Welcome! Whether you are a newcomer to the Elder Scrolls Universe or Roleplaying in ESO, I have made this guide just for you!
As some of you might know, I have created a "Beginners Guide to Elder Scrolls and Roleplay in ESO" guide before, but after request on that forum for an advanced guide to go into more subjects, and some thought on my part, I have decided to put the old and the new together into this ultimate mega guide for you, the reader!
Some credit where credit is due before I begin, in which I would like to openly thank the
Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages who's lore pages has guided me and many others throughout our Elder Scrolls gaming and RP experiences. I have sourced these guys as where I found and wrote out the information from, and I will over time update this as much as possible as and when new content relates to the lore in this guide.
Now sit back, relax, and read! I hope you enjoy, and please don't hesitate to share you thoughts in the comments below!
- Sanguiness
SECTION ZERO: TIMELINE INFORMATION
1. What Era Are You In?
SECTION ONE: THE BASICS
1. Races
2. Locations
3. Religions of Tamriel
4. Guilds
5. Scenario
SECTION TWO: LEGENDS AND STORIES
1. Nerevar and the Tribunal
2. The Dwemer and the Falmer
3. The Dragons and the Dragon War
4. The Order of Blades and the Dragonguard
5. Ayleids and their Influence
6. Death, Immortality and the Afterlife
SECTION THREE: DAEDRA AND THE SUPERNATURAL
3. Types of Lesser Daedra
4. Vampires
5. Lycanthropes
6. Hunters
SECTION FOUR: ROLEPLAY
1. Basic RP Etiquette
2. Backstory Crafting
3. Character Skills
4. Injury, Healing and Character Death
5. Roleplay Guilds
SECTION FIVE: CONCLUSION
What Era Are You In?
When you start to play the Elder Scrolls Online, you begin in the 2nd Era, Year 582 (written 2E 582) as Molag Bal has begun the Planemeld with Nirn and Coldharbour.
There is some conjecture as to how many years should theoretically have passed between this point and the latest ESO chapter, Blackwood, as it is claimed that all events between then and now have happened in the space of two years in game.
However, as most roleplaying communities will attest to, this just isn't logical from an RPing perspective for everything to happen in the space of two years when a great number of us, myself included, have been playing and RPing from almost launch back in 2014 (7 years ago!). So the consensus amongst the roleplaying community is this, each real life day and each real life year works just the same in roleplay, no matter the apparent time in game nor the year. With this, however, is the realisation that you are technically RPing ahead of the ESO timeline, and as such it is best not to go into detail, or mention at all if possible, events that have occurred in the ESO chapters (Vvardenfell, Summerset, Elsweyr, Greymoor, Blackwood, and the DLCs) and be as unspecific as possible when it comes to in game events relating to these.
By reckoning of most RP communities we are technically in the 2nd Era, Year 589, to upkeep with the idea of roleplay time passing in parallel to real time.
For more information regarding the Elder Scrolls Universe and it's timeline, view this site or others like it:
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline