Postcards from Tamriel, Stories and such that fall somewhere between a snippet and a thread Options

[Grits]

Hi folks!

My characters are getting unruly, so I thought I’d make a place where I can hide from them while they fight it out. I mean, while I figure out what to do. The first time this happened, I posted Home for the Holidays, a very short story about Abiene’s Saturalia visit to Leyawiin in the year 3E432. I should have made this thread then, but at the time I still thought that every word I wrote would be the last. Someday I hope to make an offering at The Temple of Lore, but for now I’m still too guilty of undisciplined sprawling. I’ll start a story in the next post.

As always, comments and discussion are very welcome!

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 23 2019, 03:31 AM

[Grits]

The story is over, and thank you for reading it! I appreciate the thought-provoking comments and discussion very much. I plan to get back to Jerric’s Story next week. I ended up dumping an entire chapter. It was painful, but I’m moving on.


haute ecole rider: I hoped you would like Master Relas! For all of his velvet and powder, I see him as someone who would spring into action. After all, Carahil has no tolerance for mages who are useless in the field. That’s why I had him lead the Anvil guild’s expedition to Kvatch after the attack. You are so right, I’m sure Rhano would have even gone with the sea-sirens by the time Jerric got back. Of course, Jerric’s decision-making process hasn’t changed much since he was nine. Whatever Felen and Rhano saw, it was bad enough to keep Felen from offering Jerric a potion. Two freaked out kids in a narrow underwater tunnel would be a little much for him to handle.


mALX: Exactly, Felen looked at this wide-eyed Nord kid and saw a future battlemage. Of course if Jerric had announced that his ambition was to join the Weavers Guild instead of being a guard, the conversation might have gone differently. Also Jerric demonstrated an independent way of thinking by going to the Mages Guild for help, not to mention the disregard for his own safety that would allow him to eventually jump through an Oblivion Gate. Happily for Jerric, Felen could see the potential in his behavior.


ghastley: I’m really glad you brought that up. The water breathing potion was just less unacceptable than letting yourself drown. The main issue that the boys were worried about was getting a mage involved. The potion saved Rhano’s life, but healing the ankle would have been unnecessary. At their age they wouldn’t have the judgment to decide that alteration and healing aren’t as bad as summoning or illusion, they would just have been told to stay away from spellcasters. I didn’t mention it in the story, but I think the Mages Guild at that time would still be loaded with necromancers. That would make all mages extremely suspect to folks like Rhano’s mom who already have a deep mistrust of magic users.

The second thing is that both boys have a sense of honor that won’t allow them to lie, and in their minds not telling Rhano’s parents what happened would be a kind of lying. So healing the ankle and not mentioning the incident wouldn’t work for them. Jerric offered to pay for the potion not to hide it from Ongve, but because he felt responsible for bringing the Mages Guild into the situation. The boys know each other well enough to not need to discuss it. Many kids would have gone the way of the cover-up, which is why Jerric mentioned to Felen that they would tell the truth. In the end the boys would have been punished for putting themselves into the situation more than for saving Rhano with a potion. Ongve would have insisted that Jerric fulfill his promise to Felen, which would result in him spending even more time with the mages. Good for Jerric, upsetting for Rhano’s mom.


Acadian: You make a good point about potions vs. spells. I think alchemy works much better as a regular skill in a magical world the way you describe it and the way I think it will be in Skyrim. I’ve gone the way of drawing mystical properties out of the ingredients in my story, but Darnand came up with an answer for me to fix it, I think.

You picked out the moment where Jerric and Rhano’s troubles begin. It will be another eight years and a bit before they join their guilds, but after that whisper Jerric starts keeping some things to himself. I’m so glad Felen stole the show! Now you see why he has such a soft spot for the battlemage and reluctant alchemist that he recruited. Thank you for your kind words about Felen’s character. It was fun to show why he means a lot to Jerric.


Destri Melarg: All I know about Redguard thinking and magic comes from Trayvond the Redguard in the game, so I was interested to hear what you have learned. I think a potion in Hammerfell would be more trustworthy than a potion in Cyrodiil, where necromancy is at this time still accepted. Even a healing potion could come from a human heart, or a fortify health potion could contain zombie flesh. Some of it would also depend on the potion. An invisibility potion would still be tampering with the mind, for example. The families’ caravans would certainly carry a supply of healing potions, and I would expect at least some of their guards and scouts to use enchantments. But kids often overhear much more than they are told, and the talk at Rhano‘s house about magic users would probably be negative.

Poor Rhano, I’m sure he worried that his buddy would head straight out to the cemetery and start digging up bodies. That moment that you and Acadian picked out was pretty much the reason for the story, so I am very pleased that it stood out for you.


SubRosa: Rhano definitely shares his mother’s mistrust of magic, and that’s the basis for his future conflict with Jerric. When Jerric joins the Fighters Guild after Kvatch and asks Rhano if he will be able to get over it and train him, he means get over Jerric being a battlemage. It took an army of actual daedra burning Kvatch to the ground to get Rhano to cooperate with training against a summoned dremora. Carahil had a similar change of heart when she recommended that Jerric go to Chorrol and learn more about daedric conjuring.

I’m glad you liked the line about meeting too many guards. I’m sure Jerric earned every cross word he got from them.