Loved the fleeing part. I wish I had something more useful to say.
I just thought of something. I thought the omniscient/physic patrolman was very unlike you. How did he know Teresa was the good gu- er... girl and the merauder the bad guy?

I put a screenshot in Chapter 10b. I meant to have it there all along, but I forgot it when I made the post. :facepalm:



Acadian: Thank you Acadian. Teresa will have a lot more mortality-facing in the future as well.

I suppose the legionary lancer on a white horse is pretty unusual for the game. But in reality lancers have been a powerful cavalry arm for well over two thousand years, probably about three thousand. The Sarmatians being the first European society famous for its heavily armored lancers (their lances were so big it took two hands to hold them!). The lance is the most powerful shock weapon on a horse after all. The horse was another matter of reality. They come in all colors, so it never made sense that every legion horse would be exactly the same in appearance. I suppose Bethesda left out lancers because mounted combat is not possible, and the soldiers would look kind of funny getting off their horse and jabbing people with a ten foot spear.


treydog: Thank you dog. I wanted to show Teresa as being capable, but still having much to learn. She still is very raw and inexperienced at the whole "Free Adventurer" thing (do you recognize where I took that phrase from? ). That inexperience is going to drive some very important plot elements in the near future.

And thank you for the grammar finds! You are the cheapest editor a writer ever had!



Jacki Dice: Thank you Jacki. Is it not great in the game how they just turn up when you least expect it? Every once and a while I will be walking down a road and find a dead bandit or goblin, and think "looks like the legion was here." Equally neat is when you actually come across one of them slugging it out with a baddie and can return the favor.


mALX1: Thank you mALX

*cue Isaac Hayes singing*

"That mALX is a bad m-"
"Shut your mouth!"
"I'm just talkin' about mALX."


Winter Wolf: Quite ironic is it not! Believe me, that has not escaped Teresa. She thought she might have to swim to Bravil as well!

ROFL!!! Plus, great screenshot of Teresa !!!

Yes, SubRosa, I have read Rachel the Breton's fan fic - very enjoyable in a very different manner.

And finally returning after working the past two days, boy, did I find your most recent chapter pretty darn heart-pounding! Recaptures the feeling when my character confronts an ogre to find it's not going down on a strike that would have felled a Minotaur! Yikes! Run!

Your writing continues to improve. Like Acadian said, inspirational. :twirl:

dressage rider: Thank you hauteecole.

I loved Rachel's Jauffre, I was not expecting a bloodthirsty psychopath!



All: I am looking for some world-building advice. I have my own ideas on a few things, and I am hoping for some opinions before I implement them to one degree or another. I thought about posting this in the Lore section, but this is not really about the ES Lore, but rather my what I am making up myself, so it does not seem right there. I do not think it would be appropriate to start a new topic here in the Fan Fic area, nor do I think it belongs in the Writer's Help topic that Remko started. I also do not want to just PM a few people, as I might be missing out on some valuable input that way. So I am just putting it here for now.

Now if you can follow my Athnyae-esque thought patterns:

First off is the Imperial Legion. As you all have noticed I am drawing heavily upon Rome for inspiration to flesh them out and give them flavor. This works fine in the Imperial City and in the countryside. However, I am running into a problem in the outlying cities like Bravil. In the game the soldiers in the city are also Imperial Legion, but they wear different armor (usually some form of mail), are called 'city guard' and seem to report to the Count. In fact we see the Count appointing their leaders, called Captains. To me it does not make sense that they would trade in their Legion Armor for something inferior. I also do not see how they would be commanded by an outsider who is not Legion (in the case of the Cheydinhal quest of the corrupt captain, people say no one knows where the captain came from, so I am assuming the Count just dug him up from some place). To my mind Legion troops ought to be commanded by a Centurion, Tribune, etc...

This dovetails into the aristocracy, including the Counts. The game is very nebulous about the nobility, except that it does apparently exist in some form or another, with the Counts apparently being feudal lords who pass their titles on to their children. That is ok, but it makes for a rather small aristocracy, with only half-a-dozen noble families in Cyrodiil. So my thoughts have been to go back to the Roman well once more, and have an aristocratic social class like their Patricians. They would be people from old and tightly controlled bloodlines. Many would be rich, owning estates and businesses (note that the ancient Roman Patricians could only make money based from land-ownership i.e. farming, growing graqes, or landlording, not buying and selling goods. But I do not see a need to stick to it that closely). But many would also be down on their luck and have nothing but their family name.

Members of the Elder Council (which also seems rather nebulous in the game), would be drawn from the larger patrician class. To enter there would be some sort of property/wealth requirements, plus a lot of ethical and possibly even religious strictures which may have once meant something, but in the present are probably ignored except as a means for the Council Censor to bribe newcomers into rubber-stamping their admission (like in the late Roman Republic), or as a charge to bring against a political rival. There would be a Council vote for someone to join, and you would probably need one or more Council members to be your sponsor. There would probably be several hundred Council members at any time, who would vote on things like laws. I am not exactly sure how much official power they would have vis a vis the Emperor. They might control the purse strings of the government as the English Parliament did. With the Emperors now dead, the Council is obviously going to be assuming much more power now however. The Council will of course be led by the Chancellor, who would be an elected position (note that only the Council would vote, not the people in general).

This leads me back to the Counts. I am thinking that rather than being feudal lords, they would instead be provincial governors appointed by the Elder Council from its membership. The length of term will probably vary. In the Roman Republic a governorship was originally a 1 year term, but that grew longer towards the end, with people like Caesar serving 5 year terms, and could be re-appointed for successive terms. I am thinking the Counts will probably serve something like a four or five year term, and then might be replaced or re-appointed, or even transferred to another area. This would of course all be dependent upon a Council vote, so a Count with good connections could stay in office indefinitely. It would also create things like political factions where a Count would have to perform favors or apply pressure in order to get people voting for him. Perhaps the Count might award government contracts in his County to people in his party?

