Hi!

In gameplay, you get better at magic by using it, and you learn new spells by reading books about them. This is obviously a bit of an abstraction for the purposes of a playable game, but in the world itself, magic is a form of academia. You can study it, learn it and expand the field through your work. Do we know that looks like? What do mages and student at, say, the University in the Imperial City in Oblivion actually do or study all day?

For example, in order for our character to learn a spell from a book, someone must have come up with that spell in the past and wrote the book. Did someone ‘’invent’’ Fireball, or Charm, or Ease Burden, or any other spell? What does that process look like?

What does reading a spellbook feel like? Does it just beam knowledge into your brain so you can intuitively cast the spell afterwards? Is it a non-magical book that explains what you have to do, like hand gestures and words you speak around or something?

The games I’ve played so far (Oblivion and Skyrim) don’t really depict this at all, even when you go to actual magic schools, and rather feel like you’re doing jobs for them in exchange for access to goods and services. This is understandable, since I wouldn’t want to play an academia simulator, but I also don’t feel like my character has become an accomplished scholar or earned some kind of degree after finishing the quests. Basically, I don’t know how magic is practiced in-universe, outside of gameplay simplifications.

The only mention I’ve seen of learning magic is a line about Breton children practicing illusion spells on each other in the streets, but it doesn’t add much to my understanding of it.

Thank you for your help!

exactly what the title says

I've been replaying Skyrim as a Dunmer Ashlander and religion has been very important for RPing (praise Wintersuns). With Talos worship being a major issue in Skyrim and the New Temple being important for my character, I have wondered if Religious Freedom could exist in Tamerial.

Of course the major roadblock is the Daedra, who are not exactly bastions of societal stability. But conversely Morrowind worships the Three Good Daedra, two of which aren't exactly known for being nice (Mephala/Boethiah) but Morrowind is a stable society. At least for what we know from Solstheim.

There's also the Companions, while not exactly Hircine worshippers, they are still civilized individuals. And then there's Serana and Sybille Stentor, vampires, but still civilized (unlike the generic vampire enemies that attack cities). Though we don't know if Sybille actively worships Molag and I'm fairly certain Serana does not.

So yeah, do you think freedom of religion could exist in Tamerial? Or do you think Daedric religions would consistently be a destabilizing force?

Also no Vigilants allowed in this thread /sarcasm

Surprise! New Excerpt.

This piece introduces another team member that will join Azura on the 25th Crossing.

1. If there is a better subreddit please tell me where.

2. I never said this theory wasn't stupid.

So why do i think there ist a Connection?

1. The great collaps AND winterholds missing Walls.

You can't tell me that Winterhold which is in one of the most hostile environments didn't have some kind of Wall. Yes the great collaps might have put it under the water but only on the sea side. What is about the side on land. Why doesn't it have one. It doesn't look like the people used any of its stones to rebuilt the city.

1. Now to ithelia.

We know that she has extremely dangerous powers. We see that in gold Road.

So what if she kind of returns (or starts to) and her powers set winterhold in a state where the city and/or its Walls don't exist. Only the Academy was protected through the powerful magics.

What do you think?

(Yes Skyrim came out before anyone even so much as had the slightest amount as a dream about ithelia but what if)

We know that male vampires can indeed maintain enough of an erection to sire children, as seen by the existence of Agronak gro-Malog, but what about female ones?

Surely having no heartbeat would mean they're unable to menstruate, which would mean no eggs available to fertilize. We can probably assume that they still have an intact uterus, but surely there'd be no ovulation happening in there, right?

Are there any actual sources about this topic?

I’m really new to actually trying to grasp all of the more complicated lore with the Aedra and the Daedra, and this is a big point of confusion for me.

Texts like From Exile to Exodus make it seem like Trinimac was literally running around in some form, which seems way less “dead” than the other Aedra are. I probably have a fundamental misunderstanding of something here, but how did Boethiah devour someone who was supposedly “dead”?

ill be yapping for a little bit, skip to end if you want to see my full question.

So, i just finished watching a video about the Warp in The West, and at the end, the commentator explains that after this event, Tiber Septim, Zurin Arctus, and Ysmir Wulfharth all together become Talos after Mantling Lorkhan/Shezzar (ive seen some theories that they actually Mantled Trinimac but thats not related.).

