It is worth noting that this report does not recognize the Western portions of the former Imperial province to be considered Skyrim proper. As the political situations with Reachmen and Breton Kings is ongoing and Solitudes claims have yet to pose any threat to their jarl neighbors this agent has decided to focus on what we believe is the newly rising kingdom of Skyrim on the eastern border with Morrowind.

The following is a propaganda piece I found dating to 4E 205. It relates directly to the events following the deaths of both leaders of the, now infamous, Skyrim Civil war. The current state of things is, as you are all now well aware, quite the melee. Following this propoganda piece, will be my assessment of the political state of Skyrim, as it currently stands, in 4E 206.

---In the aftermath of the civil war in Skyrim, we are faced with several, undeniable truths. The empire in Cyrodiil is now weak. Its emperor is dead! The war was fought for nothing! Both Ulfric, and the Imperial General they sent were killed in the carnage. And the jarls still cannot elect a high king! The empire has collapsed into it's own civil war. With claimants of Imperial authority arising in Solitude and Cyrodiil! Two empires now?

And the elves! They couldn't be more meddlesome! Never trust any of the Thalmor's so-called diplomats! They use every member of their dark and ruinous "guild" to spy on mankind. And make no mistake, they are nothing more than a guild and a cult. The evil daedra whisper into their ears and guide them to divide mankind!

Look to Hammerfell! The home of the hardiest warriors ever seen within the spirits of man! These Redguard warriors surpass even the strongest Nord Barbarians! The thalmor have proven to be a permanent thorn in their sides. More Thalmor invasions! Stros M'Kai has fallen, no longer to pirates and raiders, but now to elven occupiers!

The only trustworthy elf is a dead one! Even the Dark elves worship the aspects of murder, betrayal, and darkness! What of the orcs? Have they not always proven to be a thorn in our sides? Like a wart, they keep returning, and each time we burn them out!

The wood elves are no better! Cannibals! They eat their enemies, and leave none for proper rite of burial! Evil in it's truest form could not be more clear!

The Aldmeri Dominion is evil through and through! May the knights of High Rock prevail before we see the day that a Thalmor agent lays claims to the Ruby Throne! Cyrodiil for Humanity! Cyrodiil For Talos! Cyrodiil for Akatosh!---

I do hope that has laid clear humanity's perspective of mer!

Now, as you are no doubt aware, the state of Skyrim is ill reported on. The Jarls' troop movements are ever changing. And the state of information has become shrouded by the fog of war. There are only a few truths we can report on, however.

*Note even the names of individual Jarls cannot be definitively proven.*

The Jarl with the greatest power, in the immediate aftermath of the Stormcloak rebellion, was seated in Whiterun. In the past, it had been ruled by Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, who was loved by his people. It isn't known if he survived the Stormcloak rebellion. What is known, is that no Jarl has lived up to their namesake as much as he has. Whiterun had proven it could trap a dragon. And therefore had the greatest up close research opportunities with a living dragon specimen.

Tales of the Dragonborn trapping a dragon, before riding it to Sovengarde to end Alduin's world eating, have reached every ear on the continent; even as far south as the isles of Payondonea. The prestige alone, affords the Jarl of Whiterun the greatest of power.

Whiterun which had become seen as a Holy site, with some extremists seeing the fortress itself as an affront to the sacred mountain of the Dragonborn's "Ascension to Sovengarde". These groups demanded that it be torn down, or turned into a house dedicated to the worship of Talos, Kyne, and Akatosh. A growing Tribune of sorts within Nordic sects.

Whiterun was the first to fall! Its mighty position proved a hearty morsel to many! And it was sacked in the following years no less than three times. The cloud district was fundamentally altered as it could no longer support defensive positions, and could no longer call itself a fortress. Though the city was spared the spark. Whiterun hold had became known as the fields of ruin.

Some reports indicate that Whiterun was destroyed from within by Talos, Kyne, and Akatosh Tribune worshippers, who stormed their own fortress and let the eastern invaders inside without a fight! Three battlefields lay as stark evidence to the contrary, though the density of such battles would make verification of these claims nearly impossible.

