Prologue: The Holy Quest of Kaeshtu

Deep in the marshes of Cyrodiil, in a time long ago, when the Ayleids still held all Nedes in slavery, a young man, Kaeshtu (Castus) by name led a revolt in the paddy fields against his oppressors. A vision of Alesh appeared before him and bade him heed the wisdom of the Divines in throwing down the evil Wild Elves. He fought valiantly but was captured by eleven trickery. To a profane altar he was taken where his body was ripped open, his legs broken, and his heart savagely torn out. His death signalled the end of the rebellion but what in life he could not achieve, in death he found a way. After the mudcrabs had picked clean his bones, his skull was snatched from its watery tomb and began to foretell, by the light of Jone and Jode, Alesh’s imminent arrival. This fortuitous news strengthened the Nibenese will and led to the liberation of the paddy. Yet, Nenada, the local Ayleid slaving-city still stood defiant. Alesh had neither the time nor the resources (Mor and Pelin-al had gone ahead of her with a large part of her army) to besiege the citadel. Thus, taking Kaeshtu’s skull down to the banks of the river, she placed it in the river’s marsh-waters and brought his spirit back to the Mundus. He was reborn from the water and the marsh itself. Alesh then told brave Kaeshtu that Nenada yet remained and that it was to be destroyed. To do so, he would need to seek out the Aspects of the Divines across Nibenay and win their Holy Artifacts. This is where our tale begins with Stennar’s Test.

For background to this, see: https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/5t1ukz/why_cyrodiils_hate_mudcrabs_or_the_tale_of_st/ https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/5tx33o/nenada_the_mystery_of_the_marshes/