The Concise History of Tamriel, Book 1: The Merethic and the First Era in the High Rock. Part 1: Elven Rule

Excerpt from The Concise History of Tamriel, by Vlastav Kaslodiil, edited by Rupert LeMagnon and Faliondothrin.

As with all places, the history of merethic High Rock is clouded and obscure, relying on information passed down by word of mouth in myth and legend, decayed documents, stone inscription, and the scientific conclusions of archaeology and magical divination.

But what we do know of the Rock in the early years of the world is quite interesting: It is home to the very point where time as we know it began! The Adamantine tower, often times referred to as simply The Direnni Tower, located on Balfiera, is indeed the site where the divines first made their council on creation. That much is agreed upon by nearly every faith, man and mer, and is doubly supported by its immense age- more than 2500 years before the first year of the first era, if the Direnni's magical divinations are to be believed.

The first inhabitants of the High Rock following the creation of the world were in fact men. The ancient northwestern nedes first settled throughout the entirety of Greater Betony and into northern hammerfell at an unknown date early in the merethic, where they lived in tribal societies. The exact origin of these nedic populations is a subject of intense scholarly debate, with one party of historians supporting the imperial endorsed notion that all nedes originated out of one ancient migration from atmora or another, while the other party argues that it is the other way around- that Nedes in fact lived in Tamriel since the years after the dawn, and the atmorans were in fact nedes who crossed the seas and went north.

Regardless of who they were or where they came from, The northwestern nedes would not be an independent people for long. As with the rest of merethic tamriel, the northwest quickly came under the grasp of elves. The Direnni, a clan of lower caste altmer who left their homeland for Tamriel, found the nedes to be easy pickings, using ancient elven magics and the assistance of other lower caste clans who followed them to conquer and enslave the unorganized tribal bands of nedes. These Altmer would eventually be the rulers of all Betony, the Western Reach, and Northern Hammerfell.

To my fellow imperial readers, the notion of elves enslaving men likely makes your blood boil (as it very well should!), but it is important to note that the Direnni slavery was an entirely different- and oddly enough to say, gentler- beast than that of the Ayleid slavery. The direnni did not needlessly torture their slaves, or use their flesh for art, or consume them in cannibalistic murder orties, or sacrifice them in horrific ways. No, if anything the slavery of the Direnni was a thing more akin to the relation between a noble and his serfs. The northwestern nedics were allowed to manage many of their own affairs, socialize with their fellow men, bear names, and were fed (usually) well, often on a diet full of foodstuffs viewed as cattle-meal by Altmer, such as corn.

However, it was still slavery. These nedes were obligated to work whatever their masters demanded. They could not travel without the direct permission of their master. If a Direnni did decide to be cruel to his slave, it was fully within his 'rights'. And finally, and somewhat infamously among some nords and colovians, their is the matter of their forced interbreeding with their masters.

It is important to note that despite the many instances of the female nedes becoming pregnant with the progeny of their elven lord, these unions were not unions at all, but sex slavery, and were certainly not done with intent by the altmer to produce a child. Despite their elven features, the traditional manner by which such ethnicity was determined showed that these offspring were not elves at all, and were treated usually as just another slave, even by their own father. Even if they were for some reason determined as elf, they were rejected by Direnni society for their impurity. However, the resemblances to the masters, and their affinity for magic shared with the masters, made these offspring very attractive to the direnni slaves, and thus the altmer genetics were spread rapidly after several generations- the first wave of what would produce the 'mongrel' people of bretons. This was eventually noticed by the Direnni, as evidenced by their word for their slaves, from which Breton is derived: Beratu, literally meaning 'half'.

The most lasting impact the Direnni had on the Bretons is inarguably the almost complete annihalation of their tribal cultures. While nowhere near as extensive as the degree that the ayleids wiped all traces of central nedic peoples off the map, the Direnni still for the most part dispanded the tribal bands and shamanistic worship of daedra and aedra, replacing it with their feudalism, familial house system, and with their own gods. The gods that would prove popular were the ones useful to the bretons; Magnus, Phynaster, Jephre, Mara, and Zen were all staple deities to the Bretons of this period.

