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WIP Wednesday

Wow, a post before 10 PM! A sick day spent on the couch seems like a good day for WIPs, and it just so happens to be Wednesday. @thequeenofthewinter and @sylvienerevarine tagged me like a month ago (so sorry!) so I get to tag them back this time!

I realized looking back at the last Palace of Kings WIP that it was actually pretty light on details, which was a surprise to me considering how long it took just to get to that point. There’s a lot of counting involved in isometric perspective, and this particular map has a lot of details that end up getting obscured behind other details - it was all a bit of a nightmare to get things lined up and you can see in the video where I eventually gave up and just started labeling parts and dimensions. I’m finally satisfied with the bones of it, so now I can start filling in some details.

The alternate Jarls are also still in progress. Two of my favorite alt Jarls got some attention this morning, Brina Merillis and Torygg. I really like Brina as Jarl, and her design is probably the closest to her in-game model out of any of the Jarls. I wanted Torygg to look a lot younger than he does for his in-game model. I always got the impression that he was quite young when he became High King, just a boy who hadn’t yet grown into his father’s clothes. His design is more reflective of traditional Haafing dress (pelt and all) than what Elisif wears.

#my stuff #wip wednesday #clothing of skyrim #nords #headcanons

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WIP Wednesday Thursday

I’m back! I apologize for completely dropping off the map, October has been exceptionally busy at work, my dog has not let me get a full night of sleep in weeks, and I’ve been trying to figure out how I’m going to teach a computer language that I only started learning over the summer to grad students next semester. The exceptionally awesome and amazing @thequeenofthewinter and @sylvienerevarine have been tagging me for WIP Wednesday, which I so, so appreciate!

I’ve been picking at Sundered, Kingless, Bleeding on and off, but I’m not happy with the writing and I might scrap what I’ve done so far and start over. In the meantime, I’ve started another isometric drawing. This time we’re back in Windhelm and redesigning the Palace of the Kings. I have JK’s revamp in my game because the original interior gives me sad office building vibes rather than “ancestral hall of the Nords” vibes (it’s the ceiling - it reminds me of the dropped ceilings in offices I’ve worked in). The drawing is a very rough, very early start, but it feels good to start stretching those creative muscles again!

#WIP Wednesday #my stuff

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Holidays of Skyrim, Part II

Still riding that headcanon train to get back in the habit of writing! Here’s some more Skyrim holidays reimagined:

Warriors Festival

While the Warriors Festival is little more than an excuse to buy a half-priced blade in other parts of the Empire, the Nords of Skyrim see the event as a rite of passage. Warriors of all stripes, from the freshly-blooded to grizzled veterans, travel to Skyrim’s city to test their mettle in tournaments of strength and skill. While there’s a heavy purse of gold for the winners, the bragging rights and the ability to claim the title of strongest warrior in the hold are the true prize.

Though a wide variety of events are on display for spectators— wrestling, ax-throwing, bare-knuckle boxing, and one-on-one dueling being particular favorites— none is more popular than the melee, a mock battle where teams of two to five warriors fight for dominance. While blood, bruises, and broken limbs are a common occurrence, modern tournament matches are rarely fatal. This was accomplished by means of a steep weregild for fighters who kill their competitors, first introduced by High Queen Jolethe in 3E 152.

The glittering spectacle of the Warriors Festival extends well beyond the ring. Warpaint, in a dazzling array of colors and designs, is used to display the affiliations and aesthetics of the warriors. Fighters of all sexes commonly go shirtless to better display their designs. Blacksmiths and arms merchants travel from far and wide to display their best wares, sometimes gifting weapons and armor to particularly prominent warriors in an attempt to raise their own status. Street food vendors are out in force to sate the appetites of the ravenous, bloodthirsty crowds. The mead flows freely at these events, sometimes leading to brawls among the spectators (a practice that is highly discouraged, and often ends with a night in jail).

