Legate Sadal

Legate Sadal
Basic Info
Race	Chimer
Gender	Male
Health	[?]
Class	[?]
Location	Brothers of Strife
Region	Zabamat, Stonefalls
Province	Morrowind

For the creature, see Sadal.

"I wonder what the lens of history will show when our people look back on this day? Will my brother and I be remembered as the saviors of our race? Or will we be known as monsters and horrors?"

―Legate Sadal

Legate Sadal was a Chimer military commander who led the defense of Stonefalls during the Nedic invasion of Resdayn in the First Era. Alongside his brother, General Balreth, Sadal suffered numerous defeats at the hands of the Nedic invaders and proved incapable of halting their advance by conventional means. In an act of desperation, the brothers lured the Nedes into a climactic battle amidst the ruins of a Daedric temple complex located in central Stonefalls. While their soldiers defended the ruins against the Nedes, Sadal and Balreth sacrificed themselves in an arcane ritual that transformed them into the Brothers of Strife—a pair of powerful, flaming bone colossuses. These twin harbingers of destruction decimated both the Chimer and Nedic armies, laying waste to the surrounding area until mages from Vvardenfell managed to confine them atop the Tormented Spire and Ash Mountain.

Many centuries after their deaths, Sadal and Balreth were revered by the Chimer and Dunmer as great military leaders. The brothers were immortalized with a pair of enormous stone statues that were erected at the site of their sacrifice. However, others viewed their actions in a harsher light, judging their participation in the ritual that created the Brothers of Strife as both dangerous and arrogant. In the year 2E 582, Vunal Telvanni summoned Sadal from the afterlife in order to discover more information about the chain of events that resulted in the creation of the Brothers of Strife.

Background

Early life

"All my life I fought for the Chimer. I skirmished with the Dwemer and drove beasts from the Ashlands, until a greater threat loomed."

―Legate Sadal

Although very little information exists regarding their childhood, Sadal and his brother Balreth were likely born to Chimer parents in the early years of the First Era. At the time, the fledgling Chimer kingdom of Resdayn exercised control over large swathes of territory along the shores of the Inner Sea, particularly in the regions of Stonefalls and Vvardenfell. Most of this territory, however, remained vulnerable to attack, as Resdayn was surrounded by hostile neighbors. To the west and north, lay the agnostic and technologically advanced Dwemer city-states with which the Chimer had fought numerous wars in the name of religion and territorial expansion. To the south, the Chimer regularly raided the various Argonian tribes of northern Black Marsh in order to acquire the ever-increasing numbers of slaves their society required. Finally, in addition to these more organized threats, the Chimer were also forced to contend with the aggressive local fauna.

Sadal's brother, General Balreth, with whom he shared command of the Chimer armies during the Nedic invasion of Stonefalls in the First Era.

Born into this tumultuous environment, Sadal served his people as a warrior for the majority of his life. Against the familiar foes of the Chimer, such as the Dwemer and the wild beasts of the Ashlands, Sadal honed his skills as both warrior and leader. Eventually, he achieved the rank of legate, and in the process, gained a reputation as one of the greatest military leaders of the Chimer.

However, Sadal and the Chimer had yet to face the enemy that would ultimately prove their greatest challenge—a precursor race of men known as the Nedes. Emerging from the frozen tundras and mountains of Skyrim, these forebears of the Nords invaded the lands of Resdayn from the west. Nedic warchiefs led parties of raiders that pillaged and burned throughout Stonefalls, massacring any mer they discovered along the way. Initial attempts by the Chimer to diplomatically resolve the conflict were violently rebuffed by the Nedes as they pushed further into Chimer territory.

As the greatest military leaders available to Resdayn, Sadal and his brother Balreth were called upon to command the Chimer armies in their attempt to expel the Nedic invaders. The brothers subsequently launched an offensive aiming to drive the Nedes from the Ashlands; however, their advance proved untenable and their armies were forced into defensive positions for the remainder of the conflict. Over the next several years, further Nedic incursions gradually pushed the brothers and their forces deeper into the interior of Stonefalls. Their slow, incremental retreat stripped many Chimer villages of their defenses, forcing Sadal and Balreth to sacrifice large numbers of their warriors in an effort to acquire enough time to evacuate civilians stranded in the path of the Nedic invasion.

Although they prevented their forces from suffering complete annihilation by retreating, the situation confronting the brothers and their armies grew grimmer with each passing year. Proving difficult to defeat by conventional means, the Nedes reduced Sadal and Balreth to mere spectators as they besieged isolated Chimer cities and razed farmlands, depriving the brothers of local supplies and reinforcements. The brothers' capacity to resist the invasion appeared increasingly precarious following a Nedic offensive to the north that effectively severed their connection to the Inner Sea, and thus, from any support originating on Vvardenfell. In short, the Nedes now controlled the vast majority of Stonefalls and appeared on the cusp of a decisive victory over the Chimer.

Death and transformation

"There could be no peace with the Nedes. I became one of the Brothers to serve my people."

