#Anequina

[moonpile]

ESO Housing Wishlist: Elsweyr Plants

ALL of the wonderful vined trees.

The gnarly-root-fence ones, the shady ones!

Purple vines.

But also seriously everything from this temple. It's a royal bummer that Vines, Sun-Bronzed Ivy Swath and Vines, Sun-Bronzed Ivy Climber are only available for crowns.

Plus birds as an environmental thing, not pet slots!

This plant. Looks like some cross of Ligularia or Begonia.

These cycads.

Fruit trees. Ones Khajiit can even sit in!

Looks like jackfruit but the tree is totally different.

Plant-ish: simple little wooden planters with only dirt.

Wedding Planter, Octagonal can be turned upside-down and cobbled, yes, but anytime we can get more modular pieces it helps to save on our biggest issue: slots.

Technically not a plant, but this cute vined bridge.

Also not a plant, but it would be so awesome to have megalodons wandering around in the yard. Just as environmental/creatures, like the birds above.

And can't forget all of the grasses and giant mossy boulders!

See also:

Grass

Dawnwood wishlist

Plant wishlist

This one really just wants to live in a little wooden house in Black Heights with all the artists and plants.

Something similar to Sleek Creek, 2-story with a garden arrival & water feature, + 700 slots, would be perfect!

(I'd checked out Zhan Khaj Crest on PTS as soon as it was up... but that's a whole other story. It's not for me at this time.)

#eso housing wishlist

[creeperthescamp]

i think one of the least used concepts in elder scrolls lore is its nebulous relationship to truth.

like something i do actually appreciate about that cunt kirkbride's writing in morrowind is that the mythology of the tribunal is allowed to be relatively ambiguous and there's room for poetry and fable and unreliable narrators. there's a strong general tendency in both fandom and dev to interpret lore quite literally and treat every text as reliable sources of fact about tamriel even when the text is like. fiction or written with a clear bias towards certain factions or prejudices.

the main example I'm thinking of is the 'notes on racial phylogeny' lore book. it's literally just racist pseudoscience and in a real life context would be considered unreliable and deeply offensive. but in tes, i rarely see anyone stop to actually consider that perhaps this lore isn't really a factual study of how bodies work but about how the imperial empire categorises the people it colonises and justifies it's supremacy. there's so much focus on determining the rules and metaphysical aspects of the world that there's no consideration that the way factions like the empire see the world is inherently flawed.

it's fun to think of a world where stars are literal holes punched in the fabric of the sky, or that water is made of memory, but i also think it would be a much more fun and flexible world if these theories are considered to be just a few of many lenses that people in tamriel use to try to understand their world. some of my favourite pieces of lore and world building are things like 'cherims heart of anequina' that imply a rich world of culture and art; i love the idea that tamriel has art and art critics and people who discuss ideas for other purposes than trying to figure out what's The Only True Lore.

[elbiotipo]

Notes on a South Asian Tropical Cyrodiil (and more!)

So, many TES fans know that before Oblivion, Cyrodiil was supposed to be tropical. The most striking phrase to describe it, "most is endelss jungle", says it all. The quick and snarky explanation is that Todd Howard watched LOTR, was "inspired" by it, and that's why everything in Oblivion looks sort of like a Rennaisance Fair. In any case, I think it was a huge missed opportunity, especially in a world where most popular fantasy is European inspired, to have replaced what could have been very cool tropical enviroments with what is frankly a lame "Talos used his magic" lore retcon. You can read the 1st edition of the Pocket Guide to the Empire to see what we missed.

But it's not only Cyrodiil which we missed this way… Tamriel just makes more sense as a tropical continent. While the size and the exact location of the continent is discussed by nerdier nerds than me, I think it does make sense like this, and not only that, we have a very interesting world parallel to compare it to: India. From a tropical rainy south to the cold mountains of Skyrim, Tamriel is surprisingly similar to the Indian subcontinent, and many of its geographical quirks can be explained if, instead of assuming a temperate Cyrodiil, we go all out with that concept. This is going to be a long post, you have been warned.

So with that in mind, I'll try to make a not-so brief tour (with some evocative pictures along the way) of a rebuilt tropical Tamriel, following the rains of the moonson:

The position of Tamriel, in this case, would be roughly where the Indian subcontinent is located in real life, that is again, tropical, stretching the Tropic of Cancer (is there a name for the tropics of Nirn? Interesting to think about) Here, we see our numbers pan out well: Tamriel is mentioned to be between 4000 and 3000km across east to west and 2000 and 3000km south to north. VERY, VERY roughly, there is 4000km between Pakistan and Myanmar, and 3000km from Sri Lanka to the northern tip of Tibet. Plot that on a map, and you already can see some coincidences. Now, this is a rather average continent, not Pangea sized like some imagine Tamriel to be. This does help explain why, for example, the interior of Cyrodiil is rainy and good for agriculture instead of a desert. But it also means that it's very likely that Tamriel is ruled by monsoons. Monsoons are complex, but they basically form when there are plenty of warm places for water to evaporate (the South Indian ocean), and mountains that block cool winds from the opposite direction (the Himalayas). We have a very similar situation here, with a mountainous Skyrim on the north of a tropical Cyrodiil facing an equatorial southern ocean. So, what happens are monsoons, perhaps not as strong as IRL India, but carrying rains very deep into the continent. This would feed the rivers and the rich agricultural areas of Cyrodiil, and would have some other consequences.

