#see also: jiub

[aladaylessecondblog]

Red Mountain Waffle House pt. 19

"And there you go. Enjoy yourself."

Jiub handed over what looked like a rolled-up piece of pumpkin-stamped plastic wrap to a Dunmer that quickly left.

"And what exactly was that?" Nibani spoke up, having just come out of the bathroom and noting this gift.

"It's the Witches Festival. I'm giving things out."

"That wasn't a child asking for sweets OR a beggar asking for alms. Was that moon sugar? Skooma, maybe?"

"It's weed. Half my customers are Urshilaku...I'm not seeing the problem here."

"The problem," Nibani huffed, "Is that you're doing it from behind the counter. Do that outside if you have to do it at all."

"In this weather?" Jiub gestured toward the exit. An ash storm had kicked up, and looked to be turning red. "If Sadara were still here I could have her do it. Girl wouldn't catch anything, what with having corprus and all."

There was a brief rush, and for the next half hour they didn't have the chance to talk.

After a chain of waiters and waitresses, Nibani had finally been unable to find anyone willing to work the night shift and had taken to doing the duty herself. It had her in none too good a mood, despite the drop in Sixth House related customers. Jiub figured she'd be happy about that, but there'd been more ordinators too, and they were a fair sight more troublesome.

"And when are you going to put on a shirt?"

"Huh?"

"I said, when are you going to put on a shirt?"

"It's my costume!" Jiub protested with a laugh, "I'm one of those weird Sixth House dreamers."

"Really? That's not only lazy--"

"But also blasphemous, yada yada yada." Jiub finished his cigarette and went to trying to scrape up a patch of burned in egg on the grill. "It couldn't be less of a problem. Maybe focus on finding someone that actually wants to work at night?"

"Were you always this snotty?" Nibani grumbled. "Nobody wants to work this shift and deal with the ordinators and cultists anymore."

"And the skooma heads, don't forget about them. You chased off the only person that did. Congrats. Could've had the big man in a better mood, and Nerevar too, but--"

"Nerevar?"

"Yeah, he was by looking for..." Jiub stopped as another couple people showed up. One was dressed as a Telvanni mushroom and the other as a guar. He handed them each a little wrapped up chunk of weed, gave them their orders for waffles, and then went back to the grill. "Anyway, I don't think he's doing the prophecy any more than Sadara was, considering he's currently shtupping the Sharmat."

He nearly dropped the spatula when he heard what she said next.

"What is it about this man that makes Nerevar and his incarnates act SO unwise?"

Not for the first time did Jiub thank his lucky stars that the idea of sex had no power over him. If Dagoth Ur was that much a rizzmaster they might all have been in danger if he'd any interest in anyone unconnected to Nerevar.

--------------------------

"Dwemernet Executive Support, what's your thousand gold per hour problem?" Sotha Sil paused when there was shouting on the other end. "No, your inability to run a team full of bots in Team Fortress 2 is not my problem - yes, you are paying for service, but your disconnect is your own fault."

Another pause.

"Would you prefer to have no access at all?"

Again the sound of shouting on the other end of the call.

"That's not a threat, Dagon, it's a promise." Sotha Sil finished the sentence and moved over to a monitor to the side of his main and largest one. "Choose your next words carefully."

Incomprehensible shrieking.

"Oh," Sotha Sil's voice was momentarily breathy. "Look at that. You just lost access. I'll be sure to let everyone know of Oblivion's dwemernet outage...which I estimate will last at least a day."

He mistyped when there was a particularly loud shout and his headset went to speakerphone.

"--and AFTER I finish pissing out the fire I set to what's left of Ald Sotha, I'm going to build a NEW shrine on top of it and--"

Sotha Sil typed again, and fixed the speakerphone. "I am ending the call. When you feel as though you can behave with decorum and dignity, I will be available to take your call."

He ended the call, and blocked the number's further attempts to get him back on the line. The extinction burst ended only an hour later, and Sotha Sil amused himself in knowing that the daedric princes' policy of self policing would take care of this problem.

The Coldharbour Compact was very mysterious for a reason - for who would believe that the one thing to keep them from crossing over was the threat of no longer maintaining the labyrinthine complications of running the Dwemernet to all planes of Oblivion?

Sotha Sil set the line to Do Not Disturb and left the room.

-----------------------------------

It seemed to be the one day a year nobody minded people wearing an Indoril helm, so long as they were the designated color that ordinators didn't wear...so that was what Sadara had done, with one slight addition - a Spirit Halloween shirt. It felt appropriate, considering. Nerevar's influence here and then not here, replaced with something else.

No, she just didn't want to spend much time or money on a costume when she was too old to really enjoy it anyway. Or at least, too old to enjoy it the way kids did...well, that and not really knowing anyone who would get her into a good party. There were some here in Mournhold, sure, but...

Eh, do I really WANT to go to a party, though, considering what happened at the last one?

Barenziah was done with her for the day, though, so she went out with a handful of gold pieces and a small bag of candy, handing them out to any beggars or children that asked. The night was a bit chill, so she decided to head down to one of the shops and get a coat.

Wow, she thought. A coat. A NEW coat.

Coat purchased, she went back out and stopped at the newstand. Maybe if Barenziah was so fond of those cigars from Black Marsh, she ought to try them too. A single one wasn't THAT expensive...

...that was her thought, anyway, until she saw her own face on one of the gossip rags and THE DAGOTH DIVORCE.

She huffed. "Divorce, there was barely a marriage to begin with!"

Despite knowing it was probably a bad idea, Sadara decided to buy one and read what was being said inside.

She realized almost immediately that she should've listened to her intuition.

A sad story indeed, this particular marriage. After a courtship that would make most heads spin, a whirlwind romance for the ages, a heart lies in ashes. One can hardly expect the Sharmat to behave decently, but this disloyalty to a bride no doubt in awe of the charisma that won him her hand is a new low.

Sources say that the demon of Dagoth's decision was prompted by Saint Nerevar's revival, being that it was him who held the--

Sadara crumpled up the magazine, threw it into a trashcan next to the newstand, and headed back without even getting the cigar she'd meant to. What in oblivion WAS that, and why was she being portrayed as some sort of lovestruck waif? Why was it she saw or heard about this so often?

New rule, she thought, No more looking at magazine headlines. No looking at Morrowtwitter, not that I was going to anyway. Just go to work and play the lute and maybe pick up another new hobby. Make sure there is never even a remote chance of a thought occurring.

She stayed out a bit longer, though, making sure to hand out the rest of the candy to a couple kids that passed by and on a whim the gold she'd intended to spend on the cigar too, before heading back to the palace.

Sadara practiced in her room with her lute for an hour and, in a turn entirely unlike her, fell asleep at a reasonable time.

At least asleep she didn't have to deal with any of this nonsense.

[venacoeurva]

I know the weird discrepancies between examples of natural elf lifespans in TES include quite a few probable oversights (easy example is you get Teldryn, a guy who’s apparently old enough to have met Jiub and as far as we know has not magically extended his lifespan, and at most looks middleaged, and a clearly elderly Dunmer lady who was a child during the Red Year),

buuut I like to think genetics have some say in it to some capacity and affects how they go about some things, because it’s cool imo, and I haven’t read anything that mentions this as a significant factor (if it does mention it somewhere, oops)

There’s not going to be a giant age range like man vs mer lifespans family to family, but some families of the same races will naturally live a good hundred or so years more than others, others will show signs of aging earlier but would naturally live just as long, and others who would die significantly early and probably drive that family to magically extend theirs, and others who, like people IRL, would be predisposed to hereditary illnesses that would kill them early or cause a steep decline until their bodies give up, thus making their expected lifespans significantly lower than their peers.

Also I think it affects ear shapes noticeably, and for example in Morrowind will commonly (and often regionally) see more specific traits in ear shape based on houses and families in them, unless there’s a lot of house-to-house relations going on within a family, because I think that’s neat and these would be more pronounced than what we see in IRL humans, and that’s extra neat to me. GENETICS WHOO

[seeks-for-knowledge]

Cliff Racers

"I once saw someone wearing the shiniest boots and running like the wind itself, chased down by a veritable swarm of Cliff Racers. They yelled something about not being able to see and for everyone to get out of the way. Not that anyone would have heard that over the screeching of the Cliff Racers." - Seeks-For-Knowledge

Cliff Racers are large flying creatures native to Morrowind, close relatives to the gliding Cliff Striders and the bird-like Cliff Darters. They have a large vertical sail along their spine, which helps them with flying. They tend to be aggressive, and have sharp vision, so travelers in Morrowind should keep an eye on the skies for these creatures.

History Cliff Racers are theorised to descend from Bat Lizards, the leathery winged creatures from Gorne - an island on Morrowind's eastern coast - who could grow up to the size of a ship. It is also possible that they share ancestry with the Hackwings, which are lizard-like flying creatures from Black March. Another theory suggests that Cliff Racers migrated to Vvardenfell, and with their large numbers drove out the dragons, though that feat some claim to belong to Skylamps - flying gas bag-like creatures with spears for feet - instead.

In the Second Era, Cliff Striders were bred by an enthusiast named Thetys Ramarys to enhance their wing strength in the hopes that they would one day be able to fly. Considering the flying ability and aggression of Cliff Racers of the later Eras, it would seem this breeding program was successful. In contrast, the Cliff Racers of the Second Era were smaller and quite docile.

Uses Cliff Racers plumes are used in various household goods, such as pillow stuffings. They are also used as decorations. This seems to be common in both Vvardenfell and the Empire.

Current state In the Third Era, Saint Jiub - who rose to sainthood for this very deed - eradicated the Cliff Racers from Vvardenfell, hunting for them from atop a Silt Strider.

Traveler's advice: Cliff Racers are persistent creatures. Hiding away inside a house or a convenient cave doesn't seem to be enough to discourage them from laying in ambush outside it, waiting for their prey to come back into view. If you come across a Cliff Racer, either be more persistent than it in running away, or use the opportunity to practice your markmanship.

[elderscrollsconceptart]

For those who don't wish to see (most) of the non-art related or adjacent text posts on this blog, feel free to blog the tag:

#tes ponderings

Also if you want to avoid any of the occasional "Saint Jiub browser history" posts, also feel free to block the tag:

#saint jiub browser history

This blog's main focus will always be on the art and the artists, I just wanted to provide a way for anyone who wishes to avoid non-art posts to do so :)

[brxnzedragxn]

two bronze dragons, both alike in dignity...

THE DRAGON / JACK LEDORÈ

a masked man that debuted in the ruthless aggression era with los guerreros. does actually wrestle, is not actually a dragon. [ x william regal ] { # the noble and the dragon } { see also: the noble and the dragon on ao3 }

COMET SHATTERCLOUD

a feral wyrmling brought into the fold of the bloodline by the usos when everyone was young and everything seemed okay. doesn't actually wrestle, is actually a dragon [ various crushes growing up on the outskirts of the industry / mutual pining with dean ambrose / roman reigns endgame ] { # thunderflight ]

three bosmer...

DHANVIN LACHANCE

this falinesti native joined the brotherhood when he stole the kill of a handsome young assassin, who had been assigned a sacred mission in valenwood. when he returned to cyrodiil, dhanvin went with him. [ x lucien lachance ] { # falinesti to farragut }

NEREVAR URSHILAKU SIL / MENIV FYR

adopted by second generation ashlander immigrants residing in southern skyrim, nerevar ended up in a beaurocratic mixup that led to his exportation, from the imperial city he was studying magik in, to the morrowind his family fled. forced to adopt a new name in amongst the house elves, nerevar couldn't help but feel he was meant for something bigger than his skin... [ x jiub / x sotha sil endgame ] { # a bosmer named nerevar } { see also: a bosmer named nerevar on ao3 }

EVROL

the sole survivor of a thalmor attack in the depths of valenwood, evrol fled to the far north, where the thalmor's grasp was weak. joining up with the dragonborn, he finds himself drawn into her world of politics and world-saving. [ x gelebor] { # fire of the sun }

and a few others, too...

LUNIK [ shadows of almia / legends of arceus ]

a pokemon ranger who got a late start, but made a deal with a detective to get ahead. when the detective goes missing at the end of their mission, he's left to investigate the phenomenon that's suspected to be at blame. [ x looker / x ingo endgame ] { # fallers }

FROST GHOUL [ ghost ]

he was an unholy sister of sin that helped kill terzo bc he loves copia. unfortunately a terzo loving sister killed himself, came back as a ghoul [star ghoul] to kill comet, who came back as ghoul [frost ghoul], and now they're both hellbent on destroying each other and fucking their respective papas. this is the most nonserious thing you've ever seen. [ x copia ] { # so cold so sweet }

[caliblorn]

As someone who went into the Soul Cairn knowing nothing about the Ideal Masters, I really liked how inscrutable they were portrayed. One of the down sides of ESO, and I'm sure a lot of people will agree with, is that it took the initiative to portray a lot of things that were only speculated about in lore. And while it was cool to see Artaeum and the Psijics and the Daedras' realms, it also kind of removed a veil of mystery that made them less obscure. When I first got into the Soul Cairn... the Ideal Masters were a big deal to me. I was scared to get close to them. I didn't know what the hell was going on with those big crystals. And I really enjoyed that. I don't think ALL characters need to tell you about their deal for them to feel part of a world with depth. And while I don't deny that Bethesda was lazy with a lot of elements in Skyrim, I think in this case, whether they've done it on purpose or not, they've done them right.

