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ponderings-of-tamriel · 3 years

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“Speaking in the first-person is something Pacrooti will never be able to grasp, he thinks. Pacrooti has trouble understanding those Khajiit who have mastered that nuance of the common tongue. Combining that speech with a Khajiiti rasp and accent, and it sounds to Pacrooti like a little Man or Mer speaking out of a Khajiit face. Most disturbing.”

–Pacrooti, suggesting that speaking in the first-person is challenging for the native speakers of Ta'agra.

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 5 years

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The Elder Scrolls Elf Races as Rated by Elf Strangeness

Altmer (High Elves) - The tallest of the elves. Also the most snobbish. Have ridiculously intricate table manners. Consider themselves superior to all other races and practice eugenics to maintain their superiority. Really like magic and make very powerful mages. Hate the worship of Talos. Not so much strange, as they are assholes. 3/10

Ayleids (Heartland High Elves or Wild Elves) - Were able to capture and store magic in meteoric glass and used these stones to power mechanisms in their cities. Loved power greatly. Worshiped both Aedra and Daedra. Also known to have fornicated with Daedra at least once. Had a great empire until a slave revolt happened, after which they got driven into the margins and subsequently disappeared. Like the Altmer, only weirder. 5/10

Bosmer (Wood Elves) - Friendly, smol, tree-loving elves. Made a pact with the forest god Yffre to live in peace in the Valenwood, whose tenants include never harming a plant of the Valenwood. And only eating meat….including the meat of enemies slain in battle. These elves will eat you. Their pact with Yffre also granted them an ability to perform a group ritual that transforms them into a hoard of unstoppable murdercreatures. Their normal exterior is but a ruse. NOPE/10

Dunmer (Dark Elves) - Formerly a group of kinda orange elves called the Chimer, who got cursed and subsequently pallet-swapped. Worship either a trio of living gods called the Tribunal or the Daedric Princes Mephala, Boethiah, and Azura. Also really big into ancestor veneration. Some of them live in giant mushrooms, while others have an either city district built in the remains of a giant crab. Suitably weird and non-human. 6/10

Dwemer (Dwarves or Deep Elves) - Underground-dwelling, steampunk elves in a fantasy setting. Built robots and giant mechs which still function after several thousand years of no maintenance. Discovered a way to warp reality using music. All telepathically connected through an ability named the Calling. Sought to create their own god. Managed to collectively screw themselves and vanish wholesale due to this. Generally very strange. 8/10

Falmer (Snow Elves) - Very very pale elves who were once a great civilization, before being devastated by a war with the Nords. Made a deal with the Dwemer for sanctuary in their cities, which involved eating mushrooms which turned them build. Slowly warped into murderous creatures who hate all other beings. Now basically Morlocks. 8/10

Maormer (Sea Elves) - Have translucent, chameleon-like skin and milky white eyes. Descended from a group of elves that got banished to a marsh island in the ass end of nowhere. Generally pissed about this. Build ships out of insect parts and ride sea serpents into battle. Genuinely freaky, if only they appeared in more than one game. 9/10

Orsimer (Orcs or Pariah Elves) - Originally ancient high elves who were so faithful to their god that they got cursed and warped when he did. Favour physical strength far more than other elves. Everyone hates them and constantly sacks their one city. Many lead a tribal existence on the fringes of society. Easily the strangest origin story of any elf race in the realm. 7/10

TL;DR - Elves in the Elder Scrolls are weird as fuck.

#Hnnng still gotta finish that orismer post one day #And maybe do one about dunmer bc actually I like them #Just gotta see if there's anything interesting to share

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 5 years

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High ranking priests were known to wear dragon priest masks that each bore a unique and distinct enchantment, or a series of enchantments. Bromjunaar Sanctuary, within Labyrinthian, is the location of the mysterious dragon priest shrine. The shrine displays the busts of the eight high ranking dragon priests found throughout Skyrim.

#i try not to reblog here #but that mask is god damn rad

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 5 years

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The dark brotherhood

Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your lore unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in searching through spending way too much time going through in-game texts.

Me trying to find the source of that one neat fact I know I heard of

Who is the dark brotherhood?

The dark brotherhood is a group of assassins that serves as a faction the player can join in every main series game since Daggerfall, with exception of Morrowind, where the Morag Tong fill that place instead. Remember that name for later.

