Yokuda's Arrest

The rumors of Baron Rin Bodura's return from Yokuda rekindled the desire among many to lay more than just their gaze upon those ancient shores. But when the story of the Baron's artifact finally leaked into general circulation, the temptation of personal profit was fuel for the fire.

Optimistic passion loosened purse strings, and a new flood of funds sent numerous brave sailors into the West once more. No route worked the same way twice, so those who were able to divine or bargain their way into the distant West were quite perplexed to find that the way had been blocked.

The Aldmeri Dominion had already arrived.

A hundred Altmer warships formed a perimeter two miles off the mutated archipelago's coasts. The first explorers to arrive were warned to leave, instructed to bring word of the barricade to the mainlands of Tamriel. Those that came after were fired upon immediately and without warning. Survivors drowned scraping their fingers against the hulls of unsympathetic Altmer warships.

An official statement from the Dominion made their intentions clear: the lands of Yokuda were off-limits. But the specific wording let slip a dangerous interpretation, that the circle of warships were there to keep something from escaping.

Loose-lipped sailors who served on the fleet confirmed the suspicion. The guns on the warships were kept loaded on both sides, they said. Sail-spotters in the nests were instructed to keep their glasses pointed away from the shore. And at night, the fiery streaks of low-flying Sunbirds occasionally lit the sky like falling stars as the Dominion's void navy captured panchromatics.

And yet the Aldmeri Dominion refused to claim sovereignty over the territory. Speculation ran rampant among every explorer's club in Tamriel. In the end, the Dominion's silence only served to fan the flames of ambition and curiosity.

Not even the Dominion Navy's famed discipline could stop the constant leaking of rumor and conjecture. Stories were told by the few rebellious sailors brave enough to point their spyglasses inland, stories of bright flashes of unexplainable light, hot winds that carried disturbing noises and nauseatingly sweet odors, heat waves that distorted the air in the dead of winter, green lightning during rainless storms. And always there were tales of the mutable landscape, of structures that vanished in the night, only to return days later. Buildings would be ruins one day and gleaming jewels the next. Hills and mountains would disappear and materialize elsewhere. Trees seemed to wander when no one was looking.

But no one returned to the shores. The Aldmeri Dominion stopped every attempt to penetrate their perimeter. The line was tested constantly. Once it was breached, it would never fully reseal. The exploitation of the ruined continent waited for just one person clever enough to slip through the Dominion's border.

The first person to accomplish the task was a Dunmer with hair the color of flame.