Padomaic Abyss: Lore buffs needed to check narrative

[kibblesticks]

Hey guys, so several people have asked for the story to our ongoing project: Padomaic Abyss. We could use some help from any lore buffs in double checking for any inaccuracies or contradictions in our narrative. Please bear in mind that this is not intended to be story-quality, that would take an entire book :geek: This is just for fact checking the major events.

 

Warning: What follows is everything leading up to the events of Padomaic Abyss. Naturally it's one big spoiler, though it doesn't actually tell you any specifics of what you'll have to do in the playable part of the mod.

 

So without further ado!

 

 

 

The Tale Begins
Thousands of years ago, in the first half of the Merethic era, a powerful daedra named Zir was imprisoned in the bedrock of the ocean by a cunning rival. A sload sorcerer known as O'Kos received a vision from Zir. The trapped spirit promised O'Kos that if it was freed, it would call up the ocean to flood the world, creating a vast kingdom for the sload which O'Kos would rule. O'Kos agreed, and he and several followers undertook a great journey to Zir's temple on the sea floor off the coast of what would later become the province of Highrock. Once there, they began removing the bedrock that bound Zir to the mortal plane. The sload were not accustomed to hard labour however, and there were too few to complete the work in their lifetime. O'Kos, with the aid of Zir's power, created a mighty vortex in the ocean for dragging down slaves to aid with the work. Zir granted O'Kos the knowledge to bespell a stone that would hold back the waters of the ocean, allowing the air-breathing slaves to work on the sea bed.

 

The Sload are Undone
After several years the sload had accumulated a collection of slaves comprised of fishermen, explorers, merchants, and other such seafarers. Zir looked set to be released and O'Kos' rise to power seemed assured. However, that year a ship of Aldmeri explorers was caught in the Maw's pull, an event which would eventually spell doom for the sload's efforts. The Aldmer were an ancient and powerful race of elves, each with a mastery of the arcane arts and elite martial abilities. This particular ship held some of the finest warrior mages the Aldmer society had to offer. The Aldmer would not be taken captive so easily, and they fought the unprepared sload. The slaves were also incited to rebel against their sload masters and after a brief, bloody struggle, the sload were defeated. O'Kos and his followers were laid to rest in graves far from the temple, and the remaining elves and men, finding no way to escape their watery prison, began a new life in the depths. After a hundred years the stone that O'Kos had created to hold back the water began to wane in power. The elves held an emergency council. The stone was studied and it was discovered that the artefact needed as many years to recharge as it did to hold back the water. Thus, the elves cocooned themselves in rock, putting themselves into stasis until the stone had spent 100 years recharging. They followed this cycle for many ages, spending their time awake building a society for themselves and searching for a way to escape or contact the outside world. They never did, but lived contentedly nonetheless.

 

Disaster for the Aldmeri
200 years from the present day, a fleet of pirates had been launching attacks on the small villages dotting the coast line and using the islands of Zir's Maw as a refuge to evade the imperial fleet. Several of their vessels were docked in the maw when far below them the stone completed its charge cycle and the maelstrom activated, dragging the pirates down to the depths. Though initially shocked by their predicament, the ruthless pirate captain quickly organized a search of the canyon. The temple of Zir was discovered, and the Aldmer who woke first, whose duty it was to wake the others, was captured and tortured. Though the Aldmer was resistant, she was also weak from just having woken from a 100 year sleep, and the pirates discerned two things; that there were more elves sleeping somewhere, and that there was no immediate escape. The captain began laying down the law right away, killing several dissenters who saw the chance for a power shift. Over the next few weeks they established a home in the temple and the captain sent groups of his men into the lower levels to search for more elves who could tell them how to escape. The pirates had with them a novice wizard named Earley. Earley had been kidnapped during a raid and served the pirates involuntarily. The Captain ordered Earley to accompany one such search team on the assumption that "all that book learnin' must be good for somethin'..". The group became lost in the catacombs beneath the temple and stumbled upon the great awakening hall of the Aldmer, where slept the remaining hundred or so elves.

