Remnants of Falmeri Civilization

By Hrolda Frostpeak, scholar of the College of Winterhold

The Falmer, often called "Snow Elves" by many Nords, are mostly known for being the enemies of Ysgramor and the sackers of Saarthal. As the remnants of the Falmeri civilization are few and often go unnoticed many Nords doubt that the Falmer even existed, or think that they were somehow simply a more sophisticated kind of Rieklings that once inhabited northern Skyrim. That is of course a false idea that has only recently emerged. The Falmeri-Ayleid split in the early Merethic Era is well documented in ancient Ayleidoon tomes. Even among those that do not doubt the existence of the Falmer (including my fellow scholars) ignorance concerning the Falmeri civilization is common. Therefore I did not for one second consider not accepting Thane Viri of Riften's offer when she gave me the opportunity to study an ancient Falmeri shrine that had recently been uncovered beneath the old fort Greenwall.

When I arrived at fort Greenwall together with a couple of guards I was massively disappointed to find out that the fort had been reclaimed from a group of bandits just a few weeks ago, and that the Bandits most likely had sold all valueables that the fort contained. I even saw an ancient Nordic drinking cup, likely dating back to the First Era, that had been smashed to pueces by a drunk bandit lying on the floor. But my mood switched immediately when I came to the room with the Falmeri shrine. The Bandits had somehow managed to bring down one of the fort tunnel's walls, revealing an almost completely intact Falmeri shrine behind it. I was close to screaming of joy, and after we managed to climb around a great hole in the groud to reach it I immediately started taking notes of the architecture.

The architecture used by the Falmer here was very similar to that of the Heartland Ayleids, but with several noticeable differences. The most obvious one was the lack of Varla and Welkynd Stones. Such "Aetherial shards" were often used by the Ayleids to light up their dark underground halls and in many kinds of rituals. This ruin completely lacked any kinds of glowing stones or gems (although the Bandits may likely would taken any that were there). I couldn't find any traces of that there ever were any such stones there either (the Ayleids were often very strict about where Varla and Welkynd stones should be placed and often placed them in sconces). Instead I found several strange, glowing plants and fungi. There were so many of them that they actually lit up the small chamber that they were in. I would based on my observations theorize that the Falmer used such plants and fungi in a very similar way to how the Ayleids used their "Aetherial shards". Another thing that gave this Falmeri ruin a different appearance than Ayleid ones was the metal used in the architecture. While the Ayleids often used Meteoric iron in their architecture, especially in gates and doors. But the metal used by the Falmer here was not Meteoric iron. This metal was significantly lighter in colour, and it bore great resemblance to the metal used by the Dwemer in their architecture and constructs. I doubt that that was the metal used either, however, as I don't see why Dawarven metal would be in any way present in a Falmeri ruin.

The ruin also had something that I first thought looked simlar to an Ayleid well, but when I observed it more closely it became that it was something completely different. In this "well" stood a small statue of an Elf stood in a pool of water, holding up what looked like a buring sun (a common symbol of the Mundus in different Elven cultures). It is unclear if the water surrounding the statue was there originally, but I think that the water was originally frozen ice. The Falmer saw ice is the original and pure for of water, and flowing water as a twisted corruption. Some legends even claim that the Falmer ate ice instead of drinking water, but the credibility of those sources are uncertain at best. I also assume that the statue is of Auri-El, who seems to have been the most important god of the Falmer pantheon. The name "Auri-El" is mentioned over forty-six times in the ancient Falmeri poem "Ode to the Snow Prince".

Sadly I could only remain at the shrine for a few hours, as my guards refused to remain after sunset (they kept talking about some "snow Elf curse"). I hope to return to the shrine and study it further in the future. I was unfortunately unable to find out any further noteworthy informarion, and this ruin does not seem to contain anything that might shed light on the Falmer race's mysterious disappearance after High King Harald drew them out of Skyrim. I do however hope that the College will find these notes sufficient.