Hey everyone. I'd like to put together a new mod for Skyrim to address how repetitive the text on the loading screens can get, while at the same time, educating folks about the Elder Scrolls series' deep and storied past in the downtime between transitioning areas. Let no two loading screens ever be the same again!

But, I am far from a lore master, and I need your help!

What I am looking for are concise, informative text blurbs describing interesting, surprising, unique, or little-known facts from the Elder Scrolls series many sources (past games, in-game books, and so on).

If you are interested in helping out and submitting an entry for this mod (thanks!), please observe the following guidelines:

• Entries should be no longer than 250 characters long. This equates to about 4 lines of text in the bottom right corner of the screen. For reference, the longest loading screen text string that appears in the vanilla game is 210 characters. Try to keep it short. You can use [1] http://www.javascriptkit.com/script/script2/charcount.shtml to check your character count.

• You must have excellent grammar. I will not spend time rewriting entries.

• Avoid controversial lore, or lore from non-Bethesda sources. This includes some of Michael Kirkbride's work outside of his official work at Bethesda. Information that is intentionally ambiguous in the lore itself is fine (See: Warp in the West, etc), but in these cases, avoid speaking in absolute terms.

• Use an in-world style of writing. Avoid phrases such as, "In the game Morrowind, the dunmer tribespeople played a key role in fulfilling the Nerevarine Prophecy." You would instead say, "The dunmer tribespeople of the 3rd Era played a key role in fulfilling the Nerevarine Prophecy."

• Preface your submission with "SUB:". This will help me be able to easily find submissions in this thread and filter out comments and questions separately. Example: "SUB: The dunmer tribespeople of the 3rd Era played a key role in fulfilling the Nerevarine Prophecy."

• Short, interesting quotes from in-game writings and characters are fine, provided that the quote can stand on its own and be understood, as long as it is followed by the source. Example: "But our brethren, the Dwemer, scorned the Daedra, and mocked our foolish rituals, and preferred instead their gods of Reason and Logic." -- Vivec

• Creating a submission does not guarantee that it will appear in the mod. I reserve the right to choose what becomes a part of the mod. Reasons for not being included may include not following the above guidelines, two entries that essentially state the same thing, or "because I said so". That being said, my desire is to get as many high quality entries as possible. I always want a new surprise in store for players when staring at a loading screen.

• I reserve the right to edit your submission for minor grammatical issues while keeping the spirit of the entry intact.

Thanks for your understanding. I'm trying to set the quality bar high.

If I add your entry to the mod, I will note your username in the credits exactly as it appears here. If this is not the username you would like me to put in the credits, let me know! I will keep a running spreadsheet of submissions and the associated username, so I can keep everything straight.

I hope the folks here can help me bring this mod to life; ES lore is too deep and varied for any one individual to have the best idea of what should go into something like this.

I am cross-posting this to the http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1383471-wip-lore-based-loading-screens-help-me-create-this-mod-submit-your-favorite-lore/ forum, and http://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/v1z96/lorebased_loading_screens_help_me_build_a_skyrim/. I will be monitoring all of these threads and compiling submissions.

Thanks for reading!

I'm crowdsourcing this idea for two reasons: I don't have the time to come up with all of this myself, and I have enough sense to know that whatever I come up with won't hold a candle to the insight that will come from the real lore-gods that reside here.

Anything specific you want info about?

SUB: "The Oblivion Crisis was the second invasion of the Mundus from Oblivion by Meruhnes Dagon. The first was in the invasion of the Imperial Battlespire inbetween 3E389-399"

SUB: The Dreamsleeve is theorized to be the place where souls are recycled for reincarnation, but is more practically used by mages as a means of communication.

I'll try to be more creative when I get off of work.

EDIT: I'll add a blurb on the Sunbirds/Mananauts/Lunar Province.

Not specifically. As long as it falls within the guidelines above, it's fair game. I'd like to toss in as much interesting history as possible.

Great work by the way!

SUB: In the case of interracial mating, the offspring inherits the race of the mother with some minor traces of the father's race.

SUB: Bretons hail from the province of High Rock, a region known for its political strife. In 3E 417, the Warp in the West occured, bringing peace to the Iliac Bay.

SUB: Mannimarco, the King of Worms, is regarded as the first necromancer. He was defeated in 3E 417 by the Archmage of the Mages Guild, during the Oblivion Crisis.

SUB: The moons, Masser and Secunda, are the corpse of Lorkhan, known to the Nords as Shor.

SUB: The sun, Magnus, is a hole torn in the fabric of Oblivion, leading to Aetherius, the realm of magicka.

SUB: "Each event is preceded by Prophecy. But without the hero, there is no Event." - Zurin Arctus

One of my personal favorites I'll be very happy to bring that one back into Skyrim.

If Forum in-jokes are allowed:

SUB: A multitude of items was given to Tiber Septim in celebration of his 25th birthday.
SUB: A great number of crazed Imga fanatics in the middle of the Second Era attempted to place an Elk on the throne of Tamriel.

Fixed Battlespire's year.

SUB: The now-defunct Sunbirds of Alinor were an organization devoted to reaching Aetherius via voidal travel.

