Update 49 is now available for testing on the PTS! You can read the latest patch notes here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/categories/pts
The writing for the upcoming story content - some thoughts on the latest news article
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metheglyn✭✭✭✭✭
If I know the Order of the Black Worm at all (and sometimes I doubt I do) it'll end up involving rituals and/or experiments.Didn't Clockwork end with that apostle saying she might travel? Yet we haven't seen her anywhere else. I guess that could because Clockwork City isn't as easy to leave or get to as Solstice. One thing I never quite understood about Clockwork City is the notion that once you're there, you're there forever ("There's no way home!"). People do come and go (not talking about the player characters), and Neramo and the Vanos twins make it out again. Or do they? Have we seen them in game since Clockwork? Well, Divayth comes and goes, that much I do know for sure!
Nah, Luciana is severely injured (and, depending on your choice, can be saved or not), and Varuni does question why Sotha Sil doesn't allow people to leave, but that's exacly the situation there - they can't. Maybe it is a little inconsequential? I mean, Divayth is a close friend to Sil, so he might be an exception. But yes, the Vanos twins also get out again; we meet them again later in that one Dwemer ruin in Blackreach. Then again, we can speculate anyway which purpose that all serves - why aren't most people allowed to go? Are they altered in a way that they would not survive outside anymore if they stayed too long? Is it that they serve a clear purpose in CWC that Sil already foresees? Maybe the few quest people that arrived later are supposed to leave again because they don't belong to that design and would somehow bring things out of balance? It's never stated. But the whole thing is a cosmos on its own and I don't think Sil keeps them there without any reason. He's not the powerhungry type, he doesn't strive for admiration, he doesn't even see himself as a god. And the whole city serves a purpose, after all; even if we don't know the details around the Coldharbor Compact, we know Sil had something of importance in that negotation. Or maybe it's as simple as that: The city could be the last refuge if there's ever some catastrophe wiping out whole Nirn. But for that, it must be functioning, and it needs people - well-balanced for all necessary tasks, and most of all enough of them. If people could just leave at will, maybe that wouldn't work out. Now we can debate ethics, of course, whether this all is justified considering the circumstances. It's a more interesting theme leading to more interesting questions than the simple messages of later stories, at least.
Don't some people also end up there by accident? I think we found a journal of a mage on the landscape that started a quest, and they hadn't intended to go to Clockwork; if I recall correctly, they weren't entirely sure where they were.
I could see Sil recruiting various people, for various reasons; I understand the Apostles faithfully following him (at least initially--wasn't Varuni born in Clockwork?). But there do seem to be a lot of people who end up there without wanting to be there and really wanting to get back home. And enough people must show up without invitation, as it were, for them to have established a protocol as to how people are even allowed into the city itself. How much Sil is involved in that sort of bureaucracy isn't known; nor are we really aware how much interest he takes in the general welfare of the citizenry.
Slag Town denizens have it pretty hard, and I was never sure if they're in Slag Town because they're of little use to the workings of Clockwork, or because they have little desire to be part of Clockwork. (By Clockwork I mean the Apostles and such--the official followers of Sil). But since some of them are there generationally, it makes me wonder if at any time any one in their family tried to join in with the Apostles, or become more enmeshed within Clockwork proper. We did have that one story in Slag Town about the one npc who wanted to prove there was a way to change their fate/station, which makes it kind of seem like everyone else has just resigned themselves to being the cast-offs in Slag Town.
But yes, there's a lot that can be discussed about Clockwork City, even going past Sil's motives for having it in the first place. I should take another character through there; it's been awhile.
Maybe that'll be a zone event in an upcoming season. Tea with the Great Mage!It's hard to say. I usually wait until I see mention of a fix in the patch notes, and try after that, but I don't know if all bug fixes make it into the patch notes. I'd give it three months. Maybe two. I guess it would depend on what else I have going on in game.
I can still replay Morrowind, CWC and Summerset. That will take a while. Though right now, I tried to complete some multi-part antiquities and there's also still a few houses I could furnish. Did I mention I really dislike that Kelesan'ruhn has two entrances to the building? There's only one single room that's easy to safely close off. Maybe I need to put in some extra walls...
You did not mention that before, at least not to me. Sounds like you need to get some construction crews in, close out that security risk of a second entrance.I didn't think of it at the time (I'm usually not that interested in wearing the disguises we use in quests any longer than necessary for the quest) but that is strange that those costumes didn't make it into the collection. It does seem like an oversight, one that hopefully will be fixed.
I collect all of them. Actually I still have them all since there are a few differences in function between them and the costumes. The costumes don't override some other cosmetic settings while the disguises do.
The fact that the costumes put our characters back to base appearances sometimes takes me by surprise. My main guy started off clean-shaven, but over the years he's grown a stylish--not beard, exactly, but noticeable facial hair (that doesn't look like he just forgot to shave)--and anytime he gets in a costume that shows his face, there's that smooth clean-shaven look again! Same thing happens with his hairstyle. (I've never officially altered him with a character change token--just change up his hair and such with cosmetics).I remember seeing that comment, too, and it does seem to be true. I do hope they expand/enrich the player response options, so there are more kinds of friendly (or mean, or flirtatious) that fit more personalities. Sometimes the options we're given do fit my characters, and it's fun to have that available, so overall I'm glad the system exists.
I think it would already be better if they were worded a bit... less extreme. It's possible to convey the emotion without making it absolutely in-your-face, after all.
It is, and I hope ZOS keeps that in mind going forward.Often times on a second playthrough of a quest series, I'll notice things I might not have picked up on the first time. Well, this time in the eastern Solstice main quest, when we get to Jeetra's village and the place has been soul-flayer-reaped, I wondered: even if the cultists successfully disguised themselves as simple traders, and the villagers stupidly thought the soul flayer was a product to buy, why didn't Jeetra's sister recognize the soul flayer? She was in the village; she used to be a cultist; she knew about the flayers. Is there a simple explanation for this that I'm missing? It's a small village; seems like a group of traders bringing in a big object would have attracted everyone's attention.
Well, that's another inplausibility. But honestly, the whole thing doesn't make any sense. I'm not even sure if details matter anymore. Worm Cultists showing up disguised as random traders (What were they selling? Furniture? Maybe it was no disguise after all), with a huge creepy-looking thing, after the whole Worm Cult problem has already become common knowledge, the Wall had been there, cultists had been causing destruction, Coldharborized the whole landscape, abducted people... and no one shows any caution at all? It already seems almost comedic.
Or wait, now it get it: It's all a big furniture selling scheme! They travel around, sell furniture to people, then kill everyone with their soul flayer, box their furniture again and travel to the next village...
Lol...mystery solved!
Well, I'm off for a few days. Got a big family thing centered around my dad's 80th birthday. Have fun making Kelesan'ruhn into your new dungeon/lair/secret lab!0 -
Syldras✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭If I know the Order of the Black Worm at all (and sometimes I doubt I do) it'll end up involving rituals and/or experiments.
Involving lots of wine. And incense. And expensive furniture.Don't some people also end up there by accident? I think we found a journal of a mage on the landscape that started a quest, and they hadn't intended to go to Clockwork; if I recall correctly, they weren't entirely sure where they were.
Well, they don't know how they ended up there, but can we be sure that it was an accident?I could see Sil recruiting various people, for various reasons; I understand the Apostles faithfully following him (at least initially--wasn't Varuni born in Clockwork?).
I can't remember whether she states if she was born there. But I remember her being disappointed when Sil vanishes again at the end of the story, before she could speak to him. She reveals she has been in his service for a century but never had any chance to talk to him.How much Sil is involved in that sort of bureaucracy isn't known; nor are we really aware how much interest he takes in the general welfare of the citizenry.
