Lore |
Briz9
Associate
Registration Date: 03.03.2006
Posts: 2
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I didn't see a lore thread, so here you are!
I remember reading somewhere that Bosmer don't themselves create
anything out of wood, because they won't cut down trees, BUT they have
a sort of dumb-fascination with wooden objects as long as it was made
by a non-Bosmer. There was an example where a Bosmer used a wooden
wheel as a shield, even though it's obviously not designed for that. I
think that may come from the Pocket Guide.
Sorry if this is old news.
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06.07.2006 21:36 |
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FLESH
Archduke
Registration Date: 23.06.2006
Posts: 2,823
Location: Ireland
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quote: |
Originally posted by Briz9
I didn't see a lore thread, so here you are!
I remember reading somewhere that Bosmer don't themselves create
anything out of wood, because they won't cut down trees, BUT they have
a sort of dumb-fascination with wooden objects as long as it was made
by a non-Bosmer. There was an example where a Bosmer used a wooden
wheel as a shield, even though it's obviously not designed for that. I
think that may come from the Pocket Guide.
Sorry if this is old news. |
Ty Briz, I was acctually about to do this, but its just as well. this
thread will be used to collect lore. Have any info, post it. It might
come in really handy.
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06.07.2006 21:39 |
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DarkAsmodeous
King of the Kittens
Registration Date: 25.05.2006
Posts: 4,317
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The bosmer are more related to the altmer then the ayleid.
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06.07.2006 23:03 |
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TheImperialDragon
Councilor
Registration Date: 21.06.2006
Posts: 6,436
Location: Ontario, Canada
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07.07.2006 02:05 |
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FLESH
Archduke
Registration Date: 23.06.2006
Posts: 2,823
Location: Ireland
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quote: |
Originally posted by TheImperialDragon
Two words:
Green Pact. |
Ok lets expand on that, some tribes follow it, some don't. Suggestions for names?
EDIT: Well here is a rather large update, Aldmeri Dominion
The Aldmeri Dominion is a relatively recent creation. Formerly divided
into the two realms of the Summerset Isles and Valenwood, the Aldmeri
Dominion has its origins in CE830, when the heirs of the Camoran
Dynasty began to fight over the Valenwood throne. When a faction of the
Bosmer (Wood Elves) made overtures of peace to their longtime enemies
in West Cyrodiil - territorial concessions in return for Colovian
support for the faction's claimant - the Altmer (High Elves) of
Summerset invaded the Valenwood Nations. Citing a stewardship clause in
a treaty from a thousand years before, the High Elves quickly
established a provisional government, the Thalmor, on behalf of their
own claimant, Camoran Anaxemes, whose bloodline had struck the pact
with the Aldmeri Council in the first place. As the Cyrodilic Empire
was still in the shambles of the Interregnum, the Colovians were
quickly driven back by the Aldmeri army. The other heirs of the throne
were silenced, the Wood Elves thanked their cousins for bringing back
stability, and the High Elves reminded Anaxemes the price of
Summerset's aid: fifty years' fealty to the King of Alinor. The Aldmeri
Dominion was born.
The Thalmor strengthened its hold on the Valenwood Nations during the
foundation of the Third Empire. Savage Bosmer tribes skirmished with
the Estates along the River Strid, whipped to a frenzy by their High
Elven masters. With the Empire now reunified under Tiber Septim, these
attacks have subsided; but encampments wait on either side of the
Valenwood border, awaiting a decisive battle. On the occasions when the
Elves probe the Empire's defenses, the Legions have sent them back in
tatters. Indeed, the Colovians have taken to calling their enemy the
"Old Mary" Dominion, for the womanly offensives of its Elven soldiers.
The situation at sea, however, is another story, and the Dominion
terrorizes the southern waters from the Cape of the Blue Divide to the
Topal Bay. Their sorcery has made allies of a few Reachmen, the Maormer
of Pyandonea, and, as of this writing, perhaps even the Elsweyr
Confederacy. Though no formal declaration of war has been made, Tamriel
is divided between the Empire and the Elder Races, and Tiber Septim has
made it known to the Thalmor that he is the True Emperor of Cyrodiil,
and heir to all of its former holdings. The Elves of Tamriel have yet
to answer.
