#teithor

Larus Ambereye A young Nord vampire who never had a chance to be anything other than a killer who thirsts for the power to be unshakable. Finds love in a surprising place that in time gives him the will to bend his fate. Pronouns: he/him Age: numerically 26 when Alduin attacks Factions: The Dark Brotherhood Role: Tertiary protagonist

Volgash Gra-Dushnikh A child of the Legion in an unexpected way, who knew what she was before anyone else did. Dedicated to magic and knowledge almost above all with a soft heart and lots of enthusiasm. Pronouns: she/her Age: turns 22 in the spring before Alduin's attack on Helgen Factions: College of Winterhold, Dushnikh Yal Role: Tertiary protagonist

Fjora at-Trevaia A clever, intelligent young woman who is noble in every way that counts and also by blood. Fascinated by alchemy, anatomy, psychology, and all ways that people work, and fully aware of the social implications of who she loves. Pronouns: she/her Age: turns 34 the winter after Alduin's attack on Helgen Factions: Bards' College, Imperial Legion (by proxy) Role: Tertiary protagonist

Vezha Gro-Dushnikh A Legion veteran discharged for a wound caused by a mage whose daughter is becoming a powerful mage. A man who really just wants to retire but fears that if he stops fighting he'll fall apart. Pronouns: he/him Age: turns 53 the month after Alduin's attack on Helgen Factions: Dawnguard, Blades (possibly), Imperial Legion (formerly) Role: Tertiary protagonist

Janora Viario A product of the sack of the Imperial City during the Great War who seeks revenge against her Thalmor father on behalf of her Imperial citizen mother. Passion is reserved for focus, but what awaits when the duty is complete? Pronouns: she/her Age: turns 27 the winter after getting caught in Helgen and witnessing Alduin's attack Factions: The Thieves Guild, The Nightingales Role: Tertiary protagonist, may be demoted to supporting character and getting her own spin-off later instead?

Aicarya Silinor A woman who thinks for so long that she is the last remaining Blade, only to find that not only are there two others, there is also once again a Dragonborn to serve, and her long waiting undercover in the Thalmor finally has served some purpose besides not being able to let go of what once was. Perfectly happy to let her cousin's daughter kill him and perfectly happy to help the girl in her revenge mission. Pronouns: she/her Age: was a Blade during the Oblivion Crisis Factions: Thalmor (undercover), Blades Role: Supporting character

Veran of Alcaire A bitter man who clawed his way to masculinity with struggle and difficulty, only to fall in love with the most doomed of priests and go mad from the grief as he aged. Pronouns: he/him Age: was in his thirties during the Oblivion Crisis, is now ageless Factions: Blades Role: Only occasionally appears in Ebonsong, has one fic of his own (as of 5/12/26) Ad Delirium

Alvaren Moorston A farmer who became a knight's follower who took on the identity of the knight. Sacrificed to Molag Bal by the Worm Cult and awoke in Coldharbour with the body he'd always wanted and hadn't realised until then. Grows into friendship and then love with the vampiric count of Crestshade, willing to turn Oblivion inside out to save him. Pronouns: he/they Age: was in his thirties before the Planemeld Factions: Daggerfall Covenant, Mage's Guild, Fighter's Guild, Antiquarian Circle Role: Only appears in Ebonsong once so far but has his own writings in Blood, Frozen and Aflame Series Link | Tag Link

[An Ebonsong Nerevarine is very slowly in the works. Her name is Melyne but that's most of what I know about her so far.]

Dancing with the Dead

Ahsan at-Idris An archaeologist adventurer with ties to the Antiquarian Circle and the Sentinel School of Julianos, come to Skyrim for a mild change in career now that he has recovered from an injury that kept him desk-bound for some years. Unfailingly curious and determined, he is willing to at least try to find the silver lining of most situations, but the return of the dragons is a difficult one to turn positive. And that's without taking into consideration the highly depressed vampire who seems to share the same strange abilities he's just discovered in himself. Pronouns: he/him Age: 38 when he discovers in Helgen that he's soulbound to Nisimar Factions: Explorer's Guild, Bards' College, others tbd Role: Primary protagonist

Nisimar Sailen A knight-conjurer of House Redoran with a poor relationship with his father and a need to prove himself. His arrival in Raven Rock after many years studying in Blacklight prove to solve old problems at the cost of his comfort, and a letter from a strange and unusual friendship opens up a world of darkness that he must find a way to make peace with lest his goddess abandon him from the self-loathing. And then there's the dragons! Pronouns: he/him Age: about 100 when he arrives in Solstheim Factions: tbd Role: Primary protagonist

