Summerset DLC Hopes and Speculation Thread!

Belyar

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

High Elves are dumb

They are easily the most intelligent race across all Temriel. You're either ignorant or hate them for some reason.

TheValar85

well i dont want to ruin your speculation but in the chronolgical time line summer set was placed in oblivion crysiss and before them there were other things too like septim dinasty and so on.
Basicly this is now the morrowind so it should be starting the next expasnion with the septims, and then the oblivion crysiss and with that the summer set isle. but i dont know ESO is palced in the different time line then the rest of the elder scrolls games were.

strebor2095

As much as I dislike the Altmer, yes to this!


I'd love to have either the Maormer or Sload as a playable race (money's on Maormer... Sload would need unique models.)


As to the whole "no outlanders are allowed!" on Summerset is easily resolved - we could be Maormer captives, or those Varlines could be heavily damaged, requiring the Altmer to bring some outsiders on board. Or we could be part of the invasion to Summerset! Down with the Altmer!

Minnesinger

Great news! I really hope they add something different to the game than what we have already seen in any of the previous ES games. In other words, lets open new paths and explore the lore not known.

RPGplayer13579

The Crystal Tower and Spell Crafting. Or a least new spells. To continue this theme, a One-Handed and Magic weapon skill line.

And a different idea.

A huge bonus to magic based attacks to players who wear nothing on their hands. A large bonus to players who wear light armor gloves. No bonus or penalty for wearing medium armor bracers. And a slight penalty for players who wear heavy armor gauntlets.

psychotrip

I'm loving all the creativity from everyone in is thread! I really hope whatever Zenimax comes up with live up to your ideas!

So what part of altmer culture should we talk about next? I'm thinking food. What people eat is always important for worldbuilding, and it helps make the people seem more relatable. It's one of the basic building blocks of racial lore.

Unfortunately, we know next to nothing about what altmer eat! Even back during the old food system in ESO, when each race had its own unique food, the altmer got surprisingly little attention (I'm sensing a pattern here). So what I'm thinking is their food should tie into their racial aesthetic as well.

Earlier in this discussion we talked about how every elven race (except altmer) have distinct materials that help them feel uniquely elven and in-human (dwemer = gears and pipes, dunmer = bugs and mushrooms etc). Well, I suggested the altmer's base theme come down to crystals, birds, and sea-creatures. Since we can't have people eating crystals (can we?) I think altmer food should be heavily focused on poultry and seafood. We know they raise pigs (based on the single altmer-themed pet we've gotten) so maybe the occassional pork as well?

How do we make it seem a bit more "elven" and weird? Well, anyone who knows a bit about French cooking knows they tend to turn "gross" things into delicious, fancy delicacies (snails, chicken liver, that bird they literally drown alive in alcohol). So why not take that a step further? I can see altmer taking the stranger sea creatures and turning them into delicious food. Sea anemones, jellyfish, sea stars (this a must since altmer love the stars), urchins, even coral. Anything ugly, colorful, or both.

So basically what I'm seeing is a fusion between french, polynesian, and east asian foods. Staple foods include rice, seaweed, fish, duck, and pork. Thankfully I'm from Atlanta, where everyone combines different genres of food.






So what do you guys think?

Demycilian

Non-Altmer on Alinor? The very thought makes me sick.

djogani

Well personally i dont like Altmer because i picture them as very arogant the same goes for the Dunmer and i like only Bosmer of all mers because they seem so much different then other two they are not arrogant at all and i like those primeval and savage customs of Green Pact Bosmers. But all in all even the biggest haters of Altmer from my opinion must repsect them.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Re: Altmer food, I would expect lots of seafood since they live on islands. We know they don't share the Bosmeri dietary restrictions regarding plant matter, and I seem to recall at least one quest involving their alcohol.

psychotrip

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

Re: Altmer food, I would expect lots of seafood since they live on islands. We know they don't share the Bosmeri dietary restrictions regarding plant matter, and I seem to recall at least one quest involving their alcohol.

After writing that last post I'm now eating some "altmer food" myself. I've got a fish bowl with salmon, spicy tuna, soy sauce, wasabi aioli, seaweed salad, avocado, masago (fish eggs), and diced green onions. It's basically the first image I psoted in the last post.

In regards to their alcohol, I think we should continue with the same visual themes: east asian, polynesian and french, with a lot of crystal and aquatic themes.




As for what kind of alcohol they drink? I think wine is an obvious must. Likely something made from rice, plums, lychee, guava etc. Their beer would likely be made from similar ingredients, and I'd imagine the production of beer would be centered around monastic orders in remote parts of Eton Nir, or isolated wizard-towers who produce it as a form of steady income to fund their research.





When it comes to liquor, I definitely see altmer drinking liqueurs. Those thick, creamy, often herbally infused strongly alcoholic drinks that historically were used as tonics and health-drinks. Altmer seem very concerned with health and prolonging their lifespan, and I could easily see them turning their alchemical mixtures into decadent drinks.





Considering the sheer size of the average altmer, as well as their high intelligence / willpower, I always assumed it would take a great deal of alcohol to get them drunk. I think it would be humorous for outlanders to drink a "prissy" altmer liqueur for the first time only to realize far too late just how strong it really is.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

psychotrip wrote: »

Altmer seem very concerned with health and prolonging their lifespan, and I could easily see them turning their alchemical mixtures into decadent drinks.

On reading that I immediately thought "Shadowbanish Wine."

Minor tangent, I'd plug my Two-Moon Cordial recipe, but that's Khajiit.

psychotrip

I have some more altmer art! This is High Chancellor Ocato, DeFacto ruler of the Empire as the Emperor grows older. What he's doing right now is communicating via memospore, which was sort of a magical telecommunication method from the old lore that was dropped entirely by the time of Oblivion. It was how the Elder Council, and presumably powerful mages, would communicate over great distances. Considering how gargantuan Tamriel is in the lore, this is the only way an Empire of that size could function on a day-to-day basis.

Here's the website of the guy who made this, by the way. His stuff is great: https://www.alexsiddy.co.uk/

I would love to see ideas like this brought back for the most intelligent and magical race on Nirn.

Balamoor

Altimer would be a good expansion not a DLC...not really understanding the Altimer hate however.

MLGProPlayer

Balamoor wrote: »

Altimer would be a good expansion not a DLC...not really understanding the Altimer hate however.

People are jealous of Altmer greatness.

It's why everyone hates the Warriors and the Patriots. They're just salty their teams aren't as good.

psychotrip

I'm back with some new images and ideas! What do you guys think the landscape of Summerset Isle should look like? Well, ESO's concept art seems to portray it as a dense, colorful, almost jungle-like forest, full of waterfalls and manicured gardens:




But, we shouldn't limit an entire country to one environment. It would be like saying Australia was just a desert or that China was just a forest.

Speaking of China, I think we can all agree that ESO's portayal of Summerset's environment draws inspiration from East Asia, especially with all the cherry blossoms, as well as New Zealand. I feel like Auridon missed the mark on the "isle" part of Summerset Isles though. It didn't feel much like a warm, southern island to me. So let's change that for the mainland.

I think the southernmost parts of the mainland should draw inspiration from warmer, more tropical locations, while the northern areas look a bit more like Japan, China and New Zealand. Though this all depends on where the equator (if it exists) is supposed to be on Tamriel. We swtill want to make sure the more "jungle-y" areas look distinct from Valenwood.

Cooler areas






Warmer areas



Aldmer ruins?



Thoughts?

xenowarrior92eb17_ESO

summerset is kind of as big as morrowind so it will be a chapter rather than a dlc...that aside...I hate elves.

