#morrowind lore

[igorlevchenko-blog]

Good people of Vos! Let me assure you: nothing maleficent has been happening in Venim Ancestral Tomb. There's no "infestation", undead or otherwise.

Please remain indoors until further notice.

[that-kookie]

Saved Tarhiel getting really embarrassed. One of my fave TES deep lore bits

[stupid-tes-nerd]

Started my first *real* Morrowind playthrough (that I will absolutely try my hardest to see through and finish) today. This is a 63 year old mother of two that’s managed to survive (and kill) a dark brotherhood assassin, made out with a rando on the road, set up a booty call between a thief and some random bitch who gives away gloves, and now she lives with a shirtless skooma addict. What is even happening. I love it here.

Oh and this is her drip currently (she looks like a mess):

[fallen-chances]

A mishmash of my various ashlander/velothi and house dunmer cultural things Ive developed over the years for ocs and rp. (forgive any lore mistakes and misspellings, it's late and I don't want to spell and lore check rn)

(contents: language and literacy in Velothi communities, the saving of verbal stories and memories by wise women, Velothi and Dunmer communities post-red year, dunmer language Renaissance Post-RY, the evolution of the term Outlander P-RY, fabric in dunmer communities and daedric spider silk.)

inspired by this post about dunmer literacy/education from @scrib-jelly (unrelated but @jiubilant has MANY good dunmer hcs as well :) I rlly love the one about chatty dunmer being nicknamed alit. her stories are also beautifully written and amazingly world built. truly makes the world of tes seem real.) Any House Dunmer worth his drakes can speak, read and write in Cyrodiilic, while many Velothi by the late third era and fourth era have verbal fluency in Cyrodiilic, reading and especially writing literacy is slim to none in their communities. Many picked up Cyrodiilic simply for ease of communication, as prior to the unification of the Great Houses and the First Council there were many regional variants of their language, and even after ALMSIVI became rulers, for a long time a standardized Dunmeris language was only taught by Great House tutors and in temple religious studies, so there were still many different dialects. It was the joining of the Empire and the introduction of Cyrodiilic as a widely spoken language that gave Morrowind a truly standardized speech, and later a standardized education under the careful tutelage of Almalexia's guidance. Dunmeris as a written language was all but non existent except in Temple writings and occasional Great House documents, and spoken in small corners within the House Dunmer. It lived on in Velothi communities, but they even still had their own regional dialects.

Velothi people were not out going to cities and temples to learn to read and write Cyrodiilic Many weren't even enthused to learn to speak it. It wasn't something they needed. All their stories and memories of their people were held by their Wise Women. Intricately, and carefully held. Wise Women hold the memories and stories of their predecessor, and their predecessor, and their predecessor (etc) in carefully enchanted amulets using secret magics only known to their peoples, the rituals of such kept only between a wise woman and her successor. She keeps these memories in an amulet (or any sort of small enchanted item easily kept on a person), and can call upon them at any time when needed, and when her successor is chosen she slowly transfers her stored memories to her successor's amulet. Reading and writing was unneeded in their communities, because their wise woman held every guide, every story, everything their community could ever need within her stored memories.

But sometimes, they can be lost. Magic fails. A wise woman is killed and her amulet stolen to pawn off for a cheap price, not knowing it holds the lifeblood of a culture within it. Many of these amulets, and also the magic to create them, was lost during the Red Year. House Dunmer refugees were treated bad enough, but fleeing Velothi we're even more lost. Spurned by their own people still, unable to unite in the grief of losing their homeland. Many Velothi wandered in fragmented groups, broken clans and tribes coming together in attempt to form new ones, but so many lost if they had no wise woman to guide them. It was the cause of many Velothi people assimilating with House Dunmer. They had no where else to go. It was hard enough to keep their lands fighting with House Dunmer, but competing with the House Dunmer trying to find new homes in distant lands meant many Velothi were forgotten and ignored.

But in other places, in these new Dunmer communities, so far from home, Velothi living among them became a blessing. They try to bring their home with them, inspiring a new wave of Nostalgia for how their people lived before ALMSIVI. Dunmeris started being picked up again in spoken word, and attempts to collect surviving written accounts of it (mostly Temple religious books and many of them had been defaced or destroyed after the fall of ALMSIVI), as ushered in an attempted renaissance of reconstructing the Dunmeris language. But as a people changes, so do their words, their slang. A common one that almost every person knows quite well, would be the disdainfully spoken, nose upturned, word of "Outlander."

