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the-college-of-whispers · 1 year

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Interviews With the College of Whispers Staff

Arch-Mage Mazoak Bamhash

“I am a simple man. I became the Arch-Mage of the College of Whispers to protect the mages and other scholars who seek knowledge. Knowledge should not be censored based on the topic. If someone wants to learn about necromancy and the Daedra, why hide it behind more locks? It will simply get people into more trouble if they don’t have a safe place to learn and practice. My family back in Orsinium taught me how to summon my weapons from the planes of Oblivion, and I will use that ability to protect my new family here.”

Pronouns: he/him Race: Orsimer Notable Skills: Conjuration, Two-Handed

Master Wizard Leslan Khur’kern

“Me? I’m from Rihad, before it fell to the Aldmeri Dominion. I left my home and came to the College of Whispers to further my battlemage training on the magical side. I hope to help guide the College of Whispers in the future towards a deeper understanding of magic and its practical applications, whether that be in battle or in everyday life.”

Pronouns: he/him Race: Redguard Notable Skills: Destruction, One-Handed

Librarian Flips-Through-Pages “Page”

“An interview from the staff members? Of course! I am known as Flips-Through-Pages, though the students here call me Page. I was born in the Black Marsh, of course, but I consider Bravil to be my home. My parents took me there when I was young, and I spent much of my childhood dashing through the water channels with my friends. I would find all kinds of books that people just tossed out into the mud and I would bring them home to restore or transcribe. You should have seen the look on my mother’s face when I found a copy of The Lusty Argonian Maid! Ah, those were good days. And now I am here, tending to the books of this great library.”

Pronouns: they/them Race: Argonian Notable Skills: Speech

Cook S’muzi

“Ah, this one is to speak of himself? S’muzi can do that. Unlike most at this college, S’muzi does not have a grasp of magic. What S’muzi has is a magical understanding of food and cooking. Food history and cultural dishes are also of great interest to this Khajiit. If S’muzi really wanted, he could convince the Arch-Mage to let S’muzi hold a seminar on the history and development of food. What was that? Moon Sugar? No, S’muzi does not have any. Perhaps you should visit Elsweyr if you are looking for such a delicacy. Where in Elsweyr is S’muzi from? My friend, some things are to be kept secret, otherwise there would be no intrigue, no mystery. And that would be quite boring, yes?”

Pronouns: he/him Race: Khajiit Notable Skills: Alchemy

Quartermaster Ja’nara

“You have questions for Ja’nara? Khajiit is quite busy, many rooms to clean and many things to repair. Yes, Ja’nara skilled at fixing. This one could probably fix even a Dwemer machine if she were given enough time and tools. Not many things to repair back home in Cheydinhal. Ja’nara does not have skill in magic, but this one makes up for it with quick and quiet paws.”

Pronouns: she/her Race: Khajiit Notable Skills: Lockpicking, Sneak

Chief Alchemist Dathul Eldeth

“Pardon? You want to know what I’m doing here, so far from the Valus Mountains that I grew up in? Well, I teach Alchemy at this college. Sure, sometimes things explode, but that’s what happens when you deal with strange ingredients at time. That is why we practice lab safety! I work with Alteration Master Telonil Kaeire to make sure everyone has their armor spells active before we begin.”

Pronouns: he/him Race: Dunmer Notable Skills: Alchemy

Alteration Master Telonil Kaeire

“Oh, Dathul sent you to me? He’s quite sweet, thinking of me while working. What was that? What am I doing here as an Altmer when we’re usually in the Summerset Isle? Well, I was proudly born and raised in Whiterun, so no member of the Aldmeri Dominion cares much for me beyond my physical appearance. But here, I can teach Alteration more-or-less in peace and spend my free time pondering its connection to nature. Yes, yes, my fellow staff members and the other scholars of this college make fun of me for spending so much time thinking about nature, but the point of Alteration is that we follow the natural order of things, just in a very...different way. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go further my studies. Even masters are always learning, after all.”

Pronouns: he/him Race: Altmer Notable Skills: Alteration

Conjuration Master Herte God-Fang

“Oo, I just hate that smug necromancer- Oh! Sorry, I didn’t see you there. Yes, I’m Herte God-Fang, I teach Conjuration here at the College of Whispers. Well, actually, I teach the proper form of Conjuration, calling upon the power of Daedra in Oblivion and pulling it to our world for study and battle. Not like that no-good necromancer across the hall, Palel Jorian. Conjuration is meant to pull power from outside of life and death! As a proud Nord from Falkreath, I say that the dead are supposed to be left alone. Bad enough that there are walking draugr in every tomb back home.”

Pronouns: she/her Race: Nord Notable Skills: Conjuration

Necromancy Master Palel Jorian

“Did you hear Herte ranting the other day? My goodness, she should really step back and take a look at what she’s doing. How is pulling on the Daedra any different from pulling on the dead? Anyway, you came to ask about me, so I’ll tell you a thing or two. Necromancy is, like anything else, a tool for mages to utilize. And while I was originally from the Summerset Isle, I found a lot of interesting things in Skingrad and settled there for a good long while to hone my skills before joining this college as a teacher. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and figure out why there are dead rats in the walls when they should be undead.”

Pronouns: she/her Race: Altmer lich Notable Skills: Conjuration

Destruction Master Kelda Thurchim

“Can someone please tell me why I, the teacher of Destruction magic at this college, am the least likely person to burn the building down? This feels ironic somehow. Anyway, hello, I’m Kelda Thurchim. And no, despite how my name sounds, I am neither a woman nor am I somehow connected to the Chim phenomena. I get that question a lot, so let’s clear that up here. Other than that, I’m from Stros M’Kai, and no, I don’t miss the ocean or the beaches. Too many mudcrabs, if you ask me.”

Pronouns: they/them Race: Redguard Notable Skills: Destruction

Chief Enchanter Lamhuk gra-Draham

“I’m surprised people even need to ask about me. Enchanting services are how we make money and how we reach back out to the people of the Empire – and beyond. I’m statistically the first person most new mages to this college will meet just because I get out more. I’m always looking to teach more people about enchanting objects, because the more you do it, the better you’ll be! And while I may be an Orc, I’m no smith, so I often trade magic items from my personal collection for more unenchanted things to work with. I particularly enjoy going back to Chorrol to do these trades so I can catch up with my friends again.”

Pronouns: she/her Race: Orsimer Notable Skills: Enchanting

Illusion Master Erandar Dornstone

“Before you ask, yes, I’m a Bosmer from Valenwood. Yes, I left because of the Aldmeri Dominion. Yes, I do Illusion magic. No, it’s not magic that makes trees grow faster. No, I don’t know magic related to growing plants. And no, Illusion will not make your genitals physically bigger, they’ll just look that way until you actually use them. Yes, I do get those types of questions that often. Now if you excuse me, I have to follow Telonil around and call him a nerd for several minutes straight while neither of us have classes to teach.”

Pronouns: they/them Race: Bosmer Notable Skills: Illusion

Restoration Master Januro Vulipter

“You want to interview me for an entry about the staff here? Alright, let me think...oh, here’s something. For some reason, everyone assumes I’m going to be a woman or a priest – or both – before they get here and meet me. Just because I practice Restoration, that doesn’t mean I’m a woman nor a priest. It’s a school of magic worth studying regardless of gender. I’m from the Imperial City – I know, I know, so expected of an Imperial – and I learned magic from some of the beggars that my parents helped in their soup kitchens. I would do all the dishes and patch up any scrapes, so some of them started teaching me some spells or brought me Restoration magic tomes. I have no idea where they got them. But after a while, I decided to come here to study, and now I’m here as a teacher after thirty years. I travel back to the city regularly to help my parents with their soup kitchen and reconnect with the beggars that did so much for me. What? The Grey Fox? Don’t be silly, of course he never showed up at the kitchen. You think he’d be that easy to find?”

Pronouns: he/him Race: Imperial Notable Skills: Restoration

#jasper post #the elder scrolls #from the college of whispers library #arch mage mazoak bamhash #master wizard leslan khur'kern #librarian flips through pages #cook s'muzi #quartermaster ja'nara #chief alchemist dathul eldeth #alteration master telonil kaeire #conjuration master herte god fang #necromancy master palel jorian #destruction master kelda thurchim #chief enchanter lamhuk gra draham #illusion master erandar dornstone #restoration master januro vulipter

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whosyourvladi · 5 years

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Year of ESO (47/365)

Imperial City Sewers

#Year of ESO #47/365 #yes this ayleid thing is in the sewers i did not mistag the location #its by the aldmeri dominion base #elder scrolls #tes #eso #elder scrolls online #tamriel #teso #the elder scrolls #the elder scrolls online #imperial city sewers #imperial city #cyrodiil

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yffresbeard · 3 years

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Bestie what do you think is the most canon friendly take on how the green pact works (mushrooms okay or not, only in valenwood or applies outside, can opt in or opt out) / how would you rewrite things to form a more consistent set of rules

The most canon friendly interpretation is not my personal favorite interpretation so this is actually a pretty good question, and I'll answer how I'd rewrite the Green Pact separately to that.

NOTE THE FIRST: I will be basing the first portion of this answer on some NON-QUEST IMPACTFUL DIALOGUE EVELI SHARP-ARROW GIVES IN THE BLACKWOOD CHAPTER OF ESO. If you consider this a spoiler, don't read further. But, again, the dialogue I reference gives nothing of the plot away and will be entirely contextless.

NOTE THE SECOND: I'm exclusively talking about ESO because it's the only game that explores the Pact in any real detail, even if those details tend to contradict each other, much to my chagrin.

So the most solid based-only-canon interpretation I can come up is that mushrooms would probably be prohibited since they're a plant-like growable, the Pact applies only within the borders of the Green (i.e. Valenwood) and it is somehow optional.

During Blackwood, Eveli talks at one point about being excited to eat cake, as "you don't get to eat a lot of pastries under the Green Pact" - which implies that while at home she is bound by the Pact, but in Blackwood is able to indulge in Pact-unfriendly foods.

ESO does also show us unavoidable consequences for breaking the Pact, which can even apply to non-Bosmer supposedly not BOUND by the Green Pact so long as the punishment is decided by the community that IS bound by it. But it also shows us Bosmer breaking the Pact within the borders of Valenwood who face no retribution, divine or otherwise. So the only possible conclusion I can draw is that it must be somehow an "opt-in" thing since both conditions are shown to us AND we already know that the Meat Mandate (that states the bodies of fallen enemies must be eaten before they rot) is not practiced widely by the more "cosmopolitan" Bosmer.

One thing to note before I talk about how I would rewrite both the terms of the Pact and it's consequences is that we don't have a primary source on the Pact's terms. The clearest list we have comes from a book on how the Green Pact affects the Aldmeri Dominion, and vice versa;

Its rules are clear. Do not harm the forest. Do not eat anything made from plant life. Eat only meat. When you conquer your enemies, eat their flesh. Do not leave them to rot. Do not kill wastefully. Do not take on the shape of beasts. You are Wood Elves. Your form is sacred.

This is what we know of the Pact in the clearest terms, but it's still not a direct source (or at least not exactly what I'd consider one).

The first thing I would alter is "eat only meat" to be "eat only what you can derive from animals" which would broaden the scope to include things like dairy, eggs and honey explicitly rather than vaguely. Mushrooms would probably still be a source of debate depending on whether or not the people of Tamriel know that mushrooms aren't plants.

