Josh Lore Thursday Mega Post- Summerset
This is a compiled post from posts I've made on Discord. It includes art and a general overview of a bit of Josh lore related to a theme. It's long, very long so most of it will be under the cut.Week one is Summerset,
Year: 3E 33 and 4E 5Age: 63- 69Location: Sero- Estate, Sunhold, Summerset.
An overview of the events leading up to his choice to stay in the Summerset Isles.
After fleeing Morrowind after the deaths of the (what he assumes was the whole) Tribunal under Indoril Nerevar's control he finds himself in Cyrodiil scared and destitute. Teldryn aimlessly wanders the province of his birth, selling various items that were associated with the Nerevarine- mostly his armour, the defining weapons, just everything he could potentially sell to prop up his drinking habit. Which is pretty much all he's consuming at the time.
Joshi finds himself in Kvatch one night during what is meant to be the commemoration of his defeat of Dagoth Ur and just feels empty.
Nerevar's still getting into his head constantly and he decides to "deal with the problem".
Or in his view, he removes the ring that is melded to his finger, he gets rid of the problem and he can have some peace. Josh can't actually take the ring off, so in a drunk stupor he decides to try amputating his ring finger. He fails.
He's found by Jiub just as he passes out from drink and blood loss.
Teldryn recognises the dunmer from the handful of times they crossed paths during his early adventures on Vvardenfell (and may have shared a kiss once). He finds himself comfortable and lets himself think maybe he's gotten a second chance at happiness.
Cue the Oblivion Crisis and the siege of Kvatch. Something that had nothing to do with the fact that he was there but he doesn't know that as he's fleeing the chaos.
He's hurt, he's grieving both chances he once had at a life of stability and, since he's left almost everything back at their old apartment, he's destitute once again.
This is his Oblivion arc, Josh starts wearing a mask full time just to avoid people recognising who he is. He doesn't have it in him to fight the jaws of hell yet again. He doesn't want to. He can barely take care of himself. This is Josh's 0 empathy point. He can't feel anything but crushing numbness and it leads to him murdering an Arcane University student about his son's age for a purse of coin and a watch.
He gets away with it.
After finding himself back in the holding cells of the Bastion after a pub brawl because he was called out for running a ticket-scalping scam. He gets an offer to join a particular guild by a toxic ex he can't say no to (Read the Hero of Kvatch).
He eventually gets roped into stealing something important from the Imperial Library. Something prohibitively expensive and enough to set him up for centuries.
What he wants to do, what he's been trying to do since Kvatch fell, is get to Sunhold and the only people he knows he can rely on to look after him when he's in this state.
Josh goes to stay with his mother and Geldis (who are very much an item at this point and will remain that way).
So this is how and why he's in Summerset.
So, now that Josh is in Summerset for the next 6 years, what's he up to?Well, officially, Teldryn Sero isn't there. He's either dead or, as a few people in North Eastern Cyrodiil believe- He's in Akavir.He doesn't actually care what people think happened to him. He just wants to be left alone.
As a result, Josh doesn't leave the estate all that often unless he's fully hiding his identity. Usually, he's only leaving to go drink and f*ck at the various pleasure houses. No one makes him take his helmet off. No one asks questions. He's okay with this since he's a bit fatigued from all the fanfare he used to get in Morrowind. He's constantly craving both anonymity and attention. It makes him very restless.
The truth is, Joshi's in a really bad state at this point. He couldn't do much outside of being completely internally focused. Josh's bratty behaviour that he starts to display in this period actually starts up with Jiub but goes full force when his mother starts doting on him.
(Old design but is the same idea).
Brat Josh is a bit different from his Nerevarine persona and who he'll become later. He's similar to fresh of the boat Josh in terms of attitude- he's spiteful, he's well- very bratty and he's very emotionally volatile.
But, this time he's got the "Horrors tm" swimming around through his head.
He's lost both Erra and Jiub within a few years of each other and he's beyond a mess. He falls back on this behaviour because he has no idea what to do.He cannot look after himself at all for the first year or so, pretty much doesn't leave the estate.
He pretty much just stays in his room and works on his thing, drinks all night and sleeps it off after. Sometimes he'll do this outside in the garden or on the beach.
He's pouty, he's uncomfortable with his thoughts and he doesn't know what to do with himself.
So he often just finds himself paralysed by thoughts and staring at his bed canopy.
Then there's Nerevar annoying the sh*t out of him, pestering him to go take power from Helseth and move into the power vacuum left by the Tribunal.
So he drinks to shut him up, dons his mask and goes looking for something to make him feel better. He's gone missing for days at a time when he's in this state. Geldis or Maera usually find him passed out somewhere by the docks.
This isn't the first time he's gotten into this state- where he's pretty much incapable of self care- his mother knows what to expect.
He's done this emotional regression on a few occasions but for different reasons-
The first time he had Corprus and needed to learn how to move in his new body, learn how it functions, learn how to walk again and regain his muscle mass after the significant wasting he experienced.
So he's grieving who he was.
