As anyone who hangs around here will know I'm rather anal-retentive about the lore so I want a thourough combing of this for stuff I wouldn't pick up as breaching lore. I'd like to think I've covered all the bases of staying within lore but I'm only human, and not that good a representative of the species at that. Bear in mind while reading that this is the antithesis of the PGE, that was biased from a human point of view, this is in places quite fiercely biased from an Altmeri point of view but at the same time trying to do a bit of positive PR for his kind and make them seem not so heartless and arrogant; so while he will ommit certain damaging facts but the majority of it will be fairly open.
Anyway, enjoy:
K, I'm off to bed as I've got to get up for my fascinating law of tort lecture in 5 hours time. Opinions will be gratefully recieved, unless you say something silly like: 'OMG 1Ts t0t4LLY t3h 5uXXX0RZ'.A More Truthful Guide to the Empire
And it’s environs
(Being a description of the propaganda and endless lies of the Imperial Regime)
Preface to the reader: it the writer’s fond hope that this tome will at least in some small part to provide a more truthful account of the new empire in Cyrodiil and those lands who can still claim with pride their independence. Also it is hoped that this will in act to correct some of the more grievous mistruths and errors contained within that most ill-informed pamphlet ‘A Pocket Guide to the Empire and its Environs’ perhaps the most blatant collection of lies yet to be produced by human hands.
I would recommend to the reader that they should have, sampled, the Pocket Guide and its falsities prior to reading this document if only to provide some perspective on how devious are our neighbours and oppressors in Cyrodiil.
Ariyael – scholar of his majesty’s royal court in Alinor, loyal servant of the Summerset Isle Kingdom of Alinor.
2E-870
A note on racial names: it is the intention of the Empire to destroy individual culture wherever it finds it in Tamriel and so no ‘common’ names for places or people shall be used, the ‘elven’ races will be referred to by their proper names here is a short reference list of all known meri races:
Altmer – the ‘High Folk’ of the Summerset Isle
Bosmer – the ‘Wood Folk’ of Valenwood
Dunmer – the ‘Dark Folk’ of Morrowind
Dwemer – the ‘Deep Folk’ of Vvardenfell who are now extinct in their entirety as far as is known. Note: the Dwemer were NOT dwarves – they were exiled mer.
Maormer – the ‘Tropical Folk’ of Pyandonea
Falmer – the ‘Snow Folk’ of Skyrim, their actual existence is a matter of some debate, though there were once Aldmer who inhabited the northern wastes of Tamriel.
Aldmer – the ‘Elder Folk’ the common ancestors of all mer except the Ayleids.
Ayleid – the ‘Hidden Folk’ of Nibenay who preserve the ancient language and culture of our Ehlnofey forebears.
Ehlnofey – the ‘Earth Bones’ – the ancestors of all mer and the purity to which we aspire to.
Orsimer – the ‘Pariah Folk’ – commonly called ‘Orcs’ these were once Aldmer who were corrupted by the destruction of Trinimac by the Daedra Prince Boethiah – proof indisputable of the vile influence of the Daedra Lords
Part I – The Aldmeri Dominion
While it is true that the Aldmeri Dominion as it currently exists in political terms is an exceedingly recent creation, having existed less than a single Altmeri generation; it must be pointed out that ever since the middle merethic era when Valenwood was first settled by our Bosmeri cousins, the Kingdom of Alinor was acknowledged by the Kings of Valenwood, the Direnni of Balfiera and High Rock and even the Ayleids of the White Gold Tower as suzerain of all Meri lands then existing. The current so-called ‘Dominion’ is merely a reaffirmation of the political, cultural and racial bond that has always existed between the Altmer and Bosmer, the humans in their tawdry courts in Cyrodiil, in their lust for power concoct these falsities to foment tension among the Bosmer, implying that they come as saviours from the Altmeri ‘yoke’ when in fact they seek only the enslavement of all Tamriel under their heavy-handed and illegal rule. The Altmeri legions did not have to invade Valenwood, we were welcomed by our cousins wherever we went, ‘twas not an invasion by any means, more a triumphant march north to meet the armies of the Colovian Estate who sought not territorial concessions, but to annex to themselves the entire Bosmeri Kingdom.
The Altmer did not even insist on the inheritance of Valenwood, merely we accepted the fealty of Camoran Anaxemes which he gave gladly. The Bosmer are more free under our suzerainty than ever they would have been under the rule of Colovia.
The Pocket Guide takes an opportunity in it’s version of this historical account to present our soldiers as effete and useless, lacking in military skill, quite the opposite is in fact true, while I make no claim that we have been always victorious on the field as the evidence attributes. Certainly the Colovians and now the Imperial Legions have had to fight with much tenacity to maintain their borders and our border patrols only return ‘in tatters’ due to the immense numerical superiority of the Legions – something to be expected from this barbarous empire, hellbent on conquest.
I will now describe our most elegant culture speaking not from scraps of scribbling by an old fool, but from my own experience having been blessed by the gods to have spent many of my years there. While it is the common belief of many Altmer that we are the only perfect race, a number of Altmer acknowledge our bond of kinship with the Bosmer and Dunmer, even the reclusive Ayleids as granting them some right in the inheritance of Tamriel. It is an outright lie that we have bred ourselves into a racial purity, we have always been perfect and have had no need to alter our appearance in any way, there is much diversity in our individual attributes and the thought of infanticide of one of our kind is horrifying to many Altmer.
Our culture is a vibrant one, much art, architecture and high magicka is ours to claim, certainly we appreciate it far more than any human could and while many Altmer are exceedingly formal in attitude to the human eye, in fact we convey much by gestures and physical languages of a more subtle nature than humans would appreciate.
Having put right the wrongs done my own kind in the Imperial propaganda I feel I might now extend this service to our cousins in Valenwood, the Bosmer are a product of the machinations of Y’ffre, the earthbones who sought to rescue them from the cruelties of Azura who would make beasts of them. They did not choose their damnation as did the Dunmer or the extinct Dwemer, they are however, no longer pure as are the Altmer and so live as close as is permitted in the forests of Valenwood. They have their own customs and culture, dissimilar to ours but still superior to any that could be found in human lands. They have ultimate respect for the land and all that it provides. We do not carry this respect as far as they do for the Altmer are tied to Auri-El while the Bosmer are the servants of Y’ffre who would have them not harm any of his creations. The Bosmer make fine archers and light infantry and are loyal so long as they believe in the cause of their leaders, most would never willingly serve the Empire and despise the Imperial intrusion into their sacred forests for they come to destroy the plant life and to create ugly stone buildings and crude roads that destroy the beauty of Valenwood.
The wild hunt is that part of their history that the Bosmer are ashamed of and rightly so. It is a reminder of the times when there were no natural laws, no order and only the chaos that the Dunmer so worship, mer would become beast and then mer again until Y’ffre fixed us all in our forms by his sacrifice to make the earthbones. The Bosmer were evidently not as secured in their new bodies as they would have thought and can, by extreme force of will become a pack of ravenous demons that will exact vengeance on any who cross them or defile their sacred forests.
Valenwood itself is a land of dense forests and jungles with little in the way of actual buildings, the Bosmer are careful not to interfere with their environment and much though it annoys the King in Alinor he will not force our civilisation upon the Bosmer as now is a time for unity among the mer, if we are to overthrow the tyrannous human government in Cyrodiil we must be united or all will eventually fall to the Imperial armies. Those most hideous forts and settlements that the last Empire constructed have fallen into decay and disrepair since the collapse of the Potentate and there are now virtually no humans at all in the entire Kingdom.
