#i assume this is concept are from Skyrim?

[connortheconceded]

I initially thought it was some kind of board because of the tusks but it has a doglike nose so maybe a wolf head with added tusks.

I also think the ears/horns are added to it as well since they're so symmetrical.

tesblr help, what creature's head do you think that is on this guy's shoulder? noen of us can figure it out lol

[varlaisvea]

’this one’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[elbiotipo]

Notes on a South Asian Tropical Cyrodiil (and more!)

So, many TES fans know that before Oblivion, Cyrodiil was supposed to be tropical. The most striking phrase to describe it, "most is endelss jungle", says it all. The quick and snarky explanation is that Todd Howard watched LOTR, was "inspired" by it, and that's why everything in Oblivion looks sort of like a Rennaisance Fair. In any case, I think it was a huge missed opportunity, especially in a world where most popular fantasy is European inspired, to have replaced what could have been very cool tropical enviroments with what is frankly a lame "Talos used his magic" lore retcon. You can read the 1st edition of the Pocket Guide to the Empire to see what we missed.

But it's not only Cyrodiil which we missed this way… Tamriel just makes more sense as a tropical continent. While the size and the exact location of the continent is discussed by nerdier nerds than me, I think it does make sense like this, and not only that, we have a very interesting world parallel to compare it to: India. From a tropical rainy south to the cold mountains of Skyrim, Tamriel is surprisingly similar to the Indian subcontinent, and many of its geographical quirks can be explained if, instead of assuming a temperate Cyrodiil, we go all out with that concept. This is going to be a long post, you have been warned.

So with that in mind, I'll try to make a not-so brief tour (with some evocative pictures along the way) of a rebuilt tropical Tamriel, following the rains of the moonson:

The position of Tamriel, in this case, would be roughly where the Indian subcontinent is located in real life, that is again, tropical, stretching the Tropic of Cancer (is there a name for the tropics of Nirn? Interesting to think about) Here, we see our numbers pan out well: Tamriel is mentioned to be between 4000 and 3000km across east to west and 2000 and 3000km south to north. VERY, VERY roughly, there is 4000km between Pakistan and Myanmar, and 3000km from Sri Lanka to the northern tip of Tibet. Plot that on a map, and you already can see some coincidences. Now, this is a rather average continent, not Pangea sized like some imagine Tamriel to be. This does help explain why, for example, the interior of Cyrodiil is rainy and good for agriculture instead of a desert. But it also means that it's very likely that Tamriel is ruled by monsoons. Monsoons are complex, but they basically form when there are plenty of warm places for water to evaporate (the South Indian ocean), and mountains that block cool winds from the opposite direction (the Himalayas). We have a very similar situation here, with a mountainous Skyrim on the north of a tropical Cyrodiil facing an equatorial southern ocean. So, what happens are monsoons, perhaps not as strong as IRL India, but carrying rains very deep into the continent. This would feed the rivers and the rich agricultural areas of Cyrodiil, and would have some other consequences.

So let's imagine our trip South to North. In the South, in Black Marsh, Blackwood and Lleyawiin, and Pellentine (southern Elsweyr) we would find, much like in the original lore, humid tropical climates, jungle, wetlands, and my favorite, mangrooves. I would expect mangrooves to stretch in this whole area, across rivers. In fact, one of the reasons why Black Marsh could be so hard to explore and control by the Empires at Cyrodiil would be the presence of thick mangrooves all over its coast. This is the region of Cyrodiil that would most resemble "endless jungle".

(Rice fields in India, what I imagine most of this Tropical Cyrodiil would look like)

However, as any lore person knows, Anequina, northern Elsweyr, is arid desert. Does this mean a contradiction? Far from it, we have a similar example in IRL India: the Deccan Plateau, which has a semi-arid to arid climate. This can be easily explained by higher elevations up to a small mountain chain separating it from Cyrodiil to the north, and the fact that little rain would reach behind this "Anequina Plateau" would make the region of Kvatch and Anvil more dry much like in canon, in this case, more scrublike. This highland desert would not be as harsh as Elsweyr is usually concieved, maybe, but its driest regions might justify places such as Dune. (On that matter, it always bothered me to read about the "cities" of southern Elsweyr and there being only two or three there. If I had to redesign it, I would move some from the north to the south).

(the Deccan Plateau in India, it gets greener or drier according to the monsoon)

Keeping on our tour of Tamriel, the Topal Bay and the very rainy Black Marsh funnels the rainy monsoon from the south towards central Cyrodiil. Here we find the endless jungle of the Nibenay Valley. But unlike the rainforests of Elsweyr and Black Marsh, these dense forests and rich river plains are mediated by the monsoon winds, with dry seasons alternating with copious rain. This has huge effects on agriculture and culture in general, as agriculture is defined by the rythms of the rain. Keeping with our South Asian theme and the 1st edition of the Guide to the Empire, Cyrodiil would have huge extensions of rice paddies, as well as terrace farming and much hardier crops in the highlands, instead of the… well, almost absent agriculture we saw in Oblivion. The food, clothing, architecture and overall culture of Cyrodiil would be very different with this. The original Pocket Guide said some of its main exports besides rice and fruit are moon sugar and silk. Moon sugar in Cyrodiil, can you believe it?

Another thing I imagine Cyrodiil would be famous for would be fish and seafood, well, river food. Rice plantations can host fishes and crustaceans to get some extra protein, and well, what about mudcrabs? Hell, as preparing muddy soil is vital for rice cultivation, no wonder mudcrabs are considered a nuisance. Imagining critters in gameplay in such an enviroment also makes my mind roam. Tigers, elephants, rhinoceros, and this is not even getting into the more mythical creatures you could find, instead of endless wolves… Rice cultivation is also more labor intensive than other crops, and it also has a deep impact on the terrain, "terraforming" so to say, huge expanses into paddies and terrace farms. This level of cultivation also requires an established infraestructure of irrigation. While this does not necessarily means a centralized goverment, as farmers can build it and maintain it by themselves, the rise of an empire, i.e., the Empire, will also increase the complexity of these systems, adding canals, dams, reservoirs and more ambitious projects, like we see in India and China. I am sure some people more knowledgeable about those cultures can comment more.

While this Cyrodiil is a tropical/subtropical region covered in "endless jungle", some parts might indeed resemble the rolling hills and grasslands you see in Oblivion. Deforesting jungle for pasture is something very common around the world (some have joked this mass deforestation was later in canon explained as a gift from Talos lol) and you can see the results, like in tropical Australia and my closer Mata Atlantica, do superficially resemble temperate pastures in say, Europe. Until you notice the palm trees, of course. But yes, I can see the Nords being a mostly herding people (more on that below) bringing their sheep and cows to the tropical lowlands and, well, deforesting to make space for them.

