In the timeless realms of Oblivion, few earn a reputation that endures. Yet the infamy of the Argonian company and its leader, Sharp-Scales echoes through Void corridors. And now, after centuries beyond the gates, Sharp-Scales returns to Tamriel.
Sejan-Xul “Sharp-Scales”
Born in the Argonian city of Gideon during the final decades of the Third Era, Sejan-Xul was raised in a prosperous family deeply entangled with the Imperial Legion and theadministration of Cyrodiil. His father, a wealthy merchant, had secured lucrative contracts supplying Imperial garrisons stationed throughout western Black Marsh. To the tribes of the inner marsh, families such as theirs were despised as “Lukiul” — assimilated Argonians who had abandoned the Hist and bent the knee to foreigners. Determined to elevate his family further, Sejan-Xul’s father spent enormous sums and called in countless favors to secure his son an elite Cyrodilic education in trade, diplomacy, and Imperial politics.The young Argonian excelled in his studies, yet increasingly found himself drawn not to commerce, but to military life. Fascinated by discipline, warfare, and the idealized honor of the Empire, Sejan-Xul dreamed of becoming a protector of Black Marsh through service in the Legion. His father considered the idea madness. The arguments between them became frequent and bitter until, finally, Sejan-Xul abandoned his studies entirely and enlisted in the Imperial Legion. For several years he served loyally in Black Marsh, believing the Empire would always defend its provinces. Then came the Oblivion Crisis.
3E 433 - The Oblivion Crisis
When the gates of Oblivion opened across Tamriel, Sejan-Xul’s cohort received urgent orders: All Imperial forces stationed in Black Marsh were to withdraw immediately and reinforce Cyrodiil. That day shattered whatever loyalty Sejan-Xul held for the Empire. As Legion forces prepared to abandon the province, Sejan-Xul began experiencing something he could neither understand nor ignore — a distant, instinctive call pulling him deeper into the marshlands. The Hist were calling to their people. Yet Sejan-Xul had lived so long among Imperials that he barely recognized the sensation for what it was. On the night before the Legion marched west, he deserted. Leaving behind comrades he had served beside for years, Sejan-Xul vanished into the swamps of the inner marsh without a word. Though wracked with shame, part of him felt, for the first time in his life, that he was finally moving in the right direction. The tribes of the interior did not welcome him warmly. To the An-Xileel, Sejan-Xul was still Lukiul — soft, imperialized, and spiritually crippled. Though open hostility toward assimilated Argonians had been forbidden under An-Xileel discipline, he was treated with contempt. His Legion experience earned him little respect among warriors who considered the Empire cowardly and corrupt. He was thrown into the front lines as expendable infantry during the first assaults against the Oblivion Gates. He survived. Then he survived again, and again. Through countless battles, Sejan-Xul slowly earned recognition. His understanding of Imperial military structure, logistics, and battlefield discipline proved invaluable against the chaotic hordes of Mehrunes Dagon. Over time, he gained both rank and a new name for his sharp mind: Sharp-Scales.
The Deadlands
During one of the final great counteroffensives, Sejan-Xul and his warriors pursued retreating Dremora forces directly into the Deadlands themselves. The Argonians fought with terrifying ferocity. Hardened by the Hist and driven into a battle-frenzy that even the Daedra found horrifying, they carved through the retreating defenders deep within Dagon’s realm. Sharp-Scales, now second-in-command tried to advise his An-Xileel general to halt the persuit, but in vain, the general was consumed by bloodlust. Laughing wildly, the general pushed onward into the chaos. Only Sejan-Xul noticed the Oblivion Gate behind them beginning to close. By the time the surviving Argonians fought their way back, the portal had sealed. They were trapped.
Exiles of Oblivion
When Mehrunes Dagon failed in his attempt to conquer Nirn, the vast armies of the Deadlands fractured into endlessly feuding warbands led by rival Dremora commanders. Against all odds, the stranded Argonians survived. To the Daedra, race mattered little beside strength. The Argonians had already earned a fearsome reputation as relentless shock troops and marksmen. Many warlords found employing such warriors useful. Unlike other mortals of Tamriel, the Argonians adapted well to prolonged existence within Oblivion. Years became decades. Decades became centuries. Exposure to the chaotic creatia of the Deadlands slowly transformed them. Feathers gave way to horned crests. Their scales darkened into crimson and ash-black hues, becoming thicker and heat-resistant. Gills withered shut while their lungs adapted to the ash-choked air of the Deadlands. Most of them believed that the Hist were responsible for these changes. Under Sharp-Scales’ leadership, the survivors became known simply as the Argonian Company — a mercenary host wandering the planes of Oblivion in search of wealth, survival, and ultimately a path home. Unlike most mercenary bands of Oblivion, the Company became famous for honoring its contracts absolutely. They changed employers often, but never betrayed an agreement once sworn. Over time, even certain Daedra came to join them. Across centuries, the Argonian Company fought in realms tied to Molag Bal, Hircine, Boethiah and lesser Daedric powers. They traveled hidden Void corridors between realms, selling their blades to warlords, soul merchants, and rival Dremora houses alike. Yet beneath all the gold and glory remained one obsession: finding a way back to Nirn.
