Lore:Taneth

Taneth is one of the eight major cities in the province of Hammerfell,  situated on the coastal highlands of southern Hammerfell. Taneth is a bustling and important port city  occupied by the Forebears, the modern-day remnant of the Ra Gada.  
 

Layout & Geography
Taneth is located in the south-central region of Hammerfell, deep in the Forebears' territory.  The region contains rocky perilous highlands and barren canyons, with ancient tombs hidden from the open. The ancient tomb of the   bloodline is located on northwest of the city and it is considered part of the Kingdom of Taneth.  However the peninsula from across the bay,   is considered far from their reach.  Taneth is established on the eastern side of    and is equipped with a harbor.  It also contains the local headquarters for the   and is part of a route that circles around the main continent, through most major port cities like   and  .  Taneth is neighbored by several settlements, including   to the west,   to the northwest, and   to the southeast. 

Notable Locales


History
Taneth was founded by the Ra Gada, but the al-Danobia bloodline had always held significant power over the Kingdom for many untold years.  It is unspecified which wave came through the region, but the   wave (who are known for their avian-inspired imagery) was known to have traveled along the southern coast of Hammerfell.  There has always been some form of contempt between Taneth and another trading city,   and their Merchant Lords, who supposedly benefit from the pirates and bandits that steal from Taneth.  

The Thieves Guild and the Iron Wheel
thumb|right|Falorah al-Danobia; Magnifica of Taneth
thumb|left|The Wedding in Abah's Landing
After   of   became the High King of Hammerfell in  , in the wake of the  ,  he married the "Flower of Taneth,"  , who bore three children,  ,  , and lastly the Crown Prince,  . With their marriage, the al-Danobia bloodline became intertwined with the  . She died from childbirth and was greatly mourned throughout the province.  After the incident, King Fahara'jad and Za-Rifah's younger sister,   became close, but not that close. She inherited the title of the "Flower of Taneth" from her older sister.  When the   collapsed in the mid-Second Era, they were soon employed by Magnifica Falorah and rebranded into a private militia, the  . 

Sometime later, the   of Abah's Landing had attempted an elaborate heist to steal the dowry of   herself in the  . However, after the heist had ended in failure and the subsequent "death" of the guildmaster,  . Sometime after the incident, Magnifica Falorah was approached by the merchant-lord and proprietor of  , Cosh, who promised to return the dowry that was stolen from her. He pointed her to the city across the bay, Abah's Landing, where the perpetrators were located. Thus she dispatched the Iron Wheel to Hew's Bane, where they began their search for the missing dowry and the Thieves Guild. The other merchant-lords had feared that Taneth wanted to conquer Abah's Landing.  

Not long after, the merchant-lord, Cosh was set to marry the Magnifica at Hubalajad's Palace, however, the current guildmaster,   exposed Cosh as Nicolas, the former guildmaster and the one that not only stole the dowry, but desecrated the tomb. Both guildmasters were promptly arrested.  Before they would be taken to Taneth for trial, the Thieves Guild had freed Zeira from her prison in   and made peace with the Magnifica.  They made a secret deal, one that allowed the Thieves Guild to operate in Taneth while they keep the merchant-lords in check. Both parties had left the ordeal behind in good faith and the Iron Wheel left Hew's Bane with Nicolas in chains. His fate is unknown. 

Taneth in the Third Empire
thumb|right|Map of Hammerfell ca. 4E 201
The cities of Taneth and Rihad were in the path of the  , who began an invasion of Western Tamriel in  . Most of the Redguard locals claimed that the cities would have defeated his armies easily, but when the   took place in  , both the cities were sacked relentlessly.   Those refugees traveled northward until they eventually came into the Barony of  .  Considering that these were Forebears cities, the Crown warlords of   did not assist them, and in return, the southern cities did not help defend Elinhir during the   later in the Third Era, preferring to watch from afar. 

During the   in the late- , the city-state of Taneth was an active settlement. It was ruled by King Lhezem and it had a rivalry with   and  .  Years later at the tail-end of the Third Era, King   founded a third political party called the   that brought contempt between the Crowns and the Forebears. Queen   of Taneth tried to have charters of independent guilds revoked from  , albeit unsuccessfully. Her argument was that accepted worship of   was heresy in the eyes of the  . 

When the   began in  , the   landed onto southern Hammerfell and swiftly took control of the region. Roughly a year or two later, every city across southern Hammerfell, including Taneth were sacked and captured by the  , save for   to the west. While it is known that Taneth had fallen,  the story of how is currently uncertain. The  i Warrior,   claimed that the city would have stood its ground at least had it not been sold out by the noblewoman,   of  .  When the noble houses realized her deception, she reportedly fled east into the province of  , where he followed suit.  It is unknown what happened to Taneth after the Great War had ended in  . Much of southern Hammerfell was ceded from the Third Empire per the agreement in the  , even though there were already Aldmeri soldiers there. Hammerfell's fight against the Dominion ended in   and while the province was liberated from the elves, the south was left in complete ruin. 

Gallery
 

Notes
In a Taneth-styled marriage, it is tradition that the groom should be presented to the guests before the wedding. 
There is an oft-repeated expression in Taneth for wasting money is "laying foundation with  's coin," which calls back to the eponymous prince's unfortunate history. 
The   of Taneth are a family of great prestige that are famed for their cavalry, which flies their family totem, the   on their banners. 
Arena was originally conceived as a fighting game featuring a tournament that took the player to each of Tamriel's cities to challenge different gladiatorial teams. According to a file from that stage of development left behind in the final game, Taneth's gladiatorial team would have been called "the War Eagles". 

References