Nerevar Reborn

by Trels Varis

A shepherd's son of the Cheremisa Grasslands tribe that roamed the northeast fringes between Cyrodiil and Morrowind, whose people were killed in the interests of expanding the Imperial County of Cheydinhal by Septim legions and their allied Nord tribes. This shepherd's son, Ayden Vai, of Nibenese and Dunmeri descent, would one day destroy the eastern Imperial legions, liberate the Dunmer from Septim rule, and become Lord Khan of Morrowind. The Hope of the Redoran, Nerevar reborn, and Khan of the Veloth Horde; Here was a man, gifted by the gods, in the arts of military leadership, statecraft, and diplomacy, but tempered by the harsh existence of life as a renegade nomad in his early youth. He became of service to the very people that destroyed his tribe. He was originally an agent for the Imperial Intelligence Service to spy upon the Dunmer of Morrowind and to find out the meaning of the Nerevarine Prophecies. Upon establishing himself in the lands beyond Valus Mountains and having traveled from decadent Mournhold to barbarian Vvardenfell, he had acquired a legion of followers from all classes and ranks of society to serve him. A man of vision, profound sagacity, unfathomable intellect, and unearthly charisma; such was his personality that he compelled the loyalty of great men and mer who may have approach Ayden in ability of statecraft but never provoking rivalry or competition between himself and his followers, only the spirit of mutual trust and cooperation. He was a man imbued with a sense of destiny and loyal only to his own ambition; to become a ruler in his own right by whatever means necessary.

Morrowind was a vassal state to the Septim Empire but only the western and southern half though in these areas the Empire's influence was strong and all Dunmer were answerable to Septim law. The Tribunal Temple under the god kings Almalexia, Sotha Sil, and Vivec ruled Morrowind and the Great Houses in theory. In practice, the Great Houses held the reins of government for many centuries. The aristocratic warriors of House Redoran lost their western holdings in Black Light to Hlaalu, Imperial, and Nord incursions and moved their capital to Ald'ruhn in central Vvardenfell. The rich and slavering princes of Telvanni ruled the crossroads between Vvardenfell and the unknown east Akaviri potentates; wealthy from taxing the unending Akavir merchant caravans traveling the Jade Road that brought exotic goods from the east. The Ashlander nomadic tribes ruled the black sand steppes of Vvardenfell between Redoran and Telvanni territory who made their lives as hunters, herders, and mounted warriors atop hardy ponies and wielding composite bows. House Hlaalu was the merchant princes favored by the Empire as its colonial allies and they held the western cities of Morrowind. House Dres traded in flesh and gold coin. Their massive slave plantations dominated the southeast. House Indoril were once the preeminent Great House under the glory days of ALMSIVI and most loyal to the Tribunal Temple. Since then their power and glory has been eclipsed by Hlaalu and Imperial expansion and their holdings consist of solely their central principalities in the Deshaan valley and plains.

He faced many immediate and future difficulties in his path to power. The Empire occupied Morrowind for four centuries and even still the Dunmer were resentful of enforced servitude--its legions scattered all about the region. House Hlaalu facilitated the Empire's invasion and became the most favored and powerful house in Morrowind but roundly despised by all other Great Houses. House Redoran was loyal to the ancient traditions and to the Temple whom they have always maintained an alliance. House Telvanni was a profane and profligate lot concerned only with their own affairs. They acted as they saw fit. House Dres were rich in the slave trade and hostile to the Empire. House Indoril, most loyal to the Tribunal, was equally hostile to the Empire. The Ashlanders hated the Great Houses and the Empire but they were fractured warring tribes that raided each other for booty and slaves. The strongest factional ties were between House Hlaalu and the Imperial colonists who found common cause in developing settlements and exploiting the wealth of Vvardenfell. The Empire had installed a vassal monarchy in the old capital of Mournhold with King Athyn Llethan, elected by House Hlaalu, who was biddable enough to serve the Empire but no one took him seriously and his authority was little felt outside the walls of the city. The Duke of Vvardenfell, Vedam Dren, recently put in place by the Empire to oversee the other competing factions likewise did his best to make the other houses get along.

