Antonius Decimus- Imperial Legionnaire


Life Before Skyrim- Born in the Imperial City in 4E 175, the year of the famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) Battle of the Red Ring to Legionnaire parents who had seen firsthand the atrocities the Thalmor had committed, Antonius was always fiercely loyal to the Empire and her lands. However, he also harbored a deep hatred for the high elves of the Aldmeri Dominion ever since the day he joined the Legion at age 16. Being the child of two high-ranking Imperial officers paid off greatly for Antonius, as he had the privilege of receiving the finest training the Legion had to offer.

At age 19, he had already attained the rank of praefect, something that was completely unheard of- most other legionnaires at that age were still fumbling around as auxiliaries. He was consistently described by his comrades as being one of those rare individuals who simply commanded respect through both their words and actions. But, Antonius cared very little for personal glory in battle; his goals were much more patriotic. He took an oath on the day he joined the legion that one day he would help his country reclaim her glory and the respect that had been lost as a result of the Great War, so in order to do that, he had to excel.

His first few years in the legion were, however, quite dull since there was no active fighting going on- the Empire and the Dominion were locked in a tense Cold War, with both sides biding their time and rebuilding before the Second Great War inevitably began. Then in 4E 200, word came in that a Civil War had begun in Skyrim, mainly in protest to the terms of the White-Gold Concordat and the perceived weakness of the Empire. Antonius wondered how the Nords could be so foolish. All that a civil war would accomplish was weakening the Empire even further for the Dominion! How could they not see that all of humanity needed to stand together to defeat the elves?

But people do not always make sense, so in 4E 201, he was stationed in Skyrim along with a rise in rank to Tribune, the youngest one in Imperial history at just 26. After a couple months in Skyrim, Antonius, along with General Tullius, was finally able to ambush and capture Ulfric Stormcloak, the leader of the rebellion. Then, they were on their way to Helgen, a small village and one of the Imperial bases of operation in Skyrim to exact justice upon Ulfric. It was there that he saw them, Thalmor scum. Antonius knew he had to hold his tongue for the moment; the Empire was still recovering after all. But it still hurt his pride deeply to see his beloved country bow down to those racist elven bastards. Antonius tried not to focus on the Thalmor presence by focusing on the executions of those Nord traitors, but he heard something off in the distance. A roar, maybe? He thought it was nothing at first, but then he saw it…


Life During Skyrim- It was a dragon! An enormous, black scaled dragon! The beast landed on top of a tower in the middle of Helgen, and let out an ear-piercing roar as meteors started raining down from the sky. General Tullius obviously had to forsake the executions in an effort to get all the townsfolk to safety. Antonius' immediate thought was that the Thalmor were directly responsible for this, and in retrospect, it made sense. Ulfric is about to be executed before the war truly escalates, a dragon shows up out of nowhere, Ulfric escapes and the Civil War is right back on.

But, he put the thought away temporarily; he had a duty as a legionnaire to get as many people out of the now-burning village as possible. With the assistance of a good-hearted Nord legionnaire named Hadvar, the Helgen garrison was able to do a pretty decent evacuation job, all things considered. After they had done everything they could for the civilians, the legionnaires focused on getting themselves out of Helgen in one piece. At that point, Antonius, as the ranking officer (since General Tullius had left to help with the women and children), took command and was able to get most of his fellow soldiers out through the keep, killing a few Stormcloaks along the way. Antonius was not one to become scared very easily, but he even admitted to the other legionnaires that he had practically wet himself when he first saw that dragon.

Unsure of what the next course of action should be, Antonius sent the rest of his soldiers to go find General Tullius and report that everyone had managed to get out in one piece while he and Hadvar would make their way to Whiterun to inform the local Jarl of the danger. Balgruuf had not yet declared for one side or the other in the war, so they would not exactly be safe, but neither would they be in any real danger. After spending the night in Hadvar's hometown of Riverwood, they set out for Whiterun. Along the way, they were intercepted by an Imperial courier with a letter from General Tullius telling Antonius and Hadvar to report to Castle Dour in Solitude ASAP. Since Whiterun was on the way, they still made the stop to inform the Jarl who was grateful for the news, then went and hired a carriage to the capital.

When Antonius and Hadvar arrived, the first thing they noticed was that the entirecity was in a state of pandemonium. The two soldiers made their way to Castle Dour to report back to the General and see what was wrong in the city. The news they received was… troubling at best. Just a few hours prior to their arrival, the Companions-a guild of warriors based out of Whiterun, had been on their way to a seemingly normal mission in Haafingar Hold, when they had witnessed a large black dragon matching the description of the one seen at Helgen resurrecting another dragon from the ground in Hjaalmarch. Not even the famed Companions wanted to get involved with the dragons, so they instead came and reported what they saw to Jarl Elisif of Solitude. Word had gotten out, and now the whole city feared a dragon attack.

