Skip navigation
Library

Lawrence Schick's Posts from 2017

Author: 
Lawrence Schick

Why can a non-vestige character (created in the ESO:Morrowind tutorial) use the wayshrine system? (04/20/17)

Here you see a symptom of a dilemma that exists for ESO that was never an issue for the single-player games. A packaged single-player game is by its nature a self-contained fire-and-forget product—it may have retcons in it, but in the end it says what it says and it’s graven in stone, no matter what devs and players may have to say about it later. An MMO is a different animal: it’s a live game that evolves over time, changing due to both player feedback and the need to issue new content to keep it fresh. Everyone on this forum loves Elder Scrolls lore, and we do too, but every Elder Scrolls title is designed first as a game, and then lore is created to support its game-ness. New lore is ideally consistent with pre-existing background, but the lore has to support the game rather than the reverse. With ESO we have the unprecedented issue of having to write lore that supports a game that can then FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE in response to player feedback and external market forces. Before One Tamriel, you could look at ESO and say, “Okay, geography equals history, and where the player is on the map is where they are in time.” That no longer applies, and lore created to support the mechanics of the game at launch is now out of step with the observable world of the ongoing game. ESO: Morrowind, with its new non-Vestige tutorial, shakes that up even further. We have some ideas about how to explain these revisions to reality within the context of existing mythic structure … but since you brought it up, we’d love to hear YOUR ideas on how ESO’s current take on Nirn “makes sense” according to pre-existing lore. All right, the Vosh Ball is in your court—have at it!

On the name of Firemoth Island in the 2nd era, prior to Imperial occupation (04/20/17)

Our assumption is that the later Imperials of the Third Empire didn’t name the island after their fort, they named their fort after the pre-existing name of the island.

Vivec City and Baar Dau - what came first? (05/27/17)

Archcanon Tarvus preaches: “Long and long has the Palace stood where Lord Vivec decreed its erection. Pilgrims come to wonders, wonders come to the Poet, yea, even from the void, and yet more pilgrims come to wonder at the wonders. A Temple canton is built to receive them, visitation drives trade, trade drives construction, the Twin Saints arise in Ascadia! The Poet sees it is good, and calls for Warriors to tame the land for pilgrim protection. Redoran responds with righteous strength, plans are laid for ever-greater glories, Hlaalu comes with coin and cleverness, and greatness grows on the Inner Sea. All in the Shadow of Wonders. Do you see, O Faithful? Do you see?”

Are marketing materials part of lore? (06/09/17)

Unless it's credited to a Tamrielic source, e.g., "According to Beredalmo the Signifier...", marketing copy should not be considered to represent in-world lore. Safety first!

On Elder Scrolls Online's use of a wolf as Indoril's sigil (06/15/17)

Early in ESO's development, like nine years ago, well before we had any lore-checking processes in place, the wolf got picked for the Indoril banner based on the stylized wolf-head that appeared on Mehra Drora's gorget in TES3. This got promulgated onto some other assets, and it didn't get spotted until ESO: MW was in PTS testing. We're gradually sorting it out, but doing that kind of thing means diverting resources from the next DLC, so corrections don't always happen instantly.

On the appearance of Imperial currency (08/29/17)

Imperial gold coins had dragons on them long before Tiber Septim.