Bandit's, Taxes and Family... pg 14

"Kurdan, have you given a thought to how your charter is going to read?" Marcurio's voice reached me as we rounded a bend in the road.

"Charter? I'm afraid I don't understand."

"How is the Stronghold going to be set up, the charter needs to be written so that the Jarl knows what kind of holding you have. Think of it like a contract, which it is, the Jarl's part is the selling of the land and anything you are entitled to. Your part tells him what kind of holding you are looking at. A mining operation, farm, family holding, village... that kind of thing."

I motioned Shyla to a stop and watched the commotion going on at the palisade that crossed the road. From the looks of things, a group of Chiss were taking exception to the bandits in the fort. The others lined up beside me, with Marcurio on my right and Navitas on the far left, Shaimar between us.

"Hmmm well, I would rather be a village, if we have to put anything." I shaded my eye's with my hand and realized it wasn't a two-way fight, but a three-way. " To get more Orcs to come I know it will have to be set up more like the strongholds they know, but I think a Tribunal and as the Stronghold gets larger then add in counselors, so the people have a say.  But why is all this necessary?" I turned Shyla back down the road and headed for a shallow water crossing, no point in being attacked from three different sides.

"Taxes.", I looked  over  at Marcurio

"What? Taxes?!  Why?"

"Well, depending on how your charter is written is how the Jarl will expect you to pay taxes. Obviously, a Mine is a business, and a farm is also, but taxed differently. A Village is set up so taxes depend on individual people."

I grumbled to myself, I could not remember our Chief paying taxes, but then again He held the stronghold through might, constantly at war from without and within. I wanted our stronghold to be strong, stronger than those of "traditional" Orcs.

A bandit jumped out from behind a boulder and I relaxedly drew my sword and kneed Shyla towards the man, one slice of my greatsword and his head was rolling back down the hill we had just climbed up. Shaimar and Navitas, off their horses, ran past and took out two more bandits, while a spike of Ice took out the last. We looted the bodies and left them to rot, the scavengers would feast well.

Once we were back on our way to Markarth, I thought of the courier that had intercepted us on our way back with Urag Gro-Shub's books. The Fort one of the books had been in had been infested with Necromancers, the other with Bandits, neither was much of a challenge. I re-opened the letter that my Heart-Mother had sent.

Son of my Heart, Kurdan,

 We are just arrived in Markarth, your Heart-Mother had a mishap in the mountains and we had to make camp until she could be moved. A hunter found us a cart that we pulled until we bought a horse from a traveler. Your Mother is healing as well as my skills allow. We will camp here until we hear from you and you can arrange transport to the house of your friends.

 We are safe and out of the weather, our hunters and guards have all said that they wish to stay. That is they are all young and wish to join your Stronghold. They think you are not only strong but wise and will test you to see what each one of them thinks is most important. Do not lose your temper with them or treat them as children and that includes your Brother.

Keenya Gra-Olar



I folded it back up as we turned a corner in the road. My Heart-Mother, was never the most physical of females, often having given up her share of food for siblings and children. I urged Shyla into a fast jogging walk, a gate that would allow her to speed past the miles, while not exhausting herself, I did not wish to stop early.

We camped that night on a cliff overlooking the valley that lead down to Solitude and the Sea of Ghosts. I watched the fae lights sweep across the sea, ever-changing and I thought about the best way to get my Birth-Mother to the Cliff house.  It would have to be the long way around, via Iverstead, the shorter mountain trail would be much too steep and narrow for a cart or wagon.

I hear the swish of the tent flap being pulled back and the soft hissing sound of leather on grass and then a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't brood, you will give yourself a headache. Your Heart-Mother would have said if it had been worse, something as simple as a twisted ankle could make trekking up and down mountains impossible for one the age of you Birth-Mother"  I patted Shaimar's hand, she was correct, but I was still going to worry.

"Shaimar, I would ask a favor of you. As the only one of us born in Skyrim, could you lead my Family to the Cliff house?  I need to return those books to Urag and see if he has any further information. I would prefer to do so myself, but it will take a very long time to get there and I need the information."  She seemed to hesitate and frowned. " I am trusting you with my Birth-Mother and my Heart-Mother, it is no easy thing for me, but I have much to do. It will take twice as long if I have to make a huge circle of Skyrim." she looked startled, then frowned.

"Oh no I was hesitating because Navitas is the better warrior, but you are right, I know Skyrim better. I would be honored to take your family to the House and show the hunters the best places to hunt and perhaps take a trip to the area that you want the Stronghold to be in."

"Thank you Shaimar, It will still be a few days to get to Markarth, so we have time to discuss where the Stronghold will be and what may be needed in the way of supplies, but really we won't know until we see who it there." With that I said goodnight and went to get as much sleep as I could, I felt I would need it.

Three days later we crested a hill and could see Markarth a short ways off. As we hit the bridge I saw a gangling figure of a half-grown Orc male wave, then run to the Khajiit camp, less than five minutes later the figure came running back and this time stopped at the edge of the bridge, but I could see Orc's come out of the tents, It was not a Khajiit camp, but my family.

