The Madmen of the Reach Summary . This book is a cultural treatise on the Forsworn of the Reach written by Imperial scholar Arrianus Arius , which casts them in a sympathetic light . The author also wrote the book " The Bear Of Markarth " , which again is sympathetic towards the Reachmen . Content . The " Madmen " of the Reach : A Cultural Treatise on the Forsworn byArrianus AriusImperial Scholar Since the legendary victory of Tiber Septim over the " barbarian natives " in the Battle of Old Hroldan , Imperial and Nord scholarship has cast the people of the Reach as little more than savages , prone to irrational fits of violence , worshipping old , heretical gods , and fetishizing beasts and nature spirits that any civilized person would best well avoid . In truth , these accounts are little more than " victor ' s essays , " a perspective narrowed by the Empire ' s constant strife with the ancient , proud people that lived in this land far before Tiber Septim walked the soil of Tamriel . In light of this , I hope to create a more complete , accurate , and fair assessment of a group that has long suffered under the role of " enemy , " " troublemakers , " and " them . " Let us begin with the Forsworn , the so - called " madmen " of the Reach . The Imperial Legion classifies them as little more than brigands , noting their constant raids and ambushes within the Hold . But none of their military reports asks the question of " why ? " If they were merely a group of bandits , surely they would be focused on acquiring gold and minimizing deaths among their own . But the opposite is true in Forsworn attacks . Large sums of coin are often left behind , and their fighters easily throw away their lives rather than risk capture by Imperial soldiers . It is this incongruity that led me to Markarth , the capital city of the Reach , in search of answers . There , I met one of the native peoples , an old woman who preferred to not be named in my writings . She told me of her family ' s long history . How she believes they originally came from High Rock , home of the Bretons ( which would explain the similar faces and stature of the two peoples ) . How the Nords came and took their lands , their gods , and their culture from them . When asked about the Forsworn , the old woman would say that they are the " real " men and women of the Reach : those that refused to give in to the Nords . Those that still practiced the ancient traditions that the rest of their people had abandoned in exchange for peace . In time , I was able to create trust with many more natives in my search that corroborated the old woman ' s story . By chance , one of them arranged a meeting between myself and what I thought was an elder member of his village . I was shocked to find that I was led to a camp , filled with the animal skulls , severed heads , and still beating hearts that I had read about from the military reports back in the Imperial City . There , I met Cortoran , a Forsworn , who seemed amused at the prospect of me writing down his story . Which I quote in full below : " You want to know who the Forsworn are ? We are the people who must pillage our own land . Burn our own ground . We are the scourge of the Nords . The axe that falls in the dark . The scream before the gods claim your soul . We are the true sons and daughters of the Reach . The spirits and hags have lived here from the beginning , and they are on our side . Go back . Go back and tell your Empire that we will have our own kingdom again . And on that day , we will be the ones burying your dead in a land that is no longer yours . "