General:Kurt Kuhlmann's Posts

On the usage of -mer and -meri suffixes in the 3rd era (08/17/99)

"[x]mer" Can stand for either singular and plural. It is confusing, but is an artifact of the oral form.

"[x]meri" The adjectival. So a High Elven dagger is an Altmeri dagger. EXCEPT in the case of proper names, in which it can be all three, adjectival, singular, and plural. Example: He is a Direnni, they are the Direnni, that looks of Direnni manufacture.

IN FACT, the current third era proper name usage is an artifact of all previous era's usages. To whit, the Pocket Guide to the Empire, which uses [x]mer and [x]meri (and all their usages) interchangeably.

THAT, my friends, is why, when Slave Queen Alessia overthrew the Ayleids (Wild Elves, don't ask) and established Slave's Cant (eventual Cyrodilic) as the lingua franca, Cyrodiil c. 1E240, she said: "Enough of this! He's an Elf, they are Elves, and their Elven tyranny is over!"

The meaning of Chim-el Ada-bal (09/24/05)

Chim: in this case, 'royalty'.

El: 'high'

Ada: 'spirit'

Bal: 'stone'

So, "the spirit stone of high royalty."

When the Amulet of Kings is called the Chim-el Adabal, it is never meant as a literal translation. Intent is key. While it is, in a sense, a surrogate name, the speaker is instead using it when being especially reverent, referring to the amulet's ancient ties to the power of White-Gold Tower.


On the origin of Nedes

The usual Imperial arrogance. The hoary old "Out of Atmora" theory has been widely discredited (no reputable archaeologist would publicly support it these days), but the Imperial Geographers continue to beat the drum of the Nordic Fatherland in the best tradition of the Septim Empire. They seem to think that the imprimature of officialdom gives their outdated scholarship added weight -- which, unfortunately, it appears to in the eyes of the ever-gullible public which continues to snap up the latest Pocket Guides along with the rest of their Imperial Certified pablum. (HA)

'''Michael Kirkbride's influence on Skyrim (10/08/11)'''

We all try not to take it to heart that only MK can save Skyrim from the trash heap - but I can say that even without directly writing any books, I'd say there's more of his influence on Skyrim than Oblivion. Probably a lot more - if you look at the chapter from the PGE on Skyrim, (pretty sure that was one of his - I can't remember any more who wrote which one, it's Bilbo and Strider all over again), and that chapter is the foundation for the whole setting. And if you look really hard, you might even find a painted cow. (No comment on flying whales.)

Painted cows in Skyrim (14/11/11)

It's a damn shame the Civil War mission to befriend a giant by bringing him a painted cow didn't survive... but at least the painted cow got into the game.

Ysgramor is a dragon? (08/03/12)

An interesting theory. But as usual, the credulous minds gravitate to the most outlandish theories.

If Ysgramor was indeed a "dragon", most likely he was a Dragon Priest - in the Late Merethic Era, it would be unlikely for a leader of Ysgramor's reported stature to be unconnected to the Dragon Cult. But connecting the Nord hero Ysgramor with the now-reviled Dragon Cult is of course anathema to those who favor chauvinism over historical truth.

Other possibilities are that Ysgramor was not an individual but an amalgamation of several people - his reported exploits encompass an unreasonable amount of time for a single individual. At the time, anyone of high stature or great prowess in battle would have been considered a "dragon" (the highest compliment imaginable). This does not mean that Ysgramor was in fact an actual dragon, but I have no doubt that the literal-minded among us will not hesitate to jump to the most obvious conclusions. True scholars will of course be more circumspect.  -Hasphat Antabolis