The trials and tribulations of Agrippina Valeria Tullius
a. n.: I'm going to tell the story of Agrippina Valeria Tullius. She's my character and – yeah you guessed it – daughter of general Tullius. She's abducted when only being 16 years old and sold into slavery. She's bought by a weirdo Telvanni egghead in the secret Dunmer village of Sadrith Kegran. Thus starts an epic tale of scholarship, strange Dwemer devices and – a spaceship? Yeah kind of… But enough said.
disclaimer: I don't own most of the characters. That honour goes to the fantastic modders of Project AHO (Aetherium Hyperspace Observatory). Really great work! Especially that Lord-of-the-Rings easteregg in the ruins of Bkahlzarf. *lol* Heavy spoilers ahead! You have been warned.
list of characters (dramatis personae):
Agrippina Valeria Tullius: daughter to general Tullius. After some grumbling about a divines-forsaken province, she joined her father in Skyrim. One day, she makes the grave mistake of listening to the ramblings of a supposed priest of Trinimac. It was all a ruse to kidnap her.
master Shannath Selthrie: Agrippina's new owner, Telvanni wizard and asshole of the highest order. He led an expedition into Skyrim, an expedition that researched the Dwemer culture and ruins. The expedition found a Dwemer aetherium mining and processing facility named Bkhalzarf. But as of late, Shannath Selthrie has grown ill with memory loss. So he let the local alchemist brew a special tea for him. But that only made the problem worse. Now he's freaking mad on top of senile. Sero Selthrie has got an artificial eye!
master Yen-Ilu: the slightly nicer Telvanni egghead. He's a honkin' cool Dunmer cyborg and shows more foresight and kindness than sero Selthrie. He's got an artifical eye and a right arm made completely out of metal and some implants in his head. I'd advise Agrippina to stay on his good side. He's Shannath's colleague-turned-rival. Let's just say they have a complicated history.
consul Marisa Verendas: Talk about strong women! She's one of the two leaders of Sadrith Kegran. Spends her days sitting on her throne in the council hall of Tel And. She's the main supporter of slavery in town.
Dalos Verendas: Marisa's son is the landlord of Sadrith Kegran. He owns the "Chitin & Flin" cornerclub.
consul Ever Milo: He's the other leader of Sadrith Kegran and writes the town's chronicles. He's got a quest for you like almost all the inhabitants of Sadrith Kegran.
the late Tolisia Milo: Ever's wife. She died in an experiment 15 years ago.
Evo Mils: the local Morag Tong leader. He's a cheery fellow to boot. Yep, he is. He says "I've got the writ for an honourable execution with your name on it." Then he continues "Just joking!" *sigh and eye-roll* A small bunch of Morag Tong operate as town guard for Sadrith Kegran.
the Rendos: Varen Rendo is the overworked local blacksmith. He'd like to have an n'wah to work his forge. But he's been outbidded at the last slave auction. Merano is Varen's wayward son. The rascal probably comes only home to eat and sleep. He prefers to tinker on his Dwemer machine named Vespar. Is that…no way! It can't be a motorcycle, can it? Bikes in Skyrim, now I've seen it all. He also tried to get in master Selthrie's good graces: an impossible feat. Galsa the mother works at the Sadrith Kegran farmstead.
Tamina Elenil: She's the village alchemist. What's her slogan again? "Potions to bring you to the grave or raise you back from it." *gulp* Note to self: don't want to make her angry…
Midnabi: She's an upstart young artist that moved in from Solstheim. Her workshop is full of beautiful paintings: lady Azura, the Moesring glacier on Solstheim, a Khajit wizard, the temple of the High Fane in Vivec city, the devil-under-the-mountain… But she's into skooma abuse to further her inspiration. Stupid girl! She's got enough talent without being high.
the Sendus: Bralys Sendu is the village hunter. He's one beefy Dunmer. He's got the opinion that "Daggers are a girl's best friends." Oh how wrong he is!
the late Lynabi Sendu: The poor woman's been mauled to death by a bear while hunting. Bralys still blames himself for the incident.
Aryni Sendu: their daughter. She's well protected. Father dearest never takes her on a hunting trip. Understandable, given the tragic fate of her mother.
Maren Dwyn: Bralys' hunting companion and future son-in-law. Aha!
the Andavels: Tadys and Selveni own the Sadrith Kegran farmstead. It's established under a huuuge Dwemer dome with an artifical sun, air exchange vents and watering system. Pine trees and vegetables grow there and the Andavels keep a small flock of netch.
the Orys couple: Serer and Zarona. They are the new Dunmer in town. They moved in from the Grey Quarters of Windhelm. I can't blame them for leaving that dismal place. But they have to wait until their mushroom pod is fully grown. So they lodge at the inn.
Shaglak gro-Yarog: the local trader and slave trader. He's the adopted son of sera Verendas and step brother of Dalos.
Rasputin the vampire: He's the other slave of Shannath Selthrie. I dubbed him so. In the game, he's just tagged as "n'wah", which I find kind of boring. Rasputin leads a short, unhappy life pent up in a cage adorned with garlic braids and under the constant threat of a silver sword.
Ra'zhirra: the only slave in Sadrith Kegran that has still got his tongue working. All the others have been made mute, except for Agrippina. The Khajit is the local rumour monger. For a moderate fee of 20 drakes, he will tell Agrippina the latest gossip. But he only does so when he's not under scrutiny.
Oh dear, I almost forgot the Amusing Mudcrab. It's the only crustacean with a trading license in all of Tamriel. No dear reader: your eyes are not playing tricks on you. A haggling, coin-counting mudcrab. The funny little scuttler can be found at the Sadrith Kegran graveyard.
And last but not least: Slyboots! It's an abandoned experiment of master Selthrie's, an experiment gone awry. The poor thing looks like the Halloween edition of a burnt spriggan. It's locked up in the Sadrith Kegran catacombs, locked up for a good reason. Master Selthrie made it to be a carnivore. In a quest, Agrippina can climb down into the pitch black catacombs and meet Slyboots. Whether this meeting is fatal for Slyboots or not… Well let's see.