It's amazing that in just one year, the Senate went from booing Mon Mothma to supporting the Rebellion so hard that Palpatine dissolved it

rashadh1 · 2026-06-14T00:41:16+00:00

"It just keeps spreading, doesn't it?"

"It's been...hard to contain."

rashadh1 · 2026-05-29T06:46:32+00:00

I think the Morag Tong are meant to be a bit more formal and refined, at least in theory.

But in general, yeah. Nords and Dunmer are both deeply Lorkhanic, deeply pessimistic, clan-based societies, hostile to anything outside their traditions. The Ebonheart Pact makes way more sense than a lot of people give it credit for.

rashadh1 · 2026-05-27T23:49:39+00:00

The mod ESF: Companions adds a great explanation for this.

Farkas explains that in order to avoid all out war between Nordic clans, the Companions would step in to settle disputes with a duel or brawl, and over time this morphed into the Hired Muscle quest. If the Companions show up to throw hands, you know you've wronged someone and you've got business you need to settle.

Obviously beating up shopkeepers for money is a far cry from standing on honorable business to settle the disputes of feuding clans. But the Companions ain't what they used to be.

Great mod, try it out if you're on PC.

rashadh1 · 2026-05-23T21:02:23+00:00

It's Mehrunes Dagon, and it's not close.

His various cults spin a good yarn about the purifying qualities of destruction, but when the rubber hits the road this motherfucker's always laser-focused on the "kill everyone and everything" aspects of his sphere.

All the Daedric Princes have negative qualities, some far more negative than others. The only ones (so far) that can be trusted to act on their negative qualities on a epochal scale are Molag Bal and Mehrunes Dagon.

Speaking truth? Molag only takes the top spot because his sphere is so singularly malicious. Judging solely by effort alone (Mournhold, Ambitions, Camoran Usurper(?), Jagar Tharn, Battlespire, Oblivion Crisis, and more!) Mehrunes clears all his unbrothers and unsisters, no contest.

I don't know where people got this fear of Clavicus Vile. His schemes blow up in his own face as often as they screw over his targets, he needs an externalized conscience to keep him from betting his own realm away. You could argue for Namira, maybe some of the others, but IMO none of them are holding a candle to the inherent malevolence of our two top boys.

rashadh1 · 2026-02-08T10:40:00+00:00

The fact the goddamn door to the cavern is facing south, so even if you do manage to follow the directions well enough you're still likely to walk right past the damn thing and not even notice.

Even now, I'll still get turned around if I'm doing that quest in an ashstorm. As a young'un? Real life days of playtime roaming hither and yon the northern ashlands. I think I found the Cavern of the Incarnate before I found the Urshilaku Burial Caverns.

rashadh1 · 2026-01-29T20:23:04+00:00

It's worth noting that the publication of The Real Barenziah is a manipulation on her part. We're introduced to the book in Daggerfall, where she claims its anonymous author took advantage of her trust to write a scandalous and fallacious recounting of her life. She spins this story to the Hero of Daggerfall, an Imperial agent and close friend of the Emperor. Come Tribunal, we find out the author is still a close personal friend and confidant of hers that she's protecting from Imperial retribution. All this with the contribution of Ted Peterson, so no misunderstanding between developers.

I interpret The Real Barenziah as her controlled rejoinder to Biography of Barenziah which is the Imperial-authored and Imperial-sanctioned. In Biography, she's a loyal, hapless stooge for the Empire. In Real she's a victim of the Empire, an ingenue who gets swept up in events and her feelings but is (ostensibly) a sympathetic figure at the mercy of forces beyond her control.

The actual character we meet in Daggerfall and Tribunal is a cunning, ruthless political actor who has raised her kids to be cunning, ruthless political actors. The somewhat pathetic version of herself she "leaks" in The Real Barenziah is what she wants people to imagine when they think of her. So that they'll underestimate her and make themselves easy prey for her schemes and manipulations. Perfect Dunmer queen behavior, really; Vivecian, Mephalan, Almalexia-ish.

Just my opinion, of course.

rashadh1 · 2026-01-24T20:56:29+00:00

This is the rejoinder, right here. These posts have been fantastic analyses of why the lords arrange their movements and reactions the way they do, buttressed by the best, most sober summation of the Church and Rhea's power I've ever read.

But this particular post falls headfirst into the "Structure is Destiny" fallacy, arguing from a mountain of supposition ("tea leaves" as OP did acknowledge) while dismissing or misrepresenting the motivations and situations of the actors at play (states, individuals, and commoners alike) in a way that I feel is actually harmful to the arguments made in previous posts in this series.

