#Lunar Lattice

[dawns-beauty]

Lunar Lattice Tweaks has now been fully released!

So have the presets, you can get them here

If you haven't seen my dev notes, read below for all the changes

Lunar Lattice Tweaks is an attempt to give the Ohmes-Raht race from the mod Dagi-Raht Race Reborn (aka Lunar Lattice) higher quality assets.

It converts the heads to High Poly Bosmer heads, with a choice of 6 different ear types, with optional Khajiit-style earrings.

There are new eye textures and meshes, that include a lot of modern fixes and afaik a unique subtle glow method that doesn't lose the cubemap shine.

There is also a upgrade to the teeth, hair, and facetint textures:

I've also added optional skin retextures for Vanilla, CBBE, and SOS:

I've also added some new eye colors and complexions, including for vampires (which look best on my retexture imo):

On the separate page, I've released 8 presets for the race:

[my-tamriel-now]

Lunar Lattice Tweaks Presets has been updated!

There are some tweaks to make the ears work better and fix some of the eye issues.

[lunarthing159]

Introducing;

All My Current SMP OCs

In Order; We Have:

Lunar Alarese - Friendships As A Threat

Harold Cassius - Is A Threat (Likes Baking)

Clinn Lattice - Menace

& Castor - HIMBO. Zero Thoughts, Head Empty, Braincells? None., Just Vibes.

[southernfoodtournament]

this tournament (and all the talk crossing the dash abt southern food) has me praying I find grits in the cabinet so i can have some for breakfast

Willing your grits to appear...

[varlaisvea]

’this one’

ok i am kind of a dork about ta’agra. i am a ~linguist by education, and in eso, ta’agra has definitely gotten the most love out of all of tamriel's languages, enough such that it has understandable grammar and root words. (enough such that you can kiiind of figure out a general idea of what zerith-var is saying a lot of the time!)( if you've read the amount about ta'agra that i have!) (a normal fanfic writer amount, which is obiously a lot but, as with all elder scrolls lore topics, is insignificant compared to the real ta'agra fans out there). (but for real imagine being a language dork and having a video game give u a lil language dork treat for being a dork about its made up language. elder scrolls babey.). i’ve always been interested in how khajiit refer to themselves, because they have multiple ways of doing so, and—this being the elder scrolls—the choices people make in this regard are culturally meaningful. someone may say “I/me” or “this one” or their name/nickname, and the choice says a lot about the character, their background, and their mindset.

"this one", as a phrase, actually has deep and nuanced historical, cultural, and linguistic lore. because this is the elder scrolls.

as far as personal pronouns, zerith-var and the characters in his flashback stories only use I/me to refer to themselves. one could simply assume that language usage changes over time (khajiit in the 4th era in skyrim, don't really use it, for example). but, this being the elder scrolls, of course this (ultimately extremely minor) lore discrepancy is explained: zerith says “this one” is a more accurate translation for the way the personal pronoun (I/me) is used in the modern day, but it’s completely absent in his time. he doesn’t like “this one” at all: he observes that while ta’agra and cyrodiilic have mixed significantly over time, in his era, they were ‘mere acquaintances.’

so, it's an effect of khajiit mixing more with the rest of tamriel after a few decent centuries without a major war or catastrophic plague, but it's also more than that. languages are frameworks that both inform and convey the speaker's cultural perspective, and using "this one" reflects a desire to express something that "I/me" does not. in terms of how the word is used grammatically, the translation of “ahziss”, the ta'agra personal pronoun, is most accurately “I/me/my." but the literal meaning of "ahziss" is more accurately "this one" or "one person [of a group]" (although canon vs fanon is murky here). so, implicit in the ta'agra personal pronoun is the fact that the speaker is part of a whole—ie, they are saying me, this particular member of the group (the khajiiti people), or this particular khajiit (me). i imagine this is why some khajiit use "khajiit" as a personal pronoun; that also seems like a pretty reasonable approximation of what it sounds like "ahziss" means. this being the elder scrolls, khajiiti mythology also reflects this concept of the individual always being a part of the whole through the lunar lattice—you can see why it might be important to someone to convey something like that in their speech, when referring to themselves.

