#very TES of it but still

[sasquach-scratches]

Anyways I finished High Isle’s main quest and it was okay.

Nothing special, but I’ve come to expect that at this point.

#elder scrolls #teso #high isle #it was a pleasant enough distraction #but i can't help but feel there was so much wasted potential lmao #very TES of it but still

[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.-

#I took some liberties with the lore here #tesfest23 #indoril nerevar #nerevar #voryn dagoth #foul murder #battle of red mountain #tes #morrowind #a word of warning original series for this meme is uh. of its time in early 2010s internet #like very much a haha funny page oh. oh no. type thing #the elder scrolls #tesblr #artsyfartsyness #face trauma #gore #it’s extremely cartoony and shitty but still

[fatherentropy]

Restarted by playthrough of Oblivion because it’s been three years and I don’t remember wtf I was doing and mostly I just wanted to doodle Martin to practice how to draw his face

#CWart #The Elder Scrolls #Martin Septim #dunmer #Autumn tbn #I feel like tES tends to wander into stupid gritty 'realism' so kids running around doing shit isn't that weird but #it's still very funny to me in my incredibly macabre sense of humor

[rad-roche]

heard rumblings of an oblivion remake. i'm not sure if that's actually substantiated, but if it is it'll be interesting to see what they do with it. part of oblivion's charm, i think, it just how busted and of its time it is. it's got that 360 near-launch look to it, that 7th gen bloomy, saturated haze, like somebody at bethesda is spit-polishing your camera in real time to keep your focus off the fact that the engine is spewing black smoke. the score is lush and soft and sweeping. oblivion has, for lack of a better term, a kind of mucilaginous quality to it, i think, but i assume part of that is the positive memories i ascribe to it through nostalgia. oblivion is bright, and dense, but there's enough in it for you to stick your hands in and gouge out something interesting yourself. if you make it cleaner, better, if you wipe the vaseline off the lens, i wonder what's left? i can't argue that they shouldn't improve things like stability, or the ai, or increase the amount of voice actors from 2 to 3, but i hope the likelihood of a quest npc saying ᶠᵃʳᵉʷᵉˡˡᵎ and then pinging straight through the wall, never to be seen again and ruining a quest you'll do 80 hours from now, is at least there. i'm looking forward to it, in any case

#tes oblivion #very fond of that era visually. yes even the brown sludge era. and the ubisoft blue tint era #i've still to play starfield and i will and from what i've heard it's actually pretty polished? #oblivion with polish.... could you imagine #heard dishonored 3 also................ mixed feelings............... #text post #anybody who's played oblivion for any length of time knows THE specific farewell i mean

[muscariii]

I wanted to do a quick doodle of the three of them standing next to each other since I haven't drawn them in a while.

Now that I look at this though it's really giving me the energy of a divorced couple on vacation with their adult kid 😭

Unfortunately for Rasha she didn't get the height from the original Nerevar. Sorry girl, you would be too powerful if you were tall.

#i dont really have much time to draw morrowind right now #since theres so much stuff in my head #and also im really invested in preparing a dnd campaign for my bestie so yeah #but dont worry!! #i will still post morrowind whenever i can!! #i still like it very very much!! #its a really fun hyperfixation to come back to #the elder scrolls #tes #morrowind #indoril nerevar #nerevar #dagoth ur #voryn dagoth #nerevarine #tes oc #muscariart

[motherhenna]

Another pinup piece of my Skyrim dragonborn, Vakna lol might color it, might not. She is singlehandedly responsible for me learning how to draw big muscles and abs

#im very gay for muscular women #I think she's the only OC I've ever actively objectified LOL #but all the poses I reference are of dudes because most muscular women poses are still sexy in a hyperfeminine way #which does nothing for me #art #my art #skyrim #skyrim oc #elder scrolls #tes #tes oc

[m-kyunie]

"Trust, huh. I didn't realize you still held any for me."

