#drayven indoril

[moodiestmags]

Hello I’m currently writing the second last chapter of In a Week. Got thinking of what Gallus/Karliah’s child might look like.

So this is Drayva Desidenius, named after Karliah’s grandfather, Drayven Indoril

[nightingaletrash]

Nightingale Headcanons

Because @lamorellenoire6 and @partyatsanguines asked for it, so be prepared for me to yell about my special interest :)

Being a Trinity means there's little to no formal structure to the Trinity beyond their Agent roles and so every Trinity is different.

Some are only very loosely associated, working together to defend the Sepulcher but otherwise having little to do with each other (ie Drayven Indoril's Trinity)

Others are much more tight-knit groups that vary between operating as a triumvate or having a designated leader to follow (ie the Gallus-Karliah-Mercer Trinity)

Membership amongst the Thieves Guild has also varied much over the years; it became the norm after the Riften branch became more permanently established, but prior to that, Nightingales could come from almost anywhere, provided they had the skill and dedication required.

The Nightingale Hall in Skyrim was the first of its kind. However, as Nightingales began to travel Tamriel, more halls were established across the provinces so that they had secure places to stay and could return to the Sepulcher at a moment's notice in order to defend it.

There must always be a Nightingale in Skyrim, however.

When it comes to choosing new Initiates, it depends on the Trinity. The loose associations will have each Agent selecting an individual best suited to fulfilling their role and then grooming them in preparation to take up the mantel.

The tight-knit groups tend to discuss potential new Initiates, with each Agent having someone in mind who they then personally train to take their place (see Dralsi and Karliah) but if there is a designated leader, they get the final say on whether or not that the individual is initiated into the Nightingales.

The Initiates are kept in the dark as to the true purpose behind their training until it is time for the mantel to be passed on; In looser associations, a Nightingale might reveal their purpose earlier in preparation for a sudden or unexpected death. In the more organised groups, another Nightingale will take it upon themselves to induct the Initiate into the Trinity in the event of an unexpected death.

If a Nightingale lives long enough to reach old age, they can step down from the Trinity and their chosen successor takes their place. Some of these Nightingales still advise the Trinity, while others retreat permanently from their old responsibilities.

Nocturnal doesn't need the Nightingales exactly, not the way they need her, but she formed the group to serve her needs in a more subtle fashion. 

By creating the Ebonmere and using it as a means of housing the Skeleton Key, Nocturnal ensured that there was a source of her influence out in the world - the luck that benefits the thieves of Tamriel at large.

While the Key continued to serve as a reward for those who aided her, the Nightingales serve as a balancing influence. When the Key falls into the hands of a single thief, they benefit exponentially while other thieves begin to suffer from the loss of luck. The Nightingales then retrieve the Key and restore the luck that benefits all thieves rather than just the one. 

In fact, the Nightingales are why no single thief is in possession of they Key for too long, as they steal it back from any thieves or champions who come into its possession and return it to the Ebonmere.

For a long time, it was believed that the Key simply disappeared on its own (or Nocturnal’s) accord with no one being any the wiser about the Nightingales involvement.

After the events of Skyrim’s TG story, the Nightingales become representative of Nocturnal’s influence and its believed that doing a good turn for a Nightingale, whether that's aiding the Nightingale in a job or offering them gold or some valuable trinket, will in turn earn the thief Nocturnal’s favour and a small measure of ‘extra luck.’

Most Nightingales don’t consider themselves to be worshippers of Nocturnal and simply respect her as they might a Guild Master or a very important client as opposed to a god. 

Members of the Thieves Guild have more reverence for her, as they lack the direct connection the Nightingales have, hence the shrine that’s erected in the Cistern. True worship amongst either group, however, is incredibly rare.

After the seduction of Barenziah, the Nightingales became more strict about not involving themselves in political schemes to avoid the risk of being discovered.