Generally it looked to me like his apostles were taking care of most mundane things - but would he know what's going on everywhere in his realm, at least? I'm not entirely sure about that. We know there are some things going wrong where he doesn't interfere - but whether he's not aware of it, or whether it's his choice?!Slag Town denizens have it pretty hard, and I was never sure if they're in Slag Town because they're of little use to the workings of Clockwork, or because they have little desire to be part of Clockwork. (By Clockwork I mean the Apostles and such--the official followers of Sil). But since some of them are there generationally, it makes me wonder if at any time any one in their family tried to join in with the Apostles, or become more enmeshed within Clockwork proper. We did have that one story in Slag Town about the one npc who wanted to prove there was a way to change their fate/station, which makes it kind of seem like everyone else has just resigned themselves to being the cast-offs in Slag Town.
But yes, there's a lot that can be discussed about Clockwork City, even going past Sil's motives for having it in the first place. I should take another character through there; it's been awhile.
CWC is no paradise, that's for sure. But that's also not what it's supposed to be. There are dangers, even dangerous animals in the Radius, there's poverty. Maybe it's needed. It's supposed to be a replica of the real Tamriel, after all - and as such it does copy things like different social classes, and dangers of all kind. Maybe there are metaphysical reasons why it has to be like this and not an idealized world. I also wouldn't say Sil was exactly mercyful with his people - he just does what he thinks is necessary. And I think this is much more interesting to discuss than if we had some ideal paradise simulation there.Maybe that'll be a zone event in an upcoming season. Tea with the Great Mage!
Maybe we even find out where he lives one day.You did not mention that before, at least not to me. Sounds like you need to get some construction crews in, close out that security risk of a second entrance.
I suffer from typical Telvanni paranoia. First thing I do when entering a new house is searching for the room that's safest and easiest to defend in case of emergency. That becomes the bedroom then. And then it's about putting up defenses. I also tend to place beds for servants near the door(s) so there's immediate alarm in case someone enters who should not. In Kelesan'ruhn it really bothers me that there's only one room that can only be accessed from one side, and except for that you only have too huge halls above each other which have a door to the front and the teleporter on the backside. How is one supposed to keep both entrances in sight?! I'm not surprised that house got offered for sale - most probably the former owner had been murdered!The fact that the costumes put our characters back to base appearances sometimes takes me by surprise. My main guy started off clean-shaven, but over the years he's grown a stylish--not beard, exactly, but noticeable facial hair (that doesn't look like he just forgot to shave)--and anytime he gets in a costume that shows his face, there's that smooth clean-shaven look again! Same thing happens with his hairstyle. (I've never officially altered him with a character change token--just change up his hair and such with cosmetics).
Disguises also hide vampirism (or at least they did once; I haven't checked for some time as my two vampire characters are wearing something different right now). That was quite useful - well, depending on which look one prefers (in my case it also depends on the character and on the vampirism stage since those all alter the appearance differently).Lol...mystery solved!
And it keeps going since the early 2nd era.Well, I'm off for a few days. Got a big family thing centered around my dad's 80th birthday. Have fun making Kelesan'ruhn into your new dungeon/lair/secret lab!
Thanks! I think I'll also store a certain necromancer there somewhere.
Have fun with your family and see you again in a few days!@Syldras | PC | EU
The forceful expression of will gives true honor to the Ancestors.
Sarayn Andrethi, Telvanni mage (Main)
Darvasa Andrethi, his "I'm NOT a Necromancer!" sister
Malacar Sunavarlas, Altmer Ayleid vampire
Soris Rethandus, a Sleeper not yet awake0 -
metheglyn✭✭✭✭✭
It's the elegancies of life that make it worthwhile, after all.How much Sil is involved in that sort of bureaucracy isn't known; nor are we really aware how much interest he takes in the general welfare of the citizenry.
Generally it looked to me like his apostles were taking care of most mundane things - but would he know what's going on everywhere in his realm, at least? I'm not entirely sure about that. We know there are some things going wrong where he doesn't interfere - but whether he's not aware of it, or whether it's his choice?!
That's one of the things I find so interesting about Clockwork City. Sil made it for certain reasons, but we don't know any details about why, or what's he's doing, or how involved he intends to be. Obviously during the course of the story of the zone, we find out he's been sidelined, but since plenty of the denizens of Clockwork don't realize it's not actually him, it makes me wonder how well they do know him. If we hadn't intervened, at what point (if any) would someone have realized he was acting oddly, or as a shadow of himself? (I do like that the story plays with the phrase 'he's become a shadow of his former self' by making it literal).Slag Town denizens have it pretty hard, and I was never sure if they're in Slag Town because they're of little use to the workings of Clockwork, or because they have little desire to be part of Clockwork. (By Clockwork I mean the Apostles and such--the official followers of Sil). But since some of them are there generationally, it makes me wonder if at any time any one in their family tried to join in with the Apostles, or become more enmeshed within Clockwork proper. We did have that one story in Slag Town about the one npc who wanted to prove there was a way to change their fate/station, which makes it kind of seem like everyone else has just resigned themselves to being the cast-offs in Slag Town.
But yes, there's a lot that can be discussed about Clockwork City, even going past Sil's motives for having it in the first place. I should take another character through there; it's been awhile.
CWC is no paradise, that's for sure. But that's also not what it's supposed to be. There are dangers, even dangerous animals in the Radius, there's poverty. Maybe it's needed. It's supposed to be a replica of the real Tamriel, after all - and as such it does copy things like different social classes, and dangers of all kind. Maybe there are metaphysical reasons why it has to be like this and not an idealized world. I also wouldn't say Sil was exactly mercyful with his people - he just does what he thinks is necessary. And I think this is much more interesting to discuss than if we had some ideal paradise simulation there.
I never thought it was meant to be a paradise, but it is a controlled and regulated environment (and one can debate how much of each of those apply). Mostly I'm curious how much agency any denizen has. If the entire place is an experiment, we can think that Sil set it up with certain parameters that he intends to observe. Take poverty as an example. Perhaps he wants to study the reasons for poverty, or how people cope with it, or whether people can overcome it. If that's true, he might have set up Clockwork to have a certain population living in poverty. Or he might not even be that involved. He might study it just as (or if) it comes up--letting everyone have full control of their lives and taking notes/making observations on how they handle it, but not taking any direct action.
Then there is the whole story about the nutriment paste, and the chef trying to come up with an appetizing alternative. To me that comes across as Sil knows people need nutrition, so he provides the very basic definition of it--the paste will keep you alive, but it won't have any of the different textures or flavors that people like to get from their foods. That makes it seem like Sil doesn't quite understand people--why do they need different cuisines when a standard paste will do the job more efficiently? Or maybe, given the restrictions of Clockwork, the paste was the best he could come up with, and it is the most logical and efficient means of giving the people sustenance.
Yes! And then, once we know that, we can drop by anytime we want!You did not mention that before, at least not to me. Sounds like you need to get some construction crews in, close out that security risk of a second entrance.
I suffer from typical Telvanni paranoia. First thing I do when entering a new house is searching for the room that's safest and easiest to defend in case of emergency. That becomes the bedroom then. And then it's about putting up defenses. I also tend to place beds for servants near the door(s) so there's immediate alarm in case someone enters who should not. In Kelesan'ruhn it really bothers me that there's only one room that can only be accessed from one side, and except for that you only have too huge halls above each other which have a door to the front and the teleporter on the backside. How is one supposed to keep both entrances in sight?! I'm not surprised that house got offered for sale - most probably the former owner had been murdered!
Perhaps whoever designed it was eccentric, or without fear. I agree it has architectural oddities, but as an Altmer who prefers clean lines and plenty of light, my reservations about the place are somewhat different.The fact that the costumes put our characters back to base appearances sometimes takes me by surprise. My main guy started off clean-shaven, but over the years he's grown a stylish--not beard, exactly, but noticeable facial hair (that doesn't look like he just forgot to shave)--and anytime he gets in a costume that shows his face, there's that smooth clean-shaven look again! Same thing happens with his hairstyle. (I've never officially altered him with a character change token--just change up his hair and such with cosmetics).
