Ray of Light Options

[Lucidarius]

This was planned as a prologue to my adventures in Oblivion but then it turned rather long so instead of a complete story about a major plot line, I’ve only finished the prologue up until the prison in the Imperial City. The goal was to understand my character’s motive and background for better immersion in the game.

This is my first try at writing fiction so any comments or thoughts are more than welcome. Thank you for your time.

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12 Last Seed 3E419
As all children living on the Bitter Coast Nienna had learned to swim almost simultaneously with learning to walk. One day they had been on the shore, Lila killing the big mud crabs and her daughter Nienna swimming and diving for pearls. The kollops around the coastline of Vvardenfell in the Imperial province of Morrowind seldom held any pearls. They had already been taken by the abundance of poor inhabitants.

Suddenly Lila realized she had not seen her daughter’s head above the surface of the water for quite a while. She resolutely jumped in with all her clothes on. When she didn’t see her immediately, she began to panic and even forgot to cast a water breathing spell so she had to surface to get air. Then she saw Nienna a good distance away and gestured to her to come back. Nienna complied immediately, swimming all the way back under water before joining Lila on the bank. Lila did not know what to do first, berate Nienna for swimming out so far or quenching her curiosity about how she could hold her breath for so long. First she hugged Nienna tightly, grateful that she had not come to harm. Before she could say anything, Nienna excitedly burst out:

“Oh, mama, I found out how to cast the water breathing spell, it’s wonderful, wonderful to do magic.” Nienna jumped up and down to expend some of her pent up energy upon discovering her new ability.

“I was out swimming as usual and then I saw an open kollop with a pearl glinting rather far away. Instead of just swimming as normal, I pictured my fingers closing around the pearl, daydreaming about buying you a new wool skirt for winter like the one we saw at the shop yesterday and a real doll for me with a dress and silk slippers. Then it happened. My lungs didn’t feel like they were under water anymore, but more like inhaling a very cold, clingy kind of fog. And I could swim, and swim, and swim. It wasn’t until my fingers actually touched the pearl that I felt the pressure of the water on my chest so I had to go up for air.” Nienna smiled happily, dancing about throwing sand and twigs up in the air, reveling in the discovery.

Lila was shocked to hear that Nienna had discovered the water breathing spell by herself – and at such a young age too. She was not even four years old. Normally, children in High Rock were tested for their magical capabilities at the age of six. Lila had been an unusual five years old herself when admitted to the Guild of Mages, but had intensely disliked the stuffy and old-fashioned teaching methods. She ran away when she was seven, doing the odd job for different employers while trying to learn as much about magic and different spells as possible. She was afraid that Nienna was too young to understand the powers involved in magic thus resulting in fatal consequences.

“Congratulations, Enna. This is a big day and cause for both celebration and contemplation,” Lila said in a quiet, serious tone. “Magic always consists of both sides: lightness and darkness, the power to heal and to destroy.”

“Yes, mama, but I didn’t do anything bad, I just swam underwater,” Nienna said, confused about her mother’s serious tone.

“I know, darling, it’s hard to explain what it is I mean. When you cast that water breathing spell, your only intent was to get the pearl and buy something nice for the money. This spell belongs to the school of alteration. Alteration means “change” and that is exactly the purpose of the spell, to change the way you perceive the water, the world and everything in it so that you can breathe longer and don’t have to surface to catch air. Until the spell runs out,” Lila gently pulled her daughter down beside her on the bank; this was going to take a while.

“When we change the physical world around us, we might get to a point where we forget that we’ve changed it but reality will always win in the end. No person can hold a spell indefinitely because the person would run out of either magicka or stamina. Just think about how fatal it would be if you were deep down in the ocean when suddenly reality came back and you had no more magicka or stamina left to prolong the spell. You’d die.” Lila had looked intently at Nienna’s face during her lecture to see whether her words had any effect.

“No, but I would not forget the real world, mama. I wouldn’t go down so far that I couldn’t easily come back up again.” Very little effect, it seemed.

Lila sighed, recognizing her own stubbornness and misguided pride in her daughter. She had been just as confident about her magical skills, and it was not until she had met Turamo and he had expanded her knowledge about magic that she had realized the prudence of humility. Altmers are known for their arrogance, and with reason; the only exception from it is magic. They view humility as the most important factor in successful application of magic as a whole. This means in alchemy as well as in the research and understanding of the six schools of magic: alteration, conjuration, destruction, restoration, illusion, and mysticism.

[Lucidarius]

Minque, I'm really flattered that you think I might be into chemistry because then I must have done a convincing job in my descriptions. No, I actually don't know one thing from the other IRL, but chemistry sounds intriguing and I like to do alchemy in-game.

Jack Cloudy, in Morrowind I only used potions as a semi-cheat to earn money. In Oblivion I've found it really useful to use poisons on arrows while taking down strong foes. Nienna starts out a young child but matures through the story.

