Swamp, Tree, and Shadow
Through Eastern Eyes, Vol. 10
Penned by Sir Rivalen Mothril, Knight, East Empire Company.
This chapter represents not only a continuation from part four, but also an interlude. It breaks the narrative thusly established by focusing the eye of the scholar of Oriental affairs away from the familiar. It is not an unintentional divide. In the Eastern Provinces, Skyrim has been the strong arm of the Third Empire and Cyrodiil has ever been recognized as its heart. On the other hand, although connection to the Empire is weaker and Imperialization less pervasive in Morrowind, the Armistice is still a powerful law, reaffirmed in the Grand Council’s Pentannual Census, and the Dunmer have migrated throughout Nibenay and the Old Holds, though this migration has been at times less successful than others. Solstheim is something of a microcosm unto itself, set apart from Skyrim, Morrowind and Cyrodiil, but permeated and influenced by not only its blood link to Skyrim, but all three.
In contrast to this, Black Marsh stands thoroughly apart. The marsh was always the least Imperialized Province and it remains so. In fact, though Black Marsh was first totally incorporated into the empire by the Remans, which was centuries before Morrowind had any incorporation into the empire, by the dawn of the fourth era, Imperialization was more widespread in Morrowind, despite its rather loose incorporation into the Third Empire, than it was in Black Marsh, even after centuries of Nibenese interactions with the Argonians. This is especially strange considering the widespread migration and integration of Argonians from the swamps of their homeland, into Cyrodiil. Migration of non-Saxhleel into Black Marsh was quite slow. Only pirates moved into the marsh in substantial numbers and these were not a cultural movement, merely a disparate and frenzied migration in the face of Nibenay’s mercantilism and the relentless anti-Piracy fleets that supported the merchant princes of the Niben. Thusly, if this chapter has frequent lapses into conjecture or guesswork, it is because knowledge on the marshes is notoriously hard to come by. In writing this chapter, I have had the assistance of a number of generous friends in Leyawiin who shall remain nameless, as well as assistance from members of the Blackwood Company.
4E 1-10 – The Fourth Era Begins
The Third Era had been ended in spectacular fashion in Black Marsh. Although slavery had been abolished in Morrowind and the Arnesian War resolved relatively effectively , Argonia had not been politically placid. A well funded and effective anti-Imperial faction had arisen in the city of Lilmoth, the chief seaport of Black Marsh. Calling themselves the An-Xileel, they proclaimed a gospel calling for the removal of the Empire and its influence from Black Marsh. According to some Saxhleel histories, at the “request” of the An-Xileel (how this request was made is unknown), the Hist called to the Argonian people to defend Argonia. This was a popular theory in Black Marsh, but is mostly dismissed by the Cyrodiilic Argonians. Remarkably, during the crisis, many Argonians from Nibenay had journeyed back to Black Marsh during the crisis to aid in defending the marsh or involved themselves in some way. Eyewitnesses to the event say as many as a quarter of the Argonian populace of Cyrodiil either felt some call and traveled back to the Marsh. Some others, mostly nobles, donated money to pay mercenary groups, foremost of which was a large and particularly fearsome contingent of the infamous Blackwood Company, which marched eastward from Leyawiin, toward Blackrose. This was particularly notable, as the march of Blackwood Company involved many of Blackwood’s Khajit members, the first time since the Second Era Khajit warriors had moved into Black Marsh. Many Saxhleel storytellers have continued to pass down stories of the “Battlecats” in the swamp.
The terrain of Black Marsh does not lend itself well to full scale invasion. The Dunmer and Imperial armies that have operated there in the past know this well. The marsh is universally thick, which makes visibility poor, and there is no terrestrial transport infrastructure greater than small jungle tracks. As such, the Daedric armies were greatly hampered in their movement throughout the Province. The almost universally heavily armoured Kyn of Mehrunes Dagon frequently found themselves at fatal disadvantages with the lightly armed guerilla warriors employed by the native Argonian militias and the Swamp Savvy Legion Foresters and Blackwood Company, all of whom melted away effectively, to fight a guerilla struggle, rather than fighting unwinnable pitched battles against the Daedra. It ought be noted that during these struggles, the An-Xileel orchestrated a military maneuver of outstanding moral (though poor military) effect.