North Wind’s Prayer

By the ides of Evening Star, winter has blanketed the land of Skyrim. In this landscape of frigid stillness the North Wind’s Prayer is a traditional day for visiting one’s local temple to give offerings and prayers, both for the boons or woes already encountered and for those still to come. Prayers for the winter are common on this day. Interestingly, while some Nords pray for a gentle winter and early spring, others request the kind of bitter cold that allows them to test their worth against their harsh homeland (one wonders, then, if the two prayers cancel each other out).

Knowing that many who come are suffering the hardships of the long, dark winter, temple priests often provide food or alms and offer healing and blessings at reduced prices. The followers of Tsun, god of trials against adversity, are an exception to this, and pilgrims to his shrines often choose to suffer ascetic— and occasionally fatal— trials in their pursuit of worthiness.

Old Life Festival

The Old Life Festival, coinciding with the winter solstice, is a somber and holy day that takes place deep in the darkness of winter. It is associated with the dead god Shor, ruler of Sovngarde, and his widow Kyne. Many Nords visit shrines to leave offerings and messages of remembrance for loved ones. This is a time for reflection on one’s past deeds and reminiscing on companions who have since passed.

The Old Life Festival is one of the only Nord holidays where asceticism is regularly practiced. Fasting during the solstice is common and drinking, especially to excess, is deeply frowned upon. Some claim that this is done to mark the solemnity and sobriety of the occasion; cynics counter that it is done to leave room for the excesses of the New Life Festival’s feasts. As with most things, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

New Life Festival

Having made it through the long, dark night of the winter solstice, the Nords of Skyrim make merry and celebrate the dawning of the new year with raucous joy. In some parts of southern Skyrim this festival also celebrates the return of the sun following the polar night.

Massive midwinter feasts, hosted at long communal tables in the town squares, are the centerpiece of the occasion. A wide variety of local delicacies are shared; in The Pale, honey-glazed horker seasoned with juniper is particularly popular. Snowberries, ubiquitous and available year-round, feature heavily in dishes ranging from succulent pies to snowberry and sage-stuffed grouse to snowberry wine.

Dancing, singing, and comedic performances by local bards are popular events, as are a wide variety of games. These games vary by region: sled races are popular in Winterhold (particularly among the College apprentices; rules have had to be established about magical interference), while a popular game in Haafingar involves blindfolded players trying to track down an “it” who wears a ring of jingling bells.

Brave souls living around the River Yorgrim in Eastmarch have a long tradition of jumping naked into the icy river to prove their courage and receive good fortune for the new year. In southern Skyrim, especially Whiterun, there is a long-standing tradition of gift-giving between the Jarls and their subjects. Citizens provide a gift to the Jarl— often a livestock animal, bushel of grain, or artisan craft— and are given a gift in return, usually in the form of valuable spices, ceremonial weapons, or even (for those particularly in the Jarl’s favor) lands or a title.

#nords #headcanons #my stuff #holidays #TES:V #Skyrim #TES #writing stuff

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On Repeat

I was tagged by @thequeenofthewinter for a music tag game sharing my top 10 Spotify “on repeat” songs. It’s a, uh, pretty weird list, not gonna lie. Work music and car music and writing music are all bleeding into each other. I’m always on the lookout for more music and love seeing what other people are listening to! Tagging @dirty-bosmer @late-nite-scholar @avantegarda if you’d like to participate, but no pressure!

1. Better in the Morning - Birdtalker

2. Thunder Harvest - Max LL

3. Old Sob Story - Birdtalker

4. Heart of My Own - Basia Bulat

5. Weeping Dawn - Borislav Slavov

6. Water Witch - The Secret Sisters

7. Cha Cha Cha (cover) - Lords of the Lost

8. The Things I Regret - Brandi Carlile

9. Shoshone Overlook - Chris Remo

10. Black Thunder - The Hu

#tag game #The Hu are going to be a lot further up on this list in about 48 hours

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Holidays of Skyrim

I’m still trying to get back in the swing of writing, so I decided to go for some low-hanging fruit. I’m currently working on a chapter that takes place during the harvest festival, and it’s got me thinking about holidays in TES. Most aren’t particularly fleshed out beyond a bit of flavor text and some information about what’s on sale that day, which is fine because it lets my imagination run rampant! While I was thinking about it, I decided to flesh out some thoughts about what some of these holidays would look like in Skyrim specifically. I think it would be neat if these were celebrated differently across the different holds as well, but I haven’t thought through that much detail yet.