#jjk #jujutsu kaisen #satosugu #gojo satoru #getou suguru #this is very sloppy uhm but i rlly wanted to rush n get it out bc i liked the concept. may try again later #also ty to the loely comments on my last post! u guys make me laugh #lovely* sigh #hello again to my regulars #me thinking abt how homosexual the prequel is. romantic parallelism #also love the panels were Gege draws Geto looking like an absolute freak god hes so hot #also when Yuuta punches te shit out o fhim like. yeah. yeah.... #anyws find it very interesting how they still have a mutual instinctive Trust for one another but lack a fundamental understanding #of the others' individualism. their HS codependency hiding behind 'the strongest' made them the most vulnerable to doubt. enter Touji #dont worry i wont write a paper in the tag slike i did w FF7

[madam-whim]

The Gold Road Reveal and my thoughts on it

I’m gonna start this off by saying I love ESO. I have been playing since 2017 and I’m pretty much doing everything the game has to offer. Quests, dungeons, trials, antiquities, sometimes PvP. That being said, this post will include lots of criticism that I feel (or know) is shared by many other fans.

But first things first, let me start off by listing some of the things on yesterday’s stream that had me bouncing in my seat:

The new zone is absolutely stunning! There’s a lot of variety to it and it does look very pretty. Exploring it will undoubtedly be fun and a feast for my eyes.

Also, Fennorian will be there, so I know there will at least be one well-written character that my Vestige has an actual bond with.

The scribing system being more of a roleplay thing – I don’t know what some people were hoping for, but I’m glad it’s not some Big Damage For Those Who Are Good At Maths kind of system. It still allows for a more unique playstyle, and I suppose it’s going to turn out like always: Do whatever you want in open world spaces, but keep your bow backflip heal out of veteran content.

And maybe the biggest “Yes!” moment of the evening: Ed Stark being the zone lead for Gold Road. While I did not like High Isle as much (too predictable for my taste, but at least it had recurring characters), he was responsible for Greymoor and Murkmire as well. I thought Greymoor was fantastic (good quests, excellent new characters alongside very familiar recurring ones), and Murkmire… well, I think Murkmire suffers greatly from being “the DLC that came after the Daedric Triad” so to speak. It kind of fell into the void created by a storyline spanning a full year (or even more, if you count the setup for the whole thing, which really began with the Varen’s ghost and Darien’s letter in Wrothgar and the Gold Coast sweetroll killer quests). I think that’s why lots of people don’t seem to like Murkmire very much despite it having great storytelling. My point is this: I do have some hope that after the fiasco some recent DLCs were story-wise, Ed Stark will at least make sure Gold Road makes sense.

And now for the criticism.

Ithelia’s design (Whenever, wherever, I want to kill Hermaeus…)

… yeah, about that. As one of my friends put it, she looks like Shakira with wings.

They really could have done so much better. The way she is now, as @akaviri-dovah said, she really just looks like a Meridia clone who somehow stole Jyggalag’s crystals, which is funny on so many levels (more on that later). Suffice it to say that I personally think the design choices are kind of lazy, given that we already have an angelic-looking Daedric lady.

Also, what’s with this picture? This kinda makes it seem as if she originally looked. Um. A lil different from the way she is now. In any case, I’m just gonna call this a missed opportunity for something more unique. I do like the glass shard aesthetic, I just wish they’d taken it in a different direction.

Dragon Break Princess Ithelia, or something like that

Now I know Dragon Breaks have to work differently from what Ithelia does, but I am kind of wondering what the consequences of her fate-altering abilities are. How do you alter fate in a way that threatens reality (with reality consisting of past and present events, with all possible versions of the future being possibly-real until one actually happens) without altering the timeline? Just by removing a possible future? Then one could argue that any Daedra could do the same just by manipulating people. Granted, it’s possible that Ithelia sees all possible futures and can do whatever she likes with them, but even then, she’d only be influencing what can become reality, not what already is. So how can she be THAT dangerous?

Right now, it just seems to me that they needed an adversary for Hermaeus Mora, and since his big things are knowledge, secrets and fate, and they couldn’t very well make a Daedric Prince of Anti-Intellectualism or a Daedric Prince of Snitching, she had to be a fate-altering type of Daedra.

