#guess who got back into playing skyrim

[cosmic-cris-draws]

Who are these guys???

[dbphantom]

Starting ffxv, watching the intro sequence: this is gonna be so fun, I can't wait to go on a fun road trip with my new friends! I love this song cover and it's really funny with it playing over them bitching and pushing the car. I've never played a final fantasy game before, so I don't know what to expect, but everything looks so cool and fun!

60 hours later, watching the end credits:

[galoogamelady]

I got an Xbox for my birthday a month ago and I recently downloaded Fallout 4 (totally not bc of Buttons..) and I wondered if there’s a specific order to play them? If so, which one should I play first? :}

Depends on how deep you want to get into it, I guess? If they're available on Xbox and you are up for the original turn-based games, I would start with that. Don't let anyone tell you that they're unenjoyable, I played through the original Fallout in 2020 and had a BLAST! So in that case I would go Fallout -> Fallout 2 (I still gotta play this but I keep putting it off because I know I'll be too into it) -> Fallout 3 -> Fallout New Vegas (still gotta finish this myself, might just start over) -> Fallout 4 The latter 3 also have DLC-s you should get, especially for Fo3 and NV.

I've seen people recommend new fans to start with Fo4 and work their way back, I'm not sure why... Playing Fo3 right after Skyrim really showed its age, and the difference is even larger between Fo3 and Fo4. I think it's easier to start with the less intuitive titles and better to start with the original vision but I understand turn-based stuff is not everyone's cup of tea (no I don't, look at how successful Baldur's Gate 3 is and Act 3 was a PILE OF BUGS!). There's also Fallout Tactics as part of the old games but ehh I think it's one of those titles most fans don't count as canon. (Except my ex, who for some reason? thought it was the best shit) And we don't talk about Fallout Brotherhood of Steel. I think you couldn't play that one even if you wanted to, probably for the best. I can't say I recommend Fallout 76, perhaps if you don't have more Fallout content left to consume and you don't mind nonsense lore stuff and just want to hang out with your friends. I have it but I can't say it brings me more joy than idk... Rust. It's just surface level Fallout for me.

This is just my personal take obviously, feel free to ask other fans.

[antisocialxconstruct]

You already made me play shadowrun, convince me to play elden ring as well 👀

oh HMMMM an interesting challenge :o

In one sense it might be an easier sell to you personally, I know you're more into fantasy than scifi to begin with and Elden Ring is definitely a familiar "swords and dragons and magic" kind of setting, albeit with the gothic and eldritch sensibilities you'd expect from FromSoftware. In my opinion this is a major selling point, it feels distinctly high fantasy without just feeling like, y’know, Skyrim But Harder. (And considering I'M someone who's definitely way more into scifi than fantasy, I feel like it's noteworthy that I was still really compelled by the setting.)

The infamous Soulsborne Difficulty is obviously the big sticking point for most people. I can't confidently compare it to other Fromsoft games, but I can say that as someone who doesn't have a ton of experience with soulslikes and generally doesn't think of them as a genre I'd actively seek out, I DID eventually get extremely comfortable with Elden Ring. It can be challenging if it's not a gameplay style you're familiar with, but especially early on you have a lot of opportunities to experiment and mess up long before mistakes start feeling really costly, so it's a good time to try a lot of things. Look up guides, read the wiki, skim some recommended builds... that way if you realize you picked a starting class that doesn't have optimal stats for the skills and weapons you want to use, you can reroll early (unlike me, suffering with a steep faith handicap despite it being like the second or third most important stat for my build =_=) Also, just approach the game with the knowledge that you WILL die and you WILL have to try things more than once, especially if you're not well versed in the genre. I feel like it's much easier to have fun with this kind of game if you approach the challenging fights as earnest attempts and experiments to build a strategy on, rather than "failures" that just mean you have to Do Better. And of course, if something is just too hard to be fun... you can go somewhere else 🤷 hardcore fans might be horrified by my approach but often I would drop one thing that was too hard and wander off somewhere else, get caught up in some other quest line or dungeon or something, and come back to the first challenge so long later that I would be comically overleveled and just get the satisfaction of steamrolling it.

The equally infamous Oblique Soulsborne Storytelling is probably the OTHER major sticking point, and on that I have to say... it is extremely oblique lmao I think @axperjan got way more out of the lore than I did because they actually stopped to read item descriptions and such, so I guess my advice there would be take the time to read item descriptions if you want to know who the fuck everyone is and what they've been up to. But even with the minimal amount of lore I was actually absorbing, I still felt like I was absorbing the ~vibes~ and a lot of the time, that was enough for me to feel like I understood the kinds of struggles and conflicts I was dealing with and how I was meant to feel about them. I got very invested emotionally in several specific characters, and actively want to play the game again in order to absorb more about others and understand them better. Overall I really enjoy the tone of Elden Ring's narrative: there's an unavoidable sickness and despair to the world you're exploring, but an equally clear and distinct note of hope and optimism, a feeling that everything is on the brink of a dramatic change and an earnest desire for that change to be for the better, even if the cost is high.

The game's soundtrack and art direction are beautiful, and MOST of the combat encounters (especially boss fights) feel elegant and satisfyingly structured, so even if you never engaged with the story or lore even a little bit you would get the pleasure of playing through an expansive and competent work of art. There are definitely some recycled maps and enemies that can feel a bit tedious after the first couple times, and some sequences that feel just a little too mean-spirited to be fair, but maybe that's a bit inevitable and in my experience even the ones that made me rage-quit for a night were never enough to sour my opinion of the game as a whole.