Princess_Ciri

I'd love a Summerset Isles DLC or expansion. The Altmer are my faves

psychotrip

How do you imagine altmer cities looking? I found some awesome artwork that looks like it could fit ESO's design while still having a bit more grandeur beauty to it:

scipionumatia

With the new expansion I'd like to see dk be in a competitive place in pvp

SirAxen

One netch, two netch......penny and dime....

Kuramas9tails

I would be happy with any new area and culture to explore.

SirAxen

Kuramas9tails wrote: »

I would be happy with any new area and culture to explore.

Same. I really feel like the selling point for the next chapter is the 'Somewhere never explored in an ES game before' route.

Gan Xing

TheNuminous1 wrote: »

i just love

FluffyReachWitch wrote: »

I also wonder how they're going to make the entire isle "neutral" territory, since it is definitely Dominion land, having the Throne of Alinor right there and all. But maybe that's where the hints about daedric threats come into play.

in the datamine the queen invites The Numinous to the island. with the idea that altmer on summerset are aware that we are all multiple people with different faces that have all completed the same accomplishments.
"oh your one of those numinous fellows"

they are also aware of our ability to die and resurrect. even going as far as to ask us to kill ourselves "for research"

it gets around the whole no one is allowed on the island thing.

she only invites one person. the numinous or vestige. there just happens to be a ton of us.

Interesting idea... their desire to live longer and make sure that the Queen doesn't get assassinated leads to this research. After meeting the player, the main antagonist of the storyline turns to worshiping Molag Bal, to gain a better understanding of how the player started his/her journey without a soul. Eventually the antagonist takes a wrong turn and starts testing it on captured prisoners of war (sloads and maomer). It is up to the player to decide whether or not to allow this to continue (and lie to the queen, who hears about this and had asked you to investigate), or stop the madness.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Summerset is supposed to have ruins made of coral (which may or may not be due to the Sload) in spots, so I would expect* to see those in at least a few places.


*And by 'expect' I mean, 'complain loudly and bitterly about breaking the lore if we explore the whole thing and never see them.'

psychotrip

SirAxen wrote: »

Kuramas9tails wrote: »

I would be happy with any new area and culture to explore.

Same. I really feel like the selling point for the next chapter is the 'Somewhere never explored in an ES game before' route.

Let's just hope they can do it justice. This is Zenimax's chance to show what they can do in regards to worldbuilding. We know they can do a good job updating places we've seen before, but portraying Summerset will be by far the most challenging (and rewarding in my opinion) job that anyone involved with the series has undertaken since the original Morrowind.

I think we all need to take a step back and remember just how fleshed out Morrowind as a nation is compared to everywhere else in the lore. The sheer scale and diversity, the environmental detail, the depth that went into its political system and each of its unique cultures. Every province in the ES series was, at one point, intended to be just as fleshed out, deep, and strange in its own way. This is their chance to get back to that.

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

Summerset is supposed to have ruins made of coral (which may or may not be due to the Sload) in spots, so I would expect* to see those in at least a few places.


*And by 'expect' I mean, 'complain loudly and bitterly about breaking the lore if we explore the whole thing and never see them.'

Bethesda / Zenimax has a way of making me cynical as well, but I really hope they prove me wrong.

Hurbster

Sounds good, lets hope they don't go down down too far on the Melnibonean route.

psychotrip

Hurbster wrote: »

Sounds good, lets hope they don't go down down too far on the Melnibonean route.

Not gonna lie I had no idea what you were talking about until I looked this up. After reading all day about this universe, I'm pretty sure the original lore for Nibenay was in part inspired by by Melnibone (even the pronounciation is almost identical). They're both described as baroque, colorful places with potent sorcerers who adhere to bizarre rituals, lack a "conventional" moral center, rule an ancient Empire and have a unique relationship with dragons. Even their thrones have the exact same name (the ruby throne). Holy crap that's such a weird series of coincidences. Even the general art style of the series from around the Morrowind era reminds me of this Melnibonean saga I apparently knew nothing about until now.




