Redemption, part 2 Options

[jack cloudy]

Click here for Redemption Part 1


Alright, part 2. Still not much redeeming going on but whatever. Now instead of continuing the story, I figured I'd use this post for all the miscellaneous stuff. Things like a character list and the recap for part 1. So be warned that this post CONTAINS SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!


RECAP FOR PART 1 Again SPOILERS!

One night, the palace is breached by unknown assailants. Following standard protocol for such events, the Emperor is secretly transported to the prison by his Blades. The Imperial Battlemage, Ocato, declines to join him, claiming that the situation is under control and that his services aren't needed.

Despite having reached the prison safely, the Emperor soon finds that he is still in danger. It is then that Uriel receives help from an unexpected ally. Angoril Bobardi reveals that the very cell he has inhabited for decades, contains a secret escape route that was built during the simulacrum at the order of Jagar Tharn. With this passage and the considerable magical prowess of Angoril, the Emperor manages to flee the deadly trap.

Also freed from the prison by Angoril is Maorlatta Orgnum, a young (by elf-standards) and somewhat naive girl who was arrested for the crime of sleeping in the park. Once free, she quickly makes herself scarce and eventually finds herself in the shack of an old fisherman who lives on an island in Lake Rumare. The fisherman seeks the help of the thieves guild to rid her of the manacles and prison outfit that would have every Legionnaire arrest her on sight. Unfortunately, the one assigned to pick the locks on the manacles informs Vicente Valtieri instead, who takes a personal interest in the girl’s talent for camouflage. Maorlatta is saved by the Redguard Sorian, a young and rather strange lad who keeps going on and on about something he calls an Ansei. The two team up to go treasure hunting in a nearby Ayleid ruin.

Meanwhile, Angoril returns to the prison. Pretending to be from the palace, he gets a vital clue from the Argonian private investigator Grey-Tongue. The Argonian sends him to Chorrol to find the source of the assassins distinctive red robes. To get to Chorrol, he summons a shiftgate, circumventing days travelling. From Chorrol the trail leads to Kvatch, a city whose precise location he does not know. Unable to summon another shiftgate with reasonable accuracy, Angoril seeks more mundane passage to Kvatch.

While Angoril is travelling, Maorlatta and Sorian hit the Ayleid ruin. After some trouble with a zombie, they strike gold and find an abandoned office with some intact artefacts. They attempt to sell the artefacts in the Imperial city, where they are intercepted by Grey-Tongue and then Vicente Valtieri. Sorian again makes the vampire flee. The next morning Maorlatta wakes up in the Imperial palace with no recollection on how she got there or what happened during her stay at Grey-Tongue’s house. Jauffre interrogates her in the garden at the top of the tower.







Redemption's persons of questionable importance

Main characters:
Angoril Bobardi: An Altmeri sorcerer who inhabited a cell in the Imperial prison, fully aware of the secret escape route. After leaving the prison, he makes it his task to track down the leaders behind the red-robed assassins.

Maorlatta Orgnum: A Maormer from Pyandonea, sent to Tamriel at the command of king Orgnum. Circumstances land her in the same prison as the Altmer. After escaping, she returns to the pursuit of her own goals, one of which is to become filthy rich.

Side characters:
Grey-Tongue: An Argonian private investigator. He is a friend of Hieronymous Lex and has been hired by the guard-captain in the past. Grey-Tongue is hired now as well by the city-guard to investigate the events at the prison and find Uriel’s corpse.
Guard-Captain Hieronymous Lex: Hieronymous Lex is the man put in charge of investigating the massacre at the Imperial Prison. Upon finding that Uriel Septim was seen entering the prison that night, he hires Grey-Tongue to help him uncover the truth.
Sorian: A Redguard who saves Maorlatta from Vicente Valtieri. A simple wandering swordsman with a slight Ansei-obsession.
Rajn Geydar: A Wood Elf who lives in Kvatch. At one point possessed a piece of the Balac-Thurm.

Others:
Guard-Captain Argelius: A colleague of Hieronymous Lex who describes him as the man to call when you need subtlety.
Bannon: A merchant who travelled with Angoril from Chorrol to Kvatch
Baleni: Daughter of Rajn Geydar
Doruk: The Bouncer who worked at Rajn Geydar's restaurant. Deceased.
Penald Baurus: Blade and bodyguard of Uriel Septim.
Berius: Lord Protector and Head of the palaceguard in the Imperial City.
Valen Dreth: A Dunmeri prisoner. Not the most pleasant sort.
Jennifer Renault: Blade, recently promoted to captain.
Glenroy: Blade and bodyguard of Uriel Septim.

