#and it was mainly ELDER SCROLLS

[hawkp]

I was listening to an interview that Alexander Siddig did with Trek Geeks and this man said that he stayed up so late playing video games in the 90’s, and was so tired all the time on set, that the producers staged an intervention and were like “We’re going to support you no matter what your answer is but: are you on drugs?”

[sanguinarily]

[connortheconceded]

two waterfront residents fishing on lake Rumare

Click for better quality

[itshirohi]

Idk if it's just me (probably is) but I suffer from an awful lack of girlypop oblivion gifs (specifically from the Dark Brotherhood).

So! I decided to fix that. Enjoy :>

[tread-ever-litely]

TES PROTAGONISTS

So an idea I’ve had rattling around is doing little bios for my mainline Elder Scrolls heroes, enjoy.

The Elder Scrolls I: Arena

Name: Hadraniel (He/They)

An Altmer knight-paladin of Auri-El born in the capital of the Summerset Isles, Alinor. Would eventually go on to become a trusted member of the Septim Empire’s royal court, which of course would land them in prison after Jagar Tharn enacts his coup. Very traditionally chivalrous and heroic, as befits the kind of classic ‘stop the evil wizard’ plot that Arena had. Also uses grim humour to cope with his continent-spanning task. His fate is unclear, some saying he returned home to Alinor, others theorizing he went to reclaim the Battlespire for the Empire.

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Name: Kyani al-Shajar (She/Her)

A Redguard Bard from a small town in northwestern Hammerfell, not far from the city of Sentinel. Joined the Blades after an offer was extended by one of Uriel Septim VII’s sons who was visiting Sentinel where she worked for the Temple of Dibella and within the noble courts picking up rumours and the like. Her knowledge on Iliac Bay politics basically gave her an in. Cut forward to the events of Daggerfall and she’s put to the test investigating everything as the Emperor’s Agent. Does her best to be kind but also knows how to ‘work the system’ as it were. Her ultimate fate is unknown due to the time-altering effects the Numidium created.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Name: Zyarie (She/Her)

A Dunmer Nightblade from the Imperial City, she spent her childhood as an urchin and a thief barely scraping by. Coming into adulthood and she joined a local gang where she learned some magical skills and honed her aptitude for stealth and thievery further. This eventually landed her in hot water with the law after she was caught trying to break into the home of a member of the Elder Council. She gets thrown in jail for a few months until she’s shipped off to Morrowind and the events of that story pick up from there. Over the course of the plot she has flashes of memories that aren’t hers and with her getting the Moon-and-Star ring is fully given Nerevar’s memories — including his gruesome death — but she isn’t overridden, Zyarie is still her own person, just with another’s memories alongside hers. At the beginning she nearly outright rejects the idea of her being the Nerevarine, but overtime the memories become too clear and she slowly accepts it, with the help of her allies and friends. After the defeat of Dagoth Ur, and Zyarie sadly having to kill Almalexia, she would mysteriously fade from the public eye, and is rumoured to have left all-together, possibly to Akavir. Though, others say she travels Tamriel still.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Name: Llevana (She/They)

A Dunmer Rogue born in Narsis but raised in Cheydinhal, they were the child of a disgraced noble who was forced to leave Morrowind. Fell into a decadent crowd who turned out to be a minor cult of Mephala. There they learned the arts of stealth and how to speak smoothly, until in true Webspinner fashion, was betrayed by their former ‘friends,’ and framed for a crime they did not commit. Cut forward a few months to Uriel tromping up to them and doing the whole spiel, where the dashing disheveled rogue felt a strange compulsion to help the weird human man. Shenanigans and Oblivion Crisis ensues, Llevana gets the hots for Martin and they totally have some time together before he turns into a Dragon, blasts Dagon to bits, and becomes a statue. Llevana kind of snaps a little after this, vanishing into the Shivering Isles portal, and mantles Sheogorath entirely. Though from then on, uncle Sheo would begin to appear as a Dark Elf more and more to the common madmen.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Name: Ylva Frostborn (She/Her)

A Nord spellsword born in Falkreath but grew up in Bruma. Her father was a widowed blacksmith who served in the Legion during the Great War. She had a generally unremarkable childhood, hunting in the frosted woods around the city and helping her father, while learning some magecraft on the side as it was an interest of hers. Story old as time; she’s caught in the middle of a skirmish between the Imperials and Stormcloaks on the border, and taken prisoner. She escapes, and the events of Skyrim take place. Ylva is the most stoic of the heroes, though has the most with her on her journey (modded followers, team Dragonborn.) She eventually disappears from Skyrim, some say on an expedition to Atmora, others, that she dwells in Apocrypha. However she is said to return when Tamriel as a whole needs her.