So let's imagine our trip South to North. In the South, in Black Marsh, Blackwood and Lleyawiin, and Pellentine (southern Elsweyr) we would find, much like in the original lore, humid tropical climates, jungle, wetlands, and my favorite, mangrooves. I would expect mangrooves to stretch in this whole area, across rivers. In fact, one of the reasons why Black Marsh could be so hard to explore and control by the Empires at Cyrodiil would be the presence of thick mangrooves all over its coast. This is the region of Cyrodiil that would most resemble "endless jungle".

(Rice fields in India, what I imagine most of this Tropical Cyrodiil would look like)

However, as any lore person knows, Anequina, northern Elsweyr, is arid desert. Does this mean a contradiction? Far from it, we have a similar example in IRL India: the Deccan Plateau, which has a semi-arid to arid climate. This can be easily explained by higher elevations up to a small mountain chain separating it from Cyrodiil to the north, and the fact that little rain would reach behind this "Anequina Plateau" would make the region of Kvatch and Anvil more dry much like in canon, in this case, more scrublike. This highland desert would not be as harsh as Elsweyr is usually concieved, maybe, but its driest regions might justify places such as Dune. (On that matter, it always bothered me to read about the "cities" of southern Elsweyr and there being only two or three there. If I had to redesign it, I would move some from the north to the south).

(the Deccan Plateau in India, it gets greener or drier according to the monsoon)

Keeping on our tour of Tamriel, the Topal Bay and the very rainy Black Marsh funnels the rainy monsoon from the south towards central Cyrodiil. Here we find the endless jungle of the Nibenay Valley. But unlike the rainforests of Elsweyr and Black Marsh, these dense forests and rich river plains are mediated by the monsoon winds, with dry seasons alternating with copious rain. This has huge effects on agriculture and culture in general, as agriculture is defined by the rythms of the rain. Keeping with our South Asian theme and the 1st edition of the Guide to the Empire, Cyrodiil would have huge extensions of rice paddies, as well as terrace farming and much hardier crops in the highlands, instead of the… well, almost absent agriculture we saw in Oblivion. The food, clothing, architecture and overall culture of Cyrodiil would be very different with this. The original Pocket Guide said some of its main exports besides rice and fruit are moon sugar and silk. Moon sugar in Cyrodiil, can you believe it?

Another thing I imagine Cyrodiil would be famous for would be fish and seafood, well, river food. Rice plantations can host fishes and crustaceans to get some extra protein, and well, what about mudcrabs? Hell, as preparing muddy soil is vital for rice cultivation, no wonder mudcrabs are considered a nuisance. Imagining critters in gameplay in such an enviroment also makes my mind roam. Tigers, elephants, rhinoceros, and this is not even getting into the more mythical creatures you could find, instead of endless wolves… Rice cultivation is also more labor intensive than other crops, and it also has a deep impact on the terrain, "terraforming" so to say, huge expanses into paddies and terrace farms. This level of cultivation also requires an established infraestructure of irrigation. While this does not necessarily means a centralized goverment, as farmers can build it and maintain it by themselves, the rise of an empire, i.e., the Empire, will also increase the complexity of these systems, adding canals, dams, reservoirs and more ambitious projects, like we see in India and China. I am sure some people more knowledgeable about those cultures can comment more.

While this Cyrodiil is a tropical/subtropical region covered in "endless jungle", some parts might indeed resemble the rolling hills and grasslands you see in Oblivion. Deforesting jungle for pasture is something very common around the world (some have joked this mass deforestation was later in canon explained as a gift from Talos lol) and you can see the results, like in tropical Australia and my closer Mata Atlantica, do superficially resemble temperate pastures in say, Europe. Until you notice the palm trees, of course. But yes, I can see the Nords being a mostly herding people (more on that below) bringing their sheep and cows to the tropical lowlands and, well, deforesting to make space for them.

(ranches in Sao Paulo state, Brazil, notice the palm trees)

Imperial City just so happens to be built in an island in the middle of several river crossings, in what seems to be a swampland. The first thing that came to mind when I read that was Tenochtitlán. The districts of Imperial City would have been built over the centuries on artificial islands on a shallow lake, using plentiful mud and organic matter to make fertile chinampas. I believe this would make for a striking sight. Instead of just a city in the middle of a empty island, you would see the White-Gold tower and the rest of Imperial City rising from Lake Rumare, surrounded by rich farmland and its districts joined by walkways. (much like the old descriptions, actually, could you believe I wrote that without reading them?)

(Reconstruction of Tenochtitlán... and I just noticed, it's surrounded by (volcanic) mountains too, much like Imperial City)

Much like the Pantanal is one of the sources to the Paraguay River (which merges with the Paraná and then the Río de la Plata) IRL, here, the swamps of central Cyrodiil would be the source of the Niben. This does raise an interesting question, where is the source of the Niben? Is it Lake Rumare? No, I believe it would be several smaller rivers all the way from Bruma and even Skyrim. These small, violent mountain rivers eventually flow into the Rumare wetlands and only THEN in the placid great Niben. You DON'T want to be caught in one of the mountain valleys in rainy season. This does raise the question; won't the developments upriver, like Imperial City itself and the surrounding farmland, affect the course of the river downwards? There's plenty of water from the rain, but a more developed Cyrodiil might indeed have to grapple with this, supposing, for example, they manage to dam the river.

