The New Elven Chronology. A Theory.

Aigym_Hlervu

Whom do you trust more?
1. Aicantar of Shimmerene and the Imperial Geographical Society.
or
2. Telenger the Artificer and the Sapiarchs of Mythohistory and Enchantment.

Hello, mates. A pure speculation with no intent to prove anything. I have developped a theory recently, it is a Chinese Wall of text full of dates, references, qoutes and commentaries just like some of my guides in the parallel section, so I won't publish it this time. Below is just a very small part of it to explain it's point and the point of the question I asked above. So I called the theory "The New Elven Chronology" because it's point is that the Ayleids are the Aldmer we know from the chronicles, and thus Aldmeris the scholars tell us about in the books, is actually the Ayleid Empire. In other words, when we read the history of the Aldmer we have to keep in mind that Aldmer=Ayleids, Aldmeris=Ayleid Empire. Now to it's grounds.

Today we have the following general historical periods:
1. Dawn Era: ? - ME 2500;
2. Merethic Era: ME 2500 - 0;
3. First Era: 1E 1 - 2920;
4. Second Era: 2E 1 - 896 (ESO events - 2E 582);
5. Third Era: 3E 1 - 433 (TES I-IV events - 3E 389 -433);
6. Fourth Era: 4E 1 - ? (TES V events - 4E 201).
These are the periods developped by Aicantar of Shimmere and the Imperial Geographical Society. This chronology is supported by many other scholars, but the equal quantity of them do not mention any dates in their works on the events of the past. My theory touches the period of Dawn Era - 1E 668 as the turning period of the history of Tamriel - check the current list of dates and events here. All the other topics you might be interested in are located in the posts below the original one. It contains the method I used to calculate the dates of various events depicted in the lore, the history of how did I come up to this theory, views on different events and dates in the history of Tamriel, etc. you might find interesting. In order to make it more comfortable to navigate, I created the topics list subsection down below in this original post with all the direct links to those posts. The list is updated as soon as a new topic is published. Now on to the theory grounds!

The theory is based on several crucial ideas and facts:
1. The major part of the history from the Dawn Era to the First Era has no certain dates at all.
2. All the dates and the names of the historical periods we know today are developed and supported by two major chroniclers - Aicantar of Shimmerene and the Imperial Geographical Society (IGS). Almost all the other chroniclers unquestionably come after the chronology of Aicantar and the history based on it written by the IGS & Co. The first is known as a militant Altmeri supremacy propagandist almost in all of his books and interviews and the latter supports the doctrine of the Altmeri cultural primacy as one of the basic parts of the Imperial civilization and the Imperial policy. The history they've written leave multiple contradictions, mistakes and gaps that make certain indisputable historical events contradict the reality depicted in the game. It leaves more questions then the answers it gives.
3. If a single line in a text written by Aicantar or the IGS is considered true by default due to their unquestionable authority, the same way the Sapiarchs' research should be trusted, treated and developped further on.
4. The period of ME ~833 - 1E 242 is crucial to the history of Tamriel and the way it is interpreted defines the history and policy of all the following historical events. The majority of the events of this period were thrown back in time (on the paper, not literally) to the Middle and Early Merethic Era, while some of the events located there should be lifted back to the First Era.
5. The Narfinsel Schism started in the Late Merethic Era close to 1E 0 (including the Scouring of Wendelbek of 1E 198 as the crucial part of the Schism) and the Fall of White Gold Tower in 1E 243 are the turning points of the entire history of Tamriel.

