Blog dedicated to all things writing

so I’ve only ever played Skyrim which is why I’m not including all TES games, but feel free to add on thoughts pertaining to stuff like Oblivion – I would love to hear your ideas! @jiubilant thanks for sharing @skymagpie‘s post to finally get my lazy butt to finish this up lol.

DISCLAIMER: This post is made for the express purpose of use in fanfiction, role playing, and immersing into the games for your characters/stories. It is not meant to educate people about family planning options, or to replace care from a medical provider. I didn’t provide sources for that reason (it’s just for fun and writing), but if you want some more info, send an ask and I will be happy to provide sources on info shared here. :)

Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?

What is/was your character’s relationship with their mother like?

What is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?

Has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? If so, does anyone else know?

On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?

Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams?

Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?

Has your character ever fired a gun? If so, what was their first target?

Is your character’s current socioeconomic status different than it was when they were growing up?

Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?

In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?

In what situation was your character the most calm they’ve ever been?

Is your character bothered by the sight of blood? If so, in what way?

Does your character remember names or faces easier?

Is your character preoccupied with money or material possession? Why or why not?

Which does your character idealize most: happiness or success?

What was your character’s favorite toy as a child?

Is your character more likely to admire wisdom, or ambition in others?

What is your character’s biggest relationship flaw? Has this flaw destroyed relationships for them before?

In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?

If something tragic or negative happens to your character, do they believe they may have caused or deserved it, or are they quick to blame others?

What does your character like in other people?

What does your character dislike in other people?

How quick is your character to trust someone else?

How quick is your character to suspect someone else? Does this change if they are close with that person?

How does your character behave around children?

How does your character normally deal with confrontation?

How quick or slow is your character to resort to physical violence in a confrontation?

What did your character dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?

What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?

Describe a scenario in which your character feels most comfortable.

Describe a scenario in which your character feels most uncomfortable.

In the face of criticism, is your character defensive, self-deprecating, or willing to improve?

Is your character more likely to keep trying a solution/method that didn’t work the first time, or immediately move on to a different solution/method?

How does your character behave around people they like?

How does your character behave around people they dislike?

Is your character more concerned with defending their honor, or protecting their status?

Is your character more likely to remove a problem/threat, or remove themselves from a problem/threat?

Has your character ever been bitten by an animal? How were they affected (or unaffected)?

How does your character treat people in service jobs?

Does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first?

Has your character ever had a parental figure who was not related to them?

Has your character ever had a dependent figure who was not related to them?

How easy or difficult is it for your character to say “I love you?” Can they say it without meaning it?

** Someone reminded me that I hadn’t added the credits tag, Thanks***

Copyright is Bioware, Jennifer Helpler wrote this to explain what happened between Dragon Age Awakenings and Origins. Most people don’t know about this so I thought I’d share this. Plus this is kind of what I base my Anders writing on in how he interacts with Justice

Imagine leaving the Circle tower that was your entire world for most of your life (and this after your bff turns out to be a blood mage) and then with ZERO combat experience you’re forced into a war to fight these horrible abominations called darkspawn. Good thing you can throw fire out your hands cuz thats the only thing keeping you alive. As you fight in a dress.

And thats just the major stuff. Imagine being thrust into the world with little to no life skills. (I mean ok I can imagine this pretty well) but theres a lot of things a Mage Warden just wouldn’t know.

- Hunting/Cooking Skills

- Managing currency

- Travel, bartering, and how not to get ripped off

- Setting up camp

But not to worry, your very first companions are a Mage and a Grey Warden, you should be set. Only this Mage is scary, hates everything about the way you’ve lived your life and this Grey Warden is also brand freaking new. so yeah, good luck.

So Benthic Scream, the Shout that didn’t make the final cut of the Dragonborn DLC, is super interesting because of the things I highlighted there.

“Your Voice power is corrupted by the influence of Hermaeus Mora.”

Starts with “Fus”, same as Unrelenting Force…

…But instead of actually having the same effect as Shouting “force,” it’s a “scream for Mora.”

