[X] Plan: She Who Tempts
[ ] The Sharmat
How do you do justice to the glory of Sharmat? The true darkness and the king of dreams, one who saw the world for the farce it is and overcame the chains of false gods. Ever since you were a child, you were touched by ash and dream alike, and you knew that your life's meaning is to bring forth the awakening of the world.
[ ] Menzoberranzan Dunmer
Far below the proud land of Resdayn and the ever-smouldering volcano island of Vvardenfell, you were raised in the great Temple-City of Dagoth Uthol, he who in the Age of Third Siege¹ convinced thirty and three priests of false gods of Tribunal to accept the wisdom of Sharmath. You have taken well to his teachings, outwitting and outplaying every foe unwise enough to face you in debate or in battle, and by your fortieth name day you had assembled a reputation of one of the most devout worshippers of the Sixth Temple. Inspiring jealousy, contempt and hate, the Ashen Council² had bestowed upon you the rank of Herald - she who would bring the word of Sharmath to the unbelievers and heretics. As was tradition, everybody expected you to journey East, to hide among shadows of Resdayn and show your misguided brethren the wisdom of Dagoth Ur.
You, however, had chosen a different path.
[ ] The Conversion of Hyboria
With the Council's astounded blessing, you had ventured North, to the land of mountains and old gods. The land of Hyborea, also known as Skyrim, was as hostile to you as its people, but you were unrelenting in your devotion - for you knew that in your dreams, your Lord would always be with you.
You would spend the next seven decades converting the Northmen to your faith. You would appear in the Nords' dreams, tempting them with everything their hearts had desired. You would appear in their nightmares, weaponizing every fear they harbored in their hearts. You would send omens and leave signs, things meaningless to the uninitiated but surefire signs to those who communed with you. One by one, your faithful grew in number as their foes had their dreams carefully examined and probed for all the information there was for you to take.
They were artisans and peasants, nobles and commoners, warriors and wanderers, and the only thing that united them was faith. For years on end, you would gently and subtly fulfill their dreams, arranging for the misfortune of their foes and the prosperity of their kin, conviniently placing them in positions of power over the course of generations. No one had laid eyes on you in the waking world, but they knew of you - and they knew of Sharmath. Slowly but surely, worship had taken root in their hearts, carefully cultivated devotion creating the perfect soil for which you were to sow the seeds of destruction of Hyboria.
Until eventually, as the attention of Westerlands was preoccupied with yet another battle at Mordor's doorstep - and as your followers had numbered in the thousands, convinced in the divinity of Sharmath and your wisdom - you had begun your war.
On the night of summer solstice, your faithful had stormed the temples of Crom, Talos and Ysgramor - and though many had died, the priesthood of One-Eyed Raven was drowned in their own blood, their holy places desecrated and their survivors sacrificed to bring forth the Ashbound. Everywhere in Skyrim, you have guided followers to massacre those in power simultaneously - in Markarth and in Whiterun, in Solitude and Saarthal your faithful have killed jarls and priests and elders alike, paving the way for your rise to power. The dragon priests were strangled in their beds and executed in their sky temples, and you were there to take their holy masks and pillage the legacy of Labyrinthian³. The College of Winterhold was overtaken from within - and as treacherous students were indited into House Dagoth, you were there to crack open the minds of their teachers and mentors. The mighty Five Hundred Companions were brought low by the well-placed poison - and as they were lying contorted in agony, you were there to bestow upon them the blessing of Corprus⁴ and turn them into your personal honor guard.
And as Hyborea was reeling from your actions, cracked open and vulnerable, you were there to rise to the occasion. Appearing in person for the first time in seven decades, you have welcomed your followers in the burning remains of Whiterun - and there, as they crowned you and fell to their knees, you had dreamt the deepest, darkest dream you ever experienced.
Sharmath had communed with you that day. And once you woke up, you did so as Dagoth.
The twin plagues of Corprus and nightmares had rapidly desecrated the land, swelling your ranks with newly awakened and desperate. The Nords resisted, of course. The High King survived, and rallied his forces to defend Eastmarch against all your attacks. The famed Greybeards left their mountain to rend your forces asunder with Thu'um, the language of creation itself. The Cimmerians had thrown everything they had against you, elders and women and young taking up weapons against your forces.
And yet, it was not enough. Though you had to drown Eastmarch in bodies, you had personally broken the walls of Windhelm, slaying High King Hrogtar in battle and taking the Jagged Crown by yourself. Though the Greybeards had taken hundreds of your faithful down, even they could not use Thu'um forever, and one by one they had fallen to your might. And the Cimmerians? Well, their men and women had nothing to protect them from their dreams. You got creative with them.
No other polity of Westerlands could muster forces to intervene as you brought Hyborea further and further into darkness. Beset by dreams and disease, even your most fervent enemies had to accept your rule - and once the war was over, you had cemented yourself as the Witch-Queen of Whiterun.
Until the Overlord came.
1) Since its very inception, the civilization of Drow has been besieged by forces of Tribunal - the Living Gods Almalexia, Vivec and Sotha Sil. Though most of it begins and ends at vicious border clashes, on numerous occasions the Dunmer of Resdayn (accompanied by other Forces of Light) have led their forces to assault the very cities of Drow. Drow divide their calendar by these events, and right now their civilization exists in the Age of Fifth Siege.
2) The Ashen Council is the governing body of the worship of Dagoth Ur. Consisting of those who joined the great Sharmath in his dreams, its members are awarded the honorary title of Dagoth and the right to build their own city in the great Underdark.
3) The Labyrinthian is an ancient Nordic labyrinth, containing all the recorded knowledge of northern magical traditions dating back to the Shalidor, the First Archmage.
4) Corprus is an ash-based plague most commonly associated with Dagoth Ur and his worship. It makes the recipient nigh-invulnerable to physical damage and opens their minds to communion with Sharmath.
