the school, and despite his perfectionist nature he was known to be a surprisingly lenient and open-minded professor.
Motherly
Malum's memory never returned to her, much to her annoyance, as she was quite fond of her son and would have preferred to know more about him. Despite that, she slipped back into being a parent effortlessly, and seemed extremely content in that role.
Gregor would take up a paternal role to Morgan upon his introduction to the Shepherds, and Morgan was rather fond of him. The boy never spoke about his birth father, but it was clear Morgan did not hold him in high regard and found a surrogate in Gregor.
After Grima's fall, Malum left the Shepherds. She settled into a nice house in Ylisstol, and spent most of her time assisting Libra at his orphanage after Morgan became fully independent. Caring for others was her passion, and she gleefully devoted her life to it as soon as conflict no longer loomed over the world.
Bodyguard
Robin served faithfully as Khan Flavia's bodyguard for his entire life, never once faltering in his service. He also served with the Shepherds for a time, assisting them in the Valmese war and the Grimleal crisis. His tactical genius was critical in facilitating Grima's fall.
He had many tales to tell of his leige's recklessness, and despite having a mutual understanding after many years, they continued to cause trouble for each other well into their later years. Despite many rumors of a closer relationship between the two, Robin would never marry, and left no children behind.
Ninja
The relationship between Prince Chrom and the Chon'sinese ninja Robin was a subject of much interest to the world around them, both immediately for the political ramifications and for centuries to come as this relationship would be the basis for hundreds of romance novels over the years.
While infamous for flirting with anyone with any status whatsoever, Robin was faithful once their relationship began and never added to her list. She did, however, still use her skills to extract information out of corrupt figures in Ylisse, and could be found on the arm of various powerful figures at some point or another, often in disguise, always to their downfall.
While their son and daughter did inherit Robin's incredible stealth skills, they did not inherit her seduction skills, much to Robin's disappointment and Chrom's relief.
Therapist
Robin is often credited as the first ever professional therapist in history. This is a blatant falsehood. He is, however, the first high profile therapist in history, though that has more to do with his military accomplishments than his skill as a therapist.
Despite that, Robin's fame allowed him to have sway over the Ylissian public and council and fund policies related to the bettering of mental health, including the promotion of psychology as a field of study and the construction of clinics and hospitals devoted solely to mental illness.
Those hospitals would become extremely corrupt and mismanaged after Robin's death, leading to worse treatment of the mentally ill than if they didn't exist, and it would only be after thorough investigations and employee purges by one of Robin's granddaughters that they would become what they were originally intended to be on a more permanent basis.
Amazon
Gregor's mercenary company quickly found themselves employed in the Ylisse-Plegia war, first on Plegia's side, and then Ylisse's, at which point they found themselves more-or-less assimilated by the Shepherds for the duration of three total wars, and fought by their side again when a fourth war broke out a few years after Grima's fall.
The war against the amazons was short and brutal. The amazons instigated against a weakened Plegia to obtain new territory, and was summarily razed to the ground by the combined armies of the three surrounding nations with the Shepherds at their head. Their numerous human rights violations earned many of their leaders a near unanimous death sentence, with only Exalt Emmeryn attempting to preach the path of mercy.
Robin was conflicted about her part in the Amazon War much more so than the other wars, and the nagging guilt of killing her saviors was something that never really went away. Despite that, she fought for her new, less morally bankrupt companions, and found some solace in the relatively peaceful world that followed.
Horror Monster
Robin's unique form was a great boon for the Shepherds while it persisted. His poisonous breath and potent anti-flier capabilities helped push through Plegian resistance during the Ylisse-Plegia war. During the two year peace between the Plegian and Valmese wars, however, Miriel managed to undo the curse that turned Robin into his monstrous form, allowing Robin to become human again.
Despite the curse being undone, it had a permanent effect on the man. His face was stuck in a rictus grin for years to come, unable to fight the muscle memory ingrained in him for more than a few minutes at a time, and he was also known to hiss and claw at foes, occasionally forgetting his weapons.
Beyond that he was a genius tactician, but history remembers him as a fascinating monster more than it remembers his accomplishments.