if this were not the elder scrolls, the lore related to this phrase might end at grammar and history (or well before that), but we are playing a game franchise whose name itself references the truly absurd amount of lore it has. so obviously we must consider the modern usage of the term, in order to really round out the lore about 'this one.'

nobles, like Khamira and Gharesh-ri, tend to speak with a distinct upper-class accent, and exclusively refer to themselves as I/me. The same is true of many scholars, mages, and wealthy people. this seems to suggest that well-educated, wealthy, and cultured khajiit are speaking a more "proper" tamrielic. southern elsweyr is more cosmopolitan (at least the parts that remain, which are largely cities), and people from the south tend to consider themselves more worldly and refined than their northern counterparts. accordingly, this 'upper class' and 'more tamrielic' manner of speech seems associated with a southern accent. this is consistent enough in the game that you can hear the torval curiata in zerith-var’s quests speaking with a southern accent, but using ‘this one’, and it’s kind of jarring.

currently elsweyr has been devastated by the knahaten flu, but historically the south was a wealthy, multicultural coastal trading economy (plus skooma and elegantly organized crime). the north has always been largely badlands inhabited only by baandari nomads, with a more modest agrarian trading economy in the two (formerly three) cities in the north, which are constantly invaded by cyrodiil over the centuries, and cut off from the rest of elsweyr by a massive canyon (and now also a condemned city). so (sorry to any non-americans but i can only make analogies referencing places i know), the north is like if vermont was an ancient desert with dragons in it, while the south is like if bethesda maryland was a post-apocalyptic jungle w/ dragons in it.

soo lower-class, rural, and less-educated khajiit, as well as khajiit from the northernmost part of elsweyr, seem more likely to use 'this one', and there's a lot of overlap in those groups. it's just part of the way people talk-- many people seem to use 'this one'/'I'/their name to convey shades of meaning. using "this one" or your name both require consequently referring to yourself in the third person, which has a much different vibe than referring to yourself in the first person. using your full name, or your name plus your title, or your nickname, or "this one" all have different vibes, and say different things about how you would like to define yourself in that moment. different people mean different things with their choices, but your choice can convey levels of intimacy, public vs private speech, formal or informal, etc.; it's all about feeling and personal preference.

razum-dar is probably the khajiit you talk to the most, and he is interesting to pay attention to--he is as calculating in his use of language as he is with everything else. to the player and to queen ayrenn, he mostly calls himself "raz" (suggesting that's what he uses with people he considers friends), and he usually only uses "I/me" when he is expressing a genuine emotion--ie, almost never. he uses "this one" to humble and formalize his speech when speaking to nobility or in an official capacity, but he also defaults to it when he's in the field. he is impressively cultured, well-read, and politically savvy, but he keeps those "this one"s generous when talking to others, especially high elves. being from merryvale, he has a fairly obvious northern accent, so he is happy to play the part of the lazy redneck sleaze he knows people will presume him to be--he counts on people underestimating his intelligence, and uses it to his advantage.

when the elder scrolls is great, it's because they don't shy away from depicting eg racism, they make their racism function accurately within the culture they have created, and the in-universe racism is fully baked right into "this one".