The Tribunal god-kings, with the exception of Sotha-Sil, ruled their own city. The warrior god-queen ruled the temple district of Mournhold and Vivec ruled the desert jewel of Vivane in southern Vvardenfell. They ruled with a feigned benevolence and they set themselves up as gods but they were none in fact. Temple dogma hid a dark secret that they kept guarded with the aid of religious military orders known as the Ordinators. Their power was derived from an evil source in the form of Lorkhan's Heart. The Tribunal slew King Indoril Nerevar and carved up his power in forms of theocratic rule. One who used to stand at their side, Dagoth Ur of House Dagoth, knew their secret and was killed for it but not before he drew upon the heart and was reborn an ageless twisted and depraved demi-god--a foil to the Tribunal. Dagoth Ur has grown stronger over the years while the Tribunal's power waned. Dagoth Ur sends his monstrous rabble, infected by his "Divine Disease", from the heart of Red Mountain in Vvardenfell to slaughter and kidnap people but reserving a special virulence for Imperials and Dunmer Temple power. This was the untenable, explosive, tangled morass of conflicting allegiances and hatreds that Ayden found himself in.

Because of this, it was necessary for him to upset the existing order and traditions by introducing disorder among the Imperial colonial settlements and Great House domains. He fed misinformation to the empire and kept the secrets of the prophecy to himself. He joined House Redoran as a retainer. The ruler of the Redorans, High Chief Bolvyn Venim, was cruel, rapacious, and headstrong. He alienated many among his council and Ayden was quick to seize upon this. He earned the loyalty and trust of the Redoran Council of Chiefs, especially Chief Athyn Sarethi who would one day serve Ayden as his most loyal minister. Ayden eliminated many of Venim's key supporters and lackeys and soon Venim's influence shrank. High Chief Venim despised Chief Sarethi for his opposition to his policies and sent cutthroat assassins after him. Ayden had his own informants in Venim's circle and intercepted and killed the assassins. Chief Sarethi in gratitude gave him the pastoral lands in Bal Isra to settle. Thus Ayden became the Chief of Bal Isra.

There arose another problem for House Redoran. The Kamal tribes were remnants of an ancient Akavir invasion that was repelled at great cost on the part of the Tribunal Temple armies and the unsung heroic efforts of the Ashlander tribes. Those Akavir that remained were three Kamal tribes; the Karaknids, the Manghuks, and the Tabgatch; nomadic wild riders that intermarried with the populace and were hired on by House Telvanni as mercenary warriors. At the crest of Ayden's career, the Karaknids were on a westward rampage towards Ald'ruhn's frontier and High Chief Venim, fearing Ayden's ambitions, ordered Chief Vai to muster men and defend the land against the Kamal but withholding the bulk of the Redoran army.

Many expected a quick death for Ayden and his few warriors but Ayden called for parley with the Karaknid chieftain and feigned sudden illness?having consumed a basin of guars' blood before the meeting, he vomited a gratuitous amount of blood. The Karaknids presumed him to be near death. Catching the Kamal off guard, Ayden and his fellow soldiers fell upon the unaware Kamal and routed the whole host; hunting them as far as the Sea of Ghosts. During his journey home, he recruited thousands of clan less Veloth Ashlanders in his army, rich with the spoils of the defeated Kamal. Ayden returned to Ald'ruhn in triumph and great cheer. High Chief Venim was fearful and did not meet with Chief Vai which made him seem all the more guilty. The tide had turned in favor of Ayden and he wasted no time.

He besieged his stronghold with his massive army. High Chief Venim challenged Chief Vai to a duel and the Chief called his bluff. He rode at the head of his besieging army decked in daedric armour and armed with his daedric crescent sword. High Chief Venim was 'unmanned' by the sight of Ayden and refused to come out to fight. Ayden called him coward and rode away. The High Chief lost all honor, respect, and dignity before his soldiers and even among his kin. The Venim stronghold surrendered to Ayden and the majority of its inhabitants were spared from rapine and death. The High Chief was captured by Ayden's soldiers. Chief Vai wisely kept his hands clean and allowed another Redoran kinsman, whose daughters Venim had defiled, to kill the unworthy lord.

Ayden became High Chief and quickly claimed leadership of House Redoran. He abandoned the stagnant alliance with the Tribunal Temple who offered nothing but sanctimonious words and constantly demanded tithes. Ayden instead formed new ties with the Ashlander tribes in Vvardenfell. In celebration of his alliance with the Urshilaku Ashlander tribe of the north, Ayden married the beautiful and wise young daughter of the Urshilaku Chieftain, Cha'ani ai-Matuul, as his First Wife. He gave the clan less Veloth pasturage in the Bal-I-Isra if they served as soldiers for him. Soon he merged his power, ambition, along with the Nerevarine prophecy to convince his supporters that he was Nerevar Reborn. Utilizing his spiders, he subverted the entire Blades intelligence network and used it for his own purposes--supplementing it with his own private intelligence network.

