Cyrodiil Options

[Alexander]

Ok, so for the unavoidable introduction babble, as most of you know I was rather pleased with Morrowind. I thought it was far better then the dribble I wrote prior to that, and most people seemed to agree with me. After I finished Morrowind I already had an idea for a sequel, I actually wrote the very first chapter of said sequel while I was posting up parts of Morrowind. Unfortunately though, after that first chapter I kind of lost interest. I didn’t think the ideas I had back then were enough to weave an entire story together, and I was probably right.

But as these things have a habit of developing themselves, over the past months I kept thinking back to the sequel, and kept adding ideas to the pile I already had. Now it’s done. I once again enjoyed writing this, and I hope you’ll have similar fun reading it.

As I’ve explained in the past, I’m not very good at making up things like titles, Akatosh knows it took me about as long to come up with the various titles of the chapters as it did to write the entire thing, so I’ve named the story “Cyrodiil” (catchy wot? )

Before I end my babbling and get on with posting the story, I once again would like to thank Treydog for agreeing to help with my story as editor, and for fixing the many, many, many grammatical and spelling errors, and placing every comma, semicolon and whatchamacallit in the correct place. And thanks to everyone who ever read Morrowind, and commented. I really enjoy the comments.


Now, while you don’t have to have read Morrowind, I believe in order to get the most out of Cyrodiil, it would be recommended.


So, enough babbling and on to Cyrodiil.

[Alexander]

“You have something to add to the voting, Count Umbranox?” Ocato inquired.

“I’m sorry, I mean no disrespect to the Chancellor, but I fear your count is not entirely accurate.”

“Ah, and how is that Corvus?”

“Even when not technically a Count of the city, when one rules a city, one holds that city’s vote in the Elder Council. So it was written by Emperor Uriel VI in year 315 of the Third Era, two years before his unfortunate accident. It was written after a series of illnesses had claimed the lives of three of the Counts of Cyrodiil, and someone raised the point of needing a quorum for the Elder Council to be able to put a proposal to a vote. The Emperor countered with this piece of law and appointed several Seneschals in charge of the ruler-less cities. Since the Seneschals were completely in the employ of the Emperor when they ruled those cities, their respective votes reverted to the Emperor and could be cast as he saw fit.”

“I remember reading about that once, Corvus, but what is the relevance here?”

Arriana had already made the connection, and she cast a look of pure hatred towards Count Umbranox. For him to try and influence the head of the Elder Council in such a manner with everyone looking on was truly evil.

“The relevance is simple Chancellor,” Corvus continued, “at the last meeting we all agreed to appoint a temporary ruler over Kvatch. It just so happened he used to be a Seneschal and is, I believe, still in the employ of Count Hassildor. Therefore the law of Emperor Uriel VI applies and Count Hassildor has the right of two votes.”

“I see.” Turning towards Count Hassildor, Ocato asked him, “Count Hassildor, for the record, do you wish to cast your second vote differently from the first?”

“I do not,” came the sure reply.

“I see. Then with that vote, the voting has tied. Four votes in favor, four against and one abstention. Countess Carvain, do you perchance wish to change your vote to either in favor or against?”

Every eye in the room turned to look at Countess Carvain, who looked as if she would just as soon become invisible. She managed to mumble in a stuttering voice that she would prefer to abstain from voting.

Looking back to the Chancellor, Arriana caught a glimpse of something she did not understand. It looked as if the Chancellor had just winked at Count Corvus. And was that a sly smile on Corvus’ face? This was not right, not right at all.

“Then unfortunately this motion is once again off the table. Perhaps we can continue discussing it during a future meeting. Now then, there is something else I would like to discuss, not so much a proposal as more of a story.”

With that, Arriana saw the Chancellor take out an old iron coin and hold it up. He continued; “Last night I had the most amazing dream. It started like this.”

Ocato proceeded to tell the story of his dream to the Elder Council. Arriana was suspicious from the start- the Chancellor meeting Talos? In the flesh, so to speak. Ridiculous. She herself had served the Divines more loyally then anyone ever had, and all she had heard was their voice. No, the idea of the Divines showing themselves to the Chancellor was ridiculous.

“And so when I woke, naturally I thought the dream just that, a dream, perhaps even wishful thinking, but when looked at the table next to my bed, I found the iron coin I had received during the dream. Thus I know it was no mere dream.”

