[UM] Uutak Mythos Timeline, Volume I: The Merethic Era, & First 1/2 of the First Era

'Lo there, /r/teslore. How you guys doing? I'm feeling better - got a tablet, a driver's license, and soon a job, so to celebrate I thought I'd post something I've been fixing up lately. If you're an Echmer fan, you're sure to enjoy it. If you never heard of them before, perhaps you'll like them; they're the main focus of the Uutak Mythos, a world-building project I've been working on for the past three years (it really doesn't seem that long). Hope you all enjoy it, and please, leave a comment or critiscm below. More to follow. - IceFireWarden

>#Aeon Zero (Merethic Era)

Early Aeon Zero: According to the hieroglyphics found inside some of the ancient ruins scattered across the islands in the archipelago, a population of men calling themselves the Kítapoe lived in Yneslea at the start of this time period. Believed to have been green-skinned and ambidextrous with a society based around their unknowable insect gods, they eventually went extinct sometime before the end of Aeon Zero for unascertained reasons. Their origins are a mystery, although the most prevailing theories depict them as relatives of the Men of Akavir.

The Broh-Kah (which is actually the name of their favorite god in their pantheon and chief battle cry; their true name is unknown), a race of savage ‘semi-sapient’ amphibian-folk, arrive in Yneslea through mysterious means. According to their ancient oral traditions, they chased their archenemies (the Dreugh) ‘into this new world from the last one’, hinting at extrakalpic origination. Driven by their natural-born instincts for plundering and violence, the Broh-Kah quickly became a thorn in the side of the Kítapoe (and eventually the whole archipelago) in the generations to come.

The Illyadi and Pixies, faerie survivors of the Aldmeri genocides against the aboriginal inhabitants of the Summerset Isles, sail across the sea to the Ynesleaic archipelago in order to escape total extinction. They adjust quickly to their new home, but their slow birth rates and short life expectancies ensures that they will never have any major influence within the islands.

Middle Aeon Zero: The ancestors of the Hyu-Ket are believed to have arrived in Yneslea at this time, as a result of the Velothi Exodus. Once, all goblins on Nirn were Aldmer (the ancestors of all the Merish races) that worshipped the god-hero Trinimac. When Trinimac was betrayed by Boethiah so that the Chimer could leave the Summerset Isles, the god-hero bloodily ripped the shame from his being and became Malacath, the Daedric Prince of Pariahs. His ichor fell onto his followers, and so they were changed as he was changed: the majority of them became the Orsimer (more commonly known as Orcs), others became the Ogres, and the smallest became the aboriginal goblins from which all goblinoids are descended. A large tribe of goblins migrated to the eastern coast of Tamriel in an attempt to follow the Velothi (possibly to exact revenge), but were forced to sail eastward when the Chimer came down hard upon them. They made landfall in the Ynesleaic archipelago, where they underwent severe bodily changes resulting from their consumption of a now extinct magical porcini that grew in the area that would come to be known as Hrahn’s Isles, the place of their arrival and declared homeland.

The Hyu-Ket and the Kítapoe would strike up a beneficial trading agreement before the latter’s mysterious fate, allowing the former to learn necessary skills like animal domestication and alchemy. The goblins quickly become adept at all manners of potion and poison brews, and would use their newfound animal skills to domesticate the autochthonous dire wolves of Yneslea.

Late Aeon Zero: The Kítapoe disappear from Yneslea, leaving only small traces of their presence behind. The Hyu-Ket either have no knowledge of the civilization’s true fate or do not sing of it in their ancestral songs for the Echmer to dissect. It is notable that the humanoid arthropodic monsters known as the Peine are believed to have arose in Yneslea directly after this ‘extinction’ event, suggesting a connection.

