brianbusby's showcase

[brianbusby]

Hey TR, I've been playing Morrowind for around three years now and Oblivion for two. I never was too interested in working the CS but I love the literature in the games and I always wanted to write pieces like that. I know it’s really difficult to be accepted as a TR modder on literature alone so I've also put in some links to some concept art I drew. I love to draw, and ancient weapons/creatures/civilizations is my specialty. I've included three literary pieces for the game (hopefully) and three pictures I drew
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Diary of the Marsh
by Maerus Vines

14th of Sun’s Dusk- I have crossed the borders into the Black Marsh this morning through the petulance and mires of Blackwood. Being so close to the border I doubt I have real need to use the mask yet. To my misfortune there is no road. Or what’s left of it has been overgrown and ruined; I hardly expected more after reading Jarth’s account. I only wish I had a guide to help me navigate.

16th of Sun’s Dusk- I am now well into the marsh. Yesterday I employed the mask, a rather clever creation on my part I might add. I’ve plastered together the chokeweed and shredded mandrake root in a molded solution of muck. It fits perfectly to my face and should filter and prevent the various diseases of this dire land.

17th of Sun’s Dusk- I’ve barely seen a breadth of life in my wanderings besides a few black masses flying in the distance to the south. I believe these may be the “Hackwingsâ€Â￾ I’ve researched in my study. Although I can say that I’m almost grateful for this lack of wilderness. If I were to stumble upon a Naga, or any other type of hostile Argonian I’m sure I wouldn’t make it for more than a minute. This puny blade I wield could barely puncture my own skin. Sometimes I think the guild is doing this just to get rid of me!

20th of Sun’s Dusk- Since my previous entry I’ve come across my first two encounters. First, only two days ago, I discovered a rotting Argonian in a disgusting heap of sludge and waste. To my horror it was covered with tiny red flies. They were devouring him by the hundreds, and upon my arrival, they swarmed up and attacked me. I used my cloak as a cover and ducked under it, hiding in fear for at least an hour before I darted off in the opposite direction. The second encounter was with a strange beetle I’ve never accounted for in all my travels, nor read about. I think it was either a subset of brown beetle, or one horribly deformed by some disease or mutation of the swamp.

21th of Sun’s Dusk- I think judging by the sun and my travels that I’m southeast of Gideon. Roshara said this is where I might find the Wamasii. From what I’ve read they seem to have been virtually killed by the Imperials and Dunmer alike. I hope she hasn’t sent me on a chase for a creature that doesn’t exist. It’s a shame she couldn’t find and test the Fang of (something or another), then I wouldn’t have to go on this cursed trip in the first place. How do you kill a Wamasus? In fact, what is a Wamasus?

24th of Sun’s Dusk- I’ve roamed the area for days and finally I have found a clue to my hunt. I have stumbled upon my first living Argonian. I’ve deciphered through hisses that his name is Weewal, but others call him “Kills-The-Stars.â€Â￾ He said if I were a Dunmer he would have killed me on the spot, but will let me live because I am not. He insists he has never heard of Wamasii, but he seems to take a liking to my face mask. After he left I’ve been ruminating over what to do, and I think if I don’t hear or see any signs of a Wamasus, then I’m going to head home empty-handed. Someone else can find their alchemical properties!

25th of Sun’s Dusk- He’s stolen everything! Everything! Even the petty mask off my sleeping face! Weewal must’ve come in the night, because when I awoke I smelled a funny odor, and to my horror my mask was gone. My camp has been ravaged, all my provisions, all my septims, all my ingredients! Practically the only thing he left was this diary. I’m heading back empty-handed, I’ll never be able to brave this wretched dump without my supplies. I can only hope that the last strains of the Knahaten are truly gone.

[No Date]- I can hear them, they are hunting for me. My body aches, my mouth waters, and my bones cry. But I will not give in, they will not find me.

[Note from Jolareek: Finder of Maerus’ body]
Jolareek finds body south of Gideon. Breton survives much longer than expected for foreigner. Breton was slaughtered by creatures, Nagas Jolareek suspects. Jolareek publishes diary so others know not to come to marsh, only fools comes to marsh. And then fools die.

