#archmagister gothren

[muttonsnacks]

[oxalisvtesblog]

[brostradamus]

after 293492394 years of not drawing anything i finally drew orvas dren, archmagister gothren + bolvyn venim. i had to crop bolvyn bc i thought the full image was. too saucy but otherwise here. have the fellas.

[nerevar-quote-and-star]

Alvivecia, about Aryon and Gothren: I heard the two of them are close. Is that true?

Divayth Fyr: Close? If you put the two of them together in a cage with a daedroth, the daedroth would have an identity crisis.

[darkelfguy]

Morrowind - The Isle of Tel Aruhn, Home of Telvanni Archmagister Gothren

[ask-neloth]

Master Neloth, as an ex-Ashlander who is only just now being allowed to learn about the Great Houses there is one thing I am curious about. Is there anyone of higher rank in House Telvanni you are beholden to? Anyone you must answer to?

Or are you allowed to do as you please unless you become a nuisance to somebody else?

You have much to learn, though far less than you might have prior to Red Mountain's eruption. The Telvanni Council was splintering before the Red Year, then truly shattered post. So no, there is no one currently who is above me or to whom I answer. When I was apart of the Vvardenfell council in the third era, I answered to Archmagister Gothren, who was insufferable. I attempted to have him assassinated you know, but the attempt failed. (However, someone else succeeded after me, and young Master Aryon took his place. Though this was after I'd already relocated to Solstheim).

I would have gladly and willingly taken the role of Archmagister on Vvardenfell, but that was not my sole motivation for seeing him dead. He was simply too annoying and I could not suffer him to live.

My settlement here on Solstheim has grown significantly in the last several decades, and I expect it to continue. Though I would not outright declare war should another Telvanni Master choose to join me on the island, I would be rather put out. As I have grown older, I understand more and more Fyr's desire for seclusion.

As for your final question, I do as I please regardless of whether or not someone else perceives me to be a nuisance. What is deemed 'a nuisance' to one person is a way of life for another. It's all a matter of perspective, and I certainly won't be stifling my endeavors simply for the comfort of others.

[ansu-gurleht]

"Which canon character respects your OC most? What gained that respect?"—and the following question too. both for ku :)

Which canon character respects your OC most? What gained that respect?

gonna go with a telvanni-focused approach on these! the really obvious answer (and the one i'm going for) is master aryon :3 he had heard of her climbing the ranks in telvanni before they officially met (in my fic "meeting of the minds") and he did some research on her before inviting her to tel vos and decided he liked the cut of her gib. and then they actually meet and he's impressed by how forward and confident she is, and he gradually becomes impressed with both her magical affinity and political savvy, to the point that by the time she's archmagister of house telvanni and hortator of morrowind, he's her right-hand man

Which canon character doesn’t respect your OC whatsoever?

aaaaaand you saw this coming: gothren. but like......he has basically no respect for anyone. but this question doesn't ask why >:) but yeah a lot of it is because she's a strong independent argonian woman. he finds her repulsive on all fronts. he barely tolerates the other telvanni councilors and at no point does he muster a smidgen of respect for ku. and then he died. oh well! there's other archmagisters (namely ku-vastei)

[ciceroandthelistener]

it would be remiss to never consider the political side of othrril and neloth's relationship. othrril was very much the policymaker of the two and always tried to act with the best of intentions despite the monotony of feigning politeness with the other houses who'd have rather seen his head on a pike. embarrassingly unambitious compared to his fellow telvanni. however he still used his position as hortator for the benefit of vvardenfell, tossing his name behind that of king helseth to outlaw slavery before his disappearance. it would've broken his heart to see the empire sink its teeth into morrowind.