(ranches in Sao Paulo state, Brazil, notice the palm trees)

Imperial City just so happens to be built in an island in the middle of several river crossings, in what seems to be a swampland. The first thing that came to mind when I read that was Tenochtitlán. The districts of Imperial City would have been built over the centuries on artificial islands on a shallow lake, using plentiful mud and organic matter to make fertile chinampas. I believe this would make for a striking sight. Instead of just a city in the middle of a empty island, you would see the White-Gold tower and the rest of Imperial City rising from Lake Rumare, surrounded by rich farmland and its districts joined by walkways. (much like the old descriptions, actually, could you believe I wrote that without reading them?)

(Reconstruction of Tenochtitlán... and I just noticed, it's surrounded by (volcanic) mountains too, much like Imperial City)

Much like the Pantanal is one of the sources to the Paraguay River (which merges with the Paraná and then the Río de la Plata) IRL, here, the swamps of central Cyrodiil would be the source of the Niben. This does raise an interesting question, where is the source of the Niben? Is it Lake Rumare? No, I believe it would be several smaller rivers all the way from Bruma and even Skyrim. These small, violent mountain rivers eventually flow into the Rumare wetlands and only THEN in the placid great Niben. You DON'T want to be caught in one of the mountain valleys in rainy season. This does raise the question; won't the developments upriver, like Imperial City itself and the surrounding farmland, affect the course of the river downwards? There's plenty of water from the rain, but a more developed Cyrodiil might indeed have to grapple with this, supposing, for example, they manage to dam the river.

Looking west, we got the Colovian region, said to be composed of drier highlands and cliffs in the early Pocket Guide. Probably cut from the rain because of the Anequina Plateau, this is indeed more arid or "mediterranean", though I actually see it as more Australian. Maybe some of the drier parts near Hammerfell, resembling Argentine Cuyo and the northwest, would be a distant cry from the wetlands, having thorny dry forests and dry valleys, where yes, you could plant wine. The wetter cloud forests (much like the Yungas in South America, the place where the rain reaches last) could maybe be the home of the last pre-Imperial cultures of Cyrodiil. Fascinating places.

(Jujuy, Argentina. Just *near* are the Yungas cloud forests, where the last rains from the Atlantic meet the Andes, making for some AMAZING places)

Given that I mentioned enviroments near to/on the Andes IRL, let's talk about potatoes. Potatoes are unique crops, because they are the only ones who offer such calories and also be planted in cold enviroments like Europe. Or Skyrim. The discovery and spread of potatoes would cause demographic shifts on people living in cold areas. And they also originated in a unique enivorment IRL: the Andes, actually with possible hybridization from the Magallenic foresWHAT I MEAN, is that potatoes are very important and have been domesticated in very specific conditions. The Wroghtgarian Mountains would seem like a perfect equivalent of the Andes at the first glance, but they would be very different. The Andes, located between the Pacific Ocean and the greater Amazonian region, are very, very unique enviroments. These mountains, however, are in between inner seas. Something like the Atlas or the Alps? In any case, if there is some people who would appreciate hardy tubers that can grow in mountainous places, they are for sure the Orcs, or perhaps the Reachmen. Maybe an hybridization even between them?

This returns me back to Bruma and Skyrim. Some people (who make those excellent Oblivion mods) imagine Bruma with a Tibetan flavor. Personally, I imagine it more like Pakistan or Afghanistan, with lots of mesas and plateaus and valleys. It would look dry and rocky with some very fertile valleys by snowmelt, but it would look like a snowy wonderland on winter, indeed, Pakistan and Afghanistan are very snowy. Eventually, of course, ending up in the great barrier of the Jerall mountains and finally, Skyrim.

(the Alps? Skyrim? No, this is Kashmir on winter!)

In this scenario, Skyrim would be a quite dry place… or would it? There is no need for the Jeralls to be a straight line of peaks like the Himalayas. They could be a more "broken" series of mountains, like the southern Andes, but in any case, the rain from the south would clash into the higher mountains. Indeed, that is what actually happens in the Himalayas, the foothills of the Himalayas are some of the rainest places IN THE WORLD. These small valleys are something very unique and not very well known part of the world IRL. I can imagine the Skyrim equivalent would be as unique too, hard to navigate and live in. The forests of the Rift and Falkreath would be mazes of windy forests valleys, each with their own unique secrets under a perpetual fog and drizzle. This is a very interesting enviroment to imagine, where again, some of the older cultures of Tamriel could still live.

(forests of Bhutan, note how the humid valleys stretch into the distance before the cold Himalayas begin)

However, what does Skyrim look like once you cross the border with Ralof? I imagine some sort of more fertile Tibet, not as high as the Tibetan plateau, allowing for forest and alpine tundra. This is mostly because, while Skyrim is high up, I don't imagine as a plateau, but rather a series of broken mountains like the North American Rockies, which makes sense when you account for all the volcanic activity (there is another super-volcano down in Skyrim but nobody notices). I imagine that Skyrim would be a primarily herding pastoral land before the introduction of hardier crops such as potatoes, and even then. Nord culture would be very interesting reimagined like this; hillforts guarding herds of sheep and cows. It would also create a clash between the very, very agrarian south and the nomadic herding north, with High Rock and Hammerfell a gradient between the two.

But here we enter a problem; if we are operating on a level where Cyrodiil is roughly at the same latitude of India, wouldn't that make Skyrim too far from the poles to allow its tundra like climate, even with elevation? No doubt. Tibet is only as cold as it is because it's the roof of the world and far from any ocean. The northernmost tip Skyrim, like Tibet, would be at the latitude of Turkey, Korea or California, which can get quite cold, but not to the level of what we see on Winterhold or Dawnstar (Solitude sounds familiar, though). What's more, having an ocean up north would only moderate the temperature. Cool currents often don't bring cold per-se, just decrease rainfall. This would end with a very temperate and pleasant Skyrim instead of tundra. Which is on its own, interesting to explore.

Could Nirn be going through an ice age, like it's implied with the dissapearance of Atmora? Possibly, but it would imply revising everything I said before, as ice ages decrease rainfall and mess up with weather patterns all over the world. A colder Nirn would explain a lot, though.

I decide I will stop here, I haven't even touched Valenwood (though its subtropical forest seems rather coherent to me), High Rock (the most boring part of Tamriel IMO), Hammerfell, Summerset Islands (if you don't have tropical elves in your setting, you're a coward), or whatever the hell is going on Morrowind. But I hope you enjoyed this worldbuilding exercise and how to make sense of Tamriel's crazy geography. Next time, I'll try to play with tectonics and see if we can make it even more interesting.

If you liked what you read and would like more worldbuilding, consider tipping me on Ko-Fi and send me stuff to talk about, or just send an ask! I'm the kind of guy who reads encyclopedias and RPG manuals for fun, so I have plenty to talk about about everything from fantasy to science fiction to speculative evolution and alternate history!

