#skyrim's still a meme right

[ladyoriza]

I hear Kendrick Lamar murdered Drake with his voice.........shouted him apart.....

[enden-k]

I saw you mention Skyrim the other day in a post of yours and was curious about whether you had any in-universe OCs, AUs or anything like that for the Elder Scrolls universe, and if you'd be willing to share!

Sorry if this is weird or out of pocket or anything like that (or if the mention of skyrim was a goof of some kind that i missed) but it's been a special interest of mine for quite some time and it's neat to see folks in the same fandom circles that I am mention it outside of a meme context

ok ok im gonna ramble HAHAHA

when i played skyrim for first time it was years ago on ps3, just classic oldrim. when i got my pc years later i started w skyrim again and started modding and ughhhhh, basically turned my dragonborn into a really cool, pretty vampire w a bunch of customized followers and we just roamed the lands, doing quests and adventures and it was honestly sm fun!!!! i even started drawing abt them, i was just super immersed and it was a nice thing to focus on in that time. unfortunately smth broke my game iirc and in the end i had no choice but to delete everything and start again but i didnt get him right again and then just gave up. since i built a new pc that handles much much more now, i started ultramodding (again), trying to get him back akjscbkj

from all kinds of games i tried so far, skyrim is just still the perfect game in my eyes tbh. it was incredibly fun playing both vanilla and modding it later; it just gave me the chance to customize a game i greatly enjoy even more to my tastes (not to mention that despite its age, w all the hard work of the community it still can compete w modern games w all the graphic improving mods out etc)

yeah anw, i had a whole squad around my dragonborn, camping out in the night, watching stars, riding through the lands, doing quests together, had them all assigned roles, doodled abt them.....................im trying to get it all how it was but aughh

[wetcatspellcaster]

Same BG3-> dragon age anon: you said you liked to talk about it last time so please give me your full opinion if you are passionate🫶🏽 many thanks

hello anon!

this is a very open-ended, and dangerous question! to be honest, there is a lot to dismantle and unpick about Dragon Age until there's nothing left to enjoy (I actually love critiquing it though, jokes on them I love to be a hater). But! If I'm focusing on the positives!

What Dragon Age is to me, is 'what I wanted skyrim to be when I played it'. This is no shade on Skyrim, it's just that that was the first fantasy rpg I ever tried, and I'm just not a sandbox girlie. I got increasingly frustrated with Skyrim, claiming I wanted to feel like I'd impacted the world and that my decisions had consequences. What I wanted, in hindsight, was D&D, but my friend turned to me and said 'have you played dragon age?' and thus a mental illness was born.

I honestly think BG3 knowingly borrowed many of the things Dragon Age is still loved by its fandom for. I also think it did a lot of them better, simply through the grace of being 10 years newer than Inquisition (and not being owned by EA!) But for me, the split between 'adventuring' and 'home space cutscenes', the focus on companion quests, relationships based in approval, and romances are all things that are done in a clear understanding of what made Dragon Age so popular. BG3's endings for each companion are more starkly contrasted and nuanced, but I liked playing Dragon Age and seeing my games altered depending on my choices. Again, here I'm not saying Dragon Age is perfect! I think the BG3 romances are more solid across the board compared to Dragon Age, and the only game that I think has a comparative '100% hot' rate is Dragon Age Origins. But the reason there's such a huge crossover in the fan bases is bc Dragon Age did a lot of it first! Bioware as a developer is heralded in academic video game criticism for being one of the first studios to encourage parasocial relationships with its fictional characters, and to use affective relationships with these figures as a way of deepening your immersion and the perceived 'realism' of a videogame world.

My other favourite thing about Dragon Age is it's buckwild wizard politics! Mages (in the first three games) are placed in 'circles', which are essentially magic school prisons bc mages are too dangerous to be out in society. The tensions surrounding 'mage rights' are the subject to many memes in the fandom, but I think it's genuinely one of the most interesting parts of the world that runs through all 3 games. The concept of the Circles really appeals to the part of me that occasionally falls prey to Dark Academia (and one of my fave authors NK Jemisin agrees with me, she used them as one of her inspirations for her award winning series The Broken Earth!)

I think the reason I write fanfic primarily for videogames is because the nature of gaming code and the way videogames work as texts means there is always gaps left by the slightly utilitarian approach to storytelling (dialogue options you wish you could change, choices you wish you could make, parts of the world you wish you could explore more directly). My first fic ever (!) was a Dragon Age fic about the Rite of Tranquility, an aspect of the world that is often quite plot relevant but then never really dug into bc of who the protagonists of each game are, where mages are cut off from the dream realm that gives them their magic forcibly, like a cauterised wound. I really loved this element of the story as a fantasy device, and I daydreamed about how that experience would impact an individual... 3 years later, covid hit, and a fic was born!

so yeah! I just think dragon age is neat! and in typical-me fashion, I like the way its wizards work :)

[jasper-pagan-witch]

No One Asked For It But I'm Doing It Anyway: A Pop Culture Magic/Paganism Server By Jasper

That's right folks, I bit the bullet and decided to design my own pop culture magic and paganism server from the ground up. It's still in the building phase, but I figured I'd let y'all know now that it's coming.

