The Blacklight War

Penned by Sir Rivalen Mothril, Knight, East Empire Company.

The last chapter covered the conclusion of the Reclamation movement of the Tribunal Temple, the Temple’s reformation under “the Reclamations” – Mephala, Azura and Boethia, and also covered the Temple’s slow slide into overt religious warfare with the Imperial Cult – the Chapel of the Divines. The chapter also described the Blacklight Vespers, the infamous assassination of Lady Drela Sadras at the hands of the Morag Tong, and High Warden Voryn Sadras storming northward to Blacklight to take control of the realm. It ended with a lone messenger reaching the Imperial City from Blacklight.

4E 22-29 – The Red Dragon in the West

Since the uprising on Alinor (the new name by which the Thalmor refer to the Summerset Isles), Titus Mede had not been idle. Once the reunification of Cyrodiil was entirely complete, amidst the full pageantry of a Colovian Military Tattoo, the Emperor was finally ceremonially crowned (though he had been recognized as Emperor since his endorsement in Skyrim). Thus, before Elder Council and the full hierarchy of the faith, the Emperor was enthroned as Basileus Tamrielicus, simultaneous to both the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Cheydinhal and also the elevation of a new Lord High Primate. The new leader of the faith was Tumindil, who had been Primate of Skingrad and who was a trusted friend and advisor to the Emperor. Tumindil lacked the same legitimacy as the former High Primate, Lady Talindwe Mothril, who had expected to be restored after her removal by the sorcerer king Thules the Gibbering. But though Tumindil lacked the serene majesty of his predecessor, who had received her ordination at the hands of Uriel VII, the new High Primate was a brilliant administrator, a healer of considerable skill and the simple manner in which he carried himself – in the hardy and forthright fashion of Colovian soldiery – suited the legion and emperor better than any sophisticated easterner could.

The Emperor further solidified his claim to the throne by honoring Potentate Ocato with the full splendour of an Imperial Funeral, interring him with dignity on the Green Emperor Way, alongside his liege and friend, Uriel VII. This was the first Imperial Funeral since the death of Pelagius IV and it was given all possible gravity. He also granted land and title to those of Ocato’s kin he could coerce to emerge from hiding and reliably identify, doing his best to rightfully restore as much as was practical of the Potentate’s inheritance to the Ocato family.

After these ceremonies, Titus Mede proceeded to extend his power into High Rock and made the first of multiple campaigns in Hammerfell. The august principalities of Sentinel, Balfiera, Daggerfall, Wayrest and reluctantly, Hegathe, all knelt before the Emperor’s victorious march. The western wars of Titus Mede are ultimately not very important to a history of the Eastern Provinces. Save for one, the “Valenwood Uprising”. This was significant, as it helped to set the stage for future cataclysms within the Empire.

For seven years, the Thalmor had by and large, remained quiet and secluded on Alinor, even as the Empire continued to restore itself. However, in 4E 29, it became clear that this was not an enforced isolation, but rather a protracted, well considered buildup to completely drive Imperial forces from the forests. The Thalmor began the campaign even before any of their forces landed. The government in Falinesti was overthrown. This government, by virtue of Titus Mede’s hard work to restore the friendship once enjoyed by Valenwood and the lords of Skingrad, enjoyed a very congenial relationship with the Empire. Yet for all this friendship, in a day and night of slaughter, every Bosmer with ties to the empire, and all humans in the capital, were butchered and ritualistically cannibalized. This feast was quickly and loudly endorsed by the Thalmor, since, despite Imperial Law enshrining the forests, the Meat Mandate was never backed by the Empire. With avid backing from hardcore Pact-followers, the new Thalmor rulers of Falinesti quickly invited intervention from Alinor.

At this point, many Imperial strategists (and civilians) have criticized Titus Mede’s handling of the situation. Many have claimed Titus erred in not simply attempting the invasion of Alinor from the outset. But this is farcical and utterly ignorant of military strategy. Such an invasion would have been impossible. Despite years of naval buildup in the Empire and centuries of military decline on Alinor, almost all strategists concurred with the Emperor’s view that the Thalmor nonetheless possessed definitive naval superiority. Thus, the Emperor decided to concentrate on seizing Valenwood. Additionally, despite calls for the Emperor to act immediately, which he could have done, Mede waited two months to build a force of forty thousand men for his counter-attack. Whilst this did give time for the Thalmor to land a small army in the south of Valenwood, near Haven, marching in immediately would not have necessarily been advantageous. The Thalmor already had the element of surprise on their side; time would give Mede a stronger army to oppose his enemy and might denude some of the Thalmor’s already overwhelming momentum.

