kombat wombat
New Member
Hello everyone,
A very good idea for a topic.
This is the story behind my (to date) only character in a TES game. He is an Altmer two handed/electromancer battlemage. I hope you enjoy it, and I apologise for the extremely long post!
Cälis was born in the Summerset Isles, the sole child of a smith and and his wife, the owner of a small shop in Alinor. Having always had a sense of adventure, Cälis was not content to live a simple life, and joined the Aldmeri army at a young age. There he trained as a soldier, preferring solid, two handed weapons.
After a few clashes with bandits, he began to show promise as an electromancer, and was offered a role as a battlemage. Seizing upon the opportunity, he threw himself into his training, hoping to one day make a name for himself.
His efforts soon caught the eye of the Thalmor, who conscripted him from the army and taught him the art of espionage. After a few years, he was installed as an undercover Justiciar in the Imperial City along with a handful of other promising young recruits. For nearly twenty years he flourished in the Capital, gaining the approval of his superiors and being handed ever more difficult tasks. He was eventually tasked with assassinating the daughter of a court noble, and to make sure to incriminate the noble's rival.
Having been tasked with assassinations before, Cälis began to scope out his target. He attended balls and the court, learning all he could about the girl. It was here that something he did not expect happened - he fell in love with the target, Alana. It soon became apparent that the girl had fallen for him too, but he knew his duty and organised for the assassination to take place.
Alone with the girl on her father's balcony, incriminating evidence placed and the guards paid off, he knew the time had come. About to push the girl off the balcony and to her death, he realised he was never going to do it. Confessing to the Alana that he had been instructed to kill her, he convinced her to flee with him. They slipped out of the city and disappeared.
They took up life in a small coastal town. There he returned to his father's smithing trade, and Alana started life as a herbal alchemist. They had settled for only a few years before word reached the town that the Aldmeri had gone to war with the Empire. Cälis immediately took to convincing the local Legate to enlist him in the town militia. He had no great love for the Empire, but he convinced the Legate that his training and magical capabilities would be invaluable in defending his home.
Four uneasy years passed, the war progressing further and further into the Empire. Eventually a local troupe of bandits fell to the town and was only just repelled. Cälis convinced the Legate that, if the Aldmeri attacked, they would need support to defend the town. He left for the capital in the hope of convincing the Empire to station a force in the area.
He reached the capital and immediately headed for the Imperial Army headquarters. He petitioned for support, but as an Altmer, was only ridiculed and sneered at. He did, however, catch the attention of one man. A young Legate by the name of Tullius saw the value in taking a force to the area and agreed to organise for a unit to be dispatched to fortify the town.
Cälis joined the unit as it left the capital, urgent to reach his home. Two days' march from the town, Tullius called a halt, and refused Cälis an audience for four days. When he finally emerged from his solitude, Tullius informed Cälis that he had been ordered to stand down, and that no aggressive troop movements were to be made against the Aldmeri. Confused and furious that support would not be coming, Cälis stole one of the soldiers' horses and made for his home town.
He saw the smoke before he saw the town. The entire village had been burnt to the ground, corpses littered around. He found his wife, dead with knife in hand, by their house, an Aldmeri arrow buried in her left eye. He could still feel the heat pouring off the ashes of his house; the Aldmeri had been gone a day at most. A small force, but enough to overpower the town.
After burning his wife and what remained of the villagers, Cälis' thoughts turned to avenging his wife and home. He followed the tracks north, consumed by hatred and grief, aiming to hunt down those who had taken everything from him and die destroying them. As he neared the Aldmeri, a traveller told him of a peace treaty between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion.
He realised that was why Tullius had been ordered to stand down: with peace negotiations taking place, the Empire had avoided souring the treaty by strengthening its borders. Enraged that the Empire's meek concession to the Aldmeri in the White Gold Concordat had cost him the support he needed to save his village, Cälis determined that the Empire would pay for its cowardice and the Aldmeri force for the destruction of his home.
For the next two decades, Cälis tracked the Aldmeri. He learned that they were a small group of Thalmor agents. He followed them across Tamriel and began assassinating them, one by one, earning a reputation amongst the Thalmor as a traitor and a killer, identified by the tattoo that looked like blood was pouring from his left eye. They began to hunt him. Pursued across the continent, Cälis continued to exact his revenge on the members of the Thalmor troupe.
Having narrowed down to the final member of the original force, he learned that the final target was serving as a captain in the Thalmor Embassy in Skyrim. Pursued by a small group of Thalmor agents, he turned north and headed for Solitude.
He arrived in Morthal with the Thalmor only a few hours behind. He begged Jarl Ravencrone for protection. With no great love for the Thalmor herself, Ravencrone hid Cälis in her own longhouse and waited for the pursuers to arrive. With the Thalmor distracted by questioning the Jarl, Cälis slipped out and made for the embassy.