This momentous action was the mass storming of an exceedingly large Oblivion gate outside the city of Blackrose by a substantial militia of Argonian warriors. This was effective in closing the gate, but precious few of the Saxhleel involved returned, though those cadres of tribesmen who did return were all An-Xileel stalwarts, who brought with them many Daedric curiosities. It was also quietly whispered by those who had found themselves at odds with the An-Xileel, that the militia included a great many of those who had been counted as opponents of the rising stars of Black Marsh politics. Only a few years after, it was next to impossible to find a living individual who had been part of these expeditions, since the An-Xileel ensured that the names of those who were involved were forgotten. And they certainly ensured that their supporters who had gone to Oblivion, and returned, were posted into the deepest depths of the swamp. They repeated this process twice more, once at Gideon, and once again at Thorn. Additionally, many An-Xileel co-ordinators of these events were later to be involved in Black Marsh’s great triumph, the conquest of the Dreslands. Most remaining veterans of these legendary attacks on Dagon’s realm, quite conveniently vanished, buried beneath the blades of House Redoran and House Sadras.
However, the Blackwood Company soldiers, though their own reputation has been hardly spotless, loudly denounced these tactics as suicidal. They refused to have aught to do with the storming of the Oblivion Gates. So the canny political observer should not find it at all surprising that soon, the Blackwood Company found themselves in the position of pariahs. So much did Blackwood find itself reviled by society that it soon came to light that the Blackwood mobile treasuries were being drained by local bandit gangs into the coffers of the Imperial Legion in Soulrest by Imperial agents. In retribution, the “Army of Blackwood” sacked two Imperial forts near Soulrest.
When the legion marched from Lilmoth to confront Blackwood Company, Blackwood Company ambushed them in the orchards outside Soulrest. This further decreased legion numbers in Black Marsh, since the legion had already sent its northern contingents into Morrowind to combat the Oblivion Gates there.
Then, as suddenly as the crisis had begun however, it was over. Comparatively speaking, it had been quite light in Black Marsh. And this was with good reason. No more than ten confirmed Oblivion Gates had opened there. While it had long been, relatively speaking, a political backwater in the Empire, Black Marsh itself was nearly irrelevant to the Mythic Dawn. Furthermore, the impenetrable bogs were not conducive to either the movement of Dagon’s armies or the Oblivion Gates themselves. Some historians have fancied that the Hist had magic that suppressed the plane breaching magicks of the Mythic Dawn; considering the involvement of the Hist in the Umbriel Crisis, which I shall soon detail, this is not an entirely baseless claim.
But the actions of the Imperial Legion and the Blackwood Company had entirely played into (and probably been manipulated by) the An-Xileel. The legions in the northern marshes had marched north into Morrowind to contest the Daedra in the Narsis district and in the Dreslands and left the sparsely populated north largely to be defended by the An-Xileel. When Blackwood Company had found itself in contention with the Imperial Legion (almost certainly through the manipulation of the An-Xileel) the legion had been further reduced in power. The An-Xileel portrayed this phenomena twofold. Firstly, Blackwood Company, by now (rather conveniently) revealed to have committed the ultimate sacrilege of smuggling a Hist Tree out of Black Marsh, were branded butchers who had slaughtered the townsfolk of the garrisons (which, considering the reputation of Blackwood, they may well have done). Secondly, the Imperial Legion was publicly reviled as having abandoned the Black Marsh in its hour of greatest peril.
