[u]The Dragonborn[/u] [b]Name:[/b] Ragnar [b]Race:[/b] Nord [b]Backstory:[/b] [spoiler]Ragnar was living a happy,albeit boring life, as a farmer in the outskirts of the city of Bruma in Cyrodiil. He was married to an Imperial and was a proud father of a strong boy and a beautiful girl. Everything was going well until the ban on the worship of Talos arose. Ragnar was a strong worshipper of Talos and continued to revere him in secret. He included his kids in his practice as well but his wife was too afraid of being caught in the act. As tension grew between the Thalmor and the Empire Ragnar's wife started to become uneasy, after hearing rumors of Thalmor justiciars cracking down on Talos worshipping heretics and hauling them off in the night. This caused her to turn desperate in order to keep her children safe. So she went to the nearest Thalmor outpost and ratted her husband out in exchange for protection for her and her children. That night a Thalmor commander by the name of Undeliar sought out the sacking of Ragnar's farm. When the Thalmor arrived Ragnar grabbed his wood axe and told his daughter to go hide in the cellar. His son grabbed a hunting bow and prepared himself to back up his father. "Ragnar son of Thorbjorn, you have been accused of worshipping Talos! What say you?!" Barked Undeliar at the farmhouse. Ragnar orders his son to shoot, killing one of the grunts in front of Undeliar. "Does that answer your question elf!?" Yelled Ragnar. Undeliar orders the mages to cleanse the house with a gout of fire. Ragnar's wife begins yelling at Undeliar stating that her children are still inside. Within a second Undeliar unsheathes his sword and swings it across her neck decapitating her in the process. Ragnar tells his son to get his sister and to leave through the back door when three thalmor grunts burst through the flaming walls and begin attacking. Ragnar armed with a basic wood axe killed one before it broke against an aldmeri moonstone sword. Instead of fighting he ran to protect his children but was then paralyzed by Undeliar. Undeliar brought his children up from the cellar and mocked Ragnar. "Perhaps I shall keep your daughter as my own personal slave whore but your son has no use for me" said Undeliar while piercing Ragnar's son through the chest. Ragnar could do nothing but watch as his son lay dying on the floor. Nor could he speak, just watch. Ragnar's daughter began balling tears and attempted to attack Undeliar but was interrupted by a backhanded slap to the face. Ragnar's son was dead now but Undeliar had him reanimated for amusement and pitted him against his sister after what she did. "There is your brother girl. Kill her!" Screamed Undeliar. Ragnar watched as his son's corpse began to strangle his daughter killing her in the process. "This is what happens when you disobey the law and worship your mighty Talos, Ragnar." Said Undeliar. "Now you will come with us and live your short life out until you whither and die in our prison." Cackled Undeliar. As they dragged Ragnar off, his farm collapsed upon itself burning into the ground. A fire arose in Ragnar's eyes that day that burned as strong as the flames that destroyed his home and his family. After 2 years in a Thalmor prison Ragnar was malnourished and had lost sight in one of his eyes on account of torture. His face looked as though it had been mauled by a bear. The Thalmor jail keepers would only agree to feed Ragnar if he was to renounce his worship of Talos forever. "You pointy eared bastards have taken my family away! You've taken my farm and cattle away! You've taken my life away! But you will never take my faith away! Never." Said Ragnar before spitting in the jail keepers face. A khajiit Thalmor defector took pity upon Ragnar and began to feed him the food he would steel when he was being interrogated. "R'ashiir feeds them lies in exchange for no torture. R'ashiir steels food when no one is looking." Said the Khajiit to Ragnar. "Why do you help me, cat?" Replied Ragnar. "R'ashiir is bored here. R'ashiir no longer wishes to be in a cage. R'ashiir wants to seek out vengeance." Said the Khajiit. "What do you know about vengeance? If anyone requires vengeance here, it is me." Remarked Ragnar. "They killed R'ashiir's dogs and tried to feed them to him! They deserve to die! R'ashiir will strike from the shadows and rip their throats out one by one with his claws!" Declared R'ashiir. "They killed your dogs, huh? Then I am required to kill them 100 times over to fulfill my vengeance for they have killed everything I loved in this life. You can replace a dog but you cannot replace your own flesh and blood as easily." Stated Ragnar. "So you will help R'ashiir escape then, yes?" Asked the Khajiit. "I will help myself. If that means helping you then... I suppose I have no choice." "Hahaha! Yes! R'ashiir will feed you to keep you strong and then we shall escape here and take our vengeance together, no? Haha!" Weeks passed until Ragnar could regain enough strength to attempt an escape. On the night of the planned escape Undeliar arrived to see how his old friend was doing. "Ragnar! You are still alive it seems. Even though you refuse to eat you survive. That is most curious, hmm. Perhaps I should kill you now. What do you think, hmm?" "I think you should cut off those pointy ears of yours and stick them up your arse, you elf bastard!" "Hahaha! You ammuse me peasant. You are nothing Ragnar. Nothing but a waste of space now. I've grown tired of holding you here however. I want some fresh entertainment for you have grown rather stale. I will kill you now." R'ashiir interrupts "perhaps killing him would be too merciful, no?" "Silence you flea bag! I will get to you later for your information has born no fruit as of yet." "The cat knows not what he speaks! Kill me now. Do as you wish. Send me to sovngarde! Send me to mighty Talos!" "No. I think not. You are stale but not yet rotten. You shall suffer for longer and hence die a more pitiful death. I have special plans for you, Ragnar. Hahahaha." Having avoided being killed the plan to escape had commenced. R'ashiir began to pick the lock from his cell with a makeshift lockpick made of skeever bones and some of his own fur. "Keep a look out while R'ashiir opens his cell." Whispered R'ashiir to Ragnar. "Hurry up. I thought you cats could pick any lock in seconds?" "Picking a lock is just as hard as knowing where to strike with a sword. It requires just as much skill as well. It takes time but once finished it could mean the difference between finding good loot as opposed to finding whatever is not kept under lock and key. Hehehe." "Or freedom and death in our case." Having finished with his cell R'ashiir proceeds and opens Ragnar's cell. "Alright. Stay close to R'ashiir's tail and stick to the shadows." "I am not good at wallowing around like a skeever, cat." "Well, you will have to be if you hope to survive this. Come on." After hours of sneaking around the prison Ragnar and R'ashiir finally make it out. "Ah. Smell that fresh air. R'ashiir's lungs feel invigorated!" "Hey cat..." "Yes?" "Thank you." "Well, of course. Now R'ashiir and Ragnar may fight against the Thalmor togeth---" a fireball hits R'ashiir burning him a great deal. Ragnar attempts to carry him away while running from the Thalmor mages but does not have enough strength to do so. "Leave... R'ashiir. Ragnar, leave me." "Shut up! I can carry you cat!" "R'ashiir is already dead Ragnar. Just... Leave me." Ragnar finds cover behind a tree and places R'ashiir down against it. "Promise R'ashiir... To kill them all. More than 20 times, yes?... Hehe...(cough)... Now run you idiot!" "I will never forget this ca- R'ashiir. Maybe I'll see you in Sovngarde. Or where ever you cats go when you die. Goodbye friend." Ragnar runs away dodging magic as he goes along but getting burned slightly at every turn. He realizes that his only salvation may lie towards crossing the border of his homeland, the border of Skyrim. He eventually crosses the border but gets ambushed by Imperials and collapses from exhaustion before he has time to react. A few hours later he wakes up on a cart with his hands bound along with a few other prisoners. In his mind Ragnar believes he will finally reach sovngarde for he does not know what the devines have planned for him.[/spoiler]