This is my character's journal that I'm keeping as I play through Skyrim. Every time I sleep, I stop playing and record what happened throughout the day. I'm playing the original version, with lots of mods to make it more immersive and realistic (Wet & Cold, iNeed, etc) which makes it more fun for me.
Journal Entries go up once they're edited.
Click Here to Start!
If you'd rather read it on Ao3, you can find it here:
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
I update in roughtly 5k word chunks (two or three entries, usually) on ao3. The fic on ao3 is a bit behind tumblr, but at least you can get email updates and such there.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you like it!
If you prefer audio format, I'm very slowly making it into a podfic, too! Listen Here on AO3
My Asks are open, so feel free to ask about my headcanons, the Lore as I understand it, whatever! I also like to draw, but I'm terribly indecisive. Let me know if there's a particular moment in the fic you'd like to see.
You can also share your work with me! Please! Share links to your stuff! Fanfic, Fanart, OCs, Headcanons, Cosplays! Or Tag Me! I want to see it and share it!
THIS IS THE PLACE FOR SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION! DO NOT FEEL BAD FOR SHOWING OFF STUFF YOU MADE!
I don't care if it's a shitty photoshop cut/paste job of Elenwen as a Barbie, or a joke gif with Tullius and Ulfric made with comic sans text and fuzzy-edged pngs, it is going on the fridge.
Bronwen's Hoard - (I'm going to semi-retire this) My sideblog where I reblog general TES stuff and TES adjacent things.
Also - FUCK AI. Human-made things only. If I share AI slop, for the love of Mara, tell me.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
My personal goal is to try and make fanfic binding as accessible to everyone as possible, so here are some resources on how to make a fanfic hardcover for under $25.
This is a barebones bind for the broke college students and such. Happy to field questions, too!
Here's a proposed budget breakdown:
Loosely organized thoughts:
Fanfic bookbinders often share typesets amongst each other. Never pay for a typeset for a fanfic.
You'll hear a lot about grain direction for your printer paper, but as a newbie on a budget without your own printer, settle for some nice 92 bright paper. If you like the hobby, splurge after but expect to pay at least 2-3x more for short grain paper.
Printing is a pain because some copy shops won't let you print intellectual property smut, and it's very expensive. You are better off bartering instead or looking for a free printer on Buy Nothing.
You know the thick paper wrapping that comes with online orders? It's a good weight for endpapers if you need to scrounge. Paper grocery bags or gift bags (birthday presents) might work, too.
Ask your local library to give you covers from books they are throwing out. Ask for outdated textbooks (those covers are built like tanks) or three-ring binders that are too busted to be binders anymore.
Obtain a used book that was mass produced (so your destruction of it does not impede anyone's access) and maybe even become a little vindictive with it.
If you can afford it, I recommend the Olfa SVR knife (~$10)
If you can afford it, upgrade your ruler to a t-square.
I really hope this resource is helpful! I want to stress how possible this is and encourage people to cherish what they love through art.
If you are interested in fanfic binding and have a little more disposable income, I have an affordable Fan Fiction Bookbinding Starter Pack that I carry on my site. I pack them myself and drop them 1x/month on the 15th.
Now this one will be interesting. Moon Sugar is definitely one of Skyrim's best known ingredients, largely because of its use as a drug and its part in the creation of Skooma. Against it is Felsaad Tern Feathers, which I feel fairly confident in saying is one of the most obscure ingredients. The latter seems to be at a pretty obvious disadvantage, but maybe that obscurity makes seem it cool and mysterious?
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Now this one will be interesting. Moon Sugar is definitely one of Skyrim's best known ingredients, largely because of its use as a drug and its part in the creation of Skooma. Against it is Felsaad Tern Feathers, which I feel fairly confident in saying is one of the most obscure ingredients. The latter seems to be at a pretty obvious disadvantage, but maybe that obscurity makes seem it cool and mysterious?
Two DLC ingredients, from Dragonborn and Dawnguard respectively! In theory, being from a DLC could make an ingredient seem more cool and exciting to vote for, but if such an advantage does exist, it's not going to do anything here; these two ingredients are fighting on even ground.
This could be an interesting matchup. Whether or not you have strong opinions on their antennae, I expect many of you have opinions on Chaurus Hunters. Daedra Hearts, meanwhile, are one of the ingredients I suspect are more on the iconic side, at least as far as Skyrim ingredients go.