[elderscrollsconceptart]

Hello! I am currently working on a project of stitching Adam Adamowicz's beautiful Skyrim concept art back together. I had noticed that a lot of the images online were from a greater whole & wanted to bring them back to that. Heres an image as example.

It's going to take me a bit of time I assume but would like it if I sent you the final project?

Of course! Thank you!

I've noticed the same and would love to see how they appear grouped together as they were originally

Thank you very much and please take your time!

[yanderes-galore]

May I please have yandere vilkas with a darling who's the harbinger of the companions? Romantic concept if possible please *leaves Holliday cookies for you* have a great day ^^

It seems I did this request at a good time! I will accept those cookies, thank you~ Here's your Vilkas!

Yandere! Vilkas with Harbinger! Darling

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Stalking, Scenting, Werewolf behavior/Mate mention, Manipulation, Possessive behavior, Violence/Murder mentioned once, Dubious/Forced relationship.

Vilkas has been known as a hothead and often doesn't trust newcomers.

However he holds you in high regard, especially when you manage to cure Kodlak.

Vilkas has also been shown to despise his beast blood and often refrains from wolf transformation.

While he may seem to not trust people often, no doubt due to childhood, he accepts you as the new Harbinger.

By the time you do become Harbinger his obsession has already settled in.

This is because Vilkas has already fought alongside you.

He has seen your prowess and while he hates being a wolf himself... he can see you use your transformation well.

Being the Harbinger of The Companions no doubt means you've been given beast blood, making you a wolf.

As a result I assume werewolves in Skyrim exhibit possessive behaviors, especially towards those they like.

Vilkas may fight transformation, but he finds himself attracted to your smell as a wolf.

You also rank higher than him now.

Vilkas respects you as Harbinger, even more so when he comes to terms with the fact he has romantic attraction to you.

Vilkas has already promised to be your shield-brother until death takes him or you.

Yet now he feels he wants to be more than that.

Even as your follower he still has such thoughts.

It makes him disappointed when you don't have an Amulet of Mara on, yet he hopes someday you will.

Until then he vows to be loyal to you as Harbinger.

Vilkas has a strong moral code.

He has been shown to not tolerate crime, even by the Dragonborn.

Which means, unless your life is threatened, don't expect Vilkas to blindly slaughter.

Admittedly the beast inside him wishes to claim you/be claimed by you as Harbinger... but he fights the urge to kill for it.

He may nearly lose it if you're already married... but not surprised.

However such a thought makes his jealousy rise, the beast in him begins to wish to claw out...

Honestly his possessive feelings may indeed make him kill, even when he tries to fight it.

If he does see you have an Amulet of Mara on, he nearly pounces on you.

He'd gladly take the opportunity to be your partner forever and ever.

It even pleases his beast half if he hasn't been purified, the idea of having you as his mate makes him beyond happy.

Vilkas is no doubt possessive due to the beast blood.

If he is indeed still a wolf and he + his brother aren't cleansed yet, he shows wolf-like behavior.

Even when not transformed he finds comfort in your scent/warmth.

He would gladly nuzzle into/hold you in private.

It gives him confirmation you're his... be it willingly or by force.

Due to you being Harbinger you can assume Vilkas would be more submissive around you.

You're higher in the order even if there is no real "leader" to the Companions.

As Harbinger he'll listen to you for the most part but may rebel your order once in awhile if it feels it goes against his interests with you.

Overall, Vilkas is still loyal to you as Harbinger, not just because of his obsession.

Most of the time he'll submit to you and serve you...

Although, if he feels he'll lose you or the chance to be yours, he'll do anything to prevent that from happening... even going back on his word and committing a few violent acts.

[chrismien]

Let's explore the negative association of milk in Tamriel's Nordic culture.

So, basically, from the dialogue and other sources, we know that drinking milk within Nord cultures is associated with a number of negative perceptions, such as:

Milk is for children.

Milk is associated with weakness.

Milk is not a manly beverage.

This is evidenced by the lines from numerous NPCs in Skyrim.

If you have a disposition of -1 or lower with an NPC, they may say to you: "What do you want, milk drinker?"

There is also the Taunting Adventurer NPC in Skyrim, who is a randomly encountered warrior in the wilderness or in an inn. He says: "What's a milk drinker like you doing out here? Go home to your mother."

But it is worth noting that some Nords such as Rigurt the Brash from ESO oppose the concept behind the insult saying: "Milk-drinker. Why did that become such a terrible Nord insult, I wonder. Milk is good for you! I love the stuff! Not as much as I love mead, but it's a close second. Maybe third."

With that, it is reasonable to assume that some Nords avoid drinking milk to prevent being perceived as a cry-baby or a weakling by other Nords, and potentially even by themselves.

As we know, even in real life, milk is important for bone growth. When we delve into medical aspects, calcium is an essential extracellular cation required for muscles to surpass the action potential threshold, enabling contractions and therefore movement.

Skyrim, the homeland of the Nords, also experiences limited sunlight in certain regions. UV radiation from the sun is essential for the activation of Vitamin D from cholecalciferol to calcitriol. This fat-soluble vitamin is crucial for maintaining bone strength and a healthy immune system.

Basically, calcium is important for nerve conduction, blood clotting, muscle contractions, immune functions, and healthy bones.

But how would a race centered around strength and possessing a strong warrior culture maintain their constitution?

Skyrim is abundant with cheese, which is directly made from milk and is also rich in calcium. Digesting cheese breaks it down into its components, facilitating the absorption of calcium into the body.

There is also a thriving fishing culture in Riften and Windhelm. Access to the Sea of Ghosts allows access to marine resources like fish and shellfish which could act as substitutes for calcium sources.

I understand that it's a fantasy world, but creating a believable fantasy world can indeed enhance the enjoyment of the experience. By grounding elements of the world in reality, it becomes more relatable and allows us to better connect with the characters and settings.

We can now conclude that Nords are able to maintain their warrior culture despite the cultural bias against milk, which is essential for numerous bodily functions.

[spell-bloom]

Skyrim modding is such an insane rabbit hole, like there was a follower mod called Daegon that was basically the mod author's self-insert. But the author is an E-Girl, so everyone swooned over her and her OC which was an Altmeri princess and she is such a cool and evil girlboss who speaks like a character from the Castlevania anime (low and really in your ears.) Oh and her father was Mehrunes Dagon.

Simps left and right loved the mod author (Kukielle) and loved Daegon. However, what they didn't know was how much the next update would break them. I believe there were dialogue options on being flirty with her, so the assumed opinion at the time was that the next update would expand upon her lore and make her marriagable.

