Buffy - The Executive Summary, Helping new readers to catch up with Buffy's saga Options

[Acadian]

My goodness! Given the volume of Buffy's Journal, I realize it can be daunting for a new reader to catch up. I don't want that to become a source of discouragement. The purpose of this thread therefore is to help in that regard by providing summary information to catch up easily and quickly. Clearly, reading the full version of Buffy's numbered books adds much more depth, but I believe this thread can certainly substitute in a pinch.

First, a brief introduction of our blond, Bravilian Bosmeri butterfly-dragon:

Buffy was trained as a Mystic Archer. Orphaned by the age of twelve, the citizens of Bravil raised her. She is active with her guild of mages and a graduate of the Arcane University. Her birthday is Rains Hand, the 19th, 3E 415 under the sign of the Mage. She loves Tamika's wine, waterfalls, her precious mare Superian, and visiting her many friends throughout Tamriel.

Buffy is loving, vengeful, empathetic, nurturing, cruel and caring in a manner that makes perfect sense to her. She has been called cuddly like a rattlesnake and lethally blond. She is like the girl next door - who carries a sniper rifle. Fully understanding her can be somewhat akin to capturing a butterfly in a thunderstorm. Over the years, she has evolved, eventually becoming a paladin of Kynareth and exercising more compassion. This has caused her skills to focus more on healing others and leaning more heavily into the use of magic.

She travels intertwined with the spirit of an old ethereal paladin named Acadian who died several thousand years ago. He occasionally offers advice. Sometimes she listens. The two are literally inseparable. Although Buffy considers Acadian a guide or mentor, it is unclear who learns more from whom.

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Significant oddities of 'Buffy lore':

Buffy & Acadian. These two have traveled times and worlds over many lives. Each time they manifest, they may take different forms. In their most recent life, Acadian was a paladin of Kyne on Tamriel during the Merethic Era. He rode an ice dragon mount named Phantom. Buffy was his ermine familiar. They perished during the Great Dragon War. In their current life, Buffy is a Bosmer and Acadian is a spirit that travels within her. Phantom similarly survived as a spirit who now dwells within the body of Superian – Buffy’s precious mare.

Paladins. Acadian was a paladin of Kyne during their last life. At the end of Book 3, Buffy likewise becomes a paladin of Kyne – who calls herself Kynareth now. All paladins have four abilities beyond any unique abilities given them by their Divine. These are:
1. Divine Light. A paladin can illuminate themselves with holy light. Although it can light up dark places, its real purpose is to allow the paladin to readily identify that they are indeed a paladin.
2. Detect Evil. This passive ability allows the paladin to sense the presence of nearby evil.
3. Ward Evil. This passive ability protects the paladin’s spirit from corruption such as vampirism, lycanthropy, possession or other spiritual manipulation.
4. Laying on of Hands. When a paladin lays on hands, it establishes a bond allowing them to diagnose and heal injuries to either spirit or body.

Bosmer fertility. All elves have a brief period of fertility twice a year (instead of monthly like humans). This is likely due to their long lifespans that can approach 1000 years. Bosmer fertility has another unique feature called totems. A totem is an animal spirit that reflects the nature of its Bosmer. During coupling, the man’s totem must defeat the woman’s in a spiritual battle for the act to result in conception. Not surprisingly, Bosmeri men wish for strong totems and Bosmeri women wish for weaker totems. When a Bosmer woman becomes intimate with a non-Bosmer man, a totem seeks him out so he may have a chance at impregnating his Bosmer mate. Buffy’s totem is a butterfly. Buffy, however, is unique in that she has two totems and any potential mate’s totem must defeats both of hers. The butterfly is no problem of course but, unfortunately, Buffy’s second totem is an ice dragon. She believes it is none other than the spirit of Phantom and blames Acadian for the likelihood she will never be able to conceive.

Bosmer Clans and Tribes. Many Bosmer live in tribes. Tribes that share common beliefs form clans. The common beliefs that unite clans generally relate to dealing with the Bosmer curse of the Wild Hunt. Yffre offered relief to those who agreed to follow the Green Pact. Many Bosmer accepted and formed the Green Pact Clan. Some Bosmer, instead, embraced lycanthropy and formed the Clan of Hircine. Buffy’s ancestors found relief from the Wild Hunt from the Mother of Nirn (Mara) and the Sky Goddess (Kynareth). In return, these Bosmer agreed to live in the massive graht oaks of Valenwood and never waist the bounty of their forests. These Bosmer eventually evolved to become smaller and lighter to support life high in their trees. These Bosmer became known as the Cloud Dancer Clan because the delicate upper branches where they live are high enough to literally allow them to dance in the clouds. Each Cloud Dancer Tribe bonds to a specific graht oak.

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I'm going to keep this thread locked except to add additional summaries as Buffy's story continues. That said, if there are any questions or comments about the thread or its contents, do not hesitate to PM me or post on Buffy's Basket of Potpourri thread.