Features include:

PluralKit for systems!

A very lowkey approach and pretty subtle detailing, for the most part, to make it closet-mage/pagan-friendly!

Open to minors! Just don't tell us your age - in fact, maintain as much privacy as possible, regardless of your age! All we really wanna know is what to call you! Make up a new name! Try out pronouns!

A deeply unhinged server owner (me!) and a pretty good mod and admin team!

Skyrim memes as one of the first things you see in the server!

Forum channels because I can't be arsed to make new channels for every piece of media in existence!

My weird friends - who can be your weird friends too!

A verification system that forces you to look the Skyrim memes in the eye!

Please send me an ask or a DM for the invite link, as Discord has now locked invite links to last 30 days or less.

And, uh...needless to say, Harry Potter folks, this ain't the place for you. We love our trans friends, Jewish friends, friends of color, and autistic friends a lot more than your "nostalgia" and JK Rowling's entire list of being terrible. Yes, this includes the blood libel game.

[skyrim-forever]

I'd love to know 'Which canon character does your OC respect a lot?' for Theodora and Phy from the OC ask meme :)

Hello thank you so much for the ask! Sorry it took a moment to get to get to it :)

Theodora: Theodora respects Legate Rikke a lot. They get off on the wrong foot when Theo first joins the legion, as she's made an agreement with General Tullius and it not in "it" for the right reasons. Rikke having served in the Legion her whole life takes issue with this. There are several arguments with the General about this, with Rikke not wanting to train a soldier who so clearly doesn't care for the Empire. To which Tullius offers some context about why she could be against the Empire, particularly the national support of the East Empire Company. As well as why he isn't surprised she would be (he actually encountered her father a few times and knows things about him Theo never knew). This helps Rikke understand but she is still a bit of a hard ass on Theo. Hearing her talk about defending her home and what Skyrim means to her helps Theo understand her better, being able to seperate her own thought son the Empire and view it through another's eyes. Which has her respecting her a lot. After the Civil War has ended, Theo turns down the rank of Legate because she doesn't think she deserves to be the same rank as Rikke; as she has put much more effort and dedication. And that the Legion should be lucky to have someone like her.

Phy: Phy has a great respect for Aela. Neither Theo nor Phy do the Companion's questline but I have it that it's handled by Aela, Vilkas, and Farkas sort of "in-house". They meet while both out hunting after Phy takes on the role of Guildmaster. They end up having a sort of relationship with each other after Skjor dies and Aela copes by hunting alone more. Both women enjoy how the other is very comfortable in nature, hunting, drinking mead. Aela's life is something Phy often wonders if she'd like and she considering becoming a companion but rejects the offer to join when she learns that to be in the inner circle you need the Beast Blood. Though not the best at following the Green Pact, she eats plants when outside of Valenwood/family not with her, Phy takes the ban on changing forms very seriously. Though she tells Aela she doesn't care if she's a werewolf; her prerogative. But things aren't the same after. Aela doesn't really understand the Green Pact and kind of starting think they may just be too different. She's very Nord and starts thinking she wants someone more like her. They end up in an on again off again thing until Phy leaves for Valenwood because her father is dying and she's gone for about 2 years. They don't see each other for years later and by this point Aela's moved on with a Nord woman who's joined the Companions. Sorry for the sad Yuri :( Phy does find a good woman eventually :)

[turbo-toast]

Isran for the character meme.

Ough, Isran is a tough one.

First impression

He's tough, and he *really* hates vampires. Kind of understandable though, given how most vampires in Skyrim are.

Impression now

...he hates vampires a bit *too* much. As soon as someone stops seeing their opponents as people, something's wrong, and Isran is *well* past that point. It *is* understandable, given that his family was murdered by them, and he does stop calling Serana "that thing" by the end of the Dawnguard questline - even empathizes with her, which I guess is already a huge development for him.

It's a good thing that he knows so many capable people who, when called upon to defeat Harkon, stepped up - but it's telling how *all* of them have a history with him that involves him leaving them behind or using them for their skills and then leaving them to their devices.

Maybe the Dawnguard, in time, will form him into a man less driven by hate and more by a desire to protect people, and seeing people as comrades and friends instead of tools. But as he is... He's a hateful man. For a good reason, but still.

Favorite moment

When he thanks Serana and asks her feelings after the defeat of Harkon. That's a ton of character growth right there. To him, she's an irredeemable monster - but he still went out of his way to express his gratitude.

Favorite relationship

I don't necessarily read anything romantic into it, but his relationship to Sorine Jurard is interesting. She sees through him thoroughly. Maybe that's because she was burned by him before, but now it seems like she keeps him in check.

Idea for a story

I wonder what'd happen if someone he loved was turned into a vampire. Would he think it's cruel? Would he stop thinking of them as a person? Would he kill them out of a sense of mercy?

Unpopular opinion

I don't know if I have one, I haven't seen many opinions of him period.