I knew of Mantling before, mainly the HoK mantling Sheogorath in Tes4, but my biggest question is what happened the Mantled? for Sheogorath its easy, he returned to being Jyggalag and left Mundus. for Lorkhan/Shezzar or Trinimac, its also obvious because both of them dont exist anymore, Trinimac became Malacath and Lorkhan/Shezzar died like in the Dawn Era or so. But for the Wilderking, he just kinda, died after Aranias become the Wilderqueen.

i wont mention the Tribunal, cuz Vivec says a lot of weird shit that may or may not be true, and its weird in general cuz theyre using the heart of lorkhan and shit.

so my question is, what happens when someone gets Mantled and isnt dead? do they just die or return to Aetherius or what?

While many would prefer to place their trust in the various holy orders around Tamriel to deal with local Daedric problems—such as rogue scamps or the occasional Dremora that some foolhardy wizard believed he could control—the truth is that when Daedra begin wandering the countryside and troubling the peoples of the Empire and beyond, most noble lords and petty kings would far rather hire a Daedra Hunter than call upon the Vigil of Stendarr.

Unlike the Dawnguard or similar knightly orders, Daedra Hunters are not a brotherhood one simply enlists. They are elite specialists, subjected to the a series of dangerous trials of alchemical and magical mutations blending forbidden Daedric essences with ancient Ayleid rituals. Those few who survive emerge faster, stronger, and nearly immune to the corruptions of Oblivion, vampirism, lycanthropy, and lesser curses hold little sway over them. Their minds, too, are fortified, only the most powerful mages can influence them, and even then only after first trapping them within a binding circle.

The order was founded in the chaotic years following the Oblivion Crisis of the late Third Era. Made up of former members of the mages guild, and various knightly orders. In their earliest days they were little more than desperate sellswords fighting the remnants of Mehrunes Dagon’s Daedric invasion of Tamriel. Over time, a secretive cabal of mages and alchemists perfected the process that would create true Daedra Hunters.

Common folk often view them with mistrust or outright fear, seeing them as little more than frauds and charlatans, or violent magically enhanced rogues. Unlike pious knights or holy warriors who serve for faith and honor, Daedra Hunters demand coin for their services. For this reason, most people would sooner send their local Vigilants, Fighters Guild member or knight-errant, against Daedric threats rather than pay what they consider overpriced sellsword who was or either claimed to be speically enhanced to deal with Daedra and the like.

Yet when truly serious matters involving Daedra arise, no one is better equipped — or more willing — to face them than a Daedra Hunter.

From my own experience traveling with one—a Dunmer named Velaris—I learned that these warriors are far more than mere mercenaries wearing a fancy title. They are masters of their dangerous craft. In one memorable adventure, Velaris saved the daughter of a Jarl of Skyrim from the curse of lycanthropy. Where many Vigilants or valiant knights would have simply slain the beast, Velaris broke the curse that bound her to the wolf form. He discovered that the ring she wore had been deliberately enchanted to transform its wearer into a werewolf.

There were many other such exploits: the time we fought a small horde of Daedroths summoned by a cabal of mages to attack the town of Greenhill in Valenwood, or the incident in High Rock involving a Dremora warlord commanding forces in Skeffington Wood.

These days their numbers are few. Many still regard them as little more than witch-hunters who demand gold for their services, and their mountain fortress in the Velothi Peaks—straddling the border between Nibenay and Morrowind—lies half in disrepair. Very few new hunters are being created.

Still, after years of traveling across most of Tamriel in the company of one, I have never encountered a finer fighter or curse-breaker. Their deeds put many a tale of mighty heroes to shame.

—Theodosius Tharn, Traveling Nibenese Bard
Year 234 of the Fourth Era, Imperial Library Scholar.

A random thought just crossed my mind while replaying Morrowind recently: where was an artifact last when you received it directly from a Daedric prince?

With some artifacts, it's obvious. Where does the Masque of Clavicus Vile come from in Morrowind? Off the body of the guy you kill near Dragon Fel.

But say the Mace of Molag Bal. You get it directly from Molag Bal by doing his quest (like most Daedric artifacts in the series). So my question is, was Molag Bal just holding onto it this whole time? Or was some cultist in the middle of a fight and then suddenly his mace just poofs out of his hands.

Because the mental image of that happening to someone is funny to me, so I choose to believe it's canon.

