Total absence of Imgas in Valenwood

Alucu

Isn't this beastfolk race the aboriginal life form of valenwood? Any clue of their whereabouts or did they just decide to completely ignore them. AD storyline probably is the lamest one in the game

Jim_Pipp

This question sort of got answered a while ago in this news article

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/25431

Question " while traveling in Valenwood I have had extreme difficulty tracking down any sort of artifact or settlement associated with the Imga in spite of the fact that, to my knowledge, they still exist. (Finding individuals of that race has likewise proven problematic, but that is beyond the scope of this query.) I have visited portions of Black Marsh and seen the remains of Kothringi villages, and my understanding of the Lilmothiit is that they did not have much in the way of settlements, being nomadic, so the absence of artifacts from their culture doesn't trouble me. But the Imga should still be around, making or using tools. Why have they left no signs?"

Answer (from lady Laurent!) “Regarding the Imga, I think Summerset author Cirantille has written on the subject, opining that the Imga have gone 'to visit Falinesti' until this current Planemeld and Alliance War nonsense is good and over. Not that you can trust anything Cirantille has to say, of course."

Alucu

This answer doesn't surprise me too much. You can get rid of two elephants in the room using the same explanation. Better than nothing I guess

starkerealm

Yeah, I wouldn't hold out much hope of ever seeing the Imga, in any game. They're one of the weirder parts of the setting, but actually sticking it in game would rapidly reach "Resident Evil 5's native villagers" levels of uncomfortable.

The closest we're likely to actually see are the Imgakin monkeys.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

I suspect we'll see them if Falinesti ever becomes a DLC. This is assuming Cirantille wasn't making it up like she usually does, of course. Lady Laurent is dead on about that.

It is disappointing that they dumped them though. Since we had to go through the entirety of Valenwood anyway, touching on some non-Bosmeri culture might have helped break things up a bit.

Volsera

Alucu wrote: »

Isn't this beastfolk race the aboriginal life form of valenwood? Any clue of their whereabouts or did they just decide to completely ignore them. AD storyline probably is the lamest one in the game

From the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Page:

The Imga disappeared from Valenwood circa 2E 582 to wait out the end of the Planemeld and the Alliance War. According to the Altmer author Cirantille, they went to 'visit Falinesti', which had similarly vanished from Tamriel many years previous. It is unknown when exactly the city or the Imga returned.

It seems like the Great Apes just went away with their city hehe..

ChibchanLawyer

That answer might explain why you wouldn't see any Imgas around, but it doesn't explain why there aren't any remnants of their settlements. they might have gone to visit the Falinesti, but they probably didn't take their buildings with them now, did they?

If I had to answer what happened to the sites, I'd say they were engulfed by the forest or something, to at least theorize about it.

starkerealm

ChibchanLawyer wrote: »

That answer might explain why you wouldn't see any Imgas around, but it doesn't explain why there aren't any remnants of their settlements. they might have gone to visit the Falinesti, but they probably didn't take their buildings with them now, did they?

If I had to answer what happened to the sites, I'd say they were engulfed by the forest or something, to at least theorize about it.

There's a lot of little abandoned camp sites and settlements scattered throughout Valenwood. Or, at least Grahtwood. It's entirely possible those do belong to the Imga.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

ChibchanLawyer wrote: »

That answer might explain why you wouldn't see any Imgas around, but it doesn't explain why there aren't any remnants of their settlements. they might have gone to visit the Falinesti, but they probably didn't take their buildings with them now, did they?

Might depend on what they had in the way of settlements in the first place; from what we know the Imga generally don't own land. They might have been leeching off the Bosmer for housing. Or, switching that idea around, it's been about three years from the start of the game since the Soulburst and associated mess began - assuming they 'left' at or before that point, that's plenty of time for their Bosmeri neighbors to steal their goods and move into whatever they were living in. I'm sketchy on how long it takes things to decay in the jungle, but I suppose whatever they were living in could fall apart in that time - with the Bosmer as neighbors, they're probably limited to most of the same building materials.

starkerealm

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

ChibchanLawyer wrote: »

That answer might explain why you wouldn't see any Imgas around, but it doesn't explain why there aren't any remnants of their settlements. they might have gone to visit the Falinesti, but they probably didn't take their buildings with them now, did they?