Mastermind
Robin D. Tealeaf is remembered for many things, not least because of her tactical genius, but many a historian's favorite anecdote about the proud tactician was her peculiar relationship with the Shepherds' quartermaster, Emmet.
While known as a proud and somewhat self-absorbed woman to her fellow Shepherds, records of Robin's journals (and the few sparse personal writings from Emmet) show that she was quite an obsessive woman prone to outlandish romantic schemes, self-delusion about their viability, and general dramatics.
Robin's strange friendship with Emmet would eventually culminate in their marriage, though it required Robin to find a way to show she wasn't as self-absorbed as she appeared and for Emmet to drop his emotional distance and general hostility, both of which took a few years.
Mercenary
Robin was, by all accounts, a fairly normal mercenary (if an extremely competent one), and continued to act in that capacity during the two years of peace between the Plegian and Valmese wars. He worked for many employers but his most frequent contractor was the dark mage Tharja, who enlisted his protection on numerous occasions as she traveled around Plegia, knowing full well the Grimeleal had put a target on her back for siding with the Ylissians during the war.
The Valmese war saw Robin hired to fight alongside the Shepherds again, and it would be during that time that he would lose his right arm and half his eyesight to a valkyrie's arcfire spell and be forced to retire. Tharja, also fighting with the Shepherds, would exact bloody vengeance upon his attacker and make herself responsible for Robin's care (much to Robin's surprise).
In later years Robin would find work as a mercenary guild leader; a guild established with his savings and some help from Tharja, which was likely a major factor in the unusually high number of dark mages in the guild's employ.
Crazy
No explanation has ever been found in historical records to explain Robin's madness. The best efforts of psychologists of Robin's time couldn't deduce the source, and it was eventually assumed to be a result of Grima's possession or her (presumed) cult upbringing for lack of a better explanation.
Robin led Ylisse through two wars and the Grima crisis, singing strange songs the entire time. She would settle comfortably into Ylisstol after all the fighting was done, and compose hundreds of strange songs, poems, and stories that artists debate over to this day.
Genderfluid
There are many records of the various ways Robin Tealeaf antagonized the Ylissian Governmental Council, mostly in the form of diary entries or written complaints to Prince Chrom. This 'antagonization' seems to be the result of Robin insistently and repeatedly shoving their sex-changing ability in the face of a very traditional and reserved group of people, though the body-horror aspect of their transformation also held some responsibility for their uncomfortable reactions.
It should come as little surprise that the council were unhappy to hear the prince was getting married to their antagonist, and they were even less happy when Robin and Chrom made every effort to reorganize the council with more intelligent and less self-centered individuals filling the seats.
Only one of Robin's children would inherit their ability. That child went by the names Morgan or Marc depending on their whims, though would respond to either name and seemed to have two purely because they found it fun.
Assassin
Many would say the prince's marriage was something out of a fairy tale, and many would also say it should have been a tragedy and only the grace of Naga made it not so. The prince was likely to agree with those people, because he was quite aware of how incredibly reckless he had been.
Robin Vastatio was instrumental in bolstering Ylisse's espionage and counter-espionage abilities, mostly through training Ylisse's thoroughly lacking ground scout division as well as making the guards aware of the methods of Plegian spies and assassins.
In addition to training Ylisse's soldiers, Robin directly engaged in espionage and assassination against individuals of importance to the Plegian army. She was most famously responsible for assassinating Validar, her own father, though there are many other deaths over the course of both wars that were attributed to her hand.
Martial Artist
Robin shared a cozy retirement with his wife, Cherche, and their children (both future and otherwise) in Wyvern Valley. They ran an extensive wyvern sanctuary operation, taking in crippled, unwanted, or insufficiently supported wyverns from militaries and formerly over-zealous pet owners alike.
It was a common joke in the family that Robin's talents were wasted in the Valley when his calling was clearly in theater, and he did put on small shows for local or visiting children quite frequently of which Minerva the Younger was always an accomplice.
To the relief of Future Gerome, his younger self did not inherit his father's dramatic nature, though the same could not be said of Morgan (both future and otherwise). Combined with their father and Minerva, the four of them occasionally put the Justice Cabal to shame with their theatrics.
