Amifae!!...
...Well, what can I say?...Except, you won't be eating it all in one go, stop picking on yer brother and get to bed earlier...Oh yes...MWAH!!...
Mustard - No MWAHs for you, but thank you very much m'friend. I hadn't originally meant to flesh them out as much as I have...But then you start, and then it's all there so...*Shrug*...
...Thank you...
Grits - As ever your comments make me smile and shake my head in amazement...I hope I can continue to give (apparently) good story for you...
DE - Thanks for reading!!...Glad you're enjoying our soujourn into other lands...
Athynae - The Tcheet Creek line is one of them, *think*...*snort*...*Type*...*Try to figure out where to put it*...ones
...Glad it made you laugh, you furnish
us with so many it's time to give some back I think...
...
mALX - My habit of killing off characters you really like seems to be continuing...Sorry about that...
...But thank you so much for the compliments as ever...
...
Acadian - The Darth Vader thing is entirely Bethesda's fault...
...Thank you muchly...
Jack - Cheers matey!!...Glad you're still with us...The time thing...*Shrug*...Can't help it...I'd find it impossible to cover this much history without it...But thank you so much for the compliment on the characters...I appreciate it...
...
Treydog -
Maaaaate...
...As ever...A massive thank you...So appreciated..
NEW PARTS ALERT!!!...Currently it is 3E 604 and the Thalmor invasion of Cyrodiil, North Valenwood and Eastern Hammerfell is underway. This is basically some of the history of the Thalmor told by one of those caught up in it.
Note...The 10 years ago is from 3E 604...
1.12 – Empire (pt.4, Know Thine Enemy - ii) 10 Years Ago. 50 miles south of Sunhold, Summerset Isles. The island wasn’t found on any map. If anyone had thought it worth a note, it would barely have been a speck on the page. The only part of a giant mountain not hidden by the water, the island was all rock and earth above the sand which had accumulated over time to form picturesque beaches. Palm trees and wicked, sharp grasses clung to the slopes up to the summit of the mountain. Miitr Farrada had had the sheerest side of the island worked – as a favour by Altmer naval engineers – into a walled, almost enclosed harbour.
The Maxarishii Hunt glided to a stop next to the wall. A second small ship – a fleet outrunner – was there, the name
The Looking Elsweyr was visible on its side.
Two men left the
Maxarishii Hunt and walked along the man-made path further up the slope into the mountain.
They passed a small but solidly built, one story building. Miitr Farrada had thought of everything when he’d planned his personal island’s facilities. The old man had known that there would be no way for any of his invitees or, like Nol Areldur, Siar Eremnor or Jeck Harramaund, those who’s permission to use the island was a given, would be able to get there without even a
minimal crew. So, the old man had seen to it that those crews also had some comforts, without needing to invite
them all into his home away from home.
The two men walked past the building and followed the path to its end, which came at a large white marble-esque door and frame. A line had been carved all the way down the stone of the door, broken in the middle by a ball shape. One of the two pushed this inwards, and with a grinding, the door opened.
They walked several steps into a wide, well lit corridor, one of the men pushed another ball on the wall, and the door ground shut behind them.
The corridor was wide enough that several men could walk next to each other and still not be troubled by the walls. They walked a short distance from the entrance and followed a curving set of stairs down to a foyer of sorts.
A large room, containing several soft chairs, sofas and low tables greeted the men upon opening a large metal gate. Dried flowers of many types and colours were in vases upon the table, meant to give some semblance of decor to the white-walled room.
The pair passed through the room and stood before another door like the one at the entrance. Instead of simply pushing the central ball shape in, one of the pair walked to the side of the door, pushed in a concealed panel and pressed several stone switches in a particular order. There was a clunk sound and then the other of the two pushed in the ball.
The door ground open.
