Editing Scrollhammer: Holds of Skyrim (section)

====The Coming of the World-Doom====

[[Image:Civil war skyrim 001.jpg|thumb|400px|right]]

The worship of Talos was forbidden by the Thalmor on pain of a slow death, and Elvish agents were sought to root it out wherever they might find it. These forces formed a secret police, scouring Skyrim for any who might still bear loyalty to the god-hero.

The Nords bore this oppression for decades. But many could not stand for long to watch their people, once free, forcibly marched along the path to extermination. With fiery words, the Prophet of Talos, Heimskr of Whiterun, preached day and night, protected by the gods alone as he spoke the truth aloud. Many others, too, plotted against the Thalmor in secret, even though doing so would put their lives and those of their loved ones at stake.

Among these was the Jarl of the East March, Ulfric Stormcloak. A former soldier for the Empire taken prisoner by the Thalmor, he vowed to one day destroy them. Many battles he fought to reclaim the Western Reach for the Nords, that he might be granted freedom to worship Talos as a reward, but he was betrayed. All around him, others cowered in fear of the Thalmor and the Imperial Legion. Ulfric challenged the young High King Torygg to combat by champion in the city of Solitude, invoking the ancient power of the Thu'um in honor of Talos and his ancestors. He slew the Imperial puppet king, and fled eastwards. Ulfric rose up in rebellion with the armies of half of Skyrim in the name of Talos, against the remnant of the very empire that Talos had created.

Ulfric's rebels met swift defeat at the hands of the Imperial Legion, near the village of Helgen. At the day of his execution, a strange roar was heard in the sky. A terrible creature descended from the skies upon the village, destroying it with its voice. In the midst of the chaos, Ulfric's supporters entered the village, slaying many Imperial legionnaires and cutting loose his bonds. But the Nords looked into the sky in terror upon this day; for as mankind was plunged into civil war, as their ancient enemies the Elves plotted to blot their names from existence, the harbinger of the end had appeared before them. Alduin had returned.