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Blighter

A Blighter Mage and a Blighter Warrior.

Blighters were descendants of the original Aldmer. Their ship was lost in a storm on the way to Tamriel, and drifted to the fiery continent of Rieltam. They lived in Rieltam within the area known as Highcraft. They have dark red skin, and a skin disease that was a part of their genetics causes them to have black lips and circles around their eyes.

Blighters were a very hardy people. They had major resistances to disease, poison, and fire, but they were extremely weakened by frost magicks. Living in a volcanic area allowed them to learn a magicka spell known as Embyr Touch, which was a very powerful fire spell used to great effect in the War of the Two Heirs and the War of the Mer. Their skin was red because upon landing on Rieltam they settled near a volcano, now known as Death Mountain, and evolved to suit their new habitat.

The Blighters were the most savage of the people to inhabit Rieltam. All Blighter men were warriors and habitually wore armor as casually as the Imperials wore silks, wools, and linens. They were stockier than the Imperials, but not as bulky as the Nords.

The Blighters were close mouthed to the point of rudeness, which made trading with them extremely difficult. Many Imperial scholars reasoned that the harshness and bleakness of their homeland had in some way affected their character. It was not uncommon for a Blighter merchant to complete negotiations without ever speaking. They would examine the merchandise offered, lay a certain amount of gold on the table, and if the merchant objected, they would simply pick up their gold and depart. For many traders, haggling was more important than profit, which made it increasingly frustrating to deal with Blighters.

Blighters would not discuss their religious and political capital of Bli Locth, or even admit that it existed, and large portions of their uninhabitable country were absolutely forbidden to outsiders.

It was rumored that the Blighter population was much more extensive than the scanty numbers which inhabited the areas traveled by foreigners, and many Aensland have suspected the existence of vast Blighter cities lying in the southern mountains of the Highcraft Empire below the Gorth River.

Blighter women were kept closely confined and were never seen in public, not even the youngest female children. To many foreigners it had appeared that the Highcraft Empire was populated entirely by males. This was not the case, and travelers and merchants who were invited into a Blighter home were warned to not enter the portions of the house marked by black doors. To violate the sanctity of the women’s quarters in any Blighter home invited instant death.

The current King of Highcraft is Raut Sagur, who currently holds the empire in an iron grip, but is of questionable sanity.

History[]

Early Defeats[]

Little is known of the early millennia of these people. It appears that they separated from the main Aldmeri refugee ships took place at the end of the Elder Wilds, much later than the other separations of the various Aldmer.

Their first contact with the Aensland, as was always the case in those ancient times, was in the form of war. It was the Blighters who led the probing attacks against the Aensland and the other primitive races native to Rieltam during the early years of the First Era until the great Battle of the Rolling Hills which occurred in the eastern territories of the Aensland and which has been roughly dated to 1E 125. It was at that time that a massive Blighter penetration occurred. The decisive defeat of the Blighter at this battle quelled Blighter expansionism in the north until the time of King Karot Lak.

As relations between the Blighter and the Aensland normalized, trade between the two nations began, tentatively at first and with great suspicion on both sides, but gradually growing until the Mountain Caravan Route was established, more by custom than by any formal agreement between the two nations.

Expansionary Wars[]

It was in 1E 329 that the Kings of the two nations met at a great border encampment astride the Caravan Route to formalize what had simply grown out of the elven need to trade. Kings Ghwerig III of Pudereed and Lergrun Ray of Highcraft ultimately concluded the treaty that normalized relations between the two nations, and introduced a long period of peace and prosperity for both nations.

For several thousands of years after this the Blighters attempted and succeeded to penetrate the small kingdoms of Ailla and Krandia, but were steadfastly repulsed by the legendary warriors of the large kingdom of Rahad. In time, these hostilities were reduced sufficiently to allow the soldiers of Rahad to train the Blighter warriors in the use of elephant cavalry, and to allow minimal contact between the Blighters and the Djemso of Rahad.

In the Second Era, the Blighter hordes under Karot Lak moved through the mountain passes of the mountains in the northeastern regions of Highcraft and were joined by their subject peoples, the Aillans and Krandians, in the invasion of the Aensland territories. With the Aensland finally defeated at the Battle of Bhelliom, the victorious Blighters were able to confine the Aensland to their northern territories beside the Great Northern Sea.

Normalizing Relations[]

For a century following the invasion, there existed a state of virtual war along the borders of the Blighter and the Aensland. Skirmishes and ambushes between the opposing sides made those frontiers the most dangerous on all of Nirn.