Favorite headcanon

There must be something he does for fun that isn't killing vampires and Daedra worshippers. I bet it's something uncharacteristically cute.

[paranormal-potatoes]

14, 22, 56 for Jeven!

[ask meme]

Jeven my beloved who went from being a super serious and somber character to goofy and still a lil sad. also went from being a full nord, to nord/altmer, and finally to nord/dunmer. wait do i even have a screenshot of her most recent incarnation??? hang on FUCK i dont :( i don't want to boot up the game, my mods are all fucky right now

14. How do they put out a candle?

well originally i was going to say she used to just blow them out like normal but after the whole Dragonborn Reveal, she'll just put them out with her hand. BUT frankly, she'd use her hand regardless. anyways i think dragonborn's should be immune to fire.

22. What simple activity that most people do / can do scares your character?

oh man. hmm. Jeven kind of just throws herself into everything (hence why she now has 8 adopted kids....) maybe too serious but being alone? when her brother joined the Imperial Army, she followed because she didn't know how to be without him, he basically raised her for the first 11 years of her life (until she accidentally ended up in the Shivering Isles and Hero of Kvatch!Sheogorath was like "oh you have main character energy. well. how about I give you a headstart >:)")

oh, maybe horseriding? (gives me a reason to never use horses in game lol)

56. If they’re scared, who do they want comfort from? Does this answer change depending on the type of fear?

when she was a kid, she went to her brother, Koz 100% of the time. then after she deserted the Army, it was Sheogorath and Martin (have I actually played oblivion? no. is that gonna stop me from having headcanons about it? NO) and then eventually Lydia :) my wife :)

fun fact. first time I played Skyrim, I was playing my sister's copy and her disc had that glitch that made it so you couldn't marry Lydia. I was devastated and when I got my own copy, I think I almost immediately checked to see if I could marry Lydia and then I just picked a shitton of wildflowers on the way to Riften for her :)

[littledragondork]

TES Cat AU: Skyrim Thieves Guild

My self indulgent TES Cat art is done, at least my favorite Skyrim Thieves guild NPCs are, Probably gonna’ post the Companions next because I was drawing the Skyrim Dark Brotherhood and for the life of me I couldn’t get Cicero to look right lol, but I’ll take suggestions :3c

(I’m so down with doing the rest of the Skyrim Thieves Guild eventually)

Anyway, my art for Skyrim Cat AU Brynjolf, Karliah and Mercer Frey under the cut, with some design notes :3

I wanted Bryn to be an orange cat, not only because I like orange cats and their low intelligence but because it just made sense. I also wanted him to be one of those massive fluffy cats, the ones that weight like 20lbs/9kg and have more fur than they know what to do with, he’d be 99% fur, go to pet him and your hand is just swallowed by the fur. I made him a mackerel tabby cuz’ I like mackerel tabbies and because they are just super common cat patterns. For a long time I wanted to give Brynjolf Sectoral Heterochromia, which is basically when one eye is 80% one color and has a little dot of another, in this case I wanted brown, but I couldn’t really get it to look right so I ultimately scrapped it.

He also has a docked tail because I liked the idea of all the known Nightingales having something fucked up with their tails.

I also did a little sketch with the thieves guild armor, I think it’ll fit like a harness with a few little pockets and bags. I imagine they’d all have dexterous enough paws where they can make stuff like furniture, buildings, tools, weapons, armor, cook food etc, makes everything a lot easier to me

I imagine all the Nords I’ll draw have ear tufts, extra fluffy paws and long fluffy fur coats, they’d probably slide on ice a lot lol, Think Maine coons, Norwegian forest cats, Siberians. I referenced Maine coons, Lynx and bobcats the most with Bryn here, but he is just a domestic cat.

So, for Karliah (same with all elves tbh) I wanted big ol’ ears, I feel like I could have made them bigger but I decided against it because I didn’t want them to be in the way too much (might change that later though). She is also mostly back cat because I felt it was simple and cute (I have a black kitty and I love her). It’s also not shown here much but she’d have pretty short fur, and a thin and small build, think 10lbs/4.5kg.

Karliah’s tail is shortened and broken (a painless break, the kind that happened as a baby) as to go with ‘all Nightingales have fucked up tails’ deal.

did a more meme-y sketch in this one, I was in a goofy mood and thought it funny how quick both Brynjolf and the Last Dragonborn were to just accept selling their souls.

I imagine all Dunmer would have black or dark grey base coats and those that are tabbies to have them be lighter than the base, so for example a black cat with white stipes or grey with red stripes. They, and all elves will be mostly based on the Oriental Long/short hair cats because of their big ol’ ears and narrow faces but I’ll take creative liberties of course.