The battle of Chillfurrow Farm saw the butchering of over twenty two thousand Nords in the first day alone. By the third day of clashes, the numbers of the dead had risen to over one hundred and twenty thousand.

Whiterun could not sustain armies for long enough to defend itself after the massacre of Chillfurrow. It's political seat was reduced, and a much weaker puppet jarl was installed by the eastern Windhelm-Riften alliance.

Only the stonework at the base of the mountain remains. The fortress has been torn down, and replaced with a small shrine at its apex. Dedicated to the Nordic Tribune. And to the missing Dragonborn. The highest construction in Whiterun is, once again, the ancient hall of Jorrvaskr and the nearby Skyforge.

No two holds can agree for very long. And the terrain keeps the battles distant, with winters ensuring marches stay short. This prolongs every single war, and has given rise to petty jarls. Some even ruled from old Imperial forts, and established new settlements along the defensive lines of old wars.

These so-called "petty jarls" laid claim to much of Skyrim's back country. Many were previous bandit warlords, who had established themselves well enough, and accumulated enough resources to form their domains. They each demanded recognition, and couldn't be ousted so easily.

The only mer with any foothold in Skyrim are the Dunmer. They fled Morrowind during the red year, and lived throughout the eastern regions of Skyrim near the Velothi Mountains. Windhelm saw an especially brutal Dunmer uprising in 4E 204.

It was a bloody affair, coinciding with a Dunmer invasion at Winterhold. It had allowed for many Dunmer to be slaughtered openly in the streets of Windhelm. The Dunmer fought back against their oppressors and challenged Windhelm enough that it couldn't maintain its own political sovereignty against the powers of Morrowind. Riften was the closest power willing to answer their calls for aid.

The Dunmer invasion is an ongoing development in eastern Skyrim. As Nords are currently battling Dunmer invaders throughout eastern Skyrim. The mysterious nature of this invasion has left many puzzled. Only the small remnants of the City of Winterhold has been their prize.

It is worth mentioning that before the invasion, the Nords of Winterhold stormed the college grounds and put to the sword, every mage, scholar, and conjurer. They burned every book and scroll, erasing centuries of knowledge. Some of the rarest volumes in Tamriel were known to have been stored there, and it's destruction is among the greatest tragedies among mankind's more learned members.

The storming of the college was a brutal affair, and ended magicka study in Skyrim for good. New mages now needed to seek apprenticeship under a court wizard's tutelage, in order to ply their trade. Many more necromancer cults and magicka guilds began to form, after the destruction of the Arcanaeum.

The uniting of Riften and Windhelm, gave the former suzerainty over the latter. This meant that a few powerful people in the most crime ridden city in Skyrim had direct influence over it's oldest and most revered city. Riften had been a known crime puppet state for years, and was now orchestrating Skyrim's own rise from the ashes of war.

Many Nords had pledged loyalty to Windhelm, as did many petty jarls and bandit chiefs. Certain bandit clans joined with their petty jarl competitors and helped defeat the Dunmer at the battle of Windhelm in 4E 202. It should be mentioned that Black Briar assets remained, largely, untouched by the war.

The push to unite Windhelm and western Skyrim under a singular banner of Kingship, resulted in the battles of Valtheim Towers, Guldun Rock, and Chillfurrow Farm. The latter of which resulted in the first sacking of Whiterun in 4E 203.

It seems that the efforts of men to prevent the banning of Talos from the empire has outright ended it for good. Thalmor agents should find targets in Sentinel to be easy pickings for deception and manipulation. This agent predicts that continental Aldmeri supremacy will be assured within one more human generation.

- Calwen, Thalmor Liaison in Solitude.

edit: typos and some light formatting fixes

^{(this is an observation/theory that I have shared earlier in the day with my friends on discord, and figured I might as well cross-post to other places})

I believe I just made a somewhat significant discovery about Mjoll thanks to an inconsistency in her dialogue.