The second time was after he lost Erra and shattered his pelvis and his femurs.
It's the second time he's had to learn how to walk again. He still requires a mobility aid since these injuries never really healed right. Does he use it? No…unless he's made to do so by Maera. XD
When Josh is in Summerset, it's less about him recovering from his physical ailments and more him being allowed to experience his grief in a safe space with no responsibilities.Mind you, he's still hobbling about but this is the first time in well…ever where he's actually being taken care of and allowed 5 seconds to breathe.
The Sero Estate in Sunhold is a villa with it's own private beach which he likes to make use of.in The Nerevarine's Lament, he describes how he'd describe things if Erra was there-
We had planned on seeing Summerset. My love, I would still have taken you there, even if you couldn’t see the twisting streets and towering walls of Sunhold, or the bone-white beaches and turquoise water that lapped soothingly at the shore. It would make it seem as if the chaos of home never existed. Erra I would have taken you by the hands and let you feel the sun on your skin. Let you feel the salty breeze flow through your hair. Let you breathe in air that wasn’t choked with ash.I could have been happy with that. Your ghost had told me otherwise.
Josh likes living on the water, he likes a warm climate and he likes the feeling of being alone, staring out into nothing and feeling like you're the only person on Nirn.
The villa lets him experience that sense of peace that he's been searching for. He starts to recover and focus on something new.
In those years between The Oblivion Crisis and Red Year, Josh is allowed to focus on himself. He doesn't have to worry about things like remembering to eat. He actually puts on some weight for the first time as a result. Teldryn's still naturally very lean but he's not looking "bony"
Basically, his clothes fit properly and that makes him feel weird.
Josh doesn't like anything too tight, more so after he get corprus and is stuck wearing compression bandages. He pretty much exclusively dresses in flimsy, thin silks, muslin and linen when he's in Summerset. This is also his usual wardrobe when he's not on the road. He pretty much just wears super thin, loose robes when he's lazing about. He wears a lot of jewellery as well so he's really just breathing that "Spoilt Rich Boi" look.Below are the compression bandages and said thin silk robes back in Suran straight after he's 'cured' of corprus. He still wears them on and off by 4E 199 but mostly under armour. Sydari thinks, initially that it's wrapped for fist fighting. Usually, that's what he says anyway.
So he sometimes wears those bandages under the flimsy robes.
So, Josh starts to feel better after he's had some time to just have his feelings. He has a few years before Red Year to do "whatever". What does Josh do?
Finishes his translation of the Rosetta Stone of course!
In 4E 227 he describes what happened,
“Didn’t think I’d see your face back here,” the sorcerer hummed, “Something about this whole place being beneath you?”I took a deep breath through my nose and opened my eyes again…I honestly don’t really recall precisely what it was that I did, only that I found myself getting into an argument with Arniel Gane on what I knew to be a translation error in his Dwemeri research. He simply implied that I had no clue what I was talking about and then proceeded to misinterpret from my own research tome.I mean, I did find the key to translating the Dwemeri language whilst I was f*cking around as a hired sword on an expedition back on Vvardenfell. I’d only been out of prison a few months at that point, serving the rest of my sentence as a conscript for old Uriel Septim VII’s personal spy network. I just happened to talk my dumb ass onto the team. Mage’s Guild was lucky I knew f*cking Ald Aldmeris well enough to actually make use of the findings.Of course, they dismissed me then too. Took an Altmeri pseudonym for my translation to be taken seriously, then the Mages Guild disbanded and my work was lost. So imagine my f*cking shock when I saw my translations popping up in various mages halls across Tamriel after the Great War. Everyone’s using the Hanging Gardens of Wasten Coridale as their key. They just don’t know who did the work.I can tell you they certainly don’t expect a grizzly f*ck like me to be the translator. But then again, stories of the Nerevarine’s more um…scholarly pursuits are not quite public knowledge for a reason. Mostly because I try my best not to associate myself with that title, it has never felt right. It’s a skin that doesn’t fit. I never was that kind of hero, and I refuse to try to live up to that ideal anymore.I like to spend my time researching Tonal Architecture and puzzle locks. It still surprises a lot of people.I scratched at my nose, looking the sorcerer in the eyes again, “I never said the College was beneath me, but it is beneath me to bother with idiots who can’t f*cking read, mate.”
The translation of the Hanging Gardens of Wasten Coridale actually began whilst Josh was still f*cking around with running Blades errands. The translation is difficult due to fragmentation and just the fact that he just doesn't get a lot of free time between 3E 427 and 4E1. Someone was always needing him to do something.
Since his mother is fiercely protective of his privacy at this point, he suddenly has the time for himself, and the project he started years ago. No one knows where Teldryn Ensirhaddon-Sero is, and those who think they do seem to think he's sailed away to places unseen (thanks Thieves Guild rumour mill.)
Josh, when not drinking his sorrow away or whoring is pretty much focused on this language key. He's always liked cyphers, writes his journals in one he invented when he was 12. It was just a big game for him. (think intently focusing in the Dwemeri Cube of Rubic).
