#the colovian highlands

[nikolasromanovartbook]

levitation is the little that Peha can teach Profugo. of course, she had already been fined twice for using a levitation spell on Imperial territory, but there were few extra eyes at dawn in the Colovian Highlands

[oblivionloading]

While sneaking around and avoiding predatory wildlife in the Colovian Highlands, there is a ten percent chance you can hear David Attenborough narrating what the enemy creatures are doing.

[tastesoftamriel]

I’d love to hear your take on Tamrielic coffee culture! Imperial cappuccinos, Breton cafe au lait, Redguard iced coffee with lemon…so many options~

Coffee varies in popularity among the Provinces, but almost everyone enjoys a good strong cup of bean juice (and it tastes much better than stamina potions)!

Altmer

Coffee isn't the favoured drink of most High Elves, but it is enjoyed in small amounts around Summerset. The most popular way of drinking coffee there is a simple espresso, served in small cups for sipping alongside small cakes and biscuits in the afternoon. While some complain that espresso is too strong and bitter for their tastes, a good brew is smooth, rich, and flavourful, with notes of vanilla and fruits.

Argonians

Black Marsh is one of Tamriel's foremost producers of coffee due to the rich soil and warm climate that makes growing coffee relatively easy compared to other Provinces. Egg coffee sounds bizarre, but this Argonian take on the cappuccino is one of the best ways to drink coffee in my opinion! A strong brew, sweetened with sugar, is topped with firm, whipped sweetened egg whites and served piping hot. Simply stir the egg into the coffee before it has time to set, and you have all the benefits of a milky coffee without the milk.

Bosmer

Believe it or not, the Bosmer have found a way to make delicious coffee that's Green Pact compliant! While it sounds unsavoury, Wood Elves in Valenwood pick out undigested coffee beans from the dung of civet cats, who eat wild coffee fruits. The beans are washed thoroughly and roasted, with the civet cat's digestive system purportedly aiding in the fermentation of the bean, giving the resulting brew a rich and robust flavour. This 'luwak' coffee has become so famous that it's become a pricey export to other parts of Tamriel.

Bretons

Cream and coffee go hand in hand in High Rock, generally with a couple of sugar cubes or flavoured syrups or caramel for a rich beverage. Using cream instead of milk helps to ease the bitterness of Breton coffee, which is unfortunately made by boiling coffee grounds. As any coffee aficionado knows, boiling your coffee makes it rather sour and unpleasant, making the cream and syrups a must.

Dunmer

Of the races, the Dark Elves are probably the least enthusiastic about coffee as it is not native to Morrowind. However, coffee culture from around Tamriel has made the beverage more popular among the younger generations of urban Dunmer, who infuse their beans with marshmerrow during the roasting process. Served black in tall cups with a pinch of marshmerrow sugar, this simple drink is unique in flavour due to its sweet, candy-like aroma. For those with a taste for the exotic, add a splash of guar milk.

Imperials

In Cyrodiil, coffee is usually drunk with milk. Cappuccinos, made by topping coffee with frothed steamed milk are particularly popular, not least due to the fancy art that can be made by pouring the coffee into the milk in intricate patterns. While in itself it's not a particularly remarkable beverage, it's an Imperial staple that's enjoyed from the Colovian Highlands to Blackwood by young and old.

Khajiit

The Khajiit are famous for their drip coffees, in which coffee grounds are placed in small metal filters that slowly drip into a small cup, halfway filled with moon sugar-sweetened condensed milk. The resulting brew is very strong, very sweet, and bound to wake you up after the first sip.

Nords

Coffee is not particularly popular in Skyrim, but it's served as plainly as it gets: strong and black, and sometimes with a spoonful of sugar. However, what it's served with is unique to the Province. Coffee cheese, which is a slightly chewy and porous cheese, is dipped into the coffee and nibbled on as you sip your brew. I know it sounds weird, but give it a try and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Orcs

Orcish coffee is always served with copious amounts of sugar and echatere milk. This simple drink is especially favoured by Wrothgarian echatere herders, who keep their energy levels up by sipping on this beverage throughout the day from echatere-skin flasks.