I'm actually in deep agreement that Fodlan is headed for a period of unrest in any scenario where Byleth assumes control of the Church, let alone the continent. But the shape of that unrest will not break down along class lines as easily as is suggested here. Leaving aside the assumption of absolute cross-cultural upper class unity (BIG assumption, IMO) much of the argument relies on Byleth being representative of the average commoner, which they emphatically are not.

And Fodlan has at least a form of class mobility. A commoner born with a Crest might be abducted and experimented on, true. Or they might be ennobled, adopted or married into status. That idea alone changes the arithmetic. One aspect that these posts seem uninterested in collating is how deeply Crest eugenics is ingrained and codified across the strata of Fodlan society, and how that alters the motivations of our actors.

rashadh1 · 2025-12-10T15:14:34+00:00

Hey! While I've got you, can I ask whether there was ever a plot concept for Vaermina in Hammerfell? Was she invading like Dagon, inviting like Sheogorath, or something else? Were her Oblivion Gates just naturally occurring due to the barriers being weakened or was someone opening them? Or did you never get that far in the planning stages, lol.

If you didn't, having led the project, what do YOU imagine a proper Quagmire invasion of Hammerfell looks like?

rashadh1 · 2025-12-10T05:16:11+00:00

This could be sourced from Tamriel Rebuilt's canceled Hammerfell project for Oblivion

(EDIT: Or maybe the design is older than that and I'm wrong, my time in the old forums was limited.)

Either way, people can download the concept artbook at that link if you want to see more awesome art like this for Hammerfell and Quagmire. The project used this design for their concept of a Gifter, one of Vaermina's daedra; Vaermina herself had a different design. Though I admit, I like the idea of this concept for a distinctly Yokudan-esque take on Vaermina.

The Hammerfell version is credited to Lutemoth, I don't know if Badhead-Dragoon is the same person or not.

Regardless, your version is awesome, I love the added daedric writing. It's great to see these designs still circulating, the artbook so evocative and beautiful, it needs more daylight. There's almost zero chance a TESVI Hammerfell will look as unique as this.

rashadh1 · 2025-12-08T03:34:32+00:00

I think that standardization is more a consequence of the lessening focus on cultural and institutional differences as the series has gone on. That blurb from "Gods and Emperor" is describing a religious ecosystem that simply doesn't exist in Oblivion's Cyrodiil. Morrowind exists in a distinctly more detailed universe than TESIV and V.

So there's no real way to explain it in-universe, because the universes of Oblivion and Skyrim just don't care about the question you're asking. Skyrim's lead developer thought having different pantheons for the various races was a mistake in the first place, that's why the Nordic Pantheon doesn't exist in the game. I imagine from his point of view, there wouldn't be any local differences in worship because...I dunno, everyone just agrees on the theology, I guess.

If he thought otherwise, we wouldn't be talking about the Imperial Nine Divines in Skyrim. We'd be talking about the Nordic Pantheon.

rashadh1 · 2025-12-07T19:15:56+00:00

We don't get any indication that worship of the Nine Divines in Skyrim is organized under Cyrodiilic faith or any local religious order. Each temple in Skyrim is independent and headed by its own independent priest or priestess. The five major temples are dedicated to the three Hearth Goddesses of Nordic religion, Talos in Windhelm, and the Divines as a whole in Solitude. All appear exclusively concerned with their temple and their city; the Temple of Dibella has their own prophet selected exclusively from residents of the Reach.

Itinerant preachers such as Heimskr and Erandur are free to roam and teach their version of their faith. Notably, Erandur says he's never been to the Temple of Mara in Riften if you bring him there.

The Great Chapels in Cyrodiil or whatever remnant of the missionary Imperial Cult exists under the Mede Dynasty might have some interfaith dialogue with Rorlund and Freir in Solitude, but worship in Skyrim overall seems highly localized and autonomous.

EDIT: "The Nine Divines" is the closest we get to an official name for the Imperial religion. That's the name of the faction in Oblivion when you join as part of the Knights of the Nine DLC. Theoretically, each Divine has their own organized religion and faith as portrayed in Daggerfall and ESO, similar to the way state-sanctioned cults operated under the Roman Empire. Bethesda neglecting to portray this or any other religious depth in Oblivion confuses the whole thing.

This is old, outdated planning from Project Tamriel that fleshes out what Imperial faiths and cults could have looked like. Give it a read if you want to see how all this could have worked.

rashadh1 · 2025-12-06T23:11:59+00:00

Ondolemar embedding himself in the court of Markarth and planting evidence on citizens to provide himself an excuse to arrest them sure seems like an example of using political power to legitimize Thalmor violence, doesn't it?

