» Tue May 08, 2012 10:19 am Imperial Dreamsleeve Transmission #A10918234
Encryption: Preponderous
Priority: Mediocre
Clearance: Penitus Oculatus, Agents of the Fourth and Fifth Outer Circles; Intrattendants of the Subjacent Board of Trade; Peripatetic Members of the Mnemocyte Investigatory Commission; Honourable Adepts of the Ancestor Shawl Looms (special attention of M & D); Equi-Valent Retainers of the Prime Transaurbic Relay, Etc. Etc. (abbreviated for transmission compression - refer to Codex Somnalius, Encryption Protocol Q)
For The Attention of Those Whom It Concerns:
Pentannual Census of the Houses of Morrowind, Post Red-Year
In Partial Fulfilment
Of the Terms of the Act of Ash Restitution 4E 32
Compiled under the Thrice-Blessed Authority
--Bedt—Ayem—Meht--
Of the Grand Council of the New North
Oran-Mathmel-Within-Solstheim
4E 166
Intraglyph: Redacted with Commentary for the elevation of the appropriately refined intellects under the supervision of Seleucius Quarens Ristiphal; Attendant-at-Large to the Esteemed Elder Council; Knight Commandant of Sutch-As-Was, Keeper of the River-Drakes, Groom of the Stool etc.,etc.
Preamble: Of The Current Head and Agenda of the Grand Council of the New North
The Council convenes under the light yet firm direction of Her Thrice-Blessed Excellency by the Grace of All Houses and All Relevant Ghosts the duly appointed Hortator Danasi Ginadura Rethandus-Jaroon, elected by unanimity after the honourable death by duel of Bervyn Feruren Rothryn Jaroon, May He Pass The Waiting Door.
The Council’s ongoing agenda is firstly the servicing of the Armistice by which our allegiance to His August Majesty the Emperor is conditionally assured in perpetuity, and secondly the proper conduct of obligations pursuant to the Treaty of Cession by which the New North is held. In parallel, our goal is the reclamation of Morrowind in its entirety from the disasters which have enveloped it, the return of the offspring of the diaspora to their ancestral lands, and the promulgation of responsible architecture and appropriately recalibrated piety.
Further to pursuing these goals, we have duly appointed the High Clerk of Bones Rilas Rothalnim to compile our pentannual census, in recognition of our reciprocal obligations outlined in the Treaty of Ash Restitution 4E32, Clause Fourteen, and hereby humbly submit the results of this most recent survey for the due consideration of the Highly Esteemed Elder Council in eager anticipation of the deliberations of the Imperial Commission’s pension review.
Intraglyph: So it seems dear old Rilas has been lumbered with compiling the census again. For the third time running, which is unusual. Has he been caught fiddling expenses again, I wonder? I can’t say I envy the poor s’wit – persuading the Houses to divulge their current haeccities must be a bureaucratic nightmare even the filing system of the Synod could not hope to match – S.Q.R.
Subsection A: Of the Great Houses of Old
Great House Indoril , Which Is Preserved Alone in Honour by their Kinship with Nerevar pre-Incarnate, remains honor-bound in service to the dead, never ceasing in their titanic efforts to staunch the flow of ancestor spirits from the Great Rift of Necrom, even with the great expenditure of life and gold in their quest further diminishing their nigh-spent bloodlines. Though eight-tenths of their number remain deceased, their incorporeality has not prevented them from participating in matters of state, and the Citadel of Bitter Tears at Bal Raaven shimmers with the whispers of the advice of ancestor spirits as the Ordinators-In-Mourning plan their latest expeditions to the buried ancestral tombs of Morrowind. Their sigil remains, as ever, the Visage of Nerevar.
Intraglyph: How fitting that the last act of a dying house should be to bury itself and all those who trusted in it. How the spirit of Uriel the Seventh must be laughing in Aetherius! – S.Q.R.
