OC Fridays you say? @the-elder-polls Hello! Naturally that means I'm going to take some time to gush about Josh...because whilst he shares a name, vocation and sarcasm as the NPC found in Dragonborn, he's pretty much his own thing at this point. Teldryn Ensirhaddon-Sero is a Dunmer- naturally, though he is half Ashlander ( Erabenimsun) on his father's side whilst his mother grew up in Redoran lands though her family did not answer to a Great House until moving to Hlaalu lands in the late forth era. Not long after he was conceived his parents fled to Cyrodiil, where he spent the first four years of his life before his mother returned to Blacklight once his father disappeared on a smuggling job. (Born 3E 370- 57 at the start of Morrowind, 268 by the start of the Dragon Crisis). He was well educated, and speaks four languages- Dunmeris, Cyrodiilic, Aldmeris and modern Altmeris. He picks up Ashland and a secret fifth thing later on. He ends up getting mixed up in the Camonna Tong which is how he ends up in Cyrodiil where he is subsequently arrested (murder, arson, treason, more arson). He spends the next 33 years being moved about various prisons and work camps in the Heartland until he is deported back to Vvardenfell and given a strange package.
Josh does not believe that he's the Nerevarine- not in any meaningful sense. What he does think he is, is an Imperial puppet. Yes he technically fulfils the prophecy but there were tweaks made to his official records so that he could "fit it more". Namely in how he was stricken from his mother's family records upon their ascension to House Hlaalu. Yes he fits but he wonders if the destruction of his homeland was a part of the Emperor's plan. He knows for certain that he is not the reincarnation of Indoril Nerevar. What he is, is a descendent of the war lord who ended up being a good host once he slipped on that ring and it didn't give him a big enough aneurysm. Deep down, he thinks anyone could have done the job. He was just convenient. Teldryn drinks- a lot and the habit has gotten worse as he's gotten older. He'll go through stints of sobriety (usually when mourning) and ends them in even longer binges. He developed a taste for skooma when he was on one of those binges and has been trying to avoid the stuff ever since. He ends up getting hooked on Sleeping Tree Sap during the Dragon Crisis and the whole thing gets worse once Sydari (my Dragonborn) gets lost in Sovngarde. He's a pain in the ass. Some Art Some early Josh (3E 427)
Some post Corprus infection Josh (3E 428-29)
And jumping to pre Dragon-Crisis Josh - 4E 199.