Tullius tasked Antonius with tracking down the Companions and enlisting their help to take down the dragon before it attacked Solitude. After meeting the two warriors from Jorrvaskr, Aela and Skjor, they made off towards the Karth River Forest near Morthal where the dragon had been resurrected. When they arrived at the site, they saw the dragon; it was not quite as fearsome as the one Antonius had seen at Helgen, but still terrifying nonetheless. It announced itself as Strundinokbein, then immediately started attacking. The dragon was powerful, but no match for the three seasoned warriors.

When the dragon died, however, it started glowing… At first Antonius thought that it was coming back to life but then, what seemed like the dragon's very soul started flowing out of it and into him. Antonius had a soul gem on him, so he just assumed that it was the gem being filled up with the dragon's soul and thought no more of it. Aela and Skjor were very impressed with Antonius' display of skill in the battle and told him he'd be welcome among the ranks of the Companions. As interested as Antonius was, the war took priority so he told them once it was over he'd consider joining. They said their farewells and Antonius made his way back to Solitude to give the good news to General Tullius.

With that done, they were ready to start the war effort back up, and the first target was a relic called the Jagged Crown, supposedly housed in an old Nordic ruin called Korvanjund. Antonius and his fellow Legate, Rikke, took a squad of 8 legionnaires to the ruins to find this Crown so that they could give it to Elisif to further solidify her claim to the position of High Queen. Antonius and Rikke had become fast friends since his arrival in Skyrim; they both respected each other's abilities and leadership skills, and there were even rumors going around that they were secretly lovers. Contrary to popular belief, there were not any fraternization laws in the Legion. Antonius' own parents both served together in the Legion during the Great War. He would never admit it to his comrades that the rumors did have some truth to them as there were more important things to worry about like finding the Jagged Crown.

They made their way to Korvanjund, fought some Stormcloaks that had somehow found the place first, and finally retrieved the Crown after fighting some draugr. But that was not the most exciting thing that happened that day. As the squad was preparing to leave, Antonius found himself drawn to a wall with a script written on it he had never seen before and it was singing to him. When he got close enough, the wall started glowing and enveloped him in a flow of orange energy. Rikke had seen the whole display and asked him what happened, but Antonius had no idea. Suddenly he had a new thought in his head-the word "Tiid", which he somehow knew meant "Time". Antonius was unsure of what was going on, but he then shouted out "TIID" and time itself seemed to slow down around him, and he fainted from exhaustion.

When he woke hours later, he found himself in an Imperial camp with Rikke watching over him. Rikke then proceeded to explain to him that he may be something called a "Dragonborn", a mortal born with the soul of a dragon who can steal their power and have the inborn ability to learn the Dragon language. Antonius initially thought the idea was a load of Nord nonsense, but he saw the seriousness with which Rikke spoke and that would explain what had happened the other day with the dragon. His only question was why would an Imperial be given a gift like that? Wasn't it supposed to be a Nord thing? Antonius thought on it for a bit before deciding to at the very least humor his Nord companions and agree to go talk with some cult on the Throat of the World called the "Greybeards", who had called him while he was unconscious.

Antonius entrusted the Jagged Crown to one of his men, Olav, and made his way towards Ivarstead along with Rikke. After several days of intense traveling, the duo finally reached their destination-the monastery of High Hrothgar, and spoke with the Greybeards. Antonius found out that he was indeed the Dragonborn, but he was not very impressed with the Greybeards themselves. They wielded so much power, yet they refused to use it for any purpose other than the worship of Kynareth. Antonius was as religious as the next soldier, in fact he prayed to Stendarr daily, but the thought of not utilizing such a deadly weapon as the Voice was ridiculous!

Antonius left High Hrothgar with a bittersweet feeling. On one hand, he knew he'd have to temporarily abandon his duties with the Legion to deal with the dragon menace. But, on the other, if the people of Skyrim knew that their savior and hero was an Imperial, a legionnaire nonetheless, it would really boost the Empire's faltering reputation in Skyrim. With that thought in mind, Antonius returned to Solitude along with Rikke to request leave from General Tullius to "fulfill his destiny" as the Nords were calling it, and surprisingly Tullius not only agreed to, but encouraged it.

Now free from his responsibilities for a time, but unsure of what exactly to do, he headed to Whiterun to take up the invitation to join the Companions while he figured out what to do about the dragons in the meantime. Immediately Antonius impressed the Harbinger of the Companions, Kodlak Whitemane, and he was offered a spot in the upper echelon of the Companions, the Circle. What Antonius was NOT expecting was the fact that all of the members of the Circle were godsdamned werewolves! At first, he considered immediately turning in all the Companions to the Jarl but then stopped when Aela said how truly powerful werewolves are, and the advantages of becoming one. Even though he thought he would regret it later, he accepted the gift and became a werewolf.