The question of the poll is based on the article 3 I mentioned above. If you trust the Altmeri scholars and the IGS, then nothing changes to you. If you agree with the Sapiarchs then the New Elven Chronology based on it will show you that:
1. The first Elven civilization existed in the Heartland of Tamriel from the very beginning. The fall of the Ayleid Empire (the fall of Aldmeris) is the greatest catastrophe of the Elven history. The ancient Elven desire to find Aldmeris and return there, to reestablish the Elven rule and to ascend back to the status of divines is a metaphorical idea to restore the ancient Aldmeri-Ayleid Empire in Tamriel, to restore Aldmeris.
2. The dissolution of the Aldmeri-Ayleid society began sometime around 1E 0 when the Ten Ancestors and All Divines worship was split in two and the two parties of the Aedraphiles and the Daedraphiles established. This Narfinsel Schism caused the civil war in 1E 198, the Alessian Slave Rebellion and the massive exodus of different Ayleid refugee groups from the Heartland Tamriel at all directions after the 1E 243 especially. This is the time Veloth and his people, being chased by the Nedes, left Cyrodiil and traveled north-east a much shorter distance, than he is said to have traveled from Summerset by Aicantar. My theory says that before their change the Chimer were common Daedra-worshipping Ayleids like many other of their kin. This is the time the Altmeri refugees led by Torinaan left the Heartland at the opposite direction to the nearest isle of Auridon (possibly because the Ayleid King Narilmor refused to give shelter to anyone in Garlas Malatar). This is the time the Valenwood Ayleids who "soiled Time's line by taking Mannish wives" during the previous centuries and thus were changing their shape dramatically, gave shelter to their northern brethren and then they all finally became the modern Bosmer in 1E 369 during the very first Wild (..Elves?) Hunt.
3. Pelinal Whitestrake was not 243 years old as Aicantar says it, but appeared by the time of the Alessian Rebellion.
4. The Falmer and the Dwemer did not appear in the late periods of the Merethic Era from nowhere with all their religions (the Falmer), social structures and technologies already developped to that high level only to exist several hundrends of years and vanish.
5. All the modern Elven races are the remnants of the Ayleid Empire, they are equal in their heritage. The Altmer are the descendants of the Aedra-worshipping Ayleid refugees who fled south-west and south along with the Maormer; the Bosmer are both the descendants of the Aedra-worshipping Ayleids who lived in Valenwood since 1E 0 and the Ayleid refugees who fled there after 1E 243; the Chimer are the descendants of the Daedra-worshipping Ayleids who fled from the Nedic Rebellion and pursuit after 1E 243; the Falmer and the Dwemer are the only Ayleid descendants who stood away from the Schism, saved their original civilization's heritage but were finally defeated.
6. All the history of Tamriel is the history of the Human conquest of Tamriel and their attempts to maintain their authority through the "divide and govern" motto.
7. Etc., etc., etc. Lots of things actually (some more are mentioned below).

Ok, here's the background of the question I asked in the very beginning:

LATE MERETHIC ERA, ME~833 - 1E 0
* The proto-elves and the proto-men begin to transform into modern races - "In what historians called the Merethic (or Mythic) Era, the years before formal historical reckoning, the Aldmer came to Tamriel .. The Aldmer changed over time culturally according to their new environments, being at first temperamentally and then physically very distinct "races" separate from one another. The ones who stayed in Summerset became known as the Altmer; in Valenwood, Bosmer; in Morrowind, Chimer and Dwemer; in Cyrodiil, Ayleid; and in High Rock, a mix between Nedic and Aldmer birthed the Bretons. The Orsimer or Orcs were also created at this time; Aldmer warped by the destruction of their leader Trinimac, who it is said became the Daedra Prince Malacath. This disparate chorus may have been crafted consciously by the Daedra or by the shifts of the earthbones, but the reason why is not necessary for this history. Change they did. The Nedic people also changed over the centuries of their invasions from Atmora. The original Nedics of Skyrim are now known as the Nords. The ones who crossed west to High Rock, as we have said, interbred with the Aldmer there to create the Bretons, who are most commonly considered men, not mer. The Nedics who crossed south became the Cyrodiils, eventually the prisoners and slaves of the bellicose Ayleids of that region.".

Summary: keep in mind the time period they began to change.

MIDDLE MERETHIC ERA (ME~1667 - ME~833)
* The Aldmer leave the dying Aldmeris and settle in the isle of Auridon - the voyage performed by the High Lord Torinaan the Foresailor who sailed to the northern coast of the isle and set foot at a site called Nine-Prow Landing.
Our friend Aicantar says it precisely, the Aldmer came in the Middle Merethic Era - "In the Middle Merethic Era, the Aldmeri (mortals of Elven origin) refugees left their doomed and now-lost continent of Aldmeris (also known as 'Old Ehlnofey') and settled in southwestern Tamriel."
But someone called Fenilil the Wayfarer contradicts Aicantar, saying it happened in the Early Merethic Era - "I'm often asked when the Ancients first arrived in the Archipelago. My researches indicate that it was in the middle of the Early Merethic Period.".

Summary: so we have two accounts here and Aicantar's one seems to be accepted by the scholars of Tamriel including those who define history like the Imperial Geographical Society - the elven "Ancients" came to Auridon in the Middle Merethic Period.

EARLY MERETHIC ERA, ME 2500 - ME~1667
* According to Ancirinque, Sapiarch of Mythohistory, and Nolin the Many-Hued, Sapiarch of Enchantment, the Ayleid wizards were existing during this time and they began to perform experiments on the rune stones all across Tamriel - ".. runestones were already here when the Foresailor arrived from Old Aldmeris.", ".. they date from the early Merethic Era, and are the unintended consequence of an Ayleid wizard's experiment gone awry."