Also note that its FormID specifically says it’s associated with Miraak’s mask.

Now hear me out…

Hermaeus Mora likely corrupted Miraak’s existing Dragon Priest mask into the Lovecraftian form he’s seen wearing. If you look closely, you can see that there are many similarities between a typical Dragon Priest mask and Miraak’s, particularly in the center of the face. It actually looks like it was gripped by the outer edges and pulled into that distorted and monstrous shape, reminiscent of Mora’s tentacles. This is fitting, since Mora’s influence also corrupted Miraak’s former devotion to the dragons. He took a vital symbol of that allegiance and perverted it.

We know that Hermaeus Mora intervened during the battle between Miraak and Vahlok + the dragons, pulling Miraak into Apocrypha just before Vahlok could strike the final blow.

So what if, just as Vahlok was going to kill Miraak, Miraak attempted to Shout Vahlok away, but instead of what he expected, the mask corrupted his Shout into a scream for Hermaeus Mora to intervene? He calls on the power of his own Voice, and to his horror, what comes out of his mouth is actually an eldritch wail that transcends dimensions? Note too that this Shout has a tentacle effect attached to it, and from what I can tell, that means that the person Shouting would essentially vomit forth tentacles… A nice little body horror aspect to it.

Here’s a collection of screenshots of various Miraak-related things I found in the Creation Kit that I thought were interesting.

They are, in order:

Script and emotion notes…

Re: various bits of dialogue from Miraak’s main scenes

Re: Sahrotaar’s dialogue when he ferries you to the summit

Re: Miraak’s taunts during the final battle

Re: Miraak’s death

Evidence of a cut scene meant to take place towards the end of “The Temple of Miraak” (DLC2MQ02) including a fight

More script and emotion notes for cut dialogue from various scenes

Apparently having a female-lead religion centered on a holy woman makes no difference whatsoever to culture and society! Oh wait no.

It’s like they wanted to have female player characters, which is good, and female NPCs who are warriors and stuff, which is also good, so they felt like they needed to have an explanation for why it’s normal to have lady soldiers in this world so they developed their lore just enough for that (look over there! Andraste!) and STOPPED THERE.

As if it wouldn’t impact the entire society and the way different genders interact and attitudes towards sex and family and lineage. As if a female savior who was married to both a man and the Maker would somehow produce the exact same social mores about chastity and fidelity and heteronormativity. The entire origin myth of the religion is that Andraste’s husband got jealous and betrayed her. The original sin is not sex, it’s sexual jealousy! So why is there still slut shaming? Why is monogamy still enshrined? Why there no same-sex marriage, when there’s no proscriptions against homosexuality in their religion? None of this makes any sense!

But there are some writings that make it hard to believe that the Andrastian religion is intended to do anything beneficial sexism-wise. Anders in particular drove me to conclude that the Chantry’s strong female presence is just a pretty picture.

According to Isabela, the world of Thedas is “not kind to women”, and the male Templar Emeric doesn’t deny this claim. He only bitterly says “I hope you’re wrong, madame.” Isabela also describes her personal experience with what was probably an abusive relationship with a husband that only ended when the husband was killed. It’s possible that women in abusive relationships aren’t supported or cared for, even if they receive sympathy. 

Ser Aveline (Aveline’s namesake) was the first female Orlesian chevalier and was murdered because she defeated all her male opponents. This was 250 years ago, and is specific to Orlesian culture only. However, a female Warden in Origins will hear both skepticism and distain about their ability more than once. Origins takes place in modern Fereldan, which means that women in battle is still a relatively new/misunderstood  concept worldwide. Despite, you know, Andraste being a warrior.

If Isabela doesn’t come back to give the relic back to the Arishok and you take Fenris with you, Fenris will put you up to a battle to the death, the reward being that the Qunari surrender. If Hawke is female, the Arishok will say to Fenris that he cannot battle a woman, and Fenris will respond with “but she is no women, she is a warrior” (paraphrased.) This case is less nuanced, because it’s possible that Fenris is just playing to Qunari mentality, and doesn’t actually see Hawke as “powerful in spite of her gender.”