Upon arriving, Cälis found a gap in the roof and silently worked his way in. He dropped into an empty bedroom and crept through the building, searching for the captain. He found his way to a door and slowly opened it.
Two armoured Thalmor stood in the room. Seeing Cälis, they both ripped swords from their scabbards. Cälis began to summon the lightning to strike them down when suddenly doors started slamming all through the embassy. Hearing shouting and weapons being drawn, he darted out of the room. Sprinting down the corridor, he pulled up as four Thalmor emerged at the other end. Turning on his heel, Cälis saw more soldiers emerging from every door and up the stairs. His pursuers had beaten him to the embassy: the building was a trap.
Cornered, Cälis lashed out with magic, spraying the room with lightning. With so many Thalmor throwing up wards, he had no hope of holding his own, and was quickly overpowered by the soldiers.
The Thalmor dragged him to Solitude and to the Jarl, Elisif. They requested permission to publicly execute the traitor in the city. Having recently lost her husband and king to Ulfric Stormcloak, Elisif informed the Thalmor that she wanted no more death in the city, and that the prisoner was not to be executed. The soldiers decided to transport the traitor to Alinor to be made an example of.
Three Thalmor were assigned as a prisoner escort and began the trek south. As they neared Skyrim's southern border, they were ambushed by a small force of Stormcloaks. The Thalmor were killed and Cälis dragged back to the main Stormcloak camp. Before Ulfric could see the prisoner and decide what was to be done with him, warning horns sounded and Imperial soldiers poured into the Stormcloak camp.
---Skyrim Opening Scene---
----SPOILERS----
Upon escaping Helgen, Cälis began to head north to Solitude to again prepare for an assault on the embassy. As he passed through Whiterun, however, he killed a dragon attacking the city and discovered his true identity as a Dragonborn. Realising he would need further training in electromancy if he was to fight Alduin and assault the Thalmor embassy, he made his way to the College of Winterhold, stopping to thank Jarl Ravencrone for protecting him and assassinate a vampire that had been plaguing Morthal.
Eventually he met with Delphine and seized the opportunity to infiltrate the embassy. After securing the prisoner he sought there with the aid of Jarl Ravencrone, he hunted down the Thalmor captain who had burned his home. With the Thu'um and far greater magical abilities than his first attempt, he laid waste to every soldier in the building, at last exacting his revenge on the ones who had taken his wife from him.
Leaving the embassy, Cälis made for Solitude, another debt to be repaid. He presented himself to Jarl Elisif, thanking her for her mercy in sparing him, proving his dedication to the Jarl by investigating a group of necromancers. Appointed Thane of Elisif's court, he bought a manor in the city and swore to avenge her murdered husband.
As he prepared to seek out the Elder Scroll, he took a Nord woman Ysolda as a wife, in the hope that she could heal the grief that had plagued him for more than twenty years. He would eventually come to build a house by the sea and adopt two children, but nothing could fill the void left by his beloved first wife.
With the Elder Scroll in hand and Alduin banished to Sovngarde, Cälis sought out an old acquaintance: Tullius, now General of the Imperial Army in Skyrim. Cälis joined with Legate Rikke in the bloody campaign against the Stormcloaks, finally leading a unit deep into Windhelm and personally killing Ulfric, repaying his life debt to Elisif.
With the war over, Jarl Balgruuf agreed to trap a dragon in Dragonsreach. After travelling to Sovngarde and finally fighting Alduin, Cälis returned to his home near Solitude, unsure of how to take his vengeance on the Empire for meekly conceding to the Aldmeri. It was then that he was approached by the Dawnguard and sent on a mission to clear out a vampire investigation.
It was here that he met Serana, an ancient vampire trapped in a stone cell. After a lengthy campaign to destroy her father, Cälis found himself realising this woman could heal what he had lost. After curing her Vampirism, Serana joined Cälis in his search for vengeance against the Empire. It was Serana that suggested he join the Dark Brotherhood and learn the skills they might require to damage the Empire.
The Dark Brotherhood provided him the opportunity to take a bloody revenge on the weak Empire - with the assassination of the Emperor himself. A long and tortuous path had brought him to be in the Emperor's cabin, where at last he took his final revenge and laid Alana's memory to rest.
With the Emperor's blood drying on his hammer, Cälis' thoughts turned to a note in his pocket. A note taken from the body of a cultist who had tried to kill him near Fort Amol. He would find the ship's captain later. First, he and Serana had one final task in the Dark Brotherhood - and old man's final wish. He grabbed Serana and slipped off into the night.
And that's it! That's where he is at the moment. Apologies again for the length, hope you enjoyed! Let me know if you have any improvements I should make. Thanks for reading!
