Pocket Guide to the Empire , Third Edition : Summerset Isles Pocket Guide to the Empire , Third Edition Author : Imperial Geographic Society Content . Not a single isle at all but an archipelago of two major islands and a dozen smaller ones , the land called Summerset is the birthplace of civilization and magic as we know it in Tamriel . On its idyllic sea - kissed shores live the Altmer , the High Elves . History . The Aldmer , the progenitor races of all elves , arrived in Tamriel from their original home in Aldmeris or Old Ehlnofey in ancient times . We don ' t know what precipitated this exodus or even the location of Aldmeris if it still exists today . Most scholars believe that the Aldmer settled Summerset first , and then spread out across the rest of Tamriel , but there is some evidence to support the theory that Summerset was only one of several initial settlements of the earliest Aldmer . In any case , Summerset became one of the earliest centers of Aldmer civilizations , which developed over thousands of years into the Altmer of historical times . What creatures and prehistoric civilizations these Aldmeris refugees faced have largely been lost in the mists of time . Cloudrest , atop Eton Nir , the highest mountain in Summerset , is a decidedly odd mixture of architectural styles , with buildings like strangler vines , built on top of other , older structures . The oldest of all ruins there , and in a few isolated spots throughout the island , are made of coral , which must have been carried many , many miles away from the sea . The material and the style of the ruins strongly suggest that the Sload may have once counted Summerset as a part of their kingdom of Thras . More evidence of this may be found in the section on Thras in this Pocket Guide . The treasury of the Crystal Tower and the private collections in Summerset offer suggestions of other creatures the early Aldmer may have met in their new home , portrayed in sculpture and tapestry . Some of the beasts are surely ( and hopefully ) the work of the artist ' s imagination , but others appear with such regularity , it can only be that they once existed , as bizarre as they seem . Though no one alive has ever seen them , they have names out of legend : Gheatus , a man or a group of men who are formed by the earth itself ; the Welwa , strange , holy beasts of horns and savage teeth , depicted as ravagers and saviors of the land ; the Ilyadi , giants taller than trees , with eyes that cover their head . These extinct monsters , and others like them , had to be defeated by the Aldmer in the days of yore . Early Aldmer society was agricultural and politically egalitarian . A system of ancestor worship had been exported whole from Aldmeris , and it brought with it a communal spirit that served the early settlers of Summerset well . When the Aldmer came together as a people to create the Crystal Tower , it was not a monument to any king or god , but rather to the spirit of the elven people , living and dead . Within the glittering walls of the Tower are housed the graves of the early Aldmeri settlers , preserved forever as a lasting symbol of the power of the people for that brief moment in history , fully unified . Gradually , as the society grew , social stratification increased . A hierarchy of classes began to form , which is still largely enforced in Summerset to this day . At the top are the Wise , teachers and priests , followed by the Artists , Princes , Warriors , Landowners , Merchants , and Workers . Below Workers were the beasts , such as the enslaved goblin s , who the Aldmer used to perform the jobs beneath the dignity of the very least of them . The religion of the people also changed because of this change in society : no longer did the Aldmer worship their own ancestors , but the ancestors of their " betters . " Auriel , Trinimac , Syrabane , and Phynaster are among the many ancestor spirits who became Gods . A group of elders rebelled against this trend , calling themselves the Psijics , the keepers of the Old Ways of Aldmeris . With their mystical powers , they were able to settle in Arteaum , away from what they considered the corruption of their society . They continued to return to the land to act as advisors , but never again would they call Summerset home . It was about this time that many Aldmer left Summerset to settle the mainland of Tamriel . There was probably no single reason for this second exodus of the Aldmer , but some evidence , such as the famed Ramoran Tapestries - the very ones that show some of the creatures mentioned above - show how untouched and beautiful the mainland was considered to be by the Aldmer . Expeditions , such as those taken by Topal the Pilot and others , had painted an image in their minds of a great land where even workers , at the lowest end of the Summerset hierarchy could live as kings . The Prophet Veloth was among those who led a group of discontented Aldmer away from Summerset to a new promised land . According to the traditions of Summerset , the Aldmer who went to be free on the mainland became all the disparate elven folk of history : Chimer , Bosmer , Ayleid . The ones who stayed behind became the Altmer . Even the earliest records of Summerset , however , shed no light on the origins of the Dwemer , who already occupied the northeast of Tamriel when Veloth and his people arrived there . The history of the Summerset Isle in the First Era and most of the Second is very much removed from the rest of mainland Tamriel . The rise and fall of Empires , the battles between man and mer , none of these touched the Altmer as a society . Internal conflicts between Skywatch and Firsthold , and between Alinor and Lillandril , often sparked into full war , but far deadlier were the repeated attempts at invasion from the alien lands of Thras and Pyandonea . The Sloads of Thras , as