#nocteriil

To more fully answer your question: as I see it, the only difference between Lucelion and Nocteriil in their self-regulation is their use of two different strategies to achieve (superficially, at least) the same goal of monitoring their psychological states and minimising the internal effects of external stimuli. Lucelion unwittingly engages in ‘expressive suppression’ wherein he tries to hide, hinder, and halt his emotional reactions, expressions, and behaviours–it’s why he comes across as stone-cold dead. Nocteriil uses what’s called ‘cognitive reappraisal’; so where Lucelion’s unconscious strategy is reactive to the emotion (i.e., something happens →Lucelion feels a knee-jerk emotion → he then forcibly curbs the knee-jerk emotion), Nocteriil’s strategy is reactive to the stimuli (i.e., something happens → Nocteriil feels a knee-jerk emotion → Nocteriil rethinks the way in which he’s mentally approaching the situation that made him feel that emotion). 

I’ll give you an example situation where the two strategies as I understand them come into play: Brii, the betrothed, is ‘abducted’. Both father and son eventually learn that she, in all actuality, merely ran away with the man (’eloped’, rather). Lucelion’s a hot mess of anxiety, sorrow, and anger, but Nocteriil is just plain furious. While Lucelion will do everything in his power to prevent the expression and the experience of whatever he’s feeling–he just wants those emotions to go away–Nocteriil, meanwhile, is playing mental chess. Nocteriil’s instinctive interpretation of the situation is that this is an affront to his family and to his family’s public reputation. This makes him incredibly angry, but he reappraises the situation: this is actually a golden opportunity. At the moment, the bride-to-be owes him nothing. And someone who owes you nothing is someone who is difficult to control. But running away was an act that carries with it consequences… consequences that he has the social power to both induce and alleviate if he so manipulates the situation and its participants adroitly. Brii may owe him nothing now, but in what state will she find her home, her family, her reputation, or their reputation upon her inevitable return? Who else could save her or ruin her but he? A compliant daughter-in-law who owes him her and her family’s very survival is an advantage he cannot let slip by. This ‘abduction’ is actually a blessing in disguise. Anger managed.

What are his feelings towards Elenwen (if they’ve met)?

Nocteriil believes that Elenwen shows promise in her position as First Emissary, but thinks that she cares far too much about hosting parties than she ought. He realises, however, that as First Emissary it is her duty to make nice with the powerful in the province.  In that regard, he is willing to excuse her frivolity.

Also, does he consider Skyrim/the mainland to be below him or less beautiful than the Isles?

I’m sure any Altmer who was born and raised in the Isles would look upon Skyrim as the cesspool of Tamriel.  It’s drab, dreary, and dull—in complete and utter contrast to the lush, vibrant, warm home they are so used to!

What are his feelings towards Nords?

As far as Skyrim’s people are concerned, they’re less than dirt to him.  Any slobbering Altmeri peasant in the Isles looks like a prince compared to the natives!

Did he fight in the great war? 

He personally did not, no.  He did contribute to the war effort, however, both publicly, financially, and by supplying soldiers taken from his own standing army.

Does he specialize in destruction magic, or is he comfortable using traditional weapons like swords/spears?

In his youth, Nocteriil was given military training.  I headcanon that this is part and parcel of being a nobleman, however, and does not indicate a taste for war or weapons.  (I’ve derived this from Nithard’s accounts of the leisure activities of the noblemen under Louis the German, King of the Eastern Franks, in the 9th century.)

There is not much to Nocteriil’s character.  I do not mean that in a cruel way, so allow me to explain from the beginning.

Nocteriil is the patriarch of one of Alinor’s most powerful families.*  It is said that the family can trace it’s proud lineage all the way back to its humble beginnings in the Merethic Era.  The family’s ascendancy through the centuries is largely due to the cumulative efforts of each Progenitor who has made it their duty to advance the cause of their blood and birth.  As Progenitor in a long line of Progenitores, Nocteriil is not only the head of his family, he is also the embodiment of it.

As the embodiment of his family, Nocteriil is at once selfish and altruistic because the desires he wishes to gratify are at once his own and that of his family.  (I mean family in the sense of all members, both living and dead.  I’m thinking of the unit rather than its individual parts.)  As Progenitor, his family’s interests are his interests, their desires his desires, their designs his own.  Nocteriil has no character in some respects, he is the family, past, present, and future. 

