#Anti-Altmeri Culture

[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

[nemenalya]

I finally found enough fitting names to be able to post the great overview of my Elder Scrolls characters and their family. The earlier generations up to my Vestige will be included in a names only form at some point. Anyways, this means that I will now very happily talk about the Llares clan at every opportunity.

Short descriptions of everyone (in order of birth for simplicity’s sake) under the cut because this will be a looong post (like almost three thousand words long):

Tavynu Llares

Grew up in Cheydinhal as the only child of her parents but later settled in Bruma after having joined and studied under the Mages´ Guild. Though she is born into minor Telvanni nobility she never considered going to Morrowind or actually getting involved in House business and much preferred researching in relative anonymity. She studies and teaches alchemy and has a certain interest in alteration but generally doesn´t employ too much magic into her daily life (not for lack of skill, she just doesn´t care enough). Despite having grown up among Men she still tries to teach her children about Dunmeri culture, language and religion. More often than not she leaves that role to her ancestors or her Morrowind-born husband, who she feels are much more suited to the task. She found her tragically early end during the Oblivion crisis and was buried in Bruma by her husband.

Delas Sareni

The youngest son of the side-branch of a minor noble family loosely associated with House Indoril; in other words an absolute nobody. With little talent or love for either fighting or statecraft he turned to the arts and ended up becoming a quite talented painter with a focus on traditional Dunmeri styles and religious motifs. He met his future wife at a festival for one of the Tribunal high holidays and ended up moving from Mournhold out onto the countryside to live with her. Some years later, he was rather surprisingly commissioned by a Dres trader to paint a mural in his Cyrodiilic estate and the pair, together with their young son moved to the Imperial City, where he grew to some fame among the Dunmeri diaspora.

Arvis Semoran

Grew up on the mainland coast of the Inner Sea without any special affiliation to the Great Houses. He joined a group of traveling merchants that first stuck to selling wares in different parts of Morrowind but came to realize that there was good money in selling their (not always legally exported) goods in other provinces. One time, the group did try to make it to the far west of the continent but the additional effort and dangers made going beyond Cyrodiil rather risky and unprofitable. After almost three decades on the road he met his wife when the group got unexpectedly stuck in Bruma over the winter. While he did leave he decided to trust his feelings and leave the merchant band when they next stopped in Bruma. His tries at being a stationary merchant worked only somewhat well, which gave him time to be the main caretaker of his and Tavynu´s twin children. Very early in the fourth era, after the death of his wife, he retired to relative anonymity in Morrowind and only kept sporadic contact with the twins as he tied to stay well away from his daughter´s political machinations.

Nalu Relyn

A retainer of House Dres who grew up on the plains of Deshaan, she became the personal guard and later trusted agent of a young Dres noble. As a very devout person she went on a number of pilgrimages over the years, including one to Mournhold where she met her Indoril husband. She still stayed loyal to her original House and convinced Delas to move back to the countryside with her as the cities unsettled her. Many years later her lord sent her to Cyrodiil to spy in and interfere with the business of some Hlaalu merchants that he had gotten into conflict with before. It was also him who arranged for her husband to be contracted to the Imperial City as a cover story. Nalu absolutely hated having to raise her son outside of Morrowind but was still ready to put her House´s needs first. She went back to Morrowind after the Oblivion crisis and the Red Year to help her much decimated House. While never a great fan of the Empire she truly put all her skills into the independence movement after her son´s death.