we have mentioned earlier , may have been original inhabitants of Summerset , and so their repeated attempts to take the islands could be regarded sympathetically , if not for their methods . Physically unable to fight due to their massive girth , the Sload used necromantic magic and infernal machines to attack the Altmer . Though they never succeeded in reclaiming Summerset , if that was even their goal , they visited horrors upon the land which are still remembered today : the Sack of Skywatch in 1E 1301 and the War of the Uvichil from 1E 2911 to 1E 2917 are surely among the most terrible events in Tamriel ' s history . The Maormer of Pyandonea ( described more fully in a later section of this Guide ) were even more relentless in their drive to conquer Summerset . The chronicler can scarcely find a year throughout the First or Second Eras when the Maormer did not ravage the coastlines of the Altmer . As terrible as it was , it did force the Altmer to build a great navy to defend itself , and to this day , it is on the seas that the High Elves excel in combat . There are villages in the central valleys of Summerset that have never seen battle , but so much blood has been spilled along the coasts , it is a wonder it is not stained permanently crimson . The formation of the Aldmeri Dominion in the Second Era is discussed in the section on Summerset ' s ally , Valenwood . For Summerset , the kings of Colovia were no threat , but the Dominion allowed them to eliminate the Maormer outposts that had been established along the western coast of the mainland . Thus , the Dominion thrived until the coming of Tiber Septim . The conquest and assimilation of Summerset into the Empire is remembered by many a living Altmer with horror only partially diminished by time . Certainly , the pride of the people has never recovered . During the War of the Isle in 3E 110 , the Maormer of Pyandonea were very nearly successful in conquering their ancient enemy , and the Altmer had to call upon the aid of the Psijics and the Empire to help defend themselves . Even as recently as twenty years ago , during the Imperial Simulacrum , when the Altmer invaded Valenwood , their former allies in the Dominion , Summerset was only successful in capturing a small sliver of the coastline that used to be theirs . It is hardly surprising that to many in Summerset , particularly the young , it is time to reinvent what it is to be a High Elf . Current Events . In the last few years , Summerset Isle has been at peace with its neighbors . To all outward appearances , it has returned to its normal state of unchanging tranquility . In fact , the Altmer are perhaps the most bitterly divided society in the Empire . The war in the province today is a cultural one , which has its origins with the surrender to Tiber Septim four centuries ago which shook Altmer society to its foundation . While in Skyrim and Morrowind more blood has been shed in recent years , this struggle between the old and the new may have even more radical end results . The very future of the oldest province in the Empire of Tamriel is at stake . For thousands of years , the Altmer have implicitly believed in their superiority to all other races and cultures in Tamriel . For much of this time , they may have been right . But after the incorporation of Summerset into the Empire , doubts began to creep in . With the insularity of the Summerset decisively broken , many Altmer , particularly the young ( which among the High Elves is a fairly loose term ) , began to take a more critical view of the rigid hierarchy of Altmer society and its strict cultural xenophobia . While there had always been discontent on the fringes of Altmer society , which was traditionally resolved by exile of the malcontents , for the first time a significant element of Altmer began to agitate for social change . This nascent revolution in the Summerset Isle has taken many forms . Most constructive , surely , is the acceptance of new cultures and races onto its shores , some occupying positions that would have been forbidden just a century ago . The Queen of Firsthold , for example , is the Dunmer Morgiah , daughter of Barenziah and sister of the King of Morrowind , Helseth . Her children , Goranthir and Rinnala , though half - Altmer , are fully Dunmer in appearance , and stand to inherit the throne . A darker side of this movement , however , is exhibited by a shadowy group who call themselves the Beautiful . Originally a salon for artists with the reasonable philosophy that Summerset must let go of its past in order to move forward , the Beautiful became a revolutionary gang dedicated to the destruction of the greatest monuments of Altmer civilizations . The Crystal Tower was naturally an early target , and fortunately attempts against it have failed , but many other great , ancient sculptures and emblems of the past have been vandalized . Lately , the Beautiful have turned their attention to living symbols of the Isle , the royalty of Summerset . The particularly gruesome murder of the daughter of the King of Shimmerene has horrified and outraged the public . Finally , some of Summerset ' s youth are rebelling against the present , ironically , by embracing the past . The Imperial Geographical Society is not allowed to visit Artaeum to survey and document it , but there is little doubt that the Psijic Order is increasingly popular among the young , and is willing to exploit this . Over the past thousand years , only seventeen new initiates were brought into the order . In the past two years , however , another thirty have joined . Thirty new members of an Order may not be enough to be a surprising trend in most circles , but to the tradition - bound graycloaks of Artaeum , it raises many questions . What the Psijics ' aim in this recent recruitment , however , is anyone ' s guess at this time .