Anumaril Arana (Abagarlas)

Allegiances | * House Arana
 Heirs | * 1st: Malyon Arana

**Anumaril Arana** was King of Abagarlas under the Ayleid Empire. He was the father of Malyon and Naelor, the latter of which sired Aerel the Gryphon. Anumaril fought a war against King Cenedelin III of Delodiil during the First Era, ultimately leading to the butchering of every living soul in his capitol city at the hands of Cenedelin's armies. He would go on to create the Staff of Towers, and lead what remained of his people to the safety of Valenwood following the Ayleid Empire's defeat in the Alessian Slave Rebellion.

## Appearance and Character

Anumaril was well built and wore a square-cut beard. His eyes were sapphire blue, and his straight hair was a characteristically Ayleid silver. His skin tone was a deep olive, typical of his race. He was not especially muscular, but cut a powerful and imposing figure nonetheless, his magical prowess making up for what his body lacked.

Anumaril was a man of absolutes, a personality that extended into his style of rulership after he ascended to the throne, and even into his study of magic. While he excelled at necromantic magics among many other schools, what truly captivated him were the essential powers of Nirn, specifically that which related to time.

Like the majority of his race, King Anumaril was Alvarlic, worshipping the aedra as well as the Daedric Princes, chief among them Molag Bal.

## History

### War of the Shrine

The War of the Shrine began in 1E 239 when Anumaril built a great shrine to Molag Bal, and sent a raven to the neighboring King Cenedelin III of Delodiil, demanding he recognise the power and might of Molag Bal. Upon recieving a particularly venemous letter as a response, Anumaril called his banners and embarked upon a quasi-holy war. However, before departing, Molag Bal blessed Anumaril with the Mortuum Vivicus, a device, if unleashed, could destroy Cenedelin's armies for all time.

Anumaril left his eldest son and heir, Prince Malyon in command in Abagarlas, and had his wife, Queen Palolel, prepare the Mortuum Vivicus for its eventual use. With him he took his youngest son, Prince Naelor, so as to learn the art of warfare and battle. Anumaril mounted his gryphon, Eureus, and began his march to Delodiil.

King Cenedelin III was not ignorant of Anumaril's plans, and had empied his capitol of all its inhabitants, hiding them away and instead taking with him an army to the now sparecly defended city of Abagarlas, which he sieged and promptly exterminanted. Queen Palolel and Prince Malyon were both slain in the siege, as was Malyon's gryphon, Lelanos, and all the remaining Arana gryphons from their stable in Abagarlas. Cenedelin attempted to destroy the Mortuum Vivicus, but before he could it was summoned back to Coldharbour by Molag Bal.

Returning to Abagarlas Anumaril saw the travesty that befell his capitol, though Cenedelin's army had already begun their march back to Delodiil in victory. In a flight of rage, Anumaril commanded his forces enter the butchered city and look upon the carnage, and ordered the immediate march to strike at Cenedelin's moving host as vengence.

#### Battle of the Ford

Within a matter of days Anumaril and his son Naelor caught up to Cenedelin's host, falling upon them in a surprise assault. Together with Anumaril's powerful gryphon and their superior numbers, the Aranas rose victorious, slaying King Cenedelin and his son and heir, Prince Taegol. Cenedelin's second son, Lymis was not present at the battle, and instead returned to the hidden citizens of Delodiil, bringing them back to the city.

#### Aftermath of the War

After the Battle of the Ford, Anumaril regrouped his forces and marched onward to Delodiil only to find nothing where the city once stood, for unbeknownst to him King Cenedelin arranged a deal with the Daedric Prince Meridia to spirit away his city in the event of danger. Upon hearing of his father's demise, Prince Lymis called upon Meridia to make true upon her offer, resulting in the disappearance of the city of Delodiil and all its inhabitants. The fate of the city or of Lymis himself is as of the contemporary day unknown.

After seeing that the city had vanished, Anumaril preceded to sweep over the lands of Cenedelin's kingdom, conquering them and making them his vassals. He would later return to the dead city of Abagarlas for the next two years, during which he would create the famed Staff of Towers.

### Creation of the Staff of Towers

During the two years between the War of the Shrine and the Alessian Slave Rebellion, Anumaril laboured endlessly to construct his magnum opus, the Staff of Towers. Into this artefact he poured his rage and fierce intelligence. Rather than letting the butchering of his capitol at the hands of Cenedelin III eat away at his conscience, Anumaril used it as fuel for his research, pushing himself to new heights.