This brings us back to the Legion once more. In the Roman Republic legions were raised by the provincial governors upon approval by the Senate. They were led by their governor and paid by him, and their only chance at getting rich was if he conquered some neighbor. This created the very unstable environment that led to the Roman Civil Wars of Marius and Sulla, Sertorious, and finally Caesar and Pompey, as soldiers were more loyal to their governor/general then they were to the State as a whole. When Augustus took over he changed all that. The army was directly loyal to him, swearing their oaths of loyalty to him directly, were paid by him (with money stamped with his face), and were led by legates (who were senators) appointed by him. He also directly appointed the governors of the key provinces like Egypt, leaving the Senate to only appoint the leaders of the unimportant ones.

Now I see the Empire in the time of the last Septims being like that of the Augustan era, with the Emperor taking the same very direct role of appointing legionary legates (the legate is the general of each Legion - roughly 5,000 soldiers), and probably appointing most if not all governors of foreign provinces like Morrowind, Skyrim, etc... In this case the Council would appoint the Cyrodiilic Counts, but the Emperor appoints the Legionary commanders, and they of course promote and assign their own Centurions. So for example the Count of Bravil would be in charge of civil administration of his lands, but the military presence there would be under direct control of a Centurion, who in turn reports to Legate Phillida, not the Count. Obviously the Centurion would have to work with the Count on some level, but the Count would not be able to give the Centurion direct orders.

Now we complicate things. Tribunes in the Roman army were aristrocrats serving a one year term in a Legion, with each legion having six of them. The idea was they could go kill some barbarians in the army and get some fame and loot. Then come back home and use the fame and money to gain offices in the government. They did not have a specific position in the chain of command, and by Caesar's time they were basically worthless. He had them doing paperwork rather than screwing up any battles with their ham-fisted attempts at leadership. In the Augustan era they became more professional, as the Tribunes were men being groomed to one day be appointed a Legate by the Emperor. It was essentially on the job training, and a reward that the Emperor could give senators who supported him.

I like the idea of tribunes also being appointed by the Emperor and not having an exact position. I might give them a longer term of service rather than one year though, just to have some more continuity in my writing. Obviously now they will all be appointed by the Council (and Legates are probably going to start being appointed by the Council as well, hmmm, look at that balance of power shift...) They would each be given specific commands by the Legate. In the TF I see Hieronymus Lex, Audens Avidius and some of the other guard captains being tribunes. I think Phillida has some of his six tribunes in the Imperial City, maybe three, and the other three are probably out serving as the leaders of Legion troops in the larger cities like Anvil. Smaller cities like Bravil would have a regular Centurion leading them.

So where do Knights come in? ES obviously has them. In ancient Rome the knights were the social class of the equites, basically the upper-middle class. These were people who could afford to own a horse, and in the early republic served in the cavalry rather than infantry (since way back then you provided your own gear, rather than being issued it by the state). By the Medieval era knights were something quite different, and the Medieval equivalent feels more appropriate to me than the Roman one. Knights would be aristocrats of course. But without a feudal system I am not sure how they would fit into society. There are also different kinds of knights. Some held lands and were loyal to a local Baron. While others were essentially wandering mercenaries, while still others belonged to religious orders like the Templars.

For the TF/ES world I have some ideas for all three types. A knight might simply be an aristocrat who has taken up adventuring because while he has a family name, he has no money or fame, and thus no hope for Council seat, or even feeding himself. In this case it is more of an unofficial term than anything else. But there are religious/civil orders of knighthood as well. We all know the Knights of the Nine of course, who fit in very nicely as aristocratic, religious warriors. Then are the Knights of the Thorn out in Cheydinhal, which basically seem to be the Count's son's way of playing at being a hero. If I keep them, then that would mean that the Counts would be able to name people knights and create knightly orders, which I kind of like. This I can see in terms of their civil leadership role, as the knights would not be members of the Imperial Legion. Such an order would also give the Count a group of well-armed thugs who owe him their positions and thusly their loyalty. Obviously something a Count would like. Other orders of knighthood might be formed by the Emperor or Council with specific duties not tied to a single county. I will be having an Order of Saint Martin very soon whose duty is to protect travelers on the roads of Cyrodiil.

So how do someone like Mazoga or Buffy become a knight without that aristocratic bloodline going back a thousand years? I want to have people like them as knights. It could be that the knighthood is also the lowest social rank of the aristocracy (as it was in the Medieval era). Perhaps it is for parvenus, commoners somehow elevated to noble status, or their descendants. How would someone be so elevated? Good question. I hope someone has an answer! Perhaps the Counts can do it. I can certainly see the Elder Council or Emperor doing it. Maybe officially only the Council can do it, but in practice the Counts make their own knights anyhow in order to give them that body of heavily-armed soldiers loyal to them. In such a case their title would only apply in their County, and in that of others whose Counts were political allies of their patron. I cannot see this happening with a strong central government. However in the Post-Crisis world with no Emperor I can definitely see this going on.

Ah, the "The Airs Above The Ground!" - Love your profile name!



@ SubRosa - Maybe there is nepotism, and the Captains are indigent relatives or son-in-laws of the Counts? Or, it is a position granted by bribe or blackmail? (ala The Captain and the Kings, Taylor Caldwell)

On Knights, I never thought they were part of the Aristocracy, but earned the honored title by their actions in defense of the Nobles, the Emperor, or in defense of the towns, cities, etc. - of course this is just my opinion and probably wrong, lol.