Last in this batch is Mercer Frey, I redesigned him at least 8 times, first he was solid grey+ Tuxedo pattern, then he was a dilute grey tabby, then a spotted tabby before I settled on a colorpoint because he was said to be “high born” and coming from a wealthy family, and I was like “hey, colorpoints are fancy cat coats and I can see a rich and powerful family wanting to breed that into their line” and thus Colorpoint Mercer was decided on. I knew 100% I wanted him to be grey because of the whole “grey fox” fan thing he has going on in the game

Seems like every time I would get near him in my playthough, any playthough of Skyrim actually, he’d look at me like I just spat in his drink so I tried to capture that here. Also the Knife cat meme because I thought it fit him.

he doesn’t have a tail because he doesn’t deserve one it’s with the ‘all Nightingales have fucked up tails’ bit.

I also wanted to share my ideas for weapons (still no clue how to do bows) but swords, great swords and daggers, would be little gauntlets made of the specific type of metal that go on the paws, and they would range in size and weight depending on the weapon its based on, so great swords would be huge metal claws while daggers would just be apart of a little leather glove that wraps around the paws. Lots of good ideas cooking up in my Autistic little mind lmao /pos.

I imagine all Bretons will just look like the average street cat, standard issue cats if you will, the common domestic short/long hair, probably have the most diversity in fur patterns and the like.

So that’s what I was able to get done in about about a few hours (with frequent breaks and work in between) A lot of the time was looking at both official art, fanart and the in-game models to get a good sense on the personality (both fandom and canon) and seeing what I can convert more easily to a non-humanoid design, a lot of shape language practice because I like shapes :3

I have a Solid design down for Ulfric but I wanted to do batches with like characters, so all Thieves guild girlies with each other and so all Civil War Girlies with each other, some might be drawn in pairs as well, like Hadvar + Ralof or Vilkas + Farkas.

[gilgamish]

The Double-Speak OC Tag Meme

Tagged by @paraparadigm and @dirty-bosmer ! Now, I’m tagging @kookaburra1701 for the meme ehehe The game that opens up a lot of discussion about POV, intention, and character, and I had to think pretty deeply about my answers here. A fantastic exercise :>

What do they say they want? (i.e., what are the desires they put out into the world and have no trouble admitting)

What do they think they want? (i.e., what are the desires they keep hidden and only admit to their closest loved ones)

What do they actually want? (i.e., what is something they subconsciously need, but either do not realize or cannot admit)

I really enjoyed how these questions made me reconsider interiority in Tides. I’m going to try being abstract about the characters (Felix & Kaidan) here, but I might slip up. We’ll see! (Warning, kind of long lol)

( Felix )

1). There’s a very fine difference between wants versus needs. Felix will easily admit he needs something, but I think getting an answer about wants out of Felix is... tough, not because he’s prone to lying about that too. He simply doesn’t have an answer. When Kaidan asks him straight to his face ‘is this what you want’ in Chapter 3, the question pulls him off his guard because it’s never been about what Felix wants. It’s a matter of how he was raised, socialized, and trained as a chapel healer-- It’s all about the Cause, right? Giving oneself up to it meant releasing the ego, and in turn, releasing personal desires and wants. Even though he hadn’t been living as a practicing Julianite for a few years then, when Kaidan asks him that, Felix’s upbringing is still rears its head regardless, even if he believes that he over-corrected. It’s still part of his programming.

2). So, his biggest desire is to really be back into the Cause, where he believes he fits in the world. He still wants be the person that the School of Julianos raised him to become. But all of this revolves around having magic again, and losing the ability to cast magic in a very magical setting like Tamriel takes him to a lot of dark places. The School of Julianos hadn’t prepared him for life outside of its institution. He’s rudderless, and it’s all a huge downward spiral, pulling him down to rock bottom, where we meet him in Chapter 1. In his mind, being able to somehow acquire his magic again would be his ultimate want, even if it feels impossible and unrealistic. It might even sound strange that he wants to go back to the School after leaving it for the reasons that he did, but that all narrows down to what he actually wants.

3). Felix is desperate for a sense of belonging. No small part of him wants to have that sense of community again. While he definitely isn’t the type to idealize the family life, there is a part of him that really wants that sense of connection and closeness with others. It’s why he fell in so hard with the Thieves Guild when he did, because they offered him something close to what he had when he was in the clergy, and he was alone at the same and struggling. Yet at the same time, that may have allowed some individuals in the Guild to manipulate him. So, I think in a reactionary sense, Tides!Felix tries to hide this desire as much as humanly possible, and hold his cards close to his chest, so to speak, even if he doesn’t realize it yet.

( Kaidan )

Originally, I was going to leave it at Felix, but then I realized how much I wanted to include Kaidan as well lol

1). Unlike Felix, Kaidan has an answer locked and loaded: survival. Though, I think he would word it being about food, drink, a nice place to sleep at night, and perhaps, good company, but these things still all boil down to essentially survival. What he says that he wants is maybe unsurprisingly the main thing he also knows, but this desire is directly in opposite of another. A huge part of his reasons for coming to Skyrim involve figuring out his identity. Who was his mother? What did he come from? And most importantly, what happened, and how does that define him in the world now? He has a lot of suspicions, but no concrete evidence. Trying to uncover the answers to these questions puts a huge target on his back, and now with company, he has question whether it’s worth endangering the people he cares about. Dueling desires, so to speak. 