I think Elden Ring is a great soulsborne game for people who WANT to like the soulsborne genre but are intimidated by its reputation. It's not so much "easier" that it feels like a disingenuous introduction, but it allows you to be a little more patient and go at your own pace long enough to understand what the genre is actually asking of you and start engaging with it on its own terms. I'm only two boss fights away from finishing the core game and I'm excited for the dlc, which is further than I've ever gotten and more time than I've ever invested in any other soulsborne/soulslike.

Also you get a cool goat-horse and you can feed him snacks while you're riding around 🐐

[your-talos-is-problematic]

WIP Wednesday (pronounced wed-ness-day)

Hello! Thank you to the wonderful @skyrim-forever and @thequeenofthewinter for the tags! I’ll pass it on to @throughtrialbyfire and @trickstarbrave :D

I’ve taken to writing during class so I’ve got quite a bit to share! This is the progress on chapter 3 of I Won’t Ask You to Wait, Afonya and Brelyna’s 3rd Era AU. Enjoy the exposed bones of my writing process (those bullet points) and some cuteness between Brelyna’s parents. This one’s getting long so it might have to be split into two chapters, honestly.

————————————————————————

Not much happened for the rest of the day. I walked back to Bal Ouada, earning some strange looks from its residents. Guron was, as I expected, both happy for me and annoyingly pleased with himself. I picked up my few possessions, said goodbye to the four mercenaries who had been the closest thing to friends I’d had for months, had a drink for good measure, and prayed to the Tribunal that Brelyna and I would keep getting along.

Breakfast with Linjard, recieve tanto + armor

Describe room

The sound of approaching footsteps cued me to look up. A pale hand drew back the curtain- Linjard. I’d gone to bed early the night before, so we hadn’t officially met. He stepped into the room, holding two stacked bowls in one hand. He was still the typical Nord I’d seen the other day: long blond hair, gray eyes, skin closer to the color of snow than of ash. He set down both bowls on his nightstand. “Morning, Afonya.” He gave his greeting in the Tamrielic language.

“Good morning,” I responded. He turned away from me to unstack the bowls. My best guess was that one was for him and one was for myself, so I settled onto the floor to eat. Giving up on finding a polite way to frame the question, I asked, “Do you speak Dunmeri, Linjard?”

He turned to me. “Oh. Yes, but apologies for any mispronunciation.” He sat across from me and set down the food.

I laughed. “Same goes for me in Tamrielic. I know I have a thicker accent than most.”

“You’re fine. In work-related matters, Ulvin brought Brelyna’s breakfast to her today, but that should be your responsibility from now on. Six in the morning.”

“Got it,” I said, before taking a bite of the food. It was good- a traditional noodle topped with a thin meat. 

He gestured toward his own bowl. “The food’s not bad, right? Ulvin’s good at what he does. When I first started working here, I was worried they wouldn’t give us meat.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Whole family’s vegetarian. Whole House, actually.”

“Oh. Can’t believe a Nord knew that and I didn’t.” I paused. “Sorry.”

He waved it off. “You’re fine. I’ve gotten a lot of that.”

I nodded, searching for another subject. “How long have you worked here?”

“About twenty-five years, I think. My first and last job since leaving Skyrim.”

“That’s a lot.”

“Yeah,” he said.

I looked around. “So I’ll probably die in this tower.”

He laughed. “With your job, probably not in it. Near it, likely.” I don’t think either of us knew what to say after that. “Sorry. That was dark. On to lighter matters. Do you play a string instrument?”

I was taken aback. “I do, actually. How did you know?”

He leaned forward to tap the fingers of my right hand. “Callouses. And not in the place a fighter’d have them,” he observed. I smiled. “Can I see it?”

“Sure,” I said. I’d placed the silk-wrapped violin against the wall, next to my makeshift bed. It was an import from the Summerset Isles, made of dark, expertly-cut wood and accompanied by a bow I’d re-haired myself a few times. A well-loved instrument, and for good reason; its tone was unlike anything I’d ever heard. I gently tilted it towards Linjard. “I’ve had it since I was fourteen. Most expensive thing I own, actually.”

“Not since you’ve held that,” he said, gesturing to the tanto, which I’d placed next to me. “Lord Maryon spares no expense for his daughter’s safety.”

I picked it up and lightly traced the blade with my finger. “Or for symbols of his social status.”

He laughed. “It’s probably both. Your armor’s good bugplate, too. Traditional Telvanni make. Sorry if any part doesn’t fit.”

Aular lesson

I turned. A tall woman stood behind me, hands on the doorway. Given her distressed brown robe, tangled black hair, and wrinkled face, this was probably Brelyna’s mother. I bowed.

Serjo Maryon didn’t look that upset at being interrupted. “Talmia,” he said with a smile. “Are you joining us?”

She frowned. “I have a lesson with my daughter.”

“At five, love. It’s three.”

“I thought I had her at three.” Both of them talked as if Brelyna wasn’t in the room. I made eye contact with her; she looked slightly uncomfortable but not nervous.

“Do you need her now?” he asked.

“I can wait,” she said. It was only then that she seemed to notice I was in the room. She jumped. “Who’s this?”

