#dru's tes ocs

[nine-blessed-hero]

OCs - Who the hell is: Cygwen

Universe: 

TES IV: Oblivion (Slice of Life)

What do they look like: 

Cygwen is of average height for a bosmer, around 5'3" (1.6m). She has long auburn hair, kept in a battle braid, and bright green eyes.

She wears a mix of leather and elven armour and carries a large knife and a daedric bow, gifted to her by Rowan (the HoK/ Fighters Guildmaster).

What're they like?

Blunt and forthright. If she has a question, she will ask it. Despite this, she has a lot of empathy and will try to exercise tact, even if sometimes it's rather unsuccessful. She has the patience and stealth of a hunter, and great perception when it comes to shooting rabbits for dinner.

She's a follower of the Green Pact, but less strictly since she's left home.

Who are the prominent people in their life?

Parwen - the one who got her inducted into the Fighters Guild and her main trainer before she moved from Skingrad to Chorrol.

Angalmo - After Talis wants some Shrooms, Cygwen spends some time at the Chorrol Mages' Guild learning more about alchemical plant identification.

Talis - After Talis wants some Shrooms, the two of them strike up an unusual friendship, and she volunteers to keep an eye on him before the events of Talis and the Bilberries.

Can you give us a highlight reel of their life?

Raised by her father, a bargeman along the Strid River, and maternal grandmother until her father was accused of cheating at dice and killed during a bar brawl.

Moved to Skingrad after reaching her majority to live with Parwen, and started working for the Fighters Guild.

Moved to Chorrol on reaching Journeyman, working with Kurz gro-Baroth and Honditar.

Selected to accompany the Guildmaster for the events of Talis wants some Shrooms. 

Based on the success of that outing, works with Modryn Oreyn to start a new cadre of guildmates who can work with the Mages Guild to acquire rare and otherwise dangerous alchemical ingredients.

What points in their life are you writing about?

Mostly things that relate to Talis, so her early years in the guild.

Who are they in real-world development terms?

I had the idea for Talis wants some Shrooms, and Cygwen just rocked up as the rookie in question. Then when I needed Talis to have a guardian during his Bilberries adventure, I decided to reuse her. She doesn't have much development otherwise.

[thescrolls-haveforetold]

Since today is gremlin artist day, may I request any of your OCs (favour towards Valiel, but your choice) OR the ALMSIVI as disney princesses? 😆️

CinderVal<3

and ALMSIVI. but disney

[druidx]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

@inkoherentwriting, @bretongirlwrites, and @wispstalk have all tagged me in this so I should probably do it (this is not a complaint! I love tag games, I'm just think it's funny).

I'm not sure who of my usual list writes fanfic so this is an open tag.

1 – How many works do you have on AO3?

151 in total. Druidx has 107, and my pseud for PodFics, Dru-Pod, has 44

2 – What's your total AO3 word count?

Currently 246,748. (I've got three other large fics in the works that'll bring that up to ~500k when posted.)

3 – What fandoms do you write for?

My main ones right now, by number of works, are:

TES IV: Oblivion

Fighting Fantasy World of Titan by Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone

Starbound

Thunderbirds Are Go (2015)

Those in the past, and that will never grace AO3, are (in order of recency):

Star Wars (Savage Worlds TTRPG)

Sherlock (2010)

Star Trek: Deep Space 9

Discworld

4 – What are your top five fics by kudos?

Technicolour Nightmare (Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)

Flowers and Ice (Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)

Crimson Storm (Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)

Family Treasures (Thunderbirds 2015)

Avoiding the Emperor (Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)

Technicolour Nightmare is a kind of a surprise, because I don't think it's one of my better fics, and was a half-assed kinda throwaway story about a feverish HoK being rescued and cared for. For the longest time the top fic has been Flowers and Ice which never surprised me given that it's very much about Everyone worrying about Martin doing something stupid, and then descends into the HoK worrying about everyone, and ends with the promise things will be better. Avoiding the Emperor is also not a surprise, since it was the very first thing I posted on AO3.

5 – Do you respond to comments?

I try my hardest to, when I get them.

6 – What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Of those posted, it's probably Bitter Winds and Rain, which is about Aderyn not handling Martin's coma well. Young Dagger, False Dream which is drafted but not yet posted, comes a close second with Alexis feeling forced out of the group she thought were her friends after an ideological split.

7 – What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

TIL a lot of my fics have an upbeat ending XD At First Blush takes the win, I think, with Methredhel and Rhiannon's kiss.

8 – Do you get hate on fics?

