#Ashlander lore

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Since I'm just going full ham with Arkanis

have all the art that relates to the topic of Incarnates fucking around Kogoruhn.

and a link to the first part (2 is still in beta and 3 is being written)

[mareenavee]

Lean Into the Storm and Hope To Weather It

Happy birthday, @changelingsandothernonsense!! We're BELATED but it's so worth it. Thank you for letting me write fanfic of your fanfic 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂

This one is directly inspired by Arkanis: Teldryn and the upcoming Arkanis: Erra and ... a secret third Arkanis entry. :>

So. Morrow-fic. Sorta. Pre-Morrowind Morrowfic.

It's a little off the rails, featuring Nibani Maesa, and her Aro/Ace QPR relationship (and eventual betrothal and bonding) with Sul-Matuul, her visions, and how Peakstar came to be recognized as one of the incarnates (though, unfortunately, failed.) Also features some easter eggs for Ceth's fic universe <3

Without further ado:

Lean Into the Storm and Hope To Weather It

When earth is sundered, and skies choked black, and sleepers serve the seven curses…

Nibani Maesa shook her head, trying and failing to clear the voice of her grandmother from her ears. It had been long enough since her passing that her family’s grieving was done—yet the pitch and timbre of the raspy, ashen, elderly voice never had faded from her. It was another Sign, one she had withheld from her mother now for months. The less that was spoken on that front, the more likely her sister, Diyanna, would be considered for the sacred position of Wise Woman. This was, of course, folly to wish for. But she would let the wisest of the Urshilaku talk, and pretend they might decide otherwise. Keeping their gaze from her face brought her a semblance of peace—though Nibani knew deep down all would be uncovered eventually. She would need to step into her power sooner rather than later.

She had, after all, foreseen her mother’s death. That, too, was another Sign. It was the heaviest of them, and she had trusted it to only one other—Sul-Matuul. He was her best friend—and perhaps the only true friend she had. When one was marked by the stars as she was, there were few who would look past the perception of power bestowed by her eventual title. But Sul had known the shape of her soul since they were children. Azura knew he’d likely known her across every lifetime. She felt their connection to be a foundational truth of the universe, and had told him as much. Despite her current worries, she smiled at the memory of his response. He’d woven his fingers through hers and sighed in exasperation, only to laugh his agreement at the sentiment. He’d insisted he’d never been one for poetry, or he’d have said it himself.

Nibani was positive that in every lifetime, she’d have to be the one to proclaim such truths—and would do so again, and again.

She set down the basket she had been carrying and smoothed the stray strands of her thick, auburn braids, pulling them back over her shoulders. Sul was there across the plains, sparring with Zabamund—though she wished he wouldn’t. There was a reason Grandmother’s voice would not empty from her mind this day. It was imperative to talk about it. He would try to understand, and would remind her of her strength all the while. For now, he was preoccupied. He had a role to fill, too—he would be named Ashkhan, though the Gods only knew when. It didn’t stop his father from insisting he act as if the title was already his.

To the hearth there comes a stranger, journeyed far 'neath moon and star…

Nibani sighed and looked toward where the sun would be setting, if they were lucky enough to see such things. That there was not an ash storm and she could breathe the air was blessing enough. Sometimes—though rarely—the winds blew favorably. It was a shame for such a day to be tinged by the beginnings of what would surely become a full vision. She needed her friend for this. -> Read the rest on AO3.

[igorlevchenko-blog]

Morrowind: Nix Hound Tamer

Digital painting. Made in Krita. Feel free to repost.

[melchiordahrk]

Apologies. I meant the Erabenimsun of Molag Amur. What of their funerary practices?

For the Erabensimsun, I'll go back to my original concept which inspried the Red Wisdom mod where I associated each of the tribes with a traditional element:

Urshilaku - Earth | Ash / Cairn or Foundation

Ahemmusa - Water | Oblivion / Memory

Zainab - Wind | Storm / Voice

Erabenimsun - Fire | Lava / Destruction

Here's what I wrote about the Erabenimsun:

"Erabenimsun can relatively easily be associated with fire since they live in the Molag Amur region and some of their older members are known to have personalities of a fiery nature. Their burial cavern would have lava pits and magma flows. They place their recently deceased into “heat tubes” to quickly dry out the cadavers. This process imbues the Erabenimsun mummies with a dark, cracked surface. White ash which blasts them from the earth's heat covers the front of the mummies giving them a ghostly appearance. Sometimes their warriors will dawn white ash death masks of their own when going into battle. Particularly with the expectation that they will die."