Summary: so, here we have two Sapiarchs who say that the Ancients mentioned by Fenilil the Wayfarer are actually Ayleid (not the Aldmer, their progenitors) and they acknowledge those Ayleids were existing in the Early Merethic Era, and thus the Ayleids are not the descendants of the Aldmer and are not the lesser brothers to the Altmer.
* The Ancients and even the projection of Lord Nerevar shown in the Elegiac Replication wearing the typical Ayleid armor, supports the Sapiarchs.
* The Ayleid design of the very first Aldmeri settlements of Torinaan and Quendeluun in Auridon supports the Sapiarchs.
* The Ayleid and the Altmeri existence is said to be contemporary. But the Ayleid history, heritage and supremacy over the Altmer in magic, architecture, socio-economic and religious development, airship building (yes, the Ayleids built airships), energy research, etc. depicted in the modern lore contradicts the Altmeri and the Imperial propaganda that "Summerset became one of the earliest centers of Aldmer civilization, which developed over thousands of years into the Altmer of historical times." and supports the Sapiarchs. That center should be the Ayleid Empire and Summerset is just one of the many destination points the Ayleid refugees settled after 1E 243.
* Sometimes our friend Aicantar of Shimmerene says some odd things especially regarding the dates he's considered to be specialist in - "During the Middle Merethic Era, Aldmeri explorers mapped the coasts of Vvardenfel, building the First Era High Elven wizard towers at Ald Redaynia, Bal Fell, Tel Aruhn, and Tel Mora in Morrowind." Does anyone understands what did he say here?.. Did he really mean that, before the Altmer became distinct from the Aldmer, those Altmer of the Middle Merethic Era built those Velothi towers, having transported them somehow from or to the First Era and then abandoned them to the Chimer? Oh, my. I guess that's the first recorded Dragon Break in the history.

LINKS TO THE POSTS BELOW ON SOME TOPICS VIEWED FROM THE THEORY'S PERSPECTIVE

This list will be updated to include new topics viewed from the New Elven Chronology theory:
* On Topal the Pilot;
* On the method to calculate dates;
* On the history of research;
* On the scales of the Ayleid Empire;
* On the location of Aldmeris;
* On the actual age of Nerevar (link to the "List of Dates" thread);
* On the source of errors in Aicantar's Chronology.

Avariprivateer

I'm fairly new to Elder Scrolls lore, my background is mainly in Arda from the years of the trees onward. Do Topal the Pilot's voyages figure into any of this? If the Aldmer were from mainland Tamriel I would think his "discoveries" would include Ayleid habitations already there?

Aigym_Hlervu

Hello and thank you for a good question, @Avariprivateer. I asked it too myself, while writing that wall full of dates I mentioned earlier. Yes, Topal the Pilot is included in this theory, though indirectly, aside of the dates, because his very existence is much debatable even in traditional Aicantar's chronology. Below is my point of view on Topal's voyage within my chronology, if you have time and interest to read it, otherwise just scroll down to the Conlusion part.