In mid 4E 29, Titus finally moved into the forests, forty thousand legionnaires at his back, doing his utmost to appear a devout protector of the woods – to ensure his relationship with his allies remained strong, the emperor attempted to prevent, as far as was practical, violations of the Green Pact. Additionally, his army was spearheaded by a strong contingent of Bosmer clanfolk from the Great Forest, drawn by the Emperor’s call for the clans to “defend the fatherland”. The Colovian Fleet was under the command of the Emperor’s illegitimate son, Antigonus.

Arenthia, to which most of the remaining Bosmer Imperialists had retreated, opened its gates to the Emperor with rapidity. Most of the Imperialist Bosmer nobles were in favour of retaking Falinesti, then pushing south, toward the southern cities, such as Haven and Woodhearth and controlling the south coast. But the Imperial generals were all in favour of bypassing the capital of the forest, and smashing their way through to the south and hampering the Thalmor operations there, and perhaps seizing the isles of the Blue Divide, gaining an invaluable bridgehead. For better or worse, the Emperor felt it best to trust local wisdom, and took the advice of his Bosmer clients, ordering a march to Falinesti, which he felt would at least allow him to cleave to the coasts.

The campaign, inauspicious in its beginning, did not proceed well. The Thalmor incited the forest-folk against the Emperor. They performed vicious acts of woodland terror, sending soldiers garbed in legion dress to burn forest groves. Human Thalmor collaborators, who, it seems, were present in Valenwood even before the war began, conducted acts of rapine and slaughter that would have impressed Haymon Camoran. They moved quickly around Valenwood, and before any Altmer loosed but a single arrow, the Thalmor had ensured that much of Valenwood would rise against the Emperor, convinced of his role as foreign tyrant. Meanwhile, the Thalmor’s Bosmer supporters, strengthened by mass enlistment of Imga in their ranks, and assured aid from frightened villagers, skirmished with the Colovian column constantly, wearing down the Imperial advance to little more than a crawl. The Thalmor even used the air itself as a weapon, lighting fires to fill the lungs of the legionnaires with smoke. Moreover, when the Emperor finally did reach Falinesti, it was desolate and deserted, robbing much of the impact the victory might have had on morale.

Such was the character of the entire war. The emperor’s soldiers were frightened and isolated, unable to see well due to the dense jungle and the constant harassment of the Thalmor forces meant that soon, the Imperial Army had to resort to violation of the Green Pact, which led to strife amongst the leadership of the army. Only the presence of the Emperor, his brother Andronicus and the Bosmer clanlords of the Great Forest was able to keep peace between the ever eclectic milieu of the Legion and the Bosmer nobles who had joined the march in Arenthia.

The action that ultimately did ensure that the Thalmor did not win a complete victory over the Imperial Legion then and there, and end the reign of Titus Mede I far earlier than did in fact occur, was the battle of Ironbark Straits. The battle was the largest pitched clash of the war. Though delayed from departing Anvil by bad weather, Antigonus Mede had made it to the northern coasts of Valenwood and was moving quickly south to intercept the rapidly encroaching Altmeri fleet. The Altmeri knew that the prince had all the siege weapons that the emperor would need, loaded on his ships, and that the campaign to take Alinor – if indeed the legion intended this – depended on the payload in the Imperial Navy’s holds. The Altmeri sailed clockwise, around the Valenwood coasts, from Haven, making toward Falinesti.

However, the Altmeri Flotilla was trapped in the Isles of the Blue Divide by Prince Antigonus, who utilized novel tactics against the Thalmor ships, generally reckoned superior. When the Altmeri ships closed to mid range to engage in magical bombardment, Antigonus simply loosed masses of harpoons affixed to heavy chains. In so doing, the prince shut down the Altmeri hit and run tactics that had, for centuries, allowed their navy to become so dominant. Chaining the Altmeri ships to his own far heavier, more sturdily armored galleys, and preventing their escape, Antigonus was able to reduce the Thalmor fleet to tinder at leisure. The plethora of harpoons, chains and ship plating that littered the sandbanks of the isles resulted in the name of “Ironbark Strait”.