I'm not opposed to the meat mandate, but I would adjust the reasoning slightly - I think the Good Death of a Bosmer would be being returned to the Green, to nurture that which housed and fed you in life. Consuming the corpses of fallen conquered enemies denies them this, while also respecting and honoring their sacrifice.

And I think the last part, of being forbidden from changing their form, is perfect as is - it's literally the REASON the Pact was made with Y'ffre, to save the Bosmer from their formlessness.

Which leads me into the consequences of breaking the Pact and becoming an apostate. The Green Pact isn't just an aspect of Bosmer belief, it is a literal Pact that the Bosmer made with Y'ffre and therefore it should have actual divine consequences.

The way this is dealt with in game is inconsistent at best, but what we do know is that the ORIGINAL Oathbreakers were buried in the Tar Pits at Ouze, and their spirits subjected to the purgatorial state of Ooze until such time as they return to the Bosmer people to be whole again. We're shown a couple of instances in ESO of pactbreaking being litigated in a sense, with the infraction being investigated by an impartial third party (namely, the player) and ultimately culminating in the accused being kinda Thanos'd by nature spirits? It's unclear where they go but my assumption would be Ooze? Of course it's possible in this specific quest for the accused to not be a Bosmer, but regardless.

My solution would be to state explicitly in a book or maybe in dialogue with a Spinner or something that apostates one and all will have their spirits committed to Ooze regardless of whether or not a Treethane doles out a punishment to them. In the most severe cases of oathbreaking a Bosmer may be physically interred in Ouze like the original Apostates if a Treethane decides.

EDIT: I forgot to mention originally but I would make the dietary restrictions universal but obviously you cannot harm the Green if you’re not IN the Green so gathering plants and wood and such outside of Valenwood isn’t off-limits - Bosmer build and craft with imported timber as it stands already.

#lore #bosmer #eso #elder scrolls #elder scrolls online #tes online #the elder scrolls #asks #memequisition

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kagrena · 3 years

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ON NUMIDIUM'S BRASS ARCHITECT

The original architects of Numidium are, of course, lost to the ravages of time, but new evidence has shown remnants of their methods can still be divined through the Animunculi that they left behind.

Recent archaeological finds by the Third Aldmeri Dominion's Reliquia Division in Pelletine have revealed that the Dwemeri machines were more deeply involved in Numidium’s construction than previously thought. The Topal Sea Cache, in particular, offers strong evidence for Lord Kagrenac being personally aided by a highly-advanced Animunculus, referred to in his notes as “BTHMTZ”, or as properly referred in the Aldmeri tongue: Bethemetz (1).

BACKGROUND

The scant evidence thus far for Bethemetz’s existence largely stems from historical circumstance. During the tumultuous period of the First Council, where Chimeri and Nord armies warred with Dwemeri clans, much of the documentation referring to this project appears to have been purged from the record by the Order of Philosopher-Sorcerers that Lord Kagrenac commanded, no doubt to protect his more base and profane experiments from discovery.

While references to the exact origins of Bethemetz have been erased, we can approximate that it was constructed by either Kagrenac or his assistants at some point following the Nords’ first expulsion from the Isle of Vvardenfell. Although it may have served in other functions, Bethemetz’s core objective appeared to be to compute an array of advanced calculations for Numidium’s initial designs, as a “computer” of sorts, substantial evidence of which can be examined further in Appendix C at the High Inquisitor's leisure.

The exact whereabouts of this Animunculus following the Disappearance of the Dwemer were considered lost until pieces of its mechanical chassis found its way into the hands of Imperial Battlemage, Zurin Arctus, at an unspecified date at the end of the Second Era. It can be reasonably assumed that Arctus was attempting to reconstruct it to aid with his primitive re-engineering attempts of Numidium, though any claims of success in this matter should be treated with the appropriate scepticism (2).

While others have claimed possession of the Animulucus, those sources lack proper credence, and should be dismissed as irrelevant for our purposes (3).

RELEVANCE

Of particular interest to the Third Reliquia Division is Bethemetz’s array of theorems concerning Numidium's “Time-Break” capacity. Bethemetz appears to have been engineered as to solve multiple taxing logical conundrums simultaneously, with the vast majority of its mathematical capabilities devoted towards deriving “original” formulae for the manipulation of time, often producing five times as much credible material compared to some of Kagrenac’s fellow Philosopher-Sorcerers (4).

Although the current whereabouts of Bethemetz’s remaining components are still unknown, the Reliquia Division has noted a peculiarity in Bethemetz’s design that could allow for its easy location. Unlike the bulk of Dwemer Animunculi, who are animated through a combination of complex enchantments and Dwemer heretical sorcery, Bethemetz has, by design, a cavity at its centre where a soul gem would usually be placed. Our hypothesis is an alternative power source using unique reagents was formed instead, and should we be able to deduce the exact nature of this source, a summoning ritual to acquire it could be easily performed.

Acquisition of the Newly Registered Asset Bethemetz should therefore be assigned gold level priority to maximise the probability of success of Project: Sundered Tower.

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FOOTNOTES

(1) The Dwemer were undoubtedly technologically capable, however linguistically speaking, they were rather base, their tongue lacking both the nuance and artistry of the ancient Aldmeris they eschewed in favour of heresy. To convey the name of this Animunculus in the full elegance of Aldmeri speech, we believe Bethemetz is the superior transcription, and dispute other proposals such as ‘Bthamatz’ or ‘Bthemetz’.

(2) Numerous sources reference Arctus' possession of the Animuculus, making this claim difficult to refute, but success is another matter. We believe the allegations that a sole human battlemage was somehow capable to reconstructing such a highly-advanced Dwemer Animunculi to fully operational status are highly dubious. Proponents of this theory argue that Arctus, limited in both his magical capacity and comprehension of the deep complexities of the Dwemer, would have been unable to engineer Numidium without the assistance of a gifted Dwemer mind. It needs no elaboration that being an Animuculus, Bethemetz has no “mind” to speak of, but irregardless of the fact: we would counter-propose Arctus did not “re-engineer” Numidium so much as throw a wrench at it until it was appropriately broken for Septim’s purposes. It takes no genius to detonate an already loaded cask of explosive.

[In another hand, someone has scribbled along the margins: “Tell that to what's left of Rimmen.”]

(3) Most of these are rather insistent claims related to the Dunmeri “god” Sotha Sil and his ability to conjure things out of clockwork, despite his repeated lack of interest in this particular project, and are largely unimaginitive drivel. One popular Khajiiti legend that should amuse the High Inquisitor in his reading, though, describes in lurid and bloated prose how a heretical monk of “Azurah” encountered a “Bthemetz” during the elongated Time-Break known more colloquially as “the Middle Dawn”. Endless murky passages of poetry from describe how this monk “took her eyes away from the rising stars”, to instead “count the falling pieces of brass” in a reflecting-pool at midnight until “she wove a woman shaped like a tower”. This, of course, should be treated as unsubstantiated mythologising and romanticised superstition that it is. Any resemblence between this Animunculi and Numidium is highly circumstantial.

(4) However sophisticated this Animuculus may appear, there is not sufficient evidence to suggest it was capable of original thought. All calculations follow pre-designed patterns as arranged by its true engineer: Kagrenac.

#bthemetz #my writing #dwemereth

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icicleteeth · 4 years

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Aljsdfljds so Tamriel bread post got really popular, and I realized I never actually wrote a detailed breakdown of how/why each province’s bread was designed the way they were (Mostly because I hand wrote each description in the art so I had to keep them brief alsdfj), so I thought I’d write a more thorough post about it! More under the cut--though as with everything TES related I make, these are just my headcanons!

High Rock: Given High Rock’s prosperous kingdoms, most cities and the province in general flourishes with the comfort of being wealthy and powerful (Headcanoned this way since High Rock is one of the three main powers in the alliance war during ESO’s timeline, as well as being home to two large kingdoms, being Daggerfall and Wayrest, in TES2) This richness in the economy and resources allowed for the most experimentation and decadence with the province’s food, including its bread. A lot of these individual breads were based off french breads (baguette, buttery croissant, bread rolls, etc) Cinnamon swirl breads and sugary donuts (I call dough knots here/in my fic) exist, as High Rock’s geographic location in the Iliac Bay allows for a robust importing market where spices like cinnamon and sugar are brought in regularly from other provinces.

Hammerfell: Bread in Hammerfell isn’t nearly as decadent as High Rock, as food is treated with more utility and nutrition in mind, rather than flavor. Oats and seed breads are unassuming yet filling. Oats and rye are grown in the less arid eastern lands of the province, as very little is able grow in the western Alik’r deserts. That being said, livestock raised in the west are vital to providing milk, butter, and eggs, which are used in/eaten with the breads frequently. Smaller portions such as the bagels are compact and easy to pack for long journeys across the desert.

Wrothgar: Wrothgar’s climate (specifically the greener western parts of it) allow for them to grow their own grain (typically rye). Orcs’ tastes in bread also drastically differ the bretons in that they don’t go all out with making sickeningly sweet pastries (in fact, the only time they’ll sweeten their bread is with some snowberry jam). They do, however, love huge portion sizes, as many orcs live together in large tribes with just as large tribesmen and warriors, so they bake their breads in huge loaves.

Skyrim: Skyrim’s bread was the easiest to figure out design-wise as they’re directly based off the bread you find in-game, though some parts of it (namely the decision to have a Jazbay crostata here rather than the other fruits) were chosen to fit a general theme of sweetness. Sweetrolls are famous all across Tamriel for a good reason: nordic breads, given Skyrim’s significant honey industry, are generally very sweet (as honey is used generously, in more than just the mead markets) Jazbay is referenced to be very sweet, thus the Jazbay crostata. Braided bread is very buttery and large, like most foods from Skyrim. Like orcs, the nords love their generous portions!

Morrowind (this part’s really long, apologies in advance aljsdf): The bread of Morrowind was broken up into three categories based on very differing cultures within the province: Common (Found in the mainland and settled regions of Vvardenfell) Ashlander (found within Ashlander tribes) and Northern (found in northern villages and Solstheim, with nordic influence). The Common baguette is based on banh mi, which is just “bread” in Vietnam. Vietnam (yes I’m gonna kind of derail into history I’m sorry aljsf) used to be owned by the French, so a lot of our foods share some roots in french culture, which is why Vietnamese bread is similar to french baguettes (though are different, not just in look, but texture and taste, though it’s hard to explain in words) In TES3, the encroachment of Imperial/western conquest and control plays a big part in Vvardenfell’s politics and in (especially in it’s more southwestern region) architecture and culture. I found this mixing of the west with the east to mirror Vietnam’s history somewhat, thus Morrowind’s Common bread being directly based off banh mi.

Ashlander bread was designed in mind not only for nomadic people (thus they would be quite small and compact) but also with keeping in mind that Ashlanders would likely lack access to large ovens/utensils/space to bake anything substantial, so these were based on small pan-baked buns. The bowl they’re in is a hollowed-out green shalk shell!

Northern bread is directly inspired by nordic braided bread, though it’s baked much smaller than the nords’ usual preference for large portion sizes. The influence comes mostly from Solstheim, though it’s also found in north-western cities like Khuul.

