Lore:Karoodil

Karoodil
Race	Altmer	Gender	Male
Resided in		Firsthold, Auridon

King Karoodil, who also also bore the name Reman, was the High Elven king of Firsthold, a city-state in the northern region of Vafe, located on Auridon in the Summerset Isles.

History

Vafe

Tragedy

At some point in the past prior to 3E 405, Karoodil had a son of his own, but his life was lost.

Karoodil also had an elder brother, who was the first in the line of succession to Firsthold; however, his brother was slain by the necromantic forces of the King of Worms, who long plagued their land. Circa 3E 405, Karoodil was crowned King of Firsthold in his brother's place. But his brother's son, Aedrin, remained the heir apparent and Crown Prince to the kingdom. Additionally, Karoodil had a younger brother who was also next in line for the throne.

Seduction

Being a second-born child and not standing to inherit a kingdom of her own, the Princess Morgiah of Wayrest sought to enter into the royalty of Summerset. Morgiah had learned of Karoodil's coronation, and also the fact that he wished to speak with his dead son. Taking advantage of the situation, Morgiah made a contract with the King of Worms, leader of the Necromancers; in exchange for Morgiah giving the King of Worms "her first," he would "let" Karoodil speak with his dead son, a thing which "only" the King of Worms could do, by "exerting" his influence over the King. Out of gratitude for arranging this, Karoodil agreed to marry Morgiah, making her the Queen of Firsthold. Such a union would've been forbidden a century ago, but thanks to a significant element of Altmer agitating for social change, new cultures and races have been accepted onto the shores of Summerset, even a Dunmeri queen. This advocation was especially propagated by a faction of youths called the Beautiful.

The engagement was said to have been "quite lengthy," lasting three years, but Karoodil and Morgiah were wed sometime between 3E 405 and 3E 413 (perhaps in 3E 409). With his new queen wife, Karoodil sired a son named Goranthir (born around 3E 413), as well as a daughter named Rinnala (born around 3E 416). While his children were half-Altmeri and half Dunmeri, they primarily took after their mother in appearance, though Goranthir inherited Karoodil's red-gold hair.

The Trebbite Monks were staunchly opposed to the marriage, their credo had been for only the purest Altmer bloodlines to be on Summerset across all families, especially in royal dynasties. Queen Morgiah saw to it that they had little power within the kingdom, and would have had the Trebbites exterminated, if not for Karoodil arguing against it, citing the good they do for the common folk.

Revolt in Firsthold

Firsthold

According to historical fiction called The Firsthold Revolt, by Maveus Cie, the Princess Gialene of Skywatch (who's father ruled the Kingdom of Skywatch in the Calambar region to the south) had been in Firsthold serving as the chief royal concubine of the King. For some time she had been unsuccessfully attempting to woo King Karoodil into marrying her, the King however, chose to marry Princess Morgiah of Wayrest. By 3E 418, Gialene was hedging her bets on Karoodil setting aside this marriage after Morgiah's brother failed to secure the throne of Wayrest, and thus their family should have lost all political leverage, but Karoodil did not do this thing.

From behind the scenes, Princess Gialene and her confidant Kael then sponsored and propagated a revolt against Morgiah using her father's financial resources, rallying and arming the Trebbite Monks and the common folk against the Queen; with growing resentment among the peasants of the countryside, Morgiah was named the "Black Queen" as an insult, but Karoodil waved away the concerns as these things were nothing he had not heard before, despite hearing rumors of such talk grow louder and louder over a period of two weeks. Karoodil's attentions had been more focused on the pirate activity coming from the small island of Calluis Lar off the coast, which had been more brazen of late, attacking royal barges in "organized raids." To eliminate the pirates, Karoodil left his city with a great part of his militia to personally lead an incursion against Calluis Lar (leaving the city less defended).

A few days after the King's departure, a revolutionary army comprised of the Trebbite Monks and mercenary rejects from the Psijic Order launched a series of well coordinated attacks against the kingdom, who were led by Friar Lylim of the Trebbites, and pressuring Morgiah to abdicate. Gialene thought she could count on the countrysiders to join her cause, but they were disinterested in actually joining the revolution. After an seemingly successful attempt to coax the plan of city defense out from Queen Morgiah, noting the intended plan of attack, Gialene reported Morgiah's plans to the monks. But Morgiah had known of the intended deception by Gialene, and ordered her troops to fight in an unexpected fashion, which left the army decimated, and all the monks fleeing in disorganized retreat.

When Karoodil returned, he had Kael and Gialene tortured until they conveyed their treachery to the King's satisfaction. He had Kael executed, and Princess Gialene sent back to her father at Skywatch. Karoodil then elected not to take on a new royal concubine, breaking from tradition; which only proved to worsen rumors of the Black Queen's influence at court among the common people.

Morrowind Civil War

When conflict took place in Morrowind between House Hlaalu and House Dres against House Indoril after newly crowned King Hlaalu Helseth declared slavery illegal throughout the province circa 3E 432, King Karoodil sent a fleet east to assist Hlaalu Helseth in the war, with Queen Morgiah sailing with the fleet.

Rise of the Thalmor

After the Stormcrown Interregnum (sometime around/after 4E 22), the Thalmor congress seized control of all Summerset, overthrowing the rightful Kings and Queens of the Altmer, as well as launching many pogroms against any who were not "of the blood of the Aldmer."

Notes

• ^1	According to designer Ted Peterson, the name Karoodil meant "Creator of Lore," or "Storyteller." The character also bearing the name Reman, was perhaps implicitly meant to be in reference to the Remans of Cyrodiil.

• ^2

  This character is called "King Karoodil" in the Morgiah's Wedding quest of Daggerfall, but is called "King Reman" in The Firsthold Revolt book of Morrowind. Writer Ted Peterson, who coined both names, mentioned that: "Reman's such a common name in Tamriel, the Remans need more than one name." But it is unknown in what order the character's full name should be written.

• ^3

  In the new lore of The Elder Scrolls Online: in the Summerset Isles, the Altmeri rulers ranking below the High King/High Queen are referred to as High Kinlords/High Kinladies or simply Kinlords/Kinladies of their respective regions and Kinhouses, rather than "Kings" per the old lore. The rulers of Firsthold in the game were "High Kinlords," but it is unclear whether this titulature would now be applicable to the case of King Karoodil or not.

• ^4

  According to some in-character posts by Ted Peterson (taking place in 3E 429), the Goranthir character is 16 years old (meaning he born around 3E 413) and his little sister Rinnala is 13 years old (meaning she born around 3E 416). Logically, this must mean that Morgiah wedded Karoodil sometime before 3E 413. Morgiah is also said to have married, specifically, "twenty years" ago, which would be 3E 409 if that specific number wasn't rounded up for dialogue simplicity.

• ^5

  According to some in-character posts by Ted Peterson, Elysana took the throne after her father died, which was just around 3E 418, this was directly when she had Prince Helseth and Queen Barenziah banished from the Kingdom; according to the very first paragraph, the events of the The Firsthold Revolt begin right after the banishment takes place.

• Firsthold was historically ruled by House Rilis, a dynasty of warriors who ruled the northern region of Auridon for a very long time; it is unknown what relationship, if any, Karoodil has to the house.

References

Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.