However, Kuki dropped a massive update that rewrote everything. No more Altmeri princess or Mehrunes daughter, she is now an elf that was isekai'd into Skyrim with her demon boyfriend and they have sex and flirt in front of the player. You also cannot disable or kill the demon boyfriend either because that will completely break Daegon's AI and brick your save file. And the part that pissed off people the most is that there was no option to download the old, 1.0 version of Daegon anymore.

Discourse rose on the Nexus and modding subreddit about if a mod author should have agency on radically changing the entire story and concept for their character and if it was any good in the first place. And on the other side was Kuki's discord where everyone praised her choice of remaking her OC and pledging to doxx, harass and kill whoever critizes her and her mod.

[writersstareoutwindows]

snippet of a Skyrim fic I’ve been meaning to post. a pretty good, quick summary of my current Dragonborn concept.

small-town homebody returns from first adventure to find that her home is not as it always appeared to be. but then, neither is she. and neither is the cat on her shoulders. -

It was all so much the same: the hearth fire, working its way toward roaring as evening came on; low, warm light dimmed by smoke; the soft scents of yeast and honey; familiar voices chattering, while Embry snored at his seat and Sven plucked a heartsick tune. The Sleeping Giant slumbered on, exactly as she’d left it months before. There was only one thing that had changed.

As she stepped inside, people who had known her all her life looked at her with wary curiosity. In the doorway, backlit by fading sun, she looked like any traveler, in rough armor with a weapon on their hip, tall and broad and tusked, not from around here. Only when she smiled did they recognize young Signy, not dead after all.

A cheer went up; everyone wanted to buy her a drink. Everyone had heard the stories, everyone wanted to know if they were true. It was the sort of thing she’d dreamed of when she was the one bringing out drinks, but today, she’d been traveling for hours in the cold, and there was still something to do before she could sleep.

Khali, who had not moved from her comfortable perch on Signy’s shoulders for about sixteen hours, leapt to the floor and circled her ankles. When anyone came too close, the little cat hissed.

Everyone familiar with the erstwhile tavern cat knew not to push their luck.

“Sorry!” Signy said. “She’s just—Kha—I mean, Duchess, stop, it’s fine. Sorry, everyone, I just came to see Delphine, actually. That’s all.”

Signy’s name had flown around the tavern. Delphine was at the bar, ready with a mug of mead, watered-down and honey-sweetened, to slide in her direction.

“On the house. You’re back sooner than I thought. And you’ve brought our dear Duchess back safe, too.”

Signy caught the mug but didn’t drink. She wasn’t sure how to reply. “I guess so… Delphine, do we have an attic room?”

Signy didn’t notice, but Khali, returned to her perch, did: Delphine paused.

“No. We don’t have an attic. You know that.”

“I know! It’s just that someone thinks you do.”

Signy offered the note that she and Khali had found in Windcaller’s tomb. Again it was Khali who noticed that, though Delphine glanced at it, her eyes didn’t move to read the words.

“Someone did stop by, asking if they could leaving something here for you. Maybe that’s who you’re looking for. Let me get Orgnar on the bar and I’ll show you.”

Retrieving a key from somewhere beneath the bar, Delphine went to the door of a corner room that Signy had never seen rented out. She’d assumed it was a closet of some kind, but as Delphine opened the door a sliver and ushered her inside, she saw a bed against one wall, a wardrobe against the other. When Delphine closed the door behind them, Khali’s tail snapped against Signy’s neck. She hissed low in her throat.

Startled, Signy said “What—?”

Delphine had opened the wardrobe. Assuming the question was for her, she paused and said, “You worked for me for a good couple years. I think I can trust you…with this much, at least. Can you keep a secret?”

Trying not to glance at Khali, Signy said, “Yes. What’s going on?”

In response, Delphine opened a false back in the wardrobe and descended inside. At once, Signy loped after her, vaulted the stairwell, and turned a wide-eyed circle at the small, secret room that awaited. Weapons bristled on the walls. In one corner, hay bales had been dragged out to form a training space, the walls around it pocked and scored. The training dummy had pointed ears. Books lay open on every surface, maps tacked onto the walls, all scrawled over in thin, spidery writing. The map on the central table was the most marked of all, held down at the corner by heavy, notated books, in some places so thick with notes that they became unreadable. Delphine walked to the far side of this table, placing it between her and Signy as she watched the other’s reaction.

“Has this always been here?”

Delphine shrugged. “As long as I have.”

“This is…what?” Signy laughed, unsure if it was the right thing to do. All the years of her life, she’d known Delphine as the stoic innkeeper, but this—it was an adventurer’s storeroom, or a general’s office. “What is going on?”

“Same question to you. All the stories, not to mention the Greybeards, are calling you Dragonborn.”

The rumble in Khali’s chest was enough to put Signy on her guard.

“People say a lot of things.” She shrugged self-consciously.

“You wouldn’t have my note if the Greybeards didn’t believe you were the one. They wouldn’t send just anyone after that horn. The question now is, should I believe it?”

“Your note? You made it through that tomb? Delphine, what…?” Signy waved her hands around the entire room, not knowing where to point first. “What the fuck is going on? Who are you?”

That unflinching expression of hers finally shifted toward something halfway sympathetic. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this. It was better when no one in town had to know, but if you’re really Dragonborn, someone is going to involve you eventually.” Delphine sighed. “Better for me if I’m the one to do it. But I have to make sure the Thalmor haven’t gotten to you.”

“The Thalmor? To me?” Signy gestured to herself, all six and a quarter Orcish feet. “In what world?”

“I’ve been fighting Thalmor a long time. I’ve learned not to underestimate them.” She laid a hand on the map beside her. “I have reason to suspect they’re involved with the dragons. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’d corrupted even you.”

That went through Signy’s heart like an arrow.

“Fuck off! My momma fought your stupid war. She killed Thalmor, and then she lost her home anyway—”

Delphine waved her hand. She was inspecting the map beneath her fingers. “None of that matters now. What matters is that you might be Dragonborn.” She traced a line drawn in red. “If we can find ourselves a dragon, you can prove it to me.”

“Why do you care?”

There was a jagged edge to the question. Signy had known Delphine for all the time she could remember. She had moved to Riverwood not long after Signy’s momma, when Signy was still a baby. For gods’ sake, she’d worked in Delphine’s tavern for the last four years. And Delphine had known her. They hadn’t been close; Delphine wasn’t close with anyone. But Signy had always tried to be kind. It hurt more sharply than she was willing to admit, that Delphine did not seem to have cared.

Still, she seemed to hear the note of hurt. She hesitated before deciding, regardless,“I’m sorry, Signy, but I can’t tell you. Not until I’m sure. It’s too important.”

A growl rumbled from deep in Khali’s body. Signy had forgotten she was there, but now the little cat stood up on her shoulders.

“She does not have to prove herself to you…Blade.”