Ayden's agents wormed their way to power and influence among Ayden's rivals including the other Great Houses, the Imperial legions, the Imperial Cult, the Tribunal Temple, and the Morag Tong assassins and all other entities that supported the Septim Empire. Ayden destabilized House Hlaalu and Telvanni's grasp on Vvardenfell. House Hlaalu's corruption, blindness, and greed led to their loss of Caldera and the rich ebony mines. Veloth spies retrieved documentation on Hlaalu's ebony smuggling. With this knowledge, Ayden's forcibly took over Caldera and the mines and the Hlaalu could not lift a hand in its defense lest they be publicly compromised. Ayden's diplomats bribed the board members of the EEC to buy ebony from House Redoran due to House Hlaalu's decreasing output of the precious ore. Ayden orchestrated Ashlander raids and assaults on Hlaalu held mines further depleting their trade wealth and manpower. Ayden even used the abolitionist movement known as the Twin Lamps to foment slave rebellions among Hlaalu and Telvanni holdings. He sent one charismatic Argonian to the Dres south to stir up the slave rabble.

Now the Manghuks, bribed by House Telvanni to destroy Ald'ruhn and settle in Redoran lands, were brutally repulsed by the sheer will and inspiring leadership of Ayden and his small corps of archer and light cavalry. Moreover Ayden counter-bribed the Manghuks with the Telvanni's own gold stolen from their vaults in Vivane to settle the east with the result that they overran and slaughtered many Telvanni. With the Manghuks and Telvanni scattered and confused. Ayden's armies conquered both easily and swept away House Telvanni's independent strongholds in the Kara-Kum. The Buckmoth Imperial legion, fleeing the Manghuk wave, were ambushed and destroyed by Ashlanders at Ayden's behest. The Thieves and Fighters Guild, chartered by the Empire, destroyed each other in a bitter internal war instigated by the Camonna Tong supported by Ayden. Those desperate survivors from the guilds knowingly or unknowingly joined Ayden's intelligence network.

Having successfully undermined the Hlaalu and Telvanni factions, he brought all their adherents of noble rank into his service by assigning them generous provisions and by honoring them, according to their degree, with administrative posts. In a few months, they forgot their factional ties and became entirely loyal to High Chief Vai. In his spare time, he set about great enterprises that brought him prestige and high esteem. He organized stone cutters and artisans to sculpt the likenesses of the Daedra Gods and prayed at every one of the statues and performed great feats in their names. He attacked the Dagoth strongholds at Mamae and Kogo'ruhn and slaughtered many of the cruel monsters. It was during one particular raid on the castle of Dagoth lord that Ayden, always at the head of his army, slew a Dagoth Lord with his mighty crescent sword but the fiend breathed out a foul cloud of his breath and infected Khan Vai with the divine disease. His followers, wives, concubines, ministers, agents, generals, soldiers, and assorted ancillaries wailed and gnashed their faces with their fingernails. To everyone, the dreaded disease was a fate worse than death. The Corprus curse warped the mind and body of the afflicted; turning them into mindless beasts that served the dreaded will of Lord Dagoth Ur but Ayden's mind and body, such was his inborn strength, resisted the change for weeks. Always pragmatic and completely self-possessed, he commanded that his subjects perform their duties as usual while he set the greatest minds to work in order to devise a cure for his condition all the while orchestrating his military campaigns in the confines of his manor at Ald'ruhn.

In the meantime, thousands upon thousands of Ashlanders came to Ald'ruhn praying to Azura to cleanse their beloved Khan of the Corprus disease. Outlanders who heard of the fame and reputation of the Ashen King of the Steppes sought to visit and perhaps catch a glimpse of the fabled Ayden Vai. Ayden heard the advice of his alchemists and commanded a noxious brew of ash salts and Corprus weepings (fluids from slain Corprus monsters) be prepared for him. It was said that the smell, let alone the taste, of the potion was so bad that small creatures were wont to die if within fifty yard distance of the potion. By sheer Herculean will, Ayden consumed the potion hourly for a week.

