#eso isobel veloise

[stephlynndrawings]

Fulfillment of a prompt from the @nirnwrote discord server!

Prompt:  “you’ve made your choice so live with it” Given to me by @blossom-adventures

No content warnings that I can think of.

Getting gifts from friends is a long-time tradition between the races of Tamriel… However, one hardly ever got pieces of Dwemer technology by the time the Second Era rolled around. That didn’t stop Neramo from gifting his favorite adventuring buddy, the Vestige, a special piece of technology he came to own. 

The Vestige, naturally, was over the moon at such a big gift, but when she asked how she was supposed to use it, the Altmer simply shrugged before leaving to catch his ship, leaving the Bosmer and her companions lost on what to do.

Several days later (after moving the giant automaton to a place outside of the town they were staying in) the group gathered around the golden contraption, each having their own ideas on how to use it.

“Maybe it has lasers? That would be useful.” Ember suggested, tapping her claws on her staff. Isobel and Bastian shared dubious looks while Mirri inspected the front of it.

“It clearly is meant to be sit in, but is it just a chair? If so, it wouldn’t have the legs.” Isobel mused, though with her lack of experience with Dwemer creations, she was very doubtful. Mirri looked up and over at the Breton, her lips quirked in a way to show she was considering the suggestion. 

“That may be it, but there’s clearly an engine of some kind under this decorative piece.” The Dunmer stated, gently rapping her knuckles on the golden metal. Wylarin, who had been under the machine inspecting what she could, suddenly sat up eagerly, slamming her forehead into the hull of the spider-craft. The other four winced in sympathy, but otherwise waited for what their friend had to say so suddenly. 

“That really hurt- Anyways! I know what this is! Or at least what it most likely is. Based on the parts and how they are used, this is essentially a giant Dwarven spider. And this-” She paused to clamber on into the front seat before motioning to the bent rod sitting in front of her, “Is most likely used to steer. It’s a mount! Like a robotic horse that two people can ride at once! Except it’s a spider, but still.” She grinned at her friends, her eyes sparkling with joy and excitement.

“Darling, do you have any idea how to use it? Or turn it on?” Bastian asked, his amused look laced with concern. 

“I imagine the steering apparatus is the controls, but as for how to turn it on, there’s a slot that’s perfect to put a soul gem into.” The Bosmer explained, pulling her bag up onto her lap to rummage for a soul gem. Once she had one, she carefully placed it into the slot. Immediately, the dull blue markings on the front lit up and the clearing was filled with the familiar sound of Dwemer machinery at work. 

Wylarin let out a sound that was a mix of a scream and a cry of joy, her face looking like a child on Saturnalia. 

“It works! Try moving it, try moving it!” Ember cheered, just as excited as Wylarin. Mirri was excited as well, but Isobel and Bastian were much more wary of the vehicle. 

Wylarin shifted in the seat to get more comfortable before grabbing both sides of the steering mechanism, a determined look set on her face.

“Alright, here goes nothi-” She cut herself off with a shriek as she pushed the rods forward all the way, sending the spider off at high speed. Right off a hidden ledge.

“Shit!” Bastian cried out, pulling his staff out of it’s holster as he ran with the others to where Wylarin disappeared. When they peered over the ledge, they saw the spider upright and still powered up with Wylarin still seated looking perfectly fine if not a bit startled. When she felt the stares of her friends, she looked over and smiled at them brightly. Bastian sighed and put his staff away, shoulders slumping in relief. 

“Maybe someone should ride with you and let you know if you’re gonna run off a ledge again.” Mirri suggested, jumping down from the ledge to better assess if her partner was alright or not. It seemed the other three companions took her suggestion and action as her volunteering herself because they all sat down and got ready to watch what could happen.

When she realized her mistake, the brunette whipped her head around to stare at her other partner, looking at the smug looking Imperial with a look of betrayal, “Basti, you can’t really think I was volunteering, where you?” She asked, her tone laced with mock offense. 

Bastian narrowed his eyes at his two partners before smiling coyly at Mirri, “You’ve made your choice so live with it”

[ilona-art]

ESO Companion Portraits

[selenesweb]

wanted to share my companion's outfits (sorry for the shitty image res)

[feykrorovaan]

Do you guys ever think our companions in ESO get freaked out the first time they see the Vestige rez, or do you think they just chock it up to magic and move on?