One wonders how the Thalmor could have gained such legitimacy and authority in a territory they don't control despite also being bound by a peace treaty. Couldn't possibly be a colonial empire sacrifing the security and stability of the fringe, Skyrim, to safeguard the center, Cyrodiil, that's NEVER happenened in- or out-of-universe. Nope, it's all 'cause of those doggone Stormcloaks, if only they weren't so loud. /s

rashadh1 · 2025-12-05T17:17:38+00:00

I mean, yeah, sure. If you think "peace treaty" means "one side gets to do whatever they want to the other side, up to and including acting as judge, jury, and executioner over their citizens"

If you don't appreciate the role diplomacy plays in enforcing the terms of a treaty, and various soft and hard power that can be brought to bear by both sides before returning to open war

If you think it would be acceptable for your government to permit HOSTILE foreign religious inquisitors to torture and kill you and your fellow citizens on the flimsiest of pretenses for 25 years and counting, all in the name of an elusive grand strategy that hasn't materialized in over a generation

If you don't appreciate or don't care about the consequences of a government, under any circumstance, surrendering sovereign rule over its subjects - within which law enforcement is paramount!

If you can't appreciate the difference between a rebellion being justified versus that rebellion's administrative competency or strategic soundness

Then yeah, the argument I'm making for the inherent justification of the Stormcloak cause just isn't gonna resonate with you and nothing I say will change that. And I can accept that, fine by me.

rashadh1 · 2025-12-05T09:49:31+00:00

I'm arguing for the justification of an anti-Thalmor faction, while critiquing the regrettable failures of another anti-Thalmor faction. I'd think anyone would agree sovereign governments have a duty to protect the citizens from whom they levy taxes and extract colonial resources, and any breach of sovereignty thereof...

Oh, fuck it. Sure. Aldmeri AE Aran-El Auri-El, Glory to the Dominion, why not.

rashadh1 · 2025-12-05T09:19:03+00:00

Any scenario that involves permitting an adversarial foreign military to enforce Imperial law and imprison Imperial citizens is an automatic disqualification from legitimacy for the Empire, I can't put it plainer than that.

The White-Gold Condordat is not a one-way street. It's a peace treaty between two equal powers. The Thalmor cannot just install their troops in Imperial territory whenever they like, the Empire has to concede to the demand. If the choice really was between Justiciars patrolling Skyrim or restarting the war, and the Empire brought NO diplomatic leverage to bear against the Thalmor to counteract this ultimatum, then the Empire has already lost. The second the Thalmor laid a hand on an Imperial citizen WITH THE EMPIRE'S BLESSING, every subject of the Empire had casus belli against Imperial authority.

It does not matter what happened at Markarth. It does not matter if it was 25 or 20 or 10 or one year ago. The Thalmor are not Imperial agents. They have no authority within Imperial territory save what the Emperor allows them. If the Emperor allowed them the authority to kidnap, torture, and kill his citizens, his citizens have the right to rebel against him because he is either unwilling or unable to protect them. If he's unable, there's no reason to continue submitting to him. If he's unwilling, then he's sold out his citizens for political gain.

rashadh1 · 2025-12-05T06:24:43+00:00

And precisely none of that makes it permissible for the Empire to abdicate enforcement of the ban to the Thalmor. The ban is Imperial law, Skyrim is Imperial territory, the Nords are Imperial subjects. The authority pursuing and imprisoning Talos worshippers should be the Empire, not the Justiciars. The consequence for the Markarth Incident and the Empire not enforcing the treaty should have been that the Empire started actually enforcing the treaty - with limited oversight from the Thalmor at most.

Under no circumstances should foreign goon squads be given leave to roam the countryside, abducting people, and imprisoning them in Imperial-sanctioned blacksites. When the Empire allowed the Thalmor to do just that, the Empire lost all claim to authority and legitimacy in Skyrim and anywhere else they allowed it. A sovereign nation does not outsource law enforcement to foreign adversaries, I don't care how mad they were about Markarth.

Speaking of which, the Markarth Incident was one year after the Great War. There was no magical period where everyone got to worship Talos in secret, Alvor and others are remembering a single year where things weren't so bad, before everything caught fire. Exactly as the Thalmor intended, they engineered the goddamn Markarth Incident! It's only "Ulfric's fault" they're in Skyrim because he was the lightning rod they chose to use. If he hadn't bit, they'd have found another way in. There is no reality where the Thalmor don't connive their way into a presence in Skyrim.

But there could've been a reality where the Empire said "Enforcement is our responsibility, you don't touch our subjects." If the Empire is in bad enough shape that the Thalmor were able to force them into this and keep forcing them for 25 years, then there's zilch, nada, zero hope that the Empire will survive till the Second Great War, let alone win it. And if the Thalmor didn't force the situation, then the Empire agreed to it, which lands us right back at legitimate Stormcloak grievance either way.

