Heretical Old Nirn

Here is my Old Nirn theory, where I posit that Nirn is an Earth-like, billions years old planet. I tried to depict her universe and talk about some of her inhabitants.

Note that I left a lot of things unexplained or unexplored, and that this is unfinished work. This is due to a certain lack of time, but I still wanted to publish something for the Heretical Headcanons week. Due to time constraints, I won't be able to answer any comment before Monday evening, universal time. Sorry for the inconvenience. Nonetheless, I invite you to not hesitate to ask any questions.

I know this model seems unnecessary complicated and that trying to shoehorn mundane in Elder Scrolls can feel lame ; but I really can't stand the commonly accepted models, for various reasons.

Warning : this post contains two crude maps. If you're daltonian or allergic to Paint-level drawings, this may hurt you. Sadly, I had to rush them.

UNIVERSE

What is the name of the universe ?

Godhead. Its most intrisic nature, irrigating the universe, bears many names : creatia, soul, magic, aether. The space between the stars is named Void, as it seems devoid of matter, or Aetherius, as aether irrigates it.

What is the name of the stars ?

Magna Ge, older and younger brothers and sisters of Magnus, Our Star. They are spherical, for the sphere is the most perfect shape, and they are burning, with the passion of the life-givers.

What is the name of the galaxy ?

Aurbis, the Grey Maybe one can see in the night sky, born of the interplay of two previous galaxies : Anu-the-Static and Padhome-the-Collider.

What is the name of the planets ?

They bear many. They are small collection of rocks, of the unfinished plans and building materials of Magnus, Our Star. Those mere leftovers organized themselves in spheres 4.5 billion years ago, for the sphere is the most perfect shape. Some examples in no particular order :

Mehrunes Dagon is the ever-burning, ever-changing, ever-smelting.

Nir(n)(i) and Lorkhan were sister and brother, orbiting each other in a perfect dance. Lorkhan died and Masser and Secunda are the lifeless remnants of his corpse. The completely artificial Necromancer's Moon orbits Nir(n)(i), too.

Kynareth is the planet of life, orbited by Hircine who wants to hurt her and Malacath who joined after its separation from Boethia's celestial body.

Herma-Mora is the one who is aware to be but a collection of Magnus' leftover plans and rocks. He knows he is stardust. He wants to know more.

Namira wanders the fringes of the Void, at the external limit of Magnus' influence.

As seen in the dwarven orreries, Dibella orbits Mara, who orbits Zenithar. Stendarr orbits Julianos and Akatosh, the grey ever-spinning Dragon planet, wanders on its own orbit. Arkay is alone too, but that doesn't bother him. He sees a lot of people.

The dwarven orreries depict Nirn at the center. That is a metaphorical representation made to reflect their own cultural obsessions, not a faithful depiction of the existing reality Dwemer were almost too blind to see.

THEOLOGY

What are gods ?

Stars and planets made aware by interaction with the soul, aether, creatia, magic that irrigates the universe. Those orbiting Magnus were aware of each other, and made contact by thought. They can auto-terraform themselves if need be.
Some living beings can ascend to this status through several ways. A living can have some sort of connexion with a god, or with the universe itself through magic ; either of those conditions are required to ascend. An ascended god is, for all intents and purposes, a younger « old god » : it can create its own celestial body (see the Worm and the Necromancer's Moon), and actually auto-terraform the celestial body he chose (see Talos).

What are Convention and kalpas ?

The meeting of gods-incarnate when Nir(n)(i) called for help, aware that she could nurture new beings, « life » destined to ascend to godhood. The divine flesh incarnations arrived in a spaceship-tower of divine metal, Ada-Mantia, and let it stand there as a symbol of the First Convention. That is where all of them decided to rejuvenate each few thousands of years, exchanging planets and personalities at a new Convention. Many of these cycles, the kalpas, have happened, because the first Convention took place more than 3 billion years ago. That is where and when Aka took the mantle of local Magnus time. That is where and when Lorkhan showed the path for godhood and convinced the others to sacrifice Nir(n)(i) so she could give birth to the living creatures. She agreed and died, and the living were created. But some viewed this as a horrible deed and left forever, not wanting to take any part in that murder and masquerade of gods. Those are the Daedra, the then-Innocent who since grew jealous of Nirn's children they hadn't helped to create, and attempted to replicate them. Others, the accomplices, decided to kill Lorkhan as a way of atonement, and today still stay mostly silent, not wanting to interfere too much with the affairs of their children-victims, the living beings of Nirn they love dearly.

What are the gods' spheres, Aedra and Daedra alike ?

It is a mere perception of what gods do from a mortal viewpoint. The gods, though, act in certain ways, favor certain qualities and teach certain ways to ascend to godhood. These personality traits can be gathered under the term « sphere ».

What are the birthsigns ?

Constellations, collections of distant stars easily remarkable from Nirn's surface. By noticing them and creating them, the living beings unconsciously contacted them ; each one forms its very own association of alien star-gods watching over its babies, and sometimes cursing or blessing them.

Who/what is Sithis ?

A name for the Void/Magic the Hist might come from and revere, and/or the name of the black hole in the center of the Aurbis galaxy.