Even an opponent of these sinister scale-kin has to admire the rapidity of the An-Xileel’s response and utilization of the Oblivion Crisis in pursuit of their own ends. Even the Thalmor took more than twenty years to seize control of Alinor. Within the space of two years, the An-Xileel had bloodily and entirely seized control of the court of the Marsh King in Helstrom from the previous Imperialist government. The subservient princes of the marsh, Argonian and Imperial, all swore fealty to the new office of the Royal Viceroy to the Crown, which was ‘gratefully extended in perpetuity’ to the An-Xileel Party. From this point, which was no later than 4E 2, the new Royal Viceroys were single minded in pursuit of some of their most heartfelt goals: the reconquest of the lands previously held during the Arnesian War, the destruction of House Dres and Telvanni and the humiliation of Morrowind, and after this, the removal of all Imperial influence from within the marsh. For the next four or so years, the central marches of Argonia were all but closed off (and this in a region considered impenetrable), as a large army was gathered from the northern parts of Black Marsh, and gathered in the nightmarish swamps around Helstrom. It was entirely unknown to anyone outside Helstrom at the time that this army was gathering.
In the early days of 4E 6, this army, the “Army of Justice” mentioned in my chapter on the Accession War, was given its opening as Morrowind found itself reeling from the eruption of Vvardenfell. Whether the An-Xileel were involved in Vvardenfell’s cataclysmic detonation is hotly debated, but the impartial historian must acknowledge that the answer is ultimately unknown. But regardless of whether they were insidious masterminds or simply opportunists, they wasted no time in reacting. The eruption occurred at the end of 4E 5, and the Argonians had launched their initial attack by the first days of 4E 6. Even as the ash and flame continued to spew from the blazing caldera of Dagoth-Ur, the Dreslands were inundated under a briny, brackish deluge sweeping up from the south, washing aside all in its path. In no time at all, the waters of the marsh reduced the great city of Tear to a waterlogged ruin. It was through this inundation that the An-Xileel began their invasion.
4E 10-15 – After the Accession War
Since the Accession War was covered in the first entry of this work, there is no need to reexamine the events that heralded the new era of Morrowind’s history. What is more relevant here is to examine what might be seen in Black marsh in the aftermath of the Accession War.
The first effect was the conquest and formal cession of the Dreslands to the Argonian Kingdom. Large parts of these lands had been contested during the Arnesian War, in the time of Jagar Tharn and now they passed back to Argonia, and they remain in Argonian hands until our time. The An-Xileel quickly made to transform the Dreslands from Dunmer land into a dominion more suited to habitation by Saxhleel. This was done both through hard labor (a good portion of which was undertaken by Dunmer captives) and also through magical means. The city of Tear was transformed into a Saxhleel city, its old Dunmer temples and structures remaining in place, but rededicated to the gods and people of the Black Marsh. Despite the An-Xileel’s defeat in pitched battle against the Redoran, Tear was to be reshaped into an enduring symbol of the bloody “triumph” of the “Army of Justice”, despite that army’s almost complete destruction.
The second was the complete erosion of the authority and culture of the Empire within Argonia. The Accession War had coincided with (and masked) the butchery of the last Imperial authorities in Black Marsh, and while the Empire had been weak in Black Marsh since the end of the Oblivion Crisis, the reduction of Morrowind had turned the authority of the increasingly impotent Potentate into no more than a joke in Black Marsh. It had also given the Argonian people a deep sense of vindication. They had not only avenged themselves for their defeat in the Arnesian War, a defeat largely the fault of the Imperial meddler, Jagar Tharn, but they had taken the long desired step of returning the centuries of insult done unto the Saxhleel by the Dunmer. This insult, the enslavement of the Argonians, was also seen by many in the Marsh as a centuries-long crime aided and abetted by the Cyrodiilic Emperors (despite the abhorrence felt by most Imperial citizens at the institution of slavery and the sincere push for its abolition from the Empire’s citizens). Indeed, even today, a strong historical trend exists in Black Marsh which continues to denounce the Armistice as “judicial murder brought upon the Saxhleel by the Dunmer cronies of the Emperors”. The Cyrodiilic princes of Black Marsh were largely removed, although some human ruling families, including the princes of the important city of Blackrose, had supported the An-Xileel before their seizure of power and were allowed to remain after the Oblivion Crisis concluded.