Redguards

Coffee is widely grown in the Bantha, making the drink a native Hammerfell staple. Whether it's served black, with sugar, or goat milk, coffee is often infused with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and even chili. Another popular way of drinking coffee the Redguard way is the amusingly-named 'dirty chai': a strong double espresso mixed with equal amounts of spicy chai and frothy goat milk, and served with sweet pastries and biscuits as an accompaniment.

[crynwr-drwg]

still very wip. will take a lot of time to do these all (then to clean up the labels and make it all look good)

then I'll aslso have different vers of the map with different labels, for differen ttime periods + some maps that are just forts, casltes, etc maybe

also cldeaning up mountains and hills as i go. dseleted some around colovian highlands, but will re-add in a clean way etc

[andrevalias-tes]

‘Good citizens, our Hero does it again!’ the announcer called out, ‘Two of the fiercest minotaurs from the Colovian Highlands were no match for our Akaviri favourite! But he’s not done yet!’

-- Part 5, The Face of Akavir

[yanavaseva]

Another character for @ry13mc​ , this time a bosmer (previous two are a dunmer and a nord). I blurred the nude version of the last picture but I think it should be fine after the ToS update?

Here's the character description:

Lyneval "Lyn" Waystride was a Bosmer born in the city of Skingrad in Cyrodiil. She grew up wandering the streets of the city and the hills of the Colovian Highlands. As her rangings grew, she came to intimately know the roads of Cyrodiil, from Chorrol to Leyawiin, from Anvil to Cheydinhal, and the locations of many of it's out of the way ruins.  She took work often as a guide and scout for merchant caravans and the like. She prided herself on knowing every inn, tavern, and alehouse in Cyrodiil. Secretly, she drinks to Sanguine, the Daedric Prince of Revelry and Debauchery.

[endawn]

i wish i could say after the crisis, he got to enjoy the cushy lord life for a bit and got a little pudgy but he never stopped. there were still things to do. places to go, people to help. him constantly traveling from the imperial city to his castle in the colovian highlands only to turn back around and go back to the city because a courier inevitably beat him back to his house. and it was always a letter requesting his presence. from ocato. the one person he felt he couldn’t say no to who, at the time, was the emperor-regent or potentate. then he died in defense of cyrodiil from a rising vampiric threat.

[nuwanders]

What English accents do you think they’d have in Cyrodiil other than Yorkshire accents in Kvatch (according to a headcanon by @bretongirlwrites)?

Hope the bugs aren’t biting you too much

(so far no bites or signs of activity since arriving back in the flat!! we're hoping that's the end of it, but of course we'll remain vigilant for the next few weeks until we can be certain :))

anyway! interesting ask. i'm hesitant to map real life cultures 1:1 onto TES cultures, especially when cyrodiil is clearly based on a weird mixture of ancient rome and medieval italy (and when england finds its own TES 'equivalent' in High Rock), but for the sake of answering your ask I'll assume that Cyrodilic (or what the game calls 'common' or 'Tamrielic') is the same as English. This isn't too much of a stretch; if Old Cyrodilic is similar to Latin, it seems reasonable to imagine that Old Cyrodilic + Ancient Nordic + Bretonic languages (which I headcanon to be similar to languages from the Celtic family, with the addition of French) could result in something sounding like English.

so! Cyrods speak English. I'm going to hazard a guess that the Kvatch/Yorkshire comparison comes from Sean Bean being a Yorkshireman, which is cute so I'll leave that as is.

Going further, it would probably help to draw a boundary somewhere between northern and southern English accents. It seems obvious to draw that boundary between Colovia and the Niben. The climates obviously don't map very well, but in terms of culture and vibe, the north is seen as rugged, 'wild' and economically poor whilst the south(-east) is seen as 'civilised', 'cultured' and economically prosperous. Inverted commas because this is obviously a load of bollocks, though the economic disparity is definitely there.

So to start with, I think the Nibenay Basin accent would sound similar to Estuary English (also known as BBC English, received pronunciation, etc... basically what Americans think of when someone says ‘British accent’). Cyrodiil's financial, cultural and political power is concentrated in the Basin in the same way England's international influence is concentrated in London/around the Thames. The 'Basin accent' would be spoken by the Imperial City's upper classes and mimicked by aristocrats across the province, regardless of whether or not they actually hail from the Niben.

