Lore:Tancia

Witch Tancia
Race	Reachman	Gender	Female
Resided in		Druadach Mountains, The Reach

"The old woman spoke of two sisters, one fair and one dark, who were among the greatest of the Reach witches until their lust for power, in the old woman's words, devoured their good sense." —Cassia Volcatia

Tancia, also known as The Sister Who Turned Her Skin Red was a legendary figure from the oral tradition of the Reachfolk. She was a witch of Reach origins known for her remarkable prowess in air magic and her ill-fated rivalry with her sister Ulecia, a water mage of comparable power. Tancia and her sister were once revered as two of the greatest Reach witches, but their unquenchable desire for power ultimately drove them toward a perilous and destructive journey. The tale of "The Sister Who Turned Her Skin Red," named after Tancia, tale served as a cautionary tale about the perilous pursuit of power and the devastating consequences consorting with the Daedric Princes can unleash.

History

According to legend, Tancia, the older sister, assumed leadership of the clan due to her mastery of air magic. However, her rule encountered turbulence when her younger sister, Ulecia, possessing formidable water magic that rivaled Tancia's, challenged her authority. The clan members dreaded the prospect of witnessing a conflict between the two, as both sisters were renowned for their exceptional magical abilities, making them sources of great pride. However, their inability to agree on leadership sparked a clan-wide dilemma.

To resolve this, the clan devised a competition of extraordinary magical tasks. Tancia and Ulecia engaged in feats of magic, each outperforming the other. Tancia summoned a whirlwind capable of moving a cart, but Ulecia countered with a river of water that uprooted a tree. While Ulecia sweetened the clan's water to taste like honeyed mead, Tancia lightened the hunters, allowing them to ascend into the sky and return to the ground as if climbing stairs. However, Tancia took the competition to the extreme. Desperate to outshine her sister, she formed a pact with a Daedric Prince, offering seventy years of service in exchange for clan leadership. The Prince granted her wish but exceeded her expectations. When Tancia returned to the clan's camp on the eve of the chief's nomination, her fair skin had turned blood-red, and her eyes glowed like fiery embers. Before the entire clan, she unleashed scorching air, incinerating her sister. Horrified, the clan disbanded. Immortal Tancia roamed the wilds where the clan once thrived, challenging anyone who might end her eternal, solitary, joyless existence—an existence marked by loneliness, devoid of clan or family. She remained bound by her Daedric contract, cursed with immeasurable might and an eternal life that no one could terminate. Of the two sisters, Ulecia was deemed the fortunate one, as she experienced the release of death in freedom.

Legacy

Tancia's story became a cautionary tale among the Reachfolk, passed down through generations. At a certain point, during or shortly before the reign of Ard Caddach, an Imperial scholar and storyteller Cassia Volcatia ventured to speak with an elderly woman of Reach descent who was willing to share the tale. The scholar eventually compiled a collection of stories titled Scary Tales of the Druadach. These books gained enough popularity to eventually catch the attention of Ard Caddach himself, who invited the scholar to Markarth, the Reachfolk's capital, at some point after 2E 577. There, the scholar published another set of stories, this time without problematic comments, aiming to correct any misconceptions about the Reachfolk that were present in her previous publications.