The Infinite Cycle
What could one world's history hope to summarize about someone who has traveled through so many alternate dimensions that they all start to blur together?
The simplest truth of Robin is that she is a blessing and a curse to different people. She is a blessing to whatever world she visits, as she guarantees Grima's fall, but she is a curse to the future children she leaves without their true parent.
One can only hope that Robin has managed to find some salvation or solace from her condition, but that is something most worlds will never get closure for.
Child
Robin remained antisocial for nearly two years, speaking only in short sentences when he could be convinced to speak at all. While Emmet was the first to get him to speak, it would mostly be Sumia who he would talk with after the war ended and someone else could take over his care.
Years later, when it came to light how Robin's tactical genius had been utilized for military benefit despite him being a traumatized child at the time, many were rightly outraged. Emmet took responsibility for the decision and was willing to act as a scapegoat, as he already had a bad reputation and making it worse wouldn't affect him all that much.
Despite the horrible circumstances in which he came into their care, and the questionable use of his skills the Shepherds made in his younger years, Robin grew into a well-adjusted young man and a highly competent tactician. He looked up to Sumia as a surrogate mother, and despite being the one to initially exploit him Robin was known to be on alright terms with Emmet as well. Robin wouldn't say he was fond of the man, but would claim they shared an understanding of some sort.
Paranoid
Robin Tealeaf was an infamous recluse who was once responsible for masterminding Ylisse's war efforts against Plegia, Valm, and Grima. She was notorious for her paranoia, seeing assassins and betrayal in new and old faces alike.
As soon as Grima fell, Robin made preparations for a secluded home away from most of civilization. She told only a few people of its location, moved out, and almost never interacted with society ever again. She was accompanied by her one close companion: Yarne, who found relief in being far from dangerous hands and potential ill intentions. It's presumed they were married at some point, but if they were then they never announced it.
To the relief of everyone else, their child Morgan shared none of his parents' paranoia, and found it more frustrating than anything.
Demon
The demon Robin has cropped up several times throughout history, usually for use in wars. His tactical ability is nearly unmatched amongst the demonic, and his combat abilities are similarly impressive.
Despite this, most students of history remember Robin for his stint in the Shepherds, serving as an assistant to Noire the Elder. It was one of the few times he was summoned by accident rather than intentionally, and it is thought that Robin perhaps intentionally accepted Noire's summoning despite it being non-specific so he could be on Ylisse's side of the war rather than risk being summoned by Plegia.
Robin has always had a knack for ending up on the side of whatever conflict that he prefers, even if he doesn't start there, and the Ylisse-Plegia war was no exception.
Puppeteer
The rot bringer plague devastated Ylisse. After the initial containtainment failed, the monsters multiplied exponentially. Far from being a mere roaming nuisance that targeted farm animals, the rot bringers gathered into flocks and descended upon villages, annihilating the unfortunate people there and adding the corpses to their ranks.
The issue did not stay isolated to the Ylissian countryside for long. Soon the rot bringingers were spilling over into Plegia and Ferox, and the whole continent became embroiled in a battle against the monsters. The ongoing war ground to a halt for lack of men to fight it as populations dwindled rapidly.
It would take the Archenean continent nearly a decade to recover from the rot bringers, and in that time Plegia splintered into petty kingdoms ruled by local warlords, Ferox regressed to small, fortified villages and nomadic wanderers with no central authority, and Ylisse was reduced to a city-state consisting only of Ylisstol and the surrounding farms. All of them still had to deal with occasional rot bringer flocks, and those angels of pestilence would be a constant threat for centuries to come as the continent's main powers were never quite able to wipe them out.
From the ashes of the old powers came new ones. Plegia's petty kingdoms were among them, but perhaps most notable was a second city-state born from northern Ylisse. Mage Queen Robin and her army of scarecrows were some of the most effective hunters of rot bringers on the continent, and that's no surprise, for it was off that expertise and ability to provide protection that she grabbed power to begin with…
POW
Robin Vastatio was credited by many, including Exalt Emmeryn herself, with being the one to end the thirteenth Ylisse-Plegia war despite having no part in the negotiations. His plan was risky, but simple, and in that simplicity it was genius.