Obviously the Erabenimsun burial caverns were not shown in Red Wisdom due to time constraints, but this is how I envision them.

[fatherentropy]

don't think I could write for tes like I have for ffxiv

most of the lore is like in super dense books I can't read because I have probable adhd and the whole "maybe the lore isn't correct~" thing is cute until you get well actually'd by ten different people correcting your misconception in a row

[vidvana]

I know that nobody asked, but here's some Telvanni lore for all the foodies.

Before you begin this culinary journey, check out this post about ash yams it's essential.

-----------------------------

Telvanni Cuisine

It’s obvious that Telvanni have an extensive knowledge of fungi.  After all, they live in huge mushrooms and collect and plant numerous species from all across the Tamriel to use them in their potions. It goes without saying that their cuisine is also quite fungal. The commonfolk at Telvanni settlements as most of the Dunmer source their protein both from fungi* and insect meat. But Telvanni nobles love nurturing peculiar worldviews and traditions that differentiate them from other races - or even other Dunmer. One of them is their distaste for anything that doesn’t grow in soil. They frown upon hunter traditions of Ashlanders and stock-raising of house Redoran and regard them as “primitive” in contrast to the delicate art of growing fungi. The alchemy ingredients are an obvious exception from this rule, but in general as their occupations don’t usually include menial work, their light and low-calorie cuisine perfectly matches their lifestyle. This resulted in traditional cuisine of the nobility being solely plant-, or more specifically, mushroom-based**, that contrasts sharply with the cuisine of Skyrim that is rich in venison and other animal-based foods***. Noble Telvanni shun debilitating ingredients such as alcohol and moon sugar in their everyday cuisine, as keeping their minds sharp is their main priority. In order to get an indulgent sweet taste marshmerrow is used instead. Telvanni rarely import vast quantities of vegetables from other provinces as house Hlaalu does. They use commonly grown foods like saltrice, ash yams or mushrooms as the base ingredients of the dishes. In some aspects they prefer to stick to the Dunmer traditions. The nobles, though, indulge themselves in expensive imported berries - not only because of their magic-enhancing abilities but also because of their extravagant taste. As the Telvanni ranks feature numerous alchemists the import of alchemical ingredients is obviously very common. Telvanni chefs gradually incorporated some of the exotic spices into traditional cuisine. Especially valued are the most characterful of them that fancy up the bland taste of mushrooms, such as juniper, ginseng or garlic****. * In real life mushrooms are a rather poor source of protein compared to legumes like beans and lentil. But since there are no legumes in TES universe (at least as far as I know) let's suppose there are some protein-rich mushrooms Telvanni can plant. ** It’s also worth mentioning that I’m a Telvanni-fixated vegan ass myself so that’s a more probable reason why I made my beloved house also vegan xD *** A lovely example of that contrast you can encounter in @thana-topsy ‘s fanfic “Breathing Water”. This would nicely explain Neloth’s preference for apple cabbage stew. **** This recipe for example resembles Telvanni cuisine, it was one of the inspirations from my imaginary dishes above.

Above I’ve come up with some examples of what noble Telvanni would eat on a daily basis.

Thanks for reading that and take care :3

[falmerbrook]

I recently realized I never posted Ramshuribani's reference, but since I modified some things on it today I can now post the updated version I'm a lot happier with (added her earring based on this unused lore tidbit (bottom of the page), switched her main weapon from a spear to a short blade (thus her weird pose), and slightly fixed her colors to look nicer).

She's the sort of companion/follower to my Nerevarine. She's an Urshilaku Ashlander who finds his insistence that he's the Nerevarine silly but endearing, but come to be the first one to actually believe in him. She later tags along with him while he's fulfilling the 4th and 5th trials, and the two of them start a little fling that turns into a full blown romance.

Unfortunately she's not as developed as I'd like her to be right now, but I got a lot of pieces of story set up, so I'm just waiting for the switch to flip in my brain at some point that puts them all together.

[mako-designated-driver]

To celebrate N7 day, some bits of background ME lore you might not know about:

There was a famous batarian pirate (Essul) that was killed by the Spectres after leading 11 blitz and a huge pirate army in the Terminus. Nowadays, young spacers swear they will be the ones to find his lost legendary stockpiles of eezo and live like kings.

There is a garden planet in the Terminus that is nearly impossible to live in, because of its earthquakes, radiation and storms. However, the latter made it a sanctuary for escaped batarian slaves, since it meant no sensors could find them there.

There is an Alliance planet where slavery was technically legalized (the reasoning behind it was that if they abolished the minimum wage, they could rival batarian economy on that system). This decision led the planet to a brutal civil war that broke both sides, but the minimum wage ended up being restored.

