Roads to Skyrim: the Pale Pass, part 2

Part 1

###Roads to Skyrim: the Pale Pass, part 2###

4E 201

By Lucius Ferio, Scholar of the Imperial Geographical Society.

In 1E 2703, the Pale Pass was the stage of one of the most important events of Tamriel history: the Battle of Pale Pass. After they had defeated the Nordic armies, the raiders from Akavir went to the south. They followed the Pale Pass for this, but were stopped while their maneuvers by one of the greatest generals and heroes of Tamriel, Reman Cyrodiil, who gathered behind him Colovian and Nibenese, whose the hero Kantus Jeril, future Count of Chorrol, who had even given his name to the Jerall Mountains. The battle lasted many months and implicated mobile warfare and static warfare. The two armies occupied mountain fortifications. Akaviri even used Fort Pale Pass as headquarters, led by Commander Mishaxhi. From this place, the invasion force vanguard was raiding the Tamrielic troops. Though its location was lost for a long time by Cyrodiils and it was never discovered for the battle, the fact remains that the Akaviri who were there ended up dying of hunger and exposure, because the Army of Reman and elements cut all their supply lines off. I will not more detail the events of the Battle of Pale Pass, dozens of publications existing about this topic. I will just call to mind that the Reman’s victory gave him the subjection of the Akaviri invaders, who helped him to unite the whole continent, except to Morrowind, under the banner of Cyrodiil. You understand so what decisive place the Battle of Pale Pass occupies in Tamriel history.

Under the Second Empire, the Reman Dynasty applied itself to make the Pale Pass a pilgrimage site for all the faithful of the Worldly God and admirers of General Reman Cyrodiil, but also the most important crossing point between Cyrodiil and Skyrim. The main road was even entirely redone under Emperor Kastav, whose the Skyrim cases occupied a large part of the reign. The Pale Pass was become a top trade route. The military constructions in the pass itself were abandoned, for the Reman favored fight on flat ground – they remembered lightning raids performed by Akaviri in the mountains – and preferred spend their money rather in the forts network of the northern coast of Skyrim, fortifications which were missing during the Akaviri invasion, than in reinforcing territories already pacified. The only noteworthy military construction near the Pale Pass is Cloud Ruler Temple. It was both the main stronghold of the Emperor’s Dragonguard in Cyrodiil, a refuge for the Reman, a garrison for the Bruma country and a new guardian of the Pale Pass. After the Dragonguard was reformed as the Order of the Blades under Tiber Septim, Cloud Ruler Temple kept these same functions.

The Pale Pass rank among the trade routes of Tamriel seemed to be ensured for a long time. However, it collapsed as the same time as the Second Empire did. The Jerall Mountains were a dangerous environment. Storms, crumblings, landslides, avalanches are very frequent. The Pale Pass road demands a regular maintenance to be passable. It is not unusual the road has to be redone. To be honest, maybe the current route does not have much to do with the one of the Alessian Empire time. The differences perhaps corresponds to dozens of miles. If the route generally stayed stable under the Second Empire through the constant efforts of the Imperial administration, the assassination of Potentate Savirien-Chorak stopped the expensive maintenance of the Pale Pass. Anarchy spread to all Tamriel. The elements raged on the route and nobody repaired the damages. Therefore the Pale Pass road gradually fell.

During the Interregnum, the Pale Pass became almost impracticable. This suited by the way the Imperial warlords who were thus less afraid of military interventions of the Kingdom of Skyrim, although this one was divided between West Kingdom and East Kingdom because of the matter of the Crown of Freydis. In truth, without fixed route, considerable efforts were needed to open a pathway in the Pale Pass.

My next writings will be about the Pale Pass in the ending of the Second Era and for the Third Era.