Considering we have endured their offenses for two thousand years, we
know surprisingly little about the Aldmeri. (Only Morrowind, under
Skyrim domination during the First Empire, and open to travel and trade
during most of the Common Era, is somewhat better known.). The Elves of
High Rock and Cyrodiil were either wiped out long ago or displaced into
obscurity. As for the Elves of the Dominion, our knowledge of their
regions is limited to brief Imperial occupations, or to the
translations we have of their literature (see "The Scarcity of Elven
Writings").
The Scarcity of Elven Writings
Much of the blame for this can be laid on the Alessian Order, which was
tireless in ferreting out and destroying Elven writings during its long
dominance. Today, we are left with the beautiful heresies of the Anuad,
surviving only by virtue of their popularity and proliferation, and
perhaps a dozen more works of lesser reknown. This, though, does not
explain fully the scarcity of Elven letters. We might turn to Dylxexes,
an early human scholar, for another answer. After studying the
financial records of the Direnni Hegemony, a High Elven merchant family
that exploited the human kingdoms of its day, he had this to say:
"These [records] may help to explain why so much of Aldmeri literature
is forbidden, scorned, or untranslated, for I have seen [their] like
before. The Direnni were either exceedingly paranoid or their system of
economy so inextricably linked with dangerous theosophist
numeral-symbolism that much of what is recorded here requires...
sorcerous precautions on the part of the reader. [Hidden magic] is
everywhere incorporated in their writings... signs and preternatural
runes and [correspondences]... in expenditure columns, even, or margins
[that] can be fatal to the uninitiated. Crucial pages were covered with
the spittle of the previous translator, who had babbled idiotically
over the text for days before catching fire."
Of particular scarcity is information about either the High Elves or
the Summerset Isles. During the Second Empire ambassadors were allowed
only in the capital of Alinor, and thus any description of the Altmeri
homeland is confined to that city alone, and elsewhere (see Places of
Note- Alinor). Furthermore, we can offer only this brief but reliable
account of the High Elven people. It comes from the journals of Eric of
Guis, Reman's emissary to the Altmer, who lived among them ca. 1E2820:
"High elves consider themselves to be the only perfect race. Over
hundreds of generations they have bred themselves into a racially pure
line, and are now almost identical to one another in appearance. The
theory that the High Elves do not reproduce as quickly or as often as
humans is false. Rather, and to my horror, they kill nine out of ten
babies born to them in their obsession for purity.
"The Altmer despise other Elves as unsophisticated churls and barely
consider the non-Aldmeri races at all. They pay their Imperial tithes,
I'm sure, not for fear of war with the humans but rather to keep an
invasion from "infecting" their islands.
"Breeding outside the pure line is a terrible, unthinkable crime, and
taken as prima facia evidence of the tainted blood of the individual in
question- if they were, they wouldn't have the impulse to do it. Exile
to the mainland is regarded as equivalent to a death sentence, since
there is no purpose in living outside their ideal society.
"They have a high regard for order and gravitate naturally towards
wearing uniforms and speaking in formal patterns. Their trees and their
livestock have been bred to be as standard and ideal as they are. They
have no real names of their own, only combinations of numbers that,
when spoken aloud, sound to human ears as such. They feel no real
tenderness for one another and have no concept of compassion.
"They are decadent and self-obsessed, and prize form and their own
brand of manners or style as their main value. Aware of their
aristocratic position, they surround themselves with riches and
treasures, the works of great artists and the finest of everything, but
have no real appreciation for any of these things. Each of them is
concerned solely with himself, and as a result they do no real
socializing; they meet and hold courts only to demonstrate their
importance and power to each other. Rarely do they speak to the human
ambassadors of Cyrodiil; when they do, their speech is full of riddles,
or spell-words that enchant one to a satisfied madness.
Valenwood was claimed as a wasteland province of the Second Empire, and
its geography is partially described in several Imperial surveys.
