#oc lore reasons i dont outright say it

[farthertothemoon]

Anddddd more sketch work of the Hunter! She's extremely allergic to those feathers :3

[sunnelliot]

THE DUO I PROMISED TO POST, PLEASE WELCOME: PUPPET AND YELLOWCURSOR!

sadly, i dont have as much images of them, but they are quite decently worked out! for a basic summary of lore (i will refer to yellowcursor as "ycursor"):

puppet is the first stickman made on ycursor's computer, and their favorite. they were made for many reasons, a few being: as an experiment, something to toy around and fidget with, and to be a friend to ycursor, as they don't really have many friends, leaving them lonely and bored as they draw and scroll. puppet and ycursor's dynamic is very bittersweet. despite their origin and such, puppet is sentient as long as the controlboard isn't grabbed. puppet has slight resentment toward ycursor due to how they treat him, giving him barely any say in what he does or how they interact. yellowcursor isn't outright abusive or trying to mistreat puppet on purpose. they don't have much guidance, nor any real friends to teach them right from wrong. they're entitled and clingy, most often forgetting their stickmen are sentient or seeing them more like pets (ESPECIALLY PUPPET) and dragging them along despite their wishes. they get fussy and pressuring when they don't get their way, leaving puppet to feel somewhat bitter toward them. ycursor is entirely unaware of this however. PLEASEEE please send asks about these guys! theyre my 2nd and 3rd ava/avm ocs, and i would love to hear thoughts and questions. oh also, before you ask:

yellowcursor is nonbinary, and uses they/them (and puppet uses he/they). and with that, kaipancake signing out, i await your asks!

[daggerfall]

Why people hate meridia? Really i don't know what happened about her and Daurien Gautier, i would be glad if you could explain to me :)

I have a paranoid suspicion this is bait but whatever, fine, you can have it.

There’s like two general reasons, the first being her in the lore and the second being her actions in eso.

In the lore, going all the way back to the time of the Ayleids, Meridia was the one who backed them in their fight against the humans they were enslaving. Particularly, she backed Umaril the Unfeathered (who you may remember from the Oblivion DLC) in his fight against Pelinal Whitestrake. Pelinal also sucked, but he was fighting alongside Alessia the Slave Queen to free her people. The Ayleids sucked and were an incredibly cruel people, so Meridia helping them is not great.

In the lore as well, Meridia is known to “purify” her servants, making them immortal but also taking away their free will. She also does this as a punishment to those who break their vows to her, and just in general. We see this in the dungeon “Depths of Malatar”, where she enslaves the Imperials who went to loot it, as well as keeping her Ayleid worshippers “alive” for thousands of years in service protecting half of the Wrathstone for some unknown reason. I believe it is implied she wished to use it someday, but dont quote me on that.

And in the lore again, Meridia has been known to “collect” people, being called the Daedric Prince of Greed in the Illiac Bay. We can arguably see this again with the Purified Imperials in DoM.

And finally in the lore, Meridia’s feud with Molag Bal has resulted in her sacrificing the lives of her own worshippers on the regular just to spite him. When Molag Bal’s forces were attacking a city of her worshippers (the Hollow City), she used the portals they were coming in from to move her city into Coldharbour. Molag Bal could not touch the city, but she moved/displaced all of her loyal followers into another princes realm just to stick it to her enemy. Every single inhabitant of that city either died from being placed outside the protection of the city, or eventually left the city due to being sick and tired of being trapped in there/Oblivion and eventually died. The only survivor was the last Ayleid king, who had been being held and tortured the entire time before his rescue via the Vestige. So a few thousand years.

Now in the games, particularly ESO, it is a popular belief that Meridia was the one who originally led the Vestige to the Worm Cult where they were killed, and is the kickstarter for the events of you being the Hero. The Hooded Figure looks shockingly like the Groundskeeper, has the same voice, and has a vested interest in getting someone powerful to have a deep hatred of Molag Bal and the Worm Cult and be on her side. A lot of people don’t take kindly to being led to their torture and death. Though this is a theory, not confirmed canon, but fandom interpretation is powerful.

Meridia also did not tell the Vestige she was Meridia until just before the fight against Molag Bal, playing with the Vestige like a chess piece in her own fight against her enemy. A lot of people don’t take kindly to being manipulated and used, even if it was against a common enemy. 