Obviously pretty much everything about Cyrodiil, Nibenay in particular, was retconned in Oblivion so it doesn't really matter, but that's still really cool.

But to your point, what exactly do you mean in regards to altmer being too Melnibonean?

dodgehopper_ESO

I'm not sure Elves like the dragon imagery. Dragons are after all a mannish thing, the result of Shor/Lorkhan and Auri-El smashing into each other (at least that's one view of the imagery given). Akatosh could simply be a syncretism which in the universe of Tamriel can actually rewrite history (as supposedly was done with the Emperor and the forests of/jungles of Cyrodiil). I'm not actually such a big fan of such a fluid universe that could be anything at any time and times going back and going forward. At any regard there is reason to think that Akatosh is not in fact Auriel, but Auriel changed by his exchange with Shor. I think this might very well be why the elves hate Shor so much and Humankind in general.

Chufu

Summerset is an isle?
Summerset has a lot of flowers?

Orc will go there and stomp everything!

VerboseQuips

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

Summerset is supposed to have ruins made of coral (which may or may not be due to the Sload) in spots, so I would expect* to see those in at least a few places.


*And by 'expect' I mean, 'complain loudly and bitterly about breaking the lore if we explore the whole thing and never see them.'

I am with you on this one. I'll be disappointed if we don't have any Sloadian coral ruin.

Also, Alinor was described as having some buildings made of glass and cristal and insect wings, with very high walls and towers and building designed to break light into rainbows, and glimmering materials. I really hope to sea meteoric glass and meteoric iron used in diverse objects, Culanda and Malondo stones everywhere, iridescent chitin and mother-of-pearl used in architecture.

I think I had read some time before the launch of the game, one of the devs answering a question about this matter and saying these were probably not-too-realistic hyperboles, or something along these lines. I really hope they changed their minds on this and go for a more crazy route.
First, considering how (wonderfully) the infinite library that is Apocrypha was rendered in Dragonborn, and considering the Telvanni live in mushrooms, the argument of realism in architecture is invalid for anything TES-related.
Second, even if it was, insect wings used as architectural elements are not so unrealistic. Consider, for example, the work of art "Heaven of Delight" by Jan Fabre, which adorns a room of the Belgian Royal Palace, and is made with scarab wings. Lots of them.

The aspect of the texture and colour of the ceiling depends on the angles of observation and lighting. I could totally see something like this in Summerset.

The Summerset is supposed to be a place of richess, power and magical wonders. I really hope it will appear so. Though the landscapes of Auridon are really beautiful, its architecture is too bland and ordinary for Altmers, in my opinion. With a Summerset DLCs, they'd have an opportunity to do it better, more alien. And the Crystal Tower better be jaw-dropping.

Also, I hope we'll also see some Gheatus burried deep in some forgotten cave. Or some Ilyadi or Auridian Welwa preserved in Artaeum (though I'd prefer them to leave Artaeum for a latter DLC, like Clockwork City).

Story-wise, I hope the still-hypothetic Chapter would let us know why Ayrenn needed the Staff of Magnus when she stepped out of the Orrery. It'd also be an opportunity to learn more about the Maormer and the Sload. Also, we all need more (shirtless) Darien!

On the side of game mechanics, I'm still hoping for spellcrafting, jewelcrafting, weapon dyeing and a Necromancer class.
And on the crafting side, Thalmor, Psijic and Maormer stuff would be great.

boggo wrote: »

Wow, nice artwork!

Reminds me a lot of belgian artist Moebius:
https://www.google.ch/search?q=moebius&client=firefox-b&dcr=0&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixp6PCm9zWAhVmDMAKHfPFCgUQ_AUICigB&biw=1219&bih=1119

I'd be totally in for a Moebius like rendition of Summerset Isles. 8)

I agree! Also, if you like Moebius, you might be interested in the work of Luc Schuiten. This could also be a nice source of inspiration for Aldmeri Dominion locations.