Fenasim: A member of the emperor's Palace guard.
Mankar Camoran: The father of both Raven and Ruma. He is the leader of the Mythic Dawn and its prophet.
Raven Camoran: The ‘Hand’ of the Mythic Dawn, an organization with an unknown purpose. What is certain however, is that the Dawn wants Uriel Septim dead.
Ruma Camoran: The sister of Raven, she serves the Mythic Dawn as Priestess. In the same night that the attempt on the emperor’s life is made, she infiltrates the vaults beneath the Imperial palace to steal two artefacts.
Harrow: A member of the Dawn, Harrow used to be an Armiger stationed in Vvardenfell.

Ludius Bester: Member of Bester and Bester, the Kvatch Hall of Mercantile Interests. He runs the office in lower Kvatch.
Aelwin Merowald: An old fisherman who lost most of his leg to Slaughterfish. Friend of Delmar Tunius.
Rajn Geydar: Owner of the Eight Provinces, a restaurant in Kvatch.
Ra’Jezhr: A Khajiiti lockpicker in the employ of the Thieves Guild, Ra’Jezhr is also coerced into serving the Dark Brotherhood’s interests.
Simanuel Rosendorf IV: The owner of a silk-plantation near Chorrol

Umbacano: An Altmer who lives in the capital city. A well-known collector of Ayleid artefacts.
Uriel Septim VII: The Emperor of Tamriel.
Brother Tanner: A priest who serves in the Kvatch-temple. Looks like a Septim.
Delmar Tunius: An old fisherman who lives on a small island in lake Nibenay.
Vicente Valtieri: A member of the Dark Brotherhood, he takes interest in Maorlatta’s talents at stealth, and desires to make her an assassin, with or without her cooperation.

Latta’s evergrowing list of people only she knows:
Levvelyn of Glashorn: The hero of a popular series who spends most of his books saving the world, slaying vicious monsters, duelling devious Altmeri warlords and chasing the girl.
Irrillys: A fictional princess of Pyandonea, she is Levvelyn’s love interest. Posesses an unfortunate talent for being kidnapped by devious Altmeri warlords.
Mettildi: The Maormer that taught Maorlatta how to fight, though his methods traumatized her to the point where she is mentally incapable of defending herself.
Master Zelthir: Another Maormer put in charge of educating Maorlatta. Master Zelthir is a well-known and highly respected healer.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Sep 22 2013, 07:36 PM

[jack cloudy]

Well, the lore of Pyandonea I am aware of is rather limited. I'll have a rant on that and something else later. As for Sean Bean/Brother Tanner, you can use any accent you like. Heavens know I can't tell one accent from the other anyway.



Chapter 9.5


Blades’ hideout



I was back in the Lord Emperor’s quarters. The venerable elder did look better than last night, if not choking on one’s own lungs could be considered an improvement. Speaking as a healer and using Maormeri anatomy as a guide, I wasn’t going to give him more than another week or two in here. The air was too stuffy, it was either too hot or cold and the scented candles while a nice touch, only worsened the air problem. There was nothing I could do about that however and given his womanguard’s beliefs, it would be best for me to finish my duties and get out before then. It was a horrible thing to contemplate, but I told myself that my loyalty to Pyandonea had to weigh heavier than the respect due to one man in his final days. Besides, I didn’t want to be here when all the prospective candidates began to fight for who got to sit on the throne next. If they hadn’t already started. It did seem to be the tradition here. Sure, he had sons and daughters, but how much would that deter the other hopefuls?

“The covenant stated that we, House Orgnum, would provide the House Septim, with the possession and free use of an object.” Renault didn’t know how fast she could finish cooking and hurry me through all the paperwork and formalities that were necessary before one could have an audience with the Lord Emperor. Jauffre had not filled out any of the two dozen forms she sped me through, but I was wise enough not to mention that. I did however make a mental note that the Tamrielics didn’t seem to care much for diplomacy unless a great deal of wealth was involved. At that point you could just see them reshuffle the priorities in their thoughts.
“Object. You will tell me what that is.”
The man himself. He and two of the guards had insisted on remaining when I tried to send them away. The guards I was willing to tolerate, not in the least because they were armed and I wasn’t. Bald Jauffre however, him I’d rather thrown out beyond the outer reefs. Like the guards, I couldn’t get him out of the room, but I could ignore him.
“In return, the house Septim, or any person granted authority to act in its name, would give a payment of blood.”