You've put a lot of thought into something that most people don't even think about.

I've always liked the idea of the Legion being something like our own national military (i.e. Army, Navy, Marines, etc), and the city guards being more like the National Guards/state militia.

I've always considered the Captains of the City Watch being Legion officers serving their last posts before retirements. You know, passing down their field experience to the youngsters that make up the rank and file. And I've started imagining the rank and file of the Watches as being Legion recruits that did not quite make the cut for Legion duty out in the provinces or for Riders/Foresters (being lone guys, they have to have a high sense of responsibility, duty, as well as being self-reliant out in the field). Not quite REMF's, but not quite the stellar guys like you have Vols. I used to think they were drawn from the locals, but seeing how many Bruma guards are Redguards, when so few of the population are actually Redguards (only Cirroc, as I can remember off the top of my head).

Of course, that doesn't necessarily fit in with young 'uns like Heironymus Lex, but that one I've imagined had some pull at the higher levels to get the posting he wants, just like there is always some officer/NCO getting promoted on merits other than his own. In the TG quest, though, he gets his comeuppance by being posted to Anvil to head up the Countess's City Watch.

And Ulrich Leland, the corrupt captain in Cheydinhal, I suspect he forged his orders to make himself seem legitimate. That's some elaborate con he's been pulling on Indarys and the people of Cheydinhal.

The Counts are mostly hereditary guys/gals, but if one dies without issue (as in Goldwine), I always considered it the Elder Council's responsibility (with the Emperor's approval, natch) to designate a new Count. I have always felt it would be so appropriate to appoint Savlian Matius as the new Count of Kvatch, as he would be passionate enough to direct the clean-up and rebuilding. As a matter of fact, I've always role-played that Savlian wastes no time organizing the survivors to put the fires out, clean up the rubble, and start rebuilding. Some years down the line, the Council gets around to considering him as Count for Kvatch, just because he's a self-starter, a resourceful guy. And what about the Countesses of Bruma, Chorrol, and Anvil? We know that Chorrol and Anvil became that way because the Counts died and left the Countesses to take over, but what about the one in Bruma? We never hear of her husband. I like to think of her as being the daughter of the last Count, who just stepped up and took over, pretty much as Elizabeth the First did, and refused to marry because it would mean giving up the power she had become accustomed to wielding.

I've always pictured the Counts and Countesses as being nobility but more as being appointed to the different provinces than as feudal lords. Still, I like your idea of the patrician class. But then, in order for Savlian to get his just desserts, the Watch Captains would have to be patrician, as well. Since a lot of the Roman patricians did serve their time in the military, perhaps the Watch Captains would have to have had military service with the Legion. That kind of fits with Lex's attitude and bearing, too, when you think about it.

Your thoughts on the social structure of Cyrodiil are quite intriguing. If I think of anything else to add (or detract), I'll post again. For now, I'll get off and see what others have to say.

Well, you certainly have some fine and detailed ideas. I agree that there is the latitude to develop things as you deem best to suit TF. Let me just address the subject of city guards and chain of command. There is no perfect chain of command solution here - the dilemma is realistic and has many modern counterparts. The ultimate power is the Elder Council. Let me offer some thoughts on the position of captain of a city guard.

If he is a member of the Legion detailed to the local Count, his loyalties are split between the Legion and the Count with priority to those who pay and promote him - the Legion. In the event of a problem with his Count demanding things that are inconsistent with the Empire, the captain reports it to his Legion leadership and relies upon them to get the Council to apply any hammer that may be necessary. Not ideal but it works. This is similar to when the Commandant of the Marine Corps detailed me to work for the Captain of an amphibious assault carrier (ship). I worked for the Navy Captain, but the Marine Corps had me there to represent the interests of the embarked Marine assault force (built-in conflict). Similar complexity and split loyalties to the city guard captain, with similar means of resolving problems at the lowest common command element - in this case the Secretary of the Naval Services. It is also similar to a Marine being assigned to an Embassy and working for an Ambassador. Problems are resolved, when necessary at the lowest common point in their chain of command (The White House). I guess my point is, that as a professional military officer, if assigned to the position of captain of a city guard force, I would prefer to work for the local Count and resolve any major conflicts by asking the Legion to sort it out with the Council. That would give me the best chance at a decent daily working relationship with 'my' Count. That day-to-day working relationship is absolutely critical to keep every minor thing from becoming a pissing contest.

Now, let's look at another alternative. The city captain is Legion and works directly for the Legion autonomously from the Count in his county. This places the poor captain in the position of butting heads with a Count routinely. Whoever loses the headbutting contests in this case is rendered impotent. I surely would not want to be in that postion. I would be extremely concerned that this structure sets up the captain and the Count for a combative relationship. This is somewhat anologous, I suppose, to an externally imposed military governor. The local rulers are likely to respond with strong attempts to undermine the effort, forcing the military commander to consider some fairly ruthless procedures to ensure order. Normally, not good.

As far as uniform changes, I have no problem with that. If on city guard duty, I would certainly prefer to wear mail instead of plate. While fighting wars and patrolling the roads, I would prefer plate. Soldiers wear different uniforms for different purposes all the time.

Please realize that, although I do have some relevant experience, these are just the quickly tossed together musings of one old paladin. I offer them merely for your consideration, and in response to your request for input. I do not have the answers and I'm sure whatever you devise for TF will work well for you. You have a fertile imagination and are well-researched. I know however you develop TF, it will continue to be realistic and consistent with itself.

