I'd actually tend to agree about using pen and paper, but for several reasons I find using a pen to be both awkward and uncomfortable, so for it would just serve as a barrier.



I'm trying to break from the play->write thing, but I find it easier to write if I've checked in with my character that day. I'm not so good with characters, so a little refresher goes a long way with me.

And there's no arguing with that!
By which I mean that I can see exactly what you mean. That is pretty much the only reason I still do into Skyrim. Oblivion is a different matter entirely, mind...

Characters, whether they are Man, Mer or Beastfolk(Betmeri) can have different personalities, customs, attitudes, habits, goals and aspirations that can enhance and make the story progress.

Now, I do have a question that has been in the back of my mind for quite a bit, and only now since getting closer to some chapters in my fanfic story, has become something that I need information on.

Has anyone here every tried to write a few chapters of their story from the eyes of an animal? I've written a few chapters through the eyes of one, and I've tried to mold it in a way where the reader can sympathize and understand the creature, despite the fact that it is incapable of having the same intelligence certain humans has(which isn't limited to moral qualms). The most I came was with the dog trying to please his master and the competitive spirit and brotherly relationship he has with his other kin members. But that's about it and I'm afraid it might be a bit stale.

I mean, how hard would it to write a chapter through the eyes of a lion or a wolf or a tiger?

Or a horse or that most inscrutable of creatures, the common house cat?

It can be difficult because we don't quite fully understand how they perceive the world, and we tend to anthromorphize everything.

The best advice I can give you is that from what I've seen, animals (most of them anyway) tend to live in the moment. They don't dwell on "what ifs" and "if onlys" and "the future."

Cause and effect is easy to understand as long as the effect follows the cause within a minute, more like within ten seconds. If a dog were to eat spoiled food, then immediately vomit, he won't make the same mistake again. However, if said dog were to eat some Adderall (a drug commonly used for ADHD), he won't associate the following sequelae (anxiety, hyperactivity, tremors, convulsions and worse) with said ingestion. He'll just do it again, assuming he survives the first time around with timely treatment.

They do not understand chaos theory. Such connections between seemingly unrelated events are completely incomprehensible to them.

At the same time they happen to be hyperaware of their environment. The closest we can get to that as humans are those experienced by autistic people - such people have a hardwired difficulty to tune out environmental stimuli as "noise." They would survive in the wild because they notice everything the way animals do.

I hope this gets your juices flowing, DE!

Hmm. Very, very interesting. Animal perspectives, based on what you wrote, will have to be limited to what we can achieve with (highly) intelligent beings. I'll take your advice to heart. It is something I look forward to getting to and writing. A bit of a challenge that I'll enjoy. Hopefully I can come up with a good yarn. I'll take the "Live in the now." far more seriously than I did before. Thanks, HER!

Many, many, many summers ago, I tried my hand at writing a story from the perspective of a pack of wolves. It was a sorry attempt, in hindsight. Certainly not something I kept on! In any case, I think it's fun to try and put yourself into the mind of another creature - after all, that is what the best writers do.

I based my answer on my scientific experience. That said, if you're writing fantasy, anything goes. For example, I imagine werewolves to be smarter and more intelligent in terms of living beyond the moment (as we do), without all the anxiety normal mortals drive themselves crazy with. In other words, werewolves can plot strategy (whereas animals are more tactics oriented) towards a tangible goal, such as how to lure the lone wanderer into a dead end gully where a pack of werewolves could ambush said person, or how to break into a barn and make off with a cow without raising undue noise, and so on. Such creatures could anticipate the reactions of their enemies, and of bystanders, and plan for several different outcomes, rather than a pass-fail course.

Of course, werewolves wouldn't be interested in politics. Only in their next meal. But within that framework, I think they would be even more intelligent than wolves, lions or coyotes.

Ah, so it was obvious the animal I was referring to in this case was the werewolf? I'm so predictable aren't I?

The thing about werewolves is that obviously it is man and beast combined into one. What is stronger, the beast or the man, is up for the writer to decide. I played around with a few chapters inside the head of a werewolf and what might be going on in there besides the primary "hunt, hunt, kill, kill, feed, feed" mentality.