[avizare]

I love Oblivion; I'm glad that they're changing it.

When Bethesda finally decided to remaster Oblivion, they had one of two options:

1. Try and remake the game to be as faithful to the original as possible, or

2. Try and remake the game with a fresh vision in mind

If they intentionally went for the second option and are trying to give the game a new art style --- a fresh creative direction --- then I'd argue that they're succeeding in their attempt, based on what we've seen, and I'm all for it.

I love Oblivion. It is a game that got me through some pretty tough times in my childhood. Like many of us, I can still remember the time when I was a little kid, swathed in blankets at the end of my bed in the dark of my room, emerging from the Imperial City sewers and being left in awe of Lake Rumare and the Alyeid ruins and the wonderous splendour that permeated every square millimetre of this game that we collectively adore.

It is with this love that I can honestly say that I'm happy that the remake has made creative changes. I'm happy that it has a new colour grading and that the creatures are different and that the Oblivion gates are new. I'm happy that they are making gameplay changes and adding content.

Not because I want Oblivion to change, but because I don't want Oblivion to be replaced.

There are reasons why this game has staying power. Like every TES game that came before it and, I'd argue, after it, it has its own charm; its own personality. Oblivion often feels like playing a moving painting, and while it does have some technical pains (I'm not such a die-hard purist that I don't mod the levelling system to bits) it manages to hold up to more modern games not by matching them on a technical level, but by surpassing them with the very 'X' factor that this series lives by; the same X-factor that has kept Skyrim chugging along all this time, and keeps ESO relevant and distinct in the MMO space, and keeps people coming back to Oblivion and Morrowind and even the games before it.

I'm talking about heart. Soul. This thing that not only Bethesda but every creative who touches this franchise can't help but instil into the end product. These games have always been a product of passion, and that passion --- that love and starry-eyed adoration --- is what pushes people to continue exploring and expanding upon this world. It's what keeps The Elder Scrolls' lore-scape alive, with people like Drewmora still pulling in audiences every time he releases a video to capture our imaginations once again, simply by delving into TES' guts to pull out another story to tell; by keeping the dream alive.

Bethesda could have just upped the texture quality, updated the physics and weather and lighting and called it a day; shove it onto modern hardware and say "there, we've done it, STOP asking now". Instead, they've gone in and changed... a lot. Just like how Morrowind doesn't feel like Oblivion doesn't feel like Skyrim, the Oblivion Remaster looks to me like it has been filtered through an entirely different creative lens. Just like how every TES game before it had its own vibe, so too does the Remaster, and I hope that they work with that beyond the surface level.

The Oblivion Crisis was a terrifying, horrifying time for the people of Tamriel, and with this new warmer, darker, more realistic tone, I really hope that they explore that. Imagine Lucien Lechance's hanging corps in Unreal Engine 5; imagine the death and destruction at Kvatch, or the Shivering Isles' Dementia region. The Elder Scrolls has some hardcore horror elements that are only really held back by Bethesda's restraint. But that's besides the point.

The actual point is that they could have just replaced Oblivion, but they didn't. They look like they have made a distinct reinterpretation of this game that we love, which will serve to not only elevate the remaster as a distinct product, but to also keep the original alive, in its own vein. The original Oblivion is going to remain its own product; its own personality, distinct from this remaster.

I can see myself playing the absolute hell out of this remaster, provided that they nail it. And yet, I can still see myself returning to the game that made my childhood, after the fact. And I think that's beautiful.

I also think that the state of this remaster will give us a good look at the state of Bethesda, ahead of the release of The Elder Scrolls: VI. There's no denying that they still have the practical chops for making an Elder Scrolls game, but I think that their approach to this remaster will be incredibly indicative of VI's quality. I really, desperately want to believe that Todd Howard and his creative team have the love in their hearts for this franchise, like we do. Because that's what makes these games. Not the physics engine or the combat or the magic systems; it sure-as-hell isn't the Creation Club, though I fully expect to see that, too.

