In the Deep Halls, Far from Men
Forsaken Red Mountain, Twisted Kin
Hail the Mind, Hail the Stone
Dwarven Pride, Stronger than Bone
(Ancient Chimer Verse: First Era)
Masser and Secunda,the twin moons of Nirn ,hung low in the morning skies over Red Mountain as the Dwemer army fortified its positions, ready to assault all of Tamriel.
The vast Dwemer fortress built in and around the foothills and slopes of the huge volcano once more rang with the clatter and ring of machinery, whilst legions of golden automatons clambered around the stone ramparts and stout golden domed watchtowers around the mountains edges, repairing the defences and adding to them. As the morning sunshine shone down and reflected off their armour, spherical Dwarven Ballistas took up firing positions in anticipation of a counter attack. It had been a few days since the destruction of the Imperial army, but the Dwemer were remaining cautious as always.
On a high stone rampart overlooking the red plains below, Queen Anihata, first High Queen of all Dwemer, looked out at this strange new world. Her pale features, tinted with a slight amount of gold, gazed down at the view beyond, watching the formations of golden Dwemer warriors and automatons marshalling far below, setting up battlelines and preparing themselves for battle. And yet, despite the impressive display of military might moving around at the base of Red Mountain, her face was still drawn and on edge, her gloved hands gripping the ramparts tightly.
At her back stood the silent forms of the Guard of Kemel Ze, their beautiful golden masks impassive and cold, their elegant armour looking out of place compared to the bulky armoured forms of other Dwemer soldiers standing by around them. And yet Anihata did not doubt their abilities. The slender golden daggers at their belts, and the tall pikes in their hands, had laid waste to the forces of the lesser races that had stood against them. She turned around as a clanking of armour and rustle of cloth announced the arrival of her second in command, General Bahrma of Clan Indar, who made his way through the many guards and scribes of Anihata's entourage to stand before her, bowing low so his elegantly curled beard reached his chest. Putting his right fist against his golden breastplate in the traditional dwarven gesture of loyalty, he straightened up, just taller than the queen, his bright golden eyes staring into Anihata's. Around his shoulders hung a thick red cape, the traditional colour of the Council of Warriors, one of the Four Councils of the Dwemer, and at his hip was belted a large shortsword, a single ruby set into the pommel.
"My queen." He said simply. "My men have secured the entire complex. The fortress seems to have taken minimal damage since we were last here. It will take our engineers and the automatons mere days to bring it back to its former glory."
Anihata nodded slowly. "Good. What of our enemies? And how much have our scholars managed to find out about the state of Tamriel? How long have we been gone?"
"It appears we have been absent for many centuries." Bahrma replied with a slight downward look. "The armies we destroyed are from two opposing empires, one hailing from Cyroddil and the other from Summerset Isle. Unfortunately the entire 'Dominion' army, as our prisoners call them, were wiped out by our own arrival. I managed to save enough of the 'Septim Empire' troops from our more…zealous soldiers for further questioning. They claim that they haven't seen or heard of our race in their lives, and that we are but legends to them. A few claimed that they had been to the ruins of our old cities and fortresses."
The High Queen turned to him, motioning for the general to walk with her as she set off away from the ramparts and down the high ceilinged corridor leading further into the mountain, her bodyguards and retinue following closely behind. As she walked, soldiers in full plate armour and engineers clad in flowing green robes bowed and moved aside respectfully, small spider automatons scuttling around their feet.
As they walked she spoke, her voice calm and collected, despite the fact every part of her body seemed on edge. "So it's true? We have actually returned to Tamriel? Kagrenac's calculations have finally paid off. As I thought the armies of Men and Mer were never able to stand against us. Any other changes we should be aware of?" she added shortly and Bahrma paused, staying quiet as they descended a set of cracked stone steps, a squad of Dwemer soldiers hefting crossbows marching quickly past and off to the battlements far above.
Bahrma had spoken at length with the Imperial prisoners, fascinated with their talk of how much the world had changed. An Orc Legate had spoken of the refounding of their old kingdom of Orsinium and recent peace talks with the savage giant clans of Skyrim ,while an Imperial battlemage had talked about his ancestors role in the 'Oblivion Crisis' centuries ago. And yet it had been the conversation he had had with a battered but defiant Nord legionnaire, the woman remaining proud and unbent in defeat as she and him spoke of the ancient city of Ysgramor, Windhelm, her home, and how she had spent weeks alongside an Imperial expedition exploring the ruins of the Dwemer city of Alftand. Bahrma had found himself saddened to hear of the sorry state of the city, the crumbling buildings, the crazed automatons and, worst of all, the horrifically deformed remnants of the Snow Elves, or Falmer as she had called them. Alftand had been his home when he had last walked Tamriel, and he remembered his great sadness and guilt at his fellows blinding and enslavement of the proud Snow Elves. Back then though he had been but a lowly soldier in that vast city. How times had changed…
"General?!" the queen snapped, and Bahrma quickly snapped out of his daydreaming. For a second Anihata gave him a hard stare as they stood in a wide open crossroads, groups of Dwemer and automations hurrying around them, but then relented as she began talking again.