Thanks to both you and SubRosa for recognizing the source of my profile name. Yes, it refers to dressage. I've always felt the white horses of Anvil looked just like Lippizaners at the Spanish Riding School.

Not to spam . . . back to the topic of the thread:

I agree with Acadian that the Marine Corps is a workable model, as well. When there is interfacing between civilians and the military, there is always a chance for conflict. I look forward to seeing how you resolve this dilemma!

KNIGHTS. Here, I have zero first hand expertise and am not even particularly well-researched. My views really just come from my gut, and how I see things in the Cyrodiil that Buffy and I travel. I readily admit that my view is whimsical and full of fantasy; however it works well for BF and seems consistent with what I see in the game of Oblivion. Again, feel free to consider or disregard.

Counts are quite powerful and have a significant level of autonomy, short of undermining the Empire. After all, the Council not only has the counties of Cyrodiil to be concerned about, but other provinces as well; not to mention their own internal and complex politics. I view knights as more or less ignored by the Council and considered a position that Counts can appoint. Counts appoint knights at their discretion for several possible purposes that generally include using the designation of knighthood as a bribe or reward of some sort. This might be to obtain loyalty or service (such as keeping the county free of Black Bow Bandits). Since these knights may or may not be of royal blood, they are merely tolerated as 'minor nobles' within the courtly hierarchy. The Legion tends to recognize knighthood as primarily a courtesy, but will generally treat knights with some level of deference - to a point. They will certainly arrest, without hesitation, a knight who breaks the law.

Thank you for the feedback so far! I think I like a flavor of hauteecole's suggestion of the city guards being a national guard the best. What I am thinking now is that each City Guard is raised and overseen directly by the local Counts. They would act as a police force within their cities and a few miles out from the walls. They would not be intended to be a replacement for the regular military, any more than the local police in the US are. For example the Cheydinhal guard would have authority in the Cheydinhal itself and Harlun's Watch, but no further. So places like Desolate Mine or Barren Cave would be outside their jurisdiction. The Imperial Legion would be responsible for maintaining order in wilderness areas between the cities. The Legion would also retain its role as both military garrison and police in the Imperial City, which itself is not run by a Count. Instead I figure the IC is run directly by the Chancellor and Elder Council.

Still, even though they are only supposed to be a police force, in essence this still gives each Count a private army loyal only to themselves, which inevitably leads to civil wars. The counter to this is that theoretically the Counts only hold a limited term of office, so they do not have their private army for long. Also the Imperial Legion is still kicking around in the countryside between the cities to keep an eye on them. By the same token however, it would explain all those rumors I hear in the game about the Colovians always being involved in some uprising or another (if I recall things only got quiet in Western Cyrodiil when Janus Hassildor became Count of Translyvania Skingrad. What was probably often happening is that a Count in Anvil, Chorrol, or Skingrad was at the end of their term and was not reappointed and just refused to relinquish power, using their City Guard to retain defacto control of their city.

I like this because it retains a level of political and military instability within Cyrodiil, which is very fertile ground for writing fiction. It also very elegantly explains the City Guards having sub-par equipment when compared to the Legion, and why they would not want to get involved in things happening in the countryside. It also means that if I want to take screenshots I can use the existing city guard characters, rather than having to mod the game to put them in Legion armor.

For example, when Kvatch was attacked I envision the local Legion forces all responding immediately and marching to the city and counter-attacking the Daedra. But because they came in piecemeal they were destroyed one group at a time. The Counts of Chorrol, Skingrad, and Anvil all refused to send a single guard, claiming it was outside of their jurisdiction, but were really afraid that they might be next and did not want to strip their defenses. At Bruma it was a similar situation in that no city guard were sent from any other cities. Because the battle there was initiated by the Emperor, the Fifth Legion would have been mobilized and marched there enmasse (except for a force left to retain order in the Imperial City) along with the entire Fighter's Guild. Then of course in the final battle of the Oblivion Crisis the Daedra attacked the IC itself, and so only the Legion garrison was involved (and the surviving members of the Fighter's Guild in the IC Chapter [which will exist in the TF even though it is not in the game]). So because of all of this the Fifth Legion took massive losses across three battles, while the Guards of every city except Kvatch and Bruma took none at all.

I still do think that knights need to be members of the aristocracy, as they were irl. Otherwise there is no point having the term knight. A member of the city guard or legion would be doing the exact same job, without need of a title. Now irl by the Medieval era knights were all born into their social class. If you were not born noble, you could forget ever becoming a knight. You would just be a sergeant. But those knights evolved from an earlier era when things were less set in stone, and their ancestors were simply guys in armor on a horse. Pedigree did not matter then, muscle and guts did. The same was true of samurai during the sengoku period of Japanese history. At that time things were so chaotic anyone, even a commoner could become not only samurai, but also daimyo, through dint of force of arms. The whole romantic notion of samurai being poets only came later, after the Tokagawa's took over and neutered the samurai to protect themselves from civil wars.

I rather like the sengoku period idea better, as it leaves some room for commoners to ascend to the lower ranks of nobility through dint of their accomplishments (and connections). I can imagine it as being a pendulum that swings from one extent to another. In times of peace and security it is probably very hard for a commoner to become a knight. In times of strife and confusion it would become much easier. With the Emperors dead and civil wars looming like thunderclouds on the horizon, it is an opportune time for individuals with pluck and ambition to carve out a place for themselves that would otherwise be impossible. Be it Council Members, Counts, Knights, or just regular folks like Mazoga. This gives me as a writer more things I can do with my fiction.