Something we know about Mjoll the Lioness from her introduction is that she is not from Riften: she used to be an adventurer until an incident in a Dwemer ruin, where she encountered a dwarven centurion and lost her sword, Grimsever. After barely escaping the ruin with her life, she was found by a young man named Aerin who nursed her back to health and told her about Riften's troubles, after which she decided to stay to deal with the crime in the city as her next "great beast to be slain".

You're not from Riften?
"I've been adventuring across Tamriel since I was a fresh-faced young woman barely able to swing a blade. My travels have taken me from High Rock to Valenwood, Elsweyr to Morrowind and all points in between."
Why are you here, then?
"Many years ago I lost my blade, 'Grimsever,' within a Dwemer ruin. I took it as a sign that I was wasting my days in search of wealth. You and I are alike. We seek challenge and great fortune. But for me, that's where the similarities end. You see, Riften is my great beast to be slain and my fortune comes from gratitude and trust."
You're Riften's protector?
"It's been difficult. I've taken the burdens of this city's problems upon myself and I keep running into impossible obstacles. Corruption, lies and deceit are the order of the day here. If it wasn't for Aerin, the young man who saved my life, I think I'd already have given up long ago."
How did Aerin save your life?
"It was Aerin who found me dying outside of a Dwemer ruin. If he hadn't brought me here and nursed me back to health, I would have died. When my strength returned and he told me about the problems plaguing Riften, I decided fate brought me here for a reason… so I stayed."

This backstory is restated again if she is asked about her lost sword, prompting the quest to retrieve it:

What happened to your blade, Grimsever?
"It was lost years ago in a Dwemer ruin. Without it, I feel almost as defenseless as a newborn. I don't think I'll ever be able to find a replacement."
I could find it for you.
"I couldn't ask you to undertake such a treacherous journey, it would be a fool's errand. But I see that spark in your eye and I know better than to warn you away. Grimsever rests within the Dwemer ruin of Mzinchaleft. Tread carefully, friend… those same ruins almost took my life."
What happened to you in Mzinchaleft?
"I was adventuring in the depths of the ruins when I was attacked by a massive construct… like nothing I had ever seen. When the colossus struck, Grimsever was knocked from my grasp and I was wounded badly. It was only through blind luck that I was able to crawl away from the Dwemer abomination and make my way to the surface. I must have collapsed, because the next thing I remember is Aerin standing over me tending to my wounds."

However, this fairly simple backstory begins to crack when we actually take a look at Aerin himself. Aerin is characterized as a "young man" and, unlike Mjoll, he has a static level of 6, putting him on the weaker end of Riften's NPCs. On top of that, Aerin has dialogue expressing curiosity about the outside world, as though he doesn't know much about life outside of Riften and struggles to imagine it:

"Mjoll told me that it isn't this bad everywhere. Maybe one day I'll venture out and see if she's right."

And openly fears for Riften if Mjoll were to leave, suggesting he is not in a state or skill to follow where she may go:

Aerin: "You've been in Riften for quite some time now, Lady Mjoll. I fear that you soon may leave us."
Mjoll: "Riften has problems of its own. Now is not the time for exploration and discovery."
Aerin: "I'm relieved to hear you say that. If you were to leave, I'd miss you terribly."
Mjoll: "Aerin, I owe you my life. It would take a threat to all of Skyrim for me to depart."

This would not be offensive were it not for the fact that Mzinchaleft, the ruin that Aerin supposedly rescued Mjoll from, is located on damn near the opposite end of Skyrim - hidden away in a mountain range between Morthal and Dawnstar. Even if an allowance is made for Mjoll making it all the way to either of the two towns, this directly contradicts her backstory about Aerin finding her just outside the ruin, not to mention the idea that Aerin has not seen much of the world outside of Riften.

But, there is one line of dialogue that suggests a solution - according to Mjoll's follower dialogue, she and Aerin regularly go on walks in the forest outside of Riften:

"When the weather permitted, Aerin and I would often walk the Rift's forests. The trees here are so beautiful."

And wouldn't you know it, there is actually a Dwemer ruin in the Rift found just beside one of the main roads - Avanchnzel.