Thirdly, the enslavement of many, many Dunmer was another of the effects of the war. They largely ended up as little more than slaves (something the An-Xileel took especial pleasure in touting) with many ending their days in cramped slave pits in the city of Tear, an ironic end, considering Tear’s status as House Dres’ once great capital. These Dunmer were also dispersed throughout the province, to labor for Argonian tribes and in the cities of the marsh in menial tasks, an ashen reflection of the fate of many Argonians across the centuries. However, the descendants of these Dunmer were not kept, as descendants of slaves remained enslaved in Morrowind. Children of slaves were freed and allowed to take up lives in the marsh. Consequently, there is a small but vibrant underculture of Dunmer in the coastal cities of Soulrest, Lilmoth and Archon. Interestingly, a number of Dunmer and Imperial cultural practices seem to have been adopted by the Argonians in the aftermath of the war, though whether they were adopted as a means of mockery or respect is uncertain.
A particularly pertinent change was that the alien, Hist-centred religion of the Saxhleel was organized into a far more institutional form than it previously had been. The religion of the Argonians is known to few outside Argonia, but it was never a formalized, institutional body like the Chapel or the Temple. Elder Saxhleel of traditional mindsets might occasionally gain the title of “Treespeaker” for their acknowledged wisdom, but there was certainly no codified, structured priesthood. The An-Xileel changed this. They set up the position of Treespeaker as an institution in each village and tribe. The positions of Archcanon and Vicecanon were firmly entrenched as religious powers in the Royal Court of Argonia, for the An-Xileel opted to take for themselves both political and religious authority in the kingdom. For the first time, the realm of Black Marsh had a supreme Treespeaker, the Archcanon, who interpreted the will of the trees. This revelation shows that both Imperial and Dunmer religious institutions had affected the An-Xileel and to an extent, been adopted by them. Mostly, it would seem, due to the effectiveness of these institutions when bent to the purposes of propaganda and proselytizing.
The An-Xileel also maintained some, but not all, of the Imperial Roads. This was previously heretofore all but unknown as a practical means of travel to the Saxhleel, since most Argonians traveled the province in canoes, barges and rafts. Horses in Black Marsh are chiefly kept as barge pullers, and a measure of a good horse in Black Marsh is its ability to cleave to the unmarked swamp tracks as it pulls a barge. The Empire had had considerable trouble in introducing even a limited degree of road upkeep. But the experiences of the An-Xileel against Redoran and Legion forces during the Accession War and the ease of access which the roads afforded the two most likely enemies of the Argonians meant that the Saxhleel’s new rulers were not slow to seize the advantages of limited roadworks. Nonetheless, within the marsh to this day, most Argonians still prefer boating to walking or riding.
Yet despite these changes, the An-Xileel proclaimed themselves as traditionalists. Most of the old Imperial Laws were either abolished or reworked to a form that might have fitted well in the Second Era. The An-Xileel empowered and fostered relations with the chieftains and khans of the swamp tribes, which make up the majority of the province’s populace. The new government abolished various privileges and abolishing other incentives that had been given to the imperialized, or Lukiul, class of Argonians, during the Imperial Period, that had been disadvantageous to the khans. As might be expected, these were mostly incentives for Argonians to adopt the Imperial way of life, join the legion or the Chapel. These Lukiul came, unsurprisingly from the mercantile classes, since the merchants of Black Marsh had proven themselves the most willing to adhere to Imperial rule. These laws had increased urban growth in Black Marsh, but the incompatibility of Black Marsh to the Imperial Economy meant an increase in urban poor. The An-Xileel’s creation of greater equality might be seen as an egalitarian measure, but the cities, especially the coastal Ports, like Lilmoth, Archon, Soulrest and the great prison city of Blackrose, which still has a human royal family, were well populated by the Imperialized classes. By the time of the Year of Skydeath, although the An-Xileel had worked to restore the damage done by the Oblivion Crisis, there was something of a rift between the traditionalists and the imperialized. The Lady Annaig Hoinnart, who grew up in the Black Marsh city of Lilmoth and spoke a fluent, if somewhat, clumsy, Jel, spoke frequently about how the An-Xileel ensured the realm was running, but refused to allow societal progress beyond what they defined as traditionally proper.