The Long Decline
Time flows strangely within Oblivion. Sejan-Xul eventually lost count of how many decades or centuries the Argonian Company had wandered the planes. The original survivors of the Deadlands campaign slowly disappeared one by one. Some fell in battle against rival Dremora hosts or the horrors lurking between realms. Others abandoned the Company, surrendering themselves fully to the madness and temptations of Oblivion. A few simply vanished into the endless planes, never to return. New warriors filled their ranks. At first they were stranded mortals, escaped slaves, and outcast Daedra seeking employment. But over time the Company’s composition changed. Dremora mercenaries, banekin scouts, and other lesser Daedra began to outnumber the remaining Argonians. The Company still carried Sejan-Xul’s banner, but it no longer resembled the force he had once led out of Black Marsh. Even Sejan-Xul himself had changed. Centuries of warfare had taught him harsh lessons about survival in Oblivion. Mortal steel rusted, shattered, or was stolen. So Sharp-Scales turned increasingly toward conjuration. Bound weapons became his preferred arms — blades and bows formed instantly from Oblivion itself, impossible to dull, impossible to lose. The Daedra he summoned were not mindless servants, but contracted allies bound through negotiated pacts, favors, and long familiarity with the politics of Oblivion. Eventually, after a disastrous campaign in the realms bordering Molag Bal’s dominion, Sejan-Xul’s authority finally collapsed. Whether he was betrayed, challenged, or simply abandoned depended entirely on which survivor told the tale. By the end, Sharp-Scales no longer cared. He left the Company behind with what he could carry and a fading hope that a path back to Nirn still existed.
4E 201 — The Void Corridor.
In the basement beneath Moorside Inn, a hooded figure chanted in a language known to few mortals. The old wizard coughed violently as he struggled through several syllables before finally completing the incantation. A man-sized violet portal burst open where a storage-room door had once stood. Hurriedly gathering his notes, soul gems, and alchemical instruments, the wizard stepped through — expecting to enter one of his carefully constructed pocket realms. Instead, he stumbled into a vast dim corridor lined with countless doors of impossible shapes and sizes. A Void corridor. Within moments his skin began to redden and blister. Breathing became painful. Cursing under his breath, the mage quickly cast several protective alteration spells, too distracted by the hostile environment to notice the pair of imps creeping toward him. “Look what the hellcat dragged in,” one hissed in a guttural Daedric tongue. The wizard reacted instantly, reducing both creatures to ash with crackling shock magic. Panting heavily and nearly drained of magicka, he collapsed against the wall. Then a deep voice spoke near him. “Not bad for an old man. How long do you think you can keep that up?” The wizard spun around. Towering over him stood a massive horned warrior clad in mismatched armor scavenged from a hundred battlefields. Crimson-black scales covered his body, and his yellow eyes gleamed through the darkness. It took wizard a moment to realize that the warrior spoke in flawless Cyrodilic.
“Are you… from Nirn?” the wizard asked in disbelief.
The warrior laughed. “In a previous life, perhaps. The Void corridors are no place for an unprepared conjurer. What is your business here, mage?”
“My business is my own,” the old man replied cautiously, “but I suddenly find myself in need of a guide. Would such work interest you?”
“Normally I would consider such work beneath me,” the warrior answered, “but fortune has not favored me of late. Still… retaining the finest mercenary in Oblivion will not come cheaply.”
The warrior lowered his weapon. “My name is Sejan-Xul. Though most now call me Sharp-Scales.”
The wizard nodded slowly. “I am Falion of Morthal. A pleasure to meet you.” After a pause, Falion added: “I will only require your services for a few days. Once I recover enough strength, I can simply open another portal back to Nirn.”
Silence fell and for a long time Sejan-Xul stood utterly motionless. “You can open a portal…” he whispered. “Back to Nirn?”