Serjo Maryon set down his notes and stood up to meet his wife. Next to her, he looked a lot less intimidating, in both height and demeanor. He placed a hand on her forearm as if he actually enjoyed her company. It was strange. “This is Brelyna’s sword and shield. Afonya, remember? I’ve explained her to you.” He fully turned his head towards her, something I realized he hadn’t done with anyone else.

She stared at me for a few seconds; not in the judgmental way her husband did, but like it was just her way of looking at people. She nodded and turned to leave.

“Eat something, love,” Serjo Maryon called after her.

The rest of the lesson continued in a way that I assumed was standard, for the two of them. 

lunchtime

lessons with talmia

Master Maryon was definitely closer to the stereotypical Telvanni mage than her husband. 

[molags-balls]

I’m replaying skyrim for the first time since childhood. As a kid, I never did the civil war or dragonborn quests at all and just fucked around with the thieves guild until I got bored and made a new character. But rn I got a character I really like and might go for the civil war quests, but I don’t wanna commit to a side of the war that I later find boring/bad vibes and makes me want to restart

From what I picked up, both side’s politics seem equally rancid (if I’m wrong then please correct me!!) so in that case, I guess I’m more interested in the fun factor? I play khajit so I know it “makes sense” to go imperial, but if stormcloaks have more fun quests, cooler aesthetics, and good characters I’ll go stormcloak

tldr: without too major of spoilers, who do you recommend I back for my first time?

Long answer:

Short answer:

choose imperial. solitude is the best city to buy a house. it’s nicer living there when everyone doesn’t hate you for being a stormcloak. the quests are mostly the same. you won’t miss out on anything by choosing a side

[kommissarkartofelov]

a

i like this sorta ranty blogging style, brings back feelings of the old internet

flalout

to continue my love of the toyger hair i ported an oblivion port of the hair into fnv since i dun have the knowhow or patience to backport skyrim's nifs into the fo3/fnv era gamebyro engine plus someone made a freckled race (sadly hidden from the nexus as of writing)

unfortunately the preset for the freckled race was not sufficiently cute enough for me, so i decided to crack open the g.e.c.k. n make a freckled asian race

guess more than anything its a hapa race lol dunno where i put the files, so prolly lost to the zone

oh, and the reason why i felt that the lobotomite texture would work for a creepy-cute design is i played a bit (probably for 5 mins before quitting from a trauma loop in DUST) with the playable lobotomite mod and managed to mess with the sliders to make a kinda cute lady. fllatou 4 have toyger will tomboy

also tried making a tired/sad girl instead of a tomboy

pretty proud of her since she conveys the exact vibe i want

fits with the total desperation of FROST though unfortunately by the time i got done taking a handful of screenshots of her i lost interest in playing also yey not using the toyger hairdo for the umpteenth time

eh why not bonus sims segment i have an unhealthy like for character creators

wanted to try making an unconventional lass, ended up with a NEET goblin

think i had that one jewish girl who photo got posted occasionally on 4chins n popopoka's blind girl in mind when i made her

am tired now dunno if i'll do any more posts like this aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah bye

[whentheleahvesfall]

How about 4 and/or 7 for the pmd ask thing? :3

Woo, first time I’m taking a crack at this so do expect scuffedness ahead, but let’s see what I can do!

What did you name your hero and partner characters? And why?

In most of my main PMD playthroughs, I would often stick to my main name and go with a default nickname that would come in my head because my younger self was very by-the-numbers, and my existing copies still have my irl name on there as it felt similar to the RPG spirit when I played games like Skyrim and KOTOR, before eventually then settling down on the OC names I got below. I guess I begin giving the rundown of all my OC names, starting with my first PMD game.

Super:

Cormac is based on my irl self, so he shares my name as I thought it would help for immersion, but looking more into it and I realised that my name has a lot of meanings like “son of the raven” and “legendary charioteer”. However, there was one meaning out of pure random spite that I happened to look up and my name had a relation to “tree trunk”, which immediately made me think to the Tree of Life and its role in the story. Whilst the hero’s background as a warrior who fought Dark Matter felt honestly really cool to have as that’s my own first name, my take on his character being that he grows vengeful to those around him and being angsty and very self-doubtful also goes to how it can relate to “corruption”, which I would eventually imagine as the reason why he has his scar over the right eye.

Sprout came from my partner in PSMD in my one and only playthrough of the game which was just simply Bulbasaur and “Bulbs” in Rescue Team DX, before I eventually went with it due to the cabbage dino having a plant on his back (he’s such a dork) and how he sprouted as being a kindred spirit into the reincarnation of Mew that he’s known as today.

Explorers:

Harmony (Explorers Hero) is what I’d like to have if I eventually get around to playing and beating EOS via emulator, but in my mind he would become the deuteragonist of my PSMD fanfic that I think I probably want to rewrite at some point so I have a clear goal in mind where I’d like to take it. His name is supposed to be irony due to Cormac’s only existing harmony scarf and his species as a Riolu of being able to sense aura, but I wanna write the both of them being a one-sided into a temporary two-sided rivalry before they become equal and shared friends.

