Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-14011542-20131009214425/@comment-50.159.208.49-20141129162048

(I think this story might be longer than I expected)

Name: Voyevoda (Russian for Warlord)

Race: Nord

Age: 20

Jefferson Maksim was born to a Nord family in Windhelm in the year 4E 181. His mother, Vori Blackthorn, worked as a barkeeper and his father, Sven Maksim was a carpenter who was an expert in martial arts, who also served in the Imperial legion in the Great War, more than likely being a member of the Dark Brotherhood as well. His parents met in 4E 179-180 when Vori was still only 15 and Sven worked for Vori's family as a woodcutter. He asked Vori's father for permission to court her firstly, and he accepted. They began a relationship which bore a child, named Jefferson, and the couple broke off in the year 4E 183, when they had moved to the small village of Riverwood.

Vori worked very hard, as a barkeeper, at The Bannered Mare in the nearby hold capital of Whiterun in order to help her child have a decent life. They lived in a time that if you were to worship Talos, you would either be taken away to a Thalmor prison or you would be executed right then and there. And the Thalmor would always be looking for those who DID worship him, as this was strictly forbidden due to the White-Gold Concordat. Now, when Sven went away to Windhelm, Vori and Jefferson did not know that he had secretly signed up for the Stormcloak Rebellion. When he went to the war, he spent 8 years there and became a hardened man.

When he arrived back, Jefferson was now 10 years old. Sven visited them that year, 4E 191. Vori was very relieved to finally have Jefferson's father back, and decided to celebrate by having a small dinner together. However, it just so happened that that particular day, Riverwood got the news that the Stormcloaks had decided to begin a full-on war on the Imperial Legion and the Dominion. Sven decided to go back to war, fighting the Dominion for what he thought was right.

While on patrol one night near Riften, Sven and his entire company of Stormcloaks were ambushed by Imperial agents. Only about 7 of them survived, this including Sven. They all ran through the forest until they got to what they thought was safety, but this was a plot to decimate the group. The remaining Stormcloaks were killed. But Sven had somehow, by the grace of Kynareth, slipped away.

The news arrived back to Jefferson and Vori, and they were extremely saddened. They would never see the father again, and they would also never know how he must've felt or how he even died. But they didn't know how Sven had somehow survived the slaughtering, how he had escaped with only some injuries. But they went on with life, accepting the loss.

During his 14th year, Jefferson began courting his best friend, Fjori Ebonhand who he'd taken a liking to. This culminated in them going out of the town and spending time with each other. They'd kiss each other and talk about things they liked to do. Anything that came up in conversation they would make an entire conversation about. Fjori was his closest friend besides another teenager named Crescius Eudoxius.

When Jefferson was 17, he was gifted a steel sword by his mother. The sword itself had been forged in the Skyforge by Kodlak Whitemane upon request by Jefferson's mother. He practiced with it for hours on end, whether it be on small creatures (he made sure they were things that one would consider annoyances and wished away), with Riverwood's town guard, making sure not to harm them, or sometimes even with Crescius himself. As so, the Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, who had only recently ascended to this position, asked of him to clear out a giant camp near the city walls, as he was known as one of the best swordsman in the hold, rivaling even some of the seasoned guards in Whiterun.

He would lead some of the guards there and defeat the 2 giants in that camp, which was considered a bit of a danger. So he went to the camp, defeating the first one. Jefferson retreived some things from the giant, such as the toe to prove he killed the giant, and some gold just because he liked to collect things from the things he killed. The second one was a bit of a trifle, though, killing almost half of the guards before he fell. He again retreived the toe and a dagger from that giant. They went back to Whiterun, to collect their prize. They did that, and Jefferson arrived back in Riverwood.

He found several Thalmor agents there. He walked to one and asked; "What brings you here, sir?" "I am a Thalmor Justiciar. I am on official business here, and you are interfering with it.", he replied. Jefferson simply walked off. He walked into his house and saw another Thalmor agent questioning her. "Where is he?" "Hmm?" "The one who worships TALOS." The word came out with such a disgust that Jefferson cringed a bit. "I have not heard of anyone that did worship him... I mean, most of everyone in town's custom would normally be to worship Talos because we're Nords, but I haven't seen anyone actually do that."