"So, as I was saying, what changes have your men found?"
Bahrma shook his head. "Too many to count my queen." He replied respectfully. "Our old enemies- the Chimer, are gone, cursed by Azura to become the Dunmer, or Dark Elves." He noticed Anihata smile slightly at the irony of that. "The savage Nords are part of this 'Septim Empire' and our great city states and empires lie in ruins, little more than the haunts of the Falmer." The last line he said with a slight sense of melancholy in his voice, remembering the terrible days of the Snow Elves betrayal by his kinsmen, and the horrors of the War of the Crag.
Anihata looked truly sad for a second, and the general was sure he saw a single tear trace its way across the livid scar on her cheek, but then the mask of the aloof ruler was back and they contained along, descending deeper and deeper into the stronghold.
"I need to know all of it." She declared simply. "Have the scribes write up all that our interrogators have found and have it sent to my chambers. Now, what have your forces discovered about these lesser races now you have had a chance to examine their settlement?"
The general was confused for a second, but then realised she was talking of the large camp of the Imperial Legion he and his soldiers had discovered after the last of the Empire's soldiers had fled or surrendered. Unlike his fellows, who regarded the primitive technologies of the Kar-Din, or lesser races, the term in Dwemeris used to refer to any people but their own, as almost laughable in their simplicity, Bahrma had been fascinated. The technology had, admittedly, been far beneath them, the steel armour, the animal skins and crudely dyed fabrics. And yet, Bahrma had found it almost endearing, as if these Men and Mer of the Empire were closer to nature than the distant and almost cold technology of the Dwemer. It made him think of how his children had once brought him their own crude attempts at engineering, a partially repaired Spider automaton bound with string and scrap metal or a wounded deer from outside with a new leg made from offcuts from the workshops of the animunculories. Thinking of them brought a smile to his face, but it was gone as he looked at the queen once more.
Realising the queen would be expecting an answer, he replied quickly. "The camp provided us with some useful information, but we also recovered some more of the Daedric artifacts you seek."
At mention of the Daedra Bahrma noticed a sense of uneasiness and quiet rage descend upon the entirety of the queen's retinue, but was no less pronounced on the face of the queen herself, who grimaced noticeably as she replied.
"Which did you recover?"
The general sighed. "It appears the Dawnbreaker of Meridia was the only useful one we acquired since we came here. All we could find was the Masque of Clavicus Vile and the staff of Sheogorath. It was hard for me to convince many of my men not to take those accursed things and hurl them into the volcano's core…" he added bitterly. He knew that all Dwemer had much to hate the Daedra for…
The queen however, seemed to have gotten over her initial distaste at mention of the Daedra, and spoke evenly. "All of the artifacts are important, general, no matter how pointless they may seem. The downfall of the Daedra shall be their own undoing soon enough… Have the artifacts taken to the Tonal Architects as soon as possible. Their initial experiments with the Dawnbreaker have proven most enlightening."
"Of course my queen. Anything else? The Council of the Warriors has demanded that I see to the defences of the Mountain at once and I would not wish to disappoint them. It appears our scouts are reporting increased enemy activity a few miles from the Mountain"
Anihata nodded. "Go. I must speak with Kagrenac. The Tonal Bridge is almost complete. Soon general. Soon the whole Dwemer race will be able to appreciate our new freedom from the clutches of the Daedra…"
General Bahrma bowed low again, his cape falling around him as he turned on his heel and marched away, his small entourage of trusted warriors falling into step behind him.
The queen smiled as she watched him go. The general may have been young, but the Age of Change, the seemingly harmless term the Dwemer used to describe their hellish imprisonment by the combined forces of the Daedric Princes for the last three eras, if their prisoners had been correct, had made all of her subjects as hard and unyielding as the golden metals and strong stone they were so well known for, even now. She tried not to think about the horrors she had seen in the past, the unending tortures of the Daedra, the increasingly complex and devious prisons they had inflicted upon the Dwemer, all in an attempt to show them the error of their ways. And, Anihata thought to herself, in that the Daedra had succeeded. She, and her race, did not wish to become gods any more.
They wished to destroy them.
With her thoughts still buzzing round her head, she came to the imposing golden doors that led to the central Oculory of Red Mountain, the centre of the Tonal Architects work in the fortress city. Two Steam Centurions stood on guard either side of the door, both hissing and clanking slightly as Anihata stood confidently between them, motioning for her retinue to leave her as she stepped through the two huge doors and into the grand circular room beyond.