A very good idea for a topic.
This is the story behind my (to date) only character in a TES game. He is an Altmer two handed/electromancer battlemage. I hope you enjoy it, and I apologise for the extremely long post!
Cälis was born in the Summerset Isles, the sole child of a smith and and his wife, the owner of a small shop in Alinor. Having always had a sense of adventure, Cälis was not content to live a simple life, and joined the Aldmeri army at a young age. There he trained as a soldier, preferring solid, two handed weapons.
After a few clashes with bandits, he began to show promise as an electromancer, and was offered a role as a battlemage. Seizing upon the opportunity, he threw himself into his training, hoping to one day make a name for himself.
His efforts soon caught the eye of the Thalmor, who conscripted him from the army and taught him the art of espionage. After a few years, he was installed as an undercover Justiciar in the Imperial City along with a handful of other promising young recruits. For nearly twenty years he flourished in the Capital, gaining the approval of his superiors and being handed ever more difficult tasks. He was eventually tasked with assassinating the daughter of a court noble, and to make sure to incriminate the noble's rival.
Having been tasked with assassinations before, Cälis began to scope out his target. He attended balls and the court, learning all he could about the girl. It was here that something he did not expect happened - he fell in love with the target, Alana. It soon became apparent that the girl had fallen for him too, but he knew his duty and organised for the assassination to take place.
Alone with the girl on her father's balcony, incriminating evidence placed and the guards paid off, he knew the time had come. About to push the girl off the balcony and to her death, he realised he was never going to do it. Confessing to the Alana that he had been instructed to kill her, he convinced her to flee with him. They slipped out of the city and disappeared.
They took up life in a small coastal town. There he returned to his father's smithing trade, and Alana started life as a herbal alchemist. They had settled for only a few years before word reached the town that the Aldmeri had gone to war with the Empire. Cälis immediately took to convincing the local Legate to enlist him in the town militia. He had no great love for the Empire, but he convinced the Legate that his training and magical capabilities would be invaluable in defending his home.
Four uneasy years passed, the war progressing further and further into the Empire. Eventually a local troupe of bandits fell to the town and was only just repelled. Cälis convinced the Legate that, if the Aldmeri attacked, they would need support to defend the town. He left for the capital in the hope of convincing the Empire to station a force in the area.
He reached the capital and immediately headed for the Imperial Army headquarters. He petitioned for support, but as an Altmer, was only ridiculed and sneered at. He did, however, catch the attention of one man. A young Legate by the name of Tullius saw the value in taking a force to the area and agreed to organise for a unit to be dispatched to fortify the town.
Cälis joined the unit as it left the capital, urgent to reach his home. Two days' march from the town, Tullius called a halt, and refused Cälis an audience for four days. When he finally emerged from his solitude, Tullius informed Cälis that he had been ordered to stand down, and that no aggressive troop movements were to be made against the Aldmeri. Confused and furious that support would not be coming, Cälis stole one of the soldiers' horses and made for his home town.
He saw the smoke before he saw the town. The entire village had been burnt to the ground, corpses littered around. He found his wife, dead with knife in hand, by their house, an Aldmeri arrow buried in her left eye. He could still feel the heat pouring off the ashes of his house; the Aldmeri had been gone a day at most. A small force, but enough to overpower the town.
After burning his wife and what remained of the villagers, Cälis' thoughts turned to avenging his wife and home. He followed the tracks north, consumed by hatred and grief, aiming to hunt down those who had taken everything from him and die destroying them. As he neared the Aldmeri, a traveller told him of a peace treaty between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion.
He realised that was why Tullius had been ordered to stand down: with peace negotiations taking place, the Empire had avoided souring the treaty by strengthening its borders. Enraged that the Empire's meek concession to the Aldmeri in the White Gold Concordat had cost him the support he needed to save his village, Cälis determined that the Empire would pay for its cowardice and the Aldmeri force for the destruction of his home.
For the next two decades, Cälis tracked the Aldmeri. He learned that they were a small group of Thalmor agents. He followed them across Tamriel and began assassinating them, one by one, earning a reputation amongst the Thalmor as a traitor and a killer, identified by the tattoo that looked like blood was pouring from his left eye. They began to hunt him. Pursued across the continent, Cälis continued to exact his revenge on the members of the Thalmor troupe.
Having narrowed down to the final member of the original force, he learned that the final target was serving as a captain in the Thalmor Embassy in Skyrim. Pursued by a small group of Thalmor agents, he turned north and headed for Solitude.
He arrived in Morthal with the Thalmor only a few hours behind. He begged Jarl Ravencrone for protection. With no great love for the Thalmor herself, Ravencrone hid Cälis in her own longhouse and waited for the pursuers to arrive. With the Thalmor distracted by questioning the Jarl, Cälis slipped out and made for the embassy.
