I keep forgetting that the sole reason I fell in love with TES elves back in the day was because they have weird as fuck facial features and the games make little effort to make them look conventionally attractive. The only exception I can think of are the cinematic ESO trailers, which is a bit unfortunate. Like, why can't elves just be straight up ugly sometimes. I want the awful supremacist elves to look weird and creepy and nonhuman. I want the carnivorous forest elves to make me think of bugs. I want the elves that live in ash and ride insects all day to look like it too. They literally look alien and that's cool as fuck. Shoutout to everyone who draws elves that actually look strange and otherworldly. Nothing wrong with drawing your blorbos with more human features but whoever vibes with ugly elves is goated asf
coming out as someone who has thalmor ocs (hissss booooo). anyway this is melindwe she's an evil scientist who isn't an altmeri supremacist (flesh is flesh, and all flesh is grass) so much as she simply enjoys playing god and exploiting the ideological convictions of the state she works under to secure funding for her experiments. 👍
I think we all have a duty to become obsessed with each other's elder scrolls ocs because the feeling when someone else thinks about your oc and their ships and their lore is like crack so if we want this to happen we gotta MAKE it happen TOGETHER.
Very rushed last-minute piece for this year's 2026 TES Gala, since—much like last year—I only learned about the event right as it was wrapping up. Curse of not being very active here, I suppose.
Here's Lovilas dressed as the Apprentice and striking a silly pose (about to cast a spell, maybe?). Outfit rationale below the cut.
Lovilas was born on the 26th of Sun's Height, making their sign that of the Apprentice. Ironic, considering it's also their job description (I suppose that means that, whatever they wear, it conforms to the theme? :P). Lovilas is a Tribunal convert(...ish; it's complicated), so the echoes of clockwork apostolicism in the headpiece and robes were intentional: as a riff on the Dwemeri characterization of the Apprentice as the Automaton, for one, as well as on Sotha Sil's patronage of artificers and mages (the Apprentice falling under the celestial jurisdiction of the Mage).
The blue gems number eleven, one for each star in the Apprentice constellation (with seven of them intended to be placed loosely according to where they fall on the charts). They are so colored as a nod to Mnemoli, again tying into Lovilas' overzealous Sehtisms (would you believe me if I said they claim Vivec as their "patron" god? lmao).
Why no staff? Well, for one, I couldn't decide on a design; secondly, the Morrowind iteration of the constellation doesn't have one, and that was good enough for me.
Undergoing a bit of an Elder Scrolls renaissance atm..... here's a really old character of mine who's gone through a few iterations over the five years I've had her: Irilara, an Indoril councilor from the Second Era. Don't let her prim and proper stature fool you; she's a notorious and volatile reactionary. Her faith in the Tribunal is unquestionably devout, but her political loyalties appear divided…
Caligula. Born as Caesar Germanicus. From the time he was born until the age of 6, he spent his early life in the careful tutelage of his father, General Germanicus. Caligula’s future seemed bright- his father was the heir apparent Caesar Augustus and his family was beloved by the Roman public. But that bright future was snuffed out when his father was poisoned by Emperor Tiberius and Livia Drusus, for fear of the young General’s growing popularity. Caligula’s family was immediately exiled, his brothers murdered, his mother and sisters tortured. He himself taken as a trophy by Emperor Tiberius to the island of Capri...
On the island of Capri, hidden from prying eyes, Tiberius indulged in perverse and depraved habits, transforming the island into a sanctuary of excess and cruelty. As a prisoner, Caligula was forced to witness and endure the most perverse and cruel acts, inflicted by a man who had become a twisted shell of power. The young Caligula, stripped of his innocence, was molded in the shadow of Tiberius's depraved games. The great grandson of the Augustus and the once beloved jewel of the Roman world, was scarred by the relentless torment and games that Tiberius inflicted onto him and hordes of other innocent young boys that Tiberius coldly referred to as...his ‘little fishes’.
Once old enough, Caligula snuffed out the old and brittle Emperor’s fading life in the middle of the night. Finally free from his tormentor, he returned to Rome. Despite the horrors and scars he endured during his time on Capri, the spirit of his father and the bright future he wished for his son, never left Caligula.
When welcomed to Rome as the return of a lost son, Caligula did all he could to honor the legacy of his father and his great grandfather, Augustus... And for a time, the scars seemed a thing of the past. He ruled Rome with dignity, respect and mercy- all in stark contrast to the reign of Tiberius. But a rope once frayed continues to fray- and when he was poisoned by conspirators, like his father before him, the culmination of terror and madness could no longer be dammed up.
Once he recovered from his near death experience, the damage of his early life blazed forth in a terrifying display of rage and depravity. The once loved son of Germanicus became known as the "Mad Emperor". However, his madness was not born from ambition or pride, but from the deep, festering wounds left by Tiberius's abuse. What the world saw as insanity was, in truth, the fractured remnants of a once-promising life shattered by years of psychological and physical torment. And now, Caligula would unleash that reflective chaos onto the Roman world... Rome herself would be his own plaything, like the island of Capri- and all her citizens...his own ‘little fishes’...
Sources:
The Lives of the Caesars (Suetonius)
Annals (Tacitus)
Tiberius and His Age: Myth, Sex, Luxury, and Power (Edward Champlin)
It is almost July, which of course is when Art Fight begins.
With that being said, I implore all of you with TES OCs to reblog/comment/otherwise interact with this post if you are participating!!! That way if you are interested in drawing TES OCs during the event, you can check the RBs here and get an easy list of people that have them. So don’t be shy!!!