Since he was infected with full blown Corprus but had not yet consumed his mind and body, he counteracted the effects by consuming Corprus weepings with bitter ash salts to over-saturate the infection. And lo and behold, the color returned to his cheeks, the tell tale brown color that tainted anyone infected with Corprus was gone. Ayden felt himself again. He stepped out before his adherents and they cheered for joy. Their Khan was cured though not in the conventional sense. Telvanni physicians noted that he still possessed the supernatural strength and endurance that was the benefit of Corprus minus the wretched sanity; however the other remarkable benefit was that aging process was halted in Corprus victims. This couldn't be proved yet but indeed over the decades; Khan Vai did not age a day over his twenty-eight years. He was ageless, eternal, and immortal and he made it known to all his subjects. Ayden was akin to a god.

As a respite, he funded expeditions to ancient Dunmer strongholds and recovered rare artifacts and tomes of knowledge. Hiring crack scholars and archaeologists, he founded Dwemer text and a copy of the Aldmeris language text that with Aldmeris used as a relay so Ayden's scholars could set about the great task of deciphering the Dwemer language. He and a former Telvanni scholarly lord, Baladas, loyal to Ayden learned the Dwemeri-speak. Baladas possessed an engineering streak and with the High Chief's sanction, researched ancient technologies of the Deep Elves thought lost to the present day. Over the short years, Ayden's honored scholar reinvented the Dwemer short range and long range repeating ballistae, explosive satchels, and other perverse war machines that Ayden and his armies would employ to devastating effect in the east Akaviri lands.

During this time, Ayden set out with his Redoran-Ashlander tumens to conquer the Ashland Kara-Kum and rid it of the foreign barbarians. Ayden conquered the old Kamal Hordes; the Manghuks, Tabgatch, and the Qarakhnids. Ayden killed their chieftains and those Kamal that surrendered joined Ayden's growing army. Ayden combined crushing and brutal military force with sublime diplomacy laced with diabolical subterfuge to conquer all the warring Ashlander tribes and make them his subjects. Ayden earned the loyalty of the Ahemmusa by eliminating Telvanni occupied and their lord, Master Aryon in Tel Vos and securing those high lands for the good of their tribe. Ayden was already on good terms with the Zainab tribe when he arranged a trade pact so the Zainab would sell ebony to House Redoran. In gratitude of the trade pact, Ayden gifted Chief Kaushad of the Zainab with a lovely slave maiden who was secretly loyal to Ayden's khanate. She convinced Kaushad to join in alliance with Ayden. The Erabenimsun of the southeast, hardened by constant Kamal depredation, were extremely warlike and wreaked havoc on the trade routes, pillaging and looting. Ayden's tumens crushed the Erabenimsuns in many battles and Ayden killed the rapacious war leader Ulath-Pal and his gulakhans, and soon Ayden brought the warriors of Molag Mar under his rule. Ayden was phenomenally successful in this colossal endeavor that the nomadic Velothi named them their Heavenly Khan and Nerevar Reborn. Thus Ayden claimed a new state founded on principles of nomadic and sedentary cultures and values. He became Khan of the Veloth Horde.

The Tribunal Temple under the God-Kings Almalexia, Sotha Sil, and Vivec, had ruled Morrowind since the first era before the Empire took over. The god-kings partook of the evil of Lorkhan's Heart that crashed in the mountainous central region of Vvardenfell since the time before time. The first era King of Morrowind, Indoril Nerevar, the hammer of the Nords who once occupied Morrowind, made an alliance with the Dwemer Kingdom of Morrowind. The alliance crumbled underneath weighty suspicion of the Dunmer towards the Dwemer who had first discovered the Heart and became corrupted by it. A great war was waged which resulted in the annihilation of the Dunmer. King Nerevar's queen Almalexia, his minister Sotha Sil, and his general Vivec had discovered the heart and were seduced by its dark power. Their king forbade them from tampering with it but they paid him no heed. They slew King Nerevar in secret. In a few months, they tore apart the fragile unity that Nerevar spent years to build. They imposed their self-worship on the Dunmer. They elevated those Dunmer that groveled at their feet and ravaged those that did not. The Ashlander tribes who once were apart of the Qurilitay were forced in the poorest of lands and to this day curse the Tribunal. These secrets Ayden and his spies and contacts among the Tribunal Temple unearthed in hidden libraries in the Temple district of Vivane. Now was Ayden's time to assume the mantle of the Nerevarine.