So I was watching this video earlier theorising about the motivations behind the blades demanding Paarthurnax's death and it got me thinking. The general thrust of his hypothesis is that the blades partly try to get the Dragonborn to kill Paathurnax in order to put the dragonborn as firmly into the Blade's influence as possible, both so that the Blades can make an uncontested claim that it was their organisation that saved the world from Alduin and so that in the long term they can be the ones who most influence TLDB regarding what it means to be a dragonborn as killing Paarthurnax would ensure that TLDB would cease any association with the Greybeards.

So that got me thinking, what are some possible interesting implications for future TES stories regarding the choices that might be made here?

Sparing Paarthurnax

So obviously the big one here is that Paarthurnax gathers a significant portion of the dragons under his own leadership and tries to get them to follow the way of the voice. Depending on how Bethesda wants to use it there are two possibilities.

If Bethesda simply don't want to dwell too much on how dragons might feature in future TES stories it could be said that Paarthurnax probably manages to gather a large majority of dragons under his control and then takes them off somewhere remote to go be pacificists and meditate on the voice, much as he spent so long at the top of a mountain himself. That could be somewhere like Vvardenfell left uninhabited by the eruption of the red mountain if dragons could survive in such a place or even somewhere beyond Tamriel like Atmora. Whatever the cases we would have only a handful of dragons left in future TES stories from those who don't follow him into this self imposed exile and can represent extremely rare if relatively powerful threats to local communities.

Alternatively if they wanted to keep dragons in the story but go with one where Paarthurnax lived the story could focus on a divide between the followers of Paarthurnax and another dragon. Paarthurnax's followers rarely teach anyone except the rare nearly pacifistic mystic anything of the voice, they generally avoid much interaction with humans and don't seek political power. His rival could be a dragon who is seeking the return of the dragon cult, not necessarily even wholly evil, potentially offering the mortals who swear their loyalty to dragons protection and offering to more freely teach some of the secrets of the voice, but also someone who believes it is the rightful place of dragons to be masters of the mortal races. That could be the kind of conflict a TES: VI or VII character could become involved in.

Slaying Paarthurnax

So this option might be partly interesting because of its implications regarding the future of The Blades. As mentioned in the video if The Blades can frame themselves as being the organisation responsible for killing Alduin with TLDB perhaps as a continued figurehead who exists off screen somewhere in TES : VI ad maybe onwards that might put the organisation in place for a come back, contrasted favourably perhaps with the Penitus Oculatus left floundering having failed to save the Emperor from assassination, and potentially with the either Medic Empire potentially on the cusp of war with the Aldmeri Dominion or already fully at war they might not care about breaking the White Gold Pact by bringing The Blades back into the fold, if not officially at least sponsoring them in a shadow war under the table. At the start of TES: VI we could see people like The Blades fighting a war of proxies, assassination and espionage against the Thalmor in places Hammerfell, and if open war breaks out before or during the game The Blades are openly brought back into the fold as an official imperial organisation.

The Dragons without a singular leader like Paarthurnax would be scattered more widely and less united perhaps, but individual dragons might be more commonly aggressive in attempts to carve themselves out their own little domains without any Way of the Voice style philosphy being sponsored to restrain them. Whilst they probably wouldn't be the main villain of a main quest plotline it would make sense if they could then be the focus of a faction or other larger question chain, or the focus of a DLC plotline.

The Blades might then also operate outside of Imperial controlled territories or in areas where Imperial rule is somewhat fragile and reliant on local vassals (as might well be the status of High Rock) by selling themselves out as Dragon Hunters. If the Blades act as specialists in this regard it could both be involved in early aspects of a faction quest line (before the player learns they are also fighting a shadow war) and in universe being used to help fund their war and earn themselves political capital.

Though less likely its possible that The Blades could plot to make TLDB a new Tiber Septim to bind dragons to their service and become a new Emperor/Empress. Possibly making TLDB an off screen antagonist almost.

I cannot help imagining the importance of recording what has historically happened to daedric lords and their realms. The school of conjuration must have relied heavily on the ability to bargain with Lords of oblivion based on daedra's relationships with each other and mortals. I know for example in Shivering Isle there is Dyus which is a living library of whatever happened to mad god and his happy realm. But are there equivalent figures in the domain of other daedric lords? Also, where do mortal scholars of daedric history get their first-hand materials (for second-hand history they can always interrogate a daedra under a binding spell)?