―Legate Sadal

With their armies reduced to a small force of battle-hardened veterans, their supplies severely diminished, and their ability to stage further retreats denied by the Nedes, Sadal and Balreth found themselves surrounded in the mountainous and lava-covered region of Stonefalls known as Zabamat. From this foreboding landscape, permanently enveloped within a cloud of ash, a ray of hope suddenly emerged after a group of sorcerers under the brothers' command devised a desperate strategy they believed capable of winning the war for the Chimer. Facing the imminent destruction of their people, Sadal and Balreth agreed to this strategy despite the sorcerers' lack of clarity regarding its outcome. The brothers subsequently positioned their remaining forces among the ruins of a Daedric temple complex located within a canyon and sitting atop a waterfall. These ruins served as a major source of Daedric power, which the Chimer sorcerers required to power the arcane ritual at the center of their strategy to defeat the Nedes - the Ritual of Calling.

The ritual transformed Legate Sadal into the powerful and flaming bone colossus known as Sadal, one of the Brothers of Strife.

Eventually, the brothers lured a Nedic army under the command of Warchief Ornskar into a climactic battle within the ruins, setting into motion the series of events that ultimately determined the outcome of the conflict. While Sadal and Balreth underwent preparations for the ritual at the central altar, their desperate soldiers engaged the Nedes with two separate objectives in mind. The bulk of the Chimer forces entered into a defensive posture along the river in front of the ruins, hoping to withstand the Nedic assault in a desperate ploy for time. This phase of the battle rapidly turned into a bloodbath as the Nedes overwhelmed and slaughtered the Chimer.

In the middle of the battle, however, the brothers also dispatched a champion to complete the second objective: assisting the sorcerers Nilae and Turoni in acquiring the two ingredients required to complete the ritual. The first of these—Nedic blood—the champion attained by killing Warchief Ornskar and several of her soldiers, carving out their hearts and bringing them to the central altar. In order to acquire the second ingredient, Chimer acolytes summoned a pair of powerful fire atronachs, one containing an essence of fire and the other containing an essence of wrath, at altars on the outskirts of the ruins. The champion subsequently defeated both of the atronachs, collecting their essences and delivering them to the sorcerers.

With all of the ingredients acquired and the Nedes slowly advancing towards their position, the champion conferred with Sadal and Balreth in order to ensure their continued desire to participate in the ritual. After the brothers affirmed their dedication to the cause, Nilae and Turoni initiated the Ritual of Calling by ordering the champion to pray at the central altar. Invoking the name of Veloth - the legendary prophet whose revelations from the Daedric Prince Boethiah resulted in the Chimer exodus from the Summerset Isles - and the Chimer, the sorcerers sacrificed the brothers in order to save their people from annihilation at the hands of the Nedes. The ritual resulted in the deaths of both Sadal and Balreth, transforming them into a pair of powerful and flaming bone colossuses known as the Brothers of Strife.

Post mortem

"What they can't say is what happens to us. Will my brother and I still remain or will we be nothing but beasts of destruction?"

―Legate Sadal

In the aftermath of the arcane ritual performed among the ruins, the former legate appeared in the form of a bone colossus known as Sadal, a towering amalgam of bones and flame welded together by Daedric energy. As the Brothers of Strife, Sadal and his brother - the bone colossus referred to as Balreth - fulfilled their original purpose by destroying the Nedic army assaulting the ruins. Their incredible power. however, ultimately proved both uncontrollable and undiscriminating. The Brothers of Strife soon betrayed their former masters. Those Chimer that managed to survive the Nedic onslaught found themselves under attack once again - this time by an enemy of their own creation.

Emerging from the ruins that spawned them, the Brothers of Strife unleashed a reign of terror throughout the Ashlands, annihilating Chimer and Nede alike. Eventually, Mavos Siloreth - one of the greatest Chimer sorcerers of the First Era - led a group of Chimer mages from Vvardenfell in a desperate attempt to imprison the Brothers of Strife within the two massive volcanoes that dominated the Stonefalls landscape: the Tormented Spire and Ash Mountain.

Legacy

"The death of the Chimer generals ended the war, but at what cost? At this ruin, the so-called Brothers of Strife were born."

―Nili Omavel

Interactions

Window on the Past

[?]

The Brothers Will Rise

[?]

Dialogue

Show: Window on the Past

"Wait. This is where the final battle took place. Why am I here?" Help me understand the past. Tell me about the battle. "All my life I fought for the Chimer. I skirmished with the Dwemer and drove beasts from the Ashlands, until a greater threat loomed. The Nedes struck Stonefalls with a lust for territory and slaughter. They were men of the north, violent and cruel." The Chimer were losing? "My brother and I were the greatest generals of the Chimer. Yet even we couldn't stem the tide of Nedic muscle and iron. We were desperate. The sorcerers' plan to create the Brothers of Strife offered us a way out." And you took it. "There could be no peace with the Nedes. I became one of the Brothers to serve my people." Thank you, Sadal.

Show: The Brothers Will Rise

"The Chimer were powerful. We thought we could face any challenge. Even at the end, we were arrogant and proud. But I will not believe our sacrifice was in vain." "Quickly, soldier. Speak with Turoni. We have little time left, and my brother grows angrier by the moment." "I don't know if I can go through with this, soldier. These sorcerers ask much. Everything, in fact." What have they told you? "They've created a spell to fill us with raw elemental power, greater than our enemies can stand - if it works. What they can't say is what happens to us. Will my brother and I remain or will we be nothing but beasts of destruction?" Are you ready for this? "Yes, I must be. I wonder what the lens of history will show when our people look back on this day? Will my brother and I be remembered as the saviors of our race? Or will we be known as monsters and horrors?" Good luck, Sadal.

Appearances

• The Elder Scrolls Online