The man was third in line for the Plegian throne, and using that fact to force peace by 'accidentally' getting captured so he could be used as a bargaining chip was the extent of his plan. It relied on getting captured by the right person and understanding the motives of Ylisse's exalt enough to know he wouldn't be in danger.
With peace forced, Robin and Emmeryn collaborated to keep it that way, much to the irritation of their respective ruling classes. It's a miracle that there were no assassinations on either side during the initial, fragile peace that the two had fostered.
Umbramancer
Grand Tactician Robin was famous for a number of things, not least of them her self-aggrandizing tendencies that estranged her to so many during her time but have made her much beloved by history and literature students alike, as both are treated with rambling, unnecessarily dramatic speeches about her own amazingness that spice up otherwise boring classes on Ylissian history.
In addition to her memorable personality, Robin is widely credited for bringing shadow magic into the public eye as more than a niche type of magic known mostly to cults. While many in Ylisse were reluctant to learn it due to the negative stigma, Robin did have her students, most important of those being Miriel and Laurent who ensured the methods for casting shadow magic were recorded for mages to learn in the future.
Robin's husband, Kellam, is remembered only because Robin would not stop talking about him. Her adoration for her husband was second only to her adoration for her son, and if she wasn't talking about herself or her magic she would almost assuredly be talking about them. For all her self-importance, Robin was just just as eager to sing the praises of her family as herself.
Inevitable
It's not quite clear where or when the Inevitable got his title, not helped by his amnesia. His title was historically quite accurate though. The Inevitable never failed in whatever he set out to do, but the caveat there is that the Inevitable was careful in what objectives he chose to undertake.
Overwhelming force applied with precision was the Inevitable's signature style, and one that carried him and the Shepherds to victory time and time again. A favorite tactic of his was the use of himself and manaketes to break one section of the enemy's formation with the use of only a few troops and tear his foes apart from there.
The Inevitable was known to have a close companionship with the Voice, though the exact nature of their relationship was never documented.
Arachne
The Arachne residing at Themis Manor was the subject of much rumor and speculation to anyone who didn't live there. For those that did, she was an unusually uninteresting sight, and any new hire quickly got used to the woman.
Maribelle eventually had to accept that Brady would not be finding a closer friend than Robin. While the boy would also become close with Noire over time, the arachne was his constant companion. When Brady eventually became more involved in politics as he got older as heir to the dukedom of Themis, Maribelle set herself to training Robin in the ways of politics knowing she would inevitably have need of those skills in the future when she formally joined the Themisia family.
Neither Brady nor Robin could be said to be a political force, even when they did take Themis' reigns, but having a demi-human duchess did much to soften the peoples' attitudes towards them and make Themis into the safe haven for demi-humans it is today.
Caller of Naga
While Naga has been known to give her strength to certain bloodlines or people, it is usually a pragmatic matter to prevent tragedy. It's rare for her to blatantly pick favorites, and that's what made Robin Tealeaf such an anomaly.
Most of Robin's interactions with Naga are unknown to history, for only a few were ever witnessed by others. The few records that do exist, however, speak of a strange mix of casual irreverence, role play, deep familiarity, and downplayed respect.
Robin's life was poorly recorded due to his nature as a wanderer, and as such very little is known about his life (to the frustration of many). It is known, however, that no more sightings of him occurred starting at the five year point after Grima's fall. Whether he died, left Archanea and Valentia, went into hiding, or settled down, only Naga (and perhaps Tiki) knows.
Smol
Ylisse's tiny tactician was and is a favorite of historians and writers alike. Historians love the strange anecdotes about her behavior that surface from time to time from old journals and records, and writers of historical novels (accurate or not) enjoy the fun they get to have writing about her eccentric, excitable personality that belied a sharp mind and devastating magical abilities.
