Lore:Skyrim

Skyrim, the northernmost province of Tamriel, is a cold and mountainous region also known as the Old Kingdom, Mereth, or the Fatherland,   or Keizaal in the dragon tongue.  Many past battles have given it a ravaged appearance and many ruins.   Though currently inhabited primarily by Nords, the Elves who they replaced had resided there since time immemorial.   The sovereign, the High King of Skyrim, is chosen by the Moot, a convention of jarls.  A jarl is a regional ruler chosen through heredity and, rarely, through right of arms.   The High King typically rules until death, though acts of dishonor, particularly the appearance of cowardice, can lead to the recall and reconsideration of the Moot.   Since the   was signed in  , the Moot does not give serious consideration to anyone but the High King's direct heir unless one is not available.    
thumb|right|Copy of a map of Skyrim dating to the late Lore:First Era|First Era
thumb|right|Skyrim circa  
 

Geography
Morrowind lies to the east over the Velothi Mountains, Cyrodiil is south beyond the Jerall Mountains, Hammerfell (and the latest incarnation of Orsinium) is to the south and west, High Rock is past the Druadach Mountains to the west, and the Sea of Ghosts runs along the province's long northern coastline. Skyrim holds four of the five highest mountains in Tamriel (the Red Mountain being the only one outside Skyrim). Much of the northern half of Skyrim is cold and covered in snow. However, the southern regions of the province are relatively mild. 

Holds
The Nords long ago divided the province into nine geopolitical regions known as holds. Each hold is a large area of land roughly equivalent to a county in Cyrodiil, each individually governed by a jarl who maintains court in the hold's capital city. The nine traditional holds of Skyrim are: Haafingar, Hjaalmarch, the Pale, Winterhold, Eastmarch, the Rift, Whiterun, Falkreath, and the Reach.  During the Interregnum, when the Reach became an independent Reachman kingdom and lost its status as a Nordic hold, a tenth hold named Karthald was created from the Reach's northern fringe. 

Winterhold, Eastmarch, the Rift, and the Pale lie to the north and east of the province and are known as the Old Holds and remain isolated from the rest of Tamriel, both geographically and politically. In contrast, the western hold of the Reach has historically been more cosmopolitan and members of all the races of the continent have made their homes there. 

Eastmarch
 

The Pale
 

Winterhold
 

Hjaalmarch
 

Haafingar
 

thumb|right|Markarth
The Reach
 

Karthald
 

Whiterun Hold
 

thumb|left|Lake Ilinalta
Falkreath Hold
 

The Rift
 
thumb|right|Solstheim circa  

Solstheim
Although the history of the island of Solstheim is somewhat complicated, there was a time when it was considered a part of Skyrim.  The Skaal, an offshoot tribe of Nords, inhabit the northeastern corner of the island.   In  , the Nords of Skyrim launched a successful campaign to claim the whole of Solstheim.  In  , the High King of Skyrim formally gave the island to Morrowind as a refuge for the Dunmer after the events of Red Year.  The northern half of the island is snowy and mountainous. The southern half was originally covered in coniferous forests, but after the Red Year it was transformed into an ashland similar to those seen in Morrowind.  
 
thumb|left|Bleakrock Isle

Bleakrock Isle
Bleakrock Isle, also considered a part of Skyrim, is a small, snowy island in the Sea of Ghosts between Windhelm, Blacklight and Solstheim. A small populace of the Nords inhabited the   until they were driven from the island by the Daggerfall Covenant in  . It is unknown if the island was resettled afterwards. 


 
thumb|right|Illustration of a typical Lore:Nord|Nord male

History
Skyrim's history is mostly that of the Nords. The Nords believe the sky, Kyne, breathed life into them at the summit of the Throat of the World, which is now considered the tallest mountain in Tamriel (the Red Mountain was acknowledged as the tallest before its eruption during the Red Year).    While historians tend to portray Ysgramor as the first Nordic settler of Skyrim, ushering in concurrent waves of immigration from Atmora, this is not the case. While their exact origins are unknown, the most widely accepted theory is that the early Nedic peoples (a now extinct culture) settled in Skyrim after arriving from Atmora well before the arrival of Ysgramor, and from there spread to the rest of Tamriel. 

