The Gweden report, A story of the story of the stories. Options

[ghastley]

@All: if you were wondering why we went off into the Thieves Guild questline, this is where it's justified. I needed Imbel Manor to be available for purchase, to move the story in the right direction.

------------

A New Man

He wanted to go and talk to Taminwe about work, and he thought he might ask her opinion about the sisters' riches while he was there. She was always good at seeing the broader picture.

He took his time wandering through the docks, and the Temple District. He stopped for a while to watch the workmen relaying the paving in the street around the Temple of the One. The Elder Council had argued for months about starting that project. Some of them wanted to leave the entire area untouched, as a monument to the victory over Dagon. The more practical members had called for it all to be rebuilt. People still lived there, and needed to get their lives back to normal. The compromise had been reached to leave the Temple building itself alone, and fix up the rest. He was glad to see that work had finally begun.

He walked around the central circle until he came to the broad street leading to the Talos Plaza district. All the way round, the huge dragon statue loomed over him, and he couldn't help looking up at it. As he neared the door to the next district, he turned and looked back once more. Somehow the dragon was trying to tell him something.

One had to walk through the entire Talos Plaza district before it was possible to double back up the alleyway that lead to the Red Dragon Club. As he passed the statue in the middle, he was struck by its similarity to the great statue of Akatosh inside the Temple. And this smaller one had been put there before that entire event.

"Thinking of buying it?" asked the watchman. He'd seen him looking up, but he thought he was looking at the building behind the statue. That was Imbel Manor, where Jakben, the late Earl, had lived. It was on the market now, but nobody seemed to have the asking price. "And you can't haggle on house prices, either." the legionary reminded him.

Taminwe had been the one who'd told about the Earl's death and he'd just found out that Minx was the one who'd slain him. He was starting to feel a personal connection to the place. "I wonder just how much gold the sisters have?" he thought.

---

Taminwe thought it would be pefect for him to become a neighbor. It would justify his presence in the area at any time, and he didn't need to be seen coming in. She was sure the sewers connected all the buildings in the district. "And if they don't, we'll get a few alterations made."

She could use a "noble" on her team, too. Even if he didn't have a title, yet. Now Ocato was Potentate, he could bestow one, once they'd worked out a good cover story. She knew all about the sisters, of course. They weren't a problem. Every Manor needs staff, family, whatever they wanted to be.

"And how's your book coming along?" she asked. Uzgash had told her about his progress on that. Taminwe thought that it might be quite successful, judging by the stories Uzgash had passed on to her. As long as he wrote it as well as he had for the Courier, it was bound to be a best-seller.

He told her that it was nearly ready for publication. At least the first chapters were, he still had some work to do on the last few. He'd have time to do something else, soon. Taminwe didn't react. He'd come back tomorrow, and check again.

---

The next day, he paid a visit to Vinicia Melissaeia at the Office of Imperial Commerce to find out how much Imbel Manor was on the market for. Vinicia was suprised to find the same man that had bought the shack on the Waterfront asking her about that. She told him it was 60,000 Septims, just for the empty building, and furnishing it would cost a good bit more.

He didn't yet know how much gold the sisters had collected, so he couldn't make any deal now, but Vinicia didn't expect anyone else to be paying that kind of money. It could wait until they got here.

---

At the Red Dragon Club, Taminwe was waiting for him, and Potentate Ocato was with her. He had a proposition for him.

"The High Council has agreed to make the Champion, the Hero of Kvatch, its new Count," he announced, "and that's going to mean that he'll be really busy with the rebuilding. Tsarrina has her hands full running Gweden, although she'll be able to spare a day each month to do the accounting for this place as before. The Champion needs someone to run this Club for him. I also need someone to act as liason to the Council for the intelligence operations. Before they made me Potentate, that was part of my department, but I need another head of operations now."

"But Taminwe's the person to do that, not me!" he protested. "She has much more experience than I do."

"I expect her to be an invaluable assistant," Ocato replied "but I can't elevate someone in her profession to that station without questions being asked. I know you work well together, and we need you to act as spokesman for the agency. She'll still be doing most of the espionage work."

Taminwe pointed out she preferred to be underestimated. She didn't want a public position that would compromise her ability to do her intelligence work. He, on the other hand, was about to become a well-known author, as well as an Earl. It appeared that he'd get Jakben's status to go with his house. Ocato didn't need Council approval for that.

"Besides," Ocato reminded him "the High Council have no idea that the Red Dragon Club was in any way associated with the spies, except when they had the same master in Ormelius Goldwine. They knew that the Count ran both, but I've always encouraged them to think that they were separate. When the Champion took over the Club, I oversaw the intelligence part myself, and that helped keep them apart in the eyes of the Council. So the Champion will give you the manager's job here first, and I'll announce the other one later."

"And will we still see you visit here in the future?" He glanced sideways at Taminwe when he asked Ocato that. He knew that those regular briefings were important to her.

"Oh, yes," Ocato responded. "It would look suspicious if I changed my habits now. And there are those on the Council who prefer to see me coming here, rather than taking a wife and starting a dynasty! Plus what you tell me, and what you subsequently tell the Council, won't always be the same. I'll need an opportunity to get the facts from Taminwe."

Ocato indicated that his purchase of the Imbel Manor would be underwritten by the Office of the Potentate, if necessary. It was a good idea that had now become an imperative.

"There is one thing about all this you might not like, however," he continued. "We're going to have to change your face, if you're going to become a public figure. While you were hidden away on the waterfront, it wasn't thought necessary, but circumstances have changed."

"Change my face! How?"

"It's a straightforward alteration spell," Taminwe began to explain. "When you were growing up, did the healer straighten your teeth?" He nodded. "That was a weaker version of this spell. It will soften the bones so that they can be sculpted like clay. But we need to paralyze you, so your own muscles won't pull the bones around. That's why Ocato's here, too. He'll cast the paralysis, and then I'll use the face-sculpting spell. It will take all my magicka just for that one."

