General:Michael Zenke's Posts

Michael Zenke's Posts
Medium/Format	Online Forum
Interviewee(s)	Michael Zenke
Hosted By	Reddit Twitter

These are a few notable comments from Michael Zenke on The Elder Scrolls setting and development of the games. Zenke is known as @ESO_Loremaster on twitter, u/ZOS_michaelzenke on reddit.

2022

The Tales of Tribute experience (2022-06-09)

Are folks enjoying Tales of Tribute? I can attest that I am becoming extremely adept at losing at the very last moment. So I've got that going for me. :D

What's your favorite zone story in Elder Scrolls Online and why? (2022-06-17)

I'm going to pick one I didn't work on. The Deadlands narrative has a ton of great moments, incredible writing, tons of awesome lady characters, and the portal-tastic ending really got me.

Zeal of Zenithar in-game event (2022-06-23)

Remember all, he's the god of Community as well as Coin. :D Get out there and hang together.

Show us your Elder Scrolls Online character! (2022-07-12)

Zenke's wood elf stam sorc

Zenke's khajiiti nightblade

Here are two of mine, my wood elf stam sorc and my khajiiti nightblade. The stam sorc was created day 1 hour like, 3 of the NA service, and has been my main through every content drop.

Loremaster's Archive: Lost Depths - Questions thread (2022-07-25)

Hey all, we're going to get Dhulef in a chair sometime soon to answer questions. He's affable enough but his rate for this kind of work is crazy. Toss us some more questions so we can get the most out of his piratical knowledge.

On why there were so many ghosts at the time of ESO's launch (2022-12-07)

True story, at one point in development a bunch of disciplines got together to refactor some things across the game. Because there were Too Many Ghosts.

On the lore accuracy of the ESO Shadowfen, Eastmarch and The Rift maps (2022-12-09)

Heyo! My two cents would be that all the maps we see of Tamriel are abstractions; they're always made to serve the game they're 'from'. My advice would be, the thing that makes the most cultural and cartographic sense to you is probably the right call. :)

@Vylaera: Thank you for replying! I really really appreciate it!

It's been a pretty intense debate between myself and my coauthor about the design philosophy of our addon. Should we follow ESO's zones exactly, or break from them where they conflict with other maps, has been the conflict.

I understand the tedium of what you should and shouldn't say, so I definitely appreciate and understand your answer. While not definitive, it does provide a ton of insight to the logic you use, and I think we may be able to come to an agreement easier, so I thank you again.

Of course! It sounds like a fun project! :D I spend a lot of time looking at real life prior art to try to guide me in stuff like this. Ultimately we're all interpreting the culture, politics, and geography of this 'other place' together. Good luck.

It's nice that old lore established in a book from launch can pop up in Crown Crates years later (2022-12-12)

This is a fun synergy between disciplines. We needed some stuff for the voice actors to read for a livestream, and ended up punching out some ad reads for a couple of places including "Sheogorath's House of Cheese." That resurfaced the Shrieking Cheese and bob's your uncle. :D

2023

Begging on hand and knee that the new ESO collectors edition doesn't have a giant tentacle Mora statue for me to explain to family members when they visit... (2023-01-25)

So. Sorry. Uh. About the teuthonic abomination. Um. Maybe it'll be a conversation starter?

Just think of it like a cool icebreaker.

Bittding on PTS singing his To See my Systres shanty (2023-02-01)

A big shoutout to the exceptional @okcryptidd who wrote this shanty, the unstoppable Brad Derrick, and @matthewkheafy's kick-butt TikTok performance. The full version is still kicking around on my phone and I always let it play in full when it comes up in rotation.

What does the Jubilee Cake 2023 taste like (2023-02-16)

Just think of it like really fresh, sugary calamari. 🐙🍰🎂🦑

We were just talking at work about what we think this bad boy tastes like. Any guesses?

What's your go to idle place in ESO? (2023-03-07)

The little island in Auridon with the two bridges. We ended up calling it the Isle of Contemplation, because it was so beautiful. Sometimes while I was writing the zone I'd go there and have that as my backdrop while I was in the tool.

You asserted in planning that the Telvanni LA would be shorter than usual. (2023-03-14)

One does not tell a Telvanni of any significant strength to "keep it pithy" if you want to maintain your current level of health and/or limbs.

Fixing typos (2023-03-27)

As part of a normal day's work, writers on ESO all get bugs related to old content. Just cleaning up minor typos and such. Sometimes Bill Slavicsek gives ones to me from, say Reaper's March. At launch. Which is a zone that I wrote.

Does the croc exist anywhere within the Aurbis? (2023-04-07)

I hope so. I feel like a lot of conflict in Tamriel could be circumvented by comfortable footwear.

Mezcal within the Aurbis (2023-05-03)

We have lots of cactuses in Tamriel. If you can smoke it, ferment it, brew it, or distill it you gotta believe people are doing it. They don't call it mezcal but I'm sure it exists on Nirn. :)

2024

On the new Battlegrounds (2024-10-17)

Check out this great article on the website about the new battlegrounds, ESOFam. If you haven't seen them yet, the worldbuilders went *so hard*, some of the most beautiful spaces in the game yet.

Hello Bluesky. (2024-10-18)

I'm Michael Zenke, the Loremaster for Elder Scrolls Online. I created Razum-dar and wrote "Uncle" Sheo. I wrote a bunch and was a lead for Destiny and Destiny 2. More recently I wrote Isobel Veloise and Azandar al-Cybiades, and helped make the Scribing story happen.

New Companions reception (2024-11-01)

My boss spitting truth out here. :) This was a fun read.

All the peeps in the guilds I’m in like the new Companions and their stories and how quickly they are gaining Comp levels. I can’t wait to unlock them. Plus I’ve heard one of them is like a Heavy Sack magnet lol.

A magnet in the shape of a tiny cat. :D Glad folks are enjoying the release!

Companions now live (2024-11-13)

Happy Companion Day! If you join up with Tanlorin in the Garland Ring give a big hearty "hell yeah" to Andrew Siañez-De La O. Joining up with Zerith-var to solve a necromantic mystery? Send that "hell yeah" to Julianna Comstock. Or both, if you're feeling these excellent vibes.