Looking west, we got the Colovian region, said to be composed of drier highlands and cliffs in the early Pocket Guide. Probably cut from the rain because of the Anequina Plateau, this is indeed more arid or "mediterranean", though I actually see it as more Australian. Maybe some of the drier parts near Hammerfell, resembling Argentine Cuyo and the northwest, would be a distant cry from the wetlands, having thorny dry forests and dry valleys, where yes, you could plant wine. The wetter cloud forests (much like the Yungas in South America, the place where the rain reaches last) could maybe be the home of the last pre-Imperial cultures of Cyrodiil. Fascinating places.

(Jujuy, Argentina. Just *near* are the Yungas cloud forests, where the last rains from the Atlantic meet the Andes, making for some AMAZING places)

Given that I mentioned enviroments near to/on the Andes IRL, let's talk about potatoes. Potatoes are unique crops, because they are the only ones who offer such calories and also be planted in cold enviroments like Europe. Or Skyrim. The discovery and spread of potatoes would cause demographic shifts on people living in cold areas. And they also originated in a unique enivorment IRL: the Andes, actually with possible hybridization from the Magallenic foresWHAT I MEAN, is that potatoes are very important and have been domesticated in very specific conditions. The Wroghtgarian Mountains would seem like a perfect equivalent of the Andes at the first glance, but they would be very different. The Andes, located between the Pacific Ocean and the greater Amazonian region, are very, very unique enviroments. These mountains, however, are in between inner seas. Something like the Atlas or the Alps? In any case, if there is some people who would appreciate hardy tubers that can grow in mountainous places, they are for sure the Orcs, or perhaps the Reachmen. Maybe an hybridization even between them?

This returns me back to Bruma and Skyrim. Some people (who make those excellent Oblivion mods) imagine Bruma with a Tibetan flavor. Personally, I imagine it more like Pakistan or Afghanistan, with lots of mesas and plateaus and valleys. It would look dry and rocky with some very fertile valleys by snowmelt, but it would look like a snowy wonderland on winter, indeed, Pakistan and Afghanistan are very snowy. Eventually, of course, ending up in the great barrier of the Jerall mountains and finally, Skyrim.

(the Alps? Skyrim? No, this is Kashmir on winter!)

In this scenario, Skyrim would be a quite dry place… or would it? There is no need for the Jeralls to be a straight line of peaks like the Himalayas. They could be a more "broken" series of mountains, like the southern Andes, but in any case, the rain from the south would clash into the higher mountains. Indeed, that is what actually happens in the Himalayas, the foothills of the Himalayas are some of the rainest places IN THE WORLD. These small valleys are something very unique and not very well known part of the world IRL. I can imagine the Skyrim equivalent would be as unique too, hard to navigate and live in. The forests of the Rift and Falkreath would be mazes of windy forests valleys, each with their own unique secrets under a perpetual fog and drizzle. This is a very interesting enviroment to imagine, where again, some of the older cultures of Tamriel could still live.

(forests of Bhutan, note how the humid valleys stretch into the distance before the cold Himalayas begin)

However, what does Skyrim look like once you cross the border with Ralof? I imagine some sort of more fertile Tibet, not as high as the Tibetan plateau, allowing for forest and alpine tundra. This is mostly because, while Skyrim is high up, I don't imagine as a plateau, but rather a series of broken mountains like the North American Rockies, which makes sense when you account for all the volcanic activity (there is another super-volcano down in Skyrim but nobody notices). I imagine that Skyrim would be a primarily herding pastoral land before the introduction of hardier crops such as potatoes, and even then. Nord culture would be very interesting reimagined like this; hillforts guarding herds of sheep and cows. It would also create a clash between the very, very agrarian south and the nomadic herding north, with High Rock and Hammerfell a gradient between the two.

But here we enter a problem; if we are operating on a level where Cyrodiil is roughly at the same latitude of India, wouldn't that make Skyrim too far from the poles to allow its tundra like climate, even with elevation? No doubt. Tibet is only as cold as it is because it's the roof of the world and far from any ocean. The northernmost tip Skyrim, like Tibet, would be at the latitude of Turkey, Korea or California, which can get quite cold, but not to the level of what we see on Winterhold or Dawnstar (Solitude sounds familiar, though). What's more, having an ocean up north would only moderate the temperature. Cool currents often don't bring cold per-se, just decrease rainfall. This would end with a very temperate and pleasant Skyrim instead of tundra. Which is on its own, interesting to explore.

Could Nirn be going through an ice age, like it's implied with the dissapearance of Atmora? Possibly, but it would imply revising everything I said before, as ice ages decrease rainfall and mess up with weather patterns all over the world. A colder Nirn would explain a lot, though.

I decide I will stop here, I haven't even touched Valenwood (though its subtropical forest seems rather coherent to me), High Rock (the most boring part of Tamriel IMO), Hammerfell, Summerset Islands (if you don't have tropical elves in your setting, you're a coward), or whatever the hell is going on Morrowind. But I hope you enjoyed this worldbuilding exercise and how to make sense of Tamriel's crazy geography. Next time, I'll try to play with tectonics and see if we can make it even more interesting.

