The Numidiad: Part IV

Fifth Era

Morrowind

''Sotha Sil emerges from the tunnel leading back into the bowels of Red Mountain. Lit by the ruddy glow of the eternal fires, he carries in his arms an object covered with a thin cloth. It pulses slowly with a diffuse light. He nods to the House Magi around him, who fall in step, and they proceed down the mountain pathway to the gaping chasm of Akulakhan. Revealed by Vivec’s strike using Baar Dau, the towering construct, only partially completed at the time, was a hidden project of House Dagoth’s. Under Seht’s direction, it was built only to the point of bare functionality, and its bare skeleton is a stark contrast to Numidium’s gleaming golden skin. The procession winds its way around Akulakhan’s skeleton, stopping at the void in its chest. The Indoril mage bows to Sotha Sil, then removes the cloth. Seht’s burden, the Heart of Lorkhan itself, rests cradled in his arms. He releases it and, floating on a cushion of magicka, it drifts into Akulakhan’s waiting chest. Metal bars snap to it, locking it into place, and siphoning its power with keening blades. Daedric inscriptions all along Akulakhan’s struts flare into glowing life, exuding an ethereal blue glow spreading across the golem’s skeleton, a skin-sea whipped into a storm by a wind unfelt. Eyes blazing with chaotic fire, the artifice sinks its claws into the rock wall and begins its ascent. Behind it, Red Mountain groans and shudders, red lava and black ebon bleeding from its fissures.''

Cyrodiil

5E8

''The Dunmeri siege of the Imperial Island began months ago, and it drags on still. Neither our Numidium nor the Stormcrown’s captured Tower are of decisive efficacy against the Numidium that the sorcerer Seht has brought to bear, but they do keep it from toppling us. Despite floating high above ground, orbiting the Imperial Spire, the Second Tower moves very slowly and the Dunmer keep moving into the Spire’s shadow where Ada-Mantia cannot strike directly. When their golem is visible from Ada-Mantia, though, the power it unleashes is terrifying to behold. Spears like liquid flame lance forth from its surface to land among the Dunmer, or on the golem’s skin. The city-wheel is smashed and burned from both the Dunmer and from our own Tower, and where our flame-spears cut, the stone is polished smooth as if it had been built with pieces missing. Talos continues to direct Numidium against the rebellious provinces, those that still stand, trusting in Ada-Mantia and our own mages to hold Cyrod.''

''As for the provinces, most lie in some form of ruin. Morrowind’s mainland is ravaged by the Marsh-monsters, and the volcano isle was smashed by Vivec’s Lie Rock and then ripped apart by the Second Numidium. Argonia’s outer reaches have been trampled by Numidium and burned by the Legions. Elsweyr is, somehow, completely abandoned. A few feral Khajiit roam here and there, but otherwise it appears to be wholly empty. Valenwood is still embroiled in a Wild Hunt, parties of which occasionally spill over the border into Cyrodiil and Elsweyr. Dragon-scouts soaring above the wood report that Falinesti and the other graht-oaks still roam uncontested, but also uninhabited. Whether or not pockets of Bosmeri civilization still hold out is unable to be determined. Hammerfell’s coast has been desolate since the beginning of the War, and its population withdrawn inland. They have been largely isolated since then, though sporadic sightings do occur. High Rock has been thrown into complete chaos since the Stormcrown’s Glory on Balfiera. Wayrest, Evermore, Camlorn, and Jehanna are the four strongest of the Breton city-states, and without the Bretons and Redguards to suppress them, the Orcs have even managed to incorporate their Orsinium stronghold again. Their leader, a creature called Krognaz gro-Ghazulob, has gone so far as to send emissaries to the Empire seeking provincial recognition in return for fealty and military service. Skyrim, unfortunately, is still sundered in a sea of blood. The Reach native rebellion, apparently called the “Forsworn Uprising”, has engulfed all of the Reach, most of Haafingar, and western Hjaalmarch, Whiterun, and Fell Kreath. The roads out of Solitude are unusable, and the Bruma pass through the Jeralls see refugee traffic daily. In the eastern holds, the Dragon Cult has taken a firm grip on the populace. The Windhelm Chapterhouse now commands the Rift, Winterhold, Eastmarch, and Dawnstar. The city of Whiterun is pressed between both the Forsworn and the Dragonsworn, and reputed to be ready to succumb to either.''

The Summerset Archipelago sees most of Numidium’s fury, and while the cities hold strong, the countryside of the Isles has been largely ruined and evacuated.