While Ayden had conquered Vvardenfell north, he saw to it that the remaining parts he wanted to acquire were ruled by arbitrary or impotent lords who had been more inclined to despoil than to govern their subjects and such that the cities of Balmora, Suran, Vivane, Pelagiad, and others were ravaged by brigandage, feuds, and violence. Ayden manipulated events so that Orvas Dren, the Camonna Tong kingpin and criminal of the worst sort, slew his just brother Vedam Dren and assumed his Dukedom. He hated the Empire and the Imperials and soon House Hlaalu whom he controlled through his lackeys among the Hlaalu Council were filled with Camonna Tong criminals who freely engaged in racketeering and criminal enterprises. They terrorized the Imperial farmers that settled in the Ashkadian Plains. Likewise Ayden propped up a Hlaalu turncoat Odral Helvi who was utterly corrupt and ruthless. Odral governed Caldera and ran the ebony mining operations that was the possession of the Septim Empire but the cad smuggled it for his own profit. He hired Nord barbarian mercenaries to seize land from rival Hlaalu lords and slaughter innocent farmers in the Ashkadian Plains to acquire new domain. They overpowered the legions in Pelagiad and were put to slaughter. These same Nords turned on their master once the money dried up and the louts seized these fertile lands and named one of their own as Chief of Ashkadia. Berel Sala, the commander of the Ordinators, was an overzealous fanatic who tortured and killed freely those who spoke against the "benevolence" of ALMSIVI. Such was his fanaticism, that loyal temple followers were persecuted for the slightest lack of devotion. Soon even the common lay folk allied with the Dissident Priests who called for a return to ancestor worship and decried the profane nature of the god-kings. Vivec had long retreated inside himself. He had given no thought to restore order to his city. His steward Arch canon Saryoni acted on his behalf but he could do little against the resolute Berel Sala and an army of Ordinators at his command.

The people of Vvardenfell had enough of the evils of these rapacious lords and they saw the screaming hordes of Ayden as a godsend. Ayden's campaign in the southwest was quick, decisive, and ruthless. The Camonna Tong was infiltrated by Ayden's spies and one by one their bases were located and destroyed. From Balmora to Suran, the criminals were hunted down to the last man. Duke Orvas Dren's Hawkmoth legions were utterly destroyed by the Veloth tumens and soon they surrounded Orvas' stronghold in Ebonheart. The place was invested and Orvas fought to his last breath. Soon Orvas' head was placed on a pike outside Ebonheart's gates. Ayden's generals used the chaos of the times to their advantage and destroyed the remaining Imperial legion forts and the armies in them. The Septim Empire would not overlook the loss of their legions in Vvardenfell for long but time was on Ayden's side.

In Caldera, Ayden seized the settlement, the rich ebony mines, and put Governor Helvi to the sword. Ayden's armies then swept the Ashkadian Plains and defeated the Nord tribes. They killed these Nords with particular relish. The dead ones were lucky. The unlucky survivors were boiled or flayed alive. Ayden's agents among the Dissident Priests and the common populace instigated revolts against Berel Sala's draconian authority and as Ayden's tumens approached the walls of Vivec; the people sent envoys to beseech the Khan to free them from Berel Sala's tyranny.

Berel Sala would not surrender and the Veloth invested the walls. The Ordinators were feared for their fanatical fervor in battle but never had they fought mer such as the Veloth of the north. The Ashlanders were unstoppable, bold, and incredibly fierce, reflecting their Lord Khan's persona. The Ordinators were overwhelmed. Vivane was captured and under Ayden's authority. Saryoni was compelled to denounce Berel Sala and his renegade Ordinators as blood witted heretics and under orders from Ayden, they were burnt at the stakes. The people were shocked and gratified. For the first time, the people of Balmora, Caldera, Pelagiad, and Vivane got a taste of good government.

Ayden was master of all Vvardenfell and dictated terms to Vivec and the Tribunal Temple. Ayden declared himself war leader of all the Great Houses and sent envoys to the remaining Great House Telvanni to name him the war leader in accordance with ancient tradition to unite them to destroy Dagoth Ur but the Telvanni knew Ayden sought lordship over all the remaining Great Houses. When they refused to comply, Ayden unsheathed his sword once again and led his armies east. Ayden had met the Telvanni High Chief Gothren in open battle outside of Tel Aruhn and the Telvanni forces were decisively crushed. Ayden slew Gothren and claimed leadership of House Telvanni. Ayden knew that the trouble with Telvanni were the rebellious Chiefs who always chafed even under the leadership of their High Chief. Ayden ordered a hasty council with the Telvanni Council of Chiefs to speak about matters of trade. Instead of discussion with the Lord Khan, the Chiefs were set upon by Ayden's men and slain to the last man. Ayden reduced each Telvanni holding piece by piece and state by state. The last Telvanni High Chief Drothan, who ruled beyond the Sea of Ghosts, was defiant to the last. His armies were vast but composed of so many of those Akaviri mercenaries who were brave against an inferior foe but whose blood ran cold against a determined enemy.

