#what is this...the fourth time?

[genevawrenn]

What is wrong with them /aff

[eldritch-ace]

May the fourth be with you!!! 💫✨

[lalalychee]

closer than you know

i've been working on this painting for over 3 months and i am exhausted 💀 so excited to be done with it. i'm really proud of it though!! it's definitely the most detailed painting i've done in quite some time.

(please be sure to zoom in to see all the little details i worked so hard on!)

[getvalentined]

Thinking a lot recently about the constant comparison of Oblivion to Skyrim, particularly claims that Oblivion is superior in every way strictly by virtue of quest length and the greater grandiosity of the organizations in Oblivion, and I think there's been a fundamental misunderstanding of what's actually going on with Tamriel during the time period of Skyrim. Even though it's like...one of the core concepts of the main storyline.

Putting most of this under a cut for length, but I just...I think people misunderstand what's going on here. This is not a "One Game Good Other Game Bad" post, it's an analysis of a major, key difference in story basis between the two that I think gets lost in the (frankly asinine) argument about which is superior.

See, everything in Skyrim sucks. Every organization you can align yourself with is falling apart. Literally every single one.

That's the point.

To summarize:

The Companions (equivalent to the Fighters' Guild) are about a dozen strong, literally cursed, and their most beloved leader gets murdered very early in the storyline.

The College of Winterhold (equivalent to the Mages' Guild, not to the Arcane University) has seemingly only been saved from collapsing into the sea because a master of Restoration fused himself with the structure itself when the Sea of Ghosts tried to tear it down a little under a century ago and his presence is constantly physically "healing" the foundation.

The Thieves' Guild has lost the favor of every possible patron deity, having been outright cursed by Nocturnal after one of her Nightingales murdered another and stole the gift she offers her champion, while the boon that the organization's founder claimed from her in ages past (the cowl) is missing.

The Dark Brotherhood has been all but completely dismantled, the Night Mother's tomb in Bravil having been raided and struggling to persist without a Listener for over a decade; the bodies of the Night Mother's children have been lost and she's essentially being smuggled from region to region in an attempt to find a safe place to continue operations.

The Empire itself has been kneecapped, forced into a traumatic treaty by a fascist regime determined to strike the beliefs and culture of anyone not Altmer off the face of the planet; the Thalmor have gone so far as to torture and radicalize the figurehead leader of the Nords in order to use their own nationalism and superiority against the Empire, sparking a civil war that will further weaken the Empire and allow the Aldmerri Dominion to destroy it wholecloth.

This extends out into the rest of the world, too! We have confirmed existence of Hist-deaf Argonians. The Dunmer are floundering to recover after the quadruple-whammy that is the fall of the Triumverate, the destruction of Vivec City when Baar Dau finally made impact, the Red Year, and the Argonian uprising. The Bosmer are literally endangered due to habitat loss following a super-isolationist cultural shift due to wars with the Khajiit and Altmer. The Void Nights were devastating to Khajiit culture and population in ways that have yet to be fully explained.

The world is falling apart. Everything is dying.

And then Alduin shows up.

We all kind of talk about Alduin carrying on as World-Eater through the course of the Skyrim storyline like it's him being a piece of shit, since he'd started it ages ago and was just displaced in time to land on the Last Dragonborn's head in the Fourth Era, but I don't think that's the case.

Based on the state of things, I think Alduin arrived right on time. I think it's the end of the world. The only reason he "should" be stopped is because the Last Dragonborn has the capacity to stop the world from ending in a more down-to-earth sense than just defeating Alduin: they can't save everyone, but they can "fix" every single organization that's holding "the world" together.

They can align with the Imperials and keep the civil war from further crippling them, keeping the Empire from being too weak to push back against the Aldmerri Dominion.

They can save the College of Winterhold, the only group in the right place at the right time to stop the Eye of Magnus from opening, and in doing so make sure that the Psijics are able to put it somewhere nobody else can find it.

They can lead the Companions, cure the curse for those members who don't want to run with Hircine after death, which bolsters their spirits enough to keep doing what they can even when everyone else is trying to kill each other. A single neutral martial force in the middle of a civil war.

They can regain Nocturnal's trust for the Thieves' Guild, restore the Nightingales, and in doing so they can return the luck that was stolen from them as punishment for Mercer Frey's transgression. They can even reclaim the Crown of Barenziah and award the guild with a paragon to increase their newly-regained luck.

They can hear the Night Mother, becoming Listener for the Dark Brotherhood to restore the balancing force of Sithis in the world, purify the most broken Sanctuary the Brotherhood has ever had, and finish a story set into motion way back in the Third Era—Emperor Titus Mede II is murdered under the order of a Motierre, a descendant of a mark the Brotherhood specifically kept from dying during the Oblivion Crisis.

The Last Dragonborn can't do anything outside Skyrim—there's nothing they can do for the Argonians or the Bosmer or the Khajiit, and they can only do very little for the Dunmer via work in Solstheim—but they can work with every single guild or guild-adjacent group, strengthening the Empire to stand against the biggest threat to Tamrielic culture since the First Era, and in doing so they can make it so the world isn't ready for Alduin to eat it.