 

Earley Makes a Choice
Earley knew he couldn't allow the pirates to find this place or they would surely commit genocide against the sleeping peoples. In a panic he lashed out with his magic, killing the other members of the search party. Frantic with fear and unable to process what he had done he ran deeper into the catacombs. There he came across the small city where the elves had built their society. He decided he had to protect this ancient civilisation at all costs, and wake them if he could. Spending several weeks studying the Aldmeri language he found it remarkably similar to several contemporary dialects and through research of their documents found a mechanism to seal the entrance to the lower levels. He did so, barring the pirates from entering. The pirates themselves cared little, as they fell to in-fighting after only a few months, those that didn't die in battle dying of hunger instead. Earley, however, thrived. Though he did not enjoy the isolation, he threw himself fanatically into uncovering the secrets of the ocean-dwelling Aldmeri. After several years, though, he began to despair. Zir had begun to warp his mind, whispering dark promises of power if only he would destroy the Aldmeri and finish what the sload had begun. Though Earley had no intention of destroying the sleeping Aldmeri, the magical skill required for the awakening required certain artifacts simply unavailable to him. He made several attempts at reawakening individuals, all of which led to disaster. The elves' bodies reanimated but their souls remained trapped in the rock. Their corpses wandered the abandoned city, shadows of their former being. With the pirates gone, Earley decided to try and reach the surface, resolving to return and aid the Aldmer. He began experimenting with transmogrification of his own body, trying to give himself the ability to breath underwater, and the strength to reach the surface. Due to his lack of knowledge, resources, and contending with the will of Zir, his experiments went awry and he inadventantly transformed himself into a terrible, unthinking beast of great size and strength. After the hundred years was up, the waters crashed back in while the stone recharged. The creature that was once Earley survived and continued to roam the catacombs beneath the temple.

 

Caeto is Cast into the Sea
Eighty years later (twenty years prior to the present day), the Imperial fleet commander Kaestor Ciralius allowed his 8 year old daughter Caeto to accompany him on a routine sweep of the coastline of Highrock. A sudden storm enveloped the vessel and in the confusion Caeto fell overboard. Though they searched for weeks there was no sign of Kaestor's daughter. Then, exactly one month later, Caeto was found wandering through a fishing village several miles down the coast. She had no memory of the events that had befallen her, and though she seemed unharmed, many noticed a change in the little girl.

 

A Cult is Born
On her return home Caeto seemed colder and more distant, with a focus she had not before possessed. Most put the change down to the shock of her ordeal and her father, though overjoyed at her safe return, could not spare the time to explore the cause of his daughter's new personality. He charged her with the care of her baby brother, in the hopes that keeping busy would help heal any psychological hurt that had befallen her. Over the next few years Caeto developed surprisingly adept magical talents, and drew to herself a following of easily impressed peers who both marvelled at, and feared her. Her brother grew big and strong, and was fiercly loyal to Caeto. She would often direct him to bring those who disrespected her to heel. Caeto confided in her followers that she had recieved a divine vision, and that great rewards awaited all who followed her. Her followers began calling themselves The Elvers of Zir, and rumours spread of the obscene rituals they would perform in the pursuit of power. Strange, terrible noises would often issue from their meeting place, and the nearby villagers kept away as much as possible.

 

Caeto is Cast into the Sea a Second Time
Ten years after the fateful day at sea, Caeto and her followers took their belongings and several boats and sailed to the twin islands of Zir's Maw. There they began practicing hitherto unthought of magics, and their infamy grew exponentially. After a spate of disturbing dissapearances, the Legion was called upon to end the growing threat posed by The Elvers of Zir. Kaestor commanded the fleet that assualted the islands. During the purge the cultist's settlement was raised to the ground. Kaestor himself confronted his children and a handful of their followers. He pleaded with Caeto to stand down, but she merely laughed in scorn and cast herself from the cliffs into the maelstrom, her brother and remaining followers throwing themselves after her before Kaestor could stop them.

Unknown to the grieving, guilt-ridden legionaire, his children survived their descent and were dragged to the depths where they communed with the daedric lord Zir. They unearthed the ancient resting place of the sload priest O'Kos, and set about preparing a ritual that would return him to life. The ritual would take time, and was greatly hampered by the ancient spells of the Aldmeri which still work against the will of Zir.

 

Enter the Dragonborn
Present day. Enter the dragonborn. Kaestor long suspected that the events of the purge were not all they appeared to be. When a year later terrible storms began wracking the coasts of Highrock, and strange creatures from the depths started washing up on the shores, he was certain The Elvers of Zir were somehow behind it, working their will from beyond their apparent grave. High command refused his many entreatments for permission to investigate, eventually suspending him from duty until his emotions regarding the loss of his family could be properly assessed.

Not content with this descision, Kaestor and a band of loyal irregulars commandeered an Imperial vessel and set out to scour Zir's Maw for any clue as to the recent disturbances. Their only solid lead was an ex-cultist, who had deserted the Elvers and betrayed their location to the legion. This informant had recently dissapeared, spotted heading towards the province of Skyrim at speed. Kaestor despatched two trusted agents to retrieve the informant and bring him to Kaestor for questioning.

 

 

 

Any questions, comments or suggestions please let me know. Thank you for reading!