In the centuries since the Shepherds' defeat of Grima, there have also been numerous conspiracy theories regarding Robin and if she was a real person or not (those theories are generally created by the most radical of social justice groups). There are many groups that think she, and indeed Henry and Tharja as well, were fictional characters even during the time she supposedly existed, being someone entirely made up for Ylissian propaganda. Those theorists typically cite their odd behavior as obviously being a result of racist minds at the time, as all the Plegian members of the Shepherds were even more 'aggressively quirky' than the rest of the group, with all of them showing blatant mental instability or being somehow 'insane' or 'unstable'.
This blatantly disregards existing birth records for the Plegian members of the Shepherds, and the fact that multiple world leaders speak of them and have no reason to propagate Ylissian propaganda, but radical social justice groups are much more known for their selective hearing than good sense, so maybe their determination to be ignorant and offended isn't much of a surprise.
Detective
Robin was never a very good detective, despite his claims to the contrary. History remembers his tactical genius and not his deductive skills after all. Still, Robin was quite committed to trying to become a detective, and while he never saw much success he did amass a very large collection of detective novels, and even created a few himself.
While Cynthia found her boyfriend's (and eventually husband's) poor deductive skills amusing, she was known to be rather frustrated with the social obliviousness that was attached to it. Robin never did learn how to take a hint, and Cynthia eventually learned how to be blunt in order to compensate for their constant misunderstandings.
Despite this, the two were known to be a happy (and rather loud) couple who would demand attention wherever they went with their antics, and inadvertently entertained many with their inherently dramatic personalities.
Mana Eater
Robin spent the larger part of a decade figuring out exactly what she was with the assistance of Laurent. Together they delved through stacks of encyclopedias and old myths, piecing together the history of arcanomoths and arcanomoth hybrids. It was through that study that they learned Robin was part likely part arcanomoth, but not by birth.
There were a few dark magic rituals that have the purpose of injecting the abilities of powerful creatures into humans through blood mixing, with one of those creatures being arcanomoths. The ritual's effects matched up almost exactly with Robin's stranger traits, such as mana siphoning and an instinctive ability to mana cycle.
The two of them concluded that the ritual was likely done to assist in Grima's return, as it allowed her body to hold much more mana than it would usually be capable of. They also concluded that the process would not be feasibly reversible in Robin's lifetime, and so she was stuck with both the benefits and the downsides of the ritual for the rest of her life.
Deadlord
The Deadlord Robin is a curious case in history, being the only deadlord to survive to the modern era. The study of manaketes has been his omnipresent driving motive through the centuries, and in the decades since he has been formally integrated into modern academic circles he has brought that field of research to new heights.
Most of the manaketes still alive were less than enthused about a deadlord being in charge of their research as almost all of them had had a run-in with him before, but Robin's depth of knowledge cannot be understated despite his oddities.
While he remains a strange personality, Robin's mental state has improved over the years, the least of which involves him now observing proper procedure and consent forms when initiating testing.
Attraction Aura
Robin and Inigo's 'dance', as the other Shepherds called it, was the subject of much amusement for everyone aside from Inigo himself. He was constantly insecure about Robin's teasing, despite her reassurances. It took much time and a bit of soul-searching for Inigo to push past his insecurities, though this was helped by the growing trust between the two of them.
Though it was of surprisingly little use during the wars, Robin put her aura to (questionably) good use in the peacetime that followed. There were and still are many debates about the ethics of her using her aura to manipulate politicians for the benefit of Emmeryn's reforms. Robin herself never showed any concern about those ethical considerations and freely used her aura to get what she wanted.
Despite the flagrant abuse of her powers, most Shepherds had, and the modern day public has, a generally positive opinion of the woman. She seems a shining example of the ends justifying the means, much to the consternation of many, though it helps that she avoided truly horrible abuses of charm magic (and history has no lack of examples for that).
Performer
Robin Tealeaf was one of the stranger members of the Shepherds. It was never clear if his dramatics were for show, or a result of self-delusion. He was never very close with anyone through his entire life except his adopted daughter, Morgan, who proved to be just as dramatic as he was and was no help in understanding her father.
Despite his eccentricity, Robin was a competent tactician and a skilled fighter. He had very few personal items, and the only surviving one is his giant lantern (called "the Light") which mages have confirmed is heavily enchanted with durability-enhancing and weight-lightening properties, as well as a perpetual magical flame in the center of it.