Gotta get comments to get hate, eh? The worst I had was on Tumblr for No Rose Without a Thorn, where someone was rude about the OC I was writing about (wasn't even my OC - I'd borrowed someone else's which might be why it made me angry).

9 – Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nope. I have tried and tried and decided it's not for me. It's never been published, because it makes me cringe at how bad it is. The most you'll get from me is some heavy petting and a fade to black.

10 – Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Dinner Time is probably the wackiest crossover posted, with the main Trio from Oblivion and some characters from Fighting Fantasy World of Titan. I also started a crossover with the Trio from Oblivion and the main characters from Thunderbirds (2015), but that's unlikely to see the light of day

11 – Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12 – Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I'd be honoured if anyone ever wanted to.

13 – Have you ever co-written a fic?

Not a fic, no. I tried co-writing an original story and it did not go well, and has soured me towards the idea TBH.

14 – What's your all-time favorite ship?

That I've written, I suppose I have to say Martin/Baurus since I've written 26 fics about them... By fave to read though is Bilbo Baggins/ Thorin Oakenshield (Bagginshield). TBH though, shipping isn't something that I really bother with much; Martin/Baurus was for a friend.

15 – What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Her Lonely Shadow is currently the top contender. It's the 'what happens next for Alexis Dalliance' story, set after the end of her campaign and before Elo's campaign. I've been writing it since 22 Apr 2015, it's still on the 1st draft sitting at 174,266 words. I don't feel like it's ever going to be finished...

16 – What are your writing strengths?

Pacing, the balance of prose to dialogue, descriptions, and character voice.

17 – What are your writing weaknesses?

Plotting, subtext, and making sure 'c' grade characters still have some 3d-ness to them.

18 – Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

All for it. I think it's fun for a character who doesn't speak that language to have to figure things out from body language or other social cues, or muddle through with their broken skills. In fantasy it's less risky though, because you can mash words out that sound good, but for IRL languages, you need to take a bit more care. One would hope, however, that if a native speaker has an issue with something I've used Google Translate for, they would mention it in the comments so I can fix it.

19 – First fandom you wrote for?

Discworld.

20 – Favorite fic you've written?

... I'm going to do them by fandom because this is an unfair question XD

Starbound - Home That Our Feet May Leave, But Not Our Hearts

FF/World of Titan - Dead Reckoning Returned

Oblivion - Abecean Blue

Thunderbirds 2015 - Family Treasures

[nine-blessed-hero]

OCs - Who the hell is: Kellandra Rhiannon Lorinda Rue

(A "short" Original Character primer)

➼ Universe:

TES IV: Oblivion (vanilla)

➼ What does she look like?

Rin, like many redguards, is tall, well-built, and has dark skin. She uses a combination of lye and citrus juice to bleach her hair, for backstory reasons.

She's most comfortable in her armour and tends to stick to the Knights of the Nine full-plate mail. However, when she's performing alchemy, she prefers to dress in whatever light robe or clothing is available. Usually, this is her Apprentice Robes (another stain or two won't make a difference), but she's also been known to wear the Light Blue Regalia too, as this is what she considers to be "civilian" clothing.

➼ What's she like?

Rin is very forthright, law-abiding and stern. However, she also has a penchant for not understanding sarcasm, being awkward in social situations, and taking instructions very literally.

Despite being very intelligent, she's not very worldly-wise (unsurprising due to her cloistered upbringing) so she's missing a lot of "common" knowledge. This cloistered upbringing and an abusive father also means she has some self-esteem issues, and often feels she's in the way or taking up time and resources that she shouldn't be.

➼ Who are the main important people in her life?

Marz – As the Healer in the Chapel of Mara, Marz is the one who taught Rin the basics of alchemy, against her father's wishes. Marz was also one of the few positive influences in Rin's early life, and Rin looked to her as a mother figure. Rin was devastated by her death at the hands of Umaril's Aurorans, far more so than when Rin learned of her father's death.

Methredhel – Rin and the thief became fast friends after going out for some "no hard feelings" drinks after their competition to get into the Thieves guild, and have remained close – and maybe a little more – ever since.

Baurus – As a fellow redguard whom she's "allowed" to become close with, Rin looks up to Baurus a lot and often takes his word on redguard culture as gospel.

➼ Can you give us a highlight reel of her life?

A foundling of Bravil, Rin was adopted as a toddler by Soliril 'Rue, a priest of Mara.

As soon as she could hold a broom, Rin's life was duty, subservience, and toil.