After the Accession War ended, the An-Xileel embarked on their long awaited program of isolationism and what they perceived as cultural and nationalistic restoration. The borders of the Black Marsh were closed and the An-Xileel began encouraging, if not enforcing, removal of Imperial culture in the marsh. The incentives which had once driven many to adopt Imperial ways were transferred upon traditional trades and crafts, the better to uplift these traditions. Most of the Imperial chapels were closed within the next few decades, leaving only the chapels present in the dockside districts of the trading cities open. Trade was largely closed off except for that trade which occurred through particular avenues. These specific avenues were tightly controlled by the An-Xileel. Foreign traders were allowed to come only to Lilmoth, Archon and Thorn, and then only in the Harbour districts. Most of the plantations which had been established under Imperial rule were seized, subdivided and turned over to An-Xileel supporting families. Some however, were able to afford the astronomical bribes the An-Xileel demanded and were able to continue functioning.
One of the great problems for the An-Xileel was how to ensure the marsh would not become left behind economically and technologically despite their cherished desires for the expulsion of Imperial Influence. They instigated a number of reforms to ensure the viability of Black Marsh whilst removing Imperial influence. These included the minting of a new currency, the Goldscale, and the strengthening of magical education within Black Marsh, though basing it firmly within the tribal and traditional populations that the An-Xileel drew their support from and also within the new priesthood that the An-Xileel were forming. Moreover, magical education was almost entirely restricted to traditionalist Argonians. However, this magical reformation, which vehemently and forcefully excluded both the Synod and the College of Whispers, which were aggressively promoting themselves in most other provinces of Tamriel, meant that the arcane talents of the An-Xileel were almost entirely limited to effective, but antiquated, shamanistic magics. Yet, the magical program did bear some fruit; by the fourth decade of the era, the An-Xileel had a large cadre of magically adept Treespeakers, and these Treespeakers were to play a very important part in the crisis of the Year of Skydeath.
4E 12-15 – The Soulrest Rebellion
It is true that the policies of the An-Xileel Royal Viceroys proved to be strong, and from a certain perspective, effective. Yet, it was only natural that those who were disenfranchised by the new rulers would seek to displace them, violently. In a spot of irony, the somewhat disparate opposition to the An-Xileel solidified around the only standing army that was still on war footing in Black Marsh. This was none other than Blackwood Company, that band of brutes who had already earned themselves an infamous name in Cyrodiil and were to prove themselves the Stormcrown Interregnum’s most vicious mercenaries, were now, perhaps reluctantly, thrust into the role of defenders of the dispossessed. Blackwood were extremely vicious and effective fighters, and in this, the leaders of what came to be called the “Soulrest Rebellion” received a boon, but they also cursed themselves. Many marshfolk still recalled the atrocities committed by the Blackwood Company and in associating with these rogues, the rebel leaders soiled their cause. None could forget that Blackwood were former legionnaires; they fought in time to Colovian bagpipes and drums, in legion-drilled maniples and phalanxes, and wore ornate ebony armor that must have been better than what their foes could muster. But these factors all made Blackwood seem garish in comparison to the traditional tribal gear of the An-Xileel. Many of the marshfolk who might otherwise have baulked at the Iron-fisted nature of the An-Xileel chose not to join the rebellion out of distaste for the rebellion’s alignments.
Despite this setback, the rebellion moved quickly and effectively, seizing Soulrest rapidly, taking advantage of the fact that the An-Xileel had suffered an egregious tactical defeat in Morrowind and had had to move most of their southern forces to the north of the country to bolster the Morrowind borders. Blackwood dealt the next force An-Xileel sent against them a severe thrashing near Gideon, and the city fell to the rebels. But here disaster set in. Quite unable to restrain themselves, and assuredly against the wishes of the rebel leaders, Blackwood decided Gideon was ripe for sacking. They did this with an almost unparalleled viciousness and allegedly the malevolent mercenaries gorged themselves on the sap of the city tree before further gorging themselves in other ways, this time on the townsfolk of Gideon. Here, the rebel leaders must have realized the fatal error they had made. They had set out as liberators and in so doing they had loosed the greatest band of psychopaths in the east upon the very people they hoped to save. To make matters worse, the division left behind at Soulrest had been slaughtered by the people of that city, eager to be rid of Blackwood before they themselves were subjected to a sack. An An-Xileel garrison from Blackrose had marched and occupied the city.
