| “ | I'm not blind, not stupid. I've seen the mustering of the soldiers, the drafting of the citizes. No one explained to me what was going on at all and now when the enemy is practically at our doorstep they decide to tell me we are going to be attacked. | ” |
— Maira to Edrilor
|
Mairasse Varloroth (
- 
) is a Falmer noblewoman who served as Queen of Mereth. Her family was appointed to the throne by Arch-Curate Torvus Alatawen after the death of the Snow Prince and the extinction of the true royal family at the end of the First Atmoran-Falmer War. She held not real power in the country and was merely a figure-head, but she deeply cares for her people. This love is what drove her to accept the terrible deal with the Dwemer during the Second Atmoran-Falmer War, that led to thousands of her people being saved from slaughter at the hands of the Atmorans, but doomed them to a life of blind slavery at the hands of the Dwemer.
History[]
Backstory[]
Mairasse was born to King Malaeis Varloroth in the 1st Era. She was raised in luxury, but also in seclusion. The Varloroth royal family are nothing more than puppets to the theocratic rule of Arch-Curate Torvus. Kept in place due to tradition and necessity, they have no real power and are excluded from every decision made for the country. Malaeis had no qualms with this, he just enjoyed his luxuries and left things to Torvus. However, his daughter's compassion for her people move her to act in their best interests. She often escapes from the palace to move among the people and hear their concerns so that she can help them in whatever way she is able.
Ballad of the High King[]
The Falmer Genocide[]
Queen Maira in 1E 139
In 1E 139, Queen Mairasse was summoned by the Arch-Curate Torvus Alatawen to an assembly. Something like this was not often done, but due to tradition she had to be present. She went without knowing what it would be about, as the Chantry rarely told her anything of the matters of state.
When she arrived at the assembly, she was shocked to learn that it was about a threat to the nation of Mereth. A human noble by the name of Harald Word-Bringer was planning to invade. He blamed the Falmer for attacks against his people which they did not commit and used it to rile up the populace in his favor. Torvus' agents reported that he was successful in convincing a large portion of the humans to his cause, mainly due to his descent from the human hero Ysgramor. Arch-Paladin Udhellor Uremyn told the specifics of the invasion, how it was said to take place after summer and where the enemy would most likely attack. They did this not for the Queen's sake, but for the other important people present at the assembly. Mairasse hid her emotions during the meeting, but she noticed that her bodyguard Edrilor Alatawen had not been surprised by the news.
After the meeting, Mairasse confronted Edrilor. He revealed that he had known about the threat for quite some time. She felt greatly betrayed that he kept this from her, but he tried to excuse his behaviour as simply following his father's orders as the Arch-Curate had ordered him to keep it from her. That didn't help and she remained angry with him for some time. He had betrayed her trust and their relationship.
Queen Maira wanted to go into the city and see how the population was dealing with all the emergency edicts that came in as the day of the invasion drew nearer. Drafting of the citizens had begun, though at a reduced pace so as not to cause a panic. The two dressed in common clothes and mingled with the citizens. It was in a tavern that they learned that the border fortress of Gondorin had fallen to the Atmorans. The news began to spread like wildfire among the people, who were just now learning of the true threat of the humans. Edrilor had no idea how the commonfolk learned about this. Maira suspected that he was lying to her, but he managed to convince her that he didn't know anything.
People began to gather in the Chantry Plaza as the news brought about panic. The two of them followed and participated in the gathering. The people were demanding answers from the Chantry. Knight-Paladin Torwith Ranlen came out with his men and tried to quell the mob before it became a riot. He confirmed the attack and the fact that the humans had taken the fortress, but calmed the nerves of the people. He assured them that the Paladins would handle the threat and to trust in Auriel. As night came the citizens dispersed. Edrilor and Maira wishing to find out more about the attack, headed to the Paladin District of the city to see if they couldn't learn anything.
