#rollknowledgearcana

[spaceokase]

Adding to my collection of ‘Characters Facing Slightly One Way’ (I’ve still been busy w/ work, unfortunately, and its killing my wrist among other things)

Top two characters are from a oneshot some of my usual dnd group is doing tomorrow, bottom character is a new character in our normal campaign since an older one has left the party.

Tiefling lady at the top is my Everraven, Grave Domain Cleric of the Raven Queen and local stern mother figure, Seraphi. Goliath dude is @bioticplaneswalker ‘s fighter, Jocaster, a not!Scottish(but totally Scottish) who is traveling the planes hunting monsters due to a dispute with his brother. And finally, Lazuli is @rollknowledgearcana ‘s khenra ranger lady, who has replaced Rask in the party after a horrible corruption/cursed forest ordeal and is gonna be our party’s guide in a future trip into the local desert.

I love me some dang D&D

[okase]

Tell me about Nera's family in Elder Scrolls. Is Rana still around? If so, are Nera and her mother still in contact? What drove Nera to become an adventurer?

Oh, well, in Elder Scrolls, Nera's family definitely still exists! Actually, fun fact, it's the one setting where Rana and Nera's father, Nero (Or N'eroh in this setting lmao) get a "good end" in that they're both alive, together, and not separated from Nera in any permanent sense.

In ES, Ranara and N'eroh are wandering adventurers/mercenaries for hire who made it their goal long ago to see as much of Tamriel as possible together and just happened to have a kid in the process. While Nera herself wasn't exactly part of their plan, they worked it out, even managing to temper their mutual wanderlust to raise their fuzzy hellspawn in Falkreath for a time. 

As soon as said hellspawn left the nest, however they took back to traveling again pretty quickly once they figured she would be relatively okay without their guidance. (Aka they followed her for a bit to keep an eye on her initially, much to Nera's annoyance lol)

From there, both Nera and her parents managed to keep at least relatively in-touch with each other by sending various updates about where they were headed and when. Nera still both sends and gets letters from them throughout their lives, and sometimes they meet up, and the arrangement works fairly well for them, even if it seems a bit distant to others. To them, generally when they all meet, they simply pick up where they left off, and while it has its pitfalls(There are- definitely- times where Nera has gotten into trouble and really could have used their help), it seems to be the best way of doing things that they've come up with. Nera is probably the least wander-y of the trio and even she gets antsy when she's in one place for too long lol

So... that kinda answers why Nera became an adventurer. She inherited her parents' wanderlust a bit, sure, but more importantly she's a very curious person by nature who loves seeing new places and meeting new people, no matter what universe. She just happens to be the most successful in this universe, and therefore the most well-traveled. She's more able to settle in one place if the people are good, but she always feels to need to get out and see something new now and then to avoid going too stir-crazy. It's just how she is.And yeah, that about sums it up!

Oh, but also, for some extra facts it's worth noting that while I'm here: While Rana and Nera are both your typical cathay khajiit, N'eroh is a cathay-raht, aka he is Very Big with even more prominently feline anatomy (aka he's got digitigrade feet in contrast to his wife/child's plantigrade). Because Khajiit are friggen weird but I'm too much of a coward to make any of them a housecat lmao. Maybe a grandparent is a giant bobcat or something who tf knows

(I’ll do a proper pic later but this gives you a vague idea of their size difference. Rana isn’t short. N’eroh just towers over pretty much everyone lol.)

Also also, Rana is originally from Cyrodiil and N'eroh is actually from Elsewyr, with the accent and everything. Rana is an incredibly skilled swordsman, while N'eroh is incredibly proficient in khajiiti martial arts and with bows. It's very fun. They're all very good at kicking butts. It's great.

[greyfen]

Tell me about Fenir's family in Elder Scrolls. Also, how did he come to learn about his magical talents? Was his education smooth, or did he have difficulties grasping some of its elements?