Anders interactions with a female Hawke are sometimes very different from a male Hawke, and he makes a couple of misogynistic remarks about women throughout Awakening and Dragon Age II; flirting with Velanna upon first meeting her and then sarcastically telling others years later that “all Dalish women are crazy” as a reference to her, snapping at Aveline by taunting her dead husband’s sex life, and sneering at female Hawke with “little girl“ if Hawke threatens him upon first meeting, compared to just ”boy“ if Hawke is male.

I would put it up to Anders having difficulty seeing women in a professional, non-romanticized perspective, which might be a direct result of the female-dominated Chantry.

For example, flirting with a female Hawke will prompt Anders to cheekily snark back (“Sweetheart, I’m not letting anyone lock me up - you included.”), but with a male Hawke, he’ll speak with a more equal, less detached manner (“They’re not so much interested in destroying me as destroying my kind and all I represent”).

This detached way of interacting with women also exists in the way he talks about his past relationship with Karl to a male Hawke, but not a female one. His writer claimed that she didn’t think a bisexual man would bring up the topic to a women, but why not? Loosing Karl was devastating to Anders, why wouldn’t he share his grief with someone willing to listen, female or not? This, along with his attitude towards women in general, makes Anders a man who doesn’t trust, rely, or communicate with women as much as he does men. 

Alistair has much the same problem, except less antagonistic. He’s not quite as comfortable interacting with a female Warden compared to a male one, and at points it’s clear he’d rather consider the Warden the ‘cute girl next door’ rather than a fellow soldier. EDIT: I just remembered that his disposition towards the female Warden will actually drop if you respond to his itty-flirt of “there has never been many women in the Grey Wardens. I wonder why that is?” with the response of “I would prefer that you stop thinking of me as a women”. This tells me that heteronormality is common amongst the Andrastian religion, and that a man is expected to see women in romantic lights, even if they’re your fellow soldiers.

In Dragon Age II, seven years later, he’ll jokingly refer to being reprehended by Meredith as being ‘emasculated’ and his marriage to the Warden as the ‘ball and chain’, also joking with Teagan in the flavor of the Warden being the ‘man’ in their relationship. So, you know, the misogyny is there, just not aggressive or violent.

To me, both Alistair and Anders being followers of the Andrastian religion is no coincidence. The way I see it, the strong presence of women in their religion is nothing more than having all female Saints, still governed by a male-associated higher power. Fans of Dragon Age sometimes like to think that Andrastians appreciate or even revere women because of their religion, but I don’t see any evidence to prove that this is the case. Maybe some people do, but it wouldn’t be because of their religion.

Anyway. The Divine, the head of the Chantry, is a woman. The Grand Cleric is always a woman. ALL of the priests in non-heretical branches of Andrastianism are women. Per the religion women are the ones who make doctrine, the ones who appeal to Andraste for guidance (because the Maker, if you’ll recall, is gone, he’s an absent father figure and Andraste acts in his place) and female authority figures are the ones who call an Exalted March,

And yet for some reason men in the story can’t picture a woman in a position of authority. Where did that come from? From thin air? Why would that seem at all outlandish when they see it literally every day?  Because in a Chantry-dominated society all of these characters were surrounded by women running things from birth, and yet they go around acting otherwise. Is there some other cultural tradition that states that women are naturally inferior? Which one is it then? Where is it? We never see one.

There is no plausible reason for this, it’s just this free-floating thing that makes no sense, unless you happen to think of the inherent weakness of women as a biological necessity that requires no explanation.

Then you can act like this sort of behavior just naturally happens anywhere that people are, because sexism is normal and just going to happen independently of the history and culture of a people.

I do not believe that this is how things work. I think this is a normalization of sexism not to mention heteronormativity and the gender binary and thinking that’s the natural way of things rather than a cultural construct. I don’t think ideas just appear everywhere simultaneously without explanation or origin and I don’t think these ideas in particular reflect any kind of natural law.