Edrilor was able to get a few details of the attack from his fellow paladins, learning that they had managed to evacuate a good deal of elves through the wayshrine before the keep fell. While investigating further, they ran into Torwith and another elf in one of the taverns close to the Order's fortress. They listened in on their conversation, learning that the elf he was with was a Half-Breed outsider and that both of them had been at the battle of Gondorin. When the two departed from the tavern, Edrilor and the queen followed them. Edrilor intercepted them and kept Torwith busy while Maira went to speak to the Half-Breed to learn more from the outsider. Maira wanted to know more about the war and their enemy, as she still knew so little about the humans. She asked the Half-Breed if a peaceful solution was an option, but he quickly shut down her idea as impossible. Crushed by the news, she let him go.
Edrilor continued to gather more information for the queen, which allowed him to regain her trust. When a Dwemer airship came to the city, she sent him to see what was going on. He returned to the palace to inform Maira of the Dwemer's reason for coming. They were offering protection for the Falmer people in their underground cities, as they had done during the last Falmer-Atmoran War. The envoy had brought with him a Falmer refugee that had been raised in one of the Dwemer cities. Intrigued by it, the Queen asked Edrilor to look into it.
In his investigation of the Dwemer, Edrilor was accosted by a Palace guard who apparently worked for the Deep Elves. He offered the Queen the opportunity to meet with them. Edrilor took this offer to Maira. She was surprised that the Dwemer had an agent inside the palace, but agreed that this was their best chance to have a dialogue with the Dwemer without the Chantry interfering. She told him to agree to the meeting and sent Edrilor to the guard to set it up.
While disguised as commoners, Edrilor and Mairasse went into the far side of the city to meet with the Dwemer. The guard that Edrilor had negotiated with welcomed them into a home. Inside it was sparsely decorated. On a couch sat the Dwemer that had come to the city as an envoy. It was surprising that he had made it back into the city after being forced out by the Chantry. The Dwemer claimed to have smuggled himself back into the city for this meeting. He beckoned Maira to sit on the couch opposite to him and had some snacks brought in to enjoy while they negotiated. She accepted courteously. The Knight-Paladin stood behind her, keeping an eye on the Dwemer. They talked for quite a while, exchanging pleasantries. Edrilor seemed fed up with the envoy. The Dwemer explained the deal that his people were offering the Falmer, to come to their underground cities to escape the Atmoran Invasion. Edrilor tried to argue about the safety that the underground provided when compared to Ilinhame, but Maira asked him to not be confrontational. The Dwemer assured them of the safety of the underground, as their cities had never been conquered. Maira asked about the specifics of the deal, which the envoy explained included the Falmer working off their life-debt to the Dwemer before being allowed to live as regular citizens. They were also concerned about how the Dwemer could evacuate the city. The Dwemer said that they would use their airships to bring the people out of Ilinhame. Maira agreed to the deal, but they would first need to manage to get allies within the city as the Arch-Curate would not allow them to side with the Dwemer. After her negotiations with the Dwemer Edrilor brought the Queen back to the palace before anyone discovered that they had slipped out.
Sometime later, they learned about the death of Edrilor's sister Yslenor. She had led part of the Falmer navy into battle against the Atmoran Companions in Lake Honnith as they tried to cross it, but had been unsuccessful in defeating them and the battle cost her her life. Their father Torvus was devastated by the news. Edrilor was shocked as well. Mairasse comforted him, the event helped to heal a bit of their former relationship.
Edrilor and Mairasee began to search for allies in order to circumvent the Arch-Curate's authority on the city. They gathered them in the Chantry and the Paladins, the two main powers within the city, so that they could work together with the Dwemer to evacuate Ilinhame. The humans were gathering a fleet to invade the island city. Torvus ordered martial law to finally be enforced. Any and all pretense of normally was gone from Ilinhame. Men and women were drafted into the army, but they were little more than a peasant militia. Torwith was promoted to Arch-Paladin following the death of Udhellor. The late Arch-Paladin had tried to take the fight to the humans, but his army was overwhelmed and he only managed to slow them down and take out a few of their numbers. Torwith was tasked with training the militia as best as they could given the short timespan, but while this did bolster the army's numbers well past the original the soldiers were of much lower quality. Because of the martial law, Maira and Edrilor were able to gather allies. Unfortunately, Edrilor was unable to convince Torwith to side with them. It had galvanized many within the Chantry and the Paladin Order, and some began to see that taking the Dwemer's deal was a preferable alternative to death at the hands of the Atmorans. Maira contacted the Dwemer and began to plan for the city's evacuation, but the Dwemer delayed the plans as it was difficult to amass a fleet of airships of such size.