Well in the Elder Scrolls universe both of Fenir’s parents are still alive and he has a relationship with them (unlike in Mass Effect) and they are also still together as well (unlike in Dragon Age). Fenir’s mother Valir is the leader of a small organisation of independant mages that she set up in Skingrad since she believes the Synod and College of Whispers are completely useless and a collection of fools (her words). His father’s name is Saris and he is also magically gifted but is more into nature and natural magic; roving the forests north of Skingrad and keeping an eye on the forest and making sure the frequent magical over-spills from the various Ayleid ruins don’t affect natural order too much. 

Valir has a long and complex story that I will try to summarize here as I would fill far too much space detailing it all, but this is the cliff notes version. Valir was born in High Rock and grew up in a small community until she was about eight at which point her parents moved into the big city of Daggerfall. When she was about ten she was apprenticed to a Breton mage in Wayrest and ended up spending the best part of the next decade there, learning everything she could; when she was about fifteen her parents were killed in a bandit attack which meant that her mentor was the only family she had left and she committed herself to her studies even harder. 

Her work paid off and she was ultimately offered a place on an expedition to Morrowind for a collaboration with some of the more open minded Telvanni in a joint excavation of a Dwemer ruin near the east coast of Morrowind. The journey was long and arduous, leaving her with a confirmation that she hated Morrowind and by the time she met the Telvanni and their frequently sneering attitudes she was fairly certain she wasn’t a huge fan of a lot of it’s native populace as well. The excavation went well enough though the Dwemer defences continued to be a pain in the way that dwemer automatons often tend to be. At one point Valir was tasked with coordinating the logistics for their supplies and it was when she went out looking for a missing supply run with a few of the other mages and some guards that she fell victim to some of the less law abiding locals. 

The next six months were not a pleasant period for Valir, unfortunately the attackers in question were numerous and actually turned out to be slavers, which while technically illegal in Morrowind was often not chased up given the still recovering state of the nation in general. As such Valir’s situation became rather bad though she did eventually escape, not without some stress and difficulty, eventually settling in Cyrodiil and making a name for herself. I’ll stop there for her since I’ve already written more than I intended. Saris was born in southern Cyrodiil, in a village not too far from Leyawiin and had an affinity for nature from a young age; he ended up being predominantly self taught for most of his childhood, though he did seek out some tuition from one of the less difficult Synod mages who resided on Bravil. Then he spent a substantial period of time avoiding the Great War, followed by helping as much as he could in rebuilding after it. Eventually he met Valir and while initially a little rocky, their relationship took off and eventually resulted in a Fenir. He ended up residing in Skingrad with his family, keeping an eye on the more dangerous ruins and locations as his wife attempts to scrape together some sort of organised magical faction to help mages who want to learn in the local area. 

Fenir’s magical talents meanwhile were pretty innate, though he’s worked very hard to perfect them, believing that just because something comes to you naturally you shouldn’t put less work into it. He enjoys experimenting with spells and finding new applications for spells that are fairly well known, as well as investing a lot of time and care into working on his shapeshifting talents. Growing up he walked a careful line of working hard on a lot of abilities without becoming too specialised, even at a young age he took a lot of joy in finding things out about different forms of magic and their application. In terms of his shapeshifting though which is his biggest ace up his sleeve, his mother is actually the one who taught him the raw basics of that; it was something she’d discovered she could do in Morrowind and it helped aid in her escape though even she would admit it wasn’t really something she really understood too much, her focus instead being on the more well known magical schools. Fenir was the one who took it upon himself to figure out exactly what it was that he had inherited and what it could be used for; it’d be fair to say it was exceptionally frustrating to learn and it wasn’t until he was in skyrim that he could control it to any degree. 

[bioticplaneswalker]

Let's hear about Elder Scrolls Karsus and Mercival. What kind of public persona does Karsus live? How did he accumulate his vast wealth? How did Mercival come to be a jester? Is he a former Legionnaire? Is he perhaps still enlisted in the Legion?

I shall start with Karsus first.