I’ve noticed that ESO seems to do something that I particularly dislike, which is taking a modern (usually American) holiday and plopping it down into the game with only the thinnest veneer of world building (lookin’ at you, Witches Festival). I tried to take some existing holidays and details from the TES games and mix in some headcanon and some world building to make something that sounded plausible for what I imagine Skyrim to be like.

Harvest’s End

Harvest’s End, celebrated in the final days of Last Seed, is a major holiday celebrated across the Empire. Regardless of where one is from, a successful harvest and the end of the agricultural year is a reason to rejoice. In Skyrim, the harvest is celebrated with feasting and drinking. At this time of year Nords pay their respects to Kyne, the mother of men and goddess of storms. In villages the preparations are a communal effort, with each family pitching in what they can spare from their harvest and often contributing to the feast a signature dish which has been handed down through the generations. In cities, the food and drink is provided by local businesses and paid for through the generosity of prominent citizens or through the Jarl’s coffers.

Homes and businesses are decorated with garlands and wreaths of dried flowers, bunches of golden wheat (symbolizing prosperity and plenty), and paper lanterns. Preparations take place throughout the day; the real party starts when the sun goes down. In many places, large bonfires are lit to chase away the long winter nights. Whole villages gather for singing and circle dances around the fires, which can last for hours. Children try to put flower necklaces and wreaths on the dancers, and often have competitions to see how many flowers they can place in someone’s hair or beard.

Tales and Tallows

It is said that on the third of Hearthfire the spirits of the dead cross back into the mortal realm, wandering the land and pursuing unfinished business. On this day Nords gather with their families and clansmen to recite tales of their ancestors and pay their respects. This is an important holiday for skalds, who are in high demand and put on performances recalling the exploits of the greatest Nord heroes. A popular activity for children is lighting candles inside of carved turnips and gourds, which are tied to trees in order to light the way for the dead.

It is expected that Nords will travel to their ancestral barrow, if they can, to clean the graves and leave offerings. This is an especially important holiday for Falkreath, which sees more travelers to its expansive graveyards on this day than on any other. The inns stay full this night; only the particularly brave or foolish travel after dark when the spirits are at their most restless.

Witches Festival

While most Nords are at home in the midst of Frostfall, finishing their winter preparations or already snowed under in the farthest reaches of the north, there are some who gather in the wilderness to celebrate the wicked ways of the Prince of Secrets. Witches and conjurers— a normally solitary crowd— gather in the wilderness to carry out profane rituals, trade goods and knowledge, or try to summon the Webspinner. Frostbite spiders, who would otherwise be preparing to retreat underground for the winter, are unusually active on this day.

Details of these gatherings are poorly-attested, and they go unnoticed by most folks apart from reports of mysterious lights in the woods or low chanting in the distance. However, for those seeking out curses and other dark magics, these gatherings provide a reliable, albeit risky, location for finding a willing witch to fulfill their request.

#nords #my stuff #headcanons #holidays #writing stuff #TES #Skyrim

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WIP Wednesday

Thanks @dirty-bosmer and @thequeenofthewinter for the tag! It's always the push I need to share my stuff. And I actually managed to do it on Wednesday this week too!

I'm slowly starting to write again. It's still not as much or as often as I'd like it to be, but hey - some writing is better than no writing, right?Have a teeny little piece of chapter four:

It’s been five days since she moved into the Bannered Mare. Whiterun is a pleasant enough place, and there has been no shortage of work since her arrival. Her errands range from the trivial (the minor matter of a lost amulet) to the death-defying (the bushy-bearded wizard’s expedition into Bleak Falls Barrow). She’d talked the wizard into tutoring her in magic in lieu of payment for the latter, after finding herself flush with coin for delivering a golden dragon’s claw— recovered from an unlucky bandit— back to its owner at the Riverwood Trader.