In ancient times, Skyrim was ruled by the malevolent Dragon Cult. This early society revolved around the worship of dragons through intermediaries known as dragon priests, who ruled as gods above men. Sometime in the late Merethic Era, the mythical Dragon War saw the overthrow of the Dragon Cult when Alduin, Akatosh's firstborn, was defeated atop the Throat of the World. The veneration of animals as gods was eventually replaced by the Eight Divines. 

The many mountain ranges in and around the province resulted from unknown cataclysms in the Dawn Era.  The only known relic from this time is the Skyforge, an ancient, powerful, and still-active forge built into the living rock in modern-day Whiterun. Who built it remains a mystery, but the Elves feared it, and this led the invading Atmorans to claim it for themselves. 

The Aldmer and Snow Elves occupied Skyrim until the late Merethic Era, when the final wave of Nordic immigration from Atmora, led by Ysgramor, finally established Nordic supremacy in modern-day Skyrim.   Settlers from Atmora crossed the Sea of Ghosts and made landfall here many times, often clashing with those who had already established themselves.   These early settlers called the land "Mereth", after the Elves that roamed the untamed wilderness. While the Nedic peoples were generally peaceful, the arrival of Ysgramor and the proto-Nords sparked a long, antagonistic chain of conquests that ultimately expelled the Elves from Skyrim.   The instigating spark of conflict was the infamous Night of Tears, where the Elves attacked the human settlement of Saarthal. According to Imperial scholars, the Elves realized that this newer race could outpace their relatively stagnant own. Others posit that the human inhabitants had discovered a powerful artifact, the Eye of Magnus, that the Elves desired.  Nonetheless, Ysgramor escaped the carnage, returning to Skyrim with his now legendary band of Five Hundred Companions, slaughtering the Elves and establishing man as the foremost race in Skyrim.  Ysgramor's clan expanded their territory, and it continued to expand and contract by winning and losing territories in Morrowind and High Rock during the First Era.    Elven rule of Skyrim is thought to have ended under the reign of King Harald (  -  ), though pockets of Snow Elves hid away in the wilderness. 

In the years after  , however, the Dwemer of Clan Kragen migrated into Skyrim from Resdayn, following in the footsteps of Clan Rourken's exodus. Clan Kragen founded the city of Arkngthamz, which flourished despite constant attacks from the Nords. The success of Arkngthamz encouraged other Dwemer clans to settle in Skyrim, and these joined with Clan Kragen to form a loose alliance of four city-states that were considered unassailable. Clan Kragen's presence eventually extended further west into the Dragon's Teeth Mountains, where they carved out an even larger bastion called Arkngthamz-Phng.  The prosperity of Skyrim's Dwemer city-states was relatively short-lived, as the discovery of rich deposits of Aetherium and the creation of the Aetherium Forge immediately shattered the alliance and launched decades of internal conflict. With the Dwemer distracted and weakened, the Nords under High King Gellir finally conquered the squabbling city-states in only three years, though the Dwemer would return a century later and reclaim their former holdings.  When the entire Dwemer race disappeared around  , they left behind the Falmer, Snow Elves who they had allowed to take refuge with them and then twisted into rebellious slave monsters.  They remained under the ground, occasionally making forays to the surface and creating legends among the Nords of their presence and malevolent intent.  

thumb|right|Skyrim circa  
After the assassination of High King Logrolf in  , a dispute over the succession resulted in Skyrim's division into two independent kingdoms. It began when Jarl Svartr of Solitude challenged the legitimacy of Logrolf's heir, Freydis, and a Moot was convened. Although Freydis was accepted by the Crown of Verity, a magical artifact crafted to test the worthiness of potential rulers of Skyrim, and named High Queen in Windhelm, a partial Moot held in Solitude declared Svartr to be High King.  From then on, Skyrim was divided into two kingdoms: Eastern Skyrim and Western Skyrim. In the east, Freydis and her successors ruled over The Rift, Eastmarch, The Pale, and Winterhold,   while in the west, Svartr and his successors ruled over Falkreath,   Whiterun Hold,   Hjaalmarch,  Haafingar,  and later the newly-established hold of Karthald.    This schism persisted at least until the time of the Three Banners War in  ;  Eastern Skyrim fought in the war as a member of the Ebonheart Pact, while Western Skyrim remained neutral.  At that time, The Reach did not belong to either kingdom and the Reachmen had banded together under the  , who allied himself with Mannimarco.   The two kingdoms of Skyrim, as well as The Reach, were eventually reunified into a single realm following the Tiber Wars.  

