u/trashcanradroach

I got morrowind shortly after playing oblivion as a kid so I've been starting and quitting new characters since i 2008 ish?

I would always lose interest with playthrough around the point where you have to do the 4th and 5th trial. But I FINALLY stuck with it this time and finished it.

It's a great story especially if you're reading the supplemental texts about the characters. Despite being "Gods" the Tribunal and Dagoth Ur are way more human and relatable than any character in the future games.

The storyline wraps up so nicely, I really like the fact that the Tribunal murdered Neravar so they could take the divine powers for themselves, only for Neravar to be reborn and be the cause for them to lose said powers. And its poetic how Vivec is going to live the rest of his life as a mortal while watching the Neravarine live on eternally young without using the powers of lorkhan's heart. That's a way more fitting fate for him than simply murdering him yourself.

Anyway yeah. I think elder scrolls games should focus on making well written characters. In oblivion you get Martin,Jauphre, and baurus who are paper thin characters. In skyrim get Delphine and pathanax? I don't know anything about the others like alduin or the old guy. And I've played those games DOZENS of times.

But the side stories in morrowind like the guilds are significantly worse than the future games. They usually don't have a real quest line it's mostly just fetch quests. So morrowind isn't the greatest of all time imo. But it's definentally really good and a must play for sure if you are into elder scrolls :)

That's all thanks for listening

History and religion is written by the victors, and the Elder scrolls lore is told through in game sources. And there are things that don't really add up that I feel could in fact be Propaganda.

The biggest question mark in my mind is the genocide of the snow elves.

All lore suggests that early humans and snow elves lived peacefully in skyrim until one day and for NO REASON the Snow elves decided to attack the humans and wiped out a full city. Leaving like no survivors. Then the companions were formed in Atmora, came to Skyrim and proceeded to KILL EVERY ELF.

But how does that make any sense? How were the snow elves able to Sack and kill the largest human settlement in Tamriel in one surprise attack? But didn't have the power to stop 500 dudes? Even If they were the elite of the elite it seems incredibly unrealistic that they would be able to wipe out an entire race that was just as, If not more technologically advanced than them?

The only credible sources from outside of the nord perspective on this war would be from that vampire paladin in dawnguard. (Who was a recluse anyway) and the tablet in the dwemer museum. Which is told from the Dwemer perspective and implies how they tricked the Falmer who were already on the backfoot in the war into becoming blind slaves.

I believe that the ancient Nords stumbled upon the eye of Mugnus, proceeded to unleash its power on their own city by accident, like in the college of winterhold story.

The Nords who were not In the city at the time of the incident arrived later, saw that everyone died of magical causes, blamed the people that are well versed in magic (the elves) then some ambitious nord used it as a Rallying cry to take the rest of skyrim.

It probably wasn't only 500 men. They probably had legions led by 500 men and nord hero culture simplified it for the sake of story telling.

Does anyone else have any theories about the history told and the potential reality of the history of tamriel? I would love to hear what yall think. Or if there is any other historic event that you feel may not exactly be true lemmie know!

So I've been thinking of the 8 divine, Talos excluded. so in lore as I've come to believe, they were the Et'Ada who helped in creating mundus, but when they realized they would be trapped there forever all the Et'Ada decided to literally Kool Aid man out of there.

I understand that they helped create the world but why do they even care about the mortals? Why do they grant them blessings or artifacts (IE dibellas paint brush)

Could it be that the 8 actually dont care about the mortal plane, that the powers bestowed from blessings come from the power of belief? And all the miracles could be just attributed to them could be confirmation bias. Much like real life religions

In Morrowind you can get blessings from saints at temples so you don't NEED to be a god to have blessings in your name that have tangible effect. Its one thing I never see argued about when discussing Talos. Except Talos is honestly the clearest example of an actual God among the 9 Divine.

We KNOW mortals can attain godhood. The Tribunal is a clear example. Plus Talos has directly come to Nirn and interacted with the player in morrowind.

And Akatosh is a very interesting case too, because at the end of Oblivion he manifests through Martin to stop Mr. Dagon. But it also could be that the amulet of kings actually was made with Aedric Power before they left Mundus and the residual power in the amulet gave Martin himself the ability to become a dragon and destroy Dagon. He doesn't last with it either it could've been just a hugely magical surge that burnt out quickly.