He ran a few missions for the Circle until he was approached one night while piss-drunk by a Breton woman named Delphine, who proceeded to slip a sleeping potion into his mead. When he awoke in what seemed like a small inn, Delphine explained to him how she was a Blade and had been searching for the Dragonborn for weeks in order to stop the dragons. All legionnaires were familiar with the former bodyguards of the Septim emperors and Antonius held them in high regard; so Antonius, never one to shirk his duties, agreed to do whatever Delphine needed him to do. Somehow she, along with another Blade named Esbern, had managed to steal an Elder Scroll that the Thalmor had retrieved from a Dwemer city called Blackreach. She needed him to take it to the top of the Throat of the World and use it to learn a Dragon Shout called Dragonrend. Then, he would need to kill the Greybeards leader, Paarthurnax, from whom the Blades had got all the information.

When Antonius finally reached Paarthurnax and spoke to the old dovah, he just couldn't bring himself to kill the wise old dragon. So they agreed that Antonius would learn Dragonrend from the time wound, then report to the Blades that Paarthurnax had been slain. Before leaving, Paarthurnax told Antonius how he would need to travel to Skuldafn to reach Sovngarde and kill Alduin, and then offered to take Antonius there after he'd spoken to the Blades. After doing so, he returned to the Blades, reported his "success", and told them he knew how to stop Alduin, but wouldn't say how. Leaving the Blades confused, Antonius returned to the Throat of the World, where Paarthurnax took him to Skuldafn.

There, Antonius fought through scores of draugr, two dragons and a dragon priest to reach the portal to Sovngarde, where he found the entire realm in a strange mist. Eventually he found his way to Shor's Hall, gathered the Nord heroes of old to fight Alduin, then took the fight to the World-Eater. After the fight of the ages, Antonius and the heroes took the beast down. Triumphant, and with the dragon crisis taken care of, Antonius returned to Nirn intent on fulfilling the rest of his life's goals…


Life After Skyrim- Upon his return, Antonius found himself in the forest near Falkreath with a new drive in him that he had never felt before. Slightly confused as to why he had ended up where he had, however, he began looking around when he was attacked by what looked like a mixture between a bear and a monster. A werebear, perhaps? After killing it, a spectral being appeared from its corpse and introduced itself as Hircine, the Daedric Prince of the Hunt and Father of Werebeasts, of which Antonius was one. Because of that, Antonius had an unintentional tendency to obey Hircine, who offered him a deal. If Antonius would pledge his life and soul to Hircine and use his werewolf form to hunt down the Thalmor in the upcoming war, Hircine would in turn start one of His famous Great Hunts against the Thalmor leaders. Antonius agreed to this happily and gave his soul to his new Lord Hircine. As soon as he accepted, Antonius immediately began to feel more aggressive and for lack of a better word, bestial.

Having His Lord Hircine's blessing, Antonius decided that continuing on with the Companions was useless, so he abandoned them and returned to Solitude to resume his service with the Legion. Tullius informed him that while Antonius was busy dealing with the dragons, the Thalmor had invaded Cyrodiil and Ulfric had agreed to join forces with the Empire for the greater good. The Second Great War was officially on. Emperor Titus Mede II recognized Antonius incredible skills and deeds, and thereby promoted him to General alongside Tullius and returned them to Cyrodiil to defend the Imperial province.

While commanding his troops, Antonius would also often assume beast form while his troops were all asleep or otherwise oblivious and wreak havoc on the invading Thalmor armies while Hircine took care of the high ranking Thalmor officials. The war raged on for 3 years before the elves were finally repelled from Cyrodiil and this time, the Empire took the fight to them-with Antonius leading those armies. After another 3 years of war, Alinor-the Altmer homeland, was besieged and the Thalmor finally surrendered. They were taken out of power in the Aldmeri Dominion, and to add insult to injury, a new government was installed that was basically a puppet to the Empire.

Ulfric had a newfound respect for the Empire and now that the White-Gold Concordat was null and void; he did not continue his rebellion and the Empire entered a new golden age, thanks in no small part to Antonius the Dragonborn, and unknowingly, the Daedric Prince Hircine. Antonius' life mission was complete, and he lived out the rest of his days in the Summerset Isles, putting down any renewed Thalmor attempts at harassing his beloved Empire. When he finally died, a monument was erected in the Imperial City in his memory, while he lived out the rest of eternity in Hircine's Hunting Grounds…


A/N: Once again, thank you so much to my beta, moosearegreat she's awesome!

A few things with this chapter. First of all, I had trouble for some reason writing this one, mainly because even though I support the legion in the Civil War, I find the Imperials kind of boring so... I don't know :p

Secondly, leave me either a review or a PM telling me your favorite Daedric Prince and why BESIDES Sheogorath because he's getting his spotlight either way ;) whoever the most popular ones are, I'll feature them in one of the later chapters!

Lastly, once this story is concluded, I will be writing a full fledged story. I have a few ideas obviously, but I'm not too sure yet. If you have any ideas, PM me and I'll take them under consideration. Thanks!