TESA:Redguard/Website

Par Bethesda Softworks This page archives all the lore information from the official website dedicated to TES A : Redguard. The Story I t is late in the second era, a time of war, as the Empire of Tiber Septim sweeps through the kingdoms of Tamriel in a glorious bid for conquest. Septim is opposed on all sides, but never more fiercely than by Hammerfell, the home of the Redguards. T he High King of Hammerfell, Thassad II, resists the Imperial invasions even as he sees other kingdoms crumble, until, at last, without warning and surprisingly devoid of court treachery, death takes its full measure. With its High King dead, Hammerfell is crippled, plunging into a bloody civil war between the Crowns, fighting for their homeland's continued sovereignty, and the Forebears, who have finally accepted the Emperor's rule. C rown Prince A'tor, son of Thassad and heir to Hammerfell, leads his forces in continual victory over the Forebears. But the latter make a pact with the Emperor, which allows Tiber Septim to bring his armies in and crush the weakened Crown forces. The last battle is fought in the harbor of Stros M'kai, the ancestral seat of the Crowns. Prince A'tor and his men fight fiercely, but are, in the end, defeated. F earing eventual rebellion from the headstrong Redguards, who have never suffered long a foreign ruler, Tiber Septim establishes Imperial garrisons in every city of Hammerfell. Lord Richton, the man who beat A'tor at the Battle of Stros M'kai, is appointed Provisional Governor of that city. His present reign is not a kind one. The overloud Redguards either end up dead or missing. Y our sister, Iszara, is one of the missing. Y ou are Cyrus, a Redguard mercenary who left Hammerfell long ago to wander the borderlands of the Empire. You vowed never to return, and the reason why is a shame you still bear. Forget the troubles ahead- the Imperial guards, the dragons, the legions of undead- your biggest fear is facing Iszara again. For she, no doubt, has never forgiven you for killing her husband ten years before. The Characters Meet some of the characters you will encounter in REDGUARD: Attrebus (He's the one with the helmet). The personal guard of Lord Richton. Meet Cyrus' khajiit employer, S'Rathra (He's the one with ears like a cat). A Pocket Guide to The Empire describes the khajiit as "a strange race of intelligent beastmen...all feline in aspect, some far more than others." As a reward for his naval victory over Hammerfell's Prince A'tor in the Battle of Hunding Bay, Amiel Richton (He's the one with the red amulet) was appointed Provisional Governor of Stros M'Kai. Dram is the dark elf assassin who works for Richton, the Provisional Governor. (He's the one with the pale grey skin and blood red eyes.) Tobias (he's the one with the mug). He writes Cyrus of Izsara's disappearance. Cyrus, Hammerfell's prodigal son and the hero of our story (he's the one with the sword) Attrebus Name: Attrebus Age: 23 (born 2E 841) Race: Cyrodilic Province of Birth: Cyrodiil (Colovian West) Occupation: Imperial Guard A lthough only 23, Attrebus is considered a grizzled veteran by his fellows. The sixth son of a peasant family from the backwoods of the Colovian West, he ran away from home at 16 to join the Third Legion mustering in nearby Anvil, hoping, like the other peasant boys who flocked to the Imperial standards in that fateful year, to find in the soldier's life an escape from the changeless toil of farm and herd. The Third was immediately posted to the capital to help put down the Moth Rebellion, where its green recruits earned it the sobriquet "The Faithful" while besieged in the Hesod Barracks by the Cultists. The proudest moment of his life was when the Third marched with Tiber Septim's honor guard during his triumphal reentry into the capital. A ttrebus saw action with the Third in every corner of the expanding Empire over the next few years, and has scars to prove it. He was wounded during the storming of Tarak Shan, and nearly lost a leg to an Argonian feather-serpent during the grueling pursuit of Reekee's kidnappers into