There had, however, been a couple of people who had just arrived in town who seemed suspiciously like they could've been being hunted for being a worshipper. But Vori kept quiet, for she did not want to betray her own people for a small reason such as that. The Thalmor stayed there for a little longer, and then promptly left. Jefferson decided to just go to the sawmill outside his house, to chop wood by the woodblock. It was good work for him, keeping him strong like a Nord should be, and it was a decently profitable job for him.

He had collected about 50 pounds of firewood, and was carrying it to the mill so he could give it to the operator for his Septims, when he heard screams from the center of the town. He ran toward it, and he saw that most of the people who came through the town were being led off or if they resisted, were killed. They had found out about the people, and that they also indeed worshipped Talos. So they were killed in various ways if they ran.

Mostly beheading, but some got a sword through their skull or were electrocuted (tortured with electricity until death by a lightning spell). Vori had lied about the people, but she had slipped away to the edge of town, at her house. Jefferson walked around the gruesome scene and they did not care, since he was only a kid. He got to the house, walked in, and started to say "Mother, what's happeni-" She put a hand on his mouth, and said "Shh. Say no more. Don't worry about this, just know they died quickly, and that it does not matter any longer. Do not stop anywhere, only just go to Windhelm. Your father had some good friends there who will protect you. I do not know where in the city they are, but ask for them. They'll keep you safe there, they are the only people that can be trusted. You may be hunted for this, so know that you may considered a criminal in the future because you fled from this scene and you did not tell them about the people. So go. And Talos be with you, my son. I love you..." she hugged Jefferson, and he was off. He started on the road hurriedly, and so his suspicious appearance alerted the Thalmor.

They came to question him, and the one who questioned his mother said to him "I know you... You're the son of one of the civilians who lied. Your lack of cooperation has resulted in your arrest as well as your mother. You shall follow me to that carriage." Jefferson did not take lightly to this, so he suddenly drew his sword and stabbed the man. He fell to the ground saying "You shall not forget this..." and died. The others charged him and used magic against him as well, so he fought them and killed most of them, but one more Thalmor agent made a last desperate attempt to battle Jefferson. He was killed off as well, but he managed to land a blow on his enemy, on the leg. This hindered Jefferson's ability to travel, but he decided to anyway because he knew he had to get at least to the Eastmarch border.

Crescius volunteered to go along with him. Though they had large political differences, if it were not for their lifelong friendship, they would each consider each other enemies of the state. He was a year older, so he was able to purchase anything they needed along the way. Firstly, they walked some distance before getting to the side of the road. Crescius fashioned a rudimentary splint for Jefferson and bandaged his wound. They continued on on the road.

They were only about 3 miles from WIndhelm, they could see the city walls, but they were approached by a group of Eastmarch Hold guards. They asked them what their business was there, and they replied that they were visiting a family member here. They asked how long they had been there, and Crescius replied that they had only crossed the Whiterun-Eastmarch border hours ago. The guards let them by, they thought the boys were in no way suspicious, since they obviously did not know about the Thalmor massacre. When they arrived in the city, he made a beeline for Candlehearth Hall, so he could ask about the companions of his father.

When he and Crescius entered the main room which housed the bar with the people, Jefferson asked the barkeep; "Excuse me, do you know of a certain group of people associated with Sven Maksim? I'm looking for them because my father, Sven, has recently expired, and I was told to come here for the funeral procession." The young barkeep replied to him; "Well, they are currently in a meeting of high importance at the Palace of the Kings." "Ok, I will wait there." He exited the inn and he walked with Crescius to the keep.

They arrived at the Palace, and they told the guards of their reason of being there, and so the guards said; "Oh, you cannot go in there now. The keep is off-limits to civilians during these official meetings. There have been times when people were in there and they escaped with important information, so it is our policy not to let anyone in there." "Ok, then we will wait out here." "You're not going to wait out here in this bitter weather, are you? It's much too cold for folk such as you to be out here for that long." "Oh, sure we can. We are warm under our clothes. Unless you'd like to have us inside." "Ok, fine. But you are to only remain in the hall. The rest of the keep is off-limits." "Thank you very much."

