Forces of Umaril

The Auroran Forces of Umaril the Unfeathered were the Ayleid sorcerer-king Umaril's personal army of Auroran warriors given to him by the Daedric Prince Meridia. Due to the pact made between Umaril and Meridia, Umaril was allowed to use her Aurorans to further the efforts of the Ayleid Empire during the First Era. Eventually, however, Umaril and his forces, as well as the Ayleids, would be defeated by Alessia and her rebels, in particular the Divine Crusader Pelinal Whitestrake. In that conflict Umaril would be killed, but he would rise again years later, and gather to him his army of Aurorans once more. But he would again be defeated by a Divine Crusader, this time the eponymous Hero of Kvatch, along with his Knights of the Nine, bringing a final end to both Umaril and his forces.
==History==
The Daedric Forces of Umaril were composed of the Daedric warriors known as Aurorans, servants of Meridia. When exactly Umaril made his legendary pact with Meridia, granting him the immortal life of a Daedra, is unknown. What is known is that, as part of the deal, Umaril was also given command of Aurorans as well. Umaril used these in furthering the interests of the Ayleid Empire which he jointly ruled with the other Ayleid kings.
===The Fall of White Gold Tower===
As Alessia's Rebellion grew and became a much more significant threat, Umaril watched as one individual in particular, the legendary Pelinal Whitestrake, caused havoc and destruction within the bounds of the Ayleids. Using armor and weapons blessed by the Gods, Pelinal seemed invincible. Eventually, Umaril called out Pelinal to a duel in White-Gold Tower, the Ayleid capital.
When Pelinal arrived, Umaril chose trickery over honor, and he sent hordes of Aurorans to kill Pelinal. Using his Crusader's Relics, though, Pelinal would not fall. But the Aurorans did their job, weakening Pelinal, and even causing him to bleed. With this advantage, Umaril finally faced Pelinal, but the Crusader's fury was unmatched, and Umaril too was slain. Whatever Aurorans that may have been left were killed when Alessia's forces overwhelmed White-Gold Tower, finally turning the war against the Ayleids. Defeated and bereft of their leader, the Aurorans presumably returned to Meridia's Realm after being reborn from the Waters of Oblivion.
===Auroran Crisis===
But Umaril was not truly dead. His pact with Meridia allowed his soul to be recycled much like a Daedra's. In time, he regained his body, where and how is unknown. He did immediately prepared to take his revenge on humanity, starting with the Gods that had given Pelinal the weapons to defeat him. Umaril set out to destroy the Church of the Nine Divines. Gathering his Aurorans once more, Umaril set up base in the westernmost of the old Ayleid outposts, Garlas Malatar, and prepared for attack.
The first salvo came in the form of an attack on the Great Chapel of Dibella in Anvil. A group of Aurorans silently entered the chapel and slaughtered every member of the staff. Using the blood of their victims, they wrote in bloody runes around the main altar: "By the eternal power of Umaril, the mortal gods shall be cast down."
By the same unknown means as their entrance, the Aurorans left the chapel to be discovered soon afterwards, raising all manner of suspicion. The faith in the Nine Divines had been shaken, and Umaril's plan had gone into effect.
The next attack was launched on Bravil in a similar manner. The Great Chapel of Mara was attacked and desecrated, all the staffers killed, further shaking the Church. By this time, however, another player had entered the arena. The Hero of Kvatch, famed champion of the Oblivion Crisis, had taken up a quest to recover the lost Relics of the Crusader, the weapons and armor of Pelinal Whitestrake. Whether Umaril knew of this or not is unclear, but it is possible that the next attack was launched on Leyawiin's chapel as a means of killing the Hero, who had succeeded in recovering two Relics already. This attack would be foiled by the Hero, though, the first major setback for Umaril and his forces in the Crisis.
The Aurorans would lay low for a long while following this defeat, giving the Hero ample time to gather the remaining Relics, as well as reorganize the old holy order of the Knights of the Nine. When next Umaril's forces attacked in Cheydinhal, it was surely a means of stopping the Hero from reconsecrating the final Relic, the Sword of the Crusader. The Hero defeated the Aurorans set against him and reconsecrated the Sword, finally reuniting all the Relics.
The next attack would come not from the Aurorans, but from the Knights of the Nine. Finally ready to move against Umaril, the Knights gathered outside Garlas Malatar and launched their attack. In the Battle of Garlas Malatar, the Knights and the Aurorans finally clashed head on, with the Hero, now also the new Divine Crusader, leading the charge. In the second level of Garlas Malatar, the Hero destroyed the Dark Orb, a mysterious stone that gave the Aurorans the power of regeneration. When at last the Hero came face to face with Umaril, the two dueled just as Umaril and Pelinal had long ago. In this battle, the Hero was equipped with one more Relic, the Blessing of Talos, which allowed him to follow Umaril to a spirit plane after death. There the Hero destroyed Umaril's spirit, ensuring that he, and his Aurorans, would never rise again.
==Weapons and abilities==
The Aurorans under Umaril's command were well armed and equipped. Hidden within protective Ayleid armors, no one knew what their faces truly looked like. Umaril also equipped them with powerful Ayleid battleaxes charged with lightning magic. The Aurorans themselves were magically powerful as well, utilizing a lightning spell called "Mortal Light." Alone the Aurorans were deadly, in groups they could be devastating.
Umaril's army was also allowed unique powers in the way of teleportation. By some means, the Aurorans were able to infiltrate locations without at all being detected, and left in much the same manner. No evidence exists as to how they do this, exactly, though the secret may lay with yet another mystery: The regenerative abilities of the Aurorans.
During the Battle of Garlas Malatar, the Aurorans demonstrated the ability to resurrect themselves after death via a mysterious Dark Orb. The origins of this Orb are unknown, possibly it is a piece of Ayleid magic utilized by Umaril, or a gift from Meridia, mimicking the Daedra's immortality in the mortal plane, thus allowing the Aurorans to return to Umaril without having to revive within Meridia's Realm.
==Trivia==
*Umaril's Aurorans make their debut in the Knights of the Nine expansion, introducing a new type of humanoid Daedra, as well as expanding more on the personage of Meridia.
*Following the end of the Knights of the Nine questline, Aurorans can still be found in Garlas Malatar, with several more filling Umaril's throne room.
==Appearances==
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==Sources==
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Category:Knights of the Nine: Factions