Kendeshel Playthrough
| Kendeshel | |
|---|---|
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| Playthrough Info | |
| Game | Skyrim Anniversary Edition |
| Race | Redguard (half Altmer) |
| Playthrough Dates | Begun 9/4/2023; in progress |
| Platform | Steam Deck and Win11 VM |
| Language | English |
| Difficulty | Adept |
This is the page for my eleventh Skyrim playthrough, for the Redguard character Kendeshel.
Kendeshel is take two of my doing a Skyrim run inspired by Kendis Thompson, the heroine of my Free Court of Seattle books, Faerie Blood and Bone Walker. Kendeshel is the name Kendis’ mother gave her at birth, so I’m bringing that in here.
This is a modded playthrough that includes RaceMenu, so I explicitly designed Kendeshel to try to mimic her namesake’s canon appearance as best I could, and to reflect that this version of the character is half-Redguard, half-Altmer. And since this playthrough also includes Alternate Start – Live Another Life, I’m taking advantage of that to come up with Kendeshel’s backstory for her run.
The primary goal for this playthrough will be to run Legacy of the Dragonborn. But just because I can, I am also trying out some other content mods I found interesting: Wintersun – Faiths of Skyrim, Moon and Star, Project AHO, and Wyrmstooth. Alternate Start will, likewise, give me the chance to see what a Skyrim run that doesn’t start in Helgen is like!
Kendeshel’s Backstory
The Fourth Era lore says that Hammerfell rejected the White-Gold Concordat in 175, and continued to fight with the Aldmeri Dominion until 180. Kendeshel’s parents were actively involved in that conflict. Her father Dhajid was a Redguard warrior; her mother Elanwe, a powerful Altmer mage in service to the Thalmor.
They met on the battlefield and fell in love despite themselves, a full on enemies to lovers scenario–and a deeply dangerous and tragic fate for them. The Redguards weren’t about to accept an Altmer among them even if she was a Thalmor defector, and as for the Thalmor, they were out for blood as soon as they realized one of their own had turned against them.
Dhajid and Elanwe met maybe in 178 and had to go it alone for a while, seeking their own shelter in the Alik’r Desert. Kendeshel, named by her mother, was born in 179.
And the Thalmor caught up with them in 180. Even if Hammerfell and the Aldmeri Dominion officially ceased hostilities, the Thalmor took it very, very badly that one of their own had defected, and they had an execution order out on Elanwe. This order was executed, and Dhajid was likewise slain as he rose to his wife’s defense.
Only the intervention of Agifa, Dhajid’s sister, saved the baby’s life. Agifa had been the one member of Dhajid’s family who hadn’t turned against him, and had come to find the couple in search of a reconciliation with them. As their last act before the Thalmor descended upon them, the two parents urged Agifa to flee their little settlement with the baby and take her far out of Thalmor reach. Agifa adopted the little girl, and raised her as her own.
Thus Kendeshel grew up in Redguard traditions, and learned to fiercely identify as a Redguard even though the signs of her mother’s blood were very visible on her, in the shape of her ears and eyes and an unmistakable Altmer tinge to her skin.
While she could not help but gain competency in weaponry growing up in the Alik’r, such skills were not where her main talents lay. She began showing signs of a gift for magic, inherited from her mother–and moreover, an intellectual curiosity that drove her to solitary explorations of ruins and other ancient locales. Once word of her roving got out, her family rejected her, accusing her of violating the sanctity of honored dead by investigating ruins–and at least one or two of her most hostile relatives called her a budding necromancer.
Highly offended, and already having grown up having to fight for her place in a family already hostile to her, Kendeshel set out on her own to find acceptance elsewhere. In the aftermath of Hammerfell’s abandoning the Empire, she decided in spite to head for a place most likely to anger as many of her family as possible: the Imperial City in Cyrodiil.
When she arrived, a travel-scarred and prickly young woman on the verge of adulthood, she found a place at the Gwylim University and threw herself headlong into the study of the history of Tamriel. Thirst for knowledge also drove her to seek training at the Arcane University, to give herself a grounding in the magical gifts she inherited from her mother.
Now in her mid-twenties, she has established herself as a skilled relic hunter. Enough so that it’s brought her to the attention of a certain museum in Solitude, who has decided to engage her services….
Playthrough Posts
Here are all the posts about Kendeshel’s playthrough! These are dynamically updated, so a new post should appear here when it goes up. They’re listed in descending date order, so the newest posts should always appear first. Also, note the pagination controls after the first five posts. You can page through to see the older ones.
- In Which Kendeshel Quests at Arcwind Point - 07/25/2024In which Kendeshel recovers a lost explorer's key from Greywater Grotto; raids a cultist camp, and gets intel that leads her to Arcwind Point; slays a dragon at Autumnwatch Tower on the way; slays another dragon at Arcwind, along with hostile draugr; and quests into Varlais Cavern to try to put a stop to what the Dagon cultists had been up to.
- In Which Kendeshel Destroys the Dark Brotherhood and Excavates at Rkund - 07/09/2024In which Kendeshel brings about the death of Grelod the Kind; fights a mad mage in the hot springs of Eastmarch; slays the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, and then wipes out the rest of them, except for an old blind man who tells her of the Hand of Glory; helps a mage at Darklight Tower put an end to her hagraven mother; and works with the Explorer's Society to excavate the ruins at Rkund, making a number of valuable discoveries in the process.
- In Which Kendeshel Slays a Whole Lot of Vampires - 07/05/2024In which Kendeshel quests across the land in search of Crusader relics for the Dragonborn Gallery; slays draugr and Mikrul Gauldurson in Folgunthur; saves Morthal from being taken over by vampires; discovers the secrets of Shalidor's Maze in Labyrinthian; and claims Bloodchill Manor after clearing it of more vampires.
- In Which Kendeshel Gets Married and Fights Pirates - 03/13/2024In which Kendeshel defends a mad mage in the sewers beneath Solitude; also fights off two different dragons in the city; marries Rulnik Wind-Strider in Riften, and settles her family at Proudspire Manor; helps the East Empire Company reclaim Japhet's Folly; and acquires the Arms of Chaos to display with the relics in her museum.
- In Which Kendeshel Explores the Ruins of Winterhold - 02/29/2024In which Kendeshel delves into the old ruins of Winterhold and uncovers secrets about the Great Collapse; slays the dragon Kahvozein and the dragon priest Beinaarkh; wipes out the Seducers bandits near Forsaken Cave; and slays the dragon Viinturuth.
Screenshots
Kendeshel’s screenshot galleries can be found on the Kendeshel Screenshots page.