#raydrin

Tagged by @dirty-bosmer and @rikkes, thanks both! <3

tagging @ghoulsbeard @flycasual @wispstalk @dibellas-moth @gilgamish @zvona @elavoria @crynwr-drwg @connortheconceded @blackfeathercourt @stormbeyondreality @falmerbrook @lucien-lachance @expended-sleeper

a little excerpt from the upcoming chapter... some misplaced affections here i think we can all agree :')

HOWEVER. i realised that that's fucking stupid and i can do what i want. so here are my main elder scrolls OCs as techno tracks.

are these tracks i think represent them or tracks i think they would enjoy in the clurb? the answer is yes.

20. If you took their bag and upended it now, what would you find in it?

i briefly deluded myself into thinking i was gonna draw this out, but sadly i don't have the energy (or skills) for that rn so i'll just have to describe it :( rations: hardtack, dried fruits and nuts, cured meats + fish, herb pouch, etc. i like to use these posts as inspiration when thinking about travel rations. oh and high hrothgar mintcake :) wash kit: taking inspo from your great post here, he carries a small wash kit; comb, olive oil soap bar, nail file, razor, alum block, and liquorice root stick for his teeth medical kit: small knife, tweezers, needle + catgut thread, linen strips, healing salves, rubbing alcohol, and a small vial of pain-numbing potion book: he and jórunn always have some kind of book on the go that he will read to her in the evenings :') change of clothes: 1-2 spare sets of underclothes and socks that he'll rotate through and wash when he gets the chance camping gear: tent canvas (jórunn carries the pegs + poles), bedroll, little travel pillow cooking equipment: a pot and a pan, flint + steel, tinder, game knife, etc weapon maintenance: whetstone, spare bowstrings, beeswax misc: waterskin, hemp rope, coinpurse, journal + charcoal, map, oil lamp, torch, small trowel

22. Ignoring time, what Elder Scrolls NPC would they get along with the most? Or the worst?

thank you so much for these! <3

2. When they cast magic, what’s their style? Are they flamboyant or reserved? Do they wave their hands around? Do they like making a show of it? Are they verbal?

cassathra, the Redoran runaway, is my only spellcaster character, so i'll answer this for her. i think her spellcasting style would reflect her training as a swordsman; it is perhaps more physical than strictly necessary, but her motions are always crisp, deliberate and precise. i think she subconsciously drops into a combat stance when casting, even for non-violent spells. and when she's casting in a fight, i think she'd circle her opponents, pivot, advance etc in ways that mirror swordplay.

9. Do they have any handicaps or disabilities?

Jórunn, my dragonborn, is my only character (for now...) with a significant handicap, being fully blind from birth. it's a congenital condition of some kind, an underdevelopment of the retina and/or optic nerves (not that anyone in TES would have the scientific literacy to explain it in such terms). she relies on mobility aids like a cane or a guide to get around -- and when absolutely necessary, Shouts like Aura Whisper and Become Ethereal to stay safe during combat, though Shouting is uncomfortable for Jórunn and she doesn't like to do it.

13. What are their hobbies?

thank you sarah! :)

What would your character wear if they were told they had to gussy up?

will do jórunn for this one as i had a lot of fun imagining her thalmor embassy outfit. my main inspiration was this dress made by historical fashion youtuber bernadette banner. she recreated this (i think?) 15th century dress on the right, using historical methods, and i thought the result was gorgeous.

for jórunn's dress i imagined the colour to be different, like an aubergine purple in place of the red. and for her hair i was picturing something like this. :)

What gift would your character give to someone they didn’t like but felt obligated to?

this goes for all my Dutheri characters, as the family would be expected to present gifts to visiting nobles and dignitaries. for velothi recipients, i can see the Dutheris bestowing either a worthless title or a 'tamed' kagouti upon recipients they didn't like. the kagouti would be expensive, difficult, and potentially dangerous to try and maintain, but to turn it down or renounce it would show weakness.

for non-velothi recipients, i think they would gift them with either a relatively cheap or commonplace commodity (assuming that the foreigner wouldn't know any better), or a velothi 'delicacy' that foreigners tend to find unpalatable :)

i have been rereading king and lionheart and if you’d like to share, what do you think were some of raydrins thoughts during chapter 11 seven thousand steps :) i love seeing her perspective both on him and high hrothgar.. how she carefully chooses her answer about her past.. and the description of the voice…

much love frances i hope you get lots of rest!!