I'm aware they are intelligent and not completely mindless beasts, as some form of heightened sense of awareness may have carried over to their bestial state. But since we, as writers, are tasked with finding ways to make readers sympathize with our characters I began to wonder how can I make an animal a creature to sympathize? Especially an animal who's sole purpose is to hunt, kill and eat their prey like real life predators? What from the animal kingdom could I use? That's why I was sort of curious about it.

I've went over a master's relationship with his dog, how packs of Wild Dogs behave as a family in the wilderness, etc.

Since we're not talking about mundane canines here, it is safe to say a bit of their "human" side can be definitely shown when not focusing entirely on their animalistic aspects.

Something I've always wanted to write is how men could live differently in the untamed wilderness as opposed to civilization. How different he or she could be if he adapted more to a natural world that wasn't influenced or inspired by civilization. Most of what I would write would be on the perspective of a creature, but due to the limitations of the animal mind(no matter how much more intelligent it may be than a regular wolf) I'll probably have to limit the amount of time inside the mind of the beast.

Thanks, Haute. You've been a great help!

*Glances at avatar* Umm, it kinda crossed my mind that you might be writing about werewolves. Not to mention that I've read a little of your fan fic to know that you like writing stories with a dark slant.

Glad I could help!

Well, here I am again, with two questions this time:

Firstly; Since I had to restart Tarvyn's game a while back to work out the kinks in his setup, his game's currently quite a way behind what I've got written, and of course, what I've posted. The problem is that there's been a bit of a shift in his character, leaving me with the choice of either playing to what I've got written and modifying it to fit, or scrapping everything that his game hasn't reached and see if this second run follows a different course. On the one hand, I'm not too keen on the idea of scrapping what I might use at some point, on the other it kind of makes me feel like Tarvyn isn't really in the game until I've caught up to the writing.

Secondly; While I'm trying to let Tarvyn direct things as he will, there are a few fixed points in his story, which anyone who's read his story so far can undoubtedly guess at. The problem I'm having is that these fixed points keep coming back to me, pretty much demanding that I write them. Which, of course, puts them in my way. Do you think it might be worth jotting down a couple of rough drafts to work from when his story reaches that point, or is it better to try and stick to where he is now, and let the fixed points sort themselves out when he gets there? Then again, in light of the above question maybe I should just make some notes and leave it at that...

Any advice would be most appreciated.

On your first question, I find it helps to keep a file of material that I have written but did not use in the story. That way it’s not as painful to scrap big chunks of writing, like my entire original chapter 11.

Second, I think you should at least make notes when you get ideas for later in the story. It might help you focus on the part that comes next if you can get your thoughts about the later parts jotted down. Bits of dialog come to mind at the most inconvenient times, and I know I won’t be able to recall them later. If your plan changes you don’t need to use the ideas that you had originally. I have fixed points in my story that have been written for a couple of years, but that’s only the first draft and subject to change by the characters. Sometimes they grow in unexpected ways.

I hope this helps!

So...Just for the sake of argument...I mean, I'm talking about a friend here...Of course...Not me...Nononononooo...

*Cough*...

So, if you've not written a word for three or four months...And - possibly unforgivably - not thought about it either...

Do you...

Try to jump straight back into the two things you were working on and hope you can pick it up and somehow manage to remember what the hell you were aiming at in the first place?...Risking that you can avoid the frustration effect of not having done anything for so long, spoiling it...

Or...

Do you write some other stuff, trying to get a run-up so that you can jump back into the others at full writing speed, hoping the previous journey has shaken something loose?...Besides other marbles...

Ta...

I write what I am inspired to write. So my advice is to think of what makes you want to write, and do that, whatever it might be.

I agree with Sage Rose. Also, when I am ready to pick up again, I re-read what I already wrote to get the juices up and running and to get my mind/imagination back into the world building I've already done.

Speaking of which, that's something I've got to do right now . . .

McB, as one of your *cough* "friend's" avid readers I would encourage you to write anything, anything at all that catches your imagination and might fuel the fire. I’ll read it. I think of short stories and fragments as brief trips to an enormous, magnificent world. While I’d love to take a multi-novel world tour, every short visit delights and inspires.

