Infamous Baldur’s Gate 3 anti-LGBTQ+ mod removed from Nexus Mods

By James On Dec 6, 2023

a ban report posted on the Nexus Mods forum on December 4 announced the removal of a Baldur's Gate 3 mod known as part of a larger anti-LGBTQ+ modpack.

“We are for inclusivity, we are for diversity,” the report reads. “If we believe someone is uploading a mod to our site with the intention of deliberately opposing inclusivity and/or diversity, we will take action. The same goes for people who deliberately try to troll other users with mods to cause a rise.”

The mod in question, dubbed “Ser Aylin” by the uploader, was billed as a “fully immersive male version of Dame Aylin,” complete with a new, more masculine body for the immortal demigoddess and over 850 voice lines modified using AI to account for to keep up with the changes. While this may sound like a simple gender swap mod on paper, it only survived for a day on Nexus Mods before being removed due to its prejudiced origins.

Ser Aylin is part of the larger modpack 'No Alphabets', which claims to 'equal the medieval status quo' by removing all LGBTQ+ content from Baldur's Gate 3. In other words, Dame Aylin was turned into a guy not as a fun experiment, but to transform her romantic relationship with Isobel – a female half-elf cleric of Selûne – from homosexual to heterosexual. Another part of the modpack similarly changes a character named Sebastian from male to female so that his romantic history with potential party member Astarion isn't gay.

Isobel describes her relationship with Dame Aylin in a Baldur's Gate 3 dialogue: 'I wanted to help her, but she said she fights better when she knows I'm safe. I understand, I think, I think the same about her.

“No Alphabets” is also ruinous Baldur's Gate 3's most prominent example of trans representation by changing in-game backstory details about tiefling trader Nocturne – who is a trans woman – so that she will be a cis man instead. The mod again changes her model and voice and also gives her a fake new diary entry detransition after being unhappy with the results of drinking “an elixir of sex shifting.” The voice change is particularly insidious considering Nocturne is played by Abigail Thorn, a trans woman known as Philosophy tube on Youtube.

Since its debut on October 14, “No Alphabets” has been updated several times based on suggestions from users of a niche RPG forum. In addition to apparently having issues with the game's LGBTQ+ content, several comments have also asked creator orinEsque to adapt characters with vitiligo. I don't know why an autoimmune disease that eliminates skin pigment is the new front in the resentment of bigoted gamers, but I think reasonable people should prepare to count on this being a problem of the day with the fans of 'No Alphabets'.

Nexus Mods previously gave the boot to mods for Starfield And Marvel's Spider-Man who removed pronouns and pride flags respectively.