There were some exceptions to this altmerization of the northwestern nedes, however. The Direnni did allow shamanism to continue, though did everything they could to diminish its power, creating the first of the Breton witch covens, which, uniquely to High Rock, are usually treated with respect despite their status as witches. Additionally, two groups of tribes were left nearly completely unaltered by the Direnni: The nomadic peoples of the Bjoulsae, who are theorized to have had the assistance of the centaurs of the bjoulsae in keeping the direnni repelled, and the infamous men of the western reach. It is unknown why the Direnni left the Reachmen as they were when they conquered their lands, though this author theorizes that it was because the Direnni had relaxed in their views on men by the time they reached the Reachmen, viewing them not as animals to be enslaved but as simplistic brutes to be conquered. Whatever the reason, the Reachmen were not only allowed by the direnni to keep their strange shamanistic faiths, but also their tribal karth-clans, as long as the Reachmen respected the Direnni strongholds in the region.

It is important to briefly make a note on the third and final natives of High Rock: Orcs. Unfortunately little is known about the exact origins of the prideful warrior people, and while myths and legends paint a similar story across many cultures, the actual physical and documented evidence lends many many different conflicting stories as to the origins of orcs. What little is known regarding early orcs in high rock is that some time before the first era, the Wrothgars became heavily populated with Orcish tribes... and that is all.

This relationship between the Direnni and their Bretons persists for the entirety of the remaining merethic, and is unthreatened all the way until the year 240, despite the brutal arrival of their eastern neighbors, the Nords. Until this year the confrontations between nords and Direnni are small and infrequent, little border skirmishes at worst.

It is on the 240th year of the first era that the Nords, guided by the prodigious High King Vrage the Gifted, began their legendary conquest of northern Tamriel, setting out to form what would become known as the Nordic Empire. Under Vrage's leadership the nords pushed south and claimed the southern side of the Jeralls from the ayleids, pushed east and subjugated the strong but politically fractured dwemer and conquered the Chimer and all of their houses. To the west, they stormed the western reach, taking it from the Direnni and then surging forth beyond the Druadach mountains, claiming northern Betony and leaving the Direnni only with the lands south of the Wrothgarian mountains, their northern deadland coasts, and their prized isle of Balfiera. Not two years after the beginning of Vrage's conquests, the Cyrodiil's would revolt, ending Ayleid dominance as well.

The Nordic occupation of northern High Rock is a subject that often is depicted with incredible polarization, depending on the author. Nords often depict it as a glorious liberation, the Direnni often depict it as the nearly total destruction of the culture and finesse they had educated into the Bretons, and Breton sources squabble as to whether it was the precursor of Breton independence or a period of tyranny by warlords. What is known for certain is that the Bretons were given significantly more social freedoms under nordic rule, but at the same time had less in the way of religious freedoms (surprisingly), the Nords insistent upon converting the Bretons from elven faiths to their own forcefully. This forceful application of nordic culture is what created the most significant differences between the northern bretons and the southern bretons. The northerners, the people of cities like Faerrun and Jehenna, have significant nordic ancestry and practice many traditions inherited by their brief nordic conquerors. This occupation is also the very beginnings of the long lasting hatred between the Reachmen and the Nords, who resented all of the nords attempts to destroy their tribal karths and replace them with chiefdoms, and despised the Nordic violent insistence to abandon their daedric shamanism in favor of Nordic gods.