Great House Hlaalu, beneficiary of the boon times of the Third Era, is fallen into disarray, amidst controversy over guar-pricing, the finer details of ritual assassination and the particularly heinous theft of a component of a Ghostfence in a dispute over ancestral propitiation. The aforementioned metacarpus still not having been returned, in accordance with the protocols of the Council their seat is held in abeyance by Ancestral Substitution until such time as the duelling potentates of Kragenmoor and Narsis (of which more subsequently) are reconciled. The Scales of their sigil, being broken, no longer balance.
Intraglyph: It appears that the division of the Empire's formerly valuable instrument of influence shall continue for the foreseeable future, and that more effective allies shall have to be sought lest we get involved in yet more provincial bickering – S.Q.R.
House Deshaan, anon the splinter-child of Dres by distaff line, and heir to all traditions and holdings not yet abolished pertaining thereto, holds once again a seat on the Council of the New North after their fourth (and this time successful) appeal to the Hortator for their reinstatement. Owing to the blood-guilt incurred by their forefather's invocation of the wrath of Argonia, they are still forbidden from speaking, but due to their increasing dominance of the Ebony markets and skilful manipulation of the public sphere, it seems likely to be only a matter of time before their full status is restored. Their sigil is the Sky Render.
Great House Redoran’s bloodlines are cut, and their holds are unmade by transliminal invasion, lunar impact, Lorkhanic pyroclasm or amphibian uprising. In honorary obeisance to the formulary for their past service: REMEMBER REDORAN NEVER FORGET. By order of the Council, their ghosts are held in trust amidst the bonestocks of Jaroon (of which more subsequently) until such a time as hypothetical claimants-by-blood are uncovered to make the appropriate obeisances, and reinstate the privileges flowing from such.
Intraglyph: Well, it seems martyrdom has its recompense after all. Let life be short, lest shame be too long, to quote Gor Felim. The Telvanni, in contrast, not being mourned even by the remaining Houses, have been obliterated from this codex of Memory (!) – sic semper demens scientia! – S.Q.R.
Subsection B: Of the New Houses of Oran-Mathmel anon Solstheim
Intraglyph: Due to the absurd predilections of the Dunmer for genealogy and needless formality, supplementary details of the founding of each House have once again been lazily copied from the brine-stored corpuscle of the previous transmission. Seasoned Merologists may wish to inhale only the freshest memospores. Consider yourselves forewarned against somnolic overexposure – S.Q.R.
House Jaroon - the mightiest of the New Houses holds for the fourth decade the seat of Hortator, in honour of their instrumental role in the Pact with the Northmen and their vast holdings in both the New North and the Ashwastes. Their fortunes were ballistically transformed from humble beginnings as salt-dredgers in Llatrys when, whilst sheltering from Red Day in the towers of ruined Dwemereth, the great tsunami brought to their feet a fragment of the shell of the Emperor of Crabs, upon which the founders of the House escaped afloat into the ash-thick Inner Sea, where by judicious punting they rescued many hundreds of Dunmer from the burning villages of the coastline. Upon the end of their long voyage to Solstheim, the shell was reconfigured by bonemolding into the foundations of the First City, where the shell-captains remain as pillars of the nation to this day. Their sigil is the Poisonous Scrib.House Sul – that which was named for Alandro Sul, immortal son of Azura, Shield-Companion of Nerevar and Prophet of Whispering Ears, whose skull was unmade but whose luminous soul garlanded a crown of iron rings, and whose clan are not those who bear his name by blood, but who listen to his Truth. Amidst their names are Sul who truced the Void Ghost’s ravings, and Sul-Matuul, confidant of the Incarnate, who cast out his only son Sul, who after years of wandering and truth-ministry amongst the outer realms, returned to this Starry-Heart to claim his ancestor's bow and his father's seat on the council. Most politically resourceful of the New Houses, these pioneers of the New North are devoted to spreading the enlightenment of their sibilantly murmuring Truths, and their New Ordinators march forth clad in the three-eyed Face of Sul in defiance of Vehk’s treachery. And wherever the populace does not listen, they never cease to unearth yet more ringlets from the ruins of Resdayn to add to the chorus of the dream-song of their long-dead founder. Their sigil is the Tusk of the Bat-Tiger.
