“ | I will serve you like the Blades have your predecessors, as your guard, shield, and sword. | ” |
— Caccian pledging his service to King Daric.
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Caccian Vulpin was an Imperial Blade. He was part of the reformed Blades in Skyrim and was responsible for the splitting of the faction into the Blades and the Dragonguard. When the Blades were ambushed and killed by the Legion he once again reformed them with the defected Penitus Oculatus agents, he acted as the Grandmaster before his untimely death.
Early Life[]
Caccian was born in Skyrim near Sky Haven Temple, in the Reach. He is the youngest member ever to be inducted into the Blades, back in 4E 201 when he was 11 years old. Although a skilled fighter, agent, and detective, he was inexperienced and rash. Believing Daric Lariat's claim as a descendant of Tiber Septim, he argued that the Blades should go protect their true Emperor. He was turned down by Delphine, who still believed they needed to serve the Dragonborn. However another veteran member told him that if he could go prove that Lariat was a Septim then a few of the Blades would support his claim to the throne. And so he headed to Shornhelm to prove just that.
RPs[]
Character Form[]
- Class: Warrior
- Skills: Master One-Handed, Expert Block/Heavy Armor, Adept Archery/Sneak/Speech
- Powers: Voice of the Emperor
- Equipment: Full Blades Armor, Blades Sword and Blades Shield.
Return of the Septim Dynasty I[]
Caccian rode into Shornhelm. He approached a guard and asked him which way Daric's castle was. The guard pointed to the palace, deeper into the city, however he told the imperial that Daric was out of town. Caccian reined in his horse, which he dubbed 'Canis'. He asked the guard to tell the king that he was here when he returned. He galloped down the streets to the palace. Caccian rode up the palace and hitched his horse. The palace guards looked down to him and approached. He raised his shield, showing that he was a Blade. He introduced himself and the guards backed off. He entered the palace and waited in the large entry way for King Daric. Later that afternoon Daric returned, he passed by the sleeping Blade and woke him. Caccian snapped awake and kneeled at Daric's feet right away. He introduced himself and told Daric of his mission to find out the truth about the king's heritage. He also offered his services to Daric. The king agreed and told Caccian to head to the palace's library to meet with the scholar that had helped Daric find out that Barenziah and Tiber Septim's child wasn't aborted. Caccian headed there right away to talk to the scholar and see the research and records. Caccian was overjoyed to be serving a real Septim, he, unlike the other Blades, believed in Daric even without evidence. He and the scholar copied the records and the research so the imperial could take it back to Sky Haven Temple to show the other Blades. After doing so he decided to attend Daric's meeting with his generals to guard the king. He was there when the assassin killed General Marcus right in front of everyone. He drew his sword a moment too late, but he followed the assassin out of the room. However, he decided not to follow any further and went back to Daric, asking if he was alright. Daric replied that he was and then the king ordered the guards to pursue the assassin, who was already long gone.
Caccian returned to Sky Haven Temple with the documents. The member that had asked him to go to Shornhelm applauded his work. He told Caccian that with this a good portion of the Blades would want to follow Daric, instead of the Dragonborn. He then had Caccian return to High Rock to tell King Daric the news, that he would soon have the Blades at his service. He arrived in two days and rushed to tell Daric, he asked one of the palace servants take him to the king. Daric was in his study, Caccian entered, after the king allowing it, and told him about what his superior in the Blades had told him. Daric told the Blade about the planned siege of Daggerfall, and asked him if he would come with him. Caccian agreed to follow the king as his bodyguard, and after that he left Daric's study. The following day Daric and his army, including Caccian, left for Daggerfall.
Caccian noticed a peculiar character that the king had brought along, who was in fact the assassin from before, and he decided to ask Daric who he was. Daric didn't tell him but he said to the Blade that he didn't trust the man and for him to keep an eye on him. When they arrived at the city Caccian awaited with Daric in the city's outskirts till its High King sent back a reply to the demand for surrender from Daric. When the messenger returned with a "no" and Kastus had given the signal that the city's defenses had been sabotaged the army charged towards the opened gates. Canis neighed frantically. He reined the stallion in, and pet it's mane. He than galloped fast towards the gate, he pulled his shield over his body to deflect the incoming arrows from the soldiers on the walls. During the battle, Caccian remained at Daric's side. He road through the streets fighting alongside the king, slashing Daggerfall's best down effortlessly from atop Canis. He dismounted, got up onto the wall, and peered out over the horizon at the sea, where he could see ships gathering. A guard came up at him and struck, he parried the attack and stabbed the guard through the belly. He returned to Daric and told him of the Imperial Navy ships he had seen approaching the city. Caccian marched up the streets to the palace. The guards were so shocked to see a lone soldier clad in Blades armor charging them down, that they were dead before they could react. He reached the top of the avenue when the Captain of the Guard and a contingent of his soldiers appeared, they demanded his surrender. The Blade marched up the street non-responsive. The guards charged, the Captain at the front. The captain brought his greatsword down on Caccian, who blocked it with his shield. He then and sliced the Captain's stomach. He stabbed forward with his blade, going right through a guard's defense. He blocked, disarmed, and slit the throat of the third. The remaining guards yelped and ran away. Caccian then went over to the Captain and put him out of his misery. The Blade then met up with Daric again and the king ordered him to come along as he led a group to the palace to confront the High King of Daggerfall and High Rock.