Valenwood is noteworthy in that it has no cities or townships built by
the Wood Elves themselves. Their strict "Green Pact" prohibits the use
of wood or other vegetable derivatives as building materials, and they
are too improvident to learn the use of stone. The Wood Elves permitted
a few roads to be built by the Second Empire, but neglect their
maintenance, as the Bosmer do not need roads to move easily through the
thickest forest; these roads would be now overgrown were it not for the
High Elves of the Thalmor, who have repaired and widened them for rapid
passage of their arms to and from the coast. Much of the region is
impenetrable mangrove and coastal rain forest, with few grasslands or
glade areas until further north near the Strident Coast. Many of the
human trading posts established by the Second Empire have been
abandoned or claimed by the beastfolk - Centaurs, Orcs, and Imga - that
share the forests with the Bosmer tribes. Humans, in general, have
learned not to intrude in the forests of Valenwood. While they once
depended entirely on the annual Stridmeet caravans of the Colovian
West, the Wood Elves now rely entirely on the sea piracy of the
Dominion for whatever they require from the outside world.
Concerning the Wood Elves as a people, we must again turn to the
prolific Eric of Guis. After a grateful dismissal from the Court of
Alinor, he stayed with the Bosmer for a time at the capital city of
Falinesti, during its summer migration. As the city strode along the
coastal region of the Cape, Eric of Guis recorded much about Valenwood
culture:
"No less abhorrent are the Bosmer than their kin at Summerset, but they
are far more cooperative. The Wood Elves love the current human
activity because it makes them feel important.
"They are exclusively and religiously carnivorous. They cannot, or will
not, eat anything that is plant-based. They eat game, beastfolk, each
other, or meats imported from other regions. This part of the Green
Pact is known as the Meat Mandate, and, among its other rules, it
requires that a fallen enemy must be eaten completely before three days
pass. The family members of the warrior that slew the enemy may help
him with his meal. Needless to say, the Wood Elves do not like to
engage in large battles if they have not undergone a suitable
starvation period.
"Though they are excellent archers, the Green Pact forces their bowyers
and fletchers to use bone or similar materials, or to buy bows and
arrows from other cultures. The use of woodcrafts created by another
race is not forbidden, nor is the sale of their own Valenwood timber as
long as it is collected by a non-Bosmeri.
"The Wood Elves, of course, cannot smoke anything of a vegetable
nature. Bone pipes are common, however, and are filled with
caterpillars or tree grubs.
"For a brief time the Colovian armies used Wood Elf archers, as in the
War of Rihad two years past. The Bosmer proved to be too undisciplined
and prone to desertion for further use. They would sometimes walk into
the shade of a single tree and vanish. Their forest-coupling skills are
remarkable. The title of their most famous poem, the Meh Ayleidion,
means "The One Thousand Benefits of Hiding."
"At the trading posts of the Empire, the Wood Elves become very happy.
Some creations of carpentry delight them to no end. Most of it has
never occurred to them. They bring their own trade items: hides, river
pearls, finger-bone charms made from the still-magically-charged hands
of their dead wizards. They often buy woodcrafts that they have no use
for or whose use they never bother to find out. Some of the bravest
Wood Elven warriors use wagon wheels as shields, or as (they think)
impressive headgear.
Wood Elves of the Wild Hunt, 1e369, still about in Valenwood -- Willy
the Bitten returned to haunt Silvenar Grove, While King Dead Wolf-Deer
stalks the Lympan March.
"While sometimes amusing, the Bosmer have a bestial side. They can
resort to animal shapes if they need to, or water. Their most dreaded
transformation is the Wild Hunt, which killed King Borgas for the
"iniquities" of his Alessian faith. The Wild Hunt is a pack of shifting
forest-demons and animal-gods, thousands strong, which sweeps through
the countryside killing everything its path. The Wood Elves do not like
to talk about the Hunt, and I gather they do not feel proud of this
power at all-Gomini, my Bosmer companion of late, tells me that the
Hunt is used for justice, but that also, "every monster in the world
that has ever been comes from a previous Hunt. Those Bosmer that go
Wild, they do not return.""
The traveler is advised to avoid the lands of the Aldmeri Dominion.
Though the Thalmor have representatives at the Imperial City, and the
Cyrodilic Grand Vizier Zurin Arctus is meeting with the King of Alinor,
contact with the Bosmer and Altmer are often disagreeable to the common
Imperial citizen. Avoid their books and magic. Wear the permitted
weaponry when near their borders. If you are manly and able, apply for
service in the Legions.
