My Dank ELDER SCROLLS fanfiction

The Elder Scrolls is one of my favorite RPG series of all time (aside Shenmue). Some of the most elaborate and complex lore of any fictional series, it has greatly influenced my own work. This post, will contain the “corpus” of my own personal fan-lore (“lore-books”) written/published originally for the Imperial Library under my pseudonym “C.J. Imperiālis“, as well as official lore.

For those unfamiliar with one of the greatest (imo) RPG series of all time, this excellent documentary/historical analysis should do the trick:

Also an excellent series on the official Elder Scrolls lore of this fantastic epic:

On the Ten Commands of Nine Divines by C.J. Imperiālis (Imperial Library repost)

Reflecting on the teachings of “our ancestors” (Aedra) the Nine Divines who unlike their Daedric counterparts are personally invested in the human condition. They give us 10 simple recommendations for how to live in peace and prosperity on Nirn. 

The book of the ten commandments of the nine begins: “By the intercession of St. Alessia, you may be so filled with grace, and the strength and wisdom that comes from grace, that through these teachings you may come to the true meaning of the Nine Divines and Their glories.” 

Their words of wisdom should be seen as a gift to men, guidelines which if truly practiced should lead the practitioner of worship into a greater state of grace and glory, to wisdom, peace of mind, and a fair life on the planes of Nirn.

The first command (by Stendarr):

Be kind and generous to the people of Tamriel. Protect the weak, heal the sick, and give to the needy.

Charity is golden, and a society which is generous is rich in spirit.

The second command (Arkay):

Honor the earth, its creatures, and the spirits, living and dead. Guard and tend the bounties of the mortal world, and do not profane the spirits of the dead.

The command here is to respect the spirits of both the living and the dead. Not only is kindness valuable for the living, but also the dead must be respected for a society who does not honor it’s dead can never truly respect the living, for all that live will die. All creatures of Nirn experience pain and suffering in life as in death and the loss of loved ones. We have seen how angry spirits can disrupt life in Nirn, and so we are called to respect the dead and maintain civility with the spirits of the deceased.

The third command (Mara):

Live soberly and peacefully. Honor your parents, and preserve the peace and security of home and family.

The family is one of the smallest units of a society, and in every family there is an order. This order is maintained by the elders of the house, our parents and older relatives. Mara calls us to show them respect and maintain a peaceful and secure unit. It does not specify what type of marriage is proper though the custom I witnessed in Skyrim suggests that monogamy is the norm. No restrictions are put on sexual preferences. Who ever is married, or who raises children must make sure to keep peace and security in the home, for it is sacred under the divines, and an integral part of a peaceful society.

The fourth command (Zenithar):

Work hard, and you will be rewarded. Spend wisely, and you will be comfortable. Never steal, or you will be punished.

The point of view here as proclaimed by Zenithar is that a humble life will bring you comfort. Never take what belongs to another, for peace will come from a simple life. Be prudent with your resources, so that you may maintain a balanced life.

The fifth command (Talos):

Be strong for war. Be bold against enemies and evil, and defend the people of Tamriel.

This is a command to bravery, to defend our kin from wrong-doing. This command does not require a strictly militaristic or legal interpretation, but the “war” may also be spiritual or societal. Remember what values the empire stands for, and defend those with honor.

The sixth command (Kynareth):

Use Nature’s gifts wisely. Respect her power, and fear her fury.

Kynareth calls us to respect nature and to use its gifts wisely. Be careful with how you use nature, do not abuse nature, and be aware of natures power, and the dangers that come with tampering.

The seventh command (Dibella)

Open your heart to the noble secrets of art and love. Treasure the gifts of friendship. Seek joy and inspiration in the mysteries of love.

I doubt it is a coincidence that the divine who gave this command is called “Dibella”, a name which in Italian would translate to “of (di) beauty (bella)” or simply “beautiful”. As has been discussed, the Cyrodiils who created this cult, are of “Latanic” inspiration and are purposefully similar to the Romans. Like the Romans, they appreciate the culture of art, and beauty. 

Dibella gives a sentimental and heart-felt command, to embrace the beauty life offers, and to use it for inspiration and joy. These features exist to enrich your life on Nirn and therefore are meant to be enjoyed. Friendship and love are the pillars of her chapel.