He wanted to know if Taminwe had ever had it done to her. He liked her face, and he'd have been disappointed if it wasn't real.

"Yes, but this is my original face. I was transformed into a doppleganger for a foreign countess once, but I thought she was ugly and had them put me back again when the mission was over. It's not something we do very often. Even if you look exactly like someone, the way you act will give you away immediately. But that time the only people we had to fool had never met her, they'd only seen her portrait."

If she'd been through this twice he could hardly refuse. They laid him on a bed and started the procedure. Taminwe talked to him as she worked, even though he couldn't respond.

"I can't change your race, although I could give you pointed ears like an elf, you'd still be an Imperial. And I really don't want to do anything too drastic. What I'm aiming for is to make you look like the elder brother you never had. I'll make your chin a little more square, and your whole face a little less round. Would you prefer a straight nose, or an aquiline one? Maybe something in between."

All the time she was pushing and pulling at parts of his face, adjusting it to his new look. It was a strange sensation, but not painful. Eventually she stood up and looked over at Ocato. He cast a Dispel that both let the bones harden again, and the paralysis dissipate. Taminwe handed him a mirror.

Before and after

She'd acheived what she said. He really did look like an older sibling. Only about five years older, and the family traits were all still there. Of course she was only changing the shape of his face; the color of his skin, and his eyes, remained the same. But it was a different face, and the reporter was now truly gone.

Parts of his skin felt tight, and when he touched his chin, the shape felt wrong, but he knew he'd soon get used to it. But would Angeline and Diablita, and all the others?

They called in all the Red Dragon Club staff to re-introduce him, and Miranda cut his hair to a different (and of course shorter) style. Then they sent him back to the waterfront to explain to Minx. Once she knew the story, that would take care of the Thieves Guild angle.

The beggars all thought that he was someone new, judging by the way they all tried to get a coin from him. He came up behind Carwen and spoke to her. She recognised his voice, and was surprised when she turned around and didn't see the face that went with it. But that helped him convince her that he was really the same man. "Minx needs to know about this" she told him, which matched his intentions completely. They went over to the guildhall to look for her. If he'd gone on his own, they might not have let him in.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Apr 19 2017, 06:39 PM

[Grits]

Somehow I completely missed this update when you posted it.

Oh my gosh, Clark is a hottie! I would have voted for him in the contest. I absolutely love your description of face-sculpting.

This was such a satisfying update. The game leaves so many things hanging, and you have tied some of them up and launched the Fourth Era. Soon we’ll be calling him the young Earl!

Taminwe was particularly interesting here. How true that rewarding her with a promotion would put an end to the kind of work that brought her success in the first place.

This post has been edited by Grits: Dec 27 2012, 02:35 PM

[Acadian]

I’ve always viewed the TG questline as, above all, a touching love story. Getting to kill a damn vampire for his boots is just an added bonus.

"And you can't haggle on house prices, either."
Nice little tongue-in-cheek jab at the game!

Magic can do so much and your face sculpting combination of magicks is a great example!

[ghastley]

@Grits: I'm giving in to your decision and calling him Clark, but not for a couple more episodes. He needs to get used to his face before he has to deal with a new name.

@Acadian: I always like the practical uses of magic, in the game and in others' stories. And this part adds another use of magic combined with mundane mechanics - the sort of things the Dwemer would do, I wonder if there any in Uzgash's lineage?


----------------

Morse Magicka

At the Red Dragon Club, Taminwe had something new to show him. Varulae's signal ball had given Uzgash an idea, and they'd been working on it while he was away. The espionage networks had been using them for secure communication for years, of course, but up to now thay'd only been used for simple information, like "come to Falkreath". The pair of balls would be lit steadily, and another pair had to be used for an acknowlegement signal.

Uzgash's idea was that they could send a flashing signal by covering the sending ball with an inverted tankard. "We played around with the idea for a while, and the best way to get a message across was to have a code of short and long flashes that represented a letter or number. With a few special codes, like one for the end of the message, so you'd know whose turn it was to send, we could handle quite complicated information," Taminwe told him.

"We asked Tar-Meena, at the University Archives, and it turns out that it's not entirely a new idea, and there was an existing code that was used with mirrors reflecting sunlight. We've started training some of the girls in the code, and we've made some improvements in the apparatus."

She took him into a room down the corridor, where Uzgash was working on the latest version of the signal device. There was a metal shroud around the ball, with an aperture in it that was covered by a shutter. When she pressed on a lever, the shutter was opened, and the light from a candle fell on the ball, and lit up the one on the other side of the table. When she let go, a spring closed the shutter, and the other ball darkened again. "Much faster and less effort than lifting a tankard, and you just leave the shutter closed when you're receiving a message, instead of having to leave the tankard over the candle. That usually makes the candle go out, if you're not careful."

Taminwe sat at the other end of the table from Uzgash and asked the reporter to write down a message for her to send. He did so, without showing it to Uzgash, and Taminwe began tapping on the lever on her apparatus. Uzgash watched the ball at her end, and wrote down the letters Taminwe was sending. When she'd finished, she had the same message to show him. A couple of letters were wrong, but the meaning wasn't lost. "If the spelling is important for a word, we have a code that lets us repeat it for confirmation. And really critical messages get sent back to make sure they arrived intact," Uzgash informed him.

"The only way you can intercept these messages is to steal the apparatus. The balls are enchanted together, and won't send to anywhere else. Mostly they're pairs, like these, but the mages tell me they can enchant a group so we could send out a broadcast message from one to all the others. I can't figure out how you'd have a conversation with more than two, though."

Taminwe had another detail for him. "The larger clear crystal balls can also be used to send messages, of course. You can write on a slate, and someone at the other end can read it. But it's much harder to find large pieces of clear crystal to make those, so they're expensive to produce. These can be made much more cheaply, so we can make a lot more of them."