(more under cut)

Making a slight exception to the Colovia = North rule, I'm going to say that an Anvil/Gold Coast accent sounds like West Country English. This is because the West Country, whilst being in the south of England, has more in common with the north in terms of how it is viewed by south-easterners. West Country English is associated with farmers, agriculture, and rolling green hills. If you go far enough west, you find the Cornish accent, which I think seems appropriate for sunny, coastal Anvil. A famous example of West Country English would be Sam Gamgee from TLOTR.

I think the Colovian Highlands accent would sound like Cumbrian English. Cumbrian English is spoken in the mountainous Lake District, in the north-west of England and close to the Scottish border. It shares a border with Yorkshire which would make sense given the position of Kvatch, (though I think the Kvatch accent would probably bleed into the Heartlands).

I think the Skingrad/Heartlands accent would sound like (north) Derbyshire English. Derbyshire sits in the midlands, just south of Yorkshire. It is the home of the Peak District (where I'm from!), which is very 'Heartlands' in both vibe and location.

I think the Bruma/Jerall Mountains accent would sound like north-east/Geordie English. Don't ask me for an explanation, i simply feel it in my heart. A famous example of Geordie English can be found in Billy Elliot.

The Chorrol/Great Forest accent would sound like east-midlands English, which is more a group of accents than an accent in its own right, but the important thing is that it’s not as strong as most northern accents (relative to 'standard' / RP english), but is noticeably distinguished from SE English by the short 'A' in words like bath, laugh, grass etc.

Lastly, I think the Blackwood accent would sound like Black Country English. The Black Country also lies in the midlands, but has a very distinct (and strong) dialect of its own, not dissimilar from the brummy accent of Birmingham (made internationally recognisable by Peaky Blinders). This, in my mind, is analogous to the Blackwood's proximity with the Niben yet distinct cultural identity. The Black Country is seen in England as impoverished and uncultured, which I think fits with the negative stereotyping about the Blackwood in-game.

I'm not going to break down the various regions of the Niben because I think, like in the south-east of England, there would be less variety in accent. If you want to break the Imperial City down into its different districts, you could easily do so with the various accents of London (e.g. Waterfront Cyrodilic could sound like Cockney). In general, I think the upper-middle classes and the aristocracy will speak with a Nibenese accent no matter where they're from, in much the same way 'RP English' is seen as the universal 'middle-class' accent of England.

Hope this helps!

[londonhalcyon]

OC Doublespeak

Passed the onion peeler (?) by @dumpsterhipster. Thank you! I was gonna do this with Lily, but since y’all have endured well over 200K words of her intimate thoughts and occasionally contradictory actions, I’m going to throw two of my lesser known OCs under the bus: Ivy Vindex, my reluctant Khajiit Dragonborn from my forever WIP Skyrim fic, and Ros Markey, my aggressive queer scientist/pole dancer (long story) from my other forever WIP Fallout 4 fic. I adore these ladies.

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

Ivy: To live a happy peaceful life with her family. She loves her two dads a lot and doesn’t want to stray too far from them.

Ros: To be left alone (not counting her robotic horse). Most people either shoot at her, get shot, try to steal Winnie, or all of the above, so no point getting attached. She’s content to do her science, take the odd job here or there, and move on.

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

Ivy: To know who she is and where she comes from. She’s a Khajiit who was born in the Colovian Highlands and raised by an Imperial couple in the West Weald of Cyrodiil. All clues about her origins point not south to Elsweyr, but north to Skyrim. And it’s rather hard to learn more about herself when she’s been on the same farm all her life.

Ros: No, really, she wants to be left alone. It’s not like she’s lonely or anything. Right? After all, she can’t want to get close to anyone who’s going to die on her. That would be idiotic.

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

Ivy: To feel like she truly belongs. She’s in a constant state of cultural identity crisis where everyone seems to have a better idea of who and what she is (and who and what she isn’t) than she does. She just wants to be, and be with the people who love and accept her.

Ros: Okay, she’s really really lonely. She wants to be part of a family again. More than anything she wants the family she lost back, which isn’t possible. Fortunately, she has found the next best thing. Or, rather, they’ve found her.