The "Leviathan of Dis" (not actually Leviathan, just a reaper) was already referenced in ME1, and had been with the batarian hegemony for years when the game started. This is confirmed by Balak if you meet him in ME3.

There was, somewhere, a horizontally-oriented race.

There is a huge ancient burial ground on Vecchio, but the closest garden world (Volturno) bears no sapient life, and the remains are too damaged to identify who those people might have been

You probably already know about the Raloi, the race that joined the council shortly before the Reaper war. What you may not know is that during the welcoming ceremony, a well-meaning group of krogan representatives tried to introduce a sport called Kowla. There were a lot of injuries and multiple deaths.

The north american football team New York Giants has a krogan quarterback

Do you remember Aish Ashland, the human heiress you could talk to in the casino infiltration? She donated her DNA to the Hollywood bank of fame. Except for the fact it wasn't her DNA at all, it was her (estranged) twin sister's. She claimed it was her way of "of apologizing for a lifetime of stealing her boyfriends and tormenting her".

Kruban is a planet named after a krogan mythological paradise, where a warrior may feast on the guts of his enemies. Every year a few krogans go to Kruban (a venusian hothouse filled with sulfur) to prove their "kroganhood".

Commander Shepard is in a Tupari ad. If you don't know what Tupari is, there's a few buttons in ME2 you still got to press stubbornly.

[changelingsandothernonsense]

a crumb of josh lore? 🤲

Hellooo!!!! Hmmm some Joshi lore. Lets see. The Darts

Josh develops his tobacco habit whilst he's working (indentured) for a Cheydinhal-based branch of the Camonna Tong. It hits a crescendo after he's been sent to prison. In his first years, he's transferred to a tobacco plantation and expected to work said farm as part of his sentence. He ends up squirrelling away a sizable stash to sell to his fellow inmates. It's his shield and his insurance policy. He's roughly the human equivalent of late adolescence when he's thrown into gaol and he knows he's at a massive disadvantage. He can't fight any of the larger guys who might see him harmed...not unless he wants his ribs broken again so he decided to go a different route. He garners respect because he's got something they all want and he really uses it to his advantage. Naturally, he's sampling his own stuff because he can't help himself and was known to just have a 'rollie' shoved in his mouth constantly. The choice to smoke thin cigarettes instead of packing it into a pipe or hookah wasn't really practical and it becomes his preferred way of smoking in the future. In the 19 years he spends working that plantation he sets up an elaborate smuggling system that only gets found out when someone snitches about it. Sure he could have reformed it had he just left things well enough alone but the guy who ratted him out is someone he's had beef with ever since he first arrived at the plantation. It ends in murder. He goes without for the next decade and a half with the odd hit here and there when someone who isn't in solitary manages to get it smuggled into the Imperial prison. He picks his habit back up in earnest after he's released and passes a seller in Balmora's bazaar. He mixes it with other ingredients sometimes, usually for the added alchemical highs. He ends up adding it to Ashlander ceremonies because he's Great Khan now and what he says goes and he simply hates kreshweed. His preference is a heather blend. It's...ill-advised to let him run out of his smoking supplies. He's a tantrum chucker.

[vilda-ravenhill]

I'd like to report that I found every single one of the Stitchie dolls on my own, by looking, in a couple of hours. Spoilers for where they all are under cut, I would kinda recommend st least trying yourself first cus if you know the lore etc its mostly intuitive, but mostly I just wanted to brag a little lmao:

1 - by the primeval tree that's like the "partner" tree with the old one next to the entrance to Devil's Gap. The one we grow from a seed as thanks for the older one helping Lisa out of Pandoria. The one that's like a huge bitch when you talk to her. Directly under that.

2 - right by Ydris' circus.

3 - by Ms Holdsworth's house, by the entrance under the fence there.

4 - in the entrance to Guardians' Dale or rather the entrance to the camping area outside Guardian's Dale where the old models of Alex and the lot are still sitting for some reason.

5 - by the road next to where we help the Dark Riders not blow up a bunch of Draconium during that one quest. Quite close to Guardians' Dale, basically along the road directly under it.

6 - outside Fort Maria, by the bottom of the road up to it.

7 - on the new starting island in Moorland, specifically by the runestone there where you get that one prophecy during the new (free) introduction of the game.

8 - in Doyle's Abbey.

9 - hard to explain but along the Silversong River in Valedale, around where we made the Oil Rig explode.

10 - by the sentinel tree in Wildwoods where Erissa was pulled out of the Brambletween in that one cut scene directly after Oil Rig Explosion Incident.

