Usurpateur's History
Jun. 16th, 2012 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usurpateurWarning! Contains heavy spoilers for Morrowind. Also, work in progress.
The early years of Usurpateur's life are a mystery, even to him. His first memories are of a confusing, prophetic dream, and of awakening as a prisoner aboard an Imperial ship. His first interaction with another mortal (within his memory) was with Jiub, a dunmer and fellow prisoner on the ship. Usurpateur later, from time to time, wondered idly if the friendly demeanor of Jiub was what made him so partial to dunmer. But that was not a thought that occurred to him for a good while.
When they docked, the soldiers ordered Usurpateur off the ship. He, for reasons unexplained, were going to be released. He answered some odd questions from a scribe who wrote up some papers for him, and was sent off to report to the chief of the guard. It wasn't until he did so that he discovered he had been dropped off in Seyda Neen, a small fishing village on the island of Vvardenfell in the province of Morrowind.
Usurpateur's papers were stamped, then he was given a small sum of money and a strange assignment: it was apparently somehow vital to the Empire that an amnesiac deliver a sealed package to some guy who lived in a city up the river.
Usurpateur figured he might as well do as he was told; he didn't know what else to do at that point. (Besides nick some silverware he'd seen on his way in. It felt natural. So that probably wasn't the start of his life of crime--and it certainly was not the end of it.)
[Morrowind: the beginning]
He messed around the small town for a little while, exploring the surrounding area and working on his skills--that is, he killed a lot of mudcrabs with fireballs. A few mildly interesting things happened: he robbed an abandoned tomb; he got involved in the investigation into the assassination of the local tax collector; he was attacked by an inordinate number of cliff racers and slaughterfish; and a bosmer fell out of the sky, dying on impact with the ground. Upon investigation, Usurpateur discovered the bosmer had been experimenting with acrobatic spells. What interested Usurpateur most, however, was the beautiful robes the mer was wearing. They were aesthetically pleasing to the argonian and of high quality material. Best of all, they fit Usurpateur. ...Yeah.
Finally Usurpateur took a silt strider (a giant bug, used as a bus service on Vvardenfell) to Balmora, a Hlaalu city straddling a river. As the captain had instructed him, he located the South Wall Cournerclub and asked around for Caius Cosades. Eventually he was given directions to the man's house. On arriving there, he discovered Caius to be a slovenly old man addicted to skooma. Usurpateur handed over the package, and the man's demeanor changed immediately, becoming less infirm, more commanding and businesslike, and a great deal less stoned.
It turned out Caius was the head of the Blades in Vvardenfell. This explanation meant nothing to the argonian, who barely remembered anything about himself, so Caius explained more. The Blades were an elite order who served the Emperor. The Blades the public knew about were those given the title as an honor, and served as the Emperor's bodyguards. Most of the Blades in the Empire, however, were secretly appointed, and were spies. And now Usurpateur was one of them.
This whole experience seemed to be turning into an exercise of the absurd.
Caius told him not to worry too much about it for the moment. Usurpateur was brand-new to Vvanderfell, and anyone could tell. His first assignment was simply to make a place for himself among the locals. Join a guild or two, get established. When he didn't scream "outsider!" anymore, then he would recieve proper orders. Caius explained further about a number of the local guilds--including the thieves' guild, which apparently operated out of the South Wall, and whose local guildmaster was a friend of Caius's.
Usurpateur joined the thieves' guild first (in large part because they could bribe off any bounty he might accrue). He did a number of jobs for them. Then he became somewhat enamored of the mages' guild, and started working his way up their ranks as well. He also wandered the countryside, fighting bandits and wild animals.
During his adventures he discovered that even argonians could catch diseases if they fought with infected animals often enough, but that the altars in Imperial chapels and Tribunal temples could heal him. For a price. That was lower for members. He was legitimately attracted to the Temple for some reason he couldn't quite explain. Maybe it was his growing fascination with the dunmer and Morrowind culture as a whole. At any rate, he joined the Temple. He never felt any inclination to join the Imperial cult.