This is a franchise that was built on creative freedom, both on the part of the developers and the players. We lost a fair bit of that in Skyrim. Now, they're remastering a game that did it right, and I can only hope that by looking back at their successes and what made them so great --- what made Oblivion so great --- that they are able to pull away from the shallowness that afflicted so many of Skyrim's systems. They took the right steps in Fallout 4, as far as deepening the systems from previous entries is concerned, though the dialogue took such a hit in that game due to its voiced protagonists that its almost difficult to look at its depth objectively.

And Starfield, the failure that is was, was struck down largely by its own lofty ambitions.

I want to see that ambition in TES VI. And as far as I can tell, we are already seeing it in the few images we've got of the remaster.

What I'm saying, above all else, is that there is hope.

Hope that we will be delivered a deeper, more unique TES experience. Hope that The Elder Scrolls maintains its ever-changing soul. The game entered full production (as opposed to pre-production) in 2023, and the longer they give the game to cook, the better. In the meantime, I'm happy for Bethesda to Take Me to Oblivion again.

[zuutiomi]

I missed torrenarco 😭💕

[baileybooradly]

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO Y'ALL!! <3<3<3

Outfit inspo:

[stellastra-scribbles]

For the OC ask game, 1, 6, and/or 20 for Thelasa!

Original Ask List

1) Does your OC have a voice claim, if so who?

For Thelasa, I imagine her being voiced by Keeley Hawes, who voiced Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider video games, particularly Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld (I never played Guardian of Light but I heard Hawes was in that one too).

Voice sample from Legend (28:00-29:06)

These three games were pretty big in my childhood gaming experience and I just loved Hawes' voice in these games, so full of wisdom yet pitching in a dry comment every now and then. That's how I pictured Thelasa in the late game, once the naivete wears off and she's in full-on adventurer mode~

I think one thing that makes Thelasa stand out in Morrowind despite being a Dunmer is her "Cyrodiilic accent," since "Dunmer with Western words and ways are also immediately identified as outlanders -- [they're] very sensitive to accents, clothes, and manners in Morrowind."

Patrick Stewart as Emperor Uriel and Sean Bean as Brother Martin have me settled on Imperials having British accents while TES3's Dunmer voices have me settled on them having American accents (I know this got flipped around in later in Oblivion and later games, but let me have this shhhhh).

6) If your OC is in a fantasy setting, what profession would they be in the modern day?

She'd probably be an archeologist, which is kinda what Thelasa does in the TES-verse anyway lol. Spend a chunk of the year exploring a bunch of tombs and ruins, then hole up indoors with her books and findings to write more books. Livin’ the recluse’s dream~

Well, Thelasa is only 28 during the events of TES III, so maybe she's getting her Ph.D. or something. She is of the scholarly type.

20) If they fight, what's their weapon of choice?

In combat, Thelasa primarily wields a sword (of the Long Blade skill line) in tandem with destruction magic.

She generally favors one-handed single-edged blades, but I’d say she’s equally skilled in double-edged and two-handed swords too.

I typically associate Thelasa with Goldbrand during the base game late Main Quest and early phases of Tribunal's Main Quest. I imagine that Goldbrand is one of the two artifacts she donates in "The Blade of Nerevar" quest. From that quest onward, she uses Trueflame (which comes in very handy during her Bloodmoon shenanigans).

Thelasa also wields magical staves (like the Staff of Magnus or a custom-enchanted Ebony Staff). While she would normally switch between sword and sorcery (thank you hotkeys), she can whack someone with the staff in case they get too close.

Thanks for the ask~

[tiredela]

not me digging up an old sketch of my vestige to practice faces lol

[connortheconceded]

A'tor's not too happy about rubbing shoulders with the nobility again, but information must be gathered.

[fangsandsoftgrass]

Working on a piece ive had concept notes on for a MINUTE that I finally have the energy to write LOL anyway it's like almost midnight and I'm v sleep deprived so excuse the rough nature of this little draft preview :33

[stickydeliciousbanana]

[zuutiomi]

Martin and my hok Altrus because they have special place in my heart ❤️✨

they were my first tes ship