With all this in mind, there is not much to learn about Nocteriil the individual.  All that he does is for ‘the good of the family’ and in that regard, Nocteriil can be particularly ruthless, unyielding, and utterly unemotional.  Like those who came before him, he has a powerful intellect and excels at magic.  He prefers the School of Destruction and it was a great disappointment to him that his boy did not inherit his talent and love of lightning.

Sorry to blather on, but as a last side-note: this exposition sheds some light on Lucelion’s own behaviour (namely, why he is so incredibly dull).  Since early childhood, Lucelion has been groomed to take on his father’s duties as Progenitor.  As the future head of the household (which I am here using as synonymous with family), Lucelion’s life is not his own to live.  His desires are immaterial, his needs inconsequential, his individuality insubstantial.  He will lead the collective; he will be the collective.  And all this means that to a certain degree, Lucelion has grown up with the understanding that all that he does will affect the family for better and for worse, for the future and retrospectively.  This elucidates his breeding, his upbringing, and his unhealthy fixation with fulfilling his duty-destiny to be the Embodiment of Perfection (as mentioned in this post).  

Here’s a link to the playlist if you would like to read and listen.

Procession of the Nobles (Rimsky-Korsakov) & The Nutcracker (Tchaikovsky)

Entire cast.  Entrance to the ball.  As a middle class Altmer, Briisebrom and her family would be among the first to enter with little to no fanfare.  I envision the entrance of important NPC players (e.g.: Elenwen), but the most important (i.e.: Lucelion and his father, Nocteriil) enter last.  The attendees mingle and begin to dance.

I’d say this is like Briisebrom’s backstory: things are being set in motion.

Suite from Carmen (The Aragonaise) (Bizet)

Briisebrom.  Keeping with the original story of Carmen, I imagine a flamenco.  This can be done either solo, with other women, or with a male partner.  I can never decide.  Either way, it’s meant to be sensuous.

This doesn’t really have a storyline equivalent, but I think it speaks more of Briisebrom’s character as someone who acts a bit outside the social norms for Altmer society.  In Prosper Mérimée's Carmen, the title character says, ‘ce que je veux, c’est être libre’ (basically: I want to be free).  I think this reflects Briisebrom’s own desires.

Hungarian Dance (Brahms), Jazz Suite (Shostakovich), and Lachian Dances (Janáček)

Entire cast.  The ball gets properly under way.

I view these songs as Briisebrom’s adventures with her Nord lovers.  I can never quite get the ordering right, but Brahms’ dance is so upbeat and lively that I think it ought to go first.  Shostakovich’s suite is the first song to even have a hint of melancholia and I think it marks her realisation of the finality of what she has done (e.g.: she can never see her family again if she wishes to remain free).  I put Janáček’s dance last because I think that it makes a good segue into the more sinister music later on in the playlist  This is the point where Briisebrom realises she isn’t on a grand adventure, she is still fleeing.

Bacchanale (Saint-Saëns) & Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov)

Lucelion & Briisebrom.  These are the first songs which make me think specifically of Lucelion.  Whereas the other songs make me think of Briisebrom and Lucelion within the context of the ball and other dancers, I think of these songs as belonging to Lucelion & Briisebrom alone.  

Saint-Saëns’ Bacchanale is to Lucelion what Bizet’s Aragonaise is to Briisebrom: I think it speaks more about his character and his love for Briisebrom rather than a particular event.  Sometimes sensuous, sometimes sweet, sometimes fierce, I think it captures his emotional range quite well.  When I hear Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, I think of Lucelion’s pursuit and capture of Briisebrom.  When you hear the trumpet and the trombone, that’s the moment.  

Masquerade Waltz (Khachaturian)

Briisebrom & Lucelion.  Quite frankly, this is the song that inspired the whole playlist.  

The music itself is emblematic of the play for which it was written.  Masquerade by Mikhail Lermontov is a tale of jealousy, murder, insanity, and deceit.  Khachaturian’s music reflects all these moments: the music is beautiful, but at the same time ominous.

I put this song here at this exact point because this is the part of the story where Briisebrom is starting to realise just how little freedom and agency she has.  She realises all she was doing was buying time, putting off the inevitable rather than stopping it.

Aleko (Grishko) & Dance of the Knights (Prokofiev)

Briisebrom, Lucelion, and Nocteriil.  The slow, determined pacing of Aleko cues Nocteriil’s entrance, and Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights emphasises his looming presence in the narrative.  

I see these two songs as related to the previous Scheherazade: they both are linked to Briisebrom’s capture and her experiences afterwards.

Danse Macabre (Saint-Saëns)

Briisebrom and Nocteriil.