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]

Chapter 11. More puzzles.

Early the next morning, after Baurus had eaten the food that had been left in front of his door, he decided to have a look around the Tel. In the main hall , while he was skimming through a very rare book, one of the volumes of the Wolf Queen, he heard someone say behind him;

“Nice copy isn’t it?“

Startled, he spun around to see Reynel Uvirith standing there. Taking the book from him, she turned back to one of the first pages, “Look, do you see the dates in the book? This is one of the oldest copies of the story still surviving . I brought the set back with me after I’d gone to Akavir to study magic there. They were some of the things that were left behind after the disastrous attempt by Emperor Uriel V to add parts or all of Akavir to the empire.”

Baurus was impressed; he assumed the only places that might have older copies than this would be the Temple of the Ancestor Moths and perhaps the Imperial Library, high in the palace in the Imperial city.

“Lady Reynel, I’m sorry, but I’ve been wondering something. How is it that the Archmagister of House Telvanni, someone with such an exalted position, has the time to wander around the Molag Amur region with me? I mean he must be overwhelmed with work, right? Whenever I look at Chancellor Ocato, or even Grandmaster Jauffre, they’re always drowning in work.”

Baurus couldn’t have been more surprised as Reynel shook with laughter. “My dear young man, you obviously don’t know much about the Telvanni, do you?” she said with a smile. “Let me explain.”

“After the war, the Telvanni claimed all the lands they had conquered, which actually isn’t much. We hold claim to the entire Molag Amur region, the Red Mountain region, the north of the Ashlands region,. and everything east of there. We also now hold Suran and Dagon Fel. Telvanni have never needed a government in the conventional sense of the word. Whenever a Telvanni reaches the rank of Wizard, he receives his Tel, and often a city around it. The wizard rules that Tel anyway he or she sees fit. Few Telvanni would even consider telling another Telvanni what to do in their own territory. Relien is very content to let that practice go on as it has been for many thousands of years now. It’s worked for so long, and he sees no reason to change it. All the councilors of the house get together maybe once a year, and have a meeting. However, hardly anything ever comes up and the rest of the time we all rule as we have ruled for centuries, and some of us for millennia. Other than a few ground rules, like the prohibition against slavery and the prohibition against one old practice- killing each other to get ahead, Relien lets us do as we please. And to be honest, as for that practice of killing each other off, we’re all in favor of seeing it abolished. If nothing else, it lets us sleep better at night.”

Baurus considered that. “But what about the other Houses; surely disputes arise between Houses and such.”

“Sometimes they do, yes, but few of them involve House Telvanni. After the war, every other House is content to just let us be. And most of the other disputes are solved by Lady Barenziah. She rules once again from Mournhold, only now the people protecting her are not Hlaalu, but a combination of guards from four Houses. Everyone listens to her and abides by her judgment, usually because she makes sound judgments but also because everyone knows she has Relien and others like him to call upon should someone not abide by her rulings.”

In any other province, Baurus assumed, such an extreme segregation of factions could only have resulted in chaos, but apparently for Morrowind it worked perfectly. Baurus was just about to say something to Reynel, but her eyes seemed distant, as if she was hearing something, though Baurus was sure he heard nothing.

“Ah, Relien is back. He’ll join us momentarily. Shall we go on ahead to the dining room, Baurus?”

Without realizing it, they had talked through most of the afternoon, or rather Baurus had mostly listened. Following Reynel, they made their way to a smaller room. Already seated at the table was Relien. “Well Baurus, I just spoke to Jauffre and Steffan. They send their regards. Apparently quite a bit has been going on in Cyrodiil while you’ve been away.”

During the rest of the dinner Relien filled Baurus in about everything that had happened in Cyrodiil. As the last plates were being taken away by servants, Relien spoke again;

Now then, when I was in Mournhold, I spoke with Lady Barenziah and another old friend, about Varvur. During the war, Raxle Berne was killed. Without a doubt. If he did have a way into Oblivion, I fear it’s lost along with him.”

“However, while we were discussing things, Lady Barenziah had an idea. Since our problem is dealing with a Daedra prince, why not ask another Daedra prince for a solution? Or a princess in this case. We believe the best thing to do right now is to travel to Azura’s shrine and appeal for guidance. I’ve had many dealings with Azura in the past, and I believe it is once again our best hope for success.”

“So tomorrow morning we shall travel to Azura’s shrine. Make sure you’re well rested.”