He wondered aloud why they were telling him all this.

Taminwe informed him that he needed to learn the code. At least to be able to read a message straight from the flashing ball. Sending was not much harder to learn, but that came afterward. "And if you want to teach the code to Varulae and her sailors, that's fine. The code doesn't need to be secret. You don't need that with a secure link, and anyway it's possible to encrypt a message just like you could if it was to be carried written down. It's probably best if everyone who uses crystal balls this way uses the same code. That way we can recruit operators who are already trained in future!"

There was still something missing. Why him, and why now?

Taminwe explained. "We figure that this apparatus should be made and sold to the general public, so it's not regarded as being for spies only. We don't want our agents getting arrested just for having this stuff. So we need someone else to have a legitimate use for it. What use would whores and exotic dancers have for this?"

"What use would an author have for it?"

"I don't know about an author, but the manager of a brothel in the city, which is owned by the Count of Kvatch, might need it to communicate with the Count."

"So the Champion and I get our own link, and I have to be seen using it. And I assume the one at his end will need to be just as visible."

"We're thinking that you might even provide a public service to send messages between the Imperial City and Kvatch. If it catches on, extra apparatus takes over the public messages, and you and the Champion get your private link back."

"So you think it might develop into a messenging service that anyone could use? Just bring your message to an office in a city, and have it sent to another one. It would still need a local courier to deliver it," he mused.

"Oh, yes, and if yours is successful, a lot of others will copy it. And the existing courier services will be the first to adopt it, and cut down the horse traffic between the cities. The riders will be retrained on the apparatus, and just carry packages instead of letters. The Black Horse Courier will get all its incoming reports this way. They'll still print in the city, and deliver by horse, of course, but the reporters won't have to meet up with a rider, or come to the city themselves."

Uzgash told him that she'd be travelling down to Kvatch to operate that end to start with. She'd train a local or two to take over, and then return to her regular job. He'd do the same here in the city, operating out of Imbel Manor to start with. Taminwe would help the Black Horse Courier people set up their own network, and they'd see what grew out of those.

"Once it gets started, Ocato will provide the provincial rulers with secure channels to the Palace," Uzgash informed him. "Then my father and I can get back in regular contact. That's the real reason I want all this to work!"

"The enemies of the Imperium will find it just as useful," he reminded them. "We won't be the only ones with secure communication."

"We aren't now," Taminwe pointed out. "Varulae's already in contact with the Serpent's Wake, and I'm sure she didn't invent that method. Whoever found out how to link crystal balls that way must have seen the possibilities. You know that the Champion is also Arch-mage these days, since Traven's death. He's aware of a lot of the Mages Guild members using the larger clear crystal balls for messages. I'm sure he knows the linking spell himself. The only thing we're doing is making it easier and cheaper for everyone else to use."

"Then I'd have thought that we'd already have channels like that with the provincial capitals," he continued. "Expense wouldn't be an issue there."

"Well, the other issue is privacy," Taminwe responded. "With the clear ones, each end can see everything at the other end all the time. That's not such a popular idea, even if you can put the thing in a room that's only used for sending messages, and cover it up when it's not in use. These new ones can't receive anything that's not deliberately sent, so there's much less to object to."

Uzgash concurred with that point. Gortwog wouldn't accept the clear channel, (he'd dealt with Queen Elysana too much to be the trusting kind), but she didn't think he'd have any objections to this one.

---------------

This does not (yet?) appear in the mod, mainly because I haven't made the mechanism yet. But I'm working on it. I also have to create a quest to get Uzgash to come to the City, as the tale I told here of the collapsing bridge turned out to be a bust, when I tried to make one. But I am working on more quests that start at the club and will involve Uzgash, and her mother Marghak.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Jan 1 2013, 12:44 AM

[Acadian]

Isn’t it amazing what you can come up with sitting around lifting tankards? Leave it to the brilliantly studious Tar-Meena to be familiar with a suitable code to pair up with Clark's enchanted balls.

An interesting way of communicating over distance in a world with magic.

[ghastley]

@Grits: Clark becomes Clark in this one, and a little bit more.

@Acadian: Of course the problem with using the tankard for signalling is that it doesn't work for its regular purpose upside-down. Uzgash was anxious to correct that problem.

--------------

Buying Imbel Manor

He'd arranged to meet the sisters at the Waterfront and then go take a look at Imbel Manor. Even though Ocato had told him the purchase was going to happen anyway, he wanted them to like the place, too. He found them outside the Bear Riders' office, talking to Gudrun. She was in town on one of her monthly visits, nominally for a meeting with Heidi, but really an excuse to go shopping in the Market District.

Of course, none of them recognised him at first, with his new face, but it didn't take long to convince them he was really who he said he was. Gudrun thought the new face was an improvement, but the sisters weren't so sure. They all agreed that Taminwe had done what she set out to do. He did look like his own older brother.

Since the Market District was their first destination, to pick up a key from Vinicia, Gudrun joined them for the walk across the city. He took the opportunity to tell her about the new invention he'd heard of, and to suggest that they use one between the Lodge and the Waterfront office.

"What, spoil my reason for a shopping trip? Are you crazy?" Gudrun did accept that it might be useful in between visits, but it was no substitute for the personal touch.

When they reached the Market District, Gudrun headed for Divine Elegance, while they went across the plaza to the Office of Imperial Commerce. Vinicia didn't know who he was. "You're the second person asking about that property. That wasn't your brother before, was it?" Since it would stop her thinking too much about it, he told her that his younger brother had indeed told him about it. That seemed to satisfy her limited curiosity, and she didn't have any identity for the shack-owning "brother" either. He'd had the sale registered as Emer Dareloth, to suit the waterfront tradition.