Disguises also hide vampirism (or at least they did once; I haven't checked for some time as my two vampire characters are wearing something different right now). That was quite useful - well, depending on which look one prefers (in my case it also depends on the character and on the vampirism stage since those all alter the appearance differently).
I did not know that; I'm not interested in the curses of this game, so I don't play as vampire or werewolf.
That's probably the best place for him. I doubt the Worm Cult would get very far infiltrating Telvanni lands in search of the sarcophagus. Unless, I guess, you want them to.0 -
Syldras✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I was a bit busy the past few days (didn't even read forum posts - have I missed anything of interest?).
Still, I managed to play a bit on my NA account this evening and soloed Fungal Grotto 1 in random level 5 and 6 gear (no sets), and without any ult, on a level 10 character. It just took a little longer. Which made me wonder whether harder overland difficulty will really make things feel more interesting - or, well, just makes fights last a little bit longer, and that's it. I mean, at least one will probably be able to listen to a bit more dialogue and experience more mechanics then (Right now some delve bosses die before they even finished talking...), but I do wonder whether it will make a difference big enough to feel meaningful? Anyway,It's the elegancies of life that make it worthwhile, after all.
Let me put it like this: The Order of the Black Worm is very clearly an Altmer-led cult.That's one of the things I find so interesting about Clockwork City. Sil made it for certain reasons, but we don't know any details about why, or what's he's doing, or how involved he intends to be. Obviously during the course of the story of the zone, we find out he's been sidelined, but since plenty of the denizens of Clockwork don't realize it's not actually him, it makes me wonder how well they do know him. If we hadn't intervened, at what point (if any) would someone have realized he was acting oddly, or as a shadow of himself? (I do like that the story plays with the phrase 'he's become a shadow of his former self' by making it literal).
The impression I personally have is that he controls the whole environment, as in regulating the atmosphere, climate, and what ever it needs to be a habitable place, but except for that, he seems to mostly observe - if at all.I never thought it was meant to be a paradise, but it is a controlled and regulated environment (and one can debate how much of each of those apply). Mostly I'm curious how much agency any denizen has. If the entire place is an experiment, we can think that Sil set it up with certain parameters that he intends to observe. Take poverty as an example. Perhaps he wants to study the reasons for poverty, or how people cope with it, or whether people can overcome it. If that's true, he might have set up Clockwork to have a certain population living in poverty. Or he might not even be that involved. He might study it just as (or if) it comes up--letting everyone have full control of their lives and taking notes/making observations on how they handle it, but not taking any direct action.
I think people have full agency, apart from not being allowed to trespass into some regions and the usual social rules that apply to all other regions of Tamriel (like no stealing). Or maybe they can even trespass - if they manage to. Would be interesting to observe, and of course provide info about what to improve (in the end, everything is also an anti-Almalexia security measure, after all).
But I'm not even really sure whether the whole thing is an experiment. It's just as possible that it's really meant as some kind of lasting eternal sanctuary for the people in case the daedra really destroy Nirn at some point (maybe motivated by what happened to his family and Ald Sotha). Also some weird striving for perfection. Tamriel Final. A Second Nirn. It also comes up in the Apostle's writings - though of course those could also just be interpretations made by them, while Seht might have had completely different things in mind. Generally it seems the city is ruled by the Apostles, and I'm not completely sure whether Sil even knows about everything that's going on there, or whether he might be too concerned with other things (Who knows how much efforts regulating the artificial atmosphere even takes?).Then there is the whole story about the nutriment paste, and the chef trying to come up with an appetizing alternative. To me that comes across as Sil knows people need nutrition, so he provides the very basic definition of it--the paste will keep you alive, but it won't have any of the different textures or flavors that people like to get from their foods. That makes it seem like Sil doesn't quite understand people--why do they need different cuisines when a standard paste will do the job more efficiently? Or maybe, given the restrictions of Clockwork, the paste was the best he could come up with, and it is the most logical and efficient means of giving the people sustenance.
It's possible it's the only thing they can really produce there - it is a barren artificial environment, after all. Of course there are those experimental gardens, but we learn it comes at a horrible price.
Generally, there are some horrid things happening in CWC, and again it leads to the question: How much does Sil know about this? It's a completely ambiguous and uncertain situation, we don't know whether Sil is unaware, or doesn't care, or chooses to ignore it for scientific reasons, or even condones it or is even involved in it. Or, to use those very simplified terms of "good" and "evil" - we can't really place him on that scale for sure (of course we can theorize based on background lore, and estimate probabilities, but in the end we can never be 100% sure). And that makes the situation so much more interesting than those simple good/bad schemes and moral lessons we got in later chapters. And again, we're at the topic that started this thread.Yes! And then, once we know that, we can drop by anytime we want!
Unless he disappears just like Isobel's parents. But then it's probably high time to investigate! I'd suspect them to have been kidnapped by sloads and brought to Thras. Geographically, it would even make sensePerhaps whoever designed it was eccentric, or without fear. I agree it has architectural oddities, but as an Altmer who prefers clean lines and plenty of light, my reservations about the place are somewhat different.
I now vacated my bedroom for this...
Or no, wrong picture It's this one:
...and built a new bedroom directly above that one so all that nice necrotic energy radiates through the floor. I also solved the teleporter problem in a very Telvanni way.That's probably the best place for him. I doubt the Worm Cult would get very far infiltrating Telvanni lands in search of the sarcophagus. Unless, I guess, you want them to.
I won't need other cultists to resurrect him. I've already made preparations.
While shoving furniture around I noticed another thing:
Why does the scribing altar include Apocrypha items?
And another thing about the Aldwilne Citadel quest:Wasn't Naemon brought back as a lich at some point of the base game story? Yes, we killed him another time and in Coldharbor he didn't look like a lich anymore, but what is he now? Is a lich that was killed but returned from Coldharbor still a lich or a normal mortal again? The way he looks now isn't a clear indicator as liches only decay after time and may still look entirely normal for decades. Let alone we were told last year that necromancers can completely restore corpses no matter how decayed they were, and the same would probably also work for a lich. And on top of that, illusion magic exists. Which also again leads to the question whether Wormblood was a lich or not. Well, we don't even know what Mannimarco truly is.@Syldras | PC | EU
The forceful expression of will gives true honor to the Ancestors.
Sarayn Andrethi, Telvanni mage (Main)
Darvasa Andrethi, his "I'm NOT a Necromancer!" sister
Malacar Sunavarlas, Altmer Ayleid vampire
Soris Rethandus, a Sleeper not yet awake0 -
metheglyn✭✭✭✭✭I was a bit busy the past few days (didn't even read forum posts - have I missed anything of interest?).
Dunno. Been ill myself, so not paying a lot of attention to the forums. I see there's a lot of PTS talk, so if you like that, there's plenty to read. There was one thread about the Colovian beds that come with the Wildgrown Chapel house, and some interesting discussion about the real-world historical inspiration for the design.Still, I managed to play a bit on my NA account this evening and soloed Fungal Grotto 1 in random level 5 and 6 gear (no sets), and without any ult, on a level 10 character. It just took a little longer. Which made me wonder whether harder overland difficulty will really make things feel more interesting - or, well, just makes fights last a little bit longer, and that's it. I mean, at least one will probably be able to listen to a bit more dialogue and experience more mechanics then (Right now some delve bosses die before they even finished talking...), but I do wonder whether it will make a difference big enough to feel meaningful?
I guess it depends on what a player looks for in overland combat. Right now a lot of people seem worried about the different difficulties all being on the same server/shard/instance (whatever term applies). Seems to be some sort of worry about low difficulty people running up and one-shotting mobs that high difficulty people are working on killing. *shrug* All I know is that in LotRO, the landscape difficulty settings don't cause those kinds of issues. I figure I'll try a higher difficulty, see if I like it. I use it in LotRO on some of my characters.