If you liked what you read and would like more worldbuilding, consider tipping me on Ko-Fi and send me stuff to talk about, or just send an ask! I'm the kind of guy who reads encyclopedias and RPG manuals for fun, so I have plenty to talk about about everything from fantasy to science fiction to speculative evolution and alternate history!

[tastesoftamriel]

Talviel's Tamrielic Anniversary Banquet

In lieu of an updated jubilee cake for the 30 year TES/10 year ESO anniversary, here's a banquet menu fit for the nobility of Tamriel! Dig in!

Summerset

Soft Indrik cheese and caramelised onion and pear chutney vol-au-vents, with sundried tomatoes

Auridon Blue Monkfish, poached in Russafeld Heights chardonnay

Shimmerene cherry blossom snowskin mooncake, with an apricot mousse and lemon crème filling

Black Marsh

Crocodile dumplings, with a spicy peanut and sweet saltrice dipping sauce

Stormhold jerk kagouti haunch, with guar fat vegetable fried rice

"Kueh cendol" chewy tapioca rice cakes, with dark palm sugar and coconut milk and jelly layers. A Black Marsh specialty!

Valenwood

Wild venison Greenshade carpaccio, with whipped bacon-honey butter

Stone-baked timber mammoth tail, slow roasted for 48 hours with a honey and mammoth butter glaze

Frozen honeyed "bingsoo" yoghurt, with sweetgnats, candied bacon, and deep fried lard bits, drizzled with sweet condensed milk

High Rock

Alcaire smoked pea soup, with bacon lardons and fresh garden herbs

Flambéed foie gras à la Shornhelm, with a blood orange and goose fat reduction

Gorapple tarte tatin, with golden butterscotch sauce and Bantha vanilla bean ice cream

Morrowind

Smoked kwama egg yolk carbonara, with scrib bacon

Spicy Ashlander-style shalk and ash yam stew, served in a shalk carapace

"Baked Vvardenfell" guar milk ice cream and kwama meringue cake, flavoured with comberries and gold kanet flowers

Elsweyr

Old Anequina jerboa and "lap cheong" sausage pie, with a saffron rice and an ale-and-moon sugar gravy

Terror bird egg "foo yong hai" omelette, with an array of Pellitine seafood and a bhut jolokia moon sugar caramel dipping sauce

Frozen samar pekoe tea custard, with hot moon sugar fudge

Cyrodiil

Bruma barley soup, with homemade herbed sourdough foccacia

Barbecued Blackwood cavy, basted with a rich Surilie Brothers port and habanero barbecue sauce

Abecean sea salt, dark chocolate, and Cyrodiilic olive oil ice cream, with wild strawberry coulis

Skyrim

Markarth goat cheese and pine nut crème tartlets, with smoked juniper salt

Lake Honrich salmon steak, hot smoked over maple wood with Goldenglow honey, served with dill remoulade

Snowberry panna cotta, with spiced Whiterun apple-akevitt compote

Wrothgar

Echatere Gruyère and rosemary mini soufflés, with smoked Vorkhiposh roe

Echalette steak, served medium-rare, in a ginger wine jus

Kurog's wild berry chocolate gateaux, with whipped echatere cream and drenched in wrathberry brandy

Hammerfell

Port Hunding roasted red pepper and harissa hummus, with spiced lentil flatbreads

Spicy Alik'r giant snake tikka, with mint yoghurt dipping sauce and pickles

Coconut and medjool date kulfi, with a slice of rosewater and pistachio baklava

[wilderqueen]

The Three Lessons of Sneakthiefing

In the decades after the Thrassian Plague, no race on Tamriel suffered more than the Khajiit. Anequina had her discipline, but Pellitine had her gold. Thus, it was in this time that sneak-thiefing became a most common profession for those with no gold to their name, but who saw their neighbours have it in abundance.  

There was one young mother, with fur as black as a raven’s wing, who had in her belly three sons by a father with fur the colour of milk. Where she had come from nothing, he came from vast wealth, and had promised her much and more upon the birth of their sons. But as she laboured in her bed, he left the room, citing a need for more water to wash away the mother-blood, but never again would she see his face. 

And it was then she learned to never trust in the promises of another, and to never expect free fortune. Fortune could only come for those who took it for themselves, and this was the first lesson that she taught to her three sons. 

Her eldest child’s fur was as dark as the void, and to him she gave the name of Azu, for he was her favourite child just as Azurah was to Fadomai. To Azu, she taught the value of stealth. And so, the shadows became Azu’s home, and from the shadows did he begin to amass wealth for his beloved mother.  

Her second child’s fur was the colour of smoke, and to him she gave the name of Narthi, for he was as fast as the winds born of Khenarthi. To Narthi, she taught him the value of agility, and thus Narthi was able to go to the places Azu could not. Though he could not always escape without notice, he was always able to outrun his pursuers. And so too did Narthi begin to amass wealth for his beloved mother.  