No Nightingale has ever assumed the mantel of the Grey Fox... Or at least that’s what the Nightingales think. Any who have are presumed missing or dead and a new Initiate takes their place, which leads to them losing their powers when the new Nightingale drinks from the Ebonmere. 

Nocturnal has never intervened on the behalf of any Nightingale who has become the Grey Fox, and Nightingales who find themselves in such a position presume it is out of spite or is a punishment for donning the stolen Cowl rather than returning it to her. 

These Nightingales still find themselves defending the Twilight Sepulcher in death, and often find themselves serving for significantly longer than those who have never donned the Cowl.

Corvus Umbranox was one such Nightingale and he spurned Nocturnal when his plea for the curse to be lifted was met by silence. In turn, he earned Nocturnal’s spite when he successfully broke the curse and he still defends the Sepulcher to this day.

Traitors, such as Mercer and Corvus, are punished by Nocturnal with silence. She never directly addresses their betrayals to them and doesn’t inflict physical punishments such as torture. She doesn’t force them to beg for forgiveness. Instead they simply carry out their end of the bargain in death, protecting the Sepulcher until they themselves see the error of their ways and ask her forgiveness. Only then will she entertain the notion of allowing them to pass on to the Evergloam.

[fenlirias]

yeah, shitty sketches again

[maniacollisionarchive-blog]

Who gave Karliah her name and why? What does it mean?

okay so after digging through baby names websites and finding nothing that fit (this being derived from carol or carla or whatever and i don’t like that) and not knowing enough elder scrolls lore to make something up about elven/dunmer language to give a definition, i’m pulling the meaning of karliah’s name from this post here which i conveniently found in the karliah tag.

according to that post, the name means “free woman, waited for” and the reason i like this meaning is because karliah was in exile/on the run for 25 years because of mercer’s betrayal, and the idea her name means ‘free woman’ is this great allusion to the fact that she will get her revenge, that she will have her freedom. that she is not going to be silenced. that she will take charge of her life, even if she’s had to live a great portion of it in the shadows of the shadows, stepping so lightly that nobody knew she was even alive.

i like to think her mother gave her the name. we don’t know anything about who karliah’s father is, but karliah was very close to her mother – it was her mother that began her training for the nightingales. i like to think that her mother chose the name karliah because of the second part of the name ‘waited for’, since she herself was the child of queen barenziah and a thief and was not raised by either. though eventually dralsi found her father and ended up marrying karliah’s father, her initial view of family life was not what is considered normal, and so having her own daughter to raise properly was something she had ‘waited for’. 

additionally, i think karliah is notably more… normalized than dralsi, barenziah, or drayven, dralsi’s father. i think that is because of karliah being raised in skyrim rather than in morrowind. furthermore, the iah comes from barenziah, dralsi’s last call to her mother and her royal heritage. and while dralsi maintained her father’s last name of indoril, karliah remains single-named, perhaps to prevent people from attributing her as being the grandchild of the late queen. 

[nightingaletrash]

Nightingales: Drayven

Drayven: yes friends

Nightingales: seduced Queen Barenziah?

Drayven: no friends

Nightingales: telling lies?

Drayven: never friends!

[nightingaletrash]

So the Oblivion-era Nightingales would be Drayven Indoril (the Nightingale who seduced Barenziah), Corvus Umbranox (because you don't have a name like that and not be a Nightingale, like what are the odds that his family were Nocturnal worshippers srsly), and an Imperial from the Desidenius family (as per my own hc).

Drayven was the Agent of Subterfuge, given his aforementioned seduction of Barenziah, and preferred to rely on his charm and charisma to get him what he needed.

Corvus was the Agent of Stealth, preferring to go unseen and unnoticed. He'd believed the Grey Cowl would interplay perfectly with his powers... only for them to be taken away along with all trace of his identity.

Desidenius was the Agent of Strife, preferring to sow discord among their targets and rob them when their backs were turned.

the TES brainrot has set in, thinking about Nightingales again