You say that, but Mannimarco's castle in Coldharbour was ugly and uncomfortable. Where was all his style and elegance influence then?That's one of the things I find so interesting about Clockwork City. Sil made it for certain reasons, but we don't know any details about why, or what's he's doing, or how involved he intends to be. Obviously during the course of the story of the zone, we find out he's been sidelined, but since plenty of the denizens of Clockwork don't realize it's not actually him, it makes me wonder how well they do know him. If we hadn't intervened, at what point (if any) would someone have realized he was acting oddly, or as a shadow of himself? (I do like that the story plays with the phrase 'he's become a shadow of his former self' by making it literal).
The impression I personally have is that he controls the whole environment, as in regulating the atmosphere, climate, and what ever it needs to be a habitable place, but except for that, he seems to mostly observe - if at all.
The scientist in him--watching and recording, but not interfering. That makes me wonder what situation would spur him to intervene.I never thought it was meant to be a paradise, but it is a controlled and regulated environment (and one can debate how much of each of those apply). Mostly I'm curious how much agency any denizen has. If the entire place is an experiment, we can think that Sil set it up with certain parameters that he intends to observe. Take poverty as an example. Perhaps he wants to study the reasons for poverty, or how people cope with it, or whether people can overcome it. If that's true, he might have set up Clockwork to have a certain population living in poverty. Or he might not even be that involved. He might study it just as (or if) it comes up--letting everyone have full control of their lives and taking notes/making observations on how they handle it, but not taking any direct action.
I think people have full agency, apart from not being allowed to trespass into some regions and the usual social rules that apply to all other regions of Tamriel (like no stealing). Or maybe they can even trespass - if they manage to. Would be interesting to observe, and of course provide info about what to improve (in the end, everything is also an anti-Almalexia security measure, after all).
But I'm not even really sure whether the whole thing is an experiment. It's just as possible that it's really meant as some kind of lasting eternal sanctuary for the people in case the daedra really destroy Nirn at some point (maybe motivated by what happened to his family and Ald Sotha). Also some weird striving for perfection. Tamriel Final. A Second Nirn. It also comes up in the Apostle's writings - though of course those could also just be interpretations made by them, while Seht might have had completely different things in mind. Generally it seems the city is ruled by the Apostles, and I'm not completely sure whether Sil even knows about everything that's going on there, or whether he might be too concerned with other things (Who knows how much efforts regulating the artificial atmosphere even takes?).
It's definitely an interesting proposition: a living god makes a miniature world and fills it with constructs that imitate Nirn life (for the most part--those verminous fabricants are another mystery) but then also brings in real people. From that all these other questions come up. This is why I love Clockwork so much. It's such a fascinating place.Then there is the whole story about the nutriment paste, and the chef trying to come up with an appetizing alternative. To me that comes across as Sil knows people need nutrition, so he provides the very basic definition of it--the paste will keep you alive, but it won't have any of the different textures or flavors that people like to get from their foods. That makes it seem like Sil doesn't quite understand people--why do they need different cuisines when a standard paste will do the job more efficiently? Or maybe, given the restrictions of Clockwork, the paste was the best he could come up with, and it is the most logical and efficient means of giving the people sustenance.
It's possible it's the only thing they can really produce there - it is a barren artificial environment, after all. Of course there are those experimental gardens, but we learn it comes at a horrible price.
Generally, there are some horrid things happening in CWC, and again it leads to the question: How much does Sil know about this? It's a completely ambiguous and uncertain situation, we don't know whether Sil is unaware, or doesn't care, or chooses to ignore it for scientific reasons, or even condones it or is even involved in it. Or, to use those very simplified terms of "good" and "evil" - we can't really place him on that scale for sure (of course we can theorize based on background lore, and estimate probabilities, but in the end we can never be 100% sure). And that makes the situation so much more interesting than those simple good/bad schemes and moral lessons we got in later chapters. And again, we're at the topic that started this thread.
Not much to say except I agree.
You'll use any excuse to talk about Sloads, won't you? I think you should maybe travel to Thras, do some exploring. A nice little vacation. What could go wrong?Perhaps whoever designed it was eccentric, or without fear. I agree it has architectural oddities, but as an Altmer who prefers clean lines and plenty of light, my reservations about the place are somewhat different.
I now vacated my bedroom for this...
Or no, wrong picture It's this one:
...and built a new bedroom directly above that one so all that nice necrotic energy radiates through the floor. I also solved the teleporter problem in a very Telvanni way.
So your bedroom is now kind of like a revivfying chamber? You go to sleep, replenish with necrotic energy, wake up ready to go! I'm missing the teleporter problem solution, though--is it in the picture? If so, I can't tell what it is. Also, did you steal that funerary cart from Necrom? Whose ancestors are those?That's probably the best place for him. I doubt the Worm Cult would get very far infiltrating Telvanni lands in search of the sarcophagus. Unless, I guess, you want them to.
I won't need other cultists to resurrect him. I've already made preparations.
While shoving furniture around I noticed another thing:
Why does the scribing altar include Apocrypha items?
Good question; maybe because Mora has to shove his tentacles into anything to do with knowledge.And another thing about the Aldwilne Citadel quest:Wasn't Naemon brought back as a lich at some point of the base game story? Yes, we killed him another time and in Coldharbor he didn't look like a lich anymore, but what is he now? Is a lich that was killed but returned from Coldharbor still a lich or a normal mortal again? The way he looks now isn't a clear indicator as liches only decay after time and may still look entirely normal for decades. Let alone we were told last year that necromancers can completely restore corpses no matter how decayed they were, and the same would probably also work for a lich. And on top of that, illusion magic exists. Which also again leads to the question whether Wormblood was a lich or not. Well, we don't even know what Mannimarco truly is.
I actually was wondering that whenI came across Naemon all whole and unblemished. In Grahtwood the Orrery turned him into some kind of abomination that we then killed--did his body revert to his normal form after we dispatched him? (I can't recall.) Then in...was it Greenshade or Malabal Tor...Pelidil brought him back as a lich using the Staff of Magnus. We got rid of him then, too, but I don't think there was a physical body left behind. So honestly I don't know--this is some next-level resurrection magic the Worm Cult has available if they can bring Naemon back in original form and no worse for wear. All these Altmer and their confusing states.Edited by metheglyn on January 28, 2026 12:34AM0 -
Radiate77✭✭✭✭✭
✭I love that you guys are still going with this thread. 😂
I will say, I have entirely lost the plot though.Dragon Priest [Restoring Light, Draconic Power, Grave Lord]
Death Knight [Grave Lord, Winter’s Embrace, Siphoning]
Pyromancer [Ardent Flame, Dawn’s Wrath, Earthen Heart]
Summoner [Living Death, Grave Lord, Daedric Summoning]
Ranger [Animal Companions, Green Balance, Shadow]
Druid [Earthen Heart, Animal Companions, Stormcalling]
Elementalist [Stormcalling, Winter’s Embrace, Ardent Flame]
Dawnguard [Dawn’s Wrath, Restoring Light, Ardent Flame]5 -
Syldras✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Dunno. Been ill myself, so not paying a lot of attention to the forums. I see there's a lot of PTS talk, so if you like that, there's plenty to read. There was one thread about the Colovian beds that come with the Wildgrown Chapel house, and some interesting discussion about the real-world historical inspiration for the design.
I hope you're doing well again!
Sounds like there was at least something interesting going on on the forums! Still didn't manage to browse the last few pages; lots to do here right now, especially before the weather gets even worse.I guess it depends on what a player looks for in overland combat. Right now a lot of people seem worried about the different difficulties all being on the same server/shard/instance (whatever term applies). Seems to be some sort of worry about low difficulty people running up and one-shotting mobs that high difficulty people are working on killing. *shrug*
Did people really expect an extra instance for each difficulty? While there are often complaints about the server being too empty, and not enough people being around for world bosses and incursions? And those usual requests for crossplay (apart from wanting to be able to play with friends, I've often seen the reasoning that it would be vital to solve the empty server problem)? Sounds a little contradictive.