Black Marsh: This one was a bit tough to figure out for a while, as one would expect you can’t grown much of anything in swamplands. I was however able to find a reference to the existence of marsh rice in one of the A Culinary Adventure volumes (they’re lorebooks from ESO I believe, in which an Imperial writes about authentic Argonian cuisine; it’s really wild and I highly recommend them!) Therefore these are loosely based on small slices of rice bread, wrapped in large banana leaves (yes this was also taken from Vietnamese cuisine. A girl likes to include bits of her own culture in her art sometimes, even if it’s really vague aljsdfjd)

Valenwood: Probably the most controversial choice that I should’ve explained better, as the existence of the Green Pact would have one assume bread is outlawed in the province due to the use of grains (plants) needed to make it. I still wanted to incorporate mostly meat into these breads, though the fact that bread is still used is based off a headcanon that the Green Pact only applies to plants grown within the forests, but doesn’t apply to grains grown in other provinces. One could infer that, especially at the time of the alliance war, travel and trade within the Aldmeri Dominion’s other provinces was very normal, thus bread could theoretically have made its way into bosmeri cuisine, first by bosmer living in other provinces, who brought the customs over to Valenwood.

Summerset: Altmeri bread prioritizes beauty, flavor, and presentation. Very unlike the nords, they aren’t inclined to large portion sizes (the smaller the better, as one should not indulge in gluttony) but what their bread lacks in proportion is exceeded in richness and taste--essentially the bread version of $200 tiny cuts of filet mignon with a bit of $300 truffle on the side (and maybe with a glass of $1000 wine for good measure) The food ought to look and taste as beautiful as Summerset’s city, right?

Elsweyr: Breads in Elsweyr are, like Morrowind, broken up into multiple sections due to Elsweyr’s drastically different northern and southern regions. Flatbreads like naan are found primarily in the north, and heartier breads that incorporate fruits are found in the south (as fruits are more easily able to grow in these tropical climates). Though it’s important to note that trade between the north and south is common, so these breads aren’t entirely restricted by region.

Moon sugar butter cookies are popular treats found all throughout Tamriel, though not entirely in the same innocent reasons that sweetrolls are popular. Since moon sugar is a narcotic that non-Khajiiti races react poorly to, potent moon sugar cookies are sometimes smuggled via the pretense of being less potent and non-harmful cookies (which use only a tiny bit of moon sugar along with regular sugar, which is the benevolent much loved treat anyone can enjoy). Think really, really strong weed brownies that some people have probably eaten by accident, which certainly would ruin the day of both the person who ate it and the smuggler it belonged to! Though of course, just like skooma, these more potent cookies are just as often willingly sought after.

Cyrodiil: Cyrodiilic bread is based on ancient breads (I tried to pinpoint it specifically from Rome, but “ancient” can mean a lot of different things to Google, haha.) The dry, basic, and unappealing nature of these breads aren’t actually meant as a dig at Cyrodiil (at least, not from my own personal standpoint). They were designed this way based on a line in The Red Kitchen Reader, which is a story about an Imperial speaking of his passion for food. The important bit is this excerpt:

As a child growing up in Cheydinhal, I did not care for food at all. I recognized the value of nutrition, for I was not a complete dullard, but I cannot say that mealtime brought me any pleasure at all. Partly, of course, this was the fault of my family's cook, who believed that spices were an invention of the Daedra, and that good Imperials should like their food boiled, textureless and flavorless. Though I think she was alone in assigning a religious significance to this, my sampling of traditional Cyrodilic cuisine suggests that the philosophy is regrettably common in my homeland.

Thus the design of Cyrodiilic bread is underwhelming and unappetizing.

#the elder scrolls #tes #morrowind #skyrim #food #bread #foodposting

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thetamrieliclibrary · 3 years

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Pocket Guide to the Empire, First Edition: Aldmeri Dominion

The Aldmeri Dominion is a relatively recent creation. [1] Formerly divided into he two realms of the Summerset Isles and Valenwood, the Aldmeri Dominion has its origins in CE830, when the heirs of the Camoran Dynasty began to fight over the Valenwood throne. When a faction of the Bosmer (Wood Elves) made overtures of peace to their longtime enemies in West Cyrodiil--territorial concessions in return for Colovian support for the faction's claimant--the Altmer (High Elves) of Summerset invaded the Valenwood Nations. Citing a stewardship clause in a treaty from a thousand years before, the High Elves quickly established a provisional government, the Thalmor, on behalf of their own claimant, Camoran Anaxemes, whose bloodline had struck the pact with the Aldmeri Council in the first place. As the Cyrodilic Empire was still in the shambles of the Interregnum, the Colovians were quickly driven back by the Aldmeri army. The other heirs of the throne were silenced, the Wood Elves thanked their cousins for bringing back stability, and the High Elves reminded Anaxemes the price of Summerset's aid: fifty years' fealty to the King of Alinor. The Aldmeri Dominion was born. [2]

The Thalmor strengthened its hold on the Valenwood Nations during the foundation of the Third Empire. Savage Bosmer tribes skirmished with the Estates along the River Strid, whipped to a frenzy by their High Elven masters. With the Empire now reunified under Tiber Septim, these attacks have subsided; but encampments wait on either side of the Valenwood border, awaiting a decisive battle. On the occasions when the Elves probe the Empire's defenses, the Legions have sent them back in tatters. Indeed, the Colovians have taken to calling their enemy the "Old Mary" Dominion, for the womanly offensives of its Elven soldiers. The situation at sea, however, is another story, and the Dominion terrorises the southern waters from the Cape of the Blue Divide to the Topal Bay. [3] Their sorcery has made allies of a few Reachmen, the Maormer of Pyandonea, and, as of this writing, perhaps even the Elsweyr Confederacy. Though no formal declaration of war has been made, Tamriel is divided between the Empire and the Elder Races, and Tiber Septim has made it known to the Thalmor that he is the True Emperor of Cyrodiil, and heir to all of its former holdings. The Elves of Tamriel have yet to answer.

Considering we have endured their offenses for two thousand years, we know surprisingly little about the Aldmeri. (Only Morrowind, under Skyrim domination during the First Empire, and open to travel and trade during most of the Common Era, is somewhat better known.). The Elves of High Rock and Cyrodiil were either wiped out long ago or displaced into obscurity. As for the Elves of the Dominion, our knowledge of their regions is limited to brief Imperial occupations, or to the translations we have of their literature (see "The Scarcity of Elven Writings").

Of particular scarcity is information about either the High Elves or the Summerset Isles. During the Second Empire [4] ambassadors were allowed only in the capital of Alinor, and thus any description of the Altmeri homeland is confined to that city alone, and elsewhere (see Places of Note--Alinor). Furthermore, we can offer only this brief but reliable account of the High Elven people. It comes from the journals of Eric of Guis [5]. Reman's emissary to the Altmer, who lived among them ca. 1E2820:

"High Elves consider themselves to be the only perfect race. Over hundreds of generations they have bred themselves into a racially pure line, and are now almost identical to one another in appearance. The theory that the High Elves do not reproduce as quickly or as often as humans is false. Rather, and to my horror, they kill nine out of ten babies born to them in their obsession for purity.

"The Altmer despise other Elves as unsophisticated churls and barely consider the non-Aldmeri races at all. They pay their Imperial tithes, I'm sure, not for fear of war with the humans but rather to keep an invasion from "infecting" their islands.

"Breeding outside the pure line is a terrible, unthinkable crime, and taken as prima facia evidence of the tainted blood of the individual in question--if they were, they wouldn't have the impulse to do it. Exile to the mainland is regarded as equivalent to a death sentence, since there is no purpose to living outside their ideal society.

:They have a high regard for order and gravitate naturally towards wearing uniforms and speaking in formal patterns. Their trees and their livestock have been bred to be as standard and ideal as they are. They have no real names of their own, only combinations of numbers that, when aloud, sound to human ears as such. They feel no real tenderness for one another and have no concept of compassion.

"They are decadent and self-obsessed, and prize form and their own brand of manners or style as their main value. Aware of their aristocratic position, they surround themselves with riches and treasures, the works of great artists and the finest of everything, but have no real appreciation for any of these things. Each of them is concerned solely with himself, and as a result they do no real socialising; they meet and hold courts only to demonstrate their importance and power to each other. Rarely do they speak to the human ambassadors of Cyrodiil; when they do, their speech is full of riddles, or spell-words that enchant one to a satisfied madness."

Valenwood was claimed as a wasteland province of the Second Empire, and its geography is partially described in several Imperial surveys. Valenwood is noteworthy in that it has no cities or townships built by the Wood Elves themselves. Their strict "Green Pact" prohibits the use of wood or other vegetable derivatives as building materials, and they are too improvident to learn the use of stone. The Wood Elves permitted a few roads to be built by the Second Empire, but neglect their maintenance, as the Bosmer do not need roads to move easily through the thickest forest; these roads would be now overgrown were it not for the High Elves of the Thalmor, who have repaired and widened them for rapid passage of their arms to and from the coast. Much of the region is impenetrable mangrove and coastal rain forest, with few grasslands or glade areas until further north near the Strident Coast. Many of the human trading posts established by the Second Empire have been abandoned or claimed by the beastfolk--Centaurs, Orcs, and Imga--that share the forests with the Bosmer tribes. Humans, in general, have learned not to intrude in the forests of Valenwood. While they once depended entirely on the annual Stridmeet caravans of the Colovian West, the Wood Elves now rely on the sea piracy of the Dominion for whatever they require from the outside world.

Concerning the Wood Elves as people, we must again turn to the prolific Eric of Guid. After a grateful dismissal from the Court of Alinor, he stayed with the Bosmer for a time at the capital city of Falinesti, during its summer migration. As the city strode along the coastal region of the Cape, Eric of Guis recorded much about Valenwood culture:

"No less abhorrent are the Bosmer than their kin at Summerset, but they are far more cooperative. The Wood Elves love the current human activity because it makes them feel important.

"They are exclusively and religiously carnivorous. They cannot, or will not, eat anything that is plant-based. They eat game, beastfolk, each other, or meats imported from other regions. This part of the Green Pact is known as the Meat Mandate, and, among its other rules, it requires that a fallen enemy must be eaten completely before three days pass. The family members of the warrior that slew the enemy may help him with his meal. Needless to say, the Wood Elves do not like to engage in large battles if they have not undergone a suitable starvation period.

"Though they are excellent archers, the Green Pact forces their bowyers and fletchers to use bone or similar material, or to buy bows from other cultures. The use of woodcrafts created by another race is not forbidden, nor is the sale of their own Valenwood timber as long as it is collected by a non-Bosmeri.

"The Wood Elves, of course, cannot some anything of a vegetable nature. Bone pipes are common, however, and are filled with caterpillars or tree grubs.

"For a brief time the Colovian armies used Wood Elf archers, as in the War of Rihad two years past. The Bosmer proved to be too undisciplined and prone to desertion for further use. They would sometimes walk into the shade of a single tree and vanish. Their forest-coupling skills are remarkable. The title of their most famous poem, the Meh Ayleidion, means "The One Thousand Benefits of Hiding."

"At the trading posts of the Empire, the Wood Elves become very happy. Some creations of carpentry delight them to no end. Most of it has never occurred to them. They bring their own trade items: hides, river pearls, finger-bone charms made from the still-magically-charged hands of their dead wizards. They often buy woodcrafts that they have no use for or whose use they never bother to find out. Some of the bravest Wold Elven warrior use wagon wheels as shields, or as (they think) impressive headgear.