neloth, on the other hand, was almost an advisor and almost lobbyist for the reforms othrril put on the table, all while being on the telvanni counsel himself. othrril was too kind-hearted and gave more chances to those who didn't deserve it, letting political opponents such as gothren live when it posed serious risk to his life. always met with pushback when political murder came into suggestion, and in turn maintained a strained alliance with aryon and dratha as to keep eyes on dissenting counsellors from the other houses and to send a tong assassin to chance their minds. however this alliance ended before red year after othrril's disappearance, the reinstatement of gothren as telvanni archmagister, and neloth's departure to solsthiem

[jo-jaska]

Jo'jaska's Diary: 27th of Hearthfire

Tel Branora was not far from the shrine to Azurah where the goddess first spoke to Jo'jaska, so before visiting the other Magisters he hiked over the sea to reach it. It is a good thing that he did, as Azurah rewarded him for his service by granting him her Star, an invaluable artifact for an enchanter such as Jo'jaska. He left an offering of moon sugar and the enchanted ring he took from Sheggorath's servant.

The lady of Tel Mora is a strange one. At first Jo'jaska thought that she hated him for being khajiit, but then he found that it was actually because he was male. Still, some bribes and groveling were all that it took for her to support his claim, and she even gave him a powerful summoning scroll as well.

The lord of Tel Vos was as easy to convince as the rest, though he told Jo'jaska that apparently the real trouble would be the Archmagister, Gothren. Luckily the Telvanni have a very simple method of resolving disagreement, and it is acceptable for Jo'jaska to simply kill the Archmagister. Jo'jaska will have to remember this fact if he ever gets into an argument with a Telvanni.

The Archmagister was as Jo'jaska had been told, delaying and avoiding the topic of Hortator, unwilling to even directly tell this one "no" without great effort on Jo'jaska's part. Jo'jaska had thankfully devised a pair of enchanted items that made quick work of him and his two dremora guards; one to paralyze them and another to steal their life force. It worked perfectly, as the Archmagister likely did not expect to be attacked so openly. Jo'jaska will lose no sleep over killing a Telvanni, and with the Archmagister gone one of the other councilors was able to name this one the Telvanni Hortator.

This one hopes that the other houses will be so easy to persuade.

[oxalisvtesblog]

I used to have insane headcanons about Archmagister Gothren and thought it was an outrage when he was aggressive rather than passive aggressive in TESO.

elder scrolls fans are insane in the way of who else would take a background quest character in an MMORPG and have an entire perception of him as a really in-depth character and then also craft in intricate detail the weird on-and-off again relationship he'd have with one of your OCs who is thoroughly unpredictable and devoted to a mad god that will almost certainly never acknowledge his worship whatsoever because it's funnier

[uesp]

"I can grant you the rank of Master now. That will give you an equal place on the Telvanni Council. But if you aspire to a higher claim, I can also grant you the title of Magister. By accepting the title of Magister, you are announcing that you deserve the title of Archmagister more than Gothren who currently holds that rank... You understand that if you choose the title of Master now, you can NEVER advance further in House Telvanni? You can never again make a claim for Archmagister?"

--Aryon explaining the difference between a Magister and Master of House Telvanni. Despite what he says, he will still allow you to change your mind and become a Magister at a later time.

[orbitaldropshocktroopers]

Severenya sat on a cushion in the dimly lit cornerclub, half watching the smoke twirl and twist around, lit by the few red lanterns that hung from the ceiling. In front of her was a small, low table with a qalyān on top of it, emitting small amounts of smoke from the chimney. She was largely ignoring it in favor of watching her mark. 

He was sitting on a stool by the bar, drinking excessive amounts of sujamma. He had a writ out for him and she was waiting for an opportune time to execute him. The poor bastard.

As she watched and waited for the drunkard to leave the crowded cornerclub, Sev thought back to her unwanted duty to the Emperor of Cyrodiil. Most people in her position would not be as hesitant to become the Nerevarine, the ancient fabled hero meant to cast out the foreign invaders of Morrowind. However, Sev was reluctant to believe a prophecy, and even more so to believe that a prophecy that benefited the Empire in any way was something she had an interest in seeing come to fruition. 