BACKGROUND:
* It is said that there is but one record of Topal's voyage called the "Father of the Niben" - it is the only written record of Topal the Pilot's voyages, but as it is presumed, it is not the only proof of his existence. Among the treasures of the great Crystal Tower of Summerset Isle are his crude but fascinating maps, his legacy to all Tamriel. I haven't seen any of those fascinating maps and I don't know if those maps were really created by Topal, so I won't speak of it.
* It is 2E 582 in ESO, by this time we have only 2 of 4 verses in the game mentioned in the "Father of the Niben" (the rest are found in later eras - in previous games). So, here are two options - those two lacking verses are either not found yet or not written yet. I can't see another reason of why the devs have included in the ESO only 2 of the 4 verses already existing in the previous games, yet keeping that reference in the text that only four short verse fragments of the epic "Father of the Niben" have survived to present day.
* The "Father of the Niben" is not the original text, but a translation made by someone called Florin Jaliil (possibly a Colovian scholar). Though Florin honestly tells that "The translation of the Aldmeri Udhendra Nibenu, "Father of the Niben," is my own, and I accept that other scholars may disagree with some of my choice of words", there are no other scholars who have ever made another translation - Florin's translation is the only existing today. I suppose, this is because it suits everybody and supports the Altmeri race's and their homeland's primacy.
* The words "Ayleid", "Altmer", "High Elves" and "Aldmer" are often mixed up in various texts - that causes some strange interpretations I've shown earlier. An example from the Aicantar's book - "During the Middle Merethic Era, Aldmeri explorers mapped the coasts of Vvardenfel, building the First Era High Elven wizard towers at Ald Redaynia, Bal Fell, Tel Aruhn and Tel Mora in Morrowind. It was also during this period that Ayleid [Wild Elven] settlements flourished in the jungles surrounding White Gold Tower (present day Cyrodiil). Wild Elves, also known as the Heartland High Elves, preserved the Dawn Era magics and language of the Ehlnofey.". Aicantar's own chronology leaves too many questions to this text, because according to him he speaks of three distinct, though closely relative nations. According to my theory all the four words "Ayleid", "Altmer", "High Elves" and "Aldmer" mentioned there mean the very same Ayleid proto-elven folk, and all the four words should be changed to "Ayleid" - this way it fully reconciles with my chronology and the text gets the sense. The "Father of the Niben" and many other sources mentioning these four words and describing the events before 1E 500s except the records of the Altmeri-Maormeri rivalry, should be read the same way.
* In his book Florin supports the Aicantar's Chronology saying that the "Father of the Niben" offers "an interesting if controversial look at the Middle Merethic Era when Topal the Pilot may have sailed the seas around Tamriel" (also pay attention to that "may have sailed" part). But the same time Aicantar has no reference to Topal's voyage at all speaking only of the inconsistency I've said a paragraph earlier - in his book the Aldmeri progenitors of all the elven races were making the very first maps of the territory of Tamriel while the same time the Ayleids, being supposedly their very descendants and even the Altmeri lesser brothers, had already built White Gold Tower, flourished around it and were somehow the only elven race mentioned to preserve the magics and language of the Ehlnofey . This means both Aicantar and thus Florin are wrong in dates. By the way, in my chronology both the Crystal and White Gold Towers were built by the Ayleids - within my theory Crystal Tower was built much later than the Cyrodiilic one.
* The "Father of the Niben" translated verses mention the Orcs. The True Nature of Orcs of an unknown "anti-Orc" author tells that "Orcs were born during the latter days of the Dawn Era.", Aicantar places them in the Early Merethic Era, Florin says that Topal met them in the Middle Merethic Era, while the Chimer, who are supposed to be changed simultaneously with the Orcs, are placed in the Aicantar's Chronology and other books that support it, in the Late Middle Merethic Era. The True Nature of Orcs reserves the place for the Chimer in the Dawn Era too, but, excuse me, if both the Orcs and the Chimer evolved in the Dawn Era (? - ME 2500), then how about all those Aldmer, Altmer, Ayleids, Dwemer, etc. elven folks who appeared much later, thousands of years later? A rhetorical question.

CONCLUSION: Topal the Pilot is officially a mythical, legendary explorer and poet who is not yet acknowledged as a historical character, his very existence is officialy debated by the in-game scholars themselves. Before speaking of the event's chronology, it should be considered a fact. Topal's verses may have been created by Florin himself (though I doubt it because Florin seems to be an honest man - my opinion based on his book), or it may have been written by some other Altmeri scholars who seek ways to extend their history to the distant past in order to propagate the Altmeri supremacy and the Summerset Isles as the birthplace of the Elven race second to the mythical Aldmeris only. Personally, I think we deal with a possibly incorrect translation. Because only Florin's translation exists today, we can't say if that translation is correct or incorrect. I think that some events depicted in the verses were real, but what place should they take in the New Elven Chronology (well, in any chronology) is questionable - today I doubt they should be placed in the Middle Merethic Era the way Florin did it.

Eporem

A Belief
Aldmeris to me, seems like it was a place where all Aldmer (the first folk) were the same, a place of stasis maybe, and it started to become lost (to memory perhaps) when the Aldmer began to spread throughout Tamriel, evolving away from one another , changing into the different Mer they are today. So when I read what you write and in thinking Aldmeris was this place of stasis and is the Ayleid Empire, like you say, then a question comes up - IF Aldmeris was once a place where all Aldmer were the same, and IF this is a consideration in what you write then does the Ayleid Empire show us the truest nature of the Aldmer (the first folk) before change began.

Aigym_Hlervu

Eporem wrote: »

A Belief
Aldmeris to me, seems like it was a place where all Aldmer (the first folk) were the same, a place of stasis maybe, and it started to become lost (to memory perhaps) when the Aldmer began to spread throughout Tamriel, evolving away from one another , changing into the different Mer they are today. So when I read what you write and in thinking Aldmeris was this place of stasis and is the Ayleid Empire, like you say, then a question comes up - IF Aldmeris was once a place where all Aldmer were the same, and IF this is a consideration in what you write then does the Ayleid Empire show us the truest nature of the Aldmer (the first folk) before change began.

Yes, you are absolutely correct, it does - this is exactly the main idea of the entire theory, Eporem. My theory says the Ayleids were exactly that legendary Aldmer who dissolved into all the other elven races we know about. And yes, it is a "what if" thing, of course. When you read two books written by two different authors who depict the very same event differently, it is only up to you personally to decide, whom of them do you believe the most. Such a decision, the choice I made, took me that far to restructurize all the lore I've been studying for the recent couple of decades and develop this new theory. Thus, of course, it is too "what if" thing some people accept, the other deny. What I like personally is that the order of the devs design is really great - this theory would have never existed without all those small details and inconsistences they created in the in-game books, dialogues, arms and armor designs, some NPC, ancient ruins and their locations, etc., etc. It is not that chaotic or strictly one or two ways directed to make my theory totally impossible - it seems the same idea could have visited some of their loremasters too. A brilliant work indeed, worthy of it's price. I'm finalizing to make the lists of dates and events (both of the Aicantar's current official chronology and mine) more readable and soon we'll be able to discuss it in details.

