There was a thing somewhere that said that Bosmers were exceptionally skilled at mimicking bird calls and animal sounds so that got me thinking if they'd be exceptionally good at mimicking other people's voices.
So sneaky Bosmers could mimic voices to draw attention away or to a specific area to get into places. Could repeat voices to identify people to others if they're searching for them. Can alter their own voice to keep their identity mixed up. Storytelling with grandma got much more exciting.
The implications of this can be used in fun and various situations!
TW: harm coming to children, death, and eye horror.
“Excuse me.”
Ynot turned, responding to the tug at their coat. The little hatchling surprised them in the balcony seat overlooking the operatic performance below. Just a travelling troupe, passing through, nothing special.
“Yes, little one, can I help you?”
“I wanted to see what the stage looks like,” the pearlcatcher said, clutching her pearl to her chest.
“Why of course,” Ynot crooned, hoisting her up to sit with her legs dangling over the balcony below. They kept a protective claw on her waist so she didn’t fall, “interested in opera, are you?”
“I think the costumes are pretty,” she said, swinging her legs, “I always wanted to wear them. Mommy thinks it’s silly, but I really want to.”
“Tell me, darling, can you sing?”
She looked at them strangely through the shadows, catching the odd reflection of their eyes in the darkness. Something dark and viscous ran down their cheeks and the pearlcatcher’s breath hitched.
“Y-yes...” she said hesitantly, “I sing for my mommy all the time. Mommy’s probably worried about me...”
“Nonsense,” Ynot purred, their grip tightening around her waist.
Her breath caught in her throat as she caught their full gaze. Black liquid pooled on the lip of the balcony, staining her dress and hands. She felt herself slip off, unable to scream as she crashed through the floor. No one seemed to see her.
Talk of the new soprano singing in the Briar Rose buzzed about the town. Like so many of the talent, she went unlisted on the playbills--a complete mystery, up for guessing. Her sad birdsong rang out in the evening performances above all the others.
“Oh, she won’t stay long. You know the director,” said a Snapper to his companion after the show.
“Yes, a fickle one, aren’t they? Always finds such marvelous performers, and half the time they’re gone before I even see them. Damn shame, I wonder where they find them,” replied the Coatl, fussing with his feathers.
“Ah, I doubt it would be half as fun without the mystery of it all.”
Thinking about my Vestige fic and how it recontextualizes everything Kerasil feels about the main quest. And the answer is that its awful.
From dying, to waking up in Coldharbour, to escaping back to Nirn, and then speaking to ger friend and colleague the Silvenar to be hit with the:
"Who are you? I just did the funeral for you and just instated your Second-in-Command to Captain months ago. Also you have so much Daedric energy off you, how do I know you're not just impersonating my late friend to try and get to me?"
And thats when it really hurts Kerasil.
That she died but it was months until she woke up in Coldharbour and escaped. Her people and family think she's dead, her husband thinks she's dead, and to top it off she isn't even made of flesh and bones anymore.
After Khenarthi's Roost and the events of it she doesn't contact her family until after killing Mannimarco. It's just.... Too much to ask her husband and child to understand what happened to her.
To wake up after getting sacrificed to Molag Bal and get told to your face you are merely a copy of the person you are. That your thoughts and memories are not originally your own. And you don't even have a soul to go with any of this.
Fucked up and horrible, and Kerasil is asked to save the world for the potential to get her soul back (like that might solve all her traumatic problems)
Based on @skyrim-forever's post about which parent their OC children would go to for certain advice or things, so I'd like to share some!
Yera has two children, Ulin (they/them) and Nularin (she/her).
If the kids ever pick up the habit of wanting to steal something or do a little bit of larceny Yera is almost always going to say yes if there is a good reason for it. Logic being Yera wants to keep that Bosmer culture of 'Rite of Theft' alive in the kids, so long as they give it back. Actual thievery can wait until they're older and out of Yera's sight so she can't scold them.