Faces of confusion and even disgust all around. Even without the aid of colours I could tell. I wondered how much of what I was telling here was unneeded. Surely the Lord Emperor had to remember the articles of the treaty? Wouldn’t it just be easier and quicker to skip to the relevant part and ask for him to uphold his end? Wasn’t I implying that the Tamrielics couldn’t remember their promises and were untrustworthy as a result? That was how I thought about it, but my mentor had explained that I was thinking in reverse. The idea was not that the other party couldn’t be trusted to know what they’d signed, but that one’s own party remembered and wasn’t trying to sneak in new articles that had never been agreed upon.
“Blood is family, mother to child to grandchild.” I explained. What did they think I’d meant?
“The head of House Septim or any appointed representative of such that meets the House Orgnum’s needs, would father a male child with a woman of Pyandonea. This son would then be wed to a woman of House Orgnum.” Where the blood could be kept nicely on a leash.

More disgust. Why? Weren’t marriages and bloodlines a known and well-spread political tool? I’d been told that it was as true for the Tamrielics as it was for us. Renault shook her head.
“And you’re the one they sent for that. My liege, I must remind you that you are in no condition to sire any heirs. I know it is of the utmost importance right now, but it simply won’t happen.” She said. Important? I had to think about that for a moment before I remembered that the Lord Emperor had fled here despite his health. What happened to his sons and daughters? Perhaps they hadn’t been so lucky. I then realized what else she’d said. Did she think I was here to collect a son? The thought made me wish I’d been wearing a mask. I had a nice one, but they took it before tossing me into the dungeon. It would have made it so much easier to hide the colours of my face.
“Come on, captain. Let’s be honest here. This is a matter of age more than health.” The other guard, the mudman, said. Jauffre and the Emperor said nothing however. The fake monk looked as if he was chewing a sour flatworm while the old man in the bed merely seemed too tired to let anything show.
“Brother! Please, remember your manners.” Renault admonished and the mudman shrugged.
“It’s true though.” He muttered. His attempt at humor was ill-timed, but at least it showed he wasn’t stressed out and likely to put his iron at my throat.



I cleared my throat to draw the attention back to where it belonged and continued.
“The son was sown the night after the covenant was sealed. It’s done.” I said as lightly as I could. I did wonder however. What if the Lord Emperor had offered that alternate arrangement? His age and status would make him a desirable father. But it would also mean breaking my own oaths and voiding the covenant I was here for. Which was the greater accomplishment? Sealing the foreign blood that had already been obtained, or trying to bring in some more? It didn’t matter I suppose. I wasn’t going to get any from the Lord Emperor and he really was the only eligible individual I knew of. Besides, my lack of expertise would just lead to embarrassment and a taint on my House.
“I hope to get back on him later, but for now let us discuss the last article of the covenant.”
“No, no! We’re getting back on this now. Who is this heir and where is he? There is no way I’m going to let any Septim marry some backwoods fish-eating mother of mine when I need him on the throne right here!” Jauffre barked. I couldn’t ignore that. Acting in general like a self-obsessed jerk? Fine, I’m used to it. But I would not accept anyone insulting my House or my personal honour. I faced him and though my heart was beating madly and my face blazing, I kept my voice cool and level.
“For starters, I take offence at being called both backwoods and unable to observe my familial duties. Secondly, I do not care for the opinion of a liar and an oathbreaker. This treaty was made only seventy-eight years ago between the Houses Septim and Orgnum. One so young does not get broken at mere convenience, especially when someone who is not of either House calls for it. Now I demand for all interruptions to be withheld until I have said my words.”

The bald monster opened his mouth to scream again but three whispered words made him clam shut as if he’d been punched in the face.
“Jauffre, back down.” It was the Emperor, the first time he’d spoken since his greeting when I was brought in.
“Thank you, your Grace.” I added a another thank you, a silent one, to lady Renault. The form of address she’d suggested was much easier than saying ‘Lord Emperor Uriel Septim the Seventh, ruler of Tamriel’ all the time. And that had been about the shortest form I’d been given before I left home. I took a deep breath to both calm me down and prepare for the next mouthful in my rehearsed and probably still rather simple speech.
“When a full hundred has gone, measured in years from the moment of signing, the object shall be returned to house Orgnum. The head of House Septim, whomever he may be, shall personally deliver it from his hands to the hands of House Orgnum’s representative. I am aware that time has not yet passed, but my father the king requests an earlier return. In exchange, we brought many riches…”
My voice faltered. Many riches, our ship’s belly had been filled to the limit with them. The handlers had to process and inject nutrition directly into its bloodstream since it couldn’t eat for itself. And now I had nothing to give but the clothes I was wearing and even they were borrowed. I swallowed. What I had to say next was the stuff of nightmares but it had to be done. House Orgnum always upheld their end of a promise, no matter the cost.



