Meg || 27 || she/her I write fanfic, sometimes draw, and like to play fantasy RPGs. Mostly Skyrim. Umbracirrus on AO3. Header by the immensely talented @hircines-hunter-!!!!
I'm Meg, 27, she/her, from England. I like to write fanfiction (primarily for Skyrim/Elder Scrolls though will occasionally do other things!), and do little doodles and drawings typically for the same fandoms.
I am also the resident Balgruuf fucker.
I do occasionally post mature content (though as a UK user who knows if that'll work from now on 😭), I will block minors if necessary.
My AO3 is umbracirrus! So is my Bluesky! Same username 😊 I don't post much on bsky at the moment, but will start posting fic update links and art on there soon.
Friends and mutuals can add me on discord! I am also umbracirrus on there! Let me know who you are if your username is different :)
Masterlists
OC Masterlist Post (to be added)
Writing Masterlist Post
Tags
My general text posts will be tagged as #meg is rambling
When I post my writing on here, I use the tag #meg has done some writing
When I post my drawings here, I use the tag #meg has done some drawing
When I post my cross stitching, I use the tag #meg has done some cross stitching
Other miscellaneous tags:
Things that Balgruuf and Elyse (my main LDB) do as a couple #Balyse couple stuff
To the surprise of absolutely no one, I think a lot about Ulfric’s backstory.
(I probably have to front this with acknowledgement that he is racist, has beyond fumbled the well being of the Dunmer and Argonian people in Windhelm, is the most divisive jarl in the fandom, and his fans can certainly be…a type of way…particularly on Reddit. I personally like the guy (his character; let’s not conflate fiction and reality here) and I get the ick all the time from professed enjoyers. None of this should contest that.)
Putting this under a cut. CW sympathetic light on Ulfric Stormcloak lololol
Starting off controversially, I see young Ulfric (a child/lad) as being a pacifist. He didn’t go to the Greybeards to ask to study with them. They invited him to High Hrothgar. To me, that means they saw the potential in him to become one of them. Ulfric to 4E201 remained honoured that he had this opportunity.
So then why did he give it up? Ulfric had to care about something enough to either forsake his values or rewrite his personal definition of what pacifism is. He left the Greybeards to join the Legion. Why? Because the Thalmor had invaded Cyrodiil. He saw the Imperials fighting for their homeland and was compelled/moved by this.
Here begins the sunk-cost fallacy for Ulfric, whether you regard it as tragic or comedic (ironic perhaps, but that fits with either light). He left High Hrothgar to use the Voice in a way unfitting of the Greybeard’s tenants. He could never go back now.
He is then captured by the Thalmor. According to the dossier, he is broken by Elenwen (take a moment to consider how disciplined toward silence he must have been after ten years with the Greybeards) and then made to believe that the Imperial City fell because of the information he imparted.
What shame he must have felt. And what could he do about it? He probably ‘knew’ he didn’t deserve to live. The Empire loves to treat dissidents with decapitation, and that was the punishment Ulfric faced if he ‘came clean’.
This is the first strike of the Thalmor twisting him into an asset. But Ulfric had means to defy this…sort of. He could redeem himself by putting his all into helping the Legion reclaim the Imperial City from the Thalmor. If he died doing that, it would be honourable and he could right his mistake. It wouldn’t matter that nobody ever knew his terrible secret.
But, Ulfric survived.
Could he tell the truth then? He was a decorated war hero. Everybody knew that the signing of the White-Gold Concordat was only meant to be temporary. Both the Empire and Dominion were much weaker than they put off. What if, now Ulfric has managed to retake the Imperial City - and his secret still remains like a black mark - he could be useful again?
Sometime around here in the timeline, contact is made with him by the Thalmor (according to that dossier). The nature of this remains tantalizingly beyond our ability to know, but it didn’t have to be anything more complicated than basically the Thalmor equivalent of WE KNOW ✋
Ulfric’s secret is a ticking time bomb.
Now we come to Markarth, and the Markarth Incident. I have issues with The Bear of Markarth, which could honestly be a post of its own. TLDR, it’s written by an Imperial scholar, is the only source of the most damning actions Ulfric is accused of (the locals don’t corroborate any of it, not even Madanach, who himself is alive when all the opposition to Ulfric’s militia was allegedly slaughtered en masse, there are other lore books that read similarly like propaganda such as The Warp in the West), and has very dismissive language surrounding how the Forsworn treated Nords during their rule (“True, some crimes were committed against former Nord landowners”, for example - so not only was it not entirely peaceful, but crimes were committed against former landowners, meaning they’d been stripped first of their assets).
The only thing Ulfric himself says about Markarth is that bit about having to smuggle a letter out of prison to deliver his father’s eulogy. Would I trust his account of Markarth anyway? Nah lol. He would be biased toward himself.
So then does an impartial account exist? How about Jarl Igmund?
What reason would he have to lie? He’s an Imperial jarl. If the Stormcloaks get the Reach, he loses his throne. If you ask him to create a distraction at the Thalmor Embassy, he uses the opportunity to trash Ulfric lol. I’m inclined to believe him, seeing as he has every reason in the world to double down and say nah. Ulfric is a monster. Instead, he tells us this:
When the Empire lost the Reach during the Great War, we became desperate. We promised a group of Nord militia free worship in exchange for their help retaking the Hold.
We promised, in exchange. The ordering is important here. According to Igmund, Ulfric didn’t just show up like The Bear of Markarth says he did. He was asked to help.
So let’s return to Ulfric at this point in time. He’s harbouring a terrible secret. He is a legionnaire now invested in the Empire’s success not only for their right to defend Cyrodiil against invaders but because he has killed and fought in their name. He feels the pressure to prove himself further when, at any time, the Thalmor could let slip that he was responsible for the Imperial City falling.
Having fought to reclaim it is merely a wash. Ulfric only fixed his mistake. He’s done nothing to restore his honour, for it could be perceived he only returned to the front lines out of obligation.
So then a jarl requests aid, in a location where the Legion once held but it has now been taken by another group. The Empire is beginning the process of assessing the lay of the land beyond its borders now the Great War is “over”.
Would it not be honourable then to save them the trouble of reclaiming the Reach? So of course Ulfric goes.
Exactly how Markarth is reclaimed is up the air, as I said earlier. But what is agreed upon is that the Thalmor find out about the Talos worship and they turn this on the Empire. I have a lot of thoughts about this condition of the White-Gold Concordat, which can be summarized as the Dominion did not expect the Empire would hold on Talos worship. They knew that eventually, this issue would arise. And since it was written into the Concordat, this is now their casus belli to continue the Great War. I would only argue, considering the Dominion’s preferred continuation of Skyrim’s civil war, that they just didn’t expect it to happen so soon lol.
The point is, Ulfric was the one who pulled the short straw. If you want to be really sympathetic toward him about it, he was the scapegoat.
Back to his perspective. Ulfric has not only helped to retake the Imperial City now, he has gone out of his way to retake a region that the Empire lost during the Great War. And how is he awarded for that?
He’s arrested by the Empire. He sits in prison for seven years, and the only reason he is released is because Eastmarch needs a jarl. He missed his father’s last years.
He goes home, broken, and is received by the outraged people of Windhelm. This would have been pivotal, and I would argue is the moment he turned his back on the Empire. After everything he did, everything he endured… his people are right. This was what he sacrificed his pacifism for?
So, fuck the Empire, Ulfric declares. Taking Galmar’s dialogue into account as well, I think when Ulfric says fuck the Empire he really means to say fuck the Aldmeri Dominion, because they are nothing but a puppet. The Empire is the mask behind which the Dominion spreads its influence across Tamriel during the interim years.
And Ulfric can’t see past that, as far as the civil war goes. To soften himself toward the Empire is to put himself at risk of being broken again by the Dominion. There is no compromise. To fight the Empire is to fight them.
Which very tragically/comedically/ironically plays entirely into the Dominion’s hands.
Because I personally consider it a narrative tragedy, I think then a lot about what Ulfric being deemed an asset of the Dominion really means. For one, it doesn’t mean he’s a direct agent. Those things are not one in the same. I also think that Ulfric suffers from the following things: he survived the Great War, was the unfortunate one to break the Talos portion of the White-Gold Concordat, and became an important political figure in Skyrim as jarl.
He is therefore a very useful asset, but the Dominion has assets everywhere. The Emperor is an asset. General Tullius is an asset. Elisif is an asset. Even Balgruuf is an asset, since his refusal to take sides in the civil war means neither Empire nor Stormcloaks get the edge.
Ulfric is just…extremely unlucky. I think again of how Elenwen broke him during the Great War, and how the dominos fell from there. Ulfric isn’t moved by Tullius telling him after a Stormcloak victory that this was exactly what the Thalmor wanted. Yeah, a dying man would say that.
But if Ulfric found out the Imperial City had already fallen before he broke? It might not make him see the necessity of the civil war any less, but I think if anything could fully destroy him, it would be that.
Age: 23 (Skyrim main quest events/Seeking the Sun), 26-27 (The Perfect Storm)
Born: 6th Sun’s Dawn 4E 178
Occupation: Dragonborn, former student of the College of Winterhold, Thane of Whiterun, Balgruuf’s advisor on security, eventual High Queen of Skyrim
Background:
Elyse is half-Nord, half-Breton, with her mother being the estranged daughter of a Jarl and her father a disowned son of a minor High Rock noble family.
The first twelve years of her life were spent across High Rock, with her family moving from place to place and staying in inns more often than not whilst her mother took on work as a sword for hire and her father worked as a tutor. She would spend a lot of time with her father, as Ingja's jobs were often quite dangerous and not a place for a young child, and Edwyn would only take on tutoring jobs which allowed him to take her with him – as such, Elyse picked up a lot on reading, writing, and basic magic from him during her formative years even without the more formal educations which her parents received.
Because of the amount of time spent in inns, Elyse never really learned how to fend for herself in terms of cooking – the food would just always be ready (i.e. parents bought it), aside from the bare minimum of cooking basic things over an open flame which didn't need active tending to (e.g. fish on a stick on an open fire). However, her time around inns made her a) a bit uneasy in crowds because of how rowdy they could get and that was quite terrifying to a young child who was often with a father who wasn't physically inclined if things kicked off and him being very averse to getting tangled up in those sorts of situations, and b) made her somewhat musically inclined. She couldn't pick up an instrument, mind, but she could certainly hum the tunes she heard through her childhood.
