The Elder Scrolls

[Microplastics In My Blood]

The lore was less fleshed out back in 2002, and Dunmer are the focal point of Morrowind. It's not about the Nords, so we don't see as much.

Plus, a Nord that's outside of Skyrim is probably more tolerant of other races. Sven the Sailor in Morrowind has learned to trade and interact with non-Nords; Bjorg the Bumpkin of 4E Skyrim has only experienced the foreigners barging in and demanding he change his way of life.

80% of the lore we have (if you dont count ESO which I dont want to) is from Daggerfall and Morrowind, and Morrowind was the last time the lore was consistent. The fleshing out of Oblivion and Skyrim has introduced a ton of lore inconsistencies (not in universe inconsistencies like biased characters). I dont think the Nords are as racist as people make them out to be on Reddit. I think the "racist angle" was introduced to make the Stormcloaks not the oblivious moral good guys. I just don't think that the way they did the "racism" fits the character of the Nords that we have seen in every previous title.

I already mentioned that. Those old folk beliefs would be expressed in more animistic ways, without shrines or priests or temples.

Yes but we dont see things like household shrines or shamans. If we look into Varieties of Faith we find talking about Shor: "Considered a "dead god," Shor has no priesthood and is not actively worshiped, but he is frequently sworn by." What this suggests is that the other gods do have active priesthoods and Shor is the exception to the rule. If they don't have a concept of temples and priests, why did they the ancient nords build giant temples to them, Sure you can say the dragon's made them do it, but why do they then have form a order of monks, build a monastery hundreds of years after the end of the Dragon Cult on a holy site significant to the Nord belief system. Did Paarthurnax tell them to do it? So the Nords didn't build temples or monuments or have holy men until the imperial cult took over in the last 200 years? An internal document for Skyrim by Kirkbride says "The Hearth Gods have temples appropriate to their nature: Kyne's are built on peaks, Mara's are the halls of important Witches, Dibella's are the halls of important Wives– the temples aren't like those of the Imperials; as Hearth Gods, they are always homes to someone, and the highest-ranking female of that home is their de facto high priestess." and "The Eight Divines are viewed by the Nords as a “Southern” import. They retain some of the taint of the Alessian Order, and are basically viewed as a religion for foreigners. Their gods are fine for them, but Nords need Nord gods."

They explicitly invoke Ysmir, Shor, and Kyne when giving the Dragonborn the formal greeting.

Yes but this is a historical quote and when you talk to them they only ever use Imperial Cult names and ideas. When you talk to Greybeard's they mention that you have the gift of Akatosh where as they are followers of Kynareth and that is why they have to be pacifists and you can fight for Skyrim and Nirn . This makes zero sense if they follow the old ways at all since Akatosh is Alduin. Kyne is the Mother of Man, she is Skyrim itself but they can't protect Skyrim and her people because of ?, but you can because you have the evil blood of the evil god that you are fighting and wants to destroy the world?

The Idea of The dragonborn being linked to the Voice is a Skyrim thing apart from maybe a single very vague line by Mankar Camoran in Oblivion. The Voice was always a Kyne thing. Kyne is the god of wind, she breathed man into existence. What is a man's voice but shaping wind and breath into sounds that can alter the world. They believe that their breath is the breath of Kyne.

Do they mention any of this? No. they mention kyne 2 times and the voice being her gift once in a historical quote that seems to go completely against what they actually believe when you ask them.

The Monomyth generally agrees that Lorkhan is dead, and the world/the moons are the remains of his body. Why worship a deceased god that no longer has power?

As for Ulfric, he's a politician as well as a warlord. He's more pragmatic than the memes and his reputation would have you believe. He wants Skyrim to be free to worship Talos and/or follow the "old ways", not impose it upon all of Skyrim. He only opposes foreigners insofar as they cause problems for the Nord majority.

Im not saying that he should be actively praying to Shor, but he never references any of the old gods once, not even Shor who is a perfect metaphor for how the Thalmor are attacking humanity. It would be like if a Christian country sold all of their firearms to mass buy tractors and not a single person made an news article or quip about "turning swords into ploughshares". We have no evidence of Ulfric ever even thinking about the old gods, the only one he ever mentions by name is Alduin but that's because he is the big bad.


Sorry for the absolute war and peace posts, brevity is not one of my strong suits

 

[LovisXVI]

May Modathon is back on!

Wish I could get in the spirit by working on Ki-Ui but I'm booked for all of May. Will have to find consolation in the incredible things coming out of the community instead.

 

[Mr. Racewar1488]

Some say Ulfric and the Stormcloaks are "racist" but as far as the world of Elder Scrolls is concerned, in the realm of xenophobia he is a moderate at most.

0:55

 

[foreman 89]

Some say Ulfric and the Stormcloaks are "racist" but as far as the world of Elder Scrolls is concerned, in the realm of xenophobia he is a moderate at most.

The reason for that is because Nords are based on White people and White "racism" is the ultimate act of evil in leftist morality. Skyrim was also released when the internet (that leftists held more or less a monopoly over) was becoming mainstream and race relations were "starting" to decline in the US with the Trayvon Martin shooting and rise of BLM.

