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]

Acadian - I am glad that you enjoy the personal touches. I like to add the thoughts of Mr. Steel-Quill from time to time, too, to remember that this is just part of an over-arching narrative. It is very easy to get lost in one character!

mALX - Thank you. It will be a different format for some of the other characters, but I do prefer this format for allowing more detailed recollection. When I come to write Martinus' memoirs, I will naturally not be able to use so much detail or do a daily journal.

Grits - Thanks for your observations! The act of keeping a tally of septims is a reli of my own university days (not all that long ago, incidentally!). I'm sure we've all been there. Thankfully, relief is on the way!

SubRosa - You know, Jeanne is the only in-game example of a mage whose spells actually fail. Makes me feel a bit sorry for her with all those mages in Bruma picking on her.

Now, we join Gwen as she arrives in the Imperial City, and finds the fat deposit from her parents, which she then proceeds to spend at breakneck speed!

First Seed 15, 3E430

8 P.M.

I have arrived in the Imperial City! Truly, it is as beautiful as I have heard. White Gold Tower is visible for miles around. The rest of the city is a bustling metropolis, and many fine houses abound, particularly in the Talos Plaza and Temple Districts.

First Seed 16, 3E430

Today, I spent money as though possessed. I admit, I did not feel particularly good about it, but it was necessary.

Immediately upon arriving in the city, I asked for directions to the Office of Imperial Commerce to collect my deposit. 1,000 gold septims. It came with the following note:

Dear Gwen,

Spend it wisely.

Your loving parents,

Caliphar and Arwen

My first purchase was some clothes. I bought a long red velvet ballgown for 12 septims from a shop called Divine Elegance. I also bought a new pair of gold trimmed shoes. (I justified them on the principle that a mage needs to dress to impress. The gown in particular is simply smashing!)

Then, I decided I needed a robe for university. After trying all of Rindir’s robes (not to mention his patience) I settled for a plain blue cloth robe. Simple, yet elegant. However, I decided to hold back on paying for instruction in any new spells. Edgar’s Discount Spells just didn’t seem the type of organisation a serious student of the arts magicka would contemplate buying from. I mean, even his sales pitch was artless. “You don’t want the very best”, the silver-haired man haggled, “you want CHEAP. And I got cheap.” (Anyway, I am sure the university’s wizards and master wizards could teach me something far superior.)

Next, I bought some books. I already had the standard text Manual of Spellcraft, plus Galerion the Mystic, with me. I added to this a most interesting book, The Black Arts on Trial, which is written by Arch-Mage Hannibal Traven himself, and which contains an account of disputation in the university on the topic of necromancy, and Mysterious Akavir. I also bought a book containing the Mages’ Guild rules and charter. The proprietor, an immaculately-groomed Redguard, was pleased to see me buy plenty of books. He was, however, somewhat less happy with my manners (I snacked on a sweetroll while browsing the store – a mage needs her energy!), all the while appearing more and more uptight in his stuffy quilted doublet.

After this I sought out a horse. I did not relish the possibility of being ambushed by a highwayman again and having to flee under my own steam, or of trying to fight him off with apple-sized fireballs. So, I purchased a Paint Horse from the Chestnut Handy Stables for a very reasonable 500 gold. I named her Mellt-taran, after my mother’s favourite mare, who passed away when I was 54. For some reason, she seemed very happy that I had bought her, almost as though I was saving her from some terrible fate. Haha, Gwen. Stop being so silly.

And now, I am occupying one of the rooms in the Tiber Septim Hotel. It is a sobering 40 gold per night. At this rate, my stipend will be gone in no time!

This post has been edited by Ceidwad: Apr 17 2011, 02:53 AM