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Scum of Tamriel
by Naracil

I look down from my seat on Artaeum and all I can see is the inferior scum of Tamriel. They mill around like lost children, and sometimes even build up the courage to ask us for advice. They question us, and they plea to us, but truthfully they hate us. And if they could ever find the slightest chance for dominion, they would unify and claim it, because the weaker will always loathe the stronger.
My deepest hate is given to the pompous race of the Imperials. These dirty Ayleid slaves claim they are the empire of Tamriel. I spit on the name of the Septims, starting with Cuhlecain himself. Thanks to the cursed help of Queen Alessia, we Altmer must all endure the pathetic ranting of the Imperials, and anyone else who praises her soul in that useless amulet of Cyrodiil.
Next are the arrogant Bretons. These bastard offspring have stolen the true magical aptitude of the Altmer and have diluted and ruined its ancestry over the ages. High Rock is nothing more than a primeval cauldron, where Bretons brew war incessantly over land and power. I myself have seen the streets of Daggerfall and it is nothing but a melting pot of vendors, vermin, and trouble.
I also look with disdain on the Orsimer, the corrupt elves of Malacath. I do not believe there is any heritage between these barbarians and the Altmer, despite what the archives may read. The only reason the "empire" acknowledges their miserable existence is for their prized weapons and armor. If only they realized the wisdom of protection lies in magic, not through physical means.
I have little to say on the slave-race of Argonians. They are perhaps the only sensible beings less than us who realize to stay in the putrid waste of Argonia. The Archeins are even primitive enough to sell their own kind into slavery. The few who do wander out have my unrefined hatred though; they speak a crude tongue and are filthier than the slime from a Sload.
The Khajiit share a similar feeling for me to the swamp-beasts. As long as they keep to their wild lands in Elsweyr and pray to Ahnurr and Fadomai alone, then I shall care little. The few exceptions are petty bandits and desperate smugglers, who annoy me to no end. Although it is quite humorous to see street vermin after having a taste of Khajiit moon sugar.
I hate the Bosmer and the Dunmer equally when it comes to the matter of other elves, of course not counting the disturbing claims to Elven heritage in Bretons and Orcs. The Dunmer are nothing more than traitors, choosing to worship the malicious Daedra over the Aedra. It is ironic how that if the Daedric princes got their wish Nirn would not exist in the first place. But you can't expect a Chimer to realize that. The other thing I hate about these dark-skinned folk is their pointless worship to the fallacious Tribunal, mere mortals with exceptional powers. The Bosmer, also, are a strange folk, and although they may wield exceptional skill with a bow, it makes little difference to me compared to their honor to the Green Pact. Tamriel is no place for wild cannibals, and although city life may suggest otherwise, a true Bosmer is a wretched flesh-eater with absolutely no ethics.
One race I vow to seek revenge upon is the seamen from Atmora! I curse the day when Ysgramor arrived in Skyrim at Hsaarik bringing his blunt and useless Nords behind him. If only the night as Saarthal forced them away forever. But when Vrage attacked and slew Aldmer, purging them from Skyrim, he went too far. One day every child of the sky will burn at the hand of our doing.
Perhaps one of the few races I acknowledge to be even within range of our superiority is the Dwemer. Although lacking in the magical realm, they delved deeper into science than even we Altmer can claim. Their best piece was Anumidium, albeit the fact it was also their peripety. I have always debated travelling to Morrowind to see their ruins. It’s much to my chagrin the dwarves have disappeared; we may've benefitted from their knowledge. But they are no longer in this realm, and so can clearly not compete with direct ancestors of the Aldmer.
There are also the Redguard, and despite that they aren't related to the other men, the ancestors of the slave-race, they are still scum all the same. They came in their fleets to Tamriel from their lost homeland Yokuda and immediately started to steal our land. They spread like the blight, and the cursed Ra'gada destroyed many a home and village. At least they were slaying the lesser beings of our land, and not us. Not that they could even hope to breach our defenses.
The only true race of Tamriel is the Altmer, direct descendants of the Aldmer and of Auri-El. We alone know the secrets of the deepest magic and the elder way, the Sload from Thras cannot even rival our abilities, despite these necromancer’s weak attempts in the War of Uvichil. We alone created the Psijic Order and we alone house Ceporah. All others are just weak inferiors, who will never match the power and magnificence of the High Elves.