Metal Mallet, the Divines are very prominent, yet for the most part they stay in the background in Oblivion, so it feels natural to make the characters pray to them.

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14 Last Seed 3E419
“Please, mama, I want to learn how to do more magic,” Nienna pleaded. They had been over this topic numerous times already in the last couple of days since her debut in alteration magic with the water breathing spell. The sun still shone brightly, and they were tired after a long day at the market, Lila selling her spells, and Nienna playing or watching her mother do business.

“I think you’re too young, and we don’t have time either,” Lila understood her daughter’s strong wish, hadn’t she been just as eager herself?

“What has it got to do with age? You can teach me while we walk to and from the market each day,” Nienna suggested, “then you won’t use extra time at all. Oh, please mama, I will absolutely die if you won’t teach me.”

Lila was amused at the child’s exaggeration. “In High Rock the Guild of Mages would definitely have given you free tuition and board and taught you what you so long for, my child,” Lila’s mind wandered into the past of her own childhood, recalling how she had thought herself to be the most lucky girl when she was accepted into that exact situation. “Unfortunately, they only admit paying pupils when they are underage in Morrowind, and I can’t afford it. But you know how much I detested the boring and slow way they tutored me.”

“But if you tutored me, it wouldn’t be boring and I’d be hard-working.”

“I know you would, Enna, but it’s primarily your young age that is of concern to me. Even old and supposedly wise mages get sometimes caught up in the excitement of creating a new spell and forget about humility or to test the spell in safe environments,” Lila was tired from the long day, but she could not suppress a smile when she thought about the rapid downfall of the wizard Tarhiel.

“One of my first experiences in Morrowind was with a wizard, who had forgotten exactly that. Turamo and I had just arrived in the little seaport, Seyda Neen, and he went to the trader to get some fresh supplies, while I longed to get into the country to see what it was like and gather some of their specimens for alchemy. So I started walking out of town following a rough trail that led through the many swamps and salt marshes, enjoying the freedom after the long confinement in the ship. Walking up a hilly road, I saw a book lying on the ground. You know I read anything I can lay my hands on, so I went to pick it up when I heard a prolonged high-pitched scream and looked up. A man was plummeting to the ground, and I jumped back.”

“Did he die?” Nienna listened intently to her mother’s story. To hear about a real wizard and his research was thrilling, even more so now that she had experienced the joy of casting a spell herself. However, she did not like it if the wizard had died because of his spell.

“Yes, unfortunately, the poor Bosmer didn’t make it, although I cast cure health spells on him for a couple of minutes. When I had ascertained that he was beyond mortal help, I opened the book beside him. On the front page it said Journal of Tarhiel, and the last entry told about his latest invention. It was a jump spell that would allow him to travel great distances without the drawback of disorientation like the levitation spell. To his dismay, he had been the laughing stock back at the Guild of Mages when he suggested the idea. He was convinced he had thought about all the possible complications to it and checked and rechecked his calculations thoroughly.”

“Apparently not,” Nienna said, “I’m really sorry that he died, but if the spell allowed him to go up, he should have included a way to go down, maybe something that would slow his fall towards earth or a bit of levitation so he could steer the landing without coming to harm?”

Lila looked proudly at her daughter. “Those are very sensible suggestions, Enna, and your reasoning is excellent. Tarhiel would certainly be alive today if he had added maybe some slowfall or levitation to his spell.”

They continued to walk home, Nienna thinking about researching and trying out spells without anyone dying, and Lila wondering if Nienna might be ready for an introduction to magic after all. Her responses to the story of Tarhiel had shown both compassion to his sad end, but also an intelligent chain of reasoning that took both the purpose of the spell and its immediate complications in. It was at times like these that she especially needed Turamo. He had had an in-depth understanding of magic and together with his calm and collected personality, he had made an excellent sounding board for her more passionate and intuitive way of thinking. Shaking off the reverie, Lila had to decide what was best for their daughter.

These last two days, Nienna had been pleading non-stop for more knowledge about the schools of magic; it was exhausting. And the child did discover the water breathing spell by herself which is extremely rare. Normally, people needed to be taught a spell either by a person or – much more difficult – from precise descriptions in a book. Her daughter had never easily accepted a “no”; she would likely try to learn about magic from others or on her own, if Lila kept refusing her. She came to the decision that it was better, if she taught her how to go about magic in a safe way than risk her doing it on her own and maybe suffer maiming or worse, caused by her inexperience.

Nienna was overjoyed, when she heard about the decision, but Lila warned her that she would first teach her how to read, write and calculate, because those were indispensable tools when testing the safety of the spells. Then she would teach her about the six different schools of magic, theoretically. Only then, would she teach her the most basic cantrip spells for practice. Later on, they could delve deeper into each school accompanied by stronger spells. The exception was the school of conjuration. She would not teach Nienna any spells, not even cantrips, from that school until she was thirteen years old.

