Lady Elenwen, the chief ambassador of the Aldmeri Dominion, now a warmongering general, led the way across the Iliac Bay. And she was still a bitch.
The Golden Fleet was behind her. But little could be seen from the wizard-made fog that seeped down from a place the Dominion sought to subjugate next: High Rock.
High Rock's defenders came into view like black phantoms through the fog and revealed their ships to be of Breton and Redguard design, they practically glided on the water.
Amongst them, were pirates who only now realised what it truly meant should the Fleet come to dominate their bountiful oceans. The Redguards were those who had fled Hammerfell for the safety of High Rock and Skyrim - they now wished to return the favour.
Bretons made up the bulk of the defenders, naturally, but found their number stunted due to political battles happening in their Province; two sides came to prominence:
Eastern High Rock merged beneath the banner of the Empire Loyalists - who sought to resurrect the Cyrodiilic Empire with the Emperor's seat instead placed in High Rock: These Loyalists made up almost all the Bretons in this Battle for the Bay.
The second side were the Independent States of High Rock - who bickered as much with themselves as they did the Empire Loyalists.
The battle unfolded as one would expect: The Bretons faced down the Fleet, ship to ship, Man to Mer, honourably; like a duel between the knights of yore, and so the Bretons were broken to bits as the Fleet had no time for such trivialities.
The Redguards struck swiftly before withdrawing and repeating the process again, again, and again, all to little avail: The Fleet's enchanted hulls were far too thick and their crew much too skilled from their previous battles. The pirates fled the moment they began to struggle.
But the tide began to turn when more ships arrived on the defenders rear. The defenders let out an almighty cheer when it was realised that those behind them were another fleet of Breton ships.
Until, suddenly, the tide turned back, and the cheers fell into silence. For when these Breton ships pierced the veil of the fog they revealed golden banners bearing a white eagle: The sigil of the Aldmeri Dominion.
This new fleet was from the Independent States of High Rock - who now revealed themselves as nought more than a scheme hatched by the Dominion to smash High Rock to bits before putting them back together in their own image. The States sought survival from the Dominion through subjugation to them; akin to their ancestors.
There was no chance of victory for the Empire's most loyal. But still, they bound their ships together with the Redguards and rammed their enemies; all until they sunk below the sea, singing a proud shanty as they did.
The fog fell away.
The Fleet caught its breath before being welcomed into High Rock by the Independent States, whose first order of business was to unify and urgently induct themselves into the ranks of the Aldmeri Dominion.
But the golden eyes did not then turn as far east as one might expect; not to the rest of High Rock, nor even Skyrim; but back into the Bay and upon the Isle of Balfiera: A great tower crowned it; a tower unable to be broken. None could near this Adamantine Tower without being swallowed by the sea.
None by ship anyway...
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The Second Great War - An Elder Scrolls Fanfiction
Fanfiction~4E202~ How strange it is for a single event to set off a chain of events that would change Nirn forever, for Provinces to be sent asunder, for Empires to fall, and for an entire continent to be set alight in the wake of war. Unlikely alliances...