11 - at the entrance to the Secret Stone Circle.

12 - at the entrance to Pi's lair.

13 - where we first met Erissa, by the sunflower field.

14 - outside the Silverglade castle where Linda was trapped for a bit.

15 - under the Singing Yew on South Hoof.

16 - right up at the closed entrance to Ashlands... How wonderfully ominous.

[igorlevchenko-blog]

Morrowind: Dagoth Delnus of Sixth House

Digital painting. Made in Photoshop in 2015. Feel free to repost, reupload etc.

[melchiordahrk]

A brand new quest mod written and scripted by AFFA aka Douglas Goodall and designed by myself and Greatness7. Made for Modathon's 10th anniversary event.

Embark on a mystical journey as you unravel the ancient prophecy of Red Wisdom. Join forces with wide-eyed Nirani to unlock the hidden truths that lie within the sacred burial sites of the tribes. Explore a new angle to Ashlander lore, confront wild beasts and Daedric interlopers, and piece together the puzzle which may shape the fate of Morrowind.

Along with introducing a new prophecy, this mod also deals with one of my head canons which associates each of the Ashlander tribes to a traditional element:

Ahemmusa - Water

Erabeninsun - Fire

Urshilaku - Earth

Zainab - Air

I hope that you enjoy the mod!

[emmyappleheart]

They're doing to Wildwoods what they did to Dino valley/Ashland.

Honestly, great. Did not like Wildwoods.

Strange habit of sso, dropping an area, making a huge deal, actually shit nvm, forget about it.

diffrence tho, is that that bit of dino valley made sense, it was in and around the lore, wildwoods was... well it was definitely a new area.

[morrowind-geoguesser-blog]

Ohhh, why is Zainab your favorite? Just curious

from morrowind: i liked the trade mission quest because they needed blight cures but they were too stubborn to deal with outlanders about it and i felt that in my soul. I also liked the character Kummu, who is found in the Erabenimsun camp but has a yurt in the Zainab camp. whats she doing there? is she visiting? thats nice. it leaves room for imagination.

in lore: i like their style! seriously, the kwama wax jeweled cuttle, the banner, the JEWELRY. while i don't play ESO and am not a very big fan of ESO, i do consider it canon and i liked the dimensions it added to ashlander culture. Theyre also the OG Grazeland ashlanders, and the grazelands are one of my favorite areas in Morrowind, other than the Red Mountain region.

personal: first ashlanders i met when i was a kid playing the game for the first time. generally nice and had no established enemies. they seem chill!

[banditoutdraws]

Finally finished this full body of Miss Taren.

Lore fact number 1: She is the daughter of an ashlander woman and a telvanni wizard, worried about nothing at all but obsessed with knowing the cure to all poison...

[nientedenada]

TES as Historiography Simulator

I was going to write a post about playing at Historiography and TES but then I realized I was mostly recalling stuff that /u/Misticsan wrote on Reddit. So why not just quote them?

TES lore is probably the closest you get to real-life historiography in a video game. That is, the frustrating fascinating process of reading incomplete, contradicting and biased sources to try to reach some facts or establish working theories because you bet a high and mighty voice from above isn't going to state those things for you, with the added bonus of happening in a world where magic, magical dimensions and magical reality-warping catastrophes are real. ESO even added an archaeology mini-game with lots of codexes so that you can feel like a real historian! XD

- /u/ Misticsan on r/teslore

and

The unreliable narrator has been a staple of TES lore for a long time. In fact, it's as old as Daggerfall. The War of Betony was a conflict between Daggerfall and Sentinel, and also the name of two books, one written by the victorious Bretons and the other by the defeated Redguards.

The most famous example, however, has to be the Battle of Red Mountain. It seems that every time someone comes back to it, a new tale is born. We have the Ashlanders' version, Vivec's version, the Nords' version two versions, Tribunal propaganda, an Imperial summary, and even a Khajiit version.

The latest example is probably Ulfric's killing of Torygg. Ask people about rumours, ask the courtiers in Solitude, heck, ask Ulfric and Torygg themselves, and there are still conflicting details all over the place.

- /u/Misticsan on r/teslore

There are lots of different ways to enjoy TES, but I love playing it like it’s a historiography simulator. The full material isn’t there to do real historiography, of course, but it’s a game with lots of material to work with, if that’s your thing. And it definitely is mine.

It’s also why I don’t enjoy attempts to make Dragon Breaks explain everything. I don’t want everything to always be true at the same time. I want to wade into a sea of contradictions and make a guess what might be really up.