Flurr (Explorers Partner) essentially begins the trend of being trying to think of a name for the characters as I was unsure of where I wanted to go from the main three I had in my mind, but I guess her name came from Zelda and the “Flurry Rush” ability Link is able to perform in the games, and her rapid nature to attend to Harmony’s ever-increasing sass is what lead me to I think picking her name. She’s also my only female partner character so my mind went “AWWWWW YEAH, HERO X PARTNER TIME” and headcanon flurrfy comments were born. These two goofballs I gotta draw, and also I NEED to draw Flurr’s design, I do wanna imagine what she looks like <3

Gates:

Cormos is again based on my irl name but the last two letters are changed, but he’s my hero and he’s a Tepig. Tepig was the first Pokémon I ever used in any Pokémon game for a starter due to a leant copy I got from one of my older stepbrothers and the rest is history. His name I eventually decided to go with on an as-of-yet started playthrough of KOTOR 2.

Tusk (Gates Partner) came from one of the Club Penguin villain characters you find as the main antagonist of Card-Jitsu Snow and I loooovvveeed playing that as a kid. Often I’d spent upwards of tens of hours playing the parties and virtual worlds and the fact that Tusk is an Axew makes it so much better as it’s as close to a walrus-like creature you can get from the game’s available starters XD

Rescue Team:

Scrald and Planker (Torchic and Totodile Hero and Partners) only came to my head when I wanted to try writing a story prompt for the Hero and Partner week that took place earlier in the year, and because my canon playthrough simply just used my irl name and Bulbs from an OC PMD team I made aggggeeesss ago, those two names popped into my head and they’d eventually stick. Scrald’s name is based on what I imagine is his firey personality, often liking flamed berries and getting very flustered whenever someone tries to help in or puts their confidence in him, often flailing his feathers about without a basic care in the world XD Planker came from the snapping jaws he has when he too gobbles up food, so if they ever went to the Expedition Society or Wigglytuff’s Guild, the two would probably compete in food completions to see if one of them could outlast the other by one-upping them.

Spoiler alert: they both fail.

A lot.

But on the plus side, come the fugitives arc, Scrald (when not eating) becomes the most insecure fire type one has ever laid eyes upon. I like to imagine it much like Harmony that since his name sounds like the move “Scald”, that he’d be feeling warm on the inside whilst they travel to see Ninetails. Only it’s more like “Screw this!” and it being cold. Poor hero has it tough in those games, and that’s where his personality is based on. Planker is more of a blank slate for me, so eventually I’d like to flesh him out, but my brain go brrrrrr

How do you interpret the future trios relationships to each other?

I think all of them ship each other and Dusknoir and Grovyle have something called B E I N G G A Y when special episode 5 comes around, whilst Celebi is being mischievous pink cabbage gremlin with the time travel abilities to play ring-a-ring-a-rosies with the funny ghost man and has to endure his 6+ long hour cardio session of flying around before his Sableye lackeys can even do a thing. If I’m gonna be perfectly honest, seeing yours, Scribz’s and some other people’s perceptions of the future trio have permanently altered my brain to not see them as nothing more than three peas in a squished pod and you can’t change my mind, they’re all poly-coded and love each other that much.

That took a while to write lmao, but thank you for the ask!

[bugcatcherwill]

I’m actually dying right now I can’t what the fuck

Will when I die from my broken heart I’m going to drag you down to hell with me I swear to hylia

Onto the breakdown.

Where the hell do I even begin with this chapter I can’t.

God I am actually about to cry right now I can’t do this shit anymore I can’t take this shit no more man

Oh yeah and guess who just spent 10 minutes decoding Links fathers name and about 75% of his sisters name?

THIS GUY

Links fathers name is Cliffe from what I’ve been able to decipher but I’m stuck on the sisters name and I might have to go back and reread but this is what I’ve got so far:

Link is also about to kill Reede and I cannot wait

Also holy shit they really turned Hateno into Riften from Skyrim like goddamn

Oh hell yeah I was hoping someone would play jigsaw puzzle with the names I had blanked out of Link's memories LMAO

and EHEHEHEHEHHE

I LOVE ANGUISHHHHHHHH

It's fitting that Link's been so goddamn busy with the monsters that when he finally has a quiet moment everything crashes down on his head.

It's just my favorite shit to have Link refer to his 100 year self as like a "different" him because that's just how he feels. Even when the memories of that old life come back he can never be that old Link again. That Link died 100 years ago. But he still can't help but write every wrong he can from back then because Link is just such a genuine person at heart. He still feels the love from all his old friends, knowing they'd still love him back.

The Champion's photo was a last minute addition to the chapter but GOD is is a good ending stinger.

ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU REALIZE THAT LINK WOULD'VE SEEN IT WAY EARLIER IF HATENO LAB HADN'T BURNED SINCE HE SUDDENLY FOUND HIMSELF IN AKKALA WHEN HE TRIED TO GET TO THE LAB

AUUUUUUGH

[callsignbaphomet]

Heyyy!!! I'm here to gift your inbox with a post work vibe post lol

What skyrim race comes to mind when I think about the boys! (Purely off vibes given i don't 100% know what they actually are)

So with Uthorim we all know he is orc but I also feel there's some redguard in there! Gives some speculation to his ever mysterious parents ;p

LoLo pops up in my head as Nord but with speckles of wood elf. Very strong, agile, and deadly! 💚

Jelani of course comes up as dark elf/redguard. Very mysterious, very stabby stabby, very loveable!

Angelus is high elf or more so snow elf! Big I'll end you and make it look beautiful vibes ✨️

You're the best as always! <3333÷

Lol love that Uth!