"While sometimes amusing, the Bosmer have a bestial side. They can resort to animal shapes if they need to, or water. Their most dreaded transformation is the Wild Hunt, which killed King Borgas [6] for the "iniquities" of his Alessian faith. The Wild Hunt is a pack of shifting forest-demons and animal-gods, thousands strong, which sweeps through the countryside killing everything in its path. The Wood Elves do not like to talk about the Hunt, and I gather they do not feel proud of this power at all--Gomini, my Bosmer companion of late, tells me that the Hunt is used for justice, but that also, "every monster in the world that has even been comes from a previous Hunt. Those Bosmer that go Wild, they not not return.""

The traveller is advised to avoid the lands of the Aldmeri Dominion. Though the Thalmor have representatives at the Imperial City, and the Cyrodiilic Grand Vizier Zurin Arctus is meeting with the King of Alinor, contact with the Bosmer and Altmer are often disagreeable to the common Imperial citizen. Avoid their books and magic. Wear the permitted weaponry when near their borders. If you are manly and able, apply for service in the Legions.

The Scarcity of Elven Writings

Much of the blame for this can be laid on the Alessian Order, which was tireless in ferreting out and destroying Elven writings during its long dominance. Today, we are left with the beautiful heresies of the Anuad, surviving only by virtue of their popularity and proliferation, and perhaps a dozen more works of lesser renown. This, though, does not explain fully the scarcity of Elven letters. We might turn to Dylxexes, an early human scholar, for another answer. After studying the financial records of the Direnni Hegemony, a High Elven merchant family that exploited the human kingdoms of its day, he had this to say: "These [records] may help to explain why so much of Aldmeri literature is forbidden, scorned, or untranslated, for I have seen [their] like before. The Direnni were either exceedingly paranoid or their system of economy so inextricably linked with dangerous theosophist numeral-symbolism that much of what is recorded here requires... sorcerous precautions on the part of the reader. [Hidden magic] is everywhere incorporated in their writings... signs and preternatural runes and [correspondences]... in expenditure columns, even, or margins [that] can be fatal to the uninitiated. Crucial pages were covered with the spittle of the previous translator, who had babbled idiotically over the text for days before catching fire."

The Great Apes of Valenwood

The Great Apes, or Imga, are native beastfolk of Valenwood. they see the High Elves as their lords and masters, and as a portrait of an ideal, civilised society. Great Apes go to desperate measures to emulate the High Elves: they wear capes, practice with the dueling sword, and attempt to speak with perfect enunciation and courtly manners despite their gravelly, baritone voices. Each Imga bears some kind of title, be it Baron, Duke, Earl, or the like, which they use when addressing the members of the Thalmor (needless to say, there are no landowning Great Apes). More extreme Great Apes shave their bodies and powder their skin white to seem more like the High Elves. They often cut themselves in the process, creating the truly pathetic picture of a naked white Ape, skin dotted pink with blood, strutting around the trading posts of Valenwood with mock nobility. The Imga feel that humans are beneath them as lesser beastfolk, and pretend to find their smell exceedingly offensive--a Great Ape holds a perfumed corner of his cape to his nose when Men are around.

Places of Note

Alinor

A forbidden city for nearly fifty years, Alinor is both capital of the Summerset Isles and the heart of the Aldmeri Dominion. Human traders were only allowed at its ports, and they described the city as "made from glass or insect wings." Less fantastic accounts come from the Imperial emissaries of the Reman Dynasty, which describe the city as straight and glimmering, "a hypnotic swirl of ramparts and impossibly high towers, designed to catch the light of the sun and break it to its component colours, which lies draped across its stones until you are thankful for nightfall."

Falinesti

The walking city of the Bosmer king, Falinesti is south in the summer and north come Hearth Fire. It is the largest of Valenwood graht-oaks, whose magic was invoked at the dawn of recorded history. The Camoran throne is somewhere in the highest branches, as are numerous other dwellings. Wood Elves climb about its surface like termites, or carefully swing from level to level by means of thorny vines. Humans have generally been too unsettled by the city to stay there long, though Great Apes and Orcs are common. The Thalmor has decided to change the campital of Valenwood from Falinesti to Elden Root for the duration of the Aldmeri Dominion.

Annotations

1. Of this pamphlet, this regime, this lunacy 2. I don't know where to begin pointing out the lies 3. !!! 4. My bones chill thinking of such rampant human trespass 5. Does Grandfather remember this fool? 6. Wood Elves of the Wild Hunt, 1e369, still about in Valenwood--Willy the Bitten returned to haunt Silvenar Grove, While King Dead Wolf-Deer stalks the Lynpar March.

~ Follow for more books, journals, and notes from the Elder Scrolls series ~ Updates daily ~

#tes #the elder scrolls #tes books #the elder scrolls books #summerset isles #valenwood #altmer #bosmer #admeri dominion #alinor #falinesti

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zahra-hydris · 3 years

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so eso is my new hyperfixation and i love your ocs! i was wondering what your favourite alliance questline is? i can't pick what race to make my vestige.

Aww Nonny thank you! 💕 I'm so pleased to see more people sucked into ESO (even if I'm currently a little burned out on it)!

So this is all my personal opinion but I'll try to ground it in my experience with the actual questlines. This gets long so:

So I've never actually completed the Ebonheart Pact storyline. I've gotten about halfway both times but then just... lost interest. So I might start there. I love Dunmer and Argonians, and I love some of the characters that recur through the EP storyline (Naryu especially, who does reappear in a later DLC so there's a benefit in getting to know her before that). But EP (from what I've done) suffers from a lack of coherence, both in terms of lacking an overarching storyline and in never really engaging with what makes the EP interesting: the races that constitute it. Each zone has its own fairly self-contained plotline which don't really connect, and some are alright (I enjoyed Deshaan's, for instance) but others resort to using the other Alliances to push things along rather than engaging any of the fun tensions within an alliance that sees former slaves working alongside their former slavers. Again, I haven't finished the full alliance questline, so take my criticisms with a grain of salt.

Another admission: I started with the Daggerfall Covenant and have a certain amount of bias towards it. It has one of the best zone questlines in the game (Rivenspire!), and two of the recurring characters (Darien and Gabrielle) become especially prominent in the last zone of the base game (which every alliance questlines ends at, so a DC Vestige has an additional element to that quest which I found really satisfying - as in gloriously painful), with Darien also important in a later DLC. However, like with the EP, it lacks a coherent central storyline. It's very much 'go to this new area I hear they're having issues' and nothing really links together beyond a couple of beat points. It's also very Breton-centric, with no Orc areas during the alliance questline (though there is a good moment where the violent history between Orsimer and Bretons is touched on, but this is also kind of hand-waved aside) and only one and a half Redguard zones.

That leaves us with the Aldmeri Dominion. Which is pretty much widely recognised as having the best alliance questline in the game. It's far more cohesive than the other two, basically being a larger story about Queen Ayrenn trying to consolidate and strengthen this Alliance, both within the Summerset Isles and without with her new allies. The first two main zones are basically the same story (which is a story about internal rebellion but ends up being a glorious family drama), and the following areas are all linked nicely together by this fundamental problem (keeping the alliance together) with the zone stories linking relatively naturally. The only thing AD lacks is the end zone connection, but it also has Razum-dar so...

I do want to stress that you will undoubtedly enjoy all the alliance questlines and picking a Vestige that feels right to you is perhaps more important! Each of the alliance storylines are better when you feel connected to your character and they're connected to the story. You will also be able to do all the stories, whether on alts or through Cadwell's Silver and Gold.

I hope that helps! And if you're on the NA server, feel free to give me a shout if you need help!

#asks #anonymous #jessica plays eso

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libertineangel · 4 years

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Introducing my all-in-one OC: Delam Farano

Delam Farano is a Dunmer spy, too often pressed into saving an Empire he hates.

Born in 3E 375, his parents were formerly mid-ranking members of House Hlaalu, part of a minority group within the House that opposed further Imperial encroachment on Morrowind’s traditional institutions, content to have them as business partners but not leaders. Due to this, they were vehemently opposed to the appointment of Vedam Dren, known Imperial ally, as Grandmaster, and as a result they were “strongly advised” to leave Morrowind by the Cammona Tong. As a result of this, Delam was born and raised in the town of Riften in Skyrim, being taught of his heritage, his birthright and all the traditional skills necessary for a young Hlaalu initiate.

He took to this education well, with a quick mind, a steady hand, a talent for moving quietly and a cool head under pressure, and he began working as a spy-for-hire (and occasional thief or assassin, for the right price) in the courts of Skyrim’s Jarls, making steady coin and connections off their conflicts, all with the intention of building a power base strong enough to reinstate his family’s rightful place in Morrowind. Unfortunately, his skill earned the attention of the Empire’s Blades as a potential agent, and what the Empire wants it tends to get: one night he returned to his chambers to find a note telling him that he had impressed the Empire and his services would now be put to their use, that he should take a carriage waiting for him outside the town gates in the morning and that he should then expect a letter from his parents, who had been relocated to an Imperial settlement.

Clearly seeing the veiled threat in those words, he took the carriage, felt a hood go over his head and upon its removal found himself in High Rock, where he was informed he would be stationed until further notice, reporting to another local agent and receiving short letters from his family every few months, to which he of course could not reply. He began carrying out the Empire’s orders, working diligently as always, until one day he was given the assignment to exorcise the spirit of the late King Lysandus, a task which quickly escalated far beyond what anyone had expected.

After the Warp in the West the Empire lost track of him, and he took that opportunity to use what information he had gleaned from other Blades agents to try and find where the Empire kept its hostage families, but was captured and thrown in the depths of the Imperial Prison, too valuable to execute but too dangerous to be sent into the field for extended periods except at utmost need.

Utmost need arrived a decade later when he was sent to his true home of Morrowind, where it suited the Empire’s needs to have the Nerevarine Prophecy fulfilled and he was the only agent the Blades thought stood a strong chance of succeeding. Delam did his job admirably, while leaving a cell only a handful of times a year for a decade had dulled his skills somewhat he was still highly competent and pursued this assignment with particular fervour, as he thought he might be able to use his position against the Empire that sent him into it. Unfortunately the Empire had of course anticipated this and he was recalled back to Cyrodiil as soon as all their work was done in the province, and for another six years he languished in a cell, before one fateful day when the Emperor himself would pass through.

He very nearly kept the Amulet of Kings and let the Mythic Dawn wreak their destruction, travelling to Weynon Priory only with the intention of asking Grandmaster Jauffre himself where his parents were, but events moved to quickly and he thought that, while he would be glad to see the Empire burn, the letting the whole of Tamriel die was foolish and served no benefit. Hating the fame brought on him by his deeds as Hero of Kvatch, he travelled through the Door in Niben Bay and found himself yet another land’s champion, though this time feeling a little more at home in the court intrigue of the House of Dementia. Of course, he could not leave Tamriel for long, for as always his primary goal was the freeing and restoration of his parents, though after the Oblivion Crisis all of his leads and information had become obsolete and he had very little to go on. He did the best he could, but he abruptly left when Baar Dau fell to aid his people however he could. He then returned to the Shivering Isles, as stories claimed the great rock was Sheogorath's doing and he intended to confront the Madgod, who naturally denied all involvement. With the Imperial infrastructure in tatters and House Hlaalu disgraced he found himself struggling for direction, as he had no means of finding his lost family and no position to restore them to once he did, and the Shivering Isles fed on this depression as he stayed there longer, becoming more integrated in their courts and society, and as the Greymarch began in earnest he ended up mantling the Madgod himself. Part of him maintained the hope that he could use this position and the resources it commanded to finally find his parents, but much of his time and energy was spent restoring and managing his new land. Eventually he returned to Tamriel, but his perception of time as it passed in the mortal realm had become distorted with his apotheosis and his extended stay in the split land, and the years had turned to decades, and he realised that if he did not find his family soon he would likely be too late, if indeed they still survived. Upon learning of the current political situation, and not trusting the feeble Empire's knowledge of even its own past operations, he presented himself to the Thalmor as a defector and gladly worked his traditional clandestine job against the regime he'd hated for centuries, all the while hoping to find some intelligence on what the old Blades did with their captives. Unfortunately the Aldmeri Dominion realised what Delam was looking for and decided they could use exactly the same leverage as the Empire, except they themselves had not found the old prisoners and Delam knew their attempts at blackmail were fraud. He disappeared back to the Isles, knowing there was nothing left for him in Tamriel, and there he remained, this time keeping a regular eye on the mortal plane to ensure he did not lose years like before. When the Stormcloak movement began and he saw his people being persecuted he decided to intervene, hoping to work his way into Skyrim's political scene just has he did over two hundred years ago...except he was captured, trying to cross the border.