Thanks ladies... ...

*Cough*...I mean...My friend sends his thanks...Um...Yeah...

It's that inspiration thing...And the focus thing...That'll be the downfall...Too much distraction and all that...

We'll see... ...

My thanks... ...

Hey matey! If it's any consolation, I'm in the same boat. Except it isn't 3-4 months, it's a bit longer. So same boat, but mine has holes that are leaking...

Just write something. Anything. I started writing a piece that was dialogue. The first lines were,

"So, what the bloody hell do I write about? There must be something rattling around in this excuse for a brain that could be interesting. I could write about coffee. Coffee's good. What's the TES version of coffee again? I like coffee anyway, so maybe my enthusiasm would shine through."

And I waffled on for about 2,000 words until I got onto song titles, and one song title pricked an idea, and I scrapped my stream of c waffle and started thinking about that idea.

Though I still think TES coffee has potential... An alchemist and a magic bean...ahh, the possibilities.

WB anyway!

I had something in mind and I am not sure if anyone here has ever tried it. I realize in stories we can, of course, alter the time in hours, weeks, days months and even years. There's a certain pace I wanted my story to go but I don't want to spend a day out of the week building up to get to that point, and I confess I'm not even sure how. I can only go far when writing about character psychology and there's not much going on besides the plot.

My question is would it help to time-skip from point A to point C? You know how some writers here write, "Previously in 'story' . . . well, would it be wise to add that and write an update on what's happening in the story as a time skip? For example: "In the past few days Rorge met up with Salow Mal to discuss skooma . . ." and then write an entire episode dedicated to that? Instead of adding new things, base the episodic summary on previous events as well. The readers would already know Rorge and Salow had previous agreements that would lead up to this moment regardless. You know what I mean?

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Another option is to try the reverse. Start later in the chronological order of events. Then show the earlier scene through a flashback. One advantage of a flashback is that it can be as long or as short as you like, and convey as much or as little detail as you want as well.

Gotcha. Thanks Sub!

And I'm back again, because, well, you know. *Shrugs*

Do you ever get the feeling that you could be writing your character's story without even playing the game?

Because that's the problem I'm having. Tarvyn's story has a few fixed points built into it, and at this point it kind of feels like I'm just playing to fill in the gaps between them.

Which of course makes it impossible to get into the game.

So, any advice?

Stop playing?

I'm serious, it may be for the best; you're writing prose and Oblivion is a game. They're two different forms of storytelling media, and because of this they simply aren't going to gel together sometimes. They both have different limitations and advantages, and it's just not possible to translate a story from one medium to another. If you know what you want to write, I'd recommend just going ahead and writing it without bothering with playing the game at the same time; this is supposed to be enjoyable, after all, and if you're finding you're no longer having fun with the playing side of things it might be best to cut loose and run free.

If you want an example of this, check out Subrosa's Teresa of the Faint Smile if you haven't already; it cleaves pretty close to the game's events at points, but it also does its own thing and the story benefits from this instead of suffering.

Also, go read it anyway. It's a good story.

At least break the dependency of the story on the game as played. Play to get more ideas, not to determine the plot. Use the game to test whether a scenario is "realistic", and exploit the quirks it throws up for extra credit.

I can't offer much else, as my own stories here have been written specifically to be accounts of the quests in my own mods. That's meant following game-play as closely as possible, which we're telling you not to do! However, I've play-tested those quests so many times I can pick from the variety of results, and describe the best as a single story, and embellish with more dialog than actually exists, and the motivations of the characters as revealed by their thoughts. I tried to distance myself from the player character as much as possible, too, by narrating the story from another character's view. It didn't last, but it did work for a while, and Clark had a lot more fun than the player gets!

I agree with the others. Forget the game, write your story instead. The game cannot do that. Only you can. Include whatever you want to that is in the games. Throw out whatever you don't want from the games. Change whatever you like to suit the world of your story. Because in the end, what you write is yours, not Bethesda's.

Ditch the game and just write the damn story!

The game is meant to inspire, not dictate, the story.

