#black marsh

Man. Fighting for my life with this Argonian.

I did some tests on some scraps of canvas for painting scales - and this is the best technique I could come up with. Just sort of varying tone, brush strokes and hue to try and give the impression of scales. It’s not too dissimilar to how I paint skin, to be honest. It kinda works, and I’m hoping when I go in with the highlights it’ll tie it together some more.

I guess the fact that the Argonian’s change appearance a bit in most games is a boon. I can take some liberties with the portrait 😁

Hope you’re all well!

A very merry Saturalia and New Life Festival from Talviel of Riften, this 25th Evening Star!

This year, I present a cross-continental banquet and invite everyone across Tamriel to come together, put aside their differences, and revel in the delights of gift-giving and food! There are 100 (yes, a HUNDRED) courses for everyone to choose from, so dig in and enjoy! ~Talviel

A note from Tal: All artwork featured in this post was done by the incredible @nicatorshields on Instagram, and are featured in Talviel's Kitchen cookbook vol 2, coming in PDF version in 2026! YOU DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO USE, REUPLOAD, OR SHARE THE ARTWORK WITHOUT MINE AND THE ARTIST'S CONSENT. THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING! 

Black Marsh

The meals:

Coal-grilled bamboo clams served with calamansi lime and shallot sambal

Swamp snail phở, with rice noodles in a two-day secret clear broth

Witchetty grub gratin, baked with fragrant swamp herbs and guar-milk cheese

Shadowfen lemongrass fish soup, with a sweet-and-spicy broth, vegetables, and hearty chunks of locally-caught fish

Barbecued guar loin, basted in scuttlebloom nectar and pink peppercorn barbecue sauce and served with jasmine rice

Drinks and desserts:

Mangosteen and pineapple smoothie, served refreshingly cold!

Avocado and cocoa shake, the Argonian answer to a chocolate milkshake!

Young coconut shavings in coconut milk ice, drizzled with pandan syrup

Murkmire traditional fruit salad, with papaya, mango, pineapple, açaí, guarana, pomelo, drizzled in scuttlebloom nectar and served chilled

Scuttlebloom nectar gelato, sprinkled with crystallised ginger and fresh mango mash 

Assorted tapioca and glutinous rice-based kueh bite selection 

Cyrodiil

The meals:

Pancetta, chanterelle, and ricotta-stuffed tortellini, with creamy tomato sauce

Battaglir and West Weald cave-aged pecorino pastry puffs, with hot honey dip

Anvil squid ink and seafood paella

Bistecca alla Imperial City, served rare and sliced with a micro-herb garnish

Kvatch-style mushroom risotto, with a generous dollop of West Weald parmesan butter

Drinks and desserts:

Surilie Brothers mulled wine

Spiced apple juice, with an optional shot of Anvil rum

Bruma-style tiramisu, with coffee and Colovian Brandy-soaked sponge fingers and spiced marscarpone

Skingrad festive sweetrolls (pannettone), studded with wine-soaked raisins

Panna cotta cups with raspberry coulis

Elsweyr

The meals:

Moon sugar and chili-glazed grilled salmon, with saffron rice

Anequina-style fellrunner pilaf, with dried fruit and nuts

Pellitine prawn noodles, with a rich seafood broth and king prawns with thick egg noodles

Kenarthi's naan, stuffed with moon sugar-glazed dried dates, sultanas, and shredded coconut

Coconut coal-grilled chicken satay, with spicy bird's eye chili peanut sauce

Drinks and desserts:

Egg soda with moon sugar syrup

Drip coffee with moon sugar condensed milk

Caramel vanilla flan

Rose-and-pistachio cake, with whipped buttercream

Dragon's beard candy, wrapped around chopped candied peanuts

Hammerfell

The meals:

İskender kebap, served with punchy tomato-and-paprika sauce and pita bread

Spicy and tender pulled goat stew over bulgur

Giant snake meatballs, served with harissa yoghurt

Babaganoush, hummus, and taramasalata dip trio, served with pita bread

Goat, lamb, and At-Aswala horse souvlaki, with lemon yoghurt dip

Drinks and desserts:

Coconut-and-banana goats milk lassi

Fresh Bantha mint tea 

A selection of soft, freshly-made pistachio, rose, and vanilla pashmak 

Fried and soft sweet goat cheese balls, soaked in cardamom-infused syrup

Crisp and cheesy knafeh, soaked in rose syrup and served with crushed pistachios 

High Rock 

The meals:

Traditional pigs-in-blankets, with maple and sherry dip

Baked polenta with grilled vegetables, with a red wine reduction

Fried brie bites, with apple and cranberry jelly

Bacon and potato chowder, served with fresh crusty sourdough 

Gruyere and goose liver-stuffed vol-au-vents, topped with micro-herbs

Drinks and desserts:

Berry-cherry punch, with Northpoint port

Hot mulled pear cider

Spiced fruit mince pies

Saturalia trifle, layered with whipped cream, strawberry jelly, custard, and boozy sponge cake

Liquor-filled chocolate and praline selection

Morrowind

The meals:

Ash yam-and-saltrice gnocchi, with trama root-infused scuttle sauce

Guar carpaccio, with fire petals and comberry syrup drizzle

Kwama egg steamed savoury custard, with mudcrab and nix-hound

Scuttle-and-shein fondue, with fragrant corkbulb-wickwheat bread

Guar-stuffed scathecraw, with bittergreen and hackle-lo salad 

Drinks and desserts:

Comberry and fire petal tea

Fine selection of flin, sujamma, greef, mazte, and shein

Marshmerrow pie, with sweet scuttlecream

Sweet-and-savoury saltrice cakes with marshmerrow caramel drizzle

Mazte-infused kwama egg soufflé

Skyrim

The meals:

Three-cheese raclette, served over Whiterun-style rösti

Falkreath venison stew, served with mashed potatoes and juniper gravy

Barley soup, with ham, rabbit meatballs, and peas

Salted Dawnstar slaughterfish, baked in a spiced millet crust

Mudcrab gratin, of mudcrab meat mixed with Eidar cheese and spices, baked in the shell

Drinks and desserts:

Hot spiced berry mead 

Hot Firebrand Wine punch with juniper berries

Grandma's sweet brunost soufflé bites

Chocolate-dipped salty corn cones- Whiterun's favourite!

Chewy almond ring cake, drizzled with snowberry icing 

Summerset 

The meals:

Smoked heron, with plum and apple sauce

Trout sashimi, served with wasabi and garum

Alinor-style lamb chops, with cherry gel

Direnni braised rabbit, with roast vegetables

Lillandril New Life salad, with crisp baby lettuce, Russafeld grapes, walnuts, and lemon mayonnaise

Drinks and desserts:

Russafeld Heights wine and champagne selection

Sparkling apple lemonade

Cherry blossom honey agar-agar jelly 

Shimmerene fruit tartlets, garnished with gold leaf and wine-soaked cherries 

Caramelised peach pie, with vanilla gelato

Valenwood

The meals:

Thick and hearty bacon and timber mammoth cheese omelette (frittata)

Monkey pie, with meat jus gravy and honey drizzle

Tender, sizzling venison platter in a zesty jagga sauce

Smoked timber mammoth brisket

Juicy Greenshade antelope-and-crocodile meatballs

Drinks and desserts:

Aged rotmeth

Warm jagga topped with whipped cream and sweetgnats 

Falinesti crème brûlée, made from timber mammoth cream with crystallised honey crackling 

Candied bacon balls

Frozen sweetgnat custard pots

Wrothgar

The meals:

Birch-smoked wrathberry and echatere blood sausages

Horker bacon and wild mushroom-stuffed baked potatoes 

Chub loon wings, with a tangy echatere blue cheese dip

Smoked Wrothgarian salmon with horseradish, bitter goat cheese, and frost mirriam creme

Slow-cooked echatere ribs, served with bog iron ale jam

Drinks and desserts:

Vintage wrathberry ale

Echatere milk eggnog

Creamy frost mirriam rice porridge with brown sugar and wrathberry compote

Echatere milk shaved ice, drizzled with sweet cream, honey, and pink zinfandel syrup

The Ebonheat pact, much like its people, is a surprisingly complicated affair. Some creative liberties have been taken on my part, especially when it comes to the precise location of some places, as the game(s) have a tendency to truncate their maps somewhat.

Tree Minder

Art for The Elder Scrolls: Legends

A high ranking archein bureaucrat - a dutifull servant of the king of blackmarsh