Outlander. Definition: one who is not from Morrowind, whether by birth or raising. In the two hundred years since Red Year and the diaspora of the Dunmer people, many, many people have become Outlanders. In some communities it's become the new word to refer to the Youth, to the younger generation forced to live outside of a homeland they may never get to see. Some people take pride in being an Outlander, their family surviving the horrors of Red Year and successfully starting anew. Others despise to be called it, because they feel they are insulted by such a phrase when they have had no choice but to live so far from home. In some areas, Outlander has also become synonymous with anyone living outside of a Dunmer community. Dunmer in Windhelm's Grey Quarter turn their nose up at those who have given up their culture and values to live alongside the Nords outside the Quarter, calling them Outlanders. Many Dunmer living in Cheydinhaal, a hop, skip and a jump from the Morrowind border, frequently refer to the Dunmer born outside the city as Outlanders, as many refugees settled there, building up a new community surrounding the city. Much of the original city has been all but officially renamed "old Cheydinhaal", and many folks have come to call the Dunmer community that rose up around it "New Kragenmoor", in honor of the city across the border.

In a completely unrelated note and my inability to segue to it succinctly, after the red year there was a loss not only of course in life of people and animals, but the plant life struggled as well. Scathecraw was a plant commonly used for fabrics, much like a linen or hemp. It was cheap and easy to make, easy to weave, and held dye very well, which was a large setting point for the beautiful vibrant colored fabrics common in house dunmer and Velothi cultures alike. There were few fabrics that held color as vividly, and in dunmer communities the only thing to rival it was silk. Oh the multitudes of silk the Dunmer made. The benefit of the many insectoid creatures of Morrowind (and Vvardenfell specifically) came the many silk bearing creatures. The most common and widely used silk in Dunmer communities was silt strider silk, harvested after they exit their cocoons. The breakage of the silk for the striders exit wasn't of much concern, because the large size of the striders meant there was still plenty of strong, smooth silk left over to be used.

The rarest and most coveted of silks in Dunmer communities was that of daedra spider silk. Not only is it quite dangerous to collect, but the act of doing so is often reserved to followers of Mephala, trusted explicitly to collect the silk from her spider daedras. Daedric spider silk has difficultly holding dyes, so any use of it is often sparing for a plain white statement piece, to slow clearly you have the power, influence, and money to obtain such rare silks. It has been known to be used in blend fabrics, weaving it alongside others to make a strong, durable fabric. It has been used in many underlayers of armor, and is a well known fact that many Morag Tong uniforms have heavy usage of Daedric Spider Silk. The strength of the silk is so renowned, not only does it resist piercing better than many silks (which are known to do so well already) but it can resist slashing, and even certain magic at time. Working with daedric spider silk can be a hell scape of bent needles and regularly sharpening fast dulling blades, but then end product always presents a beautiful swath it fabric, so light and thin, and even sheer on occasion that one would think it's the lightest organza, not the strongest fabric known on Tamriel.

[lilethys-drelas]

“But the Tribunal had become as greedy as Kagrenac upon hearing of the power of the Heart and they coveted it. They made ritual as if to summon Azura as Nerevar wanted but Almalexia used poisoned candles and Sotha Sil used poisoned robes and Vivec used poisoned invocations. Nerevar was murdered.” -Michael Kirkbride

[uesp]

Did You Know: There are ~4,700 pages in the books throughout the Elder Scrolls series?

[sticky-palmed-worm]

rule number one of making lore accurate TES OCs is to do whatever the fuck you want

[abstractredd]

writing a tes fic and having to deep dive into the lore to make it accurate be like

[evorcy]

Me and my friends in a group chat were discussing our fantasy settings and characters and one came back with this pic 💀

[renthari-from-telvanni]

[ Revenge ]

> During the carnage, Sotha Sil arrived with Almalexia to Mournhold, and engaged the Prince of Destruction in the battlefield that was lit by a barrage of flame which fell indiscriminately. Almalexia plunged Hopesfire into Dagon's flesh and carved him from within. Meanwhile, Sotha Sil, enacting vengeance for Ald Sotha, used god-bronze whips to lash the Prince into submission.

In this battle Sotha Sil received his scar, which he later began to cover with a brass helmet. Mehrunes Dagon wounded him with his Dagger of the Final Wounds.

[igorlevchenko-blog]

Morrowind: Redoran Watchman

Along the rock-strewn roads Of Western Gash Through tracts of ash And streams of molten stone With pikes on guard They ride toward Blight-kissed Falasmaryon

P.S: The full set of armour of the Redoran Watch is featured in "Tamriel Rebuilt".