If you want to push it back even further Margaret Cavendish, the duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673) wrote The Blazing World in 1666, about a young woman who discovers a Utopian world that can only be accessed via the North Pole - oft credited as one of the first scifi novels
Women have always been at the forefront of literature, the first novel (what we would consider a novel in modern terms) was written by a woman (Lady Muraskai’s the Tale of Genji in the early 1000s) take your snide “Isaac Asimov” reblogs and stick it
even in terms of male scifi authors, asimov was predated by Jules Verne, HG Wells, George Orwell, you could have even cited Poe or Jonathan Swift has a case but Asimov?
PbbBFFTTBBBTBTTBBTBTTT so desperate to discredit the idea of Mary Shelly as the mother of modern science fiction you didn’t even do a frickin google search For Shame
Kinda funny, considering this Isaac Asimov quote on the subject:
Mary Shelley was the first to make use of a new finding of science which she advanced further to a logical extreme, and it is that which makes Frankenstein the first true science fiction story.
You know what else was invented by women? Masked vigilantes, the precursor to the modern superhero. Baroness Emma Orczy wrote The Scarlet Pimpernel in 1905. The character would later inspire better known masked vigilantes such as Zorro and Batman.
the first extended prose piece - ie a novel, was not, as many male scholars will shout, Don Quixote (1605) but The Tale of Genji (1008) written by a woman
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
This is a long read, but worth it. Some takeaways:
-Don’t use “buy now pay later.” The fine print isn’t what it seems.
-The fine print on medical financing, store credit cards, and contactless payment is also not what it seems.
-Payday loans are still predatory, even when offered by your employer
-Rewards programs are an income stream for the companies that run them. The points systems are manipulated so that the house always wins. They depend on people leaving money in rewards accounts and not in interest-bearing traditional bank accounts.
-Electronic payment apps like VenMo are not banks. You don’t earn interest. Your money is not protected.
-Your financial information is not private if your money is not kept in a regulated bank.
-None of this is regulated by the FDIC. Your money is not protected if it is held by a non-bank doing banking business. Our economy is not protected from the collapse of financial institutions that are not banks.
-The Biden administration was making progress in increasing accountability for non-banks operating as predatory financial services providers. The current administration is reversing those protections to favor corporations.
A third of younger Americans hold their savings on nonbank tech platforms like Venmo
PEOPLE! DO NOT LEAVE YOUR MONEY IN VENMO OR APPLE PAY OR ANY OF THIS SHIT. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GO FIND A REAL BANK OR A CREDIT UNION.
If Venmo were to close tomorrow all your money would vanish. There's no insurance or guarantee on any of these things. I know banks aren't great but legit banks will have the "FDIC insured" logo on their doors and websites, which means if my bank goes under tomorrow I still get my money back. Also I guarantee you there is a credit union somewhere in your town, go find it.
You can leave some money in Venmo or Apple pay or whatever, but NOT ALL OF IT for the love of God.
No, it's misleading. Go to Green Dot's T&Cs, search for "FDIC," and you'll come across this:
your funds are insured up to $250,000 by the FDIC in the event Green Dot Bank fails
In the event Green Dot Bank fails. Meaning the only time your money is protected is if Green Dot goes under. Not if Apple goes under (unlikely, granted). Or if Apple changes its terms (entirely possible). Or if you got scammed. Or if Apple freezes your account because they think you're the one scamming. Or any of the other countless mishaps your money could suffer. Green Dot is insured, but Apple Cash is not.
This is the disclaimer (highlighted) you see before you set up Apple Cash:
As someone who's worked in the industry for a decade now, here's a quick rundown (US specific,) of what your schools and parents didn't teach you:
For the love of god get an account at a federally insured institution. Look for FDIC (banks) or NCUA (credit unions) insured and regulated financial institution. They are legally required to have this status publicly available and accessible so it's not hard to find.
The FDIC and/or NCUA will insure your accounts up to $250,000 PER AUTHORIZED SIGNER and per account type. These are factors to max your coverage to even higher than $250k but the key point is that if something happens to your bank or accounts there, that first $250k of your money is secured anyway.
Banks are for profit. Credit Unions are exactly what it sounds like: unions. They are not for profit and member owned.
Bigger institutions have more money and resources at their disposal; they have the fancier apps, 24/7 phone banking and more locations. But watch out! They are no different than any other large corporation you've heard of when it comes to ethics. Smaller institutions have more limitations, and lesser size is not an indicator of morality, but it's something to consider when choosing where to keep your money.
These institutions, regardless of what kind you choose, will offer interest bearing accounts. Money Market Savings and Time Accounts (also called Certificates of Deposit,) are popular choices to put the money you already have to work for you. You can earn money just for having your money in an interest bearing account type.
