in most countries, afaik, you actually can’t patent game mechanics, for the same reason you can’t patent rule sets for boardgames:
because they are essentially just logical connections. it would be like patenting math, which is also not allowed, for very obvious reasons. (with some very specific, very niche exceptions)
japan is just plain weird and wrong about their patent system.
that’s why all of the lawsuits about this stuff are happening in japan; not just because that’s where the companies are, but because japanese copyright law is (especially) fucked.
yeah…do NOT read up on how vampires came about in the elder scrolls…or anything about the daedric princes…or the dwemer…or the slough…or the falmer…especially not the bosmer…
…actually, if you think the lore of the elder scrolls is in any way milquetoast, you clearly haven’t read ANY of it anyways.
ES is among the most fucked up fantasy worlds in all of fantasy…like…H.P. Lovecraft/Stephen King levels of fucked up. worse, in some cases.
but there’s tons of absurdly funny shit too!
that’s part of what makes the ES lore so great; it’s got quite literally everything!
right up until redacted and suddenly it’s reeeaaaal difficult to find a way to end the game, because dying isn’t an option if you didn’t prepare for it XD