The eighth command (Julianos):

Know the truth. Observe the law. When in doubt, seek wisdom from the wise.

Here we are called to “know the truth” and “observe the law”. On the surface this might appear as simply a call to follow the rules of the empire though I believe there is a deeper meaning. Julianos  wants men to be knowledgeable, and knowing that all men will reach a limit of knowledge, he calls us to seek wisdom from the wise when in doubt. 

The wise can offer men guidance in absence of knowledge, for not all things are known.

The ninth command (Akatosh):

Serve and obey your Emperor. Study the Covenants. Worship the Nine, do your duty, and heed the commands of the saints and priests.

Akatosh is the chief of the pantheon, father of men and dragons and so he is portrayed in both forms, while the other divines are all portrayed in human form. Akatosh as the father gives us the foundational principles behind the worship of the Nine, duty and service.

He starts his command by legitimizing the power of the Emperor of Tamriel who symbolically sits in the seat of civilization. Akatosh introduces the concept of duty to the empire, which is not only a political body, but the values by which the body is meant to stand for. 

Worship here is more than a visit to a shrine of the divine. The Nine are not needy of human attention and praise, but it is through the adherence of their commands that worship is truly done. Through their commands we are directed towards preserving the values of the empire.

The Saints are those who lived exemplary lives based on the Divine code of conduct, and the priests are those dedicated to maintenance of that which the Nine have left. Their shrines are there for men to receive the physical blessings that help men do good work on Nirn, and Akatosh commands us to do that good work.

The final command (The Nine say):

Above all else, be good to one another.

Here the divines remind us what is most important (the “Golden Rule”), that we are good to one another. The true goal of the commands are to teach men of the empire how to live civil lives, where we all can share in the grace of the Nine.

The books says: 

If only each man might look into the mirror of these Commands, and see reflected there the bliss that might enfold them, were he to serve in strict obedience to these Commands, he would be cast down and made contrite and humble.

The commands are there to humble men, so that they may respect the natural order. We are reminded of the simplicity of these rule, which fit easily into the order of nature around us:

Heedless, the wicked man turns away, and forsaking the simple wisdoms granted to him by the All-Wise and All-Knowing Nine, he lives in sin and ignorance all the days of his life.

The book continues:

He bears the awful burden of his crimes, and before Men (Imperial society) and God his wickedness is known, and neither blessing nor comfort may he expect from the altars and shrines of the Nine.

For if you break these commands in any grave way, the shrines and altars will cease to offer the blessings of magic they may bestow. It is interesting to note here, one of the few uses of “God” in singular form. It appears that our ancestors are monotheistic, perhaps referring to Akatosh father of the other divines (Alessian Order influence /content/pocket-guide-empire-first-edition-cyrodiil), or perhaps to a karmic princeple. 

Those who break the commands (“sinners”) are never beyond repentance, and so the book says:

Yet the wicked and foolish are not doomed, for in their infinite mercies, the Nine have said, “Repent, and do Good Works, and the Fountains of Grace shall once more spill forth upon you.”

The method of repentance specified in the book is the fine of gold, payed to the Emperor, which is meant to be used not to add to his own riches, but rather “to spread the Faith and its Benefits to all Men.” It is the social good which the Empire exists for, not the personal gain of the Emperor and his senators, who are themselves not above the Divine command.

full text (The Ten Commands Of The Nine Divines): /content/ten-commands-nine-divines

theories and ramblings on language and the common origin of all by C.J. Imperiālis (Imperial Library repost)

I’ve been recently getting into lore again and I came up with a few new theories on the languages of Nirn and the origin of the humanoid races. All of the beings of Mundus share common origin, which transcends the seemingly organized material existence. Through the linguistic and historical writings of the in game scholars, we (the fans) can come up with some interesting theories. So here are some ideas I’ve recently been playing with.

note: I titled each micro-section as an attempt at organization though I hope some of these theories can grow and get taken up by some of you more organized scholars to put together a more “academic-like” post/thread.  

Khaj or Elsweyr?