I don't think you can compare the Ideal Masters to other generic enemies... because they AREN'T enemies. They can't be touched. They're just... big menacing rocks floating in the Soul Cairn and taking away your life energy. You cannot beat them. And that's also part of their charm.

Aagh. Can't stay too much in the Soul Cairn without getting an headache. I usually do the deed for the Dawnguard's main quest, get the skeleton horse, go say hi to Jiub and get outta there. Can't remember if I actually beat one of the skeleton bosses or I day-dreamed that.

Idk Brave, I've personally kind of liked the idea of the Ideal Masters becoming less and less mortal (they were mages at first, weren't they?) that in 4E they're just big silent crystals that suck your energy off if you get too close. Definitely more menacing to me

The ideal masters are very fucked up and immoral in battlespire. Most refuse to talk to you and the one that does is humoring you with “okay I’ll listen to you. If you serve me. But in order to serve me I need you to kill yourself <3” and then ignoring u again when you refuse. They clearly do not value mortal life whatsoever and still see it only as a source of their power, and clearly are able to be bargained with given you need to make a contract to give up half your soul

While I think them being ppl who won’t even talk to mortals anymore completely losing their ability to even humor mortals in the last 2 centuries or so would be menacing and scary. I think it falls flat bc we have so many enemies like that in Skyrim. Dragons are intelligent, sentient creatures w their own language and culture and you can only talk to like, 3 of them. Most just mindlessly attack you the same as any other dragon and act like they have the same level of intelligence as a bear or sabercat. And like almost every enemy in Skyrim is as generic as they come and can’t be talked with either.

In battlespire you can talk to various daedra and hear about their lives and how they talk. It’s mostly a dungeon crawler but it gives depth to the world on that sense, even if all the Daedra don’t always have complex things to say, you understand them more. The ideal masters only help you out bc you tell them Dagon is gonna go stopping thru their pocket realm if they don’t help ur ass get thru and be hey RELUCTANTLY agree bc in the end they only care abt themselves.

If Skyrim had more actual unique problem solving like persuasion and lying and things that required more than swinging a sword I wouldn’t mind tbh. It’s possible they don’t even wanna bother w the Dragonborn or are so beyond mortals they don’t even bother talking. But bc that’s how basically everything in Skyrim I just feel like it’s a cop out to have them there and not do anything actually interesting w them. At least the soul cairn looks cool (RIP jiub)

[ansu-gurleht]

okay here is my beginner’s guide to morrowind! it talks about some of the mechanics you’ll want to know, but it’s also a little bit of a walkthrough to get you a good start on your journey. note that i originally wrote this for somebody specific: i don’t think it does, but if it seems like it’s talking at somebody in particular, that’s why. anyways, i hope this is helpful!

before you start the game:

there is only one mod i absolutely recommend you play with, and it’s not quite a mod at all.

when you download morrowind from steam or gog or whatever, you have the game! congratulations! however, what you really own is the assets of the game and a horribly broken engine. that’s where openmorrowind (openmw) comes in.

openmw is a remake of the original engine of morrowind. you see, morrowind’s original engine fucking sucks. this is for a multitude of reasons, but for me, the reason i switched was because at the later stages of a playthrough, the game will literally start corrupting your saves. don’t have that problem with openmw!

i can’t really give you a guide on how to install it and get it running better than the one on the openmw website (https://openmw.org/en/). go install it and you will have a much smoother experience overall.

before you start a new game:

before we start talking about PLAYING the game, though, let’s also take a peek through the options.

in the first page of the options, “prefs,” you’ll find some things you’ll want to switch on. namely, subtitles, always use best attack, and auto-save on rest. i’m not sure which of these are enabled by default, but enable them all.

in the “controls” section, you’re likely going to want to swap the “activate” and “jump” buttons. for some reason, the default control scheme has “activate” set to “spacebar” and “jump” set to “e”. this is, of course, counterintuitive to anyone who plays modern pc games. go ahead and just swap those around.

in the “video”-“video” section, go ahead and set your game to the highest resolution, and maybe increase the field of view a bit (i play with 75 fov, but you may prefer higher. idr what the default is, probably stupid low). in the “video”-“detail” section, crank up that view distance as high as it’ll go. i’m not sure what the default is, and i’ve fiddled with my set-up to maximize it for openmw. also turn on trilinear texture filtering and the anisotropy to the highest setting. also raise all the “video”-”water” settings to their maximum values. trust me, you can run this. it’s a new engine but the game itself came out in 2002. not the most graphics-intensive game out there.

tutorial and creating your character:

okay, that’s the options out of the way. now let’s hit that “new” button and make a new game.

watch the intro cutscene, talk to jiub, and tell him your character’s name. follow the instructions of the guards until you get to the one who asks you where you’re from. this is how the game asks you for your race. there’s no bad options here - pick whichever race you like best. you can take into account the bonuses each race gets, and compared to later games in the series these bonuses are more significant, but you can really play any character with any race in this game. it’s worth noting, however, that the beast races (argonians and khajiit) can’t wear full helms or boots/shoes. for a first timer, i would probably recommend dunmer (dark elf).

after that, go into the census office. this is where you build your class properly. you CAN take the class quiz, or pick from the premade classes. i would not recommend this. i’ve come up with a custom class that i think covers pretty much all the bases and gives a fairly enjoyable experience for a newcomer:

specialization: magic

attributes: endurance, intelligence

major skills: long blade light armor conjuration restoration marksman / destruction

minor skills: short blade medium armor spear mysticism alteration

now let me explain my choices here, to give you an idea where i’m coming from, and what those choices mean.

your specialization gives you +5 to all nine of the skills that fall under that specialization, and makes those skills increase more quickly. i’m giving you magic because magic skills don’t always increase the fastest, and every little bit helps.

your chosen attributes get +10 each. endurance determines your starting hp, which is obviously important, among other things, such as how much health you gain on level up. intelligence increases your maximum magicka. when you level up, you get to pick three attributes to increase, and depending on what skills you increased to get to your new level, you get multipliers on how much you can increase certain attributes. i recommend always increasing endurance, even if you don’t get a multiplier for it. speed, which affects your, well, speed, and strength, which affects your physical damage done as well as your carry weight, are good choices for leveling up as well. but you can increase other attributes as you think is necessary - i won’t elaborate on what each one does here, you can look it up on uesp.

your major and minor skills are what you need to increase in order to level up your character level. major skills get +25, minor skills get +10.

i always recommend at least one weapon skill and at least one armor skill for your major skills. i’m giving you long blade, bc it’s the most ubiquitous and useful weapon skill in the game, and light armor, bc it’s generally speaking the best armor skill in the game, and is also lighter to carry around as well.

i’m giving you conjuration and restoration bc having a magic skill as a major gives you a starting spell from that school. conjuration gives you bound dagger, which summons a daedric dagger for you to use for 60 seconds (and gives you the requisite skill to use it effectively), and restoration gives you hearth heal, which is a very effective heal, albeit a somewhat costly one to cast.

i’m giving you two options for your last major skill: either marksman or destruction for ranged capabilities. note, however, that marksman is not as good in this game as in later titles, and not all destruction spells are at range. destruction gives you the starting spell fire bite, a decent on touch (melee range) fire spell.

just like you have a weapon skill and armor skill in your major skills, i recommend doing the same thing with your minor skills. so i’m giving you short blade, the second most ubiquitous and useful weapon skill, and medium armor, which is almost as good as light armor, albeit a bit heavier. you can mix and match your armor pieces to great effect in this game, and wearing at least one piece of a type of armor (a medium armor gauntlet, for example) will increase that skill when you get hit.

i’m giving you spear mostly bc it’s a fun weapon to play with, and not in the other games. mysticism is an important skill for a few reasons: 1) telekinesis, which we’ll mostly use to disarm traps from a distance, and 2) teleportation spells like almsivi/divine intervention, which lets you teleport to the nearest tribunal temple or imperial shrine respectively, and mark/recall, the former of which lets you set a point the latter can teleport you to from anywhere. alteration gives you access to a lot of good spells, like feather, shield, levitate, water breathing, water walking, and open.

okay, that’s enough about your class. next you’ll be asked what your birthsign is. i’m going to recommend either the steed, which gives you +25 speed and makes walking around at the beginning of the game more bearable, or the lady, which gives you +25 personality and +25 endurance. up to you whether you value the speed or the endurance more. there are other options, of course, but i think these are best for a first-time player.

okay, after you pick your birthsign and confirm your character, you’re free! kind of. not really yet. you’ll be notified you now have an inventory menu, and instructed to pick up the papers on the table to your right. do so. then, we’re going to do something a little sneaky. on the shelf against the rightmost wall is a limeware platter, which costs like 650 gold. you want that platter. so you’re going to take it. now, you just did this in full view of a guard. but you’re fresh off the boat, so he won’t arrest you - he’ll just confiscate what you stole. BUT, if you drop the platter before he gets to you, he won’t have anything to confiscate. and since YOU dropped it, it’s technically YOURS now, so you can pick it up without any ramifications.  congrats! you just got like, 300 gold (note: your mercantile skill affects how much gold you get from selling things. very rarely will you ever get full asking price for anything).

(how do you drop the platter, you may ask? well, to open your menu/inventory, you need to right-click. very counterintuitive, i know. but you’ll get used to it. to drop an item, click it and drag it outside of any of the menus. you can either drop it directly beneath you, which usually happens, or you can place things directly onto surfaces like tables or shelves if you’re close enough to them.)

now you’re expected to go out the door across from the platter shelf. go out, and close the door behind you. there’s nobody in this side of the building, so with the door closed, you’re free to just jack anything you see without ramifications. there’s a lot of ingredients to take, if you want to get into alchemy (which can be useful, for either making beneficial potions or for making a quick buck), but most of what you want is the expensive stuff you’ll find. there’s a book you can take (books can be very expensive in this game), some silverware, a bottle of liquor called flin, a lockpick, and a shitty dagger. you’ll want to sell everything you get here except for the lockpick, and maybe the ingredients if you want to do alchemy. there’s a little chest on the bottom of the shelf by the exit that’s locked. you should be able to pick it with ease with the lockpick you just got, even though your security skill sucks atm. there’s like, 31 gold in there i think? worth taking regardless. to pick the lock, equip the lockpick (click and drag it onto the little portrait of your character in the left of your inventory screen), and “attack” (left-click) over and over while pointing your cursor at the chest until it unlocks. there’s a couple of torches you might want downstairs, as well.

after you’re done looting, leave the building. you’ll find yourself in a little courtyard. the game’ll tell you to look in the barrel by the next door, and take the enchanted ring you find inside. don’t get too attached to this ring. go into the next door and talk to sellus gravius, the guy inside. this is your first real encounter with morrowind’s dialog system. it is not like skyrim’s. at all. get used to it. this weird wikipedia like structure is going to be your best friend. you have a list of all available options on the right, and you can click highlighted options in the text itself. you can talk about whatever to sellus, but you have to say a couple specific things to progress. i can’t remember what it is exactly, but he doesn’t have much to say outside of it, so it shouldn’t be hard to figure out. he’ll give you some money, a package for caius cosades, and a note with instructions on how to find caius cosades. don’t accidentally sell the package. don’t try to open the package. just leave it in your inventory until you’re ready to go find caius.

seyda neen:

after that, you’re free to go! and this time you’re really free, and you can do whatever you want now! but that’s a bit overwhelming, so i’m going to let you know what there is to do in this town, seyda neen.

first off, almost right outside the door there’s a bosmer (wood elf) named fargoth. he’s lost his ring. yes, that ring. give it to him. that’ll earn you better prices with the local merchant, who happens to be fargoth’s friend. don’t worry, if you want the ring, we’ll be getting it back later.

now to go make some money with all the shit we stole. go to arrille’s tradehouse, which is the building with the little raised platform adjacent. the “front” door is locked, it’s actually arrille’s house, so you have to go around on the platform to the real front door. go inside and talk to arrille. in the right pane of the dialog, you’ll see the option to barter with him. click that and get to selling your shit. 