Nord Headcanons 

- Tattoos are a Big Thing™. Not just warpaint, but like permanent tattoos on the skin type. They range from intricate and awesome designs for the sake of aesthetic, to runes and symbols for a variety of reasons, to artwork entailing a moment of great importance in their life; from something small like their first hunt, to perhaps slaying a dragon all on their own

- Snow shoveling competitions/races 

- Song and dance are big too, mainly due to it’s creative way of storytelling. You’ve heard the bards in the taverns sing those short poems while plucking at a lute, but they’re nothing compared to intense, haunting, awe-inspiring original full-length songs/poems in the Nordic language

- Speaking of song, yes, drinking songs are big too. But they’re big for a reason other than being stupid and shit-faced: I see the origins of drinking songs coming from warriors at feasts the night before a battle, who knew this would possibly be the last time they’ll get to have fun and be free with their kinsmen

- Battle songs were common too, while they marched to their campgrounds or drank around the fires. They don’t sing on the way into battle, though, as to not give away their positions

- Men and women alike grew out their hair and beards so that they could braid them. Hair accessories were pretty common, even among the lower class, as long as they knew how to hit some iron with a hammer till you got something to clasp the end of a braid with. Not only would it keep hair out of their face while in battle/working, it was just a simple and easy way to keep themselves both well groomed and fashionable. Not to mention the knot work of braids has become an artwork all on its own. Flowers, clasps, thin chains, metal adornments, etc were utilized and commonplace

- WEDDINGS. Marriage is a HUGE deal for Nords, as family and heritage are still to this day (in TES timeline) one of the upmost important things to a Nord. It unites families, marks the path of new beginnings, and brings hope for a new generation. That being said, traditional Nord weddings are BIG. 3+ day feast, dancing and song throughout the day, drinks to go around, the whole shabang

- Birth and naming rights are big too, just like for the Mer. While birth is rare for Mer because of their supposed selective fertility (I could be wrong, but i remember reading that birth was huge at least for Dunmer cause its not often they can conceive), the problem for Nords is that birth is dangerous. Humans are already so fragile, and living in a culture that doesn’t often like the use of magic - let alone restoration magic - both mother and child face possibility of death. When a woman is pregnant, family members or friends will often recite words of health and good luck, and monitor her health and comfort closely. When the baby is born, and either just baby or both survive, the family will rejoice and decide/announce the name publicly

- Like the vikings in our culture, the Nords are known for their burning-ship funerals as well. However, this was mainly used by Jarls or other nobility

- The more traditional Nords still utilize very gruesome torture methods, such as the notorious Blood Eagle method. It’s looked down upon now-a-days in many cities, but is not entirely outlawed, and is mainly saved for the upmost hated and evil 

- Runes! Runes! Runes! Not only is it a unique form of alphabet, each rune has their own special meaning. Nords will carve them into small, flat stones or branch cross-sections, either turning them into wearable jewelry or carrying them in a pouch/pocket for it’s intended luck. 

- Reversing/turning a rune backwards gives it the opposite meaning. Nords will carve these in places they see fit (i.e, warn others an area isnt safe), or on corpses of those who wronged them

What do I mean?

Protagonist now remembers key facts about important people. He no longer develops convenient amnesia between cutscenes.

Protagonist now has a cooldown on certain adverbs. Adverbs have been buffed by 30% to compensate.

Developer note: Adverbs are important to writing but they are sometimes overused. This change keeps adverbs relevant while encouraging the use of adjectives and verbs.

The horse now has a name.

Because a lot of people interpret “show don’t tell” as “use visuals instead of dialog” or “play out scenes instead of referencing/describing them” which is an arbitrary rule that doesn’t communicate well what the issue is.

What I mean by “Express, don’t state” is that the facts of your story should be conveyed through the story’s elements instead of stated in the story.

If a character is depressed or guilt ridden, it should be expressed through their attitude, their actions, their decisions, their reactions, etc. instead of stating “this character is depressed”. Whether it’s done through dialog or a visual of a rainy cloud doesn’t matter, because it’s still conveyed directly to the audience instead of being evident in the text itself.

