Books of Tamriel

[Majra]

Arthmodeus I believe this concept is already being worked on by Hermit, to encompass some of the new creatures as well as already created ones.

by the way, anyone seen hermit around?

[Arthmodeus]

What?? I told everybody what I was going to write. No one said anything. Arrg! All that work for naught!

[Assassinace]

Yeah he's on msn messanger right now

[Arthmodeus]

I am SO sorry!

[Majra]

hmmm this is why the writers forum will be a good idea, because I had no idea you said thats what you wanted to write, because this thread has turned huge.
No need to be sorry, its not your fault. PM me about work you might be able to do for Dun Akafell Literature

[sirwootalot123]

Hey, anyone going to comment on my book at all? Since nobody has, i'm reposting it here, with three out of the four (or five) volumes complete.
It is a journal trying to expose the dres slave raids, and published, but it is banned because of its slanderous nature.

A few things and ideas before you read:
-The bad english is deliberate
-The argonians revere iguana-like creatures called "schizas", which they
have kept as pets for ages
- the red part is an official seal, stating the book is banned and illegal to
own.

The writer is Jobasha of Jobasha's rare books; and the narrator is bukk-taii, an argonian who is very high up in the twin lamps. The basic premise is that these 5 main people who get mentioned are either the founders or major leaders of the twin lamps.


Loss and Abolition
A true story told by (the name is deliberately blotted out)
Written and revised by (the name is deliberately blotted out)
Published 3E 418

BANNED BY THE GREAT HOUSES DRES AND INDORIL
any with this book in their possesion are guilty of treason.

Many of you have heard the stories about the dunmer, escpecially those aligned to Dres. Us northern argonians even have children's tales about evading them, "child-rippers" they are called in these tales.
This is a tale of a reccent endeavor of mine.
Reccently, I had to go up into morrowind from my hometown of chasecreek, running after my pet schiza whom my wife loves dearly, who has been in my family for 5 generations, and what whom ran away. After an hour's journey, I then saw, jutting up from the jungle like the legs of a dead spider, the pass. I have to be honest, even though I am a grown man, the sight of the structure filled me with dread; even though I am a warrior by profession. It seemed to be molded from what I can only describe as hardened grey vomit, towering higher than even the biggest spore trees. I suspect that from this terrible monstrosity, the dunmer could see all the way into my town, spying and scheming.
As I came up to the gate, half-trembling, I was stopped by a very fierce-looking man; dressed in armour that seemed to have horns pasted all over it. He asked for my passport, and i do not know what that even is. I tried to explain, but instead he just stared at me - the cold, gaping black slit of his helmet showing no sign of morality or compassion whatsoever. A few seconds later, he whacked me very hard, in the face, with the blunt end of his halberd and laughed. As I got up, I nearly cried out: In the courtyard of the pass, the guards were laughing amongst themselves cynically, roasting my schiza above the fire. Alive. He was crying out terribly, and I could not bear the sight. So, I picked up one of the native plants that are poisonous to non-argonians, carefully as not to stroke the tassels, and threw it at their little circle. The poison inside burst out violently, choking the guards and killing one. However, I was foolish to ignore the great towers - An archer came, and shot an arrow straight through my tail. The pain was stinging, burning, as if the bastard had set it on fire out of spite. I crawled away, into the jungle, where nobody who wasn't of my kind would dare follow... and I then tripped and fell, exhausted.
I awoke the next morning to find that I had passed out apparently inside the jungle. I was by the great river, which starts in morrowind. I couldn't help not wondering where it started, so I followed it north.
Not even 10 minutes later, I saw a massive, beautiful waterfall rivaling all others I have seen at least 3 times. However, built around it was a very large ruin, of the dunmer's old religion. I thought to myself, "if the religion is abandoned, so must be this place"; and headed towards it to make plans to get back to chasecreek. I couldnt have been more wrong about its uninhabitance.

