I could easily overthink this blog thing. I’m already overthinking how amateur this post looks to me, because this blog thing is brand new to me. But truthfully, I’m excited. Sharing my ESO adventures with other fans is something I always enjoyed on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. I even sometimes miss streaming on Twitch. But I always wanted the excuse and motivation to actually write out the stories and ideas I thought up alongside the existing content I already adore.
Well, ESO Fam, you can thank my Technical Writing professor. Upon learning I could choose a blog or website for my final project, my choice was obvious. So here we are!
What is the purpose of this blog? I fully intend to update it once per week. In this update, I’ll provide an anecdote surrounding what I’ve been up to in game. I may talk about an event, upcoming content, a housing project, or something else. I will then have a short fic surrounding where Aurora is currently questing. I may not be a top tier professional, and my lore may occasionally end up looser than some lore hounds prefer, but I’m very excited to share Aurora’s thoughts with the world! Finally, at the end of a zone’s story, when I like to complete a housing project, I will talk about the process I went through with design and provide links to all the applicable screenshots.
For this first post (and the second), I will be summarizing where Aurora has been so far. Trying to write her entire backstory as it is now would be a full time job in itself! So I’ll summarize zone by zone, starting with her upbringing.
Aurora Moonglow is not the name given to her at birth. She was once Aria. Aria Valtierri. She was named after her melodic voice as a baby by her mother and father, Rhiannon and Matthias. Growing up just outside Hallin’s Stand, Aurora was heavily sheltered. As her father taught and healed out of their home and temple of Stendarr, Aria was often left with a mother who loathed all magic that did not heal or purify by the precepts of her Divine. When Aria began to show signs of illusion abilities that Rhiannon found unnatural, Aria was severely punished each time she grew a corn flower or cast an illusion of a crow. Finally fed up with an absent father and an abusive mother, Aria left home at 19, never planning to come back.
She traveled for days, coming upon a hidden town on the eastern border of Bangkorai. Fatigued, dehydrated, and sunburned, she was in desperate need of shelter. This place seemed abandoned and containing a fresh water source, so she entered… only to find a hidden city of outlaws in a town called Thieves Oasis. She feared for her life, having heard of the sins and uncleanliness of these sorts. Instead, she met a Khajiit merchant and his band of comrades waiting to take her in and help her see Tamriel as it truly was.
They soon set out for Elsweyr, her new friend teacher her how to use a dagger, how to protect her skin from Magnus’s bite, and how to sneak away from those who would wish her harm. He also gave her a new name, saying Aria no longer suited her. He believed her to be like the velvet of the night sky, eyes glowing with the light of the two moons- Moonglow. Telling her to choose her own first name, she pondered and considered the northern lights she read about in books. She loved their colors and ever-shifting beauty so much that she had created illusions around them. Aurora. Her new name would be Aurora Moonglow.
As Aurora and the traveling merchants arrived in Anequina, a distant roar awoke her in the middle of a sand-swirling night. Before she could spot the origin of such a strange noise, the flames erupted. No amount of shouting or arrows fired or bravery could stop the attack of a dragon during a nighttime sand storm. Aurora felt her life slipping away before it ever truly began.
She awoke hours or days or weeks later to find her friends all charred. Her own burns and injuries severe, she spit up blood and sand and fought passing out again to find water. She found one surviving pouch, one remaining scrap of sash belonging to her first real friend, and one note. The note, written in careful, green-tinted script, spoke of his fondness for her. Like a daughter to him, he wrote. Through stinging eyes that could not produce tears, she then read that he had a gift waiting for her in his gilded chest. She searched and found the chest unharmed thanks to protection magic. Inside was a gorgeous, hand-sewn set of leather armor and his jeweled daggers. Her heart broke all over again as she donned the leathers, suppressing screams as she pulled them over her burns and scrapes. She then attempted to walk a single direction, hopefully toward civilization. She passed out a few hours later instead.
What came in the next two months was a blur of lessons learned, battles fought, and friendships formed. She was, of course, nursed back to health by a very grumpy inn owner. She then met an even grumpier Imperial, Abnur Tharn. She spent all her time doing side jobs to make enough coin to pay for food and shelter between working with Khamira and Abnur to fix Abnur’s mistake- releasing dragons back into Tamriel. Still, her time with this Khajiit and Imperial duo taught her so much. Khamira taught her more about the culture of her people, helping her to hone stealth and dagger work to a sharp point. Abnur shattered all expectations taught to her about magic, teaching her to use her illusions as tools of defense and healing and helping her to learn how to trap a soul. Although Aurora refused to trap human souls and she argued with him all the time, she found all of his lessons nonetheless invaluable. Soon, Anequina was not only (temporarily) saved from dragons, the rightful queen was returned to the throne.
Which brings me to a very important aspect of Aurora. She came from humble origins to begin with, and she did have bitterness toward her upbringing. But the one lesson that stuck with her is that if someone needs help, and she can provide aid, she is always obligated to administer that aid. Having taken into account that lesson, her love of working with her hands, and her new-found steady income, she began to build shelters and businesses. Those sheltered and hired to work in or run the businesses were those that were homeless, disabled, abused, struggling, or like-minded. Her first project was turning her former in room in Rimmen into a shelter for all the homeless women in the city. All they had to do is just pick up after themselves and help keep the room clean. This shelter is still used to this day.
What followed was an adventure to Pellitine, again to deal with this dragon threat. What occurred is still difficult for Aurora to talk about, as she suffered a loss that still brings her to tears. Even still, she met life-long friends here in Southern Elsweyr, including her best friend, Aeliah Remnus. The Dragonguard became a safe place for her, their traumas and battles cementing bonds that she knew could never be broken.
Believe it or not, this is still an incomplete account of Aurora’s first five months away from home. The next post will be going into her adventures in Skyrim, her first love, and her experience in the Daggerfall Covenant. I hope you enjoyed this first post! If you have any more questions about this portion of Aurora’s life, or about the direction of this blog, please feel free to ask!
Aurora DeWinter 