SUB: The many accounts of Tiber Septim's life are often conflicting, but the most common theory regarding his early life is that he was a Breton assassin named Hjalti Early-Beard before ascending to the throne.

SUB: Meridia is often thought of as the Daedric Prince of Sunlight, considering that she fell from Aetherius, the realm of magicka.

SUB: Divayth Fyr was the oldest known living mortal on all of Nirn, living to be around 4000 years old. His whereabouts are unknown Post-Red Year.

The novel(s) should have plenty of factoids not included in Skyrim, I'll have to look for a few.

Edit:

SUB: “The Hist were many, and they were one. Their roots buried deep beneath the black soul and soft white stone of Black Marsh, connecting them all, and thus connecting all Saxhleel, all Argonians." - Infernal City

(that is right on the dot at 210 char's.)

SUB: The original Time-Dragon was Borhamu. He was replaced in the Elven pantheon by Auriel, in the Cyrodiilic by Akatosh, and in the Nordic by Alduin.

SUB: The Oblivion Crisis ended when the Dragonborn Martin Septim assumed the Avatar of Akatosh, and banished the Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon in single combat.

SUB: The planets and moons are realms of infinite size which appear spherical due to mental stress.

SUB: To mantle a divine, walk like them until they walk like you.

I won't be able to use that, since Infernal City (the book) is the name of an out-of-game novel. Is this a narrator quote, or a quote from a specific character? If so, which one?


I'm afraid that this falls under "out of game Kirkbride work" as mentioned in the OP. This concept only exists as noted http://www.imperial-library.info/content/general-information-history-and-depictions-planets.

Sorry for being uptight.

Edit:

What is the source of this quote?

SUB: "In the book, The Real Barenziah, it is claimed that Talos slept with Barenziah who got pregnant thereafter. Later, she got an abortion."

If the above is too controversial, you can add this one instead:

SUB: "Werewolves are not the only man beasts of Tamriel: Werebear, Wereboar, Werecrocodile, Weredeadroth, Werelion, Wereshark, and Werevulture."

SUB: The history of Tamriel can get a little confusing. Did you know that there are seven conflicting accounts of how the Warp in the West was resolved?

Between all threads, we're a couple shy of 50 new loading screens, in just a few hours.

Keep them coming! I'm recording and categorizing them now, so that they'll be accompanied by an appropriate image on the loading screen.

Some low-hanging fruit I see are: more information on the Tribunal (individually or as a whole), excerpts from the 36 Lessons (hard to make these quotes stand on their own, but I'm sure there's a few), and the major events of Oblivion (Kvatch, etc).

SUB: "Reach heaven by violence then." -Vivec. (Or, The Thirty-Six Lessons of Vivec:Sermon Sixteen.)

SUB: CHIM. Those who know it can reshape the land. Witness the home of the Red King Once Jungled- From the Mythic Dawn Commentaries.

SUB: "Like when the dream no longer needs its dreamer." -Pelinal Whitestrake, Song of Pelinal Vol VI, On His Madness.

SUB: Volumes One through Six of the Song of Pelinal were taken from the so-called Reman Manuscript located in the Imperial Library. It is a transcription of older fragments collected by an unknown scholar of the early Second Era. While Volumes Seven and Eight were transcribed in the Sixth century of the First Era, from the fragments of an even earlier Song.

SUB: Agonizing generations of scholars, no copies of the Wulysmurfelashada or the Anuad are known to survive, and knowledge from The Five Songs of King Wulfharth and the Anuad lay in mere annotations.

I missed the 250 limit.

SUB: 'The secret Tower within the Tower is the shape of the only name of God, I.' - Vivec (Or The Lessons of Vivec, Sermon Twenty-One)

SUB: The floating city of Umbriel cut a path of devastation through Tamriel before being stopped at the Imperial City.

SUB: VENGEANCE! -The Ghost of King Lysandus.

SUB: In 3E 404, the wrathful ghost of King Lysandus started to stalk the night-shrouded streets of Daggerfall with an undead army.

SUB: HALT! HALT! HALT! HALT! HALT! HALT! -the guards of the Illiac.

SUB: The Thalmor was the governing body of both the second and fourth Era Aldmeri Dominion.

SUB: "Another day, another Septim" - A Guardsmen of Cyrodiil.

SUB: Most the the territory of the Second Cyrodiilic Empire was actually captured under Brazollus Dor, Reman I's successor.

SUB: The Elven peoples of Tamriel are noted for their veneration of Mystical Towers, which legend claims to hold up the heavens themselves.

SUB: The name Redguard is a Tamrielic corruption of Ra'Gada, the Yokudan "Warrior Wave" that swept over the land that is now Hammerfell in the First Era.

Also, can we make model recommendations? Is that within the scope of the mod?

SUB: The Empire is Law. The Law is Sacred. - Inscription upon the Empire's official currency, the Septim.

SUB: "From fire, life; from light, magic." - Common Ayleid Ruin Inscription

SUB: "If you are the type who is more a sinner than a sinned, you'll find it all in Morrowind." - Extract from A Less Rude Song.

SUB: Despite looking like a natural feature of the land, Throat of the World was in fact built by the Aldmer.