VOLUME TWO
As I walked up to the old dunmer ruin, I was filled with more awe - it shot so high into the sky! I wondered, why do the dunmer build things so tall?
These thoughts were silly, though; I had to put my mind to more important things.
I then arrived at the entrance of the place. It had a very funny looking round door, leaning to one side. As I opened it, I heard the very loud curses of an angry dunmer; speaking their old language. I could not see him, until after he was hitting a tree - he was wearing a magic ring, which fell off of him as he slammed into its branch stupidly. I ran towards him as fast as I could, and dug my foot-claws into his neck. He cried out, then died. I had never killed an intelligent being before though, so I felt sick to my stomach. Not wanting to put his things to waste, I took them - a very good set of armour, just like the guards's; some food, and of course his ring. The armour was quite comfortable, I must admit; and it moved very smoothly. However, I could not fit on the boots or helmet, so I dropped these parts. As much as I hate them, I must say that the dunmer make great armours. Anyways, I walked into the ruin, stupidly not thinking on where the invisible man came from. I went up its staircase, until I came to a room - and I was absolutely horrified with what I saw.
It was a great hall, with a hideous werecrocodile-like statue in the middle, and in it were hundreds of enslaved betmer like myself - some of them very strange to me; looking like marsh cats. They were being pushed around by guards of house dres, formed into lines and groups for some silly little reason. With the dead man's ring, they could not see me.
I knew I had to do something to save these poor souls; and with this ring the dres would not see me.
So, I snuck into the guard quarters to my left, which were empty, and took a halberd; as spears are my preferred weapon. With this, I walked towards the only guard near the quarters, and whacked the back of his neck as hard as I could. He died instantly, his spine broken by the impact.
This drew much attention, so I ran to the side far back. Only one guard ran to the scene though, the rest holding back their slaves. So, I did the logical thing and broke his spine as well. These Dres were dumber than I thought! I killed them all this way, single-file, until there was only one guard left; trying to hold back the slaves. I then cried out in my old language to all team up against this man, and they did so. I then took off the ring just to make an impression, and ran straight towards the guard; halberd outstretched. My fellow Betmer friends had him pinned down, and I then threw my weight into the halberd; which I drove into his neck. a fountain of red came out, which sickened me highly, but I was relieved to see that these 50 or so new friends of mine were now free... but there were more challenges ahead.

VOLUME THREE
I gathered up all of my new, freed friends, all of them thanking me over and over. I got to know four of them best.
Kahaman was a very tall, gold-skinned mer who said he was a former "Altmer" noble. His story was that he was going into morrowind to gather unique plants that grow there. For what reason this was I do not know, but he teamed up with an argonian mercenary also on the way to the Dres capital of tear, as two people are stronger than one. However, they were both kidnapped by the cruel guards of Dres and sent here - the mercenary fought back and was killed.
Jobasha was one of the strange cat people, who call themselves "khajiit". His homeland is across the Topal bay I found out, so I am suprised to not have heard of it. He had decided to immigrate to morrowind and try to set up a bookstore; as he had dreamed to do - The Khajiit worship the dunmer's old gods, so he thought the dunmer would like him. However, Jobasha was bankrupt when he arrived in morrowind, and to get money he decided to sign up for work at an iron mine south of Almalexia. At this place, he was made a slave, and he was eventually transferred here - where they manufacture large amounts of pottery secretly.
S'k'chahroofe was by far the strongest argonian I have ever seen. He was obviously one of the shamanistic hist, for he couldn't even speak tamrielic. He told me of how he was the best warrior in his whole tribe, the countless trophies he has caught in various hunts, and all sorts of other strange things that only have meanings for the tribes. He said he was caught when a big troupe of Dres came down and razed his village, killing all in their way. They enslaved the entire village, and killed all who were weak. The bastards even took extra time to crush all the eggs, he said. He also told me he had just arrived here at this place today.
The fellow I learned to know most was named Hates-His-Enemies. It turned out that he also grew up in Chasecreek, but when he was old enough he moved to Limoth with his wife. There, they had 15 children and a good family; until a strange band of travelers came to the town. Seeing that Hates-His Enemies worked as a guide, he had no choice but to show them the way to the inn. However, when they were in an alleyway the hooded men knocked him out. He also said that his main goal was to see his children again.
Back to the story - The five of us were formulating plans, when we saw a truly ancient wizard who seemed to be of a different dunmer house. He called out in a very strange language, the ground shook, and his hands started glowing - we all felt our hearts skip a beat when we realised he was performing a summoning. At the end of the incantation, his words resonated very loudly, and the earth seemed to have a seziure - and in front of us, was a creature so mighty and legendary even Kahaman was jittering - A Fire Monarch. I knew our main priority would be to kill the wizard though, as I heard somewhere that when a wizard performing a conjuring is killed his minion dies too. Kahaman knew this before me though, and called out to go after the wizard. However, I made a grave mistake - the invisibility ring was still on the ground, by the wizard! he put it on immediately, his laugh sounding like dry leaves.
And so it was... We were all of us to face one of ledgend's deadliest creatures, unarmed and unarmoured.

