#Altmeris

[caliblorn]

Sooooo does any of you have info on this project?

[nerevar-quote-and-star]

Trying to transliterate Leara's name into Quenya, and it somehow becomes, uh,

Lëarra

Which basically means "You Sealion!"

And I'm just, "Oh yes, this is That Sealion Woman, and she can breathe fire, as all sealions do."

If Leara, for any reason at all, needed an actual Quenya or Sindarin name for any fun Elvish shenanigans, we'll just use Calairie/Calearil, which is "Light of the Sea" in Quenya and Sindarin, and what Leara actually means.

[dalishthunder]

Thinking about how if the Dragonborn is Talos reborn and falls in love with an elf and demands peace how poetic that is

[stellarsightz]

What is the flavor of fear?

Sublime, my Brother.

(Alternate version under the cut)

[t00thpasteface]

Favorite daedric prince?

you get three guesses and the first two don't count! here's a hint: my ldb, vestige, and hok are all daughters of sheogorath 🧀

they're each the demiprince of shenanigans! it's a family title. gets passed down from one sister to the next every time there's an apocalyptic prophecy ready to unfold...

some suspect the madgod is strategically having magically-inclined offspring by somehow divining forbidden knowledge, whether it be from the elder scrolls or some obscurer oracle, to calculate the best place and time to set his spawn up for success. others think it's a mix of good genes and blind luck. a select few swear that he's the one making up all these prophecies in the first place. who's to say? at least these ladies have... gouda intentions.

[crysdrawsthings]

On unrelated "ramble about an OC note".

I do joke a whole lot about Deer being a dumbass, but while this is not entirely wrong, this is entirely correct either.

Like, yes, she is derpy, and is not exactly bright about many topics, and makes really questionable life choices (especially about sticking her nose in the all and every life-threatening situation she can).

But she is very much not an idiot.

She is competent in what she is doing, intelligent enough to excel with both her dragonknight stuff (and therefore a pretty complicated and unorthodox type of magic) and the whole adventuring/dungeon delving/being a fancy bodyguard thing. All of which naturally would require her to be, you know, smart enough to don't die.

[bellamontwasright]

The passive aggressive bimbofication of a transgender woman via daedric magic as a punishment for continual insubordination

[numbaoneflaya]

🏃🏃🏃 running back in here to ask for 💇👖🪞 for my poor little meow meow andros

YES pathetic tallboy hours

💇 What is your OC’s hairstyle? How do they maintain their hair? Do they wash it and/or cut it regularly? Have they ever dyed their hair?

-His hair is light golden blonde and goes down to the small of his back. In casual settings he lets it down, maybe a few small braids in it. He washes it regularly and takes great pride in it. In battle he wears it in a long braid or coiled up into a bun so it stays out of his face. He has specialty salves he rubs through it to keep it soft and smelling like flowers.

👖 What type of clothing does your OC generally wear? Why? Do they have any “signature” accessories?

--Hes a clothes snob and prefers to wear only things of the highest quality. He enjoys silk and velvet above all else, and is fond of things cut with lace or floral designs. An example for casualwear would be this

His favorite accessory would be the deep  blue brooch his mother gave him that matches his eyes. Hes very particular about what he wears and it took a long time for him to get used to wearing… ‘lesser’ clothing while out camping and sleeping in tents. 

🪞 How does your OC perceive themself? Do they believe themself to be attractive, unattractive, or average? Does their view of themself affect their self-esteem, or are they unbothered by their physical appearance? (If your OC does have things they’re confident or insecure about, what are they?)

-Physically he knows he is a very beautiful man. I mean, he was literally bred to be so. His parents were chosen together for being ideal altmer specimen and bred to produce offspring with the most desirable traits. Hes constantly fretting about his appearance and trying to be as attractive as possible and gets anxiety when he feels hes not living up to his own standards. Hes both very confident (arrogant) in his appearance and very insecure about every little detail. Hes made his public persona and outward appearance so important (due to his upbringing) that when its taken away from him he really doesnt have a lot of sense of self to fall back on.

[kyliafanfiction]

Given that Ayrenn wasn't a xenophobic isolationist piece of shit (quite the opposite) I'm rather stunned the ancestors did give her their blessing

[sunxdusk]

Sometimes, nightmares of his childhood will trigger Briengr's long-repressed memories of the day his biological family was killed by bandits. If the nightmare is particularly bad, Briengr will revert to an almost child-like state and instinctively cry out for his mother in a language he can't remember before it passes.

[caliblorn]

HI your vannimarco art fills my soul with joy <3 pls never stop

AAARGH happy to hear that ❤️❤️❤️ Thinking about them does the same to me 🥺❤️ there, dropped all my prior wips just to make this for u

[janearts]

Malborn & Delphine's absolute disparagement of the Dragonborn's clothing fits so well with Kelkemmeran and his lack of style. ("You can't go to a party at the Thalmor Embassy dressed like that!")

