On the Walkabout

Redguard mythology is very unique among those found on Tamriel. Like the Dunmer they take a radical turn from their cousins and have a different stance on the Lorkhan Question as well. The Dunmer are Padhomaic among largely Anuic Mer and the Redguards are Anuic among Padhomaic Men. Redguards agree with the Altmer that this plane, Mundus, is a prison that needs to be escaped. They also agree with the Dunmer that it is a test. Why are the Redguards such an outlier? Why do they not fall in line with their fellow Man (well besides Bretons)? Part of this can be explained by their removal from Tamriel for longer than any other race but it goes a bit deeper than that. Let’s begin by looking at Redguard culture.

I have discussed the importance of martial prowess in Redguard culture before but let’s look at the other thing every Yokudan worth the name loves; sailing. Yokudans are known as by far the greatest sailors in Tamriel and one would be hard pressed to find a ship that doesn’t have at least one on it if they aren’t the captain, which is more often than not. Now in order to be a good sailor you have to know more than just carpentry and when to pull what rope, that’s why we have Nords to boss around, remember? What’s far more important is navigation. The seas of Tamriel are a tricky place after all, what with maelstroms and coral villages of slug people and dreugh it can be downright deadly. And how does one navigate the treacherous seas of Nirn? Well by star constellations of course (one might want to familiarize themselves with The Firmament if one has not). Constellations in the night sky of Nirn move in predictable patterns much like they do here on good ole Earth. Stars don’t help Yokudans navigate just the waters though, stars were placed by Tall Papa in order to help lesser spirits navigate their way to the Far Shores, or Aetherius. The stars represent the proper way to do things and serve as a sort of road map.

So what are the stars? Well, they are holes ripped in the fabric of Oblivion that separates the Mundus from Aetherius, allowing some of the pure magical energy of that realm to seep into ours. They were ripped by the Magna-ge, the followers of Magnus when they all left Mundus, the hole Magnus made is now the sun. Ruptga is a mixture of Magnus and Aka/Auri-el/Bormahu or whatever you feel like calling the Time God today so his connection to stars makes sense. He is also prime in the Yokudan pantheon, one that is muddled with so many gods that they have a god of We-Have-Too-Many-Gods. Most other pantheons on Tamriel have some extra gods other than the 8 or 9 we discuss here but nothing close to the number of the Redguards. Now, have you ever looked up on a clear night in Tamriel? There’s a hell of a lot of stars up there huh? That, is the Redguard pantheon. Literally. They worship the Magna-ge. Some Aedra, or their versions of some Aedra as well, but the important inclusion is the Magna-ge.

So they worship the Magna-ge and stars are therefore very important to them. They help them navigate, got it. Now, the stars were meant as a roadmap to reach the Far Shores, something that both Magnus and the Magna-ge did pre-Convention (some of you may know where I am going). Mantling is the act of “walk like them until they must walk like you”. It is copying a person so perfectly that you become them. The Redguards want to “walkabout like them until we join them”. Now they couldn’t all collectively mantle Magnus, that would be just silly. What they can do is mantle and join the Magna-ge. How you may ask? The answer is in the stars. Not some secret code but the stars themselves, the flight of the Magne-Ge from Mundus. You know, kinda like that whole fleeing from Yokuda (a relatively normal place) to Tamriel (a mythically important and magically drenched place). But they didn’t make it, obviously. Why? It’s who they followed, or didn’t for that matter. The Ra’Gada came here before any leaders, they did it in the reverse. While that may in itself be a process of ascension (pet theory) it clearly didn’t work. So until the right situation arises, Redguards will have to keep looking at the stars and kicking everyone else’s butts all over Tamriel.

Yeah, I said it.