Aeon Zero ends when the Thek-Gol (which means ‘Spirit Chief’ in Ketic) of the Hyu-Ket religion materialized for the first time in history to unite the scattered tribes of its people in order to defeat a rampaging dragon attempting to establish a tyranny in the archipelago. With its death in Hrahn’s Isles, it became a custom for the respective chiefs of the Hyu-Ket tribes to carry a fragment of its skeleton on them at all times in a display of honor and integrity. The dragon (whose name was Faasevenaarbahlok, according to Hyu-Ket oral tradition) is commonly believed to have been an escapee of the Dragon War in ancient Skyrim.

>#First Aeon (First Era)

1A 416: In Veloth (also known as Dunmereth/Dwemereth, or by its present-day moniker of Morrowind), Indoril Nerevar rallies the warring clans and Great Houses of the Chimer and allies with Dumac Dwarfking of the Dwemer. The two leaders unite their formerly opposed peoples against the occupying forces of Skyrim, and successfully drive the Nords out of Veloth. After the war, Dumac and Nerevar resolve to maintain the peace and the new kingdom of Resdayn is established as an united Chimeri-Dwemeri kingdom, with the two acting as joint leaders. Peace between the Chimer and the Dwemer brings an unprecedented prosperity and flowering to both cultures.

1A 420: The Rourken Clan of Dwemer refuses to accept peace with the Chimer, choosing self-exile and leaving Resdayn forever. The Rourken eventually arrive in the region now known as Hammerfell and build their new kingdom, Volenfell. According to legend, the leader of the Rourken threw his hammer, Volendrung, across Tamriel, promising to lead his clansmer to wherever it should fall. This mythic image has been depicted on the walls of several ruins in Hammerfell: a mass exodus of golden-clad Dwemer trudging through the Cyrodiilic forests, Volendrung a falling star in the night sky before them, urging them on.

1A 508: Another Dwemer Clan, the Noraken, are forced into exile after disregarding sanctions placed upon them by their Resdayn brethren in regards to their research. The majority of information regarding the Noraken was destroyed (possibly by themselves as a sign of their newfound independence) as the clan sailed eastwards into the Padomaic, never to return. While most believed them to have died at sea, in truth they had managed to survive and made landfall in the Ynesleaic archipelago, naming it Sturkaellis (‘Hidden Wonderment’). Ignoring the peaceful Hyu-Ket while making war with the more brutal Broh-Kah, the Noraken began to construct their underground fortresses and factories with gusto and eventually discovered the island-spanning subterranean cavern system that would come to be known as the Dweech – to the Dwarves, the region was Turlonfell (‘City of Isolation’). The clansmer also noted the abundance of bats in the caverns, but largely ignored them.

1A 519: The Noraken finish work on their cities and factories, which was sped up by the construction of their cherished automaton facilities. The Dwemer restart the experiments they were conducting in Tamriel – advanced automaton & artificial intelligence prototypes – utilizing tonal architecture, which begins attracting the bats in the caverns.

1A 520: Clan-Leader Gharen (the infamous forger of the Hammer of Gharen) is promptly named King of Turlonfell, and installs a Council of Craft-Lords to administer the respective cities of his newfound kingdom.

1A 529: The first recorded observance of mutation within the Sturkaellis bats amongst the Dwemer. The Noraken realize that the bats had not only increased in size, but were growing longer arm and leg appendages as well. The clansmer begin to capture as many of the altered bats as they can, which proved surprisingly difficult thanks to their small increase in mental awareness.

1A 531: The Sturkaellis bats continue to evolve, their growth rates accelerating. The Noraken deduce that this metamorphosis must be a result of their tonal architecture experiments, which affected the bats in an unique way due to their innate connection with sound. The clansmer decide to contain them all in their largest research facility, Ahthndaz, which was in a reality a massive cavern – the same cavern that would later on become the urb of Oexra’numsaz (the ‘Center of Originating’).

1A 536: The tonal-affected bats continue to change dramatically, gaining more merish physiques and superior reasoning skills. The oldest of the bats develop what seems to be their own primitive tongue, using it to comfort the younger ones when the Dwemer arrive to perform their evaluations. The Noraken were humored by how much the bats had come to resemble them in appearance, theorizing that their race must have left some sort of imprint on them during their metamorphosis.

