Planet Nirn, a part of a Mortal Plane poetically called "Mundus" at times.
It includes other 8 planets and is surrounded by Oblivion.
The exact reasons behind Nirn's creation are uncertain, though all sources agree that the
deity Lorkhan was the main lobbyist of the project.
There are many theories of how Lorkhan created Nirn; ranging from the one that claims that
other Et'Ada, also known as the "Original Spirits" agreed to willfully help him, to
the one where Lorkhan tricked them into it.
No matter how it happened, Lorkhan persuaded Magnus and several other et'Ada to help create
the mortal plane, and Magnus was said to have been the architect of Mundus, as he created
the schematics and diagrams needed to construct it.
As Mundus began to form, it became evident that many of the et'Ada would be required
to sacrifice much of their power in order to form the Mortal Plane.
As their aspects began to die off, many of the et'Ada vanished completely.
Those Et'Ada who benefited the creation of Nirn, became known as the Eight Divines,
eight planets of Mundus, while the majority of them gave up on the project after realizing
the cost and became the Daedric Princes, residing in the differing Planes of Oblivion.
Magnus, seeing the cost required, decided to terminate the project.
He fled to Aetherius, the Immortal Plane, in the last of Mundus' birth-pains, and his
departure tore a hole which became Nirn's sun, itself known as Magnus.
The heavens beyond Nirn became star-filled.
These stars are nothing but holes or portals through which other Et'Ada, following Magnus,
left, piercing Oblivion, the realm of the Daedra, in order to reach Aetherius.
Those Et'Ada became known as the Magna Ge.
Though, some believe that the stars are actually fragments of Magnus himself.
Lorkhan died during the creation process, and two moons, Secunda and Masser, orbiting
Nirn, are believed to be parts of his body that was torn apart during the birth of Nirn.
Thus the Dawn Era ended and Merethic Era began.
The Et'Ada who chose to stay on newly created Nirn became known as the Ehlnofey and they,
along with the Hist, a species of giant spore trees, worked to keep the mortal realm viable,
and many of them sacrificed themselves to form the rules of nature, so called "Earth
Bones".
Others, in order to stay in Mundus, sacrificed themselves into different forms and thus became
the progenitors of the modern races.
Some of them kept living together in solidarity, and it allowed them to retain more of their
ancient knowledge and power.
They became known as Old Ehlnofey, and they were scarce.
Yet, there were the Wanderers as well, those, who were left scattered around Nirn, had a
harder time adapting and became more numerous, as they had been toughened by the hardships
of Nirn.
Eventually, war broke out between the Old Ehlnofey and the Wanderers.
War that reshaped the face of Nirn, creating the first oceans.
Small wonder that the very name Ehlnofey gave the planet – Nirn, means "Arena" in their
language.
Tamriel, meaning Dawn's Beauty in Aldmeris, is the main continent of Nirn and is split
into 9 provinces.
The Summerset Isles were settled by Aldmer, the "First Folk" or "Elder Folk", at the beginning
of the Merethic Era.
They allegedly came from a lost city-continent called Aldmeris, but a number of sources,
including the revered Elder Scrolls, also called the Aedric Prophecies, claim that this
is pure myth.
Altmer, or, the High Elves, one of mer races who eventually took control over the Summerset
isles, consider themselves direct successors of Aldmer and believe that in the Early Merethic
Era, the Aldmeris faced an unspecified threat or crisis, causing the Aldmer to leave in
search of a new home across the seas.
Though Aldmer, Nirns first technologically sophisticated race spread throughout the Tamriel
from the Summerset Isles, it can be rightly said that history began in High Rock province
of Tamriel.
There, at Adamantine Tower, the oldest structure in existence, the Aedra Convention was held
during the Dawn Era, where they discussed the creation of Mundus, or so it is believed.
Before or soon after the start of the First Era, Aldmer came to High Rock from the Summerset
Isles and interbred with Nedes, one of the human races, eventually creating the Breton
race.