Morgan would inherit the Light, though she wouldn't use it herself. She instead gave permission for it to be installed in the Ylissian Royal Palace as decoration, as learning to use it was frankly impractical over a conventional weapon. The Light would become the central lighting for the dining hall for centuries until Ylisse's fall, at which point it would be put on display in the Carlup Central Museum after the palace was occupied and looted.
Sweet
Robin was a strange figure in the Shepherds. She was simultaneously a calm, diplomatic voice of reason, and a woman completely willing to throw hands with her spiked gauntlets. She was famous, strangely enough, for her tea parties.
There would be more than one occasion where she would defeat an opponent in combat, only to sit down with tea and cookies to talk to them only a day or two later. With Gangrel this was to little effect, but history remembers the change that it inspired in the tyrant Walhart.
After Grima's fall, Robin would retire from the Shepherds entirely. The rest of her life was relatively unassuming and uneventful. She would occasionally show up at social functions, but otherwise was content to keep to herself. As a result, no one is quite sure who Morgan's father is, and Morgan himself never clarified.
Priest
Robin Tealeaf, self-proclaimed priest, was one of the most controversial members of the Shepherds. It had nothing to do with his Plegian heritage, or even his convenient and unexplained amnesia, but his flagrant disregard for the religion he supposedly promotes.
The so-called priest's ramblings were inconvenient for many a religious authority who did not appreciate his blatant lies or the uncomfortable questions he raised with those lies. Doubly so when it was well known that he'd had conversations with the Voice, and there were worries of him corrupting her.
Nothing of the sort happened of course. Robin was simply an odd individual who liked to mock religion and it's preachers and was incredibly dedicated to his bit. In the end, his oddities would be a side note to his tactical abilities in history, and the Naga faith suffered no great blow from his existence.
Paladin
The paladin Robin was a key component of the safety of southern Ylisse during the initial Ylisse-Plegia war. Naga's Paladins were a small order to begin with, and being spread so thin during the Risen crisis did them no favors, but Robin was undoubtedly successful in suppressing Risen presence all on her own.
While the majority of her efforts were focused on personally confronting threats, Robin made great strides in increasing the local security of villages through simple defense training like spear wall formations and the benefit of choke points and soft barriers like fences and trenches.
Sadly, Robin was not well recognized for her efforts during her lifetime. It is history that looks upon her fondly more than the Ylissian populace did.
Assistant
Robin is a footnote in the history of Tiki: he's a stranger that appeared out of nowhere without any explanation and served the Voice in a minor capacity for the rest of his life. If he did anything notable he might have gotten more scrutiny, but despite some tactical ability he never particularly stood out.
It doesn't help that, for all the meticulous records he took, Robin never recorded any information about himself besides his working hours.
Eldritch
What exactly 'Robin' was is a question many have asked and none have answered. What is known is that 'she' was an entity sealed within the Titan Sinkhole at an unknown point in the past, and that she was released unwittingly by Owain Lowell.
The entity Robin accompanied the Shepherds through most of their wars, lending her powers rather sparingly and mostly acting as a tactician. Observations on her were recorded by Miriel, who noted no need to eat, drink, or sleep, and a tendency towards acting as an observer to situations rather than directly engaging with them. Miriel also noted the few abilities she did display, such as bending space for teleportation, mind-reading, and persistent perception manipulation (in the form of sudden mental confusion or misdirection) to hide suspected physical changes in moments of crisis.
Robin never gave a stated purpose to joining the Shepherds or in general, and vanished not long after Grima's fall, though she left behind another anomalous entity named 'Morgan' in her place who insisted that Owain was her father despite the boy's insistence that he and Robin had never been intimate or even romantically entangled. Morgan displayed many of the same abilities as Robin, but was much more engaged with the world and people around her. Morgan is still alive to this day, and is suspected to be one 'daughter' of many to the entity that is Robin.
Hallucination
The figure was a high-ranking member of the cult of the Fell Dragon, the product of generations of eugenics to create the perfect vessel. The figure was unfortunate enough to be that vessel, and suffered for it.