Vinicia went with them to the Talos Plaza district and showed them around. The building was completely empty at that time, and their footsteps echoed in the huge spaces. "The Skingrad house was a bit like this when we bought it," Angeline told him. "Just not on the same scale. And do you remember Arborwatch when we first moved in? We didn't have any furniture downstairs to start with."

Diablita concurred. "It will look very different with furniture in it. You can divide a big room up with bookcases and things, and cluster chairs around a table to make a smaller area of focus. It's easier to work with a big space than a small one."

They liked the separate rooms upstairs. Arborwatch had that, too, but the Skingrad house didn't. "There's a servant's quarters down in the basement, but that's only for one person. And we have Eyja using that. We put bunks in the main bedroom, so we'd all have somewhere to sleep."

They hadn't told him about Eyja. Apparently, she'd asked them about the house-servant job as soon as they bought the furnishings at Colovian Traders. She'd been living with Gunder, but was ready to move on. They'd hired her to look after the place when they weren't around, which was most of the time, as they really preferred to stay at Arborwatch.

"One of those communication sets would be perfect for her," was Diablita's opinion. "or maybe two, if we're going to live here as well." He made a note to ask Uzgash to stop off there on her way to Kvatch. Perhaps this Eyja could operate the Skingrad office of their messaging service?

It seemed that the sisters had already decided to purchase Imbel Manor, so he let Vinicia know that, and they all went back to the Market District to do the paperwork. Again he had the opportunity to register the deeds anonymously, as it was being underwritten by the Office of the Potentate, and he took it. Then it was off to see Tartullian Verus about furnishing the place. He offered a choice of layouts for the central section of the basement. They could have a forge put in, if they needed a lot of armor and weapon work, or a mage's alchemical workbench and ingredient storage, or just a lot of extra shelving and chests for storage.

The sisters had reasons for wanting all three options, but they eventually decided on storage. They did their own repairs in the field, but Varel Morveyn and Rasheda and even Agneta the Pickled did a better job than they did, so their own forge wasn't a priority. Diablita did her own Alchemy, but she didn't really need a special room for it, and ingredients should be used quickly, while they were still fresh. She didn't like storing them for later.

But they were collecting stuff like crazy. It may have been because they just didn't have a lot of things while they were growing up on the Island, but they found it hard to leave anything behind when they went adventuring. They sold most of what they gathered, which is why they had so much cash on on hand that they could buy houses, but they'd still collected a lot that was too good to sell. None of the merchants could afford to buy it all from them.

"There isn't a basement at Arborwatch, and that's one reason we bought Rosethorn Hall in Skingrad. It has a lot of storage space, and display cases for the pretty things. But we've almost filled it up already." Angeline was quite proud of that.

---

Over the next couple of days, the men from the Three Brothers Trade Goods carted furniture into Imbel Manor, while the trio stayed at the Waterfront shack. Not that they spent much of their time in the cramped little place. They each had friendhips in the district that needed to be renewed, in his case with Carwen, and Minx - although not together this time around.

Once Imbel Manor was furnished, the next thing was to hold an open house party to let everyone in the neighborhood know who lived there now. Ulen Athram came over with his wife Dralora, from their house on the opposite side of the plaza. Ulen couldn't believe that he'd let so many people party in his house. "Don't you worry about having everything stolen?" he asked.

His host just smiled. The one good thing about inviting the whole of the Thieves Guild was that they wouldn't stand for freelancers stealing from one of their own. Ulen might want to check his pockets before he left, however. Carwen had her eye on Ulen, and she'd often mix business with pleasure. Dralora had just gone upstairs with the neighborhood watchman, and a bottle of wine. Carwen had noticed, and was steering Ulen in the opposite direction.

Just then, a flashing light on his desk started to attract everyone's attention, just as he'd hoped it would. Uzgash had gone to Skingrad with one of the signalling systems, and had started to teach Eyja to use it. She naturally knew of the plans for this bash.

He signalled that he was ready to receieve, and decoded the flashes for the onlooking crowd. "How's the party? {over}"

"Not too good. Some people still have their clothes on. {over}" he sent back, translating for the onlookers as he did so.

"Then open the Tamika's! {over}"

That little exchange did everything he wanted it to do. The party got a bit more spirited, and a lot of people asked him about the flashing crystal ball device. The women from the Red Dragon Club had been briefed about the importance of discussing the apparatus, even if they were busy ... doing other things.

The sisters were helping out on that, too. They'd started to learn the code, as they'd get a set to use between Arborwatch and Rosethorn Hall. And they were happy to tell anyone who was interested how easy it was.

---

Taminwe was pleased with the way thing had gone. The two of them had retired to the private bedroom up in the dome at the end of the party. He was half-expecting it to be occupied, even though he'd locked the trapdoor. That wouldn't stop any of the Thieves Guild, and the Red Dragon Club staff were just as adept at lock-picking. But they'd all taken the hint, and left it for him and Taminwe.

He hadn't had a briefing with her for quite a while, and he'd missed that.

They discussed the production of the new communicators. They'd have to come up with a price, and decide who was going to make them. There couldn't be any connection with the Red Dragon Club, and preferably none with the Palace. The shutter mechanism was something any competent smith should be able to produce, but the enchanted crystals would require a mage's involvement.

Well, there was no reason that they shouldn't be made separately, and purchased separately. He could take the plans for the shutter to Rohsann and get a quote for those, check with Calindil about unenchanted crystals, and he had contacts in the Arcane University who'd be able to price the enchantment service. It might be good that they'd all be dependent on each other for the continuation of the trade. No demand for shutters if the supply of crystals dried up, and so on. The other piece, that might be more of an issue, was training in the flash code. Right now, apart from Eyja, the sisters, and himself, all the potential teachers were Red Dragon Club staff. They didn't want the public associating the devices with them.

"Can you write it all down, so that people can learn from a book?" Taminwe asked. "We'd have something else to sell, and another set of merchants involved. You could have another best-seller on your hands."