2). In searching for his identity, Kaidan is looking for another way to define who he is again that can let him more or less move away from his violent past. By finding out who he really is, he can claw out a place in the world for himself, and it gives him the foundations that he needs to start figuring out who he is really is and mold his own realized self. That would allow him to become much more independent, but not only that, it could give him the ability to be vulnerable with someone else without the fear of having it used against him in the future. I don’t think Kaidan could admit any of this easily, given past experiences, but after developing trust in others, maybe he could?

3). This all is gearing towards redemption. Cinema Therapy has a video on the theme of redemption that may have completely changed how I view it. Following from that video, Kaidan has to redeem himself not in someone else’s eyes. Rather, he has to redeem himself in his own eyes, and most importantly, prove to that he is capable of certain compassionate actions. Also in that sense, proving also to himself that he is capable of changing for the better, not for worse. I think he is somewhat aware of this need, but for him to admit these this, it would be opening himself up to a Mildly Uncomfortable conversation lmao

[bigjimbopickens]

hi sorry to bother you i know this is like a dead issue now but i was a massive fan of kevin before the hogwarts legacy shit, i’m a trans guy and i stopped watching him because of it. i really miss his content though, his channel is pretty much all the games i like and my sense of humour, but i feel so conflicted about wanting to go back to his content. i was just curious what your thought process was around rejoining the cult? i know it’s kinda weird to ask now since it’s been like 6 months since it happened but i feel really weird about it.

also like. no pressure to answer i don’t know if this is crossing a line or anything sorry

It’s okay don’t worry :) enough time has passed, to me at least. Tbh this is the first I’ve heard about this in a while lol.

It’s okay to feel conflicted. I don’t speak for everyone here but everyone I talk to regularly has forgiven him but won’t forget that this happened.

I do believe he learned from this, he hasn’t done anything HP related since then, besides for a few ps1 Hagrid cameos (which is fine, ps1 Hagrid has been a channel meme for a while). I just hope this doesn’t age poorly.

What started getting me back was a bit after the apology post I noticed that other YouTubers were doubling down on their decisions or just not saying anything, including ones I used to respect. Even though I wished Kevin did more than just a Reddit post, I’m glad he didn’t stay silent and admitted he fucked up. His intention wasn’t malicious, unlike a lot of other creators, which is why I was more forgiving with him compared to others. Though I still lost a lot of respect which was regained over time.

Oddly enough what got me to really respect him again was his video on those American Superpastors and Megachurches. Having grown up in one (though in Canada, they exist here but aren’t as big) it was very healing. He couldn’t say it because he didn’t want to get sued, but he was very heavily implying that he believes it’s all a huge scam and they’re exploiting people. But he’s right, I’ve witnessed it myself. Never would’ve expected him to make a video like that and be so bold with it. I’m glad Europeans see what goes on here and think “what the fuck?!” Great video definitely recommend.

Other than that, mainly just enough time passed where I no longer feel that way. I missed the sense of community which is why I rejoined the fandom but it’s not my main one anymore. I mostly do my own thing these days. It was awesome going to Vancoufur as Werewolf Jim and meeting CMK fans there too, I could’ve sworn I was the only British Columbian in the entire fandom. Though I don’t fully trust the fandom still, mainly people I don’t recognize. But not anyone here, Tumblr isn’t really the site for those people.

Not much else has really changed in his content, just no more HP videos in general (as of July 22, 2023) and the fast-paced editing has mostly stopped. He now only uploads on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays now + any 2nd channel content, song covers or streams. The community has changed a lot though. The Reddit protests caused the subreddit to shut down so it’s gone, so there’s now no longer one big gathering spot besides Discord, which is the one side of the community I’m not in.

It’s really your choice if you wanna start watching again, anonymous user. Do whatever makes you happy :)

Since this is related, I haven’t heard a thing about HL since February. It really was just a mid game that was only popular because it was controversial. Transphobes really spent a lot of money on this, they’re the real losers. I know single player games get less players overtime but a lot of them still get talked about, replayed or are still relevant. Idk just my thoughts. If you really want a magic game with custom spells, play Oblivion’s Mages Guild questline or modded Skyrim.

Also sorry if I got back to this so late. I haven’t had a stable connection for a while until now. I’ve been away, escaping wildfires. Average Canadian summer activities.

[crysdrawsthings]

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Comes from THIS MEME! Accepting more :D

Well, let's see what do we have here.

It would be interesting to explore the story of Cassia and Asgeld, like, seriously. Because I think they got an interesting dynamic and interesting narratives. That I would for love of me not be able to properly work with, but you know.

Longer answer, so goes under cut!

Here is some content about who they are:

Starting from them growing up together as half-siblings, helping each other, having some hopes about what to do with their lives after things would eventually get better. Like, all the stuff they did together and made/got for each other and all this.

Cassia making Asgeld his little wooden pendant, Asgeld working with their father to forge her a fancy dagger, she teaching him reading/writing and him getting her all the fancy flowers for her alchemy experiments.

