#colovia

[the-lost-mananaut]

I’m of the opinion that besides the Redguards, it’s very difficult to tell which human race in The Elder Scrolls is which just by look alone. Their most distinct visual difference is height and that’s about it, Bretons, Nords and Imperials are all white, with Bretons being the shortest, Nords being the tallest and Imperials being in the middle and slightly tanner then the others, Boring, Boring, Boring. Where’s the visual diversity?

I could never expect this to be changed officially, but my own personal headcanon/CODA of the Imperials has them look Indian. They still keep their Roman/Southern European/Slavic/Southeast Asian influences but the people themselves are Indian in appearance.

Partially I like this cause I think it adds needed visual diversity among the human races of The Elder Scrolls and to a lesser extent I do enjoy the idea having people that look like me in my favorite fantasy setting. I am curious what others think about my headcanon.

[elderscrollsconceptart]

Colovian Furniture - High End

Concept art for The Elder Scrolls: Online

Art by Aaron Zhou

[andrevalias-tes]

'I'd like to see a Colovian sky one last time before I die.'

-- Bloodies-His-Face, when asked what he'd want to do before the end.

[margieargie]

yeah i decided to do this for some reason

[amadladde]

The Forlorn

In Colovia, a method of execution emerged for soldiers who abandoned the battlefield.

Their feet, in shackles. Arms, torn from their body. An arrow, shot into their right shoulder from behind. And lastly, a spear driven through the back, and out of the belly. From there, the punished is left to writhe and rot on the forest floor. Worms and crows his only company.

They call them the Forlorn.

The more superstitious claim they have felt their spirits when alone. The more skeptical say there is simply nothing there.

[tastesoftamriel]

Are there any records in the Imperial Library about the diet of the Nibenese nobility of the Second Era? Or the Colovians?

Nibenay cuisine has more or less rotated among the same styles and ingredients over the centuries, and is quite distinct to the specific region in Cyrodiil. The original socio-culturally Cyro-Nordic history of Nibenay is distinctly visible in terms of food. Geographically, the region is full of lakes and rivers, and as such, fish and seafood is a staple. The close borders with Black Marsh and Elsweyr are also critical influences on local cuisine.

For example, merchant lords of the Second Era would have enjoyed everything from Argonian-inspired rice and fish dishes from Blackwood, freshwater eels in jelly, spicy Khajiiti blood cockle pilaf, moon sugar and coconut cakes, stir-fried watercress with olive oil and mushrooms, and dishes like my aunt's Bravil's Best Beet Risotto.

Meanwhile, Colovian diets rely more on a combination of vegetables and game due to the bountiful grasslands and farms in the area. This is where you find your stereotypical Cyrodiilic cuisine with lots of wine and olives, as well as cheeses, cured meats, and liqueur. In many ways, Colovian cuisine is closer to that of the Nords than their brethren in the Niben. You will find dishes like braised rabbit with white wine, goose-egg omelettes with burrata and pancetta, panna cotta with wild berry coulis, and spinach and chevre tortellini with nettle pesto. ~Talviel

[uesp]

Did You Know: Colovians who do not conform to traditional religious practices are referred to as "Woeful Colovians"?

[delemis]

Cyrodiilic Liquor: A Comprehensive List (Project Tamriel/Province: Cyrodiil)

Akul: A strong colovian ale brewn from malted barley and dried mandrake root, popular among colovian soldiers and nobility. Its origins lay with ancient colo-nordic rituals, where it was and sometimes still is used to commune with martial dieties like Reman and Shor. These days, it is more a drink for commoners in the cyrodiilic west, and is regarded as little more than swill everywhere else.

Aliyew: Apple cider, another colovian product distilled at many distilleries throughout the west of the Imperial Province. It is an unremarkable drink for common folk, and a handful of local barons play a major hand in its production. The orchards of Colovia are the site of many tragedies, in the world of theater, and Aliyew as a drink is sometimes associated with a more romantic view of the colovian countryside.

Colovian Battlewine: A modern label for an alcoholic mixture and practice that have existed since the first era. The drink itself is a mixture of fortified wine and juniper berry liquor from the Imperial Reserve. In ancient times, colovian warlords and kings would drink it boiling hot before addressing their troops, believing the rasp it added to their voice commanded further respect. 

Cyrodiilic Brandy: This expensive drink is rather famed for both its quality and its difficulty to procure. It is one of the Imperial Province’s most profitable exports, and as such is actually quite difficult to acquire in Cyrodiil itself due to how much of it is shipped off to the provinces and beyond. It is nonetheless an imperial drink, and is mostly produced in distilleries located in and surrounding the Imperial City. Due to how difficult it is to procure, the drink is often cut with Mori and water. It is also sometimes substituted by pomace brandy, fermented from the detritus of the winemaking process in often illegal stills.

Free Estates Wine: A cheaper variety of wine found in the western highlands, unremarkable except for its name and the agenda behind its production. The colovian Free Estates movement is a movement advocating for the independence or autonomy of the Colovian Estates of old from the Third Empire. Its leadership, primarily a cadre of young, disenfranchised nobility from the backwaters of the Imperial Province, began producing wine under the label both as a statement about colovian cultural fortitude and a means of funding the movement itself. Its political nature makes selling, purchasing or drinking it an inherently political act.

Flin: Flin is a kind of colovian rye whiskey brewed in the County of Chorrol, in the north-western regions of the Imperial Province. Like cyrodiilic brandy, it is a profitable export in the provinces and beyond. Unlike Cyrodiilic Brandy, however, the East Empire Company is the sole authority in the export of the product, which makes the trade much more small and exclusive. As a result, flin is more widely available in Cyrodiil. It is also less expensive than it is in the provinces, but not quite cheap either. 

Kurst: A kind of cherry liquor brewed in Chorrol, this colovian drink is expensive and hard to come by, but nonetheless popular and with broad appeal throughout the upper classes of the Imperial Province. One is not likely to find it beyond the border, however; it is a more exclusive drink, and not as subject to the whims transprovincial commerce as other expensive cyrodiilic liquors.

Mori: Mori is the poor man’s drink in Nibenay, cheap beer brewed from rice - a plentiful staple of both the nibenese and heartlander diet. It is used in the making of mokre, a fermented fish sauce which is another staple of the nibenese diet, and is otherwise associated with a myriad of minor spirits in typical eastern tradition. Much like akul, Mori’s ubiquity does not extend much beyond the confines of the cultural void in which it was borne, though unlike Akul its culinary applications do see it finding its way to the cellars of even wealthy imperial colonists in the provinces. 

Sources:

- The Imperial Kitchen Vol. 2

- ”Imperial Beverages from Vanilla and TR. Where are they from?” A discussion thread from the PT forums. 

- The Project Tamriel Discord

- My own personal headcanons