ext_204842 (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
krahka.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
31_days2008-02-25 11:34 pm
krahka.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2008-02-25 11:34 pm
[Febuary 25] [Morrowind] The Weapons of Statecraft
Title: The Weapons of Statecraft
Day/Theme: Feb. 25 - "What are kings, when regiment is gone?"
Series: Morrowind
Character/Pairing: King Helseth Hlaalu, an obstinately unnamed Nerevarine.
Rating: Descriptions of sick sick gore.
While he did expect her to survive the assassination attempts, what he did not exact was that this folk hero would go so far as to destroy the entire Morrowind branch of the Dark Brotherhood from their foundations. He had not expected to lose his most useful weapon of statecraft this early in the war. The native Morag Tong had far too limited a purpose and rested far too much on outmoded Dunmer tradition to be of much use to him. Besides, he had spent years cultivating the relationship he had with the Dark Brotherhood back in Wayrest, and he saw no real reason to give them up now that he was in Morrowind. Not when there was still work for them to do.
He had difficulty comprehending how and why she had killed off every single living being in the Dark Brotherhood base. One does not simply trample into the lower depths of Old Mournhold with nothing but a spear, a couple of spells and a few potions and simply kill off the entire Dark Brotherhood in Morrowind. If it were that easy, then the Morag Tong would’ve done it years ago. Then how had she managed to do that very same thing in such a short period of time?
When he had slipped down the sewers and into the ruins in the dead of the night, accompanied only by his most loyal bodyguards, he found almost a hundred corpses of Dark Brotherhood agents of all kinds scattered all over the floor. Dressed in their distinctive black armor, their intestines were barbarically ripped out of their stomach, their faces burned into a grotesque parody of what they were before by powerful magic, and their hearts pierced by a single well-placed blow. It was a terrible sight. He could only imagine her in action, fingertips blazing with magic and her spear coldly impaling every assassin that came her way.
She had killed everyone in the Dark Brotherhood, from the youngest neophytes, their faces frozen in fear that they could not comprehend when they first joined the Guild of Assassins, to the rank and file assassins who died slowly from a poisoned crossbow bolt, to the Speaker that King Helseth had spoken with in the past, his entire leg blue with frostbite. He had found their corpses spread far and wide, far away from their base. She had no mercy for the ones who tried to escape her wrath by running away. She had hunted them down with a mind-boggling thoroughness. He could reasonable infer that she was, right now, searching the entire province for any stray assassin that she could find.
Her actions, brutal as they were, offered a fascinating insight into the character of this so-called Nerevarine. When faced with a problem, her first instinct was to hunt it down mercilessly and kill it, no questions asked. That instinct could be extremely useful, if you were to direct her curiosity and rage in the right direction. He could already think of ways in which he could use her to bring a similar carnage to those that would oppose his reign, and she would question her actions for him just as little as she questioned her methods of wholesale slaughter. That, along with her place in the hearts of the people, could make her more useful than the Dark Brotherhood ever could be.
Even more interesting was how she did it so well. Most people who would undertake that task would at least hire a few mercenaries to assist them in such a dangerous task. But this one, by all reports, went alone into the sewers and remained there for a week before reemerging, stinking of blood and garbage.
No wonder they called her Godkiller. When he came to Morrowind, he had doubted the stories he heard about her. Now that he saw what she could do in person, those doubts were beginning to fade. He could manipulate her into eliminating enemies within a few months that he had previously thought would take years to take down.
While a thousand tiny knives had made a fine weapon of statecraft back in the Kingdom of Wayrest, perhaps in Morrowind a single well-honed bludgeon would serve him better. While the Dark Brotherhood was the militia that brought him to the throne, this brutal little folk hero would be the army that would secure his rightful place as King of Morrowind.
Day/Theme: Feb. 25 - "What are kings, when regiment is gone?"
Series: Morrowind
Character/Pairing: King Helseth Hlaalu, an obstinately unnamed Nerevarine.
Rating: Descriptions of sick sick gore.
While he did expect her to survive the assassination attempts, what he did not exact was that this folk hero would go so far as to destroy the entire Morrowind branch of the Dark Brotherhood from their foundations. He had not expected to lose his most useful weapon of statecraft this early in the war. The native Morag Tong had far too limited a purpose and rested far too much on outmoded Dunmer tradition to be of much use to him. Besides, he had spent years cultivating the relationship he had with the Dark Brotherhood back in Wayrest, and he saw no real reason to give them up now that he was in Morrowind. Not when there was still work for them to do.
He had difficulty comprehending how and why she had killed off every single living being in the Dark Brotherhood base. One does not simply trample into the lower depths of Old Mournhold with nothing but a spear, a couple of spells and a few potions and simply kill off the entire Dark Brotherhood in Morrowind. If it were that easy, then the Morag Tong would’ve done it years ago. Then how had she managed to do that very same thing in such a short period of time?
When he had slipped down the sewers and into the ruins in the dead of the night, accompanied only by his most loyal bodyguards, he found almost a hundred corpses of Dark Brotherhood agents of all kinds scattered all over the floor. Dressed in their distinctive black armor, their intestines were barbarically ripped out of their stomach, their faces burned into a grotesque parody of what they were before by powerful magic, and their hearts pierced by a single well-placed blow. It was a terrible sight. He could only imagine her in action, fingertips blazing with magic and her spear coldly impaling every assassin that came her way.
She had killed everyone in the Dark Brotherhood, from the youngest neophytes, their faces frozen in fear that they could not comprehend when they first joined the Guild of Assassins, to the rank and file assassins who died slowly from a poisoned crossbow bolt, to the Speaker that King Helseth had spoken with in the past, his entire leg blue with frostbite. He had found their corpses spread far and wide, far away from their base. She had no mercy for the ones who tried to escape her wrath by running away. She had hunted them down with a mind-boggling thoroughness. He could reasonable infer that she was, right now, searching the entire province for any stray assassin that she could find.
Her actions, brutal as they were, offered a fascinating insight into the character of this so-called Nerevarine. When faced with a problem, her first instinct was to hunt it down mercilessly and kill it, no questions asked. That instinct could be extremely useful, if you were to direct her curiosity and rage in the right direction. He could already think of ways in which he could use her to bring a similar carnage to those that would oppose his reign, and she would question her actions for him just as little as she questioned her methods of wholesale slaughter. That, along with her place in the hearts of the people, could make her more useful than the Dark Brotherhood ever could be.
Even more interesting was how she did it so well. Most people who would undertake that task would at least hire a few mercenaries to assist them in such a dangerous task. But this one, by all reports, went alone into the sewers and remained there for a week before reemerging, stinking of blood and garbage.
No wonder they called her Godkiller. When he came to Morrowind, he had doubted the stories he heard about her. Now that he saw what she could do in person, those doubts were beginning to fade. He could manipulate her into eliminating enemies within a few months that he had previously thought would take years to take down.
While a thousand tiny knives had made a fine weapon of statecraft back in the Kingdom of Wayrest, perhaps in Morrowind a single well-honed bludgeon would serve him better. While the Dark Brotherhood was the militia that brought him to the throne, this brutal little folk hero would be the army that would secure his rightful place as King of Morrowind.