Mervyn Sareni

Born in southern Deshaan he moved to the Imperial City with his family at age seven. He is raised in a very conservative Dunmeri way and frequently comes into arguments with people from other races, especially as he grew older and started hanging out in shady bars with other young Dunmer. Those arguments often turned into fights and one night he half-drunkenly stabbed someone over a perceived sleight. His mother helped him come to terms with it but the murder left him cautious and even more avoidant of the guards. When they finally did arrest and deport him it is for continuous disturbance of the peace as the guards never bothered to investigate the death of a known drunkard. Once in Morrowind he continued getting into trouble and spentmost of his first weeks in run-down cornerclubs before managing to fall in with the Morag Tong during one of his clearer moments. Working for the guild helped break the monotony and sharpens his skills while keeping him out of the worst of troubles. He was good at the work but it made him restless and he only found peace when he got involved with the Temple and realized that he is capable of actively helping his Dunmeri brethren. He worked his way up in both organizations, managing to reconcile the two moral systems while firmly keeping to the Tribunal, the religion he was raised with. His beliefs were tested when he met Aluri, by then the rising star of House Telvanni, and over time learned about her involvement in the Nerevarine prophecy. He trusted her enough to try and keep both the Temple and the Tong off of her as well as possible, something that he continued to do during her rule as Hortator. The two of them married about a decade later and he stayed with her in Tel Uvirith and later Port Telvannis. Up until his death he never truly got used to her friendship with Vivec though, or the fact that his god lived with them.

Telvanni Aluri Llares

The older Llares twin; rose to power as the Great Hortator and Nerevarine. Despite growing up in Bruma, the twins were raised with the culture and stories of their people and often longed to see the country of their ancestors. Aluri always had more magical talent than common sense and already at a very young age grew frustrated with the slow progress she made studying under her mother’s friends in the Mages’ Guild. Remembering the stories her ancestors would tell them she convinced her brother to run off to Morrowind to find better tutelage with their House or in their god’s city. The two actually got somewhat far before their father managed to track down the trading caravan they had hitched a ride on. Afterwards, her family tried to give her greater access to the libraries and resources of the Guild, even though they stayed very concerned for her safety. On her visits to the Arcane University with her mother Aluri fell into a habit of borrowing complicated tomes for an indefinite amount of time. It was this behaviour that eventually saw her arrested by the guards, with the rest being history. Once thrown into the situation on Vvardenfell she first sought out the familiar camaraderie of the Mages’ Guild before realizing that she needed local allies. Hailing from the distant branch of a mainland Telvanni family she had little support in her House at first but she relished in working her way to the top. The prophecy always was more of a side note for her, an excuse to go digging around in ancient ruins and obscure cultures, which she could write home to her brother about to convince him to join her. Despite the power she gained from it she never forgave the Blades for trying to manipulate her and later took a decidedly anti-Imperial stance. After the events of the prophecy had played out she took a background role in Dunmeri politics with the actual power resting in the hands of the Grand Council. She served more as a figurehead and keeper of the law between Houses, which gave her enough time to focus on her studies and those duties of a Telvanni councillor that she couldn´t delegate to her Mouth.

Selin Llares

The younger twin and the one who actually enabled Aluri to live her crazy life. He had little interest in material possessions or combat magic and instead spent his time studying obscure histories. When his sister invited him to Morrowind he settled in Tel Uvirith with her and focused his studies on Dwemeri texts and artefacts that she brought him from her travels. In a way she kept him in a golden cage, always protective of him and listening to his opinions but at the same time saddling him with duties and projects that would keep him from exploring the island himself. His existence added some further confusion to the entire prophecy as the twins often said that they shared one soul, which threw those who actually believed Aluri to be Nerevar incarnate into wild speculations about his role in the prophecy and resulted in some historical inaccuracies between reports. Selin served as his sister’s representative and spokesperson when she was away, basically running the day-to-day affairs of the tower, and later raised both his nieces almost on his own with occasional help from Alouri’s close friends.

Quarminir

The middle child of an Altmeri merchant family with a culturally somewhat frowned upon drive to make their way up into the higher ranks of Summerset society. He received a thorough education and has some skill in the magical arts but much prefers to spend his time talking philosophy, diplomacy or just talking in general. Once he was more than halfway into his second century he finally found an excuse to travel out of the Dominion territories, ostensibly to look for new trading opportunities for his family. After spending some years in different provinces he found perhaps the most unfortunate time to visit Skyrim and his old friend Ondolemar in Markarth. He did however end up meeting his future wife when she barged in on one of their conversations. Despite her not being an Altmer her was quite enamoured and glad to meet her again at a celebration in the Thalmor embassy. He greatly enjoyed the feeling of freedom he had so far from home, even though he sometimes missed the comforts of the Isles or feared for his family’s reputation, and ended up marrying Mehresa and staying with her. Afterwards, he spent his time building connections and writing about both the current political situation and lighter topics, such as children’s tales or the differences between Altmeri and Dunmeri family structures.