Her third and youngest child’s fur was the same shade that his father’s had been, and he was given no name and was taught no lessons save for the first. Undeterred and desperate for his mother’s love and recognition, the child tried to learn what his brothers had been taught. First was Azu’s lesson of stealth, but with his bright fur, any attempt at melding into the shadows was met with failure. Second was Narthi’s lesson of agility, but his tail was too long and would always trip his legs. Unable to even steal a piece of bread without being caught, the nameless child found no other option than to petition Rajhin for aid.  

“Oh great Rajhin, Cat-King of Thieves, this one asks for your wisdom. There is nothing more in the world that this one desires than to be a sneak-thief, just as brothers Azu and Narthi are. To be as silent as a shadow, and as quick as the wind. But this one has tried and failed too many times. There must be one lesson more that this one’s mother did not teach, that you must know and teach instead.” 

Rajhin looked at the young Khajiit before him, his shadowy eyes filled with mirth. And with the wave of a hand, both were transported to a place known only in legend, a vault containing all of Rajhin’s most precious treasures.  

“Yes, there is one lesson more to be learned.” Rajhin agreed as the nameless one looked around in wonderment. “But you must first prove that you have the heart of a thief. If you can steal something from this one, then you will be taught that lesson. But, if you choose instead to give up, then you will become this one’s treasure instead.” 

Before the nameless Khajiit could argue, Rajhin was gone, and he was left alone in the vault. With no other option, he tried to do as Rajhin said. At first, he stuck to the shadows like Azu, but each time he reached out of the darkness to take one of Rajhin’s treasures, a shadowy hand would materialize and slap him away. And so he tried a different approach. This time, he stayed out in the open away from the shadows and took a golden goblet. Excited by his success, he ran to leave, only to find the way out too high from his reach. And try as he might to escape, he simply did not have the athleticism of his brother Narthi. 

Demoralized, he fell to the ground and began to cry, wishing that he had at least been given a name so that the world could remember his foolishness. But as he wept, the third lesson became clear in his mind, and so he called out once more for Rajhin who appeared in a flash of smoke. 

“You call for Rajhin, but you have been unable to steal anything from this one at all. Perhaps you have instead decided to give up?” The trickster god said, his voice laced with malicious amusement.  

“No, this one has taken something from you after all. From you I take your name, Rajhin!” 

And with his words did the illusion of the vault shatter, and the patron of all thieves laughed. “Good, good! You have learned the most important lesson of all – guile!” 

Through guile did young Rajhin become the best thief that the Khajiit of that time ever knew. What wealth that Azu and Narthi had taken for their mother was taken from them in turn by their younger, trickier brother. For after all, a son must still learn from his mother, and Rajhin’s mother had told him that fortune only came to those who took it for themselves. 

[sothasil]

hi! so, first of all, i love your khajiit art, it's awesome to see someone expanding on khajiit lore in such a thoughtful and interesting way. second of all, i have been looking for ages for any information on marriage in khajiit culture and i have found little. obviously there ARE marriages in elsweyr, but i wanna know traditions: what clothes are worn, what kinds of rings are exchanged, if any, what foods are eaten, etc. but i cant find anything! do you have opinions on this? i'd love to hear!

thank you very much! i can't help with official lore sources (since ESO came out i stopped following that :')) but i do have my own headcanons on the matter!

marriages are a big deal when it involves the linking of two notable families/clans. in the northern regions, where clans are more important to everyday life and social structure, notable members marrying are grounds for large celebrations and larger amounts of discourse between family heads. expected topics include with whom the family will live, how both spouses fit the clan's skill and values and of course, how [insert party currently talking] is better than [insert the other clan involved]

marriages are more important by the greater families union they provide than other aspects surrounding the actual individuals. as a strongly communal society, to khajiit, marrying is first and foremost to officialize your relationship with a partner in relation to what that means for your families. the formation of elsweyr itself under that name happened with a marriage, and that historical example is propped up by some as what should be the cultural standard.

when a marriage does happen, it's a huge party. both sides of the couple's family come over to show off and have fun. it's a good occasion to meet other people and demonstrate the skills and power of you and your clan. as with all big parties, there will be guests who have nothing to do with either families coming too! those party crashers can just come for fun, but some attend to make connections and deals while taking advantage of the events.

romance, sex and having kids are not that tied to the concept. for marriages between important people, if they do have kids matters a lot but it's not that linked to the marriage in itself. khajiit are not very strict when it comes to why and how you have your lovers. it isn't a shame to have sex outside of marriage (including if you end up with kids), and if you are indeed married and want a lover, the big deal won't be ruining a sanctity of marriage, but more what your partner thinks of it. it is however considered unsightly to marry someone you do not have some feelings for, as well as marrying your friend for each other's benefits. again, greater family above all

who was there when it happens and how much you talk about your union are probably the most important factors for officializing it all. divorce isn't really a thing because khajiit aren't bureaucratic. if your marriage falls apart, it's up to you to make it clear you are ending it and face the likely familial backlash. it is however completely acceptable to marry several times - if your spouse is gone, if you find a better one... if that latter case applies and both sides don't remarry, the one who doesn't might get a bad rep. marriages between more than two people aren't a social norm, and while you might have a clan mother who celebrates that, it is rare and polyamoursly inclined khajiit tend to not marry at all and just stay lifelong lovers with their partners.

