103 days left - The Liberation Of Cyrodiil

The first humans who lived in Cyrodiil were either killed or enslaved by the Ayleids. The ones who were enslaved were oppressed by their masters and had very little freedom to do what they wanted. Saint Alessia was born around 1E 200, in a human tribe that was close to the Ayleid city Sardavar Leed in Cyrodiil. Since the Ayleids worshiped Daedra, Alessia turned to the Aedra Akatosh for aid. Akatosh looked at the humans and saw their pain. He drew blood from his own heart and blessed Alessia with the blood of Dragons, and promised that as long as the Alessia's generations were true to the dragon blood, Akatosh would seal the gates of oblivion and make sure that no Daedra would aid the Ayleids.

Akatosh gave Alessia the Amulet of Kings, an amulet with a large red diamond surrounded by eight other gems. Each of the smaller gems represent the Aedra of the Eight Divines, and the red diamond collects the soul of all Alessia's generations. It is important to note that this was before Talos became an Aedra, and therefor it is not nine smaller gems that surround the diamond. In a way you could say that the Amulet of Kings is a soul gem for the Dragonborn.

Alessia began to gather an army to overthrow their elven oppressors. With the help of Kyne's son Morihaus and the human slaves, she managed to take some land away from the Ayleids. Alessia's army consisted of slaves, warriors from Skyrim and Ayleid lords who had switched sides. In 1E 242, the immortal warrior Pelinal Whitestrake walked into her camp covered in Ayleid blood. He became her second champion and after a while they had conquered the eastern side of the Niben.

Pelinal Whitestrake was a rather odd person. His name means "Glorious Knight" and there is a lot of stories about the warrior. Apparently he hated all elves and once slaughtered an entire village of Khajiit before realizing that they were not elven. Many think of him as a hero, but there is also a lot of people who see him as a madman and murderer.

The armies of Alessia arrived at the White Gold Tower in 1E 243. The Tower was guarded by Ayleid lords and Aurorans. The Aurorans are from the realm of the Daedra Meridia, and were summoned by the Ayleids to fight by their side. Umaril The Unfeathered was half elven and half Auroran. He served as the Ayleids champion. When the White Gold Tower was under siege, Umaril taunted Pelinal. This made the Alessian champion frustrated and he ran into the tower alone and slaughtered it's guards. Umaril had prepared a trap and sent his best soldiers to battle the warrior, knowing that they would die. Pelinal was injured when he finally battled Umaril alone. It did not stop him from slaughtering the demon, but his victory was short lived. Pelinal Whitestrake was cut into eight parts by the Ayleid lords before the Alessian army stormed the tower.

After the fall of the White Golden Tower there were still Ayleids in Cyrodiil, but they were scattered and the ones who did not flee south were killed. Alessia declared herself empress of the new Cyrodiilic empire. She also created the religion of the Eight Divines (the present Nine Divines), which was a mix between Nordic and elven religion. It is why many gods have different names in Skyrim, because many still believe in the old versions.

/R

105 days left - Nirnroot

Today I have been having problems writing anything coherent, so I went out in the woods for some inspiration. In the forest area I live close to there is a small lake which I visit from time to time. When arriving at the lake I was kindly greeted by a flock of mosquitoes who made sure that I was not having to much blood in my veins. It always feels nice when donating blood so others may survive.

When  looking over the water I thought thought to myself that the area would be a great place to find Nirnroots in. I liked looking for Nirnroots in Cyrodiil, it became a bit of a hobby. Whenever I found a lake or river I went around listening for the distinctive sound that the plant makes. But another thought came across my mind. The planet of the Elder Scrolls is Nirn, does this mean that the Nirnroot has more to it then we originally thought? They were always fun to collect but they never came across as more then a plant needed for a quest.

Perhaps the Nirnroot plays a bigger roll in Skyrim, and if it does we might be able to find out more of its origin. Maybe it's just a plant named after the planet, but it would be nice to find out why it has its name. Perhaps the alchemist Sinderion has a book that someone might be able to borrow for a while. I will get back to this as soon as possible.

/R

106 days left - The Failed Invasion Of Akavir

Why do we know so little of the races and culture of the beast folks of Akavir? As far as history goes, the last Akaviri who walked on Tamriel was the Tsaesci potentate known as Savirien-Chorak (who was also assassinated by the Morag Tong). Why haven't there been anymore visitors from Akavir?

When the Tsaesci Potentate Versidue-Shaie was in charge of the Empire between 1E 2920 and 2E 324, he had given some information about the different races of Akavir. The information known is written down in the book Mysterious Akavir. There are four major nations of Akavir, all named after the race which controls the area:

• Tsaesci - A vampire beast race that is related to serpents. The Men who walked on Akavir were all eaten by the Tsaesci. There is no exact description of how the Tsaesci really look like, only speculations (which is odd considering the fact that Versidue-Shaie was a Tsaesci).

