» Wed Apr 16, 2014 1:35 pm
Old Gods of the Reachmen
by Aurorialitus Nix, Imperial Scholar
4E 207 - Province of Skyrim, Mede Empire
A cataloguing of Native accounts of the Divine Pantheon of the Reach
Preface:
It seemed as though an age had passed since I first came to the Imperial City to begin my studies at the Tower. I was merely a boy when I began my apprenticeship with the curators, my robes hanging piteously from my bony frame.
My longing to see the world had grown insatiable. So, when a bulletin was put out seeking volunteers for an interprovincial assignment, I positively leapt at the opportunity to do some work out in the field.
My seniors had tasked me with travelling to Skyrim. There, I was to observe and catalogue the various faiths adhered to in the province.
In particular, I was to identify the impact of Imperial victory in Skyrim’s civil war and the continued acknowledgement of the White-Gold Concordat in the aftermath of General Tullius’ quelling of Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak’s bloody rebellion.
My findings on the subject are, as one might assume, unsurprising.
Public worship of Talos has ceased in Skyrim. The temples dedicated to Tiber Septim, first of his dynasty, have been closed. Some of their stonework even used in rebuilding settlements damaged during the war.
Rumours are, however, still abound regarding the private worship of Talos. Whispers tell of even some of the region’s Jarls indulging in the practice.
But, with the Imperial Legion’s reinforced presence in Skyrim’s major holds and the menace of Thalmor Justiciars lurking in the shadows behind them, congregational worship of Talos in Skyrim has become a thing of the past.
So, in an attempt to take something of value and interest from my trip to the cold north, I endeavored to gather information on a widely unknown and uncatalogued faith practiced in the region. One that is perhaps even more mysterious and secretive than contemporary Talos worship. The faith I speak of is the Reachmen’s worship of their native ‘Old Gods’.
The Reach is Skyrim’s westernmost Hold, on the border with High Rock and Hammerfell, and the indigenous, ancestrally-Breton people inhabiting the region make a claim to the lands that extends back to a time before Nord settlers had first entered the area.
Centuries of subjugation, marginalisation and conflict have made the Reachmen an abrasive and distrusting lot. Nevertheless, I was anxious to be among the first scholars from outside their culture to publish works detailing their ancient and ominous religion.
Being Colovian myself, I believe I harbour a natural affinity with the lands of Skyrim. I feel a connection to the fatherland and a sense of belonging there (despite my aversion to the cold and scholarly build).
In the Reach, however, with it's perilous, misty crags and barren, juniper-littered landscape, I felt no such belonging. Here, I was truly an outsider.
My quest for lumination brought me to the city of Markarth, Dwemer-built capital of the Reach, and subsequently to its busiest tavern, the Silver-Blood Inn. The family from whom the inn takes its name was, I’m told, all but wiped out when Madanach, leader of the Forsworn, a rebel band of violent Reachmen, made his bloody escape from Cidhna Mine, a prison labour-camp dug out below the city.
At the inn, I met an aging native. Instantly recognisable from his striking rune-painted face. The man wore the ragged, soot-covered tunic of a miner and coughed between labored breaths. The noise telling of a life spent inhaling subterranean dust. His eyes were tired but hid behind them a primal savageness that time evidently could not dull.
I approached the old man and offered to pay for his next drink. After looking me up and down, he indulged me, responding with a quick nod of his head and an accepting grunt. As he set to his mead, I began telling him of my mission in Skyrim and my hope to catalogue the various faiths of the province. He silently listened to my story, meeting my gaze whilst taking intermittent sips from his mug. His weathered brow furrowed occasionally, the upper sections of his facial tattoos becoming lost in a wrinkled frown.
Once he had finished his drink, he put down his flagon, inhaled purposefully and turned himself to face me directly. After a pregnant pause, he spoke, “Quill and parchment, boy. Pass them here. I don’t trust you to transcribe this truly and I doubt this information shall be made privy to you by any other Reach-son. I shall list for you now the Old Gods of the Reach.”.
Transcribed below is a description of the Reachmen’s pantheon, as revealed to me by the elderly native (the original text is now stored within the Elder Library):
- - - - - - - - - -
Ebrill - Fire in the Blood
Ebrill, fair lady of flesh. She who kindles the hearth. The fertile soil.
With her blessing, new life swells from the meeting of she and he. She is the pulse in the lifeblood and it is through blood’s letting that we honour her most purely.
Kai - Owner of Borrowed Time
Lord of Laws Broken, Kai, is the tolman who collects the tithe as we move from Here to Over There. He picks the ripened fruit from trees born of Ebrill’s bountiful seeds.
It is to him that those men with http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Forsworn_Briarheart must finally give over that which is rightfully his to take.
Hissyen - Father of Our Mothers, Giver of Chase
Hissyen is the heightened sense. The tension in the air. The bloodied muzzle.
He is the thrill of the Hunt. He bares man into the wild and the http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Lycanthropy into man.
It is through him, on feathered wing, that the Matriarchs reach their http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Hagraven_(Skyrim) on high.
Namairia - Carrion Mother
Lady Namairia is the darkness in the hovel and the solace in the shadow.
Hers is the dank and the decaying. She is the rot set in to the overreaching tree. She is the wife of the Hunter and gladly guts his kill. She is the sire of the reviled and her spoils give unto us the tools by which we weave our ancient magics.
Malachy - Reaper-Shepherd
Malachy - King of the Orc-folk, with whom we’ve shared the crags since ancient days when we and http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Aldmer were not much apart.
He is champion to those who have no champion. Observer of oaths made. He sees pacts bound and brings down those who rule o’er peoples that are not theirs to rule.
Warlord and Refuge. It is in times of strife and turmoil when his presence can be felt most strongly.
Ceor - Maker-Breaker
The end and the beginning. Deception and revelation. Father and bastard-son. Ceor is all these things. His is a perilous path to http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Forsworn_Briarheart. It is one that takes all yet gives back more than should be asked for.
Vaermyn - Well of Fathomless Depths
Vaermyn is the murky pool from which clarity springs forth. She is the fevered dream. Through broths’ heady vapours she fills the mind with sights. Futures, pasts, what is and what might yet be. In slumber we are the denizens of her realm.
Mernach-Donn - The Changer
Fiery Lord Donn is chief of upheaval. His rage turns forests of doubt to ash and paves the way for revolution. He takes his prize and gives no quarter. He is forward motion. The unknowable horizon that only the brave may one day see.
- - - - - - - - - -
After the old man had finished writing (his hand surprisingly elegant for one who has presumably worked the earth for all his life), he pushed the parchment in my direction, rose from his stool and left the tavern without uttering another word. Only later did I realise he had taken the quill feather with him, leaving the inky tip behind.
---
End.
----
OOC: I wasn't entirely sure where to post this. I had seen in-game style "book" mock-ups posted here in the past and the Fan Fiction sub-forum seemed to have a more on-going story focus.
I wanted to share my idea for the Reach's Old Gods with fellow enthusiasts in the style of an in-world account. The text is written with the assumption that the Imperials won in Skyrim's civil war and, as such, the White-Gold Concordat is still being enacted throughout the Empire (perhaps even more strictly as part of the Empire's response to the uprising).
I welcome any constructive criticism you guys might have and am happy to explain my choices for which gods appear in the Reachmen's pantheon. I chose the names of the Old Gods based on Proto-Celtic/Brythonic names resembling the conventional names of various Aedra and Daedra.