Orc strongholds dot the wilderness; many Orcs were escorted into Skyrim by the Imperial Legion following the sacking of Orsinium in the early Fourth Era.  Besides the Orcs, the Elven population has also increased due to the Red Year of  , when natural disasters in Morrowind sent many Dunmer fleeing into eastern Skyrim.   Following the Great War, Thalmor officials hunted for and persecuted Talos worshippers, thus bringing some small measure of Elven rule back to Skyrim.   While these smaller creatures vied for dominance over the millennia, the Giants have been largely ignored (and often protected by law). 

Rulers
thumb|right|The Jagged Crown
The political structure of the Elves who first inhabited Skyrim is unknown. When the Atmorans first migrated to Skyrim, before the Dragon War of the Merethic Era, the Dragon Priests of the Dragon Cult held roles on par with kings, but the Atmorans recognized relatively secular chieftains as their leaders.   Ysgramor is the first known human ruler of Skyrim.  His progeny would continue to rule after his death; King Harald, the 13th of his line, is considered the first "historical" ruler.   Since Harald's time or even before, the High King traditionally wore the Jagged Crown, though it was lost with King Borgas in   until its rediscovery in  .  A new symbol of rulership, the Crown of Verity, later called the Crown of Freydis, was crafted to determine the worthiness of potential rulers following the death of Olaf One-Eye, but has not been seen beyond the Second Era.  Known High Kings and their reigns are listed below:


 

Capitals of Skyrim
thumb|right|The Crown of Freydis
In practice, the city where the High King resided also served as the capital of Skyrim. This has changed over the course of centuries, and at times of division there was more than one capital city. When Harald assumed the mantle of High King in  , he relinquished his holdings in Atmora and established Skyrim as an independent kingdom with Windhelm as its capital.   During the time of Vrage the Gifted (r. 1E 222 – ?), Windhelm became the capital of not just Skyrim, but the First Empire of the Nords that also encompassed High Rock, Morrowind, and parts of Cyrodiil.  High King Borgas (died 1E 369) ruled from Winterhold, however.  High King Olaf One-Eye (r. 1E 420 – 1E 452) resided in Whiterun.  In the late First Era, Solitude served as the seat of High Queens such as "Head-Rolling" Roleke and High Kings like Alldimar the Ghostmaker.  During the schism of the Second Era (since 2E 431), Svartr and his descendants ruled the Kingdom of Western Skyrim from Solitude, while Freydis and her descendants reigned the Kingdom of Eastern Skyrim from Windhelm.  Hrothmund Wolf-Heart mentioned in Nords of Skyrim'' that Solitude was 'seat of the High King and capital of the province [of Skyrim]', but it is unclear when this essay was written. 

Architecture
right|thumb|The stone and timber buildings of Winterhold
left|thumb|The Blue Palace of Solitude
Nord architects are masters of creating structures that last for generations, with designs that can be found from Bruma to Solstheim dating over 3,000 years old.   Many ancient Nordic ruins built into the mountains dating back to the Merethic and First eras remain standing throughout Skyrim.  They are towering, foreboding structures of black granite. Some were settlements and temples from when the Nords lived under the rule of the Dragon Cult and after; others are burial tombs for the honored dead. Most modern buildings in Skyrim are built partly underground to conserve heat, and are made with stones, with wood used only for support, and roofs of straw. The Nords are known as masters of lumber construction, and these houses are essential to keep in heat in the freezing climate.  Some Nord wells are known to have spikes attached to the bottom of buckets to crack through ice. 

After the reign of Ysgramor, Nord stonesmiths created a method of erecting igneous rock. Initially, these blocks were hewed from porphyry deposits, although by the Second Era, they were somewhat supplanted by hard-wearing granite and volcanic stone gathered from the eastern side of the province. Each block was slotted together without requiring seams or mortar, allowing huge walls, structures, and towers to be constructed with both ease and haste, even with irregularly-shaped stone. Many of these structures proved difficult for invaders to dismantle, such as the Old Fort, a royal bastion on Skyrim's northern frontier, which still stood in the mid-Second Era after being built in the time of the First Empire.  
 