Upon arriving, Cälis found a gap in the roof and silently worked his way in. He dropped into an empty bedroom and crept through the building, searching for the captain. He found his way to a door and slowly opened it.
Two armoured Thalmor stood in the room. Seeing Cälis, they both ripped swords from their scabbards. Cälis began to summon the lightning to strike them down when suddenly doors started slamming all through the embassy. Hearing shouting and weapons being drawn, he darted out of the room. Sprinting down the corridor, he pulled up as four Thalmor emerged at the other end. Turning on his heel, Cälis saw more soldiers emerging from every door and up the stairs. His pursuers had beaten him to the embassy: the building was a trap.
Cornered, Cälis lashed out with magic, spraying the room with lightning. With so many Thalmor throwing up wards, he had no hope of holding his own, and was quickly overpowered by the soldiers.
The Thalmor dragged him to Solitude and to the Jarl, Elisif. They requested permission to publicly execute the traitor in the city. Having recently lost her husband and king to Ulfric Stormcloak, Elisif informed the Thalmor that she wanted no more death in the city, and that the prisoner was not to be executed. The soldiers decided to transport the traitor to Alinor to be made an example of.
Three Thalmor were assigned as a prisoner escort and began the trek south. As they neared Skyrim's southern border, they were ambushed by a small force of Stormcloaks. The Thalmor were killed and Cälis dragged back to the main Stormcloak camp. Before Ulfric could see the prisoner and decide what was to be done with him, warning horns sounded and Imperial soldiers poured into the Stormcloak camp.
---Skyrim Opening Scene---
----SPOILERS----
Upon escaping Helgen, Cälis began to head north to Solitude to again prepare for an assault on the embassy. As he passed through Whiterun, however, he killed a dragon attacking the city and discovered his true identity as a Dragonborn. Realising he would need further training in electromancy if he was to fight Alduin and assault the Thalmor embassy, he made his way to the College of Winterhold, stopping to thank Jarl Ravencrone for protecting him and assassinate a vampire that had been plaguing Morthal.
Eventually he met with Delphine and seized the opportunity to infiltrate the embassy. After securing the prisoner he sought there with the aid of Jarl Ravencrone, he hunted down the Thalmor captain who had burned his home. With the Thu'um and far greater magical abilities than his first attempt, he laid waste to every soldier in the building, at last exacting his revenge on the ones who had taken his wife from him.
Leaving the embassy, Cälis made for Solitude, another debt to be repaid. He presented himself to Jarl Elisif, thanking her for her mercy in sparing him, proving his dedication to the Jarl by investigating a group of necromancers. Appointed Thane of Elisif's court, he bought a manor in the city and swore to avenge her murdered husband.
As he prepared to seek out the Elder Scroll, he took a Nord woman Ysolda as a wife, in the hope that she could heal the grief that had plagued him for more than twenty years. He would eventually come to build a house by the sea and adopt two children, but nothing could fill the void left by his beloved first wife.
With the Elder Scroll in hand and Alduin banished to Sovngarde, Cälis sought out an old acquaintance: Tullius, now General of the Imperial Army in Skyrim. Cälis joined with Legate Rikke in the bloody campaign against the Stormcloaks, finally leading a unit deep into Windhelm and personally killing Ulfric, repaying his life debt to Elisif.
With the war over, Jarl Balgruuf agreed to trap a dragon in Dragonsreach. After travelling to Sovngarde and finally fighting Alduin, Cälis returned to his home near Solitude, unsure of how to take his vengeance on the Empire for meekly conceding to the Aldmeri. It was then that he was approached by the Dawnguard and sent on a mission to clear out a vampire investigation.
It was here that he met Serana, an ancient vampire trapped in a stone cell. After a lengthy campaign to destroy her father, Cälis found himself realising this woman could heal what he had lost. After curing her Vampirism, Serana joined Cälis in his search for vengeance against the Empire. It was Serana that suggested he join the Dark Brotherhood and learn the skills they might require to damage the Empire.
The Dark Brotherhood provided him the opportunity to take a bloody revenge on the weak Empire - with the assassination of the Emperor himself. A long and tortuous path had brought him to be in the Emperor's cabin, where at last he took his final revenge and laid Alana's memory to rest.
With the Emperor's blood drying on his hammer, Cälis' thoughts turned to a note in his pocket. A note taken from the body of a cultist who had tried to kill him near Fort Amol. He would find the ship's captain later. First, he and Serana had one final task in the Dark Brotherhood - and old man's final wish. He grabbed Serana and slipped off into the night.
And that's it! That's where he is at the moment. Apologies again for the length, hope you enjoyed! Let me know if you have any improvements I should make. Thanks for reading!
