Roscrea and her people, #1: Introduction

by Borealus Stavich, Imperial Anthropological Society, 3E 292

Foreword
In my long career, I had come across many cultures throughout Tamriel in order to make our great Empire understand them a little better, but what I had found on Roscrea surprised me the most. If you come to Roscrea expecting to find only a frozen rock populated by an ordinary Nordic tribe, then prepare to be as befuddled as I was. This island not only offers an interesting new culture to study, but also insight into some of the greatest mysteries of our world.

Introduction
3E 285
I arrived on board an East Empire Company ship, and was welcomed by the ever present freezing wind. I was fortunate enough to spend the night inside an appropriately named Fort Icewrath, before heading off to meet my guide in a nearby village.

Mindak, the priest of the village, accepted me in a dark corner of the local longhouse. By the way he looked, I immediately knew that something definitely differs from the mainland Nordic culture. The bearded middle-aged man, much taller and paler than most Nords I’ve seen, was dressed in furs, as the majority of people here. However, on his shoulders was attached a mess of grey feathers, owl as he explained, while his face was covered by a carved wooden mask, complete with a short beak, large eye holes and more feathers protruding from the ears. I immediately remembered the significance of the owl totem in the ancient Nordic religion, and realized that I’m in for a treat. This culture is probably the remnant of the oldest Atmoran civilization. The Roscreans I’ve seen looked like Nords, but were generally taller and paler, suggesting an even closer link to the Atmoran giants.

“Stum-mun,” Mindak addressed me with a booming voice. “Do not feel welcome here. You will never be. Just as we will never be your equals in the Empire. Your king broke us, and we can either fade away peacefully, or fight and die. Whatever the case, it is my duty to ensure that we will not be forgotten.”

Mindak spoke a barely understandable dialect of Nordic, and also using strange words of dovahzul origin, but I managed to get his meaning and transcribe it here. I replied to him that we did not come to his island to wipe out their culture, but he just waved his massive arm, dismissing the argument. “We are doomed to fade, stum-mun. We were fading for a while now, ever since Junu was taken from us,” he rebutted.

I was intrigued by this notion, but before I managed to query, Mindak continued. “This country was named Rozahkriia, after the divine name of Junu. Over time, our own people bastardized this name. Most of us call it Roscrea now.

There were many periods in our history. We can speak of three distinct ages. Before Arrival, After Arrival, and the Sadness, which is still ongoing.”

I queried about the ‘Arrival’, thinking it referred to the arrival of Atmorans to Roscrea. “No, stum-mun. It was the arrival of Junu, what turned the ages. I looked at the histories of your people in the fort and compared them to ours. The Arrival of Junu was around the year 2800 of the First Era. The Sadness started about seven hundred years later. This period, between the arrival and the death of Junu, was our golden age, as you southerners say.”

Once again, I was intrigued. This ‘Junu’ supposedly ruled for seven hundred years. That he was an elf was unlikely.

“Who was Junu?” I finally asked.

“Well, that title means simply ‘Our King’ in the holy speech. His true name was Rozahkriin. He was one of the last dov of Keizaal, Son of Bormahu and Regent of Alduin. The peacemaker of this land, the rightful ruler of mortals and the tamer of storms. Under him, we thrived. Without him, we are lost.”

Shivers ran down my spine when I finally realized the significance of this. Roscreans still follow the Dragon Cult.

This is just me, putting my own idea into a place with no official lore on it. I find the Dragon Cult really interesting, and having a far-off place still following it is a concept I like a lot. Especially if the dragon in question appears as a benevolent ruler. Rozahkriin is a totally made up dragon, though.

There have been fan works here with Roscrea specifically lacking a dragon totem, but this will be my own spin on it. You’ll see. This is just a beginning of a hopefully long series of Apocrypha posts. Expect Rozahkriin’s origin story, a showcase of other totem deities, Roscrean interactions with other cultures and perhaps some mythic wisdom handed down from the dragon to his loyal followers.