A Visit to Firsthold's Orrery, Part 1

Inspired by the theme of Space, this is an attempt to consolidate all info I gathered on Firsthold’s Orrery in a simple and comprehensible way. Based on roleplays on /r/NirnPowers with /u/thesixwalkingfarts. I've taken some fictional liberties with setting, and inventing characters.

The following is a recovered excerpt from the writings of Fiorie Kyroodil, illegitimate daughter of Rilis Kyroodil XIII, High Kinlord of Firsthold, and a Bosmer kitchen servant.

20 M.Y. 2E436

Dear Journal,

Ata woke up happy today. I can tell because when he came to breakfast with us, he said "Good morning, Fiorie. Good morning, Fara." (Fara is Ami's name. It means pretty girl in Bosmer, and bride in Altmer, which I think is weird but that's something I'll talk about later.)

That made Ami surprised. She said, "You're so ... Enthu-siastic." (She's not good with big words.) “It not like you."

She said, “You’re usually so serious. Soldier-like.” (Ata is a Captain in the First Auridon Marines.) She did this thing where she raises just one eyebrow - I can't do it - but she does it for a lot of things and I don't really know exactly why she does it yet.

But Ata replied, "That's because I'm taking you to a special place today. You and Fiorie. I'm taking you to the Great Orerry."

Then both of Ami's eyebrows rose. She loudly whispered, "The Great Orrery?"

"That's right."

"But your father. I mean, Keenlord Rilis. They say he - he... take it down?"

"Oh, that rumour.” Ata scoffed. “I suppose you heard he asked the Orrery's Varmaster a question about his future greatness. And when the Varmaster replied - that the Orrery isn't a device to predict the future - he dismissed the Varmaster, and had the Orrery disassembled. That it's crated up and stored in the vaults beneath the Palace?" ^1

"Yes...," replied Ami, but she seemed a little lost.

Ata smiled. "The Kinlord made that story."

"The Varmaster was dismissed," he continued. "However, the Orrery remains intact. Only, the entrance is restricted to Vartisans, Skyharkers, and those of royal blood."

I wanted to ask then what the Varmasters, Vartisans, and Skyharkers are. But Ami noticed me and she said, "Finish your food." So I went back to eating my breakfast of milk, meat, and vegetables. And when I was done, Ata took Ami’s hand, and my hand, and we left.

On the way to the Orrery, Ami asked what I knew about it. I said all I knew: "It's the only place in Tamriel besides the Imperial City you can find moon rocks. From Alinor's space program a long time ago. In, um, the Merethic Era. Space is Ethery. Magical." ^2

Ata said, "Good." And Ami said “Good” too. But I don't think Ami knows much about space.

Right outside Firsthold Palace gates (where Ata grew up, and Ami works - in the kitchens) Ami stopped. “The keenlord’s too unstable. We shouldn’t go.”

“Nonsense,” said Ata. “I can handle my father. If we even meet him. Besides, I think you will enjoy the Orrery, Fara. We should go.”

Ami said nothing more after that. We went into the palace and traveled down lots of long hallways with lots of windows made of pretty glass, and floor made of moonstone. There were two flights of stairs that led to a handleless door, which was locked. But Ata cast a certain spell on certain symbols on the wall, and it opened into a hallway which looked like all the other hallways in the palace, but darker since they had curtains over all the windows. And inside there was waiting an old man with baggy golden eyes, lots of wrinkles, and a long beard.

“Rilis. Fara. And you brought Fiorie!” When he saw me, he made a big wrinkly smile. “Do you remember me, Fiorie?”

He looked familiar but I didn’t remember him, so I said no.

“My name is Volraine. I cared for you once, mirie, when you were sick. I presume you were too ill to recall me. I also cared for your father when he was a child, and for your father’s father.” At the end of his long introduction, he spread his arms around the hall, which looked like a normal hall, but darker.

I said, “I don’t know, Mister Volraine.”

Then Mister Volraine must have done a spell or something, because the floor lit up with lines that pulsed pure light and magicka. It was like I was standing in a glowing river.

“These lines you see here are conduits of magicka, that stretch all throughout the Palace, Firsthold, Auridon, and Alinor. We call them Varlines - derived from the word Varla [star]. It is through the Varlines that Magicka flows to Kinhouses and monuments throughout all of our Summerset Isles. We Altmer connect to these lines using special instruments called Varla Lenses. I can not tell you much about Varla Lenses, for those are the domain of Vartisans. The nature of the Vartisan’s work is a secret, and they devote such intensity into the study of the lines that some say the energy of the Varlines themselves becomes what sustain them. But I hear the Lenses have a magical focus, chiseled from the glass of a fallen star. The Lenses channel the magicka of the varla into our Varlines. We use them also to siphon magicka from these lines for defence of our Isles, and other purposes. Without the power of the Varlines to sustain us, our high elven society would surely fall apart at its seams.” ^3

[continued…]

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