the cyrodiilic perspective is the in-universe cultural norm in tamriel, and the cyrodillic idea of what a khajiit is like would be informed by the khajiit they would most often interact (and racism). that would be farmers from rimmen and riverhold at a grain market, or baandari traders, who talk and act even more Like That and are even more ~exotic. so, it makes sense that an exaggerated northern accent with copious "this one"s is often used as a sign that someone is being lazy, dishonest, false, or patronizing. think of Pacrooti and Fezez; both have the obsequious khajiiti huckster manner of speaking, underscored by every over-the-top khajiiti idiom in the wiki. They never say "I" or "me", which means they are always referring to themselves in the third person, which in English implies deception. it tacitly admits you are using a persona with some separation from yourself and a good amount of falseness, especially if you let slip that you understand the concept of "I" well enough to insincerely call a stranger to whom you are trying to sell something "my friend." (Fezez even uses "khajiit" as a personal pronoun, which is part of the persona in his case, but also people still do talk that way a sometimes--it seems to be old-fashioned; mostly used by elderly folks, baandari, and people in truly remote backwaters.)

i feel like you can see what zerith var disliked about 'this one'. like, even setting aside the fact that as a person, he cannot comprehend a definition of 'I' that does not already contain within it the concept of the lunar lattice (which is azurah's love, which connects all khajiit to one another, even the ones whose souls were thought beyond saving.) like you can see where that alone would be incomprehensible to his understanding of his own existence. but even aside from that.

he is observing how people treat each other in this time, both good and bad. so he must see the ways khajiit experience racism, and how that racism differs from place to place. his life was such that he never even had to consider the unthinkable question of how to convey what 'I' means to you, let alone how to convey that in a language you now must speak for your own survival. like how do you explain 'when I am talking about myself, I mean me, this person who is honored to be part of an eternal whole, and so completely humbled to be a link in that lattice that they must speak of themself in the third person.' and like, my mans understands how they got there, but he also sees it getting mocked and associated with all the negative stereotypes of modern-day khajiit. which he also cannot help but see reflected in the actions of khajiit, both because he is now experiencing a multicultural society for the first time ever and thus seeing khajiit through an observer's eyes for the first time, and because you totally actually do meet plenty of khajiit who lean into that persona, in fact most khajiit in any type of merchant or service role, anyone who is trying to sell you something, throw some of it into their personality.

and now despite the fact that he is a two thousand year old monk with the power to resurrect the damned in order to offer them true peace, and he has been here for like twenty minutes, he's already felt the weight of 2000 years of history and 2000 years of racism by having to contend with the existence of that phrase. i get why he's like 'nah not for me'

anyway surely this is a normal amount of things to know and ways to feel about a simple phrase in a fictional language!

[dynamite124]

Does Tally acknowledge modded races like the lunar lattice ohmes raht? or is a patch needed for that? hope you don't mind me asking! just wanted to know if I need to make a patch for it

Right now, Taliesin doesn't recognize modded races, except during his introduction quest. But I would really like to make a patch for "Lost Races of Aetherius".

I think for another breed of Khajiit might require "Race Compatibility patch" for him to recognize breeds such of Ohmes-Raht or Lunar Lattice.

[exceedinglygayotter]

So I've been reading a lot of Elder Scrolls fanfic recently, and I noticed that it's fairly popular to write crossovers with Dragon Age, specifically to have the author's version of the Last Dragonborn fall into Thedas at the start of Dragon Age: Inquisition and become either the Inquisitor or a companion of theirs.

I've never played Dragon Age (massive CRPGs just aren't my thing), but the idea is a really interesting one. How would Dragon Age characters react to someone who is clearly capable of magic, but has no connection to the Fade because that's just not how magic works on Nirn? How would a Skyrim character react to being thrown into a world that is so superficially similar to their own, yet so fundamentally different, with dragons, elves, and dwarves that bear only the slightest resemblance to what they're used to those words meaning?

Anyway, I had a neat idea for one of these, but since I'm sure I'll never write it I figured I'd post it here. I just think that there's a lot of potential in making the character who gets trapped on Thedas be an ohmes khajiit.