The Oculory was a hive of activity, groups of purple robed Tonal Architects, ornate banded gold armour covering their chests and thick purple tinted goggles covering their eyes, scuttling around the cavernous space, working at large circular consoles or carrying stacks of scrolls and bizarre metal contraptions.
Anihata tried not to let her unease show as she walked past the rows of strange machinery and bowing forms of Tonal Architects, towards the construction at the centre of the room.
The so called 'Tonal Gateway' or 'Tonal Bridge' ,as Kagrenac had called it, resembled an open sphere, composed of slender golden bands, each with a large polished mirror at the end. As the queen approached, the entire sphere shifted and moved on its axis, allowing her to step within. As she did so one of the robed Architects appeared at her side.
"The Bridge has been stabilised my queen." He said in a submissive tone, diverting his eyes from her figure. 'As he should' Anihata thought as she replied.
"Good. How long until we can begin bringing people and materials through?"
The Architect paused, his eyes widening behind his goggles.
"I said, when?" Anihata asked firmly, with a slight frown.
"We still need to run some final tests. Communication between Mundus and the realms of the Daedra, what the lesser races call Oblivion, is possible, but…" the Tonal Architect added, his brow furrowing. "It will take a few days to stabilise the Bridge enough to start sending people to and fro, as such…"
The queen sighed inwardly. The machines of the Tonal Architects had always slightly unnerved her. The Automatons and weaponry of her Engineers was what she really respected. "I need it powered up and ready. Kagrenac must know of the new developments." She said, and the Tonal Architect bowed and left the sphere, the deep hum as the machine powered up filling the air and the sphere's outer skin, made of pure gold studded with pale blue gems, slid into place, leaving Anihata alone in the green lights of the small 'infinite candle' lights.
Looking up, Anihata watched the mirrors and slender gold bands moving and shifting in increasingly complex patterns, until they reached a specific point and stopped, projecting three interlocking white lights which then came together into the shape of a standing figure. As the light shifted and calibrated, the figure then fleshed out into a surprisingly lifelike projection of an old Dwemer, old even by their long lived standards, dressed in a more ornate version of the gold armour and purple robes of the other Tonal Architects, a brilliant snow white beard, filled with countless golden rings and small gems, hanging down to his waist. Dipping her head in a gesture of respect, Anihata said softly.
""Lord Kagrenac."
The old Dwemer bowed, but it was by no means as sincere or respectful as the others Anihata received from the rest of the Dwemer. "My queen." He replied simply. "How are you finding Mundus?" he asked without a hint of humour.
"We've secured Red Mountain and defeated an army of Men and Mer claiming to be from the 'Septim Empire'. They took to flight soon after our arrival. One of them even called down a dragon and it took off within a minute."
Kagrenac raised one grey eyebrow.
"A dragon you say? Interesting. I had heard that General Bahrma was eager to test out those dragon killing tactics he had always boasted of. Now, what of the Daedra? Have they contacted you in any way? We can't afford to let them know too much about our purpose here. Your position on Mundus is too weak, and we still in Oblivion are left defenceless until this Tonal Bridge is established to link the two realities."
Anihata tried not to let her slight sense of confusion enter her voice as she replied. She would never understand half of what Kagrenac said, but she still respected his counsel above all others.
"How are our peoples? I understand that we managed to rebuild after our time in Coldharbour?"
Kagrenac let a small smile cross his face at that point, and his mirth was obvious in his voice. "Yes. Molog Bal always was one of the less intelligent of the Daedra. Once we rebuilt our automatons his legions of vampires learnt to stay away soon enough. But there are bigger problems at hand, my queen." He added, with a sense of urgency. "There was a realm shift whilst you and your forces were gone. We have left the relative safety of Clavicus Vile's realm and entered another…"
Anihata's eyes widened. Ever since Kagrenac's experiment at the Battle of Red Mountain, the Dwemer had been thrown from one realm of Oblivion to the other, fated to spend all of eternity there. Some, such as Clavicus Vile's realm, had proven almost bearable, whilst those of Hermaeus Mora and Peryite had actually helped their cause. But she almost shuddered as she briefly though back to the horrors of the others, of the Land Without Rest of Vaermina, the endless battles of Hircine's Hunting Grounds, and the Hall of Eternal Light of Meridia's realm.
The elderly Tonal Architect continued. "Vile's realm gave us a breathing space, a chance we haven't had since the Pits of Peryite. But now we are once again the plaything of Azura. She mocks us with this new prison of hers." He added, then turned to some unseen set of controls and a small light appeared by his side, growing larger until it was the height of Anihata, then widening to at least a few metres across. "This is our new prison."