But the victory, despite its moral significance, could not extricate the Emperor’s poor situation in Valenwood. The Thalmor had all but won before they first attacked. Their army was unaffected by the defeat, still active in the field and the Thalmor could soon restore their fleet to full strength. Moreover, despite the best hopes of the Emperor, the people of Valenwood were not rising in his support. In fact, the longer the war continued and the more ineffective the legion appeared the more support for the legion dropped. Thus, in the first days of Evening Star, when Antigonus and his fleet appeared off the coast, north of Falinesti, with this new aid, the emperor did not hesitate to withdraw his army into Cyrodiil as fast as he was able. So transpired the first direct clash between the Thalmor and the Empire; the Thalmor had, despite the upset annihilation of one of their fleets and lack of any pitched battles on land, emerged as decidedly the stronger party. ‘Old Mary’ had, it seems, finally shown her mettle. It was not the last time the Dominion would do so.

4E 29-37 – The Storm in the East

Though the emperor had been beaten, and never bothered to deny this, he nonetheless celebrated the victory of his son Antigonus with appropriate pomp, tempered by a well orchestrated atmosphere of remorse for those who had died. Despite such celebrations, and despite the fact that the emperor’s leadership had allowed the Imperial Legion to emerge from Valenwood mostly intact, the defeat in the forests nonetheless represented the opportunity that Mede’s internal enemies had been waiting for. The emperor still had opponents in restive Nibenese potentates, groups like the Caro Dynasty in Leyawiin and the Carvains of Bruma, who were only too happy to strike back at the boorish Colovian interloper who had bulled his way into the politics of Cyrodiil. Moreover, the Emperor was well aware that the Crowns of Hammerfell were far from done, and were more than happy to take any chance they could to strike back at the hated Cyrodiils and their Forbear Cronies.

As such, the emperor was forced, for the better part of the next decade, to tread carefully. The Imperial government, headed by a noted Nibenese collaborator of the emperor’s named Hierem, took pains to ensure that the legion was prepared to counter any follow up invasion from the newly formed Aldmeri Dominion. While the invasion from Valenwood or Alinor did not come, Titus Mede still utilized the fear bred in the aftermath of the failed invasion to rebuild and further increase the strength of the legion, whilst silently and steadily countering the movements of his Nibenese rivals.

All this time, the Penitus Oculatus ensured that the emperor was kept apprised of the growing religious turmoil in Morrowind. When the New Temple began its assault on the Chapel in Morrowind, this began the first of many calls for a “Crusade”. Some of the leading clergy of Cyrodiil called for a sacred war, in order to defend the Divines. These calls were, however, quashed by the emperor as soon as they arose. Intervention in a religious war was certainly not something that appealed to Titus Mede and despite the deep seated hopes of the Chapel, the Imperial Law is ultimately nonsectarian.

The faith however, was not the only organization which began calling on the Emperor to intervene in the civil unrest engulfing Morrowind. The merchant princes of the East Empire Trading Company began to lend their voices to the call for war. Despite the wealth and influence of the EEC and the vital importance of the corporation in pan-Tamrielic trade, the emperor resisted these calls; Penitus Oculatus intelligence and the emperor’s own personal suspicions indicated that the EEC lords had links to the Nibenese rivals of the Imperial Family. A war in the east would necessitate a regency government, which, during a time of seditious nobles and the threat of invasion, the Emperor was unwilling to chance. Regencies invariably handed power to the Elder Council, which all veterans of the Stormcrown Interregnum knew, was a fractious, ruthless body, which could collapse into infighting at any time. Titus Mede’s victories had cowed the great lords of the Elder Council; but cowed underlings do not abandon ambitions- they merely await another chance to strike. Moreover, the Elder Council was headed by a certain Hierem; this unsavory character was a Nibenese magelord who held high rank in the Synod. Hierem had done much to smooth over the succession of Titus Mede I with the other Nibenese princes and still allegedly held much influence amongst his countrymen. Though he had elevated Hierem to the seat of High Chancellor, wisely, Titus Mede did not trust the ambitious mage. In years to come, this mistrust would serve the emperor well. But at this time, Hierem too was calling for an intervention in Resdayn, though his motives were hardly altruistic. Hierem had been an ambassador to Morrowind under the Septims; it is very likely he had a personal vested interest in Imperial Intervention, and he almost certainly sought to increase his own power and the Synod’s by acquiring arcane knowledge that he knew was hoarded throughout the province.