If you don't know, khajiit can be born into one of 16 different "furstocks" depending on the phase of the moons when they are born, ranging all the way from talking house cats (the alfiq) to 10-foot-tall tiger-men (the pahmar-raht), with the ohmes pretty much just looking like elves to the point that many ohmes tattoo more feline features onto their faces in order to make it more obvious that they're khajiit. This means they'd be able to blend in relatively easily since they could just pass themself off as an elf, but would still be a member of a species completely alien to Thedas. Humans are just humans, and even mer could be thought of as basically just weird elves, but there's nothing even similar to the khajiit.

Furthermore, the moons of Nirn are extremely important to every part of khajiiti society from their government to their religion, and this would mean they'd be thrown into a world where those moons just... aren't there. The very sky of Thedas would be alien to them, and a khajiit would be the most affected by that out of all of Nirn's cultures.

On a more metaphysical level, khajiit are innately tied to the Lunar Lattice, which is basically the khajiiti name for the barrier separating Mundus from Oblivion and Aetherius. Azura is worshipped by them as Azurah, a "keeper of all gates and keys, all rims and thresholds," and it's implied that Azurah created the khajiit to help maintain the Lunar Lattice in some way. Seeing as the main plot of DA:I is heavily focused on the Veil between the mortal world and the Fade, you could probably do some very interesting stuff with a character who has an innate connection to a similar metaphysical barrier.

I understand why nobody's done something like this (at least as far as I'm aware), since a lot of people don't even know that the different furstocks exist and ohmes haven't been playable since Arena, but I feel like you could do some really fun stuff with it.

[queencj09]

What kinds of pie do you think the tsams characters (any assortment of them) would like? -⛈️

This is what I think they would be

Sun - Grilled Peach Pie

Moon - Blueberry Lattice Pie

Eclipse - French Silk Pie

Lunar - Fluffy Mexican Chocolate Mousse Pie

Earth - Air Fried Strawberry Hand Pie

Ruin - Boston Cream Pie

Nexus - Blueberry Cream Cheese Ghost Hand Pie

Dark Sun - Sweet Potato Pie With Maple Bourbon Whipped Cream

Jack - Pumpkin Pie

Dazzle - Peanut-Cashew Marshmallow Pie

[purpleautismhorse]

some redesigns of reaaally old pony ocs of mine! some of my first pony ocs, actually. from left to right: lunar lattice, quills 'n' swirls, dappled caramel, and fortune flower

[gotham-mothman]

What's your favorite moth?

UH OH ITS MOTH TIME!!!!

okay so here we go:

some simple patterned moths that bring me joy:

Fox Moth:

The British Fox Moth - so pretty! its little antenna sdoohffoguh

Antler Moth:

beautiful patterns + so smol (24-34 mm wingspan!!!)

Nut-tree Tussock:

10/10 name, BIG SCARF

Latticed Heath:

majestic, simple, so confused about photographers

ODD SHAPED MOTHS MY BELOVED:

Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth:

bee mimic-bee mimic-bee mimic + PRETTY EYES

Lunar Hornet Moth:

not furry! littol guy so stronk i love them

Thrift Clearwing:

ifuckignlovethisthingijsiduha9guha

Firethorn Leaf Miner:

lomg boi

NORMAL BUT FANCY COLOURED MOTHS:

Common Emerald:

so green!! my beloved

Dew Moth:

warm and soft like butter

Leopard Moth:

fluffy guy!! pretty white wings with black spots

Purple-bordered Gold:

so pretty colour combo!! regal littl guy

The Herald:

AWESOME NAME + LOOKS LIKE AUTUMN LEAF SO AWESOME

The Vestal:

ANOTHER NAME!! ALSO varies from being white or pink and asdhioufghig

Merveille du Jour:

name means 'wonder of the day', another awesome colour combo

Purple Thorn:

inspiration of the latest mothra design so cool looking

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Novel strategy proposed for massive water production on moon

Water plays a crucial role in human survival on the lunar surface, thus attracting extensive research attention. Prof. WANG Junqiang’s team at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has recently developed a new method of massive water production through reaction between lunar regolith and endogenous hydrogen.

