Pocket Guide to the Empire , First Edition : Aldmeri Dominion Content . The Aldmeri Dominion is a relatively recent creation . [ 1 ] Formerly divided into the two realms of the Summerset Isles and Valenwood , the Aldmeri Dominion has its origins in CE830 , when the heirs of the Camoran Dynasty began to fight over the Valenwood throne . When a faction of the Bosmer ( Wood Elves ) made overtures of peace to their longtime enemies in West Cyrodiil - territorial concessions in return for Colovian support for the faction ' s claimant - the Altmer ( High Elves ) of Summerset invaded the Valenwood Nations . Citing a stewardship clause in a treaty from a thousand years before , the High Elves quickly established a provisional government , the Thalmor , on behalf of their own claimant , Camoran Anaxemes , whose bloodline had struck the pact with the Aldmeri Council in the first place . As the Cyrodilic Empire was still in the shambles of the Interregnum , the Colovians were quickly driven back by the Aldmeri army . The other heirs of the throne were silenced , the Wood Elves thanked their cousins for bringing back stability , and the High Elves reminded Anaxemes the price of Summerset ' s aid : fifty years ' fealty to the King of Alinor . The Aldmeri Dominion was born . [ 2 ] The Thalmor strengthened its hold on the Valenwood Nations during the foundation of the Third Empire . Savage Bosmer tribes skirmished with the Estates along the River Strid , whipped to a frenzy by their High Elven masters . With the Empire now reunified under Tiber Septim , these attacks have subsided ; but encampments wait on either side of the Valenwood border , awaiting a decisive battle . On the occasions when the Elves probe the Empire ' s defenses , the Legions have sent them back in tatters . Indeed , the Colovians have taken to calling their enemy the " Old Mary " Dominion , for the womanly offensives of its Elven soldiers . The situation at sea , however , is another story , and the Dominion terrorizes the southern waters from the Cape of the Blue Divide to the Topal Bay . [ 3 ] Their sorcery has made allies of a few Reachmen , the Maormer of Pyandonea , and , as of this writing , perhaps even the Elsweyr Confederacy . Though no formal declaration of war has been made , Tamriel is divided between the Empire and the Elder Races , and Tiber Septim has made it known to the Thalmor that he is the True Emperor of Cyrodiil , and heir to all of its former holdings . The Elves of Tamriel have yet to answer . Considering we have endured their offenses for two thousand years , we know surprisingly little about the Aldmeri . ( Only Morrowind , under Skyrim domination during the First Empire , and open to travel and trade during most of the Common Era , is somewhat better known . ) . The Elves of High Rock and Cyrodiil were either wiped out long ago or displaced into obscurity . As for the Elves of the Dominion , our knowledge of their regions is limited to brief Imperial occupations , or to the translations we have of their literature ( see " The Scarcity of Elven Writings " ) . Of particular scarcity is information about either the High Elves or the Summerset Isles . During the Second Empire [ 4 ] ambassadors were allowed only in the capital of Alinor , and thus any description of the Altmeri homeland is confined to that city alone , and elsewhere ( see Places of Note - Alinor ) . Furthermore , we can offer only this brief but reliable account of the High Elven people . It comes from the journals of Eric of Guis [ 5 ] . Reman ' s emissary to the Altmer , who lived among them ca . 1E2820 : " High elves consider themselves to be the only perfect race . Over hundreds of generations they have bred themselves into a racially pure line , and are now almost identical to one another in appearance . The theory that the High Elves do not reproduce as quickly or as often as humans is false . Rather , and to my horror , they kill nine out of ten babies born to them in their obsession for purity . " The Altmer despise other Elves as unsophisticated churls and barely consider the non - Aldmeri races at all . They pay their Imperial tithes , I ' m sure , not for fear of war with the humans but rather to keep an invasion from " infecting " their islands . " Breeding outside the pure line is a terrible , unthinkable crime , and taken as prima facia evidence of the tainted blood of the individual in question - if they were , they wouldn ' t have the impulse to do it . Exile to the mainland is regarded as equivalent to a death sentence , since there is no purpose in living outside their ideal society . " They have a high regard for order and gravitate naturally towards wearing uniforms and speaking in formal patterns . Their trees and their livestock have been bred to be as standard and ideal as they are . They have no real names of their own , only combinations of numbers that , when spoken aloud , sound to human ears as such . They feel no real tenderness for one another and have no concept of compassion . " They are decadent and self - obsessed , and prize form and their own brand of manners or style as their main value . Aware of their aristocratic position , they surround themselves with riches and treasures , the works of great artists and the finest of everything , but have no real appreciation for any of these things . Each of them is concerned solely with himself , and as a result they do no real socializing ; they meet and hold courts only to demonstrate their importance and power to each other . Rarely do they speak to the human ambassadors of Cyrodiil ; when they do , their speech is full of riddles , or spell - words that enchant one to a satisfied madness . " Valenwood was claimed as a wasteland province of the Second Empire , and its geography is partially described in several Imperial surveys . Valenwood is noteworthy in that it has no cities or townships built by the Wood Elves themselves . Their strict " Green Pact " prohibits the use of wood or other vegetable derivatives as building materials , and they are