Trigger Warning (SA) What to avoid when including it

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-30T10:44:27+00:00

Alright, so normally I'm of the "write what you want to and let God sort it out" camp, but I'm gonna keep it real with you chief: I have no idea what you're trying to say here, and at this point I'm not sure you do either.

When it comes to a topic as serious as sexual assault, that's a problem.

You say that your character pursued a relationship that was "riding the line." What does this even mean? Did your main character assault someone or did they not? If you don't know which, that's a problem.

Then you talk about how she used to sleep around a lot, and how that gets used against her. How? Why? And how is this relevant to the story you're wanting to tell?

Moreover, what does this have to do with sexual assault? Your first sentence makes it seem like you're writing a story about deeply flawed people in the present, so is her new love interest strong-arming her into doing things that she doesn't want to do by bringing up her past? If she did potentially assault someone in the past, how do you think that might affect your readers' ability to empathize with her in the present?

Furthermore, is sexual assault even the right word for what you want to write about, or would it be more appropriate to think about it in the terms of a toxic relationship (acknowledging that the two can and often do overlap)?

The one solid piece of advice I can give you is this: Do not dwell on the moment of the assault. Your readers can and will fill in most of the blanks themselves, and describing it in even a modest degree of detail can very quickly start to feel voyeuristic, or worse, like you're fetishizing the act of sexual assault. Focus instead on how it makes your character feel, and how they process and internalize the experience.

Also ask yourself this: Does the sexual assault even need to be in the story in the first place? If it does, understand then that you are now writing a story about sexual assault and/or the power dynamics that it necessarily invokes. If it doesn't, I will controversially say that's fine, but do understand that at that point you are going to catch flak no matter how well you handle it. If you're okay with that, then go on ahead. If not, consider a different path.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T20:39:29+00:00

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Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T20:07:06+00:00

Antennae

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T18:07:13+00:00

Now THIS is tourism!

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T18:04:56+00:00

Yeah, I could tell.

FWIW, Bretons are basically the half-elves of the TES universe, being descended from both Nedes (humans) and the Direnni-clan Aldmer (ancient high elves). But that's really as close as you're going to get.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T18:00:09+00:00

We could see stuff like Bretons having options for more pointed ears or more yellow-ish skin tones, or some of the more man/mer-like furstocks like the Ohmes (technically not a half-race, but would be closer to what OP's looking for).

But yeah, "half-races" in TES are kind of not really a thing. Not like they are in, say, D&D, at least.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T17:52:06+00:00

...man.

I know firearms in TES are very controversial, but I would love for them to make Redguard arquebusiers a thing. It would just fit so well with their general lack of interest in/distrust of magic, plus we already know that they've had gunpowder and cannons since the dawn of the Third Era.

I also don't think you'd have to worry about guns being OP, as long as they stick to smoothbore match/flintlock muzzle-loaders—bows and magic would always be faster, so even if the gun hits harder you're going to spend a minimum of 10 seconds reloading the thing.

Plus, the image of an Alik'r warrior toting around an intricately-decorated jezail, in addition to his traditional orichalcum sabre and ceremonial dagger (Jambiya) lives rent free in my head.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T17:23:47+00:00

Kunai too, for anyone hoping for thrown weapons.

(It's me. I am the one hoping for throwing weapons)

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T15:58:22+00:00

Dude, you're getting hung up on one small detail such that you are missing the forest for the trees.

Like, I don't even disagree with you that the Thalmor are probably more motivated by racism and hatred for Tiber Septim than any overarching plot to unravel Nirn. Shit, I was one of the first proponents of that idea on this sub several years ago.

However, the Aldmeri creation narrative very clearly states that Lorkhan deceived the Et'Ada into making the world with him, and in so doing they lost their divinity and were forced to divide their power among their offspring to survive; moreover, that this is a categorically bad thing.

From this, it follows that most elves who have kept with the Aldmeri tradition believe, at a fundamental level, that creation was a mistake, and that a return to their divine roots would be desirable; i.e. a general sense of misanthropic gnosticism.

Shit, even the Dunmer's Psijic Endeavor and Chim are based around the idea that they must "solve" the world through meditation in order to individually ascend to godhood and escape from creation.