Then again, it really might be a disadvantage when it comes to those annoying event quests where dozens of players fight over a mob and only a few players who did the most damage get the drop. Of course for such situations, one could just change the difficulty in the UI, I know, but I'd rather spend my time playing the game instead of changing settings back and forth all the time.All I know is that in LotRO, the landscape difficulty settings don't cause those kinds of issues. I figure I'll try a higher difficulty, see if I like it. I use it in LotRO on some of my characters.
I'll surely do some testing. Though I already do know that I won't be willing to fight a wolf for several minutes over some moldy log or cornflower. Extra gold is fine, of course, but the question is whether the amount will be worth the extra time (xp doesn't matter that much anymore for me, I'm above 2100 cp anyway).You say that, but Mannimarco's castle in Coldharbour was ugly and uncomfortable. Where was all his style and elegance influence then?
We never saw any actual rooms there, let alone living quarters. Who knows how those looked like! I expect expensive furniture, and lots of incense and wine, of course.The scientist in him--watching and recording, but not interfering. That makes me wonder what situation would spur him to intervene.
Almalexia.
Also, if we believe the story in TES Legends, we learnt that he was busy building a second Heart of Lorkhan. Which also fits the background lore in ESO that he uses Sunna'rah to study his "own" divine energy, which is nothing but energy drawn from the original Heart of Lorkhan.It's definitely an interesting proposition: a living god makes a miniature world and fills it with constructs that imitate Nirn life (for the most part--those verminous fabricants are another mystery) but then also brings in real people. From that all these other questions come up. This is why I love Clockwork so much. It's such a fascinating place.
I think there was some Loremaster's Archive once that stated that the verminous fabricants were based on some now extinct creature that once inhabited Morrowind.You'll use any excuse to talk about Sloads, won't you? I think you should maybe travel to Thras, do some exploring. A nice little vacation. What could go wrong?
Indeed I could take a vacation in Thras. Anything I should get for you? Sload soap perhaps? And if I find Isobel's parents, I'll bring them too, of course!So your bedroom is now kind of like a revivfying chamber? You go to sleep, replenish with necrotic energy, wake up ready to go!
Yes, it's wonderful! Never slept that well before.I'm missing the teleporter problem solution, though--is it in the picture? If so, I can't tell what it is.
Nah, the teleporter is upstairs. I made it a trap. If you use it from the other level, you basically end up in a cage (those Worm Cult cages fit perfectly). I even thought about blocking off access to the spot you need to "activate" to teleport back out, so the only way you could leave again would be through fast travel; but maybe that's a bit too mean (although I don't intend to put it up on housing tours anyway)
Also, did you steal that funerary cart from Necrom?
Nah, it was legitimately bought.Whose ancestors are those?
I don't know. They didn't talk to me yet. I even suspect they might be fake - probably made of decorative wax!Good question; maybe because Mora has to shove his tentacles into anything to do with knowledge.
But what would Vanny say?!
Also, it's a bit sad that the Mages Guild needs to rely on Apocryphean equipment - for everything, really - because for some reason they don't have their own stuff. For scribing. And book binding and copying, which they state is one of the main purposes of the guild.
I also couldn't really figure out yet what those sticks are for. Surely they're not meant to be smashed on random people's heads if they disturb you while writing?I actually was wondering that when I came across Naemon all whole and unblemished. In Grahtwood the Orrery turned him into some kind of abomination that we then killed--did his body revert to his normal form after we dispatched him? (I can't recall.) Then in...was it Greenshade or Malabal Tor...Pelidil brought him back as a lich using the Staff of Magnus. We got rid of him then, too, but I don't think there was a physical body left behind. So honestly I don't know--this is some next-level resurrection magic the Worm Cult has available if they can bring Naemon back in original form and no worse for wear. All these Altmer and their confusing states.
It is very peculiar.I think in the Orrery, he became an ogrim. I can't remember though what happened to it after you defeated it. Then he later returned as a lich with the typical lich look. And in Coldharbor he looked his normal self again. And his latest version now has a different hairstyle and a scar, but except for that looks rather normal again.
Now of course we could, once more, speculate whether he's a soulshriven now, after he had ended up in Coldharbor. If he uses a wayshrine for transportation, we know
I love that you guys are still going with this thread. 😂
I will say, I have entirely lost the plot though.
We'll continue until... well, I'm not sure about that either, but we'll continue!@Syldras | PC | EU
The forceful expression of will gives true honor to the Ancestors.
Sarayn Andrethi, Telvanni mage (Main)
Darvasa Andrethi, his "I'm NOT a Necromancer!" sister
Malacar Sunavarlas, Altmer Ayleid vampire
Soris Rethandus, a Sleeper not yet awake0 -
metheglyn✭✭✭✭✭Dunno. Been ill myself, so not paying a lot of attention to the forums. I see there's a lot of PTS talk, so if you like that, there's plenty to read. There was one thread about the Colovian beds that come with the Wildgrown Chapel house, and some interesting discussion about the real-world historical inspiration for the design.
I hope you're doing well again!
Getting there, thanks!I guess it depends on what a player looks for in overland combat. Right now a lot of people seem worried about the different difficulties all being on the same server/shard/instance (whatever term applies). Seems to be some sort of worry about low difficulty people running up and one-shotting mobs that high difficulty people are working on killing. *shrug*
Did people really expect an extra instance for each difficulty? While there are often complaints about the server being too empty, and not enough people being around for world bosses and incursions? And those usual requests for crossplay (apart from wanting to be able to play with friends, I've often seen the reasoning that it would be vital to solve the empty server problem)? Sounds a little contradictive.
I don't know if they expected it, but it sounds like plenty think it should work like that. I really don't anticipate all the problems people foresee, based on my experience with a similar system. Well, as always, we'll see how it all works out.Then again, it really might be a disadvantage when it comes to those annoying event quests where dozens of players fight over a mob and only a few players who did the most damage get the drop. Of course for such situations, one could just change the difficulty in the UI, I know, but I'd rather spend my time playing the game instead of changing settings back and forth all the time.
Since I'm rarely in the top damage dealers on those kinds of things, I'm used to not getting drops from world bosses and such. Generally, I'm fine with that, as long as I get my quest completion. I really don't understand that limitation, though. I mean, it's not like the mob can run out of loot. All mobs, and particularly bosses, have infinite coffers.All I know is that in LotRO, the landscape difficulty settings don't cause those kinds of issues. I figure I'll try a higher difficulty, see if I like it. I use it in LotRO on some of my characters.
I'll surely do some testing. Though I already do know that I won't be willing to fight a wolf for several minutes over some moldy log or cornflower. Extra gold is fine, of course, but the question is whether the amount will be worth the extra time (xp doesn't matter that much anymore for me, I'm above 2100 cp anyway).
The rewards certainly aren't an incentive for me, but I like that there aren't super duper rewards tied to it. I think the reward for increased landscape difficulty should be the enjoyment of it and nothing else. If it's fun--yay; if it's not--turn it off. At least, that's how I'm going to approach it.You say that, but Mannimarco's castle in Coldharbour was ugly and uncomfortable. Where was all his style and elegance influence then?
We never saw any actual rooms there, let alone living quarters. Who knows how those looked like! I expect expensive furniture, and lots of incense and wine, of course.
I doubt it. That was before the Worm Cult took up furniture crafting, after all.
Right, right. I should have said, what situation other than Almalexia would get his attention and intervention. I'd really be curious how far his observational stance would go. Where does he draw the lines? He's willing to let a section of people continue in poverty. Would he stop someone on a murder spree? He didn't interfere in the matter of harvesting life essence for sunlight effects, and that seems to be have been going on before he got shadowed. What if a group of apostles started a sort of revolution? Would he stick his hand in then?Also, if we believe the story in TES Legends, we learnt that he was busy building a second Heart of Lorkhan. Which also fits the background lore in ESO that he uses Sunna'rah to study his "own" divine energy, which is nothing but energy drawn from the original Heart of Lorkhan.