• Kamal - Snow demons. Every summer they attack the Tang Mo, and during the winter they wait for the next summer. Once the Kamal leader Ada'Soom Dir-Kamal tried to invade Morrowind, but was defeated in the battle at Red Mountain.

• Tang Mo - A monkey-like beast race. They are said to be kind and generous. They are allied with the Ka Po' Tun.

• Ka Po' Tun - A cat-like people with the Tsaesci as rivals. They are stronger then the Tsaesci and they have fought many battles with the serpent-people. During these conflicts, the dragons of Akavir where killed. The leader Tosh Raka is said to be the first to actually become a real dragon. Stories say that when the Ka Po' Tun have defeated the Tsaesci, they will invade Tamriel. 

It's important to remember that this information was based off what the Tsaesci prisoners knew after surrendering to Emperor Reman, which also means that no one knows what has happened in Akavir during the last 1700 years. Except for the knowledge collected by Uriel V. 

Once, Tamriel actually made an attempt to colonize Akavir. Somewhere around 3E 270, Emperor Uriel V laid plans to invade Akavir. The plans were set to action in 285 and 286, when the Tamrielic-navy scouted the shorelines of the foreign continent. The information gathered by the spies confirmed that the Tsaesci kingdom was at the south-western part of the continent, and the invasion was to set foot on their lands first.

They managed to set up a colony and things were going smoothly. The Imperial's met little resistance and even found an abandoned town called Ionith where they set up base. However ships were lost at sea and the supplies were starting to run low as the months passed by. When winter arrived, the empire cut off all supplies to the colony and said that they had to wait for spring. As the colony grew weaker, they also realized that the Tsaesci were much stronger then they had expected. Uriel V, who had tried to negotiate with the Tsaesci, had gathered an expedition to travel into Tsaesci territory. The Emperor and his fellow knights were slaughtered in a rain of arrows and in the end, it was a disaster for the Empire.

The information was gathered from the book Report: Disaster at Ionith. There have been no attempts to colonize Akavir since then. And even after the fiasco, little is known of the current state of the armies of Akavir.

/R

107 days left - Remnants of the Past

When looking at Alduin's Wall, have you ever noticed the Blades armor the Dovahkiin is wearing when fighting Alduin? The armor type originated from the Tsaesci Potentates who helped rule Cyrodiil during the beginning of the second Era. The Katana's found throughout Tamriel are also from the continent of Akavir.

If your wondering why I am constantly bringing Akavir up in my posts is because Akavir is the land of the dragons. The dragons of Tamriel are since long gone and have not been sighted for thousands of years and disappeared long before the first Era. Did they vanish in thin air, or did they simply move somewhere else? There are endless of theories about why the dragons have returned and where they came from and there is no evidence about them being from Akavir. In The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, M'Aiq the Liar claims that there are lots of dragons in Tamriel.

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"Dragons? Oh, they're everywhere! You must fly very high to see most of them, though. The ones nearer the ground are very hard to see, being invisible."

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But lets return to the wall of Alduin. It is said that the wall is ancient, but the Akaviri styled armor was not used before the end of the First Era. Does the armor have more to it then just a great sense of style? There are not many remnants left of anything that is from Akavir. The Blades headquarters Cloud Temple in the Jerall Mountains is the most characteristic structure made by the Tsaesci in Cyrodiil.

It was made after the Battle of Pale Pass by the prisoners of war in the beginning of the Second Era. Perhaps the Tsaesci left more structures like this in Skyrim, which possibly could be found in present time. It would be great to fend off a dragon from a settlement like this. As mentioned, it is the headquarters of the Blades and was still being used during the Oblivion Crisis 3E 433. It is uncertain if it is used during the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, since the Empire collapsed somewhere around the first years of the Fourth Era. Logically it would not affect Cyrodiil and Cloud Ruler Temple is probably still in use. But the condition of the Blades is unknown.

/R

108 days left - The Battle of Pale Pass, What Really Happened

In the post called "Tsaesci" I was discussing the different ways the Akaviri invaders could have gone through during the invasion that ended at Pale Pass, and made the assumption that they landed close to the city of Winterhold. As I was writing a new article about the Tamrielic invasion of Akavir, I stumbled upon a text that stated that the Tsaesci who fought at Pale Pass landed at the eastern shore of Morrowind. I tracked down the source to Akaviri expert and collector Countess Narina Carvain of Bruma. Thanks to her (I had to scrap an entire article that I had been working on for the last forty minutes, where I had analyzed several maps and texts) we now know exactly what happened.

The Akaviri forces where trying to establish some sort of base in Tamriel, and they arrived at  the eastern shore of Morrowind in 1E 2703. They were well supplied and ready to move through the province. The Tsaesci must have passed the border at Riften to later move through the Jerall Mountains. However when engaging the forces of Emperor Reman up in the snowy mountaintops, the Tsaesci reinforcements where cut off by the poet and god Vivec, who had allied himself with the Dreugh. Therefor the Tsaesci had to fight the war from too sides.