 Research results of previous lunar explorations, like the Apollo and Chang’E-5 missions, have revealed the widespread presence of water on the Moon. However, the water content in lunar minerals is extremely low, ranging from 0.0001% to 0.02%. It remains challenging to extract and utilize water in situ on the Moon.

“We used lunar regolith samples brought back by the Chang’E-5 mission in our study, trying to find a way to produce water on the Moon,” said WANG.

The study revealed that when the lunar regolith is heated above 1,200 K with concave mirrors, one gram of molten lunar regolith can generate 51–76 mg of water. In other words, one ton of lunar regolith could produce more than 50 kg of water, which is equal to about a hundred 500-ml bottles of drinking water. This would be enough drinking water for 50 people for one day.

In addition, lunar ilmenite (FeTiO3) was found to contain the highest amount of solar wind-implanted hydrogen among the five primary minerals in the lunar regolith, owing to its unique lattice structure with sub-nanometer tunnels.

In-situ heating experiments indicated that hydrogen in lunar minerals is a substantial resource for producing water on the Moon. Such water could be used both for drinking and irrigating plants. In addition it could be electrochemically decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen, with hydrogen being used for energy and oxygen being essential for breathing.

These discoveries provide pioneering insights into water exploration on the Moon and shed light on the future construction of lunar research stations.

Results of the study were published in The Innovation.

IMAGE: The strategy for in situ water production on the Moon through the reaction between lunar regolith and endogenous hydrogen. Credit Image by NIMTE

[dawns-beauty]

Upcoming Update: Lunar Lattice Tweaks Full Release

Helloooo Ohmes-Raht enjoyers!

First off, HUGE thanks to @littlemissf for helping me fix a lot of issues I was struggling with, and for being super nice and patient with me! I would not have done the full version without you!

Secondly, this mod will not work automatically with current Lunar Lattice characters. With a little effort, I have been able to update some presets. I had been considering writing a tutorial on how to port your old character heads, but ehhhh...

Anyways, what's new?

All old .tri files have been replaced with their appropriate HPH versions: this will fix crashes, issues with sliders, etc. They will no longer have a truly unique morph, however, though original-look presets can be converted

No longer based on the Default morphs: instead, they use Wood Elf morphs. The headparts/RaceCompatibility script have been updated to reflect this. This also means that Wood Elf presets should be transferable.

Removed the HP LLK brows/scars/etc.: they are simply duplicates of HPH and not needed any more

Separated male and female ear meshes. Edited all ear options to sit closer to the new head morph. Stick-out ears look a little better connected now.

Added two new ear options: Small and Small Stick-Out. These are as close to regular elf-sized as I could get.

Changed up the ear selection: I've added the ear types as additional heads in the Face Part slider. This avoids the issue of ear parts stacking/deleting your eyes, while keeping compatibility with other head parts (like beards etc.)

All ears have been converted to BSDynamicShapes and I created .tri files: meaning they should follow some facial sliders and you can now use the Sculpt tool on them. Can't seem to get them to show facetints, unfortunately, so if the ear base overlaps with a warpaint, you may want to sculpt it down

Changed the eyeglow method: instead of using a mesh with a glowmap, the iris mesh now uses the regular environmental mapping and glows via emissive data. This allows for the iris to be cubemapped like the rest of the eye while still glowing

Changed the eyelashes to use the ones from Fair Skin

Adds the LLK hairstyles as options for all humanoids

The main caveat I've found with this version is that the regular elf ears exist under the merlike ones. As long as you don't enlarge them via sculpting or edit the ear sliders, it should be fine.

I am also releasing a new mod with RaceMenu presets for the LLT Full Release. It will have 4 Full Release Style presets, and 4 Classic Style presets that I've converted to work with the update.

Currently, I need to update all the earring meshes, which is going to be a big job.

