Lore:Deslandra

Deslandra
Deslandra Empowered
Race	Bosmer	Gender	Female
Born		2nd Era
Appears in		Betrayal of the Second Era

Deslandra was a Bosmer mage of many talents and great charisma who attempted enact an event known as the Great Nullification, which would forever sever the flow of magicka and its influences, as well as the connections that lead to other planes of existence like Aetherius, Oblivion, and the Void. Some speculated the consequences of such an event, with one theory being that it would cut off communication with deities, but she felt the benefits outweighed the potential fallout. Her reasoning for attempting to do so was that she believed that many of Tamriel's atrocities were caused with magic, and it is often how cults gain power, daedric influence spreads, and how it's used often against the weak for supernatural coercion. She and her cult, the Soldiers of the Void, infiltrated various factions, gaining intel and pitting potential rivals against each other to further their own goals.

History

Deslandra was one of the founders of the Outer Watch, a Valenwood born but Tamriel-wide organization dedicated to humanitarian efforts and exposing political corruption. She left the organization and founded the Soldiers of the Void when she felt that the Outer Watch was not doing enough. With the resources and the connections she gained over the years, she attempted to eliminate magic, which she felt was the source of many of Nirn's problems.

Extraplanar Shenanigans

Some of Deslandra's earliest activities occur just prior to the Planemeld. In Cyrodiil, she infiltrated the Order of the Black Worm in order to research Dark Anchor technology to use for her own ends. This led to her epiphany; at the moment that Mannimarco would launch his Planemeld, Deslandra hoped to disrupt it by breaking the chains of that which linked all Dark Anchors, resulting in a massive shockwave that would forever sever the connection between Nirn and its sources of Magicka. In the background, Deslandra's Soldiers of the Void utilized their resources to eliminate potential threats. The Soldiers of the Void were aided by the Psijic Order who had a mutual interest in thwarting the Order of the Waking Flame plans in Cyrodiil, banishing Xivilai Moath and stopping the summoning of Mehrunes Dagon onto Nirn. The Soldiers of the Void also infiltrated the Mages Guild. Their mole who held a high position in the Mages Guild, Ludex Ovidius, sent Mages Guild secrets to Delsandra. Additionally, an undisclosed Mages Guild traitor discreetly hired the Dark Brotherhood to assassinate major officials within the alliances of the Three Banners War under the guise that they had been infiltrated by the Waking Flame. The resulting chaos caused the alliances to launch attacks on each other with reckless abandon, leaving little military presence left in central Cyrodiil.

In Black Marsh, Deslandra researched local flora and how they react to Daedric influence, hoping to stress-test them to see if they were capable of to keep out foreign agents and magicka from penetrating them and act as a barrier. Stormhold Crystals, which are said to be able to contain corruption or harness the power of "evil" itself, she planned to gather and use them siphon off the worst effects of sundering the world from Oblivion. She also collected Amberplasm from Hists that have communicated to Oblivion, which may have properties that link it to Nirn. The items were central to her goal in Black Marsh, which was to corrupt the roots of the province's Hists with a mixture that could weaken the link between Nirn and magic, believing the Hist had extraplanar properties.

Recruitment Drive

Over in High Rock, Deslandra and her Soldiers of the Void looked for powerful items capable of necromancy so she may raise a massive undead army in the Glenumbra Moors, the site of great battle where one is "just as likely to stumble upon a corpse as a shrub." They also enlisted the aid of the remnants of the Supernal Dreamers, who fed on the lifeforce of those within they imprison within their dreamstate.

In Morrowind, the Soldiers of the Void were looking for powerful items capable of augmenting magical items so Deslandra may utilize in completing her Void Centurion to serve as a formidable guardian. Meanwhile, the Soldiers of the Void committed false flag operations in the province by damaging the food supplies of the Daggerfall Covenant and the Ebonheart Pact troops that were fighting at Davon's Watch. The cultists hoped to destabilize the Pact so they could run their operations in Skyrim with less obstacles.

Over in Skyrim, Deslandra, who interpreted that vampirism can be seen as a medical or natural phenomenon, researched into how to remove its negative aspects such as their thirst for blood. She hoped that after magic is removed from Mundus, she would introduce a new breed of alchemical vampires that would remain and shepherd the new world. Such ingredients she researched into possibly adding to the combination for her alchemical concoction were bloodthorn, briarheart, draugr preservatives, and vampiric blood.

End Game

Stories of Deslandra's downfall vary, with one claiming she may have been slain in Cyrodiil, when the three alliances figured out Deslandra's plot. They sought to gain the glory of slaying her and headed towards the Imperial City. When Deslandra forces were no match for their strength, she slipped into the Barathrum Centrata in the Imperial City Sewers just in time for Mannimarco to launch the Planemeld. There, Deslandra's incantation was ultimately prevented, leaving the Planemeld to be a problem for another day.

The story of her fall in High Rock states she became a lich but was ultimately defeated at the Glenumbra Moors, and the dead she did manage to resurrect were laid back to rest. In another tale involving her embracing undeath, she was confronted in Greymoor Keep where she embraced vampirism and blood magics, but she and her research were destroyed regardless.

The Black Marsh story variant of her demise claims that she imbued herself with an Amberplasm concoction, but she was stopped by her former colleague from the Outer Watch, Bodean, and his companion. Her alchemical creation was claimed and subsequently discarded so none could study it, and to keep it from harming Black Marsh's ecosystem in the future.

She may have been slain in Morrowind after Razum-dar and his Eyes of the Queen companions concluded that Nchuleftingth was most likely the group's headquarters in the province. Deslandra and her Void Centurion were buried beneath the rubbles of the ruins.

Gallery

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  Lich Deslandra in High Rock

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  Enraged Deslandra

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  Mechanist Deslandra in Morrowind

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  Imbued Deslandra in Black Marsh

References

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