[itsfennix]

I had far too much fun generating these…

Verandis, bursting into the room: You two are having sex!

Fennorian, not looking up from his book: Really? Eilíse, why didn't you tell me? I would have put my book down.

~~

Eilíse: Love is weakness and an evolutionary mistake.

Gwendis: You are literally making a Valentine's day card for Fennorian.

Eilíse, pointing their hot glue gun towards Gwendis: You're on thin fucking ice.

~~

Eilíse: I have so much energy, I want to run a marathon or commit a crime... which should I do?

Fennorian: Please don't get arrested.

Eilíse: No promises! <3

Gwendis: Why not both? Get creative!

Eilíse: Wonderful suggestion, thank you.

Fennorian: Please don't encourage them, Gwendis.

~~

Gwendis: I told Eilíse that their ears turn red when they lie.

Fennorian: But they don’t…

Gwendis: No, but now I can do this.

Gwendis: Hey Eilíse! Do you love Fennorian?

Eilíse, with their hands over their ears: No.

~~

*at 3am*

Lyris: *runs into Fennorian's room and turns on the light* Wake up sleepyhead!

Fennorian: *wakes up* Dude!

Lyris: *cackles*

Eilíse: *sits up from where they were sleeping behind Fennorian* What the fuck, Lyris?

Lyris: *jaw drops* Wait WHAT-

~~

Isobel, to Sharp and Eilíse: *holding knife out in front of her* Are you or are you not an enemy of the people?!

Sharp: ...

Eilíse: …

Sharp: That is such an open-ended question.

Eilíse: Yeah, it really depends on a lot of different factors-

~~

Lyris: I like your top, Fennorian!

Eilíse: I have a name, you know.

Fennorian: *sighs* Why. Why are you like this.

~~

Lyris: So, how long have you and Fennorian been together?

Eilíse: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Fennorian and I are not together. No. No.

Lyris: Really? Sixteen “no”s? Really?

~~

Lyris: So what, now I'm just supposed to do everything that Fennorian does? What if he jumps off a cliff?

Eilíse: If Fennorian were to jump off a cliff, he would have done his due diligence regarding the height of the cliff, the depth of the water, and the angle of entry. So yes, if you see Fennorian jump off a cliff, by all means, jump off a cliff.

Lyris: You jump off a cliff.

Eilíse: Gladly, provided Fennorian did first.

[dragonknightofsummerset]

I know there are other things that make them lose rapport, but these seem to be very common ones me and my brother do, as well as what I see people complain about in zone chat.

[defectivegembrain]

Me: I should take Isobel along for my playthrough of Greymoor because she'll like seeing Lyris

Isobel: *asks me if Lyris is seeing anyone over and over just within the prologue quest*

[julei-zu]

I wanted to share my companions' outfits that I have curated for them ✨

--- (not me putting effort into backgrounds and waiting for the sunny weather to take a pic. And listen, I know I left Azandar with his default outfit but his wardrobe and colors already match his enthusiastic personality)

[sylvienerevarine]

Companions in ESO are like: "would you like to be best friends with a pompous PHD candidate from another dimension? How about a dorky lesbian knight who loves romance novels? Perhaps a catgirl version of Oliver Twist?" and we're all like "yes please"

[swirley1618]

[harlequinalis]

Finished Firesong, the zone was very pretty and the final boss fight was honestly really cool but I will never forgive them for that stupid plot twist at the end <3 anyways enjoy some doodles of these two very lovely tanks who zenimax won't let me kiss (yet 👁👄👁🔪)

[varlaisvea]

respectfully? ma'am? your reasoning for holding a tourney where the prize was marrying your daughter is the absolute stupidest thing i have heard in my travels. and let me just say, i am the vestige of coldharbour and i have heard some monumentally stupid shit in my travels. this is it. the dumbest shit i've heard.

[bam-monsterhospital]

the "dork"ening

whenever i remember isobel is a companion you can cart around with you in elder scrolls online, i'm always reminded of the huge deal they made about her when high isle was being advertised. she's voiced by laura bailey, who not only is a prolific voice actor but also voiced the fandom-favourite follower, serana, in elder scrolls v skyrim.

before coming out, zos and any advertising surrounding isobel would always describe her as a "dork". it felt a little weird, hearing the specific use of the word "dork" again and again without further elaboration. Isobel is a "dorky" companion. What does this mean? Is she socially awkward? Is she overly obsessive with becoming a knight? Does she know niche factoids about select special interests?