Intraglyph: More like pioneers of the intrigues and gerrymandering of the New North – their agents infest the New Temple and their influence reaches even as far as Cheydinhal. Dangerous and inimical to our interests are they, and not to be underestimated, heirs to the Telvanni of old in their ability to obstruct our ends – S.Q.R.
House Panud – still firm in the Council are the former egg-miners and glass-sherders born from those caught in the crimson zone by the blast of Red Day, and buried alive in the caves beneath the Ashes. With no hope of rescue, they struck out west without light and nothing but their fingernails to dig. Whence after long months of tunneling they encountered and joined with the workers of the Eggmines of Ashiman, Asha and others, whose sub-sigil by lamp-treaty is the Kwama egg. With the rumbling of Red Mountain still in their ears, the new alliance dug way out under the flaming ruins of Khuul, beneath the Sea of Ghosts, to Solstheim, where they erupted from the earth amidst the First Council of the New North, to cast their vote at the last minute. To this day, there is none who can match their mastery of mines, or their subterranean holdings of a quality unheard of since the Dwemer. Their sigil is the Ebon Vein.
House Velms - loyally serving the Council for more than a century are the heirs and confidants of Sadryon, the only man surviving to see the fall of Baar Dau on Vivec with his own eyes, who in the midst of interrogating a Ne-Quin-Alian bookseller of said city instinctively recalled himself to Ghostgate, whereupon he was again beset by the eruption of Red Mountain. The magics by which he escaped such a fate, in the company of his erstwhile prisoner, are not known, but he established himself via many judicious feats of magecraft and great piety in the taming of the New North, resulting in the great prosperity of his heirs, who fill the ranks of the New Temple and the Whirling Schools. Their sigil is the Eye that witnessed the Fall.
House Skaal – in order to set aside all residual claims of dispossession, and despite their human status, Skaal were the will of the Fourth Session of the Council duly incorporated as a House-Of-Infidels by as were the Dwemer in Resdayn of old, and thus entitled to preferential maintenance of their territories. Despite the unseemly Battle of Thirsk, the ongoing disputes over the rights of their ice-bound dead, and the outrageous events surrounding the second resurrection of Aesliip, they prosper to this day. Their sigil is the Wolf-Bear.
Intraglyph: Very diplomatic of them not to mention the Stahlrim by name! The animistic natives are nearly as protective of their ancestors as the Dunmer. What a jolly neighbourhood the Isle has become – S.Q.R.
House Indarys - created by acclamation from the line of the Count of Tarn-Cyrod, anon Cheydin’s Hall, they who offered sanctuary to many homeless clans in the aftermath of Red Year, only to hazard all for their sake beneath the worm-encrusted bombardment of the Infernal City. Through his heroic actions the field of battle, so was Farwil Indarys proclaimed as House-Masterby his grateful vassals, travelling in the aftermath to renew obeisance at the tomb of his ancestors, far from his father’s shadow. In the restultant capacity his heirs have of late been confirmed by the Council despite claims by the Hlaal-Fragments of violation of Due Process. Amongst the landless sons and daughters of Indarys, many have made haste to Morrowind to claim territory in recognition of due privilege, and have carved out a place on the ash-blasted frontier. Their sigil is the Thorn.
Intraglyph: It seems that the Count’s boys are all grown up! I would claim this infiltration as a success but they have been most reticent of late. They must be reminded of their obligations without delay – S.Q.R.
Subsection D: Of the Houses Insufferable
Intraglyph: the criteria for entry into the Council of the New North are numerous but not especially weighty. Nevertheless there remain a few considered so heinous in their misdeeds or polluted by their origins that even despite full registration in the codices they have been denied even the right to operate a Mouth (yet given House Ouada’s tendency towards creative literalism, even this may be considered a blessing) – S.Q.R.