Well...so...how do you build something like that? Using the Heart of Lorkhan to build a Heart of Lorkhan. Seems like there would be diminishing returns in power levels. I mean, if anyone could do it, Sil could, but still.It's definitely an interesting proposition: a living god makes a miniature world and fills it with constructs that imitate Nirn life (for the most part--those verminous fabricants are another mystery) but then also brings in real people. From that all these other questions come up. This is why I love Clockwork so much. It's such a fascinating place.
I think there was some Loremaster's Archive once that stated that the verminous fabricants were based on some now extinct creature that once inhabited Morrowind.
Ok, then! Mystery solved! Probably.You'll use any excuse to talk about Sloads, won't you? I think you should maybe travel to Thras, do some exploring. A nice little vacation. What could go wrong?
Indeed I could take a vacation in Thras. Anything I should get for you? Sload soap perhaps? And if I find Isobel's parents, I'll bring them too, of course!
Nice of you to offer, but no, I don't need anything from Thras. Make sure you don't pick up another plague there and bring it back. Wouldn't put it past the Sloads to disguise the plague as soap.I'm missing the teleporter problem solution, though--is it in the picture? If so, I can't tell what it is.
Nah, the teleporter is upstairs. I made it a trap. If you use it from the other level, you basically end up in a cage (those Worm Cult cages fit perfectly). I even thought about blocking off access to the spot you need to "activate" to teleport back out, so the only way you could leave again would be through fast travel; but maybe that's a bit too mean (although I don't intend to put it up on housing tours anyway)
Now that is an ingenious solution! Let me know if you catch any trespassers that way! You know, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that there is an entire category of houses in the tour system that are designed to be traps/dungeons/etc. Yours would fit right in!
Well, if that's the case, break them apart into chunks--decorative wax is a premium housing ingredient!Good question; maybe because Mora has to shove his tentacles into anything to do with knowledge.
But what would Vanny say?!
Also, it's a bit sad that the Mages Guild needs to rely on Apocryphean equipment - for everything, really - because for some reason they don't have their own stuff. For scribing. And book binding and copying, which they state is one of the main purposes of the guild.
The Mages Guild: the premium scavengers of Tamriel. Maybe the Great Mage has hoarder instincts, and he established the guild so he could: a.) get people to scavenge stuff for him and b.) have a place to put it all.I also couldn't really figure out yet what those sticks are for. Surely they're not meant to be smashed on random people's heads if they disturb you while writing?
I would guess they are for stiffening the spines of books. But they could serve double duty as head smashing implements.I actually was wondering that when I came across Naemon all whole and unblemished. In Grahtwood the Orrery turned him into some kind of abomination that we then killed--did his body revert to his normal form after we dispatched him? (I can't recall.) Then in...was it Greenshade or Malabal Tor...Pelidil brought him back as a lich using the Staff of Magnus. We got rid of him then, too, but I don't think there was a physical body left behind. So honestly I don't know--this is some next-level resurrection magic the Worm Cult has available if they can bring Naemon back in original form and no worse for wear. All these Altmer and their confusing states.
It is very peculiar.I think in the Orrery, he became an ogrim. I can't remember though what happened to it after you defeated it. Then he later returned as a lich with the typical lich look. And in Coldharbor he looked his normal self again. And his latest version now has a different hairstyle and a scar, but except for that looks rather normal again.
Now of course we could, once more, speculate whether he's a soulshriven now, after he had ended up in Coldharbor. If he uses a wayshrine for transportation, we know
We need to find someone to follow him around and see how he travels. Cariel's not busy, is she? She could do it!I love that you guys are still going with this thread. 😂
I will say, I have entirely lost the plot though.
As near as I can tell, the plot goes like this: Syldras has ambitions to restore/revive the Worm Cult and set it up as a purveyor of luxury furnishings in direct competition to Zanil Theran. He also may or may not have plans to resurrect Mannimarco at some point.
1 -
Syldras✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Since I'm rarely in the top damage dealers on those kinds of things, I'm used to not getting drops from world bosses and such. Generally, I'm fine with that, as long as I get my quest completion. I really don't understand that limitation, though. I mean, it's not like the mob can run out of loot. All mobs, and particularly bosses, have infinite coffers.
Well, we saw to which problems it led during the Wall event. I also don't really get why there's this restriction. Was it meant as a preventive measure so people don't just camp at world bosses afk and fire just one shot every 5 minutes to get loot? Botting even, perhaps? Still, they could be a little more generous, especially during events. I mean: Since scaling does happen in game (at dolmens, for example), we know the number of people involved in a fight is recognized by the game. So it should also be possible to increase the number of loot drops if a high participation in a fight was registered.
And while we're at strange game mechanisms: I also don't see the benefit of that stupid countdown when failing to break/pick a chest lock that only enables other players to "steal" the chest right in front of you. It doesn't even make sense from an immersion/roleplaying perspective. How would that be realistically possible that someone just picks a lock, sitting right in front of a chest, their lockpick breaks, and then suddenly someone else shoves the person away to try it themselves?! I don't even think the countdown is realistic, though I do understand they might have decided for that to avoid people just starting lockpicking a chest and then going afk for a long time, perhaps as trolling - though I don't think this would happen too often either (How realistic is it that suddenly dozens of people would randomly start blocking all chests? Also, they could just have them auto-despawn and respawn after 5 minutes of inactivity or so).The rewards certainly aren't an incentive for me, but I like that there aren't super duper rewards tied to it.
Who knows what they'll come up with. I think there was one article some days ago that stated they'd start with extra xp and gold for now - but might come up with other things. Which I also see rather critical - depending on what it is, it could become another thing akin to an annoying chore list ("Fight enemy type x in medium difficulty for super-rare lead drop y!", "Battle pass task: Kill 100 dragons in hard difficulty!") which is something I'd rather see less of. Also, it wouldn't feel like a completely free and equal choice anymore then. Which they had promised when they first talked about working on such a system.I doubt it. That was before the Worm Cult took up furniture crafting, after all.
Nah.
Funniest thing is that Mannimarco left Artaeum about 2E 230. He must have started designing furniture rather early!Right, right. I should have said, what situation other than Almalexia would get his attention and intervention. I'd really be curious how far his observational stance would go. Where does he draw the lines? He's willing to let a section of people continue in poverty. Would he stop someone on a murder spree? He didn't interfere in the matter of harvesting life essence for sunlight effects, and that seems to be have been going on before he got shadowed. What if a group of apostles started a sort of revolution? Would he stick his hand in then?
I think he'd intervene if there's anything that endangers his city as a whole. Anything that would end his experiment or vision or plan for a daedra-safe second Nirn (if we believe that that's the city's purpose, which I do think is possible - and it's a little unsettling considering we know that he has the ability to see the future, at least to some extent, so if he sees the urgent necessity for a second Nirn, he must have good reasons for that). But anything less than that? Who knows.
At the end of CWC, when Luciana gets severely injured, Sil only saves her life if the player character asks him for it (though I think she survives regardless of the player's decision). Which looked to me like he normally chooses not to interfere in things that happen "naturally" in his realm.
I think there was also some dialogue bit about him "doing what has to be done", even if some decisions might look harsh. Since we know he sees the future, probably he also knows the necessary cause of events, and needs to act accordingly. No matter if he might like it or not. I do think he's generally benevolent, though - if we look at the whole picture. Assuming CWC's purpose truly is to be a sanctuary to save mortal life from being eradicated by some huge daedric catastrophe destroying Nirn as a whole - it is an act of benevolence.
Generally, there's some caring aspect to him (especially compared to Almalexia and Vivec whose main purpose of divinity feels rather different). The Temple also labels him the "father" of their divine triad (if we look at Earth mythology, lots of deities come in groups of three, by the way), and by the traditional idea many cultures have or had of a father figure, that includes not only care, but also aspects like teaching, and even punishment if necessary. It might even be hard for him, but he considers all this his purpose there. Things that just need to be done, for the wellbeing of his city as a whole.
