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It comes to me by Top Gear actually; Richard Hammond talked about it while doing an MX-5 review, about how jinba ittai had influenced the design of the car. Which made a lot of sense to me, because I function best in synergy with bikes or cars as I parse them the same way I parse animals. (there is a huge amount of connection between a car and a cow, when you stop to think about them)

That's why it makes it difficult and she can't forgo armour, for example, because she's already set in heavy armour. There are work-arounds of course, use of a different material that is plant-based for example as a replacement, but I don't have the technical ability to mod Skyrim to actually effect that, because it would need modifying the meshes, the textures, the crafting recipe of any armour she'll use, adding the cloth that she can use to the game which requires all three plus whatever is needed for the manufacture thereof - it's beyond my abilities.

Looking at it a different way - consider a restaurant. She orders a vegan meal, but there is a mistake, and so one with meat comes in to her. How would she respond? And the answer to that is from her perspective that to reject the meal would see the food thrown out as it can't be served again (maybe in Tamriel it could, but not in the world I live in because it has to be chucked for health and safety law, and since she's part of exploring my world through her it kind of sticks...) and because she fundamentally wants to honour the animal throwing it away isn't an option and so the most respectful is to eat the remains thanking it for its sacrifice, because then instead of being thrown away it contributed to the sustainment of life - her - even if she would have preferred a different way.
Fundamentally therefore, she could use stuff made from animals who have already died, because it is still similar. It is not what she wants, but she understands this is not a perfect world, and to use armour as an example, if the animal has laid down its life in order to be made into leather; can that not give the animal the opportunity to accomplish good by protecting her after it has died? It is not what she wants, but in her eyes it would be making the best use of a bad situation.

Erriene-Rulindil is an interesting paring like that - and I doubt anyone else has ever thought Rulindil deserves to marry the Dragonborn, but somehow it seems perfect for them; but I'm not sure how she could do it.

What if Rulindil is the Thalmor soldier who wanted to have mercy on her way back in the earlier story? Now that would be a twist... Not a fully comfortable one given it would take Erriene through marrying someone who raped her, but in a way that would just make it even more of a prize to her that someone who once raped her as nothing but a sex toy while under the influence of the Thalmor would become someone who when freed from their grasp becomes someone she's glad to call husband? It is redemption, and she'd like that.

It would give them both pause to think for a second. I mean, it wouldn't break the quest; the objective updates on finding about Esbern, not on anything to do with Rulindil, so it therefore could be done if she has a way to induce him to follow her, which is what I don't have right now.

This is utterly crazy though... I mean, marrying her to her abuser? I know for her she isn't marrying her abuser, she's marrying a man who in a former life abused her but he is not that man now.

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I'm sure there is someone who would be willing to get the Dark brotherhood to take out a high up Thalmor agent inside the Embassy...

Of course, there is the unknown gem that got moved from Elenwen's Solar to the cave; if she's doing that quest, that gives an opening to go in if you modded the game to put it back in it's original place. Or maybe as an additional special job in Haafingar? There's bound to be a lot of notice for successfully carrying out an operation on the Thalmor, which is part of restoring the Guild...


Edit to add - Rulindil actually works out really well here, because canonically he is a recent transfer into the Embassy, because his predecessor was sent back for re-education. So, it provides an opening to explain how he could be the one who raped her the first time and still get to Skyrim; after Erriene 's stay, a review finds the chief torturer incompetent for failing to break a 14 year old girl, Rulindil is promoted, then is promoted again to come to Skyrim as Third Emissary. Hmm.

Danger, Will Robinson! I'd say making Rulindil (one of) the actual rapist(s) would pretty much preclude anything resembling marriage. Sympathy, yes - redemption, respect, friendship - I can see all of these happening if he really changes. But do you really imagine she'd ever feel comfortable in bed with him after he did that to her? She may know he's no longer the same man, but knowing is one thing, feeling and remembering is a wholly different animal.

Also, there's two sides to this. It's not just about her redeeming him - if he's a real character he'll have to redeem himself, and if he changes enough to recognize how wrong what he did to her was he may well be too ashamed to ever touch her again.

They are good points; I just saw something without fully thinking it through, and while Erriene could come to such a point as to forgive him that much, he couldn't do the same - it wouldn't just be what he did to her, but everything that went on within the Thalmor; just look at other ex-Dominion elves in Skyrim, like Runil, who thirty years on still hasn't come to terms with what he did during the war, and for a recovered Rulindil it would be impossible to forgive himself for what he did...