At this point I’m still wondering how she even works, because how does she not accidentally cause Dragon Breaks? And if she is that damn powerful, how on earth did Mora alone manage to pretty much remove any trace of her? Which kind of brings me to my next point.

Memory Issues

I know, I know, Ithelia is not the first “new” Daedric Prince. (Which makes her stolen Jyggalag crystal vibes rather funny if you ask me.) And I don’t mind her being crazy powerful either, because so was Jyggalag or else he wouldn’t have been cursed. But that, to my knowledge, required several other Princes, whereas Ithelia apparently got owned by Hermaeus Mora alone, who then erased all memory of her. Which is not only quite the feat given how powerful she has to be, but also a very weird thing for Hermaeus Mora to do. I kinda thought stealing memories was more Meridia’s style. This entire part does not quite make sense to me yet and seems a little out of character, but well. By the way, speaking of Meridia…

Meridia-baiting the players

At this point, ZOS have to know we’re getting tired of waiting for villain Meridia. Everyone I know who is even the least bit interested in ESO’s storyline wants to see it. And I’ve seen people get their hopes up in recent days (new Meridia/Dawnbreaker-themed music box, the Ayleid ruin hint on the fragments sent to streamers…). Even in the twitch chat, there were people hyped about what they thought was Meridia, and who were disappointed when they were told it was Ithelia. And yes, I am absolutely saying they did this and made her a Meridia lookalike on purpose. But I’m well aware that we haven’t gotten any new hints about either Meridia or a certain someone since Greymoor, and that chapter will be four years old soon. Even I am beginning to give up, as much as I hate to say it.

By the way, I really did NOT appreciate Matt Firor name-dropping Darien right at the beginning. If you’re not planning to do anything with him, just let it go. I know absolutely nobody who appreciates being fed very tiny hints for two years and then being left in the dark for four years straight. If you don’t want to pick that storyline up again, just stuff the man into the Old Life quest and be done with it.

Honestly, once again, I’m gonna say this is a MASSIVE missed opportunity right here. ESO’s 10 year anniversary is coming up, what could possibly be better than to go back to the roots now and reward all those loyal players with the story they are waiting for? I distinctly recall Molag Bal telling me to watch my step around Meridia, and the setup is all there. I’m honestly disappointed that there is no Meridia content at all. And this ties in with my final point, albeit vaguely.

“Recurring” characters

Ah, yes, we do love recurring characters. Sometimes. We do love it when a fan favorite comes back – a character who’s accompanied the Vestige over the course of an entire story arc or has made multiple appearances over the years and has become beloved by many players, and, most importantly, who is well-written, i.e. has a unique personality. And that’s why “recurring characters” is not always a recipe for success when it comes to getting people hooked on a story.

It is when it’s one of the five companions, or a Ravenwatch member, or your main alliance buddy (Raz, Naryu and – oh, wait, yeah, us Covenant babies don’t have one anymore). It also works when it’s a character we’ve run across several times already, like Alchemy, who I know tons of people love, or my favorite walking disaster Revus Demnevanni.

But it’s certainly not working when it’s a character we barely know anything about, and who isn’t a hit with the community. Like Eveli’s brother whom I had to google because I could not remember who he was. He’s from a prologue quest. Nothing more. That’s not a “beloved returning character”.

ZOS have several of those just lying around, and they’re just not using them. And even the base game had so many characters that were there over the course of several zones, that were well-written and at least memorable to the degree that people would recognize them with just a little reminder, like Indaenir or Holgunn and Walks-in-Ash or the Vanos siblings. Hell, we haven't seen good old Vanus Galerion in a while. They are ten years old now and deserve to be dragged to the surface again.

Okay, I’m done now!

This concludes my rant (because that’s what it is, I’m aware). I just want to say again that this is not be dragging ESO through the mud, this is just me pointing out that the devs (especially the writers) could do so much better if they listened to their lore nerds and story-interested players more.