They walked inside the keep, and they waited. They must've been kept for a very long time, because they were both hungry by the time the people came out of the meeting. But when the meeting ended, Jefferson noticed someone else walking out. He could not believe it, but Sven walked alongside the men. He had not changed a bit since Jefferson last saw him 7 years before. 7 long years believing he was dead, and now just abruptly discovering it was not the truth, it was too much. So he stood up and bounded over to the father. He embraced him first, and he said; "I thought you were dead... Dead for seven years, why did you not return to us?" "Jefferson, I could not bear to return to you both after thinking I had died, I knew both of you could not bear it. So I went into hiding with the Stormcloaks. I became one of Ulfric Stormcloak's guardsmen, his advisors, and so I became a respected man in the Rebellion and by Ulfric himself. I did not leave for I also did not want to reveal I had faked my own death and forsake the Stormcloaks, and you and your mother. The life I made over the short span of 7 years seemed to keep me, and so I remained. I know why you must be here..."

"I know what happened, in Riverwood. I feel both proud and sad for you, my son. You killed the enemy that we want to drive out of this land, and also because they were executing and imprisoning the worshippers and ones who did not tell about them. But I feel bad for the feelings you must have after you just suddenly killed people." "No, father, I was actually glad to do this. They had not much of a right to do this to the innocent people who did not want to betray their own kind. So I killed them and now they are all dead." It was that moment that made Jefferson decide to It was that moment that made Jefferson decide to make it his most prime objective to completely obliterate any Empire or Dominion presence in Skyrim.

Firstly, Jefferson decided to rename himself Jasper Ironhand, as the name of Jefferson Maksim was know as the fugitive hailing from the Hold of Whiterun who had massacred several Thalmor soldiers, to be taken dead or alive. So his father decided to train him further in the arts a man such as Sven would know. This included martial arts, marksmanship, swordsmanship, and the art of deception. Most of all, Jasper was taught a high education that a average Imperial would normally have. This was all so he could function well as an assassin of Thalmor and Imperial soldiers, and also be able to have a prosperous life for himself when he was not able to continue this lifestyle. So when his father could not train him any longer, he sent him out into the world in order to be a murderer of the ones who invaded their homeland.

So at the young age of 20, he ventured off into Skyrim to do what his ancestors would pride him upon in Sovngarde. He firstly ventured to the far Hold of The Reach. He desired going to Markarth in order to murder a Thalmor agent there (he had heard of the slight presence of them in Markarth), and retrieve his clothing as a disguise and go to the Thalmor embassy in the snowy mountains west of Solitude so he could extinguish the entire Aldmeri Dominion's presence in Skyrim. He traveled there, but being a Nord, they were obviously a bit suspicious. However, he told them how he was actually one of the few Nord Thalmor agents in the Dominion. They failed to believe him, so Jasper made up his mind to murder every one of them. So he did, and he received only some minor injuries. Although most would die against this many, he was simply trained for this.

He traveled to Riverwood to say his final goodbyes for then to the life he once had as a simple, innocent child. He firstly went into his house of his mother's, hugging her and telling her that he was to go off into the wilds of Skyrim to lead a life of adventure. He never gave her a clue of what he was really going to do, as it would break her heart and she would die of the sadness inflicted upon her. So he then went to Fjori to say goodbye. He told her the entire truth, everything. Crescius was also there, and he said goodbye to both of them, followed by Jasper kissing the beautiful girl he had loved since he first saw her, kissing her so passionately, before saying his fateful goodbye to her, leaving behind the childhood he had had for the past 17 years, before leaving to become an adult himself, and he was gone like the moon of Nirn in the bright morning day.

So now that this had been done, now came the final stage in this large plot: Defacing the Imperial Empire itself. He took a horse from the Embassy and rode much of the way to the small mining community of Darkwater Crossing, which was a very good spot for crossing over to Cyrodiil, through the Jerrall Range. As he prepared his illegal border jumping, it just so happened that by coincidence, the Imperials had staged an ambush against a group of Stormcloaks, one of them specifically being Ulfric Stormcloak himself, and another being Jasper's father, who was assigned to Ulfric's personal guard.

As he started the crossing, the Imperials struck simultaneously. Most were killed, if not captured, Jasper and his father being carted off along with Ulfric, the other Stormcloak named Ralof, and the horse thief. The prisoners arrived in Helgen, a large village complete with town walls, where they were to be executed. Jasper said to his father "Father, we will escape somehow, I promise you, we will not die a coward's death." Jasper literally leaped off the carriage, and the Imperial guard, one of the very few Imperials that Jasper made up his mind not to just off right away, said to him; "What is your name; Kinsman?" Jasper replied with such a fiercity; "Voyevoda."