Flora
left|thumb|Skyrim's Pine Forest
thumb|right|The Lore:Eldergleam|Eldergleam
Skyrim's frigid environment still supports a great wealth of flora, notably its many pine forests.   Many of its plants and fungi are useful for alchemy, including bleeding crown mushrooms, the Deathbell flower, Jazbay grapes, and Nightshade. Tundra cotton is not only used for making potions, but for making many of the fabrics for clothing and other purposes in Skyrim. 
 

right|thumb|A horker attackright|thumb|Lore:Ice Wolf|Ice Wolf
Fauna
The beasts of Skyrim are as diverse as they are dangerous. Horkers line the northern coast, posing a greater danger to hunters and fisherman, and ice wolves prowl in pairs all over the province.   Slaughterfish and other types of fish glide through the rivers and lakes.  Other common beasts roam the wilderness, and rumors abound of less common ones like werewolves and Wispmothers.  Many of them, such as Hagravens and luna moths, yield body parts used in alchemy.  Ice wraiths and other creatures are hunted in the mountains by young traditional Nords as rites of passage.   Undead Draugr still guard the ruins of the province.  Of course, the most legendary "creatures" are the majestic and intelligent Dragons, who have left their mark on Skyrim in more ways than one. Ancient structures dedicated to the Dragon Cult and "word walls" in the language of the dragons still dot the landscape.  
thumb|right|Druadach Mountains
Notable Places
;Bleakrock Isle: A small island northeast of Skyrim and south of Solstheim.
;College of Winterhold: A famous school for Magic in the city of Winterhold.
;Dawnstar: A busy port on the northern coast and capital of the Pale.
;Dunmeth Pass: The main pass and one of the few traversable roads leading through the Velothi Mountains between northwestern Morrowind and eastern Skyrim.
;Falkreath: The capital of the eponymous hold is in southwestern Skyrim, close to the border with both Cyrodiil and Hammerfell.
;Lake Geir: A lake in the western Rift.
;Hsaarik Head: At the extreme northern tip of Skyrim's Broken Cape, it is the place where tradition holds that Ysgramor's Five Hundred Companions made landfall.
;Lake Ilinalta: A lake in west-central Falkreath Hold, in the middle of Skyrim's Pine Forest.
;Karth River: A western river running the length of Skyrim before emptying into the Sea of Ghosts near Solitude.
;Labyrinthian: An ancient Nordic ruin. Named for the labyrinth built sometime in the First Era by Arch-Mage Shalidor, although the ruins themselves are much older, having been the city of Bromjunaar, the capital of the Dragon Cult.
;Markarth: The capital of the Reach is in the southwest corner of the province.
;Morthal: The fairly small, humble town of little economic or strategic importance is noteworthy as the capital of Hjaalmarch.
;Pale Pass: A secluded pass through the Jerall Mountains on the Cyrodiil-Skyrim border.
;Riften: The capital of the Rift, long a center for crime, lies close to both Cyrodiil and Morrowind.
;Saarthal: An ancient Nordic city that was sacked in the Night of Tears, Saarthal is where the Eye of Magnus was found in the Fourth Era.
;Sky Haven Temple: Fortress stronghold in the Druadach Mountains built by Reman Cyrodiil's Akaviri Dragonguard.
;Snowhawk: A city located in Hjaalmarch, abandoned sometime during the Fourth Era.
;Solitude: A major port city and capital of Haafingar.
;Throat of the World: The highest peak in the province of Skyrim. Though once considered second to Red Mountain, it is now known as the highest mountain in all of Tamriel.
;Treva River: A river at the center of the Rift. It flows from Lake Honrich to Lake Geir.
;White River: The longest river in Skyrim, stretching from the south of the province to the northeast corner. Its source is Lake Ilinalta, north of Falkreath. It flows northeast to join the Sea of Ghosts past Windhelm.
;Whiterun: A city in central Skyrim, and the capital of Whiterun Hold. Built at the spring of the White River.
;Windhelm: The capital of Eastmarch lies close to the border with Morrowind. It's the famed location of the Palace of the Kings.
;Winterhold: The capital of the eponymous hold was once quite prosperous, but was devastated in the Great Collapse in  .

Gallery
 

Maps
 

Notes
 

See Also
For game-specific information, see the Arena, Dawnstar, Shadowkey, Skyrim, ESO, and Legends articles.

Books
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

References