The rugged highland strongholds and isolated valley settlements of High Rock, through ages
have encouraged the fierce independence of the various local Breton clans.
Despite the political struggle in the region, or, contrary, thanks to it, Orcs managed to
raise their own City-State Orsinium on the northern tip of central High Rock.
Skyrim, cold and mountainous region, though currently inhabited primarily by Nords, descendants
of those humans who migrated from Atmora throughout the Merethic and First eras, was once heavily
populated by the Snow Elves, also known as the Falmer.
The empire of the Snow Elves was expansive, wealthy, and prosperous in the Merethic Era.
They displayed power beyond what could be expected of the time.
However, they found themselves constantly in conflict with the proto-Nords coming over
from Atmora.
The Nedic peoples, other branch of human race, either co-habitated with or were enslaved
by the elves in other parts of Tamriel at those times, and only in Skyrim did elven
relations with human race break down into widespread conflict.
Ysgramor and the proto-Nords sparked a long, antagonistic chain of conquests that ultimately
expelled the Elves from Skyrim and led to the downfall of Falmer.
Morrowind became home to the Dunmer, also known as the Dark Elves.
Before the Battle of Red Mountain, Dunmer were known as the Chimer, a race of elves
with skin like pale gold who followed the prophet Veloth to Resdayn, now known as Morrowind,
in the seek of religious freedom.They were reborn as Dark Elves from the ashes of the
Battle of Red Mountain that arose because of discovery of the Heart of Lorkhan by Dwemers,
another mer race.
Dwemer planned to use that artifact to power their mechanical god.
Chimers opposed them.
The Battle of Red Mountain around year 700 of First Era led to the death of an ancient
and respected Chimer war leader known as Lord Indoril Nerevar, the destruction of the Chimer
Sixth House, the disappearance of the entire Dwemer race then present on Nirn and the ascension
into godhood of those who betrayed Nerevar, culminating in a curse from Daedra Azura that
transformed the Dunmer into their present appearance.
Black Marsh is a dense swampland province, home to the reptilian humanoid race of Argonians
and sentient trees known as the Hist.
The Hist were bystanders in the Ehlnofey war, but most of their realm was destroyed as the
war passed over it.
A small corner of it survived to become Black Marsh in Tamriel, yet most of their realm
was sunk beneath the sea.
Exactly when and how the Argonians came to be is unknown, but they were already living
in established preliterate tribal communities around the time the Aldmer first began exploring
Tamriel.
Region is known as an inhospitable place, where only Argonians and Hist are truly capable
of living, and thus, throughout the history, all foreign agricultural, colonial, and commercial
ventures in the region, except slave-trade, of course, have failed.
Akavir, also known as Dragon Land, never had any lasting diplomatic relations with the
nations of Tamriel.
Two continents warred several times, yet still scarce is known about the nations of Akavir.
There are four distinctive races living on continent, Tsaesci being the most prominent
one.
That is a race of vampiric serpents whose appearance has been described differently
on many occasions.
Some have been described as having human upper bodies and serpentine lower bodies whilst
others - entirely snake-like.
In fact, two of the Tsaesci have ruled Tamriel as Emperors during the first half of the Second
Era.
Both of them, father and son, eventually, were killed by assasins.
Overall, Tsaesci left many influences on Imperial institutions and culture in Tamriel, and thus
it seems odd that so little is known about them.
Then, there are the Tang Mo, generous and kind monkey-people, the Ka Po' Tun, a race
of tiger-like "cat-folk" somewhat resembling the khajit race living in the Elsweyr province
in Tamriel, and the fourth race of Akavir – Kamal, or Snow Demons.
The relations between four races are tense, as it is known that the whole continent is
often at the state of war.
As mentioned before, Elsweyr is populated by the Khajiit, cat-like people known for
high intelligence and agility.
What differs Khajiit from any other race, is that they are each subtly bound to the
Lunar Lattice, a mysterious force entitled the ja-Kha'jay in their native tongue.
