Elder Scrolls General

Okay finally, back to the story. After getting this jackass his dwarf box I was advised to visit the bookseller. A remarkable notion and one I have never considered even as I eat up the lore. I'm dumb like that. Anyway, it has some cool books, a few of which I haven't already found and read elsewhere.

1. Book about the Nords is pretty bare-bones. They conquer people and are very centered upon their own culture. I knew that already from just reading posts on here. lol Still, the Nords have their own "Shouts?" I thought that was a Dragon thing? Or was the book just embellishing? Because if Nords really can just Shout down gates and stuff instead of using siege equipment, it puts a whole new perspective on that Caesar's Legion vs. Stormcloaks topic I glanced at earlier today.

2. So I reread another book I read earlier and forgot about. Someone help me out here. Were the Nords the one to strike the first blow against elves? In "Frontier, Conquest...." it mentions a lot of Nordic people, which aren't just Nords apparently, were living quite contentedly with the elven population of Tamriel. Then the Nords came in and nothing was the same ever again. Yet I know that, at some point, the Altmer had their own empire, that whole Dominion thing. I'm still having trouble sorting out all the dates, era, incarnation of Empire, etc...

3. So according to this account of the Imperial invasion of Morrowind...there wasn't even really a war. Vivec showed up, said "that Tiber fellow is a cool dude, let's give in" and that was that. Oh well there's more politics involved but it's Inter-Dunmer House politics. You'd think, with how xenophobic and faithful the Dunmer are that they'd put up more of a fight. But I guess when your god shows up and says to stop doing something, you do it. I wonder if either bit of speculation that preceded the treaty were accurate? You know, how Vivec agreed to help the Empire beat the Aldmer in exchange for the Empire leaving much of Morrowind culture and government intact? Maybe time will tell.

4. So the Dark Brotherhood used to be part of the Morag Tong, and they're not just some whackadoo evil cult. They are assassins hired by the highest levels of government. Puts them in a whole new perspective.

5. ....I don't understand "The Changed Ones" apart from the fact it seems to be a very Pro-Daedra book. I don't even know who the fuck Triminac or whatever is that Boethiah ate and shit out.

6. Oh and that dwarf fortress I went to to get that guy's box?Frickin' robot spiders and stuff in one of the areas. I mean, shit, the book I read that said the gods destroyed them must be right. There's no way anyone else could have with that level of steampunk tech.

Gonna take a break here because all that reading got me tired and hungry.

The Thu'um is something that's intrinsic to dragons. Thing is any mortal can learn it through years of training.

If I remember it right the ancient Nedes were living in peace with the Snow Elves of Skyrim. But then the elves went and attacked their human neighbors, Ysgramor went back to Atmora for reinforcements, then they genocided the Falmer.

IIRC Tiber Septim tried several times to conquer Morrowind. The Tribunal kicked him out every time. But then (spoilers for Morrowind the game) Dagoth Ur stole Kagrenac's tools, and the Tribunal's strength began to wane. Well they knew Tiber Septim was going to try again, so when he came knocking again they just made a treaty with him. Ended up getting the country of Morrowind some nice concessions in the process.

The Changed Ones are orcs and Malacath. See, orcs used to be normal elves and Trinimac used to be an elven god. But then Boethiah ate Trinimac, shat out the daedra prince Malacath, and then all of Trinimac's followers were transformed into orcs.

edited 4th Jun '15 3:07:23 PM by Spirit

At the second point: Yeah the Elves had a pretty sizable empire in the Merethic Era. IIRC the general province/independent nations were; Alinor, Direnni, Hegathe, Cyrod, "Mereth", & Resdayn. With Blackmarsh, Elsweyr and beast races around hammerfell were all 'Betmeri Kingdoms'.

Uh oh creepy dreams. Guy in a mask talking to the dead and I can't cry out. I have no idea what the hell this has to do with anything.

The plot so far is that the Ashlanders believe in a prophecy of one who will drive out the Empire.

And Caisu told me to shut up about my dreams because the Temple will lock me up. Makes sense I guess since the Ashlander prophecies are about "the false gods Tribunal" being removed. That is a part of the prophecy I didn't expect. I thought every Dunmer loved the Tribunal.

So the Tribunal killed this Nerevar guy and set themselves up as gods, telling the Ashlanders to fuck off. You know, nothing I've read or heard about the Tribunal makes me in any way trust them so I can totally believe the Ashlander idea that they backstabbed this Nerevar guy for the sake of power.

Also am I going to learn more about this Battle of Red Mountain in the main quest? Because I've seen it mentioned a lot but hell if I can remember who the Dunmer were actually fighting.

So while looking in the Underworks of St. Olms as part of the MQ, I came upon this Shrine. Naturally I had to investigate. Then I died...a lot. And very fast. Eventually I realized the only major threat was this one asshole who took off half my health with one swing. Looking it up, he was Level 23 and armed with a Daedric Longsword. I thank the lucky stars I chose to play a Monk. Hand-to-hand is the best thing ever in this game. This guy and those Daedra can kill me in seconds but thanks to HTH I can fatigue them out. It's the only way I have survived in most of my fights.