I still think Erriene winning Rulindil over and teaming up with him could make a great story if done right. As a writer friend of mine once said, if you bring a male and a female character together there's more than one direction it can go. Romance is overrated.

I honestly can't imagine food being thrown away in an agricultural society like Skyrim's unless it's spoilt. "Oi, Kleppr! That milk-drinking elf too prissy to eat a good mammoth steak? Never mind, pass it over to me!" Our hangups about hygienics wouldn't bother them - just look at their toilets.

That said, I see your point and why you'd have her act like you described. Marilyn's having to make compromises in the opposite direction - using bows made of wood rather than bone or antler and chopping wood for a living, to say nothing of having to make herself a new bow every other day or so because they tend to get broken in combat (a Requiem feature). Also alchemy - limiting her choice of ingredients to mushrooms and animal parts would just be paralysing at low levels. She does observe the Meat Mandate but will eat veg food if it's the only way to save her life - I have an unfinished story lying around where she gobbles down a whole bush of snowberries to fend off hypothermia and Yffre's wrath manifests itself in giving her diarrhoea . (I know they're theoretically allowed to use plant matter that doesn't originate in Valenwood, but while that may be canon it feels like a copout to me.)

Back to Erriene, the only problem I see with her right now is that she's in danger of becoming too saintly to be believable. Doesn't she have a flaw or two?

Also, I'm curious what face you've given her. We can haz pics?

That is a far more reasonable direction to go in, more realistic.

And Erriene would see that lack of hygiene is precisely why disease is so prevalent. While the developers REALLY dropped this for the later games, Daggerfall had only one disease that wasn't fatal; it was still a daily drop in health. The other 15 were fatal. That is probably closer to the truth than the more disease free Skyrim where they are mostly irrelevant. Plus, our own world has millions of people whose lives are in danger because of what is fundamentally bad hygiene - simply washing hands is a proven life saving measure, but for various reasons it isn't done...

Definitely agree on it feeling like a copout.

Well, of course she comes across as saintly; to her, she is. I'm writing from how she sees things, and she lacks the capacity to see herself as anything other than good. Why would she see her flaws? Case in point, that rhetorical question she would answer, then get annoyed because someone asked her a question without wanting an answer.

She certainly has not advanced as far as I have; I've gotten so used to non-literal expressions I actually use them without thinking about them. I don't understand them, but I've heard people say them when expressing what I want to say, so, I use them. In writing though, I do correct myself and use the correct literalism.

I can do some tact; Erriene has none. She has no facial expressions, she doesn't do any sort of small talk, she refuses to make eye contact because to her it communicates hatred and not whatever it communicates, I only do it because people expect you to do it and a much younger me started doing it to avoid being told off for refusing to do it...


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =604484023 - I preferred the first version of her, she looked nicer somehow; she had the right smudging effect of her eyeliner I wanted, the new her doesn't (as part of her fine motor deficiency, not able to line her eyes properly)

As far as I'm aware, just enemies; I've done some looking around, and I haven't found an answer yet as to what they do with their normal dead.

If you say so; I can just about detect a meaning in her eyes, and I don't know what it is...

Umm, you've lost me, could you run the link by me again? I started by saying how she wouldn't throw meat containing food away, and I've lost track of your thought process...

I've started playing Skyrim again. Man, it feels like coming home indeed. I realized that Lieth the Bosmer hasn't ever finished Dawnguard and the Dragonborn dlc is somewhat of a mystery to me...so loaded up her game and she was with Serana rescuing the Moth Priest. It's been so long since I've played that Lieth had some difficulty using her bow. Let's blame that on her missing Vilkas, shall we?

A Bosmer having difficulty to use a bow? Oh man, she must be missing him real hard!

I've been rather distracted from Skyrim myself recently, thanks to a friend who sung me the praises of Sunless Sea and it being free to try on Steam last weekend, which led to a no-brainer purchase. I also have a number of unfinished stories lying around, one of them inspired by recent gameplay events... I think I'll try to finish that one over the weekend, it won't be very long.

It's terrible, really. Lieth hit up Robber's Gorge (or whatever it's called) and died twice.

I...like, never die in Skyrim. This means I need to practice more so she dies less lol. She also couldn't remember which house her family was at. Eventually, she found them at Lakeside Manor. Vilkas was nude out in the yard (wtf huh) while the kids were inside with Meeko all alone. I forgot that the housecarl and Ria were killed by bandits ages ago and that's why they had moved out. So now they're in Whiterun again. Geesh. I need to get it together.

Finn, are those stories Skyrim ones? Will you be sharing them here?

