History, Hofborg (Lore)

(This history is being edited to reflect the change from Eastmarch to Haafingar in Western Skyrim)

In the year 2E 403, a religious sect of Nords made a pilgrimage across Skyrim. Starting in Solitude, they marched across the coastal Holds accruing followers of varied faiths and beliefs until at last they reached Windhelm. As a show of gratitude for their demonstration of nord solidarity, they were granted lands beyond a ridge near a mountain in Eastmarch. 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 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 four 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. Their greatest test came in the form of folded steel and frozen carcasses when the Akaviri invaded Skyrim in 2E 572. Their meek town guard had rallied in the port, but the invaders passed them by and instead laid siege to Windhelm. Windhelm burned and Queen Nirnhilde was slain. It did not take long for word to carry back to Hofborg. The town sent what aid they could to help the city recover. Other residents could only sate their anger with the spilling of Akaviri blood and so joined King Jorunn’s counter battle marching south into Dunmer lands.

Though many celebrated King Jorunn’s victory, few could overlook the continued civil unrest caused by disagreements over rule of their land. Within their temple town, they stood by their ideal and perhaps drew the ire of Jorunn and Svargrim. They remained a place for all Nords to gather as a people bereft of division, but celebratory in their various ways. For in Hofborg, a Nord is seen not for their banner or their talismans, but for their northern heart.