Volume four will be here soon, but it's not like any of you will care.

[Majra]

I read it now, again I had no idea you had written one due to the fact of this thread. I think this can be used, although it might be a hard item to actually place as it would be rare in morrowind itself. I like how you gave the narrator bad grammer, but not overtly, just in a way to make it seem as if the narrator was a bit immature. The way he rambles on certain subjects, the way he describes things childishly. I think its usable.

[sirwootalot123]

The way I designed the book is that it actually takes place in parts of my claim (daedric ruin is makhetosmartaspi, "the pass" is the makhetos pass in balsan mar).
As for the characters, they should all be alive and well (and we all know jobasha is ) somewhere.
I imagine the altmer could live somewhere in cyrodil (the city), the tribal argonian in a tribe somewhere( ), the narrator in chasecreek, and "hates-his-enemies" somewhere in limoth (i actually wrote it so that the female argonian in the other tale written a few pages back is his daughter).
Also, there would be a few copies of these books - one at the Archive of Banned Books in Balsan Mar (something i'm planning), another set in each of the homes of the people involved (except jobasha), and a set at the twin lamps headquarters.

[Anonymous]

Great writing, the only comment I have (I'm picky) is that would the book really have that Warning label on it? I mean, is it realistic to do that? The only way a warning label would get on the book is if one/both of the Houses has released it, which again makes no sense. Other than that, great job!

[Majra]

well not if Balsan Mar(and subsequent locations) are not part of those 2 houses. That way they can say, well our members could possibly read it, but if a dres person is caught reading this yada yada. Also if it were one of the 2 houses who own it, then it would be as a warning, and hence why it is in a banned area

[sirwootalot123]

Balsan Mar is Dres, and I have it planned as the main launching point for house dres's slave raids - not to mention it has a whole 5-building section reserved for vampires .

[Silvone Elestahr]

I am hoping this can be used. If it can be used somewhere, I will improve it.

Peakstar
The waves washed lightly against the shore, bringing in shells, bottles, wood, and bodies. Nothing on the shore could remember where it came from. This was either because the objects were incapable of memory, or because the bodies had no more use for their memories.
A body stirred on the shore. The waves moved it up a few inches further, then brought it back down a few more inches then it had been before. The body stirred again. The waves carry it up the shore again; this time leaving it entrenched upon the sand. The fingers move, the toes begin to wiggle. The head sways from side to side. The eyes open. The waves brought another message to Vvardenfell. But this time the message was not in a bottle. It was the bottle itself. It did not know what its message was. That’s what it had to discover.

“Look, Sul-Matuul, there at the peak. The star has risen.â€Â￾
“Yesâ€Â￾ replied the Ashkhan. “And once again, the prophecies have failed us.â€Â￾
“No, they have not. They do not say when the incarnate will arrive, nor where. Most of what we believe is what we wanted to believe. The prophecies have been lost, and through the generations, what we remembered has changed. We must look where we would not expect.â€Â￾
“Nibani, look! There at Peakstar!â€Â￾ The Ashkhan pointed towards the great mound. The star had disappeared, as well as those around it. There was a dark shape outlined by the lighter colored sky. The shape was that of a Dunmer.
“Do you think…â€Â￾ The Wise-woman started.

The Urshilaku Ashlanders took the lost Dunmer in as their own. They trained her in the arts of war, medicine, and leadership. The Wise Woman and the Ashkhan, the two tribal leaders, looked to her for hope of their continuation. They named her Peakstar. She would continue on with the prophecies, and not fail where the others had before. She would succeed. She must succeed.
The fall brought many blight storms. The winter brought many blight storms, but it also dropped something else: poisoned rain. The blight was getting worse, infecting the very air with its symptoms.
Nibani, Wise Woman of the Urshilaku, walked to the mound of the prophecies, to Peakstar. Once again, the star had risen to its point. And once again, there was something else on the hill. Nibani walked closer. It was a flower, a fire fern. And it was in full blossom. Nibani smiled and looked back towards Peakstar, the Nerevarine Reincarnate, talking with the Ashkhan.

