Letters From the North - Prologue

• Posted by Yoteden October 22, 2016 - Filed in TSC: Skyrim - 1,172 views

  Kallius is an Imperial but this is a simple statement of origin and in no way his mindset.  Born two years before the beginning of the Great War he grew up among it’s atrocities and it’s fallout.  At 5, he was carried by his mother as a refugee when the Aldmeri Dominion descended on the Imperial City and razed the Imperial Palace.  His family traveled northeast towards Cheydinhal to avoid the oncoming war.  His father found work at a bookstore there and his mother stayed home to raise him and, a few years later, take care of his new sister, Accarina

   

  Though the war ended a year later he grew up in a harsh, post wartime land and learned to fear the Aldmeri Dominion and the Thalmor.   He also came to dislike the Imperial government and the way it had turned into a puppet for the Dominion.   As he grew older he went to work with a local blacksmith but found himself bored quickly.  Wanderlust set in and as he neared his late teens and he began to argue more and more with his family.  After befriending a travelling dunmer mage/alchemist, he left against his parents approval with the dark elf and the pair traveled into Morrowind to find their fortune.  Though the first year was good, fortune slowly turned to misfortune.  The two were quite aimless and Kallius continued to take simple jobs.  During that time, his dunmer friend was killed by thieves and he found himself struggling to survive.  He fell in love but was betrayed a few months later.

   

  He traveled back home briefly.  It was a difficult reunion.  He found his mother had passed away from an illness and his father slowing with age.  Accarina, his sister, had married and their father had moved in with her.  Guilt took hold for awhile but his father had a long talk with him one evening and soothed Kallius.   Accarina may hold bitterness but he assured Kallius that he did not and neither had his mother.

   

  The years passed and he continued to take odd jobs as he could.  He continued to wander, never really finding focus but gaining experience with life on the road in Tamriel.  He continued some alchemy work but did not pursue it with any passion.  Nearly broke, drinking too much, and living as a ragged courier he encountered Ariena Sirinahl, an altmer mage, historian and bookbinder, while delivering a message.  Ariena saw something in Kallius and took him under her wing and  encouraged his love of history, knowledge and nature.   She also cultivated the skills of alchemy he had learned from his now deceased dunmer friend.  The two hit it off and with her friendship Kallius began to finally find himself.  For several years he stayed in one place and learned from her while continuing to take odd jobs or allowing her to pay him for helping out around her home.

  

   

  Near the end of Midyear 4E 201, Ariena received a concerning message from an old friend in Skyrim. Directly after reading it she brought a life-changing proposition to Kallius.  Would he be interested in travelling to Skyrim and learning from a true alchemical master?  Her friend in the North needed assistance with his alchemy shop in Windhelm and it would give Kallius an opportunity he might never encounter again.  Seeing a chance to start over and realizing he was not getting any younger, Kallius agreed.  He would travel through the mountains to Riften and from there find a way further north to Windhelm.  Saying a warm goodbye to Ariena, he departed on the 28th of Sun’s Height.

   

  A few days later and  he was travelling with three other travelers heading into Skyrim.  They had passed the border and though the mountain path was a steep incline it was wide and the weather was good.  He had already gathered numerous new herbs and flowers to test for alchemical properties and though tired he was in a good mood.  Other than the pack on his back he carried an old war axe and a dagger for protection.  He had barely needed them his entire life but he felt it a good idea to carry them.  His companions, a sell sword, a mason, a merchant and a bard, had all been good companions.

   

  Armed with these few items, a lifetime of experience and the desire to start over he expected to be at the Riften gates by the end of the day…