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Arthenice Belloq, once enslaved by Reachmen, discusses their nature and practices.
Though we hated to stir up the horrible memories poor Arthenice has tried to put behind her, we couldn't help but add to the inquiries she receives about the mysterious Reachmen. Eventually, she obliged us by providing this new book on the subject. We hope you'll enjoy it!
In our next venture into the Archive, Telenger the Artificer returns with a new book about the Sload. Send your questions about them to community@elderscrollsonline.com, and you may receive an answer!
On the Nature of Reachmen
By Arthenice Belloq
When I wrote the story of my enslavement at the hands of the Crow-Wives, “A Life Barbaric and Brutal," I didn't expect anyone would read or care. It caught me quite off guard when I started receiving letters—and even visits—from scholars, historians, mages, and others of that sort. It seems that the tome I left with the Master of Incunabula at the Mages Guild in Wayrest had been requested frequently, and that several copies were created.
Apparently there is a shortage of information about the Reachmen and their practices. As you can imagine, most people they enslave aren't as resourceful (or lucky) as I was, and the clans aren't exactly keen on letting outsiders visit for a sip of tea and a little chat about their wicked magics or Daedra-worship. While I'm happy to help preserve knowledge and the like, I have to admit that I'm getting a little tired of all the intrusions, so let me clear the air on some of the silly speculations I've heard (as if my first book wasn't clear enough).
If you want to know about Reachmen, know that they most certainly are not a misunderstood and secretly noble people. They don't even want to be left alone—they want to attack, enslave, and conquer. Has everyone already forgotten the slaughter committed by Durcorach as he cut his way through High Rock, murdering and defiling as he went? Sometimes the history books do not lie, and I can assure you they don't exaggerate the cruelty of the Reachmen.
Many mages I've spoken to ask me about the magic of the Reachmen. I can't say I know much about it, but I can say with authority that it is not the “mostly benign form of nature magic" suggested by a few of these individuals. I tried to avoid the tribe's shamans as much as possible. They were constantly covered in spiders and other filthy creatures, muttering to themselves as they squatted over foul alchemical brews. And it's an obvious fact that the gravesingers are necromancers!
I don't know how typical the Crow-Wives were of Reachmen clans. I do know that they were deeply involved in Daedra-worship of the foulest kind. I was forced to witness horrible rituals, from live burnings and literal blood baths to raucous dismemberments, all in the presence of that horrible Ever-Oozing Altar. I'll never be able to forget the writhing masses of centipedes, roaches, and squirming horrors that formed a thick carpet on the ritual hut's floor when the tribe called out to Namira. The clan often ate these, still alive, right off the ground during worship.
Besides the evil magic and abominable Daedric rituals, the Crow-Wives engaged in plenty of run-of-the-mill barbarism. Kloavdra, the hagraven, seemed to think pranks (especially those that ended in someone getting hurt) were hilarious, and encouraged all sorts of bullying. She rewarded the clever and nasty and punished the meek. Children deemed too weak were sacrificed to Namira in addition to regular random sacrifices. And, of course, there were the raids. Whether they were on other tribes or small villages, they were always brutally violent affairs, sneak attacks designed to catch the targets off-guard and completely dominate them.
So, there, my second book, with as much as I can remember about their horrid practices. Now I'd appreciate it if you'd all let me continue with my life!
Arthenice Belloq answers your questions:
“Are the Reachmen their own race of man?" – CodyWatsonDCI
Arthenice Belloq says, “If not their own race, the Reachmen are definitely their own breed. In blood they are closest to the Bretons, but with other tribes mixed in, as they will kidnap the children of every mortal race and interbreed with them. This is, perhaps, the only way in which they are tolerant of outsiders."
“Where do the hagravens come from? Are they, too, a twisted descendant of Aldmer?" – p4r4digm
Arthenice Belloq says, “The hagravens are abominations. Their eyes are flat and dead, and they live only for injury and domination. The Reach clans do not revere them so much as placate them, and they are hated even by their hag-husbands. Where do they come from? They come from our worst nightmares."
“A fellow Breton seeks knowledge from one who has undergone a harrowing experience and come out victorious. Your account and others mention the Reachmen's wanton veneration of demented Daedra lords like Hircine and Namira, but I've also heard references to 'Old Gods,' and have heard rumors that the Reachmen sometimes keep amulets or statues depicting the Divines. Did you personally witness any instances of Reach religious practice that didn't involve veneration of Daedra or human sacrifice, or is it just the hopeless romantic in me grasping to find some humanity and nuance in the tribes of the Reach? Divines keep you, kinswoman." – Bardon of Clan Crimthann, hamlet of Stokmarket, Kingdom of Wayrest
Arthenice Belloq says, “The clan that held me, the Crow-Wives, are primarily worshipers of Namira, though I sometimes heard them utter oaths naming other Daedra Lords. The only active reverence I witnessed among the Reachmen was for Daedric Princes. That said, the clan did possess other strange totems, ancient fetishes I couldn't identify. They were never named within my hearing, and I never asked about them."
“The Reachmen seem to view the Daedra, specifically the Daedric Princes, as the 'Old Gods' and therefore revere them while scorning the Aedra, which are almost demonic in their eyes. These Old Gods are also associated with their chaotic nature magic, which I have always found interesting while studying them in my travels. They especially venerate Molag Bal, Namira, and Hircine among others. Why are the Princes so associated with nature for the Reachmen? And what about their view for other ones such as Peryite, Nocturnal, and Vaermina?" – Eis Vuur Warden, Wayward and Contract Scholar
Arthenice Belloq says, “I believe the Reachmen associate the Princes with nature because they are tribal barbarians, and brute nature is all they know. They disdain civilization and the civilized, which I think is why they have no use for the more 'sophisticated' Princes such as Sanguine and Clavicus Vile. Subtlety and nuance, they believe, are for the weak."
