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 - Indeed, this tour of Cyrodiil is becoming a real eye-opener for affluent, well-spoken Gwen. You are also right to observe that her tolerance for her new surroundings has appeared to be growing, with some grudging acceptance of her plight. However, what she will witness in Cheydinhal will set that tolerance back some way!

Grits - Thanks for commenting. I do aim to write her as not being a bad person, just incredibly cloistered in her upbringing. You are correct to say that she does not mean ill by her comments about Malene.

Next: Confusion in Cheydinhal, as the reccomendation proves somewhat difficult to pin down. Let's find out why!

First Seed 27, 3E430 – Cheydinhal Bridge Inn

10 P.M.

The rain eventually stopped at about midday today. The journey from Roxey Inn was uneventful. Two Legion soldiers greeted me along the road, one of whom had just finished putting down an imp – a common sight on these roads. As we exchanged greetings, I noticed his eyebrows were somewhat frazzled, and his limbs moved even more stiffly than one would normally expect from a man forced into such an unwieldy suit of armour. No doubt this was a result of the shock magic that imps wield. Mercifully, they do so without any great power in the majority of cases. Indeed, despite my own deficiencies in the art of destruction, I am fairly certain even I would outmatch the winged beasts!

Cheydinhal is a quaint city. The architecture is quite different to the Colovian cities of Skingrad and Chorrol, and there are many Dunmer here. It is similar to things I heard of cities in the province of Morrowind, except that the Nine Divines are solidly entrenched here. The local chapel is dedicated to Arkay, and is very similar to the one in Skingrad.

The inn I am staying at tonight is obscenely overpriced – 40 septims for a rather modest little room, of which the publican frankly thinks too much. She is, as I found out from my brief conversation with her, an admirer of a writer named Alessia Ottus, and invited me to read her guide to the city. I have just looked at it. It is small wonder that the publican recommended it, since the book heaps praise on her establishment. There is nothing special about the inn. Compared to the Tiber Septim Hotel, which offers similar rates, it is like the subterranean caves goblins must abide with.

It can only be said that it is better than the other inn in Cheydinhal. By Azura, in all my years on Nirn I have never seen such an uncouth place. Even the Fo’c’s’le in Anvil has the appearance of being slightly more hospitable. As soon as I opened the door, my senses met with an array of offensive sights, sounds, and smells, amongst the worst of which was an Orsimer who belched in my face. Immediately, I left the place, which is called the Newlands Lodge.

I am forced to take these steps because the Mages Guild hall was locked when I arrived at around 8 P.M., hoping to meet the local guildmates and learn more about my recommendation task. I was unable to open it with the key I had been provided by Raminus Polus which unlocks all doors to guild halls in Cyrodiil. I can only assume that it had been magically locked. Hopefully, I will find out more about what happened tomorrow, assuming the hall is re-opened.

Meanwhile, I am looking out of my second-floor window at the night sky in Cheydinhal. It is a clear night, and the streets are filled with people loitering around, talking, and in the case of several Orsimer that I have seen, staggering out of the Newlands Lodge drunkenly. Speaking of drunks, that reminds me of the promise I made to Reynald. I have not seen anyone who matches his appearance thus far, but I will ask the guild mages tomorrow. If I can, that is.

First Seed 28, 3E430 – Cheydinhal Mages Guild

1 P.M.

I still do not have a recommendation assignment. The leader of the Cheydinhal chapter is absent, as I have discovered. Some light has however been shed on the events of last night.

When I arrived at the guild hall, I was greeted by a tall Redguard with an unruly mop of hair, who introduced himself as “Trayvond”. He invited me into the dining room of the hall and asked who I was, all the while thoughtfully stroking his smooth-skinned chin with his right fingers, and adjusting the collar of his guild-issue blue robe. I explained that I was an associate – no, not truly an associate, but one who had been forced to walk the associate’s path. I asked what had happened the previous evening and why I had been unable to unlock the door.

He poured some wine into a ceramic goblet for each of us, and said that the leader of the chapter, an Altmer called Falcar, was prone to spectacular bursts of verbal violence, and that last night was one such circumstance.

“He hates to be disturbed at any time, but particularly so when he’s giving us a tongue-lashing. Last night, he was lecturing all of us because someone broke an alembic. Of course, no-one would own up to it, so we all faced the wrath of that man. He’s never been physically or magickally abusive – at least not yet – but I would caution you to watch yourself around him, my friend. Most of the time, he’s no harm, but that’s because he hardly ever looks up from his desk in the basement. Arkay help you if you catch him in a bad mood, though.” Trayvond told me that Falcar left the guild hall this morning on a visit to the Imperial City to discuss guild matters with the Arch-Mage, Hannibal Traven, and should return this evening.

I sincerely hope that Trayvond is right about Falcar never becoming physically violent. I managed to flee Earana’s wrath, but what if Falcar turns hostile? I can hardly run away again. I must get these recommendations, no matter how trying and unjust they may be. Otherwise, what is there for me in Alinor? My only path is that of the Arcane University; it is the only route to the royal court back home. I will return to the guild hall later this evening.

Meantime, there are no leads in finding Reynald’s double. None of the guild mages present knew. Trayvond said that he would like to help, but as he rarely stepped outside the guild hall, he knew very few people in town. The other mages here include two of my fellow Altmer, a sister and a brother, who are a married couple.* They both responded to my question politely, but explained that they only socialized with others once a week, at some party held in a place called Riverview.

*Editor’s Note: The wording of this passage has, rather humorously, been taken to imply incest by at least one confused writer. An undistinguished Imperial historian, Roderis Aurelius, has commented that ‘this kind of behaviour among her kind is exactly why we should not trust the words of an elf.’ (see Aurelius, Cyrodiil and the Empire, chapter 23) It goes without saying that Aurelius is sympathetic to many of the ideas of Martinus, and thus mortally opposed to the views of our elven mage. However, his personal attack on the Arch-Mage is not only a poor argument, it is also incorrect. What the writer meant, of course, was not that the married Altmer mages were related, but that she was referring to them as a fraternal brother and sister of hers. This kind of mentality is very strong among all elves, and it is common for them to use familial terms to refer to each other.

This post has been edited by Ceidwad: Jun 5 2011, 09:45 PM