Major regions of The Elder Scrolls

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This article lists the major regions in the Elder Scrolls that have a major effect on the Elder Scrolls series of video games. Many realms exist, but this article extrapolates upon the realms that are directly involved with the games in the series.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Cosmology
2 Continents of Nirn
- 2.1 Tamriel
3 Notes
4 References

[edit] Cosmology

[edit] Battlespire

See also: The Elder Scrolls Legends: Battlespire

Battlespire is a magical academy that trained special warriors, called Battlemages in-game, for the service of the Cyrodiil Empire of Tamriel. It is located on the border between the human dimension and Oblivion, the dimension of Daedra.

The origins of Battlespire are never, but at some point of the Third Era of Tamriel the academy has been utterly devastated and nearly destroyed by the advancing forces of Daedra led by Daedra Prince Mehrunes Dagon and armed with powerful weapons called Daedric Crescents. The assault is aimed at conquering Tamriel and the rest of the mortal world, but was stopped by the Arena protagonist, who defeated Dagon and closed the portal between the dimensions.

[edit] Oblivion

Main article: Oblivion

Oblivion is the realm inhabited by Daedra.^[1]^[2] While Oblivion is most often seen as "the Elder Scrolls version of Hell,"^[a] in the metaphor expressed in the game actually implies a complex supernatural cosmology. According to general in-game lore, the realm of Oblivion is "the void surrounding Nirn," both the planet and mortal plane of existence; the planets, nebulae and other astral bodies in the sky are the mortals' view of the spheres of the Daedra floating in that void. Stars are holes on the inner surface of Oblivion through which magical energy seeps through, allowing people in the human realm to cast magic. This is also true of the sun, referred to as Magnus.

The plane of Oblivion serves as a battle ground of sorts in the game of the same title. “Each [part of Oblivion] is sort of its own dungeon crawl in a sense,” says Howard. “[You] visit several of these as part of the main quest, but you also continue to see random gates appear in the world as long as the main quest remains unfinished, and each of these can be visited as well.”^[3]

[edit] Nirn

Main article: Nirn

Nirn,^[b] or, Mundus,^[c] is the fictional planet on which The Elder Scrolls series of games are set. Nirn is named "the mortal plane" because the species which inhabit it die. The planet is orbited by the two moons Masser and Secunda, while Nirn orbits its sun, called Magnus. The continents of Nirn include Akavir, Aldmeris, Atmora, Pyandonea, Tamriel, and Yokuda.^[4]

[edit] Continents of Nirn

The Empire of Tamriel

[edit] Tamriel

Main article: Tamriel

Tamriel is the continent where the events of The Elder Scrolls series of games take place. The name Tamriel is said to mean 'Starry Heart', however, according to Arena, it is also Elvish for 'Dawn's Beauty'.

Tamriel consists of nine provinces, Black Marsh, Cyrodiil, Elsweyr, Hammerfell, High Rock, Morrowind, Skyrim, Summerset Isles and Valenwood.^[5] In addition the city state of Orsinium is currently seeking provincial status.

Major regions of The Elder Scrolls

[edit] Notes

a. ^{^} While Allen Rausch is the origin of that exact quote, in his review of the PC The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for GameSpy,^[6] and the sole reviewer to liken the two so bluntly, many other reviewers have expressed similar sentiments. GameSpot's Greg Kasavin has described the invasion of Oblivion as "essentially an invasion from hell",^[7] IGN's Charles Onyett has described Oblivion as "hellish",^[8] the Kansas City Star's James Hart has called it "basically hell",^[3] and even previewers, as early on as November 2005's Computer Gaming World preview of Oblivion, have taken to calling the world a "a sort of hell dimension in [sic] Tamriel", and, following the thought through to its natural conclusion, the inhabitants of Oblivion "hell spawn".^[3]

b. ^{^} Nirn, according to former series developer Michael Kirkbride's "Cosmology", means "Arena".^[9] Ted Peterson, lead designer for Daggerfall gives Tamriel, rather than Nirn, that appellation,^[10] as does the Daggerfall-era The Light and The Dark.^[11]

c. ^{^} The Monomyth, a Morrowind-era œcumenical theological working-out of the series' pantheon by Michael Kirkbride, describes Mundus as the "Mortal Plane", also going by the appellation, the "Gray Maybe". In game myth, Mundus was not the first existent thing. That position is ceded, rather, to a dualism of "Anu and His Other", which are said to go by varied names among the series' races. From these two beings are born the et'Ada. One of their number, Lorkhan, is the creator of the Mortal Plane.^[12] In the game religions, this resulted in reverence by the races of man, and hatred by the races of elves.^[13]

Lorkhan's betrayal plays a significant part in the backstory of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The Plan to Defeat Dagoth Ur puts the issue thusly:

...the gods took and hid Lorkhan's heart beneath Red Mountain as a punishment for creating the mortal plane. The Dwemer discovered the heart while building underground colonies. High Craftlord Kagrenac created enchanted tools intended to tap the power of the heart. The War of the First Council was fought to prevent this sacrilege. Kagrenac's use of these tools and the disappearance of the Dwemer race marked the end of the war. Kagrenac's tools were recovered by Lord Nerevar and Dagoth Ur. Dagoth Ur was left to guard the tools while Nerevar came to consult with us, his advisors. In Nerevar's absence, Dagoth Ur experimented with the tools upon the heart, and was corrupted. We returned to discover a deranged Dagoth Ur who refused to turn over the tools. When he attacked us, we drove him away.

The heart is the source of both the Tribunal's divine, and Dagoth Ur's supernatural, powers.^[14] In the end, the protagonist of Morrowind must launch an attack upon the Heart of Lorkhan to end Dagoth Ur's reign.^[15]