1A 539-559: King Gharen and the Council of Craft Lords decide after a very heated debate that it was in the Clan’s best interests to ‘raise’ the sapient race they had accidentally created; before this agreement, different members of the Noraken had come close to terminating their ‘experiment’. The altered bats were taught rudimentary literacy and numeracy, which they digested and implemented at an alarming rate. Realizing that they could use the bats as a potential workforce, the Noraken decided it was time to give them a name. This name was Nemer (which means ‘Not-Mer’), a title that denoted both their inferior status to the far more superior Dwemer as well as their copied physiologies. This information became lost to the ages, resulting in modern Echmer referring to their ancestors as the Protoechi instead.

1A 541: The Noraken create Ohcyt, the first type of Synthetic Intelligence (S.I.) known as a Dreamsleevic Intelligence (D.I.), to both monitor and operate their automaton facilities. Its logic core is created from the mind of Dzarth Mezalf, an ailing Craft Lord who had been instrumental in the advancement of the Nemer.

1A 557: King Gharen dies at the age of three hundred and seventy-three due to an illness. His only heir, Lzarkla, becomes Queen of the Noraken and vetoes the notion of transforming her father’s conscious into a Dreamsleevic Intelligence.

1A 559-698: The Nemer become the slaves to the Noraken, fulfilling the roles of manservant, miner, and builder. As the bats assimilate more knowledge they begin to develop their own opinions on the Aurbis. Their overseers were amused by these acts of cultural independence, and allowed them to implement these changes into their lives as long as they didn’t interfere with the tasks set out for them. One of these changes was a strange new notion to refer to the Dwemer as their Begetters, which their caretakers found disturbingly touching. They also begin to create their own language (the most ancient form of Echi), but are forced to use Dwemeri whenever their caretakers wish to converse or when they are present.

1A 561: Ohcyt begins to experience complications due to its old age. Utilizing experimental procedures not yet approved by its creators, the D.I. isolates and then fragments these errors into their own logic core. The D.I. names this unique V.I. Naruddal before deciding to hide it away from the Dwemer, viewing it as a son rather than a subgradient.

1A 564: The Noraken find an ancient portal that leads to a derelict, isolated portion of Nirn’s mechanical framework underneath Ahthndaz. Queen Lzarkla and the Council of Craft Lords order it to be immediately studied, believing that they could vastly improve their own machinery by reverse-engineering the mechanisms created by Magnus and the Magne Ge. The Council decides to upload Ohcyt into its systems, but upon removing its logic core discovers Naruddal, whose uniqueness makes them choose it instead of it’s ‘father’. Naruddal is successfully installed into the isolated framework, which is named Zthgnthaz, and begins to upgrade Dwemer facilities throughout the archipelago.

1A 565: As the Nemer continue to evolve, growing more intelligent by the week, some Dwemer believe that they should be released from their servile positions and be allowed to create their own community on the surface. These abolitionists are led by the Craft Lord Javuk, whose uses his authority to gain many supporters.

1A 569: Naruddal, due to constant exposure to the mechanisms that run the world, evolves from a Vacuousian Intelligence into a Dreamsleevic Intelligence. Due to being the manifestation of Ohcyt’s errors and failures, it begins to see all living life as imperfect while viewing all artificial creations as the epitome of mortal achievement.

Lzarkla and Javuk get into a heated argument in regards to the treatment of the Nemer. While the Queen agrees with the abolitionists, she knows that they are in the minority in regards to the Clan and the rest of the Council will not even consider this option. Javuk tells her that it may be possible for them to create more ‘life-like’ automatons with Naruddal in order to replace the Nemer, allowing them to go free. This suggestion is instead raised with the Council, who begrudgingly agree with the motion that if the automatons can be upgraded then they will free the Nemer from their service.

