Bounty notice: Regulus "Reg" Vortens

Alle citizens of the Empire!

The Imperial Legion will pay a substantial bounty for the head of the criminal known as Regulus Vortens, also known as Reg Vortens, Sir Regulus of Vortenshire, Captain Greenbeard and 'that bastard'. This criminal has evaded capture for a decade and the Legion will pay a handsome price to whomsoever ends his reign of terror.

Name: Reg Vortens, previously Sir Regulus of Vortenshire.

Race: Imperial.

Sex: Male.

Age: Late forties or early fifties (The records are unclear).

Description: Grey hair (cropped close when last seen by Legionnaires), blue eyes and a wide mouth. The criminal is tall and thin, often described as fast rather than strong. Despite his age, Vortens retains quick reflexes and a modicum of physical strength.

Birthsign: The Steed.

Birthplace: Vortenshire, High Rock.

Charges: Treason against the Empire. The murder of Lord Varys Ironride. The murder of three Imperial Guardsmen and women. Six other charges of murder. Two charges of piracy. Two charges of grand theft. Fifteen charges of petty theft. One charge of impersonating a clergyman with malicious intent.

History: Regulus Vortens was the third son of the Duke of Vortenshire, an ancient house that has fallen on hard times in recent centuries. With his two elder brothers being groomed for leadership and the military respectively, Regulus' parents were inclined to indulge his foppish interest in music, hiring a local bard to train him on harp and pipes even as he underwent the customary arms training common among younger sons of the aristocracy. Regulus and the bard fell in love and eventually eloped, the lordling forsaking his easy life at court for life on the run.

Regulus and his lover, forced to flee High Rock to evade his family's armsmen, turned to a life of petty crime. The disgraced aristocrat found himself gifted with a natural talent for pickpocketing and confidence trickery. Coupled with his grasp of swordsmanship and his lover's well though-out plans, the two managed to eke out a living from the hard work of others in relative peace, finally winding up in Skyrim.

That was, until Varys Ironhide, a Nord noble of some small repute, took offence to one of the bard's remarks and slew him. Regulus, mad with grief at his partner's murder, challenged Ironhide to a duel, slaying him in turn.

Declared an outlaw by the Empire, Regulus turned on his own people, leading a criminal uprising against any Imperial assets he could find: Attacking tax convoys, murdering petty bureaucrats and low-level officials, a brief stint at piracy and so on. The traitor's skill at stealth and small blades was tempered by his impulsive nature - Regulus has always been a strict opportunist, seemingly incapable of planning further than a week ahead.

The height of the traitor's spree came when he was caught boasting about selling Legion information to agents of the Thalmor Dominion. In the face of this base treachery, more than a decade since the murder of Lord Ironhide, the Legion has resorted to placing a price on the head of Regulus Vortens, the traitor bard.

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((Penned in a different hand.))

So I'm in Solitude (or, well, was in Solitude) and this bounty hunter challenges me to a duel.

Me. The moron. Honestly, you'd think a bounty of that size would attract hunters of a higher calibre. Should have just knifed me in the back and had done with it.

Anyway, I went through his pockets afterward and found a copy of the bounty and one of these weird tomes. Magickal, sure, but what kind? Daedric? Elfin? Something from the days of the College?

No matter. My name, as I'm sure you'll have gathered, is Reginald Vortens: Traitor, bard, duelist, thief and occasional dabbler in hedge charms; and this seems like just my sort of place. Looks like fun.