They entered the palace and fought their way through the High King's guards, who were no match for them as Ulfric Stormcloak was with them. They eventually made it to the throne room and Daric warned them to be ready for anything. Ulfric then shouted the doors open and they were then face to face with High King Arnand. Daric demanded, for one last time, for Arnand to surrender. Arnand declined. Caccian stared Arnand in the face, and tried to convince him but failed. Daric told the Blade to forget it and drew his weapon. The two sides all drew their weapons, and when Kastus appeared behind the High King of Daggerfall and High Rock and slit his throat the two groups charged at each other. Caccian cut down the guards, while protecting Daric. A soldier barged into the throne room to tell Daric that the city had been captured. Daric then tried to convince the guards to stand down as more fighting would be pointless. He was successful and the guards laid down their weapons. The soldier also told him about the Imperial army that Emperor Augustus was leading. Caccian urged Daric to remain out of the fight, as he could easily be killed in the confusion. The king agreed and headed to the city's walls to oversee the battle, Caccian followed him. From the wall he saw a Penitus Oculatus agent, who's armor identified him as a the commanding officer, pulling the Penitus Oculatus out of the fight. Caccian stroked his chin, interested. He had always taken an interest to the Blade's replacements, they obviously weren't as good as the Blades, because the Dark Brotherhood chopped up the last Mede with an army of them on his ship, but he respected them none the less. He decided that if he and that officer ever ended up on the same battlefield, he was not going to seek him out. The Blade backed away from the edge of the wall, heading to inform Daric of the Imperial's weakened flank. Daric gave orders to a General bellow to strike the retreating Imperial army at the flank, ending the battle in one final swoop.
Caccian approached the Penitus Ocutalus that had remained behind. He spoke to them, telling them how he was shocked they remained behind and how he was thankful that for some bizarre reason they left the battle. But he reminded them that they fought against them, and that King Daric would now decide their fate. The officer asked to see Daric, but Caccian told him to wait. Daric approached them and asked why the Penitus Oculatus have remained behind. The officer and Caccian ignored the question and kept bickering about which order was better, the Blades or the Penitus Oculatus. Daric calmed them down and asked the officer if he and his men would serve him. The officer said that it depended on if Daric was related to Tiber Septim or not. Caccian assured him that Daric was in fact a Septim, but the officer wasn't convinced. Daric then told him about his quest along with the scholar and said that once they returned to Shornhelm the Penitus were welcome to check all the records. Ortius agreed to follow Daric and the King welcomed him. Caccian asked Daric if it was a good idea to let known traitors join up with them. Daric waved the Blades' concerns off, as the Penitus had a valid reason to desert the Empire. Caccian asked what the King had in mind of the deserted Penitus Oculatus, Daric thought about turning them into his Honor Guard. Ortius then suggested that they take out Augustus first, both Caccian and Daric disliked the idea. They said that an assault on Cyrodiil would be suicide if the troops they currently had, they all agreed that they needed more allies before they could even think of doing something like that. While they were on their way to Shornhelm Caccian received a letter from a courier which mentioned that all the Blades that had left for High Rock were killed, they were ambushed by the Legion near Eastern High Rock and massacred.
Caccian was completely crushed, it had been his fault that those Blades were heading into High Rock. It was his fault that they had died. Daric gave him his condolences. He was now the Gradmaster of the Blades, as they had split up from the Skyrim Blades that were now calling themselves the Dragonguard. Caccian went with Daric back to Shornhelm. There he talked to the king and asked him to hear a proposal. The Blade wanted to make the former Penitus Oculatus agents into member of the Blades, to serve under him. Daric agreed to the idea but thought that Ortius would likely not approve. As Daric expected, when Caccian went to inform Ortius of what he king had decided the imperial was not happy and the two started to argue. After a few minutes Daric was able to calm them both down and got Ortius to agree to join the Blades, as Caccian's second in command. In the following day Caccian led the former Penitus agents out of Shornhelm and to an old Blades base in High Rock, Wind Talon Temple. There he fitted them all with Blades equipment, armor and weapons, and spent his time training them to effectively use their new equipment. However, Caccian was only grandmaster for a few weeks, as he soon died in a terrible accident. He was killed by some local wildlife and Ortius became the new Grandmaster of the Blades.
Legacy[]
Caccian is responsible for the separation of the Blades into two factions, the Blades that serve Darius Septim and the Dragonguard that serve the Dragonborn. He is also responsible for converting a group of former Penitus Oculatus agents into Blades. Even though he died young, he still left a big impact on Tamriel, namely the organizations he belonged to.
Trivia[]
- Caccian's name originally was Caecillius, but that was changed here after the person who RPed him quit during Part 1.
- Caccian is very tall for an Imperial. At first glance his height can get him confused with a Nord.