[Apocrypha] The Three Trials of King Orgnum

I.

The Eleventh Grandfather of my Eleventh Grandfather was Jullien the Navigator. His most well-known Great Honor in life was to serve aboard the Niben under Topal, whose accomplishments are known to all Altmeri. But above all the Great Honors of all my Esteemed Ancestors, dutifully memorized by mine and my brothers, it is Jullien's last Great Honor that has become my life's work. I shall provide a brief summary for those outside my lineage: Decades after Topal's failed voyage, a rumor surfaced of unknown terrors attacking ships in the seas south of Alinor. Indeed, no ship that had ever sailed beyond the Void Line had ever returned but for a single lowborn survivor, returned near death and wearing naught but a tattered piece of sail (for they were made of cloth then) and a pair of hide boots, enchanted to walk upon water. Among those who had heard his last words were Jullien, who listened to a tale of Mer rising from the ocean atop a great leviathan, speaking a strange language and summoning fire from the depths of the ocean itself. Others wrote it off as the ramblings of a low madman in the throes of death, but Jullien was transfixed — what were unknown Mer doing so far south of Alinor? How could they hold command over such terrible beasts and defy the laws of nature? For Jullien, there was only one possible answer. What he had dedicated his life to finding as Topal's esteemed navigator, what he had failed to find in discovering Tamriel as we know it today, was there, south, where it was thought nothing existed but a sea as vast and empty as the Void.

Jullien set sail again, this time leading the search for Aldmeris himself and prepared to meet these foreign elves. He brought wizards capable of shielding his entire vessel from fire, a preposterous idea to his peers. He mastered the magic of Tongues, long-forgotten in these cosmopolitan times, in order to parley with the foreign elves. He brought only as many crewman as were needed, and brought enough rations for a long voyage far beyond the Void Line. It is even rumored he supplemented his crew with bound Daedra, although if this were true Captain Jullien's name would certainly have been struck from history. The Goldenhelm left port ready to face the unknown, and ready to find the ancient homeland of the elves. It was only two years later that Jullien returned alone, rising out of the ocean and onto the beaches of Alinor. He did not come with news of Aldmeris.

A Mer did indeed rise from the ocean atop a malefic creature, but the initial fireball was deflected by the wizards, who skillfully shielded the Goldenhelm despite their astonishment. Jullien called out to this strange Mer in its own Tongue, using Illusion to cross the barrier of understanding. These deeds impressed the foreign Mer, who named herself Undhtr, and agreed to spare them and guide them to her home. They came to a mass of islands, constantly submerged by the churning seas and emerging again in different shapes. "Was this really what remained of the fabled Aldmeris?", Jullien wondered. Undhtr taught them all a spell to breath underwater so that they could follow her under the waves — every crewman understood the spell, and many lasted a long while, but only Jullien had the force of will to last the entire journey without drowning. It was there he saw the nascent, labyrinthine kingdom we now know as Pyandonea, and met with their King, Orgnum. Julienn returned to Alinor with three things. The first, the serpent that took him back across the sea, traded in exchange for the Goldenhelm. The second, the knowledge of water breathing, spells and enchantments that have saved lives across Tamriel ever since. The third, a warning from the king of Pyandonea:

"YOU ARE NOT OF US. THIS IS NOT YOUR HOME. ORGNUM WILL TAKE ALL THAT YOU SEND TO THE SEA, FOR IT IS OURS TO TAKE."

Thus did Julienn discover the Maormer, the first to abandon the ways of the Aldmer. And thus did we know to defend our seas and build a great navy to face this threat, now the greatest navy in all Tamriel. And thus did we first meet their king, the contemptible Orgnum. Were the story to end there, I would have no cause for my own voyage. But as we all know too well, our Fifth Fathers painfully so, this was not the last appearance of King Orgnum. He would terrorize the Altmer throughout our history, posing one of the greatest mundane threats to our kind. But how is it always Orgnum? The first guess of the uninformed is that it is simply different kings all taking the name of Orgnum — but every account of a meeting with King Orgnum describes the same physical appearance. Even the records of the foul Sload are consistent with my Jullien's findings so long ago. Mer are known to be long-lived, but to be alive in the earliest days of the Merethic Era and the height of the Third Era belies a longevity unknown to even the most brilliant of our ancestors. Orgnum has some means of extending his life greater than any magic on Tamriel. It is possible he has found a cure to the curse of Mundus. And I must know it.

When Crystal-Like-Law fell, the annals of my lineage were lost among so many others. The Thalmor, despite their wisdom, failed to recognize my ancestry, and so all of the benefits of my station have left me. But they have brought us back from the Great Anguish and restored the Aldmeri Dominion, first returning Valenwood to the fold and now Anequina and Pelletine. The Thalmor deal harshly with all who undermine our resurgence, and I weep for my misguided kinsmen caught in their wrath; if I bring the Dominion the secret of true immortality, my status may be restored and the dissenters may finally see reason. The Aldmeri Dominion will finally take our rightful place as the eternal rulers of Tamriel. At any rate, it is the only path left for me in my current state. I will either save my people, or die for them.

Decades have been spent preparing for this journey. I must go alone, as I am forbidden from captaining a ship. The remainder of my family fortune has gone into crafting a suit of Adamantium armor, enchanted for swift underwater travel and withstanding the magicks of the Maormer. My mastery of magic has come so far in this preparation, the Psijics themselves invited me to their Ethereal Island — I refused, of course, driven by my purpose. I have rediscovered the magic of Tongues so that I may parley with King Orgnum himself. I cannot defeat every Maormer that stands before their King, but I know that he grants audience to those that impress him. So that I must do. And with the moons returned to the sky, I can finally chart my course.

I leave tomorrow.

II.

I traveled for 480 days, from the crystal blue seas surrounding Alinor to the black waters of the ocean where Pyandonea resides. It is a fascinating thing to swim for so long, alone in the ocean. On a boat, you have the company of your countrymen and the various tasks involved with running a ship to keep your mind occupied. Out here alone though, you have nothing but time to contemplate. When Alinor first disappeared from the horizon behind me, I panicked. Eventually I calmed myself by focusing on the path of the stars and the moons, but a sense of dread still lingers with me, even now as I write this on dry land. I sustained myself through a magical form of asceticism developed by the Psijics, surviving solely off of mysticism and meditation; I meditated on the histories of all my ancestors, the Maormer tyrant that survived them all, the potential of immortality and what it means to the Altmer. This I pondered over and over, until I finally reached the churning kingdom of the Maormer.

Ancestor Jullien's description of Pyandonea no longer applies to what the land is like in modern times. Towers of coral jut out from an unfathomable blackness, forming great reefs surrounded by forests of multicolored kelp. Leviathans and great serpents still swam between the structures, but so did swarms of shimmering fish, forming schools as large as the mightiest Aldmeri galleons. And translucent squids as long as Crystal-Like-Law, leaving trails of light instead of ink. I was so amazed by the splendor that I almost didn't see the platoon of Maormer soldiers moving towards me. I slew every one that came, calling out in a language I didn't understand but knew to have meant: "I WILL HAVE AN AUDIENCE WITH ORGNUM OR TURN THIS BLACK OCEAN RED WITH YOUR BLOOD".

I counted about three score of them dead until I saw fast approaching a whale, with two tusks and a coat of gleaming white fur, from the darkness below the darkness. From it came a language not understood, but I knew to mean: "COME."

The whale opened its mouth and there I saw the capital of Pyandonea. Buildings of coral lined the insides of the whale's mouth, a bustling marketplace lay in its tongue, and deeper in its bowels sat the upper district and the royal palace itself. The walls of the throne room were lined with Maormer guards, standing completely naked save for a buckler in one hand and an axe in the other. Orgnum, himself naked, leaned back into a massive ebony throne, staring at me with shark eyes. It seemed like each Maormer was staring right through me, and I must admit I was embarrassed in my full body armor and close-faced helm.

"High King Orgnum," I started right away, "You have harassed my people since time immemorial, yet your face is still as young as when my ancestor Jullien the Navigator first looked upon it. How? How have you lived forever?"

Orgnum burst out laughing. "You're the first to think to just ask me. All the rest have simply tried to test it. And what's funnier, you come asking that, of all things!, cloaked in Adamantine."

This response confused me. "So, will you tell me?"

Orgnum leaned forward and rested his elbows upon his knees, smirking. "Perhaps. To understand my secrets, you must know the When, the Why, and the How. And you must pass my three Trials to prove worthy of these answers. The first Trial was reaching me, through force or persuasion. You have accomplished this with both, so I will tell you the When."

"You are correct that I have lived forever. I was there when the Deep Ones were still living in wooden huts. I watched from my perch in the Void when the kingdom of the Dreugh was destroyed utterly, and the Scheming Dreugh King absconded to a different kind of ocean. And I have been surrounded by darkness for a Time that cannot be counted. I am older than Time itself! This is what it means to be immortal, child. I hope for your sake you understand that."

We faced each other in silence as I contemplated the implications of this. Eventually, I said, "I have seen kingdoms rise and fall in my lifetime, and I made my pilgrimage here through dark solitude. By the time I return, more kingdoms will have risen and fallen. Continue with your second Trial, so that I may know Why."