Telvanni Mehresa Llares

The daughter of powerful people she mostly grew up in Port Telvannis but often travelled to Blacklight and other cities with her mother. After she lost her father before age ten her uncle stepped in and raised her, while her mother grew more distant and threw herself into her political duties. Nonetheless, and possibly out of guilt over her absence, her mother made sure that she always had skilled teachers to give her a thorough education on anything she showed interest in, including strategy, geography, magic and different languages. She ran into the Imperial ambush and her own prophecy as the last Dragonborn after visiting her grandmother’s grave in Bruma and deciding to take the scenic route through Skyrim back to Morrowind. Deciding that it was time for her to actually build a life for herself away from the direct influence of her family she started making her case at different courts to prove her worth and gain her own allies. She tried to stay away from the civil war as she neither liked the Stormcloak’s view nor wanted to help the Empire that they had just thrown out of her home province. Instead, she spent a lot of time researching with the College or travelling the land to find possible ways to control and grow her Thu’um. When the Blades got in her way she gladly continued her mother’s feud with them and sold them out to the Thalmor, a decision that lead to her meeting her future husband. For the time being she enjoyed her life in southern Skyrim where she has built something of a Dunmeri commune as encouragement for her people to finally help themselves instead of lamenting about the Nords. Nonetheless, after having to strike more than one deal with Hermaeus Mora she always feared that one day she would give in to the thrall of knowledge and leave behind her family to get lost in the depths of Apocrypha.

Telvanni Khesra Llares

Her birth was surrounded by controversy, especially as her mother refused to share the identity of her father with anyone beyond her closest family. She got along very well with her half-sister Mehresa, despite their age difference of about eighty years, and would have gladly accompanied her to Bruma and Skyrim if she hadn´t just started her apprenticeship. Finding a master among the highest ranks of House Telvanni had been easy enough for her at the end due to both her natural talent and her mother’s influence, but it came at the price of the ostensible freedom her sister enjoyed. Still,Khesra was always driven by the desire to make her way to the top of their House and the promises of power and longevity that came with that path, and was more than willing to make those sacrifices. And even though she made a point of showing that she could make it by her own cunning and skills only, she recognized that she shouldn’t disregard her family’s influence and expertise. So she made it a point to meet up with her family before or during her travels, which basically meant whenever her master decided to send her out to do research or run errands for him.

Areyne Llares

The eldest and most Altmeri looking out of her sisters she unsettled her paternal grandparents the most but was gladly accepted by her mother’s family. She loved spending her time at Lake Ilinalta during her youth and later developed a great interest in the sea and sailing. When her family realised this they sent her to her maternal grandmother who first organized for her to join a crew to learn under and then helped her acquire a ship of her own. Using her mixed heritage to her advantage as far as possible, she started trading luxury goods with the Isles, both through her grandparents and on her own. With her colourful stories and exotic looks she enjoyed the attention of young Altmer ladies unhappy with their strict societal norms, which didn’t exactly endear her to their families.

Sedris Llares

The unruly middle child of the family she always had a certain desire to get around and travel. As a compromise, her mother convinced her to stay at home at least until she developed some skills in weapons and magic to defend herself, and even afterwards often asked her to not leave entirely alone. She went and traversed first Skyrim and then Morrowind before joining a mercenary band for a little while. After a few years she started chafing under their commander and simply left one night when they were between contracts. When she arrived back at her family’s home, she had a long discussion with her mother and decided to go and find some inner peace in meditation with the dragons, before she eventually gave up and ran away again to make her way to the west.