As for Darien, Meridia created Darien to be her champion on Nirn. She let him believe he was just a normal Breton his entire life during ESO. At the end of the main quest, Meridia does not return Darien to the rest of the group, and instead takes him to her realm and keeps him there. A lot of us players, as well as NPCs, cared greatly for Darien, and very much dislike Meridia for that. 

Darien writes from the Colored Rooms that he wanted to come home, a letter we can show to his friend Gabrielle (who it is strongly hinted he loved and who loved him back).

We don’t see Darien again until Summerset, when Meridia sends him there to help stop the daedric triad. Meridia did tell him the truth about who and what he was, to some degree, but not everything. When Meridia first talks about Darien, she expressed distaste for how he had changed having met the player. He had a singular purpose, but now he... cares. Meridia does not like her servants having their own freewill and thoughts. 

Darien has to sacrifice himself at the climax of the main story. Once that quest is over, you can find a letter again from him, warning us not to trust Meridia. Just one tiny bit from “Words of the Fallen” “I need to tell you something about Meridia. She's a deceiver. She promised that if I served her faithfully, I'd earn my freedom. She never told me that freedom was just another word for the void. Don't trust her. Don't trust any of the Daedric Princes. Not ever.” I highly recommend reading all of Words of the Fallen btw. 

So! Meridia promises freedom to her most loyal champion, and then takes it away after he does his job. Those who like Darien once again very much dislike Meridia for this.

In Dragonhold, there is a sidequest where you find someone dead next to what looks like Meridia’s Beacon. A letter on him implies that Meridia is looking for a new champion, one who will not betray her, implying that Meridia thinks Darien betrayed her. We know from Words of the Fallen that Darien sacrificed himself for the player, not Meridia. Meridia does not like that Darien cares about the player. 

You can bring the letter to the dead khajiit’s wife, who says she is going to throw the stone in the lake. But if you talk to her again, she says that she thinks she’s going to hold onto it now, implying that she thinks she will be able to hear those same voices as him, and that she might take up the champion mantle.

The world boss quest giver in Southern Elsweyr talks about his own issues with Meridia, being a people collector and possibly having some past trauma with her/her cult.

And in Greymoor, Meridia's temple (mount kilkreath) is attacked by the Icereach Coven's harrowstorm, which steals the life energy of people and either kills them, turns them into mindless passive zombies, or feral vampires known as harrowfiends. It was mostly her priests and pilgrims that were attacked. Meridia did nothing to protect her followers or purge this corruption from even the inside of her temple. Many followers lost their faith that day.

All of this together, and the sneaking suspicion that she is not done with yet in ESO, makes a lot of us not only dislike her, but not trust her at all. Zenimax brought up Darien for Valentines Day, keeps bringing him and Meridia up in DLC, has her featured greatly in the main quest and a major chapter DLC...

It’s less an outright hatred of her. Believe me, I hate Molag Bal significantly more than I “hate” Meridia. I tend to take on my OCs beliefs and feelings as I play them, and my own main character was in a relationship with Darien and hates all daedra. Also she gets brought up more in recent DLC and thus is more of a relevant topic than Molag Bal. So I tend to post a lot about Meridia in less than positive lights. It’s more than I take issue with her being so connected to slavery and manipulation of mortals, yet being painted in a benevolent or even good light by a lot of the lore. I take issue with people who ignore the fact she is featured very prominently in recent games and accuse anyone who talks about disliking her of misogyny for not being equally or more loud about their dislike of other, worse daedric princes, regardless of if they do or do not. I take issue with people who romanticize her slavery or call her a “feminist icon” solely because they don’t like Darien (or me. That’s another reason). But that’s more of a specific tesblr community issue rather than “legit reasons in game or lore to not like Meridia”.

Overall, Meridia is a daedric prince. They’re not good or bad by mortal standards because they don’t ascribe to mortal defined morals. They do what they do because they must. It is their realm, their sphere of influence. Meridia started out as the Daedric Prince of Greed in early games, a collector of people, and her hatred of undead and Molag Bal are extreme. The fact that she is more present in ESO, a game I play on the regular and that gets updated multiple times a gear, means that people will talk about her more. When I was deeply into Skyrim, I talked about my dislike of Hermaeus Mora a lot. When I was deeply into Oblivion (for a short while), I talked about my dislike of Mehrunes Dagon. And when I am thinking about Morrowind, I end up talking about my dislike of Azura and the Tribunal. She isn't necessarily better or worse than other Princes, just more of a hot topic in the ESO side of the fandom than other Princes.