here’s what you want to buy with the money you just got (around 500-600 gold). buy all the chitin armor pieces you can. it’s very good light armor for this stage in the game. buy the iron saber for now; you’ll be replacing it soon but you need something, and it’s cheap. buy one of the journeyman’s probes - you need these to disable traps - and one of the journeyman’s lockpicks, since the one you stole from the census office only has 10 uses. buy 3 bottles of sujamma - it’s a regional liquor that gives you +50 strength and -50 intelligence for 60 seconds. it’s VERY powerful for dealing with foes you normally shouldn’t be able to handle at a lower level. note the intelligence drop though: if you need to cast a spell, cast it before you drink the sujamma. buy 2 scrolls of almsivi intervention - like i said earlier, this teleports you to the nearest tribunal temple. lastly, buy 2 scrolls of ondusi’s unhinging. sometimes you need to open something that you just can’t pick with your too-low security skill. that’s where this scroll comes in.

yes, you just spent like, all of the money you just earned. it’s okay. we’re going to make it back and then some, soon.

before you leave arrille’s, go upstairs (behind him). talk to the guy, hrisskar flat-foot, at the top of the stairs. he’ll offer you a topic about recovering gold. he wants you to find out where fargoth (the ring guy) is hiding his gold and valuables. you’re going to help him find it, because YOU want those valuables as well. we’ll get back to this quest later, though.

next, talk to elone, the redguard behind the counter. she’s a scout, which means she knows a lot about the land. you can ask scouts all sorts of interesting questions about geography. but what you want from elone is directions to balmora. ask her about balmora and she’ll give you said directions in the form of a note.

finally, talk to the wizard lookin’ fella in the corner. ask him about the latest rumors. keep in mind what he says about mentor’s ring - we’ll be pursuing this later.

now, let’s make sure we equip all the armor and weapon we just bought. right-click to bring up your inventory/stats/map/magic menu, click on each piece of armor and weapon, and drag them onto the little portrait of your character to the left. that’s it! you’re equipped and ready to face the wilderness.

the wilderness, plus notes on combat:

leave arrille’s tradehouse from the door you came in from. jump off the corner of the platform into the water below, and cross that little river, heading west. on the far shore, you’ll find your first foe: a mudcrab! very scaaaaary! this is your introduction to combat. it works a little differently in this game. first of all, just because you SEE your weapon connect with an enemy, doesn’t mean it’s going to HIT necessarily. this game plays off of dice-rolls, and a lot of factors contribute to whether or not you’re gonna actually do damage. but the two most important factors are: 1) your level of skill with the weapon you’re using, and 2) your fatigue. that’s the green bar in the bottom left of your screen, what you’d call in skyrim your “stamina”. if your fatigue is low when you enter an encounter, you’re going to really struggle to fight!

here’s a somewhat annoying thing about fatigue: running at full speed diminishes it! so when you’re out in the wilderness, you’re going to want to conserve your fatigue by walking. it’s slow, but hopefully bearably so if you picked the steed as your birthsign. and it’s better than dying to a mudcrab because you were too tired to properly swing your weapon.

fortunately, there’s this thing called resting! if you’re out in the wilderness, you can press “t” to rest for as long as you’d like, or “until healed” (until your hp, magicka, and fatigue are completely restored). unfortunately, this close to seyda neen, you can only “wait” - all this does is restore your fatigue. it’s illegal to rest inside of most settlements, or even in their outskirts.

anyways, hopefully you’ve completely dominated that first mudcrab of yours. should go down in one hit, so long as you can connect. another thing to note: you may have noticed when you bought your saber that its damage stats are ranges. for instance, its chop stat (the one you’ll be using with your “always use best attack” enabled) is 5-18. to maximize your damage on the high end of that range, you’ll need to hold down your click for a second or so to wind up the attack. you’ll do a lot more damage this way rather than just mashing left mouse button!

anyways, after you’ve gotten your first kill, proceed along the coast, making sure to head between the rocks just up the way. you’ll find either a rat or a kwama forager (worm thing), and that’s how you know you’re going the right way. it’ll attack on sight, but there’ll be another critter there, a little grey insect looking thing called a “scrib” that thumps its tail on the ground and squeals. it’s not going to attack you when you get close, so don’t attack it. be nice. it’s just a little guy! if you do decide to attack it, though, you might be in for a nasty surprise: it has a paralyzing bite! a scrib can really catch you off guard at this low level. so leave the little guy alone!

across from the scrib, to the left, you’ll find a corpse. if you’ve been talking to the residents of seyda neen (i highly recommend you do) you may have heard that the local tax collector is missing. this is him. take the tax record and 200 gold from him. let’s read the tax record! to read any note or book from your inventory, click and drag it over your character portrait! this is really how you interact with anything in your inventory. note who has the highest unpaid tax to find a motive, but we’ll get back to that later. we’ve got some other stuff to do in the swamp.

proceed northwest, killing any little critters (except scribs!) that get in your way. pretty quick you’ll find yourself with a mountain on your right and the ocean on your left. follow the coast along those mountains. you’re going to find pretty quick a weird looking door on your right. that’s an ancestral tomb door! they all look like that. make a note of where this is, we’re coming back to it. keep progressing along the coast.

eventually you’ll find a little shipwreck. yes, that’s a ship, albeit a local, kinda weird-looking one. just before you get to the ship itself, there’ll be a chest next to a log that’s sticking up out of the water. there’s a silver longsword in there! take it, it’s your new weapon of choice, slightly better than your saber. now let’s explore the ship! get on board and take the trapdoor down to your right. at the end of the interior, next to the next trapdoor down, there’s a crate in the water with moon sugar in it! you may be familiar with skooma, the narcotic? moon sugar is what it’s made from. it’s very valuable, but also very illegal, so we’re going to have to be careful with how we sell it. we’ll get to that eventually.

take the trapdoor further down, and immediately swim up, bc you’re gonna be underwater! at the end of this section of the ship, you’ll find a little chest on the floor with 3 diamonds in it! woohoo! now let’s get out of here, that skeleton’s freaking me out. there’s nothing of note in the cabin section of the ship, so don’t worry about it. let’s go back to that tomb!

samarys ancestral tomb:

okay, right outside the tomb, SAVE! you need to save a LOT in this game if you want to make progress! i recommend having multiple running saves going as well as your quicksave. my most recent playthrough has 5 different saves that i cycle through. it’s a good way to make sure you don’t get stuck in untenable positions! make sure you have your silver longsword equipped and head on in.

once you’re in, open the door right across from you. in the next chamber, you’ll see these little raised things with jars on them. those jars have dead people in them! you don’t really want what’s in those jars, though - you want what’s next to them. always check next to these jars in ancestral tombs for valuables. most of the time it’s just clothes or ingredients, but sometimes, like in the case of the first jar on the right, there’s valuable scrolls! take it, and proceed down the corridor and turn right.

here’s your first challenge! a ghost! this is why we got the silver longsword first, because only silver weapons (or higher quality) or enchanted weapons can actually hit ghosts! this ghost knows a nasty little fire spell that can do quite a bit of damage if you don’t kill him quickly. just keep up your consistent, charged hits until he goes down. across from the entrance to this chamber is another jar-plinth with another scroll, this time an offensive one! take it, it might prove useful. save again!

on the other side of the next door is either a greater challenge or an even greater challenge. sometimes it’s just a skeleton, and sometimes it’s a lesser bonewalker, which can be very dangerous! take him down as quickly as you can, because bonewalkers often know very detrimental curses that can lower your attributes. save again after you kill it!

next, you want to disarm the trap on that urn in the bonewalker room. equip your journeyman’s probe and start clicking on that urn, just like you did with the chest in the census office! once the trap is disarmed, take mentor’s ring! told you we were gonna get that. it’s a very useful ring that increases your intelligence and willpower by 10 points each. go ahead and equip that. there’s a weird named ash in the urn, and a key to the chest next to it, but don’t bother. the chest never has anything valuable in it. don’t forget to reequip your silver longsword after you disarm the trap!

speaking of, here’s another little tip. press f1. this gives you the quick-select menu, where you can assign items or spells to your number keys. i’d put your main weapon (right now the silver longsword) on number 1, then put your most used spells on the next few numbers, in whatever order or fashion you prefer. makes swapping between items and spells much easier.

heading back to seyda neen:

leave the tomb and hug the mountains going east until you hit the road. then follow the road east some more until you see a man fall from the sky. yes, that just happened. he’s dead and free-game, so let’s loot him. take his nice enchanted sword (it’s slightly better than your current weapon, so long as it has a charge), equip his nice conical hat, and either equip his robes and shoes (you can wear robes over your equipped armor in this game! isn’t that so cool) or take them to sell later. take any gold he might have on him, and take those weird “scrolls of icarian flight” he has. do NOT use those scrolls. sell them. you will DIE if you try to use those scrolls. also, take a gander at his journal underneath him, and then take it to sell as well.

alright, from here, follow the road east and south back to seyda neen. let’s head back to arrille’s to sell some of the stuff we got. note that you are now carrying moon sugar, which as i said, is illegal. honest merchants won’t trade with you if you have moon sugar or skooma in your inventory. we’ll find some dishonest merchants later, don’t worry. but for now, you’ll have to simply drop the moon sugar on the floor before you start selling. don’t forget to pick it up when you’re done!

next, remember that guy you noted from the tax record, the one with the highest unpaid tax? we’re going to pay him a visit, ask what happened to the tax collector. i won’t tell you where he is; check the houses around seyda neen until you find the one with his name on the door. before you go in, save, and make sure your fatigue is up.

talk to him. he’ll confess to killing the tax collector, giving you the option of letting him go, or doing justice right then and there. do the justice. he’ll immediately attack you - with his fists. this might not sound scary to you at first. in later games, hand-to-hand combat merely does a little bit of damage to your health. in this game, hand-to-hand hits do damage to FATIGUE. and remember how important fatigue is? it affects everything, from physical combat to your chance at casting spells. so you’re gonna wanna take this guy down before he does too much damage to your fatigue. if your fatigue reaches zero, you get knocked out, falling to the floor. at this stage, hand-to-hand hits actually do damage to your HEALTH. and it’s easy to get trapped in a loop of getting knocked down. so don’t let that happen and kill him quickly. this fight is probably actually harder than the bonewalker, since this guy does a lot of damage to your fatigue with each hit, and you’re draining your own fatigue by swinging at him. but keep up with your consistent charged hits and you should be able to take him down.

be sure to take the ring he’s wearing! it’ll come in handy later. then loot the place - it’s effectively your house now, a decent starter shack. especially important is the book on the floor, which is a skill book increasing your mercantile skill, and sells for a pretty penny. there’s also some ingredients in the various barrels and sacks, if you’re into alchemy.

next, let’s go back to the census office. yes, the place you started at. talk to the old dude who set up your class and birthsign. there’ll be an option to report the murder. do so, and he’ll give you 500 gold. nice!

next, head on to the lighthouse on the coast. you should be able to see it from anywhere in seyda neen. step inside and talk to the lady immediately on your right. ask her about the ring you picked up from the murderer and she’ll give you two pretty high-quality healing potions! nice. now, head upstairs. there’s a very valuable book at the top you can take (the lady downstairs can’t see you now) which increases your unarmored skill. 

now head outside to the top of the lighthouse. stand at the corner facing the rest of the town, and wait until 10pm. if you’ve spent a lot of time resting/waiting, you might have missed your first 10pm, and will have to wait almost a day for the next one. don’t worry about it, you don’t have a time limit. now watch that little torch-wielding gremlin fargoth crawl around for a little bit. he’ll make a few stops along his way, but don’t worry, he can’t see you from up here (even though he does approach and stop in front of the lighthouse at one point). eventually he’ll stop by a tree-stump in a mucky pool - that’s where you need to go. once he walks away from there, head back down the lighthouse and go there. inside the stump you’ll find a bunch of gold, fargoth’s old healing ring, and a nice lockpick. take it all.

now, hrisskar wanted you to return with the money so he could split you a cut. instead, we’re just going to never talk to him again and keep all the money. there’s no repercussions for this at all, unless you’re a completionist who wants to finish every quest completely. but there’s not really a tracker for your completed quests, so it doesn’t really matter.

one last thing to do in seyda neen. we’re going to talk to an altmer (high elf) named eldafire. she can usually be found across the bridge towards the silt strider (the big bug thing you probably saw when you got off the boat), although she tends to roam a bit. ask her for a little advice. she’ll recommend you take out the bandits in the addamasartus cave nearby. let’s do that.

addamasartus cave:

the cave is right across from the silt strider landing, hiding behind a big boulder. save and rest until healed right outside the cave, then head on in. the first enemy shouldn’t be much of a problem to you at this point. she should go down in a few hits, and not get much of a chance to hurt you. take any valuables she might have, especially the addamasartus slave key.

the next enemy, who is beyond the door down to the right, is going to be much more challenging. he’s a mage who will cast a weakness to fire spell at you, and then cast a fire spell at you. you’re a dunmer, so you have some resistance to fire, but this guy can still fuck you up if you’re not careful. try to dodge his spells until he runs out of magicka and is forced to attack you in melee. or be brave and try to take some swings as you dodge. up to you. don’t be surprised if he kills you a time or two - he’s pretty tough. if you need to, go outside (or close to the front door) to rest to heal your wounds after he’s dead. or before he’s dead - no shame in running to fight another day.