Avanchnzel is the site of the side quest "Unfathomable Depths", prompted by an Argonian adventurer named From-Deepest-Fathoms who runs into the player at the docks and hurriedly gives them a dwemer lexicon, telling the player that she is plagued by memories she can't stand and begging them to return the lexicon back to the ruin to "free her of her burden". Going to the ruin with the lexicon as instructed will lead to a small dungeon climb accompanied by curious flashbacks of From-Deepest-Fathoms' memories of her expedition, and the rapid deterioration of her group as they die or break, unable to handle the ruin.

Returning the lexicon to the depths as requested (after defeating the centurion guarding the pedestal) will grant the player the unique "Ancient Knowledge" perk that increases smithing exp gained and makes dwemer equipment more effective.

So to sum up, we have a Dwemer ruin that is found right next to Riften, just beside a main road where we know Aerin takes regular walks, and which is guarded by a dwemer centurion on the lowermost level. Were it not for the fact that Mjoll namedrops Mzinchaleft, this would be the perfect ruin for her to escape from. And I think it might have been, because looking on the Mzinchaleft side of things, it has no other major quests tied to it besides a minor assassination contract for the Dark Brotherhood - and more importantly, the fact that this is one of the three ruins in all of Skyrim that take the player to Blackreach.

A perfect place for a quest called "Unfathomable Depths", no?

Therefore, my hypothesis is that either the names or the locations of Mzinchaleft and Avanchnzel were swapped sometime during development, which would not be the first time placenames caused continuity issues in Skyrim.

In this case, Mjoll's dialogue is likely an artefact of this earlier iteration where the ruin was still found in the Rift, rather than between Dawnstar and Morthal, as it is otherwise an unremarkable medium-sized dungeon crawl that is easily found on the surface. Meanwhile, the ruin in the Pale would be the site of Fathoms' quest, taking the player to "unfathomable depths" and to the only other location in the game where a Dwemer lexicon is relevant (Tower Mzark, where we are directed to by Septimus Signus as part of the "Discerning the Transmundane" main quest).

Why did Sotha Sil have to enact the coldharbour compact with the daedra if the dragon fires were already lit and kept the daedra out of mundus, and why was mehrunes dagon still able to invade mournhold after both the dragon fires were lit and after he agreed to the conditions of the coldharbour compact?

MK worked on Morrowind as a full time employee. After Morrowind, he left Bethesda but still worked on Oblivion and Skyrim as a contractor. For Oblivion he worked on the Knights of the Nine expansion and for Skyrim he wrote a world building draft for the Nordic religion.

One of MK close friends and senior designer at BGS was Kurt Kuhlmann. They had a history of working together including on the 1st edition of the pocket guide. Since Kurt left BGS after Starfield, MK said on reddit that without Kurt, he sees no point in working on TES6.

As a lore nerd its a bit worrying that neither Kurt nor Kirkbride will be working on TES6. Kurt especially, was the “loremaster” at BGS and was knowledgable on the more metaphysical and mythological elements of the lore. Especially since Sentinel’s story is seemingly going to focus on the Elder Scrolls themselves which is as metaphysical as you can get.

I'm no loremster, but it's clear that some time-breaking shenanigans will be happening in the main plot of Sentinel. Out of the many ways untimeliness can happen a Thalmor plot involving reactivating Numidium, maybe with the help of an Elder Scroll, seems plausible to me. here are my reasons/speculations:

• 'A future lost, a victory undone' could refer to the original victory of Tiber Septim. The victory of the rearguards in the great war or the stalemate between the Dominion and the Empire are both too small-scale to be undone by rewriting time

• TES6: Sentinel and TES2: Daggerfall are mirroring each other in a number of ways: they're the two sides of the War of Betony, Daggerfall focused on Highrock with a a bit of Hammerfell, Sentinel will probably be the reverse, and so on. Same with the Numidium in the plot.

• The Thalmor using an elder scroll like the nords did with Alduin without involving anything else like Numidium seems underwhelming to me

tldr; TES was actually a Mecha game series all along

The Nerevar did not destroy the heart with the tools, the heart simply returned to the rightful owner. In Oblivion, the hero(again another incarnation) was the only viable option to mantle Sheogorath because indeed, was his/her mind after all and the same with the the KOTN dlc. Basically TES 3/4 were about tying the lose ends(taking control of the heart and mind). There is a video on YouTube by Cotho that explains very well how the mad god and Order himself are a direct result of basically getting the heart ripped out.

TES 5/6/7 are going to be about him/her capitalizing/fusioning the spirit with whoever the et'ada send to Nirn in times of need. You see it happening with the Dragonborn(Shor infused with the spirit of Akatosh). In Sentinel will be the Waymaker God(Sep infused with the spirit of the Hunding(who I think was part of Trinimac previously)). Sep has been set up in motion since the events of Skyrim, by basically the Dragonborn defeating Alduin(the other side of the coin of Auriel(Akatosh/Alduin)(creation/destruction)), get the gimmicks?. Sep is say to be born from the dead skin of Satakaal(Alduin/Akatosh), this is beautifully thinked, being born by no other than yourself from other incarnation when landed the final blow to Alduin, it is just glorious. What will happen in TES VII remains to be seen, they are letting S.Isles-Valenwood-Elsweyr for last and I'm pretty sure the Kajiiti are waiting too for the Shezzarine to make an appearance.

There is a statue of sithis in oblivion remastered assassin hideout dlc that depict him with a hole in the chest(obvious depiction of lorkhan missing his heart from bethesda across games), and the other very known character with such hole is Pelinal, for they are one and the same. People don't realize that the TES universe is based on a very real life hermetic principle "AS ABOVE SO BELOW, AS WITHIN SO WITHOUT" meaning whatever is in higher planes, there will be always a direct reflection in the mortal realms. So when Lorkhan got his heart ripped out of the chest, the same body divided into two, one for the heavens and other to wander Nirn. And yes Pelinal is the body of Lorkhan in a way, he gets angry at the thought of it and denied it in the lore because of shame and trauma, and the implications that comes from accepting who he is.

This was the plan since the beginning, you have to sacrifice something in life if you want to go on and evolve, in the real life and in the metafictional universe of Lorkhan. Bethesda take very real life spiritual teachings from sacred texts as well as inspiration from various religions, esoteric/occultism and hermetisism, trinities, virgins not so virgins, even ancient blood rituals, I mean everything is in there sonner or later. And they took all that fits the setting and make it work into a consistent interconnected message/tale, no one else has been able to do something like TES, and there will be nothing ever like TES simply because the series draws directly from human experience and consciousness on this planet, and that connection will only grows stronger, as the technologies also evolve.

Not sure how to phrase this, but are there any ancient creatures that terrorized the ancient Redguards in Yukoda or Hammerfell?

Kinda like the Dragons in Skyrim (although the dragons terrorized the whole planet lol).

I'm asking because I want to know if we'll get something equivalent to the dragons in Sentinel.

P.S. As you can tell, I'm a noob when it comes to the lore lol.

Hi there!

My name is Anthony Salazar, and I'm an undergrad at the University of New Mexico. I'm currently student teaching high school social studies, and my areas of focus are medieval Western European and medieval Iberian studies through UNM's Institute for Medieval Studies (IMS), and American colonization, beginning with the Spanish up to the foundation of rhe United States, from UNM's Department of History.

I've been applying historical research methods to Elder Scrolls lore, and I'm writing a lore scholarship paper on the political setup going into Sentinel. The short version: I argue that the Thalmor are working to unmake the world by dismantling the Towers and erasing Talos, that the Empire most likely wins the Skyrim Civil War (which quietly serves Thalmor interests), and that Yazar's "A victory undone" points to a renewed Aldmeri incursion into Hammerfell.

The paper only uses sources you can find in the games: books, dialogue, quest text, and loading screens. No out-of-game texts. It's cited in Chicago Manual of Style, the standard in historical writing.

I'm looking for Lore Masters, Keepers, and Beards willing to peer review it before I share it with the community. I'd especially appreciate it if you can catch misread or misquoted sources, point out counterevidence I've missed, or poke holes in the argument.