He’s K’arsus (pronounced “Khar-zoose”) in Elder Scrolls and is a Khajiit, based on a Russian blue kind of style because that’s always how I’ve seen Karsus as a cat. K’arsus is a noble living in the Imperial City and he has a very similar persona as he does in Mass Effect. Outwardly charming and pleasant, if a bit smug sometimes, and always one willing to give back to the community financially. The Dhar family, I think, have a long history of being in the Imperial City, having travelled from Elswyr many generations ago, with many a story of how they started with nothing but the clothes on their backs and then eventually came to be one of the richest families in the City.

A majority of K’arsus’ wealth would come from that heritage, his family has always been loaded, but since he is a master Illusionist he’s been able to add to his own independent fortune on his own. He invests in businesses he is sure will turn a profit, and has done so for a lot of them, and thus has accrued a fine acumen over the years and earned the reputation as a shrewd yet still generally philanthropic businessman.

Mercival, also a Khajiit, was adopted by his Imperial father and Nordic mother from the orphanage in Riften. His original parents he has no memory of, and he doesn’t really think of them often. He first started the ways of comedy by entertaining the other children in the orphanage, trying to keep their spirits up during the darker days of loneliness and disappointment. It was there that Melodeon and Sonata found him, playing on a tin whistle for the other orphans, and then they immediately fell in love with him.

Melodeon is a member of the Legion while Sonata is a singer from the Bards’ College, and it’s there in the house of dance and music that Mercival grew up. He’s still nice and beefy but he focused his bard training on comedy and creating the character of a jolly jester, with long-form storytelling, poetry and comedic verse being favourites and specialities. He plays a good flute and harp too.

His father though was insistent that he learn to defend himself while travelling on the road, however, so Mercival is also capable with a sword and shield if need be. But, being a bard he always tries to talk his way out of fighting first.

[greyfen]

What drove Inalya to be a bounty hunter in Elder Scrolls? What was her life like before her change in occupation?

Ah ha. This should be interesting since I had to think about this a lot, Inalya hasn’t had much developed in ES. 

Well in Mass Effect the thing that drove her to be a bounty hunter was a lack of a sense of purpose combined with the death of her father figure and what followed it. The thing that drove her in ES was a bit different, given that she grew up in High Rock and felt a little stifled there she was compelled to explore the world a little more, High Rock felt a bit too safe, too dull and far too restrictive. So she set out, saved up some gold after working a mundane job for a few years and headed out. It quickly became apparent that she couldn’t really live on the gold she’d saved indefinitely and given that she still wanted to move around, working as a mercenary and then ultimately a bounty hunter seemed like a nice fit. She has a fair amount of respect for the law and going after people who were a legitimate threat allowed her to both live out her desire to see the world while also letting her feel like she was making an actual difference to people’s lives. Given her training and skill with magic and sword she fell into it without too much trouble, though sometimes she does wonder if she might have made the wrong decision. 

Before she was a bounty hunter her life was very ordinary, as far as ordinary can go in the ES universe, she lived with her parents into maturity and wasn’t really too sure what to do with herself for the large part of the time. Her mother was a member of the guard and her father was a member of the local courts in Glenumbra; advising a local lord on the various ways to avoid the political schemes of his opponents. Her father was a member of House Telvanni who’d basically decided to sod Morrowind and head west when Red Mountain exploded. Her mother meanwhile had was a native of High Rock, though she had ancestry back with a member of House Dres several generations previously. 

Having a mage as one parent and an active warrior on the other ensured that Inalya was imparted plenty of skills, with her parents clearly hoping she’d eventually go into the guard once she’d lost her wanderlust. In terms of Inalya’s life before heading out into the wide world however, she worded for about four years at the local tavern to save up the gold to leave High Rock and head out on her own. It wasn’t the most fun and it was exceptionally dull to someone who felt like she could do a lot more with her life, but it paid well and ultimately ensured things worked out for her in the end. 

[okase]

Teenage!Nera in a nutshell tbh

[okase]

I did one more. God forgive me lmao

((Original NSFW image here))

[bioticplaneswalker]

Oh so it’s my boyfriend’s birthday today and you should go give him attention at @rollknowledgearcana because he’s the best thing to happen in my life and because it’s his birthday.