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Posted by
Reikaan Ward October 29, 2011 -
688 views
To whomever is reading this, these are to be my final thoughts, scrawled hastily upon scrap parchment as my captors escort me by carriage to the execution block. I shall not make the claim that I have done no wrong, but I assure you that I am not guilty for that of which has me headed to be beheaded. Well, I am technically responsible, but... Ah, to oblivion with it, I'll just start from the beginning.
My name is Reikaan Ward. I was born in the city of New Balmora around 4E175, but the exact year is unknown. It's tough to keep track of Imperial time on the wasteland of Vvardenfell. Not much reason for the other races of Tamriel to even bother with the Isle, much of it is still a ruined, untamed wilderness almost 200 years after the catastrophic eruption.
The "fire-rivers" as the Ashlanders once called them, made for predictable paths for the lava to travel, and this knowledge saved many a Dunmer ancestry from completely fading from history. Most fled the island, taking few valuables & many loved ones. Some stayed, however, in an attempt to literally rise from the ashes of the eruption.
This is where my story truly begins, as my great grandparents opted to stay with their Telvanni brethren. The wisest of the various groups of Dunmer all arrived at the same conclusion that the ancient Dunmer strongholds would provide the best shelter in the wake of the disaster & destruction. The long road to recovery was made easier due to the fact that the volcanic ash made for excellent farming soil. Lush gardens sprang up atop the occupied strongholds, and the mushrooms cities flourished in the Eastern region. The elders, set in their old ways, were content to exist in isolation so long as they were doing well, but the younger generation knew that cooperation was key. They petitioned to have 5-man recon squads called Seekers explore the wasteland of Vvardenfell for other survivors. Reluctantly the elders agreed, and my great grandfather, his wife, sister, & two brothers quickly became the most successful of these Seeker groups.
Their good intentions were squandered by old ideals, however. Anytime a small band of survivors was discovered, the Telvanni guard would spring up, pillage their resources, and enslave any able-bodied captives. Though this worked out splendidly for the Telvanni elders, my ancestors had far more respect for the ideals of truth & justice.
When they finally decided they were ready, they left their sons & daughters behind in Sadrith Mora to venture west of Red Mountain for the first time since the eruption. Five long years went by before they returned in secret to come back for their children. They told a fantastic story of how they discovered a group of survivors hiding within the old Caldera mine. Upon rescuing them, they all ventured south to what remained of Balmora, which was left surprisingly intact. My great grandfather commissioned the settlement New Balmora and became its first leader.
To keep its existence secret, outside the city walls it was to be referred to only as Lazarus. This moniker eventually became synonymous with the surrounding areas, and thus the Hold of Lazarus was born. My great grandfather and his son I'm told were both great leaders, and my father took up the mantle of the leader of the Lazarus Scouts, their own group of Seekers. The LS were extremely effective, having been trained by the best.
It was my father's group that discovered the master propylon index in the ruins of Caldera, opening up a realm of new possibilities. Or so we thought at the time. I was a child when my father would tell me stories of teleporting instantly across miles to trade goods & food with other small encampments. The so-called master index only allowed us travel between a few strongholds because the ring was broken when some propylon chambers were destroyed in the eruption.
Although this was a time of prosperity for New Balmora, we had no idea what was going on in the rest of Vvardenfell. From what I later gathered, around this time is when the argonians began to invade our island. We learned after the fact that the argonians had been driven from their destroyed native land of the Black Marsh and subsequently invaded the Morrowind mainland.
They were smart to watch the coasts & prevent any word of the takeover from reaching what was left of civilization on Vvardenfell. They were even smarter sending in their initial invasion force on Indoril boats disguised to look like slave transports. Vivec City was the first to fall to the reptiles, followed closely by Ebonheart & Sadrith Mora. The argonians' coastal guerilla tactics caused most of the Telvanni cities to fall faster than wounded cliff racers. For whatever reason, it took the argonians quite some time Before ultimately encroaching upon Lazarus Hold...
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