No. none of those things are the case.

Oh, okay, so what does it mean then? What's isobel's deal, what's she about, what's her personality?

Nothing!

So why the continuous description of "dork"?

WELL. Seems like "dorky" is the new "quirky" shorthand for not actually writing a character.

Which is so weird because isobel has TONS to work with! Her introduction/recruitment quest shows character, shows all sorts of things:

She's a jock. She doesn't like the idea of spending time in a library looking through books. She doesn't seem to particularly like books BUT she does like stories. She has a childhood friend who she would do anything for who totally isn't her girlfriend you guys omggggggggg, winkwink nudgenudge. And my favourite part, she hems and haws and frets over having to come up with a poem all throughout the recruitment quest, but at the end she's like 'no shaddup, i came up with one don't you DARE LAUGH aaaaaaaaa', and then reads the monstrosity like ---ohhhh wait for it --- an actual dORK? WHAT? It's awkward and horrible and she KNOWS, she knows aaaaaa she's so awful at poetry and hates it but wow she still did it and you didn't even have to help her and she puts up with the embarrassment and just boulders on through it and you kinda feel proud of her for doing that when she was dreading it so much, and WHAT IS THIS, CHARACTER?!? IN A ZOS GAME? IN MY ELDERSCROLLS?

But then when you bring her around exploring with you, all adventurer-like (because the game only sees your character as some nebulous 'adventurer'), all that potential is washed away in favour of worshiping the ground you walk on, and we get the absolute. worst. lines. of nothingness.

like this! :

"I can't wait to explore this place! I know, I know. I'm strange."

This single line will not leave my head. It rots me. It rots me to my very core.

In a game centered on exploring where the writing deliberately refuses to see you as anything other than an adventurer who explores, with a function like the companion system where the entire premise (even IN THE WRITING) is you are joined by an npc to explore and the npc knowssss exploration is what they signed up for and is always the exact reason they join you at all...

the writers decided isobel should make this quip about being quirky because she likes exploring.

In a vacuum, the sentence is fine. Hell, it even has the whisperings of potential characterization like "Oh, why do you think that's strange?" and "you're so quick to dismiss it like people have told you you're a weirdo for voicing it before". But we don't get that here. This sentence by itself does. not. work. here. It does not work for the game, for the mechanics of companions, or even the individual "reason" (it's always the same reason) this particular character is exploring with us. That's literally what we're doing right now in this screenshot, we're exploring! This does not work!

Instead this line reads as self-congratulatory and out-of-touch with reality (on both isobel and the writers' parts)... which could be an interesting path to explore, but that's not what the writers intended with this. They intended this line to set isobel apart and above the crowd as an explorer... in a game about exploring.

Honestly it reminds me of the serana line that drops a lampshade on her backstory, making the character come off as "i'm not like other girls" and written by an idiot. That's what this line feels like. It feels like a window into the writers' brains when making this character: like they feel they're breaking new ground and making this character oh so special, when instead they're just playing with cardboard.

I haven't adventured long enough with isobel to unlock her friendship quests (but i have an idea of what circular path they'll go), and there's just so much more about her writing that turns me right the fuck away. It's honestly so disappointing (especially after all the hype-mongering) when we get tidbits of an interesting character who just loves the thrill of adventure and has a big major crush on tolwife lyris. It's a huge letdown.

[feykrorovaan]

I wish you could pose companions/houseguests in your house in ESO. In Skyrim they can walk around your house, sit,eat,and sleep. Why can't our friends in ESO do the same?Yes, they have idle animations,but they're just forced to stand and or walk around. Don't they deserve rest after adventuring too?

[itsfennix]

Mirri is fr the only one who can tolerate all three of them…

————

Sharp with Isobel and Caraelin:

————

Eilíse trying to communicate effectively:

————

Vestiges resurrecting each other:

————

Eilíse after their big talk with Mirri in chapter six: oh my gods, I’m in love with Fennorian…

Mirri:

[dragonknightofsummerset]

Mail from Bastian, Mirri, Ember, Isobel, Sharp-as-Night, and Azandar! thought I'd remake this post.