Annals of the Vanar, Part I.

BEGINNING

[The date of these fragments cannot be correctly ascertained due to the turbulent Dance of the Selectives and the Middle Dawn, yet the recent work of Fralav Vanarius puts the date of events described between the 5th Century and 24th Century 1E.]

"...And behold!" The warlord proclaimed: viscera draped across his near naked body as he sat upon an imposing white horse with bow in hand. Before him lay the downward slope of a hill strewn with mangled corpses, a tribute to the Gods through blood-sacrifice and honouring Covenant. “O’Shor, behold! We have slain those who dared to profane this land and we offer their blood in tribute to you…” [Text lost] “…but I ask You and Lord Aka, King of Heaven, grant me a sign as I take up this crown. If it is your wish I shall raise armies of grain-levies and stride out conquering and to conquer, taking war to those who defile this Starry Heart of Nirn, Easterners who forget Covenant, forsaking your name and preach foulest heresies of One above You. Yet I ask but one thing in return, grant this land to my progeny and their progeny forever more.”

Sending away his shieldthanes, levies, and minotaur teamsters the warlord spent one week plus one [day] atop the hill, communing with Gods and Saints alike; demanding that on the final day a vestal virgin of the Diblashuut be brought to him upon the crest of the hill. As the days passed, levies returned to the lands and fields they once worked as slaves, now tilling as freemen for generations since the ascension of the Paravant. Even his most loyal thanes became weary as the days grew on, believing that their leader had fallen into the blood-madness that had forsaken the Star-Made-Knight some eons before, few believing that [the warlord] truly could consult with the Aether.

When the eighth day approached, the vestal did arrive with much fanfare from the warlord’s most loyal of followers who had remained at the foot of the hill. Her face hidden by a veil made of silks imported from the Niben, her beauty rumoured to be too radiant for any to lay eyes upon outside of her cloister. Accompanying her were Pariah-Priests, in service to each of the Eight, one to [the missing sibling, Shor-anon-Shezarr], and one to the Saints and lesser Cults. At the sounding of a horn they ascended the hill, where they and the warlord did remain for some eight hours, chanting and the orange glow of sacred fires rolling downwards as morning turned to evening.

As darkness crept upon the land, and fog began to roll down from the Highlands the warlord descended to greet his followers. Naked and having forsaken all worldly possessions he stood with the vestal beside him, she herself adorned with nought but her veil. [Text lost] …And so at the command of the most revered of the priests a bull and bull-butcher were brought forth and the bull was slain in accordance to [honorific practice], praising Kyne and Morihaus both. As life did escape the bull, the warlord’s minotaur teamsters let out a resounding bellow, pleased in the offering granted to He who they hold most esteemed. The priests did wait the accustomed eight seconds before collecting bowlfuls of the blood, making quickly thereafter to smear it upon the warlord and vestal both, anointing them most sovereign.

The warlord did step forth, walking among his people as the priest of Aka held aloft a crown above his head. So, he did preach upon the revelations made atop the hill, and the revelations he had made in the conquest before. “By the will of the Gods, us devout few have scoured clean the vileness that did defile this land and made it whole once more. The Eight did show me this path and that through tributes and anointment in blood both my line, the Vanar, would be granted this land hereafter. In accordance with Their will a great Caer shall be erected upon the hill where my progeny, and my progeny’s progeny, shall reside for now until the end of days. I and they shall be worthy Western Kings until Cyrod is righteous and whole once more.” Shieldthane, minotaur, and layman alike did erupt into a thunderous cheer for they knew that this was Their will enacted upon Nirn, and that the warlord before them would be good and just as their King, yet willing to bring fire and blade upon any who dared to transgress against them.

Yet the warlord, now blood-anointed King, was not finished. He gestured to the vestal who until that moment had remained silent and timid. “Yet as a man I too am blessed, for nine months from now I shall be granted a son. The first of a dynasty that shall echo throughout the ages.”

[The rest of this text has been lost to time, save a few scraps which have yet to be translated.]