Though Julian's story follows the MQ in TESIV, the chapters that depart from the MQ (such as Chapter 15) are some of the best chapters I've written. As for Cardonaccum, there is no game that inspires that story, just one sentence in the Lore and Destri Melarg's excellent Interregnum.

I personally tend to avoid the game story. When I write my own characters, they have their own history and story within the game world or should I say the lore world. I don't make them to be the Champions of Cyrodiil or Neverarine or Dragonborn. In my opinion, it takes away some form of uniqueness to them since everyone else in the forum would have a Dovahkiin character or a Champion of Cyrodiil who also met Uriel and closed Oblivion gates.

Like others said what you write is yours. Do what you want.

I like the game world. In my stories there may be events and characters in the games that are mentioned. I can have a person living in Cyrodiil during the Oblivion crisis. He or she doesnt have to play a major role but they can be alive and living in that time period and even contributing in certain stories. In the end your imagination is limitless. You can create different scenarios that do not have to do anything with the Oblivion Crisis or the Dragon invasion or anything. For example, one of my character is a farmer who is also a hunter living in Cyrodil and adventuring. He doesn't follow the main quest because I placed him in a period a few years prior to the Oblivion Crisis.

It doesn't take away from a story if you don't revolve it around an established one.

Arising from comments on Clark in Skyrim:

Acadian mentioned that he hadn't done the letter-carrying quest between Anneke/Verner in Darkwater Crossing and Sylgja in Shor's Stone. I'd picked up on that quest as it relates to one of the game world's anomalies.

Sylgja had a fall in the mine, was healed, but still complains of difficulty walking, but healing magic always restores the player completely. Likewise, you can choose scars at chargen time, but can't pick them up as the game progresses. You wonder how anyone developed a scar with instant healing just a cast away.

Getting blinded in one or more eyes at chargen also doesn't appear to affect vision at all, but that's a whole extra layer of complication. The fact that anyone didn't rush to get their eye healed (or do it themselves) is just unbelievable. It's not an injury you don't notice.

How do you account for game-play discrepancies like this in your stories, or do you just avoid them?

My thought is that if an injury is not given magical healing, then once it heals naturally, nothing can change it. While the PC always starts with a self-healing spell, not everyone else does. Nor do many other people have spells to heal others. So magical healing is probably not available to everyone.

The other thing is that magical healing may not be all that great. Its efficacy might be based upon the spellcaster's medical ability. So while a novice mage might be able to heal a cut, that does not mean it would not leave a scar behind. It might look exactly the same as if it has healed naturally over time.

My own take is both. Not everyone knows healing, and not everyone can do it as well as everyone else.

I like to address these issues when they come up so that wondering about them isn’t a distraction for the reader. I’ve gone the wrong way a few times and at least once accidentally wrote a glitch into my story, but I’m learning!

The first thing I do when a contradiction comes up is discard any notion that what is true for the player character must also be true for everyone else in the world. For example I don’t assume that every person can use Flames and Healing just because all players start off with those spells. When things in the game and in the game’s books conflict with the player’s experience I would probably use the NPC experience rather than the player’s for my story. That way I hopefully won’t have “because it’s a game” situations in the story.

Healing is a subject I’ve thought about a lot. The way I see it is that healing magic accelerates the body’s natural process of healing rather than shazaaming the wounds completely away. That accounts for scars, blind eyes, persistent injuries like Sylgja’s and Aelwin’s in Oblivion, and things like missing limbs. There’s also medicine used in one Oblivion quest, which suggests to me that not all diseases can be insta-cured with a potion. Oh, and I suppose that the injuries completely healed away in the game are a result of no locational damage. Imagine the uproar if half of the screen went black for the rest of the game if your character lost an eye!

Also it seems to me that while gold is readily available to the player, not everyone in the game is super rich. That makes me think that selling things like dead peoples’ clothing is a player-only privilege, and gold must be harder to get in the actual world. So maybe not everyone can afford a potion every time they get hurt.

