After the Ocatanine Potentate clawed unsuccessfully at the knotted garrote about its neck, Cyrod's Void-Fleets became a perfect mirror of the mundrial schisms ripping through Her Imperial territories on Nirna Firma. His mind burning with the passionflames of kingly ambition, and the madness brought on by years of mercury ingestion for treatment of The Breton Disease, Supreme-Admiral Rexecdurus Santorum seized control of the Imperial colonies on Secunda and declared himself Shezarrhar The Magnificent, First Cyrodiite Emperor of the Selenite-Nation-Above-All-Your-Gorram-Heads. Grand-Admiral Varrus Alorius took his secession into his ventricle of ventricles and moved swiftly to check-mate with choler, donning his most flamboyant epaulets and leading the Loyalist Fleet headfirst into a disastrous campaign against the seditionists, which would utterly devastate both sides in an intricate ballet of thermogarbhic orbital and counter-orbital bombardment. Meanwhile, High-Admirals Irlav Olodiil and Brennus Black-Briar took their fleets AWOL to Vile's realm, where they attempted to negotiate the sale of Masser in toto, but were never heard from again. Though to this very hour, piecemeal bits of Mananaut armor, often with bits of frozen flesh still preserved inside, continue to wash up on the shores of Coldharbour.

What tattered wrecks survived the Septims were permanently derelicted in the mundrial oceans when Thules the Gibbering unintentionally unleashed his full, un-minced Emperor Voice on the Fleet during Tibedetha-day inspections.

[/speculation]

... See? All Jaggar Tharn's Fault.

(Seriously, this forum needs a Thank feature. Well said Haute )

Loranna

Much thanks.

Welcome back, by the way. We missed you in Chorrol. Then people got eaten.

I think the discussion about sci-fi vs fantasy is missing the piont of why there are varying amounts of frustration with this text, or at least I share many of the same sentiments as those complaining, but for entirely different reasons.

That is, I have no problem at all with the core content of the story (in fact I think it is quite splendid) or with any of the individual elements or ideas which it puts forth (those are all fine as well).

My issue comes rather with the presentation, in that echoing what somebody else mentioned, it *feels* like a fanfic. At first I just thought it was the style of the story (that is, something that is meant to be an outline of a comic), but even along those lines it still has a wrong feel; beyond the basic core which is quite strong and interesting it feels amatuerish.

The chief way these seems to play in is that it feels like it's trying to do entirely too much. We have developed the term 'Kirkbridian' to describe a certian flow and feel and style of writing. This text is like somebody took that style overboard, and again, tried to do too much at once. There is the technobabble, the mythic implications, the crude language (that has generally been limited to Nordic tales, and has been made even more crude here), and then trying to tell a story while experimenting with various forms (links) and then trying to fashion something ooc into it as well.

Essentially, it strikes me as if one of the fanfic writers got ahold of some cool idea and then took all the elements of this style of writing which is so popular amongst us and crammed it all in. The base arc is cool, the presentation (and especially the character interaction, and characterization overall actually) is rather lame. Actually, that is probably one of my chief qualms, the characters are boring and not believeable as characters - they've been given this odd slant (which while quirky and weird) deosn't actually create 'interesting' characters apart from their flairs.

Perhaps I've just rambled and not been clear, probably because it's difficult to say just what it is that is so off.
Don't let her trick you - check out the TIL's Old Storyboard if you don't believe me. Besides, anybody sounding like that is something that's only arisen within the past few years.
Or more likely, because they have no affiliation with any of the ideas presented, not that I'm presenting that to their (or this or any other text's) detriment. 'Lore Forum lore' as somebody put it, is really quite distinct from Bethesda/Official lore; it won't be in any games because they operate in a different world. We all know what is meant by the 'official' Tamriel, despite whatever rhetoric we may use to blur it; in your own words, it is the difference between "the lore as seen by Bethesda, [&] just on our personal interpretation of it." Granted, you're not going to get caught using the word "official", since that's a dirty word in these circles, but the implication is the same (and implications are all that really matter in language).