the depths of Black Marsh in 861. Fiercely loyal to his Emperor, he has little patience with people who refuse to acknowledge the obvious benefits of the Empire. For a glass of the strongest local brew, he will gladly retell his part in the sack of Senchal (an event which has no part in the official history of the Empire), claiming to have put thirty catmen to the sword himself, "man, woman and cubling, made no difference to us - General Pottreid had given 'em their chance to surrender." H e was among the few who escaped the Aldmeri trap at Black Rocks-later, the remnants of the Third made up the core of the new Ruby Legion, and Attrebus spent an uneventful year on garrison duty in the Nibenay Valley. Just when he was getting used to the jungle heat, his company was posted to Hammerfell as the personal guard of Lord Richton on this "godsforsaken island". Attrebus doesn't understand why Richton has let Stros M'kai off so easy - "it's the bleedin' rebel capital, ain't it?" - but veterans of the Faithful Third pride themselves on doing their duty without complaint. He'll follow orders and keep a suspicious eye on the locals until his Emperor needs him somewhere else. S'Rathra Name: S'Rathra Age: 86 (born 2E 798) Race: Khajiit (breed suthay-raht) Province of Birth: Elsweyr (Anequina) Occupation: Crime Boss T oday S'rathra is suave and urbane, a rich and powerful Khajiit in a world of Men-far from the young suthay-raht that used to run with the violent nomad cats of the Ne-Quin'al plains. After being lamed at the massacre of Stoop Low, he left Anaquina to keep from bringing shame to his tribe, eventually ending up in the far more cosmopolitan Pellitine to the south. For a time, S'rathra ran a lucrative skooma trade out of Senchal port, smuggling sugar into the Empire (becoming, unfortunately, an addict himself in the process). When Cyrodiil strengthened its presence in the Topal Bay, S'rathra left Elsweyr entirely. H e has made Wayrest his port of late, playing the lesser lords of High Rock to his benefit. Though the Empire has solidified the Bretons, there is still a lot of money to be made in the drawing of borders before the provincial laws dry completely. Mercenaries and fixers are in great demand there, and Cyrus and S'rathra have long shared a mutually beneficial relationship- the catman finds the paying parties and the Redguard does the dirty work. S 'rathra's latest assignment for Cyrus is cut short when the Redguard hears of his missing sister. The Khajiit, perhaps knowing all too well the loss of one's kin, provides the money and transport necessary for Cyrus to reach Stros M'kai. Richton Name: Admiral Lord Amiel Richton Age: 48 Race: Cyrodilic Province of Birth: Cyrodiil (Colovian West) Occupation: Admiral of the Imperial New West Navy, Provisional Governor of Stros M'kai A miel Richton has been a faithful servant of the Empire for most of his life. Indeed, like Tiber Septim, he began his service under Cuhlecain, the so-called "Emperor Zero", who laid the foundation for the restoration of the Empire by unifying Cyrodiil for the first time since the fall of the old Cyrodilic Empire. The Richtons are a minor noble family from the Colovian West, near the Strid, which supported Cuhlecain when he began his bid for the Dragon Throne. Amiel Richton distinguished himself early on as a captain in the fledgling New West Navy during the campaign against the pirates of the Abecean Sea. R ichton rose quickly through the ranks, commanding a squadron in the Battle of the Bjoulsae where Wayrest's naval power was crushed in a surprise dawn attack. He succeeded Vasi Hadrach as Admiral upon that officer's assassination at the hands of rebel Reachmen in a brothel in Daggerfall. His crowning achievement came during the invasion of Hammerfell, where he led the New West Navy to victory over Prince A'tor's fleet in the Battle of Hunding Bay. F ollowing the Imperial conquest of Hammerfell, Tiber Septim appointed Lord Richton as Provisional Governor of Stros M'kai, which became one of the chief supply ports of the New West Navy. His orders are to clear the waters of