The Lunar Lattice determines the form a Khajiit assumes in life, according to the phases of
Masser and Secunda at the time of their birth; while Khajiiti newborns appear incredibly
similar to one another at birth, their future form becomes clear in a matter of weeks.
Valenwood is a densely forested, sub-tropical region populated mostly by the Bosmer, cannibalistic
elven clan-folk often referred to as Wood Elves.
Bosmer rejected the stiff, formal traditions of Aldmeri high culture, preferring a more
romantic, simple existence in harmony with the land and its wild beauty and creatures.
Bosmeri cities are usually located on the branches and in the trunks of the graht-oaks,
with some individual tree-houses on the forest floor.
The Green Pact does not allow the Bosmer to shape the trees in the traditional way, so
instead they "convince them to grow into houses" using magic.
However, Valenwood does not consist only of the Bosmeri tree-cities, as some of the cities
are built in other architectural styles.
The Imga, or Great Apes, are native beastfolk of Valenwood.
These intelligent apes are said to have flourished in Valenwood long before the Aldmer ever arrived
there.
They cohabit in the forests with the Bosmer tribes, and also inhabit many of the abandoned
human trading posts.
Some Imga see the Altmeri as their superiors and as a portrait of an ideal, civilized society.
At the same time, Imga feel that Men are beneath them as lesser beastfolk and pretend to find
their smell exceedingly offensive.
For example, when Men are around, Imga are known to hold perfumed corners of their capes
to their noses.
Hammerfell is dominated by the wasteland of the Alik'r desert and is inhabited by the
human race of Redguards, who fled to Tamriel after their home, Yokuda, was destroyed.
Hammerfell is predominately an urban and maritime province, with most of its population confined
to the great port and trade cities.
Before Redguards came, region was populated by the Dwemer Rourken Clan, who settled there
after opposing the creation of the joint Dwemer-Chimer state of Resdayn, now known as Morrowind.
It is said that the leader of the clan threw his mighty hammer, Volendrung, across the
continent, and followed it west to their new home.
The region eventually became known as Volenfell, or "City of the Hammer".
The Dwemer of Volenfell vanished in year 700 of the First Era, along with the rest of the
Dwemer race during the Battle Of the Red Mountain in Morrowind, and their empty cities were
looted by Akaviri and Nordic pirates before being reclaimed by nature.
Pyandonea, or "The Veil of Mist", is an island-continent and a home to the elusive Maormer, who had
been exiled there by the ancient Aldmer during the days of Aldmeris, after they tried to
lead a rebellion against the Aldmer, or so it is believed.
The island is marshy, covered in dense rain forests, and full of insects.
The Maormeri are known to practice a powerful form of snake magic which they use to tame
the sea serpents of Pyandonea for use as mounts and warbeasts.
Thras, known as the Coral Kingdoms and the Thrassian Archipelago is the home of the Sload,
and was the source of the deadly Thrassian Plague that swept Tamriel in year 2200 of
First Era.
The people of Tamriel then managed to sunk the archipelago, yet Sloads somehow recovered
their land.
The geography of Thras appears to change over time, so nothing can be told of those lands
with certainty.
Cyrodiil, also known as the Imperial Province, Dragon Empire, Starry Heart of Nirn, and Seat
of Sundered Kings, and Cyrod in Ayleid language.
Before becoming the center of Empire of humanoid race of Imperials, Cyrod was ruled by Ayleids,
the ancient Aldmer, cousins of all the elven races that exist to this day.
The Nedic people of the region became slave labor for the Ayleids, and thus it was up
until human revolt led by Alessia in year 242 of First Era.
Thus first, Alessian Empire was formed.
Since then Empire has fallen apart, brought back together, transformed and evolved.
Through time Cyrodiil became cosmopolitan and incorporated aspects of many different
cultures present in Tamriel.
Tamriel and other, distant lands are full of fascinating stories, and its history and
lore are immense.
Those stories are often contradicting and full of hints and mysteries.
We're at the start of a great exploration of the world of the Elder Scrolls.
Thank You for watching and keep coming back for more!
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