The Origin of Species

Hello, and thank you for purchasing the first volume of “On the Species of Tamriel”! During this multi-part set of analisations of the various traits and characteristics of the various species of our beautiful continent (which, at time of writing (20^th of Sun’s Height, 4E3) is on discount at First Edition in the Imperial City), I will take you on journey throughout Tamriel, helping you understand the species inhabiting her.

Before analyzing the exact heritage of each and any intelligent species of Tamriel, both extant and extinct (where enough information is available), it is important to understand the common root they all share (notable exceptions being the Hists and the Argonians of Black Marsh). And to even begin understanding the common root, we need to take a look at the creation of Nirn and Mundus itself.

According to the legends, Lorkhan envisioned Mundus when looking at the wheel of Aurbis. After convincing some of the et’Ada to help him create it, they positioned Mundus at the center of said wheel. However, as we all know, Lorkhan was at this point already known as a trickster, and the other et’Ada quickly lost faith in him. Most of them abondened Mundus, but not all.

These that remained, known as the Ehlnofey, gave up most of their “godly” power to stabilize Mundus. Some of them became the earth bones, laws of nature, used to stabilize the physics of Mundus, yet others settled the newly created world of Nirn as mortals, along with the Hist. As in almost all civilisations, not all of them agreed, and those left the homeland of the Ehlnofey, becoming known as the wanderers.

Eventually, the friction between the Wanderers and the old Ehlnofey sparked a full-out war. The exact details of the war are unknown, and we will probably never know the exact form of it. However the results are known to be huge destruction throughout Nirn, shaping most, if not all, of its continents and oceans. The Hist, interestingly, remained neutral in this conflict (as is their nature). Alongside the reshaping of Nirn, the war also finalised the split between the Old Ehlnofey and the Wanderers. According to the myths, the Old Ehlnofey remained on their homeland of (the possible fictional) Aldmeris, becoming the ancestors of the mer (or the elves, as they are more commonly referred to in Cyrodiil), while the wanderers roamed throughout Tamriel, and later settling the other continents, to become the ancestors of men.