pirates, a job for which he has shown great aptitude in the past, and to guard the strategic Cape of the Blue Divide against the fleets of the hostile Aldmeri Dominion to the south. Dram Name: Dram Age: 252 (current incarnation 64, materialized CE612) Race: Dunmer (Dark Elf) Province of Birth: Morrowind (technically not an Imperial Province yet) Occupation: Exiled Assassin of the Morag Tong, Imperial Emissary Little is known about the Dark Elven Imperial Emissary, Dram, though his loyalty to Tiber Septim is unquestioned. Ironically, his ancestors were preeminent nightblades of the Four Score War, wherein the Morag Tong systematically destroyed the heirs of the Second Empire of Men. Why Dram now serves Cyrodiil, Morrowind's longtime enemy, is a mystery, as is the reason Tiber Septim suffers any Aldmeri to assist in his conquests in the first place. Like all members of the Morag Tong, Dram worships Sithis, the God of Death; indeed, he is a thrice-born initiate who continues his faith even after his exile. Again, details of Dram's exile are unknown. There are whispers that House Indoril, the chosen Dark Elven faction of the legendary Tribunal, took slight at the assassin's affairs and had him secretly executed in CE800, an insult the Morag Tong has yet to forgive. Others say Dram has been a companion of Tiber Septim since the Emperor first took the Cyrodilic Crown. Still more, that he is the apprentice of Zurin Arctus. Whatever the case, Dram is one of the Empire's most trusted servants, and perhaps its deadliest assassin. Currently, he is stationed at Stros M'kai, helping Provisional Governor Richton root out the last of the Redguard resistance fighters. Tobias “I hope this letter finds your hands, friend. My latest travels have brought me to Stros M'kai and no one here has seen your sister for 3 months. I fear the worst. I feel obligated to stay for a few weeks. I'll be at the Draggin Tale Inn, should you return…”— Tobias Name: Tobias Age: 57 (born 2E 807) Race: Cyro-Nordic Province of Birth: Cyrodiil (Colovian West) Occupation: Merchant T obias was born in the Colovian west, near the battlefield of Sancre Tor. His Nordic father, Borgas, had served as the captain of the House Guard of Far Falkreath Estate, a merchant family with ties to the Holds of Skyrim. Borgas eventually married a Colovian daughter, but died in the Sack of Old Hrol'dan scarcely two years later. Tobias grew up with stories and romantic notions of his "father's fair Skyrim," a land of savagery and battle far different than the relatively civilized Colovian west. As soon as he could, he traveled to Haafingar to serve as a marine in the Longboat Legions of the Wulfharth Heirs. Ultimately, he deserted the ranks and became a smuggler, working the runs of the Iliac Bay. At Sentinel he met Cyrus, a Redguard lad who had long dreamed of leaving Hammerfell to sail the seas. When Cyrus killed Iszara's husband, Tobias took him in…. After the Raid on Tear, Cyrus and Tobias went their separate ways, keeping in touch only through their mutual fixer, the khajiit S'rathra. Tobias' most recent message to Cyrus comes from Stros M'kai, the island principality where the Redguards fell to the Empire, and where Iszara had relocated to after Baron Volag's Purge of the north. Cyrus Name: Cyrus Age: 33 (born 2E 831) Race: Redguard Province of Birth: Hammerfell Occupation: Mercenary C yrus spent his youth in Sentinel, the capital of Hammerfell, in the years just before the expansion of Tiber Septim's Empire. He fled his homeland, and abandoned his famly, after killing his sister's husband in a drunken sword fight. Taken in by a band of brigands, led by the Nord pirate captain Tobias, Cyrus soon became a mercenary-for-hire. He wandered the borderlands of the Empire for years, taking whatever jobs he could find, selling his skill with a blade to beggars and petty-kings alike. Recently, he learned that his sister, Iszara, vanished in the wake of the Empire's invasion. Though he vowed never to return to Hammerfell, he now finds himself bound for Stros M'Kai, determined to find Iszara and, perhaps, atonement.