The Famous Five, Heroes and Villains of the Age of Martin Septim Options

[Ceidwad]

Welcome to my fanfic. I've been planning on posting this up for some time now. Now that I have the first 10,000 words or so down seperately, I feel ready to post some stuff up here. I hope you will all enjoy reading it as it develops. I haven't a clue how much I will write eventually, if I manage to finish it. But it will likely be very, very long. Indeed, there's an excellent chance that I'll finish writing a Skyrim fan fiction before (if) I finish this!

The Famous Five is an unusual fan fiction. It takes the form of a historical commentary/synthesised text written some 90 years after the events of Oblivion, and relies rather heavily on my own creative license to fill in some historical gaps in between 4E2, when the stories end, and 4E85 when the book is written (I should add, I have not read any Elder-Scrolls related lore works, such as the Infernal City).

This work weaves together the stories of five different characters that I roleplayed in Oblivion, and I hope to include some of my minor characters in it too. Subject to approval, it may also be nice to include some other chorrol.com members' fanfic characters in it too. It would be entertaining to see the outcome of a meeting between Luther Martinus (who you will get to know) and, say, Buffy or Teresa, for certain!

At present, I regrettably do not have screenshots; however, I hope to add some in future if and when I can get Oblivion for PC.

This is my first attempt at writing a fan fiction. I have thought about it for a while, though. I welcome critique of my writing as well as positive comments. I have not planned most of the fanfic, but have a general plan of how it will pan out. It will include actual in-game events, relationships and quests which inspired my roleplaying, and be supplemented with whatever ideas take my fancy at the time of writing.

Below is the prologue and the first entry. I plan to update every few days to a week, depending on how much I can write. This will vary. At times, I may not update for a while. I do, however, hope to persevere with this and update pretty regularly.

Happy reading!

This post has been edited by Ceidwad: Mar 26 2011, 05:00 AM

[Ceidwad]

PROLOGUE

Evening Star 28, 4E85 - Bruma - a young, wide-eyed Nord named Hjallfred Skrollsen excitedly opens his copy of the new book by Harald Steel-Quill. It contains accounts of the lives of five legendary historical figures who lived around the time of Martin Septim, for some the greatest of all the Septims. Sitting in the dining hall of the Bruma Mages Guild, destroyed and rebuilt about this time, he feels the leather cover of the book and begins to read, as alert as can be, even though it is late and a nearby candle slowly burns the midnight oil....

* * *

INTRODUCTION

Children of Bruma, Skyrim, and the world of Tamriel beyond, I am Harald Steel-Quill, a humble Nord scholar. It is my great pleasure and joy to reproduce this volume, which contains writings from the very pens of some of the bravest heroes, most valiant heroines, and most powerful champions - as well as some of the most dastardly villains - who lived during this defining epoch of the history of Cyrodiil.

The historical accuracy of the accounts of the five figures I provide is subject to some debate. In addition to their stories, I add my scholarly opinion on them, although I take care not to break up the flow of events too much, and will attempt to keep my passions to one side as much as possible.

Although this is the first book to combine all five figures together, some work has been done with individual texts. Of these, the memoirs of Luther Martinus, the one-time Champion of Cyrodiil, are by far the most popular, and have been reproduced numerous times sympathetically by Imperial historians since 4E64, when Ida Ottus published a glowing tribute in memory of his life, adding her own thoughts to Martinus' in a large volume.

Martinus' account is not based on his journals from the time of his travels, fragments of which were discovered hidden in the library in Cloud Ruler Temple's (now unused) halls in 4E62, the year after his death. They were, on the contrary, written in the early Fourth Era, when political tensions were on the rise and the provinces were daring to talk of secession with no emperor in place to command their obedience. Martinus blames much of this on the Cyrodilic arms of the Mages'’Guild, for failing to support his short-lived and failed initiatives to stamp out daedra worship in Cyrodiil, promote recruitment for the Imperial Legion, and unite the Imperial population in Cyrodiil behind the Nine Divines as measures to combat separatism from the provinces, where the Chapel is often notoriously weak. In areas where Martinus' account is, in my view, grossly misleading, I state this and give reasons outlining why I think this.

I should state at this point that, for those Imperials reading this who would view my words as an attack on the great man, who rightly continues to be much revered throughout Cyrodiil and all Tamriel, and whose statue still stands not far from my home here in Bruma, that this is not my intention. But, he is not some infallible god. His words must have the same value as any other's, for the scholar.