Magical instruction is hard to come by in Skyrim following the Oblivion Crisis, so thickly had it sowed the seeds of suspicion among the common folk. Gytha already knew a few simple spells, passed down to her by a cunning woman from The Pale, but figured some practical instruction from a trained wizard would be worth more to her in the long run than his gold. Farengar proves to be a poor teacher, impatient and easily frustrated, but she still manages to pick up a few new tricks for conjuring flames and healing scrapes and burns.

Among her errands is a delivery to Dragonsreach’s steward, the cautious, punctilious Avenicci. His daughter– one of the local blacksmiths, whose fire must have been inherited from her mother– has made a sword as a gift to the Jarl. As he hems and haws over the intricacies of etiquette and protocol and the Jarl’s sharp temper, a thought occurs to him while the huntress waits patiently for her pay.

#my stuff #wip wednesday

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Bold the Facts | OC Tag Game

I was tagged by @thequeenofthewinter and @dirty-bosmer, thank you! Tagging @avantegarda and @late-nite-scholar if y'all haven't already been tagged.

This was good timing! I've been thinking about Gytha lately and have tentatively started writing that fic again. I'm trying to build up some good writing habits before NaNoWriMo is once again upon us.

Gytha

✧˖°. PERSONAL $ Financial: wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty  ✚ Medical: fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / non-applicable  ✪ Class/Caste: upper / middle / working / unsure / other  ✔ Education: qualified / unqualified / studying / other  ✖ Criminal Record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but not caught yet / yes, but charges were dismissed

✧˖°. FAMILY ◒ Children: had a child or children / has no children / wants children (eventually) ◑ Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased ◔ Affiliation: orphaned / abandoned / adopted / found family / disowned / raised by birth parent(s) / not applicable

✧˖°. TRAITS + TENDENCIES ♦ extroverted / introverted / in-between ♦ disorganized / organized / in-between ♦ close-minded / open-minded / in-between  ♦ calm / anxious / in-between / highly contextual ♦ disagreeable / agreeable / in-between ♦ cautious / reckless / in-between / highly contextual ♦ patient / impatient / in-between ♦ outspoken / reserved / in-between / highly contextual  ♦ leader (reluctantly) / follower / in-between  ♦ empathetic / vicious bastard / in-between / highly contextual  ♦ optimistic / pessimistic / in-between ♦ traditional / modern / in-between ♦ hard-working / lazy / in-between  ♦ cultured / uncultured / in-between (depends on the culture) / unknown  ♦ loyal / disloyal / unknown / highly contextual  ♦ faithful / unfaithful / unknown / highly contextual

✧˖°. BELIEFS ★ Faith: monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic  ☆ Belief in Ghosts or Spirits: yes / no / don't know / don’t care / in a matter of speaking  ✮ Belief in an Afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care / in a manner of speaking  ✯ Belief in Reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care / in a manner of speaking  ❃ Belief in Aliens: yes / no / don’t know / don't care  ✧ Religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious ❀ Philosophical: yes / no / highly contextual

✧˖°. SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION ❤ Sexuality: heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual (leans towards men) / asexual / pansexual  ❥ Sex: sex-repulsed / sex neutral / sex favorable / naive and clueless  ♥ Romance: romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable / naive and clueless / romance suspicious  ❣ Sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious  ⚧ Potential Sexual Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all ⚧ Potential Romantic Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

✧˖°. ABILITIES ☠ Combat Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none  ≡ Literacy Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none  ✍ Artistic Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none ✂ Technical Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

✧˖°. HABITS ☕ Drinking Alcohol: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / alcoholic / former borderline alcoholic turned sober  ☁ Smoking: tried it / trying to quit / quit / never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / chain-smoker  ✿ Recreational Drugs: tried some / never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / addict  ✌ Medicinal Drugs: never / no longer needs medication / some medication needed / frequently / to excess  ☻ Unhealthy Food: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / binge eater  $ Splurge Spending: never / sometimes / frequently / shopaholic  ♣ Gambling: never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gamble

#tag game #most of her crimes are poaching #I put her down as orthodox since she's a devout follower of Kyne

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Im looking over some of my older TES notes and found a piece that I wrote to myself about Ulfric, so I thought I might as well throw it up here to keep everything in one place and try and remind myself later about what I wanted to do with the character in the future:

I’ve been thinking lately about Ulfric and all the various opinions about his motivations and characterizations of him. I go back and forth on this, but I think for Gytha’s story there’s a specific interpretation of him I want to try and capture where he’s selfish, charismatic, and canny; he’s utterly convinced that he is the best choice for Skyrim’s future, and he is also (somewhat infuriatingly) right about it.