"Well, before I can publish anything, I need to decide who I am now. I have a new face, and I need a new name to go with it."

"Your Black Horse Courier articles always were published with an anonymous byline, weren't they? Maybe you could stay anonymous."

"Yes, it was always just Junior Reporter on those. You don't get to use your own name until you're promoted. I think a lot of the folks around the Market District thought my name was Junior."

"So now you're older-looking we call you Senior? Major? Or just Reporter? Wait, that gives me an idea ... Clark!"

"Hmm, I like it! But that's just one half. We're not like elves, Imperials always use two names. So do Bretons, not that it's relevent to my situation."

"No, but it does remind me that the prior owner of this place was a Breton. He was known as Jakben, Earl of Imbel. Imbel wasn't just a name, it was a place. His relatives, whoever they are, presumably still live there. And if Ocato's going to make you an Earl, you need a notional earldom to connect to. So if we can decide where that is, we have our answer."

They considered a few of the more obvious alternatives. "Earl of Arborwatch" sounded appropriate, as did "Earl of Rosethorn", but he felt that those homes belonged to the sisters, not to him, especially the one in Skingrad.

Taminwe mischeviously suggested that he'd spent enough time just outside Anvil to be the Earl of Gweden! He had a feeling that was going to stick.

[mALX]

She naturally knew of the plans for this bash.

ROFL !!! That's Eyja for you! Can't have a party without her!

Earl of Gweden

BWAAAHAAA! I love this, owning Imbel Manor! I see trouble ahead, lol. Great Write!

[Acadian]

"What, spoil my reason for a shopping trip? Are you crazy?"
Necessity is the mother of invention. . . and so is born the need for crystal ball on-line shopping! Who knew?

The pair of naughty and nice sisters have been busy! Wind ‘em up, let ‘em go and they come back full of septims!

Ladies and gentlemer, presenting Clark, the Earl of Gweden!

This post has been edited by Acadian: Jan 7 2013, 12:29 AM

[Grits]

The blinking magic balls are such a great idea! Using a mundane candle as the light source makes it even more fun. When they talked about the larger crystals showing too much of what happened around them, I thought they were about to invent online adult entertainment!

Yay for Clark, Earl of Gweden! Fun party. I love the observation that the safest items in the city belong to the friends of the Thieves Guild.

[ghastley]

@Grits: The mixture of simple mechanicals and magic is the part that appealed to me too. Magic isn't anything special on Nirn, it's just part of life. So they will use regular candles along with enchanted crystal balls.

@Acadian: On-line shopping doesn't let you try thngs on first, so Gudrun wouldn't like that so much.

@mALX: Real trouble needs a Maxical, not just an Eyja. But I'll try a Marghak first, and see what happens.

----------

Marghak's coming to town

One of the first of the new communicators had gone to the Iron Fortress, in Orsinium. They'd presented it to Marghak, Uzgash's mother, in her capacity as Head of the Orsinium Guild of Prostitutes, as a gift from the Red Dragon Club. They couldn't give one directly to Gortwog, as he might have been suspicious that it was in some way a spying device. He had reason to suspect everything, as there was considerable evidence of a growing threat to Orsinium from Hammerfell and High Rock. There may not be much unity between the quarreling little kingdoms in those areas, but they did concur in their hatred for the Orcs.

Marghak was pleased to know her daughter was still alive, if not surprised. She'd raised her children to be independent and resourceful, and they'd inherited a lot from Gortwog. If Uzgash couldn't look after herself, she'd have been worried, but she knew better than that.

So when Marghak announced that she'd be coming to Cyrodiil, Uzgash couldn't believe it, especially that she'd be visiting the Red Dragon Club. She'd thought that her death in the bridge collapse was well-established as a "fact", and it appeared that her mother was blowing that wide open.

Taminwe set her straight. Marghak was the head of the Guild of Prostitutes in Orsinium, so a visit to a successful brothel like the Red Dragon Club was a perfectly normal thing for her to do. It also got her out of the way of any troubles that might erupt back at home, at least for a while. The Empire's relationship with Gortwog was much better than formal arrangements implied. The lack of full Provincial status was not a real issue, as it would not bring any benefits to Orsinium. That was more the desire of Queen Elysana, who wanted the indirect support of the Empire through her alliance with the Orcs. Since she was an inveterate trouble-maker, constantly plotting against the other local rulers, Ocato wasn't likely to help her in any way.

So for Marghak to be the guest of the Potentate for a time would give Gortwog one less worry. They had let it be known that this was a mission of apology for the incident of Ambassador Gorthag's fake wife - coveniently another excuse for Marghak to visit the Club - and to mend relations that really had never been broken. She'd be here to interview Brienne, and to see how the capital city's best brothel was run. All strictly business, and unrelated to any Orc that might be working there.

And she'd be given another communicator to take back for Gortwog. He now understood how they worked, and Marghak could oversee the enchantment of the crystals, and be sure that only two were linked. Only then would he trust that the link was secure.

Uzgash still was unhappy about the idea. Nobody likes their mother coming to check up on them, and the possibilities for embarassment didn't bear thinking about.

---

Taminwe already had a dossier on Marghak, of course, but Uzgash related her background for Clark's benefit.

Marghak was an orphan, brought up by a coven of witches somewhere in High Rock. Obviously her mother had been an Orc, but her father could have been any race. Uzgash suspected Dwemer, as all her siblings had a tendency to tinker with mechanical things. She'd left the witches' coven some time in her late teens, presumably when she got to the rebellious age, and they couldn't handle her. Orcs aren't blessed with much innate personality, which would only have made things worse.

She'd lived the adventurer's life for a while, relying on the spells she'd learned from the witches. She didn't have the Bretons' capacity for magic, and needed to supplement that with weapon skills she hadn't learned as a child. So she'd gone into town, and traded her favors for lessons with blades and blunt weapons. That brought her to the attention of the local Guild of Prostitutes, who insisted on her joining up, and paying her dues.