#eso #gold road #ithelia #hermaeus mora #meridia #long post #tes #intya rambles #i am still very salty about the whole meridia situation #and the unfinished business we have with her #and I don't like players getting their hopes up for nothing

[bethrnoora]

#they gave me a new costume for levelling up which i was very glad for bc his current armor combo was kinda uglyyyyyy #i still dont totally understand the outfit system and dont have a ton of customization options that im crazy about yet #all the cool stuff you get from crates or just higher level/later quests lol #anyway. he's getting a cool new outfit instead of talking to his daughter #dar'jivay #tes

[pretentiouswreckingball]

yaz is writing me smut everybody, can I hear a wahoo? 🤭

#WAHOOOO #that’s it that’s the post. #just a reminder for myself to keep on living so I can read this masterpiece #I still. Can’t believe it #drarry smut* very important mention. #yaz te amo #yaztito

[peachyhoneyadventures]

EDOLISSE AND VARRICK

These Hands, If Not Gods by Natalie Diaz | Still from When A Man Loves (1927) | Snippet from Richard Siken's "Crush" | Still from Lodger (???) | Poem from Margaret Atwood's "You are Happy"

#a lot of references to religion though that's probably mostly on Edolisse's part #I imagine Edolisse and Varrick's attraction to each other is a little superficial in the beginning #she's clearly a very pretty twenty something and Varrick doesn't want to hold her back #Rabbitt themselves said that Varrick is worried about getting involved with the LDB due to not wanting to burden them #On Edolisse's end she's only really hung up on her past relationships #Her late husband and the nature of his death is still a fresh wound that takes a long time to heal #So they really start to relate to each other when they talk about their pasts and their previous partners #Both their previous partners had been killed and they both sort of blame themselves for it #Though most of Edolisse's partners have died so she's terrified something will take Varrick away from her too #It takes awhile but she starts to see his strength #both physical and mental strength #she starts to get comfortable with the idea of being with him then falls hopelessly in love with him #While they don't have an extremely long life ahead of them (Varrick is an older man after all) Edolisse is determined to make it last #web weaving #The credits to the other quotes are in the images themselves and I am LAZY #WickVeil #Edolisse Wickham #Varrick Veil #tes v skyrim #tesblr #At this point I feel a little bad for clogging up the Varrick's tag with my bullshit :((( #I JUST THINK OF THEM A LOT OKAY?

[meowthiroth]

ok so question for skyrim players. what do you think soul husks taste like

ever since I visited the soul cairn for the first time I can’t stop thinking about how much I wanna try one. big crumchy bugle chip,,

#tes #tesblr #the elder scrolls #skyrim #soul cairn #i think theyd probably have a kinda earthy flavor. or just straight up taste like dust idk #i wouldn’t be surprised if they tasted bad/had no flavor at all but I still wanna eat one #the crunch when you pick one up is just. very good ok #i could totally see someone filling one up with other food kinda like a waffle cone/handwich configuration #filling one with stew like a sort of handheld bread bowl

[mel-loly]

-Happy (very late) birthday, Mari! <3

@mari-loly

#um pedido de desculpas e o desenho que te disse que ia fazer no digital #espero que goste! <333 #mari loly #mari creator #very random outfit #still #original #simple art #happy birthday mari! #happy birthday mari #happy birthday! #happy birthday #birthday gift #i'm mel and this is my blog✌️ #my art blog #art #my art #my art <3 #art mel #my art style #fanart #my friend oc #not my oc #sorry for being late #bisexual pride #lgbt art

[ehlnofay]

Efri thinks she’s found the library.

“Woah,” she says, letting the door swing shut behind her. (Loudly. The doors here are so heavy.) Her voice echoes off the stone walls. She feels like she’s stepped into some story, like an exaggerated version of what a mage’s college would be.

It’s not that she’s never heard of a library before or anything. She understands them, conceptually. But the most books she’s ever seen at once was the small set of shelves in Rorik’s manor, and even that blew her away the first time – all the pretty bindings and close-written words. This is –

The College library is something else. It’s a lot bigger than a set of shelves.