Telvanni Vesryn Llares

Currently the youngest member of her clan she was also the only one of the three to show any interest in being an active and ranking member of their House. Gifted with magical talent, a boundless curiosity and most importantly a healthy appreciation of safety measures she managed to learn a lot from accompanying her mother to the College during her youth. Before long and with her sisters already on their way to build their own lives she begged to be allowed to go and study under her grandmother in Port Telvannis. The two quickly worked out that she would later have to find another master for an actual apprenticeship but still enjoyed working together. She also developed a very close relationship to her aunt who introduced her to some of the finer details of life among the Telvanni. Some of her family members were a bit disappointed when she showed great interest in becoming a mycologist instead of striving for greater power but most just accepted it as youthful folly and provided reserved support while trying to nudge her into other fields.

[ansu-gurleht]

theres something almost poetic about high elves living in orsinium. idk maybe is just me but they came from the same stock. The orcs were once aldmer just like them. It's almost like they've come home again. Finally reunited after so long

i like this, but it really is so much more nuanced than this, i think.

mainly, there’s the question of if you can even consider it a reunion if they’ve been separated (and in the case of the orcs, changed) for thousands of years and developed in completely different cultural directions. this point has multiple facets:

don’t you think several orcs, despite the fact that they themselves are “pariah folk,” resent altmeri presence in their home, even if they were minority refugees? no doubt conspiracies about them being undercover thalmor operatives would abound. 

it’s too easy to give too much credit to the orcs, just because we love them. they’re just as capable of the same evils and prejudices as any other race. they are not always perfectly adherent to the principles that founded them. i think that in many orcs’ minds, regardless of status as “outcasts,” orcs are still held above all others. there is no doubt a conservative faction in orsinium that reflects this belief. 

(this post turned long so uh.......clicky)

however, i think that there may be a feeling of some kind of ancestral victory or pride in having altmer fleeing to orsinium for safety. 

imagine the reverse scenario: orcish (or dunmer, even) refugees flee to summerset, and are somehow (however unlikely) taken in and “accepted”. these two races, whose inceptions were based in a profound rejection of the high elven society, would no doubt feel despair. after all their ancestors fought for, they have been forced (even by circumstance) to return “home.”

a good real world analogy for this would be finally moving out on your own, ready to be independent, to get away from your parents, but having to move back in with them a few months later. 

i suppose, in this imaginary scenario, that there’s an argument the reverse could happen, or at least coexist: their time displaced in this abandoned ancestral home might strengthen their resolve and belief in the principles that guide them. especially for the orcs, who would no doubt feel completely alienated from altmeri society, and often treated no better than the goblins the high elves have been known to enslave. 

now, this imaginary reverse scenario to altmer living in orsinium isn’t quite equivalent. perhaps its real-world analogy would be your parents having to move in with you, and finding out that you’re actually independent and doing well for yourself, despite disavowing all of their rules and beliefs and ideas of success.

the altmer have always been a rather uptight and mopey people (except for when they’re all “we’re better than all of you”). i’m sure the mopeyness would follow them, but their self-proclaimed superiority would wear thin. if the loss of divinity from creation was the first major loss, this loss of home and values would be the second (or perhaps one in a series, i’m no expert on altmer lol).

think of how some of these altmer must surely feel: they have had to flee their homeland for the den of monsters. aside from memories of the united empire of the late 3rd era, many may have never met an orc. now they live among them, are sustained by them, often subservient to them, these things less like mer and more like goblin-ken. of course not all feel this way, for surely these refugee groups reached some sort of consensus to escape to this city. but it must come as a great shock.

and, as i said, many orcs, even if not outright resentful or distrustful of the altmer, likely at least look down on them. “this is what your folly has wrought” and that sort of thing. of course, Not All Orcs, y’know. i’m sure a lot of orcs are fine with the altmer, and support them as fellow outcasts. whether worship in the 4e orsinium is of mauloch or trinimac matters little: mauloch would say “support the refugee,” trinimac would say “these are my people too, i am like them.”

but sadly, if real world history is anything to go by, it’s not impossible that those anti-altmer sentiments could develop into a nationalist movement, perhaps spearheaded by some brash new king. i’ll assume that’s not the case, but the point still stands: orcs are still mortals and capable of the same sins.

it’s interesting to wonder how exactly the cultures would interact, though. would the refugees ultimately become mostly absorbed into orsimeri culture? would they be able to maintain a subculture in orsinium? would they serve as a counterculture, perhaps reinvigorating trinimac worship? would they end up as separate as possible until they are able to return to their home, post-dominion? i’m not really sure! but there’s a lot of really fun options to play with, i think.