120 years of this new power dynamic pass before the next crescendo of Tamrielic history reach its peak. In the year 361, the Marukhati, a popular cult among the nibenese, effectively siezed power, converting the Cyrodiilic east into a sort of theocracy revolving around 'The One'. These zealots despised elves, and forced the ayleids, who had been vassalized by Alessia, to flee or be slaughtered. Entire kingdoms left the Nibenay and Colovia, despite the Marukhati having little power in western Cyrod, resettling on the fertile deadland coasts and seeking asylum with the Bosmer to the south and the Direnni to the north. The Direnni were sympathetic to the plight of their fellow elves, despite enormous differences in religion, and granted them lordships in their territories, which not only bolstered the Direnni strength but had the result of introducing two more gods to the Bretons: Meridia and Azura, who would both become popular.

Meanwhile the Temple of the One begins worming its way into Nordic society, starting as a minority cult and working its way up until not long after their rise to power they convert the High King, Borgas. Borgas becomes attached to the message of elves not just being rivals, but being inherently evil and wrong, seeing it as a complete justification for any brutality as long as it serves the dominance of man. In a misguided attempt to gain favor with the southern emperor, Borgas marched his armies south through Cyrodiil and to Valenwood with the intention of invasion, where his forces and himself were annihalated by the fury of a Bosmeri Wild Hunt. This created a situation the nords had not anticipated: There was no heir to the Nordic Empire.

Within the decade everything Vrage had worked for would crumble to dust. The nordic chief-kings, 'jarls', entered into a massive civil war remniscent of our own interregnum in microcosm. Amidst the chaos, the surrounding nations swooped in like vultures- The Chimer and Dwemer allied and drove out the nords, the Alessians took advantage of the rubble, and the Direnni, with the help of their new ayleid allies, marched the breton legions northward and drove the Nords out of all formerly Direnni lands, reconquering the northern Bretons, who unfortunately for the Direnni had grown mildly resistant to elven rule under their nordic lords. The Reachmen were glad to see the Nords leave; while in truth historical evidence shows they did not appreciate the Direnni lordship or the Nordic lordship, they did hold the Direnni to be preferable, for the sole reason of being allowed to practice their karths and shamanism without interruption.

By the end of the empire's collapse, the Alessians would hold Skyrim under their boot, constructing their ziggurat-temples throughout the north and viciously putting down any resistance. Meanwhile the Direnni found themselves returned to full power, even stronger than ever.

The ensuing years are tense between the direnni and the newly reconquered Breto-nordics, but it would be a full 40 years before anything came out of it. The tensions began to come to a boil in the 420th year of the first era, with multiple small insurrections occuring, each of which were swiftly put down. The Alessians, ever vigilant for a chance to sink their claws deeper into Tamriel, moved to capitalize on this tension, sending their capable nibenese spies north to High Rock to spread the faith of the One, tapping into the northern resentment of elven rule. The foul faith blossomed underground, with cabals of breto-nordics praying marukhati chants in hushed whispers and acting to sabotage their overlords. Inch by inch they spread south like a weed, until their presence finally revealed itself to the Direnni as a crisis. Ryain Direnni responded swiftly and violently, declaring worship of the One punishable by death, a ruling he frequently enforced. Hundreds of unrepentant Breton Alessians were beheaded, which while preventing the further growth of Alessian power within the rock created a certain distaste in mouths of many bretons for their now somewhat tyrannical masters.

Over 60 years of these Alessian persecutions would pass, while the Alessians themselves grew stronger and stronger, beginning to enroach on the Colovians, who had long since rejected their eastern brethren. It was in the year 482 that the Alessians officially declared their intent to take the High Rock from the Direnni by force, intent on invading the northwest on two fronts, from the south by the powerful Alessian navy, and from the north into the reach and the Druadachs.

The events that would ensue are legendary, and are subject to quite a bit of myth and folklore in the Rock. Desperate for allies and knowing he would not be able to succeed against the full alessian might by himself, Ryain reached out to his neighbors for assistance. It is not known, at least to this author, if he sent request for aid to Summerset, but if he did it went unanswered. Neither did the famed Rislav of colovia, to whom it is known a plea was sent, but who was too busy keeping his own borders safe from eastern agression to assist.