The only place in my personal khajiit musings where I explored marriage was for my own characters - Ma'Jahrann's parents, Elaahni and Qa'Husar. In those two, each hails from a very different culture - Elaahni is from a more traditionalist mid-sized Anequina clan, and Qa'Husar is from the southern parts with a more cosmopolitan structure, born to a small immediate family who dissolved as he grew up. Their marriage was a bit of a deal when it happened. Elaahni was a local celebrity and her family didn't see too kindly the nobody from those big humid cities marrying their daughter. Qa'Husar himself had to face acquiring a gigantic extended family overnight which he had no experience with. Both ended up fucking off to a smaller town where they settled on an in-between of living a settled lifestyle close with the local community, with Elaahni's close relatives visiting when they saw fit.

[ansu-gurleht]

two things i've noticed that i don't like particularly in elsweyr:

1.) it's called "northern elsweyr" instead of "anequina" for some reason

2.) the typical "referring to yourself in third-person" that khajiit have always done is VERY inconsistent here. like i could understand some characters doing it and some characters not. but i've met a few that will refer to themselves as "this one" and "i" in the same breath. i've only met one guy so far who consistently refers to himself in the third person (a senche reading a book in the inn in riverhold) and like. idk why is it just the senche that feels kinda weird :/

[cryptfly]

The Queen’s Hunter, Ahkahtuz, Mask Bearer, Dragonguard, hero of Anequina and Pellitine. Rin had a busy time in Elsweyr.

Based on the outfit I made for her for the zone (I like to make a new outfit for each zone). I want to say the blue came from soul shriven blue dye but I can’t remember right now. I really enjoyed Elsweyr! Not the greatest critical pathing but not everywhere can be Dashaan. Fantastic characters though, shout out Za’ji, I’m putting him in my pocket.

[sage-gamer]

We saved Anequina by defending the moon gate and fought Mulaamnir.

[reyneluvirith]

What's the progress on Morrowind? I'm exploding with anticipation. Also, if you got the maps from somewhere, could you share them?

progress on the Morrowind chapter has been good—over 3k words in it so far!! (also lots on other chapters, including over 2k in the chapter for Anequina+Pellitine, and another 2k across the Black Marsh and Aldmeri Dominion chapters)

not totally sure re: your question about the maps. all my maps are my own work! i have a basemap of my own that i put together based on official maps like the anthology map, in-game map tiles, and some fan-made sources (e.g. i have a soft spot for Tamriel Rebuilt Morrowind, so the Morrowind on my Tamriel map is more similar to theirs than to official maps). i do have a few other map of mine that i haven't shared, but they're older ones that aren't as nice as my current work.

if you're curious, though, here's a super early WIP of the Morrowind map, without any of the actual languages put in it yet (and subject to change with cities and such):

[the-tharns-speak]

While yes, that very much did happen, the agreement does not cover any retroactive actions, and as such I do reserve my right to refer to anyone who threatened me with severe bodily harm and called me exclusively “skeever-spined son of a horker” (and variants) a couple of years ago as “Titanborn”.

Have you ever not been snarky?

In theory, yes, in my very early childhood. But my caretaker used to claim that I was extremely sarcastic for a toddler that hadn't grasped speech yet, so perhaps I had never been not-snarky.

Actually no, wait. There had been approximately a week or so when I made the conscious effort not to be. It was the week I had arrived into the Harborage. Titanborn was very much in her element and made it explicitly clear that I could either speak my mind or keep my bones intact, but not both at the same time.

[jiubilant]

Three minutes before their morning Cyrod lesson, Gerd and her siblings watch a burglar wiggle through the drawing-room window.

They huddle in the doorway, she and Hedda and Helgi, who is only five—and Gitta the gap-toothed kitchen-girl, who, at Magister’s insistence, is allowed to sit in on their lessons. (He’d even bought her a slate.) Helgi hangs, wide-eyed, on Hedda’s skirt. Hedda hugs Gerd’s arm. Gitta stands apart, her face pinched and pale, munching her apron-strings in her anxious, mousy way.

And the burglar slips like a shadow over the sill, landing swift on silent hands and feet. She straightens. She’s one of the furred folk, Gerd notes with a start, who are not allowed inside the city walls: sleek as a squirrel,  her blue eyes bright, her tail sweeping the rug like a lady’s train.

Khajiit, Gerd thinks, hearing the word in Magister’s dry and patient drawl. (He teaches them words that aren’t Cyrod, sometimes.) Khaj, a region in Anequina. Iit, a suffix denoting—

“Morning,” says the burglar.

Then she lopes, earrings jingling, to the fireplace. She fingers the fine throw-rugs. Pats the antique chairs. Picks up, pricking her ears, the polished pelican-skull from the mantel. It occurs to Gerd that she should move, shout, say something—

But it’s Gitta who speaks first, her voice almost a whisper. “Where’s Magister?”

The burglar blinks down at them. She’s slipped her hand in the skull like a puppeteer.

“Magister’s feeling poorly today,” she says. Her voice is an amused, breathy rumble, like a panther’s purr. “Morbs. But he’ll be back here Morndas next”—the skull sagely nods—“so you’d best mind me mordacious-like.”

“Morbs?” Hedda’s brow furrows. “Is that like mumps?”