There’s a specific incident from my own life that’s probably coloring that interpretation. The head of the college I work for was deeply unpopular when he came into the position — there was a lot of blatant backroom dealing that happened when he maneuvered himself into the role, and the faculty and student body held protests for weeks in opposition to his appointment. Nevertheless he’s remained in the role for several years now. I still don’t trust the man as far as I can throw him, but I have to begrudgingly admit that he has turned out to be damn good at being in charge. He understands the politics of the role at the state and national level and how to play those games to the college’s benefit, which is something that a lot of academics (dare I say most) don’t have the skill, patience, or temperament for. Some of the faculty who protested have actually done a complete 180 on their opinion of him (which I don’t think is deserved, but that’s a conversation for another time). Do I think he bulldozed his way into the role as a blatant power grab? Yes. Has him being in charge been good for the college? Also yes.

That’s my favorite characterization of Ulfric. Sometimes I see stories that pull back on the selfishness of the character or make him out to be a dope, and I totally get that impulse— when you’re writing morally “good” characters, you’re typically going to gravitate towards them having morally good allies, and Ulfric is already ~*problematic*~ in a great many ways— but I think that his selfishness and intelligence are key characteristics that should be explored more, especially in Stormcloak worldstates. The combination of being selfish, ambitious, competent, confident bordering on arrogant, and right makes him more compelling, regardless of whether he’s a villain or an ally. He has military experience and political canniness that both Elisif and Torygg lack(ed), and he has enough ambition and ruthlessness to force the changes that he feels need to be made in order for Skyrim to survive against the Dominion. Is the allure of power the main factor in why he wants to be High King? Absolutely, but that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t be good at the job. He thinks he’s the best butt for the throne and frankly, considering the other candidates, he might well be right.

#headcanons #writing stuff #my stuff

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Get to Know Snowberry-Crostata

Thanks for the tag, @thequeenofthewinter ! Tagging @avantegarda @dirty-bosmer @late-nite-scholar if you haven’t done it already!

Last Song

Last Movie

I honestly have no idea. It might have been The Return of the King, or maybe Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

Currently Reading

I finished A Wizard of Earthsea, which I’d never read before despite it being part of the fantasy canon. Next I was thinking of reading Bats of the Republic or The Priory of the Orange Tree, which I hadn’t heard of but a new friend recently recommended.

Currently Watching

Um, we’re currently working our way through The Fellowship of the Ring special features (they’re great!). I especially liked the segment about the “biggatures” that were made for the film.

Last Searched for Art/Writing Purposes

Landsat images of national parks in deserts for a DnD map.

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WIP Wednesday

It’s Wednesday again! Thanks for the tag, @thequeenofthewinter! I was sick last week, worked over the weekend and then took two more sick days, so my sense of time is completely warped right now and I don’t have anything TES-related to show… but I had dug out my maps and notes for a Weird West homebrew DnD campaign that I started writing way back before grad school. So, uh, have a map I guess?

The campaign takes place mainly in the dying mining town of Copper Creek and is based on the story of the Forrest Fenn treasure (which had yet to be found when I started writing the campaign). It draws heavily on the history, legends, and my own experiences of living in the American Southwest.

Mysterious letters draw a disparate group of adventurers to the town, where they’re given with a series of cryptic clues and set off on a race to track down the hidden treasure of a fabulously wealthy and recently deceased eccentric. Along the way they contend with the challenging environment and monsters living in the desert as well as a zany cast of drifters, grifters, gamblers, and gunslingers. Among others, our intrepid fortune-seekers stumble upon a band of outlaw wizards, an undead undertaker, and a religious mission full of anti-magic zealots. I have the campaign 60%-70% prepared, but all the maps are small-scale sketches in my notebook (the one above is about 4.5”x7”) so I need to redraw them digitally so I can get them printed in a larger format.