Upon her grandfather’s death (on her mother’s side) when she was twelve and her mother ending up with an inheritance in spite of her estrangement, they then end up settling down in Chorrol, which is where she lived until her mother’s death and father’s disappearance (and supposed death) in her early 20s – this being the catalyst which made her decide to venture to Skyrim and get arrested at the border.
During her time there, she began to get a bit more training on survival from her parents as she would like to explore in and around the city, being taught what to look for in terms of ingredients to make sure that they weren't toxic if she wanted to taste them or gather them, very basic healing spells (that she could barely get a grasp of), how to use a sword/dagger and a bow, and how to summon a familiar (which ends up being the same conjured wolf as her father, that they call Spectre – he's essentially the family pet).
As she gets older, she starts trying to date, wanting to find herself a whirlwind romance akin to her parents. Instead, she gets disappointed time and time again. Men, women, man, mer, everyone – but she realises that her expectations are too high and that honestly? She's felt nothing with none of these people, even if things became intimate. So after many a night sobbing to her parents over things not working out (there was a point where her father was wanting to make his way to the Imperial City to yell at someone who tried to take her on a date in a rat-infested cabin on the city waterfront), she decides if it happens, it happens. But she won't really actively look for a relationship (though does long for one just like her parents have still).
When she reaches adulthood, she decides to try and help support her parents – no less with this being the time that Ingja starts falling ill so the money which she would make through hunting (which was Ingja's job in Chorrol as it was much less dangerous than being a mercenary) began to fade away – and gets herself a role as a cleaner at the Count's palace. (She actually has a bit of a soft spot for Fianna and Gerda in Dragonsreach as a result, even though Gerda likes to remind her that it's Balgruuf in charge even if she's doing nothing but sitting down).
Then, when Ingja dies, Edwyn essentially shuts down. So Elyse has to work even harder for the two of them to get by. Eventually though, Edwyn says that he's got himself a job that will take him to Cheydinhal, which surprises her, but she wishes him luck as he promises that he will write to her. She gets letters for the first few weeks, and then… nothing. Complete silence. She has to start selling belongings to get by. There's no sign of Edwyn. She assumes that he died.
And eventually, she realises that unless she somehow ended up on a windfall of money, she was going to lose everything. This leads to her making a plan – in Ingja's final months, she had managed to get her into contact with her uncle in Winterhold (Korir). She didn't know much of her uncle, but knew that he wouldn't just be someone to ask for help from. But he was family, which was better than anything she knew of her father's side of the family. That, and she knew of the College being in Winterhold, that her father had been there and was on occasion in contact with the Arch Mage and even would ask if she ever considered going there instead of working as a cleaner. Meaning that attending the College of Winterhold becomes her plan. So she sells up everything but the clothes on her back (even her precious collection of earrings she had built up over time and was one of the last things of value she had kept hold of), a few books, and her mother's bow, and begins to travel north to the border with Skyrim, just to catch wind of the plan to close the border…
Notable Relationships:
Balgruuf – her beloved husband 💛 One of the first people she meets in Skyrim, and she leaves quite the impression on him (a big ball of anxiety with an injured arm, foregoing healing to meet with him to tell him of the danger his people were in, how could it not?). She finds him to be one of the most reasonable and thoughtful people she encounters during her early time in Skyrim and finds that when she follows his advice things typically work out in some way or another. (Emphasis on typically *looking at the attempt to reject Ulfric*). They become close over time, and eventually the lines start blurring... Are they friends, or something more? Of course, everyone around them realises it’s ‘something more’ before they even do. They would do anything to protect the other. And I mean anything. The people around them remark about how much they love each other, how happy that they make each other, but damn, they sometimes need to tone down the sappy. They make each other whole, both physically (in every sense of the word if you catch my drift 😆) and emotionally, after years of being broken.
Lydia – her housecarl, though it doesn’t take long once Elyse reluctantly asks for her support after 6 months of trying to figure out the whole Dragonborn thing at the College for the two of them to become firm friends, if not like sisters. Elyse can trust Lydia to give her the truth, even if it hurts her, and that sort of tough love is something that she needs to get something into her head if she has persuaded herself otherwise. Lydia’s responsibility to protect Elyse extends into cooking when they are out and about – and she will never allow Elyse to let the Troll Fat Incident™️ go.
Edwyn Verne – her father, and her role model. She spent the most time with him of her parents in her younger years, as whilst Ingja took on more dangerous jobs for money, she got to accompany Edwyn on his tutoring jobs so got to learn from him. She takes after him the most of her two parents, through their love and talent for conjuration spells, and also physically. His disappearance after Ingja’s death – the time where they needed each other most – hurt her to the point that it almost irreversibly pushed her into the mindset that she needed to go at it alone, that she had to manage things herself (and it took the likes of Balgruuf and Lydia years to pull her back to a point where she felt that she could ask for help). Edwyn’s eventual return comes at an incredibly turbulent time in her life, with her dealing with pregnancy and the stress of Balgruuf being declared High King, and it takes a lot for him to earn back her trust in spite of her love for him still being there.
Ingja Frosthand – her mother, who she most takes after in terms of sheer stubbornness, and her eyes. Ingja wasn’t able to spend much time with Elyse in her younger years due to taking on jobs where she didn’t want her young child to be put into danger, so would entrust her care to Edwyn during those times, though would always return from her jobs no matter how brutal they had been with a little sweet treat and a tale about the job for Elyse. After receiving a surprise inheritance from her father’s death, she lays down her sword when they move to Chorrol, and gets to spend much more time with Elyse. They bonded most over gardening (their prized plant was a strawberry bush), swordplay, archery, and reading tacky novels. Ingja’s death hits her hard, but Elyse takes some comfort in having her bow in her possession, and that when she went to Sovngarde to defeat Alduin, Ingja was there looking like her healthy self once more. They reunited, and took the World Eater down together. Ingja was absolutely gushing with pride at how much Elyse had grown and was taken aback that she was Dragonborn. And on the incredibly rare occasion (like she only uses it once or twice after learning it) Elyse would use the Call of Valor shout, you bet it’s Ingja who comes.
Korir – her uncle (Ingja’s younger brother), and they do not like each other one iota, but will begrudgingly cooperate if a situation called for it. He thinks she’s just like Ingja and hates her for it, presumes that she’s trying to exploit their blood relationship for her gain (she is not), and wants to control her once he learns that she is the Dragonborn thanks to Maven following through with her blackmail threat against Elyse. She thinks he’s a self-serving asshole (he is to an extent, he just persuaded himself that it would be for Winterhold’s benefit) who is grasping for whatever power he can (he is), and feels sad that he chooses to antagonise the College instead of using it as the asset it could potentially be. A Situation happens during the Skyrim civil war which makes them both re-evaluate some of these perspectives of one another and their strong dislike gives way to the occasional bit of tolerance.
Balgruuf’s children – though they don’t get off on the best foot at first, Frothar, Dagny, and Nelkir very quickly endear themselves to her once she moves into Dragonsreach, and she loves her stepchildren dearly – and with their permission, she loves to call herself their mother. She admires Frothar's optimism and enthusiasm and just how much of a quick study he is, and she really enjoys her time spent tutoring and sparring with him to practice swordplay. Dagny feels that she is surrounded by nothing but boys and men, so having Elyse around allows her to let out some of the frustrations about it – and though Elyse isn't the biggest fan of some of the things Dagny wants to do, there are a few activities which they greatly enjoy, such as chatting and gossiping as they eat sweets, looking at Fralia's jewellery stall, and growing flowers (because Elyse persuaded her to give it a go 'because flowers you grow yourself are much more worth the effort and much prettier than flowers you can get at a shop'). Elyse and Nelkir are certainly more kindred spirits though, the two of them enjoying the quiet and Elyse likes listening to his insights and realising just how observant he is, and he eventually gets tutoring from her akin to Frothar, albeit in magic.
Aina – She is Elyse and Balgruuf's biological daughter, and though Aina takes after Balgruuf strongly, with the exception of her pointed Breton ears, they are almost a mirror of one another in terms of mannerism. However, Elyse is baffled at how much confidence Aina gets and can definitely see Balgruuf in her ability to use the right words to get other to agree with her and occasional temper. She ends up with many a fond memory of sitting reading to Aina in the evenings, helping to braid her hair and telling what Aina thinks are fantastical stories (but are actually real tales of her life).
Ulfric Stormcloak – Though initially, Elyse does not know how to think of him, and feels that their first impressions were absolutely dreadful (imagine getting arrested, knocked out, and waking up lying on your intolerant uncle's work colleague's shoulder-!!!!), it's after her defeat of Alduin that Elyse begins to realise… that she really doesn't like Ulfric. It starts with him assuming that she will join him because her mother is a Nord (yes, Ingja was a Nord and yes, Ingja stubbornly continued to worship Talos, but there was no way that Ingja would support her homeland being torn apart by her own kinsmen). Then it becomes incessant letters. Then it becomes a forceful marriage 'proposal' which almost ends fatally in the attempt to keep her in Windhelm when she turns him down in person. The fact that Ulfric tries (or at least, someone with close ties to Ulfric tries) to use her refusals and stubbornness as a manipulation tool against Balgruuf and Whiterun though? That makes her blood boil. Even when Balgruuf realises that it really is just Ulfric trying to get Whiterun on his side, it still angers her. But though that anger continues, there are few things Elyse hates more than Ulfric, and one of them is the continued war. And there may be a point where she tries to utilise that fact against him.
Other notable (albeit not to the extent of the others) relationships –
Hrongar (brother-in-law, the one pushing the most for Balyse to become a thing),
Irileth (Balgruuf’s housecarl, eventual sister-in-law, receives a life-changing injury in Elyse's defense and Elyse feels she owes her for that)
Proventus (Balgruuf’s steward, occasional bickering between them, co-conspirator in making Balgruuf rest by adjusting his schedules)
Farengar (nerd out together a lot)
Galmar (person she fears most in Skyrim, he wants her dead or at Ulfric’s beck and call)
General Tullius (he keeps trying to order her about like she is a soldier of his. She is not. She and Balgruuf have to remind him of that fact frequently.)