“Eh,” says the burglar. Rather than stashing the skull in some sack—which is, Gerd thinks helplessly, what a burglar ought to do—she thumbs a smudge from its bony cheek, then gently replaces it. “Makes you salt your coffee, is all.”

Gitta clears her throat. Her voice comes out a squeak, now. “Who are you?”

The burglar, after a moment’s grave reflection, draws herself to her full height.

“Today,” she says, lifting her chin like a Cyrod orator, “I’m your tutor. Salvete, discipuli.”

The children stare at her.

“I know,” says the burglar, “you don’t answer me da like that.” She clears her throat with a self-important air, her tail twitching behind her, then levels a look at them like a lance. “Salvete, discipuli—”

Four small voices, catching the hint, sing out in timid unison. “Salve, Magister.”

“There, now.” The burglar—who had, Gerd notes with wary fascination, called Magister da—looks pleased. “Quid agitis?”

The response rises baffled, but louder than before. “Satis, bene.”

The burglar nods, satisfied.

“Best call me Magis-trix,” she says. Then she grins, like a cat, with just her eyes. “On account of how I’m tricksy, see?”

The children stare at her.

“S’the feminine form,” says Magistrix, then waves them off. “Feh. Show me your slates.”

* * *

“Be off,” she says an hour later, dismissing them with a flick of her tail. “Begone. Best take your time on those translations, or I’ll be back.”

Some progress, she thinks with satisfaction, has been made. Grave Gerd, her hair parted in neat plaits, can conjugate irregular infinitives; curly-headed Hedda, who scowls at her slate while she works, can cuss in three new languages; wee Helgi, whose ears stick out like oars, can write the alphabet without wobbling at all. And, the rum-kate called Magistrix notes with a smug smile, they’d all laughed at her last joke.

All but Gitta, chewing her apron-strings again, who creeps up to her as the others tumble out to play. “Magistrix?”

“Reckon I’ve outlived that appellation.” She gives the girl a swift, sly smile. “Call me Shiv, mouse—”

“When my fa was feeling poorly,” Gitta says in a rush, her face white as the foamy frills of her classmates’ dresses, “we’d make him a posset.”

Shiv blinks down at her.

Then she sinks to one knee—slowly, so that the little squeaker won’t start. “A whassit?”

“A posset.” Gitta, her slate tucked under her arm, wrings her ragged apron. Her eyes flick to the fine curtains, then the fire, then the floor—everywhere, thinks Shiv, but to her face. “Two parts boiled milk, one part ale, and honey if you’ve got it—why’d you come in,” she adds in the same breath, “through the window?”

Shiv, without so much as a whisker-twitch, takes silent stock of the child: her hair, creeping sweaty from her cap. Her hands, twitchy. Her apron, too small, spattered with soupstains and pot-polish. She must run up from the kitchens, thinks Shiv, to show at her lessons on time.

“Them as guard the gate,” she says to the girl, quashing a sharp, sudden pang in her chest, “gave me the stink-eye. D’you come in that way, mornings?”

Gitta, recognizing the joke, almost giggles.

Then she shakes her head, her eyes sober and wide, and says what they both know. “I’m not allowed. I use the servants’ door.”

Shiv nods. She studies the girl’s timid, tired face.

“Even so,” she says, very gently, “folk like you and me, who en’t good enough for the front gate”—she taps the child’s slate with a curving claw—“we find a way in.”

Gitta stares at her. Her little forehead, smudged with grease, creases.

Then, astonishingly, she smiles—hesitant as a candle, and as bright. “You’ll—you’ll try the posset?”

Shiv thumbs the smudge from her brow. “Possetively.”

[tastesoftamriel]

Five Claws Lodge

The authentic flavours of Elsweyr and Argonia, right in the heart of Leyawiin

Morndas

Murkmire-style tandoori guar, with mango chutney and rumali roti

Tirdas

Hot and creamy Anequina beef curry, with sweet coconut-stuffed flatbread

Middas

Stir fried moon sugar noodles, with grilled Blackwood snails and local vegetables

Turdas

Smoked Blackwood heron, with vegetables and fragrant pandan rice

Fredas

Five-spice pulled beef and grilled vegetable stew, with garlic butter tandoori roti

Loredas

Argonian ale-battered frog legs, with sweet and spicy butter dipping sauce

Sundas

Pellitine-style spiced cheese and beef-stuffed flatbread, with black tahini salad

[defectivegembrain]

[ID: Three screenshots from the Elder Scrolls Online. The first shows an achievement completed 04/07/2024 (day/month/year format], reading:

Adventurer Across A Decade

Achievement points 50

Journey through a decade of characters and stories by completing the achievements listed below.

Underneath it lists each achievement with a tick next to it:

Hero of the Aldmeri Dominion

Hero of the Daggerfall Covenant

Hero of the Ebonheart Pact

Radiant Champion

Craglorn Completist

The God of Schemes

Kingmaker

The next screenshot continues:

Broken Wheel

Silencer

Champion of Vivec

The Burden of Knowledge

The Good of the Many

The River of Rebirth

Champion of Anequina

Return of the Dragonguard

Champion of Solitude

Protector of Markarth

Champion of Blackwood

Hopeful Rescuer

Champion of High Isle

And the final screenshot continues:

Firesong Extinguisher

Champion of Apocrypha

Champion of the Gold Road]

Thank you zos for so completely documenting how much time and money I have spent on this game

[madamefluffnstuff]

I have since decided; here's a list of all of my current ESO characters!