He generally seems so focused on his purpose as the deity of CWC, as the function he needs to provide for that world and its people, while putting his own feelings last. Which also adds to his tragic character. Considering his past, despite acting rather stoic most of the time, he must be deeply hurt. And he has problems to let go; or had - until he relocated all his memories and feelings into those memory stars in the Mnemonic Planisphere; though I'm not entirely sure whether that's the truth, either. Some Apostle tells us that, sure. But maybe he saved them there not ever to be forgotten during his long life, to return to that place and listen to them once in a while? If you know you'll live over a thousand years you might become afraid you could forget these things - your childhood memories, the sound of your mother's voice, etc.
We know he has sentimental tendencies. He has his memorial garden - outside in the Radius where rarely any normal citizen would ever come by. Some antiquities also have interesting texts, in particular the Elegiac Vessel. And most of all we know he tried to inject his sister's spirit, and probably consciousness, into his city, or the central computer or what ever to call it, the thing all factotums get their program from. He failed in preserving her consciousness, but he saved her memories. There's also that theory that all factotums are female and have the same voice because that's his sister's voice. In the Halls of Fabrication trial we see the results of his later experiments, where at least a fraction of consciousness of living people is preserved in machines, but it also was still rather faulty. Makes me wonder whether he might have succeeded much later, when Almalexia killed him. That would be spectacular: To return to CWC in some TES game set in the future and come across him again, disembodied, but a conscious spirit inside the central computer, still watching over his city (TES Legends doesn't mention anything like that, but what we see there are just narrated stories, and sometimes conflicting accounts, so who knows). Maybe even having his memories merged with those of his sister. Or even some conciousness of her actually being present, originally too faint to make its presence noticeable, that he could now communicate with. Much could be made of that!
Now I'm a bit sad, if I compare that awesome lore and world building we got back then to the later chapters with their simple morals and clichéd characterizations!Well...so...how do you build something like that? Using the Heart of Lorkhan to build a Heart of Lorkhan. Seems like there would be diminishing returns in power levels. I mean, if anyone could do it, Sil could, but still.
We don't know for sure. What we know is that the Tribunal had to return to the Heart of Lorkhan regularly to renew their divine powers. The reawakening of Dagoth Ur... caused a problem. So Sil began to work on a second Heart of Lorkhan, somehow. Including copies of Kagrenac's Tools. In the end he used it to power his city beyond his death (before that he indeed needed to use his own divine power - and basically his own life force, since that was what kept him alive for such a long time - to keep all machines running).Nice of you to offer, but no, I don't need anything from Thras. Make sure you don't pick up another plague there and bring it back. Wouldn't put it past the Sloads to disguise the plague as soap.
Okay, no plague... Can I bring a sload, perhaps?Now that is an ingenious solution! Let me know if you catch any trespassers that way! You know, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that there is an entire category of houses in the tour system that are designed to be traps/dungeons/etc. Yours would fit right in!
It's actually not the first trap I've built.Well, if that's the case, break them apart into chunks--decorative wax is a premium housing ingredient!
And it's found in funerary urns.The Mages Guild: the premium scavengers of Tamriel. Maybe the Great Mage has hoarder instincts, and he established the guild so he could: a.) get people to scavenge stuff for him and b.) have a place to put it all.
For that, most guild halls look rather empty.I would guess they are for stiffening the spines of books.
They look much too big for that.We need to find someone to follow him around and see how he travels. Cariel's not busy, is she? She could do it!
Not sure if she's still willing to talk to me.As near as I can tell, the plot goes like this: Syldras has ambitions to restore/revive the Worm Cult and set it up as a purveyor of luxury furnishings in direct competition to Zanil Theran. He also may or may not have plans to resurrect Mannimarco at some point.
Of course I'll resurrect him! But after Heart's Week. I already told you I'm going to take him to the festival as a thrall to scare people show everyone what awesome friends we are! We'll visit the Mara priest and perhaps have some cake (well, I'll have cake, at least). Of course I'm going to get him a nice new robe without bloodstains and also polish his tiara before we go! Perhaps adorn him with flowers, too. Nightshade...? No, that's too much. Cherry flowers maybe. I don't think he'd mind. It's just puppetry, after all, right?
Maybe I could even start some kind of "Tamriel's prettiest thrall" competition. Like those dog or cat shows, just for necromancers.@Syldras | PC | EU
The forceful expression of will gives true honor to the Ancestors.
Sarayn Andrethi, Telvanni mage (Main)
Darvasa Andrethi, his "I'm NOT a Necromancer!" sister
Malacar Sunavarlas, Altmer Ayleid vampire
Soris Rethandus, a Sleeper not yet awake0 -
metheglyn✭✭✭✭✭Since I'm rarely in the top damage dealers on those kinds of things, I'm used to not getting drops from world bosses and such. Generally, I'm fine with that, as long as I get my quest completion. I really don't understand that limitation, though. I mean, it's not like the mob can run out of loot. All mobs, and particularly bosses, have infinite coffers.
Well, we saw to which problems it led during the Wall event. I also don't really get why there's this restriction. Was it meant as a preventive measure so people don't just camp at world bosses afk and fire just one shot every 5 minutes to get loot? Botting even, perhaps? Still, they could be a little more generous, especially during events. I mean: Since scaling does happen in game (at dolmens, for example), we know the number of people involved in a fight is recognized by the game. So it should also be possible to increase the number of loot drops if a high participation in a fight was registered.
It probably is some sort of anti-exploit measure. Or a limitation of old game design. Still annoying, though. I agree they could be more generous with drops during events.And while we're at strange game mechanisms: I also don't see the benefit of that stupid countdown when failing to break/pick a chest lock that only enables other players to "steal" the chest right in front of you. It doesn't even make sense from an immersion/roleplaying perspective. How would that be realistically possible that someone just picks a lock, sitting right in front of a chest, their lockpick breaks, and then suddenly someone else shoves the person away to try it themselves?! I don't even think the countdown is realistic, though I do understand they might have decided for that to avoid people just starting lockpicking a chest and then going afk for a long time, perhaps as trolling - though I don't think this would happen too often either (How realistic is it that suddenly dozens of people would randomly start blocking all chests? Also, they could just have them auto-despawn and respawn after 5 minutes of inactivity or so).
While your description of someone shoving someone aside to have their chance at picking the lock did make me laugh (it's quite an image!) nothing else about this mechanic is in the least amusing to me. I've lost a couple of master chests to such looming people, and all it does is make me want to log out of the game and go do something else. As far as the lockpicking countdown timer goes, it seems like it's there to give some kind of analog to how difficult it is to pick a lock (shorter timer for harder locks) and leverage some small manner of skill into the lockpicking mini-game. Other MMOs I've played didn't have this kind of thing. There was either a class who could pick locks and their skill advanced as they leveled, and/or people with the blacksmithing ability could craft keys of varying levels to open locks out in the world. I guess at least this way anyone with a lockpick can open a lock instead of being class or craft dependent.The rewards certainly aren't an incentive for me, but I like that there aren't super duper rewards tied to it.
Who knows what they'll come up with. I think there was one article some days ago that stated they'd start with extra xp and gold for now - but might come up with other things. Which I also see rather critical - depending on what it is, it could become another thing akin to an annoying chore list ("Fight enemy type x in medium difficulty for super-rare lead drop y!", "Battle pass task: Kill 100 dragons in hard difficulty!") which is something I'd rather see less of. Also, it wouldn't feel like a completely free and equal choice anymore then. Which they had promised when they first talked about working on such a system.