 I was thinking about the etymology of the name Elsweyr for the Khajiti homeland, which as a word doesn’t appear consistent with other known Khajiti words. I considered the name Elsweyr might be of “Meric” origin, passed into Cyrodiillic through Ayieldic. I think the Khajiti name for their homeland is more likely to be simply  Khaj meaning desert in their tongue (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Khajiit#Etymological_Note) as Khajit in their tongue can be broken down “khaj” desert, and the suffix “-iit meaning of a place or occupation. So they are people of the “desert” not of Elsweyr (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Khajiit#The_Khajiiti_Language:_Ta.27agra)

The only etymology I was able to find was in this video (at 12:46): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MteinMPdHP8 though the word used here (“elsewhere”) is a modern Cyrodiilic/Tamrielic (English) rendering, totally inconsistent with the examples of the Khajit language.

English or Cyrodiilic?

I’ve seen this question debated/discussed on a number of Elder Scrolls forum over.  So I can’t say once and for all that i have the answer, but here’s a point I haven’t seen discussed that has me wondering. I’m leaning towards the theory that Cyrodiilic is very much similar to our real world English. An example came to mind, the corruption of the Yakudan name Ra Gada, to Redguard. The name Redguard is used in foreign versions of the game and appears quite Anglo in both spelling and pronunciation (red-guard). Of course there is the fantasy aspect that this is only for our understanding and they have some other complex language and thinking which we could not experience as players.

The old Cyrodiillic on the other hand (the Nibenese) was of another character. If you look at the names of some books and names of Latanic feel, , it would suggest that the original language of the race was quite different from English. Hrafnir’s post “About the Languages of Man” does a good job at demonstrating it’s Latin-like character. It would appear that the modern Cyrodiilic speech (Tamrielic) is a hybrid language, possiblly developed through pigeon tongues from a mixture of Ayieldic (the Nibense must have spoke the tongue of their “rulers” no?), Nordic (from Colovian west after it was united with the “Imperial east”) and possibly even Tsaesci (through invasion) as the hypothetical Ehlnofonex chart posted in parenthesis suggests (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Ehlnofex_Languages).

the Origin of Men

So it’s commonly suggested that the Nedes come from the continent of Atmora (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Nede#History), though I don’t believe any material evidence has been produced. It has also been suggested that all human men come from them. So this would assuminglly include the Yakudans, however it isn’t clear to me if they existed as one people or simply as men of Earth before the First Era. The period known as the Dawn and Merethic are said to have been chaotic, and therefore history from the those era’s is difficult to make clear and “precise”.

My understanding based on The Anuad (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Annotated_Anuad) is that the Ehlnofey and their solid world landed in the great ocean that was Nirn (“Nirn originally was all land, with interspersed seas, but no oceans.”), and they were the ancestors of both Mer and Men, and the “beast” races. I understand that they were one in the beginning but changed to adapt to their various lands after their once whole land (Pangea) split into many (following war between “the wanderers”, ancestor of men, and settled Ehlnofey ancestors of the Mer).

Perhaps the towers in High Rock, the first buildings of Tamriel were created by the settled Ehlnofey, and this is the fortress which the wanderers discovered. I imagine a group of nomads (ancestors to humans) wandering the chaotic conditions of Nirn, erratic weather and such, stumbled across their kin settled and living in comfort. Not allowed to enter for shelter the men would fight their way into settled civilization (nomads vs settled “civilization”), this ended in the use of some magic which broke Nirn in pieces.

“This war reshaped the face of Nirn, sinking much of the land beneath new oceans, and leaving the lands as we know them (Tamriel, Akavir, Atmora, and Yokuda)”. 

The only place I would disagree with the Anuad is it’s suggestion that Mer were the only inhabitants of Tamriel, when “beast folk” are said to have been there when Mer arrived, and I personally believe these beast folk were relatives to men who also remained in the south of Tamriel (the Nibany “indigenous” tribes are they are called).

The chaos of the period was reflected in the climate/weather and so that the ounce warm and fertile continent of Atmora became cold and barren. This happened over time, which led Nedes to venture to Skyrim and Cyrodil in two separate waves. The first wave made up some of the ancestors of the Cyrodiils (Colovians?) came without settling in Skyrim. The Nords who stayed longer had adapted more to the extreme climate, though were eventually forced south. 

It is worth it to mention that the Nibenese men may have already been present in Cyrodil, along with the Kothringi and that the mention of Nede origin of Cyrodils refers to either a portion of their heritage or only to Colovians. If men wandered it is possible their tribes had reached every portion of the super-continent.

