Lore:Before the Ages of Man (Online)

Before   came to rule  , and before the chronicles of the historians recorded the affairs of the rulers of Tamriel, the events of our world are known only through myths and legends, and through the divinely inspired teachings of the  .

For convenience, historians divide the distant ages of prehistory into two broad periods of time: the   and the  .

The Dawn Era

The Dawn Era is that period before the beginning of mortal time, when the feats of the   take place. The Dawn Era ends with the exodus of the gods and   from the World at the founding of the  .

The term "Merethic" comes from the  s, literally, "Era of the  ." The Merethic Era is the prehistoric time after the exodus of the gods and magic from the World at the founding of the Adamantine Tower and before the arrival of   the Nord in Tamriel.

The following are the most notable events of the Dawn Era, presented roughly in sequence as it must be understood by creatures of time such as ourselves.

The Cosmos formed from the   (chaos, or totality) by   and  .   ( ) formed and Time began. The gods ( ) formed.   convinced (or tricked) the gods into creating the  ,  . The mortal plane was at this point highly magical and dangerous. As the gods walked, the physical make-up of the mortal plane and even the timeless continuity of existence itself became unstable.

When Magic ( ), architect of the plans for the mortal world, decided to terminate the project, the gods convened at the Adamantine Tower (Direnni Tower, the oldest known structure in Tamriel) and decided what to do. Most left when Magic did. Others sacrificed themselves into other forms so that they might stay (such as the  ). Lorkhan was condemned by the gods to exile in the mortal realms, and his   was torn out and cast from the tower. Where it landed, a   formed. With magic (in the Mythic Sense) gone, the cosmos stabilized. Elven history, finally linear, began (ME 2500).  

The Merethic Era
 
The   was figured by early   scholars as a series of years numbered in reverse order backward from their "beginning of time": the founding of the  , recorded as  . The prehistoric events of the Merethic Era are listed here with their traditional Nord Merethic dates. The earliest Merethic date cited by King  's scholars was ME 2500, the Nord reckoning of the first year of time. As such, the Merethic Era extends from ME 2500 in the distant past to ME 1, the year before the founding of the Camoran   and the establishment of the   as an independent city-state.

According to King Harald's bards, ME 2500 was the date of construction of the   on   in  , the oldest known structure of  . (This corresponds roughly to the earliest historical dates given in various unpublished Elven chronicles.)

During the early Merethic Era, the aboriginal beast-peoples of Tamriel (the ancestors of the  ,  ,  s, and other  ) lived in preliterate communities throughout Tamriel.

In the Middle Merethic Era, the  i refugees (mortals of Elven origin) left their doomed, now-lost continent of   (also known as "Old Ehlnofey") and settled in southwestern Tamriel. The first colonies were distributed at wide intervals on islands along the entire coast of Tamriel. Later inland settlements were founded primarily in fertile lowlands in southwest and central Tamriel. Wherever the beastfolk encountered the Elves, the sophisticated, literate, technologically advanced Aldmeri cultures displaced the primitive beastfolk into the jungles, marshes, mountains, and wastelands. The Adamantine Tower was rediscovered and captured by the  , a prominent and powerful Aldmeri clan. They built   on   and, later, the White-Gold Tower in  .

During the Middle Merethic Era, Aldmeri explorers mapped the coasts of  , building the First Era   wizard towers at  ,  ,  , and   in  . It was also during this period that   (Wild Elven) settlements flourished in the heartland surrounding White-Gold Tower (in present-day Cyrodiil). Wild Elves, also known as the Heartland High Elves, preserved the Dawn Era magics and language of the  . Ostensibly a tributary to the High King of  , the Heartland's long lines of communication from the Summerset Isles' sovereignty effectively isolated Cyrodiil from the High Kings at Crystal Tower.

The Late Middle Merethic Era is the period of the High  i Culture. The  , ancestors of the modern  , or Dark Elves, were dynamic, ambitious, long-lived Elven clans devoted to fundamentalist ancestor worship. The Chimer clans followed the Prophet Veloth out of the ancestral Elven homelands in the southwest to settle in the lands now known as Morrowind. Despising the secular culture and profane practices of the  , the Chimer also coveted the lands and resources of the Dwemer, and for centuries provoked them with minor raids and territorial disputes. The Dwemer (Dwarves), free-thinking, reclusive Elven clans devoted to the secrets of science, engineering, and alchemy, established underground cities and communities in the mountain range (later the  ) separating modern   and Morrowind.

The Late Merethic Era marks the precipitous decline of Velothi culture. Some Velothi settled in villages near declining and abandoned ancient Velothi towers. During this period, Velothi high culture disappeared on Vvardenfell Island. The earliest Dwemer Freehold colonies date from this period. Degenerate Velothi devolved into tribal cultures which, in time, either evolved into the modern   of Morrowind or persisted as the barbarian   tribes. The only surviving traces of this tribal culture are scattered Velothi towers and Ashlander nomads on Vvardenfell Island. The original First Era High Elven wizard towers along the coasts of Tamriel were also abandoned around this time.

In the Late Merethic Era, pre-literate humans, the so-called " ," migrated from the continent of   (also "Altmora" or "the Elder Wood" in Aldmeris) and settled in northern Tamriel. The Nord culture hero  , leader of a great colonizing fleet to Tamriel, is credited with developing a runic transcription of Nord speech based on Elvish principles, and so Ysgramor is considered the first human historian. Ysgramor's fleet landed at   at the extreme northern tip of Skyrim's  . The Nords built the legendary city of   there. The Elves drove the Men away during the  , but Ysgramor soon returned with his  .

Also during the Late Merethic Era, a legendary immortal hero, warrior, sorcerer, and king (variously known as  ,  , Ysmir, and  ) wandered Tamriel. He gathered armies, conquered lands, ruled them, and then abandoned his kingdoms so he could wander again.