A Pocket Guide to Skyrim and Its Environs: Hjaalmarch, Third Edition (Chapter 1)

>#Into The Frozen Mists: Hjaalmarch and Its History

Out of the nine regions of Skyrim, Hjaalmarch is both one of the most recently established as a Hold and one of the oldest among them. Although Winterhold sports the renowned College of Winterhold for aspiring mages, a true practician of magecraft knows that Hjaalmarch is the heart of magicka in Skyrim, and it is clearly evident from the still standing ruins of Labryinthian to the supernatural events that occur deeper in its bogs. Magic flows through its mud and radiates from its fauna, and the people that reside within are often scorned by their brethren in the other holds for their preference of scholarship over training in the art of war. Despite this, the Hjaal Nords continue their strange and extraordinary customs without conforming to the ideals of the rest of the Fatherland.

The origins of Hjaalmarch are shrouded in both fact, mystery, and legend, which befits the hold’s misty ways. During the initial return of the Five Hundred Companions which were led by the infamous Ysgramor, the Atmorans cut a bloody swath through ancient Skyrim in search of the mysterious Falmer in retaliation for the Night of Tears. The area that would eventually become the Hjaal was home to an established community of Falmeri, who fought bravely against the vicious Atmorans but nevertheless fell to their weapons and died along with the rest of their people^{1. At first, it seemed that the Snow Elves would win due to the Atmorans limited knowledge of the terrain, but the men that assaulted this particular group of elves were adepts at the ‘clever craft’}2 and used their knowledge of the arcane to transform the environment into a dangerous adversary itself against the mer, ensuring their downfall the men’s permanence in the region.

>Annotation 1. > >Songs of the Return, Volume 39: The Final Tale of the Brahtmiir (First Half) > >Author: Unknown > >The wailing of the crew of the Brahtmiir alerted their brethren on the mainland during the starry night, and with much haste they were pulled out of the sea and set upon the frozen land. Despite the pleas of the warriors of Windhelm the crew of the Brahtmiir refused to tell them their sad story, and merely set their tearful hearts west, searching for a place where they could drown their sorrows in the blood of enemies. Ysgramor, who in his great wisdom, knew what was troubling them and left them pass, knowing that he would never see another of their ilk again in recent memory. > >Carrying their ship on their back, Captain Hjaal led his crew through rocky valleys and frozen forests, and still with them was the Driftsman and Guri Nail-Face, who came despite wanting to stay in Windhelm but loved their friends to no ending. Together the two crews moved forwards, using the clever craft to light their way in shadow, for which they had come to fear after their battles with the bat-men of the eastern seas. With fury fueled by sadness they struck out against all settlements of mer that they came across, but nothing ended their sorrow or pain and so they pressed onwards leaving a bloody trail behind and before them. > >It wasn’t until the twentieth day after they had first embarked that they entered a region of muck and frost populated by mer led by Mage-Lord Rolthryn the Ethereal, who by legend was the child of one the spirit women that dwelled between worlds. And despite the crew’s knowledge of the Clever Craft, they could not defeat the elves, who were able to become as ghosts because of their lord’s heritage. With much regret the Brahtmiir fled to the southern mountains that gazed down upon the marsh with frosty tears, and rested on their peaks. And as his comrades slept, the goddess Kyne sent a bird of purest snow down from the clouds to rest on his shoulder, and Hjaal knew that this was a sign of how to defeat Rolthryn the Ethereal. Awakening the others, he drew runes of snow on their skin and forged weapons of frost in the name of Kyne and Jhunal for days on end, and it wasn’t until they were finished that they walked down the mountains towards the city of the elves, using their craft to make the very laws of nature heed their grieving will[…]

Till this day it is unknown if the interesting climate of Hjaalmarch was created by the arriving Atmorans, or if that is just an old tale told by Shamans in their villages. Despite this, the ancient Nords that settled this region were primarily mages instead of warriors, and created a culture unlike the Atmorans of Winterhold and Eastmarch. The freezing winds of Hjaalmarch cause the natives of the region to wear a unique type of clothing they refer to as ‘windbreakers’ which consist of a tight-fitting leather jacket with fur cuffs, a short cloak, and cloth wrapped around the mouth. The winds themselves (which one would think would befit a hold like the Pale) are according to legend to have been originally summoned from the Sea of Ghosts by Hjaal Shamans for use in their enigmatic rituals. The Goddess Kyne, who frowned down upon this forcible use of nature, cursed Hjaalmarch to always be troubled with the sharp winds and made them stronger. But this is mostly a legend^3, and there is most certainly a natural answer for this occurrence.

>Annotation 2. > >The Clever Craft: Magicka Amongst the Nords (Excerpt) > >Author: Falin the Clear-Eyed, Circa 3E 122 > >[…]the Nords of Hjaalmarch, however, are not as wary or skeptical as their other brethren and continue to practice the old ways of magic as taught by the Nordic God Jhunal in ancient times. The Hjaal-Nords are known to be experts at an unique variation of magic that centers around fog and mist, and have been known to use tribal totems (which some scholars believe to be remnants of the Dragon Cult that once ruled over Merethic Skyrim before crumbling into obscurity) to change the environment of Hjaalmarch in times of desperate need. The mages of Snowhawk (who prefer to go by the archaic ‘Clever Men) are also brilliant conjurers and experts at frost magic[…]

The region is most well known for its foul-smelling marshes, which do not bother the noses of its inhabitants as it does to those of its visitors. The mud is known to swallow up anything that dwells to long within it, and many of the wooden settlements are supported by stone foundations to avoid sinkage. The native Nords wear a unique type of boot that allows them to traverse the mud safely, similar to the snow shoes of Northern Skyrim.