P.P.S: Digital painting. Made in Krita (5.1.5). Feel free to repost, re-upload etc.

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Finally, after a computer death, a reload, a redo and another reload I have finally finished this rendition of Nerevar. Finally!

He has fun hair, fun, fun hair. Nerevar deserves a Muffin Button, a Goku comeback and the love of Voryn. Poor guy.

This was fun, too many moons and stars.

[vidvana]

I know that nobody asked, but here's some Telvanni lore for all the foodies.

Before you begin this culinary journey, check out this post about ash yams it's essential.

-----------------------------

Telvanni Cuisine

It’s obvious that Telvanni have an extensive knowledge of fungi.  After all, they live in huge mushrooms and collect and plant numerous species from all across the Tamriel to use them in their potions. It goes without saying that their cuisine is also quite fungal. The commonfolk at Telvanni settlements as most of the Dunmer source their protein both from fungi* and insect meat. But Telvanni nobles love nurturing peculiar worldviews and traditions that differentiate them from other races - or even other Dunmer. One of them is their distaste for anything that doesn’t grow in soil. They frown upon hunter traditions of Ashlanders and stock-raising of house Redoran and regard them as “primitive” in contrast to the delicate art of growing fungi. The alchemy ingredients are an obvious exception from this rule, but in general as their occupations don’t usually include menial work, their light and low-calorie cuisine perfectly matches their lifestyle. This resulted in traditional cuisine of the nobility being solely plant-, or more specifically, mushroom-based**, that contrasts sharply with the cuisine of Skyrim that is rich in venison and other animal-based foods***. Noble Telvanni shun debilitating ingredients such as alcohol and moon sugar in their everyday cuisine, as keeping their minds sharp is their main priority. In order to get an indulgent sweet taste marshmerrow is used instead. Telvanni rarely import vast quantities of vegetables from other provinces as house Hlaalu does. They use commonly grown foods like saltrice, ash yams or mushrooms as the base ingredients of the dishes. In some aspects they prefer to stick to the Dunmer traditions. The nobles, though, indulge themselves in expensive imported berries - not only because of their magic-enhancing abilities but also because of their extravagant taste. As the Telvanni ranks feature numerous alchemists the import of alchemical ingredients is obviously very common. Telvanni chefs gradually incorporated some of the exotic spices into traditional cuisine. Especially valued are the most characterful of them that fancy up the bland taste of mushrooms, such as juniper, ginseng or garlic****. * In real life mushrooms are a rather poor source of protein compared to legumes like beans and lentil. But since there are no legumes in TES universe (at least as far as I know) let's suppose there are some protein-rich mushrooms Telvanni can plant. ** It’s also worth mentioning that I’m a Telvanni-fixated vegan ass myself so that’s a more probable reason why I made my beloved house also vegan xD *** A lovely example of that contrast you can encounter in @thana-topsy ‘s fanfic “Breathing Water”. This would nicely explain Neloth’s preference for apple cabbage stew. **** This recipe for example resembles Telvanni cuisine, it was one of the inspirations from my imaginary dishes above.

Above I’ve come up with some examples of what noble Telvanni would eat on a daily basis.

Thanks for reading that and take care :3

[imagineargonians]

funny how sotha sil dislikes lorkhan (boo hoo nirn is flawed) yet he managed to repeat his fate almost 1 to 1 a) used his own power/life essence to build a new world b) made lorkhan's heart 2.0 to power it c) was killed by a fellow god who wasn't happy about losing their divinity

[venacoeurva]

TES Summer Fest- Aug 11- Profane

If you know what this is, enjoy? Sorry? You’re welcome?

-Please do not reupload, edit, or use without proper credit or linking back. Ask first.-

[moodcrab]

Fixing Delphine

This bitch.

I actually like that they made a character that is on your side but is somewhat unlikable, Delphine is Team Dragonborn, but she's not really one of the good guys. And that's cool, conflict means drama. So what's the problem? Well unfortunately, this drama is surface level and isn't used to drive the story, so It's kind of just annoying.

People oversimplify their hatred of Delphine into "She wants you to kill Paarthurnax," because unlike Delphine, people actually like Paarthurnax. Understandable, but barely scratches the surface. We'll get to The Paarthurnax Dilemma in time, but that quest is a symptom, not the illness itself.

