raphianna

[raphianna]

copyrighting neon dream as we speak

[raphianna]

I adore this, thank you op

Thinking a lot recently about the constant comparison of Oblivion to Skyrim, particularly claims that Oblivion is superior in every way strictly by virtue of quest length and the greater grandiosity of the organizations in Oblivion, and I think there's been a fundamental misunderstanding of what's actually going on with Tamriel during the time period of Skyrim. Even though it's like...one of the core concepts of the main storyline.

Putting most of this under a cut for length, but I just...I think people misunderstand what's going on here. This is not a "One Game Good Other Game Bad" post, it's an analysis of a major, key difference in story basis between the two that I think gets lost in the (frankly asinine) argument about which is superior.

See, everything in Skyrim sucks. Every organization you can align yourself with is falling apart. Literally every single one.

That's the point.

To summarize:

The Companions (equivalent to the Fighters' Guild) are about a dozen strong, literally cursed, and their most beloved leader gets murdered very early in the storyline.

The College of Winterhold (equivalent to the Mages' Guild, not to the Arcane University) has seemingly only been saved from collapsing into the sea because a master of Restoration fused himself with the structure itself when the Sea of Ghosts tried to tear it down a little under a century ago and his presence is constantly physically "healing" the foundation.

The Thieves' Guild has lost the favor of every possible patron deity, having been outright cursed by Nocturnal after one of her Nightingales murdered another and stole the gift she offers her champion, while the boon that the organization's founder claimed from her in ages past (the cowl) is missing.

The Dark Brotherhood has been all but completely dismantled, the Night Mother's tomb in Bravil having been raided and struggling to persist without a Listener for over a decade; the bodies of the Night Mother's children have been lost and she's essentially being smuggled from region to region in an attempt to find a safe place to continue operations.

The Empire itself has been kneecapped, forced into a traumatic treaty by a fascist regime determined to strike the beliefs and culture of anyone not Altmer off the face of the planet; the Thalmor have gone so far as to torture and radicalize the figurehead leader of the Nords in order to use their own nationalism and superiority against the Empire, sparking a civil war that will further weaken the Empire and allow the Aldmerri Dominion to destroy it wholecloth.

This extends out into the rest of the world, too! We have confirmed existence of Hist-deaf Argonians. The Dunmer are floundering to recover after the quadruple-whammy that is the fall of the Triumverate, the destruction of Vivec City when Baar Dau finally made impact, the Red Year, and the Argonian uprising. The Bosmer are literally endangered due to habitat loss following a super-isolationist cultural shift due to wars with the Khajiit and Altmer. The Void Nights were devastating to Khajiit culture and population in ways that have yet to be fully explained.

The world is falling apart. Everything is dying.

And then Alduin shows up.

We all kind of talk about Alduin carrying on as World-Eater through the course of the Skyrim storyline like it's him being a piece of shit, since he'd started it ages ago and was just displaced in time to land on the Last Dragonborn's head in the Fourth Era, but I don't think that's the case.

Based on the state of things, I think Alduin arrived right on time. I think it's the end of the world. The only reason he "should" be stopped is because the Last Dragonborn has the capacity to stop the world from ending in a more down-to-earth sense than just defeating Alduin: they can't save everyone, but they can "fix" every single organization that's holding "the world" together.

They can align with the Imperials and keep the civil war from further crippling them, keeping the Empire from being too weak to push back against the Aldmerri Dominion.

They can save the College of Winterhold, the only group in the right place at the right time to stop the Eye of Magnus from opening, and in doing so make sure that the Psijics are able to put it somewhere nobody else can find it.

They can lead the Companions, cure the curse for those members who don't want to run with Hircine after death, which bolsters their spirits enough to keep doing what they can even when everyone else is trying to kill each other. A single neutral martial force in the middle of a civil war.

They can regain Nocturnal's trust for the Thieves' Guild, restore the Nightingales, and in doing so they can return the luck that was stolen from them as punishment for Mercer Frey's transgression. They can even reclaim the Crown of Barenziah and award the guild with a paragon to increase their newly-regained luck.