All financial institutions charge fees of one sort or another. They are offering products and services, after all. Nothing is free! They will also disclose options to avoid paying those fees, usually based around meeting specific criteria such as minimum balances or direct deposits.
Take this information and do your own research so that you can make an informed decision. Now you know what to look for! Don't be taken advantage of!
it feels so evil that you can't still access your university online library after you graduate *remembers my principles* it feels so evil that everyone can't access to that stuff all the time
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Thank you to @cresu @neloths-tea @sulphuricgrin for tagging me!!
Name: Kayla Seran
Age: 24 at the start of fic / TES 5 events
Occupation: Last Dragonborn, Listener / Assassin for Dark Brotherhood, former-ish Harbinger of the Companions
Background: Kayla was born in Cheydinhal, Cyrodiil as the youngest to her Imperial mother and Dunmer father. Kayla grew up with two older brothers: the oldest brother Gavin is an Imperial Legion Captain (he’s also the most human/imperial looking of the siblings but does have red iris’) and her second oldest brother named Julian is a bit of mercenary rogue type (the most Dunmer looking of the siblings with typical gray color skin, the classic red Dunmer eyes and elvish ears). Kayla’s mother was originally a priestess of Mara at the local temple and her father is a ‘mercenary / sword for hire’ (he’s a dark brotherhood assassin and does do mercenary work but that also serves as his cover LOL).
More under the cut! It’ll be too long if I don’t add it 💖 (also here’s drawings of her, her two brothers, and her mom and dad :3 )
Notable Relationships: OH BOY! I’m gonna restrict this to actual Skyrim NPC’s otherwise it’ll be too long lol
Miraak ❤️: well we probably all know this one 💀 I could yap about then forever so I’ll keep it brief! Kayla and Miraak end up doing the Enemies to Allies to Friends to Lovers route 👍❤️ eventuallyyyyyy they get married and have kids and goddamn someone give Kayla some sort of Medal of Honor for having 5 kids with Miraak smh
Vilkas 😬: you KNOW I gotta bring up this one LMAO SO! Kayla and Vilkas were nearlyyyy on the cusp of being an actual couple but that gets hastily interrupted by a cultist attack that leads her to venture to Solstheim for a few months 👀Kayla sets Vilkas in charge while she’s gone and eventually she also leaves the Companions and names him the harbinger in her place YEUP. It’s a whole thing. Vilkas still has feelings for Kayla even after time has passed and they were in fact very good friends for a while before the other stuff comes up. Someone previously mentioned in this post is a DAY ONE NUMBER ONE HATER of Vilkas for more reasons than 1-and it’s great 🙌 gotta love drama
Teldryn Sero 🦀: Kayla hires and then befriends Teldryn as she journeys to Solstheim to figure out ‘who this Miraak asshole is’. The two end up being really good friends and continue their friendship beyond the dragonborn dlc quest. Teldryn is, at least at first, pretty disappointed in her befriending AND then eventually getting romantically involved with Miraak LOL, it’s pretty much the “really? Of all the people in Skyrim or Tamriel….this one?” 😂 Teldryn and Kayla initially connect over the fact Teldryn’s from Blacklight and Kayla’s father originally lived there too!
Teldryn and Kayla are both sassy troublemakers which is a big part of their friendship and they both enjoy teasing / ‘rage baiting’ Miraak. As mentioned, Teldryn and Kayla stay friends throughout everything and even into the future, Kayla and Miraak’s kids call him Uncle Tel 💖
Camilla Valerius 😳: HEHE so Kayla and Camilla became uh friends with benefits / fuck buddies for a while which is one of the funniest random lore I have for Kayla 😂 so while Sven and Faendal bark around at each other and bicker about who should be with Camilla, Kayla’s over here going to freaky town with her without either guys having a clue 😂😂
Serana 💜: Kayla does the dawnguard quest line and definitely becomes friends with Serana. Kayla and Serana bond over a lot of different things and build a deep trust with each other. Serana becomes another lifelong friend and the two remain close and frequently in contact after the main questline and dawnguard questline events.