Aigym_Hlervu

HOW TO CALCULATE DATES

I've published the dates to start with, guys. Please, read them here. How to calculate dates if you follow the New Elven Chronology? For example you want to know the date or the period of the destruction of the Falmeri state. Reading the Journal of Mirtil Angoth we discover that the Falmer decided to appeal to the Dwemer for shelter after the news of the fall of the Snow Prince reached them. Was that Prince a real historical figure? Yes, he was and he still rests in Jolgeirr Barrow. So you open the "Fall of the Snow Prince" book and it tells you: "The Battle of the Moesring was to be the final stand between Nord and Elf on our fair island. Led by Ysgramor, we had driven the Elven scourge from Skyrim, and were intent on cleansing Solstheim of their kind as well.". And from the Aicantar's "Before the Ages of Man" and other corresponding sources we know that Ysgramor lived in the Late Merethic Era.

So, it is all absolutely clear now - the Falmeri state was finally destroyed and it's refugees went underground in the Late Merethic Era when Ysgramor and his men defeated the Falmeri final resistance in the Battle of the Moesring in Solstheim when the Snow Prince fell.

Is that calculation correct? No, it isn't. If the Falmer had already been underground by the 1E 0, how did they manage to resist that heavily in 1E 139 in the Rift? Moreover, such a magnificent event as the fall of a civilization should have been followed by some other contemporary events in the Nord society, but none of them are recorded. That's strange. So, to solve the puzzle we have to pay more attention to the details: the only known Falmer survivor Gelebor says, that his people were defending their land from the Nords "who claimed the land as their ancestral home". In the "Frontier, Conquest.." published by the University of Gwylim, we discover, that the Nords finally reached their goal, Gelebor told us about, to claim the Falmeri lands - "under King Harald, the first historical Nord ruler (1E 113-221), "the Atmoran mercenaries returned to their homeland" following the consolidation of Skyrim as a centralized kingdom.". And the King Harald's plaque tells us that in the year of 1E 143 Lord Harald was crowned the First High King of Skyrim. Now it is all in order - the Nords were still fighting the Falmer in the Rift in 1E 139. They pushed them north to the Lord Harald's host and destroyed them. After it the Nords defeated the final Falmeri forces in the Battle of the Moesring. Their defeat in that battle made the Falmer go underground and the Nords finally conquered the land. Thus Lord Harald was crowned High King in 1E 143 and established the Kingdom of Skyrim. So, it is 1E 143.

If you follow the New Elven Chronology it is not enough to read, for example, that the "Late Merethic Era marks the precipitous decline of Velothi culture" in some book. Assigning dates to certain events we have to examine the events happened around them, to find out what caused that, say, decline of the Velothi culture, and the results that followed that event. We have to examine everything - the books, the personalities of their authors, the in-game items description and design, world objects and NPC dialogue lines. Having gathered the information we have to sort it out, to exclude inconsistences, pick out the logically consistent facts and insert them into the proper place of the history events chain we are building.

Aigym_Hlervu

HISTORY OF RESEARCH

How did I come up to the idea of this theory?

First I thought the things I witnessed were some kind of inconsistences, a result of inability to reconcile the game lore and the game world between the devs' lore and design teams:
- The models of Nerevar's projection and the spirits of the Ancients on Summerset wear the same Ayleid armors;
- the Chimer fighting the Nedes during a quest (the Nedes should have been slaves or at least much occupied fighting the Ayleids by the time while the Chimer do not seem to be a "declined Velothi culture" wearing armor instead of those Ashlander clothes, utilizing complex magic, etc.);
- the glory of White Gold Tower on one hand and the Adamantine Tower, so poorly and insignificantly depicted both in the lore and in the game, but still said to be the first building on Nirn in a single line of a book written by a very dubious in-game author - on the other;
- Ayleid ruins scattered almost everywhere including Summerset, but none purely Aldmeri ones. You go to Auridon and see that Torinaan ruins - they say the "Ancients" built it, but it's design is purely Ayleid and the lore keeps silence on the reasons why.
- the Falmeri language bearing so many similarities with Ayleidoon while none of the purely Aldmer writings exist.
- the Argonian lore and it's tribal primitive status caused by the Duskfall happened in the unidentified monstrously distant past and the Elven Dawn Era that caused the rise of Mer.
- the Imperial Geographical Society scholars who said in their Pocket Guide to the Empire - "The history of the Summerset Isle in the First Era and most of the Second is very much removed from the rest of mainland Tamriel." and just a few paragraphs further - "The chronicler can scarcely find a year throughout the First and Second Eras when the Maormer did not ravage the coastlines of the Altmer.". How did he know it if the history was that "very much removed" ? They say "According to the traditions of Summerset, the Aldmer who went to be free on the mainland became all the disparate elven folk of history: Chimer, Bosmer, Ayleid", but that traditions seemed to contradict everything else - so I asked myself "Why do we all accept it as truth, why does UESP keeps showing it as the only lore-wise truth?"
- the Altmer, whose really undoubtful history as a distinct race starts only in 1E 500s, claim primacy among the Elves propagating their land to be the birthplace of all other Mer.
- Etc., etc.