Ayden annihilated Drothan's armies and captured every one of his holdings. Ayden had invested and conquered all of House Telvanni's territories in Sadrith Mora, Firewatch, Llothanis Heights, Helnim Wall, Velothis Haven, Greenhieights, and the ancient capital of Port Telvanis. Drothan himself escaped a wanted fugitive who remained an annoying pest who continued to stir up trouble along the Valus Mountains. His days were numbered. House Hlaalu was effectively under his control long before Ayden captured Vivane and so his domination of Vvardenfell was complete. Next, Ayden had the unenviable task of destroying the monster of Red Mountain and his vile legions. It cost many lives but Ayden succeeded where the ALMSIVI have failed. Ayden destroyed Dagoth Ur and Lorkhan's Heart, a vile and alien artifact that had corrupted gods know how many civilizations. His prestige was immeasurable. He was regarded as the rightful ruler of Morrowind by the common people.

This news was unsettling for the new King of Morrowind, Hlaalu Helseth, who had poisoned his uncle, the late king, and his heir Talen Vandas, to usurp the crown in Mournhold. He had the same goal in mind to become sole ruler of Morrowind and plotted the assassination of Khan Ayden Vai. Such was the effectiveness of Ayden's intelligence network that the Dark Brotherhood assassins hired by Helseth were disarmed by Ayden's bodyguard before they made their move. They were tortured for information and disposed of. Ayden using his Morag Tong assassins hunted down the Dark Brotherhood and laid siege to their strongholds, capturing them, and killing the hapless assassins. In the meantime, he alerted his spies in Mournhold to begin assessing and anolyzing the new monarchy, their alliances, strengths, weaknesses and the other factions in the fabled capital of Morrowind, the Jewel of the East.

Helseth, in his short sighted and headstrong fool hardiness, angered the most powerful sovereign of Vvardenfell in the worst way possible. His mother, the famous Barenziah, known for her wisdom and charisma, managed to secure an alliance by marriage with House Dres to wed Dinara Dres of King Helseth with the aim of legitimizing the monarchy however it did not take long for Ayden to undermine this unsteady alliance. The slave revolts that Ayden had long before instigated in Dres territory were hurting the Great House and when King Helseth foolishly called for the abolition of the slave trade, hoping to undercut Ayden's sprawling economic power?he in fact did untold damage to his newly established alliance. House Dres faced outright insurrection in their lands. The noble lords of Dres hated Helseth now more than ever. But their salvation came in the form of Ayden's consummate diplomats. These diplomats offered the locations of all the secret hatcheries of the Argonian rebel slaves in return for their loyalty. The Dres agreed to a secret alliance with Ayden.

The agents of the Khan moved quickly. Diplomats played up Helseth's rapacious intentions to despoil House Indoril, these Great House mer entered into an alliance with Ayden, strangling Helseth's ambitions to expand his holdings because he knew that if he moved against the Indoril then Ayden and his Veloth Horde would declare war against Helseth. Helseth appeared to be an Imperial crony and vassal king when his intention was to rule on his own but the political reality was that he was now more than ever an Imperial vassal pawn amidst a sea of angry Dunmer. Ayden's massive holdings in Vvardenfell, soldiers recruited from the Redoran and Ashlander tribes, and wealth derived from the Jade Road, far surpassed that of Helseth whose holdings consisted of Mournhold and his mother's ancestral city in Ald Ra'athim, his army was that of foreign mercenaries, Hlaalu and Dres banner men, and opportunistic adventurers.