So what exactly does the dark brotherhood do? Well, assassinate people. However, since the dark web doesn’t yet exist, there has to be another way to find contracts. They worship the night mother, who in turn chooses someone among their ranks to be the listener. This listener will hear the voice of the night mother and be told who performed the black sacrament.

Alright, now we have all that out of the way we can explain what all of those words actually mean.

Why are the Morag Tong important?

The Morag Tong is a group of assassins that existed before the dark brotherhood came to be. They worshipped the Daedra, and even got so far as to be legally allowed to do their killings, provided they carried a writ of execution on them. When the dark brotherhood formed, the Morag Tong decided that there can only be one cult that murders people, and since they are already allowed to do it, it is them, and so they declared the dark brotherhood their sworn enemies.

The dark brotherhood didn’t form completely separately from the Morag Tong though. They were founded by one of the more prominent members of the ancient assassin’s cult: The night mother herself.

Night Mother? Mother of whom?

I’ve been telling you to do the dishes for at least 500 years now

Although she doesn’t look much like it now, the night mother used to be very much alive, and apparently, sexy. You see, this woman used to be a Dunmer, serving for the Morag Tong. During a particularly bad time for the organization, the void himself, Sithis, worshipped by both assassin’s organizations, spoke to her, telling her about his hunger for souls. So the two did as anyone would do and she went on to have 5 of his children and murdering them all two years later. Of course, the townsfolk of her home weren’t too happy about all that and in turn, killed the woman and burned down her house.

Years later, an unknown man heard a voice inside of his head. This voice was the night mother, and he was the first listener of many, a chosen one able to hear the night mother’s voice.

Mother knows best most

If one wishes to contact the dark brotherhood, they need to perform the black sacrament as described in “A kiss, sweet Mother”, and shown on the very first picture of this post. Yeah, I lied, that’s not me, that’s an offering to Sithis. The night mother will know, immediately.

Similarly, this almighty knowledge helps the guild recruit new members. Murderers are contacted in their sleep and invited to become a dark sibling.

On the topic of recruitment however, we can learn in dialogue with Oblivion’s Teinaava that some Argonians have it easy. "In the Argonian home of Black Marsh, those born under the sign of the Shadow are taken at birth and presented to the Dark Brotherhood.“ From then on they are trained to be assassins and considered full members as soon as they are mature.

No one would ever suspect a thing if you sneak into someone’s bedroom dressed like that, I promise

The tenets

The Brotherhood may be a band of unlawful murderers, but they still have some rules! The five tenets are to be followed by all members:

Tenet 1: Never dishonor the Night Mother. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Tenet 2: Never betray the Dark Brotherhood or its secrets. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Tenet 3: Never disobey or refuse to carry out an order from a Dark Brotherhood superior. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Tenet 4: Never steal the possessions of a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Tenet 5: Never kill a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Did you guess what happens if you break one of those rules? If you guessed “Astrid dies”, you guessed correctly!

A very quick history recap

Just to put this in perspective with eso, 2E 324 is the year mentioned in “The Night Mother’s Truth” that is supposed to have set off the events leading to the first listener. Elder Scrolls online takes place around 2E 580 (582 or 583), so they are still quite new.

As for more current times, in 4E 200 Cicero and the Night Mother arrive in Skyrim, at the very last known Sanctuary of Tamriel. How we are going to see the dark brotherhood appear in the Elder Scrolls VI leaves much to speculation, but I for one dearly hope they will appear again.

Hail Sithis!

Sadly, with tumblr blocking off any and all posts containing links, I can only list the books I used as sources. They can be found in the imperial library and elder scrolls wiki pages:

The Brothers of Darkness

A kiss, sweet Mother

The Night Mother's Truth

The Glint in the Night

Fire and Darkness

Cicero’s journals

The five tenets

#skyrim #Elder Scrolls #The Elder Scrolls #eso #the dark brotherhood #elder scrolls lore #long lore post #oblivion #morag tong

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 5 years

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Nirn

For the very first post on this blog made after years, let's start out with something very basic: The geography of Nirn and the mortal plane.

What is Nirn?