But this was the environment which the messenger that arrived in the Imperial City, at the end of Morning Star, emerged in the midst of. The missive of the Great Council was brought by none other than Mistress Brara Morvayn. Morvayn’s extensive personal history with Titus Mede and rule of the Redoran settlement least affected by House Sadras’ advance, as well as her tremendous personal fortune and standing with the EEC made her ideally suited as the envoy of the Grand Council.

Titus Mede received the mistress of Raven Rock with the dignity befitting a visiting vassal queen. Welcomed into the Imperial Court, Morvayn frankly informed the Emperor that the situation in the east had reached a critical point. What had begun as no more than a religious reformation had now escalated into what seemed to be the beginning of a holy war. Morvayn additionally advised that the chaos that was threatening to entirely engulf Morrowind had the potential to cause a near collapse in the EEC, which in turn, could seriously affect Cyrodiil’s economy and all but destroy the ebony trade. Mistress Morvayn certainly dangled a most enticing carrot before the Elder Council when she promised that the re-imposition of law and stability by the Imperial Legion could eventually triple EEC profits. Moreover, Morvayn cunningly noted that in cornerclubs and inns throughout Nibenay and the Old Holds, the emperor’s many Dunmeri subjects were actively aware of and being drawn deeper into the sociopolitical issues that were even then tearing Resdayn apart.

Morvayn asked the Emperor,

“How much longer, before the divisions of Ald’Resdayn spilled across the Valus and into the rich, green lands of the Empire? How much longer would the Emperor wait before discharging the obligations divine Talos had shouldered unto the Ruby Throne in days of yore?”

Morvayn concluded by noting that if the Ruby Throne would not intervene, then the Grand Council would need to consider requesting aid from other parties to protect The Interests of Mer in Morrowind.

Though such promises of profit leant more than slightly toward hyperbole, Morvayn’s address to the Elder Council and the Emperor she so desperately wanted to resolve the crisis at hand did not fall on entirely deaf ears. In particular, her question as to how long before the Dunmeri Diaspora erupted in open conflict was taken quite seriously. The rulers of the Empire were quite aware that the passions inherent in the growing conflict were felt far beyond Resdayn’s borders; these passions threatened daily to spill over the less-than-impenetrable barrier of the Valus-Velothi Mountains, into the Dunmer diaspora. Such an unwelcome overflow could tear Nibenay and the Old Holds asunder, severely threatening Titus Mede’s hard won peace. Nor did Mede want such unrest in Nibenay, especially when his political opponents in Eastern Cyrodiil and the Thalmor were “crouched like Ice Wolves around a dying deer”.

Thus, after taking the charismatic and persuasive Mistress Brara Morvayn into the Imperial confidence (and into the Imperial bedchamber), the emperor decided that a quick, decisive strike against the Sadras army that was even then storming northward to Blacklight, and the summary execution of any further seditious elements would bring to the entire province to heel. Mede moved with his typical efficiency, abandoning the Imperial City altogether and holding court from a Pavilion he erected within a rapidly growing tent city on the Red Ring Road, not far east of Aleswell. It was here that the “Army of Resdayn” was rapidly, but assiduously assembled. As the Emperor hoped, and had doubtless planned for, many Dunmer, especially the young, did indeed enlist in the legions, eager to restore order to, and aid in the resettlement of, their devastated homeland.

One very curious element of the preparation of this great army was how little it affected the Imperial Treasury. Unlike other realms, which form armies of levied volunteers from the land in question, and return them to their homes after wartime, the Imperial Legion is a paid, standing, professional force. It requires all the logistical wizardry of other armies, but also a salary for each man. The Imperial Legion serves as a garrison after the war; doubtless there must have been awareness that a large part of the mission of the Army of Resdayn was resettlement and reconstruction. The Emperor wanted plenty of Dunmer legionnaires, the better that he might arrive as liberator, not conqueror, and he utilized the full might of the Imperial Propaganda machine to fully achieve his goals. But despite the grand scale of the emperor’s preparations, the Imperial Treasury was barely affected, and it was widely rumored, amongst the staff of the royal chancery, that the emperor had come into the good graces of a benefactor possessed of truly proverbial wealth.