 

[Microplastics In My Blood]

The reason for that is because Nords are based on White people and White "racism" is the ultimate act of evil in leftist morality. Skyrim was also released when the internet (that leftists held more or less a monopoly over) was becoming mainstream and race relations were "starting" to decline in the US with the Trayvon Martin shooting and rise of BLM.

I think it was a poor attempt to try and make the civil war more morally grey and to make it harder to chose a side. The first thing a new player sees is the Imperials trying to chop your head off because they cant be bothered to amend a list they made. The Imperials turn a blind eye to the Altmer gestapo kidnapping and torturing people for practicing their own religion, they belittle Nord culture and people naturally tend to side with the rebellious underdog. Apart from the imperials being the good guys of Oblivion and the Romaboo aesthetic (which varies from person to person) the only thing they have going for them is "we are the best long term solution for the Dominion problem" which is highly debatable anyway.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

I think it was a poor attempt to try and make the civil war more morally grey and to make it harder to chose a side. The first thing a new player sees is the Imperials trying to chop your head off because they cant be bothered to amend a list they made. The Imperials turn a blind eye to the Altmer gestapo kidnapping and torturing people for practicing their own religion, they belittle Nord culture and people naturally tend to side with the rebellious underdog. Apart from the imperials being the good guys of Oblivion and the Romaboo aesthetic (which varies from person to person) the only thing they have going for them is "we are the best long term solution for the Dominion problem" which is highly debatable anyway.

The avatar of Talos in Morrowind says the Empire is gonna finally down in a few years, for worse or better.
One of the high-mages in Tribunal says about the gates to Oblivion gonna appear in the Mundus.
The Emperor is killed. The empire struggles after it and we see the consequences in Skyrim.

Is very directly and rethorical. If you aren't a Imperial or Breton, why join them?

 

[Samuel Fuller]

I started Oblivion last night, and man, it is just as hilariously broken as I had heard. I maxed out my Sneaking by wedging something between the sticks of my controller while I was in the tutorial in the intro dungeon and going to bed, waking up to 100 Sneaking.

Whoever came up with the levelling system in that game needed another year to make it somewhat sane.

 

[Meat Target]

I started Oblivion last night, and man, it is just as hilariously broken as I had heard. I maxed out my Sneaking by wedging something between the sticks of my controller while I was in the tutorial in the intro dungeon and going to bed, waking up to 100 Sneaking.

Whoever came up with the levelling system in that game needed another year to make it somewhat sane.

I got the Skeleton Key from Nocturnal's quest and skyrocketed my Security skill spamming Force Attempt.

 

[Book Thief]

Well, as mentioned in another thread, I began a playthrough of Daggerfall, and I've since completed it. I quite enjoyed it for the most part. The only time I didn't like what was going on before the final dungeon was when a random dungeon started with a big drop into a body of water, necessitating a lengthy climbing attempt in order to leave once I was finished with my business there. Heck, one time such a dungeon managed to soft-lock me. Thankfully, I had been saving like it's a Point-and-Click adventure, so simply reloading to before I took that quest was no big deal.

However, the final dungeon can go fuck itself. I know a lot of people give Xen from Half Life a lot of shit, but honestly, it has NOTHING on The Mantellan Crux. With a confusing layout, combined with moon-logic puzzles that don't explain themselves, combined with numerous opportunities to softlock due to the statues that cast levitate on you being single-use only, it is by far the worst part of the game. Heck, I was even experiencing some kind of bug during the fire room with the Blind God, as for some reason, despite following a walkthrough to the letter, I was being barred off from the skull in the middle by forcefields. Turns out, the skulls were being triggered by me walking underneath them, rather than interacting with them, as after many, many reloads, I started crouching underneath the skulls I didn't want to touch, and it worked.

The frustrations didn't end there, as then I came to the part where the map is built like a crossbow. I watched a video of some guy showing how to do it without magic, and he somehow climbs up and goes sideways, which I seem to be completely unable to do. Thank fuck I happened across two Levitate Potions during my playthrough, because otherwise that would've been GG.

Overall, I'd say it's a very solid experience until the final part of the game. Heck, I even took several screenshots of the scenery, as I found it quite picturesque despite being a 2.5D game. I can understand why they took out climbing in the later games, but dicking around in Sentinel while I was waiting for the Underking's Agent to contact me was a lot of fun, as it felt like a precursor to modern action games where you can climb on every surface (Breath of the Wild, Crimson Desert, etc.). I might play through it again at some point with some more mods to help spice things up as well.

Spoiler: Screenshots

 

[John Egbert BD]

Some say Ulfric and the Stormcloaks are "racist" but as far as the world of Elder Scrolls is concerned, in the realm of xenophobia he is a moderate at most.

Anyone who says Stormcloaks are racist did not play Morrowind.
Did you know that despite being 13% of the population of Skyrim, Khajiit commit over half the crimes? Food for thought.

Should i play daggerfall or arena? I haven't touched Skyrim in years, mostly been replaying TES 3 and 4

 

[Friendly Primarina]

Anyone who says Stormcloaks are racist did not play Morrowind.
Did you know that despite being 13% of the population of Skyrim, Khajiit commit over half the crimes? Food for thought.

