Modded Skyrim or Sovengarde

Even before I really started paying attention to Cicero and loving the character as much as I do, that one line instantly clicked as a double-entendre after having read his journals. The first and most obvious meaning to "I'm not what I used to be," was his age. Cicero is canonically in his 30s-40s by the time we see him in Skyrim, and on a surface level he's talking about how run-down he physically feels. But the second meaning is what's most intriguing. He takes the phrase "I'm not what I used to be" literally, in that the line represents how much he'd changed from his former self throughout the course of worshipping the Night Mother, being alone with her for at least 10 years, and finally arriving in Skyrim and seeing Astrid trying to take a personal hold over the whole Dark Brotherhood.

Here’s the breakdown:

Sithis wants everything returned to a state of non-existence. More than any other entity in the game, Sithis wants Alduin to vore the active Kalpa

Sithis has little influence over Nirn without the Dark Brotherhood. (Sithis doesn’t want to influence existence generally)

The Dark Brotherhood had existed for thousands of years in the service of an entity that wants nothing to exist. Sithis gets power from sacrifice, yes, but maintaining a cult is antithetical to Sithis’ being. Eventually Sithis left the Brotherhood to wither on the vine

So imagine Sithis’ displeasure when the World-Eater showed up four eras late with Starbucks and a Legendary Dragonborn appears immediately. That Dragonborn is picking off Alduin’s army like it’s going out of style, Alduin could get his scaley ass kicked out of the time stream (or worse) and what’s Sithis going to do about it?

What can Sithis do about it?

I think Sithis hit up their only remaining link to Nirn and said “Night Mother, you need to pick the dragonborn as a Listener. Send them on the most difficult contracts you can find. Get them killed if you can, distract them if you can’t.”

Designing and shooting all of the thumbnails was fun lmao tried to replicate some actual TV show/film thumbnails.

Fun facts bc I spent way too long on this:

Lucien's thumbnail was originally going to look more like a brutalist drama like some fanmade posters of Oppenheimer, to make it sound like a gritty thriller centered around a genius. But I ended up with something more low-fantasy.

Love the implication that Remiel is a real presenter ("Dwemerology with Remi") while everyone else is fictional.

I imagine Xelzaz's show would be an ambitious political thriller i.e. a darker House of Cards mixed with Mr. Robot.

Gore's is set in Riften because of his line about wanting to live in the region + always wanting to see an aspen grove.

Dragon Rising is for my Dragonborn OC - more Game of Thrones-esque.

Dominion features my ex-Thalmor OC, but I imagine the show covers the Thalmor in general a la Severance X Succession.

Initially wanted Inigo's thumbnail font to look like The Princess Bride, but Canva Free doesn't have a font like that lol.

Cicero but it's interview attire trend bcs why do you mean i ignored this absolute peak of videogame for years thinking it's just mid piece of bugs for hardcore players..... bruh anyway i met this loser of a jester on Loreius farm long before i even KNEW about dark brotherhood and ever since he's just an everyday part of my skyrim playthrough ⬇️⬇️⬇️ + dark theme

+ close up and context

Hermaeus Mora, Fatekeeper

if you're a rabbit, the boss rabbit is the one who gets groomed by its subordinate rabbits.

but if you're a cat... the boss cat is the one that grooms the other cats.

He spoke too soon 😭

Had to share this since I managed to capture this while screen recording my current Skyrim playthrough 💀😭 gotta love that Bethesda timing lmao