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Spoiler
[“The Confession of Boma Kuro, 143” went from script to final
edit, but it was never broadcast for various political
reasons. The series has been lauded as the “finest culmination
of Hjalti’s nonsense in the Tamriels,” and won the IGSTAST in
E. Despite harsh criticism from other quarters, “TCI” was
otherwise a darling among its audience both at home and in the
armchair critiques of the Summerside liberal blogosphere,
“full of daring attempts to encapsulate the Septim Empires in
an intelligent and titillating serial format”. It was also
noteworthy that Emp Zed, the most famous of Imperial
Successors of the Second Interregnum was part of the show’s
eponymous rebellion. Perhaps even the show creators could not
bring themselves to vilify his character or his place in
Tamrielic folklore, and so cast him against the Talos Tapestry
as a troubled hero.
[This missing episode can be found in the Boxed Set of
“TransCyrod: Insurgency, the Complete Series” in both the
Imperial and certain Aldmeri Markets. Here in Skyrim, its sole
resurrection is accomplished only by hazarding such
cornerclubs as The Echopage or /c/hrysalis. Avoid WolfDeer’s
at the time of this publication; that place is run rampant
with specsec spores from the Thalmor’s “Silicate Syndicate”.]
FADE IN:
EXT. CANOPY – ABOVE CYRODIIL THOUGHTFORM
Cyrodiil is a pale thoughtform from above, its surface craggy
and uneven, with a few dark paved streets visible through the
canopy of buildings. The Rumare surrounds it on all sides,
orange with silt.
EXT. CYRODIIL THOUGHTFORM PARISH OF WGTONE MORNING
The Imperial Parish of WGTOne is situated near a wide bend
of the Rumere, its water at low tide. Reeds and scrub brush
are the only vegetation on this desolate part of the city.
The neighborhood itself is highwalled and divided into
quarters: Riverside, the Governor’s Quarter, the Marketplace,
and the Weirgate. The city walls are marked with the Empire’s
insignias and defended by turreted candle towers. Imperial
Legion soldiers walk along the walls, keeping a watch for any
sign of nomad war parties. The city is covered in a smoky
haze.
The Governor’s Quarter is the most industrial section of
WGTOne. Its wide courtyards are full of cargo haulers and
factory warehouses. Multiple pathways lead to the giant,
belching smokestacks of a Sugar Plant.
Outside the city are numerous nomad camps. The nomads, the
Kothringi, are oldhumans, wiry and mostly naked, shoulder
straps hanging with feathers and animal skins. Nearly all of
them carry spears or long, curved knives. A few carry
handcandles, but awkwardly. The Kothringi encampments are
tents made from Coutal hides, the same camellike animals the
nomads use for transportation, milk, and meat. The nomads wash
themselves in the river, roughhouse on the banks, yell
obscenities at the Legionnaires on the city walls, and cook
their meals on large, reedfed bonfires.
EXT. WGTONE MARKETPLACE MORNING
The Marketplace is a wide bazaar, filled with cafes, merchant
stands, and a line of specialty shops. Most of the tradesmen
shops are the bottom levels of tiered apartment buildings.
Many of the people that move through this section are
colonists, though Imperial officials and foreign emissaries
can be seen among them. Even a few Kothringi are bargaining
with merchants, meat and hides for baubles and glow rods, but
these nomads are dressed up for it, and it is obvious that
they are wary around the Cyrodil.
One of the Kothringi looks up at the smoke of the faraway
Sugar Plant and spits into his hand, holding it up towards the
smoke and muttering a curse.
PAN to the Kuro Woodshop, a tall but humble shop near the city
walls. Its top apartment has windows that look over the walls
and towards the impenetrable jungle to the east.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
From my apartment I can see past the walls
into the black cloud of their presence.
Behind all that smoke are the indistinct
yurts and hornedskull posts of the
Kothringi nomads, meant to ward off the
indecencies of the city.
INT. KURO WOODSHOP TOP APARTMENT MORNING
BOMA KURO, a melancholy youth, wellbred but with the body of
a factory worker, looks outside his apartment window to the
city walls and the nomad camps beyond. His breath shows in the
morning chill.
Three Kothringi braves on Coutals come out from the plains and
yell at the Imperial Legionnaires that patrol the guard
towers.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
Three Kothringi braves materialize to mock
the Imperial soldiers stationed on the
wall. They sit their Coutals, naked despite
the cold, and one holds up a swamp tortoise
pelt. It is an obvious and captured magic
to them, shaken for effect. When a Imperial
Legionnaire stares too long, the braves
laugh and stamp away, their good deed done
and over.
The nomads kick their Coutals and vanish, the brave with the
swamp tortoise pelt waving it above them. The Legionnaire
shakes his head and moves on.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I will never understand the children of
Kothringi. I will never come to love this
city, Cyrodiil. WGTOne is a filthy fate,
though my father, son of a Bravilian
woodcutter, does not share my discomfort.
Boma Kuro makes his way to a stairwell and descends into a
windowed kitchen.
His father, LEB KURO, a large, quiet man, looks over a reed
flute while he enjoys his meager breakfast: hot tea and a
scone.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
At least, he says, we were not sent to a
colonial farm near the true roam of the
nomads, and we are making real money.
Boma takes a seat at the table.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
Good morning, Father. Chilly again.
LEB KURO
Quit moping, Boma. Go to work. And speak in
Cyrodilic, even in this house.
Boma sighs and takes a bite of his own scone. He looks around
at their apartment.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
Our accommodations are not bad, this much
is true, and from the topmost windows we
can almost forget the squalor below.
Fortune and weight of name afforded us this
highangled view.
Boma gets up and takes his factory uniform off a beautiful
wooden coat rack. He stares into the city again. He zips
himself in the uniform, his name and number on the breast in
Tamrielic script, and an Imperial diamond insignia on the
back.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
It is good that our gifts, a set of
lacquered end tables and a carven stand for
books, reached the Regional Governor before
we did. Only by his leave did we escape an
exile near Riverside, where even the
noblemen smell like fish.
Boma puts his work belt on and starts for another stairwell.
Leb Kuro looks at his son and frowns.
LEB KURO
(subtitled)
Times have been better, but we are not
women.
BOMA KURO
I don’t even know what that means.
(pointing out a window)
You sent me to the University, for this?
LEB KURO
You work your way up in this Empire, Boma.
I work hard to get us to this parish. You
work hard at the factory, maybe the
Governor send you to San ‘Tesha, or
Remanside, or the Gardens. Somewhere like
that.
Boma manages a smile for his father and exits.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I tell you all of this because I want you
to know how my father felt about the
Empire. And, because of my father, despite
my restlessness and moaning, I feel the
same way.
EXT. WGTONE GOVERNOR’S QUARTER SUGAR PLANT DAY
Boma hefts blocks of unrefined wasabi into a cargo hauler.
Behind him a throng of workers are moving into the main hold
of the Sugar Plant. Another colonist is helping Boma, and soon
the cargo hauler is loaded. They jump on the back of it as it
takes off toward the Weirgate.
Boma watches the Imperial Officials eating on the outside deck
of the Plant Commissary. He watches the Bummerclass Imperial
Shuttles drop down from the sky to the Weirgate. He watches a
Kothringi nomad child throw something at a Khajiiti trader and
then run down a steaming alleyway, where other nomad kids wait
laughing.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
The Governor tolerates the nomads, but not
only because he fears them. I have heard
that he fancies himself a hunter, and has
been seen traveling with their war parties
out in the jungles beyond the scrub plains.
Protected, of course, but there with the
Kothringi, hunting after glass chupacabras
or imported Gilas. The Governor admires
something about the nomads. Perhaps he
admires them because that they hate him so
much.
EXT. WGTONE WEIRGATE – DAY
Boma begins to unload the wasabi into the crates standing near
the Imperial Shuttle loading ramps. He stops when he sees the
Governor near a hangar bay. The Governor sees him, too, and
waves.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I can tell the Governor likes me and my
father. He is one of the few Imperials that
actually visits our woodshop in the market.
He buys the most expensive things we have
for sale. The rest of the Imperials prefer
their modular, prefabricated furnishings,
Hist interiors that defy anything
associated with art or nature. Understand,
that is not meant to be a disparaging
remark.
Boma stands still when he sees what is in the hangar behind
the Governor: a crowd of Kothringi, huddled behind a
pyloncornered energy screen. Most of them look like they are
starving to death.
Suddenly one of the nomads spots the Governor and rushes the
energy screen, SCREAMING as he passes through it, falling to
the ground, his skin on fire. Nevertheless, the Kothringi gets
up and runs for the Governor again. A Legionnaire opens fire
on the nomad, killing him with a single handcandle shot in the
back.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
One time the Governor offered me a place in
his Militias, but Father insisted that I
aim higher. Seeing that life now, I am glad
he had his way.
The WGTONE CARGO CAPTAIN comes up to Boma and shoves him.
WGTONE CARGO CAPTAIN
143, you got a Shuttle to load. Watch your
schedule, not the natives.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
Still, I ask myself, how can I reach the
Governor if I do not join his Legions?
EXT. WGTONE MARKET PLACE LATE AFTERNOON
Boma buys a loaf of bread from a merchant stand and moves past
a café. In the distance is his father’s woodshop.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
At first, I am just happy to see some new
faces.
Sitting at a café table are Perrif, in civilian garb, and her
sometimeshusband Emp Zed. They take no notice of Boma.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I think that they are recently arrived
colonists. Maybe aetherial freighter
contractors or some other kind of
specialists called for by the Governor.
Zurin Arctus passes in front of Boma, HISSING at him when he
gets too close. The math athlete goes over to meet some Orphan
Dogs waiting by a quaint, cobbled courtyard.
Pelinal, in an Imperial uniform, waits there, beside a
fountain. He is whispering into a wristmoth, and motioning to
some people on the other side of the marketplace.
Boma looks over and sees some more Imperial soldiers coming
Pelinal’s way.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
Or perhaps even reinforcements for some
attack on the nomads that I am unaware of.
Boma takes another look at Perrif, now far behind him. She
sees him and smiles. He smiles back, almost blushing. Pelinal
is whispershouting. Boma bumps into Hjalti, who’s wearing a
large gray cloak with the hood up.
HJALTI
Sorry, kid.
He lets Boma pass.
HJALTI (CONT’D)
Zed, Mede will be in orbit in ten hours. We
move at daybreak.
Boma nods his own apology and moves on.
INT. KURO WOODSHOP SHOP LEVEL LATE AFTERNOON
Leb Kuro is closing down for the day. Boma goes to sit on the
counter. He notices a Kothringi blade beside him, curved and
jaggededged, its pommel wrapped in Coutal hide and river
jewels.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
What is this?
LEB KURO
It is knife from the Kothringi. All
they had.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
We don’t need to trade with them,
Father.
Boma sighs and gets off the counter. He starts for the
stairwell.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
(subtitled)
I’m going to bed. Did you see the new
people?
LEB KURO
Cyrodilic. And yes. I told you this parish,
it is going to grow.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. SUGAR PLANT DAY
Boma pushes a cart along the factory floor. He passes Perrif
in a worker’s outfit. She smiles at him again.
PERRIF
(whispering)
Hiya. Keep your head down.
Boma stops and watches her move away towards Emp Zed, who is
also in a worker’s uniform. Emp Zed speaks into his wristmoth
again and then something near the back of the factory
EXPLODES.
Boma ducks down behind the cart as throatbolts start flying.
Perrif and Emp Zed are firing on Imperial soldiers on the
second level platforms. The plant workers panic and start
running.
Pelinal rushes in with Orphan Dogs behind him. Boma waves to
get his attention and then points at Perrif and Emp Zed.
BOMA KURO
They did it!
Pelinal’s Orphan Dogs open fire on the Imperial Soldiers as
well. Boma becomes really confused. He looks over the top of
his cart and sees more Orphan Dogs arriving from the
elevators. Those start firing on Pelinal’s Orphan Dogs.
Another EXPLOSION rocks the factory. Hjalti enters, waving his
arms for everyone to run. Zurin is behind him, laying down
cover magic.
HJALTI
No good! Fall back!
PELINAL
What happened?
HJALTI
What else? The Queen’s briefing lacked a
few details.
Pelinal and his Orphan Dogs start to retreat. Emp Zed picks
off another Imperial soldier and follows them. Perrif looks
over to Boma and motions for him to run. He shakes his head
vehemently. Then she points up and behind him. An Imperial
Orphan Dog has a handcandle aimed at him, thinking he is
another Insurgent in a plant worker uniform.
A blast ERUPTS near Boma’s head, hitting the cart. Perrif
fires on the Imperial Orphan Dog that caused it, giving Boma a
chance to scramble out of the factory.
EXT. WGTONE MARKETPLACE DAY
Mass hysteria has taken over the marketplace. Imperials are
firing on each other through the crowd. Boma heads straight
for his father’s woodshop.
He sees Hjalti and Perrif running down another side of the
street, dodging throatcandle bolts. Pelinal and his Orphan
Dogs try to cover them but are suddenly fired on by Imperial
soldiers on the city walls. Boma passes by Zurin as he lifts a
handheld stickyshout thoom launcher. One of the guard towers
EXPLODES.
PELINAL
(into a wristmoth)
Emp Zed! Sitrep right now!
EMP ZED (V.O.)
Pinned down in Riverside, but I think we
can make it to the pickup. Lost Perrif and
Hjal in the shuffle.
PELINAL
(to his squad)
We’re done for the day, people. Go.
Boma’s father opens the door just as he nears it. Boma rushes
inside.
INT./EXT. KURO WOODSHOP SHOP LEVEL DAY
Leb and Boma Kuro are terrified. They watch the battle outside
through the windows.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I come to the part that is hard to explain.
I do not believe in the Kothringi magic. I
think I have already said that.
Outside, Perrif and Hjalti are surrounded by Imperial Orphan
Dogs. They fall back, hiding behind the overhang supports of
the Kuros’ woodshop. Soldiers on both flanks have them
trapped. Hjalti sees Leb Kuro looking outside of the window.
HJALTI
Let us in!
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
No, Father!
LEB KURO
(to Hjalti)
Not here! You go!
An Imperial OD Battlemage fires a throatbolt that rips a
hole in the door. Boma ducks, pulling on his father’s sleeve.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
Move away from the window, Father!
HJALTI
(calmly)
You will let us in.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I feel it, too, a sensation right here,
that place just under your name. I cannot
explain it. I think perhaps this is the
‘speakwell’ Empire special forces teach in
their sublinguistics training courses, but
I do not know. In any case, my father opens
the door.
Leb Kuro lets Perrif and Hjalti inside. Glass shatters from
more throatfire. Perrif takes a few shots outside through the
broken windows. Leb Kuro regains his senses and pushes his son
back behind a workbench. He raises his hands toward Hjalti.
LEB KURO
You go! This is my son! You go!
HJALTI
You will show us another way out.