The Storm Break's on a New Day pg 13

I woke to the feel of a hand snaking down my chest towards my dagger, when it was almost at my hip, I reached up and grabbed and found a wrist, which I twisted and pulled across me as hard as I could, sending the person flying over me. The female screech told me I may have made a tactical error in flinging her. Marcurio lit up the tent with a spell and we all sat up to see Shaimar rolling to her stomach and trying to climb out of our baggage.

I exclaimed "What the..." as she got to her knee's, took one look at the three of us watching her and went a very dark green.  I could see it in her eye's, she was going to bolt, I yelled "Marc!", figuring he knew a spell that might stop her, but he launched himself at her and held her tight when she started wiggling and bucking.

 Navitas crawled over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Sister, stop, your making it very...err difficult on Marc." noticing the strain on his face. "What where you doing?" Shaimar started sobbing, huge gulping sobs that were heart wrenching to hear.

" I  I thou..ght if I pleased him, he would ma..make me his fir..first Wife, not you." I closed my eye's and thought hard for a moment, but Navitas beat me to it.

"Now who said I was going to marry Kurdan? Who said he wanted to marry me in the first place? Hmm?" Well it's not the direction I would have went, but it was a good one. I crawled over so that I could sit next to Marc on the opposite side as Navitas.

"Shaimar, it will be year's before I even think to marry, the Stronghold must be built, self-sufficient  and all those with-in know that they are as important as I. The women know that they can marry as they choose, any male they choose and have children. The men to know the same and that they don't need to challenge to be Chief to do so. If I marry right away, it will look like I want the same things I left."

I put my hand on her chin and lifted her face.

" Never be shammed because you think you have to do the thing's your mother said.. that tradition dictates. I will take a wife, IF that is what you want after you do some growing and know your own mind, then I would not be ashamed to call you wife. That is year's from now and I think you need to quit squirming on Marc's lap or he may think your interested."  I had seen that Marc was biting the inside of his cheek and his face getting more and more strained.

Shaimar fairly leaped off Marc's lap and sat beside Navitas. " Urag said that he thought I should follow my heart to what I want to be the most." She looked at Navitas, "and that is to be like you, but I..well I don't think I could be a single warrior among men."  Navitas shook her head.

"Oh, Sister. You must not have understood, I have two Heart-Sister's  that would love you. When they get back, we will talk about you joining us, IF you want to." Shaimar tilted her head and had a very contemplative look on her face.

"I do not understand exactly what it is you mean by Heart-Sister, if they are not of your clan?" Navitas shook her head.

"Azul is an Imperial, Nic is a Bosmer, they went to the Imperial City to see if they could find a cure for the Vampirism that Azul caught. Then they may go to Valenwood to visit Nic's family. We started out in the same Imperial training company and have been together through vampire hunts, bounty hunting and many other things. We decided that if my mate can't except them, not necessarily as wife, but as Sister and the same for their perspective mates, then we would not marry." Shaimar's smile lit the tent.

"This is what I want, yes to have a family that Love's me for me, not because of my body proportions."  I coughed and got their attention.

"That is one of the thing's that I want in my Stronghold, the ability for everyone to do as they wish, not as tradition dictates. The only thing traditional I want is the Strength, Honor and sense of self that the Stronghold's give. Our people are strong, but they will not stay so, not with our strongest women leaving and sometimes it isn't the strongest male that win's, but the one with the most cunning."

" Our crafting skill's are among the best and highly sought after. But how many of our best smith's never return to a Stronghold? They don't want to be one wife among many, but they want children, so we call them "City Orc's" and all in the Stronghold's think them weak. I do not think City Orc's are weak and I think we will prove to the other Strongholds that "tradition" has many faces"

"For now Ladies and Gentleman, I think sleep is in order. Marc, I think it's your watch, wake me in three hours and I'll take over." He nodded and understood, I knew it would be a while before he'd get back to sleep, I had been in that state before.


The storm lasted another two days and in that time we went over the notes that we had written, reading them to each other, Navitas or Marc taking notes. Each of us coming up with idea's that would work with the concept that I wanted in a Stronghold. Tradition, tempered with innovation, Strength with honor and compassion. How we would go about making ourselves even more self reliant that most "traditional" Strongholds, they had blind spot's, that we would open to the light and chase the cobweb's out of.

I knew I had chosen rightly, having Marc along, having him as a core member of our Stronghold. Having Navitas and her Heart-Sister's was one of the most important thing's that I will work towards. I knew i needed the kind's of people that could do the thing's that a town or village could do. That was one of the major problem's with the "Traditional" Strongholds, the touted being self-reliant but had to get food-stuff's and cloth from outside. We would change that.

The Calm Before the Storm pg 12

We sold our loot in Windhelm and then got word of a bounty on the road to Winterhold, so we bought what supplies we might need and headed out. Some Bandits had taken over a Fort that was left with just a bare crew, because of the Civil War. When we got there we found some Chiss had already taken out the bandits. We had been hired to clear the fort and it really didn't matter who was in it.