Gradually, once again, relations began to normalize, and trade, though severely limited, resumed between the two opposing nations. Almost five hundred years were to pass; however, before Aensland merchants were allowed pass the border cities. Then, almost overnight, the Blighter quite suddenly became interested in extensive trade with Rahad and the Aensland.

Many people in these nations; however, have contended that these Blighters were in fact spies probing the other nations in preparation for another series of invasions. Both Aensland and Djemso spies did not witnessed any unusual military activity and the numbers of the Blighter in the border territories are so limited, that the rest of Highcraft is believed to be as sparsely populated, and it is believed that the Blighters could not launch a sustained two-fronted war against the two nations.

Culture and Society[]

Dress[]

Blighter men always wore armor. Their military attire consisted of mail-shirts that stretched to the knees, breastplates, pointed helmets, covered with a black surcoat to the midcalf, and substantial boots. All armor and clothing was painted red. Blighter warriors wielded big broadswords and maces during combat. During peacetime; however, Blighters wielded a shortsword, accompanied by a small amount of daggers. Some ornamentation on their helmets and surcoats indicates their rank.

Blighter women are always kept in harems. The clothing worn by the women was filmy and diaphanous.

Society[]

Blighter society was a military society and was rigidly organized, and divided into companies, battalions, regiments, and squads. All social rank was based on the individual's military rank. The society in the known part of the Blighter controlled lands on Rieltam did not resemble Blighter society anywhere else in their lands, and was used to imitate the Tamrielic societies. Bligher merchants were not all they seemed to be either. All of their merchants did spying on the side as well. The society in Bli Aksog was a complete imitation as well. Blighter merchants and soldiers were trained there to prepare for their missions into more civilized cultures. Slaves were forced to do all labor in this strict society.

The more populous cities of the Blighters were in their native lands, and foreigners were not allowed to visit them. These cities were actually the basic Blighter cities, or in other words, military posts.

Blighter men were allowed to have more than one wife, but no more than four. An easy way to advancement and promotion in Blighter society was to produce many children.

Other peoples, which are unknown to foreigners, were kept in strict isolation in the Blighter heartlands, where they cannot rebel without being almost instantly defeated. These peoples were quite primitive, and were often used as slaves. During the Death Wars on Rieltam, the Blighter made an effort to move a huge column of Blighters through the northern mountains to strike the Aensland territories, but the column started out too early and was overwhelmed by a spring blizzard in the mountains. If they had made it, the Aensland would have been conquered. There were literally millions of Blighters.

Bli Locth was the ceremonial and religious capital of the Blighters, and was the ultimate bastion of the Blighter on Rieltam. The Blighters were in charge, and the Kings of their subject races were subject to the King of the Blighter controlled territories. He gives the orders, which were conveyed across the empire by the Steel Mages who were not only mages, but priests of the Blighter religion as well. Large numbers of Steel Mages were quartered in Bli Locth, as well as the crack ceremonial divisions of the King of the Blighters. The largest temple to the Blighter gods was located in Bli Locth as well. It was hallowed by the fact that during the creation of the world, their gods had resided there.

Racial Characteristics[]

The Blighters were the most savage of the people to inhabit Rieltam. All Blighter men were warriors and habitually wore armor as casually as the Imperials wore silks, wools, and linens. They were stockier than the Imperials, but not as bulky as the Nords.

The Blighters were close mouthed to the point of rudeness, which made trading with them extremely difficult. Many Imperial scholars reasoned that the harshness and bleakness of their homeland had in some way affected their character. It was not uncommon for a Blighter merchant to complete negotiations without ever speaking. They would examine the merchandise offered, lay a certain amount of gold on the table, and if the merchant objected, they would simply pick up their gold and depart. For many traders, haggling was more important than profit, which made it increasingly frustrating to deal with Blighters.

Blighters would not discuss their religious and political capital of Bli Locth, or even admit that it existed, and large portions of their uninhabitable country were absolutely forbidden to outsiders.

It was rumored that the Blighter population was much more extensive than the scanty numbers which inhabited the areas traveled by foreigners, and many Aensland have suspected the existence of vast Blighter cities lying in the southern mountains of the Highcraft Empire below the Gorth River.

Blighter women were kept closely confined and were never seen in public, not even the youngest female children. To many foreigners it had appeared that the Highcraft Empire was populated entirely by males. This was not the case, and travelers and merchants who were invited into a Blighter home were warned to not enter the portions of the house marked by black doors. To violate the sanctity of the women’s quarters in any Blighter home invited instant death.

The current King of Highcraft is Raut Sagur, who currently holds the empire in an iron grip, but is of questionable sanity.

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