LEB KURO
I show you another way out.
Leb Kuro is entranced again, leading Perrif and Hjalti
upstairs. A few seconds later, there is a CRASH of glass. Boma
is too afraid to move. The Imperial Orphan Dogs are still
shouting into the shop.
Boma’s father returns and goes over to his son, holding him.
They duck behind the workbench together. Suddenly the door is
SMASHED inward and Imperial boots CRUNCH on the glass. Leb
Kuro rises and waves his arms.
LEB KURO
They already leave! Go!
Reflexively, a nervous Imperial soldier spins over and roars
Leb Kuro through the chest. Then the rest of the squad moves
in. Some run up the stairs. Others hold swords down at Boma
Kuro, who has grabbed his father’s leg. He tugs on it, crying,
saying something over and over again in a language they can’t
understand.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
The Insurgency was a rumor, something that
happened on maps I had never heard about.
This was Cyrodiil, and what did it have to
do with us?
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
EXT. ABOVE CYRODIIL THOUGHTFORM
Two Imperial BSpires, the Atonement and the Reckoning, are
firing on each other above the city. Their cuttlefish
candleboats are fighting between them.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
To me, it seemed that there was a civil war
going on within the city. But I didn’t care
about that at the time.
INT. KURO WOODSHOP DAY
The Imperial Orphan Dogs are gone. Boma, still in tears, grabs
the Kothringi knife and heads out of the ruined doorway.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I had simpler matters in mind.
EXT. WGTONE RIVERSIDE DAY
Colonists make what repairs they can as Imperials gather up
the dead. A few Kothringi nomads try to steal weapons,
helmets, or drakes from the bodies of the fallen before they
are spotted.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I heard one of them mention Riverside. I do
not see any prisoners, so I figure they
have escaped. The only thing left to do is
to talk to the Kothringi encamped outside
the city. I know they will hate my Sugar
Plant uniform, so I bring the requisite
compensation.
EXT. Kothringi CAMP (BONESHAVER TRIBE) DAY
A nomad guides a reedbound skiff across the river to the
western bank. Boma tries to keep his balance and his courage.
A Kothringi brave spots him immediately and shouts something
unintelligible, shaking a spear. The brave runs to get more
nomads from the camp.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
These are the Boneshavers, the river tribe
of the Kothringi. Unlike their jungle
cousins, the Red Teats (who are also their
blood rivals), they rely more on fish and
sandeels than the Coutals. For Kothringi,
they are also the most agreeable to the
colonists.
As soon as he steps ashore a Boneshaver brave shoves Boma to
the ground and starts pounding his head. Boma does not attempt
to fight back or resist at all.
More braves arrive and throw rocks at the youth or spit in
their hands.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
This is all part of the ceremony. They knew
the moment I stepped onto the riverbank
that I had a bag of money for them. When
they are finished cleansing me of the
wickedness of civilization, they will take
me to their TribeMother. I can last that
long.
The braves continue to beat on Boma, one taking his knife and
stabbing it into the ground beside his head just before
another stomps down on his face.
INT. TRIBEMOTHER YURT DAY
Boma sits crosslegged in front of the TRIBEMOTHER, an
elderly, hidecovered Kothringi, her hair braided with bones
and sticks, her eyes milky white. She holds her side as if a
pain were bothering her. Another Kothringi Elder sits close
by, to serve as a translator. Boma is scuffed up, and dried
blood is caked on his head. The TribeMother offers him a
drink from a wooden bowl. He politely refuses. A nomad brave
comes inside the yurt and throws Boma’s knife into his lap.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
Evidently, I do not bring enough to trade
with. They need more from me before they
will show me the pickup point of the
traitors.
The Kothringi Elder points to the TribeMother’s side.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
He tells me that the TribeMother has
picked up a spirit in her sleep. Something
red and scaled, he says, something that
bites. She wants to get rid of it, but
doesn’t want it to go to waste. He tells me
if I take it from her, they will show me
the place I want to find. I agree.
The Kothringi Elder starts to CHANT. The TribeMother opens a
place in her hides, exposing skin stretched taut over her
ribs. She grabs the bowl of water and holds it there.
The Kothringi Elder reaches over and closes his fist around
the air next to her ribs. He pulls his fist back slowly, as if
he is pulling something invisible out of her body. The
TribeMother moans with pain. Boma watches, somewhat
fascinated, somewhat in a hurry to get this over with. He
jumps a little when the Kothringi Elder opens his hand and
something splashes into the water. The TribeMother pushes it
over to Boma. There seems to be nothing in the bowl but water,
but the nomads look at him in all seriousness and motion for
him to drink. He does.
EXT. HEARTLAND JUNGLE DAY
Boma is running through the jungle, trying to keep up with a
nomad brave on a Coutal. They come close to a rise, and the
Kothringi gets off his mount. Together, he and Boma crawl to
hide behind a ridge of scrub brush.
Below them, in a shadowed valley, is an encampment of the Red
Teat tribe. Mingling with the nomads are the “Imperial” forces
of Captain Pelinal. Boma spots Perrif and Hjalti in front of
one of the yurts conferring with Pelinal, Emp Zed, and a swarm
of homunculi channeling the ghost of Reman.
The Boneshaver brave grunts something to Boma and then smacks
the back of his neck. The nomad then spits into his hand,
points his palm to the Red Teats, curses, and then runs back
to his Coutal. Boma is alone. He pulls out his Kothringi
knife, but then flinches from a pain in his side.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
The Boneshaver medicine man poisoned me. I
had studied comparative religion at the
University. I know this is something called
sympathetic magic my death will be a
metaphor for the death of the Empire, or
perhaps the colonization of Cyrodiil in
general. More than a metaphor, my professor
would have said. It will be a guarantee.
Seeing the traitors below, I am just glad
the Kothringi gave me something that takes
a while to work.
EXT. Kothringi CAMP (RED TEAT TRIBE) DAY
Boma walks through the camp, trying to avoid the crew of the
Atonement, but striding through the nomads freely.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
The Red Teats take no notice of me. I am
just another traitor in a Imperial worker’s
uniform. I look for the one they call
Hjalti.
Boma tries to avert his face when two Orphan Dogs walk by and
look out towards the valley ridge.
ATONEMENT ORPHAN DOG ONE
What’s taking the transport so long?
ATONEMENT ORPHAN DOG TWO
Hjalti is trying to convince Chancellor
Mede that we can still take the plant.
Boma closes in on the yurt where Hjalti and Perrif are
discussing the operation. He swallows, nervously. He looks
around at how many enemies are between him and Hjalti.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
This is when I should strike. He is not
covered everywhere in Colovian metal. Fast
enough so he cannot slip beneath my mind
and make me change it. I am right here and
I cannot do it. It is becoming an event,
something gathering momentum. My cowardice
is making me a spectator.
HJALTI
(into a wristmoth)
Mede, we have a shot at this.
MEDE (V.O.)
Your argument needs some work. Think on it
while in transit. Our cuttlefish are
clearing a flight corridor for the
transports. Expect them in ten. Mede out.
PELINAL
(into his own wristmoth)
We read you, Chancellor Mede.
(to Hjalti)
Give it up, Hjal.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I see my father dead and know this is why I
am here. At the same time, I know
everything that transpired did so
indirectly. The speakwell man should die
anyway. This is everything I want. Even
remembering the red biter in my side, I
cannot move. So the Governor, he decides
for me.
The homunculi cloud WHISTLES. Pelinal’s wristmoth TRILLS.
ATONEMENT ORPHAN DOG ONE (V.O.)
Enemy forces in range, Captain. They have
artillery.
Pelinal looks to Zurin and the cloud, which is already
readying a hundred miniature likenesses of Reman’s
knifemissile.
ZURIN
(to the air)
No worries, Wulf.
(to the cloud)
Slaaka slaaka.
(to Perrif)
Perrif?! Get that damn thoomboom infield
already!
Zurin and the Remanculus move as throatfire ERUPTS on the
outskirts of the encampment. Kothringi WAR CRIES ring
throughout the valley as the nomads rush by on Coutals.
PERRIF
Hey, boka mokta choot already.
The Remanculus emerges from the yurt, stomping into the
battle, throatcandles spinning into place and knifemissiles
readied.
REMANCULUS
Boka mokta choot!
The EXPLOSIONS start. Hjalti, Perrif, Emp Zed, and Pelinal
break apart, issuing commands to other Insurgents. Then Perrif
sees Boma. He sprints forward, pulling out his knife.
PERRIF
Hjal!
Boma tackles her to the ground, holding the jagged edge of the
knife to her throat, pinning her arm with his knee. Pelinal
and Emp Zed ready their magic and hold it on Boma. Hjalti is
calm.
Boma is crying, yelling at Hjalti in his native Bravilian
while struggling to keep Perrif on the ground. Perrif’s neck
grazes the Kothringi knife and blood is drawn.
EMP ZED
Perrif! Hold still!
PELINAL
Fix this, EB.
Hjalti approaches Boma, IGNITING his handcandle.
HJALTI
Just a sec.
PERRIF
No!
(to Boma)
I remember you! We’re sorry!
Boma leans down, yelling into her face. The blade cuts deeper.
Boma’s eyes are crazed enough that Perrif starts screaming.
Hjalti sets fire to the Kothringi knife in Boma’s hand with
his candlestick. Boma looks up just in time to see Hjalti’s
boot.
BLACK OUT.
EXPLOSIONS and WAR CRIES.
EMP ZED (V.O.)
You all right, sweetie?
Perrif (V.O.)
Yeah. Hjalti
HJALTI (V.O.)
Woodshop, I know. Let’s go.
PELINAL (V.O.)
(fading out)
Fish boats just hit the atmosphere, people.
Cover and retreat.
PERRIF (V.O.)
We can’t leave him here. Something bad
happened, see.
HJALTI (V.O.)
He made that pretty obvious. Let’s go.
IMPERIAL NAVAL BATTLESPIRES are heard approaching over the
sounds of the battle.
PERRIF (V.O.)
No way.
Beat.
HJALTI (V.O.)
(huffing)
Fine. Give me a hand, Emp Zed. Compassion
here weighs a ton.
INT. REBEL NAVY BUTTERTUB CARGO HOLD
Boma is strapped to the wall of the Cargo Hold. He looks
around in a daze. Insurgents of the WGTOne Operation pass
him by, moving to combat positions. Boma, straining his neck,
manages to look outside the cockpit viewport. The Imperial
BSpire Atonement, still locked into combat with the
Reckoning, is closing.
Some of the Atonement’s cuttlefish candleboats move into the
superstring, leaving the battle. An enemy starfish galleon
gets in the way of the freighter, but an unseen candlewicker
somewhere in the Buttertub picks it off. After the fiery
debris of the explosion clears, the Atonement’s hangar bay is
in view.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
When I see the gargantuan Imperial
Battlespires, I realize the extent of this
civil war. My father’s Empire is crumbling
apart.
Pelinal comes over the Buttertub’s loudspeakers.
PELINAL (V.O.)
All personnel: prepare for transition into
the aether. Chancellor Mede, you can move
out. We’ve got your destination
coordinates.
When the Buttertub starts to SHUDDER, its beliefengines
warming up, Boma blanks out again.
INT. IMPERIAL BSPIRE ATONEMENT DETENTION CELL
He awakes shivering on the cold, blackmatte ebony slab of a
detention cell. His hand strays to his forehead, where Hjalti
kicked him. A large welt has grown there, black and bloody,
along with all the other beatings Boma’s skull has taken in
the last day or so. The detention cell’s lacquered ebony doors
SWISH open. Hjalti appears.
HJALTI
Wake up, kid. Chancellor Mede wants to talk
to you.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
“The successes of the rash are none of them
rewarded.”
HJALTI
Spooky. Now follow me.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
I’ll actually cut her deep next time.
HJALTI
(slowly)
Follow me.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I cannot resist. I blame it on all the
wounds I have suffered.
Boma calmly follows Hjalti out of the cell.
INT. IMPERIAL BSPIRE ATONEMENT – CHANCELLOR MEDE’S QUARTERS
Two Insurgent Officers lead Boma into Mede’s quarters. The
Chancellor is at his desk. Pelinal is behind him, standing.
Boma, out of Hjalti’s speakwell influence, tries to look
defiant. He looks around the room, to the shelves, the red
drapes, the trophies and souvenirs of Chancellor Mede’s
career.
MEDE
Hello. My name is Chancellor Titus Mede,
formerly of the Imperial Navy. This is my
sporeship, the BSpire Atonement. Please
take a seat.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
Every word confirms my suspicions. Soon, he
will be trying to validate his
insurrection. For the Governor’s sake, I
want to hear what he has to say. To hear
how many traitors there are. You work your
way up in this Empire. Something, however,
will not let me.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
(subtitled)
May a thousand Gilas take you.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
It is a nomad curse, shouted to the walls
every morning at WGTOne. It is the best I
can muster.
Mede sits back and frowns. He replies in Bravilian.
MEDE
(subtitled)
Is it somehow romantic for you to swear at
me in your own tongue? Unbecoming behavior,
I would say, especially for a University
man.
Boma turns to look at everyone, perhaps to see if
they understand. He glances at Hjalti.
MEDE (CONT’D)
Boma Kuro, cargo loader 143, employee of
the WGTOne Colony Sugar Plant, Cyrodiil
City, Cyrodiil Thoughtform.
(subtitled)
To alleviate your grief, I must know what
caused it.
BOMA KURO
[censored]. You are just another running dog for the
Estates. You brought your wars you brought to my
house.
MEDE
I am part of an uprising against the
Imperial Regime, Mr. Kuro. Our rebellion is
small, and getting smaller. We are low on
supplies. Literally, we are running out of
energy to fight this war. Your version of
the thoughtform is one of the solutions.
BOMA KURO
You are traitors.
MEDE
Yes we are. Sometimes, we are worse. In
your case, I suspect that we were.
BOMA KURO
Why did you bring me here?
MEDE
As I understand it, it was out of pity,
initially. Officer Perrif is one of the
better hearts aboard my ship, Mr. Kuro. I
am not. As you say, I was born into the
Estates, but those days are long past. My
rebellion fights the Empire now and we will
win. You are before me at the moment
because this thoughtform is still one of
the solutions.
Mede presses a button on his desk, bringing up its twopaneled
plasma field.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
Thus he tries to justify his crimes.
MEDE (CONT’D)
I have prepared a series of visual aids to
persuade you to understand my cause.
Images of Imperial atrocities appear on the desk’s plasmas.
Boma, sick of being patronized, rushes the Chancellor. Pelinal
lifts his chin and shocks him with throatfire. BLUEWHITE
ANEMONES knock Boma to the floor.
Sighing, Mede gets up and motions for the Insurgent Officers
to help Boma, still semiconscious, to his feet.
MEDE (CONT’D)
Let me apologize beforehand, Mr. Kuro. We
thought our WhiteGold operation was
foolproof, tactically speaking. It was not.