SubRosa, it all sounds good as you have described Knights. As you were speaking of becoming knights being easier during times of strife, it made me think how easy it was to get promoted to Sergeant of your platoon during time of war - how many sergeants came to their positions on the battlefield because everybody else in their platoon got killed off? These sergeants became sergeants not because they took courses (Acadian, you might correct me there, please do if I've got it wrong) or passed promotion boards because they kept their noses clean, but rather because they were the guys left standing at the end of the battle.

Having an inherently unstable sociopolitical organization, especially without an Emperor to hold it all together, does create opportunity for some really interesting interactions. I look forward to seeing where you will go with this.

As a matter of fact, as I write my own fan fic, I have a feeling that my character will be going in that direction. Right now, she's in the middle of the Oblivion Crisis and rehabilitating her reputation in places like Bravil, while forming new relationships and acquaintances elsewhere, but I have a feeling that somewhere down the line, she's going to have to make some very tough choices about where her loyalties lie . . .

So, like I said, I'll be watching this space for inspiration! I hope you (and others) don't mind!

The Knights within the land of Tamriel seem to be very non aristocratic, to me. On each occasion that they have appeared, it is either through the creation of a priestly order or a boys only club.
Playing the game I get no feeling whatsoever that a upper class structure is overlaying it at all. The only entry rite seems to be -
1. Only those of great combat ability and proven to devotion are eligible, or
2. Your mates kick it off so you decide to join.

Remember it was not until members from important families joined the Order of the Knights of the Nine that the order broke apart. Originally the order was just a bunch of mates who had achieved a note of reknown through earlier wars and fighting. Later on the aristocracy brought a political tension that the order was not able to handle.

Many of the Nine also have knights to protect the sages, something that would have been granted by the temple leaders. It would have been decided by the Nine and for the Nine.

hauteecole rider: I am not sure where I am going with all of this either! It is just that with instability you also get conflict. That in turn creates opportunities for a single character to affect the world in a way that would otherwise not be possible. One of things many people complain about in the game is how it shoe-horns the character into many of the quests. Like the Caught In The Hunt quest. I heard the captain of the Bravil city guard telling me about Aleron Loche going missing. Well, why in Oblivion is she not going out to find him! That is her job after all! In a stable environment then people like her and the Legion would be making the world nice and safe, and there would be no need for "Free Adventurers". But in a world where the Legion is practically wiped out, and the city guards are understaffed, poorly trained, or just plain corrupt and do not care, then there are opportunities for individuals to step up into the vacuum and make a difference. That is basically what I am hoping to convey. If anyone else likes what they see and wants to use it I would be tickled. Although to be honest most of this is not at all original ideas on my part. I am just drawing parallels from irl history and using it to fill in the many blanks is all.

From what I understand of the recently published ES book there is eventually another Emperor. I do not know when he came along however, and it sounds like the Empire really went to Oblivion and a handbasket after the Crisis.


Winter Wolf: The game does not go to much effort to show the society of Cyrodiil at all. That is why I am brainstorming this stuff. In reality every society has an aristocracy, even capitalist democracies (in the case of the latter entry is not based on bloodlines but rather wealth). To make my writing more realistic I want to portray that to one extent or another.


Now for the final post of chapter 10. This will be a bit long, but I do not see a good place to break it in two.

* * *

Chapter 10c - On The Road


Teresa bent forward with her hands on her knees and gulped for air. Her blood was pounding in her temples, and she felt the familiar post-combat tremble begin to set into her limbs. She was definitely going to spend more time running, she vowed. She had thought she was in good shape until that armored bandit had come along. Now she could see that she still had a long way to go. If it had not been for the nearby lake, or the legionary, she did not know what might have happened?

The rider had passed by her after stabbing the marauder. Now he slowed his horse and came back in a wide turn. Teresa looked up at him with a faint smile as he dismounted beside her. That is when she noticed the way his armor gently curved outward at his wide hips, inward at his midsection, and out again at his chest to form a familiar hourglass. The face that stared back at her through the Y-shaped slit in his helm was somewhat softer and rounder than she was used to seeing on a soldier as well.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Teresa-ActII-Valfreya02.jpg

"You're a girl!" Teresa gasped, eyes widening.

"Your grasp of the obvious does not fail you citizen," the legionary said dryly as she drew her longsword. "Stand back, this one might not be finished yet."

Teresa stepped aside as the legionary cautiously approached the fallen bandit. Stepping on his wrist with one foot, she knocked the greatsword from his hand with the point of her blade. He made no sound when she followed with a boot to the midsection, nor when she planted one foot on his back and pulled the helm from his head with her free hand. Drawing back his head by the hair, she revealed a face with dark Imperial features, brown eyes open and glassy in death.

Teresa marveled at the caution the legionary took with an enemy who was so plainly dead, and took mental notes to emulate her. Being careful never hurt, the wood elf thought, especially if someone might be playing dead?

"That was clever work with your spell citizen," the legionary said as she rose and sheathed her sword. Teresa thought she detected a Nordic accent to her voice, and noticed that her eyes flashed blue through the slit of her visor. "You made him an easy mark for me."

"I'm Teresa," the wood elf said, feeling her breath returning to her. "Thank you for your help. I thought I was going back into the lake for a moment there!"

"That's what we're here for citizen." It was the response that Teresa had come to expect from any soldier. She wondered if they were all taught to say that?

"I did not know there were women in the Imperial Legion?" the wood elf asked as the legionary knelt beside the dead bandit and began stripping the armor from his corpse.

"There are more of us than most people think," the other woman replied, "I'm Valfreya by the way."

"How come you are alone?" Teresa said. "I mean, don't you soldiers patrol in groups?"