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Khajiit Folklore, Vol. 1: The Pahmar of Dune
by Dro’Kharra

I do not know what his name was, he never told anybody. I think most called him J’Darsa, meaning “young thief.â€Â￾ That name certainly fit him well, for he was perhaps one of the best at his trade, considering how many Khajiit choose the path of thievery, and he wasn’t even full-grown.
According to the stories he ran on all four, which was fitting because he was of the Pahmar. His fur was a vibrant orange cleaved vertically by meandering black stripes. He had no tattoos and as far as the story goes, he didn’t even consider himself bound to the moons. He didn’t acknowledge the leadership of the Mane, and he didn’t eat the famous powder from the Topal Sea like the others. That is probably why he belonged to no clan, and hailed to no chieftain; he was an outcast, a loner, a status very rare for the nomadic tribes of northern Elsweyr.
He roamed the great sand seas surrounding Dune, and never slept in the same spot twice. There is no story to explain where he came from, or who birthed him, because as far as we know, he never told anyone. His profession was to rob the various trade wagons and slave caravans that illegally smuggled Khajiit slaves and moon sugar. Usually he only took what he needed, food, water, and basic provisions, leaving the traders often unaware of their slight loss of goods.
But he is most famous not for these petty crimes that many a Khajiit can admit too, but for the fabled incident of the Dunmer slave caravan. I will try to recount the story as my grandfather told me when I was young

