hello, child of kynareth

I needed to spout about Skyrim somewhere lmao

17 posts

[kynestoken]

one of my fav things to do with Bethesda games (esp fo3) is listen to music released in a similar time as the game itself. Thank you Coldplay’s Viva la Vida and Ghost Stories for double-fisting this alt pop flavor into my Skyrim experience

[kynestoken]

Literally just the intro song but if this isn’t sweeping slow-mo shots of Whiterun Hold at dawn give me the 2010s editing. May the winds of Kynareth bring you only the sweetest scents

[kynestoken]

one of my fav things to do with Bethesda games (esp fo3) is listen to music released in a similar time as the game itself. Thank you Coldplay’s Viva la Vida and Ghost Stories for double-fisting this alt pop flavor into my Skyrim experience

[kynestoken]

not enough hours in the day… i should be allowed to play as much Skyrim as I want

[kynestoken]

More dude time. Girl what products do you use

[geckosteak]

Gotta draw Aldar like this

[dogpuppy]

[worthlesssix]

More artfight 🤭 Aldar the DOVAHKIIN for @geckosteak

[kynestoken]

Contemplating the realism of Aldar’s war paint but knowing that I really just wanted him to have crazy guyliner </3 whups

[kynestoken]

Managed to doodle the Man a bit on the side during work… ouuuu that’s a guy

[kynestoken]

hmmm temptation to make Aldar ridiculously mountain man tall but it’s so insane. What do you mean the default Nord height is like 6’2” I’m laughing so hard. Lining up by Bethesdas now and I guess I could do that. LMAO

[kynestoken]

biggest mistake from my first playthrough attempt is letting Lydia completely replace Faendal after having to let go of a follower for the Companions initiation. I do enjoy her a good bit, but I think huge nord boulder and skinny bosmer stick would hit these wilds hard

[geckosteak]

he’s my babygirl. My pretty princess. The Dragon Warrior

[kynestoken]

I see complaints about the Companions being #werewolftime a lot, and I was pretty surprised when it was revealed That's what was going on. I would honestly be fine if they didn't have anything to do with werewolves, but I do like what we got out of it with Kodlak and the general themes of hunting and nature in the southern parts of Skyrim.

Going back and forth between progressing the Companions and helping out Falkreath kind of makes into one cohesive exploration on these ideas, too. That whole area took up a big part of my startup with Aldar, which was really nice in terms of developing his relationship to the Hunt and the force he wants to serve as within the world.

But he sure does keep getting surrounded by doggy boys. LAUGHS. A kiss for each one. Yes he's a Kyneboy to the end, but I think he can have a little "hate the Hunt, love the hunter" approach going on. LMAO

[kynestoken]

Little Aldar Outline + Notes :) For Fun

Thinking about some of the details I have for him... IT'S GUY TIME

Name: Aldar

Mostly just made up lmaooo. I think retroactively I thought it sounded nicely like “alder,” as in The Tree. A similar Old Norse root word also relates to time, cycles, and mankind, so that kind of fucks hard given the main Dragon Conflict here.

Funnily enough, Al-Daar is Destroy-This in dragon language, LMAOOO. I've tossed around the idea of him having a dragon name, Aldaarmun (Destroy-This-Man), which is really funny to me. Name that just says come kick this guy's ass, like a constant marked for death symbol.

I haven't imagined him with a clan name yet, though if he has one, it would likely derive from his mother.

Age: 28

Damn he shoulda been at the club... But really, he feels nicely late 20s to me. With the events of Skyrim starting in 4E 201, he would have been born in 173 or 174. This places his birth during the time of the Great War, which spanned from 171-175.

I'm still deciding on his birth sign, but based on the Firmament and the Standing Stones in Skyrim, I'm leaning the most towards the Lady. Very fun since it's located in Falkreath Hold, correlates with his increased physical abilities, and aligns with his general personality.

Being born under the Lady would make his birth month Hearthfire (September, which omg Virgooo yessss),which means his birthday would happen not long after the game starts! With that being the case, I may make him 27 going on 28, but that's pretty minor.

Personality: Gentle, Caring, Quiet, Reserved, Stiff

Above all, Aldar is a man of action rather than words. His general lack of conversation comes from his previous isolation, but also from cautiousness practiced when treading the wilds. He'd rather make his intentions clear by doing than ruining them by speaking too soon.

I also think it's fun to have someone so historically silent gaining the power of The Voice. As a representative of the natural order separate from the follies of man, I think it's fun for him to be as quiet as a still forest and given the sound and power of a thunderstorm. It's cool!!!

His gentleness and caring nature is also something I like to think about a lot. I joke about his Disney princess affects sometimes because I really feel like he's out here with his little songbird friends making pies LMAO, but I really do think he treats the wild and others respectfully.