You, however, will help us plan a second
raid. You also have my promise that my
people shall endeavor to make the procedure
as painless as possible.
(to the Insurgent Officers)
Take him to interrogation.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
EXT. AETHER UNKNOWN SECTOR
The Imperial BSpire Atonement travels through a field of
bright gases somewhere off the known maps. Her hull is damaged
from the fight with the Reckoning, but she is running fine.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
To tell you the truth...
(beat)
...I expected worse treatment at their
hands. But Chancellor Mede kept his word.
(beat)
I do not feel guilty telling this panel
that now.
INT. IMPERIAL BSPIRE ATONEMENT MED LAB
Boma is strapped to a cushioned table, wearing an ancient
Hegemony regulator mask, drugged, eyes halfclosed. A
witchdoctor is next to him watching his vital signs. A black
Torture Shark, its mechanical appendagefins bristling with
dracodermic needles, bone saws, and pressure clamps, floats
out of the room. An ALD TEMPLE PRIEST is seated on a stool
next to Boma, asking him a series of questions. These are
MUTED by Boma’s VoiceOver. Boma is answering the questions
the same way.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I think they had the torture shark there
just to scare me. It’s not like they even
used it. What I do feel guilty about is
being too weak not to betray the Governor
and the Empire.
On a nearby wall is a plasma field which Hjalti, Pelinal, Emp
Zed, and Mede are staring at. One quarter of the screen
monitors their prisoner’s health.
The rest of it is an expanding map of the Sugar Plant,
sections that fade in and out or morph into different
configurations entirely as the Medical Officer questions Boma.
Pelinal points to a section that finally stabilizes. Hjalti
nods and says something to the Chancellor. Perrif leans her
back to the wall and watches Boma instead.
INT./EXT. IMPERIAL BSPIRE ATONEMENT SUBSECTION EIGHTEEN
Boma, his wounds cleaned up and in cheap ‘kreath handcuffs, is
led down a corridor by Insurgent Officers. They pass by the
briefing room in subsection eighteen. Chancellor Mede,
Pelinal, Perrif, Hjalti, Emp Zed, and various other Insurgents
are outlining their new raid on WGTOne, the Sugar Plant
displayed before them by the visiograph presentation.
Boma and Perrif exchange glances. He notices the small scabs
along her neck. She smiles shyly at him anyway.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
If I could, I would spit into my palm and
show it to her, using the nomad curse. Even
I don’t know what it really represents. But
she deserves something of the sort. For the
look she gives me. All the while using
memory footage of my failure to stage
another attack on my people.
HJALTI
(in midexplanation)
... assuming reinforcements, of course.
(pointing to other sections)
Otherwise, we set the Dragon Breaks here,
here, and here.
MEDE
This time you go in with the transports
right behind you, Captain.
PELINAL
Yessir. Emp Zed, throat the new mission
profile to the Queen. Everyone else get to
your stations. We hit the ground in three
hours.
INT. IMPERIAL BSPIRE ATONEMENT DETENTION CELL
Boma no longer has his handcuffs on. His hands are over his
face. He is silently crying. He hears voices through the
lacquered ebony door.
PERRIF (O.S.)
(muffled)
I’ll be fine.
REBEL OFFICER (O.S)
(muffled)
And I’ll be right outside, Officer Perrif.
The black door SWISHES open and Perrif enters. She has changed
back into her Haafingar flight vest and helmet.
Beat. The ebony door closes. Perrif cautiously takes a seat
next to Boma, her hand on her dagger. They both sit there for
a few seconds, not looking at each other.
PERRIF
My father was killed, too. By the Empire, I
mean. Well, kind of. By ‘father’ I mean
‘gods’.
Boma says nothing. Perrif sighs and looks over.
PERRIF (CONT’D)
I’m assuming here, I mean. It was your
father, right?
Beat.
PERRIF (CONT’D)
Um. I don’t really have much time here
BOMA KURO
I don’t either.
PERRIF
What?
BOMA KURO
I’m dying.
PERRIF
Um, I don’t think so, Boma.
BOMA KURO
How would you know? There is a Kothringi
poison in me.
PERRIF
A what?
BOMA KURO
See? You would use anyone.
PERRIF
What are you talking about?
BOMA KURO
The nomads? In the jungle? You were with
them and you don’t even know their names!
PERRIF
Oh. Right. So, um, why do you think they
poisoned you?
BOMA KURO
I can feel it.
Boma pats his side. Perrif doesn’t understand.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
Shut up!
Beat. Perrif starts to get a little nervous.
PERRIF
Well, Boma, I’m pretty sure the medical
fish would’ve picked up something like
that.
BOMA KURO
Perhaps they did and you just don’t want to
tell me.
PERRIF
(looking away)
We’re not like that. I know that probably
sounds dumb or whatever, but it’s true.
Chancellor Mede plans to let you go after
we
Boma punches Perrif across the jaw. She stands up in a daze,
trying to remember to pull her dagger out. Boma smashes her
face again. She THUDS against the ebony door. A second later,
it SWISHES open and the Insurgent Officer appears in the
doorway. Boma STABS him with Perrif’s dagger.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I am not afraid to say that I wish I hadn’t
done it. That is another thing you might
want to record.
Boma slumps down, dropping the dagger. He sits there and looks
at the bodies. He starts trembling. It is a long while before
he can reach over and pull the lifeless Insurgent Officer
inside the detention cell. He pulls off the Officer’s helmet
carefully, trying not to look at the open, staring eyes. Then
Boma looks over at Perrif.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I can’t kill her. Maybe if she wasn’t
unconscious. Maybe if she had the look on
her face that she did before.
(beat)
I doubt it, though. Later on, I won’t be
able to kill her again.
INT. IMPERIAL BSPIRE ATONEMENT HANGAR BAY
Dressed in the Insurgent Officer’s uniform, and holding a
large tablet over the scorched opening in its chest, Boma
casually checks over some cargo crates in the Atonement’s
hangar.
The WITTENWHITE CORRIDOR of the superstring rotates slowly
below the open bay.
The WGTOne operatives are loading into their fighterfish.
Pelinal’s command team is loading into an ebony Buttertub.
Hjalti isn’t present. When Boma realizes this, he starts to
panic. He makes for a candleboat that no one seems to be
watching. Its cephalotendril is already in place. It spins
its ganglia and BEEPS at him cheerfully and the cockpit
viewport opens. Boma gets inside as Chancellor Mede’s voice
comes over the BSpire’s loudspeakers.
MEDE (V.O.)
Captain Pelinal?
PELINAL
(into his wristmoth)
Ready to say hello to the thick of it, sir.
Boma’s candleboat engines begin to WHINE. Then he notices
Perrif enter the hangar, staggering towards Pelinal.
EXT. AETHER ABOVE CYRODIIL THOUGHTFORM
The Atonement falls out of the Aether, its woodfeathered prow
angled down at the Reckoning. Its forward candles open fire as
a swarm of fighters and transports shoot out of its hangar
bay. The Reckoning accelerates and tries to loop out of Mede’s
firing arc.
INT. BOMA’S FIGHTERFISH
Boma banks away from the rest of the Insurgent forces.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I wasn’t fast enough. I had three hours. I
could have stolen this fighterfish and
made my way to Cyrodiil without the
ganglia. I know every superstring
trajectory to this world by heart. I
memorized them for the day I would finally
be able to leave it behind.
CUTTLEFISH PILOT ONE (V.O.)
ConquistadorTwo, that’s not your attack
run.
(beat)
ConquistadorTwo, please respond.
Boma nears the planet’s atmosphere when a wing of the
Reckoning’s cuttlefish candleboats moves to intercept him.
They open fire. Boma flips his communications switch.
BOMA KURO
Hold your fire! I am
CUTTLEFISH PILOT TWO (V.O.)
Okay, obviously not ConquistadorTwo.
BOMA KURO
Boma Kuro, WGTOne colonist designation
143. Repeat: hold your fire, I am not an
enemy!
SPARKS fly from Boma’s cockpit as an enemy fishfighter scores
a hit. The cephalotendril in his head SCREAMS. Another
EXPLOSION causes a
BLACK OUT.
EXT. RUMARE RIVERBED AFTERNOON
The nose of Boma’s fishfighter is lodged in the mud of the
riverbank, decaying into stink. The landscape of WGTOne is
nowhere in sight.
INT. BOMA’S FISHFIGHTER COCKPIT AFTERNOON
Boma tries to push the cockpit viewport open. It won’t budge.
He turns around and pulls out the cephalotendril. It SNAPS.
A Boneshaver jumps onto Boma’s candleboat, HOWLING. Boma ducks
when the nomad’s club CRACKS the viewport’s nowfleshy
cockpit. He can hear several other Kothringi nearby, shouting
WAR CRIES.
EXT. RUMARE RIVERBED AFTERNOON
A nomad brave throws Boma to the ground. Another jumps up and
down on his back, smacking the youth’s legs with a
rockencrusted banjo. Boma SCREAMS.
Boma covers his head as spearheads stab into the mud all
around it. The Boneshavers pound on him relentlessly. Some
throw pieces of the fishfighter’s eyes on top of him. One
takes his throatcandle and shoots the bulk of its wetstink
carcass over and over again.
Then the Kothringi Elder speaks and the HOWLING stops.
Boma looks up to see the Kothringi Elder pointing at him and
shaking his head, saying something in harsh tones.
A Boneshaver brave flips Boma over and takes out a knife.
Another one, wearing the fishfighter’s spaghettithread brain
as a helmet, thrusts a spearhead towards Boma’s face
repeatedly, laughing. The nomad with the knife cuts the side
of Boma’s uniform open. The Kothringi Elder slides down the
riverbed slope and inspects Boma’s ribs. He pokes a finger
into them, Boma wincing with each touch. Satisfied, the
Kothringi Elder stands up and yells something triumphantly.
The braves give another WAR CRY, kick mud around, and run off.
The Boneshaver with the gangliathread helmet takes it off and
spits into its quivering mass. Then he places it on Boma’s
face and taps out something on it with his banjo. SPLORCH!
SPLORCH! SPLORCH!
Finally, he drops a Kothringi knife on Boma’s chest and
leaves.
Beat.
Boma tries to move his legs but can’t. Moaning, he flips
himself over and starts to crawl up the mud to the top of the
riverbank ridge.
A painted Kothringi brave on a Coutal appears there. They
stare at eachother for a second before the Painted Kothringi
Brave throws him a braided rope of hair. Boma grabs it and is
dragged to level ground.
The Painted Kothringi Brave gets off his Coutal and squats in
front of Boma, slapping the dust with a palm. Boma lifts his
hands and averts his eyes.
PAINTED KOTHRINGI BRAVE
Quit moping, Boma. Go to work.
Boma cannot believe it. The Painted Kothringi Brave laughs and
helps him to sit up. Boma’s head swims.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
Did I... am I..?
PAINTED KOTHRINGI BRAVE
Cyrodilic. And yes.
BOMA KURO
No!
The Painted Kothringi Brave cocks his head and moves his face
close to Boma’s. He looks from one eye to the other and then
laughs again, nodding his head.
PAINTED KOTHRINGI BRAVE
Times have been better.
BOMA KURO
I’m not done yet! Get away from me!
The Painted Kothringi Brave laughs and jumps back onto his
Coutal. He points off to the horizon. Boma doesn’t understand.
The Painted Kothringi Brave motions for him to stand. Boma
struggles to his feet. He looks across the river, holding a
hand over his eyes.
In the distance, WGTOne is burning.
Boma looks to the Painted Kothringi Brave. He shoves the
Coutal’s head away.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
I said get away from me!
The Painted Kothringi Brave points back down to the lower
riverbank. He points out the knife. Boma nods.
The Painted Kothringi Brave kicks his Coutal and starts to
trot off. He looks over his shoulder and smiles.
PAINTED KOTHRINGI BRAVE
Aim higher.
Boma goes back down to retrieve the knife. He puts it in his
belt and starts to swim across the river.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. CYRODIIL THOUGHTFORM OUTSIDE PARISH OF WGTONE NIGHT
It is a long walk across the plains to WGTOne. The flames
are reaching high into the sky. Boma can see a horde of
Kothringi ransacking the city. The turrets on top of the
candle towers are firing on them, explosions too far away to
hear.
In the sky, cuttlefish fighters are engaged in a war of their
own. A candleboat’s dorsal fin breaks off, sending the fighter
spinning out of control. After a few long seconds it flies
over Boma’s head, the flaming ruptures along its
quicklydrying corpse illuminating a fastfading trail to the
city. It EXPLODES into VISCERA some distance behind him.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
Let it be said that I do not think this was
Chancellor Mede’s plan at all. There were
nomad tribes here I had never seen before.
The Boneshavers and their cousins were
hunting side by side. It was uncomplicated,
this blood frenzy, and all the children of
Kothringi were there to revel in its fire.
To the uninitiated, their war cries sounded
like just that: the lunatic poetry of
crowds and mobs. But the dead hear them
right. This isn’t any language known in the
Mundus. This isn’t even a language at all.
These are the spontaneous proverbs of
something outside of ourselves, behind even
the stars, the artless signal of the bad
half of the divine, and it was right here,
right here at WGTOne, where all things
begin and end.
Boma is almost to the city now. The knife is in his hand.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
EXT. CYRODIIL CITY OUTSIDE THE PARISH OF WGTONE NIGHT
Boma has reached the city gates. They are torn asunder, their
metal surfaces burning somehow.
A Kothringi raider jumps over the FLAMING wreckage of a
tricycle on a wildeyed Coutal. He has a female colonist
across the saddle before him, SCREAMING. He sees Boma and
shakes his spear. Boma walks on.
One of the Imperial soldiers in a guard tower targets Boma
with a turret, thinking him a nomad, or perhaps the Imperial
is just caught up in the madness that has taken over the whole
city.
Blasts ERUPT before and behind Boma, missing him entirely. He
does not flinch, even when the guard tower EXPLODES. Boma
walks on.
He walks straight toward a ROARING FLAME atop a small pile of
scorched debris. A massive War Whale soars down close to the
gates, its enginegills leaving a trailing SONIC BOOM. Perhaps
the wind around it makes the smoke and fire die down in front
of Boma.
He walks over the extinguished remains of nameless,
unidentifiable things and into the ruins of WGTOne.
EXT. WGTONE RIVERSIDE NIGHT
Riverside is all smoke. Throatbolts fly about and WAR CRIES
ring throughout the quarter.
A pack of mounted Kothringi bursts out of the smoke, breaking
apart as they near Boma, passing him by without notice.
Boma stops and looks around. He can’t seem to remember why he
is here. Some smoke clears and he sees an Orphan Dog sprawled
on the ground with a Red Teat spear in his back. Boma calmly
goes over and picks up the Orphan Dog’s sword.
A Imperial soldier runs toward him.
WHINING KNIFEMISSILE FIRE comes out of the smoke, knocking
the soldier back beyond view. Something EXPLODES near Boma and
he stumbles to the ground.
