Is nexusmod content part of Elder Scrolls lore?

winterscrolls229prerb18_ESO · April 2015

I was replying to a thread regarding skimpy armor yay in General.. and seeing some of the pictures there sparked an odd thought...

While yes, the good and proper stuff has come from Bethesda.. it seems a bit wrong at the same time to discount the impact that the mods we collect have on the game.. Setup your mind however you want.. at some point you click on the play button in steam, and rules and lore be damned the world is what it is, additions and all.

Perhaps it just mods like 'Vilja in Skyrim' http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/26393/? that did it.. I don't care how dragonborn I was.. having her around pestering me about going to get her lute every 3 minutes became the lore while I was there.

Maybe its similar to the EU for star wars.. when people call Elder Scrolls lore... I'm sure I'm not the only one who doubled the size of the skyrim folder with mods..? This stuff also being in the lore doesn't seem so wrong.

EDIT: Hang on, no wait. The elder scrolls are constantly changing and being rewritten right? Boom that's it. Suddenly we have chainmail bikini's. Easy. Time for a rewrite in female dunmer clothing style please.

Ysne58 · April 2015

Bikini chainmail for males maybe.

c.p.garrett1993_ESO · April 2015

Lore (Noun): A body of traditions and knowledge on a subject or held by a particular group, typically passed from person to person by word of mouth.

Chain-mail bikinis are not lore.
Theoretically they could be lore-friendly (plausible). However unlikely. As long as they were made and crafted in a realistic manner.

Shunravi · April 2015

c.p.garrett1993_ESO wrote: »

Lore (Noun): A body of traditions and knowledge on a subject or held by a particular group, typically passed from person to person by word of mouth.

Chain-mail bikinis are not lore.
Theoretically they could be lore-friendly (plausible). However unlikely. As long as they were made and crafted in a realistic manner.

Thing is, chainmail bikinis are lore. Not only are they lore, but they are ORIGINAL lore

'but that's just the boxart' you say. Well here's ingame pictures;

Aaaaand here's game footage where you can see said armor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iqmOM8OXk4

Shunravi · April 2015

Now, there are flaws to what im saying... but the point stands.

Sentinel · April 2015

That evidence is outdated Shunravi, the past three elder scrolls games before ESO have proven themselves to move away from a world of skimpy armors more towards the approach of stylization and practical armors. Of course there are a few armors in these games that are revealing, but nothing to the extent and depth that was in Arena and Daggerfall. I believe a massive part of the RP community would rather have these types of armors as opposed to Daggerfall's.

As for the OP, no, mods are not part of lore. Lore in this game is defined by what Bethesda and ZOS have already provided us with, be it books, locations etc. Someone making a random mod and putting it in does not make it lore. If that were the case, many could claim "A Thomas the Tank Engine is coming to burn down Helgen!" as lore... (It's not.)

newtinmpls · April 2015

Technically no, not lore.

However, after watching my beloved spouse log a bazillion hours with Vilja in Skyrim, she is part of my own personal lore. I think in fanfic the term is "head cannon".

Shunravi · April 2015

Sentinel wrote: »

That evidence is outdated Shunravi, the past three elder scrolls games before ESO have proven themselves to move away from a world of skimpy armors more towards the approach of stylization and practical armors. Of course there are a few armors in these games that are revealing, but nothing to the extent and depth that was in Arena and Daggerfall. I believe a massive part of the RP community would rather have these types of armors as opposed to Daggerfall's.

As for the OP, no, mods are not part of lore. Lore in this game is defined by what Bethesda and ZOS have already provided us with, be it books, locations etc. Someone making a random mod and putting it in does not make it lore. If that were the case, many could claim "A Thomas the Tank Engine is coming to burn down Helgen!" as lore... (It's not.)

Oh, I'm well aware. Hence the flaws. It used to exist in the lore, now not as much.

Robo_Hobo · May 2015

Mods are a great way to improve your immersion in the game's universe, and a lot of mods try to build upon the cultures and customs in the universe to fit in with them, so they can go a long way with that. They may not be official, but if they don't contradict anything too badly it's fine to have it as a head-canon thing. Not every detail gets put down in history between games, the things that mods add could be just some of those details if that's how you'd prefer to look at it.

It's really just up to your own preference. Whether you're a purist whom only wants the in-game direct Bethesda content or someone who couldn't give two septims/drakes about what the lore says about the Dwemer disappearing and you want a Dwemer playable race shooting guns and a mod that changes Masser and Secunda into Earth and its Moon, it's whatever you enjoy most when it comes down to it.

Personally I like to stay within the walls of the canon, but I also try to keep an open mind when it comes to things on the borderline. I often adopt things I think that are pretty good and fit the world as headcanon.

One sure mark that you've gone too far is if you start referencing player-made content as canonical in an elder scrolls lore discussion thread. If that ever happens you may want to reconsider...