Couldn't resist designing some Nordic-Altmeri party clothes, though! uvu

[jiubilant]

gf and i were talking the other day about the college of winterhold (as we do). given that it accepted students from across tamriel at its height—and that its students from abroad seem to outnumber its local students in 4E 201—it's reasonable to assume that passable fluency in a few languages is expected of or at least preferred in prospective students:

cyrod—the lingua franca of the empire, and of its scholarship. a majority of the arcaneum's texts are written in cyrod; if you can't read it, you might have a bad time at the college

bretic—because of the bretons' great advancements in magic, it's common for mage-scholars to learn bretic in order to keep abreast of the latest scholarly publications from the isles. most bretic tracts are quickly translated to cyrod, but many mages pursue the study of bretic anyway for an edge over their peers

altmeris—ditto for altmeris, though scholarly correspondence between mages in alinor and mages outside it has dwindled to a trickle during the thalmor regime

nordic—this one's most useful in the village when you're trying to order a pint

most of winterhold's masters are fluent in at least three languages (this was common among scholars in antiquity). by 201, incoming students often arrive with much less knowledge of languages other than their own and face a steep uphill climb to understanding their study materials

[jag-rat]

Merethic Era Falmer (snow elves)

I was thinking of doing a mini project about Merethic Tamriel and a documentation of the people that were living there in a sort of semi-historic way.

Of course most of it would probably not be entirely lore accurate and there will be a lot of headcanoning but it's fun regardless. So enjoy the first addition to this series.

Falmer: The falmer during the Merethic era were the tallest mer race on Nirn growing on average between 6 - 7 feet. They were also the hairiest and bulkiest on average due to the cold climate. Their culture and practices during this time were very similar to modern day nordic ones due to the cultural overlap and assimilation on the atmorans end when they first arrived to Skyrim.

They valued strength and honour. Their original gods are long lost now however historians speculate the modern nordic gods could share traits with the Falmer's old gods.

In the early Merethic era the snow elves invaded and seized what is currently the Summerset isles. This is how it is assumed Auri-El (An Altmeri/Aldmeri God) was introduced to Skyrim and later would become the primary god in the snow elven pantheon.

Furs, beards, and long hair was the norm in terms of falmer fashion for a long time due to the extreme weather however the shorter hair and beardless look though impractical in such weather was popularised in later years. Again influenced by the fashion trends on the much warmer summerset isles.

Generally speaking when the Falmer weren't invading distant lands or declaring wars with other clans they were a prospering civilisation and in the early days were much like the nords not particularly interested in magic. This was partly due to the fact Skyrim has large iron deposits meaning smithing and weaponry were the most practical but that didn't mean there was no magic at all.

Healers generally could manipulate the weave and tell or even change the future. But when Auri-el was popularised magic become a much larger part of the Falmers lives being combined and assimilated into what they already had. For example enchanting among smiths and manipulation of elements specific to Skyrim (Ice magic mostly).

These changes didn't come fast of course, the falmer were quite stubborn. But over time a cultural shift did happen going from axe-wielding barbarians (As the Aldmer called them) to a slightly more tame society that we know a little bit today.

This didn't come without its challenges however as while the falmer were changing the Atmorans living there were not and in fact had taken on a lot of the cultural aspects or even gods of the traditional falmer. This inevitably was the beginning of the end as tensions got higher with these cultural and religious differences it ended the only way it could, in a war. And well, you know the rest.

Currently the ancestors of the Merethic snow elves thrive in cave systems below ground. While the nords toil above ground, the nords frost resistance of course being a product of falmer and atmoran ancestors. Regardless both societies still hold the values the early Snow elves held. Strength and Honour.

[tindomizel]

Trinimac, Creator of Death

In light of Douglas Goodall's new lore text, The Soft Doctrines of Magnus the Invisible, I have a new theory to propose: Trinimac, by killing Lorkhan, created death, and by extension Arkay. Hear me out. 

“Only the shape-taker's respiration emptied the arc for the thief's eye” 

This is a quote from Enantiodromia, the second part of the four-part text. The shape-taker is obviously Trinimac, who is known as such because of the Boethiah incident, and the thief's eye is referring to Arkay, who is associated with the Thief constellation. To me, this quote is implying that the former made room for the latter to exist (made it possible for Arkay to exist). Expanding on this, before Mundus death did not exist, the et'Ada were infinite and without limitations, which is why Lorkhan created Mundus; to teach their progeny, through the application of limit, how to become without limit. I believe that, when Trinimac killed Lorkhan at the behest of Auri-El, the concept was created. I find it highly likely that Lorkhan always intended for death to be invented, but I'm undecided on whether he planned for it to be created by Trinimac killing him. It does fit nicely into the theory that Lorkhan always intended for his heart to be ripped out– this heart is the heart of the world. Regardless, the first death was a murder.

That quote also somewhat evokes an elven ballad from ESO, Folly of Man, which laments the rise of mankind: “You'll learn what the Corpse-God wrought. Even Trinimac didn’t know, with his final blow, just how badly he'd been caught”. If Trinimac did indeed create death, based on everything we know about him, it's unlikely that he did so intentionally. 

