Some Badly Pictured Wack Skyrim Potions

Some badly pictured wack skyrim potions <3

Happy tenth death anniversary, Desmond Miles. You would have loved the memes we made of your ancestors. Get well soon <3.

one thing about my mutuals is they will be on spectrums. autistic? asexual? aromantic? gender? sexuality? you name it they're on it

Poetic Names in Dunmer Culture

I have a notion about Dunmer naming conventions that my little linguist brain keeps coming back to, ever since I learned that Vehk, Seht, and Ayem are the "poetic" forms of Vivec, Sotha Sil, and Almalexia's names. It got me thinking: what if regular Dunmer have poetic name forms as well?

I think it would be interesting if they had them as a version of a nickname, but with more specific and honored meaning, something that indicates not just familiarity but a bond worthy of poetry, something that you have to earn the right to call someone.

The House Dunmer of course can call their gods by these names because the Tribunal love to brand themselves as servants of the people, who all have a closeness with and reverence for their gods. Basically, it's acceptable because religion things. Also love how this makes saying "B'Vehk" roughly the same as saying "sweet Jesus" lol.

But like with normal people, I imagine it functions similar to getting to call someone by a nickname, except way more intense. Like you're either close family members, ultra bffs, lovers, or people who went through some shit together (e.g. soldiers who fought together, rivals who destroyed each other's lives, etc.). That's right folks! It doesn't have to be a bond based on love! It can be hate! Because it's the Dunmer, so of course. It just has to be Significant. Like Victorians calling each other by their first names but kicked up a notch. Or like going "bestie!!!!" (affectionate) or "worstie!!!" in the most deadpan way possible.

Anyway, so here's where we get to the linguistic part of this sociolinguistic headcanon. There are clearly conventions to how a poetic name is formed, based on the data given to us by the gods' names. The process is (usually) this:

Keep the initial letter of the original name. If the initial letter is a consonant followed by another consonant, the second consonant is considered part of the initial cluster and doesn't count towards #3. If the initial letter is a vowel other than a, the first consonant or consonant cluster remains as part of the first letter and doesn't count towards #3.

Add a vowel/diphthong by taking the final vowel/diphthong of the name and alter it according to specific patterns.

Add the second consonant. If the second consonant is the same as the first letter, use the final consonant instead. Y never counts as a consonant for this. Certain consonants must be altered according to specific patterns.

Vowel/Diphthong Changes:

a -> e, eh aa -> a, ah e -> e, eh i -> e, eh ii -> i o -> a, ah u -> u y -> e, eh ia -> ye ea -> ya ie -> ye iu -> yu ay -> ae ey -> ae ae -> a, ah ue -> u

h follows a vowel when the final consonant is k, m, n, or t

Consonant Changes:

b -> v c -> k d -> t th -> t

Poetic Name Examples:

Drelyth -> Drel Vavran -> Vehn Indrasi -> Indres Alarue -> Aur Tremona -> Trehm Ervynu -> Ervun Naryu -> Nur Aymillo -> Aymal Thathas -> Thes Llaals -> Llas Nethis -> Neht

That should give you an idea of how it goes. There are probably exceptions to these rules, and of course a lot of the poetic names are going to be the same, but there are lots of real world names that share nicknames, so I'm not bothered about it.

Also! I think this is exclusive to House Dunmer, and it's not something the Ashlanders do, because I think it started with the Tribunal.

I think Dunmer do have more conventional nicknames sometimes, but they're usually used by non-Dunmer or family members in a super casual way. I almost think of it like using -kun in Japanese when it's between Dunmer.

an incomplete collection of tweets i consider to be short poems

Assassin Ghost - The last thing you will ever see if he’s hunting you