Who is Meridia ? (or « Mankar Camoran was right all along »)

A star, sister of Magnus, who failed at being a real star and was cast out, but still orbitates in Magnus' influence. Dwarf star, as small as a planet, she is a god, and out of envy and sadness, tried to recreate her own sad, cold replica of Nirn as her moon : Coldharbour. It was stolen from her by another ambitious, reckless god : Molag Bal. Since then, they are sworn enemies, and Meridia retreated to create a wiser moon matching her personality more : the Coloured Rooms, a small planet entirely made of crystals, an assemblage of pure light made solid.

What are the Elder Scrolls ?

They seem to be attracted to Towers, especially Ada-Mantia and its replica, White-Gold. As for what they are…

BIOLOGY AND GEOLOGY

What is Red Mountain ?

The natural volcano where the heart of Lorkhan-incarnate was « stored » after his death and the degradation of his planetary body.

What is aetherium ?

Coalesced soul/magic/cratia/aether that was created during Magnus' birth and formed some deposits in the deep rocks of the planets. It has highly magical properties but is really difficult to manipulate and transform.

What is life ? How does it go ?

Living creatures are autonomous beings capable of reproduction and growth. The original ones were but small cells in the Nirn sea-soup, and evolved to give all of the life forms we know today.
Life has one defining and fantastic feature : it evolves. It is not static. Basically, the constraints of life, danger and reproduction force them to adapt, and some adapations get transmitted more than others. Magic interlaces with the rest of the natural processes, sometimes impulsing or influencing evolution (see : Nirnroot, Harpies). Gods can also play a direct part in a species' life (see : Khajiits, Dunmer, Spriggans, Lilmothiits).
Life has another main feature : it gathers and regenerates its own magic, each being possessing its own shard of magic/aether/creatia/soul : its own soul. Some of it is imprinted with its bearer's thoughts, consciousness, personality and memory : this magical imprint is called the AE.

What were Ehlnofey ?

Among living beings, some became apes in the forests that are now known as Valenwood, on the continent that would become Tamriel, long after the last Dreugh empires and the Reign of Ammonites and after continents remodeled and dinosaurs became birds without even needing Sheogorath for this. Those apes soon gained sapience. A war separated them into two different population groups, who in turn emigrated or stayed and created many population waves, each evolving into its own breed. This species was K-selected. Their philosophies and common creation myths (notably Anu, Padomay, Nir) evolved into current Tamriel's various philosophies, creation myths and religions.

What are Men ?

Men are the descendents one of the two Ehlnofey pockets. They left earlier and had to adapt a lot to the variety of living conditions of the continents, thus adopting a slightly more r-selected model. You can see the story of their migrations on this ugly map.
Examples of Men ethnicities include : Bretons, Reachmen, Nords, Atmorans, Nedes, Imperials, Colovians, Nibenese, Yokudans, Redguards, Kothringi, aboriginals of Hammerfell and Morrowind, Men-of-Kreath, Tsaesci, Kamal, Tang Mo…

What are Aldmeris and Mer ? (or « Topal was seeing right all along »)

Mer are the descendents of the other Ehlnofey pocket. They stayed a long time in the same secure regions, thus adopting an even more K-selected model. Differences in ideologies and philosophies were the main reasons for their splits in various waves of migration. You can see the story of their migrations on this ugly map. Aldmeris is a cultural myth of the Return, a fantasised Altmeri refuge against the world's harshness.
Examples of Mer ethnicities include : Altmer, Bosmer, Falmer, Chimer, Dwemer, Maormer, Ayleids, Barsaebic Ayleids, Orsimer, Valenwood Orsimer, Goblins, Ogres, Khajiits, Lilmothiits, Giants, Po Tun…

What are the Argonians and the Hist ?

Argonians are « normal » Ehlnofey (Men ?) mutated with reptile features of old by the Hist. The Hist themselves are a race of sentient trees with a high magical sensibility ; we don't know if they originate from Tamriel or from another place of the Void. They might be god(s) parasiting Nirn, for all we know.

What are the Lilmothiits ?

Much like Khajiits, they were once Mer. Much like Azura made the Khajiits and Y'ffre made the Bosmer, it is rumored that the vulpine Lilmothiits were changed by the Fox — Shor's elven children of the marshes.

What are the Sloads ?

Horrendous creatures, for sure. Many theories exist, none satisfying. Although they are sapient and able to communicate with Men and Mer, they probably originate from beings earlier than the Ehlnofey of old, or hail from another god-planet — Namira ?

What are the afterlives ?

Various places where the souls of mortals go when they pass away. Some fuse within the aetheric thread of the universe, thus joining directly the cycle of souls, some others are claimed / willingly join the various celestial bodies corresponding to their divinity of choice.

What is on Nirn ?

Continents and oceans that have changed with the years, because Nirn's dying heart is still hot and makes the plates move. Some continents are Tamriel, where Ehlnofey originated, Atmora, the northern one, Akavir in the East, Yokuda and the Thras archipelago in the West, Pyandonea in the south. Tamriel is approximately the size of what we commonly call Europe (from Spain to Ural, from Finland to Greece).

Climates and the level of waters evolve too. Although Cyrodiil was indeed terraformed by Talos to some level, it never was (in historical times) a full jungle all the way up to Skyrim. (I'll add that its TES IV depiction didn't make Cyrodiil devoid of jungle either.)