Online:History of Clan Corelanya, Pt. 1
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 History of Clan Corelanya, Pt. 1 |
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| ID | 8226 | ||
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| Collection | Solstice Summations | ||
Who are we? From where do we come? Like many others, I have given much thought to these questions. For me, the answers begin in the ancient story of Clan Corelanya, my people. This is our tale, as I understand it.
Time is the destroyer of what went before. We inherit the conflicts and choices of our forebears, yet as the years go by those people and their decisions are forgotten. Memories fade, the makers and eyewitnesses of history pass away, and even the monuments on which their names are written eventually crumble into ruin.
No historian can completely undo the losses of the centuries. Yet with my quill, perhaps I can answer a few of those questions that trouble us and stave off the inevitable forgetting for one more generation.
Part 1: From Summerset to Hammerfell
I cannot say how our distant ancestors came to Summerset. All I know is they first entered the annals of history when Saint Veloth lived and taught in Summerset. My distant ancestor, an Aldmeri kinlady named Valarmil Corela, fell in with the great prophet. She followed Veloth throughout the troubled years when the Sapiarchs and the high king sought to suppress his movement.
In time, Saint Veloth decided to lead his followers to a place where they would be free to worship as they pleased. The tale of the Velothi pilgrimage to Morrowind is well chronicled elsewhere. What is less known is that not all of Saint Veloth's followers in Summerset made the journey with their prophet. Some could not bring themselves to abandon the wealth and comfort of home for an arduous trek to an unknown end. Others could not bear to leave loved ones behind. And still others felt bound by duty to honor old oaths of fealty to the crown.
Kinlady Corela was one of these. She and her household remained in Summerset when the Velothi departed. In private, they continued to practice their faith as Saint Veloth had taught them, even though the worship of Daedra fell into disfavor after the Velothi exodus.
Centuries passed, during which Kinlady Corela's descendants prospered despite the suppression of Velothi beliefs. The Corelanyas grew into a noble house blessed with wealth, numbers, and skilled soldiers. Yet their devotion to the Daedric powers remained a political liability. No high king trusted the Corelanyas with a fief to govern.
The situation in Summerset finally grew intolerable for Clan Corelanya in the years following the Alessian rebellion. Confronted with a rising power in Cyrodiil that distrusted Elves and despised Daedric worship, High King Tenalarion enacted a harsh new ban on Velothi beliefs. Rather than submit to the confiscation of their properties and imprisonment of their leaders, Clan Corelanya chose to leave Summerset.
As a noble house with significant commercial interests, the Corelanyas were well acquainted with the isles and coasts beyond Summerset. In the year 1E 522, Sundavar Corelanya sailed to the shores of Hammerfell and founded a kingdom of his own. Taking the title of first kinlord, he established a new capital in the former Ayleid city of Salas En.
At first, the Corelanyas prospered in Hammerfell. Corelanya merchant ships carried trade throughout the Abecean Sea. Careful to remain neutral with the high kings and queens of Summerset, the Corelanya kinlords were friendly with Clan Direnni to the north and profited from trade with the Wood Elf kingdoms of Valenwood. To the east they eagerly explored the shores of Tamriel as far as Topal Bay and beyond. Buoyed by Daedric patronage and protection, Clan Corelanya thrived in their new home.
Yet at the height of Clan Corelanya's power, an implacable new enemy appeared. The sails of the Yokudan Ra Gada on the horizon signaled the end of the Corelanyan realm in Hammerfell. That is a tale for my next essay.
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