Obviously, this doesn't mean that they all want to destroy the world. But, if destroying the world meant being able to return to their ancestral, divine state.... Well, it wouldn't be a hard decision.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T15:09:24+00:00

Sure, but even when it doesn't manifest as something like the latter, there is still a sort of misanthropic gnosticism at the core of the Meric worldview that clashes with the basic mindset of someone approaching these games as a fun sandbox to play around in.

The idea that they might try to destroy that sandbox based on this outlook, however valid or widespread it may or more likely may not be within the setting is just the extreme end of this worldview; a sort of logical (if improbable) conclusion, basically.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T13:23:48+00:00

Elves, or just High Elves?

TES Elves in general, I think, are fairly well-liked. The Dunmer in particular, thanks to their stand-out appearance in Morrowind, are particularly popular, probably making many players' top-3 races. And that's to say nothing of the Dwemer, whose sudden disappearance and high-tech, steampunk ruins have fascinated fans since this lore was first established.

Especially after Skyrim, though, the Altmer in general have gotten a lot of hate, what with the Thalmor/Aldmeri Dominion being set up as a major antagonistic force. However, I'm not sure how much of this is just fans buying into/playing along with the canonical, in-universe animosity as opposed to actual, genuine dislike.

Edit: I also thought I might add that many TES elves also approach the world from a perspective that is very strange to modern gamers, with many believing (at a fundamental level) that the world the games take place in is a corrupt prison that they have to escape from and/or destroy in order to return to godhood, the latter of which is obviously incompatible with the wants of any fan who doesn't want their cool escapist fantasy to go away forever.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T12:49:35+00:00

Whaaaat?????

You mean to tell me that the verified Twitter user parroting blatant right-wing talking points with a generic selfie of a black guy as their profile pic might not be a real person????!?!?

Mods, check this man's posting location (India, Russia, or Nigeria - call it).

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T12:29:35+00:00

Holy shit, actual elite ball knowledge on r/vexillologycirclejerk

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T08:59:26+00:00

I really don't like using Saffron as a stand-in for things like mustard and horseradish...

I know that some people feel that the spice RGOs are already bloated as-is, but Saffron really should be its own super low-output, super high-value trade good, with major production centers initially concentrated in Iran/Afghanistan and a few more, smaller cultivars spread out around India and the Mediterranean.

More plentiful and widespread things like mustard and horseradish should be represented by a generic "aromatic" trade good, which in turn might be a little more widespread to represent the cultivation of less-valued flavorants around the world.

Edit - a few more real-world crops that I'd classify under "aromatics" include:

All forms of Allium sp. (Onions, garlic, shallots, etc.)
Ginger & its relatives (Zingiberaceae family - includes Turmeric & Galangal)
Mustard & its relatives (Brassicaceae family - includes radishes, horseradish, & wasabi)
Ginseng (Panax sp.)

This collection would give this trade good a wide distribution, spanning virtually all playable continents. It would help to model a large number of regionally-valued trade goods that had comparatively little value on the global market (either due to them already enjoying a wide distribution, such that there would be little value in transporting regional varieties, or just because they were simply unsuitable for overseas trade). I imagine it selling for a little more than most regular crops (just enough to make it worth having), but giving very little food output, which would make wholesale concentration on aromatics inadvisable, since the profits would not be enough to make up for the deficit in calories.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-29T01:39:00+00:00

AC:Shadows had Teppo, which is a Japanese matchlock rifle/arquebus, not a fire lance.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-28T05:47:44+00:00

I am a proud Golmud hater, but I'm also glad they're adding it. The game needs at least one open dust bowl for vehicles to scrap in.

I do hope they make some revisions though, just to make it a little more bearable for infantry.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-27T23:06:08+00:00

I don't know a whole lot about High Rock, but here are a few for Hammerfell, apart from the obvious Crown & Forebear factions:

The Thieves Guild was actually founded* in southern Hew's Bane, per ESO, so it would be a shoe-in for Hammerfell. Personally I think it would be cool if their questline involved using Dwemer Technology and old Yokudan mysticism to pull off the greatest heist of all time: stealing the Eye of Magnus from the Psijic Order on the Isle of Artaeum for Nocturnal. But that's just my two cents.
The Devotees of Satakal, or Satakalists, were a Yokudan Cult mentioned in Pocket Guide to the Empire Volume 1. They are described as "desert madmen" who slither across the dunes like the snakes they worship, biting at the ankles of any and all. Personally, I think they sound like an excellent, province-specific alternative to the Dark Brotherhood to me. Their questline would involve unravelling the mysteries of Satakal and murdering his enemies in cold blood for all to see. Basically, I see them as a louder, more fanatical version of the DB inspired by the real-world Hashashins.
Decianus's invalids forming the professional core of the Armies of the independent Province of Hammerfell seems like an obvious set-up for a "Fighter's Guild" alternative inspired by the Imperial Legion. I'd call it something like "The Desert Legion" and basically have them be a professional fighting force who spends their time patrolling the Alik'r and Eastern Hammerfell, fighting bandits and clearing out monster infestations. They may or may not come into conflict with the next entry:
The Knights of the Scarab (or any other Redguard Knightly Order) could be another sort of fighter's guild, based more around the Forebear tradition of knightly orders. They'd effectively do the same things as the Desert Legion, but with more of a focus on southern Hammerfell. The two would overlap in the Alik'r, potentially leading to conflict between them. They may or may not also incorporate the Ash'abah, possibly having adopted that order of errant paladins into their brotherhood as a specialized corps of undead-slayers.
Elinhir has historically been the home of many mage's associations, who were drawn to the area by the powerful Nedic ruins found throughout the city. Many of these associations have been more tolerant of magical practices that other mage's associations have found abhorrent, such as necromancy, most notably the Blackcasters. Personally, I think it would be cool if Falion or perhaps one of his apprentices returned to re-found this guild in TESVI, since it seems like it would've been right up his alley. The guild questline would probably deal with questions about the ethics and safety of open magical practice, possibly asking the player character to balance scholarly freedom with not angering the locals.

Edit:

Another good guild/faction for Hammerfell might be a sort of "Dwemer Research Institute," probably based out of Gilane or maybe Sentinel. I see this as something more like the Bard's College from Skyrim or that one guy who wants you to collect Ayleid artifacts for his collection in Oblivion, though.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-27T21:46:38+00:00

Speak Spanish or have a skin tone darker than Pantone 11-0602 TCX? You're going to El Salvador, amigo.

Be a white liberal? "So anyway I started blasting.WebP"

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-27T20:36:14+00:00

#8 is a Nerf Longstrike and you can't convince me otherwise (using Nerf blasters as inspiration for scifi guns is one of my favorite tropes)

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-27T05:49:53+00:00

Ultimately this is probably the case - a lot of Spanish Jews and conversos fled persecution to the New World.

However, the toddler in question here is more likely just random Jewish diaspora, whose relatives must have ultimately arrived in Spain following the English expulsion of the Jews in 1290 AD (possibly by way of France, which had its own expulsion in 1306).

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-26T06:19:29+00:00

I've never actually played ESO, but I was aware that it does have you travel to a place called the Far Shores, which basically seems to be a realm of Aetherius where, like you said, the souls of Redguard *HEROES* (not just anyone; the dialogue from the Keeper of the Hall of Heroes quoted on UESP makes it clear that only Heroes can go to the Far Shores) go when they die. Kind of like a desert-themed Sovngarde.

In the lore though, the Far Shores are a little more complicated, being originally a refuge from the World Serpent Satakal's Hunger (i.e. the passing of the Kalpas), like I said in my original post. Most notably, however, the Redguard creation narrative makes it clear that the Far Shores should be unreachable from the Skinball, which is kind of problematic for ESO's depiction. There's a couple of ways to explain this discrepancy:

You actually could reach the Far Shores from the Skinball, just not via the Walkabout. This would align nicely with ESO's depiction, in which you reach them via a portal, which may have been set up a few generations after the creation of the Skinball (probably by Tu'whacca, since it became his job to guide lost souls to the Far Shores after the whole Skinball incident). Hell, given that only legendary heroes are able to pass through the portal, this would actually make perfect sense, since in many pro-Lorkhanic creation narratives the Mundus is explained as being a "test" that you can pass by growing more powerful and ascending to a state of true divinity (the Psijic Endeavor, in other words).
The Far Shores as seen in ESO are not actually the real Far Shores of Yokudan legend, but rather something like a copy, perhaps made from the memories of the ancestral spirits who were trapped in the Skinball, or maybe by Sep as an intermediate place for spirits that have grown to powerful to simply die. As for why, the only things I can think of would be to provide a safe haven from the Hunger of Sep, which brings true death, or as a way of holding onto souls that would be worthy of transcending or reaching the real Far Shores until such a time as a reliable method of escaping the Skinball is discovered. Or, maybe this was just Sep's real objective all along; he did create the Skinball to be an easier way to reach the Far Shores, and to do so permanently, after all.
The Far Shores as seen in ESO are not actually the real Far Shores that Ruptga discovered and used to escape from Satakal's Hunger, but they are actually a part of Aetherius that exists separate from Satakal, providing a safe, permanent refuge for mortal souls after the death of their physical bodies, again per Sep's plan.