Aldar generally approaches others seeking to help or heal and he rarely partakes in anything that actively harms anyone. I think getting Faendal was one of his funniest first interactions because he doesn't want to either man to be representing the other in an ill-tempered way, so he just ping-ponged between the two till Sven eventually looked like the asshole to Camilla. It was really funny watching that unfold and still ending up with a friend in the end. Too honest for his own good.

I think with those he grows close to he can really feel like a nurturing soul, looking to protect and sustain, but he can come off as rigid and clueless to those harboring against him. Something unmoving and able to be manipulated, standing firm but can simply be cut down.

This is especially true regarding any calls to his heart that are made falsely, see Saadia asking for his help in Whiterun. That was one of the first situations where I felt totally fucked by having no clue what was going on in the world yet, and my first impulse as Aldar was to continue protecting Saadia, holding my word, and killing the Al'kir that were threatening her. Aldar is faced with similar conflicts of the heart vs. the mind a number of times, but it's likely that the heart wins out usually.

[kynestoken]

"Shor's bones! A handsome man in Falkreath!" cut to a big man with a big blush. can't even make eye contact he's just a big fool. walks away and says nothing

[kynestoken]

Aldar Background Thoughts <3

Been thinking about Aldar’s backstory for a little bit now… I still feel like I have a lot to learn about Elder Scrolls lore in general, BUT I have spent a little more time outside of the game to learn a bit about Nordic culture and give some context to the concepts I have for him.

Origin Stuff

Upon making him, I just kind of joked that he fell out of his mountain hut and ended up getting jumped by the Legion trying to find his way back, lmao. I’m thinking he was still probably jumped while he was going about his regular business hunting, gathering, or otherwise, but I'm trying to give him a little more context to being in the mountains.

There’s a number of these hunter/fisher type NPCs that hang out in the Falkreath and Whiterun holds that talk about being there for ages. I think he’s essentially been the same with a more secluded outlook. I do think he has lodging somewhere in the Jerall mountains, but he’s been fairly distant from current events in Tamriel.

He hasn’t been alone up there this whole time, though he feels like he may have been at least since he was a younger adult. I’ve had thoughts of his mother being an apothecary and his father sort of being a mystery, whether that means not being present at all or just being generally distant as he grew up.

Given that Skyrim starts in 4E 201 and the Great War ran from 168-175 his mother could have fled up into the mountains to avoid the great conflict ocurring in lower regions. I imagine Aldar as being about 28, which would put his birth year at 173. Fun fact, I'm imagining him as being born either under the sign of the Lord or the Lady.

Mother and Kyne

His mother seems like she was a healer, maybe a sort that people would venture up to the hills to be treated or ask for special concoctions. I also envision her as a worshipper of the original Nordic pantheon - Shor, Kyne, etc., which she passed on to Aldar to form his understanding of the Gods.

With this I imagine him as a total momma's boy, lmao - he loved her dearly and definitely continues to carry on her kindness. He generally has a lot of affiliation with the caretaking and protecting roles that are ascribed to female attitudes, which I think he integrates into himself as a reverence for his mother and Kyne as an extension.

Speaking of Kyne, I've thought a bit about him already having a very personal connection to her before being revealed as Dragonborn. In some ways it feels a little silly for that to be the case, but given the tendency of Aedra to show themselves only in slight ways, especially to those that are "chosen" to them, I'm kinda rolling with it lmao

Essentially, I'm imagining Aldar as actually having been born fairly weak, or otherwise being afflicted with illness fairly early that threatened his life. His mother, being an apothecary, tried everything she knew to heal her son, but only upon praying to Kyne and promising to raise him in her influence is a miracle herb or flower revealed to her.

It feels very fairy tale for him to have a connection like that lmao, looking at you Disney's Rapunzel, but idk I kind of like it. Bonus points for his illness being respiratory in nature, leaning towards tuberculosis (the color of Lowenstein-Jensen agar giving me Kynareth energy lmao), to affiliate with Kyne providing strength to his lungs, breath, voice, etc.

After this, he was totally raised in the influence of the original Nordic gods, using their names and following their teachings. I think Kyne is the primary influence that guides his path, which makes him kinda fun as a pretty neutral party in the civil war so far. Neither party really represents true deep Nord origins or the will of nature, I think, and he will continue to walk the past that best follows nature's will.

[kynestoken]

Skyrim equivalent of using your garage to run a perfume and jewelry Etsy shop is spamming potion making while waiting for magica to restore so you can use transmutation in your alchemy lab. sorry I can’t set up a child’s bedroom in here Whiterun kiddos papa’s gotta peddle some coin