No, the individual that accepted his call for aid was neither of these groups, but surprisingly Hoag MerKiller, the king of the Nords. Hoag and the Nords had grown spiteful of the southerners and their foreign god during their century of rule, and despite Hoag's reputations for raids upon Resdayn that had earned him the name Merkiller, he agreed to betray his vassal lord and join the Direnni in the fight, likely desperate for a way out of the Alessian domination. Hoag's betrayal is swift and vicious, taking the emperor's northern army completey by surprise, the nordic berserkers assaulting the southerner's camps in the middle of the night and sending the survivors fleeing back to Cyrodiil. Meanwhile the Nibenese had made their first landing at daggerfall, and the city was besieged while Hoag and his men moved as quickly as they could south, crossing the druadach and traveling by boat down the Bjoulsae to meet with the Direnni armies in the south. Much of Daggerfall was destroyed over the course of the siege, the first of many times for the great city. It was near the site of modern Camlorn that the Direnni, Ayleid, and Nordic armies finally united, and prepared to move to intercept the Alessian armies at Glenumbra Moors.

The battle that would ensue is simply described as epic in scale, dozens of thousands of nords and bretons and thousands of altmer and ayleids meeting nearly a hundred thousand nibenfolk on the battlefield in fighting that would last for days. Upon the realization that their chances of victory were dropping rapidly, the Alessians moved to retreat, but were persued all the way back to their boats by the surviving members of the alliance. Their fleets were destroyed in the harbors, and the few thousand surviving nibenfolk were forced to hide amongst the Breton population, where they are believed to have merged and assumed new identities, likely working menial labor. The Alessians had lost more than 90000 of their best troops, and the majority of their fleets lied sunken in the mouth of the Illiac. It would only take a few years after this defeat for their hold on the niben to crumble, the faith of the One collapsing into a minority cult as the nibenfolk returned to their strange and varied ways.

But the battle took its toll on the nords and elves as well. Hoag Merkiller was slain in battle, and in his place rose his heir, King Wulfharth. Wulfharth made his seccession from the empire official, driving the entirety of the One priesthood out of Skyrim and having their Ziggurats dismantled brick by brick. In the One's place he revived the worship of the old gods of the Nords: Shor, Kyne, Tsun, Stuhn, Jhunal, Dibella, and Mara. Ryain Direnni had pulled not just his Breton legions, but every able bodied altmer and ayleid he had, convinced they would be fighting for their survival. As a result many of the best and brightest among them perished amidst the combat, and the Hegemony is put in a position where it simply does not have the numbers of elves with talent in rulership to effectively manage all of the Direnni lands.

Over the course of 18 years, from 482 to 500, the Direnni Hegemony slowly collapsed not with a bang but with a whimper. Reeve by Reeve the Direnni lost control of tiny pieces of their hegemony, in some cases letting territories go simply because they cannot afford to control them, and at other times losing them to Breton revolt. These revolts varied immensely, and were hardly any kind of unified effort, despite the common romantic depiction of the events. Instead they were the actions of seperate groups of Bretons all across the rock, revolting for reasons ranging from simply being unhappy with the rule of the weakened Direnni, memories of tyranny shown in the years before Glenumbra, and resurfacing tensions between the Breto-nordics and their masters. In the case of the Breto Nordics it is theorized that the revolts in those regions were actually supplied and armed by the orders of Wulfharth himself, holding no true grudge against the Direnni but still intent on freeing men from elven rule.

Finally the Direnni were reduced to their final holdings, desperately clinging to the Western Reach, Hegathe, and their treasured Balfiera. Within the century the Direnni were forced to abandon the Western Reach as well, though it is unknown the exact date and reason. That said the most likely theory is that the Direnni could simply no longer afford to maintain such a distant holding, and when forced to make the choice between the Adamantine tower and the Western Reach clung to their tower and released the Reachmen from their control. The Hegemony was no more.