A guide to finding happiness in your life and in your games.

Welcome Friend

A blog about finding happiness in your life, and in your games.

Monday, January 23, 2012

The Moral Decline of Erogu Leiut, Dragonborn

I plan on putting together an Enjoyment Guide for Skyrim soon. In the meantime I have something else for you.

I do my best to play it as an unfolding story, with "me" as the main character. As such I do my best to come up with what my character might be thinking of feeling throughout his experiences as the Dragonborn.

For now I hope I can entertain you with the chronicles of my character in Skyrim; Erogu Leiut (RogueLieutenant, clever right?) an argonian who found himself in a downward spiral of moral decline throughout his confusing and trying times in the frosty land of Skyrim.

SPOILERS AHEAD (read on anyway.)


Our story begins with Erogu Leiut, Argonian, waking up on an imperial cart, hands bound behind his back. Erogu glanced around, finding himself sharing the rickety cart with three other prisoners, each yapping about their forthcoming execution by the hands of an imperial headsman.

"How did I get here???" Erogu thought. 


Erogu was terribly confused. Why didn't he have any prior memory before this point in time? He felt as though he was at least in his twenties, but he had no memory of family or friends or any life at all before this point. It disturbed him to realize he must have some form of amnesia. But that didn't matter, he had more pressing things to worry about, namely the fact that he was being lead to his execution for crimes he didn't know.

It seemed that Erogu was out for himself, and didn't have much hope of escape. What a pitiful life, awakening with no memory whatsoever only to be lead to his death five minutes later.

The cart unloaded the prisoners and Erogu was the last off the cart. He witnessed the others' heads fall from their bodies as the headsman brought down his ax. When it was Erogu's turn to place his neck into the wood he decided he really didn't care. He obviously had nothing to live for, so he decided it would be for the best if he were to die right then and there. It would put an end to all his confusion.



Just as the ax raised to bring sweet relief to Erogu, a terrible shriek filled the air and all of the imperials attending the executions were burnt to a crisp by a dragon.

A dragon?

Erogu didn't remember much, but he somehow knew that seeing a dragon wasn't an every day occurrence. He stood up and started to run, hands still bound, the headsman dead on the ground.

Erogu now wanted to live. He found this change of heart ironic, but he pressed on. He needed to escape this dragon attack and see what this life had to offer.

Erogu escaped the dragon attack with the help of Ulfric Stormcloak, the leaders of the Stormcloaks, a group who wished to see the Empire pushed out of Skyrim. Ulfric asked Erogu if he wanted to join their cause but Erogu really couldn't care less.

Erogu was an Argonian, a reptilian species from the south of Cyrodil. He had no idea why he had found himself on a cart in the snowy province of Skyrim this morning, but he knew he just didn't care about anyone's problems right now except his own. Erogu needed to figure some things out.

Erogu didn't even say thank you to Ulfric as he ran off in search of some meaning in his life.

He was terribly cold. He missed the Black Marsh, although he had hardly any memory of it. How could people stand to live in such a cold place?

Through a series of seemingly random events, Erogu went on to defeat a dragon outside the city of Whiterun. The locals started telling him that they thought he was the 'dragonborn'.

What the heck was a dragonborn? It seemed to have some basis in their Nordic lore. But Erogu was an Argonian. Argonians were uncommon in Skyrim and not very adapted to the cold weather. How could he possibly be the dragonborn? Shouldn't the dragonborn be a Nord?

What did being the dragonborn imply even? Were my parents dragons? Those implications were disturbing. Although Erogu's reptilian features would lend a little credibility to his status as the dragonborn.

It was all so confusing to Erogu. At least everything was happening so slowly. Erogu spent much of his time wandering from place to place not really doing much of anything except enjoying the scenery.



He found himself longing for more adventure, more action.

Erogu's lust for adventure and knowledge eventually led him to the mage college of Winterhold, where he rose though the college's ranks and saved the world. He was then promptly appointed to the position of Arch-Mage of the college.

He admitted that he had in fact done quite a lot for the college in his short time, but he didn't feel qualified to be the Arch-Mage. He had no leadership skills, he kept mainly to himself, not once in his time in Skyrim did he care about anyone else but himself. He also noticed that almost everyone else in the College had more skill with magic than he had, making almost anyone in the college more qualified than him. Erogu preferred a bow and arrow to magic.

The College of Winterhold


Still they insisted, and it was so that Erogu Lieut became the Arch Mage of the college of Winterhold.

He didn't really care.

He never went back to the college after that day. But he assumed they must have been fine, because no one ever came looking for him, wondering where their Arch Mage had run off to.

If only they knew.

He wanted more. He needed more adventure. He contemplated joining the Companions, but he decided that their warrior-like way wasn't suited to his more stealthy approach to things. Erogu had also heard through whispers and rumors that all of the members of the Companions were werewolves. Erogu, being an Argonian, thought that it wouldn't make much sense for him to be a werewolf anyway. A lizard guy turning into a dog thing? It simply didn't fit in Erogu's mind. It seemed even more silly than a Khajiit, a cat-like people, being a werewolf. That was just ironic.