It was a very hard-fought battle and even though we cleared the Fort, we were all wounded pretty badly. Marcurio healed Navitas but gave the rest of us potions, she was the least wounded and went off to find the Imperial camp that was close by and have them come and re-occupy the Fort.

Shaimar, Marcurio, and I piled the Chiss bodies on a pyre and Marcurio made sure it burned so that nothing was left but ashes. What Imperial bodies we found, we covered with tarps and took to the cellar so that they might be identified and sent back to their relations.

I set one of the room's up as a bathing room, using a huge mead vat as a tub, we built a fire that would stay well below the water line and melted blocks of Ice that we used the horses to skid in. When it was nice and hot, Shalimar tried it out first and then Marcurio and I.. changed out the water for when Navitas came back and she was more than thrilled to take a hot bath in the warm room.

We left early the next morning after getting the bounty paid off by the Captain that took over the Fort. It was still a couple days' ride to Winterhold. The ride to Winterhold was pretty uneventful after that, a couple Snow Bear's, that Marcurio threw calm at and one close flyby of a dragon, who decided that something along the coast was more interesting.

An Elf woman stood at the gate to the College and said that I could not pass unless I had something to offer the College. I told the woman I didn't know any spells and as far as I knew had no magic at all. I told her all I wanted was to speak to the Librarian and that if I could not go to him, could she leave a message with him to come to us at the Inn?

The next thing I knew Marcurio was pushing past the four of us, the Elf took one look at him and went, "Oh, the Orcs are with you?" Marcurio said yes, but that it shouldn't matter, it was a college, not a coven, unless they had changed over the years. The woman's skin went a darker gold, which I guess was the way Altmer blushed.

We followed Marcurio through the college grounds like a pack of wolves, some of the students flattening themselves against the wall as we passed by. I looked at one of the frightened students and smiled at her in reassurance, but she made a sound of a frightened mouse and fled in the opposite direction. Marcurio stopped and looked at us, he grinned like a fool, but in a firm tone said that we probably shouldn't smile at the children.

We got to the Library and talked to Urag Gro-Shub who had much to tell us when I finished explaining what it was that I wanted. Shaimar had a very contemplative look on her face, she asked Urag many questions as he walked around gathering some books. He was very patient with her and answered everything. When he was done walking about he set the book's on the counter and said that these were all he had on our people.

We were not allowed to take them out of the Library, Navitas, Marcurio and I spent the next week reading the books and taking notes. Shaimar sat next to Urag and asked many more questions, when she was not asking him questions, he would ask her questions, which lead to her asking more. I think she learned as much about our people now, as we learned about our people's cultures and how each differed and each was similar.

Urag asked us if we could do him a favor and collect some books that had been "borrowed" and not returned, we could send them back by courier if we had no plans to come back soon. He would write to the Librarian in The Imperial City and ask if they had any further information about Orc culture. We agreed and set off the next morning to retrieve some books, the payment, and information, which was priceless.

We traveled the coastline and had made it a day past Dawnstar, with Solitude still two or three days away, when Marc said we needed to make camp early and gather as much firewood as possible. He pointed out to sea, and I noticed the waves, grey heavy looking and rolling in huge swells beyond the breaks, but the sky was a clear blue, the wind almost non-existent.

I shook my head but then noticed a thin line blacker than the water, a thin blur on the horizon. It got bigger as I looked. We headed at a faster pace up to the tree line, where I could see some large boulders above the highest of water lines. When we got there I could see they were just large enough for both tents to be set up. After stripping the packs and saddles off two of the horses, I gave some direction to get us all moving.

"Navitas, take the horses back to the spring we saw I think if you go a bit upland, it will flow faster and be clear. Shaimar go with her but see if you can use your bow and get us some fresh meat, we have a lot of dried stuff, but fresh will go over better. Marc, you and I will set the tents, first let's dig a pit and line it with some of those stones."

 Marc and I set to and got the fire pit dug and set the tent's up to face each other with the pit in the middle. Both sides of the tents were close to the boulders, but one side was far enough off to get the horses through one at a time. After thinking about it, Marc set up a privy in the horse's tent, as we had not put the floor down, he also put up a ward to keep the top of the overlapping tent canopy's from burning as we had put in half log's first and you could see the flames spread out along the ward.

The women came back with water and a deer, which would hold us through the worst of the storm with fresh meat, the storm would supply some water, even if it had a slight salt tang. We were all set, after that, we threw sand up against the ends of the tents and then some beach stones. Navitas and I then headed up with Shyla and quickly cut some of the tall grass, piling it in two canvas pieces then rolling it all up and placing it like a pack over her back. It would keep them for a day or so, hopefully, the storm would blow out before then.

We got Shyla into the tent and the final "wall" up between the tents,  just as the storm hit. We all hunkered down and I finally had a chance to ask Marc how he know about the storm. His mouth Quirked to the side and he said, " I would love to say magic, but truthfully, I spent time as ships mage as an apprentice. One of the things that I learned was the signs of a storm at sea, the bigger the storm, the longer one has to prepare or go around. On shore, it isn't exactly the same, but some of the signs are there."

We ate dinner and decided to sleep early, each of us taking turns keeping the fire going.