Lydia 💅: Kayla gets the whole thane of Whiterun title which means Lydia is appointed to her. At first, Kayla is annoyed with the idea of being assigned a bodyguard-I’m the Dragonborn why do I need a bodyguard?? but eventually accepts Lydia’s help with a quest or two and they become very good friends. Lydia is no stranger to Kayla’s antics and isn’t afraid to call her out or lecture her-in a loving bestie kind of way ❤️ Lydia sometimes is the voice of reason Kayla needs 🩷
Strengths:
Speechcraft, in many, many ways (She isn’t exactly one to enjoy or partake in lying and avoids it when she can BUT that gal knows how to put on a performance whatever the occasion may be especially if it’s of a um flirty nature). Smooth talking, gets her way out of trouble, sometimes she amplifies being unassuming, friendly, or ditzy to purposefully fly under peoples radars. And if you’ve seen or read anything about her dad I’ve shared, that’s exactly who she gets it from 😂
Combat and Murder 💀 that’s to be expected at this point 😭 she’s a melee fighter gal through and through and uh well being in the Dark Brotherhood is great for that because she’s skilled at killing people and they DB pays well for her to do it!
One handed / dual wield weapons!!
FAST! She’s small and swift!
Sympathetic / Empathetic / Caring to others (especially those who have mental strife or young). A surprising trait for a fighter assassin lady 😂 Kayla’s kind of an oddity in that she can be her scary warrior Dragonborn self but also is incredibly gentle and soft with those she loves (friends, family, etc) and espeicllay to kids-she’s very protective of them especially given the past she had. That’s how she so quickly agrees to help Aventus Arentino and gets thrown into the whole DB questline. She also used to babysit her two nephews (from oldest brother) alllllll the time back in Cyrodiil. She’s very nurturing, playful, whimsical, and protective which the kids gravitate towards.
Weaknesses:
RECKLESS: Especially / specifically with fighting, she’s the type in battle to be like, ‘I don’t care if I die fighting you, you’re going down with me’
Often overly self sacrificing or commits herself to helping others when she is already out of her depth. She tends to also feel the need to prove she’s strong and capable since she’s often overlooked for that and in turn leads to her burning out or getting injured or other unfortunate outcomes
Too comfortable / too detached with enacting violence / killing enemies: well I had a whole spiel for this but I’ll just put this here quickly. Due to Kayla’s past, she can be a bit detached from the foes she kills and sometimes not as detached and more willfully cruel. This definitely stems from her papa, but he’s ultimately worse/more guilty of this, the sadistic fuck lmao
Kayla’s grandmother on her father’s side talking about her to Azarain (Kayla’s dad):
“She is a juvenile serpent that doesn’t realize when and where to seep her venom in a panic. Teach her to wield it accordingly.”
Disorganized and Unstructured
No interest in:
Learning more Magic?!?? She just wants to attack things fast and hard with one handed weapons 💀
Thievery. “I don’t wanna waste time or energy stealing shit, feels weird. If I really need something from someone I’ll ask, talk my way to it, or kill them.” A.K.A: ‘I may be a killer but I’m not a thief!’
Substances beyond the occasional drinks lol save that sort of thing for her brother Julian or as I like to call him SKOOMA BOY
No concept of:
Minimalism (those dovah hoarding tendencies yall)
Staying on task (yep that’s my ADHD girlie right there)
Conformity or fitting into expectations
In battle:
Kayla is mostly dual wielding / using one handed weapons. She knows a few little spells here and there but nothing advanced at all or most intermediate level spells. She likes melee through and through and enjoys close proximity rather than ranged attacks. Because she is smaller/shorter, she’s had to learn to find ways to counter this set back such as being very fast and very aggressive in her attacks. She’s also incredibly unpredictable with battle strategy / movements / attack patterns which also serves as another vantage point to her combat.
Distinguishing marks or notable features?:
Has a few lil scars here and there with one larger one on her back near her ribs that’s about the length of her hand. Other than that, in terms of noticeable physical details: SHORT height! This gal is literally 5’2” or 157.5 cm 😭 the nicknames “Mal Dovah” from Miraak or “Tiny Terror” from Teldryn are in fact very accurate 😭😂😂
Trivia?:
Kayla’s last name Seran stems from her family history with House Redoran and the Seran family-one of the 30 revered families of Vvardenfell that can be traced back to the Chimer! The family has an ancestral tomb in Morrowind TES 3 you can find actually!
