The Suspended Man of Hnes Rax

Third Attendant Falx,

Your work with Skjornheim was extremely helpful, and for that the Synod is grateful. I cannot help but feel that Mr. Pearl-Eye would have been more willing to divulge information if you had been less aloof in your manner and perhaps used some of the coin we provided you to bribe him. I must remind you that any Septims you do not spend will be returned to the larders of the Synod upon your return.

I do not enjoy telling you this, Falx, but you leave me no choice. There is no way in which I can be more clear than this: the Synod has no plans to fund your investigation into the Suspended Man of Hnes Rax. We are not interested in the bonfire tales of impoverished Redguard fishermen, and we are absolutely not interested in your ludicrous theory regarding the matter. I have returned your proposal with this letter so that you do not mistake my actions for passive permission, as you did with your little foray into Flesh Magic. Please continue your research into the culture of the maomer as per your assignment.

Through Magic We Are Freed,

—First Adjunct Sibylla Cullus

First Adjunct,

Expanding upon the request in my previous letter, I would like to write a formal proposal for the funding of a research expedition into the Iliac Bay to find the Suspended Man of Hnes Rax. It is my firm belief that, upon finding him and learning the details of his most unfortunate condition, that we may deepen our understandings of the nature of Magic by an order of magnitudes. What follows is a brief overview of the unusual story of Merard Moric.

Hnes Rax, the southernmost area of Hammerfell, is relatively unimpressive. The only remarkable thing about is its abundance of unusual dwemer ruins. Chief among them, and the only one important to the story of the Suspended Man, stands the ruins of Ahrk Duabcharn. Standing on the eastern shore of the peninsula, Ahrk Duabcharn had been picked clean by marauders some time in the late Second Era. After the notorious earthquake which decimated much of southern Hammerfell caused shifts in the subterranean areas of the ruins, a team of investigative mages from the now-defunct Daggerfall Mage’s Guild travelled there to observe the newly-revealed strata deep within the ruins.

The team consisted of three guards, two Redguard guides, and five mages led by a geomancy specialist named Merard Moric (better known as the Suspended Man). Once the team entered the ruins they discovered that landslides caused by the recent earthquake had revealed a vast network of artificial caverns. Within the caverns they found strange and magnificent dwemer machinery, banks and banks of defunct or barely-functioning machines of unknown purpose. Deeper and deeper they went into the laboratory-caverns, which seemed to reach down for fathoms. Spurred on by Moric’s insistence that no one had been this deep within Nirn within Nirn since the disappearance of the dwemer.

When Moric’s team reached the deepest point of the caverns, they came upon an enormous chamber, roughly carved into the shape of an inverted egg. Across the bottom of the chamber ran an exposed arch of stone, which Moric took great interest in. Here I must defer to Moric’s own journal, for I am not a geomancer and cannot properly explain the significance of such a bizarre formation:

…it [the formation] stretched across the chamber from edge to edge, only to then disappear beneath the surface amidst a pile of crudest rubble. The Arch was wide enough to be used as a bridge, as nearly four or five men could walk comfortably abreast. It was clear that, despite the fact that the curvature of the Arch was nearly mathematically perfect, it was a naturally-occurring formation. I could not identify the composition of the Arch, save that it seemed to have deep reserves of calcareous earth, such as a common bone might have.

Moric ordered one of the Redguards to strike the formation with his pickaxe so that he might take samples back to Daggerfall. He had hoped that he might be able to test the alchemical properties of the Arch and so learn precisely what it was. However, the pickaxe blow only bounced harmlessly off of the Arch. At Moric’s insistence, the Redguards both swung tirelessly at the Arch, trying to break off even the merest fragment of the inexplicable formation. After nearly three days of effort, a blow from one of the pickaxes caused the Arch to crack. It is unclear what happened next, but Merard Moric and his team were discovered nearly a full week later by a follow-up team dispatched by the Mage’s Guild of Daggerfall to investigate the disappearance of Moric’s fellowship.

With the exception of Moric, the entire expedition was found dead. It is not the fact that they were found dead, however, that is shocking, but rather the manner in which they were found dead. Three of the five mages and two guards were found crushed under rocks; the cracking of the Arch had triggered some sort of seismic reaction which had collapsed most of the chamber, crushing the men and hiding the Arch once again. Two mages and both Redguards were found impaled upon the stalactites on the top of the chamber. The final guard was found bobbing lifelessly at the top of top of the chamber, apparently starved to death. Moric himself was alive, though floating at the top of the chamber like a boat upon the tops of the waves. He survived by missing the stalactites in the initial event and managing to grab one of the expedition’s bags of food which was similarly floating. He claimed to have drunk droplets of water which dripped down from the stalactites, being careful to avoid those upon which his compatriots were skewered. No matter what the recovery team did, they could not find a way to anchor Moric upon the ground again. It seemed as though his feet had lost their very attraction to Nirn, and was not able to leave until he caught a rope which was thrown to him. He was led out like a kite, and soon the crew made their way back to High Rock. A rope was tied around the ankle of poor Moric to keep him from drifting off into the sky, and quite soon the Suspended Man was well-known amongst the roads of Hammerfell.

He became, perhaps, too well-known. We do not know exactly what happened when that fateful pickaxe struck the final blow to the Arch, as Moric never made it back to Daggerfall. A band of Corsairs fell upon the team of the dead of night, slaughtering everyone and keeping the Suspended Man as a prize. The Suspended Man was next seen several months later, his ankles lashed to the bow of The Risen Yokuda, the ship of a notorious pirate who sailed the Illiac Bay. The Suspended Man was used as a living figurehead, floating above the ship and terrifying the pirates’ victims with his screeches and appeals for help. The Suspended Man may yet be tied to that ship, fed crusty bread and forced to endure the stench of unkempt brigands.

It is my hypothesis, First Adjunct, that the Arch was none other than an Earthbone, and that the act of shattering it resulted in a localized abnormality in the Nature of the World. If we could learn how to locate and manipulate these Earthbones, than we may be able to perform feats of magicka previously unimaginable (or perhaps even previously impossible). Please consider this proposal with the utmost gravity.

Through Magic We Are Freed,

—Third Attendant Tertullian Falx