Once Upon a Time in Tamriel
Sundas, Morning Star 10
It is the world of Tamriel that we have come to love through the game series, The Elder Scrolls, but not as familiar as one might initially think.
The year is approximately 1E 700.
Yes, FIRST ERA. Back when history and myth were still being written. (This takes place prior to any published TES games.) A world on the cusp of significant changes, and you get to play a part in the course of its history.
For the last 30-some years, there had been war between the Chimer and Dwemer, the former uneasy allies of the First Council in the land of Resdayn, since Vvardenfell the Red Mountain erupted. There is rumor the Dwemer went so far as to seek military backup from the Nords, the reason for the formation of the First Council in the first place.
The War of the First Council is now officially over... five years ago? Fifty? It is hard to tell, time feels a little... off. But one thing is for certain. The Dwemer disappeared. Literally.
Reasons for the war vary depending on who you ask, but often it is the same refrain, that the Dwemer were performing unnatural acts that defy the gods, or that the Chimer were hungry for power. Perhaps the Nords and their hired Orcish mercenaries were involved simply due to opportunity, taking advantage of the chaos to regain the lands they lost when the First Council formed and pushed them back to Skyrim. There is even a whisper that one of the Great Houses had betraying the Chimer.
Chimer, the Changed Folk, now changed again. The term "Dunmer" is already spreading, even before the counselors of the fallen Hortator, Nerevar, have been able to address this sudden... affliction? Blight?
And speaking of Nerevar's counselors, Almalexia, Sotha Sil, and Vivec (or Ayem, Seht, and Vehk in the native tongue) have proclaimed themselves as living gods, already demonstrating powers of a mythic proportion. But what of the ways of the prophet Veloth and the teachings of the three Good Daedra? Does any of this have anything to do with the Chimer and their golden skin changing to a dark, ashen gray?
In the aftermath of the volcanic eruption and the settling of ash throughout Tamriel, a strange plant previously unseen or documented has been seemingly sprouting at random near bodies of water.
The Alessian Empire, is in decline, being picked away by the Camoran Dynasty, the Direnni, as well as the Nords and Khajiit. Even its own people in the Colovian West and city-states of Skingrad and Kvatch have begun to secede, despite The Alessian Order's attempts to keep a stranglehold with its monotheistic dogma. The Ayleids, the elves who were previously in power in the Heartland, have become fewer, just as a new people who call themselves Yokudan began to appear from across the western seas. The Man-Mer of High Rock have been gaining their independence from the Direnni, gaining respect and joining the world society as Bretons.
Argonians and Khajiit are the favorite targets of the slave trade in Resdayn, but there are whispers of underground freedom fighters lighting the way towards working against this traditionally entrenched institution. The Orsimer struggle to find a place of their own, mostly accepting what small settlements they can muster. Despite suffering embarrassment from the recent defeat of their god Mauloch, the orc peoples pursue the dream of Orsinium.
You hear about what sound like organized groups on the move. Thieves, plunderers, warriors for hire, even vampire clans are talked about in passing. Names come up in speculation. Bal Molagmer, the Cursed Legion, Renrijra Krin, sword-singers, the Aundae Clan. There are even rumblings of missing people, connected to cannibal cults, and something even more dark and sinister but none would dare name it.
And regardless of how you got here, you have found yourself chained up in a prison camp.
It is the world of Tamriel that we have come to love through the game series, The Elder Scrolls, but not as familiar as one might initially think.
The year is approximately 1E 700.
Yes, FIRST ERA. Back when history and myth were still being written. (This takes place prior to any published TES games.) A world on the cusp of significant changes, and you get to play a part in the course of its history.
For the last 30-some years, there had been war between the Chimer and Dwemer, the former uneasy allies of the First Council in the land of Resdayn, since Vvardenfell the Red Mountain erupted. There is rumor the Dwemer went so far as to seek military backup from the Nords, the reason for the formation of the First Council in the first place.
The War of the First Council is now officially over... five years ago? Fifty? It is hard to tell, time feels a little... off. But one thing is for certain. The Dwemer disappeared. Literally.
Reasons for the war vary depending on who you ask, but often it is the same refrain, that the Dwemer were performing unnatural acts that defy the gods, or that the Chimer were hungry for power. Perhaps the Nords and their hired Orcish mercenaries were involved simply due to opportunity, taking advantage of the chaos to regain the lands they lost when the First Council formed and pushed them back to Skyrim. There is even a whisper that one of the Great Houses had betraying the Chimer.
Chimer, the Changed Folk, now changed again. The term "Dunmer" is already spreading, even before the counselors of the fallen Hortator, Nerevar, have been able to address this sudden... affliction? Blight?
And speaking of Nerevar's counselors, Almalexia, Sotha Sil, and Vivec (or Ayem, Seht, and Vehk in the native tongue) have proclaimed themselves as living gods, already demonstrating powers of a mythic proportion. But what of the ways of the prophet Veloth and the teachings of the three Good Daedra? Does any of this have anything to do with the Chimer and their golden skin changing to a dark, ashen gray?
In the aftermath of the volcanic eruption and the settling of ash throughout Tamriel, a strange plant previously unseen or documented has been seemingly sprouting at random near bodies of water.
The Alessian Empire, is in decline, being picked away by the Camoran Dynasty, the Direnni, as well as the Nords and Khajiit. Even its own people in the Colovian West and city-states of Skingrad and Kvatch have begun to secede, despite The Alessian Order's attempts to keep a stranglehold with its monotheistic dogma. The Ayleids, the elves who were previously in power in the Heartland, have become fewer, just as a new people who call themselves Yokudan began to appear from across the western seas. The Man-Mer of High Rock have been gaining their independence from the Direnni, gaining respect and joining the world society as Bretons.
Argonians and Khajiit are the favorite targets of the slave trade in Resdayn, but there are whispers of underground freedom fighters lighting the way towards working against this traditionally entrenched institution. The Orsimer struggle to find a place of their own, mostly accepting what small settlements they can muster. Despite suffering embarrassment from the recent defeat of their god Mauloch, the orc peoples pursue the dream of Orsinium.
You hear about what sound like organized groups on the move. Thieves, plunderers, warriors for hire, even vampire clans are talked about in passing. Names come up in speculation. Bal Molagmer, the Cursed Legion, Renrijra Krin, sword-singers, the Aundae Clan. There are even rumblings of missing people, connected to cannibal cults, and something even more dark and sinister but none would dare name it.
And regardless of how you got here, you have found yourself chained up in a prison camp.