She was, of course, not immune to the draw of power. Her recent rise in House Telvanni was a testament to her desire for such prestige. As a Wizard, she had significant rank in the Great House, but she was not done. As soon as Aryon permitted her to be promoted to Master, or better yet, Magister, she would finally have the power to prevent the atrocities that had happened in her youth from ever touching her again. Or, rather, she hoped she would. 

Naturally, her own ambitions were not what the Emperor had released her for. She still had to report to Caius soon about the Sixth House base she was supposed to raid. Hopefully before he felt the need to send word to her regarding it. That did mean expediting her rise to power in House Telvanni, because she had every intention of becoming Archmagister before doing any more tasks for some Imperial lackey. 

She had strong suspicions that her magical abilities were the only thing left to improve before Aryon decided she was ready to take on the current Archmagister, Gothren. That meant she needed to earn a fair few more drakes to pay for training from a master.

So here she was, in a dingy cornerclub, pretending to enjoy the qalyān. Everything she did was for her own benefit, or so she told herself. And she would do anything to ensure that she had the power and influence to see that nothing bad ever happened to her ever again.

[oxalisvtesblog]

Nerevarine: I did that thing you asked of me.

Neloth: Of course you did. Here's ten drakes.

Gothren: Good, have an overpowered enchanted item. Just don't show Neloth you have it.

Therana: You smell funny. I like spiders.

[tonal-modulator]

Thank you @littlegalerion for posting your OC form that will now occupy my consciousness for a time.

I did one for Iya.

---

Name: Ildari (Llothri)

Any Nicknames?: Iya

Age: born 3E 400 (27 in Morrowind, 35 in ESO)

Gender: usually a woman, with some competing gender experiences from past lives

Race: Dunmer

Place of Birth: Imperial City, Cyrodiil

Sexual Orientation: aro/ace

Current relationship status: arguably in a qpr with Vivec after Morrowind in her "home" time, generally down with kissing her friends with whom she is There

Criminal Record: she was originally arrested (for Nerevarine reasons) for allegedly killing a Blades agent, but she didn't actually do that and was pardoned I guess. Otherwise pretty clean. She doesn't do much that would get her caught and in trouble.

Political Views: somebody's gotta kill Gothren; might as well be her

Places of Residence: in ESO time, she stays with Talvini and Milia in Ald Velothi when she's on Nirn, and otherwise in the Brass Fortress. In her home time, she lives in Tel Uvirith until ~4E 3, then to the nearby mainland temporarily, and eventually to Blacklight

Occupation: Hortator probably loses meaning pretty quickly. She's also technically Telvanni Archmagister which I think she desperately wants to pawn off on someone asap but no one wants it. Mostly she's a researcher and enchanter.

Titles: Hortator And Nerevarine, Vestige, Archmagister, I guess she would be addressed as "serjo" among the Dunmer

Hobbies: this is always hard because I don't know what people in the TES world do for fun. She likes to study magic but she also likes to read and explore and stuff. Honestly she probably developed a newfound like for Fantasy Chess games when she got her Nerevar memories back too.

Interested in Magic? Which schools?: Yes she is very much a mage. Enchanting is her jam but she's pretty well-rounded.

Interested in weapon or hand to hand combat?: She's cool with swords, spears, and daggers. Mostly enchanted.

Interested in robbing Tamriel blind?: Not really.

Earliest Memory: She probably has some very very brief like flashbulb memory of her birth parents somewhere.

Most positive memories in their life?: Not to be sappy but probably stuff involving her daughter.

Most negative memories in their life?: Her first time in the Clockwork City (i.e., the Tribunal DLC).

Do they idolize anyone?: Not really.

Go ahead and ramble off about anything in particular about them you want to share!: Mmmmmm idk I feel like I talk about Iya a lot. I'm not sure if I have any burning topics to mention.

