AlwaysOnFire wrote: »

FluffyReachWitch wrote: »

"500px-Kinmune01.jpg"

I get what you're trying to say and I agree that Altmer clothing could look way better and reflect their surroundings and culture.

But Kinmune is from an ex-dev's fanfiction that describes a sci-fi version of Kynareth and proposes that Ayrenn was never really her own person to begin with, just a manifestation of a malevolent god/computer virus thingy.

This, really. While it's cool to conceptualize we should be careful because the amount of ex-writers and ex-developers and ex-concept people who have worked with or tangential to TES is long and many of them basically publish their own fanfiction that is out-there enough to make even the most cringey fanwriter blush. It's kind of relevant that TES is not merely a pile of people's headcanons but a consumer product, with a brand and things that can be on-message or off-message, curated by a company. Things made outside of that context, even if somebody that was once involved with the product made them, aren't made with responsibility for that intellectual property in mind.

It's sort of like... when a band member splits from a band, their future work can be inspired from what they made during their time with the band, but we can't claim their entire future discography is part of the band's discography or represents what that body of work could have been.

That said, Altmer clothing style depresses me and it's time to get suitably fancy. I'm ready for crystal tower wizardglam.

Oh yeah no I know that. The whole Kinmune thing was basically Kirkbride retaliating against what he saw as Zenimax ruining the altmer. He particularly can't stand Ayrenn. I think he compared her to a character from an airport bookstore. I think he made that story as insane as possible just to be as far from ESO's interpretation as humanly possible. I'm not implying it's in any way canon (it was never intended to be), just showing the vision of the guy who more or less invented the altmer (They weren't even called altmer beforehand) in the first place.

Either way, this is closer to how I imagined an altmer high queen looking. Closer to a Galadriel-esque character and less

Faulgor wrote: »

Yeah, the most important thing that has to happen if ZOS takes us to Summerset is an aesthetic and cultural re-imagining of the Altmer we currently have in the game. The whole "You can't make buildings out of poetry!" thing from launch has to be acknowledged as uninspired and thrown out.

psychotrip wrote: »

Oh yeah, I forgot to add this image. This was designed by one of the main people who wrote the lore for The Elder Scrolls, and in particular came up with a lot of the basic lore on elves in The Elder Scrolls universe. This is how he imagines an altmer High Queen (specifically Ayrenn):



Notice the abstract, vaguely sea-shell shoulder-guards. I always thought the altmer aesthetic should have more aquatic themes to them. For a race that lives on an island and has arguably the most powerful navy in the world, I think it would fit them. If dunmer get bugs, and bosmer get leather and bone, the altmer's theme should be birds, and sea-creatures. I want to see coral weapons, seashell jewelry, feathered head-dresses, semi-organic, multicolored, giant bird-creatures used for shipping and transportation.

The last chapter, Morrowind, added 6 new armor styles (Morag Tong, Ashlander, Buoyant Armiger, Hlaalu, Redoran, Telvanni - possibly 7 with the Clockwork style from HoF). They better find a way squeeze in some really weird stuff for Summerset, like a Coral Kingdom of Cloudrest style. The only thing we got for Altmer since launch was the Aldmeri Dominion style, and I think that already went in a good direction.

Oh, and weird hairstyles, please.

psychotrip wrote: »

Many of you know there's some buzz about the next expansion being set in the Summerset Isles.

psychotrip wrote: »

ArchMikem wrote: »

psychotrip wrote: »

Many of you know there's some buzz about the next expansion being set in the Summerset Isles.

Going to assume it's all Fan buzz, since I don't recall hearing a word about it from ZOS. While at the same time they've had concept art for the zone of Murkmire ever since the game's launch. Granted it's been years and still no Murkmire, but off the Concept Art and ZOS openly talking about it alone means we're going to get Argonia before Alinor, or at least that's the logical assumption. I dunno anything for sure.

And...well frankly I won't shed a tear if we don't get more Elves.

Dont wanna spoil anything but...based on dialogue in the clockwork city they come as close to confirming it as you can get without facing the camera and breaking the fourth wall.

psychotrip wrote: »

ArchMikem wrote: »

psychotrip wrote: »

Many of you know there's some buzz about the next expansion being set in the Summerset Isles.

Going to assume it's all Fan buzz, since I don't recall hearing a word about it from ZOS. While at the same time they've had concept art for the zone of Murkmire ever since the game's launch. Granted it's been years and still no Murkmire, but off the Concept Art and ZOS openly talking about it alone means we're going to get Argonia before Alinor, or at least that's the logical assumption. I dunno anything for sure.

And...well frankly I won't shed a tear if we don't get more Elves.

Dont wanna spoil anything but...based on dialogue in the clockwork city they come as close to confirming it as you can get without facing the camera and breaking the fourth wall.

psychotrip wrote: »

This is exactly my point! I love that altmer are snobby and elitist but they need to be able to back it up with an interesting culture and an advanced society! Otherise they're just unjustified snobby bores, which honestly is what they 've become. I don't blame people for hating the altmer, but I feel like Zenimax just sort of gave up on making anyone other than Ayrenn remotely likeable. This is the perfect opportunity to change that.