The Guild gave her speechcraft training, as a matter of necessity. She worked in the brothels as often as a bouncer as in any other capacity, but she was learning from everything she saw. And the Orc customers naturally preferred one of their own, so she made a reasonable income, and she settled into that trade for a while.

Later that year, 3E399, Gortwog fought his duel with Lord Bowyn and secured the land of Orsinium. He chose to celebrate his victory in the very brothel where Marghak was working, perhaps because it was one of the few that employed an Orc, and the two met for the first time. Not having been brought up in Orcish society, she had no idea who he was, and just treated him like any other customer. It appeared that they each made a good first impression.

Marghak was pleased to find an Orc who actually used his brain, and not just his muscles. Gortwog liked her because she was different, too. She knew spells, she'd had training in speechcraft. Her upbringing in the witches' coven had made her open to new ideas, as was clear from her current choice of career. Most Orcs assumed they'd become mercenaries, or something similar. And he'd never seen an Orc woman dance like she did. That was another thing she 'd learned from the witches, who spent most of their time dancing naked in worship of the gods.

He'd taken her back with him to his camp in the foothills of the Wrothgarians, where he intended to build the city of Nova Orsinium. She listened to his grand plans for a fortress with walls of iron, and other military emplacements to make it impregnable. Then she pointed out that he hadn't planned any of the infrastructure to support it. Where would everyone live? Where would the food come from? Where was the tavern, the shops, the brothel?

Gortwog believed that if he provided a safe refuge, then all that would grow up on its own. But he listened to her argument that it all required as much planning as the fortress. The people living in the city outside the fortress would need easy routes to retreat into its walls, but that could also make it accessible to enemies. The houses could be barriers to an invading army, or they could provide them cover. Too little urban planning could make the city weak, and too much could put people off from moving there. It needed balance, and Marghak seemed to be the right advisor to help him keep it.

"Uzgash is making it sound like her mother just moved in and took over," laughed Taminwe. "It wasn't that easy in reality, and she got a lot of resistance from Gortwog's existing retinue at first. But that training she got from the Prostitutes' Guild made her a much better persuader than most of them had ever met. Once she was generally accepted, it was time to seal her position with an heir."

Uzgash explained further. "My mother told me that she'd discussed that with Gortwog very early on. She saw that an heir might dash the hopes of several nobles who might otherwise inherit his position. She didn't want to make any extra enemies that way. It's probably why they didn't marry then, although they still didn't later when they could have done so. She always told me that it left Gortwog free for a strategic alliance, if he ever needed it. It could also have kept that inheritance issue open, for those who thought it important."

Marghak had been visibly pregnant when she founded the Orsinium Guild of Prostitutes. She had a number of reasons for that timing. She needed more women to handle the men of the court, especially while her own activities were limited. The "den mother" image would be particularly useful to her, and becoming a real mother made it more convincing. It was also good for her to take a position of her own, independent of Gortwog, at a time when they were obviously close. And the Breton Guildhall in Camlorn was trying to assert jurisdiction over the area, and Gortwog wanted that to stop. Orsinium needed its own guild. Now!

Gortwog made the most of the situation, and issued a proclamation setting up Orsinium's own guilds in all the trades. That conveniently gave him a number of Guildmaster positions to bestow where they would be useful, as well as establishing Marghak's parity among those so chosen.

Uzgash recalled the part the Guild had served in her upbringing. Marghak understood the value of the training it could offer, as well as making sure her daughters didn't think of themselves as princesses. Her younger sister had never really let go of that, and she'd done all her whoring around the court, instead of at the brothel. The elder sister was a tomboy, who preferred fighting, and thought that sex was just a way to celebrate after a victory.

The Prostitutes Guild had prospered under Marghak's hand. She quickly got a reputation for giving the women their fair share of the income, and protecting them from abusive clients. Soon it wasn't just Orcs that wanted to work in the Orsinium area, although they did remain a majority. That created some friction with the neighboring provinces' guilds, who were concerned that they'd lose staff, and Marghak was quick to mend those fences. Soon she was a major player in setting up an all-Tamriel council to regulate inter-provincial trade. Consistent guild rules between provinces was an early outcome, and that tended to be adoption of Marghak's Orcish ones.

She had the sense not to contest the position of chairwoman. Orsinium was a minor guild, as it didn't represent a full province. It made more sense for one of the others to take it, and she wanted to spend more time with Gortwog than that would have allowed. She accepted a lesser position that suited her better, and let her travel around the country as the Guild's representative.

"Which let her gather intelligence for Gortwog, of course." Taminwe pointed out. "Whores know as much about what's happening as the beggars do, in most places. Especially what's going on behind closed doors."

Somehow she'd found time to have six more children with Gortwog. They'd apprenticed with the guilds when they were old enough and all learned a trade or two. Uzgash's youngest brother was an accomplished smith, and had learned to enchant his own work, too. Gortwog now had them scattered across Tamrielfor their own safety, and Uzgash was officially considered dead. "If we'd thought of it at the time, my brother could have pulled the same ploy with that ship fire," thought Uzgash.

Taminwe wasn't so sure. That attack seemed designed to fail, but to throw the blame on the Bretons. She was sure that he'd have been killed in battle if the expected retaliation had ensued, probably by "friendly fire" from an infiltrator on his own side. That would ensure that the incident escalated further.

"Having Marghak visit here might prompt an attempt to do something similar, although I don't expect them to use the same play more than once," Taminwe suggested. "So I think the ship bringing her is safe. If they do try anything, it might be after she reaches the City."

"Who would be doing that?" Clark asked.

"Whoever's trying to stir up trouble in the High Rock/Hammerfell/Orsinium area," Taminwe replied. "It appears to be a more sophisticated campaign than Elysana could manage, but we're not sure who is behind it. Maybe that Lathenil character's not so wrong about the Thalmor of Summurset Isle."