Bonus! I found a document where I had outlined some of the B-plot and side quests and my digitized townie NPC descriptions:

#my stuff #not TES #wip wednesday

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WIP Wthursday

Thanks for the tag, @thequeenofthewinter! To no one’s surprise, I’m continuing to chip away at the Jarl makeovers. I’m still not loving Igmund’s look, but I’m tired of redoing it (and still need to do his embroidery) and I’m ready to move on to the alternate jarls. I’ve got some thoughts about what to do for most of them, and did some rough sketches of a few different ideas.

One of these days I’m going to get back to making some non-WIP Wednesday posts (perhaps after I finish decorating for Halloween this weekend). Maybe I’ll even manage some writing!

#nords #headcanons #my stuff #wip whenever #wip wednesday #clothing of skyrim #the resolution on that wide image is terrible so I chopped it up and reuploaded #I’m still playing around with different brushes and settings in procreate so none of them look consistent

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WIP Wednesday Thursday

Thanks for the tag, @thequeenofthewinter!

So, it turns out that what I thought was just post-PhD malaise is actually massive burnout that I couldn’t brush off anymore. I also got a new comment on my fic that was an 800+ word, line-by-line critique of the first chapter, and between those two things I haven’t written a single word in two weeks. The comment wasn’t even as negative as it could have been, but I just felt so… exhausted while reading it. I hope the commenter is able to find a beta reading community where they’re able to channel that energy into other people’s stories.

Enough complaining! I haven’t posted a WIP of the Dragonsreach isometric map in a while. I’m not particularly inspired to do much more with it, so it’s probably as “done” as it’s going to get for now. The jarls have continued to get their makeovers. Igmund is still being uncooperative and I’m very put out about it, but the ladies have gotten an upgrade on their embroidery.

#my stuff #wip wednesday #dragonsreach #clothing of skyrim #headcanons

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WIP Wednesday

Tagging myself for WIP Wednesday this week, because even though the semester is starting and I haven’t been on tumblr at all because I’ve been sinking almost all my free time into playing Baldur’s Gate 3, I promised myself that I would work a little more on the jarls and post something this week (edit - I just got the notification for @thequeenofthewinter‘s tag, thank you!).

I couldn’t resist going back and redoing some of the things that bugged me about Elisif and Laila’s original sketches, so they’re both back in a WIP state for now. I’ve also got Ulfric and Balgruuf’s WIP redesigns to share. Igmund is in time-out right now because I’ve already redone his outfit twice and still don’t like it. Back to the drawing board for him, I guess.

#my stuff #clothing of skyrim #wip wednesday #headcanons #nords

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WIP Wednesday

I’m still alive and haven’t melted into a puddle yet, but the intense heat (and my new job) has sapped every ounce of my energy and I’m way behind on my dash and on sharing WIPs. Thank you @sylvienerevarine and @thequeenofthewinter for thinking of me! I’m sorry I didn’t respond sooner.

It’s an art one this week - I’m still writing, just veeerrrry slowly. I’ve also been working on reimagining the rest of the Skyrim jarls. I’ve done the ladies already, so I started in on the dudes. It’s still very much a WIP, but here’s a preview of Siddgeir, Korir, and Skald the Elder with their new look based on my clothing of Skyrim headcanons. Maybe once I get these guys done I’ll do the alternate Jarls and complete the set!

#headcanons #nords #my stuff #wip wednesday #clothing of skyrim #you can see just the edge of Ulfrics arm on the right

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#scenery

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me writing today: what if sovngarde was a little fucked up but like. in a cool way

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Kind of obsessed with the idea of the dragonborn being super fucked up about their near-execution in Helgen. Like, the headsman had started his swing. Imagine kneeling in a stranger’s blood, watching the ax come down, and then… walking away. Being expected to act like a functional mercenary. Strangers focus on the dragon attack so the dragonborn is probably hesitant to bring up the fact that, actually, they were pretty much numb from terror by the time Alduin showed up and didn’t notice much