With my looting of this ruin done I backtracked until I stepped out into the daylight. The muggy damp air brushed against my skin and the massive hole to Aetherius above shone down sunlight that warmed me. The sun of the Shivering isles was a matter of debate for many scholars. Many thought it a fake thing made to simulate the real one but others claimed it truly was a hole to Aetherius just like the massive one seen on Nirn. Sheogorath himself had lent evidence to both sides of this argument while also ironically saying exactly what it was in truth because that same truth was stranger than fiction.-
According to the Madgod his "sun" was in fact a massive conglomerate of cheese that formed a ring with the empty space in the middle being a hole into Aetherius for when he wanted to go chat with the other gods. So technically both theories were correct but only a madman would take the god's words as absolute truth. Personally I though he might have actually told the truth simply because of the chaos it would cause from both sides of the argument clashing.-
Anyways I left the ruins in a good mood as my loot was plentiful. The tome for summoning Hungers was especially nice as these creatures were roughly one step higher on the list than Clannfer in terms of strength. Not physically as they were not very powerful in that regard but magically speaking they were considerably better. Hungers were boney bipedal reptile monsters with bodies constantly in a state of anorexia. This made them look like skin stretched taunt over bones making their spiked backs and claws all the more pronounced. They tended to be a greyish color and had narrow round reptilian snouts that remained forever open like a hole at the end of their muzzles. -
Inside their mouths was their primary means of attacking and feeding, a sharp tongue nearly two meters long and used like a whip. Getting hit with that tongue did a few things. The first was it tore skin and muscles open. The second was that it began to magically siphon your strength and stamina. The third was that it let the creature suck in your life force.-
Nasty beasts to say the least.
Additionally quite rare to see outside of native mages in the isles. The group known as "The fanatics" for example practically all used the spell as they thought the beasts were blessed by Sheogorath. That group was basically the Madgod's most fervent worshipers and as a result also killed anyone who wasn't part of their group on sight. Religious nuts of course HAD to exist in the realm of madness after all. Following the dirty cobbled stone path away from the ruins I soon began to approach the town of Passwall. The first thing I noticed about the place was that it was not really a town so much as a city. -
It was easily the size of Riften if I had to guess and that made sense. The Fringe was the place mortals from all over Nirn came to enter the isles proper. Out of the at least three billion people on the world I now called home the percentage that go mad and find themselves here was not small number. The entire thing was as chaotic as you'd imagine from a collection of madmen. The buildings were all a mish mash of different architectural styles and materials with some flat out defying the laws of gravity and relativity. -
For example the three houses that were not only suspended thirty feet up but also upside down.
The crazy part?
The resident sitting on the porch with a glass of wine also sitting upside down and somehow not spilling any wine as if gravity was inverted for them. Their long hair pointing downward proved that untrue however. There were houses LITERALLY growing out of other houses, a house that was covered in fur and meowed, and even a house that was fenced off because it ate people. Passwall was a design of pure chaos that I was fairly sure Sheogorath allowed to be like this because it was both whimsical and because it weeded out the unworthy. -
My appearance on the road earned exactly two seconds of attention before all these madmen ignored me. It was rather funny how I had to come to the literal realm of madness for people not to stare at me like a circus curiosity. All these various shades of madmen looked at me and went "Meh" before ignoring me. This place was also one of the most unracist you could imagine as every race could be seen walking it's streets. -
Altmer, Dunmer, Argonian, Khajiit, Orc, Imperial, Nord, I even saw the exotic pale blue fish scale skinned Maormer here. Sea elves were a rarity in this day and age as their homeland had sank below the sea and the few that remained hid well in places few treaded. Not that they could be blamed since they did sort of piss off every other race in existence. See the Maomer people made a culture of being pirates before their homeland sank. They grew nothing, made only boats and weapons for sea combat and raided literally everyone for whatever supplies they needed.-
They weren't cruel exactly so much as ruthless during their raids. You got in their way and they'd kill you but otherwise they'd typically not go out of their way to kill or even injure. The exception to this was the few times they attacked not to pillage but to weaken and crush. These events were few but each one was a bloody and remembered affair. No one is quite sure why Pyandonea sank but the true origin of the race is a notorious fact. Originally their ancestors were Altmer back during the Merethic era but they had been banished from the Summerset isles for some reason. -
Over the years and under the influence of their constant sea faring ways they changed into what they are now. Deceptively beautiful people with scales like a fishes on parts of their skin and haunting white eyes that had large pupils to see in low light conditions as well as under water. Despite their famed beauty they were foul mouthed and aggressive more often than not from their raiding centric society.