And Delphine betrayed an emotion that Signy had not known her capable of: surprise. For half a moment, she gaped at the talking cat. Then daggers appeared in both hands as she sprang into a defensive stance. Those were warrior’s eyes, Signy realized, as they darted around assessing the room, settling on Khali. And there was hate in them.

“Thalmor. I should have known. Signy—”

Signy felt Khali’s fur fluff in fury. “This one is not Thalmor. Do you think you would still be alive if she were? Do you think this room is very hard to find? It is because of this one lying to the Thalmor that they have not already killed you. This one may bow to Aldmeri with her head, but not with her heart.”

“Signy,” Delphine repeated, “don’t move. That creature on your shoulders is exceptionally dangerous.”

“No, listen to her, she’s not—”

“That creature has a name! She is Khali, called after the great Mane of the ancient Interregnum, she whose soul was split in two and held in twin bodies for the twin moons!”

Khali leapt onto the table. Delphine adjusted instantly, lowering one dagger to her level, but Khali just flicked her tail in irritation.

“Your paranoia has made you blind. You trust a house cat to be what it is, but you do not trust a woman you have seen grow from childhood. You dream that Aldmeri could control the dragons. You cower in hiding—”

“You Thalmor scum—”

Khali’s claws emerged, tearing points into Delphine’s map. She was only a little cat, but there was a presence to her that filled the room. She did not have to raise her voice to be heard.

“Do you think you are the only one who has suffered at the hands of the Thalmor? Do you have any idea what they have done in Elsweyr? This one has done more by pretending to serve than you ever managed in your war. Far more than you do by hiding in your cellar.”

“Shut up, cat.”

Signy had been so drawn by the force of Khali’s voice that she had not noticed the poison in Delphine’s eyes. Looking now, she saw the daggers quake in her hands, and she knew, because Signy was good at knowing these things, that Khali had cut her very deeply indeed.

Khali saw the daggers shake too. She curled her tail into a question mark, daring her.

“This one is not afraid of you, Blade. As she says, you are blind. Has this one not already shown that she is more than you can see?”

Delphine was already lunging. Signy screamed, knowing she wouldn’t miss. “NO!”

But Khali’s Voice was a half-step quicker. She didn’t shout; in the same even tone that she’d been speaking, she said, “Fus.”

Delphine hit the wall so hard that it cracked. Signy dived for the table, scooping Khali into her arms, but Delphine stayed down.

With a glance at Khali, even with a twisting hurt in her belly, Signy offered her a hand.

Tears pricked the corners of Delphine’s eyes. She didn’t seem to notice. She just looked at Khali and said, “It’s you.”

Khali did not respond immediately. She returned to her perch on Signy’s shoulders and wrapped her tail possessively around one arm. At last, she gave a single nod.

“This one has proved herself. Signy has never needed to. You are the one who has lied; prove yourself to her.”

Signy opened her hand, still held out to Delphine. Delphine tore her gaze from the tiny Dragonborn with the angry golden eyes, and, seeing Signy attempt a smile, finally recognized her: not the weapon she’d been looking for, but the girl she’d always known, young and idealistic. She took her hand and let Signy pull her up.

“Right. Well, Signy. I’m one of the few surviving members of the old Imperial guard. We were called the Blades. We’ve been waiting for a Dragonborn for a very long time…”

[heldhram]

15 questions for 15 mutuals

I was tagged by @its-adrienpastel @pleaseputnamehere @agnelid and @neillesimstories thank you all for the tag!

1. Are you named after anyone?

Not that I am aware of. It’s actually uncommon (or even disrespectful, if named after an elderly family member) in our culture to name children after other people so I would be surprised if I was named after anyone.

2. When was the last time you cried?

This is a very good question, I don’t actually know. When you get to your mid-20s I guess you can get fairly easily-triggered emotionally, whether it be a distant but sweet memory that reminds you of good times that will never come back, or a dire realisation of things you will almost never achieve, or even a simple scene from a TV show with that right cue of music (Season 2 last episode of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel when the camera cut to Susie carefully admiring her new blazer whilst Lenny’s “All Alone” moody violin interlude playing in the background being an example) that can send me into a tearful mood.

3. Do you have kids?

No, but I am definitely not against the idea of having kids, unlike what most of my acquaintances would assume of me. Deep down I am a family-person, but in my home country it is still currently illegal for a gay man such as I to adopt kids that is not biologically related to me (I’ll take the dumbest piece of legislation for $500, Alex).

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

I am not good with sarcasm at all, let it be online or in person. To be fair, I don’t think I have used sarcasm if at all in real life, but I don’t find it difficult to detect a sarcastic remark at all. Guess when you’re surrounded by enough witty (but kind nevertheless) people you don’t feel the need to contribute any more sarcasm. (This is not sarcasm, if you’re wondering)

5. What sports do you play/have you played?

Not a very sporty person myself. I used to play table tennis with my dad when I was a kid, and then almost 2 decades later at my uni’s student centre. It was so much harder when I was kiddo and I don’t know why. Probably because I hadn’t learned physics yet.

Nowadays I barely do any sports (unless you count jogging), but I’d like to play tennis if my legs aren’t so sore after a day’s shift. Oh, and if I have someone to play with me. I’ll then buy a racquet.

6. What’s the first thing you notice about other people?

The way their facial feature move to produce a warm, heartfelt smile. Also, their fascinating shades of eye colours.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

Movies with unexpected endings, preferably unhappy ones. I guess I’m just fed up with conventional, commercialised happy endings to the point where I just wish things could be a bit more down-to-earth and realistic. I prefer fictions that I could relate to on a personal level, and that’s probably why I’ve not seen any good movies/TV shows for a while. That being said, I adore Netflix’s mini-series Maid.

8. Any special talents?

Imitating accents, (and according to my acquaintances and relatives) melodious, multitasking, memorising useless things like what happened years ago on a special occasion, listening to the same song/music on loop and not getting sick of them for 1 year.

9. Where were you born?

Taiwan, a beautiful subtropical island polluted by fugly buildings.

10. What are your hobbies?

Playing the guitar, modding Skyrim/Fallout 4 to my own liking, learning languages, baking. Oh, and browsing memes.

11. Do you have any pets?

I would love to adopt a dog from the local shelter if I’m not moving so frequently between countries. I’ve never really had a pet before, and I’m so jealous of people who get to grow up with one.

12. How tall are you?

186cm (~ 6 feet 1)

13. Fave subject in school?

Chemistry (my fave), Biology, Geography, English (the only subject at school I could pass with flying colours without studying at all, so I like it)

14. Dream job?

Not any specific occupation, but rather a concept: An ideal job for me would be the one where I get to utilise the knowledge I gained from formal education, enriched by real-life experiences/lessons, guided by self-reflection and personal growth, that allows me to give back to the community from which I benefited, and to motivate people to improve themselves physically and mentally.