I began asking questions like "How much time passed between Veloth and Nerevar?" (200 years at most within my theory - a lifespan of an ordinary Dunmer. They were almost contemporaries, depending on how old was Veloth by 1E 243 and how young was Nerevar by 1E 416) because such things are never mentioned in the lore. And then I noticed that all those things are not inconsistences and chaos, but a system of different but equally lore-wise accounts scattered among many truths. Some of them showed the Altmeri propaganda and in-game scholar's mistakes while the other formed a system, a strict link of events that should be placed one after another in a certain order. So I gathered them and began sorting out. Well, actually, I've been gathering them and conducting study for 20 years - almost all the time I've been playing TES .. And it turned out that the variant of history many of us know as the only "lore-wise" is just the history written from the Altmeri perspective and used by the Empire to maintain order under the human rule. This history is not a total lie, of course, but it throws back in time certain historical events in favor of the in-game lore-wise Altmeri and Imperial policy. This is why it does not answer too many questions like "Why Veloth was the only one such character mentioned to leave Summerset? Why did the Ayleids leave Summerset if originally they were Aedra-worshippers? When did they leave, who led them, why the lore says that they simply "appeared" from nowhere in Heartland just like the Falmer and the Dwemer appeared in their respective lands? How did Veloth manage to cross the entire Tamriel unnoticed by the Ayleids and anyone else? Why didn't he stop in neither of the lands he crossed but stubbornly marched to Morrowind? Why and when could slavery become the Dunmeri "ancient right" if they descended from Summerset and the Three Good Daedra never urged them to follow that practice? Where are the purely Aldmeri ruins and artifacts scattered all over Tamriel before their culture turned into the Bosmeri, Dunmeri, Ayleid, Dwemeri, etc.?" Etc., etc.

My theory answers them all and much more. The result of those questions and the research performed are this theory and the corresponding list of dates.

Nomadic_Atmoran

Very interesting theory. I have to agree with you on Topal at least. I find the writings to be extremely derogatory of the races that are mentioned in the poem and those hinted at (the manner in which Morrowind is described could possibly be a dig at the Chimer/birdmen that could only mimic Topal and his men a rebuke of the Ayleids). The message of the poem is that of the supremacy and superiority of the Altmer and their society.

Obviously in the early days of the franchise this was far from the minds of the developers but I do have to wonder if around Morrowinds development did the writers then have some ideas of what the true history of Nirn and Tamriel was. Even if this theory proves to be false at some point. I do like it for being willing to turn Tamriels current history on its head.

Avariprivateer

I combined my traditionalish understanding of the lore and my headcanon with this interesting concept that the Ayleids were not an offshoot of Summerset's Altmeri in a map. I am a bit of a romantic and Tolkienesque myth obviously influences my concept, so any purists or Tamrielic scholars please forgive me as I am attached to the concept of Aldmeris as a real place. The concept occurred to me that the Altmer and Maomer may have been much closer politically or genetically prior to leaving Aldmeris and became jealous after the proto-Altmer grabbed the more desirable Summerset Isles for themselves, leading to the bitterness that would come between them for millennia thereafter.

Aigym_Hlervu

I've found an interesting map too . It depicts the scales of Ayleid involvement in Tamriel. Aicantar and the Imperial Geographical Society say that this emerged from nowhere, in some other sources they presume the Ayleids are some settlers from the Summerset Isles. An ant gave birth to an elephant?.. So, according to their chronology, they mean the Aldmer came to Auridon, built Firsthold, then settled the Summerset Isle, then a part of them somehow evolved into Ayleids, then those Ayleids got back to Auridon. Though Firsthold has been already built, for some unknown reason they nonetheless build two Ayleid cities there and then go on to the Mainland to build that large country only to be somehow "separated from the High King of Alinor" because of great distance. Greater distances did not stop them from creating that civilization, but became an obstacle to communicate with the High King? Well.. Why didn't they expand to Morrowind and Skyrim? Why didn't those Daedraphiles never wage war upon the Aedra-worshipping Altmer or Falmer? Aicantar's Chronology leaves too many questions with no answers.