If this was sent in good faith then I apologize for saying it felt like bait. If it is bait, then here. Take it and start raving about what an awful misogynist I am. I await my callout post. 

[emberpone]

1. A tie between Sub Zero and Scorpion. In MKX, I also mained Mileena. I always loved the main 2 ever since I was a kid. Their character design, backstory, and just who they are altogether. Everything about them really.

2. I didnt see this question when I started answering this, so I guess Mileena fits here. Her, Kenshi, Cassie Cage, and sometimes Johnny Cage.

3. I loved MKX for the character redesigns and gameplay and new characters, but in the end, I HAVE to go with Shaolin Monks. Different while still keeping the general tone and spirit of the series. Plus, I'm a sucker for plot and story shit.

4. Special forces. Just. Special forces.

5. Toss up between Hsu Hao, Bo Rai Cho, or Shujinko. I never felt like Hsu Hao really added to the plot and his greatest moment was how he died in the MKX comics. Bo Rai Cho has some interesting lore, but I just hate fighters like him. Just fighting with fucking farts and puke. I just, I cant. And Shujinko has the misfortune of his story. He has some interesting plot lines, but he has nothing that makes him, well, him. Everything he is and has is taken from other characters. He has nothing unique besides his bad luck.

6. They're terrible, but they can be fun bad. Sometimes.

7. I dont really have a favorite, I just like ones that showcase what the characters are capable of while still being really violent. But fuck Quan Chi's fatality in Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance. Fuck that, that was stupid.

8. My dad. He was a fan before I was born so he just kinda brought me into it. Growing up, one of the ways we'd spend time together was looking for arcades to play Mortal Kombat.

9. Yes.

10. I dont outright hate any character besides the ones I've already mentioned. All the others are cool in their own ways.

11. I dont know if Mileena is really unpopular, but I love her.

12. Quan chi in Deadly Alliance.

13. I feel like this is just trying to make me confess to having OC's. How dare you. Well i do. Go to the Nether.

14. I wanna say like, Shirai Ryu or Lin Kuei, but I dont think I could personally handle the training for either. But if I could, I guess I'd have to say Lin Kuei, if for no other reason than the fact I have the emblem as a tattoo.

15. I mean, when I started, i think only like 1 through 3 were even out. So probably one if those.

16. I tried.

17. As long as it stays unconquered, Edenia is supposed to be super beautiful.

18. Oh actual reptile. I mean, the dude isnt human or any of the other realms' versions of humans. He's part of a reptilian race, give him fucking teeth and scales.

19. Fuck. Um. Fuck. I uh. Well, I guess I gotta go with the tattoo.

20. As long as it's better than the first and they can push it just a bit further, maybe.

Picture: aforementioned tattoo. The name is my dad's.

@dragons-incence @cthulhu-warning-in-effect

Mortal Kombat asks

1. Who is your favorite character/your main? Why?

2. Do you have any secondary mains?

3. Favorite game in the series?

4. Worst game in the series in your opinion?

5. Which MK kharacter is the worst one in your opinion?

6. Do you like any of the MK movies?

7. What are your favorite fatalities?

8. How were you introduced to MK?

9. Would you rather have a Shaolin Monks remake or a sequel?

10. Are there any characters other people love that you just can’t get on board with?

11. Any unpopular characters that you like?

12. Lamest fatalities in the series?

13. You’ve been tasked with creating a new character for the next MK game. What are they like? What are their abilities?

14. If you were to be in any MK faction (Lin Kuei, Shirai Ryu, Special Forces, Shaolin Monks, etc.) which one would it be and why?

15. What was the first MK game you played?

16. Have you ever watched the cartoon?

17. If you could live in any of the realms, which one would it be?

18. Do you prefer Reptile as a human or actual reptile?

19. The klassic: Scorpion or Sub-Zero?

20. Should there be an MK vs DCU 2?