Black Marsh Lore

[Deeza]

I've been planning to do something about all this for a while actually. Same goes for the old Valenwood and Skyrim literature archive.

Don't worry about it, I'll get right on it after I return from my enforced exile.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Nice =)

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Koniption brought my attention to 'The Infernal City' by Greg Keyes, an Elder Scrolls novel and part of a trilogy which begins in Lilmoth of the Black Marsh. It seems that the books are a prelude to the 5th Elder Scrolls game that Beth is currently working on. KP thinks that this might suggest that Beth will be taking BM as their location for the next game but I'm not entirely sure. The book seems to revolve around a floating city so the likelihood is that they'll go extra-epic and spread the adventure across differents countries.

There's some interesting stuff in this excerpt that those interested in lore might wish to take a look at: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/displ...ew=excerpt . A search on wikipedia and amazon, however, will bring up more detailed information about the book itself.

KP mentioned that if they are working on a Blackmarsh game, that it would be about Blackmarsh in the future and away from the Oblivion timeline, which would appear to make our timeline a little different. I keep a respectful eye on lore but I certainly won't be going head-over-heels into it. This mod will definitely be original so whether it appears as a taster of things to come (ESV) or as an accompaniment to either game, it will still have plenty to offer.

Edit - I provided a link to this post in the first post of this thread for reference purposes.

[Koniption]

For the record, Elder Scrolls V could be about any region, even some maybe not known about yet.

So I don't want anybody reading Ibsen's post above to automatically think TESV is about Blackmarsh - because none of us really know. It was late, I read that Infernal City excerpt, and because it took place in Blackmarsh, I told Ibsen I had my personal suspsicions.

But Ibsen is correct, it's about a floating city, so the city could float "anywhere".

I thought I had read somewhere that the books are a prelude or at least take place before TESV, but take my memory with a grain of salt. I could be wrong. I also am not sure that TESV is taking place in the future, I just personally think it might, because again, I think I remember grazing across some info that said as such. But I don't remember where nor kept records of where I might have read all this.

Koniption

[Ibsen's Ghost]

That keeps things suitably vague.

The excerpt makes for interesting reading though.

[Deeza]

Fascinating. Even if it's not official, it actually fits quite well with a fair bit of our speculation...

It looks like it's implying BM becomes independent from the Empire (or at least parts of it do).

The "An-Xixil" faction or whatever they're called sound a fair bit like our very own Royal Court (or maybe the Khnaten Liberation Army?)

My personal view has always been that our default position (if any inconsistencies are later revealed) is that this is our own vision of BM, and could always become a "what if" or "alternate reality" if necessary.

At any rate its interesting to hear a description of Lilmoth.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Yeah, I liked the description of Lilmoth as the 'Festering Jewel'. =)

Btw, go check out my new grid-maps for the whole of the BM WS: All Maps (REFERENCE ONLY - No Posting) (check the last post). You'll find Lilmoth and all the other non-beta locations there.

[blackbird]

I don't know if you had seen this:
from 2920: http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/2920.shtml
4 Morning Star, 2920
Gideon, Black Marsh

The Empress paced around her cell. Wintertide gave her wasteful energy, while in the summer she would merely sit by her window and be grateful for each breath of stale swamp wind that came to cool her. Across the room, her unfinished tapestry of a dance at the Imperial Court seemed to mock her. She ripped it from its frame, tearing the pieces apart as they drifted to the floor.

Then she laughed at her own useless gesture of defiance. She would have plenty of time to repair it and craft a hundred more. The Emperor had locked her up in Castle Giovesse seven years ago, and would likely keep her here until he or she died.

A few other other places at The Black marshes are also mentioned.
The story happened about 700 years ago. A lot could have been changed, the name of the castle too.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Thanks, blackbird. :goodjob: I'll add that to the OP.

A few points from http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/2920.shtml :

• The 'Battle of Bodrum' is mentioned at 'Dozsa Pass'. This might be the Imperial name for Scorpion Pass which, incidentally, lies close to Gideon, where most of these extracts are based. However, the later extract describes it as very swampy which makes the current area in the Parchlands inappropriate as the site of the battle. However, the child worldspace that I set up was intended as the location of just such a battle and it wouldn't prove too hard to alter it with some retexturing and fresh modding, especially considering the fact that it was the Imperial presence in the Black Marsh that made the Parchlands as it is today, a dry wasteland by comparison with the rest of the country. In fact, I'd already planned to move the PC back in time to effect a change in the outcome of the battle (and therefore affect history) and this 700-year-old battle would fit with that idea.
  
• This is intriguing: "The massive piles of earth and dung had been piled high in antiquity by some primitive, long-dead tribe of Black Marsh, hoping to keep out some evil from the north. Evidently, the evil had broken through at Dorsza Pass, the large crack in the sad, lonely rampart that stretched for miles." Perhaps this might be where the efforts of Argonians to forge an alliance with other races against the Naga and others had been misinterpreted, especially if an Imperial saw the Argonians as being 'just another swamp creature'. This one battle could have set back friendly relations by hundreds of years and even have set the Hist against the Empire.
  
• The 'labyrinthine' streets of Gideon are mentioned....well, they are quite dense in parts, I guess.
  
• The region referred to that contains "trees drooping with moss and treacherous slime-coated rocks" might well be the more central jungle regions.
  
• The "hollow halls of Castle Giovesse" might well be the main castle, perhaps with a lonely tower secluded from the rest....but we have lots of towers circling the city.
  

[Deeza]

I was thinking we could have Castle Giovese as a large dungeon just outside the city. The place could be long abandoned and ruined, with all sorts of nasties moving in.