By the way, a question to fellow Daedrologists: am I right in my calculations showing that the first historical accounts of the Daedra Princes's influence on Tamriel are dated not earlier than the time of the Narfinsel Schism and Daedraphile rule in Ayleid society, i.e. Late Merethic Era - 1E 198? Aicantar places the Chimer in the Late Middle Merethic Era, thus it should be presumed the period the Daedra came out to Arena. But as so many of his dates, this period gives no specifics. The current calculations within the New Elven Chronology lift up the times of Veloth to 1E 240s - by this time the Ayleids survived the Daedric Schism of the Late Meretic Era, won the civil war against the Aedraphile Ayleids, started ruling in Cyrodiil and finally faced the Nedic slave rebellion because of the atrocities of their Daedric practices. This is the time the history provides us with the first records of Daedric intervention. So, if it was Late Middle Merethic Era, the Daedrology should have been developped really well by that time so Veloth could separate the Good Daedra and the House of Troubles from all those Daedra Princes. Were those events happening in the Late Middle Merethic Era, some part, if not the majority, of the Aldmeri society should have been Daedra worshipers, but the lore tells us they were not.

Aigym_Hlervu

LOCATION OF ALDMERIS

Within the New Elven Chronology the event of the Late Merethic Era Narfinsel Schism is one of the central events in Tamrielic history. Before that event all the divines were simply Ada in the minds of local denizens with no distinction to Aedra and Daedra. We know the Ayleids revered some Ten Ancestors who worshipped the Daedra. Not much is known about them, though I do have some speculations on who they were. It's a pure speculation even within the New Elven Chronology, because their lore is not yet developed to say anything precisely. Anyway, according to this book, unlike all other Mer, the Ayleids, to no adequate reason (in Aicantar's Chronology) did not call their ancestors by that "Aedra" Elven word. So, they used the word.. "Aldmeris" for "ancestors" and simply "Elves" while the gods were called "Ada" ("Adabal", "et'Ada", etc.) in Ayleidoon. Asking an Ayleid culture specialist Umbacano about the Ayleid Temple of the Ancestors, he will say - "You know it as White Gold Tower -- the center of the ancient Ayleid capital of Nibenay".

So, it is another account that Aldmeris=Ayleid Empire, specifically the City Isle in Lake Rumare, the modern Imperial City. Just like the mythical Aldmeris, the Imperial City is located on the land surrounded by water - an island transformed into a continent on paper, in the works of modern Altmeri primacy propagandists and the Imperial Geographical Society. No other Mer seem to use that word to describe any of the toponyms in Tamriel. We don't know any Ayleid words for "Temple" or "Island", but nonetheless the modern Imperial City Island would be something like "Island of the Ancestors" or "Island of the Elves" in translation from Ayleidoon "Aldmeris-". This is another reason to why the New Elven Chronology considers the Ayleid Empire and specifically the Imperial City Island to be the very Aldmeris the Ayleid ancestors of almost all the other Mer left fleeing from it's fall caused by the Nedic slave rebellion in 1E 243.

Ratzkifal

I think trying to use the ancient elven motif used for Nerevar and the Ancients' outfits as an argument for this is a bit of a stretch.
ZOS clearly didn't have the assets for anything else back then and might retroactively change them like they did for the Dro-M'athra after the Thieves Guild DLC when Maw of Lorkhaj was released. Besides, it's called "Ancient Elves" and not Ayleid.

I do think it's an interesting theory and I've been wondering about the Ayleid structures on Auridon myself but we do need to separate what is actual supporting evidence and what is just a coincidence caused by limited development resources.

Aigym_Hlervu

A POSSIBLE SOURCE OF ERRORS IN AICANTAR'S CHRONOLOGY

"The late 3rd era was a period of remarkable religious ferment and creativity. The upheavals of the reign of Uriel VII were only the outward signs of the historical forces that would eventually lead to the fall of the Septim Dynasty. The so called "Dragon Break" was first proposed at this time, by a wide variety of cults and fringe sects across the Empire, connected only by a common obsession with the events surrounding Tiber Septim's rise to power -- the "founding myth", if you will, of the Septim Dynasty".