Race, appearance and age: Argonian in his late 20's. Sejan-Xul stepped through oblivion gates in 3E 433 and havn't aged since untill returning to Nirn in 4E201. Lots of sharp horns, black and crimson skin color, lots of scars. Read Exiles of Oblivion chapter for lore on appearance.
Morality: True Neutral. Centuries of mercenary life dispelled any naive notions of morality for Sejan-Xul. Might makes right and gold is the only constant. More on this in role-playing section.
Class: Summoner, Warrior
Blessings: Arkay/Any other/none
Standing Stones: Warrior or Mage, later Lord
Attributes: 150-200 magicka, 130-200 stamina, all the rest in health
Lesser Powers: Any and all. This is no-crafting character and any passive resistances, abilities or black book powers are of benefit. Sejan-Xul has no qualms working for daedra, aedra or anyone else. He has no loyalties, other than honoring his contract.
Shouts: Completely optional. The build can be played on legendary difficulty without any shouts and from role-playing perspective Sejan-Xul is not a dragon-born. But Thu'um is a skill that can be learned by anyone and there are several usefull shouts that can be learned.
Major skills: Conjuration, Heavy armor, Archery, One-handed or Two-handed
Minor skills: Restoration, Alteration, Sneak, Block, Speach
Difficulty: Master--> Legendary
Crafting: None
Recommended Mods
Mysticism – A Magic Overhaul
Wintersun – Religion Overhaul
Ordinator or Vokrii – Perk Overhaul
20 Percent More Perk Points – Ordinator optional file
(works with Vokrii or as a standalone mod)
Imperious or Morningstar – Race Overhaul
Andromeda or Evenstar – Standing Stone Overhaul
Ultimate Combat and Wildcat – Combat improvements
Cosmetic
Xavbio’s Nexus profile – Retextures for armor and weapons
Cloaks of Skyrim Retextured SE
Bandolier - Bags and Pouches Classic
Dynamic Lowered Hoods
This build does not require a strict perk spread and works well in both vanilla Skyrim and Enairim minimalistic (Vokrii, Morningstar, Evenstar) or heavy (Ordinator, Imperious, Andromeda) mod setups. I tested it with Vokrii, Evenstar, Imperious, Mysticism, and Wintersun, but you can mix and match however you like. If you use Enairim, I recommend a +20% perk gain mod. I will only provide Vokrii perkspread. The perkspread above would ammount to 59 perks with two-handed skill or 60 perks with one-handed skill. Using +20% perk gain mod, this will be achieved by lvl 50.
The essential skills are Conjuration, Restoration, Heavy Armor, Archery, and either One-Handed or Two-Handed. Alteration is very useful, while Block, Sneak, Speech, and Lockpicking are optional with few or no perks. The most essential perks in Vokrii would be Mystic Binding for stronger bound weapons, Ocato's Preparation for flesh-spells to be autocast and Heavy Armor Training for weightless armor.
In my first two playthroughs, I used a Bound Battleaxe before switching to Umbra in the late game. On my third run, I used Bound Swords with a shield, then later dropped the shield out and dual wielded instead. That ended up being my preferred version of the build. I also used bound bow in all playthroughs.
There are two main combat tactics. Outdoors, I summoned ranged atronachs and used a bound bow while letting my companion tank. If opponents got close, I switched to a bound battleaxe or a bound sword and shield, sometimes using a healing spell instead. Indoors, I relied on melee dremora summons and melee weapons. Sometimes I would summon a tanky Frost Atronach in the middle of surprised foes and charge into the chaos dual-wielding bound swords, with ranged support from my archer follower. Feel free to experiment.
Sejan-Xul is a mercenary commander, and thus he needs a company.
The role of a follower changes as the build progresses. Early on, I used a tank companion, while later I traveled with Derkeethus, since he is the only fellow Argonian follower and fits the build well as an archer. And don’t forget to get (or summon at the Atronach Forge) a Staff of the Storm Atronach for Derkeethus or your other followers.
For roleplaying reasons, I summoned exclusively dremora and atronachs, which are simply different forms of daedra. The Mysticism mod brings a bit more variety to dremora summons.
Manic and Demented Elytra Nymphs are the best pets thanks to their 5-minute area buffs to skills and attributes for the whole troop. They also fit the roleplay perfectly, as they come from an Oblivion plane.
As a veteran of the Oblivion planes, Sejan-Xul would relish the chance to return to Clavicus Vile and steal his dog companion Barbas in revenge for all the dirty deals from back in Oblivion. At the Markarth stables, the owner of a dog named Vigilance promises that the dog “will follow you to Oblivion and back.”