Tolfdir (her tutor and advisor at the College, like a second father to her, she has likely accidentally called him ‘dad’ at some point)
Arngeir (like a third father to her)
Paarthurnax (like a fourth father to her. She’s basically collecting father figures in Edwyn’s absence.)
Odahviing (loyal to and protective of her to a fault)
Mikael (she has a bad habit of burning things which she doesn't like. His books and ballads very much fall under that category. As such he is terrified of her.)
Strengths:
Conjuration magic
Alchemy
Swordplay
Tactical thinking
Embroidery and sewing
Her loyalty to her loved ones
Weaknesses:
Her difficulties in asking for help when needed
How helpless she feels without magicka
Cooking ability
Sweet tooth
Low alcohol tolerance
How she hates being backed into a corner or caught unawares, she needs plans and contingencies
Restoration magic
No interest in:
Serving daedric princes
Serving anyone, really
Being put into a position where she won't have her independence
Marrying Ulfric
No concept of:
Understanding that things which can be used in alchemy and things that can be used in cooking are not interchangeable (i.e. just because troll fat and butter can be seen as fats… they are most certainly not interchangeable.)
Illusion magic. It was essentially taboo in her family during her upbringing, so whilst she got to dabble in all other schools of magic, she didn't with illusion – with one exception. She learned the invisibility spell, but uses the logic of 'it alters your physical form to not be visible, therefore it is an alteration spell'.
Self-preservation when her nearest and dearest are hurt
Character:
Smart, sharp, but stubborn, and though capable of putting on a strong face and is more than willing to fight to show her independence, behind those walls she is very soft and feels vulnerable and exposed – and honestly just wants someone to be there for her. To keep her propped upright when her supports and strength is fading away. (And Balgruuf is that for her).
In battle:
She wields her dual conjured swords, dropping to just one if she needs to cast further spells. Wears partially hand-crafted steel plate armour (it's a collective effort between her, Alvor, and Adrianne) with flowers that she personally carved into the steel of her gauntlets and boots. If she does not have Lydia by her side, she conjures Spectre to support her. If absolutely necessary, she falls back on using her dagger (given to her by Ralof when escaping Helgen), or her bound bow or her mother's bow.
Distinguishing marks:
She doesn't really have any distinguishing marks aside from a few scars on her back – places that couldn't be as easily reached to heal. The closest thing she really has to a distinguishing mark is more of a distinguishing accessory, which is her golden, petal-shaped earrings which Balgruuf gets her for her birthday.
Trivia:
If Elyse had a septim for every time she lived in a city which has a big famous tree in it, she would have two septims – not a lot, but weird that it happened twice (Chorrol with its Great Oak, Whiterun with the Gildergreen).
Though unintentional, she does have a draw towards the colour yellow. Meg's hardly concealed bias towards the colour more like.
In her version of Skyrim, my OC Thorne does the Thieves Guild quests and actually fails the Honningbrew quests. Elyse accidentally stumbles on Honningbrew in the midst of its skeever trouble, and helps to solve the problem, get Mallus arrested, and becomes an investor in the meadery (much to Maven's chagrin). Sabjorn actually makes a lavender-infused reserve which is dedicated to her as thanks for saving his business and helping to keep it afloat, and it becomes one of her favourite drinks.
Speaking of lavender, it is one of her favourite flowers. She finds the scent comforting and the colour beautiful, and grows a lot of it as it has uses in alchemy (and has a fortify conjuration effect, which is a plus to her), and she uses it to make perfumes and soap.
Tea is her favourite drink, and though she isn't allowed to cook (and is in fact banned from the Dragonsreach kitchens following the disaster that was her attempt to bake a cake for Balgruuf with his children), she is allowed to make tea and is very good at it. It's almost like another branch of alchemy, hence why she takes to it.
She hates reading non-fiction, and adores a good mythological piece or sappy romance. The only exception she will make to the non-fiction is if Balgruuf reads it aloud to her.
Often, she wears clothing with exposed shoulders. She has a few exceptions to this. And sometimes she borrows Balgruuf's fur mantles if her shoulders get cold.
Speaking of the cold, she's fine with it, but isn't quite as tolerant as someone who only has partial Nordic blood, and having grown up in the relative warmth of High Rock and Cyrodiil (she doesn't realise that had Ingja not been a Nord, she'd have been much colder than she's complaining about). She just gets a bit dramatic over how she feels. But she does have a worse tolerance after her freezing cold plunge into the Windhelm docks.
And now speaking of that plunge, she refuses to enter most bodies of water after that as a result. The only way she is entering any of them is if she is holding onto someone, and no more than her feet enters the water.
Honey is her favourite sweet thing, and honey and lemon boiled sweets her favourite treat. Sweetrolls are a close second, followed by strawberries.
Though she is Dragonborn, she prefers not to use her thu'um. Calling for Odahviing is possibly her most used shout.
She has done the Dragonborn/Solstheim stuff, but it's so close to canon what happens, it's not really remarkable. Only difference is that she encounters a few residents of Apocrypha, one of which being her ancestor, Avelynne, who gave a few little pointers about how to navigate the area. (What I mentioned before about how Edwyn's family is a minor noble family in High Rock? Ave is why, she's the Vestige, therefore close friends with High King Emeric, and the Verne family received a little nudge up in society as a result).
Elyse has a few AUs - one where she didn't escape Windhelm and is forced to marry Ulfric, one where her parents never leave Winterhold so Ingja becomes Jarl and eventually Elyse does (meaning that there is a very bitter Korir who will do anything for the power he thinks was stolen from him... Even arranging for his niece and brother-in-law to be overthrown+left to rot in The Chill or killed respectively...) And also an AU where she's not Dragonborn and instead becomes a teacher, eventually setting up a school in Whiterun after adopting Lucia and steadily ending up the tutor for Whiterun's children.
And some drawings I've done of her (and Balgruuf):
Thank you for the tags to do this, @cresu and @sulphuricgrin 🥰
Age: 23 (Skyrim main quest events/Seeking the Sun), 26-27 (The Perfect Storm)
Born: 6th Sun’s Dawn 4E 178
Occupation: Dragonborn, former student of the College of Winterhold, Thane of Whiterun, Balgruuf’s advisor on security, eventual High Queen of Skyrim
Background:
Elyse is half-Nord, half-Breton, with her mother being the estranged daughter of a Jarl and her father a disowned son of a minor High Rock noble family.
The first twelve years of her life were spent across High Rock, with her family moving from place to place and staying in inns more often than not whilst her mother took on work as a sword for hire and her father worked as a tutor. She would spend a lot of time with her father, as Ingja's jobs were often quite dangerous and not a place for a young child, and Edwyn would only take on tutoring jobs which allowed him to take her with him – as such, Elyse picked up a lot on reading, writing, and basic magic from him during her formative years even without the more formal educations which her parents received.
Because of the amount of time spent in inns, Elyse never really learned how to fend for herself in terms of cooking – the food would just always be ready (i.e. parents bought it), aside from the bare minimum of cooking basic things over an open flame which didn't need active tending to (e.g. fish on a stick on an open fire). However, her time around inns made her a) a bit uneasy in crowds because of how rowdy they could get and that was quite terrifying to a young child who was often with a father who wasn't physically inclined if things kicked off and him being very averse to getting tangled up in those sorts of situations, and b) made her somewhat musically inclined. She couldn't pick up an instrument, mind, but she could certainly hum the tunes she heard through her childhood.
Upon her grandfather’s death (on her mother’s side) when she was twelve and her mother ending up with an inheritance in spite of her estrangement, they then end up settling down in Chorrol, which is where she lived until her mother’s death and father’s disappearance (and supposed death) in her early 20s – this being the catalyst which made her decide to venture to Skyrim and get arrested at the border.
During her time there, she began to get a bit more training on survival from her parents as she would like to explore in and around the city, being taught what to look for in terms of ingredients to make sure that they weren't toxic if she wanted to taste them or gather them, very basic healing spells (that she could barely get a grasp of), how to use a sword/dagger and a bow, and how to summon a familiar (which ends up being the same conjured wolf as her father, that they call Spectre – he's essentially the family pet).
As she gets older, she starts trying to date, wanting to find herself a whirlwind romance akin to her parents. Instead, she gets disappointed time and time again. Men, women, man, mer, everyone – but she realises that her expectations are too high and that honestly? She's felt nothing with none of these people, even if things became intimate. So after many a night sobbing to her parents over things not working out (there was a point where her father was wanting to make his way to the Imperial City to yell at someone who tried to take her on a date in a rat-infested cabin on the city waterfront), she decides if it happens, it happens. But she won't really actively look for a relationship (though does long for one just like her parents have still).
When she reaches adulthood, she decides to try and help support her parents – no less with this being the time that Ingja starts falling ill so the money which she would make through hunting (which was Ingja's job in Chorrol as it was much less dangerous than being a mercenary) began to fade away – and gets herself a role as a cleaner at the Count's palace. (She actually has a bit of a soft spot for Fianna and Gerda in Dragonsreach as a result, even though Gerda likes to remind her that it's Balgruuf in charge even if she's doing nothing but sitting down).
Then, when Ingja dies, Edwyn essentially shuts down. So Elyse has to work even harder for the two of them to get by. Eventually though, Edwyn says that he's got himself a job that will take him to Cheydinhal, which surprises her, but she wishes him luck as he promises that he will write to her. She gets letters for the first few weeks, and then… nothing. Complete silence. She has to start selling belongings to get by. There's no sign of Edwyn. She assumes that he died.
And eventually, she realises that unless she somehow ended up on a windfall of money, she was going to lose everything. This leads to her making a plan – in Ingja's final months, she had managed to get her into contact with her uncle in Winterhold (Korir). She didn't know much of her uncle, but knew that he wouldn't just be someone to ask for help from. But he was family, which was better than anything she knew of her father's side of the family. That, and she knew of the College being in Winterhold, that her father had been there and was on occasion in contact with the Arch Mage and even would ask if she ever considered going there instead of working as a cleaner. Meaning that attending the College of Winterhold becomes her plan. So she sells up everything but the clothes on her back (even her precious collection of earrings she had built up over time and was one of the last things of value she had kept hold of), a few books, and her mother's bow, and begins to travel north to the border with Skyrim, just to catch wind of the plan to close the border…
Notable Relationships:
Balgruuf – her beloved husband 💛 One of the first people she meets in Skyrim, and she leaves quite the impression on him (a big ball of anxiety with an injured arm, foregoing healing to meet with him to tell him of the danger his people were in, how could it not?). She finds him to be one of the most reasonable and thoughtful people she encounters during her early time in Skyrim and finds that when she follows his advice things typically work out in some way or another. (Emphasis on typically *looking at the attempt to reject Ulfric*). They become close over time, and eventually the lines start blurring... Are they friends, or something more? Of course, everyone around them realises it’s ‘something more’ before they even do. They would do anything to protect the other. And I mean anything. The people around them remark about how much they love each other, how happy that they make each other, but damn, they sometimes need to tone down the sappy. They make each other whole, both physically (in every sense of the word if you catch my drift 😆) and emotionally, after years of being broken.
Lydia – her housecarl, though it doesn’t take long once Elyse reluctantly asks for her support after 6 months of trying to figure out the whole Dragonborn thing at the College for the two of them to become firm friends, if not like sisters. Elyse can trust Lydia to give her the truth, even if it hurts her, and that sort of tough love is something that she needs to get something into her head if she has persuaded herself otherwise. Lydia’s responsibility to protect Elyse extends into cooking when they are out and about – and she will never allow Elyse to let the Troll Fat Incident™️ go.
Edwyn Verne – her father, and her role model. She spent the most time with him of her parents in her younger years, as whilst Ingja took on more dangerous jobs for money, she got to accompany Edwyn on his tutoring jobs so got to learn from him. She takes after him the most of her two parents, through their love and talent for conjuration spells, and also physically. His disappearance after Ingja’s death – the time where they needed each other most – hurt her to the point that it almost irreversibly pushed her into the mindset that she needed to go at it alone, that she had to manage things herself (and it took the likes of Balgruuf and Lydia years to pull her back to a point where she felt that she could ask for help). Edwyn’s eventual return comes at an incredibly turbulent time in her life, with her dealing with pregnancy and the stress of Balgruuf being declared High King, and it takes a lot for him to earn back her trust in spite of her love for him still being there.
Ingja Frosthand – her mother, who she most takes after in terms of sheer stubbornness, and her eyes. Ingja wasn’t able to spend much time with Elyse in her younger years due to taking on jobs where she didn’t want her young child to be put into danger, so would entrust her care to Edwyn during those times, though would always return from her jobs no matter how brutal they had been with a little sweet treat and a tale about the job for Elyse. After receiving a surprise inheritance from her father’s death, she lays down her sword when they move to Chorrol, and gets to spend much more time with Elyse. They bonded most over gardening (their prized plant was a strawberry bush), swordplay, archery, and reading tacky novels. Ingja’s death hits her hard, but Elyse takes some comfort in having her bow in her possession, and that when she went to Sovngarde to defeat Alduin, Ingja was there looking like her healthy self once more. They reunited, and took the World Eater down together. Ingja was absolutely gushing with pride at how much Elyse had grown and was taken aback that she was Dragonborn. And on the incredibly rare occasion (like she only uses it once or twice after learning it) Elyse would use the Call of Valor shout, you bet it’s Ingja who comes.
Korir – her uncle (Ingja’s younger brother), and they do not like each other one iota, but will begrudgingly cooperate if a situation called for it. He thinks she’s just like Ingja and hates her for it, presumes that she’s trying to exploit their blood relationship for her gain (she is not), and wants to control her once he learns that she is the Dragonborn thanks to Maven following through with her blackmail threat against Elyse. She thinks he’s a self-serving asshole (he is to an extent, he just persuaded himself that it would be for Winterhold’s benefit) who is grasping for whatever power he can (he is), and feels sad that he chooses to antagonise the College instead of using it as the asset it could potentially be. A Situation happens during the Skyrim civil war which makes them both re-evaluate some of these perspectives of one another and their strong dislike gives way to the occasional bit of tolerance.
Balgruuf’s children – though they don’t get off on the best foot at first, Frothar, Dagny, and Nelkir very quickly endear themselves to her once she moves into Dragonsreach, and she loves her stepchildren dearly – and with their permission, she loves to call herself their mother. She admires Frothar's optimism and enthusiasm and just how much of a quick study he is, and she really enjoys her time spent tutoring and sparring with him to practice swordplay. Dagny feels that she is surrounded by nothing but boys and men, so having Elyse around allows her to let out some of the frustrations about it – and though Elyse isn't the biggest fan of some of the things Dagny wants to do, there are a few activities which they greatly enjoy, such as chatting and gossiping as they eat sweets, looking at Fralia's jewellery stall, and growing flowers (because Elyse persuaded her to give it a go 'because flowers you grow yourself are much more worth the effort and much prettier than flowers you can get at a shop'). Elyse and Nelkir are certainly more kindred spirits though, the two of them enjoying the quiet and Elyse likes listening to his insights and realising just how observant he is, and he eventually gets tutoring from her akin to Frothar, albeit in magic.
Aina – She is Elyse and Balgruuf's biological daughter, and though Aina takes after Balgruuf strongly, with the exception of her pointed Breton ears, they are almost a mirror of one another in terms of mannerism. However, Elyse is baffled at how much confidence Aina gets and can definitely see Balgruuf in her ability to use the right words to get other to agree with her and occasional temper. She ends up with many a fond memory of sitting reading to Aina in the evenings, helping to braid her hair and telling what Aina thinks are fantastical stories (but are actually real tales of her life).
Ulfric Stormcloak – Though initially, Elyse does not know how to think of him, and feels that their first impressions were absolutely dreadful (imagine getting arrested, knocked out, and waking up lying on your intolerant uncle's work colleague's shoulder-!!!!), it's after her defeat of Alduin that Elyse begins to realise… that she really doesn't like Ulfric. It starts with him assuming that she will join him because her mother is a Nord (yes, Ingja was a Nord and yes, Ingja stubbornly continued to worship Talos, but there was no way that Ingja would support her homeland being torn apart by her own kinsmen). Then it becomes incessant letters. Then it becomes a forceful marriage 'proposal' which almost ends fatally in the attempt to keep her in Windhelm when she turns him down in person. The fact that Ulfric tries (or at least, someone with close ties to Ulfric tries) to use her refusals and stubbornness as a manipulation tool against Balgruuf and Whiterun though? That makes her blood boil. Even when Balgruuf realises that it really is just Ulfric trying to get Whiterun on his side, it still angers her. But though that anger continues, there are few things Elyse hates more than Ulfric, and one of them is the continued war. And there may be a point where she tries to utilise that fact against him.
Other notable (albeit not to the extent of the others) relationships –
Hrongar (brother-in-law, the one pushing the most for Balyse to become a thing),
Irileth (Balgruuf’s housecarl, eventual sister-in-law, receives a life-changing injury in Elyse's defense and Elyse feels she owes her for that)
Proventus (Balgruuf’s steward, occasional bickering between them, co-conspirator in making Balgruuf rest by adjusting his schedules)
Farengar (nerd out together a lot)
Galmar (person she fears most in Skyrim, he wants her dead or at Ulfric’s beck and call)
General Tullius (he keeps trying to order her about like she is a soldier of his. She is not. She and Balgruuf have to remind him of that fact frequently.)
Tolfdir (her tutor and advisor at the College, like a second father to her, she has likely accidentally called him ‘dad’ at some point)
Arngeir (like a third father to her)
Paarthurnax (like a fourth father to her. She’s basically collecting father figures in Edwyn’s absence.)
Odahviing (loyal to and protective of her to a fault)
Mikael (she has a bad habit of burning things which she doesn't like. His books and ballads very much fall under that category. As such he is terrified of her.)
Strengths:
Conjuration magic
Alchemy
Swordplay
Tactical thinking
Embroidery and sewing
Her loyalty to her loved ones
Weaknesses:
Her difficulties in asking for help when needed
How helpless she feels without magicka
Cooking ability
Sweet tooth
Low alcohol tolerance
How she hates being backed into a corner or caught unawares, she needs plans and contingencies
Restoration magic
No interest in:
Serving daedric princes
Serving anyone, really
Being put into a position where she won't have her independence
Marrying Ulfric
No concept of:
Understanding that things which can be used in alchemy and things that can be used in cooking are not interchangeable (i.e. just because troll fat and butter can be seen as fats… they are most certainly not interchangeable.)
Illusion magic. It was essentially taboo in her family during her upbringing, so whilst she got to dabble in all other schools of magic, she didn't with illusion – with one exception. She learned the invisibility spell, but uses the logic of 'it alters your physical form to not be visible, therefore it is an alteration spell'.
Self-preservation when her nearest and dearest are hurt
Character:
Smart, sharp, but stubborn, and though capable of putting on a strong face and is more than willing to fight to show her independence, behind those walls she is very soft and feels vulnerable and exposed – and honestly just wants someone to be there for her. To keep her propped upright when her supports and strength is fading away. (And Balgruuf is that for her).
In battle:
She wields her dual conjured swords, dropping to just one if she needs to cast further spells. Wears partially hand-crafted steel plate armour (it's a collective effort between her, Alvor, and Adrianne) with flowers that she personally carved into the steel of her gauntlets and boots. If she does not have Lydia by her side, she conjures Spectre to support her. If absolutely necessary, she falls back on using her dagger (given to her by Ralof when escaping Helgen), or her bound bow or her mother's bow.
Distinguishing marks:
She doesn't really have any distinguishing marks aside from a few scars on her back – places that couldn't be as easily reached to heal. The closest thing she really has to a distinguishing mark is more of a distinguishing accessory, which is her golden, petal-shaped earrings which Balgruuf gets her for her birthday.
Trivia:
If Elyse had a septim for every time she lived in a city which has a big famous tree in it, she would have two septims – not a lot, but weird that it happened twice (Chorrol with its Great Oak, Whiterun with the Gildergreen).
Though unintentional, she does have a draw towards the colour yellow. Meg's hardly concealed bias towards the colour more like.
In her version of Skyrim, my OC Thorne does the Thieves Guild quests and actually fails the Honningbrew quests. Elyse accidentally stumbles on Honningbrew in the midst of its skeever trouble, and helps to solve the problem, get Mallus arrested, and becomes an investor in the meadery (much to Maven's chagrin). Sabjorn actually makes a lavender-infused reserve which is dedicated to her as thanks for saving his business and helping to keep it afloat, and it becomes one of her favourite drinks.
Speaking of lavender, it is one of her favourite flowers. She finds the scent comforting and the colour beautiful, and grows a lot of it as it has uses in alchemy (and has a fortify conjuration effect, which is a plus to her), and she uses it to make perfumes and soap.
Tea is her favourite drink, and though she isn't allowed to cook (and is in fact banned from the Dragonsreach kitchens following the disaster that was her attempt to bake a cake for Balgruuf with his children), she is allowed to make tea and is very good at it. It's almost like another branch of alchemy, hence why she takes to it.
She hates reading non-fiction, and adores a good mythological piece or sappy romance. The only exception she will make to the non-fiction is if Balgruuf reads it aloud to her.
Often, she wears clothing with exposed shoulders. She has a few exceptions to this. And sometimes she borrows Balgruuf's fur mantles if her shoulders get cold.
Speaking of the cold, she's fine with it, but isn't quite as tolerant as someone who only has partial Nordic blood, and having grown up in the relative warmth of High Rock and Cyrodiil (she doesn't realise that had Ingja not been a Nord, she'd have been much colder than she's complaining about). She just gets a bit dramatic over how she feels. But she does have a worse tolerance after her freezing cold plunge into the Windhelm docks.
And now speaking of that plunge, she refuses to enter most bodies of water after that as a result. The only way she is entering any of them is if she is holding onto someone, and no more than her feet enters the water.
Honey is her favourite sweet thing, and honey and lemon boiled sweets her favourite treat. Sweetrolls are a close second, followed by strawberries.
Though she is Dragonborn, she prefers not to use her thu'um. Calling for Odahviing is possibly her most used shout.
She has done the Dragonborn/Solstheim stuff, but it's so close to canon what happens, it's not really remarkable. Only difference is that she encounters a few residents of Apocrypha, one of which being her ancestor, Avelynne, who gave a few little pointers about how to navigate the area. (What I mentioned before about how Edwyn's family is a minor noble family in High Rock? Ave is why, she's the Vestige, therefore close friends with High King Emeric, and the Verne family received a little nudge up in society as a result).
Elyse has a few AUs - one where she didn't escape Windhelm and is forced to marry Ulfric, one where her parents never leave Winterhold so Ingja becomes Jarl and eventually Elyse does (meaning that there is a very bitter Korir who will do anything for the power he thinks was stolen from him... Even arranging for his niece and brother-in-law to be overthrown+left to rot in The Chill or killed respectively...) And also an AU where she's not Dragonborn and instead becomes a teacher, eventually setting up a school in Whiterun after adopting Lucia and steadily ending up the tutor for Whiterun's children.
And some drawings I've done of her (and Balgruuf):
Thank you for the tags to do this, @cresu and @sulphuricgrin 🥰
Age: 23 (Skyrim main quest events/Seeking the Sun), 26-27 (The Perfect Storm)
Born: 6th Sun’s Dawn 4E 178
Occupation: Dragonborn, former student of the College of Winterhold, Thane of Whiterun, Balgruuf’s advisor on security, eventual High Queen of Skyrim
Background:
Elyse is half-Nord, half-Breton, with her mother being the estranged daughter of a Jarl and her father a disowned son of a minor High Rock noble family.
The first twelve years of her life were spent across High Rock, with her family moving from place to place and staying in inns more often than not whilst her mother took on work as a sword for hire and her father worked as a tutor. She would spend a lot of time with her father, as Ingja's jobs were often quite dangerous and not a place for a young child, and Edwyn would only take on tutoring jobs which allowed him to take her with him – as such, Elyse picked up a lot on reading, writing, and basic magic from him during her formative years even without the more formal educations which her parents received.
Because of the amount of time spent in inns, Elyse never really learned how to fend for herself in terms of cooking – the food would just always be ready (i.e. parents bought it), aside from the bare minimum of cooking basic things over an open flame which didn't need active tending to (e.g. fish on a stick on an open fire). However, her time around inns made her a) a bit uneasy in crowds because of how rowdy they could get and that was quite terrifying to a young child who was often with a father who wasn't physically inclined if things kicked off and him being very averse to getting tangled up in those sorts of situations, and b) made her somewhat musically inclined. She couldn't pick up an instrument, mind, but she could certainly hum the tunes she heard through her childhood.
Upon her grandfather’s death (on her mother’s side) when she was twelve and her mother ending up with an inheritance in spite of her estrangement, they then end up settling down in Chorrol, which is where she lived until her mother’s death and father’s disappearance (and supposed death) in her early 20s – this being the catalyst which made her decide to venture to Skyrim and get arrested at the border.
During her time there, she began to get a bit more training on survival from her parents as she would like to explore in and around the city, being taught what to look for in terms of ingredients to make sure that they weren't toxic if she wanted to taste them or gather them, very basic healing spells (that she could barely get a grasp of), how to use a sword/dagger and a bow, and how to summon a familiar (which ends up being the same conjured wolf as her father, that they call Spectre – he's essentially the family pet).
As she gets older, she starts trying to date, wanting to find herself a whirlwind romance akin to her parents. Instead, she gets disappointed time and time again. Men, women, man, mer, everyone – but she realises that her expectations are too high and that honestly? She's felt nothing with none of these people, even if things became intimate. So after many a night sobbing to her parents over things not working out (there was a point where her father was wanting to make his way to the Imperial City to yell at someone who tried to take her on a date in a rat-infested cabin on the city waterfront), she decides if it happens, it happens. But she won't really actively look for a relationship (though does long for one just like her parents have still).
When she reaches adulthood, she decides to try and help support her parents – no less with this being the time that Ingja starts falling ill so the money which she would make through hunting (which was Ingja's job in Chorrol as it was much less dangerous than being a mercenary) began to fade away – and gets herself a role as a cleaner at the Count's palace. (She actually has a bit of a soft spot for Fianna and Gerda in Dragonsreach as a result, even though Gerda likes to remind her that it's Balgruuf in charge even if she's doing nothing but sitting down).
Then, when Ingja dies, Edwyn essentially shuts down. So Elyse has to work even harder for the two of them to get by. Eventually though, Edwyn says that he's got himself a job that will take him to Cheydinhal, which surprises her, but she wishes him luck as he promises that he will write to her. She gets letters for the first few weeks, and then… nothing. Complete silence. She has to start selling belongings to get by. There's no sign of Edwyn. She assumes that he died.
And eventually, she realises that unless she somehow ended up on a windfall of money, she was going to lose everything. This leads to her making a plan – in Ingja's final months, she had managed to get her into contact with her uncle in Winterhold (Korir). She didn't know much of her uncle, but knew that he wouldn't just be someone to ask for help from. But he was family, which was better than anything she knew of her father's side of the family. That, and she knew of the College being in Winterhold, that her father had been there and was on occasion in contact with the Arch Mage and even would ask if she ever considered going there instead of working as a cleaner. Meaning that attending the College of Winterhold becomes her plan. So she sells up everything but the clothes on her back (even her precious collection of earrings she had built up over time and was one of the last things of value she had kept hold of), a few books, and her mother's bow, and begins to travel north to the border with Skyrim, just to catch wind of the plan to close the border…
Notable Relationships:
Balgruuf – her beloved husband 💛 One of the first people she meets in Skyrim, and she leaves quite the impression on him (a big ball of anxiety with an injured arm, foregoing healing to meet with him to tell him of the danger his people were in, how could it not?). She finds him to be one of the most reasonable and thoughtful people she encounters during her early time in Skyrim and finds that when she follows his advice things typically work out in some way or another. (Emphasis on typically *looking at the attempt to reject Ulfric*). They become close over time, and eventually the lines start blurring... Are they friends, or something more? Of course, everyone around them realises it’s ‘something more’ before they even do. They would do anything to protect the other. And I mean anything. The people around them remark about how much they love each other, how happy that they make each other, but damn, they sometimes need to tone down the sappy. They make each other whole, both physically (in every sense of the word if you catch my drift 😆) and emotionally, after years of being broken.
Lydia – her housecarl, though it doesn’t take long once Elyse reluctantly asks for her support after 6 months of trying to figure out the whole Dragonborn thing at the College for the two of them to become firm friends, if not like sisters. Elyse can trust Lydia to give her the truth, even if it hurts her, and that sort of tough love is something that she needs to get something into her head if she has persuaded herself otherwise. Lydia’s responsibility to protect Elyse extends into cooking when they are out and about – and she will never allow Elyse to let the Troll Fat Incident™️ go.
Edwyn Verne – her father, and her role model. She spent the most time with him of her parents in her younger years, as whilst Ingja took on more dangerous jobs for money, she got to accompany Edwyn on his tutoring jobs so got to learn from him. She takes after him the most of her two parents, through their love and talent for conjuration spells, and also physically. His disappearance after Ingja’s death – the time where they needed each other most – hurt her to the point that it almost irreversibly pushed her into the mindset that she needed to go at it alone, that she had to manage things herself (and it took the likes of Balgruuf and Lydia years to pull her back to a point where she felt that she could ask for help). Edwyn’s eventual return comes at an incredibly turbulent time in her life, with her dealing with pregnancy and the stress of Balgruuf being declared High King, and it takes a lot for him to earn back her trust in spite of her love for him still being there.
Ingja Frosthand – her mother, who she most takes after in terms of sheer stubbornness, and her eyes. Ingja wasn’t able to spend much time with Elyse in her younger years due to taking on jobs where she didn’t want her young child to be put into danger, so would entrust her care to Edwyn during those times, though would always return from her jobs no matter how brutal they had been with a little sweet treat and a tale about the job for Elyse. After receiving a surprise inheritance from her father’s death, she lays down her sword when they move to Chorrol, and gets to spend much more time with Elyse. They bonded most over gardening (their prized plant was a strawberry bush), swordplay, archery, and reading tacky novels. Ingja’s death hits her hard, but Elyse takes some comfort in having her bow in her possession, and that when she went to Sovngarde to defeat Alduin, Ingja was there looking like her healthy self once more. They reunited, and took the World Eater down together. Ingja was absolutely gushing with pride at how much Elyse had grown and was taken aback that she was Dragonborn. And on the incredibly rare occasion (like she only uses it once or twice after learning it) Elyse would use the Call of Valor shout, you bet it’s Ingja who comes.
Korir – her uncle (Ingja’s younger brother), and they do not like each other one iota, but will begrudgingly cooperate if a situation called for it. He thinks she’s just like Ingja and hates her for it, presumes that she’s trying to exploit their blood relationship for her gain (she is not), and wants to control her once he learns that she is the Dragonborn thanks to Maven following through with her blackmail threat against Elyse. She thinks he’s a self-serving asshole (he is to an extent, he just persuaded himself that it would be for Winterhold’s benefit) who is grasping for whatever power he can (he is), and feels sad that he chooses to antagonise the College instead of using it as the asset it could potentially be. A Situation happens during the Skyrim civil war which makes them both re-evaluate some of these perspectives of one another and their strong dislike gives way to the occasional bit of tolerance.
Balgruuf’s children – though they don’t get off on the best foot at first, Frothar, Dagny, and Nelkir very quickly endear themselves to her once she moves into Dragonsreach, and she loves her stepchildren dearly – and with their permission, she loves to call herself their mother. She admires Frothar's optimism and enthusiasm and just how much of a quick study he is, and she really enjoys her time spent tutoring and sparring with him to practice swordplay. Dagny feels that she is surrounded by nothing but boys and men, so having Elyse around allows her to let out some of the frustrations about it – and though Elyse isn't the biggest fan of some of the things Dagny wants to do, there are a few activities which they greatly enjoy, such as chatting and gossiping as they eat sweets, looking at Fralia's jewellery stall, and growing flowers (because Elyse persuaded her to give it a go 'because flowers you grow yourself are much more worth the effort and much prettier than flowers you can get at a shop'). Elyse and Nelkir are certainly more kindred spirits though, the two of them enjoying the quiet and Elyse likes listening to his insights and realising just how observant he is, and he eventually gets tutoring from her akin to Frothar, albeit in magic.
Aina – She is Elyse and Balgruuf's biological daughter, and though Aina takes after Balgruuf strongly, with the exception of her pointed Breton ears, they are almost a mirror of one another in terms of mannerism. However, Elyse is baffled at how much confidence Aina gets and can definitely see Balgruuf in her ability to use the right words to get other to agree with her and occasional temper. She ends up with many a fond memory of sitting reading to Aina in the evenings, helping to braid her hair and telling what Aina thinks are fantastical stories (but are actually real tales of her life).
Ulfric Stormcloak – Though initially, Elyse does not know how to think of him, and feels that their first impressions were absolutely dreadful (imagine getting arrested, knocked out, and waking up lying on your intolerant uncle's work colleague's shoulder-!!!!), it's after her defeat of Alduin that Elyse begins to realise… that she really doesn't like Ulfric. It starts with him assuming that she will join him because her mother is a Nord (yes, Ingja was a Nord and yes, Ingja stubbornly continued to worship Talos, but there was no way that Ingja would support her homeland being torn apart by her own kinsmen). Then it becomes incessant letters. Then it becomes a forceful marriage 'proposal' which almost ends fatally in the attempt to keep her in Windhelm when she turns him down in person. The fact that Ulfric tries (or at least, someone with close ties to Ulfric tries) to use her refusals and stubbornness as a manipulation tool against Balgruuf and Whiterun though? That makes her blood boil. Even when Balgruuf realises that it really is just Ulfric trying to get Whiterun on his side, it still angers her. But though that anger continues, there are few things Elyse hates more than Ulfric, and one of them is the continued war. And there may be a point where she tries to utilise that fact against him.
Other notable (albeit not to the extent of the others) relationships –
Hrongar (brother-in-law, the one pushing the most for Balyse to become a thing),
Irileth (Balgruuf’s housecarl, eventual sister-in-law, receives a life-changing injury in Elyse's defense and Elyse feels she owes her for that)
Proventus (Balgruuf’s steward, occasional bickering between them, co-conspirator in making Balgruuf rest by adjusting his schedules)
Farengar (nerd out together a lot)
Galmar (person she fears most in Skyrim, he wants her dead or at Ulfric’s beck and call)
General Tullius (he keeps trying to order her about like she is a soldier of his. She is not. She and Balgruuf have to remind him of that fact frequently.)
Tolfdir (her tutor and advisor at the College, like a second father to her, she has likely accidentally called him ‘dad’ at some point)
Arngeir (like a third father to her)
Paarthurnax (like a fourth father to her. She’s basically collecting father figures in Edwyn’s absence.)
Odahviing (loyal to and protective of her to a fault)
Mikael (she has a bad habit of burning things which she doesn't like. His books and ballads very much fall under that category. As such he is terrified of her.)
Strengths:
Conjuration magic
Alchemy
Swordplay
Tactical thinking
Embroidery and sewing
Her loyalty to her loved ones
Weaknesses:
Her difficulties in asking for help when needed
How helpless she feels without magicka
Cooking ability
Sweet tooth
Low alcohol tolerance
How she hates being backed into a corner or caught unawares, she needs plans and contingencies
Restoration magic
No interest in:
Serving daedric princes
Serving anyone, really
Being put into a position where she won't have her independence
Marrying Ulfric
No concept of:
Understanding that things which can be used in alchemy and things that can be used are not interchangeable (i.e. just because troll fat and butter can be seen as fats… they are most certainly not interchangeable.)
Illusion magic. It was essentially taboo in her family during her upbringing, so whilst she got to dabble in all other schools of magic, she didn't with illusion – with one exception. She learned the invisibility spell, but uses the logic of 'it alters your physical form to not be visible, therefore it is an alteration spell'.
Self-preservation when her nearest and dearest are hurt
Character:
Smart, sharp, but stubborn, and though capable of putting on a strong face and is more than willing to fight to show her independence, behind those walls she is very soft and feels vulnerable and exposed – and honestly just wants someone to be there for her. To keep her propped upright when her supports and strength is fading away. (And Balgruuf is that for her).
In battle:
She wields her dual conjured swords, dropping to just one if she needs to cast further spells. Wears partially hand-crafted steel plate armour (it's a collective effort between her, Alvor, and Adrianne) with flowers that she personally carved into the steel of her gauntlets and boots. If she does not have Lydia by her side, she conjures Spectre to support her. If absolutely necessary, she falls back on using her dagger (given to her by Ralof when escaping Helgen), or her bound bow or her mother's bow.
Distinguishing marks:
She doesn't really have any distinguishing marks aside from a few scars on her back – places that couldn't be as easily reached to heal. The closest thing she really has to a distinguishing mark is more of a distinguishing accessory, which is her golden, petal-shaped earrings which Balgruuf gets her for her birthday.
Trivia:
If Elyse had a septim for every time she lived in a city which has a big famous tree in it, she would have two septims – not a lot, but weird that it happened twice (Chorrol with its Great Oak, Whiterun with the Gildergreen).
Though unintentional, she does have a draw towards the colour yellow. Meg's hardly concealed bias towards the colour more like.
In her version of Skyrim, my OC Thorne does the Thieves Guild quests and actually fails the Honningbrew quests. Elyse accidentally stumbles on Honningbrew in the midst of its skeever trouble, and helps to solve the problem, get Mallus arrested, and becomes an investor in the meadery (much to Maven's chagrin). Sabjorn actually makes a lavender-infused reserve which is dedicated to her as thanks for saving his business and helping to keep it afloat, and it becomes one of her favourite drinks.
Speaking of lavender, it is one of her favourite flowers. She finds the scent comforting and the colour beautiful, and grows a lot of it as it has uses in alchemy (and has a fortify conjuration effect, which is a plus to her), and she uses it to make perfumes and soap.
Tea is her favourite drink, and though she isn't allowed to cook (and is in fact banned from the Dragonsreach kitchens following the disaster that was her attempt to bake a cake for Balgruuf with his children), she is allowed to make tea and is very good at it. It's almost like another branch of alchemy, hence why she takes to it.
She hates reading non-fiction, and adores a good mythological piece or sappy romance. The only exception she will make to the non-fiction is if Balgruuf reads it aloud to her.
Often, she wears clothing with exposed shoulders. She has a few exceptions to this. And sometimes she borrows Balgruuf's fur mantles if her shoulders get cold.
Speaking of the cold, she's fine with it, but isn't quite as tolerant as someone who only has partial Nordic blood, and having grown up in the relative warmth of High Rock and Cyrodiil (she doesn't realise that had Ingja not been a Nord, she'd have been much colder than she's complaining about). She just gets a bit dramatic over how she feels. But she does have a worse tolerance after her freezing cold plunge into the Windhelm docks.
And now speaking of that plunge, she refuses to enter most bodies of water after that as a result. The only way she is entering any of them is if she is holding onto someone, and no more than her feet enters the water.
Honey is her favourite sweet thing, and honey and lemon boiled sweets her favourite treat. Sweetrolls are a close second, followed by strawberries.
Though she is Dragonborn, she prefers not to use her thu'um. Calling for Odahviing is possibly her most used shout.
She has done the Dragonborn/Solstheim stuff, but it's so close to canon what happens, it's not really remarkable. Only difference is that she encounters a few residents of Apocrypha, one of which being her ancestor, Avelynne, who gave a few little pointers about how to navigate the area. (What I mentioned before about how Edwyn's family is a minor noble family in High Rock? Ave is why, she's the Vestige, therefore close friends with High King Emeric, and the Verne family received a little nudge up in society as a result).
Elyse has a few AUs - one where she didn't escape Windhelm and is forced to marry Ulfric, one where her parents never leave Winterhold so Ingja becomes Jarl and eventually Elyse does (meaning that there is a very bitter Korir who will do anything for the power he thinks was stolen from him... Even arranging for his niece and brother-in-law to be overthrown+left to rot in The Chill or killed respectively... And also an AU where she's not Dragonborn and instead becomes a teacher, eventually setting up a school in Whiterun after adopting Lucia and steadily ending up the tutor for Whiterun's children.
And some drawings I've done of her (and Balgruuf):
Thank you for the tags to do this, @cresu and @sulphuricgrin 🥰
Age: 23 (Skyrim main quest events/Seeking the Sun), 26-27 (The Perfect Storm)
Born: 6th Sun’s Dawn 4E 178
Occupation: Dragonborn, former student of the College of Winterhold, Thane of Whiterun, Balgruuf’s advisor on security, eventual High Queen of Skyrim
Background:
Elyse is half-Nord, half-Breton, with her mother being the estranged daughter of a Jarl and her father a disowned son of a minor High Rock noble family.
The first twelve years of her life were spent across High Rock, with her family moving from place to place and staying in inns more often than not whilst her mother took on work as a sword for hire and her father worked as a tutor. She would spend a lot of time with her father, as Ingja's jobs were often quite dangerous and not a place for a young child, and Edwyn would only take on tutoring jobs which allowed him to take her with him – as such, Elyse picked up a lot on reading, writing, and basic magic from him during her formative years even without the more formal educations which her parents received.
Because of the amount of time spent in inns, Elyse never really learned how to fend for herself in terms of cooking – the food would just always be ready (i.e. parents bought it), aside from the bare minimum of cooking basic things over an open flame which didn't need active tending to (e.g. fish on a stick on an open fire). However, her time around inns made her a) a bit uneasy in crowds because of how rowdy they could get and that was quite terrifying to a young child who was often with a father who wasn't physically inclined if things kicked off and him being very averse to getting tangled up in those sorts of situations, and b) made her somewhat musically inclined. She couldn't pick up an instrument, mind, but she could certainly hum the tunes she heard through her childhood.
Upon her grandfather’s death (on her mother’s side) when she was twelve and her mother ending up with an inheritance in spite of her estrangement, they then end up settling down in Chorrol, which is where she lived until her mother’s death and father’s disappearance (and supposed death) in her early 20s – this being the catalyst which made her decide to venture to Skyrim and get arrested at the border.
During her time there, she began to get a bit more training on survival from her parents as she would like to explore in and around the city, being taught what to look for in terms of ingredients to make sure that they weren't toxic if she wanted to taste them or gather them, very basic healing spells (that she could barely get a grasp of), how to use a sword/dagger and a bow, and how to summon a familiar (which ends up being the same conjured wolf as her father, that they call Spectre – he's essentially the family pet).
As she gets older, she starts trying to date, wanting to find herself a whirlwind romance akin to her parents. Instead, she gets disappointed time and time again. Men, women, man, mer, everyone – but she realises that her expectations are too high and that honestly? She's felt nothing with none of these people, even if things became intimate. So after many a night sobbing to her parents over things not working out (there was a point where her father was wanting to make his way to the Imperial City to yell at someone who tried to take her on a date in a rat-infested cabin on the city waterfront), she decides if it happens, it happens. But she won't really actively look for a relationship (though does long for one just like her parents have still).
When she reaches adulthood, she decides to try and help support her parents – no less with this being the time that Ingja starts falling ill so the money which she would make through hunting (which was Ingja's job in Chorrol as it was much less dangerous than being a mercenary) began to fade away – and gets herself a role as a cleaner at the Count's palace. (She actually has a bit of a soft spot for Fianna and Gerda in Dragonsreach as a result, even though Gerda likes to remind her that it's Balgruuf in charge even if she's doing nothing but sitting down).
Then, when Ingja dies, Edwyn essentially shuts down. So Elyse has to work even harder for the two of them to get by. Eventually though, Edwyn says that he's got himself a job that will take him to Cheydinhal, which surprises her, but she wishes him luck as he promises that he will write to her. She gets letters for the first few weeks, and then… nothing. Complete silence. She has to start selling belongings to get by. There's no sign of Edwyn. She assumes that he died.
And eventually, she realises that unless she somehow ended up on a windfall of money, she was going to lose everything. This leads to her making a plan – in Ingja's final months, she had managed to get her into contact with her uncle in Winterhold (Korir). She didn't know much of her uncle, but knew that he wouldn't just be someone to ask for help from. But he was family, which was better than anything she knew of her father's side of the family. That, and she knew of the College being in Winterhold, that her father had been there and was on occasion in contact with the Arch Mage and even would ask if she ever considered going there instead of working as a cleaner. Meaning that attending the College of Winterhold becomes her plan. So she sells up everything but the clothes on her back (even her precious collection of earrings she had built up over time and was one of the last things of value she had kept hold of), a few books, and her mother's bow, and begins to travel north to the border with Skyrim, just to catch wind of the plan to close the border…
Notable Relationships:
Balgruuf – her beloved husband 💛 One of the first people she meets in Skyrim, and she leaves quite the impression on him (a big ball of anxiety with an injured arm, foregoing healing to meet with him to tell him of the danger his people were in, how could it not?). She finds him to be one of the most reasonable and thoughtful people she encounters during her early time in Skyrim and finds that when she follows his advice things typically work out in some way or another. (Emphasis on typically *looking at the attempt to reject Ulfric*). They become close over time, and eventually the lines start blurring... Are they friends, or something more? Of course, everyone around them realises it’s ‘something more’ before they even do. They would do anything to protect the other. And I mean anything. The people around them remark about how much they love each other, how happy that they make each other, but damn, they sometimes need to tone down the sappy. They make each other whole, both physically (in every sense of the word if you catch my drift 😆) and emotionally, after years of being broken.
Lydia – her housecarl, though it doesn’t take long once Elyse reluctantly asks for her support after 6 months of trying to figure out the whole Dragonborn thing at the College for the two of them to become firm friends, if not like sisters. Elyse can trust Lydia to give her the truth, even if it hurts her, and that sort of tough love is something that she needs to get something into her head if she has persuaded herself otherwise. Lydia’s responsibility to protect Elyse extends into cooking when they are out and about – and she will never allow Elyse to let the Troll Fat Incident™️ go.
Edwyn Verne – her father, and her role model. She spent the most time with him of her parents in her younger years, as whilst Ingja took on more dangerous jobs for money, she got to accompany Edwyn on his tutoring jobs so got to learn from him. She takes after him the most of her two parents, through their love and talent for conjuration spells, and also physically. His disappearance after Ingja’s death – the time where they needed each other most – hurt her to the point that it almost irreversibly pushed her into the mindset that she needed to go at it alone, that she had to manage things herself (and it took the likes of Balgruuf and Lydia years to pull her back to a point where she felt that she could ask for help). Edwyn’s eventual return comes at an incredibly turbulent time in her life, with her dealing with pregnancy and the stress of Balgruuf being declared High King, and it takes a lot for him to earn back her trust in spite of her love for him still being there.
Ingja Frosthand – her mother, who she most takes after in terms of sheer stubbornness, and her eyes. Ingja wasn’t able to spend much time with Elyse in her younger years due to taking on jobs where she didn’t want her young child to be put into danger, so would entrust her care to Edwyn during those times, though would always return from her jobs no matter how brutal they had been with a little sweet treat and a tale about the job for Elyse. After receiving a surprise inheritance from her father’s death, she lays down her sword when they move to Chorrol, and gets to spend much more time with Elyse. They bonded most over gardening (their prized plant was a strawberry bush), swordplay, archery, and reading tacky novels. Ingja’s death hits her hard, but Elyse takes some comfort in having her bow in her possession, and that when she went to Sovngarde to defeat Alduin, Ingja was there looking like her healthy self once more. They reunited, and took the World Eater down together. Ingja was absolutely gushing with pride at how much Elyse had grown and was taken aback that she was Dragonborn. And on the incredibly rare occasion (like she only uses it once or twice after learning it) Elyse would use the Call of Valor shout, you bet it’s Ingja who comes.
Korir – her uncle (Ingja’s younger brother), and they do not like each other one iota, but will begrudgingly cooperate if a situation called for it. He thinks she’s just like Ingja and hates her for it, presumes that she’s trying to exploit their blood relationship for her gain (she is not), and wants to control her once he learns that she is the Dragonborn thanks to Maven following through with her blackmail threat against Elyse. She thinks he’s a self-serving asshole (he is to an extent, he just persuaded himself that it would be for Winterhold’s benefit) who is grasping for whatever power he can (he is), and feels sad that he chooses to antagonise the College instead of using it as the asset it could potentially be. A Situation happens during the Skyrim civil war which makes them both re-evaluate some of these perspectives of one another and their strong dislike gives way to the occasional bit of tolerance.
Balgruuf’s children – though they don’t get off on the best foot at first, Frothar, Dagny, and Nelkir very quickly endear themselves to her once she moves into Dragonsreach, and she loves her stepchildren dearly – and with their permission, she loves to call herself their mother. She admires Frothar's optimism and enthusiasm and just how much of a quick study he is, and she really enjoys her time spent tutoring and sparring with him to practice swordplay. Dagny feels that she is surrounded by nothing but boys and men, so having Elyse around allows her to let out some of the frustrations about it – and though Elyse isn't the biggest fan of some of the things Dagny wants to do, there are a few activities which they greatly enjoy, such as chatting and gossiping as they eat sweets, looking at Fralia's jewellery stall, and growing flowers (because Elyse persuaded her to give it a go 'because flowers you grow yourself are much more worth the effort and much prettier than flowers you can get at a shop'). Elyse and Nelkir are certainly more kindred spirits though, the two of them enjoying the quiet and Elyse likes listening to his insights and realising just how observant he is, and he eventually gets tutoring from her akin to Frothar, albeit in magic.
Aina – She is Elyse and Balgruuf's biological daughter, and though Aina takes after Balgruuf strongly, with the exception of her pointed Breton ears, they are almost a mirror of one another in terms of mannerism. However, Elyse is baffled at how much confidence Aina gets and can definitely see Balgruuf in her ability to use the right words to get other to agree with her and occasional temper. She ends up with many a fond memory of sitting reading to Aina in the evenings, helping to braid her hair and telling what Aina thinks are fantastical stories (but are actually real tales of her life).
Ulfric Stormcloak – Though initially, Elyse does not know how to think of him, and feels that their first impressions were absolutely dreadful (imagine getting arrested, knocked out, and waking up lying on your intolerant uncle's work colleague's shoulder-!!!!), it's after her defeat of Alduin that Elyse begins to realise… that she really doesn't like Ulfric. It starts with him assuming that she will join him because her mother is a Nord (yes, Ingja was a Nord and yes, Ingja stubbornly continued to worship Talos, but there was no way that Ingja would support her homeland being torn apart by her own kinsmen). Then it becomes incessant letters. Then it becomes a forceful marriage 'proposal' which almost ends fatally in the attempt to keep her in Windhelm when she turns him down in person. The fact that Ulfric tries (or at least, someone with close ties to Ulfric tries) to use her refusals and stubbornness as a manipulation tool against Balgruuf and Whiterun though? That makes her blood boil. Even when Balgruuf realises that it really is just Ulfric trying to get Whiterun on his side, it still angers her. But though that anger continues, there are few things Elyse hates more than Ulfric, and one of them is the continued war. And there may be a point where she tries to utilise that fact against him.
Other notable (albeit not to the extent of the others) relationships –
Hrongar (brother-in-law, the one pushing the most for Balyse to become a thing),
Irileth (Balgruuf’s housecarl, eventual sister-in-law, receives a life-changing injury in Elyse's defense and Elyse feels she owes her for that)
Proventus (Balgruuf’s steward, occasional bickering between them, co-conspirator in making Balgruuf rest by adjusting his schedules)
Farengar (nerd out together a lot)
Galmar (person she fears most in Skyrim, he wants her dead or at Ulfric’s beck and call)
General Tullius (he keeps trying to order her about like she is a soldier of his. She is not. She and Balgruuf have to remind him of that fact frequently.)
Tolfdir (her tutor and advisor at the College, like a second father to her, she has likely accidentally called him ‘dad’ at some point)
Arngeir (like a third father to her)
Paarthurnax (like a fourth father to her. She’s basically collecting father figures in Edwyn’s absence.)
Odahviing (loyal to and protective of her to a fault)
Mikael (she has a bad habit of burning things which she doesn't like. His books and ballads very much fall under that category. As such he is terrified of her.)
Strengths:
Conjuration magic
Alchemy
Swordplay
Tactical thinking
Embroidery and sewing
Her loyalty to her loved ones
Weaknesses:
Her difficulties in asking for help when needed
How helpless she feels without magicka
Cooking ability
Sweet tooth
Low alcohol tolerance
How she hates being backed into a corner or caught unawares, she needs plans and contingencies
Restoration magic
No interest in:
Serving daedric princes
Serving anyone, really
Being put into a position where she won't have her independence
Marrying Ulfric
No concept of:
Understanding that things which can be used in alchemy and things that can be used in cooking are not interchangeable (i.e. just because troll fat and butter can be seen as fats… they are most certainly not interchangeable.)
Illusion magic. It was essentially taboo in her family during her upbringing, so whilst she got to dabble in all other schools of magic, she didn't with illusion – with one exception. She learned the invisibility spell, but uses the logic of 'it alters your physical form to not be visible, therefore it is an alteration spell'.
Self-preservation when her nearest and dearest are hurt
Character:
Smart, sharp, but stubborn, and though capable of putting on a strong face and is more than willing to fight to show her independence, behind those walls she is very soft and feels vulnerable and exposed – and honestly just wants someone to be there for her. To keep her propped upright when her supports and strength is fading away. (And Balgruuf is that for her).
In battle:
She wields her dual conjured swords, dropping to just one if she needs to cast further spells. Wears partially hand-crafted steel plate armour (it's a collective effort between her, Alvor, and Adrianne) with flowers that she personally carved into the steel of her gauntlets and boots. If she does not have Lydia by her side, she conjures Spectre to support her. If absolutely necessary, she falls back on using her dagger (given to her by Ralof when escaping Helgen), or her bound bow or her mother's bow.
Distinguishing marks:
She doesn't really have any distinguishing marks aside from a few scars on her back – places that couldn't be as easily reached to heal. The closest thing she really has to a distinguishing mark is more of a distinguishing accessory, which is her golden, petal-shaped earrings which Balgruuf gets her for her birthday.
Trivia:
If Elyse had a septim for every time she lived in a city which has a big famous tree in it, she would have two septims – not a lot, but weird that it happened twice (Chorrol with its Great Oak, Whiterun with the Gildergreen).
Though unintentional, she does have a draw towards the colour yellow. Meg's hardly concealed bias towards the colour more like.
In her version of Skyrim, my OC Thorne does the Thieves Guild quests and actually fails the Honningbrew quests. Elyse accidentally stumbles on Honningbrew in the midst of its skeever trouble, and helps to solve the problem, get Mallus arrested, and becomes an investor in the meadery (much to Maven's chagrin). Sabjorn actually makes a lavender-infused reserve which is dedicated to her as thanks for saving his business and helping to keep it afloat, and it becomes one of her favourite drinks.
Speaking of lavender, it is one of her favourite flowers. She finds the scent comforting and the colour beautiful, and grows a lot of it as it has uses in alchemy (and has a fortify conjuration effect, which is a plus to her), and she uses it to make perfumes and soap.
Tea is her favourite drink, and though she isn't allowed to cook (and is in fact banned from the Dragonsreach kitchens following the disaster that was her attempt to bake a cake for Balgruuf with his children), she is allowed to make tea and is very good at it. It's almost like another branch of alchemy, hence why she takes to it.
She hates reading non-fiction, and adores a good mythological piece or sappy romance. The only exception she will make to the non-fiction is if Balgruuf reads it aloud to her.
Often, she wears clothing with exposed shoulders. She has a few exceptions to this. And sometimes she borrows Balgruuf's fur mantles if her shoulders get cold.
Speaking of the cold, she's fine with it, but isn't quite as tolerant as someone who only has partial Nordic blood, and having grown up in the relative warmth of High Rock and Cyrodiil (she doesn't realise that had Ingja not been a Nord, she'd have been much colder than she's complaining about). She just gets a bit dramatic over how she feels. But she does have a worse tolerance after her freezing cold plunge into the Windhelm docks.
And now speaking of that plunge, she refuses to enter most bodies of water after that as a result. The only way she is entering any of them is if she is holding onto someone, and no more than her feet enters the water.
Honey is her favourite sweet thing, and honey and lemon boiled sweets her favourite treat. Sweetrolls are a close second, followed by strawberries.
Though she is Dragonborn, she prefers not to use her thu'um. Calling for Odahviing is possibly her most used shout.
She has done the Dragonborn/Solstheim stuff, but it's so close to canon what happens, it's not really remarkable. Only difference is that she encounters a few residents of Apocrypha, one of which being her ancestor, Avelynne, who gave a few little pointers about how to navigate the area. (What I mentioned before about how Edwyn's family is a minor noble family in High Rock? Ave is why, she's the Vestige, therefore close friends with High King Emeric, and the Verne family received a little nudge up in society as a result).
Elyse has a few AUs - one where she didn't escape Windhelm and is forced to marry Ulfric, one where her parents never leave Winterhold so Ingja becomes Jarl and eventually Elyse does (meaning that there is a very bitter Korir who will do anything for the power he thinks was stolen from him... Even arranging for his niece and brother-in-law to be overthrown+left to rot in The Chill or killed respectively...) And also an AU where she's not Dragonborn and instead becomes a teacher, eventually setting up a school in Whiterun after adopting Lucia and steadily ending up the tutor for Whiterun's children.
And some drawings I've done of her (and Balgruuf):
Thank you for the tags to do this, @cresu and @sulphuricgrin 🥰
i love making friends in fandom, i love playing with our toys together, i love coming up with increasingly niche aus, i love lifting strangers up, i love motivating people to create, i love watching someone get excited over an idea and immediately running with it, i love yelling in tags together, i love seeing someone gain confidence in their writing/art because people were kind to them <33
I've been tagged in that character trivia thing but tbh, I might just do a load of them for all my different OCs and use them to finally work on my OC masterlist that has been in my drafts for who knows how long.
Sitting outside in the cool (and the tiniest bit smoky-smelling) evening air, a light breeze rustling the leaves of the nearby trees, distant sounds of people throwing tantrums because some people couldn't kick a ball for 90 minutes good enough
I finally have a WIP for the first time in weeks, and what's more, I'm finally back on my Balyse nonsense <3 (though that's not to say that I'm not chipping away at Picking up the Pieces in the background!! I very much am, now if only that would extend to all my other started and unfinished fics that I've posted...)
Thank you for the tags over the past... Three? Four? weeks @hircines-hunter @cresu @chiqita @heavy-metal-dick @theoneandonlysemla @sulphuricgrin @intyaliel @blossom-adventures , I'm tagging you all back (if you want, no obligations of course!!) <3 and of course if anyone wants to say I tagged them please feel free <3
----
The longer that the battle to the north continued, the more on edge Balgruuf was feeling. He was growing restless in not knowing what action he needed to take – if any – but until he heard otherwise there was very little he could do. Reaction was perhaps the only way forward.
But even then, what reactions could be taken would depend on the battle aftermath. Perhaps the Empire and Stormcloaks would retreat to Solitude and Windhelm respectively, meaning that there was nothing that he even could do beyond perhaps a scathing letter for making the already dangerous roads out of Whiterun even more so. Perhaps... The victor will turn their attentions south, and force Whiterun to defend itself.
And if the battle was brought to Whiterun...
“Is everything okay, Balgruuf?”
He hadn’t even realised it, but as he was going through the possibilities in his head, he had began pacing the lounge which he and Elyse were settled in. Though she had pulled her legs up into the chaise she was sat on and had been reading a book silently, it had been pulled close to her chest as she watched his back and forth.
“Aye... I am just feeling restless. Thinking.” Clearly, his uncertainty was needing to be let out somewhere. Then, mid-step, his eyes fell upon a display case across the room. Inside it rested a sword. An old, ceremonial thing – only ever brought out for official events with the gems embedded in the guard and pommel and carvings in the blade evident that it had been made for form over function. That, alongside his previous thoughts, brought a new idea to mind. “I worry that my skills have grown rusty over recent months. And if the battle comes to Whiterun, I will not be able to sit idly by as Jarl...”