Winding, narrow hallways bend and squiggle around like a set of earthworms trying to squish together to make a solid shape with no gaps, and every single wall is lined with books. Each shelf is like a rainbow of covers and colours. Half the spines are thick as at least two fingers put together and written over with words she can’t read. Efri has to bring Sissel here. She’d lose her mind.

“Woah,” she says again, and steps further in to look at the books on the shelves. All the bindings in blacks and blues and browns. One has the title written down the spine in gold lettering that shines. She brings up a hand to touch it.

“What are you doing?” someone demands. Efri stops. She looks.

It’s a grumpy-looking orc man in a bright yellow tunic, glaring at her much fiercer than seems necessary for the crime of looking at books in a library. He looks like he might be old – his hair’s white enough that his beard’s the same colour as his sharp sticking-out teeth, and he’s wrinkly.  Efri wrinkles her nose and tells him, “I’m looking at the books.”

“Wash your hands first,” he barks, turning his much-too-angry glare on Efri’s hovering arms. “You look like the sort of person to have grubby fingers.”

It’s true, but Efri is offended anyway. She wipes her palms hard against her orange wool skirt. (The skirt is grey at the hem from playing in dirty snow. It does not make her any cleaner.)

“Who’re you?” she asks the rude man. “I haven’t met you yet.”

He does not stop scowling. Maybe he’s perpetually angry. Maybe he just has an unfortunate face. But he says, “I’m the Arcaeneum archivist. Urag gro-Shub.”

The Arcaeneum, that’s what the library’s called. Very fancy name. (Sissel will love it. And has Kazari been here yet? They might like it too. She’s pretty sure they can read, though probably not these fiddly little paper books.) “What’s an archivist?”

“I maintain the library.” The archivist Urag gro-Shub might be grumpy and not very nice but at least he didn’t do the thing where he sighed all annoyed at Efri’s question. “I choose when and to whom the books are lent, and I ensure they are not damaged. Hundreds of years have gone into assembling this collection, and it’s going to stay pristine.”

“Is that book hundreds of years old?” Efri asks, pointing to the showy tome with the writing in gold.

Urag barely glances at it, dark eyes flashing in the vague direction of her pointing finger and flashing back again. “No. That’s historical fiction written in 185. That copy was made within these last ten years.”

“You didn’t even look at it,” Efri says.

“Bejewelled Tragedy. Four hundred pages. Horrendously inaccurate. Frankly, it wasn’t worth acquiring in the first place. Feel free to look for yourself.”

Efri will take his word for it.

“This section is for the books that are up for purchase,” he tells her, gesturing. “The worthwhile ones – and the old ones, if those are what you’re looking for – are further in.”

Efri squints down the passages again, their bright lights and cosy winding walls. She can’t tell where this section ends and the next one starts. She feels like if she went any further into the library she’d get lost. She says, “Thanks. I’m Efri, by the way.”

“I know. You’re that kid who showed up.”

“One of,” Efri corrects.

Urag keeps talking, rolling right past like he didn’t hear her. “Don’t know why in the name of all that’s been called holy they let you in. You’d think this would be a step too far, even –” he huffs and snaps his jaw shut, tusks digging into his moustache. He says, “At any rate. You’re here now, and you’re subject to the same rules as everyone else. You treat these books as careful as if they were your own firstborn children, understand? And if there’s something you want to find – or especially take out of the Arcaeneum – you come talk to me.”

Efri nods obediently. What time would it be right now? The lecture Sissel went to was almost two hours, and it’s definitely only been about one. She asks, “Are there any books with pictures?”

She’s not sure if it’s just the shape of his mouth or if he’s sneering. Urag says, “That depends. Are you going to respect the books enough to try to read the words too?”

“That depends,” Efri retorts, nettled. (She gets that he’s protective of the collection, but there’s no need to be rude about it.) “Are your books going to teach me how to read?”

Urag stares.

“You can’t read,” he replies, sounding vaguely offended, as though she, at six years of age, had refused to attend the village school for the express purpose of spiting him four years later.