In her pre-teens, Soliril enrolled Rin in Castle Bravil's Junior Guards*, so learning weaponry and warfare were added to the already strenuous list of activities expected of her. It was here she saw the power of Alchemy in Marz's hands.

Rin didn't get the courage to speak to Marz about it for another few years. They spoke while at Chapel, and Rin was amazed at the power a few leaves and petals could have. Marz then began techning Rin in stolen moments.

Eventually, Marz thought Rin was good enough to enter the Mages guild. She spoke to Ardaline, the Bravil Chapter Alchemist on Rin's behalf. Ardaline, not knowing this was a secret, spoke to Soliril, who became furious that his "stupid" daughter was trying to learn magic. He flew into a rage and beat Rin. She fled the city and was caught on The Green Road trying to steal food from an Imperial Guard. He took pity on her distress at being taken back to Bravil, so she was dumped in an empty cell in the Imperial Prison.

After meeting Martin, she was plagued with nightmares of his death. That, and her sudden freedom, was what turned her from further helping in the Main Quest for a while. Instead, she finally joined the Mages guild. While in Anvil, she heard the prophet, and back in Bravil she looked through the mysterious door – but didn't stay long**. Likewise, she became ashamed of herself for being drawn by the allure of the Grey Fox and never got higher than Prowler. After taking the pilgrimage again, Rin turned her attention to the ever-growing threat of the Oblivion gates, eventually returning to Martin and joining the Blades in their fight.

* I don't have a better name for what this might be, so hush for now...

** I'm retconning a lot of stuff mentioned in Not Alone to better suit how the character has developed. At some point, I'll rewrite that story.

➼ What points in her life are you writing about?

From the start of the game forward. I haven't really felt inclined to write much about her backstory.

➼ Who is she in real-world development terms?

Rin is an offshoot of my main playthrough (Rowan/ This-Page-Left-Blank-HoK being the other). Over the past few years, Rin and Rowan have diverged considerably, and I now consider them to be very separate characters, each taking a different path through the quest lines.

As the two characters diverged, I realised Rin needed a real name. My character name in-game is Dru I (I somehow forgot this wasn't a hardcore game and I wouldn't need to re-roll a dozen characters and name them Dru II-XII), so I decided to reuse a name which has blessed many of my characters. Unlike the others, this K'Rin L'Rue prefers being known as Rin or Rhiannon. I don't yet have a good lore explanation for her long-ass name, though it could be related to the Aldmeri tradition of lengthy full names (even though her name is only passingly lore-friendly in that regard – if you tilt your head a squint a bit).

Re: Rin's unusual hair – I have a habit of setting my character's hair to be the lightest possible so I can find them in games, forgetting entirely that Oblivion is a First Person rather than a Top Down game, so I wanted to find a lore-friendly reasoning for why it's that colour... and ended up with racist father...

[nine-blessed-hero]

OCs - Who the Hell is Arianrhod Griffiths

(A short Original Character primer)

Universe

TES IV: Oblivion (Modern AU)

What does she look like?

Arianrhod is pale, slender and of average height, with short auburn hair and green eyes. She dresses comfortably in jeans, heavy work boots, t-shirts and a leather 'biker'-style jacket.

What's she like?

She has a sharp wit, and an eye for artistry. Unfortunately she's also prone to passive aggression and resentment.

Who are the main important people in her life?

Aderyn Griffiths - Daughter

Modryn Oreyn - Best friend

Luned Owens - A close friend in the village

Can you give us a highlight reel of her life?

Born to Pryce and Gwyneth Griffiths and raised in a small village in the Valleys, south Wales.

Attended Plymouth University, studying fine arts.

Got pregnant in her second year of Uni. Went back to her parents. They wanted her to abort or give up the child, but Ari didn't want that. Parents kicked her out.

Takes child and lives with Modryn on the Marine Base in Dorset.

Meets future husband Robert "Bob" Williams – a bricklayer from Brighton. Moves with him to Southampton.

Marries Bob. Has no further children. Lives with him for 10 years, before Bob walks out and they divorce. Stays in the house a further 2 years while Aderyn completes mandatory schooling and subsequently drops out of college.

Moves in with Modryn and Sabine Oreyn for a few years while the divorce goes through, the family house is sold, she gets her life turned around, etc.

Moves back to Wales, to a different small village in the Valleys.

Earns a living taking photographs - primarily landscape of the countryside.

What points in her life are you writing about?

From the start of The Ruby Falls, where her life intersects with Aderyn's.