okay, now that the hard part is done, we can explore the rest of the cave. go down the stairs to where that mage came from, and turn left when you get to the water. there’ll be another enemy, this one throwing throwing-stars at you. you can try to dodge them - they’re kind of small so it’s difficult to see them - or you can just tank the hits as you rush her down. they don’t do much damage. she’ll go down pretty easy, too. she’ll have a lockpick and probe - take them. if you picked marksman as your ranged skill, you can take the throwing stars as well, although they’re not as effective as a bow would be.

now, loot the room - the crates, sacks, chests, etc. the crates near where the throwing-star lady was should have a total of 8 moon sugar and 2 bottles of skooma in them. the chest will have a random leveled item (that is, an item suited to your level) - you might get lucky with this! in my test run, i got a steel daikatana, which is better than my silver longsword (except against ghosts). don’t forget the crates and barrel over by the water! sometimes the crates can have scrolls, potions, or soul gems in them.

next, go behind the rocks to the left of where the throwing-star lady was. you’ll find a door the slave key will unlock. on the other side of the door you’ll find a little stretch of water. at one point you’ll have to dive under to get to the next chamber - just watch your breath meter! but you shouldn’t have a problem, it’s not a very long dive. at the bottom of the water in the next chamber, you might be able to find a skull to the right. if not, don’t worry about it! but there is a rising force (levitation) potion right next to the skull. don’t drown yourself looking for it though, it’s not that important.

in this chamber, you’ll see a spiral pathway rising out of the water. find where you can clamber onto the pathway and follow it up. there’ll be a rat up there - but nothing you can’t handle. up there you’ll also find some glowing mushrooms. in between them there’s a few pieces of gold, a netch leather pauldron (don’t worry too much about that part - your chitin pauldron is better), and the important part, a “thief ring”! it’ll give you a decent buff when you need it. it’s a little tricky to see against the stone floor of the cave, but try your best to find it.

follow the rest of the passage until you come out near the beginning of the cave. you may have wondered why we went down (to where the mage was) instead of up to where there was a door earlier. we’re going to go up there now. your addamasartus slave key will open the door, and you’ll find two argonian slaves and a khajiit slave. talk to them and offer to let them go free, and unlock their bracers. congrats, you’re an abolitionist now! the game tracks how many slaves you’ve freed for a hidden faction you’ll find eventually. you need to free quite a few to join that faction, so try to free every one you can if you want to join.

now you’re done with addamasartus! feel free to leave. we’re done with seyda neen, now, as well, unless you want to head by arrille’s first to sell off some stuff before you leave. don’t forget to drop your moon sugar and skooma before you barter, and then don’t forget to pick it up before you leave!

onward!:

next stop, balmora, where the imperials wanted you to go. there’s a couple of ways we can get there. the first and easiest is to just hire a silt strider to take you there. those big bug things are basically giant buses, and they have routes all over the western half of the island. but i recommend you walk to balmora, following the directions elone the scout gave you. a big part of this game is exploration, and you’d better get used to it quick. don’t be afraid to get a little sidetracked here and there. explore the occasional cave or mine or tomb on your way - but always save before entering one, and know your limits. the dungeons in this game are largely not leveled to you, and if you enter the wrong one too early, it can really ruin your day. so don’t be afraid to turn around and leave, or load the save you made before entering, if things get too tough.

there’s a little town called pelagiad between seyda neen and balmora. feel free to stop there to restock if you need to. otherwise, just follow the road signs and elone’s directions. you’ll get to balmora in no time. and don’t forget! conserve your fatigue. you don’t want to be running everywhere, run out of fatigue, and then run into even a basic enemy you suddenly can’t handle because you can’t connect any of your hits.

once you get to balmora, go to the south wall cornerclub like you were told in your directions to caius cosades, and ask around to find out where caius lives. i’m not going to hold your hand on quest instructions any more! figure it out on your own. it’s not too hard, so long as you just remember to talk to people about important topics - usually “latest rumors,” “little secret,” “little advice,” and “morrowind lore.” but peruse the other topics, too! you might learn something about the people and place you’re in.

before caius gives you your first official orders, he’ll tell you to join a guild to establish a cover identity. there’s a lot of factions in this game you can join. you’ve got the imperial guilds: the fighter’s guild, the mage’s guild, and the thieves’ guild; the morag tong (essentially the dark brotherhood of this game, but a bit different flavor-wise, as well as in how it works); the religious guilds: the tribunal temple and the imperial cult; the imperial legion; and the great houses: house redoran, house hlaalu, and house telvanni. i won’t go into detail about all of these, but i will mention a few.

factions, and a bit on fast travel:

even if you don’t plan on playing through the questline, i recommend joining the mage’s guild. it gives you a couple of invaluable services: spellmaking, enchanting, and the guild guide. the first is self-explanatory: it lets you use any magic effects you’ve already learned to make custom spells from them. enchanting as a service is what it sounds like - you pay somebody to enchant items for you (you still need to bring a filled soul-gem, though). the guild guide is probably the most important, however. basically, it’s a teleportation service between the mage’s guilds of vvardenfell.

morrowind doesn’t have a fast travel system per se, but there are quicker ways to get around than just walking everywhere. we’ve mentioned the spells that can do this, like almsivi/divine intervention and mark/recall. but you can also take the bus (silt strider) across most of western vvardenfell, or a boat across most of eastern vvardenfell. but those two systems are largely disconnected; the only real way to trade off is to silt strider to vivec, walk (or divine intervention) to ebonheart, then take a boat to sadrith mora or tel branora, or vice versa. 

but the mage’s guild guild guide solves this problem rather nicely! you can teleport from anywhere in the west to sadrith mora in the east much more quickly than the silt strider-boat trade off in vivec and ebonheart. so join the mage’s guild, i’m serious.

the only other factions i’m going to mention are the houses. they’re very important, and you’re going to want to join one. and only one, i might add - once you join one, you’re locked into it. so make your choice wisely. here’s a brief description of each house:

house redoran is a house of noble warriors, whose capital is ald’ruhn, literally inside the hollowed out remains of an ancient giant crab. they are most favored by the local warrior-poet god, vivec, and most of the buoyant armigers (vivec’s personal army) are from redoran.

house hlaalu is a house of sneaky merchants, whose capital is balmora. they’re the most closely affiliated house to the empire, whereas the other two are distrustful of the empire - and therefore distrustful of house hlaalu.

house telvanni is a house of arrogant wizards, whose capital is sadrith mora (literally translates to “mushroom forest”). they live in settlements built around giant fungal wizard towers, and are most distant and distrustful of the new forces (like the empire) in vvardenfell. they’re also most likely to own slaves, although they will accept argonian and khajiit as members all the same.

there is a bit of a disparity when it comes to the rewards you get from quests from these houses. telvanni gifts you with powerful spells and enchanted items; hlaalu gives you gold; redoran gives you, um. “honor.” which doesn’t sell for much in this economy. that might affect your decision here, but really, choose whichever faction appeals to you most. you’ll be able to get your hands on lots of money and powerful artifacts regardless of which house you choose. 

i think that’s about all you really need to know to get started in this game! really, the best piece of advice i can give you is: take your time. take in the atmosphere, the lore, the books, the dialog. absorb yourself into this game and you will have the most amazing experience with it, i think. if you have any questions, let me know!

P.S. i’m going to add things to the end of this as i think of them:

a lot of the time, you’re going to run into people you need information from who won’t give it to you. every npc has a disposition stat, basically how much they like you, and if it’s too low, they won’t discuss certain topics. there’s a few ways to increase their disposition. 1) use the speechcraft skill to admire, intimidate, or taunt the npc. (taunting actually serves a different purpose to the other two, but we’ll get to that shortly.) 2) use a spell, namely the “charm” effect from the illusion school of magic, to temporarily raise their disposition with you. 3) increase your personality attribute, like with telvanni bug musk (always a good item to have around). and 4) bribe the hell out of them. you can bribe in 10 gold, 100 gold, and 1000 gold increments. 100 gold tends to be the most efficient way to bribe, and most people will open up to you after about 200 gold spent this way. money isn’t exactly difficult to come by in this game, especially after the first few levels, so this greasing of the wheels of commerce won’t hurt your wallet too much.

okay, that’s about how to increase a npc’s disposition. how about the scenario where you need (or want) to kill an npc without getting a bounty on your head? simple: either 1) take them out into the wilderness where there are no witnesses (this only works in cases where you can get this person to follow you, such as by using the conjuration school’s “command humanoid” effect), 2) use the “frenzy humanoid” effect from the illusion school to get them to attack you (this shouldn’t trigger a bounty, or for their friends to attack you as well), or 3) “taunting” them to get them to attack you. if your speechcraft is low, this will take many tries, because most of the time your attempt to taunt will fail, and also because it generally takes several successful taunts to get an npc to actually attack you. but you don’t have to worry about using a spell this way, and if you’re patient it’ll work out just the same. 

another thing to note: if you’re on an assignment from the morag tong to kill somebody, you’ll get what’s called a “writ” with their name on it. the morag tong, unlike the dark brotherhood, is a government-sanctioned entity - using the tong to have someone killed is completely legal. this writ is your permission to kill that person. you don’t have to worry about incurring a bounty when you have a writ - you can just straight up merk somebody in broad daylight. watch out, though - sometimes that person’s nearby friends will attack you too. most of the time, though, although they might shout about it, nobody will report the crime. if somebody does, expect to be approached by a guard. in that instance, just present your writ to them, and they’ll be forced to let you go. (if this appeals to you, consider joining the morag tong. although every major city has a morag tong chapterhouse, you can only join the tong from the headquarters in vivec city. i won’t tell you exactly where those headquarters are in vivec - it’s actually fun trying to figure out on your own. just ask around and you’ll figure it out.)

okay, i forgot to mention. once you’ve leveled up your major or minor skills 10 times (repeats of the same skill count as well), you’ll get a notification saying it’s time to level up. to do this, you need to sleep in a bed. simply resting won’t do it. you need some kind of bed. make sure it’s a bed you’re allowed to sleep in! i recommend saving before trying to sleep in a bed. sometimes you’ll find a bed in like a mages guild and assume it’s free game but it’s actually someone in particular’s bed and you get expelled from the guild for trying to sleep in it. not a fun time. 

since you’ll have the goty edition of the game, you’ll have tribunal enabled. that means sometimes when you rest you’ll get attacked by a dark brotherhood assassin. they’re not too tough, though, and they have very useful and very expensive armor and usually a decent weapon. if you want the attacks to stop, talk to a guard about them. but why would you, it’s free money. 

i forgot to mention in the main body of this guide, but there are only a handful of places where you can pawn off your skooma and moonsugar. there are two in balmora: there is ajira, the resident alchemist of the balmora mage’s guild, and ra’virr, a merchant whose store is right next to the mage’s guild. in general, if a merchant is a khajiit, and normally deals in ingredients or potions, they’re likely to buy skooma and moonsugar. 

another thing: you do have a journal! your character automatically records most important information in it about your quests. now, this is an actual journal, with entries in chronological order. so it can be difficult to find relevant information by just looking through it normally. if you have the goty edition (which you should) you have the option to categorize by topic and quest! should be a button on the right. not all quests are marked, but most are. 

[tastesoftamriel]

How do you think things like theater and entertainment differs between the provinces/races of Tamriel? I imagine bawdy comedies are popular in Cyrodiil while Summerset prefer historical epics

I’ll be totally honest: I don’t have loads of time for entertainment, and when I’m catering for a banquet I’m too busy behind the scenes to be able to stop and enjoy shows! However, from what I have been able to gather, these are some of the weird and wonderful performances I’ve been lucky enough to watch across Tamriel.

Altmer

The very best entertainers from Summerset are from the House of Reveries, a time-honoured guild of mysterious masked performers who can do anything from acting to dance, music, and magic tricks. Every year, the House puts on a revue featuring the best of their talent, drawing crowds from near and far. I attended one of the revues as a guest a couple of years ago, and had an excellent time! From a historical opera about the Oblivion Crisis to fire-twirlers and a whole orchestra, the House of Reveries is without doubt the most prolific and capable of Tamriel’s entertainers. If you’re able to make it to their home in Summerset, catching any performance is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Argonians

Argonians love music and dance, whether it’s at a tavern or a bonding ceremony! Most famous of their instruments is the vossa-satl, a keyboard instrument that’s powered by the croaks of frogs (really)! While it sounds absurd if you’ve never encountered one, there’s something beautiful about the tuned croaking that really evokes the ambiance of the deep swamps of Murkmire. Vossa-satls can be played on their own, accompanied with singing and drums, or even are even played on special occasions as quartets. An awful lot of fun to dance to as well!