It was in the second month of 1E 140 that the Atmorans finally invaded the city. As they were breaching the eastern harbor, Edrilor informed the Queen. She changed into armor and they headed together to the city streets with their supporters, seeking to gather as many civilians as possible for the evacuation. The humans broke through Paladin's Keep and began swarming into the city. They had no word from the Dwemer and Edrilor feared they may have abandoned them, but as the city began to burn a fleet of Dwemer airships appeared over the walls. They followed the fleet to its landing point in a park at the western section of the city.
Queen Maira and her supporters arrived in the western park with hundreds of people that they had managed to escort to safety thus far. She met with the Dwemer King and he assured her that they were here to help. Edrilor and his Paladins had protected Maira and the refugees as they crossed the city. Maira was much less pleasant than usual, given the current circumstances, but the Dwemer did not mind. King Tzovnak apologized for their delay and ordered his men to start rounding up the people into the airships. Edrilor saw that they had brought a small army with them and tried to get them to aid in defending the city, but they refused. The Falmer refugees were hesitant to go into the airships because of mistrust of the Dwemer. Mairasse address her people and assured them that this was their only chance to make it out of the city alive. That helped to ease some of the tension and the civilians began to board the airships. She asked Edrilor to keep bringing more people to the ships. He agreed, so long as she remained in the safety of the park. She tried to go with, but eventually relented. She kissed him for luck and they parted.
Eventually the ships began to fill up and King Tzovnak ordered them to depart. The Falmer were losing the battle and dying by the hundreds to the invaders. Mairasse tried to halt their departure until Edrilor could return with more refugees, but Tzonvak talked her down saying that there was no point in keeping the filled ships waiting for them. Eventually Edrilor did return leading the last group that he managed to save west towards the park where the fleet of Dwemer airships was. Unfortunately for him, he was followed by a group of humans led by Jarl Ivar Ilddrake. They had to fight them off, but managed to reach the park. At the park the Dwemer came to the aid the Falmer and helped fight off the humans as their airships began to take off. Edrilor was caught in the face with an attack from Ivar, which seriously injured him, but the Dwemer were able to force the humans to retreat. Mairasse came to Edrilor's aid and helped him aboard one of the last ships before they departed from the lost city.
Aftermath[]
With Maira's help, Edrilor Alatawen survived his injuries and was brought to the Dwemer city of Kagrenzel to the northeast. There the Dwemer brought them underground to refugee camps, where they cared for them and fed them. Unbeknownst to them, the food that they had been given was poisoned and they were slowly blinded from the mushroom concoctions. The life that awaited them was one of slavery with their betrayers.
Personality[]
Mairasse was raised a princess in luxury at the Ilinhame Palace, given every benefit that a crown princess should. However, she was not raised to be rule. She was taught all the traditions and customs she must adhere to, but never how to manage her realm. That is due to her being only a figure-head in the government. Despite this sheltered upbringing, she was a kind soul and humble at heart. She didn't see herself as better than others and her status as a false Queen only strengthened her humility. Even thought she doesn't hold any power, she has a deep love for her people and cares greatly about their well-being.
Trivia[]
- Mairasse's name translates roughly to Moon-Woman. With her as the last queen of the Falmer this contrasts with the first king being the Sun-Servant.
- Her clan name of Varloroth translates to Symbolic One in Falmeris, hinting at her family's status as purely figurehead rulers while also serving as a symbol for the Falmer people.
- Her father's name Malaeis translates to Affectionate One in Falmeris.
- Her grandfather's name Sercenath translates roughly Of the Earth, hinting at his low-born status and not being of royal blood.