All, naturally, with the background of the majority of Orm's family disliking Linna somewhat and Cassia a lot due to the whole nord vs imperials tensions and what not. Like the whole Concordat thing, you know. I hope I am making sense. Like, also to say, Orm himself? Genuinely a cool dude and as soon as there happens to be a chance moved with Linna away to live in peace. Most of his family? Bastards with issues.

And then you know, it all ends with Asgeld happily leaving home to join Stormcloaks because of course this is the right thing to do! This is the nord thing to do, isn't he a hord? He is the nordest nord to ever nord! So he will join Ulfric and save Skyrim and you know, all the stuff, will help people and do a good thing, right?

And Cassia? The most wet and pathetic meow meow, fully accepting that she is kinda useless and apathetic about nearly everything. Leaves with Asgeld, but ends up on a wild trip across the province after almost poisoning Rolff in Wildhelm and then just vagabonding from town to town, getting kicked from one job after another.

Eventually ending up in Markarth and without a second of hesitation ratting people to Ondolemar (planting evidence perhaps too) for some quick money. Eventually ends up as a minimum wage token human janitor at the Embassy. Cassia "Well, I might as well make bootlicking for witch elves my permanent job" Illvia, you know.

Asgeld meanwhile generally enjoying his life in Windhelm and rising through the ranks and you know, having a good-enough time, even if getting slowly disillusioned in the whole Rebellion thing and some of the questionable leadership choices being made. But still full of hopes! He can make it work, right? He just needs to get higher up so his word will have more weight and then!

All this leads to how Cassia, already assigned to Valmir, eventually runs into Asgeld stationed in the Rift as well and how it is starts of this upbeat note of sibling reunion, and Asgeld being so happy to see his sister again, and tell her about all the stuff, and show her the camp, and treat her to some ale, and whatnot. This is his beloved sister, after all, and she is the best, right?

And Cassia on her end for a moment struggling with the situation, because, maybe, she can actually go with Asgeld, maybe she can actually stop doing, well, objectively awful stuff for people who mostly treat her like shit or like furniture, and in the end just, nah, I will steal your missives, I will drop some poison in your food and I will set everything on fire, because I am dead if I will leave, but if I will do what i do best and make the worst choice possible, maybe I will get some paid time off or a raise.

And so Asgeld gets his trust betrayed, some of his friends killed and his life kind of shattered, because of course he gets a lot of shit for what has happened, especially after him vouching so much for Cassia and all. His burning the pendant later and kind of, if he sees her again, this is on sight, but also genuinely grieving, because of everything good that was between them.

The end of his story being that after a particularly explosive conflict related to this situation he kind of just leave Stromcloaks and goes to find himself somewhere else, does some jobs here and there and eventually joins the group of Kyne worshippers, initially to guard them on the road, but then like, as an initiate into their religion.

Cassia? I honestly have no idea. Thalmor eventually leaves Skyrim when Elanor as Thurrahdaal comes into power, I doubt they would want to leave loose ends or drag some mildly useful janitor to a different province. So perhaps she gets the knife offscreen. On the other hand, she is still a host to a rather useful daedric spirit, so maybe she and Valmir go on to be awful people in Cyrodiil.

[heldhram]

15 questions for 15 mutuals

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

1. Are you named after anyone?

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

2. When was the last time you cried?

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

3. Do you have kids?

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

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

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

8. Any special talents?

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

9. Where were you born?

Taiwan, a beautiful subtropical island polluted by fugly buildings.

10. What are your hobbies?

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

11. Do you have any pets?

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

12. How tall are you?

186cm (~ 6 feet 1)

13. Fave subject in school?

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

14. Dream job?

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

15. Eye colour?

Dark, dark brown

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

[wolfex126]

K and T for the fandom ask meme

Thanks for asking!! Sorry this is late, needed time t think I guess (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠)

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Kratos of Sparta 🥺🥺 Seeing the journey from a young, bloodthirsty tragedy in the flesh reap nothing but violence and hatred in his wake, transforming slowly into an older man who wants to do things right, this time - do things better, this time....... man.....

Regardless of what he has done, he is capable of being better. He proves it over and over, and he fucks it up sometimes, and yet time still turns, and he still must live with himself. It's better to accept your failures beside your victories and continue to try to be better the next day, right? I find his story very compelling, and I think, as the audience has aged alongside Kratos, it's really special to see this character age into a man bettered by his surrounding friends and his own will to do so; despite his past, he is still willing, capable, and deserving of change, and I think that's great!!

I won't get carried away, but Kratos' story is really important to me - his development is warranted, and I make no jest when I say these games changed my life KWBFKNWKD

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

Mmm I have a few but I'll shoot em off real pithy like (best I can, anyway)

Sam from Sam and Max is absolutely more bottom/sub-coded to me in comparison to Max than I think the fandom demonstrates KWNDKWND,, I'm no real big fan of concrete "placements" like that I'm typically very. Every character is fluid and doesn't care but if I were to put a word to it I've always found Max to be the Proprietor, so to speak, in their behind-closed-doors intimacy more often than not

In a spiritual, half-joking sense, Mirage (Apex Legends) = Marcurio (Skyrim) = Gale (Baldur's Gate) all of which deserve to be fat/chubby figured. If you understand me you understand me I don't see a reason to elaborate more

Bloodhound, Apex Legends, is afab and tall, built like an ox - fatty and muscular and with thighs that could kill a giant. Again no need to elaborate because. Hello.