"Not anymore," Valfreya answered as she pulled the back plate of the bandit's cuirass off and threw it aside. "After the fighting at Kvatch, Bruma, and the Imperial City there aren't enough of us to go around. We only work in groups now when there's something big."

"Oh," Teresa breathed. It had never occurred to her that the Legion could have lost so many people fighting the Daedra. Yet that would explain why she had been seeing only one guard at the district gates within the city rather than the usual four. She wondered if the group of soldiers she had seen at the Wawnet Inn weeks before had been on some special mission?

"Listen, what's your name?Teresa? give me a hand with this fetcher," the legionary motioned the willowy Bosmer down beside her. "I have to confiscate his weapons and armor so other outlaws don't come along and take them."

"Sure." Teresa knelt down in the grass across the body from the other woman and began unbuckling the greaves from his legs. She had been hoping that the legionary would leave the gear. That way she could sell it herself. At one time she would have felt squeamish about stripping a corpse, but she had gained enough practice in the last few months that it was almost second nature to her now.

"What are you doing out here by yourself anyway?" Valfreya asked as she pulled off his gauntlets and threw them onto his backplate. "Ever since the Crisis there's been a rise in bandit attacks. You are asking for trouble traveling alone. "

"I just swam over on my way to Bravil," Teresa explained. "I normally do not have any trouble with bandits because I stay off the roads. But I had to cross this one to get to the forest."

"You swam over?" Valfreya said incredulously, pulling her helm off and revealing a face of strong Nordic features framed by a tangle of golden blond hair. Drawing a small piece of cloth from one of her belt pouches, she used it to wipe the sweat beading on her forehead. "Do you know how many miles wide that lake is?"

"Only four or so at the southeastern end of the island," Teresa answered with the ghost of a smile playing across her lips. "When I get tired I just drop to the bottom and walk the rest of the way. It's stony over there, so I don't get stuck in the mud."

"Oh, mage eh?" the legionary chuckled, "I should have guessed from that spell. You don't look like a magician though."

"Oh I'm not," Teresa said. "I only know a few spells is all, and I can mix some potions. I'm mostly an archer. This bastard's plate was too much for my arrows is all. He must have killed a legionary to get it I suppose."

"That's what I thought at first too, but I know that move he used to try to ward off my lance. I was taught it as a recruit." Valfreya had stripped away the last of the steel plate from his arms and cut away the padded tunic beneath it. Holding up his arm, she revealed a red tattoo of a dragon against his olive skin.

"He's Imperial Legion," Valfreya spat, "a deserter!"

"Damn?" Teresa whispered. It seemed hard to imagine a legionary deserting and turning to outlawry. Yet there was the proof before her eyes.

When the last of his armor was stripped away Valfreya packed it away in a sack and tied it to her saddle horn. Then she hoisted the deserter's corpse over the back of her horse and tied it down as well.

"I'm taking this piece of dung back with me," Valfreya explained as she pulled her helmet down over her features. "We'll find out who he was, and where he came from. They probably have him listed as missing."

"There are two more down the road." Teresa gestured back the way she had come. "I don't think they were soldiers though."

"I'd better get their weapons too." Valfreya sighed, taking her horse by the bridle and leading it back to the road. Teresa sprang in front of her to lead the way down the gently curving road, until finally they came upon the bodies of the hedge wizard and the Khajiit.

"You killed both of them?" The legionary marveled, "on the run?"

"Well, I stopped to shoot." Teresa offered as she reclaimed her arrows from the corpses and inspected them for warping.

"You ever think of joining the legion?" the Nord asked, "the Fifth is recruiting again. We could use good foresters. We lost a lot them at Kvatch and Bruma."

"Me?" Teresa coughed as her eyes flew wide, "I'm no soldier. I'm just a regular person is all."

"Regular people don't shoot two bandits dead," Valfreya said and jerked her thumb at the deserter's corpse. "If you were an ordinary citizen I would be picking up your body right now, not his."

Teresa tried to imagine herself in a legionary's armor, standing at attention beside Volsinius, marching in lock step, addressing people as 'sir' or 'citizen'. The very thought made her want to laugh, it was so ridiculous!

"I don't think so," Teresa muttered. "You people have too many rules and orders; too many people telling you what to do all the time. I could never take it. I like doing what I want to, when I want to."

"Fair enough," Valfreya said as she loaded the two dead bandit's gear onto her horse. "You might try the Fighters Guild then, they need people now too. The way I hear it they lost most of the Guild at Bruma. It's a lot less rigid than the Legion, and no matter how good a fighter you are, they'll make you better. Pappy Vitellus runs the outfit down in Bravil. If you don't like rules, you'll like him, he never met one didn't break."

"Who's he?" Teresa's brow furrowed. The Fighters Guild? she thought. The idea of joining it had never crossed her mind. Could they really teach her something? Fort Magia and this recent battle had made it plain to her just how much she needed to learn if she was going to survive doing what she was.

"He's ex-legion, primus pilus." Valfreya said as she slung the last of the bandit's weapons on her horse's back. "He got run out by the damn parchment-pushers. Flattened a camp prefect with a right hook in High Rock is what I hear, and a legate in Black Marsh. One of the best damn combat leaders that ever lived though. When I was just a girl I saw the Emperor award him the Grass Crown."

A primus pilus, Teresa thought. If she remembered rightly, that was the highest ranking Centurion in a Legion. The highest any commoner could go. She certainly knew what the Grass Crown was though, everyone did. He must be a real hero, she thought. She wondered what Volsinius might say about him?

"I've got a long way to go Teresa," Valfreya said, pointing her horse down the road away from the setting sun. "You think about what I said, and take care."