As a further scholarly point, although Martinus is sometimes vague about dates and in undoubtedly somewhat biased, his memory (or perhaps imagination) is excellent, and he leaves us an account of his great feats that almost matches in detail that of the next most popular figure.

The Arch-Mage Gwenyan's diaries are a priceless historical resource. Written no more than a day or two after the events they describe in virtually every instance, and brilliantly preserved in the Mages' Guild's Mystic Archives, they give a window into her views as they were at the time. Hers is also written more eloquently and in greater detail than any of the other five protagonists I profile here, and her sharp memory recalls a stunningly high level of detail even when her accounts are written a couple of days after the events. In certain cases, she is a better and more trustworthy source for overlapping events than Martinus, and she can be used to show examples of the weaknesses of his Memoirs. She talks about her journeys and relationships in Cyrodiil. Occasionally, she crosses paths with Martinus, and although she reports that their meeting in 3E433 was cordial, Martinus says otherwise. The two disagree irrevocably over Martinus' initiatives in 4E2, as official records and the views of those present testify to.

The illiterate Berrick, a Fighters' Guild mercenary and soldier, also tells us his stories through a man called Azzan, who has written them down (months after the end of the Oblivion Crisis, while the political atmosphere was still one of relief rather than the provincial strife of later years). These have been preserved in the Anvil Fighters Guild library, and passed down to subsequent Guildmasters. The courageous Redguard is known to have fought alongside Luther Martinus at Kvatch, and earns praise from the Champion in the latter's Memoirs. He also describes other battles with a dangerous organisation known as the Blackwood Company, which, if Fighters' Guild and Black Horse Courier references from the period are to be believed, we can but be thankful are no longer with us.

This present work also presents the writings of a Breton thief named 'Marie le Belle' (real name: Marie Elena Motierre). She is not a key historical player in the sense that the above figures are, and her story is mostly unrelated to those of the figures given above, save for one instance, mentioned in both hers and Gwenyan's writings, where she apparently stole a very powerful staff from the Arcane University. She is, however, something of a cult hero in the Waterfront District of the Imperial City, where she was admired and loved by many poor citizens. Songs of 'Golden Marie' continue to ring out in this neighbourhood down to this day. My book will show that, in truth, rather than the kind, merciful girl of legend, she was at best selfish, and at worst, manipulative and rather vindictive. Her writings were found by a member of the Chorrol Mages' Guild who bought the Motierres' family home in Chorrol in 4E33 and donated the writings to the Imperial Library. Not much has been done to popularise them, however. 'le Belle' writes in the form of a diary, which she updates every few days, and contains much of interest.

Of the last figure that I describe, I have little positive to say. I would say much that is negative, save for the fact that it is unnecessary to do so, as his 'memories', recorded by him as the events occurred and kept in the abominable Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in Cheydinhal until found at a crime scene just two years ago, for unknown reasons - incriminate him entirely. It is believed that he disappeared years ago, last seen sometime around 4E2, although no-one knows where he went. He is also an infrequent writer, and seems to have long gaps where his absence of self-reported activity is baffling, as he has never been conclusively pinned down, nor arrested - indeed the discovery of his diaries solved a number of long-standing murder cases that had previously stumped the Imperial Legion, including the death of a man named Baenlin here in Bruma. According to his diary, he did not even spare his own 'family' in the Cheydinhal sanctuary and he 'took as much pleasure in killing them, as he did any other - their blood is as bountiful as that of any who has been called to their fate by Sithis.'

Our account begins with the story of Gwenyan - the future Arch-Mage of the Mages Guild, for now a humble student of magic.

* * *

LIST OF HISTORICAL FIGURES IN THIS WORK

Luther Martinus, Imperial. b. Skingrad, Cyrodiil, 3E400 d. Skingrad, Cyrodiil, 4E61 (age 94)
Gwenyan, Altmer. b. Alinor, Summerset Isle, 3E343 (age at time of writing: 176)
Berrick, Redguard. b. Hammerfell, 3E410 d. Anvil, Cyrodiil, 4E23 (age 47)
Marie le Belle, Breton. b. High Rock, 3E415 d. Imperial City 4E2 (age 20)
Fenrir Darkblade, Dunmer. Age and date of birth unknown. It is unclear if he is still alive, as he has not been seen or heard from since 4E2. Dunmer have a significant lifespan - several hundred years in some cases - and it is quite possible he is still alive somewhere.

This post has been edited by Ceidwad: Mar 26 2011, 09:05 PM