All attempts by the Penitus Oculatus, who scoured the empire, to find this elusive financier ended in failure, and the emperor eventually decided to simply let the issue lie. In light of how little information was found, it seems likely that the benefactor came from within the structure of the Imperial Government.

4E 37 – Vae Victis, The Blacklight War

Finally, in mid 37, the Army of Resdayn set out to the east to begin its own glorious reclamation. What followed came to be known as the “Blacklight War”, or, in occasionally among Indoril, the “Dusk War”, for the Imperial shadow it threw over Morrowind.

Mede’s army moved quickly, but with an impenetrable air of order that might not have seemed out of place in Sotha Sil’s Clockwork City. Every one of the Emperor’s forty five thousand soldiers was perfectly outfitted for the impending war in the ash. As it passed through Nibenay, toward the Valus, every inch of the Imperial Column bespoke the Emperor’s intended message: he had indeed suffered a defeat, but he and his Red Legions were not beaten.

The great Sadras seat of Kragenmoor fell quickly, and Mede garrisoned it with five thousand men, joined by ten thousand additional troops from Nibenay, marching from Cheydinhal. The rapid fall of Kragenmoor, once considered the all but impregnable “Gates of the Valus”, was the catalyst that drove the Dunmer to truly desperate measures. The invasion of Morrowind completely polarized the factions of the Grand Council. Overnight, the armistice party became political pariahs in the capital, and most fled from Blacklight, some to Solstheim, where Brara Morvayn’s family still held firm, but most fled to Telvannis, the seat of the reformer, Aryon Telvanni. A number of conservative elements of House Sadras orchestrated the arrest of Lord Voryn Sadras, imprisoning him for dereliction of duty. When the Emperor sent a division toward Ebonheart, the Chapel city of Great House Sadras, at that time all but defenseless, the vaunted army of the second house degenerated into separate factions, its siege of Blacklight wholly collapsing, as the isolationist members of the house offered to ally with House Redoran and help gather the Grand Army, in order to repel the Emperor.

Bolvyn Venim, Archmaster of House Redoran, and his second, Dralis Rorlen, attempted to restore some semblance of order to the city and speed up the levy of the Grand Army. This was not easy. The Grand Army of Redoran was more than just the Redoran Guard, ten thousand of whom were garrisoned in Blacklight; they were spread across the land, garrisoning the Redoran settlements of Morrowind, like Raven Rock and the partially reconstructed cities of Ald’Ruhn and Balmora. Others were posted to guard the southern borders, south of Mournhold, although the south was largely the responsibility of House Sadras, who had obviously neglected this. Moreover, the Ashlanders who had joined the Grand Army in the Accession War were scattered through the mountains, Vvardenfell and Sheogorad.

Leaders of the Independence faction were divided as to whether they should meet the legion in the field or whether to sustain a siege in Blacklight. The capital was amply provisioned and, being a true Redoran settlement, had tremendous ebony curtain walls. Interestingly, these walls had helped give Blacklight its name (they reflect the Aurora Borealis in strange, dark patterns during winter). Although the smarter course was to sustain a siege, with fear of Imperialist sleepers rampant through the city, this option was strenuously opposed by some Redoran councilors.

In the end, it was decided that the remaining Sadras soldiers, being the most field-ready force, would move southward, and take up a fortified position on the Kragenmoor Road, the better to delay by harassment, the Imperial Legion’s advance to the capital. Meanwhile, this would give House Indoril, House Dres and any willing Ashlanders time to bolster the defenses of the capital. The Grand Council realized that time was on their side; they were well aware of the fact that Mede would not want to be away from Cyrodiil and the fractious politics of the Imperial City, on the end of extended supply lines, for an extended period of time.

However, the delays of the Grand Council in choosing would cost them dearly. When the Sadras, reinforced by mercenaries, moved southward along the road, expecting to find the vanguard of the Imperial Column near Silgrad. Yet, all they were confronted with was two whole legions, which quickly fell back to Kragenmoor, which the Sadras did not venture to assault. It was only when they received word from a beleaguered fellow from Balmora that they realized the extent to which they had been played for fools.

