Adyne Mathendis

Adyne Mathendis was a Dunmer mage who is one of the possible subjects of the Nerevarine Prophecy, and therefore whose conjectural existence is one of the questions posed by the Uncertain Sign Dragon Break. Mathendis was strongly characterized by an independent streak for which the ends very much justified the means, but is nonetheless somewhat favoured by the Imperial Chronoarchaeologists due to her habit of leaving historically- and biographically-relevant writings in her wake. Nonetheless, her independent streak means it is ambiguous whether or not she actually entered into the prophecy during the dragonbreak, in spite of her satisfying the usual requirements for identifying a candidate.

She was a Mage born under the Ritual Sign.

Biography

Early Life

Adyne Mathendis was born in Port Telvanis in 3E 389, which at the time was still an important center of House Telvani rule. She was the daughter of a washerwoman who claimed her to be the bastard of Galos Mathendis, but in truth she never knew her father, and by the time of the Uncertain Sign Dragon Break, had no interest in identifying her father nor any faith that her mother's claims on the matter had been entirely truthful. Adyne became quite independent at a young age, in part because of the conflict caused by the Arnesian War, which occurred when she was a small child. The experiences of poverty and food insecurity at this young age are considered by later scholarship to have been a powerful motivating factor in her progress. It is also known that she spent at least a few years under professional tutelage - that, or she forged such records and later presented them when appearing in uesp-l:Cheydinhal.

"Rebel Yell" Era

For at least some portion of her early life, Adyne is known to have begun harboring significant anti-Imperial views, citing in particular the Armistice (though obviously she was ignorant of the secret terms of the agreement) and Imperial ambition in general, as well as questioning the legitimacy of the current emperor following the revelation of the Imperial Simulacrum. In 3E 409, Adyne travelled to the city of Cheydinhal, presenting herself as a House Telvani "associate" and seeking admittance in the local uesp-l:Mages Guild, but was rejected out of hand when her application was opposed by Falcar and several other members of the guild.

Frustrated with this set-back, she remained generally at large in County Cheydinhal, and would make several additional attempts to be admitted to the guild. County records show that in 3E 413 she went so far as to appeal to Count Indarys to force the issue, but he deferred, claiming (likely correctly) that he had no authority to issue such an order. Throughout this period, she is known to have studied with anyone that would spare her the time, consuming lessons on any subject and paying her way with coin she earned performing minor clerical work.

Her personality went through another shift came with the announcement in 3E 414 that Vardenfell would no longer serve as a preserve of the Tribunal, but that it was being opened to Imperial (and Dunmeri) settlement and exploitation. During this time, Mathendis penned The Rape of Vardenfell, an incendiary, anti-Imperial pamphlet and traveled to The Imperial City to produce and distribute it. The invective proved to be a profitable exercise, to the point that Adyne eventually owned her own small press and employed several distributors for the pamphlets. Many of these pamphlets are lost to ambihistory and of the surviving corpus not all are considered memorable works; at this period in her life Adyne had a reputation more in line with a muckraker than a promising political figure. Her pamphlet condemning the Levitation Act of 3E 421, Restriction of Dreams, was explosively popular and saw a resurgence of her brand; suddenly, she had the attention of mages and the spare capital to pay for their training.

Of course, with success came enemies. Adyne frequently had to more or less hide on the premises of her press and travel only with groups of her staff for protection, often for months at a stretch. In 3E 425, the press was raided by the Imperial City Guard, with the physical presses and many other resources seized. During this raid, Adyne herself was accused of shoving an officer and causing him to injure his arm in the process, a crime for which she was sentenced to the Imperial City prison for a term of many years.

Imprisonment and Deportation to Vardenfell

Adyne's imprisonment was not passed comfortably, compounded by the lengthy term and the loss of access to material comforts, writing materials, or the freedom to exercise her magical abilities. At various times, patrons offered to pay fines for her early release, but she refused them, wishing to avoid creating a subordinate relationship with any of them (fearing, in other words, that they would use their "gift" against her). She actually extended her stay on one occasion, and should have been released in 3E 426, except that she had a patron smuggle in writing materials and was able to publish Liberty in Mind from within the prison.

It is likely this constant rebellion, combined with her Dunmeri heritage and vague correspondences to the Nerevarine Prophecy, ultimately led to the decision to exile her to Vardenfell.

Role in the Dragon Break

Because of her arrival on 17th Last Seed, 3E 427, at the Customs and Excise Depot of the Imperial service in the village of Seyda Neen, Adyne satisfies the condition of being a subject of the Uncertain Sign Dragon Break. Her actions from that point onward become ambihistory.

