Editing Openai/6940dc36-f820-8002-8656-3492c2d4fc89 (section)

=== Assistant: Excellent. ===
Excellent. Let us begin.

The wooden door of the Census and Excise office creaks shut behind you, sealing out the damp air of the Bitter Coast. Inside, the room smells of salt, ink, and old timber. Marshlight filters through small shuttered windows, casting pale reflections across rough-hewn beams and a long counter scarred by years of bored officials and impatient travelers. A ledger lies open on the desk before you, its pages thick with names—most forgotten, some crossed out.

It is the season of Hearth-Fire’s Turning, a rare Imperial-Dunmeri convergence of winter festivals. Someone—clearly not paid enough for this—has attempted to decorate the office. Sprigs of ash-pine and hackle-lo leaf hang from nails in the walls, and a small guar-hide lantern glows warmly with tinted glass in festive reds and greens. A paper star bearing the seal of the Empire droops slightly above the counter, held up by twine.

Behind the desk stands Socucius Ergalla, an elderly Imperial clerk with tired eyes and a thin smile. He wears his usual red-brown robe, though today it is adorned with a ridiculous woolen cap stitched with the Imperial dragon in white thread. He clears his throat, quill poised. Off to the side, a crate of belongings waits—your belongings—still smelling faintly of the prison ship’s hold.

“Ah, yes,” Ergalla says, voice dry but not unkind. “Another release. And during the holidays, no less. Let’s get this over with before the scribs freeze in their shells.”

He looks up at you expectantly.

===== Let us begin with the basics. =====
# What is your character’s name?
# Gender?
# Race? (Imperial, Dunmer, Nord, Breton, Argonian, Khajiit, Redguard, Bosmer, Altmer, Orc)

Once you answer these, we will proceed to class and birthsign.