ArchMikem wrote: »

psychotrip wrote: »

Many of you know there's some buzz about the next expansion being set in the Summerset Isles.

Going to assume it's all Fan buzz, since I don't recall hearing a word about it from ZOS. While at the same time they've had concept art for the zone of Murkmire ever since the game's launch. Granted it's been years and still no Murkmire, but off the Concept Art and ZOS openly talking about it alone means we're going to get Argonia before Alinor, or at least that's the logical assumption. I dunno anything for sure.

And...well frankly I won't shed a tear if we don't get more Elves.

psychotrip wrote: »

TheNuminous1 wrote: »

i just love

ArchMikem wrote: »

psychotrip wrote: »

Many of you know there's some buzz about the next expansion being set in the Summerset Isles.

Going to assume it's all Fan buzz, since I don't recall hearing a word about it from ZOS. While at the same time they've had concept art for the zone of Murkmire ever since the game's launch. Granted it's been years and still no Murkmire, but off the Concept Art and ZOS openly talking about it alone means we're going to get Argonia before Alinor, or at least that's the logical assumption. I dunno anything for sure.

And...well frankly I won't shed a tear if we don't get more Elves.

Sunmerset is the sequence of the words.


and on a side note i see alot alot alot of people wanting the altmer to be thing strange alien race. and I agree it should have a big hulking touch of magic abundant in their culture.

but the aldmer were the first. and all other elves diverged from that. all those alien qualities from the dunmer were forged from a tamriellic life.

aldmer stayed and became altmer. they were the first society. the first culture. all human concept of culture bra ched from them language class high society. it all is based off what the elves were at the exodus of old aldmeris.

so in spirit it is alien and unique. it is weird because there was nothing like it on all of tamriel when they came. using silverware. farming building. all these things they brought to the nedic races.

if an aldmer showed a nedic barbarian a fork it would have been the freakiest thing that nede had ever heard of.

so in elder scrolls lore we expect all this crazy magical babble when just the act of walking and talking reading and writing was the craziness that altmer brought to tamriel.

I said on the last page but it bears repeating:

If you ever get a chance to talk to, or see conversations with some of the old writers from the time of Morrowind, you may be surprised to find out that elves in general were supposed to be just as weird and alien as the dunmer, albeit in different ways. I'm not implying the altmer should be weird in the same ways (though that early concept art shows they may have been intended to wear bug armor as well) but what we got is just so far removed from what was originally described. They've become exactly the kind of elves I hate in fantasy: pointy eared, fancy humans.

I really hope Zenimax brings their A game when and if they show the summerset mainland. Altmer could really use some love.

FluffyReachWitch wrote: »

So, I disagree with the idea that ESO bashes Altmer, and the idea that the Altmer are just evil scumbags. I think ESO is the first installment to examine the Altmer fairly and thoughtfully, especially after TESV.

TESV depicted the Thalmor, a totalitarian government that rose to prominence in the aftermath of the Oblivion Crisis. They're objectively evil and bad for the Dominion as a whole, being suspected of causing massive problems and known to purge dissidents, hunting refugees across Tamriel.

But the Thalmor of TESV do not actually represent the Altmer as a whole. They represent what happens when reactionary racists achieve political power, and what they will do to hold onto their power. That is a nasty scenario that can occur anywhere in Tamriel, and historically has.

ESO shows us a different time period. Remember, the Thalmor Council in ESO were part of the government established by Queen Ayrenn and her allies in Valenwood and Elsweyr. This Thalmor Council is allied with the Queen and serves the people of the Dominion. They are not at all the Thalmor that appear in TESV.

The Veiled Heritance that appears in ESO does not represent the will of the Thalmor or people of the Dominion. It's a reactionary expression of racism and xenophobia, much like the Fourth Era Thalmor. The difference is this time, they are stopped before it's too late.

The fact that the Veiled Heritance appears in ESO is important. It shows us that the Summerset Isles and their people are not just jerks by nature, and that like anyone else they're capable of falling prey to reactionary rhetoric. The Dominion plot also shows us that like anyone else, the Isles and Altmer are capable of getting over themselves and considering other people their equals. And it's important that Queen Ayrenn chooses that stance and strives for that kind of future, regardless of the politics of other nobles.

psychotrip wrote: »

Voxicity wrote: »

I hate Altmer

RABIDxWOLVERINE wrote: »

If the next DLC or Expansion is set on Summerset Isle I hope I can burn the whole place down with all those filthy elves. If not I guess Ill have to settle for slitting their throats with the Blade of Woe.

This is not the direction I thought this thread would go. Now I'm depressed lol...

I feel like if Zenimax makes the altmer as weird and interesting as they used to be there'd be a little less hate toward them.