Bosmer

The Bosmer are known for their entrancing shadow-puppet plays, which people come from far and wide to see. Narrated by a Tale-Spinner, these plays feature puppets made from stiff hide, whose shadows are projected against an opaque leather screen. It’s accompanied by music played on bone flutes and pipes, drums, and throat-singing that has an almost meditative quality. These puppet shows tell traditional stories Valenwood such as of Falinesti, Y’ffre, the Green Lady and Silvenar, and much more. I don’t really know what they’re on about most of the time due to the peculiar use of language and riddles used by Bosmer tale-spinners, but it’s an absolutely riveting way to spend your evening if you’re in Valenwood.

Bretons

Breton theatre is an interactive experience, so put on your dancing shoes and ready those rotten apples! Over-the-top musical comedies and dramas are a favourite of the Province, typically featuring anywhere from a handful to a couple dozen actors and a small band. The audience is encouraged to play along and it’s not uncommon to find yourself hoisted on stage to throw a pumpkin at the villain of the show! Comedic puppet shows like Punch-and-Julian are popular with young and old alike, and use cloth puppets or marionettes which are more detailed than Bosmeri shadow puppets. And of course, nobody loves The Lusty Argonian Maid’s adventures quite as much as the Bretons, so be sure to catch a performance (sometimes a themed costume party, for the saucier citizens) while you’re in High Rock!

Dunmer

Traditional Morrowind entertainment has a strong focus on magic, particularly illusion magic to scintillate the crowd (especially in areas where the Telvanni hold influence). The Dunmer are keen lovers of puppet shows, somewhat like Bosmer shadow puppets, but instead prefer the use of large, doll-like marionettes that are carved to look wonderfully realistic to show the characters and creatures of a bygone age. My favourite was an epic about St. Jiub and his quest to rid Morrowind of cliff racers, and it was accompanied by some frankly terrifying and realistic illusions of cliff racers which soared above the crowd and caused quite a panic! The Brave Little Scrib may thus be the safest bet for beginners to Dunmeri theatre, or those with a weak constitution.

Imperials

When it comes to entertainment, nobody in Tamriel puts on a show quite like the Imperials. The Arena is known for its bloody fights and betting, but has also been used for everything from huge circus performances and opera to the famous mock naval battles. The latter are a spectacular annual event where the arena floor is flooded and real ships are brought in to fight, complete with “pirates”, cannons, sword-fighting, and much more! Definitely not suitable entertainment for children, but if you love the ostentatious and over-the-top, be sure to visit the Imperial Arena (or any of the other smaller arenas that dot the Province) for some truly stunning shows.

Khajiit

In addition to their amazing skill at stringed instruments, the Khajiit are known for their dance and acrobatic skills. Traditional dancers in Elsweyr train for years at academies and temples alike, with a training regime that rivals their peers in the martial arts. This training also includes some jaw-dropping acrobatics and contortion, making Khajiiti circuses extremely popular as they travel around, usually as part of a Baandari troupe. Unlike the circuses staged in Cyrodiil, these troupes are usually made of a handful to a dozen performers, each with their own unique talents and abilities. A typical performance usually starts with dancers to warm up the crowd, followed by heart-stopping acts like trapeze, tightrope, and walking over hot coals! If you want to be wowed, be sure to grab a ticket the next time a Khajiiti circus troupe is in town; you won’t be disappointed!

Nords

You’re probably very aware of the famous Bard’s College of Solitude, one of the most prestigious institutions to study music in all of Tamriel. However, bards do far more than play the lute and sing songs. They are well-versed in recounting tales, especially historical ones (albeit with some embellishment). You’ll be on the edge of your seat listening to amazing original and time-honoured kennings and songs, preferably around the fire with a tankard of mead. While far less ostentatious than most other entertainment you’ll find in Tamriel, there’s nothing quite as cosy as a bardic evening at the tavern.

Orcs

The Orcs aren’t generally fans of theatre, but they sure do enjoy entertainment in the form of sports like Vosh ball and wrestling! Sporting events draw huge crowds of all races, meaning that you’ll find everything from hot snacks to live music in the arena. Vosh ball is a traditional Orcish sport which has been played for centuries, and is prone to getting violent, so grab a helmet (preferably one with a visor) before you sit down, and enjoy the show! Not feeling like watching? In certain cases, you can even give these sports a go in amateur rounds, but you will be asked to sign a disclaimer form…missing teeth, other injuries, and the occasional death aren’t uncommon. You’ve been warned!

Redguards

The Redguards are renowned for their poetry, song, and epic storytelling, often performed by wandering poet-explorers who live off the generosity of strangers. Unlike the traveling bards of Skyrim, you’ll usually need to visit these reclusive storytellers yourself, or host one when they’re in town! It’s well worth the trouble, as these wandering souls usually love performing with anyone else who’s game. One of my most memorable nights out was in Sentinel, where bored locals who came to listen to a visiting poet happened to bring all their talents with them. When the story about the Akaviri invasion ramped up, a few musicians struck up a tune, and for some reason a sword-swallower joined in! Entertainment in Hammerfell is a joyous community affair, and no two performances are ever alike.

[kagrenacs]

Explaining the Iceberg #4

I covered most things in this, but not everything. Every previous post I’ve made describing the tes iceberg I found on google image search can be found here x

Lorkhan’s purposeful failure: Lorkhan was the first spirit to go beyond the universe to see the tower, but didn’t achieve CHIM. He likely did this on purpose to show others how not to do it, and to demonstrate that it was difficult for et’ada to achieve this state because they simply don’t have the boundaries (such as death) that mortals do.

The World-Egg: The universe and the 12 previous Kalpas, everything within existence

The Khajiit Tower: this reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/3oh7wf/the_khajiit_tower/ for everyone’s sake i’ll spare you the details of Jungian psychology, TL;DR the khajiit are a ‘tower’ made to hold up the universe and aspects of this

The Grabbers: Mentioned in the 36 lessons, a race of people in Lyg who are said to ‘have never built a city of their own’ there are theories that these are in fact Magne-Ge, due to their connection to Lyg by Mehrunes Dagon

AE: ‘is’ in ehlnofex, can be interpreted as a state of being

Shezzar became Akatosh: The only solid reference i could find was this thread, that immediately discusses how this is probably incorrect http://www.gamesas.com/could-lorkhan-have-jyggalag-t74581-25.html

The Monkey-Truth: Markuth’s teachings, also a website of tes fanfiction writers and roleplayers 

Red Moment: The potential Dragon Break at Red Mountain

The Provisional House: Mentioned in the 36 Lessons, called ‘a space that is not a space’ that Vivec observes the events of Nirn from. It may possibly protect Vivec from dangers associated with this.

Alandro Sul: The Shield-Companion to Nerevar. Sometimes called ‘the immortal-son of Azura’. After being blinded by Wulfharth, he went to live with the Ashlanders of Vvardenfell and is credited with spreading the idea that the Tribunal killed Nerevar

CHIM: To put simply, the process and state where a person realizes their place within the universe and is able to manipulate the laws of the universe as they see fit. Often associated with the concept of ‘Love’

Skaal Secrets: Discussed in the Dragonborn DLC, it’s unknown what their secrets are, but the Skaal report that they’ve kept them a secret from Hermaeus Mora for generations

The World’s Teeth: Mentioned in the 36 lessons of Vivec, sermon 17. Vivec takes Nerevar to the edge of the world, where they see ‘the bottom row of the world’s teeth’ as Vivec states. This may possibly reference a glitch in Redguard. (as a side note: The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, a game that’s confirmed to have taken inspiration from the Elder Scrolls, has an area on the map, near the edge of the world with a row of spikes similar to what’s described here. This might be just coincidence, but I sure enjoy it)

Dagoth Ur’s Endgame: Speculation on what Dagoth Ur’s final plans actually are. He speaks of his desire to remove the Empire from Morrowind, and unite the Dunmer under the 6th House, but beyond that there’s little to go off of.  Ultimately this is just speculation and theories, mostly on what he plans to do with the Anumidium, and how that could possibly have adverse affects on reality.

Pelinal Cyborg from the Future: Another bit of obscure MK lore that’s not implemented in-game. This derives from the description of Pelinal having a ‘left hand made of a killing light’  ‘PELIN-EL [which is] "The Star-Made Knight" [and he] was arrayed in armor [from the future time].’ and his survival of being decapitated. While the text directly states he is from the future, there’s no ingame canon text stating he is a cyborg.

Reymon Ebonarm is Reman: The thought that Ebonarm, a God of War is the same person as Reman, emperor of Cyrodiil. There’s several theories dedicated to this, with different variants on the specifics.

The Enantiomorph: Directly tied to the concept of mantling and the Fourth Walking Way. Put simply, there are three participants in this. Two combatants who are very much alike and trying to become the ‘Ruling King’ and an observer who determines who wins, this observer usually becomes maimed as a result of this. 

The Third Moon: Two different things, a metaphorical or literal secret moon important to the Khajiit that only appears when Masser and Secunda are aligned, preceding the birth of a Mane. The second option is the Necromancer’s Moon, the godly form of Mannimarco.

The Walkabout: A concept in Yokudan religion. The process of spirits surviving one Kalpa to the next, facilitated by Tall Papa

White-Gold Doomsday device: I remember reading this theory a few years back, unfortunately I cannot find the exact page for the life of me. The Tl;DR on this is the White-Gold Tower is a weapon of mass destruction, either literally or in metaphysical terms (being connected to Akatosh and it’s status as a Tower). The closest thing I can find to it is this thread which describes the motives of Umbra in the novels, and how it could potentially take over Tamriel using the White-Gold Tower http://www.gamesas.com/doomsday-scenario-t69430.html

Jiub was the Nerevarine: Self explanatory, headcanon that Jiub was the Nerevarine, similar to a headcanon on tumblr that stated Teldryn Sero was the Nerevarine

House Dwemer: Mentioned as a House within The War of the First Council (which is written by an Imperial for Western Scholars) and The Lost Prophecy (written by a Dunmer) This could be interpreted in a couple different ways. A) The first book was certainly written for western readers, while there is no evidence for this being the case for the latter, it can’t be ruled out. ‘House’ is used as a simplification B) The Dwemer were considered a house, but perhaps not in the way we would initially think (being on the Great House Council)  They were grouped into a singular entity, rather than distinct clans within a cultural group (either during the First Council or posthumously) 

When Dead Gods Dream: https://www.imperial-library.info/content/when-dead-gods-dream referencing this thread. Discusses the mechanisms of Dagoth Ur’s godhood, the thread explains it better than I can here, TL;DR Dagoth Ur is not alive, but he is within the realms of gods and therefor is able to ‘project’ himself onto Tamriel and the minds of his followers.

Khajiit ended the Metheric Era: Nothing found for this

Parabolic Kalpa: A parabola is a symmetrical U-shaped curve. This theory essentially tries to explain why Skyrim is so low magic, compared to it’s history or even ESO. The thought is that as time goes on, the world becomes less connected to Divinity. Towers are destroyed and the gods are gone, but eventually things will begin to kick off again, and there will be a rise in magic, technology and the connection to these beings. Essentially tries to explain why C0da and Loveletter from the 5th era are more high magic compared to the actual games. 

Sithis: Secret Lesson from Vivec: Connects the both Sithis with the 36 lessons by terminology (The Sharmat, false dreamer ect.) and proposes Vivec may have written the book

Bendu Olo: Colovian King, may have been related to Olaj Olo, nordic demigod of mead. Also used as a placeholder name for the player character in Oblivion and the name of the dev’s test character in Skyrim

Trinimac still lives: An ESO lorebook states the Ashpit, realm of Malacath, extends into Aetherius. Some orcs also believe Malacath is nothing more than a demon presenting himself as the remnants of Trinimac. A r/teslore theory states that Malacath wears two faces. While I assume this is the Iceberg author’s sole reference, I propose this could (should) refer to another theory. (Another theory is similar to this on teslore, proposed around the same time, but this one connects the dots)  https://boethiah.tumblr.com/post/621058598373588993/tsun-is-the-shield-brother-of-shor-and-trinimac 

The Aedra are Dead: Seemingly a common topic on teslore. A basic concept in tes, the Aedra gave most of their powers to Mundus to stabilize it.  Their bodies remain as planets, and they can only have limited interactions with Nirn. 

Divayth Fyr was the Hero of Battlespire: An old theory that looks at artifacts in Divayth Fyr’s possession and ties them back to the tes spinoff Battlespire. There are holes in this theory (Divayth Fyr was a seasoned mage at the time the hero was an apprentice)

Three Talin’s: The default name given to the Eternal Champion is Talin, a character creation scenario proposes that their father was also named Talin, and finally Uriel Septim VII’s general was named Talin Warhaft.

Pelagius I was killed by the Underking: The Arcturian Heresy states that the Underking appeared as an advisor to Pelagius I, who was assassinated by the Dark Brotherhood. This theory is a possibility considering the amminosity between Tiber Septim and both components of the Underking. 