[profanetools]

potential fun consequences of a reincarnation plotline: imagine just being some guy. Randy macRando, a sheep herder in the colovian highlands. then you find out you're the reincarnation of kagrenac. i would need to sit down for 5 years.

[tamrieldrifter]

Vampire's nature

For as long as men have walked these Colovian highlands, vampires have stalked their trail. From the lone fiend preying upon village or homestead, to the clandestine covens in secluded caves and remote ruins working toward nefarious purpose. Up until recently I would have remorselessly put down these undead creatures without hesitation as I would any other rabid beast. But having met the Ravenwatch clan in Rivenspire from whom I learnt that vampires weren't just ravenous undead, but can be lucid and aware. Retaining many characteristics of their former natures in undeath, they are capable of both reason and compassion; and that makes them monsters.

Two residents of Weynon Priory have been kidnapped by vampires during the night and taken to an ancient Ayleid ruin known locally as the Lipsand Tarn. The acolytes fear that they may have already been killed and risen again as bloodfiends, mindless feral undead, little more then skeevers under the vampires thrall.

I find the ruins infested with these bloodfiends banqueting upon fresh cadavers by suckled gore, under the unhallowed gaze of their vampire overseers. The cold corpses of the villagers lie atop stone tables in bloody shrouds and with a whispered orison to Arkay, I set their bodies ablaze.

It would be foolish for me not to at least attempt to put down the leaders of this coven whilst I am here. Marbita, a Redguard woman in life, and Gaston Ashham a Breton together head this Bloodborn coven; until I find the means to behead them both.

I could discover no motive for why this coven are building such a force of bloodfiends in this secluded ruin. But I did find a note which suggested that Ashham travelled all the way to Cyrodiil from Stormhaven with a sister. Perhaps I shall find her in another delve, or perhaps she shall find me first; after-all, to thirst for revenge is only human nature.

S.K

[tastesoftamriel]

The Oak and Crosier

Chorrol's favourite pub!

Morndas

Breaded veal escalopes, with creamy chanterelle and white wine sauce

Tirdas

Four cheese gnocchi, with West Weald parmesan, mature cheddar, buffalo mozzarella, and Colovian Highlands gorgonzola

Middas

Rabbit-stuffed butternut squash, with pine nuts and caramelised onion gravy

Turdas

Steak, liver, and onion pot pie, with fresh garden salad and cornichons

Fredas

The Emperor's Venison Fricassee, with herbed hasselback potatoes

Loredas

Pesto, ricotta, and pine nut tortellini, with brown butter sauce and West Weald parmesan

Sundas

'Nduja, buffalo mozzarella, and battaglir calzone, with homemade gorgonzola sauce

Dessert of the week:

Sticky apple cinnamon bun, with cream cheese frosting and candied pecans

[mjrkime]

I love TES series. Especially Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim.

Cyrodiil is comfy. Almost fairytale-like.

Warning: a long and unreasonably emotional post about a videogame

I always find myself being quite bitter whilst coming back to TES IV: Oblivion despite being overall nostalgic. Morrowing felt different and it still does. The emotional baggage that I have for TES III usually relates to my unbearable wish for an escapism which this title provided. Yet, TES IV has a significant flavour to it.

The home of pristinely clean streets, white towers, wine and beautiful pastoral scenery, it hides and nourishes bloody cults, horrific murderers, undercover intrigues and tragedies. Vvanderfell is grey and it's grey in every sense of the way. The morals, the people, the story. It's hard to be and feel heroic when you find yourself amidst a thousand years-long intrigue. Skyrim is bloody. It shows its guts to you because it can. It wants you to bathe in blood while crossing this cold and harsh land.

Oblivion doesn't want you to bathe in blood, it doesn't throw you into the web of intrigues. It gives you a simple story about a hero who finds themselves at the end of the old man's wish. Emperor Uriel Septim gives you his amulet before his inevitable demise. And after that it just goes as it always does.