"You too!" Teresa said with a wave, watching the Nord lead her horse into the gathering darkness. It was so hard to believe that her life had just been saved by the Imperial Legion, she thought, twice now in fact. Yet just two and a half months ago she could not have imagined a worse enemy. Life was so strange.

"Wait!" Teresa cried, sprinting down the road after the legionary.

"Here, take these," the wood elf said, drawing several healing potions from her belt and handing them to the Nord. "They might save your life someday."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Teresa-ActII-Valfreya01.jpg

"You're a girl?"

Anyway, I liked the name you picked for her. Valfreya... its like a combination of Valkyrie and Freyja

Didn't you have a screenshot of her? I thought you sent me one? Awesome chapter!!! I wondered when she would make her entrance!!

Great portrayal and dialogue. :thumbsup:

I wish there was more lancers on white horses patrolling the roads. In my playthru brown bears seem to be around every bend.
A few shapely Nords wouldn't go astray.

Jacki Dice: Us girls are always surprising people!

Valfreyja is actually a title of Freyja's. It means "Mistress of the Slain" or "Lady of the Slain" ("Freyja itself means "Lady"). I used it as the name of a npc in a pen and paper roleplaying game I GMed a long time ago. I also used the name for my Diablo character. I am terrible with picking names, so when I find one I like I tend to use it over and over... In fact Teresa of the Faint Smile comes from an anime.


mALX1: Doh! That is twice in a row I forgot the pictures! :facepalm: I would never make it as a private detective...


Winter Wolf: Thank you. I have that same problem with bears, and wolves, and mountain lions, and imps, and trolls... I swear, sometimes I want to throttle that guy who says to stay on the roads!

On the other hand, you will probably be glad to know that the chapter I am currently writing starts with http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion268.jpg (if I can remember to put the link in with the story!).

Enjoyable, as always!

I especially liked the part where Teresa is thinking she's got to start running more - she wasn't as fit as she thought she was! Gasp, pant, cough, pant, whew!

And finally, a Legion Rider who's a woman! Yay! :celebration:

This was a story told through the dialogue of two interesting characters. You gave us everything we needed to know interwoven in and around the dialogue. Simply marvelous to read as a wonderful example!

Now THAT is a screenshot. Yipee. :twirl: I think I have just found my new desktop pic. Thanks !!

Valfreya isn't the only one with a dry wit.... Although I think Teresa was just being literal....

Great dialogue and excellent plot development with plenty of hooks to set up future events.

I see fun times ahead with former Legionary Vitellus.

hauteecole rider: Thank you dressage girl. Teresa's running is something I hope to be able to work into the future stories. It is something she will start doing every day in Bravil. I have an image of her running up the stairs of the houses and leaping from roof to roof (which you can do in the game). I also have an image of the City Guard not being very pleased with her antics either...

About time us girls got to play in the Legion is it not? There are actually some mods out there which add female legionaries and city guard.


Acadian: Thank you. Whenever you put two women together, you inevitably get a lot of talking!


Winter Wolf: Awww shucks...


treydog: She was just being literal!

Me, leave plot hooks?


* * *

Chapter 11a ? The Faregyl Inn

The rest of Teresa's journey passed without danger. Staying away from the road, she plunged through the forest heading south. Or at least in the direction she thought was south. As always, she never once worried about becoming lost. She knew she would get to where she needed to be sooner or later, and in the meantime the forest had plenty of alchemical treasures to reward her roving eyes.

She was not sure how many days had passed when she smelled the sweet smoke of burning wood. It was less than a week, to be certain. Still, it was enough time for her to long for the taste of warm food and a soft bed underneath her. Not to mention a soak in hot water. The Bloom spell that Nerussa had taught her cleaned her just as well as a real bath did, but it did not have the same feeling as laying back in a steaming tub of hot water and letting it ease away the stiffness of her limbs, or reveling in the smooth scent of vanilla soaking into her skin.

With that thought in mind Teresa followed her nose, and soon enough she found a wide, paved road heading in what she was imagined was to the north and south. It must be the Green Road, she thought. It was the only one she knew of running from Bravil to the Imperial City. Then again, she thought, she had never been south of the lake either. So there was no telling for certain.

Remembering the last time she had crossed one of the roads, Teresa slowly inched forward through the brush up to its edge. There she carefully scanned the wood to either side of the thoroughfare for signs of anything being out place. At the same time she listened for any noise that might indicate another person being nearby.

Glancing up, she noticed that she was crouched only a foot from a sign that towered high over her head. It had been concealed by the brush from the forest side, but stood plain as day to anyone on the road itself. Its thick wooden planks pointed out the directions to the Imperial City, Bravil, and Skingrad.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion255.jpg

Teresa looked at it with a faint smile. She had guessed her directions correctly. Even after spending a lifetime in the city, she was getting good at this forester trade, she thought. It all just seemed to come naturally. All she had to do was listen to her intuition.

Satisfied that she was indeed alone, she stepped forth with wary eyes and scampered across the hard pavestones of the road. A moment later she was back within the dense greenery of the forest and a feeling of relief washed over her. She knew that she was being overly-paranoid. There really were not bandits hiding behind every tree after all. The only trouble was knowing which ones they were behind, she thought.

Teresa saw that a wide, dirt path led away from the main road in the same direction that the smell of smoke was coming from. Staying in the woods near the path, she set off along the same route. She soon found the land sloping down under her feet, and picked her steps with care to avoid tripping over the ivy that crept along the ground between the tall cottonwoods.

