Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20150715181657/@comment-3293219-20150716105505

The Imperial City
Veranus' dreams were shattered by the barking voice of the Sergeant, who was insistently bawling at his subordinates to wake up and get out of bed early. It was strange, because they weren't due up for another hour or so yet but the Sergeant did seem persistent about it.

"C'mon, c'mon! Everyone up on your feet and in uniform, on the double!"

The young and inexperienced Imperial Guard quickly found himself doing as he was told, without question, too startled from the fact that he had just been ripped from the realm of sleep by the Sergeant's booming voice.

"Sir... Couldn't it wait a moment?" One of the less intelligent or perhaps more foolhardy guards slurred, quickly finding himself under the Sergeant's heated gaze.

"If you wanted more sleep, you should have gone to sleep earlier, rather than spending all night chasing skirts. Either way, this is important, the Emperor himself wishes to address you sorry sons of bitches and I don't wish to insult him by presenting him a legion of slouching bed heads with messy armour.

Now get your armour on and report downstairs for inspection in five minutes."

With that the Sergeant left them, giving them little to no choice but to get their armour on as quickly as possible, hoping that their helmets would cover their bed hair...

"D-Did I 'ear that rioght?" One of the older guards groaned, one of the few who wasn't afraid of the Sergeant, due to the fact that he knew that there was no chance of ever being promoted out of this place and that he had nothing else but this job in his life anyway, getting a few more minutes in bed was worth the risk of being bollocked or even fired.

"Izzzz... d'Emperor 'ere?"

Veranus ignored the old duffer and got to work on his armour, when the Sergeant said five minutes, he meant it...

Around thirty Imperial Guards were summoned to a chamber beneath the Imperial Tower, they stood in lines of ten each, filling the chamber as they awaited for an audience with the Emperor.

They had been stood there for at least two hours, waiting for the Emperor or anyone to arrive and give them some direction. Many of the Legionairies started to talk among themselves as they found themselves to be growing impatient and a little nervous about the Emperor's lateness...

Was this some sort of practical joke?

"Veranus?" One of the guards whispered from behind him, prompting him to turn his head slightly as he got a better look, he saw that it was a younger guard, from a different district, who he knew on first name terms, from when they trained together, a few years back.

"You heard from Talin?"

"No... Not since he was taken, last week..."

"You still don't know why yet?" The Young Guard asked, finding himself to be a little concerned over the Guardsman's safety. Nobody spoke about him anymore, it was like he had been errased from existance, though few were close to Talin and he distanced himself it was still a concern to them that a guardsman could vanish into thin air, without anyone questioning it.

"Corruption... Or something... I'm not sure, that was all I got out of Casca." Veranus replied, in a hurried whisper, glancing back over to the stage as he listened to the droaning around him before continuing.

"I think he's in the prison district..."

"What? The Dungeon? Isn't that where they take traitors? Death row people? Life sentencers?"

"Yeah..." Veranus whispered, turning back to face the front, he did not sound comfortable with that thought.

"I'm going to go and pay it a visit tonight, see if I can get any information from the guards there... I..."

"Shut up, it's the Emperor!" A voice hissed at him as everyone fell silent and Emperor Uriel Septim himself stepped out before the guardsmen, waving his hands in response to their unanimous salute.

He stood up to the podium and looked down at his guardsmen, as if he was inspecting every one of them from afar.

"My people, my Kin!" He began, his voice was quite booming as was Septim's voice, the passionate cries of the leader of an expanding Empire.

"The Gods have shown me our future and they favor us, they tell us that we stand at the dawn of a new age. An Age of prosperity for the Imperial Empire, they promise us a united world; they promise that we may finally establish a firm hold on the other provinces.” As he spoke, the other Imperials were confused as to how they should react, they didn’t feel like this speech was intended for them but, then again, many of them began to feel a little more prideful.

“However, even with the Gods’ blessings, we must all do our part… We will need the Empire’s best people at its disposition and today, that is you.