Kayla enjoys artsy hobbies like charcoal sketching and painting and enjoy singing a bit too-her mother tried to encourage a lot of hobbies and other varying skills when she was young to balance out the more unsavory and ‘lethal ones.’ Kayla also enjoys hobbies that keep her hands busy usually
Okay so this is relevant for the next lil lore piece but Kayla has pretty rough PTSD prior to TES 5 events and it comes up frequently in her life (I got a whole post explaining those but it’s a bit heavy-it was for the myths of Tamriel disability post so if you wanna know more feel free to look there). She loves animals and eventually ends up with a few including her dog she adopts from the Dawnguard named Winnie. Although the dawnguard dogs are usually husky looking, Winnie resembles more a long haired German Shepherd. Winnie acts as the TES equivalent of a PTSD service dog in many ways such as general comfort /grounding, crowd control / blocking, disrupting SI behaviors, alerting (usually to Miraak) for help, checking surroundings (Kayla can sometimes suffer hallucinations in bad flashbacks and whatnot so Winnie helps to show that the area is safe). Winnie is the best doggy :3 and is able to lend that sort of therapeutic animal duty to Miraak too from time to time ❤️🩹 who wouldn’t wanna pet and hug that big fluffy dog?! :3
Even though Kayla’s only half Dunmer, I like to give her some of the aspects usually associated with Dunmer including the ole Morrowind Ancestor Guardian! Kayla’s main ‘guardian’ shows up here and there and is an aunt from of course her dad’s side of the family longggg ago. I’ll have to draw her and post her but her name is Nova Seran or as Kayla calls her Aunt Nova (or Daesma Nova / just Daesma as a sort of Dunmeri translation for aunt- sister: Daeseh and Mother: Alma, thank you to @changelingsandothernonsense for the translation idea help!))
Kayla’s religious associations and practices are all over the place!! Her mother being a priestess of Mara from Cyrodiil, her father worshipping the Reclamations just as his family does back in Morrowind, Kayla also being the listener for the dark brotherhood-it’s scattered to say the least!! It’s easy enough for her to have an appreciation for Aedra but also has no quarrels with appreciating Daedra (mainly just the Reclamations-Azura, Mephala, Boethiah). SO! When Kayla and Miraak do eventually marry, their wedding ceremony is a bit of a mixture that includes little traditions or homages from their cultures (I mean we got a half Dunmer half Imperial with a half Atmoran half Yokudan lol).
Tagging these lovely folks (no pressure to post) (and also if I forgot to tag it wasn’t intentional and feel free to tag me in yours if you want :3 ) and YOU READING IF YOU WANT :3 🫶❤️
For anyone who hasn't seen them before, Hidden Search Operators are handy tricks you can use when you're either searching or filtering AO3.
summary: string is a generic way of explaining that you can search AO3 for a specific word that appears in a summary. You can do this from the search bar in the header, from the Any Field box at the top of the Advanced Search form, or from the Search Within Results box at the bottom of the filter menu.
Examples:
summary: Bruce
summary: "Bruce Banner"
summary: Bruce OR summary: Banner OR summary: Hulk
You need to put quotation marks around your search term if it is more than one word. The quotes make sure that the site searches for those two words together.
The other two operators listed work best in the Search Within Results box.
expected_number_of_chapters: 1 will return results where every fic has only 1 chapter currently posted.
You can use expected_number_of_chapters: -1 if you want results where every fic has more than 1 chapter currently posted.
otp:true will return results where there is only 1 relationship tag on the fic. If you want results where there are 2+ relationship tags (and no fics with only 1 relationship tag) then you can use otp:false
This page is so beautiful and honestly I hope it reaches and helps any new people that are just starting out on Ao3 because it's helping me and I’ve been using the site for 5+ years now
I saw your tags @jackdaw-sprite and I figured I could offer you some help? You've got a few options to find fics that are actually about your fave who is often sidelined.
My own personal go-to is to use the Search Within Results filter. You can find the filters by clicking/tapping on any tag. If you're on a wide screen like a laptop, they'll be on the right hand side of the screen. If you're on a narrow screen like a phone, you'll need to press the Filters button at the top of the page to open up the menu.
In that menu, scroll down until you're near the bottom. That's where you can find the box labelled Search Within Results. In that box, you can type
summary: Renhardt OR summary: Rendog
When you filter for that result, you'll get 19 fics with that name mentioned in the summary, and if the name is in the summary you've got MUCH higher chances of them being central to the fic.
There's also a way to find fics with a tag in the X position. Fan coders have had this same issue, and so they've created userscripts that you can add to your web browser (like an extension). Here are a few that might be helpful for you to try:
AO3 Actually Relevant Characters - Sorts and highlights works based on how relevant the tagged character seems in the work's tags and summary.
AO3: Prioritise my Faves - Hide work if chosen tags are late in sequence, or if blacklisted tags are early
AO3 Secondary Character & Pairing Filter - Replaces works with placeholder if the tags you want aren't the first few tags, with option to show work.
Editing to add: this version of the post has a syntax error in it. To remove oneshots with a filter, use