too improvident to learn the use of stone . The Wood Elves permitted a few roads to be built by the Second Empire , but neglect their maintenance , as the Bosmer do not need roads to move easily through the thickest forest ; these roads would be now overgrown were it not for the High Elves of the Thalmor , who have repaired and widened them for rapid passage of their arms to and from the coast . Much of the region is impenetrable mangrove and coastal rain forest , with few grasslands or glade areas until further north near the Strident Coast . Many of the human trading posts established by the Second Empire have been abandoned or claimed by the beastfolk - Centaur s , Orcs , and Imga - that share the forests with the Bosmer tribes . Humans , in general , have learned not to intrude in the forests of Valenwood . While they once depended entirely on the annual Stridmeet caravans of the Colovian West , the Wood Elves now rely entirely on the sea piracy of the Dominion for whatever they require from the outside world . Concerning the Wood Elves as a people , we must again turn to the prolific Eric of Guis . After a grateful dismissal from the Court of Alinor , he stayed with the Bosmer for a time at the capital city of Falinesti , during its summer migration . As the city strode along the coastal region of the Cape , Eric of Guis recorded much about Valenwood culture : " No less abhorrent are the Bosmer than their kin at Summerset , but they are far more cooperative . The Wood Elves love the current human activity because it makes them feel important . " They are exclusively and religiously carnivorous . They cannot , or will not , eat anything that is plant - based . They eat game , beastfolk , each other , or meats imported from other regions . This part of the Green Pact is known as the Meat Mandate , and , among its other rules , it requires that a fallen enemy must be eaten completely before three days pass . The family members of the warrior that slew the enemy may help him with his meal . Needless to say , the Wood Elves do not like to engage in large battles if they have not undergone a suitable starvation period . " Though they are excellent archer s , the Green Pact forces their bowyers and fletchers to use bone or similar materials , or to buy bows and arrows from other cultures . The use of woodcrafts created by another race is not forbidden , nor is the sale of their own Valenwood timber as long as it is collected by a non - Bosmeri . " The Wood Elves , of course , cannot smoke anything of a vegetable nature . Bone pipes are common , however , and are filled with caterpillars or tree grubs . " For a brief time the Colovian armies used Wood Elf archers , as in the War of Rihad two years past . The Bosmer proved to be too undisciplined and prone to desertion for further use . They would sometimes walk into the shade of a single tree and vanish . Their forest - coupling skills are remarkable . The title of their most famous poem , the Meh Ayleidion , means " The One Thousand Benefits of Hiding . " " At the trading posts of the Empire , the Wood Elves become very happy . Some creations of carpentry delight them to no end . Most of it has never occurred to them . They bring their own trade items : hides , river pearls , finger - bone charms made from the still - magically - charged hands of their dead wizards . They often buy woodcrafts that they have no use for or whose use they never bother to find out . Some of the bravest Wood Elven warriors use wagon wheels as shields , or as ( they think ) impressive headgear . " While sometimes amusing , the Bosmer have a bestial side . They can resort to animal shapes if they need to , or water . Their most dreaded transformation is the Wild Hunt , which killed King Borgas [ 6 ] for the " iniquities " of his Alessian faith . The Wild Hunt is a pack of shifting forest - demons and animal - gods , thousands strong , which sweeps through the countryside killing everything its path . The Wood Elves do not like to talk about the Hunt , and I gather they do not feel proud of this power at all - Gomini , my Bosmer companion of late , tells me that the Hunt is used for justice , but that also , " every monster in the world that has ever been comes from a previous Hunt . Those Bosmer that go Wild , they do not return . " " The traveler is advised to avoid the lands of the Aldmeri Dominion . Though the Thalmor have representatives at the Imperial City , and the Cyrodilic Grand Vizier Zurin Arctus is meeting with the King of Alinor , contact with the Bosmer and Altmer are often disagreeable to the common Imperial citizen . Avoid their books and magic . Wear the permitted weaponry when near their borders . If you are manly and able , apply for service in the Legions . Places of Note . Alinor . A forbidden city for nearly fifty years , Alinor is both capital of the Summerset Isles and the heart of the Aldmeri Dominion . Human traders were only allowed at its ports , and they described the city as " made from glass or insect wings . " Less fantastic accounts come from the Imperial emissaries of the Reman Dynasty , which describe the city as straight and glimmering , " a hypnotic swirl of ramparts and impossibly high towers , designed to catch the light of the sun and break it to its component colors , which lies draped across its stones until you are thankful for nightfall . " Falinesti . The walking city of the Bosmer king , Falinesti is south in the summer and north come Hearth Fire . It is the largest of Valenwood graht - oaks , whose magic was invoked at the dawn of recorded history . The Camoran throne is somewhere in the highest branches , as are numerous other natural dwellings . Wood Elves climb about its surface like termites , or carefully swing from level to level by means of thorny vines . Humans have generally been too unsettled by the city to stay there long , though Great Apes and Orcs are common . The Thalmor has decided to change the capital of Valenwood from Falinesti to Elden Root for the duration of the Aldmeri Dominion .