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lady-sleepless-gaming · 6 months

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"…Characters are like stained glass. You, the person are the light behind the stained glass. And what the character is - it is always still you, but the colours and shapes and the way the things are arranged changes and the light shines through differently."

- Brennan Lee Mulligan

[All of my ESO characters. From top to bottom: Lights-The-Marsh, Lorian Solinar, Aenna Motierre, Lark Direnni, Heron Direnni, Ave Direnni, Dove Direnni, Seros Telvayn, Korrana Solinar and Mypha the Fateweaver.]

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inthepineforest-blog · 7 years

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So I’ve got this long-suffering idea in my head about the mod I’d like to make for Skyrim if I actually had modding skills, and it’s basically this- a new-lands mod on an isolated archipelago, separated from mainland Tamriel by a supernatural, unceasing storm front and cut of from Tamrielic history, but peopled by her castaways. Unfortunately the dream in my head FAR outpasses anything I could conceivably create, and I don’t really expect anyone to read anything I post about it, but I plan on using mah tumblr to deposit all the crack I’m going to write about it anywho.

Warning- There is a heck of a lot of cracky fanfic about something that exists only in my head behind the keep reading, but if that’s your thing I hope you enjoy.

Bellanfell, Illvidreth- An Outsider’s Perspective

The Journals of Cassian Marcellus, formerly of U. Gwylim Press

It is the Tamrielic year 3E 380, and I have found myself washed ashore in a strange new land. I had been en route from Wayrest to Solitude when our ship, a slow moving Breton trading vessel, was pulled off course into the western seas. The mate was the first to notice the storm which the currents seemed to pull us inexoriably toward. Before we knew it, we were under the weather, beaten down by freak waves and pelted with hailstones. Buoyed up and down by the raging ocean with the ferocity of Kynareth’s own rage, I could do naught by hunker below, when I heard the reef tear the keel to splinters. A reef, here, in empty ocean pulled far from sight of the High Rock coast! As the ship began to fall to pieces, I must have dove through a hole on instinct, and gone limp in the frigid water.

When I awoke, I was lying on the sands of an unfamiliar beach. A forest of oak and birch lay before me beyond the rocks, and the remnants of my ship decorated the shore with tatters and spars. In some act of cosmic balance, I was quickly discovered by a kindly local shepherd, who lived not far from the beachhead and often went to watch for cursed travellers like myself. Upon being nursed back to relative health in his cottage, I asked where in Tamriel I could possibly be, only to learn that I wasn’t at all! Here, beyond the fringe of the western sea and isolated by eternal storms was an island settled by shipwrecks and castaways, peopled by driftwood.

The island I had washed up on was known as Windsend, and home to the twin towns of Flotsam and Jetsam, and let it not be said that the locals were not aware of themselves. Windsend is but part of a larger archipelago, known to the locals as Bellanfell, or Illvidreth- either way, a rough eytmology is “Storm-land”. After thanking the shepherd for his kindness and retrieving what I could from the washed up remains of the ship, I, and a few others who had found their way ashore, made for the largest island, known if it is thought of at all as the Mainland. Since I have made my academic career of documenting the people of Nirn, I may as well continue in this new world, and hope that these journals may help some future castaway in learning about Bellanfellic society.

A History of Settlement-

The consensus on who first settled in Bellanfell seems to be rocky at best. Two major groups seem to have a claim to it; the Vindurlings of the north and the Velodmer of the western island Velodfer, though the Na-Diren of the southern mainland seem to have arrived not long after. The narratives are very similar- it seems that a few ships from a larger force became lost in the storms and currents- in the Velodmeri case, from the Chimer exodus to Morrowind, and in the Vindurling case, from the Ysgrammorian Return from Atmora- and found themselves washed up, alone, in a new land. Proving that some things are the same everywhere, these ancestors to Nords and Dunmer immediately fell to fighting when exploring parties came across one another in the wilds.