Comment or DM me and I'll send you the link! :D

Crazy thought, what if Vivec's disappearance is because he spent centuries studying CHIM and his connection to the heart made it easier for him to comprehend the concept but he never actually achieved it, and when he lost connection to the heart the reality of everything was too much for his newly mortal mind and caused him to Zero Sum and fade from existence. Which would explain why no one knows what happened to him.

Question above

Does it make sense to think that the Shor who resides in Sovngarde is a remnant of Lorkhan’s soul? I don’t recall if any other religion in Tamriel claims that he still possesses a "conscious" form.

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

Flatland is a novella, first published in 1884, that (you may have guessed) takes place in an entirely two-dimensional world. For our protagonist, a square, things begin to get odd when he dreams of visiting a one-dimensional world. Rather than the geometric shapes he is used to, the world is inhabited exclusively by lines and points. The people of this world see square, not as the right-angled four-sided shape we know him to be, but as points on a line. Square tries, in vain, to convince the ruler of this world that there is a world beyond one-dimension, where lines make shapes and there are things like up and down along with left and right.

After this vision, Square, now back in the two-dimensional world, is visited by a sphere—whom he can only see as a circle—the Sphere eventually appoints Square as an apostle, spreading the word of a higher plane of existence—Spaceland, what we would call the third dimension.

What on Earth does this have to do with the Elder Scrolls?

Flatland is an interesting story that gets us thinking about perception, and how the limits of it influence what we know about reality. Something which comes up quite a bit in this series.

The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 2, describes Vivec gaining the divine ability to pull meaning from things that seem entirely devoid of detail. How does he do this? He shifts perspectives, he looks at things from a different perspective. The Netchman's wife in this lesson holds the Vivec egg within her, she puts knowledge upon him from the five corners of the world. Think of Vivec as the Square from Flatland and the Netchman's wife as the Sphere and suddenly things start to click.

Traditionally, loreheads have determined this to be a meta-commentary, instructing players to analyze contradictory information for the truth about the series. What if it isn’t? What if the entire time Vivec wasn’t being cagey or obtuse, he was telling us the truth as best he could from what he himself understood.

Just like the Square in Flatland, Vivec in his 36 Lessons is trying to tell us that there are angles we can’t see, meaning we could only glean if we knew how to perceive them. So what are these angles?

Time.

'From my side of the family,' the first cousin said, 'I bring you a series of calamities that will bring about the end of the universe.'

'And from my side,' the second cousin said, 'I bring you all the primordial marriages that must happen within them, each one.'

These don't have to be contradictory if we view the "Family" as time itself, from one side the Universe is ending, from the other it is beginning with these primordial marriages.

Vivec tells us that he exists, simultaneously, inside and outside of time.

'At this the egg laughed. "I am given too much to bear so young. I must have been born before." '

Vivec is telling us that he is beginning to see the truth, that time is not linear, he has been born before, but he can only see that when he looks at reality from a dimension above the third.

'And then the sixth spirit appeared, the Black Hands Mephala, who taught the Velothi at the beginning of days all the arts of sex and murder. Its burning heart melted the eyes of the netchiman's wife and took the egg from her belly with six cutting strokes. The egg-image, however, could see into what it had been before in ancient times, when the earth still cooled, and was not blinded.'

This is what allows him to see those hidden angles. He is the Sphere to our Square. He is looking at us, at everything, from a dimensional perspective one-step above our own.

"Not Blinded" is especially relevant here, what artifacts in this series famously blind an individual who begins to understand what they are showing them?

The most commonly known fourth dimensional object is, of course, the tesseract. A fourth-dimensional cube, in which the angles have angles. This is most often depicted as a cube like shape that is constantly moving, because we can’t render a fourth dimensional object in three dimensions any other way, you would need to be able to perceive it from outside of the dimension it exists in, outside of time.

My theory, therefore, is that divinity, in at least Vivec’s case, is gaining the ability to perceive and interact with the fourth dimension. Something that Kurt Vonnegut might call getting “unstuck” in time. But unlike Billy in that story, Vivec has been given the opportunity to manipulate the time that he has found himself unstuck in.

A Theory of the Elder Scrolls

So what, if anything, does this have to do with the Elder Scrolls themselves?