The Great Apes of Valenwood
The Great Apes, or Imga, are native beastfolk of Valenwood. They see
the High Elves as their lords and masters, and as a portrait of an
ideal, civilized society. Great Apes go to desperate measures to
emulate the High Elves: they wear capes, practice with the dueling
sword, and attempt to speak with perfect enunciation and courtly
manners despite their gravelly, baritone voices. Each Imga bears some
kind of title, be it Baron, Duke, Earl, or the like, which they use
when addressing the members of the Thalmor (needless to say, there are
no landowning Great Apes). More extreme Great Apes shave their bodies
and powder their skin white to seem more like the High Elves. They
often cut themselves in the process, creating the truly pathetic
picture of a naked white Ape, skin dotted pink with blood, strutting
around the trading posts of Valenwood with mock nobility. The Imga feel
that humans are beneath them as lesser beastfolk, and pretend to find
their smell exceedingly offensive - a Great Ape holds a perfumed corner
of his cape to his nose when Men are around.
Places of Note:
Alinor
A forbidden city for nearly fifty years, Alinor is both capital of the
Summerset Isles and the heart of the Aldmeri Dominion. Human traders
were only allowed at its ports, and they described the city as "made
from glass or insect wings." Less fantastic accounts come from the
Imperial emissaries of the Reman Dynasty, which describe the city as
straight and glimmering, "a hypnotic swirl of ramparts and impossibly
high towers, designed to catch the light of the sun and break it to its
component colors, which lies draped across its stones until you are
thankful for nightfall."
Falinesti
The walking city of the Bosmer king, Falinesti is south in the summer
and north come Hearth Fire. It is the largest of Valenwood graht-oaks,
whose magic was invoked at the dawn of recorded history. The Camaron
throne is somewhere in the highest branches, as are numerous other
natural dwellings. Wood Elves climb about its surface like termites, or
carefully swing from level to level by means of thorny vines. Humans
have generally been too unsettled by the city to stay there long,
though Great Apes and Orcs are common. The Thalmor has decided to
change the capital of Valenwood from Falinesti to Elden Root for the
duration of the Aldmeri Dominion.
This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by FLESH: 07.07.2006 16:05.
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07.07.2006 15:54 |
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Krisi-_
Archduke
Registration Date: 27.06.2006
Posts: 1,838
Location: Norway
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well thats Pocket Guide on TIL?
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08.07.2006 00:43 |
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raggidman
Prince
Registration Date: 06.01.2006
Posts: 3,317
Location: where my heart is
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Great find that history. I suggest you move Dance in the Fire to this
thread as it contains essential Lore. There was a Lore Board here
originally, but it was deleted. You might want to set up again with a
new set of boards.
lore would be a good one...
other options:
Literature - permanent
Music - permanent
Concept art - esp at the start
Visual Developement - permanent
suspect it is vital to have both a visual picture of the environment or
whatever you are talking about as it is to have an idea of what
everyone agrees history etc says. And some good music to buoy you up.
Although you can do wonders with the construction set, if you overuse
those assets then you will not achieve a believable Valenwood. So a
good painter or draftsman has to be found so that your team has a clear
basis to work from.
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08.07.2006 01:34 |
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FLESH
Archduke
Registration Date: 23.06.2006
Posts: 2,823
Location: Ireland
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Asked razor to make the changes, Should be here when he comes back.
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08.07.2006 22:03 |
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ghostruler
Viscount
Registration Date: 05.07.2006
Posts: 269
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well wouldn't the bosmer be = related to the high elves and the dark
elves, then the high elves where related to the alyids, sorry i'm a
little rusty on my lore, say also bringing a littly lotr in to this
wouldn't the bosmer be like tree dwelling hobits.
__________________ Kraken, its whats for diner.
Those are good words, I like to wave at them as they pass by.
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08.07.2006 22:11 |
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DarkAsmodeous
King of the Kittens
Registration Date: 25.05.2006
Posts: 4,317
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The elves at base are mer, and when they spread out they evolved into
the races we know today, they are all related, but some more so than
others, valenwood was populated from summerset if I recall. (may be
wrong there)
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08.07.2006 22:21 |
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