They can hear the Night Mother, becoming Listener for the Dark Brotherhood to restore the balancing force of Sithis in the world, purify the most broken Sanctuary the Brotherhood has ever had, and finish a story set into motion way back in the Third Era—Emperor Titus Mede II is murdered under the order of a Motierre, a descendant of a mark the Brotherhood specifically kept from dying during the Oblivion Crisis.

The Last Dragonborn can't do anything outside Skyrim—there's nothing they can do for the Argonians or the Bosmer or the Khajiit, and they can only do very little for the Dunmer via work in Solstheim—but they can work with every single guild or guild-adjacent group, strengthening the Empire to stand against the biggest threat to Tamrielic culture since the First Era, and in doing so they can make it so the world isn't ready for Alduin to eat it.

The Hero of Kvatch exists when Tamriel, and presumably Nirn as a whole is in the prime of its life, that's what makes the Oblivion Crisis such a big deal. This is a world that isn't ready to give up, it still has the strength to fight, it just needs someone standing at the head to direct it. The Last Dragonborn comes into the story when everything is falling apart and nothing really feels worthwhile, when it's hard to see why the world is worth saving. They have the chance to prove that there's still some life left here, that the world isn't too far gone to save—Alduin arrived right on time, it's the Last Dragonborn's job to change that.

I can see how coming from Oblivion to Skyrim would feel disappointing and hollow, but I'm pretty sure that's literally the point of the story.

Oblivion tells you the world is worth saving because it's got so much left to live for, even with the odds stacked so high against it. Skyrim asks you whether a world that's dying is still a world worth saving, and it's up to you to prove that it is.

[raphianna]

reblog this if your icon could kill a man

[raphianna]

what is your eye color. what is your favorite color. what is the color that appears most frequently in your wardrobe. what color is your favorite blanket. what color is your water bottle.

[raphianna]

I'm sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I genuinely find more fun staring off into space and daydreaming. That's not to say I don't like Tumblr, I do.

I want to make more posts about Perry Mason. I want to start posting about my TES OCs. I have an entire separate group thought out from my main LDB. They're all homeless bards throughout most of the holds of Skyrim. They meet (somehow) and do the Thieves Guild and Dawnguard questlines together. I even started writing about my Khajiit character in Dawnstar that would've led into me kind of talking about the rest of the group (even though it was more of a complaint post about not being able to accurately dress him the way I wanted lol). But I wrote it out somewhere it wouldn't be saved if something happened.

Something did happen, and I forgot to copy all that I wrote and put it somewhere else to save it. 😅

I still have 3ish seasons of Perry to watch. I could make more with it. Heck, I could even go back and make stuff from seasons I've already watched. I have a screen recorder that works, I own the DVD set. Nothing is stopping me from watching it, I want to start watching it again.

I have things to do, and I want to do them. But instead I just sit and stare, daydreaming. It's fun, and something I want to do. And I want to post about Perry and TES too.

I want to, and I just sit, thinking about it all. Not for lack of trying, I suppose. 🫠

[raphianna]

lately i've been thinking about runil x erandur..

an ex-thalmor and an ex-daedra worshipper... one of them is a priest of mara.. and the other is a priest of arkay.. and they are old.. and filled with so much regret about their pasts.. i can see the sad old man yaoi in them. and them sitting on a bench together holding hands.. the possibilities...

[raphianna]

Salem, can I show you my late cat?? :] her name is Mamas

demon kitty :D she acted like everyone's mama tho <3

HFJDBFJHB intense but beautiful girly

[raphianna]

Please don't use the Patreon app on any iPhone. Apple is charging Patreon users an additional 30% fee.

Patreon is the main source of income for many creators and not everyone can afford an extra 30% on top of what they're already paying.

This is 100% corporate greed and it hurts all of us. If you can avoid using the iPhone Patreon please do so.

[raphianna]

does anyone wanna hold hands until we feel a little braver

[raphianna]

it's my birthday :]

[raphianna]

spin this wheel to get a random d&d class. you are instantly transported into the d&d world and have to live as that class

[raphianna]

Found an old video in my google drive.

[raphianna]

Merry Christmas, to those who celebrate :] I hope today and tomorrow are good days for you <3 <3 <3

[raphianna]

[raphianna]

Do you know how much I love him?? Look at him, he's so sweet <3

I miss posting them