‘Enantiodromia’ itself is defined as the tendency for things to change into their opposites. Is that not what eventually happened to Trinimac?

On Orkey and Trinimalarkay

Orkey is the Nordic god of death, considered a fusion of Arkay+Malacath by many, and is most known for “stealing the Atmorans’ years”, or shortening their lifespans, which is exactly what Trinimac would have done to every mortal by creating death. On top of this, in Nordic legend, Orkey summoned Alduin who “ate almost every Nord down to six years old”. This is interesting because Alduin is, of course, connected to Akatosh/Auri-El, who ordered Trinimac to kill Lorkhan. Trinimac and Auri-El are both responsible for the death of Lorkhan, and both Orkey and Alduin have stolen years away from the Nords/Atmorans. 

So who is Orkey? Is he Trinimac? Isn't Tsun Trinimac? Yes and no. For a long time people have tried to equate Trinimac/Malacath with Arkay through Orkey, and while I don't believe they're the same being, it does seem likely that they're connected. Arkay was created unintentionally by Trinimac through the murder of Lorkhan, and their relationship is somewhat similar to Peryite and Akatosh or Lorkhan and Namira. They are connected but Arkay is still ultimately a separate being. The Nords combined Arkay (‘death’) with his creator in an attempt to explain how he came into existence. This would explain how Tsun (who is theorised to be the Nordic equivalent of Trinimac) is present in the Nordic pantheon alongside Orkey, and how Trinimac is present in the Altmeri pantheon alongside Xarxes (who is theorised to be the Altmeri equivalent of Arkay). 

And finally, tri-nymic and Arkay, Zenithar and Stendarr.

“Trinimac is probably one of the least understood underpinnings of the whole pantheon. I like him that way, but I would study Mithras if you really want to find out more” -Michael Kirkbride

To summarise, Mithras was a Greco-Roman god, inspired by Mithra, the Iranian god of the sun, justice, contract, and war. Mithra was part of the Ahuric Triad, along with Ahura Mazda (the creator deity, god of the sky), and Apam Napat (god of water). Although this may be boring, I believe tri-nymic is simply a reference to the Ahuric Triad. The Ahuric Triad reminds me of Padomay, Anu and Nir as well. Padomay is, of course, Lorkhan and Anu is Auri-El. What if Trinimac is Nir (the catalyst, the first possipoint)? 

Finally, I am a big fan of @ayem's theory that Trinimac was always padomaic. Trinimac pretended to be anuic– and tried to be anuic– so that he could serve Auri-El, but ultimately he could only be Mauloch. The Roads seems to be about how one can only be what they are, which is a recurring theme in The Elder Scrolls.

“Hue is governed by momentum. As much as manifold Meridia loves the Blind, even orphans cannot change their color.”

This quote is obviously about Meridia, but I think it also applies to Trinimac. There are also countless parallels between Meridia and Trinimac: they were both champions of more powerful gods, they both tried (and failed) to be something else, and, in my opinion, Meridia assumed Trinimac's role as ‘warden’ of Nirn after his ‘death’.

Narratively, I think Trinimac accidentally creating death is a very important moment in his story. It's the moment that proves to him, without a doubt, that he will never be able to escape or erase what he is. He tried to be something static, unchanging, and yet he created death– the final destination, the unavoidable end. What is death if not the ultimate transition? No matter how hard you try, you cannot escape your nature.

Some more random thoughts:

In Nordic legend, Alduin/Orkey's curse is thrown onto the orcs by Ysmir Wulfharth, who is believed to be a Shezarrine. I feel like this could be a reference to how the orcs were also transformed/suffered when Trinimac was defeated by Boethiah (who hoped to avenge Lorkhan).

Additionally, Malacath's realm is the ashpit and ashes are associated with death.

[thana-topsy]

Aiden reminds me, visually, of Milo Thatch and I am living for it.

OKAY YEAH his design is so Milo Thatch-Coded, but it was completely unintentional. I just really wanted to draw a guy with big round glasses, and I wanted an Altmer who wasn't "traditionally" attractive by Altmeri standards. And then everyone started pointing out the similarities hahaha.

Aiden Artdump Incoming

These were the VERY first sketches I ever did of Aiden and Harukar when I was trying to conceptualize what shape I wanted HttS to take. And the Milofication is just too strong.

So I started making his hair a little more unruly, which I swear it gets curlier and curlier with each passing year. See 2022 vs 2023, (featuring Aiden looking a little slutty (honorific)):

And then, because he was unshaven in the later parts of the fic, the facial hair started making an appearance. But idk how I feel about it as a permanent part of his look. I don't think he likes the scruff himself... but I love seeing a usually well-kempt scholar looking all roughed up.

But overall the Milofication ebbs and flows. Sometimes it's there, other times it's not. Meanwhile scruffy!ponytail!Aiden has blossomed into his own quite nicely. He's getting chomp'd off screen.

Thank you for letting me ramble about my problematic nerd.