Skyrim gives you the wrong idea about the empire, it's way weirder than you think

I wrote and narrated a novella about the life of Emperor Reman. Link is here: https://youtu.be/rNTMQjEC67w

Sybille Stentor: "Because the Dominion is a sleeping beast that Skyrim cannot slay alone. Because many Nords are part of the Imperial army even now. Because the food and resources we get from the Empire are important to our people. Because even if we can't openly worship him, Talos the god was once Tiber Septim the man, and this is his Empire. And Torygg wasn't ready to let it fall apart."

Reminder that Reman was the guy that invited Sanguine, basically the god of hedonism, to his court, and when confronted with Reman's debauchery, Sanguine went: "Holy shit, this guy is a lunatic!" and left again.

"Hey, can I have some of your bread?"
"Sure. These two priestesses of Dibella gave it to me."
"... I no longer wish to have any of your bread."

“Damn Elves, I bet they had something to do with this.”-Ralof

I love how deep and metaphysical Elder Scrolls lore really is. The surface is easy enough to understand but those who are brave enough to dive deep are rewarded with mind blowing knowledge

"The Empire is boring" meanwhile the empire: snake men, hill moms, semen bread, and more

Only this franchise's lore can truly match how absolutely bonkers real life mythology is. "Our godking was born because some guy splooged into some mud after having ghost sex with a saint and literally impregnated the land" sounds exactly like the bizarre Freudian fever dreams our ancestors came up with while tripping on shrooms and/or dying of tuberculosis.

My main two takeaways from this are one, Cryodiil's lore is just as wild and out there as any of the other provinces' and anyone who says Imperials are the "boring" race needs to watch this video. And two, holy shit I need Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil in my load order ASAP.

I think I understand why Bethesda no longer uses Kirkbrides expanded lore.

Bethesda: Kirk, write us some lore

Kirkbride: ok a king and his soldiers meet a spirit in the woods.

Bethesda: ohh, I like it what next?

Kirkbride: The king follows the spirit and is inspired to have sex with a mound of dirt and dies.

Bethesda: yeah, and...hold up what!?

Kirkbride: Yes, and the mound soon grows into a mountain and births a child called Reman but get this, he speaks as a grown man!

Bethesda: what is he smoking!?

Kirkbride: And his Mother and Auntie are ordered by a God to store his semen and feed it to him on a slice of bread!

Bethesda: Security!

Kirkbride: (*being dragged out by security*) And Reman ejeculates on all his slain enemies!.....WITH NO HANDS! Muhahahaha!

Anyone else notice how over the last couple years Scott's voice has sounded more and more like a classic college professor? Top shelf content as always.

Strangely, the fact of Akatosh telling Dibella to tell two of her disciples to forget their duties and have sex with Reman while he was still just a kid, and them turning his sperm into bread for him to eat is disgustingly funny, I guess him saying "I am Cyrodiil come", literally means that he's saying he's solidified divine baby batter. 😆

It's got to be weird living in tamriel as reality itself is subject to the scrolls.

Any historical continuities are bound to have contradictions.

The legacy of Alessia - Snakemen, Minotaur paladins, man-seed bread, disappearing jungles, monkey monks and Holy Soul-Gem Crown Jewels; Gods Save The Queen.

I am loving the depictions of the ancient needs and imperials, such interesting armor and aesthetics

This video is a better sign of progress for Beyond Skyrim than anything the team themselves have put out.

its nuts that modern mythology is being made via video games

Kirkbride is wild, but that is part of the reason many of us like his work

Can't wait to play BS Cyrodiil myself!

Such beautiful footage to compliment a wonderful timeline of colorful narratives! Inspires me to start an Imperial playthrough in Skyrim.

I'm a real-world metaphysics nerd, and noticed so many parallels between Cyrodiilic religion and the Greco-Roman/Hellenic real-world equivalent, in many ways. You've got the Minoan/Mycenean Bull/Minotaur worship, Platonic metaphysics of "the One," with the dogmatic restrictions/persecutions of early Roman Christianity, which developed out of Neoplatonic/Gnostic metaphysics (so much potential for development in TES, btw). Marukh the Clever Ape, who always reminds me of C.S. Lewis's Shift the Ape in The Last Battle -- the finale in the Narnia series. All of this rich, colorful tapestry cries out for the further development of their cultural competitors, the Altmeri culture -- who deserve just as much praise for providing context in helping to define Cyrodiilic culture.