Nirn, for any who are still unfamiliar, is the name of the planet on which Tamriel lies, and thus the main setting for almost every elder scroll game so far, excluding Battlespire, for the simple reason that Battlespire is set in another plane than the mortal one, but nobody played that one anyway.

What is the mortal plane?

No, not that one

Now you know what Nirn is, but there still is that mortal plane part left to explain. What exactly is encompassed in the mortal plane? There is Nirn, the planet, and there are the two moons Masser and Secunda. Masser being the more massive one that circles around Nirn and Secunda acting as a secondary moon moving around Masser. Who could have guessed?

But wait, you might think, what about the sun and all the stars we can also see in the sky, where are they if not in the mortal plane? You see, the elder scrolls universe is an alternate universe to earth where medieval scholars were right and those heavenly bodies do not exist. Instead, those are holes in the mortal plane, left by the gods descending onto the planet, allowing light and magic to seep through. Also, dragons exist, Nirn appears spherical and not flat like this scholar might have believed, magic is a thing and some other stuff, but you get the gist of it. You might have picked up on the fact that Nirn appears spherical. That is because it was described to be of infinite mass, thus appearing as a bubble to mortal minds. Similar to planets, the sky is just an illusion caused by mortals being too dumb to process looking outside of their own plane. Though that information is from 1999 so bear that in mind.

And that brings us to:

The creation myth

Or, myths. What we can be pretty sure of is that at first there were the twin forces Anu and Padomay, and that Lorkhan and the eight divines, not including Talos here, played a huge role in forming Nirn. Also the other Deadra at first but they found out it was too much work pretty quickly and left that job to what later became the Aedra. And now they're having their fun on Nirn anyway. But that's another topic.

Lorkhan went on to become the moons, so we can now look up in the night sky to lovingly gaze at lots of holes and a dying guy’s two bodies. Dying, because originally the moons were white and smooth, and the general moonliness we see now is rot. How romantic!

Not what you first thought that was, huh?

Of course, there are other myths held by the other races, but we won’t go too deep into those, for the sake of keeping the post’s length somewhat acceptable.

The Kahjiit believe Nir (Nirn) was created from light and darkness and gave birth to creation

The Argonians tell of the Great Root Atak, and the Serpent Kota, who became Atakota and ate all they found until they were devoured by what they had eaten and turned to oceans and stone

The Nords straight up don’t care???

The Aldmer (the original elves) believed that Sithis was the true creator of everything and that they, unlike the humans, were direct descendants of Sithis.

The geography of Nirn

Nirn is home to 5 continents, which may one day have been a single continent, though your guess on the interpretation of my source is as good as mine:

Q: [...] Are Akavir and Atmore actual continents and should be perceived as such, or are they rather mirror images of Nirn? A: The only continents that are not real... that would be Aldmeris. The rest of them might have shared Pangea thing, but only one is a memory. [...] -from a Q&A with Michael Kirkbride

So now that this cryptic message is out of the way, we can focus on the continents that now are and do exist outside of fabricated memories. (Although, you know, one could argue the entire elder scrolls universe is a fabricated memory as it is a fictional universe, but I digress.)

Tamriel, setting to the main series Elder Scrolls games, meaning “Dawn’s beauty”

Akavir, meaning “Dragon land”, set to the east of Tamriel, home of various beastfolk

Atmora, meaning “Elder wood”, a frozen land to the north of Tamriel, home of the Nord’s ancestors

Yokuda, the original home of the Redguard, west of Tamriel

Pyandonea, south of Tamriel, made up of tropical islands and home to the tropical elven race of the Maromer

The only place we have actually seen on an official map is Yokuda.

At least one good thing came from the Redguard game! This and the voice acting. Wonderfully horrible voice acting.

Maybe, one day, we will actually get to travel beyond Tamriel though. There sure is plenty to see, and plenty of lore to expand on.

