Torik and the Akaviri Snakes

Axmalexia

So after reading through the article about Eerika (http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/news/post/2017/07/25/meet-the-character--eerika-skjoralmor) one line struck me in particular, "I'd returned home from the victory over the Akaviri snakes a warrior of some renown." This could be a mistake on ZOS' part, mistaking the Tsaesci for the Kamal, but I've had a friend suggest that Torik who is writing it was apart of the Morag Tong and killed the Potentates in which he refers to them as 'Akaviri Snakes', and there was a man named 'Torik' in the book, http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Axe_Man, so I'm curious as to hear what others believe. Mistake or perhaps intentional?

WhiteCoatSyndrome

I like that theory. Unfortunately I gave up trying to find a group on the PTS to play through the dungeons so I have no idea if Torik shows up, thus I'm afraid I can't offer evidence either for or against the idea.

As for the Tsaesci vs. Kamal, that confusion has happened before. I usually handwave it with one of two explanations:

1.) The people of Tamriel get the two confused themselves, since very little is know about Akavir and its nations. The Tsaesci are slightly better known, so all the people of Akavir who visit tend to be associated with them regardless of their actual nationality.
2.) The Kamal brought some Tsaesci mercenaries with them when they invaded. Yes they're enemies, but a common theme in the Elder Scrolls is that just because something is true of a people as a general rule, doesn't mean it is 100% true for 100% of the people in question. As an example we run into Khajiiti mercenaries in Vvardenfell, even though Elsweyr is on the other side of the continent.

altemriel

I was thinking of trying out the PTS today

ZunaRoath

To be honest, the Kamal as refered as way too many things to really think well of what they are.

Yesterday I spend half afternoon researching, I've an RP event to do, and I kinda need to know how the Kamal looked like for certain things to make more sense. I've looked everywhere on how the Kamal looked, some people just say they look like yeti, because "snow demons".

It's so frustrating to have a character who fought the Akaviri in their invasion, yet have no idea how they look like xD Then in RP you're asked: "How did they look like?" and well, you can't really answer that because you've no idea. Does it really make sense? That there are -tons- of books, written reports of people in the Invasion, and nobody gives a single description. Reports that are supposed to go from soldiers to their superiors, why not describe the Kamal? I wish the loremaster could give us some more hints, or directly a description ._.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

ZunaRoath wrote: »

To be honest, the Kamal as refered as way too many things to really think well of what they are.

Yesterday I spend half afternoon researching, I've an RP event to do, and I kinda need to know how the Kamal looked like for certain things to make more sense. I've looked everywhere on how the Kamal looked, some people just say they look like yeti, because "snow demons".

It's so frustrating to have a character who fought the Akaviri in their invasion, yet have no idea how they look like xD Then in RP you're asked: "How did they look like?" and well, you can't really answer that because you've no idea. Does it really make sense? That there are -tons- of books, written reports of people in the Invasion, and nobody gives a single description. Reports that are supposed to go from soldiers to their superiors, why not describe the Kamal? I wish the loremaster could give us some more hints, or directly a description ._.

This probably doesn't help much, but the Akaviri Motif gear is at least partially Kamal - and apparently they wore face-concealing helmets, so that might be part of why there aren't many descriptions.

elias.stormneb18_ESO

Kamali soldiers are referred to as snake-like in other places aswell. It seems like there were either Tsaesci fighting in with the Kamal, or that the Kamal are also snake-like (or at the very least reptile-like) to some extent.

LMar

It could be just a way of cursing them for their treachery but who knows

Korah_Eaglecry

Its likely ZOS writers not keeping track of their own story. But it can also be suggested that being that the Potentate was a Tsaeci, his kind would be the most well known Akaviri because of his and his sons station and renown, that many mistake any Akaviri as Tsaeci. We see this in the real world as often people of one ethnic background is mistaken for another because of skin tone, accents and naming.

Its also possible that some Tsaeci were in fact members of the Kamal war-party. But this is something that the writers for ZOS have failed to share with us, and its definitely something you would want to elaborate on somewhere in all the background story for the Ebonheart Pact. Torik being a first-hand witness to the events of the 2nd Akaviri Invasion makes him a reliable source. So his choice in wording here complicates this just being hand-waved off as mistaken identity. Either we havent been given the full story, a failure on the part of the writers, or we have stumbled across a failure to keep track of their own story, again a failure on part of the writers.

thawks

Both "snakes" and "tiger demons" are mentioned as being part of the invading force. It must've been a multinational army.

ZunaRoath

That's the thing. It might be that they were just called "snakes" or "snow demons" and such just because of how they were towards the people of Tamriel, or just because their appearance, or because they wore masks and such that made them appear like so.