At this point however, in further desperation, the rebel leaders, who had solidified behind a council of Imperial and Argonian nobles, led by an Argonian named Creon, sent a fateful message to the rising power in the south of Cyrodiil, and certainly the only force now capable of pushing back the An-Xileel: Count Marius Caro.
Marius Caro had been a strong voice in Cyrodiil even before the death of the Potentate, seizing for himself the title of Archon, and openly rejecting the authority of the crumbling central government, which was weakened by infighting. After the death of Potentate Ocato, he truly came into his own as the ruler of Independent Leyawiin. By this time no longer burdened by the egregious racism of his first wife Alessia, he had proven himself a stern but fair host to the refugees from both Morrowind and Black Marsh who had arrived in Leyawiin after the cataclysms of the dawn of the Fourth Era. Marius Caro stood alone amongst the generally mediocre Interregnum counts of Cyrodiil, for he would seize himself a throne with a vengeance. This desire to sit a throne was not even quelled by Titus Mede himself, and only partially calmed by the emergence of the Thalmor.
Caro emerged into Black Marsh with fury and vigor. He swept onto the shores of the marsh by sailing his forces directly across the Topal Bay. By eschewing the more conservative march through the Blackwood, the Lord Leyawiin avoided the An-Xileel forces marching toward Gideon. His agents burst the gates of Soulrest, capturing that city, as he had hoped. Then Caro struck eastward and with a remarkable forced march, he surprised an An-Xileel army south of Blackrose, which he wisely bypassed. Then, he came within an ace of capturing Lilmoth itself. Only reinforcement by forces from Archon and Thorn, which arrived a scant hour before his forces encircled the city, saved Lilmoth from being overrun. It was a bitter blow, especially since the Nibenese lord had fought with success and speed unmatched by any Cyrodiilic army before or since.
But this remarkable momentum was not to last. Caro was now at the end of long supply lines and his unreliable Blackwood Company allies had shown their particular mettle, by being summarily thrashed, and sent fleeing back toward Soulrest. Despite Caro’s blistering assault, the rebellion was faltering, most of its adherents fleeing taking the opportunity to flee across the western borders of Black Marsh, into safety in Nibenay. Even worse, large numbers of assimilated Argonians and outlander immigrants from nearby villages, as well as a significant number of wild-eyed escapees from Blackrose were attaching themselves to his forces, in the hopes that he might save them from the vengeful An-Xileel.
At this point the An-Xileel took up a strong position astride the South Coast Road, and where the road branches north to Blackrose, awaited the beleaguered Nibenean. By night, the An-Xileel camp saw the approach of a large column of troops bearing the White Stallion of Leyawiin, approach and take up a similarly fortified position on a nearby hilltop. For a week, the two camps stood off against one another, and the An-Xileel began their guerilla tactics. But it was only when the An-Xileel attacked, on the eighth night, when the forces from Lilmoth arrived behind the Leyawiin camp, they found a camp filled not with the levy of Lord Leyawiin, but rather, large quantities of livestock, a number of mercenaries and a large number of escaped Blackrose prisoners. It seems Lord Leyawiin had convinced this ragtag group to hold the hilltop while he circled around and attacked the An-Xileel camp. But rather than making a costly attack, the Leyawiin army and as many gathered hangers-on as could keep up, seem to have decided to force march back to Soulrest where the fleet was waiting, abandoning the position the mercenaries had taken up.