Honestly, you are very on point!

Loke and Jelani are both half Nord, half Redguard. Ingvarr is a Nord and Sanaa is a Redguard.

Now, Bethesda handled mixed children rather poorly. See, in Bethesda's terms both Loke and Jelani should have looked like Sanaa since the children will all look and be the race or species of the birth parent. I honestly hate that so it's one of those lore rules I break and throw away because it just does not make sense at all or work in the case of Jelani.

Jelani (in Oracle) is mixed, his dad is a white man and his mom is a black woman. I even designed both parents according to him since I made him first. He has Ingvarr's eye color and hair texture. He has Sanaa's nose, lips and her dark skin. Personality wise he's all Ingvarr lol.

As much as it pains him and he hates it Loke has a different birth mother and he has her red hair and very pale skin, eye color, as well as a bunch of inherited conditions. The freckles he got from Ingvarr.

Now, Loke is kind of a "problem" when it comes to the AUs because Loke is Sanaa's adopted son. Both treat each other and consider each other mother and son. Not once has he ever referred to that woman as his step-mother or Jelani as his step-brother. Sanaa is his mother and Jelani is his brother.

But the birth mother is not present in any of the AUs except for the FO76 AU. So going back to Skyrim, Fallout and any other AU where this is the case we just have to hand wave the fact that Loke looks nothing like his mother 😅🫣

Lol Loki wishes he was agile. That boy is all strength and tanking. Only times he's agile is when he's tossing and turning while asleep, when Jelani was a kid and wandering a little too far from town for his own liking and when he's making Uthorim bounce and jump on--

Actually, the parental thing comes into play in the story. Which I have a document neatly detailing Loke and Jelani's entire (TES) history. It's not finished yet.

As for Angelus...holy shit I don't know if you guessed or what but yes, he's half High Elf, half Snow Elf. His mom's a High Elf and his dad was a Snow Elf. Was, he was part of a tiny little group of Snow Elves that had survived all that time but ultimately all of them were killed. That would be thanks to Angelus's bitch of a grandmother. She's.....a very vile and horrible person, let's just leave it at that. When she found out her one and only daughter "ruined" the bloodline when mixing with a lowly race (to her everything not Altmer is low) she hired some people to hunt them down and kill them all. His mom died of a disease when he was 3 and he was raised by his grandmother. During those years she had no one opposing her teachings unfortunately so Angelus was well on his way to being just like her. Since he doesn't have that (god awful yellow, sorry not sorry, I really hate it) skin tone she told him and everyone else it was a rare defect.

So yeah, he was raised without knowing who his father really was, never knowing of his full heritage and being pro Aldmeri Dominion and just looking down on anyone being a High Elf.

So what happened? His grandmother was trying to get him to marry into a family she chose so he wouldn't do what his mother did. Problem was he didn't want to be forced to marry anyone, much less at 19, and he's gay. His grandmother chose a family with only daughters. So he took the inheritance his mother left him, changed his name to something not Altmer sounding (Angelus) and moved to Skyrim because he knew his grandmother wouldn't follow him there. He spent a few years there and his mentality slowly began to change and when he was 27 he met Jelani (18 at the time), Loke and Uthorim and over the course of a year living with them his attitude about everything drastically changed and it was during that year he slowly fell in love with what he calls "his little bat".

His attitude and mentality may have changed and he denounced everything his grandmother taught him but he's still a spoiled brat who likes to spoil his boyfriend and his two fathers-in-law.

In Skyrim he'll also get a chance to maybe discover and explore his Snow Elf side.

Also omfg you're the best and ilu! 💖

[totally-not-deacon]

for the "blow up my inbox" asks - how did you choose the name you use on tumblr? what's some general advice you have that you like to give? how'd you get into TES? and would you rather watch a movie or play a game??

Eyyy, howdy there!

My name came from my unhealthy love for Deacon in Fallout 4 - apparently I got a thing for guys in disguise who hide their past. I do love that bald little freak.

Advice... Oh god, I dunno if you wanna take advice from me, not gonna lie. I guess... sometimes you just gotta let yourself go for it, whether it be a new hobby, job, moving, etc. It's real easy to hold yourself back, and in the end that's gonna lead to disappointment. (now I gotta take my own advice lmao)

As for TES, I started way back when Morrowind came out. I was in middle school then, and damn did I lose many a night to getting slaughtered by cliffracers. High school was my Oblivion era, where my oldest OC, Arandil, was originally created! Needless to say, I pre-ordered Skyrim and never looked back. Now I didn't really get into the fandom until about 2 years ago, but that's more 'cause I was a later Tumblr adopter.

And I'll take a game any day! I just... don't have the attention span for movies nowadays. Took me three days to get through the last one I watched, despite loving it. (It was Arsenic and Old Lace fyi) Needless to say, my backlog is enormous lol

[azures-grace]

for the oc ask !!

one of my first skyrim ocs was a dragon shifter. kinda silly cuz as far as i know theres not rly dragon shifters in elder scrolls, just dragonborn and dragons and what not. his name was (and is, cuz whole hes no longer a skyrim oc, he is still a fantasy oc of mine) rohirr. pronunciation took me years to figure out but i realized it is just kinda heavily inspired by the dovah language? spoken, anyhow. like guttural, almost roar, kind of? so written out i guess its kind of like. " roh - heer " except the " roh " is audibly like. a grunt. or smth. it is so hard to write out the pronunciation bc idk how language works lmfao

but also his backstory was like he has a snowy mountain that he watches over and he protects lil babies (dragon babies) that have been cast out or whatever or need a Place before going off for realsies and he protected everything on the mountain except trespassers

that is not his story now but that Was his story and hes one of my fave ocs ever 🫶 he has a very special place in my heart, especially considering he is. probably my oldest oc ever that i still remember and have around <3 (in fact i made him as a dragonborn for my first bg3 playthrough ! hes that special to me)

Yippee! Rohirr lore! Lil guy! I think.