For Mede’s legions had not simply advanced up the north road from Kragenmoor. The division the Emperor had sent to threaten Ebonheart had not merely been positioned to threaten that city but to acquire barges, boats and any other craft on the River Thir, as well as make contact with the Scathing Corsairs (the Argonian Pirates who have been a constant thorn in the side of Vvardenfell, and occupied the Scathing Bay, principally, the ruins of Suran and Molag Mar), all of which allowed Mede to divide his forces again, leaving a column to divert attention and make a very visible raid up the Kragenmoor-Blacklight road. Meanwhile, the majority of Mede’s legions had stormed up the West Gash, during which they ambushed, and utterly annihilated, the unsuspecting Redoran muster gathering outside Balmora, which the Emperor entirely bypassed.

Soon enough the Emperor crossed back over to the mainland, crucifying the Scathing Corsairs to the last man when he was done; a cunning and well considered public relations gambit, for in so doing, the Emperor had done what the Grand Council had been unable (or perhaps unwilling) to do in near three decades.

When the Sadras conservatives learned of Titus Mede’s immediate approach, they did not trouble to risk their lives for the followers of the New Temple, who had until recently been persecuting them in the streets. No attempt was made by the Sadras army to break through the Imperial lines to the north; instead, they force marched eastward to Old Ebonheart, whence they fortified the city against the wrath of the Temple that they predicted would soon enough come for them.

Meanwhile, the Emperor and his legions closed in around Blacklight.

During the Imperial Siege of Blacklight, the Redoran showed that despite the depravation the Grand Council had sunken to in the years since its great victory over the An-Xileel, the First House fully deserved their reputation as Morrowind’s premier warriors. Their resistance possessed all the fury that they had brought to bear in the Accession War or in the Oblivion Crisis.

Titus Mede had not come unprepared. A separate division had brought siege equipment in abundance, moving the heavy siege engines up northward, first from Cheydinhal to Riften, then from Riften to Windhelm and then, through the Dunmeth Pass. In addition, in the absence of wood, further supplies could come from Eastmarch and from the Rift, though the Old Holds, especially Windhelm, remained restive. The emperor had further cause for hope, as with any luck, an Imperial Fleet would be sailing from Solitude soon, with further supplies. He had his own army, some forty thousand men, as well as those additional volunteers and House Sadras soldiers that had flocked to his banner; altogether, this gave him fifty-five thousand men at arms, with definitive superiority in cavalry, though this is of limited facility in a siege.

However, against him, Redoran had levied thirty five thousand defenders, a formidable garrison. In addition, any military historian will know that Blacklight is the rampart of Morrowind; it is the barricade upon which had broken dozens of Nordic invasions from Skyrim. The solid ebony walls of Blacklight are more than one hundred feet tall and thirty six foot in width. Positioned around the walkway atop the walls, the Dunmer had positioned formidable ballistae. The city of Blacklight had over the centuries, developed a formidable reputation as the breaking point of Nordic invasions. To the Nords, the capture of the city was the death knell of their armies, as it was believed the Sons of Skyrim could only do so at such cost as to cripple their invasion utterly. However, it was only thanks to the quick thinking of Vivec the Poet that meant this reputation was not sorely tested by Tiber Septim’s invasion, who had brought a large portion of his invading forces to attack the city. During the oblivion crisis, the Daedra had come close to toppling the city, but their gates had been shut, dismissing their mighty infernal siege weapons.

Thus, for many, many centuries, the Blood of Ysgrammor and the Blood of Veloth had tested themselves on and around its walls. So it was played out once more in 4E 37, at the hands of Colovians hoping to surpass their Nordic forbears. So gripping was the unfolding drama of the siege that even a raiding party by the An-Xileel garnered no more response than a column of House Sadras soldiers from Ebonheart riding southward, driving the Argonians from their position and riding to the northern limits of Sadras land, the better to attempt to observe the unfolding events in the capital.

