Character Profile – Zora Fair-Child

Kris Takahashi Other 53 Comments

If you met Zora Fair-Child in her youth, you would not be as fond of her as you are now.  That Zora was selfish. Vain. She was the Diamond of Riverwood, but inside, she was about as ugly as they come.

From the day she was born, they said Zora was the lucky one. Born with beauty and blessed with charm, she was a child destined to be loved. Her sister, on the other hand, was a quiet, homely, mage – a girl destined to be scorned.

When Zora first lost her beauty, she went through all the Kubler-Ross stages of grief, but it was the anger part that was the most consequential. She stormed into the caves that surrounded the White River with a sword twice her size strapped to her back. The wolves around Riverwood were known to hunt in packs, and had fangs that could cut through flesh like a warm sweetroll. Zora didn’t just know this, she was counting on it. She didn’t care anymore whether she lived or died. Yet somehow, the poor girl managed to live.

Of course she did. She was always the lucky one.

When Zora woke up from her hysteria, she found herself an unrecognizable mess of scars. And yet with every new wound, every discolored stripe that streaked across her flesh, the loss of her physical beauty became less and less important. When her destiny was out of reach, she found something else to define her. Not because she wanted to. She had no other choice.

Zora’s growth as a character is about being comfortable in her own skin. As such, it’s no coincidence the one spell in her repertoire is Oakflesh. Still, throughout her trials and tribulations with the Dragonborn, a part of her will never be at peace with what she’s lost. Nor will you, despite all your powers as the savior of Skyrim, be able to free her from this curse. That’s life. Not every problem can be solved. Not every affliction has a cure.

As human beings, when faced with such problems, we endeavor to accept them. That doesn’t mean you’re happy to, or that you’re satisfied with your current existence. It just means you learn to move on with the cards you’ve been dealt. Zora has those moments where she laughs at herself, or feels sorry for herself, but in the end she still has the resolve to move forward, when so many others would wallow in self-pity, constantly looking back. She eventually learns to accept the person she is, and yet in some ways, even that isn’t enough.

Which brings us to the final step in her evolution as a person. In both her dialogue about Joselyn and The Children Fair, she goes beyond simply accepting the past. She embraces it. After all, without her medley of scars, she would have never understood her sister’s pain. Moreover, she would have never understood herself. And it’s that resolve and understanding that is the very essence of her strength.

That, ultimately, is what makes her beautiful.

Trailers and Teasers – Reunald, Helcyon, Frygg

Kris Takahashi Trailers and Teasers No Comments

Despite the overabundance of male actors in the mod, there has been a paucity of male vocalists. So to rectify that, I plan on adding some more male bards to the taverns around Skyrim, although I haven’t decided on whether to make them jukeboxes or give them a full sheet of dialogue. This bard, whom I inadvertently named after a car, will likely be in Kynesgrove. Aaron Kelley is new to the mod, but will be voicing some key roles in the Blood of Kings questline. Barrett Leddy is another actor who will sing and possibly dance at Rorikstead’s Frostfruit Inn.

Another actor for the questline, Jay Appleyard, is also a new addition. We don’t know if he can sing yet, as I haven’t asked him, but we do know he can execute a creepy fortune teller voice with precision. Proof of which is in the video below for Helcyon, and to a lesser extent Frygg. 

In other news, you may have noticed the ReadMe is slowing filling out. This is entirely due to Blauwvis, who has tirelessly added new pages, collected RefIDs and made neat little tables for your perusal. Roarian has also volunteered to help clean up any broken links and errors.

Character Profile – Eldar

Kris Takahashi Character Profiles 9 Comments

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Let’s say you own a home. A modest one, but a valuable commodity nonetheless. Now, if I offered you a million forks for it, you would probably reply with laughter, then derision, followed by more laughter combined with hurtful pointing, and when you were finished laughing and chiding and posting videos of me to YouTube you would pick up the phone and promptly call the authorities. It wouldn’t matter that the cumulative value of the forks exceeds the value of your place. It’s like trading 101 pennies for a dollar. At some point, the math doesn’t apply. I’m not selling forks. I’m selling junk.

Now imagine the same scenario, only the homeowner happens to run a successful dinnerware business. She not only owns the stores to sell the forks, but has the distribution infrastructure to deliver them to shelves across the country. For her, I’m not selling forks. I’m selling treasure.

You might say the success of Eldar‘s business plan depends on a variety of factors. The location is important, as are the overencumbered adventurers who stock his wares. However, the hoarding of items isn’t nearly as critical as Belethor’s ability to move them. And move them he can. Every 48 hours he will spin brooms into gold and be back for more. In fact, no matter what you throw at the old Breton, he will not only purchase it, but he will boast about his ability to sell it. For him, none of it is ever, ever junk.

Some might say this is a gameplay device, and like the 7000 steps to High Hrothgar, not something you take literally. Others will contend the dialogue for Belethor, where he repeatedly talks about the value of trash, is there specifically to imply the goods are being moved. And whether you believe one or the other will dictate whether Eldar thrives, or starves.

In this sense, the economics of the world are often determined by player choices. If you are the kind of person who chooses to play realistically, you might withhold selling Belethor piles of junk, effectively turning him into an ordinary merchant. However, if you take advantage of the loopholes in the gameplay, raising your speechcraft and stocking his store every week with hundreds of dirty bowls and brooms, then you are essentially creating a world where Belethor has the ability to sell them. A world where he is more than happy to sell his home for twice the value in junk.

Eldar talks about playing the market, and how it can affect what kind of junk Belethor is willing to buy. What Eldar doesn’t realize is the market, for all its whims and vagaries, is ultimately determined by one person, and one person alone. You.