The Remanculus ambles forward, firing at unseen enemies,
stepping over Boma to disappear back into the smoldering
periphery.
Emp Zed and Perrif follow behind the organic combat form,
firing behind them. They pass Boma without realizing it.
Boma gets up and follows them.
EXT. WGTONE MARKETPLACE NIGHT
They are gone when he reaches the marketplace. All the
merchant stalls have been overturned. Some have caught fire
and light small pockets of the violence. Others are being used
as cover by Imperials, real or not. The Imperials blast away
at each other, ignoring the nomads around them.
The nomads are swinging fire above their heads on the end of
ropes, tossing them in every direction.
Boma passes his father’s shop without looking. Three Orphan
Dogs, isolated from their squads, are charged by Kothringi
braves. Boma stops to watch the outcome.
HOWLING braves overwhelm one of the Orphan Dogs, pounding his
helmet with rocks or burning clubs. They rip his armor off and
try to bite the pieces.
The other Orphan Dogs (DOOMED DOG ONE and DOOMED DOG TWO) open
fire on the rest of the war party, taking a few down, but soon
the braves are nearly on top of them.
Then a Trilobyte Freighter hits the cobbled square, bursting
into a thousand fiery pieces, and the Kothringi forget the
Orphan Dogs, looking back at the destruction. They laugh and
raise their spears, clubs, knives, and throatcandles.
Then they rush into the flames around the fountain and dance
in the whitehot fragments of the fallen seafighter.
Doomed Dog One gets to his feet and leans on the woodshop’s
overhang supports, breathing hard. After a moment he helps
Doomed Dog Two up.
Pelinal’s voice suddenly comes over Doomed Dog One’s
wristmoth.
PELINAL (V.O.)
This is Captain Pelinal. Anyone that can
hear this retreat to the Sugar Plant
DOOMED DOG TWO
(backing away)
Captain Pelinal? You’re one of
The Orphan Dogs BLAST each other and fall. Boma walks on.
EXT. WGTONE WEIRGATE NIGHT
He finds Emp Zed and Perrif at the Weirgate, pinned down
behind an Assault CuttleShuttle with several other Insurgents
by Imperials firing out of the hangar bay.
The Kothringi drive cargo haulers into metabromide cell
crates at high speed, jumping off just before they impact and
EXPLODE.
Zurin trots carefully towards the Assault CuttleShuttle,
taking shots at nomads with a throatcandle pistol in one hand
and at the Imperials in the hangar bay with the stickyshout
thoom launcher in the other.
Something inside the hangar EXPLODES, and the pyloncornered
energy screen evaporates. The Kothringi rush out of it and
jump onto the backs of the Imperials, biting, bashing, and
pushing them around.
Two of the nomads grab the arms of a struggling Imperial
soldier and hold his head down between two pylons. A third
nomad turns the energy screen back on. The SCREAM is heard
above everything.
Emp Zed spots another Assault CuttleShuttle coming down from
the night sky and moves out to guide it in.
EMP ZED
Zurin, come here and cover me!
The math athlete GROWLS in agreement and runs across the
Weirgate, only to be skewered by the spear of a mounted
Kothringi. He stands there and HISSES, blasting the head of
the Coutal. The creature buckles and falls.
Zurin drops his thoom launcher and grabs the spear, lifting
the nomad holding it up into the air. He raises his handcandle
again and blasts the nomad off of it.
Another nomad quickly runs by and snatches up the stickyshout
thoom launcher. He points it up at the Assault CuttleShuttle
and fires. A patch of its hidehull EXPLODES.
Zurin pulls the spear out of his body and impales the nomad.
The Kothringi dies laughing.
The Assault Shuttle flipflops backwards, no longer able to
breathe anything but its native water, spiraling back to
EXPLODE on the city walls, which breaks apart, letting another
horde of HOWLING nomads into the city.
Emp Zed looks at the pilot of the first Assault CuttleShuttle
while firing blindly at the Kothringi braves.
EMP ZED (CONT’D)
Go!
The Assault CuttleShuttle rises. Emp Zed, Perrif, and the
Insurgents start to run. Some are picked off by the Imperials
still alive in the hangar.
A nomad clubs Emp Zed across the skull as the horde overtakes
them. Boma sees Perrif lifted onto a Coutal, screaming and
shooting. Her throatcandle flintlock is soon knocked out of
her hand.
The Kothringi trample back into the flames of the marketplace.
Emp Zed is on the ground, his leg at an odd angle.
Zurin leaps at one of the last of the nomads, his University
fangs CRUNCHING into the Kothringi’s neck veins as they both
fall next to Emp Zed and the rest of the dead Insurgents. He
lifts the nomad over her head and ROARS.
Boma walks over to him, eyes glazed over.
BOMA KURO
You were supposed to retreat to the Sugar
Plant.
Zurin ignores him, throwing the nomad down and leaning down to
Emp Zed. Hjalti’s voice comes over Emp Zed’s wrist controls.
HJALTI (V.O.)
Emp Zed? Perrif?
BOMA KURO
(vague and unsure)
Officer Perrif....
HJALTI (V.O.)
Emp Zed, Chancellor Mede says another
Imperial BSpire is on its way.
Boma walks towards the marketplace again.
EXT. WGTONE MARKETPLACE NIGHT
The marketplace is still a battleground. The Remanculus is
holding off a war party of Kothringi with its impossipoint
handcandles.
Boma waits for them to reload before he steps across their
field of fire. They start shooting again.
An Imperial Orphan Dog on the city wall takes off his muzzle
and yells down at the Mothmen of Old.
ATONEMENT SOLDIER
A time and a place, huh, guys? Come on! The
Empire’s reinforcements are coming!
He has to stop to blast a nomad brave climbing up a crack in
the wall.
The Remanculus looks up and GRUNTS. The Mothmen of Old slowly
fall back.
Boma sees several Queyclass Imperial CuttleShuttles swooping
down towards the city. A candleboat falls behind one and opens
fire, scoring a hit on its scales, and then banking around
again for the kill.
Boma spots Perrif inside the collapsed shell of a tenement
building. Kothringi have her cornered with their spears.
Outside, nomads on Coutals motion for him to come and join the
fun. He blasts one of them. The other nomad watches as his
friend hits the ground and laughs.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I am the creatordestroyer. I am the false
form. I am the joy and the dirge. My name
is Boma Kuro, 143, the luminous redscaled
pariah of all dead cities to come.
The remaining Kothringi brave lifts his club, shakes it, and
shouts something victorious. Boma blasts him, too.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
And they expect this from me.
INT. TENEMENT BUILDING NIGHT
Perrif is knocked to the ground. A spear pierces her leg. A
Kothringi squats down next to her and pats the dust near her
face. She looks up, crying, to see him holding her wristmoth.
He talks gibberish into it and laughs.
Boma enters. He looks at Perrif. The nomad holding her
wristmoth puts it down and smashes it.
BOMA KURO
(to Perrif)
Can you see me?
PERRIF
What?
BOMA KURO
Good enough.
Boma starts to blast the nomads one by one until they run from
the tenement, howling with glee. Boma squats down and looks at
Perrif, from one eye to another.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
Walk.
EXT. WGTONE MARKETPLACE – NIGHT
Boma leaves the tenement. Perrif follows, limping. She grabs
his sleeve. The Kothringi are swarming all around them.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
Stay close to me.
PERRIF
But we can’t
Suddenly every nomad in the city gives a WAR CRY louder than
any before. Boma looks up.
BOMA KURO
(full of bemused admiration)
Will you look at that?
Breaking through Cyrodiils’s atmosphere is a dead sun god
falling to earth: the bright erupting remains of a Imperial
Battlespire. When it EXPLODES the clouds themselves catch
fire.
Perrif shakes her head slowly.
PERRIF
No.
BOMA KURO
Don’t worry. It is not yours. It is the
other one.
PERRIF
Hhow do you know?
BOMA KURO
You aren’t the Empire.
Perrif can’t stop looking. Boma takes her hand. He smiles and
leads her through the nomads without fear.
EXT. WGTONE GOVERNOR’S QUARTER SUGAR PLANT NIGHT
The last transport at the Sugar Plant is the ebony cuttlefish
freighter. Pelinal and a squad of Insurgent Soldiers are
keeping the Imperials in the Weirgate at bay.
Perrif sees Pelinal and starts running. Boma keeps walking. He
looks at the landing Bummerclass Imperial CuttleShuttles and
starts slowing down. Perrif ducks behind a cargo crate and
waves for him to hurry.
PERRIF
Come on, Boma!
Pelinal hears Perrif’s voice and looks over.
PELINAL
Perrif, get into the freighter! Now!
Boma stops and looks at all the Orphan Dogs unloading out into
the Weirgate. He starts moving towards them, as if in a dream.
Perrif runs over and grabs him.
PERRIF
Look, you can come with us.
BOMA KURO
(beat)
I...don't think this is how it’s supposed
to work.
A throatbolt flies too near. Perrif pulls Boma to the ground.
PERRIF
How what is supposed to work? What the hell
are you talking about?
PELINAL
Perrif!
Boma doesn’t move. He starts looking around at the burning
city as if he were waking up.
PERRIF (CONT’D)
Boma, I swear
The Orphan Dogs start closing in.
PELINAL
Perrif!
Perrif
I swear Chancellor Mede will never do
anything like that to you again. Believe
me.
Pelinal
Hjalti!
PERRIF
Believe me, Boma. I hated him once, too.
Boma looks at her. He lets her get him up.
PERRIF (CONT’D)
Good. We’ll have to run, you know.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I do not feel sorry I let her escape.
Hjalti comes out of the freighter’s loading ramp. He looks
from Pelinal to Perrif. Perrif is tugging on Boma’s sleeve.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
You can underline that.
Boma pulls out his knife and holds it to Perrif’s throat. He
locks eyes with Hjalti. The Orphan Dogs are getting closer
now.
PERRIF
Boma, what are you doing?
PELINAL
Damn it, Hjalti!
Boma runs the edge of the knife close enough to Perrif’s skin
to draw blood.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I can’t make any mistakes here.
HJALTI
(slowly)
Let her go.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
And I don’t.
Boma lets Perrif go. Hjalti uses his University speakwell to
make Boma trip on his own shoes. Pelinal runs over and grabs
Perrif, dragging her to the freighter.
PERRIF
No, Hjalti! He wants you to
Perrif is pulled into the freighter. Hjalti looks from her to
Boma to the Orphan Dogs.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
And I do not feel guilty that I saved him,
either.
Boma gets up and charges Hjalti, holding the knife above his
head.
Hjalti raises a handcandle and Boma flies backwards, hitting
the ground, slightly on fire. Hjalti, closing his eyes, slides
Boma all the way to the feet of the Orphan Dogs.
Hjalti runs back to the freighter. It rises into the sky,
Orphan Dogs firing at it futilely, and blasts OUT OF VIEW.
The Orphan Dogs look all around the city, seeing the Kothringi
nomads everywhere.
Finally, the Orphan Dogs grab Boma by the collar and drag him
back to their CuttleShuttle as the nomads advance on them,
yelling and screaming and shaking their spears.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. CYRODIIL THOUGHTFORM ABOVE WGTONE NIGHT
as one Imperial CuttleShuttle after another abandons the
parish.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
As the city burns, the hordes of Kothringi
dance and sing and throw huge bundles of
reeds and scrub brush into the fire,
keeping it alive for as long as they can.
EXT. NEAR THE WHITEGOLD TOWER
The WhiteGold Tower: the central system of the Empire, its
surface a mixture of dusky marble and the starlit
constellations of its neverending city.
EXT. WHITEGOLD TOWER – ELDER COUNCIL HALL – DAY
PAN ACROSS the aetherscape of the Cyrodiil thotbox to
WhiteGold Tower, and inside, into the Elder Council Hall
chambers.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
And that, sirs, is my full report of the
events that led to the destruction of
Imperial Parish WGTOne. I have tried to
explain it as best as I can.
INT. CYRODIIL THOTBOX ELDER COUNCIL HALL – DAY
A tribunal of Councilors sits on a high podium overlooking a
grim, highvaulted chamber. Imperial Advisors are seated on a
ring of tables spaced out in front of the Talos Tribunal.
Boma is seated at a table across from all of them. His hands
are in handcuffs, bright ones now from one of the Estates, and
he is in a dark gray prisoner’s uniform. Two Imperial Orphan
Dogs stand at attention behind him.
Dreaming mages are floating throughout the chamber, recording
everything. Boma looks up at all the faces as if for the first
time. He leans closer to the people in front of him.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
I do regret that the Governor died in the
massacre. As I stated, I liked him very
much.
TALOS ONE
Governor Wulfharth was dead before the
Imperial reinforcements even arrived.
BOMA KURO
I know, your honor.
TALOS TWO
It is believed that Chancellor Mede’s
people were responsible for his death, not
the Kothringi.
BOMA KURO
Forgive my asking, but how can you be sure?
I understand that the Empire abandoned
WGTOne the night I escaped.
TALOS TWO
We did. One remote factory parish is not
worth the trouble it would take to protect
it.
TALOS ONE
From the Kothringi or the Insurgency.
BOMA KURO
It was my intention to show you that
WGTOne was more than a remote factory
parish.
TALOS THREE
It is my belief that you intended far more
than that, Boma Kuro.
BOMA KURO
I am not sure what you mean by that, sir.
TALOS THREE
Your confession, if you can call it that,
seemed to me no more than an exercise in
BOMA KURO
I don't regard my report as a confession,
either, your honor.
TALOS TWO
But you do regard yourself as guilty,
though.
BOMA KURO
Yes, your honor. I am guilty of many
things.
TALOS THREE
Do you still believe yourself to be dying,
Boma Kuro?
BOMA KURO
Yes.
TALOS THREE
But you stated that you did not believe in
the Kothringi magic. Twice. As I recall.
BOMA KURO
I don’t. But they do, your honor.
(beat)
And I think we all know what will happen to
me after these proceedings are over.
TALOS ONE
Yes, we do. We are ready to pass sentence,
Boma Kuro.
BOMA KURO
Thank you, sir.
TALOS ONE
You have been found guilty of multiple
counts of high treason against the Empire.
Would you like to hear them all, Boma Kuro?
BOMA KURO
Thank you, your honor, but no. I have had
my say. And I have done my best to warn
you. This is how it is supposed to work.
TALOS ONE
Boma Kuro 143, the penalty for high treason
is death by zerosum, to be carried out
immediately. Guards, please remove the
prisoner from the chamber.
Boma Kuro is led from the room.
IRIS OUT.