Efri pulls a book out of the shelf without looking at it, ignoring the way he huffs. There’s nothing embossed on the spine or the cover, but there’s a title scribbled on the first page. “That’s a B,” she says, pointing to the first letter of the first word, and then stops, squinting. Switches her focus to a different word. “That one says off.”

“Of,” Urag corrects over her shoulder.

Efri shrugs. She snaps the book shut and slips it back into its place on the shelf. “I can read a bit,” she says. “I know my letters and that. The books here are just big.”

And given that she’d failed to correctly identify of, even small stories might be a bit beyond her skill level.

Urag is quiet. Efri looks back at him, mostly expecting him to still be looking affronted, as though she’d stolen food out of his mouth and thrown it at a wall – instead he looks oddly, blankly thoughtful.

“We don’t have anything suitable for early readers,” he says, tapping his fingers against his leg. “That might be an oversight.”

Efri really doesn’t think it is. “It’s a big fancy library, right? I think it’s normal to just collect the big fancy books.” All the ones that are hundreds of years old, or about magic or important things, or both.

Urag’s knuckles rap against a buckle on his belt. He says, “No! First misconception. A worthwhile collection archives all the work on its focus possible. The Arcaeneum is a collection of knowledge in every form. Therefore, we have as many books as we can access, on all sorts of topics. Half of them aren’t even good!”

“You sell the bad ones,” Efri says, trying to follow.

“Some of them. If they’re wholly without merit. Mostly I sell duplicates. Or works no-one has ever used. There’s things to be learned from everything – if not now, later. I’ll think on it.”

He looks back at Efri, looking a bit like he might have forgot she was there. “Regardless. Do you need anything, or can I get back to work?”

He’s still all rude and prickly. Efri bristles a bit. “I wasn’t keeping you,” she says, flicking her eyes again over the strange and wandering walls.

Urag sighs again like he’s got any right to be annoyed with her, but then he asks, “Would you like a tour of the Arcaeneum?”

“Do you want to give it?”

“You’ve already distracted me,” he says. Adds less irritably, “And I enjoy a chance to show off the collection. Long as you don’t interrupt me.”

“I’m going to interrupt you,” Efri informs him. She doesn’t like to be told what to do.

She lets him show her the library.

#I need to post more of efri in winterhold... it's sooo much fun #I'm slowly making my way through the story still. figuring out mzulft rn #this piece I wrote a while ago but I like it #urag is going I cannot BELIEVE we don't have any early reader books. this is a grave archival oversight!! #and efri is going ok man. #(he is very earnest about this. he wants the arcaeneum to have Everything in it. the idea that it doesn't is not to be borne) #after this scene ends efri is appropriately impressed by the library contents #and urag makes her a shitty little booklet made of stitched-together scrap paper to help her learn to read #(man cannot interact with children for the life of him but he is very invested in literacy) #oc tag #efri #the elder scrolls #skyrim #tes #tesblr #fay writes #my writing #urag gro shub #college of winterhold #arcaeneum #microfic

[waxingwolf]

I drew fanart of @greennightingale 's Thalmor OC, Dariel (please correct me if I got that wrong ;w;)

Featuring goofy ahh warm up sketches

#I'm still learning his design and proportions #First time drawing him #I'm sorry it's not very good (╥﹏╥) #my art #traditional art #drawing #fan art #the elder scrolls #tes #the elder scrolls v: skyrim #skyrim #altmer #thalmor #high elf #not my character #art

[muscariii]

More Morrowind drawings since I have nothing better to do :3 ( a lie )

Featuring: Dagoth Ur once more and also Nerevar as well as my Nerevarine again - Rasha!!

#i know an argonian with a spear is kind of unoriginal but whatever!! #im still figuring out how to draw all of these characters #but its fun #also its very useful to be preparing for art school while drawing this stuff #since drawing realistic people so much made me better at well uh... people #they didnt lie when they told me to draw from nature more to get better #i am rambling in the tags oops #the elder scrolls #the elder scrolls morrowind #morrowind #tes #dagoth ur #voryn dagoth #nerevar #indoril nerevar #nerevarine #argonian #tes oc #muscariart