You’re not allowed to die in this classroom

If you yeet any of the lab equipment across the room, you will be yeeted to the principal’s office

[on how old I am]: I lost count after a few thousand years

whenever they do an online lab: this is better than fortnite isn’t it

[to a student, upon realizing they completed their practice problems all wrong]: that’s a rip in the chat

If it wasn’t for strong force holding your atoms together your matter would disintegrate away like when Thanos snapped his fingers

In the event that the sun does blow up, the good thing is light takes seven minutes to travel from the sun so you wouldn’t see the explosion coming to incinerate you

[to two students who love to get under each other’s skin]: this is your lane (I traced a circle around their desk) and that is yours (as I traced a circle around their desk) stay in them

You’d probably turn into spaghetti if you went into a black hole but it wouldn’t the edible kind

[when checking in on groups] is everything gucci

Because a lot of people interpret “show don’t tell” as “use visuals instead of dialog” or “play out scenes instead of referencing/describing them” which is an arbitrary rule that doesn’t communicate well what the issue is.

What I mean by “Express, don’t state” is that the facts of your story should be conveyed through the story’s elements instead of stated in the story.

If a character is depressed or guilt ridden, it should be expressed through their attitude, their actions, their decisions, their reactions, etc. instead of stating “this character is depressed”. Whether it’s done through dialog or a visual of a rainy cloud doesn’t matter, because it’s still conveyed directly to the audience instead of being evident in the text itself.

So listen up y’all, nothing drives me crazier as both a writer and a scientist than seeing alien diseases that make no fuckin’ sense in a human body. 

If you’re talking about alien diseases in a non-human character, you can ignore all this.

But as far as alien diseases in humans go, please remember:

DISEASE SYMPTOMS ARE AN IMMUNE RESPONSE.

Fever? A response to help your immune cells function faster and more efficiently to destroy invaders.

Sore/scratchy throat? An immune response. Diseases that latch onto the epithelium of the throat (the common cold, the flu) replicate there, and your body is like “uh no fuckin’ thanks” and starts to slough off those cells in order to stop the replication of new virus in its tracks. So when it feels like your throat is dying? guess what it literally is. And the white spots you see with more severe bacterial infections are pus accumulation, which is basically dead white blood cells, and the pus is a nice and disgusting way of getting that shit outta here.

(No one really knows why soreness and malaise happens, but some scientists guess that it’s a byproduct of immune response, and others suspect that it’s your body’s way of telling you to take it easy)

headache? usually sinus pressure (or dehydration, which isn’t an immune response but causes headaches by reducing blood volume and causing a general ruckus in your body, can be an unfortunate side effect of a fever) caused by mucous which is an immune response to flush that nasty viral shit outta your face.

Rashes? an inflammatory response. Your lymphocytes see a thing they don’t like and they’re like “hEY NOW” and release a bunch of chemicals that tell the cells that are supposed to kill it to come do that. Those chemicals cause inflammation, which causes redness, heat, and swelling. They itch because histamine is a bitch.

fatigue? your body is doing a lot–give it a break!

here is a fact:

during the Spanish 1918 Plague, a very strange age group succumbed to the illness. The very young and very old were fine, but people who were seemingly healthy and in the prime of life (young adults) did not survive. This is because that virus triggered an immune response called a cytokine storm, which basically killed everything in sight and caused horrific symptoms like tissue death, vasodilation and bleeding–basically a MASSIVE inflammatory response that lead to organ damage and death. Those with the strongest immune systems took the worst beating by their own immune responses, while those with weaker immune systems were fine.

So when you’re thinking of an alien disease, think through the immune response.

Where does this virus attack? Look up viruses that also attack there and understand what the immune system would do about it. 

Understand symptoms that usually travel together–joint pain and fever, 

So please, please: no purple and green spotted diseases. No diseases that cause glamorous fainting spells and nothing else. No mystical eye-color/hair-color changing diseases. If you want these things to happen, use magic or some shit or alien physiology, but when it’s humans, it doesn’t make any fuckin’ sense.