Ayden fueled the dark rumors concerning Helseth's reputation as a subtle poisoner and usurper whose agents openly cast doubts on Helseth's ability and moral character. Ayden drove a wedge between the traditionalist Hlaalu who opposed Helseth and the younger generation of Hlaalu who supported Helseth. Ayden managed to secure allies among the old guard Hlaalu. The Tribunal Temple under the haughty and power hungry Almalexia openly defied Helseth and joined in alliance with the Veloth Horde. Almalexia's high Ordinators and Helseth's royal guards battled daily for control of the Temple and Market districts of the city. Helseth, for some perverse reason, kept a goblin army hidden away in the cities vast underground cisterns under control of Altmer trainers but Morag Tong assassins killed the trainers and the goblins were let loose to rampage the Grand Bazaar and common districts. Helseth was so consumed by the chaos in his city that he could do nothing while Ayden and his army annexed Molag Mar, Praloris, Necrom.

Ayden knew that Helseth was prone to anger and tasked Indoril warriors to plunder Ald Ra'athim. Helseth, true to his character, razed the stronghold the Indoril warriors used as a forward operating base that was within Indoril territory. Ayden possessed the Cassus Belli to declare war on Helseth whose blood ran cold at the thought of confronting this fierce man of the steppes in battle. Now the empire had to step in. Emperor Uriel Septim VII bristled at the rise of a little known nomadic peasant to the crown of Vvardenfell and who was the cause of the destruction of the legions based in Vvardenfell. Cyrodiilic diplomats demanded of Ayden a cessation of hostilities toward Helseth, the return of Imperial settlements and legion forts in Vvardenfell, and to name himself a vassal of the empire. Ayden's response was swift and decisive. His tumens invested the legion forts at Black Light and Silgrad Tower and killed all the legionnaires within. Ayden one-upped the Emperor by declaring war against the unlawful occupiers. Uriel Septim, a man easily provoked, sent his crack legions to make war on Ayden and the Veloth Horde. Uriel orchestrated a two prong attack. He sent General Hagar Thornswald, commander of the eastern Skyrim legions to invade from the west, and General Warhaft, the greatest legionary general of his day who had the ear of Uriel Septim, along with the youngest Crown Prince Enman Septim to bolster the morale of Warhaft's army. Warhaft was to invade from the south with Helseth acting as a stop gap in Darvon's watch. Helseth had no choice but to once again join his fortunes with the Septim Empire. It would do him little good in the long term for he was a vassal now more than ever. Victory through another nations' arms would not bring him prestige. His mother Barenziah foresaw that they would be under the power of the empire but circumstances could not help it.

General Thornswald, with his 100,000 strong army, pursued the Veloth cavalry under the command of Ayden's general Alandro-Sul into the Ashlander interior. Constantly outmaneuvered and exposed to constant ambush in the open steppe. General Thornswald made the fatal error of fighting the enemy on their ground alien as it was to him and his Nordic and Imperial scouts. The greatest danger Ayden foresaw was General Warhaft and his 200,000 man legions that could decimate Ayden's holdings with ease. Ayden couldn't afford to retreat to the Vvardenfell inner steppes and wage an eternal guerrilla war. Ayden, knowing the Imperials' pride and vanity, offered an open battle in the Deshaan Plains.

Ayden's army was 40,000 strong composed of mostly Redoran spearman and with Ayden at the vanguard with his elite cavalry. Arrayed against him were the massive armies of Warhaft's legionary cohorts with Prince Enman Septim at his side. At the start of the battle, Ayden and his cavalry rode to the right, seemingly off the battle field. Warhaft and Enman were surprised but saw an opportunity to kill Ayden and sent the bulk of the legion cavalry to envelope him with Enman at the head of the cavalry. Meanwhile Warhaft ordered the legions in standard formation to march against the Redoran lines. Ayden purposely strung out his lines so that the center gave way. Ayden rode at a right oblique with the pursuing Dunmer and Imperial cavalry barely keeping apace. Ayden's cavalry carefully screened the Erabeminsun Ashlanders who ran on foot. Suddenly he made a ninety degree turn the opposite direction and the legion cavalry led by Prince Enman Septim were overtaken by the lance and club wielding Ashlanders.

Ayden's strategy with the Redoran infantry had the effect of bowing his lines backwards so that the overwhelming manpower of the enemy was bottlenecked though the battle between Redoran and legion soldier was a bitter and bloody affair. With the good part of the legion cavalry out of the action, Ayden boldly charged the gaps between the Imperial lines. Partially obscured by the prevalent dust and chaos of the battle, Ayden and his bodyguard cavalry charged at the heart of the army where General Warhaft was present. The last thing Warhaft witnessed was the cruel beauty and ferocity of the warrior khan and his crescent blade before his head was lopped off.