Then there’s poor skooma addict Wujeeta who only needs one healing potion to kick her habit. She gave one of my characters an expensive jeweled ring as thanks. One would think that if she couldn’t stroll into the nearest dungeon and pick a potion up off the shelf she could at least trade that ring for one. I have to guess there’s a because-it’s-a-game factor at work and ignore at least part of this situation. The answer that makes the most sense to me is that the game does not represent a real economy, and also that healing potions are not found lying around everywhere free for the taking. My character sees them everywhere because it’s a game, but they’ll be disappointed if they think things will be the same in the story.

I agree with Grits on that one. There is a big difference when it comes to the game world and the lore world

My take on Wujeeta is that she's too weak from her addiction to go dungeon-diving for potions. She'll also get sticker-shock from the prices any merchant would want for one. If she sold the ring and tried to buy a potion, she'd come up short. They know she really needs it, so they'd ask for an arm and a leg. And potions aren't lying around where she goes in Riften. The player can find them easily, gets a better deal from the merchants, so it's a fair transaction for her, even if it looks like a bargain for the player.

But next there's defence. I got interested in the physical versus magical defence debate back in my first Oblivion mod, where I needed to justify the Bear Riders' outfits. The bears were the excuse for no plate, mail or leather below the waist, and Oblivion divided cuirass from greaves, making it easier. Experimenting in game play suggests that using spells works as well as using armour, even if you're not playing a mage. The perks you don't invest in Light or Heavy Armor trees can be put into Alteration, with almost equal effect (magic caps a little lower, but not by much). I'm now finding that characters who just don't bother with either, and advance offence faster as a result, can be viable, too. Kill them before they can hit you again!

That's giving me pause when I'm trying to have characters choose rationally what to wear. The housecarls are initially outfitted in steel, and have skill in heavy, one-handed and block, so it makes sense for them to stick with what they know. Except Rayya has two Scimitars, so can't block, but is skilled in it! So I'm writing her as questioning that training, and looking toward Light Armor, or even Alteration spells. Clark uses spells, and dresses like a merchant. Gilda does stealth, and her leather is for looks (and fortify carry!) more than combat. Skyrim doesn't penalise mages who wear armor (except to limit the use of both physical and magical defence at the same time). Oblivion reduced all spells' effectiveness for armor-wearers, which I preferred, I think.

It's beginning to look like looks and comfort are the deciders. So why would anyone but a "uniform" wearer choose armour?

Well from a vanilla gameplay perspective it’s cumbersome to cast the Alteration spells before or during combat. Characters who live in Xbox or PS3 Skyrim only get two hotkeys. Also some characters need to save their magicka for a summoning or for healing, especially at low levels or if they’re heavily invested in health and stamina. Even my Conjuration/Illusionist mage Achille did not use the mage armor spells (on the PS3) because he never could manage it along with his other spells. He wore heavy armor boots and gauntlets and tried very hard not to get hit.

Roleplay and lore wise there’s a lot more flexibility. A character’s background or attitude could keep them from using any kind of magic or enchantment. As Hulda says, “Magic is for the weak. Elves, I mean.” If Hulda wanted to go for a walk across the plains she would need to pick up some armor.

Ina doesn't wear anything but a huge axe, and she doesn't bother with spells either. I've found that investing in smithing and weapon skill let her take her offense so far beyond the regular opposition, that she kills them before they've done her any serious damage. She increases health every level-up, so that she survives the one hit they manage to land, and heals herself with the starter spell afterward.

She does need potions for boss battles, and Erik keeps the minions busy while they're going on. Tactics are always to avoid mob battles, as that allows multiple foes to hit at once. Her axe is enchanted with Fiery Soul Trap, but it didn't take much skill, as the Fire damage is fixed, and the soul trap is fully effective at low levels.

I'm now trying the same thing with Willatu, a Bosmer archer. She's doing Bound Bow, instead of Legendary Ebony Battle-axe, so she's more on the magical side, and Smithing doesn't help. That's hurting Derkeethus, as she can't improve his equipment the way Ina did Erik's. However, with Stealth perks adding to Archery and Conjuration for her bow, she's dishing a lot out at range, and not getting many close encounters where he's needed. She can also summon an atronach to supplement, or raise someone she's already killed.