He put up what resistance he could, undermining the cult's plots whenever he could, but despite his importance he was horribly limited in his reach due to being constantly monitored up until the point in which he attempted escape, and failed.
The cult's ritual would succeed, but so would the figure's resistance. The world could be saved, even if the one who risked so much to do so would not live to see it happen. To many, just this much was a relief.
To the prince, it was a tragedy.
There are some chapters I like more in retrospect than I did upon their actual writing. Fashion Designer is one of them, as well as Demon. I love Demon so much more upon rereading it; he's extra for the sake of being extra while still being a pretty nice person and it's great. Out of all the chapters here, I'd have to say my top three are: The Chained Lady, Caller of Naga, and Mastermind (though Umbramancer could also take this slot, they're very similar).
And… that's the end. Just shy of four years after this fic started, it's done. It's been cut off a bit sooner than I planned, but that's probably for the best considering how low I was running on inspiration. Still, I know I'm going to miss this fic. It's been a part of my life for a long time now. I've finished university since I started writing it, picked up new fandoms, and had many marginal improvements to my writing. There are plenty of ideas I think are a shame I never got around/couldn't figure out how to write, but best not to force out a mediocre chapter just to get them done. I'd rather not write them than write them poorly.
The Robin Variable was made for me to dump some random ideas I had for fics into one spot, knowing I would never write them all. I think I've mentioned this before, but Mirroreye was the first chapter I wrote, followed by Pact, Risen, and Statseer (in that order). I only wrote Risen and Statseer because I realized it would be kinda weird to only have Female Robins, even if I largely prefer it that way.
The entire idea of The Robin Variable's format initially was to be easy to write. Early chapters were just a bunch of scenes cobbled together to show off a quirk with no real need for an overarching story. I called it a 'highlight reel' for a reason. Over time that expanded to mini stories, close to but not quite being one-shots, mostly as a result of me getting a better grasp of what I was doing. I'm not so sure that shows in the writing, but even if the writing didn't change much the philosophy behind it did.
This collection was never meant to go on as long as it did. I initially thought it would be maybe 20 chapters, and then it got popular, so I thought maybe 50 would be good. But I still had so many unused ideas by the time I hit 50, so I kept going. I think the best and worst idea I ever had for this fic was allowing suggestions. On one hand, I never lacked for ideas, on the other hand, since I didn't make them up myself I often didn't have a good idea of what to do with them. It also had the irritating side-effect of people almost never commenting about the chapter itself, which is why I don't think I'll accept suggestions in the future if I ever do another collection like this.
Probably the most impactful fic here is Succubus Robin. It was like finally finding a character that clicks with you in a fighting game. I didn't realize it at first, but over time I've come to see the ripple effects of that idea. I've made multiple follow-up chapters in Varied Awakenings, and I don't think Marianne in Academy for the Elite, Unusual, and Inhuman would be nearly as fun as she is without Succubus Robin pioneering the idea for me. I realized just how far I could take the concept of a succubus, and just how flexible it was, and just how fun they were to write. Heck, it's even influenced my non Fire Emblem fics.
I could probably ramble for a while about this collection, but I won't. I've said enough, and now it's time to let this fic lie. Maybe it will get bonus chapters in the future if I ever get a burst of inspiration but don't count on it. (And I still have the deleted Virus Robin chapter sitting in my documents, totally complete but written with terrible timing at the very start of the world's current… predicament. Maybe I'll post that again at some point after that mess is over with, or if you all don't mind seeing it).
To finish off, as I said before and I'll say it again, I more than encourage any of you to take my ideas and use them. Whether that means taking one of the chapters I've written and running with the same concept, maybe borrowing scenes or using them in a bigger story, or taking one of the unused ideas and making a chapter out of them, I don't mind. As long as acknowledgement as the source is thrown my way I have no issue with people using what I've written (I'm a fanfic writer, it would be hypocritical of me to take issue with it). I don't necessarily think any of you will do that, but the offer bears repeating.
And with that… we're done. Goodbye. May we see each other's usernames again somewhere else!