@creaking-skull

hello jay! thank you so much for the well-wishes 🥺 i'm back home now and so far feeling mostly okay <3

this is a really great question! i had to go back and reread a little to refresh my own memory. in short i think raydrin's thoughts at this point in the story are a little all over the place, but he is trying desperately hard NOT to think about (a) mathyas and (b) skooma, and supporting jórunn is his way of distracting himself from those two things.

he is repressing a lot, definitely. so much has happened and a lot of it is surreal, so instead of trying to come to terms with it, he is just. saving it for later i suppose? like with mathyas, i don't think he has yet come to fully grasp that mathyas is gone. it's the type of thing that would hit him at odd times only to escape him moments later. skooma withdrawal i think would have him feeling jittery, ill at ease, paranoid etc. then of course there is his shame and embarrassment at having been "found out" by both cassathra and mathyas.

so all of that is going on at the subconscious level, or at least raydrin is trying to keep it there. consciously, i think he is focusing on practicalities; navigation, guiding jórunn, tending to their needs on the road. if this chapter had been written from his perspective, i maybe would have kept it deliberately light on introspection, to kind of show that he is not allowing himself to dwell on anything.

then, of course, there is jórunn herself. raydrin has always liked her i think, but he is only now properly interacting with her for the first time. i think he pities her, in part (wrongly) because of her disability, but mostly because of the burden she has been saddled with. he is questioning his own abilities, wondering whether she might have been better off paired with someone else. and i think part of him is (guiltily) grateful that it's her who's the dragonborn and not him; in pitying her for her fate, he can make himself feel better about his own problems.

tagged by @wispstalk and @thelonghanddaydream to share 5 songs that remind me of my WIP or characters. thank you both!!

1. Drawn To The Blood, Sufjan Stevens

this is such a Jórunn song to me 🤧 i made the connection based on my first impression of the lyrics (and on one very obvious lyric in particular), which was before i discovered sufjan’s intended meaning. but i still think it fits her, even if only in its bittersweet sound. it resigns itself to its sadness in a way i just love...

2. Golden Brown, The Stranglers

a little on the nose for Raydrin, but i love this song too much not to include it. it works on both its literal interpretation (a man who is deeply in love) and its intended meaning (of a man in the throes of heroin addiction). i think it also fits him in sound and vibe... maybe raydrin in a modern tamriel would listen to music like this

3. I’m That Guy, Agar Agar

my Mathyas song, dramatic bitch that he is (or more accurately, dramatic bitch that i am about him). it’s worth listening to all the way through if you have time, it builds quite spectacularly :^)

no shade to cassathra but i simply do not listen to the kind of music that would remind me of her. she is no less beloved to me, but for the next two songs i’ve chosen ones which remind me of my current WIP (not my longfic but a little side project i’m working on to keep me from going insane while i get this damn degree!)

4. Hollow Talk, Choir Of Young Believers

5. A Knife In The Ocean, Foals

narrowing it down to just these five was hard so!! feel free to send in asks if you want any more character songs :)

thank you!! will answer these for raydrin, my mopey redoran failson <3

1. It’s a little unreasonable for everyone in a Middle Ages-esque fantasy to be perfectly literate, and writing with quills was considered legitimate labor! How well can your oc read and/or write? How detailed is their quest log/journal, if they keep one at all?

raydrin had access to one of the best educations septims can buy and was trained from a young age in the art of statecraft (though you wouldn't be able to tell from talking to him)... he can read and write to a very high standard and has a presently underutilised gift for wordplay. he's dabbled in poetry here and there but doesn't start to take his writing seriously until long after the events of skyrim

i'd never thought about him keeping a quest log before but i imagine he probably would... i think it would be detailed but very messy and disorganized, probably gibberish to anyone who has been spared the misfortune of having to figure out how his brain works :)

9. What unplayable faction would/did your oc join, if any? Why?

not technically 'unplayable' ig but i'm counting it as such because the questline is a joke... anyway i think if raydrin were free from all his nirnly tethers he'd join the bards college.

10. How trustworthy is your oc? Would they ever change opposing factions?