“As Chancellor and head of this Council, I’m sending Jauffre, Grandmaster of the Blades, along with several assorted men, to travel to Mournhold and seek an audience with the Lady Barenziah. If anyone knows where this mysterious Jester can be found, it will be Lady Barenziah.”

“And when they return, we shall once again have an Emperor.”

It finally dawned on Arriana. How could she have been so blind? Ocato himself had been converted by the evil powers working against the Empire; he was now an enemy to the Empire just as much as Corvus Umbranox. But thank the Divines, Arriana was there to stop their diabolical plot.

After a hard ride back to Chorrol, Arriana was now deep in conversation with her advisor. She had told Verata-Ves what had happened and naturally he was as shocked as she was. She sensed he was also impressed with her conclusions regarding Chancellor Ocato. Sensing she was one step ahead of him, she continued, “I believe we can solve this problem the same way we did the last. I we can find out what route the caravan will take as they return here with the false heir, no doubt some Daedra or other Demon. We could have the mercenary Argonians waylay them and end the travesty before it begins. After that, we’ll need but a single vote from one of the other Counts or Countesses cast differently the next time, and the Divines will be served.”

“A mossst exsssellent conclusssion Countesss. But who can we convinssse of the righteousssnesss of your caussse? Sssurely not Countesss Umbranox, nor Count Hasssildor, who isss a creature of the darknesss himssself. Who indeed?”

As if the gods had planned it so, at that moment a servant entered and whispered into Arriana’s ear. “Countess Carvain, here? Show her in.”

“Sssshould I leave, Countesss?”

“No, stay; I’m sure the Countess Carvain would love to meet you.”

Countess Carvain entered, not with the two burly Nords walking beside her as was usual, but alone. That was a good sign, Arriana thought; surely she would not have left the guards behind unless she felt safe in Chorrol.

“Welcome Narina, to Chorrol. What brings you here?”

“I, I wanted to come and see.” Narina stopped in mid-sentence; she had just spotted Verata-Ves. “By the Nine, the auguries were true then. A Tsaesci has descended from the heavens to advise you, Countess Valga.”

Arriana beamed, “Please, call me Arriana.”

“I, I am unworthy Countess Valga; thank you for seeing me.” Walking up to Verata-Ves Narina bowed from the waist and spoke, “Honor to you, and may your eggs be plentiful.” Verata-Ves bowed back and Narina spoke again, “I’ve so wanted to meet a true Tsaesci one day. Thank you Countess Valga, for this great honor you do me.”

“It is nothing, but please tell me Narina, what brings you here?”

“I, I have a confession to make, Countess Valga. I have voted against you twice now, but both times my mind did something different than my heart wanted to. I, I feel your proposal is the only way to move the Empire out of this crisis, but I don’t know, I just feel so scared of Count Umbranox. He tried to convince me that voting in favor of your proposal would be very dangerous for me. I, I think he was threatening me. I just don’t know, Countess Valga. I feel so weak, so powerless.”

“I understand Narina, Count Umbranox can be a very intimidating man. What can we do to reassure you?”

Verata-Ves was the one who replied though, “Ah, Countesss Valga, if I may, I may have a sssolution to thisss problem. Asss you know, during the firssst Era, sssome of my misssguided countrymen ssstaged an invasssion of Sssyrodiil. They were driven back by the Imperialsss, obviousssly becaussse the Divinesss were not with them. An artifact was left behind though, in the care of ssslave warriorsss, closssely resssembling Imperialsss. It was sssaid, the wielder of the Draconian Madssstone would be protected by the godsss themssselvesss. Perhapsss thisss would make Countesss Carvain feel sssafe?”

“An excellent suggestion, Verata-Ves. Well Narina, there you have it; retrieve this Madstone and you’ll be safe from Corvus Umbranox and whomever else might wish you harm.”

“B- but I can’t send one of my men there. What if someone attacks me while I have men looking for the stone? I, I could die.”

“You’re right of course, Narina, but I can’t send my men either, I am a target as it is. No, who can we send that is expendable? Ah, I know, Farwil Indarys, a Knight of the Thorn, always looking for a quest to help mankind.” Sending him would be the perfect choice Arriana mused. It would both strengthen her hold on the Count of Cheydinhal and win over Narina with no extra effort on her part. “Verata-Ves, where can we find this Draconian Madstone of yours?”
“It isss located in Pale Passs. And if the Countesss permitsss, I ssshall sssend word to the Argoniansss to get ready to kill the falssse heir.”