#Delam farano #oc #My oc #tes #the elder scrolls #Daggerfall #Morrowind #oblivion #Skyrim #house Hlaalu #HoK #LDB #Nerevarine

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profanetools · 4 years

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Moragesh

Moragesh is, like Rosariah, from a fairly traditional background (in fact I doubt they would ever cross paths had the war not intervened), from a rather small clan based probably somewhere in the north west, which was down on its luck when she was born.

She was the chief's eldest daughter, a highly capable and accomplished girl who grew up understanding the weight of responsibility on her shoulders. She was trained by the forge-wife (who could not have children but still raised Moragesh like her own) to be a remarkable smith in her own right, and the understanding was - if the current chief lasted long enough - that she was to be sent off to be married to a young, strong chieftan of a great clan, to be his first forge-wife and bear his children, in return for prosperity and wealth.

Of course, none of that came to pass. The chieftan died in a surprise attack that killed him and half his best men. Many squabbled about who would be the next chief but in the mean time Moragesh ended up taking on much of the responsibility and ended up leading the clan for years as men continued to squabble to no avail, with no clear succesor in sight. It would turn out that this surprise attack was led by a group of covert operatives of the aldmeri dominion, seeking a secure path through the mountains where they resided, and that not even a year later the great war would begin in earnest. I think Moragesh ended up taking the reigns in military matters too - working with shield wives and the wise woman herself - to regain territory and secure the paths around the stronghold for their use, however in the end the disunity of the clan proved to be their weakness, several refused to accept Moragesh as a military leader ae she had not proven herself in battle against her opppnents to the role of chief, and with forces scattered and uncooperative the thalmor were eventually able to oust the clan out of their home, not without a great deal of violence, although it was not without resistance either. With the clan, in essence, destroyed, and he few survivors essentially clanless, Moragesh and a handful of warriors still loyal decided to join the legion - for not only a decent living, but hope of getting back at the aldmeri dominion.

Moragesh served in the legion for the entirety of the great war, where she met Rosariah and the two became close. After the treaty was signed and Hammerfell was betrayed, Moragesh joined Rosariah on her return to Hammerfell, to continue the fight against the Thalmor.

Since the second treaty of Stros M'Kai brought the war to a stalemate, Moragesh along with Rosariah are deeply involved in covert operations against the Thalmor, organising local militias in contested territory and trying to undermine their control. In 4E 201, Rosariah was involved in a mission that brought a lot of heat on her, and the decision was made to move to another province under a different identity. Moragesh agreed, thinking it a good opportunity to also track down her parents and what remains of the clan she was originally from, as rumour had it they had been pushed east to the Skyrim border.

As a character, Moragesh is level-headed and calm, but not without a playful streak - she likes to tease Rosariah, who is more stern, and has a good sense of humour to her. She's faced a lot of loss and a lot of grief but she tries to take it in her stride - she is quietly very faithful to Malacath, though it's not something she talks much about, but that has helped her process it. She is practical and pragmatic first and foremost, even when her life has taken her down the life of a soldier or an adventurer.

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askmerriauthor · 5 years

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If I recall correctly, your pretty anti-stormcloak aren't you? Would Marenia Ceionia Commodus be pretty anti-Stormcloak as well? She is imperial after all... through she has a lot of respect for the common folk, and Ulfric has a lot of support from the common people. So she could have a mixed view in the end.

Both I and Marenia remain firmly anti-Stormcloack, as Ulfric is a bastard man who is preying on the pride of his kinsmen to drive them into three progressively unwinnable wars. He rails against various negative aspects the Empire has, all while having those same negatives himself that he directs at non-Nords in Skyrim.

Marenia sees Ulfric as a hypocritical warmonger who wields the traditions of his people as a weapon against them, relying on their sense of pride and honor to drive them into conflicts for his own purposes. She 100% considers him to be a violent war criminal worthy of immediate execution and, even before being given the title of Thane of Solitude, heavily sympathized with the widowed Jarl Elisif for the murder of her husband at Ulfric’s hands. Given that Marenia’s Atronach birthsign renders her immune to magic and thus nearly invulnerable to the Thu’um, she’d actually be willing to contend with Ulfric herself were it not that he’s younger and more battle-ready than she is, therefore more likely to defeat her in a mundane fight. That, and an Imperial Legate who’s also the Thane of Solitude killing Ulfric would, without question, set Skyrim ablaze with an immediate civil uprising worse than Ulfric had already started.

For context, buckle in for a history lesson, because I started typing and forgot to stop.

The whole drive behind Ulfric and the Stormcloak uprising is - allegedly - due to a sense of betrayal by the Empire. The Third Aldmeri Dominion was waging war against the Empire and was winning - had it gone on further, the Dominion would have eventually overthrown the Empire and moved on to take everything else as well. To halt this, the Empire signed a peace treaty called the “White-Gold Concordat” that ended the war, though it was very much on the Aldmeri Dominion’s terms. Among the various terms of the treaty was a religious ban that forbade the worship of Talos; formerly a human named Tiber Septim who ascended to godhood and was worshiped heavily by the people of Skyrim. Given that the Aldmeri Dominion are Elf-supremacists, squashing worship a hero-god born of man rather than of the original Divines was clearly a priority on their part.

A large portion of Skyrim’s population - Ulfric in particular - took offense to this. They felt betrayed by the Empire since they’d all fought alongside against the Dominion and saw the peace treaty as a sign of surrender. Rather than, y’know, a last-ditch effort to ensure they weren’t all killed and enslaved by the Dominion. This was made all the more difficult as Ulfric then took part in “The Markarth Incident”, where he used his forces to drive out a native occupation of Forsworn Reachmen from the city through violence, then leveraged occupation of the city against the Empire while holding the entire population of said city hostage. In return for his cooperation, the disposed leader of Markarth promised Ulfric he and his forces could practice Talos worship within Markarth despite the peace treaty forbidding it. He killed A LOT of civilians and prisoners during all this mess while the Empire scrambled to try and restore order.

To all this, the Empire pretty much said “Okay, Ulfric, seriously! You’re slaughtering civilians and occupying an entire city. We’ll let you worship as you please here, but keep it on the down-low, because if the Dominion finds out you’re going to trigger another war and ALL OF US, including you, are going to die.”

Needless to say, this didn’t work. The Dominion eventually found out about the situation and the Empire quickly scapegoated Ulfric, saying they had nothing to do with the Talos worship going on there, so as to avoid aforementioned full war that would destroy everything and everyone. This primarily inspired Ulfric to rise up as a rebel leader, demand Skyrim secede from the Empire as its own independent nation, and take arms against those parts of Skyrim that remained loyal to the Empire to drive them completely out of the region.

We’re just going to pause here for a second and focus on “The Markarth Incident”, because it’s pretty telling about Ulfric’s motives. Throughout his time as the leader of the Stormcloaks, he goes on about things like wanting independence for the rightful people of Skyrim, and how they should drive out the invasive Empire that’s infected their home. He rails on about the injustices of the Empire ad nauseum and holds their being forced to cooperate in religious oppression as a primary cause for his hatred of them.

Remember those Forsworn Reachmen? The ones who took over Markarth and who Ulfric violently slaughtered to assume control of the city? Yeah, those guys are the original natives of that region, while Nords (the “true sons of Skyrim”, to hear Ulfric tell it) are immigrants who settled there in ages past. The Reachmen were involved in a civil war with the Empire-controlled Skyrim because their land, people, and religion were being crushed underfoot by the Nordic expansion. They overthrew The Reach region and assumed control of Markarth to hold it as an independent nation for two years of relative peace, while making strides to be recognized as their own kingdom by the Empire.

So what we’ve got here is a group of religiously, culturally, and socially oppressed native people being crushed underfoot by a greater empire rising up to reclaim their land and secede as an independent nation. They are summarily obliterated by Ulfric and his forces, all while Ulfric claims that he is part of a religiously, culturally, and socially oppressed native people being crushed underfoot by a greater empire rising up to reclaim their land and secede as an independent nation.

And, no, he does not appear to be even remotely aware of the hypocrisy.

He does all this, mind you, while literally holding the people and city of Markarth hostage and figuratively holding THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE EMPIRE hostage. Because in his demands of being allowed to openly worship Talos, he is openly and knowingly defying the peace treaty between the Empire and Dominion. He knows for a fact that the Dominion would take that as an act of war and begin another campaign, which he wants because he’s a hardcore nationalist warmonger. Consequences be damned.

Back to the main thrust of the history lesson.

After the signing of the White-Gold Concordat peace treaty, Ulfric went to the current High King of Skyrim - King Torygg of Solitude - to challenge him in an honor duel. While Ulfric claims this was a gesture to show how weak Skyrim had become under Imperial leadership, he’d been vying for position of High King himself and had been passed over as a potential among the elected Jarls of Skyrim because he constantly railed about wanting to renew the war with the Dominion and his beef with the Empire. Hardly a suitable attitude for a king in the wake of a peace treaty having just ended the war. As they’re both Nords, Torygg had no choice but to accept the challenge to a duel; their culture demands that such challenges be honored. Mind you, at this point, Ulfric is capable of using the Thu’um - Dragon shouts of immense supernatural power - and Torygg is 100% aware that he cannot win this fight. To which Ulfric promptly uses said Thu’um to murder Torygg, disrupt the unified leadership of Skyrim, and incite a civil war within the region against the Empire.

Now there is debate over whether the slaying of Torygg was murder or if it was an honorable duel to the death. The problem here is that everyone who says it was totally fair and level is Ulfric and people who favor Ulfric, while literally everyone else in Skyrim - including Torygg’s own ghost after death - say otherwise. There’s also the fact that Ulfric used the Thu’um to take victory; even in Ulfric’s own telling of events, he claims to have used the Thu’um in the fight. So, no matter which side we’re looking at, the fact remains that Ulfric picked a pointless fight that he knew was going to be an absolute unfair curbstomp in his favor. Hardly the “honorable” choice by anyone’s count, let alone the Nord’s. He also previously used the Thu’um against the Reachmen in “The Markarth Incident” so we know he also has no problem turning that power on anyone else outside of the conditions of an honor duel.