Faolaine A woman of the Western Reach who was just a farmer and a mother until vampires attacked her family's homestead, leaving her as the only survivor by dint of not being home at the time. A woman absorbed by vengeance and the ache for what used to be, afraid to love again lest she lose it all again. Pronouns: she/they/he (mostly she/her) Age: turns 32 in the summer before Alduin's attack on Helgen Factions: Companions, Dawnguard Role: Secondary protagonist Other Material: Faolaine's Journals - AO3 | Tag (chronological) | Toyhouse

Lion Flower

Laurelia Aeliana Aldmeri The last princess of Summerset, saved from the Thalmor's execution of the royal family by the whim of a justiciar and sold into domestic servitude. Picked up by a rebellion and trained in combat and diplomacy before the rebellion is caught, flees to Hammerfell and then Skyrim in the aftermath. Seeks to use the power and notoriety of the role of Dragonborn to burn the Thalmor to ash and reclaim her father's throne, through the throne of the Empire if she must. Pronouns: she/her Age: turns 185 just before Alduin's attack on Helgen Factions: Thieves Guild, Blades Role: Primary protagonist

Kaivis Silverclaw A woman who would have been the court mage of Chorrol were it not for some jealous fellow apprentices framing her for the murder of the previous one. Shed her name and status and fled into the countryside, hoping to regain some influence and status in the Imperial Legion in Skyrim, hoping to use that influence to clear her name. Pronouns: she/they Age: turns 41 in the autumn after Alduin's attack on Helgen Factions: Imperial Legion, Blades (possibly) Role: Secondary protagonist

Sunsteel and Roses

Khayal at-Nimat A paladin of Tava, come to Skyrim on a pilgrimage to see how other cultures worship the Goddess of the Winds and write an academic novel about it. Finds that there is much more going on than they ever could have expected, both in Skyrim and within themself. Pronouns: they/them Age: turns 32 in the spring before Alduin attacks Helgen Factions: Greybeards, Blades (possibly), Dawnguard Role: Primary protagonist

Satyana Adlathil A courtesan, born and raised in Windhelm by a single father, sent to the Bards' College in the hopes that she could have a better life than he did. Discovered the world of politics while training at the Temple of Dibella in Markarth and followed her passion for art into a new road with the hope to purchase a house in Whiterun for her father to live out his age in warmth. Pronouns: she/her Age: turns 109 in the winter before Helgen is destroyed Factions: Bards College Role: Primary protagonist

Other

Some of these may appear in other stories in the background or as cameos.

Arist'ai Khrisafen An alien Jedi Knight with a master who sees what may be, trained from long exposure to behave as if they know the same. A diplomat more than a warrior, with a mind to follow twisted trails of thought and emerge victorious and with a signed treaty. Pronouns: they/them Age: about the same age as Obi-Wan Material: WIP - As the Stars Burn, a no-Order 66 Prequels AU, not posted anywhere yet

Kasti grew quicker than their agemates for a time, bold and brash and seemingly knowing no concept of shame. They commanded attention with a ringing voice and an ever-present grin, enough strength in their words without Intent to on one particular occasion convince their teacher to allow themself and their classmates to take recess early.

When Kasti was still a hatchling, just barely twelve years of age, they were playing in a tamed portion of the forest by Kruinbor - their home citadel - when they wandered off and came upon a strange silver tear in the fabric of the fog. Plagued and blessed with deep curiosity and too young for much sense, Kasti passed through the portal and found themself in a world that was sharp and green.

Unknowing of why they were shaking, Kasti continued their wandering, exploring the area surrounding that silver sliver until they were found by a group dressed in face-concealing robes. These robed people spoke in words that Kasti could not understand and carried them to a fire, for which Kasti was grateful.

Within the fire resided a being of power and flame who called itself Viknas. To Kasti, its mind felt like the heat of the lava oceans and the shifting of Birast's broad shoulders when it spoke in feelings and concepts. Kasti responded with a shining enthusiasm and curiosity that took Viknas off guard within its rage at the robed ones attempting to sacrifice the child to it through the fire. And as the rage subsided, its effects having scorched the clearing to cinders, Kasti's mind flashed with something overwhelming and new before Viknas could reel its power fully back in.

When Kasti awoke, they lay in a hammock of warped vines, a Presence hovering nearby that wrapped around them like a weighted blanket and lulled them back to sleep.

As far as Kasti knew when they were returned to the edge of their previous playground, they had simply wandered farther into the forest and fell asleep. Birast and Alian rightfully assumed that the Warped Forest Core - one of their gods - was involved, but just like their child had no way to guess what had actually transpired. Kasti's life went on as normal.