15. Eye colour?

Dark, dark brown

I feel like most of the mutuals of mine have already done this, so I’m not tagging anyone else. If you’d like to do this, please consider yourself tagged and have fun :)

[mallowmaenad]

19, 26, 34?

19:A fact about your personality

I have multiple.

26:My biggest pet peeves

Being rude to servers, wasting food, people that project their feelings onto the actions of domesticated animals and babies for fun, when an easily recognizable thing in a foreign piece of media gets localized into something stupid, "cute" animal videos where the animal is being mistreated, exotic pet owners, expensive rice, expensive soda, when tv shows' seasons are spread over multiple streaming services vs. all being on one or more, people that find kate upton attractive, people raising their voices, cars that have the bass turned up so loud you hear the chassis rattling like its going to explode more than you hear the actual music, people that tell you to "just google it", ghosting, people making arguments against nobody because they want to look enlightened, christians acting oppressed, people that hate the homestuck and hlvrai fanbase, people that make fandom their whole personalities, conspicuous consumption, people who talk about firebombing walmarts n shit who have never done anything in their lives to help their communities, when I send something to someone for them to read and they never get around to reading it because they don't have the patience to, overconfident men, when someone eggs me on and on to play a video game so we can play together and then when I start playing it they suddenly don't have any time to play it with me anymore, when settings have lore than make whole swaths of species ontologically evil, people who are picky about grammar and spelling, people who say skyrim is the worst elder scrolls game, having to play tabletop RPGs by "official play" guidelines, delivery fees that don't even go to the delivery driver, people who talk about cool weapons "not being practical", hats with poor craftsmanship, the feel of wearing converse shoes, youtube accent, cis white dudes being at the forefront of progressiveness in pop culture, people assuming you understand whatever references they make to a thing adjacent to something you do know about but personally don't care about, farting in my direction, uncreative misappropriation of the word "golem", wanting to fuck league of legends characters, people that think cat girls are more popular than puppy girls in real life, deodorant, people that get pissy about buying pre-minced garlic, when arizona ice tea is more expensive than 1 dollar a can, mr. beast's face, the term "thicc" and its consequences, people who like fat asses and thick thighs who hate it when girls are fat, when people conflate the dnd class list as having actual ramifications in wider fantasy media, people who think weed is bad, asking for criticism and only receiving complaints, people that say chinese-american or texmex cuisine isnt "authentic", formalities, out of character lewd fanart especially if it's of a strong, dominant woman in a submissive position with toned down muscles, when RPGs butch bait me,

blonde girls with no personality, NHentai's tag search system, mid shounen dominating the western anime scene, when someone says something is "so gay" but its just their fandom headcanons, when one take from a post or article gets so popular when you bring up the thing it's related to people can't not bring it up every time the topic appears, people that try to get the attention of zoo animals, people that own over 700 dollars worth of firearms that aren't collectors like actual collectors not fuckin Clint from the suburbs that feels like a man only cause he owns an AR-15 and a Desert Eagle , lack of cool and edgy plus size character designs, when people call transphobic caricatures "GNC AF", gum immediately losing its flavor, the olive oil industry, when people tell me "just emulate it" or "just pirate it" and roll their eyes when I tell them I'm worried about viruses, games that rip off grand theft auto, when charity bundles on itch.io are 80% unfinished PWYW proof of concept demos put there to get good will advertising, people who are concerned with Wario's honor, lack of plus size yuri, people who turn their noses up to foreign foods, RPGs with character customization that won't let you play as a girl, doing my taxes, when people are coy about details, dudes that want to fuck alstolfo, slowed with reverb remixes, the memeification of phonk, the price of video games, waiting on game downloads after putting the disc into the console, people doing me favors and getting passive-aggressive about it later when I didn't ask for it/tried to ease the burden of it as much as possible, when people ask me what I want on my burger when the menu clearly outlines what toppings the burger is meant to come with, trying to find a tf2 classic server without additional weapon mods that break the game, polo shirts

34:What I find attractive in women

Interesting personality, eager to praise, understanding, warm, enjoys eating, weird, decent fashion sense, messy bedroom/car, doesn't wear any strong artificial scents, progressive stances on neurodivergence and psychology, physically affectionate, has incorporated something like a kind of animal or fantastical concept into their identity, caring, vaguely maternal at times, willing to play video games and watch youtube poops, sense of humor, soft, will do drugs with me in a level-headed manner, likes goofy looking cocktails and desserts, not above eating a 5 dollar hamburger on a date, into fat girls, has a broad definition of what sex is, ideally transgender, nice lap to lay head in, endurance to have 300lbs on top of them for some period of time, willing to buy things for me, kinky in a cringe way, a bit ugly (by society's standards), older than me, into obscure animes and music, appreciates a good cup of coffee, lax style, cringe resistant, quiet, into plushies, total nerd, in terms of appearance I like a very diverse range of those to the point where it doesn't factor in as much but I find conventionally attractive people boring and visible ribs make me feel concerned and uncomfortable

[sapphire-weapon]

Idk if this is of any interest to you, but I remember way back you mentioned RE 7& 8 were hard to play because of the first person thing. I despise that style too. 7 and Skyrim took me forever to fully adjust to and I just generally dislike not seeing my character lmao. Anyway, RE8 does actually have an official third person playing mode now, and plays the same way as the other games. I just thought I'd mention it in case you were unaware and wanted another try or whatever, but I assume you likely know already.

Also, I'm adding on a headcanon that I've had since playing. Nobody else has said it, so I'm sure I'd hear a lot of disagreement. Many point out that Leon and Ethan would've been great friends or had shipping potential, despite them never meeting. I've always seen it slightly differently though, I think Ethan actually shows what Leon could've been if he wasn't traumatised (well, before Ethan got his own hefty dose obviously lmao). I really like E and do think the characters would mix really well, but it felt to me like they might've taken some early, bare bones Leon concepts and built a different character off of it. I don't know, that's just what went through my head before.

Also, is it really true that the Winters story is completely done!? I'm seeing that passed around a lot, but it's completely nonsensical. Rose is not a finished character and the DLC made it very clear that she has a huge role to play in the future of RE. I'd be so disappointed if that whole story was dropped, especially because she's so likeable...

So, real quick -

Yes, I do know that RE8 has a third person mode. I still haven't really had the desire to play it, though, because from what I've seen, it's a bit clunky. The game was not designed with third person in mind, which makes certain sections of gameplay artificially harder and/or lose their thematic impact.

The Winters' family story is done, but that doesn't mean that Rose will never be used again. Like, when the Raccoon City arc was done, that didn't mean that all of the legacy cast went away. They just moved onto the next story arc. Rose can still move onto the next story arc; it's just that the story arc won't be about her family.

As for the middle part of your ask...

I disagree that Ethan is a look at Leon's character if the Raccoon City outbreak didn't happen.