[naernon]

even though everything else renders TES6 set in summerset as beyond unlikely and it feels too soon toput an end to the thalmor shit, i sometimes like to think about a TES set in summerset anyways. i’ve mused about how i loved the... contrast in eso: summerset that a lot of others have touched upon, too, how a land so lovely and beautiful held such a generally bigoted and standoffish culture.

take that, magnify it by 10x, and you have the general mood and tone of what TES6: summerset would be like. from my prior knowledge of its state in the fourth era i’ve automatically jumped to saying “summerset is fucked” even though i wasn’t 100% on it, but now, knowing more details about the night of green fire confirms it to me. if it’s so bad that a “large number” of refugees fled summerset-- if it’s so bad that the thalmor go beyond summerset to hunt opposition down-- i can not imagine the shambles that the society and culture of summerset are in. i still dont know a lot of lore but goddamn. does that make sense?

if the dichotomy between the darker aspects of altmeri culture + society and summerset’s outward appearance was already drastic in ESO, what with anti-aldmeri dominion sentiment on the rise and the daedric shit going on, how fucking bad would it be in the fourth era.

the effect of the thalmor and the full extent of their ideology, etc. at surface-level was so undeveloped in skyrim (to a dare i say unfinished extent) and i really want bethesda to really... GET it in whatever province they choose (ESP. if it’s hammerfell or valenwood. god. please.) but... ah. can’t get my hopes up

[bxynjolf]

👥

let me ramble thoughts about our peeps pls | always accepting! | @summergilded

WHERE DO I BEGIN 

Okay, so in regards to baby Brynjolf and Khidell, I’m partial to that period when Brynjolf starts learning to balance himself come being a team member? Like, as a kid, he’s more driven by ego and an insatiable need to please few figures in his own life. Like Khidell, he lacked a strong father figure, but not only that, he lost what remnants of a family dynamic had just a few years prior to meeting this wee Elf. So, instead of being all “get it done” and “kbye I’m going to leave you in the woods because you’re being a brat”, he’s more prone to keeping mild, ensuring he responds more with the encouragement HE needed when he first started thieving. Nobody gave him that push, however, so it’s this point he learns to be less of a lowkey kiss-ass and more of the “people’s man”. These are the beginnings of the dear, everybody-is-hired recruiter we see today.

MAN, I LOVE VAMPIRES. But, more importantly, I LOVE vampire Khidell! He’s a babe. I was mulling over random plot threads the other day though, and I couldn’t stop thinking about a twisted fates sorta deal. So, say it’s a few years into your v. 4/ Vampire Lord Khidell, yeah? Well, imagine if Lord Harkon managed to actually convince Khidell to block out the sun, essentially, letting vampires and monsters alike rule the “day”, and Brynjolf (and another few most likely!) are caught with the intent of becoming nothing more than human cattle? I’d love to see something where these bros reconnect and maybe have to do the wildest thing and restore the world to what it was prior and cure Khidell and this is a lot, but hey, Brynjolf is there for his best recruit. 

Brynjolf being roped into meeting Khidell’s dad, for whatever reason, and having to play Anti-Nord/Thalmer Empathizer gets me weak. He’s just feigning condescension towards his own and “apologizing profusely” over his “barbaric accent” whenever he speaks Altmeri to the lad himself. Naturally, it’s all bullshit, as Brynjolf as no strong political affiliation whatsoever. 

Khidell and Brynjolf having a talk after Mercer’s Betrayal, and it goes like how it should go, but with the added request of Brynjolf wanting to take Chillrend. It’s both out of spite and because I like the idea of a Nordic Tradition (possibly adapted from other cultures) carrying the notion of “you’re no man without your sword”. So, in a way, it’s Brynjolf final parting to Mercer’s memory, because now he’s stolen the last shred of his presence and made it his own. He’s not spiritual, that Brynjolf, but he can be a bit traditional every now and then.