Somewhat later though likely in the very early first era, the first and only intentional crossing was made- Nedes enslaved by Direnni High Elves and facing invasion from Nordic forces built a hasty armada and fled, in the hopes of finding land in the western sea. A small force of Direnni ships sailed after them, but both found themselves caught in the storm and shipwrecked. It seems the Nedic survivors outnumbered the elven, for the two forces found themselves evenly matched in this new land and, forced into unity by the raids of their neighbors, established a foothold in the southern mainland. A branch of this new society seem to have split early and become the Moradmer of Hyarnum, on the eastern coast.

The next large group of people to arrive were Yokudan settlers, aiming for Hammerfell but pulled off course like many before them. It seems the Nedic-Direnni society had a firm grip on the south by this point in history as the Yokudans were not able to blaze the warrior path across the land as their cousins did in Tamriel, and in fact largely integrated into Na-Diren society. A nomadic faction splintered off and migrated to the grasslands south of Hyarnum, intermingling with the Moradmer there, and that region is still largely the home of their pastoralist descendents.

The west coast, between the volcanic ranges of the Vindurlings and the great lake of Alatilin, seems to have changed hands multiple times. First a battle ground between the Vindurlings and the Velodmer, it seems to have been settled by Nedic speaking peoples in the mid First Era expanding from the Na-Diren in the south. It was later reconquered by the Vindurlings, who founded the city of Arkast, and fortified the region against the Velodmer. In a similar fashion to their Bretony cousins, the nedic Gondrini assimilated their northern rulers and a new national identity emerged from the fusion of nedi-altmeric and atmoran. However, the area remained a battle ground for the other powers of the archipelago, and maintained its independence by building a robust martial culture, Bellanfell’s first true standing army, and an advanced series of fortifications.

The Kingdom of Gondrinfel fell from stability right around the turning of the Third Age of Tamriel. A combination of earthquakes, internal division, and increased pressure from the Na-Diren kingdom of Athnilin saw the fracturing of Gondrinfel, and the countryside became a haven for bandits. The last king of Arkast died in battle in T. 3E 243, as the city was sacked by Vindurling pirates. Their leader, Hodniak Spear-Breaker, declared himself overlord, and used the city as a base of operations.

It was in these relatively recent times that the last major migration of Tamreillans seems to have taken place. The island has seen a constant stream of shipwrecks, as sailors of all flags have gotten pulled away navigating around the coast of High Rock, with a handful of survivors integrating every decade or so- often enough to keep Tamriel in the knowledge of the populace, infrequently enough to make Tamriellans a rariety. But in T. 3E 288, half a legion seems to have lost its way from Uriel V’s expedition to Akavir, thought downed in a freak storm. The missing ships in fact crashed ashore in Bellanfell, predominantly on Windsend.

The surviving Legionnaries quickly regrouped, and the mixed company of Tamrielic races constitute the largest migration since the First Era. The regrouped Cyrodilic Legion voted as a block to stay together, and offered their services to the people of the archipelago as a means of support, using their expertise as fighting men, road-builders, and blacksmiths to quell banditry and revitalize infrastructure, predominantly in the south. After getting back on their feet, the Legion under Legate Mennia Pelagius moved with the blessing of the Kingdom of Athnilin into Gondrinfel, and liberated the populace from the bandit overlords. In a desperate move to escape, Pirate King Ionnas Hodniakson is thought to have set Arkast ablaze, and while the Legion succeeded in capturing him and his followers, the city burned to the ground.

The Legion was dispatched to mop up the remaining pirates, and Legate Mennia oversaw the rebuilding of the city under the eyes of the Town Elders. Tension rose once again as the King of Athnilin began to make demands of what he thought were his new subjects. The Legate asserted both the Legion and the Gondrini’s independence from any throne or fief, and was named Lady Protector by the City Council. The Legion fort built by the ashes of Arkast was christened Cyrodinium, and the rebuild town became absorbed into it. Led by the new Lady Protector, the Legion served to fend off a series of border raids by the slighted King of Athnilin and the enterprising Vindurling lords, and have remained independent.

Bellanfell Proper- The Mainland

Kingdom of Ath-nilin

Cyrodinium

Carcuillin

Hyarnum

Eldinbrum

Velodfer- the Western Island

To be added to...

#The Elder Scrolls #sort of #what even are tags #cracky cracky fanfic #bellanfell

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lady-sleepless-gaming · 6 months

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