Sadly, with tumblr blocking off any and all posts containing links, I can only list the books I used as sources. They can be found in the imperial library and elder scrolls wiki pages:

Pocket Guide to the Empire, 1st Edition/The Wild Region

The Na-Totambu of Yokuda

Frontier, Conquest, and Accommodation: A Social History of Cyrodiil

Mysterious Akavir

Annotated Anuad / A Children's Anuad

Children of the Root

On the Nord’s Lack of a Creation Myth

The Monomyth

Michael Kirkbride - IRC Q&A Sessions (in the imperial library)

The Lunar Lorkhan

Cosmology (A text published by Michael Kirkbride, found in the imperial library)

#The Elder Scrolls #Elder Scrolls #eso #elder scrolls lore #nirn #Skyrim #Morrowind #oblivion #tamriel #akavir #atmora #yokuda #pyandonea #aedra #daedra #long lore post

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 5 years

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Hewwo? OwO

Hello there! If you see this post being postet by some weird blog you don't remember following, worry not! It is not tumblr trying to decide who you're probably interested again. Besides, if that went for you remotely the same way as me I'd have to be an aesthetic/porn Blog suddenly bombing your dash with nudity. But that's besides the point.

This blog used to be called talesofelswyer, with a typo in the name (oops!) and focused on khajiit lore only. Now that I'm in charge, and not I but a few years younger, this blog is getting dusted off and transformed into a glorious pile of needy garbage!

Now, before you hurriedly click the unfollow button, if you haven't already, which I wouldn't hold against you, I'm still posting elder scrolls Lore. Only now it doesn't have to be about khajiit all the time and also I learned how to not sound like a robot. Or, sound a little less like a robot. That means, starting just about now, this blog will regularly post gathered information about one topic, ranging from basic elder scrolls knowledge to the kind of stuff only a nerd who runs a lore blog researches. So, no more simpel fact in the headline and the source below. These posts read the way raw flour tastes, but now it's time to make bread, baby!

#Mod talk #To any of the 75 followers this blog still has that are actually still active #Apologies to the furries that make up about 50% of them

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 10 years

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Made me laugh ;o

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 10 years

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(An inappropriate question coming up). Since all male felines (cat family) on earth have barbed penises, do male Khajiit have too?

No, not all of them. One of this Forum entries from Douglas Goodall says:

"While all Terran felines have this trait (and many carnivorae have something similar), it makes no biological sense for the Khajiit to have it… unless Khajiit women are not sexually receptive year-round like human women or always ovulate during intercourse… The fiction from Daggerfall somewhat disproves that notion as well, thus the dilemna.

I thought of a couple explanations for this and eventually settled on one which I should save for later revelation.

I retroactively removed this trait from most of the Khajiit. I’m allowed to do that because I said so. So there. Therris was obviously a cathay-Raht, since he clearly wasn’t a Senche, [censored], [censored], or [haven’t made up a name yet]. Ohmes don’t have this trait at all and suthay-Raht (like the Khajiit in Morrowind) have it only to a slight degree.”

The “fiction from Daggerfall” he talkes about is “The real Barenziah”. Therris’ penis is mentioned in Part III of the uncensored Daggerfall version.

A forum Post from GT Noonan states that “Only three “breeds” of Khajiit have the, um, adaptation discussed in The Real Barenziah which occurs in Earth-cats for entirely different reasons.” (Link)

#Anonymous #Khajiit #The Elder Scrolls #eso #skyrim #oblivion #Morrowind #Daggerfall

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 10 years

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A few things that are impolite for Khajiit

First I'd like to say that these informations are from an interview with Douglas Goodall, and informations from developers directly are not always true.

"Khajiti men show their status in life with their names, unless they choose a nickname. In Jobasha's case, as a "scholar," Jobasha uses "Jo" alone, not "S'basha-Jo," for using two titles shows great ignorance or great pride."

"Using the wrong name for a Khajiit is insulting. For instance, calling Jobasha "M'basha" would be unwise. Khajiit respect men and mer, but we do not wish to be compared to you. Calling a Khajiit, even an Ohmes-Khajiit, "bald" or "unclawed," is a deadly insult."

You can read through the whole interview here.

#Khajiit #Elsweyr #the elder scrolls #eso #skyrim #Oblivion #morrowind

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 10 years

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Khjaiit also use "I" or "we"

This may be a minor fact but I've seen so many people using only their name or "this one" when referring to themselfes as Khajiit. Of course they use this a lot, but not always. Some of them even exclusively use "I", such as J'datarr in Skyrim. Even Khajiit who usally use their name say "I" sometimes. ("Well, J'zargo is surprised." "If anyone sneaks up on us, I will smell them coming.")

So if you're into roleplaying it really depends on you wether or not to use "I" a lot, but note that Khajiit do not have to be "this one".