I still don't see how I sound like MK, whatever that means. I'm one of the least monkey truthy people here. Sure, if you go back far enough, you'll find me before I had the good sense to bother with spellcheck, but I don't think that's what's at issue here. What's happening here is a recontextualization: ya'll now know that we're together, and hence look for parallels. Had someone pointed this out a month ago, before the relationship was public, the claim might have had some validity, but as it stands it's not I who changes but your view of me.

Have neither the energy nor the time to debate the rest.

Well, I think it's great and take no issue with the work. I take issue with bethesda for not including more of these themes and elements in the games. I guess I just like pearlescent chronographers, mananauts, artful mantis', and space gods in my peanut butter...

I don't know. Numinatus and the rest are pretty meh, but I like Cousin. I think it will end up much more effective in the actual comic than it communicates here.

Now, this is actually a potentially valid criticism of the work as a piece of fiction. Even professional writers can struggle with 'overloading' a given work - take my word as a struggling grad student who has been reduced to a paragraph or two a day in an effort to keep from putting too much into a scene! Writing's hard, yo, even when you have a perfectly clear vision in your head of the story - especially when you have a perfectly clear vision in your head of the story, sometimes.

To some degree, it is also a matter of personal preference. Some people like the 'dense' style of writing, the love of language and the mythic overtones juxtaposed with the cruder stuff. Some people like characters who feel like they're fully a product of the strange, otherworldly setting they're in, and thus feel satisfied that they're fleshed out well enough.

...But, really, why is everyone these days so hung up about what's official or not? It's Elder Scrolls; grab your sword and go poke the Eye of Magnus with it just to see what'll happen! We'll even toss in this handy-dandy failsafe system built into a convenient cylindrical containment unit that doubles as an implement of self-defense and an invaluable aid for long hikes up wind-swept mountains to find the next world-changing artifact on your schedule.

Loranna

Why are people discussing MK's and N's relationship? How is that even remotely relevant to this piece?

Cousin and Numinatus are easily author avatars for the two.

Well then shouldn't we be talking about Cousin and Numinatus?

Then we'd miss the fact that this is all really a very strange Doctor Who fan-fiction with the role of the Doctor and River Song replaced by self-insert OC's in Tamriel (or the space above Tamriel, where tamriel used to be, whatever.)

Just making things we like, influenced by things we like.

One look at the title thread says pretty clearly that your mileage may vary.

I'm happy with my mileage, what worries me is that I might be expected to keep up with your damn hybrids.

Which is probably a good reason as to why it has more of a fanfic feel.
Ya' see, what's happening here is a recontextualization: you're together, and hence see parallels. Had someone pointed this out a month ago, before the relationship was public, you might have taken it as a compliment or let it graze off you, but as it stands you must interpret things in the light of your personal context (which is the relationship)... Now that sounds like I'm just being dirty and throwing your argument back at you, but really mine probably holds more validity, for the simple reason that you are much more likely to interpret things in the light of your relationship (being that it is your day-to-day reality) than we are, who (at least as far as I'm concerned) couldn't care less.

That said, I didn't really mean to second that you sound like MK, I don't think you do. My only point was that the content of the post in question has not always been typical of you (or anybody else in the forums). You don't sound like MK, you're simply utilizing the popular rhetoric (which just happens to be associated with Kult members).
Personally, I'm not. My mention was only to point out a sort of double-standard, and to point out that when people happen to get hung up on 'officiality' it doesn't work just to say that 'there is no such thing' when clearly everybody knows what the individual is talking about (even if it doesn't mesh with our philosophy or if we care to lessening degrees).

As long as you aren't louder than Air Force 1.

Can we get back to the comic script? I would really like to see why Tamriel is on strike.

Dude, take it back to the temple. Your ointments are waiting.


On it. Three more pages soon.

And, yes, please.

I don't pretend to know what [the rest of this topic is about], but, yes. Pretend you're a mum Greybeard. Use whispers.

...What?

It seems I'm wearing my fencing mask at the moment, whereas the temple is for coloring, cuddles, and daydreamisms...

The temple is everywhere. Everyone.

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/2029/jack1zs.jpg

The temple of less than one, if i know what i'm talking about.

MK, please find a way to include Sotha Sil/Clockwork City or a remnant there-of if one of Numinatus' adventures. It would make my year. Thank you! Please continue with the comic script - can't wait to find out what's going on!

Whycan'tiholdalltheseWATS?.jpg