''This leaves only Cyrodiil. Although Argonian columns have made incursions through the Blackwood and sacked Leyawiin, and the Dunmer burned the northern Nibenean countryside on their march here, the Colovian marches remain relatively intact. Most of the civilian population has been moved to the west, and the eastern counties are thinly populated only by those who refused to move. Three legions have been dispatched north to Skyrim, two hold the defense of the Imperial Tower, and the remaining two guard the western plains.''

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''The Dunmer attacked again today. Their battlemages led the first assault, launching a barrage of spells against the Spire. Our Whisperers managed to repel most, but as always a few shots came through. The Tower is to the north today, and the Dunmer camp is spread along the southern face. I do not envy their constantly-rotating camp, and a central defense against a moving offense is an inarguable advantage for the besieged. The Spire battlemages have been working with Ada-Mantia’s weapon controllers, and we may finally have a way of arcing the Tower’s assaults around the Spire, by passing the lances through a magickally created lens.''

''Numidium just arrived. Its travel grows increasingly odd. One minute the Dunmer colossus was pounding at the Spire uncontested, spells flashing back and forth through the air and the dizzying distortion in the air arcing the Tower’s beams around us to strike at their golem, and the Brass Walker had stepped out of thin air and slammed its fist into its rival’s side. Watching the two fight is both awe-inspiring and terrifying. With the Stormcrown atop Numidium and Seht atop Akulakhan, both glowing with tremendous power, and the two metal constructs scraping the sky, the city-wheel and the Dunmer army below seem as ants in comparison. My unit is stationed near the top of the Imperial Spire, and yet we stand at the shoulders of the two gargantuan constructs. They wade casually through the city and lake, kicking aside buildings like anthills and water like puddles. It is almost like two men boxing on a small model of a city, only there are no roars or grunts or sounds of fist striking flesh. The silence is eerie, punctuated only by the rumble of their movement, the occasionally shrill screech of spell-barrage, and the dull clang of metal colliding.''

''By the Divines! Seht charged Talos, throwing him against the Spire! The whole building leans to the north now, but he somehow staved in Aku’s knee and drove him into the water. Numidium PICKED UP the other golem, with the Dunmer sorcerer flung free, and HURLED it south to the river! The Walking Brass turned its attention on the Dunmer army next, but by now they’ve grown practiced to scattering beyond its reach. The situation is much like a man surrounded by flies, with no way of trapping them where he can crush with ease. Talos recognizes this, of course, so Numidium soon vanishes in the same manner as it appeared.''

Hammerfell

5E10

''The human tendency for intercommunication is amazing. Even though we have sealed ourselves in these Rourken cities, the necessities of survival mean that surface caravans are a periodic occurrence, and with them travels news and rumor almost as a plague. For once, they are even mostly true. Or at least in agreement. They say that the Cyrodiils have a new-made God. That the Dunmer have a second Brass Monster that they are using to fight the Cyrodiils. And the strangest, and most easily confirmed: the Khajiit have left Nirn. They climbed to the moons again and live there in paradise. This must be true, for a third moon has appeared in the sky, and our lens crafters have been able to magnify it, and the moon appears to be a mass of glistening cat fur. Lights also dot Secunda’s surface, and we can surmise that they belong to Khajiit colonies.''

May they know peace only dreamed of here on Nirn.

''Our scholars have been poring over all documents and artifacts of the Yoku Sword Singers ever since we took to the deeps. We know from bitter experience that merely cutting at Septim’s monster will not hurt it, but the Singers did not merely cut. Shamans and swordmasters alike have been desperately trying to recreate the lost legends, and our city has shown some success in this. Last month, Boraccag successfully summoned what we believe to be a Shehai. The spirit sword did not exactly match the descriptions in our old texts, but it WAS a sword, and it WAS immaterial. He practices daily, and each time he summons it, the blade is stronger and longer-lasting. Texts speak of a spirit-slice that cuts so finely that reality parts around it. Surely Numidium cannot resist such a stroke. If we can discover a way to do this, we may have an end to end this hellish war once and for all.''

''In two months, my crew and I will be dispatched to attempt the run to Firsthold. Numidium has so far appeared to crush every ship we sent, but with the Dunmeri siege we believe there is hope to slip by with its attention kept elsewhere. Our captain, Cyrus, is the best waverunner we’ve seen in many a year. If anyone can make way through this, it will be him.''