hi i'm valerie! 29 yo, she/her. i post about tes stuff here, but it's also my main so i post random shit sometimes. last url was ansu-gurleht and the one before that (and the one i'm most known for) was trinimac!
bsky is wayresting, pillowfort is vivec (dm me for pillowfort invites!)
my reblogging random shit blog is @wayresting
my aesthetic/poetry blog is @hidden-in-the-words
tes fanfic blog is @vosh-rakh (but i also have an ao3!)
wow blog is @nightfaeded
my original fantasy writing and worldbuilding blog is @saintsmith
funny enough i think morrowind almost does the whole "nameless bandits" thing better than any game after it, mostly bc they're literally not nameless. almost every single bandit/smuggler/what-have-you has a fucking name. they're literally whole guys and sometimes they're related to other guys, and sometimes really important guys. galmis dren is not just a random battlemage you fight at the end of nammu. he's evidently a member of the prestigious dren family, which includes the literal duke of vvardenfell vedam dren himself. (i headcanon that galmis is actually orvas dren's illegitimate son.)
like unrelated to the point i was originally trying to make with this post. i love how interconnected the world feels due to the reuse of common surnames. like there'll be multiple people with the same last name, and that doesn't technically mean they're related but it's fun to pretend they are. and you can literally go to the ancestral tombs of LIVING families. eso tried to incorporate the ancestors of several morrowind characters but tbh morrowind did it first and better imo. you can literally go to a tomb and fight the great grandad (as a ghost or bonewalker or skeleton, albeit never named) of somebody you met in ald'ruhn that one time
oh i found a fun example of this recently but it was buried in one of my recent fic commentaries so i'm gonna repost it:
FUN FACT!!! I just found out from UESP that the mage who summoned the Gateway ghost, Uleni Heleran, has the same surname as the ancestor spirit in Nedhelas’ basement - it’s her family’s ancestral tomb! I want to explain this coincidence. Did Nedhelas’ problems inspire her prank at the Gateway? Is she secretly behind both hauntings, angry that the Imperials build over her family tomb? Is it always the same ghost, are she and her great-great-grandpa Galos a beyond-the-grave double-act, pranking everyone in Vvardenfell who annoys them?
sometimes it does break my heart a little bit that there will never be a game like morrowind ever again. i dont care if it's not even by bethesda, if it's not actually elder scrolls. there will never be a game with that same energy and magic ever again.
but then i remember at least i have morrowind. and that is enough
i was looking around at old ass posts on this blog (like. from 2019 and shit) to try to show Boy* how literally insane i am about morrowind and the elder scrolls and GOD i cringed so bad at how i used to write lore posts. why the fuck did i talk like that. i sounded like such a fuckin dweeb. a dweeb who assumed she knew a lot more than she actually did. rule number one of teslore: you always know about 50% less than you assume you do
*- Boy is my recent irl friend/crush/fwb who i have spoken about recently
all this said, and so much other things said: i would not wish my encyclopedic knowledge of morrowind's random ass characters and names and plants and animals and history and culture and mechanics and stats and items and and upon any other living soul. not even my worst enemies
funny enough i think morrowind almost does the whole "nameless bandits" thing better than any game after it, mostly bc they're literally not nameless. almost every single bandit/smuggler/what-have-you has a fucking name. they're literally whole guys and sometimes they're related to other guys, and sometimes really important guys. galmis dren is not just a random battlemage you fight at the end of nammu. he's evidently a member of the prestigious dren family, which includes the literal duke of vvardenfell vedam dren himself. (i headcanon that galmis is actually orvas dren's illegitimate son.)
like unrelated to the point i was originally trying to make with this post. i love how interconnected the world feels due to the reuse of common surnames. like there'll be multiple people with the same last name, and that doesn't technically mean they're related but it's fun to pretend they are. and you can literally go to the ancestral tombs of LIVING families. eso tried to incorporate the ancestors of several morrowind characters but tbh morrowind did it first and better imo. you can literally go to a tomb and fight the great grandad (as a ghost or bonewalker or skeleton, albeit never named) of somebody you met in ald'ruhn that one time
funny enough i think morrowind almost does the whole "nameless bandits" thing better than any game after it, mostly bc they're literally not nameless. almost every single bandit/smuggler/what-have-you has a fucking name. they're literally whole guys and sometimes they're related to other guys, and sometimes really important guys. galmis dren is not just a random battlemage you fight at the end of nammu. he's evidently a member of the prestigious dren family, which includes the literal duke of vvardenfell vedam dren himself. (i headcanon that galmis is actually orvas dren's illegitimate son.)
More Argonian fashion! They're not fully rendered, just flats and some basic shading, plus some fun with the scales.