The Yakudans though human like the Nedes had at a point before the split of lands settled another region, and this is why at least in name, the Nedes don’t seem to come up in Redguard origin myths. In fact the name is possibly a blanket term given by men much later in history. I assume the first men were all kin, only related more distantly to the Mer and “beast” races. 

A human tribe also inhabited Akavir as well and may be ancestor to certain races there.  The Tsaesci are most familiar to “us Tamrielics”, and they (Tsaesci) appear in games as human-looking (Pale Pass in Skyrim). So I agree with theories of their human-ness, and that it is some magic they use to become “snake”. (on the contradictions of description: http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Tsaesci#Theories). If they are humans, it’s worth it to consider that other Akaviri races might be human.

The Mer were settled in a smaller area (not wanderers far and wide like humans). Their portion of Nirn became the Summerset Isles (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Mer#Aldmer). Following the separation of Nirn, they would eventually colonize much of the planet as a result of their advanced civilization, which is thanks to a very fertile piece of land, which they settled comfortably. 

the Ehlnofey race of Khajit & Argonians 

I like the idea that all the humanoid races share common linguistic origin come in “old Elvish” (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Ehlnofex_Languages). On the diagram (the one linked in the last sentence), Khajiti is suggested to come from Ehlnofex. This is evidence of common origin. They mostly look like cat-men now, and I believe this was the result of magic, and their relationship with their environment and Gods. In Arena the Khajit (probably Ohmes is clearly “human-looking”, often mistaken for Bosmer they are said to use face paint to distinguish themselves (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Khajiit#Sub-species_Notes). 

The Argonians on the other hand speak the tongue of Hists, who like Ehlnofey existed as the first mortals of Nirn. This makes it more difficult to link them to Ehlnofey, though I would suggest it is still a good possibly that they like Khajitdescend from Ehlnofey, who had due to environment, Gods of worship and magic transformed into lizard like reptilian creatures. Their adaptation of the Jel language descended from Hist may likewise an adaptation of religion, culture and environment. It is clear they are close to Hist (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Hist), and even revere them to some extent, and rely greatly on the trees for survival, so learning the language of the Hist would not seem strange. 

It is also possible that the Argonians have only given human characteristics to the trees as a form of reverence, basing their speech on the wisps of the leaves, and that is how the “hist” made it into the Anuad as n original being. Also because the trees existed alongside Ehlnofey who did not always have such respect for nature as the Argonian came to.

the Sloads

It is fascinating that the Sload (perhaps a further split from Mer) were counted on the Ehlnofonex chart. My only encounter with their tongue is through the mysterious N’Gasta! Kvata! Kvakis! (/content/ngasta-kvata-kvakis). It appears there might be some relation between this language and real world Esperanto according to an article in the storyboard section entitled The Mystery of N’Gasta! Kvata! Kvakis! (/content/mystery-ngasta-kvata-kvakis). If this is so, it most have strong “latanic” ties, perhaps to the old Cyrodiillic. 

Though I would question the actual translation, the article does appear to make a decent argument if true. I developed geographical groupings in order to further study similarities for the sake of convenience to help classify. It would require a lot more work to make a scientific claim, and more examples of the perspective languages, but again, for convenience, a Northern or Northeastern group (“Nedic”), including Nordic, Breton and modern Tamrielic (fusion of Old Cyrodiilic and Nordic), Akaviric (the languages of Akavir due to lack of surviving text for analysis), “Merish”, Yoku, Ta’agra and a Southwestern group including Sload (if it is indeed Esperanto based and therefore Latanic) and tribal Nibenese (language of the kothri, al-gemha, keptu ect. /content/adabal) as well as the old Cyrodiilic language.

Some of the names used for Khajit do show similarities to some of the Yokudan names though it is to early in my study to suggest that there is common root as the known vocabulary suggests otherwise. all of these southern tongues are related based on the little data, and the possibility that the exoticness of them (when compared to modern Tamrielic) might distract from any serious scholarship. Overall, the relatedness of all of these tongues makes familiar division even more difficult.

Conclusion?

I don’t think there is one. Here is where I open the page to discussion. Plenty of things there to discuss, and I hope it holds enough scholarly weight not to be out of place in this section, thanks for reading! (also I’d appreciate if a moderator could help me fix some of the messed up spacing and font, I can’t seem to get it right)

Share
Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply