band of merry mer

TES side blog || 28 || Main: the-videodame

[beastboost]

pondered the idea of a were-chaurus earlier and needed to get it out of my brain

[uesp]

"You ever look at a guar? I mean, really look at a guar? They've got those clawed little hands tucked up there ... You think I'd get bit if I just grabbed one of those little clawed hands? Probably what I'd do if someone grabbed my hand."

--Sharp-as-Night wondering if you can hold the hand of a guar without it getting upset

[nerevar-quote-and-star]

Good morning, TESblrinas!

If y'all thought I forgot about this—you were wrong (I still love you)! I've just been hyper busy between classes and travel! But now, at the eleventh hour, may I present to you the 2026 TES Pinup Challenge!

(screenshot by @stormbeyondreality)

Last year's challenge was heavily themed around Oblivion given the Remaster's release, so this year I made sure to open the prompt list to broader TES themes and concepts, with bent toward contrast.

Remember to tag your entries #tes pinup challenge 2026 so I can reblog them here!

(prompt list under the cut)

August 1-2: Healing Hands | Stoneflesh

August 3-4: Waking Nightmare | Mara's Blessing

August 5-6: Hinningbrew Mead | Balmora Blue

August 7-8: Necromantic | Meridia's Beacon

August 9-10: Shivering Isles | Apocrypha

August 11-12: Dibella | Sanguine

August 13-14: Mushroom Ring | Mountain Flowers

August 15-17: Crossover!

August 18-19: Marksman | Gladiator

August 20-21: Golden Eagle | Black Dragon

August 22-23: Frostbite | Sparks

August 24-25: Quicksilver | Ebony

August 26-27: Dragon Priest | Ordinator

August 28-29: Warrior-Poet | Sword-Singer

August 30-31: Sovngarde | Sixth House

[chippypiper]

Overturned jar.

Sil in the first era, ill and grieving

Ive been going through my own issues lately, close ups:

[uesp]

"You expect something grand, but I promised you the truth. I am only what time and circumstances made me. Son of a lost house. Friend to a fallen king. Some will tell you that we are the product of our choices. I've never found that to be the case."

--Sotha Sil

[ooklet]

ancano is the funniest character. it's so obvious that he must've really pissed someone off to land himself at the magic school in the Hates Magic country, and he never puts that math together.

they sent you to skyrim buddy. and not to squash a nation-wide rebellion of talos worship like elenwen, they sent you there to babysit, like, six mages in a middle-of-nowhere hold in a castle that is one failed concentration check away from plummeting into the ocean.

and then when he tries to set up an ambush in labyrinthian, one entire guy comes to try to kill you. that's all he could manage! he's clearly had time to send word to people so either he only has one friend, or all his others left him on read even though he presumably told them that there was some massively powerful magical Thing at stake, something that could make the thalmor even more powerful. but no one gave a shit. i cannot emphasize enough that the thalmor, the THALMOR, did not try to hoard one of the most potent magical objects of all time simply because they didn't want to take ancano's call.

[nictanova]

Telvanni Aristocrat

[oblivionloading]

You can fill soul gems with Alfredo sauce, but it will get you kicked out of the Mages Guild.

[falmerbrook]

Man…

[donemer]

Throwing out another s’witpost onto the hellsite again, the Morag Tong has been occupying 80% of my brain

[jinglyjangly]

BETHESDAS UNION ARE STRIKING ON TH 15TH

DONT BE A FUCKING SCAB

NOT EVEN DIGITALLY 🫵

"They want us to accept this as a done deal and quietly disappear" – Bethesda union members organise protest in response to Xbox layoffs

440 OneBGS devs were affected by cuts at Bethesda Game Studios, Id Software, and ZeniMax Online Studios

[leylses]

hey gang i am a former zenimax online studios union member (laid off last year ✌) and i need you all to please read this carefully: this is NOT a strike. this is a rally. if a union is to strike, it needs to hold an authorization vote for the strike first. no such vote was held.

please do not spread misinformation or do overzealous things in the name of the devs. this time is chaotic enough for everyone as it is.

if you want to show support, please give feedback to these corporations and say nice things about the work that we all did.

[lambasi]

A message from the lead UI engineer at ZOS, Dan Batson

[daggerfall]

What the fuck is happening in Daggerfall

[sparklinghallow]

A couple of months ago, I finally put the Skyrim Nightingale embroidery I made on stream into a hoop. It only took like a year and a half but who's counting, lol. 

The texture of the stitches looks so nice on the wall in the daylight. 

Stitches used: french knots for the moss, long and short following the shape of the circle for the stone, and chain stitch as the fill for the Nightingale emblem.

Too bad it was the month we found out we had to move and it only got to be up for a couple of weeks. 😕

[daggerfall]

Season One preview is suspiciously missing the Warden refresh...

It also has a rather concerning certainty about the start date of Season One considering Jessica said the timeline may need to be adjusted just a day or two ago.

Scheduled post? But then where's the Warden????

[ognevkafenella]

Various drawings for friends (Arttea, Hyperioxes and Lucht), digital, watercolor, digital

[nightingaletrash]

I just want to say thank you to all the ESO Devs for the wonderful characters that have come from this game, whether it's the fan favourites who've been around since the base game, the new additions from the DLCs, the companions, the more niche friends and foes from the dungeons and trials, the supporting casts of the zone stories, the minor characters that populate the settlements and wilderness, and of course the OCs that have been created and shared by the community. Characters are what make ESO so special to me and to many others. They're the beating heart of the game that keep us emotionally engaged and invested in the world and its stories, and they provide a depth and richness to the setting that will always keep me coming back for more.

And the queer representation that's been a consistent presence throughout the game since its launch in 2014 means the world to a lot of people! It certainly means a lot to me. We've had same-sex couples, trans and non-binary people, bisexuals, lesbians, gay men, healthy relationships, toxic ones, tragedies and happily ever afters, even a canon aromantic!! Representation is hard and messy and not everyone will agree with the depictions it offers, but ESO has always made an effort to include people and make them a part of the world, whether its a big character focus or just a casual aspect that happens to be present, and it's been that way since the beginning, which means everything to me.

So thank you to the writers, the artists, the designers, and to all the members of the team that made this wonderful game what it is. Being able to take our characters through that world has been fundamentally life changing for a lot of us, and I hope that wherever everyone ends up, they're able to keep telling more stories that people will fall in love with.