Chain 083: Morrowind/Oblivion

Chain 083: Morrowind/Oblivion
Location: Elsweyr, 3E 433
Age: 22
Identity: Drop-In, Nord
Drawbacks: None
[Free]      Sign: The Mage
[100/1000]  Beast Tongue
[Free]      Cold Resistant
[300/1000]  Sleep On It
[450/1000]  Skill Books
[750/1000]  Dragon Break
[1000/1000] Followers: Demona, Conspiracy

Well, there are a number of things that I did not expect to happen when I found myself skipping forward in time to the Third Age. ...and ending up in Elsweyr rather than Cyrodiil where I had been hanging my hat (and hanging out with the Psijics, even if they remain a bit skeptical of a Nord among their numbers). After having gotten settled for some time, the problems concerned tears opening in the fabric of space, ripping holes that led into Oblivion. Really an annoying thing, if only I just had some way to close them again, or a semi-loyal companion who could close them again, or a thousand-strong conspiracy composed of part-time khajiit who could ALSO close them again.

Oh wait.

So... to make the long story rather a bit shorter, the Conspiracy of Ravens is the result of giving all of my cult the abililty to shift their forms into that of a bird. Along with Demona and myself. Ravens can blend in basically anywhere for the most part and are capable of mimicking speech, so they can talk even without switching back to normal. (And thanks to being certain forms of khajiit, they are also able to blend in as black cats, too. Or giant black tigers twice as big as a man is tall.) I feel I should actually point out things like this in the future, for those who care to follow along.

I and Demona made our way back to Cyrodiil on foot, even with the ravens overhead. Demona didn't bother to hide her appearance as a gargoyle, but there were surprisingly few instances of concern over her being a daedra - perhaps it was because I had ordered the Conspiracy to take marching orders from her. As time progressed, they began to call her the Raven Queen, something that amused her greatly - having ravens on the wing overhead and spreading toward what seemed to be the source of the problem proved a good way to seal the thrice-damned portals as they appeared; even if it didn't necessarily banish the daedra themselves, it kept more from coming through. They might not have ended the crisis, but they did blunt it rather a bit. Enough to anger Mehrunes Dagon and make us a larger target.

Meanwhile, once I'd crossed back into the imperial province, I was met by a breathless courier. Apparently I was named as an heir of the Septim dynasty - there was some confusion as to how my parentage might have included being the illegitimate heir of Uriel Septim, quite honestly, but sometimes it's best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. As such, I simply made my way toward the capitol itself, while stopping to beat the tar out of daedra where I saw them... not to mention the Order of the Mythic Dawn constantly trying to murder me. And failing miserably. And getting legilimized so that I could trace where they came from and who their compatriots were, so that I could detour on my way to root the cult out.

I got there just in time to see Martin Septim more or less turn into a dragon, and then to stone - the event that sounded the death knell of the Third Age and the beginning of the Fourth.

In the aftermath, people were desperate for leadership, and with a letter stating my heritage, I was rushed into place as Emperor Crux Septim. Also known as the last Septim, as no heir was produced during my reign. The empire was shaky, but because there was an emperor on the throne it largely stuck together; since I was in charge, I let more than a few advancements leak out, along with ways to reproduce them. Long-distance communication that anyone could use was quite a feat, after all, even if each was all but an heirloom product.

Honestly, other than The Last Septim existing, the timeline wasn't even disrupted very much. The Thalmor tried to murder me and failed, but did kill the High Chancellor, which screwed up a great many things in the short term but basically meant that the empire leaned a little more heavily toward the military side of things to keep control rather than politics. And then there was the disaster that was the Red Year... ugh. At least the Empire was in a position to help a bit, and the High King of Skyrim was king enough to cede Solstheim to the Dunmer.

In 4E 17, general Titus became Emperor Titus Mede I, after having stopped the mad pretender Thules from seizing the throne. He'd proven his worth, and my time was up anyway - even if I had more than the usual time, it wasn't indefinite. At least the Fourth Age would see the return of runecraft in crafting artifacts and tools. If I was to leave a legacy, it was the Septim method for enchanting. Less flexible than using an enchanting table, but far more predictable and less resource-intensive.