Wow, the Five Songs of King Wulfharth is the most fascinating piece of lore in a good while. So the enemy of the War of the First Council and the Battel of Red Mountain (they are the samethings, right? The battlw as part of the war?) were the dwarves. But let me see if I'm getting this right, at least as how it's presented at the moment. Dagoth Ur went to the Nords and helped them resurrect their deity and he brought the Nords to kill both the Tribunal-led Dunmer and also the Dwemer. Nordi ctradition I guess says Dagoth betrayed them and never helped them reclaim their god but the rest of the book, phrased more like a history than myth, says he was completely honest.

The question of course being why did Dagoth try to wipe out his own kin? Why did he seek out the Nords and help revive this Lorkhan?

Tangential note: the myth that an elf - or "Devil" - betrayed the Nords seems like just more kindling on the fire of Norid elf hate. As in, the Nords hated the Elves so they perpetuate the idea that they were betrayed by them and thus they are justified in never liking them ever again, as the final song says.

Progress of Truth - 'and concealing a recent dramatic diminishing in the Tribunal's magical powers."

So they're liars and they're getting weaker. Don't want to back this horse.

You all know me - I got no problem with authoritarianism or more...forceful regimes and factions but they need something to inspire in me. I don't like them JUST because they're brutal. I guess there's ample time for the Tribunal to win me over with charisma or good arguments but right now, between what I'm reading everywhere and a good familiarity with fantasy writing, I'm pretty sure they're not the best of folks and I don't know if I will be supporting them. That is, if that choice is presented to me at a future time. Then again, it's not even my familiarity with fantasy that is at play here. They have a frickin' place called "Ministry of Truth."

Still no information on what the Sixth House Cult is. I would assume it's people who follow Dagoth Ur. It's kinda funny - I'm pursuing two groups that probably hate each other. The Nerervarines who still hold to the "DAGOTH UR IS THE DEVIL!" idea yet they oppose the Tribunal, and these Sixth House guy sI'm pretty sure also would oppose the Tribunal.

Story is getting pretty good. I really want to find out what the hell happened at Red Mountain.

So I'm continuing the main quest and I had another enigmatic dream. But I'm in Ald-ruhn on the Main Quest and I went into the wrong home by mistake, thinking it was the place I was supposed to go. The lady inside, when I talked to her, said "the Hour of Waking" is at hand and Dagoth Ur will kill his enemies. Then she attacked me.

The hell? How is a Khajiit supposed to fulfill teh terms of a Dunmer prophecy? Also the Ashlanders are supposed to hate me now because I killed one of them. Well, two of them.

I really can't stress enough how annoyed I am at the Daedra by this point. I have found yet another shrine. Take a wild guess what happened. if you guessed the assholes inside tried to kill me, you win....absolutely nothing because that is always what happens. Say what you want about the Tribunal or the Nine Divines, or hell, say what you want about my enemy the Chantry, their followers first reactions aren't usually to try and kill you.

That is something that really bugs me about Morrowind NP Cs though. A lot of the times, the NP Cs in these dungeons WON'T attack me...at first. I walked right up to this guy in the shrine and he didn't react at all so i was like "hooray, finally, I can just talk to one of them." Only when i tried to click on him to talk, he turned around at last and attacked me. The fuck.

You know I hear you can actually talk to some of these guys. But fuck if I know how. I think you need a spell or power to "Calm" them. But I don't have that and I don't think most people will have that either.

Goddammit. I'm tired of dying when all I want to do is explore and learn.

Also I met my first "Daedric Prince specific Daedra."Apparently those Atromachs I've been encountering are just the rent-a-cops of Daedra and will work for anyone or anything, according to a book I found in the Vivec Library. The real ones are more unique and their forms depend on their lords. For example, the first "unique" Daedra I've run into is this Ogrim. It was pretty easy to kill, thankfully.

But yes...really fucking sick of dying for nothing. I find the shrines, am like "yay!" and then all that's in them are people trying to kill me. I appreciate the worldbuilding aspect of having these shrines everywhere but when they amount to little more than window dressing, it removes the interest I have in them.

There are apparently far fewer shrines in Skyrim and Oblivion but the ones they do have actually serve a purpose.

Okay I have a confession.

First let me start by saying that, over the passed few months, I've played about 12 new RP Gs. I've talked about all of them with you guys and you've been there with me on my wonderful journeys. That is why I kept true to my word and finished all of them, no matter how frustrated I was. I beat DA, ME, Fable, KOTOR and FO 3 and NV. That's hundreds of hours of gameplay there and more new games then I have played in years.

But...I'm So. Fucking. Bored. Oh don't get me wrong, you were here for the first 30 hours or so. I had a great time exploring towns and talking to people. I still love eating up the lore in books. I also love the plot. It's just...if this was a book? I'd buy it and read it, at once. It's very interesting.