[nerevar-quote-and-star]

Gothren, ready to call Aryon's apprentice a filthy outlander: What is your nationality?

Alvivecia: I'm an idiot.

Aryon: That makes Alvivecia a citizen of the woild.

[too-right-red]

Three Questions for Baladas

Minor spoilers for House Telvanni questline, I suppose.

I’ve recently had a realization that I wanted to share, about the chore that Gothren’s Mouth (Mallon Ryon) gives you - to ask Baladas Demnevanni three questions. It always stood out to me as a strange and deceptively simple quest, even the first time I did it, with possibly more going on than meets the eye. You must locate Baladas and ask him three questions, but Gothren is not interested in the responses to said questions, nor is he interested in whether Baladas even answers them at all. On my very first playthrough, I was naive and thought they must just be buds, and Gothren just wanted to make Baladas think. But I think I have figured out what is going on - I think you are a patsy (possibly one of many given deceptively simple chores) manipulated into helping Gothren flush Baladas out of hiding. Possibly so Gothren can send somebody to kill Baladas.

In my usual long and rambly style, I shall explain why I think so.

There is precedent in-game to suggest that Telvanni politicians flee from Telvanni territory and go into hiding when “forced to retire from politics,” and there is enough evidence to suggest that Baladas is one such Telvanni politician. Given Telvanni tradition dictates that murder of your rivals is a perfectly acceptable means of removing obstacles, flight is a reasonable response. And it makes sense that said Telvanni politician would be a target, even in retirement, because (as we see with Eddie and Baladas) if/when the tides turn then they have a habit of coming back.

Fast Eddie has fled to Balmora, and he tells you quite explicitly that his political career was ended abruptly when Dratha and Neloth conspired against him and forced him out, and that he is now in hiding until things blow over.

Baladas used to serve on the council, but he says he’s sick of the constant rat race that is Telvanni politics. We know from villagers in Gnisis that Baladas arrived there about twenty years ago, and has holed himself up in an old Velothi tower like a hermit. It seems likely to me that Eddie and Baladas were both forced out around the same-ish time, since they are both considered allies/assets to Aryon and therefore I think aligned politically (Aryon asks you to convince Baladas to re-join the council so you and he can have more support and political allies, and Aryon is the one to suggest Fast Eddie to you as a potential protege if you ask for his advice on the matter - so presumably the three share similar politics). By the transitive property, this implies that Baladas and Gothren are political opponents (we all know how Aryon feels about Gothren).

This suggests that about 20 years ago, the Telvanni council had a much larger progressive coalition that was forced out, with Aryon being the main holdout that they haven’t been able to get rid of (unless his rise to power came after that, but >20 years seems about right for how the people of Vos talk about him, so I think he’s just held on).

If/when you find Baladas Demnevanni, he is all the way over in Gnisis - about as far from Telvanni territory as he can get - and he is holed up in Arvs-Drelen with skeletons and daedra patrolling the halls that attack anybody on-sight. On top of that, Baladas is behind a locked, trapped door. This guy is not rolling out the welcome mat. At first I just thought it was because he was a hermit, and literally didn’t want anybody disturbing him, but now that I think he is in hiding, I think he is taking all these precautions to protect his life.

It seems to me now, that Gothren wasn’t even sure whether Baladas was still alive. He wants to confirm whether Baladas is alive, and if so he is starting some of the early moves in flushing him out. That’s what the whole “three questions” thing was about. That’s why Gothren doesn’t care what the answers are, or even whether the questions are answered at all. Just that you can find him and physically speak with him face-to-face.

When you turn in the quest, Mallon Ryon says “So you have spoken with him? And what did he say? Well, no matter. I did not believe you could convince him to answer all the questions. But Archmagister Gothren will be quite interested to know that Baladas is alive and well.” which all of a sudden, sounded so sinister and foreboding to me! I never noticed that possible tone before.