"You have killed an army of my soldiers to reach me. You are clearly as great a warrior as anyone in this room, possibly even the second greatest. Go down into the depths where even the brightest light cannot penetrate, and bring me an eye of a creature living in this darkness. It will not be easy. But it is funny, isn't it? What good are eyes without light?"

I descended into the darkness without laughter. It was an inky blackness that consumed the light of my spells — only from the increasingly oppressive pressure could I tell which way was down. In that darkness I wrestled with a terrible beast. Our battle raged for what felt like an eternity, and the more I felt the beast the less I understood what it was. I chipped horns, ripped away tentacles, seared off feathers and scales, and splintered bone until finally my hand found purchase on what felt like an eye. I ripped it out with my most powerful magic and escaped as quickly as I could while the creature writhed in pain. I presented my prize to Orgnum, and he continued.

"This is an eye? Well, I suppose it's close enough. Now, let's see if you can figure out the Why on your own. I have faith in you. Tell me, Why do you want immortality?"

I knew he wanted me to say something profound, but I really had no idea what to say, but "Because I want to share it with my fellow Altmer."

"Why?"

"Because it is a gift that will uplift my people."

"Why?"

"... Because it bring us closer to being restored to our former glory."

"Why?"

I began to understand the folklore that presented Orgnum as a child. "Because we used to be immortal and more, before Lorkhan sundered us from our ancestors and imprisoned us in this mortal world."

"Why?"

"... I don't know why Lorkhan did this thing."

"Neither do I. I was hoping you knew. But now, do you REALLY know why you want immortality?"

I thought on the direction this conversation led, came to my conclusion, and said, "Yes. Your final Trial?"

"It is simple. You must become as us. When you are ready I will destroy your armor and dispel all of your magics. If you can survive here in the deep with us, I'll tell you How you did it."

I could do nothing but scoff at the very idea. How would I possibly survive that? If I wasn't instantly crushed by the pressure, I would eventually drown. I hadn't eaten anything in over a year, and my magic was all that was sustaining me. Was this some kind of trick? Was Orgnum just going to kill me all along?

"Well, we've already established that you're a very patient person, and I'm immortal. So. No rush."

It took some time for my initial frustration to subside, but eventually I began to contemplate this puzzle. How is it possible for me to survive here without magic? As time passed, I contemplated the deeds of my ancestors. Then of my estranged brethren. Then, even of men. Doing the impossible was... possible. But it required something. I pondered longer still.

"I'm ready."

My armor vanished, leaving me as naked as the King. But I stopped doubting I could breathe water long ago. I Knew my bones were stronger than all the ocean above me. For the briefest of moments, I doubted the fullness of my stomach, and the pangs of hunger brought me to my knees. But I wasn't dead, only starving.

Orgnum finally leaned back in his chair, relaxing a little. "There's one way. But there are many ways How that I can talk about. Tell me, are you a mother?"

"No. As the lowest of my line, I am forbidden to bear any children. But... regardless of that, I am infertile. I've tried."

"Well then, the easy way is out. Children remain when you die, but the thing about children is they only have what you leave them. Your parents died, and left you what they had. And so it goes all the way up to Old Elhnofey. But I chose not to die — instead, my children would only have what they take. You splintered into so many different groups, feasting on the bounty left by the others. But the ones that stayed are here... This isn't the kind of immortality you seek, is it?"

I shook my head, for it was not.

"No, you Altmer want Aldmeris. The time before the cycle of life and death. Maybe you're on to something; I've seen men try to escape the cycle, only to reappear on the other side or start over from nothing every time. The Dreugh-King nearly escaped, but instead he landed in a spot he can't escape from. No, your plan is to break the cycle. Remove a piece, so that it unravels. But the piece always seems to come back — if you remove it for good, you'll all go free. Knowing you though, you'll all just go back to Aldmeris. What a waste.

It was some time before either of us spoke. Eventually, I asked, "Is that all?"

"I gave you my How, the How you thought you wanted, and the How you didn't know you had. You'll have to figure out the rest. You're welcome to stay, of course."

I didn't stay, of course. I returned to Alinor with the gift of immortality, but it was not a tonic or plant that I could simply share. What I presented to the Thalmor didn't seem to impress them, and they refused still to restore my original status. As I am writing this, the Aldmeri Dominion wages war with the Empire while I sit in counsel with the Psijic Order. They know much of Gifts, and they are happy with the new concept of Adrift Meditation I have brought to them. I shall remain on Artaeum yet for a while, and help my new fellows in unwrapping both my gift and the gifts they already have. We will learn new secrets together.