Varen Goes To War
By Capiton Casca, Poet to Regent Clivia Tharn

Varen Aquilarios,
Duke of Chorrel, Count of Kvatch,
Sat within his stone-walled keep.
Brooding on his circumstances.

He had served the Ruby Throne
With all his heart and soul,
Through times of battle and times of peace,
His loyalty was unquestioned.

But now his mind sorely troubled
By a dark stain on the countryside,
For the Emperor who claimed the throne,
The Imperial Dragon, Leovic,.son of Moricar,
Threatened his land and people.

Levoic's grandsire, a Reachman of the North
Had claimed the Ruby Throne,
And yoked its peoples,
To his will and desires,
And his alien ways.

For Leovic did venerate,
The darkest of the Daedra,
Hircine, Namira,
And most of all,
Mehrunes Dagon, Prince of Destruction.

Varen saw all this,
And saw his people swayed,
By vile forces,
By the Emperor's proclamations,
And darkness claimed the land.

Yet he was loyal to the Throne,
And a faithful supporter of Leovic,
Regardless of the Emperor's harsh manner,
And his brutal beliefs.

Varen sought the wisdom of Abnur Tharn,
Wisest of the Elder Council,
Chancellor to the Ruby Throne,
Father to Clivia, astute in the ways of politics,

And Abnur said to him,
"Your loyalty is to the throne,
And for that you should be commended,
But does that loyalty truly
Extend to the one who sits upon it?"

Varen considered the chancellor's words,
And watched the foul practices,
Of the Daedric Princes in his land.
And knew that were they to continue,
His people's souls could not be saved.

Varen Aquilarios,
Duke of Chorrel, Count of Kvatch,
Rose from his castle,
Sounded his horn,
And led his people to war.