Carrick and Pinion's Journal

Hypothetical Tourism: Lulu in Tamriel
They arrive in a city. But it is like no city Lulu has ever seen. There is no city like this in all the worlds the brothers have travelled through.

Beneath their feet is wood -- cobblestone-bumpy bark worn down by the passage of many feet. It's a street, and yet... wood. Lining the street, the structures are also wood. Shaped wood, natural branches, woven and twisted and frozen in time. They build upwards exactly as a tree would be structured, with other, smaller streets and walkways visible above, weaving in front of the edges of higher platforms, building like a pyramid towards the immense glassy structures in the center of the city made of unimaginably huge flowers encased in clear resin -- the houses of rulers and offices of diplomats. Platforms built off of branches and walkways above hold shacks and tents built of strange materials -- leather and shell and salvaged wood and some stone -- and high above hang what appear to be old caravans transformed into swinging

The street they step into is a main street of the market. It is lined with carts and shop fronts and stands where goods of all descriptions are sold by merchants of many, many races. Though this is Valenwood, the ancestral home of the Bosmer, there are as many members of other races here as there are of the wood-elves.

The Bosmer themselves are fairly easy to spot. The men are all of Pinion's approximate height -- much shorter than the average for human and elf races. They have an almost goblin-like air to them -- compact, quick, with features that show off their animal nature -- many have Pinion's jet-black eyes; others have skin-covered protrusions on their brows like satyr-horns; many have faces with slightly elongated muzzles or turned-up noses; and all share the unusually large ears which, while not as mobile as beast-ears, still do move with the expressions of the Bosmer. The women of the race have similarly animal features, though they wear them with far more grace, and they are taller -- their average height is taller even than that of human women, who still dwarf the Bosmer men.

But the Bosmer population makes up not even half of all the throngs of creatures in the streets. There were an equal number of Orcs lumbering about, and many centaurs. Humans with features like Carrick's were numerous, most of them either clearly members of the Imperial Guard, or seeming to be engaged in some other form of business.

These made up the bulk of the crowd. Slightly less pervasive but still common were remarkably tall elven-folk, Altmer, with golden skin, all dressed in finery. They moved in flocks through the crowd, wearing an air of unattractive nobility. Here and there, a bizarre mockery of the Altmer, perched mostly above the streets or on ledges at their edges, beasts slightly smaller than Bosmer men -- shaved apes, adorned in what was clearly an attempt to emulate the Altmer's style, but exaggerated and parodied. These were indeed strange beings.

Peppered among this already-diverse marketplace gathering were yet more races. Of humans, there were the tall and mostly blonde Nords, the chocolate-skinned Redguards, and the Bretons with softer features and smaller forms than the Imperials. Rarer but still present were tall lizard-men, and the ash-skinned dark elves with red eyes and often wearing black face-tattoos. Then at last, the race Lulu would only glimpse in passing after wandering a while -- the Khajiit, cat-people, only a few of them visible, if any, and any she might see would obviously be either slaves or whores.

Sounds and smells are abundant: there is the low roar of the crowd, snatches of music, merchants announcing their wares, hoofbeats, ten languages or more being murmured and yelled and exchanged all around them, and the sound of the forest. There were many stalls selling Green Pact fare -- meat, bonemeal-breads, mead and jagga and other Bosmer-drink, but also there were stands offering fare for other races. And throughout the crowd, the clothing was as varied as the races, but aside from the Imga and Altmer in their overworked finery, the Bosmer themselves were notable for their style of dress. Many wore generic leather and wool and even cotton clothing, but just as many bore accessories that could only be described as bizarre -- many of the Bosmer wore wheels and cogs and machine parts as jewelry or worked into their clothing. Buckets and saucepans were made into hats, frying pans carried as shields, pipes and faucets and other innocuous items were incorporated into hats, coats, shoes, anything.

And most of the beings in the crowd were visibly armed, and likely invisibly as well. Many of the Bosmer carried bows and quivers of arrows, and wore daggers and shortswords at their hips. The Imperials were mainly armored and armed with longswords; likewise the Nords, Orcs, and Redguards. All manners of weapons could be seen sheathed or carried here, and the glow of magical spells blossomed frequently from stalls and corners and windows.

It is an overwhelmingly varied environment. Before taking Lulu a single step forward, Carrick and Pinion stand with her out of the way of the surging traffic of men and elves and beasts, and let her take it all in.

"Welcome," Pinion says finally, "to Falenesti."