"The basis of the Dragon Break doctrine is now known to be a rather prosaic error in the timeline printed in the otherwise authoritative "Encyclopedia Tamrielica", first published in 3E 12, during the early years of Tiber Septim reign. At that time, the archives of Alinor were still inaccessible to human scholars, and the extant records from the Alessian period were extremely fragmentary. The Alessians had systematically burned all the libraries they could find, and their own records were largely destroyed during the War of Righteousness";

"Based on analysis of the surviving trance scrolls, as well as murals and friezes from Alessian temples, I estimate that the Alessian Order actually lasted only about 150 years, rather than the famous "one thousand and eight years" given by the Encyclopedia Tamrielica. The "mystery" of the millennial-plus rule of the Alessians was accepted but unexplained until the spread of the Lorkhan cults in the late 3rd era, when the doctrine of the Dragon Break took hold. Because this dating (and explanation) was so widely held at the time, and then repeated by historians down through today, it has come to have the force of tradition. Recall, however, that the 3rd era historians were already separated from the Alessians by a gulf of more than 2,000 years. And history was still in its infancy, relying on the few archives from those early days".

- The Dragon Break Re-Examined by Fal Droon.

The irony of this book is that it was present in Morrowind in 3E 427 - 6 years before the actual fall of the Septim dynasty . So what was that? A contradiction implemented into a statement and thus supporting the very idea the book struggled against? Or maybe Fal Droon is another prophet like Eno Romari of the End of Time sect in Mournhold, who had directly predicted the events of the Fourth Elder Scroll happened in 3E 433? Whatever it was, it gives the in-game explanation of why the Aicantar's Chronology is that contradictive and gives no explanation to certain events it placed by certain dates - after it's rise to full power in 1E 361, the Alessian Order was crushing the remnants of Aldmeris-Ayleid Empire, and the best way to destroy such a huge empire once and for all was to destroy it's history, the very memory of it, to make that greatest state become just another descendant of the now mythical Aldmeris. On the paper only, of course. The Altmer seemed to be ok with it since it made them the purest descendants of the ancient Aldmer and the "older brothers" to all other Mer. Eh, history is so much more a policy rather than a science..

Aigym_Hlervu

A POSSIBLE SOURCE OF ERRORS IN AICANTAR'S CHRONOLOGY

"The late 3rd era was a period of remarkable religious ferment and creativity. The upheavals of the reign of Uriel VII were only the outward signs of the historical forces that would eventually lead to the fall of the Septim Dynasty. The so called "Dragon Break" was first proposed at this time, by a wide variety of cults and fringe sects across the Empire, connected only by a common obsession with the events surrounding Tiber Septim's rise to power -- the "founding myth", if you will, of the Septim Dynasty".

"The basis of the Dragon Break doctrine is now known to be a rather prosaic error in the timeline printed in the otherwise authoritative "Encyclopedia Tamrielica", first published in 3E 12, during the early years of Tiber Septim reign. At that time, the archives of Alinor were still inaccessible to human scholars, and the extant records from the Alessian period were extremely fragmentary. The Alessians had systematically burned all the libraries they could find, and their own records were largely destroyed during the War of Righteousness";

"Based on analysis of the surviving trance scrolls, as well as murals and friezes from Alessian temples, I estimate that the Alessian Order actually lasted only about 150 years, rather than the famous "one thousand and eight years" given by the Encyclopedia Tamrielica. The "mystery" of the millennial-plus rule of the Alessians was accepted but unexplained until the spread of the Lorkhan cults in the late 3rd era, when the doctrine of the Dragon Break took hold. Because this dating (and explanation) was so widely held at the time, and then repeated by historians down through today, it has come to have the force of tradition. Recall, however, that the 3rd era historians were already separated from the Alessians by a gulf of more than 2,000 years. And history was still in its infancy, relying on the few archives from those early days".
- The Dragon Break Re-Examined by Fal Droon.

The irony of this book is that it was present in Morrowind in 3E 427 - 6 years before the actual fall of the Septim dynasty . So what was that? A contradiction implemented into a statement and thus supporting the very idea the book struggled against? Or maybe Fal Droon is another prophet like Eno Romari of the End of Time sect in Mournhold, who had directly predicted the events of the Fourth Elder Scroll happened in 3E 433? Whatever it was, it gives the in-game explanation of why the Aicantar's Chronology is that contradictive and gives no explanation to certain events it placed by certain dates - after it's rise to full power in 1E 361, the Alessian Order was crushing the remnants of Aldmeris-Ayleid Empire, and the best way to destroy such a huge empire once and for all was to destroy it's history, the very memory of it, to make that greatest state become just another descendant of the now mythical Aldmeris. On the paper only, of course. The Altmer seemed to be ok with it since it made them the purest descendants of the ancient Aldmer and the "older brothers" to all other Mer. Eh, history is so much more a policy rather than a science..

Eporem

this might be a touch offtopic..In the link of the Dragon Break reexamined, it has another link of Alinor.. which states this...

For many known years, there has been a city called Alinor and from there, the High King of Summerset had always ruled the province. It is said that the High Kingship of Alinor has been nearly held by a single dynasty that has dated back as far back as the Merethic Era.[6]

so just curious what single dynasties are known so far...