And I say that because -- and this is a theory that I've held close to my chest for years and have never really spoken about -- I think that Sebastian Castellanos (the protagonist of The Evil Within) was, in part, Shinji Mikami's creative exploration of where Leon's character could have gone if he'd stayed a cop -- which is why TEW plays so similarly and is structured so similarly to RE4 in the first place.

Sebastian started his career as an idealistic overachiever who was so good at and so dedicated to his job that he became the youngest officer ever in the KCPD to be promoted to Detective. But, in the end, he broke, too, and went off the deep end into a horrible spiraling meltdown that culminated in him turning into a paranoid conspiracy theorist with a drinking problem who nearly lost his job -- several times -- for insubordination, violent outbursts, and illegal investigations into the corruption within the KCPD. The only thing that saved him was his incredible reputation and spotless record from when he was younger.

If you're interested at all, I have a compilation of Sebastian's in-game journal detailing the rise and fall of his career here. There's also a visual representation of the good times -> the breakdown -> the result that the DLCs put into the game that you can watch here.

Basically, I think that Leon's character was always bound for tragedy, one way or the other, because I don't think that Leon ever had it in him to have a healthy response to grief and hardship in his life to begin with. All roads lead to the same place.

Ethan survived (well, "survived" LMAO) several different traumatic events and arguably came out stronger. I don't think Leon ever would have or could have done the same.

[barfok]

I like to think that a dragon teaching their priest the thu'um was a slightly different process to how the early Tongues were taught it, which was again different to how Jurgen and then the greybeards were taught it. Dragons bestowed gifts and powers to their priests so I like to think priests and dragons had some special bond which meant that learning the thu'um for priests had a more spiritual/ritualistic aspect to it, compared to just like learning a word and meditating on it yourself. The teaching process was quite specific to each dragon and priest and they all learnd in slightly different ways. As the Tongues and Greybeards were established, I assume the process became more formulaic, although still very complicated and not necessarily an easy thing to pass on to any rando

Re everyone being sent to alpine jail to learn the thu'um: I guess throat of the world makes sense as a location for the nords because of their whole creation myth etc. Also a big isolated mountain just seems like a practical place to teach dangerous voice magic, like you're away from civilisation so can't hurt people if any accidents happen while learning, also hard to accidentally set fire to things when you're surrounded by snow and ice. Maybe isolation helps them focus on their studies better or whatever although and the process got more and more ascetic with jurgen and hrothgar became more like a monastery rather than just a training school thing

oogh i love this take... hyperspecific bonds between every dragon priest and their dragon that influences what sort of thu'um and powers that dragon priest had. makes me wonder about the dragons for all the dragon priests we meet in skyrim..

also definitely agree abt throat-of-the-world being a very good place to train the sort of dangerous magic the thu'um was. i have some ideas about mastery of the thu'um requiring the wielder to experience some sort of... 'trauma' would be the wrong word but given that the thu'um relies on manipulating the earth-bones i think to properly learn it requires completely rewriting one's idea of what "reality" is. to make a Tongue you have to just break their idea of how the world works and then rebuild it in a dragon's image. and this was most easily achieved by sending students into an extreme difficult isolated location where they had no support and no escape. in this way it's kinda tied to chim and related concepts. there's something very dissociative about wielding powers that can rewrite reality

[shadowgamerhalo]

Valentine's day is a weird holiday for me.

When I was a small child, valentine's day was my favorite holiday, back when I didn't fully understand what it meant. My family would buy a bunch of chocolate we normally didn't get, cause it was on sale for the holiday, I'd make heart cutouts for the sake of it.

As I got older the more people would talk of getting asked out by crushes on the holiday, telling that it was amazing and so romantic. And for me, it often telling that I had to be asked out by a guy.

Thinking back, I don't think I gave it much thought at first. I mean, I was busy with other things, and a lot of adults said it kinda just happens.

Most of my crushes in retrospect, weren't really crushes, they were just guys I made friends with. (To note I was in a place that segregated the afab's from the amab's.) From what I was told romance was supposed to be above friendship, because it was supposed to be closer somehow?

Then I got into a compulsory heteronormative relationship with a guy. The reason why I say comphet, is because I had mostly the same assumption as I did as a kid. Except by the time I got into the relationship there were other complicated things to the mix that 'couples' were supposed to do. I assumed from what I was told that I was supposed to like it, and do it cause that's what 'dating' was supposed to be.

Valentine's Day become one of those things. And I remember in the relationship that I lost my hype for the holiday. I don't exactly don't remember why, I just started dreading the day when it came around. Maybe it was the new expectations? The details have become lost on me.

I ended the relationship after three years, and questioned a lot about myself and my identity afterwards for years, but it didn't click why I didn't have normal crushes, until several of my friends pointed it out when I was an adult.

It's not a thing you're just expected to do, there's actual feelings involved for those who have them, and it should feel good.

So yeah, I'm on the aroace spectrum. It took me a while, but I figured it out.

I'm romance favorable, but that just means I like the concept. I could have a romantic partner if I wanted to, actually several because I'm polyamorous too, but if I just ended up marrying my best friend for tax benefits then it hits the same goal.

Lifetime companions with whom I share deep bonds with.

So yeah, uh today is a day. And I'm getting free chocolate, and I got some flowers on a whim because I like flowers, and I plan on doing some homework and then playing Skyrim cause I like discovering what sort of new ways I can break game physics.

Hope y'all who are like me are having a chill Tuesday like I am, tomorrow we get to have a sale on chocolates so that'll be awesome!

[i-turn-characters-2-warrior-cats]

Hello!

All you need to do is submit a character from the listed fandoms (if your character isn't on there, just ask!), and I'll give that character a warrior cat's name, backstory, and clan! Not art, as I'm not good at art. I usually do one request per day, and if I get an idea, I'll do an original idea.

WHAT I WILL DO

Character Requests

Elaboration

Headcanons

How they Would React

Small Writing Pieces

AUs of my AUs (EG: Insertcatnamehere if he was evil)

Multiple Animator Project Scripts

Concepts (EG: Titles if they were a book series)

Anything in this vein.

Consider this post a blanket permission to create works based off of these! (art, writing, animation, any of the sort). Just credit me and tell me, I want to see them.

You will never be annoying when you send me asks. I love receiving asks.

I don't care if it's problematic media. I support stealing works from bigoted creators! If you feel uncomfortable with asking for a character from something like Harry Potter, don't worry! I'll always have anon on, and I'll assume you're writing the character now!

I update around one character request per day, I try and get to elaboration requests once I see them, and if I have an idea for a character, I may end up adding them in! (If you have a different idea, just ask for an au of that character!)