For months Anumaril shaped a staff capable of harnessing immense magics, and imbued it with all the power he was able. Upon its completion it would be named the Staff of Towers, but no sooner had it been assembled than Anumaril realised the terrible power he had unleashed into the world. Such was the staff's power that if it should fall into the wrong hands it could mark the end of Nirn, but a single misuse even from Anumaril himself could spell doom for all. In fear of what he had created, Anumaril shattered the staff into eight pieces. Seven of the pieces were given to trusted knights in his guard, known by posterity as White-Gold Knights. These trusted Ayleids would travel to the far reaches of Tamriel and protect their fragment of the staff, hiding it in the process. The eighth fragment was made in the image of the White-Gold Tower, and was carried on Anumaril's person until his death.

During this time, Anumaril's last surviving son Naelor scoured the slaughtered city and salvaged three gryphon eggs from the slaughtered Arana gryphon stable.

### Alessian Slave Rebellion

In the year 242 of the First Era, Alessia 'the Usurper Queen' began her slave revolt against the Ayleid Empire. Weakened by over a century of internal strife, the Ayleid kingdoms were in no position to mount an orderly counter-force to Alessia's liberated slaves. Though they promptly ended their internal wars and united against their common enemy, it was too late for the Ayleid kings to defend themselves, spending the whole war fighting defensive battles and losing many of them.

King Anumaril's new lands and holdings from the conquered kingdom of Delodiil made him one of the more powerful Ayleid kings in the Empire, and when the call to arms came he answered it without hesitation, dedicating his full force. He rallied his vassals, his last surviving child Naelor, and his gryphon Eureus, the last of the Arana gryphon stable, to meet with other Ayleid armies and face Alessia.

### Flight to Valenwood

After the defeat of the Ayleid Empire in 1E 243, Anumaril gathered what remained of his much diminished host and began a long march southward to Valenwood, just days ahead of their Nedic pursuers, in the hopes that the native Bosmer would give his people safe shelter.

King Anumaril's new host consisted mostly of his old army from Abagarlas which itself had been reduced in size due to the Slave Rebellion, as well as vassals and commoners from other Ayleid kings which had not survived the Rebellion. Of the two Arana gryphons, only Nereon survived, Naelor's mount.

The Bosmer (also known as Green-Sap elves), met Anumaril's host at the border of their great forest, and their King, Faldan I Camoran, welcomed the refugees into his land. King Faldan's only condition was that the Ayleids swore a pact not to dissonate the god Jephre's greensong. Desperate to have shelter from the race of Men that had stolen their homeland, all of Anumaril's host agreed to the terms laid out by the Bosmer.

The wood elves led the Ayleids deep into Valenwood and had them swear their oaths. All of the Ayleids followed through with their agreement and made their sacred oaths, save for King Anumaril and his children, whom all remained silent and unnoticed, not willing to be bound by such pacts.

After the ceremony Anumaril and his host were fully welcomed into Valenwood, and permitted to build themselves settlements within the forest's protection. Upon reaching the forest's borders, the Nedic pursuers from the newly formed Alessian Empire in Cyrodiil were quickly routed by the Bosmer. For them Valenwood was an unknown and mysterious forest, and a sure death sentence for any who would try to wander too far in. As such, Anumaril's host had finally found themselves a safe haven from the Nedes where they would be able to live peaceably.

### The Great Constructions of Anumaril

For one hundred years King Anumaril lived with his children and fellow Ayleids in the great forest of Valenwood. During this time he built several architectural wonders in an attempt to forge a new, lasting home for his people. These include, but are not limited to, the Reliquary of Stars, Belarata, and the Orrery of Elden Root.

#### The Reliquary of Stars

The Reliquary of Stars was constructed to serve as a great archive for the Ayleid survivors⁠—a place of knowledge and remembrance to serve as a place for all Ayleid refugees in Valenwood to unite around or contribute to.

The Reliquary included a large open-air garden in the centre of the massive complex, complete with a waterfall and flowing river, to incorporate Valenwood's natural and wild beauty in a place of great significance to the Ayleid survivors, in so doing lending an appreciation towards the forest they now called home. This massive garden also served as a place for the Arana gryphons to call home.

#### Belarata

Belarata was a relatively small architectural creation. What began as a religious site was later co-opted into serving as a Lord's hall after King Anumaril's death. With no Arana left to rule the Ayleids of Valenwood following Aerel's migration to the Summerset Archipelago, many such works of architecture were used for purposes which diverged from their original intention. Over the centuries Belarata too fell prey to this trend.

### Anumaril's Death & the Orrery of Elden Root

The greatest of King Anumaril's architectural wonders was the Orrery of Elden Root, a piece of construction that required his very life in order to be realised.

In the year 365 of the First Era, over a century after settling with his people in Valenwood, King Anumaril enacted a plan to transform the great forest into a permanent home for the Ayleid people, for them to rule over for millennia as they had Cyrod, creating a new Ayleid empire.