Uthgerd the Unbroken and Serana of Skyrim are lesbians. I mean they aren't together unless I guess you wanem t be I'm just saying they both are

And a fifth one to even things out because things come in either threes or fives - Lucien Lachance and the Champion of Cyrodiil absolutely had a thing going on. Like, absolutely one hundred percent. I don't have Overwhelming evidence for this but, like most things, believing is all you need right

And that's all I've got for you!! Thank you for sending these in, I had fun with my deliberation on them (⁠人⁠ ⁠•͈⁠ᴗ⁠•͈⁠)

[celiastjamesoscar]

Milf heaven sounds so amazing 😭 I'd gladly live there. Please take me now! I hope she's a cool boss. She gotta liven up her boring and generic name. Do you know the Nina meme originally from YouTube with the kid who's aggressively saying Nina?? That's what I always think about when I hear my name. https://www.tiktok.com/@zero_gravxty/video/6929277035231595782 OKAY GRACE THAT WAS THE ENCOURAGEMENT I NEEDED!! I will suffer through this pain for 9 hours if it means having the hot artist touch me again...

Go on, keep your eye on me. You won't find anything but pure innocence and angelic traits 😌 2 ½ hours?? Damn, look at you being a model student! Very well done! I hope you're prepared now for your final. YOU GOT THIS GRACE I BELIEVE IN YOU

What a beautiful next step in our relationship. The full names came out. Now nothing can stand between us. Not Ruby Rose 😭 The hype people had for her was both fascinating and annoying. But yes, that's definitely a big, important part of the plot. Because it's you, I will dial back my disappointment and accept that you just have a slightly different taste in TV 🤷🏻‍♀️

Yasss, I shall get the people waving then! It fits a bit better, you're right! I knew I could trust you with some amazing advice. Ghosty and Mikey were done in March or April, shortly after Scream 6 and before my knee was done!

I have to write a report with max 5 pages and I only have bullet points, so I'm letting ChatGPT formulate a full text for me. That's how I'm spending my time at work. Plus tiktok, writing applications and re-reading your stories!

Milf Heaven does sound amazing; you and I are definitely sharing a room there together. Nina is a cool boss, except whenever she brings her ‘therapy dog’ into work with her. He’s supposed to help her clients with their sessions, but all he does is judge them 😭I see pics of that girl all the time and I’ve never known what it’s from until now 😭 I WILL ALWAYS ENCOURAGE YOU TO GET MORE TATTOOS!!! YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS BY NOW! AND YOULL BE WITH THE HOT ARTIST FOR 9 HOURS TOO

I will definitely keep an eye on you, since you are so innocent 🤨 my brain felt like it was going to explode, and it still feels like that. So I’m just going to play Skyrim until it feels like it’s ready to study again 😌

We are making great progress in our relationship, soon we will be getting tattoos together. I heard Ruby Rose was kind of a bitch in the show too, so BOOOOO for her. Hey now, there’s nothing wrong with my tv taste!! I only watch Game of thrones, South Park, and Peaky Blinders…

you’ll have to send me a picture of the filler tattoo once you get it!! I really love the Ghostface tattoo, and the Michael one as well!! I want to get a Ghostface one, but my mother still has me on lockdown from getting them 🙄 I have my next tattoo picked out though, and im hoping to get it before August

What’s your paper on? And 5 pages is awful for a school paper. I can crank out a 5 page fanfic within an hour, but it will take me weeks to write one for school. Good luck on your paper though, and don’t get caught using ChatGPT!

[thatonespawnling]

Starfield & The Importance of Beginnings

SPOILER WARNING FOR STARFIELD!! DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS ON THE BEGINNING

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Looks like we're good to go! Okay, so I've recently been dumping a steady amount of hours into Starfield. It's been fun, how they've evolved their character creation is fantastic, I've had a decent amount of positives. Throughout the six and a half hours I've played, there is only one thing that I have a problem with. That problem? The beginning of the game, particularly the first two hours. I understand that Bethesda games often have mediocre main storylines with characters that lack deep characterization. However, one thing about the main story that Bethesda writers usually do well is that beginning.

Skyrim is a notorious beginning. A decade after its release, the first two minutes of that game is still remembered. It is still celebrated through memes and video edits, references by other media. It does a lot of things right for an RPG! It provides just enough worldbuilding to give the actions of those surrounding you meaning, it gives you a purpose of being there without defining your backstory, and it provides an easy way to get the player from point A to point B without making the player feel dragged around. Oblivion works in a similar fashion. It doesn't work nearly as well as Skyrim's beginning, there is too much of it that relies on happenstance. However, it is still a rather solid beginning. Even Bethesda's Fallout games has some nice beginnings with Fallout 3. What matters the most with these beginnings and why they function is that, ultimately, the player feels like they're involved in what's happening. This is where I feel Starfield fails.