[Mattiewagg]

The story is fantastic. It was a great read. I'm no lore nut but keep in mind... Bethesda doesn't follow lore much either.

[Galandil]

This sounds very interesting. I wouldn't worry too much about any clashes with the lore, I personally couldn't see anything wrong with it. I'm very excited for this project, the screenshots in your announcement thread, and now I've gotten a good sneak-peak into what this is all about, and it looks very promising!

Good luck! :smile:

The story is fantastic. It was a great read. I'm no lore nut but keep in mind... Bethesda doesn't follow lore much either.

They don't? Isn't it Bethesda who writes the lore? I've heard this said before but I've never actually heard where people are getting it from. The only Bethesda self-made lore-mess-up I can think of, was in the Elder scrolls Online
(WHICH NEVER HAPPENED!), but beyond that! I can't think of any.... Or.. well.. maybe it was a little odd bumping into Mannimarco in Oblivion... Hu'uh... O'well :D

Edited November 11, 2014 by Galandil

[mlee3141]

A spellbinding and captivating read. Very believable. This is certainly a great start/ backstory for your questline, and I look forward to what comes next.

[BloodrendX001]

I'm no lore buff but I do have a working knowledge of the lore, and I don't see anything that really contradicts it here. In fact, contradictions aren't bad at all, so long as they're reasonable. Remember that lore in the Elder Scrolls series is much like our own written history in that most of it is derived from the written accounts of certain people. Often you'll get conflicting accounts of the same events or phenomena, because the writers are far from infallible, and may have their own agendas and biases. Sometimes the accounts are even outright wrong. Here are some guiding principles from an actual lore buff:

 

First Principle of Lore (Principle of Alienity) - What is boring and mundane is wrong; what is interesting and alien is right.

• Sub-Principle of the First Principle of Lore - Alien in excess is mundane.

Second Principle of Lore (Principle of Interpretation) - Lore is nothing but interpretation.

• First sub-Principle of the Second Principle of Lore - Lore is 90% the reader's interpretation.
• Second sub-Principle of the Second Principle of Lore - The remainder is the interpretation of the author.

Third Principle of Lore (Principle of Contradiction) - Contradiction is not invalidation, and, in a way, is confirmation.

Fourth Principle of Lore (Principle of Mythopoeia) - Belief makes truth.

 

--

 

Out of curiosity, what kind of Daedra is Zir?

[kibblesticks]

Thank you all, your crit has been unbelievably helpful, I wouldn't have felt anywhere near the confidence in proceeding with the story without your input so thanks :)

And BloodrendX, that's a very useful list for comparing narrative against, thanks. I'm not actually sure what kind of daedra Zir is, a pretty powerful one, but it wouldn't feel right to have it quite at "prince-level". Still, powerful enough to raise the oceans a fair amount. Did you have any suggestions as to the type Zir could be?

[BloodrendX001]

On what kind of Daedra Zir should be, I'm not really sure... but be creative, there's no reason why Zir couldn't be a kind of Daedra previously unheard of. Also, I suggest you put your narrative ideas up on the Elder Scrolls lore section of the Bethesda forums: http://forums.bethsoft.com/forum/16-elder-scrolls-lore/. This is one of the places where lore (especially the obscure lore) is discussed the most by the Elder Scrolls community, and the folks there can help you quite a bit. Who knows, you might even find a loremaster willing to join your project.

[kibblesticks]

Thanks for the link BloodrendX, I'm having trouble with my Beth account but as soon as it's fixed I'll post up there like you suggested.

[monganfinn]

Before you put the backstory in here, I thought your mod would take place in the sunken remains of Yokudan or Thras.

 

Since the northern coast of High Rock should be a rather cold ocean it might be, from a realism standpoint, a bit strange to have coral reefs etc there, but who cares.

 

Since your backstory covers something quite unrelated to the majority of TES lore I don´t really see a possible point of conflict, the only aspect I don´t really get is why no new Sloads arrived to the place? If Zir could get himself OKos he should be able to get another.

 

Will the Aldmeri be featured? They seemed to have looked more alien than the modern Altmer, looking more like Vivec, only without the grey. This may be a minor discrepancy with lore.

 

Your backstory was very well written and I never had the thought "why would that happen?" which clearly indicates that it is quite logical and can stand by itself.

[kibblesticks]

Thanks morganfinn, you caught a nice plot hole there, I'll have to explain why Zir could reach OKos but no-one else (until Caeto). Also you're right about the reef thing. I had got a half-formed concept that Zir or the sload had adapted the environment to suit their needs. I'll write that in.

 

The aldmeri are present but sleeping. I'm initially doing chapter one, which won't feature them at all. (But you do get some aldmeri armour).

 

Thanks for your comments, very useful :)