THE END
[“The Confession of Boma Kuro, 143” went from script to final
edit, but it was never broadcast for various political
reasons. The series has been lauded as the “finest culmination
of Hjalti’s nonsense in the Tamriels,” and won the IGSTAST in
E. Despite harsh criticism from other quarters, “TCI” was
otherwise a darling among its audience both at home and in the
armchair critiques of the Summerside liberal blogosphere,
“full of daring attempts to encapsulate the Septim Empires in
an intelligent and titillating serial format”. It was also
noteworthy that Emp Zed, the most famous of Imperial
Successors of the Second Interregnum was part of the show’s
eponymous rebellion. Perhaps even the show creators could not
bring themselves to vilify his character or his place in
Tamrielic folklore, and so cast him against the Talos Tapestry
as a troubled hero.
[This missing episode can be found in the Boxed Set of
“TransCyrod: Insurgency, the Complete Series” in both the
Imperial and certain Aldmeri Markets. Here in Skyrim, its sole
resurrection is accomplished only by hazarding such
cornerclubs as The Echopage or /c/hrysalis. Avoid WolfDeer’s
at the time of this publication; that place is run rampant
with specsec spores from the Thalmor’s “Silicate Syndicate”.]
TRANSCYROD: INSURGENCY
“THE CONFESSION OF BOMA KURO, 143”
FADE IN:
EXT. CANOPY – ABOVE CYRODIIL THOUGHTFORM
Cyrodiil is a pale thoughtform from above, its surface craggy
and uneven, with a few dark paved streets visible through the
canopy of buildings. The Rumare surrounds it on all sides,
orange with silt.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
If you want to know what happened, you will
listen to how I tell it. I will give my
father that much honor, at least.
EXT. CYRODIIL THOUGHTFORM PARISH OF WGTONE MORNING
The Imperial Parish of WGTOne is situated near a wide bend
of the Rumere, its water at low tide. Reeds and scrub brush
are the only vegetation on this desolate part of the city.
The neighborhood itself is highwalled and divided into
quarters: Riverside, the Governor’s Quarter, the Marketplace,
and the Weirgate. The city walls are marked with the Empire’s
insignias and defended by turreted candle towers. Imperial
Legion soldiers walk along the walls, keeping a watch for any
sign of nomad war parties. The city is covered in a smoky
haze.
The Governor’s Quarter is the most industrial section of
WGTOne. Its wide courtyards are full of cargo haulers and
factory warehouses. Multiple pathways lead to the giant,
belching smokestacks of a Sugar Plant.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
WGTOne in the morning is a smoky affair,
with the Sugar Plant and the nomads outside
the city in an uneasy peace, their reed
fires everywhere.
Outside the city are numerous nomad camps. The nomads, the
Kothringi, are oldhumans, wiry and mostly naked, shoulder
straps hanging with feathers and animal skins. Nearly all of
them carry spears or long, curved knives. A few carry
handcandles, but awkwardly. The Kothringi encampments are
tents made from Coutal hides, the same camellike animals the
nomads use for transportation, milk, and meat. The nomads wash
themselves in the river, roughhouse on the banks, yell
obscenities at the Legionnaires on the city walls, and cook
their meals on large, reedfed bonfires.
EXT. WGTONE MARKETPLACE MORNING
The Marketplace is a wide bazaar, filled with cafes, merchant
stands, and a line of specialty shops. Most of the tradesmen
shops are the bottom levels of tiered apartment buildings.
Many of the people that move through this section are
colonists, though Imperial officials and foreign emissaries
can be seen among them. Even a few Kothringi are bargaining
with merchants, meat and hides for baubles and glow rods, but
these nomads are dressed up for it, and it is obvious that
they are wary around the Cyrodil.
One of the Kothringi looks up at the smoke of the faraway
Sugar Plant and spits into his hand, holding it up towards the
smoke and muttering a curse.
PAN to the Kuro Woodshop, a tall but humble shop near the city
walls. Its top apartment has windows that look over the walls
and towards the impenetrable jungle to the east.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
From my apartment I can see past the walls
into the black cloud of their presence.
Behind all that smoke are the indistinct
yurts and hornedskull posts of the
Kothringi nomads, meant to ward off the
indecencies of the city.
INT. KURO WOODSHOP TOP APARTMENT MORNING
BOMA KURO, a melancholy youth, wellbred but with the body of
a factory worker, looks outside his apartment window to the
city walls and the nomad camps beyond. His breath shows in the
morning chill.
Three Kothringi braves on Coutals come out from the plains and
yell at the Imperial Legionnaires that patrol the guard
towers.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
Three Kothringi braves materialize to mock
the Imperial soldiers stationed on the
wall. They sit their Coutals, naked despite
the cold, and one holds up a swamp tortoise
pelt. It is an obvious and captured magic
to them, shaken for effect. When a Imperial
Legionnaire stares too long, the braves
laugh and stamp away, their good deed done
and over.
The nomads kick their Coutals and vanish, the brave with the
swamp tortoise pelt waving it above them. The Legionnaire
shakes his head and moves on.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I will never understand the children of
Kothringi. I will never come to love this
city, Cyrodiil. WGTOne is a filthy fate,
though my father, son of a Bravilian
woodcutter, does not share my discomfort.
Boma Kuro makes his way to a stairwell and descends into a
windowed kitchen.
His father, LEB KURO, a large, quiet man, looks over a reed
flute while he enjoys his meager breakfast: hot tea and a
scone.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
At least, he says, we were not sent to a
colonial farm near the true roam of the
nomads, and we are making real money.
Boma takes a seat at the table.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
Good morning, Father. Chilly again.
LEB KURO
Quit moping, Boma. Go to work. And speak in
Cyrodilic, even in this house.
Boma sighs and takes a bite of his own scone. He looks around
at their apartment.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
Our accommodations are not bad, this much
is true, and from the topmost windows we
can almost forget the squalor below.
Fortune and weight of name afforded us this
highangled view.
Boma gets up and takes his factory uniform off a beautiful
wooden coat rack. He stares into the city again. He zips
himself in the uniform, his name and number on the breast in
Tamrielic script, and an Imperial diamond insignia on the
back.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
It is good that our gifts, a set of
lacquered end tables and a carven stand for
books, reached the Regional Governor before
we did. Only by his leave did we escape an
exile near Riverside, where even the
noblemen smell like fish.
Boma puts his work belt on and starts for another stairwell.
Leb Kuro looks at his son and frowns.
LEB KURO
(subtitled)
Times have been better, but we are not
women.
BOMA KURO
I don’t even know what that means.
(pointing out a window)
You sent me to the University, for this?
LEB KURO
You work your way up in this Empire, Boma.
I work hard to get us to this parish. You
work hard at the factory, maybe the
Governor send you to San ‘Tesha, or
Remanside, or the Gardens. Somewhere like
that.
Boma manages a smile for his father and exits.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I tell you all of this because I want you
to know how my father felt about the
Empire. And, because of my father, despite
my restlessness and moaning, I feel the
same way.
EXT. WGTONE GOVERNOR’S QUARTER SUGAR PLANT DAY
Boma hefts blocks of unrefined wasabi into a cargo hauler.
Behind him a throng of workers are moving into the main hold
of the Sugar Plant. Another colonist is helping Boma, and soon
the cargo hauler is loaded. They jump on the back of it as it
takes off toward the Weirgate.
Boma watches the Imperial Officials eating on the outside deck
of the Plant Commissary. He watches the Bummerclass Imperial
Shuttles drop down from the sky to the Weirgate. He watches a
Kothringi nomad child throw something at a Khajiiti trader and
then run down a steaming alleyway, where other nomad kids wait
laughing.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
The Governor tolerates the nomads, but not
only because he fears them. I have heard
that he fancies himself a hunter, and has
been seen traveling with their war parties
out in the jungles beyond the scrub plains.
Protected, of course, but there with the
Kothringi, hunting after glass chupacabras
or imported Gilas. The Governor admires
something about the nomads. Perhaps he
admires them because that they hate him so
much.
EXT. WGTONE WEIRGATE – DAY
Boma begins to unload the wasabi into the crates standing near
the Imperial Shuttle loading ramps. He stops when he sees the
Governor near a hangar bay. The Governor sees him, too, and
waves.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I can tell the Governor likes me and my
father. He is one of the few Imperials that
actually visits our woodshop in the market.
He buys the most expensive things we have
for sale. The rest of the Imperials prefer
their modular, prefabricated furnishings,
Hist interiors that defy anything
associated with art or nature. Understand,
that is not meant to be a disparaging
remark.
Boma stands still when he sees what is in the hangar behind
the Governor: a crowd of Kothringi, huddled behind a
pyloncornered energy screen. Most of them look like they are
starving to death.
Suddenly one of the nomads spots the Governor and rushes the
energy screen, SCREAMING as he passes through it, falling to
the ground, his skin on fire. Nevertheless, the Kothringi gets
up and runs for the Governor again. A Legionnaire opens fire
on the nomad, killing him with a single handcandle shot in the
back.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
One time the Governor offered me a place in
his Militias, but Father insisted that I
aim higher. Seeing that life now, I am glad
he had his way.
The WGTONE CARGO CAPTAIN comes up to Boma and shoves him.
WGTONE CARGO CAPTAIN
143, you got a Shuttle to load. Watch your
schedule, not the natives.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
Still, I ask myself, how can I reach the
Governor if I do not join his Legions?
EXT. WGTONE MARKET PLACE LATE AFTERNOON
Boma buys a loaf of bread from a merchant stand and moves past
a café. In the distance is his father’s woodshop.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
At first, I am just happy to see some new
faces.
Sitting at a café table are Perrif, in civilian garb, and her
sometimeshusband Emp Zed. They take no notice of Boma.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I think that they are recently arrived
colonists. Maybe aetherial freighter
contractors or some other kind of
specialists called for by the Governor.
Zurin Arctus passes in front of Boma, HISSING at him when he
gets too close. The math athlete goes over to meet some Orphan
Dogs waiting by a quaint, cobbled courtyard.
Pelinal, in an Imperial uniform, waits there, beside a
fountain. He is whispering into a wristmoth, and motioning to
some people on the other side of the marketplace.
Boma looks over and sees some more Imperial soldiers coming
Pelinal’s way.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
Or perhaps even reinforcements for some
attack on the nomads that I am unaware of.
Boma takes another look at Perrif, now far behind him. She
sees him and smiles. He smiles back, almost blushing. Pelinal
is whispershouting. Boma bumps into Hjalti, who’s wearing a
large gray cloak with the hood up.
HJALTI
Sorry, kid.
He lets Boma pass.
HJALTI (CONT’D)
Zed, Mede will be in orbit in ten hours. We
move at daybreak.
Boma nods his own apology and moves on.
INT. KURO WOODSHOP SHOP LEVEL LATE AFTERNOON
Leb Kuro is closing down for the day. Boma goes to sit on the
counter. He notices a Kothringi blade beside him, curved and
jaggededged, its pommel wrapped in Coutal hide and river
jewels.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
What is this?
LEB KURO
It is knife from the Kothringi. All
they had.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
We don’t need to trade with them,
Father.
Boma sighs and gets off the counter. He starts for the
stairwell.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
(subtitled)
I’m going to bed. Did you see the new
people?
LEB KURO
Cyrodilic. And yes. I told you this parish,
it is going to grow.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. SUGAR PLANT DAY
Boma pushes a cart along the factory floor. He passes Perrif
in a worker’s outfit. She smiles at him again.
PERRIF
(whispering)
Hiya. Keep your head down.
Boma stops and watches her move away towards Emp Zed, who is
also in a worker’s uniform. Emp Zed speaks into his wristmoth
again and then something near the back of the factory
EXPLODES.
Boma ducks down behind the cart as throatbolts start flying.
Perrif and Emp Zed are firing on Imperial soldiers on the
second level platforms. The plant workers panic and start
running.
Pelinal rushes in with Orphan Dogs behind him. Boma waves to
get his attention and then points at Perrif and Emp Zed.
BOMA KURO
They did it!
Pelinal’s Orphan Dogs open fire on the Imperial Soldiers as
well. Boma becomes really confused. He looks over the top of
his cart and sees more Orphan Dogs arriving from the
elevators. Those start firing on Pelinal’s Orphan Dogs.
Another EXPLOSION rocks the factory. Hjalti enters, waving his
arms for everyone to run. Zurin is behind him, laying down
cover magic.
HJALTI
No good! Fall back!
PELINAL
What happened?
HJALTI
What else? The Queen’s briefing lacked a
few details.
Pelinal and his Orphan Dogs start to retreat. Emp Zed picks
off another Imperial soldier and follows them. Perrif looks
over to Boma and motions for him to run. He shakes his head
vehemently. Then she points up and behind him. An Imperial
Orphan Dog has a handcandle aimed at him, thinking he is
another Insurgent in a plant worker uniform.
A blast ERUPTS near Boma’s head, hitting the cart. Perrif
fires on the Imperial Orphan Dog that caused it, giving Boma a
chance to scramble out of the factory.
EXT. WGTONE MARKETPLACE DAY
Mass hysteria has taken over the marketplace. Imperials are
firing on each other through the crowd. Boma heads straight
for his father’s woodshop.
He sees Hjalti and Perrif running down another side of the
street, dodging throatcandle bolts. Pelinal and his Orphan
Dogs try to cover them but are suddenly fired on by Imperial
soldiers on the city walls. Boma passes by Zurin as he lifts a
handheld stickyshout thoom launcher. One of the guard towers
EXPLODES.
PELINAL
(into a wristmoth)
Emp Zed! Sitrep right now!
EMP ZED (V.O.)
Pinned down in Riverside, but I think we
can make it to the pickup. Lost Perrif and
Hjal in the shuffle.
PELINAL
(to his squad)
We’re done for the day, people. Go.
Boma’s father opens the door just as he nears it. Boma rushes
inside.
INT./EXT. KURO WOODSHOP SHOP LEVEL DAY
Leb and Boma Kuro are terrified. They watch the battle outside
through the windows.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I come to the part that is hard to explain.
I do not believe in the Kothringi magic. I
think I have already said that.
Outside, Perrif and Hjalti are surrounded by Imperial Orphan
Dogs. They fall back, hiding behind the overhang supports of
the Kuros’ woodshop. Soldiers on both flanks have them
trapped. Hjalti sees Leb Kuro looking outside of the window.
HJALTI
Let us in!
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
No, Father!
LEB KURO
(to Hjalti)
Not here! You go!
An Imperial OD Battlemage fires a throatbolt that rips a
hole in the door. Boma ducks, pulling on his father’s sleeve.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
Move away from the window, Father!
HJALTI
(calmly)
You will let us in.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I feel it, too, a sensation right here,
that place just under your name. I cannot
explain it. I think perhaps this is the
‘speakwell’ Empire special forces teach in
their sublinguistics training courses, but
I do not know. In any case, my father opens
the door.
Leb Kuro lets Perrif and Hjalti inside. Glass shatters from
more throatfire. Perrif takes a few shots outside through the
broken windows. Leb Kuro regains his senses and pushes his son
back behind a workbench. He raises his hands toward Hjalti.
LEB KURO
You go! This is my son! You go!
