Argonia: Origins and Misinterpretations

Imperial nativity runs rampant within the public opinion and knowledge of the history of Argonia. Few truths are hidden within the histories written and distributed amongst those that believe what they read and ignore the outcries of those who have witness and remembered such events. However, it is the opinion of the true Saxhleel that the Imperial interpretation of Argonian history doesn't matter because all the fools don't have a place in Argonian culture. They are satisfied with the western men and mer knowing whatever they wish to believe because the true history resides with the Saxhleel and only the Saxhleel. However, having grown up amongst the tribes and chiefs of Argonia, and having traveled amongst them and learning of my tribe-brothers, I have learned the true history of Argonia and the Imperial happenings that surround it.

First it is important to consider the humble origins. Only theory surrounds the origins of the marshes of Argonia, the Hist that inhabit it, and the Saxhleel who call it their home today. It is generally believed that the Hist were amongst the first sentient beings on Nirn and that they stood and watched as the Ehlfoney waged civil war. Much of Argonia was lost, or so is believed, before written history began, and the emergence of Saxhleel is also as mysterious as the swamps themselves. The origin of the species of Argonian is widely debated amongst tribal chiefs and lore-bards but there is a parallelism in all beliefs which root in the spiritual connection the Hist made with the ancestors of the Argonians. Amongst all the other beings of Tamriel, the Hist chose the Argonians, or their ancestors, to be their chosen race. It is amongst these beliefs that multiple origin theories spring up from the ancient Saxhleel and from there the truth has been lost to time.

The historic tribes and ancient beliefs of the Argonians, including the Jeewa and the Hleel'kwa, dated back to before the emergence of different tribes. It is said that although the Hist are all connected and have a hive-mind of sentience and that true beliefs are shared amongst the ancient trees, the difference of tradition and way of life is what separated the Saxhleel into the patten of tribes. Whether these beings know the truth of the birth of Argonia and the Saxhleel is unknown but the Hist have been remarkably silent on the subject. Hist, to this day, still are the silent guardians, protectors, and advisers of the multiple Saxhleel tribes and are have the power to unite the Saxhleel into a singular force if they deem it is necessary. However, it is unclear why the Hist have allowed inner conflict between Saxhleel tribes to become part of their daily life when the Argonians have been so successful united.

Much like the noble houses of the western men and mer, tribal chiefs and lords amongst us claim to have descended from the earliest of tribes. The truth, much like other truthes amongst the Argonians, is hidden but the claims amongst such tribes as the Agaceph and the Killii are the greatest. Such tribes as the Agaceph have been in recorded history since the late First Era while others have only recently popped up in written text (although it is not tradition amongst Saxhleel to record their history with written words but with songs, tales, and poetry). The oldest of tribes have, traditionally, held the most influence amongst the Saxhleel and only recently have more military or numerous clans have begun to take hold of the Saxhleel influence. Much of this is thanks to the invasion of Mehrues Dagon and his cohorts in the late third era and also the aftermath of the eruption of the Red Mountain in Vvardenfall. However, this is getting into the later and more recent history and beginning to stray from the origins from which we began.

Imperial history says that in the late first era, Reman's empire struck a blow to Argonia by defeating "combined forces of Argonia in the western marshes" and thus "seizing a considerable amount of marsh". However, much of this is sugar-coated Imperialistic nonsense and misinterpretation. The actual events that transpired in the late first era are akin to revolution and youthful uprising and are not recorded in Imperial History but is well known amongst the lore-bards, folklorists, and tribal chiefs amongst almost every Saxhleel tribe.

In the late first era, there was a War-Chief of an ancient tribe (whose name and tribe have been since forgotten) who believed that the future of the Argonians lied in the southern Niben Valley. His idea spread like fire amongst many of the youth of Saxhleel and he begged all Argonians to take up arms against the growing Imperial threat and to expand westward to further the Argonian dream. Many youthful Argonians, which within burned the idea of slaying Imperials, took up this idea and traveled westward and joined this war-chief, abandoning their honour. It was this youthful band, who experimented with moon-sugar, skooma, and swordsmanship that the Reman Empire fought in the late first era. It was not difficult to rout the entire "army" of youthful, experimenting Argonians with the trained Imperialistic ways of the Imperial legion. However, Reman's historians marked the battle as a "devastating blow of the Argonian army" when, in fact, the true Saxhleel force was not at all represented. The truth behind the loss of the Argonians is that they abandoned the power of the spear in order to experiment with steel of the sword and with tenets of love and emotion rather than the tactful honor of the Jeewa and the patient zen of the Hleel'kwa.