J’Darsa scrambled up the sand dune on all fours, simultaneously following the scent on the wind with his keen nose. It was a savory smell, of fresh meat roasting over a fire, and of cool refreshing wine recently uncorked. It was definitely a large caravan, because he could hear the loud rabble and tumult of the traders clearly, despite that he had surmounted the dune and could see the blurry outline of the camp at least a mile away.
Judging by the sun it must’ve been around six o’clock, and the stars could easily tell an experienced traveler that it was mid-Frostfall. J’Darsa scurried down the face of the dune silently, and proceeded to canter at a steady pace towards the caravan, motivated by the growing knot of hunger in the pit of his stomach. It had been days since he had robbed a wagon, and the food had long since been devoured.
As he neared closer, staying in the shadows of the dunes to avoid detection, he could make out that they were Dunmer. The dark skin, the odd tattoos, and the heavy accents all gave it away.
J’Darsa let out an inaudible growl; he hated the dark elves the most. They often smuggled out heavy amounts of Skooma and moon sugar as well as Khajiit slaves. Morrowind was home of the Dunmer and well known for its slavery of the beast –races, and J’Darsa loathed them for that.
Sure enough, the young thief spotted a mobile iron cage of Khajiit slaves behind the wagons. At least ten male Khajiits were jammed inside, all looking beaten and starved. J’Darsa decided he would extract revenge later that night, and lay down with one eye open monitoring the situation while he dozed.
The traders discussed the best places to sell the slaves and sugar, and after a few hearty drinks, they were drifting off to sleep. They were cautious enough to set a guard, but he was inebriated, and fell asleep like the rest of them. J’Darsa awoke from his slumber and took the opportunity laid out in front of him.
He stealthy sauntered over to the sleeping tradesmen. He could easily distinguish their leader by his fine attire. Stealing his knife from his belt, he slit the leader’s throat in one stealthy cut. Taking all his money and the bloody knife, he glided without noise to the drunken watchmen. With practiced skill he slid the money into his pocket and the knife into his boots. The watchmen lay fast asleep, totally oblivious. J’Darsa retired for the night, hiding himself in a neighboring dune.
The next morning started off with commotion. One of the three other Dunmer who slept next to the captain awoke to the sight of his leader’s bloody murder. Yells and screams erupted and J’Darsa smiled, hidden in the shadows watching the scene unfold.
The watchman was waked and instantly blame fell on him. When he was searched and the Septims as well as the leader’s knife was found on him the others were convinced. The Khajiit watched with increased contentment as he was beheaded at the sword of his friends. He also noticed the slaves in the cage cheering at this. They would soon have much to be happy about.
The Dunmer started the caravan up around an hour after the episode. The three remaining traders all wore a grim disposition as they trudged forward, leading the struggling guar also. The iron cage rattled as it rolled over the desolate road through the dunes, and J’Darsa saw his next chance. He slunk behind the cart for several hours, waiting for it to stop when the Dunmer took a rest. Finally at midday they rested for a few swigs of some native liqueur. J’ Darsa silently dashed through the sand to the cart where the Khajiit were locked up. The slaves gave him inquisitive looks but said nothing; it was obvious he was trying to help them. J’Darsa took a file he kept on hand for robberies and jammed it within the axel of the rear wheel, hidden from view. He leaned into the bars and whispered something to the Khajiit slaves who nodded in acquiescence. He then dashed off into hiding.
Once the guar started up again the tradesmen instantly noticed the procession was slower. One of them headed to the wagon and slave cage to inspect the wheels. While he searched J’Darsa snuck behind the other two, who were using the spare time to give water to the guars. He slinked up behind them and with two well aimed shots from the knuckle they both fell down cold.
Completely unaware of the situation, the third tradesmen was busy tending the sabotaged wheel. It was much to his surprise when a pair of furry hands closed around his neck. He let out a startled yelp but there was no one to hear him save J’Darsa. He was lifted off the ground and held dangling outside as several of the slaves throttled him through the bars. Within a minute his limp body hit the cold stones of the barren path.
Finding the keys to the cage in one of the unconscious trader’s pockets, J’Darsa released the slaves. As the bars opened the Khajiit rushed out, embracing J’Darsa and shouting freedom again and again. It wasn’t for a long time till J’Darsa was alone, for each of the cats made an individual gesture of thanks. The slaves were now freed but J’Darsa’s work was not done. With strength in his arms he dragged the two tradesmen, both still unconscious, up to the cave. With two heaves he tossed them into their own iron contraption and closed the bars, locking it. With a satisfactory crack he snapped the key, leaving the two slavers locked in the cage with no means of escape. After the sun had set they awoke to the horror of being trapped behind bars. They saw J’Darsa and cried for freedom, food, and a drink.
J’Darsa slyly responded he would fulfill only one of their wishes. He went into the wagon and pulled out two bottles of illegal Skooma. Giving the bottles to the Dunmer, who were expecting freedom, J’Darsa smiled a wicked grin and darted off into the night, leaving the Dunmer crying out for help to the air alone.
It is rumored that Khenarthi was in the wind that day and witnessed the liberation of the Khajiit and the just punishment of their slavers. They say he immortalized the stopped caravan into stone so that others would pass by and learn a lesson from the stone. As for J’Darsa, no one can say what happened to him, or if he even existed, but the lesson was clear; a just revenge comes for those who do wrong.
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Here is my concept art

A Tsaesci warrior: [url=http://img202.imageshack.us/i/aaaib.jpg/][img]http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/7619/aaaib.th.jpg[/img][/url]


Some Hammerfell weapons: [url=http://img96.imageshack.us/i/aaabl.jpg/][img]http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2073/aaabl.th.jpg[/img][/url]


Some generic weapons/armor: [url=http://img94.imageshack.us/i/aaac.jpg/][img]http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/6392/aaac.th.jpg[/img][/url]



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Thats it, I'll gladly except any advice and if this isn't TR quality, I understand, thanks.

[Inferne]

I think your stories are pretty good, but the image links don't work. You might want to fix that.

[Worsas]

Hi Brainbusby,

I'm not in a position to say if what you've written is good or not, since I'm no native speaker and have neither much knowledge of tamrielic-lore nor of literature.

But, I like your first piece somehow. It's a tiny bit scary and has some interesting ideas about Blackmarsh. Your third piece also gives a nice description of how that Khajit is smelling the supplies of the Darkelvish-Karavan. Moreover I feel that there is a lot reference to lore included.