Therefore I am promoting you all to a new rank, a rank that will bring terror to any disloyal fiend that stands in our way!” The Guards erupted into applause, with the exception of a few sceptics like Veranus, who wondered what they had done to earn such a ‘promotion.’

They were all competent men but none of them were guard captain material or agent material either…

Something seemed strange…



“I will ensure that you receive everything that you need, to become the best that you are able. I will make you stronger, faster and heighten your reflexes! You will be the feared vanguard of the Imperial Legion; your enemies will run in terror as they see you approach!” He went on, resulting in most of the troops cheering, most of them, with the exception of Veranus. It sounded like they were being promoted to Blades, the Blades were the most valued warriors in the Legion but on some level, the young Imperial got the feeling that that wasn’t what he was talking about.

He then looked around as he saw the large doors to the chamber close behind him, the servants that closed them began to pull furiously at the drapes, covering a large artefact on the far side of the room.

They pulled the cloth back to reveal four large crystals, planted in each of the four corners of the room that were slowly beginning to pulsate with a green aura…

Veranus looked back to the center stage, seeing that the Emperor’s hands also had the same Aura as he brought them up to his podium…

The Imperial turned back and tried to push his way through the cheering guardsmen, desperate to flee the room before it was too late…

It was then that he saw that the crystals were now at their full power, charging up to maximum capacity, illuminating the room with an almost blinding green light.

Veranus turned back to see that Uriel Septim was now raising his glowing hands up to his face, staring down at the power that resonated between his fingertips as a dark, malicious grin slowly crept across his face and he turned his attention back to the guardsmen.

“So let it be said, that your sacrifices be the key to this victory!” He concluded, smashing his hands together, like he was encasing the room full of guards inside them. As he did so, the crystals create a small bubble of green energy, which kept the guardsmen trapped inside, all of which began to panic, some of them yelling in outrage, others babbling in confusion and some even screaming in fear as they were trapped under the glowing dome…



The Imperials felt a strange feeling overwhelm them, an immense dizziness, with a great deal of minor discomfort. It was incredibly strange, like they were being roasted inside an oven but without the heat and it wasn’t just their corporeal form that was suffering but their souls as well. They could feel themselves growing enraged, finding the sudden desire to lash out as they grew more enraged and frightened.

Veranus felt its affects to, though he was somewhat ready for them, so he was able to fight it off a little better. He glanced up to the Podium to see the Emperor, orchestrating this horrid affliction on his own people, that wicked grin as if he took pleasure from it, that murderous glint in his eye…

<p class="MsoNormal">A heavy wind swept through the chamber, blowing the emperor’s robes and hair wildly as he cast the spell. Veranus looked back to his friend to see him shrieking, writhing on the floor as he felt the corruption torment his very soul.

<p class="MsoNormal">It was then that Veranus felt his very organs shift as an immense amount of pain shot through his body, causing him to stumble back as he wrapped his arms around it and doubled over, screaming out some more as he felt like his ribs were being crushed from the inside.

<p class="MsoNormal">He looked over to the Emperor, hoping that this was some sort of test, that it would be over soon, he’d even accept this as a practical joke if it just ended soon but the Emperor proved to be relentless and uncaring, keeping up his assault on their being as he continued to watch for the desired effects…

<p class="MsoNormal">It was then that Veranus felt a great deal of pain in his face, his mouth and nose, specifically as he felt his teeth stretch, growing into monstrous fangs and his nose twist and inflate as it was twisted into a snout.

<p class="MsoNormal">The Imperial doubled over and cried out a beastly scream as he saw claws tear out of his hands, like they were tearing through a thin piece of fabric as he and his comrades mutated into beasts…

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">Tharn watched from afar, more than delighted with the results, however, his victory was short lived as a Nord Warrior wandered in behind him, stopping to attention as she did so…

<p class="MsoNormal">“Your Excellency…

<p class="MsoNormal">We have a problem…”