------

 1. Ebonymist - My main and longest running Vestige. She's a Khajiit Nightblade with a black tabby coat and baby blue eyes. Eye of the Queen and Champion of Anequina and Blackwood. Bows and arrows are her specialty, along with alchemy (specifically Invisibility potions) and lockpicking. However she's not part of the Thieves Guild or Dark Brotherhood. 

She's a very sweet and motherly Khajiit who firmly believes in the Found Family trope. Her friends are her family, her gaggle of pets are her family, Taznasi and co. from The Stitches are her family, etc. Her most recent "adoptees" are Fennorian, Ember, and Isobel. Razum Dar and her were as close to being a couple without actually being a couple. Now Ebonymist is working up the nerve to confess her feelings to Bastian Hallix. 

She tends to be more on the sentimental side, holding on to anything of value (like her Urn from Coldharbor, a shield that was gifted to her by a friend who fell in battle, Jakarn's dagger he gave as thanks for helping, the like).  As well as pretty much any remotely shiny object or fascinating knick knack she finds. She collects.

2. Brenda Steel-Heart - Tall, blonde, can hold her mead, and can swing a greatsword with the best, Brenda is a Nordic Dragonknight warmaiden. She is fiercely loyal to the Ebonheart Pact and her homeland of Eastern Skyrim. In fact Brenda's loyalty is so strong and she's helped the cause so much, Prince Irnskar has dubbed her "The King's Arrow".

The concept of family and friends is weird to her- she doesn't remember her biological family (since Mannimarco wiped her memories), and she moves around so much she doesn't have time to make friends. Instead she considers her fellow Pact soldiers her Shield Brothers and Sisters. Centurion Gjakil and his wife Irna are the closest thing Brenda has to a "family" family, after she helped save their farm. (And her dogs, of course! All five of them.)

As far as romance goes, her heart is open. Woman or man, lady or lord, Dunmer or Nord, she doesn't care. Strangely enough she has a thing for Dark Elves. Specifically one Morag Tong assassin. Which would definitely be breaking some protocols if word got out, so they have a long distance relationship and exchange letters as often as they can.

3. Ursalie Fanstiana - Bretons are known for their innate ability for magic. Ursalie is no exception. She is a skilled mage in her own right, though she is just starting out and getting her feet under her. "Dark" magic and crystal magic seems to be her specialty, but she has been known to summon the odd unstable minor daedra or two (whether its intentional or not is unknown). 

She is terribly shy and has always had trouble making friends. Her summoned familiars are her more preferred company, though she's been making more efforts to open up more. Unfortunately her lack of experience in friendships has led to a few mishaps of not reading the room; Poor Ursalie has fallen for Jakarn's silky smooth words on more than one occasion, and Darien Gautier's shameless flirting has had her staying up overthinking conversations more times than she cares to admit. Crafty Lerisa has been helping her though.

Ursalie is the least developed of my Vetiges, as I haven’t played much of the Daggerfall Covenant storyline yet but I still adore her.~

4. Reldaleyna and Peliion - Reldaleyna comes from a long line of respectable  Altmer mages. From a young age she excelled at the arcane arts, and was trained by her grandparents in the art of upper echelon etiquette and borderline royalty manners. She is very popular amongst her family's circle of nobles. 

Peliion, on the other hand, is a feral gremlin of a Wood Elf with absolutely no concept of social graces or presence of manners. He claims he was raised "in the woods" (which would not be entirely unusual for a Bosmer, but he also claims he was raised by wolves). Thankfully very few people take his claims seriously.

They are dating and very much in love. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special thanks to @gortrash @arisenlicious and @alaxon <3

[ja-khajay]

Well, if you're taking questions on Beyond Skyrim...

What is the most basic, least spoilery description of the plot and situation of Eleswyr?

I'll answer for our pre-release and not the main game, as we are not working on Pellitine!

Our pre-release focuses on two cities: Rimmen and Riverhold, each with their own quests, and the neighboring regions.

Rimmen, like the name hints at, is populated by humans, descendants of a sect that followed Reman, who were granted asylum cross the Cyrodiil border and established a city-state there. Their culture grew distinct from the imperials' and holds the akaviri to special importance. They got very rich by controlling natural ressources who's nature they keep hidden, and eventually started terrorizing the local khajiit by their slave trade. The current state of Rimmen is of a grand city build through cruel means, who is struggling to find allies in other people because of their practices, who simultaneously fears and wounds the neighboring khajiit clans who want to end them.

Riverhold is comparatively peaceful. At the border with Cyrodiil and on a slow riverbank, it's in the middle of a fertile region dominated by wheat fields. The town shows a blend of khajiit and imperial culture. The town is in the middle of a few factions - the empire, the dominion, Rimmen and the rest of Anequina all want a piece of that cake but the town lies in statis, slowly decaying and with a lack of a proper identity. Nobody wants to abandon the town (yet) but nobody's there to stand up for it either.

As for the big Main Quest™ for the final full mod, we plan to center it on the void nights, their consequences on Elsweyr, and include a bunch of khajiit lore classics like the moon gates and dro-m'athra 😺 🌙