This post has been edited by ghastley: Feb 12 2013, 03:35 AM

[Grits]

Uzgash still was unhappy about the idea. Nobody likes their mother coming to check up on them, and the possibilities for embarassment didn't bear thinking about.

So true.

I’m really looking forward to meeting Marghak in person. She sounds formidable!

[mALX]

"Whores know as much about what's happening as the beggars do, in most places. Especially what's going on behind closed doors."

QFT

Other than the line Grits quoted, this is my favorite quote in the chapter. The background story was fascinating, the weaving together of lore and your imagination was brilliant! This chapter is up amongst my top favorite you have written, loved it!

[Acadian]

‘Orcs aren't blessed with much inate personality,’
Aww, they’re wonderfully noble and loyal once ya get to know ‘em. Oh, and you probably want to slip another ‘n’ into innate.

I enjoyed the planning considerations for Nova Orsinium.

Wow, Marghak’s an interesting mer!

Seven baby orcs! I like the idea of orcs being more prolific than other elfs. I’d imagine they live hard and die young by the sword. Gotta compensate by birthing more of them.

[mirocu]

I like the idea of orcs being more prolific than other elfs. I’d imagine they live hard and die young by the sword. Gotta compensate by birthing more of them.

This is one of the rare occasions I very much disagree with you, my friend

[ghastley]

Just an odd coincidence that I thought I'd share with you:

I was looking up Marghak on the interwebs, trying to find out whether I'd published anything in the past about the Daggerfall mod I'd created her for, and discovered that "marghak" is Cornish for "rider"! I didn't find any indication of whether they rode bears or not.

[mALX]

Just an odd coincidence that I thought I'd share with you:

I was looking up Marghak on the interwebs, trying to find out whether I'd published anything in the past about the Daggerfall mod I'd created her for, and discovered that "marghak" is Cornish for "rider"! I didn't find any indication of whether they rode bears or not.

Ooh, interesting!

[Grits]

How funny, ghastley. I was also looking Marghak up a few days ago because I was sure you had written something else about her but I couldn’t quite place it. I think it was the mention in Uzgash’s story parts that I was half-remembering. “Rider,” perfect! Lol.

[ghastley]

@Grits: Ask, and you shall receive - one Marghak coming in!

@mALX: Marghak's not above getting behind those closed doors, especially in her official capacity as head hooker of Orsinium.

@Acadian: I'd expect the Orcs at the top of the heirarchy have even more to watch out for. Political assassinations aren't a beggar's fear, and the average footsoldier isn't the target of every enemy mage and archer.


Some general reminders: Marghak and Gortwog's children have been scattered across Tamriel, so that they won't all be in one place if the Orcs' enemies unite against them. They're generally incognito, and you'll notice that she avoids referring to them by name.

Marghak has come to the Imperial City because Gortwog is concerned about the outside influences he's noticed in the Wayrest court. Elysana's dirty tricks were never very sophisticated before, so she must be getting more competent help. He feels better if Marghak's out of Elysana's range for a while. She won't be returning on any schedule that a spy might discover either.

-----

Marghak's in town


When Marghak's ship arrived at Anvil docks, the new Count of Kvatch was there to meet it. He found her on the deck with a spyglass to her eye.

"The woman down there at the end of the dock, do you know her?" Marghak pointed to a Breton obviously flirting with a sailor outside the door of the Fo'c'sle.

"That's Mirabelle Monet," he replied. "She runs the boarding house for sailors."

"Does she have any other staff?"

"No. I can't imagine Mirabelle sharing her duties!" he laughed.

"That's all right, then," replied Marghak. "I thought there was an unregulated establishment we'd need to sort out, but if she's in business just for herself, we need not get involved. I presume she's charging the sailors for their rooms, not any other services they might get?"

He nodded.

"The Guild has to be careful," Marghak explained. "It's just too easy for young women to get involved in all sorts of sex-for-payment schemes that skirt around the regulations. We exist to make sure they get a fair deal. Our rules dictate that the provider sets the price. Although she may delegate the negotiating to a pimp, she gets final say on whether the price is acceptable. Orcs aren't always the best negotiators, so that rule is one of mine!"

"I don't expect your establishment will depart from the regulations. Gweden, isn't it? I've already heard through Guild channels that Tsarrina runs it the way I'd like it, but I hope you won't mind if we go there and check. I need the visit to add legitimacy to this trip. Just like I'll be 'inspecting' the Red Dragon Club when we get there."

---

When Clark entered the Red Dragon Club, he found Taminwe in conversation with an impressive Orc woman, opulantly dressed in fine (and rather sheer) silks which she filled rather well. A huge ruby necklace indicated that she was wealthy, and wearing it in public suggested that she could handle herself against bandits. The lines on her face told him she was old enough to be his mother, but her body looked young enough to belong to her daughter.

Marghak - posing in a test cell.

It turned out that he knew that daughter already. This was Marghak, Uzgash's mother. She was here to pick up a communicator for Gortwog, reunites with Uzgash, and a host of other errands. Her cover story of inspecting the Champion's brothels for the Guild of Prostitutes was genuine, and she'd do that diligently, not that they had any reason to think they'd violated any Guild rules.

She looked him over carefully. "How much for this one?" she asked Taminwe with a leering grin.

"He'll have to decide that himself," Taminwe told her. "If you hadn't guessed already, this is Clark, Earl of Gweden, the new manager of the place."

"Right answer!" Marghak firmly reminded Taminwe that Guild Rules dictated that he'd set his own terms anyway. No matter who the member was, or his or her rank. And she had known who he was, as he fit Uzgash's description of him. "Even with the new face?" he asked.

"Orcs aren't too concerned with faces," she replied. "We notice other things. Just like you apparently do." His eyes quickly came back up to meet hers.