Primary blog is at @frightnightindustries

MASTERLIST OF MASTERLISTS

FANDOMS YOU CAN SUBMIT

Over the Garden Wall

Gravity Falls

EverymanHYBRID

TribeTwelve

The Amazing World of Gumball

Transformers Beast Wars

Skyrim

QSMP

DSMP

Wings of Fire

Temmeraire

Cattails

Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, Legends Arceus, X/Y, and Sword/Shield human characters, and the entire national dex

Inscryption

Cult of the Lamb

Deltarune

Undertale

Paper's Please

Henry Stickmin

Dark Deception

FNAF

House

Minecraft

The Incredibles

Generation Loss

Pajama Sam

Peggle

The Owl House

Amphibia

Killer Frequency

The Backrooms

SCP

Trevor Henderson

Welcome Home

Harry Potter

Hannibal

REDACTEDsmp

Saw

The Stanley Parable

Who Framed Rodger Rabbit

MLP: Friendship is Magic

Kaboodle SMP

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

The Amazing Digital Circus

Godzilla (This includes the entire franchise)

Batman

The Magnus Archives

Stardew Valley

Keeper of the Lost Cities

[valen-dreth]

💋 🍊 💛 🌳 💤 🍆 and 🌺 for oc of your choice!!

let's do bels again! thank you (and sorry this is a lil late!)

💋 How affectionate are they with their friends? Their family? Their romantic partner(s) (if they have any)? Are they more physical or emotional when it comes to displaying their affection? Why?

She is a little reserved when it comes to being affectionate with her friends; she has very few people that she would trust enough to call her friend, and once she does get there she doesn't want to overstep and lose that. If a friend initiates first then she will be but she never assumes. She does not have any known family. With partners she's mostly physically affectionate but mostly privately! PDA's just not her thing.

🍊 What is your OC’s favourite meal? Snack? Dessert? Drink? Any reasons behind this besides liking how it tastes?

What is your OC’s most hated food? Stuff they can’t stand to eat or drink?

She's found that she LOVES traditional Dunmeri cuisine.... her fav is by far baked ash yam with scuttle.... so simple and delishes. For snacks she likes things that will keep for a while, nuts and nut treats are easy enough to come by in Cyrodiil and Skyrim. She doesn't get to indulge in desserts often enough to really opine on any. She's a rum and sujamma gal but won't turn down Surilie's wine (she used to have ambitions to become a vintner with them but it didn't work out.)

She doesn't particularly care for apples or pork, and she won't eat anything with radishes. She steers clear of goat's milk too though she does like goat cheese.

💛 In general, how in control of their emotions is your OC? Do they have a good hold on them or do their emotions control them, not the other way around? What do you think is the reason behind this and is your OC ever concerned about their lack of or good control?

I would say she's not good at... controlling her emotions she more just bottles em up and lets them fester. She was raised in an environment where her feelings didn't really matter and she never really learned HOW to express herself in a healthy way. It's not something that she was concerned about till someone else would have brought it up (probably the first person to do so was Cali) and even then she's still reluctant now to let anyone see how she really feels

💤 What was your OC like as a baby, a child and as a teen? (if your OC is a teen or a child, what will they be like as an adult?). How have they changed since then? What lessons have they learned and what things about their youth do they miss the most? Do they have any general regrets?

As a baby.... I mean she was regular I guess. Not really fussy or anything, if anything at all I think she would have been a little clingy. As a kid she started acting out; she was raised in a situation not unlike Honorhall Orphanage and didn't really get a lot of attention, more so because she is half Orsimer and that was seen as less desirable so far as finding a family. She left as soon as she could and immediately found that she had no idea how to really survive on her own, she didn't have any skills. Her teen years and early adulthood were spent doing odd jobs around Anvil until she left for Skingrad to look for an apprenticeship.

So far as change since then.... she's developed thicker skin and shut people out a lot more. Despite her outward easygoing and sanguine personality I think she's deeply lonely. She doesn't miss much from her youth and her only regret would be not standing up for herself and leaving sooner.

🍆 Tea or Coffee or Hot Chocolate? Sweet or Spicy? Fruits or Vegetables?

Tea / Spicy / Vegetables

🌺 Does your OC have any tattoos or other body art? Does their body art have any specific meaning behind it? Do they have any scars? How did they get those scars? Any birthmarks?

An early concept I had for her was that she would get tattoos like the markings that Dremora have! I could still see her doing that tbh, maybe sometime in the future..... for the time being she doesn't have any tattoos but she Does have stretched earlobes and recently in the timeline she's been growing out her brow horns! I've considered her having a bridge piercing too just for fun :)

She does have a few noteworthy scars, on each side of her mouth she has old scars from when her tusks were forcibly removed. She's missing the two teeth from her lower jaw but sometimes she wears metal-coated false teeth there. She has a long scar across her upper throat under her chin from an altercation with a former member of her Sanguine cult, and two on her right cheek from a past target after she joined the Morag Tong. Other dings here and there but they're not as important or noticeable.

[sunhallowed]

so let me ramble about how awful the logistics are at the end battle, way more specifically about getting to the castle. while i hate the location and just overall pathetic excuse for an island concept of the castle, there is one major advantage that we just gloss over and that's it's near inability to be snuck up on. being in the middle of the ocean forces anyone getting there to take boats and we've established when you bring serana home that there are guards at the gate. it is also so stupid to assume that once serana leaves the castle again and you start getting attacked by spawn that not only does harkon know what you're doing, but that he wouldn't up patrol outside on the battlements and beaches. granted, you have that mini fight at the very beginning when you get there but that's not what i'm talking about. if patrols are increased, there's no way and no reason they wouldn't a) see you coming and b) sink those fucking ships are you kidding me? that solves eVERTHING????? harkon is supposed to practically be a warlord. he should be skilled in planning battles and that one fucking thing keeps the entire fight from happening, even if he still has to deal with getting his daughter or wife.

then i ask. . . why didn't he?

because he was distracted. serana staying at the castle once dropped off meant not only that she could check in and see if the plan to get the prophecy started was still underway, but that she could start lobbying some of the court to move against her father. looking at who she has to choose from, i think garan, feran and rargal are pretty good choices. garan just for his standing as being harkon's immediate advisor (and to me it's clear he has some softness towards serana, even if it's little), rargal would have issue with supply chains once the sun was blotted out, so appealing to that should be easy, and feran really doesn't care about internal politics, just studying his alchemy so suggesting the prophecy puts that at risk is the angle to take (and it automatically has ronthil at your side as well). so if they're on her side, it's easy enough at that point to have them weaving within the court while serana is out of the castle (be it in skyrim, bg3, dragon age, etc).

getting information back to them is as simple as sending rargal out to collect thralls with his lackeys and meeting up with serana. to that end, when the entire group is ready to make a move on the castle, it's up to the three court members to stage a distraction so they can get in without the risk of boats sinking or anyone getting killed prior to being shoreside.