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The War of the Diamond-Snake: Book One
by Speaks-With-Hist

Introduction
Welcome, I am Speaks-With-Hist, a Person of the Root and an archivist at Hist-Oom (Helstrom), recording the histories of our sacred territories from the Murkwood to the Eaves of Blackwood, to Arnesia. This series of books dictates all that is currently known of the War of the Diamond-Snake and the battles in which Potentate Versidue-Shaie came to power in Tamriel.

Prologue
In the two hundred and eighty third year of the Second Era, Tsaesci Potentate Versidue-Shaie met the councilors, chamberlains and nobles under his influence. At Bardmont they met, and planned their rule. Versidue-Shaie declared universal martial law under his order, in all of Dawn's Beauty. People were sent into rebellion and they were refusing to pay his increasingly forceful taxes, denying even the richest noble to the poorest peasant, an average livelihood. The Potentate threatened for them to disperse or face utter annihilation. The people of Tamriel denied his threats and for thirty-seven bloody years, the Armies of the Akavir turned rivers to blood, earth unfertile, virgins to rape victims and even the lowliest peasant into direct servitude.

This, being the first chapter in the War of the Diamond-Snake, tells the story of his direct annexation of the closest regions...

Chapter One - 2E 283
Versidue-Shaie left Bardmont with an army, many times larger than anything that could be called an advance guard. Skyrim was already under his thumb, and his most direct enemies, were obviously the Warlords of the Yokudans in Eastern Hammerfell. With inhuman speed, the Tsaesci armies sped south, coming to halt at Falkreath Pass by the early date of the 14th of Rain's Hand. There, they prepared their armies and logistics and tactics.

It is suggested that some 40,000 Tsaesci came to Falkreath, prepared to come forth and gush south into the dry pastures of east Hammerfell, though many troops were probably Akaviri Man-slaves, after the style of the Kamal, employing slaves in their armies.

One the 21st of Rain's Hand, the Akavir had reached Elinhir. It lay in resistance for several weeks before falling to the Snake-men on the 5th of Mid Year. Many Elinhirese fled south and west, some heading to Vulkneu Town and others to Rihad on the coast, where they bolstered the population of refugees already heading towards Stros M'Kai, after even the word reached Dragonstar and the other mountain fortresses.

Near the end of Sun's Height, on the 22nd to be precise; one of the Tsaesci generals proved himself to the Potentate. Dinieras-Ves, founder of the Syffim, later to become the Fighter's Guild, met a Redguard Crown general on the fields of the Brena Floodplain. The young Redguard, reveals himself as Crown Prince Thassad I, and positions his armies which comprise the last hope of Hammerfell, on the mountain- and hill- sides of the range which runs alongside the river which separates Hammerfell from Cyrodiil...

The Battle of Hammerfell or more precisely, The Debacle on the 22nd
In the before-dawn, Thassad reached the plains in the centre of the wide pass, with his armies - totalling 4,000 and all that could be mustered in time of need as every town was being besieged by the chief hosts of Akavir. Dinieras-Ves however, was also equipped with minimal numbers, mostly Tang-Mo and Akaviri Human slave-warriors, aside from his guard of Tsaesci "Samurai" or Elites as they are generally known.

Thassad's force was concentrated around a central mound, where his base was. It was a weakly fortified hill, surrounded by a thick copse, but this alone gave natural protection. After coming upstream from Rihad, his engineers understood the way the river flowed and began their work. By ten in the morning, a dam had been burst and a gush of meltwater from the winter which had only ended several weeks ago, ran down and through a pre-discovered ditch and surrounded the hill. A perfect moat.

All four thousand men were equipped in the most expensive armour and weapons of the finest degree. Silver, Steel, Ebony, Orcish and even some Hist Sap for the mercenaries, all from the Crown Armoury.

Dinieras-Ves positioned several battalions, totalling to 1,300 of Tang-Mo spearmen, along a thin stretch of common. Their flanks were protected by two homesteads, crawling with Human archers. Dinieras-Ves and his vanguard sat on the right prepared to breach the gap, when Thassad's cavalry rode out of the only VISIBLE bridge across the moat.

By one in the afternoon, Thassad attacked and his men were slaughtered. Dinieras-Ves revealed the extra 2000s of his army as soon as the main host entered projectile range. Tang-Mo spearmen, who were actually thought to have spears, produced javelins instead of pikes and launched a rain of steel onto the enemy. The 20 battalions of Akaviri Men entered combat, all wielding a combination of katanas and tantos while the Tang-Mo entered the hill forts and redoubts and bivouacs and slaughtered the rest of the army.

Only Thassad and four others made it downstream to Rihad alive...

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More to come soon...
Aww... C'mon people! It can't be THAT 'orrible...
Not 'orrible at all. I think I saw some of your stuff on the ES forum when I was looking for stuff on Dawnstar. Though this was back in the day, anything you're written on that city could be cool for siting ruins or the like.

Thanks,
Steve
on the contrary this is real good. alas the lit forums seem to have petered out. and are a bit quiet these days.

As for the only critisim I can muster: I don't like the use of the word gush in regards to an army especially such a mighty army as that of Akavir. This is obviously only personal preferance but I figgured I'd voice it anyway. If you want to stick to the army/rampant flooding analogy I'd use the word surge. As i said, this is just me.

hahah seeing as how one word was my only critisism I'd say either A.) im a horrible critiquer or B.) you've done well for yourself.

I'll go for B.) because it hurts my ego less.
This is good, but unfortunately the idea for where it comes from has been pretty much made outdated by subsequent Black Marsh lore and it's about an area it's unlikely the Argonians know much about. This isn't a problem per se as this could be changed, but also there's only one volume, and clearly it was meant to be the first installment of a series, because it just cuts off in the middle of the narrative.

So unless Ocato comes back some time to finish the series, I think I have no choice put to archive this for now.