"I wonder if my daughter would mind sharing," Marghak mused, with a wicked twinkle in her eye.

"If it were anyone else, I'd think my mother was joking," said Uzgash, over his shoulder. He hadn't noticed her joining them. "But she did get my reports on you, in particular, the one about our performance at the Falkreath Tavern. I may have exaggerated a bit."

Clark doubted it was possible. He remembered the days and nights of training he'd needed with Sugar for that. Just one Orc was more than enough for him. Especially when it was Sugar or Uzgash, who'd had equal training. But they both knew that, and didn't expect any more from him than he could deliver. It was the uncertainty of Marghak's expectations that had him concerned. She had, after all, come to inspect the brothel, and it might be part of the test to see how well a female client could be served.

But Marghak was quite aware that the Red Dragon Club was one for gentlemen only, and she was just joking with her daughter, ... maybe.

Taminwe asked Clark if he'd mind hosting dinner tonight. There would be Marghak and Uzgash, and herself. There were things they needed to discuss privately, and Imbel Manor was a good place to do so. The only soundproofed rooms at the club were the bedrooms, and they'd be a bit crowded with four.

"If you're agreeable, we'll have everything sent over from the Tiber Septim Hotel, " she continued. The sisters were back at Arborwatch, so he had no problems with that.

---

After an excellent meal, he opened a couple of bottles of his own stock of Tamika's. The Tiber Septim Hotel had sent over what he considered a lesser wine, and he felt they deserved better. Marghak seemed to agree with his choice.

"However, I'm afraid I'm going to spoil all this with business," she said. "We need to discuss the situation in the Summerset Isle."

"One of my sons was sent to the court of King Karoodil and Queen Morgiah in Firsthold, ostensibly as a weapons and armor tutor to Prince Goranthir and his sister Rinalla. The Queen and her children are Dunmer, and so a foreign tutor was nothing unusual. Since Orcs have a good reputation with heavy armor, and most weapons, it was relatively easy to arrange the placement."

"He reports unrest among the local people. Not everyone was happy with the King's marriage to a non-Altmer, especially as it meant his children would be of a different race. If you read 'The Firsthold Revolt' then you already know of the incident with Gialene a few years back. She's still alive in Skywatch, although we can't tie her to any of the current turbulence. Someone is stirring up resentment, but it may not be her this time."

"It's not just confined to that area, either. We have reports of conflict throughout the province. The wizard syndicates have always squabbled among themselves as much as the petty kings of the Illiac Bay used to. But now it seems to have moved to another level. The destruction of the Crystal Tower seems to have been the catalyst for releasing all the tensions that Alinor had kept a lid on in previous years."

"Anyhow, this time Morgiah is sufficiently worried to have started preparing her escape route in case things get ugly. She has a ship with a loyal crew, and she'll need that to reach the mainland whatever she does. We assume she'll want to reach Morrowind, where she can expect her brother Helseth to protect her. That means either sailing into the Illiac bay, and then travelling through Wayrest, Orsinium and Skyrim, or else landing at Anvil, and passing through Cyrodiil."

"What about doing the whole journey by sea?" asked Clark.

"That would only be a reasonable alternative in summer," Uzgash pointed out. "There's too much ice in any other season. Since she doesn't know when she needs to move, she needs another route."

"So Ocato, and Gortwog, need to guarantee her safe passage. It won't be anything formal, as that might be seen as taking sides in a provincial dispute. There can't be any military escort, although her party could have a few local 'guides' added to strengthen their numbers." Margak reminded them that Orc mercenaries were used as caravan guards in most provinces, so that would be easy to arrange.

Clark wasn't sure that the Anvil route would be safe. He recounted his meeting with Lathenil of Sunhold, and the subsequent attempts on his life. This wasn't news to Marghak, as she'd had a report at the time that Uzgash had been sent to Falkreath, but his first-hand perspective was useful. Marghak pointed out that Wayrest also held specific threats for Morgiah, who'd once been a potential rival to her step-sister Elysana in the court there. She felt that they balanced out, and both routes should be made available, if only to divide the forces that could be used against Morgiah.

"Why does Orsinium want to help Morgiah?" Clark asked.

"In case she might be useful later," Taminwe replied. "And the same goes for Cyrodiil. If she owes us a favor, we can call on it when we need to. We have no specific interests in Firsthold itself, but Morgiah may have influence with Helseth. She'll undoubtedly have intelligence about the situation in the Summerset Isle that we can use. You might get called on to help collect that, if she takes the Anvil route."

Clark hadn't been a Earl for long enough to start thinking of himself as a player in those circles. Uzgash reminded him that he hadn't been an Earl when they'd met. "You knew I was Gortwog's daughter, because I told you. But as far as the folk in Falkreath were concerned, I was just a bear rider, and you were just a reporter. Morgiah and Rinalla won't be travelling as a Queen and Princess either."

"Quite likely they'll not even travel as mother and daughter," Marghak suggested. "Rinalla's apparently got some of her father's height, and she's taller than her mother. Morgiah's still young by elf standards, so they could pass for sisters, or just companions."

"And if you've got any problems with sleeping with princesses, Marghak and Uzgash can help you work that out," Taminwe smiled. "I've got to get back to the club, but you three can carry on without me."

This post has been edited by ghastley: Aug 18 2021, 01:06 AM

[Acadian]

Marghak – Enforcer for the Guild of Prostitutes!

Great screenshot of her and it suits her perfectly!

Clark was wise to sidestep the offer to entertain two orcs. While one is, no doubt memorable, two might not be survivable.

Trouble in the Summerset Isle, it seems. . . .

[mALX]

Ooh, Marghak is pretty! I love that she was worried about what Mirabelle Monet is up to! I guess with a guild in Anvil, no one else is allowed to give them competition, ROFL!

Morgiah, isn't that Barenziah's daughter? Love the way you weave lore through this! Really Awesome Write!