My very first Skyrim playthrough I played as a Khajiit named Fartact Ragcat (my father mercilessly mocked me for fart cat), and she didn't get very far because one day I accidentally switched to Special Edition and didn't know so I thought she was gone forever. (I have found her, but it's oldrim and I'm not gonna try to figure out what I was planning on doing way back when)

My SECOND playthrough was Jade Shoe, a Khajiit based on a Tabaxi DND character I had. She was a stealth archer.

Then it was Mariah Haven, who is the only one I'm gonna have join the Stormcloaks. Because she's a terrible person.

Then Luna and Armina (and also a Martin Septim playthrough) and those are for my 3 Dragonborns AU.

Then Lensa Philen, who's a Thalmor agent so deep in cover she... Forgot she was Thalmor and ended up saving the world and then settling down with Rumarin.

Nahala (I forgot how to spell her last name but it starts with an E) was my attempt at an all-mage playthrough. And then she got into the Dark Brotherhood and went absolutely batshit insane. Yippee!

Iriae is a Thalmor deserter who I'm actually writing a story about, and she's a little ball of traumatized who has too many issues to cover here.

Goober was a desperate attempt to make sure my mods worked after the update, but then I got attached to her and now she's just running around with her buddies.

I have too many Dragonborns. That's just the ones I can remember because I drew them.

[debaited]

OC Tag Game

Tagged by @nowandthane ty my friend <3 I loved this game. it's fun to think about and categorize my Skyrim guys.

tagging @lyradrawings @hezenvengeance @argisthebulwark @thana-topsy @juniperberries-canisroot and anyone else who would like to take part. No pressure <3

Favorite OC: Oh man. It really depends on who I'm writing or fixating on. I guess I would say my two most favorites are Griffin and Faelon. Griffin is super complex and his feelings and emotions go very deep. He has several inner struggles to battle at a time, and writing his interactions and reactions to things are fun. Faelon helps to get a darker perspective on things; his mind works so differently from that of my other characters, and he lets me explore grey morality more.

Newest OC: Honestly, Faelon is my newest. I integrated Veris in not long ago, but he existed as an oc from a different fandom before this so he wouldn't technically be new.

Oldest OC: Atlas. I'm still working on rewriting him, but I used him back when I was still playing console Skyrim. He was the first Skyrim oc of mine that I ever gave much thought to.

Meanest OC: Faelon. He's pretty terrible sometimes (affectionate)

Softest OC: Theo. That's my baby. He's very sensitive and has a terrible case of RSD (I may have projected)

Most Aloof/Standoffish OC: Technically Faelon again. He can be charming and persuasive but that's mostly cause he learns from and mirrors the way people act so that he can manipulate them. But when he's in a genuine position of talking to someone without ulterior motives, he's at a loss and is usually pretty elusive.

Dumbest (affectionate) OC: If we're going in terms of book smarts and not practicality I'd have to say Griffin. My man never really got any education and he lived off of learning everything firsthand. He knows a lot on the surface from experience. He knows how most things work, but not the "why" or inner workings of them. He's also not the best at reading or writing, but his vocabulary is decent from listening to other people talk.

Smartest OC: Theo. He's a scholar. He's smarter than me. But he's also humble about it (not at all because I don't know all the things he's supposed to know or anything)

OC I'd Probably Be Friends With: Theo or Atlas. They're easier to get along with and not as intense; I'd def slip up around the others.

[holocene-sims]

15 oc questions!

i was tagged by @stargazer-sims - thank you so much!! ❤️ i've never done one of these tags in a character's voice, so it's fun to get extra practice writing as them 😊

i'll tag:

@dandylion240 @bl-sims-anime @idyllicephemera @elderwisp @nectar-cellar @minty-plumbob @crazykissim @mangosimoothie & anyone else who wants to do it!

ANYWAY i'm doing this for grant! idc if y'all have heard enough about grant, the honor goes to him

are you named after anybody?

my actual legal first name is joseph, which is my grandfather's name! so, uh, somehow yes, i am named after somebody! but i'm 99.9% sure it was out of laziness and not out of love. well, no, i'm 100% sure of that. it's not like my mom has ever respected her parents...but that's a whole different thing, we're not going there.

when was the last time you cried?

i'm a crybaby, come on! i'm known for being very emotional. i mean, sad animal commercials make me weepy. externally weepy. like tears running down my cheeks weepy. but the actual last time i cried? hmm, maybe like a week ago? i don't know if i could tell you why, though. i probably blocked it out of my memory! i'm great at that.

do you have kids?

do, uh, do cats count? because i do have a cat who i love and put sweaters on. sweaters! and he loves it.

do you use sarcasm?