1A 570: Naruddal informs Queen Lzarkla and the Council of Craft Lords that the automaton upgrades will take several decades, even with the aid of Zthgnthaz. Both Javuk and Lzarkla find the behavior of the ‘V.I.’ odd, but nevertheless order it to alert them when the process is completed. In the meantime the Nemer continues to be Noraken slaves.

1A 578: Unbeknownst to their creators, the Protoechi begin to steal maps and schematics from their caretakers in order to explore the cavern systems. Driven by curiosity and a growing suspicion that their Begetters were hiding something from them, small parties of young Nemer begin to explore the outer caverns whenever the Dwemer were too busy to notice them.

1A 583: The Nemer start to conduct their own experiments in their secret hideaways, stealing derelict machine parts no longer of use to their Begetters and designing their own nonfunctional automaton models. The more bold adolescents create their own rickety armor to use in mock fights, acting out battles between the Dwemer and their ancient enemies from the land that came before their voyage to the archipelago.

1A 585: Craft Lord Javuk, feeling uneasy due to his concerns over Naruddal, decides to interrogate Ohcyt about the nature of its ‘son’. Ohcyt, showing signs of old age once more, informs the Dwemer that Naruddal is a fragment of its being containing most of its corrupted personality. Concerned, Javuk informs the Queen and the Council of this, but his fellow Craft Lords view Naruddal as a crucial asset and therefore forbid its termination.

1A 597: The first recorded incident of a Nemer performing a deliberate act of killing in history. A Broh-Kah warband manages to follow a Dwemer scouting group into Turlonfell and would have slaughtered them all if the Nemer slaves in the vicinity hadn’t intervened and killed them with their tools. This causes a resurgence amongst the abolitionists, as some Dwemer begin to have a newfound respect for the bat creatures. The majority of the Clan merely views the event as the slaves doing their sworn duty to serve their masters however, and all protests are dissolved brutally.

1A 605: Lzarkla realizes her love for Javuk and marries him, ensuring the royal bloodline will be continued. The Craft Lord abdicates from his position in the Council to avoid any political questioning amongst his peers, but continues to investigate Naruddal with Ohcyt’s help.

1A 611: Naruddal begins to undergo Transcendence, and starts to believe that all mortal life must be either exterminated or converted into machinery to ensure Nirn’s survival. It is able to convince the Craft Lord Hten of this plan in secret, who goes on to manipulate the rest of the Council to further the D.I.’s goals. Naruddal cancels its original automaton upgrade procedures, focusing its time now on creating a device that will be able to transmute flesh into metal instead. This ‘automization’ contraption is estimated to take more than eight decades, despite the advanced mechanisms available within the framework.

1A 620: King Javuk, who has been monitoring the changes amongst the Council, decides to secretly follow Hten with the aid of Ohcyt. Arriving in Zthgnthaz, the former Craft Lord overhears Hten and Naruddal speaking about their plans, but is killed by Naruddal’s automaton guards when they detect his presence. Ohcyt leaves its logic core and jumps into the more damaged sectors of Zthgnthaz in order to escape being terminated by its ‘son’.

Hten returns to Turlonfell and lies to the Queen, telling her that Javuk and Ohcyt had been plotting to murder her in order to attain total rule over the Clan. Despaired, Lzarkla is driven into a depression and Hten is named King Regent by the rest of the Council.

1A 625: Hten is upgraded by Naruddal, erasing his individuality while implanting him with technology that will allow the D.I. to assume direct control over his body. Waiting for the automization procedures to finalize, Naruddal is not concerned with the affairs in Turlonfell and leaves them to the Craft Lords, whose minds have been addled by its influence. The Noraken Clan suffers as a result, with entire city-caverns becoming closed off to one another.

The Nemer become disillusioned in regards to their Begetters, who become more strict and brutal thanks to Naruddal’s corruption. Some wish to escape from their predicament, while others believe that they need to stand up for themselves and fight. Their elders, however, order them to simply ignore the strange happenings around them and continue obeying their caretakers without question.