Full-sized pics under cut (click to enlarge)

[my-tamriel-now]

Mod Update: fixed a lot of issues with the Lunar Lattice Tweaks FOMOD

Will be working on fixing up some issues with the presets next

[feykrorovaan]

Terribly sorry, but due to your post indicating that you enjoy hearing other people talk about their OCs, which was tagged with Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age, I will now use your askbox to ramble about a stupid crossover fanfiction idea I had that I will almost certainly never write but cannot get out of my head and I just need to talk about somewhere.

Anyway, there's a really common trend in DA/TES crossover fics where the premise is basically just "TES protagonist (almost invariably the Last Dragonborn) ends up in Thedas during the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition and either ends up being the Inquisitor or an additional companion to the Inquisitor." The idea is just one of those, with the TES protagonist in question being an Ohmes Nerevarine.

If you don't know, khajiit can be born into one of 16 different "furstocks" depending on the phase of the moons when they are born, ranging all the way from talking house cats (the alfiq) to 10-foot-tall tiger-men (the pahmar-raht), with the ohmes pretty much just looking like somewhat hairier-than-average elves to the point that many ohmes tattoo more feline features onto their faces in order to make it more obvious that they're khajiit. This means they'd be able to blend in relatively easily since they could just pass themself off as an elf, but would still be a member of a species completely alien to Thedas. Humans are just humans, and even mer could be thought of as basically just weird elves, but there's nothing even similar to the khajiit.

Furthermore, the moons of Nirn are extremely important to every part of khajiiti society from their government to their religion, and this would mean they'd be thrown into a world where those moons just... aren't there. The very sky of Thedas would be alien to them, and a khajiit would be the most affected by that out of all of Nirn's cultures.

On a more metaphysical level, khajiit are innately tied to the Lunar Lattice, which is basically the khajiiti name for the barrier separating Mundus from Oblivion and Aetherius. Azura is worshipped by them as Azurah, a "keeper of all gates and keys, all rims and thresholds," and it's implied that Azurah created the khajiit to help maintain the Lunar Lattice in some way. Seeing as the main plot of DA:I is heavily focused on the Veil between the mortal world and the Fade, you could probably do some very interesting stuff with a character who has an innate connection to a similar metaphysical barrier.

As for the Nerevarine part, it's for a few different reasons. Partly because (as mentioned) almost every single one of these fics has the Last Dragonborn and having a different TES protagonist would make it slightly more unique. Partly because a Khajiiti Nerevarine would likely be able to relate to an Elven Inquisitor quite a lot, being hailed as the destined savior of a people who treat most of their respective peoples as subhuman. And finally because the Nerevarine is very closely connected to Azura, with her basically being the Nerevarine's patron goddess.

I don't have a huge number of specific ideas for the plot, but the Nerevarine's presence there would definitely be a scheme by Azura. Azura is ultimately a prideful and egotistical being; not malevolent, but definitely self-centered. In Daggerfall her sphere is vanity and egotism, rather than twilight and prophecy, and those associations are very much still present even in later games. Above all else she desires to be loved and worshiped, so how could she resist a world bereft of gods, free for the taking? I imagine her plan here is two-fold: just like in Morrowind there’s her obvious and wholly altruistic goal (supporting the Nerevarine in his quest to defeat a great evil), and that goal just so happens to further her own ends. She seeks to essentially supplant the Veil; she wants to become known as a benevolent goddess who oversees the barrier between the mortal world and the Fade. Her being there to help the Nerevarine mend the Veil is partly a cover, and the person she’s really interested in is Solas, planning to gain his trust and support by presenting herself as a better alternative to his plan of simply tearing down the Veil. She/Moonshadow (since Princes pretty much are their realm of Oblivion) would serve as a twilight realm, removing the Veil without doing the damage that would result from simply tearing it down. Just like in Morrowind, she’d be a highly morally ambiguous character, never overtly doing anything sinister or malicious, but definitely manipulative and with somewhat unclear end-goals or motivations.