This post has been edited by Acadian: Jul 5 2025, 12:15 PM

[Acadian]

Executive Summary of Book 2 - The Cloud Dancers of Valenwood

This book opens in Valenwood about three months after Book 1 ends. It is primarily about Buffy's journey of self-discovery as she travels her ancestral homeland. It ends a few months later with Buffy on the road back to Cyrodiil.

Prelude (Episodes 1-2) This unusual interlude did not feature Buffy at all. Rather, it consisted of a meeting in the clouds among Kynareth, Mara and Azura. During this meeting, the two Divines asked Azura’s help. It seems Akatosh would be unable to turn into his dragon avatar when the time came to defeat Mehrunes Dagon due to a curse against dragons that Kynareth (known as Kyne at the time) had levied at the end of the Dragon War. The only way to break the curse is for one of Kyne’s ice dragons to once again fly. These dragons were created by her to help fight Alduin and his minions. They were ridden by paladins and, together, comprised the Order of the Ice Dragon. Their valiant efforts were unsuccessful however. The last ice dragaon and rider to perish were Phantom and Acadian. Somehow their spirits have persisted within the fragile body of a young wood elf known as Buffy. The spirit of Phantom was the closest thing to an ice dragon the Divines knew of. Their hope was that there might be enough of her spirit to somehow fly once again.

The Divines sought help from Azura because of her skill influencing the affairs of mortals and because Azura has dutifully but secretly been fulfilling a promise made to Buffy’s mother to be the child’s godmother. To remain unknown to the child, Azura had routinely taken the form of a pale green twilight butterfly to unobtrusively visit the elf many times during Buffy's life - always at either dawn or dusk. The meeting concludes when Azura alludes that she may be able to ‘arrange something’.

Part One – Dragons Live Forever (Episodes 3-4). Here we find Buffy in Valenwood seeking to mend her broken heart about three months after the battle that freed Kvatch and cost the life of her mate, Savlian Matius. Sure enough, Azura ‘arranges’ a threat to Buffy so dire that Acadian asks for the spirit of Phantom to help. Phantom does not disappoint as she forces her spirit into Buffy’s mare, Superian, transforms the horse into a dragon and flies them to safety. Once safely on the ground, Buffy learns the dragon is now bound to Superian. Unable to maintain the form of a dragon, it is the mare’s body that reappears to host both horse and dragon. Buffy is quite unaware that Phantom has broken Kyne’s curse.

Part Two – On the Wings of a Dove (Episode 5). Buffy is visited in the forests of Valenwood by a courier dove from the Arcane University bearing a spell which conjures a mighty bow to replace her bow that was damaged beyond repair in the same battle that killed Savlian. She gives the bow the same name as its predecessor - Slayer.

Part Three – Plains of Passage (Episodes 6-18). While visiting the northwestern prairies of Valenwood, Buffy was hosted by the Strid River Valley Tribe. Their elders were able to determine that she was conceived in a Tall Tree called Alderglean and her tribe was the Spirit Catcher Tribe - one of several tribes referred to as Cloud Dancers that inhabited graht oaks of central Valenwood so tall that their upper branches were lost in the clouds. She also learned that her tree was destroyed by a lightning fire while she was still in the womb. That is how/why her parents moved to Bravil. Another survivor of her tribe named Violet had been adopted by the Strid River Valley Tribe. Violet taught Buffy some of the ways of the Spirit Catchers, including a 'Find Familiar' spell. It was the chief's son, Vandrelis, that drew a spark of romantic interest from Buffy who was still grieving for her lost love, Savlian Matius of Kvatch. Regrettably, things did not work out for the potential romance. Buffy left the Strid River Valley and headed south to find the Tall Trees for herself.

Part Four - In Search of the Tall Trees (Episodes 19-28). As Buffy headed deep into Valenwood, she met her familiar - a small fox named Kitsune. The nimble vixen has the ability to taunt foes but requires Buffy's magicka to repel damage. With Phantom and Superian as one now, Buffy and Acadian learned they could 'absorb' the dragon-mare back into Buffy - handy when Buffy needed to take to the treetops to traverse some thick jungle. The elf and her paladin also learned that the dragon-mare now has a distance limitation that precludes separation of elf and mare by more than roughly the distance of a long arrowshot. Buffy did indeed meet some Cloud Dancers who introduced her to their Tall Tree. Although very much at home and delightfully entranced by the unique elven tree city in the sky, the tree was not particularly accommodating to Buffy's precious mare - which spent most of her time as a spirit within the elf. Before long, Buffy grew restless and her small tribe of Buffy, Acadian, Superian/Phantom and Kitsune decided to leave the ancient forest of the Tall Trees.

Part Five - Heard Any News From the Other Provinces? (Episodes 29-31). In the final part of this book, Buffy makes her way from the Tall Trees to the protective jungle that surrounds the ancient forest of the Cloud Dancers. She crosses via the treetops and finds herself in the forests of eastern Valenwood. From there, she heads north to a small trading village at the foot of a bridge crossing the Strid River. We leave her there, as she announces her plans to return to Cyrodiil.

This post has been edited by Acadian: Jan 27 2017, 03:53 PM