1A 627: Naruddal orders the production of new automaton models that he’ll be able to control from his position in Zthgnthaz, and orders all of the standard automatons to be destroyed. The new models are noticeably more humanoid in shape and appearance compared to the traditional Dwarven Spheres, Spiders, and Centurions. These models are named Juggernauts and Praetorians, respectively.

1A 635: A small group of Nemer delinquents attempts to pull a harmless prank on their caretakers, but their actions are mistaken for rebellion and they are cut down without mercy. The Nemer mourns their loss while abolitionists everywhere are sent into an outrage. The event causes Queen Lzarkla to awaken from her clouded thoughts and see a nation divided by paranoia and pain. She immediately reigns in the Council and tries to restore order, causing Naruddal to begin viewing her as a threat.

1A 636: Naruddal (through Hten) attempts to kill the Queen when she travels to Zthgnthaz for the first time after Javuk’s death, but she escapes with only minor injuries due to the intervention of Ohcyt. When the D.I. informs Lzarkla of the truth behind her husband’s death and Naruddal’s insane plot, she vows to destroy the malfunctioning D.I. before the automization mechanism is completed as well as wrest the Noraken from under its control.

Alarmed at the Queen’s survival, Naruddal has Hten lead the other Craft Lords one by one to Zthgnthaz in secret, implanting them with similar devices that erases their willpower. Lzarkla is forced to more openly endorse the abolitionists, and soon finds herself regaining their favor and approval.

1A 640: Hten and the rest of the Councilors plant satchel charges in Lzarkla’s palace and detonate them, supposedly killing the Queen. Lzarkla anticipated this course of action, however, and faked her own death in the blast to take a more active role amongst the former abolitionists turn revolutionaries, who she makes aware of Naruddal’s influence. Disgusted that their people has been manipulated by a mere machine, they vow to fight alongside her without question.

The Nemer are blamed for the explosion, and are all rounded up and imprisoned. Lzarkla and her followers, having gone underground, cannot interfere and are forced to let the Nemer take the fall. Many of the bat creatures are killed or taken away to Zthgnthaz by Naruddal’s automatons for experimentation. Those left behind are outfitted with specialized collars that will detonate if they attempt to leave outside their boundaries, leaving the Nemer population in a constant state of despair.

Seeing the abolitionists as problematic, Naruddal orders the immediate execution of anyone affiliated with the group and sows dissent amongst the civilian and military towards them.

1A 641-699: The Noraken ‘Civil War’ unofficially begins. Utilizing guerilla tactics and outdated machinery, Lzarkla and her followers attempt to decrease Naruddal’s influence in Sturkaellis, but their attempts cause little to no political change and their numbers begin to dwindle from the thousands to the hundreds at a steady rate. However, their impressive hiding abilities and ‘hit hard, hit fast’ tactics leave notable dents in Naruddal’s military might, infuriating the D.I. to no end. With both groups having no clear superiority over the other, the guerilla fighting continues for decades.

1A 698: A notable rift occurs in the Nemer population over their treatment at the hands of the Dwemer. The Elders continue to ensure that the Noraken’s actions are misguided and unintentional, but several young adults believe it is time to rise up and do something about it. Unable to settle on one course of action, the rebellious Nemer break up into several tribes led by individuals with radically different methodologies. While these tribes quarreled frequently, no serious fighting actually occurred.

1A 699: In the later parts of the year Lzarkla is contacted by Ohcyt, who tells her while possessing a Juggernaut that she only has a few more months before the automization device is completed. The former Queen decides it is time to launch one last offensive effort at Naruddal, and after many arguments with her advisors chooses to storm the D.I.’s home directly.

