Analysing the Song of Pelinal, Bonus: the Adabal-a

While the Adabal-a isn’t part of the Song, it does deal with the same period and themes.

First, the introduction to the text.

> Editor's Note: The Adabal-a is traditionally believed to be the memoirs of Morihaus, consort to Alessia the Slave Queen. While this cannot be historically verified, the Adabal-a is certainly among the oldest written accounts to come down to us from the early First Era.

Being First Era, it is probably about as old as the Song, although the text is a lot less fragmented than the Song. The main character is Morihaus, and it is possible that he himself wrote it (although the editor seems to be a bit sceptical).

> PELINAL'S DEATH
And in the blood-floored throne room of White-Gold, the severed head of Pelinal spoke to the winged-bull, Morihaus, demigod lover of Al-Esh, saying, "Our enemies have undone me, and spread my body into hiding. In mockery of divine purpose, the Ayleids cut me into eighths, for they are obsessed with this number."

The first part of the Adabal-a ties in with the events at the end of volume 7 of the Song of Pelinal. It is likely their conversation is the one that Alessia “deigned not to hear” in the seventh volume.
Morihaus arrives a day after the slaughtering of Umaril and Pelinal, and finds Pelinal’s head in the middle of the room.
Pelinal is cut up in eight pieces, and mentions that the Ayleids were obsessed with it. While it is hard to find actual archaeological evidence of this, we do have enough evidence that they were obsessed with the Wheel, most notably in the planning of their cities. According to Vivec, the Wheel has eight spokes, and eight is a number that pops up multiple times throughout Tamriel, considering that the Aedra number eight.

> And Morihaus, confused, snorted through his ring, saying, "Your crusades went beyond her counsel, Whitestrake, but I am a bull, and therefore reckless in my wit. I think I would go and gore our prisoners if you had left any alive. You are blood-made-glorious, uncle, and will come again, as fox animal or light. Cyrod is still ours."

Morihaus often downplays himself. He is pretty insecure about his looks, and now downplays his intelligence. He also mentions that he wants to avenge Pelinal, even though that is not necessarily necessary.
Morihaus seems to hint that Pelinal is a Shezzarrine. Blood-made-glorious can be implied to mean a champion of mortals. An incarnation of Lorkhan, being the god of mortals (and flesh and blood) can be considered such. In any case, Pelinal is more than mere mortal.
The Shezzarine thing is also further enforced by the fact that Morihaus says that he will return. The fox animal can be a reference to Hans the Fox, one of Ysgramor’s pets in “The Five Hundred Mighty Companions or Thereabouts of Ysgramor the Returned”, and often named as Shezzarine, or Arnand the Fox, who is placed in the same list as Pelinal, Ysmir and Arctus by Mannimarco in “Where Were You When the Dragon Broke”. I’m having a bit more trouble placing “light”, and my only guesses are that of a guiding/protecting light, or maybe the Serpent.
Morihaus also states the battle is won, and even though Pelinal died, Cyrodiil now belongs to the Nedes.

> Then Pelinal spoke again for the last time: "Beware, Morihaus, beware! With the foresight of death I know now that my foe yet lives, bitter knowledge to take to my grave. Better that I had died believing myself the victor. Although cast beyond the doors of night, he will return. Be vigilant! I can no longer shield the host of Men from Umaril's retribution."

It is strange that the text says that Pelinal speaks here for the last time. The final volume of the Song (although it might actually not be a part of the text) says that he spoke at the death bed of Alessia. It is important to note that that volume in question is rather vague about who is actually speaking.
Pelinal reveals that Umaril is not truly dead, but went off to Oblivion, to later return (as attested in Knights of the Nine). Pelinal laments the fact that he, at least in his eyes, failed the Rebellion, and warns for his return. He states that he cannot longer protect the Nedes, although he does play a role in the exploits of the Divine Crusader.

> ALESSIA'S YOUTH DURING THE SLAVE-YEARS
Perrif's original tribe is unknown, but she grew up in Sard, anon Sardarvar Leed, where the Ayleids herded in men from across all the Niben: kothri, nede, al-gemha, men-of-'kreath (though these were later known to be imported from the North), keptu, men-of-ge (who were eventually destroyed when the Flower King Nilichi made great sacrifice to an insect god named [lost]), al-hared, men-of-ket, others; but this was Cyrod, the heart of the imperatum saliache, where men knew no freedom, even to keep family, or choice of name except in secret, and so to their alien masters all of these designations were irrelevant.