House Ouada - a curious alliance of the illegitimate bottle-grown sons of the Telvanni and assorted Dreugh-Jiggers of the West Coast. Facing suffocation in the burning air of Red Year they cast spells of water breathing and walked from the devastation of Telvannis along the ocean floor to Solstheim. Barred by the abomination of their birth from the Council, and rejected by all others for the new eyes they adopted under the waves, their Hearths are forced to burn without air. Still amphibious by nature to this day, they travel as far as the Scathing Bay in covert underwater warfare against the Kingdoms of the Dreugh and the polymorphous lizard-spawn of Black Marsh. Their sigil is the upturned boat.Intraglyph: Ah, how I yearn for the days of my great-grandfather’s tenure, when we could rely on old Divayth to deconvolute these things – S.Q.R.
House Thiralas – of this reclusive House little of what is known may be said. Their seat at the Council is reserved in honour of their founder, despite their being barred from attendance for the duration of the next Era. We duly invoke the Fifth Provision of the Armistice in defence of our silence.
Intraglyph: Despite all our contacts we have still been unable to determine the source of this geas, save for the fact that all mention of their insult was erased from the lips of the Council by the dancing of the Whirling Schools. And it must have been bad if they had to get involved – S.Q.R.
Subsection D: Of the Houses Schismatic
Intraglyph: By convention of the Council, Houses lacking Consensus of Blood are to be referred to by hyphenated prefix in honour of their origin. To such fragments of older clans, these affectations are markers of distinction, but to the eyes of many others they are accounted a sign of pretentiousness, and thus often left unwritten – S.Q.R.
House Sathil – a fragment of House Indoril, which has renounced all ties with its former liege-lord. Their pivotal role in the taming of the New North need not be repeated here, but since that time they have developed a most unsavoury reputation for their enthusiastic embrace of the culture of their adopted homeland, as shown by their predilection for Nordic retainers and renunciation of the Triune way for the supposed purity of Anu in his Aspect of the Allmaker. They have prospered by this acquiescence to human mores, and their numerous and wealthy holds evince a unique style of architecture which fuses the cantons of their ancestors with the stone and pine of Skyrim. Their sigil is the Draugr.Intraglyph: It’s the omissions which are always more fascinating than what’s included, are they not? – S.Q.R.
House Hlaal-Ilmeni – heaped in dishonour are the scions of Helseth, who by denial of Blood-Consensus to Llathis-Hlaaluranyon sundered the House Fathers and forfeited their noble House’s seat at the Council (whose place is now taken by the summoned ghost of Duke Brindisi-Dorom). Though still holding the border city of Kragenmoor since the departure of Llathis’ followers, and enjoying the favour of the Medes, such assurances count for little in the turbulent politics of the East. The current Grandmaster prefers to cast their schism in terms of principle, and has acted ruthlessly against those who would claim that the discovery of new Ebony deposits on Vvardenfell was the ultimate cause. Through the efforts of the House Guards, the lucrative trade routes to Cyrod and Cheydin’s Hall remain open for business, and to fund their dispute with their brethren in Narsis the Hlaalu-Ilmeni grasp at fortune as never before.
Intraglyph: My, how deliciously and unexpectedly candid! It appears that someone in the New North is mighty displeased by all this. I do have to wonder if it’s the new broom of the redoubtable Lady Rethandus-Jaroon, but there may be more to this. You shall be informed in due course – S.Q.R.
House Hlaal-Odai – Following the outrageous events surrounding the failed election of a successor to Grandmaster Sothis, by order of the Council of the New North the two factions were sequestered in the old Imperial Fortress at Kragenmoor until they had reached a resolution. Llathis-Hlaaluran’s supporters, finding the current situation to have become intolerable, absconded one moons-dark night from Kragenmoor to establish a rival seat at the ancient Hlaalu capital of Narsis by saurian treaty. Much controversy has surrounded their taking with them the finger-bone of the paternal ancestor of Llathis, that is to say Hlaalu-Athyn-Llethan, from the House’s new Ghostfence in protest at the desecration of placing it at right angles to the sternum of his self-admitted murderer. Regardless of the merits of this argument, Llathis controls with ruthless discernment the river-striders and barges of the Heartland, so as to deny them to his foes.