In the next several years, Kasti found a love of many tasks: alchemy, music, smithing, combat, textiles and sewing, and writing. They bounced from one to another without any clear connection, going from project to project to project with varying degrees of success but unlimited passion and delight. Despite other things that took their fancy, they always came back to the same handful of interests.

But as adolescence loomed on the horizon, sometime during Kasti's thirty-fifth year, a tragedy struck that changed the path of Kasti's lifestream.

While gathering ingredients on the edge of a soulsand valley, Kasti slipped and fell farther than they could climb back up, their grappling hook and ingredient satchel left on the ledge where they had been before. Tales abounded of the dangers and horrors of soulsand valleys, all of which flooded Kasti's mind as they searched frantically for a way back up to safety. But all their searching was in vain, for behind them from the grasping soil rose a skeleton archer, its eyes agleam with a glow like soulfire.

Kasti heard the rattling of the bones and the creak of the drawstring, turned, then started to run in terror in the direction they happened to be facing, only wishing to find some shelter from the arrows they knew were coming. They tripped. An arrow loosed. And the soulsand drank greedily of the black blood that flowed.

But instead of finding themself in the quiet of the Great Library where the Keeper of the Dead would guide them further to their soul's resting place, Kasti awoke. In their bed. In their home. To the sound of their younger brother singing at the top of his lungs in the kitchen.

Kasti laid there for several moments, remembering how to breathe, before they sat up slowly, one hand going to where they knew the arrow had pierced their spine. At first they thought there was nothing; it had been a nightmare, it was morning still, they had yet to go out at all. Until their fingers found a small scar directly in the middle of the back of their neck. Until their eyes focused on the empty place where their grappling hook normally hung. And Kasti screamed.

When their younger brother arrived at their door, Kasti was curled up in the corner of their room with one hand clamped firmly on the back of their neck, eyes glazed with panic. He promptly decided it wasn't something he could help with and ran to find one or both of their parents or at least their parents' new lover.

Alian was the first to arrive, pushing Kasti's bedroom door open gently and kneeling in front of them with kind words laced with an Intent of Calming. Kasti slowly unbunched themself and after a tight embrace long enough that Birast was able to join too, they shakily told what happened. How well their ingredient-gathering had been going, the slip, the fall that miraculously broke no bones, and…the skeleton.

None of them knew what to do, so the logical course of action was to take the happenings to the Head of Clan Morevel, an old scholar named Arist'. Arist' took the three of them to the deepest parts of Kruinbor's archives and to a book that spoke of a type of being called a Worldwalker, a being who could return from the dead and travel the fabric of the universe, carrying even armies with it. Kasti had heard of Worldwalkers before, had heard the stories of Nekhadis Kymakhmora of the now-dead Clan Aleri who had brought destruction and death to so many at that time. And now…Kasti was revealed to be just the same.

They withdrew in fear of themself and how others would react, losing their friends in the process. They poured themself into their hobbies, growing visibly in skill but plummeting in the quality of work they turned in for classes. And when they weren't working on some project, they dove into those ancient archives to learn all they could about Worldwalkers and try to find a way to not be one anymore.

When the time came to prepare for their Journey Trial, Kasti threw themself into that with an almost fevered fervour. They'd learnt that there was no known way to stop being a Worldwalker, but perhaps the Warped Forest Core would have a way. And the Journey Trial was the easiest way for them to meet that god. And yet, for all of their preparation, on their seventy-second birthday, the day they were to take that Trial, they had yet to decide their adult name. For all that it was highly important, choosing the name they'd use for likely the whole of their adult life had seemed like a small thing compared to the potential of becoming an ordinary Xevar again, one who wasn't cursed to forever be undead.

They returned from their Journey Trial a week late with a new outlook and a decided name: Alagos, the Chosen. They would never be able to not be a Worldwalker, but they had learnt many things in the time they'd been gone. While those decades of fear and self-imposed solitude were not gone, Alagos' discussion with the Warped Forest Core - and another god that had coincidentally been visiting the Core at the same time - had convinced them that it wasn't something to be ashamed about.

Alagos spent a few more years with their parents, deciding if staying in Kruinbor was really what they wanted to do, before trekking back into the depths of the forest once again with no plans of return. Not for a long time, at least. And after another - much shorter - discussion with the Core, a silver sliver tore through the air in the clearing where Alagos stood.

Sharp air and surrounding green once again filled Alagos' senses, though they didn't know it was the second time they'd ever left their home. Bright light that they couldn't name stung their eyes, a wealth of sounds and smells entirely new flooding their conciousness. They sat down heavily, vaguely aware that what they sat under was a tree, and tried to isolate each sense so they could adjust.

