The youngest son of a prominent family residing in the Imperial City, I was raised with expectations of every benefit and no responsibility. My eldest brother would inherit my mother's titles as well as his duties, or if not him, my other older brother. and I had only one job: behave respectably. And, oh, I excelled in that. A wealthy Altmer has quite a mountain of options when it comes to entertaining oneself, though I mostly occupied myself with academic pursuits. History was my passion, with lore and mythology a natural offshoot of that passion. Dragons in particular had an unusual way of holding my attention, which in my younger days was quite a daunting task. In fact, I was known for my habit of extensively studying one topic and suddenly abandoning it.
When I raised my eyes beyond my books, which was rare enough, it was to ride horseback. Just as the smell of parchment filled me with a certain contentment, the feel of clean air passing me by as I rode had a singular effect on my mood. I could ride for hours, contemplating something I had just read.
With a head full of knowledge, a heart full of desire to improve upon that knowledge, and a purse full of gold to facilitate that desire, there was very little information that was not either within me or at my finger tips. It is not hard to imagine that I grew overconfident in myself, at least in that regard. I came to feel as though I was something of an intellectual giant, and I began to take great pleasure in allowing myself a sense of superiority when looking at my less academic siblings. Naturally, they had more pressure than I to ready themselves for the duties of adulthood in Aldmeri society, but I did not consider that when I mocked their lack of acuity. And just as naturally, my pride made me something of an enemy for my brothers.
It is not hard to imagine, now that I can look back with a mind relieved of the blinders of bitterness, that my brothers felt threatened, felt that my sense of superiority extended so far as to want to eliminate them so that I might inherit the family name and estates and positions. I assure you now that I did not want their responsibilities, but I can not blame them for believing at the time that I did, nor for arranging to have me removed from them if for no other reason than self-defence.
However, my brothers were not subtle. It only took one failed attempt for me to know what they were about. Out on a ride by my lonesome, my horse tossed me and attempted to stomp me into the dirt. A peaceful creature, my horse would never do so, let alone so suddenly, if not under the influence of an Illusion spell, which my brothers were known to use.
Thinking myself their intellectual superior, yet having no illusions of physical superiority, I could not confront them or challenge them. But as I said before, I had no wish to usurp their natural born rights. And so I conjured up a way to simultaneously beat them at their game and to escape fratricide.
Composing a, at least to me, heartfelt suicide note, I wrote of my solemn sadness at the betrayal of my dear dear brothers. I also considered burning my favorite books, simply for dramatic effect, but immediately disregarded the thought of harming a book. With a note written, mentioning drowning myself as a method, all that remained was to vanish.
With my love for dragon lore and my people's general disdain for Nords, I decided upon Skyrim as my destination. As I began north, I foresaw myself purchasing a quaint home in the wilderness in which I could build a library and perhaps raise a few horses, I was optimistic for a more peaceful, solitary life less occupied by the rather irritating and senseless babblings of nobility. Little did I know that with each footstep, I brought myself closer and closer to a destiny I could not have imagined.
Comments