The story of how the empire was given the Amulet in the first place could easily be Propaganda. Maybe they just found it somewhere

Side note: without going into to much detail I think we as a community don't think about the fact that a LOT of things in the history of tamriel can be Imperial Propoganda. History is written by the Victors. And they've utilized it before.

Also the Daedra

So the Daedra are supposed to be Et'ada who didn't help with creation. But why are they there anyway? We're they just loitering around in mundus and didn't get the email that the Et'Ada were going to fuck off?

Because their planes of Oblivion exist way closer to mundus than Aetherius. You can visit them. They can come to mundus.

The Daedra are 100% real. We can see them, interact with them. They have goals and personalities they play a major role in events in Tamriel.

I don't know where I'm goin with this yall I'm just stirring conversation hehe

I guess my theory is that there is no Aedra that currently affects mundus. The only gods that have interacted with mortals are Talos, The Tribunal, lorkhan (maybe) and the Daedra.

What do yall think? What am I missing? Are there manifestations in game that I haven't considered?

So I sat down and read through the biography of barenziah and the real barenziah. It's probably the best written book series in TES lore it's got great characterization just an all around excellent story.

But who wrote The Real Barenziah? I'm sorry if this is actually layed out somewhere but I haven't seen it.

Of course it could be a historical fiction series written by someone, and it's implied it was written by a friend of hers she would tell stories too.

My first thought was it was her friend in Riften, she would've known all about her ties to the thieves guild but I can't remember if she's even an elf. If it was someone who was in her life it would need to be to live long enough to have known all this stuff.

But my theory is that The Real Barenziah is actually an Autobiography, there's just way to many small details that no one could ever know. Like her relationship with nightingale, what they talked about under mornhold, specifically how she felt about the different men in her life. Like what kind of love she felt for Tiber septum, straw, symmachus, nightingale. They also phrase her promiscuity not as a bad thing. Which is how barenziah always felt about it. Anyone who had anything negative to say about her sexuality was someone else, usually a man in power, which leads me to believe it had to be a woman who wrote it. Someone who understands womanhood and sexuality as a natural thing and not as a negative trait. Of course sexuality isn't always seen as a negative in the elder scrolls universe, but it still has its fair share of shame for women to be sexually open. Like the woman in riften who "practices dibella worship"

The biggest problem with Barenziah being the author would be the forward. I don't believe there was any moment where she finds out that symmachus wanted to marry her because his mother died during her naming celebration. That would be a very weird thing for her to put in the story when she clearly grew to love symmachus deeply by the end of it.

But regardless I like the idea that Barenziah read her own biography, found the Propaganda as disrespectful and wanted to tell her own side of the story. She released it Anonymously because some of the things she did could have her killed IE Tiber Septim.

Idk, I've not yet gone into all the barenziah lore, I've not played tribunal yet, and there's no way in hell I'm getting all of her gems in skyrim. I just wanted to gush about my new favorite character in TES lore lol

Anyone got anything they want to add? Own theories that kinda stuff?

And to be clear I don't think I'm correct in saying that she wrote it herself. I just love the idea of it

I REALLLLYYYYY hope they end the game with at least twice as much content as the original AoM so has it been suggested at all anywhere that they're planning on doing one more civilization dlc?

If not no big deal. It's already way more than I was expecting

Hii! I'm struggling to find good content online that goes into it. But are the dlc factions well designed? Like do they fit well next to the classics or do they feel kinda shoe horned in like China in the Extended Edition?

I play casually, mostly against AI so things like balance are not that important too me. But I really liked how fleshed out they were, AoM got me super into Egyptian and Norse mythology as a kid and I was kinda hoping it could have that same spark for the new ones!

I've played this game a few times, finishing a few origin stories but I've always felt I was missing out on the community aspect of it.

One of my favorite experiences I've ever had in an mmo was playing DCUO and being part of a guild called Justice Girls, it was a group for all women (at least in game) that was pretty casual who would run raids every so often but the focus never was on min maxing just having fun and talking about the universe the game was built around.

Unfortunately outside of guilds I've made myself that was the only one that was actually active and wasn't just a bunch of pve min max players who would get really upset over folk not playing meta

Is there anyone who has a guild like I described or knows of a good resource for finding one that would be a good fit for me??

BTW I'm on star forge and I've got both republic and empire characters I'm active with

Thanks so much yall :)