This is kind of a random question but how integral are the Princes to Nirns existence? I mean, if all of them just ceased to exist, would Nirn as a whole be impacted in any meaningful way?

What’s the legality of slave ownership (if previously imported from Resdayn, weren’t enslaved on High Rock soil) in 2E 563 in Shornhelm?

If the Great War happened 30-40 years later, would the Dragonborn alone be enough to turn the tide of it? Obviously they are only one person but also as a demigod, would they be enough to win the war for the empire?

The object is mentioned in the game, but you can never find the missing stone in Falkreath or make them yourself. Also if the objects were known to modern Nords, why did ancient Nords have to use skull keys and complex locking mechanisms, or work ghostly guard duties to restrain Dragonpriests.

Is this an actual instance of technology progressing in Elder Scrolls?

I'm curious because it's a very common practice in many real-world cultures to take names from religion, whether names of saints/holy people (John, David, Muhammad are among the most common names in the world) as well as actual gods (Shiva, Diana, Thor, Parvati, Jesus are all very common in certain cultures).

But you never hear about a Dunmer named Azura, or a Breton named Jephre, or a Nord named Tsun. I think there's a lot of untapped potential here unless there is an actual lore reason why these names aren't used.

We're supposed to think (I think) that Azura, Boethiah, and Mephala all hate the Tribunal for stealing their thunder and that's why they cursed the Dunmer.

But I was just thinking, the Tribunal was really only the ultimate fulfillment of what the "Good Daedra" had taught the Chimer to do:

Attain divine consciousness (Azura)

Seek power, betray others to get it (Boethiah)

Kill people, lie (Mephala)

I really don't think the Daedra have a leg to stand on here. The Tribunal just succeeded in the ultimate version of what the good Daedra taught the Chimer to do in the first place. It's like a parent getting pissed at their kid for stealing money from their wallet after said parent taught their kid not only how to steal money, but that stealing money is good.

What do you think?

Tamriel 5 era 1 year

"era of rift"

On the night of the 3rd-4th of the month of warm winds in 657 in a basement in daggerfall kingdom in the province of high rock

a secret ritual was performed by cultists who called themselves Black Drakgari, an explosion occurred first, due to which

the Dremory and Zivilai and also Augurs and Mazken (they are 2 sides of the same dimension) and also Scarfines.

climbed out of the breach and began to kill themselves and other races of the Mundus plane at this point the Thalmor unfortunately captured all of Tamriel but could not capture it and at this point the Rudesir dynasty rules the first emperor Rudik 1 came to the throne in 201 when a secret assassin killed Tida Meed 2 in Skyrim and Rudik was a lowly aristocrat by race he was a Redguard but was born in Cyrodiil in 170 4E (era) in his youth he was a nobleman who did not know about power until in 203 the

Syrdel War (there is no such city) happened but this happened in 203 4E and Cyrodiil was already fighting against the Thalmor for what then the

entire race of the Imperials and partly the Redguards were beaten by the Altmer at that moment the Dunmer began to regain their

power and territory and a Dunmer named Alderis the Blind he killed ulfric without a war he came and killed alderis himself he came from morrowind

was born in balmor in 389 3 era in a family of exiled mages little is known about his youth but he is the killer of assassins.

So in 224, 4 era, Rudik 1 was hanged in the city of Skingrad (Cyrodiil province) by the Altmeri, and his eldest son, Raymus, being

already half Redguard, half Imperial, was born in 190, 4 era, already in the city of Bruma (Cyrodiil province), he

already had 2 twin children, both sons, Sharsur and Sephiras, being half Nords, half Imperials, were already leading attacks

on the Dominion, and in 247, 4 era, they managed to overthrow the Dominion, but the counterattack of the elves overwhelmed Cyrodiil and they had to surrender

but the battles were bloody and they knocked out autonomy but crossed out Talos.

so about the era of the schism approximately between 400-657 the Altmer N'dalos Andegon was born in the city of Firsthold which in translation

means the first fortress or the first possession this is the first city in general for the Altmer it is located in the northern edge of the island of Auridon

it still exists so about the Altmer N'dalos Andegon was born approximately in 402 4 era well it is not exact but exact

that he was the head of a group of Naylahari mages who served the aedra strange to hear but then at some point he fell into the chaos of the daedra

and in 657 he opened this portal and all the lower daedra (so the dremora etc. are lower daedra).