So in each case an overpowering weapon trumps the need for armour. I can see that this could hit diminishing returns at high levels, as the weapon improvements will stop when Ina's smithing caps, or Willatu's Conjuration runs out of useful perks. Ina can switch to Alchemy to continue boosting her Smithing, but I'm not sure what Willatu can do.

Neither of those are planned as story characters, and I have "purer" mage and fighter builds for most of them. The exception, really, is Diablita, who was pretty much defined in the Oblivion story. But a Dragonborn's supposed to be exceptional, so that's all right! Even Clark is sort of a pure mage, as he only uses his sword when they get too close.

I'm feeling a bit of a lack of an archer in the mix. Gilda's the sneaky one, and she has archery issues. All housecarls have archery as a second skill, so they're doing it when needed, but there's no Lildereth voicing the archer viewpoint in mine.

I'm writing the final stages and chapters on one of my stories and I came to a dilemma here. I do understand that in the time period and world of the Elder Scrolls, situations in battle and war there are often casualties. Since the story has to deal with a conflict where one side which is the "bad" side, and realistically there would be younger people in that place and time where a major battle happens. I'm not one to overly glorify brutality just for the sake of it but I'm not one to make my characters perfectly good. They're flawed and more in the grey area....

To shed some light on what I'm trying to say is there is a part in the story that the protagonists' foes are at a location where an attack will occur. In this location there will(or might) be children or adolescent and juvenile people. So unfortunately they will be caught in the crossfire.

My question is.... Should I go with this course and Of course spare readers from any horrific detail in youth killing(I've never got into detail, just left some vague imagery) or, well, find a way to completely take this out(though it will tax realism and sort of make-sense in the story).

Another point is the blurred line between the best and the worst. Is a cause for the greater good nescessary or even justified if members of the family of corrupt evil doers will suffer the same fate for being at the wrong place at the wrong time?

I think you kind of have to include it for the sake of realism; but like you said - spare the details. I wouldn't do it from the viewpoint of the child being killed if I were in your place. But even Skyrim and Oblivion included children being killed; they just told or showed it after the fact.

* Necromancer fort in Oblivion with dead child bones on table with necromancy implements
* Rufio raped and killed a young teen girl
* In Skyrim a werewolf killed a child and the player has to determine his fate

I'm sure there are more I'm not remembering, too.

So kind of do what you think best for your story.

I'm with mALX here, too. The deaths of young people caught in the cross fire of war is a given; however one does not need to dwell on the details here. A brief sentence buried in the midst of the general carnage ("One breath the little girl stood beside her fallen mother clutching her doll, the next a crumpled pile of bloody cloth took her place.") or briefly touching on the aftermath is enough to bring home the point without belaboring it.

Right. Okay, good to hear. The details of their fate, the young ones, that is, will not be written in detail.

Thanks guys!

Complete change of subject: Ranks and status for the Psijics.

Craft guilds had apprentice/journeyman/master. An apprentice would learn (possibly unpaid) from a master, until competent to work unsupervised, at which point he'd become a journeyman. He could choose to keep working for the master as an employee, or go off on his own. On producing a "master piece", to prove his skill at the craft to the guild, he'd be promoted to master and be allowed to train apprentices. There would probably also be a Grand Master at the head of the guild, possibly a rotating post among the guild council that would pass judgement on master pieces. Council members might get a higher rank than masters in a larger guild.

"Religious" orders had novices, acolytes, initiates, adepts, etc. and ranking is unclear.

Magical orders like the College of Winterhold appear to take the craft guild model, but the Psijics are referred to as monks, implying the religious model is in use. What sort of ranks do you think would be present in the Psijic Order? We know that the head is the Ritemaster or Loremaster (same rank, or different?) which also implies the religious style. I found a reference to "Master Sargenius of the Council of Artaeum," which gives a counter-example. 2920 vol 2 mentions initiates = students.

Hmm, novice, initiate, monk, abbot, priest, prior, elder? I’d go with religious sounding titles rather than craft guild ones since the Psijics are all about mysticism and spirits.