[nine-blessed-hero]

OCs - Who the hell is: Ysbyth Embertame

(A short Original Character primer)

Universe: TES IV: Oblivion (Slice of Life)

What do they look like? Ysbyth is a nord, so is tall and buxom with a strong bone structure. She has pale hair and spring-green eyes, and maybe one or two tattoos (you'll get a slap if you ask to see them though). She always has one part of her hair dyed blue and claims it's a "nord clan thing".

What're they like? She likes to tease and have an ale or three, but in the kitchens she's all business. Generally cheerful and lighthearted, but sometimes gives the impression she's seen more than her fair share of the worst Nirn has to offer.

Who are the main important people in their life?

Talis - Ysbyth is very fond of her little apprentice

Rindir - her partner in the baking business

As yet undecided paramour

Can you give us a highlight reel of their life? [TBC]

What points in their life are you writing about? Later life, so her involvement in Doughty Delights – the bakery she runs with Rindir – and teaching Talis the craft.

Who are they in real-world development terms? Like most OCs, she waltzed in of her own accord. Ysbyth turned up while I was starting work on Talis Wants Some 'Shrooms (WIP) and decided that Talis needed someone to oversee his baking exploits; and that, clearly, she was the woman for the job.

[nine-blessed-hero]

Hail and well met, Traveler

– THE BASICS –

Name: Dru Age: >30 Gender: Female-ish Origin: UK Timezone: UTC/ BST (UTC+1)

Find me outside of Tumblr ➼ Discord: druidx ➼ AO3: DruidX ➼ NaNoWriMo: DruidX ➼ Imgur: DruidX

➼ TES Games I've actually played: Morrowind ∞h (Playtime lost to the ages) Oblivion >300h (+ some lost to the ages) Blades less than 1h Elder Scrolls Online less than 1h

➼ I reblog: fanart, fanfic, music, screenies, and lore posts from all Elder Scrolls games

➼ I post: Fanfic, screenies and other graphics, mostly from Oblivion

– FANFICTION –

➼ You can find my fics under the tag: #Wandering Words

➼ Sometimes I write about my writing. You can find that under the tag: #Meta-Wandering Words

➼ For ease of searching, I've collated all my fics in a set of Series Masterposts (from my writeblr):

TESIV: Oblivion Fanfiction - Genderless HoK

TESIV: Oblivion Fanfiction - Haven’s Ember

TESIV: Oblivion Fanfiction - Talis the Baker (Slice of life)

TESIV: Oblivion Fanfiction - Teas of Tamriel

TESIV: Oblivion Fanfiction - The Many Faces of Kellandra Rhiannon Lorinda Rue

TESIV: Oblivion Fanfiction - Other

➼ Or just check me out on AO3

➼ Here is a list of my Main Original Characters (links through to their About posts):

Kellandra Rhiannon Lorinda Rue (tag: #oc k'rin l'rue)

Rowan (tag: #oc rowan)

Talis the Baker (tag: #oc talis the baker)

Sophie Aderyn Williams/ Griffiths (tag: #oc aderyn griffiths)

– INTERACTIONS –

➼ Send me asks! I love chatting, and Anon is on if you’re shy.

➼ I welcome fan works of my creations! If you feel like making art of my characters or podfics of my stories, go for it! It would make my month ❤️ Don’t forget to @ me, or use Submissions.

➼ I’m more than happy to take fic requests if there's something you want to see.

– OTHER TAGS –

➼ Sometimes I make moodboards and other graphics. You can find these under the tag: #Wandering Graphics

➼ Last updated: 27 Jul 2024

[nine-blessed-hero]

Re: the full Altmer-style name

Some time ago, a kind soul in TESblr figured out the pattern of an Altmer's long-ass name, so I thought I should update this to add Rin's detailed name. You can read my working here.

The short of it is: Solril, Rin's adopted father, gave her a name in the Aldmeri tradition. However, not knowing her mother's lineage means her name is truncated from the full one. When it was given, her name was:

Kellandra 'ata Soliril Lorinda Rhiannon 'cal Rue

After she ran away from her father, Rin removed his name and the altmer prefixes, and reshuffled it to be more to her liking.

OCs - Who the hell is: Kellandra Rhiannon Lorinda Rue

(A "short" Original Character primer)

➼ Universe:

TES IV: Oblivion (vanilla)

➼ What does she look like?

Rin, like many redguards, is tall, well-built, and has dark skin. She uses a combination of lye and citrus juice to bleach her hair, for backstory reasons.

