Loremaster's Archive: Undaunted – A Life of Glory

Loremaster's Archive: Undaunted – A Life of Glory is part of the Loremaster's Archive series written by Lawrence Schick, the Loremaster of . This entry was published on 12/05/2014.
==Contents==
Today’s archive features a brief autobiography of Turuk Redclaws, a founder of the risk-taking, danger-seeking Undaunted. If you’ve ever wondered who could possibly help found such a guild, you’ll find some answers in his words, which we’re certain aren’t exaggerated.
Next time, we’ll feature a new lore book and answers to your questions about Dwemer-style armor by Kireth Vanos, renowned dungeon delver and researcher.
===Undaunted: A Life of Glory===
By Turuk Redclaws
There are those who choose to fight for honor and justice, some who bloody their swords for coin, and then there are ... others. Others who crave danger, like this one. When brothers and sisters still mewed and cowered under mother’s skirts, Turuk conquered the tallest shelf in the kitchen only to pounce on her head when came to bake the sugar biscuits. Since those early days of tiny, fiery courage, my exploits have become much more ambitious. As a founding member of the Undaunted, this one’s noteworthy accomplishments should be recorded, and how better to scribe them than with his own claws?
This one was never destined for the sugar fields, despite mama’s pleas. The thrill of risk and peril called, and brothers and sisters found joy in devising ever-greater dares—a practice that got your hero Redclaws in trouble more than a few times. The life of digging and planting and chopping could not match the rush of poking a sleeping Senche Tiger with a stick and running, or any of the other wild challenges that gave such a surge of excitement.
In the end, it was too much for my dearest mother to handle. It was not good for her poor heart, the constant worry over broken bones and similar minor consequences of budding heroism. She signed poor Turuk away to apprenticeship in the Fighters Guild as soon as they would allow. Happily, this turned out to be a reasonable arrangement for some time. With them, this one trained with many weapons and learned the basics of the adventuring life.
Alas, it was not long before boredom began yanking at the tail. The Fighters Guild had so many tedious rules and regulations, and took so much caution with jobs that they sucked the fun right out of any contract. “No, no, Turuk, you cannot take on a cave of frost trolls by yourself armed only with a butter knife; it is unwise.” “Turuk, you mustn’t run so much in the dungeon—there could be traps!” “Make sure to bring enough healing potions.” Bah! Milksop blubbering!
Armed with training and an insatiable hunger for greater danger, this one struck out on his own path, wandering Tamriel from Dune to Windhelm and chasing beasts from farmers’ legends and local rumor. No cave or ruin was too frightful, from nests of necromancers to the lairs of mighty beasts. These very claws ended Grush-grush, the deadliest Ogre known in the provinces, and dealt the final blow to Spinesnap, the giant snake that plagued the fields of Glenumbra and devoured goat and horse alike. The list goes on and on—perhaps this one shall write another volume just for these tales!
It was through these journeys that this one met a few others with the taste for taking on the greatest challenges without flinching or hesitation. Of these like-minded comrades, only Mighty Mordra and Kailstig the Axe could truly keep up. They knew of many dangerous locales, and we dared each other to challenges most deem utterly insane—take the naked dungeon run, for instance. Tales of our deeds began to spread, and others sought us out. The Undaunted were born.
===TURUK REDCLAWS ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS:===
I have a question in regards to the Undaunted guild—more specifically, the size of the guild. Is it true that the Undaunted was once a large guild with a membership rivaling that of the Fighters Guild and the Mages Guild combined? – Runs-In-Mud
Turuk Redclaws says, “This one does not know how many members the Fighters and Mages Guild boast, though Turuk has heard they possess a much higher retention of new recruits. Let them have it. Life is easier for mercenaries and lunatics in dresses. No offense to mercenaries and lunatics in dresses—the Undaunted have many of those.”
“As to your specific question, membership in the Undaunted waxes and wanes like the Moons. In fair weather, there is always a surge of interest from hot-blooded youth as well as the infirm. They come looking for adventure, or an honorable way to pass on, and come in droves, perhaps because the Fighters Guild won’t accept the very old or very young. But the Undaunted are happy to oblige them, and in early Rain’s Hand, Turuk personally vouches for dozens of recruits who pass their initial trials. Then, as the year marches on, those numbers are eviscerated by Tamriel’s dark depths. Unfortunate, but it is in those depths that true Undaunted are forged.”
“Turuk’s friend Talisse just pointed out that Turuk still hasn’t answered your question. That one thinks she is so great. Looking around Turuk sees—give Turuk a moment to count. Turuk sees five. Five Undaunted. Turuk never counts the rest as alive until he confirms it with his eyes. Is that more or less than the combined might of the Fighters and Mages Guild? Turuk may never know.”
“It occurs to Turuk perhaps this would have been a better question for Mighty Mordra, who keeps a superior headcount.”
Since I first met you, you’ve taught me several helpful things. But I still feel that there is more I could learn from you. Some sort of ultimate knowledge, a technique perhaps, that would help my allies and me while we investigate Tamriel’s dungeons. Have you thought about letting us into such a secret someday? – Larenia Moonshine
Turuk Redclaws says, “Turuk would like to say that he remembers the illustrious Lady Moonshine, but Turuk lives in taverns and sadly does not. He hopes you were not one of the ones he taught Blood Altar construction to while under the influence of drink. Those poor souls will spend the rest of their lives wishing they could forget that night and Turuk is still picking hideous crust out of his ears.”
“As for new techniques, the Undaunted are forever refining their skills, but it is difficult to improve on the basics. It sounds like you have learned everything the Undaunted have to teach. Except, perhaps, that success in the depths isn’t about techniques. It’s not even about the weapons you carry into battle. It’s about shrewdness. Yours, and your friends’.”
“Besides, you already know how to make a Blood Altar. What more do you need? The Blood Altar fixes all of Turuk’s problems. It’s becoming an issue.”
What is the normal attrition rate for new bloods within the Undaunted? – Kii-Nam
Turuk says, “Turuk believes he has answered this question in some form or another before, but he has had plenty of moon sugar tonight. The Undaunted recruit new bloods often. There have been a great many of them. Sva ‘The Saw’ Crenshaw, Severio ‘the Full Nelsonius’ Nelsonius, Lex Pilper—so many of them were here and are absent now (Turuk swears he has non-Imperial comrades who have passed on, but he can’t remember them).”
“Many ask Turuk when he says this, ‘Why then, do we never see them?’ They are around us, always. In Turuk’s heart. They are dead, but they are there.”
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