The Emperor was, by his own admission, weak in siege craft, but nonetheless, he approached the matter wisely. He launched few assaults on the landward fortifications of Blacklight, instead focusing on undermining the walls. A flotilla of Nord Reavers from Winterhold kept the city well provisioned with food from House Dres on Sheogorad. This allowed House Dres to make several landings on Solstheim, hindering the Imperialist Redoran on that island from reinforcement and re-supply of the Imperial Legion. As it turned out, House Dres were involving themselves in Redoran’s affairs out of not merely from antipathy to the Empire, but out of no small sense of self-interest, as the great agriculturalists sought to claim the island of Solstheim for their own agrarian ventures.

Moreover, four heroic Imperial Legion attempts on the walls of Blacklight were rebuffed, at significant cost, by the indomitable warriors of the Redoran Guard, the Ordinators and the Buoyant Armigers and even the Fighter’s Guild, who, being a Redoran dominated and sponsored body, had joined the fight.

As ever, the lack of unity amongst the Grand Council, even amongst the Independence Faction who remained in control of the city, became a fatal weakness in the defense of the capital. Learning from a noble of House Dres who for some reason or another, seemed to have decided to bet on both sides, the schedule of the Nord Reavers to and from Sheogorad, Titus Mede began a vast and very secret scheme to undermine a section of Blacklight’s mighty fortifications beside the sea. Titus Mede made a fifth and sixth attempt on the land walls, and a vast additional diversionary mine under the land walls to keep the attention of Bolvyn Venim firmly affixed on the Emperor, encamped to the south of the city. Indeed, the sixth attempt on the walls was remarkable for the personal heroism of Galdal Omayn, the Armiger Grand Marshal, who held, alone, for thirty minutes, the entrance to one of the most important towers upon the Blacklight walls.

On the 27^th of Sun’s Dusk, the Emperor’s plan came to fruition, and with the aid of the overwhelming magical abilities of Aryon Telvanni, Titus Mede completely obliterated a whole half kilometer of the seaward wall and a section of the docks of the city. Indeed, it seemed that half the seabed collapsed and sent a small portion of Blacklight sinking into the Sea of Ghosts. The Imperial Fleet had timed this operation to perfection and emerged from hiding, and without the Nord Reavers there to contest their advance, simply sailed into the flooding streets of the waterfront. Yet even assaulted from both landward and seaward sides, the Grand Army of Redoran fought on, falling back to the Rootspire and the central keep of Blacklight, leaving the Imperial Army to precariously occupy the lower city.

At this point however, to the incredulity of some of his officers (especially Nords), the Emperor offered peace to the Grand Council, offering generous reparations and asking what their terms of Armistice would be. After more than a month of negotiations between the Emperor, and the Armistice and Resdayni factions of the Grand Council, the various parties affirmed their pact, with appropriate ceremony.

4E 38 – The Armistice of Blacklight

Though containing minor articles, at the core of the new Armistice were several important agreements. Firstly, the Emperor agreed to legally recognize the authority of the Grand Council in Morrowind and appointed it the Imperial Representative. Mede also acknowledged as valid law the Grand Council’s abolition of the old Septim era monarchy. The Emperor also acknowledged the right of the Redoran Grand Army to exist and continue to enforce the law. Moreover, the inviolate nature of the Temple was reaffirmed and a general policy of nonintervention in religious affairs proclaimed. The Emperor, through the council, would finance the reconstruction of Blacklight and Mournhold (in the latter case, Indoril took the coin but complained loudly).

Whilst this did much to placate the Grand Council, more controversial was the Ruby Throne’s arrogation of the honors and dignities previously enjoyed by the Hlaalu Monarchs, and insisting on a formal obeisance being made by all members of the Grand Council before him. Carried out before the beleaguered people of Blacklight in the grand square before the Rootspire, this piece of theatre was led by Aryon Telvanni and Brara Morvayn, who were the first councilors to kneel and kiss the Imperial signet ring. Additionally, the Emperor opted not to restore the presence of the Imperial Legion to what it had been under the Septims. Instead, Titus retained only the right to move and recruit legionnaires in Morrowind and only permanently keeping Legion Foresters in the southern wilderness and an Imperial Fleet moored at Telvannis. The majority of “direct” Imperial Power in Morrowind was henceforth exercised by the EEC, who would have an enclave in Telvannis, Raven Rock and also in Blacklight and enjoy the same honor as a Great House. But the process of Ebony shipping was safely confirmed in the hands of the East Empire Company. Further agreements also made arrangements for the protection of groups like the Skaal, other outlanders and the legal rights of the Grand Council amongst the Dunmer diaspora. Certain parties were recommended to accept Penitus Oculatus “protection”.