The red arrows indicate the movement of the Tsaesci, and the blue circle indicates the area where Vivec intercepted the reinforcements and made sure the Tsaesci could not retreat

Pale Pass itself was the command post where the Tsaesci generals issued their orders. A note was sent to the station, but it never arrived. In the note it stated that the food supply for the headquarter in Pale Pass was delayed for a month, and since the note was lost they all starved to death. Without any orders the Tsaesci had to surrender.

Someone is going to get knocked unconscious the next time I visit Bruma.

/R

109 days left - The world of Elder Scrolls

Mundus is the mortal realm, or universe, which the Elder Scrolls series is set in. The planet Nirn, where Tamriel is in, lies in Mundus. The realms creation was a product of the god Lorkhan, who came up with the idea of a mortal realm. The realm itself was created by the Aedra and the Anu-spirits, and thus started the Dawn Era. It is now it becomes complicated, but I will explain it as best as I can.

There was once a wizard god named Magnus. He helped the god Lorkhan to design the mortal realm. He made the schematics and plans for the universe (it was just like lego) and implemented his powers to balance out the world. Later the Aedra and Anu spirits did the hard work of creating everything, with the help of god Magnus. But after Nirn was created, Magnus and the Anu spirits suddenly disappeared from Mundus and returned to the immortal realm of Aetherius. What is left of the god and spirits is now what is known as magic. The stars of Mundus is actually light from Aetherius, which can be seen through the teardrops of the Anu spirits who left them there as they fled back to their immortal realm. Some say that the two moons of Nirn is the physical remnants of Lorkhan. He is referred to as the forgotten god, as not many know about his existence.

The following text is from the book Spirit of Nirn, God of Mortals

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Lorkhan is the Spirit of Nirn, the god of all mortals. This does not mean all mortals necessarily like him or even know him. Most Elves hate him, thinking creation as that act which sundered them from the spirit realm. Most Humans revere him, or aspects of him, as the herald of existence. The creation of the Mortal Plane, the Mundus, Nirn, is a source of mental anguish to all living things; all souls know deep down they came originally from somewhere else, and that Nirn is a cruel and crucial step to what comes next. What is this next? Some wish to return to the original state, the spirit realm, and that Lorkhan is the Demon that hinders their way; to them Nirn is a prison, an illusion to escape. Others think that Lorkhan created the world as the testing ground for transcendence; to them the spirit realm was already a prison, that true escape is now finally possible.

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Some say that the Aedra and Daedra also are trapped in Mundus, but I will return to that in a later post.

/R

110 days left - Morag Tong and the Dark Brotherhood

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"Brother, I still call you brother for we share our bonds of blood, tested but unbroken by hatred. Even if I am murdered, which seems inevitable now, know that, brother. You and I are not innocents, so our benedictions of mutual enmity is not tragedy, but horror. This state of silent, shadowed war, of secret poisons and sleeping men strangled in their beds, of the sudden arrow and the artful dagger, has no end that I can see. No possibility for peace. I see the shadows in the room move though the flame of my candle is steady. I know the signs that I …"

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The note was found under a floorboard in the Skyrim village of Jallenheim in 2E 358. It was the first note ever to be found that is connected to the Dark Brotherhood.

The Morag Tong and the Dark Brotherhood were once part of the same organization. The Morag Tong was not an illegal organization in Tamriel, and they committed murder in the name of the daedra Mephala. They were the Empires executioner and were permitted to execute people to preserve order. But after the assassination of the Akaviri Versidue-Shaie, the Morag Tong was outlawed. Desperate to find political cover, they went to the only province that would accept them. The province where the Morag Tong probably originated from, Morrowind.

To be able to become a legal organization in Morrowind, the Morag Tong would have to change their beliefs from Mephala to Morrowind's Tribunal. The part of the organization that was the Dark Brotherhood had another belief. They worshiped Sithis and were not willing to give away their religion for the sake of remaining a legal administration. It was around this period when the two groups became rivals. They saw each others as traitors of the cause and they never worked together again after 2E 324.

The biggest difference between the two rivals is that the Dark Brotherhood is more to be seen as a business enterprise, and the Morag Tong as a guild that commits murder in the name of religion. If there is going to be one of these two present in Skyrim, it feels more natural for the Dark Brotherhood to be present. The need of assassins that work outside of the law seems like something that a lot of lords would be in need of, especially if there was a civil war going on (why it's almost like I am referring to the current events of Skyrim).

This is however a theory and it is not certain that it is entirely true. And if anyone stumbles across a text that contradicts the information about the split-up I would be very happy if you sent me a message about it. If your interested in finding out more, read the book called "Fire and Darkness: The Brotherhoods of Death". It is from there i snatched the quote in the beginning of the post.

/R