Birth of the Dragon Cult. Part Two. Look! Robots From the Sky, Come to Give Us a New God!

Ysgramor was born in the fertile lands of Atmora, the son of a wealthy wasabi plantation owner, he spent his youth learning to hunt, to build great structures of stone, to sail ships, and the many oral traditions of the men of Atmora, both the skaldic arts and the Gifts of Kyne. When he was a young man he piloted pack whales, carrying wasabi shipments above the rainforests that covered much of the continent at the time, where he learned the arts of the axe and shield to defend his caravans. His father inducted him into the Dragon Cult as a young man, and he quickly became influential as an aristocrat. He inherited his father’s plantation at the young age of two hundred and seven, where he soon had two sons, Yngol and Ylgar. It was when his sons had become men all their own when the Sea Serpents attacked Atmora in their first concerted effort, the nullification of the first wave of Serpents cost the whole of Atmora five hundred years, this loss of years caused a split in the population of Atmora, those who were angered at the loss of so many years argued that men should not sacrifice so much, that it was Ald that caused Alduin to hunt the Seas, and so Ald and his mer should sacrifice their ages to combat the Devourer; that parties should be sent to capture elves to sacrifice to nullify the Hungers of Shor, but those sympathetic to the Cult of the Coming Dragon Savior and its Dragon Priests knew that the only option was to continue the nullifications until the plans of the Eastern Prophet could be fulfilled. The bickering only lasted a few months before the first winter came to Atmora, and the next spring the rainforests had become forests filled with oaks and firs, affected by autumn. And Ysgramor’s wasabi no longer grew. Ysgramor, fearing the loss of his wealth, and the further destruction of Atmora, visited the Dragon Priests.

“Konahrik, please, my farms are all dried, and my servants will go hungry, surely you can do something, surely you do not mean for us to sit as our years are stolen by Orkey and used to kill the Serpents, surely you do not mean for Atmora to age until it is forever aged and we all starve.” Spoke Ysgramor as he paced about the office of the High Priest.

“Ysgramor, old friend, you know as well as I do that we must wait for the Shorson to Starfall, and for the Winged one to return, for they will usher in the Dragons, who will consume the Serpents and Eagles. Have faith in the Prophet, the Tiger whose Voice was stronger that all others. By his Kiai please have patience...”

“Patience! For what? I am doomed already, what will I have in a year’s time? My wasabi does not grow, and all other crops are too cheap to sustain my distance from the cities. Do not tell me to be patient as I face starvation, at least give me some promise of food, and of further life, then I will calm, then I will have patience in my faith to the Dragon!”

“Fine then, I have need of a scouting party on Mereth, where well will make our Dragon come forth, where we will do battle with the Eagles and Serpents, I will send you there. Gather your servants and family, I will distract the Maw of Shor, that you may cross the Sea of Ghosts safely, send scryings of any news you learn, but do not anger the mer, for I have no use for a dead friend an ocean away. I will tell the unbelievers that you are going to capture elves for sacrifice, that I may make peace on this continent.”

And so Ysgramor gathered his servants and sons in the city of Jylkurfyk, where many ships awaited him. And as they sailed out they saw the great navy preparing the distraction, and that night Atmora lost five hundred more years, and six thousand men perished, and Ysgramor yet lived. Ysgramor landed on Mereth where he set up a small camp, and began scouting this strange new place. He saw elven strongholds made of ice, and at their cores were swirling magics, which contained the age of the surrounding land, and the lives of human slaves. And the scouts saw Serpents clash into the ice of these strongholds, and they dashed themselves upon the walls and were negated. And Ysgramor contacted giants and befriended them and taught them of the Dragon Cult, and of the Bull and of the Shorson, and he snuck into the city and spoke with the slaves, who called themselves Nedes, and learned about the elves, and Ysgramor learned of written language, and he recorded all he knew in this new medium. And all was well with Ysgramor when he began to cough fire, after much scrying by the wizards they had realized that something deep in the earth was calling out to them. And so Ysgramor had the area excavated and he built a city out of the stone brought forth, and that city was named Saarthal. And they eventually uncovered a sphere covered in runes. And Dumb Old Giant was chosen to approach the sphere, and he was enveloped by the thing, and greeted by a vision of an elven woman who asked him what he wanted of her, and he asked who she was.

“I am Kinmune, how can I help you?”

“what are you?”

“I am Kinmune, or Kinetically-Interlinked Nirnian Multi-User Exoform a limited sentience deep-pressure capable thot-box.”

“Where are you from?”

“I am from the breath rigs of Kynareth.”

“Kyne?”

“PROCESSING… Yes Kyne, the Atmoran name, is a suitable name for the Plane(t) on which I was stationed around.”

“Do you know then of the Bull and of the Shorson?”

“PROCESSING… the Bull may refer to the <error redacted information> myth of Morihaus, and Shorson refers to the Shezzarines. Which do you seek information on?”

“The Starfall’n!”