Tsaesci Goa’uld: Goa’uld are a species from Stargate that are parasites towards humans. This theory proposes that the Tsaesci are similar, explaining the inconsistencies of their appearance within the lore.

Lunar currency: The thought that the Aedra and Daedra use mortal souls like currency

Historic Star Inconsistencies: Possibly referring to the variations of the number of days within the year in Arena, not sure about this one

Mnemoli/Star Orphans:Mnemoli is either a specific Magne-Ge (spirits that fled the creation of Mundus after Magnus), or a group of them that only appears during a Dragon Break (often nicknamed the ‘Blue Star’) MK states that they’re the writers and distributors of the physical Elder Scrolls (however this contradicts ingame books, so take it with a grain of salt). Star Orphans may or may not refer to Magne-Ge as a whole. Vehk’s book of hours state's them as a ‘group or tribe’ regardless, Mnemoli falls under this secondary classification (along with Merid-Nuda and Xero-Lyg, I have my own thoughts on this which would be better explained in another post) 

Bosmer Hircine worship: Seemingly referring to a thread on 4pleb, I will not be summarizing this theory here because I’m smart and not going onto 4pleb of all places. But from canon content, Bosmer do not worship Hircine, and consider him a force that goes against Y’ffre and wants to return everything to it’s original state of chaos before the earthbones (Y’ffre being among them) stabilized things 

Septimus Signus Zero Sum: The theory that the aforementioned zero-summed at the end of Discerning the Transmundane in Skyrim. Essentially Septimus is in a fragile state, delving into the secrets of the universe and is being pushed by Hermaeus Mora, who may see him as a lab rat, into discovering things he isn’t meant to handle as a mortal, and consequently Zero-Sums. There’s holes in this, namely Zero-Summing supposedly removes all trace of existence. 

The Soft Doctrines of Magnus Invisible: A very obscure text by Douglas Goodall, discusses the binding of various gods

Abnegaurbic creed: An overly fancy word basically meaning religious beliefs, seen in Nu-Hattia Exerpt 

Dunmereth: A Nordic term for the area of Morrowind, during their occupation of it

Fifteen-and-One Golden Tones: A Dwemer term, possibly referring to the spheres of the Daedra, counting Sheo/Jyggalag as a singular entity. Also, the Dwemer swear by these 

Ideal Masters are God of Worms remnants: As Mannimarco is often said to be the first Lich, the existence of the ideal masters seems to contradict this (similar story with Azidal) this tries to rectify this by proposing that the Soul Carin is the Necromancer’s Moon, and the ideal masters are remnants of Mannimarco. This theory doesn’t hold up when examined, but is cool nonetheless. 

Sermon 37: Found in ESO, an extra sermon to the 36 lessons, ties in concepts present in c0da like amaranth. (interestingly on this list Sermon Zero is never mentioned, despite it being older and more interesting imo, but to discuss that would require lots of work)

Flying Whales: Mentioned in Aldudagga. A now extinct species. The bone bridge of Sovngarde could potentially be a reference to this.

Joy-Snow: It’s cocaine 

Mankar=Tharn: A theory that Mankar Cameron is Jagar Tharn, doesn’t hold much weight and relies mostly on the connection of Mehrunes Dagon

Sharmat: A term used to describe Dagoth Ur, an opposite to the Hortator, a force uniting people for evil. Implied to mean or be associated with ‘the False Dreamer’ a person whose view of the universe is similar to someone whose achieved CHIM, but sees themself as the center of it all, rather than a droplet in the ocean of the universe.

Pankratosword: A forbidden Yokudan sword technique that could ‘cut atoms’ similar to our modern day Nuclear Fission. A bit of etymology here, ‘Pankrato’ seems to refer to the word ‘Pankrator’ meaning all-powerful or almighty. 

Landfall: A concept from MK, a future event where Nirn is destroyed by the Numidium, and the people remaining relocate to the moons. 

Cylarne: The oldest ruin in the Shivering Isles, rumored to be the original capital. Home to the Cold Flame of Agnon

[hellpmeimobsessed]

Samrafi

(I’m putting Samrafi under a read more because she has done a LOT)

Name: Samrafi Race: Bosmer/Wood Elf Age: 180 Height: 5'6 Weight: 175 lbs Eyes: Red Hair: Black Companions/Allies/Friends: Cicero, Lucien LaChance, Erandur, Marcurio (Husband), Teldryn Sero,  Ralis Sedarys, Faendal, Ondolemar, Niruin, Talvas Fathryon, Neloth Telvanni, Captain Veleth, Ravyn Imyan, Revyn Sadri, Brand-Shei, Enthir, Nelacar, Ancarion, Garthar, Jenassa. Family: Marcurio (Husband), Sofie, Lucia (Adopted daughters), Dianah (Mother, Hero of Kvatch), Lucien LaChance (Alleged Uncle), Vicente Valtieri (Alleged Father). Guilds: The Dark Brotherhood, Theives Guild, Dawnguard. Worships: Sithis. Champion of: Sheogorath, Sanguine, Clavicus Vile, Hermaeus Mora (rejected), Boethiah, Meridia. Nicknames: Sam (only to her closest allies), Listener, Guild Mistress, Lass (Brynjolf only), Sister Elf (Faendal only), Boss (Teldryn Sero, Ralis Sedarys, Jenassa only), My love (Marcurio only), Mother, Matron of Mer (supposed). Primary Weapon(s): Bow and arrow, Ebony bow and Dwarven Arrows.

BACKSTORY/THE DARK BROTHERHOOD Samrafi is the daughter of the Hero of Kvatch and Lucien LaChance's former Silencer, Dianah. Neither have shared their last name in order to protect each other and any other relatives they had. Samrafi grew up with Dark Brotherhood teachings, and stayed faithful. She idolizes the Cheydinhal sanctuary members, and grew up hearing stories mostly of Lucien LaChance, Vicente Valtieri, Ocheeva and Teinaava, and was taught archery by her unnamed step-father. She is a very stubborn and edgy Mer, but should she take a liking to you, you will quickly find she is protective, caring, even a motherly type. She is a ruthless killer, when under contract, outside of that she cares very much for the people around her, and would do anything to protect them. She had planned to do everything alone, but after the events that unfolded during her time with the Dark Brotherhood, she brought Cicero and Lucien everywhere, and cherishes and even spoils Shadowmere. Since she grew up with older Brotherhood teachings, she knew the Five Tenets forwards and backwards, reciting them dramatically to Astrid before driving the Blade of Woe into her neck to 'silence her traitorous mouth'. She cares not for what Sithis does to her in the void, her fire fueled simply by the loss of her only family after her mother turned into Sheogorath. She spared Cicero for many reasons, the top among them being that Lucien was specifically telling her Sithis did not want Cicero dead, she had grown rather fond of the Keeper, and what Astrid had asked her to do was against the Tenets.

THE MIND OF MADNESS She had heard rumors of the Pelagius wing in Solitude during her brief time there, and decided to investigate. She was in shock as Sheogorath continued to recount the very stories her mother had recited to her; it was then she realized he used to be her mother. Saying nothing, with tears in her eyes by the end of the ordeal, she graciously accepted the Wabbajack and became champion of Sheogorath.

THE THIEVES GUILD She had hoped to find a new family with less murder involved in the Thieves Guild, and all was going well and smoothly, until yet another betrayal, this time by Mercer Frey, had occurred. She was eerily calm as the events unfolded, until she faced Mercer Frey, immediately disarming him and beating him to death with her bow. She had attempted to drown herself upon the collapse, only to be thwarted by Brynjolf dragging her out, completely oblivious to her suicide attempt, and she kept it that way until she became Guild Master.

FAILURES She considers her greatest failures, although few, to not being able to save Malborn during her mission to find more details about the Thalmor and the dragons, although saving Etienne Rarnis was a success, not acting on Astrid's obvious betrayal sooner, and not telling her mother, now Sheogorath, that she loved them and knew it was her.

DAWNGUARD She later joined the Dawnguard to kill vampires and keep her friends and family safe after she had to ride Shadowmere to the brink of any normal horses collapse when Faendal had contracted the first stage of vampirism during a random attack, but ended up helping Serana despite everything. Samrafi, however, left Serana and her mother, Valerica, in the Soul Cairn for two days among finding out they worshipped Molag Bal and had put Serana through such a ritual. After making peace with the fact that what was done was done, she returned and helped mother and daughter, discorporating the dragon Durnehviir in the process, and gaining the dragons respect, even helping him in his final and only wish to fly in the skies of Tamriel again, at first convincing herself it was only for the shout he could teach her, later on forgoing the notion and summoning him simply while travelling to give him freedom, even summoning him in Solstheim. She also aided Saint Jiub find his pages for his Opus, and informed Teldryn Sero what had happened to him after he mentioned the very question, bringing Jiubs Opus as proof. She didn't want to kill Arch-Curate Vyrthur, especially after learning he was betrayed by Auriel and allowed to turn into a vampire, but orders were orders, and he hadn't ceased his attempts to kill them, and so he fell to the ice sheet below after she landed the killing shout. They retrieved Auriels bow from Gelebor, who she frequently visits with books from her own library, and having hours-long talks with him about the history of Mer.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER After the events of the Thieves Guild, she went to the Bannered Mare in Whiterun, where she had first called home, to drink her sorrows away, only to be approached by a man named Sam Guivene, only to later find out at the end of the run aroud he had sent her on whilst intoxicated, that he was the Daedric Prince Sanguine, and had little time to reject Sanguines Rose once it was in her hands before she was sent back to Tamriel, Rose in hand, with Lucien snickering at her upon her return. She still hasn't convinced him she had no sexual affairs during her drunkness, especially not with the Daedric Prince, but Lucien continuously uses the Roses mere presence as his evidence.

MARRIED WITH KIDS She had no intent, nor did she think it was possible, for her to settle down and have a husband, or wife, or kids! But when she met Marcurio, she didn't know how to feel. She knew, obviously, how she felt about him, her mother had told her and described in detail what it felt like to be in love, but she didn't know how to say it, or even know if he felt the same. While on an adventure just roaming around the Pale with Cicero, they had stumbled upon a tent with an Amulet of Mara in it not too far from the Dawnstar sanctuary. She took it as a sign that her and Marcurio were meant for each other and wore the amulet around him to see if he'd take notice. When he did, she was ecstatic, and when they both confessed, they immediately headed to Riften to arrange their marriage. She had bought Proudspire Manor in Solitude not even a week before she got married to Marcurio, and they moved in immediately. Marcurio began running a store, selling whatever Samrafi found during her travels, and when she came home one day, she found Marcurio stressed and tense. When she finally found out what was wrong, being that Marcurio had wanted children, but he knew Samrafi's opinion on them, he hadn't wanted to ask, but it was eating him up inside. Samrafi admitted she hadn't even thought being married was an option for her, and they agreed to try for a child. Samrafi found out she was pregnant three weeks after her and Marcurio had begun trying, they were ecstatic, Marcurio had cried and thanked her for the opportunity to be a father what seemed like a million times. Samrafi was pregnant for three months until she had a miscarriage and found out if Samrafi tried for another child again, that even if she managed to carry a baby to full term, giving birth would most likely kill her, Dragonborn or not. That took a heavy toll on them both. The Dragonborn was nowehere to be found for another month before they started adventuring again, slowly coming back around to the happiness they felt when they were first married. While visiting Riften, Samrafi had visited the orphanage her assassin career began in, and was handed a pamphlet with details about adopting a child. She went back home to Marcurio, mentioning it, and he was more than happy about the idea, when Sofie had come running from the hallway, immediately latching onto Samrafi's leg and asking her if he was her new father. Marcurio realised she had already adopted Sofie from Windhelm, as they had run into the girl before when Samrafi had bought many of her flowers while there, and always bought her dinner and toys whenever they were in Windhelm. Marcurio was overjoyed and more than happy to accept her as his daughter. Not even two months later had Marcurio brought home Sofia, consulting Samrafi before going to adopt her and welcoming her to her new family. She even had a sister!

DRAGONBORN After a good while of being settled in, Samrafi was attacked by a group of Cultists who claimed she wasn't the true Dragonborn, that someone named Miraak was, and she immediately sailed off to Solstheim after informing her family that she was needed elsewhere. It was in the Retching Netch she had met Teldryn Sero, who she had hired to help guide her around Solstheim and teach her about the unique threats that Solstheim had to throw at her. Despite the Reaver Pirates, Ash Spawn and Netch, she hated Ash Hoppers the most. During her travels with Teldryn, she had met Neloth Telvanni, whom she had heard much about, and she had helped him with his tower, finding a steward and removing his former apprentice from the mortal plane. In turn, he had gone to Nchardak with her to find the Black Book of Hermaus Mora. She still helps him with finding heartstones to this day, and participated in a few experiments. She had even stopped a planned assassin of the Jarl, taking down a branch of the Morag Tong, the only competitors of The Dark Brotherhood, and members of House Hlaalu, winning over the Jarl's favor and earning a property in Solstheim, to which she offered to Teldryn Sero while she was gone, if he would lend his services to her when she returned.

