You’ve experienced the Elder Scrolls Series in your own way, but want to learn more about
its story. Well, to get to the heart of the story- you have to go back to the beginning…
Emperor Uriel Septim VII knew he was going
to die, yet still he ran. First, it had been his three sons, methodically brought down
by assassins one after the other. Then came the attack on the Emperor himself, killers
dawning red robes who had infiltrated the White Gold Tower with murder in their eyes.
Uriel continued to run, with his bodyguards; the fiercely loyal Blades surrounding him,
though he knew it was to no avail. The Emperor was strangely calm, for he had dreamt of this
moment, and knew this was his time. Death was coming for the Emperor of Cyrodiil.
Soon only one of his bodyguards remained, Baurus, and Uriel would be cut off from him
as well, as he met his end at the point of an executioner’s dagger. The Septim bloodline
was ending and a new day was dawning thanks to the assassins who summoned this chaos.
These killers would greet the new day with open arms, for they are the Mythic Dawn, devoted
followers of the Daedric Prince, Mehrunes Dagon.
To best understand the Prince of Destruction and his Oblivion Crisis one needs to go back
to the beginning of this story. In times long past, the human races were suffering greatly
under the iron will of the Ayleids. The fledgling mortals were dominated and enslaved by the
elves who worshiped the Daedric Princes. It was Saint Alessia, the first queen of the
Cyrodiils, who knelt alone and begged the great and mighty Akatosh for help. Akatosh
was the Dragon God of Time and the leader of the Aedra, they who were the offspring
of the two primal forces of existence. Noble Akatosh looked down with pity on the misery
of these tiny creatures. The Dragon God drew blood from his own heart, and used it to anoint
this remarkable woman, she who was called Paravant…the First. Thus a holy Covenant
was sealed. The Dragonfires were the symbol of that Covenant,
and could only be lit by the mystical Amulet of Kings. According to legend, the enchanted
Amulet could not be used, or even worn by anyone not descended of Alessia. With Uriel
Septim dead, the bloodline of the Cyrodiilic Empire was severed, and the Amulet of Kings
could not be used to relight the Dragonfires. The veil separating Oblivion and Mundus would
now be torn asunder, and the monstrous jaws of Oblivion would open wide.
Mankar Cameron, leader of the cult of the Mythic Dawn knew this. He intended to open
those hellish Gates and offer all of Nirn to his infernal Lord, Mehrunes Dagon. As the
Dragonfires grew cold, the barrier between Oblivion and Mundus grew thin. Soon Great
Gates would open, and Nirn would be taken by Daedric forces. Wholesale slaughter in
the name of Dagon would finally commence. Mehrunes Dagon is the Daedric Prince of Destruction
and Change and his spheres of influence are revolution, energy and ambition. It is no
surprise he would seek to bring Nirn to its knees; it is in his very nature. In fact,
he has on several occasions attempted to conquer Nirn, to claim it as his own.
Mehrunes Dagon is also associated with dangerous natural phenomena, which marks him as part
of the Dunmer House of Troubles. His connection to flood, fire and earthquakes are seen by
the Dunmer as important elements at work in Morrowind. As such, Dagon is a vitally important
deity to the Dark Elves. For all others however, he is simply the Prince of bloodshed and betrayal;
his name means death for any who hear it. One of Mehrunes Dagon’s most memorable acts
of devastation came when a resentful spymaster of Vivec summoned Dagon for the sake of taking
vengeance upon the Duke of Morrowind. By the time the Tribunal gods Almalexia and Sotha
Sil managed to drive Dagon back to his realm of Oblivion, the Duke of Morrowind was dead,
and the capital city of Mournhold was leveled. Dagon’s realm of Oblivion is appropriately
named the Deadlands, and is a terrible place of fiery red skies, seas of lava and immense
grinding engines of torture and death. Mutilated corpses hang from crumbling bridges and the
stench of sulfur and blood fills the air. Towers loom overhead with even more ruined
bodies bound to them. Lurking Clannfear and vicious Scamps prowl amidst lethal Spiddal
Plants and Harrada Roots while the Kyn oversee all, looking for mortal lives to take. The
Kyn or Dremora, as they are more commonly known are monstrous humanoid knights. With
horrific horned faces and bearing the strongest of Daedric armor and weapons, these crimson
fiends exist solely to serve Dagon...and to kill all others.