I spread my arms and bend forward till my nose brushed my knees. I kept that pose and bit back the tears.
“Those riches have been lost.” To betrayal of my own people no less. “As is customary in these situations, considering the inability of House Orgnum to repay the House Septim through material wealth, as the nearest Maormer able to represent House Orgnum in financial matters, I hereby place myself at the service of House Septim till the debt of my House has been repaid, or till the original time as mandated by the covenant has come to pass.” If only I could be air and fly.





Rant time:

Ok, let's get started on Pyandonea. Using solely my recollections for the moment, here's what I know. Pyandonea is an island kingdom surrounded by fog and also the home of big snakes and water spirits. They've had wars with Summerset Isle. Their king, Orgnum Thras is described as ageless and possibly immortal. The Maormer themselves are described as having skin that is white like pallid jelly (I'm not sure what to imagine here so I just think of it as white pudding). I've also come across a reference of chameleon-powers. Their ships are described as membraneous in the wolf-queen books I think.

Now let's extrapolate that a bit. The islands, the fog and even the wars with Summerset where easy enough. There was no real need to add anything to that right away. But the skin and chameleon ability where a bigger issue. If the Maormer had been in a game, their chameleon would have probably been turned into a greater power for game balancing reasons. But I don't like that. I can understand the need to balance the races so one isn't objectively superior (too much) to another, but the games are compressed as well. Days go by in a matter of minutes so even if you can turn invisible only once a day, the cooldown isn't too bad.

But what if we kept it like that in the lore? Things become all kinds of messed up then. Redguards can go into murder-mode once a day. Orcs can get angry once a day. Bosmer can talk to a single animal once a day, Imperials can charm your shoes off once a day, Khajiit can look crazy once a day etc.

It doesn't make much sense to me so I had to look at the choice of making it a skill that could be toggled at will. And at first that was just what I did. I turned the chameleon from what was probably intended to be magic into a feature of their skin. Latta could go invisible when she was scared with an instinctive shift of her hues (which incidentally makes the clothes she wears a bit of a hazard when the threat is real but let's skip over that). Later on I pushed it even further. If the Maormer could change their skin-tone on instinct, what if they learned to control it? What would they use this ability for? Hunting perhaps, or even communication. Like the peacock spreads its feathers, different colours and marks could mean different things in Pyandonean society.



Moving on to the king, Orgnum Thras. You may have noticed that I called him king Orgnum up till now. That is how he's most commonly referred as when I did my first research and the name stuck. When I found out it was his first name and so he should have been of House Thras, not House Orgnum, well I felt a bit silly. I blame the habit of the naration to use first names too much. Uriel is way too often referred to as Uriel instead of lord Septim. It's too informal. Fortunately, there was an easy way out. Just have the Maormer value the House over the individual to the point the House is mentioned first and we're done. So in Tamrielic it would be 'Thras of House Orgnum', and in Pyandonean it is 'of House Orgnum, Thras'.

One other thing often mentioned about Orgnum is how he is immortal. Again extrapolating from that, I decided that the Maormer put great value on one's age and by extention see immortality as a great achievement. All the greatest Maormer are immortal. There are easier ways to immortality than the one enjoyed by the king and his inner circle, but those are silently mocked and seen as less pure. The mask-thing that was mentioned in Latta's flashback and again here, is another random idea related to this. With the mask, there remains some doubt over whether or not there really are immortals. And well, if your face is likely to broadcast your inner feelings to anyone with eyes, it might help to put on something to cover it when you're playing at politics. The upper class all tend to wear concealing clothing and elaborate masks for that purpose. To have someone remove his or her mask is by extension then, a sign of honesty and great trust.


With the Maormer out of the way, let's go to Brother Tanner. People who have played Oblivion for more than an hour probably know who I'm talking about. Angoril let slip that he's figured it out as well but for those who haven't, I won't spoil it any further. We'll hear plenty about him and maybe I'll have another rant when his place in the story has become clear. For now, let me just say two things.

One, I think that having Jauffre literally explain the entire plot to the player five minutes after the tutorial dungeon was a huge mistake. As a Morrowindophile, I still have to admit that the third Tes game was too slow to get its plot going, but Oblivion went too far into the other extreme. We get to learn just who the bad guy is, who his minions are, why they are a threat now and not before and what we need to do to stop them. And this is coming from a guy who literally didn't know the bad guy could possibly be a threat before you marched in and repeated Uriel's vague one-liner to him.

Two, that scene with Angoril and Brother Tanner was solely there for Tanner's sake.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Feb 24 2013, 03:23 PM