“PROCESSING… <error temporal anomaly><attempting data refresh> … <jillian scrubbing>… <error 16th-dimensional mathematics interference> <attempting data recovery>… <Space-Time anomaly detected> <error 473, Space-Time nonexistent><error no dragon> <error multiple gravitational singularities detected in the area> <attempting mathematical rebuttal>… <Space-Time Impossipoint detected>… <identifying…> <interface true> <code PELINAL identified> KINMUNE recommends unrepulsing beam contacting with the <error entity confusion> <error 637 Akasoul><error 524 Shezarine> … KINMUNE recommends unrepulsing the impossipoint designated PELINAL to Nirn to reestablish Space-Time.”

“umm. What?”

“Just say yes you Big Dumb Giant.”

“Eh, Why Not.”

“<Charging unrepuling beam><firing beam><impossipoint falling>”

“Can I go now?”

“WARNING, interface with KINMUNE causes loss of Liquid State Memory, disconnection will shed Animus and cause Big Dumbness.”

“Umm. Okay… Bye.”

“Sorry. Goodbye.”

And at that the giant left the machine and pissed his pants.

“Big Dumb!” shouted Ysgramor, who had become good friends with the giant over the months on Mereth, ran to his friend as he collapsed. “What happened?” “I talk to pretty lady, she make Starman come, bye bye friend…” talked Big Dumb as he slipped into a Big Dumb Coma. At the sight of his friend’s undoing Ysgramor ordered his men to destroy the sphere. After a week of shouts, and the use of relics and wasabi enchanted weapons, and wasabi eating contests, and after stealing Dwemeri machines and putting them into random configurations, the men trapped Kinmune under Saarthal. And after one more week a light appeared over Saarthal. And the Elven King Auriel sent his Snow Elven army to take Saarthal after the Censurs visited him and told of a Temporal Anomaly in the human settlement. And the Elven army attacked Saarthal suddenly in the night, and Eagles came and swallowed up many men.

And Ysgramor in his anger over the loss of Big Dumb fought bravely. And as the battle raged on the light grew closer and closer, and the fighting slowed as all looked up to see a naked man falling from the sky. And when he was about two hundred feet from the ground he was swallowed by an Eagle, who perched on the battlements and chortled at the men below, “Behold men, We have swallowed your Shouldn’t Be Here frie…” and halfway through the word friend a beam of light shot from the chest of the Eagle and the man jumped from its stomach, and before he landed on the ground he had killed six more Eagles. And the Crazed Man yelled to Ysgramor telling him to run for reinforcements, and to bring him his armor.

And Ysgramor ran, and his sons followed, and they returned to Atmora, and they saw many Serpents fly towards Mereth, to fight the Eagles. And Ysgramor and sons arrived in Atmora. And they wept, for the once rainforested fatherland was now covered in snow, and pines sprouted all around. And Ysgramor went into the city of Jylkurfyk, and told of the elves and of the return of the Starfallen, and was quickly ushered into the Temple.

“Ysgramor, surely you are a bringer of the Savior, Oh Ysgramor, you shall bear the title of a Dragon, Ysmir, come. Come. We must speak with haste.” Said the High Priest. “We must strike back at the elves, we must gather, and fight, and make way for the Dragon!” yelled Ysgramor. “Yes! Yes! Ysgramor, take the gift of the Tiger, for he gave us an armory, one piece from each Totemic Star, and give these gifts to the Shorson. Go Priests, gather who little we have left, take my Mask, my Identity and hide it in Mereth outside of time, for I will stay behind and make way. I will use Orkey one last time, and Atmora will use her last years to make way for you, go, and Ice will cover this place, and all of time will pass here, and we will freeze in place. Go and know you cannot return.” Spoke the High Priest. And so the Atmorans gathered in Jylkurfyk, and of those left in Atmora the strong boarded boats, and set off, and they numbered five hundred captains, five hundred ships. And they left behind many sick, and young, and babes, and old. And halfway through the voyage Atmora gave her last years, and the Sea upheaved, and many of the Eagles fell into the sea, and the Serpents fled to the deep, and a storm brewed, and when the ships landed Ysgramor grew angry, for his sons had not arrived, and were separated by the storm, and so Ysgramor sailed out alone, and he saw ship Darumzu, and knew Ylgar and his wife Adrimk were safe, and he sailed longer, until he knew his son lied below, and he shouted at the sea, until the ocean waters oozed and congealed in ectoplasm, and the sea ghosts whipped up, and Ysgramor demanded his son’s body, and Yrgramor delivered his son to the shores of Mereth, where he built a barrow for his son, and Ysgramor and his companions attacked the elves where they found them, and Pelinal visited Ysgramor and took his armor, and took leave. And Ysgramor gathered his captains and lead war against the elves, and they destroyed the cities of the elves, and freed the Nedes and destroyed the Age Magics, and with each Age bubble burst a wave of Existence came upon the Serpents and repelled them, and the waves of existence overloaded the Eagles and Skyrim was cleared of the foul Beasts for hundreds of years, but the Atmorans lost their old age, and the ages of men from then on numbered but one hundred. And the Atmorans settled Skyrim, and they bore children with the Nedes, and birthed the Nords, and drove the elves from Skyrim. And man built his first empire on Tamriel. And they praised the Akatusk, and they praised the Starfallen, and they praised Ysmir, and Ysgramor, and Shor, and awaited the return of the Bull, and awaited the return of the Shorson now called Pelinal.