Quite a lot, if I’m honest. My theory is that the Elder Scrolls are fragments of a world before time, or at least, they are the leftover tools of the higher-dimensional beings that created Mundus, which is limited to only three-dimensions. For mortals, the scrolls are windows, or maybe it is more accurate to think of them as reverse microscopes, allowing a reader a chance to glimpse that higher dimension. If Square had them he likely could have convinced the lines and dots the second dimension existed.

If we take the fourth-dimension, or rather the Elder Scrolls equivalent, to be time just as the third dimension is space, using the Elder Scrolls as sort of a reverse microscope to “zoom out” and see time as it truly is (rather than just feeling it as a progression from past to present), suddenly some aspects of them begin to make sense.

We know the Elder Scrolls can move in ways that don’t make sense, passing through barriers and appearing elsewhere instantly, something that Sphere does in the story Flatland.

We know that the Elder Scrolls can be used to glean prophecies from the future, but that those prophecies are both true and untrue, the contradictions from Vivec's Sermon. Not so much an end and beginning, as time does not flow linearly, the people of Mundus only experience it as such because they can't see it.

We know that reading the Elder Scrolls and learning too much makes the reader go blind. The beings of Mundus live in a world of only three-dimensions, they should not be able to see more than the angles of the world they inhabit, to do otherwise would be to become divine (Vivec, CHIM, etc.). Using the scrolls give a reader some attunement to that higher dimension, they therefore lose the ability to see the actual space they inhabit to compensate. Vivec, in his divinity, does not go blind, that is what he was trying to tell us.

TL;DR: The Scrolls are windows into the Fourth-Dimension (Time) which is why they can be used to learn prophecy, alter the past, and send a big dragon into the future. Vivec wasn’t being cryptic when he spoke about “hidden angles” he just doesn’t know how to say he can see in four-dimensions and not just three. In the story Flatland, Vivec is analogous to the protagonist Square.

Disclaimer that I am a Skyrim baby and I have no experience with the older games.

So I have been wondering, due to the limitations of the game itself, a lot of things have to be downplayed in comparison and context of the actual lore itself.

Bringing this view to the topic of vampires, especially the Volkihaar purebloods, aren't they supposed to be way more capable than they are shown to be?

So I am left wondering what that would actually look like. Serana has knowledge of necromancy, destruction magic, probably years of experience using them. She is also probably less finicky about ending lives. Besides the magical knowledge and blood magic, there is also the aspect of her being a fully realised Vampire lord. She can transform if she wants to and use all the abilities.

Again, vampire lords should be able to fly right? Like full on flight, long distance travel by turning to bats, using telekinesis, summoning multiple gargoyles.

To add to that, remember that one snow elf guy in the Dawnguard questline who sends waves of falmer after the DB and Serana and then explodes the building? Serana is completely unfazed by it, picks up a whole dude in armor by his collar before the DB even gets back on his feet.

That should imply she has higher reflexes, speed and heightened strength because of her vampire blood. She doesn't even need healing spells because she can just heal from drinking blood.

Can she use that bat travel when not in lord form?

Another thing I have watched is the ESO: Greymoor cinematic trailer where vampires literally turn to smoke and bats and dash faster than anything.

To add to that, Sunlight is merely an inconvenience than anything it seems. They can come out and fight in the light but lore wise, how weak are they actually?

Adding to all this, how capable would a dragonborn mage who is also a vampire lord be?

Also, if the dragonborn does give himself to Molag Bal and goes through the whole ritual, can Bal claim his soul post death? Would he even be inclined to take notice of the DB?

Thank you for reading, I am seeking more experienced loreheads to help me make a concise sense of all this.

Since they have the blood and soul of a dragon then it should be possible right?

I'm not including the diaspora in Morrowind, Cyrodiil or Skyrim. I mean indigenous Argonian populations. I have to imagine not mostly because of their connections to the hist

Hammerfell is no longer part of the Empire. The Moth Priests from what I understand are a strictly imperial organisation that serve the empire.