it depends? sarcasm usually feels mean-spirited to me, so i'm not super into it, but then again, that's half the conversations i have with my family. i know in that case, though, that it's all bullshit humor and not serious. anyway, i think what i'm saying in a roundabout way is it depends a lot on context and audience. i don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or be a dick. i like being nice.

what's the first thing you notice about people?

okay, listen, in the most normal and not at all weird way possible, people's hairlines are always what i see first. i've been the first witness to so, so many fake blondes accidentally showing their dark roots or to dudes going bald. i'm sorry! i'm just freakishly tall! i can't not look down at all your heads unless i'm kneeling down on the ground. i'm not trying to spy on or judge the state of your hair, i promise.

what's your eye color?

brown! justice for brown eyes, the best eye color. i love being able to go out in the sun and not have my eyeballs bleached by the light. also, there's really not that many brown eyes in my family, so that's kind of fun. i'm a special boy.

scary movies or happy endings?

why not both? i love a good blair witch project, final destination moment. i also love a nice mushy gushy romantic movie with a happy ending. hell, i'd watch both in the same evening. start off with a fucked up horror movie and end it with pride and prejudice. sounds like a perfect night to me.

any special talents?

probably not anything relevant? i mean, i've played skyrim on survival mode without dying before. oh, and i guess back when i was still playing hockey, uh, a decade ago, i could score with the michigan goal pretty easily, which isn't all that common. in high school, i got my school the state championship win with that skill. but meh, i don't know how many people in the world know enough about hockey to care about that.

where were you born?

michigan! the part everyone forgets about, aka the upper peninsula, aka diet canada.

what are your hobbies?

i like to think i'm a well rounded person. i enjoy the super basic stuff like listening to music, but i'm also into into video games and tabletop RPGs like d&d. cooking and baking are fun for me, too. i did get into art semi-recently as well. i kind of had to have something i could do while laying down, like, 24/7 after i had spinal surgery.

if you're ever bored, just go fuck up your spine. you'll have SO much time on your hands to get new hobbies. actually, don't. please don't. i've been suffering for years and will continue to. i'm dying. don't be me. pretty please. pinky promise.

oh, duh, i also forgot that i'm into astronomy and um, planes. look, i'm not a car guy, i'm a plane guy. that's more fun, right?

have you any pets?

he's a cat named turtle, so, like, you know, the best cat in the world. sometimes i think about getting him a cat friend to hang out with but then i worry he'd get jealous, so i haven't done it. who am i to say whether or not he wants to live with a friend? or a sibling? being alone is so valid. i respect that.

what sports do you play/have you played?

oh, well, like i said, i played hockey for a really long time, like from, hmm, i think kindergarten and on! i even got a scholarship in college to play hockey. i'm glad to be done, though. some things ruined it for me. long story. but these days, uhh, i don't play any real sports anymore. i like hiking, you know, and i do work out at least every other day because it makes me feel better in a lot of ways, but that's kind of it. my sports days are over. i don't even skateboard anymore and i used to do that all the time.

how tall are you?

like 6'7" - though, i am rounding down a little bit. yes, down. not up. also, don't ask me how i ended up that tall. i have exactly one relative who is also tall. hi, chelsea! anyway, i am an accident or one hell of a joke. i'm laughing, i swear. it's very funny.

favorite subject in school?

i was overall a good student because i studied pretty hard but i was for sure a science and math kid. i loved physics in high school. and then in college, i got some way more fun science and math classes. just so you know, i am really holding back right now from rambling like a total nerd loser about my college classes...

but i mean, if you wanna learn about, i don't know, quantum mechanics or flight control systems, hit me up.

dream job?

that's such an easy question! when i was really, really young, i wanted to be a weather man, but then i changed my mind and wanted to be a pilot because, i don't know, i hit that time in every child's life where they have to become obsessed with a form of transportation. but then i never let that obsession go. my parents wanted me to be a doctor the whole time, though, but eww, no, i'm good. anyway, the dream of flying planes never died and somehow it worked out. now if i could just, uh, you know, go back to that job soon, that'd be sick.

[nerevar-quote-and-star]

For the Skyrim ask meme

Dog, Hagraven Claws & Windhelm ☺️💙

Hey! 👋🏻

Dog: Do you have any hobbies?

Writing, for one! 😆 I enjoy reading, writing, listening to music, and playing Skyrim. I also enjoy painting! I use an iPad and procreate most of the time, but I used to do lineart traditionally. Should probably go back to that because I don't like making it digitally. I don't create art as much as I want to, but I do a lot of graphic design and that's fun!

Hagraven Claws: Favorite Daedra quest/weapon?

So I may have already put The Only Cure in the random category — it was purely for stealth archer reasons, you understand, so as far as Daedric quests go, it's not my favorite. Does the Thieves Guild questline count as one long Nocturnal quest? Just kidding! I like The Mind of Madness: even if that's watered-down Sheogorath, he's still funny. Plus he mentions Martin! Not that I count the references to Martin in Skyrim or anything. But my favorite weapon is definitely Dawnbreaker. Even if ESO apparently made it depressing.

Windhelm: Which follower does (OC's name) have?

Hmm, I'm going to assume you're asking about Leara since she's our current starlet. Does Leara have a follower (who, presumably, isn't the guy in my fic)? Not usually, no. Well, in-universe, she and my Dunmer thief, Jolinar Aren have done a lot of work together: Leara is the hero, but Jolinar is the one who knows Skyrim. In-game, on the other hand . . .