Noticable though, is that all three pieces give a very general description of tamrielic provinces, races, opinions etc. That said, I think there is few where I could say is surprising about Khajiit's, high elves, dark elves etc. in your writings.

I can't say if this is good or bad. I'm not one of the literature-department and thus my post doesn't have much ponderosity.

[brianbusby]

Thanks a lot for the reviews Inferne and Worsas. If I get accepted then my next folklore book will be of a simpler nature and therefore I can really expand on personality.

[Nanu]

You literature is... interesting, to say the least. I saw a few typos: "here" for "hear," and so forth.

You should read the links in my signature. You have a fair grasp of the lore you wrote on, and your writing is a step above what we usually get, but I found your piece on Artaeum to be rather lackluster. Your journal was fairly good, considering there isn't much to compare it against. I enjoyed your Pahmar story thoroughly.

I'd like the opinion of anyone else on the project, preferably Haplo, before I make any kind of real decision. We've reached a point in literature where we're approaching the same volume as Beth wrote for either game.

[brianbusby]

Hey, thanks for the review. Sorry about the double post, I've read all the rules and such, it just slipped my mind. I agree that the Altmer one lacks enthusiasm. I wasn't sure if TR wanted more heavy lore-intensive stuff so I thought I'd include that rather bland piece from a snobbish high-elf perspective. No matter, I can scrap it if thats the case, its not really an enjoyable read. I can also do a Hammerfell piece since that seems to be requested in several of the forums. By the way I'll make sure my work is much cleaner.

[Myzel]

Hmm, I totally missed this showcase apparently. Now to give my opinion on your drawings: Good.

They are certainly of good enough quality. Constructively: The snake-thing and the generic weapons are a little too generic to be really useful concepts. But the Hammerfell weapons are great work. It shows that you've taken the trouble to look through the forums and see what others have made, and you've definitely tried to stick with the basic style we've established. I see potential.

However, I'll only recommend someone for concept art promotion after they've done a fair amount of concepts for us, so I can be sure they have some dedication to the work. I've had bad experience with people leaving right after they were promoted. So start drawing and promotion will follow swiftly.

Maybe you'd like to read the journal entry on our art page. It explains a little about how we work at Concept Art.
http://tamriel-rebuilt.deviantart.com/

[brianbusby]

Thanks a lot Myzel for the review, I can see what you mean about the Tsaesci and the basic stuff being to generic,I can do more detailed weapons but obviously thats not all you need. Do you want me to do the FCG? Anything in specific? Here I've done two Hammerfell insignia as requested on a recent FCG, its been inspired by other members to give them credit.

[url=http://img44.imageshack.us/i/aaa5w.jpg/][img]http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/561/aaa5w.th.jpg[/img][/url]

[Myzel]

Very nice. Post your stuff in the concept art forums from now on, if you like. Read the journal entry in the link I gave in my previous post. It explains in detail what I expect from concept artists. Maybe I should post the text on here somewhere...

[brianbusby]

Oh sorry, I didn't open the journal entry last time I went on the link. And by the way, the devian art bar thats supposed to be at the bottom of the page actually cuts right through the section where you tell new artists what to draw. I just did some copy and paste work but you might want to fix that. Last question, should I post my new art here on the showcase, or somewhere in the concept art forum, or both?

[Myzel]

And by the way, the devian art bar thats supposed to be at the bottom of the page actually cuts right through the section where you tell new artists what to draw. I just did some copy and paste work but you might want to fix that.

I'm not sure what you mean. This must be some kind of problem with your own browser because I'm not seeing any problems with the deviant art page.

Last question, should I post my new art here on the showcase, or somewhere in the concept art forum, or both?

If I were you I would post all TES related concept art in the concept art forum. You can make your own personal thread there.

[Haplo]

Regarding your writing; you should run it through a grammar and style check in MS Word; remember that all TR literature must be in US English. Also, the pluralization for Redguard is still Redguard, not Redguards. Same for Khajiit; it's not Khajiits, but Khajiit. I also feel like we should say guar instead of guars as well, but I don't remember if that's been argued before.