HJALTI
You will show us another way out.
LEB KURO
I show you another way out.
Leb Kuro is entranced again, leading Perrif and Hjalti
upstairs. A few seconds later, there is a CRASH of glass. Boma
is too afraid to move. The Imperial Orphan Dogs are still
shouting into the shop.
Boma’s father returns and goes over to his son, holding him.
They duck behind the workbench together. Suddenly the door is
SMASHED inward and Imperial boots CRUNCH on the glass. Leb
Kuro rises and waves his arms.
LEB KURO
They already leave! Go!
Reflexively, a nervous Imperial soldier spins over and roars
Leb Kuro through the chest. Then the rest of the squad moves
in. Some run up the stairs. Others hold swords down at Boma
Kuro, who has grabbed his father’s leg. He tugs on it, crying,
saying something over and over again in a language they can’t
understand.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
The Insurgency was a rumor, something that
happened on maps I had never heard about.
This was Cyrodiil, and what did it have to
do with us?
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
EXT. ABOVE CYRODIIL THOUGHTFORM
Two Imperial BSpires, the Atonement and the Reckoning, are
firing on each other above the city. Their cuttlefish
candleboats are fighting between them.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
To me, it seemed that there was a civil war
going on within the city. But I didn’t care
about that at the time.
INT. KURO WOODSHOP DAY
The Imperial Orphan Dogs are gone. Boma, still in tears, grabs
the Kothringi knife and heads out of the ruined doorway.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I had simpler matters in mind.
EXT. WGTONE RIVERSIDE DAY
Colonists make what repairs they can as Imperials gather up
the dead. A few Kothringi nomads try to steal weapons,
helmets, or drakes from the bodies of the fallen before they
are spotted.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I heard one of them mention Riverside. I do
not see any prisoners, so I figure they
have escaped. The only thing left to do is
to talk to the Kothringi encamped outside
the city. I know they will hate my Sugar
Plant uniform, so I bring the requisite
compensation.
EXT. Kothringi CAMP (BONESHAVER TRIBE) DAY
A nomad guides a reedbound skiff across the river to the
western bank. Boma tries to keep his balance and his courage.
A Kothringi brave spots him immediately and shouts something
unintelligible, shaking a spear. The brave runs to get more
nomads from the camp.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
These are the Boneshavers, the river tribe
of the Kothringi. Unlike their jungle
cousins, the Red Teats (who are also their
blood rivals), they rely more on fish and
sandeels than the Coutals. For Kothringi,
they are also the most agreeable to the
colonists.
As soon as he steps ashore a Boneshaver brave shoves Boma to
the ground and starts pounding his head. Boma does not attempt
to fight back or resist at all.
More braves arrive and throw rocks at the youth or spit in
their hands.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
This is all part of the ceremony. They knew
the moment I stepped onto the riverbank
that I had a bag of money for them. When
they are finished cleansing me of the
wickedness of civilization, they will take
me to their TribeMother. I can last that
long.
The braves continue to beat on Boma, one taking his knife and
stabbing it into the ground beside his head just before
another stomps down on his face.
INT. TRIBEMOTHER YURT DAY
Boma sits crosslegged in front of the TRIBEMOTHER, an
elderly, hidecovered Kothringi, her hair braided with bones
and sticks, her eyes milky white. She holds her side as if a
pain were bothering her. Another Kothringi Elder sits close
by, to serve as a translator. Boma is scuffed up, and dried
blood is caked on his head. The TribeMother offers him a
drink from a wooden bowl. He politely refuses. A nomad brave
comes inside the yurt and throws Boma’s knife into his lap.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
Evidently, I do not bring enough to trade
with. They need more from me before they
will show me the pickup point of the
traitors.
The Kothringi Elder points to the TribeMother’s side.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
He tells me that the TribeMother has
picked up a spirit in her sleep. Something
red and scaled, he says, something that
bites. She wants to get rid of it, but
doesn’t want it to go to waste. He tells me
if I take it from her, they will show me
the place I want to find. I agree.
The Kothringi Elder starts to CHANT. The TribeMother opens a
place in her hides, exposing skin stretched taut over her
ribs. She grabs the bowl of water and holds it there.
The Kothringi Elder reaches over and closes his fist around
the air next to her ribs. He pulls his fist back slowly, as if
he is pulling something invisible out of her body. The
TribeMother moans with pain. Boma watches, somewhat
fascinated, somewhat in a hurry to get this over with. He
jumps a little when the Kothringi Elder opens his hand and
something splashes into the water. The TribeMother pushes it
over to Boma. There seems to be nothing in the bowl but water,
but the nomads look at him in all seriousness and motion for
him to drink. He does.
EXT. HEARTLAND JUNGLE DAY
Boma is running through the jungle, trying to keep up with a
nomad brave on a Coutal. They come close to a rise, and the
Kothringi gets off his mount. Together, he and Boma crawl to
hide behind a ridge of scrub brush.
Below them, in a shadowed valley, is an encampment of the Red
Teat tribe. Mingling with the nomads are the “Imperial” forces
of Captain Pelinal. Boma spots Perrif and Hjalti in front of
one of the yurts conferring with Pelinal, Emp Zed, and a swarm
of homunculi channeling the ghost of Reman.
The Boneshaver brave grunts something to Boma and then smacks
the back of his neck. The nomad then spits into his hand,
points his palm to the Red Teats, curses, and then runs back
to his Coutal. Boma is alone. He pulls out his Kothringi
knife, but then flinches from a pain in his side.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
The Boneshaver medicine man poisoned me. I
had studied comparative religion at the
University. I know this is something called
sympathetic magic my death will be a
metaphor for the death of the Empire, or
perhaps the colonization of Cyrodiil in
general. More than a metaphor, my professor
would have said. It will be a guarantee.
Seeing the traitors below, I am just glad
the Kothringi gave me something that takes
a while to work.
EXT. Kothringi CAMP (RED TEAT TRIBE) DAY
Boma walks through the camp, trying to avoid the crew of the
Atonement, but striding through the nomads freely.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
The Red Teats take no notice of me. I am
just another traitor in a Imperial worker’s
uniform. I look for the one they call
Hjalti.
Boma tries to avert his face when two Orphan Dogs walk by and
look out towards the valley ridge.
ATONEMENT ORPHAN DOG ONE
What’s taking the transport so long?
ATONEMENT ORPHAN DOG TWO
Hjalti is trying to convince Chancellor
Mede that we can still take the plant.
Boma closes in on the yurt where Hjalti and Perrif are
discussing the operation. He swallows, nervously. He looks
around at how many enemies are between him and Hjalti.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
This is when I should strike. He is not
covered everywhere in Colovian metal. Fast
enough so he cannot slip beneath my mind
and make me change it. I am right here and
I cannot do it. It is becoming an event,
something gathering momentum. My cowardice
is making me a spectator.
HJALTI
(into a wristmoth)
Mede, we have a shot at this.
MEDE (V.O.)
Your argument needs some work. Think on it
while in transit. Our cuttlefish are
clearing a flight corridor for the
transports. Expect them in ten. Mede out.
PELINAL
(into his own wristmoth)
We read you, Chancellor Mede.
(to Hjalti)
Give it up, Hjal.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I see my father dead and know this is why I
am here. At the same time, I know
everything that transpired did so
indirectly. The speakwell man should die
anyway. This is everything I want. Even
remembering the red biter in my side, I
cannot move. So the Governor, he decides
for me.
The homunculi cloud WHISTLES. Pelinal’s wristmoth TRILLS.
ATONEMENT ORPHAN DOG ONE (V.O.)
Enemy forces in range, Captain. They have
artillery.
Pelinal looks to Zurin and the cloud, which is already
readying a hundred miniature likenesses of Reman’s
knifemissile.
ZURIN
(to the air)
No worries, Wulf.
(to the cloud)
Slaaka slaaka.
(to Perrif)
Perrif?! Get that damn thoomboom infield
already!
Zurin and the Remanculus move as throatfire ERUPTS on the
outskirts of the encampment. Kothringi WAR CRIES ring
throughout the valley as the nomads rush by on Coutals.
PERRIF
Hey, boka mokta choot already.
The Remanculus emerges from the yurt, stomping into the
battle, throatcandles spinning into place and knifemissiles
readied.
REMANCULUS
Boka mokta choot!
The EXPLOSIONS start. Hjalti, Perrif, Emp Zed, and Pelinal
break apart, issuing commands to other Insurgents. Then Perrif
sees Boma. He sprints forward, pulling out his knife.
PERRIF
Hjal!
Boma tackles her to the ground, holding the jagged edge of the
knife to her throat, pinning her arm with his knee. Pelinal
and Emp Zed ready their magic and hold it on Boma. Hjalti is
calm.
Boma is crying, yelling at Hjalti in his native Bravilian
while struggling to keep Perrif on the ground. Perrif’s neck
grazes the Kothringi knife and blood is drawn.
EMP ZED
Perrif! Hold still!
PELINAL
Fix this, EB.
Hjalti approaches Boma, IGNITING his handcandle.
HJALTI
Just a sec.
PERRIF
No!
(to Boma)
I remember you! We’re sorry!
Boma leans down, yelling into her face. The blade cuts deeper.
Boma’s eyes are crazed enough that Perrif starts screaming.
Hjalti sets fire to the Kothringi knife in Boma’s hand with
his candlestick. Boma looks up just in time to see Hjalti’s
boot.
BLACK OUT.
EXPLOSIONS and WAR CRIES.
EMP ZED (V.O.)
You all right, sweetie?
Perrif (V.O.)
Yeah. Hjalti
HJALTI (V.O.)
Woodshop, I know. Let’s go.
PELINAL (V.O.)
(fading out)
Fish boats just hit the atmosphere, people.
Cover and retreat.
PERRIF (V.O.)
We can’t leave him here. Something bad
happened, see.
HJALTI (V.O.)
He made that pretty obvious. Let’s go.
IMPERIAL NAVAL BATTLESPIRES are heard approaching over the
sounds of the battle.
PERRIF (V.O.)
No way.
Beat.
HJALTI (V.O.)
(huffing)
Fine. Give me a hand, Emp Zed. Compassion
here weighs a ton.
INT. REBEL NAVY BUTTERTUB CARGO HOLD
Boma is strapped to the wall of the Cargo Hold. He looks
around in a daze. Insurgents of the WGTOne Operation pass
him by, moving to combat positions. Boma, straining his neck,
manages to look outside the cockpit viewport. The Imperial
BSpire Atonement, still locked into combat with the
Reckoning, is closing.
Some of the Atonement’s cuttlefish candleboats move into the
superstring, leaving the battle. An enemy starfish galleon
gets in the way of the freighter, but an unseen candlewicker
somewhere in the Buttertub picks it off. After the fiery
debris of the explosion clears, the Atonement’s hangar bay is
in view.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
When I see the gargantuan Imperial
Battlespires, I realize the extent of this
civil war. My father’s Empire is crumbling
apart.
Pelinal comes over the Buttertub’s loudspeakers.
PELINAL (V.O.)
All personnel: prepare for transition into
the aether. Chancellor Mede, you can move
out. We’ve got your destination
coordinates.
When the Buttertub starts to SHUDDER, its beliefengines
warming up, Boma blanks out again.
INT. IMPERIAL BSPIRE ATONEMENT DETENTION CELL
He awakes shivering on the cold, blackmatte ebony slab of a
detention cell. His hand strays to his forehead, where Hjalti
kicked him. A large welt has grown there, black and bloody,
along with all the other beatings Boma’s skull has taken in
the last day or so. The detention cell’s lacquered ebony doors
SWISH open. Hjalti appears.
HJALTI
Wake up, kid. Chancellor Mede wants to talk
to you.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
“The successes of the rash are none of them
rewarded.”
HJALTI
Spooky. Now follow me.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
I’ll actually cut her deep next time.
HJALTI
(slowly)
Follow me.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I cannot resist. I blame it on all the
wounds I have suffered.
Boma calmly follows Hjalti out of the cell.
INT. IMPERIAL BSPIRE ATONEMENT – CHANCELLOR MEDE’S QUARTERS
Two Insurgent Officers lead Boma into Mede’s quarters. The
Chancellor is at his desk. Pelinal is behind him, standing.
Boma, out of Hjalti’s speakwell influence, tries to look
defiant. He looks around the room, to the shelves, the red
drapes, the trophies and souvenirs of Chancellor Mede’s
career.
MEDE
Hello. My name is Chancellor Titus Mede,
formerly of the Imperial Navy. This is my
sporeship, the BSpire Atonement. Please
take a seat.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
Every word confirms my suspicions. Soon, he
will be trying to validate his
insurrection. For the Governor’s sake, I
want to hear what he has to say. To hear
how many traitors there are. You work your
way up in this Empire. Something, however,
will not let me.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
(subtitled)
May a thousand Gilas take you.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
It is a nomad curse, shouted to the walls
every morning at WGTOne. It is the best I
can muster.
Mede sits back and frowns. He replies in Bravilian.
MEDE
(subtitled)
Is it somehow romantic for you to swear at
me in your own tongue? Unbecoming behavior,
I would say, especially for a University
man.
Boma turns to look at everyone, perhaps to see if
they understand. He glances at Hjalti.
MEDE (CONT’D)
Boma Kuro, cargo loader 143, employee of
the WGTOne Colony Sugar Plant, Cyrodiil
City, Cyrodiil Thoughtform.
(subtitled)
To alleviate your grief, I must know what
caused it.
BOMA KURO
[censored]. You are just another running dog for the
Estates. You brought your wars you brought to my
house.
MEDE
I am part of an uprising against the
Imperial Regime, Mr. Kuro. Our rebellion is
small, and getting smaller. We are low on
supplies. Literally, we are running out of
energy to fight this war. Your version of
the thoughtform is one of the solutions.
BOMA KURO
You are traitors.
MEDE
Yes we are. Sometimes, we are worse. In
your case, I suspect that we were.
BOMA KURO
Why did you bring me here?
MEDE
As I understand it, it was out of pity,
initially. Officer Perrif is one of the
better hearts aboard my ship, Mr. Kuro. I
am not. As you say, I was born into the
Estates, but those days are long past. My
rebellion fights the Empire now and we will
win. You are before me at the moment
because this thoughtform is still one of
the solutions.
Mede presses a button on his desk, bringing up its twopaneled
plasma field.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
Thus he tries to justify his crimes.
MEDE (CONT’D)
I have prepared a series of visual aids to
persuade you to understand my cause.
Images of Imperial atrocities appear on the desk’s plasmas.
Boma, sick of being patronized, rushes the Chancellor. Pelinal
lifts his chin and shocks him with throatfire. BLUEWHITE
ANEMONES knock Boma to the floor.
Sighing, Mede gets up and motions for the Insurgent Officers
to help Boma, still semiconscious, to his feet.
MEDE (CONT’D)
Let me apologize beforehand, Mr. Kuro. We
thought our WhiteGold operation was
foolproof, tactically speaking. It was not.