Thus, the "War-Chief" whose revolution had swept through the youth of the Saxhleel tribes had thus surrendered to Reman and agreed to give him the lands which he had conquered for himself with the sheer numbers. Ancient tribal warfare, which did not condone killing of another Saxhleel in battle, was abandoned by the war-chief and thus he was able to conquer many of the Western Saxhleel tribes by killing his brethren (while those he fought against attempted to win with the honour that dominated their beliefs). The ultimate surrender of the war-chief included all lands that the had conquered from the Western Tribes being given to Reman. This was recorded as "seizing land" in Argonia but, truthfully, it was apparent to Reman that the true forces of the Saxhleel could become a real problem if he dared to tread any further inward of the swamps. He had lost successive scouts (as is apparent from many legends amongst Argonian tribes of Imperial men wandering and thus being captured, tortured, then executed) and it was clear the the Imperial leaders at the time were quite afraid of the swamps of Argonia. They put a flag in the land they were given and claimed the whole province for the empire while, in reality, the Saxhleel cared little for the outside world and, although there was a little tension with the western tribes that were driven out, many Saxhleel turned a bind eye to the affairs of the Remans in the western swamps. (These lands eventually became Leyawiin and the "Black Wood" as termed by Nibens at a later date)

The collapse of the second empire made little ripples in the province of the Black Marsh. The ancient tribes split, were forgotten, and were replaced by the newer tribes that trace their lineage back to the Second Era. The Hist had, in this point of time, begun to call for meetings between the tribes to discuss international matters but were more dominated by debates of where borders should be, who's champion was the strongest, and which tribe had the most power amongst the marsh. The fruits of these tribal meetings, at times, did see the light of day. Such fruits were the building of roads that caravans began to travel upon, the construction of towns for inter-tribal trading and meeting, as well as ports on the eastern coast of Argonia for trade amongst Dunmeri in the north and the Khajiiti to the west. It was at this time when many Saxhleel began to feel the influence of the Imperials, crumbled empire or not, and began to attempt to try their hand at western tradition. There were many Saxhleel that found this to be completely against their tradition and began to fight against the tribes that were beginning to westernize. This led to, for the first time in history, bloodshed amongst Saxhleel. The abandoning of Jeewa by the westernizing Saxhleel was thought to be the ultimate dishonor and the punishment deem-able was death. The response that many Saxhleel greeted westernization struck fear into many would-be Imperialistic argonians and stopped the would-be westernization from spreading too far. There were a few tribes that responded to the violence with even further efforts to westernize and only few found themselves tasting the sweet nectar of success.

However, those that did choose to Westernize found asylum in the growing cities. There, the emergence of capitalism and currency, as well as service guilds, began to grow, although at a pace much slower than the early growth of the western cousins of these cities. The swamps of the Saxhleel made growth for cities all but impossible and getting food and supplies to these cities was largely impaired by the foliage of the marshes and raids of those who claimed themselves to be "true Saxhleel" (most notably the Nagas).

The northern tribes, at this time, were beginning to feel the pressure of the Dunmeri slave trade. Both Khajiit and Saxhleel found the magic and the swordsmanship of the Dunmeri to be overbearing and alien, and some of the weaker tribes were broken apart by the Dunmer and enslaved. The Saxhleel, whether because of the Hist or not, soon became very distrusting of all outside races because of their tendency to not be content with their own internal affairs and to jump in and disrupt the lives of those outside of their home. Northern tribes developed guerrilla tactics to deal with the Dunmers which spread amongst many of the Saxhleel, even in the south, and became part of their warfare when dealing with other races. This was apparent when Tiber Septim began his conquest of Argonia in the third era and later when Mehrues began his invasion in the last years of same era.

In the beginning of the Third Era, Tiber Septim began his conquests. He began preliminary conquests of the inner marshes. Being the first Imperial to attempt to conquer the Black Marsh, Tiber Septim faced immediate problems. Many of these (as can be ascertained from the journals of legionnaires and lore-bards of the Saxhleel) were the poisonous barbs that plants often had as well as fleshflies that fed on sleeping Imperials. Other beasts also ravaged supply lines and made life for the soldiers extremely difficult. Septim immediately realized that a conquest of the Marsh would be costly, but, still, he made threats of a joint invasion from the north and west (as well as a sea-invasion from the east). The Numidium was also mentioned (various letters from Tiber to Saxhleel tribe-chiefs and princes have revealed such information) as being a tool of intimidation.

