Fear and Loathing in Vvardenfell

A Job in Vvardenfell?

Reporting the news locally is a horrible affair. And it's not so much that it's horrible but that it's boring which in turn makes it horrible. It seems like the same 15 or 20 stories are recycled endlessly day after day. Bandits raid a caravan outside of town. Suspicions of vampires in the woods and hills around Skingrad. An illegal prostitution ring involving local merchants? The summoning of daedra from those unskilled and unlicensed to handle such things? And heaven forbid any levitating that occurs in the city; that's always a ticket straight to the town's dungeons with harsh punishment and torture for those lawbreakers. Hell, there is nothing to cover here and as a bored and curious reporter like myself, you tend to follow the stories. There are no stories in Skingrand -- or Cyrodiil -- in general.

I almost envy the reporters in Leyawiin or Anvil, those caught on the edges of the province where notable incidents are bound to bleed over the borders. Those cities caught between two opposing factions where something interesting might happen. I even envy the reporters in and around Bravil who get to report on the general sliminess of their own town. At least they can report on the rampant crime and the smell of feces that surely plagues that hellhole. Those in Leyawiin, wedged between Black Marsh and Elsweyr, might get the crazy story here and there. Hist trees, shifting sands and moons and such. Anvil probably has the random raider party from Hammerfell passing through occasionally. But Skingrad? Choral? Cheydinhal? The cities wedged in the safe center of Cyrodiil? Nothing.

I'm a reporter by trade and write for the local Skingrad Gazette. They're a subsidiary of the Cyrodillian General Times which disseminates general news from the local Cyrodillian cities to the rest of Tamriel, at least the parts sufficiently conquered by the empire that is. While what I specialize in is the local news, sometimes my news stories do make the jump from local news to province news, even if it is rare that events around Skingrad are notable enough to do so.

Recently it came to my attention of an opening for a reporter in Morrowind. And not just Morrowind I must stress, but Vvardenfell of all places: the hellish island wasteland that surrounds the prominent volcano of Red Mountain. I'm not sure what sort of news needs to be covered on Vvardenfell but the temptation to put in a transfer is there. Morrowind is the Wild West of the empire (and yes, it's in the east so nevermind the figure of speech) and would be an impressive change of scenery from the bland, green, tree-filled hell that is Skingrad and central Cyrodill in general. You know what? To hell with it. I'm writing a resume and sending if off tomorrow at daybreak. I can't wait to get the hell out of here.