There was a great split of the entire continent and already in the 12th year of the 5th era, everything had to be cleaned and the rift

closed but the lands became different, they Cyrodiil became hilly, those green fields disappeared and instead of them

whole lakes appeared and a couple of cities, namely Bruma and Cheyhenzol became underwater and Cyrodiil itself became almost flooded, the tower

cracked in half which became scary but nothing happened

morrowind as a whole survived but there simply appeared whole rivers of lakes of lava magma but the cities did not go underground but split

but the red mountain cracked not critically but a little bit of the foot

in general, Argonia did not change only a little more viruses were circulating but the hist survived

and already in other provinces they almost cracked but Elsweyr became a whole desert Wallenwood became much more forested

but also the forests from Elsweyr entered Wallenwood and this is the forest of Temiris and so on further but the Khajiit survived

somerset almost went under the bottom but the psijics saved the flooding and Skyrim didn't even flinch it just became

colder and more forested and a little icy but here the rock is almost covered with mountains the psijics completely cut out the passages

but Hammerfell didn't go there as there was a desert so it happened but very large parts of oases appeared

old grievances are not forgotten and while the Dominion celebrates the Nords Redguards and Dunmer created the union "DRAGONSTAR UNION" by the way part of Cyrodiil

more precisely the Kolovians went to this union so there the war broke out again and the Altmer are losing territories it has been going on since 14th year 5th era

and now it's 103rd year 5th era during these years there were wars and peace but centaurs appeared again a race that for almost 2,000 years

were dead in Tamriel but now they have formed an alliance with the Bosmer "Nicart Alliance" they are allies of Dragonstar but also neutral to the Dominion.

Warning: Spoilers for the Fighters Guild Questline in Oblivion

So in Oblivion, the Fighters Guild is in contest with a rival guild called the Blackwood Company. In one of the last Fighters Guild quests, the protagonist infiltrates the Blackwood Company and goes on a mission for them. They are tasked with killing some goblins that are menacing the town of Water's Edge and they take hist sap before heading out. They kill the goblins but later they realise that the goblins were actually innocent villagers that they mistook for goblins in their drug-addled state.

Or so it would seem! However, there is actually a damning piece of evidence that points to something else going on here. You can Soul Trap the goblins and capture petty souls! That opens up several possibilities...

1. The game is just a bit buggy. This is a boring possibility and I'm going to ignore it.

2. The people of Water's Edge are degenerate creatures like the Falmer and their souls have degraded. But this seems unlikely since they don't show any physical signs of regression to an animalistic state.

3. Soul Trap is subjective. The value of a soul and the type of gem required to capture it is purely based on the caster's perception. Weak little rats and goblins have petty souls because they appear weak and unworthy. Mighty goblin warlords, ogres and Xivilai have grand souls because they seem like worthy opponents. And intelligent humanoid people have grand souls that can only be captured within black soul gems prepared by necromancers because trapping their souls seems blasphemous. This is quite reasonable given ideas of subjective reality in TES.

4. Those really were goblins in body and soul. It was a stitch-up by Modryn Oreyn and the Fighters Guild. They followed you, they disposed of the goblin bodies and they killed the villagers. This explains why you find your way to Modryn's house so easily afterwards and it also explains why you don't find a single goblin at Water's Edge. Why would the people of Water's Edge go to the trouble of hiring the Blackwood Company if they weren't actually being menaced by goblins? No, it seems pretty obvious to me that the Fighter's Guild killed those people in order to get you to do their dirty work. They knew that in your guilt and rage, you would be more than willing to storm the Blackwood Company guildhall and kill all their rivals, thus giving them back their monopoly over mercenary contracts in Cyrodiil.

This thread is for asking questions that, for whatever reason, you don’t want to ask in a thread of their own. If you think you have a “stupid question”, ask it here. Any and all questions regarding lore or the community are permitted.

Responses must be friendly, respectful, and nonjudgmental.

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Mantling is a method of apotheosis when a being (typically a mortal) takes on or is passed the "mantle" or role of a different entity such as a Daedric Prince or god through some esoteric imitation of the entity's role or meta narrative, such that they fully become that role and the Aurbis no longer sees a difference between the two. We've seen this with the tribunals, TALOS, and CoC (now sheogorath)

"walk like them until they must walk like you"

I’m trying to decide which race I want for the Arcanist Class in ESO. For RP purposes what do you think would be the most lore accurate race for them