You, however, will help us plan a second
raid. You also have my promise that my
people shall endeavor to make the procedure
as painless as possible.
(to the Insurgent Officers)
Take him to interrogation.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
EXT. AETHER UNKNOWN SECTOR
The Imperial BSpire Atonement travels through a field of
bright gases somewhere off the known maps. Her hull is damaged
from the fight with the Reckoning, but she is running fine.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
To tell you the truth...
(beat)
...I expected worse treatment at their
hands. But Chancellor Mede kept his word.
(beat)
I do not feel guilty telling this panel
that now.
INT. IMPERIAL BSPIRE ATONEMENT MED LAB
Boma is strapped to a cushioned table, wearing an ancient
Hegemony regulator mask, drugged, eyes halfclosed. A
witchdoctor is next to him watching his vital signs. A black
Torture Shark, its mechanical appendagefins bristling with
dracodermic needles, bone saws, and pressure clamps, floats
out of the room. An ALD TEMPLE PRIEST is seated on a stool
next to Boma, asking him a series of questions. These are
MUTED by Boma’s VoiceOver. Boma is answering the questions
the same way.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I think they had the torture shark there
just to scare me. It’s not like they even
used it. What I do feel guilty about is
being too weak not to betray the Governor
and the Empire.
On a nearby wall is a plasma field which Hjalti, Pelinal, Emp
Zed, and Mede are staring at. One quarter of the screen
monitors their prisoner’s health.
The rest of it is an expanding map of the Sugar Plant,
sections that fade in and out or morph into different
configurations entirely as the Medical Officer questions Boma.
Pelinal points to a section that finally stabilizes. Hjalti
nods and says something to the Chancellor. Perrif leans her
back to the wall and watches Boma instead.
INT./EXT. IMPERIAL BSPIRE ATONEMENT SUBSECTION EIGHTEEN
Boma, his wounds cleaned up and in cheap ‘kreath handcuffs, is
led down a corridor by Insurgent Officers. They pass by the
briefing room in subsection eighteen. Chancellor Mede,
Pelinal, Perrif, Hjalti, Emp Zed, and various other Insurgents
are outlining their new raid on WGTOne, the Sugar Plant
displayed before them by the visiograph presentation.
Boma and Perrif exchange glances. He notices the small scabs
along her neck. She smiles shyly at him anyway.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
If I could, I would spit into my palm and
show it to her, using the nomad curse. Even
I don’t know what it really represents. But
she deserves something of the sort. For the
look she gives me. All the while using
memory footage of my failure to stage
another attack on my people.
HJALTI
(in midexplanation)
... assuming reinforcements, of course.
(pointing to other sections)
Otherwise, we set the Dragon Breaks here,
here, and here.
MEDE
This time you go in with the transports
right behind you, Captain.
PELINAL
Yessir. Emp Zed, throat the new mission
profile to the Queen. Everyone else get to
your stations. We hit the ground in three
hours.
INT. IMPERIAL BSPIRE ATONEMENT DETENTION CELL
Boma no longer has his handcuffs on. His hands are over his
face. He is silently crying. He hears voices through the
lacquered ebony door.
PERRIF (O.S.)
(muffled)
I’ll be fine.
REBEL OFFICER (O.S)
(muffled)
And I’ll be right outside, Officer Perrif.
The black door SWISHES open and Perrif enters. She has changed
back into her Haafingar flight vest and helmet.
Beat. The ebony door closes. Perrif cautiously takes a seat
next to Boma, her hand on her dagger. They both sit there for
a few seconds, not looking at each other.
PERRIF
My father was killed, too. By the Empire, I
mean. Well, kind of. By ‘father’ I mean
‘gods’.
Boma says nothing. Perrif sighs and looks over.
PERRIF (CONT’D)
I’m assuming here, I mean. It was your
father, right?
Beat.
PERRIF (CONT’D)
Um. I don’t really have much time here
BOMA KURO
I don’t either.
PERRIF
What?
BOMA KURO
I’m dying.
PERRIF
Um, I don’t think so, Boma.
BOMA KURO
How would you know? There is a Kothringi
poison in me.
PERRIF
A what?
BOMA KURO
See? You would use anyone.
PERRIF
What are you talking about?
BOMA KURO
The nomads? In the jungle? You were with
them and you don’t even know their names!
PERRIF
Oh. Right. So, um, why do you think they
poisoned you?
BOMA KURO
I can feel it.
Boma pats his side. Perrif doesn’t understand.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
Shut up!
Beat. Perrif starts to get a little nervous.
PERRIF
Well, Boma, I’m pretty sure the medical
fish would’ve picked up something like
that.
BOMA KURO
Perhaps they did and you just don’t want to
tell me.
PERRIF
(looking away)
We’re not like that. I know that probably
sounds dumb or whatever, but it’s true.
Chancellor Mede plans to let you go after
we
Boma punches Perrif across the jaw. She stands up in a daze,
trying to remember to pull her dagger out. Boma smashes her
face again. She THUDS against the ebony door. A second later,
it SWISHES open and the Insurgent Officer appears in the
doorway. Boma STABS him with Perrif’s dagger.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I am not afraid to say that I wish I hadn’t
done it. That is another thing you might
want to record.
Boma slumps down, dropping the dagger. He sits there and looks
at the bodies. He starts trembling. It is a long while before
he can reach over and pull the lifeless Insurgent Officer
inside the detention cell. He pulls off the Officer’s helmet
carefully, trying not to look at the open, staring eyes. Then
Boma looks over at Perrif.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
I can’t kill her. Maybe if she wasn’t
unconscious. Maybe if she had the look on
her face that she did before.
(beat)
I doubt it, though. Later on, I won’t be
able to kill her again.
INT. IMPERIAL BSPIRE ATONEMENT HANGAR BAY
Dressed in the Insurgent Officer’s uniform, and holding a
large tablet over the scorched opening in its chest, Boma
casually checks over some cargo crates in the Atonement’s
hangar.
The WITTENWHITE CORRIDOR of the superstring rotates slowly
below the open bay.
The WGTOne operatives are loading into their fighterfish.
Pelinal’s command team is loading into an ebony Buttertub.
Hjalti isn’t present. When Boma realizes this, he starts to
panic. He makes for a candleboat that no one seems to be
watching. Its cephalotendril is already in place. It spins
its ganglia and BEEPS at him cheerfully and the cockpit
viewport opens. Boma gets inside as Chancellor Mede’s voice
comes over the BSpire’s loudspeakers.
MEDE (V.O.)
Captain Pelinal?
PELINAL
(into his wristmoth)
Ready to say hello to the thick of it, sir.
Boma’s candleboat engines begin to WHINE. Then he notices
Perrif enter the hangar, staggering towards Pelinal.
EXT. AETHER ABOVE CYRODIIL THOUGHTFORM
The Atonement falls out of the Aether, its woodfeathered prow
angled down at the Reckoning. Its forward candles open fire as
a swarm of fighters and transports shoot out of its hangar
bay. The Reckoning accelerates and tries to loop out of Mede’s
firing arc.
INT. BOMA’S FIGHTERFISH
Boma banks away from the rest of the Insurgent forces.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I wasn’t fast enough. I had three hours. I
could have stolen this fighterfish and
made my way to Cyrodiil without the
ganglia. I know every superstring
trajectory to this world by heart. I
memorized them for the day I would finally
be able to leave it behind.
CUTTLEFISH PILOT ONE (V.O.)
ConquistadorTwo, that’s not your attack
run.
(beat)
ConquistadorTwo, please respond.
Boma nears the planet’s atmosphere when a wing of the
Reckoning’s cuttlefish candleboats moves to intercept him.
They open fire. Boma flips his communications switch.
BOMA KURO
Hold your fire! I am
CUTTLEFISH PILOT TWO (V.O.)
Okay, obviously not ConquistadorTwo.
BOMA KURO
Boma Kuro, WGTOne colonist designation
143. Repeat: hold your fire, I am not an
enemy!
SPARKS fly from Boma’s cockpit as an enemy fishfighter scores
a hit. The cephalotendril in his head SCREAMS. Another
EXPLOSION causes a
BLACK OUT.
EXT. RUMARE RIVERBED AFTERNOON
The nose of Boma’s fishfighter is lodged in the mud of the
riverbank, decaying into stink. The landscape of WGTOne is
nowhere in sight.
INT. BOMA’S FISHFIGHTER COCKPIT AFTERNOON
Boma tries to push the cockpit viewport open. It won’t budge.
He turns around and pulls out the cephalotendril. It SNAPS.
A Boneshaver jumps onto Boma’s candleboat, HOWLING. Boma ducks
when the nomad’s club CRACKS the viewport’s nowfleshy
cockpit. He can hear several other Kothringi nearby, shouting
WAR CRIES.
EXT. RUMARE RIVERBED AFTERNOON
A nomad brave throws Boma to the ground. Another jumps up and
down on his back, smacking the youth’s legs with a
rockencrusted banjo. Boma SCREAMS.
Boma covers his head as spearheads stab into the mud all
around it. The Boneshavers pound on him relentlessly. Some
throw pieces of the fishfighter’s eyes on top of him. One
takes his throatcandle and shoots the bulk of its wetstink
carcass over and over again.
Then the Kothringi Elder speaks and the HOWLING stops.
Boma looks up to see the Kothringi Elder pointing at him and
shaking his head, saying something in harsh tones.
A Boneshaver brave flips Boma over and takes out a knife.
Another one, wearing the fishfighter’s spaghettithread brain
as a helmet, thrusts a spearhead towards Boma’s face
repeatedly, laughing. The nomad with the knife cuts the side
of Boma’s uniform open. The Kothringi Elder slides down the
riverbed slope and inspects Boma’s ribs. He pokes a finger
into them, Boma wincing with each touch. Satisfied, the
Kothringi Elder stands up and yells something triumphantly.
The braves give another WAR CRY, kick mud around, and run off.
The Boneshaver with the gangliathread helmet takes it off and
spits into its quivering mass. Then he places it on Boma’s
face and taps out something on it with his banjo. SPLORCH!
SPLORCH! SPLORCH!
Finally, he drops a Kothringi knife on Boma’s chest and
leaves.
Beat.
Boma tries to move his legs but can’t. Moaning, he flips
himself over and starts to crawl up the mud to the top of the
riverbank ridge.
A painted Kothringi brave on a Coutal appears there. They
stare at eachother for a second before the Painted Kothringi
Brave throws him a braided rope of hair. Boma grabs it and is
dragged to level ground.
The Painted Kothringi Brave gets off his Coutal and squats in
front of Boma, slapping the dust with a palm. Boma lifts his
hands and averts his eyes.
PAINTED KOTHRINGI BRAVE
Quit moping, Boma. Go to work.
Boma cannot believe it. The Painted Kothringi Brave laughs and
helps him to sit up. Boma’s head swims.
BOMA KURO
(subtitled)
Did I... am I..?
PAINTED KOTHRINGI BRAVE
Cyrodilic. And yes.
BOMA KURO
No!
The Painted Kothringi Brave cocks his head and moves his face
close to Boma’s. He looks from one eye to the other and then
laughs again, nodding his head.
PAINTED KOTHRINGI BRAVE
Times have been better.
BOMA KURO
I’m not done yet! Get away from me!
The Painted Kothringi Brave laughs and jumps back onto his
Coutal. He points off to the horizon. Boma doesn’t understand.
The Painted Kothringi Brave motions for him to stand. Boma
struggles to his feet. He looks across the river, holding a
hand over his eyes.
In the distance, WGTOne is burning.
Boma looks to the Painted Kothringi Brave. He shoves the
Coutal’s head away.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
I said get away from me!
The Painted Kothringi Brave points back down to the lower
riverbank. He points out the knife. Boma nods.
The Painted Kothringi Brave kicks his Coutal and starts to
trot off. He looks over his shoulder and smiles.
PAINTED KOTHRINGI BRAVE
Aim higher.
Boma goes back down to retrieve the knife. He puts it in his
belt and starts to swim across the river.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. CYRODIIL THOUGHTFORM OUTSIDE PARISH OF WGTONE NIGHT
It is a long walk across the plains to WGTOne. The flames
are reaching high into the sky. Boma can see a horde of
Kothringi ransacking the city. The turrets on top of the
candle towers are firing on them, explosions too far away to
hear.
In the sky, cuttlefish fighters are engaged in a war of their
own. A candleboat’s dorsal fin breaks off, sending the fighter
spinning out of control. After a few long seconds it flies
over Boma’s head, the flaming ruptures along its
quicklydrying corpse illuminating a fastfading trail to the
city. It EXPLODES into VISCERA some distance behind him.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
Let it be said that I do not think this was
Chancellor Mede’s plan at all. There were
nomad tribes here I had never seen before.
The Boneshavers and their cousins were
hunting side by side. It was uncomplicated,
this blood frenzy, and all the children of
Kothringi were there to revel in its fire.
To the uninitiated, their war cries sounded
like just that: the lunatic poetry of
crowds and mobs. But the dead hear them
right. This isn’t any language known in the
Mundus. This isn’t even a language at all.
These are the spontaneous proverbs of
something outside of ourselves, behind even
the stars, the artless signal of the bad
half of the divine, and it was right here,
right here at WGTOne, where all things
begin and end.
Boma is almost to the city now. The knife is in his hand.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
EXT. CYRODIIL CITY OUTSIDE THE PARISH OF WGTONE NIGHT
Boma has reached the city gates. They are torn asunder, their
metal surfaces burning somehow.
A Kothringi raider jumps over the FLAMING wreckage of a
tricycle on a wildeyed Coutal. He has a female colonist
across the saddle before him, SCREAMING. He sees Boma and
shakes his spear. Boma walks on.
One of the Imperial soldiers in a guard tower targets Boma
with a turret, thinking him a nomad, or perhaps the Imperial
is just caught up in the madness that has taken over the whole
city.
Blasts ERUPT before and behind Boma, missing him entirely. He
does not flinch, even when the guard tower EXPLODES. Boma
walks on.
He walks straight toward a ROARING FLAME atop a small pile of
scorched debris. A massive War Whale soars down close to the
gates, its enginegills leaving a trailing SONIC BOOM. Perhaps
the wind around it makes the smoke and fire die down in front
of Boma.
He walks over the extinguished remains of nameless,
unidentifiable things and into the ruins of WGTOne.
EXT. WGTONE RIVERSIDE NIGHT
Riverside is all smoke. Throatbolts fly about and WAR CRIES
ring throughout the quarter.
A pack of mounted Kothringi bursts out of the smoke, breaking
apart as they near Boma, passing him by without notice.
Boma stops and looks around. He can’t seem to remember why he
is here. Some smoke clears and he sees an Orphan Dog sprawled
on the ground with a Red Teat spear in his back. Boma calmly
goes over and picks up the Orphan Dog’s sword.
A Imperial soldier runs toward him.