Cyrodiil hides its very essence under everyone's nose. It pretends to be an idyllic place. In fact, I can absolutely feel the need to slow down and take a stroll through the beautiful cities. Together with the soundtrack, the atmosphere brings you a taste of Tamika's fine wine. Going through the vast landscapes I felt like I finally understood why sometimes we just need to stop and just stare at the sky while the sun sets. Everything feels perfect But it's oh so far away from being perfect. There's, in fact, a necromancer living under that hill. A dangerous cult of ritualistic murderers prospers under the guise of Night Mother, housing their cozy hideout in the middle of the city. A menacing entity is plotting against the mages guild, the mercenaries and bandits watch the roads, thieves are spreading their curiosity amidst the city streets. There are dark mysteries in the ancient ruins and ugly secrets among the people of Cyrodiil. The daedra shrines await their chosen puppet to fulfill their sinister purposes. Also, there's a gate to the literal daedra hellish realm right there.

The realm of Mehrunes Dagon feels like a cruel joke, an attraction in the house of horrors. There are spikes everywhere, the small islands of soil are surrounded by lava, the blood of countless victims soaks the walls of menacing towers and even the damn flora wants to murder you. It mocks the heavenly peaceful land of Cyrodiil perfectly.

What's that? Oh, a sudden realisation.

Cyrodiil seems... Stereotypical. Oae wae!

But the stereotype or not, I quite enjoy this heroic fairytale which is, in fact way darker than it may seem at first.

Every time I come back to this land I can feel the underlying bitter sweet feeling. I know and love these characters, this story and this land. But also I know how each string ends. And it hurts. Sitting in front of Martin while he reads inside the Cloud Ruler Temple, training next to Agronak in the Arena, resting and enjoying the stay inside the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary. It all brings me as much misery as it does joy, because I KNOW that the ending is inevitable. I might delay it, I might never become a Champion of Cyrodiil, Arena Grand Champion or a Speaker, but it's only a fool's relief. Reading the interpretation of what might've happened to the Hero of Cyrodiil, honestly clicks to me. In my mind, my protagonist lost a good chunk of people she cared about no matter where she tried to go and what she tried to do. Strolling through Cyrodiil after the main plot always felt excruciatingly lonely and bitter. It's only logical that she would lose herself to a maddening corruption.

Every time I ride through the Colovian Highlands or stroll through the Nibenay Valley, I feel at ease and comfortable. But something inside me aches and feels like crying. Alone.

P.S. I know this feels too melancholic and d33p for a game that's basically a meme now, but I'm a person who cherishes videogame experiences way more than the real ones. Also I can't deny the emotional baggage that I have attached to it. However, I genuinely think that people kind of forgot how nice it felt to play this game. The memes are funny, yes, but I genuinely feel that the province of Cyrodiil holds way more depth than just that.

[wispstalk]

What could winter be like in the mountainous areas of Cyrodiil?

where is that quote from one of the game devs who was like "We had really unique flora and fauna planned out for Cyrodiil....and then Todd watched Lord of the Rings" or something like that.

anyhow my headcanon is that the southern half of cyrodiil is more tropical while the northern half is temperate. Cheydinhal/the western Valus mountains get the tail end of the southern monsoon season, so its forests are damp and rich. Occasional wet, heavy snows and never too bitterly cold.

Bruma resembles the temperate rainforests in Bhutan/Nepal or the Southern Appalachians. Lots of broadleaf trees, but pines and rhododendrons leave splashes of color among all the bare trunks. The higher you are in the Jeralls, the more likely you are to get buried in snow.

North of the subtropics around Kvatch and Skingrad, the Colovian highlands have a drier climate and more evergreen forests. Savannas, scrublands, and pine barrens. The wind is unforgiving, and below-freezing temperatures are the norm. Sometimes too cold even for snow.