Also, just something to keep in mind - even in the context of an honor duel, Ulfric didn’t have to kill Torygg. The traditions of the Nords historically shows that defeating an opponent is all that’s necessary, which follows with surrender, banishment, or death based on the terms chosen at the time of the challenge. Ulfric didn’t need to kill Torygg - he chose to. This is very telling of Ulfric’s personality that, in a situation where he held overwhelming power and stood in a position to knowingly cause untold damage to countless lives, he specifically and intentionally chose the most destructive route.

In his own practice as leader of his people, Ulfric actively promotes racism and the abuse of non-Nord people to various degrees, regardless of their citizenship as people of Skyrim. He forces Dunmer populations into slums and flat-out forbids Argonians from even entering his city, despite his own father having allowed it. Despite his claims of wanting Skyrim freed for the benefit of its people, he openly ignores Khajit caravans and non-Nord populated towns in need of help or protection within Skyrim. The only time he shows any tolerance or fondness for non-Nord people are when they’re subservient to him and act entirely within the conditions he sets as being “acceptable” or “honorable”. Which, as we’ve seen so far by his past actions, are entirely subjective concepts that he happily bends to suit his desires. One can’t even claim something as off as “well, he may be a violent racist, but at least he loves his fellow Nords. Doesn’t that count for something?” because we’ve also seen in his treatment of Torygg and citizens of Markarth that he 100% has no problem at all turning on his fellow Nords. All he has to do is label them as “traitors” to whatever he decides is “the Nord way” at the moment and he’s suddenly perfectly fine with slaughtering them.

#skyrim #elder scrolls #skyrim au #ulfric stormcloak #ulfric did everything wrong

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twitchesandstitches · 5 years

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Can you tell us about the Thalmor and general Elven supremacists in the CT-verse?

the Thalmor, much like their canon counterparts, are the militant wing of an elven government (possibly CT’s equlivalnt to the Admeri Dominion/Summerset Isle, though spread throughout elven populations and with sympatheizers where elves are oppressed, such as in the CT-versions of Orlais and Tevinter from Dragon Age) that started out as a religious movement.

unlike in canon, where the elven view of things is most likely objectively correct, the Aldmeri idea that all mortals were once immaterial spirits living freely is specifically a religious idea. It’s not factually true (though it is possible); elven religion simply has it as a common notion, though it is less popular an idea among elves who follow the Arda pantheon (that is, the religious practices from Lord of The Rings), whom have more materialist ideas. But the point is that the Thalmor started as a religious movement, with racial overtones.

This expanded over time, and now their overall goal is to unmake the Prime Material Planes for much the same reasons as in canon; they believe that physical existence is, itself, a crime to elves and only by destroying it will they be freed. The deaths of all non-elves are a bonus, as far as its most militant members are concerned.

On a more practical level, most of the Thalmor are not so spiritually minded, and believe that elves are the logical rulers of all existence. It’s born out of the same mentality as the Imperial Commonwealth, though based more in elven superiority rather than baseline human notions. They are akin to humans but better (so they say), they are faster, more agile, just as strong despite their lighter frames, and magic flows far more strongly in them than it ordinarily would with humans. Not only does this mean that elves are typically much larger than humans (12 feet is not unusual for them), but they can be STRONGER than other human variants. The Thalmor, in turn, believe that they are the natural superiors of all beings, and intend to conquer all life, through duplicity or through armed conflict.

The Thalmor are, as a group, generally derived from High Elf/aldmeri stock, you can think of them as the high/golden elf analogue to the drow, as they have very similar ideals and intentions, as well as being absolute bastards, though they have no particular issue with technology.

They do have a particular hatred for the Elemental Planes, the powers that flow from it, and its denizens. Frost giants, elemental dragons, and other such entities are hated by them, due to the Elemental Planes being considered to be the realms of substance; the material realm derives its nature from those planes, so it exists because of them. Therefore the Thalmor pointed at the giants and elementals and yell ‘THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT’.

Elven supremacist groups are, tragically, not unheard of. This is something of a play on the fiction tendency to write elves as acting as though they are better than everyone else. It provides the dark eldar all the reason they require to pillage and ravage worlds, and other elf groups of this nature intend to establish absolute dominion over all reality.

Note, however, that these attitudes are NOT universal among the eldar folk! It’s strongly disliked among the majority of elves, much like how the average human detests the Imperial Commonwealth; the various elf factions adapted from Warcraft detest the elven supremacists, regardless of origin, and the Exodite Eldar analogues really don’t like them. Of particular note, the Imladris elves (the oldest and most respected elven land, largely inhabited by High/Wood Elves and is essentially Rivendell In Space) take the existence of the thalmor and those like them as a personal affront, and work tirelessly to right their wrongs and defend others from their evils. Lady Arwen, the queen of the elves, is particularly vociferous about it, and has struck alliances with many others to confront them directly.

There are, however, sympathetic elven groups who have been harshly oppressed by corrupt humans and other beings; these are inspired by the elves of Dragon Age, and are led by a trickster god incarnated into an elven form. They have no association with the thalmor, but have similar endgame goals; they have been so constantly persecuted, oppressed and tormented at every turn that they have little love for anyone who is not an elf, as in their experience trusting a round ear (or no-ear) means you are already dead. They view themselves lashing out to destroy the multiverse as an act of cosmic self-defense, and feel that they have no alternative. Their particular goal is to forcibly tear down the dimensional barriers between the physical realms and the magical, which would vastly empower the elves but kill most other living things, owing to the rituals involved.

As a whole, the Thalmor and similar groups are more of a problem for the Cobalts, who not only share territory boundaries with the Thalmor’s interests, but have many elves in their ranks and thus the Thalmor tend to target them.

#queued #replies #crossthicc AU #twitchy ideas #serpentking456

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elddansurin · 5 years

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i filled out that entire got damn OC meme not once but four times for my main TES OCs because you know what? i have that power.

featuring: Gavriil, my dragonborn, Serras, the dragonborn’s weird boyfriend/travel companion, Lleris, my Nerevarine, and Gerrick, a non-vestige 2E OC who lives out the aldmeri dominion questline. this thing is long as shit behind the cut, but idc if anyone reads it, i did it for me.

1. It’s a little unreasonable for everyone in a Middle Ages-esque fantasy to be perfectly literate, and writing with quills was considered legitimate labor! How well can your oc read and/or write? How detailed is their quest log/journal, if they keep one at all? -Gav: He's extensively literate and very well read. He keeps a pretty detailed journal going, though it's kind of a hybrid of field notes/emotions log. He does a lot of alchemical research when traveling, so he might have a few pages of notes on reagents, field sketches, etc, then another five pages of intrusive thoughts. His biggest fear is they'll be published after his death and everyone's just gonna be like "huh." -Serras: Just barely literate. He's got very childlike printing abilities, can barely spell, and struggles reading any big words. He's extremely self conscious about this. He doesn't keep any journals, but he writes letters about his adventures to his father every now and again. -Lleris: Again, quite well read. He does a lot more reading than writing, and his journaling is kind of the equivalent of writing notes on his arm. -Gerrick: I'd say he maybe has around an 8th grade reading level. He's got the core stuff down no problem, but as soon as technical jargon or anything too esoteric kicks off, his eyes glaze over.

2. How educated is your oc? Did their parents teach them, did they have a tutor or were they apprenticed to a master, or did they attend a university? What university? What are they educated in? How long did their education take? (Learned skills like blacksmithing count here too!) -Gav: Overly so. He has the education/research equivalent of phD, I'd reckon. All the best schooilng daddy's money could buy. -Serras: He was "home schooled" by a man with no resources undergoing a 30+ year nervous breakdown. So like, it's shitty that Serras is as uneducated as he is, but kind of understandable, given the situation. -Lleris: Also more or less home schooled, but at the opposite end of the spectrum. His aunt (the person who raised him), was a fucking genius. Balls-out eccentric, but a genius. -Gerrick: He was raised and educated by kind of an ensemble cast of characters, so his education is fairly well rounded and extremely based in practical over theoretical. He later joins the mages guild, but he uses that less as an opportunity to pursue higher education, but moreso a way to figure out how to sling a better lightning bolt

3. Does your oc have any kind of crafting skills that either aren’t in-game or don’t have as much importance in-game as they would in real life? (For example, can your oc sew or weave, etc? Are they skilled in any kind of art? Can they make jewelry or work glass? Are they musicians? etc) -Gav has a practical knowledge of most crafts necessary for a sad bachelor life. He can cook well enough to keep himself fed, he can patch up most of the wear in his gear, but nothing that would really impress anyone. I'd imagine, in another lifetime, he played the lute. Not sure he'd remember how at this point, though. -Serras is extremely crafty. He'd an extremely resourceful cook, he can repair just about anything, and he's a natural outdoorsman. Dude's had a lifetime of learning how to do a lot with very, very little. Art is kind of a hobby for him that he doesnt get to indulge in quite as much as he'd like. -Lleris can barely function on his own. He cannot cook a damn thing, when his clothes tear he throws them out, and he almost dies of exposure on more than one occasion. It's a sad sight to behold. -Gerrick is fond of roughin it. His life skills are exactly as honed as they need to be. Not much, but enough to keep him alive and scrappy.

4. What pantheon does your oc worship? If they worship the Cyrodiilic/Imperial pantheon, does that include Talos? If they secretly worship Talos, how do they justify hiding it? -Gav: Pretty straightforward believer in the Altmeri pantheon. He's especially devout to Mara, though he's got a long way to go toward internalizing the whole "love yourself" thing -Serras: He's never really figured out what to believe in. Way back in the day, his family was heavily involved in House Indoril, and when the Tribunal kind of fizzled out, they were all pretty lost and not exactly stoked to go back to worshipping the "good" daedra. That more or less carried down to Serras, although he's not even aware of his ties to House Indoril or any of that Tribunal stuff. He has a learned fear of any sort of daedra, courtesy his father. -Lleris: He's pretty tight with Azura, natch. -Gerrick: Dude straight up does not care, but will absolutely pay lip service to Auri-El if it makes him look good.

5. How religious is your oc? Do they come into conflict with others over their beliefs? If their patron deity told them to do something extremely undesirable or against their moral compass, would they do it? Would your oc sell someone’s soul for a corn chip? -Gav is devout enough to have taken a shake at becoming a priest. Didn't pan out, because he couldn't deal with the pressure of being any kind of authority figure, and he's been kind of having a crisis of faith in the midst of his most recent extended nervous breakdown. As soon as he starts clearing his head again, he pretty much goes back to being pretty dang devout. -Serras is struggling to figure out his moral compass on his own. He wouldn't mind being religious, but growing up in a non-religious setting can make it hard to just start believing in something. -Lleris becomes way more into Azura worship as the whole Nerevarine thing plays out, and he would absolutely fuck things up in her name. His sour opinion of the Tribunal is absolutely influenced by Azura’s grudge. -Gerrick, again, does not care. His morals are his own, and no one's going to talk him into doing something that doesn't align with his own beliefs about life.