The light cleared to show what looked like the inside of a huge sphere of solid gold, almost Dwemer-like in appearance, covered in countless gems as bright as suns. As she looked further Anihata saw what looked like a Dwemer city at the centre of it, or at least the foundations of one, literally carved out of the gold of the sphere.
"You say this was Azura's doing?" Anihata asked with a raised eyebrow. "This doesn't exactly seem…awful."
Kagrenac shook his head. "It's not the prison that's the real horror of this place. Look closely at the sides of the sphere."
The queen, fighting back questions, peered further into the image next to the Tonal Architect, at the sides of the huge golden construction. Then she saw them. Huge dents and impressions in the sphere's gold skin, as if a giant fist had struck the outside.
"Those are the marks left by the fists of the Lord of Destruction himself- Mehrunes Dagon. He has been howling and calling out to us for days now since he arrived, telling us constantly of how he will devour us all. This is no mere prison, my queen. Once those golden walls are breached, there will be nothing stopping Dagon and his legions of Dremora from overrunning our defences and wiping us out."
Anihata paused, trying to let what Kagrenac was saying sink in. If Dagon were to breach those walls, the majority of the Dwemer race would be wiped out while the rest were left to live with the guilt. It was the ultimate last injustice by Azura, that, after surviving all the other nightmares of the Daedra, it would come down to the Prince of Destruction himself to make the Dwemer extinct.
"We have to run…" Kagrenac said simply. "We must bring our people across the Tonal Bridge and back into Tamriel." There was a real sense of defeat in the old man's voice, as if once more having to face the imminent extinction of his race had knocked all of his previous confidence out of him.
"Yes of course." Anihata said simply, but then her voice took on a firmer and much more confident tone. "We will flee from the Daedra for now. But not for long. We have secured some of their artifacts and may still be able to tap into their power."
"You're suggesting we use the Daedra's own weapons against them?" Kagrenac said with a sense of both disbelief and awe. "But what then? We cannot become gods like we once wished."
Anihata smiled and clasped her hands together.
"No." she said. "But, with the power of the Daedra's artifacts, and our own technology, we can destroy them."
000000
As High Queen Anihata made her plans with Kagrenac, General Bahrma emerged out of the main gates of Red Mountain, clambering nimbly atop his mount, a horse sized spider automaton, setting his helmet, crested with an elegant red plume and displaying a stern Dwemer face across its visor ,atop his head, and looked out over the plain beyond.
Stretching out in long unbroken lines of golden armoured warriors, the Dwemer battlelines stretched around the foothills of Red Mountain, ten thousand strong men and automatons strong, groups of soldiers with crossbows and elegant golden bows taking up position on the high ground as Bahrma marched down the ranks of silent soldiers atop his mechanical mount. His bodyguard, composed of three towering Centurion automatons and a host of armoured Dwemer warriors atop their own spider mounts, formed up around him, his main second in command, Volendun, clattering in alongside him, a polished golden longsword in one hand and a blue runed communication lexicon in the other, nodding respectfully at the general.
"What have the scouts reported about our enemy?"
Volendun laughed slightly, but his expression was unreadable behind his helmet. "It's a large force, I'll give it that. At least twenty thousand strong. Our captives identified them by their banners as hailing from House Redoran. Mainly composed of infantry formations of these 'Dunmer' that replaced the Chimer, outfitted in crude armour made of bones and chitin, but also a large group of Imperial forces, probably many that fled the field when we first arrived. You should be able to see them now." He added, pointing out across the plain with his sword as Bahrma drew his telescope from his belt, removing his helmet briefly as he put the golden telescope to his eye.
About a mile away he found the enemy forces, just as Volendun had described them, large blocks of soldiers in armour made of bone, marching straight toward the Dwemer lines, large red and black banners, along with the now familiar dragon crest of the Septim Empire, visible throughout the ranks.
Closing up his telescope and replacing his helmet, Bahrma turned to his second in command.
"Relay the message throughout the army. Cohorts Akah to Jarrak will engage the enemy from the front. Cohorts Yikar and Tel-Ke will flank them whilst all archer divisions move to provide covering fire. Tell Engineer Nasir that I want every one of his Centurions and Spheres ready to support the frontal attack."
"What about us sir?" Volendun asked as he began typing the orders for each cohort into the communications lexicon.
Bahrma smiled behind his helmet, glad that he was now in his element.
"As for us, we shall give these men an honourable fight. Charge on my command!"
And, as Bahrma prepared himself for battle, he watched as the first of his units began to move outward, ready to crush the forces of House Redoran, and the plains of Tamriel shook as the armies of the Dwemer marched to war once again.