That's why I don't want rewards other than gold and xp tied to it. The main complaint I've seen on the forums regarding overland difficulty is that when it's so easy, it's boring and not worth people's time. To me that says they're looking for more interesting fights--a reason to use all their cool abilities and maneuvers. Longer fights might do that. Most mobs do have abilities they can use, and if they don't die in a couple hits they might have time to fire them off. And if more interesting fights are what people are after, then more rewards aren't necessary on top of that. I think in the article they mentioned something about perhaps having golden pursuit tasks tied to the harder difficulties--like one of the tasks could be 'kill five dragons in vestige mode' and that individual pursuit might have a special reward tied to it (like how they sometimes do with pursuits) but that it wouldn't be necessary to complete the overall pursuit and fill out the overarching reward bar. That wouldn't bother me.
I don't think I've come across those yet. Honestly, I'm just so tired of antiquity rng. I don't like having so much interesting lore locked behind luck. But, that complaint aside, I still doubt his Castle of the Worm in Coldharbour had any luxuries. He was clearly going for a bleak aesthetic.Right, right. I should have said, what situation other than Almalexia would get his attention and intervention. I'd really be curious how far his observational stance would go. Where does he draw the lines? He's willing to let a section of people continue in poverty. Would he stop someone on a murder spree? He didn't interfere in the matter of harvesting life essence for sunlight effects, and that seems to be have been going on before he got shadowed. What if a group of apostles started a sort of revolution? Would he stick his hand in then?
I think he'd intervene if there's anything that endangers his city as a whole. Anything that would end his experiment or vision or plan for a daedra-safe second Nirn (if we believe that that's the city's purpose, which I do think is possible - and it's a little unsettling considering we know that he has the ability to see the future, at least to some extent, so if he sees the urgent necessity for a second Nirn, he must have good reasons for that). But anything less than that? Who knows.
At the end of CWC, when Luciana gets severely injured, Sil only saves her life if the player character asks him for it (though I think she survives regardless of the player's decision). Which looked to me like he normally chooses not to interfere in things that happen "naturally" in his realm.
That choice was really quite interesting to make, too. Sil was completely neutral as to the outcome, and it really did feel like a true player character roleplay moment. What's interesting about her, though, is that initially he did save her life (when she first ended up in Clockwork), so at one point it was significant enough to him that she continue to live.I think there was also some dialogue bit about him "doing what has to be done", even if some decisions might look harsh. Since we know he sees the future, probably he also knows the necessary cause of events, and needs to act accordingly. No matter if he might like it or not. I do think he's generally benevolent, though - if we look at the whole picture. Assuming CWC's purpose truly is to be a sanctuary to save mortal life from being eradicated by some huge daedric catastrophe destroying Nirn as a whole - it is an act of benevolence.
Generally, there's some caring aspect to him (especially compared to Almalexia and Vivec whose main purpose of divinity feels rather different). The Temple also labels him the "father" of their divine triad (if we look at Earth mythology, lots of deities come in groups of three, by the way), and by the traditional idea many cultures have or had of a father figure, that includes not only care, but also aspects like teaching, and even punishment if necessary. It might even be hard for him, but he considers all this his purpose there. Things that just need to be done, for the wellbeing of his city as a whole.
I didn't mean to imply I thought he was harsh or never benevolent. He's my absolute favorite of the Tribunal and I would love for the chance to make one of my characters an actual Clockwork Apostle. I just like discussing what causes him to act or not, and try to come to a better understanding of him.He generally seems so focused on his purpose as the deity of CWC, as the function he needs to provide for that world and its people, while putting his own feelings last. Which also adds to his tragic character. Considering his past, despite acting rather stoic most of the time, he must be deeply hurt. And he has problems to let go; or had - until he relocated all his memories and feelings into those memory stars in the Mnemonic Planisphere; though I'm not entirely sure whether that's the truth, either. Some Apostle tells us that, sure. But maybe he saved them there not ever to be forgotten during his long life, to return to that place and listen to them once in a while? If you know you'll live over a thousand years you might become afraid you could forget these things - your childhood memories, the sound of your mother's voice, etc.
I may be misremembering, but I thought the Planisphere was a place to keep his memories, not let go of them. The idea I got was that he has so many thoughts/memories, he needed a way to sort and organize them, clearing up clutter, as it were, so he could better focus on whatever matter was uppermost in his mind. So he puts his memories there for safekeeping while freeing up his mind for current issues. (Every time I go to the Planisphere, I do my best to activate as many memory fragments as possible so I can experience them again; they're such a fascinating glimpse into Sil's life).We know he has sentimental tendencies. He has his memorial garden - outside in the Radius where rarely any normal citizen would ever come by. Some antiquities also have interesting texts, in particular the Elegiac Vessel. And most of all we know he tried to inject his sister's spirit, and probably consciousness, into his city, or the central computer or what ever to call it, the thing all factotums get their program from. He failed in preserving her consciousness, but he saved her memories. There's also that theory that all factotums are female and have the same voice because that's his sister's voice.
Yes, and that those phrases they say when they're buffering (for lack of a better term) are from her memory--which is so heartbreaking. The memorial garden is another favorite place. The conversation we get to have with him there is one I look forward to every time I play through Clockwork. There's a point where he says something about envying us the ability to say, "I don't know." It really conveys the burden of knowledge he lives with and the weight of knowing the future.In the Halls of Fabrication trial we see the results of his later experiments, where at least a fraction of consciousness of living people is preserved in machines, but it also was still rather faulty. Makes me wonder whether he might have succeeded much later, when Almalexia killed him. That would be spectacular: To return to CWC in some TES game set in the future and come across him again, disembodied, but a conscious spirit inside the central computer, still watching over his city (TES Legends doesn't mention anything like that, but what we see there are just narrated stories, and sometimes conflicting accounts, so who knows). Maybe even having his memories merged with those of his sister. Or even some conciousness of her actually being present, originally too faint to make its presence noticeable, that he could now communicate with. Much could be made of that!
Sadly, I get the feeling that the main series is pretty much done with the Tribunal. Are the stories in TES Legends meant to be canon? Or just stories people have told that perhaps got distorted over time (as legends do)?
If you really want to. Just keep it away from me. Maybe keep it in one of your basement rooms/cells where you put all your unfortunate guests.Now that is an ingenious solution! Let me know if you catch any trespassers that way! You know, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that there is an entire category of houses in the tour system that are designed to be traps/dungeons/etc. Yours would fit right in!
It's actually not the first trap I've built.
It would be strange if it was, you being a paranoid...er...cautious Telvanni and all.
That's only because all the stuff is spread out over so many chapters. Put all together, it's a lot of stuff!
They're sticks; you can cut them down to size.
No problem; I'll just get Raz to give her the order to do so. She'll never know we were involved at all.As near as I can tell, the plot goes like this: Syldras has ambitions to restore/revive the Worm Cult and set it up as a purveyor of luxury furnishings in direct competition to Zanil Theran. He also may or may not have plans to resurrect Mannimarco at some point.
Of course I'll resurrect him! But after Heart's Week. I already told you I'm going to take him to the festival as a thrall to scare people show everyone what awesome friends we are! We'll visit the Mara priest and perhaps have some cake (well, I'll have cake, at least). Of course I'm going to get him a nice new robe without bloodstains and also polish his tiara before we go! Perhaps adorn him with flowers, too. Nightshade...? No, that's too much. Cherry flowers maybe. I don't think he'd mind. It's just puppetry, after all, right?
And what a puppet show it would be!Maybe I could even start some kind of "Tamriel's prettiest thrall" competition. Like those dog or cat shows, just for necromancers.
I bet you'd get a lot of interested contestants. Necromancers do love showing off, after all. Speaking of, here's a question for you: when you use a body for a thrall, it's just necrotic energy/magic animating it, right? So it's not the soul of the person who was once in the body. Does using a body for a thrall then make it harder to later resurrect with the soul back in? Also, if you put too much wear and tear on the corpse, won't that make the later resurrection a little...problematic? I mean, having to explain to Mannimarco why his body is all worn out, and all.0