6. Does your oc have a family of origin? How many members of their FoO are still living? Do they have a good relationship? How much contact does your oc have with their FoO? How in-the-loop is your oc’s FoO about your oc’s being Dragonborn/HoK/Nerevarine? -Gavriil's immediate family are all still alive (except his sister, who died before he was born), and they have not been in contact in like, 200 years. None of them even know if he's still alive until a few years after the whole Dragonborn thing starts making its way back to Auridon. His parents are just kind of like "huh." and then continue to never bring him up in conversation. His younger brother eventually seeks him out to try and forge the relationship they never got to have. -Serras has a codependent relationship with his father. They love each other a lot, but their relationship was very, very unhealthy. That's the major reason why he ended up leaving home, because he finally realized the only way to heal the unhealthy dynamic was to learn how to be his own person. He has a pretty good relationship with his (maternal) aunt. His mother is still alive, and he has three half-siblings he's never met. None of them ever end up meeting. His mom never does figure out what happened to her firstborn. It is what it is. -Lleris is completely on his own at this point. His parents died when he was barely a year old, and he went to go live with his wacky aunt abroad. Those two were thick as thieves, but when she passed, Lleris was legit on his own. -Gerrick and his weird pirate family are all still on good terms. Both of his parents are still alive and although they dont see each other often, it's a grand old time when they finally do.

7. What social class was your oc born into? Did they change classes at all? How? -Gav: Super, super upper-crust. His family was nobles marrying nobles all the way back, and Gav just couldn't cut it in that world. His slump into absolute poverty is gradual, but pretty vicious. He does eventually pick himself up out of the gutter, but I'll go more into that a few questions down. -Serras: He was born into a weird, backwoods cult and spends the next 30-something years of his life living an extremely hand-to-mouth existence either in some slum or the legit middle of nowhere. Dude wasn’t exactly born into privilege. -Lleris: He was born into House Telvanni and lived a pretty well to do life until he was in his early 20s. After his aunt passed, he lived a few months as a street urchin before being arrested, then he slogs across Vvardenfell for like three years, "re-joins" House Telvanni and starts living a cushy life again, then gets tossed onto an Akavir-bound boat with a bag over his head. Takes a bit of a while before he lives the high life again after that. -Gerrick: Outlaw from birth. He was the son of the ship’s captain and her then-lover, and he was raised by the entire crew, more or less. He grows up to become, of all things, an Eye of the Queen. Yeah.

8. How politically active is your oc? Are they obviously influential, or is their influence more subtle? -Gav willfully keeps his head in the sand when it comes to politics, especially in places he doesn't think of as home. It's not an accident that he started moving further and further away from Summerset as the Thalmor became more entrenched in local politics. He absolutely does not touch the Imperial/Stormcloak tension. And honestly, even when he was at the height of his Dragonborn influence, no one wanted his opinion about the war, because not a single person in Skyrim wants to hear what an Altmer has to say about Nord politics. -Serras has a lot of opinions about the way Nords treat non-Nords, but he has pretty much no political agency. -Lleris starts out mostly entangled in Telvanni politics and helps his bff Aryon sack Gothren. He also tries and mostly fails to rub elbows with Neloth, because Neloth. Later on down the Nerevarine rabbit hole, he starts getting more and more vocal in general Morrowind politics, which culminates in him "volunteering" to go "explore" Akavir. -Gerrick, surprisingly for someone born a pirate, he canonically carries out the Aldmeri Dominion questline from ESO, so yeah he's just a little bit involved in politics.

9. What unplayable faction would/did your oc join, if any? Why? -Gav is associated with the Mage's guild, or I guess was associated. Which by the way? Bullshit that the guild was written out. But also, since I absolutely headcanon that enough of House Telvanni survives the Red Year to rebuild outside of Vvardenfell, I also imagine Gavriil worming his way into House Telvanni after he busts ass out of Skyrim. He never becomes very involved in House politics, he's more interested in going back into academia. Which he does. He more or less spends the rest of his days chillin in a mushroom house in Morrowind, writing books about levitating and shit. -Serras briefly had a stint with the Skyrim thieves guild, but he cuts ties pretty quickly because he is pretty disgusted with robbing from the poor to give to Maven Black-Briar. -Lleris has always had ties to House Telvanni, though he does have a brief stint with the Mages Guild before they are like holy shit, please leave us alone forever. He later swings by Solstheim as an old man to bother Neloth, who is like holy shit, please leave me alone forever. -Gerrick may not actively be a pirate anymore, but he is on pretty good terms with a bunch of them.

10. How trustworthy is your oc? Would they ever change opposing factions? -Gav: He's pretty much your lawful good kind of guy. He's decently loyal, even if only due to constant, overbearing guilt. At very worst, he'll just disappear rather than fulfill an obligation, but he'd sooner die than double cross anyone. -Serras: This is a guy who's mostly looking out for himself and the ones closest to him. In otherwords, Gavriil and/or his father. Probably not wise to put too much trust into him otherwise, because he's not exactly loyal if he's not actively benefitting from the arrangement. That said, he's not too much of a double-crosser, but don't trust him not to steal from you then lie about it. -Lleris: His loyalty can be bought. He won't feel too many qualms about changing sides if it benefits him more. So far, no one's offered him a better gig than being a champion of Azura, so it'd take a lot to get him to betray her. -Gerrick: His trustworthiness is super situational. He's in tight with Ayrenn, because you can't get much better than being the queen's go-to guy. He's smart enough to know not to betray her or the people involved with her. For the average person that he meets? Might be best to sleep with your eyes open around him. Patty is pretty much the only other person he wouldn't stab in the back at the drop of a hat. Outlaw roots, and all.

11. What is your oc’s main source of income, if they have one besides plundering tombs and adventuring? If they’re mercenaries, are they part of a company? Does your oc own their own business, and if so, what is it? -Gav has no source of income. Most of what he earns in his time in Skyrim is from acts of charity. For a few months, he pulls a legit job copying old texts for a bookseller in Solitude, but that only lasts as long as his precarious mental state will allow. Apart from that, he's pretty reliant on Serras's money. -Serras steals almost impulsively. He doesn't exactly keep a steady income, but its enough to keep both him and Gavriil in good supplies. Mostly. That they're both living off the land a lot does help. -Lleris does a lot of odd jobs where ever he goes. That and he has a bit of a history of pawning high ticket items that don't exactly belong to him. Keep your eyes on your soul gems when he’s in your house. -Gerrick lives the high life when he's actively working for the queen, but between Queens Eye stints, he's mostly earning a mercenary's salary. And he picks a lot of pockets. Why do I have so many thief-y characters?

12. Is your oc good with finances? Bartering? How long can they keep the money they make? -Gavriil: Not at all. At least not anymore. His parents never really taught him the art of finance to begin with, and his whole "functional" alcoholism thing makes it a bit hard to hang onto his money. He does get a bit better with time, but it DOES take time. -Serras: He's very good at knowing what things generally cost. Not worth the risk of stealing something that doesn’t get a good return. -Lleris: He can spend pretty loosely, but he also earns a fat cut with all the daedric weapons he gets his hands on. Him and that mudcrab merchant are pretty familiar with each other. -Gerrick: Generally earns a lot more than he spends. His standard of living is not particularily high, so even when he's "living large," he's not living THAT large.

13. Does your oc have any particular rivalry or mutual dislike with any NPC? -Gavriil has a really reluctant relationship with Delphine. He doesn't particularily respect her, and she's not impressed with who he is and who he chooses to be. That said, they do both realize they have some level of dependence on each other, right up until Delphine gives him the ultimatum about New BFF Paarthunax. After that he's like "lol bye" and they never see each other again. -Serras hates pretty much everyone in Skyrim for some reason or another, but they're all extremely one-sided relationships, because no one knows who the fuck he is. -Lleris is in the shit with virtually everyone in the Mages Guild, as well as anyone in every other great house. Both because of his connections with House Telvanni and, well, Lleris can be hard to be around sometimes. -Gerrick had always had a bad feeling about Estre and the fucking second she shows her ass, Gerrick's all “I FUCKING KNEW IT.” Estre wishes Gerrick would just die because who the HELL is this half-Maormer pirate asshole who's suddenly playing way too big of a part in Summerset politics.

14. How well-liked is your oc? What is their reputation, if they’re well-known? Are they simply liked/disliked, or are they respected but feared, or personally liked but not taken seriously, etc? Do major factions consider your oc an important player? -Gav: People have such mixed reactions to him. They usually hear about him well before they meet him, and at first they're like oh shit!!! Dragonborn!!!! Then they meet him and they're like uuuh he's a weird homeless dude with blatant unaddressed trauma. Kind of wish he wasn't the one who was going toe to toe with all these dragons. -Serras: Who? -Lleris: House Telvanni loves him. Except for like, Gothren, who gets killed by him. And Neloth, who never did get that robe of drake's pride. And Dratha. As for the rest of Vvardenfell, people start slowly warming up to him as he becomes more certifiably Nerevarine. Then they get real sick of him again. -Gerrick: His reputation is tied firmly with how someone feels about Ayrenn. If they like her, then Gerrick is unconventional but damnit, he gets the job done. If they oppose Ayrenn, then Gerrick is symbolic of everything that's wrong with Ayrenn and her foreign policy.

15. Does your oc have a horse/other mount? A pet? How did they get this animal? If they were given the animal, do they have the money to maintain it? How careful/careless are they with their animal? What do they do with their pets while adventuring, especially on dangerous quests? -Gerrick is the only one, and he has a giant stag mount that kind of comes and goes. He also has a constant clannfear familiar, which is, you know, conjured.

16. Does your oc take their time as they travel, or are they purposeful? How do they survive in the wilds, especially if they aren’t hunter-types? How dependent is your oc on civilized society? -Gav and Serras both spend ample time in the wilderness, even if civilization might be available. Gavriil enjoys keeping a low profile more and more as the whole Dragonborn affair goes on, and toward the end, he's keeping his head down as much as possible. Serras is fine with it because that's just what his life's like. -Lleris makes a beeline from town to town and will take silt striders whenever possible. He doesn't know how to hunt or dress game, he can barely pitch a tent, and more often than not will just sleep on the bare-ass ground like an idiot. Again, he has almost died of exposure on more than one occasion. -Gerrick could disappear into the wilderness for months and be just fine. He could be equally fine spending months in the middle of a major city. He's flexible.

17. What does your oc like to eat? How much food do they eat? Can your oc cook, and can they do it well? -Gav used to be a super picky eater in his earlier years. Now he'll eat anything that'll keep him alive. Too much grain alcohol has dulled his sense of taste. He knows how to decently fire-roast small animals, but he's not exactly an inspirational cook. -Serras is a fan of good food. One of the biggest inspirations for him teaching himself how to cook was so that he could eat good food on the reg. He can make a little go a long way, in terms of quality of ingredients. -Lleris is the kind of guy who'd burn spaghetti. -Gerrick is a pretty decent cook. His specialty is hearty campfire shit like stews and chowders.

18. What does your oc wear in the city/settlements? In the house? When travelling, but not adventuring or expecting combat? Do they vary their clothes depending on what hold/city they’re in? If they don’t, why not (e.g., if your oc wears the same outfit to tend their garden or lounge around the house as they did to meet Ulfric or Elisif, why?) Does your oc have a good or bad sense of fashion? How many clothes does your oc have? -Gavriil has one outfit, the same tunic and threadbare enchanted robe he's worn for the past dozen or so miles. It's all he's got, babey. -Serras has more outfits than you'd expect from the kind of guy who lives out of a tent 10 months out of the year. He likes to look cute. Also, he's almost always wearing a scarf, because he's pretty sure that's just what Dunmer do. -Lleris's outfit of choice is flowing, elegant mage robes, daedric boots, and pretty much nothing else. Naked under your robes seems like a pretty Telvanni thing to do, if we're being honest here. -Gerrick wears roguish pirate garb fairly often during the adventure phase, but he does have some fancy threads when he's in the company of royalty.