Teldryn would probably have the most 'dad' energy where they go to him when the kids think they can't convince their mom to do something. He's the more 'responsible' of the polycule so he tries to do his best, but also won't pad things to give them soft comfort. He's going to tell it to them straight if something is a bad idea and why, and also here's how to do better and how to not get killed. Mercenary life style, plus surviving the Red Yera gives a different perspective on how to go through life.
Miraak wouldn't actually be approached too much for advice until the kids are around teen or adult ages tbh. He's kind of a terrible dad, especially when Ulin was first born and he just didn't connect with the kid and stood to the side while Yera and Teldryn did most of the emotional labour. Not to say he doesn't love his kids; the other two had to drag him back into the house to teach him how to change diapers and hold a baby until he relearned bonding. What the kids would go to Miraak more would be fun history lessons, and also to show or tell Miraak things they think would make him proud.
Lydia is the one person in the house who actually wants the kids to group up pretty normal without all the flair of Dragonborn stuff, the Guild, or having an ancient Dragon Priest as a parent. Good luck Lydia, you can try and teach them good social interactions but they're going to be trumped by a good punch in the gut by a 9 year old!
You are a valuable asset, mortal. You will be of great use to us
Trying out any and all art styles to have some fun, and after seeing an art piece with heavy heavy shadows cross my dash I wanted to try a hand at it. Which lead me to try and draw out my feelings and thoughts about Kerasil and her relationship to Molag Bal and Meridia.
It is Mannimarco who sacrifices your soul in the name of Molag Bal, and your soul is trapped in Coldharbour until the end of the Main Game. It is Meridia that pulls it out of Coldharbour and presents it again to you in her Colored Rooms.
That is two Daedric Princes that have touched your particular soul and interacted with it; for good or for ill. I like to imagine that after the Main Game the Vestige is a kind of immortal Daedric being as a result of being messed around with so much.
Kerasil after the events of the Main Game is pretty discombobulated and, after the shock of everything settles, feels pretty alienated from the people around her. She isn't mortal anymore, she doesn't even know if she can age anymore and follow the flow of time anymore. And world events keep happening around and to her that require her to take up arms again and save Nirn from Daedric Princes. Over and over and over and over again.
Frankly, and I've talked about it in another post of mine, she's tired of it and willing to punch any and all Daedric Princes she meets. Sure she'll take the title of Champion as that is Y'ffre's will, but she isn't going to not complain about it.
She's not enjoying the fact it happened to her in such a traumatic way. And she certainly isn't enjoying the fact that while she kicked Molag Bal's ass six ways to Sundas, she hasn't gotten any revenge on Meridia using her as a tool to fight Molag Bal. And after the events of Summerset Isle where she had her friend Darien returned to her and then ripped away (possibly permanently) by the clutches of Meridia. Yeaaah no she dislikes Meridia to put it lightly.
Then there is the fact that outside of Second Era, no one has heard or speaks of this legendary hero. The Vestige, the Hero of the Alliances, Savior of Summerset, etc etc etc etc. Nothing. And while that can be chalked up to ZOS writing this as a prequel to the rest of the mainline games, I would like to use it literally as Molag Bal getting his own pull on Kerasil and fulfilling his threat:
"I will ensure no tales are told of your valor"
Thus the inspiration of this piece: caught between two Daedric Princes (Molag Bal's dolmen chains behind Kerasil, and Meridia's symbolic light rays over her shoulders) that each had their claws around your soul and influenced you in ways you cannot understand. You are no longer a person. You were the means to an ends of higher forces.
Reading up on Pyandonea and how there is yew on their island but also tropical jungles and I have decided that there must be several floors to this island.
1) Probably a big island (akin to Summerset possibly, all the maps I've seen are either fandom made or the Daggerfall globe but no 100% confirmation)
2) As far as I know, Yew doesn't grow in the same area as tropics so it makes sense for different levels to exist on this island to make both a forest and a jungle possible
3) There was a description somewhere that talks about high valleys and vegetation spilling over and I want to imagine the craziest cliff diving games these guys are having at home.