I imagine the Nerevarine would have a very complicated relationship with Azura. Since the Nerevarine is canonically an orphan and she’s “The Mother of All Khajiit,” he might view her as kind of a mother-figure he’s devoted to and desperate to earn the approval of, but feels more and more like he’s being used and manipulated by her (because he is). He will especially feel this way if he knows that he’s on Thedas because of another one of her plans. He probably won’t hate her or anything, and may even have faith that she is acting for the greater good, but will have something of an arc of him becoming less emotionally dependent on her and distancing himself. If he cuts ties entirely, it would probably happen right at the end, and coincide with her finally getting Solas to support her plans.

I know you said you probably won't write out a full fanfiction, but you definitely have the ground work for one. If you ever do, remember that Thedas canonically has two moons,just like Nirn. 😉

Also,I had no idea that asks could be so long, so you taught me something new. ^.^

Thank you for sharing your ideas. This was really interesting.

[rosemorningstar]

Azura’s real world inspirations can be split between hypothetical Dawn and Dusk Aspects. Note that all of these can be purely coincidental and this is all speculation on my part.

The “Dawn” aspect is what i’d say became of the basis for her original appearance in Daggerfall. At that time, she was simply a goddess of vanity and egotism, though I’d argue she was also associated with at least dawn at that time through her “crimson gate” and summoning date being 21st of First Seed(more on that later). To me, there’s an obvious inspiration of Aphrodite immediately apparent, but I think it goes even deeper that it might appear on the surface. Perhaps the bulk of these inspirations didn’t come until later, but I think Azura finds inspiration from two of Aphrodite’s theorized origins as well.

The first is the one most obviously tied to Azura. Inanna is the Sumerian goddess of Love and War. She is heavily associated with Venus aka the Morning Star and is also known as the Queen of Heaven. Some important symbols of hers are the eight-pointed star, a rosette, and a lion. Inanna’s cult would have her become known as Ishtar, Ashtart, Astarte, and eventually Aphrodite as it moved from place to place. Even her associated planet would take the name of her Roman equivalent Venus. Her sphere of influence would also change though, as she lost pretty much all ties to War instead becoming strictly tied to Love and Beauty. Although, she would later regain her ties to the heavens as Aphrodite Ourania.

The second origin is one that’s more theoretical than the first with less evidence overall. It’s that Aphrodite at some time split from Eos, the Greek dawn goddess with both being part of the long lineage of a proto-indo-European dawn goddess called Hewsos. This is notable because other deities within this lineage also lay claim to spring with one recognizable name being Eostre/Ostara. This lines up with Azura’s summoning day being the tamrielic equivalent to the first day of spring: the 21st of First Seed aka March.

Azura combines these two origins to create an Aphrodite that adds influence that she lost over time and mixes in spheres her relative goddesses would later gain.

Her later associations with magic, prophecy, and fate would come from a third inspiration of Hecate. Hecate’s influence on Azura are what I’d call her “Dusk” aspect. Boundaries and transition, Magic and the Moon(s). None of these were in Daggerfall (aside from the aforementioned “Crimson Gate”) but would become central to Azura in later games. I’d say this Dusk aspect is best shown in Khajiit lore and is solidly Azurah in contrast to Azura as explored before.

Like Azurah, Hecate was said to hold domain over liminality and thresholds (The rim of all holes). Hecate was also pictured with keys that could unlock the boundaries between worlds which Azurah has a direct nod to in Khajiit mythos. Azurah has also taken the triple body form which can be directly seen in ESO in the Ashen Scar door. Another interesting aspect is that, as well as having three bodies, Hecate was also part of a triple-deity group of the moon with Luna/Selene and Diana/Artemis. This is notable because Azurah herself holds power over the three moons of Nirn.

Another interesting aspect is that Hecate is associated with the underworld and protecting mortals from harmful spirits. Azurah accomplishes both of these. She maintains the lunar lattice to protect Nirn from adversarial spirits and sends her champions into the Void to redeem the Dro’mathra. She also acts as an arbiter of dead Khajiit in this aspect.

