Greymoor and Antiquities: A Loveletter (Patreon)

I've spent a lot of time back in Skyrim this past month. In March, I was lucky enough to get to play ESO:Greymoor as part of a preview event, and write several articles about it for the Imperial Library. Afterwards, TIL was able to preview several books before the chapter's release. Now, with the  Public Test Server live, I've been documenting and playing even more.

Typically, my PTS experience is restricted by time to playing a little, bugging a little, and documenting books a lot. This time around, though, I managed to finish off most of the main quest and several sidequests on the press server, and am continuing with sidequests and location documentation on the PTS. While objectively Greymoor probably contains the same amount of stuff as previous DLCs, it somehow feels denser to me. Maybe it’s the familiar environments, giving ZOS more room to expand with the groundwork has already laid? Maybe it’s the increase in dialog options per NPC, making them feel more like people while also providing more world information? Even though I’m not at all into vampires, there’s so much there that I want to explore, from the Bard’s College and their historic instruments from all over Tamriel, to mysterious time travelers (now on youtube by yours truly), to Dragon Cult revivalists and guys turned into dolls, to the breathtaking subterranean vistas of Blackreach. 

(Morrowind, despite similarly building on nostalgia, didn't give me the same feelings. While it was definitely fun to explore the old environments in the past, it didn't have as much of feeling like I'm learning new things about them, or making something I already love even greater retroactively)  

And then there’s Antiquities, which I’ve spent most of the week documenting and fangirling over. Antiquities may very well be the perfect system, and a great example of how to write effective, interesting lore. Even if we quibble about individual pieces or wish that some cultures would have received more artifacts, the writing and art is a masterclass. Each time you dig up an antiquity, you receive a comment on it by a different member of the Antiquarian Order (who are all excellent characters in their own right). 

Let’s look at one that’s particularly close to my heart, the statue of St. Alessia Paravant, shown above (image kindly provided by AzureAlay). 

I can scarcely believe I'm saying this, but you may have discovered a sculpture of the mother of the First Empire, Saint Alessia. You see? She still bears the shackles of Ayleid enslavement, and holds the Amulet of Kings aloft. It's her. It's Paravant. —Verita Numida

Verita’s excitement is palpable. She’s an Imperial, so Alessia holds cultural significance to her. She tells the player who Alessia is, just in case they’re not familiar already, and also tosses in the more uncommon name “Paravant”. Paravant may also be used here as a class of Alessian portraiture, just like there are different types of Jesus depictions Christian art (Pantocrator vs Salvator Mundi for example) 

I suspect this is a Bretonic work--perhaps given to Hestra as a gift after High Rock's admission to the Empire. As you know, the Alessian Order placed tight restrictions on graven images of Alessia. We'll likely never know what she really looked like. —Reginus Buca

Reginus, despite also being Imperial, is more measured. There’s a lot said outright in his quote (the style of this statue is mist 1st era Breton, Alessian Order forbid portraits of its namesake), but also a ton that can be inferred. For example, that Tamriel has enough variety and evolution in art style that it is possible to pinpoint the exact time and place this statue was made, which isn’t something we explore with the visuals in game directly. 

There’s also a lot to be explored in motive. Despite High Rock presumably knowing about the Order’s restrictions on portraiture of Alessia, chose to give Hestra, an empress of the Order, a statue of the saint anyway. We can also guess that whoever gifted the statue to Hestra may have been drawing a connection between her and Alessia, positively or negatively. Were they supporters of Hestra, drawing a parallel between her “liberation” of High Rock from the Direnni? Or was it a veiled insult, pointing out that Alessia freed her people while Hestra conquered the Bretons? Is it perhaps a portrait, with Hestra’s face imposed on Alessia’s costume? 

Mara's mercy, Reginus! For once in your life, can you just appreciate the majesty of what our friend uncovered? Obviously, the sculptor did not have the benefit of firsthand knowledge, but this is the truest depiction of Alessia we've ever seen! —Verita Numida

Verita brings it back, but does not refute anything Reginus said. She does offer that this is the “truest depiction”, telling us that the outfit she wears is likely historically accurate (unlike the renaissance look of Alessia’s statue in Oblivion) and implying that historians in Tamriel have other sources on what people wore in the early 1st era. 

More importantly, though, this draws attention to the next point: this look is directly and purposefully based on the fan community’s depictions of Alessia, which started with a non-commissioned portrait of the queen done by Michael Kirkbride sometime around 2006 and continued through into my own portrait of her as well as those by RedMorpho and many other artists. This is Zenimax directly saying that they see their fans, and that they like what they see. It is an acknowledgement of a Tamriel built on collaboration. Of a vision for Cyrodiil that’s more than “it’s Rome + Renaissance Faire, I guess”. 

This statue isn’t unique - the other antiquities offer similar levels of lore, implication, and community love. There’s a beautiful Nordic whale totem of Stuhn which may or may not be a flying whale, an ancient Mane crown of tribal braids, and even a Sunbird feather, though the antiquarians can’t agree on what that actually is. All of these are commented upon and argued over, in true Temple Zero versus Hasphat Antabolis Elder Scrolls fashion. 

It’s beautiful. I feel catered to -- maybe even pandered to. 

I’ve had my problems with ESO lore in the past (and will continue to in the future, I’m sure, as with all things). But Antiquities is such a good concept, and so well executed with so much obvious love for the community that I can’t help but sing it praises. If there’s one thing I hope future games take from ESO, it is definitely this.