Sure, it's all Skyrim stuff. Marilyn stuff, to be precise. I totally neglected her while I was writing for that Dark Brotherhood mod, there's a lot of catching up to do. (That didn't keep me from throwing my hat in the ring to write for Requiem; they ended up picking two other guys but said they might call me back in the future if in need of more writers. Let's see what comes of that.)

Dying in Skyrim... I recently did a complete reinstall in preparation for another playthrough, updating or switching mods etc., in the course of which I played about half an hour of pure vanilla for the first time in years and crawled through the whole of Shriekwind Bastion with a board & sword Orc and roflstomped everything until I was obliterated by that vampire mage in the room close to the top. That's vanilla difficulty for you, unbalanced either for or against the player, and getting harder the more you advance, which flies in the face of the very idea of progress.

Why shouldn't Vilkas be nude in the yard of his own home? It's not like there are any neighbours around who are likely to take offence, and after all he's a Nord, hardy against the cold. Nor should that bother Lieth, who, if my memory serves me well, has been caught naked in public herself on occasion. (Kidding aside, I suspect it's an AFT thing. All followers have these flashes of nudity if you've managed their outfit with AFT and then revisit them some time after telling them to stay put. It's like the game takes a moment or two to remember what they're supposed to be wearing.)

It's definitely AFT's fault. Oh, well. At least he looks good naked.

Having taken a break from Skyrim has been actually good for me. I played for an hour last night, choosing it over Fallout 4 which is huge lol. I loaded up Felina's game and had a great time sitting her on an island in Lake Illinalta, watching Onmund fight 4 trolls by himself on the shore. They're both still pretty low level, 16 I think, so trolls are deadly still. Anyway, good times.

It seems like everyone here takes breaks from Skyrim...except maybe you, Finn, lol. Honestly, it's like my favorite game of all time next to Pacman and Zelda, so I'll always come home.

So here's the little story I promised you above, about the aftermath of a radiant game event:

Black Arrows

I'm in the mood to revisit Skyrim and the new God of War game put me into the mood. I know i keep saying i'll return then forgetting but last time, erm... i was in a bad place.

Anyway, kinda got an idea for a character. A battlemage. Well, i say battlemage. More of a warrior that uses magic. Probably Restoration, Destruction on humanoids and dragons and Conjuration. Dislike the AI as it's usually "GODDAMNIT! YOU JUST GOT IN MY FOOKING WAY! YOU IDIOT! NOW I HAVE TO RELOAD THE GAME! THANKS!" or "Really? You're focusing on the whelps!? THE WHELPS!? WHY!? YOU LITTLE DUMB MILKER!" Ok, maybe not that but the AI is kinda bad when it decides to not want to do it's job.

Two handed sword or axe for the melee. Probably use a bow for hunting.

It's alive! Just when I expected to see this thread drop off the page any day now. Great to see you here!

Sheo: yeah, Skyrim's summons AI is a bit idiotic at times. I don't remember how many times I've been killed by a Flame Atronach returning triumphant from incinerating a bunch of draugr only to explode in my face when the summons ran out. The dangers of trafficking with Daedra... In my experience the best way of getting summons to stay out of your way is staying out of their way - let them charge ahead and support them with destruction from the rear. Worked quite well for me.

Weasel: I like conflicted characters, and your Dunmer seems well thought through. Totally believable path for a Nerevarine, I'd say. I love the idea with the shrines, awesome roleplay!

Nothing new from me, I'm afraid. I still dabble in Skyrim a bit every now & then with Yet Another Marilyn but haven't been inspired to make another character in a while. Mainly I'm still playing Sunless Sea (and it's parent game, Fallen London), which is pretty addictive; I roleplay my captain characters to some degree and sometimes write ministories about their pursuits to share on Facebook with those of my friends who also play it. And I've started to write the beginning of something I'm too superstitious to call a novel, set in a world of my own invention but featuring a protagonist who is basically another Marilyn.

In other words, waiting for TES VI (yes, I know, it's going to be a while).

I figured this would be the best place to post my idea for a Morrowind character.

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Omar ibn la'Qassim (with his full title being Sidi Omar ibn la'Qassim al-Sehntnal, Maharib Alghani min Alttajir Niqabat Sehntnal [Or, translated, Sir Omar, son of Qassim, born of Sentinel, "rich warrior" of the Merchant Guild of Sentinel]) is a Redguard trader and knight based out of the city of Sentinel on the Illiac Bay. As a "maharib alghani" (often shortened to "maharib,") Omar is well versed in both the art of war and the art of commerce.

