BM - the Lost City of Helstrom

[Deeza]

Here you all are, a thorough "debunking" of the existence of Helstrom, courtesy of two sceptical scholars from the University of Cyrodiil, Professor Forius Nopia and Doctor Georges Delirr.

Along with the fabled Halls of Colossus, the legendary Lost City of the Marshes is without doubt one of the two most famous non-existent places in Tamriel. Despite no evidence for its existence being forthcoming after several centuries of searching, Black Marsh is filled with the muddy graves of foolish adventurers who died chasing this chimera.

How can one even begin to summarise the innumerable tales spun about Helstrom? Due to recent events, we should begin by mentioning in passing that the city of legend is in no way connected with the failed Imperial colony of Helstrom Nova, which was located in the eastern Vudai district of Black Marsh. The alleged location of the Lost City, on the other hand, has been variously reported as in deepest Murkwood, under the sea off the Hankaj Coast, and amidst the impenetrable jungles of Arnesia.

Such divergent reports, of course, are additional evidence for the fictitious nature of the city. Supposedly a golden metropolis of enormous wealth and filled with magical artefacts located deep in Black Marsh, the Lost City of Helstrom is said to be a place of such riches that any adventurer who was fortunate enough to stumble across it would become one of the most wealthy men on Nirn.

Of course, as in all such fairytales, simply taking the treasure would not be as easy as all that! Indeed, the suspiciously convenient reason offered for the disappearance of so many explorers is that the Lost City is protected by fearsome guardians. In the opinion of every respectable scholar, the swamps of Black Marsh are easily deadly enough on their own to account for every recorded loss of an expedition to the interior of the province.

In some versions of these myths, Helstrom is often connected to the equally dubious legend of the Eye of Argonia (suspected by the famed anthropologist Hortis Gogiac to be nothing more than an elaborate joke played upon gullible colonists by native Argonians). Purportedly, the Eye grants privileged access to the "Lost City", although as in all such fables, the mechanism for such a miracle is never mentioned in detail.

Additional problems exist with this supposed citadel. Where in Black Marsh are the huge fields of crops that would be required to feed the denizens of such a huge city? How about the quarries and mines that would have been used to construct it? No trace has been found. Additionally, every single complex structure in Black Marsh, even the most ancient of ruins, has been identified as belonging to a more advanced, mer or human culture such as the Ayleids or Kothringi.

On the basis of similarities and structural motifs to certain remains in southern Elseweyr, even the so-called "Hist Temples" which native tribes adamantly maintain their ancestors constructed are now believed to be in reality Lilmothlit structures which were later taken over and repurposed by more primitive Argonian cultures. Trusted scholars, even those of Argonian origin, are unanimous that nowhere among the lizard-peoples of Black Marsh has there ever existed a culture advanced enough to construct a city of the size and sophistication indicated by the legends of Helstrom.

So in definitively solving one mystery, we are left with another: where did such an absurd and ridiculous legend originate from?

The answer lies in records of the aftermath of the Battle of Tenmar Wall, the last major battle between Imperial forces and native tribesmen during the Reman Conquest of Black Marsh during the Second Era. Several retreating tribesmen were captured by Legionnaires to obtain intelligence, and even under duress they would only tell their captors that they were "going to Hist-Oom."

The dullard interrogators assumed that this referred to an actual location, some kind of rallying point for the fleeing warriors. However, advancing Imperial forces could find to trace of any such location. But reports of the interrogation had already reached Cyrodiil, and so, corrupted to "Helstrom", the legend of the retreat to Hist-Oom entered the lexicon of myths and fables of the Empire.

A colleague at the Mundane University Department of Linguistics has informed me that according to modern translations, "Hist-Oom" is in fact a verb, not a noun, and refers to a curious practice which roughly translates as "to perform the act of seeking help from our tree-ancestors." Thus, with a simple grammatical confusions, the mystery of the Lost City of Black Marsh is solved.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Cheers, Deez. I think we really need to put the 'real' Helstrom in the Hist Dimension.

[Deeza]

I agree. However, you might also want to check out the other book I wrote, as another writer who's very critical of these two...