The blue sky was getting darker. Clouds were moving in from the south, from Red Mountain. The poisoned rain began to fall from the sky. It lasted for nearly an hour. Chores could not be completed, food and livestock was ruined. The sky was turning red, and the rain had finally stopped. Peakstar watched the sky in silence. She knew this storm was going to be a bad one. The clouds had thickened, and they were blood red. The winds began to blow now. Strong winds, dangerous winds, winds that cried through the valleys with the cries of the ash vampires. Nibani and the Ashkhan were sitting in silence as well, though they were not watching the growing storm. They were thinking about the future of the ashlanders, of Vvardenfell. They were hoping that Peakstar would not end up like the others. The winds had grown strong, and the tents began to bend under the force of the winds. The cries grew louder and louder until it seemed that they did not come from the wind any longer. The Ashkhan heard this, too, and he grew terrified.
“Protect the camp! Don’t let them through!â€Â￾ Peakstar began to give the warriors their orders for the battle. The ash vampires had used the cover of the blight storms to approach on the camp. They attacked first by raining spears and arrows down upon them unexpectedly. The Urshilaku replied with a volley of their own, along with a few spells. Then they sent out their bravest warriors. The Urshilaku did not have many. Most had died fighting the intangible blight. What they had then might not have been enough. Peakstar joined the battle as soon as possible. She ran into the middle of the fighting swinging her staff around with pure skill. She knew where to hit, and when to block. She knew when to cast a spell on her enemies, and when to heal her friends. She knew where to lead her warriors and the tactics they would need in order to defeat their enemies. She had been trained to lead Morrowind, and that duty started with the Ashlanders. Peakstar looked promising.

The battle ended with the retreat of the ash vampires, though the battle had come at a heavy price to the Urshilaku. Many were forced to leave the camp to look for trade in the more civilized areas of Vvardenfell. The size of the camp decreased considerably, and the danger to those remaining had increased.

The time had come for Peakstar. She had led the Ashlanders through many dangers, protected them from numerous enemies. The Ashkhan and the Wise-woman had come to their decision. Peakstar would be tested. She was given the directions to the Cavern of the Incarnate, where she would put on the ring of Moon-and-Star, and Morrowind would know the Nerevarine once again! Peakstar made it to the cavern safely, and entered through the doors of twilight.

The message had been discovered. Peakstar was not the Nerevarine, but one piece of its whole. She was a promise that the puzzle would someday be complete, and the hopes and prophecies of the ashlanders would come true. The Old Ways would be restored. The waves brought in another message: a freed prisoner with an emperor’s decree.

[sirwootalot123]

Only if this book is, in some way, unfindable until you beat bethesda's Main Quest....
like, some dude comes up and says "Nerevarine! blah blah blah you r0x0r blah blah Here's a book I wrote about Peakstar and you're mentioned in it!"
if that actual dialogue were to be used though, I would jump off of mount treyb (in map 6).
Great story, though.

[BalinMinister]

Alot of comments

@Sirwoot: I like the story but cannot see the author having much credence unless he talks with the typical beast-tongue...i know that it would be tedious but the usual "it" to describe people and whatnot would make the narrator a lot more credible.
Otherwise...nice story and i like the way that the subtle mentioning of the Twins Lamps leaders is present although there must be some way to bring back Joshaba.....sigh

@Silvone...excellent story, however, it must be unaccessable to the PC before the main quest...perhaps inside the Imperial city itself as it would give some credence as to the Emporer's decision to let you go from prison

-BM

[sirwootalot123]

Actually, the "beast-tounge" 3rd person descriptions only applies to khajiit. The way I have it, the argonian guy was telling a story and jobasha wrote it down word-for-word, with no translations to khajiit grammar at all.

[BalinMinister]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH

Now it makes sense

Well then...bravo!
-BM

[Silvone Elestahr]

I did mean this book to be written at about the time of the PC's arrival by some kind of journalist/traveler person. I meant it to be found on his corpse in some cave somewhere. Since it was written at the time of the PC's arrival, it can be found since it doesn't tell the future, just lets out a secret. However, I hoped to hide his body somewhere on the mainland, in a deep ruin or cave.

[BalinMinister]

I dont mean to impose my ideas upon others but what if the book was contained in the Emporer'study....it would be a more probable place for it to be contained seeing as though he knew the requisites of the incarnate and recognized you as a potential one.

-BM

[Majra]

As of today, I want this thread to be locked, for new policy reasons. All books that have been entered here, if the writer wants to submit them for review please follow the process outlined in the Writer's Forum overview. Simply copy paste from here to there