The Hero of Kvatch exists when Tamriel, and presumably Nirn as a whole is in the prime of its life, that's what makes the Oblivion Crisis such a big deal. This is a world that isn't ready to give up, it still has the strength to fight, it just needs someone standing at the head to direct it. The Last Dragonborn comes into the story when everything is falling apart and nothing really feels worthwhile, when it's hard to see why the world is worth saving. They have the chance to prove that there's still some life left here, that the world isn't too far gone to save—Alduin arrived right on time, it's the Last Dragonborn's job to change that.

I can see how coming from Oblivion to Skyrim would feel disappointing and hollow, but I'm pretty sure that's literally the point of the story.

Oblivion tells you the world is worth saving because it's got so much left to live for, even with the odds stacked so high against it. Skyrim asks you whether a world that's dying is still a world worth saving, and it's up to you to prove that it is.

[clumsypuppy]

who is your favorite AA character? 👁️👁️

ziska… I hope capcom brings her back someday

[gallifreyanhotfive]

RENEGADE TIME LORD WRAPPED

You have dematerialized in your TARDIS 3 times 🫥 this year, but only because you prefer traveling in the late 1900s and earlier 2000s.

You have traveled in 2 different TARDISes, you cheating whore 👎.

The Hostile Action Displacement System has kicked in 13 times ⚠️.

You successfully piloted your TARDIS to Heathrow Airport 0 times ✈️.

You have lost your memory 4 times 🧠.

You got stuck in 301 time loops ⏳️.

You have battled your on-again off-again situationship 134 times 🤼‍♂️.

You have collected 3 individuals from other worlds 👥 to travel with you.

You have accidentally destroyed 8 star systems 🌠.

You have meddled in the development of 87,912 different cultures 👋.

You have almost died 12,342,915 times 💀.

You have accidentally become a god 1 time 👑, which qualifies as a Class Two Intervention, so you really ought to be vaporized.

Your most traveled to planet was Earth 🌎.

You have regenerated 1 time this year 🔥, which is concerning because you also regenerated last year, and don't you think you're burning through your lives a bit quickly?

You have broken the Laws of Time 13,411,843 times 🚓. That's in the top 0.1% of Time Lords!

Your definition of a year has changed 8,541,823 times this year 🗓, making this Wrapped very difficult to complete.

[sweetmapple]

These fake bitches

[annesurelyblythe]

Is this anything, I’m new here 😌

[violetsorengail]

Xaden growing colder throughout the book when the one thing Sgaeyl hates is the cold

[weirdglassthing]

LOA Shiptober Day 4: How They Met

October content month was ambitious..

This one took me. Shockingly long. Whoops! I’ll probably end up jumping around the prompt list and it might extend into November 😋

I’ll try to do day 31 on the actual date of Halloween though 🫡

[deikshen]

I have been awakened to the absolute need for Binghe to bond with Tianxi through his (new) little siblings

I mean, situation: reviving Su Xiyan, obviously she wouldn't want to go through pregnancy again lol but it's PIDW, there must be a fucking plant that can impregnate Tianlang-jun to give him something of his spoiled househusband dreams

And with Tianlang-jun having nothing else to do but seemingly have fun giving birth, actually!!! the number of little mini half-heavenly demons increases.

Binghe tries to be... not a constant, but something present, because they are babies and children and even though it is his family that he doesn't know, he has been well educated (by Shizun!!!) he will do his best. And like any traumatized child, he projects onto those little buns so similar yet so different from himself. The constant doubt "could I have had this? Could this have been my life?" is only overshadowed by "I had a life that led me to Shizun, so it's worth it."

However, both Su Xiyan and Tianlang-jun can put a period there. A "It may still be your life. You are still our son."

And Luo Binghe begins to attend more family dinners, bringing food, bringing gifts. He makes paper kites with his little brothers and reads them stories. When they're asleep, he listens to stories from his parents. Their lives, their adventures.

He... He looks like them. But like himself. It's strange to find similarities when there were never any in his life, and now he's surrounded by them. But that's okay. At night, he comes home, and Shizun (if he didn't come with him that particular night) waits for him, hugs him, and waits for Binghe to tell him how his day went.

And Luo Binghe is happy. He has a family, the one he chose. He has a husband he loves. He has unruly little siblings. He has another mother, alive. He has... well, Tianlang-jun.

He has more than he ever thought he would have. Even if it's been difficult to get to where he is, he's happy right now, with a family, a place to belong, and a home.

[premamelody]

ok last ones I swear

rip edgar kinda u wouldve loved dr robotnik ring racers in particular probably srb2kart more actually

[catgirljaneway]

Tuvok and Kathrym and the time Kathryn destroyed the timeline to get Tuvok back.

/I Swear Somewhere This Works - Trista Mateer/

[beeduoo]

i really like that one tiktok

[ghostlylulla-by]

There are only two things I like about this town. One of them is the beach. The other one is a secret!

[spicegirlmoonheist]

we eating fr fr