Mehrunes Dagon has given three artifacts to the world of Nirn, and each one is increasingly
more potent and dangerous than the last. The Daedric Crescent Blade was designed by
Mehrunes Dagon and is a fearsome double bladed weapon that can paralyze its target and corrode
the heaviest armor. It was designed for Dagon’s Daedric forces, which used them as they sacked
the Battlespire. There were once a great many Crescent Blades, but when Imperial armies
retook the Battlemage academy, the blades were gathered up and destroyed. One of the
weapons managed to survive however, and was rumored to be possessed by the Nerevarine
of the Third Era. What ultimately became of this unique and powerful blade is at this
time unknown. Mehrunes’ Razor is an ebony dagger crafted
by Dagon and capable of killing with a single blow. The souls of those killed by the Daedric
artifact are often claimed by Mehrunes Dagon himself. Also called the Bane of the Righteous
and Kingslayer, the weapon has been present at times of horrific murder and betrayal.
It is believed the Razor played a role in the near destruction of the Dark Brotherhood.
Once the Oblivion Crisis ran its course, a group pledged to the dismantling of the Mythic
Dawn cult happened upon Mehrunes Razor in a way not clearly known. The group broke the
deadly weapon into three fragments, and distributed them between the three highest among the group’s
inner circle. The pieces were to be handed down from descendant to descendant to ensure
that the dagger could never be reassembled. In the Fourth Era, a man named Silus Vesuius
tried to collect the pieces for a museum devoted to the Mythic Dawn cult. He had already acquired
the Razor’s sheath and would have seen all the pieces displayed together, disregarding
the profound threat they implied. It is unknown at this time if Vesuius was successful in
his attempt to reunite the pieces of Mehrunes Razor. It is possible that Vesuius, like so
many others, met his doom in a vain attempt to avoid the evil influence of the Dagger.
The Mysterium Xarxes is a book written by Dagon himself, and is an artifact of profound
strength…and immense evil. The malevolence of the book is so powerful in fact; even opening
it requires magical shielding for the good of the reader. Mehrunes Dagon gave the book
to Mankar Camoran, his most ardent and loyal worshipper. Upon reading it, Mankar was able
to open a portal to a new plane of Oblivion he called Gaiar Alata, or Paradise.
Paradise was believed to be a place of rapture and utopia for those true to Mehrunes Dagon.
To die serving the Prince meant your soul would find rest there. This was true for Mankar
Camoran only. For all others, Paradise was a place of endless, horrific torment. Those
souls who had followed Camoran found they were nothing more than the prey and the playthings
of Dagon’s Daedric servants. The Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon nearly took
all of Nirn for his own. His artifacts, even the single scorched page of the Mysterium
Xarxes that remains, still hold power enough to kill any who would dare to divine their secrets.
If Mehrunes Dagon represents the infernal chaos of Oblivion, there is another
who represents its order. Where Dagon seeks to rein death and destruction, this Prince
seeks to assimilate through logic and directive. He is the Daedric Prince of
STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! NO! No further. STOOOOOP!!
My Lord Sheogorath! You’re here. You’re actually here!
Ah, you would do it again wouldn’t ya? It’s
not bad enough you torture us with prattling on about that great, four armed buffoon Dagon.
Ha! Now you’d inflict such agony upon us again with another one of those great Daedric
stiffs! Oh, enough! Better to die of a million cuts- oh wait no-
a million kittens. Haha, yes! Have you ever drowned in kittens? Oh, it’s so much worse
than drowning in grown cats. The allergies alone! OH, or dogs. Oh, no! LIONS! TIGERS!
Or even bears. Oh my. Oooooh myyyyy. And you know? I should know!
My most brilliant and illustrious Lord Sheogorath, Prince of Madness please forgive your pitiful
servant. I did not, nor EVER meant to offend you! I live to serve. When you appeared to
me some time ago and told me to murder the other storyteller I gladly poisoned his sweetroll
in YOUR name. Ever since then I’ve been spinning stories for these puny mortals. Why,
just the other day I told them how you tricked that harlot Vaermina! Oh, and I also told them about the time-
Oh, listen to that buttery voice. So silky. So… GOLDEN! Reminds me…
OF CHEEEESE! AHHH!
HAHA! There, you’re cheese now, so shut up! STOP TALKING!
My dear friends…lend me your ears, or your eyes, or your livers. I’m making a stew
you see! It’s going to be delicious! And while I cook, I’ll regale you with tales
of madness, mania, lunacy and utter dementia. Oh the times we’ll have! I’ll be in charge
of the whole thing. ME! Sheogorath. The one! The only! Accept no substitutes. Oh, and maybe
Haskill will be there too. You know he loves telling stories.