User:Daric Gaersmith/TES Fan Fiction Collection/Reading_Fan_Fiction/Biography of a Shadowscale

01:09, 27 May 2014 (GMT): I'm back playing Skyrim once again. I am not in ESO, so please don't ask. Userspace Links Cartography Gallery Genealogy In Game Characters Modding on the XBox Status Update Templatery TES Fan Fiction Collection To Do List Sandboxes — working on Alfwyn's map of Solstheim. — Apocryphal - the language on the Diiv Word Wall. — adding a referencing stylesheet to the Cite web references. — Empty or undefined. — Rewriting the proposed "guidelines" for DLC namespaces. See The Silencer's sandbox for more details. — new content for the Geode Vein page.

introduction   This page contains my review of Biography of a Shadowscale by ArgonianShadow. Biography of a Shadowscale I have begun reading Biography of a Shadowscale by ArgonianShadow. It is another short story, similar in length to The Armour of Contempt, but is a work in progress, so that may change. This one is about a millennia-old Argonian. Should be interesting. I do like the first person perspective of this tale, and it may be something I incorporate into my own fan-fic writing. The jury is out on that though. I have to wonder about the reasoning behind Shadowscale's decision to head to Whiterun from Windhelm if he was heading to the Throat of the World. Surely Ivarstead would be closer, and handier to the start of the 7,000 steps? Were there some supplies he needed that could only be obtained in a larger city like Whiterun? Did he not know of the famous 7,000 steps path up the Throat? Was he just intending to climb the Throat from the Western side as a personal challenge, avoiding the easier path? I haven't given much thought to what part vampirism and lycanthropy may play in my own fan fiction writings yet, so it is interesting to see what ArgonianShadow does with it. This raises the larger question of whether I will consider the official game add-ons as canonical, and therefore possibly mentioned in my writing. I'm thinking of Dawnguard here particularly, but the others may apply equally. Might one of my characters find their way to the Shivering Isles at some point? Perhaps one of my characters will come across a madman who has been through the strange door on the island in the Niben Bay. Or perhaps they will hear the preaching of a prophet in Anvil. If so, these things need to be lore and chronology friendly. I wouldn't want to make reference to that mysterious island in the Niben Bay before it appears, for instance. Anyway, back to Shadowscale. This story was obviously well researched, as evidenced by the mention of Lamae the Blood Matron. At first I had to wonder why an Argonian would be so interested in a Nede, an ancestor of the human races. The Argonians are descended from the "aboriginal beastpeoples of Tamriel", not the Nedes. Then I realized that Shadowscale had accepted his Vampiric side more than I realized, and he was honouring Lamae by claiming her as "our" Blood Matron. For Lamae "begat a brood of countless abominations, from which came the vampires, most cunning of the night-horrors". And then Shadowscale decimates a coven of vampires, in the name of Lamae! Why would he do that, if he has accepted his vampirism to the extent that he honours Lamae, the mother of all vampires? Strange. It was an enjoyable story, and definitely more Elder Scrolls related than The Armour of Contempt was. It is a work in progress, and I have only read to the end of Chapter 3 so far. I'll be interested to see how Shadowscale fares amongst the Dark Brotherhood, being trained as an assassin and claiming his birthright as a Shadowscale. References