If I could sum up Delphine in a word it would be "inconsistent." For example, she's a fugitive waging a one woman war on the Thalmor from the shadows, who's only survived this long from sheer paranoia - but she also uses her real name and leaves a note in Ustengrav for whoever happens to pick it up with directions and a pass word to her secret hide out.

She needs to go through her super secret contact Farengar to use the Jarl's resources to go into Bleak Falls Barrow, a tutorial level dungeon she can see from her house, and she's impressed that you did it - but she also goes personally to the other side of the country to delve alone into the massive Ustengrav to steal the Horn of Jurgan Windcaller, no issues, just a quick in and out twenty minute adventure.

She takes the fact that you found her Ustengrav note as proof you're the Greybeard's new guy and not some Thalmor plant even though she herself, a non Dragonborn, had also completed Ustengrav and taken the horn proving it's totally possible. She even points this out in her own dialogue then demands we prove who we are, even though that was the whole point of the Ustengrav note. It's also a pretty big assumption that just because I'm the guy the Greybeards call Dragonborn that I can't ALSO be with the Thalmor.

We are left with this awkward sense that the writers are flailing to make us think this woman is competent and objective, without actually having her do anything that clever. Just act like the dumb thing was smart and have her act like a cocky brat if questioned about it.

Inconsistency. It's her thing. Does she hate the Thalmor? That would make sense given what we know about her. But that gets dropped half way through the main story and suddenly she hates The Greybeards, for absolutely no reason at all. She gives a reason, but it's bullshit.

In her own words, "If the greybeards had their way, the dragonborn would sit on a mountain talking to the sky." But that's not true is it. We know The Greybeards, they encouraged us to fulfill our destiny. Even if you say you want to follow their Way of the Voice, they'll be glad to hear it but warn you not to let it get in the way of what needs to be done. Delphine even uses Tiber Septim as an example, which is even stupider because The Greybeards actively encouraged Tiber to conquer Tamriel. Have I read more in game books than the dialogue writers??

But that's not the end of it, when it becomes convenient for the plot this hatred is flipped once again from The Greybeards onto dragons. Not Alduin. All dragons. Despite the fact that, as a Blade, she should know about Nafaalilargus, a dragon ally of the Empire and the Blades for thousands of years, and the Blades don't just indiscriminately kill all dragons no matter the circumstances, and that Tiber Septim himself almost certainly met Paarthurnax at some point, she suddenly seems to be acting like she has a personal grudge against dragons. Which brings us to the Paarthurnax Dilemma...

See here's the thing, you could easily write off the frustration everyone feels towards this quest as Bethesda's crappy design, where there is no conclusion other than to kill Paarthurnax, or else leave an unfinished quest languishing in the menu. Bethesda apparently didn't consider the idea that anybody would actually prefer to turn on the Blades, even though the Blades have become a bit of a running joke among the fans, or that anyone would take umbrage with Delphine giving out orders and ultimatums.

But no, it's so much worse than that. Delphine being a surly unlikable c u n t from the day we met her is one thing, but the fact that she has been wrong about almost everything she's ever said in game, and still having the AUDACITY to treat us like her work bitch and us never, not once, getting the opportunity to put her in her place... That's not poor quest design, that's the game gaslighting us.

Let's do a quick list of every one of Delphine's theories, and how many were actually correct shall we:

You are not the Dragonborn ❌

The Greybeards shouldn't be trusted to identify a Dragonborn ❌

The dragons aren't just coming back, they're coming back to life ✅

The Thalmor have something to do with the dragons returning ❌

Esbern is dead ❌

The Greybeards just want the Dragonborn to sit on a mountain and meditate ❌

The Greybeards wanted Tiber Septim to just sit on a mountain and meditate ❌

Paarthurnax, having lived in exile for thousands of years, deserves corporal punishment ❌

As ACTING Grand Master of the Blades, she gets to boss around the Dragonborn ❌

She deserves a seat at the peace negotiations ❌

And these are just the things that are factually wrong, leaving aside opinions on her morality and shitty attitude. This is the woman the game presents to us as a shrewd strategist.

BUT I CAN FIX HER!

Like I said I like the idea of a character who is on your side but is somewhat unlikable. It actually won't take much to make Delphine endearing to the fans. We have to do a Boromir on her. A Lot of people dislike Boromir throughout the Fellowship of the Ring but weep at his death. We have to tweak three things to have the same thing happen to Delphine:

1. Make her actually competent and useful so that while we don't agree with her we can see why she does the things she does, and desire to keep her around.

2. Have her mistakes called out and have consequences.

3. Have her redeem her mistakes with a badass honourable death.