Talk:History, Hofborg (Lore)

In the year 2E 403, a religious sect of Nords made a pilgrimage across Skyrim. Starting in Windhelm, they marched across the coastal Holds accruing followers of varied faiths and beliefs until at last they reached Solitude. As a show of gratitude for their demonstration of nord solidarity, they were granted lands along the western coast in Haafingar. There, they built the temple Thyrrfjell and proclaimed that all Nords were welcome. Clans from across Skyrim who sought to broaden their reach traveled to it, and before long a town was built around it - Hofborg, the bridge between the many cultures of the Nords.

Hofborg flourished as a place of trade and travel due to its convenient location along trade routes and open borders. The many different Clans of Skyrim found common ground inside its walls. Here they feasted and grew together, developing many of their own rituals and festivities that borrowed across familial and religious lines. For a time it was one of the few places in the realm that knew real peace.

However, that peace was tested soon after. In 2E 430, the Morag Tong assassinated the rulers of the Reman Empire and their subordinates, leading to the death of King Logrulf. His Daughter Freydis was expected to take the throne, but her rule was challenged by Svargrim of Solitude. The resulting disagreement led to the great division of Skyrim into the Eastern and Western Holds. Hofborg, composed of Clans from all across Skyrim, was shaken to its core. On the one hand, the claims of either side were felt hard by the people. However over a generation of melding together, they could not so easily turn their backs to their neighbors and friends.

It was in their faith that they found the strength to endure. The temple clergy summoned the whole of the townspeople to gather. In an act of compassion, the likes of which Nords had not known since they were breathed into existence, they prayed. To old gods, to new, to one and to all they prayed. In their prayer, they vowed to remain as they were destined to be - a haven for Nords regardless of their origins and exempt from the political strife that sought only to tear kinsmen apart.

For most of the last few decades they remained as they were, open to all who came, but unwilling to succumb to the hate that had driven their land to civil unrest. The greatest test to their community came when the Harrowstorms began. It started as news of other villages brought by merchants. The temple priests were concerned that such a thing might happen in Hofborg but as few understood the nature of the attacks little could be done other then to close the borders. This began weeks of rationing while the population was gripped with fear.

It has been called the "Harrow Time", not because an Harrowstorm landed in Hofborg but because they understood that their friends and family in other parts of the country were dead or dying. Many ventured out to help, few returned. It was the first time the small village felt empty. When the infestation was finally solved, King Svargrim dead and Princess Svana now a Jarl oathed to Jorunn the community had changed.

Those that were left knew they were no longer safe in their remote coastal village. The final nails hit the proverbial coffin when only a few years later a band of Breton slavers, using magic, stole more then half of the village. The crew of the Saebjorn arrived and was able to rescue most of the villagers, and in an act of gratitude and no little self preservation, the temple leaders made a deal with the devil.

And the charming but rougish captain of the Saebjorn "graciously" accept the duty of protecting the town -- his hope that it would make an excellent home base for his less then legal opperations. His grandious plans were then rather firmly checkmated when not only his old friend and companion, Rokthor, was called to the same village by Kyne herself but when his wife Branwyn petitioned for placement at the Motherhouse. Baene's plans were going to take some more plotting.

Today, only a few months since the crews arrival the town is once again growing as craftsmen, merchants, soldiers and mercenaries arrive looking for work. The tensions between the factions are jovial for now, but the crew has yet to feel the push of the outer region which is home to a new clan of Orcs drawn to Mor Khazgur's mines, the rare incursion of Falmor, the local Dragon Cult, Sea Giant Raiders, Grey Host stragglers, Winterborn Reachfolk and no few pirates and outlaws working along the remote coastline.