Erogu traveled to Riften, a town run by thieves, and quickly found himself rising through the ranks of the Thieves Guild. Before now Erogu had been guided by a relatively straight moral compass. He only killed in self defense and didn't steal from anyone. He even helped out others now and then, though only because it served his own ends.

Sneaky Sneaky

But now he was stealing things from others without any second thought. Often these people were hard working people who's lives were probably sent into poverty and despair after the deft hands of Erogu Lieut picked through their pockets or slipped through their homes.

Erogu didn't care. He was making money and gaining status within the Thieves Guild.

Soon he started stealing from anyone he could lay his fingers on. Picking gold out of pockets here, arrows out of quivers there, all without a second thought.

Not long after his joining of the Guild, Erogu found himself busting down a guild conspiracy and rising to the top of the Guild, and in doing so he became a Nightengale, a servant of the Daedra of the shadows, Nocturnal.

That wouldn't be his only run in with a Daedra. Once Erogu found himself beating an innocent man to death with a rusty mace because a Daedra asked him too. Erogu wanted to refuse, but there seemed to be only one choice in the situation, so he obliged.  Erogu actually felt a little dirty about that.

That was the last time Erogu felt regret in his life.

On a return trip to Riften, Erogu visited the orphanage in hopes of adoption a son to follow in his footsteps.

Unfortunately they weren't taking adoptions. But something else came out of this little visit. Erogu witnessed the head of the orphanage berating and yelling at the children, and overall treating them terribly. Erogu didn't know exactly why that irked him as most of the children he had encountered in Skyrim were little shits, but he wasn't going to let her get away with treating those orphans like that.



Erogu followed her into her room and when they were alone he put an arrow through the back of her head. Erogu felt righteous. Then all of the children cheered with joy, for the lady who had tormented them for so long was dead.

That righteous kill took Erogu yet farther down in his moral decline.

He attracted the attention of the Dark Brotherhood, an organizations of assassins who praise the Night Mother and Sithis.

Erogu felt at home with his new family. He killed people without question when he was asked to and he grew increasingly good at it. He no longer felt any pangs of guilt or remorse when he took the life of an innocent.

He made money off of it and that's what mattered.

Erogu eventually made it to the very top of the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim after killing the Emperor himself.

He also ended the reign of the evil dragon Alduin, but that's a different story. Erogu had only done that because he was running out of other things to do.

Erogu believed that everyone in Skyrim should fear and respect him. He wore a sinister dragon priest mask over his black caped Nightengale armor.

Erogu looks something like this, but skinnier. 


He should have stricken fear into the heart of any who laid eyes on him. But he didn't. He assumed that every citizen in Skyrim was intolerably stupid.  He lamented the fact that he was the only smart person in the world.

He felt lonely.

Erogu Lieut was a thief and a murderer. Stealing from or killing anyone he felt like without a second thought. He ruled Skyrim and he knew it.

One day Erogu found himself going back to look into something he had heard about long ago in his travels. He went to the hall of the dead in Markarth only to find a crazy lady there who was insisting that he had once eaten human flesh. She explained that most people block out the memory of the first time they fed on another person.

This seemed plausible enough to me since he had absolutely no memory whatsoever before a few months ago.

Erogu still didn't trust her, but agreed to follow her to her secret cave. There he found a dinner table and some sacrificial devices amongst other things.

At this point Erogu Lieut faced a choice.

Should he kill this crazy cannibal lady? Or join her?

This may have seemed like an easy choice for most people, but for Erogu it was more difficult. His moral compass was spinning in circles as if it were on the north pole.

That day it shattered.

He agreed to bring a priest to their little hideout so they could feast on his flesh.

He lured an innocent man into the den and found the long dinner table populated by people letting loose excited phrases in anticipation of the evening's meal.

Yummy


Erogu killed the innocent man he had lured in and fed on him.

He liked it.

It gave him strength.




The other's at the table seemed pleased with Erogu.

But he was not pleased with them. He pulled out his bow and ended every last one of them, and then he fed on their corpses as well.

From that point on Erogu's hunger for flesh could not be sated. He would feed on anyone he killed.

But he was still lonely.

He never cared about anyone in his time in Skyrim. Perhaps he did before that pre-memory time. But that time didn't matter now.

He wanted someone to care about.

Erogu Lieut, the theiving, murdering, corpse eating savior of Skyrim slipped his amulet of Mara round his neck and went off in search of a wife.

THE END


Well there you have it. That's a summary of the time I've spent in Skyrim as Erogu Lieut. Up to this point at least. Will Erogu find love? No one knows. 


I was able to put this together because I remember what I'm doing when I play games. I tend to try and find a great story in anything I'm doing. 


 I would love to hear your tales of adventure as well! Just leave a comment or leave a link to your own blog with your tales. 


Keep your moral compass straight. 


Enjoy your game. 


Enjoy your life. 









1 comment:

  1. That was really good! Depressing, but really good. Great story. Thanks for it.

    ReplyDelete

Leave a comment! No sign in needed! Be anonymous if you like.