Born to the "Syd Alnnaqaba" (or Guildmaster [as opposed to a Sydda Alnnaqaba, or Guildmistress]) of the Merchant Guild of Sentinel in 3E 399 and a Maharib, Omar spent much of his early years working with his mother in the Grand Bazaar, either training in the art of swordfighting or developing the skills needed to be a successful trader. His father was often too busy working to see his son, but what time they did have was remembered fondly by the both of them.

At age 16, Omar himself joined the Guild, becoming a "mubtadi alssuq" ("market novice.") As a mubtadi, Omar was given a small stall in Sentinel's Grand Bazaar to manage and defend against thieves. His stall was nothing exceptional, selling mostly trinkets and jewelry, but that year, Uriel Septim VII visited Sentinel, and by chance met with Omar. Omar's skill in dealing with a customer of such high class earned him a promotion to "khirrij alssuq" ("market graduate.") He soon rose through the ranks, from "sayadi alssuq" (market lord,) to "mubtadi maharib" (novice warrior) and finally to a proper Maharib at age 27.

A maharib alghani, among other duties, is in charge of managing Merchant Guild trade within a specific district. In Omar's case, he was granted the district of Vvardenfell and was tasked with establishing a Guild presence on the island. In 3E 427, Omar set off for Vvardenfell. Things would have gone perfectly fine, had the inexperienced Omar decided to go by carriage and not sail through the Sea of Ghosts in a rinky-dinky ship with a crew used to the calm waters of the Illiac. A storm attacked the ship, causing it to capsize. Some of the crew survived and were rescued by a Nord fishing vessel, reporting the death of everyone else onboard. Omar, however, took a different lifeboat and washed ashore on the western coast of Vvardenfell.

Now presumed dead, Omar has decided that now is his chance to finally strike it rich. Now was the day of Omar ibn la'Qassim.

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Here comes the hard part. I'm trying to decide what factions to join. While he is a merchant by trade, he's also a warrior, leading to me being torn between House Hlaalu and House Redoran. He'll probably also join the Fighter's Guild and Imperial Legion, again, because he's a warrior.

Are there any mods (compatible with Morrowind Rebirth and Tamriel Rebuilt) that add a faction that would be good for those who want to be merchants and warriors at the same time, or is Omar kinda screwed in the faction department?

Just started on notes for my character.

He shall be Thoric of Bloodgate. More will be revealed during the first few tales. However, there will be two versions. Thoric in the tales(due to limitations in the game) and Game Thoric(which, I'll probably discuss at random and may use in game exploits as stories).

I do intend to roleplay. Eating, drinking must be once a day due to time going fast and timing it so three meals a day is too much hassle. Drinking, I'll headcannon that he has a flask. Will try to stick to a no more then a few swords and bits and babbles loot rule. E.g. A greatsword can only be looted once and is on his back.

Game Thoric may be a two handed warrior that uses magic. Tale Thoric will not. Mainly for balancing reasons and well, the last time I played a pure melee character, it ended up with a lot of death. But I may do pure melee again and try to have an ample supply of potions. However, I do hate the instant death kill cams that can trigger. :-/ Probably be 50/50 levelling for health and stamina.

Welcome to the thread, IcarusBen! (I'm beginning to think we should subtitle this 'The Lazarus Thread' - whenever I think it's dead for good this time somebody brings it to back to life). That's a very interesting character backstory! I'm intrigued by all those Arabic-looking Redguard names - did you make them up, or do you actually speak Arabic?

Are you going to play through the main quest at all (i.e. will Omar be the Nerevarine?), or just sticking to merchant-warriory pursuits? As to the question of Dunmer Houses, Redoran somehow feels more Redguardy to me than Hlaalu for no reason I can put into words, and there are lots of merchants in Ald'ruhn.

I'm sorry I can't give any modding advice for Morrowind - back when I played it I had no idea mods even were a thing, and I haven't replayed it since.

Sheo, I'm looking forward to learning more about Thoric!

As for myself, I've begun playing a bit of good ol' Oblivion every now and then and made a Redguard scout by name of Amin. His backstory is somewhat sketchy, but I think he's a former Alik'r scout who went to join the Dark Brotherhood (of course!). After tracking his last target (*pulls idea out of IcarusBen's hat*: a travelling merchant! ) to Imperial City he was caught on the job and sentenced to imprisonment for life in the Imperial City prison, where he spent about twenty years until Uriel and the Blades came along. At the beginning of the game he's in his late fourties and a bit at a loss what to do with his newly-won freedom, but eventually he will seek out the Brotherhood and rehabilitate himself.