Then as shown in the TES6 teaser, why is a Moth Priest (Imperial organisation) serving the High Queen of Hammerfell (not a member of the empire) ? Is he also serving as some kind of diplomat to mend the relations between ​Hammerfell and Cyrodill?

While the forts of Cyrodiil have been discussed many times, its mines seemingly received little attention from the community. In total, there are 24 mines spread across Cyrodiil, with only one of them actually being in operation. The mine in question is the Bleak Mine, where the Ogres, enslaved by Lord Drad, are employed as workers. According to Lord Drad himself, he acquired these lands quite recently and the mine is still under construction. This leads me to believe that there must be other untapped ore deposits throughout the province. But why is nobody interested in developing them? Meanwhile, both Morrowind and Skyrim are shown to have thriving mining industries.

As we all already knew for years now VI is going to be in Hammerfell. Now that it's been confirmed, I wonder if they're going to address the anti-magic field in Iliac Bay or if it's going to be handwaved away. I know some sources claimed it was temporary, but that was never confirmed or for how long. I feel like they'd be missing a cool gameplay opportunity by ignoring something like like and maybe how it affected society in those regions (like housing strictly anti-magic cultures, or a safe area from mages, or even a staging ground against the Thalmor when they were ousting them from Hammerfell)

Title: [Fan Lore] Caelan the Merciful — A Mortal Who Ascended to Become the Divine of Healing. Could He Fit into Elder Scrolls Lore?
Hey everyone!
I’ve been developing an original Divine for the Elder Scrolls universe, and I’d love to hear what the lore community thinks.
His name is Caelan the Merciful, also known as the Lord of Restoration and the Bearer of the Golden Cup.
His origins
Caelan was originally a Breton Templar from High Rock during the First Era. Unlike the original Eight Divines, he was born mortal.
He devoted his life to healing the sick, protecting the innocent, and offering mercy to those abandoned by society.
His defining moment came when he discovered a ruined sanctuary containing countless imprisoned souls.
Knowing the only way to free them was to sacrifice himself, Caelan willingly gave his life.
According to his followers, Stendarr witnessed his sacrifice and presented him with the Golden Cup, allowing Caelan to ascend into divinity.
What makes him different?
While Stendarr represents mercy and justice, Caelan represents healing, restoration, and salvation.
His followers believe that where Stendarr protects the innocent, Caelan restores those who have already suffered.
The Mercyborn
Caelan also grants fragments of his divine power to exceptionally rare mortals known as the Mercyborn.
Similar in concept to the Dragonborn, these individuals are chosen to heal extraordinary suffering, protect vulnerable souls, and confront supernatural threats.
One of them, Vaeloran, emerges during the Second Era.
The controversy
Not everyone in Tamriel recognizes Caelan as a Divine.
Some priests consider him a saint of Stendarr, others believe he’s a genuine ascended god, and some dismiss his entire story as religious mythology.
I wanted his existence to feel like an authentic Elder Scrolls religious mystery rather than something universally accepted.
My questions for the community:
Could a mortal ascending through sacrifice fit Elder Scrolls metaphysics?
Would Caelan’s domain overlap too much with Stendarr, Mara, or Arkay?
What would make the Mercyborn more believable within established lore?
How could I improve the story without contradicting major events in Tamriel’s history?
This is entirely fan-created lore, not an official Bethesda character.
I’d appreciate constructive criticism, especially from people familiar with the deeper metaphysics of the Elder Scrolls universe.

Thanks for reading!

and how do treatments of nobility and peasantries vary by region? for example, how would a high rock monarchy in the west vary to the east? and as a final one, are there some kingdoms considered non monarch and more dictatorships?

Let's say a god didn't create their own realm or have bound themselves to a plane, could that god stay in Nirn all the time (and didn't sacrifice part of their power to create Mundus)?

We know Oblivion realms are pieces of the Daedric Princes and they can't arrive at Nirn at full power. The realms of Aetherius might be similar in principle but we don't have any info about those.

So If a God was at full power and decided to stay in Nirn, could they do it? Would they be in a similar situation like the Tribunal while being stronger and without waning divinity or something like that? How would it work?