She's most comfortable in her armour and tends to stick to the Knights of the Nine full-plate mail. However, when she's performing alchemy, she prefers to dress in whatever light robe or clothing is available. Usually, this is her Apprentice Robes (another stain or two won't make a difference), but she's also been known to wear the Light Blue Regalia too, as this is what she considers to be "civilian" clothing.

➼ What's she like?

Rin is very forthright, law-abiding and stern. However, she also has a penchant for not understanding sarcasm, being awkward in social situations, and taking instructions very literally.

Despite being very intelligent, she's not very worldly-wise (unsurprising due to her cloistered upbringing) so she's missing a lot of "common" knowledge. This cloistered upbringing and an abusive father also means she has some self-esteem issues, and often feels she's in the way or taking up time and resources that she shouldn't be.

➼ Who are the main important people in her life?

Marz – As the Healer in the Chapel of Mara, Marz is the one who taught Rin the basics of alchemy, against her father's wishes. Marz was also one of the few positive influences in Rin's early life, and Rin looked to her as a mother figure. Rin was devastated by her death at the hands of Umaril's Aurorans, far more so than when Rin learned of her father's death.

Methredhel – Rin and the thief became fast friends after going out for some "no hard feelings" drinks after their competition to get into the Thieves guild, and have remained close – and maybe a little more – ever since.

Baurus – As a fellow redguard whom she's "allowed" to become close with, Rin looks up to Baurus a lot and often takes his word on redguard culture as gospel.

➼ Can you give us a highlight reel of her life?

A foundling of Bravil, Rin was adopted as a toddler by Soliril 'Rue, a priest of Mara.

As soon as she could hold a broom, Rin's life was duty, subservience, and toil.

In her pre-teens, Soliril enrolled Rin in Castle Bravil's Junior Guards*, so learning weaponry and warfare were added to the already strenuous list of activities expected of her. It was here she saw the power of Alchemy in Marz's hands.

Rin didn't get the courage to speak to Marz about it for another few years. They spoke while at Chapel, and Rin was amazed at the power a few leaves and petals could have. Marz then began techning Rin in stolen moments.

Eventually, Marz thought Rin was good enough to enter the Mages guild. She spoke to Ardaline, the Bravil Chapter Alchemist on Rin's behalf. Ardaline, not knowing this was a secret, spoke to Soliril, who became furious that his "stupid" daughter was trying to learn magic. He flew into a rage and beat Rin. She fled the city and was caught on The Green Road trying to steal food from an Imperial Guard. He took pity on her distress at being taken back to Bravil, so she was dumped in an empty cell in the Imperial Prison.

After meeting Martin, she was plagued with nightmares of his death. That, and her sudden freedom, was what turned her from further helping in the Main Quest for a while. Instead, she finally joined the Mages guild. While in Anvil, she heard the prophet, and back in Bravil she looked through the mysterious door – but didn't stay long**. Likewise, she became ashamed of herself for being drawn by the allure of the Grey Fox and never got higher than Prowler. After taking the pilgrimage again, Rin turned her attention to the ever-growing threat of the Oblivion gates, eventually returning to Martin and joining the Blades in their fight.

* I don't have a better name for what this might be, so hush for now...

** I'm retconning a lot of stuff mentioned in Not Alone to better suit how the character has developed. At some point, I'll rewrite that story.

➼ What points in her life are you writing about?

From the start of the game forward. I haven't really felt inclined to write much about her backstory.

➼ Who is she in real-world development terms?

Rin is an offshoot of my main playthrough (Rowan/ This-Page-Left-Blank-HoK being the other). Over the past few years, Rin and Rowan have diverged considerably, and I now consider them to be very separate characters, each taking a different path through the quest lines.

As the two characters diverged, I realised Rin needed a real name. My character name in-game is Dru I (I somehow forgot this wasn't a hardcore game and I wouldn't need to re-roll a dozen characters and name them Dru II-XII), so I decided to reuse a name which has blessed many of my characters. Unlike the others, this K'Rin L'Rue prefers being known as Rin or Rhiannon. I don't yet have a good lore explanation for her long-ass name, though it could be related to the Aldmeri tradition of lengthy full names (even though her name is only passingly lore-friendly in that regard – if you tilt your head a squint a bit).

Re: Rin's unusual hair – I have a habit of setting my character's hair to be the lightest possible so I can find them in games, forgetting entirely that Oblivion is a First Person rather than a Top Down game, so I wanted to find a lore-friendly reasoning for why it's that colour... and ended up with racist father...