These lines give a whole list of all the different tribes living in Cyrodiil at the time of the Rebellion.
The Kothri are most likely the Kothringi, a race of man who used to live in modern day Black Marsh. They are well attested, and were wiped-out by the Knahaten Flu of 2E 560, probably engineered by the Hists. They were also often employed as guards by the Second Empire.
The Nedes are the best known in this group. This name also survives as the collective name for the proto-men living on Tamriel before the Atmorans and Yokudans arrived, and they are normally named as the chief (and sometimes sole) ancestor to the Bretons and Imperials.
The Al-Gemha have disappeared from history, and the only result I got from searching in is a book added by Tamriel Rebuild, mentioning the place Gemha, although I could not find the origin of the original book (TIL didn’t yield anything except this line from the Adabal-a).
The men-of-‘kreath are probably the inhabitants around modern day Falkreath, in Skyrim, which historically was part of Colovia. The text mentions that they were imported from the North, so it could be that these were actually Nords, and not a Nedic or Nede-like tribe.
There are just a few scraps regarding the Keptu. “Racial Motifs” mentions a ‘barbaric’ tribe called the Ket Keptu in central Hammerfell, making it possible that these men might be the nomads of the Alik’r. Still, it doesn’t go in depth, and the only other mention of them is Zuathas the Clever-Cutting Man, a Nedic doctor with a Keptu name that treated Morihaus after being wounded by the Ayleids.
The Men-of-Ge are probably the most interesting group in the list. While they are only mentioned two times, here and in the Song, this line gives the most information on them. Since I don’t believe the homophone with Magna-Ge is accidental, It is possible this Insect God their king made sacrifice to is Lorkhan, who is associated with the Scarab. Similarly, the Magna-Ge worked with Lorkhan to create Mundus, later abandoning it in order to not be traumatised by it like the Aedra. The use of Flower symbolism might be linked to the Amaranth and the Flower Child, but this line isn’t detailed enough to make anything meaningful of it.
I couldn’t find any mention of the Al-Hared apart from this one, and I can’t think of any possible connection.
Similarly, there is nothing on the Men-of-Ket, apart from the earlier mentioned Ket Keptu. They could be related to them, with the Ket Keptu being a combination of both tribes.

It is unknown to which tribe Alessia belonged, but seeing that the Nedes are named the most in the Song, it is possible she belonged to that tribe. In any case, it seems the Ayleids didn’t care much for the different tribes, and the first signs of mixing were probably already present in the slave quarters of the city-states.
As the second volume of the Song confirms, Freedom was a concept new to the area, and before that a live of servitude was normal for the various races of men. It is noteworthy that their names were secret, as the Adabal-a later clarifies that Alessia’s later names were al derived from titles, and her real name is most likely lost.

> Men were given over to the lifting of stones, and the draining of the fields, and the upkeep of temple and road; or to become art-tortures for strange pleasures, as in the wailing wheels of Vindasel and the gut-gardens of Sercen; and flesh-sculpture, which was everywhere among the slaves of the Ayleids in those days; or, worse, the realms of the Fire King Hadhuul, where the begetting of drugs drawn from the admixture of daedrons into living hosts let one inhale new visions of torment, and children were set aflame for nighttime tiger sport.

The Ayleids are portrayed as extremely violent and cruel slave masters, just as they are in the Song. While it is likely the Ayleids weren’t that kind to their slaves, it is also likely that these stories are exaggerated (similarly to how early Roman emperors weren’t kind to Christians, but often not as harsh as certain Saint’s Lives lead you to belief (with the exception of Nero, that guy was insane)).
The mentioning of flesh sculpting is strange. It would be logical to associate those kind of acts with a Lorkhan cult, although the existence of those in the Ayleid city-states isn’t attested, and seems counter to their general philosophy. Possible explanations could be that they were simply mocking the Nedes for worshipping the Missing God, or that they were medical experiments performed on the slaves.
Hadhuul also appears in the Song, where he is killed by Pelinal in single-combat. It also seems that certain Daedric things could function as psychedelic substance, and that they were used to force bad trips in the slaves.

> MORIHAUS EXPLAINS ALESSIA'S NAMES
Then Morihaus said to them: "In your tales you have many names for her: Al-Esh, given to her in awe, that when translated sounds like a redundancy, 'the high high', from which come the more familiar corruptions: Aleshut, Esha, Alessia. You knew her as Paravant, given to her when crowned, 'first of its kind', by which the gods meant a mortal worthy of the majesty that is killing-questing-healing, which is also Paraval, Pevesh, Perrethu, Perrif, and, in my case, for it is what I called her when we were lovers: Paravania."

Morihaus reveals that the various names for Alessia are corruptions of two titles she received: Al-Esh, and Paravant. Morihaus also seemed to have a special nickname for her. How sweet.
This part also establishes the Ruby Throne as being given to a worthy individual by the gods, making the Emperor ruling by the “Grace of the Divines”. This could be Imperial propaganda, but again, believing it is true often makes it true.

> "Though she is gone to me, she remains bathed in stars, first Empress, Lady of Heaven, Queen-ut-Cyrod."
And they considered themselves full-answered, and departed.

Alessia went up to join the Divines, and, even though Morihaus misses her, he does know she’s still out there. Being the first Empress, Alessia still holds a huge importance for the Imperial throne.

And with that, another series comes to an end. Thanks for sticking around, you guys.