A private meeting was arranged between Anumaril, Naelor (who was oblivious to his father's plans), and King Faldan, the pretext of which was that Anumaril wished to gaze upon the 'Green-Sap' (a great walking graht-oak tree which at the time stood over the Bosmeri capitol of Elden Root). The good-natured Faldan never suspected what Anumaril was plotting, and thus agreed to the meeting, eager to show King Anumaril the beauty of the Green-Sap's intricate workings.

Deep within the Green-Sap was the 'Perchance Acorn', the beating heart of the graht-oak. Every walking graht-oak had its own Perchance Acorn, but for Anumaril the one in Green-Sap suited his needs, and also happened to be the most easily accessible by way of King Faldan.

Upon coming face-to-face with the Perchance Acorn, Anumaril unveiled the eighth fragment he had kept from his shattered Staff of Towers, the one fashioned in the image of the White-Gold Tower in Cyrod. He quickly moved it close to the Perchance Acorn, using the terrible power still humming from the staff fragment to transform the Acorn into a 'Definite Acorn', effectively grounding the moving graht-oak in the city of Elden Root permanently.

Before King Faldan had time to realise what was occurring, Anumaril channelled the staff fragment's great power into Green-Sap itself, attempting to transform the graht-oak tree into a new White-Gold Tower from which the his Ayleid people would be able to build their new empire in Valenwood. Into this task he poured all his concentration and magical prowess, using what little remained to keep Faldan at bay. Seconds grew into agonisingly long minutes, and Anumaril was no closer to realising the transformation. As much as he willed for Green-Sap to bend to his will, it would not, or could not. Not even the staff fragment, his focus for magical power, could empower his spells enough to alter the fundamental nature of the great tree.

Too late Anumaril realised that the fundamental differences between his Ayleid magics and those of Green-Sap would make what he was attempting an impossibility. Already drained of power, King Anumaril knew he had failed, and with the last of his might he ended his own life in a spectacular fashion, re-purposing his staff fragment to turn its power upon himself. Using its power he shaped his own bones into a great Mundus-machine that mirrored Nirn and its surrounding planets: an Orrery. Raw stone emerged from beneath Green-Sap, and without the help of artisans or stonemasons it morphed, shaping itself into brick walls, archways, and gates, which Anumaril used to entomb himself in his new form beneath the tree. Before his "body" became fully inanimate, Anumaril took his own heart and crystallised it, using it as both a key and source of power for the Orrery. His last act was to place the staff fragment into the arms of the Orrery, hiding it between the moons.

Even well into the contemporary age, the Orrery of Elden Root (the "corpse" of King Anumaril) contains great power. It is said that it's capable of revealing the "true nature" of any who activate it and step inside the contraption. In 2E 582 it was used by Queen Ayrenn I Arana of the Summerset Isles as part of a ceremony to prove to her then tenuous alliance, the First Aldmeri Dominion, that she was indeed worthy of sitting on the Ruby Throne of Cyrodiil. The Orrery was also used by King Anumaril's descendant, also called Anumaril (later known as King Anumaril II), who used it in the year 2E XXX for much the same purpose as Ayrenn and with the same favourable result.

Some of those who visit the Orrery of Elden Root claim to still hear the whispers of King Anumaril while in the central chamber.

### Aftermath

After King Anumaril had transformed himself into the Orrery, King Faldan I declared him dead and commanded his heir's death in retribution for his actions. Naelor's severed head was sent to his son, Aerel, as a warning—without words communicating that his family would not be tolerated in Valenwood any longer. Aerel and his sisters would remain in Valenwood for but a single year after their father and grandfather's death, ultimately setting sail from its shores toward the Summerset Archipelago where they would unite the two kingdoms of the land into a single realm and rule as their kings.

Some of the Ayleid survivors did not go with Aerel and opted instead to remain in Valenwood, though by then the welcoming disposition of the Bosmer had turned sour. Nevertheless, there remained a tentative calm between the two peoples, eased by the departure of the Aranas. Eventually the Ayleids that remained in Valenwood would effectively be interbred out of existence, diluting their blood with that of the Bosmer. Others were hunted down and butchered by roaming bands of Nedes from the Alessian Empire.

## Notes

1. ↑ The exact definition of a 'greensong' is unknown, though it can roughly be interpreted as the "sanctity of the forest" or other such things central to Bosmeri culture, possibly even referring to the Green Pact.
2. ↑ Some scholars believe that "hiding it between the moons" is metaphorical, and that he instead slipped it into a plane of Oblivion just before he "died" so that it would never be misused.