With the Imperial army leaderless, the legion troopers resolve was shaken. Ayden's runners relayed his orders to the Redorans to close the flanks together and soon the legion troopers who thought they held the advantage were encircled. Ayden's Ashlander archer cavalry arrived in time to launch a never ending barrage of arrows in the entrapped ranks of the legionnaires. What followed was a horrific slaughter of the Imperial soldiery. The fleeing Imperials were shot down whether they stood their ground or if they fled. Those that escaped the arrows were killed by Ayden and his cavalry who chased down all the routed soldiers. This battle was perhaps the greatest victory for Ayden and an indication of his near godlike ability.

Thornswald's legions wasted away in the black sands and gave way to brigandage and cowardice. The fugitives were destroyed if not by the Ashlanders than by the environment. Emperor Uriel Septim heard of the complete and utter loss of his legions and he wept. He had all the more reason to weep because his youngest son, Prince Enman, was captured and held hostage in Ayden's court. Ayden forced a tenuous peace between the Septim Empire and himself and kept the Crown Prince as collateral.

With Helseth's only ally destroyed, everything turned against him. The wily Trey, the Breton-Dunmer general under Ayden, tricked Helseth out of Tel Branora by feigned retreat and a general rout such that the people of Tel Branora let down their guard and opened the gates of the city to celebration. With the speed of the wind, Trey and his army, rode into the city and took it completely. Helseth barely escaped with his life. Helseth fought one more battle against Ayden but at the height of the battle outside Mournhold Ayden ordered the defection of Helseth's erstwhile Dres allies that resulted in Helseth's capture. As with Bolvyn Venim, Ayden kept his hands clean by giving Helseth over to the family of the king he had poisoned and killed. In the Llethan family manor, Helseth was tortured to death.

Mournhold opened its gates to the great Conqueror and Ayden was formally invested the Khan of Morrowind along with his title of Khan of the Veloth Horde. Helseth's mother and widow, Barenziah and Dinara, were taken as concubines in Ayden's harem whom he despoiled at his leisure. The remaining Hlaalu, Indoril, and Dres High Chiefdoms and rulers all fell under Ayden's power. Among the Hlaalu, Ayden had extinguished the line of all the lords he had ruined so that the Cyrodiilic Empire had no chance to use them against him. Such was Ayden's authority and the prestige he had accrued over so short a time that he towered over the ALMSIVI and in the hearts and minds of the Dunmer he was the one true god-king and Nerevar reborn. Ayden usurped the power of the Tribunal god-kings. Aided by the knowledge that the Tribunal's power sprang from the very source that Dagoth Ur used and the fact that they murdered King Indoril Nerevar, the people spurned the false gods whom they had worshipped for millennia. With the loss of the Ordinators to "coerce" the faithful, the Tribunal was helpless before Ayden.

Agents uncovered a plot hatched by Almalexia and her Hands to assassinate Ayden and they were quickly disarmed and subdued. Almalexia's private army was burnt alive before her eyes and she was resigned to an Indoril estate under heavy guard. With the loss of her false godhood, she was slowly losing her sanity and having been deprived of all vestiges of power put her over the edge. In her crazed fits, she slew her remaining retinue and attacked a couple of Ayden's guards. Ayden ordered for her to be put out of her misery and there ended the unholy life of Almalexia. It wasn't until after her death that Ayden's agents discovered the corpse of what was once Sotha Sil, shackled and tortured to death in his own palace, for reasons unknown. It was surmised that Almalexia had lost her mind long ago and sought to become the one and only god-queen of Morrowind and Vivec was the next victim. From the great library in Sotha Sil's clockwork tower palace, Ayden learned a great deal of the ancient past. With two of the three false gods destroyed, it was only a matter of time before Vivec's palace was stormed by the Veloth soldiery and Vivec did not raise a hand in his defense. He was slain where he stood. Thus Ayden extinguished all those that could challenge his right to rule. Soon Helseth's banners were replaced with Ayden's moon-and-star banners and the city of Mournhold and all those assembled from all over Morrowind proclaimed Ayden as the Khan of Morrowind.

END

I post in Morrowind forum something similiar
Post named "this is weird"

Wow! I like it. A disgruntled nomad and former Septim pawn who assumes the mantle of the Nerevarine, fights the Imperials, becomes the Lord of the Ashlanders, and usurps the crown of Morrowind! LOL, very admirable. I wish I had the patience to write my own epic fan fic. Not bad.