Might depend on what they had in the way of settlements in the first place; from what we know the Imga generally don't own land. They might have been leeching off the Bosmer for housing. Or, switching that idea around, it's been about three years from the start of the game since the Soulburst and associated mess began - assuming they 'left' at or before that point, that's plenty of time for their Bosmeri neighbors to steal their goods and move into whatever they were living in. I'm sketchy on how long it takes things to decay in the jungle, but I suppose whatever they were living in could fall apart in that time - with the Bosmer as neighbors, they're probably limited to most of the same building materials.

It depends on the building materials, but three years is more than enough time for the jungle to reclaim a settlement, if, (and this is the critical part), it was constructed using easily available materials that had a place in the local food chain even after use.

That is to say, if they're using the same bone and leather motif as the Bosmer, and accenting it with plant materials, that could very well be gone by the time you get there. Or scattered to the point where it's not recognizable at all.

There are also a number of abandoned settlements scattered throughout the Valenwood zones. Some are small dwellings, while others appear to be religious shrines or other functions. It's possible (though, not easily proven) that at least some these are remnants of the Imga's presence.

TheNuminous1

im holding out for a falinesti dlc. it would make a good small zone typw dlc like they are fond of now. ie hewbane clockwork gold coast.

and if the imga really are in falinesti then that means they have been gone some 200-300 years i think.

WhitePawPrints

You all are thinking too hard on this. The reason Imga "left" according to ZoS Lore is nothing more than a lousy excuse of why they didn't include the race, with the greatest possibility being that ZoS didn't have the resources and probably forgot to include them to begin with. Then came out with a half-assed lore reasoning a couple years later.

I expect we won't ever see the Imga, because of what I'd assume be the secondary reason: racism backlash galore! First, Imga are an ape-like human race - that alone will set off so many bells across modern society, our ears will ring to the end of days. Plus, the Imga are known to be rather dim-witted, and nearly worship the superior Altmer. Imga are known to attempt to dress and speak like high elves, and even go as far to attempt to change their appearance to be like a high elf (shave their bodies, and powder themselves white).

Soo... yeah. It'd be a bold move for Bethesda to ever include Imga as we know them.

MythicEmperor

There is little difference between the Bosmer and the Imga. Both races are little more than savages. Unfortunately for us Telvanni, their departure means less of a labor force to draw from. Instead, we will simply exploit the scaled savages a bit more. SEHT knows they deserve it.

Korah_Eaglecry

Volsera wrote: »

Alucu wrote: »

Isn't this beastfolk race the aboriginal life form of valenwood? Any clue of their whereabouts or did they just decide to completely ignore them. AD storyline probably is the lamest one in the game

From the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Page:

The Imga disappeared from Valenwood circa 2E 582 to wait out the end of the Planemeld and the Alliance War. According to the Altmer author Cirantille, they went to 'visit Falinesti', which had similarly vanished from Tamriel many years previous. It is unknown when exactly the city or the Imga returned.

It seems like the Great Apes just went away with their city hehe..

That expanation doesnt make any sense. The Falinesti disappeared long before the Planemeld if I remember correctly. How were the Imga able to forsee such a cataclysm. And if they hadnt and decided to go to Falinesti after the fact, how did they know where the city went when it seems no one else can locate it?

starkerealm

@MythicEmperor, what you don't understand is that House Telvanni are made up entirely of disguised Imga. Oh, they try their best, but they burn through scrolls at a horrific rate.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

@Korah_Eaglecry Well we know of at least one Imga Prophet...

Tangent: if they do bring the Imga in and don't at lease touch on Marukh, I will be quite cross.