“Thirteen years old, but… that is so many years from now, mama. Can’t you just teach me a tiny conjuration spell, please?”

Lila shook her head adamantly. “No, Enna, and that’s final. The school of conjuration is the most dangerous school to handle, both for the caster and her surroundings. After all, you will only turn four years old on Hearthfire 10th, about one month from now. There will be plenty of other things to turn your mind to in the meantime. In High Rock they would only teach children of at least fourteen years conjuration spells. I asked back then because… erm … I was anxious to try.” Lila could not help smiling at the identical thirst for magic in her daughter and herself.

“In conjuration you summon or conjure an object or being from another plane, The Outer Realms, into our plane, The Mortal Plane.”

“Is The Mortal Plane not the same as Mundus or Nirn, mama?”

“That is correct in the sense that here on Mundus every being is mortal. All gods are immortal. The gods of stasis or Aedra, which constitute our religion the Nine Divines, live in Aetherius, while the gods of change and most often destruction, the Daedra, live in Oblivion.”

“Teldrisa has told me stories about how the Daedra interfere in our lives, usually to do bad things but sometimes good things, too. She has told me about the Daedra prince of destruction, Mehrunes Dagon. In the first era he destroyed all of the glorious city of Mournhold and later not so many years ago in our third era he took over Battlespire where the Imperial battlemages trained and killed everyone. That frightened me,” Nienna said, moving close to her mother.

“Yes, he appeared in 1E2920 and again one time between 3E389-399. Two times in the three eras. The last time a hero escaped, and this hero helped bring down the evil battlemage Jagar Tharn and reinstate our current emperor Uriel Septim VII,” Lila clarified.

“Teldrisa told me that there are eight reigning Daedra princes and some lesser known, too.” Nienna said, slipping her hand into her mother’s.

“That’s true. During the war between the Empire and Morrowind, the god Sotha Sil and the eight highest-ranking Daedra princes made the agreement that Daedra can only be summoned by a witch or a sorcerer. I don’t know if this agreement is still in effect,” Lila expounded.

“I hope they will never ever be able to come into our plane again. They are evil,” Nienna cried and clung to her mother, and Lila stopped to scoop her shivering daughter up into her arms and hold her tight.

“I’m sorry, Enna, I brought this up. Your father and I were always fascinated with the school of conjuration and thought the summoning of otherworldly beings or items is interesting to practice, containing rich practical and scholarly implications. I was carried away talking about the Daedra. They almost never appear on Nirn. I’m sure you will live your whole life without ever encountering one,” Lila tried to comfort Nienna.

Nienna nodded, her tears drying up but she had an indefinable feeling about the Daedra. She was frightened of them but at the same time curious. From Teldrisa she knew that each of the gods have their own definite sphere and wield immense power. Despite her mother’s soothing words, she had a premonition of something terrible that she could not voice. The feeling of terror and dread only slowly dissipated.

Lila let Nienna back down on the ground, and they started walking again, talking about the previous subject, the school of conjuration.

“To reach into the Outer Realms requires an inordinate strength of mind and ability to control the summoned object or being once here,” Lila calmly said. “If you don’t have the skill necessary, then you might end up getting pulled to the other realm and perish there. Even if you do have the skill to summon an object or being, there is a definite risk of losing control of it, and then it would wreak havoc on Mundus.”

“But isn’t it the same skill? To pull it here and then to control it, I mean?” Nienna furrowed her brow.

“Yes, it is. But if you have just pulled a being into our plane, you better keep your concentration unwavering. A slip in concentration for just a fraction of a second means that the being is unrestrained and free to do as it wishes. Remember, you’re dealing with a being who possess its own free will and desires. To regain control requires even more mental strength and is chaotic, since the being doesn’t adhere to the laws of Mundus as we do.”

The sun had started to set, and the air was getting cooler, but that was only refreshing after the hot autumn day.

“One time I had been given the assignment of looking into some disturbance at a fellow mage’s hut near Maar Gan,” Lila continued by giving an example. “It turned out to be a scamp that was the cause of the disturbance. When I had dispatched the scamp, I found an apprentice, a man fully grown I might add,” Lila looked pointedly at Nienna. “In a closet, hiding. He had summoned it to prove himself to his mistress but wasn’t capable of controlling it. The result was that the hut was put to shambles. But the apprentice could have been dead instead, so he was actually lucky.”

Nienna acquiesced. “No one was hurt, and the apprentice should have put severe restrictions on the summoned scamp from the start, but all right, all right,” she sensed her mother’s determination regarding this particular school – but she would not give up. She would wait a few weeks and then ask again with renewed vigor and better arguments to support her case.

“When you have acquired the foundation for each school of magic, then I’ll teach you some minor spells for five of them,“ Lila replied. “You already know how to breathe water, and it would be handy to know how to water walk too.”

Handy is fine, Nienna thought, but I want to learn everything for the pure thrill of it. Uh, she was so impatient she jumped a little, just to expend some of her energy.