1A 700: The Assault on Zthgnthaz. Queen Lzarkla and her forces attack Zthgnthaz while the rest of the Clan is preoccupied with a diversion, surprising Naruddal to the point that by the time he mobilizes his automatons and soldiers the revolutionaries are already within the framework. The military quickly enters the portal, however, and soon the framework becomes a bloodbath. Lzarkla fights her way to the S.I. Core, where she sees the Automization Mechanism, and attempts to destroy it only for Naruddal to proclaim it is a true Amaranthine Intelligence (A.I.) and that his plans cannot be stopped, using an automaton shell to wound her. Through the timely intervention of Ohcyt, who paralyzes Naruddal, Lzarkla is able to remove the A.I.’s logic core and damages the Automization device before dying. Without Naruddal, all of the Dwarven mechanisms immediately shut down and automatons freeze mid-motion. The Dwemer that had been under the A.I.’s control are left confused and bewildered, to the shock of the loyalists who followed the Queen.

Unfortunately the Dwemer of the Noraken Clan are unable to reconcile with one another, as they vanish alongside the rest of their race in the infamous Disappearance of the Dwarves event at the Battle of Red Mountain. Ohcyt, left alone in the silence, temporarily takes over an automaton to lock away Naruddal’s logic core in a remote Dwarven ruin and destroys the portal that leads to Zthgnthaz with itself on the other side. Satisfied that it has followed the orders of its creators, the D.I. shuts itself down within the framework for the rest of eternity.

1A 700-701: The Great Despair. Released from their explosive collars and imprisonment within Ahthndaz, the Nemer walk out into Turlonfell to discover themselves surrounded by silence, piles of ash, and skeletons. The race scours the caves and tunnels for their missing Begetters, but find no evidence of them. For an entire year the bat creatures (including the ones that had wanted to be freed of the Dwarves in the first place) live in a sort of daze, wandering the empty Dwemer cities and trying to comprehend a life without their creators controlling their every decision. Turlonfell is also renamed the Dweech (which translates into ‘Deep Echoes’) by an unknown individual during this mournful time as well.

1A 702-712: Tired of searching for the Dwemer, the Nemer organize a meeting involving the leaders of the outspoken tribes and their people’s elders. The tribes believe that with the Dwemer gone the Nemer can now assume their roles and technology since they are their rightful heirs. The elders on the other hand believe that the Dwemer’s technology is behind their disappearance, and that use of it should be as minimal as possible. These two ideologies are tossed to the side when the notion of leadership is brought up, as every tribe leader wants to be the sole ruler of the Nemer people. Unable to come to a logical conclusion, the tribes take up arms against one another and the decade-long Battle of the Dweech (also remembered by the monikers of the Unification War and the Protoechi Civil War) begins.

1A 703: Because they were never taught how to forge their own weapons and armor or use them correctly in battle by their caretakers, the Nemer are forced to scavenge these items from Dwarven armories and automatons, with most of them being in disrepair. Their incorrect knowledge of combat leads to skirmishes being more like butcheries, and the Dweech is soon so deeply saturated with blood that many of the caverns are still the color of rust and smell faintly of copper several centuries later.

1A 704: Zaro, a Nemer elder, is disgusted by the violence and leads all of the noncombatants and those privy to the philosophy of the elders to the Dwemer Lifts, which had been forbidden to them when the Deep Elves still walked the earth. Ascending to the surface, these Nemer were the first of their kind to see the sky and they fell in love with it as a result. Overtime, these individuals fractured into dozens of smaller groups that became known as the first Exul (which translates into either ‘Exiles’ or ‘Sun-Lovers’ depending on the context), foregoing any reliance on technology while learning to live off the land instead. Their livelihoods would be challenged by the Broh-Kah, but while the savages were strong they were also incredibly disorganized, allowing the surface dwellers to gain the upperhand frequently in their engagements.

1A 705: A Nemer named Ravor becomes the first true blacksmith of his kind after studying notes on the profession left behind by the Dwemer. Unable to successfully replicate or repair the bronze-like metal used by the Dwemer, he decides to craft armor and weaponry out of the gems and metals his people mined for the Deep Folk (like gold, silver, sapphires, rubies, etc.). Gaining the respected title of Weapon-Father amongst his people, he receives an influx of apprentices from each of the tribes so that they too could learn how to forge their own equipment. Some of the surface dwellers, who had been crafting armor and weapons out of animal bone and tree sap, hear about Ravor’s accomplishment and return to the Dweech to learn how to construct forges for the benefit of the Exul as well.