WHINING KNIFEMISSILE FIRE comes out of the smoke, knocking
the soldier back beyond view. Something EXPLODES near Boma and
he stumbles to the ground.
The Remanculus ambles forward, firing at unseen enemies,
stepping over Boma to disappear back into the smoldering
periphery.
Emp Zed and Perrif follow behind the organic combat form,
firing behind them. They pass Boma without realizing it.
Boma gets up and follows them.
EXT. WGTONE MARKETPLACE NIGHT
They are gone when he reaches the marketplace. All the
merchant stalls have been overturned. Some have caught fire
and light small pockets of the violence. Others are being used
as cover by Imperials, real or not. The Imperials blast away
at each other, ignoring the nomads around them.
The nomads are swinging fire above their heads on the end of
ropes, tossing them in every direction.
Boma passes his father’s shop without looking. Three Orphan
Dogs, isolated from their squads, are charged by Kothringi
braves. Boma stops to watch the outcome.
HOWLING braves overwhelm one of the Orphan Dogs, pounding his
helmet with rocks or burning clubs. They rip his armor off and
try to bite the pieces.
The other Orphan Dogs (DOOMED DOG ONE and DOOMED DOG TWO) open
fire on the rest of the war party, taking a few down, but soon
the braves are nearly on top of them.
Then a Trilobyte Freighter hits the cobbled square, bursting
into a thousand fiery pieces, and the Kothringi forget the
Orphan Dogs, looking back at the destruction. They laugh and
raise their spears, clubs, knives, and throatcandles.
Then they rush into the flames around the fountain and dance
in the whitehot fragments of the fallen seafighter.
Doomed Dog One gets to his feet and leans on the woodshop’s
overhang supports, breathing hard. After a moment he helps
Doomed Dog Two up.
Pelinal’s voice suddenly comes over Doomed Dog One’s
wristmoth.
PELINAL (V.O.)
This is Captain Pelinal. Anyone that can
hear this retreat to the Sugar Plant
DOOMED DOG TWO
(backing away)
Captain Pelinal? You’re one of
The Orphan Dogs BLAST each other and fall. Boma walks on.
EXT. WGTONE WEIRGATE NIGHT
He finds Emp Zed and Perrif at the Weirgate, pinned down
behind an Assault CuttleShuttle with several other Insurgents
by Imperials firing out of the hangar bay.
The Kothringi drive cargo haulers into metabromide cell
crates at high speed, jumping off just before they impact and
EXPLODE.
Zurin trots carefully towards the Assault CuttleShuttle,
taking shots at nomads with a throatcandle pistol in one hand
and at the Imperials in the hangar bay with the stickyshout
thoom launcher in the other.
Something inside the hangar EXPLODES, and the pyloncornered
energy screen evaporates. The Kothringi rush out of it and
jump onto the backs of the Imperials, biting, bashing, and
pushing them around.
Two of the nomads grab the arms of a struggling Imperial
soldier and hold his head down between two pylons. A third
nomad turns the energy screen back on. The SCREAM is heard
above everything.
Emp Zed spots another Assault CuttleShuttle coming down from
the night sky and moves out to guide it in.
EMP ZED
Zurin, come here and cover me!
The math athlete GROWLS in agreement and runs across the
Weirgate, only to be skewered by the spear of a mounted
Kothringi. He stands there and HISSES, blasting the head of
the Coutal. The creature buckles and falls.
Zurin drops his thoom launcher and grabs the spear, lifting
the nomad holding it up into the air. He raises his handcandle
again and blasts the nomad off of it.
Another nomad quickly runs by and snatches up the stickyshout
thoom launcher. He points it up at the Assault CuttleShuttle
and fires. A patch of its hidehull EXPLODES.
Zurin pulls the spear out of his body and impales the nomad.
The Kothringi dies laughing.
The Assault Shuttle flipflops backwards, no longer able to
breathe anything but its native water, spiraling back to
EXPLODE on the city walls, which breaks apart, letting another
horde of HOWLING nomads into the city.
Emp Zed looks at the pilot of the first Assault CuttleShuttle
while firing blindly at the Kothringi braves.
EMP ZED (CONT’D)
Go!
The Assault CuttleShuttle rises. Emp Zed, Perrif, and the
Insurgents start to run. Some are picked off by the Imperials
still alive in the hangar.
A nomad clubs Emp Zed across the skull as the horde overtakes
them. Boma sees Perrif lifted onto a Coutal, screaming and
shooting. Her throatcandle flintlock is soon knocked out of
her hand.
The Kothringi trample back into the flames of the marketplace.
Emp Zed is on the ground, his leg at an odd angle.
Zurin leaps at one of the last of the nomads, his University
fangs CRUNCHING into the Kothringi’s neck veins as they both
fall next to Emp Zed and the rest of the dead Insurgents. He
lifts the nomad over her head and ROARS.
Boma walks over to him, eyes glazed over.
BOMA KURO
You were supposed to retreat to the Sugar
Plant.
Zurin ignores him, throwing the nomad down and leaning down to
Emp Zed. Hjalti’s voice comes over Emp Zed’s wrist controls.
HJALTI (V.O.)
Emp Zed? Perrif?
BOMA KURO
(vague and unsure)
Officer Perrif....
HJALTI (V.O.)
Emp Zed, Chancellor Mede says another
Imperial BSpire is on its way.
Boma walks towards the marketplace again.
EXT. WGTONE MARKETPLACE NIGHT
The marketplace is still a battleground. The Remanculus is
holding off a war party of Kothringi with its impossipoint
handcandles.
Boma waits for them to reload before he steps across their
field of fire. They start shooting again.
An Imperial Orphan Dog on the city wall takes off his muzzle
and yells down at the Mothmen of Old.
ATONEMENT SOLDIER
A time and a place, huh, guys? Come on! The
Empire’s reinforcements are coming!
He has to stop to blast a nomad brave climbing up a crack in
the wall.
The Remanculus looks up and GRUNTS. The Mothmen of Old slowly
fall back.
Boma sees several Queyclass Imperial CuttleShuttles swooping
down towards the city. A candleboat falls behind one and opens
fire, scoring a hit on its scales, and then banking around
again for the kill.
Boma spots Perrif inside the collapsed shell of a tenement
building. Kothringi have her cornered with their spears.
Outside, nomads on Coutals motion for him to come and join the
fun. He blasts one of them. The other nomad watches as his
friend hits the ground and laughs.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I am the creatordestroyer. I am the false
form. I am the joy and the dirge. My name
is Boma Kuro, 143, the luminous redscaled
pariah of all dead cities to come.
The remaining Kothringi brave lifts his club, shakes it, and
shouts something victorious. Boma blasts him, too.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
And they expect this from me.
INT. TENEMENT BUILDING NIGHT
Perrif is knocked to the ground. A spear pierces her leg. A
Kothringi squats down next to her and pats the dust near her
face. She looks up, crying, to see him holding her wristmoth.
He talks gibberish into it and laughs.
Boma enters. He looks at Perrif. The nomad holding her
wristmoth puts it down and smashes it.
BOMA KURO
(to Perrif)
Can you see me?
PERRIF
What?
BOMA KURO
Good enough.
Boma starts to blast the nomads one by one until they run from
the tenement, howling with glee. Boma squats down and looks at
Perrif, from one eye to another.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
Walk.
EXT. WGTONE MARKETPLACE – NIGHT
Boma leaves the tenement. Perrif follows, limping. She grabs
his sleeve. The Kothringi are swarming all around them.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
Stay close to me.
PERRIF
But we can’t
Suddenly every nomad in the city gives a WAR CRY louder than
any before. Boma looks up.
BOMA KURO
(full of bemused admiration)
Will you look at that?
Breaking through Cyrodiils’s atmosphere is a dead sun god
falling to earth: the bright erupting remains of a Imperial
Battlespire. When it EXPLODES the clouds themselves catch
fire.
Perrif shakes her head slowly.
PERRIF
No.
BOMA KURO
Don’t worry. It is not yours. It is the
other one.
PERRIF
Hhow do you know?
BOMA KURO
You aren’t the Empire.
Perrif can’t stop looking. Boma takes her hand. He smiles and
leads her through the nomads without fear.
EXT. WGTONE GOVERNOR’S QUARTER SUGAR PLANT NIGHT
The last transport at the Sugar Plant is the ebony cuttlefish
freighter. Pelinal and a squad of Insurgent Soldiers are
keeping the Imperials in the Weirgate at bay.
Perrif sees Pelinal and starts running. Boma keeps walking. He
looks at the landing Bummerclass Imperial CuttleShuttles and
starts slowing down. Perrif ducks behind a cargo crate and
waves for him to hurry.
PERRIF
Come on, Boma!
Pelinal hears Perrif’s voice and looks over.
PELINAL
Perrif, get into the freighter! Now!
Boma stops and looks at all the Orphan Dogs unloading out into
the Weirgate. He starts moving towards them, as if in a dream.
Perrif runs over and grabs him.
PERRIF
Look, you can come with us.
BOMA KURO
(beat)
I...don't think this is how it’s supposed
to work.
A throatbolt flies too near. Perrif pulls Boma to the ground.
PERRIF
How what is supposed to work? What the hell
are you talking about?
PELINAL
Perrif!
Boma doesn’t move. He starts looking around at the burning
city as if he were waking up.
PERRIF (CONT’D)
Boma, I swear
The Orphan Dogs start closing in.
PELINAL
Perrif!
Perrif
I swear Chancellor Mede will never do
anything like that to you again. Believe
me.
Pelinal
Hjalti!
PERRIF
Believe me, Boma. I hated him once, too.
Boma looks at her. He lets her get him up.
PERRIF (CONT’D)
Good. We’ll have to run, you know.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I do not feel sorry I let her escape.
Hjalti comes out of the freighter’s loading ramp. He looks
from Pelinal to Perrif. Perrif is tugging on Boma’s sleeve.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
You can underline that.
Boma pulls out his knife and holds it to Perrif’s throat. He
locks eyes with Hjalti. The Orphan Dogs are getting closer
now.
PERRIF
Boma, what are you doing?
PELINAL
Damn it, Hjalti!
Boma runs the edge of the knife close enough to Perrif’s skin
to draw blood.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
I can’t make any mistakes here.
HJALTI
(slowly)
Let her go.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
And I don’t.
Boma lets Perrif go. Hjalti uses his University speakwell to
make Boma trip on his own shoes. Pelinal runs over and grabs
Perrif, dragging her to the freighter.
PERRIF
No, Hjalti! He wants you to
Perrif is pulled into the freighter. Hjalti looks from her to
Boma to the Orphan Dogs.
BOMA KURO (V.O.)
And I do not feel guilty that I saved him,
either.
Boma gets up and charges Hjalti, holding the knife above his
head.
Hjalti raises a handcandle and Boma flies backwards, hitting
the ground, slightly on fire. Hjalti, closing his eyes, slides
Boma all the way to the feet of the Orphan Dogs.
Hjalti runs back to the freighter. It rises into the sky,
Orphan Dogs firing at it futilely, and blasts OUT OF VIEW.
The Orphan Dogs look all around the city, seeing the Kothringi
nomads everywhere.
Finally, the Orphan Dogs grab Boma by the collar and drag him
back to their CuttleShuttle as the nomads advance on them,
yelling and screaming and shaking their spears.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. CYRODIIL THOUGHTFORM ABOVE WGTONE NIGHT
as one Imperial CuttleShuttle after another abandons the
parish.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
As the city burns, the hordes of Kothringi
dance and sing and throw huge bundles of
reeds and scrub brush into the fire,
keeping it alive for as long as they can.
EXT. NEAR THE WHITEGOLD TOWER
The WhiteGold Tower: the central system of the Empire, its
surface a mixture of dusky marble and the starlit
constellations of its neverending city.
EXT. WHITEGOLD TOWER – ELDER COUNCIL HALL – DAY
PAN ACROSS the aetherscape of the Cyrodiil thotbox to
WhiteGold Tower, and inside, into the Elder Council Hall
chambers.
BOMA KURO (V.O. CONT’D)
And that, sirs, is my full report of the
events that led to the destruction of
Imperial Parish WGTOne. I have tried to
explain it as best as I can.
INT. CYRODIIL THOTBOX ELDER COUNCIL HALL – DAY
A tribunal of Councilors sits on a high podium overlooking a
grim, highvaulted chamber. Imperial Advisors are seated on a
ring of tables spaced out in front of the Talos Tribunal.
Boma is seated at a table across from all of them. His hands
are in handcuffs, bright ones now from one of the Estates, and
he is in a dark gray prisoner’s uniform. Two Imperial Orphan
Dogs stand at attention behind him.
Dreaming mages are floating throughout the chamber, recording
everything. Boma looks up at all the faces as if for the first
time. He leans closer to the people in front of him.
BOMA KURO (CONT’D)
I do regret that the Governor died in the
massacre. As I stated, I liked him very
much.
TALOS ONE
Governor Wulfharth was dead before the
Imperial reinforcements even arrived.
BOMA KURO
I know, your honor.
TALOS TWO
It is believed that Chancellor Mede’s
people were responsible for his death, not
the Kothringi.
BOMA KURO
Forgive my asking, but how can you be sure?
I understand that the Empire abandoned
WGTOne the night I escaped.
TALOS TWO
We did. One remote factory parish is not
worth the trouble it would take to protect
it.
TALOS ONE
From the Kothringi or the Insurgency.
BOMA KURO
It was my intention to show you that
WGTOne was more than a remote factory
parish.
TALOS THREE
It is my belief that you intended far more
than that, Boma Kuro.
BOMA KURO
I am not sure what you mean by that, sir.
TALOS THREE
Your confession, if you can call it that,
seemed to me no more than an exercise in
BOMA KURO
I don't regard my report as a confession,
either, your honor.
TALOS TWO
But you do regard yourself as guilty,
though.
BOMA KURO
Yes, your honor. I am guilty of many
things.
TALOS THREE
Do you still believe yourself to be dying,
Boma Kuro?
BOMA KURO
Yes.
TALOS THREE
But you stated that you did not believe in
the Kothringi magic. Twice. As I recall.
BOMA KURO
I don’t. But they do, your honor.
(beat)
And I think we all know what will happen to
me after these proceedings are over.
TALOS ONE
Yes, we do. We are ready to pass sentence,
Boma Kuro.
BOMA KURO
Thank you, sir.
TALOS ONE
You have been found guilty of multiple
counts of high treason against the Empire.
Would you like to hear them all, Boma Kuro?
BOMA KURO
Thank you, your honor, but no. I have had
my say. And I have done my best to warn
you. This is how it is supposed to work.
TALOS ONE
Boma Kuro 143, the penalty for high treason
is death by zerosum, to be carried out
immediately. Guards, please remove the
prisoner from the chamber.
Boma Kuro is led from the room.
IRIS OUT.
THE END
Modifié par Sifraël, 17 février 2013 - 22:29.