During the years of the Dragon Cult (a religion brought over from Atmora), ancient Hjaalmarch served as the site of the city of Bromjunaar, which served as the capital of Skyrim during those dark times. The Priests, led by their dragon masters, used their prowess of the arcane to keep the people under their thrall, and even back then the region was known for its large amount of magicka users. It wasn’t until the subsequent Dragon War that resulted in it (along with the rest of Skyrim) being freed from the Cults control, with even the Nordic God Alduin being defeated on the peak of the Throat of the World^{4. The Mages of Hjaalmarch defeated and destroyed all traces of the Cult in their lands, and to avoid being completely annihilated some of the Priests allied and intermingled with the common people. To this day many of the Shamans in the hold are fluent speakers of the draconic language, using it to inscribe their more esoteric writings on magicka. In fact, many scholars believe (and argue) that Hjaal-Nords are more akin to learning the thu’um than the Nords of the other holds}5, as many of the students of the Imperial College of the Voice and even one or two of the Greybeards^6 themselves hail from this marshy land.

Hjaalmarch was officially declared as one of the nine holds of Skyrim by King Harold in 1E 143 at the start of his reign as Skyrim was declared an independent nation and Atmora officially relinquished from their rule (however, ships still sailed from the north to Skyrim on occasion). Hjalmer^7 ruled over the territory at the behest of his father the High King, and Hjaalmarch flourished under his rule from its capital of Snowhawk. When Harold died in 1E 221, Hjalmer was crowned his successor as the eldest of the old king’s surviving children. Unlike his father though, the new High King chose to reign in from his palace in Snowhawk, something that was frowned upon by the more traditional Nords and several of his advisors. Along with his unusual merish features and love for magecraft, many believed that he was a spy planted by the Falmeri despite years of prosperity under his rule. However, his reign was a short one, for he died in 1E 222 from unnatural causes and his younger brother Vrage the Gifted took the throne. A popular myth in Hjaalmarch consists of the ghost of the real Hjalmer guiding his younger brother to kill his merish double, and for the rest of Vrage’s reign he served as his ethereal Court Mage in the Palace of Kings in Windhelm.

>Annotation 7. > >Rulers of the First Empire of the Nords (Excerpt) > >Author: Legate Francsi Hempflock > >HJALMER (also known as HJALMER the MYSTIC): 14th in the line of Ysgramor, ruled from 1E 221 to 222, the shortest reign ever by a High King in present memory. A skilled Tongue and perhaps one of the greatest ‘Clever Men’ (Mages) Skyrim has ever known, he led his armies against his enemies in frightening displays of the arcane and it was said that he even summoned the spirit of a dragon (in some alterations Alduin himself) to aid him in his battles[…]

During the War of Succession Hjaalmarch became it’s own independent kingdom until the Pact of Chieftains, which brought it back into the national fold in 1E 420. Much of the region’s history during the Second Era is lost to time, as that was a chaotic period in the history of Tamriel. It wasn’t until the coming of Tiber Septim that Hjaalmarch was mentioned again, where it swore fealty with the rest of the nine holds to the soon-to-be Emperor of Cyrodiil. The Jarls of the region have faithfully served under Septim Dynasty since its conception, and will continue to do so in the years to come.

^3. ^I ^have ^had ^the ^pleasure ^to ^listen ^to ^this ^local ^legend ^and ^I ^will ^just ^like ^to ^say ^that ^sometimes ^the ^more ^mythical ^explanations ^are ^sometimes ^the ^most ^mundane.

^4. ^Source? ^Or ^is ^this ^Nord ^talk ^again?

^5. ^I ^can ^say ^for ^a ^fact ^this ^is ^true ^from ^the ^recent ^consensus ^from ^the ^Imperial ^College ^of ^the ^Voice. ^However, ^this ^does ^lead ^us ^to ^the ^next ^topic…

^6. ^Has ^anyone ^actually ^interviewed ^a ^Greybeard ^to ^verify ^this? ^I ^do ^not ^think ^it ^would ^be ^wise ^to ^write ^untrustworthy ^things ^about ^those ^powerful ^monks- ^they’re ^almost ^as ^scary ^as ^my ^native ^Conclave ^of ^Baal.

^7. ^Need ^to ^look ^into ^this; ^a ^Nord ^High ^King ^with ^‘mer’ ^in ^his ^name? ^I’ve ^included ^some ^other ^sources ^on ^Hjalmer ^in ^this ^guide, ^and ^will ^continue ^my ^own ^research ^on ^him ^separate ^from ^this ^main ^project.

Previous Chapter: Foreword

Next Chapter: The Ice City of the Lowest Marshes: Snowhawk