 |
Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
Xan's Note: Some of the images are low quality, so sorry for that. Note that the images have an ear in the icons area, something that cannot be found in the final game.
Sinder Velvin's Note: The last five images were taken from the Official Daggerfall site (which unfortunately no longer exists). There were more images like these on the site, but unfortunately we don't have the others. If you happen to have them, we'd be grateful if you could also give them to us.
Spriggan
Location: Woodlands and rural areas of the Imperial Province of High Rock.
History: These reclusive creatures are considered by some scholars to be in the genus Ilyandi or part of the Sylphim or Faeries chain. They are all but immune to physical attack, in fact capable of gaining power from such offense.
Orc
Location: Everywhere, particularly the southern Wrothgarian mountains near Wayrest.
History: Universally reviled for their belligerence and savagery, orcs are particularly common in the Iliac Bat where they are rumored to be rebuilding their ancient capitol.
Centaur
Location: Forests and pastureland throughout the Bay.
History: Ancient and mysterious creatures, alternately worshipped and despised, centaurs are said to be followers of the Old Ways of Tamriel.
Scorpion
Location: The Alik’r Desert and the blighted Dak’fron of Hammerfell.
History: The Giant Scorpions are aggressive, intelligent hunters that have fallen like a plague in the Alik’r Desert. They avoid human settlements, but have killed many a lone traveler.
Ice Daedra, or Frost Daedra
Location: Oblivion.
History: Little is commonly known about the ice or frost daedra and its brethren. They are emissaries and assassins of the Daedra Princes of Oblivion and are as cold in their murders as the infernal mist that surrounds them.
Fire Daedra
Location: Oblivion.
History: Little is known about the fire daedra and its brethren. They seem to be most commonly used by their masters, the Daedra Princes of Oblivion, as agents of destruction in its least subtle form.
Vampire
Location: Everywhere.
History: Cruel, cunning, and immortal predators, vampires hunt the night, sometimes singly sometime in packs. To what degree they have infiltrated human society, spreading death and the dreaded disease vampirism, is best left unimagined.
Dreugh
Location: The Abecean Sea, the Iliac Bay, lakes and rivers.
History: The grotesque Dreugh is primarily an aquatic scavenger, though it does seem to have amphibian capacities. According to legend, the Dreugh are the cursed remnants of a once proud civilization.
Daedroth
Location: Oblivion.
History: Little is commonly known about Daedroth and its brethren. The Daedra Princes of Oblivion, who command the Daedroth, often employ them as guards or on simple assassinations when brute strength and fortitude is required.
Viewed from the salty air above the dark spires of Castle Daggerfall, the city of jutting gables and forked alleys resembles a hive of bees.
Daggerfall is one the three royal city-states on the Iliac Bay, that irregular blue border that separates the Imperial Province of High Rock from the Imperial Province of Hammerfell. Few other locations in the Empire of Tamriel have a longer history of warfare and rebellion. Rare a king of Iliac Bay who is completely loyal to his overlord the Emperor, but such a king ruled Daggerfall.
When King Lysandus of Daggerfall died during the senseless war of attrition with the city-state of Sentinel, the Emperor grieved for his friend and ally. Then, on a moonless night some months later, Lysandus returned. In his right hand he wielded a spectral blade and behind him followed a host of phantom soldiers who bellowed, like their lord, for revenge. The city and court trembled in fear as their finest warriors joined the infernal legion.
Even tonight is Daggerfall so haunted by her former wise and merciful king.
Far to the east of Daggerfall, where the Iliac Bay meets the mouth of the Bjoulsea River, lies the royal court of Wayrest. Beautiful and rich, Wayrest is a city of merchants. Flowers and gold and music fill her courtyards and bazaars.
Wayrest remained neutral in the recent war between Daggerfall and Sentinel, concerned with numerous threats to its well-being from within and without. The orcs of the Wrothgarian Mountains have made home in the foothills to the north of the kingdom while the heirs of Wayrest squabble and plot to claim the land of their elderly parents.
On the other site of Iliac Bay from Daggerfall, a jutting peninsula is home to the city-state of Sentinel. Sentinel is an exotic land where the air is rich with spices and the ruins of ancient Redguard fortresses occasionally pierce the modern city’s street.
From her jade-colored palace, Queen Akorithi rules the land and her dwindling household. Her husband was killed in the war with Daggerfall and her daughter has married the heir of Lysandus to ensure peace.
These kings and queens do not control all the power. The guildmasters, mages, Dark Brothers, witches, fairies, temple orders, knights, nobles and thieves of Iliac Bay vie for influence and control. Some of these groups are well-known, their motivations plain to all. Some are secret societies composed of inhuman creatures with alien intentions.
Power is the only truth to the people of Iliac Bay, and a few know that the balance will shortly be upset. An elusive primitive force hides somewhere in the Bay that will bring final victory to whomever finds it.
And where do you fit into all this? Daggerfall the adventure begins even before you begin the game. Character Generation allows you to create your background story in its entirety: the reason for you venturing to the Iliac Bay, your childhood friends and enemies, special training you have received, your personal fears and your secret dreams. Your character’s story is uniquely your own.
Your goals likewise are your own. Even more than a game, Daggerfall is an experience that rewards curiousity, experimentation, and idiosyncracies of the individual player.
Prepare Thyself...
|
|