These designs are more historically based, particularly on ancient Aztec and Mayan cultures. I had a lot of fun researching and learning, Also, a spread of designs for the body types too! I personally like the Morrowind Argonian design best, but I wanted to try out human legs and such. The two in the middle are male Argonians and rhe other two are female. Some fun history and design notes under the cut!
Some further notes on the outfit designs, etc. Pretty long and rambling, just a heads up!
I based the clothing off of ancient Aztec and Mayan clothes, trying to use credible sources and depictions. I say 'trying' due to the fact that hunting down sources for some of the images was particularly hard, and I'm sure some of them were mislabeled, as tends to happen. I will shout out Zotzcomic/Daniel Parad, an Amercian artist from a Salvadoran family. She did some wonderful posters of ancient Aztec and Mayan styles that really helped.
The first Argonian woman is wearing a tunic/dress inspired by the huīpīlli blouse ancient Aztec woman would wear, and is still worn today by some Mexican and central American countries. I imagine that this Argonian is some sort of fisherman or at least engages in a lot of manual labor, so she needs something loose to move around in, and less jewelery so it doesn't get caught or worn down.
The second Argonian, and first male one, is wearing an outfit loosely inspired by an ancient Mayan 'hip cloth skirt', and an ESO outfit I thought was neat (I think it's the Black Marsh Keeper). I imagined he was a mage of some type, and thus doesn't do a lot of labor. Maybe he's a Hist minder or even Hist speaker. Either way, he has the luxury of long cloth that could get dirty, and lots of jewelry and feathers.
the next male has an outfit somewhat based on the ancient Aztec maxtlatl that was worn by men. It's similar to a loincloth, but would usually be paired with a cape/cloak. I just made his waist wrap thicker, and gave him a sort of shawl. I imagined him as some old veteran on his way to the best hot mud baths in his tribe lol.
and our last Argonian is another lady, dressed in an outfit loosely inspired by various depictions of ancient Mesoamercian clothes, fantasy aesthetics and so on. I gave myself a lot more liberty with her, trying to combine what I learned and studied into something unique but still inspired by the real world. Maybe this lady is going to a dance, or some event.
I really wanted to incorporate a lot of color. Something that really bugs me about the ESO Argonian clothing is the lack of color! In my mind it makes no sense. Reptiles and amphibians are a group of animals that often use color as communication (bearded dragons, chameleons, dart frogs and so many more), and so many Mesoamercian cultures are colorful. I saw many examples of bright, bold colors while looking for references. I imagine in universe, Argonians could use the unique and varied flora and fauna of Black Marsh to dye these clothes and maybe give them as gifts to friends and family, or just as hand-me-downs. I dont have a justification for the gold and turquoise though, lol, it just looks very nice. The feathers could be from loved ones or the birds of the Marsh. (Side note: I have no idea if the fashions/costumes of ESO can be dyed. Even still, its sad the default colors are so muddy)
theres also some patterning on the clothes! I imagine this would be embroidery, or even hand painted. Argonians focus on the present, the 'Aurbic Now', so to speak. I could easily imagine an artsy lizard sitting down and embroidering for hours as a sort of meditative state, or for fun, or whatever. It seems like a good way to pass time as well! And plenty of the examples I found featured patterns and embroidery.
closing thoughts? I'm disappointed at the lack of diverse fashion for the Argonians in ESO. Actually, I'm pretty disappointed at the lack of diverse fashion for each race of Tamriel in ESO. I think ESO does some very cool stuff with some lore (all of the Murkmire release, expanding more on the various races, some fun Daedra stuff) but it really disappointed me with the fashion. Dunno if you can tell, but I'm a huge history nerd, especially historical fashion. It really saddens me that there's a lack of diverse, distinct options for ESO fashion. I should note- I'm strictly speaking about fashion, not armor.
It was a lot of fun to do some research on cultures I hadn't yet, and try to make some designs inspired by them. I might end up doing some for the other races too
In an interview for Xbox with Variety, Chief Content Officer Matt Booty discussed the decision to not feature Elder Scrolls 6 at this year's Showcase.
"I would say one of the more challenging balancing acts of someone in a job like mine is balancing that you want to go show the world all the cool stuff you’re working on, and you want to get them excited early, but we also know that we want to wait till the right moment. And when you decide to show it, you want it to be the best you’ve got. And also that when you show the game, you’re also giving them a promise of, hey, it’s coming soon. So I can tell you, having visited Bethesda and sat with Todd and seen “Elder Scrolls” playing, it looks amazing, and it’s coming along well. And we’ll make sure to announce it and really reveal it at the right time."