[The Telvanni]
[Achievements]
[The Nereverine]
[Mournhold]
[Solstheim adventures]
The early years of Usurpateur's life are a mystery, even to him. His first memories are of a confusing, prophetic dream, and of awakening as a prisoner aboard an Imperial ship. His first interaction with another mortal (within his memory) was with Jiub, a dunmer and fellow prisoner on the ship. Usurpateur later, from time to time, wondered idly if the friendly demeanor of Jiub was what made him so partial to dunmer. But that was not a thought that occurred to him for a good while.
When they docked, the soldiers ordered Usurpateur off the ship. He, for reasons unexplained, were going to be released. He answered some odd questions from a scribe who wrote up some papers for him, and was sent off to report to the chief of the guard. It wasn't until he did so that he discovered he had been dropped off in Seyda Neen, a small fishing village on the island of Vvardenfell in the province of Morrowind.
Usurpateur's papers were stamped, then he was given a small sum of money and a strange assignment: it was apparently somehow vital to the Empire that an amnesiac deliver a sealed package to some guy who lived in a city up the river.
Usurpateur figured he might as well do as he was told; he didn't know what else to do at that point. (Besides nick some silverware he'd seen on his way in. It felt natural. So that probably wasn't the start of his life of crime--and it certainly was not the end of it.)
[Morrowind: the beginning]
He messed around the small town for a little while, exploring the surrounding area and working on his skills--that is, he killed a lot of mudcrabs with fireballs. A few mildly interesting things happened: he robbed an abandoned tomb; he got involved in the investigation into the assassination of the local tax collector; he was attacked by an inordinate number of cliff racers and slaughterfish; and a bosmer fell out of the sky, dying on impact with the ground. Upon investigation, Usurpateur discovered the bosmer had been experimenting with acrobatic spells. What interested Usurpateur most, however, was the beautiful robes the mer was wearing. They were aesthetically pleasing to the argonian and of high quality material. Best of all, they fit Usurpateur. ...Yeah.
Finally Usurpateur took a silt strider (a giant bug, used as a bus service on Vvardenfell) to Balmora, a Hlaalu city straddling a river. As the captain had instructed him, he located the South Wall Cournerclub and asked around for Caius Cosades. Eventually he was given directions to the man's house. On arriving there, he discovered Caius to be a slovenly old man addicted to skooma. Usurpateur handed over the package, and the man's demeanor changed immediately, becoming less infirm, more commanding and businesslike, and a great deal less stoned.
It turned out Caius was the head of the Blades in Vvardenfell. This explanation meant nothing to the argonian, who barely remembered anything about himself, so Caius explained more. The Blades were an elite order who served the Emperor. The Blades the public knew about were those given the title as an honor, and served as the Emperor's bodyguards. Most of the Blades in the Empire, however, were secretly appointed, and were spies. And now Usurpateur was one of them.
This whole experience seemed to be turning into an exercise of the absurd.
Caius told him not to worry too much about it for the moment. Usurpateur was brand-new to Vvanderfell, and anyone could tell. His first assignment was simply to make a place for himself among the locals. Join a guild or two, get established. When he didn't scream "outsider!" anymore, then he would recieve proper orders. Caius explained further about a number of the local guilds--including the thieves' guild, which apparently operated out of the South Wall, and whose local guildmaster was a friend of Caius's.
Usurpateur joined the thieves' guild first (in large part because they could bribe off any bounty he might accrue). He did a number of jobs for them. Then he became somewhat enamored of the mages' guild, and started working his way up their ranks as well. He also wandered the countryside, fighting bandits and wild animals.
During his adventures he discovered that even argonians could catch diseases if they fought with infected animals often enough, but that the altars in Imperial chapels and Tribunal temples could heal him. For a price. That was lower for members. He was legitimately attracted to the Temple for some reason he couldn't quite explain. Maybe it was his growing fascination with the dunmer and Morrowind culture as a whole. At any rate, he joined the Temple. He never felt any inclination to join the Imperial cult.
[The Telvanni]
[Achievements]
[The Nereverine]
[Mournhold]
[Solstheim adventures]