My name is Arkved, and I am an Altmer with no country of his own. None that I care to call home, for what it's worth, that is.

And if you are curious, as is the plague of most men and mer, my name hasn't always been Arkved. My mother named me Amrion, and my surname is of no consequence because none of my ancestors have done anything of importance to warrant remembering it. Well, that and the way the Order has of choosing to "forget" such things. It's all a matter of control, you see, but I get ahead of myself.

I took the name Arkved -or should I say it was given to me- when I was tasked with achieving what no member of the Order has been able to do so far: find Arkved's Light. Think of Arkved's Light as a family heirloom, but with no heir to claim it. It's worth is only measured by how far those who want it are willing to go to get it. And just what is Arkved's Light? Ah, but were it so easy to explain. Are you prepared for some history? Good.

If you know your Daedric Princes, then you know that Vaermina's plane of Oblivion is Quagmire. It is a constantly shifting realm of nightmares, and a most horrible place. Some 200 hundred years ago in Cyrodiil, a Altmer Mage named Arkved stole Vaermina's Orb from the dreams of her followers. The Champion of Cyrodiil was tasked by Vaermina to retrieve the Orb, and he quested through Arkved's Tower. There he found the Orb, but he also discovered something else: Arkved, locked in an eternal slumber filled with nightmares. Some have speculated that Arkved was experimenting with traversing the planes of Oblivion, and was using the Orb in his experiments. It is believed that Vaermina trapped Arkved in her realm for his theft, and that he was unable to escape.

But the tale I am telling you now began when the Champion killed Arkved, as he lay defenseless and tortured in a place where his subconscious and the planes of Oblivion intertwined. You see, the Champion thought that he could free Arkved from his cursed rest, but Vaermina planned for such noble deeds. Arkved was still trapped in his nightmares, as Vaermina told the Champion: "Arkved will live out the rest of his days in nightmare. It is fitting."

The Champion took Arkved's white robes and enchanted them with perpetual light. He wanted to reach Arkved in Quagmire and give him the robes as a comforting, eternal light in a world of terrible fear and darkness, but alas such compassion and heroism was never achieved by the Champion.

It is unclear what happened to the robes, named simply Arkved's Light. They were kept in Battlehorn Castle by the Champion until his death. The Castle was then turned into a museum in his honor, yet interest in the Champion's legacy waned as Cyrodiil fell into a period of unrest. Thieves, bandits, adventurers, and fortune seekers all took their turns raiding the Castle of the Champion's extensive collection of items. Arkved's Light cannot be found in any text from the era or after. Yet it's existence still surfaces among those that speak the Arcane language of magic.

Throughout the generations, many Mages, regardless of their chosen magical disciplines, have kept the story of Arkved's Light alive. It is widely held that the robes, due to Arkved's own travels through several planes of Oblivion, and the Champion's powerful enchantment, have held onto the residue of all that magic. Most speculate that the robes, if worn, can protect the wearer from numerous dangers in the planes of Oblivion. And of course, one would want all the protection they can have when seeking to travel through such chaotic places.

I believe that it's all rubbish.

Why, then, am I here? I've already confessed my intentions to locate Arkved's Light for the Order. They have chosen me as their true hope and last resort. In their time as the Order, they have spared no expense, and even no life, to find the robes. So how did I end up here, in Skyrim, tasked with accomplishing the impossible, questing for an item that may not even exist at all? And what has happened that during my adventures, I have come to completely seek the abolition of the very Order that I was willing to die for in this forsaken land?

Come with me, then, and I will share with you a tale of high adventure and fantastic journeys to places few men, or mer, will ever see...