It was Sir Maxentius Mothril, a noblemer of Leyawiin, mine own Grandfather, a knight of Count Marius’ army who, with unabashed admiration at the sheer cheek of the move, described to me what transpired in those rain-soaked nights in Black Marsh:
“Count Marius had been joined by a number of people from the area we marched through. Now, we had come to Black Marsh to fight the An-Xileel, who were clamping down on good, pious Imperial ways. But we had also been joined by a number of the savage bastards who regularly flee ‘The Rose’ as the famed prison of Blackrose is known. Count Marius felt that to save the villagers would be a deed worthy of the Knights of Leyawiin, but he was ill at ease with the notion of bringing back the dregs of Blackrose. So it was decided they might earn their way back to Leyawiin, or die for a good cause. We gave the escaped prisoners the finest arms available and sent them, and some mercenaries with strict orders to hold the spot while we circled around and slaughtered the An-Xileel. They bought it all; it’s remarkable how much greed can get a man to do. Of course, they were slaughtered to the last man, but it made for a grand display, and we outfoxed the An-Xileel.”
This maneuver, which bards in Leyawiin later sang of as “The Silent Step”, allowed Caro to escape the Black Marsh with his army intact. Blackwood Company soon limped into Leyawiin territory as well, where they would rebuild their ranks and their reputation for savagery. Moreover, the rebellious elements that had sparked the revolt at Soulrest had also withdrawn with Caro to Leyawiin. This left the matter of who ruled in Black Marsh almost beyond doubt. It also meant that Caro and the An-Xileel were to continue fighting each other for better part of the next decade. Now, the only powerbase that remained intact within the marsh that had not been dismantled was the Royal Court of Argonia – and that august body had taken no side in the war.
4E 43 – Skydeath and Afterward
When the Soulrest Rebellion was over, for almost thirty years, until the forty-third year of the Fourth Era, the An-Xileel kept their iron fisted peace in the Black Marsh. They promoted traditional ways and encouraged the abandonment of Cyrod influenced trade and culture.
Then, around 4E 43, the An-Xileel participated in a strange ritual which also included, insidiously and inexplicably, one Hierem, a Nibenean Synod mage, the Emperor’s chief minister, and certainly, no friend to the An-Xileel. Nobody who witnessed the ritual, few of whom were alive in the coming years, could fully comprehend the purpose of it. But Hierem had taken some obscure individuals with him, none of them well known, by ship to that province, and some of them had made rough journals of what they witnessed. One of these staff members was a diminutive Altmer archer widely known as “Deathfist” in the Imperial City Waterfront. This individual was a sellsword, with a storied past; she had three times been suspended for drinking skooma on the job and been evicted from the Fighter’s Guild by Grandmaster Modryn Oreyn for ‘accidentally’ being seduced by the daughter of the Countess of Bruma (this after spending the night with Lady Bruma herself) and ‘unintentionally’ exposing herself in front of the court of Castle Bruma. She was also a widely acknowledged skooma-fiend of the Niben, but she left a chronicle of what she saw.
“We had been in that festering hole known as Lilmoth for two nights. The natives gave us nary a friendly greeting. But at that time, I was scarcely concerned, sat as I was, atop the roof of some dockside dive, drinking a bottle of the finest brew- the good stuff, imported from Morrowind. And as I sat, doing my utmost to consume so much sugar as to forget the putrescent existence of that pitiful dungheap of a province, so help me gods, there came the sound of singing, chanting, from the direction of the ridiculous tree the lizards worship. And so, finishing my bottle, decidedly too soon for a lady of discerning taste, I opted to investigate the ridiculous musical number wafting across Lilmoth harbor, along with the stink of the city. So, goddess of stealth I am, after evacuating my superiorly-bred bladder from the rooftop onto the worthless Lilmoth-ites below, I traversed the rooftops toward the noise, and found a hiding space to observe. And then, from across the bay, I sighted the minister, that sanctimonious heap of Nibenean organic refuse, his hands raised high, singing in concert with those idiotic An-Xileel, gibbering and gyrating before the biggest tree I ever had the misfortune to set eyes on. Never again did I ever witness such a ludicrous display. But from that day til now, I still regret not nocking an arrow and putting it in the minister’s eyes.”