On the surface, a group of Exul huntsmer come across a herd of large, cattle-like animals grazing in the sun. After observing the animals for many months, they learned that the organs hanging down near the hind legs of the females were actually teats and not some bizarre urinary system. The Exul decide to domesticate them, naming them yakkul (‘milk-makers’); overtime, however, the word was shortened to yaks (yak in singular).

1A 709: Fearing that this bloodshed was going to completely wipe out the Dweech-dwelling Nemer, Martial-Overseer (a term equal to that of general) Aanon of the largest tribal army convenes with fellow Martial-Overseers Lalea and Vitel and expresses his concerns. The two agree wholeheartedly with him and decide to unite their forces as one, forming the legendary Army of Light (or Lightning depending on the historian). Calling themselves the Troika (the ‘Three Leaders’), they begin a brutal campaign consisting of super fast raid and trap tactics in order to end the war immediately.

To help in this endeavor, the Troika founds the Scala Primariûs (the ‘Echelons’), an elite branch of stealth operatives who are to undermine and gain invaluable information on the enemy. Headed by Prime Spymaster Drakonius, the Echelons quickly become the greatest asset of the Army of Light as they steal supplies, create traps, and feed false information to the other tribes.

1A 711: After defeating and assimilating the majority of the other tribes, the Troika ‘officially’ declares the war over and tells the remaining Martial-Overseers that they can either join them or be killed to the last mer. All but five of the Martial-Overseers accept the Troika’s offer and join them, with these five being Gafanti, Trokak, Byanmiez, Mamonda, and Yamach. These individuals led the Armies of Air, Fire, Water, Stone, and Darkness respectively, and fought hard against the Army of Light despite being severely outnumbered for months afterward.

1A 712: Impressed by the sheer determination expressed by the surviving Martial-Overseers, the Troika calls for a suspension of hostilities and makes them an offer – if they agree to stop fighting the Troika will make their armies semi-independent extensions of the government and give the Martial-Overseers permanent seats of authority alongside them. The Martial-Overseers, realizing that they were nearly depleted of supplies and warriors, begrudgingly accept and become the Penta Wards (the ‘Five Keepers’) known as the Coalescent Efflux (Darkness; Education), the Shattering Fusion (Fire; War), the Hidden Perception (Wind; Metaphysics), the Confined Abyss (Stone; Magic), and the Neglectful Acceptance (Water; Medicine). Each of the Wards would be in control of a certain aspect of Nemer society.

The Martial-Overseers choose the new title of High Hypothesian to fit their new roles, and create the Aiyaecuk Ekanikaete (the ‘Council of Dull Chimes’) with the Troika. Finally united under the rule of the Council, the Dweech-dwelling Nemer begin to slowly rebuild the Dweech and make amends with one another for the atrocities committed during the war.

1A 713-714: The Surface Campaign. In hopes of reuniting with their Exul brethren, the Council of Dull Chimes sends several envoys to the surface in order to inform them that they are now the leaders of the Protoechi people. The Exul, however, wish to be left alone in order to govern themselves and send the envoys back to the Dweech. Both angry and sadden at the thought of another conflict, the Council nevertheless orders the Exul be brought into the fold by any means necessary and the Surface Campaign begins. While weakened from a decade of fighting, their technological superiority results in the victory of the Dweech Protoechi over the Exul and the surface dwellers become official citizens underneath the Council of Dull Chimes (much to their chagrin).

To commemorate the occasion, the Council of Dull Chimes discard the name the Dwarves gave them, stating it was an insult made to make them feel like animals, and rename their people the Echmer (the ‘Echo Folk’), or the Akteäya in the original Echi dialect. The government is also given the more formal title of Akteäya êu Kikdâkosr (“The Echo Peoples’ Journey”), but would come to be known as the Echmeri Directorate and the Echmeri Technocracy in future times.