A voice cut through the havoc, a woman speaking words that Alagos couldn't comprehend. But her tone was gentle and when she knelt in front of them her eyes were kind. She offered them a shawl to shield them from the cold and the brightness; they accepted gratefully, unaware of the awe and befuddlement that also traced her face at their inhuman features.

Through miming and slow mimicry, Alagos learnt that the woman's name was Abilene and she was the herd of the strange fluffy white animals grazing nearby. As the brightness began to dim and the blue ceiling was painted with colours, Abilene rounded up her animals and the only-hip-height netrana without tusks or a mane that Abilene called Gilbert. Together they all went to Abilene's house, Alagos still wrapped up in her shawl.

There they met her family; her parents and her brother Peter and their tiny orange stripy korr named Holfast. Abilene spoke quickly with her family while Alagos stood off to one side near the fire, only listening with half an ear. After that conversation Abilene gave Alagos a bowl of some kind of meaty soup and they all ate together. That night, Alagos slept by the fire, preferring the hard floor and the heat to the offered softer bed that was also colder.

The next long while, Alagos followed Abilene around as she did her everyday tasks, learning bright-eyed and curious. The syllables of Abilene's language were strange on their tongue but with stumbling infinite tries it slowly became steady as basalt in their mind. But they learnt so much more than language. They learnt the blue ceiling was a 'sky', not a ceiling at all, they learnt about seasons and shepherding and shearing...and of water.

About five days after Alagos' arrival to Abilene's world, in the morning before the time to feed the sheep, it rained. Curious about what the sound was, Alagos opened the door and stuck their hand outside only to yank it back immediately with a pained cry. Where the little droplets had hit, their skin sizzled and hurt in a way that they'd never known before.

Abilene's brother Peter had been the only other person in the main room when this happened. He did his best to help them, but water burns weren't something anyone there had experienced before. Eventually Alagos' hand healed, but even after the scars faded they found themself tracing the spots where the rain had first fallen.

After about seven years of living as a shepherd with Abilene, Alagos was noticed by a travelling merchant in the moment that they knocked out a man who'd picked a fight with them. It took some convincing, but shortly Alagos had a new job as a guard in the merchant's caravan and was able to put to use the sword and armour they'd brought from their home. The look on Abilene's face when Alagos stepped out of the barn armed and armoured was one that Alagos would savor for quite some time before even realising why they were savoring it.

Alagos spent the next two decades as a guard for that merchant caravan, bringing gifts for Abilene every time they passed through her village. During that time Abilene fell in love with and married one of the local carpenters, so when Alagos found out they started bringing gifts for her wife too. And when the merchant retired, Alagos returned to the village and became a rather odd auncle to Abilene and her wife's kids.

When Abilene and her wife eventually fell to old age, Alagos once again took up the job of a caravan guard for a few years until that merchant retired. Then they settled in a decent-sized border town as an assistant alchemist, using the techniques they'd learnt back in Kruinbor and the new ones they learnt from their alchemy master together with sometimes quite interesting results. For a while, there was peace, and like they had been before Abilene's death, Alagos was happy.

Unfortunately, the peace was not to last. The king of a neighboring country decided he wanted to go to war with Abilene's home country, the one Alagos was living in. He started this by attacking the border town that Alagos now called home. The soldiers killed many, but captured Alagos instead after how fiercely they fought to defend their new friends.

They and some other captives were taken to a camp of sorts where they were kept until a group of people came through and took them away one by one. Alagos was taken by a tall, bald woman who they never learnt the name of on a three-day ride to a city with rust-red stone walls and a massive amphitheatre. It was to this amphitheatre they went, with the bald woman shackling them and the few others she'd brought to a wall soon after arriving. She returned several moments after, followed by a man in fine clothes and with a beard dyed with strips of crimson on each side.

The finely-dressed man, Alagos discovered, was named Ixar. They knew the language that he and the bald woman spoke, but in a brief moment of wisdom decided to pretend as if they didn't. In this way, they learnt that they were slated for the arena as a pit dog for their ferocity. It took all of Alagos' self-control to keep their temper with the comments that Ixar and the bald woman made about Alagos' inhuman traits. Meanwhile, they thought of a plan.

Since they couldn't just escape, they would just...not sleep until they could get killed in the arena and in that way be sent back to the border town or perhaps even the pasture that had been Abilene's. Yet that plan was not to succeed, for they fell asleep from exhaustion no more than a few hours later, and so they were well and truly trapped.

--------