So fun story: I've made Leara four times: Original Leara as my first Skyrim character on an Xbox 360, PC Leara when I played Skyrim for five whole minutes on desktop, New Leara when OG Leara's savefile got corrupted and I missed her, and Switch Leara on my sister's Nintendo. OG Leara was all about followers! She got Lydia killed on the Throat of the World. She spared Cicero and took him to Fort Dawnguard, but Serana didn't like him. She then somehow lost Serana on Solthiem? Frea didn't seem to care, so that was sus. She also murdered Marcurio for Boethiah BUT SHE DIDN"T KILL ERANDUR OKAY

I guess, uh, Leara doesn't have a follower because they have a habit of dying around her.

[horatio-fig]

The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 1 - The Apostate.  

I never do these ‘My thoughts on’ posts coz I figured no one cares, but Don't knock it til you try it, I guess. Here are some thoughts I had watching it -  

An Alligator ruined that kids little party so I will be calling the covenants new planet ‘Space Florida’ until told otherwise.  

Did Din see they were in trouble and rush in to save them, or did he sit back and watch for a while as he tried to remember if this was part of the ceremony.  

When The Armorer first said the whole ‘bathe in the living waters’ thing and Din was like ‘but there’s no water?’ I thought it was Mandalorian Idiom like ‘when pigs fly’  

I low key hope there are no waters and Din has to realise the only think that makes him Mandalorian are the friends he made along the way or something like that.  

I love the Purrgil (I could do without everyone who recognises them from Rebels acting like they’re the only person who’s seen Rebels however) I just love Star Wars, so anything remotely related to the world of Star Wars and I'll lose my shit. If I see a Loth-cat, I hear the word caf, if they reuse a planet, I love it.  

They gentrified the pirate cove. The bastards.  

Of all the side quests Din has been offered ‘become a Thane of Nevarro, you can even purchase a house’ is my favourite.  

The episode paused to give us a truly batshit ‘let me drink in the school’ Monty Python sketch and I request they do this once an episode.  

I saw a lot of articles demanding to know what happened to Cara Dune but honestly, they all had the same energy as my Grandma asking ‘are you still friends with Susan from your year 9 English class?’ Like, we worked on a group project years ago and last I saw she was posting shitty all lives matter takes on Facebook.  

Considering the First Order is kind of supposed to be a look at this right wing resurgence. (The enemies where once nazis and now they're angsty little white boys who wanna be nazis) it could have been interesting to have Greef be like ‘hey you still friends with Cara?’ and Din go ‘she started saying stuff like ‘I don't always agree with the First Order but every now and then they say what we’re all thinking’ and now we don’t talk anymore”. But, I understand the importance of separating a character from an actor so it’s probably better they don't do that.  

I’m glad they didn’t bring back IG-11. I kind of don’t want them to cheapen his heart wrenching death scene, but this is Star Wars, when has death ever meant anything? Can't wait to have him back.  

90% sure Grogu was trying to eat the Anzellans  

If this season doesn't win an Emmy it’s because they cut out a scene where Din crawled on his hands and knees to get into that droidsmiths.  

I hope Din teaching Grogu how to fly becomes a Chekov's driving lesson and Grogu has to fly the ship to save the day. 

That dogfight with the pirates was pure Saturday morning cartoon and camp and it’s why I love Star Wars. 

I have never been sure if Mandalore was a planet or a planetary system so this episode did kinda clear some of that up. (And it’s always fun to see more Mandalorian places) 

Bo-Katan's hair is giving me Halloween Store Ginger Spice Wig realness and I’m sort of into it. I also love how all the other Star Wars ladies are infamous for constantly changing hairstyles and she just went ‘nah, this is the one’ 

Bo-Katan sitting/slouching/laying on her chair is me every day, sprawled on out the sofa trying to figure out why have back problems. Finally, the representation we need.  

Overall, solid first episode. It kind of felt like when you start up Skyrim again after not playing for a while and just spend the first hour or so just remembering where you got up to.  

I enjoyed the different in tone to this episode. The first episode of Season 1 showed a lone ranger type, mowing down enemies and having no time for people like Greef. In this episode he is much less bloodthirsty and we see him catching up with multiple friends throughout the episode. I understand the need to up the drama and stakes with every season, but it's also nice to see your character get to enjoy the benefits of their success and character development.  

I know some people are mad that the show had no planned ending and will keep going for as long as they want. People have been saying this will make the show ‘aimless’ but the Mandalorian has kind of always been an aimless wander through the galaxy, picking up friends and questing and I think this episode show cased that.  

Finally, I saw a review saying that the Mandalorian premiere fails to match the high bar set by Andor and it pales by comparison. That's like saying winter isn't as warm as summer. They’re different things, that do different jobs in the franchise. (Also, I remember when Andor premiered and there were plenty of revies saying it was no The Mandalorian) 

It’s too cakes! Two amazingly good cakes! Andor has a prison break episode and it's a gut punch of a saga that makes you feel the need to go for walk and appreciate your freedom after you watch it. The Mandalorian had a prison break episode and it was a fun romp of double crossing and cartoon violence. And we get to have both, and it’s great and I just love Star Wars in all shapes and sizes.  

I have more to say but I'm gonna leave it there, I might do one of these for the next episode, but we’ll see. All in all, it was a good solid The Mandalorian episode and I am a fan.