He has his key figured out in about 4E 3 and tries to get it published. He starts by using his husband's last name (which he will use sometimes or that mixed with his father's last name) but found his work was getting rejected in both Summerset and Cyrodiil. So he uses an Altmeri pseudonym and suddenly finds it gaining interest.
The Mages Guild gets disbanded as his work's being reviewed. Which he's infuriated with, but he hopes that sending it to a few Altmeri institutions would help.
By the Dragon Crisis, you'll have one version with a mistranslation marked into it. Something that happened when the work that was submitted to the Mages Guild was then translated years later from the Altmeris he originally wrote the thesis in, to Cyrodiilic. This is usually marked as "Author Unknown".
This is the one he rags on Arniel Gane about. He found it one time at a bookshop in Sentinel and he's personally offended by the existence of it. By the Dragon Crisis, you'll have one version with a mistranslation marked into it. Something that happened when the work that was submitted to the Mages Guild was then translated years later from the Altmeris he originally wrote the thesis in, to Cyrodiilic. This is usually marked as "Author Unknown". This is the one he rags on Arniel Gane about. He found it one time at a bookshop in Sentinel and he's personally offended by the existence of it.
The second one is the correct translation and mostly circulates around the Dominion. It's the same thesis he originally submitted. It is published under the name Earran of Sunhold.He'd rather people use this version, but since it's locked behind the Dominion it's kinda inaccessible. He's since written it in Dunmeris and Cyrodiilic but those versions aren't in circulation. Existing in a lock box at his mother's estate in Blacklight for safe keeping.
He thinks Calcelmo's work using the Altmeri version is promising and may have taken a look at Sydari's charcoal rubbings of the falmer-dwemer stele. He found that there's 5 new letters and now thinks there's dialects.
By 4E 3, however, Josh's dreams start to cause him alarm again.His dreams usually play out like so:
He finds himself standing alone in the darkness, which slowly reveals itself to be the Ashlands of Vvardenfell.
He looks up at a volcano, which he eventually finds out is Red Mountain and watches it erupt.
He dies in the pyroclastic flow.
Then he wakes up for the second half of his dream. In the past, this has been the point that Dagoth Ur weaves something messed up or he comes into contact with once of the ascended. This is the point, just after being infected with corprus, that he fully accesses the hive mind and acts out ritual behaviour in his sleep.
Since he defeated Dagoth Ur, it's been mostly darkness until he encounters a fellow blight creature and he wakes up (after being consumed) or someone else wakes him up. He cannot do this himself.
The second part of these dreams, now that the Blight is silenced more or less can leave him almost comatose if he can't find a way out.
Not good, but he's grown a bit apathetic to waking up after having been asleep for a week. That only happens if he's alone- which isn't happening past the first occurrence of this. So he'll often just wander in darkness all night until he hears a familiar voice. He's used to it and he's bored by it.
What starts to alarm him is that the dream suddenly seems to be a bit more…lively. He finds himself in a loop in Vivec City as a great cataclysm rocks it. Sometimes it's that stupid rock, sometimes it's ash. The main thing is that he tries to save people but ultimately fails each time.
Originally, Teldryn thought what he saw in his dream was Sun's Death, mostly because he was dreaming of that particular eruption until he defeated Dagoth Ur. This part of the dream is always how Azura makes her presence known.
Josh starts to believe he's being given visions of something horrific to come and all he can think of is getting people out before whatever it is he keeps seeing actually occurs.
Unfortunately, he's misinterpreting Azura's intentions. This isn't a warning for him to go save people.
This was intended to tell him that he's fulfilled the prophecy and Azura has gotten her revenge on the Tribunal. This devastated landscape was intended for a fully melded Nerevar to fill the societal void. The intention was for the Incarnate (Nerevar) to bring the Dunmer back to "glory".Naturally, because Teldryn ended up being the damn Incarnate this didn't quite work right.His mind's too resistant and the melding never happened.
Instead, Nerevar struggles for control. Teldryn's still learning how to fight him off and Nerevar can possess him as a result.
He starts doing this to prevent Joshi from going back to Morrowind. It takes him almost a year to fight him off, but he does manage to get on a ship back to Vvardenfell after sending out several letters. He saves a lot more people than he thought he would, but he still blames himself for the devastation.And so ends his time in Sunhold.He has enough quiet time to get a foundational concept out of his mind after he lets himself rest and try to process what happened. He puts on weight and he spends a lot of time just being.
He's just existing really. He hasn't had a chance to just be in a very long time… if ever. There was always something he was doing wrong, being somewhere he wasn't wanted, being watched or having to complete some sort of colossal task.
From 3E 33 and 4E 5 Josh can just be. This lack of direction ultimately comes to bite him in the ass later (Drug addictions, sex cults, setting fire to more sh*t, more prison for said arson and then more arson and a whole group of pirates with a vendetta and ties to more powerful groups he's pissed off).
But for a little while it's okay.Josh needs structure.
He can't live without the structure!