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Nol never got tired of being in wonder at the place Miitr Farrada had found to be his “Island Getaway”. An old Ayelid ruin that – according to writings discovered inside – was called Morhavan. It contained the one large room outside the door he and Siar Eremnor had just passed through, this second huge room, and several others which all branched off from this one. Just to his left, a set of stairs ascended to an open-plan corridor that ran around three of the walls, off which were four bedrooms. At the back of the room from where Nol stood, he could see three passageways which were blocked off by the far later addition of new-style doors, so as to make this area warmer. All three passages led to exits. One led straight to a door on the opposite side of the island, which could only be opened from the inside; the second up – via a long and torturous ascending square of stairs – to another door, outside of which was an observation balcony, where many a drink had been consumed in much younger days. The third passage led down to yet another door, but no amount of trying could get it to open.
Nol stared about him, around the walls were mottled glass covered Knimidium lights, which gave the room a warmer glow than the usual whiteout that Ayelid buildings tend to have. In the centre of the room was a Knimidium heater, with boxed-in pipes leading up and off to the other rooms for heating. Several other devices around the room that Nol noted meant that, from his guesswork after what Farrada had said the...Last time Nol had spoken to him...This may be the last place in the Altmer nation that had any of the conveniences that the Knights of The Nine had brought to the world some years ago.
“In here.” Came the sound of a female voice from a room on the right.
Nol and Siar walked into what had obviously been Farrada’s study. A truly huge set of bookcases filled three walls, and a gap in one of them for a door to another room – Nol knew – led to a second roomful of books like this one.
A black-haired woman sat in a chair at a large oak desk, reading. Without looking up she passed an envelope to Nol.
“He left this for you.” She said, still absorbed by the book. “There’s one for you too uncle Siar.”
Nol took the package and asked. “Where did you find this then?”
“In here,” She pointed to the drawers in the desk, “along with this note.” She passed it to Nol.
Koyree,
That snooping is going to get you in trouble
one of these days.
Give these packages to your dad and the boys
when you see them.
Love you.
M.
PS. Give your mother a kiss for me? She
deserved better than that good for nothing
wastrel.
HAH! Got you again Nol!Koyree Areldur finally looked up at Nol and her big brown eyes melted his heart, as it ever did.
She stood, walked over to her father and hugged him.
He kissed the top of her head. “You well?” he asked.
Koyree looked up, paused and then nodded.
“How did you get into the desk?” asked Siar, who’d been passed the note and picked
his envelope up.
The youngest ever female Commodore broke away from the Fleet Admiral and walked to the
other Commodore and said with a mock admonishing voice, “Uncle Siar, what a
stupid question.” She hugged Siar then looked up at him with a smile and a raised eyebrow, “I picked the lock of course.”
Siar grinned.
“Good reading?” Nol asked of the book Koyree had been reading.
“Yes actually,” she replied, then walked back to the desk, “it does explain why the Thalmor have gone mad for destroying the Knimidium.”
“Oh?”
“It says, ‘The Knimidium seam was, of course, found in the Colovian Mountains by the Knights of The Nine when they were excavating more stone for one of their building projects.
Recognizing it as being magical, they quickly learned of its properties and practical use – a replacement for soul gems.
The name Knimidium comes from the obvious combination of
Knights and a tribute to Tiber Septim’s giant Dwemer Nu
midium golem.
Although King Maloryn of Morrowind has – so it is believed – refused to allow testing of the giant jewel called ‘The Heart of Lorkhan’, it is believed to be the same type of magical rock that powered the ancient Dwemer giant construction.
It was, of course, the Numidium golem that tore much out of the Aldmeri Dominion at the end of the Second Era and paved the way for Tiber Septim’s eventual complete conquering of Tamriel.’”
“So the Thalmor are breaking up the Knimidium because it kind of represents their earlier defeat?” asked Siar, while reading the note he’d found in his envelope.
“Maybe. It could also be that they’re terrified of something as huge as the Numidium coming along again, so they feel that if there’s less Knimidium then there won’t be enough to power it.” said Koyree.
“Idiots.” Said Nol.
“Really? You want to put money on the Knights not building something like that? Just to see whether they
could?..I wouldn’t.” Said Koyree.
“And the banning of Talos worship is punishing Septim the God-”
“Because Septim the
man kicked their ar$es all those years ago.”
Nol sighed and opened his envelope. It contained a short note and a journal. He flicked through the book and noted the list of Thalmor crimes, constructions, plans. In short as near to a complete picture that Farrada had put together of the Thalmor, up until the point where he decided to put this all away. As if he knew his death would be soon.
