Edesil the explorer.

By Erka


"So did I ever tell you about when I was on commander Flavonius ship back in my navy days?" Cairn asked soulfully looking into his nearly empty glass of Alinor wine.
"No, I believe you didnt, and neither have I heard of this Flavonius commander", Foryn answered truthfully. So are you going to tell me?
"Sure, but first another glass of this splendid beverage." Just a minute, he said and waved at the barkeep.

The atmosphere at the Counts Steak was as lively and crowded as any other Middas night. And so it wasnt long before half a dozen regulars were gathered around the table to hear what olŽ man Cairn had to say. A good story was always appreciated.

"So as I was saying, when I served aboard the Sliver in the southern Abecean, there often came up stories from the old days, spread mouth to mouth by all kinds of sailors through the years. I heard a particularly interesting one when we were docked in some port in the western Summerset. Sitting at some bar just like this one actually," Cairn said and gestured around. "I dont believe I ever retold the story before so youŽll have to excuse me if something sounds extra odd."

The crowd was high with anticipation now and most of the chatting from the nearby tables had also ceased.

"Many years ago, a high elf named Edesil had heard a rumour of the Thras. Or the Maormer, who were supposed to live on islands in the southern ocean. Adventurous as he was, Edesil wanted to be the first elf to make a complete map of the supposed kingdom. For after researching for two years, he found out little else than that Thras, or Pyandonea was a crescent shaped formation of isles an unknown distand south of the Summerset Isles where he himself lived. How large the group of isles were, he did not know."

Cairn took a pause and sipped on his wine.

"However, Edesil was determined to find out more, and gathered eleven of his closest friends. And suggested that they went on an expedition. So one year later the group had a ship with all sorts of supplies ready. And set of shore in the middle of the summer. They were all good sailors, and rumour has it they only knew good wheather the first five weeks of sailing."

"That is guar heaps!" a young energetic wood elf in the crowd interrupted. "The southern ocean has never had five weeks strait of sunshine around midsummer. It is known for extreme tropical storms around that time!" But a dozen of angry looks from the rest of the listeners made him shut up.

"And after five weeks," Cairn continued as if he had never been interrupted," the first land was sighted. This was however the uninhabited island of Drambad halfway to Thras, which I actually visited in my youth. Commander Flavonius had gotten the mission to put a border monument between Pyandonea and Tamriel on the middle of the island, you see. So in a way, I have been in Pyandonea."

"Wait a minute! the woodelf cried out. Why do you keep switching between calling it Pyandonea and Thras?! And how can you say you have been in Pyandonea when you dont even know if the rulers of the kingdom know about this "border monument"?" Now people were realy losing temper with this annoying guy, and a nord even whispered; 
"One more comment and your head goes in the fireplace." Which made the woodelf quiet once again.

"Anyway, Edesil and his followers didnt stay long on the Island," Cairn proceeded again. "They only measured its size, placed it on the expedition map, and kept sailing, and after another five weeks, land was becoming visible again, but this time different than Drambad. In the ship logg, Edesil described the land from the distant as a large "bent" island stretching from the southwest to the northeast, forming a huge bay which seemed extremly deep in the middle. Two days later, Edesil wrote that the land was infact two very big islands and a large amount of smaller ones surrounding them. And very early on in his logg, he noted how largely the tidal water must affect these islands seeing as how they were very low, and not at all wide from the northwestern side to the southeastern. There were no hills on the horizon in any direction. And on the fourth day after land was initially spotted, (due to the wind Edesil had to cruise against land, and weird underwater currents seemed to be present as well) the expedition members could finally land on the beaches of Pyandonea." 

Cairn emptied his glass of Alinor wine for the fourth time this evening.

"Ahh, im realy tired. So IŽll get to the point of the story. Edesil spent a few months on the Islands, learning about it and drawing maps as he went. He also got to know the local population quite well, but unfortunetly he was determined to be remembered as the one who put Pyandonea on the map. And in his documentations he mainly focuses on the geography of the island. Which is very much *hick* useless to us today, as the latest expeditions show that the island has changed shape dramatically. Likely becouse of underwater vulcanos, the Islands are entirely made out of coral you see. However, that doesnt explain the infamous "sinking of Thras", my theory on that is simply that it was high tide at the time of the observation and that all of Thras actually completely submerges at certain phases of the moons. Im not some kind of astronomy fetcher, but IŽve seen and heard alot in my *hick* days. And that theory there seemed the most believable when I first heard it."

"Yeah, right. So you claim that the destroying of Thras by the All Flags Navy never actually happened?!" the woodelf took word for the third (and final) time this evening. "Imperial propaganda? a massive coverup? the empire fooled us all? What actually happened was that the lunar lorkhans decided to shove some water over Thras that particular time when Tamrielians visited", the soon to be thrown in the river woodelf continued. "And I guess you explain the thrasian plague by that talking mudcrabs brainwashed by Akatosh mixed poison in the local wells? I CAN TELL YOU ALL THAT".... A nord and an argonian grabbed the widegapped woodelf in his hands and feet. And cheered on by the rest of the bar they stomped him down in a barrel which they put lid on and rolled out of the door and into the wide river running in the middle of town just outside the tavern door.
"Please proceed Cairn," Foryn laughed as the noise from the woodelf disapeared farther and farther away.

"Uh, where was I? Oh, right. What we do know is that Edesil saw the population of Thras as equals, the longer he stayed in Thras the more he started to count himself as one of them. And he in time probably overexaggerated the similarities betwen altmer and maormer. In his early notes on the Thrasian population he calls them highly skilled seamen, and sophisticated merchants with a hierarchy built around wine. And furthermore, wine was also used as...
"Wine?" Foryn interrupted looking sceptical.
"Oh, yes please. I was getting thirsty," Cairn said waving around his empty glass again.
"No," Foryn smiled patiently. I mean that you just said that the Thrasian population had a hierarchy based on wine.
"Ah, right. I meant boots, bots. BOATS! were very important. And note that Edesil never used the word sload when he described the population of Pyandonea. But again, I dont *burp* know alot about what Edensil thought of the Maormer. As the man were mostly about drawing them... umm maps. And finally about what Edensil left behind, the man who told me this story didnt know whatever happened to the extremly detailed maps that Edesil suposedly drew, but my guess is that they are archived in some elven *hick* bigshots treasury, and that if you go deep enough underwater those maps are still accurate. And that, umm concludes the story about the first man, euhm elf to put Thras on a map." 

The crowd was very impressed, it seemed plausable. But when was the last time olŽ Cairn ever told a non-fictional story? And how to explain all the loose ends of the story? There seemed to be alot more to it, but that the man was simply too tired and drunk to go through it all in detail.

"Thats quite the story," Foryn said sensing that Cairn wasnt going to be awake much longer this evening. But he wanted to ask some questions before the storyteller fell asleep. "I just have a few questions," Foryn began.

But olŽ man Cairn was already asleep.