Intraglyph: Note the oblique reference to the Symbiosis with the Squamous Organism. Not a popular subject to draw attention to in the East, I should think – S.Q.R.
Subsection K: Of the Orders of The New Temple
Intraglyph: Riven by schisms as diverse and convoluted as the wranglings of the Marukhati, the Temple is an eviscerated shell of its former power. Nevertheless, like a coppiced tree, whilst the main trunk lies rotting on the ground, the once-buds of the stump grow stronger and more independent-minded by the day. Notwithstanding our obligations to the Thalmor, these advances must be countered without delay, lest our ancient enemy resurrect itself from the twilight of the chimerical Land-Gods – S.Q.R.
The Gravid Armigers – though no longer Buoyant, mourning for those of their brethren who were launched between Dawn and Dusk at the sundering of Ghostgate, the catastrophically reduced warrior-poets nevertheless continue to spread the auto-heretical Love-Teachings of Vehk and Vehk, in earnest anticipation of his and His return. Though their recruitment remains slow, as per tradition, their numbers are increasing, and have swollen greatly of late by the addition of those remaining of Her Fingers who survived the Battle of the Epiphyte. Most notable of their feats of late, are the slaying by iambic pentameter of the Arch-Warden of the Proximal Organism and the subsequent recovery of the mummy of Saint Roris from the Necropolis at Thorn. The seal of their order is the Egg-Belly.
Intraglyph: The mention of Vivec should serve as a reminder of a point of genuine importance – the current status of the Crepuscular Interdiction requires robust discussion at a time of greater convenience. We have unconfirmed yet trustworthy reports of Winged Twilight sightings. Could this mean that it has been circumvented at last? – S.Q.R.
The Transeltheric Reprobates – of this Order, whose celebrated role in the [Nulinterruption: REDACTED. Security clearance insufficient. Questions pertaining to the Black Ordinators are to be addressed to His Excellency Archiminister Dravidius of the Tenth Inner Circle, under Axial Refraction only – S.Q.R.] The seal of their order is the burning airship.
The Order of Wrathmen - by origin an annexe of Great House Indoril’s portion of Oblation, what was once a punitive cloister to teach feckless sons and daughters of minor nobles much-needed lessons in humility, has been cast into the front lines of the Waiting Doors since the Breach of Necrom. The orders of bound ghosts who once chased their errant brethren across the Ash now lead them to the locations of the buried Ancestral Tombs that are resting places of their bones, so as to carry them back to the Citadel of Bitter Tears at Bal Raaven, where they await incorporation into the new crypts and the composition of appropriate Cantatas. The seal of their order is the Ashpit.
Intraglyph: Yes, yes, the Indoril have been doing this for centuries. Why make special mention of it now? There must be more to this. I shall see to the appointment of a Quaestor without delay – S.Q.R.
The Order of Saint Jiub - As their martyred master instructed in driving a great plague from Vvardenfell, so today they strive to rid the land of plagues by beast. Their fighting chantries have expelled from Solstheim for reasons of depopulation of House Skaal’s totemic animals, but they do not appear unduly inconvenienced by this, as they have found many recruits in the poorer colonies of the New North. Through the gratitude of Boethia for tirelessly clearing his hedge-mazes of an infestation of Chicaneries, a new island has risen from the ocean floor, which they now hold as the bone repository of the relics of their founder and as their fortress-temple. The seal of their order is the cliff racer.