[bretongirlwrites]

Sorry if someone asked this before. Are there any headcanons you have about the other accents of Cyrodiil? For example, the northern regions as opposed to the Gold Coast or the southern ones on the border with Anequina and Argonia

On restarting Skyrim recently I noticed some Imperial soldiers sound (faux) English, while other Imperials are Canadian (General Tullius) or American (random NPCs and shopkeepers)

skyrim's accents are all over the place honestly... but i will point out that a lot are real english accents since i think gideon emery is english? and in terms of my own conception of cyrodiil i think RP is ideal for representing the idea of a standard accent and dialect

as for regionally in cyrodiil, i think i've spoken about it a bit before... martin's accent means that i basically see the gold coast as having the gamut of yorkshire accents

and places like skingrad and the city feel like they'd have thriving but quiet regional accents under the imposed standard. like in london and oxford

and at one point i allocated geordie to bruma, simply because dialects around newcastle are so influenced by scandinavian languages

the other thing with cyrodiil is how sparse the countryside appears to be outside of the cities. that feels like an artificial game mechanic. the cities may be melting pots but there's sure to be a patchwork of dialect all around, and in more remote regions, things which start to feel like different languages. sheep farmers up in the colovian highlands who have to have subtitles when they come to the city. perhaps caecilia ought to do an atlas linguistique de cyrodiil...

soldiers though are doubtless going to have a dialect that's closer to a norm, if not the norm. think there's a couple of studies in french at least about how the world wars homogenised accents more than a bit. because they brought together men from all over the place and forced them to understand each other

[thewirely]

The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) community is on the edge of their seats as ZeniMax Online Studios unveils "Gold Road," the latest chapter in the ESO saga, during the ESO 2024 Global Reveal. This new expansion, steeped in the rich lore of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, promises a nostalgic yet fresh experience for fans and newcomers alike. Set in the West Weald region, familiar to Oblivion enthusiasts, Gold Road offers a diverse landscape split into three unique biomes: the autumnal forest of the Gold Road, the lush Valenwood Annexation jungle rainforest, and the rugged Colovian Highlands. Skingrad, the central hub city, will anchor the expansion, deepening the connection to the beloved Oblivion. The expansion's narrative picks up where the Necrom chapter left off, introducing players to the enigmatic Ithelia, a character shrouded in mystery with no recollection of her past. This continuation of the storyline enhances the depth and continuity of the ESO universe. A groundbreaking addition to the game is the introduction of Scribing, a precursor to Spellcrafting within the game's lore. This new system allows players to collect and customize skills, adding layers of complexity and creativity to their builds. Players can modify the primary, secondary, and tertiary effects of their skills, offering a new dimension to gameplay. This feature is integrated into the Weapon and World skill lines, ensuring accessibility for all Gold Road owners. Furthermore, the update allows players to personalize the visual effects of their skills and abilities with 22 styles available at launch, all unlockable through gameplay. 2024 is set to be an exciting year for ESO fans, with the addition of two new dungeons in March - Bedlam Veil and Oathsworn Pit - before the launch of Gold Road on PC and Mac on June 3, and on PlayStation and Xbox consoles on June 18. The year will also see significant updates, including housing-related features in August and a new PvP feature along with two new companions towards the year's end. Gold Road’s Scribing system has been a topic of much anticipation and speculation among the ESO community. This system, a fictional precursor to spell crafting, enables players to collect and customize unique skills called Grimoires. These Grimoires, embedded with primary, secondary, and tertiary effects, can be further enhanced with socketable Scripts, promising a revitalization of the combat system and offering new opportunities for diverse builds across all classes. This new chapter also promises a range of new content, including the usual mix of quests, delves, points of interest, and a new 12-player trial called Lucent Citadel. Additionally, the final DLC of 2024 will introduce fresh NPC companions, enriching the storytelling and gameplay experience. The West Weald region, the setting for Gold Road, is a sizeable area, offering diverse environments for players to explore. The expansion’s storyline will delve into the politics of the “Recollection,” a faction of Bosmer, and their association with the 18th Daedric Prince, Ithelia, introduced in the Necrom chapter. This development is particularly significant as it expands the Daedric Pantheon, a core element of The Elder Scrolls lore. For long-time fans and new players, Gold Road is more than just an expansion; it's a bridge to the broader TES universe. With its rich narrative, innovative gameplay features like Scribing, and a deep dive into the series' lore, Gold Road is poised to be a pivotal chapter in The Elder Scrolls Online, marking an important milestone as the game approaches its 10th anniversary. As players eagerly await the release of The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road on multiple platforms, it's clear that the journey through Tamriel is far from over, offering new adventures, mysteries, and magic at every turn.