If even that is not a big enough company for you, feel free to collect an army of quest followers. One small warning, though: dungeon corridors can get very crowded. Because of that, I chose not to keep Vigilance or Barbas around permanently, and instead only teleported the nymphs in for buffs before sending them home again.
Orcish Plate Armor with a +25% Block enchantment comes from the “Smith ’N Slash” quest, started by reading the Guard Dossier in the Whiterun Guard Barracks before goingto Embershard Mine.
Iron Plate Gauntlets with +25% One-Handed damage are obtained through the “Brothers in Iron” quest, started by reading the customer review at the Nightgate Inn. These can be upgraded to Ebony Plate Gauntlets with +30% One-handed damage after receiving a letter from Tyra Blood-Fire at lvl 32. If you chose to go with two-handed, then complete Bones for a Crow quest for a pair of Dragonplate Insulated Gauntlets with +30% Two-Handed damage.
For boots, I used Ebony Spell Knight Boots with +70 Stamina from the “Crypt of the Heart” quest. The quest starts by reading Crypt of the Heart – Draft at the Silver-Blood Inn in Markarth. I recommend waiting until around level 15 before attempting it. Purify the heart during the quest to receive the correct version of the armor.
The amulet of choice is Warlock’s Mark, which reduces Conjuration spell cost by 30%. It is obtained during “The Arms of Chaos,” started by reading Hyenril’s Journal near Skytemple Ruins outside the College of Winterhold.
I preferred using a hood and circlet instead of a helmet, together with the Dynamic Lowered Hoods mod. Necromancer’s Hood or Necromancer’s Cowl of Magicka worked best for me. For the circlet, use best circlet of Conjuration, Restoration or Archery enchantments depending on your needs.
I also carried two rings: one for One-Handed and one for
Archery. Banded Iron Shield of Blocking and later Shield
of Ysgramor are bulky and make Sejan-Xul look like Leonardo
the ninja turtle when worn on back.
Sejan-Xul Sharp-Scales is a shrewd mercenary leading a small company made up of companions, summons, pets, and dogs. He takes contracts from citizens and jarls alike. His contract is his bond and honor. He does not betray employers or switch sides once hired.
He will not murder or steal, but he is not an altruist either. He does not help beggars or rescue damsels for free. After all, you cannot put “thank you” in a coin purse.
Major Questlines
Main Quest – No, unless you really want shouts
Dragonborn – No, maybe
Dawnguard – Yes. The Dawnguard pay well for killing vampires
Companions – Absolutely yes
College of Winterhold – Yes
Thieves Guild – No
Dark Brotherhood – No
Civil War – Most likely no. Sejan-Xul is a mercenary, and war is good for business, but both sides require binding oaths. Sejan-Xul does not break contracts or sworn oaths, so choose carefully
Equipment related quests are described in Equipment section.
This build was created by merging a fictional and a historical character, and Skyrimizing them. The fictional inspiration is Bouldar, a mercenary encountered in the Hall of Worlds (my inspiration for Void Corridor) from Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar Cycle series. The historical inspiration is Sir John Hawkwood, aka Giovanni Acuto, which roughly translates to “John Sharp” or “John the Astute,” a reference to his cunning and intelligence. This inspired Sejan-Xul's nickname “Sharp-Scales.” Sir John Hawkwood (c. 1320 – 17. March 1394) was an English soldier and mercenary leader, or condottiero, who served in Italy. He led the famous — or infamous — White Company. I enjoyed following his story through the Sir John Hawkwood series written by Griff Hosker.
"Those Telvanni N'wahs enslaved the wrong argonian" -Sejan Xul on project AHO
Check out my other builds:
Gormlaith – Champion of Three Mothers
Dark Legionary
Shadowheart
The Purified
Replies
A really cool build , personaly i didn't like to play an argonian but the roleplay of this one will make me change my position ^^
I know exactly what you mean. I played Skyrim for years without touching argonians, they just...didn't appeal. But I'm on a mission to make a build for every race. Thus I bit my lip and I read and researched and you know what? They're kind of badass actually. The tail really grows on you ;)
Ah, John Sharp, I remember learning about him awhile back. Great work dude, and glad to see another build from yah
Thank you, he's quite an inspiration! Btw I wanted to ask you, is there any way to edit builds without popping them up to the top? I feel it would be unfair to fellow builders if every time I update some link or minor typo my builds jump to the top.
Not that I know of. Granted I havent really messed around with site functions much
That's bad, well at some point I'll upgrade my profile and add a picture link at the buttom of builds to profile with all builds instead of writing them at the buttom of a posts. Otherwise the oldest builds don't have links to the newest.
Also dont forget to link it in the Event page