#first seed

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Vol. I - Morning Star

The first book describes a collection of moments that occurred throughout the month of Morning Star. The majority of these moments depict political plans being made in the ongoing war, with some conversations relating to personal affairs and relations of these political figures. The year begins with Vivec and Almalexia discussing the ongoing war and her prophetic dream of its ending, with the realization that they need Sotha Sil if they are to win the war. In her cell, the Empress Tavia and her bodyguard are also plotting to achieve a similar goal, the death of the imperial emperor.

The emperor himself attends a celebration of South Winds prayer, and while there he discusses tactics with the Akavari Potentate Versidue-Shaie while watching a sporting battle. Finally, the mistress of a duke in Mournhold contemplates how he will receive the news of her pregnancy, revealing a glimpse of the personal lives of some of the political figures involved in the war.

Comments

While I feel like I’m missing a lot of context for these snippets of their lives, I am sort of getting the picture of everyone’s thoughts and plans for the war they are in.

I do appreciate that it’s not like a history book, a lot of it is just conversations between characters, and a few of the ongoing plot lines are interesting to me, like the Duke and Turala, Empresses Tavia and her bodyguard, and the completion of the Akavari and Cyrodill warriors.

Go off Empress Tavia I hope that ends up working

I definitely get the same bad vibes about the akavari guy that the emperor does, the guy literally talks like scar from the lion king.

Something tells me that things are about to go very badly for Turala. Getting more bad vibes.

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Vol. II - Sun’s Dawn

Over the course of Sun's Dawn, the summary recounts six distinct events that took place on six different days, each highlighting the perspectives and deeds of various notable figures. These figures include Sotha Sil, the Emperor and his mistress Rijja, the pregnant former mistress of a Duke from the house Indoral, Queen Hasaama and her husband King Dro'Zel. The book concludes with the arrival of Molag Bal, the Daedric Prince of Domination.

Comments

The author is very descriptive, I can clearly picture the serene tree by the bay where Soltha Sil teaches the new initiates, the respect he commands of his students is described just by his mannerisms. And then he told his students it was a ball of vomit. Which is kinda funny. Why are teachers like this, its giving college professor who messes with their students daily.

4 Suns Dawn threw me off bc that is a really long conversation to have mid foreplay like damn. What is going on why are you discussing politics right now? 

I feel really sad for Turala, clearly she misjudged the duke and misplaced her trust in him. I'm rooting for her.

King Dro'Zel is relatable i also get mad when sad stories make me feel emotions, tho it seems like he might be taking it a little far.

God dammit. What are u doing here moldy balls.

Welcome back my girl Almalexia

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Vol. III - First Seed

During the five documented days of First Seed, a battle was fought between Vivec's forces and the Imperial Legion. Prior to the battle, Vivec's spy within the Legion provided crucial information, allowing Vivec to set a successful trap for the Imperials. Meanwhile, Emperor Reman III and Akavir Potentate Versidue-Shaie planned their strategy, with the Emperor deciding not to lead his men into battle. As a result of Vivec's trap, the Imperials suffered a crushing defeat, with half of their forces trapped and unable to fight, and the other half swept away into a wall of spears. In a letter to her sister, Rijja writes that her lover, the Emperor, is hunting for the spy within the Legion, and is so desperate to find the spy he suspects her.

Comments

We seem not that concerned that the emperor's son got poisoned. Also, what is an emperor without a little racism? Also, I do not trust Versidue Shaie. And I forgot this is technically a history book about the end of an 80-year-long war and I was like damn this is heavy lmao. 

Good for Cassyr Whitley 

Why is Vivec applying toddler nap logic to his soldiers? Like I get that you didnt want them to party but you could have just told them not to party you are the boss

Holy shit the imperial army just got fuckkkkeddd Vivec was good at this. Like in all seriousness hes clearly a better tactician than Miramor and that of the emperor. 

Not Rijja telling her sister her lover thinks she's a Morrowind spy and her life there is miserable at the moment and her sister still being jealous.

They say that to understand the heart of a culture, one should walk among the common folk. Ja’Barbar believes this wholeheartedly, and has done so several times. It only made sense to do the same here in Eastmarch.