Today, the treaty is recorded in full, for public viewing in the Imperial University. Whilst the Emperor was a Colovian Warrior in the truest fashion, and thusly portrayed himself, the treaty he signed showed that the Emperor was also a diplomat of the highest caliber. The agreement to uphold the abolition of the monarchy and to recognize the Redoran Army showed the Emperor’s understanding of Grand Council machinations, since it removed the Empire from the position it had previously held under the Septims. The Septims had upheld the Empire (in the form of the Legions, Imperial Favorites House Hlaalu, and the Monarchs of Mournhold) as a tangible presence in Morrowind; while this made no illusions about the Empire’s power, it united a great many Dunmer against a foreign entity unfairly imposed on them.

With this new Armistice, at a stroke, Titus Mede had abolished this edifice. The majority of the legions would withdraw; only the silent presence of the Penitus Oculatus and the Foresters in the south would remain. Though the Empire kept a substantial fleet at Telvannis, which became a centre for shipbuilding, it nonetheless occupied no Dunmer land (and Dunmer generally loathe seafaring). The Grand Council itself, the ancestral ruling body of Resdayn, was now appointed the Imperial Representative. Co-opting the traditional ruling body of Resdayn for the Empire meant that only dissolution on a vast internal scale would remove Imperial influence. The Emperor’s personal diplomacy, the shadowy hand of the Penitus Oculatus, and the number of councilors who had bought into the EEC, made sure that the Great Houses had incentive enough to preserve the status quo. But mostly, it ought be noted that the Grand Council was plainly self-serving. The EEC, the only remaining ‘imposed’ arm of the Empire, stringently ensured that it was more than half staffed by natives (and the Grand Council was full of EEC aligned magnates) and soon began a program of charitable bequests to Morrowind’s poor to rival the Temple’s own charitable dealings. The EEC was also strictly mandated to keep its substantial mercenary forces invisible. Even the Imperial Cult Chapel could also no longer entirely be called a foreign imposition, since the Armistice ensured that the Chapel was thoroughly left in native hands, especially the Sadras, who were some of Morrowind’s finest native warriors. This was the true genius of the Armistice of Blacklight; by removing the imposed nature of the empire and removing the face of the Empire as a target for Dunmer patriots, the Armistice ensured that future schemes by the Great Houses would be directed, not at Cyrodiil or the Legions, but at the Great Houses themselves.

Morgen Indoril characterized the situation somewhat more poetically;

“The masses rejoice, as they fill their pockets with gleaming Septims. The Dragon has released its grasp. The Velothi have traded the shackles of the Septims for the shadow of the Medes.”

Chapter Conclusion

The Blacklight War, and the events leading to it had proven, beyond doubt, that the Grand Council was fractious to a fault- though most observers of the east already knew this. It showed that despite the martial excellence of the Redoran, or the arcane brilliance of the Telvanni, such efforts and prowess were ultimately piecemeal and were not a viable means of defending Morrowind. Although in previous chapters, I investigated the matter of the House Hlaalu’s decimation and found little to indicate that Imperial sympathies were behind their downfall, the Blacklight War showed up the decimation of Hlaalu as a grand exercise in hypocrisy. For despite centuries of heaping the title of “traitor” and “coward” on Hlaalu for their Imperial leanings, when it suited their purposes, members of other houses were just as willing to co-opt the empire for their own gain. It was Aryon Telvanni, who, in his personal writings, noted that

“the denouncement of House Hlaalu is merely the insipid jealousy of weaklings both too stupid to seize the chances the Hlaalu did and too foolish to recognize their own weakness…”

This was not to be the only time the Hlaalu name was to arise in Grand Council missives; fact, in years to come, the Grand Council would frequently engage in sometimes gruesome witch hunts for Hlaalu hidden within Morrowind’s settlements. However, these witch hunts are stories to be continued in the future, for the next chapters will focus on two vital, but little studied aspects of the Eastern Fourth Era. These are the history of the Fourth Era in Black Marsh and the appropriately ominous “Year of Skydeath”.