Commentaries on the Chronicles of Nchuleft

For consideration by the Arch-Mage of the Vvardenfell Mages Guild, as part fulfillment of the requirements for advancement, I, Edwinna Elbert, present my recent findings and a commentary on the Chronicles of Nchuleft.

I believe fragment 23 of the Chronicles of Nchuleft must describe events that take place in the Late Merethic Era. The date given is Second Planting (7th of Second Seed), PD 1220. Whatever date scheme “PD” is, it cannot be synonymous with the standard Imperial notation of eras and years, eg 3E427. The Dwemer disappeared around 700 years into the 1st era, so at the very lease PD cannot be equal to 1E. It seems most likely that PD is an abbreviation of “post-dawn”, the old traditional Aldmeri scheme for dates. This would place it at ME1280, firmly at the beginning of the “Late Merethic Era”.

As Aicantar of Shimerene describes in Before the Ages of Man, this time marked the decline of Chimer Velothi culture, and the rise of the earliest Dwemer Freehold colonies springing up in their stead. Our anonymous Altmer scribe describes Nchuleft as a Dwemer Freehold, and by these accounts, it must be one of the oldest.

The translation Nchuleft can be broken into nchul-eft, which we can infer to mean “setting fruit” – (nchul, “fruit”, and eftar, “sets in”). It is not a far stretch of the imagination to take this as a Dwemeri idiom (setting fruit upon the table), similar to the Cyrodillic “breaking bread”, inferring Nchuleft was a place for meeting, discussing, and sharing ideas.

The phrasing of the text implies that none of the Dwemer partaking in this initial meeting were residents of Nchuleft. Lord Ihlendam’s own Freehold is not mentioned, and it is not clear why he was travelling in the “Western Uplands” (presumably the modern-day Grazelands). Far north of Nchuleft is the similarly named “Mzuleft” (the exact location of which is currently being hunted by my dear servant Senilius Cadiusus), and far to the south is “Nchuleftingth” (under excavation by Cadiusus and his daughter).

It is possible Ihlendam was travelling north or south to one of these Freeholds across the Grazelands and Nchuleft was a logical resting place. Curiously, “-ingth” is known to translate to “new”, meaning Nchuleftingth actually means New Nchuleft. Was this Freehold built after, as a new meeting place? Regardless, it seems Ihlendam came upon Nchuleft as part of a larger journey, and that Protector Anchard, General Rkungthunch and the title-less Dalen-Zanchu came to meet him there.

Of the four in this meeting, only Rkungthunch seems to be of the culture native to Vvardenfell. His name can be translated with reasonable certainty to Fearful Grace (Arkng-thunch, “Grace to fear”), and is very similar to the name of a Dwemer ruin that recently came to my attention, Arkngthunch-Sturdumz. It seems the alternate spellings of stardumz/sturdumz translates to “fortress” or “freehold”, and that Arkngthunch-Sturdumz was the domain of General Rkungthunch, a graceful and fearsome warrior.

The remaining three figures do not have easily translatable names, and have no similarities to the given names of the ruins we have yet discovered on Vvardenfell. It is of course possible that we simply haven’t found them yet, or that our current understanding of the runic Dwemer language is not advanced enough (although, Dalen-Zanchu hardly sounds Dwemeri at all).

All that was known of their discussions was that they would be friends, allies perhaps. It is enlightening that only this information was enough to incite the suspicions of Councilor Bluthanch. It is also interesting that of those present at the meeting in Nchuleft, only Lord Ihlendam was mentioned being also at the Council Meet in the lost city of Bamz-Amschend. For these reasons I posit the theory that at least one of those three that Ihlendam met with at Nchuleft were of a distinct group from those who lived under the guidance and laws of the Councils, and such was their distinctness from their Council-led kin that even a meeting with them was considered taboo.

The falling-out of Ihlendam and Bluthanch requires no commentary, I feel, under the circumstances presented. More interesting is why, when summoned, Ihlendam actually went to Bluthanch. If his kin and citizens suspected so strongly – and it seems, so accurately – that it might be a trap, why did he go alone? Was he coerced? Blackmailed? Or was it simply pride? Whatever the reason, he was set upon by “conjured beasts” and killed. The strong implication is the unlikely use of summoned Daedra to kill Ihlendam. Dwemer utilising Daedra was almost unheard of, with their general societal shunning of any who dealt with Daedra or Daedra worshippers.

I am of the opinion that Councilor Bluthanch’s worries about the meeting at Nchuleft were a cover for her own personal dislike of Lord Ihlendam. Perhaps she had long been jealous of the esteem her kin gave Ihlendam rather than her. Whatever the reason, when she learnt of this meeting, where Ihlendam and the prominent General Rkungthunch bid friendship to an elf outside of their Council culture (and possibly outside of their race – I must research further the origins of the name “Dalen-Zanchu”), she saw an opportunity to deal with Ihlendam once and for all. The insult and confrontation at the Council-Meet was the last straw. After plotting with her sons, she sent a letter to Ihlendam informing him of her knowledge of the meeting, and threatened to inform the council of his great friend, the honourable Rkungthunch’s involvement, if he did not come to her alone. For love of his kin he did just that, and Bluthanch, to obscure her own involvement, turned to Daedric summoning to get rid of him on the path.

As a final point, I would like to address Ihlendam’s final resting place. In correspondence with Hasphat Antabolis, of whom I am sure you have heard, he drew my attention to the more precise nature of the Dwemer language. The Dwemer runes each describe a sound, and our written Tamrielic common tongue is forced to transliterate these sounds. For example, “Mzuleft” can be described in two runes: MZ-LFT, equivalent to ML. The inclusion of the vowels “u” and “e” in this case are mere aids to pronunciation (a treatise on the Aldmeri alphabets contained within the Imperial Library demonstrates this more fully).

With this in mind, I draw your attention to “Nchuleft”, which can be written as NCH-LFT, or NL. The final resting place of Ihlendam is “Leftunch”, or LFT-NCH, LN. As is now obvious, the difference between Nchuleft and Leftunch is a mere reversal of runes. Perhaps the resting place of Ihlendam is really the meeting-place of Nchuleft itself.

Humblest thanks for your consideration,

Edwinna Elbert

>Edwinna,

>Although I appreciate your great efforts in investigating the dwarves and their culture, I am disappointed that this treatise makes no attempt to explain their disappearance at all. Personally, I would never speak ill of your work, although I know many other scholars might be taken aback by the constant use of inferences to come to rickety conclusions (“Setting fruit”? Really?). It’s all very imaginative, but somewhat lacking in concrete evidence, I feel.

>Perhaps, and I mean this with your best intentions at heart, if you wanted to increase your rank beyond a lowly Wizard of the Guild, you’d better focus on Important Works, and do as you are instructed. I just really can’t recommend you for advancement with this as evidence of your achievements, I hope you understand.

>Best wishes,

>Trebonius Artorius,

>Arch-Mage of the Vvardenfell Mages Guild, Master Scholar, Chief Imperial Expert on the Disappearance of the Dwarves