UNEARTHED She had run the gauntlet of defeating Miraak and emerged victorious, and in her adventuring to find every location Solstheim had to offer, even climbing one of four of it's great mountains, she stumbled across Ralis Sedarys digging all on his own at Kolbjorn Barrow. She had offered and funded his expedition, informing him that she needed to return home, but if he needed any more assistance or more funding for the expedition, he should write her. On the docks of Solstheim, Captain Veleth, Councilor Morvayn and Teldryn Sero saw her off, however Teldryn Sero had declined to stay at Severin Manor, instead asking to accompany Samrafi to Skyrim, claiming he was bored of Solstheim. She agreed and brought him along with her, paying for his fair, obviously. She had made multiple trips back to Solstheim, opting to instead put Teldryn on babysitting duty while she brought Marcurio to Solstheim, to which Teldryn quickly shot the idea down, claiming he was no good with kids and would gladly return to Solstheim for the trip instead. After defeating the Dragon Priest Ahzidal, who was evidently found buried in Kolbjorn, something she found out far too late when Teldryn had stumbled upon the book titled 'The Descent of Ahzidal' while travelling to the barrow, they hastened their travel, knowing Ralis was well in over his head and fearing him dead, the adrenaline and fear of a repeat scenario with Cicero, fearing for worse results of not being there in time to save him, brought her to a sprint not even Teldryn could keep up with, she had actually cried out when Ralis was sent flying into the nearest wall as Ahzidal erupted into the chamber, and scrambled over to him once the Priest was defeated, she swore and made Teldryn swear not to tell a soul about what happened, knowing full well about not being in control of your actions when Brynjolf had been possessed to fight Karliah when facing Mercer Frey, and knew the regret Brynjolf still held, she offered to protect him so long as he travelled with her, to which he agreed. By the time their adventuring together was coming to a close, Samrafi offered either Honeyside in Riften or Severin Manor for Ralis to stay in, Ralis chose Severin Manor, and Samrafi saw him off to the docks and secretly payed for his fair and for Captain Gjalund to give him back his money plus the extra she gave him for Ralis when he got to shore. A week later she got a letter from Ralis thanking her for a new start and that he had received the money, and should she ever need his services again, he would be more than happy to oblige.

BLOOD ON THE ICE During the Butcher's reign of terror in Windhelm, Samrafi grew extremely frustrated with how many women had been slaughtered under her watch, and had even tried to protect his final victim, but she payed him back in kind by catching him and slicing his throat open, allowing him to die slowly and painfully, in as much fear as they did.

AVOIDANCES AND DISLIKES/IN THE END She doesn't care for being a vampire like her mother, nor does she wish to be stricken with Lycanthropy, she avoids the Companions due to both rumors of them being werewolves, and being too morally high for a Mer like her, and she has no wish to turn around now. She takes being Dragonborn with much pride, winning the Civil War for the Imperials with even more pride, but most of all she is proudest in managing to keep all of her family and friends safe, and will continue to do so, but pray for Sithis to have mercy on your soul should you find yourself on the other end of her bow.

[foreveranonymousfa]

100 OC asks thing! since im kinda lowkey obsessed with her, your morrowind oc! 3, 31, 46, 63, and 69 (nice).

No shame, I am 100% obsessed, and thank you greatly for allowing me to expand on her

3, What is their biggest motivator?: It’s lame-o, but her destiny as Nerevarine. As she begins to awaken it really drives her to do more for Vvardenfell and her people. She knows they need to be saved and The Tribunal had failed them. Through Hell and high water she did everything she could for Vvardenfell at her own expense, but as long as everyone was safe she was content.

31, Are they more messy or more organized?: 100% organized chaos. She knows where everything is, and it looks like a goddamn mess, yet somehow makes sense. It’s organized hyper specifically and strewn all over the place

46, Is there anyone they would trust with their lives?: She would only consider 3 people close enough to her to be truly trusted. Grand Spymaster Caius Cosades, her greatest friend Brara Morvayn, and Jiub. Brara was someone she could take solace in, and knew she needed company. Her husband killed and being pregnant with Lleril created a distraught Brara, and Riralyne was there for her. Absolute gal pals, would kill for each other. Jiub was a big influence on changing her life around and really helped her during the trip from Skyrim to Vvardenfell. Although she didn’t see him after the trip, she never forgot what their heartfelt conversations. Caius is just the fuckin man, love him so much lOl, Blades for life brother

63, Do they have an accent?: She sounds like your typical Skyrim Dunmer, so she’s out of place speaking in Vvardenfell, especially when using slang. As she spends more time on Vvardenfell her accent changes, but never truly loses her Skyrim roots. 

69 (nice) Is there anything that they find really gross?: CORPRUS CREATURES. She despises corprus creatures, their zombified bloated twisted bodies are insanely gross and frightening to her. She can’t help but feel bad, as they were once normal like her. She also greatly fears becoming like them…

[lexingt0n]

Said giant mecha was made in the image of said Mad God, Lorkan, and tried to use his still living heart to power it

The Tribunal of Morrowind used dwarven tools to safely sap power off of it, only to die because of infighting and the acts of Azura

Talos, the god of men, is actually 3 guys fused into one god, including said emperor who used the Nimundium, aka the giant robot

Because Nirn was made by Lorkan and the other gods, its unstable and needs the Earth Bones to keep it together. Talos is one of them and the elves want to delete him by stopping worship of him

Sithis is a real entity in the universe and is the one who made the two forces of reality

The gods each have physical planets as their realms and took those forms because they used their power to make reality

The Daedra have all their powers and each plane is infinite because of that. It only looks like a planet because thats the only way to rationalize it

The Redguard destroyed their home because duelists were so good at their job that they split atoms and left barren wastelands

The reason why Cyrodil is mostly temperate plains and forests is because Tiber Septum used both dragon shouts and the giant mecha to shape cyrodil from jungles to a more comfortable environment

Saint Alessia rose up against the elves of cyrodil with the help of her husband who had a man's face and a bulls body. Together they made minotaurs, who were eventually demonized and turned into savage monsters

The Kahjit aren't only lynx/ jaguar/ tiger people. They take different forms based on the phases of the moons

Its implied the Eye of Mundus is his actual eye and people rationalize it as a massive magic artifact

Vampires exist because Molag Bal raped a woman and turned her into one

Werewolves are made by Hircine, the daedric prince of the hunt to have followers and sporting targets

Cliff Racers were wiped out of Morrowind by Jiub, the dunmer we see at the start of Morrowind. His reward was to become a saint, but gets his soul trapped in the Soul Carim

Dunmer were orginally called the Chimer, meaning peole of the north. They left The Summerset Isles and moved to Morrowind. They eventually betrayed Azura by killing her chosen. She punished them by turning their golden skin grey and eyes red. Almalexia and Vivec of the Tribunal were able to prevent the change. That's why Vivec is half gold and half grey

CHIM is the process of understanding the nature of reality and seeing the universe from its side. The images of the tower, the letter I, and others helps you understand it

Vivec refuses to fight you because he also achieved CHIM and knows he's in a game and that you will save scum till you win even though it will doom your game

All most all of this lore is only in the in game books

What I love most about Skyrim (and TES in general) is how, once the surface is at all scratched, you’re confronted with the most buckwild lore in the history of ever. Like, Skyrim’s baseline experience is: you are a person born with the soul of a dragon, which means you can absorb their souls and speak their language. Fair enough! There are two moons! And vampires! Giants herd mammoths across the plains!

But then! Dig a little deeper, and it’s all “yeah, there are two moons, but they aren’t really moons, they’re the corpse of the god who tricked all the other gods into creating the world, and mortals just interpret them as moons”, and “an entire race created technology that runs on souls, and they accidentally erased themselves from existence while trying to become gods, well at least that’s our best guess” and “some dudes replaced their hearts with plants and you can pickpocket the plant-heart right out of their chest” and “here’s a weapon that sometimes turns your enemies into pastries”. 

What a game, you guys. 

[chameleonspell]

2,3,4,5!

2. what fics (that are currently updating) are your favorites in the fandom you’re in

“Currently updating” is the hard part here. So many here I could list that I can’t really call that any more!

I’m loving @tintael‘s Daedric Alphabet: from Ayem to Zyr, which is a charming and deceptively subtle little fic of connected scraps that you don’t always see quite what it’s up to… until it suddenly hits you right in the feels. Tintael’s Great Fic Opus is only available in Russian, so I cling to whatever I can get in English. (If they’re this good in their non-native language, I dread to think how good their first-language writing is!)

@tippetarius‘s The White Phial is a wonderful ride of snarky mages, academic angst and magical mishaps. Fantastic dialogue and consistently entertaining, an update is always a pure pleasure to read.

@sunderlorn has been writing beautiful, sharp, wistful, visceral prose poetry about Dunmer since he was in the cradle probably, and is, like… offensively good at it. Words are his life, and it shows - as does the encyclopaedic knowledge of history and cultural research that goes into his headcanons about Tamriel. You should just read everything on his AO3 (see you in… ten years?) just so you can appreciate the glory of his current work, which collides the protagonists of two earlier stories, gentle Ashlander ghost-herd Tammunei and prickly murderhobo Simra, into a drama-filled road-trip that no one’s gonna escape from unscathed.

3. name 3 underrated fic authors in your fandom

No idea if they’re on tumblr, but I read mercurybard’s Dak and Jiub fics years and years ago, and fell in love. They made me want to tell stories in Morrowind. But no one else but me seems to remember them!

A Scattering of Spoons by Alpherae is billed as a writing exercise: 100x100-word glimpses from three lives, three women trapped in the Shivering Isles. It’s amazing. A huge emotional punch, expertly crafted out of dozens of shimmering, glinting fragments.

@emblazonet writes everything from gritty Vivec murder mystery smut to poignant family dramas playing out on desolate beaches. And it’s all so good! More people should read them!

4. what’s a fic that changed the way you write?

Agh. I don’t know? I remember reading @sunderlorn’s Ghostline and just being so amazed by the quality, the level of literary seriousness that was so clearly being given to this fic, as a work of art. I can’t claim the quality rubbed off on me, but it definitely inspired me to make a real effort in my writing, to make it as good as I could get it, at the time. To not be afraid of trying to do that.

Another one that comes to mine is the (tragically not currently online!!!) A Life of Strife and Struggle by alexgaretti, an absolute genius of a writer, please read everything else they have on AO3. Their glorious epic of the rise and fall (and rise and fall and rise and…) of the Ayleid King Laloriaran Dynar showed me not only that you absolutely can marry hilarious with heartcrushing and get away with it, but also that it’s fine to have horrible upcoming events be really obvious. You can lean in to a tragic structure, and rather than spoil the plot, the sense of obvious-to-everyone-but-the-protagonist impending doom can actually really work! (*goes back and adds even more foreboding metaphors to romantic scenes*)

5. what’s a fic that changed the way you see a certain character?

TES isn’t great for characters a lot of the time, so often, the most compelling characters are the OCs. Still, I’m a great fan of taking minor characters and giving them life, backstories, relationships. So I enjoyed this little fic about how Sugar-Lips Habasi and New-Shoes Bragor might have met, as background to the ingame Morrowind quest. Minor characters deserve love too!

[forged-through-trials]

Before we left Cheydinhal, I decided to invest in some training here. Back when we first arrived, and I delivered a package for Ohtesse, she mentioned her work as a trainer of Restoration. My skills at magic are considerably lacking, but if I can mend wounds a little better, well that would be just splendid. Especially considering how often I get injured. Straightening my snout and realigning bones with magic is a heck of a lot more convenient than cracking them back into place the hard way. So I dumped the cash on a few lessons. Ohtese: “Looking to learn more about our lord, Arkay, my child?” Trials: “Actually I’m looking to learn how to avoid meeting him for a little while longer.” Ohtesse: “Aha. So you seek training in Restoration? Well, tell me what you know about the art already?” Trials: “Well, I know that if people poke me with sword enough I’ll stop moving, and would like to increase the threshold of what ‘enough’ is.” Ohtesse: “That... sure is a motivation.”

As promised, I returned the Divine Shield of Lightning. I had little use for it, and it fetched a tidy sum that made up for all of the cash I blew on Restoration training. With that jangling in my pockets, we were ready to hit the shops one last time before we headed out.

I picked up some new threads. Whatcha think? I think as far as street clothes go, they look pretty nice, if a little wrinkly. I suppose it looks better than my old street clothes, and I’ll probably hang on and wear it for a bit until I decide I might want something better. I also picked up that backpack, and unloaded all of the loot from that dungeon dive. So we’re rolling a little lighter and a little richer, now. That business concluded, and further business on hold, we departed from Cheydinhal, heading back West.