Subsection R: Of Other Factions of Note
The So-Called Children of Veloth – Of late, betrayed by the ossified dogmas of the Old Temple and the endless schisms of the New, growing numbers of the young and restless Dunmer have heeded the calls of those who would return to the purity of the doctrines of the Prophet Veloth. Some even go so far as to believe the fall of Baar Dau to be Ancestral judgement, sweeping away the last remnants of decayed and decadent civilisation to create a new, pristine Promised Land as was granted to Veloth by Boethiah and the other Good Daedra of old. In great numbers they forsake the bonds of House-Hearth and Clan to flee to the Ashwastes, taking for inspiration the names of the Zainab, Erabinimsun and others once lost to the gable-raising of Houses such as Namminit, Cantimeri, Desshanasa and the Four Seeds of Veloth. Much like the ancient tribes, they have no governance to speak of, and depending on their personal character, they may either present a safe haven to a traveller in the Ashwastes or yet another danger.
Intraglyph: I should mention in passing that our Void-Tendrils have reported that a large party of these humourless and po-faced living fossils has caused no end of trouble in Attribution’s Share of late. Curious that the Council do not see fit to mention this, hmm? – S.Q.R.
Camonna Hlaal – devoted in previous eras to the annihilation of foreign influence in the East, of late they have found new purpose in the absence of any homeland to be so despoiled. Their myriad contacts are thus put to more profitable use, in the plying of sugar-barques and striders as far afield as Pelletine and the Niben. By treaty with the Ninth Inner Circle, their activities in Cyrodiil are no longer restricted, in token exchange for their valuable assistance in the Eldenroot incident of which no more may be written under the terms of the Edict of Kvatch, section four.
Intraglyph: Pathetic! As if they really think they could hold a candle to the Gilded Whisker of the Quin’Rawl! – S.Q.R.
The Morag Tong – by the Whims of the Weaver, this order has been sundered and remains in large part untraceable. Despite our entreaties to the former membership, it seems they are in hiding, much like the Trapdoor Spider beloved of their androgynous Prince, in eager anticipation of the weaving of a new strand from her abyssal Spinnerets. The new Web that has been woven is one that we are only beginning to unravel, but whether the Tong’s disappearance portends the loss of Mephala’s patronage or merely the start of another of her schemes is, much like her Sphere, obscured.
Intraglyph: Truly astounding revelations – the followers of the Prince of obscurity are mysterious! Such insight! Why the Imperial Commission insists on demanding this redundant exercise in bureaucracy every five years is quite beyond me – S.Q.R.
Annexe A: Further to the recent events of note
Comment has been requested regarding the Council’s official stance on the Vandor Depradation. These are the facts as understood by the Council. The Expedition was initiated by the [REDACTED], those Black Ordinators who, tormented by the Worm-scourged pleading of their fifty mothers frozen in slavepast, stood up in Council [REDACTED] and renounced all their Hearth-bonds. In the company of Tymvaul the Disrobed and [REDACTED], they quested by Skylamp as far as the shores of Vandor to free the bones of their forefathers from the snares of the vile denizens of Thras. Slaying dozens in the names of Veloth and the Triune Saints, and returning in triumph trailed by an opalescent cloud of ancestors, only to confront [REDACTED] deferred until the new session of the Council.
Intraglyph: Nothing here we couldn’t have surmised ourselves, but it is good to have official confirmation that Bendu Olo’s heirs are continuing the good work – S.Q.R.
Annexe B: Further to the Othrensis Incident
Intraglyph: Ah, and here at last we find something of genuine interest! – S.Q.R.
Significant resources, both mundane and mythic, have been devoted to the investigation of this mystery. We may confirm that the apparitions have been identified without doubt as the Pearlescent Chronographers – freed from Mystery’s service by his dying Silence-As-The-Abortive, those twelve hundred Saints who fell at Seht’s side in the Battle of Mournhold and whose souls were forged into the Armour of Oscillating Quartz to preserve their varliance ride once again on the surface of Tamriel. Mounted now on Cartilagenous Fabricants, othertimes on the bladed wings of Dwemeri autogyros, they appear instantaneously from one of the Infinite Doors of Ur-Sotha wherever the need is greatest, dispensing imperfect objects, riddles and mechanisms to the astonished populace.