The sound of wood clacking together came to her ears. It was almost rhythmical, as if some strange forest musician were playing a tune on a pair of sticks. Then she heard faint voices, and smelled horses, or their leavings to be more precise.

Moments later the forest opened into a large clearing, and she found herself staring down the hill at a large daub and wattle building. Its wide, peaked roof was made of thatch, and a thin trail of blue smoke wafted from its chimney. She could see that the dirt road led directly to it, and split off to go to a corral larger than the building itself. It was there that she saw a dozen wagons and twice that many horses, all waiting quietly within the wooden beams that hemmed them in.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion256.jpg

The author of the strange wooden music also became clear to the wood elf. It was two men fighting with wooden swords outside of the corral. Or at least they were pretending to fight, she thought. One of them was a Breton with closely-cropped brown hair, and he was counting out numbers as they slowly moved their practice swords from one position to the next. The other was an olive-skinned Imperial, and he was silent as he smoothly followed the other man's lead.

Teresa stopped just beyond the trees to watch for a few minutes. It seemed like a dance, something she might see in a theater, not practicing for combat. Every move was done with grace, and flowed cleanly into the next so that no motion was wasted. She marveled at how they could keep their balance in each move. It was as if their feet and hands were linked, so that the movement of one enabled the motion of the other.

The eyes of the Breton flashed on Teresa. He whispered something to the other man, and suddenly they exploded into furious action. Their wooden blades flew back and forth against one another so quickly that the wood elf could scarcely follow them. It was a constant stream of attack, parry, riposte, and counter again as each man strove against the next.

Finally the Breton stepped closer to the Imperial, inside the range of their wooden swords. One of his feet slipped behind the other man's ankle, and after a shove the Imperial was laying flat on his back in the dirt.

"Hah!" the man on the ground laughed as the Breton extended his hand to help him up. "You couldn't beat me fair, so you cheated!"

"When it's for real, your enemy won't fight fair either," the brown-haired man said in that soft, somewhat lilting tone that all Bretons seemed to have. Teresa loved that sound, it was almost musical how they spoke. It reminded her of Claudette from the Gilded Carafe, or Aelwin from Weye.

Then the Breton turned back to Teresa and looked her directly in the eye.

"Now let's take a bow for our audience," he said, gracefully bending at the waist with his arms held wide apart, as if he were an actor on stage. The other man followed suit, albeit with less beauty.

"That was amazing!" Teresa proclaimed with a faint smile as she trotted down the hillside to where the men stood. "I cannot believe how you two can do that with those swords!"

"Oh, it just takes practice," the Imperial muttered, "lots of practice."

"Welcome to the Faregyl Inn stranger," the Breton said with a smile. "I am Alix Lencolia, swordmaster and all-around handy man. My friend here is the esteemed Sir Lucius Salvius, Knight of the Order of Saint Martin, and one of the finest swordsmen in Cyrodiil."

"Oh, my," Teresa looked upon both men with widening eyes. A swordmaster, and a knight! She thought, and they were both talking to her as if she was an equal. "I'm Teresa, um, traveler, archer, and alchemist, and what do they call it, free adventurer?"

"It is an honor, milady Teresa," the Imperial said solemnly. Before she knew what he was doing he took her hand and bowed to gently kiss her fingers. "I am your humble servant."

Teresa felt her cheeks turn warm as her heart skipped a beat. By the Nine, did he just kiss her hand! She marveled. He was a knight after all, and she was a? whatever she was. She knew she should say something witty, or at least something gracious. Yet when she opened her mouth, nothing came forth.

"Oh go on now Lucius!" the Breton laughed, rescuing Teresa from her moment of awkwardness. "Only a knight for a week and you are already at it with the ladies. Why don't you come inside with us Teresa, and try some of S'jirra's potato bread. I think we could use a little break."

"Hey, I have to practice sometime, and Abhuki just does not make for a maiden most fair, if you know what I mean." Teresa heard the Imperial's voice ring out behind her as Alix led her through the back door of the inn.

Within was a storeroom filled with barrels of ale, sacks of flour, and all manner of boxes and crates. Alix quickly navigated through the jumble of goods and led Teresa through another door that brought her into the large kitchen of the inn. Long tables stretched along two of the walls, and a great oven of bricks took up part of a third, flanked by an equally large wood-burning stove. Standing at one of the tables chopping carrots with a knife was a Khajiit with golden fur. She was dressed in simple tan work-clothes, and her hair was tied up into numerous triangles that were held together by brightly-colored ribbons.

"We have a visitor S'jirra!" Alix proclaimed as Lucius moved past him and through another door. Through its swinging boards Teresa could see what must have been the inn's common room, as it was filled with people eating and drinking. "This is Teresa, and she is someone special I should say."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion276.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion277.jpg

Happy to see another chapter! :twirl:

Oooooh, another take on Alix! After reading Maxical's fiction and seeing Alix one way, now I get to see him another.

I really loved the scene between the two men and Teresa. Sir Lucius made me think of one of my favorites (from way when I was a little girl watching the Sunday Matinees on Channel 9) - Errol Flynn as Robin Hood! To me, he was (and remains, to this day), the ultimate chivalric womanizer!

Delightful! :wub:

Ahhh! This was a joy to read. No Nirn-shattering events. Just a simple journey punctuated by the wondrous things we find in Cyrodiil. I love the RICH detailed descriptions you lavish upon us - very, very immersive. This is one of my faves so far! Please feel free to grace us with such 'smell the roses' stories as often as Teresa tells you to. :nod:

This was delightful:





I did have one 'editory' note: '?but it did not have the same feeling as laying back in {a?} steaming tub of hot water and letting it?'