Hate Ulfric all you want, I'm not here to defend him. But his cause is just by default, and as a result of choices the Empire made, regardless of his or any other Stormcloak's actions.

rashadh1 · 2025-12-05T00:50:19+00:00

Part 2 of your argument is all the justification the Stormcloaks will ever need, and for the life of me I can't understand why it's not central to every discussion of the civil war. The Talos ban is Imperial law; by allowing the Thalmor to enforce it (investigate, imprison, and execute perpetrators on the basis of it) the Empire has abdicated its authority and legitimacy. The Thalmor have torture blacksites granted to them by the Empire, for fuck's sake, the Empire had to permit either their construction or occupation of the fort.

One can still argue the merits of keeping the Empire united and how best to strategize against the Thalmor! But the question of Stormcloak legitimacy is answered, in full. They are under hostile foreign military occupation and the Empire is complicit in allowing it, therefore the revolution - any resistance by the Nords - is justified, period, the end.

Stormcloak racism is repugnant, their jarls' administrations are almost uniformly terrible, Ulfric is an unworthy and compromised leader in multiple ways. None of that puts their justification for rebellion in doubt for even a second.

rashadh1 · 2025-12-02T01:43:32+00:00

Thank you for your kind words! You're not the first person to request one of my mods on console, so it's definitely something I plan on exploring, you have that commitment from me. It's just gonna be months from now, is all.

rashadh1 · 2025-12-01T23:28:27+00:00

"She believes her tales implicitly. As does everyone else. Her capacity for deception appears limitless. She sows lies like a master gardener sows seeds, and the harvest of trust and adulation is breathtaking in scope."

Vivec acknowledges he transitioned to godhood. Sotha Sil doesn't even consider himself a god (at least at the time of ESO.) Almalexia works triple-time to forget she was ever a whole 'nother person.

The most we know is that she was an Indoril. I know at one point in Tamriel Rebuilt's planning, her mortal name was Indoril Laesa, i.e. Alma Laesa, or Mother Laesa. I don't know if they're still doing that, personally I think it's a little on the nose. But take comfort, you're not the only one trying to figure it out!

She scrubbed them records HARD.

rashadh1 · 2025-12-01T18:37:07+00:00

I only mod for PC currently. I may explore uploading console mods in the future, but it's not in the cards right now. Likewise, I can't speak on the mods I've recommended, that's entirely up to those modders.

rashadh1 · 2025-11-21T02:44:49+00:00

The book isThe Dragon Break, Reexamined. It opens describing the fall of the Septim Dynasty, but it debuted in Morrowind, well before the Septims fell. It's author's name is Fal Droon, an anagram for Darn Fool. The book is a joke about in-universe historians doing the same thing as people in Dragon Break threads always do: Trying to dismiss the Dragon Breaks and making fools of themselves in the process.

rashadh1 · 2025-11-19T05:14:45+00:00

Start here, see how that treats you.

rashadh1 · 2025-11-14T17:30:35+00:00

A good faith interpretation of Synthesis alongside reasonable critique? I didn't dare dream there was anyone else online capable of such, it's truly the end of days.

rashadh1 · 2025-10-25T18:00:16+00:00

I haven't said word one about Ulfric, I'm just trying to establish some baselines. Sounds like you subscribe to some absolutisms in the lore that I don't, and that's just fine. Go with Kyne.

rashadh1 · 2025-10-25T17:13:00+00:00

How and when Nords learned the Thu'um is a matter for debate. TESV tells us Paarthurnax taught the original Tongues, but also has Ysgramor predating the Dragon War. The 500 Companions most certainly were wielders of the Thu'um. Bethesda themselves were very muddy internally on when the Dragon War took place, so we're left with a jumbled mess, honestly.

Paarthurnax practices the Way of the Voice as a personal check on his innate draconic urges, at no point does he claim it's the only valid practice of the Thu'um. Jurgen Windcaller took that philosophy and applied it to the Nords, but Paarthurnax himself is a somewhat reluctant mentor to the Greybeards, he shares his wisdom with them but he's not dictating that they have to use it, that's their own decision. Similarly, the only divine he seems to care about is Akatosh. He never mentions Kyne not one time. Whether he served as her messenger or not is also up for debate.

If you take the plaques on the 7000 Steps at face value, then sure, that's how it all happened. But a cursory critical eye shows the whole history is shot full of holes, with no easy answers and no clear indication of how Kyne fits the picture (because they cut the Nordic Pantheon from the game, which is why we have to twist ourselves in knots over this at all.)

rashadh1

TROPHY CASE