Official Discussion Thread for "Loremaster's Archive: From Argonian to Saxhleel"

ZOS_JasonLeavey

This is the official discussion thread for the web article "Loremaster's Archive: From Argonian to Saxhleel."

The latest archive provides a history of the Argonians in a new lorebook by Vicecanon Heita-Meen.

We love reading your questions for each Loremaster's Archive. Remember to submit them for our next edition by emailing us at community@elderscrollsonline.com.

tinythinker

Great installment. The monsoon season might not last much longer

TheHumanFloyd

By far the best one yet. Whoever wrote this has such a great understanding of Argonian lore. I want to meet them and ask so many questions xD

SlayerSyrena

This is wonderful!

tinythinker

Are there other players who enjoy "world building", "lore & culture speculation", and so on who have ideas about what different cultural regions of Argonia might look like or how you would like to see it represented in game? I think, for example, that different dialects might be fun. I've noticed some Argonian NPCs are more likely to use particular exclamations, such as "Xuth!" as opposed to "Kaoc!", while others have more of a hiss-lisp in their speech.

As for the current milieu in which new material could arise, Heita-Meen's answers about time and perception of are similar to some East Asian views, found in traditions such as expressions of Mahayana Buddhism, of the simultaneity of cause and effect. A resemblance to aspects of Taoism can be perceived in discussion of "the River". The discussion of the Hist, in the article and the game, is reminiscent of elements from ancestor worship/tribal shamanism from small-scale societies that have a great reverence for nature, which were once found everywhere,

Speaking of spirits, ancestors, and trees there is (perhaps now it might be "was" in terms of actual beliefs/practice) a cultural group composed of a collection of villages in New Guinea that believed they were the descendants of figures carved from trees and that their spirits were connected to the trees. Mind you, those folks were also head-hunters. Meanwhile, Argonian names sound a bit like a combination of elements from the Near and Far East, while their xanmeers and traditional ceremonial garb evokes a sense of pre-Columbian Meso-America.

This is not to suggest that all of this is an intentional mish-mash of derivative elements, but it does provide a very fertile ground for further development for lore. For example, in many non-Western cultures, familial terms are often thought of in age-grades, so that one might refer to a paternal uncle as "father", a first-cousin as "sister", or a niece as "daughter". If I ever get around to the "backstory" of my four Argonian characters, I was thinking that whichever region they are from would still use such a custom. There is also sometimes an element of shared oppression and a sense of familial bond among others of the same religion, ethnic group, etc, or in this case RPG race, in which other insiders may be referred to as "brother" and "sister". I get the feeling that the latter is behind the use of term "egg-brother" and "egg-sister".

That sense of communal bond should be explored in more depth, which suggests that there needs to be a term for slavers/collaborators among the Saxhleel, and it would be fun to see Argonian PCs facing suspicion from or being taunted as "outsiders" in the Murkmire adventure zone. Or is there already a term from one of the books for this kind of thing? If so, could someone share it? If not, what word works for you? What are your suggestions -- whether it is something harsh and Argonian sounding (i.e., "Xak-zut") or it's interpretation in non-Argonian thoughts/words ("Broken branch!").

Yes? No? What?

tinythinker

TheHumanFloyd wrote: »

By far the best one yet. Whoever wrote this has such a great understanding of Argonian lore. I want to meet them and ask so many questions xD

Ask questions and offer suggestions

k9mouse

That was good read and would like to learn more lore about Argonians and Khajiits.