I don’t really have a closing or final thesis for this I just thought it was interesting lol. If there’s three Azura’s like there’s three Hecates, maybe the third Azura is just the mixture of both aspects in balance? Idk.

[greyborn2]

WIP Wednesday!

Tagged in by @kookaburra1701! Thanke, thanke!!

Annoyingly just finished the main WIP I'd been working on (third chapter of Lost Things Found) buuuuuut have had a little side fic project. Basically a rewrite of an older thing I wrote (a piece of apocrypha) of my dagonist, Daro Lye, telling her version of the origin myth for Mehrunes Dagon. Soooooo ya! Excerpt of that!

The fire of the camp roared. The moons hung, both full, above the small desert clearing. Most had gone a-bed at this late hour but others… others had stayed awake to hear what tales the traveler that had come into their midst had to tell. The Baandari delighted in stories, and this stranger certainly seemed likely to have her fair share. Even if they’d need to wait until she was ready to share them.

She had come, under blazing midday sun. She had shared nods and smiles with those she passed. Introduced herself as a storyteller and alchemist. Unbothered by blazing heat or the dust from the road that clung to her red robes, she had found herself a seat closest to the then-small fire set up for when night fell. She had stuck her staff – a wicked thing, tipped with moonlike crescent – into the earth beside her and closed her eyes to wait ‘till now with knowing grin.

Now, come night, with crowd gathered ‘round and Jone and Jode above… she uncoiled. Like a Black Marsh frog mid-leap. She unfolded, upwards and upwards from her seated position in a hop-jump to standing. She bowed to those gathered, white eyes glinting red with the flames, and began to speak her story. No introductions needed. Those gathered knew what they had come for – for tales and stories – and the stranger knew this too.

“Daro Lye… this one… is sure you have heard of Merrunz before, yes?” she said. Those gathered offering small nods, for who could not know of the Great Kitten? The destructive one. The four armed red-cat.

“This one knows well your mothers will have compared you to him at least once, yes? When you were little things? ‘Little ja’khajiit, you must have crawled from the deserts of rust and wounds to be so destructive?’, Sound famili-ar? Hrrr, this one is sure of it, but secret is safe with Daro Lye.” She winked, conspiratorially, at that “Perhaps you have even been told of how Merrunz Demon-Cat, third born of Fa-do-mai’s Second Litter, strikes just-so against the Lunar Lattice as raging-beast beyond the moons? Yes. Yessss. Of course. How could any good cat not know these tales?”

She glanced around at those gathered. Knowingly. Slyness clinging to her like a cloak. Leaning against the ground-bound staff to her side. “Well it is time, this one thinks, that Daro Lye told you the full story – of why Merrunz, Leaping Demon King, Daegon, and yes… the Ja’Khajiit… is the Spirit you should hold in your hearts.”

There was a grumbling at that, from some. Particularly those older in the clan gathered around. One or two left – no time to listen to a madwoman preach. Others stayed – perhaps this would be a laugh, perhaps out of genuine curiosity. Perhaps just to see where this went. “In early days there were only two,” she started, holding up two long-clawed fingers as she did so “the cruel and burning Ahnurr, yes? And the dark and loving Fa-do-mai. Day and night. The scorching desert and the shade of respite. You know this, of course. You have been told of the ill-fated love the two shared. Of their first litter… Alkosh, Khenarthi, Magrus, Mara and little S’rendarr the runt? Well, Daro Lye’s tale of Merrunz begins with the Dragon-Cat. Alkosh. First born of first litter.” “The tale you have been told is the simple one. Easy to understand, but not all-true. No, Alkosh was and was-not first cat, Dragon Cat of time. Lie and truth both. Hrrr… perhaps this one should start anew. Tell from beginning. True beginning. Beginning…. hrr… before beginning.”