19. How picky is your oc about their gear? Do they have different equipment for different adventures, or is it the same suit of armor for everything (not counting upgrades like from steel to ebony)? -Gav, again, has one outfit. He does swap out his tunic after one is shredded/absolutely drenched in his own blood, but the robe has been with him for years at this point. He cannot be assed to enchant a new one. -Serras is not particularily picky about what his kit looks like. He's usually fine with a bit of leather armor, but he opts for pauldrons more often than not as, again, he's convinced that's just what Dunmer do. -Lleris won't wear it if it's not cute. -Gerrick is surprisingly discerning about his gear. He has a very high standard for what his weapons should look like, and everything needs to be properly enchanted if he's gonna be using it.

20. How does your oc acquire their clothes, and from where/whom? -Gav's robe is an old piece he enchanted himself when he was a bit more put together, and the rest of his outfit is more or less charity. Like hey, couldn't help but notice you got nearly torn in half by a dragon, can I offer you this shirt? -Serras's clothes were all honestly bought with money he earned from pawning stolen goods. Hmm. -Lleris will always make the time to shop for cute outfits when he gets to a big city. The boots? Conjured. -Gerrick's things were mostly honest purchases, but not all of them. He's not above pulling a pair of nice boots off a dead man's feet.

21. Can your oc swim, and how well? Have they ever swam in the ocean, or only lakes/rivers? Remember, it’s much harder to swim in the ocean than in a lake! If your oc is an Argonian, do they take special advantage of it somehow (e.g., do they go diving for fun/for profit, do they instinctively hide in the water, etc)? If your oc is a Khajiit who can swim, how do they get their fur dry? -Gav was born by the sea and as long as the water is warm, he loves to swim. The rivers and lakes in Skyrim are all too damn cold for him, even in the summer, so he water walks more often than he swims. -Serras is a decently strong swimmer, though he's never actually seen the ocean. Rivers and lakes, though, no big deal. -Lleris can barely swim and will water walk 99% of the time he encounters water. Even though he knows a water breathing spell, he's never actually used it. -Gerrick was born on a boat and is half Maormer. He fucking knows how to swim ok.

22. How easy/difficult is it to rob your oc? Pickpocket? Bribe? -Gav: Too easy. He's got nothing of value to take, so his guard is at like, 0. -Serras: He's a pickpocket by trade, he knows all the tricks. You'd have to be pretty fucking crafty to life something from under his nose. Even if you did, you can be sure as shit he'd steal it right back. -Lleris: He's been robbed a handful of times. -Gerrick: It wouldn't be impossible to pick his pocket, just very difficult and very unwise.

23. If your oc is part of one of the more morally questionable or outright evil factions, how do they justify it to themselves? Do they still consider themselves as morally good? How well known is their affiliation to these groups? Do they have separate personas (e.g. Dragonborn to some people, Listener to others)? Do their family/friends know? If they have separate personas, how do they keep their less than righteous activities secret? -Gav, despite being provably morally good, deals with a lot of completely unjustified guilt. He doesn't think of himself as that great of a person, because he feels too selfish. -Serras doesn't really hide that he's a thief by trade, at least to anyone who knows him. He's had his shot at honest work, and he just couldn't cut it. And well, a dude's gotta make a living somehow. He tries to keep his mind clear by only stealing from people who can afford to have things go missing. Or just if he hates them. Either way. -Lleris is very hush-hush about any work he's done with the thieves guild. He doesn't consider him to be affiliated with them, moreso that they stay in fleeting business arrangements, arrangements which become less and less frequent the more involved he gets in Telvanni politics. -Gerrick having pirate roots is something of an open secret. Part of his appeal as an Eye is his roguishness, and it's not exactly hard for him to work with shadowy sources. He'll never deny his heritage to anyone who directly asks. Not many people have the gall to do that, however, so rumors do fly.

24. How helpful is your oc, and why? Are they helpful or kind even during difficult situations? Are they pragmatic, or do they have a hero syndrome? -Gav has a weird obligation on/off switch. He feels guilted into helping people in certain situations, while he can walk away from others with a clear conscience. When the guilt hits, he will go so far against his own interests to help people, even if he's actively suffering as he does so. Even then, god does he hate being recognized as some kind of hero. Nothing he does in Skyrim makes him feel like a hero, and he actively lives out the world's most aggressive case of imposter syndrome even after Alduin fucking dies. He immediately leaves Skyrim after Alduin's death, because he can't live with the recognition he feels he fell dick first into. No one knows or cares who the Dragonborn is in Morrowind, so he busts ass to the eastern border the second his ass gets back to Nirn. -Serras historically doesn't go that far out of his way to help people, unless they're someone he already cares about, or who he owes some kind of debt. Part of his Growth is slowly taking up his father's mantel as a healer, and dedicating the rest of his life to helping people. Big claps for Serras! -Lleris has such a bad hero syndrome. The fucking second he gets the impression that he might be Nerevarine, that's how he's introducing himself to people. He does get to play big damn hero for a little while after the events at Red Mountain, but the novelty does eventually wear off, at least for the people around him. Well into his second or third century, he'll still bring up that time he was Azura's champion and killed not one, but two living gods. For like the thousandth time. -Gerrick can help or hurt. When he's helpful, he's super fucking helpful. He's your fucking MVP. But the second you cross him, he’ll be out for blood. And while he does have a reputation that often precedes him, he doesn't exactly milk it.

#if this cut doesnt work for you: im so sorry #OCs

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theimmersivist · 6 years

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A FAREWELL TO ARMS =================== Akhara dared not flex a single green muscle. She counted no fewer than 9 enchanted weapons drawn and poised within inches of where she stood, feet firmly planted to the floor tiling of the anti-chamber to the Imperial war room of the Castle Dour. Ugor and Ogol's faces were drawn into hostile snarls of aggression and retaliatory promise, but even they knew in present company, they were outmanned. Among the multitude of the Legion's most infamous veterans were Captain Aldis, Legate Rikke, Adventus Caesennius, and Praeclarius Stultius, the hook-nosed Imperial wizard from Dragon's Bridge who spent most of his time harassing female students of the Bards College. His hands already glowed and crackled with the violet lambency of an electricity-based spell about to be chucked. Even as a Thane of Solitude owning property both in the city proper and across the neighboring marsh, having been recognized by Elisif the Fair herself as the Dragonborn of Skyrim, and visibly bearing the seal and marker of the Archmage of the College of Winterhold, it was not an easy thing to waltz into the very beating heart of the Imperial Legion of Skyrim and attain an audience with the legendary General Tullius.

When the Governor of Skyrim himself emerged from the neighboring room only a moment later, Akhara's brow arched noticeably with surprise.

"What's the damn meaning of all this ruckus?" the general wondered with annoyance.

"Sir," Rikke responded almost immediately. "It's the Dragonb--, I mean, Thane Akhara of Solitude, sir! She requests an immediate audience with you, in fact! Says it can't wait another minute."

Tullius paused, handing the parcel of documents he was holding to the attendant beside him before methodically removing his bracers. "Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" he observed flatly. His eyes locked upon the warchief's. "We've crossed paths before," he said. His eyes gleamed with knowing, but he didn't mention Elenwen's soiree, the incident with Potema at court, or even the execution at Helgen. He nodded, almost imperceptibly, then added, "You're the emissary the Greybeards elected? You're greener than I thought you'd be."

"You're shorter than I thought you'd be," the Lord of Cradlecrush Rock replied with a smirk.

Several of the legion officers exchanged terse glances, but after a moment, Tullius, both of his bracers finally removed, gave a dry, hearty laugh, closed the space between them, and extended his arm.

"I apologize for the security, Thane," the Governor began. "My men had begun to give free reign to anyone that simply wandered on into the castle. We've...corrected...that behavior since. I'm sure you'll understand, what with the sharp increase in dragon sightings, vampire attacks, and now bone-headed cultists from Morrowind on top of everything else."

"That's why I'm here, General," Shug replied.

Tullius took Akhara's hand and arm tightly in his own and looked upward into her strong features. "I know why you're here. The Greybeards sent you."

"You're well-informed."

"If Skyrim is truly ever to be saved from itself, I have to be. Sadly, my scouts intelligence did not mention exactly 'why' the Greybeards sent you. So I know the who, and the where, but not the why."

"The war room would be a more fitting place for this discussion," the warchief said, still very much aware of the amount of weapons at the ready, prepared to cut her to pieces.

Tullius nodded and issued a few brief instructions to his men. Rikke, Caesennius, Stultius, along with Akhara's own personal guard Ugor and Ogol, resumed the conversation in the private office afforded by the General's adjacent war chamber.

"The Greybeards are convening a Peace Council at High Hrothgar," Akhara informed the governor.

"For what possible reason? There's nothing to discuss as long as that traitor Ulfric is in arms against his rightful Emperor."

The warchief sighed. The weariness from all the travel, sleeplessness, and constant battle had already seen her temper in short supply. Even the Dragonborn's limits could be tested.

"We need a truce until the dragon menace is dealt with," she retorted impatiently and bitterly. "We all have our own responsibilities, General. You to your people, me to mine. The dragons are making it increasingly difficult for all of us to live up to those responsibilities. Surely you can agree with that, Governor."

"They are getting to be a problem," Tullius admitted, leaning over the map of Skyrim sprawled across the surface of the large wooden table in the center of the room. He placed his palms flat on its surface, staring down at the little red flag that represented their current location in Castle Dour. "But I wasn't sent to Skyrim to fight dragons. My job is to quell this rebellion, and I intend to do just that, dragons or no dragons."

"C'mon, let's just go. We're wasting our time here," Ugor whispered from behind Akhara and to her left. The Imperial wizard studied the red-headed orc suspiciously and with obvious prejudice.

"The dragons are a bigger problem than the Stormcloaks right now," Akhara pressed. "Were it not for the dragons themselves, General, it is very likely you would have already ended this infernal war, with or without the reinforcements you requested from Cyrodiil."

The governor glared at the warchief sharply. "It would seem I'm not the only one well-informed in this castle," the general commented sharply. He looked at Rikke who shrugged nervously, but nodded as if to communicate that if there was an information leak, she'd find it. "Most of the Legion is tied down on the border with the Aldmeri Dominion," Tullius continued after a moment or two. "The Emperor can't afford to risk weakening Cyrodiil's defenses. From the Imperial City, our war here is just a sideshow. An interlude before the main event against the Thalmor resumes."

"Which is why you need to take things into your own hands, General," Shug drove the point home. "This is your chance to end this, once and for all. The Empire can't afford to snub the Greybeards, and at the same time, you're in a position of strength. Dominate the peace accord, let my Green Army deal with Alduin and the dragon menace, and when it's over, you can finish the Stormcloak Rebellion off in a single master stroke and become lionized back in Cyrodiil when you send a courier to inform the Emperor that you and your meager few officers managed to quell an entire conflict all by yourselves while in the process strengthening the entire province's loyalty to the very empire that saved them from their own destruction."

At that, Tullius simply stared down at the map for what seemed like an eternity. He was deep in thought, but Akhara's intuition told her he'd already taken the bait. When he finally looked up, she was not surprised to hear the words that left his mouth next.

"It is a shame you are not one of those officers," Tullius remarked. "You seem to have a remarkably well-tempered and scholarly understanding of military strategy. Quite rare for an orc, in my own personal experience."

"Oh believe me, General, I'm a lot more than I appear to be," the warchief quipped back with a smirk. "Just you wait and see."

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