Should i play daggerfall or arena? I haven't touched Skyrim in years, mostly been replaying TES 3 and 4

I haven't played enough of Arena to give a verdict, but Daggerfall is okay. You have to use your imagination, though.

 

[John Egbert BD]

I haven't played enough of Arena to give a verdict, but Daggerfall is okay. You have to use your imagination, though.

What did you like about daggerfall? My favorite part of Morrowind is that it wasn't as hand holdy as oblivion, which is huge for immersion.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

What did you like about daggerfall? My favorite part of Morrowind is that it wasn't as hand holdy as oblivion, which is huge for immersion.

I like the extremely in-depth character creator. Want to play as a knight templar or priest? You can have a bonus against Daedra. Want to play as a demon? You can set yourself to take damage in "holy places". Advantages and disadvantages like this affect how quickly your character gains XP.

I'm scratching the surface of what you can do with it. The important thing is that it's indicative of the thing I like most about Daggerfall's design - it puts a lot of faith in the player.

 

[GratsTheat783]

Did Bethesda intentionally make the population of bandits in Skyrim easily outweigh that of cities? I've seen some video titles suggest Skyrim is "apocalyptic" or something similar due to that.

Should i play daggerfall or arena?

Recently played Arena, it's worth at least one playthrough, though I'd recommend making sure you pick a class that can use magic so that you can break through dungeon walls and open doors (magic is also straight up broken), you might need to Google some of the riddle doors as certain ones can't be magically opened. I'd recommend Daggerfall as well, though use Daggerfall Unity as the DOSBOX version is quite buggy. As Primarina said, it's got a very in-depth character creator and it's fun watching your money counter go up and up and watching your faction reputation go up and up. It is one of those games that takes some getting used to though, you will likely die a lot early on. I recommend at least getting the anchor spell so you can easily get out of dungeons if you get lost.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

Did Bethesda intentionally make the population of bandits in Skyrim easily outweigh that of cities? I've seen some video titles suggest Skyrim is "apocalyptic" or something similar due to that.

I would assume it's a combination of poverty because of the war + relative lack of guards patrolling the road because of the war.

 

[ComStar]

https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/58469 - Already starting strong with Death And Taxes making the Census and Excise Office a full blown faction with it's own questline and 100 quests tied to it (with it's own bounty system tied into it). Tamriel Rebuilt and OAAB is needed for this as the questline takes place across Vvardenfell and the Mainland.

Guess i'm reinstalling Morrowind again.

Census & Excise will be hilarious from an RP perspective as well. Nerevarine of the Ashlanders. Hortator of the Great Houses. Tax Man.

Spoiler: Sperg

Imagine being a poor as shit dirt farmer outside Vivec. As you are sitting down to your evening meal of kwama eggs and scrib jelly, you hear a knock at the door to your hovel.

You open the door and see some farming equipment. Except this farming equipment is lord Nerevar Indoril reborn, dressed in daedric armor and reeking of moon sugar. As you stare in confusion, he purrs: "Greetings muthsera, are you Geren Volus?"
"Yes?"
"You owe His Imperial Majesty 53 drakes in back taxes and customs dues"
You are still very confused, but pay up. Nerevar counts the money and pockets it.
"Warm sands, sera"

Nerevar turns and walks off, tail flapping majestically in the breeze.

 

[Super Hans v2]

Did Bethesda intentionally make the population of bandits in Skyrim easily outweigh that of cities? I've seen some video titles suggest Skyrim is "apocalyptic" or something similar due to that.

That's an odd criticism for Skyrim specifically, because it was even worse in Oblivion with not just the bandits but also the supposed necromancer splinter faction for the Mages Guild being 95% of all sorcerers.

 

[scathefire]

Did Bethesda intentionally make the population of bandits in Skyrim easily outweigh that of cities? I've seen some video titles suggest Skyrim is "apocalyptic" or something similar due to that.

That's an odd criticism for Skyrim specifically, because it was even worse in Oblivion with not just the bandits but also the supposed necromancer splinter faction for the Mages Guild being 95% of all sorcerers.

Yeah I doubt it was some deliberate 4d chess move on Bethesda’s part, it’s just a weird consequence of their game design as usual. Same how there’s apparently a bloody civil war going on in Skyrim but you don’t really encounter much evidence of actual fighting outside that designated questline (though even that questline itself is just a truncated remnant of something originally intended to be a lot more ambitious).

 

[The Ugly One]

Did Bethesda intentionally make the population of bandits in Skyrim easily outweigh that of cities? I've seen some video titles suggest Skyrim is "apocalyptic" or something similar due to that.

No. Killing bandits is fun, and talking to NPCs is cities isn't. Thus the disparity.

 

[Super Hans v2]

No. Killing bandits is fun, and talking to Bethedda NPCs in cities isn't. Thus the disparity.

Fixed that for you. Talking to people in Skyrim is boring because everybody is fighting for the title of Most Boring NPC.

Todd whining in that one GDC talk about players slamming the Shut Up button to get the objective isn't a problem in competently written games.