As much as the account of a skooma-head might be tenuous at best to the professional historian, it matches with the records in the Penitus Oculatus libraries. Another member of the voyage, one Delia Huerc, also mentioned the grandiose ritual. It has been stated publicly by both the Synod and the College of Whispers that this was the moment that Umbriel was summoned to Tamriel.
As has already been stated, the progress of Umbriel resulted in undead armies rising from the depths of the soil and swamps and following the telekinetic command of the floating city. As terrible as this progress had been in Morrowind and Cyrodiil, it was far worse in Black Marsh. It was widely speculated that what other lands suffered in the Oblivion Crisis, and Black Marsh had largely been spared, the Year of Skydeath wrought on Argonia. Much of this can be attributed to the unique environment that the ecosystem and environmental cycles that Black Marsh has wrought.
Unlike in other lands, where bodies are buried or burned, in Black Marsh, bodies are dumped into the depths of the swamp, often to bogs near Hist Trees. In the marshes, they are slower to vanish than in the soil of other realms, or in Morrowind, where bodies are burned, and no corpse can rise conventionally. Additionally, the countless incarnations of the Argonian Kingdom were built atop the sunken remnants of the previous incarnation. Both of these factors meant that in the Black Marsh, there was much larger quantities of dead flesh for the floating city to manipulate with its foul magic. Moreover, large numbers of vicious swamp beasts also rose from the grave to follow in the wake of Umbriel. Even when there was no city present, there were previous incarnations and their spiritual residue left in the marsh, which fed the insatiable hunger for souls which drove the nightmarish Daedric City.
It was all a horrifying affair. Lilmoth and Archon were both sacked and the wide swathe of countryside between Archon and Helstrom was all but depopulated in Umbriel’s wake. The Royal Court evacuated for Soulrest, away from Umbriel’s path. Many in Helstrom were evacuated, though many others were tragically killed. Entire tribes of Argonians were subjected to entirely merciless wholesale slaughter. But unsurprisingly, considering the An-Xileel’s agenda, while the city of Lilmoth, though subjected to a vicious slaughter by the undead army, saw the traditional thinking Argonians and An-Xileel members of that city spared the devastation of Umbriel. Not only, it seemed, was this an attempt to harness a magical force beyond the ken of most mortals, but the summoning of the city of Umbriel was some perverse form of ethnic cleansing!
4E 44 – Chapter Conclusion
Tragic as those dark times were, more importantly for this history were the aftereffects of Umbriel’s passage. The Argonians soon saw the truth. The An-Xileel had summoned the floating city to Tamriel, and it was the An-Xileel who were responsible for the widespread death and destruction. It had all been one great exercise in slaughter of the government’s enemies. But the passage of the floating city had not merely removed those that the government of the marsh considered contrary to their vision, but thousands and thousands of uninvolved marshfolk.
However, if the An-Xileel had gambled that the floating city would work like the Oblivion Crisis had, that its destructive power could be harnessed to their own advantage, they were sorely mistaken. For the An-Xileel, champions of tradition against the cursed Cyrodiils, and blessed and favored by the mighty Hist though they may have been, had sorely misjudged the degree of hatred that their action would generate. Within weeks of the disaster, surviving elites had begun piecing together the truth of what happened, perhaps with the spiritual guidance of the Tree Spirits of the marsh, or maybe with the covert assistance from the Penitus Oculatus or the East Empire Company, who were eager to obtain better conditions for trade.
The news, at any rate spread like wildfire. The An-Xileel had brought the Year of Skydeath on the marsh! These defilers, at any rate, needed to be brought down. And as the word began spreading through the marshes, the Royal Court and the Shadowscales, who had taken no untoward action against the Royal Viceroys, began to sense their chance and pooled their resources into ensuring the formation of their own political bloc in opposition to the An-Xileel. And thus, even as Eastern Tamriel attempted to salve its wounds in the wake of the passing of the terrible Lilmoth Cataclysm, the stage was set for the brutal events of the Marsh Wars.
PREVIOUS CHAPTERS