Lore:Six-Ford Clan

Chief Six-Ford ca. 2E 582

Madearn of Clan Six-Ford

The Six-Ford Clan is one of the strongest and the most prominent clan of Reachfolk that lives in the Reach, a region in western Skyrim. For ages, the Eagleseers have been enemies of the Eagleseer Clan and vice versa, and it dates back to their foundation in years long past.

History

In ancient history, there was a man and woman that were deeply in love and promised to wed each other. Together, they created the Lover's Coil, a totem of stone meant to symbolize their love but on the day of their wedding, it broke in half. Taking it as a sign of the spirits' displeasure, the two separated and grew to hate each other. The man's bloodline developed into the Eagleseer Clan while the woman's evolved into the Six-Fords. Both clans took one half of the coil and warred each other for the other half, and while the story of how it broke is contested, the history that took place after is engraved in Reach history.

The battles fought in their conflict are mostly unknown, except for two, the battles at Faolan's Ire and Karthspire Lea, where the pieces of the coil were last located. The Battle of Karthspire Lea was one of the bloodiest skirmishes in the conflict, so much so that the blood that stained the area looked black from afar. Unlike most battles in Reach history, this battle had no clear victory, and while most forces yield when defeat is nigh, both clans did not waver and fought like they intended to die. While the fight in Faolan's Ire remains less known than the one in Karthspire Lea, the Six-Fords had their half of the Lover's Coil buried somewhere on site.

When Caddach of the Blackdrake Clan became the Ard of Markarth in 2E 559, his power had only extended to the confines of his city while in the Reach proper, the strongest clans at the time, such as the Six-Fords, the Eagleseers, the River-Elks, and the Thornroots had the most power. To the clans, the Ard was just another chieftain despite the Empire's authority over the Reach.

In the middle of the winter of 2E 560, the Six-Fords intercepted an Eagleseer hunting party and killed Chief Darragh of the Eagleseer Clan.

After years of constant feuding, the chiefs of Clan Eagleseer and Clan Six-Fords decided to patch it with a handfast between their children, Eslyn of the Eagleseers and Madearn of the Six-Fords. The handfast was set to take place in Hroldan Ring in 2E 582 and overseen by the Chief-of-Chiefs, Cannear of the River-Elks. The betrothed, however, could not go through with the ceremony, and the two escaped from the handfasting cave. Before the official handfasting Madearn secretly promised to marry Drisene of the Six-Fords after the death of her brother. Cannear had sent an outsider to retrieve the two but they helped them find Vateshan Barth instead. They learned that at some point in the past the Vateshran visited chiefs of both clans, who revealed to him the tale of the feud between Six-Fords and Eagleseers.. After hearing the tale they decided to find and bring the Lover's Coil back together instead. Over time, Eslyn, and Madearn grew affection for each other, but it is unknown if they decided to proceed with the handfasting or not. And despite the cause of the feud having been resolved, it is unknown if their ageless conflict ended that day with the ceremony of handfast or started to slowly die out as more clansmen learned about the origins of the feud.

In the same year, several members of the Thornroot Clan attacked a few other clans of the Reach. They also intended to attack the Six-Fords, but it is unknown whether the clans fought or not.

Certain items, such as worry stones belonging to the Six-Ford clan members were marked with their clan sigils.

Known Chieftains

• Ancestor of the Six-Ford Clan
• Unnamed Chieftain (ca. 2E 582)

See Also

• For game-specific information, see the Elder Scrolls Online article.

Books

• Politics of the Reach by Consul Cardea, the Ard's Administrator, 2E 578 — An overview of politics between clans in the Reach
• A Year Among the Eagleseer Clan by Glabrian Tuliel, University of Gwylim — A scholar's account of the Eagleseer Clan
• The Battle of Karthspire Lea by Vateshran Barth — An old story about an undecided battle of blood