How did he feel when Farrada knew he’d not be back here?
“Well, l’k what th’cat dragg’d ‘n’” said a voice. “If it in’t good old Nol!..Come t’ pull one last save out ‘f yer ar$e? For old t’mes’ sake?”
“Uncle Jeck! Go and sit down before you fall over. Come on.”
“Tha’s
Fleet Admir’l Uncle Jeck to
you missy.”
“Yeah well, Miitr put that ‘Keep all ranks outside the door’ sign for a reason.”
“You,” Jeck Harramaund poked Koyree in the chest, “are
not Miitr Farrada.” He raised himself higher, turned and pointed at Nol, “and neither, are
you.” He stared Nol in the eye.
Which is probably why he didn’t think about Siar Eremnor, who walked up to Jeck, put his hands to the other’s shoulders, smiled, and then said, good naturedly, “
Jeck.” and head-butted him.
-------------------------------------------------------------
“How long has he been like this?” asked Nol.
“A few days.” Koyree gestured to the pile of bottles lying on the floor of the kitchen. “Poison resistance can be a b*tch.”
Nol agreed with a nod.
Jeck Harramaund was lying on a sofa with an ice block wrapped in linen on his forehead.
Koyree continued “We’d been waiting a few days, and figured you may have been delayed-”
“We dropped a few friends off near Anvil.”
“Ah. Anyway, we decided to go to the mainland.” Koyree sighed, looked down to the floor and shook her head.”
“I couldn’t find them.” Said Jeck, from the sofa.
“Who?” asked Nol after a pause, having waited for Jeck to continue.
“
Any of them. My sister,
his sister, your sons. Friends. Noone. People I’ve known for a couple of hundred years walked past me as if I was a stranger, or slammed doors as soon as they saw who it was.”
“You didn’t think to mention this?” Nol looked angrily at Koyree.
Her eyes misted over and she said quietly, “I haven’t seen you for twenty years daddy, I wanted a few minutes where we
weren’t rushing off on a save, is that so wrong?”
A lump formed in Nol’s throat. “No.” He said. Nol then grabbed Koyree, then held her to him for some time.
“What now then?” asked Siar after a while.
“Now,” said Nol, “we go and see if we can pull one last save out of our ar$es.”
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Dusk was unrecognisable as the same city of twenty years earlier. It was quiet, dark. People walked with their heads down, shops were closed, boarded up. The few lamps that dotted the streets occasionally were oil fuelled, casting flickering shadows about the place. Making some places appear sinister. The Thalmor seemed as omnipresent as before.
And this was only the harbour district.
The four hooded figures walked stealthily along, keeping watch behind and about them. They’d decided to head for ‘The Sailor’s Cape’ as a starting point, to see if they could find any of their old allies there.
When they reached the Inn they were horrified. The once beautiful sanctuary had been burned out. The roof gone, the front wall collapsed inwards, the side walls almost complete but the top of one leaned dangerously.
The four looked at each other.
“Now what?” asked Siar.
“Now,” said a voice, “you come with us.”
As several figures appeared out of thin air, one, in the Justicar uniform declared, “Fleet Admiral Areldur and his famous cohorts! Well, I am Justicar Ondolemar, and we have been expecting you. Please resist.” He smiled a particularly vicious smile.
Nol looked at Koyree, her eyes wide. Nol shook his head. Koyree looked pained and vanished.
“NO!” shouted the Justicar.
One of the guards squealed as his innards started spilling on the ground, but then, as nothing more happened, the Thalmor shouted “We’ll find you! You can’t go far!...Damn.”
With what Nol had decided must be a trained and practiced, signature move for the Thalmor, Ondolemar wheeled around and stalked up to the Fleet Admiral. From just an inch from Nol's face, the Justicar said with bared teeth, “The Overlord has been waiting
such a long time to meet you Admiral.”
“Fleet Admiral.” Nol replied companionably.
Ondolemar wrinkled his nose with rage and disgust. Then he said. “Bring them.” And stalked off.
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This post has been edited by McBadgere: Mar 31 2012, 05:19 PM