I think a good generically religious implying title is Brother or Sister - especially for low ranking members. Or even high ranking members who wish to minimize the impact of their title (like Brother Jauffre of the Blades).

You could go all Celtic and throw in Ovate, though Druid and Bard probably conjure up too many modern connotations to be used as well.

If you want to get Greco-Roman you might use Saga, Venefica, Pharmakis, or Demosioi. Or if Scandinavian then Volva, or Seiðkona/Seiðmaðr If any of them are transgendered they might be Enarei, Semnotatoi, or Gallae.

I see priest as a generic term for a shrine-minder and preacher, rather than a rank, and "brother" as just a form of address for a fellow member, but the rest will work. I'm really looking for two things: if I make more Psijic robes, then I need labels for them, and if Mellewen gets into Clark's story, she'll be discussing Artaeum.

A novice won't qualify for a Psijic order robe; they'll get their first as an initiate. The monks will include the four seen in Skyrim, so their garb is already set. Abbots and Priors would be in charge of places of learning and research, and probably in an administrative capacity, whereas Elders would be in the academic/religious hierarchy - i.e. more learned and authoritative in the academic sense. The head is Loremaster Celarus, we believe, assuming he's till alive.


OK, follow-up question:

Would the Psijic order have a martial auxiliary, like the battlemages of the Order of the Lamp? They've kept out of most conflicts by hiding the Island of Artaeum, rather than take any sides, but there was the defeat of Orgnum, where they might have felt threatened directly. I'm thinking not, as that was achieved by creating storms to disrupt his forces, rather than anyone taking the field.

On the other hand, what do they do with applicants that don't make the grade on the magical side, but still show enough promise? An alternate path for the more physically inclined would avoid disappointment.

Is there nothing about it in the Lore? The Imperial Library used to have a whole section regarding the Psijics, but I can't find the Library anymore. Lady N would probably know, though.






Wait, their server is not as good as it used to be, but it is up again;


Here is the guide to the psijic order:



http://www.imperial-library.info/content/guide-psijic-order

Here is another article about their order:


http://www.imperial-library.info/content/c...psijic-endeavor

I searched the library for both "Psijic" and "Artaeum" and Googled, too, in case anyone else had useful stuff. But there are gaps, of course, like why Iachesis was Ritemaster, but his successor Celarus is Loremaster. It could mean that both posts always exist, but now Celarus is the head of the order, and the new Ritemaster is a notch down, with the other xxxmasters, who are all part of the ruling council. Or it could just mean that they changed the title of "Psijic chief".

The title "initiate" showed up in a number of places, such as the third edition of the pocket guide, and 2920, vol 2, so that looks solid. Pocket Guide III also mentions the low number of admissions, which suits my back-story for Mellewen, of finding it hard to get accepted as an initiate.

Yes, they were def a kind of religious order, but also an exclusive scholarly order for magic too - kind of like the Mensa club of magic type thing. What were the excluding factors though? I wondered, but can't read the article to find out.

I absolutely LOVED the Imperial Library, it is frustrating to not be able to delve into it anymore.

Nice link, mALX. I haven't been in the Imperial Library for awhile. I need to brush up on some new lore.

So, here I am again, back for yet more advice. Well, more a question really.

I'm writing up the prison section for Severan, which, thanks to him, is extremely lengthy. But something's off. I've got the image, and the characters voice, but somehow what I'm writing doesn't really feel right, like I'm always using the wrong words or something.

What do you guys do when you run into something like this?

Spend some time getting to know the character - immerse yourself in him/his situation till you can think like he would in that situation maybe?

I have a "getting to know you" conversation with the character - sometimes in my head, sometimes on paper (real or virtual).

If it's a game character, I play the character in various situations and get a "feel" for how she reacts to certain moral questions. Julian's story emerged from something like five or six playthroughs before I could clearly hear her voice. I also had numerous conversations with her as I explored Oblivion with other characters.

My advice is to write the section the way you see it in your mind right now. You already have the character's voice so just ignore the critic and the 'feel' of it for the moment. Just get the section down on paper. I find that in the writing the things that don't work have a tendency to bob to the surface, and they become easier to address when put into the context of the whole.