It was at this point that the Hist called for a Wla'ta: a historic gathering of Saxhleel. While, historically, Saxhleel generally sent their tribal chiefs and a small guard party for meetings, it was at this point where most of the tribe (according to folk-lorists: elders, expectant mothers, and children (along with a small grouping of warriors to protect and serve them) were exempt from attending) traveled to Gideon, the ancient meeting point, to discuss. It was here where the Agacephs led discussion on creating a treaty with Tiber Septim. Many Saxhleel thought this against their tradition and culture, but the huge influence of the Agaceph calmed the growing rage and ushered in an age of peace with the Empire. Many Saxhleel heard stories of armies being decimated by Tiber Septim and his Dwemer construct and decided to parlay to the leader, avoiding a messy conflict in exchange for peace. In return, the Septim dynasty would control, only in name, the Black Marsh. The peace was sealed but was a rocky one at that: several crimes were committed against the legionnaires who patrolled and were stationed in Argonian cities. Legionnaires would be decapitated in the street by "bandit" Argonians and entire Imperial families would be slain in thrown in the muddy streets. Imperial influence waned in the province and hatred flared between the two groups.

The Imperials did serve as a re-ignition of an attempt at westernization. The protection that they served provided a barrier between the Jeewa-weilding traditionalists that still made up the tribes of the interior swamps and the westernized farmers, traders, and sailors that began to pop in the cities and their surroundings. Western Argonians were still largely unsuccessful due to the geography of Argonia and the anti-Imperial tribes of the swamp but there was more success than there was originally before the Septim Empire took hold.

Cities began to prosper as the third era marched on. There was certain success in Lilmoth but non-Argonians soon began to become terrified of the aura that surrounded the place. In my own visits to Lilmoth, I have discovered that the city, more than any other in existence, reflects the aura of the inner swamps. This, more than anything, I believe, is what results in the unnatural fear that non-Argonians have for the city. However, the scar on Argonian history, in this period, was the Arnesian War.

Dunmeri history is more reliable than the early Imperial works and so when it describes that the Argonian army was defeated, it was correct. It was right before the war that the second Wla'ta convened. The northern tribes knew they were on the cusp of all out war and asked for their southern brothers to aid them in taking up arms. Knowing that the Dunmeri were not interested in the lands south of the northern tribes, they told them that it was not their problem. The laws of Jeewa did not contradict this, and so most of the inner and southern tribes agreed to this standing. The northern tribes, although bitterly, understood, and decided to face the Dunmeri alone. It has been said that the only other race that can stand up to true Saxheel warfare and that is the Dunmeri. The Arnesian War is a testament to this. The Dunmeri were ultimately successful but found little use in the swamps. They ended up decimating many of the northern tribes, but, even though the combined armies of the Houses of Dunmer outnumbered the northern tribes 3 to 1, the Dunmer still lost many of their southern cities and lands. They have attempted to reconquer these places but, for the most part, have failed in that effort. The Argonians are said to have lost on paper but many Great Houses will say (as I have asked and heard from them myself), that the Arnesian War was more costly than they would have liked.

The power of the Saxhleel was noted in the Arnesian War but none more so than when Mehrues Dagon invaded in the late Third Era. The Hist, before any other species, predicted Mehrues' invasion. They convened the third (and most recent) Wla'ta where a group of Westernized Argonians held most of the discussion. The Hist predicted that Mehrues would hit the cities first (as even the Daedric Prince of destruction was unsure about invading the swamps). A newly formed tribe of mostly mystic and magickly-gifted Argonians called the An-Xileel were what dominated the discussions. Their knowledge of the daedric prince was what put weight into their words and they called for a "unification, or destruction, of all Saxhleel". Backed by the Killii and the Agacepth, arguably two of the most dominant tribes, as well as the Westernized Argonians (which, at this point, were beginning to be referred to as "assimilated"), the majority of Saxhleel agreed. For the first time in recorded history, a singular Argonian army was formed. When the Oblivion gates did open, the Saxhleel immediately were prepared. The retaliation was swift and overwhelming, and Mehrues immediately realized that the Saxhleel were not worth conquering. Immediately, Mehrues rescinded his invasion forces and focused elsewhere. This was the first testament of the true power of the Argonians and, with this new found confidence, and with the influential prodding of the An-Xileel, the Argonians broke ties with the Imperials.

Not found in Imperial history books was the slaughtering of many Imperial guards and their families that were housed in the cities. There were mock-courts set up in the streets of many of the cities and were usually characterized by the guards being thrown into a mob of tribal and assimilated Argonians and being ripped limb from limb. Many Imperials fled in the night and died almost immediately in the swamps with only a few surviving as stowaways on trading ships to other provinces.

As explained here, the history of Argonia is dominated by conflict. Although much of the history is only known through spoken word, when put together, it creates a puzzle of Argonian history known only to a few. Imperial and Dunmeri misinterpretations aside, the actual lore of Argonian is hidden to the common Westerner, and, whether man or mer, few know what the Argonians truly are and what their culture really is.