On the 7th of First Seed this one packed up and left Windhelm for a hamlet not far from the city. The name of the place, Lower Yorgrim, is a mystery to Ja’Barbar. The hamlet is across the White River from Windhelm, directly to the east, while to the west of the city lies Lake and River Yorgrim. Perhaps one day it will make sense, but for now Ja’Barbar has kept himself busy with matters other than geography.

Despite the harsh climate, or perhaps because of it, Nord farmers start planting seeds as soon as the ground is no longer frozen solid. The First Planting, on the 7th of First Seed, is celebrated here with great fervor, and treated as seriously as a war excursion - no wonder, since Skyrim’s unhospitable land requires considerable effort to be tamed. Large, shaggy bovines drag plows through hard soil, much like the Senche-raht plowers in Pelletine and the less arid parts of Anequina. Root vegetables and hardy grains such as rye or barley make up most of the crops in Eastmarch, but Ja’Barbar was pleasantly surprised that Lower Yorgrim is also famous for strawberries.

Since First Seed is a busy season on most farms, Ja’Barbar decided to get closer to the locals by helping out with some less complicated work. Further tilling of the soil broken by plows proved to be a simple task which even this inexperienced one could do without much trouble, and proved to be useful to Ja’Barbar’s research. While farmers of Anequina prefer to work in silence to preserve moisture, Nord tillers prefer to sing to provide rhythm to their labor; one needs only to keep his ears perked to learn quite a lot. Most of their songs are chants, where one worker leads by calling out in a loud voice and the rest respond in unison. After each stanza a new lead takes over, allowing the previous one to rest his throat. Ja’Barbar is told that such songs are employed in other seasons as well, and other occupations have a similar habit. Perhaps once the planting season is over, this one will ask to accompany the local fishermen?

Having spent the previous evening listening to local bards and taking notes, Ja’Barbar devoted most of yesterday to the less glamorous side of his work - cleaning up and ordering a bunch of scattered papers into a nice draft. There are several songs that will need to be heard again, preferably at a more sober hour, because the way Ja’Barbar wrote them down, they make little sense. Then again, songs performed at this hour and after so many flagons of mead need not make sense, as long as they are vaguely entertaining. A certain ditty comes to mind, known in many parts of Tamriel but of unknown origin, which Ja’Barbar is sure he heard last night as well. Or perhaps not.

One fine day in the middle of the night, two dead kings got up to fight. Back to back they faced each other, drew their bows... and stabbed themselves!

The weather in Windhelm is atrocious. One would expect the air such a high-walled city to be still, but instead the walls seem to gather the winds and direct them down the streets, like rivers of cold and snowflakes. The place certainly lives up to its name.

The shopkeeper in the Snow Quarter probably thought she would shock Ja’Barbar by offering him a sabercat cloak. Instead, he found it amusing. After all, sabercats are no more kin to Khajiit than crocodiles are to Argonians, but do not expect a Nord commoner to know this. Whatever her intent, Ja’Barbar left her shop with a fine, warm cloak and could take a walk around Windhelm without fear of freezing. The locals were not keen on talking about their fine city, but fortunately it is, all of it, one huge monument, with memorial tablets set into the walls.

To this one’s knowledge, the Bretons of Daggerfall consider today the best time to invoke Hermaeus Mora, the Daedric Prince of Knowledge. Not a bad day, then, to start documenting one’s travels. Maybe one day a tome of Ja’Barbar’s memories will be the prize of Torval’s libraries? Or maybe not. One should not presume.

Ja’Barbar writes these words while on a ship off the coast of Eastmarch. We have passed the unwelcoming island of Solstheim yesterday, and will arrive in Windhelm shortly. The air is cold even under the deck, making Ja’Barbar very glad for his long fur. It seems even the clothes bought in Morrowind, suited to its harsh climate and cold nights, might be a bit light for Skyrim.

Rejoice! The long winter’s end approaches and soon the sun will again shine bright over Kynareth’s great paradise. 

On this day is the time for reparations; as the first seeds of the new year are planted and the crop again grows fresh and new, it is a chance for us as well to begin to grow, and to have another beginning!

On this day, the Divines implore you to settle your battles and to come to peace with your neighbors, friends, family, and even enemies as the warm light of spring prepares to dawn on the horizon of our world and bring harmony once again to Kynareth’s vast wilds.

On this day we give thanks to the Nine for their never ending compassion in leading us through the cold and the snow that has haunted us these past months, and we repent for past offenses.

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