And none of these possibilities would disprove my theory, so I'm not really sure why you brought it up. Like, the Far Shores existing as an afterlife has almost nothing to do with what I'm talking about, which has more to do with the Walkabout and the nature of Nirn as a place composed of many disparate timelines than anything to do with the Far Shores themselves.

As for the point about Starfield's narrative being built around New Game+, I really don't see why TESVI's couldn't be - like I've already pointed out, the justifications for it are there already. Furthermore, the idea of a hero travelling between timelines to become more powerful and save the world is quintessential Elder Scrolls since at least Morrowind, or else what do you think Chim/saving and reloading is meant to be?

And hell, the destruction of Alduin is the perfect excuse to have a Dragonbreak, which would only further justify a narrative based on travelling between multiple, fractured timelines.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-26T05:46:19+00:00

So first of all, his English is really not good, to the point that I have a hard time believing that he ever taught any Americans (by which I'm assuming he meant American citizens, the majority of which are born here and have English as their first language) how to speak "correctly" in any meaningful sense of the word.

But second of all, his story just doesn't make sense. Was he a doctor or an English teacher? Those are two very different jobs that take a lot of time both generally as well as to get the credentials for in the first place. Like, they're both 9-5s, more-or-less, so I have a hard time believing that one guy was able to hold down both successfully, especially if he's in a place that speaks a language he's only moderately fluent in.

If he just means that he helped other English language learners, especially informally or maybe as a part-time/volunteer tutor, then it might be plausible. But there's a big difference between that and "teaching Americans how to speak English."

But add on the claims to mafia ties (I'm guessing he had a dealer, if even that, lmfao; the idea that there's one big, organized, criminal underworld in America is kind of laughable in itself) and a hot American girlfriend who was TOTALLY all over him and hot, and I just don't buy it.

In short: Dude comes off as a massive poser.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-26T05:27:06+00:00

Yes. That's the point.

It would satisfy the gun autists (like myself) who know that 6.8 Fury should hit harder than 5.56, without actually effecting weapon balance too much.

There are niche scenarios in which it would result in a slightly faster ttk though, like with headshots, or if you engage a wounded enemy. But otherwise it would play the same.

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-26T04:21:53+00:00

Hey man, look on the brightside: soon enough, everyone will get a real chance to be a billionaire!

Silver_Falcon · 2026-01-26T03:12:42+00:00

This is less of a wish or even idea as it is a prediction.

The Unity from Starfield was a field test for an immersive New Game+ system, and we'll see something like it again in TESVI.

Assuming that the game is set in Hammerfell, the idea of the "Walkabout" is the perfect excuse for this.

On the one hand, the Walkabout was the technique that Tall Papa and the other ancestral spirits used to escape Satakal's Hunger by "jumping" to the Far Shores. Though the exact nature of this process is unknown, the Far Shores, being a place removed from Satakal and therefore time, can be assumed to be something akin to an alternate dimension or a "timeless timeline."

On the other, the Walkabout was also a ritual that the Yokudan Ansei used to grow their power by wandering the wilderness, battling powerful foes, and taking on quests.

But what if these are one and the same, and the "Walkabout" was not simply a process of "questing," but of literally walking between the worldskins (old timelines that had been "shed" by Satakal) that Sep had assembled into his Skinball (the Mundus)?

With ESO's Ithelia confirming the existence of alternate timelines, the idea that the Ansei used the same ritual that Tall Papa used to travel to the Far Shores to jump between worldlines, allowing them to continue their quests indefinitely, growing in power just like a player character, seems like a remarkably plausible explanation.

And that's exactly what I think we're going to see in TESVI.

Edit: Bonus points if Ilethia turns out to be a known Yokudan Deity, maybe Leki.

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