But this is a game. A long game. A game I don't want to play anymore. The only game I want to play is Skyrim.

So I'm going to make use of this wonderful thing called You Tube. I will uncover the plot of Morrowind there.

And after that, and after I've spent some time away from Morrowind and did something more fun with Skyrim, I can come back to Morrowind and do the Expansions. I just...I need some time away because I am simply not having any fun right now.

It reminds me vividly of the end of Fallout 3, actually. That was the only game ever where I was just like "PLEASE GOD LET IT END ALREADY."

So... now that it's on the consoles, does anyone have any opinions on ESO: Tamriel Unlimited.

I've started playing again, on the Xbone this time, and I can say that I do enjoy it. Is it a "true" ES game? Maybe. Maybe not. Don't care that much though, since it basically veers on the side of "Close Enough" if nothing else. Crafting is fun, and I enjoy the quests for the most part. Menus kinda suck on Xbox though.

Has there ever been like a board game or card game in any Elder Scrolls game? I'm wondering if anyone in Tamriel spends their spare time playing something like chess or cyvasse or maybe even Triple Triad.

edited 20th Jun '15 6:29:33 PM by WillKeaton

To the Iliac Bay.

So, I guess the Skyrim thread has been deleted, and I wonder if there is more people like me; wondering why it doesn't pop up in their watchlists...

Anyway, modding issue: I've been playing with Truly Balanced Destruction Magic since 2012, and I've been trying to replicate the effects with other schools (mostly restoration, so health recovered and Sun/Poison rune damage increase with Skill). So I opened the mod with the CK to see what made it tick, and pretty much found this◊. I decided to add a similar tweak to the other schools in a separate mod, and it worked, but there seems to be some unintended sideefects: With only the original mod installed◊ versus the new mod that doesn't touch Destruction installed.◊

I suppose Fortify Restoration is magnifying the effect of the remaining fortify effects.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/nuked_thread_msg.php?discussion=12921173180a48984900

Well dang,I gotta investigate this

edit:turns out to be mistake deleted

edited 22nd Apr '18 9:08:23 AM by Ultimatum

I was wondering why it wouldn't show up.

This is the work of Sheogorath I know it

Oh, so I'm not the only one who noticed and had fuck no idea of why. Good to know it's just a mistake.

I wonder how long it will take for someone to model all the ESO racial armor styles into Skyrim. That game has some cool armor.

Because modding is the gift that keeps on giving:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/04/21/new-beyond-skyrim-project-promises-to-go-even-beyonder-to-iliac-bay/

Exploring the areas of Hammerfell and the Breton kingdoms. More politics! I hope they can pull it off.

My Redguard mage is excited at the prospect of revisiting her homeland

I may have to reinstall Skyrim and broaden my horizons. Still want a decent game with Blackmarsh as a setting.

So I ended up with this as the way materials progress as you level...◊

Skyrim VR is a nightmare (laugh)

So a while ago I started up a special run, which I mentioned here. Well, not here, the old thread.

Can't remember if I ever posted any updates on that, but I did get a bit in, and also just started her up again. I'm on a soft anti-fast travel thing with her here; might use it situationally, but right now she can only use carriages and must arrive to a place first by making the journey on foot. Spice things up a bit. Also running fairly vanilla-ish: no mods other than the unofficial patches and SkyUI right now. There are mods that play up non-lethal gameplay, but for now we're focused on breaking apart Skyrim as-released.

In any case, back then I visited a few places, got my initial spells and stuff at Whiterun, briefly visited Windhelm (was on the way from Winterhold on the route I took), did some minor fetch quests, but what I did now was the first proper College quest, delving into Saarthal.

My character is still really low-level (5 right now), so this was a relative toughie. Sneak wasn't developed enough to get by the draugr nor could my Calm/Fear spells affect anyone, and I couldn't spare my potions of paralysis yet. So may I just say, my character has proven excellent at solving puzzles under pressure. Can duck behind and rotate things like no one. You guys don't even know.

A moment of silence for the draugr mercilessly slain, albeit relatively slowly, by Tolfdir when we were together.

Had to deal with the first boss who needs to be killed to proceed: Jyrik Gauldurson. Took him out with my fists, in the end. But not lethally. He kept kneeling on the floor after a few punches, I kept letting him live. So in the end he was taken out when, tired of my endless mercy, he ran over a poison arrow trap and killed himself. Good job, pal. Well, actually, he had to run over a poison arrow trap a few times. I could trigger it myself without it counting, which would've finished him off immediately, but even though it wouldn't count as a kill I felt doing it that way was funnier. Look, the point is, I think we can all agree that he only has himself to blame there. My hands are clean. Feet. Whatever.

edited 28th May '18 6:22:50 AM by Lavaeolus

IT EXISTS

And just like that Bethesda kills EA whilst tag teaming with CDPR.

Big mountain? High rock again? Doesn't look desert enough for elyswhere. Or swampy enough for blackmarsh.

Oh holy shit Wish I had Alexa just for that now