Roads to Skyrim: the Pale Pass, part 3
###Roads to Skyrim: the Pale Pass, part 3###
4E 201
By Lucius Ferio, Scholar of the Imperial Geographical Society.
The Pale Pass held an essential role at the end of the Interregnum. In the late decades of the Second Era, the Colovian Kings of Falkreath, the Cuhlecain Dynasty, undertook gigantic works in the Pale Pass. They reestablished the road and a physical link with the other Colovian States. This corresponded to a political will to rapprochement with the States and the Imperial Province. Then, the very famous General Talos Stormcrown won the Battle of Old Hrol’Dan in the name of King Cuhlecain. This episode marked the beginning of the Imperial Restoration. The legend tells a storm preceded the crossing of Jerall Mountains by Talos and the Falkreath army. Some people claim the apparent ease with which the Colo-Nords crossed the pass proves that it is just a legend, since a storm would have damaged the way. Unlike, others say the storm have cleared everything that still blocked the Pale Pass, despite the Cuhlecains’ efforts. Whatever it was, General Talos army crossed the Pale Pass and so entered in Cyrodiil.
After having unified under his banner the Imperial Province, Cuhlecain must face an alliance of Nords and Bretons, who refused the Imperial Restoration. The allies gathered together, before crossing in their turn the Jerall Moutains. They came through the Pale Pass too, then went to occupy the rests of Sancre Tor city. Ironically, the efforts of the Colovian Kings of Falkreath to facilitate the entrance to Cyrodiil ended up turning against themselves, for they made easier the march of the Cuhlecain’s enemies. But finally, General Talos heroically won the Battle of Sancre Tor and made the Nords the most loyal partisans of the Empire, so all ended in a good way for the Imperials. However, under the Third Empire, the Pale Pass did not get back the importance that it had under the Reman. The Septim Imperial administration spent little money to keep the route passable. The elements did not less rage and, very quickly, the efforts of the Cuhlecain Dynasty were driven useless. The Pale Pass continued to serve as a crossing point for a few merchant caravans and the Legion, especially during times of war, but it stayed marginal. The other ways between Cyrodiil and Skyrim were favored by the Imperial citizens, particularly the sea. Anvil therefore acquired the status of main stage to travel until Skyrim, especially for Colovian, besides welcoming an important Nordic community. The canals connecting the Cheydin country to the Rift were favored by the Nibenese merchant-princes, along with the land roads making a detour via Morrowind.
The Pale Pass was thus relegated to a position of secondary importance, even more, with the other high passes of the Jerall Mountains, crossed by some hunters and Nordic adventurers. Bruma and Helgen almost became dead ends. Another city emerged on the Northern slopes of the Jerall Mountains: Neugrad Watch. Built from some old stronghold, located on the side of a little lake, Neugrad Watch never became a big locality. It never benefited from a trade with Cyrodiil, because the Pale Pass remained almost closed. Neugrad Watch adopted ordinary economics of Nordic mountain towns, founded on mining and lumbering and livestock farming. Neugrad Watch nevertheless acquired some fame through the impressive book collection which the Pine Baron, the local ruler, gathered in his castle. The city ended up declining at the very end of the Third Era, his dwellers migrating to Helgen.
Then, I will talk about the reemergence of the Pale Pass in the end of the Septim’s reign.