Capitalization upon Seyda Neen

Unlike the Imperial City, where Mathendis had garnered herself a reputation, she had no resources in Seyda Neen other than those made available to her by the Empire: a paltry release fee. She attempted to investigate the murder of a local tax collector but apparently decided not to turn in the culprit, who, according to her journals, had made a cogent argument for the likely corruption of said tax collector; she further lamented that she had already turned over his returns. She spent a total of three days in the village, collecting samples of fungi and plants that were endemic to the area, and also happened upon a most ridiculous arcane experiment. The imperial contingent at the village left records indicating that she also burned out a nearby smugglers' den though the use of arcane magics. Mathendis does not specify this event directly in her journal, but does claim in an entry on the 19th of Last Seed that she "left Seyda Neen feeling powerful and free", and that "at the end of the day, there is no shame in taking by force what was taken by force".

Ingratiation with the Mages Guild

It is unclear whether or not Adyne immediately made contact with her parole agent or deferred the matter until later, but we do have clear records that she joined the Mages' Guild through its uesp-l:Balmora chapter, pursuing a functional working relationship with the appellate journeyman Ajira. The two worked together for two or three days, largely consisting of Adyne performing herbological field-work or running minor errands for the senior mage. During this time, Adyne spent a large amount of money on additional training, specifically to learn a number of spells from other guild members; in historical terms this period was less historically significant than it was significant in terms of her character. For the first time, Adyne had the capacity to obtain magical knowledge relatively easily.

Adyne's tone changed just days later when Ajira handed her training over to the chapter steward, Ranis Athrys. Ranis immediately assigned Adyne duties that she considered "unsuitable"; the coercion, by force if necessary, of Telvanni sorcerer Llarar Bereloth into joining the guild and the collection of guild dues. Unwilling to approach either task directly, Adyne instead demurred and began visiting other branches of the guild by way of the Guild Guides.

She did a small amount of work out of the Ald'ruhn chapter on behalf of that chapter's steward, Edwina Elbert, largely based on her reputation for concern with fine scholarship. However, we also know from Adyne's journals at the time that she wasn't much better pleased with Edwinna, writing that she was "either the catspaw of the Balmora guild or the errand-wench of Elbert"; apparently stemming a dispute she'd had with Edwinna over reimbursement for costs for a copy of Chronicles of Nuchelft which Adyne obtained for her from Vivec and Edwinna's insistence on the collection of dues from Adyne herself before furthering her advancement in the guild (to the rank of Conjuror). While she did assist Edwinna further by helping her to steal a copy of the Chimarvamidium. However, it was shortly after this exchange when she decided to "check up on" the guild branch a Wolverine Hall.

Ingratiation with House Telvanni

Though earlier efforts on behalf of the guild had lead to her brief visit to Wolverine Hall, she had not previously taken the opportunity to explore the city of Sadrith Mora. It seems likely that she only explored the city after her second visit, because of the dating of her specific Hospitality Papers issued by Great House Telvanni, which survive in ambihistory. It seems probable that it was this period of exploration which lead to her decision to join with the Great House. An essay from her personal writings, unpublished, which has become known as the Dualities of Service seems to suggest that, while both the Mages' Guild and the Great House expected service from their lower-order members on their rise to the upper echelons, it became clear from only a few conversations that House Telvanni had "the more appropriate view" on such things.

Most of her early work with the Great House was "broadly menial" - the accumulation of raw alchemical ingredients for various house members and a number of errands to speak with the Telvanni lords Divayth Fyr and Baladas Demnevanni, both of whom she seemed to be very impressed with. Curiously, during this time she also paid the dues she was owing to the Mages Guild - seeming to demonstrate that she was willing to work with both factions as long as they continued to advance her personal development.

Personality

Adyne is motivated by her own sense of freedom and the accumulation of power, as a means to prevent her from ever becoming "victimized", whether by bandits, poverty, or the state. She is not malicious in her pursuit of these things but neither is she troubled by acts of overt violence or subterfuge, especially as a measured response to an obstacle. She won't rob or mug a peaceable individual but delights in finding new and exotic ways to "delete bandit". This contrasts her with her ambi-contemporary Seeks-His-Heart in that there are limits to who she considers a "valid target", and from Iacobus Tenura in that she believes that the ends justify the means, rather than in any sort of external justice or goodness.

She's intended to be strongly aligned to the cause of the Tribunal Temple which is another point of distinction to Iacobus, and in addition to "ordinary" magical power likely finds it desirable to accumulate the lessons and powers of the Tribunal.

Trivia

• Adyne was originally going to begin play as a "purer" mage archetype, focusing on the "most good" approach in any given situation. However, on examination of her Dunmer heritage and the player's intention to involve her with the House Telvani storyline, it was later determined that she should have a slightly darker approach.