User:IceFireWarden/Remnantia For Zaida
Remembering the Fall of Zaida
When the Western Ta’dastanians birthed the Middle Dawn into the world as a result of breaking Akkrahz’s Cradle of Perpetuity, we referred to it as the Null Epoch―the (un)times we chronicled through drunken ingenuity and had to separate into defined periods (the Scholastic Age, the Enigmatic Age, and the Corruptive Age) in order to avoid the wrath of the dragon-gods who see no meaning in numbers.
It was during the Scholastic Age that our people attained true progression and freedom from the spiritual chains of the Dwemer that still bound us to simple thinking, and when we entered the Enigmatic Age this new sense of collective self led to the founding of several great societies. One of the greatest fiefdoms that rose in this age was Zaida, a realm we remember as having been the center of a prosperous and neighborly society constructed around intelligence, chivalry, honor, and self-respect; only the Kasuto Empire of ancient Pa’savaga, where the Sorcerer-Kings ruled, came remotely close to competing with its majesty. The island on which Zaida was built shared its name, and could have been found in the interstice between the northern waters of Yne and Slea while being south of Hrahn’s Isles.
Wondrous Zaida was the first of the old Nemeri fiefdoms to discover (and subsequently work with) brinesteel ore, which they smelted alongside a rare, subnautic, coral-like metal to create the strong alloy known as krakenium. Krakenium tools, armor, and weaponry (of which only a few intact pieces remain) is but an example of how the Zaida’hans―a society of warrior-priests and forge-mothers―pioneered our modern arts of manasmithing, martial arts, and shield warfare due to being a bastion of piety and learning. Perhaps it would be more accurate to describe the fief as a land of temples that inspired the construction of cities to connect them and not as a kingdom of interconnected towns defined by the cathedrals built inside them.
But like many of the positive things made by our ancestors, Zaida failed to outlive the brutal ticking of time and was deemed unfit to survive by the gods. Even I, as loving of my ancestors as I can be, am unclear as to how this catastrophe could have happened. Was it the result of the Cakaphon Gerentate’s growing degeneracy? Or the effects of a ritualistic spell gone wrong? Or can we attribute the event to the ‘slumbering cephalomer liches’ that continue to serve as a superstitious night-terror of our people? None one alive can say, sadly enough. But in the 1,570th year of the In’eslean Second Aeon (or 1E 2273 by the Ta’dastan reckoning) Zaida was ravaged by an earthquake so terrible it could be felt across the archipelago, and when the dust and rubble settled the once great fiefdom had been reduced to a pathetic scattering of islets and scarred survivors.
This small grouping of islets is called Val’zaida in modernity, which translates roughly into the Shards of Coralhall in the prime western tongue. Even now archaeologists and historians such as myself continue to scrutinize what little remains of the fascinatingly advanced ruins of the Zaida’han; in fact, only the ancient Kasuto shared Zaida’s structural aesthetic that harkens back to what westerners refer to as the ‘Aldmeri’ formulas the high elves are so obnoxiously in love with. The greatest piece of Zaida’han architecture that still exists today is the Gate of D’vei-Kan. D’vei-Kan, the ancient god of whirlpools and naval combat, was the son of the Dragon of Drowned-Time and one of the more important ateda in the Zaida’han pantheon, which is why the magnificent threshold was built at the northernmost point of Slea in order to connect the island to Zaida by a magically constructed bridge. But after the quakes the Gate remains tarnished, desolate, and alone.
Remembering the Slumbering Giants of Zaida
While the secrets of forging krakenium was lost to the Ek’kith (even though some smelter-witches and rogue elementalists would claim they know the technique), several other Zaida’han traditions and relics survived the destruction of their unlucky society. One that even the most uneducated child is in the know about is the Zaida’han Paragon, a type of manasmithed golem created through the use of archaic elementalism and salmancy. Humanoid in shape and designed to appear like towering ronin armed with all forms of armor, weaponry, or shields, these paragons served as diplomatic envoys and the last line of defense when Zaida had to deal with the other fiefdoms when it still stood. As of modern times though the paragons have become nothing more than ornaments of nature, and can be found submerged, entrenched, or overgrown by shrubbery across our microcontinent.
More ancestrally-devout Ek’kith refer to them as the slumbering golems for a reason, as the spectral cores that power them have long since run out of energy. And while there are a few reputable sightings of a still-active Paragon wandering the archipelago, I must tearfully admit I have failed to come across one. Is it truly possible to relight the spectral cores with their strange, aquatic flame? That is a secret I fear only the Aryus Occultists can share with me…
Oh, We Who Remember Zaida
(Transcription of an ancient epigraph found carved into a euclidean monument by the Gate of D’vei-Kan, in the Zaida’han dialect of High Ek’hi; Foreboding, but fulfilling)
"On the shores of Taifon, there we knelt down, aye, we who mourned, when we remembered Zaida.
Remind us, Sweet N'urnani, of the children of Laorghatu, who at the Death of the House said, 'Salt it, salt it, everso soulful to the ground.'
Sweet heir of Cakaphon, blood soon reaped by the root. Joyous thou shall be, as we gift back upon thee, all ye blessings bestowed upon us.
Gentle we shall be, as thy faithful neighbors, when we embrace yon spouse and elder kin, and take them to feast silently upon the waters.
Loving we shall be, as thy pious serfs, when we embrace yon youthful kin, and take them to play quietly by the sea.
For, aye, here we mourn. O' we who remember Zaida."
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