#Khajiit #elder scrolls #eso #skyrim #Oblivion #morrowind

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 10 years

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Senche-Raht don't seem to get along with Alfiq

"When the great Senche-Raht comes to the Saimisil Steppes, he will find himself unable to hunt, unable to sleep, as the tiny Alfiq leap onto his back, biting him, and running off before he has a chance to turn his great body to face them. Eventually, though he may stubbornly hope to catch the Alfiq, the Senche-Raht always leaves. "

-Azirr Traajijazeri, Skyrim and Oblivion

This is a comparision to the tactic the Renrijra Krin use, so I'm not sure how much truth is in that sentence.

#Khajiit #Elsweyr #the elder scrolls #eso #Skyrim #Oblivion #morrowind

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 10 years

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Some Posts from GT Noonan on Khajiit

"5) Perhaps in future products, you can have the choice to play different types of Khajiit. Gentlemen prefer Ohmes... although I have to admit I like the way the Suthay-raht (sometimes called ja-Khajiit, though this is either a deliberate insult or a translation error) in Vvardenfell have turned out. 6) If Khajiit have six breasts, which I will neither confirm nor deny, only the top two have visually-pleasing fat deposits in most "breeds." 7) Only three "breeds" of Khajiit have the, um, adaptation discussed in The Real Barenziah which occurs in Earth-cats for entirely different reasons. 8) Khajiit are not like cats in every way. They are not exactly like humans either. I should know because I made all this stuff up."

GT Noonan, or Gary Noonan, is developer and animator at bethesda. These are posts from the official Elder Scrolls Forums.

#Khajiit #Elsweyr #the elder scrolls #Eso #Skyrim #Oblivion #morrowind

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 10 years

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Giants once lived in Elsweyr (probably)

"I have divined the location of the fourth piece of the Staff. It lies in the Halls of Colossus, a structure built to honor a race of Giants, though none have been seen in the land for ages."

-Ria Silmane in the main questline of Arena.

The Halls of Colossus lies in southern Elsweyr. It is said to either be built to honor giants, by giants themselfes or simply by Tiber Septim to test the Numidium.

#Elsweyr #Giants #the elder scrolls #skyrim #Oblivion #morrowind

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 10 years

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If you ever wondered what the Mane looks like, this is how the Imperial Geographical Society pictures Nhad-ha-ta, Mane of Elsweyr around 2E 864.

#Khajiit #Elsweyr #the elder scrolls #skyrim #Oblivion #morrowind

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 10 years

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Khajiits use Nightshade to improve their sneakiness

"Nightshade is reputed to be a very poisonous herb. However, the variety found in many parts of Elsweyr is cherished by Khajiits who have taken up careers in thievery. Many Khajiits will tuck a piece of Nightshade inside their armor to increase their abilities to skulk, hide, and become invisible."

-Special Flora of Tamriel, Morrowind

The Alchemy effects don't include invisiblity. Maybe Elsweyr's Nightshade is different from the northern one.

#Khajiit #Elsweyr #the elder scrolls #skyrim #Oblivion #morrowind #nightshade

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 10 years

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Alfiq are used as Battlemages

"One of the surviving Bosmer told me that he saw a few ordinary cats among the Dagi and even claimed that these ordinary cats are known as 'Alfiq' and that they were the spellcasters, but Bosmer are almost as unreliable as the Khajiit when it comes to the truth, and I cannot believe that a housecat can cast spells."

-Mixed Unit Tactics, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim

Just imagine your cat casting spells. Alfiq have to be so cute!

#Khajiit #Elsweyr #elder scrolls #eso #skyrim #oblivo #morrowind

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ponderings-of-tamriel · 10 years

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Elsweyr is probably the most relaxing place to go shopping

"In Elsweyr, it is common for the shop-owner to offer the prospective buyer tea or sweetmeats and engage in polite conversation before commencing the business. This eminently civilized tradition has a practical purpose, allowing the buyer to observe the wares for sale. It is considered impolite not to accept, though it does not imply obligation on the part of the buyer."

-The buying game, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim and Elder Scrolls Online

As a non-Khjaiit you should probably only accept the tea if you don't want to get addicted to moonsugar

#Khajiit #Elsweyr #Eso #Skyrim #Oblivion #morrowind

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