Betryal: New Transmission III

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1598426-betrayal

Infrasleeve L3-20: Channel granted. "Dk07-19bN00" ZERO-SUM VENTURE... RETURN FALSE... VERIFICATION 1 "d000-34bN00" FEX-FEINT ENABLED... RETURN TRUE... VERIFICATION 8 "d000-000000" WATER-WORD WARD... RETURN TRUE... VERIFICATION 0 "0000-000000" ACCESS GRANTED RELEASING MEMOSPORE END: 0

>#Heart's Sapphire: The Celediion Union (Continued)

The early life of Cuhlecain Sifr, even amongst his descendants the Cuhls, is riddled with more myth and legend than fact and truth, which causes much confusion and self-hatred amongst the historians of both the Celediilon Union and Cyrodiil. The Cuhls, of course, blame this loss of their ancestral history to the crimes of Tiber Septim and their mongrel Imperial cousins (and they are, naturally, right in this claim; there was much book-burning and mass murderings of scholars at the start of Septim’s rule), although the peoples of Tamri-El deny these claims. The few factual stories - or, at least, the ones that are mostly true - of the ‘Emperor Zero’, who slumbers ever still, have been included in this guide to provide much needed information about Cuhlecain for the ill-informed.

Like all members of the Cuhlecain lineage (in Colovian, cuhlecain is a combination of the words cu (hound), hle (rose), and cain (heir), therefore meaning ‘Heirs of the Rose Hound’, which is another name for Ebonarm, who according to myth sired the first of the Cuhlecains in the form of a wolf with a Nord war-wife in ancient times), Sifr was born with a different name than the one he is largely remembered by in history - this name was Ulfur, which means ‘fang’, for as a babe the future emperor would often open his mouth as if he was a wolf baring teeth. Because his mother had died in labor and his father was often away participating in foreign matters Ulfur was raised by the king’s advisors and the queen’s friends - the man-at-arms Chevalier Renald (who taught him the arts of combat, respect for one’s enemies and companions, and courage), the priest Octavian (who educated him and showed him the ways of the godly), and the nursemaid Diana (who raised him as her own and instilled within him manners, a care for the poor and unfortunate, and a love for prose). Ulfur spent the first fourteen years of his life within the safety of the castle walls, unable to leave due to his father’s fear of the prophecy spoken by his wife; it wasn’t until he had reached the age of fifteen that he was finally given permission to walk freely amongst his people, whom he had grown apart from.

Well-muscled, scarlet-haired, tall, and with eyes as green as the Abecean Sea, Ulfur was an exceptional young man for his age. But his years locked away in complete solitude had stifled his social skills, and he knew not how to interact with other children his age. The first of his youthful adventures began because of this weakness, for he found himself directed to the training fields for young men and women looking to join the Falk’reth Guard, and at once wished to participate (for since he was a little boy the only people he had been able to test his swordsmanship with was the Chevalier, the guards in the castle, and his father during the months he was at home). But these young men and women became angry with Ulfur and laughed at him, for he had blundered into their training without asking for their leave or protection, and by Falk’reth tradition that gave them permission to beat him senseless for his transgressions. Oblivious to this rule, the young prince was shocked and enraged that his fellows - his people - would threaten to attack him; but instead of turning tail, Ulfur viewed their hostility as a challenge, and without comment unsheathed his sword and charged into the guards-in-training howling the battle-cry of his ancestors. According to legend, it took the arrival of Renald and Diana to calm him from his battle frenzy, but by then the other children - a group of thirty - had already been rendered unconscious or sent running home. Renald speaks with the leader of the children, a boy named Dain, in order to clear up the misunderstanding between Ulfur and the other children, which causes great shame within the young prince. In apology, Ulfur places himself under the other children's’ protection, but Dain stops him and places himself under Ulfur’s protection, for the prince had proved he was the better warrior that day. From then on the prince trained with the other children every day, eventually becoming their leader and best friends with Dain (who would later on become the Captain of his Royal Guard, the Penitus Oculatus, after Ulfur’s crowning), and became known as the ‘Guard Prince’ (to the irritation of his father). The future king learned the value of friendship and honor that day.

The story of how Ulfur gained his royal name, Cuhlecain Sifr, begins after he completed his holy pilgrimage to the shrines of the divines at the age of twenty-five, in honor of Pelinal Whitestrake and the death of his tutor Octavian. Arriving back in Falk’reth, Ulfur learned that his childhood friend Dain was going to get married and became overjoyed, telling the guardsman that he would come to his chambers later on that night to celebrate the occasion after he prayed in the Temple of Ebonarm to complete his pilgrimage. But Dain forgets that the prince planned on coming later, and leaves his ferocious wolf-hound Sifr roaming his chambers. When Ulfur arrives believing that Dain had remembered their celebration, the hound attacks him and he kills it in self-defense by cleaving off it’s head. Horrified that he killed a wolf-hound, one of the sacred animals of Ebonarm, shortly after completing his pilgrimage, Ulfur begins to take his own life before Dain stops him, telling him that if his father would view his son’s death as his fault as well as his own, which would leave Falk’reth without a Cuhlecain to sit on the throne. Devastated, Ulfur prays to Ebonarm and receives a vision of himself wearing the head of Sifr and standing on a hill during all hours of the day and night, which he immediately understands; the young prince promises Dain that he himself will guard his friend’s chambers without rest until he rears him a new hound worthy of the Ebon Arm himself. He then fashions himself a helmet and cape from the head and pelt of Sifr, and his father - who has never been so proud of his son before - orders the realm that from that day forth Ulfur shall be known as Cuhlecain Sifr, the ‘Wolf of Ebonarm’...

[TRANSLATION ENDS.]