There were a few scrapes and adventures along the way, but the important part came up when Ruin and I arrived in Weye. There, we hooked up with Elahai and Thalonias. The two looked like they were in high spirits, both of course, happy to be reunited, and offered me their gratitude. Elahai offered his thanks in the form of... a “Filed Shinbone.” Trials: Confused. “...why... thank... you?” Elahai: “It’s enchanted.” Trials: I arched my brows at him. “...you couldn’t enchant a key, or a piece of paper, or something?” Elahai: “When locked up in a cage by goblins, you work with what you have. It was either a shin bone or an enchanted pile of rat-droppings.” Trials: “...ya know what? I’ve handled enough poop in my life, so you made the right call!” Thalonias gratitude was expressed through a valuable necklace that buffed my Luck. Though, I’m already pretty lucky as is, given what I’ve managed to survive so far. Maybe not the most useful item, but valuable, and it’s the thought that counts, right? After that, Thalonias talked to me about setting up shop here in Weye, and going into business together. Never really thought about starting a business before, but Thalonias was ever-convincing. Thalonias: “I’d like you to go around to the various merchants of Cyrodiil, and see if you can cut a deal to have them send items for me to sell.” Trials: “Okay, what’s in it for me?” Thalonias: “You get to spend your own money helping me get my shop off of the ground!” Trials: “...this doesn’t sound very enticing so far.” Thalonias: “Well, when I get my shop running, I can gladly pay you back... with discounts and store credit!” Trials: “Store credit?? ...you’ve got beer and gum, right?” Thalonias: “I can have beer and gum, if you want!” Trials: “...cool! I’m in!”

After that, it was a hop, skip, and a jump away to Skingrad, where I finally picked up that weak “Elixir of Exploration” from Sinderion. Old guy was actually kind of concerned about me, asking where I’d been. This Elixir had been finished for a few weeks now and it was just gathering dust without me coming to pick it up. Sinderion: “Where’ve you been?” Trials: “Just... busy, ya know?” Sinderion: “Oh? Have you been looking for more Nirnroot?” Trials: Sardonic. “...sure, guy. I’ve been turning the province upside down looking for them.” Sinderion: “Well, don’t be a stranger. I don’t get out much... and I just appreciate your company. Most people just laugh at my life’s work, but you were the first one to take it seriously.” Trials: “...” I frowned, touching a hand to my cheek. “Wow... I-I didn’t know that. I mean, Falanu said everyone hates you, but she’s weird and creepy so I didn’t take her seriously.” Sinderion: “Why do you think I live in a literal basement? “It would mean so much to me if I could perfect the formula for the Elixir of Exploration. It would make all my work with Nirnroot worthwhile, and I’ll no longer be the laughing stock of the TES fandom the Alchemy Symposium.” Trials: “...Jeez. Well, you sure know how to make a gal feel appreciated. Look, buddy, all I can say is; I’ll continue to look for Nirnroot, but no promises.” Sinderion: “Good to hear. I’ll need twenty samples for the next magnitude of the elixir, so get out there and go searching!” Ruin and I then picked up a package to deliver to Anvil, before continuing on our way down the road.

It was while on the road, that we noticed the crossroads between Skingrad, Anvil, and Kvatch, and I realized I’d not been to Kvatch at all. So I convinced Ruin that we should take a detour and go visit the place. Ah, Kvatch, the City of the Wolf. From her cobblestone streets, to the soaring spires of the Chapel of Akatosh, to her friendly people. The place was a sight to behold. And look, I got to meet a local hero from back in Morrowind. Saint Jiub, the man who single-handedly drove the Cliffracers from Vvardenfel. A hero, a living legend, and I got to meet him and shake his hand! I whiled away hours admiring the city and hearing Saint Jiub’s stories, and when it got dark, Ruin and I retired to Kvatch’s Fighter’s guild, memories of the grand and beautiful city lulling me to sleep. Surely Kvatch is the jewel of Cyrodiil, and nothing bad will ever happen to it again. No sir, the Cameron Usurper may have sacked this town in the early Third Era, but now that she’s back on her feet she’ll continue to be a beautiful tourist destination for Eras to come.

We saw a certain Khajiit once we’d hit the road again, but he didn’t have time to speak to us, instead just rushing by, back up the road toward Skingrad. [ M’aiq Count: 5 ]

Then as it drew close to noon, we stopped at the Brina Cross Inn, popping in to check on Christophe Marane. Even though it had been a while, he still remembered my part in clearing up that mess with that Rogue Mage that was killing his business. It was while we chatted up that he mentioned his side gig as a trainer in Blunt. Well, I mainly use swords and bows, but knowing how to bonk someone with a mace and send them to Feisty Jail might also be a useful skill. Christophe: “Okay, what do you already know about using Axes, Maces, and Hammers?” Trials: “...well, I know axes aren’t supposed to be blunt. If you’re using a blunt axe, you need to take that thing into the shop and get it sharpened, ASAP.” Christophe: “No, see, the action of using an axe is more akin to using a mace or a hammer than a sword, so the principles of fighting with one fall under the school of ‘blunt’.” Trials: “I’m pretty sure your goal with both an axe and a sword is to cut the other guy with ‘em.” Christophe: “And that is why you’re a novice at using Blunt Weapons. You don’t know the first thing about them.” Trials: “...I think you’re just makin’ this stuff up.” Christophe: “Look, do you wanna bonk good or not?” Trials: “...you’re just lucky that I really need to turn my pipe-cleaner arms into sick-pythons.” Christophe: “Tell me about it. Do you even lift, bruh?” After hours of training, we were finished, I was a little better at lifting axes, maces, and hammers, and ready to continue on to Anvil.

[cursedmenagerie]

@chasiingrain​ asked: Tell me some interesting facts about Ralyanis that people might not think to ask! Her favorite fruit, a scent she's partial to, her least favorite animal - any facts you want to share! 

　　　I’ll start with the ones you suggested and see if I can add anything extra! I am not a woman with a green thumb so I had to look up what kinds of fruit grow well in cold climates/during winter, since Raly’s home is on a mountain that probably gets snow most of the year. Some of them that I can see her community growing are pears, apricots, cherries, & honeycrisp apples. Pears are the more likely to have consistent harvest but Raly would definitely have a soft spot for apricots~ Right now Ralyanis’ favorite scent is just, every single wildflower that she’s never seen before. Lavender and Dragon’s Tongue are particularly appealing to her. 

　　　Her least favorite animal is interesting, because my initial thought is “oh that has to be Chaurus, she hates those and hates having to fight them” and it’s true. But most of that hatred is kind of... It’s there only because Chaurus tend to live around the Falmer, her mutated brethren. And she doesn’t like being reminded of their horrible fate. But there is one species she absolutely despises, Frosbite spiders. They are gross, and inordinately large, and if she ever touches a giant spiderweb one more time she will pull a St. Jiub and go on a crusade to eradicate every last one of those spiders!

　　　And let’s see, what else can I prattle on about Raly? Aside from Ja’irzu, Ralyanis is actually one of the only TES ocs I have whose backstory, motivations, and personality hasn’t really changed from the first draft. She really enjoys listening to bards sing. Most of her people’s oral history (at least at the temple, I wouldn’t say for all of Snow Elven culture) is played straight and serious. For good reason! A lot of oral storytelling at the Temple of Syrabane is given as a lesson, a cautionary reminder of what their ancestors did that drove them into exile. So the lyricism and pride and humor found in a lot Skyrim’s music is a breath of fresh air for her. It allowed her to realize that not all stories need to make you feel ashamed or depressed by the end of them.

　　　Also, despite the loaded history behind the site, Ralyanis actually kind of, maybe sort of wouldn’t mind visiting the ruins of Saarthal. To pay respects to the lives lost because of her ancestors’ folly.

[ansu-gurleht]

alright alright, my meds have kicked in and im out of the weird muck i was in this morning. let’s talk restoration.

restoration’s a bit of a strange subject in magic, actually! a lot of mages don’t even consider it a “proper” school of magic, and a lot of folks who normally abhor magic will take to it happily. it’s probably the most practical school for the majority of people - everyone gets hurt, gets sick, etc. 

now we all know that magic comes from magnus, and the magna-ge. but magic is also what constitutes life itself, and even existence itself. i’ve got a theory about this that i’ll probably talk about later.

so we might could theorize that restoration is the act of using magic to restore the inner life-magic of people. i think that’s not very far off! but first we’ve got to consider a few other things, i think - namely, the influence of the divines on restoration magic, and how interconnected the schools of magic are in and of themselves.

so when we’re talking about magic and the divines, we have to mention julianos, of course. but his name isn’t often invoked by healers. he’s more of the patron of very arcane and esoteric forms of magic. what we usually hear connected to restoration are mara, dibella, and stendarr. why not arkay, you might ask? well, he’s about life and death, sure, but he’s more about dying and rebirth than life itself.

okay, so mara is the goddess of love and life. to mara, they’re one in the same, really. to live is to love, and vice-versa. so we can expect her to have something to do with healing magic, right? something, maybe, but she’s more focused really on the “love” part, marriages and whatnot. dibella has some features of healing in her worship, but really, she’s all about beauty and sex and stuff. 

stendarr, though? that’s where it gets interesting. stendarr’s all about mercy, charity, and justice. we see all of this with the vigil of stendarr in skyrim, who, guess what? are all about healing. they also fight the undead, using restoration magic.

BUT.... i’ll be frank. i don’t think any one particular divine is the source of restoration magic. you can be healed, your diseases cured, etc, at any altar of the divines. i think the divines’ connection to restoration is through the faith of their practitioners.

but before i continue that thought, let’s examine where the classification of restoration magic comes from. we’ve seen schools of magic get shuffled around a lot over the course of the past several hundred years. we’ve even lost a couple entirely by the events of skyrim, thaumaturgy and mysticism.

the thing about this concept of schools is.....it’s not really an intrinsic property of its spells. it’s a grouping that’s useful for those who study, practice, and regulate the use of magic. there’s a lot of spells that it’s really hard to say why it shouldn’t be in another school, or at least shared between a couple.

why was telekinesis a mysticism spell? wouldn’t alteration be enough to just....move something? how was sleep, a spell that was originally alteration, become destruction? couldn’t it be illusion, by making the target’s mind fall asleep? how exactly do you tell whether fortify or resist spells should be alteration or restoration? does it matter?

my point is, these classifications are ultimately arbitrary. all these effects are ultimately derived from magic that doesn’t care about what school it’s in. and we know that restoration is a relative newcomer as a form of magic, only appearing sometime in the first era.

i think restoration is a derivative of mysticism, alteration, illusion, and alessian faith. let’s break that down:

mysticism is a rather ... strange school. it’s said to be a way to alter magical forces and reality itself, through meditating on “conundrums and paradoxes.” that’s something that might be fun to a psijic or something, who are credited with inventing the school, but it’s rather tedious to most folks, probably even to most other spellcasters. if only there was another way to channel that sort of power....we’ll get to that momentarily.

alteration, is, rather simply, using magic to change the world around you, but within the confines of normal reality. you can make something heavier or lighter, make something shine with an inner fire, open and lock doors, block attacks, walk on water ... it’s just a way of using magic to manipulate your surroundings. it doesn’t necessarily change how reality works, like mysticism does.

illusion affects the mind, and how it perceives reality. it changes reality on the most local level: within ones own perception of it. it can be used, notably, to calm targets.

finally, alessian faith. remember how i said restoration only really came to be sometimes in the first era? then, you might ask, how could the gods have anything to do with it, if they’ve been around long before the alessian empire?

let’s put it all together. restoration is the art of closing wounds, fixing bones, curing disease (alteration: change the world around you), soothing pain (illusion: change the target’s perception), and actually transferring energy from magic to actual life force (mysticism: alter magical forces themselves) using faith in the divines (as opposed to studying paradoxes in the original psijic way) to channel that power.

okay, so that’s my definition of restoration magic. but uh, it’s actually NOT what i was after when i went about researching it, lol. what i really wanted to think about was what i thought the extent of healing magic was. by that i mean ... does healing leave scars? if so, is it simply a quickening of natural healing? does it literally close wounds and fuse bones as if the injury never happened? 

i think it’s honestly both. it’s the difference between regeneration and healing. regeneration is the quickening of natural healing (say, a healing over time spell), whereas healing is direct and instantaneous healing of injuries. regeneration may leave scars, but those scars may fade quicker, as well. healing is much less likely to leave scars.

my reasoning for this is that we know healing magic is rather common in tamriel, and yet we still see a lot of scars, as well. jiub, for instance, but perhaps even more significantly, emperor reman iii, whose eye was injured and permanently blinded by a former lover. and he had the best healers in the empire to attend to him, almost immediately. it seems to depend on the severity of the injury. it also makes me assume that severe injuries such as severed limbs may be beyond the scope of restoration. 

but! what do i know. there may be in-canon instances of such healing that i’m simply not aware of or not remembering. let me know if you have an example!