Starfield starts us off by putting us in the position of a miner riding an elevator down to the mines with a humorous veteran known as Heller and the stoic leader of the operation called Supervisor Lin. They seem to give you words of encouragement as you are carried down, dropping mentions of some of the more prominent factions of the Settled Systems along the way. For the next thirty minutes you're mostly following NPCs as they talk to you and order you to do tasks without much agency. This all goes until you touch the Artifact, an odd rock that is almost magical in nature. When you come into contact with it, you are almost blinded. Your vision is ejected from your body, flying through very matter itself until the whole universe is revealed to you. Then you are called back, told it was a hallucination, and provided the character customization menu through your employee file meant to remind you of who you are. After that you accompany the operations leader to hand the Artifact off to Barrett, a space explorer part of a legendary exploration group known as the Constellation. After the initial conversation and an unsuccessful raid from pirates, he invites you to join the Constellation on account of you "seeing what he's seen". He gives you his ship, his robot, and walks off.

After that, you run into some pirates, are lead to take down a pirate outpost, and the first quest ends there. That is considered your tutorial. There is a main story after that which can act as introductory quests, but the game lets you explore and accepts quests as you wish from this point. There are issues with this beginning, issues I have. First off, there's the more obvious problem of you not really being in control of what happens. There's no small choices you can make that give you that sense of agency. You are brought from story beat to story beat with no real care for investment. Even in terms of your "decision" to accept Barrett's invitation, there's no negotiation there. If you refuse, Supervisor Lin tells you that this is your purpose now and you should go along. There's not even really a way to ensure Barrett can get back home, you simply take his ship and fly off. That also runs into the issue of why Barrett would even lend you the ship.

He could fly you back and through him we could be provided important information on how the galaxy works. We could be informed what all these terms and factions being thrown at us during the tutorial and character customization even mean. What are these religions we can choose to align ourselves with? What are these places we can choose to hail from? What are the factions and how do they defer? We could've been told all this through Barrett and even have someone that could vouch for us to the Constellation. As the game is now, the Constellation accepts you immediately with no real resistance. If Barrett were to come along with us, it could provide an interesting dynamic where the Constellation is initially unsure of if you should be welcomed into their ranks. You along with the praise from Barrett could convince them to let you join, allowing the beginning to break from the "Chosen One" narrative it falls into far too readily.

I could go on about what Starfield could've done, like how being one of the Crimson Fleet Pirates taking Barrett's ship the "Frontier" would've provided an interesting hook and give you a more realistic route to get the ship and run off with it. Simply being there when Barrett was killed and escaping the planet as the mine is overrun with pirates would work much the same way and even provides minimal changes to how the story plays out in the next few hours. However that's not the point of this little rant here. The point is to showcase the flaws of the game's beginning. The game's story shows a nice amount of promise so far, being opted as an explorer gives you sufficient reason to run off and interact with the side content that often defines these Bethesda Game Studios games. However for any work the beginning is the most important. It is the first impression of your game. If that first impression is lacking in any way, the player could be made to feel like the rest of the game will follow its example. The beginning is the easiest time to lose your player and it deserves care. Starfield's beginning lacks care. It feels like it's almost treated as a second thought, which is such a travesty in a big budget game.

[blossom-adventures]

For the character thing: Jarl Balgruuf!

Jarl Balgruuf you say… hmmm… alright then!

From this character meme ☺️

First Impression - I liked Jarl Balgruuf, he seemed a great character, when I first played the game I just stuck to the main storyline, I didn’t do any of the other quests so I interacted with him a lot, he seemed like the best, most competent Jarl in Skyrim!

Impression Now - I still think he’s a great Jarl, but I’ve done the other quests now and he’s not the knight in shining armour I thought he was at first, yes, he’s not perfect but no one is, everyone has their faults and Balgruuf is no exception. I still like him!

Favourite Moment - “This isn’t over, you hear me you old fool! This isn’t over! And you, a Stormcloak?! I’d have thought better of you!” As I said, I like Balgruuf, but I always side Stormcloak, so hearing a man who trusted you so easily sound so betrayed and hurt… it hurts, every time I play it!

Idea for a Story - He features quite heavily in my current fic, Far Horizons & Ancient Stones so I have that on my mind a lot, so I don’t know if I have the brain capacity to think of more stories for my side characters, maybe another time, when I haven’t got so much going on 😆

Unpopular Opinion - In all honesty, I don’t think I have an unpopular opinion of Balgruuf, I like the man! I don’t think any of my opinions of him would be considered “unpopular”

Favourite Relationship - Again, I don’t really have one? I always write Balgruuf as a widower so it never feels right to me to pair him with anyone

Favourite Headcanon - That he didn’t want to side with the Empire, he’s a worshipper of Talos but his advisers pressured him into making the decision that looses him Whiterun